Discussions

Hi all,
I am doing a lot of development with WinPE at the moment so I am limited to using VBScript unless I want to start coding in C++.

I'd like to build some sort of remote debugging solution such that log entries that would have normally been written to the HDD can be written to the network/remote host.

My initial thought was to use a webservice and call the webservice via a vbscript to send logging information to a remote host. My initial attempt at this proved too much work and there was a performance impact on the scripts while waiting for the logging to happen.

I then thought about using Kiwi Klog syslog tools to send syslog messages to a remote host but this also proved troublesome and had a performance impact.

So does anyone else have any other ideas?? How can I send logging information over the network via vbscript to a remote host??? Ideally I'd like a simple .net Console app on the remote host that shows the logging in real-time.

Thanks in advance!

Hi all,
I have been looking at creating a library to simplify some of the DirectoryServices stuff but I am getting bogged down.

I just can't think of a good way to design a library like this that doesn't repeat a lot of stuff but make it easy for people to use. The library will be used in asp.net apps so it needs to support that.

At the moment i just have a bunch of disconnected static methods for doing things like adding a user, deleting a user, adding a group, getting group info, etc.

Thanks,
Jacob

SlackmasterK wrote:

So is it CD's or is it DVD's that you wish to use?  There's no entirely unmanned method for this, as someone will need to replace the discs in the drive(s) - Unless you have one DVD-RW drive for every disc you wish to burn.  This would be too expensive; why not just go for a multi-tape system or have a guy sitting there? 

Well cd if it will fit, dvd if it doesn't. Obviously someone will need to change the dvds over but the process of starting the backup should not require any action by the users. So basically a scheduled backup that asks the user to put a dvd in the drive and to change dvds if necessary.

A tape system would be prohibitively expensive for this situation.

Hi all,
I am trying to find some backup software that is very easy to use, ie. basically unattended, and backs data up to a DVD.

Some background: We have about 100 remote location that are not WAN connected and they need a local backup solution. Each site has a master PC where all files are copied. Ideally this data is to be backed up to CD. My initialy thoughts were symantec livestate recovery but this does not backup to a DVD. I have also tried TurboBackup but this has proved unreliable. Any suggestions? It can be file-based or bare-metal but it needs to be able to backup directly to DVD.

Hi,
I have a dropdown list on a winform that has a list of computernames in it. As the user types new computer names into the dropdown box i'd like the program to then add this item to the dropdown for next time the program funs.

My first thought was this could be accomplished using the new application settings section of .net 2 but I could not see an easy way to do it.

Any ideas?

CannotResolveSymbol wrote:

Trust me, from an operator's standpoint (I am one), any program that does not let you specify an order that persists across presentations would be very annoying.

The song should already be in the correct order. Songs are mostly sung from beginning to end then repeated. Usually the chorus is repeated a few times as well. So I see no reason to need any order information in the database.

If the program knows the beginning of the verses and chorus then you just needs a few buttons/keyboard shortcuts to switch between them. I find that the sequence of verse/chorus/verse is rarely the same between services.

Sven Groot wrote:

I don't really see the problem with that. Split the text into lines, loop over every line, check it's width, if it needs to be wrapped, do so, if not, you can go to the next line. Since this is something that depends on resolution, font size etc. you specifically don't want it in the database.

This is actually a good point. It would be possible to write an algorithm that would get each line and count the number of characters to see if it needs wrapping. If not get the next line and do the same thing. If the second line needs wrapping and the first doesn't then just display the first line by itself.

The problem with this is that at font size 12 at resolution 1024x768 i might get 25 characters before wrapping is required, with a different font or font-size this will change, how do i factor this in?

There is also the problem that sometimes it doesn't make sense to group certain lines together. That is why it does become necessary to store information about how lines should be grouped.

CannotResolveSymbol wrote:

Title:
Author:
Copyright:
CCLI:
Song ID:
Hymnal:
Notes:

PlayOrder: Verse1, Verse2, Verse3, Verse4
Themes:

Verse 1:
blah blah

Verse 2:
blah blah

Verse 3:
blah blah

Verse 4:
blah blah

I still don't think you would need to specify order. As long as the program could determine where all the verses and choruses start then the operator can choose what order things run in.

Thanks for your comments, it is much appreciated.

Sven Groot wrote:

Song (id, name, artist, maybe some other fields)
SongSection(songid, order, type, lines)

A section is chorus, verse, bridge (type indicates which), lines are all the lines in that section (just use a TEXT field), split it on line breaks when you only want to display two lines at a time.

So an example song would have a row in Song like this:
1, Still Loving You, The Scorpions

And several rows in SongSection like this:
1, 1, Verse, Time, it needs time\r\nTo win back your love again\r\nI will be there, I will be there etc.
1, 2, Chorus, If we'd go again\r\nAll the way from the start etc.

I have a couple of issues with this approach:
-Isn't it bad to to store information like 'order' in a database.
-The program has to display 2 lines in a black bar at the top of a projector screen. If you just break on every second \r\n then you run into problems if you get a long line that wraps to become two lines.

It really is a difficult problem to solve. Thinking ouside the box would it be a better idea to just store the song text, title, author, etc in one table then store, 'metadata' in another table??

Well almost a year from when I started this little project it still has not really gone anywhere. I am still grappling with how I can store this information in a way that will be simple yet contain all the information necessary to display the data correctly.

I am now leaning away from the idea of XML in a database as many people have told me this is not a good idea. The thought of 100s of xml files doesn't sound all that good either.

Anyone got any more bright ideas?

Maurits wrote:

And why is the "Quick Launch" folder under "Internet Explorer"?

Yeah, who would ever think to look under Internet Explorer for quick launch items....makes perfect sense. hehe