Archive for January, 2010
SQL Server Management Studio 2008 and table re-creation
“Saving changes is not permitted. The changes that you have made require the following tables to be dropped and re-created.”… What? I was just changing the null constraint on a column, why are you talking about dropping a table?
When it hits you the first time, you’re probably confused. The fix itself is easy: Just open [...]
January 29, 2010
Tags: SQL Server Posted in: Misc. programming 
One Comment
PowerShell Basics #2: Dir for power users
You would think the standard dir command in cmd.exe would do its job adequately, but it’s still surprising how much more functionality can you pack into it. Here’s an introduction to power-using Get-ChildItem, also known by the aliases of dir and ls.
Leveraging FileInfo and DirectoryInfo
For starters, it is important to remember that dir returns objects. [...]
January 28, 2010
Tags: PowerShell Posted in: .NET, Windows IT One Comment
PowerShell Basics #1: Reading and parsing CSV
I will be giving a talk on the topic of “PowerShell for Developers” at TechDays 2010 in Helsinki, Finland. As a warm-up to my presentation, I will be publishing a series of blog posts on various aspects of PowerShell. My viewpoint is specifically one of developer utility: What can PowerShell do to make a dev’s [...]
January 22, 2010
Tags: CSV, PowerShell Posted in: .NET 3 Comments
Creating custom types in PowerShell, revisited for v2
In June, I blogged on creating custom types within PowerShell. In PowerShell v2, released with Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, things are a bit easier.
Now, the syntax for adding properties is far nicer, as you can pass a hashtable of values to add-member. Namely, the previous example of enumerating the applications run at [...]
January 20, 2010
Tags: PowerShell Posted in: .NET 3 Comments
VSPaste is great – but vile
VSPaste is a Live Writer plugin I have been using to help in pasting code segments from Visual Studio to my blog. It’s been working great – until I noticed it’s polluting my blog with hidden links to itself.
VSPaste allows me to copy code in Visual Studio and just hit the paste button. And hey [...]
January 16, 2010
Posted in: General One Comment
OpenOffice.org and Microsoft Office: A serious threat for the empire?
The blog world is abuzz on a Microsoft job posting. The US subsidiary looking for a “Linux and Open Office Compete Lead” – and a team of 13 people – seems to signal a meaty victory for the OS crowd, as it implies Microsoft is taking OpenOffice seriously. Or does it?
As I pointed out in [...]
January 5, 2010
Tags: competition, open source Posted in: General No Comments