[dba-VS] C#, mantissa, math fun

[Gustav Brock]

Hi Jim

It's a strange kind of retirement you practice.

/gustav

-----Oprindelig meddelelse-----
Fra: dba-VS [mailto:dba-vs-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] På vegne af Jim Lawrence
Sendt: 16. oktober 2017 20:41
Til: Development in Visual Studio <dba-vs at databaseadvisors.com>
Emne: Re: [dba-VS] C#, mantissa, math fun

Hi Gustav:

It sounds like you are doing some very exciting stuff. I have been sort of retired but once I start application development I am totally hyped.:-)

I will be working on an Access xx conversion from MDB to MS SQL. (Might need your help at some time.) The current code is a mess with little documentation and with all sorts of product hacks that make the system very difficult to upgrade. After the database migration, the next part of the project will be to replace Access with a browser FE. It will first run as an intranet app but eventually it will be migrated to the internet.

Right now, a friend and I, are working on an initial installation of a product called "Big Blue Button"...It is supposed to be replacing a $500K existing application. BBB is a huge open source application that is targeted towards local/distant-education but it would work equally as well as a company management tool. We got the program up and running in a Ubuntu 17.04 instance running on a MS Hyper-V server. It will probably take a good month of tests and then we deploy the system up to a DigitalOcean droplet and at one point a major roll-out. All very heady stuff. I will post the base BBB install over-view on the DBA-Tech list later today. 

Aside: It is no longer just being able to code but being able to secure a site. I find all the new security management that must be applied to all new application challenging. My friend's company may be hiring a tech solely for that purpose...an edge protection expert.

Keep me posted on your progress.

Jim    

----- Original Message -----
From: "Gustav Brock" <gustav at cactus.dk>
To: "Development in Visual Studio" databaseadvisors.com>
Sent: Monday, October 16, 2017 10:52:28 AM
Subject: Re: [dba-VS] C#, mantissa, math fun

Hi Jim

Right now I'm about converting three old Access 97 apps to Access 2016 with a SQL Server 2017 backend.

Initially, it's quite easy: Convert FE and BE to Access 2000 and relink. Then convert these to Access 2016 and relink.
Now, use SSMA to migrate the backend to SQL Server. Finally, relink FE to the SQL Server database via the SQL Server 13 driver.

With minor changes, this runs directly with a local SQL Server. But if running across a WAN, the fun begins.
However, this client will have a local SQL Server 2017 Express running, so it might very well stay at this step.

I have also built a larger budgetting application in Excel for a TV production company linking actual data from their ERP system. This has no interface, so I had to build a conversion app (in C#) to link the old Access backend of the system directly and copy data to a local SQL Server - and push the data further on to Azure SQL. This is because the budget app has to run in Excel Online, thus no macros, neither access to "foreign" data sources, only Azure.

This was a bit of a challenge, as I could only get Excel to connect to Azure SQL via OLEDB, and - because of no VBA - all "logic" had to be by formulas.
I ended up to build the entire workbook, worksheets, tables, connections, table design, formulas, and the full graphic design including hyperlinks and table styles from code.

To accomplish this was a major task, as so little useful code can be found; most code is GUI oriented and deals with selections, A1:G6 styling, no Named Ranges, and - in general - is sloppish and "good enough". Add to this the mediocre documentation of Excel VBA and you feel you are on your own.

I ended up with a large library of both common and specific functions. By running a series of a dozen or so functions I can build the entire application in two steps from an empty workbook: First step creates all the connections and base tables. Then, due to a bug in Excel, Excel has to be closed completely and relaunched. Second step builds the entire application in twenty seconds. It looks quite impressive.

Perhaps I should publish the work - if for nothing else to demonstrate how VBA could and should be handled in Excel. But I cannot find out where.

Sadly, I have had too little time to program in C#, my favourite. I hope this will change now.

/gustav

________________________________________
Fra: dba-VS databaseadvisors.com> på vegne af Jim Lawrence <accessd at shaw.ca>
Sendt: 16. oktober 2017 19:11
Til: Development in Visual Studio
Emne: Re: [dba-VS] C#, mantissa, math fun

Hi Gustav:

I have always been really anal when it comes to programming as I have been bit so many times...it now a habit.

So what projects are you now working on?

Jim