3d engine - Page 198 - Developer IT

What's the best way to handle numerous recurring log entries in game loop?

- by Kaa

I have a custom logging system, use of which is scattered all over the engine and game. The system is linked to a "LogStore" that has an std::vector<string> logs[NUM_LOG_TYPES] - each vector corresponds with it's log type (info, error, debug, etc.). There's one extra std::vector that has "coordinates" to all log entries in the order they were received. Now, all the logging output is also displayed inside my development console in the game. The game console is handled by HTML-type GUI and therefore requires a new <p> element being added for each log output. My problem is that the log entries that are generated in the main loop each frame freeze the engine, because they continue to add elements to the in-game console, and if the console or guy generates a warning - that creates an infinite logging loop. I want to solve it by handling the recurring log entries in an elegant way that lets you know that something is critically wrong, but won't freeze the engine - like displaying the count of errors in the last 60 frames instead of displaying errors themselves. But how do you guys handle this? Does anyone know any nifty tricks to do this? I understand the question may sound vague, but if someone came across this type of issue I'm sure they would know exactly what's happening. Example problematic log entries: OpenGL warnings (I actually do check for errors every frame in many places) Really any prints anywhere in the main loop (may be debugging, may be warnings)

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Significant amount of the time, I can't think of a reason to have an object instead of a static class. Do objects have more benefits than I think?

- by Prog

I understand the concept of an object, and as a Java programmer I feel the OO paradigm comes rather naturally to me in practice. However recently I found myself thinking: Wait a second, what are actually the practical benefits of using an object over using a static class (with proper encapsulation and OO practices)? I could think of two benefits of using an object (both significant and powerful): Polymorphism: allows you to swap functionality dynamically and flexibly during runtime. Also allows to add new functionality 'parts' and alternatives to the system easily. For example if there's a Car class designed to work with Engine objects, and you want to add a new Engine to the system that the Car can use, you can create a new Engine subclass and simply pass an object of this class into the Car object, without having to change anything about Car. And you can decide to do so during runtime. Being able to 'pass functionality around': you can pass an object around the system dynamically. But are there any more advantages to objects over static classes? Often when I add new 'parts' to a system, I do so by creating a new class and instantiating objects from it. But recently when I stopped and thought about it, I realized that a static class would do just the same as an object, in a lot of the places where I normally use an object. For example, I'm working on adding a save/load-file mechanism to my app. With an object, the calling line of code will look like this: Thing thing = fileLoader.load(file); With a static class, it would look like this: Thing thing = FileLoader.load(file); What's the difference? Fairly often I just can't think of a reason to instantiate an object when a plain-old static-class would act just the same. But in OO systems, static classes are fairly rare. So I must be missing something. Are there any more advantages to objects other from the two that I listed? Please explain.

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Keeping track of File System Utilization in Ops Center 12c

- by S Stelting

Enterprise Manager Ops Center 12c provides significant monitoring capabilities, combined with very flexible incident management. These capabilities even extend to monitoring the file systems associated with Solaris or Linux assets. Depending on your needs you can monitor and manage incidents, or you can fine tune alert monitoring rules to specific file systems. This article will show you how to use Ops Center 12c to Track file system utilization Adjust file system monitoring rules Disable file system rules Create custom monitoring rules If you're interested in this topic, please join us for a WebEx presentation! Date: Thursday, November 8, 2012 Time: 11:00 am, Eastern Standard Time (New York, GMT-05:00) Meeting Number: 598 796 842 Meeting Password: oracle123 To join the online meeting ------------------------------------------------------- 1. Go to https://oracleconferencing.webex.com/oracleconferencing/j.php?ED=209833597&UID=1512095432&PW=NOWQ3YjJlMmYy&RT=MiMxMQ%3D%3D 2. If requested, enter your name and email address. 3. If a password is required, enter the meeting password: oracle123 4. Click "Join". To view in other time zones or languages, please click the link: https://oracleconferencing.webex.com/oracleconferencing/j.php?ED=209833597&UID=1512095432&PW=NOWQ3YjJlMmYy&ORT=MiMxMQ%3D%3D Monitoring File Systems for OS Assets The Libraries tab provides basic, device-level information about the storage associated with an OS instance. This tab shows you the local file system associated with the instance and any shared storage libraries mounted by Ops Center. More detailed information about file system storage is available under the Analytics tab under the sub-tab named Charts. Here, you can select and display the individual mount points of an OS, and export the utilization data if desired: In this example, the OS instance has a basic root file partition and several NFS directories. Each file system mount point can be independently chosen for display in the Ops Center chart. File Systems and Incident Reporting Every asset managed by Ops Center has a "monitoring policy", which determines what represents a reportable issue with the asset. The policy is made up of a bunch of monitoring rules, where each rule describes An attribute to monitor The conditions which represent an issue The level or levels of severity for the issue When the conditions are met, Ops Center sends a notification and creates an incident. By default, OS instances have three monitoring rules associated with file systems: File System Reachability: Triggers an incident if a file system is not reachable NAS Library Status: Triggers an incident for a value of "WARNING" or "DEGRADED" for a NAS-based file system File System Used Space Percentage: Triggers an incident when file system utilization grows beyond defined thresholds You can view these rules in the Monitoring tab for an OS: Of course, the default monitoring rules is that they apply to every file system associated with an OS instance. As a result, any issue with NAS accessibility or disk utilization will trigger an incident. This can cause incidents for file systems to be reported multiple times if the same shared storage is used by many assets, as shown in this screen shot: Depending on the level of control you'd like, there are a number of ways to fine tune incident reporting. Note that any changes to an asset's monitoring policy will detach it from the default, creating a new monitoring policy for the asset. If you'd like, you can extract a monitoring policy from an asset, which allows you to save it and apply the customized monitoring profile to other OS assets. Solution #1: Modify the Reporting Thresholds In some cases, you may want to modify the basic conditions for incident reporting in your file system. The changes you make to a default monitoring rule will apply to all of the file systems associated with your operating system. Selecting the File Systems Used Space Percentage entry and clicking the "Edit Alert Monitoring Rule Parameters" button opens a pop-up dialog which allows you to modify the rule. The first screen lets you decide when you will check for file system usage, and how long you will wait before opening an incident in Ops Center. By default, Ops Center monitors continuously and reports disk utilization issues which exist for more than 15 minutes. The second screen lets you define actual threshold values. By default, Ops Center opens a Warning level incident is utilization rises above 80%, and a Critical level incident for utilization above 95% Solution #2: Disable Incident Reporting for File System If you'd rather not report file system incidents, you can disable the monitoring rules altogether. In this case, you can select the monitoring rules and click the "Disable Alert Monitoring Rule(s)" button to open the pop-up confirmation dialog. Like the first solution, this option affects all file system monitoring. It allows you to completely disable incident reporting for NAS library status or file system space consumption. Solution #3: Create New Monitoring Rules for Specific File Systems If you'd like to have the greatest flexibility when monitoring file systems, you can create entirely new rules. Clicking the "Add Alert Monitoring Rule" (the icon with the green plus sign) opens a wizard which allows you to define a new rule. This rule will be based on a threshold, and will be used to monitor operating system assets. We'd like to add a rule to track disk utilization for a specific file system - the /nfs-guest directory. To do this, we specify the following attribute FileSystemUsages.name=/nfs-guest.usedSpacePercentage The value of name in the attribute allows us to define a specific NFS shared directory or file system... in the case of this OS, we could have chosen any of the values shown in the File Systems Utilization chart at the beginning of this article. usedSpacePercentage lets us define a threshold based on the percentage of total disk space used. There are a number of other values that we could use for threshold-based monitoring of FileSystemUsages, including freeSpace freeSpacePercentage totalSpace usedSpace usedSpacePercentage The final sections of the screen allow us to determine when to monitor for disk usage, and how long to wait after utilization reaches a threshold before creating an incident. The next screen lets us define the threshold values and severity levels for the monitoring rule: If historical data is available, Ops Center will display it in the screen. Clicking the Apply button will create the new monitoring rule and active it in your monitoring policy. If you combine this with one of the previous solutions, you can precisely define which file systems will generate incidents and notifications. For example, this monitoring policy has the default "File System Used Space Percentage" rule disabled, but the new rule reports ONLY on utilization for the /nfs-guest directory. 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Foreign Key Relationships and "belongs to many"

- by jan

I have the following model: S belongs to T T has many S A,B,C,D,E (etc) have 1 T each, so the T should belong to each of A,B,C,D,E (etc) At first I set up my foreign keys so that in A, fk_a_t would be the foreign key on A.t to T(id), in B it'd be fk_b_t, etc. Everything looks fine in my UML (using MySQLWorkBench), but generating the yii models results in it thinking that T has many A,B,C,D (etc) which to me is the reverse. It sounds to me like either I need to have A_T, B_T, C_T (etc) tables, but this would be a pain as there are a lot of tables that have this relationship. I've also googled that the better way to do this would be some sort of behavior, such that A,B,C,D (etc) can behave as a T, but I'm not clear on exactly how to do this (I will continue to google more on this) What do you think is the better solution? UML: Here's the DDL (auto generated). Just pretend that there is more than 3 tables referencing T. -- ----------------------------------------------------- -- Table `mydb`.`T` -- ----------------------------------------------------- CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `mydb`.`T` ( `id` INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT , PRIMARY KEY (`id`) ) ENGINE = InnoDB; -- ----------------------------------------------------- -- Table `mydb`.`S` -- ----------------------------------------------------- CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `mydb`.`S` ( `id` INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT , `thing` VARCHAR(45) NULL , `t` INT NOT NULL , PRIMARY KEY (`id`) , INDEX `fk_S_T` (`id` ASC) , CONSTRAINT `fk_S_T` FOREIGN KEY (`id` ) REFERENCES `mydb`.`T` (`id` ) ON DELETE NO ACTION ON UPDATE NO ACTION) ENGINE = InnoDB; -- ----------------------------------------------------- -- Table `mydb`.`A` -- ----------------------------------------------------- CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `mydb`.`A` ( `id` INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT , `T` INT NOT NULL , `stuff` VARCHAR(45) NULL , `bar` VARCHAR(45) NULL , `foo` VARCHAR(45) NULL , PRIMARY KEY (`id`) , INDEX `fk_A_T` (`T` ASC) , CONSTRAINT `fk_A_T` FOREIGN KEY (`T` ) REFERENCES `mydb`.`T` (`id` ) ON DELETE NO ACTION ON UPDATE NO ACTION) ENGINE = InnoDB; -- ----------------------------------------------------- -- Table `mydb`.`B` -- ----------------------------------------------------- CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `mydb`.`B` ( `id` INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT , `T` INT NOT NULL , `stuff2` VARCHAR(45) NULL , `foobar` VARCHAR(45) NULL , `other` VARCHAR(45) NULL , PRIMARY KEY (`id`) , INDEX `fk_A_T` (`T` ASC) , CONSTRAINT `fk_A_T` FOREIGN KEY (`T` ) REFERENCES `mydb`.`T` (`id` ) ON DELETE NO ACTION ON UPDATE NO ACTION) ENGINE = InnoDB; -- ----------------------------------------------------- -- Table `mydb`.`C` -- ----------------------------------------------------- CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `mydb`.`C` ( `id` INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT , `T` INT NOT NULL , `stuff3` VARCHAR(45) NULL , `foobar2` VARCHAR(45) NULL , `other4` VARCHAR(45) NULL , PRIMARY KEY (`id`) , INDEX `fk_A_T` (`T` ASC) , CONSTRAINT `fk_A_T` FOREIGN KEY (`T` ) REFERENCES `mydb`.`T` (`id` ) ON DELETE NO ACTION ON UPDATE NO ACTION) ENGINE = InnoDB;

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can not access MovieClip properties in flashDevelop

- by numerical25

I know there is something I am doing wrong. In my controls I have keydown events that control my hero. As of right now, I am trying to rotate my hero but he refuses to turn . Below is my Hero Class, my control class, and gameobject class. pretty much all the classes associate with the controls class. package com.Objects { import com.Objects.GameObject; /** * ... * @author Anthony Gordon */ [Embed(source='../../../bin/Assets.swf', symbol='OuterRim')] public class Hero extends GameObject { public function Hero() { } } } Here is my Controls class. This is the class where I am trying to rotate my hero but he doesnt. The keydown event does work cause I trace it. package com.Objects { import com.Objects.Hero; import flash.events.*; import flash.display.MovieClip; /** * ... * @author Anthony Gordon */ public class Controls extends GameObject { private var aKeyPress:Array; public var ship:Hero; public function Controls(ship:Hero) { this.ship = ship; IsDisplay = false; aKeyPress = new Array(); engine.sr.addEventListener(KeyboardEvent.KEY_DOWN, keyDownListener); engine.sr.addEventListener(KeyboardEvent.KEY_UP,keyUpListener); } private function keyDownListener(e:KeyboardEvent):void { //trace("down e.keyCode=" + e.keyCode); aKeyPress[e.keyCode] = true; trace(e.keyCode); } private function keyUpListener(e:KeyboardEvent):void { //trace("up e.keyCode=" + e.keyCode); aKeyPress[e.keyCode]=false; } override public function UpdateObject():void { Update(); } private function Update():void { if (aKeyPress[37])//Key press left ship.rotation += 3,trace(ship.rotation ); ///DOESNT ROtate }//End Controls } } Here is GameObject Class package com.Objects { import com.Objects.Engine; import com.Objects.IGameObject; import flash.display.MovieClip; /** * ... * @author Anthony Gordon */ public class GameObject extends MovieClip implements IGameObject { private var isdisplay:Boolean = true; private var garbage:Boolean; public static var engine:Engine; public var layer:Number = 0; public function GameObject() { } public function UpdateObject():void { } public function GarbageCollection():void { } public function set Garbage(garb:Boolean):void { garbage = garb; } public function get Garbage():Boolean { return garbage } public function get IsDisplay():Boolean { return isdisplay; } public function set IsDisplay(display:Boolean):void { isdisplay = display; } public function set Layer(l:Number):void { layer = l; } public function get Layer():Number { return layer } } }

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MySQL my.cnf file not being read, Ubuntu 10.04 64bit

- by reallyordinary

I've been researching this for a few hours with no luck. Basically it looks like my server's my.cnf file isn't being read at all. I've searched my server, and there's only one my.cnf file on it, located at /etc/mysql/my.cnf. Its ownership is root:root. I'm running Ubuntu 10.04 64bit on a Linode.com server. I have the latest versions of MySQL and PHP installed. I've edited the my.cnf file, commented out "skip-innodb", and have set innodb to be the default storage engine using default-storage-engine = innodb And then restarted mysql. But when I do show engines, MyISAM is still coming up as the default engine. Also - none of the innodb settings I've added to the my.cnf file are being read. For example, I have this in my.cnf: innodb_buffer_pool_size=4G But in phpmyadmin, InnoDB is showing as having a buffer pool size of 8,192 KiB. Similarly, I have this in the my.cnf: innodb_data-file_path = ibdata1:500M:autoextend But in phpmyadmin, it's reading as ibdata1:10M:autoextend. It doesn't look like MyISAM info is being read from the my.cnf file either. The my.cnf file has skip-external-locking queried out, but it's showing as "on" in phpmyadmin. So - yeah, it looks like nothing in the my.cnf file is being read at all. But the server still works. I'm running a Drupal site on it and it seems to operate fine. So mysql seems to be drawing default settings from... some mysterious secret location. Any idea how I can make mysql see and use this my.cnf file? Actually, wait - it looks like it may be being read, not sure. I checked the error.log and found this: 101128 4:28:52 [ERROR] Cannot find or open table databasename/cache_apachesolr from the internal data dictionary of InnoDB though the .frm file for the table exists. Maybe you have deleted and recreated InnoDB data files but have forgotten to delete the corresponding .frm files of InnoDB tables, or you have moved .frm files to another database? or, the table contains indexes that this version of the engine doesn't support. See http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/innodb-troubleshooting.html how you can resolve the problem. InnoDB: Error: auto-extending data file ./ibdata1 is of a different size InnoDB: 640 pages (rounded down to MB) than specified in the .cnf file: InnoDB: initial 32000 pages, max 0 (relevant if non-zero) pages! InnoDB: Could not open or create data files. InnoDB: If you tried to add new data files, and it failed here, InnoDB: you should now edit innodb_data_file_path in my.cnf back InnoDB: to what it was, and remove the new ibdata files InnoDB created InnoDB: in this failed attempt. InnoDB only wrote those files full of InnoDB: zeros, but did not yet use them in any way. But be careful: do not InnoDB: remove old data files which contain your precious data! 101128 4:28:52 [ERROR] Plugin 'InnoDB' init function returned error. 101128 4:28:52 [ERROR] Plugin 'InnoDB' registration as a STORAGE ENGINE failed. 101128 4:28:52 [ERROR] /usr/sbin/mysqld: unknown variable 'innodb_lock_wait_timout=50' 101128 4:28:52 [ERROR] Aborting 101128 4:28:52 [Note] /usr/sbin/mysqld: Shutdown complete

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Microsoft silverlight 5.0 features for developers

- by Jalpesh P. Vadgama

Recently on Silverlight 5.0 firestarter event ScottGu has announced road map for Silverlight 5.0. There will be lots of features that will be there in silverlight 5.0 but here are few glimpses of Silverlight 5.0 Features. Improved Data binding support and Better support for MVVM: One of the greatest strength of Silverlight is its data binding. Microsoft is going to enhanced data binding by providing more ability to debug it. Developer will able to debug the binding expression and other stuff in Siverlight 5.0. Its also going to provide Ancestor Relative source binding which will allow property to bind with container control. MVVM pattern support will also be enhanced. Performance and Speed Enhancement: Now silverlight 5.0 will have support for 64bit browser support. So now you can use that silverlight application on 64 bit platform also. There is no need to take extra care for it.It will also have faster startup time and greater support for hardware acceleration. It will also provide end to end support for hard acceleration features of IE 9. More support for Out Of Browser Application: With Siverlight 4.0 Microsoft has announced new features called out of browser application and it has amazed lots of developer because now possibilities are unlimited with it. Now in silverlight 5.0 Out Of Browser application will have ability to Create Manage child windows just like windows forms or WPF Application. So you can fill power of desktop application with your out of browser application. Testing Support with Visual Studio 2010: Microsoft is going to add automated UI Testing support with Visual Studio 2010 with silverlight 5.0. So now we can test UI of Silverlight much faster. Better Support for RIA Services: RIA Services allows us to create N-tier application with silverlight via creating proxy classes on client and server both side. Now it will more features like complex type support, Custom type support for MVVM(Model View View Model) pattern. WCF Enhancements: There are lots of enhancement with WCF but key enhancement will WSTrust support. Text and Printing Support: Silverlight 5.0 will support vector base graphics. It will also support multicolumn text flow and linked text containers. It will full open type support,Postscript vector enhancement. Improved Power Enhancement: This will prevent screensaver from activating while you are watching videos on silverlight. Silverlight 5.0 is going add that smartness so it can determine while you are going to watch video and while you are not going watch videos. Better support for graphics: Silverlight 5.0 will provide in-depth support for 3D API. Now 3D rendering support is more enhancement in silverlight and 3D graphics can be rendered easily. You can find more details on following links and also don’t forgot to view silverlight firestarter keynot video of scottgu. http://www.silverlight.net/news/events/firestarter-labs/ http://blogs.msdn.com/b/katriend/archive/2010/12/06/silverlight-5-features-firestarter-keynote-and-sessions-resources.aspx http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2010/12/02/announcing-silverlight-5.aspx http://www.silverlight.net/news/events/firestarter/ http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/future/ Hope this will help you. Stay tuned!!!.

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Configuring Fed Authentication Methods in OIF / IdP

- by Damien Carru

In this article, I will provide examples on how to configure OIF/IdP to map OAM Authentication Schemes to Federation Authentication Methods, based on the concepts introduced in my previous entry. I will show examples for the three protocols supported by OIF: SAML 2.0 SSO SAML 1.1 SSO OpenID 2.0 Enjoy the reading! Configuration As I mentioned in my previous article, mapping Federation Authentication Methods to OAM Authentication Schemes is protocol dependent, since the methods are defined in the various protocols (SAML 2.0, SAML 1.1, OpenID 2.0). As such, the WLST commands to set those mappings will involve: Either the SP Partner Profile and affect all Partners referencing that profile, which do not override the Federation Authentication Method to OAM Authentication Scheme mappings Or the SP Partner entry, which will only affect the SP Partner It is important to note that if an SP Partner is configured to define one or more Federation Authentication Method to OAM Authentication Scheme mappings, then all the mappings defined in the SP Partner Profile will be ignored. WLST Commands The two OIF WLST commands that can be used to define mapping Federation Authentication Methods to OAM Authentication Schemes are: addSPPartnerProfileAuthnMethod() to define a mapping on an SP Partner Profile, taking as parameters: The name of the SP Partner Profile The Federation Authentication Method The OAM Authentication Scheme name addSPPartnerAuthnMethod() to define a mapping on an SP Partner , taking as parameters: The name of the SP Partner The Federation Authentication Method The OAM Authentication Scheme name Note: I will discuss in a subsequent article the other parameters of those commands. In the next sections, I will show examples on how to use those methods: For SAML 2.0, I will configure the SP Partner Profile, that will apply all the mappings to SP Partners referencing this profile, unless they override mapping definition For SAML 1.1, I will configure the SP Partner. For OpenID 2.0, I will configure the SP/RP Partner SAML 2.0 Test Setup In this setup, OIF is acting as an IdP and is integrated with a remote SAML 2.0 SP partner identified by AcmeSP. In this test, I will perform Federation SSO with OIF/IdP configured to: Use LDAPScheme as the Authentication Scheme Use BasicScheme as the Authentication Scheme Map BasicSessionScheme to the urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:ac:classes:Password Federation Authentication Method Use OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme as the Authentication Scheme Map OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme to the urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:ac:classes:PasswordProtectedTransport Federation Authentication Method LDAPScheme as Authentication Scheme Using the OOTB settings regarding user authentication in OAM, the user will be challenged via a FORM based login page based on the LDAPScheme. Also the default Federation Authentication Method mappings configuration maps only the urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:ac:classes:PasswordProtectedTransport to LDAPScheme (also marked as the default scheme used for authentication), FAAuthScheme, BasicScheme and BasicFAScheme. After authentication via FORM, OIF/IdP would issue an Assertion similar to: <samlp:Response ...> <saml:Issuer ...>https://idp.com/oam/fed</saml:Issuer> <samlp:Status> <samlp:StatusCode Value="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:status:Success"/> </samlp:Status> <saml:Assertion ...> <saml:Issuer ...>https://idp.com/oam/fed</saml:Issuer> <dsig:Signature> ... </dsig:Signature> <saml:Subject> <saml:NameID ...>[email protected]</saml:NameID> <saml:SubjectConfirmation Method="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:cm:bearer"> <saml:SubjectConfirmationData .../> </saml:SubjectConfirmation> </saml:Subject> <saml:Conditions ...> <saml:AudienceRestriction> <saml:Audience>https://acme.com/sp</saml:Audience> </saml:AudienceRestriction> </saml:Conditions> <saml:AuthnStatement AuthnInstant="2014-03-21T20:53:55Z" SessionIndex="id-6i-Dm0yB-HekG6cejktwcKIFMzYE8Yrmqwfd0azz" SessionNotOnOrAfter="2014-03-21T21:53:55Z"> <saml:AuthnContext> <saml:AuthnContextClassRef> urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:ac:classes:PasswordProtectedTransport </saml:AuthnContextClassRef> </saml:AuthnContext> </saml:AuthnStatement> </saml:Assertion></samlp:Response> BasicScheme as Authentication Scheme For this test, I will switch the default Authentication Scheme for the SP Partner Profile to BasicScheme instead of LDAPScheme. I will use the OIF WLST setSPPartnerProfileDefaultScheme() command and specify which scheme to be used as the default for the SP Partner Profile referenced by AcmeSP (which is saml20-sp-partner-profile in this case: getFedPartnerProfile("AcmeSP", "sp") ): Enter the WLST environment by executing:$IAM_ORACLE_HOME/common/bin/wlst.sh Connect to the WLS Admin server:connect() Navigate to the Domain Runtime branch:domainRuntime() Execute the setSPPartnerProfileDefaultScheme() command:setSPPartnerProfileDefaultScheme("saml20-sp-partner-profile", "BasicScheme") Exit the WLST environment:exit() The user will now be challenged via HTTP Basic Authentication defined in the BasicScheme for AcmeSP. Also, as noted earlier, the default Federation Authentication Method mappings configuration maps only the urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:ac:classes:PasswordProtectedTransport to LDAPScheme (also marked as the default scheme used for authentication), FAAuthScheme, BasicScheme and BasicFAScheme. After authentication via HTTP Basic Authentication, OIF/IdP would issue an Assertion similar to: <samlp:Response ...> <saml:Issuer ...>https://idp.com/oam/fed</saml:Issuer> <samlp:Status> <samlp:StatusCode Value="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:status:Success"/> </samlp:Status> <saml:Assertion ...> <saml:Issuer ...>https://idp.com/oam/fed</saml:Issuer> <dsig:Signature> ... </dsig:Signature> <saml:Subject> <saml:NameID ...>[email protected]</saml:NameID> <saml:SubjectConfirmation Method="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:cm:bearer"> <saml:SubjectConfirmationData .../> </saml:SubjectConfirmation> </saml:Subject> <saml:Conditions ...> <saml:AudienceRestriction> <saml:Audience>https://acme.com/sp</saml:Audience> </saml:AudienceRestriction> </saml:Conditions> <saml:AuthnStatement AuthnInstant="2014-03-21T20:53:55Z" SessionIndex="id-6i-Dm0yB-HekG6cejktwcKIFMzYE8Yrmqwfd0azz" SessionNotOnOrAfter="2014-03-21T21:53:55Z"> <saml:AuthnContext> <saml:AuthnContextClassRef> urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:ac:classes:PasswordProtectedTransport </saml:AuthnContextClassRef> </saml:AuthnContext> </saml:AuthnStatement> </saml:Assertion></samlp:Response> Mapping BasicScheme To change the Federation Authentication Method mapping for the BasicScheme to urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:ac:classes:Password instead of urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:ac:classes:PasswordProtectedTransport for the saml20-sp-partner-profile SAML 2.0 SP Partner Profile (the profile to which my AcmeSP Partner is bound to), I will execute the addSPPartnerProfileAuthnMethod() method: Enter the WLST environment by executing:$IAM_ORACLE_HOME/common/bin/wlst.sh Connect to the WLS Admin server:connect() Navigate to the Domain Runtime branch:domainRuntime() Execute the addSPPartnerProfileAuthnMethod() command:addSPPartnerProfileAuthnMethod("saml20-sp-partner-profile", "urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:ac:classes:Password", "BasicScheme") Exit the WLST environment:exit() After authentication via HTTP Basic Authentication, OIF/IdP would now issue an Assertion similar to (see that the AuthnContextClassRef was changed from PasswordProtectedTransport to Password): <samlp:Response ...> <saml:Issuer ...>https://idp.com/oam/fed</saml:Issuer> <samlp:Status> <samlp:StatusCode Value="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:status:Success"/> </samlp:Status> <saml:Assertion ...> <saml:Issuer ...>https://idp.com/oam/fed</saml:Issuer> <dsig:Signature> ... </dsig:Signature> <saml:Subject> <saml:NameID ...>[email protected]</saml:NameID> <saml:SubjectConfirmation Method="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:cm:bearer"> <saml:SubjectConfirmationData .../> </saml:SubjectConfirmation> </saml:Subject> <saml:Conditions ...> <saml:AudienceRestriction> <saml:Audience>https://acme.com/sp</saml:Audience> </saml:AudienceRestriction> </saml:Conditions> <saml:AuthnStatement AuthnInstant="2014-03-21T20:53:55Z" SessionIndex="id-6i-Dm0yB-HekG6cejktwcKIFMzYE8Yrmqwfd0azz" SessionNotOnOrAfter="2014-03-21T21:53:55Z"> <saml:AuthnContext> <saml:AuthnContextClassRef> urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:ac:classes:Password </saml:AuthnContextClassRef> </saml:AuthnContext> </saml:AuthnStatement> </saml:Assertion></samlp:Response> OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme as Authentication Scheme For this test, I will switch the default Authentication Scheme for the SP Partner Profile to OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme instead of BasicScheme. I will use the OIF WLST setSPPartnerProfileDefaultScheme() command and specify which scheme to be used as the default for the SP Partner Profile referenced by AcmeSP (which is saml20-sp-partner-profile in this case: getFedPartnerProfile("AcmeSP", "sp") ): Enter the WLST environment by executing:$IAM_ORACLE_HOME/common/bin/wlst.sh Connect to the WLS Admin server:connect() Navigate to the Domain Runtime branch:domainRuntime() Execute the setSPPartnerProfileDefaultScheme() command:setSPPartnerProfileDefaultScheme("saml20-sp-partner-profile", "OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme") Exit the WLST environment:exit() The user will now be challenged via FORM defined in the OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme for AcmeSP. Contrarily to LDAPScheme and BasicScheme, the OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme is not mapped by default to any Federation Authentication Methods. As such, OIF/IdP will not be able to find a Federation Authentication Method and will set the method in the SAML Assertion to the OAM Authentication Scheme name. After authentication via FORM, OIF/IdP would issue an Assertion similar to (see the AuthnContextClassRef set to OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme): <samlp:Response ...> <saml:Issuer ...>https://idp.com/oam/fed</saml:Issuer> <samlp:Status> <samlp:StatusCode Value="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:status:Success"/> </samlp:Status> <saml:Assertion ...> <saml:Issuer ...>https://idp.com/oam/fed</saml:Issuer> <dsig:Signature> ... </dsig:Signature> <saml:Subject> <saml:NameID ...>[email protected]</saml:NameID> <saml:SubjectConfirmation Method="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:cm:bearer"> <saml:SubjectConfirmationData .../> </saml:SubjectConfirmation> </saml:Subject> <saml:Conditions ...> <saml:AudienceRestriction> <saml:Audience>https://acme.com/sp</saml:Audience> </saml:AudienceRestriction> </saml:Conditions> <saml:AuthnStatement AuthnInstant="2014-03-21T20:53:55Z" SessionIndex="id-6i-Dm0yB-HekG6cejktwcKIFMzYE8Yrmqwfd0azz" SessionNotOnOrAfter="2014-03-21T21:53:55Z"> <saml:AuthnContext> <saml:AuthnContextClassRef> OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme </saml:AuthnContextClassRef> </saml:AuthnContext> </saml:AuthnStatement> </saml:Assertion></samlp:Response> Mapping OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme To add the OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme to the Federation Authentication Method urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:ac:classes:PasswordProtectedTransport mapping, I will execute the addSPPartnerProfileAuthnMethod() method: Enter the WLST environment by executing:$IAM_ORACLE_HOME/common/bin/wlst.sh Connect to the WLS Admin server:connect() Navigate to the Domain Runtime branch:domainRuntime() Execute the addSPPartnerProfileAuthnMethod() command:addSPPartnerProfileAuthnMethod("saml20-sp-partner-profile", "urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:ac:classes:PasswordProtectedTransport", "OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme") Exit the WLST environment:exit() After authentication via FORM, OIF/IdP would now issue an Assertion similar to (see that the method was changed from OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme to PasswordProtectedTransport): <samlp:Response ...> <saml:Issuer ...>https://idp.com/oam/fed</saml:Issuer> <samlp:Status> <samlp:StatusCode Value="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:status:Success"/> </samlp:Status> <saml:Assertion ...> <saml:Issuer ...>https://idp.com/oam/fed</saml:Issuer> <dsig:Signature> ... </dsig:Signature> <saml:Subject> <saml:NameID ...>[email protected]</saml:NameID> <saml:SubjectConfirmation Method="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:cm:bearer"> <saml:SubjectConfirmationData .../> </saml:SubjectConfirmation> </saml:Subject> <saml:Conditions ...> <saml:AudienceRestriction> <saml:Audience>https://acme.com/sp</saml:Audience> </saml:AudienceRestriction> </saml:Conditions> <saml:AuthnStatement AuthnInstant="2014-03-21T20:53:55Z" SessionIndex="id-6i-Dm0yB-HekG6cejktwcKIFMzYE8Yrmqwfd0azz" SessionNotOnOrAfter="2014-03-21T21:53:55Z"> <saml:AuthnContext> <saml:AuthnContextClassRef> urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:ac:classes:PasswordProtectedTransport </saml:AuthnContextClassRef> </saml:AuthnContext> </saml:AuthnStatement> </saml:Assertion></samlp:Response> SAML 1.1 Test Setup In this setup, OIF is acting as an IdP and is integrated with a remote SAML 1.1 SP partner identified by AcmeSP. In this test, I will perform Federation SSO with OIF/IdP configured to: Use LDAPScheme as the Authentication Scheme Use OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme as the Authentication Scheme Map OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme to the urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:ac:classes:PasswordProtectedTransport Federation Authentication Method Use LDAPScheme as the Authentication Scheme Map LDAPScheme to the urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:ac:classes:PasswordProtectedTransport Federation Authentication Method LDAPScheme as Authentication Scheme Using the OOTB settings regarding user authentication in OAM, the user will be challenged via a FORM based login page based on the LDAPScheme. Also the default Federation Authentication Method mappings configuration maps only the urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.0:am:password to LDAPScheme (also marked as the default scheme used for authentication), FAAuthScheme, BasicScheme and BasicFAScheme. After authentication via FORM, OIF/IdP would issue an Assertion similar to: <samlp:Response ...> <samlp:Status> <samlp:StatusCode Value="samlp:Success"/> </samlp:Status> <saml:Assertion Issuer="https://idp.com/oam/fed" ...> <saml:Conditions ...> <saml:AudienceRestriction> <saml:Audience>https://acme.com/sp/ssov11</saml:Audience> </saml:AudienceRestriction> </saml:Conditions> <saml:AuthnStatement AuthenticationInstant="2014-03-21T20:53:55Z" AuthenticationMethod="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.0:am:password"> <saml:Subject> <saml:NameIdentifier ...>[email protected]</saml:NameIdentifier> <saml:SubjectConfirmation> <saml:ConfirmationMethod> urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.0:cm:bearer </saml:ConfirmationMethod> </saml:SubjectConfirmation> </saml:Subject> </saml:AuthnStatement> <dsig:Signature> ... </dsig:Signature> </saml:Assertion></samlp:Response> OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme as Authentication Scheme For this test, I will switch the default Authentication Scheme for the SP Partner to OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme instead of LDAPScheme. I will use the OIF WLST setSPPartnerDefaultScheme() command and specify which scheme to be used as the default for the SP Partner: Enter the WLST environment by executing:$IAM_ORACLE_HOME/common/bin/wlst.sh Connect to the WLS Admin server:connect() Navigate to the Domain Runtime branch:domainRuntime() Execute the setSPPartnerDefaultScheme() command:setSPPartnerDefaultScheme("AcmeSP", "OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme") Exit the WLST environment:exit() The user will be challenged via FORM defined in the OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme for AcmeSP. Contrarily to LDAPScheme, the OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme is not mapped by default to any Federation Authentication Methods (in the SP Partner Profile). As such, OIF/IdP will not be able to find a Federation Authentication Method and will set the method in the SAML Assertion to the OAM Authentication Scheme name. After authentication via FORM, OIF/IdP would issue an Assertion similar to (see the AuthenticationMethod set to OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme): <samlp:Response ...> <samlp:Status> <samlp:StatusCode Value="samlp:Success"/> </samlp:Status> <saml:Assertion Issuer="https://idp.com/oam/fed" ...> <saml:Conditions ...> <saml:AudienceRestriction> <saml:Audience>https://acme.com/sp/ssov11</saml:Audience> </saml:AudienceRestriction> </saml:Conditions> <saml:AuthnStatement AuthenticationInstant="2014-03-21T20:53:55Z" AuthenticationMethod="OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme"> <saml:Subject> <saml:NameIdentifier ...>[email protected]</saml:NameIdentifier> <saml:SubjectConfirmation> <saml:ConfirmationMethod> urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.0:cm:bearer </saml:ConfirmationMethod> </saml:SubjectConfirmation> </saml:Subject> </saml:AuthnStatement> <dsig:Signature> ... </dsig:Signature> </saml:Assertion></samlp:Response> Mapping OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme To map the OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme to the Federation Authentication Method urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.0:am:password for this SP Partner only, I will execute the addSPPartnerAuthnMethod() method: Enter the WLST environment by executing:$IAM_ORACLE_HOME/common/bin/wlst.sh Connect to the WLS Admin server:connect() Navigate to the Domain Runtime branch:domainRuntime() Execute the addSPPartnerAuthnMethod() command:addSPPartnerAuthnMethod("AcmeSP", "urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.0:am:password", "OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme") Exit the WLST environment:exit() After authentication via FORM, OIF/IdP would now issue an Assertion similar to (see that the method was changed from OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme to password): <samlp:Response ...> <samlp:Status> <samlp:StatusCode Value="samlp:Success"/> </samlp:Status> <saml:Assertion Issuer="https://idp.com/oam/fed" ...> <saml:Conditions ...> <saml:AudienceRestriction> <saml:Audience>https://acme.com/sp/ssov11</saml:Audience> </saml:AudienceRestriction> </saml:Conditions> <saml:AuthnStatement AuthenticationInstant="2014-03-21T20:53:55Z" AuthenticationMethod="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.0:am:password"> <saml:Subject> <saml:NameIdentifier ...>[email protected]</saml:NameIdentifier> <saml:SubjectConfirmation> <saml:ConfirmationMethod> urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.0:cm:bearer </saml:ConfirmationMethod> </saml:SubjectConfirmation> </saml:Subject> </saml:AuthnStatement> <dsig:Signature> ... </dsig:Signature> </saml:Assertion></samlp:Response> LDAPScheme as Authentication Scheme I will now show that by defining a Federation Authentication Mapping at the Partner level, this now ignores all mappings defined at the SP Partner Profile level. For this test, I will switch the default Authentication Scheme for this SP Partner back to LDAPScheme, and the Assertion issued by OIF/IdP will not be able to map this LDAPScheme to a Federation Authentication Method anymore, since A Federation Authentication Method mapping is defined at the SP Partner level and thus the mappings defined at the SP Partner Profile are ignored The LDAPScheme is not listed in the mapping at the Partner level I will use the OIF WLST setSPPartnerDefaultScheme() command and specify which scheme to be used as the default for this SP Partner: Enter the WLST environment by executing:$IAM_ORACLE_HOME/common/bin/wlst.sh Connect to the WLS Admin server:connect() Navigate to the Domain Runtime branch:domainRuntime() Execute the setSPPartnerDefaultScheme() command:setSPPartnerDefaultScheme("AcmeSP", "LDAPScheme") Exit the WLST environment:exit() After authentication via FORM, OIF/IdP would issue an Assertion similar to (see the AuthenticationMethod set to LDAPScheme): <samlp:Response ...> <samlp:Status> <samlp:StatusCode Value="samlp:Success"/> </samlp:Status> <saml:Assertion Issuer="https://idp.com/oam/fed" ...> <saml:Conditions ...> <saml:AudienceRestriction> <saml:Audience>https://acme.com/sp/ssov11</saml:Audience> </saml:AudienceRestriction> </saml:Conditions> <saml:AuthnStatement AuthenticationInstant="2014-03-21T20:53:55Z" AuthenticationMethod="LDAPScheme"> <saml:Subject> <saml:NameIdentifier ...>[email protected]</saml:NameIdentifier> <saml:SubjectConfirmation> <saml:ConfirmationMethod> urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.0:cm:bearer </saml:ConfirmationMethod> </saml:SubjectConfirmation> </saml:Subject> </saml:AuthnStatement> <dsig:Signature> ... </dsig:Signature> </saml:Assertion></samlp:Response> Mapping LDAPScheme at Partner Level To fix this issue, we will need to add the LDAPScheme to the Federation Authentication Method urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.0:am:password mapping for this SP Partner only. I will execute the addSPPartnerAuthnMethod() method: Enter the WLST environment by executing:$IAM_ORACLE_HOME/common/bin/wlst.sh Connect to the WLS Admin server:connect() Navigate to the Domain Runtime branch:domainRuntime() Execute the addSPPartnerAuthnMethod() command:addSPPartnerAuthnMethod("AcmeSP", "urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.0:am:password", "LDAPScheme") Exit the WLST environment:exit() After authentication via FORM, OIF/IdP would now issue an Assertion similar to (see that the method was changed from LDAPScheme to password): <samlp:Response ...> <samlp:Status> <samlp:StatusCode Value="samlp:Success"/> </samlp:Status> <saml:Assertion Issuer="https://idp.com/oam/fed" ...> <saml:Conditions ...> <saml:AudienceRestriction> <saml:Audience>https://acme.com/sp/ssov11</saml:Audience> </saml:AudienceRestriction> </saml:Conditions> <saml:AuthnStatement AuthenticationInstant="2014-03-21T20:53:55Z" AuthenticationMethod="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.0:am:password"> <saml:Subject> <saml:NameIdentifier ...>[email protected]</saml:NameIdentifier> <saml:SubjectConfirmation> <saml:ConfirmationMethod> urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.0:cm:bearer </saml:ConfirmationMethod> </saml:SubjectConfirmation> </saml:Subject> </saml:AuthnStatement> <dsig:Signature> ... </dsig:Signature> </saml:Assertion></samlp:Response> OpenID 2.0 In the OpenID 2.0 flows, the RP must request use of PAPE, in order for OIF/IdP/OP to include PAPE information. For OpenID 2.0, the configuration will involve mapping a list of OpenID 2.0 policies to a list of Authentication Schemes. The WLST command will take a list of policies, delimited by the ',' character, instead of SAML 2.0 or SAML 1.1 where a single Federation Authentication Method had to be specified. Test Setup In this setup, OIF is acting as an IdP/OP and is integrated with a remote OpenID 2.0 SP/RP partner identified by AcmeRP. In this test, I will perform Federation SSO with OIF/IdP configured to: Use LDAPScheme as the Authentication Scheme Map LDAPScheme to the http://schemas.openid.net/pape/policies/2007/06/phishing-resistant and http://openid-policies/password-protected policies Federation Authentication Methods (the second one is a custom for this use case) LDAPScheme as Authentication Scheme Using the OOTB settings regarding user authentication in OAM, the user will be challenged via a FORM based login page based on the LDAPScheme. No Federation Authentication Method is defined OOTB for OpenID 2.0, so if the IdP/OP issue an SSO response with a PAPE Response element, it will specify the scheme name instead of Federation Authentication Methods After authentication via FORM, OIF/IdP would issue an SSO Response similar to: https://acme.com/openid?refid=id-9PKVXZmRxAeDYcgLqPm36ClzOMA-&openid.ns=http%3A%2F%2Fspecs.openid.net%2Fauth%2F2.0&openid.mode=id_res&openid.op_endpoint=https%3A%2F%2Fidp.com%2Fopenid&openid.claimed_id=https%3A%2F%2Fidp.com%2Fopenid%3Fid%3Did-38iCmmlAVEXPsFjnFVKArfn5RIiF75D5doorhEgqqPM%3D&openid.identity=https%3A%2F%2Fidp.com%2Fopenid%3Fid%3Did-38iCmmlAVEXPsFjnFVKArfn5RIiF75D5doorhEgqqPM%3D&openid.return_to=https%3A%2F%2Facme.com%2Fopenid%3Frefid%3Did-9PKVXZmRxAeDYcgLqPm36ClzOMA-&openid.response_nonce=2014-03-24T19%3A20%3A06Zid-YPa2kTNNFftZkgBb460jxJGblk2g--iNwPpDI7M1&openid.assoc_handle=id-6a5S6zhAKaRwQNUnjTKROREdAGSjWodG1el4xyz3&openid.ns.ax=http%3A%2F%2Fopenid.net%2Fsrv%2Fax%2F1.0&openid.ax.mode=fetch_response&openid.ax.type.attr0=http%3A%2F%2Fsession%2Fcount&openid.ax.value.attr0=1&openid.ax.type.attr1=http%3A%2F%2Fopenid.net%2Fschema%2FnamePerson%2Ffriendly&openid.ax.value.attr1=My+name+is+Bobby+Smith&openid.ax.type.attr2=http%3A%2F%2Fschemas.openid.net%2Fax%2Fapi%2Fuser_id&openid.ax.value.attr2=bob&openid.ax.type.attr3=http%3A%2F%2Faxschema.org%2Fcontact%2Femail&openid.ax.value.attr3=bob%40oracle.com&openid.ax.type.attr4=http%3A%2F%2Fsession%2Fipaddress&openid.ax.value.attr4=10.145.120.253&openid.ns.pape=http%3A%2F%2Fspecs.openid.net%2Fextensions%2Fpape%2F1.0&openid.pape.auth_time=2014-03-24T19%3A20%3A05Z&openid.pape.auth_policies=LDAPScheme&openid.signed=op_endpoint%2Cclaimed_id%2Cidentity%2Creturn_to%2Cresponse_nonce%2Cassoc_handle%2Cns.ax%2Cax.mode%2Cax.type.attr0%2Cax.value.attr0%2Cax.type.attr1%2Cax.value.attr1%2Cax.type.attr2%2Cax.value.attr2%2Cax.type.attr3%2Cax.value.attr3%2Cax.type.attr4%2Cax.value.attr4%2Cns.pape%2Cpape.auth_time%2Cpape.auth_policies&openid.sig=mYMgbGYSs22l8e%2FDom9NRPw15u8%3D Mapping LDAPScheme To map the LDAP Scheme to the http://schemas.openid.net/pape/policies/2007/06/phishing-resistant and http://openid-policies/password-protected policies Federation Authentication Methods, I will execute the addSPPartnerAuthnMethod() method (the policies will be comma separated): Enter the WLST environment by executing:$IAM_ORACLE_HOME/common/bin/wlst.sh Connect to the WLS Admin server:connect() Navigate to the Domain Runtime branch:domainRuntime() Execute the addSPPartnerAuthnMethod() command:addSPPartnerAuthnMethod("AcmeRP", "http://schemas.openid.net/pape/policies/2007/06/phishing-resistant,http://openid-policies/password-protected", "LDAPScheme") Exit the WLST environment:exit() After authentication via FORM, OIF/IdP would now issue an Assertion similar to (see that the method was changed from LDAPScheme to the two policies): https://acme.com/openid?refid=id-9PKVXZmRxAeDYcgLqPm36ClzOMA-&openid.ns=http%3A%2F%2Fspecs.openid.net%2Fauth%2F2.0&openid.mode=id_res&openid.op_endpoint=https%3A%2F%2Fidp.com%2Fopenid&openid.claimed_id=https%3A%2F%2Fidp.com%2Fopenid%3Fid%3Did-38iCmmlAVEXPsFjnFVKArfn5RIiF75D5doorhEgqqPM%3D&openid.identity=https%3A%2F%2Fidp.com%2Fopenid%3Fid%3Did-38iCmmlAVEXPsFjnFVKArfn5RIiF75D5doorhEgqqPM%3D&openid.return_to=https%3A%2F%2Facme.com%2Fopenid%3Frefid%3Did-9PKVXZmRxAeDYcgLqPm36ClzOMA-&openid.response_nonce=2014-03-24T19%3A20%3A06Zid-YPa2kTNNFftZkgBb460jxJGblk2g--iNwPpDI7M1&openid.assoc_handle=id-6a5S6zhAKaRwQNUnjTKROREdAGSjWodG1el4xyz3&openid.ns.ax=http%3A%2F%2Fopenid.net%2Fsrv%2Fax%2F1.0&openid.ax.mode=fetch_response&openid.ax.type.attr0=http%3A%2F%2Fsession%2Fcount&openid.ax.value.attr0=1&openid.ax.type.attr1=http%3A%2F%2Fopenid.net%2Fschema%2FnamePerson%2Ffriendly&openid.ax.value.attr1=My+name+is+Bobby+Smith&openid.ax.type.attr2=http%3A%2F%2Fschemas.openid.net%2Fax%2Fapi%2Fuser_id&openid.ax.value.attr2=bob&openid.ax.type.attr3=http%3A%2F%2Faxschema.org%2Fcontact%2Femail&openid.ax.value.attr3=bob%40oracle.com&openid.ax.type.attr4=http%3A%2F%2Fsession%2Fipaddress&openid.ax.value.attr4=10.145.120.253&openid.ns.pape=http%3A%2F%2Fspecs.openid.net%2Fextensions%2Fpape%2F1.0&openid.pape.auth_time=2014-03-24T19%3A20%3A05Z&openid.pape.auth_policies=http%3A%2F%2Fschemas.openid.net%2Fpape%2Fpolicies%2F2007%2F06%2Fphishing-resistant+http%3A%2F%2Fopenid-policies%2Fpassword-protected&openid.signed=op_endpoint%2Cclaimed_id%2Cidentity%2Creturn_to%2Cresponse_nonce%2Cassoc_handle%2Cns.ax%2Cax.mode%2Cax.type.attr0%2Cax.value.attr0%2Cax.type.attr1%2Cax.value.attr1%2Cax.type.attr2%2Cax.value.attr2%2Cax.type.attr3%2Cax.value.attr3%2Cax.type.attr4%2Cax.value.attr4%2Cns.pape%2Cpape.auth_time%2Cpape.auth_policies&openid.sig=mYMgbGYSs22l8e%2FDom9NRPw15u8%3D In the next article, I will cover how OIF/IdP can be configured so that an SP can request a specific Federation Authentication Method to challenge the user during Federation SSO.Cheers,Damien Carru

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Silverlight Cream for March 25, 2010 -- #820

- by Dave Campbell

In this Issue: René Schulte, Jeremy Likness, Hassan, Victor Gaudioso, SilverLaw, Mike Taulty, Phani Raj, Tim Heuer, Christian Schormann, Brad Abrams, David Anson, Diptimaya Patra, and Daniel Vaughan. Shoutouts: Last week, Koen Zwikstra announced Silverlight Spy at MIX10 Anand Iyer announced this for students on the Windows Team Blog: Be a Windows Phone 7 “Rockstar” Justin Angel blogged that Silverlight Isn't Fully Cross-Platform ... let him know if you think it's a yawn or important. On behalf of SilverlightShow, Cigdem Patlak posted MIX10: Laurent Bugnion on Silverlight adoption, WP7 and the EcoContest From SilverlightCream.com: Coding4Fun - Silverlight Real Time Face Detection René Schulte has a Coding 4 Fun article posted on facial recognition. Who better to be manipulating graphics like this than René? Sequential Asynchronous Workflows Part 2: Simplified Jeremy Likness follows up his previous post with another one that is 'simplified'. Remember his previous post began with a post on the Silverlight.net forum and Rob Eisenburg's MVVM presentation from MIX10 Windows Phone 7 Video Tutorial Hassan has a new video up on his AfricanGeek site, and that's a continuation of his previous WP7 video tutorial, adding a listbox and databinding it to the selected index of another listbox. The Los Angeles Silverlight Usergorup will be Streaming its March Meeting LIVE in Silverlight – Tonight! Victor Gaudioso used his Live Streaming knowledge to stream his User Group meeting last night from LA where Michael Washington presented on MVVM followed by Victor himself. That was last night. Today he has a couple of the videos up to view. Shining 3D Font Design - Silverlight 3 SilverLaw has a "Shining 3D Font" tutorial up, and a video on it here: New Video: How to create a 3D effect on a Silverlight 3 Textblock ... this is also available in the Expression Gallery. Silverlight 4 RC – Signing trusted apps with home made certificates Mike Taulty has a post up about building a hand-rolled cert to test out the XAP signing features, and then gives a nod to John Papa with a link to the Silverlight White Paper I've posted about before, because this info is in there as well. Developing a Windows Phone 7 Application that consumes OData Phani Raj has a tutorial up on consuming the NetFlix OData catalog on the WP7 emulator ... now *that* is cool! Make your Silverlight applications Speak to you with Microsoft Translator Tim Heuer used Silverlight to demonstrate Microsoft Translator as a speech synthesis tool using the Speak API included ... pretty cool, Tim ... lots of external links and code. Blend 4: About Path Layout, Sidebar – More About ListBox Than You Ever Wanted To Know Christian Schormann has another outstanding tutorial up on the ListBox and PathLayout in Expression Blend ... just check out the screen shots and you'll wanna read it! Silverlight 4 + RIA Services: Ready for Business: Updating Data in the Client This is the continuation of Brad Abrams' series on WCF RIA Services and is a tutorial on setting up to deal with updating the data. Tip: The CLR wrapper for a DependencyProperty should do its job and nothing more David Anson is posting some "Development Tips", and this is the first ... discussing making sure your DependencyProperty CLR wrapper stays on point... Create and Apply Theme Silverlight Application Diptimaya Patra has a tutorial up on creating and using themes. He states that "Themes are nothing but some predefined styles" ... check it out and see if it's really that easy :) Building a Windows Phone 7 Puzzle Game Daniel Vaughan has a great post up starting with installing all the tools and ending with a maze game for WP7 using XNA for sound... this is the first I've seen that integrates XNA (I think). Stay in the 'Light! Twitter SilverlightNews | Twitter WynApse | WynApse.com | Tagged Posts | SilverlightCream Join me @ SilverlightCream | Phoenix Silverlight User Group Technorati Tags: Silverlight Silverlight 3 Silverlight 4 Windows Phone MIX10

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Combine the Address & Search Bars in Firefox

- by Asian Angel

The Search Bar in Firefox is very useful for finding additional information or images while browsing but the UI space it takes up can be frustrating at times. Now you can reclaim that UI space and still have access to all that searching goodness with the Foobar extension. Note: This is about the Foobar Firefox extension and not to be confused with Foobar2000 the open source music player. Before If you have the “Search Bar” displayed there is no doubt that it is taking up valuable space in your browser’s UI. What you need is the ability to reclaim that UI space and still have the same access to your search capability as before…no more sacrificing one for a gain with the other. After As soon as you have installed the extension you can see that the top part of your browser will look much sleeker without the “Search Bar” to clutter it up. The “Search Engine Icon” will now be visible inside of your “Address Bar” as seen here. You will be able to access the same “Search Engine Menu” as before by clicking on the “Search Engine Icon”. There are two display modes for search results (setting available in the “Options”). The first one shown here is “Simple Mode” where all results are in a condensed format. Notice that not only are there search suggestions but also “Bookmarks & History” listings as well. You can literally get the best of both when conducting a search. Note: The number of entries for search suggestions and bookmark/history listings can be adjusted higher or lower in the “Options”. The second one is “Rich Mode” where the results are shown with more details. Choose the “mode” that best suits your personal style. For our first example you can see the results when we conducted a quick search on “Windows 7” (using the first of the three offerings shown from Bing). Our second example was a search for “Flowers” using our Photobucket search engine. Once again nice results opened in a new tab for us. Options The options are easy to go through. It is really nice to be able to choose the number of results that you want displayed and the format that you want them shown in. Note: Changing the “Suggestion popup style” will require a browser restart to take effect. Conclusion If you love using the “Search Bar” in Firefox but want to reclaim the UI space then you will definitely want to add this extension to your browser. The ability to customize the number of results and choose the formatting make this extension even better. Links Download the Foobar extension (Mozilla Add-ons) Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Combine the Address Bar and Progress Bar Together in FirefoxHide Some or All of the GUI Bars in FirefoxEnable Partial Match AutoComplete in the Firefox Address BarQuick Firefox UI TweaksAdd Search Forms to the Firefox Search Bar TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 PCmover Professional Scan your PC for nasties with Panda ActiveScan CleanMem – Memory Cleaner AceStock – The Personal Stock Monitor Add Multiple Tabs to Office Programs The Wearing of the Green – St. Patrick’s Day Theme (Firefox) Perform a Background Check on Yourself

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Countdown of Top 10 Reasons to Never Ever Use a Pie Chart

- by Tony Wolfram

Pie charts are evil. They represent much of what is wrong with the poor design of many websites and software applications. They're also innefective, misleading, and innacurate. Using a pie chart as your graph of choice to visually display important statistics and information demonstrates either a lack of knowledge, laziness, or poor design skills. Figure 1: A floating, tilted, 3D pie chart with shadow trying (poorly)to show usage statistics within a graphics application. Of course, pie charts in and of themselves are not evil. This blog is really about designers making poor decisions for all the wrong reasons. In order for a pie chart to appear on a web page, somebody chose it over the other alternatives, and probably thought they were doing the right thing. They weren't. Using a pie chart is almost always a bad design decision. Figure 2: Pie Chart from an Oracle Reports User Guide A pie chart does not do the job of effectively displaying information in an elegant visual form. Being circular, they use up too much space while not allowing their labels to line up. Bar charts, line charts, and tables do a much better job. Expert designers, statisticians, and business analysts have documented their many failings, and strongly urge software and report designers not to use them. It's obvious to them that the pie chart has too many inherent defects to ever be used effectively. Figure 3: Demonstration of how comparing data between multiple pie charts is difficult. Yet pie charts are still used frequently in today's software applications, financial reports, and websites, often on the opening page as a symbol of how the data inside is represented. In an attempt to get a flashy colorful graphic to break up boring text, designers will often settle for a pie chart that looks like pac man, a colored spinning wheel, or a 3D floating alien space ship. Figure 4: Best use of a pie chart I've found yet. Why is the pie chart so popular? Through its constant use and iconic representation as the classic chart, the idea persists that it must be a good choice, since everyone else is still using it. Like a virus or an urban legend, no amount of vaccine or debunking will slow down the use of pie charts, which seem to be resistant to logic and common sense. Even the new iPad from Apple showcases the pie chart as one of its options. Figure 5: Screen shot of new iPad showcasing pie charts. Regardless of the futility in trying to rid the planet of this often used poor design choice, I now present to you my top 10 reasons why you should never, ever user a pie chart again. Number 10 - Pie Charts Just Don't Work When Comparing Data Number 9 - You Have A Better Option: The Sorted Horizontal Bar Chart Number 8 - The Pie Chart is Always Round Number 7 - Some Genius Will Make It 3D Number 6 - Legends and Labels are Hard to Align and Read Number 5 - Nobody Has Ever Made a Critical Decision Using a Pie Chart Number 4 - It Doesn't Scale Well to More Than 2 Items Number 3 - A Pie Chart Causes Distortions and Errors Number 2 - Everyone Else Uses Them: Debunking the "Urban Legend" of Pie Charts Number 1 - Pie Charts Make You Look Stupid and Lazy

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HOWTO Turn off SPARC T4 or Intel AES-NI crypto acceleration.

- by darrenm

Since we released hardware crypto acceleration for SPARC T4 and Intel AES-NI support we have had a common question come up: 'How do I test without the hardware crypto acceleration?'. Initially this came up just for development use so developers can do unit testing on a machine that has hardware offload but still cover the code paths for a machine that doesn't (our integration and release testing would run on all supported types of hardware anyway). I've also seen it asked in a customer context too so that we can show that there is a performance gain from the hardware crypto acceleration, (not just the fact that SPARC T4 much faster performing processor than T3) and measure what it is for their application. With SPARC T2/T3 we could easily disable the hardware crypto offload by running 'cryptoadm disable provider=n2cp/0'. We can't do that with SPARC T4 or with Intel AES-NI because in both of those classes of processor the encryption doesn't require a device driver instead it is unprivileged user land callable instructions. Turns out there is away to do this by using features of the Solaris runtime loader (ld.so.1). First I need to expose a little bit of implementation detail about how the Solaris Cryptographic Framework is implemented in Solaris 11. One of the new Solaris 11 features of the linker/loader is the ability to have a single ELF object that has multiple different implementations of the same functions that are selected at runtime based on the capabilities of the machine. The alternate to this is having the application coded to call getisax() and make the choice itself. We use this functionality of the linker/loader when we build the userland libraries for the Solaris Cryptographic Framework (specifically libmd.so, and the unfortunately misnamed due to historical reasons libsoftcrypto.so) The Solaris linker/loader allows control of a lot of its functionality via environment variables, we can use that to control the version of the cryptographic functions we run. To do this we simply export the LD_HWCAP environment variable with values that tell ld.so.1 to not select the HWCAP section matching certain features even if isainfo says they are present. For SPARC T4 that would be: export LD_HWCAP="-aes -des -md5 -sha256 -sha512 -mont -mpul" and for Intel systems with AES-NI support: export LD_HWCAP="-aes" This will work for consumers of the Solaris Cryptographic Framework that use the Solaris PKCS#11 libraries or use libmd.so interfaces directly. It also works for the Oracle DB and Java JCE. However does not work for the default enabled OpenSSL "t4" or "aes-ni" engines (unfortunately) because they do explicit calls to getisax() themselves rather than using multiple ELF cap sections. However we can still use OpenSSL to demonstrate this by explicitly selecting "pkcs11" engine using only a single process and thread. $ openssl speed -engine pkcs11 -evp aes-128-cbc ... type 16 bytes 64 bytes 256 bytes 1024 bytes 8192 bytes aes-128-cbc 54170.81k 187416.00k 489725.70k 805445.63k 1018880.00k $ LD_HWCAP="-aes" openssl speed -engine pkcs11 -evp aes-128-cbc ... type 16 bytes 64 bytes 256 bytes 1024 bytes 8192 bytes aes-128-cbc 29376.37k 58328.13k 79031.55k 86738.26k 89191.77k We can clearly see the difference this makes in the case where AES offload to the SPARC T4 was disabled. The "t4" engine is faster than the pkcs11 one because there is less overhead (again on a SPARC T4-1 using only a single process/thread - using -multi you will get even bigger numbers). $ openssl speed -evp aes-128-cbc ... type 16 bytes 64 bytes 256 bytes 1024 bytes 8192 bytes aes-128-cbc 85526.61k 89298.84k 91970.30k 92662.78k 92842.67k Yet another cool feature of the Solaris linker/loader, thanks Rod and Ali. Note these above openssl speed output is not intended to show the actual performance of any particular benchmark just that there is a significant improvement from using hardware acceleration on SPARC T4. For cryptographic performance benchmarks see the http://blogs.oracle.com/BestPerf/ postings.

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How to place rooms proceduraly (rule based) on in a game word

- by gardian06

I am trying to design the algorithm for my level generation which is a rule driven system. I have created all the rules for the system. I have taken care to insure that all rooms make sense in a grid type setup. for example: these rooms could make this configuration The logic flow code that I have so far Door{ Vector3 position; POD orient; // 5 possible values (up is not an option) bool Open; } Room{ String roomRule; Vector3 roomPos; Vector3 dimensions; POD roomOrient; // 4 possible values List doors<Door>; } LevelManager{ float scale = 18f; List usedRooms<Room>; List openDoors<Door> bool Grid[][][]; Room CreateRoom(String rule, Vector3 position, POD Orient){ place recieved values based on rule fill in other data } Vector3 getDimenstions(String rule){ return dimensions of the room } RotateRoom(POD rotateAmount){ rotate all items in the room } MoveRoom(Room toBeMoved, POD orientataion, float distance){ move the position of the room based on inputs } GenerateMap(Vector3 size, Vector3 start, Vector3 end){ Grid = array[size.y][size.x][size.z]; Room floatingRoom; floatingRoom = Room.CreateRoom(S01, start, rand(4)); usedRooms.Add(floatingRoom); for each Door in floatingRoom.doors{ openDoors.Add(door); } // fill used grid spaces floatingRoom = Room.CreateRoom(S02, end, rand(4); usedRooms.Add(floatingRoom); for each Door in floatingRoom.doors{ openDoors.Add(door); } Vector3 nRoomLocation; Door workingDoor; string workingRoom; // fill used grid spaces // pick random door on the openDoors list workingDoor = /*randomDoor*/ // get a random rule nRoomLocation = workingDoor.position; // then I'm lost } } I know that I have to make sure for convergence (namely the end is reachable), and to do this until there are no more doors on the openDoors list. right now I am simply trying to get this to work in 2D (there are rules that introduce 3D), but I am working on a presumption that a rigorous algorithm can be trivially extended to 3D. EDIT: my thought pattern so far is to take an existing open door and then pick a random room (restrictions can be put in later) place that room's center at the doors location move the room in the direction of the doors orientation half the rooms dimension w/respect to that axis then test against the 3D array to see if all the grid points are open, or have been used, or if there is even space to put the room (caseEdge) if caseEdge (which can also occur in between rooms) then put the door on a toBeClosed list, and remove it from the open list (placing a wall or something there). then to do some kind of test that both the start, and the goal are connected, and reachable from each other (each room has nodes for AI, but I don't want to "have" to pull those out to accomplish this). but this logic has the problem for say the U, or L shaped rooms in my example, and then I also have a problem conceptually if the room needs to be rotated.

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Don’t string together XML

- by KyleBurns

XML has been a pervasive tool in software development for over a decade. It provides a way to communicate data in a manner that is simple to understand and free of platform dependencies. Also pervasive in software development is what I consider to be the anti-pattern of using string manipulation to create XML. This usually starts with a “quick and dirty” approach because you need an XML document and looks like (for all of the examples here, we’ll assume we’re writing the body of a method intended to take a Contact object and return an XML string): return string.Format("<Contact><BusinessName>{0}</BusinessName></Contact>", contact.BusinessName); In the code example, I created (or at least believe I created) an XML document representing a simple contact object in one line of code with very little overhead. Work’s done, right? No it’s not. You see, what I didn’t realize was that this code would be used in the real world instead of my fantasy world where I own all the data and can prevent any of it containing problematic values. If I use this code to create a contact record for the business “Sanford & Son”, any XML parser will be incapable of processing the data because the ampersand is special in XML and should have been encoded as &. Following the pattern that I have seen many times over, my next step as a developer is going to be to do what any developer in his right mind would do – instruct the user that ampersands are “bad” and they cannot be used without breaking computers. This may work in many cases and is often accompanied by logic at the UI layer of applications to block these “bad” characters, but sooner or later someone is going to figure out that other applications allow for them and will want the same. This often leads to the creation of “cleaner” functions that perform a replace on the strings for every special character that the person writing the function can think of. The cleaner function will usually grow over time as support requests reveal characters that were missed in the initial cut. Sooner or later you end up writing your own somewhat functional XML engine. I have never been told by anyone paying me to write code that they would like to buy a somewhat functional XML engine. My employer/customer’s needs have always been for something that may use XML, but ultimately is functionality that drives business value. I’m not going to build an XML engine. So how can I generate XML that is always well-formed without writing my own engine? Easy – use one of the ones provided to you for free! If you’re in a shop that still supports VB6 applications, you can use the DomDocument or MXXMLWriter object (of the two I prefer MXXMLWriter, but I’m not going to fully describe either here). For .Net Framework applications prior to the 3.5 framework, the code is a little more verbose than I would like, but easy once you understand what pieces are required: using (StringWriter sw = new StringWriter()) { using (XmlTextWriter writer = new XmlTextWriter(sw)) { writer.WriteStartDocument(); writer.WriteStartElement("Contact"); writer.WriteElementString("BusinessName", contact.BusinessName); writer.WriteEndElement(); // end Contact element writer.WriteEndDocument(); writer.Flush(); return sw.ToString(); } } Looking at that code, it’s easy to understand why people are drawn to the initial one-liner. Lucky for us, the 3.5 .Net Framework added the System.Xml.Linq.XElement object. This object takes away a lot of the complexity present in the XmlTextWriter approach and allows us to generate the document as follows: return new XElement("Contact", new XElement("BusinessName", contact.BusinessName)).ToString(); While it is very common for people to use string manipulation to create XML, I’ve discussed here reasons not to use this method and introduced powerful APIs that are built into the .Net Framework as an alternative. I’ve given a very simplistic example here to highlight the most basic XML generation task. For more information on the XmlTextWriter and XElement APIs, check out the MSDN library.

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Calling C# object method from IronPython

- by Jason

I'm trying to embed a scripting engine in my game. Since I'm writing it in C#, I figured IronPython would be a great fit, but the examples I've been able to find all focus on calling IronPython methods in C# instead of C# methods in IronPython scripts. To complicate things, I'm using Visual Studio 2010 RC1 on Windows 7 64 bit. IronRuby works like I expect it would, but I'm not very familiar with Ruby or Python syntax. What I'm doing: ScriptEngine engine = Python.CreateEngine(); ScriptScope scope = engine.CreateScope(); //Test class with a method that prints to the screen. scope.SetVariable("test", this); ScriptSource source = engine.CreateScriptSourceFromString("test.SayHello()", Microsoft.Scripting.SourceCodeKind.Statements); source.Execute(scope); This generates an error, "'TestClass' object has no attribute 'SayHello'" This exact set up works fine with IronRuby though using "self.test.SayHello()" I'm wary using IronRuby though because it doesn't appear as mature as IronPython. If it's close enough, I might go with that though. Any ideas? I know this has to be something simple.

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Need help on HL7

- by rohit

Hi All, I need all your help in guiding me with working on HL7 Interface Integration which I am to work on between two disperate clinical applications. Its something like this ,let me explain my query with an example. "We have Epic system that places orders(lab,medications..etc) presently.Now,next these lab orders are to result in another Cerner application. For this,there has to be a INTERFACE ENGINE which has to read the HL7 messages coming from the EPIC system and translate them to proper messages for the Cerner SYSTEM and then write into their database. So,could you please explain me with an example interface engine which reads the HL-7 messages first and translates them to Cerner application format. How will i implement a Interface Engine here which would read the EPIC data? What steps are involved? An example would be best. Mainly,orders are first placed in EPIC and is to resulted in Cerner applications. **PLEASE PLEASE help me with understanding the process,and how to do interface intregation with an Interface Engine? Thanks Rohit

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How to show an image on jasper report?

- by spderosso

Hi, I want to show an image on a jasper report. I have the following on the .jrxml: <image> <reportElement x="181" y="0" width="209" height="74"/> <imageExpression class="java.lang.String"><![CDATA["logo.jpg"]]></imageExpression> </image> The image logo.jpg is in the same directory as the .jrxml. By just putting that it didn't work for me. I googled a bit and found out that jasper report considers what i put on the .jrxml as a relative path to the JVM directory and that to change this I need to pass as a "REPORT_FILE_RESOLVER" parameter a FileResolver that returns the file. So, I did the following in my .java (is located in same place as the .jrxml and the image) FileResolver fileResolver = new FileResolver() { @Override public File resolveFile(String fileName) { return new File(fileName); } }; HashMap<String, Object> parameters = new HashMap<String, Object>(); parameters.put("REPORT_FILE_RESOLVER", fileResolver); ... Which should return the expected file, but I still get a net.sf.jasperreports.engine.JRException: Error loading byte data : logo.jpg at net.sf.jasperreports.engine.util.JRLoader.loadBytes(JRLoader.java:301) at net.sf.jasperreports.engine.util.JRLoader.loadBytesFromLocation(JRLoader.java:479) at net.sf.jasperreports.engine.JRImageRenderer.getInstance(JRImageRenderer.java:180) ... What am I doing wrong? Thanks!

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Why this not working in IE ?

- by ankit vishwakarma

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Attempting to find a formula for tessellating rectangles onto a board, where middle square can't be

- by timemirror

I'm working on a spatial stacking problem... at the moment I'm trying to solve in 2D but will eventually have to make this work in 3D. I divide up space into n x n squares around a central block, therefore n is always odd... and I'm trying to find the number of locations that a rectangle of any dimension less than n x n (eg 1x1, 1x2, 2x2 etc) can be placed, where the middle square is not available. So far I've got this.. total number of rectangles = ((n^2 + n)^2 ) / 4 ..also the total number of squares = (n (n+1) (2n+1)) / 6 However I'm stuck in working out a formula to find how many of those locations are impossible as the middle square would be occupied. So for example: [] [] [] [] [x] [] [] [] [] 3 x 3 board... with 8 possible locations for storing stuff as mid square is in use. I can use 1x1 shapes, 1x2 shapes, 2x1, 3x1, etc... Formula gives me the number of rectangles as: (9+3)^2 / 4 = 144/4 = 36 stacking locations However as the middle square is unoccupiable these can not all be realized. By hand I can see that these are impossible options: 1x1 shapes = 1 impossible (mid square) 2x1 shapes = 4 impossible (anything which uses mid square) 3x1 = 2 impossible 2x2 = 4 impossible etc Total impossible combinations = 16 Therefore the solution I'm after is 36-16 = 20 possible rectangular stacking locations on a 3x3 board. I've coded this in C# to solve it through trial and error, but I'm really after a formula as I want to solve for massive values of n, and also to eventually make this 3D. Can anyone point me to any formulas for these kind of spatial / tessellation problem? Also any idea on how to take the total rectangle formula into 3D very welcome! Thanks!

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how to export bind and keyframe bone poses from blender to use in OpenGL

- by SaldaVonSchwartz

EDIT: I decided to reformulate the question in much simpler terms to see if someone can give me a hand with this. Basically, I'm exporting meshes, skeletons and actions from blender into an engine of sorts that I'm working on. But I'm getting the animations wrong. I can tell the basic motion paths are being followed but there's always an axis of translation or rotation which is wrong. I think the problem is most likely not in my engine code (OpenGL-based) but rather in either my misunderstanding of some part of the theory behind skeletal animation / skinning or the way I am exporting the appropriate joint matrices from blender in my exporter script. I'll explain the theory, the engine animation system and my blender export script, hoping someone might catch the error in either or all of these. The theory: (I'm using column-major ordering since that's what I use in the engine cause it's OpenGL-based) Assume I have a mesh made up of a single vertex v, along with a transformation matrix M which takes the vertex v from the mesh's local space to world space. That is, if I was to render the mesh without a skeleton, the final position would be gl_Position = ProjectionMatrix * M * v. Now assume I have a skeleton with a single joint j in bind / rest pose. j is actually another matrix. A transform from j's local space to its parent space which I'll denote Bj. if j was part of a joint hierarchy in the skeleton, Bj would take from j space to j-1 space (that is to its parent space). However, in this example j is the only joint, so Bj takes from j space to world space, like M does for v. Now further assume I have a a set of frames, each with a second transform Cj, which works the same as Bj only that for a different, arbitrary spatial configuration of join j. Cj still takes vertices from j space to world space but j is rotated and/or translated and/or scaled. Given the above, in order to skin vertex v at keyframe n. I need to: take v from world space to joint j space modify j (while v stays fixed in j space and is thus taken along in the transformation) take v back from the modified j space to world space So the mathematical implementation of the above would be: v' = Cj * Bj^-1 * v. Actually, I have one doubt here.. I said the mesh to which v belongs has a transform M which takes from model space to world space. And I've also read in a couple textbooks that it needs to be transformed from model space to joint space. But I also said in 1 that v needs to be transformed from world to joint space. So basically I'm not sure if I need to do v' = Cj * Bj^-1 * v or v' = Cj * Bj^-1 * M * v. Right now my implementation multiples v' by M and not v. But I've tried changing this and it just screws things up in a different way cause there's something else wrong. Finally, If we wanted to skin a vertex to a joint j1 which in turn is a child of a joint j0, Bj1 would be Bj0 * Bj1 and Cj1 would be Cj0 * Cj1. But Since skinning is defined as v' = Cj * Bj^-1 * v , Bj1^-1 would be the reverse concatenation of the inverses making up the original product. That is, v' = Cj0 * Cj1 * Bj1^-1 * Bj0^-1 * v Now on to the implementation (Blender side): Assume the following mesh made up of 1 cube, whose vertices are bound to a single joint in a single-joint skeleton: Assume also there's a 60-frame, 3-keyframe animation at 60 fps. The animation essentially is: keyframe 0: the joint is in bind / rest pose (the way you see it in the image). keyframe 30: the joint translates up (+z in blender) some amount and at the same time rotates pi/4 rad clockwise. keyframe 59: the joint goes back to the same configuration it was in keyframe 0. My first source of confusion on the blender side is its coordinate system (as opposed to OpenGL's default) and the different matrices accessible through the python api. Right now, this is what my export script does about translating blender's coordinate system to OpenGL's standard system: # World transform: Blender -> OpenGL worldTransform = Matrix().Identity(4) worldTransform *= Matrix.Scale(-1, 4, (0,0,1)) worldTransform *= Matrix.Rotation(radians(90), 4, "X") # Mesh (local) transform matrix file.write('Mesh Transform:\n') localTransform = mesh.matrix_local.copy() localTransform = worldTransform * localTransform for col in localTransform.col: file.write('{:9f} {:9f} {:9f} {:9f}\n'.format(col[0], col[1], col[2], col[3])) file.write('\n') So if you will, my "world" matrix is basically the act of changing blenders coordinate system to the default GL one with +y up, +x right and -z into the viewing volume. Then I also premultiply (in the sense that it's done by the time we reach the engine, not in the sense of post or pre in terms of matrix multiplication order) the mesh matrix M so that I don't need to multiply it again once per draw call in the engine. About the possible matrices to extract from Blender joints (bones in Blender parlance), I'm doing the following: For joint bind poses: def DFSJointTraversal(file, skeleton, jointList): for joint in jointList: bindPoseJoint = skeleton.data.bones[joint.name] bindPoseTransform = bindPoseJoint.matrix_local.inverted() file.write('Joint ' + joint.name + ' Transform {\n') translationV = bindPoseTransform.to_translation() rotationQ = bindPoseTransform.to_3x3().to_quaternion() scaleV = bindPoseTransform.to_scale() file.write('T {:9f} {:9f} {:9f}\n'.format(translationV[0], translationV[1], translationV[2])) file.write('Q {:9f} {:9f} {:9f} {:9f}\n'.format(rotationQ[1], rotationQ[2], rotationQ[3], rotationQ[0])) file.write('S {:9f} {:9f} {:9f}\n'.format(scaleV[0], scaleV[1], scaleV[2])) DFSJointTraversal(file, skeleton, joint.children) file.write('}\n') Note that I'm actually grabbing the inverse of what I think is the bind pose transform Bj. This is so I don't need to invert it in the engine. Also note I went for matrix_local, assuming this is Bj. The other option is plain "matrix", which as far as I can tell is the same only that not homogeneous. For joint current / keyframe poses: for kfIndex in keyframes: bpy.context.scene.frame_set(kfIndex) file.write('keyframe: {:d}\n'.format(int(kfIndex))) for i in range(0, len(skeleton.data.bones)): file.write('joint: {:d}\n'.format(i)) currentPoseJoint = skeleton.pose.bones[i] currentPoseTransform = currentPoseJoint.matrix translationV = currentPoseTransform.to_translation() rotationQ = currentPoseTransform.to_3x3().to_quaternion() scaleV = currentPoseTransform.to_scale() file.write('T {:9f} {:9f} {:9f}\n'.format(translationV[0], translationV[1], translationV[2])) file.write('Q {:9f} {:9f} {:9f} {:9f}\n'.format(rotationQ[1], rotationQ[2], rotationQ[3], rotationQ[0])) file.write('S {:9f} {:9f} {:9f}\n'.format(scaleV[0], scaleV[1], scaleV[2])) file.write('\n') Note that here I go for skeleton.pose.bones instead of data.bones and that I have a choice of 3 matrices: matrix, matrix_basis and matrix_channel. From the descriptions in the python API docs I'm not super clear which one I should choose, though I think it's the plain matrix. Also note I do not invert the matrix in this case. The implementation (Engine / OpenGL side): My animation subsystem does the following on each update (I'm omitting parts of the update loop where it's figured out which objects need update and time is hardcoded here for simplicity): static double time = 0; time = fmod((time + elapsedTime),1.); uint16_t LERPKeyframeNumber = 60 * time; uint16_t lkeyframeNumber = 0; uint16_t lkeyframeIndex = 0; uint16_t rkeyframeNumber = 0; uint16_t rkeyframeIndex = 0; for (int i = 0; i < aClip.keyframesCount; i++) { uint16_t keyframeNumber = aClip.keyframes[i].number; if (keyframeNumber <= LERPKeyframeNumber) { lkeyframeIndex = i; lkeyframeNumber = keyframeNumber; } else { rkeyframeIndex = i; rkeyframeNumber = keyframeNumber; break; } } double lTime = lkeyframeNumber / 60.; double rTime = rkeyframeNumber / 60.; double blendFactor = (time - lTime) / (rTime - lTime); GLKMatrix4 bindPosePalette[aSkeleton.jointsCount]; GLKMatrix4 currentPosePalette[aSkeleton.jointsCount]; for (int i = 0; i < aSkeleton.jointsCount; i++) { F3DETQSType& lPose = aClip.keyframes[lkeyframeIndex].skeletonPose.joints[i]; F3DETQSType& rPose = aClip.keyframes[rkeyframeIndex].skeletonPose.joints[i]; GLKVector3 LERPTranslation = GLKVector3Lerp(lPose.t, rPose.t, blendFactor); GLKQuaternion SLERPRotation = GLKQuaternionSlerp(lPose.q, rPose.q, blendFactor); GLKVector3 LERPScaling = GLKVector3Lerp(lPose.s, rPose.s, blendFactor); GLKMatrix4 currentTransform = GLKMatrix4MakeWithQuaternion(SLERPRotation); currentTransform = GLKMatrix4TranslateWithVector3(currentTransform, LERPTranslation); currentTransform = GLKMatrix4ScaleWithVector3(currentTransform, LERPScaling); GLKMatrix4 inverseBindTransform = GLKMatrix4MakeWithQuaternion(aSkeleton.joints[i].inverseBindTransform.q); inverseBindTransform = GLKMatrix4TranslateWithVector3(inverseBindTransform, aSkeleton.joints[i].inverseBindTransform.t); inverseBindTransform = GLKMatrix4ScaleWithVector3(inverseBindTransform, aSkeleton.joints[i].inverseBindTransform.s); if (aSkeleton.joints[i].parentIndex == -1) { bindPosePalette[i] = inverseBindTransform; currentPosePalette[i] = currentTransform; } else { bindPosePalette[i] = GLKMatrix4Multiply(inverseBindTransform, bindPosePalette[aSkeleton.joints[i].parentIndex]); currentPosePalette[i] = GLKMatrix4Multiply(currentPosePalette[aSkeleton.joints[i].parentIndex], currentTransform); } aSkeleton.skinningPalette[i] = GLKMatrix4Multiply(currentPosePalette[i], bindPosePalette[i]); } Finally, this is my vertex shader: #version 100 uniform mat4 modelMatrix; uniform mat3 normalMatrix; uniform mat4 projectionMatrix; uniform mat4 skinningPalette[6]; uniform lowp float skinningEnabled; attribute vec4 position; attribute vec3 normal; attribute vec2 tCoordinates; attribute vec4 jointsWeights; attribute vec4 jointsIndices; varying highp vec2 tCoordinatesVarying; varying highp float lIntensity; void main() { tCoordinatesVarying = tCoordinates; vec4 skinnedVertexPosition = vec4(0.); for (int i = 0; i < 4; i++) { skinnedVertexPosition += jointsWeights[i] * skinningPalette[int(jointsIndices[i])] * position; } vec4 skinnedNormal = vec4(0.); for (int i = 0; i < 4; i++) { skinnedNormal += jointsWeights[i] * skinningPalette[int(jointsIndices[i])] * vec4(normal, 0.); } vec4 finalPosition = mix(position, skinnedVertexPosition, skinningEnabled); vec4 finalNormal = mix(vec4(normal, 0.), skinnedNormal, skinningEnabled); vec3 eyeNormal = normalize(normalMatrix * finalNormal.xyz); vec3 lightPosition = vec3(0., 0., 2.); lIntensity = max(0.0, dot(eyeNormal, normalize(lightPosition))); gl_Position = projectionMatrix * modelMatrix * finalPosition; } The result is that the animation displays wrong in terms of orientation. That is, instead of bobbing up and down it bobs in and out (along what I think is the Z axis according to my transform in the export clip). And the rotation angle is counterclockwise instead of clockwise. If I try with a more than one joint, then it's almost as if the second joint rotates in it's own different coordinate space and does not follow 100% its parent's transform. Which I assume it should from my animation subsystem which I assume in turn follows the theory I explained for the case of more than one joint. Any thoughts?

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Assigning a property across threads

- by Mike

I have set a property across threads before and I found this post http://stackoverflow.com/questions/142003/cross-thread-operation-not-valid-control-accessed-from-a-thread-other-than-the-t about getting a property. I think my issue with the code below is setting the variable to the collection is an object therefore on the heap and therefore is just creating a pointer to the same object So my question is besides creating a deep copy, or copying the collection into a different List object is there a better way to do the following to aviod the error during the for loop. Cross-thread operation not valid: Control 'lstProcessFiles' accessed from a thread other than the thread it was created on. Code: private void btnRunProcess_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) { richTextBox1.Clear(); BackgroundWorker bg = new BackgroundWorker(); bg.DoWork += new DoWorkEventHandler(bg_DoWork); bg.RunWorkerCompleted += new RunWorkerCompletedEventHandler(bg_RunWorkerCompleted); bg.RunWorkerAsync(lstProcessFiles.SelectedItems); } void bg_DoWork(object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e) { WorkflowEngine engine = new WorkflowEngine(); ListBox.SelectedObjectCollection selectedCollection=null; if (lstProcessFiles.InvokeRequired) { // Try #1 selectedCollection = (ListBox.SelectedObjectCollection) this.Invoke(new GetSelectedItemsDelegate(GetSelectedItems), new object[] { lstProcessFiles }); // Try #2 //lstProcessFiles.Invoke( // new MethodInvoker(delegate { // selectedCollection = lstProcessFiles.SelectedItems; })); } else { selectedCollection = lstProcessFiles.SelectedItems; } // *********Same Error on this line******************** // Cross-thread operation not valid: Control 'lstProcessFiles' accessed // from a thread other than the thread it was created on. foreach (string l in selectedCollection) { if (engine.LoadProcessDocument(String.Format(@"C:\TestDirectory\{0}", l))) { try { engine.Run(); WriteStep(String.Format("Ran {0} Succussfully", l)); } catch { WriteStep(String.Format("{0} Failed", l)); } engine.PrintProcess(); WriteStep(String.Format("Rrinted {0} to debug", l)); } } } private delegate void WriteDelegate(string p); private delegate ListBox.SelectedObjectCollection GetSelectedItemsDelegate(ListBox list); private ListBox.SelectedObjectCollection GetSelectedItems(ListBox list) { return list.SelectedItems; }

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From VB6 to .net via COM and Remoting...What a mess!

- by Robert

I have some legacy vb6 applications that need to talk to my .Net engine application. The engine provides an interface that can be connected to via .net Remoting. Now I have a stub class library that wraps all of the types that the interface exposes. The purpose of this stub is to translate my .net types into COM-friendly types. When I run this class library as a console application, it is able to connect to the engine, call various methods, and successfully return the wrapped types. The next step in the chain is to allow my VB6 application to call this COM enabled stub. This works fine for my main engine-entry type (IModelFetcher which is wrapped as COM_ModelFetcher). However, when I try and get any of the model fetcher's model types (IClientModel, wrapped as COM_IClientModel, IUserModel, wrapped as COM_IUserModel, e.t.c.), I get the following exception: [Exception - type: System.InvalidCastException 'Return argument has an invalid type.'] in mscorlib at System.Runtime.Remoting.Proxies.RealProxy.ValidateReturnArg(Object arg, Type paramType) at System.Runtime.Remoting.Proxies.RealProxy.PropagateOutParameters(IMessage msg, Object[] outArgs, Object returnValue) at System.Runtime.Remoting.Proxies.RealProxy.HandleReturnMessage(IMessage reqMsg, IMessage retMsg) at System.Runtime.Remoting.Proxies.RealProxy.PrivateInvoke(MessageData& msgData, Int32 type) at AWT.Common.AWTEngineInterface.IModelFetcher.get_ClientModel() at AWT.Common.AWTEngineCOMInterface.COM_ModelFetcher.GetClientModel() The first thing I did when I saw this was to handle the 'AppDomain.CurrentDomain.AssemblyResolve' event, and this allowed me to load the required assemblies. However, I'm still getting this exception now. My AssemblyResolve event handler is loading three assemblies correctly, and I can confirm that it does not get called prior to this exception. Can someone help me untie myself from this mess of interprocess communication?!

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Importing fixtures with foreign keys and SQLAlchemy?

- by Chris Reid

I've been experimenting with using fixture to load test data sets into my Pylons / PostgreSQL app. This works great except that it fails to properly create foreign keys if they reference an auto increment id field. My fixture looks like this: class AuthorsData(DataSet): class frank_herbert: first_name = "Frank" last_name = "Herbert" class BooksData(DataSet): class dune: title = "Dune" author_id = AuthorsData.frank_herbert.ref('id') And the model: t_authors = sa.Table("authors", meta.metadata, sa.Column("id", sa.types.Integer, primary_key=True), sa.Column("first_name", sa.types.String(100)), sa.Column("last_name", sa.types.String(100)), ) t_books = sa.Table("books", meta.metadata, sa.Column("id", sa.types.Integer, primary_key=True), sa.Column("title", sa.types.String(100)), sa.Column("author_id", sa.types.Integer, sa.ForeignKey('authors.id')) ) When running "paster setup-app development.ini", SQLAlchemey reports the FK value as "None" so it's obviously not finding it: 15:59:48,683 INFO [sqlalchemy.engine.base.Engine.0x...9eb0] INSERT INTO books (title, author_id) VALUES (%(title)s, %(author_id)s) RETURNING books.id 15:59:48,683 INFO [sqlalchemy.engine.base.Engine.0x...9eb0] {'author_id': None, 'title': 'Dune'} The fixture docs actually warn that this might be a problem: "However, in some cases you may need to reference an attribute that does not have a value until it is loaded, like a serial ID column. (Note that this is not supported by the SQLAlchemy data layer when using sessions.)" http://farmdev.com/projects/fixture/using-dataset.html#referencing-foreign-dataset-classes Does this mean that this is just not supported with SQLAlchemy? Or is it possible to load the data without using SA "sessions"? How are other people handling this issue?

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SQL Server Index cost

- by yellowstar

I have read that one of the tradeoffs for adding table indexes in SQL Server is the increased cost of insert/update/delete queries to benefit the performance of select queries. I can conceptually understand what happens in the case of an insert because SQL Server has to write entries into each index matching the new rows, but update and delete are a little more murky to me because I can't quite wrap my head around what the database engine has to do. Let's take DELETE as an example and assume I have the following schema (pardon the pseudo-SQL) TABLE Foo col1 int ,col2 int ,col3 int ,col4 int PRIMARY KEY (col1,col2) INDEX IX_1 col3 INCLUDE col4 Now, if I issue the statement DELETE FROM Foo WHERE col1=12 AND col2 > 34 I understand what the engine must do to update the table (or clustered index if you prefer). The index is set up to make it easy to find the range of rows to be removed and do so. However, at this point it also needs to update IX_1 and the query that I gave it gives no obvious efficient way for the database engine to find the rows to update. Is it forced to do a full index scan at this point? Does the engine read the rows from the clustered index first and generate a smarter internal delete against the index? It might help me to wrap my head around this if I understood better what is going on under the hood, but I guess my real question is this. I have a database that is spending a significant amount of time in delete and I'm trying to figure out what I can do about it. When I display the execution plan for the deletion, it just shows an entry for "Clustered Index Delete" on table Foo which lists in the details section the other indices that need to be updated but I don't get any indication of the relative cost of these other indices. Are they all equal in this case? Is there some way that I can estimate the impact of removing one or more of these indices without having to actually try it?

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