Peter's Software House

I’ve joined the iPod/iPhone walking with earplugs army

noreply@blogger.com (Pieter Jansen van Vuuren) — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 20:10:00 +0000

Yes, I am now one of those people! :D

protected internal

noreply@blogger.com (Pieter Jansen van Vuuren) — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 20:09:00 +0000

I’ve used a protected internal property for the first time yesterday!

Never thought I’d need it. But there you go, after 10+ years of using C# I’ve finally had a reason. :D

What I’ve been up to

noreply@blogger.com (Pieter Jansen van Vuuren) — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 07:22:00 +0000

It’s been almost 6 months since I’ve last been on my blog. A crazy busy time, so much has happened.

In February there was a quick unscheduled visit to South Africa to see my Dad, who at the time was not doing very well. After returning home he had a bit of a rebound, unfortunately he lost his battle with cancer a few weeks ago.

Work wise things are crazy, a million things on at the same time. I am very confident that the new infrastructure team will get us to were we want to go now. This will allow me to get more involved with the Development side of things again. Have really enjoyed the last couple of days in this regard.

I am desperately looking for a Help Desk Support Analyst, a junior/graduate .NET developer and a intermediate .NET developer. If you know anyone looking for one of these roles or are yourself interested then please drop me a line – pieter_jansen at gfsg . co . nz

blogging from iphone

noreply@blogger.com (Pieter Jansen van Vuuren) — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 05:57:00 +0000

Busy testing blogging from iPhone.

No time to blog

noreply@blogger.com (Pieter Jansen van Vuuren) — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 23:52:00 +0000

The title says it all. I have buckets full I can blog about, the problem is finding some free time to do it.

I’ve recently accepted the role of Head of I.T. at Grosvenor Financial Services Group Limited and this is taking up a lot of time I didn’t even know existed. ;)

I am loving the new role at the moment though. A lot of new challenges and opportunities. It continues to be an amazing feeling to work in information technology. There is just so much to keep up with and no day is the same. Yea, I love this!

Until later then.

Where to find the SyncToy Log files

noreply@blogger.com (Pieter Jansen van Vuuren) — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 20:04:00 +0000

You can find your SyncToy logs under the Local Application Data folder for the current user, i.e.:

C:\Documents and Settings\<%userName%>\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\SyncToy\2.0

LiteSpeed and Log Backup error

noreply@blogger.com (Pieter Jansen van Vuuren) — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 02:20:00 +0000

I was getting this nasty error message this morning:

slssqlmaint failed [SQLSTATE HY000] (Error 50000). The step failed.

Turns our that I ‘accidently’ added a database to my LiteSpeed log backup maintenance plan that had its recovery mode set to Simple. Removed the offending Database from the list and the job started working again.

SyncToyCmd does not want to sync

noreply@blogger.com (Pieter Jansen van Vuuren) — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 02:16:00 +0000

I was getting the following error while trying to run SyncToy from the command line:

SyncToyCmd has detected that the folder pair Database Log Backups has not been synchronized yet. Please run SyncToy.exe to complete the initial synchronization.

Turns out all I needed to do was delete the Folder Pair and recreate it. Just a little bit of a pain, but worth it for this excellent tool.

Looking for a .NET Developer

noreply@blogger.com (Pieter Jansen van Vuuren) — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 02:12:00 +0000

I have just placed an ad for a .NET Developer on Seek

Grosvenor Financial Services Group Limited is a specialist financial services and investment management services provider with offices in New Zealand and Australia.

Are you passionate about technology?

Do you love developing software?

Does TDD, Inversion of Control, Dependency Injection, Continuous Integration and code reviews excite you?

Do you want to work on agile projects in an agile organization?

Have you got C# experience?

If you have answered ‘yes’ to all of the above, then send me your CV. We are looking for a .NET Developer to join our team.

We offer a competitive remuneration package which includes health and life insurance protection as well as bonuses for top performers. If you feel you are ready for the challenge please send your CV to:
pieter_jansen@gfsg.co.nz

I am Addicted to CodeRush

noreply@blogger.com (Pieter Jansen van Vuuren) — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 02:14:00 +0000

SQL Server 2008 R2 Express Raises Max Database to 10 Gigs

noreply@blogger.com (Pieter Jansen van Vuuren) — Fri, 07 May 2010 00:55:00 +0000

Pretty cool that Microsoft recognizes that 4GB is tiny these days.

Saw this here

Know your language – C#

noreply@blogger.com (Pieter Jansen van Vuuren) — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 23:16:00 +0000

If you are still doing the following:

Then know that since C# 1.0 you could write it as:

for (int i = 0; (i < CommandCollection.Length); i++)
{
    //...
}

or you could enumerate over the collection, in this case CommandCollection is an array of SqlCommand:

foreach (SqlCommand cmd in CommandCollection)
{
    //...
}

Or you could use a ForEach action:

Array.ForEach(CommandCollection, cmd => 
{ 
    //...
});

Why?

noreply@blogger.com (Pieter Jansen van Vuuren) — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 03:24:00 +0000

Can anyone tell me why you would do the following?

!latestRow.EditBy.Equals(Convert.ToString((object)latestRow.VerifyBy))

latestRow.EditBy is a string

latestRow.VerifyBy is also a string

How not to develop against a sql database

noreply@blogger.com (Pieter Jansen van Vuuren) — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 04:16:00 +0000

When updating a single record (5 Column Table) your Quad CPU, Quad Core 64GB SQL Server should not spike to 25% CPU usage for 10 seconds.

No try and update tens of thousands of these records…

AAaaaaargh…

Jobs at Grosvenor - Senior Network Engineer

noreply@blogger.com (Pieter Jansen van Vuuren) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 03:45:00 +0000

Grosvenor Financial Services Group Limited is a specialist financial services and investment management services provider with offices in New Zealand and Australia.

We have an opportunity for someone who is looking for a Senior Network Engineer role in the financial services industry. This role is based in Wellington and as part of the I.T. team you will be involved in all aspects of our projects.

This role demands that applicants have an ability to operate efficiently and with a superb attention to detail in a busy and, at times, complex environment. This role would suit someone looking for variety in their work or someone who is seeking challenge.

Key Responsibilities:

Suggesting and providing IT solutions to Business and Management problems
Planning and implementing the companies IT strategy
Installing, supporting and maintaining new hardware and software infrastructure
Ensuring that all IT equipment complies with industry standards
Create and maintain comprehensive documentation for all implemented networks
Analysing and resolving network/system faults and implementing system improvements as a result of these faults
Vendor management
Disaster recovery planning.

To be successful in this role you will demonstrate competency in the following areas:

Previous experience with multisite Active Directory implementations
Hands on experience with Cisco ASA Firewalls, Cisco Routers and switches
Windows Server 2003/2008, Active Directory, File & Print, WSUS, IIS, Exchange Server 2003/2007, SQL Server 2000/2005/2008, and SharePoint experience
Comprehensive experience with Group Policy
MCSE/CCNA qualifications
Experience with VMware ESXi Server and associated technologies
Experience with Terminal Server/Citrix XenServer/VDI
Hands on experience with HP and Dell server platforms
Be passionate about IT

We offer a competitive remuneration package which includes health and life insurance protection as well as bonuses for top performers. If you feel you are ready for the challenge please go to seek to apply:http://www.seek.co.nz/job/b-senior-b-b-network-b-b-engineer-b/wellington-central/16948998/33/1/

Jobs at Grosvenor - Senior .NET Developer

noreply@blogger.com (Pieter Jansen van Vuuren) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 03:43:00 +0000

Grosvenor Financial Services Group Limited is a specialist financial services and investment management services provider with offices in New Zealand and Australia.

We have an opportunity for someone who is looking for a Senior .NET Developer role in the financial services industry. This role is based in Wellington and as part of the development team you will be involved in all aspects of our projects.

Key Responsibilities:

Provide or contribute to design approaches
Develop software applications that support the goals of the organisation according to agreed standards and guidelines
- Test software applications
Document software applications
Peer review code
Provide application support and maintenance.
Provide guidance and mentoring to other developers

To be successful in this role you will demonstrate competency in the following areas:

Action oriented with a strong drive for results
Creativity
Able to deal with ambiguity
Intellectual Horsepower
Strong technical learner with good problem solving skills
Planning
Process management
Build and maintain good relationships with customers and peers

We offer a competitive remuneration package which includes health and life insurance protection as well as bonuses for top performers. If you feel you are ready for the challenge please go to seek to apply: http://www.seek.co.nz/job/b-senior-b-b-net-b-b-developer-b/wellington/16948940/27/1/

40 Year old Port

noreply@blogger.com (Pieter Jansen van Vuuren) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 07:38:00 +0000

I’ve been saving this now for just under 10 years for a very special occasion. When my Dad decided to come and visit midway through Chemo I knew it was now or never. I was nervous as hell, the bottle has not been stored in the best of places over years for various reasons, mostly ignorance. As I tried to get the cork out I realised that it has basically started to disintegrate and it was just a soggy ball of cork, so care had to be taken. But we got most of the cork out without much of a fuss. Then we poured the Port into, wait for it… Champagne glasses! Yea I know could have done better than that. In fact the next day my Dad went out and bought us a whole set of lovely port glasses. But lets get back to the Port. By now I was really anxious, I did not know if the Port was going to be any good after all these years. Then came the first sip….

And the second….

Ooooo My……

It was heaven in a glass.

Here is a picture of the bottle and a champagne glass:

Borges Vintage Port 1970

A Retrospective of Sorts: an Evening with Jeff Sutherland and Jens Ostergar

noreply@blogger.com (Pieter Jansen van Vuuren) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 01:05:00 +0000

Last night I was at a Wellington APN event with Jeff Sutherland and Jens Ostergar. It should have been a good networking opportunity for me, but I was tired and hot and I ended up standing were ever I could find a bit of a draught and away from others. :(

Back to the event, it wasn’t as interesting as I hoped it would be. This could be my state of mind at the time or I might have had unrealistic expectations. I also ended up leaving early as the latest trains and busses I had to catch to get me home meant I had to leave about 30 minutes before the official end of the event. So based on that you can take what I say here with a pinch of salt.

The event was really well organised. Yolanda van Dorrestein and Anthony Boobier did an amazing job to get 60+ people to the event, at a great venue. Jens pointed out that they had had their biggest CSM training class yesterday ever, and that the percentage of people working in government was the greatest ever that they have seen in a class. Shows that Wellington and New Zealand seems to be well ahead of other countries in this regard.

Jeff and Jens were interesting and the event was very interactive, there were no Powerpoint presentations. This was all great, but I felt that although they are passionate about Scrum the talk was very superficial and high level. I didn’t take anything from the meeting that I had not heard before. Granted I did not interact at all, so I can blame myself partly for this I guess. Jeff told a few stories about the start of Scrum that was interesting and funny, but again, I’ve heard most of these before. I also found that some of his stories were like sales pitches, paraphrasing Jeff here: ‘I went to so and so and showed them Scrum and within 3 sprints they had improved production 10 fold’ or ‘I took a project plan that was going to take 17 months then talked to some of the product owners and then a small team and I delivered a working solution after 3 months’. It could be that he misread the people in the crowd who I thought was mostly believers in Scrum/Agile who wanted to meat the co-creator of Scrum and get some inside on how to either get scrum into their organisation or improve their Scrum processes, not be sold the ‘amazing’ capability of Scrum to magically make all projects come in well ahead of schedule and way under budget. I’m sure others have found the evening really interesting and engaging, and I am not complaining about the event at all, just informing those who know me how I experienced the event.

Code Contracts Build Message

noreply@blogger.com (Pieter Jansen van Vuuren) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 01:23:00 +0000

Assembly 'XXXX.Repositories' has already been rewritten. I, your poor humble servant, cannot rewrite it. Instead I must give up without rewriting it. Help!

Clean and rebuild fixed this. But being a typical computer geek I love silly but informative messages like this.

Publish/Subscribe in jQuery

noreply@blogger.com (Pieter Jansen van Vuuren) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 21:04:00 +0000

I’ve been using the jQuery plugin from from Nova Software.

You can get it here.

The publish/subscribe pattern using jQuery has made it possible to do some really complicated things without complicated code.

My contribution to the Enum.TryParse methods for .NET 3.5

noreply@blogger.com (Pieter Jansen van Vuuren) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 02:39:00 +0000

Update - Added a try catch for those times when someone passes in an invalid value.

public static class EnumExtentions
{
    #region Static Methods  /// <summary>
    /// The same signature as .NET 4.0
    /// </summary>
    /// <typeparam name="TEnum"></typeparam>
    /// <param name="value"></param>
    /// <param name="result"></param>
    /// <returns></returns>
    public static bool TryParse<TEnum>(this string value, out TEnum result)
        where TEnum : struct
    {
        // for .NET 4.0 replace with:
        // return Enum.TryParse<TEnum>(value, false, out result);
        return EnumExtentions.TryParse<TEnum>(value, false, out result);
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// The same signature as .NET 4.0
    /// </summary>
    /// <typeparam name="TEnum"></typeparam>
    /// <param name="value"></param>
    /// <param name="ignoreCase"></param>
    /// <param name="result"></param>
    /// <returns></returns>
    public static bool TryParse<TEnum>(this string value, bool ignoreCase, out TEnum result)
        where TEnum : struct
    {
        // for .NET 4.0 replace with:
        // return Enum.TryParse<TEnum>(value, false, out result);

        result = default(TEnum);
        try
        {
            Type typeOfTEnum = typeof(TEnum);
            StringComparison stringComparison = ignoreCase ? StringComparison.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase : StringComparison.InvariantCulture;

            foreach (string item in Enum.GetNames(typeOfTEnum))
            {
                if (item.Equals(value, stringComparison))
                {
                    result = (TEnum)Enum.Parse(typeOfTEnum, value, ignoreCase);
                    return true;
                }
            }
            if (Enum.IsDefined(typeOfTEnum, Convert.ChangeType(value, (Enum.GetUnderlyingType(typeOfTEnum)))))
            {
                result = (TEnum)Enum.Parse(typeOfTEnum, value);
                return true;
            }
        }
        catch 
        {
            return false;
        }
        return false;
    }

    #endregion Static Methods  
}

ActiveSync and Firewalls

noreply@blogger.com (Pieter Jansen van Vuuren) — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 00:09:00 +0000

I’ve been using ActiveSync for over a year on my work PC and suddenly before XMas it stopped working. Initially I didn’t think much of it, it was the silly season after all. Today ActiveSync showed a screen I had not seen before and I let it try and figure out what the problem was as I was getting a bit peefed that I could not sync my mobile any more. It finally redirected me to http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/en-us/help/synchronize/activesync-usb.mspx and then the little light bulb in my head switched itself on. The infrastructure guys have changed the global policy with regards to the Windows Firewall that has given me grief over the last month or so. I asked them to allow ActiveSync through and now everything is happily syncing.

What the…?

noreply@blogger.com (Pieter Jansen van Vuuren) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 03:46:00 +0000

I must have installed something that caused VS.NET to go bonkers. The worst was that although it looked like these links worked they were starting the wrong version of the Database Edition.

So I had to uninstall the Visual Studio Database Editions and then re-install and that fixed up my menus for me again. A real PITA.

Moved my blog

noreply@blogger.com (Pieter Jansen van Vuuren) — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 22:33:00 +0000

I’ve moved my blog to http://peterssoftwarehouse.blogspot.com/ as I have not been able to post to my blog at http://dotnet.org.za/pieter for ages (been getting timeouts and other strange messages when trying to post).

If you are subscribed to my feedburner feed (http://feeds.feedburner.com/psh) then you will get this post (I hope).

Agile Professional Network

noreply@blogger.com (Pieter Jansen van Vuuren) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 08:18:00 +0000

I just came back from the first meeting of the Agile Professional Network in Wellington.

It was really nice to see so many people there and the fact that there is so many that actually gets agile. If you are in Wellington and is practicing agile or wanting to practice agile then this should be a great group to join. There is also a LinkedIn group for the APN.