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  • C# in Depth, Third Edition by Jon Skeet, Manning Publications Co. Book Review

    - by Compudicted
    Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/Compudicted/archive/2013/10/24/c-in-depth-third-edition-by-jon-skeet-manning-publications.aspx I started reading this ebook on September 28, 2013, the same day it was sent my way by Manning Publications Co. for review while it still being fresh off the press. So 1st thing – thanks to Manning for this opportunity and a free copy of this must have on every C# developer’s desk book! Several hours ago I finished reading this book (well, except a for a large portion of its quite lengthy appendix). I jumped writing this review right away while still being full of emotions and impressions from reading it thoroughly and running code examples. Before I go any further I would like say that I used to program on various platforms using various languages starting with the Mainframe and ending on Windows, and I gradually shifted toward dealing with databases more than anything, however it happened with me to program in C# 1 a lot when it was first released and then some C# 2 with a big leap in between to C# 5. So my perception and experience reading this book may differ from yours. Also what I want to tell is somewhat funny that back then, knowing some Java and seeing C# 1 released, initially made me drawing a parallel that it is a copycat language, how wrong was I… Interestingly, Jon programs in Java full time, but how little it was mentioned in the book! So more on the book: Be informed, this is not a typical “Recipes”, “Cookbook” or any set of ready solutions, it is rather targeting mature, advanced developers who do not only know how to use a number of features, but are willing to understand how the language is operating “under the hood”. I must state immediately, at the same time I am glad the author did not go into the murky depths of the MSIL, so this is a very welcome decision on covering a modern language as C# for me, thank you Jon! Frankly, not all was that rosy regarding the tone and structure of the book, especially the the first half or so filled me with several negative and positive emotions overpowering each other. To expand more on that, some statements in the book appeared to be bias to me, or filled with pre-justice, it started to look like it had some PR-sole in it, but thankfully this was all gone toward the end of the 1st third of the book. Specifically, the mention on the C# language popularity, Java is the #1 language as per https://sites.google.com/site/pydatalog/pypl/PyPL-PopularitY-of-Programming-Language (many other sources put C at the top which I highly doubt), also many interesting functional languages as Clojure and Groovy appeared and gained huge traction which run on top of Java/JVM whereas C# does not enjoy such a situation. If we want to discuss the popularity in general and say how fast a developer can find a new job that pays well it would be indeed the very Java, C++ or PHP, never C#. Or that phrase on language preference as a personal issue? We choose where to work or we are chosen because of a technology used at a given software shop, not vice versa. The book though it technically very accurate with valid code, concise examples, but I wish the author would give more concrete, real-life examples on where each feature should be used, not how. Another point to realize before you get the book is that it is almost a live book which started to be written when even C# 3 wasn’t around so a lot of ground is covered (nearly half of the book) on the pre-C# 3 feature releases so if you already have a solid background in the previous releases and do not plan to upgrade, perhaps half of the book can be skipped, otherwise this book is surely highly recommended. Alas, for me it was a hard read, most of it. It was not boring (well, only may be two times), it was just hard to grasp some concepts, but do not get me wrong, it did made me pause, on several occasions, and made me read and re-read a page or two. At times I even wondered if I have any IQ at all (LOL). Be prepared to read A LOT on generics, not that they are widely used in the field (I happen to work as a consultant and went thru a lot of code at many places) I can tell my impression is the developers today in best case program using examples found at OpenStack.com. Also unlike the Java world where having the most recent version is nearly mandated by the OSS most companies on the Microsoft platform almost never tempted to upgrade the .Net version very soon and very often. As a side note, I was glad to see code recently that included a nullable variable (myvariable? notation) and this made me smile, besides, I recommended that person this book to expand her knowledge. The good things about this book is that Jon maintains an active forum, prepared code snippets and even a small program (Snippy) that is happy to run the sample code saving you from writing any plumbing code. A tad now on the C# language itself – it sure enjoyed a wonderful road toward perfection and a very high adoption, especially for ASP development. But to me all the recent features that made this statically typed language more dynamic look strange. Don’t we have F#? Which supposed to be the dynamic language? Why do we need to have a hybrid language? Now the developers live their lives in dualism of the static and dynamic variables! And LINQ to SQL, it is covered in depth, but wasn’t it supposed to be dropped? Also it seems that very little is being added, and at a slower pace, e.g. Roslyn will come in late 2014 perhaps, and will be probably the only main feature. Again, it is quite hard to read this book as various chapters, C# versions mentioned every so often only if I only could remember what was covered exactly where! So the fact it has so many jumps/links back and forth I recommend the ebook format to make the navigations easier to perform and I do recommend using software that allows bookmarking, also make sure you have access to plenty of coffee and pizza (hey, you probably know this joke – who a programmer is) ! In terms of closing, if you stuck at C# 1 or 2 level, it is time to embrace the power of C# 5! Finally, to compliment Manning, this book unlike from any other publisher so far, was the only one as well readable (put it formatted) on my tablet as in Adobe Reader on a laptop.

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  • The hidden cost of interrupting knowledge workers

    - by Piet
    The November issue of pragpub has an interesting article on interruptions. The article is written by Brian Tarbox, who also mentions the article on his blog. I like the subtitle: ‘Simple Strategies for Avoiding Dumping Your Mental Stack’. Brian talks about the effective cost of interrupting a ‘knowledge worker’, often with trivial questions or distractions. In the eyes of the interruptor, the interruption only costs the time the interrupted had to listen to the question and give an answer. However, depending on what the interrupted was doing at the time, getting fully immersed in their task again might take up to 15-20 minutes. Enough interruptions might even cause a knowledge worker to mentally call it a day. According to this article interruptions can consume about 28% of a knowledge worker’s time, translating in a $588 billion loss for US companies each year. Looking for a new developer to join your team? Ever thought about optimizing your team’s environment and the way they work instead? Making non knowledge workers aware You can’t. Well, I haven’t succeeded yet. And believe me: I’ve tried. When you’ve got a simple way to really increase your productivity (’give me 2 hours of uninterrupted time a day’) it wouldn’t be right not to tell your boss or team-leader about it. The problem is: only productive knowledge workers seem to understand this. People who don’t fall into this category just seem to think you’re joking, being arrogant or anti-social when you tell them the interruptions can really have an impact on your productivity. Also, knowledge workers often work in a very concentrated mental state which is described here as: It is the same mindfulness as ecstatic lovemaking, the merging of two into a fluidly harmonious one. The hallmark of flow is a feeling of spontaneous joy, even rapture, while performing a task. Yes, coding can be addictive and if you’re interrupting a programmer at the wrong moment, you’re effectively bringing down a junkie from his high in just a few seconds. This can result in seemingly arrogant, almost aggressive reactions. How to make people aware of the production-cost they’re inflicting: I’ve been often pondering that question myself. The article suggests that solutions based on that question never seem to work. To be honest: I’ve never even been able to find a half decent solution for this question. People who are not in this situations just don’t understand the issue, no matter how you try to explain it. Fun (?) thing I’ve noticed: Programmers or IT people in general who don’t get this are often the kind of people who just don’t get anything done. Interrupt handling (interruption management?) IRL Have non-urgent questions handled in a non-interruptive way It helps a bit to educate people into using non-interruptive ways to ask questions: “duh, I have no idea, but I’m a bit busy here now could you put it in an email so I don’t forget?”. Eventually, a considerable amount of people will skip interrupting you and just send an email right away. Some stubborn-headed people however will continue to just interrupt you, saying “you’re 10 meters from my desk, why can’t we just talk?”. Just remember to disable your email notifications, it can be hard to resist opening your email client when you know a new email just arrived. Use Do Not Disturb signals When working in a group of programmers, often the unofficial sign you can only be interrupted for something important is to put on headphones. And when the environment is quiet enough, often people aren’t even listening to music. Otherwise music can help to block the indirect distractions (someone else talking on the phone or tapping their feet). You might get a “they’re all just surfing and listening to music”-reaction from outsiders though. Peopleware talks about a team where the no-interruption sign was placing a shawl on the desk. If I remember correctly, I am unable to locate my copy of this really excellent must-read book. If you have all standardized on the same IM tool, maybe that tool has a ‘do not disturb’ setting. Also some phone-systems have a ‘DND’ (do not disturb) setting. Hide Brian offers a number of good suggestions, some obvious like: hide away somewhere they can’t find you. Not sure how long it’ll be till someone thinks you’re just taking a nap somewhere though. Also, this often isn’t possible or your boss might not understand this. And if you really get caught taking a nap, make sure to explain that your were powernapping. Counter-act interruptions Another suggestion he offers is when you’re being interrupted to just hold up your hand, blocking the interruption, and at least giving you time to finish your sentence or your block/line of code. The last suggestion works more as a way to make it obvious to the interruptor that they really are interrupting your work and to offload some of the cost on the interruptor. In practice, this can also helps you cool down a bit so you don’t start saying nasty things to the interruptor. Unfortunately I’ve sometimes been confronted with people who just ignore this signal and keep talking, as if they’re sure that whatever they’ve got to say is really worth listening to and without a doubt more important than anything you might be doing. This behaviour usually leaves me speechless (not good when someone just asked a question). I’ve noticed that these people are usually also the first to complain when being interrupted themselves. They’re generally not very liked as colleagues, so try not to imitate their behaviour. TDD as a way to minimize recovery time I don’t like Test Driven Development. Mainly for only one reason: It interrupts flow. At least, that’s what it does for me, but maybe I’m just not grown used to TDD yet. BUT a positive effect TDD has on me when I have to work in an interruptive environment and can’t really get into the ‘flow’ (also supposedly called ‘the zone’ by software developers, although I’ve never heard it 1st hand), TDD helps me to concentrate on the tasks at hand and helps me to get back at work after an interruption. I feel when using TDD, I can get by without the need for being totally ‘in’ the project and I can be reasonably productive without obtaining ‘flow’. Do you have a suggestion on how to make people aware of the concept of ‘flow’ and the cost of interruptions? (without looking like an arrogant ass or a weirdo)

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  • How to get SQL Railroad Diagrams from MSDN BNF syntax notation.

    - by Phil Factor
    pre {margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:8.0pt; font-family:"Courier New"; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; } On SQL Server Books-On-Line, in the Transact-SQL Reference (database Engine), every SQL Statement has its syntax represented in  ‘Backus–Naur Form’ notation (BNF)  syntax. For a programmer in a hurry, this should be ideal because It is the only quick way to understand and appreciate all the permutations of the syntax. It is a great feature once you get your eye in. It isn’t the only way to get the information;  You can, of course, reverse-engineer an understanding of the syntax from the examples, but your understanding won’t be complete, and you’ll have wasted time doing it. BNF is a good start in representing the syntax:  Oracle and SQLite go one step further, and have proper railroad diagrams for their syntax, which is a far more accessible way of doing it. There are three problems with the BNF on MSDN. Firstly, it is isn’t a standard version of  BNF, but an ancient fork from EBNF, inherited from Sybase. Secondly, it is excruciatingly difficult to understand, and thirdly it has a number of syntactic and semantic errors. The page describing DML triggers, for example, currently has the absurd BNF error that makes it state that all statements in the body of the trigger must be separated by commas.  There are a few other detail problems too. Here is the offending syntax for a DML trigger, pasted from MSDN. Trigger on an INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE statement to a table or view (DML Trigger) CREATE TRIGGER [ schema_name . ]trigger_name ON { table | view } [ WITH <dml_trigger_option> [ ,...n ] ] { FOR | AFTER | INSTEAD OF } { [ INSERT ] [ , ] [ UPDATE ] [ , ] [ DELETE ] } [ NOT FOR REPLICATION ] AS { sql_statement [ ; ] [ ,...n ] | EXTERNAL NAME <method specifier [ ; ] > }   <dml_trigger_option> ::=     [ ENCRYPTION ]     [ EXECUTE AS Clause ]   <method_specifier> ::=  This should, of course, be /* Trigger on an INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE statement to a table or view (DML Trigger) */ CREATE TRIGGER [ schema_name . ]trigger_name ON { table | view } [ WITH <dml_trigger_option> [ ,...n ] ] { FOR | AFTER | INSTEAD OF } { [ INSERT ] [ , ] [ UPDATE ] [ , ] [ DELETE ] } [ NOT FOR REPLICATION ] AS { {sql_statement [ ; ]} [ ...n ] | EXTERNAL NAME <method_specifier> [ ; ] }   <dml_trigger_option> ::=     [ ENCRYPTION ]     [ EXECUTE AS CLAUSE ]   <method_specifier> ::=     assembly_name.class_name.method_name I’d love to tell Microsoft when I spot errors like this so they can correct them but I can’t. Obviously, there is a mechanism on MSDN to get errors corrected by using comments, but that doesn’t work for me (*Error occurred while saving your data.”), and when I report that the comment system doesn’t work to MSDN, I get no reply. I’ve been trying to create railroad diagrams for all the important SQL Server SQL statements, as good as you’d find for Oracle, and have so far published the CREATE TABLE and ALTER TABLE railroad diagrams based on the BNF. Although I’ve been aware of them, I’ve never realised until recently how many errors there are. Then, Colin Daley created a translator for the SQL Server dialect of  BNF which outputs standard EBNF notation used by the W3C. The example MSDN BNF for the trigger would be rendered as … /* Trigger on an INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE statement to a table or view (DML Trigger) */ create_trigger ::= 'CREATE TRIGGER' ( schema_name '.' ) ? trigger_name 'ON' ( table | view ) ( 'WITH' dml_trigger_option ( ',' dml_trigger_option ) * ) ? ( 'FOR' | 'AFTER' | 'INSTEAD OF' ) ( ( 'INSERT' ) ? ( ',' ) ? ( 'UPDATE' ) ? ( ',' ) ? ( 'DELETE' ) ? ) ( 'NOT FOR REPLICATION' ) ? 'AS' ( ( sql_statement ( ';' ) ? ) + | 'EXTERNAL NAME' method_specifier ( ';' ) ? )   dml_trigger_option ::= ( 'ENCRYPTION' ) ? ( 'EXECUTE AS CLAUSE' ) ?   method_specifier ::= assembly_name '.' class_name '.' method_name Colin’s intention was to allow anyone to paste SQL Server’s BNF notation into his website-based parser, and from this generate classic railroad diagrams via Gunther Rademacher's Railroad Diagram Generator.  Colin's application does this for you: you're not aware that you are moving to a different site.  Because Colin's 'translator' it is a parser, it will pick up syntax errors. Once you’ve fixed the syntax errors, you will get the syntax in the form of a human-readable railroad diagram and, in this form, the semantic mistakes become flamingly obvious. Gunter’s Railroad Diagram Generator is brilliant. To be able, after correcting the MSDN dialect of BNF, to generate a standard EBNF, and from thence to create railroad diagrams for SQL Server’s syntax that are as good as Oracle’s, is a great boon, and many thanks to Colin for the idea. Here is the result of the W3C EBNF from Colin’s application then being run through the Railroad diagram generator. create_trigger: dml_trigger_option: method_specifier:   Now that’s much better, you’ll agree. This is pretty easy to understand, and at this point any error is immediately obvious. This should be seriously useful, and it is to me. However  there is that snag. The BNF is generally incorrect, and you can’t expect the average visitor to mess about with it. The answer is, of course, to correct the BNF on MSDN and maybe even add railroad diagrams for the syntax. Stop giggling! I agree it won’t happen. In the meantime, we need to collaboratively store and publish these corrected syntaxes ourselves as we do them. How? GitHub?  SQL Server Central?  Simple-Talk? What should those of us who use the system  do with our corrected EBNF so that anyone can use them without hassle?

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  • How to build Open JavaFX for Android.

    - by PictureCo
    Here's a short recipe for baking JavaFX for Android dalvik. We will need just a few ingredients but each one requires special care. So let's get down to the business.  SourcesThe first ingredient is an open JavaFX repository. This should be piece of cake. As always there's a catch. You probably know that dalvik is jdk6 compatible  and also that certain APIs are missing comparing to good old java vm from Oracle.  Fortunately there is a repository which is a backport of regular OpenJFX to jdk7 and going from jdk7 to jdk6 is possible. The first thing to do is to clone or download the repository from https://bitbucket.org/narya/jfx78. Main page of the project says "It works in some cases" so we will presume that it will work in most cases As I've said dalvik vm misses some APIs which would lead to a build failures. To get them use another compatibility repository which is available on GitHub https://github.com/robovm/robovm-jfx78-compat. Download the zip and unzip sources into jfx78/modules/base.We need also a javafx binary stubs. Use jfxrt.jar from jdk8.The last thing to download are freetype sources from http://freetype.org. These will be necessary for native font rendering. Toolchain setup I have to point out that these instructions were tested only on linux. I suppose they will work with minimal changes also on Mac OS. I also presume that you were able to build open JavaFX. That means all tools like ant, gradle, gcc and jdk8 have been installed and are working all right. In addition to this you will need to download and install jdk7, Android SDK and Android NDK for native code compilation.  Installing all of them will take some time. Don't forget to put them in your path. export ANDROID_SDK=/opt/android-sdk-linux export ANDROID_NDK=/opt/android-ndk-r9b export JAVA_HOME=/opt/jdk1.7.0 export PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$ANDROID_SDK/tools:$ANDROID_SDK/platform-tools:$ANDROID_NDK FreetypeUnzip freetype release sources first. We will have to cross compile them for arm. Firstly we will create a standalone toolchain for cross compiling installed in ~/work/ndk-standalone-19. $ANDROID_NDK/build/tools/make-standalone-toolchain.sh  --platform=android-19 --install-dir=~/work/ndk-standalone-19 After the standalone toolchain has been created cross compile freetype with following script: export TOOLCHAIN=~/work/freetype/ndk-standalone-19 export PATH=$TOOLCHAIN/bin:$PATH export FREETYPE=`pwd` ./configure --host=arm-linux-androideabi --prefix=$FREETYPE/install --without-png --without-zlib --enable-shared sed -i 's/\-version\-info \$(version_info)/-avoid-version/' builds/unix/unix-cc.mk make make install It will compile and install freetype library into $FREETYPE/install. We will link to this install dir later on. It would be possible also to link openjfx font support dynamically against skia library available on Android which already contains freetype. It creates smaller result but can have compatibility problems. Patching Download patches javafx-android-compat.patch + android-tools.patch and patch jfx78 repository. I recommend to have look at patches. First one android-compat.patch updates openjfx build script, removes dependency on SharedSecret classes and updates LensLogger to remove dependency on jdk specific PlatformLogger. Second one android-tools.patch creates helper script in android-tools. The script helps to setup javaFX Android projects. Building Now is time to try the build. Run following script: JAVA_HOME=/opt/jdk1.7.0 JDK_HOME=/opt/jdk1.7.0 ANDROID_SDK=/opt/android-sdk-linux ANDROID_NDK=/opt/android-ndk-r9b PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$ANDROID_SDK/tools:$ANDROID_SDK/platform-tools:$ANDROID_NDK:$PATH gradle -PDEBUG -PDALVIK_VM=true -PBINARY_STUB=~/work/binary_stub/linux/rt/lib/ext/jfxrt.jar \ -PFREETYPE_DIR=~/work/freetype/install -PCOMPILE_TARGETS=android If everything went all right the output is in build/android-sdk Create first JavaFX Android project Use gradle script int android-tools. The script sets the project structure for you.   Following command creates Android HelloWorld project which links to a freshly built javafx runtime and to a HelloWorld application. NAME is a name of Android project. DIR where to create our first project. PACKAGE is package name required by Android. It has nothing to do with a packaging of javafx application. JFX_SDK points to our recently built runtime. JFX_APP points to dist directory of javafx application. (where all application jars sit) JFX_MAIN is fully qualified name of a main class. gradle -PDEBUG -PDIR=/home/user/work -PNAME=HelloWorld -PPACKAGE=com.helloworld \ -PJFX_SDK=/home/user/work/jfx78/build/android-sdk -PJFX_APP=/home/user/NetBeansProjects/HelloWorld/dist \ -PJFX_MAIN=com.helloworld.HelloWorld createProject Now cd to the created project and use it like any other android project. ant clean, debug, uninstall, installd will work. I haven't tried it from any IDE Eclipse nor Netbeans. Special thanks to Stefan Fuchs and Daniel Zwolenski for the repositories used in this blog post.

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  • IIRF reverse proxy problem

    - by Sergei
    Hi everyone, We have a java application ( Atlassian Bamboo) running on port 8085 on Windows 2003. It is accessile as http: //bamboo:8085. I am trying to setup reverse proxy for IIS6 using IIRF so content is accessible via http: //bamboo. It seems that I set it ip correctly, and I can retrieve Status page. This is how my IIRF.ini looks like: RewriteLog c:\temp\iirf RewriteLogLevel 2 StatusUrl /iirfStatus RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^bambooi$ [I] #This setup works #ProxyPass ^/(.*)$ http://othersite/$1 #This does not ProxyPass ^/(.*)$ http://bamboo:8085/$1 However when I type in http: //bamboo in IE, I get 'page cannot be displayed ' message. FF does not return anything at all. I made Wireshark network dump, selected 'follow TCPstream' and it seems like correct page is being retrieved.Why cannot I see it then? I also noticed that I can retrieve http: //bamboo/favicon.ico so I must be very close to the solution.. This is the Wireshark output: GET / HTTP/1.1 Accept: image/gif, image/jpeg, image/pjpeg, image/pjpeg, application/x-shockwave-flash, application/vnd.ms-excel, application/vnd.ms-powerpoint, application/msword, application/x-ms-application, application/x-ms-xbap, application/vnd.ms-xpsdocument, application/xaml+xml, */* Accept-Language: en-gb User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; Trident/4.0; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.0.4506.2152; .NET CLR 3.5.30729) Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate Host: bamboo Connection: Keep-Alive Cookie: JSESSIONID=wpsse0zyo4g5 HTTP/1.1 200 200 OK Date: Sat, 30 Jan 2010 09:19:46 GMT Server: Microsoft-IIS/6.0 Via: 1.1 DESTINATION_IP (IIRF 2.0) Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8 Transfer-Encoding: chunked <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <head> <title>Dashboard</title> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; 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  • Fitting an Image to Screen on Rotation iPhone / iPad ?

    - by user356937
    I have been playing around with one of the iPhone examples from Apple' web site (ScrollViewSuite) . I am trying to tweak it a bit so that when I rotate the the iPad the image will fit into the screen in landscape mode vertical. I have been successful in getting the image to rotate, but the image is larger than the height of the landscape screen, so the bottom is below the screen. I would like to image to scale to the height of the landscape screen. I have been playing around with various autoSizingMask attributes without success. The imageView is called "zoomView" this is the actual image which loads into a scrollView called imageScrollView. I am trying to achieve the screen to rotate and look like this.... olsonvox.com/photos/correct.png However, this is what My screen is looking like. olsonvox.com/photos/incorrect.png I would really appreciate some advice or guidance. Below is the RootViewController.m for the project. Blade # import "RootViewController.h" #define ZOOM_VIEW_TAG 100 #define ZOOM_STEP 1.5 #define THUMB_HEIGHT 150 #define THUMB_V_PADDING 25 #define THUMB_H_PADDING 25 #define CREDIT_LABEL_HEIGHT 25 #define AUTOSCROLL_THRESHOLD 30 @interface RootViewController (ViewHandlingMethods) - (void)toggleThumbView; - (void)pickImageNamed:(NSString *)name; - (NSArray *)imageNames; - (void)createThumbScrollViewIfNecessary; - (void)createSlideUpViewIfNecessary; @end @interface RootViewController (AutoscrollingMethods) - (void)maybeAutoscrollForThumb:(ThumbImageView *)thumb; - (void)autoscrollTimerFired:(NSTimer *)timer; - (void)legalizeAutoscrollDistance; - (float)autoscrollDistanceForProximityToEdge:(float)proximity; @end @interface RootViewController (UtilityMethods) - (CGRect)zoomRectForScale:(float)scale withCenter:(CGPoint)center; @end @implementation RootViewController - (void)loadView { [super loadView]; imageScrollView = [[UIScrollView alloc] initWithFrame:[[self view]bounds]]; // this code makes the image resize to the width and height properly. imageScrollView.autoresizingMask = UIViewAutoresizingFlexibleHeight | UIViewAutoresizingFlexibleLeftMargin | UIViewAutoresizingFlexibleRightMargin| UIViewAutoresizingFlexibleBottomMargin| UIViewAutoresizingFlexibleBottomMargin; // TRY SETTNG CENTER HERE SOMEHOW&gt;.... [imageScrollView setBackgroundColor:[UIColor blackColor]]; [imageScrollView setDelegate:self]; [imageScrollView setBouncesZoom:YES]; [[self view] addSubview:imageScrollView]; [self toggleThumbView]; // intitializes with the first image. [self pickImageNamed:@"lookbook1"]; } - (void)dealloc { [imageScrollView release]; [slideUpView release]; [thumbScrollView release]; [super dealloc]; } #pragma mark UIScrollViewDelegate methods - (UIView *)viewForZoomingInScrollView:(UIScrollView *)scrollView { UIView *view = nil; if (scrollView == imageScrollView) { view = [imageScrollView viewWithTag:ZOOM_VIEW_TAG]; } return view; } /************************************** NOTE **************************************/ /* The following delegate method works around a known bug in zoomToRect:animated: */ /* In the next release after 3.0 this workaround will no longer be necessary */ /**********************************************************************************/ - (void)scrollViewDidEndZooming:(UIScrollView *)scrollView withView:(UIView *)view atScale:(float)scale { [scrollView setZoomScale:scale+0.01 animated:NO]; [scrollView setZoomScale:scale animated:NO]; } #pragma mark TapDetectingImageViewDelegate methods - (void)tapDetectingImageView:(TapDetectingImageView *)view gotSingleTapAtPoint:(CGPoint)tapPoint { // Single tap shows or hides drawer of thumbnails. [self toggleThumbView]; } - (void)tapDetectingImageView:(TapDetectingImageView *)view gotDoubleTapAtPoint:(CGPoint)tapPoint { // double tap zooms in float newScale = [imageScrollView zoomScale] * ZOOM_STEP; CGRect zoomRect = [self zoomRectForScale:newScale withCenter:tapPoint]; [imageScrollView zoomToRect:zoomRect animated:YES]; } - (void)tapDetectingImageView:(TapDetectingImageView *)view gotTwoFingerTapAtPoint:(CGPoint)tapPoint { // two-finger tap zooms out float newScale = [imageScrollView zoomScale] / ZOOM_STEP; CGRect zoomRect = [self zoomRectForScale:newScale withCenter:tapPoint]; [imageScrollView zoomToRect:zoomRect animated:YES]; } #pragma mark ThumbImageViewDelegate methods - (void)thumbImageViewWasTapped:(ThumbImageView *)tiv { [self pickImageNamed:[tiv imageName]]; [self toggleThumbView]; } - (void)thumbImageViewStartedTracking:(ThumbImageView *)tiv { [thumbScrollView bringSubviewToFront:tiv]; } // CONTROLS DRAGGING AND DROPPING THUMBNAILS... - (void)thumbImageViewMoved:(ThumbImageView *)draggingThumb { // check if we've moved close enough to an edge to autoscroll, or far enough away to stop autoscrolling [self maybeAutoscrollForThumb:draggingThumb]; /* The rest of this method handles the reordering of thumbnails in the thumbScrollView. See */ /* ThumbImageView.h and ThumbImageView.m for more information about how this works. */ // we'll reorder only if the thumb is overlapping the scroll view if (CGRectIntersectsRect([draggingThumb frame], [thumbScrollView bounds])) { BOOL draggingRight = [draggingThumb frame].origin.x &gt; [draggingThumb home].origin.x ? YES : NO; /* we're going to shift over all the thumbs who live between the home of the moving thumb */ /* and the current touch location. A thumb counts as living in this area if the midpoint */ /* of its home is contained in the area. */ NSMutableArray *thumbsToShift = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init]; // get the touch location in the coordinate system of the scroll view CGPoint touchLocation = [draggingThumb convertPoint:[draggingThumb touchLocation] toView:thumbScrollView]; // calculate minimum and maximum boundaries of the affected area float minX = draggingRight ? CGRectGetMaxX([draggingThumb home]) : touchLocation.x; float maxX = draggingRight ? touchLocation.x : CGRectGetMinX([draggingThumb home]); // iterate through thumbnails and see which ones need to move over for (ThumbImageView *thumb in [thumbScrollView subviews]) { // skip the thumb being dragged if (thumb == draggingThumb) continue; // skip non-thumb subviews of the scroll view (such as the scroll indicators) if (! [thumb isMemberOfClass:[ThumbImageView class]]) continue; float thumbMidpoint = CGRectGetMidX([thumb home]); if (thumbMidpoint &gt;= minX &amp;&amp; thumbMidpoint &lt;= maxX) { [thumbsToShift addObject:thumb]; } } // shift over the other thumbs to make room for the dragging thumb. (if we're dragging right, they shift to the left) float otherThumbShift = ([draggingThumb home].size.width + THUMB_H_PADDING) * (draggingRight ? -1 : 1); // as we shift over the other thumbs, we'll calculate how much the dragging thumb's home is going to move float draggingThumbShift = 0.0; // send each of the shifting thumbs to its new home for (ThumbImageView *otherThumb in thumbsToShift) { CGRect home = [otherThumb home]; home.origin.x += otherThumbShift; [otherThumb setHome:home]; [otherThumb goHome]; draggingThumbShift += ([otherThumb frame].size.width + THUMB_H_PADDING) * (draggingRight ? 1 : -1); } // change the home of the dragging thumb, but don't send it there because it's still being dragged CGRect home = [draggingThumb home]; home.origin.x += draggingThumbShift; [draggingThumb setHome:home]; } } - (void)thumbImageViewStoppedTracking:(ThumbImageView *)tiv { // if the user lets go of the thumb image view, stop autoscrolling [autoscrollTimer invalidate]; autoscrollTimer = nil; } #pragma mark Autoscrolling methods - (void)maybeAutoscrollForThumb:(ThumbImageView *)thumb { autoscrollDistance = 0; // only autoscroll if the thumb is overlapping the thumbScrollView if (CGRectIntersectsRect([thumb frame], [thumbScrollView bounds])) { CGPoint touchLocation = [thumb convertPoint:[thumb touchLocation] toView:thumbScrollView]; float distanceFromLeftEdge = touchLocation.x - CGRectGetMinX([thumbScrollView bounds]); float distanceFromRightEdge = CGRectGetMaxX([thumbScrollView bounds]) - touchLocation.x; if (distanceFromLeftEdge &lt; AUTOSCROLL_THRESHOLD) { autoscrollDistance = [self autoscrollDistanceForProximityToEdge:distanceFromLeftEdge] * -1; // if scrolling left, distance is negative } else if (distanceFromRightEdge &lt; AUTOSCROLL_THRESHOLD) { autoscrollDistance = [self autoscrollDistanceForProximityToEdge:distanceFromRightEdge]; } } // if no autoscrolling, stop and clear timer if (autoscrollDistance == 0) { [autoscrollTimer invalidate]; autoscrollTimer = nil; } // otherwise create and start timer (if we don't already have a timer going) else if (autoscrollTimer == nil) { autoscrollTimer = [NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:(1.0 / 60.0) target:self selector:@selector(autoscrollTimerFired:) userInfo:thumb repeats:YES]; } } - (float)autoscrollDistanceForProximityToEdge:(float)proximity { // the scroll distance grows as the proximity to the edge decreases, so that moving the thumb // further over results in faster scrolling. return ceilf((AUTOSCROLL_THRESHOLD - proximity) / 5.0); } - (void)legalizeAutoscrollDistance { // makes sure the autoscroll distance won't result in scrolling past the content of the scroll view float minimumLegalDistance = [thumbScrollView contentOffset].x * -1; float maximumLegalDistance = [thumbScrollView contentSize].width - ([thumbScrollView frame].size.width + [thumbScrollView contentOffset].x); autoscrollDistance = MAX(autoscrollDistance, minimumLegalDistance); autoscrollDistance = MIN(autoscrollDistance, maximumLegalDistance); } - (void)autoscrollTimerFired:(NSTimer*)timer { [self legalizeAutoscrollDistance]; // autoscroll by changing content offset CGPoint contentOffset = [thumbScrollView contentOffset]; contentOffset.x += autoscrollDistance; [thumbScrollView setContentOffset:contentOffset]; // adjust thumb position so it appears to stay still ThumbImageView *thumb = (ThumbImageView *)[timer userInfo]; [thumb moveByOffset:CGPointMake(autoscrollDistance, 0)]; } #pragma mark View handling methods - (void)toggleThumbView { [self createSlideUpViewIfNecessary]; // no-op if slideUpView has already been created CGRect frame = [slideUpView frame]; if (thumbViewShowing) { frame.origin.y = 0; } else { frame.origin.y = -225; } [UIView beginAnimations:nil context:nil]; [UIView setAnimationDuration:0.3]; [slideUpView setFrame:frame]; [UIView commitAnimations]; thumbViewShowing = !thumbViewShowing; } - (void)pickImageNamed:(NSString *)name { // first remove previous image view, if any [[imageScrollView viewWithTag:ZOOM_VIEW_TAG] removeFromSuperview]; UIImage *image = [UIImage imageNamed:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@.jpg", name]]; TapDetectingImageView *zoomView = [[TapDetectingImageView alloc] initWithImage:image]; zoomView.autoresizingMask = UIViewAutoresizingFlexibleWidth ; [zoomView setDelegate:self]; [zoomView setTag:ZOOM_VIEW_TAG]; [imageScrollView addSubview:zoomView]; [imageScrollView setContentSize:[zoomView frame].size]; [zoomView release]; // choose minimum scale so image width fits screen float minScale = [imageScrollView frame].size.width / [zoomView frame].size.width; [imageScrollView setMinimumZoomScale:minScale]; [imageScrollView setZoomScale:minScale]; [imageScrollView setContentOffset:CGPointZero]; } - (NSArray *)imageNames { // the filenames are stored in a plist in the app bundle, so create array by reading this plist NSString *path = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"Images" ofType:@"plist"]; NSData *plistData = [NSData dataWithContentsOfFile:path]; NSString *error; NSPropertyListFormat format; NSArray *imageNames = [NSPropertyListSerialization propertyListFromData:plistData mutabilityOption:NSPropertyListImmutable format:&amp;format errorDescription:&amp;error]; if (!imageNames) { NSLog(@"Failed to read image names. Error: %@", error); [error release]; } return imageNames; } - (void)createSlideUpViewIfNecessary { if (!slideUpView) { [self createThumbScrollViewIfNecessary]; CGRect bounds = [[self view] bounds]; float thumbHeight = [thumbScrollView frame].size.height; float labelHeight = CREDIT_LABEL_HEIGHT; // create label giving credit for images UILabel *creditLabel = [[UILabel alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, thumbHeight, bounds.size.width, labelHeight)]; [creditLabel setBackgroundColor:[UIColor clearColor]]; [creditLabel setTextColor:[UIColor whiteColor]]; // [creditLabel setFont:[UIFont fontWithName:@"Helvetica" size:16]]; // [creditLabel setText:@"SAMPLE TEXT"]; [creditLabel setTextAlignment:UITextAlignmentCenter]; // create container view that will hold scroll view and label CGRect frame = CGRectMake(0.0, -225.00, bounds.size.width+256, thumbHeight + labelHeight); slideUpView.autoresizingMask = UIViewAutoresizingFlexibleWidth | UIViewAutoresizingFlexibleTopMargin; slideUpView = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:frame]; [slideUpView setBackgroundColor:[UIColor blackColor]]; [slideUpView setOpaque:NO]; [slideUpView setAlpha:.75]; [[self view] addSubview:slideUpView]; // add subviews to container view [slideUpView addSubview:thumbScrollView]; [slideUpView addSubview:creditLabel]; [creditLabel release]; } } - (void)createThumbScrollViewIfNecessary { if (!thumbScrollView) { float scrollViewHeight = THUMB_HEIGHT + THUMB_V_PADDING; float scrollViewWidth = [[self view] bounds].size.width; thumbScrollView = [[UIScrollView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, scrollViewWidth, scrollViewHeight)]; [thumbScrollView setCanCancelContentTouches:NO]; [thumbScrollView setClipsToBounds:NO]; // now place all the thumb views as subviews of the scroll view // and in the course of doing so calculate the content width float xPosition = THUMB_H_PADDING; for (NSString *name in [self imageNames]) { UIImage *thumbImage = [UIImage imageNamed:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@_thumb.jpg", name]]; if (thumbImage) { ThumbImageView *thumbView = [[ThumbImageView alloc] initWithImage:thumbImage]; [thumbView setDelegate:self]; [thumbView setImageName:name]; CGRect frame = [thumbView frame]; frame.origin.y = THUMB_V_PADDING; frame.origin.x = xPosition; [thumbView setFrame:frame]; [thumbView setHome:frame]; [thumbScrollView addSubview:thumbView]; [thumbView release]; xPosition += (frame.size.width + THUMB_H_PADDING); } } [thumbScrollView setContentSize:CGSizeMake(xPosition, scrollViewHeight)]; } } #pragma mark Utility methods - (CGRect)zoomRectForScale:(float)scale withCenter:(CGPoint)center { CGRect zoomRect; // the zoom rect is in the content view's coordinates. // At a zoom scale of 1.0, it would be the size of the imageScrollView's bounds. // As the zoom scale decreases, so more content is visible, the size of the rect grows. zoomRect.size.height = [imageScrollView frame].size.height / scale; zoomRect.size.width = [imageScrollView frame].size.width / scale; // choose an origin so as to get the right center. zoomRect.origin.x = center.x - (zoomRect.size.width / 2.0); zoomRect.origin.y = center.y - (zoomRect.size.height / 2.0); return zoomRect; } #pragma mark - #pragma mark Rotation support // Ensure that the view controller supports rotation and that the split view can therefore show in both portrait and landscape. - (BOOL)shouldAutorotateToInterfaceOrientation:(UIInterfaceOrientation)interfaceOrientation { return YES; } @end

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  • PHP form auto response

    - by Mark
    Hi, I am using the following php code which has been given to me, it works fine, apart from the auto response bit. I know its not a lot of code I just dont know how to do it or why it snot working. Any help would be appreciated. thanks in advance. <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> <title> - Contact Us</title> <!-- css --> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/reset.css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/styles.css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/colorbox.css" /> <!-- javascript libraries --> <?php require_once('includes/js.php'); ?> </head> <body> <?php //FIll out the settings below before using this script $your_email = "(email address)"; $website = "(website name)"; //BOTS TO BLOCK $bots = "/(Indy|Blaiz|Java|libwww-perl|Python|OutfoxBot|User-Agent|PycURL|AlphaServer|T8Abot|Syntryx|WinHttp|WebBandit|nicebot)/i"; //Check if known bot is visiting if (preg_match($bots, $_SERVER["HTTP_USER_AGENT"])) { exit ("Sorry bots are not allowed here!"); } //Known Exploits $exploits = "/(content-type|bcc:|cc:|from:|reply-to:|javascript|onclick|onload)/i"; //Spam words $spam_words = "/(viagra|poker|blackjack|porn|sex)/i"; // BAD WORDS $words = "/( bitch|dick|pussy|pussies|ass|fuck|cum|cumshot|cum shot| gangbang|gang bang|god dammit|goddammit|viagra|anus|analsex )/i"; //BAD WORD/SPAM WORD/EXPLOIT BLOCKER function wordBlock($word) { //Make variables global global $words; global $exploits; global $spam_words; if (preg_match($words, $word)) { $word = preg_replace($words, "#####", $word); } if(preg_match($exploits,$word)){ $word = preg_replace($exploits,"",$word); } if(preg_match($spam_words,$word)){ $word = preg_replace($spam_words,"$$$$",$word); } return $word; } //CLean data function function dataClean($data) { $data = stripslashes(trim(rawurldecode(strip_tags($data)))); return $data; } //CREATE MAIN VARIABLES $name = (isset ($_POST['name'])) ? dataClean($_POST['name']) : FALSE; $company = (isset ($_POST['company'])) ? dataClean($_POST['company']) : FALSE; $address = (isset ($_POST['address'])) ? dataClean($_POST['address']) : FALSE; $postcode = (isset ($_POST['postcode'])) ? dataClean($_POST['postcode']) : FALSE; $phone = (isset ($_POST['phone'])) ? dataClean($_POST['phone']) : FALSE; $email = (isset ($_POST['email'])) ? dataClean($_POST['email']) : FALSE; $comment = (isset ($_POST['message'])) ? wordBlock(dataClean($_POST['message'])) : FALSE; $submit = (isset ($_POST['send'])) ? TRUE : FALSE; $email_check = "/^[A-Z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Z0-9.-]+\.[A-Z]{2,6}$/i"; //$ip = $_SERVER["REMOTE_ADDR"]; $errors = array(); //Check if send button was clicked if ($submit) { if (!$name) { $errors[] = "Please enter a name!"; } if ($name) { if (!ereg("^[A-Za-z' -]*$", $name)) { $errors[] = "You may not use special characters in the name field!"; } } if (!$email) { $errors[] = "Please enter an email address!"; } if ($email) { if (!preg_match($email_check, $email)) { $errors[] = "The E-mail you entered is invalid!"; } } /* if (!$subject) { $errors[] = "Please enter an email subject!"; } */ if (!$comment) { $errors[] = "Please don't leave the message field blank!"; } //Check if any errors are present if (count($errors) > 0) { foreach ($errors AS $error) { print "&bull; $error <br />"; } } else { //MESSAGE TO SEND TO ADMIN //Create main headers $headers = "From: " . $website . " <$your_email> \n"; $headers .= "Reply-to:" . $email . " \n"; $headers .= "MIME-Version: 1.0\n"; $headers .= "Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit\n"; $headers .= "Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8\n"; $message = ""; $message .= "<h1>New E-Mail From " . $website . "</h1><br /><br />"; $message .= "<b>Name:</b> " . $name . "<br />"; $message .= "<b>Company:</b> " . $company . "<br />"; $message .= "<b>Address:</b> " . $address . "<br />"; $message .= "<b>Postcode:</b > " . $postcode . "<br />"; $message .= "<b>Phone No:</b> " . $phone . "<br />"; $message .= "<b>E-mail:</b> " . $email . "<br />"; $message .= "<b>Message:</b> " . $comment . "<br />"; //E-mails subject $mail_subject = "Message from " . $website . ""; /* CHECK TO BE SURE FIRST E-MAIL TO ADMIN IS A SUCCESS AND SEND EMAIL TO ADMIN OTHERWISE DON'T SEND AUTO RESPONCE */ if (mail($your_email, $mail_subject, $message, $headers)) { //UNSET ALL VARIABLES unset ($name, $email, $company, $address, $postcode, $phone, $comment, $_REQUEST); //JAVASCRIPT SUCCESS MESSAGE echo " <script type='text/javascript' language='JavaScript'> alert('Your message has been sent'); </script> "; //SUCCESS MESSAGE TO SHOW IF JAVASCRIPT IS DISABLED echo "<noscript><p>THANK YOU YOUR MESSAGE HAS BEEN SENT</p></noscript>"; /* -----------------END MAIL BLOCK FOR SENDING TO ADMIN AND START AUTO RESPONCE SEND----------------- */ //AUTO RESPONCE MESSAGE //Create main headers $headers = "From: " . $website . " <$your_email> \n"; $headers .= "Reply-to:" . $your_email . " \n"; $headers .= "MIME-Version: 1.0\n"; $headers .= "Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit\n"; $headers .= "Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8\n"; $message = ""; $message .= "<h1>Thank You For Contacting Us </h1><br /><br />"; $message .= "On behalf of <b>" . $website . "</b> we wanna thank you for contacting us and to let you know we will respond to your message as soon as possible thank you again."; //E-mails subject $mail_subject = "Thank you for contacting " . $website . ""; //Send the email mail($email, $mail_subject, $message, $headers); /* -----------------END MAIL BLOCK FOR SENDING AUTO RESPONCE ----------------- */ } else { echo " <script type='text/javascript' language='JavaScript'> alert('Sorry could not send your message'); </script> "; echo "<noscript><p style='color:red;'>SORRY COULD NOT SEND YOUR MESSAGE</p></noscript>"; } } } ?> <div id="wrapper"> <div id="grad_overlay"> <!-- Header --> <div id="header"> <a href="index.php" title="Regal Balustrades"><img src="images/regal_logo.png" alt="Regal Balustrades" /></a> <div id="strapline"> <img src="images/strapline.png" alt="Architectural metalwork systems" /> </div> </div> <!-- Navigation --> <div id="nav"> <?php require_once('includes/nav.php'); ?> </div> <!-- Content --> <div id="content"> <div id="details"> <p class="getintouch env">Get In Touch</p> <ul class="details"> <li>T. (0117) 935 3888</li> <li>F. (0117) 967 7333</li> <li>E. <a href="mailto:[email protected]" title="Contact via email">[email protected]</a></li> </ul> <p class="whereto hse">Where To Find Us</p> <ul class="details"> <li>Regal Balustrades</li> <li>Regal House, </li> <li>Honey Hill Road,</li> <li>Kingswood, </li> <li>Bristol BS15 4HG</li> </ul> </div> <div id="contact"> <h1>Contact us</h1> <p>Please use this form to request further information about Regal Balustrades and our services. To speak to a member of our staff in person, please call us on 0117 9353888</p> <div id="form"> <form method='POST' action='<?php echo "".$_SERVER['PHP_SELF'].""; ?>'> <p class='form-element'> <label for='name'>Name:</label> <input type='text' name='name' value='<?php echo "" . $_REQUEST['name'] . "";?>' /> </p> <p class='form-element'> <label for='company'>Company:</label> <input type='text' name='company' value='<?php echo "" . $_REQUEST['company'] . "";?>' /> </p> <p class='form-element'> <label for='address'>Address:</label> <textarea name='address' rows='5' id='address' class='address' ><?php echo "" . $_REQUEST['address'] . "";?></textarea> </p> <p class='form-element'> <label for='postcode'>Postcode:</label> <input type='text' name='postcode' value='<?php echo "" . $_REQUEST['postcode'] . "";?>' /> </p> <p class='form-element'> <label for='phone'>Telephone:</label> <input type='text' name='phone' value='<?php echo "" . $_REQUEST['phone'] . "";?>' /> </p> <p class='form-element'> <label for='email'>Email:</label> <input type='text' name='email' value='<?php echo "" . $_REQUEST['email'] . "";?>' /> </p> </div> <div id='form-right'> <p class='form-element'> <label for='message'>Enquiry:</label> <textarea name='message' class='enquiry' id='enquiry' rows='5' cols='40' ><?php echo "" . $_REQUEST['message'] . "";?></textarea> </p> <p class='form-element'> <input type='submit' class='submit' name='send' value='Send message' /> </p> </div> <p class='nb'><em>We will respond as soon as possible.</em></p> </form> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <!-- Footer --> <div id="footer-container"> <?php require_once('includes/footer.php'); ?> </div> <!-- js functions --> <script> $(document).ready(function() { $("ul#navig li:nth-child(6)").addClass("navon"); }); </script> </body> </html>

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  • 24+ Coda Alternatives for Windows and Linux

    - by Matt
    Coda plays an important role in designing layout on Mac. There are numerous coda alternatives for windows and Linux too. It is not possible to describe each and everyone so some of the coda alternatives, which work on both windows and Linux platforms, are discussed below. EditPlus $35.00 Good thing about EditPlus is that it highlights URLs and email addresses, activating them when you ‘crtl + double-click’. It also has a built in browser for previewing HTML, and FTP and SFTP support. Also supports Macros and RegEx find and replace. UltraEdit $49.99 It is another good coda alternative for windows and Linux. It is the best suited editor for text, HTML and HEX. It also plays an advanced PHP, Perl, Java and JavaScript editor for programmers. It supports disk-based 64-bit or standard file handling on 32-bit Windows platforms or window 2000 and later versions. HippoEdit $39.95 HippoEDIT has the best autocomplete it gives pop a ‘tooltip’ above your cursor as you type, suggesting words you’ve already typed. It does syntax highlighting for over 2 dozen language. Sublime Text $59.00 Sublime Text awesome ‘zoomed out’ view of the file lets you focus on the area you want. It lets you open a local file when you right-click on its link, and there are a few automation features, so this would make a solid choice of a text editor. Textpad $24.70 TextPad is simple editor with nifty features such as column select, drag-and-drop text between files, and hyperlink support. It also supports large files. Aptana Free Aptana Studio is one of the best editors working on both windows and Linux. It is a complete web development setting that has a nice blend of powerful authoring tools with a collection of online hosting and collaboration services. It is quite helpful as it support for PHP, CSS, FTP, and more. SciTE Free It is a SCIntilla based Text Editor. It has gradually developed as a generally useful editor. It provides for building and running programs. It is best to be used for jobs with simple configurations. SciTE is currently available for Intel Win32 and Linux compatible operating systems with GTK+. It has been run on Windows XP and on Fedora 8 and Ubuntu 7.10 with GTK+ 2.12 E Text Editor $34.96 E Text Editor is a new text editor for Windows, which also works on Linux as well. It has powerful editing features and also some unique abilities. It makes text manipulation quite fast and easy, and makes user focus on his writing as it automatically does all the manual work. It can be extend it in any language. It supports Text Mate bundles, thus allows the user to tap into a huge and active community. Editra Free Editra is an upcoming editor, with some fantastic features such as user profiles, auto-completion, session saving, and syntax highlighing for 60+ languages. Plugins can extend the feature set, offering an integrated python console, FTP client, file browser, and calculator, among others. PSPad Free PSPad is a good Template for writing CSS, as it an internal web browser, and a macro recorder to the table. It also supports hex editing, and some degree of code compiling. JEdit Free It is a mature programmer’s text editor and has taken a good deal of time to be developed as it is today. It is better than many costlier development tools due to its features and simplicity of use. It has been released as free software with full source code, provided under the terms of the GPL 2.0. Which also adds to its attractiveness. NEdit Free It is a multi-purpose text editor for the X Window System, which also works on Linux. It combines a standard, easy to use, graphical user interface with the full functionality and stability required by users who edit text for long period a day. It also provides for thorough support for development in various languages. It also facilitates the use of text processors, and other tools at the same time. It can be used productively by anyone who needs to edit text. It is quite a user-friendly tool. Its salient features include syntax highlighting with built in pattern, auto indent, tab emulation, block indentation adjustment etc. As of version 5.1, NEdit may be freely distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License. MadEdit Free Mad Edit is an Open-Source and Cross-Platform Text/Hex Editor. It is written in C++ and wxWidgets. MadEdit can edit files in Text/Column/Hex modes. It also supports many useful functions, such as Syntax Highlighting, Word Wrap, Encoding for UTF8/16/32,and others. It also supports word count, which makes it quite a useful text editor for both windows and Linux. It has been recently modified on 10/09/2010. KompoZer Free Kompozer is a complete web authoring system that has a combination of web file management and easy-to-use WYSIWYG web page editing. KompoZer has been designed to be completely and extensively easy to use. It is thus an ideal tool for non-technical computer users who want to create an attractive, professional-looking web site without knowing HTML or web coding. It is based on the NVU source code. Vim Free Vim or “Vi IMproved” is an advanced text editor. Its salient features are syntax highlighting, word completion and it also has a huge amount of contributed content. Vim has several “modes” on offer for editing, which adds to the efficiency in editing. Thus it becomes a non-user-friendly application but it is also strength for its users. The normal mode binds alphanumeric keys to task-oriented commands. The visual mode highlights text. More tools for search & replace, defining functions, etc. are offered through command line mode. Vim comes with complete help. NotePad ++ Free One of the the best free text editor for Windows out there; with support for simple things—like syntax highlighting and folding—all the way up to FTP, Notepad++ should tick most of the boxes Notepad2 Free Notepad2 is also based on the Scintilla editing engine, but it’s much simpler than Notepad++. It bills itself as being fast, light-weight, and Notepad-like. Crimson Editor Free Crimson Editor has the ability to edit remote files, using a built-in FTP client; there’s also a spell checker. TotalEdit Free TotalEdit allows file comparison, RegEx search and replace, and has multiple options for file backup / versioning. For cleanup, it offers (X)HTML and XML customizable formatting, and a spell checker. In-Type Free ConTEXT Free SourceEdit Free SourceEdit includes features such as clipboard history, syntax highlighting and autocompletion for a decent set of languages. A hex editor and FTP client. RJ TextED Free RJ TextED supports integration with TopStyle Lite. Provides HTML validation and formatting. It includes an FTP client, a file browser, and a code browser, as well as a character map and support for email. GEDIT Free It is one of the best coda alternatives for windows and Linux. It has syntax highlighting and is best suitable for programming. It has many attractive features such as full support for UTF-8, undo/redo, and clipboard support, search and replace, configurable syntax highlighting for various languages and many more supportive features. It is extensible with plug ins. Other important coda alternatives for windows and Linux are Redcar, Bluefish Editor, NVU, Ruby Mine, Slick Edit, Geany, Editra, txt2html and CSSED. There are many more. Its up to user to decide which one suits best to his requirements. Related posts:10 Useful Text Editor For Developer Applications to Install & Run Windows on Linux Open Source WYSIWYG Text Editors

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  • techniques for an AI for a highly cramped turn-based tactics game

    - by Adam M.
    I'm trying to write an AI for a tactics game in the vein of Final Fantasy Tactics or Vandal Hearts. I can't change the game rules in any way, only upgrade the AI. I have experience programming AI for classic board games (basically minimax and its variants), but I think the branching factor is too great for the approach to be reasonable here. I'll describe the game and some current AI flaws that I'd like to fix. I'd like to hear ideas for applicable techniques. I'm a decent enough programmer, so I only need the ideas, not an implementation (though that's always appreciated). I'd rather not expend effort chasing (too many) dead ends, so although speculation and brainstorming are good and probably helpful, I'd prefer to hear from somebody with actual experience solving this kind of problem. For those who know it, the game is the land battle mini-game in Sid Meier's Pirates! (2004) and you can skim/skip the next two paragraphs. For those who don't, here's briefly how it works. The battle is turn-based and takes place on a 16x16 grid. There are three terrain types: clear (no hindrance), forest (hinders movement, ranged attacks, and sight), and rock (impassible, but does not hinder attacks or sight). The map is randomly generated with roughly equal amounts of each type of terrain. Because there are many rock and forest tiles, movement is typically very cramped. This is tactically important. The terrain is not flat; higher terrain gives minor bonuses. The terrain is known to both sides. The player is always the attacker and the AI is always the defender, so it's perfectly valid for the AI to set up a defensive position and just wait. The player wins by killing all defenders or by getting a unit to the city gates (a tile on the other side of the map). There are very few units on each side, usually 4-8. Because of this, it's crucial not to take damage without gaining some advantage from it. Units can take multiple actions per turn. All units on one side move before any units on the other side. Order of execution is important, and interleaving of actions between units is often useful. Units have melee and ranged attacks. Melee attacks vary widely in strength; ranged attacks have the same strength but vary in range. The main challenges I face are these: Lots of useful move combinations start with a "useless" move that gains no immediate advantage, or even loses advantage, in order to set up a powerful flank attack in the future. And, since the player units are stronger and have longer range, the AI pretty much always has to take some losses before they can start to gain kills. The AI must be able to look ahead to distinguish between sacrificial actions that provide a future benefit and those that don't. Because the terrain is so cramped, most of the tactics come down to achieving good positioning with multiple units that work together to defend an area. For instance, two defenders can often dominate a narrow pass by positioning themselves so an enemy unit attempting to pass must expose itself to a flank attack. But one defender in the same pass would be useless, and three units can defend a slightly larger pass. Etc. The AI should be able to figure out where the player must go to reach the city gates and how to best position its few units to cover the approaches, shifting, splitting, or combining them appropriately as the player moves. Because flank attacks are extremely deadly (and engineering flank attacks is key to the player strategy), the AI should be competent at moving its units so that they cover each other's flanks unless the sacrifice of a unit would give a substantial benefit. They should also be able to force flank attacks on players, for instance by threatening a unit from two different directions such that responding to one threat exposes the flank to the other. The AI should attack if possible, but sometimes there are no good ways to approach the player's position. In that case, the AI should be able to recognize this and set up a defensive position of its own. But the AI shouldn't be vulnerable to a trivial exploit where the player repeatedly opens and closes a hole in his defense and shoots at the AI as it approaches and retreats. That is, the AI should ideally be able to recognize that the player is capable of establishing a solid defense of an area, even if the defense is not currently in place. (I suppose if a good unit allocation algorithm existed, as needed for the second bullet point, the AI could run it on the player units to see where they could defend.) Because it's important to choose a good order of action and interleave actions between units, it's not as simple as just finding the best move for each unit in turn. All of these can be accomplished with a minimax search in theory, but the search space is too large, so specialized techniques are needed. I thought about techniques such as influence mapping, but I don't see how to use the technique to great effect. I thought about assigning goals to the units. This can help them work together in some limited way, and the problem of "how do I accomplish this goal?" is easier to solve than "how do I win this battle?", but assigning good goals is a hard problem in itself, because it requires knowing whether the goal is achievable and whether it's a good use of resources. So, does anyone have specific ideas for techniques that can help cleverize this AI? Update: I found a related question on Stackoverflow: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3133273/ai-for-a-final-fantasy-tactics-like-game The selected answer gives a decent approach to choosing between alternative actions, but it doesn't seem to have much ability to look into the future and discern beneficial sacrifices from wasteful ones. It also focuses on a single unit at a time and it's not clear how it could be extended to support cooperation between units in defending or attacking.

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  • Amazon Web Services (AWS) Plug-in for Oracle Enterprise Manager

    - by Anand Akela
    v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);} Normal 0 false false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} Contributed by Sunil Kunisetty and Daniel Chan Introduction and ArchitectureAs more and more enterprises deploy some of their non-critical workload on Amazon Web Services (AWS), it’s becoming critical to monitor those public AWS resources along side with their on-premise resources. Oracle recently announced Oracle Enterprise Manager Plug-in for Amazon Web Services (AWS) allows you to achieve that goal. The on-premise Oracle Enterprise Manager (EM12c) acts as a single tool to get a comprehensive view of your public AWS resources as well as your private cloud resources.  By deploying the plug-in within your Cloud Control environment, you gain the following management features: Monitor EBS, EC2 and RDS instances on Amazon Web Services Gather performance metrics and configuration details for AWS instances Raise alerts and violations based on thresholds set on monitoring Generate reports based on the gathered data Users of this Plug-in can leverage the rich Enterprise Manager features such as system promotion, incident generation based on thresholds, integration with 3rd party ticketing applications etc. AWS Monitoring via this Plug-in is enabled via Amazon CloudWatch API and the users of this Plug-in are responsible for supplying credentials for accessing AWS and the CloudWatch API. This Plug-in can only be deployed on an EM12C R2 platform and agent version should be at minimum 12c R2.Here is a pictorial view of the overall architecture: Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) Here are a few key features: Rich and exhaustive list of metrics. Metrics can be gathered from an Agent running outside AWS. Critical configuration information. Custom Home Pages with charts and AWS configuration information. Generate incidents based on thresholds set on monitoring data. Discovery and Monitoring AWS instances can be added to EM12C either via the EM12c User Interface (UI) or the EM12c Command Line Interface ( EMCLI)  by providing the AWS credentials (Secret Key and Access Key Id) as well as resource specific properties as target properties. Here is a quick mapping of target types and properties for each AWS resources AWS Resource Type Target Type Resource specific properties EBS Resource Amazon EBS Service CloudWatch base URI, EC2 Base URI, Period, Volume Id, Proxy Server and Port EC2 Resource Amazon EC2 Service CloudWatch base URI, EC2 Base URI, Period, Instance  Id, Proxy Server and Port RDS Resource Amazon RDS Service CloudWatch base URI, RDS Base URI, Period, Instance  Id, Proxy Server and Port Proxy server and port are optional and are only needed if the agent is within the firewall. Here is an emcli example to add an EC2 target. Please read the Installation and Readme guide for more details and step-by-step instructions to deploy  the plugin and adding the AWS the instances. ./emcli add_target \       -name="<target name>" \       -type="AmazonEC2Service" \       -host="<host>" \       -properties="ProxyHost=<proxy server>;ProxyPort=<proxy port>;EC2_BaseURI=http://ec2.<region>.amazonaws.com;BaseURI=http://monitoring.<region>.amazonaws.com;InstanceId=<EC2 instance Id>;Period=<data point periond>"  \     -subseparator=properties="=" ./emcli set_monitoring_credential \                 -set_name="AWSKeyCredentialSet"  \                 -target_name="<target name>"  \                 -target_type="AmazonEC2Service" \                 -cred_type="AWSKeyCredential"  \                 -attributes="AccessKeyId:<access key id>;SecretKey:<secret key>" Emcli utility is found under the ORACLE_HOME of EM12C install. Once the instance is discovered, the target will show up under the ‘All Targets’ list under “Amazon EC2 Service’. Once the instances are added, one can navigate to the custom homepages for these resource types. The custom home pages not only include critical metrics, but also vital configuration parameters and incidents raised for these instances.  By mapping the configuration parameters as instance properties, we can slice-and-dice and group various AWS instance by leveraging the EM12C Config search feature. The following configuration properties and metrics are collected for these Resource types. Resource Type Configuration Properties Metrics EBS Resource Volume Id, Volume Type, Device Name, Size, Availability Zone Response: Status Utilization: QueueLength, IdleTime Volume Statistics: ReadBrandwith, WriteBandwidth, ReadThroughput, WriteThroughput Operation Statistics: ReadSize, WriteSize, ReadLatency, WriteLatency EC2 Resource Instance ID, Owner Id, Root Device type, Instance Type. Availability Zone Response: Status CPU Utilization: CPU Utilization Disk I/O:  DiskReadBytes, DiskWriteBytes, DiskReadOps, DiskWriteOps, DiskReadRate, DiskWriteRate, DiskIOThroughput, DiskReadOpsRate, DiskWriteOpsRate, DiskOperationThroughput Network I/O : NetworkIn, NetworkOut, NetworkInRate, NetworkOutRate, NetworkThroughput RDS Resource Instance ID, Database Engine Name, Database Engine Version, Database Instance Class, Allocated Storage Size, Availability Zone Response: Status Disk I/O:  ReadIOPS, WriteIOPS, ReadLatency, WriteLatency, ReadThroughput, WriteThroughput DB Utilization:  BinLogDiskUsage, CPUUtilization, DatabaseConnections, FreeableMemory, ReplicaLag, SwapUsage Custom Home Pages As mentioned above, we have custom home pages for these target types that include basic configuration information,  last 24 hours availability, top metrics and the incidents generated. Here are few snapshots. EBS Instance Home Page: EC2 Instance Home Page: RDS Instance Home Page: Further Reading: 1)      AWS Plugin download 2)      Installation and  Read Me. 3)      Screenwatch on SlideShare 4)      Extensibility Programmer's Guide 5)      Amazon Web Services

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  • racket scheme get-argb-pixels

    - by Giles Roberts
    I have a 32 by 32 pixel png file. I'm trying to read the values within it using get-argb-pixels. My code is as follows: #lang racket/gui (require racket/gui/base) (define floor (make-object bitmap% "C:\\floortile.png")) (define pixels (make-bytes (* 32 32 4))) (send floor get-argb-pixels 0 0 32 32 pixels) After executing the code I was expecting a series of 8 bit values to be contained within pixels. Examining pixels gives me the following output: > pixels #"\377\2148\30\377\214<\30\377\234E\30\377\245I\30\377\245I\30\377\234E\30\377\234A\30\377\224A\30\377\224A\30\377\234A\30\377\245E\30\377\255M\30\377\224A\30\377\234E\30\377\245I\30\377\224A\30\377\234E\30\377\234E\30\377\255I\30\377\245I\30\377\245E\30\377\234A\30\377\234E\30\377\234A\30\377\245I\30\377\265Q\30\377\306]\30\377\306Y\30\377\275U\30\377\265Q\30\377\306a!\377\306]!\377\214<\30\377\224A\30\377\224A\30\377\245I\30\377\255M\30\377\255M\30\377\245I\30\377\234E\30\377\234E\30\377\245I\30\377\245I\30\377\255M\30\377\234A\30\377\245E\30\377\265M\30\377\234A\30\377\245I\30\377\245E\30\377\245E\30\377\255M\30\377\245I\30\377\245E\30\377\234A\30\377\234E\30\377\255I\30\377\275U\30\377\306]\30\377\326e!\377\336e!\377\265Q\30\377\326e!\377\326a!\377{8\30\377\224E\30\377\224A\30\377\245I\30\377\245I\30\377\255M\30\377\255M\30\377\255I\30\377\245I\30\377\245I\30\377\245I\30\377\265Q\30\377\214<\30\377\245I\30\377\255M\30\377\265M\30\377\255M\30\377\265M\30\377\265M\30\377\245I\30\377\234E\30\377\234E\30\377\234E\30\377\245E\30\377\275Q\30\377\306]!\377\316a!\377\336i!\377\357q!\377\275Y\30\377\316e!\377\347i!\377k0\20\377\2048\30\377\224A\30\377\265U!\377\234E\30\377\234E\30\377\245M\30\377\255M\30\377\255M\30\377\255I\30\377\255M\30\377\265M\30\377\2048\20\377\245I\30\377\245I\30\377\306Y!\377\265Q\30\377\255M\30\377\265Q\30\377\265M\30\377\265M\30\377\255I\30\377\265Q\30\377\265M\30\377\275U\30\377\316a!\377\326i!\377\347m!\377\367\216)\377\347y)\377\336m)\377\326]!\377s0\20\377{8\30\377{4\20\377\2048\30\377s4\20\377\2048\30\377{4\20\377\214<\30\377\224A\30\377\234A\30\377\224A\30\377\224A\30\377\214<\30\377\2148\30\377\224<\30\377\234A\30\377\214<\30\377\234E\30\377\245I\30\377\265Q\30\377\255M\30\377\265U\30\377\306Y\30\377\265Q\30\377\275U\30\377\326a!\377\336i!\377\347u!\377\357\206)\377\326q)\377\326i)\377\347i!\377s0\20\377{4\20\377{4\30\377\214<\30\377s4\20\377\2048\30\377s4\20\377\224A\30\377\224A\30\377\224<\30\377\234A\30\377\245E\30\377\234E\30\377\234I\30\377\234E\30\377\245I\30\377\245I\30\377\245I\30\377\265Q\30\377\306]\30\377\255M\30\377\255M\30\377\255M\30\377\255M\30\377\275U\30\377\255M\30\377\275U\30\377\316a!\377\306]!\377\326i!\377\367\206)\377\377})\377s4\30\377k,\20\377k,\20\377s4\30\377{4\20\377\2048\30\377c(\20\377\2048\20\377\234A\30\377\245E\30\377\245E\30\377\255I\30\377\245I\30\377\245I\30\377\245I\30\377\265Q\30\377\275U!\377\255M\30\377\255M\30\377\255M\30\377\255M\30\377\275U\30\377\306]!\377\275U\30\377\255M\30\377\306Y!\377\306]!\377\316e!\377\316a!\377\326i!\377\347y)\377\367y)\377c(\20\377c,\20\377k,\20\377s0\20\377s4\20\377\2048\30\377\214<\30\377{4\20\377\214<\30\377\234E\30\377\234A\30\377\245I\30\377\255M\30\377\255M\30\377\255M\30\377\265Q\30\377\265M\30\377\265Q\30\377\265Q\30\377\255M\30\377\265U\30\377\255M\30\377\265Q\30\377\265U\30\377\265U\30\377\265Q\30\377\306Y\30\377\316a!\377\306a!\377\326i!\377\347y)\377\367\202)\377c,\20\377k,\20\377s0\20\377s0\20\377{8\30\377\214<\30\377s,\20\377s0\20\377\214<\30\377\234A\30\377\245E\30\377\255M\30\377\255M\30\377\245I\30\377\255M\30\377\275U\30\377\265U\30\377\265Q\30\377\265Q\30\377\275Y\30\377\255M\30\377\255I\30\377\275U\30\377\275Y!\377\275Y\30\377\265U\30\377\306Y!\377\326e!\377\336m!\377\336q!\377\347})\377\357\202)\377s0\20\377s4\30\377s4\30\377\2048\30\377\234E\30\377\2048\20\377\2148\30\377c(\20\377\2048\30\377\214<\30\377\234E\30\377\265Q\30\377\265Q\30\377\255M\30\377\265M\30\377\316a!\377\275U\30\377\275Y\30\377\265Q\30\377\265Q\30\377\265Q\30\377\265Q\30\377\255M\30\377\275Y\30\377\275Y!\377\275Y\30\377\275U\30\377\316a!\377\347q)\377\367\202)\377\357})\377\347y)\377k0\20\377\2048\30\377{4\30\377\2048\30\377\214A\30\377\2048\30\377\2044\30\377s4\20\377k,\20\377\2048\30\377\224A\30\377\245I\30\377\234A\30\377\234E\30\377\255Q\30\377\275U\30\377\306Y!\377\265Q\30\377\255Q\30\377\265U\30\377\265U\30\377\265Q\30\377\265Q\30\377\316e!\377\316a!\377\306]!\377\275Y!\377\306]!\377\336i!\377\357})\377\367\202)\377\336u)\377k0\20\377s0\30\377\2048\30\377\204<\30\377\204<\30\377\2048\30\377\2048\30\377\214<\30\377s4\20\377\2048\30\377\214A\30\377\224A\30\377\224E\30\377\234E\30\377\265Q\30\377\275U\30\377\306Y\30\377\255M\30\377\265Q\30\377\265Q\30\377\316]!\377\326e!\377\316]!\377\336m)\377\336i)\377\316e!\377\306a!\377\326e!\377\367y)\377\367})\377\367\2061\377\367\2061\377s4\30\377{8\30\377{8\30\377\214<\30\377\214<\30\377\204<\30\377{4\20\377\214<\30\377\214<\30\377\214<\30\377\234E\30\377\234E\30\377\224E\30\377\234E\30\377\245M\30\377\275U\30\377\275U!\377\275U\30\377\306]!\377\306]!\377\316a!\377\326i)\377\347u)\377\326e!\377\347q)\377\336q)\377\326i)\377\326i)\377\347q)\377\367\202)\377\367})\377\367\2061\377{8\30\377s4\30\377{8\30\377\214<\30\377\224A\30\377\234E\30\377\214<\30\377\214<\30\377\224A\30\377\224<\30\377\234E\30\377\255M\30\377\245I\30\377\245I\30\377\255M\30\377\265U\30\377\306]!\377\306]!\377\316a!\377\316e!\377\326e!\377\347m)\377\316e!\377\306]!\377\347u)\377\347u)\377\336m)\377\316e)\377\336q)\377\357y)\377\367\202)\377\367\2021\377{4\30\377s4\30\377\2048\30\377\214A\30\377\224A\30\377\224A\30\377\224E\30\377\214<\30\377\214<\30\377\245I\30\377\234A\30\377\255M\30\377\255M\30\377\245I\30\377\255M\30\377\255Q\30\377\306]!\377\306]!\377\316a!\377\316a!\377\316a!\377\347u)\377\326e!\377\275Y!\377\265Y!\377\336m)\377\306a)\377\336m)\377\336m)\377\326e)\377\347q)\377\336q)\377s0\30\377s0\30\377\204<\30\377\224A\30\377\224E\30\377\234I\30\377\234E\30\377\234E\30\377\255M\30\377\234E\30\377{4\30\377\224<\30\377\245M\30\377\255I\30\377\234A\30\377\255M\30\377\245E\30\377\255M\30\377\265Q\30\377\245I\30\377\275U\30\377\255I\30\377\234A\30\377\224E\30\377\265U\30\377\234I\30\377\224E\30\377\245M\30\377\234M!\377\224A\30\377\234I\30\377\224E\30\377k0\20\377s0\20\377{4\30\377\214<\30\377\224E\30\377\234E\30\377\245I\30\377\234I\30\377\245I\30\377\214<\30\377\214<\30\377\255M\30\377\265Q!\377\265Q!\377\255M\30\377\306]!\377\316a)\377\326e)\377\326a!\377\316]!\377\265Q\30\377\326a!\377\255M\30\377\204<\20\377\245M\30\377\234I\30\377\245M\30\377\275]!\377\234I\30\377\255U!\377\265Y!\377\245M!\377c(\20\377k,\20\377k0\20\377\2048\30\377\224A\30\377\224E\30\377\234I\30\377\245I\30\377\275Y!\377\234E\30\377\245I\30\377\245I\30\377\265U!\377\265Q!\377\265Q!\377\306]!\377\306]!\377\316a!\377\316a!\377\336e)\377\326a!\377\316]!\377\265Q\30\377\224A\30\377\234I\30\377\275]!\377\265Y!\377\275Y!\377\275Y!\377\265U!\377\265])\377\275])\377s4\30\377c(\20\377k,\20\377s0\20\377\214A\30\377\224E\30\377\234E\30\377\306]!\377\234I\30\377\224A\30\377\265U!\377\245I\30\377\265Q!\377\265Q!\377\265M!\377\255M\30\377\306]!\377\306Y!\377\306]!\377\306]!\377\326a)\377\336i)\377\275U!\377\224A\30\377\224A\30\377\306a!\377\275]!\377\275Y!\377\275]!\377\275])\377\275Y!\377\275Y!\377s0\20\377k,\20\377s0\20\377\2048\30\377\214<\30\377\224E\30\377\234E\30\377\245M\30\377\224A\30\377\214A\30\377\245M\30\377\265Q!\377\275U!\377\255I\30\377\245I\30\377\245I\30\377\275U!\377\306Y!\377\275Y!\377\306]!\377\306]!\377\265Q\30\377\255M\30\377\224A\30\377\204<\30\377\255Q\30\377\245M\30\377\255Q!\377\265Y!\377\275]!\377\265Y!\377\275Y!\377s0\20\377k0\20\377{0\20\377\2048\30\377\204<\30\377\204<\30\377\214<\30\377\224A\30\377\316a!\377\245I\30\377\234E\30\377\245I\30\377\265U!\377\265Q!\377\265Q!\377\255M!\377\275U!\377\275U!\377\275U!\377\275Q!\377\255I\30\377\255M\30\377\255Q\30\377\234E\30\377{4\30\377\224A\30\377\214<\30\377\275Y!\377\275Y!\377\275]!\377\255Q!\377\255Q!\377k,\20\377k,\20\377s0\20\377\2044\30\377{4\20\377{4\30\377\2048\30\377\245M\30\377\265U!\377\245I\30\377\214A\30\377\275Y!\377\234A\30\377\255M\30\377\265Q!\377\245M!\377\265U!\377\275Q!\377\245I\30\377\245I\30\377\245M\30\377\265Q!\377\255Q!\377\255M\30\377\214<\30\377\245I\30\377\255Q!\377\306]!\377\306]!\377\275U!\377\265U!\377\255Q!\377c(\20\377Z(\20\377c(\20\377k,\20\377{8\30\377{4\30\377\214<\30\377\214A\30\377\234E\30\377\245I\30\377\245M\30\377\214<\30\377s0\30\377\255M!\377\255I!\377\255M!\377\255M!\377\265Q!\377\265Q!\377\255M!\377\265Q\30\377\245I\30\377\255I\30\377\306Y!\377\275Y!\377\214A\30\377\255Q\30\377\275]!\377\306])\377\306]!\377\255U!\377\255Q!\377k0\30\377k0\20\377k,\20\377s0\20\377s0\20\377s4\30\377{4\30\377\214<\30\377\245I\30\377\224A\30\377\306Y!\377\234A\30\377s0\20\377\245I\30\377\255M!\377\255M!\377\255M!\377\255M!\377\255Q!\377\265M!\377\316]!\377\245E\30\377\316]!\377\306Y!\377\275U!\377{8\30\377\255Q!\377\265Y!\377\275]!\377\275Y!\377\275Y!\377\255Q!\377k0\20\377c,\20\377k,\20\377s0\20\377{4\30\377s0\20\377{4\30\377{4\30\377\2048\30\377\245I\30\377\234E\30\377\234E\30\377k,\20\377\214<\30\377\224A\30\377\245M\30\377\214<\30\377\224E\30\377\214<\30\377\214<\30\377\214<\30\377\245I\30\377\234E\30\377\224A\30\377\224A\30\377k,\20\377\224A\30\377\265Q!\377\265Y!\377\265U!\377\265Y!\377\275Y!\377c(\20\377c,\20\377k,\20\377s0\20\377k,\20\377k0\20\377\2048\30\377\234A\30\377\214<\30\377\224A\30\377\245I\30\377\245I\30\377k0\20\377{4\20\377\214<\30\377\214A\30\377\214<\30\377\204<\30\377\2048\30\377\234I\30\377\224A\30\377\214<\30\377\234E\30\377\234E\30\377\255M\30\377\224A\30\377{8\30\377\255Q!\377\265U!\377\255U!\377\255U!\377\265U!\377c(\20\377k,\20\377s0\20\377s0\20\377{4\20\377\2048\30\377\2048\30\377\2048\30\377\224A\30\377\245M\30\377\245E\30\377\234E\30\377{4\20\377Z(\20\377k0\30\377{8\30\377\2048\30\377\214A\30\377\224A\30\377\234I\30\377\214<\30\377\224A\30\377\224A\30\377\234E\30\377\245I\30\377\255M\30\377{8\30\377\214A\30\377\255U!\377\255U!\377\245Q!\377\265U!\377c,\20\377c(\20\377k,\20\377Z$\20\377Z$\20\377Z(\20\377c(\20\377k,\20\377k,\20\377c(\20\377c(\20\377c,\20\377k0\20\377R \20\377c,\20\377s4\30\377{4\30\377\204<\30\377\2048\30\377\214A\30\377\224A\30\377\224A\30\377\234I\30\377\234I\30\377\224A\30\377\245I\30\377\224E\30\377\2048\30\377\255U!\377\255Q!\377\265U!\377\265Y)\377J \20\377J\34\20\377Z(\20\377k,\20\377k(\20\377c(\20\377R \20\377c(\20\377k,\20\377s0\20\377k0\20\377k0\20\377c,\20\377Z(\20\377c,\20\377s4\20\377s4\20\377\2048\30\377\2048\20\377\2048\30\377\224A\30\377\214A\30\377\234I\30\377\245I\30\377\234I\30\377\245M!\377\245M\30\377\204<\30\377\234M!\377\245Q!\377\265U!\377\255U!\377c,\20\377c,\20\377c(\20\377c(\20\377c(\20\377c(\20\377c(\20\377k,\20\377k,\20\377k,\20\377k0\20\377s4\20\377s0\30\377\204<\30\377c(\20\377s4\20\377s4\30\377{4\20\377{4\30\377\204<\30\377\224A\30\377\234E\30\377\234E\30\377\234E\30\377\234E\30\377\245I\30\377\245I\30\377\224E\30\377\204<\30\377\245Q!\377\255Q!\377\347\327\326\377R$\20\377k,\20\377c(\20\377c(\20\377c(\20\377c(\20\377Z$\20\377c(\20\377c(\20\377k,\20\377k,\20\377k,\20\377s0\20\377{4\30\377\204<\30\377k,\20\377s4\20\377s4\20\377{8\30\377\2048\20\377\214<\30\377\214<\30\377\214A\30\377\234E\30\377\234E\30\377\224A\30\377\224E\30\377\224E\30\377s4\30\377\214A\30\377\265\206s\377\377\377\377\377c,\20\377k,\30\377k0\20\377k,\20\377c(\20\377Z$\20\377Z(\20\377Z$\20\377c(\20\377c(\20\377c(\20\377k,\20\377k0\20\377{4\30\377{8\30\377k,\20\377c,\20\377k0\20\377s0\20\377{8\30\377\2048\30\377\2048\30\377\214<\30\377\224A\30\377\224E\30\377\214<\30\377\214A\30\377\234I\30\377{8!\377\214M1\377\377\373\377\377\377\377\377" This doesn't look like a series of 8 bit values to me. Have I done something wrong or am I misinterpreting the results?

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  • Atmospheric Scattering

    - by Lawrence Kok
    I'm trying to implement atmospheric scattering based on Sean O`Neil algorithm that was published in GPU Gems 2. But I have some trouble getting the shader to work. My latest attempts resulted in: http://img253.imageshack.us/g/scattering01.png/ I've downloaded sample code of O`Neil from: http://http.download.nvidia.com/developer/GPU_Gems_2/CD/Index.html. Made minor adjustments to the shader 'SkyFromAtmosphere' that would allow it to run in AMD RenderMonkey. In the images it is see-able a form of banding occurs, getting an blueish tone. However it is only applied to one half of the sphere, the other half is completely black. Also the banding appears to occur at Zenith instead of Horizon, and for a reason I managed to get pac-man shape. I would appreciate it if somebody could show me what I'm doing wrong. Vertex Shader: uniform mat4 matView; uniform vec4 view_position; uniform vec3 v3LightPos; const int nSamples = 3; const float fSamples = 3.0; const vec3 Wavelength = vec3(0.650,0.570,0.475); const vec3 v3InvWavelength = 1.0f / vec3( Wavelength.x * Wavelength.x * Wavelength.x * Wavelength.x, Wavelength.y * Wavelength.y * Wavelength.y * Wavelength.y, Wavelength.z * Wavelength.z * Wavelength.z * Wavelength.z); const float fInnerRadius = 10; const float fOuterRadius = fInnerRadius * 1.025; const float fInnerRadius2 = fInnerRadius * fInnerRadius; const float fOuterRadius2 = fOuterRadius * fOuterRadius; const float fScale = 1.0 / (fOuterRadius - fInnerRadius); const float fScaleDepth = 0.25; const float fScaleOverScaleDepth = fScale / fScaleDepth; const vec3 v3CameraPos = vec3(0.0, fInnerRadius * 1.015, 0.0); const float fCameraHeight = length(v3CameraPos); const float fCameraHeight2 = fCameraHeight * fCameraHeight; const float fm_ESun = 150.0; const float fm_Kr = 0.0025; const float fm_Km = 0.0010; const float fKrESun = fm_Kr * fm_ESun; const float fKmESun = fm_Km * fm_ESun; const float fKr4PI = fm_Kr * 4 * 3.141592653; const float fKm4PI = fm_Km * 4 * 3.141592653; varying vec3 v3Direction; varying vec4 c0, c1; float scale(float fCos) { float x = 1.0 - fCos; return fScaleDepth * exp(-0.00287 + x*(0.459 + x*(3.83 + x*(-6.80 + x*5.25)))); } void main( void ) { // Get the ray from the camera to the vertex, and its length (which is the far point of the ray passing through the atmosphere) vec3 v3FrontColor = vec3(0.0, 0.0, 0.0); vec3 v3Pos = normalize(gl_Vertex.xyz) * fOuterRadius; vec3 v3Ray = v3CameraPos - v3Pos; float fFar = length(v3Ray); v3Ray = normalize(v3Ray); // Calculate the ray's starting position, then calculate its scattering offset vec3 v3Start = v3CameraPos; float fHeight = length(v3Start); float fDepth = exp(fScaleOverScaleDepth * (fInnerRadius - fCameraHeight)); float fStartAngle = dot(v3Ray, v3Start) / fHeight; float fStartOffset = fDepth*scale(fStartAngle); // Initialize the scattering loop variables float fSampleLength = fFar / fSamples; float fScaledLength = fSampleLength * fScale; vec3 v3SampleRay = v3Ray * fSampleLength; vec3 v3SamplePoint = v3Start + v3SampleRay * 0.5; // Now loop through the sample rays for(int i=0; i<nSamples; i++) { float fHeight = length(v3SamplePoint); float fDepth = exp(fScaleOverScaleDepth * (fInnerRadius - fHeight)); float fLightAngle = dot(normalize(v3LightPos), v3SamplePoint) / fHeight; float fCameraAngle = dot(normalize(v3Ray), v3SamplePoint) / fHeight; float fScatter = (-fStartOffset + fDepth*( scale(fLightAngle) - scale(fCameraAngle)))/* 0.25f*/; vec3 v3Attenuate = exp(-fScatter * (v3InvWavelength * fKr4PI + fKm4PI)); v3FrontColor += v3Attenuate * (fDepth * fScaledLength); v3SamplePoint += v3SampleRay; } // Finally, scale the Mie and Rayleigh colors and set up the varying variables for the pixel shader vec4 newPos = vec4( (gl_Vertex.xyz + view_position.xyz), 1.0); gl_Position = gl_ModelViewProjectionMatrix * vec4(newPos.xyz, 1.0); gl_Position.z = gl_Position.w * 0.99999; c1 = vec4(v3FrontColor * fKmESun, 1.0); c0 = vec4(v3FrontColor * (v3InvWavelength * fKrESun), 1.0); v3Direction = v3CameraPos - v3Pos; } Fragment Shader: uniform vec3 v3LightPos; varying vec3 v3Direction; varying vec4 c0; varying vec4 c1; const float g =-0.90f; const float g2 = g * g; const float Exposure =2; void main(void){ float fCos = dot(normalize(v3LightPos), v3Direction) / length(v3Direction); float fMiePhase = 1.5 * ((1.0 - g2) / (2.0 + g2)) * (1.0 + fCos*fCos) / pow(1.0 + g2 - 2.0*g*fCos, 1.5); gl_FragColor = c0 + fMiePhase * c1; gl_FragColor.a = 1.0; }

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  • Process.Start() and ShellExecute() fails with URLs on Windows 8

    - by Rick Strahl
    Since I installed Windows 8 I've noticed that a number of my applications appear to have problems opening URLs. That is when I click on a link inside of a Windows application, either nothing happens or there's an error that occurs. It's happening both to my own applications and a host of Windows applications I'm running. At first I thought this was an issue with my default browser (Chrome) but after switching the default browser to a few others and experimenting a bit I noticed that the errors occur - oddly enough - only when I run an application as an Administrator. I also tried switching to FireFox and Opera as my default browser and saw exactly the same behavior. The scenario for this is a bit bizarre: Running on Windows 8 Call Process.Start() (or ShellExecute() in Win32 API) with a URL or an HTML file Run 'As Administrator' (works fine under non-elevated user account!) or with UAC off A browser other than Internet Explorer is set as your Default Web Browser Talk about a weird scenario: Something that doesn't work when you run as an Administrator which is supposed to have rights to everything on the system! Instead running under an Admin account - either elevated with a User Account Control prompt or even when running as a full Administrator fails. It appears that this problem does not occur for everyone, but when I looked for a solution to this, I saw quite a few posts in relation to this with no clear resolutions. I have three Windows 8 machines running here in the office and all three of them showed this behavior. Lest you think this is just a programmer's problem - this can affect any software running on your system that needs to run under administrative rights. Try it out Now, in order for this next example to fail, any browser but Internet Explorer has to be your default browser and even then it may not fail depending on how you installed your browser. To see if this is a problem create a small Console application and call Process.Start() with a URL in it:namespace Win8ShellBugConsole { class Program { static void Main(string[] args) { Console.WriteLine("Launching Url..."); Process.Start("http://microsoft.com"); Console.Write("Press any key to continue..."); Console.ReadKey(); Console.WriteLine("\r\n\r\nLaunching image..."); Process.Start(Path.GetFullPath(@"..\..\sailbig.jpg")); Console.Write("Press any key to continue..."); Console.ReadKey(); } } } Compile this code. Then execute the code from Explorer (not from Visual Studio because that may change the permissions). If you simply run the EXE and you're not running as an administrator, you'll see the Web page pop up in the browser as well as the image loading. Now run the same thing with Run As Administrator: Now when you run it you get a nice error when Process.Start() is fired: The same happens if you are running with User Account Control off altogether - ie. you are running as a full admin account. Now if you comment out the URL in the code above and just fire the image display - that works just fine in any user mode. As does opening any other local file type or even starting a new EXE locally (ie. Process.Start("c:\windows\notepad.exe"). All that works, EXCEPT for URLs. The code above uses Process.Start() in .NET but the same happens in Win32 Applications that use the ShellExecute API. In some of my older Fox apps ShellExecute returns an error code of 31 - which is No Shell Association found. What's the Deal? It turns out the problem has to do with the way browsers are registering themselves on Windows. Internet Explorer - being a built-in application in Windows 8 - apparently does this correctly, but other browsers possibly don't or at least didn't at the time I installed them. So even Chrome, which continually updates itself, has a recent version that apparently has this registration issue fixed, I was unable to simply set IE as my default browser then use Chrome to 'Set as Default Browser'. It still didn't work. Neither did using the Set Program Associations dialog which lets you assign what extensions are mapped to by a given application. Each application provides a set of extension/moniker mappings that it supports and this dialog lets you associate them on a system wide basis. This also did not work for Chrome or any of the other browsers at first. However, after repeated retries here eventually I did manage to get FireFox to work, but not any of the others. What Works? Reinstall the Browser In the end I decided on the hard core pull the plug solution: Totally uninstall and re-install Chrome in this case. And lo and behold, after reinstall everything was working fine. Now even removing the association for Chrome, switching to IE as the default browser and then back to Chrome works. But, even though the version of Chrome I was running before uninstalling and reinstalling is the same as I'm running now after the reinstall now it works. Of course I had to find out the hard way, before Richard commented with a note regarding what the issue is with Chrome at least: http://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=156400 As expected the issue is a registration issue - with keys not being registered at the machine level. Reading this I'm still not sure why this should be a problem - an elevated account still runs under the same user account (ie. I'm still rickstrahl even if I Run As Administrator), so why shouldn't an app be able to read my Current User registry hive? And also that doesn't quite explain why if I register the extensions using Run As Administrator in Chrome when using Set as Default Browser). But in the end it works… Not so fast It's now a couple of days later and still there are some oddball problems although this time they appear to be purely Chrome issues. After the reinstall Chrome seems to pop up properly with ShellExecute() calls both in regular user and Admin mode. However, it now looks like Chrome is actually running two completely separate user profiles for each. For example, when I run Visual Studio in Admin mode and go to View in browser, Chrome complains that it was installed in Admin mode and can't launch (WTF?). Then you retry a few times later and it ends up working. When launched that way some of the plug-ins installed don't show up with the effect that sometimes they're visible sometimes they're not. Also Chrome seems to loose my configuration and Google sign in between sessions now, presumably when switching user modes. Add-ins installed in admin mode don't show up in user mode and vice versa. Ah, this is lovely. Did I mention that I freaking hate UAC precisely because of this kind of bullshit. You can never tell exactly what account your app is running under, and apparently apps also have a hard time trying to put data into the right place that works for both scenarios. And as my recent post on using Windows Live accounts shows it's yet another level of abstraction ontop of the underlying system identity that can cause all sort of small side effect headaches like this. Hopefully, most of you are skirting this issue altogether - having installed more recent versions of your favorite browsers. If not, hopefully this post will take you straight to reinstallation to fix this annoying issue.© Rick Strahl, West Wind Technologies, 2005-2012Posted in Windows  .NET   Tweet !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs"); (function() { var po = document.createElement('script'); po.type = 'text/javascript'; po.async = true; po.src = 'https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(po, s); })();

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  • Shadow mapping with deffered shading for directional lights - shadow map projection problem

    - by Harry
    I'm trying to implement shadow mapping to my engine. I started with directional lights because they seemed to be the easiest one, but I was wrong :) I have implemented deferred shading and I retrieve position from depth. I think that there is the biggest problem but code looks ok for me. Now more about problem: Shadow map projected onto meshes looks bad scaled and translated and also some informations from shadow map texture aren't visible. You can see it on this screen: http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/2254/93dn.png Yelow frustum is light frustum and I have mixed shadow map preview and actual scene. As you can see shadows are in wrong place and shadow of cone and sphere aren't visible. Could you look at my codes and tell me where I have a mistake? // create shadow map if(!_shd)glGenTextures(1, &_shd); glBindTexture(GL_TEXTURE_2D, _shd); glTexImage2D(GL_TEXTURE_2D, 0, GL_DEPTH_COMPONENT, 1024, 1024, 0, GL_DEPTH_COMPONENT, GL_FLOAT,NULL); // shadow map size glTexParameterf(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_MAG_FILTER, GL_NEAREST); glTexParameterf(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_MIN_FILTER, GL_NEAREST); glTexParameterf(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_WRAP_S, GL_CLAMP_TO_EDGE); glTexParameterf(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_WRAP_T, GL_CLAMP_TO_EDGE); glFramebufferTexture2D(GL_DRAW_FRAMEBUFFER, GL_DEPTH_ATTACHMENT, GL_TEXTURE_2D, _shd, 0); glDrawBuffer(GL_NONE); // setting camera Vector dire=Vector(0,0,1); ACamera.setLookAt(dire,Vector(0)); ACamera.setPerspectiveView(60.0f,1,0.1f,10.0f); // currently needed for proper frustum corners calculation Vector min(ACamera._point[0]),max(ACamera._point[0]); for(int i=0;i<8;i++){ max=Max(max,ACamera._point[i]); min=Min(min,ACamera._point[i]); } ACamera.setOrthogonalView(min.x,max.x,min.y,max.y,-max.z,-min.z); glBindFramebuffer(GL_DRAW_FRAMEBUFFER, _s_buffer); // framebuffer for shadow map // rendering to depth buffer glBindFramebuffer(GL_DRAW_FRAMEBUFFER, _g_buffer); Shaders["DirLight"].set(true); Matrix4 bias; bias.x.set(0.5,0.0,0.0,0.0); bias.y.set(0.0,0.5,0.0,0.0); bias.z.set(0.0,0.0,0.5,0.0); bias.w.set(0.5,0.5,0.5,1.0); Shaders["DirLight"].set("textureMatrix",ACamera.matrix*Projection3D*bias); // order of multiplications are 100% correct, everything gives mi the same result as using glm glActiveTexture(GL_TEXTURE5); glBindTexture(GL_TEXTURE_2D,_shd); lightDir(dir); // light calculations Vertex Shader makes nothing related to shadow calculatons Pixel shader function which calculates if pixel is in shadow or not: float readShadowMap(vec3 eyeDir) { // retrieve depth of pixel float z = texture2D(depth, gl_FragCoord.xy/screen).z; vec3 pos = vec3(gl_FragCoord.xy/screen, z); // transform by the projection and view inverse vec4 worldSpace = inverse(View)*inverse(ProjectionMatrix)*vec4(pos*2-1,1); worldSpace /= worldSpace.w; vec4 coord=textureMatrix*worldSpace; float vis=1.0f; if(texture2D(shadow, coord.xy).z < coord.z-0.001)vis=0.2f; return vis; } I also have question about shadows specifically for directional light. Currently I always look at 0,0,0 position and in further implementation I have to move light frustum along to camera frustum. I've found how to do this here: http://www.gamedev.net/topic/505893-orthographic-projection-for-shadow-mapping/ but it doesn't give me what I want. Maybe because of problems mentioned above, but I want know your opinion. EDIT: vec4 worldSpace is position read from depht of the scene (not shadow map). Maybe I wasn't precise so I'll try quick explain what is what: View is camera view matrix, ProjectionMatrix is camera projection,. First I try to get world space position from depth map and then multiply it by textureMatrix which is light view *light projection*bias. Rest of code is the same as in many tutorials. I can't use vertex shader to make something like gl_Position=textureMatrix*gl_Vertex and get it interpolated in fragment shader because of deffered rendering use so I want get it from depht buffer. EDIT2: I also tried make it as in Coding Labs tutorial about Shadow Mapping with Deferred Rendering but unfortunately this either works wrong.

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  • Demystified - BI in SharePoint 2010

    - by Sahil Malik
    Ad:: SharePoint 2007 Training in .NET 3.5 technologies (more information). Frequently, my clients ask me if there is a good guide on deciphering the seemingly daunting choice of products from Microsoft when it comes to business intelligence offerings in a SharePoint 2010 world. These are all described in detail in my book, but here is a one (well maybe two) page executive overview. Microsoft Excel: Yes, Microsoft Excel! Your favorite and most commonly used in the world database. No it isn’t a database in technical pure definitions, but this is the most commonly used ‘database’ in the world. You will find many business users craft up very compelling excel sheets with tonnes of logic inside them. Good for: Quick Ad-Hoc reports. Excel 64 bit allows the possibility of very large datasheets (Also see 32 bit vs 64 bit Office, and PowerPivot Add-In below). Audience: End business user can build such solutions. Related technologies: PowerPivot, Excel Services Microsoft Excel with PowerPivot Add-In: The powerpivot add-in is an extension to Excel that adds support for large-scale data. Think of this as Excel with the ability to deal with very large amounts of data. It has an in-memory data store as an option for Analysis services. Good for: Ad-hoc reporting and logic with very large amounts of data. Audience: End business user can build such solutions. Related technologies: Excel, and Excel Services Excel Services: Excel Services is a Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 shared service that brings the power of Excel to SharePoint Server by providing server-side calculation and browser-based rendering of Excel workbooks. Thus, excel sheets can be created by end users, and published to SharePoint server – which are then rendered right through the browser in read-only or parameterized-read-only modes. They can also be accessed by other software via SOAP or REST based APIs. Good for: Sharing excel sheets with a larger number of people, while maintaining control/version control etc. Sharing logic embedded in excel sheets with other software across the organization via REST/SOAP interfaces Audience: End business users can build such solutions once your tech staff has setup excel services on a SharePoint server instance. Programmers can write software consuming functionality/complex formulae contained in your sheets. Related technologies: PerformancePoint Services, Excel, and PowerPivot. Visio Services: Visio Services is a shared service on the Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 platform that allows users to share and view Visio diagrams that may or may not have data connected to them. Connected data can update these diagrams allowing a visual/graphical view into the data. The diagrams are viewable through the browser. They are rendered in silverlight, but will automatically down-convert to .png formats. Good for: Showing data as diagrams, live updating. Comes with a developer story. Audience: End business users can build such solutions once your tech staff has setup visio services on a SharePoint server instance. Developers can enhance the visualizations Related Technologies: Visio Services can be used to render workflow visualizations in SP2010 Reporting Services: SQL Server reporting services can integrate with SharePoint, allowing you to store reports and data sources in SharePoint document libraries, and render these reports and associated functionality such as subscriptions through a SharePoint site. In SharePoint 2010, you can also write reports against SharePoint lists (access services uses this technique). Good for: Showing complex reports running in a industry standard data store, such as SQL server. Audience: This is definitely developer land. Don’t expect end users to craft up reports, unless a report model has previously been published. Related Technologies: PerformancePoint Services PerformancePoint Services: PerformancePoint Services in SharePoint 2010 is now fully integrated with SharePoint, and comes with features that can either be used in the BI center site definition, or on their own as activated features in existing site collections. PerformancePoint services allows you to build reports and dashboards that target a variety of back-end datasources including: SQL Server reporting services, SQL Server analysis services, SharePoint lists, excel services, simple tables, etc. Using these you have the ability to create dashboards, scorecards/kpis, and simple reports. You can also create reports targeting hierarchical multidimensional data sources. The visual decomposition tree is a new report type that lets you quickly breakdown multi-dimensional data. Good for: Mostly everything :), except your wallet – it’s not free! But this is the most comprehensive offering. If you have SharePoint server, forget everything and go with performance point. Audience: Developers need to setup the back-end sources, manageability story. DBAs need to setup datawarehouses with cubes. Moderately sophisticated business users, or developers can craft up reports using dashboard designer which is a click-once App that deploys with PerformancePoint Related Technologies: Excel services, reporting services, etc.   Other relevant technologies to know about: Business Connectivity Services: Allows for consumption of external data in SharePoint as columns or external lists. This can be paired with one or more of the above BI offerings allowing insight into such data. Access Services: Allows the representation/publishing of an access database as a SharePoint 2010 site, leveraging many SharePoint features. Reporting services is used by Access services. Secure Store Service: The SP2010 Secure store service is a replacement for the SP2007 single sign on feature. This acts as a credential policeman providing credentials to various applications running with SharePoint. BCS, PerformancePoint Services, Excel Services, and many other apps use the SSS (Secure Store Service) for credential control. Comment on the article ....

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  • JBoss Seam: In ScopeType.PAGE I get: java.lang.IllegalStateException: No conversation context active

    - by Markos Fragkakis
    Hi all, I have a page-scoped component, which has an instance variable List with data, which I display in a datatable. This datatable has pagination, sorting and filtering. The first time gate into the page, I get this appended in my URL: ?conversationId=97. The page works correctly, and when I change datatable pages no now component is created. After a minute or two, and at seamingly random time, I get an exception saying that there is no context. I have not used @Create in my code or my navigation files. So, I have two questions: Why do I get this suffix in my URL? Why did a conversation start? Why the exception? The component is scoped to PAGE. If I received an exception, it should not be related to a conversation. Right? Or is the conversation the exception is referring a temporary conversation? Cheers! UPDATE: This is the page: <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xmlns:ui="http://java.sun.com/jsf/facelets" xmlns:h="http://java.sun.com/jsf/html" xmlns:f="http://java.sun.com/jsf/core" xmlns:a4j="http://richfaces.org/a4j" xmlns:rich="http://richfaces.org/rich"> <body> <ui:composition template="/WEB-INF/facelets/templates/template.xhtml"> <ui:define name="content"> <!-- This method returns focus on the filter --> <script type="text/javascript"> function submitByEnter(event){ if (event.keyCode == 13) { if (event.preventDefault) { // Firefox event.preventDefault(); } else { // IE event.returnValue = false; } document.getElementById("refreshButton").click(); } } </script> <h:form prependId="false"> <h:commandButton action="Back" value="Back to home page" /> <br /> <p><h:outputText value="Applicants and Products (experimentation page)" class="page_title" /></p> <h:commandButton action="#{applicantProductListBean.showCreateApplicant}" value="Create Applicant" id="createApplicantButton"> </h:commandButton> <a4j:commandButton value="Refresh" id="refreshButton" action="#{applicantProductListBean.refreshData}" image="/images/icons/refresh48x48.gif" reRender="compositeTable, compositeScroller"> <!-- <f:setPropertyActionListener--> <!-- target="# {pageScrollerBean.applicantProductListPage}" value="1" />--> </a4j:commandButton> <rich:toolTip for="createApplicantButton" value="Create Applicant" /> <rich:dataTable styleClass="composite2DataTable" id="compositeTable" rows="1" columnClasses="col" value="#{applicantProductListBean.dataModel}" var="pageAppList"> <f:facet name="header"> <rich:columnGroup> <rich:column colspan="3"> <h:outputText styleClass="headerText" value="Applicants" /> </rich:column> <rich:column colspan="3"> <h:outputText styleClass="headerText" value="Products" /> </rich:column> <rich:column breakBefore="true"> <h:outputText styleClass="headerText" value="Applicant Name" /> <a4j:commandButton id="sortingApplicantNameButton" action="#{applicantProductListBean.toggleSorting('applicantName')}" image="/images/icons/sorting/#{sortingFilteringBean.applicantProductListSorting.sortingValues['applicantName']}.gif" reRender="sortingApplicantNameButton, sortingApplicantEmailButton, compositeTable, compositeScroller"> <!-- <f:setPropertyActionListener--> <!-- target="#{pageScrollerBean.applicantProductListPage}" value="1" />--> </a4j:commandButton> <br /> <h:inputText value="#{sortingFilteringBean.applicantProductListFiltering.filteringValues['applicantName']}" id="applicantNameFilterValue" onkeypress="return submitByEnter(event)"> </h:inputText> </rich:column> <rich:column> <h:outputText styleClass="headerText" value="Applicant Email" /> <a4j:commandButton id="sortingApplicantEmailButton" action="#{applicantProductListBean.toggleSorting('applicantEmail')}" image="/images/icons/sorting/#{sortingFilteringBean.applicantProductListSorting.sortingValues['applicantEmail']}.gif" reRender="sortingApplicantNameButton, sortingApplicantEmailButton, compositeTable, compositeScroller"> <!-- <f:setPropertyActionListener--> <!-- target="#{pageScrollerBean.applicantProductListPage}" value="1" />--> </a4j:commandButton> <br /> <h:inputText value="#{sortingFilteringBean.applicantProductListFiltering.filteringValues['applicantEmail']}" id="applicantEmailFilterValue" onkeypress="return submitByEnter(event)"> </h:inputText> </rich:column> <rich:column> <h:outputText styleClass="headerText" value="Applicant Actions" /> </rich:column> <rich:column> <h:outputText styleClass="headerText" value="Product Name" /> <a4j:commandButton id="sortingProductNameButton" action="#{applicantProductListBean.toggleSorting('productName')}" immediate="true" image="/images/icons/sorting/#{sortingFilteringBean.applicantProductListSorting.sortingValues['productName']}.gif" reRender="sortingProductNameButton, compositeTable, compositeScroller"> </a4j:commandButton> <br /> <h:inputText value="#{sortingFilteringBean.applicantProductListFiltering.filteringValues['productName']}" id="productNameFilterValue" onkeypress="return submitByEnter(event)"> </h:inputText> </rich:column> <rich:column> <h:outputText styleClass="headerText" value="Product Email" /> <br /> <h:inputText value="#{sortingFilteringBean.applicantProductListFiltering.filteringValues['productEmail']}" id="productEmailFilterValue" onkeypress="return submitByEnter(event)"> </h:inputText> </rich:column> <rich:column> <h:outputText styleClass="headerText" value="Product Actions" /> </rich:column> </rich:columnGroup> </f:facet> <rich:subTable rowClasses="odd_applicant_row, even_applicant_row" value="#{pageAppList}" var="app"> <rich:column styleClass=" internal_cell composite2TextContainingColumn" valign="top"> <h:outputText value="#{app.name}" /> </rich:column> <rich:column styleClass="internal_cell composite2TextContainingColumn" valign="top"> <h:outputText value="#{app.receiptEmail}" /> </rich:column> <rich:column valign="top" styleClass="buttonsColumn"> <h:commandButton action="#{applicantProductListBean.showUpdateApplicant(app)}" image="/images/icons/edit.jpg"> </h:commandButton> <!-- <rich:toolTip for="editApplicantButton" value="Edit Applicant" />--> <h:commandButton action="#{applicantProductListBean.showDeleteApplicant(app)}" image="/images/icons/delete.png"> </h:commandButton> <!-- <rich:toolTip for="deleteApplicantButton" value="Delete Applicant" />--> </rich:column> <rich:column colspan="3"> <table class="productsTableTable"> <tbody> <tr> <td class="createProductButtonTableCell"><h:commandButton action="#{applicantProductListBean.showCreateProduct(app)}" value="Create Product"> </h:commandButton> <!-- <rich:toolTip for="createProductButton" value="Create Product" />--> </td> </tr> <tr> <td><rich:dataTable value="#{app.products}" var="prod" rowClasses="odd_product_row, even_product_row"> <rich:column styleClass="internal_cell composite2TextContainingColumn"> <h:outputText value="#{prod.inventedName}" /> </rich:column> <rich:column styleClass="internal_cell composite2TextContainingColumn"> <h:outputText value="#{prod.receiptEmail}" /> </rich:column> <rich:column styleClass="buttonsColumn"> <h:commandButton action="#{applicantProductListBean.showUpdateProduct(prod)}" image="/images/icons/edit.jpg"> </h:commandButton> <!-- <rich:toolTip for="editProductButton" value="Edit Product" />--> <h:commandButton action="#{applicantProductListBean.showDeleteProduct(prod)}" image="/images/icons/delete.png"> <f:setPropertyActionListener target="#{productBean.product}" value="#{prod}" /> </h:commandButton> <!-- <rich:toolTip for="deleteProductButton" value="Delete Product" />--> </rich:column> </rich:dataTable></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </rich:column> </rich:subTable> <f:facet name="footer"> <h:panelGrid columns="1" styleClass="applicantProductListFooter"> <h:outputText value="#{msgs.no_results}" rendered="#{(empty applicantProductListBean.dataModel) || (applicantProductListBean.dataModel.rowCount==0)}"/> <rich:datascroller align="center" for="compositeTable" page="#{pageScrollerBean.applicantProductListPage}" id="compositeScroller" reRender="compositeTable" renderIfSinglePage="false" fastControls="hide"> <f:facet name="first"> <h:outputText value="#{msgs.first}" styleClass="scrollerCell" /> </f:facet> <f:facet name="first_disabled"> <h:outputText value="#{msgs.first}" styleClass="scrollerCell" /> </f:facet> <f:facet name="last"> <h:outputText value="#{msgs.last}" styleClass="scrollerCell" /> </f:facet> <f:facet name="last_disabled"> <h:outputText value="#{msgs.last}" styleClass="scrollerCell" /> </f:facet> <f:facet name="next"> <h:outputText value="#{msgs.next}" styleClass="scrollerCell" /> </f:facet> <f:facet name="next_disabled"> <h:outputText value="#{msgs.next}" styleClass="scrollerCell" /> </f:facet> <f:facet name="previous"> <h:outputText value="#{msgs.previous}" styleClass="scrollerCell" /> </f:facet> <f:facet name="previous_disabled"> <h:outputText value="#{msgs.previous}" styleClass="scrollerCell" /> </f:facet> </rich:datascroller> </h:panelGrid> </f:facet> </rich:dataTable> </h:form> </ui:define> This is the backing bean: @Name("applicantProductListBean") @Scope(ScopeType.PAGE) public class ApplicantProductListBean extends BasePagedSortableFilterableListBean { /** * Public field for ad-hoc injection to work. */ @EJB(name = "FacadeService") public ApplicantFacadeService applicantFacadeService; @Logger private static Log logger; private final int pageSize = 10; @Out(scope = ScopeType.CONVERSATION, required = false) Applicant currentApplicant; @Out(scope = ScopeType.CONVERSATION, required = false) Product product; @Create public void onCreate() { System.out.println("Create"); } @Override protected DataModel initDataModel(int pageSize) { // get filtering and sorting from session sorting = getSorting(); filtering = getFiltering(); // System.out.println("Initializing a Composite3DataModel"); // System.out.println("Pagesize: " + pageSize); // System.out.println("Filtering: " + filtering.getFilteringValues()); // System.out.println("Sorting: " + sorting.getSortingValues()); return new Composite3DataModel(1, sorting, filtering); } // Navigation methods /** * Navigation-returning method, returns the action to follow after pressing * the "Create Applicant" button * * @return the action to be taken */ public Navigation.ApplicantProductList showCreateApplicant() { return Navigation.ApplicantProductList.SHOW_CREATE_APPLICANT; } /** * Navigation-returning method, returns the action to follow after pressing * the "Edit Applicant" button * * @return the action to be taken */ public Navigation.ApplicantProductList showUpdateApplicant( Applicant applicant) { this.currentApplicant = applicant; return Navigation.ApplicantProductList.SHOW_UPDATE_APPLICANT; } /** * Navigation-returning method, returns the action to follow after pressing * the "Delete Applicant" button * * @return the action to be taken */ public Navigation.ApplicantProductList showDeleteApplicant( Applicant applicant) { this.currentApplicant = applicant; return Navigation.ApplicantProductList.SHOW_DELETE_APPLICANT; } /** * Navigation-returning method, returns the action to follow after pressing * the "Create Product" button * * @return the action to be taken */ public Navigation.ApplicantProductList showCreateProduct(Applicant app) { this.product = new Product(); this.product.setApplicant(app); return Navigation.ApplicantProductList.SHOW_CREATE_PRODUCT; } /** * Navigation-returning method, returns the action to follow after pressing * the "Edit Product" button * * @return the action to be taken */ public Navigation.ApplicantProductList showUpdateProduct(Product prod) { this.product = prod; return Navigation.ApplicantProductList.SHOW_UPDATE_PRODUCT; } /** * Navigation-returning method, returns the action to follow after pressing * the "Delete Product" button * * @return the action to be taken */ public Navigation.ApplicantProductList showDeleteProduct(Product prod) { this.product = prod; return Navigation.ApplicantProductList.SHOW_DELETE_PRODUCT; } /** * */ @Override public Sorting getSorting() { if (sorting == null) { return (getSortingFilteringBeanFromSession() .getApplicantProductListSorting()); } return sorting; } /** * */ @Override public void setSorting(Sorting sorting) { getSortingFilteringBeanFromSession().setApplicantProductListSorting( sorting); } /** * */ @Override public Filtering getFiltering() { if (filtering == null) { return (getSortingFilteringBeanFromSession() .getApplicantProductListFiltering()); } return filtering; } /** * */ @Override public void setFiltering(Filtering filtering) { getSortingFilteringBeanFromSession().setApplicantProductListFiltering( filtering); } /** * @return the currentApplicant */ public Applicant getCurrentApplicant() { return currentApplicant; } /** * @param currentApplicant * the currentApplicant to set */ public void setCurrentApplicant(Applicant applicant) { this.currentApplicant = applicant; } /** * The model for this page * */ private class Composite3DataModel extends PagedSortableFilterableDataModel<List<Applicant>> { public Composite3DataModel(int pageSize, Sorting sorting, Filtering filtering) { super(pageSize, sorting, filtering); } @Override protected DataPage<List<Applicant>> fetchPage(int fakeStartRow, int fakePageSize) { // if (logger.isTraceEnabled()) { System.out.println("Getting page with fakeStartRow: " + fakeStartRow + " and fakePageSize " + fakePageSize); // } // to find the page size multiply the startRow and the fakePageSize // (which is 1) to the actual page size int startRow = fakeStartRow * ApplicantProductListBean.this.pageSize; int pageSize = fakePageSize * ApplicantProductListBean.this.pageSize; // if (logger.isTraceEnabled()) { System.out.println("Getting page with startRow: " + startRow + " and pageSize " + pageSize); // } List<Applicant> pageApplicants = applicantFacadeService .findPagedWithCriteria(startRow, pageSize, filtering, sorting); // List<Applicant> pageApplicants = applicantFacadeService // .findPagedWithDynamicQuery(startRow, pageSize, filtering, // sorting, true); // if (logger.isTraceEnabled()) { System.out.println("Set of applicants: " + pageApplicants.size()); // } List<List<Applicant>> pageApplicantsListContainer = new ArrayList<List<Applicant>>(); pageApplicantsListContainer.add(pageApplicants); DataPage<List<Applicant>> dataPage = new DataPage<List<Applicant>>( this.getRowCount(), fakeStartRow, pageApplicantsListContainer); return dataPage; } @Override protected int getDatasetSize() { // int size = getServiceFacade().countWithCriteria(filtering, // sorting); // int size = // applicantFacadeService.countWithDynamicQuery(filtering, sorting, // false); int size = (int) Math.ceil((double) applicantFacadeService .countWithCriteria(filtering, sorting, false) / pageSize); if (logger.isTraceEnabled()) { logger.trace("Got Dataset Size: " + size); } return size; } } /** * @return the product */ public Product getProduct() { return product; } /** * @param product * the product to set */ public void setProduct(Product product) { this.product = product; } }

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  • Content Container Overlaps Menu?

    - by Harold
    I'm currently working on a Joomla template using CSS divs. I have a header set up with our logo image in a div floated to the left, an adspace floated to the right, and the menu bar on the bottom. My content is divided into three div columns that are contained in "container.": the left column is floated left, the center is not floated, and the right is floated to the right. The problem is the "container" for the three content divs is overlapping the menu, as you can see in this image: http://www.ndpstudentcouncil.org/images/shot1.png Here's the HTML code: > <body> <div id="backdrop"> <div > id="wrapper"> <div id="header"> > <div id="topimage"> </div> > <div id="adspace1"><jdoc:include > type="modules" name="Ad Space #1" /> > This will be the location for our > "newsflash" items. </div> > > <div id="ddtopmenubar" > class="mattblackmenu"> > <ul> > <li><a href="http://www.ndpstudentcouncil.org">Home</a></li> > <li><a href="http://www.dynamicdrive.com/new.htm" rel="ddsubmenu1">DHTML</a></li> > <li><a href="http://www.dynamicdrive.com/style/" > rel="ddsubmenu2">CSS</a></li> > <li><a href="http://www.dynamicdrive.com/forums/">Forums</a></li> > <li><a href="http://tools.dynamicdrive.com/" > rel="ddsubmenu3">Web Tools</a></li> > </ul> > <script type="text/javascript" src="js/ddlevelsmenu.js"> > ddlevelsmenu.setup("ddtopmenubar", "topbar") > //ddlevelsmenu.setup("mainmenuid", > "topbar|sidebar") > </script> > <ul id="ddsubmenu1" class="ddsubmenustyle"> > <li><a href="#">Item 1a</a></li> > <li><a href="#">Item 2a</a></li> > <li><a href="#">Item Folder 3a</a> > <ul> > <li><a href="#">Sub Item 3.1a</a></li> > </ul> > </li> > <li><a href="#">Item 4a</a></li> > <li><a href="#">Item Folder 5a</a> > <ul> > <li><a href="#">Sub Item 5.1a</a></li> > <li><a href="#">Item Folder 5.2a</a> > <ul> > <li><a href="#">Sub Item 5.2.1a</a></li> > <li><a href="#">Sub Item 5.2.2a</a></li> > </ul> > </li> > </ul> > </a> > </li> > <li><a href="#">Item 6a</a></li> > </ul> </div> </div> > <div id="container"> <script language="javascript"> > matchHeight=function(){ > var divs,contDivs,maxHeight,divHeight,d; > // get all <div> elements in the document > divs=document.getElementsByTagName('div'); > contDivs=[]; > // initialize maximum height value > maxHeight=0; > // iterate over all <div> elements in the document > for(var i=0;i<divs.length;i++){ > // make collection with <div> elements with class attribute > 'container' > if(/\bcontainer\b/.test(divs[i].className)){ > d=divs[i]; > contDivs[contDivs.length]=d; > // determine height for <div> element > if(d.offsetHeight){ > divHeight=d.offsetHeight; > } > else if(d.style.pixelHeight){ > divHeight=d.style.pixelHeight; > } > // calculate maximum height > maxHeight=Math.max(maxHeight,divHeight); > } > } > // assign maximum height value to all of container <div> elements > for(var i=0;i<contDivs.length;i++){ > contDivs[i].style.height=maxHeight; > } > } > // execute function when page loads > window.onload=function(){ > if(document.getElementsByTagName){ > matchHeight(); > } > } > </script> <div id="left"> > <jdoc:include type="modules" name="left" /> </div> <div > id="middle"> > <jdoc:include type="component" /> </div> <div id="right"> > <jdoc:include type="modules" name="right" /> > </div> > </div> > <div id="footer" class="clear"><jdoc:include > type="modules" name="footer" /> > &copy; 2010 NDP Student Council<br > />Website Development Subcommitee > </div> </div> </div> </body> The CSS: > #backdrop { width:100%; height:100%; background: #FFFFFF > url(../images/gradient.jpg) repeat-x; > } > > #wrapper { margin:auto; width:95%; height:95%; border-right:thick solid > black; border-bottom:thick solid > black; border-top:thick solid black; > border-left:thick solid black; > background-color:white; } > > #header { height:131px; width:100%; background-color: #FFFFFF; > border-bottom:thick solid black; } > > #topimage { float:left; height:131px; width:63%; > background-image: > url("../images/ndps2.png"); > background-repeat:no-repeat; } > > #adspace1 { float:right; width:27%; height:131px; } > > #container { clear:both; } > #left{ width:20%; float:left; padding:5px; text-align:center; } > > #middle{ width:60%; padding:5px; text-align:center; } > > #right{ float:right; width:20%; padding:5px; text-align:right; } > #footer { border-top:thick solid black; width:100%; > text-align:center; } .clear { > clear:both; } Here is the CSS for the menu itself, which is from DynamicDrive.com: > .mattblackmenu ul{ margin: 0; padding: > 0; font: bold 12px Verdana; > list-style-type: none; border-bottom: > 1px solid gray; background: #414141; > overflow: hidden; width: 100%; > clear:both; } > > .mattblackmenu li{ display: inline; > margin: 0; } > > .mattblackmenu li a{ float: left; > display: block; text-decoration: none; > margin: 0; padding: 6px 8px; /*padding > inside each tab*/ border-right: 1px > solid white; /*right divider between > tabs*/ color: white; background: > #414141; Thanks for the help!

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  • problem with loading in .FBX meshes in DirectX 10

    - by N0xus
    I'm trying to load in meshes into DirectX 10. I've created a bunch of classes that handle it and allow me to call in a mesh with only a single line of code in my main game class. How ever, when I run the program this is what renders: In the debug output window the following errors keep appearing: D3D10: ERROR: ID3D10Device::DrawIndexed: Input Assembler - Vertex Shader linkage error: Signatures between stages are incompatible. The reason is that Semantic 'TEXCOORD' is defined for mismatched hardware registers between the output stage and input stage. [ EXECUTION ERROR #343: DEVICE_SHADER_LINKAGE_REGISTERINDEX ] D3D10: ERROR: ID3D10Device::DrawIndexed: Input Assembler - Vertex Shader linkage error: Signatures between stages are incompatible. The reason is that the input stage requires Semantic/Index (POSITION,0) as input, but it is not provided by the output stage. [ EXECUTION ERROR #342: DEVICE_SHADER_LINKAGE_SEMANTICNAME_NOT_FOUND ] The thing is, I've no idea how to fix this. The code I'm using does work and I've simply brought all of that code into a new project of mine. There are no build errors and this only appears when the game is running The .fx file is as follows: float4x4 matWorld; float4x4 matView; float4x4 matProjection; struct VS_INPUT { float4 Pos:POSITION; float2 TexCoord:TEXCOORD; }; struct PS_INPUT { float4 Pos:SV_POSITION; float2 TexCoord:TEXCOORD; }; Texture2D diffuseTexture; SamplerState diffuseSampler { Filter = MIN_MAG_MIP_POINT; AddressU = WRAP; AddressV = WRAP; }; // // Vertex Shader // PS_INPUT VS( VS_INPUT input ) { PS_INPUT output=(PS_INPUT)0; float4x4 viewProjection=mul(matView,matProjection); float4x4 worldViewProjection=mul(matWorld,viewProjection); output.Pos=mul(input.Pos,worldViewProjection); output.TexCoord=input.TexCoord; return output; } // // Pixel Shader // float4 PS(PS_INPUT input ) : SV_Target { return diffuseTexture.Sample(diffuseSampler,input.TexCoord); //return float4(1.0f,1.0f,1.0f,1.0f); } RasterizerState NoCulling { FILLMODE=SOLID; CULLMODE=NONE; }; technique10 Render { pass P0 { SetVertexShader( CompileShader( vs_4_0, VS() ) ); SetGeometryShader( NULL ); SetPixelShader( CompileShader( ps_4_0, PS() ) ); SetRasterizerState(NoCulling); } } In my game, the .fx file and model are called and set as follows: Loading in shader file //Set the shader flags - BMD DWORD dwShaderFlags = D3D10_SHADER_ENABLE_STRICTNESS; #if defined( DEBUG ) || defined( _DEBUG ) dwShaderFlags |= D3D10_SHADER_DEBUG; #endif ID3D10Blob * pErrorBuffer=NULL; if( FAILED( D3DX10CreateEffectFromFile( TEXT("TransformedTexture.fx" ), NULL, NULL, "fx_4_0", dwShaderFlags, 0, md3dDevice, NULL, NULL, &m_pEffect, &pErrorBuffer, NULL ) ) ) { char * pErrorStr = ( char* )pErrorBuffer->GetBufferPointer(); //If the creation of the Effect fails then a message box will be shown MessageBoxA( NULL, pErrorStr, "Error", MB_OK ); return false; } //Get the technique called Render from the effect, we need this for rendering later on m_pTechnique=m_pEffect->GetTechniqueByName("Render"); //Number of elements in the layout UINT numElements = TexturedLitVertex::layoutSize; //Get the Pass description, we need this to bind the vertex to the pipeline D3D10_PASS_DESC PassDesc; m_pTechnique->GetPassByIndex( 0 )->GetDesc( &PassDesc ); //Create Input layout to describe the incoming buffer to the input assembler if (FAILED(md3dDevice->CreateInputLayout( TexturedLitVertex::layout, numElements,PassDesc.pIAInputSignature, PassDesc.IAInputSignatureSize, &m_pVertexLayout ) ) ) { return false; } model loading: m_pTestRenderable=new CRenderable(); //m_pTestRenderable->create<TexturedVertex>(md3dDevice,8,6,vertices,indices); m_pModelLoader = new CModelLoader(); m_pTestRenderable = m_pModelLoader->loadModelFromFile( md3dDevice,"armoredrecon.fbx" ); m_pGameObjectTest = new CGameObject(); m_pGameObjectTest->setRenderable( m_pTestRenderable ); // Set primitive topology, how are we going to interpet the vertices in the vertex buffer md3dDevice->IASetPrimitiveTopology( D3D10_PRIMITIVE_TOPOLOGY_TRIANGLELIST ); if ( FAILED( D3DX10CreateShaderResourceViewFromFile( md3dDevice, TEXT( "armoredrecon_diff.png" ), NULL, NULL, &m_pTextureShaderResource, NULL ) ) ) { MessageBox( NULL, TEXT( "Can't load Texture" ), TEXT( "Error" ), MB_OK ); return false; } m_pDiffuseTextureVariable = m_pEffect->GetVariableByName( "diffuseTexture" )->AsShaderResource(); m_pDiffuseTextureVariable->SetResource( m_pTextureShaderResource ); Finally, the draw function code: //All drawing will occur between the clear and present m_pViewMatrixVariable->SetMatrix( ( float* )m_matView ); m_pWorldMatrixVariable->SetMatrix( ( float* )m_pGameObjectTest->getWorld() ); //Get the stride(size) of the a vertex, we need this to tell the pipeline the size of one vertex UINT stride = m_pTestRenderable->getStride(); //The offset from start of the buffer to where our vertices are located UINT offset = m_pTestRenderable->getOffset(); ID3D10Buffer * pVB=m_pTestRenderable->getVB(); //Bind the vertex buffer to input assembler stage - md3dDevice->IASetVertexBuffers( 0, 1, &pVB, &stride, &offset ); md3dDevice->IASetIndexBuffer( m_pTestRenderable->getIB(), DXGI_FORMAT_R32_UINT, 0 ); //Get the Description of the technique, we need this in order to loop through each pass in the technique D3D10_TECHNIQUE_DESC techDesc; m_pTechnique->GetDesc( &techDesc ); //Loop through the passes in the technique for( UINT p = 0; p < techDesc.Passes; ++p ) { //Get a pass at current index and apply it m_pTechnique->GetPassByIndex( p )->Apply( 0 ); //Draw call md3dDevice->DrawIndexed(m_pTestRenderable->getNumOfIndices(),0,0); //m_pD3D10Device->Draw(m_pTestRenderable->getNumOfVerts(),0); } Is there anything I've clearly done wrong or are missing? Spent 2 weeks trying to workout what on earth I've done wrong to no avail. Any insight a fresh pair eyes could give on this would be great.

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  • Normal maps red in OpenGL?

    - by KaiserJohaan
    I am using Assimp to import 3d models, and FreeImage to parse textures. The problem I am having is that the normal maps are actually red rather than blue when I try to render them as normal diffuse textures. http://i42.tinypic.com/289ing3.png When I open the images in a image-viewing program they do indeed show up as blue. Heres when I create the texture; OpenGLTexture::OpenGLTexture(const std::vector<uint8_t>& textureData, uint32_t textureWidth, uint32_t textureHeight, TextureType textureType, Logger& logger) : mLogger(logger), mTextureID(gNextTextureID++), mTextureType(textureType) { glGenTextures(1, &mTexture); CHECK_GL_ERROR(mLogger); glBindTexture(GL_TEXTURE_2D, mTexture); CHECK_GL_ERROR(mLogger); glTexImage2D(GL_TEXTURE_2D, 0, GL_RGBA, textureWidth, textureHeight, 0, glTextureFormat, GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE, &textureData[0]); CHECK_GL_ERROR(mLogger); glGenerateMipmap(GL_TEXTURE_2D); CHECK_GL_ERROR(mLogger); glBindTexture(GL_TEXTURE_2D, 0); CHECK_GL_ERROR(mLogger); } Here is my fragment shader. You can see I just commented out the normal-map parsing and treated the normal map texture as the diffuse texture to display it and illustrate the problem. As for the rest of the code it interacts as expected with the diffuse textures so I dont see a obvious problem there. "#version 330 \n \ \n \ layout(std140) uniform; \n \ \n \ const int MAX_LIGHTS = 8; \n \ \n \ struct Light \n \ { \n \ vec4 mLightColor; \n \ vec4 mLightPosition; \n \ vec4 mLightDirection; \n \ \n \ int mLightType; \n \ float mLightIntensity; \n \ float mLightRadius; \n \ float mMaxDistance; \n \ }; \n \ \n \ uniform UnifLighting \n \ { \n \ vec4 mGamma; \n \ vec3 mViewDirection; \n \ int mNumLights; \n \ \n \ Light mLights[MAX_LIGHTS]; \n \ } Lighting; \n \ \n \ uniform UnifMaterial \n \ { \n \ vec4 mDiffuseColor; \n \ vec4 mAmbientColor; \n \ vec4 mSpecularColor; \n \ vec4 mEmissiveColor; \n \ \n \ bool mHasDiffuseTexture; \n \ bool mHasNormalTexture; \n \ bool mLightingEnabled; \n \ float mSpecularShininess; \n \ } Material; \n \ \n \ uniform sampler2D unifDiffuseTexture; \n \ uniform sampler2D unifNormalTexture; \n \ \n \ in vec3 frag_position; \n \ in vec3 frag_normal; \n \ in vec2 frag_texcoord; \n \ in vec3 frag_tangent; \n \ in vec3 frag_bitangent; \n \ \n \ out vec4 finalColor; " " \n \ \n \ void CalcGaussianSpecular(in vec3 dirToLight, in vec3 normal, out float gaussianTerm) \n \ { \n \ vec3 viewDirection = normalize(Lighting.mViewDirection); \n \ vec3 halfAngle = normalize(dirToLight + viewDirection); \n \ \n \ float angleNormalHalf = acos(dot(halfAngle, normalize(normal))); \n \ float exponent = angleNormalHalf / Material.mSpecularShininess; \n \ exponent = -(exponent * exponent); \n \ \n \ gaussianTerm = exp(exponent); \n \ } \n \ \n \ vec4 CalculateLighting(in Light light, in vec4 diffuseTexture, in vec3 normal) \n \ { \n \ if (light.mLightType == 1) // point light \n \ { \n \ vec3 positionDiff = light.mLightPosition.xyz - frag_position; \n \ float dist = max(length(positionDiff) - light.mLightRadius, 0); \n \ \n \ float attenuation = 1 / ((dist/light.mLightRadius + 1) * (dist/light.mLightRadius + 1)); \n \ attenuation = max((attenuation - light.mMaxDistance) / (1 - light.mMaxDistance), 0); \n \ \n \ vec3 dirToLight = normalize(positionDiff); \n \ float angleNormal = clamp(dot(normalize(normal), dirToLight), 0, 1); \n \ \n \ float gaussianTerm = 0.0; \n \ if (angleNormal > 0.0) \n \ CalcGaussianSpecular(dirToLight, normal, gaussianTerm); \n \ \n \ return diffuseTexture * (attenuation * angleNormal * Material.mDiffuseColor * light.mLightIntensity * light.mLightColor) + \n \ (attenuation * gaussianTerm * Material.mSpecularColor * light.mLightIntensity * light.mLightColor); \n \ } \n \ else if (light.mLightType == 2) // directional light \n \ { \n \ vec3 dirToLight = normalize(light.mLightDirection.xyz); \n \ float angleNormal = clamp(dot(normalize(normal), dirToLight), 0, 1); \n \ \n \ float gaussianTerm = 0.0; \n \ if (angleNormal > 0.0) \n \ CalcGaussianSpecular(dirToLight, normal, gaussianTerm); \n \ \n \ return diffuseTexture * (angleNormal * Material.mDiffuseColor * light.mLightIntensity * light.mLightColor) + \n \ (gaussianTerm * Material.mSpecularColor * light.mLightIntensity * light.mLightColor); \n \ } \n \ else if (light.mLightType == 4) // ambient light \n \ return diffuseTexture * Material.mAmbientColor * light.mLightIntensity * light.mLightColor; \n \ else \n \ return vec4(0.0); \n \ } \n \ \n \ void main() \n \ { \n \ vec4 diffuseTexture = vec4(1.0); \n \ if (Material.mHasDiffuseTexture) \n \ diffuseTexture = texture(unifDiffuseTexture, frag_texcoord); \n \ \n \ vec3 normal = frag_normal; \n \ if (Material.mHasNormalTexture) \n \ { \n \ diffuseTexture = vec4(normalize(texture(unifNormalTexture, frag_texcoord).xyz * 2.0 - 1.0), 1.0); \n \ // vec3 normalTangentSpace = normalize(texture(unifNormalTexture, frag_texcoord).xyz * 2.0 - 1.0); \n \ //mat3 tangentToWorldSpace = mat3(normalize(frag_tangent), normalize(frag_bitangent), normalize(frag_normal)); \n \ \n \ // normal = tangentToWorldSpace * normalTangentSpace; \n \ } \n \ \n \ if (Material.mLightingEnabled) \n \ { \n \ vec4 accumLighting = vec4(0.0); \n \ \n \ for (int lightIndex = 0; lightIndex < Lighting.mNumLights; lightIndex++) \n \ accumLighting += Material.mEmissiveColor * diffuseTexture + \n \ CalculateLighting(Lighting.mLights[lightIndex], diffuseTexture, normal); \n \ \n \ finalColor = pow(accumLighting, Lighting.mGamma); \n \ } \n \ else { \n \ finalColor = pow(diffuseTexture, Lighting.mGamma); \n \ } \n \ } \n"; Why is this? does normal-map textures need some sort of special treatment in opengl?

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  • libgdx rotation (animation, arrays) issues and help needed

    - by johnny-b
    well i am a noob at java and libgdx. i got the homing bullet working with the help of someone. now i am smashing my head as to how i can make it rotate so it faces the ball (which is the main character) when it goes around it or when it is coming towards it. the bullet is facing <--- and the code below is what i have done so far. also i used sprites for the bullet and also animation method. Also how do i make it an array/arraylist which is best so i can have multiple bullets at random or placed places. i tried many things nothing workd :( thank you for the help. // below is the bullet or enemy if you want to call it. public class Bullet extends Sprite { public static final float BULLET_HOMING = 6000; public static final float BULLET_SPEED = 300; private Vector2 velocity; private float lifetime; public Bullet(float x, float y) { velocity = new Vector2(0, 0); setPosition(x, y); } public void update(float delta) { float targetX = GameWorld.getBall().getX(); float targetY = GameWorld.getBall().getY(); float dx = targetX - getX(); float dy = targetY - getY(); float distToTarget = (float) Math.sqrt(dx * dx + dy * dy); dx /= distToTarget; dy /= distToTarget; dx *= BULLET_HOMING; dy *= BULLET_HOMING; velocity.x += dx * delta; velocity.y += dy * delta; float vMag = (float) Math.sqrt(velocity.x * velocity.x + velocity.y * velocity.y); velocity.x /= vMag; velocity.y /= vMag; velocity.x *= BULLET_SPEED; velocity.y *= BULLET_SPEED; Vector2 v = velocity.cpy().scl(delta); setPosition(getX() + v.x, getY() + v.y); setOriginCenter(); setRotation(velocity.angle()); lifetime += delta; setRegion(AssetLoader.bulletAnimation.getKeyFrame(lifetime)); } } // this is where i load the images. public class AssetLoader { public static Animation bulletAnimation; public static Sprite bullet1, bullet2; public static void load() { texture = new Texture(Gdx.files.internal("SpriteN1.png")); texture.setFilter(TextureFilter.Nearest, TextureFilter.Nearest); bullet1 = new Sprite(texture, 380, 350, 45, 20); bullet1.flip(false, true); bullet2 = new Sprite(texture, 425, 350, 45, 20); bullet2.flip(false, true); Sprite[] bullets = { bullet1, bullet2 }; bulletAnimation = new Animation(0.06f, aims); bulletAnimation.setPlayMode(Animation.PlayMode.LOOP); } public static void dispose() { // We must dispose of the texture when we are finished. texture.dispose(); } // this is for the rendering of the images etc public class GameRenderer { private Bullet bullet; private Ball ball; public GameRenderer(GameWorld world) { myWorld = world; cam = new OrthographicCamera(); cam.setToOrtho(true, 480, 320); batcher = new SpriteBatch(); // Attach batcher to camera batcher.setProjectionMatrix(cam.combined); shapeRenderer = new ShapeRenderer(); shapeRenderer.setProjectionMatrix(cam.combined); // Call helper methods to initialize instance variables initGameObjects(); initAssets(); } private void initGameObjects() { ball = GameWorld.getBall(); bullet = myWorld.getBullet(); scroller = myWorld.getScroller(); } private void initAssets() { ballAnimation = AssetLoader.ballAnimation; bulletAnimation = AssetLoader.bulletAnimation; } public void render(float runTime) { Gdx.gl.glClearColor(0, 0, 0, 1); Gdx.gl.glClear(GL30.GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT); batcher.begin(); // Disable transparency // This is good for performance when drawing images that do not require // transparency. batcher.disableBlending(); // The ball needs transparency, so we enable that again. batcher.enableBlending(); batcher.draw(AssetLoader.ballAnimation.getKeyFrame(runTime), ball.getX(), ball.getY(), ball.getWidth(), ball.getHeight()); batcher.draw(AssetLoader.bulletAnimation.getKeyFrame(runTime), bullet.getX(), bullet.getY()); // End SpriteBatch batcher.end(); } } // this is to load the image etc on the screen i guess public class GameWorld { public static Ball ball; private Bullet bullet; private ScrollHandler scroller; public GameWorld() { ball = new Ball(480, 273, 32, 32); bullet = new Bullet(10, 10); scroller = new ScrollHandler(0); } public void update(float delta) { ball.update(delta); bullet.update(delta); scroller.update(delta); } public static Ball getBall() { return ball; } public ScrollHandler getScroller() { return scroller; } public Bullet getBullet() { return bullet; } } so there is the whole thing. the images are loaded via the AssetLoader then to the GameRenderer and GameWorld via the Bullet class. i am guessing that is how it is. sorry newbie so still learning. thank you in advace for the help or any advice.

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  • Collision Detection on floor tiles Isometric game

    - by Anivrom
    I am having a very hard to time figuring out a bug in my code. It should have taken me 20 minutes but instead I've been working on it for over 12 hours. I am writing a isometric tile based game where the characters can walk freely amongst the tiles, but not be able to cross over to certain tiles that have a collides flag. Sounds easy enough, just check ahead of where the player is going to move using a Screen Coordinates to Tile method and check the tiles array using our returned xy indexes to see if its collidable or not. if its not, then don't move the character. The problem I'm having is my Screen to Tile method isn't spitting out the proper X,Y tile indexes. This method works flawlessly for selecting tiles with the mouse. NOTE: My X tiles go from left to right, and my Y tiles go from up to down. Reversed from some examples on the net. Here's the relevant code: public Vector2 ScreentoTile(Vector2 screenPoint) { //Vector2 is just a object with x and y float properties //camOffsetX,Y are my camera values that I use to shift everything but the //current camera target when the target moves //tilescale = 128, screenheight = 480, the -46 offset is to center // vertically + 16 px for some extra gfx in my tile png Vector2 tileIndex = new Vector2(-1,-1); screenPoint.x -= camOffsetX; screenPoint.y = screenHeight - screenPoint.y - camOffsetY - 46; tileIndex.x = (screenPoint.x / tileScale) + (screenPoint.y / (tileScale / 2)); tileIndex.y = (screenPoint.x / tileScale) - (screenPoint.y / (tileScale / 2)); return tileIndex; } The method that calls this code is: private void checkTileTouched () { if (Gdx.input.justTouched()) { if (last.x >= 0 && last.x < levelWidth && last.y >= 0 && last.y < levelHeight) { if (lastSelectedTile != null) lastSelectedTile.setColor(1, 1, 1, 1); Sprite sprite = levelTiles[(int) last.x][(int) last.y].sprite; sprite.setColor(0, 0.3f, 0, 1); lastSelectedTile = sprite; } } if (touchDown) { float moveX=0,moveY=0; Vector2 pos = new Vector2(); if (player.direction == direction_left) { moveX = -(player.moveSpeed); moveY = -(player.moveSpeed / 2); Gdx.app.log("Movement", String.valueOf("left")); } else if (player.direction == direction_upleft) { moveX = -(player.moveSpeed); moveY = 0; Gdx.app.log("Movement", String.valueOf("upleft")); } else if (player.direction == direction_up) { moveX = -(player.moveSpeed); moveY = player.moveSpeed / 2; Gdx.app.log("Movement", String.valueOf("up")); } else if (player.direction == direction_upright) { moveX = 0; moveY = player.moveSpeed; Gdx.app.log("Movement", String.valueOf("upright")); } else if (player.direction == direction_right) { moveX = player.moveSpeed; moveY = player.moveSpeed / 2; Gdx.app.log("Movement", String.valueOf("right")); } else if (player.direction == direction_downright) { moveX = player.moveSpeed; moveY = 0; Gdx.app.log("Movement", String.valueOf("downright")); } else if (player.direction == direction_down) { moveX = player.moveSpeed; moveY = -(player.moveSpeed / 2); Gdx.app.log("Movement", String.valueOf("down")); } else if (player.direction == direction_downleft) { moveX = 0; moveY = -(player.moveSpeed); Gdx.app.log("Movement", String.valueOf("downleft")); } //Player.moveSpeed is 1 //tileObjects.x is drawn in the center of the screen (400px,240px) // the sprite width is 64, height is 128 testX = moveX * 10; testY = moveY * 10; testX += tileObjects.get(player.zIndex).x + tileObjects.get(player.zIndex).sprite.getWidth() / 2; testY += tileObjects.get(player.zIndex).y + tileObjects.get(player.zIndex).sprite.getHeight() / 2; moveX += tileObjects.get(player.zIndex).x + tileObjects.get(player.zIndex).sprite.getWidth() / 2; moveY += tileObjects.get(player.zIndex).y + tileObjects.get(player.zIndex).sprite.getHeight() / 2; pos = ScreentoTile(new Vector2(moveX,moveY)); Vector2 pos2 = ScreentoTile(new Vector2(testX,testY)); if (!levelTiles[(int) pos2.x][(int) pos2.y].collides) { Vector2 newPlayerPos = ScreentoTile(new Vector2(moveX,moveY)); CenterOnCoord(moveX,moveY); player.tileX = (int)newPlayerPos.x; player.tileY = (int)newPlayerPos.y; } } } When the player is moving to the left (downleft-ish from the viewers point of view), my Pos2 X values decrease as expected but pos2 isnt checking ahead on the x tiles, it is checking ahead on the Y tiles(as if we were moving DOWN, not left), and vice versa, if the player moves down, it will check ahead on the X values (as if we are moving LEFT, instead of DOWN). instead of the Y values. I understand this is probably the most confusing and horribly written post ever, but I'm confused myself so I'm having a hard time explaining it to others lol. if you need more information please ask!! I'm so frustrated after over 12 hours of working on it I'm about to give up.

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  • The Great Divorce

    - by BlackRabbitCoder
    I have a confession to make: I've been in an abusive relationship for more than 17 years now.  Yes, I am not ashamed to admit it, but I'm finally doing something about it. I met her in college, she was new and sexy and amazingly fast -- and I'd never met anything like her before.  Her style and her power captivated me and I couldn't wait to learn more about her.  I took a chance on her, and though I learned a lot from her -- and will always be grateful for my time with her -- I think it's time to move on. Her name was C++, and she so outshone my previous love, C, that any thoughts of going back evaporated in the heat of this new romance.  She promised me she'd be gentle and not hurt me the way C did.  She promised me she'd clean-up after herself better than C did.  She promised me she'd be less enigmatic and easier to keep happy than C was.  But I was deceived.  Oh sure, as far as truth goes, it wasn't a complete lie.  To some extent she was more fun, more powerful, safer, and easier to maintain.  But it just wasn't good enough -- or at least it's not good enough now. I loved C++, some part of me still does, it's my first-love of programming languages and I recognize its raw power, its blazing speed, and its improvements over its predecessor.  But with today's hardware, at speeds we could only dream to conceive of twenty years ago, that need for speed -- at the cost of all else -- has died, and that has left my feelings for C++ moribund. If I ever need to write an operating system or a device driver, then I might need that speed.  But 99% of the time I don't.  I'm a business-type programmer and chances are 90% of you are too, and even the ones who need speed at all costs may be surprised by how much you sacrifice for that.   That's not to say that I don't want my software to perform, and it's not to say that in the business world we don't care about speed or that our job is somehow less difficult or technical.  There's many times we write programs to handle millions of real-time updates or handle thousands of financial transactions or tracking trading algorithms where every second counts.  But if I choose to write my code in C++ purely for speed chances are I'll never notice the speed increase -- and equally true chances are it will be far more prone to crash and far less easy to maintain.  Nearly without fail, it's the macro-optimizations you need, not the micro-optimizations.  If I choose to write a O(n2) algorithm when I could have used a O(n) algorithm -- that can kill me.  If I choose to go to the database to load a piece of unchanging data every time instead of caching it on first load -- that too can kill me.  And if I cross the network multiple times for pieces of data instead of getting it all at once -- yes that can also kill me.  But choosing an overly powerful and dangerous mid-level language to squeeze out every last drop of performance will realistically not make stock orders process any faster, and more likely than not open up the system to more risk of crashes and resource leaks. And that's when my love for C++ began to die.  When I noticed that I didn't need that speed anymore.  That that speed was really kind of a lie.  Sure, I can be super efficient and pack bits in a byte instead of using separate boolean values.  Sure, I can use an unsigned char instead of an int.  But in the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter as much as you think it does.  The key is maintainability, and that's where C++ failed me.  I like to tell the other developers I work with that there's two levels of correctness in coding: Is it immediately correct? Will it stay correct? That is, you can hack together any piece of code and make it correct to satisfy a task at hand, but if a new developer can't come in tomorrow and make a fairly significant change to it without jeopardizing that correctness, it won't stay correct. Some people laugh at me when I say I now prefer maintainability over speed.  But that is exactly the point.  If you focus solely on speed you tend to produce code that is much harder to maintain over the long hall, and that's a load of technical debt most shops can't afford to carry and end up completely scrapping code before it's time.  When good code is written well for maintainability, though, it can be correct both now and in the future. And you know the best part is?  My new love is nearly as fast as C++, and in some cases even faster -- and better than that, I know C# will treat me right.  Her creators have poured hundreds of thousands of hours of time into making her the sexy beast she is today.  They made her easy to understand and not an enigmatic mess.  They made her consistent and not moody and amorphous.  And they made her perform as fast as I care to go by optimizing her both at compile time and a run-time. Her code is so elegant and easy on the eyes that I'm not worried where she will run to or what she'll pull behind my back.  She is powerful enough to handle all my tasks, fast enough to execute them with blazing speed, maintainable enough so that I can rely on even fairly new peers to modify my work, and rich enough to allow me to satisfy any need.  C# doesn't ask me to clean up her messes!  She cleans up after herself and she tries to make my life easier for me by taking on most of those optimization tasks C++ asked me to take upon myself.  Now, there are many of you who would say that I am the cause of my own grief, that it was my fault C++ didn't behave because I didn't pay enough attention to her.  That I alone caused the pain she inflicted on me.  And to some extent, you have a point.  But she was so high maintenance, requiring me to know every twist and turn of her vast and unrestrained power that any wrong term or bout of forgetfulness was met with painful reminders that she wasn't going to watch my back when I made a mistake.  But C#, she loves me when I'm good, and she loves me when I'm bad, and together we make beautiful code that is both fast and safe. So that's why I'm leaving C++ behind.  She says she's changing for me, but I have no interest in what C++0x may bring.  Oh, I'll still keep in touch, and maybe I'll see her now and again when she brings her problems to my door and asks for some attention -- for I always have a soft spot for her, you see.  But she's out of my house now.  I have three kids and a dog and a cat, and all require me to clean up after them, why should I have to clean up after my programming language as well?

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  • How to edit item in a listbox shown from reading a .csv file?

    - by Shuvo
    I am working in a project where my application can open a .csv file and read data from it. The .csv file contains the latitude, longitude of places. The application reads data from the file shows it in a static map and display icon on the right places. The application can open multiple file at a time and it opens with a new tab every time. But I am having trouble in couple of cases When I am trying to add a new point to the .csv file opened. I am able to write new point on the same file instead adding a new point data to the existing its replacing others and writing the new point only. I cannot use selectedIndexChange event to perform edit option on the listbox and then save the file. Any direction would be great. using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.ComponentModel; using System.Data; using System.Drawing; using System.Linq; using System.Text; using System.Windows.Forms; using System.IO; namespace CourseworkExample { public partial class Form1 : Form { public GPSDataPoint gpsdp; List<GPSDataPoint> data; List<PictureBox> pictures; List<TabPage> tabs; public static int pn = 0; private TabPage currentComponent; private Bitmap bmp1; string[] symbols = { "hospital", "university" }; Image[] symbolImages; ListBox lb = new ListBox(); string name = ""; string path = ""; public Form1() { InitializeComponent(); data = new List<GPSDataPoint>(); pictures = new List<PictureBox>(); tabs = new List<TabPage>(); symbolImages = new Image[symbols.Length]; for (int i = 0; i < 2; i++) { string location = "data/" + symbols[i] + ".png"; symbolImages[i] = Image.FromFile(location); } } private void openToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) { FileDialog ofd = new OpenFileDialog(); string filter = "CSV File (*.csv)|*.csv"; ofd.Filter = filter; DialogResult dr = ofd.ShowDialog(); if (dr.Equals(DialogResult.OK)) { int i = ofd.FileName.LastIndexOf("\\"); name = ofd.FileName; path = ofd.FileName; if (i > 0) { name = ofd.FileName.Substring(i + 1); path = ofd.FileName.Substring(0, i + 1); } TextReader input = new StreamReader(ofd.FileName); string mapName = input.ReadLine(); GPSDataPoint gpsD = new GPSDataPoint(); gpsD.setBounds(input.ReadLine()); string s; while ((s = input.ReadLine()) != null) { gpsD.addWaypoint(s); } input.Close(); TabPage tabPage = new TabPage(); tabPage.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(4, 22); tabPage.Name = "tabPage" + pn; lb.Width = 300; int selectedindex = lb.SelectedIndex; lb.Items.Add(mapName); lb.Items.Add("Bounds"); lb.Items.Add(gpsD.Bounds[0] + " " + gpsD.Bounds[1] + " " + gpsD.Bounds[2] + " " + gpsD.Bounds[3]); lb.Items.Add("Waypoint"); foreach (WayPoint wp in gpsD.DataList) { lb.Items.Add(wp.Name + " " + wp.Latitude + " " + wp.Longitude + " " + wp.Ele + " " + wp.Sym); } tabPage.Controls.Add(lb); pn++; tabPage.Padding = new System.Windows.Forms.Padding(3); tabPage.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(192, 74); tabPage.TabIndex = 0; tabPage.Text = name; tabPage.UseVisualStyleBackColor = true; tabs.Add(tabPage); tabControl1.Controls.Add(tabPage); tabPage = new TabPage(); tabPage.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(4, 22); tabPage.Name = "tabPage" + pn; pn++; tabPage.Padding = new System.Windows.Forms.Padding(3); tabPage.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(192, 74); tabPage.TabIndex = 0; tabPage.Text = mapName; string location = path + mapName; tabPage.UseVisualStyleBackColor = true; tabs.Add(tabPage); PictureBox pb = new PictureBox(); pb.Name = "pictureBox" + pn; pb.Image = Image.FromFile(location); tabControl2.Controls.Add(tabPage); pb.Width = pb.Image.Width; pb.Height = pb.Image.Height; tabPage.Controls.Add(pb); currentComponent = tabPage; tabPage.Width = pb.Width; tabPage.Height = pb.Height; pn++; tabControl2.Width = pb.Width; tabControl2.Height = pb.Height; bmp1 = (Bitmap)pb.Image; int lx, ly; float realWidth = gpsD.Bounds[1] - gpsD.Bounds[3]; float imageW = pb.Image.Width; float dx = imageW * (gpsD.Bounds[1] - gpsD.getWayPoint(0).Longitude) / realWidth; float realHeight = gpsD.Bounds[0] - gpsD.Bounds[2]; float imageH = pb.Image.Height; float dy = imageH * (gpsD.Bounds[0] - gpsD.getWayPoint(0).Latitude) / realHeight; lx = (int)dx; ly = (int)dy; using (Graphics g = Graphics.FromImage(bmp1)) { Rectangle rect = new Rectangle(lx, ly, 20, 20); if (gpsD.getWayPoint(0).Sym.Equals("")) { g.DrawRectangle(new Pen(Color.Red), rect); } else { if (gpsD.getWayPoint(0).Sym.Equals("hospital")) { g.DrawImage(symbolImages[0], rect); } else { if (gpsD.getWayPoint(0).Sym.Equals("university")) { g.DrawImage(symbolImages[1], rect); } } } } pb.Image = bmp1; pb.Invalidate(); } } private void openToolStripMenuItem_Click_1(object sender, EventArgs e) { FileDialog ofd = new OpenFileDialog(); string filter = "CSV File (*.csv)|*.csv"; ofd.Filter = filter; DialogResult dr = ofd.ShowDialog(); if (dr.Equals(DialogResult.OK)) { int i = ofd.FileName.LastIndexOf("\\"); name = ofd.FileName; path = ofd.FileName; if (i > 0) { name = ofd.FileName.Substring(i + 1); path = ofd.FileName.Substring(0, i + 1); } TextReader input = new StreamReader(ofd.FileName); string mapName = input.ReadLine(); GPSDataPoint gpsD = new GPSDataPoint(); gpsD.setBounds(input.ReadLine()); string s; while ((s = input.ReadLine()) != null) { gpsD.addWaypoint(s); } input.Close(); TabPage tabPage = new TabPage(); tabPage.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(4, 22); tabPage.Name = "tabPage" + pn; ListBox lb = new ListBox(); lb.Width = 300; lb.Items.Add(mapName); lb.Items.Add("Bounds"); lb.Items.Add(gpsD.Bounds[0] + " " + gpsD.Bounds[1] + " " + gpsD.Bounds[2] + " " + gpsD.Bounds[3]); lb.Items.Add("Waypoint"); foreach (WayPoint wp in gpsD.DataList) { lb.Items.Add(wp.Name + " " + wp.Latitude + " " + wp.Longitude + " " + wp.Ele + " " + wp.Sym); } tabPage.Controls.Add(lb); pn++; tabPage.Padding = new System.Windows.Forms.Padding(3); tabPage.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(192, 74); tabPage.TabIndex = 0; tabPage.Text = name; tabPage.UseVisualStyleBackColor = true; tabs.Add(tabPage); tabControl1.Controls.Add(tabPage); tabPage = new TabPage(); tabPage.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(4, 22); tabPage.Name = "tabPage" + pn; pn++; tabPage.Padding = new System.Windows.Forms.Padding(3); tabPage.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(192, 74); tabPage.TabIndex = 0; tabPage.Text = mapName; string location = path + mapName; tabPage.UseVisualStyleBackColor = true; tabs.Add(tabPage); PictureBox pb = new PictureBox(); pb.Name = "pictureBox" + pn; pb.Image = Image.FromFile(location); tabControl2.Controls.Add(tabPage); pb.Width = pb.Image.Width; pb.Height = pb.Image.Height; tabPage.Controls.Add(pb); currentComponent = tabPage; tabPage.Width = pb.Width; tabPage.Height = pb.Height; pn++; tabControl2.Width = pb.Width; tabControl2.Height = pb.Height; bmp1 = (Bitmap)pb.Image; int lx, ly; float realWidth = gpsD.Bounds[1] - gpsD.Bounds[3]; float imageW = pb.Image.Width; float dx = imageW * (gpsD.Bounds[1] - gpsD.getWayPoint(0).Longitude) / realWidth; float realHeight = gpsD.Bounds[0] - gpsD.Bounds[2]; float imageH = pb.Image.Height; float dy = imageH * (gpsD.Bounds[0] - gpsD.getWayPoint(0).Latitude) / realHeight; lx = (int)dx; ly = (int)dy; using (Graphics g = Graphics.FromImage(bmp1)) { Rectangle rect = new Rectangle(lx, ly, 20, 20); if (gpsD.getWayPoint(0).Sym.Equals("")) { g.DrawRectangle(new Pen(Color.Red), rect); } else { if (gpsD.getWayPoint(0).Sym.Equals("hospital")) { g.DrawImage(symbolImages[0], rect); } else { if (gpsD.getWayPoint(0).Sym.Equals("university")) { g.DrawImage(symbolImages[1], rect); } } } } pb.Image = bmp1; pb.Invalidate(); MessageBox.Show(data.ToString()); } } private void exitToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) { this.Close(); } private void addBtn_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) { string wayName = nameTxtBox.Text; float wayLat = Convert.ToSingle(latTxtBox.Text); float wayLong = Convert.ToSingle(longTxtBox.Text); float wayEle = Convert.ToSingle(elevTxtBox.Text); WayPoint wp = new WayPoint(wayName, wayLat, wayLong, wayEle); GPSDataPoint gdp = new GPSDataPoint(); data = new List<GPSDataPoint>(); gdp.Add(wp); lb.Items.Add(wp.Name + " " + wp.Latitude + " " + wp.Longitude + " " + wp.Ele + " " + wp.Sym); lb.Refresh(); StreamWriter sr = new StreamWriter(name); sr.Write(lb); sr.Close(); DialogResult result = MessageBox.Show("Save in New File?","Save", MessageBoxButtons.YesNo); if (result == DialogResult.Yes) { SaveFileDialog saveDialog = new SaveFileDialog(); saveDialog.FileName = "default.csv"; DialogResult saveResult = saveDialog.ShowDialog(); if (saveResult == DialogResult.OK) { sr = new StreamWriter(saveDialog.FileName, true); sr.WriteLine(wayName + "," + wayLat + "," + wayLong + "," + wayEle); sr.Close(); } } else { // sr = new StreamWriter(name, true); // sr.WriteLine(wayName + "," + wayLat + "," + wayLong + "," + wayEle); sr.Close(); } MessageBox.Show(name + path); } } } GPSDataPoint.cs using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Linq; using System.Text; using System.IO; namespace CourseworkExample { public class GPSDataPoint { private float[] bounds; private List<WayPoint> dataList; public GPSDataPoint() { dataList = new List<WayPoint>(); } internal void setBounds(string p) { string[] b = p.Split(','); bounds = new float[b.Length]; for (int i = 0; i < b.Length; i++) { bounds[i] = Convert.ToSingle(b[i]); } } public float[] Bounds { get { return bounds; } } internal void addWaypoint(string s) { WayPoint wp = new WayPoint(s); dataList.Add(wp); } public WayPoint getWayPoint(int i) { if (i < dataList.Count) { return dataList[i]; } else return null; } public List<WayPoint> DataList { get { return dataList; } } internal void Add(WayPoint wp) { dataList.Add(wp); } } } WayPoint.cs using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Linq; using System.Text; namespace CourseworkExample { public class WayPoint { private string name; private float ele; private float latitude; private float longitude; private string sym; public WayPoint(string name, float latitude, float longitude, float elevation) { this.name = name; this.latitude = latitude; this.longitude = longitude; this.ele = elevation; } public WayPoint() { name = "no name"; ele = 3.5F; latitude = 3.5F; longitude = 0.0F; sym = "no symbol"; } public WayPoint(string s) { string[] bits = s.Split(','); name = bits[0]; longitude = Convert.ToSingle(bits[2]); latitude = Convert.ToSingle(bits[1]); if (bits.Length > 4) sym = bits[4]; else sym = ""; try { ele = Convert.ToSingle(bits[3]); } catch (Exception e) { ele = 0.0f; } } public float Longitude { get { return longitude; } set { longitude = value; } } public float Latitude { get { return latitude; } set { latitude = value; } } public float Ele { get { return ele; } set { ele = value; } } public string Name { get { return name; } set { name = value; } } public string Sym { get { return sym; } set { sym = value; } } } } .csv file data birthplace.png 51.483788,-0.351906,51.460745,-0.302982 Born Here,51.473805,-0.32532,-,hospital Danced here,51,483805,-0.32532,-,hospital

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  • It was a figure of speech!

    - by Ratman21
    Yesterday I posted the following as attention getter / advertisement (as well as my feelings). In the groups, (I am in) on the social networking site, LinkedIn and boy did I get responses.    I am fighting mad about (a figure of speech, really) not having a job! Look just because I am over 55 and have gray hair. It does not mean, my brain is dead or I can no longer trouble shoot a router or circuit or LAN issue. Or that I can do “IT” work at all. And I could prove this if; some one would give me at job. Come on try me for 90 days at min. wage. I know you will end up keeping me (hope fully at normal pay) around. Is any one hearing me…come on take up the challenge!     This was the responses I got.   I hear you. We just need to retrain and get our skills up to speed is all. That is what I am doing. I have not given up. Just got to stay on top of the game. Experience is on our side if we have the credentials and we are reasonable about our salaries this should not be an issue.   Already on it, going back to school and have got three certifications (CompTIA A+, Security+ and Network+. I am now studying for my CISCO CCNA certification. As to my salary, I am willing to work at very reasonable rate.   You need to re-brand yourself like a product, market and sell yourself. You need to smarten up, look and feel a million dollars, re-energize yourself, regain your confidents. Either start your own business, or re-write your CV so it stands out from the rest, get the template off the internet. Contact every recruitment agent in your town, state, country and overseas, and on the web. Apply to every job you think you could do, you may not get it but you will make a contact for your network, which may lead to a job at the end of the tunnel. Get in touch with everyone you know from past jobs. Do charity work. I maintain the IT Network, stage electrical and the Telecom equipment in my church,   Again already on it. I have email the world is seems with my resume and cover letters. So far, I have rewritten or had it rewrote, my resume and cover letters; over seven times so far. Re-energize? I never lost my energy level or my self-confidents in my work (now if could get some HR personal to see the same). I also volunteer at my church, I created and maintain the church web sit.   I share your frustration. Sucks being over 50 and looking for work. Please don't sell yourself short at min wage because the employer will think that’s your worth. Keep trying!!   I never stop trying and min wage is only for 90 days. If some one takes up the challenge. Some post asked if I am keeping up technology.   Do you keep up with the latest technology and can speak the language fluidly?   Yep to that and as to speaking it also a yep! I am a geek you know. I heard from others over the 50 year mark and younger too.   I'm with you! I keep getting told that I don't have enough experience because I just recently completed a Masters level course in Microsoft SQL Server, which gave me a project-intensive equivalent of between 2 and 3 years of experience. On top of that training, I have 19 years as an applications programmer and database administrator. I can normalize rings around experienced DBAs and churn out effective code with the best of them. But my 19 years is worthless as far as most recruiters and HR people are concerned because it is not the specific experience for which they're looking. HR AND RECRUITERS TAKE NOTE: Experience, whatever the language, translates across platforms and technology! By the way, I'm also over 55 and still have "got it"!   I never lost it and I also can work rings round younger techs.   I'm 52 and female and seem to be having the same issues. I have over 10 years experience in tech support (with a BS in CIS) and can't get hired either.   Ow, I only have an AS in computer science along with my certifications.   Keep the faith, I have been unemployed since August of 2008. I agree with you...I am willing to return to the beginning of my retail career and work myself back through the ranks, if someone will look past the grey and realize the knowledge I would bring to the table.   I also would like some one to look past the gray.   Interesting approach, volunteering to work for minimum wage for 90 days. I'm in the same situation as you, being 55 & balding w/white hair, so I know where you're coming from. I've been out of work now for a year. I'm in Michigan, where the unemployment rate is estimated to be 15% (the worst in the nation) & even though I've got 30+ years of IT experience ranging from mainframe to PC desktop support, it's difficult to even get a face-to-face interview. I had one prospective employer tell me flat out that I "didn't have the energy required for this position". Mostly I never get any feedback. All I can say is good luck & try to remain optimistic.   He said WHAT! Yes remaining optimistic is key. Along with faith in God. Then there was this (for lack of better word) jerk.   Give it up already. You were too old to work in high tech 10 years ago. Scratch that, 20 years ago! Try selling hot dogs in front of Fry's Electronics. At least you would get a chance to eat lunch with your previous colleagues....   You know funny thing on this person is that I checked out his profile. He is older than I am.

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  • Book Review: Brownfield Application Development in .NET

    - by DotNetBlues
    I recently finished reading the book Brownfield Application Development in .NET by Kyle Baley and Donald Belcham.  The book is available from Manning.  First off, let me say that I'm a huge fan of Manning as a publisher.  I've found their books to be top-quality, over all.  As a Kindle owner, I also appreciate getting an ebook copy along with the dead tree copy.  I find ebooks to be much more convenient to read, but hard-copies are easier to reference. The book covers, surprisingly enough, working with brownfield applications.  Which is well and good, if that term has meaning to you.  It didn't for me.  Without retreading a chunk of the first chapter, the authors break code bases into three broad categories: greenfield, brownfield, and legacy.  Greenfield is, essentially, new development that hasn't had time to rust and is (hopefully) being approached with some discipline.  Legacy applications are those that are more or less stable and functional, that do not expect to see a lot of work done to them, and are more likely to be replaced than reworked. Brownfield code is the gray (brown?) area between the two and the authors argue, quite effectively, that it is the most likely state for an application to be in.  Brownfield code has, in some way, been allowed to tarnish around the edges and can be difficult to work with.  Although I hadn't realized it, most of the code I've worked on has been brownfield.  Sometimes, there's talk of scrapping and starting over.  Sometimes, the team dismisses increased discipline as ivory tower nonsense.  And, sometimes, I've been the ignorant culprit vexing my future self. The book is broken into two major sections, plus an introduction chapter and an appendix.  The first section covers what the authors refer to as "The Ecosystem" which consists of version control, build and integration, testing, metrics, and defect management.  The second section is on actually writing code for brownfield applications and discusses object-oriented principles, architecture, external dependencies, and, of course, how to deal with these when coming into an existing code base. The ecosystem section is just shy of 140 pages long and brings some real meat to the matter.  The focus on "pain points" immediately sets the tone as problem-solution, rather than academic.  The authors also approach some of the topics from a different angle than some essays I've read on similar topics.  For example, the chapter on automated testing is on just that -- automated testing.  It's all well and good to criticize a project as conflating integration tests with unit tests, but it really doesn't make anyone's life better.  The discussion on testing is more focused on the "right" level of testing for existing projects.  Sometimes, an integration test is the best you can do without gutting a section of functional code.  Even if you can sell other developers and/or management on doing so, it doesn't actually provide benefit to your customers to rewrite code that works.  This isn't to say the authors encourage sloppy coding.  Far from it.  Just that they point out the wisdom of ignoring the sleeping bear until after you deal with the snarling wolf. The other sections take a similarly real-world, workable approach to the pain points they address.  As the section moves from technical solutions like version control and continuous integration (CI) to the softer, process issues of metrics and defect tracking, the authors begin to gently suggest moving toward a zero defect count.  While that really sounds like an unreasonable goal for a lot of ongoing projects, it's quite apparent that the authors have first-hand experience with taming some gruesome projects.  The suggestions are grounded and workable, and the difficulty of some situations is explicitly acknowledged. I have to admit that I started getting bored by the end of the ecosystem section.  No matter how valuable I think a good project manager or business analyst is to a successful ALM, at the end of the day, I'm a gear-head.  Also, while I agreed with a lot of the ecosystem ideas, in theory, I didn't necessarily feel that a lot of the single-developer projects that I'm often involved in really needed that level of rigor.  It's only after reading the sidebars and commentary in the coding section that I had the context for the arguments made in favor of a strong ecosystem supporting the development process.  That isn't to say that I didn't support good product management -- indeed, I've probably pushed too hard, on occasion, for a strong ALM outside of just development.  This book gave me deeper insight into why some corners shouldn't be cut and how damaging certain sins of omission can be. The code section, though, kept me engaged for its entirety.  Many technical books can be used as reference material from day one.  The authors were clear, however, that this book is not one of these.  The first chapter of the section (chapter seven, over all) addresses object oriented (OO) practices.  I've read any number of definitions, discussions, and treatises on OO.  None of the chapter was new to me, but it was a good review, and I'm of the opinion that it's good to review the foundations of what you do, from time to time, so I didn't mind. The remainder of the book is really just about how to apply OOP to existing code -- and, just because all your code exists in classes does not mean that it's object oriented.  That topic has the potential to be extremely condescending, but the authors miraculously managed to never once make me feel like a dolt or that they were wagging their finger at me for my prior sins.  Instead, they continue the "pain points" and problem-solution presentation to give concrete examples of how to apply some pretty academic-sounding ideas.  That's a point worth emphasizing, as my experience with most OO discussions is that they stay in the academic realm.  This book gives some very, very good explanations of why things like the Liskov Substitution Principle exist and why a corporate programmer should even care.  Even if you know, with absolute certainty, that you'll never have to work on an existing code-base, I would recommend this book just for the clarity it provides on OOP. This book goes beyond just theory, or even real-world application.  It presents some methods for fixing problems that any developer can, and probably will, encounter in the wild.  First, the authors address refactoring application layers and internal dependencies.  Then, they take you through those layers from the UI to the data access layer and external dependencies.  Finally, they come full circle to tie it all back to the overall process.  By the time the book is done, you're left with a lot of ideas, but also a reasonable plan to begin to improve an existing project structure. Throughout the book, it's apparent that the authors have their own preferred methodology (TDD and domain-driven design), as well as some preferred tools.  The "Our .NET Toolbox" is something of a neon sign pointing to that latter point.  They do not beat the reader over the head with anything resembling a "One True Way" mentality.  Even for the most emphatic points, the tone is quite congenial and helpful.  With some of the near-theological divides that exist within the tech community, I found this to be one of the more remarkable characteristics of the book.  Although the authors favor tools that might be considered Alt.NET, there is no reason the advice and techniques given couldn't be quite successful in a pure Microsoft shop with Team Foundation Server.  For that matter, even though the book specifically addresses .NET, it could be applied to a Java and Oracle shop, as well.

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