Access Expert Tutorial

Implementing the Microsoft Access database program.

Commenting Code

Putting `comments` in your code isn't just for code that you're going to share with other developers; it's a way for you to be able to understand what you wrote yesterday next week.

There is no use coming up with a kick-ass algorithm if you don't remember how to use it. Make yourself a friendly note explaining why and how. It is a kindness to your future self.

Don't be so clever that you write code that is useless to you later.

The SQL Distinct Key Word

This solution is for returning one record per user with either a min or max value in one of the record's fields.

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SELECT DISTINCT ON (P.ID) PR.PRACTICENAME AS "Practice", P.FIRSTNAME AS "First Name", P.MIDDLENAME AS "Middle Name", P.LASTNAME AS "Last Name", A.DATE::date AS "Last Appointment Date"

FROM PEOPLE AS P

JOIN CLIENT C ON C.ID = P.CLIENT_ID

JOIN PRACTICE PR ON PR.ID = P.PRACTICE_ID

JOIN APPOINTMENT A ON A.CLIENT_ID = C.ID

WHERE A.DATE IS NOT NULL

ORDER BY P.ID, A.DATE DESC

---------------------------------------------------------------

The beauty of this query is that is returns only the record for each client's latest appointment without the use of complex sub-queries. Granted, the results may have to be further sorted, either using SQL or another tool, but it does return only one row per CLIENT and that row is for their LATEST appointment date.

Douglas Crockford: The JavaScript Programming Language

This lecture is a complete overview of the JavaScript (ECMAScript) language from a very knowledgeable and experienced leader in the field.

Excel Parsing Formulae

Parse rightmost word in a cell:
=RIGHT(A1, LEN(A1)-FIND("*",SUBSTITUTE(A1," ", "*",LEN(A1)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A1," ",""))))

Parse location:
=MID(A2,FIND("Location: ",A2,1)+14,FIND("(",A2,FIND("Location: ",A2,1))-FIND("Location: ",A2,1)-14)
=MID(A2,FIND("Location: ",A2,1)+14,FIND("(",A2,FIND("Location: ",A2,1))-FIND("Location: ",A2,1)-14)
[ Number of characters: FIND("(",A2,FIND("Location: ",A2,1))-FIND("Location: ",A2,1)-15 ]

ParseName(fwd):
=PROPER(MID(A2,SEARCH("Name: ",A2,1)+6,SEARCH("Email:",A2,1)-(SEARCH("Name:",A2,1)+9)))
=PROPER(MID(A2,SEARCH("Name: ",A2,1)+6,SEARCH("Phone:",A2,1)-(SEARCH("Name:",A2,1)+8)))

ParseEmail:
=TRIM(LOWER(MID(A2,FIND("mailto:",A2,1)+7,(FIND("Home Location: ",A2,1))-(FIND("mailto:",A2,1)+9))))
=TRIM(LOWER(MID(A2,FIND("Email: ",A2,1)+8,(FIND("Phone: ",A2,1))-(FIND("Email: ",A2,1)+12))))

Concatenate middle and last names (& appellations):
=PROPER(TRIM(CONCATENATE(IF(LEN(C2)=1,C2&".",C2),IF(ISBLANK(D2),""," "&D2),IF(ISBLANK(E2),""," "&E2),)))
=PROPER(TRIM(CONCATENATE(IF(LEN(C2)=1,C2&".",C2),IF(ISBLANK(D2),""," "&D2),IF(ISBLANK(E2),""," "&E2),IF(ISBLANK(F2),""," "&F2))))
=PROPER(TRIM(CONCATENATE(IF(LEN(D2)=1,D2&".",D2),IF(ISBLANK(E2),""," "&E2),IF(ISBLANK(F2),""," "&F2))))
=PROPER(TRIM(CONCATENATE(IF(LEN(E2)=1,E2&".",E2),IF(ISBLANK(F2),""," "&F2),IF(ISBLANK(G2),""," "&G2))))
=PROPER(TRIM(CONCATENATE(IF(LEN(F2)=1,F2&".",F2),IF(ISBLANK(G2),""," "&G2),IF(ISBLANK(H2),""," "&H2))))
=PROPER(TRIM(CONCATENATE(IF(LEN(F2)=1,F2&".",F2),IF(ISBLANK(G2),""," "&G2),IF(ISBLANK(H2),""," "&H2),IF(ISBLANK(I2),""," "&I2))))
=PROPER(TRIM(CONCATENATE(IF(LEN(G2)=1,G2&".",G2),IF(ISBLANK(H2),""," "&H2),IF(ISBLANK(I2),""," "&I2))))
=PROPER(TRIM(CONCATENATE(IF(LEN(G2)=1,G2&".",G2),IF(ISBLANK(H2),""," "&H2),IF(ISBLANK(I2),""," "&I2),IF(ISBLANK(J2),""," "&J2))))

Parse location (in Body):
=MID(A2,FIND("Location: ",A2,1)+13,FIND("(",A2,FIND("Location: ",A2,1))-FIND("Location: ",A2,1)-14)

Parse location (in Subject):
=IF(SEARCH(" in ",A2,1),RIGHT(A2,LEN(A2)-SEARCH(" in ",A2,1)-3),)
=IF(SEARCH(" in ",C2,1),RIGHT(C2,LEN(C2)-SEARCH(" in ",C2,1)-3),)
=IF(SEARCH(" in ",D2,1),RIGHT(D2,LEN(D2)-SEARCH(" in ",D2,1)-3),)
=IF(SEARCH(" in ",C2,1),RIGHT(C2,LEN(C2)-SEARCH(" in ",C2,1)-3),IF(SEARCH(" for ",C2,1),RIGHT(C2,LEN(C2)-SEARCH(" for ",C2,1)-4),))
=IF(SEARCH(" in ",D2,1),RIGHT(D2,LEN(D2)-SEARCH(" in ",D2,1)-3),IF(SEARCH(" for ",D2,1),RIGHT(D2,LEN(D2)-SEARCH(" for ",D2,1)-4),))
-------------------------------------------------

Buttons from images

You totally CAN make an image into a button that loads a new page without JavaScript.

The usual reason for wanting to make an image into a button without using the usual link tags, i.e.,

Here's an alternative to having to define a JavaScript function for the onclick event:

- or -

onClick="location.href='index.html'">

Apply attributes using CSS:

#clickhere {
   background-image: url('pathtoimage/image.png');
   height: 20px;
   width: 75px;
}

View Source Bookmarklet for iPhone

var sourceWindow = window.open("about:blank"); var newDoc = sourceWindow.document; newDoc.open(); newDoc.write("<html><head><title>Source of " + document.location.href + "</title><meta name=\"viewport\" id=\"viewport\" content=\"initial-scale=1.0;" + "user-scalable=0; maximum-scale=0.6667; width=480\"/><script>function do_onload()" + "{setTimeout(function(){window.scrollTo(0,1);},100);}if(navigator.userAgent.indexOf" + "(\"iPhone\")!=-1)window.onload=do_onload;</script></head><body></body></html>");

From Evernote:

View Source Bookmarklet

Clipped from: http://www.iphonewebdev.com/examples/

var sourceWindow = window.open("about:blank");var newDoc = sourceWindow.document; newDoc.open(); newDoc.write("<html><head><title>Source of " +document.location.href + "</title><meta name=\"viewport\" id=\"viewport\" content=\"initial-scale=1.0;" + "user-scalable=0; maximum-scale=0.6667; width=480\"/><script>function do_onload()" +"{setTimeout(function(){window.scrollTo(0,1);},100);}if(navigator.userAgent.indexOf"+ "(\"iPhone\")!=-1)window.onload=do_onload;</script></head><body></body></html>");

HTML and JavaScript for parsing E-mails and URLs

HTML part:

Enter a regular expression type:

<select name="re" onchange="parseWith()">
<option value="^\W" selected="selected">Choose an expression</option>
<option value="[\w\.\-]+@[\w\.\-]+\b">E-mails</option>
<option value="\w{3,6}:/+[\w.]*">URLs</option>
</select><br />

JavaScript part:

function parseWith(){
var txtI = document.text2.Block2.value;
var re = document.text2.re.value;
var use = new RegExp(re,"g"); // RegExp constructor compiles entered value to a JavaScript valid regex
var txtO = txtI.match(use);
document.outform.result.value = txtO;
replaceCommas();
}

function replaceCommas(){
var txt = document.outform.result.value;
var re = /,/g;
var rTxt = txt.replace(re,"\n");
document.outform.result.value = rTxt;
var para = document.getElementById("label");
para.lastChild.nodeValue = "";
para.lastChild.nodeValue = "paragraph separated values";
}

Most Useful Color Site on the Web

Most useful and amazingly generous Website I have ever found for experimenting with color.
Thank you Peter Stanicek!

Developing with Apache Derby

Having problems getting your successfully compiled Java programs to run? If you are getting the annoying message that "main" was not found in the class, or "class file not found," the following will help you get your CLASSPATH variable sorted out.

This is from Robert Brunner's IBM online tutorial article,
Developing with Apache Derby -- Hitting the Trifecta: Java database development with Apache Derby, Part 3:
If you encounter an error in either using the ij tool or compiling or executing any of the Java classes, the most likely culprit is the Java CLASSPATH environmental variable. Be sure this variable contains the requisite Apache Derby JAR files, which you can do by displaying the value of this variable using the echo $CLASSPATH command; the command should produce output similar to the following (note that your Apache Derby installation may change these values slightly):

/opt/Apache/db-derby-10.2.1.6-bin/lib/derby.jar:/
/opt/Apache/db-derby-10.2.1.6-bin/lib/derbytools.jar:.

(Notice that there is a period after the last colon above. This is not a end of sentence period; it needs to be there so that the current directory is included in the CLASSPATH.

Useful Code