jwcolby
jwcolby at colbyconsulting.com
Mon Dec 5 11:21:36 CST 2011
Our (or at least my) problem is that MS is not spending enough time on the GUI. When I realized I needed to get the users and their rights out of the database into the server, I tried to click / hold / drag and drop the user from the database security area into the server security area. Makes sense right? We have been dragging and dropping for 15 years now in Windows, longer than that in the MAC world. Visual Studio and C# uses drag and drop, Access uses drag and drop. But no, in SQL Server we have to go figure out how this stuff even works, then how to use command line or query crap to type in arcane syntax into a dev environment that basically gives you a "didn't work, try again" error message if anything goes wrong. Microsoft is trying to position SQL Server Express as the data store of choice for programmers in DotNet as well as Access. Well I got news for somebody, making me learn to be a DBA and type in command line crap on top of that just so that I can use their SQL Server Express is pretty much a non-starter. Some of it is drag and drop of course, in terms of building tables and views. However even there I have to go to a query window and haul out the books (memorized now) to drop or add a column from a table with very much data. Done from the gui it times out. This kind of stuff just drives me crazy. And of course this has nothing whatsoever to do with any individual on this list, except to say that trying to tell a noob to RTFM just adds to the frustration. I have built a very sophisticated system in C# which is used to process literally 300 million records a month, BCP out to CSV, through a 3rd party system and back in to SQL Server. In order to build this system I had to learn and integrate together many different systems from Windows Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008 to virtual machines to the third party software, learn C# and SQL Server, actually architect the thing, write C# and oversee a developer writing the code and get it all working. I have learned an enormous amount about SQL Server but I am not even close to DBA level and I don't want to be, I don't have time to be and I shouldn't have to be. And if MS would make it a priority to make SQL Server more GUI for more things I would not need to be. > Jumping around the way you do is your choice, (glad you have one). Well... sometimes we slide sideways into stuff. I got this client when I was desperate for work, the economy was in the tank and this work was there. I took it, and I actually quite enjoy it but it is hardly a "choice" to do all this jumping around. The volunteer work is a choice of course but the work is what I found and what I needed to do to get the work done. I actually quite enjoy the whole thing. I needed to learn C# and I have / am. Learning about SQL Server, even as little as I know is a god send from a career perspective. I work for small businesses where they need SQL Server but cannot afford a DBA, and wouldn't have enough work to keep one busy. Being able to "do the basics" allows me to do things in my career that otherwise wouldn't be possible, and provide my clients with SQL Server where they otherwise wouldn't be able to have that. I love what I do and the freedom of being a consultant, and if MS would just make some things gui I'd be an even happier camper. John W. Colby Colby Consulting Reality is what refuses to go away when you do not believe in it On 12/5/2011 11:08 AM, Francisco Tapia wrote: > Glad the tip worked, > I do love SQL in all its variants, its' the language I'm most comfortable > in; these days however I don't get to spend much time working on new > projects for Sql Server as I've trained a Jr developers to take over that > role, and a set of DBAs to handle the day to day. I work on other projects > now, but I do like returning to Sql to see whats new and what's changed. I > know you think your the only one fighting this fight against MS, but many > of us get frustrated. Not all the documentation is out in the open in > plain english, but that goes with any language. I can make the same type > of outlandish arguments against mobile development which is what I am > working on right now. The problem I think rises that when you are a n00b, > you tend to ask / query for things in one manner, and become frustrated, > after some acclimation to the language you begin querying differently, thus > your search results match your expectation. > > Jumping around the way you do is your choice, (glad you have one). All > things take time, and I don't say it to discourage you but, that's why they > say Rome wasn't built in a day. Keep on SQLing John, we'll put you outta > your misery :) LOL. > > > -Francisco > http://bit.ly/sqlthis | Tsql and More...