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Update At I've been struggling since Sunday with a cute little problem at work. One of the tools we use (which is a pretty neat piece of work) has a few quirks. I'd call them bugs, myself, but I've been encouraged to consider them part of the personality of the software. The particular issue I ran into was both odd and annoying. The tool is a sort of super-batch-file-maker, where I can automate operations from within SQL Server, other software packages, file handling - all that jazz. And 94 times out of 100 it works just fine. Those other six times are where I'm going to hang my drinking problem, when I finally get around to developing one. The procedure I had to automate was relatively simple. A spreadsheet file needed to be imported into a database table. Simple, straightforward - doesn't require much in the way of brain cramping. Until you get to the details. First of all is the file handling. The product uses variables and logicals. The difference is slight, but key. A Logical is typically something which might move, but isn't updated during the processing of the tool. A Variable, on the other hand, is that little piece of information in which typically you're very interested. And it can change. File names can be held as either variables or logicals. The problem is that if you set a variable as a filename, it stores the entire "fully qualified path" as we say - in other words, the path and file name. Nice if you needed. Sucks if you don't. Problem two is that one piece needs the specific file name - which part A, above, can return. Problem is that Part B doesn't need the path - Part A can't deliver it without it. So the problem was solved by yours truly in my own weird fashion. Part A, which scans folders for files (I can specify a filter - such as "*.xls"), got used twice. The first time it moved the file from it's originating location to a new location (just in case it takes a while to process, because this thing checks for a new file every 15 minutes). The second time it's moved - to the same location. How's that for smarts? Once I have the proper path, I can open the file. Part B opens the file, and converts it to a comma-separated values list. Why? Because it's a hell of a lot easier to process TSV than CSV, and the same goes for CSV over Excel's native format. Part C becomes the engine - it reads a line from that CSV file, then calls another process to do the work. That second process was, originally, very simple. It would take the data, load it into the table, and end. And as anyone anywhere can tell you, when it's simple, you just haven't complicated it enough. Because of some miscommunication, I had to change the table I was importing into from one that I defined to one the software defined. All well and good until you run into problem 53 - that is, in a typical SQL Server table, there's a field - often called a "Rowguid" after the data type - which is a unique value, to insure that that record - and only that record - can be retrieved if needed. It's like an index. Problem is that the software I'm working with doesn't define guids they way I would. It defines a two-part field. Neither are numbers - both are NVarChar (which means "any fucking thing you want"). One is about 10 characters long, the other longer. Problem with NVarChars is that while you can put numbers into them, numbers don't necessarily come out of them. Which was where I was running into trouble. I could insert a number 1, but when I tried to retrieve 1, it wouldn't work. Once I got that straightened out, I ran into another problem. When you sort numbers as text, you'd expect the following results - for the numbers 0 through 11, you would expect 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11. And you'd get it - if they were numbers. Since they weren't, you get 0,1,10,11,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9. And therein lies the problem. If you use the MAX Function to return the maximum value in the list, you would expect 11. However, due to the text sort, you would get 9. What happens if you try to retrieve the max with 11 records in the table (0-10), add one, and add that record as unique? Well, you get the 9, rather than the 10 - which means that 9+1 = 10, and when you attempt to add record ten - again - you get shot down. So what's a fellow to do? Cheat. Don't start with 0. Start with 1000000000. Then the next record will be 1000000001. That's what I came up with. Which should have worked. And it actually does... Sorta. You see, there's a problem with this tool. A problem that crops up for me about six out of the 100 times I use it. When I run the process in the debugger, it reports the results. When I run it through the "production" flow, it reports different results. And that is what has had me tied in knots for the last few days. Absolutely, totally, utterly flummoxed. All of my stuff was right - it just wasn't working right. Once I put it into production it did. Dad used to say that a poor craftsman blames his tools. So I won't blame the tools. I got the damned thing working, but as an exercise in frustration, I'd give it a ten or eleven... On a scale of one to five.
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Update At Yesterday I took a couple of my Webelos Scouts out to a nearby Boy Scout Troop's outdoor activity. Jack had previously attended a Boy Scout Troop meeting, and done all of the other little bits, so I sent him to talk to the Scoutmaster - who agreed that they had finished their obligations to him - and in doing so, finished their work on the Arrow of Light. Which is the highest award the guys can earn in Cub Scouts. In a way, it was intensely gratifying. There were most of my guys - one had come back to visit from Iowa, and the other four current members were there. One was missing - he chose to drop over this summer. I still regret it, but I'll let it go. But on the other hand, it was a bit ... well, disappointing. There were many things, many ideas, many places I wanted to take the guys. We never did. Back five years ago, I started this thing with the general idea that we had nearly freaking forever. Suddenly, we're down to three den meetings left. One is helping out some younger scouts to get ready for an outdoor event, another is a den meeting where we're going to let the boys make - believe it or not - firestarters. Our last den meeting is still up in the air. I was going to do a pizza party, but our den funds went for something else. I might throw it open to the parents to decide. It's been fun. Now my attention needs to turn again to training, to get trained for the Boy Scout level of leadership, and to leading adults - because that is where my next challenge lies.
[Link] But has anyone who wants to vote for Hillary really seriously considered what the hell Bill Clinton might spend the next four years doing as First Husband? Come on, people... Look - I'm no fan of Obama, either. I just think we need a choice that's better than the woman, and the black guy. Doesn't look like we'll have a valid one. Once again, there's all this hype and hope, and we end up holding our noses and pulling the damned levers...
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This is not a Web 4.0 site - nor 3.0, nor 2.0 - hell, it's barely 1.0. It is static HTML code, written and refined by hand using the internet-age equivalent of bone hammers and flint knives - the venerable WordPad under Windows and Firefox (that's at least a 2.0 release, actually). So no, there are no nifty-shifty whiz-bang things here. Frankly, there's only the written word, written (mostly) by me, of things that occur to me, or thoughts I occasionally (and some will say allegedly) have, and when it's fiction, I shall be sure to alert you as such. Other than that, I shall simply inform you that here, content is King. I've been doing this not as long as some, longer than others, and, as some long-time readers will tell you, I regularly and consistently piss people off, irritate them, and expose my ignorances for all the world to see. This is me, this is who I am, and this is why I put myself here - to see if it is possible for me to ... improve mine own self, as it were, since evolution is most assuredly done with me. With that said, on to the more standard verbage - I presume we're all adults - or at least fairly mature beings - here. The opinions contained herein are mine, wholly, and do not represent those of any organization, group, or other collective of other beings / people / things / whatchamacallits to which I belong, am associated, or appear to endorse. Truth is, folks, I am one of those square pegs constantly being smashed into roundish holes. Unfortunately for me - unfortunately, for the holes, as well, as I am often more akin to the granite that comes from where I grew up than something more malleable and ... well, workable. I have sharp edges, which are, regrettably at times, revealed here. Given that I am a unique individual, and that I am a collection of opinions and such, it must be noted that you are hereby legally provided notice that you can't blame those organizations for my thoughts. Unless I'm running such an organization (which, I assure you, is utterly unlikely - I much prefer to organize and work behind the lines), those groups should not be blamed for my jerkisms. However, feel free to take your frustrations with those opinions out on me, and leave the rest of the world alone. If you do e-mail me, I freely reserve the right to publish your e-mail if I choose, ignore it at my peril, or, in certain cases of gross stupidity or clear evidence of serious colo-rectal inversion (that's head in your butt for those of you without bigger dictionaries), add you to my kill file. Please do not take it personally, nor as a sign of your unique value to my world - my kill file is not exactly empty. You would, in fact, be joining a wonderful group (according to them) of people who dislike me and/or my opinions. We differ in that particular. As any sane being would. You have been warned. And Thank You for visiting.