Solar azimuth - how the sun moves across the sky

The solar azimuth angle is the angular measurement of the sun in a clockwise direction from north. When building a house it is important to think about the solar azimuth because it affects which sides of the house receive morning or afternoon sunlight at various times of the year. Most homes are built with north-facing windows to optimise the low winter sun elevation, but few homes are built with the summer azimuth angles in mind.

Reference external java beans with absolute path

I run a bunch of batch file exports from Salesforce calling Data Loader from the command line, with multiple process-conf.xml files defining various tasks. Originally I stored the SFDC credentials in each bean, then shifted the credentials to variables, still within the same xml file, using java.lang.String classes with constructor-arg properties:

Case sensitive text searches in SQL Server

Salesforce unique ids are only case insensitive when using the 18 character version with the three additional characters at the end which specify the case of all the previous characters. So when searching for and matching SFDC Ids in SQL Server using the 15 character ids, the result set will often include two or three matches where you were expecting only one.

Calculate total length of all cells in a row or column

In Excel the LEN function returns the length of any given cell, but it errors if asked to find the length of an array of cells. E.g. =LEN(A2:Q2) will not return the length of all cells in the given range. In order to find the length of an array of cells you need to enter the formula as an array formula.

Type the same formula into a cell  (=LEN(A2:Q2)) but before hitting [ENTER] hold down the [CTRL] and [SHIFT] keys simultaneously. Excel will bracket the formula in curly braces automatically, you do not need to type the braces in. The formula will look like this:

{=LEN(A2:Q2))} and the cell will display the total number of characters in the selected array of cells.

Big thanks to Guy Parrington for the heads up!

Notebook security - password protecting your hard drive

As a mobile worker for a government agency, I am constantly aware of the vulnerability of my notebook. The portability that I value so highly also makes it an easy target for thieves in places such as airports, cafes, and even serviced apartments and shared offices. Not only is the actual device more vulnerable than a desktop PC, the data stored on the hard drive needs to be secured as well.

Convert dates to Salesforce format in T-SQL

When preparing csv files for import through the data loader, it is best practice to format the datetime values in the full yyyy-mm-ddThh.mm.ss.sssZ format required by Salesforce.com. This prevents any complications with Data Loader or other migration tools which may have different settings depending on the environment or installed software (for example, dates can be scrambled if your data loader has 'Use European Date Format' checked, but your client's data loader does not.

CONVERT float to nvarchar

Attempting to compare company numbers (e.g. ABN) stored as datatype float to text strings is complicated by the fact that the default display for float numbers over 6 digits is scientific notation. To work around this you need firstly to convert the float to a bigint, then convert to nvarchar.