Work

Using xp_SendMail In SQL Server 2005

Shandy — Tue, 22 May 2007 10:42:00 GMT

I give in. Having spent the last week on and off trying to allow a SQL Server authenticated user to execute the xp_SendMail stored procedure I am at a loss as to what to do to allow this to happen. It looks like I am going to have to rewrite my code to utilise the new Database Mail method, something I could really do without at the moment. I will still need my code to execute the xp_sendmail stored procedure because my code still needs to use the xp_sendmail on SQL 2000 servers.

I suppose the alternative is to change the login from the specific one I have created, which can only access stored procedures I give it execute acess to (it cannot access views nor tables directly), and allow my application to login as the sa user. Ironically making the SQL Server 2005 less not more secure.

Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio - Full Edition Now Installed

Shandy — Thu, 03 May 2007 11:29:00 GMT

After a struggle I have finally managed to get the full edition of Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio installed on my laptop. Initially, it refused to install claiming that it was already installed, despite the fact it wasn't. I believe the problem was because I had previously installed SQL Server 2005 Express and despite not installing Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio Express something had installed that prevented the full blown Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio from SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition from installing. Fortunately the solution was fairly straightforward. I simply un-installed all SQL Server 2005 express components and installed the SQL Server 2005 standard edition from scratch.

The reason I needed to install full Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio edition was that the express edition did not appear to list the SQL Server Agent in the Object Explorer and so I was unable to access any jobs installed on the SQL servers. As far as I am concerned this is a fairly fundemental flaw in the express edition, rending it useless for the work I need to do.

Skype

Shandy — Thu, 03 May 2007 10:53:00 GMT

The company I work for, CMI has recently started to roll out Skype as a method of communicating over our network. We have chosen to use US Robotics USR 9600 USB internet phones running with Skype 3.0. Hopefully this can save us a lot of money with phone calls between our UK and overseas factories. From a personal point of view it will save the company money with me being able to use it to contact my wife, Helen, from abroad once I get her a Skype phone. I always phone my wife every day I am away and the phone bill can be quite considerable by the end of my stays abroad!

Trip To Sri Lanka

Shandy — Thu, 03 May 2007 10:34:00 GMT

As posted on my Sri Lanka blog I am due to fly out to Sri Lanka shortly. The main objective is to install a SQL Server 2005 server onto our Sri Lanka network. We have just purchased six PowerEdge 2950 servers; all to be configured to run SQL Server 2005. Four of the servers are to be based in the UK and two in our overseas factories - one in Morocco and one in Sri Lanka.

This is the first part in a major project to upgrade our current systems to .NET. Currently we program mainly in VB.Classic with SQL Server 2000 as our backend database. The first phase of the project will see us migrate our core database to SQL Server 2005 and the second phase will see us upgrade our core applications to VB.NET 2005.

The server for Sri Lanka was shipped out last week and allegedly landed in Sri Lanka last Saturday. Currently our Sri Lanka factories are closed down for the Wesak holiday but should be re-opening tomorrow when I hope to get confirmation that it has cleared customs. One of my colleagues has pre-configured the server so my job will mainly be to plug it into the local network and make any configuration changes to get it up and running on the local domain as well as ensuring we can remotely access it and also to ensure the local IT department are able to support it.

I have a couple of additional tasks to perform at our Sri Lanka factories if I get chance. I have to audit the factory scanning system I developed to ensure it is working as required and also to see if I can get Skype up and running.

Belkin Omni View Pro 8 Port KVM Switch (F1D108-OSD) : Daisy Chain Monitor Problem

Shandy — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 14:43:00 GMT

Last Friday we re-organised the Keyboard/Video/Mouse (KVM) switches at one of our server rooms. Previously we had never bothered to daisy chain our KVM switches and consequently had three KVM switches, each with their own keyboard, mouse and monitor. As we had two identical KVM switches - Belkin Omni View Pro 8 Port KVM Switches (F1D108-OSD) - it seemed logical to place these physically together, daisy chaining them using a Belkin 2' Daisy-Chain Cable (F1D108-CBL) so that they could share a single keyboard, mosue and monitor. However, when we did this the monitor attached to the master unit would only work for devices attached to the master unit; we had to attach a second monitor to the slave unit to handle devices attached to the slave unit. The master unit keyboard and mouse worked successfully for both devices connected to the master and the slave unit. Has anyone else come across this problem and found a solution so that only a single monitor is required?

Using the Single USB Port to Connect a Mouse and Keyboard to a Belkin OmniView™ PRO2 KVM Switch

Shandy — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 16:56:00 GMT

Today we utilised the usb capabilities of our Belkin OmniView™ PRO2 KVM Switch. As I failed to find any references to exactly how this worked prior to actually testing it out I thought I'd post how it worked in case anyone else is wondering.

The switch has a single USB, VGA and two PS2 ports per device connected. We had always connected the mouse and keyboard via the two PS2 ports. As there was only a single USB port to handle both the mouse and the keyboard I wondered how this worked. The answer is simple (at least on a Windows XP PC we tested it on). When the PC was connected to the switch using a USB A-to-B cable it autodetected the switch's USB port as a dual mouse/keyboard port, installed the drivers required (no media required) and allowed the single USB cable to replace the dual PS2 cables.

The exact procedure we followed for a PC currently using 2 PS2 cables for mouse and keyboard was:

Attach a USB A-to-B cable between PC and the switch. The drivers were automatically installed on the server without the need for external media. However, the mouse and keyboard did not work after the drivers had installed.
Remove the USB A-to-B cable. The mouse and keyboard started working again.
Shutdown the PC.
Re-attach the USB A-to-B cable.
Remove the PS2 mouse and keyboard cables.
Re-boot the PC.

Note that you still need a VGA male/female cable (as you do with the PS2 cables).

.NET 2005 Books

Shandy — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 10:36:00 GMT

We have finally gone ahead at work and purchased Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Professional. To kick start learning VB.NET 2005 I have purchased the following 3 books from Amazon:

I have to be honest and say that my first choice would have been to purchase Murach's books as I am a big fan of theirs but I found a few of issues when trying to order their books.

The first issue was that when I tried to order from Murach's web site I could not find out how to get the delivery costs before ordering the books.

The second issue was that when I tried to order Murach’s VB.NET Database Programming with ADO.NET from Amazon it appeared that by looking at the table of contents and checking the publication date - 1 May 2003 - that only the 2003 version was available.

The final issue was that delivery on the books seemed unlikely to occur within less than a couple of weeks.

As I wanted to get the books within a week I decided that I'd go with the Microsoft Press books as they were easier to order and could be delivered within a few days. I also wanted most of the books to be by the same publishing house as I find this makes moving between the books easier as the writing and content style tend to be similar. Time will tell whether this decision proves right or not.

Further subjects I possibly need books on are:

VB.NET 2005 and SQL Server 2005 development.
VB.NET 2005 and ASP.NET 2.0 programming.
VB.NET 2005 and Microsoft Office 2003 Programming.
Reporting using Visual Studio 2005.

Finally : A .NET Project At Work

Shandy — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 11:43:00 GMT

After 7 years of "playing around" with VB.NET I have finally been given the go ahead to develop my next project in work in VB.NET.

We have still to iron out the details but in principal it has been agreed and we can purchase Visual Studio 2005. At some stage in the next few months we will also be looking to upgrade our servers from SQL Server 2000 to 2005.

So a lot of work to be done in the next few weeks as I need to refresh my knowledge as its been almost a couple of years since I used VB.NET on a regular basis and I have never used VB.NET 2005 except playing around with VB.NET 2005 Express over the last week or so.

A New Laptop - Dell Latitude D620

Shandy — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 13:47:00 GMT

At work, after just over 3 years of using an Inspiron 8500 laptop I have replaced it with a Latitude D620. Complete with a bluetooth keyboard, mouse, docking station and 19" flat screen monitor it is a huge improvement.

So far the only fault I can find with the system is that if the laptop screen is raised when connected to the docking station the monitor loses the picture and I haven't found a reliable method of getting the picture back to the monitor without rebooting the PC.

One minor irritation with the laptop setup was that it came with Google Desktop Search and Google Toolbar pre-installed. I really dislike non-essential software being pre-installed. Suffice to say the Google Desktop Search was immediately uninstalled. I did leave the Google Toolbar installed as I do find it useful (if only for the spell checker).

My Dell Inspiron 8500 Screen Is Working Again

Shandy — Wed, 29 Jun 2005 19:22:00 GMT

Following on from these two previous posts My Dell Inspiron 8500 Screen Is Dead :( and My Dell Inspiron 8500 Screen Is Dead Again, I can now report that thanks to the feedback from MarsKy my Dell Inspiron 8500 screen is working again! The same issue that happened to him had happened to me. The switch that monitors whether the screen is up or down had come away from its mounting point and once I removed the plastic strip at the top of the keyboard and remounted the switch the screen worked again! Many thanks MarsKy :)

So I've got a couple of days work copying files from my replacement laptop back to my old laptop and re-configuring my old laptop again. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this is a permanent solution this time.