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The Rugby Man – Australia (Wallabies) vs England, 13th June 2010

I’ve just finished watching our Tivo’d recording of the Wallabies match versus England, played over west-west at Stubiac .. errr, Subiaco oval.

How exciting is it! To see so much promise being fulfilled. Yes, I saw the scrums.

Let’s be honest. Every single person on the field was involved and did good things.

1. Ben Daley

Made some good runs, good tackles, and did better in the scrums when coming back on after Ma’afu was binned.

2. Saia Faingaa

Solid. Should have learnt a boatload from this experience. Good work around the park.

3. Salesi Ma’afu

Didn’t think he was doing much, but had a monster hit on one of the poms. As with his other front-rowers, should have walked away with a lot of experience. They got schooled good, but that’s the point of being schooled. You learn and get better.

Reserve: James Slipper

Came on right into the blazing depths of fire and brimstone. Smashed. But got up again.

Scrum change after Ma’afu was binned .. Daley – Faingaa – Slipper

It seemed to me that this combination was actually better. They gained parity (man I don’t like that saying) some of the time, and if the Ref had have forced the Poms to use the ball instead of listening to them whinging that the scrum was down, I think the media would be playing a different tune.

I counted two (but possibly more) scrum sets (with the above combination) where IF the English had played the ball, the boys at front could have walked away heads high.

And this again brings up a gear-grinding point. The Ref and Scrums. This bloke wasn’t as bad as certain other Muppets (Mr Joubert, no names mentioned), but seriously. A scrum is one of the most awesome battles that mankind can have. It was obvious the Aussies were getting chewed over .. BUT .. Two things.\r\n

1. They were learning.

2. While I commend using and getting away with strongarm tactics in a scrum (it is a scrum after all), the Ref should be trained to spot things. Or, in the case of tonight, actually call them consistently. If on attack or defence, the tight-head is pulling down the loosey .. Ping him! It’s his job to do it fast enough not to get caught. It’s his job to bore in on the hooker. It’s the loosies job to buckle up the tight-head and stop him boring. It’s the loosies job to bind super-fast and long and strong. BAM.

Seriously.

\r\n4. Dean Mumm

I’m liking this gentleman more and more. He stood out tonight in the tackle and ruck contest. Made good yards too. Him and Sharpey are rubbing well together, sparking friction.

5. Nathan Sharpe

Seriously. I think it was over on G&GR (Nathan Sharpe a Force Collossus) that someone talked about his many resurrection seasons. What a champion. Was once a vader-hater, but now I’m a committed fan. Strong in every area, even .. I believe .. the scrum.

6. Rocky Elsom

Did well, but not awesome. And that’s what I can’t wait to see. Awesome Rocky. Balboa style.

He pulled off a couple of great tackles. Ran some ball. But like one of the commentators said (Horan or Crowls), the backrow needs to be one with the tight-five come scrum time.

7. David Pocock

How strong is this guy? How good is he getting? How un-ruffled and un-caring of opposition is he?

I’ll tell you.

At 21 George broke open the world of open-side flankering. I reckon Pocock (he might be a bit older, maybe) will do the same thing.

8. Richard Brown

He was perhaps solid. Did some good stuff. But not sure he’s appearing as much as a number 8 should. Hope Deans gives Hoiles a shot next game.

9. Luke Burgess

Oh did I think he shouldn’t even be in the squad. It’s been so long since I’ve seen him have a good game (he did, a long while back). But tonight he had an absolute cracker. Strength in the tackle, sniping, quick distribution.

Concern

Does anyone else think that Robbie prefers Burgess over Genia. Regardless of Brugo having a great game, I’ll be ropable if Genia doesn’t start next. Seriously.

10. Quade Cooper

Reminds me a lot of King Carlos. Played well tonight. Showed great composure. Great vision. Made a couple of poopoos, but nothing that more experience won’t beat out of him.

11. Drew Mitchell

How does he do it? Looks way too small. But man alive he can motor through traffic. What a champion. Coming off a stellar Super 14, has brought his triple-A game.

How good is it to see Australia having backline players consistently run the ball and do amazing things!

12. Berrick Barnes

Was good. Made some great tackles, in cover and in pushing up to disrupt England’s attack. Really super fantastic happy hour.

13. Rob Horne

Dude this guy is awesome. The real thing. The press keep saying it, which worries me. But this year he has shown that what he possesses is the absolut vodka reality.

Just one of the many moments in the game was when one of the Wallabies was tackled and being mauled (support was a moment too late). Horne was the first one there. Not only did he drive out the Poms, but somehow he wrapped himself around the ball so they couldn’t get at it. Now that’s thinking man’s rugby.

14. Digby Ioane

The cheetah of rugby. All upper bulk and gonzale’s legs. Except for the dropped ball (my biceps are too huge), he did well. Wasn’t the “star” like last week, but in my mind did enough to show just how sweet he works with the existing backline, and how much talent he does have.

15. James O’Connor

Again, the real deal. Man I love being able to say that. Is getting better with his instinct in the game, although did a couple of doodoos (like cutting out Horne for Schmoo to take it and get bashed into touch). But that’s nothing in comparison to the good. AND, it’ll learn him good. Hopefully.

None of the other reserves were on for long, although Matt Hodgson got a great penalty, George Smith style poaching the ball.

And then there was one ..

It’s really very exciting. To think that we won a match against England without our choice (choice mate) front row. To think the only tries the Poms scored were penalties (I mean it’s a problem no doubt, but our boys did good). To think .. That our backline looks electric!

Of course, the real test is coming. Like winter. Three nations (soon to be four). The best of the best. The most ferocious rugby you can see outside of watching Mariusz Pudzianowski play (well, I imagine it would be ferocious watching that guy smash someone).

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Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Word Templates and Merge Fields for printing a Quote

Why is it so hard to find information on this topic? It’s a behemoth system, CRM; Word is known the globe over; and Mail Merge is something most folk know about.

There is plenty of information on each of these subjects on their own, but when I began looking for all three together it got a bit frustrating.

What I Wanted To Do

Create a Word Template to be used to print a Quote from within Dynamics CRM.

Goals

Create from scratch.

Use a table for Quote Product items (this was far more obtuse than you would think).

There are a couple of sample templates you can find. I didn’t find them until AFTER I’d gone through a lot of pain. But the pain meant learning, which is good for me.

The image below will show you the result I have at the moment. It’s not great.

The Merge for a Quote will happen on the QUOTE PRODUCT. So always have in mind that the records coming at the template will be for the Quote Product, not the  Quote itself (although the Quote information is in there, being a Parent 1:M relationship).

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IMPORTANT:

  • Do not type the brackets {} .. Always use <CTRL>F9
  • Want to put information/data in at the FIRST record and never again, like a Header?

{ IF { MERGEFIELD Quote_ID } <> { someNameForUniqueID } “{ SET someNameForUniqueID { MERGEFIELD Quote_ID } }Information to go at the top of the report/document/whatever.
”}

  • Want to put information/data in at the LAST record and never again, like a Total Footer?

“{ IF { MERGEFIELD LastItem (this is the actual field name) } = 1 ”Put the information in here
"}

STU’S THOUGHTS FOR WORD MERGE TEMPLATES:

  1. There is no way I’ve found to create a single table with Headings (only on First Quote Product record)
    1. You cannot remove the “new line” that is created when you add in the table.
  2. The Word help file actually has some helpful information. Search for “Formatting switch” and go to the “Insert and format field codes in Word” document.
  3. The most trouble I have is why I cannot get the layout the way I want it? Why do I have to be restricted by an obtuse set of commands? Or is it that I don’t know the right way to format the code?

I’ve only been on this since last night, so it’s highly probable I’ve missed some grand fabulous way to achieve the process.

But I thought some other folk my be helped by this information.

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My "I’d Like To See That" Wallaby Team

Okay. After reading Greg’s column on SMH, “Dean’s Test Dilemma: Form or Reputation”, I figured if he can spend the article talking about how awesome the Reds are (on Form), and pick a “Form” team with a bunch of Tah’s, then why shouldn’t I give forth my own opinion.

My “I’d Like To See That” Wallaby Team:

This is the team I’d like to see have a run at the All Blacks, Springboks, the Irish and anyone one else game enough.

My Wallaby Test Team, 2010 1. (Loose-Head Prop) – Benn Robinson

2. (Hooker) – Tatafu Polatu-Nau

3. (Tight-Head Prop) – Laurie Weeks

4. (Lock) – Nathan Sharpe <VC>

5. (Lock) – Dave Dennis

6. (Blind-Side Flanker) – Matt Hodgson

7. (Open-Side Flanker) – David Pocock

8. (Number 8) – Stephen Hoiles

9. (Scrum-Half) – Will Genia <C>

10. (Fly-Half) – Quade Cooper

11. (Left-Wing) – Digby Ioane

12. (Inside-Center) – Anthony Faingaa

13. (Outside-Center) Rob Horne

14. (Right-Wing) – Drew Mitchell

15. (Fullback) – Adam Ashley-Cooper

Bench: Saia Faingaa, Rocky Elsom, Ben Daley, Matt Giteau, Josh Holmes

Sadly, it’s just not cricket without George.

OH GEORGE, WHERE ART THOU?

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How to add a “Resize Image” Procedure in Clarion 7

Yesterday I was adding "Internet Profile" functionality for Users. That is, a Description and Image can be entered in the back-end which will then show on the public website, under "Our Team".

Getting the image into my file structure (within the web folder) was no problems (have it in a number of places for all kinds of media), but Profile images have an important rule:

  • They must be small.

And then a second, more general, rule occurred to me.

  • Standardise ALL images uploaded into the system.

With these in mind I opened up my Data DLL app and got to work.

First things first. Two global templates have to be added before going any further.

1. The Clarion FreeImage template.

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And 2. The Capesoft Draw global template.

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As you can see, in the Options tab of the Draw global template dialogue, we’ve ticked the "Use DrawImage Functionality" checkbox. IMPORTANT!

Then we get onto creating the procedure.

I wanted to pass the Source and Destination paths (eg. c:\\images\\profile.png), and the Max Width and Height. That’s it.

Oh! And because it’s good practice in my books, I’ve got a return variable.

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Then we open up the Window and add the Draw control (from the Control Templates pad).

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And finally we come to the code. The rule is to make sure the code is called AFTER the Window is opened. I’ve made a routine and called it in the "After Window Opened" embed.

ResizeImage routinedataimage:Width longimage:Height longimage:BitDepth longimage:Type longcode!-! Init!—-if not Drawer4.useDrawImageDrawer4.InitDrawImage()endDrawer4.Blank(COLOR:White)Drawer4.diGetImageInfo(pSourcePath,image:Width,image:Height,image:BitDepth,image:Type)Drawer4.BestFit(image:Width,image:Height,Drawer4.width,Drawer4.height,image:Width,image:Height)Drawer4.Resize(image:Width,image:Height)Drawer4.diReadImage(pSourcePath, 1 + (Drawer4.width-image:Width)/2, 1 + (Drawer4.height-image:Height)/2, image:Width, image:Height)Drawer4.Display()Drawer4.WritePNG(pDestPath)post(EVENT:CloseWindow)

(Edit: Some changes made thanks to Sean (from Capesoft) in comment below. Thanks Sean!)

This code will take in your image, resize it to "best fit" within the Max Width and Height you passed, and save it to the Destination Path as a PNG image file.

Fantastic!

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Working With Clarion 7 (First Impressions)

21042010125208PM A couple of weeks back I took the plunge and ordered my CSP upgrade. I’ve been working solidly in Clarion 7 since then. These are my (please note FIRST) impressions.

What I’ve done:

  • Converted a medium size project from C6.3 to Clarion 7.1
  • At the same time (why do i do these things?) I decided to split the app into Data DLL and three separate main exes.
  • The app has most of the Capesoft templates attached in some way or another, plus PDFTools (was 3, then in amongst all this i upgraded to 4), and some other 3rdParty templates.
  • The system is primarily two Nettalk Webserver apps. So it doesn’t have a lot of the 3rd-Party templates that might normally be associated with desktop development.

In hindsight, I was ordering a complete roast cow instead of just a steak. Doing the conversion AND breaking apart the app AND upgrading 3rd-Party templates .. It shouldn’t have worked.

But after some mucking about (a couple of days), everything got sorted out.

The biggest trouble I had was not with the conversion but with some logic I forgot about with breaking an app into dlls+exes.

Thoughts:

  • I’m not having much trouble with the IDE. There are some “scratch-your-head” design decisions, sure. But overall, I’m now comfortable and much more agile (read rapid development) than in Clarion 6. And I was quick in 6.
  • Most of the issues I have with Clarion 7 are problems that will be fixed. Like remembering how I had my embed options. Or being able to Generate, Make and Run the selected application.
  • Some of the stuff that bugged me because it was different to Clarion 6 is now process I couldn’t do without. Double-clicking on a procedure .. Gold.
  • Of course, some stuff just will always be there. Getting to the Nettalk Options can be a bit of a pain. You have to click on quite a few buttons to get there. But that’s okay. I’m okay with that, because overall, it’s still much faster to make stuff in Clarion 7.
  • It is a worry to hear about folk having heaps of problems. My machine is pretty new, but I thrash it good. I don’t have any answers for folk having the problems .. Mine works. Not very heartening for you though.

Tips To Begin With:

  • Turn off code completion. Seriously. It just gets in the way.
  • Turn indentation to “Automatic”.
  • “Unpick” all the panels.
    • Except when compiling, then you probably want to pick the Output panel. There seems to be some kind of wierdness with it minimising after compilation when unpicked.
  • 21042010125134PMIf you’ve got a decent sized screen, forget about the buttons on the right and go with the double-click to open the procedure up. Far quicker than tracking your mouse across the screen.
  • Until they get some “embed option memory” in, get used to having your embeds ALWAYS open up fully every time, unless you check “Show Filled ONLY”. This will remember the setting for that procedure, and only while the app is open. Close it down and open again, it’ll go back to default.
  • MOST IMPORTANT: Be okay with what it is at the moment. I get frustrated easily, but I also can focus hard on getting a result. You have to be okay with the glitches. I know, it’s not ideal, and the SV history etc etc .. But you have to get over it if you want to work in Clarion 7.
    • And really, you should. In my experience (limited granted), it’s already made me a lot more productive.
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Watcher Of The Dead (First Impressions, Spoilers!)

“A Cavern of Black Ice” is absolutely one of my favourite story-books. There are a number of chapters, scenes within the book that capture time and space and fragmented weaving of minute details with far-reaching actions and foreshadows and .. Oh, the joy.

I’d known “Watcher of the Dead” was coming out here soon, but even so when we found it at an Angus and Robertson bookshop in Burwood Westfields, I nearly leapt out of my skin.

WOTD (nice, this is the way cool people do it, like for GRRM’s ASOIAF books, or RJs WOT books, or .. ahem) is the fourth book in the Sword Of Shadows series.

It continues the story of Raif Sevrance, a.k.a Watcher of the Dead (or a number of other very cool names). There are a good handful of pov characters, and they all tell an amazing story.

Impression: GREAT READ.

The book feels tighter and more .. dense .. that the others, if that’s possible. It’s shorter by a couple of hundred pages, and I think that makes it feel perhaps go quicker than the previous books. That could also be because I sat and read it through over two night-time sits.

Re-Reads will bear out my initial thoughts, but I have to say that there was one particular revelation in the last chapter of a pov that cause me to go back to the previous page (which on a first read I almost never do), to check if I’d missed something. I’m eager for the next read, to see if there were any fore-almost-shadows of it.

Okay, to Raif.

Back in Cavern (oh wait, ACOBI), Raif was near death and met with Death, who seems rather female if I’m not mistaken. Anyway, she made a promise to him about killing an army.

Now, for the first three books (I’m slow) I pretty much thought that just meant he was going to bring the hurt on many, many, many folk (loved ones and acquaintances included). But now I’m thinking that while this is true, there’s another meaning.

A specific army.

It’s just a hunch. We’ll see what happens.

Anyway, JVJ (hey Julie!) is moulding Raif towards herculean abilities in battle. In this book we see how (at least, one of the steps, but it’s a big one). There’s Moon Snakes and rebel Sull and a friend dies and well, not for the delicate this reading is.

The final Raif chapter must have been incredibly hard to write. Not-Raif as a character, who is the same character but not at all the same, has minimal thought process and higher-level brain function. At least, that’s how it seemed on the read. It felt like I was reading through a cloud. Like there was a block, “more beast than man” (Simpsons quotes for everything), which really came through.

When I think about Cavern, while there’s a great deal of pain and sadness, there is a sense of beginning which gives hope. The start of the journey.

This book, Watcher, is the nadir point. Truly. It’s the base line level where every single chapter is tinged (or coated) with sadness and despair.

I guess in a way that made it a hard read. Don’t hear me wrong, it’s a great read, but it’s hard.

Here’s to the dawning of hope.

JVJ writes with passion and diligence. She has exceptional depth of emotion in her characters, reaching far into the big themes of hope and loss and pain and death and redemption.

Kudos Julie on the fourth installment in this epic tale. Cannot wait for the next one!

Oh, and FINALLY .. The Scarpes get some comeuppance!

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David Gemmell’s Stories (A Retrospective)

David Gemmell, Druss and Waylander

I can still remember the book. Back in high-school, the library had a surprising wealth of fantasy and sci-fi in the offing.

It was a story of a character who was the second-best swordsman in the land. They fought against an enemy who could send giant melded beast-men into battle. And one of the characters claimed to be the descendant of some fellow named Druss.

It was The King Beyond The Gate, and my young mind revelled in the action and simplicity of the story-telling.

Of course, while I will always love that first book, the character of Druss stands out amongst Gemmell’s characters, amongst his worlds.

Druss is truly indomitable. He is a fighter like no other, but what separates him out from the wave of 80s action heroes (when Legend was published) is the moral fibre of the man.

From reading about Gemmell, this was obviously very important to him. He created simple characters, they weren’t all that complex, and they mostly followed stereo-types.

But you know what, that can be said of any character really. It’s how well you deliver, how deep you go, how much flesh is put on them.

But also, sometimes, a character is in their simplicity far more powerful.

This is Druss. And to me, Gemmell will always be Druss. His other stories are often fantastic (Waylander especially), but every book with the giant axeman saying “Laddie” and belting obnoxious drunkards across a bar will always be his best. Because Druss always won, because he never backed down.

I do not idolise nor look up to Gemmell.

But I would have gladly had him around for a barbie and got to know this man better. He wrote heroic fiction very well. He wrote the kind of book that you can read in an outing. And these books are as important as the trilogies and wheels .. err big long epics.

And he created Druss, who really stands out amongst characters in today’s fantasy stories for his strength, purpose, will and general awesomeness.