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  • Using GQL to check if BlobProperty is NULL

    - by Joel
    Hello, I have a db.BlobProperty property (called "Icon") in my entity which contains an image binary. I want to run a GQL query to retrieve all entities with an image (i.e. their "Icon" property is not NULL). Trying to use the following query: "SELECT * FROM Names WHERE Icon!=NULL" did not work... Trying to use .filter("Icon!=",None) did not work as well... Any ideas? Thanks! Joel

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  • One hour difference in Python

    - by Joel
    Hello, I have a datetime.datetime property var. I would like to know if it is less than one hour of the current time. Something like var.hour<datetime.datetime.today().hour - 1 Problem with the above syntax is that datetime.datetime.today().hour returns a number such as "10" and it is not really a date comparation but more of a numbers comparation. What is the correct syntax? Thanks! Joel

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  • Append to list of lists

    - by Joel
    Hello, I am trying to build a list of lists using the following code: list=3*[[]] Now I am trying to append a string to the list in position 0: list[0].append("hello") However, instead of receiving the list [ ["hello"] , [], [] ] I am receiving the list: [ ["hello"] ,["hello"] , ["hello"] ] Am I missing something? Thanks, Joel

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  • Building proper link with spaces

    - by Joel
    Hello, I have the following code in Python: linkHTML = "<a href=\"page?q=%s\">click here</a>" % strLink The problem is that when strLink has spaces in it the link shows up as <a href="page?q=with space">click here</a> I can use strLink.replace(" ","+") But I am sure there are other characters which can cause errors. I tried using urllib.quote(strLink) But it doesn't seem to help. Thanks! Joel

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  • I insert new parent row and child rowstate changes from Added to unchanged

    - by Joel
    rowsUpdated is an int32 to count how many rows are updated rowsToUpdate = dataset.ParentTable.Select("", "", dataviewRowState.Added) if rowsToUpdate isNot Nothing then for each row as datarow in RowsToUpdate changes the rowstate: rowsUpdated = rowsUpdated + ParentTableAdapter.update(row) Next row End if I'm sure it's something I'm over looking but I just can't see it. Thanks in advance, Joel

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  • Semaphores values

    - by Joel
    Hey, I have a question regarding using Semaphores HANDLE WINAPI CreateSemaphore(...); Is there anyway I can get the current value of the semaphore? Thanks, Joel

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  • Valgrind says "stack allocation," I say "heap allocation"

    - by Joel J. Adamson
    Dear Friends, I am trying to trace a segfault with valgrind. I get the following message from valgrind: ==3683== Conditional jump or move depends on uninitialised value(s) ==3683== at 0x4C277C5: sparse_mat_mat_kron (sparse.c:165) ==3683== by 0x4C2706E: rec_mating (rec.c:176) ==3683== by 0x401C1C: age_dep_iterate (age_dep.c:287) ==3683== by 0x4014CB: main (age_dep.c:92) ==3683== Uninitialised value was created by a stack allocation ==3683== at 0x401848: age_dep_init_params (age_dep.c:131) ==3683== ==3683== Conditional jump or move depends on uninitialised value(s) ==3683== at 0x4C277C7: sparse_mat_mat_kron (sparse.c:165) ==3683== by 0x4C2706E: rec_mating (rec.c:176) ==3683== by 0x401C1C: age_dep_iterate (age_dep.c:287) ==3683== by 0x4014CB: main (age_dep.c:92) ==3683== Uninitialised value was created by a stack allocation ==3683== at 0x401848: age_dep_init_params (age_dep.c:131) However, here's the offending line: /* allocate mating table */ age_dep_data->mtable = malloc (age_dep_data->geno * sizeof (double *)); if (age_dep_data->mtable == NULL) error (ENOMEM, ENOMEM, nullmsg, __LINE__); for (int j = 0; j < age_dep_data->geno; j++) { 131=> age_dep_data->mtable[j] = calloc (age_dep_data->geno, sizeof (double)); if (age_dep_data->mtable[j] == NULL) error (ENOMEM, ENOMEM, nullmsg, __LINE__); } What gives? I thought any call to malloc or calloc allocated heap space; there is no other variable allocated here, right? Is it possible there's another allocation going on (the offending stack allocation) that I'm not seeing? You asked to see the code, here goes: /* Copyright 2010 Joel J. Adamson <[email protected]> $Id: age_dep.c 1010 2010-04-21 19:19:16Z joel $ age_dep.c:main file Joel J. Adamson -- http://www.unc.edu/~adamsonj Servedio Lab University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill CB #3280, Coker Hall Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3280 This file is part of an investigation of age-dependent sexual selection. This code is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This software is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with haploid. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>. */ #include "age_dep.h" /* global variables */ extern struct argp age_dep_argp; /* global error message variables */ char * nullmsg = "Null pointer: %i"; /* error message for conversions: */ char * errmsg = "Representation error: %s"; /* precision for formatted output: */ const char prec[] = "%-#9.8f "; const size_t age_max = AGEMAX; /* maximum age of males */ static int keep_going_p = 1; int main (int argc, char ** argv) { /* often used counters: */ int i, j; /* read the command line */ struct age_dep_args age_dep_args = { NULL, NULL, NULL }; argp_parse (&age_dep_argp, argc, argv, 0, 0, &age_dep_args); /* set the parameters here: */ /* initialize an age_dep_params structure, set the members */ age_dep_params_t * params = malloc (sizeof (age_dep_params_t)); if (params == NULL) error (ENOMEM, ENOMEM, nullmsg, __LINE__); age_dep_init_params (params, &age_dep_args); /* initialize frequencies: this initializes a list of pointers to initial frqeuencies, terminated by a NULL pointer*/ params->freqs = age_dep_init (&age_dep_args); params->by = 0.0; /* what range of parameters do we want, and with what stepsize? */ /* we should go from 0 to half-of-theta with a step size of about 0.01 */ double from = 0.0; double to = params->theta / 2.0; double stepsz = 0.01; /* did you think I would spell the whole word? */ unsigned int numparts = floor(to / stepsz); do { #pragma omp parallel for private(i) firstprivate(params) \ shared(stepsz, numparts) for (i = 0; i < numparts; i++) { params->by = i * stepsz; int tries = 0; while (keep_going_p) { /* each time through, modify mfreqs and mating table, then go again */ keep_going_p = age_dep_iterate (params, ++tries); if (keep_going_p == ERANGE) error (ERANGE, ERANGE, "Failure to converge\n"); } fprintf (stdout, "%i iterations\n", tries); } /* for i < numparts */ params->freqs = params->freqs->next; } while (params->freqs->next != NULL); return 0; } inline double age_dep_pmate (double age_dep_t, unsigned int genot, double bp, double ba) { /* the probability of mating between these phenotypes */ /* the female preference depends on whether the female has the preference allele, the strength of preference (parameter bp) and the male phenotype (age_dep_t); if the female lacks the preference allele, then this will return 0, which is not quite accurate; it should return 1 */ return bits_isset (genot, CLOCI)? 1.0 - exp (-bp * age_dep_t) + ba: 1.0; } inline double age_dep_trait (int age, unsigned int genot, double by) { /* return the male trait, a function of the trait locus, age, the age-dependent scaling parameter (bx) and the males condition genotype */ double C; double T; /* get the male's condition genotype */ C = (double) bits_popcount (bits_extract (0, CLOCI, genot)); /* get his trait genotype */ T = bits_isset (genot, CLOCI + 1)? 1.0: 0.0; /* return the trait value */ return T * by * exp (age * C); } int age_dep_iterate (age_dep_params_t * data, unsigned int tries) { /* main driver routine */ /* number of bytes for female frequencies */ size_t geno = data->age_dep_data->geno; size_t genosize = geno * sizeof (double); /* female frequencies are equal to male frequencies at birth (before selection) */ double ffreqs[geno]; if (ffreqs == NULL) error (ENOMEM, ENOMEM, nullmsg, __LINE__); /* do not set! Use memcpy (we need to alter male frequencies (selection) without altering female frequencies) */ memmove (ffreqs, data->freqs->freqs[0], genosize); /* for (int i = 0; i < geno; i++) */ /* ffreqs[i] = data->freqs->freqs[0][i]; */ #ifdef PRMTABLE age_dep_pr_mfreqs (data); #endif /* PRMTABLE */ /* natural selection: */ age_dep_ns (data); /* normalized mating table with new frequencies */ age_dep_norm_mtable (ffreqs, data); #ifdef PRMTABLE age_dep_pr_mtable (data); #endif /* PRMTABLE */ double * newfreqs; /* mutate here */ /* i.e. get the new frequency of 0-year-olds using recombination; */ newfreqs = rec_mating (data->age_dep_data); /* return block */ { if (sim_stop_ck (data->freqs->freqs[0], newfreqs, GENO, TOL) == 0) { /* if we have converged, stop the iterations and handle the data */ age_dep_sim_out (data, stdout); return 0; } else if (tries > MAXTRIES) return ERANGE; else { /* advance generations */ for (int j = age_max - 1; j < 0; j--) memmove (data->freqs->freqs[j], data->freqs->freqs[j-1], genosize); /* advance the first age-class */ memmove (data->freqs->freqs[0], newfreqs, genosize); return 1; } } } void age_dep_ns (age_dep_params_t * data) { /* calculate the new frequency of genotypes given additive fitness and selection coefficient s */ size_t geno = data->age_dep_data->geno; double w[geno]; double wbar, dtheta, ttheta, dcond, tcond; double t, cond; /* fitness parameters */ double mu, nu; mu = data->wparams[0]; nu = data->wparams[1]; /* calculate fitness */ for (int j = 0; j < age_max; j++) { int i; for (i = 0; i < geno; i++) { /* calculate male trait: */ t = age_dep_trait(j, i, data->by); /* calculate condition: */ cond = (double) bits_popcount (bits_extract(0, CLOCI, i)); /* trait-based fitness term */ dtheta = data->theta - t; ttheta = (dtheta * dtheta) / (2.0 * nu * nu); /* condition-based fitness term */ dcond = CLOCI - cond; tcond = (dcond * dcond) / (2.0 * mu * mu); /* calculate male fitness */ w[i] = 1 + exp(-tcond) - exp(-ttheta); } /* calculate mean fitness */ /* as long as we calculate wbar before altering any values of freqs[], we're safe */ wbar = gen_mean (data->freqs->freqs[j], w, geno); for (i = 0; i < geno; i++) data->freqs->freqs[j][i] = (data->freqs->freqs[j][i] * w[i]) / wbar; } } void age_dep_norm_mtable (double * ffreqs, age_dep_params_t * params) { /* this function produces a single mating table that forms the input for recombination () */ /* i is female genotype; j is male genotype; k is male age */ int i,j,k; double norm_denom; double trait; size_t geno = params->age_dep_data->geno; for (i = 0; i < geno; i++) { double norm_mtable[geno]; /* initialize the denominator: */ norm_denom = 0.0; /* find the probability of mating and add it to the denominator */ for (j = 0; j < geno; j++) { /* initialize entry: */ norm_mtable[j] = 0.0; for (k = 0; k < age_max; k++) { trait = age_dep_trait (k, j, params->by); norm_mtable[j] += age_dep_pmate (trait, i, params->bp, params->ba) * (params->freqs->freqs)[k][j]; } norm_denom += norm_mtable[j]; } /* now calculate entry (i,j) */ for (j = 0; j < geno; j++) params->age_dep_data->mtable[i][j] = (ffreqs[i] * norm_mtable[j]) / norm_denom; } } My current suspicion is the array newfreqs: I can't memmove, memcpy or assign a stack variable then hope it will persist, can I? rec_mating() returns double *.

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  • Too Many Kittens To Juggle At Once

    - by Bil Simser
    Ahh, the Internet. That crazy, mixed up place where one tweet turns into a conversation between dozens of people and spawns a blogpost. This is the direct result of such an event this morning. It started innocently enough, with this: Then followed up by a blog post by Joel here. In the post, Joel introduces us to the term Business Solutions Architect with mad skillz like InfoPath, Access Services, Excel Services, building Workflows, and SSRS report creation, all while meeting the business needs of users in a SharePoint environment. I somewhat disagreed with Joel that this really wasn’t a new role (at least IMHO) and that a good Architect or BA should really be doing this job. As Joel pointed out when you’re building a SharePoint team this kind of role is often overlooked. Engineers might be able to build workflows but is the right workflow for the right problem? Michael Pisarek wrote about a SharePoint Business Architect a few months ago and it’s a pretty solid assessment. Again, I argue you really shouldn’t be looking for roles that don’t exist and I don’t suggest anyone create roles to hire people to fill them. That’s basically creating a solution looking for problems. Michael’s article does have some great points if you’re lost in the quagmire of SharePoint duties though (and I especially like John Ross’ quote “The coolest shit is worthless if it doesn’t meet business needs”). SharePoinTony summed it up nicely with “SharePoint Solutions knowledge is both lacking and underrated in most environments. Roles help”. Having someone on the team who can dance between a business user and a coder can be difficult. Remember the idea of telling something to someone and them passing it on to the next person. By the time the story comes round the circle it’s a shadow of it’s former self with little resemblance to the original tale. This is very much business requirements as they’re told by the user to a business analyst, written down on paper, read by an architect, tuned into a solution plan, and implemented by a developer. Transformations between what was said, what was heard, what was written down, and what was developed can be distant cousins. Not everyone has the skill of communication and even less have negotiation skills to suit the SharePoint platform. Negotiation is important because not everything can be (or should be) done in SharePoint. Sometimes it’s just not appropriate to build it on the SharePoint platform but someone needs to know enough about the platform and what limitations it might have, then communicate that (and/or negotiate) with a customer or user so it’s not about “You can’t have this” to “Let’s try it this way”. Visualize the possible instead of denying the impossible. So what is the right SharePoint team? My cromag brain came with a fairly simpleton answer (and I’m sure people will just say this is a cop-out). The perfect SharePoint team is just enough people to do the job that know the technology and business problem they’re solving. Bridge the gap between business need and technology platform and you have an architect. Communicate the needs of the business effectively so the entire team understands it and you have a business analyst. Can you get this with full time workers? Maybe but don’t expect miracles out of the gate. Also don’t take a consultant’s word as gospel. Some consultants just don’t have the diversity of the SharePoint platform to be worth their value so be careful. You really need someone who knows enough about SharePoint to be able to validate a consultants knowledge level. This is basically try for any consultant, not just a SharePoint one. Specialization is good and needed. A good, well-balanced SharePoint team is one of people that can solve problems with work with the technology, not against it. Having a top developer is great, but don’t rely on them to solve world hunger if they can’t communicate very well with users. An expert business analyst might be great at gathering requirements so the entire team can understand them, but if it means building 100% custom solutions because they don’t fit inside the SharePoint boundaries isn’t of much value. Just repeat. There is no silver bullet. There is no silver bullet. There is no silver bullet. A few people pointed out Nick Inglis’ article Excluding The Information Professional In SharePoint. It’s a good read too and hits home that maybe some developers and IT pros need some extra help in the information space. If you’re in an organization that needs labels on people, come up with something everyone understands and go with it. If that’s Business Solutions Architect, SharePoint Advisor, or Guy Who Knows A Lot About Portals, make it work for you. We all wish that one person could master all that is SharePoint but we also know that doesn’t scale very well and you quickly get into the hit-by-a-bus syndrome (with the organization coming to a full crawl when the guy or girl goes on vacation, gets sick, or pops out a baby). There are too many gaps in SharePoint knowledge to have any one person know it all and too many kittens to juggle all at once. We like to consider ourselves experts in our field, but trying to tackle too many roles at once and we end up being mediocre jack of all trades, master of none. Don't fall into this pit. It's a deep, dark hole you don't want to try to claw your way out of. Trust me. Been there. Done that. Got the t-shirt. In the end I don’t disagree with Joel. SharePoint is a beast and not something that should be taken on by newbies. If you just read “Teach Yourself SharePoint in 24 Hours” and want to go build your corporate intranet or the next killer business solution with all your new found knowledge plan to pony up consultant dollars a few months later when everything goes to Hell in a handbasket and falls over. I’m not saying don’t build solutions in SharePoint. I’m just saying that building effective ones takes skill like any craft and not something you can just cobble together with a little bit of cursory knowledge. Thanks to *everyone* who participated in this tweet rush. It was fun and educational.

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  • Naming PowerPoint Components With A VSTO Add-In

    - by Tim Murphy
    Note: Cross posted from Coding The Document. Permalink Sometimes in order to work with Open XML we need a little help from other tools.  In this post I am going to describe  a fairly simple solution for marking up PowerPoint presentations so that they can be used as templates and processed using the Open XML SDK. Add-ins are tools which it can be hard to find information on.  I am going to up the obscurity by adding a Ribbon button.  For my example I am using Visual Studio 2008 and creating a PowerPoint 2007 Add-in project.  To that add a Ribbon Visual Designer.  The new ribbon by default will show up on the Add-in tab. Add a button to the ribbon.  Also add a WinForm to collect a new name for the object selected.  Make sure to set the OK button’s DialogResult to OK. In the ribbon button click event add the following code. ObjectNameForm dialog = new ObjectNameForm(); Selection selection = Globals.ThisAddIn.Application.ActiveWindow.Selection;   dialog.objectName = selection.ShapeRange.Name;   if (dialog.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK) { selection.ShapeRange.Name = dialog.objectName; } This code will first read the current Name attribute of the Shape object.  If the user clicks OK on the dialog it save the string value back to the same place. Once it is done you can retrieve identify the control through Open XML via the NonVisualDisplayProperties objects.  The only problem is that this object is a child of several different classes.  This means that there isn’t just one way to retrieve the value.  Below are a couple of pieces of code to identify the container that you have named. The first example is if you are naming placeholders in a layout slide. foreach(var slideMasterPart in slideMasterParts) { var layoutParts = slideMasterPart.SlideLayoutParts; foreach(SlideLayoutPart slideLayoutPart in layoutParts) { foreach (assmPresentation.Shape shape in slideLayoutPart.SlideLayout.CommonSlideData.ShapeTree.Descendants<assmPresentation.Shape>()) { var slideMasterProperties = from p in shape.Descendants<assmPresentation.NonVisualDrawingProperties>() where p.Name == TokenText.Text select p;   if (slideMasterProperties.Count() > 0) tokenFound = true; } } } The second example allows you to find charts that you have named with the add-in. foreach(var slidePart in slideParts) { foreach(assmPresentation.Shape slideShape in slidePart.Slide.CommonSlideData.ShapeTree.Descendants<assmPresentation.Shape>()) { var slideProperties = from g in slidePart.Slide.Descendants<GraphicFrame>() where g.NonVisualGraphicFrameProperties.NonVisualDrawingProperties.Name == TokenText.Text select g;   if(slideProperties.Count() > 0) { tokenFound = true; } } } Together the combination of Open XML and VSTO add-ins make a powerful combination in creating a process for maintaining a template and generating documents from the template.

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  • Oracle Outsourced Repair Solution: The “Control Tower” for the Reverse Supply Chain

    - by John Murphy
    By Hannes Sandmeier, Vice President of cMRO and Depot Repair Development Smart businesses are increasing their focus on core competencies and aggressively cutting costs in their supply chains. Outsourcing repairs can enable a business to focus on what they do best and most profitably while delivering top-notch customer service through partners that specialize in reverse logistics and repair. A well managed “virtual service organization” can deliver fast turn times, lower costs and high customer satisfaction. A poorly managed partner network can deliver disaster for your business. Managing a virtual service organization requires accurate, real-time information and collaboration tools that enable smart, informed and immediate corrective action. To meet this need, Oracle has released the Oracle Outsourced Repair Solution to provide the “control tower” for managing outsourced reverse supply chain operations from customer complaint through remediation to partner claim settlement. The new solution provides real-time visibility to return status, location, turn time, discrepancies and partner performance. Additionally, its web portals allow partners and carriers to view assigned work, request parts, enter data, capture time and submit claims. Leveraging the combined power of Oracle E-Business Suite and Oracle E-Business Suite Extensions for Oracle Endeca, the Oracle Outsourced Repair Solution provides a comprehensive set of tools that range from quick online partner registration to partner claim reconciliation, from capturing parts and labor to Oracle Cost Management and Financials integration, and from part requisition to waste and hazmat controls. These tools empower service operations managers to: · Increase customer satisfaction Ensure customers are satisfied by holding partners accountable for the speed and quality of repairs, and taking immediate corrective action when things go wrong · Reduce costs: Remove waste from the repair process using accurate job cost and cost breakdown data · Increase return velocity: Users have the tools to view all orders in flight and immediately know the current location, status, owner and contact point for repairs so as to be able to remove bottlenecks, resolve discrepancies and manage escalations The Oracle Outsourced Repair Solution further demonstrates Oracle’s commitment to helping supply chain professionals and service managers deliver high customer satisfaction at the lowest cost. For more information on the Oracle Outsourced Repair Solution, visit here. 

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  • TechEd 2012: Dude Where&rsquo;s My Azure

    - by Tim Murphy
    It has been a fun first morning at TechEd North America.  They keynote was both informative and entertaining.  Some of the high points included a walk through of Windows Server 2012 and its new Hyper-V capabilities and use of ODX (offloaded data transfer).  Between seeing stats like being able to being able run a Hyper-V VM with 1TB of memory and watching ODX move a 10GB file at a rate of 1GB per second was really impressive. The fun started when Scott Guthrie was doing his keynote demo and popped up an iPhone emulator from Visual Studio.  There is just something wrong with that picture and the WPDev community agreed.  This was followed by an iPad emulator and by that time the groans across Twitter were rolling. Later in the morning The Gu kept us laughing in the Azure Foundations session when he name a server Dude (I believe a suggestion from the crowd).  After that I thought I was watching the turtle in Finding Nemo.  Duuuuude! In the expo area the line for the Windows Phone booth was ridiculous.  Granted this is a Microsoft event and is sure to be full of MS fan boys, but the only other time I have seen that much enthusiasm for Windows Phones in one place was on the flight down. I am sure there will be a lot more to get excited about over the next few days.  Stay tuned. del.icio.us Tags: TechEd 2012,TechEd North America,Windows Phone,Azure,Scott Guthrie

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  • Leveraging Microsoft Patterns and Practices

    - by Tim Murphy
    I want to bring the Patterns and Practices group to the attention of those who have not already been exposed.  I have been a fan of the P&P team since they came out with the original Application Blocks which eventually turned into the Enterprise Library.  Their main purpose is to assemble guidance and tools that make it easier for all of us to build amazing solutions.  I would simply suggest you spend some time exploring the information and code libraries that they have produced.  Free resources are always a great find and I have used a number of the P&P solutions over the years with success.  If nothing else you may find some new ideas.  Enjoy. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/practices/                           del.icio.us Tags: Patterns and Practices,Microsoft,Architecture,software development

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  • What Is A Software Architect&rsquo;s Job Today?

    - by Tim Murphy
    Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/tmurphy/archive/2013/10/25/what-is-a-software-architectrsquos-job-today.aspx It was 2001 when a project manager first put my job title as architect on a statement of work.  A lot has changed over the last twelve years.  The concepts around what an architect is has evolved.  In the early days I would have said that they just rebranded the role of the system analyst.  Now we have a multitude of architect titles: application, solution, IT, data, enterprise.  Whatever the title the goals are the same.  An architect takes the business needs and maps them to the solutions that are needed and at the same time works to ensure the quality of the solution and its maintainability. One of the problems I see these days is that we are expecting every developer to have architect skills.  That in itself is not a problem.  This reduces the need for dedicated architects.  Not every developer though is going to be able to step up to this level.  Some are just good at solving small problems instead of thinking in the larger abstract. Another problem is the accelerating speed and breadth of new technologies and products.  For an architect to be good at his job he needs to spend large amounts of personal time studying just to stay relevant. In the end I don’t think the main objectives of an architect has changed, just the level of commitment needed to stay of value to your company.  Renew your commitment to your profession and keep delivering great solutions. Technorati Tags: software architect,enterprise architect,data architect,solution architect,IT architect,PSC,PSC Group

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  • Chicago Code Camp Call For Speakers

    - by Tim Murphy
    The Chicago Code Camp is coming up on May 1st, 2010.  They are still looking for speaker.  If you have a rock’n code demonstration that you would like to present to the community be sure to sign up.  If you know someone else who has some ideas that you really think they should share with the world guilt them in to signing up.  http://www.chicagocodecamp.com/ del.icio.us Tags: Chicago Code Camp,call for speakers

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  • Why Standards Only Get You So Far

    - by Tim Murphy
    Over the years I have been exposed to a number of standards.  EDI was the first.  More recently it has been the CIECA standard for Insurance and now the embattled document standards of Open XML and ODF. Standards actually came up at the last CAG meeting.  The debate was over how effective they really are.  Even back in the late 80’s to early 90’s people found they had to customize these standards to get any work done.  I even had one vendor about a year ago tell me that they really weren’t standards, they were more of a guideline. The problem is that standards are created either by committee or by companies trying to sell a product.  They never fit all situations.  This is why most of them leave extension points in their definition.  Of course if you use those extension points everyone has to have custom code to know how to consume the new product. Standards increase reliability but they stifle innovation and slow the time to market cycle of products.  In this age of ever shortening windows of opportunity that could mean that a company could lose its competitive advantage. I believe that standards are not only good, but essential.  I also believe that they are not a silver bullet.  People who turn competing standards into a type of holy war are really missing the point.  I think we should make the best standards we can, whether that is for a product so that customers can use API, or by committee so that they cross products.  But they also need to be as feature rich and flexible as possible.  They can’t be just the lowest common denominator since this type of standard will be broken the day it is published.  In the end though, it is the market will vote with their dollars. del.icio.us Tags: Office Open XML,ODF,Standards,EDI

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  • Review: ComponentOne Studio for Entity Framework

    - by Tim Murphy
    While I have always been a fan of libraries that improve coding efficiency and reduce code redundancy I have mostly been using ones that were in the public domain.  As part of the Geeks With Blogs Influencers program a got my hands on ComponentOne’s Studio for Entity Framework.  Below are my thought after working with the product for several weeks. My coding preference has always been maintainable code that is reusable across an enterprises protfolio.  Because of this my focus in reviewing this product is less on the RAD components and more on its benefits for layered applications using code first Entity Framework. Before we get into the pros and cons here is a summary of the main feature listed for SEF. Unified Data Context Virtual Data Access More Powerful Data Binding Pros The first thing that I found to my liking is the C1DataSource. It basically manages a cache for your Entity Model context.  Under RAD conditions this is setup automatically when you drop the object on a your design surface.  If you are like me and want to abstract you data management into a library it takes a little more work, but it is still acceptable and gains the same benefits. The second feature that I found beneficial is the definition of views with improved sorting and filtering.  Again the ease of use of these features is greater on the RAD side but no capabilities are missing when manipulating object in code. Linq has become my friend over the last couple of years and it was great to see that ComponentOne had ensured that it remained a first class citizen in their design.  When you look into this product yourself I would suggest taking a dive into LiveLinq which allow the joining of different data source types. As I went through discovering the features of this framework I appreciated the number of examples that they supplied for different uses.  Besides showing how to use SEF with WinForms, WPF and Silverlight they also showed how to accomplish tasks both RAD, code only and MVVM approaches. Cons The only area that I would really like to see improvement is in there level of detail in their documentation.  Specifically I would like to have seen some of the supporting code explained, such as what some supporting object did, in the examples instead of having to go to the programmer’s reference. I did find some times where currently existing projects had some trouble determining scope that the RAD controls were allowed, but I expect this is something that is in part end user related. Summary Overall I found the Studio for Entity Framework capable and well thought out.  If you are already using the Entity Framework this product will fit into your environment with little effort in return for greater flexibility and greater robustness in your solutions. Whether the $895 list price for a standard version works for you will depend on your return on investment. Smaller companies with only a small number of projects may not be able to stomach it, you get a full featured product that is supported by a well established company.  The more projects and the more code you have the greater your return on investment will be. Personally I intend to apply this product to some production systems and will probably have some tips and tricks in the future. del.icio.us Tags: ComponentOne,Studio for Entity Framework,Geeks With Blogs,Influencers,Product Reviews

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  • Book Review: Getting Started With Window 8 Apps By Ben Dewey

    - by Tim Murphy
    When O’Reilly gave me an opportunity to review this book I was excited.  It gave me a reason to finally put some time into this new platform and what developers will need to learn in order to be successful. This book by Ben Dewey is only 92 pages long, so if you were looking for an in-depth treatment of Windows 8 development you will need supplemental materials.  It is also due for an update from the perspective of recent changes made by Microsoft prior to the final release of the OS and tools.  This causes a few issues if you try to run the code samples because of namespace changes. I was encouraged by the fact that the author didn’t do the typical “hello world” app.  He uses a lot of pattern based development techniques and hits many of the main topics including: Application lifecycle Charms integration Tiles Sensors The lifecycle is critical for anyone who hasn’t done mobile development before.  Limited resources on these devices mean that the OS can suspend or kill your app altogether if it decides it needs to.  He covers tombstoning which is the key to Windows 8 and Windows Phone lifecycle management. He also dedicates a chapter to marketing and distributing the application you build.  From my experience with Windows Phone development this is crucial information.  You need to know how to test your application so that it is going to pass certification and present your app so that it is going to get noticed amongst thousands of other apps. The main things that I wish had been in the book explanations of more of the common controls and more complete explanation of patterns that were implemented. In the end this book is a good foundation getting exposure to the concepts that underlie this new version of the Windows platform and how it effects developers.  It isn’t a book that I would suggest for someone just getting into development with no understanding of pattern based development. del.icio.us Tags: Windows 8,O'Reilly,Ben Dewey,Book Review,Review

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  • BUILD 2013 Session&ndash;What&rsquo;s New In XAML

    - by Tim Murphy
    Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/tmurphy/archive/2013/06/27/build-2013-sessionndashwhatrsquos-new-in-xaml.aspx If ever there was a session that you felt like your head was going to explode, this one would do it.  Tim Heuer proceeded to try to fit as many of the changes and additions to XAML as he could in one hour. There were a number of improvements that struck me.  The first was the fact that we no longer need to put stack panels in the AppBar in order to add buttons.  This has been changed to a CommandBar which at the very least makes the markup read more cleanly.  Now if they would just bring this same improvement to Windows Phone we would be set. There was a lot of cheering at the beginning of his talk when he showed that there are now date time pickers.  I understand that it makes life easier, but I just couldn’t get that excited. The couple of features that did grab my attention being able to select a group of tags and then add an encapsulating tag such as a StackPanel around them and the fact that they have optimized XAML so that now runs on average 25% faster. I’d go crazy trying to list off all the improvements and new features so be sure to go and review the recording of the session. del.icio.us Tags: BUILD 2013,XAML,Windows 8.1

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  • Where I Am Speaking Soon

    - by Tim Murphy
    Open XML and document generation has been my focus lately.  With that being the case I will be speaking on the subject in the near future at the following event. Chicago Code Camp – May 1 Chicago Architects Group – June 15 Lake Count .NET User Group – June 17 I hope to see you at one (or more) of these events. del.icio.us Tags: speaking,Office Open XML,OOXML,Document Generation

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  • March 2011 Chicago IT Arch Group Recap

    - by Tim Murphy
    This month’s meeting was outstanding.  We had a record turnout for John Sprunger’s presentation on mobile architectures.  I guess that is what happens when you put up a presentation on the most popular topic in technology.  I invite everyone to join us for next month’s event.   And while I love to see new faces it is always great to have people come back and continue the conversation. Here are some resources from last night’s presentation. Presentation slides Whitepaper Case study Stay tuned for information on our upcoming presentations.   del.icio.us Tags: CITAG,Chicago Information Technology Architects Group,Mobile Architecture

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  • TechEd 2012: Office, SharePoint And More Office

    - by Tim Murphy
    I haven’t spent any time looking at Office 365 up to this point.  I met Donovan Follette on the flight down from Chicago.  I also got to spend some time discussing the product offerings with him at the TechExpo and that sealed my decision to attend this session. The main actor of his presentation is the BCS – Business Connectivity Services. He explained that while this feature has existed in on-site SharePoint it is a valuable new addition to Office 365 SharePoint Online.  If you aren’t familiar with the BCS, it allows you to leverage non-SharePoint enterprise data source from SharePoint.  The greatest benefactor is the end users who can leverage the data using a variety of Office products and more.  The one thing I haven’t shaken my skepticism of is the use of SharePoint Designer which Donovan used to create a WCF service.  It is mostly my tendency to try to create solutions that can be managed through the whole application life cycle.  It the past migrating through test environments has been near impossible with anything other than content created by SharePiont Designer. There is a lot of end user power here.  The biggest consideration I think you need to examine when reaching from you enterprise LOB data stores out to an online service and back is that you are going to take a performance hit.  This means that you have to be very aware of how you configure these integrated self serve solutions.  As a rule make sure you are using the right tool for the right situation. I appreciated that he showed both no code and code solutions for the consumer of the LOB data.  I came out of this session much better informed about the possibilities around this product. del.icio.us Tags: Office 365,SharePoint Online,TechEd,TechEd 2012

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  • Wire Framing WP7 Apps With Cacoo

    - by Tim Murphy
    While looking for a free alternative to Sketchflow I landed on the Cacoo web site.  Any developer who decides to use the free Visual Studio tools may find themselves doing the same search.  The base functionality of Cacoo is free although there are certain features that have fees attached to them such as extended stencils and templates. Cacoo doesn’t seem to have a template for WP7.  It does have templates for iOS and Android development so I started with the Android template and started modidfying it for WP7.  Funny thing is since Android has the same hardware vendors as Windows Phone the basic frame looks just right (I would swear I was looking at my Samsung Focus). Below is the start of a new mockup for the user group that I help run. I found that while Cacoo doesn’t have all the icons I need I am able to insert them from the Windows Phone Toolkit folder.  If I put them off to the side as you can see above.  I can simply copy and paste them into the appropriate place as needed.  Beyond that I have customized the main frame frame so I can have my base to work from.  In the future I intend to create this as a stencil and if it looks good enough I would consider making it public. My use of this product is still in it’s early phase, but it seems like a great way to start.  Maybe if you use this to get going you can earn enough from your resulting apps to pay for something with more bells and whistles in the future. del.icio.us Tags: WP7,Windows Phone 7 development,design,Cacoo,wire frame

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  • Blogging After The Blog Boom

    - by Tim Murphy
    I have been blogging on Geeks With Blogs since 2005 and on other blogging sites before that.  In this age of Twitter, Facebook and G+ it feels like we are in the post-blog age and yet here I continue.  There are several reasons for this.  The first is that I still find it to be the best place for self publishing long form thought that won’t fit well on Twitter or Facebook.  Google+ allows for this type of content, but it suffers from the same scroll factor as the other social media platforms.  If you aren’t looking at the right moment you miss it.  On a blog I can put complete thoughts with examples and people can find what they want via key words or search engine. The second reason I blog is to have a place for me to put information I want to be able to reference back to later.  Although I use OneNote which is now accessible everywhere the blog gives me somewhere to refer co-workers and clients when I have solutions for problems I have previously solved. I know that other people use their blog as a resume builder, but that hasn’t been one of my primary concerns.  Don’t get me wrong.  Opportunities do come up because you put out well thought out, topical material.  That just isn’t one of my top motivators. I don’t always find the time to blog or even have anything to say lately, but I will continue to produce content for myself and others to learn from and hopefully enjoy. del.icio.us Tags: Blogging,Social Media

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  • Be able to create edit and move files to and from /var/www

    - by Ryan Murphy
    I have installed lamp on Ubuntu 12.04. I try to access /var/www but it doesn't allow me to do anything as it says I don't have permissions. I have tried: 1. gksudo nautilus - which works but its very inconvenient way of doing things. 2. sudo adduser ryan www-data sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www sudo chmod g+rw /var/www The above didn't work. I have googled and searched this site for a solution, but all the existing possible solutions have not worked.

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