Microsoft MSSQL

Friday, March 28, 2008

It's not readily known but most definitely possible. You can change a table's name in Microsoft SQL Server by running the following sql:

sp_rename 'OLD_Name','NEW_Name'

MS SQL Commands

delete a table in ms sql
ALTER TABLE DCP_USER_ROADMAPS DROP COLUMN TREE_ID

Delete a foreign key
ALTER TABLE DCP_USER_ROADMAPS DROP FOREIGN KEY USER_ROADMAPS_TO_TREE_FK

Delete an index
drop index DCP_USER_ROADMAPS.USER_ROADMAPS_TO_TREE_FK

Create An Index
create index USER_ROADMAPS_TO_TREE_FK on DCP_USER_ROADMAPS (
ROADMAP_ID ASC)

Create A Foreign Key
alter table DCP_USER_ROADMAPS
add constraint FK_DCP_USER_USER_ROAD_DCP_TREE foreign key (ROADMAP_ID)
references DCP_TREE (TREE_ID)
on delete cascade

Labels: Technology

DCP Installation Journal

Friday, March 21, 2008

I used my own existing copy of dcp with all the current changes checked out of cvs.

I updated all the institution specific properties in the dcp.properties file.

I added the institutions database information to jdbc in the dcp.properties file.

I dropped all tables and ran create.sql script

I had an issue where the application would throw a sql grammar on startup. The message read that dcp_cat_crs was an invalid object. I knew that this was a valid object and my guess was that DCP was looking at the wrong database. In my jdbc connection string found in the dcp.properties file I changed the string to specify a database by adding "/DCP2" after the port number.

I attempted to next run the security.sql but ran into another issue. The dcp_program view is made up of fields in the DARS dprog table. At this particular school the dcp database and dars database are seperate instances and platforms. They run sql server and oracle respectively. The dcp_program table is a view from which all the subsequent security tables are populated. I wanted these security tables in the dcp database. I copied over the dprog table from the dars database into the dcp database.

I now needed to configure DCP to handle two separate database connections. I did this buy uncommenting the bean information in dars-jdbc-ctx.xml . And commenting the above bean reference pointing to the shared database connection bean definition in the same context file.

In the dars.properties file I put in the separate (DARS) jdbc information to match the reference the dars-jdbc-ctx.xml mentioned above.

I again attempted to run the security.sql script. I ran into the error that I couldn't insert a specific value into the identity column.

I turned on the identity column feature for each of the security tables (list tables)

i created dcp_program and rmbacl views

i configured the dars settings in the dars.properties (values like comrec, evalws, etc)

audits weren't running properly so i checked values being entered into the dars tables via darwinia. The catlyt seemed to be added an extra character. I changed the term code settings in the dcp-yeartermtemplate-ctx.xml to be a single character (changed 08 to 8). The catlyt terms were off in value as well. Fall term is represented by 7 and not 8. I changed the start month value accordingly.

the security views needed to be moved to the dars database on oracle. i started by logging in as a new schema.

I used the create security sql script to create the tables and views in the dars database.

Labels: Technology

Web Services

Friday, March 14, 2008

SOA - a service oriented architecture which is an evolution of distributed computing. An applications functions are modularized and are presented as services to other applications.
XML-RPC - is a remote procedure call protocol which uses xml to encode its calls via http
SOAP - single object access protocol which is a protocol for exchanging xml based messages over networks mostly http and https
wddx - web distributed data exchange is a programming language, platform, and transport neutral data interchange mechanism.
RPC - is a technology that allows a program to run a program on another computer without the program explicitly writing the details of the interaction.
RPCGEN - creates stubs based on definitions specified with IDL
IDL - interface description language is a specification language which describes an interface an allows different software components to talk in a language independent way.
WSDL - web service description language. based IDL. that describes webservices
Tunneling Protocol - when a payload protocol is delivered inside a different delivery protocol
OSI - a network standardization that was preceded by TCP/IP
Ethernet - the most widely used wired LAN technology standardized as IEEE 802.3 and based on wire and signaling standards for the physical layer.
MAC - data communication protocol sub layer
UDDI - universal description discovery and integration an xml based registry for companies world wide to list themseleves on the internet
jaxb - java architecture for xml binding makes xml out of objects and the inverse

Labels: Technology

Laziness stands between you and success.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Laziness stands between you and success.

As completely obvious as this sounds, it actually retains great context in my life. My buddy and I at work often talk about ideas and inventions that could come to be. We are always trying to think of the next ebay, milliondollarhomepage.com/ or even facebook for that matter. We always come up with a grand scheme that if fully implemented would catch on like wild fire. The question is . . . what is standing in our way? He casually told me that the hardest part of inventing something is actually having the ambition to pursue it. When you get off of work and there's nothing urgent in queue that is the pivotal point where heros are made or die. You can flip on that TV or you can resume working on your next big idea.

God never promised a long life, so what are we going to do with the time that we have? In my fraternity I ran across a parable comparing our lives to a bank account. We are allotted a certain amount of money each day. When that days is over the money is gone and so is our opportunity to make the most of that day.

Carpe Diem

Labels: Personal Progress

Desiderata by Max Ehrmann

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Labels: Literature

Use Cases

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Individual Use Case - a procedure by which an actor uses a system.
Example: Indicate Course Priority
Use Case - a sequence of interactions between the actor and the system.
Example:
Populate Course List
1. In the Student Plan Builder Application a student right clicks a term and chooses option: "Register for classes"
2. That term's courses populate the course list in the AutoScheduler


Input Course Priority
1. click star amount next to course to indicate priority
2. repeat step 1 for all courses in term


Good uses cases:
use easy to understand language
are a view of functional requirements
are not ambiguous (source and target are identified)

Actor - a system, person or external entity that defines the system boundary

Alternate flows - should know exactly how to insert and return to the basic flow statement and have:
4 essential elements of an alternate flow:

Where it inserts itself
Under what conditions it runs
What is done written as you would for any other flow
Whether it returns, and to where, or terminates



Example:
Basic Flow: Indicate Availability
1. right click a time slot on the Availability Calendar
2. set availability status
3. click subsequent time slots that the user determines has same the same availability

Alternative Flow: Change Availability Status
1. If 3. from Indicate Availability already has a status previously set, the new status overrides.
2. The use case restarts at 2 in Indicate Availability

Labels: Technology

cal poly focus group

Thursday, March 06, 2008

no one knows alma mater
colors green and gold because of slo
cal poly slo trademarked the name

poly technic teach theory through application
focus regional vs national standing

building a college village
problems tech village turned because of area code

cal state hayward turned into cal state ebay

sonoma isn't in sonoma

heads of companies didn't achieve success by being elitist ivy leaguers but being people that get their hands dirty

cal poly was 10,000 over budget and missed out on $6 million not compensated for.

Today I learned . . . March 6, 2008

One attribute can change a whole for the best of the worst.

Two years ago, I graduated from Cal Poly Pomona with a degree in Computer Information Systems. College was one of the great chapter in the tome that is my life. No one, not even most students of my alma mater, had the experience I did.

In a conference call with President Ortiz the question went round and round as to why Cal Poly doesn't have the notoriety or distinctness that it deserves. Ideas like the fact that we are in the shadow of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo were thrown around. There was the fact that our school is largely viewed as a commuter school. I mentioned that the 800 pound gorilla in the room was in fact the location of the university.

Pomona was once regarded as the jewel of the valley. It is now a shadow of it's former self in the days when my mom group up there. It's now inundated with gang bangers, crack whore's and vagrants. My heart is to help these people and the city but that's not what I've learned today.

If Cal Poly's geography lay just 30 miles east it would most certainly have national recognition. One attribute of the school causes one to overlook its overwhelming hegemony in all of its main disciplines.





Kerberos - is a computer network authentication protocol which allows individuals communicating over a non secure network to prove their identity to one another in a secure manner.

LDAP - or light density applicaton protocol is an application protocol querying and modifying directory services running over tcp/ip

Cal Poly's Identity
core competencies - diversity,
determine core values -
bring on partners


Bronco Compass
I like the idea of bronco compass. I'm on a five person team that has developed an integrated, seamless, and electronic version of this system. The application interacts with bronco direct (peoplesoft) and has advising, course planning, transfer work management and much more. I graduated 2 years ago and I much of my inspiration to my experience at cal poly. If you are interested in seeing a demo I would be more than happy to do so.

Labels: Personal Progress

Today I learned . . . March 4, 2008

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

You can better understand a situation when you've detached from, given time to, compared to similar circumstances, and revisited the situation.

I took a visit back in time today. I open my box that I keep important things that I've come across over the years. Inside was a ton of memories that I haven't even thought about for awhile. I had a card, an old j-walking ticket, a $50 savings bond, a bullet, and a knife passed down by my grandpa. None was more impacting as the few random letters I had occupying space.

Some of the letters were from someone I thought might have been "The One" for a time. For one reason or another we never seem to have had either the opportunity or the audacity to start something up. The letters were mostly about that timing. I rarely talk to her anymore.

The second was a poem I received from a girl that really wasn't significant to me. If there's any theme to what our relationship was, it's summed up in the story of when I went through her purse. While she was in the bathroom during our movie date I found the poem she claimed to write printed from a webpage of another author. I got over our break up in the span of a lawn mowing.

The third is the cliche. Although at the time it seemed the proverbial engagement, it proved to be the chaff burned up in the fire. These letters were all from the beginning of the relationship and that's what gave them their significance to me. I realized just how young we were. And how the rest of the relationship was just the withering of our initial fire. With a torch the size of us, it takes a great deal of smothering to put out. We burned for each other. In retrospect it was purely infatuation. When your young you make promises you can never keep. You promise to love someone forever. You tell them that you'll always be there for them. We've haven't keep them in years, I wonder how long its been in our minds.

Labels: Personal Progress