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Need a report on installed applications - 7/29/2008 4:44:13 PM

Winston Smith

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My CIO wants a report on all installed applications, but doesn't want it to include device drivers, patches, etc. He's looking for stuff like Office applications, Adobe, Skype, and so on. AND he wants versions consolidated into a single line.

I've produced a list of all software registered in Add/Remove Programs, but it's 18,000 lines and not at all what he wants. My new boss is starting to give me shit about it, saying the CIO's going to skin me if I can't produce the report.

Is there some way I can filter out anything that isn't part of the OS and just show him user Applications?

Am I explaining this correctly?

Post #: 1

RE: Need a report on installed applications - 7/29/2008 5:14:56 PM

skissinger

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Have fun! We received a similar request, and actually hired two interns *last* summer to produce that report. They are still working on it. It's not easy. Oh, sure, they've submitted different updates; but of course additional parameters were requested with every version.

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Post #: 2

RE: Need a report on installed applications - 7/30/2008 4:00:08 AM

mgroenewald

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Hi Winston
This is probably not the way u would like to go but it helped me a lot
I ran this in SQL query analyser but it returned over 1.5million rows – so if u have Office 2007 you can import it and just filter out unwanted info (ps don’t use Office 2003 as it can only use 65000 rows)
select *
from
dbo.v_gs_add_remove_programs
inner join
dbo.v_R_System
on
dbo.v_gs_add_remove_programs.resourceid=dbo.v_R_System.resourceid

or if you would like to use a web report use this q – but it takes a lot of time to complete (if it completes)
Select
SYS.Netbios_Name0 AS 'Computer Name',
sys.user_name0 as 'Last Logged on User',
sys.ad_site_Name0 as 'AD Site',
v_GS_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS.DisplayName0,
v_GS_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS.Publisher0,
v_GS_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS.Version0
FROM
v_GS_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS
JOIN v_R_System SYS
ON
v_GS_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS.ResourceID = SYS.ResourceID
WHERE
v_GS_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS.DisplayName0 NOT LIKE '%Update%' AND
v_GS_ADD_REMOVE_PROGRAMS.DisplayName0 NOT LIKE '%hotfix%'
ORDER BY
SYS.Netbios_Name0,sys.user_name0,sys.ad_site_Name0, DisplayName0

(in reply to Winston Smith)

Post #: 3

RE: Need a report on installed applications - 7/30/2008 7:28:14 AM

ChrisR

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I did something similar to this, it does require some manual work.

I went into the SMS database and exported all distinct entries from the add remove programs table. This means just 1 of everything is exported giving us around 1000 rows.

Then we went through the list marking anything we didn't care abotu like drivers, MS patches etc as excluded, leaving us with just 50-100 actuall installed things we cared about.

This was a one off but you can set it up so that it's a live view of what you have with scheduled jobs and with a bit of tinkering.

< Message edited by ChrisR -- 7/30/2008 7:29:26 AM >

(in reply to mgroenewald)

Post #: 4

RE: Need a report on installed applications - 7/30/2008 10:50:55 AM

Tom_Watson

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Sometimes it takes a little more persuasion to say that you don't really want a report with everything, but really what you want to be doing is building a Software Asset Library of applications you need to be licensing, and have individual reports for each of those. Then have regular audits to make sure that the library is up to date.

Or invest in a product that does that. Both www.pssoft.com and www.sccmexpert.com have SAM (Software Asset Management) products that sit on top of SMS. www.extendedtools.com also has a SAM tool (simply called SAM) for free. But it might be a question of getting what you pay for.

Management sometimes make a request that equates to "Make me happy", without actually going into details on how to do that. Give them a report with too much info, they want less. Give them too little, they want more. Give them exactly the right amount of information, they want it in pink...

Tom

(in reply to ChrisR)

Post #: 5

RE: Need a report on installed applications - 7/30/2008 2:00:45 PM

bwoodall

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Tom_Watson

Management sometimes make a request that equates to "Make me happy", without actually going into details on how to do that. Give them a report with too much info, they want less. Give them too little, they want more. Give them exactly the right amount of information, they want it in pink...

Tom

Tom we must have the same management.

(in reply to Tom_Watson)

Post #: 6

RE: Need a report on installed applications - 7/30/2008 3:00:35 PM

rbennett806

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Just thought I'd chime in with an oddball idea.... If you can generate a report that has everything in it, maybe you can save the .HTM page and then use a VBScript to parse through the file and remove the unwanted lines.

Or else just open the .HTM page in your favorite web editor and manually remove the lines.

It kind of depends on if they just want the final result once in a great while, or if they want to run and rerun it on their own.

Without seeing your report and how you're setting it up that's all I can think of...

(in reply to bwoodall)

Post #: 7

RE: Need a report on installed applications - 8/11/2008 1:04:11 PM

Winston Smith

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Thanks for the feedback so far. My boss likes the format of the Software 01A Report, and I think if I can filter out some of the stuff I don't want they just might be happy...

Here's the report, can someone tell me how to exclude specific Publishers and/or Categories? I cloned the (Software 01A) report, and if I can build in a handful of meaningful filters (i.e. do not show me Publisher "Microsoft" or do not show me Category ".NET") If I can do this, I might be within spitting distance of making everyone happy.

Select TOP(convert(bigint, @NumberOfRows))
v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.NormalizedName as [Product Name],
v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.NormalizedPublisher as [Publisher],
v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.NormalizedVersion as [Version],
v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.FamilyName as [Family Name],
v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.CategoryName as [Category Name],
count(v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.ResourceID) as [Instance Count],
v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.SoftwareID as [Software ID],
v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.SoftwarePropertiesHash0 as [Software Properties Hash],
@CollectionID as [Collection ID]
from v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED
where (v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.NormalizedPublisher = @Publisher or @Publisher = '')
and v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.ResourceID IN
(select distinct v_FullCollectionMembership.ResourceID from v_FullCollectionMembership inner join v_R_System_Valid ON v_R_System_Valid.ResourceID = v_FullCollectionMembership.ResourceID where CollectionID= @CollectionID )
group by v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.NormalizedName,
v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.NormalizedPublisher,
v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.NormalizedVersion,
v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.FamilyName,
v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.CategoryName,
v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.SoftwareID,
v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.SoftwarePropertiesHash0
order by [Instance Count] desc, v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.FamilyName asc, v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.CategoryName asc

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Post #: 8

RE: Need a report on installed applications - 8/11/2008 1:12:04 PM

Winston Smith

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Also, this report displays multiple versions of "Adobe Acrobat". If anyone knows a way to consolidate those rows to a single Adobe Acrobat Row that I could drill down into to show versions, that would be helpful, too.

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Post #: 9

RE: Need a report on installed applications - 8/11/2008 1:31:34 PM

gkamenjati

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From: San Jose, California
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In the early years (1999-2001) we got similar requests from top management and i found out it will be cheaper to invest in software meetring Application, instead of hiring new resources etc...

The package we've adopted is called express metrix and does give us the flexibility to report on anything we want. here's the link.
http://www.expressmetrix.com/

the initial cost to us (1200 users) is about $19/each and $4/each annual support.

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Post #: 10

RE: Need a report on installed applications - 8/11/2008 1:32:14 PM

gkamenjati

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here's how it looks (one of the many many many options..

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Post #: 11

RE: Need a report on installed applications - 8/11/2008 1:33:19 PM

gkamenjati

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From: San Jose, California
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Sorry, here it is.

Thumbnail Image

Attachment (1)

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RE: Need a report on installed applications - 8/11/2008 3:41:22 PM

jnelson993

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From: Minneapolis, MN
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It's showing the duplicates because you're displaying the SoftwarePropertiesHash0 field and grouping on it. That field is a unique hash of the properties that make up that piece of software (which ones exactly, I don't know, but the ProductName/DisplayName etc are in there)...so instead of having a field that includes all of the properties strung together, they create a cryptographic hash on that data which uniquely represents that big long string.

At a normal company, some machines in the enterprise might come with Adobe Reader or have the adobe reader right from the internet, but some machines also get the adobe reader that's been repackaged by the enterprise packaging team. The default Adobe Reader has info like this

ProductName0 = Adobe Reader 8
ARPDisplayName0 = Adobe Reader 8
ProductVersion0 = 8.0.0
Publisher0 = Adobe Systems Incorporated
NormalizedName = Adobe Reader 8
SoftwarePropertiesHash0 = 7f0724289b7c2350792a3353b2031b23

but the repackaged version might have info like this

ProductName0 = Adobe8ForLaptopsDesktops
ARPDisplayName0 = Adobe8ForLaptopsDesktops
ProductVersion0 = 8.0.0
Publisher0 = Adobe Systems Incorporated
NormalizedName = Adobe Reader 8
SoftwarePropertiesHash0 = 607dedf66c033c174f4f5f24e3f75f72

The first one will have one hash and the second one will get another hash, but really, they're the same product and have the same NormalizedName. So if you have the hash in the SELECT and/or in the GROUP BY, you will get dupes.

Don't select it and don't group by it and dupes related to that will go away.

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RE: Need a report on installed applications - 8/11/2008 3:50:38 PM

jnelson993

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As for excluding certain publisher's or families/categories, you just need to add some stuff to your WHERE clause and some prompts

SELECT   TOP ( CONVERT(BIGINT,@NumberOfRows) )
v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.NormalizedName          AS [Product Name],
v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.NormalizedPublisher     AS [Publisher],
v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.NormalizedVersion       AS [Version],
v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.FamilyName              AS [Family Name],
v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.CategoryName            AS [Category Name],
COUNT(v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.ResourceID)       AS [Instance Count],
v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.SoftwareID              AS [Software ID],
v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.SoftwarePropertiesHash0 AS [Software Properties Hash],
@CollectionID                                               AS [Collection ID]
FROM
v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED
WHERE    (v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.NormalizedPublisher = @Publisher
          OR @Publisher = '')
        AND v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.ResourceID IN (SELECT DISTINCT
                                                                 v_FullCollectionMembership.ResourceID
                                                               FROM
                                                                 v_FullCollectionMembership
                                                                 INNER JOIN v_R_System_Valid
                                                                   ON v_R_System_Valid.ResourceID = v_FullCollectionMembership.ResourceID
                                                               WHERE CollectionID = @CollectionID)
AND V_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.NormalizedPublisher NOT LIKE @Publisher
AND V_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.FamilyName NOT LIKE @FamilyName
AND V_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.CategoryName NOT LIKE @CategoryName
GROUP BY v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.NormalizedName,v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.NormalizedPublisher,v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.NormalizedVersion,v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.FamilyName,v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.CategoryName,v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.SoftwareID,v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.SoftwarePropertiesHash0
ORDER BY [Instance Count] DESC,
        v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.FamilyName ASC,
        v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.CategoryName ASC

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Post #: 14

RE: Need a report on installed applications - 8/12/2008 11:25:40 AM

Winston Smith

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When I try to do that, I get an error from SQL and it won't let me close the SQL query builder.

Error: [42000][137][Microsoft][ODBC SQL Server Driver][SQL Server] Must declare the scalar variable "@Utility".

Select TOP(convert(bigint, @NumberOfRows))
v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.NormalizedName as [Product Name],
v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.NormalizedPublisher as [Publisher],
v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.NormalizedVersion as [Version],
v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.FamilyName as [Family Name],
v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.CategoryName as [Category Name],
count(v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.ResourceID) as [Instance Count],
v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.SoftwareID as [Software ID],
v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.SoftwarePropertiesHash0 as [Software Properties Hash],
@CollectionID as [Collection ID]
from v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED
where (v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.NormalizedPublisher = @Publisher or @Publisher = '')
and v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.ResourceID IN
(select distinct v_FullCollectionMembership.ResourceID from v_FullCollectionMembership inner join v_R_System_Valid ON v_R_System_Valid.ResourceID = v_FullCollectionMembership.ResourceID where CollectionID= @CollectionID )
AND V_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.CategoryName NOT LIKE @Utility
AND V_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.CategoryName NOT LIKE @Libraries
AND V_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.CategoryName NOT LIKE @Device Driver
AND V_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.CategoryName NOT LIKE @Audio Driver
AND V_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.CategoryName NOT LIKE @Multimedia Player
group by v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.NormalizedName,
v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.NormalizedPublisher,
v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.NormalizedVersion,
v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.FamilyName,
v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.CategoryName,
v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.SoftwareID,
v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.SoftwarePropertiesHash0
order by [Instance Count] desc, v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.FamilyName asc, v_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.CategoryName asc

(in reply to jnelson993)

Post #: 15

RE: Need a report on installed applications - 8/12/2008 12:34:16 PM

jnelson993

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From: Minneapolis, MN
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Yeah, those are the variables that will get populated by your prompts. If you paste that code into your report builder and then create a prompt with the same name in that report it will get populated.

If you're trying to run it from SQL Management Studio or something, you need to declare that variable above your code

DECLARE @Utility VARCHAR(128)
SET @Utility = 'some string'

etc.

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RE: Need a report on installed applications - 8/12/2008 12:44:09 PM

Winston Smith

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Gotcha. I managed to get the syntax right:
AND V_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.CategoryName NOT LIKE 'Multimedia Player'
AND V_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.NormalizedPublisher NOT LIKE 'ATI'

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Post #: 17

RE: Need a report on installed applications - 8/12/2008 12:57:10 PM

Winston Smith

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quote:

ORIGINAL: jnelson993

It's showing the duplicates because you're displaying the SoftwarePropertiesHash0 field and grouping on it. That field is a unique hash of the properties that make up that piece of software (which ones exactly, I don't know, but the ProductName/DisplayName etc are in there)...so instead of having a field that includes all of the properties strung together, they create a cryptographic hash on that data which uniquely represents that big long string.

At a normal company, some machines in the enterprise might come with Adobe Reader or have the adobe reader right from the internet, but some machines also get the adobe reader that's been repackaged by the enterprise packaging team. The default Adobe Reader has info like this

ProductName0 = Adobe Reader 8
ARPDisplayName0 = Adobe Reader 8
ProductVersion0 = 8.0.0
Publisher0 = Adobe Systems Incorporated
NormalizedName = Adobe Reader 8
SoftwarePropertiesHash0 = 7f0724289b7c2350792a3353b2031b23

but the repackaged version might have info like this

ProductName0 = Adobe8ForLaptopsDesktops
ARPDisplayName0 = Adobe8ForLaptopsDesktops
ProductVersion0 = 8.0.0
Publisher0 = Adobe Systems Incorporated
NormalizedName = Adobe Reader 8
SoftwarePropertiesHash0 = 607dedf66c033c174f4f5f24e3f75f72

The first one will have one hash and the second one will get another hash, but really, they're the same product and have the same NormalizedName. So if you have the hash in the SELECT and/or in the GROUP BY, you will get dupes.

Don't select it and don't group by it and dupes related to that will go away.

I understand. thank you.

How would I consolidate multiple versions of Adobe Reader into a single line? In other words, instead of showing me Adobe Reader 7, Adobe Reader 8, Adobe Reader 9, all on seperate lines, I'd like the default page to show me a single line that says Adobe Reader that I can click on to reveal Adobe Reader 7, Adobe Reader 8, Adobe Reader 9.

(in reply to jnelson993)

Post #: 18

RE: Need a report on installed applications - 8/12/2008 1:18:41 PM

jnelson993

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From: Minneapolis, MN
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Wow, someone else just asked that

http://www.myitforum.com/forums/m_184033/mpage_1/key_/tm.htm#184042

I also talk about it -->HERE<--

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Post #: 19

RE: Need a report on installed applications - 8/12/2008 3:18:37 PM

Winston Smith

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I hope I'm not wearing out my welcome with all these questions, but I've got another one. Say I want to exclude software instances that fit both Family=Development AND Category=Java (but I don't want to exclude all instances of Family=Development or Category=Java. How do I combine two criteria to a single statement?

Would it be like this...(?)

AND V_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.CategoryName NOT LIKE 'Java' WHERE V_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.FamilyName LIKE 'Development'

(in reply to jnelson993)

Post #: 20

RE: Need a report on installed applications - 8/12/2008 4:04:15 PM

jnelson993

Posts: 896
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From: Minneapolis, MN
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Ah, then you're talking about a subselect

SELECT
   blah
FROM
   view
WHERE
   field1 = 'something'
   AND field2 = 'something else'
   AND resourceID NOT IN (SELECT resourceID FROM view WHERE family = 'Development' AND category = 'Java')

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RE: Need a report on installed applications - 8/14/2008 10:00:47 AM

Winston Smith

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Update...

So, using the syntax I mentioned above I was able to exclude several software Family and Category types, but was still left with a report over 5,000 lines. I figured my next step was to extract the remaining software titles and add a line for each one. I know I would end up with a gigantic list, but that's ok becasue it would be easy to get to in the event I needed to add or remove a title.

But then I encountered yet another obstacle: SQL statements are limited to 8k, and my new statement, with over 1,500 lines of exclusions, was too big. So I enlisted the help of a DBA I work with, and we created a table 'EXCLUDEDSOFTWARETITLES' and added the titles there. Then put the following line into the SQL statement

AND V_GS_INSTALLED_SOFTWARE_CATEGORIZED.NormalizedName NOT IN(SELECT SOFTWARETITLE FROM EXCLUDEDSOFTWARETITLES)

And this works a treat.

So now, I'm refining the list by running the report, sorting the list, and deleting everything I want to include in my CIO's report. Everything that's left on my list I'll dump into my new table.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j257/winston_smith_/customsmstable.jpg

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Post #: 22