Microsoft Excel Import External Data Problem: When Microsoft Query doesn’t recognize some of your parameters
Posted by Daniel - 8,450 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,
SmartImageResizer Plugin, WordPress plugin based on Joe Lencioni’s Smart Image Resizer
Posted by Daniel - 7,967 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.
Resize Image or Crop Image with Joe Lencioni’s Smart Image Resizer, WordPress Setup
Posted by Daniel - 9,980 Views
UPDATE: I just created a WordPress plugin called smartimageresizer to get an easy use of this Smart Image Resizer functionality into your WordPress post. Click here to check it.
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If you use WordPress and you are blogging about something which requires a personalized image for every post such as Gadget blogs or you want to use different images for every post you have for illustration purpose only like what we commonly found on the newspaper blogs, I think it’s a good idea to list the link to each post with an image attached to a particular post displayed along with the postname and if necessary with the excerpt on it.
Oh man, it’s hard to describe it with words but what I am trying to say is displaying the link to a post with a layout format as shown on the image at the leftside.
Okay, there is a problem displaying that kind of layout on your page if you don’t have images with the same size attached to each post you have. It won’t be big problem if you have the same ratio dimension on all of your images, resizing it with your CSS code will give the intended layout - it’s acceptable, even sometimes the hardcoded-resized image will get a little bit jagged, but if you have an image which has a different ratio dimension, the story will be different.
There is only one solution to solve the issue if you’re not intended to upload images with the same ratio dimension. The solution is to generate a new image with the new size. The logic is simple, resize it and if necessary, crop it.
Free Softwares to help you learn Regular Expression or to enhance your RegEx skill
Posted by Daniel - 1,504 Views
Even some folks said that you will get better when you get used to Regular Expression, it is still a complex subject to explore and to master. But if you can’t hide from it, especially when you need to deal with .htaccess and mod_rewrite, here is the list of tools you can use to start learning regular expression.
Please remember: I said they are free here because there is no time limit, while some of them also offer several features which require you to buy the full version but the basic features - in my opinion - are enough for you to learn and taste the regex for the first time.
ConsoleProgressBar - Simple Progress Bar Function for your VB.Net Console Application
Posted by Daniel - 11,890 Views
It is good to know that long process is still ticking and one of the best way to provide the indicator is to have a progress bar. I am pretty sure you already knew how to display progress bar when you deal with windows form application but what about console application, is there any progress bar component which can be easily incorporated into the console screen?
I’ve searched the internet to find this kind of stuff but I found nothing (let me know if I am wrong), so there is no other way than to create it myself and here it is: my own progress bar for console application written in VB.Net.
It’s very simple. I use a single sub procedure instead of packing it as a class since I don’t think it’s required. A sub procedure called RenderProgressBar is the only procedure responsible to process and render the progress bar on the console screen.
Hi, my name is Daniel Nugraha, a single male live on an island called Java, Indonesia. This is the place for me to share my interest in computer programming.
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Comments - Thanks Guys :)
VinceM: This article was efficiently written, helped out a lot, thanks a bunch….
yoseph: Mas mau mun minta source code AT-CMD Tester (GSM AT-Command utility)-nya dong. bisa ga? kalo bisa kirim ke email saja. Saya sudah buat...
erazer: great text. by the way, a great tool for windows is wampserver - it has apache, mysql and so on installed already erazer’s last blog...
mobile marketing: Nice application to send text messages from cell phone. Today text messaging is the new tread of marketing products because of...
Phreaking the World: Great article. I enjoyed reading it. Gonna try it out