Author: Ed Katibah, Microsoft SQLCAT

Reviewer: Abdallah Fateen, Microsoft

Introduction

A few weeks ago, a couple of us were in the hallway discussing email and the topic of recalling sent email came up.  After some discussion, a colleague, Chris Kurt suggested another approach – implementing a delay in outgoing email, a.k.a. a delayed sending rule?  That sounded like it could be a great general purpose approach and subsequently became the basis for this blog post since I liked it so much.

As a means of introducing this rule, how many times have you pressed the Send button on an email only to realize in the following moments that you wished to add (or delete) something on the email – maybe you left somebody off of the To… line who needed to be on it.  Or worse, you had second thoughts about sending the email at all.  Wouldn’t it be nice if the email were delayed for a few minutes before it was actually sent, allowing you time to be able to modify it (or delete it)?  The following tutorial steps you through how to set up such a rule in Microsoft Outlook, in this case Outlook 2010 (Version 14). The post reviewer, Abdallah, reports that the instructions presented in this post work with Outlook 2013, also.

Quick Start

If you have done this before and/or want just the basic
steps to get started, here is a quick start guide:

A. In Outlook, select “File”, “Info”

B. On the “Account Information” screen, select “Manage Rules and Alerts”

C. On the “Rules and Alerts” screen, select “New Rule”

D. On the "Rules Wizard" screen, go the "Start from blank rule" section and select "Apply rule on messages I send"

E. On the next "Rules Wizard" screen, go to "Step 1: Select condition(s)" and check "on this computer only"

F. On the next "Rules Wizard" screen, go to the "Step 1: Select actions(s)"
section and...

1. check "defer delivery by a number of minutes"
2. select "a number of" minutes hyperlink... under Step 2 on the screen
3. enter the number of minutes to delay sending in the popup menu

G. On the next "Rules Wizard" screen, go to the "Step 1: Select exceptions(s)" section and...

1. check "except if the subject contains specific words"
2. select the "specific words" hyperlink in Step 2...”
3. enter the specific word(s) string in the "Search Text" menu

H. Enter the specific word or phrases string in the "Search Text" menu on which to apply the delay exception

I. This step is a recap of the last wizard screen, confirming the choices that you just made

J. On the next "Rules Wizard" screen, you can name, finalize and review the new rule in 3 easy steps…

K. Accept the final notification screen and you are done.

Steps

Here are steps I employed to set up a rule to delay sending mail by 4 minutes.  I also added several key words, which when added (typically appended) to the subject line, instruct Outlook to bypass the delayed mail send rule and send immediately.

Step A: In Outlook, select “File”, “Info”
 
 
  

Step B: On the “Account Information” screen, select “Manage Rules and Alerts”

Step C: On the “Rules and Alerts” screen, select “New Rule”

Step D: On the "Rules Wizard" screen, go the "Start from blank rule" section and select "Apply rule on messages I send"

Step E: On the next "Rules Wizard" screen, go to "Step 1: Select condition(s)" and check "on this computer only"

Step F: On the next "Rules Wizard" screen, go to the "Step 1: Select actions(s)" section and...

1. check "defer delivery by a number of minutes"
2. select "a number of" minutes hyperlink... under Step 2 on the screen
3. enter the number of minutes to delay sending in the popup menu

Note: 1 minute is the default.  I set my delay for 4 minutes as a personal preference.  Set your delay to however many minutes you would like. You can always go back and modify the delay (or remove it altogether).

Step G: On the next "Rules Wizard" screen, go to the "Step 1: Select exceptions(s)" section and...

1. check "except if the subject contains specific words"
2. select the "specific words" hyperlink in Step 2...”
3. enter the specific word(s) string in the "Search Text" menu

Note: In this example, I used the keyword "<send>".  In the following examples, I added a couple of additional key words, used to bypass the sending delay.

Step H. Enter the specific word or phrases string in the "Search Text" menu on which to apply the delay exception

Step I: This step is a recap of the last wizard screen, confirming the choices that you just made.

Step J: On the next "Rules Wizard" screen, you can name, finalize and review the new rule in 3 easy steps…

Step K. Accept the final notification screen and you are done.

The Q4 2011 Service Relase enables the following spatial features relative to the Q2 2011 Service Release:

Spatial aggregates (CollectionAggregate(),ConvexHullAggregate(), UnionAggregate()), and geometry::EnvelopeAggregate() now work correctly. Geography::EnvelopeAggregate does not work because it returns a circular subtype which is not yet supported in SQL Azure (see the post for more details). Additionally, the system view, sys.spatial_reference_systems, previously missing from SQL Azure, is now available.

For more information on the new SQL Server 2012 spatial features, please see the TechNet Wiki: New Spatial Features in SQL Server Code-Named "Denali" Community Technology Preview 3.

Thanks,

- Ed

Recently, SQL Azure has been upgraded in all data centers to incorporate the new SQL Server 2012 spatial library. This upgrade, known as the September 2011 Service Release, thus enables spatial operations in SQL Azure to be the computationally identical with SQL Server 2012.

Because of this new feature, results from spatial operations in SQL Azure September Refresh and SQL Server 2012 can differ from results produced in their respective prior versions. This technical note reviews the effects of the precision change and assists in identifying potential migration issues..

You can download the new server from this location: Microsoft SQL Server code-named 'Denali' CTP3 and try out the new spatial features.

“One of the highly-anticipated features coming in the next version of Entity Framework is Spatial support. The team has been hard at work designing a compelling story for Spatial, and we would love to get your feedback on it. In this post we will cover:

• The basics of SQL Server’s spatial support
• Design goals
• Walkthrough of design: CLR types, Metadata, Usage, WCF Serialization, Limitations
• Questions (we want to hear from you!)

This entry will not cover the tools experience as we want to focus on what is happening under the hood. We will blog about the tools design at a later time. For now, be sure that we plan on shipping Spatial with Tools support.”

You can read the full post here: https://blogs.msdn.com/b/efdesign/archive/2011/05/04/spatial-types-in-the-entity-framework.aspx

SQL Server Code-named “Denali” is currently available as a Community Technology Preview (CTP).  Denali introduces 4 new aggregates to the the suite of spatial operators in SQL Server:

• Union Aggregate
• Envelope Aggregate
• Collection Aggregate
• Convex Hull Aggregate

All aggregates are implemented as static methods which work for either the Geography or the Geometry data types. As an example, consider the following geography aggregate:

Geography::UnionAggregate(geog)

and its counterpart for geometry:

Geometry::UnionAggregate(geom)

The following introduces each aggregate with a short definition, a code sample and a visual illustrating what goes into the aggregate and what is returned. While aggregates are applicable to all classes of spatial data (points, linestrings, etc.) they are most effectively described and illustrated with polygons, which are used in the following discussion.

Union Aggregate

Definition: Combines multiple spatial objects into a single spatial object, removing interior boundaries, where applicable.

SELECT Geography::UnionAggregate(geog)
  FROM Counties
    WHERE name_1 = 'Washington';

Envelope Aggregate

The unlike other aggregates, the Envelope Aggregate exhibits different behavior depending on whether is is applied to a geography or a geometry type.  For the geometry type, a “traditional” rectangular polygon is calculated which closely bounds the selected input objects.  For the geography type, a circular object is calculated which loosely bounds the selected input objects.  Furthermore, the circular object is defined using the new CurvePolygon feature.

Envelope Aggregate for the Geometry Type

Definition: Returns a bounding rectangular polygon object, which encloses one or more spatial objects.

SELECT Geometry::EnvelopeAggregate(geom)
  FROM Counties
    WHERE name_1 = 'Washington';

Envelope Aggregate for the Geography Type

Definition: Returns a bounding circular object as a CurvePolygon which encloses one or more spatial objects.

SELECT Geography::EnvelopeAggregate(geog).STCurveToLine()
  FROM Counties
    WHERE name_1 = 'Washington';

Note the STCurveToLine() method in the sample code, above.  This new method is used to output spatial objects in a manner which older visualization systems can digest.

Collection Aggregate

Definition: Returns a geometry collection with one geometry part for each spatial object(s) in the selection set.

SELECT Geography::CollectionAggregate(geog)
  FROM Counties
    WHERE name_1 = 'Washington';

Convex Hull Aggregate

Definition: Returns a convex hull polygon which encloses one or more spatial objects.

SELECT Geography::ConvexHullAggregate(geog)
  FROM Counties
    WHERE name_1 = 'Washington';

In SQL Server 2008 you could create a column in a table defined by a spatial method.  For instance, you could create a column to store and persist the area of a polygon using the STArea() method, for instance, as long as that method did not return a spatial type (Geometry or Geography):

CREATE TABLE LOCATION (
  ID INT PRIMARY KEY, 
  GEOM GEOMETRY,
  AREA AS GEOM.STArea() PERSISTED
);

Note that the computed column, AREA, will be of type FLOAT.

In SQL Server Denali CTP1, this functionality is supported and augmented with the ability to persist a computed spatial column (Geometry or Geography) in the table definition.  For example, lets say that you wanted to define the centroid of the polygon in the GEOM column in the table DDL.  In Denali CTP1 (but not in SQL Server 2008) you can define this as follows:

CREATE TABLE LOCATION (
  ID INT PRIMARY KEY,
  GEOM GEOMETRY,
  AREA AS GEOM.STArea() PERSISTED,
  CENTROID AS GEOM.STCentroid() PERSISTED
);

Note that the computed column, CENTROID, will be of type GEOMETRY.

Here is how this table looks in SSMS:

--Set database compatibility level to SQL Server Code-Named "Denali"
ALTER DATABASE <database name>
SET COMPATIBILITY_LEVEL = 110;

You can get information on the compatibility level of all databases in a given SQL Server instance with the following stored procedure:

EXEC sp_helpdb

For more information on database compatibility levels please see: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb510680.aspx

• FilterArtifactsGeography
• FilterArtifactsGeometry

These new functions, as the names imply, are designed to remove unwanted components from spatial objects.  For instance, consider the output from the Reduce() method on a Geography object which results in a GeometryCollection consisting of a MultiPolygon and many Point components.  The FilterArtifactsGeography function can be used to remove the Point components and return only the MultiPolygon. 

As one would imagine, these functions also allow the removal of LineStrings and Empty geometries. Arguably, however, the most interesting feature of the new functions is their ability to remove Polygons – specifically very thin polygons (often called “slivers”).  Slivers can creep into spatial objects from a variety of ways, most commonly from union operations on polygons which do not precisely match each others adjoining edges.  The polygon filtering feature of these new functions employs a simple but very effective algorithm which allows a fair degree of control over which Polygon components are removed from the input object.  Here is the formula:

ring.STArea < ringTolerance * ring.STLength

where: ringTolerance is a value supplied by the user 
           ring.STLength is calculated by the function 
              and is the circumference of the ring

In practice, this allows very thin polygon rings (slivers) to be detected and removed while leaving more typically shaped polygon rings alone.  The presumption is, of course, that slivers are undesirable but non-sliver rings are desirable.

Here is the more formal description of the FilterArtifactsGeography() function:

SqlGeography FilterArtifactsGeography(SqlGeography geography, bool filterEmptyShapes, bool filterPoints, double lineStringTolerance, double ringTolerance)

Selectively filter unwanted shapes from input geography, with the following arguments:

• geography SQLGeography – Input geography object.
  
• filterEmptyShapes boolean – A value of 1 will remove all empty shapes while a value of 0 will not remove any empty shapes.
  
• filterPoints Boolean – A value of 1 will remove all point/multipoint shapes while a value of 0 will not remove any.
  
• lineSTringTolerance double – Remove all linestring/multilinestring shapes shorter than the provided tolerance. A value of 0 will not remove any linestring/multilinestring shapes.
  
• ringTolerance double – Remove all polygon rings thinner than provided tolerance (e.g. ring.STArea< ringTolerance * ring.STLength). A value of 0 will not remove any rings.

The FilterArtifactsGeometry function is identical in description with the substitution of geometry for geography. Both functions will always return the simplest OGC construction possible.

Here is a pseudo-code example of the FilterArtifactsGeography function in use:

FilterArtifactsGeography(@g, 1, 1, 4, 2)

Here is an example using the FilterArtifactsGeometry function:

   1: DECLARE @g GEOMETRY

   2: SET @g = GEOMETRY::STGeomFromText('GEOMETRYCOLLECTION (

   3:                                      LINESTRING (51 51, 99 99), 

   4:                                      MULTILINESTRING ((52 50, 70 50),(80 50, 100 50)),

   5:                                      POINT (50 50),

   6:                                      POINT EMPTY,

   7:                                      MULTIPOINT ((30 30),(31 31), (32 32)),

   8:                                      POLYGON ((0 0, 100 0, 100 100, 0 100, 0 0),

   9:                                               (10 80, 20 80, 20 90, 10 90, 10 80),

  10:                                               (10 10, 90 10, 90 11, 10 11, 10 10)))'

  11:                                    ,4326)

  12: SELECT @g

Here is the resulting object after using the FilterArtifactsGeometry() function to remove empty components, Points/MultiPoints, LineStrings/MultiLineStrings and thin polygon rings:

   1: DECLARE @g GEOMETRY

   2: SET @g = GEOMETRY::STGeomFromText('GEOMETRYCOLLECTION (

   3:                                      LINESTRING (51 51, 99 99), 

   4:                                      MULTILINESTRING ((52 50, 70 50),(80 50, 100 50)),

   5:                                      POINT (50 50),

   6:                                      POINT EMPTY,

   7:                                      MULTIPOINT ((30 30),(31 31), (32 32)),

   8:                                      POLYGON ((0 0, 100 0, 100 100, 0 100, 0 0),

   9:                                               (10 80, 20 80, 20 90, 10 90, 10 80),

  10:                                               (10 10, 90 10, 90 11, 10 11, 10 10)))'

  11:                                    ,4326)

  12: SELECT dbo.FilterArtifactsGeometry(@g,1,1,200,1.1)

POLYGON ((0 0, 100 0, 100 100, 0 100, 0 0), (10 80, 20 80, 20 90, 10 90, 10 80))

Note: The current SQL Server Spatial Tools CodePlex Project is designed for use with SQL Server 2008 (including R2).  Some functions in this project will not perform correctly in Denali CTP1, including the two functions described in this post.  A new version of this project will be created which will be Denali-specific.

• Support for multiple spatial columns in a table
• Loading spatial data into SQL Azure Spatial
• The new, low cost, FME Desktop SQL Server Data Loading Edition
• The FME Extension for SSIS

I would encourage anyone with an interest in this topic to register at https://fme.safe.com/forms/SQLServerWebinar.

Additionally, there is another page, https://www.safe.com/c/load-data-into-sqlserver.php, which includes links to an overview movie as well as links to the webinar.

Lastly, you can get more information on FME solutions for SQL Server on Safe’s SOLUTIONS FOR MICROSOFT SQL SERVER USERS page.