Software Development Articles
by Paul Bradley

10 most recent articles

• Programmatically set the language of a word document using Word's object modal in Visual Basic 2005
  How to set the WdLanguageID to English UK in a word document programmatically by using the Word's object modal.
• Using Function Keys to Activate Command Buttons in Visual Basic 2005.
  Using the forms KeyDown event in conjunction with the KeyPreview setting, to see which function key has been pressed and invoke the relevant command buttons click event.
• Installing Ubuntu Netbook Remix on the Acer Aspire One.
  A step by step guide on how to make a bootable USB drive of the Ubuntu Netbook Remix, ready for installation onto an Acer Aspire One.
• Re-encoding a video file to reduce the audio volume by 50 per cent.
  Using ffmpeg to re-encode a video file, so that the audio channel is 50% quieter than the original.
• Connecting to a Windows share from a Ubuntu machine using the Nautilus file manager
  How to connect to a Windows share for a machine on your network, using the Ubuntu file manager Nautilus.
• Prompting a user that un-saved form data exists when leaving a web page
  Example JavaScript code showing how to prompt a user that unsaved form data exists, by assigning the window.onbeforeunload event to a function which checks the forms values.
• Enterprise Manager Bug ? - Don't have a full stop in your MSSQL database name.
  Having a full stop in your Microsoft SQL database name, causes a bug in Enterprise Manager which stops the display of fields when creating a view or querying a table.
• How to detect a function key has been pressed within a text field.
  A simple example of how to use the KeyValue on the KeyDown event, to check if a function key has been pressed while the cursor is in a text field.
• How to rename a production SQL server database.
  A short SQL script which puts a production database into single user mode, before using sp_renamedb to rename the database.
• Calculating the number of business days between two dates, excluding weekends and UK bank holidays. (VB 2005)
  Designing a function that will return the number of business days - after removing all weekends and any UK bank holidays.

Research projects I am working on.

• Testing running my .NET application under Mono so that they can be used on Linux and Mac machines.
• Looking at creating my first cross platform software utility coded using the Qt (cute) application development framework with the PHP bindings.
• Move my coding projects over to Git, the open source distributed version control system.

You can find all my non-technical writing at Paul Bradley.org