DonXML Blog

Look Mom, I’m On TV

MSDN TV that is, and they got my good side, the back of my head.  The clip is Don Box's presentation on SOA at XmlDevCon.  You can’t miss me, shoulder length black hair with the black shirt, right in the beginning of the clip.  My wife is on the right of me, at the end of the aisle, and Steve Maine is sitting in front of me.  Don Smith is in the front row on the right side (the bleached crewcut).  Rory is in there too, on the left side.

And this clip has the now famous line “No one would gets laid actually replaces the CPU in their computer”.

DonXML

Article – Architect Your Enterprise

I recently read the new article by Paul Sheriff in the new Visual Studio Magazine Special Edition issue – “Architect Your Enterprise”, and I consider it a must read for any .Net architect, and especially anyone that is trying to get their company (or their area) to implement a standard architecture.

Lots of cool suggestions on how to get the buy-in of management and programmers, and great graphics for those Powerpoint slides for management.

DonXML

Current Reading (or Re-Reading) List

I’ve been concentrating so much time on learning new technologies over the last couple years that I’ve been remiss in reading my non-computer books. So to help get me back in the swing of things, I decided to hit my personal library and pull out some of my favorites from just before I stopped. I got 2 science and 2 business books that I recommend highly.

Business

The McKinsey Way by Ethan M. Rasiel

If you are a consultant, or thinking about getting into consulting, read this book. For all the Micrsofties, I’d also recommend this book as the compliment to How Would You Move Mount Fuji. While How Would You Move Mount Fuji may help you get into companies like Microsoft, The McKinsey Way describes how to succeed once you get there.

Creative Destruction by Richard Foster and Sarah Kaplan

Why Companies That Are Built to Last Underperform the Market – and Hot to Successfully Transform Them Another McKinsey book, but if you want to learn foster change in your company (or yourself for that matter) by breaking down areas, and then rebuilding. Whenever you hear someone say “Because we’ve always done it this way”, that’s the first sign complacency has crept in, and it times to rebuild the area.

Science

The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene

If you are into superstrings and the Theory of Everything this book was made for you.

Phantoms In the Brain by V.S. Ramachandran, M.D., PH.D. and Sandra Blakeslee

I originally came across Dr. Ramachandran’s work with the brain through a PBS documentary, and became intrigued with his work. There are some great stories about people who has lost limbs, and how their phantom limbs can still affect there everyday life.

DonXML

Encrypted Connection String Objects – New GDN User Sample

It took a while, but I finally finished a version of my Encrypted Connection String Objects that I could release to the public, and also handles SQL Server Connection Strings.  You can get download it over at GDN.

It is written in C# (sorry no VB.Net yet), and the downloaded version uses VS.Net2K3, but there is nothing in the code that requires .Net 1.1.  The basic premise behind the code was:

1. Create a generic ConnectionString class that handled encapsulation of the form and format of connection strings.  I stuffed them in config files, so I can use the same ConnectionString class in both Win apps and Web apps.  I then updated the class to handle encryption and decryption of the connection string.
2. Create specific implementations connection string classes for the different types of connection strings, and expose the different sections as properties.  I also add code to set default values to the ones in the documentation, and added edit checking of the different sections.
3. Create a WinForm app that would build and edit the connection string sections in config files.

All three parts are included in the downloaded code example.  And to use this code in your data access code, you only need to add one line of code.

The code is all from my forthcoming eXenstible Data Objects (XDO) data access layer, that will get released via GDN as soon as I finish adding SQLServer support to the already existing Oracle support.  XDO is nothing like the other Data Access Application Blocks I’ve seen.

DonXML

Converting Excel Worksheets and CSV files to a DataSet

I’ve been working on a bunch of cool new code that I’ll be releasing soon, but here’s an odd ball code snippet that I recently had to create:

I needed to open an Excel spreadsheet and then load the data into a database.  I found some good examples using OLEDB’s extended properties to open both Excel file and CSV files, but the Excel solution required that you needed to know the WorkSheet name.  With a little searching I found out that you can pull the all the WorkSheet names by using the OLEDB GetSchema method.  With a little bit of corrections for ADO.Net the code turned out to be relatively easy:

private DataSet GetExcelWorkSheet(string pathName,string fileName,int workSheetNumber)
{  
  OleDbConnection ExcelConnection = new OleDbConnection(@"Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source="+pathName+@"\"+fileName+";Extended Properties=Excel 8.0;");
  OleDbCommand ExcelCommand = new OleDbCommand();
  ExcelCommand.Connection = ExcelConnection;
  OleDbDataAdapter ExcelAdapter = new OleDbDataAdapter(ExcelCommand);

  ExcelConnection.Open();
  DataTable ExcelSheets = ExcelConnection.GetOleDbSchemaTable(System.Data.OleDb.OleDbSchemaGuid.Tables,new object[] {null, null, null, "TABLE"});
 string SpreadSheetName = "["+ExcelSheets.Rows[workSheetNumber]["TABLE_NAME"].ToString()+"]";

  DataSet ExcelDataSet = new DataSet();
  ExcelCommand.CommandText = @"SELECT * FROM "+SpreadSheetName;
  ExcelAdapter.Fill(ExcelDataSet);
 
  ExcelConnection.Close();   
  return ExcelDataSet;
}

Here’s the same thing, but opening a CSV file:

private DataSet GetCVSFile(string pathName,string fileName)
{
  OleDbConnection ExcelConnection = new OleDbConnection(@"Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source="+pathName+";Extended Properties=Text;");
 OleDbCommand ExcelCommand = new OleDbCommand(@"SELECT * FROM "+fileName,ExcelConnection);

  OleDbDataAdapter ExcelAdapter = new OleDbDataAdapter(ExcelCommand);
  
  ExcelConnection.Open();

  DataSet ExcelDataSet = new DataSet();
  ExcelAdapter.Fill(ExcelDataSet);
   
  ExcelConnection.Close();   
  return ExcelDataSet;
}

re: PDC Birds of a Feather Sessions

I mentioned the BOF sessions last week, and then Brad and Shawn made similar posts, but I recently found out that there will be no audio visual equipment at the BOF sessions (as per Dave reply to my post on the INTEA forums).  IMHO, this pretty much eliminates a lot of the possible benefits of BOF sessions, the way they are setup now.  If there will be no access to a/v equipment, they really should change the session setup to a  panel discussion format, with one person acting as the MC, and let the audience question the panel.  This way you really don’t need a/v equipment, and it would also help foster community involvement.  A similar session to BOF was the Panel Discussion at XmlDevCon, and that went over great.  The way it is setup now, one person submits a proposal and an abstract, but that person can’t really do a presentation without a/v equipment (nor does it seem that a presentation is really what the BOF sessions are all about).  You need some way of including a list of panel members for each proposed session.

DonXML

Apress Introduces the Apress Forums

I just got an email from Apress announcing the launch of the “Apress Forums” which was created to help foster a community with their authors, contributors, and readers.  As someone who has worked as an Apress  tech reviewer, (on Kurt Cagle's SVG Programming book) they are actively trying to get me participate on the forums.  Since I’m a sucker for that type of stuff, and I really enjoyed working with Apress, you should see may name there quite often (at least for a while anyway).

DonXML

INETA – PDC Birds of a Feather Session Discussion Forum

I totally missed this forum on the INETA site, but if you have suggestions for the PDC BOF sessions, you may want to stop by and make it public.  Also, if you see a suggestion that you would want to go to, let them know.  The BOF sessions  gives us morts a chance to have a voice at the PDC.

I put in my suggestion for a BOF on SVG, and/or the SharpVectors project.

DonXML

[Listening to: Get Down - Butch Walker ]

All SQLXML Blog Engine

I don’t know how many of you out there have been to Don Smith’s Dev4Net blog, but if you are into SQLXML, you should definitely stop by, it is written entirely in SQLXML 3.0, and he has made the source available. 

Don works for MS as a consultant out of North Carolina, and is a big supporter of SVG.  Our paths have crossed many times over the years, and we have a sort mutual admiration society going, but we were finally able to meet up at the XMLDevCon, and hopefully he will be attending the PDC, too.

DonXML

SubscriberTrack – Tracking Who Subscribes to Your Blog

Steve Maine is trying to figure out a way to track who subscribes to his blog.  He wants something like Trackback or PingBack, but for RSS subscriptions.  He suggests one possible solution using XML-RPC. Check out his blog entry for more info.

I met Steve at the XMLDevCon, and have subscribed to his blog ever since.  He has some great ideas, so when you get a chance, stop by and give it a read.

DonXML