Data Source Connection Strings made Easy

Was just in a PASS session with Peter Myers as the speaker and saw a great tip I hadn't been aware of that makes it really easy to create database connection strings in Windows.

Just create a text file anywhere and change the file suffix to .udl

Note the Type is now 'Microsoft Data Link'

Double-click on this file and you will get the Connection String designer dialog window. Choose the provider and fill out the rest of the dialog as required;

Click OK to save the file.

Now open the file in Notepad (or text editor of your choice) to easily copy the full connection string as needed.

Thanks for the Tip Peter!

The Canberra SQL Server User Group has moved web sites

The Canberra SQL Server User Group has had some recent changes, primarily moving away from the sqlserver.org.au web site to one managed solely by the group.

The new details are;

eMail:	csqlsug@gmail.com
Web Site:	http://canberra.sqlpass.org
Meetings:	http://www.eventbrite.com/org/744931271
LinkedIn:	http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=2028445
Facebook:	http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=26112342248
Meetings RSS feed:	http://feeds.feedburner.com/csqlsug

Database Projects again

Tonight I'm presenting my Database Projects session at the Queensland SQL Server User Group.

It will cover pretty much everything the last session did but this time I'm adding some bits on Post-Deployment scripts and how to use them to deploy data and database diagrams.

I'll post a full blog on how database diagram deployment works in a few days.

Second delivery of my Database Projects session

Just presented the same session I presented at my user group last night to some of the people I work with.

4 times as many as I had for my group, and I didn't have to supply pizza.

I think I made some converts to the DB project cause.

The August Canberra SQL Server User Group meeting was last night

This month I presented a session called “A Database Project! What’s that?”

It was a quick tour of what a database project was, and how to use it. It focused on the version that comes with Visual Studio 2010, but points out the differences to VS 2008 where necessary.

It ended up being a very cosy session as just 3 group members showed up, although it was very timely for one member as his work place is just now introducing the concept of Database Projects.

The consensus was that DB Projects rock, but I already knew that :)

64 bit Office OleDB drivers are finally available

Just a quick blog to let folks know that Microsoft have recently released 64 bit MS Office drivers at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=C06B8369-60DD-4B64-A44B-84B371EDE16D&displaylang=en

These are the Microsoft Office 2010 drivers and can be used for accessing Excel and Access files from within your .Net or SSIS script tasks when they are running in 64 bit mode.

Note that the instructions from the link above refer to accessing Excel 2010. If you need to access an earlier version of Excel try using "Excel 12.0" in your extended properties.

I have implemented these drivers on my SSIS server, and can now successfully run my SSIS packages in 64 bit mode and they happily access my Excel files.

I haven't done any detailed benchmarks but initial comparisons between the same package running in 32 bit mode and 64 bit mode show some very good performance improvements.

I'm between jobs

Just a quick note to say why I haven't blogged anything for a while, about me or the Canberra SQL User Group.

I am currently unemployed, by choice. I have left the ACT Government and will be starting with Wardy IT as of Monday April 19th. I expect that will be a lot of fun working with Peter and the gang.

So my Wife Jennifer and I are having a bit of a break before the new job starts, as I expect I won't get any more leave for a while. We've just been camping with friends for 5 days (which is why there was no UG meeting this month) and are about to leave for Bali for 7 days.

Good luck to Peter and Anthony with the ALM Conference next week. Wish I could be there but Bali calls.