mattx Posted January 28, 2011 Posted January 28, 2011 I was helping our school office team by taking off their hands the completed data for the Department for Children, School and families Census. On up loading the data it fell over with this error message: An error occurred uploading the file. Please contact your system administrator. FileName: 25_01_11_1135.txt Details: Error parsing the file: An error occurred while parsing EntityName. Line 2191, position 16. I rang them up and you won't believe why it failed..... It's because when the file is being checked in, it does not like hyphens and apostrophes in the EntityName field. I was informed you have to mannually edit the file and take these out - of course notepad does not have line numbers in, luckerly I am doing it so I use SciTE. This sort of begs the question what oaf and what testing took place on this as everyone and anyone will know that people have double-barrelled names with hyphens and names with apostrophes !! Quite worrying that there are people working for the government that can't code correctly and that no proper testing seems to get done.
SYNACK Posted January 28, 2011 Posted January 28, 2011 The goto command in the edit menu of notepad does send you right to line numbers but I totally agree that failing on hyphens is pathetic on a list of names. 1
LosOjos Posted January 28, 2011 Posted January 28, 2011 Quite worrying that there are people working for the government that can't code correctly and that no proper testing seems to get done. Not surprising really, if David Cameron is "the boss", then theoretically it only gets worse from there down... damn, time to get out of the country, quick!
SYNACK Posted January 28, 2011 Posted January 28, 2011 Not surprising really, if David Cameron is "the boss", then theoretically it only gets worse from there down... damn, time to get out of the country, quick! Problem is, what country do you go to??
AngryTechnician Posted January 28, 2011 Posted January 28, 2011 The format of the census file changes quite often from what I gather, and at my last school we had a bespoke MIS which needed changes making almost every time. From what the NM told me, the validation that takes place during upload very often doesn't match up with the format specification document, so sadly the only thing about your story that surprises me is that this is the first problem you've had. 1
mattx Posted January 28, 2011 Author Posted January 28, 2011 Problem is, what country do you go to?? Egypt ?
LosOjos Posted January 28, 2011 Posted January 28, 2011 Problem is, what country do you go to?? What's it like in NZ? On topic though - has anybody ever seen any programming jobs going wth the DfE/Government? I haven't seen any, and I suspect that the people they get working on these things aren't all programmers, most likely one programmer and a team of "project managers" (because we all know how much the Gov. love to have a hundred managers to an office) all chipping in their two pence. I can't imagine why else anybody who has been tasked with coding a program/system that is going to be used by every school in the nation would make such a crap job of it
mattx Posted January 28, 2011 Author Posted January 28, 2011 sadly the only thing about your story that surprises me is that this is the first problem you've had. PMSL - well I've found the problem - wish me luck as I go to upload it again....
AngryTechnician Posted January 28, 2011 Posted January 28, 2011 On topic though - has anybody ever seen any programming jobs going wth the DfE/Government? An awful lot of it it outsourced to Capita at exorbitant rates. I actually know someone who used to be a contractor for Capita doing exactly this kind of work (I almost disowned him when I found out). He left a short time ago due to frustration with Capita's extremely poor management of almost all the technical work he was involved with.
mattx Posted January 28, 2011 Author Posted January 28, 2011 (edited) Oh dear - it's failed again: The element name - //IndependentSchools/NilReturn/PostTitle is either invalid or not in the expected position within the file. This process is a complete joke. Edited January 28, 2011 by mattx
mattx Posted January 28, 2011 Author Posted January 28, 2011 Oooo - been asked to take a screen shot now and send it in to them !! This venture is now rather exciting for me.
srochford Posted January 28, 2011 Posted January 28, 2011 Oooo - been asked to take a screen shot now and send it in to them !! This venture is now rather exciting for me. You sad bunny! You really do need to get out more :-) 1
mattx Posted January 28, 2011 Author Posted January 28, 2011 You sad bunny! You really do need to get out more :-) Very true, but come on, this beats showing someone how to calibrate a IWB for the zillionith time and clearing printer jams......To keep my mood 'up' I'm now listening to some Big Band on Spotify......
LosOjos Posted January 28, 2011 Posted January 28, 2011 Spotify is the saviour of many a gloomy day! Currently listening to a band my mate's just introduced me to, The Black Keys - amazing!
Dos_Box Posted January 28, 2011 Posted January 28, 2011 Not surprising really, if David Cameron is "the boss", then theoretically it only gets worse from there down... damn, time to get out of the country, quick! Yeah, I imagine he was sat in the development meetings just nodding his head when the feature list was announced. I suspect he had about as much to do with this as I do with the pidgeon fanciers guild of New Mexico. 1
tech_guy Posted January 28, 2011 Posted January 28, 2011 (edited) What's the chance of the population of the UK taking to the streets and protesting as in Tunisia / Algeria / Egypt / Greece? We've become a bit of a lame country. Anyone else here going on the TUC Rally and the UNISON March for Public Services on the 26th March 2011? I'll be there for what it's worth. Edited January 28, 2011 by tech_guy
LosOjos Posted January 28, 2011 Posted January 28, 2011 Yeah, I imagine he was sat in the development meetings just nodding his head when the feature list was announced. I suspect he had about as much to do with this as I do with the pidgeon fanciers guild of New Mexico. It was a tongue in cheek comment DB; lighten up, it's Friday!
LosOjos Posted January 28, 2011 Posted January 28, 2011 What's the chance of the population of the UK taking to the streets and protesting as in Tunisia / Algeria / Egypt / Greece? We've become a bit of a lame country. Anyone else here going on the TUC Rally and the UNISON March for Public Services on the 26th March 2011? I'll be there for what it's worth. I would go, but (ironically) I can't afford to get to London!
somabc Posted January 28, 2011 Posted January 28, 2011 On topic though - has anybody ever seen any programming jobs going wth the DfE/Government? I haven't seen any, and I suspect that the people they get working on these things aren't all programmers, most likely one programmer and a team of "project managers" (because we all know how much the Gov. love to have a hundred managers to an office) all chipping in their two pence. I can't imagine why else anybody who has been tasked with coding a program/system that is going to be used by every school in the nation would make such a crap job of it I think you'll find that the DFE / Govt does not employ any software developers everything is outsourced through 20 layers of companies such as Accenture, Capita, Serco so that even the most simple software costs a Billion pounds, is 5 years late and not fit for purpose. But that does not matter because everyone at each step along the line got paid. 2
AyatollahPies Posted January 28, 2011 Posted January 28, 2011 It was a tongue in cheek comment DB; lighten up, it's Friday! No it wasn't lol It would't be a normal day on Edugeek if someone didn't have a rant about the Tories. 1
Dos_Box Posted January 28, 2011 Posted January 28, 2011 It was a tongue in cheek comment DB; lighten up, it's Friday! Sorry, tou're right. I went to bed early last night feeling very poorly (I blame that egg sandwich) and had just rushed back from the bank (I hate bank runs) so was a bit grumpy.
mattx Posted January 28, 2011 Author Posted January 28, 2011 What's the chance of the population of the UK taking to the streets and protesting as in Tunisia / Algeria / Egypt / Greece? We've become a bit of a lame country. Anyone else here going on the TUC Rally and the UNISON March for Public Services on the 26th March 2011? I'll be there for what it's worth. Yes I am - have been tasked to take photos.
LosOjos Posted January 28, 2011 Posted January 28, 2011 It would't be a normal day on Edugeek if someone didn't have a rant about the Tories. Very true, we do like a bit of political banter around here don't we eh? Sorry, tou're right. I went to bed early last night feeling very poorly (I blame that egg sandwich) and had just rushed back from the bank (I hate bank runs) so was a bit grumpy. The infamous egg shell sandwich... bet the missus loved you last night lol
tech_guy Posted January 28, 2011 Posted January 28, 2011 I would go, but (ironically) I can't afford to get to London! Unison and TUC are organising coaches down.
tech_guy Posted January 28, 2011 Posted January 28, 2011 Yes I am - have been tasked to take photos. We'll have to meet up. The missus reckons she's coming with me but I'm trying to persuade her to stay at home in case it all kicks off.
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