I have wanted to try out OpenOffice.org Base for some time now, but I have never taken the time to figure out how to make it connect to a relational database system. And as it turns out there doesn’t seem to be all that much documentation to help. Anyway I needed to figure out a way to look over the structure of a Microsoft SQL database and I didn’t have access to a Windows machine, let alone Enterprise Manager.

So OpenOffice.org uses JDBC to connect to various databases, but sadly it does not come bundled with any of the libraries required to connect and communicate. So after researching a little I came across jTDS. And with a little messing around I got it to work. Below is what I did.

• First you have to download jTDS at http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=33291.
• Second, uncompress the file and store it somewhere out of the way on your computer (such that you don’t accidentally move or delete it). You can store the whole folder or just the jtds-x.x.x.jar file.
• Third, open up OpenOffice.org and go to Tools, Options…, OpenOffice.org (or NeoOffice), Java and then click on Class Path… and then Add Archive…. Choose the jtds-x.x.x.jar file and hit Open. Then keep hitting Ok until all preference windows are closed.
• Fourth, you need to close and reopen OpenOffice.org for the change to take effect.

• Fifth, open up Base and when the wizard comes up choose Connect to an existing database, choose JDBC from the dropdown and then hit Next.
• Sixth, the Datasource URL is of the form below.

  jtds:sqlserver://[host]:[port]/[database]

  Replace [host] with the hostname of the server, replace [port] with the port that the database connects over (the default is usually 1433) and replace [database] with the name of the database.

• Seventh, for the JDBC driver class put in the below.

  net.sourceforge.jtds.jdbc.Driver

  You can hit Test class if you want to. It should give you a promising message. After all of the fields are filled out hit Next.

• Eight, on this screen you can fill out the authentication information. This should be pretty straight forward and you can test it to see that it is connecting properly. And then on the last screen you can set some final options and then save the local connected copy somewhere.

After that you should be able to see and browse the tables, build queries and have fun.

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You can also use this jTDS driver to connect to Sybase. All you have to change the Datasource URL to this form.

jtds:sybase://[host]:[port]/[database]

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For connecting to MySQL you can follow these same steps except you need to get the MySQL JDBC driver class from the MySQL website (http://www.mysql.com/products/connector/j).

The Datasource URL is:

mysql://[host]:[port]/[database]

And the JDBC driver class is:

com.mysql.jdbc.Driver

I ran across this tool the other day. It is a free piece of software that assists in removing unwanted adware, spyware and software that normally comes installed on a new computer. This software is commonly known as bloatware and can significantly reduce the performance of a new machine and only offers features that a user would not typically want or need.

This utility searches the computer and identifies pieces of bloatware and reports them to the user and then removes them as requested.

I have not yet tried it myself. It is for only Windows XP and Vista, and I have not run a computer with Windows in years (well at least a primary machine).

http://www.pcdecrapifier.com

I just watched (as I understand it) the first public combined interview of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. It was in front of an audience at the D5 conference. Which is a conference put on by the Wall Street Journal. Now I am not normally a fan of these mainstream conferences because they tend to very investor controlled. However on the same token an interview like this would have never happened without major funding backing it.

Anyway, the interview itself also suffered from mainstream quality of the event, however I still thought that both Bill and Steve said some very interesting things and had a very good line of dialog. And what was really interesting was how the mentality that they projected in person very much embodied the cultures and focuses of their respective organizations. Even in such mature and large organizations there singular influence still controls the values and focus.

The one point that Steve Jobs made that I really agreed with and latched onto was that in the next five to ten years the big innovations are going to happen with specialized devices (like cell phones and tablets) over the traditional desktop or laptop computers.

The one thing that Bill Gates said that I really agreed with was when they were being asked about the idea of the Internet and the browser destroying the traditional software market. He said that those Internet based applications may be the more visible aspect of modern computing, but it will be because the ‘localized’ software will be more transparent. In the sense that the user will still be relying on the localized operating system to function it just will utilize more natural things like speech and visual recognition over traditional WIMP (windows, icons, menus and pointing devices (mouse)) interaction from the user.

I also thought that the interviewers were more disruptive and cumbersome to the dialog of the interview than they were guiding and contributory. Such that at different times both Bill and Steve would fundamentally ignore what one of the interviewers said in order to expand on a thought or topic that they raised between themselves. I know that these interviewers were working in a very restricted environment, with controlled and noncontroversial questions to pull from, but they really seemed to fail in just basic discussion facilitation.

It is a quite interesting discussion to watch. It is even comical to watch how the two would respond to certain thoughts and statements with facial expression and body language but then cool their heads to maintain the professional and friendly atmosphere of the situation.

The full video and transcript is available on the conference follow up website:
http://d5.allthingsd.com/20070530/d5-gates-jobs-interview

The full video is also available on YouTube (I used these because the player on the main website does not play on the Wii):
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Part 10