Create A SQL Function for Month

Yes I know that there is a function already that return the “Month” as an Integer. But what about the month as text. Take for example the month is 6 and you want June.

Well the following Function will allow this to happen.

Pretty simple to use. Just pass in a datatime and it returns a varchar(12) of the month.

Sample how to use:

SELECT dbo.MonthString(GetDate()) AS [Month]

Function Create Script:

SET ANSI_NULLS ON
GO
SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
GO
Create Function [dbo].[MonthString]
(
@Date DATETIME
)
Returns VARCHAR(12)
Begin

DECLARE @Month VARCHAR(12)

SELECT @Month = ( SELECT
CASE MONTH(@Date)
WHEN 1 THEN 'Januraury'
WHEN 2 THEN 'Feburaury'
WHEN 3 THEN 'March'
WHEN 4 THEN 'April'
WHEN 5 THEN 'May'
WHEN 6 THEN 'June'
WHEN 7 THEN 'July'
WHEN 8 THEN 'August'
WHEN 9 THEN 'September'
WHEN 10 THEN 'October'
WHEN 11 THEN 'November'
ELSE 'December'
END

)
RETURN @Month
End

How to Upgrade Windows 7 RC to Windows 7 RTM

Since you are reading this post I assume you discovered you cannot upgrade Windows 7 RTM from Windows 7 RC1. This is because Microsoft put some checks and balances in the install code to prevent you from doing so. As with everything else this is treatable with a little surgery.

Warning:
What I am about to show comes with no warranty or guarantees. Just like modifying your registry, do this at your own risk.

The following instructions should get you through the upgrade process.

• First you need to download a copy of Windows 7 ISO file from Microsoft. You can do this either through your TechNet or MSDN account.
  
• Now that you have that you will need to decompress the files to a folder on your hard drive or network drive. I use PowerISO, but you can use what ever utility you are comfortable with.
  
• Once the files have been extracted locate the INI file entitled "cversion.ini". This should be located in the "sources" folder. Open it up in a text editing utility or Visual Studio 2008.
  
• Now you have to know a little about what you are doing to make this work. There is a line "MinClient". This is used by the installer when checking to see if you have a valid upgrade version. Let's change this to the value less than the build number of RC1 which is 7100. So we will change it to 7000.
  
• Now save you changes and close the text editor.
  
• Now recompress this back to an ISO file and burn to DVD.
  

Now when the disk runs you should get the option to do an upgrade.

A Journal for IT Architects

While traveling the world, via my keyboard i came across a source for Architects. It is an electronic journal on MSDN.

The following is pulled directly from their site:

"The Architecture Journal is an independent platform for free thinkers and practitioners of IT architecture. New editions are issued quarterly with articles designed to offer perspective, share knowledge, and help you learn the discipline and pursue the art of IT architecture. The Architecture Journal reaches over 53,000 subscribers worldwide. Click here to receive a free print version."

I have reviewed several of the articles and found them worthy of noting.

Please feel free to review the site and tell me what you think.

1st Cleveland Architecture SIG Meeting

The date time and location have been selected for the 1st Cleveland Architecture SIG Meeting.

Date: April 30th 2009

Time: 6pm - 8pm

Location: Microsoft Office Independence, Ohio.

Please contact me if you have any questions or more information.

Topic to be discussed is yet to be determined at this time. When it is decided upon I will update this post.

The link to the group site is http://clevearc.groups.live.com/

CleveArc Starts

The site for the new Cleveland Architects Group is now up.

http://www.clevearc.org/

Please stop by this site and sign up for your free membership and to get on the mailing list. The first meeting is still planned for April sometime.

Cleveland Getting an Architect SIG Group

Yes it is true Cleveland is getting its very own Architect SIG. Starting in April we will be conducting our first meetings. I plan to post on this blog more information as it is available. I will be looking for a few volunteers to help with certain aspects of this.

As soon as more details become available I will post them here.

If you would like to be on a mailing list please e-mail me @ jodymorgan@wowway.com.

Thanks and I look forward to see you at our first meeting.

ArchReady Coming to Town...

ArcReady is like the TechNet and MSDN Events but focused toward Solution Architects. On March 26th it will be coming to the Cleveland area. It will be held at the Microsoft offices here in Cleveland.
The topics to be discussed will be Cloud Services and Mesh and Live Services.

If you are an Architect or Aspiring to be one I highly recomend attending this. If you want to attend sign up using the following link, ArcReady.