SQLEditor 1.4.4 was just released on Tuesday, the main feature improvement is the support for compound foreign keys. I posted a bit about this before and the final version is pretty much the same as I described.
Unfortunately there were a couple of bugs that slipped through relating to clicking objects. 🙁
These are going to be fixed in a point release that should appear soon.
The new version is available from the automatic update system or download here:
I picked up a copy of Wired UK yesterday and I started reading it this morning while I was eating my breakfast.
So far I’m impressed, it feels solid, there’s plenty of interesting looking stuff and I liked the infographics (which I spent some time interpreting). The pictorial on the 3d printer that uses regular paper was really clever too.
I hope to offer more thoughts on this once I’ve read more, but my first instinct is to subscribe for the year.
Which is good; because I was really hoping that it would be good, and it is.
The newest version of SQLEditor (1.4.4b1) now has support for compound foreign keys. This is something that people have been asking about for a while now, so I’m pleased that it got included.
There are some things that may need to be improved, but I’m fairly happy with the first revision of this.
Diagram showing compound foreign key
The compound foreign key object is a new table level object that you can add from the Object menu just like a field or index. Then you drag from the foreign key to the target table. Finally you use the inspector to create pairs of columns to link together.
When importing from a database SQLEditor will try to create field-to-field links on foreign keys with only 1 pair of columns unless you tell it otherwise. (There is a new preference to do this)
Support is fairly complete, SQL parsing, database import, database export and SQL export are all available so it should work fairly well. I think the only thing it doesn’t do is auto-create indexes, so you may need to do this by hand on referenced columns (for those databases that need this)
There is naturally a new inspector palette to go with the table object.
Compound foreign key inspector
This allows you to add pairs of columns using the + button at the bottom. Choose your columns using the little popup menus.
The whole thing is completely new, so please send in your thoughts to the usual address.
I ran into a problem in the last few days with YouTube. I would visit the site, but every video I tried to watch displayed the message “we’re sorry the video is no longer available”.
Other people seem to have noticed something like this too.
The answer, as found in the last message in the thread, is to update to the newest version of Flash player, which appears to fix the problem.
However it makes me ponder something: what changed in the latest version of Flash and why does YouTube not recommend this upgrade to users? (Ideally with a large and obvious message)
I was in the supermarket the other day looking for juice, only to find that the regular own brand wasn’t available! A disaster that was only averted when I realized that they were carrying a new branded juice instead. But why?
I had no idea until I came across this article which describes the financial difficulties of SunJuice, which unfortunately now seems to be in Administration.
SunJuice apparently provided 50% of all uk own-label juice.
I guess the costs were rising, prices weren’t and they got pushed a bit too hard by the buyers.
I happened to attend a lecture today at the RSSA given by Roger Lockwood who the head of the Northern Lighthouse Board. The board manages and maintains lighthouses and other navigational aids around Scotland (and for various reasons the Isle or Man)
It was a brilliant lecture, the speaker was great and the topic was very interesting. It started with a discussion of existing lighthouses; then the switch to automation and the story of the last manned light house at Fair Isle South Lighthouse (only automated in 1998).
Interesting was the fact that they can run lighthouses on solar panels in Scotland with good reliability (although batteries were mentioned too of course for storing the power). Wind power has proved to be less effective, with the windmills tending to get damaged by bad weather. The panels also have no moving parts and require less maintenance.
Moving on to the importance of not relying solely on GPS and the importance of the lights and aids. This included some cautionary tales of vessels that have got into difficulty by assuming that the GPS was right and the beacons, buoys and light houses were wrong.
Then a discussion of the e-loran system which will give much better positioning information for vessels at sea, the progress made and the work still to do. (Apparently more base station beacons needed to improve coverage).
Some very interesting questions at the end including a discussion on jamming of GPS interfering with navigation (which is apparently seen as a real and serious problem), plus several cautionary tales about the importance of checking your navigation systems.
