Saperating coma separated values in a string using T-SQL ; SQL Server

If you do lot of application development, you often come across to a situation where we need to split values of a string with a delimiter. The delimiter could be coma. Here is the T-SQL script on how to do it.

Declare @OrderList varchar(500) = '1,2,3,4,78,987'

DECLARE @OrderId varchar(10), @Pos int


SET @OrderList = LTRIM(RTRIM(@OrderList))+ ','
SET @Pos = CHARINDEX(',', @OrderList, 1)

IF REPLACE(@OrderList, ',', '') <> ''
 BEGIN
   WHILE @Pos > 0
     BEGIN
         SET @OrderId = LTRIM(RTRIM(LEFT(@OrderList, @Pos - 1)))
            IF @OrderId <> ''
                  BEGIN
                   -- Here we can write necessary code with OrderId
                   print @OrderId
               END
          SET @OrderList = RIGHT(@OrderList, LEN(@OrderList) - @Pos)
          SET @Pos = CHARINDEX(',', @OrderList, 1)
   END
END

Recompile all Stored Procedures in database.

If you make some performance turning on existing database, all the change may not reflect in existing stored procedures. Your existing SPs may not take all changes to schema, indexes, table partitioning etc. SPs may not give you the performance results you are expecting. So it is wise to recompile all the stored procedures. We can use sp_recompile system SP to recompile one stored procedure. However  if you want recompile all SPs in database then we need a script. Below is the script you can execute to recompile all SPs in your database.


-- Use <>
DECLARE @SPName AS VARCHAR(255)
-- Cursor fo reading all Stored Procedures in database
DECLARE cursor_AllSPs CURSOR FOR
SELECT [name]
FROM sysobjects
WHERE xtype = 'P'


OPEN cursor_AllSPs


FETCH NEXT FROM cursor_AllSPs into @SPName


WHILE (@@FETCH_STATUS <> -1)
 BEGIN
  FETCH NEXT FROM cursor_AllSPs INTO @SPName
  -- sp_recompile will mark SP for recompile
  EXEC sp_recompile @SPName
 END
CLOSE cursor_AllSPs
DEALLOCATE cursor_AllSPs
 
The above script will mark all stored procedures for compilation. When we execute SPs next time, those will be compiled.

Searching Near By Addresses on Map using Haversine formula in SQL Server

In one of my projects, we have a requirement to search near by locations. Our application front is Silverlight and backend is SQL Server 2008. In this article I am sharing my solution from SQL Server point of view. I have used Haversine formula to solve the problem. Click here to see more details on Haversine formula.

I have Locations table. This table has below fields:

• LocationId
• LocationName
• StreetAddress
• City
• Zip
• State
• Country
• Description
• Logitude
• Latidue

In this application we have used Bing Map Provider. Click here to see more details on Bing Map Provider. While saving data in Locations, the application checks for valid address. And stores Latitude and Longitude of the address.

In the Nearby search screen, allow user to enter full address of location where he/she wants to search for nearby locations. If it is valid address then we extract latitude and longitude of the address user entered.

Now front end passes latitude, and longitude to business layer. Let us see on how we can extract nearby locations of given address (latitude and longitude). SQL Server Stored proedure accepts maximum distance of search radius. You can make this configurable item (web.config entry) in web service.

Step #1: Create a function in SQL Server. The details of the function are:

Function Name: IsLocationFallInRadius
Purpose: This function takes latitude and longitude of two locations. Also it takes allowed maximun distance between these two locations. It retuns 1(true) if two locations fall within maximum distance. Returns 0 (false) if if two locations does not fall within maximum distance.

create function dbo.IsLocationFallInRadius
(
@Latitude1 float,
@Longitude1 float,
@Latitude2 float,
@Longitude2 float,
@MaxDistance float
)
returns bit
as
/*
Function: IsLocationFallInRadius
Computes the Great Circle distance in miles
between two points on the Earth using the
Haversine formula distance calculation.


Input Parameters:
@Longitude1 - Longitude in degrees of point 1
@Latitude1 - Latitude in degrees of point 1
@Longitude2 - Longitude in degrees of point 2
@Latitude2 - Latitude in degrees of point 2
*/
begin
declare @radius float
declare @lon1 float
declare @lon2 float
declare @lat1 float
declare @lat2 float
declare @a float
declare @distance float
declare @IsInRadius bit


-- Sets average radius of Earth in miles
set @radius = 3959.0E
-- Convert degrees to radians
set @lon1 = radians( @Longitude1 )
set @lon2 = radians( @Longitude2 )
set @lat1 = radians( @Latitude1 )
set @lat2 = radians( @Latitude2 )


set @a = sqrt(square(sin((@lat2-@lat1)/2.0E)) +  (cos(@lat1) * cos(@lat2) * square(sin((@lon2-@lon1)/2.0E))) )


set @distance = @radius * ( 2.0E *asin(case when 1.0E < @a then 1.0E else @a end ))
if(@distance > @MaxDistance)
Begin
 SET @IsInRadius = 0
End
Else
Begin
 SET @IsInRadius = 1
End
return @IsInRadius
end

Step #2: Create Stored Procedure to retrive records from Locations table.
Stored Procedure Name: SearchLocationsNearBy
Purpose: It takes location latitude and longitude of search input. It also takes maximum distance of search. It returns locations which fall within maximum distance (within radius).

CREATE PROCEDURE [dbo].[SearchLocationsNearBy]

@Latitude float,
@Longitude float,
@MaxDistance float
AS
Begin
 select * from Locations
   Where  dbo.IsLocationFallInRadius(@Latitude,@Longitude, Latitude, Longitude,@MaxDistance) = 1
End

In the where clause of query we I have called IsLocationFallInRadius function to vaidate if the records falls within the given rage. Business layer can invoke SearchLocationsNearBy stored procedure for searching.

Print Mulitple pages using Silverlight

When you have a single page to print in silverlight, it is straight forward code. However if you want to print multiple pages, developer need to add some logic to the code. We should let printer know how each page is spiltted.


Single Page Print: Let us write a sample code to print single page. For this purpose, create a simple silverlight page.

• Place a button on silverlight page.
• Set content (label of button) to Print.
• Trap click event of button.

Button Width="65" Content="Print" Height="25" Click="PrintButton_Click" HorizontalAlignment="Right" Margin="3"/

Handle click event of Print Button in code behind.


private void PrintButton_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
 PrintDocument docToPrint = new PrintDocument();
 docToPrint.PrintPage += new EventHandler(docToPrint_PrintPage);
 docToPrint.EndPrint += new EventHandler(docToPrint_EndPrint);
 docToPrint.Print("Remittance Notice");
}

• Create an object of PrintDocument class.
• Trap PrintPage and EndPrint events of PrintDocument object.
• PrintPage will trigger when user invokes print functionality.
• EndPrint will be triggered after printing completes.
• Call Print() method of PrintDocument object. This will send print request to printer. Print method takes document name as parameter.

int indexValue = 0; // declare a global variable for print line count.

void docToPrint_PrintPage(object sender, PrintPageEventArgs e)
{
 StackPanel itemHost = new StackPanel();
 while(indexValue < 40) // Loop throught for Fourty Lines.
 {
  TextBlock tb = new TextBlock();
  tb.Text = "This is my line number " + indexValue.ToString();
  itemHost.Children.Add(tb); // Add TextBlock to Stack Panel.
  indexValue++;
 }
  e.PageVisual = itemHost; // Set Stackpanel to PageVisual of    PrintPageEventArgs.
}


Above method is called then PrintPage event of PrintDocument class invoked. In this method,

• Create an object of StackPanel. This will be the print document.
• Add all the content to StackPanel which is required for printing.
• In the above case we are printing Fourty lines

void docToPrint_EndPrint(object sender, EndPrintEventArgs e)
{
 // todo: if required write needed after printing document.
}
Above method is called after printing is completed.


Multiple Page Print: The above code works if it is printing only one page. In the above case we are printint fourty lines of document. In case if user wants to print 500 lines of document, above code will fail. The above code will print first page only and ignores remaning pages. To achived that we need to write below code.

int indexValue = 0;
void docToPrint_PrintPage(object sender, PrintPageEventArgs e)
{
 StackPanel itemHost = new StackPanel();
 while(indexValue < 500) // Loop throught for Five Hundered Lines.
 {
  TextBlock tb = new TextBlock();
  tb.Text = "This is my line number " + indexValue.ToString();
  itemHost.Children.Add(tb);
  itemHost.Measure(new Size(e.PrintableArea.Width,   double.PositiveInfinity)); // To update designed size of StackPanel
  if (itemHost.DesiredSize.Height > e.PrintableArea.Height) // Check if Stack   Panel Height is more than printable area height
 {
  itemHost.Children.Remove(tb);
  e.HasMorePages = true; // Set HasMorePages to true. This will split(page break) the page.
  break; // Come out of while loop.
 }
   indexValue++;
}
 e.PageVisual = itemHost;
}


So the trick to print multiple pages is: Spilt print document after it reaches maximum height of a given page height. Then set HasMorePages of PrintPageEventArgs object to true.

Execute same SQL Server script in multiple databases

In one of my projects, same database schema is used in multiple databases for some practical reasons. Deployment is a challenging job in this case. We have 15 databases with the same schema. To overcome this issue, I have created a batch file which does job for us.

cls

rem Usage : DatabaseScripts &lt;> &lt;> &lt;> &lt;>
echo Welcome to Deployment Script
SET SOURCEFOLDER=%1
SET UserName=%2
SET Password=%3
SET ServerName=%4

IF /I "%SOURCEFOLDER%" == "" (
   ECHO "PATH TO SOURCE FOLDER NOT SPECIFIED".
   GOTO QUIT
)

IF /I "%UserName%" == "" (
   ECHO "User Name NOT SPECIFIED".
   GOTO QUIT
)

IF /I "%Password%" == "" (
   ECHO "Password NOT SPECIFIED".
   GOTO QUIT
)
IF /I "%ServerName%" == "" (
  ECHO "Server Name NOT SPECIFIED".
  GOTO QUIT
)

IF NOT EXIST "%SOURCEFOLDER%" (
   ECHO SOURCE FOLDER "%SOURCEFOLDER%" DOES NOT EXIST.
   GOTO QUIT
)

REM pass database names in for loop
FOR %%D IN (db1 db2 db3 db4) DO (
   sqlcmd -S %ServerName% -U %UserName% -P %Password% -d %%D -i %SOURCEFOLDER%\Deployment.sql -o %SOURCEFOLDER%\deploy_log_%%D.txt
)
ECHO "Deployed the script successfully"
pause

:QUIT
 
The above batch file accepts below parameters
 

1. SOURCEFOLDER: Folder location where deployment script is located. It assumes that file name is Deployment.sql.
2. UserName: UserName for the database
3. Password: Password for the database
4. ServerName: Database server Name

 After execution of the scripts, it will create log file for each database. Log files will be created in directory where the database deployment script is located.

Sqlcmd is a command line tool which can be used to deploy scripts in by reading from file.

How to access Self Signed Certificate from Windows Phone Emulator?

I am pretty new to Windows Phone development. I was trying to access a service which is on SSL. I spent good amount of time to access the service from my Windows Emulator. There is not much information on the net on this. Finally I could find the solution for this. I assume that you have self signed certificate available in your systems.

1. Export Certificate
1. On the server, open Internet Explorer, and click Tools --> Internet Options.
2. In the window that comes up, click the Content tab, and then click the Certificates button.
3. In the dialog that comes up, select the Trusted Root Certification Authorities tab. The self-signed certificate that you created should be visible. Select your Self Signed Certificate
4. Click on the “Export…” button, then click the Next button. On the next screen, select “No, do not export the private key” (the default option) and click Next.
5. On the next screen, choose the DER Encoded binary X.509 format (default option) and click Next.
6. Finally, select the folder and enter your certificate name.
2. Install certificate in Windows Phone Emulator
1. Send created certificate to yourself in email. Could be your gmail or hotmail account.
2. Open Windows Phone Emulator.
3. Navigate to IE.
4. Open the email which you sent to yourself.
5. Click on the certificate name in the email.
6. Then the emulator will allow you to install the certificate.

Now you should be able to access a service which is hosted on SSL(Self Signed).

 Note: If the server is local system, then normally we use https://localhost/... In this case localhost does not work. Use machine full name instead of localhost. For example https://MyMachineName/service1.svc.


Note: For some reason I had to install the certificate twice to work on my system. It it happens to your system, you can do that same.  Self Signed certificate name must be host name.

Webparts Vs Field Control

SharePoint provides opportunity to Content Owners to manage their content and avoids IT staff involvement in content management. This facility is called Web Content Management. Developers can create either Web Parts or Field Controls to provide this facility. Often developers get confused if they have to use WebParts or Field Controls. If developer makes wrong choice on this, it would impact drastically.

WebPart: Is a web widget, which can added to WebPart Zone on a web page. WebPart can be personalized, means each user can set his/her own preferences. We can create either SharePoint or ASP.Net Webpart to place on SharePoint webpage.
Field Control: Field controls are simple Microsoft ASP.NET 2.0 controls that you can create. They have a small amount of code to display the two modes of the controls: one for render time, and one for edit time. Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and Office SharePoint Server 2007 provide several default field controls that you can use in your pages. We can extend any of the default Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and Office SharePoint Server 2007 controls for your own specific functionality.


WebPart features:

• Allow content owner to add webpart on Page Layout
• Allow Content owner to move existing webparts on different webpart zones.
• Personalize webpart for individual users.
• We can create Editor Part for editing content.
• Webpart content is stored in ASP.Net 2.0 personalization data store not as part of Page Layout.

Field Control Features:

• All content pages, stored in their respective site's Pages library, conform to a speciic content type. content type defines the content fields on the page such as the title, subtitle, date, page body, and page image
• As it is part of the Page Layout, Keep track of version history of the page. Allows user to revert back to older versions.
• Do not allow content owner to add or move field controls on the page. This would restrict role of content owner for editing content only. Leaving structure and placement to Developers and Designers.
• Since it is part of the Page Layout, seamless searching is possible.
• Edit and View modes are integrated with Page Edit Toolbar. Developer can design the fields controls better since we can differentiate between Edit and View modes.

When to use field controls or Web Parts in publishing sites

Scenario	Field Controls	Web Parts
Centrally controlled site branding and user experience	X
Content owner responsible only for content, not presentation	X
Content owners need freedom to modify the layout of the page		X
Versioning of all content in site for historical or regulatory reasons	X
Personalization of content		X
Implementation of functionality (aggregating content from other sites or from same site)		X