Tonight, I am doing my first presentation at a SQL User Group, the Baton Rouge SQL Server User Group (@BRSSUG) . But in my quirky unusual fashion, I am not “presenting” a topic and this is not your typical presentation.

Following the idea of Jeremy Kadlec, I am hosting SQL Jeopardy! 

Step 1: Create a type of “game board” so to speak.  I had to present this in a fashion that would be memorable and easy to work with.  Drawing on my experience as a .NET programmer, I developed an interactive Jeopardy game board, complete with sounds. Here’s a sneak peak:

Step 2: With the help of our local User Group President, William Assef (@william_a_dba), we developed the 51 questions needed for the game.  I chose to store them in a local SDF database for portability. I tried my best to fashion the Answer/Questions in the same manner as Jeopardy, i.e. providing the answer so the player was required to state their response in the form of a Question.  It was hard, and some of the question I have can’t be done that way, version 2.0 will hopefully correct this. 

Step 3:  Test, Test, Test.  I am not the most efficient typist and if it wasn’t for spell check, I would probably come across as an idiot, so I had to review, review, and review the entries to be sure I had them all correctly spelled and the Answers / Questions were all correct and factual.

Step 4:  GAME ON! 

Tomorrow I will let you all know how it went and how it was received.  My future plans are to create the “admin” side of the game board so the questions and answers can be edited, changed and tailored to individual group’s needs as well as making the categories editable.  Because of time constraints, all the categories and Answer/Questions are hard coded in either the forms or SDF database.

WISH ME LUCK!

In the last few months I have been panicking because the MS SQL Server 2008 certification were set to retire July 31, 2013. At least that is what I kept reading.  Yes, I know SQL 2012 is “standard issue” now; but most of us are still using SQL 2008/2008 R2 and even possibly 2005! It would be nice to get our certifications in the systems that we primarily use.

For those of us that are “true” procrastinators, Microsoft apparently has given us a reprieve on our MS SQL Server Certifications, at least for DBAs.

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/sql-certification.aspx#fbid=Qq96ZyrLZit

If you scroll down and expand the “Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP) accordion, you will notice that MCITP for Administration retire date has been pushed back to January 1, 2014.  That’s 6 more months of time you (and I) have to complete it (if you want).

The bad news, the BI and Developer MCITP Certifications will still expire on July 31, 2013.  Luckily I already have my MCITP in BI. 

Now the real question, can I squeeze 70-448 and 70-452 (Dev tests) into 29 days?  Only time will tell!

I have been a fan of Telerik WinForms and ASP.NET controls since 2007. When Telerik decided to enter the Business Intelligence (BI) development, I was ecstatic. I immediately downloaded and began using Telerik Reporting v.1 I must confess, I was a little lost for words. The great Telerik had finally let me down. The first edition of Telerik Reporting seemed nothing more than a “revamp” of Microsoft Visual Studio embedded reports. So, unfortunately I sort of pushed it aside and continued using Visual Studio for reporting needs.

Fast forward to 2012……………

Today I downloaded the new Telerik Reporting and was VERY impressed and pleased with the newest rendition of the product. The integrated Client Install, is an easy way to “pick and choose” what you would like to “try” and actually gives you access to licenses as well.

I am very familiar with the integration with Visual Studio for a Win Forms or Web applications, but because, I currently work with existing Microsoft SSRS 2008 server and over 100 reports in several Report Projects, I wanted to know explicitly how it could help me in managing existing SSRS hosted reports. So I installed with the Visual Studio 2008 support and immediately opened a new SSRS report project. Bummer; well it seems Telerik and SSRS Projects are still very separate entities, which I am not surprised. I was hoping for the ability to edit deployed SSRS report projects and for some more “integration” between the two; especially since I am now primarily a BI developer.

Now on the flip side; the ability to integrate reports into your application, either Windows or Web, is made easier with Telerik Reporting. The Controls are very straight forward and easy to understand. The ability for Silverlight controls is also an added plus for those applications developers.

I also do a few “side” development jobs one of which required embedded SSRS report. Having Telerik could have made it a more enjoyable experience and quite possibly better to render.

As a BI developer using SSRS, my “customers” are always wanting unusual, challenging and even down right (what I thought was) impossible reports. Because of these challenges and the somewhat short-falls of SSRS 2008; I may actually consider proposing a “reporting” ASP.NET website with Telerik Reports and show my bosses the POWER of TELERIK!