G - Talks

Primary Keys – SQL Server

Gomz — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:46:32 +0000

SQL command to find the name of the Primary key of a table
select name from sysobjects where xtype = ‘PK’ and parent_obj = object_id(‘Table_Name’)

Where did I need to use this?
I had to drop the primary key of a table and create a new key where I didn’t know the name of the pre-existing PK name.

Posted in SQL Server, Tutorials

SSIS – Quick Fixes

Gomz — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 21:24:16 +0000

In a recent project I had to dabble a little with SSIS – Microsoft’s tool for Data Extraction, transformation and Loading.
As easy as it was developing the project in SSIS, It was a terrible journey when I had to deploy it.
But there were few easy fixes I found out eventually and I m logging them here for my future references.

What do I do when……

I create a Data Flow task that uses OLE DB Source or any source or destination. While it worked great on my local machine, I found that the package failed at design time when I loaded it in another machine with different configurations. Obviously the connections were created during run-time. For that, the connection manager had to understand that it needs to wait before validation. The error message just meant there was a connection problem, but why it didn’t say …

Exact error message: The AcquireConnection method call to the connection manager “XE.admin” failed with error code 0xC0202009. There may be error messages posted before this with more information on why the AcquireConnection method call failed.
Soln: Set the Data flow task property of Delay Validation to TRUE.
My Package failed to load on another machine due to encryption by the original machine.

Exact error message : “Failed to decrypt protected XML node “PackagePassword” with error 0x8009000B “Key not valid for use in specified state.”. You may not be authorized to access this information. This error occurs when there is a cryptographic error. Verify that the correct key is available”.
Soln: Set Protection Level property of the package to ‘DontSaveSensitive’.

♣Sometimes just updating the software to the current service packs or service releases does the job.

Posted in SSIS Tagged: package, SQL Servedr Integration Services, SSIS

iGoogle Themes – Syracuse University

Gomz — Sun, 31 May 2009 00:51:05 +0000

If you’re interested in creating your own iGoogle theme then you’ve come to the right post. What could be more fun than creating something personal, something you can share with friends, the iGoogle theme is similar to having different skins for your media player.
Creating a theme is the simplest way to put several simple ideas and software to practice.

The Idea
To start off, the theme I chose to create is on Syracuse University, my alma mater. I saw a few samples of themes already available with iGoogle and some particular to Universities.

Designing the Header
Things that came to my mind when I thought of the school are the mascot , legends from SU, the Carrier Dome and our colors and of course the weather. I used Photoshop to create the banner. For this I needed to know the size of the usual header.

Finding the size of an image
I used Paint and created a copy of a sample banner of iGoogle and saved it. Then I created a HTML page in notepad and inserted this image using the tags.

I opened the HTML page using a browser . Right click on the image and select Properties where the size of the image is given.What I m showing below is a transition of different designs I came up with as I became more comfortable with Photoshop.

The one with Otto

Version 1.

Version 1.3 – My Final version

The IGThemer
After creating the banner, you are minutes away from uploading your first iGoogle theme. The easiest way to create a theme is using ‘iGoogle Themer ‘ at http://hawidu.com/themes/. You can add the banner and choose color for the gadget. After creating the theme, you can upload you theme here :
http://www.google.com/ig/tm/creator.

Voila! By now you would have created your theme and even had a look at it. This is the easiest and quickest way. However, there are several smaller details that can be controlled and fine tuned by using XML (Extensible Markup Language).

For More Control
Start building your theme using the sample given here : http://code.google.com/apis/themes/docs/reference.html . This is basically specifying small features using XML.

To have it used by others
We have to follow certain guidelines to have the theme published. The Guidelines are specified here : http://code.google.com/apis/themes/programpolicy.html . After submitting the theme for public viewing, it takes a few weeks for it to be published. For me it took two weeks for the Syracuse University theme to appear while searching.

Whats the next step: Dynamic Themes
Now begins the fun part, after learning XML and the rules and the specs you can finally create themes that changes with time by using the tag

12am-1am
…attributes…

I hope you’ve had as much fun creating the themes as I did. If you are from Syracuse University and would like to add my theme just search for Syracuse University at iGoogle.com themes and add it.I would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions on this so don’t forget to leave your comments.

Posted in Art, iGoogle, Syracuse University, Tutorials Tagged: iGoogle, igThemer, Syracuse, Themes, University

Charcoal Sketches

Gomz — Sat, 30 May 2009 17:24:36 +0000

It’s been quite some time since my last post, this time I wanted to put some of my sketches I did a few years ago. I love to sketch and paint when I get the chance. I wish I did a lot more. I found that adding colors and making things more lively is not only a part of the way I paint but also a part of my personality.

Thank you Sireesha, for letting me know how I could use Photoshop to create the Watermark Effect on my sketches.

The one below is called ‘The Lady’

Posted in Art, Drawings, Paintings Tagged: Art, charcoal, drawing, sketch

Fun with C++

Gomz — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 07:48:24 +0000

What is the output of the following

int f()
{
static int a = 0;
a = a-1;
return a;
}
void main()
{
cout<< f()*f()*f()*f();
}
Bitwise Operations
1. Int a = 3 ^ 1
2. Int a = 2 | 1
3. int a = 5 , b=a >>1,c =b >> 2;
What is the value of

double a = 5/10 * 2.0;
What is the value of C

char c = 127;
c = c+ 10 ;
What is the size of obj

char obj[10][20][30];
int a = sizeof(obj);
What is the value of c

int c = 0;
if (c=(c!=1)) {}
What is the value of b

int a = 5;
int b = a++ * ++a;

What are their answers …

Note:

Timed Tests in C++ may test:

Pre & Post Increments
Bitwise Operations
Keywords like static
Size of data types
Pointers & References

Posted in Interviews, Programming, Tutorials Tagged: Object oriented Programming, pointers, Programming, Quiz

Tutorial Links

Gomz — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 07:26:56 +0000

Today I thought I might share my growing list of tutorials and interesting links from various cool softwares like C# .NET, Dreamweaver and so many others. Below this list is another one where I m compiling various Blogs which have also been helpful while completing my projects.

C# Vs Java

http://www.ondotnet.com/pub/a/dotnet/2001/06/07/csharp_java.html?page=1
How to add applications in system tray in C#

http://www.developer.com/net/csharp/article.php/3336751
Dreamweaver Beginner Tutorial

http://www.adobe.com/devnet/dreamweaver/articles/getting_started_dreamweaver_cs3.html
Web Development Tools

http://www.dynamicdrive.com/style/
Adding a macro to Outlook

http://www.codeproject.com/KB/Blogs/outlookblanksubject.aspx
How to display logo in address bar

http://virendradugar.wordpress.com/2009/01/19/how-to-display-your-own-logo-in-the-address-bar/
Competency Matrix

http://www.dotnet247.com/247reference/a.aspx?u=http://www.indiangeek.net

Other peoples blogs
http://virendradugar.wordpress.com/
http://www.danstuts.com/

Posted in Tutorials Tagged: Blogs, C#, Dreamweaver, Tutorials, Web Developement

Sorting Algorithms

Gomz — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:31:43 +0000

This is a quick reference to a few common sorting algorithms. I find it quite useful for quick references. This is not an in-depth analysis of the different sorting algorithms.

S.No	Name	Description	Best Case	Worst Case	More info
The N Log N Algorithms
1	Quick Sort	Choose any element as pivot then move elements smaller to it to the left side and bigger to the right. Efficiency depends on what is chosen as pivot	O(nLogn)	O(n²)	Fastest but highly recursive In-place , recursive ,divide and conquer Difficult to implement
2	Merge Sort	Recursive Split array to two equal halves	O(nLogn)	O(n Log n)	Marginally faster than heap sort, but needs twice the amount of memory than heap sort
3	Heap Sort	Not recursive , doesn’t need multiple arrays	O(nLogn)		Slower than Quick sort and Merge Sort but faster than O(n²) Algorithms
The N² Algorithms
3	Insertion Sort	Contain two lists, one unsorted and the other where elements are inserted.	O(n²)		Inspite of O(n²) , twice as efficient as Bubble sort Shouldn’t be used for very large lists(over a 1000)
4	Bubble Sort	Advantage: Simple to implement. Can be used if n<100.	O(n) (if the list is already sorted)	O(n²)	Most inefficient, slowest
5	Selection Sort	Don’t use it – Use Insertion Sort instead	O(n²)

Posted in Algorithms Tagged: Algorithms, bubble sort, heap sort, insertion sort, merge sort, quick reference, Quick sort, selection sort, sort