SQL Server Management Studio Generating Change Scripts

For those of you who need to lookup SQL syntax for things like alter table, this will let SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) do the work for you giving you a baseline script to modify or check right into source control.

Generating an Alter Table Statement:

1. In SSMS use the object explorer to navigate to a table.
2. Right click and select design.
3. Make your changes.
4. From the menu select Table Designer --> "Generate Change Script..."
5. Copy and paste the script text or click the yes button to save it to a text file.

Adding a Foreign Key:

1. In SSMS use the object explorer to navigate to a table.
2. Expand the table node.
3. Right click on Keys  and select "New Foreign Key..."  Notice this brings up the table designer if it isn't already open.
4. Fill out the new FK and click Close
5. You should now be in the table designer.  Follow the steps from above.

Delete a Blogger Comment

To delete a blogger comment, like spam, the easiest way I have found to do it is by

1. Opening the post I want to delete in Chrome (the technique should work in any browser, but Chrome is my favorite because it is much faster than IE and because I like the Google brand better than FireFox)
2. Right Clicking on the page and selecting "View page source"
3. Press ctrl+f to bring up the search box and enter "delete".
4. Look for the delete link.  It was the second search result on the page for me and looked like this: <a href='http://www.blogger.com/delete-comment.g?blogID=5094545033872573936&postID=6517665474722511356' title='Delete Comment'>
5. Click the link.
6. Follow the directions on the next page confirming the deletion.

There is probably a way to make the delete button show up on the page but I don't know how.

TEDxDetroit recap

My cousin, Gabriel Mott, turned me on to TED in 2005 by linking to what is still my favorite TED talk. I was excited to be accepted as an attendee of the inaugural TEDxDetroit event on 10/21/2009 at Lawrence Tech University.

The most beneficial part for me was speaking with other attendees such as Alex Fisher, Henry Balanon, Bret Kopf, Betsy Weber and meeting new people such as Lisamarie Babik, David Benjamin, Andrew Brown, Jamie Favreau, Lee Andros (bus buddy!), Janak Mehta, Rich Sheridan, and Dug Song.

Here are my take aways:

• Ask high quality questions.  High quality questions provoke thought.  An example could be "How can we generate y revenue through x technology?",  "How can social media help solve world hunger?"
• What can we do now given the current technology and environment?  If our plans depend on a change (new technology, etc) what if that change doesn't manifest?  If our plans don't consider the current environment (ie. culture) how will the implementation go?
• There are two ways to make money, by nickel and diming the competition or by taking big leaps over them.  Giants take big leaps.  Who are your giants?
• Users are not stupid. Designs are stupid.  Observer your users in their environment and reduce their pain.
• Some people are economic hurricanes.  Everyone has great ideas.  Those who execute on those ideas are the hurricanes.
• Research the problem before providing the solution.  When we have ideas we think of our solution and present that.  Instead of presenting that, present the problem inspiring your solution and see what others have to say.
• At a certain level of wealth problems are problems of perception.  This was a particularly interesting talk for me because I tend to think in functional terms instead of presentation.
• All value is relative.
• Persuasion is better than mandates.
• Contextual timely and immediate.

P.S. If you would like to attend a regional TED event, TEDxLansing is seeking volunteers.