Connect Excel to Microsoft SQL Server and query Database

Open Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (Alt+F11)

Click Tools – References

Add “Microsoft ActiveX Data Objects 2.7 Library”

Create a new module (I tend to keep all my SQL code in a module of its own e.g. mod_SQL)

Then create a new function or sub routine

Function myFunctionName(ByVal s_myString As String) As Integer

Dim conn As ADODB.Connection

Dim rs As ADODB.Recordset

Dim sConnString As String

'Create the connection string.

sConnString = "Provider=SQLOLEDB;Data Source=Address;" & _ 

"Initial Catalog=DBName;" & _

"User Id=Username; Password=Password"

'Create the Connection and Recordset objects.

Set conn = New ADODB.Connection

Set rs = New ADODB.Recordset

'Open the connection and execute. 

conn.Open sConnString

Set rs = conn.Execute("SQL Statement")

'Check we have data.

If Not rs.EOF Then

myFunctionName = rs("Return Value")

' Close the recordset

rs.Close

Else

myFunctionName= -1

End If

'Clean up

If CBool(conn.State And adStateOpen) Then conn.Close

Set conn = Nothing

Set rs = Nothing

End Function

Word / Office 2013 has stopped working

Annoyingly if you look around the web for Word / Office crashing on start up or "has stopped working" you will find thousands of posts all recommending the same thing; start word in safe mode and then disable COM Addins. 

After trouble shooting the issue for 3 hours and trying a variety of things I finally managed to resolve my problem. It seems my users issue was to do with their USB docking station (and the version of the Display link Adapter software they had installed)

I guess I could try upgrading the version of the software, but the user works in a different country so I don't want start uninstalling anything that may cause me to be disconnected. To get them up and running I was able to disable hardware acceleration for office, to do this

Run Regedit
Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Common
Create a new Key called Graphics
Under the new key create a new DWORD called DisableHardwareAcceleration
Set the DWORD value to 1

Excel VBA adding a comment to a cell

Code below can be used to add comments to a cell. I find this useful for providing errors and feedback to the end user.


Dim o_Range As Range

Set o_Range = Sheet1.Range("A1)

o_Range.ClearComments
   
o_Range.AddComment "Test Comment"

How to set start value of auto increment in MySQL?

The auto_increment is known as the seed value in MSSQL, if you need to change the sequence of your numbers then you can do so by running the following SQL command

ALTER TABLE tablename AUTO_INCREMENT=9999;

Change the table name to your actual table name and the 9999 to be your actual start value.

Alternatively if you are using phpMyAdmin then select your table and from the top menu select operations, under table options edit the AUTO_INCREMENT field.

This worked in phpMyAdmin version 4.2.7.1

Office 2010 Activation error 0x80070190

An unspecified error has occurred. Your request cannot be processed at this time. Please try again later. (0x80070190)

I’ve had the above error message a bunch of times while trying to activate Office 2010, I’ve been able to work around the problem by using the telephone activation option provided by Microsoft but it’s a pain and takes about 5 minutes. I honestly can’t believe I’ve put up with problem for so long when the solution to my problem was fairly obvious and straight forward.

If you are dealing with this error try running the activation as Administrator (right click Word or Excel and select Run as Administrator)

Worked first time for me.

Outlook 2013 New Feature

I’ve started upgrading a few people from Outlook 2007/2010 to 2013 and have come across a new feature that’s really going to help out some of my users.

Some of my users have mammoth mailboxes, one in particular is at 20GB. Outlook in cached mode routinely slows up and the only explanation that we can reach is that Outlook must be doing some routine maintenance on the OST. It became so unusable that we turned off cached mode for that user. The answer is to obviously delete and archive email but some users are stubborn.

We did switch off Outlook caching, but now we find that when the user is going in and out of folders etc that Outlook will hang for a few seconds, its quite frustrating.

Anyway onto Outlook 2013, under account settings there is a now a slider titled “Mail to keep offline” it ranges from 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 12 months and all. 

VB.NET: How to sort listview by clicked column

Ok, I claim no credit for this whatsoever, but just in case Fryan Valdez ever takes down his blog I'll repost the information in his blog post here:

Please click through to read the original blog, I provide a copy of it here purely for my information and future reference

http://www.fryan0911.com/2009/05/vbnet-how-to-sort-listview-by-clicked.html

To make your ListView application capable of column sorting, follow these steps:

1. On your existing project, add a new class with following code:

Public Class clsListviewSorter ' Implements a comparer
    Implements IComparer
    Private m_ColumnNumber As Integer
    Private m_SortOrder As SortOrder
    Public Sub New(ByVal column_number As Integer, ByVal sort_order As SortOrder)
        m_ColumnNumber = column_number
        m_SortOrder = sort_order
    End Sub
    ' Compare the items in the appropriate column
    Public Function Compare(ByVal x As Object, ByVal y As Object) As Integer Implements System.Collections.IComparer.Compare
        Dim item_x As ListViewItem = DirectCast(x, ListViewItem)
        Dim item_y As ListViewItem = DirectCast(y, ListViewItem)
        ' Get the sub-item values.
        Dim string_x As String
        If item_x.SubItems.Count <= m_ColumnNumber Then
            string_x = ""
        Else
            string_x = item_x.SubItems(m_ColumnNumber).Text
        End If
        Dim string_y As String
        If item_y.SubItems.Count <= m_ColumnNumber Then
            string_y = ""
        Else
            string_y = item_y.SubItems(m_ColumnNumber).Text
        End If
        ' Compare them.
        If m_SortOrder = SortOrder.Ascending Then
            If IsNumeric(string_x) And IsNumeric(string_y) Then
                Return Val(string_x).CompareTo(Val(string_y))
            ElseIf IsDate(string_x) And IsDate(string_y) Then
                Return DateTime.Parse(string_x).CompareTo(DateTime.Parse(string_y))
            Else
                Return String.Compare(string_x, string_y)
            End If
        Else
            If IsNumeric(string_x) And IsNumeric(string_y) Then
                Return Val(string_y).CompareTo(Val(string_x))
            ElseIf IsDate(string_x) And IsDate(string_y) Then
                Return DateTime.Parse(string_y).CompareTo(DateTime.Parse(string_x))
            Else
                Return String.Compare(string_y, string_x)
            End If
        End If
    End Function
End Class

2. Declare a private variable on the form where the listview you want to be sorted is located.

Private m_SortingColumn As ColumnHeader

3. Then on the listview's ColumnClick event, add the following code

Private Sub ListView1_ColumnClick(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.ColumnClickEventArgs) Handles ListView1.ColumnClick
        ' Get the new sorting column.
        Dim new_sorting_column As ColumnHeader = ListView1.Columns(e.Column)
        ' Figure out the new sorting order.
        Dim sort_order As System.Windows.Forms.SortOrder
        If m_SortingColumn Is Nothing Then
            ' New column. Sort ascending.
            sort_order = SortOrder.Ascending
        Else ' See if this is the same column.
            If new_sorting_column.Equals(m_SortingColumn) Then
                ' Same column. Switch the sort order.
                If m_SortingColumn.Text.StartsWith("> ") Then
                    sort_order = SortOrder.Descending
                Else
                    sort_order = SortOrder.Ascending
                End If
            Else
                ' New column. Sort ascending.
                sort_order = SortOrder.Ascending
            End If
            ' Remove the old sort indicator.
            m_SortingColumn.Text = m_SortingColumn.Text.Substring(2)
        End If
        ' Display the new sort order.
        m_SortingColumn = new_sorting_column
        If sort_order = SortOrder.Ascending Then
            m_SortingColumn.Text = "> " & m_SortingColumn.Text
        Else
            m_SortingColumn.Text = "< " & m_SortingColumn.Text
        End If
        ' Create a comparer.
        ListView1.ListViewItemSorter = New clsListviewSorter(e.Column, sort_order)
        ' Sort.
        ListView1.Sort()
    End Sub