magazine®

Microsoft has been very busy these past few months. I can't imagine how they're keeping up with all of these supposed deadlines. I guess the softie-programmers there already forgot the word "sleep". With the delay in Vista release people there must be very wary of another delay in other projects as well, and they better be coz the world is now turning all of its head on them. In these past few days microsoft has been very keen on releasing Beta, CTP (Community Technical Preview) and Final releases of their software, Here's a list:

• Internet Explorer 7 - I guess this software is the most popular release they have made this year. With over 4 million downloads in its first few weeks of release. The new IE7 has a lot of changes compared to its previous versions and it tops my list as to the must download update.
• Microsoft.com Beta - this is the upcomming new website of microsoft. Even though its still not available publicly (only selected users have access to the site), I've been given the chance to preview it. Here'e a screenshot:
  
• ASP.Net AJAX Beta 1 - formerly know as ATLAS, this new update to ASP.Net will really boost your AJAX experience within .Net. It has a set of components directly addressing AJAX solutions within ASP.Net.
• Expression Web Beta 1 - this is part of the expresions suite, an upcomming graphics toolset catered to web designers. THis si supposedly the upgrade of Microsoft Frontpage. I've already previewed it and was impressed on its ASP.Net support. Yes guys, now you can view the controls that you;ve created in .Net 2.0 which makes it easier for web designers to modify the UI in your web applicaitons.
• Live Mail Desktop Build 1083 - This is a mail client which can manage multiple email accounts in a single software. Much like Outlook. This is an upgrade to the existing Outlook Express. Even though its still not available in the Philippines, I've been given the chance to test it and was I immediately fell in love with the new interface. Take a look at it here:
  

The list consists of the Products that I know or is currently using.  Microsoft has been impressive so far as to providing new quality softwares to its undying followers. I myself am very greatful for the chance they have entrusted me on previewing some of their upcoming products.

To sum it all up, the most awaited release from Microsoft is its upcomming OS, Microsoft Vista. It has been rumored that the release should've been at Oct. 25 but an interview with Alchen confirmed that the RTM (Release To Manufacture) date is November 8. Currently, Vista is still in its Pre-RTM stage. Their current internal build is 5920 and supposedly it would roll-up to 6000 for the final release. Microsoft first plans to distribute Vista on the MSDN Subscribers site (lucky me I'm one of them!) followed by a special Volume Licensing for Business users. Their public release would be on Jan 2008.  I got a hold of Build 5840 which is pretty much what you'll see in its RTM. If anyone of you haven't even seen vista's UI improvements then I suggest you visit Paul Thurrot's winsupersite.

I was just previewing Microsoft Virtual Earth (Google Earth Nemesis) and found a little bit of discrepancy in it.

The image above shows my hometown, Davao City, with some of its landmarks already marked. I was a little bit shocked that Microsoft  has included places like "Buhangin" in the map (I didn't expect that some people, other than dabawenyo's, knew that Buhangin existed). The Virtual Earth has indeed improved since the last I tested it a year ago. Now, their map is quite detailed outlining the major road constructs here in the Philippines. But I guess no ones perfect. In this picture, there are two errors that I see in it. The first is the place called "Sasabayou". I have lived in Davao practically 85% of my life and I never knew that a place like this existed here. The second place is Lanang. No, don't get me wrong. Lanang does exist in Davao City but as far as I know (and I know quite well coz I'm currently living in Lanang) it is situated in Davao City, not on Samal Island! Well, if this map was true then I'll practically ride a ferryboat everyday just to get to my job. :)

Visit Microsoft Virtual Earth site to see some of the great features it has to offer. See if its comming close to Google Earth.

There was a user in MSDN forums having problems executing a valid Sql Plus command using ADO.Net. It seems that the OracleCommand object that he's using is generating an error upon execution of a DESC statement.

First of all, lets just take a look on what the "DESC" statement is. A DESC statment is an Oracle SqlPlus command that lists information on an oracle object (view, table, etc...). This is used as "DESC <objectname>", the object name there is a parameter that asks for any object in your oracle database.

The user is executing the DESC command through an OracleCommand object this way:

As you can see it's a pretty quite valid expression. And since he tried executing the DESC command manually against the oracle database, he then assumed that this would work. As so did I.  But I guess we're both wrong. This generates an error indicating that a wrong Sql-Syntax have been sent to the server.

I could only assume that this error is being generated for the fact that the DESC command isn't a valid SELECT, UPDATE or DELETE command. So another approach must be undertaken. Since Oracle PL/SQL is not much different from SQLServer's T-SQL I tried manually getting the object's information through its DataDictionary same as using the sysobject table in SqlServer. Which brought me to an alternative SELECT statement to query the results in the DESC command. Here it is:

I just fed this SELECT statement into an OracleCommand object and voila! It worked! Here's the final code generated:

And also here's the link to the original MSDN question.

http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=842818&SiteID=1