irasmith

I do apologize for what I must have mixed up in terms. I'm rather new to the MS development arena and so I don't think I had my terms correct. Since my initial posting I became aware of the download that is available to VS.NET developers and gave that an attempt. The install of it went pretty good but there were apparently some issues along the way as it just didn't seem to work quite right. Given that I need to spend my time working on learning my way around VS.NET and in particular C#, I opted to order this version of SQL instead. The package arrived and installed like a charm with no issues like I had encountered with the downloadable version for VS.NET developers. True, I might not have needed to spend the money on it but the time saving was worth it. Compared to the price of VS.NET it was also very cheap. I am now working wtih VS.NET, learning as I go and the install of SQL is doing me very nicely as well. :)

Being a simple country fellow, I grew up being taught if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. I also heard the saying many times that the children of today are the future of tomorrow. The spirit of any community forum is to seek aid and share knowledge without the passing of judgement on how smart the poster is or isn't. After all, the person you help out today may be able to help you out next week when you are just as lost as they were before you came along. Speaking for myself, the reward of assisting others who want to learn is far greater than feeding any feeling of superiority on my part. Not one person knows everything there is to know in this world. What I don't know I ask, what I know I share. Here in this forum I tend to ask more than I share simply because I am completely new to .NET. Other forums that I participate in, I have hundreds of posts, all assisting others at varying levels of knowledge. So don't tire of me too soon as I plan on being around awhile here. :)

Compared to what some of you have posted mine doesn't hold a candle to it. I had been focusing on learning vb.net for projects at work, but once I got to feeling good about doing basic routine stuff they decided to move to c# instead. So I'm working on learning c# right now, not complaining though as I actually am enjoying it. I should this weekend be at my keyboard working on small sample easy-as-you-go type programs to begin getting the feel of c#. Eventually I would like to spend some of my own time working on modules for the DotNetNuke or Rainbow CMS packages.

Over time my favorite non-programming non-computer related site has changed. For now I would have to say that it is the hubble site It helps us to see what a dynamic and beatiful environment our world is in.

My VS.NET package is enroute to me but I wanted to ask this question at this time so I could be prepared for the proper way to handle the SQL install. I have been using MSDE trial copy and the trial period is almost up. I have been using it on its own for SQL research and projects as well as with my VB.NET Standard version. I purchased and have received the 'real' MSDE, not the trial copy. I realize VS.NET developers get a version of SQL that permits them to distribute it with their applications for desktop use. If I install my MSDE purchased copy of SQL, I am sure I can use it with VS.NET, but does this affect me in being able to distribute a desktop database application I develop in VS.NET? Do I absolutely need to install the version of SQL that comes with VS.NET? Or can I install both on my WinXP workstation and have two instances of SQL running? Your thoughts and suggestions would be appreciated.

If they do truly make VB.NET more like VB6, I hope they limit the changes to just VB and not invade C# with similiar changes. I am just starting to really get into .NET programming and really love it. I first began working with VB.NET Standard, but some that I have talked with have convinced me to give C# a try. Last night I was happyily reading away in my Professional C# book which was delivered to me yesterday. My VS.NET package is enroute to me and I can't wait to get it installed and start working with C# :) I realize that things change over time and to truly take advantage of new technologies sometimes you just gotta accept change. But I guess for die hard VB6 people who have had VB6 for so many years now, the urge to change may not be that great. So cheers to everyone as I get ready for a weekend of loosing myself in my C# book:cool:

I'll add my two cents worth to this discussion, for whatever you might consider the adivce worth. I wouldn't say really that one product is better than the other. I have never had the good fortunes of having two servers side by side to run speed tests or other benchmarks, so I have no clue as to which one is truly fastest under test conditions. At least for me, I let the situation at hand govern what tools I use. MySQL is a good product, it is stable, and it has the vantage of being free if you don't happen to fall into the categories that require the purchase of a commercial license. I won't get into that discussion, you can simply look at their site and see what the license terms are to determine your status. MS SQL is also good, it is stable, and at least the MSDE version is what I call 'near free' in that it's price is substantially less than the fully blown SQL 2000 price. I do believe there is a connection limitation on it as really the MSDE version is supposed to be used by developers in a development environment, not as a production application by everyone that works in the company. MySQL can't do some of the things that MS SQL can though. For instance, if you need to use Views or Stored Procedures, you will need to use MS SQL as MySQL doesn't have these features as of this time. In future releases these items are planned, again just check out the MySQL site for what is in store for future development of the product. So when you look at the decision of what to use or what to stay with, personally I would think in terms of what my future needs will be and what product has or will have those things to fill my needs as they come about. I hope this helps you out and I wish you the best of luck.

I seriously doubt a completely flawless operating system will ever exist. Between the unavoidable human error factor and the fact that no matter what you do there is always going to be someone trying to get into a system that they shouldn't you just can't have a completely flawless operating system. What everyone should do is keep their system updated with patches as they are released by the maker, this holds true for any operating system. In doing this you have gone a long way toward having as secure a system as possible. In this field of computing, change is the one thing we can all be certain of. Almost every aspect of this field will require you to continue to study, learn, and upgrade your skills. The way I view it is that I'm on an adventure. I know not where it will lead me or what tasks await me. But I have my wits about me and a willingness to explore so off I go on a journey. It will be interesting to see where we do go next. :)

I too think VB.NET would be a good starting point, at least it has been for me. I realize there are differences between C# and VB.NET coding, however, if you learn one then the other will not be so hard to learn, at least not from what I have gathered after looking into things. As to what is the 'best' one to learn, well a lot of that answer will hinge on exactly what it is you are trying to do and how well the strong points of each language line up with your goals. For me, I am working on learning VB.NET now and will later pick up C# as well. I'm a programmer by trade and in this age of advancing technology it is pretty much given that you will need to learn several languages over a career lifetime. Nothing wrong with that as I've always liked learning and exploring what is out there. I suppose if anything this could be seen as an adventure and I'm just exploring my way though it. :)

For what it's worth to anyone, I have a series of articles on my site that I wrote about Web Content Management Systems or CMS. I thought I would post a notice here for anyone that might be searching in general for information on them, what they are, and what they do for you. Part One serves as a general introduction. Part Two digs in a bit deeper. Part Three continues the information. Part Four finishes up the series. Even though my current site uses the Post Nuke CMS package, which is written in PHP and uses MySQL, I will be branching out and opening up another site in the future with DotNetNuke, which is written in .NET and is taken from Post Nuke and the other 'Nuke' family members. Hope this helps others out.

I do thank you for your input and advise. I am still looking, haven't purchased yet. Actually holding off until the Christmas shopping is done before making a commitment to the software purchase. I will keep on the lookout for sources before I buy. I am still using my VB.Net standard edition I have as a learning tool. I'm actually looking forward to moving on up to the full blown edition that is within the studio professional edition.

I have looked at Amazon as actually that is the first place that I thought of trying. From all the searching that I did on Amazon though, it would seem they themselves aren't selling this product at this time. In their listing of this product there is the links to buy from outside sources and I checked a few of them out. At the time I looked at those there was a mixture of upgrade and academic versions to acquire but neither qualify for me as I am a first time buyer who is not in the academic world. I've also done several searches on ebay as I realize that offerings vary all the time just depending on who has what to sell. What I found there was also the same situation really, either it was an upgrade or an academic version being sold. I do thank you for the suggestions though. I still haven't purchased yet as I keep exploring my options. I'm pretty new to .NET and so right now I am still using the VB.NET standard package that I bought in early spring. It's a good learning tool for sure.

Thank you for the suggestion. I am making note of it for use when my project gets to that point.

When creating a connection string and using the Integrated Security option, is it necessary to specify the name of the Database as well? I am asking this as what I am working on would be used in an environment that is set up so that your Win/NT login controls the database you have access to. Given that, I wasn't sure if my own application would need to specify the database or if it could be left out of the connection string totally.

I am looking into moving up from my VB.NET Standard to Visual Studio .NET Professional or perhaps Developer. I looked at some prices earlier in the year and saw Professional going for over $1,000. When I check back now on AtomicPark.com Professional is going for $644. Is there some sort of special pricing going on that I don't know about or perhaps prices are dropping due to perhaps a 2004 edition coming out soon? Just checking to see what peoples thoughts are on this and to see if anyone has any experience with buying from atomicpark.com or if anyone has a better supplier to offer up.

I would like to thank both of you for your thoughts and input on my question. Actually, between the combination of responses I was able to learn a lot more and it has put some new light onto my project. I will take the advice from both of you as I review my existing data sturcture to make sure it is what I want to work with at the start of this project. I realize structure may change as you move into a project and that is fine, I just try my best to remove all the initial problems so things go smoother later on. Thanks and I'm sure I'll be posting more as time rools on. I'm really having fun working with VB.NET.:)

Hello one and all, I've got a question regarding primary key and foreign key theory. This will be a simple example to get across what I am trying to ask. Say you have table 1 with a primary key. Talbe 2 has a foreign key that ties back to table 1. Do you really also need to declare for table 2 a primary key if really what you would normally think of as the primary key is really the foreign key? Or another way of asking the question is if the foreign key relates back to another table on the primary key, is there any need of declaring a primary key in the second table? Hope this wasn't too confusing. I know it's late this evening and perhaps my brain has gone mushy on me;)

Thanks for the ReadOnly reply as well and I will certainly look into that option as well. Appreciate the input. Thanks,

It would seem I was making this out to be harder than it was. I thank you very much for that very insightful suggestion as I think that is actually what I was in need of. I am just messing around right now but that seems to do the job for me. Thanks,

I just voted and saw the results, impressive. I was about 11 when I first began. Back in the days of TRS80's that used those large floppy disks and printed on paper that was supplied in large rolls. I'm the oldest of four kids and my youngest family members tease me about being ancient and having used 'ancient scrolls' as they loving refer to those paper supply rolls the TRS80's used. VB.NET is actually my first MS language to use. I've been in the Unix and AIX world most of the time using varying scripting languages and other 4GL databases that predate the advent of SQL. I think learning more than one language is a good thing. I presently have a website that is done in PHP. Once I get good enough with VB.NET and the .NET family I hope to also have a .NET website. Thanks to everyone here. I enjoy learning and also helping others learn.

What is the 'magic' commands that need to be used in order to have some input areas on a form 'grayed out' when the form loads and only become open to user input if certain values are entered in input areas above them? I've done some searching and am not hitting on the right things. I know it can be done as I've seen too many places where others are doing it. And I'd just like to get myself up to speed on how to accomplish the task. Thanks a bunch

The item PlausiblyDamp mentioned is available in the VB.NET 2003 Standard edition. It is the version I am using to learn VB.NET from and I just checked and it is there and actually it is checked by default. I know it is checked by default as I have made it a point not to change any of the settings just so I can always tell how things are set at install time.

Thanks for the suggestion, I will give it a try and see how it goes.

Well, I haven't used the product yet but I'll try to help you out. On the homepage there is a link to the users guide. I am including that link here for your reference. I scanned the initial part of the document and toward the bottom of page 20 it begins to walk you through how to take an assembly or exe and run it through their program. Depending on your connection speed to the net it may take a few moments for the link to produce the manual on your screen. It is about 180 pages long and with my DSL connection it took a moment or two before the document came up so I could then work through it. Hope this helps.

I'll have to admit, that last reply had me chuckling. All righty then I'll give it a go here and see what we can come up with. I am looking to do something in a trigger. Part of what I need to do is find the length of a particular string of data that is being accessed in the SQL database. In looking over some of the string functions, I don't see anything that specifically indicates it is a function to return the lenght of the string in question. Keep in mind, that since I am looking to do this in a trigger I am not referencing any VB.NET code and so I don't have any of the VB.NET functions available to me where I am trying to do this at. Any thoughts or suggestions on this? Thanks :cool: