At work, we’re in the process of trying out some new development projects in Java. And I guess we’re just masochistic, since we decided to write this new project against MSSQL instead of our usual MySQL. Anyways, everything’s coming together for the most part, except that few of the GUI database tools seem to be able to find our schema. Instead, it just seems to list the database users. We noticed this in Netbeans, Eclipse, and SquirrelSQL.

Yesterday, I started tracking it all down. Turns out, Microsoft introduced the concept of an actual schema in SQL Server 2005. Prior to that, tables were segmented by their owner. Consequently, the available JDBC drivers (both jTDS and Microsoft’s) implementations of DatabaseMetaData.getSchemas() actually return the list of database users.

Since I can’t do anything about Microsoft’s driver, I downloaded the source for jTDS and started poking around. In net.sourceforge.jtds.jdbc.JtdsDatabaseMetaData, around line 1589, you’ll find the following query:

SELECT name AS TABLE_SCHEM, NULL as TABLE_CATALOG FROM dbo.sysusers

After digging up a copy of the 1.5 JDK, I changed this to a query based on the information schema and recompiled. Then I fired up SquirrelSQL, and, bam. All my schemas were listed. Feeling quite proud of myself, I then discovered that someone had already filed a bug and the issue was fixed in jTDS’ CVS repository. Oh well.

Anyways, if you’re having issues browsing your MSSQL schemas with SquirrelSQL or other JDBC database tools, try building jTDS from source.

Canon just announced the G11, the latest in the G lineup of compact cameras that give you SLR-ish control and deliver great image quality. What immediately jumped out at me was that for the first time in the series, Canon actually reduced the resolution (10MP in the G11 compared to 14MP in the G10).

It’s no secret that higher resolution doesn’t necessarily mean a better picture, and I’d say this is undeniable proof that Canon is really shooting for the best image quality possible in the compact G cameras, regardless of how it might read on paper. Just makes me want one all the more.

Today I finally figured out how to integrate the results of JUnit tests run via the Maven surefire plugin with the Test Results tab in CruiseControl. It was actually blindingly simple, however, I couldn’t seem to find a straight-forward explanation anywhere.

By default, the Surefire plugin dumps the JUnit XML logs into the target/surefire-reports directory. For the results to show on the Test Results tab, these log files simply need to be merged into the Cruisecontrol log. This is accomplished via a merge element in the log section of the Cruisecontrol config.xml file:

<log>
	<merge
		dir="projects/${project.name}/target/surefire-reports"
		pattern="TEST-*.xml"/>
</log>