tim laqua dot com Thoughts and Code from Tim Laqua

28Nov/0819

BlackBerry Storm (9530) Error: SIM Card Rejected

This error pops up when you lose CDMA (1XEV) connectivity in the US and the phone attempts to connect to a GSM network (you can duplicate if you force your Storm to GSM network technology) and you have a Global SIM card installed (and most of us do). The kicker is that the message "SIM Card Rejected" doesn't go away until your hard reboot - even after you've reconnected to the CDMA network.

So, if you're not using your Global SIM (if you are, call VZW and ask for Global Support - they can activate your SIM), you can just force CDMA only on the phone, do a battery pull, and you'll never see this again. I assume some future firmware update will handle this error better by making it go away once you're back on CDMA, but for now - this is what I had to do:

16Nov/080

Installing ASTrace.exe in a 64-bit environment

ASTrace.exe is part of the SQL Server Analysis Services Community Samples on CodePlex. This utility works just fine in a 32-bit environment, however some of the assemblies needed to interact with Analysis Services do not have 64-bit counterparts - thus, you have to use WOW64 to get the service to work properly on a x64 machine.

ASTrace can be downloaded here:
http://www.codeplex.com/SQLSrvAnalysisSrvcs/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=13572

32-bit Installation Instructions can be found here:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb283156(SQL.90).aspx

And to get it to work on x64, you need to do two things differently:

  • Target x86 processors when you build the application - this way, your 64-bit OS will use WOW64 when the service runs (Project > ASTrace Properties... > Build Tab).

  • Create the following registry key and string value pointing to where you copied the ASTrace files:
    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\ASTrace]
    "path"="C:\\ASTrace"
5Nov/080

How to add a calculated measure (calculated field) to an Excel 2007 PivotTable with a SSAS data source

As it turns out, you can do it programatically as explained by Allan Folting here:
Microsoft Excel: Common Questions Around Excel 2007 OLAP PivotTables:
http://blogs.msdn.com/excel/archive/2008/02/05/common-questions-around-excel-2007-OLAP-PivotTables.aspx

And the parts that I have to keep looking up (I use my blog as a notebook for things I don't want to forget ;-) :

Sub AddCalculatedMeasure() 
	Dim pvt As PivotTable
	Dim strName As String
	Dim strFormula As String 
 
	Set pvt = Sheet1.PivotTables("PivotTable1")
	strName = "[Measures].[Internet Sales Amount 25 %]"
	strFormula = "[Measures].[Internet Sales Amount]*1.25"
	pvt.CalculatedMembers.Add Name:=strName, Formula:=strFormula, Type:=xlCalculatedMember 
End Sub 
 
Sub AddCalculatedMember() 
	Dim pvt As PivotTable
	Dim strName As String
	Dim strFormula As String 
 
	Set pvt = Sheet1.PivotTables("PivotTable1")
	strName = "[Product].[Product Categories].[Bikes].[Mountain Bikes].[Mountain-100 Silver, 38 25 %]"
	strFormula = "[Product].[Product Categories].[Bikes].[Mountain Bikes].[Mountain-100 Silver, 38]*1.25"
	pvt.CalculatedMembers.Add Name:=strName, Formula:=strFormula, Type:=xlCalculatedMember
	pvt.ViewCalculatedMembers = True 
End Sub 
 
Sub AddNamedSet() 
	Dim pvt As PivotTable
	Dim strName As String
	Dim strFormula As String
	Dim cbf As CubeField 
 
	Set pvt = Sheet1.PivotTables("PivotTable1")
	strName = "[My Mountain Bikes]"
	strFormula = "[Product].[Product Categories].[Bikes].[Mountain Bikes].children"
	pvt.CalculatedMembers.Add Name:=strName, Formula:=strFormula, Type:=xlCalculatedSet
	Set cbf = pvt.CubeFields.AddSet(Name:="[My Mountain Bikes]", Caption:="Mountain Bikes") 
End Sub

He also mentions that you can expose these members to Excel Services 2007 by creating the new objects and then removing the VBA code - very useful article.

14Sep/08131

How to replace the battery in a Polar F11 Heart Rate Monitor (HRM)

Disclaimer: The user manual for the Polar F11 clearly states to take the HRM to a Polar dealer and have them replace the battery - taking the back off could void your warranty. If you wish to be 100% sure that you maintain the water-resistant seal and do not want to void your warranty - or risk breaking your HRM (certainly a possibility when you take it apart...), take the unit to an authorized Polar dealer and have them replace the battery.

Step 1: Remove the back cover (4 little screws - make sure you have the right size screwdriver or you'll strip them out). Also note that the back has a water-resistant seal - keep this clean and remember that there is always a chance that the seal may be damaged if you do this yourself.
Step 2: Remove the internal unit from the watch casing (it just pulls out).
Step 3: Get something to pry the battery latch tab with (I used another small screwdriver)
Step 4: Take whatever you used to pry the latch tab out with and use it to pry the battery up by placing the device (screwdriver in my case) in the notch above the latch (see picture).
Step 5: Go to Wal-Mart and purchase a new CR2032 watch battery (you may want to do this before hand... I didn't know what battery it used so I had to take it out first) - runs about $3.50.
Step 6: Put the battery back in and put everything back together.