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Being a SQL dev I generally poo poo most ORM tools, I want control over what SQL Server does – you know, I can squeeze so much more performance out of the queries than any mapping tool can.
However, there comes a time when maybe you just want to select some data and do that as easily as possible – most small to medium sized sites probably require basic querying and really dont need some whizzy dba to get the last drop of performance out of the db.
I have been very impressed lately by Subsonic, in particular Subsonic 3 as it introduces the best hands-off approach to databases out of all the ORM tools out there. In version 3 of this mighty tool , it comes with something called the SimpleRepository . What this does is really take away the need to worry about the database. You simply create a class to represent your object (table) and when you select, insert with that object it creates (migrations) the database objects if they are not there. It also handles changes, performaing an ALTER on the fly.
For more information on this , please visit http://subsonicproject.com
Recently, I have had to update a really old website I did for a client , it was based on ASP (classic!) but essentially was static pages of content. What I really wanted was a way for them to update the site easily themselves but I didn’t want to spend time re-writing it as this was a freebie.
So, I thought to myself – there must be a free CMS out there that didn’t need a db and just allowed you to change the content with minimal setup.. well, it look a little bit of google magic but I found one.
This is really neat for anyone who has the need to allow updates to any website (even if parts of it are dynamic).
The CMS is called Cushy CMS (www.cushycms.com). It basically gives you the ability to “allow” specific content to be updated by decorating your pages with a special class name.
It works like this. You make a change to any DIV or any tag that allows a class to be specified and add a “cushycms” class name. Then, you login to your cushycms account and add the site details (ftp) and assign pages. Any page you assign that has the special class names on them will be editable.
Simple.
There is one alternative I found after which I think works exactly the same way, its called SurrealCMS (www.surrealcms.com).
Worth checking it out.
Excellent article on GUIDs.
http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2008/06/27/8659071.aspx
I have just finished watching the Gadget show and wanted to blog about a neat personal, usb, linux-based firewall. You basically have to install the drive and plug in.. it works in XP/Vista (32bit I believe).
You can check out the details at the Yoggie site , http://www.yoggie.com/node/40.
If you are in the UK, Play.com seem to do the best deal at £49.99.
Ok, so not really a SQL Server post but security is important right? especially if you fly by the seat of your pants coding T-SQL on a laptop on the move..
This is potentially very useful if you are intending to use Change Tracking. It is possible to set a context (“hey, all these changes were done as part of this process”). This can easily be done by
DECLARE @originator_id varbinary(128);
SET @originator_id = CAST(‘SSIS’ AS varbinary(128));
WITH CHANGE_TRACKING_CONTEXT (@originator_id)
UPDATE MyTable
SET MyLocationId = 1100
WHERE MyId = 634
I say potentially because there is a drawback.. if there is another update before you bring back the changes , it’s change context is wiped.
I will putting together a piece on Change Tracking over the next couple of days. This is a new feature that will be available in all editions of SQL Server 2008.
