Archive for March, 2010

Weekly Work

Mar 29th

Posted by Dark-Ape in Randomness

No comments

Currently working on getting a new website out for work sometime within the next month, so we’re in rush mode for the project. Not much research happening at the moment, but I haven’t halted everything.

I am still looking for a solution to my jQuery problem for my Custom Tags, and I don’t mind help if anyone has the time to spare: http://dev.jquery.com/ticket/6239.

Still trying to find the presentation files for the “SQL Server Data Compression 101″ class from SQLSaturday#33, but no luck as of yet. I’ll try directly contacting Patrick since my previous one might have been filtered as SPAM.

On a note of the strange, is “most minimal” actually a valid English phrase? It seems odd reading that, yet a Google search for ["most minimal" phrase] yields approximately 16,000 pages with all but one link on the first page being technical writings – the one exception was a government Court of Appeals ruling from a judge… Technical folk make some of the best phrases. (“All your base are belong to us.”)

Custom iContact PHP API

Mar 15th

Posted by Dark-Ape in Web Development

2 comments

For those who are unfamiliar with iContact, it is one of many different email marketing programs available today. Most web developers have at least heard of Constant Contact, and I myself have used it along with Publicaster and myEmma, but for two different jobs I have switched to iContact for their pricing, fast delivery, simple customer interface and the simple fact that they have an application programming interface, an API. Their current API is pretty basic and honestly the technical support, specifically to the API, is kind of a joke, but they still beat out other programs I have used.

My primary requirement, as a webmaster, is an ease which with to implement, manage and distribute messages to an audience. Part of that ease is an automated process to insert new registrants automatically without the need for a manual update. Also, the range of customization an API brings is an important factor for implementation. I have had the misfortune to deal with applications that had no public interface, it was an “up-sell” they mentioned when closing the account, and manual imports were a must before any email was sent. There are also those that solely had an interface on their own domain or could not be customized outside of the look and feel of a pre-made form. Functional freedom is important.

iContact’s API

The interface provided by iContact is fully functional, but some of the methodology is round-about. For example, you need the contact id and list id in order to add a subscriber to the list, but first you have to see if they exist in the system. Also, do you want to add them to a list they are already a member of… how would that work? These kinds of issues are not mentioned in the call lists, or the code library, so I created my own function to address it and ended up adding in error responses to all of the various calls.
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SQLSaturday#33 Notes

Mar 10th

Posted by Dark-Ape in Randomness

1 comment

My notes from this past Saturday are now available for download here.*

This is only the first version of the notes as I want to expand further on some of my notes, but I took notes expecting to review the presentations at a later time. Unfortunately, I have yet to find the notes for one of the courses and will be updating the file once I have; I will also add an update to this posting as well.

* The associated file in this posting was last updated Mar. 10, 2010.

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SQLSaturday#33 Review and Advance Notice

Mar 7th

Posted by Dark-Ape in Randomness

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SQLSaturday

Yesterday I attended SQLSaturday#33 in Charlotte, NC. It was the second time I have attended, my first time being the very first SQLSaturday in Orlando, FL about 3 years ago. I was glad I received the opportunity to go this year – last year there were not any near me for to attend and then return for work on time – and as before I learned plenty while learning how much I really still have left to learn. Strangely, I really appreciate the fact of knowing that there is plenty left for me to learn. As such, I would like to thank all of those who came to share and teach those who attended.

I would especially like to thank the following people who taught the classes I attended:

  • Mike Walsh, “As a DBA, where do I start?” and “You Can Improve Your Own SQL Code”
  • Kendal Van Dyke, “Getting started in blogging and technical speaking.”
  • Timothy Ford, “Tips For The Lazy But Driven DBA”
  • Patrick LeBlanc, “SQL Server Data Compression 101″ (I’m still laughing about his “white paper” slip-up)
  • Geoff Hiten, “Bad SQL”

For anyone interested, I will be condensing my notes for their classes for some co-workers and I will also post the notes and the materials by Wednesday – this way I can kill two geek groups with one zip.

Oops, a bug!

I would like to thank Connie for pointing out that there seems to be a bug with my script in “Custom Tags using jQuery 1.4.1,” but I have been unable to determine why and have submitted it for review by some others. Internet Explorer 7 and 8 both fail to execute the script, while still allowing other JavaScript to run, and say the problem exists within the jQuery library itself. I will post a correction once I, or someone who is quicker, have found the source of the problem.

Next Post Preview: Custom iContact API

Next Monday I will be posting a custom mini-API for anyone using iContact’s API – my rendition uses a single function call to subscribe a contact to a list regardless of whether the contact already exists or not. Strangely, I couldn’t find anything like had to make my own, but this is an important feature for anyone who wants to integrated a newsletter sign up form into their own website. I hope you look forward to it!

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