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• OFM 11g: Implementing OAM SSO with Forms

  - by olaf.heimburger

  There is some confusion about the integration of OFM 11g Forms with Oracle Access Manager 11g (OAM). Some say this does not work, some say it works, but.... Actually, having implemented it many times I belong to the later group. Here is how. Caveat Before you start installing anything, take a step back and consider your current implementation and what you really need and want to achieve. The current integration of Forms 11g with OAM 11g does not support self-service account creation and password resets from the Forms application. If you really need this, you must use the existing Oracle AS 10.1.4.3 infrastructure. On the other hand, if your user population is pretty stable, you can enjoy the latest Forms 11g with OAM 11g. Assumptions The whole process should be done in one day. I assume that all domains and instances are started during setup, if you need to restart them on demand or purpose, be sure to have proper start/stop scripts, I don't mention them. Preparation It goes without saying, that you always should do a proper backup before you change anything on your production environment. With proper backup, I also mean a tested and verified restore process. If you dared to test it before, do it now. It pays off. Requirements For OAM 11g to work properly you need a LDAP repository. For the integration of Forms 11g you need an Oracle Internet Directory (OID) configured with the Oracle AS SSO LDAP extensions. For better support I usually give the latest version a try, in this case OID 11g is a good choice.During the Installation and Integration steps we use an upgrade wizard that needs the old OID configuration on the same host but in a different ORACLE_HOME. Installation vs Configuration With OFM 11g Oracle introduced a clear separation between Installation of the binaries (the software) and the Configuration of the instances (the runtime). This is really great as you can install all the software and create new instances when needed. In the following we adhere to this scheme and install the software first and then configure the instances later. Installation Steps The Oracle documentation contains all the necessary steps for the installation of all pieces of software. But some hints help to avoid traps and pitfalls. Step 1 The Database Start the installation with the database. It is quite obvious but we need an Oracle database for all the other steps. If you have one at hand, fine. If not, just install at least a Oracle 10.2.0.4 version. This database can be on a different host. Step 2 The Repository Creation Utility The next step should be to run the Repository Creation Utility (RCU). This is a client application that just needs to connect to your database. It can be run on any host that can reach the database and is a Windows or Linux 32-bit machine. When you run it, be sure to install the OID schema and the OAM schema. If you miss one of these, you can run the RCU again to install the missing schema. Step 3 The Foundation With OFM 11g Oracle started to use WebLogic Server 11g (WLS) as its foundation for all OFM 11g installation. We therefore install it first. Depending on your operating system, it might be possible, that no native installer is available. My approach to this dilemma is to use the WLS Generic Installer for all my installations. It does not include a JDK either but if you have both for your platform you are ready to go. Step 3a The JDK To make things interesting, Oracle currently has two JDKs in its portfolio. The Sun JDK and the JRockit JDK. Both are available for a number of platforms. If you are lucky and both are available for your platform, install both in a separate directory (and not one of your ORACLE_HOMEs) each, You can use the later as you like. Step 3b Install WLS for OID and OAM With the JDK installed, we start the generic installer with java -jar wls_generic.jar.STOP! Before you do this, check the version first. It should be 1.6.0_18 or later and not the GCC one (Some Linux distros have it installed by default). To verify the version, issue a java -version command and make sure that the output does not contain the text gcj and the version matches. If this does not work, use an absolute path like /opt/java/jdk1.6.0_23/bin/java to start the installer. The installer allows you to specify a path to install the software into, say /opt/oracle/iam/11.1.1.3 for the OID and OAM installation. We will call this IAM_HOME. Step 4 Install OID Now we are ready to install OID. Start the OID installer (in the Disk1 directory) and just select the installation only step. This will install the software only and does not configure the instance. Use the IAM_HOME as the target directory. Step 5 Install SOA Suite The IAM 11g Suite uses the BPEL component of the SOA Suite 11g for its workflows. This is a pretty closed environment and not to be used for SCA Composites. We install the SOA Suite in $IAM_HOME/soa. The installer only installs the binaries. Configuration will be done later. Step 6 Install OAM Once the installation of OID and SOA is done, we are ready to install the OAM software in the same IAM_HOME. Make sure to install the OAM binaries in a directory different from the one you used during the OID and SOA installation. As before, we only install the software, the instance will be created later. Step 7 Backup the Installation At this point, I normally do a backup (or snapshot in a virtual image) of the installation. Good when you need to go back to this point. Step 8 Configure OID The software is installed and now we need instances to run it. This process is called configuration. For OID use the config.sh found in $IAM_HOME/oid/bin to start the configuration wizard. Normally this runs smoothly. If you encounter some issues check the Oracle Support site for help. This configuration will also start the OID instance. Step 9 Install the Oracle AS SSO Schema Before we install the Forms software we need to install the Oracle AS SSO Schema into the database and OID. This is a rather dangerous procedure, but fully documented in the IAM Installation Guide, Chapter 10. You should finish this in one go, do not reboot your host during the whole procedure. As a precaution, you should make a backup of the OID instance before you start the procedure. Once the backup is ready, read the chapter, including every note, carefully. You can avoid a number of issues by following all the steps and will succeed with a working solution. Step 10 Configure OAM Reached this step? Great. You are ready to create an OAM instance. Use the $IAM_HOME/iam/common/binconfig.sh for this. This will open the WLS Domain Creation Wizard and asks for the libraries to be installed. You should at least select the OAM with Database repository item. The configuration will also start the OAM instance. Step 11 Install WLS for Forms 11g It is quite tempting to install everything in one ORACLE_HOME. Unfortunately this does not work for all OFM packages. Therefore we do another WLS installation in another ORACLE_HOME. The same considerations as in step 3b apply. We call this one FORMS_HOME. Step 12 Install Forms In the FORMS_HOME we now install the binaries for the Forms 11g software. Again, this is a install only step. Configuration starts with the next step. Step 13 Configure Forms To configure Forms 11g we start the Configuration Wizard (config.sh) in FORMS_HOME/bin. This wizard should create a new WebLogic Domain and an OHS instance! Do not extend existing domains or instances! Forms should run in its own instances! When all information is supplied, the wizard will create the domain and instance and starts them automatically.Step 14 Setup your Forms SSO EnvironmentOnce you have implemented and tested your Forms 11g instance, you can configured it for SSO. Yes, this requires the old Oracle AS SSO solution, OIDDAS for creating and assigning users and SSO to setup your partner applications. In this step you should consider to create every user necessary for use within the environment. When done, do not forget to test it. Step 15 Migrate the SSO Repository Since the final goal is to get rid of the old SSO implementation we need to migrate the old SSO repository into the new OID structure. Additionally, this step will also migrate all partner application configurations into OAM 11g. Quite convenient. To do this step, you have to start the upgrade agent (ua or ua.bat or ua.cmd) on the operating system level in $IAM_HOME/bin. Once finished, this wizard will create new osso.conf files for each partner application in $IAM_HOME/upgrade/temp/oam/.Note: At the time of this writing, this step only works if everything is on the same host (ie. OID, OAM, etc.). This restriction might be lifted in later releases. Step 16 Change your OHS sso.conf and shut down OC4J_SECURITY In Step 14 we verified that SSO for our Forms environment works fine. Now, we are shutting the old system done and reconfigure the OHS that acts as the Forms entry point. First we go to the OHS configuration directory and rename the old osso.conf  to osso.conf.10g. Now we change the moduleconf/mod_osso.conf  to point to the new osso.conf file. Copy the new osso.conf  file from $IAM_HOME/upgrade/temp/oam/ to the OHS configuration directory. Restart OHS, test forms by using the same forms links. OAM should now kick in and show the login dialog to ask for your user credentials.Done. Now your Forms environment is successfully integrated with OAM 11g.Enjoy. What's Next? This rather lengthy setup is just the foundation for your growing environment of OAM 11g protections. In the next entry we will show that Forms 11g and ADF Faces 11g can use the same OAM installation and provide real single sign-on. References Nearly everything is documented. Use the documentation! Oracle® Fusion Middleware Installation Guide for Oracle Identity Management 11gR1 Oracle® Fusion Middleware Installation Guide for Oracle Identity Management 11gR1, Chapter 11-14 Oracle® Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide for Oracle Access Manager 11gR1, Appendix B Oracle® Fusion Middleware Upgrade Guide for Oracle Identity Management 11gR1, Chapter 10   

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• Use Autoruns to Manually Clean an Infected PC

  - by Mark Virtue

  There are many anti-malware programs out there that will clean your system of nasties, but what happens if you’re not able to use such a program?  Autoruns, from SysInternals (recently acquired by Microsoft), is indispensable when removing malware manually. There are a few reasons why you may need to remove viruses and spyware manually: Perhaps you can’t abide running resource-hungry and invasive anti-malware programs on your PC You might need to clean your mom’s computer (or someone else who doesn’t understand that a big flashing sign on a website that says “Your computer is infected with a virus – click HERE to remove it” is not a message that can necessarily be trusted) The malware is so aggressive that it resists all attempts to automatically remove it, or won’t even allow you to install anti-malware software Part of your geek credo is the belief that anti-spyware utilities are for wimps Autoruns is an invaluable addition to any geek’s software toolkit.  It allows you to track and control all programs (and program components) that start automatically with Windows (or with Internet Explorer).  Virtually all malware is designed to start automatically, so there’s a very strong chance that it can be detected and removed with the help of Autoruns. We have covered how to use Autoruns in an earlier article, which you should read if you need to first familiarize yourself with the program. Autoruns is a standalone utility that does not need to be installed on your computer.  It can be simply downloaded, unzipped and run (link below).  This makes is ideally suited for adding to your portable utility collection on your flash drive. When you start Autoruns for the first time on a computer, you are presented with the license agreement: After agreeing to the terms, the main Autoruns window opens, showing you the complete list of all software that will run when your computer starts, when you log in, or when you open Internet Explorer: To temporarily disable a program from launching, uncheck the box next to it’s entry.  Note:  This does not terminate the program if it is running at the time – it merely prevents it from starting next time.  To permanently prevent a program from launching, delete the entry altogether (use the Delete key, or right-click and choose Delete from the context-menu)).  Note:  This does not remove the program from your computer – to remove it completely you need to uninstall the program (or otherwise delete it from your hard disk). Suspicious Software It can take a fair bit of experience (read “trial and error”) to become adept at identifying what is malware and what is not.  Most of the entries presented in Autoruns are legitimate programs, even if their names are unfamiliar to you.  Here are some tips to help you differentiate the malware from the legitimate software: If an entry is digitally signed by a software publisher (i.e. there’s an entry in the Publisher column) or has a “Description”, then there’s a good chance that it’s legitimate If you recognize the software’s name, then it’s usually okay.  Note that occasionally malware will “impersonate” legitimate software, but adopting a name that’s identical or similar to software you’re familiar with (e.g. “AcrobatLauncher” or “PhotoshopBrowser”).  Also, be aware that many malware programs adopt generic or innocuous-sounding names, such as “Diskfix” or “SearchHelper” (both mentioned below). Malware entries usually appear on the Logon tab of Autoruns (but not always!) If you open up the folder that contains the EXE or DLL file (more on this below), an examine the “last modified” date, the dates are often from the last few days (assuming that your infection is fairly recent) Malware is often located in the C:\Windows folder or the C:\Windows\System32 folder Malware often only has a generic icon (to the left of the name of the entry) If in doubt, right-click the entry and select Search Online… The list below shows two suspicious looking entries:  Diskfix and SearchHelper These entries, highlighted above, are fairly typical of malware infections: They have neither descriptions nor publishers They have generic names The files are located in C:\Windows\System32 They have generic icons The filenames are random strings of characters If you look in the C:\Windows\System32 folder and locate the files, you’ll see that they are some of the most recently modified files in the folder (see below) Double-clicking on the items will take you to their corresponding registry keys: Removing the Malware Once you’ve identified the entries you believe to be suspicious, you now need to decide what you want to do with them.  Your choices include: Temporarily disable the Autorun entry Permanently delete the Autorun entry Locate the running process (using Task Manager or similar) and terminating it Delete the EXE or DLL file from your disk (or at least move it to a folder where it won’t be automatically started) or all of the above, depending upon how certain you are that the program is malware. To see if your changes succeeded, you will need to reboot your machine, and check any or all of the following: Autoruns – to see if the entry has returned Task Manager (or similar) – to see if the program was started again after the reboot Check the behavior that led you to believe that your PC was infected in the first place.  If it’s no longer happening, chances are that your PC is now clean Conclusion This solution isn’t for everyone and is most likely geared to advanced users. Usually using a quality Antivirus application does the trick, but if not Autoruns is a valuable tool in your Anti-Malware kit. Keep in mind that some malware is harder to remove than others.  Sometimes you need several iterations of the steps above, with each iteration requiring you to look more carefully at each Autorun entry.  Sometimes the instant that you remove the Autorun entry, the malware that is running replaces the entry.  When this happens, we need to become more aggressive in our assassination of the malware, including terminating programs (even legitimate programs like Explorer.exe) that are infected with malware DLLs. Shortly we will be publishing an article on how to identify, locate and terminate processes that represent legitimate programs but are running infected DLLs, in order that those DLLs can be deleted from the system. Download Autoruns from SysInternals Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Using Autoruns Tool to Track Startup Applications and Add-onsHow To Get Detailed Information About Your PCSUPERAntiSpyware Portable is the Must-Have Spyware Removal Tool You NeedQuick Tip: Windows Vista Temp Files DirectoryClear Recent Commands From the Run Dialog in Windows XP 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 15 Great Illustrations by Chow Hon Lam Easily Sync Files & Folders with Friends & Family Amazon Free Kindle for PC Download Stretch popurls.com with a Stylish Script (Firefox) OldTvShows.org – Find episodes of Hitchcock, Soaps, Game Shows and more Download Microsoft Office Help tab

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• “It’s only test code…”

  - by Chris George

  “Let me hack this in, it’s only test code”, “Don’t worry about getting it reviewed, it’s only test code”, “It doesn’t have to be elegant or efficient, it’s only test code”… do these phrases sound familiar? Chances are if you’ve working with test automation, at one point or other you will have heard these phrases, you have probably even used them yourself! What is certain is that code written under this “it’s only test code” mantra will come back and bite you in the arse! I’ve recently encountered a case where a test was giving a false positive, therefore hiding a real product bug because that test code was very badly written. Firstly it was very difficult to understand what the test was actually trying to achieve let alone how it was doing it, and this complexity masked a simple logic error. These issues are real and they do happen. Let’s take a step back from this and look at what we are trying to do. We are writing test code that tests product code, and we do this to create a suite of tests that will help protect our software against regressions. This test code is making sure that the product behaves as it should by employing some sort of expected result verification. The simple cases of these are generally not a problem. However, automation allows us to explore more complex scenarios in many more permutations. As this complexity increases then so does the complexity of the test code. It is at this point that code which has not been architected properly will cause problems.   Keep your friends close… So, how do we make sure we are doing it right? The development teams I have worked on have always had Test Engineers working very closely with their Software Engineers. This is something that I have always tried to take full advantage of. They are coding experts! So run your ideas past them, ask for advice on how to structure your code, help you design your data structures. This may require a shift in your teams viewpoint, as contrary to this section title and folklore, Software Engineers are not actually the mortal enemy of Test Engineers. As time progresses, and test automation becomes more and more ingrained in what we do, the two roles are converging more than ever. Over the 16 years I have spent as a Test Engineer, I have seen the grey area between the two roles grow significantly larger. This serves to strengthen the relationship and common bond between the two roles which helps to make test code activities so much easier!   Pair for the win Possibly the best thing you could do to write good test code is to pair program on the task. This will serve a few purposes. you will get the benefit of the Software Engineers knowledge and experience the Software Engineer will gain knowledge on the testing process. Sharing the love is a wonderful thing! two pairs of eyes are always better than one… And so are two brains. Between the two of you, I will guarantee you will derive more useful test cases than if it was just one of you.   Code reviews Another policy which certainly pays dividends is the practice of code reviews. By having one of your peers review your code before you commit it serves two purposes. Firstly, it forces you to explain your code. Just the act of doing this will often pick up errors in your code. Secondly, it gets yet another pair of eyes on your code! I cannot stress enough how important code reviews are. The benefits they offer apply as much to product code as test code. In short, Software and Test Engineers should all be doing them! It can be extended even further by getting test code reviewed by a Software Engineer and a Test Engineer, and likewise product code. This serves to keep both functions in the loop with changes going on within your code base.   Learn from your devs I briefly touched on this earlier but I’d like to go into more detail here. Pairing with your Software Engineers when writing your test code is such an amazing opportunity to improve your coding skills. As I sit here writing this article waiting to be called into court for jury service, it reminds me that it takes a lot of patience to be a Test Engineer, almost as much as it takes to be a juror! However tempting it is to go rushing in and start writing your automated tests, resist that urge. Discuss what you want to achieve then talk through the approach you’re going to take. Then code it up together. I find it really enlightening to ask questions like ‘is there a better way to do this?’ Or ‘is this how you would code it?’ The latter question, especially, is where I learn the most. I’ve found that most Software Engineers will be reluctant to show you the ‘right way’ to code something when writing tests because they perceive the ‘right way’ to be too complicated for the Test Engineer (e.g. not mentioning LINQ and instead doing something verbose). So by asking how THEY would code it, it unleashes their true dev-ness and advanced code usually ensues! I would like to point out, however, that you don’t have to accept their method as the final answer. On numerous occasions I have opted for the more simple/verbose solution because I found the code written by the Software Engineer too advanced and therefore I would find it unreadable when I return to the code in a months’ time! Always keep the target audience in mind when writing clever code, and in my case that is mostly Test Engineers.  

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• Rendering a WPF Network Map/Graph layout - Manual? PathListBox? Something Else?

  - by Ben Von Handorf

  I'm writing code to present the user with a simplified network map. At any given time, the map is focused on a specific item... say a router or a server. Based on the focused item, other network entities are grouped into sets (i.e. subnets or domains) and then rendered around the focused item. Lines would represent connections and groups would be visually grouped inside a rectangle or ellipse. Panning and zooming are required features. An item can be selected to display more information in a "properties" style window. An item could also be double-clicked to re-focus the entire network map on that item. At that point, the entire map would be re-calculated. I am using MVVM without any framework, as of yet. Assume the logic for grouping items and determining what should be shown or not is all in place. I'm looking for the best way to approach the UI layout. So far, I'm aware of the following options: Use a canvas for layout (inside a ScrollViewer to handle the panning). Have my ViewModel make use of a Layout Manager type of class, which would handle assigning all the layout properties (Top, Left, etc.). Bind my set of display items to an ItemsControl and use Data Templates to handle the actual rendering. The drawbacks with this approach: Highly manual layout on my part. Lots of calculation. I have to handle item selection manually. Computation of connecting lines is manual. The Pros of this approach: I can draw additional lines between child subnets as appropriate (manually). Additional LayoutManagers could be added later to render the display differently. This could probably be wrapped up into some sort of a GraphLayout control to be re-used. Present the focused item at the center of the display and then use a PathListBox for layout of the additional items. Have my ViewModel expose a simple list of things to be drawn and bind them to the PathListBox. Override the ListBoxItem Template to also create a line geometry from the borders of the focused item (tricky) to the bound item. Use DataTemplates to handle the case where the item being bound is a subnet, in which case we would use another PathListBox in the template to display items inside the subnet. The drawbacks with this approach: Selected Item synchronization across multiple `PathListBox`es. Only one item on the whole graph can be selected at a time, but each child PathListBox maintains its own selection. Also, subnets cannot be selected, but would be selectable without additional work. Drawing the connecting lines is going to be a bit of trickery in the ListBoxItem template, since I need to know the correct side of the focused item to connect to. The pros of this approach: I get to stay out of the layout business, more. I'm looking for any advice or thoughts from others who have encountered similar issues or who have more WPF experience than I. I'm using WPF 4, so any new tricks are legal and encouraged.

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• New Pluralsight Course: HTML5 Canvas Fundamentals

  - by dwahlin

    I just finished up a new course for Pluralsight titled HTML5 Canvas Fundamentals that I had a blast putting together. It’s all about the client and involves a lot of pixel manipulation and graphics creation which is challenging and fun at the same time. The goal of the course is to walk you through the fundamentals, start a gradual jog into the API functions, and then start sprinting as you learn how to build a business chart canvas application from scratch that uses many of the available APIs . It’s fun stuff and very useful in a variety of scenarios including Web (desktop or mobile) and even Windows 8 Metro applications. Here’s a sample video from the course that talks about building a simple bar chart using the HTML5 Canvas:   Additional details about the course are shown next.   HTML5 Canvas Fundamentals The HTML5 Canvas provides a powerful way to render graphics, charts, and other types of visual data without relying on plugins such as Flash or Silverlight. In this course you’ll be introduced to key features available in the canvas API and see how they can be used to render shapes, text, video, images, and more. You’ll also learn how to work with gradients, perform animations, transform shapes, and build a custom charting application from scratch. If you’re looking to learn more about using the HTML5 Canvas in your Web applications then this course will break down the learning curve and give you a great start!    Getting Started with the HTML5 Canvas Introduction HTML5 Canvas Usage Scenarios Demo: Game Demos Demo: Engaging Applications Demo: Charting HTML5 Canvas Fundamentals Hello World Demo Overview of the Canvas API Demo: Canvas API Documentation Summary    Drawing with the HTML5 Canvas Introduction Drawing Rectangles and Ellipses Demo: Simple Bar Chart Demo: Simple Bar Chart with Transforms Demo: Drawing Circles Demo: Using arcTo() Drawing Lines and Paths Demo: Drawing Lines Demo: Simple Line Chart Demo: Using bezierCurveTo() Demo: Using quadraticCurveTo() Drawing Text Demo: Filling, Stroking, and Measuring Text Demo: Using Canvas Transforms with Text Drawing Images Demo: Using Image Functions Drawing Videos Demo: Syncing Video with a Canvas Summary    Manipulating Pixels  Introduction Rendering Gradients Demo: Creating Linear Gradients Demo: Creating Radial Gradients Using Transforms Demo: Getting Started with Transform Functions Demo: Using transform() and and setTransform() Accessing Pixels Demo: Creating Pixels Dynamically Demo: Grayscale Pixels Animation Fundamentals Demo: Getting Started with Animation Demo: Using Gradients, Transforms, and Animations Summary    Building a Custom Data Chart Introduction Creating the CanvasChart Object Creating the CanvasChart Shell Code Rendering Text and Gradients Rendering Data Points Text and Guide Lines Connecting Data Point Lines Rendering Data Points Adding Animation Adding Overlays and Interactivity Summary     Related Courses:  

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• Smooth animation when using fixed time step

  - by sythical

  I'm trying to implement the game loop where the physics is independent from rendering but my animation isn't as smooth as I would like it to be and it seems to periodically jump. Here is my code: // alpha is used for interpolation double alpha = 0, counter_old_time = 0; double accumulator = 0, delta_time = 0, current_time = 0, previous_time = 0; unsigned frame_counter = 0, current_fps = 0; const unsigned physics_rate = 40, max_step_count = 5; const double step_duration = 1.0 / 40.0, accumulator_max = step_duration * 5; // information about the circ;e (position and velocity) int old_pos_x = 100, new_pos_x = 100, render_pos_x = 100, velocity_x = 60; previous_time = al_get_time(); while(true) { current_time = al_get_time(); delta_time = current_time - previous_time; previous_time = current_time; accumulator += delta_time; if(accumulator > accumulator_max) { accumulator = accumulator_max; } while(accumulator >= step_duration) { if(new_pos_x > 1330) velocity_x = -15; else if(new_pos_x < 70) velocity_x = 15; old_pos_x = new_pos_x; new_pos_x += velocity_x; accumulator -= step_duration; } alpha = accumulator / static_cast<double>(step_duration); render_pos_x = old_pos_x + (new_pos_x - old_pos_x) * alpha; al_clear_to_color(al_map_rgb(20, 20, 40)); // clears the screen al_draw_textf(font, al_map_rgb(255, 255, 255), 20, 20, 0, "current_fps: %i", current_fps); // print fps al_draw_filled_circle(render_pos_x, 400, 15, al_map_rgb(255, 255, 255)); // draw circle // I've added this to test how the program will behave when rendering takes // considerably longer than updating the game. al_rest(0.008); al_flip_display(); // swaps the buffers frame_counter++; if(al_get_time() - counter_old_time >= 1) { current_fps = frame_counter; frame_counter = 0; counter_old_time = al_get_time(); } } I have added a pause during the rendering part because I wanted to see how the code would behave when a lot of rendering is involved. Removing it makes the animation smooth but then I'll have to make sure that I don't let the frame rate drop too much and that doesn't seem like a good solution. I've been trying to fix this for a week and have had no luck so I'd be very grateful if someone can read through my code. Thank you! Edit: I added the following code to work out the actual velocity (pixels per second) of the ball each time the ball is rendered and surprisingly it's not constant so I'm guessing that's the issue. I'm not sure why it's not constant. alpha = accumulator / static_cast<double>(step_duration); render_pos_x = old_pos_x + (new_pos_x - old_pos_x) * alpha; cout << (render_pos_x - old_render_pos) / delta_time << endl; old_render_pos = render_pos_x;

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• Writing Game Engine from scratch with OpenGL [on hold]

  - by Wazery

  I want to start writing my game engine from scratch for learning purpose, what is the prerequisites and how to do that, what programming languages and things you recommend me? Also if you have good articles and books on that it will be great. Thanks in advance! My Programming languages and tools are: C/C++ is it good to use only C? Python OpenGL Git GDB What I want to learn from it: Core Game Engine Rendering / Graphics Game Play/Rules Input (keyboard/mouse/controllers, etc) In Rendering/Graphics: 3D Shading Lighting Texturing

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• Using NumPy arrays as 2D mathematical vectors?

  - by CorundumGames

  Right now I'm using lists as position, velocity, and acceleration vectors in my game. Is that a better option than using NumPy's arrays (not the standard library's) as vectors (with float data types)? I'm frequently adding vectors and changing their values directly, then placing the values in these vectors into a Pygame Rect. The vector is used for position (because Rects can't hold floats, so we can't go "between" pixels), and the Rect is used for rendering (because Pygame will only take in Rects for rendering positions).

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• sdl stencil buffer

  - by noddy

  I am trying to use the stencil buffer for rendering reflection and am working with SDL and OpenGL. When I give the command SDL_GL_SetAttribute(SDL_GL_STENCIL_SIZE,8),I get a return value of 0 indicating success,but when I try to get the size allocated using SDL_GL_GetAtribute( SDL_GL_STENCIL_SIZE,&i),I get a value of 0 for my stencil buffer due to which I am not getting the desired rendering. Can someone help me to correct my mistake? Is there some other initialization also required? Thanks

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• Windows based network backup for MySQL, Linux, and Windows Servers (Zmanda alternative for windows?)

  - by Jestep

  I am looking for Windows based backup software with functionality like Zmanda or other multi-platform network backup software program. Open source or free software is always preferred. We need to be able to backup files from linux and windows servers as well as MySQL databases. Using samba is completely possible. Software needs to run on Windows Server 2003.

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• How to add an explorer context menu for a file extension ?

  - by asksuperuser

  I inspired from my other question here http://superuser.com/questions/129755/how-to-get-open-command-window-here-while-clicking-on-exe-not-on-parent-folder and tried this Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\.sln] [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\.sln\shell] [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\.sln\shell\countlines] @="countlines" [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\.sln\shell\countlines\command] @="c:\\countlines\\countlines.exe" %1 but it doesn't work.

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• Reliable way of generating unique hardware ID

  - by mr.b

  Question: what's the best way to accomplish following. I have to come up with unique ID for each networked client, such that: it (ID) should persist once client software is installed on target computer, and should continue to persist if software is re-installed on same computer and same OS installment, it should not change if hardware configuration is modified in most ways (except changing the motherboard) When hard drive with client software installed is cloned to another computer with identical hardware configuration (or, as similar as possible), client software should be aware of that change. A little bit of explanation and some back-story: This question is basically age old question that also touches topic of software copy-protection, as some of mechanisms used in that area are mentioned here. I should be clear at this point that I'm not looking for a copy-protection scheme. Please, read on. :) I'm working on a client-server software that is supposed to work in local network. One of problems I have to solve is to identify each unique client in network (not so much of a problem), so that I can apply certain attributes to every specific client, retain and enforce those attributes during deployment lifetime of a specific client. While I was looking for a solution, I was aware of following: Windows activation system uses some kind of heavy fingerprinting mechanism, that is extremely sensitive to hardware modifications, Disk imaging software copies along all Volume IDs (tied to each partition when formatted), and custom, uniquely generated IDs during installation process, during first run, or in any other way, that is strictly software in its nature, and stored in registry or on hard drive, so it's very easy to confuse two Obvious choice for this kind of problem would be to find out BIOS identifiers (not 100% sure if this is unique through identical motherboard models, though), as that's the only thing I can rely on, that isn't duplicated, transferred by cloning, and that can't be changed (at least not by using some user-space program). Everything else fails as either being not reliable (MAC cloning, anyone?), or too demanding (in terms that it's too sensitive to configuration changes). Am I missing something obvious here? Sub-question that I'd like to ask is, am I doing it correctly, architecture-wise? Perhaps there is a better tool for task that I have to accomplish... Another approach I had in mind is something similar to handshake mechanism, where server maintains internal lookup table of connected client IDs (which can be even completely software-based and non-unique at any given moment), and tells client to come up with different ID during handshake, if duplicate ID is provided upon connection. That approach, unfortunately, doesn't play nicely with one of requirements to tie attributes to specific client during lifetime.

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• WebApps tendency

  - by Narek

  There is a strong tendency of making web apps and even seems that very soon a lot of features will be available online so that for every day use people will have all necessary software free online and they will not need to install any software locally. Only specific (professional) tools that usually people don’t use at home will not be available as a web app. So my question, how do you imagine selling software that was necessary for everyday use and was not free (seems they can't make money any more by selling their product – no need of those products). And what disadvantages have web apps, that is to say, what is bad to use software online compared with having the same software locally (please list)? Please do not consider this question not connected with programming, as I would like to have a little statistics from professional programmers who are aware from nowday’s tendency of software and programming. Thanks.

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• Web and stand-alone apps development tendency

  - by Narek

  There is a strong tendency of making web apps and even seems that very soon a lot of features will be available online so that for every day use people will have all necessary software free online and they will not need to install any software locally. Only specific (professional) tools that usually people don’t use at home will not be available as a web app. So my question, how do you imagine selling software that was necessary for everyday use and was not free (seems they can't make money any more by selling their product – no need of those products). And what disadvantages have web apps, that is to say, what is bad to use software online compared with having the same software locally (please list)? Please do not consider this question not connected with programming, as I really would like to have a little statistics from professional programmers who are aware from nowday’s tendency of software and programming. Thanks.

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• Does AMD Cool n Quiet Slow Down Your System?

  - by Software Monkey

  I discovered today that having AMD Cool n Quiet enabled in my BIOS appears to be slowing down my Windows XP SP2 system by about 29% on memory & CPU intensive workloads. I was wondering if (a) anyone else had encountered this, (b) anyone can offer an explanation, (c) there are any negatives I need to be aware of if I keep AMD CnQ disabled. With some superficial testing so far, I don't immediately notice any difference with CnQ off (other than the performance being what I expected from this new hardware). It seems to ramp up the CPU fan a little bit as my program maxes out 1 core, but that's the same as with CnQ on. And when I let the system idle the CPU fan slows down and the systems as quiet as a mouse (after years of 6 small fans churning like they want to go into orbit it's nice to again have a system where I can hear the HDDs seeking). Bonus question: Does CnQ cause issues with system stability? I ask because the reason I disabled it was because I have had a few freezes and 1 spontaneous reboot with my new hardware.

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• Server load high, CPU idle. NFS the cause?

  - by Mech Software

  I am running into a scenario where I'm seeing a high server load (sometimes upwards of 20 or 30) and a very low CPU usage (98% idle). I'm wondering if these wait states are coming as part of an NFS filesystem connection. Here is what I see in VMStat procs -----------memory---------- ---swap-- -----io---- --system-- -----cpu------ r b swpd free buff cache si so bi bo in cs us sy id wa st 2 1 0 1298784 0 0 0 0 16 5 0 9 1 1 97 2 0 0 1 0 1308016 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3882 4 3 80 13 0 0 1 0 1307960 0 0 0 0 120 0 0 2960 0 0 88 12 0 0 1 0 1295868 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 4235 1 2 84 13 0 6 0 0 1292740 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5003 1 1 98 0 0 4 0 0 1300860 0 0 0 0 0 120 0 11194 4 3 93 0 0 4 1 0 1304576 0 0 0 0 240 0 0 11259 4 3 88 6 0 3 1 0 1298952 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9268 7 5 70 19 0 3 1 0 1303740 0 0 0 0 88 8 0 8088 4 3 81 13 0 5 0 0 1304052 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6348 4 4 93 0 0 0 0 0 1307952 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7366 5 4 91 0 0 0 0 0 1307744 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3201 0 0 100 0 0 4 0 0 1294644 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5514 1 2 97 0 0 3 0 0 1301272 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11508 4 3 93 0 0 3 0 0 1307788 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11822 5 3 92 0 0 From what I can tell when the IO goes up the waits go up. Could NFS be the cause here or should I be worried about something else? This is a VPS box on a fiber channel SAN. I'd think the bottleneck wouldn't be the SAN. Comments?

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• Is it possible to print on a networked Windows Print server from an AIX server, without using remote

  - by Stringent Software

  I have an application on an AIX server (v5.3) that needs to print via a Windows Print Server over the LAN. The simplest way to do this is to use SMIT to setup a remote print queue - which I've done on the test environment - but the IT department have refused to set up a remote print queue on the Production server. I don't have root access to the Production server. Is there any other method for connecting the app to the print server that doesn't involve print queues on the AIX box?

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• Why does Windows spooler require an administrator account?

  - by Software Monkey

  Does anyone know what changes I might need to make to allow restricted users to print using a printer configured for spooling? My Windows XP SP3 system currently requires me to use an Admin account for printing if the printer is configured to spool documents before printing. If the printer is configured for direct printing it works for all accounts. This used to work and some months back it just stopped, and I can't pin down why. The printer, which is an HP PSC 1200 (an old printer) itself is configured for Everyone to have Print authority and my specific (restricted) account to have Full authority, that is Print, Manage Printers and Manager Documents. My HDD is locked down for restricted users given them only read authority to the entire file system except their data directories, which is how I have run my systems for years. I assume there may be a directory somewhere that I need to allow users to write to.

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• Why is my new Phenom II 965 BE not significantly faster than my old Athlon 64 X2 4600+?

  - by Software Monkey

  I recently rebuilt my 5 year old computer. I upgraded all core components, in particular from an Athlon 64 X2 4600+ at 2.4 GHz with DDR2 800 to a Phenom II 965 BE (quad core) at 3.6 GHz with DDR3 1333 (actually 1600, but testing consistently detected memory errors at 1600). The motherboard is also much newer and better. The HDD's (x3), DVD writer and card reader are the same. The BIOS memory config is auto-everything except the base timing which I overrode to 1T instead of 2T. The BIOS CPU multiplier is slightly over-clocked to 3.6 GHz from the stock 3.4 GHz. I noticed compiling Java is slower than I expected. As it happens I have some (single-threaded) Java pattern-matching code which is CPU and memory bound and for which I have performance numbers recorded on a number of hardware platforms, including my old system. So I did a test run on the new equipment and was stunned to find that the numbers are only slightly better than my old system, about 25%. The data set it is operating on is a 148,975 character array, which should easily fit in caches, but in any event the new CPU has larger caches all around. The system was, of course, otherwise idle for the test and the test run is a timed 10 seconds to eliminate scheduling anomalies. A long while ago, when I upgraded only memory from DD2 667 to DDR2 800 there was no change in performance of this test, which subjectively supports that the test cycle does not need to (significantly) access main memory, but yes it is creating and garbage collecting a large number of objects in the process of this test (low millions of matches are found for the pattern set). I am about 99.999% certain the code hasn't changed since I last ran it on 2009-03-17 - but I can't easily retest the old hardware, because it is currently in pieces on my work-bench waiting to be built into a new computer for my kids. Note that Windows (XP) reports a CPU speed of 795 MHz unless I have some thing running. With stuff running it seems to jump all over the place each time I use ALT-Pause to display the system properties, everywhere from 795 MHz to 3.4 Ghz. So why might my shiny new hardware under-performing so badly? EDIT: The old memory was Mushkin DDR2 800 with timings set for auto which should have been 5-5-5-12. The new memory is Corsair DDR3 1600, running at 1333 with timings also auto which are 9-9-9-21. In both cases they are a paired set of dual channel DIMMs. I was waiting to ensure my system was stable before tweaking with memory timings.

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• Windows Despooler Requires Administrator to Print

  - by Software Monkey

  Does anyone know what changes I might need to make to allow restricted users to print using a printer configured for spooling? My Windows XP SP3 system currently requires me to use an Admin account for printing if the print is configured to spool documents before printing. If the printer is configured for direct printing it works for all accounts. This used to work and some months back it just stopped, and I can't pin down why. The printer itself is configured for all uses to have complete authority. My system is locked down for restricted users given them only read authority to the entire file system except their data directories, which is how I have run my systems for years. I assume there may be a directory somewhere that I need to allow users to write to.

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• I am transferring a namserver domain what do I need to update?

  - by Mech Software

  Perhaps I am totally over thinking this but I have a domain name and name servers that are working just fine. I want to transfer the one domain name that I have for my server which is also the name of the nameserver. e.g. mydomain.com with nameservers ns1.mydomain.com ns2.mydomain.com I am transfering the mydomain.com from the current registrar to the one I use for all my other domains. The question is what do I have to update? Once the transfer is complete mydomain.com will have ns1.mydomain.com and ns2.mydomain.com as it's nameservers as it is today. I was wondering though how ns1.mydomain.com and ns2.mydomain.com are resolving if mydomain.com is pointing to ns1 and ns2. Am I over thinking this or am I missing something in the process here? I always just enter the nameserver names when I configure any domains on my server. Do I have to setup A records somewhere for ns1 and ns2 ?

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• Windows Photo Viewer can't open this picture because you don't have the correct permissions to access the file location

  - by Software Monkey

  My system in Windows 7 and fully up to date with all patches and options (except for Microsoft Silverlight, which I refuse to install). I get this error whenever I try to open an image using Windows Photo Viewer, such as when previewing from Explorer or when opening an image attachment to an email. I have already verified correct permissions to the file and all folders in the path. The strange thing is that every other program I have seems to open the images fine, including "Slideshow" from Windows Explorer. Even more strange, in WPV there is an "Open" menu that lists the other programs for images including GIMP and MS Paint and they open the very file that WPV is complaining about just fine. That should eliminate permissions as being the problem, especially since (logically at least) they are read/write while WPV is read-only. I have even edited and saved the images that WPV does not open. I am out of ideas, and searching for answer on the Web has resulted only in the same tired repitition of some flavor of "take ownership and reset permissions for the entire drive", which I have already done. And which is counter-indicated by the fact that only Windows Photo Viewer seems to have a problem. The one thing which is slightly unusual is that for normal files they are all on a second HDD mounted into C:, however for email attachments the temporary folder is C:\Temp\, which is directly on that drive.

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• How do I diagnose Windows XP failure to automatically suspend on idle?

  - by Software Monkey

  Since upgrading my hardware (mobo, CPU and memory) a couple months ago my computer no longer automatically suspends and hibernates after the configured idle periods. Both functions work just fine manually, but if I leave the computer on overnight it's still active the next morning even though it's configured to sleep after 3 hours and hibernate after 6 hours. How do I diagnose the cause of this?

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• How do I diagnose the cause of a freeze after resuming in Windows XP (SP3)?

  - by Software Monkey

  I have just built a new computer from parts. Whenever I resume from any sleep mode (S1, S3 or S4) the computer freezes within about 60 seconds of the welcome screen appearing. I have updated the BIOS and all drivers to current from the motherboard manufacturer's site. I have reset BIOS settings to default, including disabling AMD Cool n Quiet. The windows event logs are not helpful at all. Other than immediately after resuming the system is stable as long as AMD CnQ is disabled. The system is: Mobo : MSI 790GX-G65 CPU : AMD Phenom II 965 BE at 3.6 GHz Memory : Corsair DDR3 1600, at 1333 MHz and 9-9-9-21 HDDs : 1 EIDE, 2 SATA in RAID-0 DVD : 1 Card Reader: 1 multi-card reader Keyboard is attached via PS2 and mouse is USB. Any thoughts or pointers would be most welcome. EDIT: It appears that the computer may not freeze if a program is left running which puts it under significant load. I left a stress test running which keeps all cores under 85% load, and my son put the computer to sleep - while this program is running it I have been able to resume from S3 successfully 4 times, compared against about 20 tests with the computer idle which have all frozen. So this may be related to being in an idle state when it resumes.

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• External SATA drive does not work without the optional USB cable *also* connected

  - by Software Monkey

  I have Vantec NST-260SU external eSATA/USB drive enclosure (which came with an optional separate power supply) connected to a relatively new Windows 7 computer. The drive should work as a SATA drive with either the separate power supply or using a USB cable solely for power. I would prefer to use the external power supply because I have used all my rear USB ports. Now, if I connect both the eSATA and USB cable, then: The drive shows in the BIOS list of AHCI drives (and not in the list of attached USB devices). Everything I can see about it in Computer Management seems to show it as a SATA driver (for example, it shows as "Location 0 (Channel 5, Target 0, Lun 0)" like my other SATA drives (and not "on USB Mass Storage Device" like my USB flash-drives). It seems very fast, very much faster than my USB flash drives. However, if I disconnect the USB cable and attach the power adapter instead, the drive does not show in the BIOS list and cannot be seen by Windows. The power LED on the enclosure is lit, and the drive enclosure becomes warm after running for a bit, so I am sure it is receiving power. Does anyone know if this device requires both the USB and eSATA cable, and if so, why? Or is there possibly something I need to do to reset the enclosure to not need the USB - the install instructions are pretty clear that you must connect the SATA cable before connecting the USB cable in order for the drive to function as SATA, which I am sure I did. PS: I have reviewed the small manual which came with it, which has not been of help.

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