a geek. now armed with a blog. http://blog.swiftalpha.com/Default.aspx edoode http://blog.swiftalpha.com/Default.aspx Subtext 2008-12-15T16:55:51Z http://blog.swiftalpha.com/archive/2008/12/15/commadelimitedstringcollection-makes-nice-csv.aspx 2008-12-15T16:54:25-06:00:00 2008-12-15T16:55:51Z <div style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">just posted this here as a reminder to myself or anyone else looking for a quick way to create a comma-seperated string from a list of things. </div> <div style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);"><br /> </div> <div style="font-family: Courier New; color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">public static string ListToCsv&lt;T&gt;(List&lt;T&gt; list)<br /> {</div> <div style="margin-left: 40px; font-family: Courier New; color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">CommaDelimitedStringCollection commaStr = new CommaDelimitedStringCollection();<br /> list.ForEach(delegate(T item)<br />   {<br /> <div style="margin-left: 40px;">  commaStr.Add(item.ToString());<br /> </div>    });<br /> </div> <div style="font-family: Courier New; color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">       return commaStr.ToString();<br /> }</div> <div><span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">   -edoode</span></div><img src="http://blog.swiftalpha.com/aggbug/127908.aspx" width="1" height="1" /> http://blog.swiftalpha.com/archive/2008/12/12/windows-foldershare-beta-is-now-windows-live-sync.aspx 2008-12-12T10:49:29-06:00:00 2008-12-12T10:52:37Z <div><span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">i've been using the </span><a style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="https://www.foldershare.com/" target="_blank">foldershare </a><span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">beta for some time now, and I like it! it keeps folders between my home pc and laptop syncronized without any fuss. just set it up and boom, instant sync. works behind nat, firewall etc. when I started up this day foldershare notified me that they have gone out of beta. the new name is now </span><a style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" href="https://sync.live.com">windows live sync</a><span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">. the upgrade went with unexpected smoothness. i installed the new client, and all my settings and shared folders were migrated. </span></div> <div><br style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" /> <span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">big kudo's to the team!</span></div> <div><br style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" /> <span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">  -edoode</span></div><img src="http://blog.swiftalpha.com/aggbug/127835.aspx" width="1" height="1" /> http://blog.swiftalpha.com/archive/2008/12/11/sql-issue-with-cast.aspx 2008-12-11T13:28:58-06:00:00 2008-12-12T11:54:00Z <span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">was working with a quick query to find some data in a netxt field containing a comma-seperated list of countries, so i wrote:</span><br style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" /> <pre style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">select id, countries from tablea where cast(countries as varchar) LIKE '%mozambique%'</pre> <span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);"> this didn't return the number of rows i expected so i investigated further. it seems that using cast() in this way (without specifiying  a length) creates a varchar of default length. if a string in my ntext fields is longer than this length thestring is terminated. hmm, fun.</span><br style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" /> <span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);"> my curiosity got the better of my so i checked to see what the default length actually </span><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">is.</span><br style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" /> <pre style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">select len(cast(countries as varchar)), datalength(cast(countries as varchar)), countries <br />from tablea</pre> <span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);"> returns 30 for both len() and datalenght(). 30? why 30?? what an decidly odd default.<br /> <br />   -edoode<br /> <br /> [update] thanks to my friends at <a href="http://stackoverflow.com/questions/359257/why-is-the-default-length-for-varchar-30-when-using-cast">stackoverflow </a>i now see the <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms176089.aspx">official ms doc</a> stating that the default is 30. I still wonder about the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">why</span> though...</span><img src="http://blog.swiftalpha.com/aggbug/127813.aspx" width="1" height="1" /> http://blog.swiftalpha.com/archive/2008/11/24/stack-overflow.aspx 2008-11-24T14:45:12-06:00:00 2008-12-11T13:39:00Z <div style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">i love <a href="javascript:void(0);/*1227534012458*/">stack overflow</a>. it's like experts exchange, only it works. i have posted several questions (see <a href="javascript:void(0);/*1227534072785*/">here</a>) and got answers on almost all <img alt="" src="/Providers/BlogEntryEditor/FCKeditor/editor/images/smiley/msn/teeth_smile.gif" /> happy happy joy joy. answering questions gains you reputation. more reputation means more functions, like up or downvoting. elegant. go try it with a question.</div> <div style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);"><br />   -edoode</div><img src="http://blog.swiftalpha.com/aggbug/127341.aspx" width="1" height="1" /> http://blog.swiftalpha.com/archive/2008/11/24/blogging-is-back.aspx 2008-11-24T14:35:31-06:00:00 2008-12-11T13:39:14Z <span style="font-family: Verdana; color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">after a well deserved break from the blog stratosphere, i have returned. i'll try and post an entry weekly</span><br style="font-family: Verdana; color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" /> <br style="font-family: Verdana; color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" /> <span style="font-family: Verdana; color: rgb(51, 102, 255);"> stay tuned!</span><br style="font-family: Verdana; color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" /> <br style="font-family: Verdana; color: rgb(51, 102, 255);" /> <span style="font-family: Verdana; color: rgb(51, 102, 255);">   -edoode</span><img src="http://blog.swiftalpha.com/aggbug/127340.aspx" width="1" height="1" />