I need to zip files and add a timestamp to the zip filename, or I don’t have a backup system (I just have a copy of the latest files whether or not they are correct). This is TOTALLY related to my article on scripting out my SQL table data contents. This is run as a scheduled task – but I had to take a copy of the solution on my LOCAL drive- not a network copy or else the scheduled tasks does not work. See my article to reduce frustrations on Scheduled Tasks.

Using c# – here is the code snibbet (read the whole article though) Continue reading →

So, there is this process, that if the user could click a button themselves would save a lot of stress on everyone – the person who has to run the powershell script AND the people who have to ask (who wants to pester someone all the time?)

So in prep – I did a test – I didn’t know anything about powershell scripting so I hit google. I found a simple copy/paste of a file script and modified it to copy a file from one directory to another (and it echos something to the command line). Since it is the www – I made a share location so that it could be run from the network instead of my “C:\temp” directory because C: means MY c:\ and MY will change depending on who hits the button.

Next, I went and copied and pasted an example from someone else, found out which “using” statements are required, hooked up a following DLL manually required to get this working and presto – it worked in about 1/2 hour. Here are the steps: Continue reading →

There is hope to not log in all the time right from filemaker. I am choosing to use the extended privileges option. See this link (gotten from here).

OK, I have already ripped most of my hair out and I DID get it to work with many hours of research and many smart people at the helm online and at my client’s work. This article will save your HOURS I hope. The permissions thing was credit to them. Thanks.

[UPDATE: Feb 2014 – I now used a linked Server to a dB with a password (the with a password is a big deal – googling for a long time finally paid off – whoo hoo it works! See that article too – you will still need this one]

Here are some links I used to get things working. I use the OPENROWSET (see SQL example below) and there are 4 things that are key (this guy saved my bacon so I will link this to give him the most credit). If you have 32 bit office installed on a 64 bit machine etc Continue reading →

This paragraph was written long after the issue was solved. I think the black screen was a 2ndary monitor’s view (but we didn’t have a 2ndary monitor). So – first, ensure you have ONLY a digital cable going from your computer to the monitor OR an analog – not both (first things first). Then, if this does not solve it, hold down the WindowsButtton-P and press the down arrow – does something happen? Is it set to the TOP option of Primary Screen? If a pull-out out showed up change it to Primary Screen (top option) So doing a restore point to before the issue will NOT solve it because updates will overwrite this (plus this was too long ago to do a restore point). Another thing that will solidify this (since an update triggered all of this) is to uninstalling the graphics driver AND all the monitors in your Device Manager (not just disable) and doing a reboot (which will reinstall with the latest drivers) seem to solved it for good. I posted here to so you can read this in context.

Continue reading →

I have been doing Stored Procedures in Microsoft TSQL but this article is a good starter for mySQL. If you use phpMyAdmin to get this and that accomplished – you can access your procedures given the instructions in this article – you have to have at least one stored proc in order for this link to show up in phpMyAdmin.

It has always bugged me that code contains passwords that are plainly visible. There are ways to encode just the password or the whole connection string.

After some searching, here is a post that talks about encrypting the whole thing – but the last post talks of just encrypting the password (see last entry – at least at the time of writing this post)

Well, it seems that ZOHO Creator has come a ways since last winter. I abandoned using ZOHO Creator which REALLY will someday give Filemaker a run for its money. It is BEYOND incredible what ZOHO has done with their database tool REPORTS which blows MS Access out of the water – and it is web based natively. I am also beyond impressed with their Spreadsheet tool (which has VBA in it – and it works!) and their inter-operability with their own platforms and other people’s platforms.

BUT – it seems that I should re-try ZOHO Creator as a front end to their reports database tables. Lets give it a go – follow along – it is Dec 13th 2013 so this blog article might take a week or so to settle down. Here goes … Continue reading →