Work Experience Log

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For my post-GCSE work experience, I did nothing useful at Sungard Public Sector. Probably a mixture of security reasons and that I didn't have the knowledge. Regardless of I useless I was, I've pretty much forgot the dates.

So, now with my new work experience, this won't happen as I shall log everything:

I-Pro Solutions

26/03/12 - 13:00 - 17:00  - Monday
Created a Java Application which given some test data (will need to query a database for the actual data), generates a URL given certain data and then grabs the source code and checks the string in the source code. This is for updating the booking calendar for a holiday villa, for the web site holiday lettings (HL-RAUS). This process needs to be automated, hence the program would need to run every time a booking is made on a certain villa.

This didn't seem to work - as every query returns 'INVALID', and it may be because the URL requires the connection to be made by the XML API that the company supplies. Also using the XML API would provide a better link with the project, but I'm not sure how to integrate the XML in due to not having played around with the database and related items.

Anyway, time to watch GITS: Innocence which has finally downloaded!

Tasks: Read up on SQL, read up on XML, test Java program

Test Java program: I tested the program, to create a URL which should 'TEST' and I have tested this by manually inputting the URL. I'll add the data to my code and see the outcome. It still returns 'INVALID' thus something is wrong my end. Manually entering the generated URL produces the output 'INVALID' thus something must be wrong with the URL. My mistake! I had forget to change the secret key from testing earlier, changing the secret key produces the required output, proving that this test works! The problem may then be on holiday letting's end due to them not having updated their database since they have given us the secret key.

27/03/12 - 09:00 - 17:00 Tuesday
Rewrote the Java application in C#. Figured out the problem wasn't on my end, it was that a guy from holiday lettings had mistyped the IP given to him so I didn't have the right permission.  So once the IP was confirmed, my program worked! It was then the case of doing a lot of reading data from files and creating a log of all the program's output every time it's run.

The next step is to automate an SQL query, convert the query's result to a text file and then run my program, which will then update the booking. This process will be intended to run at 16:00 everyday.

28/03/12 - 09:00 - 17:00 Wednesday

intersection of tasks, the main one being keep chugging away at my program. The main features added (apart from reading data amendments) was once the program is run, at the end, it uses an SMTP client (i.e. the company's server - localhost using the remote desktop) to email the log to a desired recipient. The other feature was that the file directories that the program depends on and the recipient email the log is sent to were read from a config file.

The next step was to automate the process - using an external SQL Server Data Exporter to convert the results of a query (a complex one created by another employee) to a correctly formatted .csv for my program to read. Once that was complete it was time for me to create a 3 command batch file to automate the process. The batch file worked as follows:
1) Go to the directory where my program was stored
cd C:/.../HLRAUS.exe
2) Run the data exporter using the desired template
C:/.../MsExportC.exe C:/.../SQL_export_template.cfg -B
3) Run my program
HLRAUS.exe

Provided there are no errors in the exported data (which will only be there if the user has entered incorrect data) my program will delete all the data files that the SQL Exporter has exported, freeing up HD space.

Tomorrow will must likely be final testing of my program (on real data) and then setting up a task scheduler to run the batch file everyday. Once that's complete I will start work on a program similar to this (merges input data into a URL, reads result), except the new program will be much harder (more data in URL, XML output from site) - so it should provide a good challenge!

29/03/12 - 9:00 - 17:00 Thursday
Started progress on the new 'URLer', much more difficult than the other, first due to the fact that Holiday Lettings managed to butcher BOTH the IP addresses we gave them, so once they re-entered them, things worked again - however, they didn't want to admit they were at fault.

The program works by reading all the data from csv files, inserting them in a 'pseudo-database' in my program (organising all the data). Creating a URL with array data per property (hence the organisation). Then parsing the XML retrieved from the destination URL, thankfully C# comes in built with a brilliant XML parser, had I attempted this in C++, it would take much longer, and would rely on (most likely) less reliable libraries to parse the XML. I can now definately see the advantages of .NET languages and Java being used in commercial software development (particularly where speed isn't a major concern) - they are so much quicker and reliable!

Day off tomorrow... Need to get some revision done!

Things learnt this week:
C#, SMTP, XML Parsing, basic SQL queries, large database management, advantages of FTP and remote desktop, command line arguments to automate processes and teamwork!

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