I’ve found the closure table very useful in cases where there is a high degree of interaction with hierarchy data. Recently I chose a closure table for shopping cart categories where categories could exist in multiple places in the hierarchy and furthermore an administrator could drag and drop categories anywhere in the hierarchy to rearrange […]
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Trimming that hard to reach whitespace
July 28, 2012 
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Not all whitespace is created equal, and when LTRIM and RTRIM in T-SQL fails to remove leading and trailing space its easy to stare and panic. Having worked on a lot of ETL pipelines and legacy databases lately I’ve encountered some pretty nasty data sources and eyebrow-raising moments. In one particular case, I encountered fields […]
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Scalability of Reflexive-Transitive Closure Tables
December 8, 2011 0 Comments
Scalability of Reflexive-Transitive Closure Tables as Hierarchical Data Solutions View Full Paper Abstract Reflexive-Transitive Closure (RTC) tables, when used to persist hierarchical data, present many advantages over alternative persistence strategies such as path enumeration. Such advantages include, but are not limited to, referential integrity and a simple structure for data queries. However, RTC tables grow […]
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Hierarchical Data: Rendering with Razor
November 20, 2011 6 Comments
I’ve walked through persisting hierarchical data via closure tables and then through abstracting the closure table in the application layer. Now, we’ll look at rendering our hierarchy in an ASP.NET MVC 3 sample application using Razor. For the styling of the hierarchy I use jquery treeview which I quite like for its simplicity. The typical approach […]
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Hierarchical Data: Applying Data Structures
November 20, 2011 2 Comments
In my previous post I walked through persisting hierarchical data using closure tables. While closure tables are a great technique for persistence we need a more approachable way to deal with the hierarchy in the application layer. Since we are dealing with a hierarchy it stands to reason that we could benefit from a tree-like […]
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Hierarchical Data: Persistence via Closure Table
November 19, 2011 11 Comments
Recently, I’ve been working with hierarchical data using closure tables. The problem this technique solves for me is persisting hierarchical relationships of specific entities without any restriction on the size of the hierarchy and while providing a simple way to query the hierarchy. Closure tables, above other solutions like path enumeration, maintain referential integrity.
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The Vacation State Machine
October 30, 2011 2 Comments
For anyone who loves their work its tough to admit its time for a vacation, let alone actually take one. I’ve always had a strong work ethic even when it came to work I didn’t like very much; when I do enjoy the work I’m doing you can replace “work ethic” with “work-a-holic”. When it […]
Read moreIntensity is not a Sign of Weakness
July 22, 2011 0 Comments
If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins. Benjamin Franklin Given that I work with fellow passionate and intelligent nerds (a deadly combination) there is always a level of intensity around the office – it would be an awfully boring environment where that not the case. I’ve come to a realization just today that […]
Read moreTroubleshooting Azure Storage Emulator
July 10, 2011 1 Comment
I ran into a situation today where Azure Storage Emulator won’t start. Despite attempting to start the Storage Emulator from the system tray nothing happened – no error, no indication of a problem, nothing. I attempted to start the Storage Emulator from: Start Menu -> Windows Azure SDK v1.4 -> Storage Emulator. The Azure SDK […]
Read moreCubing IIS Logs
June 26, 2011 0 Comments
Using the data warehouse built in the <a title=”Data Warehousing IIS Logs” target=”_blank” href=””>previous post and SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS) we can cube our log data. The most compelling reason to create a data cube for the log data was to gain access to MDX (MultiDimensional eXpression). MDX comes with a great deal more built in […]
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Hierarchical Data: Persistence via Closure Table
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Hierarchical Data: Rendering with Razor
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Converting the Closure Table from a Weak Entity
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Hierarchical Data: Applying Data Structures
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The Vacation State Machine
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Converting the Closure Table from a Weak Entity
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Trimming that hard to reach whitespace
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Scalability of Reflexive-Transitive Closure Tables
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Hierarchical Data: Rendering with Razor
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Hierarchical Data: Applying Data Structures
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Books I am Reading
- Apache Solr 3 Enterprise Search Server November 16, 2011"Enhance your search with faceted navigation, result highlighting, relevancy ranked sorting, and more Comprehensive information on Apache Solr 3 with examples and tips so you can focus on the important partsIntegration examples with databases, web-crawlers, XSLT, Java & embedded-Solr, PHP & Drupal, JavaScript, Ruby frameworksAdvice on data model […]Eric Pugh
- The Data Warehouse Toolkit: The Complete Guide to Dimensional Modeling February 27, 2010Single most authoritative guide from the inventor of the technique. Presents unique modeling techniques for e-commerce, and shows strategies for optimizing performance.Companion Web site provides updates on dimensional modeling techniques, links related to sites, and source code where appropriate.Margy Ross
- Head First Java, 2nd Edition October 4, 2012Learning a complex new language is no easy task especially when it s an object-oriented computer programming language like Java. You might think the problem is your brain. It seems to have a mind of its own, a mind that doesn't always want to take in the dry, technical stuff you're forced to study. The fact is your brain craves novelty. It's c […]Bert Bates
