General

MERGE in SQL 2008

Ryan Farley — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 07:57:00 GMT

A co-worker pointed out to me something cool that is coming in SQL 2008. A new keyword for MERGE has been introduced. This new type of statement reduces some of the tedious work you typically do when adding data to a table in SQL. As things are now, you will check for the existence of a row, and then proceed to update the matched row if it exists, or insert the new data if the matching row did not exist. The new MERGE keyword allows you to do this all in a single statement.

This new MERGE statement reduces the following pseudo code:

/*
    -- save parent table data
    If Data Indentifier found in Parent Data Table
        Update Data
    Else
        Insert Data
    End

    -- save child table data
    Delete from Child Data Table all items not in Data
    Update Child Data Table with all items in Data
    Insert into Child Data Table all new items in Data
*/

To the following:

/*
    -- save parent table data
    MERGE Data to Parent Data Table

    -- save child table data
    MERGE Data to Chid Data Table
*/

Thanks Dave Burke ;-)

Ryan Farley — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 07:40:00 GMT

Dave Burke has a long running series of posts on his blog titled “CS Bytes” (example) and “CS Nugglets” (example). If you work with Community Server at all, you've probably found that these posts are pure gold. Completely invaluable information that I look forward to every day. I'm not sure I'd enjoy working with Community Server as much without Dave taking the time to gather all the best CS info for me ;-)

I have two new CS sites on the verge of going live. One a product site for an addon for the great CRM software SalesLogix called Outlook2CRM, and another for a user community site for professionals working with SalesLogix, called Good Training. Having worked with CS to build and customize these sites, I look forward to the great info collected by Dave every day (and the helpful people who post the stuff in the first place!)

Take a look at Dave's Community Server related posts

Thanks for your help Dave! Long live CS Bytes and CS Nugglets!

A new Level of Geekdom and a Childhood Dream

Ryan Farley — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 14:30:00 GMT

My son, Trapper, just had his 9th birthday party this weekend. I had my friend, Neil (kungfootrooper.com) come, who just completed his new Darth Vader costume to give the boys something to gawk over. Even though I knew it was my fiend Neil underneath I can't even describe how powerful and awe-inspiring it was to be in the presence of Darth Vader. Neil is a big guy and makes a really menacing Darth Vader. It was an indescribable feeling and felt like the fulfillment of a childhood dream to stand next to Darth Vader, up close and in person.

The picture does not do it justice but it will be a memorable experience. Thanks Neil. BTW, Neil just recently marched in the Rose Bowl parade in CA as a Storm Trooper and even got to meet George Lucas. Neil is documenting it on kungfootrooper.com.

New GreatNews Style

Ryan Farley — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 08:01:00 GMT

I've mentioned my love for my RSS aggregator before, GreatNews. This week I came across a new user-submitted style for GreatNews called Web-2-Zero, created by Jorwa. This is a great looking style and is very pleasing to the eye - despite the name ;-)

Take a look:

Download Jorwa's Web-2-Zero GreatNews Style

There's a couple of things I didn't quite like about this style so I'm posting my own revised copy. The style posted by Jorwa was set to overflow into 2 columns, which is great for newspaper views, but for how I like to read (which is often posts with source code in them) I want to see the text in the full width, so I removed that. Jorwa's style also removed images from the text, again optimized for a newspaper view. I removed that as well. I also added a line after each post to separate each post when in a newspaper view and did a little different treatment for comments.

Download my modified Web-2-Zero GreatNews Style

Speaking of GreatNews. I still love it as much as ever. I did test out the new Jubilee build of RSS Bandit this week. While it does have some great features and looks nice, you just can beat the speed of GreatNews. RSS Bandit felt a bit sluggish in comparison. Keep up the great work Jack!

Accessing the Windows RSS Platform with C#

Ryan Farley — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 09:54:00 GMT

Internet Explorer 7 introduced the Windows RSS Platform. The Windows RSS Platform will be a core part of Windows Vista, but with IE7 it is now avilable on XP as well. The new functionality in IE7 to consume RSS feeds is made capable by the Windows RSS platform. This new functionality exists in Outlook 2007 also, giving you the ability to consume RSS feeds in Outlook folders ala Newsgator style, which can also synchronize with the Windows RSS Platform.

What makes this all so cool is that you now have the ability to have a single common store for subscribed RSS feeds. Well, this is the goal I suppose, although it will take some time for RSS Reader vendors to switch over - if that ever happens. Newsgator/FeedDemon has a utility for synching the Newsgator online feed store with the Windows RSS Platform.

Accessing the Windows RSS Platform is a simple task. The RSS Platform is exposed by a COM-based API found in msfeeds.dll (in the System32 directory). Add a reference to the COM dll and add a using directive for the namespace in the generated interop assembly and it's all easy work to use. Although, do keep in mind that this is a COM based reference so you'll need to take care to properly release all objects.

Let's say we want to populate a TreeView control with the feeds found in the local RSS store. An easy enough task, take a look:

using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using Microsoft.Feeds.Interop;
//..

private void loadFeeds()
{
    TreeNode rootnode = treeView1.Nodes.Add("Feeds");
    IFeedsManager feedmgr = null;
    IFeedFolder rootfolder = null;

    try
    {
        // instanciate a new FeedManager
        feedmgr = new FeedsManagerClass();
        
        // get reference to the root feed store folder
        // there is always a root 
        rootfolder = (IFeedFolder)feedmgr.RootFolder;

        // call method to recursively add subfolders and feeds to treeview
        addNode(rootnode, rootfolder);
        treeView1.ExpandAll();
    }
    finally
    {
        Marshal.ReleaseComObject(rootfolder);
        Marshal.ReleaseComObject(feedmgr);
    }
}
private void addNode(TreeNode parentnode, IFeedFolder folder)
{
    // check to see if the current folder has subfolders
    if (folder.Subfolders != null)
    {
        foreach (IFeedFolder subfolder in (IFeedsEnum)folder.Subfolders)
        {
            TreeNode foldernode = parentnode.Nodes.Add(subfolder.Name);
            // recursively add subfolders under current folder
            addNode(foldernode, subfolder);
        }
    }
    
    // if current folder has feeds add them under the folder node
    if (folder.Feeds != null)
    {
        foreach (IFeed feed in (IFeedsEnum)folder.Feeds)
        {
            TreeNode feednode = parentnode.Nodes.Add(feed.Name);
            feednode.Tag = feed;
        }
    }
}

Once you've gotten the list of feeds it is just as easy to get the items from a feed. In the example above I placed a reference to the feed in the tag of the TreeNode objects. Let's grab that on the TreeView's AfterSelect event and get the items from the feed to fill a ListView.

private void treeView1_AfterSelect(object sender, TreeViewEventArgs e)
{
    listView1.Items.Clear();
    if (e.Node.Tag != null)
    {
        IFeed feed = e.Node.Tag as IFeed;
        if (feed != null)
        {
            foreach (IFeedItem item in (IFeedsEnum)feed.Items)
            {
                ListViewItem li = new ListViewItem();
                li.Text = item.Title;
                li.SubItems.Add(item.PubDate.ToShortDateString());
                if (!item.IsRead) li.Font = new Font(li.Font, FontStyle.Bold);

                li.Tag = item;
                listView1.Items.Add(li);
            }
        }
    }
}

So now as a last task, when an item in the ListView is selected let's display the text for the item in a webbrowser control.

private void listView1_SelectedIndexChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    if (listView1.SelectedItems.Count > 0 && listView1.SelectedItems[0].Tag != null)
    {
        ListViewItem li = listView1.SelectedItems[0];
        IFeedItem item = li.Tag as IFeedItem;
        if (item != null)
        {
            // let's mark the item as read
            item.IsRead = true;
            li.Font = new Font(li.Font, FontStyle.Regular);
            
            // set the item's text in the webbrowser
            webBrowser1.DocumentText = item.Description;
        }
    }
}

So, that's easy enough. Just as easy to do other things as well, such as add a new feed to the local store.

private void addRyanFarleysFeed() // ;-)
{
    IFeedsManager feedmgr = null;
    IFeedFolder rootfolder = null;
    IFeedFolder folder = null;
    IFeed feed = null;
    
    try
    {
        // instanciate a new FeedManager
        feedmgr = new FeedsManagerClass();
        
        // get reference to the root feed store folder
        rootfolder = (IFeedFolder)feedmgr.RootFolder;

        // if we wanted to add the feed to an existing folder in the store
        // we could use the following (for example, if we wanted to store
        // the feed in a folder called "My Feeds")
        folder = (IFeedFolder)rootfolder.GetSubFolder("My Feeds");
        
        // if you didn't want to add it in a subfolder (ie: in the root instead)
        // then you'd just use the reference to the root folder
        
        feed = (IFeed)folder.CreateFeed("{ public virtual blog; }", "http://ryanfarley.com/blog/rss.aspx");
        // now force an async download of the items in the feed
        feed.AsyncDownload();
    }
    finally
    {
        Marshal.ReleaseComObject(feed);
        Marshal.ReleaseComObject(folder);
        Marshal.ReleaseComObject(rootfolder);
        Marshal.ReleaseComObject(feedmgr);
    }
}

So now in the course of about 10 minutes you've created your own simple RSS Reader that uses the Windows RSS Platform as the backend. Here's a screenshot of the sample I threw together using the same code I outlined above:

(click for larger view)

There's a whole lot more the Feed API can do, including downloading enclosures and more.

View the Feed API Documentation for the Windows RSS Platform on MSDN

Meet My New Favorite Text Editor

Ryan Farley — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 16:26:00 GMT

I've been a long time fan of TextPad. I live by my text editor. My text editor is probably one of the most highly used applications on my pc. Seriously. TextPad has been great and I've always loved it. I decided on TextPad years ago after I grew dissatisfied with UltraEdit, I've tried a few others along the way, such as Notepad2, but none would compare to my favorite TextPad. Funny thing is, I wasn't looking for a new text editor, but I came across a new one today that I had not heard of before and I decided to give it a try.

Enter Twistpad

View more Twistpad screenshots

Twistpad is an awesome text editor. It would have to be to get me to decide to move away from TextPad. Complete with syntax highlighting, plugin support, collapsable text blocks ala Visual Studio regions, code snippets & template support, a built in clipboard ring, and a whole lot more.

So what made me decide to switch? Well, one thing for sure, Twistpad is a really great looking app. It has a very Visual Studio looking UI, and I do like that. A lot. However, some of my favorite features are:

Collapsable sections (outline blocks)
The way it handles searches
Auto-complete
Color syntax-highlighting printing
File compares
Word-style spell checking
Very well thought-out and designed. It makes sense and it's layout is how you would expect a text editor to be
Did I mention how great it looks. I am just loving the VS look and feel

Visit the Twistpad site

All in all, I am loving my new text editor. I have to say I didn't think the day would ever come that I would move away from TextPad. So far I love what I see. Sure there are some things that are missing, such as unicode support (coming in the next version) and maybe a shell extension to get better context menu support in Windows, but all in all I am happy.

Awesome Command-Prompt Replacement

Ryan Farley — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 21:13:00 GMT

I was catching up on some Scott Hanselman posts today after going through Scott's new Utilmate Tools list (which is a great list) and came accross Scott's post on Console. Wow. I am in love. I've always been a big command-prompt junkie and this app is the cat's meow. A tabbed console windows app with better support for copy/paste and so much more.

How is it that Scott always find out about these kinds of awesome apps. This one is worth using for sure. I'm on the 2.0 beta build 125. I have mine with tabs for loading the VS 2005 & VS 2003 environment vars on separate tabs and a few other custom ones for setting environment vars as well.

Visit the Source Forge Console home to download

If IT had been Responsible for the Creation

Ryan Farley — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 07:44:00 GMT

Phil Factor had a great post where he spins the creation of the world as an IT project. A really amusing read.

"Art thou sure of meeting the aggressive six-day schedule for this project, verily??"

The smartly-clad angels looked nervously around for a spokesman. After a moment, a well-groomed executive angel stepped forward.

"We have, er...hath..., a total commitment to quality delivery of an effective solution"

"...meaning?"

"Our mission is to achieve total excellence in meeting the timescales for delivery of the project to the defined and agreed scope".

"Quality...excellence...", harmonised the assembled IT angels, upon hearing this confirmation of their mission statement, and rustled their feathered-wings to signal their commitment and solidarity.

"..and we're all clear on the project deliverables?" asked God. "Being more of the instinctive sort of executive, I realise I may have been heavy on the overall project vision...you know 'let there be light', and that sort of stuff...and light on the practicalities. I'm not really a detail person. That's why I delegate that sort of thing to you. I can appreciate that this is really a logistics and facilities-management issue but, we're 5 days in to a 6-day project and exploding two-headed donkeys at this stage make me rather nervous."

Read the entire article: If IT had been Responsible for the Creation

More Null-Coalescing (??) Operator Love

Ryan Farley — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 13:21:00 GMT

I last posted about the null coalescing operator in .NET 2.0 and just had to post a follow up. I came accross a post on Born 2 Code .NET (via Dennis van der Stelt) where several examples of ?? syntactic sugar are listed to demonstrate how the null coalescing operator surpasses the ternary conditional operator (?:) and if constructs as far as usefulness and readability.

Take a look at ?? Operator, Part II (Babelfish - Dutch to English Translation)

Here's a great sample from the post:

public Brush BackgroundBrush
{
    get
    {
        return _backgroundBrush ??
        (
            _backgroundBrush = GetBackgroundBrushDefault()
        );
    }
}

Which translates to (using a traditional if construct)

public Brush BackgroundBrush
{
    get
    {
        if (_backgroundBrush == null)
        {
            _backgroundBrush = GetBackgroundBrushDefault();
        }
        return _backgroundBrush;
    }
}

The idea here is that the ?? is evaluated first before the return, causing the assignment to occur in the case when the _backgroundBrush variable is null. That is just plain cool. Make sure you check out the link to the post on Born 2 Code .NET for more examples. Also check out Jon Skeet's post on doing elegant comparisons using the null coalescing operator as well.

Elegant comparisons with the null coalescing operator

Null-Coalescing Operator in .NET 2.0

Ryan Farley — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 13:52:00 GMT

I blogged two years ago (See Nullable Value Types and the New ? Syntax, and More on Nullable Value Types) about the new nullable operator in .NET 2.0 (wow, was that really 2 whole years ago? Time flies.). Since then, I waited patiently for it's arrival. Ever since .NET 2.0 came out I've been wanting to return and blog about it again.

Here's a recap on the Null-Coalescing operator. It is a cleaner replacement for ternary conditional operator ?: and has some additional uses as well. Think of the SQL Coalesce function (or IsNull). It is a lot like that. It gives you the first non-null between the two as SQL Coalesce does, but it doesn't allow multiple conditions to be checked as SQL Coalesce does (unless you chain them together). If the left-side is null, it gives you the right side. The right side could be considered your “default“ in case the value on the left is null for some cases. I've always been a fan of using ?: but there was something about needing to, at times, repeat variables in the statement. Here's a sample of what I am talking about:

string name = getName();
Console.WriteLine(name == null ? "No name" : name);

For as much as I love using ?: I've just never liked having to specify the variable name twice in that line. Not a huge deal, but things are even better using the null-coalescing operator in this scenario:

string name = getName();
Console.WriteLine(name  ?? "No name");

Much nicer. Gives you the same warm-fuzzy feelings you get from the SQL Coalesce function, doesn't it? It get's even better as you think of the possibilities you have using the new ?? operator. What previously would have been this (with the ?: operator)

Customer customer = Broker.GetCustomer(id);
if (customer == null) customer = new Customer();

Now becomes this:

Customer customer = Broker.GetCustomer(id) ?? new Customer();

I feel the love. But don't forget about nullable types. Nullable types in .NET 2.0 allow you to use a use a value type that can essentially be null. For example, if you have an int, bool, or other value type, it is either uninitialized or a value. Never null. But what if you wanted/needed to indicate null for a value type? A nullable value type is declared with a ? following the type. Let's take a look at a nullable int.

int GetInt()
{
    int? id = null;
    return id ?? -1;
}

Ever since .NET 2.0 came out I've wondered why I don't see more of this syntax around. From everything I come accoss I don't find this very often. Maybe people are still getting used to it, but it sure is some cool stuff IMO.