recent techy blog posts

TIL: You can use column aliases in an ORDER BY clause
You can use column aliases in ORDER BY, who knew? (Lots of people other than me, I'm sure!)
Posted 08/01/2019
Ignoring parameters that haven't been specified in a SQL query
Using ISNULL/COALESCE to allow for optional parameters to SQL queries
Posted 02/01/2019
2019: Time for even more
That's 2018 done, now for 2019!
Posted 31/12/2018
End of 2018 link dump
The final link dump of the year
Posted 31/12/2018
Using the Tabulator javascript library to prettify tables
Saying that I'm using it to prettify tables is doing the power and flexibility that it looks like Tabulator has quite a disservice!
Posted 31/12/2018
Using the PSWindowsUpdate module to interrogate Windows Update
It's a useful little toolbox that lets you inspect the current Windows Update state and also trigger updates to download and/or install
Posted 30/12/2018
Setting up OpServer, the awesome monitoring solution from Stack Exchange
Give Opserver a go. It'll cost you nothing but time (and very little of that!) to get a decent monitoring solution in place
Posted 24/12/2018
Using SQL Server to generate ranges and group data into them
Using a recursive CTE to generate ranges between one value and another, useful for generating report output
Posted 18/12/2018
Conditional totals for groups of rows, based on the value of a given column, in SQL Server Reporting Services
Memo to self: Counting values within a set of rows conditionally
Posted 13/12/2018
Using Azure Traffic Manager to divert to a holding page for a site that's not available
Azure Traffic Manager is the last piece in the puzzle; seamlessly routing traffic to Azure when the primary site is unavailable and switching it back when it returns
Posted 12/12/2018
Using Azure App Services to host a holding page for a site that's not available
Azure App Service + Custom Domains = The perfect solution for a holding page
Posted 07/12/2018
Using Azure to provide a holding page for a site that's not available
Using Azure Storage in table form is a great way to start building out a holding page to cover you when your infrastructure isn't available
Posted 30/11/2018
Running an ASP.NET project yellow screens with "Could not find a part of the path 'D:\Path\To\Project\bin\roslyn\csc.exe'"
The case of the weird NuGet restore failure that wouldn't go away
Posted 26/11/2018
C# 7.1 - Async Main has been around a while now
It's a couple of clicks to update your project to C# 7.1, but that's all it takes to let you use an async Main method
Posted 25/11/2018
Using C#7 Local Functions
Local functions are a nifty addition to C# that premiered in C# 7.0
Posted 22/11/2018

recent cooking blog posts

Lamb Hotpot
Lamb Hotpot recipes normally use chunks of meat, rather than minced meat. This recipe, based on one from gousto, uses minced lamb which keeps the cost and the cookl time to a minimum
Posted 13/01/2019
Soda Bread
Soda bread is a 'quick bread' which means it's great when you're short of time and need a bread fix
Posted 30/12/2018
Sausage Ragu
An attempt at re-creating a dish I had when dining with colleagues. It's a long, slow cook time but well worth it!
Posted 26/10/2018
Banana Bread
Make this a day or so before you need it, if you can, it gets stickier and tastier after baking!
Posted 29/09/2018
Ham & Cheese Toastie
It feels like a bit of a stretch to call a Ham & Cheese Toastie a recipe, but I don't care
Posted 22/09/2018
Braised greens
This recipe for greens is a nice way to lift them a bit for variety and make the meal a little bit richer
Posted 17/09/2018
Creamy Chicken
A tried and tested tasty dish that takes 30 minutes all-in, yes it's rich, but it's a bit of a treat meal!
Posted 15/09/2018
Chicken and Ham Pie
Another pie recipe, this time Chicken and Ham with some leeks snuck in for good measure
Posted 10/09/2018
Yorkshire Puddings
An essential accompaniment to the roast dinner, I think there's actually a law that says you can't have one without the other!
Posted 09/09/2018
Ham and Mozarella Panko-crumbed Kievs
The Chicken Kiev has got a bit of a bad reputation now thanks to the mass-manufactured ones made from formed chicken rather than a whole chicken breast. Once you've had a Kiev that's been made from a breast rather than processed meat, you'll probably never want to go back!
Posted 02/09/2018
Tomato, Mozarella and Basil plated salad
Another of the sides I roll out when we BBQ, a bit of variety other than a green salad makes a nice change
Posted 05/08/2018
Blueberry and Banana Mini-Muffins
Gooey, sticky and full of fruit. These mini-muffins disappear into hungry litte ones very quickly!
Posted 22/07/2018
Pork Loin steaks marinated in hoisin, ginger, garlic and chilli
It's nice to have something different on the BBQ from time to time, a marinade with sugar in it works really well with pork because the sugars in the honey help to carmelise and crisp up the fat on the BBQ
Posted 01/07/2018
Fish Pie
Fish Pie is such a comfort food, I have to confess that even in the height of summer this is something I'd contemplate eating though perhaps with a salad rather than steamed vegetables
Posted 29/06/2018
Cheese Scones
Cheese scones are a nice Sunday afternoon treat that takes very little time or effort
Posted 17/06/2018

TIL: You can use column aliases in an ORDER BY clause You can use column aliases in ORDER BY, who knew? (Lots of people other than me, I'm sure!) Posted 08/01/2019

Ignoring parameters that haven't been specified in a SQL query Using ISNULL/COALESCE to allow for optional parameters to SQL queries Posted 02/01/2019

2019: Time for even more That's 2018 done, now for 2019! Posted 31/12/2018

End of 2018 link dump The final link dump of the year Posted 31/12/2018

Using the Tabulator javascript library to prettify tables Saying that I'm using it to prettify tables is doing the power and flexibility that it looks like Tabulator has quite a disservice! Posted 31/12/2018

Using the PSWindowsUpdate module to interrogate Windows Update It's a useful little toolbox that lets you inspect the current Windows Update state and also trigger updates to download and/or install Posted 30/12/2018

Setting up OpServer, the awesome monitoring solution from Stack Exchange Give Opserver a go. It'll cost you nothing but time (and very little of that!) to get a decent monitoring solution in place Posted 24/12/2018

Using SQL Server to generate ranges and group data into them Using a recursive CTE to generate ranges between one value and another, useful for generating report output Posted 18/12/2018

Conditional totals for groups of rows, based on the value of a given column, in SQL Server Reporting Services Memo to self: Counting values within a set of rows conditionally Posted 13/12/2018

Using Azure Traffic Manager to divert to a holding page for a site that's not available Azure Traffic Manager is the last piece in the puzzle; seamlessly routing traffic to Azure when the primary site is unavailable and switching it back when it returns Posted 12/12/2018

Using Azure App Services to host a holding page for a site that's not available Azure App Service + Custom Domains = The perfect solution for a holding page Posted 07/12/2018

Using Azure to provide a holding page for a site that's not available Using Azure Storage in table form is a great way to start building out a holding page to cover you when your infrastructure isn't available Posted 30/11/2018

Running an ASP.NET project yellow screens with "Could not find a part of the path 'D:\Path\To\Project\bin\roslyn\csc.exe'" The case of the weird NuGet restore failure that wouldn't go away Posted 26/11/2018

C# 7.1 - Async Main has been around a while now It's a couple of clicks to update your project to C# 7.1, but that's all it takes to let you use an async Main method Posted 25/11/2018

Using C#7 Local Functions Local functions are a nifty addition to C# that premiered in C# 7.0 Posted 22/11/2018

Lamb Hotpot Lamb Hotpot recipes normally use chunks of meat, rather than minced meat. This recipe, based on one from gousto, uses minced lamb which keeps the cost and the cookl time to a minimum Posted 13/01/2019

Soda Bread Soda bread is a 'quick bread' which means it's great when you're short of time and need a bread fix Posted 30/12/2018

Sausage Ragu An attempt at re-creating a dish I had when dining with colleagues. It's a long, slow cook time but well worth it! Posted 26/10/2018

Banana Bread Make this a day or so before you need it, if you can, it gets stickier and tastier after baking! Posted 29/09/2018

Ham & Cheese Toastie It feels like a bit of a stretch to call a Ham & Cheese Toastie a recipe, but I don't care Posted 22/09/2018

Braised greens This recipe for greens is a nice way to lift them a bit for variety and make the meal a little bit richer Posted 17/09/2018

Creamy Chicken A tried and tested tasty dish that takes 30 minutes all-in, yes it's rich, but it's a bit of a treat meal! Posted 15/09/2018

Chicken and Ham Pie Another pie recipe, this time Chicken and Ham with some leeks snuck in for good measure Posted 10/09/2018

Yorkshire Puddings An essential accompaniment to the roast dinner, I think there's actually a law that says you can't have one without the other! Posted 09/09/2018

Tomato, Mozarella and Basil plated salad Another of the sides I roll out when we BBQ, a bit of variety other than a green salad makes a nice change Posted 05/08/2018

Blueberry and Banana Mini-Muffins Gooey, sticky and full of fruit. These mini-muffins disappear into hungry litte ones very quickly! Posted 22/07/2018

Pork Loin steaks marinated in hoisin, ginger, garlic and chilli It's nice to have something different on the BBQ from time to time, a marinade with sugar in it works really well with pork because the sugars in the honey help to carmelise and crisp up the fat on the BBQ Posted 01/07/2018

Fish Pie Fish Pie is such a comfort food, I have to confess that even in the height of summer this is something I'd contemplate eating though perhaps with a salad rather than steamed vegetables Posted 29/06/2018

Cheese Scones Cheese scones are a nice Sunday afternoon treat that takes very little time or effort Posted 17/06/2018

TIL: You can use column aliases in an ORDER BY clause
You can use column aliases in ORDER BY, who knew? (Lots of people other than me, I'm sure!)
Posted 08/01/2019

Ignoring parameters that haven't been specified in a SQL query
Using ISNULL/COALESCE to allow for optional parameters to SQL queries
Posted 02/01/2019

2019: Time for even more
That's 2018 done, now for 2019!
Posted 31/12/2018

End of 2018 link dump
The final link dump of the year
Posted 31/12/2018

Using the Tabulator javascript library to prettify tables
Saying that I'm using it to prettify tables is doing the power and flexibility that it looks like Tabulator has quite a disservice!
Posted 31/12/2018

Using the PSWindowsUpdate module to interrogate Windows Update
It's a useful little toolbox that lets you inspect the current Windows Update state and also trigger updates to download and/or install
Posted 30/12/2018

Setting up OpServer, the awesome monitoring solution from Stack Exchange
Give Opserver a go. It'll cost you nothing but time (and very little of that!) to get a decent monitoring solution in place
Posted 24/12/2018

Using SQL Server to generate ranges and group data into them
Using a recursive CTE to generate ranges between one value and another, useful for generating report output
Posted 18/12/2018

Conditional totals for groups of rows, based on the value of a given column, in SQL Server Reporting Services
Memo to self: Counting values within a set of rows conditionally
Posted 13/12/2018

Using Azure Traffic Manager to divert to a holding page for a site that's not available
Azure Traffic Manager is the last piece in the puzzle; seamlessly routing traffic to Azure when the primary site is unavailable and switching it back when it returns
Posted 12/12/2018

Using Azure App Services to host a holding page for a site that's not available
Azure App Service + Custom Domains = The perfect solution for a holding page
Posted 07/12/2018

Using Azure to provide a holding page for a site that's not available
Using Azure Storage in table form is a great way to start building out a holding page to cover you when your infrastructure isn't available
Posted 30/11/2018

Running an ASP.NET project yellow screens with "Could not find a part of the path 'D:\Path\To\Project\bin\roslyn\csc.exe'"
The case of the weird NuGet restore failure that wouldn't go away
Posted 26/11/2018

C# 7.1 - Async Main has been around a while now
It's a couple of clicks to update your project to C# 7.1, but that's all it takes to let you use an async Main method
Posted 25/11/2018

Using C#7 Local Functions
Local functions are a nifty addition to C# that premiered in C# 7.0
Posted 22/11/2018

Lamb Hotpot
Lamb Hotpot recipes normally use chunks of meat, rather than minced meat. This recipe, based on one from gousto, uses minced lamb which keeps the cost and the cookl time to a minimum
Posted 13/01/2019

Soda Bread
Soda bread is a 'quick bread' which means it's great when you're short of time and need a bread fix
Posted 30/12/2018

Sausage Ragu
An attempt at re-creating a dish I had when dining with colleagues. It's a long, slow cook time but well worth it!
Posted 26/10/2018

Banana Bread
Make this a day or so before you need it, if you can, it gets stickier and tastier after baking!
Posted 29/09/2018

Ham & Cheese Toastie
It feels like a bit of a stretch to call a Ham & Cheese Toastie a recipe, but I don't care
Posted 22/09/2018

Braised greens
This recipe for greens is a nice way to lift them a bit for variety and make the meal a little bit richer
Posted 17/09/2018

Creamy Chicken
A tried and tested tasty dish that takes 30 minutes all-in, yes it's rich, but it's a bit of a treat meal!
Posted 15/09/2018

Chicken and Ham Pie
Another pie recipe, this time Chicken and Ham with some leeks snuck in for good measure
Posted 10/09/2018

Yorkshire Puddings
An essential accompaniment to the roast dinner, I think there's actually a law that says you can't have one without the other!
Posted 09/09/2018

Tomato, Mozarella and Basil plated salad
Another of the sides I roll out when we BBQ, a bit of variety other than a green salad makes a nice change
Posted 05/08/2018

Blueberry and Banana Mini-Muffins
Gooey, sticky and full of fruit. These mini-muffins disappear into hungry litte ones very quickly!
Posted 22/07/2018

Pork Loin steaks marinated in hoisin, ginger, garlic and chilli
It's nice to have something different on the BBQ from time to time, a marinade with sugar in it works really well with pork because the sugars in the honey help to carmelise and crisp up the fat on the BBQ
Posted 01/07/2018

Fish Pie
Fish Pie is such a comfort food, I have to confess that even in the height of summer this is something I'd contemplate eating though perhaps with a salad rather than steamed vegetables
Posted 29/06/2018

Cheese Scones
Cheese scones are a nice Sunday afternoon treat that takes very little time or effort
Posted 17/06/2018