Virtualbox

Running linux as a non root user in virtualbox. To mount VirtualBox shared folder on Linux and access everything within the shared folder as the user, in this example htpcbeginner, you will have to manually add the user to vboxsf group...then log out and log in.

PostgresSql option for creating table like another table

In MSSQL there is an easy, code-based, way to create a table with the same DDL and data as another table.
This is simply by running a query similar to this:

select * INTO "NEW TABLE" FROM "SOURCE TABLE"

I needed to do something similar in PostgreSQL and found this to be a nice way to recreate a table using another as a templet

CREATE TABLE TESTTABLE
AS
  SELECT *
  FROM "SOURCE TABLE"
  WHERE false;

psycopg2 on MacOS

I have recently been having some issues with install the python module psycopg2 on a mac os Mojave. No matter what modules I installed in the virtual environment, the pip install of psycopg2 would not find a suitable candidate.

I tried all sorts of ways to get around this, like installing the entire Postgresql engine via brew, all to no avail.

Eventually, I found this pip module (which I should have found earlier to be honest if I had been more attentive :) )

pip install psycopg2-binary

Locale issues when installing MSSQL on Redhat 8

Today I was installing Microsoft SQL Server on Redhat 8, followning these instructions:
Install Link

During the setup of the server, I was having issues due to unknown locale UTF 8

I had to set the locale to a specific one, which I did using the following:

export LC_CTYPE=en_ZA.utf8

After that, it worked fine.

MicroStrategy Metadata Version

This is an example of how to tell the version of a metadata backup, using a SQL query:

For MySql:

select
CONCAT((SELECT LEFT(PROP_VAL,2)  FROM DSSMDSYSPROP WHERE `NAME` = 'Version'),'.',(select LEFT(PROP_VAL,2)  FROM DSSMDSYSPROP WHERE `NAME` = 'SCHEMAVERSION')) AS `Schema Version`;

Or SELECT * FROM DSSMDSYSPROP ; (This will show all properties)

Postgres -- Tables and Column Length

To generate the following outoput in PostgresSQl

ID	Table Name	Schema	Count of Columns	TotalRows
1	Test1	public	4	600
2	Test2	public	12	1268

The following code works well:

SELECT   t.table_name, t.table_schema, count(columns.column_name), n_live_tup AS totalRowCount  FROM   information_schema.tables t   LEFT OUTER JOIN  information_schema.columns on  columns.table_name = t.table_name   LEFT OUTER JOIN  pg_catalog.pg_stat_user_tables pc on t.table_name = pc.relname   WHERE t.table_schema ='public' GROUP BY t.table_name, t.table_schema, n_live_tup

Python Development Gui - IDLE on CentOS

Many python books, articles and learning guides refer to a python development GUI named IDLE. Why its recommended is that it comes with features that many other text editors - such as VI and gedit - have such as highlighting and closing (where it shows if you have not closed off a string for example) but IDLE also comes with the ability to show you where you may be making mistakes.

I have been working in VI, gedit, notepad++ and even the python shell of late. While all are usable - and yes I still revert to VI a lot - with all the references being made to IDLE I thought I would take a look.

I first tried it on Windows 7 - all good and an easy install as it is included in the installer exe.
I then tried it on Ubuntu - again, easy to install as you can just search for it in the software installer.

Alas, I then tried CentOS and came up short. In fairness I was using the cmdline more, as I often do in CentOS, but I could not find a package named IDLE.

For any others who need IDLE on CentOS and also didnt find many articles about it, its really very easy.

bash#: sudo yum install python-tools

its as easy as that!