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• Olympics data available for all on Windows Azure SQL Database and Power View

  - by jamiet

  Are you looking around for some decent test data for your BI demos? Well, if so, Microsoft have provided some data about all medals won at the Olympics Games (1900 to 2008) at OlympicsData workbook - Excel, SSIS, Azure sample; it provides analysis over athletes, countries, medal type, sport, discipline and various other dimensions. The data has been provided in an Excel workbook along with instructions on how to load the data into a Windows Azure SQL Database using SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS). Frankly though, the rigmarole of standing up your own Windows Azure SQL Database ok, SQL Azure database, is both costly (SQL Azure isn’t free) and time consuming (the provided instructions aren’t exactly an idiot’s guide and getting SSIS to work properly with Excel isn’t a barrel of laughs either). To ease the pain for all you BI folks out there that simply want to party on the data I have loaded it all into the SQL Azure database that I use for hosting AdventureWorks on Azure. You can read more about AdventureWorks on Azure below however I’ll summarise here by saying it is a SQL Azure database provided for the use of the SQL Server community and which is supported by voluntary donations. To view the data the credentials you need are: Server mhknbn2kdz.database.windows.net  Database AdventureWorks2012 User sqlfamily Password sqlf@m1ly Type those into SSMS and away you go, the data is provided in four tables [olympics].[Sport], [olympics].[Discipline], [olympics].[Event] & [olympics].[Medalist]: I figured this would be a good candidate for a Power View report so I fired up Excel 2013 and built such a report to slice’n’dice through the data – here are some screenshots that should give you a flavour of what is available: A view of all the available data Where do all the gymastics medals go? Which countries do top ten all-time medal winners come from? You get the idea. There is masses of information here and if you have Excel 2013 handy Power View provides a quick and easy way of surfing through it. To save you the bother of setting up the Power View report yourself you can have the one that I took these screenshots from, it is available on my SkyDrive at OlympicsAnalysis.xlsx so just hit the link and download to play to your heart’s content. Party on, people! As I said above the data is hosted on a SQL Azure database that I use for hosting “AdventureWorks on Azure” which I first announced in March 2013 at AdventureWorks2012 now available for all on SQL Azure. I’ll repeat the pertinent parts of that blog post here: I am pleased to announce that as of today … [AdventureWorks2012] now resides on SQL Azure and is available for anyone, absolutely anyone, to connect to and use for their own means. This database is free for you to use but SQL Azure is of course not free so before I give you the credentials please lend me your ears eyes for a short while longer. AdventureWorks on Azure is being provided for the SQL Server community to use and so I am hoping that that same community will rally around to support this effort by making a voluntary donation to support the upkeep which, going on current pricing, is going to be $119.88 per year. If you would like to contribute to keep AdventureWorks on Azure up and running for that full year please donate via PayPal to [email protected] Any amount, no matter how small, will help. If those 50+ people that retweeted me beforehand all contributed $2 then that would just about be enough to keep this up for a year. If the community contributes more than we need then there are a number of additional things that could be done: Host additional databases (Northwind anyone??) Host in more datacentres (this first one is in Western Europe) Make a charitable donation That last one, a charitable donation, is something I would really like to do. The SQL Community have proved before that they can make a significant contribution to charitable orgnisations through purchasing the SQL Server MVP Deep Dives book and I harbour hopes that AdventureWorks on Azure can continue in that vein. So please, if you think AdventureWorks on Azure is something that is worth supporting please make a contribution. I’d like to emphasize that last point. If my hosting this Olympics data is useful to you please support this initiative by donating. Thanks in advance. @Jamiet

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• Microsoft Certifications &ndash; how to prep? and why?

  - by Kelly Jones

  I often get asked by my colleagues, “how do you prepare for Microsoft exams?” Well, the answer for me is a little complicated, so I thought I’d write up here what I do. The first thing I do is go to Microsoft’s website to find the exam that I need to take.  If you’re looking to get a particular certification, then their site lists the exam or exams that you’ll need to pass.  If you’ve already taken an exam, you can log onto the MCP website and use their certification planner.  This little tool tells you what tests you need, based on the exams you’ve already passed.  It is very helpful with the certifications that are multiple tests and especially ones that have electives. Once you’ve identified the test, you can use Microsoft’s website to see the topics that it covers.  This is a good outline to follow when you study.  I’ll keep this handy to reference back throughout my studying to make sure that I’m covering all the topics I need to know. The next step is probably where I am a little different from others.  IF the exam outline covers material that I’ve already been working with, then I’ll skip a lot of the studying and go directly to the practice tests.  However, if I’m looking at the outline and wondering how in the world do you do that? – then it’s time to hit the books. So, where to find study materials?  Try typing in the exam number into any search engine.  You’ll typically find a ton of resources.  If you’re lucky, you’ll find books that others recommend based on their studying and exam experience.  As a Sogeti employee, I have access to three really good resources: an internal company list of all of the consultants who have passed particular tests (on our Connex website), Books 24x7, and Transcender practice exams. Once my studying is done (either through books or experience), I’ll go through the practice exams.  I find them really helpful in getting my knowledge lined up to the thinking process that the exam writers use.  If I’m relying on my experience, then this really helps me to identify gaps in my knowledge that I’ll need to fill. That’s about it.  If I’m doing ok on the practice exams, then I’ll take the real thing.  I’ve found that the practice exams are usually more difficult than then real thing. Oh – one other thing I do related to Microsoft exams – I try to take any beta exams that Microsoft makes available that fall into my skill set.  Microsoft has started a blog to announce these and the seats usually fill up really quick.  The blog is at http://blogs.technet.com/betaexams/ . You don’t get your results instantly, like a normal exam, instead you have to wait for everyone to finish taking the beta exams and for Microsoft to determine which questions they are using and which they are dropping.  So, be prepared to wait six to eight weeks for your results.

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• Oracle ZS3 Contest for Partners: Share an unforgettable experience at the Teatro Alla Scala in Milan

  - by Claudia Caramelli-Oracle

  12.00 Dear valued Partner, We are pleased to launch a partner contest exclusive to our partners dedicated to promoting and selling Oracle Systems! You are essential to the success of Oracle and we want to recognize your contribution and effort in driving Oracle Storage to the market. To show our appreciation we are delighted to announce a contest, giving the winners the opportunity to attend a roundtable chaired by Senior Oracle Executives and spend an unforgettable evening at the magnificent Teatro Alla Scala in Milan, followed by a stay at the Grand Hotel et de Milan, courtesy of Oracle. Recognition will be given to 12 partner companies (10 VARs & 2 VADs) who will be recognized for their ZFS storage booking achievement in the broad market between June 1st and July 18th 2014. Criteria of Eligibility A minimum deal value of $30k is required for qualification Partners who are wholly or partially owned by a public sector organization are not eligible for participation  Winners The winning VARs will be: The highest ZS3 or ZBA bookings achievers by COB on July 18th, 2014 in each Oracle EMEA region (1) The highest Oracle on Oracle (2) ZS3 or ZBA bookings achievers by COB on July 18th, 2014 in each Oracle EMEA region The winning VADs (3) will be: The highest ZS3 or ZBA bookings achiever by COB on July 18th 2014 in EMEA The highest Oracle on Oracle (2) ZS3 or ZBA bookings achiever by COB on July 18th 2014 in EMEA  The Prize Winners will be invited to participate to a roundtable chaired by Oracle on Monday September 8th 2014 in Milan and to be guests of Oracle in the evening of September 8th, 2014 at the Teatro Alla Scala. The evening will comprise of a private tour of the Scala museum, cocktail reception at the elegant museum rooms and attending the performance by the renowned Soprano, Maria Agresta. Our guests will then retire for the evening to the Grand Hotel et de Milan, courtesy of Oracle. Oracle shall be the final arbiter in selecting the winners and all winners will be notified via their Oracle account manager.Full details about the contest, expenses covered by Oracle and timetable of events can be found on the Oracle EMEA Hardware (Servers & Storage) Partner Community workspace (FY15 Q1 ZFS Partner Contest). Remember: access to the community workspace requires membership. If you are not a member please register here. Good Luck!! For more information, please contact Sasan Moaveni. (1) Two VAR winners for each EMEA region – Eastern Europe & CIS, Middle East & Africa, South Europe, North Europe, UK/Ireland & Israel - as per the criteria outlined above (2) Oracle on Oracle, in this instance, means ZS3 or ZBA storage attached to DB or DB options, Engineered Systems or Sparc servers sold to the same customer by the same partner within the contest timelines.(3) Two VAD winners, one for each of the criteria outlined above, will be selected from across EMEA. Normal 0 14 false false false IT X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* 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:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}

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• New computer hangs on shutdown/reboot, how to troubleshoot?

  - by Torben Gundtofte-Bruun

  My system is working perfectly but it freezes during shutdown/reboot/suspend/hibernate: All windows and the menu bar disappear but the desktop wallpaper remains. It doesn't even show the shutdown screen (the one with the animated dots) where I could hit ESC and watch the shutdown console text. The system is brand-new and fully updated using Update Manager. How can I determine what is causing the freeze? Is there a log I can investigate? How can I fix this? I see no obvious cause of the freeze. The only USB attachment is a mouse/keyboard; I don't have any external storage attached; and I don't have any programs running (the machine freezes even when doing shutdown right from the login screen). What I've tried so far: Based on other questions (this, this, and this) that suggest some ACPI settings, I've tried sudo shutdown -h now to see whether the shutdown console text display offers any hints, but the system doesn't even get that far - it still freezes while the screen shown the desktop background image, without any toolbars. Only sudo shutdown --force works, but that's not a solution. Editing the grub menu to add acpi=off to the kernel didn't help. I guess there's not much point in trying the other (lesser) ACPI suggestions? Adding noapic to the grub entry had no discernible effect. Adding nolapic instead did something (I had removed the quiet option) - the system managed to continue further with the shutdown, right until the line Checking for running unattended-upgrades: which were the last characters on the screen. I've also checked the system BIOS, especially regarding power options, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Switching the BIOS standby setting from S3 to S1 didn't help. The standby setting can't be disabled, and there are no other ACPI-related settings AFAIK. BIOS reset didn't help. Not surprised; hadn't changed anything. I tried going to a virtual console (CtrlAltF1) as suggested by djeikyb and from there did a shutdown -h now and it froze there too, after this console output. I didn't try killing processes one at a time because I'm still too newbie to figure out how to do that. Booting with kernel 2.6.35.22 rather than 2.6.35.25 didn't help. Disabling the Nvidia drivers didn't help. Booting from Live CD (USB stick in fact) didn't help; it freezes the same way. Booting from Live CD, with acpi=off noapic nolapic didn't help either. Neither did just nolapic. So evidently this is not some custom setting in my install, but some sort of basic issue. MemTest competed in 1 hour without errors.

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• Intern Screening - Software 'Quiz'

  - by Jeremy1026

  I am in charge of selecting a new software development intern for a company that I work with. I wanted to throw a little 'quiz' at the applicants before moving forth with interviews so as to weed out the group a little bit to find some people that can demonstrate some skill. I put together the following quiz to send to applicants, it focuses only on PHP, but that is because that is what about 95% of the work will be done in. I'm hoping to get some feedback on A. if its a good idea to send this to applicants and B. if it can be improved upon. # 1. FizzBuzz # Write a small application that does the following: # Counts from 1 to 100 # For multiples of 3 output "Fizz" # For multiples of 5 output "Buzz" # For multiples of 3 and 5 output "FizzBuzz" # For numbers that are not multiples of 3 nor 5 output the number. <?php ?> # 2. Arrays # Create a multi-dimensional array that contains # keys for 'id', 'lot', 'car_model', 'color', 'price'. # Insert three sets of data into the array. <?php ?> # 3. Comparisons # Without executing the code, tell if the expressions # below will return true or false. <?php if ((strpos("a","abcdefg")) == TRUE) echo "True"; else echo "False"; //True or False? if ((012 / 4) == 3) echo "True"; else echo "False"; //True or False? if (strcasecmp("abc","ABC") == 0) echo "True"; else echo "False"; //True or False? ?> # 4. Bug Checking # The code below is flawed. Fix it so that the code # runs properly without producing any Errors, Warnings # or Notices, and returns the proper value. <?php //Determine how many parts are needed to create a 3D pyramid. function find_3d_pyramid($rows) { //Loop through each row. for ($i = 0; $i < $rows; $i++) { $lastRow++; //Append the latest row to the running total. $total = $total + (pow($lastRow,3)); } //Return the total. return $total; } $i = 3; echo "A pyramid consisting of $i rows will have a total of ".find_3d_pyramid($i)." pieces."; ?> # 5. Quick Examples # Create a small example to complete the task # for each of the following problems. # Create an md5 hash of "Hello World"; # Replace all occurances of "_" with "-" in the string "Welcome_to_the_universe." # Get the current date and time, in the following format, YYYY/MM/DD HH:MM:SS AM/PM # Find the sum, average, and median of the following set of numbers. 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10. # Randomly roll a six-sided die 5 times. Store the 5 rolls into an array. <?php ?>

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• Link instead of Attaching

  - by Daniel Moth

  With email storage not being an issue in many companies (I think I currently have 25GB of storage on my email account, I don’t even think about storage), this encourages bad behaviors such as liberally attaching office documents to emails instead of sharing a link to the document in SharePoint or SkyDrive or some file share etc. Attaching a file admittedly has its usage scenarios too, but it should not be the default. I thought I'd list the reasons why sharing a link can be better than attaching files directly. In no particular order: Better Review. It allows multiple recipients to review the file and their comments are aggregated into a single document. The alternative is everyone having to detach the document, add their comments, then send back to you, and then you have to collate. Wirth the alternative, you also potentially miss out on recipients reading comments from other recipients. Always up to date. The attachment becomes a fork instead of an always up to date document. For example, you send the email on Thursday, I only open it on Tuesday: between those days you could have made updates that now I am missing because you decided to share a link instead of an attachment. Better bookmarking. When I need to find that document you shared, you are forcing me to search through my email (I may not even be running outlook), instead of opening the link which I have bookmarked in my browser or my collection of links in my OneNote or from the recent/pinned links of the office app on my task bar, etc. Can control access. If someone accidentally or naively forwards your link to someone outside your group/org who you’d prefer not to have access to it, the location of the document can be protected with specific access control. Can add more recipients. If someone adds people to the email thread in outlook, your attachment doesn't get re-attached - instead, the person added is left without the attachment unless someone remembers to re-attach it. If it was a link, they are immediately caught up without further actions. Enable Discovery. If you put it on a share, I may be able to discover other cool stuff that lives alongside that document. Save on storage. So this doesn't apply to me given my opening statement, but if in your company you do have such limitations, attaching files eats up storage on all recipients accounts and will also get "lost" when those people archive email (and lose completely at some point if they follow the company retention policy). Like I said, attachments do have their place, but they should be an explicit choice for explicit reasons rather than the default. Comments about this post by Daniel Moth welcome at the original blog.

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• eSTEP Newsletter November 2012

  - by mseika

  Dear Partners,We would like to inform you that the November '12 issue of our Newsletter is now available.The issue contains information to the following topics: News from CorpOracle Celebrates 25 Years of SPARC Innovation; IDC White Papers Finds Growing Customer Comfort with Oracle Solaris Operating System; Oracle Buys Instantis; Pillar Axiom OpenWorld Highlights; Announcement Oracle Solaris 11.1 Availability (data sheet, new features, FAQ's, corporate pages, internal blog, download links, Oracle shop); Announcing StorageTek VSM 6; Announcement Oracle Solaris Cluster 4.1 Availability (new features, FAQ's, cluster corp page, download site, shop for media); Announcement: Oracle Database Appliance 2.4 patch update becomes available Technical SectionOracle White papers on SPARC SuperCluster; Understanding Parallel Execution; With LTFS, Tape is Gaining Storage Ground with additional link to How to Create Oracle Solaris 11 Zones with Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center; Provisioning Capabilities of Oracle Enterprise Ops Center Manager 12c; Maximizing your SPARC T4 Oracle Solaris Application Performance with the following articles: SPARC T4 Servers Set World Record on Siebel CRM 8.1.1.4 Benchmark, SPARC T4-Based Highly Scalable Solutions Posts New World Record on SPECjEnterprise2010 Benchmark, SPARC T4 Server Delivers Outstanding Performance on Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition 11g; Oracle SUN ZFS Storage Appliance Reference Architecture for VMware vSphere4; Why 4K? - George Wilson's ZFS Day Talk; Pillar Axiom 600 with connected subjects: Oracle Introduces Pillar Axiom Release 5 Storage System Software, Driving down the high cost of Storage, This Provisioning with Pilar Axiom 600, Pillar Axiom 600- System overview and architecture; Migrate to Oracle;s SPARC Systems; Top 5 Reasons to Migrate to Oracle's SPARC Systems Learning & EventsRecently delivered Techcasts: Learning Paths; Oracle Database 11g: Database Administration (New) - Learning Path; Webcast: Drill Down on Disaster Recovery; What are Oracle Users Doing to Improve Availability and Disaster Recovery; SAP NetWeaver and Oracle Exadata Database Machine ReferencesARTstor Selects Oracle’s Sun ZFS Storage 7420 Appliances To Support Rapidly Growing Digital Image Library, Scottish Widows Cuts Sales Administration 20%, Reduces Time to Prepare Reports by 75%, and Achieves Return on Investment in First Year, Oracle's CRM Cloud Service Powers Innovation: Applications on Demand; Technology on Demand, How toHow to Migrate Your Data to Oracle Solaris 11 Using Shadow Migration; Using svcbundle to Create SMF Manifests and Profiles in Oracle Solaris 11; How to prepare a Sun ZFS Storage Appliance to Serve as a Storage Devise with Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center 12c; Command Summary: Basic Operations with the Image Packaging System In Oracle Solaris 11; How to Update to Oracle Solaris 11.1 Using the Image Packaging System, How to Migrate Oracle Database from Oracle Solaris 8 to Oracle Solaris 11; Setting Up, Configuring, and Using an Oracle WebLogic Server Cluster; Ease the Chaos with Automated Patching: Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control 12c; Book excerpt: Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud HandbookYou find the Newsletter on our portal under eSTEP News ---> Latest Newsletter. You will need to provide your email address and the pin below to get access. Link to the portal is shown below.URL: http://launch.oracle.com/PIN: eSTEP_2011Previous published Newsletters can be found under the Archived Newsletters section and more useful information under the Events, Download and Links tab. Feel free to explore and any feedback is appreciated to help us improve the service and information we deliver.Thanks and best regards,Partner HW Enablement EMEA

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• BEHIND THE SCENES AT A FLASH-MOB...

  - by OliviaOC

  Today, we interviewed Aarti, who recently organised a flash-mob for Oracle Campus, which you can see on our facebook page Hi Aarti, perhaps you could give us a quick introduction of yourself, and what you do at Oracle? I’ve been with Campus Recruitment for just over a year. I’ve been with Oracle for three years. I was keen to get into the campus role after having watched other colleagues working in campus and when the opportunity arrived I jumped at it. The journey has been fantastic thus far. I’m responsible for the GBU hiring at Oracle. Why did you record the flash-mob video - what were your goals? Flash-mobs were one thing that took off really big in India after the first one in Mumbai. It’s the hot thing in the student community at the moment. A better way to reach out and connect with students. I think that it is also a good way to demonstrate our openness and culture at Oracle – demonstrate that we are very flexible and that we have a cool culture. I knew the video could be shared on our social media pages and reach out to a wider student community What was the preparation and rehearsal for the video like? When I decided to do the video, I had to decide who I would like to do the flash-mob. The new campus hires to Oracle would be ideal for this. We were 2 teams at 2 different locations and Each team took 2-3 songs and choreographed it themselves. Every day at 5pm, each team would meet up and every other weekend the whole group met. Practicing went on for about a month like this. How was the video received by participants and by students on the University campus? The event was well received. We did it during the lunch break at the University so that there was a large presence of students around while the flash mob took place. We set up about an hour beforehand to get everything ready. The break-bell sounded and the students came out, that’s when the flash-mob started. The students were pleasantly surprised that a company was doing this. They also recognised some of the participants involved as former graduates. Since the flash-mob and the video of it that you recorded, have you had much response due to it? We have, especially in the past two weeks. We went back to the college to make some hires. The flash-mob was still fresh in their minds and they knew well who Oracle was as a result. Would you like to repeat this kind of creative initiative again with the recruitment team? Yes, absolutely! I’m over the moon with the flash-mob. My mind is working overtime now with ideas about the next things to do!

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• Screen brightness dull after upgrade to Ubuntu 14.04

  - by user288426

  After upgrading to Ubuntu 14.04 I found that I could not increase screen brightness. I'm using a Samsung NC110 netbook. Initially the function key to modify brightness did not respond at all. After implementation of the first part of the fix, the key came alive and the brightness bar could be modified. Yet at maximum brightness indicated the screen still remained very dull. The 2nd part of the fix cures that problem, at least for this type of machine. First part of the fix was copied and modified in line with my experience from following post: How to control Brightness Open a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T). Then type sudo nano /etc/default/grub. It will ask for your password. Type it in. Around the 11th line, there will be something like: GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash". Change it to: GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash acpi_osi=Linux acpi_backlight=vendor" Save the file by Ctrl+O followed by Ctrl+X. Then run sudo update-grub in the terminal. Reboot and see if backlight adjustment works. Then I needed to modify the rc.local file. Therefore read below fix to understand the procedure: problem with adjusting brightness Ubuntu 14.04 In my case I had 2 folders listed under /sys/class/backlight which were: intel_backlight samsung I realized that the samsung folder is governing. I had to modify the check for max brightness to: cat /sys/class/backlight/samsung/max_brightness In my case the max value obtained is 8. Besides putting this into rc.local, I also had to uncomment the first line to get this working. My rc.local under /etc/ now looks as follows: !/bin/sh -e # # rc.local # # This script is executed at the end of each multiuser runlevel. # Make sure that the script will "exit 0" on success or any other # value on error. # # In order to enable or disable this script just change the execution # bits. # # By default this script does nothing. echo 8 > /sys/class/backlight/samsung/brightness exit 0 Now I can modify brightness on my netbook and also can get the screen up to its maximum brightness. Hope this is helpful.

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• Dependency Injection Introduction

  - by MarkPearl

  I recently was going over a great book called “Dependency Injection in .Net” by Mark Seeman. So far I have really enjoyed the book and would recommend anyone looking to get into DI to give it a read. Today I thought I would blog about the first example Mark gives in his book to illustrate some of the benefits that DI provides. The ones he lists are Late binding Extensibility Parallel Development Maintainability Testability To illustrate some of these benefits he gives a HelloWorld example using DI that illustrates some of the basic principles. It goes something like this… class Program { static void Main(string[] args) { var writer = new ConsoleMessageWriter(); var salutation = new Salutation(writer); salutation.Exclaim(); Console.ReadLine(); } } public interface IMessageWriter { void Write(string message); } public class ConsoleMessageWriter : IMessageWriter { public void Write(string message) { Console.WriteLine(message); } } public class Salutation { private readonly IMessageWriter _writer; public Salutation(IMessageWriter writer) { _writer = writer; } public void Exclaim() { _writer.Write("Hello World"); } }   If you had asked me a few years ago if I had thought this was a good approach to solving the HelloWorld problem I would have resounded “No”. How could the above be better than the following…. class Program { static void Main(string[] args) { Console.WriteLine("Hello World"); Console.ReadLine(); } }  Today, my mind-set has changed because of the pain of past programs. So often we can look at a small snippet of code and make judgements when we need to keep in mind that we will most probably be implementing these patterns in projects with hundreds of thousands of lines of code and in projects that we have tests that we don’t want to break and that’s where the first solution outshines the latter. Let’s see if the first example achieves some of the outcomes that were listed as benefits of DI. Could I test the first solution easily? Yes… We could write something like the following using NUnit and RhinoMocks… [TestFixture] public class SalutationTests { [Test] public void ExclaimWillWriteCorrectMessageToMessageWriter() { var writerMock = MockRepository.GenerateMock<IMessageWriter>(); var sut = new Salutation(writerMock); sut.Exclaim(); writerMock.AssertWasCalled(x => x.Write("Hello World")); } }   This would test the existing code fine. Let’s say we then wanted to extend the original solution so that we had a secure message writer. We could write a class like the following… public class SecureMessageWriter : IMessageWriter { private readonly IMessageWriter _writer; private readonly string _secretPassword; public SecureMessageWriter(IMessageWriter writer, string secretPassword) { _writer = writer; _secretPassword = secretPassword; } public void Write(string message) { if (_secretPassword == "Mark") { _writer.Write(message); } else { _writer.Write("Unauthenticated"); } } }   And then extend our implementation of the program as follows… class Program { static void Main(string[] args) { var writer = new SecureMessageWriter(new ConsoleMessageWriter(), "Mark"); var salutation = new Salutation(writer); salutation.Exclaim(); Console.ReadLine(); } }   Our application has now been successfully extended and yet we did very little code change. In addition, our existing tests did not break and we would just need add tests for the extended functionality. Would this approach allow parallel development? Well, I am in two camps on parallel development but with some planning ahead of time it would allow for it as you would simply need to decide on the interface signature and could then have teams develop different sections programming to that interface. So,this was really just a quick intro to some of the basic concepts of DI that Mark introduces very successfully in his book. I am hoping to blog about this further as I continue through the book to list some of the more complex implementations of containers.

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• Play the Microsoft Game “Are You Certifiable?”

  - by Mysticgeek

  Want to know if you have what it takes to be certified by Microsoft? Today we check out an enjoyable way to practice and test your IT knowledge of Microsoft products.  There are two modes, one where you log in with your Live account so you can save your progress, and play additional levels.   If you log in with your Live account, it’s obvious that Microsoft wants to sell you some certification courses, so just be aware of that. Or Guest Play where you can only play one episode and scores are not saved.   Playing the Game We’ll take a look at the Guest Play just so you get a sense of what the game is about. Enter in a username and pick an avatar… Then read the instructions…we won’t go over them all here, there are a lot of options and points are scored by correct answers, amount of time it takes to answer them, you get vouchers to play a question before answers are shown…etc. Once you start playing, you get certification questions, you can take as much time to read the question as you want, then hit the Answer button when you’re ready. Now you have four answers to choose from…notice the time clicking down, so you want to try to answer as quickly as possible. After selecting the answer, you’re told if it is correct or not, then given an answer explaination, along with your score. You can flag the topic so it comes up again, which is a good way to get repetition of various topics, which really helps when taking the cert tests. If you get an answer wrong, you still get an answer explanation which is cool, so you can learn and better understand the topic. Conclusion This game is definitely not for everyone, only those who are curious or want a fun way to practice for Microsoft certifications. If you are interested in a cert from Microsoft, it’s a fun way to practice up. Play Are You Certifiable? Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Geek Fun: Play Alien Arena the Free FPS GameFriday Fun: Get Your Mario OnFriday Fun: Play Bubble QuodFriday Fun: 13 Days in HellFriday Fun: Open Doors TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 Download Free iPad Wallpapers at iPad Decor Get Your Delicious Bookmarks In Firefox’s Awesome Bar Manage Photos Across Different Social Sites With Dropico Test Drive Windows 7 Online Download Wallpapers From National Geographic Site Spyware Blaster v4.3

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• With a little effort you can &ldquo;SEMI&rdquo;-protect your C# assemblies with obfuscation.

  - by mbcrump

  This method will not protect your assemblies from a experienced hacker. Everyday we see new keygens, cracks, serials being released that contain ways around copy protection from small companies. This is a simple process that will make a lot of hackers quit because so many others use nothing. If you were a thief would you pick the house that has security signs and an alarm or one that has nothing? To so begin: Obfuscation is the concealment of meaning in communication, making it confusing and harder to interpret. Lets begin by looking at the cartoon below:     You are probably familiar with the term and probably ignored this like most programmers ignore user security. Today, I’m going to show you reflection and a way to obfuscate it. Please understand that I am aware of ways around this, but I believe some security is better than no security.  In this sample program below, the code appears exactly as it does in Visual Studio. When the program runs, you get either a true or false in a console window. Sample Program. using System; using System.Diagnostics; using System.Linq;   namespace ObfuscateMe {     class Program     {                static void Main(string[] args)         {               Console.WriteLine(IsProcessOpen("notepad")); //Returns a True or False depending if you have notepad running.             Console.ReadLine();         }             public static bool IsProcessOpen(string name)         {             return Process.GetProcesses().Any(clsProcess => clsProcess.ProcessName.Contains(name));         }     } }   Pretend, that this is a commercial application. The hacker will only have the executable and maybe a few config files, etc. After reviewing the executable, he can determine if it was produced in .NET by examing the file in ILDASM or Redgate’s Reflector. We are going to examine the file using RedGate’s Reflector. Upon launch, we simply drag/drop the exe over to the application. We have the following for the Main method:   and for the IsProcessOpen method:     Without any other knowledge as to how this works, the hacker could export the exe and get vs project build or copy this code in and our application would run. Using Reflector output. using System; using System.Diagnostics; using System.Linq;   namespace ObfuscateMe {     class Program     {                static void Main(string[] args)         {               Console.WriteLine(IsProcessOpen("notepad"));             Console.ReadLine();         }             public static bool IsProcessOpen(string name)         {             return Process.GetProcesses().Any<Process>(delegate(Process clsProcess)             {                 return clsProcess.ProcessName.Contains(name);             });         }       } } The code is not identical, but returns the same value. At this point, with a little bit of effort you could prevent the hacker from reverse engineering your code so quickly by using Eazfuscator.NET. Eazfuscator.NET is just one of many programs built for this. Visual Studio ships with a community version of Dotfoscutor. So download and load Eazfuscator.NET and drag/drop your exectuable/project into the window. It will work for a few minutes depending if you have a quad-core or not. After it finishes, open the executable in RedGate Reflector and you will get the following: Main After Obfuscation IsProcessOpen Method after obfuscation: As you can see with the jumbled characters, it is not as easy as the first example. I am aware of methods around this, but it takes more effort and unless the hacker is up for the challenge, they will just pick another program. This is also helpful if you are a consultant and make clients pay a yearly license fee. This would prevent the average software developer from jumping into your security routine after you have left. I hope this article helped someone. If you have any feedback, please leave it in the comments below.

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• How to write comments to explain the "why" behind the callback function when the function and parameter names are insufficient for that?

  - by snowmantw

  How should I approach writing comments for callback functions? I want to explain the "why" behind the function when the function and parameter names are insufficient to explain what's going on. I have always wonder why comments like this can be so ordinary in documents of libraries in dynamic languages: /** * cb: callback // where's the arguments & effects? */ func foo( cb ) Maybe the common attitude is "you can look into source code on your own after all" which pushes people into leaving minimalist comments like this. But it seems like there should be a better way to comment callback functions. I've tried to comment callbacks in Haskell way: /** * cb: Int -> Char */ func foo(cb) And to be fair, it's usually neat enough. But it gets into trouble when I need to pass some complex structure. The problem being partly due to the lack of type system: /** * cb: Int -> { err: String -> (), success: () -> Char } // too long... */ func foo(cb) Or I have tried this too: /** * cb: Int -> { err: String -> (), * success: () -> Char } // better ? */ func bar(cb) The problem is that you may put the structure in somewhere else, but you must give it a name to reference it. But then when you name a structure you're about to use immediately looks so redundant: // Somewhere else... // ResultCallback: { err: String -> (), success: () -> Char } /** * cb: Int -> ResultCallback // better ?? */ func foo(cb) And it bothers me if I follow the Java-doc like commenting style since it still seems incomplete. The comments don't tell you anything that you couldn't immediately see from looking at the function. /** * @param cb {Function} yeah, it's a function, but you told me nothing about it... * @param err {Function} where should I put this callback's argument ?? * Not to mention the err's own arguments... */ func foo(cb) These examples are JavaScript like with generic functions and parameter names, but I've encountered similar problems in other dynamic languages which allow complex callbacks.

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• Oracle Applications Cloud Release 8 Customization: Your User Interface, Your Text

  - by ultan o'broin

  Introducing the User Interface Text Editor In Oracle Applications Cloud Release 8, there’s an addition to the customization tool set, called the User Interface Text Editor  (UITE). When signed in with an application administrator role, users launch this new editing feature from the Navigator's Tools > Customization > User Interface Text menu option. See how the editor is in there with other customization tools? User Interface Text Editor is launched from the Navigator Customization menu Applications customers need a way to make changes to the text that appears in the UI, without having to initiate an IT project. Business users can now easily change labels on fields, for example. Using a composer and activated sandbox, these users can take advantage of the Oracle Metadata Services (MDS), add a key to a text resource bundle, and then type in their preferred label and its description (as a best practice for further work, I’d recommend always completing that description). Changing a simplified UI field label using Oracle Composer In Release 8, the UITE enables business users to easily change UI text on a much wider basis. As with composers, the UITE requires an activated sandbox where users can make their changes safely, before committing them for others to see. The UITE is used for editing UI text that comes from Oracle ADF resource bundles or from the Message Dictionary (or FND_MESSAGE_% tables, if you’re old enough to remember such things). Functionally, the Message Dictionary is used for the text that appears in business rule-type error, warning or information messages, or as a text source when ADF resource bundles cannot be used. In the UITE, these Message Dictionary texts are referred to as Multi-part Validation Messages.   If the text comes from ADF resource bundles, then it’s categorized as User Interface Text in the UITE. This category refers to the text that appears in embedded help in the UI or in simple error, warning, confirmation, or information messages. The embedded help types used in the application are explained in an Oracle Fusion Applications User Experience (UX) design pattern set. The message types have a UX design pattern set too. Using UITE  The UITE enables users to search and replace text in UI strings using case sensitive options, as well as by type. Users select singular and plural options for text changes, should they apply. Searching and replacing text in the UITE The UITE also provides users with a way to preview and manage changes on an exclusion basis, before committing to the final result. There might, for example, be situations where a phrase or word needs to remain different from how it’s generally used in the application, depending on the context. Previewing replacement text changes. Changes can be excluded where required. Multi-Part Messages The Message Dictionary table architecture has been inherited from Oracle E-Business Suite days. However, there are important differences in the Oracle Applications Cloud version, notably the additional message text components, as explained in the UX Design Patterns. Message Dictionary text has a broad range of uses as indicated, and it can also be reserved for internal application use, for use by PL/SQL and C programs, and so on. Message Dictionary text may even concatenate together at run time, where required. The UITE handles the flexibility of such text architecture by enabling users to drill down on each message and see how it’s constructed in total. That way, users can ensure that any text changes being made are consistent throughout the different message parts. Multi-part (Message Dictionary) message components in the UITE Message Dictionary messages may also use supportability-related numbers, the ones that appear appended to the message text in the application’s UI. However, should you have the requirement to remove these numbers from users' view, the UITE is not the tool for the job. Instead, see my blog about using the Manage Messages UI.

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• Wireless device bug on 13.10. BCM4313 registers as eth1 instead of wlan0 and no internet access

  - by user205691

  My Hotel wiFi requires me to login with a username & password after connecting to the hotspot. So, my browser would open a page with username & passwrd fields to login and then connect to internet. But unfortunately, firefox & chromium dont seem to work. i dont think it is browser related but a setting for the wifi router or driver which is creating this issue. using Broadcom 801.11 STA wireless driver (proprietary). tried open source as well but same result !! The image linked below shows my wifi connection setting & Chromium. The login page itself comes up after a long time and after entering the credentials, it keeps loading for ever !! it is the same case for every other browser.. so i dont think its browser issue but something to do with wifi setting or network manager stuff.. interestingly, i am able to connect to WiFi networks with WPA key without any issue. Adhoc hotspot is a problem and that is my regular home network :( .. I hope i can get some help solving this issue ! I have tried repeating the same hotspot after login from my android, by creating a virtual repeater with WPA key and it works. I can browse on ubuntu using this method.. but cant be doing this regularly ! I tried loading the same login page of the hotel wifi while browsing through my repeater wifi created on mobile and screen shot attached below. the page loads up quick and easy.. so this means something is wrong with the way network manager handles adhoc connectivity & login ?? i installed wicd0 but it crashes on startup and not helpful at all ! Screenshot of Chromium page Login page with repeated hotspot ifconfig in my terminal results: krishna@krishna-HP-ENVY-4-Notebook-PC:~$ ifconfig eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 28:92:4a:1d:54:fa UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B) eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr e0:06:e6:89:fa:49 inet addr:10.24.1.71 Bcast:10.24.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0 inet6 addr: fe80::e206:e6ff:fe89:fa49/64 Scope:Link UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:10940 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:348431 TX packets:6611 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 RX bytes:7669631 (7.6 MB) TX bytes:864195 (864.1 KB) Interrupt:17 lo Link encap:Local Loopback inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0 inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:65536 Metric:1 RX packets:2146 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:2146 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 RX bytes:166120 (166.1 KB) TX bytes:166120 (166.1 KB) I wonder why is the wireless configured under eth1 ? I think this is a bug with earlier ubuntu versions, but is this normal in 13.10 or is there a wrong configuration here ? The wireless device in my pc is BCM4313 and i have installed the bcmwl-kernel-sources, wireless-tools to support the device. i also reinstalled the bcmwl-kernel as suggested on broadcom website, via synaptic package manager. Nothing has changed this situation ! I tried booting into liveUSB and then ifconfig results show wireless under wlan0. But then the wireless connects and loads the login page. So is the problem with the device configuration now ? i really want to get this fixed before i start configuring the other stuff like ATI graphics and such on the laptop for overheating.. lack of internet access is too bad a bug for me :P any help is appreciated!

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• Extreme Makeover, Phone Edition: Comcasts xfinity

  Mobile Makeover For many companies the first foray into Windows Phone 7 (WP7) may be in porting their existing mobile apps. It is tempting to simply transfer existing functionality, avoiding the additional design costs. Readdressing business needs and taking advantage of the WP7 platform can reduce cost and is essential to a successful re-launch. To better understand the advantage of new development lets examine a conceptual upgrade of Comcasts existing mobile app. Before Comcast has a great mobile app that provides several key features. The ability to browse the lineup using a guide, a client for Comcast email accounts, On Demand gallery, and much more. We will leverage these and build on them using some of the incredible WP7 features.   After With the proliferation of DVRs (Digital Video Recorders) and a variety of media devices (TV, PC, Mobile) content providers are challenged to find creative ways to build their brands. Every client touch point must provide both value added services as well as opportunities for marketing and up-sale; WP7 makes it easy to focus on those opportunities. The new app is an excellent vehicle for presenting Comcasts newly rebranded TV, Voice, and Internet services. These services now fly under the banner of xfinity and have been expanded to provide the best experience for Comcast customers. The Windows Phone 7 app will increase the surface area of this service revolution.   The home menu is simplified and highlights Comcasts Triple Play: Voice, TV, and Internet. The inbox has been replaced with a messages view, and message management is handled by a WP7 hub. The hub presents emails, tweets, and IMs from Comcast and other viewers the user follows on Twitter.  The popular view orders shows based on the users viewing history and current cable package. The first show Glee is both popular and participating in a conceptual co-marketing effort, so it receives prime positioning. The second spot goes to a hit show on a premium channel, in this example HBOs The Pacific, encouraging viewers to upgrade for this premium content. The remaining spots are ordered based on viewing history and popularity. Tapping the play button moves the user to the theatre where they can watch previews or full episodes streaming from Fancast. Tapping an extra presents the user with show details as well as interactive content that may be included as part of co-marketing efforts. Co-Marketing with Dynamic Content The success of Comcasts services are tied to the success of the networks and shows it purveys, making co-marketing efforts essential. In this concept FOX is co-marketing its popular show Glee. A customized panorama is updated with the latest gleeks tweets, streaming HD episodes, and extras featuring photos and video of the cast. If WP7 apps can be dynamically extended with web hosted .xap files, including sandboxed partner experiences would enable interactive features such as the Gleek Peek, in which a viewer can select a character from a panorama to view the actors profile. This dynamic inline experience has a tailored appeal to aspiring creatives and is technically possible with Windows Phone 7.   Summary The conceptual Comcast mobile app for Windows Phone 7 highlights just a few of the incredible experiences and business opportunities that can be unlocked with this latest mobile solution. It is critical that organizations recognize and take full advantage of these new capabilities. Simply porting existing mobile applications does not leverage these powerful tools; re-examining existing applications and upgrading them to Windows Phone 7 will prove essential to the continued growth and success of your brand.Did you know that DotNetSlackers also publishes .net articles written by top known .net Authors? We already have over 80 articles in several categories including Silverlight. Take a look: here.

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• Get More From Your Service Request

  - by Get Proactive Customer Adoption Team

  Leveraging Service Request Best Practices Use best practices to get there faster. In the daily conversations I have with customers, they sometimes express frustration over their Service Requests. They often feel powerless to make needed changes, so their sense of frustration grows. To help you avoid some of the frustration you might feel in dealing with your Service Requests (SR), here are a few pointers that come from our best practice discussions. Be proactive. If you can anticipate some of the questions that Support will ask, or the information they may need, try to provide this up front, when you log the SR. This could be output from the Remote Diagnostic Agent (RDA), if this is a database issue, or the output from another diagnostic tool, if you’re an EBS customer. Any information you can supply that helps us understand the situation better, helps us resolve the issue sooner. As you use some of these tools proactively, you might even find the solution to the problem before you log an SR! Be right. Make sure you have the correct severity level. Since you select the initial severity level, it’s easy to accept the default without considering how significant this may be. Business impact is the driving factor, so make sure you take a moment to select the severity level that is appropriate to the situation. Also, make sure you ask us to change the severity level, should the situation dictate. Be responsive! If this is an important issue to you, quickly follow up on any action plan submitted to you by Oracle Support. The support engineer assigned to your Service Request will be able to move the issue forward more aggressively when they have the needed information. This is crucial in resolving your issues in a timely manner. Be thorough. If there are five questions in the action plan, make sure you provide an answer for all five questions in one response, rather than trickling them in one at a time. This will allow the engineer to look at all of the information as a whole and to avoid multiple trips to your SR, saving valuable time and getting you a resolution sooner. Be your own advocate! You know your situation best; make sure Oracle Support understands both how and why this issue is important to you and your company. Use the escalation process if you're concerned that your SR isn't going the right direction, the right pace, or through the right person. Don't wait until you're frustrated and angry. An escalation is as simple as a quick conversation on the phone and can be amazingly effective in getting your issues back on track. The support manager you speak with is empowered to make any needed changes. Be our partner. You can make your support experience better. When your SR has been resolved, you may receive a survey request. This is intended to get your feedback about how your SR went and what we can do to improve your overall support experience. Oracle Support is here to help you. Our goal with any Service Request is to provide the best possible solution as quickly as possible. With your help, we’ll be able to do this with your Service Request too.  

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• “Apparently, you signed a software services agreement without fully understanding it.”

  - by Dave Ballantyne

  I am not a lawyer. Let me say that again, I am not a lawyer. Todays Dilbert has prompted me to post about my recent experience with SqlServer licensing. I'm in the technical realm and rarely have much to do with purchasing and licensing.  I say “I need” , budget realities will state weather I actually get.  However, I do keep my ear to the ground and due to my community involvement, I know, or at least have an understanding of, some licensing restrictions. Due to a misunderstanding, Microsoft Licensing stated that we needed licenses for our standby servers.  I knew that that was not the case,  and a quick tweet confirmed this. So after composing an email stating exactly what the machines in question were used for ie Log shipped to and used in a disaster recover scenario only,  and posting several Technet articles to back this up, we saved 2 enterprise edition licences, a not inconsiderable cost. However during this discussion, I was made aware of another ‘legalese’ document that could completely override the referenced articles, and anything I knew, or thought i knew, about SqlServer licensing. Personally, I had no knowledge of this.  The “Purchase Use Rights” agreement would appear to be the volume licensing equivalent of the “End User License Agreement” , click throughs we all know and ignore.  Here is a direct quote from Microsoft licensing, when asked for clarification. “Thanks for your email. Just to give some background on the Product Use Rights (PUR), licenses acquired through volume licensing are bound by the most recent PUR at the time of license acquisition. The link for the current PUR and PUR archive is http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/about-licensing/product-licensing.aspx. Further to this, products acquired through boxed product or pre-installed on hardware (OEM) are bound by the End User License Agreement (EULA). The PUR will explain limitations, license requirements and rulings on areas like multiplexing, virtualization, processor licensing, etc. When an article will appear on a Microsoft site or blog describing the licensing of a product, it will be using the PUR as a base. Due to the writing style or language used by the person writing areas of the website or technical blogs, the PUR is what you should use as a rule and not any of the other media. The PUR is updated quarterly and will reference every product available at that time working on the latest version unless otherwise stated. The crux of this is that the PUR is written after extensive discussions between the different branches of Microsoft (legal, technical, etc) and the wording is then approved. This is not always the case for some pages explaining licensing as they are merely intended to advise and not subject to the intense scrutiny as the PUR.” So, exactly what does that mean ? My take :  This is a living document, “updated quarterly” , though presumably this could be done on a whim and a fancy.  It could state , you are only licensed if ,that during install you stand in a corner juggling and that photographic evidence is required. A plainly ridiculous demand but,  what else could it override or new requirements could it state that change your existing understanding of the product or your legal usage of it. As i say, im not a lawyer, but are you checking the PURA prior to purchase ?

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• Dual monitor not working completely in 12.10 after upgrade

  - by Mark Baldridge

  At 12.04, dual monitors worked perfectly. After upgrading to 12.10, the primary monitor works, the second monitor only partly works. I am sure there is some difference between the releases that I have missed setting properly. System settings - Displays show both correctly as Acer 22" monitors at 1680x1050 (16:10). An icon on monitor 2 is present, but elongated; almost an artifact, since other icons on the primary screen are absent, but this one icon is there on th second monitor. Selecting the icons on both screens exist. Painting is weird on monitor 2. Launcher exists and works on both screens, but even with sticky edges off, the cursor stops at the left edge of monitor 2. Clicking on text editor on screen 2 launcer will launch gedit there. If I drag it, it leaves a trail of after images like repaint is failing. If I drive the cursor on the launcher, the help tags like "LibreOffice Writer" appear, but stay on screen unless I drag the active gedit window over them. Then part of the help bubbles are overwritten, leaving behind after images of the gedit window on screen. What is really fascinating is that the System settings - Displays is now ignoring monitor selection, after allowing it earlier. Just before this, the help popup which said "Select a monitor to change its properties; drag to rearrange its placement" actually let me do that. Maybe a trick of where I grab the edge of the monitor in the Displays setting. I just found a working handle. When I drag monitor 1 to the right of monitor 2, "Apply" and confirm, both monitors work normally (although the right monitor lets the cursor slide off the right edge onto the left edge of monitor 1 - which sounds correct). Painting of windows does not leave an after image. However, success is only temporary. The setting survives the reboot, but painting on the left monitor, now monitor 2, now replicates the issues from before. The after image of the gedit window and the small window for "Are you sure you want to close all programs and restart the computer?" are still on monitor 2 (on the left now), even though they are not real windows, nor do they have processes behind them. Curiously, in Displays, the "green" monitor on the left in the display window is matched by the right monitor color in the monitor upper left corner. Probably makes sense as the one on the right is now monitor 1. If I repeat the "drag the left monitor to the right of the right monitor on the "Displays" window, things are oriented properly, with no display artifacts as I drag windows around either screen. Also the description bubbles that pop up are overwritten on both screens, so none of those artifacts either. This goodness does not survive a reboot, however. Have not tried logging out and back in. All of this after positing that the motherboard VGA and HDMI ports could have been the issue. So, I installed an e-GeForce 7600 GT Dual DVI (I know the web thinks it is not DVI, but VGA, but the connectors are DVI). No change to the weird behavior. The good parts continue to work, the weirdness also works, and swapping monitor positions seems to cure the issue. So, is there a setting I have missed? Given "swapping" monitor 1 and 2 on the System Settings... - Displays makes it work, just not across boot, I suspect so.

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• SQL Server: Writing CASE expressions properly when NULLs are involved

  - by Mladen Prajdic

  We’ve all written a CASE expression (yes, it’s an expression and not a statement) or two every now and then. But did you know there are actually 2 formats you can write the CASE expression in? This actually bit me when I was trying to add some new functionality to an old stored procedure. In some rare cases the stored procedure just didn’t work correctly. After a quick look it turned out to be a CASE expression problem when dealing with NULLS. In the first format we make simple “equals to” comparisons to a value: SELECT CASE <value> WHEN <equals this value> THEN <return this> WHEN <equals this value> THEN <return this> -- ... more WHEN's here ELSE <return this> END Second format is much more flexible since it allows for complex conditions. USE THIS ONE! SELECT CASE WHEN <value> <compared to> <value> THEN <return this> WHEN <value> <compared to> <value> THEN <return this> -- ... more WHEN's here ELSE <return this> END Now that we know both formats and you know which to use (the second one if that hasn’t been clear enough) here’s an example how the first format WILL make your evaluation logic WRONG. Run the following code for different values of @i. Just comment out any 2 out of 3 “SELECT @i =” statements. DECLARE @i INTSELECT  @i = -1 -- first resultSELECT  @i = 55 -- second resultSELECT  @i = NULL -- third resultSELECT @i AS OriginalValue, -- first CASE format. DON'T USE THIS! CASE @i WHEN -1 THEN '-1' WHEN NULL THEN 'We have a NULL!' ELSE 'We landed in ELSE' END AS DontUseThisCaseFormatValue, -- second CASE format. USE THIS! CASE WHEN @i = -1 THEN '-1' WHEN @i IS NULL THEN 'We have a NULL!' ELSE 'We landed in ELSE' END AS UseThisCaseFormatValue When the value of @i is –1 everything works as expected, since both formats go into the –1 WHEN branch. When the value of @i is 55 everything again works as expected, since both formats go into the ELSE branch. When the value of @i is NULL the problems become evident. The first format doesn’t go into the WHEN NULL branch because it makes an equality comparison between two NULLs. Because a NULL is an unknown value: NULL = NULL is false. That is why the first format goes into the ELSE Branch but the second format correctly handles the proper IS NULL comparison.   Please use the second more explicit format. Your future self will be very grateful to you when he doesn’t have to discover these kinds of bugs.

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• Process for Securing Web Sites and Applications

  - by Aamir Hasan

  The following quick-start guide provides a detailed overview of how to configure security for IIS 6.0. Reduce the Attack Surface of the Web Server 1.       Enable only essential Windows Server 2003 components and services. 2.       Enable only essential IIS 6.0 components and services. 3.       Enable only essential Web service extensions. 4.       Enable only essential Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) types. 5.       Configure Windows Server 2003 security settings. Prevent Unauthorized Access to Web Sites and Applications 1.       Store content on a dedicated disk volume. 2.       Set IIS Web site permissions. 3.       Set IP address and domain name restrictions. 4.       Set the NTFS file system permissions. Isolate Web Sites and Applications 1.       Evaluate the effects of impersonation on application compatibility: 2·         Identify the impersonation behavior for ASP applications. 3·         Select the impersonation behavior for ASP.NET applications. 4.       Configure Web sites and applications for isolation. Configure User Authentication 1.       Configure Web site authentication. 2·         Select the Web site authentication method. 3·         Configure the Web site authentication method. 4.       Configure File Transfer Protocol (FTP) site authentication. Encrypt Confidential Data Exchanged with Clients 1.       Use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to encrypt confidential data. 2.       Use Internet Protocol security (IPSec) or virtual private network (VPN) with remote administration. Maintain Web Site and Application Security 1.       Obtain and apply current security patches. 2.       Enable Windows Server 2003 security logs. 3.       Enable file access auditing for Web site content. 4.       Configure IIS logs. 5.       Review security policies, processes, and procedures.  Note:To secure the Web sites and applications in a Web farm, use the process described in this chapter to configure security for each server in the Web farm. Link:http://www.studentacad.com/post/2010/04/28/Process-for-Securing-Web-Sites-and-Applications.aspx

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• GameStateManagement and inputs not being recognized

  - by Dave Voyles

  EDIT: I've removed a bit of code from the input class to make this more readable, and updated my StartScreen class, which is now at the bottom. I have the same issues though, but they are explained in my comments on the bottom of this page. It won't let me paste my additional code here (the format comes out crazy), so I've linked to pastebin with the code pastebin I've been trying to implement the MS provided GameStateManagement sample with my game, but it has proven a bit difficult. Really, I'm using Oneksoft's Starter Kit, which uses the MS provided sample, so they are identical, except for my splash screen. I'm able to get the splash screen to launch, where it informs the player to press A to advance the screen, but this doesn't seem to accept any of my inputs. I’ve also added Console.Writeline(“Pressing A”) under the IsMenuPressed method in Input.cs to verify that it is getting called, but for some reason it is constantly spamming my log, rather than just appearing each time I press it. Not sure why this is happening. I have a bit too much code to post it all here, so I’ve attached a link to my .rar with my classes, but I’ll also leave a bit here which I thinkmay be applicable. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/6ek4uru2jc2ch0k/JTeBWN_3PQ What do you guys think the issue is? namespace Pong { public class Input { public const int MaxInputs = 4; public readonly KeyboardState[] CurrentKeyboardState; public readonly GamePadState[] CurrentGamePadState; public KeyboardState[] LastKeyboardState; public GamePadState[] LastGamePadState; public readonly bool[] GamePadWasConnected; public Input() { // Get input state CurrentKeyboardState = new KeyboardState[MaxInputs]; CurrentGamePadState = new GamePadState[MaxInputs]; // Preserving last states to check for isKeyUp events LastKeyboardState = CurrentKeyboardState; LastGamePadState = CurrentGamePadState; } /// <summary> /// Checks for a "menu select" input action. /// The controllingPlayer parameter specifies which player to read input for. /// If this is null, it will accept input from any player. When the action /// is detected, the output playerIndex reports which player pressed it. /// </summary> public bool IsMenuSelect(PlayerIndex? controllingPlayer, out PlayerIndex playerIndex) { Console.WriteLine("Pressing A"); return IsNewKeyPress(Keys.Space, controllingPlayer, out playerIndex) || IsNewKeyPress(Keys.Enter, controllingPlayer, out playerIndex) || IsNewButtonPress(Buttons.A, controllingPlayer, out playerIndex) || IsNewButtonPress(Buttons.Start, controllingPlayer, out playerIndex); } /// <summary> /// Checks for a "menu cancel" input action. /// The controllingPlayer parameter specifies which player to read input for. /// If this is null, it will accept input from any player. When the action /// is detected, the output playerIndex reports which player pressed it. /// </summary> public bool IsMenuCancel(PlayerIndex? controllingPlayer, out PlayerIndex playerIndex) { return IsNewKeyPress(Keys.Escape, controllingPlayer, out playerIndex) || IsNewButtonPress(Buttons.B, controllingPlayer, out playerIndex) || IsNewButtonPress(Buttons.Back, controllingPlayer, out playerIndex); }

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• Try the Oracle Database Appliance Manager Configurator - For Fun!

  - by pwstephe-Oracle

  Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 If you would like to get a first hand glimpse of how easy it is to configure an ODA, even if you don’t have access to one, it’s possible to download the Appliance Manager Configurator from the Oracle Technology Network, and run it standalone on your PC or Linux/Unix  workstation. The configurator is packaged in a zip file that contains the complete Java environment to run standalone. Once the package is downloaded and unzipped it’s simply a matter of launching it using the config command or shell depending on your runtime environment. Oracle Appliance Manager Configurator is a Java-based tool that enables you to input your deployment plan and validate your network settings before an actual deployment, or you can just preview and experiment with it. Simply download and run the configurator on a local client system which can be a Windows, Linux, or UNIX system. (For Windows launch the batch file config.bat for Linux/Unix environments, run  ./ config.sh). You will be presented with the very same dialogs and options used to configure a production ODA but on your workstation. At the end of a configurator session, you may save your deployment plan in a configuration file. If you were actually ready to deploy, you could copy this configuration file to a real ODA where the online Oracle Appliance Manager Configurator would use the contents to deploy your plan in production. You may also print the file’s content and use the printout as a checklist for setting up your production external network configuration. Be sure to use the actual production network addresses you intend to use it as this will only work correctly if your client system is connected to same network that will be used for the ODA. (This step is not necessary if you are just previewing the Configurator). This is a great way to get an introductory look at the simple and intuitive Database Appliance configuration interface and the steps to configure a system. /* 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-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}

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• Using NSpec at various architectural layers

  - by nono

  Having read the quick start at nspec.org, I realized that NSpec might be a useful tool in a scenario which was becoming a bit cumbersome with NUnit alone. I'm adding an OAuth (or, DotNetOpenAuth) to a website and quickly made a mess of writing test methods such as [Test] public void UserIsLoggedInLocallyPriorToInvokingExternalLoginAndExternalLoginSucceedsAndExternalProviderIdIsNotAlreadyAssociatedWithUserAccount() { ... } ... and I wound up with maybe a dozen permutations of this theme, for the user already being logged in locally and not locally, the external login succeeding or failing, etc. Not only were the method names unwieldy, but every test needed a setup that contained parts in common with a different set of other tests. I realized that NSpec's incremental setup capabilities would work great for this, and for a while I was trucking a long wonderfully, with code like act = () => { actionResult = controller.ExternalLoginCallback(returnUrl); }; context["The user is already logged in"] = () => { before = () => identity.Setup(x => x.IsAuthenticated).Returns(true); context["The external login succeeds"] = () => { before = () => oauth.Setup(x => x.VerifyAuthentication(It.IsAny<string>())).Returns(new AuthenticationResult(true, providerName, "provideruserid", "username", new Dictionary<string, string>())); context["External login already exists for current user"] = () => { before = () => authService.Setup(x => x.ExternalLoginExistsForUser(It.IsAny<string>(), It.IsAny<string>(), It.IsAny<string>())).Returns(true); it["Should add 'login sucessful' alert"] = () => { var alerts = (IList<Alert>)controller.TempData[TempDataKeys.AlertCollection]; alerts[0].Message.should_be_same("Login successful"); alerts[0].AlertType.should_be(AlertType.Success); }; it["Should return a redirect result"] = () => actionResult.should_cast_to<RedirectToRouteResult>(); }; context["External login already exists for another user"] = () => { before = () => authService.Setup(x => x.ExternalLoginExistsForAnyOtherUser(It.IsAny<string>(), It.IsAny<string>(), It.IsAny<string>())).Returns(true); it["Adds an error alert"] = () => { var alerts = (IList<Alert>)controller.TempData[TempDataKeys.AlertCollection]; alerts[0].Message.should_be_same("The external login you requested is already associated with a different user account"); alerts[0].AlertType.should_be(AlertType.Error); }; it["Should return a redirect result"] = () => actionResult.should_cast_to<RedirectToRouteResult>(); }; This approach seemed to work magnificently until I prepared to write test code for my ApplicationServices layer, to which I delegate viewmodel manipulation from my MVC controllers, and which coordinates the operations of the lower data repository layer: public void CreateUserAccountFromExternalLogin(RegisterExternalLoginModel model) { throw new NotImplementedException(); } public void AssociateExternalLoginWithUser(string userName, string provider, string providerUserId) { throw new NotImplementedException(); } public string GetLocalUserName(string provider, string providerUserId) { throw new NotImplementedException(); } I have no idea what in the world to name the test class, the test methods, or even if I should perhaps include the testing for this layer into the test class from my large code snippet above, so that a single feature or user action could be tested without regard to architectural layering. I can't find any tutorials or blog posts which cover more than simple examples, so I would appreciate any recommendations or pointing in the right direction. I would even welcome "your question is invalid"-type answers as long as some explanation is provided.

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• 2012 EC Election Ballot open; Meet the Candidates Call tomorrow

  - by heathervc

  The JCP Executive Committee (EC) Election ballot is now open and all of the candidates' nominations materials are now available on JCP.org -- note that two new candidates were nominated late last week:  Liferay and North Sixty-One. It is shaping up to be an exciting election this year! The ratified candidates are:  Cinterion, Credit Suisse, Fujitsu and HP.The elected candidates are (9 candidates, 2 open seats):  Cisco Systems, CloudBees, Giuseppe Dell'Abate, Liferay, London Java Community, MoroccoJUG, North Sixty-One, Software AG, and Zero Turnaround. Tomorrow, 18 October, we will hold an open teleconference for the Java Community to meet the candidates and ask questions regarding their nomination.  We hope you will be able to participate in the call.  Should the time be inconvenient, a recording will be made available for download, and candidate questions may be posted on this blog entry or sent to [email protected]. Topic: Meet the EC Candidates Date: Thursday, October 18, 2012 Time: 9:30 am, Pacific Daylight Time (San Francisco, GMT-07:00) Meeting Number: 807 818 225 Meeting Password: MeetEC ------------------------------------------------------- To join the online meeting (Now from mobile devices) ------------------------------------------------------- 1. Go to https://jcp.webex.com/jcp/j.php?ED=186721592&UID=0&PW=NMmUzNjY5ZTMw&RT=MiM0 2. If requested, enter your name and email address. 3. If a password is required, enter the meeting password: MeetEC 4. Click "Join". To view in other time zones or languages, please click the link: https://jcp.webex.com/jcp/j.php?ED=186721592&UID=0&PW=NMmUzNjY5ZTMw&ORT=MiM0 ------------------------------------------------------- To join the audio conference only -------------------------------------------------------     +1 (866) 682-4770     Outside the US: global access numbers  https://www.intercallonline.com/portlets/scheduling/viewNumbers/listNumbersByCode.do?confCode=6279803 or +1 (408) 774-4073     Conference code: 9454597     Security code: JCPEC (52732)------------------------------------------------------- For assistance ------------------------------------------------------- 1. Go to https://jcp.webex.com/jcp/mc 2. On the left navigation bar, click "Support".

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