Error message from SSIS:

Warning: 0x80019002 at File Loader - Trans Package - Invoice: The Execution method succeeded, but the number of errors raised (3) reached the maximum allowed (3); resulting in failure. This occurs when the number of errors reaches the number specified in MaximumErrorCount. Change the MaximumErrorCount or fix the errors.

Skit from Holy Grail:

Then, shalt thou count to three. No more. No less. Three shalt be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, nor either count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then, lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who, being naughty in My sight, shall snuff it.

Only their hairdresser knows for sure.

As part of my work at OmniPath, I need to create an LDAP provider that confirms credentials if they are not already in the ASP.NET Membership system.  It seems that ADAM is the pathway to this, but I bet there are a bunch of tools out there that already will do this for me, maybe even already set up for Community Server.  When I was at the Community Server Developers Conference last month, I talked to a few people that had done this, but did I write down their email?  Nooooo....  Anyway, that's the next job that I need to look at.

Boy, it's nice to be back writing random thoughts in to a blogging engine.  How did I not do this for the last four months?

A client reminded me of a project that we did together ten years ago that revolved around tracking scope points into requirements into designs into test plans.  It was very slick.  There was a way for people to comment on the document remotely, and then the author could mark down comments and accept the changes, and only the unhandled comments would be taken to the quality gate meetings.

Sound familiar?  Sharepoint and Office 2007.

So, I am going to look at renewing that project using contemporary technology.  There is a lot of stuff already out there - with a good set of templates, I bet I won't even have to write any code!  W00t!  Looking forward to that.

I am officially tired of the C# versus VB sniping, folks.

C# is just Microsoft's way of making code bigots program in VB.

Let's face the facts.  VB has traditionally brought three things to the table that couldn't easily be accomplished in ASM or C++ or Java or whatever:

1. A ubiquitous runtime library
2. Semi-structured typing
3. Memory Management

Guess what C# has.  You guessed it.

1. The .NET Framework
2. The Object
3. The GC

Just.  Like.  VB.

I don't want to hear any more crap.  Neither language is better, just as Blue isn't better than Green.  They are both languages, they do the same thing, they compile to IL, there is no effective difference.

Want to impress me?  Use both.  Or write in C++.  C# programmers don't impress me.  I used it for three years and switched to VB because I like it better.  Not because it is better, because I like it better.

There, I feel a lot better.  Don't you??

I should be used to this.  Really, I should.  It is just SO easy to make bad assumptions about Microsoft software when you are coding.  Take MSXML6 ... please!  (That's my best Dangerfield, I swear!)  They added a XMLHttpRequest class, which Netscape has supported forever.  My inherited Learning Management System has this conditional:

if (window.XMLHttpRequest) 

{ 

          //assume Mozilla 

}else{ 

          //assume Microsoft 

} 

Now, this code is just there to help determine if the ActiveX control should be used, but of COURSE the original developer leaned on it later for all SORTS of stuff.  So, when MSXML6 came out, with its juicy new XMLHttpRequest object, the conditional assumed Mozilla, and, well, hilarity ensued.

Well, I don't talk much about our son on this page, but this is too good to pass up.  At the gaming conference Origins this year, CD101 (a local radio station) had a booth.  Gabrielle and I are fans, and we stopped to chat for a second with Adam dozing in his carriage.  The gave us one of their ubiquitous stickers, which somehos ended up on the carriage.  A picture and much hilarity followed, and it ended with Adam's first internet appearance.

It's a weird, weird world, folks.  A picture of Adam with a cthulu handing over the edge of the carriage on CD101's web page ... because we went to a gaming conference.  What's next I wonder...

I attended a panel discussion about open source and enterprise development.  There were some stellar people on the panel, including:

• Rocky Lhotka
• Sara Rain
• Rod Johnson
• aak, I forget the other two!

Anyway, that's not important right now; I'll update later with the other two names.  Point is, they were asked about the whys and wherefores of open source in the enterprise space, and mentioned the 'cool' factor and the security of seeing the code as the primary factors for open source utilization.  I think they were wrong.

First, the reason people use open source is that it is free.  At the enterprise level, there is usually no shortage of money, but I don't think most open source is utilized at the enterprise level.  I think it is utilized at the department level.  Departments have budgets, and after the bubble burst, there is no departmental money in any enterprise.  Mid-level enterprise architects are using the software because there is no budget for a document management solution.  Instead of writing it themselves, they use open source.

Second, they overlooked the most important thing that open source is used for - education of the community.  When you have the best and brightest writing software then giving away the source, people use it for examples.  I use Community Server and Dot Net Nuke on a number of projects - because they are free, and good.  I use the source code to show how best to solve difficult problems every day, because they people who wrote them are smart.  That's what open source is doing for the development community more than anything else.

The panel also dismissed the idea of open sourcing products for end-of-life projects because 'what community wants to manage the source of Microsoft Money?'  Well, I disagree there too.  I bet someone would take the project on.  And I bet people would use it - because it is free, and good.  I don't care if the source is a mess.  Someone will own it, and someone will use it, and it is no hair off of anyone's back.  Visual Basic 6.0 would be a fantastic product to open source.  There is a monster community out there, and it is made up of developers.  Someone will use it and someone will own it.

I was digging through an older database I am rewriting and I stumbled on this little stored procedure.  It uses the internals of SQL Server to search the stored procedures for a provided string.  Just one of those bits of code we are all meaning to write but never do.

CREATE PROCEDURE Find_Text_In_SP
@StringToSearch varchar(100) 
AS 
   SET @StringToSearch = '%' +@StringToSearch + '%'
   SELECT Distinct SO.Name
   FROM sysobjects SO (NOLOCK)
   INNER JOIN syscomments SC (NOLOCK) on SO.Id = SC.ID
   AND SO.Type = 'P'
   AND SC.Text LIKE @stringtosearch
   ORDER BY SO.Name
GO

I'm not even sure who wrote it but it seems like something handy to have around.

Do you get the requirement to put the version in the title bar of your apps?  I do all the time.  With the advent of ClickOnce, though, most apps have TWO version numbers, the Assembly Version, and the Publish Version.  If you go by the Publish Version (you aren't alone) you can get the Version number using the System.Deployment.Application namespace.  Make sure you import it first, and reference it too.

If ApplicationDeployment.IsNetworkDeployed Then
  Me.Text = String.Format("{0}, Version {1}", Me.Text, ApplicationDeployment.CurrentDeployment.CurrentVersion.ToString)
Else
  Me.Text = String.Format("{0}, Version {1}.{2}.{3}.{4}", Me.Text, My.Application.Info.Version.Major.ToString, My.Application.Info.Version.Minor.ToString, My.Application.Info.Version.Build.ToString, My.Application.Info.Version.Revision.ToString)
End If 

Remember Babelfish?  I sure do.  It was one of the first online translation engines, right about when Jade was asking me to translate Americash Mall into Spanish.

Guess what.  It's still out there.  And it is GOOD.

http://babelfish.altavista.com

AltaVista was one of the first, and second only to Yahoo in the early years, search engines.  Glad to know they are still kickin.

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1 bag frozen Trader Joe's artichokes
1 6 oz tube of Cheve
1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup of shredded Parmeasan cheese
2 oz Cream Cheese
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsb red pepper flakes
dash of Worchester sauce
optional can of Trader Joe's Crab

Boil the artichokes in enough water to cover until soft.  Evacuate onto a cutting board and chop up.  Warm the cheve and cream cheese in the microwave until soft.  Mix together all ingredients and put in a shallow dish.  Warm in microwave until the cheddar melts.  Eat with yummy birdseed crackers.