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Microsoft Excel Import External Data Problem: When Microsoft Query doesn’t recognize some of your parameters

Posted by Daniel - 8,039 Views

This is a summary pulled from a discussion on IT-Toolbox with Alejandro Rodriguez titled “Excel query doesn’t allow me create 3rd paremeter for a criteria“. He said there he was having a problem with Mirosoft Excel’s Import External Data feature. He posted on the forum that Microsoft Query is not recognizing one of his query parameters.

I got curious about it and then I tried a simple test against Microsoft Query via Excel Import External Data feature, and Yes! Microsoft Query is not recognizing some of my test query parameters. If it does recognize the1st and the 2nd parameters, why it does not recognize the 3rd? I have no idea why, but I guess it’s a bug and they forget to debug it - so be it :D

Microsoft Query allows you to enter a hard coded SQL statement with parameters directly into the editor but it didn’t work as I described previously so we need to figure out another way to get around it.

As we know that most Database servers allow you to create a stored SQL statement for future use such as “query” on MS-Access and “stored procedure” on SQLServer. This ability gives me an idea:

What if I create an MS-Access query which can accept parameters and then call it from Excel’s Import External Data feature? Can Microsoft Query recognize all the parameters with this kind of method? The answer is Yes! Microsoft Query is recognizing all of the parameters.

Following are the steps on how to call stored procedure to Import External Data into Microsoft Excel. Some steps may look strange but based on my tests, each of them needs to be taken correctly,

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TCPView for Windows, Tool to check TCP and UDP Connections on your system

Posted by Daniel - 3,159 Views

It was a suggestion from a good friend of mine who told me to try TCPView when I asked him about a tool to check SQLServer Connection instances created by my program.

All I need is to check whether my program is not forgetting to free any DB connection instances when it is terminated and this TCPView for windows give me what I need.

Using TCPView

When you start TCPView it will enumerate all active TCP and UDP endpoints, resolving all IP addresses to their domain name versions. You can use a toolbar button or menu item to toggle the display of resolved names. On Windows NT, 2000 and XP systems TCPView shows the name of the process that owns each endpoint.

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SmartImageResizer Plugin, WordPress plugin based on Joe Lencioni’s Smart Image Resizer

Posted by Daniel - 7,208 Views

This is the next part of my previous post about Smart Image Resizer. I described there how to create a new resized or cropped image but I forgot to mention how to implement the functionality into your WordPress theme. To ease the implementaion, I had created a simple plugin as an interface to Joe Lencioni’s Smart Image Resizer. This post will show you how to use the plugin. This plugin requires you to install/setup the Smart Image Resizer first. If you haven’t done it, please read my previous post to get the steps on how to install Smart Image Resizer - it’s quite easy.

OK let’s get started. In order to generate a new image you need to know where to get the source of the image, as we all know that WordPress has the ability to attach files into a single post, including images. On the previous version of WordPress it can be done by adding a custom field to hold the attached files, but on the newer version it can be done by clicking the add media button on your post editor panel. Behind the screen, both has the same method, a database record that linked into a particular post-id on the wp_posts table. I am not going to explain the WordPress database design, I just want to show you how to get the attached image, resize or crop it with Smart Image Resizer and then display it as a thumbnail for your post as shown on this image.

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