Opening Additional Mailboxes in Outlook 2007

A simple step-by-step guide for end users on how to open additional mailboxes (assuming you have been granted the appropirate permissions) using Outlook 2007 and Microsft Exchange Mailboxes in a Corporate Environment.

Open Outlook 2007 as you would normally

Access the “Tools” menu and select “Account Settings ...”

Ensure that “Microsoft Exchange” is selected and click the button marked “Change...” just above and to the right of it.

Click on “More Settings ...” at the bottom right.

Select the “Advanced” tab (second from the left).

Click on the “Add...” button in the “Mailboxes” group at the top.

Enter the email address for the mailbox you wish to add and click “OK” on this dialog.

Providing you have entered the details correctly the new mailbox will be displayed under “Open these additional mailboxes” in the dialog. If you have additional mailboxes to add you can click on “Add ...” again and repeat the previous step.

When you’ve added all the mailboxes you require click “OK”.

The “Next” button at the bottom right will now be available on this dialog. Click “Next”.

Click “Finish”.

Click “Close”.

The shared mailbox will now be available.

Oracle PL/SQL: Copying Column Comments From One View To Another

This blog post gives a piece of simple SQL that will allow you to automatically copy the comments from one database view to another. In the case of this example we are copying the column comments from a standard oracle view to a materialised view which has the same name except with "_MV" suffix.


The PL/SQL block is;

declare
  v_ViewName varchar2(30) := 'XXX';
begin
  for v_Comment in (select acc.COLUMN_NAME, REPLACE(REPLACE(acc.COMMENTS, chr(13), ''), chr(10), '') comments
                      from all_col_comments acc
                     where acc.OWNER = USER
                       and acc.TABLE_NAME = v_NoetixViewName) loop
    execute immediate
      'comment on column ' || v_ViewName || '_MV.' || v_Comment.Column_Name || ' is ''' || v_Comment.Comments || '''';
  end loop;
end;

To use this code in your system replace XXX with the name of the view you want to copy from and where is says "...  v_ViewName || '_MV ..." you should replace this with the naming convention you are using for the view you want to copy to.

For example if you source view is called SOURCE and your target view is called TARGET then the SQL would become;

declare
  v_ViewName varchar2(30) := 'SOURCE';
begin
  for v_Comment in (select acc.COLUMN_NAME, REPLACE(REPLACE(acc.COMMENTS, chr(13), ''), chr(10), '') comments
                      from all_col_comments acc
                     where acc.OWNER = USER
                       and acc.TABLE_NAME = v_NoetixViewName) loop
    execute immediate
      'comment on column TARGET.' || v_Comment.Column_Name || ' is ''' || v_Comment.Comments || '''';
  end loop;
end;

I've found this useful when creating new materialised views based on existing NoetixViews to copy across all the comments from the NoetixView to the Materialised view (rather than having to write the comments in myself).

Hope this helps!

SSRS: Repeating Column Headings Not Appearing

This blog post covers how to make changes to your existing SQL Server Reporting Services Report to ensure that the Column Headings appear at the top of every page. The steps (and screen shots) below come from Report Builder 3 running against SQL Server 2008R2.

Looking at a standard report the first thing you will have tried is to set the "Repeat Column Header" and "Repeat Row Header" on the table. For whatever reason this doesn't work and you'll then have found yourself here (probably via Google!);

In order to make repeating headers actually work the first thing you need to do is to turn on "advanced" mode for Row/Column Groups. You do this by clicking on the down arrow at the far-right of the section;

And selecting "Advanced Mode".

This will then add in some of the "Hidden" levels in the Row Groups entry box;

If you select the top item "Static" and view the properties you can see the "RepeatOnNewPage" property (at the bottom of the "Other" section);

Changing this to "True" will make the column headings repeat on each page.

SSRS: Looking Up Values in Another Dataset

This blog post covers using Report Builder 3 (with Microsoft SQL Server 2008R2) to lookup a value in another dataset.

Scroll straight to the bottom for the key function, the rest of the article is setup.

NOTE: The back end of this example is an Oracle database but the solution will work for any database, you just will need to modify the SQL.

Start Report Builder 3

Select "Blank Report" from the New Report or Dataset wizard.

Right click "Dataset" in the treeview on the left and select "Add Dataset ..." from the popup:

Change the radio group on the right from "Use a shared dataset" to "User a dataset embedded in my report":

Click the "New ..." button next to the Data source drop down:

Change the selected radio group item from "Use a shared connection or report model" to "User a connection embedded in my report":

Change the drop down to "Oracle", click "Build" to enter your server, username, and password details. Click "Test Connection" to make sure everything is ok and then click "OK". This returns you to the "Dataset Properties" dialog:

Change the name to "KEY" and enter the Query:

SELECT 1 AS KEY FROM DUAL UNION
SELECT 2 FROM DUAL UNION
SELECT 8 FROM DUAL UNION
SELECT 3 FROM DUAL UNION
SELECT 4 FROM DUAL UNION
SELECT 5 FROM DUAL UNION
SELECT 7 FROM DUAL

Click "OK".

Add a second Dataset following the same steps above (you can re-use the data source) except name this Dataset "VALUE" and enter the Query:

SELECT  1 AS KEY, '01 DESC' AS KEYLABEL FROM DUAL UNION
SELECT  2, '02 DESC' FROM DUAL UNION
SELECT  3, '03 DESC' FROM DUAL UNION
SELECT  4, '04 DESC' FROM DUAL UNION
SELECT  5, '05 DESC' FROM DUAL UNION
SELECT  6, '06 DESC' FROM DUAL UNION
SELECT  7, '07 DESC' FROM DUAL UNION
SELECT  8, '08 DESC' FROM DUAL UNION
SELECT  9, '09 DESC' FROM DUAL UNION
SELECT 10, '10 DESC' FROM DUAL

You will end up with something like this:

Create an empty table on the report and drag/drop the KEY field from the KEY dataset onto the table:

Click on the cell next to "[KEY]" (with "Data" showing in the image above) and enter an expression:

=Lookup(Fields!KEY.Value, Fields!KEY.Value, Fields!KEYLABEL.Value, "VALUE")

This will give you something like:

Click "OK", click "Run" (at the top left on the ribbon):

And the lookup is complete ...

Apple TV (V1) unable to play Purchased Video (White Screen)

This blog post attempts to give a way of fixing the problem described above (which is related to account authorisation when using Multiple Apple ID's from iTunes not being correctly passed through to the Apple TV when you do a Sync).

This fix will only be of use to you if you have just factory-resert your Apple TV, performed a new Sync of your videos, you actually use multiple Apple ID's (i.e. you and your partner have separate accounts), and you are seeing the white screen instead of your video.

NOTE: This problem relates to an issue with the FIRST VERSION of the Apple TV. It does not occur on Apple TV 2.


Symptoms
When you select a video (film or TV program) that you have purchased from the Apple Store (i.e. it includes Apple DRM) the screen fills with white and at the bottom you see the "progress" bar which continues to count up but the picture remains just solid white.

There is no audio.

Cause
Your Apple TV has not been authorised to play video's for the specific user account that purchased the video.

Replicating The Problem
I've always though this this should be the most important section when describing any IT-related problem. How do you know you've fixed a problem you can't replicate? Needless to say working out exactly what caused this required quite a lot of time!

First of all you need two Appe ID's both of which have to have purchased a video (of some description) from the iTunes Store. Of course this is fairly easy to setup given the number of "free" videos and email services like GMail out there.

Let's call the accounts [1] and [2]. [1] has the free pilot episode of Stargate: Universe while [2] has the free recap of Lost.

Perform a factory reset of your Apple TV and then perform the initial setup from iTunes when it appears. Use account [1] to register your Apple TV and then sync both videos.

Attempt to play the video from [2] (Lost) on the newly refreshed Apple TV. You will see the white screen as despite iTunes allowing you to Sync the video it does not have the keys to actually play it.

Fixing the Problem
Ah yes, the important bit! Apple provide a potential solution to the problem here - IT veterans will recognize it as our perenial favourite the "turning it off and on again" answer to everything.

Assuming Apple's recommendation hasn't worked try the following:

• Go to the "Settings" and then the "General" menus
• Select "iTunes Store"
• Log in with the Apple ID that purchased the video (following the example above this would be account [2])
• Go back to the main menu and select "Downloads" and then "Check for Downloads"

Now when you try and play the video it will work (as the Apple TV has now been authorised to play videos from this account). You should be able to repeat this with as many additional accounts as necessary.

Oracle EBS: Repairing the "XXX is not a valid responsibility for the current user" error in Oracle

This Knol covers how to "fix" a problem that can occur in Oracle when you have granted a user access to a new web-based responsibility but the middle-tier application servers have not picked up this change.

Below are detailed instructions on how to clear the cache on the middle-tier application server(s). As it says in the warning when you try and do it there will be a performance hit while it re-reads all the data from the database - use on Production Systems at you own risk!!

At the moment I'm currently configuring Oracle Internet Expenses (11, not 12) and several times we've granted a user the "Internet Expenses" responsibility, they've logged into Oracle, selected Internet Expenses and then received an error along the lines of "Internet Expenses is not a valid responsibility for the current user. Please contact your System Administrator". For example when trying to access "Function Administrator" privilege you get the message:

Figure 1: Sample error for "Functional Administrator" Responsibility

You only get this issue with Web-based responsibilities. If I'd assigned "Payables Manager" then it works without any issues, the reason for this error is that in order to improve performance Oracle caches some information on the web server. In order to "fix" this problem we need to clear the cache by following these steps;

Step 1: Log in and select the "Functional Administrator" responsibility
Now this is where we get a delicious taste of irony; this responsibility is web-based so if you are trying to fix a problem that's occurring now and you don't already have this responsibility then I'm afraid you're too late. You'll have to bounce the Apache server (something that will require a DBA). In short; you need to have granted yourself this responsibility BEFORE you run into problems!

Figure 2: "Functional Administrator" Welcome Screen

Step 2: Select "Core Services" (the tab at the top right)

Figure 3: "Function Administrator" > "Core Services"

Step 3: Select "Caching Framework" (second option from the right on blue bar)

Figure 4: "Core Services" > "Caching Framework"

Step 4: Select "Global Configuration" (bottom option on the left)

Figure 5: "Caching Framework" > "Global Configuration"

This page shows you the currently configured Caching Statistics and Policy. The bit we're interested in though is the "Clear All Cache" button the right-hand side.

Step 5: Click "Clear All Cache"

Figure 6: Clear Cache Warning Message

Read the message, it's there for a reason!

Step 6: Click "Yes"

Figure 7: Confirmation Message

And we're done, the user should now be able to log in with the new responsibility.

Migrating Workflow Changes Between HR.NET Instances

This blog post is a click-by-click guide to migrating changes from one HR.NET instance to another.


The obvious first step is to log onto the source server were you have been developing/ testing your new workflow and run the HR.NET Admin Console provided by Vizual as part of the standard install.

Prerequisites

• Obviously you'll need two HR.NET instances, you'll need to be able to run the Admin Console for the two instances (i.e. you will need a HR.NET user account with permissions)
• You need to have created a directory on both servers called "C:\Export" and some means of moving files between the two servers into the two directories (if this directory is missing you will get an error message);

• You need to understand what you're doing! Vizual do a very good training course and offer a very high standard of support.

Source Server (The server to export from)
Log on to "Admin Console"
Using the Admin Console browse to the Workflow you wish to export and right-click it;

Select "Add to Export List" (second item from the bottom) - this will add the Workflow to a list of items to be exported
From the main menu at the top select "Tools > Export > View/ Export ..."

This will then display something like;

This is showing you that your Workflow is dependant on these other objects. In this case two tables and a directory. It's generally inadvisable to move these objects unless you really know what you're doing - you should unselect the checkboxes next to each of them so the screen looks like this;

Click "Export"

This is prompting you for the name of the file you are going to create which will contain your Workflow.
When you click "OK" the file is saved in the C:\Exports folder;

You should now look at moving these files between the folder on the source server, and the folder on the destination folder.

Destination Server
Log on to "Admin Console"
From the main menu select "Tools > Import ..."

This will display the following dialog;

The list of files displayed at the top is the list of XML files in the "C:\Exports" directory (so make sure you have copied the file there!), select the file you wish to import and click "OK".

The list of objects in the XML file is displayed - select the object you wish to import and then click "Import" at the bottom of the dialog.

Click "OK to complete the import process.