Voice of the DBA

Category: Blog

  • Daily Coping 29 Sep 2020

    I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQLServerCentral newsletter and to the Community Circle, which is helping me deal with the issues in the world. I’m adding my responses for each day here.

    Today’s tip is to look at photos from a time with happy memories.

    I try to take a lot of photos, and I love the various services that often show images from previous years. A few I’ve enjoyed lately from last September.

    Last August, we dropped my daughter off at college, which was a little sad, but also very exciting.

    IMG_20190815_135738_01

    I went to London last year for work and my wife joined me. We took a side trip to Stonehenge.

    20190908_141933

    Then at the end of the month, just about a year ago, I flew to Sydney for a couple days to run a SQL in the City event there. I managed an afternoon of tourism.

    20190926_133911

  • Fixing the PoSh Hotkey in ADS

    I installed the PowerShell (PoSh) extension in ADS recently. This is available in the extension pane, and once installed, you get the 4th icon on the right added to your sidebar, for PoSh.

    2020-09-10 15_07_51-poshtest.ps1 - Data Analysis - Azure Data Studio

    I have the SSMS Keymap extension installed as well, since that was the first one I grabbed. This gives me keymapping to allow CTRL+E to execute queries. I have literally a decade of muscle memory here, and really wanted this to work.

    However, when I highlight code in ADS and press F8, which is what I do in VS Code, I get this:

    2020-09-11 14_42_34-poshtest.ps1 - Data Analysis - Azure Data Studio

    Not only is my PoSh code in the editor tab not executed in the Terminal, but the Server Connection pane pops open.

    This is because that’s what keymap does for F8. I can use the command palette to debug this.

    2020-09-11 14_44_14-Keyboard Shortcuts - Data Analysis - Azure Data Studio

    If I open up the keyboard shortcuts and search for F8, I find that a number of things use this.

    2020-09-11 14_44_21-Keyboard Shortcuts - Data Analysis - Azure Data Studio

    The last binding is the one that’s in effect, and you can see that the Show Connections overrides the PowerShell item.

    Fortunately, I can edit this by clicking on the left of this line.

    2020-09-11 14_45_41-Keyboard Shortcuts - Data Analysis - Azure Data Studio

    Once the dialog pops up, it is there to capture any keystrokes, so it’s hard to get a picture of this. However, with a little experimenting, I remapped this to CTRL+L, which has some bindings, but these aren’t ones I use.

    Now I see PowerShell as the last item, and if I close this tab, and go back to my code, I can press F8, and I’ll see the line executed in the terminal.

    2020-09-11 14_47_45-poshtest.ps1 - Data Analysis - Azure Data Studio

  • Daily Coping 28 Sep 2020

    I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQLServerCentral newsletter and to the Community Circle, which is helping me deal with the issues in the world. I’m adding my responses for each day here.

    Today’s tip is to remind yourself that you are loved and worthy of love.

    Words are powerful. Mantras, visions, repeating phrases to yourself has been shown to be powerful. For many of us, there is love, a caring and affection from others. This is usually true from partners and family, but I think it’s also a part of the #sqlfamily.

    Many others in the this SQL Server, data platform community pull together and help each other. They express caring, listening, and more to each other. If you’ve ever been to a SQL Saturday, the PASS Summit, SQL Bits, Data Relay, and more, this is often visible. There is a camaraderie that I often don’t feel at more formal, and many for-profit, events.

    We are all worthy of love. I don’t know how else to say this, and if you don’t feel this, repeat this to yourself over and over: “I am worthy of love.”

    Or send me a note on Twitter or Linked In. I’ll listen and let you know you are worthy.

  • Daily Coping 25 Sep 2020

    I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQLServerCentral newsletter and to the Community Circle, which is helping me deal with the issues in the world. I’m adding my responses for each day here.

    Today’s tip is to get outside today and give your mind and body a natural boost.

    Easy one for me today. I’m off, so I’ll be outside working on my extension cord. Last weekend my daughter and I rented a trencher and dug a hole from the barn to a middle pasture. We’ve struggled with water out here in the winter, with some weird PVC and extension cords cobbled together. It worked, but not well, and it was only intended for short term work.

    5e4848c4-334d-46ce-b039-177f93fa77a1

    As we’ve realized we will have horses here for most of the winter, I decided we needed power out here, and the best way to do this in a low impactful and cost effective way is to set up two outlets, connected by wire underground. This is protected from horses, isn’t permanently wired to the barn, and if something trips or breaks, we can isolate this from the rest of our system.

    A very hard afternoon got the wire buried. Today, I wire up outlets.