Day: Sunday April 1 2007

SQL Server 2005 Integration Services – Not bad

colinizer Microsoft, Server Application, Software Development, Tools

I have colleagues that have been using this for 8 months or so, and I just took the dive into using it properly myself yesterday.

SQL Server 2005 Integration Services is part of the Business Intelligence set of SQL tools that replaced DTS packages from SQL Server 2000. It’s heart is in the right place, but it’s definately a V1 product.

I should have probably looked at the Adventure Works samples because it wasn’t easy to get into. However, once you figure out what all the bundled task and data flow tools do, you are ready to go…

Well almost:

  • the designer interface is slow (even on an fast machine)
  • error messages are all horribly truncated with the hover tool tips not being too helpful
  • the debugging is pretty bad in terms of being able to really see what’s going on
  • it’s possible to get items corrupted in which case you need to delete, reinsert and reconfigure

However, it is doing the job I want it to do – create a data warehouse from database, webservice and CSV sources using excel reference data – put it’s a little painful at times. Getting the security right to run one of these packages in SQL is also a fun configuration job. Of course, I can create custom tasks and data flow items if I want to which is a plus.

I admit to not yet having installed SQL Server 2005 SP2 and Visual Studio 2005 SP1, so I’ll give those a go.

I’m about to shift to Vista and I know SP2 is needed (plus a hot fix) to make scripted tasks work in the new OS.

I’m wondering whether they will replace the control takes with Windows Workflow Foundation at some point. I can see how needs could have arisen simultaneously but that either the fit or the timing wasn’t quite right…

Advertisement

Frankenstein parents

colinizer Culture, Humour, Marketing, Sheep, TV Show

So I was out driving along at 7am this morning when I hear an ad on the local radio station for a company that will do cosmetic surgey on babies. The ad mentions how babies and young children are still adaptable, etc. It even promotes the service as good for beauty pageant hopefuls.

I’m pretty sure it was an April Fool joke, or at least I hope it was and I couldn’t remember the web address they gave.

However I bet there are parents out there who do get elective cosmetic surgey for their children for the purpose of enhancing their beauty pageant chances.

Anyone who caught the pilot episode of “The Great American Dream Vote” (the cheesiest show on TV by far and hosted by Donny Osmond) on Mon March 26th 2007, can see the enthusiam some people have for getting their children in pageants, enough that a contestant mentioned twice that kids had died from cancer but were buried with pageant crowns on their heads that her daughter raised money to buy. The contestant’s dream was for her daughter to be Miss America. OK, the girl visits dying kids and keeps them company, but come on… I think people tend to have one of two extreme reactions to this story. The fact that Jimmy Kimmel was joking about it on Tuesday night gives you the general impression out there. Perhaps this is where the radio station got their idea for the joke from – I really hope it was a joke.

Life… Art… Life, etc.

Movie review: Blades of Glory

colinizer Cinema, Review

Those were some glorious blades…

The laughs kept on coming in Blades of Glory starring Will Ferrell and Jon Heder. A couple of male champion figure skaters get into fight and are banned for life from singles figure skating… but not from doubles. That, a love interest, and a hell-bent-on-winning brother-sister doubles skating pair for competition, sets the plot for the rest of the movie, and surprisingly the premise manages to last all the way through. William Fichtner, who seems to be in lots of things these days including Fox’s now-slightly-dragging-on-and-it’s-going-to-be-break-out-Sarah-for-Season-3-it-seems but still entertaining Prison Break.

Fortunately Jon Heder didn’t seem like his usual depressed dork character which was a concern going in. The audience kept on laughing and some gags got a bit of a roll going, but it wasn’t a total gut buster. It was a great unwinder of a movie to see.

I wonder what’s next in Will’s subject-matter trail – Brooms of Bravado? That could be a Curling or a Wizard movie.