Friez

Put it this way, if you didn't have access to their files, they can suffer when they 'accidentally' delete their entire home folder and come crying to you to restore the backup!

Basically: See my sig.

Shirt, Tie, Smart Trousers etc etc. Though to be fair we should be wearing protective suits (the kind you'dd stereotypically see a nuclear power worker wearing). If not to protect us from the 50,000 years of moondust all over the place but to save me from getting ill every 10 seconds from the students/teachers.

I was reading on the daily wtf about a large company once that had ageing ICT servers. The CEO didn't want to pay for it to be upgraded, afterall it's worked so great for all these 20-30 years... fine. Then the AC decided to give in, and the ceiling decided to leak. The tech team obviously requested for fixes. CEO was more happy to pump the money (it was a serious server room) into a phat bonus for himself. So he instead said "JEEZ just move the servers into the corridor, no water there, am I the only person who can THINK in here?". Yes indeed. So servers got moved into corridor. Then they had an audit, they ended up forking out millions to get that new upgrade and server room going because the auditors made it quite apparent that putting peoples sensitive credit card/security/whatever data into a public corridor was not really legal. In short: If you have an SMT that don't care, they WILL care when their neck is on the line and its made blatently apparent with substantial fines and potential jail time. I know this story doesn't actually help you a lot, but I thought it was amusing and would cheer some of us up who are in that sorta situation

Right now nothing, but by the end of the project you're probably missing sanity

I don't use xfire =/ Though feel free to in-game friend me sometime using the above Alias to fire me a PM if I'm about (which is quite often!)

To answer HBJB: We use FPDF, It's a free PDF library for PHP. Check it out at: http://www.fpdf.org/

Unsure of what your exact situation is here, but why use a password protection? Surely it would make more sense to set the security properties of said exe file so that only certain users are allowed to execute it (i.e. the users you want!).... Rightclick exe file -> properties -> security tab.... Those who aren't priv'd to do it won't be able to run it. You can also set these up via script, but can't remember the exact syntax off the top of my head...

What you've suggested is similar to the solution I posted above. You store meta-data (data about data) as well as the ACTUAL data, it means you can easily structure your stuff the way the database engine was designed for and still get the result you're after. Also todays DailyWTF has a great example why you should NOT make thousands of databases/tables on-the-fly. Go Check It!

Here's one Heebeejeebee and I discovered that classifies for "WTF", It's a problem we were suffering, that somebody else may encounter which we found a solution for. We're documenting it here for any poor bugger who suffers the same fate. The problem being is that PushPrinterConnections.exe doesn't always do what it says on the tin. Picture this: You have printers set up on a per-machine basis and drag a machine from one OU to another OU in active directory. These OU's have totally different printers assigned to them via two different GPOs. THEORETICALLY PPC should drop the old printers and add the new ones. What happens in reality is that it DOES add the new printers, but does it remove the old ones? HELL NO. So... you move it back to the old OU, but to no avail, now you have both OU's printers assigned to that machine despite being a member of only one exclusive OU. Nice one Microsoft. WHAT DO YOU DO? Firstly you have to remove the printer from the GPO via the Print Management Console (removing it via AD does sweet f-all). You go to deploy, remove them, and that drops the printers from everything that has that GPO, including the one that is 'no longer assigned but really is'. But you're not done yet, if you try re-deploying the printer at this stage to the GPO you will have the printer show up again for not only the printers that are assigned to the OU containing the GPO, but also our fubared machine that isn't. So what do you do now? You have to fully remove the GPO. Yes that's right, totally delete it. Unlinking it won't help you. You have to totally demolish the GPO, recreate it and then re-deploy the printer again (via PMC). What a load of agro. Microsoft seem to have overlooked the fact that we might want to remove printers via AD and not PMC so be very careful when dragging machines around in AD or else you'll find there are printers that just don't disappear.

The biggest problem with a bunch of dynamically named tables is that it is not so intuitive to perform queries on (if at all). I.e. to list what tables a student has made with my above example you'dd simply: SELECT TableName FROM tblStudent_Tables, tblUsers WHERE tblUsers.UserID = tblStudent_Tables.UserID AND tblUsers.Username = 'BOB'; A simple SQL join. Thats the beauty of Structured Query Language, since with a bit of design it becomes quick and easy to get data out of a database, sorted and in a form you *want*. Start making a whole slew of tables you'll end up with a massive database full of redundant data and things get rather hard for you to handle/keep track of, let alone trying to write decent queries for it. They teach (or are supposed to) this kinda stuff at GCSE, I'm surprised people even consider abusing databases like the way thats suggested above o.O;

StewartKnight: Make tables!!, not only is there no point in creating (what hundreds? thousands? of) DATABASES but theres no need to even make multiple tables on the fly. Absolute mess! And besides, your SQL engine will probably cry. Create some table structures. Here's some food for thought: Table: tblUsers // a list of your lovely students UserID (autoincrement BIGINT) [Primary Key] Username Firstname Lastname // yada yada Table: tblStudent_Tables // describes student tables/forms TableID (autoincrement BIGINT) [Primary Key] TableName (string) UserID // the User that this table is associated with // this is the magic bit -- linking up fields to a table Table: tblStudent_Table_Link // links in individual fields to their table TableID (unique) // links to the relevant table FieldID (unique) // links to the relevant field Table: tblStudent_Fields // this table will describe the fields of a students table FieldID (autoincrement BIGINT)[Primary Key] FieldTitle (string) FieldDefaultValue (string) // possibly allow for a default value to be entered // THUSFAR we have only described the students table. // now lets think about storing that data Table: tblFieldStorage // basically data that people entered in each field FieldID (unique) // links to the field it is relevant to FieldValue (string) // the data said person entered into that field SessionID (unique) // the overall data input session this field is assocaited with Table tblStudent_Form_Sessions SessionID (autoincrement BIGINT) [primary key] // plus anything else that you may want to autocollect like names and IP's that are not dynamically created by students HERE So lets re-view: // we describe the students custom form/table structure like so: tblStudent_Tables describes the table tblStudent_Fields describes all the fields in their table tblStudent_Table_Link links fields with tables // we store arbitary data that they create like so: tblFieldStorage stores the values of a field and links it to a specific data entry session tblStudent_Form_Sessions stores a list of sessions You should NEVER have the need to create databases or tables on-the-fly structured query language isn't meant for that! Create some structures and you're away. That should be able to store all the data that you want. Of course, you'll have to code a fair bit of PHP to support this kind of stuff. But you're asking for that with such a dynamic system to begin with. PHP / mySQL is a good choice, your life could become hell with other techs.

It would generally be a BAD idea to create anything that makes databases off the hoof, HECK there shouldn't even be a need to dynamically create tables (you can end up with some nasty nasty issues). A properly structured database should have perfectly normalised tables. However, if you're just wanting to create structures first time round and be done with it forever more (possibly with a few tweaks later on), you should check out PHPMyAdmin http://www.phpmyadmin.net/home_page/index.php It'll let you set up databases, tables, and all that malarky and also let you directly enter SQL.

M-Audio is my recommendation, I have some friends who are prominent DJ's in certain dance music scenes who will swear by them too. Most use the M-Audio Delta series of cards, they're most reliable and can work in both a PC and a Mac.

I used to be term-time only, but then they realised that they were paying me overtime pretty much every school holiday so moved me to full time....

I saw avenue Q when it premiered in London, absolutely fantastic show.

I know i'm reviving a kinda old thread... but I play GW... quite avidly... Level 20 E/any... [Kind Of A Big Deal - 5 maxed titles] Level 20 W/Mo [nearly Legendary Survivor -- 1337500xp 0 deaths] Level 20 Mo/Me Level 20 R/Mo Level 20 P/Mo [survivor] Level 20 N/Mo [survivor] Level 19 A/Mo Level 8 Me/Mo Level 6 D/Mo Level 5 Rt/Mo If you get GW Factions / Nightfall / Prophecies you can link them, and have your characters go across all campaigns. The campaigns are one-off fee's to purchase, much more value for money than games like World Of Walking... I agree with the comments above that GW is much more a strategy game on crack than an RPG game. As for item rarities: Blue = magical, low-end magic, on some items you can use crafting kits to get things out of them such as runes of vigor [+30hp] Purple = semi rare, medium-class items, on some items you can use crafting kits to get things out of them such as runes of major vigor [+41hp] Gold = rare, high rarity items usually yield better (or best) stats, on some items you can use crafting kits to get things out of them such as runes of superior vigor [+50hp] (also worth a BOMB) Green = UNIQUE weapons, usually have maxed stats. I've got a plethora of them :S Anyone playing this game and needs help my in-game character is Yu Takami.

Yesterday infact I directly used binary! We were trying to store someones privilege levels, we could use a series of BOOLS, however they're somewhat wasteful (taking up a byte each to store just one bit). However, if you use an int (even if its just one byte's worth) you can store many more different bools in just one byte, pretty nifty if you're in need of saving disk space (big production servers, specifically those on MMORPG game servers employ this techique). Anyway, we all use binary all the time in a round about way!

Sesame Street is proper TV programming, what's this teletubbies tripe supposed to be? I recently watched a clip of it the other day, I want whatever they were smoking when they made this stuff...

I think its a badly thought out idea. I mean sure, other countries have a leaving age at 18, but here its a bad idea. Why do I think it's a bad idea? The curriculum taught in the schools currently is absolutely appauling. I originally wanted to be an IT teacher, but then I discovered that IT teachers must effectively parrot what the government tell them to. And what do the government tell them to teach? Clicking hyperlinks, writing pointless stuff into excel sheets, exporting it into CSV (with no explanation to the CSV file format), reimporting it into ACCESS (*WHY*). I'd be surprised if kids let alone teachers actually know the difference between access and excel, afterall they 'look' the same. So another TWO years of this utter tripe? We would be giving the kids an utter disservice to force them to sit through another two years of bullcrap, perhaps if they IMPROVED THE CURRICULUM or perhaps even forced them to go to something better (e.g. college -- only slightly better, or university -- even better) it could work out much better. In IT when I was at school I learned nothing. Nada. Zilch. Same goes for when I was at Sixth Form. I learned everything off my own back, if you ask me most of the kids in the class are more computer literate than the teachers. When I made it to university the playing board got a little more even, with about half the lecturers actually being VERY clued up, and the other half being typical clueless teachers. Forcing the kids into another two years of crap would not help improve the quality of education at all, it'll just keep kids off the dole for a bit longer. I'd love to see kids ACTUALLY being taught stuff. Like HTML (i.e. not a word document exported to .htm), or SQL (proper sql queries, not auto generated stuff in access). Heck, teach them PHP and C++, also teach them things relevant to PC's. How to count in hex? I was once talking to an A-Level maths student who didn't know what hex was. This is the quality of education in the UK. There are so many things that are relevant and infact important in industry depending on the job that you go for in the field of IT, yet all these kids are taught are how to fire up a random office app and type. Some education. If they plan to force kids for another 2 years of schooling then they better buck up their ideas about the curriculum too. I feel sorry for the kids.

lol. I did mention that his post nearly qualified him to be reunited with his P45. He's a good lad really and at least he's got a sense of humour. Having said that he's not been here a year yet so that could change at any time. HBJB You'dd have your hands full if you gave me a P45, giving me a forced haircut would deny you of coffee making items Besides, you'll miss the mini pringle goodness, you're denied them on your shopping list! Gotta have a laugh at work sometimes, afterall the teachers are no fun!

He needs caffiene to stay awake, he's getting on a bit you see ;)

LOL - 8 mugs today. I'll have to take one or two in for the tech since he often pinches my mug to drink some concoction that's supposed to alleviate this weeks bug he's caught. :? The king of exaggeration speaks! You have about six mugs and I borrowed one at one occasion to drink lemsip. Like I said you definitely need the dilbert coffee backpack, you can't get enough of coffee (and the mugs).

Over here we use a combination of things mentioned above. We use a proper label maker and stick the labels on the back of the PC's so that staff may identify a machine, but we also use software solutions. I knocked up a PHP / Windows Service that gives us a room plan of the PC suites, with each machine in the room numbered, and when highlighted gives us the name of the currently logged in user, therefore we can easily find which pc someone is talking about, even when they say stuff like "I'm sitting next to Jane". (For added bonus, clicking said machine VNC's into it which freaks out the students to no end).

I hate to state the obvious, but isn't that a bit pointless? We're talking in a thread about proxies where the overlord of proxies himself is asking an admin to run an IP check on him?