splee.blog

I’m developing a web based thin-client application for the company at the moment that uses MS SQL Server (the free MSDE version) as a backend. It uses MS SQL Server because it’s based on the Time Tracker starter kit from ASP.net. I’m hoping to port the back end to MySQL at some point to get around the hard limit MS have put on the MSDE version of the server, but that’s another issue.

Having battled my way around the net to try and find something useful in administering the SQL Server I had settled on a combination of ASP.net’s Web Matrix and Microsoft SQL Web Data Administrator.

Even combining two tools there was a large area of the general database administration that had to be done by hand using the web admin tool, one of which included adding columns to a table and adding, removing and general tinkering with foreign keys and cascading deletes.

My main problem however was the absolutely dire slowness of the web admin tool, in which I was running all my hand written sql queries. So I looked for a better solution. A better solution that was also free.

At this point I stumbled upon the EMS MS SQL Manager Lite software.

Considering it’s Freeware it has a plethora of powerful features which happily made the web administrator and the web matrix tools obsolete. With a little playing around you can easily find your way to all of the available tools and they deliver instant gratification. In fact, I’ve been using it constantly for about a day and a half now in tandem with Dreamweaver MX for the actual coding and it’s easily trippled my productivity on this project. I’m finding it hard to find fault with it and, considering my extremely cynnical view on most software, that is quite a surprise.

I’m almost tempted to buy the Pro version so I can get the extra features. While not strictly nessecary, they would be quite helpful. I just need to see if I can get my boss to squeeze it into the budget. ;)

Tonight was so much fun. Not only did I see the awesome Eddie Izzard and Paul Merton on stage doing improv, I met a very nice Australian girl too.

All in all a very good night, but it’s a little too much for my brain to cope with at the moment so I will, more than likely, elaborate on the morrow.

Alcohol is the debil.

I’ve probably not mentioned it before, but I’m a gamer. I’ve been playing a lot of EverQuest II lately but it’s just too time consuming. So I’m giving it a rest for a bit. I’m downloading the Euro beta of World of Warcraft to pass some time and boy does the download pass the time.

I started it yesterday night before I went down the pub and it’s just over 25% downloaded. With a 1 M/bit ADSL line you’d think that it would download faster than the absolutely ripping speed of 4 KB/s. I might save the bandwidth that it’s soaking up and break out my 56k modem and my old freeserve account.

On a different and altogether more interesting note, I’m going to The Comedy Store tomorrow evening to see Eddy Izzard. Getting down there at 3pm and heading to the pub next door to make sure we’re there for when the inevitable queue starts to form. They only have 100 tickets on the door! Must………get………ticket!

This article is more or less useless, but at the same time it made me laugh.

What is it about snow that means everyone has to look out of the window for about 20 minutes while it’s falling? It’s nice and all, but once you’ve seen it falling for, ooooh, around 20 seconds it gets boring.

Maybe it’s just me with a little left over “bah humbug”.

A spongy base of knowledge with a few layers of on-the-fly internet research, topped with a thick layer of bullshit. Decorated with sprinkles of “I will not be beaten by a machine”.

Yes, that’s how I see myself.

Bullshit is your friend if you know roughly what you’re talking about. It can make you sound like you know far more than you actually do.

I started the whole degree/mcse/cisco certs and decided that it didn’t make sense. I can still manage to keep our corporate network flowing nicely thank you please. I know people who finished their degrees, did their MCSE’s and still have to be directed like monkeys when a problem comes their way that isn’t in the Microsoft Manual.

Whatever happened to problem solving, thinking out of the box, ingenuity, and adaptation? When the first caveman made fire it’s not because he was going about things the way they were written on the cave wall.

People who do IT should be made to take a practical test. Someone should give them a Windows NT server that is steam powered and has been running for 7 years almost non-stop, then tell them that it needs rebuilding. Oh, but half of the data is corrupt, the motherboard is on it’s last legs so it will only boot every 34th try and when it does boot up it crashes 17.5 minutes later.

I’d like to see them thumb the manual for that one.