Combine two DVD's into one

When you want to combine two DVD's onto one disc, but keep the chapters, then try the following steps. I assume the video_ts folders of both DVD's are already available on your harddrive.

In most cases there is no vob file per chapter, but each vob file is filled to its maximum (1GB) and then a new one is created. Sometimes, however, there is a vob file per chapter. In this case, you only need to follow the steps following DVDStyler:

• Download and install DVDShrink (freeware)
• Start DVDShrink and click "Reauthor"
• In the right pane under "dvd browser", navigate to the video_ts folder of the first DVD
• Drag the desired chapters to the left
• In the right pane under "dvd browser", navigate to the video_ts folder of the second DVD
• Drag the desired chapters to the left
• Under File, click "Backup" and save to folder c:\shrink. This set automagically creates a vob file per chapter!
• Download and install DVDStyler (freeware)
• Start DVDStyler and add all .vob files from c:\shrink to the current project. The DVD main- and chapter menu's are created automatically 
• Optionally: add the names of the chapters to the chapter menus
• Burn the project to an iso file or directly to disc

Ofcourse, you can only do this with homemade DVD's or to DVD's you own legally and when local law permits it.

Use 32-bits Excel Source with 64-bits SSIS

The following is still work in progress and more of a braindump than anything else, but I've put it here, because someone might already find some use for it

Straight out of the box, you cannot use the Excel Datasource in SSIS on a 64-bits Windows platform , because the Excel Datasource uses a 32-bits OLEDB library. Microsoft has not released a 64-bits version of this library.

0) Use MADE 2010
There is 64 bits version for Office 2010, so for Excel 2010. It is called "Microsoft Access Database Engine  2010 Redistributable" of which there is a 32- and 64-bits version. We're interested in the 64-bits version, but this package can only be installed after removing all 32 bits Office applications!

a) Install MADE 2010 while NOT removing 32 bits Office applications:

AccessDatabaseEngine_x64.exe /passive

Notes:

• THE SYSTEM WILL AUTOMATICALLY REBOOT, SO SAVE WORK BEFOREHAND!
• Start Excel once to go through the configuration process. Start it a second time. It the configuration process starts again, then disable it by renaming this file to "setup_disabled.exe":
  c:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\microsoft shared\OFFICE14\Office Setup Controller\setup.exe
• run the repair option for the Microsoft Access database engine 2010 program inside "add/remove programs" 

b) If that doesn't work, then also install the Data Connectivity Components:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/confirmation.aspx?id=23734

1) Trick Windows to use 32-bits ODBC data sources
Try adding the SysWow64 folder to the beginning of your path:

Path=%systemroot%\SysWow64;...old values here...

When done via the command prompt via the SET-command, it will be undone when that window is closed.

2) Run SSIS in 32-bits mode
Use the 32-bit DTEXEC.EXE to execute the package containing the Excel Datasource. It is located in "Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Sql Server\90\Dts\Binn" (or for SSIS 2008: "Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Sql Server\10\Dts\Binn")

You can schedule this using "task scheduler" or SQL Agent.

3) Compile package as 32-bits
Package configuration properties -> Debugging -> Debugging Options -> Run64BtRuntime -> set to False.

4) Even dirtier trick: convert Excel spreadsheet to CSV beforehand
This can be done in several ways, with minimal coding required:

• If Excel is installed, then create a VBS script that uses CreateObject("Excel.Application") to create an Excel object. Then open the XLS file and save it as a CSV using this object.
• ... or a perl script using the "Spreadsheet::ParseExcel" module
• ... or a powershell script using "comobject Excel.Application"
• Install OpenOffice and program a small macro in it's OpenOffice basic language. Then create a VBS or DOS script that opens OpenOffice and calls the macro with parameters, one being the source XLS, and one being the target CSV.
• Without installing anything on the server running SSIS: write a small C# application that utilizes the Excel OLEDB data provider built into Windows to read data from the Excel sheet. Then write the results to a CSV file.
• ... or write a small C# application that utilizes the opensource Excel Data Reader library to read data from the Excel sheet. Then write the results to a CSV file. This library appears to be buggy however.
• Freeware commandline tool: XLS2CSV by Zoom Technology. Parses only the first sheet. The column separator and text quotes are configurable throught an ini file
• Freeware commandline tool: XLS2CSV by Tom Crow. Parses all sheets to separate CSV files

ODBC/DSN configuration can be found here:

• 32 bits ODBC connections: %windir%\syswow64\odbcad32.exe
• 64 bits ODBC connections: %windir%\system32\odbcad32.exe

Notes:

• ADO also uses the OLEDB library.
• The OLEDB library is a piece of code that gets loaded and compiled into the calling application at runtime.
• If you use the MADE 2010 Redistributable package, then be aware of a small bug when connecting to Office 2010. You have to use "MICROSOFT.ACE.OLEDB.12.0" as the driver name in stead of the specified "MICROSOFT.ACE.OLEDB.14.0".
• Although previous Office versions need to be de-installed before installing MADE 2010, they can be reinstalled afterwards.