ORA-01036- The Comprehensive Guide for Frustrated ASP.Net People

If you’re running into the ambiguous, unhelpful “ORA-01036: illegal variable name/number” error when trying to do an update or an insert in ASP.Net while using a SqlDataSource, here’s some advice that may prevent you from pulling out all of your hair, swearing off technology forever, moving to rural Wyoming and living off the land until the end of your days…

• Make sure you have the ProviderName specified in your SqlDataSource tag.  It should be System.Data.OracleClient (unless you’re using the Oracle.Whatever.Whatever provider)
• Make sure you’re using :MyParameterName instead of @MyParameterName.
• Get rid of OldValuesParameterFormatString in your SqlDataSource tag.
• Each and every input where you have specified Bind(“FIELD_NAME”) MUST be represented in your UpdateParameters (and/or InsertParameters).  To debug this problem, what I recommend is that you change ALL of your Bind()s to Eval()s and pare down your SQL statements and update/insert parameters to just one or two things…then change the Evals to Binds as you add parameters to your SQL statement.  Every time you get a successful update/insert, add another parameter or two until you’ve found the problem.  More than likely you’ve got an extra input lurking somewhere that isn’t represented in your SQL query and/or parameters.

Second Life – some thoughts about business

Here’s a post I rattled off to slashdot a few min. ago…

From my experience, a virtual economy can support itself without any intervention or participation from outside companies. For example, there are lots of people who sell skins, clothing, accessories, you-name-it to the residents of Second Life, and *I* make money by providing business tools to them (for visitor counting/automated greetings/report services/surveys, etc.).

I think Second Life paved the way for bigger and better things, but by no means should it be considered the model for the way a virtual environment should work. The utter lack of an interactive forms API and zero support for interaction with real-world documents (such as PDF, .DOC, Excel, PowerPoint) are big flaws that are already frustrating businesses that try to conduct meetings in SL. And don’t get me started about their “land” approach to paying for CPU cycles.

From the outset, SL hasn’t been about business. Linden Lab created a barren virtual landscape and has let the residents create just about 100% of the content using a very limited (dare i say “primitive”?) set of tools. It has been a big hippie-furry-fetishfest that has concentrated on bugfixes rather than connecting to the outside world. Considering how long it’s been around, Second Life shouldn’t still be regarded as a place where cyberweirdos go to get their kink on…and yet it still is very much regarded that way by even hardcore geeks.

Now that Linden Lab is starting to realize that their talk of SL as a place for serious business isn’t just the hot air even *they* thought it was, they’re trying to turn the ship around with some meager business-related integration. Fortunately for them, most other tech companies have watched them struggle and have stayed out of the game.

ORA-01036: illegal variable name/number parameter in ASP.Net app

My Oracle chops are way outdated, and, being a fan of business objects and/or a genuine Data Access Layer, I’m not used to working with typed datasets in asp.net.  So when I got the above error I was pretty stumped, and I started using some obscene anti-Oracle phrases to name a few test variables to figure out wtf was going on.

Eventually I figured out that it’s not a good idea to just enter parameters into a Select method via the Properties window, even though Visual Studio will cheerfully let you do that.  If you don’t have the parameter referenced in the actual SQL of the select method, you’re gonna get the above message when you try using it.  So…

In your Select method’s SQL, be sure to add “WHERE ID = :ID” and Visual Studio should pick up on that and make a parameter for you.  Too bad it doesn’t work the other way around.

When I was trying to find info on this error I found lots of talk about update parameters and other causes, but didn’t see anything related to this particular circumstance.

Seriously, Oracle…?

OK, so it looks like Oracle databases don’t have a quick, easy, non-triggery way to do an autoincrement the same way MS SQL, MySQL, postgres, and every other database on the planet have.  You have to create a “sequence” and then create a trigger to run use that sequence whenever data is inserted into the table.

Seriously?  Wow.

One page I came across in my search for a non-shitheaded way to do this describes this as being a more flexible way than having an auto-increment.  Go to that page and check out the code for MSSQL’s way vs. Oracle’s way.   One line of code versus about 20, plus you have to do it in 3 separate steps.  Using that page’s definition of “more flexible”, I guess a gnawed piece of bone is more flexible than a backhoe.

I imagine Oracle DBAs and developers probably have some quick scripts to let them add incremented keys more easily.  I’ll have to dig around and see.  Considering how much effort Oracle puts into their products as far as scalability and performance, I’m really surprised to see this kind of glaring omission.

Excellent indy game dev post – Asterope by Niklas Wahrman

http://www.gamedev.net/reference/articles/article2570.asp

This guy hits the nail on the head so many times in this article.  He refers to a lot of development ideas that I tend to agree with, such as the “Ready, Fire, Aim” approach…just build it and stop overthinking!

Making virtualization sexy again

Ok, check out this ad for an upcoming Virtualization Conference + Expo and tell me how hot it makes you:

Sausage.  Fest.  Which, honestly, is to be expected when you’re talking about servers and system administrator type stuff.  But is this the picture you’d choose for your ad?  Seminars and conferences are boring enough without a visual preview.  How about something abstract, like a big 3d globe with wires coming out and surging electrical charges or maybe a translucent humanoid bust with a high-tech-looking green grid background?  How about choosing a picture wherein the ONE female in it is NOT picking her nose?  How about a picture where the seminar audience are all facing the same direction instead of scattered about like stock traders with ADHD?

I wouldn’t really be picking on this so much if it wasn’t one of those “blocker” style ads that gets between you and the content.  If you’re going to stick something in your readers’ faces and force them click it to get it out of the way, at least make it somewhat appealing.

ActiveX weirdness will make you pull your hair out.

Note: Non-developers can skip this post completely.

If you’ve ever had to make an ActiveX application run within a web page, then you know how frustrating it can be to get it working, much less try to debug the $!&@# thing. If you’re building it with .Net, it’s even more of a pain.

What do you do in this situation: You’ve read through the available online tutorials (which I will not list, since they’re all somewhat incorrect in one aspect or another) and have had the app working at one time or another, you may still have the “missing/broken” section appearing on your web page instead of your nice new application after you’ve made a change. You’ve cleared your IE cache, restarted IE and may have even rebooted your computer trying to get your app to re-appear. You’ve done just about everything and it’s still broken.

Well, the simple answer is that there’s an error in the app itself. Apparently everything has to run super-smooth in order for IE to even display the app. Comment-out the stuff you’ve changed or throw some try-catch blocks in there. Rebuild the app, clear your IE cache, restart IE, and see if your app appears.

Run multiple instances of Second Life for easier scripting

When I’m programming, I love it when I enter “the zone” and the code just flows from brain to computer.  In Second Life, nothing breaks that flow like having to minimize my script windows and Edit dialog, and then having to fiddle with my camera to get a look at how my script is affecting the object I’m working on.

Here’s a little tip for anybody who, like me, has about twenty LSL script windows open in Second Life at any given moment.  If you want to grab a quick peek at the object you’re working on try this:

Run two instances of SL!  Keep your alt’s screen tidy and centered on the object you’re fiddling with.  When you want to take a look at your scripting handiwork, just Alt-Tab to switch between your scripter and your alt.  This is really handy for folks with multiple monitors.

To run multiple instances of SL, you’ll need to modify your Second Life shortcut. Right-click on the shortcut and go to Properties.  In the Target textbox, just add “-multiple” to the end (no quotes).  Make sure there’s a space between whatever is already there and the hyphen.

I advise you to rename the shortcut to “Second Life – Multi” or something like that, because subsequent installations of SL will overwrite your icon if you leave it just “Second Life”.

Happy scripting!

* PS: A word of warning…I ran two instances of the Release Candidate so I can compile scripts in Mono, and I encountered a really strange permissions/ownership glitch wherein my alt got permission/ownership of an object, while my main toon lost permission/ownership.  I suggest running the alt toon with the standard client instead of the Release Candidate.  I’m reporting the issue to the proper authorities.

Bliztards: Cheating OK as long as nobody else makes money off it.

Blizzard Entertainment has been awarded $6 million as a result of their suit against the makers of  MMOGlider, a program that takes a small amount of suckage out of the grindfest that is World of Warcraft.

So let’s get this straight…it’s perfectly OK for you to multi-box 5 shamans, but you can’t run what is essentially a beefed-up macro program to grind some ore?  It’s the whole multibox thing that makes me think that the goldfarmers that are “ruining the game” aren’t so bad.

If I’ve learned anything while leveling my four (yes, 4) 70’s, is that the game is all about the plug-ins and helper sites.  As soon as you discover sites like wowhead.com, thottbot, etc., then the game is pretty much over in terms of mystery or effort.  You grab the essential plugins like QuestHelper, which takes you by the hand and leads you to your next mind-numbing killfest.  No exploration needed.

If you’re into the PvP scene, there are plenty of plugins and macros for that, too.  I have a sap macro for my rogues that gives me the upper hand against other rogues.  I just spam it and it automatically targets nearby enemies and saps them.  It’s great for ferreting-out stealthed rogues.  Is it cheating?  It’s not considered cheating by WoW…it’s just another spell macro.

I cancelled my account(s) soon after getting most of my purple PvP gear for my main rogue (I have 2 horde rogues and one alli rogue).  I was hardcore-addicted to the game and one day I just overdosed and saw through the madness.  This recent court battle is yet another reason to stop wasting my money and my precious time on BULLSHIT.

I tried multiboxing for about a week, and I think that contributed greatly to finally quitting.  I realized that it’s all about money and time.  If you have enough cash and/or time to put into WoW, you can dominate in whatever aspect you choose.

Am I against multi-boxing?  Nope.  Go right ahead and spend your money how you see fit.  But don’t look down on somebody who buys gold or runs a program like Glider to try to catch up with you.

To sum up: Screw you, Blizzard.  The thing that ruins your game is the lack of original content and the rudeness of your players, not the goldfarmers or botters.

I shan’t be participating in the upcoming Bath of the Rich King, either.  OH LOOK!  We’re going to fight some zombies!  They look just like the ones outside Brill…but they’re level 80!

A Shout to My Old Blog…

http://sarcasmic.net/blogs/baboon/

Baboon Placenta, aka Anorak Champloo

One day I might migrate it over to this blog.  Some good stuff there.  Formerly available at beatdevice.com/blogs/baboon/