A few weeks ago I started trying to better understand the concepts behind service oriented architecture (SOA), how I can apply them to my work, and if doing so is actually a good idea. When I first started hearing about SOAP years ago, I understood it as an alternative to objects — you build and consume services instead of objects. This sounds great for highly distributed environments, but also sounds like a performance nightmare in a business environment that does not need distribution. So I largely ignored it, and assumed I could ignore SOA as well.

Years ago I knew how to configure the Apache webserver, back when I was a grad student / Linux admin. As any reader will have figured out, I've been a Microsoft-centric programmer for a number of years now. Thus it is not surprised that I would have forgotten some basics about Apache.

We recently returned to the discussion of using XML style transforms to format flat file output from Reporting Services. The report we created was pretty basic, so let's look at something more complex: a fixed format.

Let's say the client has given us the following file format, and we've trimmed the data in the SQL query to make sure it doesn't exceed the data width:

In the third installment of a series, we defined some intended flat file output, designed a simple report in MSSQL Reporting Services, and looked at the plain XML output from Reporting Services. Now, long after that post, we can create and apply the XLST needed to convert that report to the desired output.

Postscript November 2020: from the days in which I was not allowed to practice "agile"...

You've written requirements. You've created a detailed use cases, and unit tests, and reviewed all three. Code is delivered, passes system testing, moves on to UAT. Whoa, holdup there fella, where's the data validation that prevents the user from doing X? Its right there in the requirements. What happened? Not only was it missed in the unit testing (and possibly use cases), but it was missed in the review process as well.

Although very handy, C#'s foreach statement is actually quite dangerous. In fact, I may swear off its use entirely. Why? Two reasons: (1) performance, and (2) predictability.

Good article on using indexed views: Indexed Views Basics in SQL Server. Similar good coverage in Ben-Gan's Inside Microsoft SQL Server 2005: T-SQL Programming. Problem: both specify that the hint WITH(NOEXPAND) needs to be used when executing a query against the index on anything other than Enterprise and Developer. However, I've found that it is also required for Enterprise.

Problem​

SQL Server 2005 queries that used to be fast are now rather slow. You've already tuned the query with good indexes and optimized structures. You've checked the running jobs with Activity Monitor and don't see anything that should be slowing down the server. Likewise you've checked the memory and CPU utilization and they don't seem out of line. Did you check the indexes fragmentation? Ah, there's the problem — a highly fragmented index was slowing things down. Is there a way to pre-emptively find and fix these?

Problem​

I have an SSIS package, MyPackage, stored on MyServer in the Package Store. I create an Agent to run the package, running under a SQL account hooked up to a proper proxy and credentials for Windows authentication. Works in development, doesn't work in production: the agent gets the error Connect to SSIS Service on machine "MyServer" failed: Access is denied.

As a Web developer whose formal programming training focused only on console applications and simple GUI apps, it was not immediately obvious to me how to update a (Windows Forms) GUI while a method was still running. Once I decided it was worth the effort to learn how to do so, I was not surprised to find that it is rather easy, using BeginInvoke().