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So I'm on this project where everything is done using a no-code platform.
The platform itself is the worst of the worst, but the company who made it is my customer (or employer if you well, I'm a contractor for them).
The company I'm working for is great (so the customer of my customer), but unfortunately everything has to go through this no-code platform (they get paid by the task!  ).
So anyway, it works kind of like a queue.
A task starts, either manually (called from code) or automatically (through a timer), and is then queued.
The problem is, the queue is not persisted, so if the server restarts or anything else happens, the queue is empties and your tasks won't run.
Because of this, every task is triggered by a timer and all data a task needs is persisted to a database.
Things get convoluted pretty quickly...
They have a WebForms (VB.NET) front-end so we can run everything in code just as easily, but they have to be tasks in the no-code platform 
The thing is, we now have a simple super unnecissarily complicated import and export functionality.
The import is easy enough, every ten minutes I get all changes from the last ten minutes using an API and merge them in a SQL Server table.
The export is more difficult, as everything I want to export needs to be stored in the database (because of the non-persisted queue).
Now my employer wants to do this in the same table as the import 
So we have our table, SomeEntity, which contains entities, but which also contains jobs for the export.
The difference between the two is a column which specifies if it's "FROM" or "TO" the other system.
So if you now want SomeEntity you'd have to query like "SELECT Fields FROM SomeEntity WHERE ... AND Destination = 'FROM'"
If you forget the Destination filter you'll get all export rows as well, which you never want as they're basically one-off queue items
ALL of this is really super bad already, but apparently they've found ways to make it worse
I advised against it, but this is just the way they (want to) work and my opinion mattered little.
As you can imagine this is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
I want to tell my customer's customer just how screwed they are, but professionality is keeping me from screwing over my own customer.
Won't work anyway as the CEO's are school friends and they've been doing business for something like twenty years already.
Only a few more weeks and I'm done with this job, it's just not worth the money (no amount of money is!) 
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Richard Deeming wrote: Run away! 
Yeah, that should've been a sign on the wall.
Still, didn't expect it to be this bad
Richard Deeming wrote: If not, I suspect the performance is going to suck donkey balls.
Not my problem anymore in a few weeks time 
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Boo! VB is the best! Have you ever used it, or are you just going on what other people say?
But this is an example of the "Golden Rule". The man with the gold, makes the rules. 
ed
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Slow Eddie wrote: Have you ever used it, or are you just going on what other people say?
I've used BASIC on a ZX Spectrum; QBASIC and GWBASIC on DOS; VB1 on Windows 3.1; both VB5 and VB6; and (briefly) VB.NET, until I moved to C#.
So yeah, I guess you could say I've "used it". 
Yes, VB.NET is better than what came before. But that's a pretty low bar. And coupled with WebForms, which has been slowly dying for over a decade, and the manager's suggestion that both import and export records should be stored in the same database table, it's a strong suggestion that the code will be a complete mess.
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."
- Homer
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While your product is very useful,innovative,user friendly, whatever I would like to point out a few areas where problems exist and will prevent future ??? or create problems or ???...whatever.
Put it in writing and submit it to them.
It's called CYA (Cover Your Ass)
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Already pointed out some general problems with the product, like no source control or easy deployment.
The customer's customer said "our other vendor has this awesome website where I can just click on a button to deploy something to the next stage!"
I told them all my software is deployed that way, but that's not going to fly here 
Still no way in hell they're going to replace it and in a few weeks that won't be my problem anymore
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I once wrote a print spooler (on my own) that allowed operators to transfer print jobs to other idle computers / printers, and finish earlier. Only the operators appreciated it. Management was probably bothered by the initiative.
"Before entering on an understanding, I have meditated for a long time, and have foreseen what might happen. It is not genius which reveals to me suddenly, secretly, what I have to say or to do in a circumstance unexpected by other people; it is reflection, it is meditation." - Napoleon I
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I once attended a department meeting with probably 150 developers (actual developers and not support) where among other things the VP that was in charge congratulated the initiative of a single developer who created a pass through API that allowed one large system to access functionality via another large system.
Must be good right?
Except I knew there was a team of 4 developers that had been working on exactly the same thing for several months. I knew this because I needed that functionality and I had been blocked because they were not close to being done.
I always wondered if the VP had any idea what was going on in the dept that he ran.
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Good call. I hadn't seen that one yet.
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I know I should know how to do this, but I am not finding where I can do this and make it stick.
I’ve given up trying to be calm. However, I am open to feeling slightly less agitated.
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Go to Setting and the "Forum and QA tab"
Be sure to save/update when done.
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Hover the mouse over you username in the top right corner.
Select "Settings" from the drop down.
Select "Forums and QA" from the menu bar,
Edit your sig in the "Message Signature" text box.
Make sure the "I have read and agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service for this site" checkbox is ticked.
Click "Save my Settings".
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Result in sig below!
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
Edited like this!
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Thanks everyone. New signature in place.
I’ve given up trying to be calm. However, I am open to feeling slightly less agitated.
I’m begging you for the benefit of everyone, don’t be STUPID.
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Power source ? god I hesitate (7)
Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride!" - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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URANIUM?
(I never heard of a god called "URAN" though ... hence the "?")
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Nope
Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride!" - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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Thorium?
Happiness will never come to those who fail to appreciate what they already have. -Anon
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Yay YAUM
Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride!" - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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Thorium
God THOR
I I
Hesitate UM
Power source = THORIUM
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Correct but pipped by ChandraRam
Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride!" - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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Yes, I saw that! I hesitated (to spell out my solution) and lost.
Also, thanks to Griff for giving me the UM! 
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