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• JDK bug migration milestone: JIRA now the system of record

  - by darcy

  I'm pleased to announce the OpenJDK bug database migration project has reached a significant milestone: the JDK has switched from the legacy Sun "bugtraq" system to a new internal JIRA instance as the system of record for our bug tracking. This completes the initial phase of the previously described plan of getting OpenJDK onto an externally visible and writable bug tracker. The identities contained in the current system include recognized OpenJDK contributors. The bug migration effort to date has been sizable in multiple dimensions. There are around 140,000 distinct issues imported into the JDK project of the JIRA instance, nearly 165,000 if backport issues to track multiple-release information are included. Separately, the Code Tools OpenJDK project has its own JIRA project populated with several thousands existing bugs. Once the OpenJDK JIRA instance is externalized, approved OpenJDK projects will be able to request the creation of a JIRA project for issue tracking. There are many differences in the schema used to model bugs between the legacy bug system and the schema for the new JIRA projects. We've favored simplifications to the existing system where possible and, after much discussion, we've settled on five main states for the OpenJDK JIRA projects: New Open In progress Resolved Closed The Open and In-progress states can have a substate Understanding field set to track whether the issues has its "Cause Known" or "Fix understood". In the closed state, a Verification field can indicate whether a fix has been verified, unverified, or if the fix has failed. At the moment, there will be very little externally visible difference between JIRA for OpenJDK and the legacy system it replaces. One difference is that bug numbers for newly filed issues in the JIRA JDK project will be 8000000 and above. If you are working with JDK Hg repositories, update any local copies of jcheck to the latest version which recognizes this expanded bug range. (The bug numbers of existing issues have been preserved on the import into JIRA). Relatively soon, we plan for the pages published on bugs.sun.com to be generated from information in JIRA rather than in the legacy system. When this occurs, there will be some differences in the page display and the terminology used will be revised to reflect JIRA usage, such as referring to the "component/subcomponent" of an issue rather than its "category". The exact timing of this transition will be announced when it is known. We don't currently have a firm timeline for externalization of the JIRA system. Updates will be provided as they become available. However, that is unlikely to happen before JavaOne next week!

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• More Maintenance Plan Weirdness

  - by AjarnMark

  I’m not a big fan of the built-in Maintenance Plan functionality in SQL Server.  I like the interface in SQL 2005 better than 2000 (it looks more like building an SSIS package) but it’s still a bit of a black box.  You don’t really know what commands are being run based on the selections you have made, and you can easily make some unwise choices without realizing it, such as shrinking your database on a regular basis.  I really prefer to know exactly what commands and with which options are being run on my servers. Recently I had another very strange thing happen with a Maintenance Plan, this time in SQL 2005, SP3.  I inherited this server and have done a bit of cleanup on it, but had not yet gotten around to replacing the Maintenance Plans with all my own scripts.  However, one of the maintenance plans which was just responsible for doing LOG backups was running more frequently than that system needed, and I thought I would just tweak the schedule a bit.  So I opened the Maintenance Plan and edited the properties of the Subplan, setting a new schedule, saved it and figured all was good to go.  But the next execution of the Scheduled Job that triggers the Maintenance Plan code failed with an error about the Owner of the job.  Specifically the error was, “Unable to determine if the owner (OldDomain\OldDBAUserID) of job MaintenancePlanName.Subplan has server access (reason: Could not obtain information about Windows NT group/user 'OldDomain\OldDBAUserID’..”  I was really confused because I had previously updated all of the jobs to have current accounts as the owners.  At first I thought it was just a fluke, but it happened on the next scheduled cycle so I investigated further and sure enough, that job had the old DBA’s account listed as the owner.  I fixed it and the job successfully ran to completion. Now, I don’t really like mysteries like that, so I did some more testing and verified that, sure enough, just editing the Subplan schedule and saving the Maintenance Job caused the Scheduled Job to be recreated with the old credentials.  I don’t know where it is getting those credentials, but I can only assume that it is the same as the original creator of the Maintenance Plan, and for some reason it insists on using that ID for the job owner.  I looked through the options in SSMA and could not find anything would let me easily set the value that I wanted it to use.  I suspect that if I did something like executing sp_changeobjectowner against the Maintenance Plan that it would use that new ID instead.  I’m sure that there is good reason that it works this way, but rather than mess around with it much more, I’m just going to spend my time rolling out my replacement scripts instead. Chalk this little hidden oddity up as yet one more reason I’m not a fan of Maintenance Plans.

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• Impressions from VMworld - Clearing up Misconceptions

  - by Monica Kumar

  Gorgeous sunny weather…none of the usual summer fog…the Oracle Virtualization team has been busy at VMworld in San Francisco this week. From the time exhibits opened on Sunday, our booth staff was fully engaged with visitors. It was great to meet with customers and prospects, and there were many…most with promises to meet again in October at Oracle OpenWorld 2012. Interests and questions ran the gamut - from implementation details to consolidating applications to how does Oracle VM enable rapid application deployment to Oracle support and licensing. All good stuff! Some inquiries are poignant and really help us get at the customer pain points. Some are just based on misconceptions. We’d like to address a couple of common misconceptions that we heard: 1) Rapid deployment of enterprise applications is great but I don’t do this all the time. So why bother? While production applications don’t get updated or upgraded as often, development and QA staging environments are much more dynamic. Also, in today’s Cloud based computing environments, end users expect an entire solution, along with the virtual machine, to be provisioned instantly, on-demand, as and when they need to scale. Whether it’s adding a new feature to meet customer demands or updating applications to meet business/service compliance, these environments undergo change frequently. The ability to rapidly stand up an entire application stack with all the components such as database tier, mid-tier, OS, and applications tightly integrated, can offer significant value. Hand patching, installation of the OS, application and configurations to ensure the entire stack works well together can take days and weeks. Oracle VM Templates provide a much faster path to standing up a development, QA or production stack in a matter of hours or minutes. I see lots of eyes light up as we get to this point of the conversation. 2) Oracle Software licensing on VMware vSphere In the world of multi-vendor IT stacks, understanding license boundaries and terms and conditions for each product in the stack can be challenging.  Oracle’s licensing, though, is straightforward.  Oracle software is licensed per physical processor in the server or cluster where the Oracle software is installed and/or running.  The use of third party virtualization technologies such as VMware is not allowed as a means to change the way Oracle software is licensed.  Exceptions are spelled out in the licensing document labeled “Hard Partitioning". Here are some fun pictures! Visitors to our booth told us they loved the Oracle SUV courtesy shuttles that are helping attendees get to/from hotels. Also spotted were several taxicabs sporting an Oracle banner! Stay tuned for more highlights across desktop and server virtualization as we wrap up our participation at VMworld.

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• Server-infrastructure recommendations

  - by Tim van Elsloo

  Here's the thing: I need a cheap, fast, reliable infrastructure that can dynamically scale (like Amazon S3: cloud-storage). I'm thinking of 3 different type of 'servers'. Application-server Should be able to run CentOS (or another light Linux-distr.) Should be able to run Apache Should be able to run PHP Should be able to run GD (so it does rely on it's cpu). Should be extremely reliable and fast. Database-server Should be able to run MySQL Should be able to... well, do nothing else :P. Should be extremely reliable and fast. Storage-server Should be able to run some kind of file-transfer-deamon (like FTP, CouchDB, etc.) Should be able to do nothing else. Should be extremely reliable and fast. So technically, by transferring all static data to 2 different servers/services, the application-server can totally focus on the webpages. My questions: What services do you recommend? Which is cheaper, faster and more reliable: using my own server, or using some cloud-storage/cloud-computing-service (like Amazon S3, CloudFiles, etc.)? How can I prevent bandwidth abuse (such as dos-attacks causing the bill to be extremely high)? What's the difference between "including CDN" and "excluding CDN"? It seems the price doesn't differ at CloudFiles? Do you have to pay "including CDN" + "excluding CDN" when you decide to enable the delivery-network? Or have you only got to pay "including CDN"? Should I use my own nameserver too or can I use my domain-hoster's nameservers? What are the minimum software specifications of a nameserver. Can I write some software myself? Does anyone have a good protocol-description? I hope you can answer my questions. Answers I shouldn't write my own nameserver-software. Instead, I should use something like bind. (http://osspro.com/2010/05/04/linux-create-your-own-domain-name-server-dns/).

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• Single Responsibility Principle Implementation

  - by Mike S

  In my spare time, I've been designing a CMS in order to learn more about actual software design and architecture, etc. Going through the SOLID principles, I already notice that ideas like "MVC", "DRY", and "KISS", pretty much fall right into place. That said, I'm still having problems deciding if one of two implementations is the best choice when it comes to the Single Responsibility Principle. Implementation #1: class User getName getPassword getEmail // etc... class UserManager create read update delete class Session start stop class Login main class Logout main class Register main The idea behind this implementation is that all user-based actions are separated out into different classes (creating a possible case of the aptly-named Ravioli Code), but following the SRP to a "tee", almost literally. But then I thought that it was a bit much, and came up with this next implementation class UserView extends View getLogin //Returns the html for the login screen getShortLogin //Returns the html for an inline login bar getLogout //Returns the html for a logout button getRegister //Returns the html for a register page // etc... as needed class UserModel extends DataModel implements IDataModel // Implements no new methods yet, outside of the interface methods // Haven't figured out anything special to go here at the moment // All CRUD operations are handled by DataModel // through methods implemented by the interface class UserControl extends Control implements IControl login logout register startSession stopSession class User extends DataObject getName getPassword getEmail // etc... This is obviously still very organized, and still very "single responsibility". The User class is a data object that I can manipulate data on and then pass to the UserModel to save it to the database. All the user data rendering (what the user will see) is handled by UserView and it's methods, and all the user actions are in one space in UserControl (plus some automated stuff required by the CMS to keep a user logged in or to ensure that they stay out.) I personally can't think of anything wrong with this implementation either. In my personal feelings I feel that both are effectively correct, but I can't decide which one would be easier to maintain and extend as life goes on (despite leaning towards Implementation #1.) So what about you guys? What are your opinions on this? Which one is better? What basics (or otherwise, nuances) of that principle have I missed in either design?

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• Push-Based Events in a Services Oriented Architecture

  - by Colin Morelli

  I have come to a point, in building a services oriented architecture (on top of Thrift), that I need to expose events and allow listeners. My initial thought was, "create an EventService" to handle publishing and subscribing to events. That EventService can use whatever implementation it desires to actually distribute the events. My client automatically round-robins service requests to available service hosts which are determined using Zookeeper-based service discovery. So, I'd probably use JMS inside of EventService mainly for the purpose of persisting messages (in the event that a service host for EventService goes down before it can distribute the message to all of the available listeners). When I started considering this, I began looking into the differences between Queues and Topics. Topics unfortunately won't work for me, because (at least for now), all listeners must receive the message (even if they were down at the time the event was pushed, or hadn't made a subscription yet because they haven't completed startup (during deployment, for example) - messages should be queued until the service is available). However, I don't want EventService to be responsible for handling all of the events. I don't think it should have the code to react to events inside of it. Each of the services should do what it needs with a given event. This would indicate that each service would need a JMS connection, which questions the value of having EventService at all (as the services could individually publish and subscribe to JMS directly). However, it also couples all of the services to JMS (when I'd rather that there be a single service that's responsible for determining how to distribute events). What I had thought was to publish an event to EventService, which pulls a configuration of listeners from some configuration source (database, flat file, irrelevant for now). It replicates the message and pushes each one back into a queue with information specific to that listener (so, if there are 3 listeners, 1 event would become 3 events in JMS). Then, another thread in EventService (which is replicated, running on multiple hots) would be pulling from the queue, attempting to make the service call to the "listener", and returning the message to the queue (if the service is down), or discarding the message (if the listener completed successfully). tl;dr If I have an EventService that is responsible for receiving events and delegating service calls to "event listeners," (which are really just endpoints on other services), how should it know how to craft the service call? Should I create a generic "Event" object that is shared among all services? Then, the EventService can just construct this object and pass it to the service call. Or is there a better answer to this problem entirely?

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• Size doesn't matter

  - by ssoolsma

  Whenever I start a new project I *always* break up my code in different projects. Also known as n-tier solution. The scale of  the project doesn't matter, but make sure that each project is responsible for himself (or herself if you prefer). I make sure that i ....At least thought about how the project should work on the toilet or in a project team meeting.Have a solution directory and create my projects within. I like to name my project (and it's folders by the namespaces). For instance: When i'm creating a piece of (web)software called: ChuckNorris, i always include the software name in my projects. Start off with designing the DataAccess project. I name it: ChuckNorris.DataAccess which lets me easily identify the project incase the project scales alot.Build the classes which represent the database structure. Don't stop working on a class untill it's finished for now. Also, don't over-do the methods. Build stuff only when it's needed, and not think: "Hm, that would be cool to have". Cause most of the time you end up with unused code, and we don't want that.Build a unittest project and make sure you create the folder inside the project that it's testing. So, create the ChuckNorris.DataAccess.UnitTest project inside the folder of the dataaccess project. I would suggest using the nUnit testframework.Incase you though, hm i skip unittest: Don't! Just build it - it will safe you alot of time later onNow, read 5 again. Build that bloody unittest. Don't skip. (i cant emphasize this enough)Now, every class in the dataaccess project is responsible for itself. They don't rely on each other. This is where we use the BusinessLogic project for. Start creating the ChuckNorris.BusinessLogic project. (not inside the data-access project ofcourse, but withing the ChuckNorris folder.Combine stuff from data-access. This usual involves alot of copying the data-access classes and feels silly at first. (we'll get to that later on)Now you come up to a point of creating a service project. You might not always see why to use it, but see it as a way to expose your businesslogic to any application (including your own). Sometimes i use it as a so-called "Factory". Every call goes through this factory, so that's the only thing i'm exposing to any program, and make sure that those methods are the only ones that I allow you to invoke.Build any UI (website, phoneapp, forms application, silverlight, wpf or whatever) and reference it to you service project. Fall in love (cough) with this approach.It's possible that it doesn't seem to make much sense, and very incomplete. Well, that last part is correct. Next post will go in to detail of setting up your Data-Access project and use the entity framework.

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• A starting point for Use Cases and User Stories

  - by Mike Benkovich

  Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/benko/archive/2013/07/23/a-starting-point-for-use-cases-and-user-stories.aspxSoftware is a challenging business and is rife with opportunities to go wrong. Over the years a number of methodologies have evolved to help make sure that things go right. In an effort to contribute to this I’ve created a list of user stories that I think should be included and sometimes are just assumed. Note this is a work in progress, so I’m looking for your feedback. I’m curious what you would add or change in my list. · As a DBA I am working with a Normalized data model that reflects an agreed upon logical model for the system · As a DBA I am using consistent names for my fields which match the naming standards of my organization · As a DBA my model supports simple CRUD operations against all the entities · As an Application Architect the UI has been validated against the Business requirements and a complete set of user story’s have been created · As an Application Architect the database model has been validated against the UI · As an Application Architect we have a logical business model that describes all the known and/or expected usage of the system during the software’s expected lifecycle · As an Application Architect we have a Deployment diagram that describes how the application components will be deployed · As an Application Architect we have a navigation diagram that describes the typical application flow · As an Application Architect we have identified points of interaction which describes how the UI interacts with the services and the data storage · As an Application Architect we have identified external systems which may now or in the future use the data of this application and have adapted the logical model to include these interactions · As an Application Architect we have identified existing systems and tools that can be extended and/or reused to help this application achieve it’s business goals · As a Project Manager all team members understand the goals of each release and iteration as they are planned · As a Project Manager all team members understand their role and the roles of others · As a Project Manager we have support of the business to do the right thing even if it is not the expedient thing · As a Test/QA Analyst we have created a simulation environment for testing the system which does not use sensitive data and accurately reflects the scenarios of all the data that will be supported by the system · As a Test/QA Analyst we have identified the matrix of supported clients used to access the system including the likely browsers, mobile devices and other interfaces to work with the application · As a Test/QA Analyst we have created exit criteria for each user story that match the requirements of the business story that was used to create them · As a Test/QA Analyst we have access to a Test environment that is isolated from production and staging environments · As a Test/QA Analyst there we have a way to reset the environment so we can rerun tests when a new version of the software becomes available · As a Test/QA Analyst I am able to automate portions of the test process Thoughts? -mike

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• Convert VARCHAR() columns to NVARCHAR()

  - by ChrisD

  We recently underwent an upgrade that required us to change our database columns from varchar to NVarchar, to support unicode characters. Digging through the internet, I found a base script which I modified to handle reserved word table names, and maintain the NULL/NotNull constraint of the columns.   I Ran this script use NWOperationalContent – Your Catalog Name here GO SELECT 'ALTER TABLE ' + isnull(schema_name(syo.id), 'dbo') + '.[' +  syo.name +'] '     + ' ALTER COLUMN [' + syc.name + '] NVARCHAR(' + case syc.length when -1 then 'MAX'         ELSE convert(nvarchar(10),syc.length) end + ') '+         case  syc.isnullable when 1 then ' NULL' ELSE ' NOT NULL' END +';'    FROM sysobjects syo    JOIN syscolumns syc ON      syc.id = syo.id    JOIN systypes syt ON      syt.xtype = syc.xtype    WHERE      syt.name = 'varchar'     and syo.xtype='U'   which produced a series of ALTER statements which I could then execute the tables.  In some cases I had to drop indexes, alter the tables, and re-create the indexes.  There might have been a better way to do that, but manually dropping them got the job done.   use NWMerchandisingContent GO ALTER TABLE Locale Drop Constraint PK_Locale ALTER TABLE Country DROP CONSTRAINT PK_Country GO ALTER TABLE dbo.[Campaign]  ALTER COLUMN [ActorKey] NVARCHAR(200)  NOT NULL; ALTER TABLE dbo.[BundleLocalization]  ALTER COLUMN [Locale] NVARCHAR(8)  NOT NULL; ALTER TABLE dbo.[BundleLocalization]  ALTER COLUMN [UnitOfmeasure] NVARCHAR(200)  NULL; ALTER TABLE dbo.[BundleLocalization]  ALTER COLUMN [ActorKey] NVARCHAR(200)  NOT NULL; ALTER TABLE dbo.[BundleComponentLocalization]  ALTER COLUMN [Locale] NVARCHAR(8)  NOT NULL; ALTER TABLE dbo.[BundleComponentLocalization]  ALTER COLUMN [Imperative] NVARCHAR(MAX)  NULL; ALTER TABLE dbo.[BundleComponentLocalization]  ALTER COLUMN [Instructions] NVARCHAR(MAX)  NULL; ALTER TABLE dbo.[BundleComponentLocalization]  ALTER COLUMN [ActorKey] NVARCHAR(200)  NOT NULL; ALTER TABLE dbo.[BundleComponent]  ALTER COLUMN [ActorKey] NVARCHAR(200)  NOT NULL; ALTER TABLE dbo.[Bundle]  ALTER COLUMN [ActorKey] NVARCHAR(200)  NOT NULL; ALTER TABLE dbo.[Banner]  ALTER COLUMN [ActorKey] NVARCHAR(200)  NOT NULL; ALTER TABLE dbo.[Video]  ALTER COLUMN [Link] NVARCHAR(512)  NOT NULL; ALTER TABLE dbo.[Video]  ALTER COLUMN [ActorKey] NVARCHAR(200)  NOT NULL; ALTER TABLE dbo.[ProductUsage]  ALTER COLUMN [VideoLink] NVARCHAR(512)  NOT NULL; ALTER TABLE dbo.[ProductUsage]  ALTER COLUMN [ActorKey] NVARCHAR(200)  NOT NULL; ALTER TABLE dbo.[Thumbnail]  ALTER COLUMN [ActorKey] NVARCHAR(200)  NOT NULL; ALTER TABLE dbo.[SkuLocalization]  ALTER COLUMN [Locale] NVARCHAR(8)  NOT NULL; ALTER TABLE dbo.[SkuLocalization]  ALTER COLUMN [UnitOfMeasure] NVARCHAR(150)  NOT NULL; ALTER TABLE dbo.[SkuLocalization]  ALTER COLUMN [SwatchColor] NVARCHAR(50)  NOT NULL; etc.. GO ALTER TABLE Locale ADD CONSTRAINT PK_Locale PRIMARY KEY (LocaleId) ALTER TABLE Country ADD CONSTRAINT PK_Country PRIMARY KEY (CountryId) Note that this alter is non-destructive to the data.   Hope this helps.

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• VS2010 Launch Presentations

  Last week I was in Vegas to present at the DevConnections / VS2010 Launch event.  The show was well-attended and everybody I spoke to agreed it was educational and enjoyable.  My three talks were all on Wednesday, 14 April 2010, including one at 8am for which I was impressed to see a large turnout in attendance.   Pragmatic ASP.NET Tips, Tricks, and Tools My first session was on tips, tricks, and tools for ASP.NET developers.  This is a talk Ive given in past years, but which I refine every time.  I usually like to have a full session to devote to tools, and a separate talk just for Tips and Tricks, but for this show I was only given the one 75-minute slot, so I had to cut some materials to make things fit.  The talk went well, all the demos work, and the attendees seemed to enjoy it, and I like giving it, so hopefully I can continue to present on this topic in future DevConnections shows. Download the ASP.NET Tips, Tricks, and Tools slides and demos.   Whats New in ASP.NET MVC 2 My second talk of the day followed immediately after the Tips and Tricks talk, and was a brand new talk for me.  I have to throw out a thank-you to Phil for letting me see his MIX slide deck before he gave his talk, as that was a big help.  The official whats new document online is also worth checking out if youre interested in this subject.  Download the Whats New in ASP.NET MVC 2 slides and demos.   SOLIDify Your ASP.NET MVC 2 Application Just because youre using a ASP.NET MVC doesnt mean your code cant still end up being a big ball of mud.  This session describes a number of principles of software design that can help ensure applications remain loosely-coupled and malleable even as they age and increase in features and complexity.  This was my last talk of the day and did have one minor demo failure involving a database constraint.  Ive given this talk many times before, and in this case I had to fit it into a 60-minute timeslot, so Im not sure I had quite enough time to drive home all of the concepts to everyone in the audience.  That said, I did hear a number of positive comments on how the talk went, so thats encouraging. Download the SOLIDify Your ASP.NET MVC 2 Application slides and demos.   In my sessions, I promised to have these posted by the end of the weekend theyre going up at 10pm Sunday night (my time) 2 hours to spare!  Enjoy! Did you know that DotNetSlackers also publishes .net articles written by top known .net Authors? We already have over 80 articles in several categories including Silverlight. Take a look: here.

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• Configuring Full-Text Search for pdf and docx files

  - by Lukasz Kurylo

  I think in may I was creating a little filters module based on Full Text-Search. I have configured my dev machine, the same for two testing servers – in our company for internal testing before we deployed it to client, and then on the testing client server. Until last week this build  was still on the testing server and finally we got feedback that we can deploy it on the production one. I only say that, I lost half a day because I had not correctly remembered what I was doing to configure the FTS on the previous servers and I had no notes for that. I foolishly believed in my memory. Lesson learned.   For future reference a bunch of steps to configure the FTS for searching in *.pdf and *.docx files (and by the way in other Office files like *.xlsx).   1. From the page (link) download and install the *.pdf IFilter for FTS. 2. To the PATH global system variable add path to the catalog, where you installed the plugin. Default for this version is: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe PDF iFilter 9 for 64-bit platforms\bin 3. From the page (link) download a FilterPackx64.exe and install it. 4. Now from SSMS execute the following procedures: -sp_fulltext_service 'load_os_resources',1 -sp_fulltext_service 'verify_signature', 0 5. Restart the server 6. Now we must check if the plugins are visible: -select document_type, path from sys.fulltext_document_types where document_type = '.pdf' -select document_type, path from sys.fulltext_document_types where document_type = '.docx' 7. If we see a result, then we can assume that everything is ok*. 8. Right now we can create a catalog for FTS and indexes on appropriate columns.     *I lost a lot of hours to find out, why the plugin for the *.pdf files wasn’t indexed any file in the database, but in the sys.fulltext_document_types table there was available a line for this plugin. After the deeper investigation I found that the *.pdf files actually were indexed. At least the EOF sign was added to the indexes and nothing more for each file. In the end the problem was that, I forgot to add the /bin in the path to the plugin in PATH variable..

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• Data Model Dissonance

  - by Tony Davis

  So often at the start of the development of database applications, there is a premature rush to the keyboard. Unless, before we get there, we’ve mapped out and agreed the three data models, the Conceptual, the Logical and the Physical, then the inevitable refactoring will dog development work. It pays to get the data models sorted out up-front, however ‘agile’ you profess to be. The hardest model to get right, the most misunderstood, and the one most neglected by the various modeling tools, is the conceptual data model, and yet it is critical to all that follows. The conceptual model distils what the business understands about itself, and the way it operates. It represents the business rules that govern the required data, its constraints and its properties. The conceptual model uses the terminology of the business and defines the most important entities and their inter-relationships. Don’t assume that the organization’s understanding of these business rules is consistent or accurate. Too often, one department has a subtly different understanding of what an entity means and what it stores, from another. If our conceptual data model fails to resolve such inconsistencies, it will reduce data quality. If we don’t collect and measure the raw data in a consistent way across the whole business, how can we hope to perform meaningful aggregation? The conceptual data model has more to do with business than technology, and as such, developers often regard it as a worthy but rather arcane ceremony like saluting the flag or only eating fish on Friday. However, the consequences of getting it wrong have a direct and painful impact on many aspects of the project. If you adopt a silo-based (a.k.a. Domain driven) approach to development), you are still likely to suffer by starting with an incomplete knowledge of the domain. Even when you have surmounted these problems so that the data entities accurately reflect the business domain that the application represents, there are likely to be dire consequences from abandoning the goal of a shared, enterprise-wide understanding of the business. In reading this, you may recall experiences of the consequence of getting the conceptual data model wrong. I believe that Phil Factor, for example, witnessed the abandonment of a multi-million dollar banking project due to an inadequate conceptual analysis of how the bank defined a ‘customer’. We’d love to hear of any examples you know of development projects poleaxed by errors in the conceptual data model. Cheers, Tony

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• Techniques to re-factor garbage and maintain sanity?

  - by Incognito

  So I'm sitting down to a nice bowl of c# spaghetti, and need to add something or remove something... but I have challenges everywhere from functions passing arguments that doesn't make sense, someone who doesn't understand data structures abusing strings, redundant variables, some comments are red-hearings, internationalization is on a per-every-output-level, SQL doesn't use any kind of DBAL, database connections are left open everywhere... Are there any tools or techniques I can use to at least keep track of the "functional integrity" of the code (meaning my "improvements" don't break it), or a resource online with common "bad patterns" that explains a good way to transition code? I'm basically looking for a guidebook on how to spin straw into gold. Here's some samples from the same 500 line function: protected void DoSave(bool cIsPostBack) { //ALWAYS a cPostBack cIsPostBack = true; SetPostBack("1"); string inCreate ="~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"; parseValues = new string []{"","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","",""}; if (!cIsPostBack) { //....... //.... //.... if (!cIsPostBack) { } else { } //.... //.... strHPhone = StringFormat(s1.Trim()); s1 = parseValues[18].Replace(encStr," "); strWPhone = StringFormat(s1.Trim()); s1 = parseValues[11].Replace(encStr," "); strWExt = StringFormat(s1.Trim()); s1 = parseValues[21].Replace(encStr," "); strMPhone = StringFormat(s1.Trim()); s1 = parseValues[19].Replace(encStr," "); //(hundreds of lines of this) //.... //.... SQL = "...... lots of SQL .... "; SqlCommand curCommand; curCommand = new SqlCommand(); curCommand.Connection = conn1; curCommand.CommandText = SQL; try { curCommand.ExecuteNonQuery(); } catch {} //.... } I've never had to refactor something like this before, and I want to know if there's something like a guidebook or knowledgebase on how to do this sort of thing, finding common bad patterns and offering the best solutions to repair them. I don't want to just nuke it from orbit,

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• 3 Reasons You Need To Know Something About Every Technology

  - by Tim Murphy

  I make my living as a consultant and a general technologist.  I credit my success to the fact that I have never been afraid to pick up any product, language or platform needed to get the job done.  While Microsoft technologies I my mainstay, I have done work on mainframe and UNIX platforms and have worked with a wide variety of database engines.  Each one has it’s use and most times it is less expensive to find a way to communicate with an existing system than to replace it. So what are the main benefits of expending the effort to learn a new technology? New ways to solve problems Accelerate development Advise clients and get new business opportunities By new technology I mean ones that you haven’t had experience with before.  They don’t have to be the the one that just came out yesterday.  As they say, those who do not learn from history are bound to repeat it.  If you can learn something from an older technology it can be just as valuable as the shiny new one.  Either way, when you add another tool to your kit you get a new view on each problem you face.  This makes it easier to create a sound solution. The next thing you can learn from working with different products and techniques is how to more efficiently develop solve problems.  Many times if you are working with a new language you will find that there are specific design patterns that are used with it in normal use.  These can usually be applied with most languages.  You just needed to be exposed to them. The last point is about helping your clients and helping yourself.  If you can get in on technologies early you will have advantage over your competition in the market.  You will also be able to honestly advise you client on why they should or should not go with a new product.  Being able to compare products and their features is always an ability that stake holders appreciate. You don’t need to learn every detail of a product.  Learn enough to function and get an idea of how to use the technology.  Keep eating those technology Wheaties and you will be ready to go the distance in any project. del.icio.us Tags: Technology,technologists,technology generalist,Software Architecture

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• Another Custom Property Locator: a Library of Books

  - by Cindy McMullen

  Introduction The previous post gave an introduction to custom property locators and showed how create one using JDeveloper.  This post continues on the custom locator theme, with a slightly more complex locator: a library of books.  It demonstrates using the DAO pattern to delegate data access from the Locator, which is likely how many actual backing stores will integrate with the Locator.  You can imagine, rather than a library of books, the data store might be a user database of sorts.  The same sort of pattern would apply. This post uses the BookLocator example originally shown in the WebCenter documentation, but has: updated the source code to reflect the final Property APIs includes the steps for generating the namespace and property definition files via JDeveloper detailed usage of the PropertyService APIs Getting Started If you're new to JDeveloper, you might want to check out this tutorial.  There is also the "Jump-Start to using Personalization" blog post that you might find useful.  Otherwise, if you're already familiar with both, you can skip those tutorials and jump right in to using JDeveloper. Download the BookLocator.zip file (which has been updated from the original post) and unzip it to a new directory.  Start JDeveloper, navigate to the BookLocator.jws file, and open it.   It should look something like this: The Properties Namespace file contains the property definitions and property set definitions you define.  It is explained more in detail in the Namespace documentation.  Although this example doesn't show it, the property set definitions have the ability to reference multiple locators per property.   This can be done by right-clicking on the 'Locator Info' box.  Configure the contents of the Locator Map  by editing locators and mapping them to available property names in the property set definition. Compiling, deploying, and running your locator The rest of the steps in this tutorial basically follow those in the previous blog on custom locators, and won't be repeated here.   A scenario to invoke your locator is included with the sample app: see BookProperties.scenarios_diagram above.  Summary This post demonstrates a simple library of books accessed by the BookPropertyLocator via the DAO layer.  This is a useful pattern for more realistic property retrievals, such as a backing user store.  It also points out the possibility of retrieving properties from multiple locators, which would be quite handy to retrieve user attributes from multiple sources.

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• Managing accounts on a private website for a real-life community

  - by Smudge

  Hey Pro Webmasters, I'm looking at setting-up a walled-in website for a real-life community of people, and I was wondering if anyone has any experience with managing member accounts for this kind of thing. Some conditions that must be met: This community has a set list of real-life members, each of whom would be eligible for one account on the website. We don't expect or require that they all sign-up. It is purely opt-in, but we anticipate that many of them would be interested in the services we are setting up. Some of the community members emails are known, but some of them have fallen off the grid over the years, so ideally there would be a way for them to get back in touch with us through the public-facing side of the site. (And we'd want to manually verify the identity of anyone who does so). Their names are known, and for similar projects in the past we have assigned usernames derived from their real-life names. This time, however, we are open to other approaches, such as letting them specify their own username or getting rid of usernames entirely. The specific web technology we will use (e.g. Drupal, Joomla, etc) is not really our concern right now -- I am more interested in how this can be approached in the abstract. Our database already includes the full member roster, so we can email many of them generated links to a page where they can create an account. (And internally we can require that these accounts be paired with a known member). Should we have them specify their own usernames, or are we fine letting them use their registered email address to log-in? Are there any paradigms for walled-in community portals that help address security issues if, for example, one of their email accounts is compromised? We don't anticipate attempted break-ins being much of a threat, because nothing about this community is high-profile, but we do want to address security concerns. In addition, we want to make the sign-up process as painless for the members as possible, especially given the fact that we can't just make sign-ups open to anyone. I'm interested to hear your thoughts and suggestions! Thanks!

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• Motivating yourself to actually write the code after you've designed something

  - by dpb

  Does it happen only to me or is this familiar to you too? It's like this: You have to create something; a module, a feature, an entire application... whatever. It is something interesting that you have never done before, it is challenging. So you start to think how you are going to do it. You draw some sketches. You write some prototypes to test your ideas. You are putting different pieces together to get the complete view. You finally end up with a design that you like, something that is simple, clear to everybody, easy maintainable... you name it. You covered every base, you thought of everything. You know that you are going to have this class and that file and that database schema. Configure this here, adapt this other thingy there etc. But now, after everything is settled, you have to sit down and actually write the code for it. And is not challenging anymore.... Been there, done that! Writing the code now is just "formalities" and makes it look like re-iterating what you've just finished. At my previous job I sometimes got away with it because someone else did the coding based on my specifications, but at my new gig I'm in charge of the entire process so I have to do this too ('cause I get payed to do it). But I have a pet project I'm working on at home, after work and there is just me and no one is paying me to do it. I do the creative work and then when time comes to write it down I just don't feel like it (lets browse the web a little, see what's new on P.SE, on SO etc). I just want to move to the next challenging thing, and then to the next, and the next... Does this happen to you too? How do you deal with it? How do you convince yourself to go in and write the freaking code? I'll take any answer.

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• Update Errors in Xubuntu 12.10

  - by wil

  I updated by computer from 12.04 to 12.10 and after I finished updating when I turned on my computer I am unable to update my computer. I tried install a new copy of 13.04 but my cpu doesn't support pae. I have a IBM Thinkpad T42 with a 1.7 gigahertx Cpu. When updating through terminal This is the output. sudo apt-get upgrade: [sudo] password for wil: Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done You might want to run 'apt-get -f install' to correct these. The following packages have unmet dependencies: linux-image-extra-3.5.0-34-generic : Depends: linux-image-3.5.0-34-generic but it is not installed linux-image-generic : Depends: linux-image-3.5.0-34-generic but it is not installed E: Unmet dependencies. Try using -f. sudo apt-get upgrade -f: Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done Correcting dependencies... Done The following NEW packages will be installed: linux-image-3.5.0-34-generic 0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. 3 not fully installed or removed. Need to get 0 B/11.8 MB of archives. After this operation, 25.9 MB of additional disk space will be used. Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y (Reading database ... 191530 files and directories currently installed.) Unpacking linux-image-3.5.0-34-generic (from .../linux-image-3.5.0-34-generic_3.5.0-34.55_i386.deb) ... This kernel does not support a non-PAE CPU. dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-image-3.5.0-34-generic_3.5.0-34.55_i386.deb (--unpack): subprocess new pre-installation script returned error exit status 1 No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already Examining /etc/kernel/postrm.d . run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postrm.d/initramfs-tools 3.5.0-34-generic /boot/vmlinuz-3.5.0-34-generic run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postrm.d/zz-update-grub 3.5.0-34-generic /boot/vmlinuz-3.5.0-34-generic Errors were encountered while processing: /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-image-3.5.0-34-generic_3.5.0-34.55_i386.deb E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1) wil@wil-ThinkPad-T42:~/Desktop$

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• Looking for an ultra portable laptop for Ubuntu

  - by prule

  Hi, I'm in the market for a new laptop, and portability is important since I really only use it when I'm travelling to and from work - primarily for programming. I've been searching high and low for something like this: less than 2kg hopefully Intel i5 (but negotiable) NO dvd drive - just don't need it 4G ram either 7200rpm disk or SSD (ssd preferable) 13 inch screen not too pricey (MacBook Air is about $1700 AUD) available in Australia The Dell Inspiron 13z and Lenovo Edge 13 look close, but I've not found anything that says I'm not going to have a fight with compatibility. The MacBook Air 13 looks like the PERFECT hardware, but I'm afraid it will just be easier to run MacOS than Ubuntu. I want to stay with Ubuntu, but the MacBook Air is only $1700 so I'm in danger of becoming another apple fanboi if I can't find anything competitive. Going through all the sites looking for stuff has been a huge waste of time System 76 doesn't deliver to Australia http://www.linux-laptop.net/ and http://www.linlap.com/ are hard work and not confidence inspiring http://www.vgcomputing.com.au/nsintro.html is hard work again, searching for every laptop they say has excellent compatibility on the web to find out what spec it is http://zareason.com/shop/Strata-Pro-13.html (at $1345 USD) looks interesting, but I've got no idea how much I'll get stung by customs importing Dell Inspiron 13z with i5, 4G, 320 7200rpm disk, ATI Mobility Radeon HD5430 - 1GB, Dell Wireless 1501 802.11b/g/n @ $1200 AUD seems like the only competitor but is it compatible? (Dell support offer no opinion - as far as they are concerned they only have 2 models that are certified for ubuntu) Am I worrying too much about the compatibility? Should I just go with Dell? Or switch to MacOS? (It would be good to have a searchable database that had the full machine specs, and compatibility - I'm thinking about building something... but I don't have much time right now...) Thanks. UPDATE I went with a MacBook Air. The price/weight/power was just right. Everything else was either too pricy (i5) or too heavy, or underpowered (SU7300 1.3GHz). Its a pity, because I didn't really want to leave Ubuntu. I'll still run it on my media center and spare (heavy) laptop.

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• Why does the login screen fail to appear?

  - by a different ben

  My system: Dell Precision T3500 nVidia Quadro NVS 295 Ubuntu 12.04 x86_64 (3.2.0-32) Essential problem: On boot my system won't get past the splash screen. I can switch to another virtual terminal and log in, I can also ssh from another system -- so it appears that the problem might be with the display manager. How can I diagnose and fix this problem? More info: From a VT I can issue sudo lightdm restart, and this will bring up the login screen and and I can continue from there. So I do have access to my system. Update-manager recently updated a number of packages, including a bunch of x11 and xorg packages, some nVidia drivers, rpcbind, etc etc. My boot log (if that is any guidance) says the following: fsck from util-linux 2.20.1 fsck from util-linux 2.20.1 fsck from util-linux 2.20.1 fsck from util-linux 2.20.1 rpcbind: Cannot open '/run/rpcbind/rpcbind.xdr' file for reading, errno 2 (No such file or directory) rpcbind: Cannot open '/run/rpcbind/portmap.xdr' file for reading, errno 2 (No such file or directory) /dev/sda1: clean, 597650/1525920 files, 3963433/6103296 blocks /dev/sda7: clean, 11/6406144 files, 450097/25608703 blocks /dev/sda5: clean, 158323/1525920 files, 1886918/6103296 blocks /dev/sda8: clean, 250089/107929600 files, 111088810/431689728 blocks Skipping profile in /etc/apparmor.d/disable: usr.bin.firefox Skipping profile in /etc/apparmor.d/disable: usr.sbin.rsyslogd * Starting AppArmor profiles [80G [74G[ OK ] Loading the saved-state of the serial devices... /dev/ttyS0 at 0x03f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A * Starting ClamAV virus database updater freshclam [80G [74G[ OK ] * Starting Name Service Cache Daemon nscd [80G [74G[ OK ] * Starting modem connection manager[74G[ OK ] * Starting K Display Manager[74G[ OK ] * Starting mDNS/DNS-SD daemon[74G[ OK ] * Stopping GNOME Display Manager[74G[ OK ] * Stopping K Display Manager[74G[ OK ] * Starting bluetooth daemon[74G[ OK ] * Starting network connection manager[74G[ OK ] * Starting Postfix Mail Transport Agent postfix [80G [74G[ OK ] speech-dispatcher disabled; edit /etc/default/speech-dispatcher * Starting VirtualBox kernel modules [80G [74G[ OK ] * Starting the Winbind daemon winbind [80G [74G[ OK ] saned disabled; edit /etc/default/saned * Starting anac(h)ronistic cron[74G[ OK ] * Stopping anac(h)ronistic cron[74G[ OK ] * Checking battery state... [80G [74G[ OK ] nxsensor is disabled in '/usr/NX/etc/node.cfg' Trying to start NX server: NX 122 Service started. NX 999 Bye. Trying to start NX statistics: NX 723 Cannot start NX statistics: NX 709 NX statistics are disabled for this server. NX 999 Bye. * Stopping System V runlevel compatibility[74G[ OK ] * Starting Mount network filesystems[74G[ OK ] * Stopping Mount network filesystems[74G[ OK ] * Stopping regular background program processing daemon[74G[ OK ] * Starting regular background program processing daemon[74G[ OK ] * Starting anac(h)ronistic cron[74G[ OK ] * Stopping anac(h)ronistic cron[74G[ OK ]

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• Maximizing the Value of Software

  - by David Dorf

  A few years ago we decided to increase our investments in documenting retail processes and architectures.  There were several goals but the main two were to help retailers maximize the value they derive from our software and help system integrators implement our software faster.  The sale is only part of our success metric -- its actually more important that the customer realize the benefits of the software.  That's when we actually celebrate. This week many of our customers are gathered in Chicago to discuss their successes during our annual Crosstalk conference.  That provides the perfect forum to announce the release of the Oracle Retail Reference Library.  The RRL is available for free to Oracle Retail customers and partners.  It contains 1000s of hours of work and represents years of experience in the retail industry.  The Retail Reference Library is composed of three offerings: Retail Reference Model We've been sharing the RRM for several years now, with lots of accolades.  The RRM is a set of business process diagrams at varying levels of granularity. This release marks the debut of Visio documents, which should make it easier for retailers to adopt and edit the diagrams.  The processes represent an approximation of the Oracle Retail software, but at higher levels they are pretty generic and therefore usable with other software as well.  Using these processes, the business and IT are better able to communicate the expectations of the software.  They can be used to guide customization when necessary, and help identify areas for optimization in the organization. Retail Reference Architecture When embarking on a software implementation project, it can be daunting to start from a blank sheet of paper.  So we offer the RRA, a comprehensive set of documents that describe the retail enterprise in terms of logical architecture, physical deployments, and systems integration.  These documents and diagrams describe how all the systems typically found in a retailer enterprise work together.  They serve as a way to jump-start implementations using best practices we've captured over the years. Retail Semantic Glossary Have you ever seen two people argue over something because they're using misaligned terminology?  Its a huge waste and happens all the time.  The Retail Semantic Glossary is a simple application that allows retailers to define terms and metrics in a centralized database.  This initial version comes with limited content with the goal of adding more over subsequent releases.  This is the single source for defining key performance indicators, metrics, algorithms, and terms so that the retail organization speaks in a consistent language. These three offerings are downloaded from MyOracleSupport separately and linked together using the start page above.  Everything is navigated using a Web browser.  See the Oracle Retail Documentation blog for more details.

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• Move Data into the Grid for Scalable, Predictable Response Times

  - by JuergenKress

  CloudTran is pleased to introduce the availability of the CloudTran Transaction and Persistence Manager for creating scalable, reliable data services on the Oracle Coherence In-Memory Data Grid (IMDG). Use of IMDG architectures has been key to handling today’s web-scale loads because it eliminates database latency by storing important and frequently access data in memory instead of on disk. The CloudTran product lets developers easily use an IMDG for full ACID-compliant transactions without having to be concerned about the location or spread of data. The system has its own implementation of fast, scalable distributed transactions that does NOT depend on XA protocols but still guarantees all ACID properties. Plus, CloudTran asynchronously replicates data going into the IMDG to back-end datastores and back-up data centers, again ensuring ACID properties. CloudTran can be accessed through Java Persistence API (JPA via TopLink Grid) and now, through a new Low-Level API, or LLAPI. This is ideal for use in SOA applications that need data reliability, high availability, performance, and scalability. Still in limited beta release, the LLAPI gives developers the ability to use standard put/remove logic available in Coherence and then wrap logic with simple Spring annotations or XML+AspectJ to start transactions. An important feature of LLAPI is the ability to join transactions. This is a common outcome for SOA applications that need to reduce network traffic by aggregating data into single cache entries and then doing SOA service processing in the node holding the data. This results in the need to orchestrate transaction processing across multiple service calls. CloudTran has the capability to handle these “multi-client” transactions at speed with no loss in ACID properties. Developing software around an IMDG like Oracle Coherence is an important choice for today’s web-scale applications and services. But this introduces new architectural considerations to maintain scalability in light of increased network loads and data movement. Without using CloudTran, developers are faced with an incredibly difficult task to ensure data reliability, availability, performance, and scalability when working with an IMDG. Working with highly distributed data that is entirely volatile while stored in memory presents numerous edge cases where failures can result in data loss. The CloudTran product takes care of all of this, leaving developers with the confidence and peace of mind that all data is processed correctly. For those interested in evaluating the CloudTran product and IMDGs, take a look at this link for more information: http://www.CloudTran.com/downloadAPI.php, or, send your questions to [email protected]. WebLogic Partner Community For regular information become a member in the WebLogic Partner Community please visit: http://www.oracle.com/partners/goto/wls-emea ( OPN account required). If you need support with your account please contact the Oracle Partner Business Center. BlogTwitterLinkedInMixForumWiki Technorati Tags: Coherence,cloudtran,cache,WebLogic Community,Oracle,OPN,Jürgen Kress

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• Microsoft Azure News: Capturing VM Images

  - by Herve Roggero

  Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/hroggero/archive/2014/05/21/microsoft-azure-news-capturing-vm-images.aspxIf you have a Virtual Machine (VM) in Microsoft Azure that has a specific configuration, it used to be difficult to clone that VM. You had to sysprep the VM, and clone the data disks. This was slow, prone to errors, and stopped you from being productive. No more! A new option, called Capture, allows you to easily select a VM, running or not. The capture will copy the OS disk and data disks and create a new image out of it automatically for you. This means you can now easily clone an entire VM without affecting productivity.  To capture a VM, simply browse to your Virtual Machines in the Microsoft Azure management website, select the VM you want to clone, and click on the Capture button at the bottom. A window will come up asking to name your image. It took less than 1 minute for me to build a clone of my server. And because it is stored as an image, I can easily create a new VM with it. So that’s what I did… And that took about 5 minutes total.  That’s amazing…  To create a new VM from your image, click on the NEW icon (bottom left), select Compute/Virtual Machine/From Gallery, and select My Images from the left menu when selecting an Image. You will find your newly created image. Because this is a clone, you will not be prompted for a new login; the user id/password is the same. About Herve Roggero Herve Roggero, Microsoft Azure MVP, @hroggero, is the founder of Blue Syntax Consulting (http://www.bluesyntaxconsulting.com). Herve's experience includes software development, architecture, database administration and senior management with both global corporations and startup companies. Herve holds multiple certifications, including an MCDBA, MCSE, MCSD. He also holds a Master's degree in Business Administration from Indiana University. Herve is the co-author of "PRO SQL Azure" and “PRO SQL Server 2012 Practices” from Apress, a PluralSight author, and runs the Azure Florida Association.

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• On the art of self-promotion

  - by Tony Davis

  I attended Brent Ozar's Building the Fastest SQL Servers session at Tech Ed last week, and found myself engulfed in a 'perfect storm' of excellent technical and presentational skills coupled with an astute awareness of the value of promoting one's work. I spend a lot of time at such events talking to developers and DBAs about the value of blogging and writing articles, and my impression is that some could benefit from a touch less modesty and a little more self-promotion. I sense a reticence in many would-be writers. Is what I have to say important enough? Haven't far more qualified and established commentators, MVPs and so on, already said it? While it's a good idea to pick reasonably fresh and interesting topics, it's more important not to let such fears lead to writer's block. In the eyes of any future employer, your published writing is an extension of your resume. They will not care that a certain MVP knows how to solve problem x, but they will be very interested to see that you have tackled that same problem, and solved it in your own way, and described the process in your own voice. In your current job, your writing is one of the ways you can express to your peers, and to the organization as a whole, the value of what you contribute. Many Developers and DBAs seem to rely on the idea that their work will speak for itself, and that their skill shines out from it. Unfortunately, this isn't always true. Many Development DBAs, for example, will be painfully aware of the massive effort involved in tuning and adding resilience to rapidly developed applications. However, others in the organization who are unaware of what's involved in getting an application that is 'done' ready for production may dismiss such efforts as fussiness or conservatism. At the dark end of the development cycle, chickens come home to roost, but their droppings tend to land on those trying to clear up the mess. My advice is this: next time you fix a bug or improve the resilience or performance of a database or application, make sure that you use team meetings, informal discussions and so on to ensure that people understand what the problem was and what you had to do to fix it. Use your blog to describe, generally, the process you adopted, the resources you used and the insights that came from your work. Encourage your colleagues to do the same. By spreading the art of self-promotion to everyone involved in an IT project, we get a better idea of the extent of the work and the value of the contribution of all the team members. As always, we'd love to hear what you think. This very week, Simple-talk launches its new blogging platform. If any of this has moved you to 'throw your hat into the ring', drop us a mail at [email protected]. Cheers, Tony.

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• What is a good design model for my new class?

  - by user66662

  I am a beginning programmer who, after trying to manage over 2000 lines of procedural php code, now has discovered the value of OOP. I have read a few books to get me up to speed on the beginning theory, but would like some advice on practical application. So,for example, let's say there are two types of content objects - an ad and a calendar event. what my application does is scan different websites (a predefined list), and, when it finds an ad or an event, it extracts the data and saves it to a database. All of my objects will share a $title and $description. However, the Ad object will have a $price and the Event object will have $startDate. Should I have two separate classes, one for each object? Should I have a 'superclass' with the $title and $description with two other Ad and Event classes with their own properties? The latter is at least the direction I am on now. My second question about this design is how to handle the logic that extracts the data for $title, $description, $price, and $date. For each website in my predefined list, there is a specific regex that returns the desired value for each property. Currently, I have an extremely large switch statement in my constructor which determines what website I am own, sets the regex variables accordingly, and continues on. Not only that, but now I have to repeat the logic to determine what site I am on in the constructor of each class. This doesn't feel right. Should I create another class Algorithms and store the logic there for each site? Should the functions of to handle that logic be in this class? or specific to the classes whos properties they set? I want to take into account in my design two things: 1) I will add different content objects in the future that share $title and $description, but will have their own properties, so, I want to be able to easily grow these as needed. 2) I will add more websites constantly (each with their own algorithms for data extraction) so I would like to plan efficienty managing and working with these now. I thought about extending the Ad or Event class with 'websiteX' class and store its functions there. But, this didn't feel right either as now I have to manage 100s of little website specific class files. Note, I didn't know if this was the correct site or stackoverflow was the better choice. If so, let me know and I'll post there.

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