Hugo Estrada's House of Wonder

The Answer:

To see current working directory within Sql*Plus command line:
host echo %CD%

To change directories:
host cd c:\go\toyour\directory

Long story:
the command 'host' in sql*plus let's you perform calls to the shell/command line of the operating system that you are using. In this case I am using windows, so instead of using the handy pwd, I had to use the clunky echo %CD%. Style aside, it works.

Thanks, shoover at stackoverflow for the quick answer to this question :)

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1840816/sql-plus-how-to-change-direct...

This was the only code that I found where it made it easy to execute a query to a MS SQL Server db. If you are running it on windows, the libary, win32ole, comes with the installation. It is a small class that handles the connection and execution of the db.

I normally copy interesting code here and give the link, but the post is so short and to the point that I will just thank David Mullet, for this great piece of code. It made my day :)

http://rubyonwindows.blogspot.com/2007/03/ruby-ado-and-sqlserver.html

I changed my mind. Here is the text of the post:

Ruby, ADO, and SQLServer

Ruby and ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) make working with Microsoft SQL Server databases simple. Here's a simple example of a class that manages the SQL Server database connection and queries:

require 'win32ole'

class SqlServer
# This class manages database connection and queries
attr_accessor :connection, :data, :fields

def initialize
@connection = nil
@data = nil
end

def open
# Open ADO connection to the SQL Server database
connection_string = "Provider=SQLOLEDB.1;"
connection_string << "Persist Security Info=False;"
connection_string << "User ID=USER_ID;"
connection_string << "password=PASSWORD;"
connection_string << "Initial Catalog=DATABASE;"
connection_string << "Data Source=IP_ADDRESS;"
connection_string << "Network Library=dbmssocn"
@connection = WIN32OLE.new('ADODB.Connection')
@connection.Open(connection_string)
end

def query(sql)
# Create an instance of an ADO Recordset
recordset = WIN32OLE.new('ADODB.Recordset')
# Open the recordset, using an SQL statement and the
# existing ADO connection
recordset.Open(sql, @connection)
# Create and populate an array of field names
@fields = []
recordset.Fields.each do |field|
@fields << field.Name
end
begin
# Move to the first record/row, if any exist
recordset.MoveFirst
# Grab all records
@data = recordset.GetRows
rescue
@data = []
end
recordset.Close
# An ADO Recordset's GetRows method returns an array
# of columns, so we'll use the transpose method to
# convert it to an array of rows
@data = @data.transpose
end

def close
@connection.Close
end
end

You can then use this class as follows:

db = SqlServer.new
db.open
db.query("SELECT PLAYER FROM PLAYERS WHERE TEAM = 'REDS';")
field_names = db.fields
players = db.data
db.close

The above code is, of course, incomplete and can certainly be improved and extended (error handling, etc.). But, hopefully, it provides you with a solid foundation on which to build.

UPDATE: You might like to know that you can automate many of your SQL Server administrative tasks by leveraging Distributed Management Objects (SQL-DMO). I've explained this in a later article here.

Thanks for stopping by!

So my nice little bash script wasn't woking on cygwin. What could be wrong? I was getting a weird error saying that my file was not ending correctly.

What was the problem?

Answer: working on Windows.

No, it is not what it sounds! No OS zealotry here! The problem was that my beloved Vim adapts to its environs very well, so it was adding a CrLF at the end of my script file. Cygwin couldn't deal with that, ergo the error. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/630650/errors-on-beginner-bash-script

The solution on vim is easy:
:set fileformat=unix
:w

I found the solution here: