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Microsoft carriage return insertion issue
Wednesday, March 21 2001
Today was crunch day at work. A whole new set of sub-websites were supposed to roll out, and all day I found myself fielding little bugs with the publication tools I'd built. Because they're mostly XML file editors, they're complicated beasts, chock full of parsers and Byzantine string manipulators, built more like my old File System Object monstrosities of CollegeClub.com circa 1999 than my more recent (and elegant) SQL/ASP systems.
I can tell that this technology, which is now being heavily promoted by Microsoft, is not really ready for prime time. An indication of this can be found in cases where one stores long strings of XML into a SQL varchar field. It stores just fine, but when you go to retrieve it, the SQL randomly inserts carriage returns into the XML, often directly in the middle of a tag. You can imagine the frustration I experienced when my parsers encountered such difficult-to-ascertain nonsense.
Then there was the matter of some poor planning on the part of management, which decided to have a big scary mandatory meeting in the afternoon on this the biggest release day of recent memory. Knowing I wouldn't be missed, I stayed in my cubicle scratching my head and feeling my blood sugar levels dive as I struggled with the Microsoft carriage return insertion issue.
By the time 9pm rolled around, hours had passed and no more bugs were being reported so I went home. John was hanging out with his sister Maria for the first time in weeks. They'd had a falling out but I guess things have improved. One of the benefits of their reconciliation is that she has offered to drive me to the airport tomorrow when I leave for New York City.
For linking purposes this article's URL is:
http://asecular.com/blog.php?010321 feedback
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