Monthly Archives: November 2009

Life

Mom: In Memorium

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November 14th, 2009 marked the 3 year anniversay of my Mother’s sudden and untimely passing.  While my Mother was sick, nothing of Her condition was terminal and She was taken from us much too soon, having only spent 52 short years on this plane.  This is the first time in these three years that I have felt comfortable, nay even found it necessary to write about this most sad event. 
 
The loss of my Mother was for me the most singularly painful and sorrowful event of my then 28 years on the planet.  3 years later and the pain remains almost as fresh.  I am told by those that have suffered through similar losses that these monumental feelings will last a lifetime, dulling little with the passing years.  The thought of enduring this lasting pain does not discomfort me as it allows me to recognize the enormous love I have for my Mother, such that not having Her with me in this life can cause such pain.
 
It is always my plan to remain busy this time of the year, keeping my mind occupied with important work and trivial daily tasks as a buffer to the emotions that are so difficult to deal with.  This is my defense; I know none other.  I really should talk to others more about this, and perhaps this marks my entry into this new endeavour.  I find it interesting that my family does not directly discuss this event.  We remember fondly good times and memories of Mom throughout the year but no specifics about Her passing.  I guess my family is only as ready as I am to communicate this event, which is completely acceptable and totally understandable.  As for me, I want to say how much I love my Mother, how tragically I mourn Her passing, and how I will think of Her everyday of my life. 
 
I love you, Mom.
 
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Gathering Multiple Dataset Information in a Single Query

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I’ve come across situations before and again this morning where I had to compile information in one report from multiple datasets.   Usually this is no problem, however this morning I found myself needing to use the results from one dataset to filter out results from a separate dataset.  My first data set grabbed a distinct list of codes from an access database on a network share and I needed to feed that list as a filter to a second query to a SQL Server table.  My solution was to store that data from the Access query in a report parameter that I could then feed into the second query.  To do this I created a report parameter, set its internal attribute to true (checked), and defaulted its values to that of the query from the Access database.  In my second query I then used the report parameter name in the IN statement of the WHERE clause to provide the filtering, as such:
 
SELECT <column_name>
FROM <table_name>
WHERE <column_name_to_filter> IN (@ReportParameter)
 
This solution works beautifully, but is limited to simple result sets.  I’m still interested in finding solutions to handle more complex data from multiple sources. 
 
Hope this helps.  Happy Reporting!
SSRS

Talking about Installing 32-bit ODBC Drivers on Windows 7

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 I had to create a report today that used information from two different data sources, the first was SQL Server, and the second was an Access database.  I needed to create an ODBC connection to the Access database first so that I could query the data in my report.  I am running Windows 7 64 bit, and from prevous experience I know that I should be creating a 32 bit ODBC connection and that Windows provides both a 64 bit and 32 bit ODBC manager.  I opened up my System32 folder and found the 32 bit ODBC executable, odbcad32.exe and launched it.  Much to my suprise, there was no Access driver listed in the manager.  I did some quick searching and came across this incredibly helpful article.  The article explains that the odbcad32.exe that exists in the System32 folder is in actuality the 64 bit ODBC manager, and that both the 32 bit and 64 bit ODBC managers exist in the 64 bit system directory, SysWOW64, with the 32 bit manager having the same name (odbcad32.exe) as the 64 bit in the 32 bit directory (is that enough bits yet?).  Once I found the proper manager, I was able to add my DSN and get the report running. 

On a side note: this issue came about after having solved another cool problem, which was using data from one dataset into another.  I’ll create another entry to describe that process and solution.

Hope this helps.  Happy Reporting!