HOWTO Inserting a file into image column using only Transact-SQL (SQL Server 2005)

CREATE PROC dbo.InsertBlob
  @id int
, @path varchar(255)
AS
  DECLARE @sql nvarchar(MAX)
 
  CREATE TABLE #BlobData(BlobData varbinary(max))
 
  --insert blob into temp table
  SET @sql =
      N'
      INSERT INTO #BlobData
      SELECT BlobData.*
      FROM OPENROWSET
          (BULK ''' + @path + ''',
          SINGLE_BLOB) BlobData'
  EXEC sp_executesql @sql
 
  --update main table with blob data
  UPDATE dbo.SOME_TABLE
  SET SOME_BLOB_FIELD = (SELECT BlobData FROM #BlobData)
  WHERE SOME_TABLE_ID = @id

  DROP TABLE #BlobData
GO

I found it here and I am happy I can finally stop using textcopy.exe tool.

HOWTO Getting 16x16 icons for file types

1. Download this sample.

2. Put a button and a textbox on the form.

3. Use a snippet similar to:

Dim types As String() = txtFileTypes.Text.Split(",")
For i As Integer = 0 To types.GetLength(0) - 1
  Dim im As Image = _
  Me.FileSystemImages.SmallImageList.Images( _
  FileSystemImages.GetTheFileIconIndex("*." & types(i)))
  im.Save(Application.StartupPath & "\" & types(i) & ".bmp", _
  Imaging.ImageFormat.Bmp)
Next

and you have a tool that allows you to retrieve 16x16 icons for different file types.

Skype may prevent Outlook from closing properly

If you use Skype with the View / View Outlook Contacts option checked, Outlook does not close properly after you hit Alt+F4 or click the Close button. It disappears from the taskbar, but the OUTLOOK.EXE process continues to run and the Outlook icon stays in the system tray.

I think this is because Skype holds some kind of lock on Outlook's address book, but that's only my guess.

Here you can find some other applications that cause similar behaviour.

A job step seems to hang when executing a console application

An application executed in an Operating System (CmdExec) job step has to be a console application and it cannot ask for any user input.

Even a simple Press any key to continue..., used (when the application is executed by a user, not SQL Server Agent) to prevent the command prompt window from closing before the user can see the results, will keep such a job running forever.

Clipboard stops working while using remote desktop connection

If the clipboard suddenly stops functioning, when you are connected to a terminal server or other remote computer, you can try to do the following:

1. open Task Manager on the remote machine and kill the rdpclip.exe process;
2. start the rdpclip.exe application again (you can find it in c:\WINDOWS\system32\).