The Pee Dee .NET User Group is proud to present .NET University as a 4-part series during this winter’s meetings!  Join us to get an overview of the next version of the .NET Framework (.NET 3.0), including Windows Communication Foundation, Windows Presentation Foundation, Windows Workflow Foundation, and Windows CardSpace. All topics are covered at a 100-level, and labs will be included with the courseware. Upon completion, registered attendees will receive their official .NET University alumni T-Shirt and a Certificate of completion. Space is limited, so register early to get your seat at .NET University!

The dates, topics, and instructors will be:

11/14/2006 – Cardspace – taught by Page Brooks
12/12/2006 – WCF – taught by Glen Gordon
01/09/2007 – WPF– taught by Chris Craft
02/13/2007 – WF– taught by Brian Hitney

Click Here to Register!

I wanted to brag on this FREE tool I implemented last week. If you subscribe to my blog using RSS, you probably already noticed. The product is FeedBurner.

Scott Hanselman mentioned FeedBurner so I figured it was worth trying.

I use dasBlog which I like very much. The stats on dasBlog are good, but it is really hard to tell how many subscribers are subscribed.

I get motivation to write when I know that more than my cat and I read my blog. I would say my wife but she says StupidProgrammer.com is too techy for her… So I used my “Spawn Of Satan” cat Halie… Anyone want a cat?

Anyway, I ramble…

dasBlog has a build in configuration setting that allows an easy integration to FeedBurner. Subscribers do not even know of the change. Notice the bottom of this post, you (the reader) can Digg It, Add a Comment, Blog This, and even Add to del.icio.us.

I now provide an email subscription to my blog. For those people who would rather get email rather than use a RSS reader.

I am sure FeedBurner can do more than I am using but I am too cheap to spend the money for the non-FREE account.

And finally, on my website, I can see my subscribers… 
 as of today.

My application is slow… SQL Server must be running slow…

Ever heard that before? Now there is an easy way to show different.

There is a great article I read the other night in SQL Magazine and had to investigate a little.

You can simply run this stored procedure and it shows a great deal of very helpful performance information.

• User
• Host Machine Name
• Program/ Application Name
• CPU usage
• Memory Usage
• Last Executed Query

You can read more and download the stored procedure here.

Now… quite blaming the database!!!

It is in CTP presently, but looks pretty cool. Read more and download here.

Note: Used to recreate database schemas and data. Works with SQL 2000 and 2005.

How cool is that?

Read more here.

There have been times where I needed to create a temp table, then query it or join to it for some some reason or another.

Here is the way I have done it in the past. (Forgive for the simple example)

DECLARE @TempTable TABLE (UserId int, UserName varchar(20))
INSERT @TempTable
SELECT 
   UserId
   , UserName
FROM tblUsers
WHERE AccountLocked = 0>

SELECT * FROM @TempTable>

Ok, ready for this??? I ran some performance testing between my way and this new way…
The below code is over 3 times faster than the first example. (WAY FASTER). I found this on adoguy.com.

WITH TempTable AS
(
   SELECT 
      UserId
      , UserName
   FROM tblUsers
   WHERE AccountLocked = 0
)
SELECT * FROM TempTable>

This is a lot cleaner to read and really faster.

This is the 2nd in my series of “Thoughts on Productive Developers”… (Here for the 1st)

I wanted to discuss some things that make a developer better and more productive.
(Things for the Developer and the Managers)

(Cont.)
Item 7a:
Free Drinks for the team. Coffee and water are a must. Soda and juice drinks are a plus!!! Caution: more caffeine == wired developers.

Item 7b:
Free snacks: M&Ms, Gummy Bears, muffins (for breakfast), etc… GOOD for moral.

Item 7c:
Free meals/lunch: This is only for special occasion (once a month or so). GREAT for moral.

Item 8:
Have a central eating place. It is good to order in food and the developer team eat together and chat. Good for team building.

Item 9:
Enough of the food stuff… Making me hungry… Allow, plan, and budget for developers to attend conferences. Great way to learn. Best if a co-developer can attend too… Two ears are better than one.

Item 10:
Flexible work hours. Have the ability to work odd hours. Some developers do not function 1st thing in the morning. (not me… give me some coffee… I am good to go)

More to come later…

This month’s Pee Dee Area .NET Users Group meeting will be held on Tuesday, October 10, 2006.  Jim Duffy will be presenting a collection of Visual Studio .NET 2005 Tips and Tricks that will make your life much easier! 

Jim Duffy is a Microsoft MVP, DotNetNuke Evangelist on the DNN Core Team, and the president of TakeNote Technologies. TakeNote, a Developer’s Choice Award winner for hands-on training, specializes in training and creating business solutions with Microsoft enterprise technologies. He has presented .NET topics at a number of regional and international developer conferences including DevEssentials, Advisor Live events, and DevTeach. Jim is a popular speaker due to his knowledge, humor, and quick-witted approach. He is an exceptional trainer, skilled developer, and is a regular contributor of .NET content to CoDe Magazine. Jim’s background also includes a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer and Information Systems and over 20 years of programming and training experience. Jim is also co-host of Computers 2K6, a weekly call in radio show (AM 850 The Buzz) in Raleigh, NC.

Here is the tentative schedule:
6:00 PM – 7:00 PM Socializing / Dinner
7:00 PM – 7:10 PM Introduction and Sponsor Time
7:10 PM – 7:15 PM News Items
7:15 PM – 7:55 PM Presentation
7:55 PM – 8:00 PM Drawing and Wrap Up

This should be very good!!! Hope to see you there!!!

This is similiar to a previous post but slightly different.

This query returns the number of days in a given month. The previous post returns the last date.

DECLARE @DaysInMonth int
   , @DateToTest datetime>

SET @DateToTest = GETDATE()>

SELECT @DaysInMonth = day(dateadd(mm,datediff(mm,-1, @DateToTest),-1))>

SELECT ‘DaysInMonth’ = @DaysInMonth>

Returns: (For todays date of 10/2/2006)

DaysInMonth
———–
31