true - Page 837 - Developer IT

How do you update live web sites with code changes?

- by Aaron Anodide

I know this is a very basic question. If someone could humor me and tell me how they would handle this, I'd be greatful. I decided to post this because I am about to install SynchToy to remedy the issue below, and I feel a bit unprofessional using a "Toy" but I can't think of a better way. Many times I find when I am in this situation, I am missing some painfully obvious way to do things - this comes from being the only developer in the company. ASP.NET web application developed on my computer at work Solution has 2 projects: Website (files) WebsiteLib (C#/dll) Using a Git repository Deployed on a GoGrid 2008R2 web server Deployment: Make code changes. Push to Git. Remote desktop to server. Pull from Git. Overwrite the live files by dragging/dropping with windows explorer. In Step 5 I delete all the files from the website root.. this can't be a good thing to do. That's why I am about to install SynchToy... UPDATE: THANKS for all the useful responses. I can't pick which one to mark answer - between using a web deployment - it looks like I have several useful suggesitons: Web Project = whole site packaged into a single DLL - downside for me I can't push simple updates - being a lone developer in a company of 50, this remains something that is simpler at times. Pulling straight from SCM into web root of site - i originally didn't do this out of fear that my SCM hidden directory might end up being exposed, but the answers here helped me get over that (although i still don't like having one more thing to worry about forgetting to make sure is still true over time) Using a web farm, and systematically deploying to nodes - this is the ideal solution for zero downtime, which is actually something I care about since the site is essentially a real time revenue source for my company - i might have a hard time convincing them to double the cost of the servers though. -- finally, the re-enforcement of the basic principal that there needs to be a single click deployment for the site OR ELSE THERE SOMETHING WRONG is probably the most useful thing I got out of the answers. UPDATE 2: I thought I come back to this and update with the actual solution that's been in place for many months now and is working perfectly (for my single web server solution). The process I use is: Make code changes Push to Git Remote desktop to server Pull from Git Run the following batch script: cd C:\Users\Administrator %systemroot%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd.exe stop site "/site.name:Default Web Site" robocopy Documents\code\da\1\work\Tree\LendingTreeWebSite1 c:\inetpub\wwwroot /E /XF connectionsconfig Web.config %systemroot%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd.exe start site "/site.name:Default Web Site" As you can see this brings the site down, uses robocopy to intelligently copy the files that have changed then brings the site back up. It typically runs in less than 2 seconds. Since peak traffic on this site is about 2 requests per second, missing 4 requests per site update is acceptable. Sine I've gotten more proficient with Git I've found that the first four steps above being a "manual process" is also acceptable, although I'm sure I could roll the whole thing into a single click if I wanted to. The documentation for AppCmd.exe is here. The documentation for Robocopy is here.

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DrawIndexedPrimitives overdraws data in previous buffer if called in loop

- by Daniel Excinsky

I doubled the question from stackoverflow here, and will delete the opposite of a question that gave me the answer. I have the Draw method in one of my renderers, that loops through the dictionary and gets precollected and preinitialized buffers. When dictionary has only one element, everything is just fine. But with more elements what I get on the screen is only the data from the last buffer (I suppose, not sure) My Draw method: public void Draw(GameTime gameTime) { if (!_areStaticEffectsSet) { // blockEffect.Parameters["TextureAtlas"].SetValue(textureAtlas); blockEffect.Parameters["HorizonColor"].SetValue(World.HORIZONCOLOR); blockEffect.Parameters["NightColor"].SetValue(World.NIGHTCOLOR); blockEffect.Parameters["MorningTint"].SetValue(World.MORNINGTINT); blockEffect.Parameters["EveningTint"].SetValue(World.EVENINGTINT); blockEffect.Parameters["SunColor"].SetValue(World.SUNCOLOR); _areStaticEffectsSet = true; } blockEffect.Parameters["World"].SetValue(Matrix.Identity); blockEffect.Parameters["View"].SetValue(_player.CameraView); blockEffect.Parameters["Projection"].SetValue(_player.CameraProjection); blockEffect.Parameters["CameraPosition"].SetValue(_player.CameraPosition); blockEffect.Parameters["timeOfDay"].SetValue(_world.TimeOfDay); var viewFrustum = new BoundingFrustum(_player.CameraView * _player.CameraProjection); _graphicsDevice.BlendState = BlendState.Opaque; _graphicsDevice.DepthStencilState = DepthStencilState.Default; foreach (KeyValuePair<int, Texture2D> textureAtlas in textureAtlases) { blockEffect.Parameters["TextureAtlas"].SetValue(textureAtlas.Value); foreach (EffectPass pass in blockEffect.CurrentTechnique.Passes) { pass.Apply(); //TODO: ?????????? ??????????????? ?? ?????? ?? ??????? ??????? VertexBuffer ? IndexBuffer foreach (Chunk chunk in _world.Chunks.Values) { if (chunk == null || chunk.IsDisposed) { continue; } if (chunk.BoundingBox.Intersects(viewFrustum) && chunk.GetBlockIndexBuffer(textureAtlas.Key) != null) { lock (chunk) { if (chunk.GetBlockIndexBuffer(textureAtlas.Key).IndexCount > 0) { VertexBuffer vertexBuffer = chunk.GetBlockVertexBuffer(textureAtlas.Key); IndexBuffer indexBuffer = chunk.GetBlockIndexBuffer(textureAtlas.Key); //if (chunk.DrawIndex == new Vector3i(0, 0, 0)) //{ //if (textureAtlas.Key == -1) //{ //var varray = new [] //{ //new VertexPositionTextureLight(new Vector3(0,68,0), new Vector2(0,1),1,new Vector3(0,0,0), new Vector3(1,1,1)), //new VertexPositionTextureLight(new Vector3(0,68,1), new Vector2(0,1),1,new Vector3(0,0,0), new Vector3(1,1,1)), //new VertexPositionTextureLight(new Vector3(1,68,0), new Vector2(0,1),1,new Vector3(0,0,0), new Vector3(1,1,1)) //}; //var iarray = new short[] {0, 1, 2}; //vertexBuffer = new VertexBuffer(_graphicsDevice, typeof(VertexPositionTextureLight), varray.Length, BufferUsage.WriteOnly); //indexBuffer = new IndexBuffer(_graphicsDevice, IndexElementSize.SixteenBits, iarray.Length, BufferUsage.WriteOnly); //vertexBuffer.SetData(varray); //indexBuffer.SetData(iarray); } } _graphicsDevice.SetVertexBuffer(vertexBuffer); _graphicsDevice.Indices = indexBuffer; _graphicsDevice.DrawIndexedPrimitives(PrimitiveType.TriangleList, 0, 0, vertexBuffer.VertexCount, 0, indexBuffer.IndexCount / 3); } } } } } } } Noteworthy things about the code: XNA version is 4.0. I've commented the debugging code in the loop, but left it for it may bring some insight. I try not only to change vertices/indices in the loop, but textureAtlas also. Code in the shader about textureAtlas: Texture TextureAtlas; sampler TextureAtlasSampler = sampler_state { texture = <TextureAtlas>; magfilter = POINT; minfilter = POINT; mipfilter = POINT; AddressU = WRAP; AddressV = WRAP; }; struct VSInput { float4 Position : POSITION0; float2 TexCoords1 : TEXCOORD0; float SunLight : COLOR0; float3 LocalLight : COLOR1; float3 Normal : NORMAL0; }; VertexPositionTextureLight is my own realization of IVertexType. So, do anybody know about this problem, or see the wrongness in my code (that's far more likely)?

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Can't remove JPanel from JFrame while adding new class into it

- by A.K.

Basically, I have my Frame class, which instantiates all the properties for the JFrame, and draws a JLabel with an image (my title screen). Then I made a separate JPanel with a start button on it, and made a mouse listener that will allow me to remove these objects while adding in a new Board() class (Which paints the main game). *Note: The JLabel is SEPARATE from the JPanel, but it still gets moved to the side by it. Problem: Whenever I click the button though, it only shows a little square of what I presume is my board class trying to run. Code below for the Frame Class: package OurPackage; //Made By A.K. 5/24/12 //Contains Frame. import java.awt.BorderLayout; import java.awt.Color; import java.awt.Container; import java.awt.Dimension; import java.awt.Graphics; import java.awt.Graphics2D; import java.awt.GridBagLayout; import java.awt.GridLayout; import java.awt.Image; import java.awt.Rectangle; import java.awt.event.ActionEvent; import java.awt.event.ActionListener; import java.awt.event.KeyEvent; import java.awt.event.MouseAdapter; import java.awt.event.MouseEvent; import java.awt.event.MouseListener; import javax.swing.*; import javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicOptionPaneUI.ButtonActionListener; public class Frame implements MouseListener { public static boolean StartGame = false; ImageIcon img = new ImageIcon(getClass().getResource("/Images/ActionJackTitle.png")); ImageIcon StartImg = new ImageIcon(getClass().getResource("/Images/JackStart.png")); public Image Title; JLabel TitleL = new JLabel(img); public JPanel panel = new JPanel(); JButton StartB = new JButton(StartImg); JFrame frm = new JFrame("Action-Packed Jack"); public Frame() { TitleL.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(1200, 420)); frm.add(TitleL); frm.setLayout(new GridBagLayout()); frm.add(panel); panel.setSize(new Dimension(220, 45)); panel.setLayout(new GridBagLayout ()); panel.add(StartB); StartB.addMouseListener(this); StartB.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(220, 45)); frm.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE); frm.setSize(1200, 420); frm.setVisible(true); frm.setResizable(false); frm.setLocationRelativeTo(null); } public static void main(String[] args) { new Frame(); } public void mouseClicked(MouseEvent e) { StartB.setContentAreaFilled(false); panel.remove(StartB); frm.remove(panel); frm.remove(TitleL); //frm.setLayout(null); frm.add(new Board()); //Add Game "Tiles" Or Content. x = 1200 frm.validate(); System.out.println("Hit!"); } @Override public void mouseEntered(MouseEvent arg0) { // TODO Auto-generated method stub } @Override public void mouseExited(MouseEvent arg0) { // TODO Auto-generated method stub } @Override public void mousePressed(MouseEvent arg0) { // TODO Auto-generated method stub } @Override public void mouseReleased(MouseEvent arg0) { // TODO Auto-generated method stub } }

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Dynamically load and call delegates based on source data

- by makerofthings7

Assume I have a stream of records that need to have some computation. Records will have a combination of these functions run Sum, Aggregate, Sum over the last 90 seconds, or ignore. A data record looks like this: Date;Data;ID Question Assuming that ID is an int of some kind, and that int corresponds to a matrix of some delegates to run, how should I use C# to dynamically build that launch map? I'm sure this idea exists... it is used in Windows Forms which has many delegates/events, most of which will never actually be invoked in a real application. The sample below includes a few delegates I want to run (sum, count, and print) but I don't know how to make the quantity of delegates fire based on the source data. (say print the evens, and sum the odds in this sample) using System; using System.Threading; using System.Collections.Generic; internal static class TestThreadpool { delegate int TestDelegate(int parameter); private static void Main() { try { // this approach works is void is returned. //ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem(new WaitCallback(PrintOut), "Hello"); int c = 0; int w = 0; ThreadPool.GetMaxThreads(out w, out c); bool rrr =ThreadPool.SetMinThreads(w, c); Console.WriteLine(rrr); // perhaps the above needs time to set up6 Thread.Sleep(1000); DateTime ttt = DateTime.UtcNow; TestDelegate d = new TestDelegate(PrintOut); List<IAsyncResult> arDict = new List<IAsyncResult>(); int count = 1000000; for (int i = 0; i < count; i++) { IAsyncResult ar = d.BeginInvoke(i, new AsyncCallback(Callback), d); arDict.Add(ar); } for (int i = 0; i < count; i++) { int result = d.EndInvoke(arDict[i]); } // Give the callback time to execute - otherwise the app // may terminate before it is called //Thread.Sleep(1000); var res = DateTime.UtcNow - ttt; Console.WriteLine("Main program done----- Total time --> " + res.TotalMilliseconds); } catch (Exception e) { Console.WriteLine(e); } Console.ReadKey(true); } static int PrintOut(int parameter) { // Console.WriteLine(Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId + " Delegate PRINTOUT waited and printed this:"+parameter); var tmp = parameter * parameter; return tmp; } static int Sum(int parameter) { Thread.Sleep(5000); // Pretend to do some math... maybe save a summary to disk on a separate thread return parameter; } static int Count(int parameter) { Thread.Sleep(5000); // Pretend to do some math... maybe save a summary to disk on a separate thread return parameter; } static void Callback(IAsyncResult ar) { TestDelegate d = (TestDelegate)ar.AsyncState; //Console.WriteLine("Callback is delayed and returned") ;//d.EndInvoke(ar)); } }

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Slick2D Rendering Lots of Polygons

- by Hazzard

I'm writing an little isometric game using Slick. The world terrain is made up of lots of quadrilaterals. In a small world that is 128 by 128 squares, over 16,000 quadrilaterals need to be rendered. This puts my pretty powerful computer down to 30 fps. I've though about caching "chunks" of the world so only single chunks would ever need updating at a time, but I don't know how to do this, and I am sure there are other ways to optimize it besides that. Maybe I'm doing the whole thing wrong, surely fancy 3D games that run fine on my machine are more intensive than this. My question is how can I improve the FPS and am I doing something wrong? Or does it actually take that much power to render those polygons? -- Here is the source code for the render method in my game state. It iterates through a 2d array or heights and draws polygons based on the height. public void render(GameContainer container, StateBasedGame game, Graphics gfx) throws SlickException { gfx.translate(offsetX * d + container.getWidth() / 2, offsetY * d + container.getHeight() / 2); gfx.scale(d, d); for (int y = 0; y < placeholder.length; y++) {// x & y are isometric // diag for (int x = 0; x < placeholder[0].length; x++) { Polygon poly; int hor = TestState.TILE_WIDTH * (x - y);// hor and ver are orthagonal int W = TestState.TILE_HEIGHT * (x + y) - 1 * heights[y + 1][x];//points to go off of int S = TestState.TILE_HEIGHT * (x + y) - 1 * heights[y + 1][x + 1]; int E = TestState.TILE_HEIGHT * (x + y) - 1 * heights[y][x + 1]; int N = TestState.TILE_HEIGHT * (x + y) - 1 * heights[y][x]; if (placeholder[y][x] == null) { poly = new Polygon();//Create actual surface polygon poly.addPoint(-TestState.TILE_WIDTH + hor, W); poly.addPoint(hor, S + TestState.TILE_HEIGHT); poly.addPoint(TestState.TILE_WIDTH + hor, E); poly.addPoint(hor, N - TestState.TILE_HEIGHT); float z = ((float) heights[y][x + 1] - heights[y + 1][x]) / 32 + 0.5f; placeholder[y][x] = new Tile(poly, new Color(z, z, z)); //ShapeRenderer.fill(placeholder[y][x]); } if (true) {//ONLY draw tile if it's on screen gfx.setColor(placeholder[y][x].getColor()); ShapeRenderer.fill(placeholder[y][x]); //gfx.fill(placeholder[y][x]); //placeholder[y][x]. //DRAW EDGES if (y + 1 == placeholder.length) {//draw South foundation edges gfx.setColor(Color.gray); Polygon found = new Polygon(); found.addPoint(-TestState.TILE_WIDTH + hor, W); found.addPoint(hor, S + TestState.TILE_HEIGHT); found.addPoint(hor, TestState.TILE_HEIGHT * (x + y + 1)); found.addPoint(-TestState.TILE_WIDTH + hor, TestState.TILE_HEIGHT * (x + y)); gfx.fill(found); } if (x + 1 == placeholder[0].length) {//north gfx.setColor(Color.darkGray); Polygon found = new Polygon(); found.addPoint(TestState.TILE_WIDTH + hor, E); found.addPoint(hor, S + TestState.TILE_HEIGHT); found.addPoint(hor, TestState.TILE_HEIGHT * (x + y + 1)); found.addPoint(TestState.TILE_WIDTH + hor, TestState.TILE_HEIGHT * (x + y)); gfx.fill(found); }//*/ } } } }

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(libgdx) Button doesn't work

- by StercoreCode

At the game I choose StopScreen. At this screen displays button. But if I click it - it doesn't work. What I expect - when I press button it must restart game. At this stage must display at least a message that the button is pressed. I tried to create new and clear project. Main class implement ApplicationListener. I put the same code in the appropriate methods. And it's works! But if i create this button in my game - it doesn't work. When i play and go to the StopScreen, i saw button. But if i click, or touch, nothing happens. I think that the proplem at the InputListener, although i set the stage as InputProcessor. Gdx.input.setInputProcessor(stage); I also try to addListener for Button as ClickListener. But it gave no results. Or it maybe problem that i implements Screen method - not ApplicationListener or Game. But if StopScreen implement ApplicationListener, at the mainGame I can't to setScreen. Just interests question: why button displays but nothing happens to it? Here is the code of StopScreen if it helps find my mistake: public class StopScreen implements Screen{ private OrthographicCamera camera; private SpriteBatch batch; public Stage stage; //** stage holds the Button **// private BitmapFont font; //** same as that used in Tut 7 **// private TextureAtlas buttonsAtlas; //** image of buttons **// private Skin buttonSkin; //** images are used as skins of the button **// public TextButton button; //** the button - the only actor in program **// public StopScreen(CurrusGame currusGame) { camera = new OrthographicCamera(); camera.setToOrtho(false, 800, 480); batch = new SpriteBatch(); buttonsAtlas = new TextureAtlas("button.pack"); //** button atlas image **// buttonSkin = new Skin(); buttonSkin.addRegions(buttonsAtlas); //** skins for on and off **// font = AssetLoader.font; //** font **// stage = new Stage(); stage.clear(); Gdx.input.setInputProcessor(stage); TextButton.TextButtonStyle style = new TextButton.TextButtonStyle(); style.up = buttonSkin.getDrawable("ButtonOff"); style.down = buttonSkin.getDrawable("ButtonOn"); style.font = font; button = new TextButton("PRESS ME", style); //** Button text and style **// button.setPosition(100, 100); //** Button location **// button.setHeight(100); //** Button Height **// button.setWidth(100); //** Button Width **// button.addListener(new InputListener() { public boolean touchDown(InputEvent event, float x, float y, int pointer, int button) { Gdx.app.log("my app", "Pressed"); return true; } public void touchUp(InputEvent event, float x, float y, int pointer, int button) { Gdx.app.log("my app", "Released"); } }); stage.addActor(button); } @Override public void render(float delta) { Gdx.gl.glClearColor(0, 1, 0, 1); Gdx.gl.glClear(GL20.GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT); stage.act(); batch.setProjectionMatrix(camera.combined); batch.begin(); stage.draw(); batch.end(); }

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Programmatically Making the Selected OutlineView Cell Editable

- by Geertjan

When you're using the OutlineView and you use the Tab key to move through its cells, the cells are shown to be selected, as below: However, until you press the Space key in the selected cell, or until you click the mouse within it, you cannot edit it. That's extremely annoying when you're creating a data-entry application. Your user would like to begin editing a cell as soon as they have tabbed into it. Needing to press Space first, or click the mouse in the cell first, is a cumbersome additional step that completely destroys your work flow. Below, you can see that an editable cell looks very different to one that is merely selected: I.e., now I can type and the text changes. How to set up the OutlineView so that the Tab key makes the selected cell editable? Here's the constructor of the TopComponent you see above: public ViewerTopComponent() { initComponents(); setName(Bundle.CTL_ViewerTopComponent()); setToolTipText(Bundle.HINT_ViewerTopComponent()); setLayout(new BorderLayout()); OutlineView ov = new OutlineView(); final Outline outline = ov.getOutline(); outline.setRootVisible(false); //When column selection changes, e.g., via Tab key, //programmatically start editing the cell: ListSelectionListener listSelectionListener = new ListSelectionListener() { @Override public void valueChanged(ListSelectionEvent e) { int row = outline.getSelectedRow(); int column = outline.getSelectedColumn(); //Ignore the node column: if (row > -1 && row > -1) { outline.editCellAt(row, column); } } }; outline.getColumnModel().getSelectionModel().addListSelectionListener(listSelectionListener); ov.setPropertyColumns( "city", "City", "state", "State"); add(ov, BorderLayout.CENTER); em.setRootContext( new AbstractNode(Children.create(new CustomerChildFactory(), true))); associateLookup(ExplorerUtils.createLookup(em, getActionMap())); }

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Pro/con of using Angular directives for complex form validation/ GUI manipulation

- by tengen

I am building a new SPA front end to replace an existing enterprise's legacy hodgepodge of systems that are outdated and in need of updating. I am new to angular, and wanted to see if the community could give me some perspective. I'll state my problem, and then ask my question. I have to generate several series of check boxes based on data from a .js include, with data like this: $scope.fieldMappings.investmentObjectiveMap = [ {'id':"CAPITAL PRESERVATION", 'name':"Capital Preservation"}, {'id':"STABLE", 'name':"Moderate"}, {'id':"BALANCED", 'name':"Moderate Growth"}, // etc {'id':"NONE", 'name':"None"} ]; The checkboxes are created using an ng-repeat, like this: <div ng-repeat="investmentObjective in fieldMappings.investmentObjectiveMap"> ... </div> However, I needed the values represented by the checkboxes to map to a different model (not just 2-way-bound to the fieldmappings object). To accomplish this, I created a directive, which accepts a destination array destarray which is eventually mapped to the model. I also know I need to handle some very specific gui controls, such as unchecking "None" if anything else gets checked, or checking "None" if everything else gets unchecked. Also, "None" won't be an option in every group of checkboxes, so the directive needs to be generic enough to accept a validation function that can fiddle with the checked state of the checkbox group's inputs based on what's already clicked, but smart enough not to break if there is no option called "NONE". I started to do that by adding an ng-click which invoked a function in the controller, but in looking around Stack Overflow, I read people saying that its bad to put DOM manipulation code inside your controller - it should go in directives. So do I need another directive? So far: (html): <input my-checkbox-group type="checkbox" fieldobj="investmentObjective" ng-click="validationfunc()" validationfunc="clearOnNone()" destarray="investor.investmentObjective" /> Directive code: .directive("myCheckboxGroup", function () { return { restrict: "A", scope: { destarray: "=", // the source of all the checkbox values fieldobj: "=", // the array the values came from validationfunc: "&" // the function to be called for validation (optional) }, link: function (scope, elem, attrs) { if (scope.destarray.indexOf(scope.fieldobj.id) !== -1) { elem[0].checked = true; } elem.bind('click', function () { var index = scope.destarray.indexOf(scope.fieldobj.id); if (elem[0].checked) { if (index === -1) { scope.destarray.push(scope.fieldobj.id); } } else { if (index !== -1) { scope.destarray.splice(index, 1); } } }); } }; }) .js controller snippet: .controller( 'SuitabilityCtrl', ['$scope', function ( $scope ) { $scope.clearOnNone = function() { // naughty jQuery DOM manipulation code that // looks at checkboxes and checks/unchecks as needed }; The above code is done and works fine, except the naughty jquery code in clearOnNone(), which is why I wrote this question. And here is my question: after ALL this, I think to myself - I could be done already if I just manually handled all this GUI logic and validation junk with jQuery written in my controller. At what point does it become foolish to write these complicated directives that future developers will have to puzzle over more than if I had just written jQuery code that 99% of us would understand with a glance? How do other developers draw the line? I see this all over Stack Overflow. For example, this question seems like it could be answered with a dozen lines of straightforward jQuery, yet he has opted to do it the angular way, with a directive and a partial... it seems like a lot of work for a simple problem. Specifically, I suppose I would like to know: how SHOULD I be writing the code that checks whether "None" has been selected (if it exists as an option in this group of checkboxes), and then check/uncheck the other boxes accordingly? A more complex directive? I can't believe I'm the only developer that is having to implement code that is more complex than needed just to satisfy an opinionated framework.

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Detect Unicode Usage in SQL Column

One optimization you can make to a SQL table that is overly large is to change from nvarchar (or nchar) to varchar (or char). Doing so will cut the size used by the data in half, from 2 bytes per character (+ 2 bytes of overhead for varchar) to only 1 byte per character. However, you will lose the ability to store Unicode characters, such as those used by many non-English alphabets. If the tables are storing user-input, and your application is or might one day be used internationally, its likely that using Unicode for your characters is a good thing. However, if instead the data is being generated by your application itself or your development team (such as lookup data), and you can be certain that Unicode character sets are not required, then switching such columns to varchar/char can be an easy improvement to make. Avoid Premature Optimization If you are working with a lookup table that has a small number of rows, and is only ever referenced in the application by its numeric ID column, then you wont see any benefit to using varchar vs. nvarchar. More generally, for small tables, you wont see any significant benefit. Thus, if you have a general policy in place to use nvarchar/nchar because it offers more flexibility, do not take this post as a recommendation to go against this policy anywhere you can. You really only want to act on measurable evidence that suggests that using Unicode is resulting in a problem, and that you wont lose anything by switching to varchar/char. Obviously the main reason to make this change is to reduce the amount of space required by each row. This in turn affects how many rows SQL Server can page through at a time, and can also impact index size and how much disk I/O is required to respond to queries, etc. If for example you have a table with 100 million records in it and this table has a column of type nchar(5), this column will use 5 * 2 = 10 bytes per row, and with 100M rows that works out to 10 bytes * 100 million = 1000 MBytes or 1GB. If it turns out that this column only ever stores ASCII characters, then changing it to char(5) would reduce this to 5*1 = 5 bytes per row, and only 500MB. Of course, if it turns out that it only ever stores the values true and false then you could go further and replace it with a bit data type which uses only 1 byte per row (100MB total). Detecting Whether Unicode Is In Use So by now you think that you have a problem and that it might be alleviated by switching some columns from nvarchar/nchar to varchar/char but youre not sure whether youre currently using Unicode in these columns. By definition, you should only be thinking about this for a column that has a lot of rows in it, since the benefits just arent there for a small table, so you cant just eyeball it and look for any non-ASCII characters. Instead, you need a query. Its actually very simple: SELECT DISTINCT(CategoryName)FROM CategoriesWHERE CategoryName <> CONVERT(varchar, CategoryName) Summary Gregg Stark for the tip. 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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PowerShell Script To Find Where SharePoint 2010 Features Are Activated

- by Brian Jackett

The script on this post will find where features are activated within your SharePoint 2010 farm. Problem Over the past few months I’ve gotten literally dozens of emails, blog comments, or personal requests from people asking “how do I find where a SharePoint feature has been activated?” I wrote a script to find which features are installed on your farm almost 3 years ago. There is also the Get-SPFeature PowerShell commandlet in SharePoint 2010. The problem is that these only tell you if a feature is installed not where they have been activated. This is especially important to know if you have multiple web applications, site collections, and /or sites. Solution The default call (no parameters) for Get-SPFeature will return all features in the farm. Many of the parameter sets accept filters for specific scopes such as web application, site collection, and site. If those are supplied then only the enabled / activated features are returned for that filtered scope. Taking the concept of recursively traversing a SharePoint farm and merging that with calls to Get-SPFeature at all levels of the farm you can find out what features are activated at that level. Store the results into a variable and you end up with all features that are activated at every level. Below is the script I came up with (slight edits for posting on blog). With no parameters the function lists all features activated at all scopes. If you provide an Identity parameter you will find where a specific feature is activated. Note that the display name for a feature you see in the SharePoint UI rarely matches the “internal” display name. I would recommend using the feature id instead. You can download a full copy of the script by clicking on the link below. Note: This script is not optimized for medium to large farms. In my testing it took 1-3 minutes to recurse through my demo environment. This script is provided as-is with no warranty. Run this in a smaller dev / test environment first. 001 002 003 004 005 006 007 008 009 010 011 012 013 014 015 016 017 018 019 020 021 022 023 024 025 026 027 028 029 030 031 032 033 034 035 036 037 038 039 040 041 042 043 044 045 046 047 048 049 050 051 052 053 054 055 056 057 058 059 060 061 062 063 064 065 066 067 068 function Get-SPFeatureActivated { # see full script for help info, removed for formatting [CmdletBinding()] param( [Parameter(position = 1, valueFromPipeline=$true)] [Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell.SPFeatureDefinitionPipeBind] $Identity )#end param Begin { # declare empty array to hold results. Will add custom member ` # for Url to show where activated at on objects returned from Get-SPFeature. $results = @() $params = @{} } Process { if([string]::IsNullOrEmpty($Identity) -eq $false) { $params = @{Identity = $Identity ErrorAction = "SilentlyContinue" } } # check farm features $results += (Get-SPFeature -Farm -Limit All @params | % {Add-Member -InputObject $_ -MemberType noteproperty ` -Name Url -Value ([string]::Empty) -PassThru} | Select-Object -Property Scope, DisplayName, Id, Url) # check web application features foreach($webApp in (Get-SPWebApplication)) { $results += (Get-SPFeature -WebApplication $webApp -Limit All @params | % {Add-Member -InputObject $_ -MemberType noteproperty ` -Name Url -Value $webApp.Url -PassThru} | Select-Object -Property Scope, DisplayName, Id, Url) # check site collection features in current web app foreach($site in ($webApp.Sites)) { $results += (Get-SPFeature -Site $site -Limit All @params | % {Add-Member -InputObject $_ -MemberType noteproperty ` -Name Url -Value $site.Url -PassThru} | Select-Object -Property Scope, DisplayName, Id, Url) $site.Dispose() # check site features in current site collection foreach($web in ($site.AllWebs)) { $results += (Get-SPFeature -Web $web -Limit All @params | % {Add-Member -InputObject $_ -MemberType noteproperty ` -Name Url -Value $web.Url -PassThru} | Select-Object -Property Scope, DisplayName, Id, Url) $web.Dispose() } } } } End { $results } } #end Get-SPFeatureActivated Snippet of output from Get-SPFeatureActivated Conclusion This script has been requested for a long time and I’m glad to finally getting a working “clean” version. If you find any bugs or issues with the script please let me know. I’ll be posting this to the TechNet Script Center after some internal review. Enjoy the script and I hope it helps with your admin / developer needs. -Frog Out

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Merging Social Accounts: What We Learned This Weekend

- by Mike Stiles

Guest Post by Erika BrookesWe learned that it’s not always as easy as you think it’s going to be. While it’s widely accepted that merging multiple owned Facebook Pages that are duplicating communities and putting out the same type of content is a best practice, actually pulling it off without rattling fans is a trickier proposition. Facebook is nice and clear about how to merge Facebook Pages. Although content is not carried over, Likes from the pages you’re merging are. So you can imagine the surprise when such fans start seeing posts in their News Feed from a page they don’t believe they ever Liked. One community member accurately likened it to having your bank come under another bank’s brand name. The Facebook Page changes to the new brand, just like your debit card, emails, signs and other communication. This weekend we did our merge. The Facebook communities of Vitrue, Involver and Collective Intellect were pulled into one community, Oracle Social. Could we have handled it better? Oh yeah. Our intent was to make sure, to the fullest extent possible, that the fans of the Vitrue, Involver, and Collective Intellect brand pages were well-informed about the pending page merges in ADVANCE of the merge. While many were aware that Oracle acquired the three companies, many were not. We learned from fan feedback that we should have sent notifications MUCH earlier to make the brand Page merge crystal clear and to answer any questions. That was our bad, our responsibility and we apologize for Oracle Social showing up in your News Feed if you were not aware that it was a result of your fandom of Vitrue, Involver or Collective Intellect. It was our job to make you aware well in advance. Some felt they had never Liked the fan Pages of Vitrue, Involver or Collective Intellect, so they were understandably upset (some cultures may call it “fit to be tied”) when they found themselves fans of Oracle Social. One thing to consider is that since 2009, brands and developers have used and enjoyed free Involver tab apps like Twitter, RSS and YouTube (1.2 million of which are currently active), which included an opt-in Liking the Involver Page. Often, when Liking happens in a manner outside of the traditional clicking of a Like button on a brand Page, it’s easy to forget a Page was indeed Liked. Lastly, a few felt that their Like of the Page had been “bought.” It was not. No fans or Likes were separately purchased. Yes, the companies and the social properties of Vitrue, Involver and Collective Intellect were acquired by Oracle. Those brands are now being coordinated into the larger Oracle brand. In social media, that means those brands are being integrated into the Oracle Social community. So what now? We apologize and apply lessons learned. We learned that you not only have to communicate thoroughly and clearly, but you have to communicate well in advance of any actionable items that will affect fans. We’re more than willing to walk straight to the woodshed when we deserve it. Going forward, the social team here is dedicated to facilitating content, discussion and sharing around social for marketers, agencies, IT stakeholders and social staffs, including community managers. We anticipate Oracle Social being the premier gathering place for true social innovators as we move into social’s exciting next phase of development. Inevitably, some will still feel they are fans of the Page in error. While we hate to see you go, you may unlike the Page if it’s not relevant or useful to you. Let’s continue to contribute, participate, foster our desire to learn, and move forward together positively and constructively - both for current fans of the community and the many fans to come.

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PaaS, DBaaS and the Oracle Database Cloud Service

- by yaldahhakim

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 EN-US 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:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; 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-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} As with many widely hyped areas, there is much more variation within the broad spectrum of products referred to as “Cloud” that is immediately apparent. This variation is evident in one of the key misunderstandings about the Oracle Database Cloud Service. People could be forgiven for thinking that the Database Cloud Service was a Database-as-a-Service (DBaaS), but this is actually not true. The Database Cloud Service is a Platform-as-a-Service, which presents a different user and developer interface and has a different set of qualities. A good way to think about the difference between these two varieties of Cloud offerings is that you, the customer, have to deal with things at the level of the offering, but not for anything below it. In practice, this means that you do not have to deal with hardware or system software, including installation and maintenance, for DBaaS. You also do not have much control over configuration of these options. For PaaS, you don’t have to deal with hardware, system software, or database software – and also do not have control over these levels in the stack. So you cannot modify configuration parameters for the database with the Database Cloud Service – your interface is through SQL and PL/SQL, with Application Express, included in the Database Cloud Service, or through JDBC for Java apps running in the Java Cloud Service, or through RESTful Web Services. You will notice what is not mentioned there – SQL*Net. You cannot access your Oracle Database Cloud Service by changing an entry in the TNSNames file and using SQL*Net. So the effort involved in migrating an existing Oracle Database in your data center to the Database Cloud Service may be prohibitive. The good news is that Application Express and the RESTful Web Services wizard in the Database Cloud Service allow you to develop new applications very quickly, and, of course, the provisioning of the entire Database Cloud Service takes only minutes.

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Is it bad practice to make an iterator that is aware of its own end

- by aaronman

For some background of why I am asking this question here is an example. In python the method chain chains an arbitrary number of ranges together and makes them into one without making copies. Here is a link in case you don't understand it. I decided I would implement chain in c++ using variadic templates. As far as I can tell the only way to make an iterator for chain that will successfully go to the next container is for each iterator to to know about the end of the container (I thought of a sort of hack in where when != is called against the end it will know to go to the next container, but the first way seemed easier and safer and more versatile). My question is if there is anything inherently wrong with an iterator knowing about its own end, my code is in c++ but this can be language agnostic since many languages have iterators. #ifndef CHAIN_HPP #define CHAIN_HPP #include "iterator_range.hpp" namespace iter { template <typename ... Containers> struct chain_iter; template <typename Container> struct chain_iter<Container> { private: using Iterator = decltype(((Container*)nullptr)->begin()); Iterator begin; const Iterator end;//never really used but kept it for consistency public: chain_iter(Container & container, bool is_end=false) : begin(container.begin()),end(container.end()) { if(is_end) begin = container.end(); } chain_iter & operator++() { ++begin; return *this; } auto operator*()->decltype(*begin) { return *begin; } bool operator!=(const chain_iter & rhs) const{ return this->begin != rhs.begin; } }; template <typename Container, typename ... Containers> struct chain_iter<Container,Containers...> { private: using Iterator = decltype(((Container*)nullptr)->begin()); Iterator begin; const Iterator end; bool end_reached = false; chain_iter<Containers...> next_iter; public: chain_iter(Container & container, Containers& ... rest, bool is_end=false) : begin(container.begin()), end(container.end()), next_iter(rest...,is_end) { if(is_end) begin = container.end(); } chain_iter & operator++() { if (begin == end) { ++next_iter; } else { ++begin; } return *this; } auto operator*()->decltype(*begin) { if (begin == end) { return *next_iter; } else { return *begin; } } bool operator !=(const chain_iter & rhs) const { if (begin == end) { return this->next_iter != rhs.next_iter; } else return this->begin != rhs.begin; } }; template <typename ... Containers> iterator_range<chain_iter<Containers...>> chain(Containers& ... containers) { auto begin = chain_iter<Containers...>(containers...); auto end = chain_iter<Containers...>(containers...,true); return iterator_range<chain_iter<Containers...>>(begin,end); } } #endif //CHAIN_HPP

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Making AI jump on a spot effectively

- by Pasquale Sada

How to calculate, in 3D environment, the closest point, from which an AI character can jump onto a platform? Setup I have an initial velocity V(Vx,Vy,VZ) and a spot where the character stands still at S(Sx,Sy,Sz). What I'm trying to achieve is a successful jump on a spot E(Ex,Ey,Ez) where you have clicked on(only lower or higher spot, because I've in place a simple steering behavior for even terrains). There are no obstacles around. I've implemented a formula that can make him jump in a precise way on a spot but you need to declare an angle: the problem arise when the selected spot is straight above your head. It' pretty lame that the char hang there and can reach a thing that is 1cm above is head. I'll share the code I'm using: Vector3 dir = target - transform.position; // get target direction float h = dir.y; // get height difference dir.y = 0; // retain only the horizontal direction float dist = dir.magnitude ; // get horizontal distance float a = angle * Mathf.Deg2Rad; // convert angle to radians dir.y = dist * Mathf.Tan(a); // set dir to the elevation angle dist += h / Mathf.Tan(a); // correct for small height differences // calculate the velocity magnitude float vel = Mathf.Sqrt(dist * Physics.gravity.magnitude / Mathf.Sin(2 *a)); return vel * dir.normalized; Ended up using the lowest angle (20 degree) and checking for collision on the trajectory. If found any increase the angle. Here some code (to improve the code maybe must stop the check at the highest point of the curve): Vector3 BallisticVel(Vector3 target, float angle) { Vector3 dir = target - transform.position; // get target direction float h = dir.y; // get height difference dir.y = 0; // retain only the horizontal direction float dist = dir.magnitude ; // get horizontal distance float a = angle * Mathf.Deg2Rad; // convert angle to radians dir.y = dist * Mathf.Tan(a); // set dir to the elevation angle dist += h / Mathf.Tan(a); // correct for small height differences // calculate the velocity magnitude float vel = Mathf.Sqrt(dist * Physics.gravity.magnitude / Mathf.Sin(2 * a)); return vel * dir.normalized; } Vector3 TrajectoryPoint(Vector3 startingPosition, Vector3 startingVelocity, float n ) { float t = 1/60 ; // seconds per time step Vector3 stepVelocity = t * startingVelocity; // m/s Vector3 stepGravity = t * t * Physics.gravity; // m/s/s return startingPosition + n * stepVelocity + 0.5f * (n*n+n) * stepGravity; } bool CheckTrajectory(Vector3 startingPosition,Vector3 target, float angle_jump) { Debug.Log("checking"); if(angle_jump < 80f) { Debug.Log("if"); Vector3 startingVelocity = BallisticVel(target, angle_jump); for (int i = 0; i < 180; i++) { //Debug.Log(i); Vector3 trajectoryPosition = TrajectoryPoint( startingPosition, startingVelocity, i ); if(Physics.Raycast(trajectoryPosition,Vector3.forward,safeDistance)) { angle_jump += 10; break; // restart loop with the new angle } else continue; } return true; JumpVelocity = BallisticVel(target, angle_jump); } return false; }

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JOGL2 test compiles, but doesn't execute - help?

- by Chuchinyi

I have a problem with JOGL2. My JOGL2Template.java compiles fine, but executing it results in the following error: D:\java\java\jogl>javac JOGL2Template.java <== compile ok D:\java\java\jogl>java JOGL2Template <== execute error Exception in thread "main" java.lang.ExceptionInInitializerError at javax.media.opengl.GLProfile.<clinit>(GLProfile.java:1176) at JOGL2Template.<init>(JOGL2Template.java:24) at JOGL2Template.main(JOGL2Template.java:57) Caused by: java.lang.SecurityException: no certificate for gluegen-rt.dll in D:\ java\lib\gluegen-rt-natives-windows-i586.jar at com.jogamp.common.util.JarUtil.validateCertificate(JarUtil.java:350) at com.jogamp.common.util.JarUtil.validateCertificates(JarUtil.java:324) at com.jogamp.common.util.cache.TempJarCache.validateCertificates(TempJa rCache.java:328) at com.jogamp.common.util.cache.TempJarCache.bootstrapNativeLib(TempJarC ache.java:283) at com.jogamp.common.os.Platform$3.run(Platform.java:308) at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method) at com.jogamp.common.os.Platform.loadGlueGenRTImpl(Platform.java:298) at com.jogamp.common.os.Platform.<clinit>(Platform.java:207) ... 3 more Here is the JOGL2Template.java source code: import java.awt.Dimension; import java.awt.Frame; import java.awt.event.WindowAdapter; import java.awt.event.WindowEvent; import javax.media.opengl.GLAutoDrawable; import javax.media.opengl.GLCapabilities; import javax.media.opengl.GLEventListener; import javax.media.opengl.GLProfile; import javax.media.opengl.awt.GLCanvas; import com.jogamp.opengl.util.FPSAnimator; import javax.swing.JFrame; /* * JOGL 2.0 Program Template For AWT applications */ public class JOGL2Template extends JFrame implements GLEventListener { private static final int CANVAS_WIDTH = 640; // Width of the drawable private static final int CANVAS_HEIGHT = 480; // Height of the drawable private static final int FPS = 60; // Animator's target frames per second // Constructor to create profile, caps, drawable, animator, and initialize Frame public JOGL2Template() { // Get the default OpenGL profile that best reflect your running platform. GLProfile glp = GLProfile.getDefault(); // Specifies a set of OpenGL capabilities, based on your profile. GLCapabilities caps = new GLCapabilities(glp); // Allocate a GLDrawable, based on your OpenGL capabilities. GLCanvas canvas = new GLCanvas(caps); canvas.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(CANVAS_WIDTH, CANVAS_HEIGHT)); canvas.addGLEventListener(this); // Create a animator that drives canvas' display() at 60 fps. final FPSAnimator animator = new FPSAnimator(canvas, FPS); addWindowListener(new WindowAdapter() { // For the close button @Override public void windowClosing(WindowEvent e) { // Use a dedicate thread to run the stop() to ensure that the // animator stops before program exits. new Thread() { @Override public void run() { animator.stop(); System.exit(0); } }.start(); } }); add(canvas); pack(); setTitle("OpenGL 2 Test"); setVisible(true); animator.start(); // Start the animator } public static void main(String[] args) { new JOGL2Template(); } @Override public void init(GLAutoDrawable drawable) { // Your OpenGL codes to perform one-time initialization tasks // such as setting up of lights and display lists. } @Override public void display(GLAutoDrawable drawable) { // Your OpenGL graphic rendering codes for each refresh. } @Override public void reshape(GLAutoDrawable drawable, int x, int y, int w, int h) { // Your OpenGL codes to set up the view port, projection mode and view volume. } @Override public void dispose(GLAutoDrawable drawable) { // Hardly used. } } Any ideas what might be the cause of these errors?

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Seperation of project responsibilities in new project

- by dreza

We have very recently started a new project (MVC 3.0) and some of our early discussion has been around how the work and development will be split amongst the team members to ensure we get the least amount of overlap of work and so help make it a bit easier for each developer to get on and do their work. The project is expected to take about 6 months - 1 year (although not all developers are likely to be on and might filter off towards the end), Our team is going to be small so this will help out a bit I believe. The team will essentially consist of: 3 x developers (1 a slightly more experienced and will be the lead) 1 x project manager / product owner / tester An external company responsbile for doing our design work General project/development decisions so far have included: Develop in an Agile way using SCRUM techniques (We are still very much learning this approach as a company) Use MVVM archectecture Use Ninject and DI where possible Attempt to use as TDD as much as possible to drive development. Keep our controllers as skinny as possible Keep our views as simple as possible During our discussions two approaches have been broached as too how to seperate the workload given our objectives outlined above. OPTION 1: A framework seperation where each person is responsible for conceptual areas with overlap and discussion primarily in the integration areas. The integration areas would the responsibily of both developers as required. View prototypes (**Graphic designer**) | - Mockups | Views (Razor and view helpers etc) & Javascript (**Developer 1**) | - View models (Integration point) | Controllers and Application logic (**Developer 2**) | - Models (Integration point) | Domain model and persistence (**Developer 3**) PROS: Integration points are quite clear and so developers can work without dependencies on others fairly easily Code practices such as naming conventions and style is more easily managed in regards to consistancy as primarily only one developer will be handling an area CONS: Completion of an entire feature becomes a bit grey as no single person is responsible for an entire feature (story?) A person might not have a full appreciation for all areas of the project and so code overlap might be lacking if suddenly that person left. OPTION 2: A more task orientated approach where each person is responsible for the completion of the entire task from view - controller - model. PROS: A person is responsible for one entire feature so it's "complete" state can be clearly defined Code overlap into different areas will occur so each individual has good coverage over the entire application CONS: Overlap of development will occur in all the modules and developers can develop/extend without a true understanding of what the original code owner was intending. This could potentially lead more easily to code bloat? Following a convention might be harder as developers are adding to all areas of the project If a developer sets up a way of doing things would it be harder to enforce the other developers to follow that convention or even build on it (or even discuss it?). Dunno.. Bugs could more easily be introduced into areas not thought about by the developer It's easier to possibly to carry a team member in so far as one member just hacks code together to complete a task whilst another takes time to build a foundation that could be used by others and so help make future tasks easier i.e. starts building a framework? QUESTION: As it might appear I'm more in favor of option 1, however I'm interested to see how others might have approached this or what is the standard or best or preferred way of undertaking a project. Or indeed any different approach to handling this?

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Asynchrony in C# 5 (Part I)

- by javarg

I’ve been playing around with the new Async CTP preview available for download from Microsoft. It’s amazing how language trends are influencing the evolution of Microsoft’s developing platform. Much effort is being done at language level today than previous versions of .NET. In these post series I’ll review some major features contained in this release: Asynchronous functions TPL Dataflow Task based asynchronous Pattern Part I: Asynchronous Functions This is a mean of expressing asynchronous operations. This kind of functions must return void or Task/Task<> (functions returning void let us implement Fire & Forget asynchronous operations). The two new keywords introduced are async and await. async: marks a function as asynchronous, indicating that some part of its execution may take place some time later (after the method call has returned). Thus, all async functions must include some kind of asynchronous operations. This keyword on its own does not make a function asynchronous thought, its nature depends on its implementation. await: allows us to define operations inside a function that will be awaited for continuation (more on this later). Async function sample: Async/Await Sample async void ShowDateTimeAsync() { while (true) { var client = new ServiceReference1.Service1Client(); var dt = await client.GetDateTimeTaskAsync(); Console.WriteLine("Current DateTime is: {0}", dt); await TaskEx.Delay(1000); } } The previous sample is a typical usage scenario for these new features. Suppose we query some external Web Service to get data (in this case the current DateTime) and we do so at regular intervals in order to refresh user’s UI. Note the async and await functions working together. The ShowDateTimeAsync method indicate its asynchronous nature to the caller using the keyword async (that it may complete after returning control to its caller). The await keyword indicates the flow control of the method will continue executing asynchronously after client.GetDateTimeTaskAsync returns. The latter is the most important thing to understand about the behavior of this method and how this actually works. The flow control of the method will be reconstructed after any asynchronous operation completes (specified with the keyword await). This reconstruction of flow control is the real magic behind the scene and it is done by C#/VB compilers. Note how we didn’t use any of the regular existing async patterns and we’ve defined the method very much like a synchronous one. Now, compare the following code snippet in contrast to the previuous async/await: Traditional UI Async void ComplicatedShowDateTime() { var client = new ServiceReference1.Service1Client(); client.GetDateTimeCompleted += (s, e) => { Console.WriteLine("Current DateTime is: {0}", e.Result); client.GetDateTimeAsync(); }; client.GetDateTimeAsync(); } The previous implementation is somehow similar to the first shown, but more complicated. Note how the while loop is implemented as a chained callback to the same method (client.GetDateTimeAsync) inside the event handler (please, do not do this in your own application, this is just an example). How it works? Using an state workflow (or jump table actually), the compiler expands our code and create the necessary steps to execute it, resuming pending operations after any asynchronous one. The intention of the new Async/Await pattern is to let us think and code as we normally do when designing and algorithm. It also allows us to preserve the logical flow control of the program (without using any tricky coding patterns to accomplish this). The compiler will then create the necessary workflow to execute operations as the happen in time.

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Antenna Aligner Part 4: Role'ing in the deep

- by Chris George

Since last time I've been trying to sort out the general workflow of the app. It's fundamentally not hard, there is a list of transmitters, you select a transmitter and it shows the compass view. Having done quite a bit of ajax/asp.net/html in the past, I immediately started off by creating two divs within my 'page', one for the list, one for the compass. Then using the onClick event in the list, this will switch the display attribute on the divs. This seemed to work, but did lead to some dodgy transitional redrawing artefacts which I was not happy with. So after some Googling I realised I was doing it all wrong! JQuery mobile has the concept of giving an object in html a data-role. By giving a div the attribute data-role="page" it is then treated as a separate page on the mobile device. Within the code, this is referenced like a html anchor in the form #mypage. Using this system, page transitions such as fade or slide are automatically applied which adds to the whole authenticity of the app! Here is a simple example: . <a href="#'compasspage">compass</a> . <div data-role="page" id="compasspage" data-add-back-btn="true"> But I don't want just a static link, I want to dynamically create my list, and get each list elements to switch to the compass page with the right information. So here is the jquery that I used to dynamically inject new <li> rows into the <ul> block. $('ul').append($('<li/>', { //here appendin `<li>` 'data-role': "list-divider" }).append($('<a/>', { //here appending `<a>` into `<li>` 'href': '#compasspage', 'data-transition': 'none', 'onclick': 'selectTx(' + i + ')', 'html': buttonHtml }))); $('ul').listview('refresh'); This is called within a for loop so the first 5 appropriate transmitters are used. There are several things of interest to note here. Firstly, I could not find a more elegant way to tell the target page which transmitter I've clicked on, so I have used the onclick event as well as the href attribute. The onclick event fires 'selectTx' which simply sets a global member variable to the specific index number I've clicked on. Yes it's not nice, but it works. Secondly, the data-transition attribute is set to 'none'. I wanted the transition between the pages to be a whooshy slidey effect. However this worked going to the compass page, but returning to the list page gave some undesirable visual artefacts (flickering, redrawing etc.). So I decided to remove the transitions all together, which was a shame. Thirdly, rather than embedding loads of html into the append command, I removed this out into a variable 'buttonHtml'. Doing this really tidied up my code. Until next time!

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SR Activity Summaries Via Direct Email? You Bet!

- by PCat

Courtesy of Ken Walker. I’m a “bottom line” kind of guy. My friends and co-workers will tell you that I’m a “Direct Communicator” when it comes to work or my social life. For example, if I were to come up with a fantastic new recipe for a low-fat pan fried chicken, I’d Tweet, email, or find a way to blast the recipe directly to you so that you could enjoy it immediately. My friends would see the subject, “Awesome New Fried Chicken” and they’d click and see the recipe there before them.Others are “Indirect Communicators.” My friend Joel is like this. He would post the recipe in his blog, and then Tweet or email a link back to his blog with a subject, “Fried Chicken.” Then Joel would sit back and expect his friends to read the email, AND click the link to his blog, and then read the recipe. As a fan of the “Direct” method, I wish there was a way for me to “Opt-in” for immediate updates from Joel so I could see the recipe without having to click over to his blog to search for it.The same is true for MOS. If you’ve ever opened a Service Request through My Oracle Support (MOS), you know that most of the communication between you and the Oracle Support Engineer with respect to the issue in the SR, is done via email. Which type of email would you rather receive in your email account? Example1:Your SR has been updated. Click HERE to see the update. Or Example2:Your SR has been updated. Here is the update: “Hi John, Oracle Development has completed the patch we’ve been waiting for! Here’s a direct “LINK” to the patch that should resolve your issue. Please download and install the patch via the instructions (included with the link) and let me know if it does, in fact, resolve your issue!”Example2 is available to you! All you need to do is to “Opt-In” for the direct email updates. The default is for the indirect update as seen in Example1. To turn on “Service Request Details in Email” simply follow these instructions (aided by the screenshot below):1. Log into MOS, and click on your name in the upper right corner. Select “My Account.”2. Make sure “My Account” is highlighted in bold on the left.3. Turn ON, “Service Request Details in Email” That’s it! You will now receive the SR Updates, directly in your email account without having to log into MOS, click the SR, scroll down to the updates, etc. That’s better than Fried Chicken! (Well; almost better....).

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It happens only at Devoxx ...

- by arungupta

After attending several Java conferences world wide, this was my very first time at Devoxx. Here are some items I found that happens only at Devoxx ... Pioneers of theater-style seating - This not only provides comfortable seating for each attendee but the screens are very clearly visible to everybody in the room. Intellectual level of attendees is very high - Read more explanation on the Java EE 6 lab blog. In short, a lab, 1/3 of the content delivered at Devoxx 2011, could not be completed at other developer days in more than 1/3 the time. Snack box for lunches - Even though this suits well to the healthy lifestyle of multiple-snacks-during-a-day style but leaves attendees hungry sooner in the day. The longer breaks before the next snack in the evening does not help at all. Fortunately, Azure cupcakes and Android ice creams turned out to be handy. I finally carried my own apple :-) Wrist band instead of lanyard - The good part about this is that once tied to your hand then you are less likely to forget in your room. But OTOH you are a pretty much a branded conference attendee all through out the city. It was cost effective as it costed 20c as opposed to 1 euro for the lanyard. Live streaming from theater #8 (the biggest room) on parleys.com All talks recorded and released on parleys.com over next year. This allows attendees to not to miss any session and watch replay at their own leisure. Stephan promised to start sharing the sessions by mid December this year. No need to pre-register for a session - This is true for most of the conferences but bigger rooms (+ overflow room for key sessions) provide sufficient space for all those who want to attend the session. And of course all sessions are available on parleys.com anyway! Community votes on whiteboard - Devoxx attendees gets a chance to vote on topics ranging from their favorite non-Java language, operating system, or love from Oracle. Captured pictures at the end of Day 2 are shown below. Movie on the last but one night - This year it was The Adventures of Tintin and was lots of fun. Fries with mayo - This is a typical Belgian thing. Guys going in ladies room to avoid the long queues ... wow! Tweet wall everywhere and I mean literally everywhere, in rooms, hallways, front desk, and other places. The tweet picking algorithm was not very clear as I never saw my tweet appear on the wall ;-) You can also watch it at wall.devoxx.com. Cozy speaker dinner with great food and wine List of parallel and upcoming sessions displayed on the screen - This makes the information more explicit with the attendees. REST API with multiple mobile clients - This API is also used by some other conferences as well. And there always is iphone.devoxx.com. Steering committee members were recognized multiple times. The committee members were clearly identifiable wearing red hoodies. The wireless SSID was intuitive "Devoxx" but hidden to avoid some crap from Microsoft Windows. All of 9000 addresses were used up most of the times with each attendee having multiple devices. A 1 GB fibre optic cable was stretched to Metropolis to support the required network bandwidth. Stephan is already planning to upgrade the equipment and have a better infrastructure next year. Free water, soda, juice in a cooler Kinect connected to TV screens so that attendees can use their hands to browse through the list of sesssions. #devoxxblog, #devoxxwomen, #devoxxfrance, #devoxxgreat, #devoxxsuggestions And Devoxx attendees are called Devoxxians ... how cool is that ? :-) What other things do you think happen only at Devoxx ? And now the pictures from the community whiteboard: And a more complete album (including bigger pics of community votes) is available below:

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XNA Multiplayer Games and Networking

- by JoshReuben

· XNA communication must by default be lightweight – if you are syncing game state between players from the Game.Update method, you must minimize traffic. That game loop may be firing 60 times a second and player 5 needs to know if his tank has collided with any player 3 and the angle of that gun turret. There are no WCF ServiceContract / DataContract niceties here, but at the same time the XNA networking stack simplifies the details. The payload must be simplistic - just an ordered set of numbers that you would map to meaningful enum values upon deserialization. Overview · XNA allows you to create and join multiplayer game sessions, to manage game state across clients, and to interact with the friends list · Dependency on Gamer Services - to receive notifications such as sign-in status changes and game invitations · two types of online multiplayer games: system link game sessions (LAN) and LIVE sessions (WAN). · Minimum dev requirements: 1 Xbox 360 console + Creators Club membership to test network code - run 1 instance of game on Xbox 360, and 1 on a Windows-based computer Network Sessions · A network session is made up of players in a game + up to 8 arbitrary integer properties describing the session · create custom enums – (e.g. GameMode, SkillLevel) as keys in NetworkSessionProperties collection · Player state: lobby, in-play Session Types · local session - for split-screen gaming - requires no network traffic. · system link session - connects multiple gaming machines over a local subnet. · Xbox LIVE multiplayer session - occurs on the Internet. Ranked or unranked Session Updates · NetworkSession class Update method - must be called once per frame. · performs the following actions: o Sends the network packets. o Changes the session state. o Raises the managed events for any significant state changes. o Returns the incoming packet data. · synchronize the session à packet-received and state-change events à no threading issues Session Config · Session host - gaming machine that creates the session. XNA handles host migration · NetworkSession properties: AllowJoinInProgress , AllowHostMigration · NetworkSession groups: AllGamers, LocalGamers, RemoteGamers Subscribe to NetworkSession events · GamerJoined · GamerLeft · GameStarted · GameEnded – use to return to lobby · SessionEnded – use to return to title screen Create a Session session = NetworkSession.Create( NetworkSessionType.SystemLink, maximumLocalPlayers, maximumGamers, privateGamerSlots, sessionProperties ); Start a Session if (session.IsHost) { if (session.IsEveryoneReady) { session.StartGame(); foreach (var gamer in SignedInGamer.SignedInGamers) { gamer.Presence.PresenceMode = GamerPresenceMode.InCombat; Find a Network Session AvailableNetworkSessionCollection availableSessions = NetworkSession.Find( NetworkSessionType.SystemLink, maximumLocalPlayers, networkSessionProperties); availableSessions.AllowJoinInProgress = true; Join a Network Session NetworkSession session = NetworkSession.Join( availableSessions[selectedSessionIndex]); Sending Network Data var packetWriter = new PacketWriter(); foreach (LocalNetworkGamer gamer in session.LocalGamers) { // Get the tank associated with this player. Tank myTank = gamer.Tag as Tank; // Write the data. packetWriter.Write(myTank.Position); packetWriter.Write(myTank.TankRotation); packetWriter.Write(myTank.TurretRotation); packetWriter.Write(myTank.IsFiring); packetWriter.Write(myTank.Health); // Send it to everyone. gamer.SendData(packetWriter, SendDataOptions.None); } Receiving Network Data foreach (LocalNetworkGamer gamer in session.LocalGamers) { // Keep reading while packets are available. while (gamer.IsDataAvailable) { NetworkGamer sender; // Read a single packet. gamer.ReceiveData(packetReader, out sender); if (!sender.IsLocal) { // Get the tank associated with this packet. Tank remoteTank = sender.Tag as Tank; // Read the data and apply it to the tank. remoteTank.Position = packetReader.ReadVector2(); … End a Session if (session.AllGamers.Count == 1) { session.EndGame(); session.Update(); } Performance • Aim to minimize payload, reliable in order messages • Send Data Options: o Unreliable, out of order -(SendDataOptions.None) o Unreliable, in order (SendDataOptions.InOrder) o Reliable, out of order (SendDataOptions.Reliable) o Reliable, in order (SendDataOptions.ReliableInOrder) o Chat data (SendDataOptions.Chat) • Simulate: NetworkSession.SimulatedLatency , NetworkSession.SimulatedPacketLoss • Voice support – NetworkGamer properties: HasVoice ,IsTalking , IsMutedByLocalUser

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Tetris Movement - Implementation

- by James Brauman

Hi gamedev, I'm developing a Tetris clone and working on the input at the moment. When I was prototyping, movement was triggered by releasing a directional key. However, in most Tetris games I've played the movement is a bit more complex. When a directional key is pressed, the shape moves one space in that direction. After a short interval, if the key is still held down, the shape starts moving in the direction continuously until the key is released. In the case of the down key being pressed, there is no pause between the initial movement and the subsequent continuous movement. I've come up with a solution, and it works well, but it's totally over-engineered. Hey, at least I can recognize when things are getting silly, right? :) public class TetrisMover { List registeredKeys; Dictionary continuousPressedTime; Dictionary totalPressedTime; Dictionary initialIntervals; Dictionary continousIntervals; Dictionary keyActions; Dictionary initialActionDone; KeyboardState currentKeyboardState; public TetrisMover() { *snip* } public void Update(GameTime gameTime) { currentKeyboardState = Keyboard.GetState(); foreach (Keys currentKey in registeredKeys) { if (currentKeyboardState.IsKeyUp(currentKey)) { continuousPressedTime[currentKey] = TimeSpan.Zero; totalPressedTime[currentKey] = TimeSpan.Zero; initialActionDone[currentKey] = false; } else { if (initialActionDone[currentKey] == false) { keyActions[currentKey](); initialActionDone[currentKey] = true; } totalPressedTime[currentKey] += gameTime.ElapsedGameTime; if (totalPressedTime[currentKey] = initialIntervals[currentKey]) { continuousPressedTime[currentKey] += gameTime.ElapsedGameTime; if (continuousPressedTime[currentKey] = continousIntervals[currentKey]) { keyActions[currentKey](); continuousPressedTime[currentKey] = TimeSpan.Zero; } } } } } public void RegisterKey(Keys key, TimeSpan initialInterval, TimeSpan continuousInterval, Action keyAction) { if (registeredKeys.Contains(key)) throw new InvalidOperationException( string.Format("The key %s is already registered.", key)); registeredKeys.Add(key); continuousPressedTime.Add(key, TimeSpan.Zero); totalPressedTime.Add(key, TimeSpan.Zero); initialIntervals.Add(key, initialInterval); continousIntervals.Add(key, continuousInterval); keyActions.Add(key, keyAction); initialActionDone.Add(key, false); } public void UnregisterKey(Keys key) { *snip* } } I'm updating it every frame, and this is how I'm registering keys for movement: tetrisMover.RegisterKey( Keys.Left, keyHoldStartSpecialInterval, keyHoldMovementInterval, () = { Move(Direction.Left); }); tetrisMover.RegisterKey( Keys.Right, keyHoldStartSpecialInterval, keyHoldMovementInterval, () = { Move(Direction.Right); }); tetrisMover.RegisterKey( Keys.Down, TimeSpan.Zero, keyHoldMovementInterval, () = { PerformGravity(); }); Issues that this doesn't address: If both left and right are held down, the shape moves back and forth really quick. If a directional key is held down and the turn finishes and the shape is replaced by a new one, the new one will move quickly in that direction instead of the little pause it is supposed to have. I could fix the issues, but I think it will make the solution even worse. How would you implement this?

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PowerShell Script To Find Where SharePoint 2007 Features Are Activated

- by Brian T. Jackett

Recently I posted a script to find where SharePoint 2010 Features Are Activated. I built the original version to use SharePoint 2010 PowerShell commandlets as that saved me a number of steps for filtering and gathering features at each level. If there was ever demand for a 2007 version I could modify the script to handle that by using the object model instead of commandlets. Just the other week a fellow SharePoint PFE Jason Gallicchio had a customer asking about a version for SharePoint 2007. With a little bit of work I was able to convert the script to work against SharePoint 2007. Solution Below is the converted script that works against a SharePoint 2007 farm. Note: There appears to be a bug with the 2007 version that does not give accurate results against a SharePoint 2010 farm. I ran the 2007 version against a 2010 farm and got fewer results than my 2010 version of the script. Discussing with some fellow PFEs I think the discrepancy may be due to sandboxed features, a new concept in SharePoint 2010. I have not had enough time to test or confirm. For the time being only use the 2007 version script against SharePoint 2007 farms and the 2010 version against SharePoint 2010 farms. Note: This script is not optimized for medium to large farms. In my testing it took 1-3 minutes to recurse through my demo environment. This script is provided as-is with no warranty. Run this in a smaller dev / test environment first. 001 002 003 004 005 006 007 008 009 010 011 012 013 014 015 016 017 018 019 020 021 022 023 024 025 026 027 028 029 030 031 032 033 034 035 036 037 038 039 040 041 042 043 044 045 046 047 048 049 050 051 052 053 054 055 056 057 058 059 060 061 062 063 064 065 066 067 068 069 070 function Get-SPFeatureActivated { # see full script for help info, removed for formatting [CmdletBinding()] param( [Parameter(position = 1, valueFromPipeline=$true)] [string] $Identity )#end param Begin { # load SharePoint assembly to access object model [void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("Microsoft.SharePoint") # declare empty array to hold results. Will add custom member for Url to show where activated at on objects returned from Get-SPFeature. $results = @() $params = @{} } Process { if([string]::IsNullOrEmpty($Identity) -eq $false) { $params = @{Identity = $Identity} } # create hashtable of farm features to lookup definition ids later $farm = [Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPFarm]::Local # check farm features $results += ($farm.FeatureDefinitions | Where-Object {$_.Scope -eq "Farm"} | Where-Object {[string]::IsNullOrEmpty($Identity) -or ($_.DisplayName -eq $Identity)} | % {Add-Member -InputObject $_ -MemberType noteproperty -Name Url -Value ([string]::Empty) -PassThru} | Select-Object -Property Scope, DisplayName, Id, Url) # check web application features $contentWebAppServices = $farm.services | ? {$_.typename -like "Windows SharePoint Services Web Application"} foreach($webApp in $contentWebAppServices.WebApplications) { $results += ($webApp.Features | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Definition | Where-Object {[string]::IsNullOrEmpty($Identity) -or ($_.DisplayName -eq $Identity)} | % {Add-Member -InputObject $_ -MemberType noteproperty -Name Url -Value $webApp.GetResponseUri(0).AbsoluteUri -PassThru} | Select-Object -Property Scope, DisplayName, Id, Url) # check site collection features in current web app foreach($site in ($webApp.Sites)) { $results += ($site.Features | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Definition | Where-Object {[string]::IsNullOrEmpty($Identity) -or ($_.DisplayName -eq $Identity)} | % {Add-Member -InputObject $_ -MemberType noteproperty -Name Url -Value $site.Url -PassThru} | Select-Object -Property Scope, DisplayName, Id, Url) # check site features in current site collection foreach($web in ($site.AllWebs)) { $results += ($web.Features | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Definition | Where-Object {[string]::IsNullOrEmpty($Identity) -or ($_.DisplayName -eq $Identity)} | % {Add-Member -InputObject $_ -MemberType noteproperty -Name Url -Value $web.Url -PassThru} | Select-Object -Property Scope, DisplayName, Id, Url) $web.Dispose() } $site.Dispose() } } } End { $results } } #end Get-SPFeatureActivated Get-SPFeatureActivated Conclusion I have posted this script to the TechNet Script Repository (click here). As always I appreciate any feedback on scripts. If anyone is motivated to run this 2007 version script against a SharePoint 2010 to see if they find any differences in number of features reported versus what they get with the 2010 version script I’d love to hear from you. -Frog Out

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Stale statistics on a newly created temporary table in a stored procedure can lead to poor performance

- by sqlworkshops

When you create a temporary table you expect a new table with no past history (statistics based on past existence), this is not true if you have less than 6 updates to the temporary table. This might lead to poor performance of queries which are sensitive to the content of temporary tables.I was optimizing SQL Server Performance at one of my customers who provides search functionality on their website. They use stored procedure with temporary table for the search. The performance of the search depended on who searched what in the past, option (recompile) by itself had no effect. Sometimes a simple search led to timeout because of non-optimal plan usage due to this behavior. This is not a plan caching issue rather temporary table statistics caching issue, which was part of the temporary object caching feature that was introduced in SQL Server 2005 and is also present in SQL Server 2008 and SQL Server 2012. In this customer case we implemented a workaround to avoid this issue (see below for example for workarounds).When temporary tables are cached, the statistics are not newly created rather cached from the past and updated based on automatic update statistics threshold. Caching temporary tables/objects is good for performance, but caching stale statistics from the past is not optimal.We can work around this issue by disabling temporary table caching by explicitly executing a DDL statement on the temporary table. One possibility is to execute an alter table statement, but this can lead to duplicate constraint name error on concurrent stored procedure execution. The other way to work around this is to create an index.I think there might be many customers in such a situation without knowing that stale statistics are being cached along with temporary table leading to poor performance.Ideal solution is to have more aggressive statistics update when the temporary table has less number of rows when temporary table caching is used. I will open a connect item to report this issue.Meanwhile you can mitigate the issue by creating an index on the temporary table. You can monitor active temporary tables using Windows Server Performance Monitor counter: SQL Server: General Statistics->Active Temp Tables. The script to understand the issue and the workaround is listed below:set nocount onset statistics time offset statistics io offdrop table tab7gocreate table tab7 (c1 int primary key clustered, c2 int, c3 char(200))gocreate index test on tab7(c2, c1, c3)gobegin trandeclare @i intset @i = 1while @i <= 50000begininsert into tab7 values (@i, 1, ‘a’)set @i = @i + 1endcommit trangoinsert into tab7 values (50001, 1, ‘a’)gocheckpointgodrop proc test_slowgocreate proc test_slow @i intasbegindeclare @j intcreate table #temp1 (c1 int primary key)insert into #temp1 (c1) select @iselect @j = t7.c1 from tab7 t7 inner join #temp1 t on (t7.c2 = t.c1)endgodbcc dropcleanbuffersset statistics time onset statistics io ongo–high reads as expected for parameter ’1'exec test_slow 1godbcc dropcleanbuffersgo–high reads that are not expected for parameter ’2'exec test_slow 2godrop proc test_with_recompilegocreate proc test_with_recompile @i intasbegindeclare @j intcreate table #temp1 (c1 int primary key)insert into #temp1 (c1) select @iselect @j = t7.c1 from tab7 t7 inner join #temp1 t on (t7.c2 = t.c1)option (recompile)endgodbcc dropcleanbuffersset statistics time onset statistics io ongo–high reads as expected for parameter ’1'exec test_with_recompile 1godbcc dropcleanbuffersgo–high reads that are not expected for parameter ’2'–low reads on 3rd execution as expected for parameter ’2'exec test_with_recompile 2godrop proc test_with_alter_table_recompilegocreate proc test_with_alter_table_recompile @i intasbegindeclare @j intcreate table #temp1 (c1 int primary key)–to avoid caching of temporary tables one can create a constraint–but this might lead to duplicate constraint name error on concurrent usagealter table #temp1 add constraint test123 unique(c1)insert into #temp1 (c1) select @iselect @j = t7.c1 from tab7 t7 inner join #temp1 t on (t7.c2 = t.c1)option (recompile)endgodbcc dropcleanbuffersset statistics time onset statistics io ongo–high reads as expected for parameter ’1'exec test_with_alter_table_recompile 1godbcc dropcleanbuffersgo–low reads as expected for parameter ’2'exec test_with_alter_table_recompile 2godrop proc test_with_index_recompilegocreate proc test_with_index_recompile @i intasbegindeclare @j intcreate table #temp1 (c1 int primary key)–to avoid caching of temporary tables one can create an indexcreate index test on #temp1(c1)insert into #temp1 (c1) select @iselect @j = t7.c1 from tab7 t7 inner join #temp1 t on (t7.c2 = t.c1)option (recompile)endgoset statistics time onset statistics io ondbcc dropcleanbuffersgo–high reads as expected for parameter ’1'exec test_with_index_recompile 1godbcc dropcleanbuffersgo–low reads as expected for parameter ’2'exec test_with_index_recompile 2go

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How to automate a monitoring system for ETL runs

- by Jeffrey McDaniel

Upon completion of the Primavera ETL process there are a few ways to determine if the process finished successfully. First, in the <installation directory>\log folder, there is a staretlprocess.log and staretl.html files. These files will give the output results of the ETL run. The staretl.html file will give a detailed summary of each step of the process, its run time, and its status. The .log file, based on the logging level set in the Configuration tool, can give extensive information about the ETL process. The log file can be used as a validation for process completion. To automate the monitoring of these log files, perform the following steps: 1. Write a custom application to parse through the log file and search for [ERROR] . In most cases, a major [ERROR] could cause the ETL process to fail. Searching the log and finding this value is worthy of an alert. 2. Determine the total number of steps in the ETL process, and validate that the log file recorded and entry for the final step. For example validate that your log file contains an entry for Step 39/39 (could be different based on the version you are running). If there is no Step 39/39, then either the process is taking longer than expected or it didn't make it to the end. Either way this would be a good cause for an alert. 3. Check the last line in the log file. The last line of the log file should contain an indication that the ETL run completed successfully. For example, the last line of a log file will say (results could be different based on Reporting Database versions): [INFO] (Message) Finished Writing Report 4. You could write an Ant script to execute the ETL process and have it set to - failonerror="true" - and from there send results to an external tool to monitor the jobs, send to email, or send to database. With each ETL run, the log file appends to the existing log file by default. Because of this behavior, I would recommend renaming the existing log files before running a new ETL process. By doing this, only log entries for the currently running ETL process is recorded in the new log files. Based on these log entries, alerts can be setup to notify the administrator or DBA. Another way to determine if the ETL process has completed successfully is to monitor the etl_processmaster table. Depending on the Reporting Database version this could be in the Stage or Star databases. As of Reporting Database 2.2 and higher this would be in the Star database. The etl_processmaster table records entries for the ETL run along with a Start and Finish time. If the ETl process has failed the Finish date should be null. This table can be queried at a time when ETL process is expected to be finished and if null send an alert. These are just some options. There are additional ways this can be accomplished based around these two areas - log files or database. Here is an additional query to gather more information about your ETL run (connect as Staruser): SELECT SYSDATE,test_script,decode(loc, 0, PROCESSNAME, trim(SUBSTR(PROCESSNAME, loc+1))) PROCESSNAME ,duration duration from ( select (e.endtime - b.starttime) * 1440 duration, to_char(b.starttime, 'hh24:mi:ss') starttime, to_char(e.endtime, 'hh24:mi:ss') endtime, b.PROCESSNAME, instr(b.PROCESSNAME, ']') loc, b.infotype test_script from ( select processid, infodate starttime, PROCESSNAME, INFOMSG, INFOTYPE from etl_processinfo where processid = (select max(PROCESSID) from etl_processinfo) and infotype = 'BEGIN' ) b inner Join ( select processid, infodate endtime, PROCESSNAME, INFOMSG, INFOTYPE from etl_processinfo where processid = (select max(PROCESSID) from etl_processinfo) and infotype = 'END' ) e on b.processid = e.processid and b.PROCESSNAME = e.PROCESSNAME order by b.starttime)

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