Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Chart of Accounts Advanced Validation Rules SQL

A follow up to an earlier article: Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Chart of Accounts Validation Rules SQL.

The Advanced Rules can be found in AX under: General Ledger > Setup > Chart of accounts > Configure account structures > select account structure > Advanced rule.
Here’s a small sample of our advanced rules from AX:

Advanced Rules in AX

Here’s the same rule (results row 9), as produced by the below SQL:

AX Advanced Rules in SQL

Full SQL:

select dr.name AdvancedRule
, dr.description Name
, a.Name AccountStructure
, a.Description ASDescription
, case when dr.IsDraft =1 then 'Draft' else 'Active' end [Status] --seems to just duplicate the IsDraft info
, dr.IsDraft Draft
, drc.Filter
, dh.Name ARSAdvancedRuleStructure
, dh.DESCRIPTION ARSName
from DimensionRule dr
inner join DimensionHierarchy a on a.recid = dr.AccountStructure and a.Partition = dr.Partition
inner join (
       select drcO.DimensionRule
       , drcO.Partition
       , stuff
       (
              (
                     select ' And ' + da.Name + ' '
                     + case
                           when coalesce(drcI.WildCardString,'') > ''
                                  then case
                                         when drcI.WildCardString like '\%%\%' escape '\' then 'contains '
                                         when drcI.WildCardString like '%\%' escape '\' then 'begins with '
                                         when drcI.WildCardString like '\%%' escape '\' then 'ends with '
                                         else 'equals '
                                  end + quotename(replace(drcI.WildCardString,'%',''),'''')
                           when drcI.IsFromOpen = drcI.IsToOpen then --if both are 0 or both are 1 (second scenario seems weird, but that's how the app behaves)
                                  case
                                         when drcI.RangeFrom = drcI.RangeTo then 'Is ' + quotename(drcI.RangeFrom,'''')
                                         else 'Between ' + quotename(drcI.RangeFrom,'''') + ' through ' + quotename(drcI.RangeTo,'''')
                                  end
                                            --in the below statements IsFromOpen and IsToOpen seem to behave backwards to what you'd expect; but again that's what the app does
                           when drcI.IsFromOpen=1 and drcI.IsToOpen=0 then 'Greater than or equal to ' + quotename(drcI.RangeFrom,'''')
                           when drcI.IsFromOpen=0 and drcI.IsToOpen=1 then 'Less than or equal to ' + quotename(drcI.RangeTo,'''')
                           else '-UNEXPECTED SCENARIO; SPEAK TO JB-' --this should nevere happen
                     end 
                     FROM DimensionRuleCriteria drcI
                     inner join DimensionAttribute da on da.RecId = drcI.DimensionAttribute and da.Partition = drcI.Partition
                     where drcI.DimensionRule = drcO.DimensionRule and drcI.Partition = drcO.Partition
                     order by da.Name --drcI.RecId
                     for xml path(''), type
              ).value('.','nvarchar(max)')
       ,1,4,'Where') Filter
       FROM DimensionRuleCriteria drcO
       group by drcO.Partition
       , drcO.DimensionRule
) drc on drc.DimensionRule = dr.RecId and drc.Partition = dr.Partition
inner join DimensionRuleAppliedHierarchy drah on drah.DimensionRule = dr.RecId and drah.Partition = dr.Partition
inner join DimensionHierarchy dh on dh.recid = drah.DimensionHierarchy and dh.Partition = drah.Partition
order by a.Name, dr.name, dh.Name, dr.IsDraft

NB: One anomaly you may notice is some rules appear twice; once as Draft and once as Active. This is where an existing rule is being edited; the existing rule remains active whilst its replacement is created in draft status. When you browse the rules you’ll see the draft rule; however the active rule is the one being applied in any validation.

PowerShell Script :: Combine-Paths

When you wish to create paths based on various combinations of strings, the following accepts a root plus an array of arrays and returns all combinations:

cls
function combine-paths([string]$root,[array]$paths)
{
    if(($paths -ne $null) -and ($paths.length -gt 0))
    {
        [array]$roots = $paths | select -first 1
        [array]$tail = @($paths | select -skip 1) #@() used to prevent final array from becoming an array of strings instead of a single-element array containing an array of strings
        $roots | %{combine-paths -root (join-path $root $_) -paths $tail}
    }
    else
    {
        $root
    }
}

$x = ('PROD','UAT','SIT'),('SystemA','SystemB','SystemC'),'Interfaces',('In','Out')
combine-paths -root '\\myFileShare\' -paths $x

NB: If you had multiple roots you could do the following:

'c:\','\\somewhere' | %{combine-paths -root $_ -paths $x}

Or amend the function to become a cmdlet taking root from the pipeline to simplify the above further / or add logic to allow the root to be blank/unspecified and to just pass `$_` instead of `(join-path $root $_)` where root is blank/null.
I’ve not done that here in order to keep the code short & simple.

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Chart of Accounts Validation Rules SQL

In doing some analysis work on performance, a consultant recently asked for an extract of all of our AX2012’s COA validation rules.
The below SQL is an attempt at regenerating the rules based off the data in the various related tables.
NB: I’m not 100% certain that this gives all rules as they’d appear in the application, but a few initial tests prove promising; so hopefully this SQL can be reused by others with similar requirements.

Here’s a small sample of our validation rules from AX:

AX 2012 Chart Of Accounts Validation Rules Screenshot

Here’s the same rules, as produced by the below SQL:

AX 2012 Chart Of Accounts Validation Rules SQL Results Screenshot

Full SQL:

set transaction isolation level read uncommitted
go

;with c1 as
(
       select DimensionConstraintNode
       , STUFF
       (
              (
                     SELECT ';' + case 
                           when WILDCARDSTRING > '' then WILDCARDSTRING 
                           when RangeFrom=RangeTo then RangeFrom 
                           else concat(RangeFrom,'..',RangeTo) 
                     end 
                     FROM DimensionConstraintNodeCriteria inside
                     where inside.DimensionConstraintNode = outside.DimensionConstraintNode
                     ORDER BY ORDINAL, RECID
                     FOR XML PATH (''),TYPE
              ).value('.','nvarchar(max)')
              ,1,1,''
       ) AS Rules
       from DimensionConstraintNodeCriteria outside
       group by DimensionConstraintNode
)
, ActiveDCN as
(
       select dct.dimensionhierarchy 
       , dcn.DIMENSIONCONSTRAINTTREE
       , dhl.level_
       , dhl.dimensionattribute
       , da.name AttributeName
       , dcn.dimensionhierarchylevel
       , dcn.PARENTCONSTRAINTNODE
       , dcn.RecId
       , c1.Rules
       from DimensionConstraintTree dct 
       inner join DIMENSIONHIERARCHYLEVEL dhl on dhl.dimensionhierarchy = dct.dimensionhierarchy
       inner join DIMENSIONATTRIBUTE da on da.recid = dhl.dimensionattribute 
       inner join DimensionConstraintNode dcn on dcn.DIMENSIONCONSTRAINTTREE = dct.recid and dcn.dimensionhierarchylevel = dhl.RECID
       left outer join c1
       on c1.DimensionConstraintNode = dcn.recid
    where (dcn.activeto = '1900-01-01 00:00' or dcn.activeto >= getutcdate())
    and (dcn.activefrom = '1900-01-01 00:00' or dcn.activefrom <= getutcdate())
)
select dh.name HierarchyName
, concat(dcn1.AttributeName,': ',coalesce(dcn1.Rules,'*')) R1
, concat(dcn2.AttributeName,': ',coalesce(dcn2.Rules,'*')) R2
, concat(dcn3.AttributeName,': ',coalesce(dcn3.Rules,'*')) R3
, concat(dcn4.AttributeName,': ',coalesce(dcn4.Rules,'*')) R4
from DIMENSIONHIERARCHY dh
inner join ActiveDCN dcn1 on dcn1.dimensionhierarchy = dh.recid and dcn1.level_ = 1 --not sure if level’s required; it does affect results; keeping in for now as improves performance (though also reduces result set by 75%)
left outer join ActiveDCN dcn2 on dcn2.ParentConstraintNode = dcn1.Recid --and dcn2.level_ = 2
left outer join ActiveDCN dcn3 on dcn3.ParentConstraintNode = dcn2.Recid --and dcn2.level_ = 3
left outer join ActiveDCN dcn4 on dcn4.ParentConstraintNode = dcn3.Recid --and dcn2.level_ = 4
--where dcn1.Rules like '%640103%' --to produce screenshot
order by dh.name, dcn1.DIMENSIONCONSTRAINTTREE

PowerShell Script :: Get HotFix Info from Local Machine & Web

In answering a question on Stack Overflow[1], I discovered that the Get-Hotfix cmdlet doesn’t list all hotfixes on your machine. Rather, if the fix is included in a CU, details of the installed CU will be presented, with no apparent way to drill down into the information and check for a specific fix.
So far as I can tell, there are no services / open databases which would allow you to programmatically retrieve this information. The only way currently is to manually head to the CU or fix’s related knowledge base site and read the contents.
As a very rough hack-around, I created a scraping script which will interrogate the MS knowledge-base for information on each hotfix, finding whether it’s a CU or not (based on the hotfix’s description in the page’s title) and if so try to find all related fixes. I only go down one level – to avoid the risk of an infinite loop & save time; should anyone want to go deeper, a caching mechanism could be used to store previous results and thus prevent the risk of a loop and also potentially improve performance.
As with most of the scripts on this site, this is more for me to play with PowerShell than to be of much practical use; but hopefully it could be to someone…

function get-hotfixInfo()
{
	process 
	{
		#$url = "http://support2.microsoft.com/kb/{0}" -f ($_.HotFixId -replace "KB(\d*)",'$1')
		$url = $_.Caption
		if($url -like "*.microsot.com")
		{
			$url = "{0}/{1}" -f $url,($_.HotFixId -replace "(KB)(\d*)",'$1/$2') 
		}
		try
		{
			$response = (Invoke-Webrequest $url -ea stop)
		} catch {
			$response = @{
				ParsedHTML = @{
					Title = "{0}`n`nURL: {1}" -f $error[0].Exception,$url 
				}
			}
		}
		$html = $response.ParsedHTML
		$isCU = $html.title -like "*cumulative*update*"
		$kblets = $null
		if($isCU) #this bit can be even slower than the above, hence only run if we believe we have a CU
		{
			$baseUri = $response.BaseResponse.ResponseURI
			$kblets = $html.getElementsByTagName('a') `
				| ? { ($_.parentNode.tagname -eq 'TD') -and ($_.parentNode.nextsibling.tagname = 'TD') } `
				| ? { $_.className -eq 'KBlink' } `
				| % { New-Object -TypeName PSObject -Prop @{
					Id = "KB{0}" -f $_.innerText
					Uri = (new-object System.URIBuilder($baseUri.scheme,$baseUri.dnssafehost,$baseUri.port,($_.href -replace "about:/(.*),'$1'"))).ToString()
					Title = $_.parentNode.nextsibling.innerText
				}}
		}
		New-Object -TypeName PSObject -Prop @{
			Id = $_.HotFixId
			IsCU = $isCU 
			Title = $html.title
			Source = $_.source
			Description = $_.description
			InstalledBy = $_.installedby
			InstalledOn = $_.installedon
			Uri = "http://support2.microsoft.com/kb/{0}" -f ($_.HotFixId -replace "KB(\d*)",'$1')
			KBlets = $kblets
		}
	}
}

#demos

#get the hotfix id for IE11 CU Feb 2014, and it's component hotfixes
get-hotfix -id kb2909921 | get-hotfixInfo | %{ $_; $_.KBlets | %{ $_; }} | ft -property id,title -autosize

#get the first 2 cumulative update hotfixes
get-hotfix | select -first 2 | get-hotfixInfo | ?{$_.isCU} 

PowerShell Script: Demo of Calling a (StackExchange’s) Rest Web Service

Warning: this post is not useful unless you just like playing with scripts & APIs.

Reading a few posts on StackExchange’s Meta site, I saw that there was demand for, but no intent to, create some kind of synonym sub-type feature for tags.
e.g. Users looking for items tagged PowerShell would also see those tagged only PowerShell-1.0, PowerShell-2.0, PowerShell-ISE, etc.
Users looking for PowerShell-1.0 are being more specific though, so shouldn’t see those tagged simply PowerShell, and definitely not those tagged PowerShell-2.0.

Since SE have no intention of creating this, I figured it would be useful to have a site which could present a view over Stack Exchange sites, giving users these additional features.
Since I don’t have time to do that though, I satisfied my craving to build something by knocking up a quick script to play with the SE API.
…And since implementing synonyms would require a huge dictionary, which I’d have to create, I sufficed myself with simply playing with the API without the synonymn hierarchy feature.
So this is just me playing about with my new favourite scripting language and an API I hope one day to play more with (though then it would be with some other language).
Here’s what I came up with…

Code:

$tagList='c#','.net'
$tags = $taglist -join ';'
[Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Web") | Out-Null
$tags = [System.Web.HttpUtility]::UrlEncode($tags)
$url = "http://api.stackexchange.com/2.2/search/advanced?page=1&pagesize=10&order=desc&sort=creation&ans
wers=0&closed=False&tagged={0}&site=stackoverflow" -f $tags
$json = Invoke-RestMethod $url
$json.items | select title,link | %{ "{0}`n{1}`n" -f [System.Web.HttpUtility]::HtmlDecode($_.title), $_.link; }

Output:

ASP.NET Web Forms and MySql Entity Framework: "Nested transactions are not supported"
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/26320679/asp-net-web-forms-and-mysql-entity-framework-nested-transactions-are-not-su
ppo

.NET C# - Both Bitmap and Image Loads Images Smaller than Expected
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/26320637/net-c-both-bitmap-and-image-loads-images-smaller-than-expected

Mono TypeLoadException in an executable
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/26320146/mono-typeloadexception-in-an-executable

Developing a music player in C# without using com component
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/26319978/developing-a-music-player-in-c-without-using-com-component

Fastest way to get directory data
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/26319973/fastest-way-to-get-directory-data

c# datagridview multi-page print
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/26319852/c-datagridview-multi-page-print

How to access an object in c sharp from outside my method?
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/26319550/how-to-access-an-object-in-c-sharp-from-outside-my-method

.NET & jQuery Jcrop Initialization Causing Double Page Load
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/26319428/net-jquery-jcrop-initialization-causing-double-page-load

Why i'm getting exception InvalidOperationException when using backgroundworker?
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/26319024/why-im-getting-exception-invalidoperationexception-when-using-backgroundwor
ker

Index was out of range error when I add a UserControl to a panel, Microsoft VS C#
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/26318864/index-was-out-of-range-error-when-i-add-a-usercontrol-to-a-panel-microsoft-
vs-c

So not that useful, but a fun play project.

PowerShell Script :: Get AD Users by Email (Advanced)

Here’s a script I knocked up today.

Auto.ps1 allows me to host the script on a server (or wherever), whilst others can use it by dropping input files into a queue folder, without needing to touch powershell (which may be scary to non-programmers, or may require additional setup or permissions).
ADGetUsersByEmailAdvanced.ps1 gets AD info based on email addresses; without requiring exchange modules, and includes workarounds to cope with missing information.

Auto.ps1

Monitors a folder for new text files. Once found, passes that file to a script to be processed. On completion moves the source file to the same directory & renames to begin with the same timestamp as the generated output file.

$infile = "\\myServer\myShare\Scripts\powershell\ADGetUsersByEmail\in\*.txt"

while (1 -eq 1) {
	#wait for a new file
	while(!(Test-Path $infile)) {Start-Sleep -s 30;}
	write-host "new input file found"
	Get-ChildItem $infile | %{
		$fileTimestamp = "{0:yyyy-MM-dd_HHmmss}" -f (get-date).ToUniversalTime()
		$inputFile = $_.fullname
		$exportFile = "{0}\out\{1}_output.csv" -f $PSScriptRoot,$fileTimestamp
		$inputFileMoved = "{0}\out\{1}_{2}" -f $PSScriptRoot,$fileTimestamp,$_.name
		write-host ("source: {0}" -f $inputFile)
		write-host ("output: {0}" -f $exportFile) 
		write-host ("archive: {0}" -f $inputFileMoved) 
		.\ADGetUsersByEmailAdvanced.ps1 -sourceFile $_.fullname -exportFile $exportFile 
		write-host "processed"
		Move-Item $inputFile $inputFileMoved
		write-host "archived"
	}
}

ADGetUsersByEmailAdvanced.ps1

Given a text file containing a list of email addresses, attempts to resolve those to corresponding AD users, taking advantage of email information in AD where available, then gracefully degrading to more hacky methods. Works its way through a list of domains in case the users are in the same company but on a different domain.

Param(
  [string]$sourceFile
  ,[string]$exportFile 
)
#$sourceFile = '.\sourceEmails.txt'
#$exportFile = ".\output_{0:yyyy-MM-dd_HHmmss}.csv" -f (get-date).ToUniversalTime()
$domains = 'eu','usa','myDomain','anotherDomain' # domain points to the GC; could equally list GC server names here, though this version's more user friendly

#create dummy; allows us to put in values for any unfound items (currently just using null, but we can easily amend if desired)
$adDummy = New-Object –TypeName PSObject –Prop @{
	emailSearched	= $null;
	notFound		= $true;
	sAmAccountName 	= $null;
	fullname		= $null;
	firstname		= $null;
	lastname		= $null;
	cn				= $null;
	countryCode		= $null;
	country			= $null;
	#title			= $null;
	title			= $null;
	department		= $null;
	company			= $null;
	email			= $null;	
	adEmail			= $null;
	proxyEmail		= $null;
}

function RemoveEmailDomain($email) {
  return $email -replace "(\S*)@\S*", '$1'
}
function IsFirstDotLast($name) {
	return $name -like '*.*'
}
function GetFirstName($name) {
	return $name -replace "(\S*?)\.\S*", '$1'
}
function GetLastName($name) {
	return $name -replace "\S*?\.(\S*)", '$1'
}
function GetFirstNamePartial($name) {
	return $name.substring(0,[system.math]::min(3,$name.length))
}
function GetLastNamePartial($name) {
	return $name.substring([system.math]::max($name.length-3,0),[system.math]::min(3,$name.length))
}
function GetADUserByIdentity($id, $domain) {
	#trycatch since erroraction not recognised on this type of command & I don't want error messages polluting my output
	write-host "searching for id '$id' on domain '$domain'"
	try { 
		Get-ADUser -Identity $id -Server $domain -Properties sAmAccountName, displayName, givenName, surname, distinguishedName, countryCode, c, title, department, company, emailAddress, proxyAddresses
	} catch {}
}
function GetADUserFiltered($filter, $domain) {
	Get-ADUser -Filter $filter -Server $domain -Properties sAmAccountName, displayName, givenName, surname, distinguishedName, countryCode, c, title, department, company, emailAddress, proxyAddresses
}
function GetADUserByEmailAddress($email, $domain) {
	write-host "searching for email '$email' on domain '$domain'"
	$filter = {emailAddress -eq $email} 
	GetADUserFiltered $filter $domain
}
function GetADUserByProxyAddress($email, $domain) {
	write-host "searching for proxy '$email' on domain '$domain'"
	$psBugFixSearchUser = "*:$_*"
	$filter = {proxyAddresses -like $psBugFixSearchUser}
	GetADUserFiltered $filter $domain
}
function GetADUserByFullName($name, $domain) {
	$fn = GetFirstName $name
	$ln = GetLastName $name
	write-host "searching for name '$fn', '$ln' on domain '$domain'"
	$filter = {(givenname -eq $fn) -and (surname -eq $ln)}
	GetADUserFiltered $filter $domain
}
function GetADUserByPartialName($name, $domain) {
	$fn = "{0}*" -f (GetFirstNamePartial $name)
	$ln = "*{0}" -f (GetLastNamePartial $name)
	write-host "searching for partial name '$fn', '$ln' on domain '$domain'"
	$filter = {(givenname -like $fn) -and (surname -like $ln)}
	GetADUserFiltered $filter $domain | where { ($_.givenname + $_.surname) -eq $name }
}
function FindBestMatch($email) {
	$result = $null
	#$domains | %{ $result=GetADUserByEmailAddress $email $_; if($result) {return $result;} } #doesn't play as expected
	foreach($domain in $domains) { $result=GetADUserByEmailAddress $email $domain; if($result) {return $result;} }
	foreach($domain in $domains) { $result=GetADUserByProxyAddress $email $domain; if($result) {return $result;} }
	$name = RemoveEmailDomain $email
	foreach($domain in $domains) { $result=GetADUserByIdentity $name $domain; if($result) {return $result;} }
	if(IsFirstDotLast($name)) {
		foreach($domain in $domains) { $result=GetADUserByFullName $name $domain; if($result) {return $result;} }
	} else {
		foreach($domain in $domains) { $result=GetADUserByPartialName $name $domain; if($result) {return $result;} }
	}	
	return $adDummy;
}

#define a function for later use
#get list of emails (ignore blanks)
$emails = (Get-Content $sourceFile) | where{ $_ -gt '' }

#get data from ad and stick it in an csv (or error to console if not found)
$emails | %{ 
	#get ad user by email address
	$adUser = FindBestMatch($_);
	if($adUser.notFound) {
		write-host ":(" -ForegroundColor Red
	} else {
		write-host ":)" -ForegroundColor Green
	}
	#return object replresenting results.
	New-Object –TypeName PSObject –Prop @{
		emailSearched	= $_;
		found			= if($adUser.notFound){$false} else {$true};
		sAmAccountName 	= $adUser.sAmAccountName;
		fullname		= $adUser.displayName;
		firstname		= $adUser.givenname;
		lastname		= $adUser.surname;
		cn				= $adUser.distinguishedName;
		countryCode		= $adUser.countryCode;
		country			= $adUser.c;
		#title			= $adUser.personalTitle;
		title			= $adUser.title;
		department		= $adUser.department;
		company			= $adUser.company;
		adEmail			= $adUser.emailAddress;
		proxyEmail		= [string]$adUser.proxyAddresses; #string joins the array down to a single string value
	}
} | export-csv $exportFile -notype #stick output to file

Script could be improved by allowing auto to kick off jobs so multiple instances of the worker script can be run simultaneously. Also changing the main script to make use of workflows and take advantage of the parallel foreach method should significantly improve it’s performance. However I’m still pretty new to PowerShell, so those steps will have to come later.

T-SQL: Generate Series: Getting a list of numbers in a given range.

I recently came across the Postgres generate_series function whilst reading a blog post.
So far as I can tell, there’s no equivalent in T-SQL. To make up for this, I coded my own, making use of the recursive nature of common table expressions:

create function dbo.generate_series
(
	  @start bigint
	, @stop bigint
	, @step bigint = 1
	, @maxResults bigint = 0 --0 = unlimited
)
returns @results table(n bigint)
as
begin

	--avoid infinite loop (i.e. where we're stepping away from stop instead of towards it)
	if @step = 0 return
	if @start > @stop and @step > 0 return
	if @start < @stop and @step < 0 return
	
	--ensure we don't overshoot
	set @stop = @stop - @step

	--treat negatives as unlimited
	set @maxResults = case when @maxResults < 0 then 0 else @maxResults end

	--generate output
	;with myCTE (n,i) as 
	(
		--start at the beginning
		select @start
		, 1
		union all
		--increment in steps
		select n + @step
		, i + 1
		from myCTE 
		--ensure we've not overshot (accounting for direction of step)
		where (@maxResults=0 or i<@maxResults)
		and 
		(
			   (@step > 0 and n <= @stop)
			or (@step < 0 and n >= @stop)
		)  
	)
	insert @results
	select n 
	from myCTE
	option (maxrecursion 0) --sadly we can't use a variable for this; however checks above should mean that we have a finite number of recursions / @maxResults gives users the ability to manually limit this 

	--all good	
	return
	
end

Example Usage:

--check we get expected results
select * from generate_series(1, 10, default, default)
select * from generate_series(10, 5, -1, default)
select * from generate_series(1, 10, 4, default)
select * from generate_series(1, 10, default, 2)
select * from generate_series(1, 10, 4, -1)

--check we don't get results if we have "invalid" input
select * from generate_series(1, 10, 0, default)
select * from generate_series(10, 1, default, default)
select * from generate_series(10, 5, 1, default)
select * from generate_series(1, 10, -4, default)

NB: Should you wish to generate a series of dates instead of a series of numbers, check my comments here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1478951/generate-a-resultset-of-incrementing-dates-in-tsql/25881077#25881077

Powershell Script: Monitor Connection Status

This script monitors a connection, reporting when the connection drops and when it’s recovered.
The script monitors by pinging an IP, or by running an HTTP Get against a defined IP/URL.
The URL option’s provided in case run from behind a firewall blocking ICMP.

function Run-ConnectionTest($site, $waitSecs, $firewall)
{
	$state = 'unknown'
	$previousState = 'unknown'

	while($true)
	{
		#get current connection state
		if(Test-MyConnection $site $firewall)
		{
			$state = 'up'
		}
		else
		{
			$state = 'down'
		}
		#report change in state
		if ($state -ne $previousState) 
		{
			$previousState = $state
			$now = Get-Date
			if($state -eq 'up')
			{
				Write-Host -ForegroundColor Green ("{0:yyyy-MM-dd hh:mm:ss}: Connection up!" -f $now)
			}
			else
			{
				Write-Host -ForegroundColor Red ("{0:yyyy-MM-dd hh:mm:ss}: Connection down..." -f $now)
			}
		}
		#wait before checking again
		Start-Sleep -Seconds $waitSecs
	}
}
function Test-MyConnection($site, $firewall)
{
	$result = $false
	if($firewall) #if there's a firewall blocking pings, pinging won't work
	{
		try 
		{ 
			$response = (Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $site)
			#write-host('OK')
			#write-host($response.StatusCode)
			if(($response.StatusCode -ge 200) -and ($response.StatusCode -lt 400)) #treat everything from 200 to 399 as connection successful
			{
				$result = $true
			}
			else #everything outside of 200-399 is treated as a connection issue
			{
				$result = $false
			}
		} 
		catch #all exceptions are treated as connection issues, regardless of http response status code
		{
			#write-host('KO')
			#write-host($_.Exception)
			#$_.Exception.Response.StatusCode.Value__
			$result = $false
		}
	}
	else
	{
		$result = Test-Connection -computer $site -count 1 -quiet
	}
	return $result
}

Clear
#Run-ConnectionTest '8.8.8.8' 5 $false
Run-ConnectionTest 'http://www.google.com' 30 $true

Powershell Script: Get Server Inventory

**Update 2017-02-05**

This script is now available on GitHub: https://github.com/JohnLBevan/PSForInfrastructure/, where it will be kept updated with functionality requests and refactored to make it easier for you to adapt this script to meet your requirements through parameters.

---

The following script (heavily based on http://www.the-fays.net/blog/?p=334) polls all servers in a given text file, returning information about their disk capacity, # of cpus (sockets & cores), amount of RAM, and OS info.

$serverList = ".\Servers.txt"
$outputCSV = ".\ServerInventory.csv"


$scriptpath = $MyInvocation.MyCommand.Path
$dir = Split-Path $scriptpath
pushd $dir

[System.Collections.ArrayList]$sysCollection = New-Object System.Collections.ArrayList($null)
 
foreach ($server in (Get-Content $serverList))
{
    "Collecting information from $server"
    $totCores=0
 
    try
    {
        [wmi]$sysInfo = get-wmiobject Win32_ComputerSystem -Namespace "root\CIMV2" -ComputerName $server -ErrorAction Stop
        [wmi]$bios = Get-WmiObject Win32_BIOS -Namespace "root\CIMV2" -computername $server
        [wmi]$os = Get-WmiObject Win32_OperatingSystem -Namespace "root\CIMV2" -Computername $server
		#[array]$disks = Get-WmiObject Win32_LogicalDisk -Namespace "root\CIMV2" -Filter DriveType=3 -Computername $server
		[array]$disks = Get-WmiObject Win32_LogicalDisk -Namespace "root\CIMV2" -Computername $server
		[array]$procs = Get-WmiObject Win32_Processor -Namespace "root\CIMV2" -Computername $server
        [array]$mem = Get-WmiObject Win32_PhysicalMemory -Namespace "root\CIMV2" -ComputerName $server
        [array]$nic = Get-WmiObject Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration -Namespace "root\CIMV2" -ComputerName $server | where{$_.IPEnabled -eq "True"}
 
        $si = @{
			Server			= [string]$server
			Manufacturer	= [string]$sysInfo.Manufacturer
			Model			= [string]$sysInfo.Model
			TotMem			= "$([string]([System.Math]::Round($sysInfo.TotalPhysicalMemory/1gb,2))) GB"
			BiosDesc		= [string]$bios.Description
			BiosVer			= [string]$bios.SMBIOSBIOSVersion+"."+$bios.SMBIOSMajorVersion+"."+$bios.SMBIOSMinorVersion
			BiosSerial		= [string]$bios.SerialNumber
			OSName			= [string]$os.Name.Substring(0,$os.Name.IndexOf("|") -1)
			Arch			= [string]$os.OSArchitecture
			Processors		= [string]@($procs).count
			Cores			= [string]$procs[0].NumberOfCores
			
		}
		
		$disks | foreach-object {$si."Drive$($_.Name -replace ':', '')"="$([string]([System.Math]::Round($_.Size/1gb,2))) GB"}
    }
    catch [Exception]
    {
        "Error communicating with $server, skipping to next"
        $si = @{
			Server			= [string]$server
			ErrorMessage	= [string]$_.Exception.Message
			ErrorItem		= [string]$_.Exception.ItemName
		}
        Continue
    }
    finally
    {
       [void]$sysCollection.Add((New-Object PSObject -Property $si))   
    }
}
 
$sysCollection `
	| select-object Server,TotMem,OSName,Arch,Processors,Cores,Manufacturer,Model,BiosDesc,BiosVer,BiosSerial,DriveA,DriveB,DriveC,DriveD,DriveE,DriveF,DriveG,DriveH,DriveI,DriveJ,DriveK,DriveL,DriveM,DriveN,DriveO,DriveP,DriveQ,DriveR,DriveS,DriveT,DriveU,DriveV,DriveW,DriveX,DriveY,DriveZ,ErrorMessage,ErrorItem `
	| sort -Property Server `
	| Export-CSV -path $outputCSV -NoTypeInformation    
	

Servers.txt should be held in the same directory as the script, & would look something like this:

MyServer1
MyServer2.fully.qualified.domain.com
YetAnotherServerName
172.24.8.1

Output looks something like this:

"Server","TotMem","OSName","Arch","Processors","Cores","Manufacturer","Model","BiosDesc","BiosVer","BiosSerial","DriveA","DriveB","DriveC","DriveD","DriveE","DriveF","DriveG","DriveH","DriveI","DriveJ","DriveK","DriveL","DriveM","DriveN","DriveO","DriveP","DriveQ","DriveR","DriveS","DriveT","DriveU","DriveV","DriveW","DriveX","DriveY","DriveZ","ErrorMessage","ErrorItem"
"MyServer1","8 GB","Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Editio","","4","","HP","ProLiant DL380 G5","Default System BIOS","P56.2.4","CZC8924LQ6      ","","","68.33 GB","0.58 GB","683.5 GB","0 GB","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","",""
"MyServer2.fully.qualified.domain.com","48 GB","Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Datacente","64-bit","8","1","VMware, Inc.","VMware Virtual Platform","PhoenixBIOS 4.0 Release 6.0     ","6.00.2.4","VMware-42 3b 8b d9 d3 92 b3 8e-9a 43 b1 b5 e6 a8 b2 74","0 GB","","31.66 GB","99.87 GB","3.63 GB","","","","","","","99.87 GB","","","","49.87 GB","","","","19.87 GB","","","","","","","",""
"YetAnotherServerName","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","Access is denied. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070005 (E_ACCESSDENIED))",""
"172.24.8.1","48 GB","Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Datacente","64-bit","8","1","VMware, Inc.","VMware Virtual Platform","PhoenixBIOS 4.0 Release 6.0     ","6.00.2.4","VMware-42 3b 8b d9 d3 92 b3 8e-9a 43 b1 b5 e6 a8 b2 74","0 GB","","31.66 GB","99.87 GB","3.63 GB","","","","","","","99.87 GB","","","","49.87 GB","","","","19.87 GB","","","","","","","",""

Countdown Numbers Round Solver in T-SQL

Every now and then I try to create programs to solve puzzles as a way to introduce myself to new ideas & test my coding skills. My latest self-challenge was to write SQL code to solve the Countdown Numbers Round. The idea is; given 6 random numbers (each of which may be used at most once) and using only basic arithmetic (i.e. addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) to get to a randomly generated target number. e.g. Given the numbers 3, 7, 9, 10, 50 & 75, and the target 396 one solution would be: 3 * (75 + 50 + 7).

Here’s how I approached it in T-SQL:
Run this solution at SQL Fiddle

create procedure dbo.CountdownNumberSolver
(
	@target int output --output used to allow these to be referenced outside of the proc if rnd numbers are generated
	, @number1 int output
	, @number2 int output
	, @number3 int output
	, @number4 int output
	, @number5 int output
	, @number6 int output 
) as
begin
	
	--if the user didn't specify values randomly pick some.
	--   Small Number (1-10):			1 + 10 * rand() 
	--   Large Number (25,50,75,100):	floor(1 + 4 * rand()) * 25
	--   Target (1-999):				1 + (999 * rand())
	select @target = ISNULL(@target, 1 + (999 * rand())) --I assume 0 isn't a valid solution in countdown?
		, @number1 = ISNULL(@number1,1 + 10 * rand())
		, @number2 = ISNULL(@number2,1 + 10 * rand())
		, @number3 = ISNULL(@number3,1 + 10 * rand())
		, @number4 = ISNULL(@number4,1 + 10 * rand())
		, @number5 = ISNULL(@number5,floor(1 + 4 * rand()) * 25)
		, @number6 = ISNULL(@number6,floor(1 + 4 * rand()) * 25)

	--output question
    /* commented out as sql fiddle only returns first result set
	select @target [target]
		, @number1 [#1]
		, @number2 [#2]
		, @number3 [#3]
		, @number4 [#4]
		, @number5 [#5]
		, @number6 [#6]
	*/
	--records combinations tried so far / partial equations
	create table #solutions
	(
		id bigint not null identity(1,1) primary key clustered
		, binaryFlags tinyint not null
		, number float not null
		, equation nvarchar(256) not null
	)
	create index ix_solutions_number on #solutions(number)
	
	--start with the given values - the id stuff is just to make it easy to reuse this procedure should we want a different # of source numbers
	insert #solutions
	select power(2,id) 
	, number
	, CAST(number as nvarchar(3))
	from 
	(values 
		 (0,@number1)
		,(1,@number2)
		,(2,@number3)
		,(3,@number4)
		,(4,@number5)
		,(5,@number6)
	)x(id, number)

	declare @previousCount bigint = 0
	, @newCount bigint = (select COUNT(1) from #solutions)
	, @tempCount bigint
	
	while @previousCount < @newCount --repeat whilst there are still untried combos
		and not exists (select top 1 1 from #solutions where number=@target) --and we're still looking for a solution
	begin

		set @tempCount = @newCount
		
		insert #solutions
		select a.binaryFlags | b.binaryFlags
		, case x.o
			when '+' then a.number + b.number
			when '-' then a.number - b.number
			when '*' then a.number * b.number
			when '/' then a.number / b.number
		end
		, '(' + a.equation + ' ' + x.o + ' ' + b.equation + ')'
		from #solutions a
		inner join #solutions b
			on a.binaryFlags & b.binaryFlags = 0 --ensure we're not reusing source numbers
			and a.id != b.id --minor (potential) optimisation
			and --no point comparing things we've already checked (this may allow for some performance improvement- it doesn't affect the logic)
			(
				   a.id > @previousCount
				or b.id > @previousCount
			)
		inner join --doing things this way means we only need to find the new combinations from a&b once, not 4 times
		(
			values ('+'), ('-'), ('*'), ('/')
		) x(o)
			on  not(x.o = '/' and b.number = 0) --avoid div 0 errors
			and not(x.o = '-' and a.number - b.number = 0) --don't create 0 value entries (if 0's not an allowed solution this result just adds overhead without value)
			and not(x.o = '+' and a.number + b.number = 0) --don't create 0 value entries (if 0's not an allowed solution this result just adds overhead without value)
			and not(x.o = '+' and a.id > b.id) --commutative function optimisation
			and not(x.o = '*' and a.id > b.id) --commutative function optimisation
		
		set @previousCount = @tempCount
		select @newCount = COUNT(1) from #solutions	
		
	end

	--limited to one answer to fit with the game / avoid the assumption that all possible solutions would be listed 
	--(since we exit the above loop the moment we have an answer rather than continuing to check all combos)
	select top 1 
	  @number1 [#1]
	, @number2 [#2]
	, @number3 [#3]
	, @number4 [#4]
	, @number5 [#5]
	, @number6 [#6]
	, @target  [target] 
	, equation [solution]
	from #solutions 
	where number = @target
	order by len(equation) --show the shortest equation as that's probably simplest
	option (fast 1)	

	if object_id('tempdb..#solutions','U') is not null drop table #solutions

	return 0
end

Here’s an example of how to run it:

--run the proc using random numbers (the proc replaces nulls with random #s)
exec dbo.CountdownNumberSolver null, null, null, null, null, null, null

--run the proc on user defined values
exec dbo.CountdownNumberSolver 396, 7, 3, 10, 9, 50, 75