Lance's Whiteboard

I just discovered this promising project named RSBuild on CodePlex for scripting the deploy of Stored Procedures & Sql Reporting artifacts. 

...are a few words that could describe my past year (or so) of blogging activity.   I have so many thoughts zipping around in my mind that I just cant find time or motivation to go code, post, and purge them - I feel completely mentally constipated.  Somehow I always seem to be bogged-down on focusing on my projects at work or busy with the family that it leaves little time for serious contemplation or even the occasional playful troll.   I really must purge these thoughts & ideas in the form of blog posts before I burst!!

I recently completed a project in which I think I utilized every API and every extensibility point available within Sql Server 2005 Reporting Services and walked away from the experience feeling soiled, smelly, and dirty.  This wasnt my first time exploring this territory, since my last job utilized Sql Server 2000 Reporting Services, and involved several custom data extensions and some custom "function assemblies" for creating barcodes an other custom functionality within from reports.  However, this time I think i really gained a better sense of how close the whole system is to being really good and how disappointing it is that the Sql Server 2005 team seemed to focus more on new features than on improving the integration and extension story.

I recently wanted to retry the idea of using virtual development environments instead of developing locally on my PC so that I can have several pre-built development and test environments that are tailored to each deployment target.   Having dabbled at this a couple times before, I already had some images available to use.

I dont have time for a lengthy post, so here is some link-love for some great articles that have helped me lately with some data extensions and other custom code I am writing for Sql Server 2005 Reporting Services:

Face it, the IT world is a tiny tight-knit community where everyone knows everyone either directly or indirectly through our own private game of 6-degrees of separation.  So, why do most employers treat potential recruits more like pesky cold-calling-vendors than like valued potential  future clients?

Eating Exceptions:

Someone sent me a link to the latest Red-Gate beta-ware, Sql Doc.   This looks like it will become an essential tool much like Sql Refactor and Sql Compare.