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• Creating a Training Lab on Windows Azure

  - by Michael Stephenson

  Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/michaelstephenson/archive/2013/06/17/153149.aspxThis week we are preparing for a training course that Alan Smith will be running for the support teams at one of my customers around Windows Azure. In order to facilitate the training lab we have a few prerequisites we need to handle. One of the biggest ones is that although the support team all have MSDN accounts the local desktops they work on are not ideal for running most of the labs as we want to give them some additional developer background training around Azure. Some recent Azure announcements really help us in this area: MSDN software can now be used on Azure VM You don't pay for Azure VM's when they are no longer used  Since the support team only have limited experience of Windows Azure and the organisation also have an Enterprise Agreement we decided it would be best value for money to spin up a training lab in a subscription on the EA and then we can turn the machines off when we are done. At the same time we would be able to spin them back up when the users need to do some additional lab work once the training course is completed. In order to achieve this I wanted to create a powershell script which would setup my training lab. The aim was to create 18 VM's which would be based on a prebuilt template with Visual Studio and the Azure development tools. The script I used is described below The Start & Variables The below text will setup the powershell environment and some variables which I will use elsewhere in the script. It will also import the Azure Powershell cmdlets. You can see below that I will need to download my publisher settings file and know some details from my Azure account. At this point I will assume you have a basic understanding of Azure & Powershell so already know how to do this. Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestrictedcls $startTime = get-dateImport-Module "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows Azure\PowerShell\Azure\Azure.psd1"# Azure Publisher Settings $azurePublisherSettings = '<Your settings file>.publishsettings'  # Subscription Details $subscriptionName = "<Your subscription name>" $defaultStorageAccount = "<Your default storage account>"  # Affinity Group Details $affinityGroup = '<Your affinity group>' $dataCenter = 'West Europe' # From Get-AzureLocation  # VM Details $baseVMName = 'TRN' $adminUserName = '<Your admin username>' $password = '<Your admin password>' $size = 'Medium' $vmTemplate = '<The name of your VM template image>' $rdpFilePath = '<File path to save RDP files to>' $machineSettingsPath = '<File path to save machine info to>'    Functions In the next section of the script I have some functions which are used to perform certain actions. The first is called CreateVM. This will do the following actions: If the VM already exists it will be deleted Create the cloud service Create the VM from the template I have created Add an endpoint so we can RDP to them all over the same port Download the RDP file so there is a short cut the trainees can easily access the machine via Write settings for the machine to a log file  function CreateVM($machineNo) { # Specify a name for the new VM $machineName = "$baseVMName-$machineNo" Write-Host "Creating VM: $machineName"       # Get the Azure VM Image      $myImage = Get-AzureVMImage $vmTemplate   #If the VM already exists delete and re-create it $existingVm = Get-AzureVM -Name $machineName -ServiceName $serviceName if($existingVm -ne $null) { Write-Host "VM already exists so deleting it" Remove-AzureVM -Name $machineName -ServiceName $serviceName }   "Creating Service" $serviceName = "bupa-azure-train-$machineName" Remove-AzureService -Force -ServiceName $serviceName New-AzureService -Location $dataCenter -ServiceName $serviceName   Write-Host "Creating VM: $machineName" New-AzureQuickVM -Windows -name $machineName -ServiceName $serviceName -ImageName $myImage.ImageName -InstanceSize $size -AdminUsername $adminUserName -Password $password  Write-Host "Updating the RDP endpoint for $machineName" Get-AzureVM -name $machineName -ServiceName $serviceName ` | Add-AzureEndpoint -Name RDP -Protocol TCP -LocalPort 3389 -PublicPort 550 ` | Update-AzureVM    Write-Host "Get the RDP File for machine $machineName" $machineRDPFilePath = "$rdpFilePath\$machineName.rdp" Get-AzureRemoteDesktopFile -name $machineName -ServiceName $serviceName -LocalPath "$machineRDPFilePath"   WriteMachineSettings "$machineName" "$serviceName" }    The delete machine settings function is used to delete the log file before we start re-running the process.  function DeleteMachineSettings() { Write-Host "Deleting the machine settings output file" [System.IO.File]::Delete("$machineSettingsPath"); }    The write machine settings function will get the VM and then record its details to the log file. The importance of the log file is that I can easily provide the information for all of the VM's to our infrastructure team to be able to configure access to all of the VM's    function WriteMachineSettings([string]$vmName, [string]$vmServiceName) { Write-Host "Writing to the machine settings output file"   $vm = Get-AzureVM -name $vmName -ServiceName $vmServiceName $vmEndpoint = Get-AzureEndpoint -VM $vm -Name RDP   $sb = new-object System.Text.StringBuilder $sb.Append("Service Name: "); $sb.Append($vm.ServiceName); $sb.Append(", "); $sb.Append("VM: "); $sb.Append($vm.Name); $sb.Append(", "); $sb.Append("RDP Public Port: "); $sb.Append($vmEndpoint.Port); $sb.Append(", "); $sb.Append("Public DNS: "); $sb.Append($vmEndpoint.Vip); $sb.AppendLine(""); [System.IO.File]::AppendAllText($machineSettingsPath, $sb.ToString());  } # end functions    Rest of Script In the rest of the script it is really just the bit that orchestrates the actions we want to happen. It will load the publisher settings, select the Azure subscription and then loop around the CreateVM function and create 16 VM's  Import-AzurePublishSettingsFile $azurePublisherSettings Set-AzureSubscription -SubscriptionName $subscriptionName -CurrentStorageAccount $defaultStorageAccount Select-AzureSubscription -SubscriptionName $subscriptionName  DeleteMachineSettings    "Starting creating Bupa International Azure Training Lab" $numberOfVMs = 16  for ($index=1; $index -le $numberOfVMs; $index++) { $vmNo = "$index" CreateVM($vmNo); }    "Finished creating Bupa International Azure Training Lab" # Give it a Minute Start-Sleep -s 60  $endTime = get-date "Script run time " + ($endTime - $startTime)    Conclusion As you can see there is nothing too fancy about this script but in our case of creating a small isolated training lab which is not connected to our corporate network then we can easily use this to provision the lab. Im sure if this is of use to anyone you can easily modify it to do other things with the lab environment too. A couple of points to note are that there are some soft limits in Azure about the number of cores and services your subscription can use. You may need to contact the Azure support team to be able to increase this limit. In terms of the real business value of this approach, it was not possible to use the existing desktops to do the training on, and getting some internal virtual machines would have been relatively expensive and time consuming for our ops team to do. With the Azure option we are able to spin these machines up for a temporary period during the training course and then throw them away when we are done. We expect the costing of this test lab to be very small, especially considering we have EA pricing. As a ball park I think my 18 lab VM training environment will cost in the region of $80 per day on our EA. This is a fraction of the cost of the creation of a single VM on premise.

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• Table Variables: an empirical approach.

  - by Phil Factor

  It isn’t entirely a pleasant experience to publish an article only to have it described on Twitter as ‘Horrible’, and to have it criticized on the MVP forum. When this happened to me in the aftermath of publishing my article on Temporary tables recently, I was taken aback, because these critics were experts whose views I respect. What was my crime? It was, I think, to suggest that, despite the obvious quirks, it was best to use Table Variables as a first choice, and to use local Temporary Tables if you hit problems due to these quirks, or if you were doing complex joins using a large number of rows. What are these quirks? Well, table variables have advantages if they are used sensibly, but this requires some awareness by the developer about the potential hazards and how to avoid them. You can be hit by a badly-performing join involving a table variable. Table Variables are a compromise, and this compromise doesn’t always work out well. Explicit indexes aren’t allowed on Table Variables, so one cannot use covering indexes or non-unique indexes. The query optimizer has to make assumptions about the data rather than using column distribution statistics when a table variable is involved in a join, because there aren’t any column-based distribution statistics on a table variable. It assumes a reasonably even distribution of data, and is likely to have little idea of the number of rows in the table variables that are involved in queries. However complex the heuristics that are used might be in determining the best way of executing a SQL query, and they most certainly are, the Query Optimizer is likely to fail occasionally with table variables, under certain circumstances, and produce a Query Execution Plan that is frightful. The experienced developer or DBA will be on the lookout for this sort of problem. In this blog, I’ll be expanding on some of the tests I used when writing my article to illustrate the quirks, and include a subsequent example supplied by Kevin Boles. A simplified example. We’ll start out by illustrating a simple example that shows some of these characteristics. We’ll create two tables filled with random numbers and then see how many matches we get between the two tables. We’ll forget indexes altogether for this example, and use heaps. We’ll try the same Join with two table variables, two table variables with OPTION (RECOMPILE) in the JOIN clause, and with two temporary tables. It is all a bit jerky because of the granularity of the timing that isn’t actually happening at the millisecond level (I used DATETIME). However, you’ll see that the table variable is outperforming the local temporary table up to 10,000 rows. Actually, even without a use of the OPTION (RECOMPILE) hint, it is doing well. What happens when your table size increases? The table variable is, from around 30,000 rows, locked into a very bad execution plan unless you use OPTION (RECOMPILE) to provide the Query Analyser with a decent estimation of the size of the table. However, if it has the OPTION (RECOMPILE), then it is smokin’. Well, up to 120,000 rows, at least. It is performing better than a Temporary table, and in a good linear fashion. What about mixed table joins, where you are joining a temporary table to a table variable? You’d probably expect that the query analyzer would throw up its hands and produce a bad execution plan as if it were a table variable. After all, it knows nothing about the statistics in one of the tables so how could it do any better? Well, it behaves as if it were doing a recompile. And an explicit recompile adds no value at all. (we just go up to 45000 rows since we know the bigger picture now)   Now, if you were new to this, you might be tempted to start drawing conclusions. Beware! We’re dealing with a very complex beast: the Query Optimizer. It can come up with surprises What if we change the query very slightly to insert the results into a Table Variable? We change nothing else and just measure the execution time of the statement as before. Suddenly, the table variable isn’t looking so much better, even taking into account the time involved in doing the table insert. OK, if you haven’t used OPTION (RECOMPILE) then you’re toast. Otherwise, there isn’t much in it between the Table variable and the temporary table. The table variable is faster up to 8000 rows and then not much in it up to 100,000 rows. Past the 8000 row mark, we’ve lost the advantage of the table variable’s speed. Any general rule you may be formulating has just gone for a walk. What we can conclude from this experiment is that if you join two table variables, and can’t use constraints, you’re going to need that Option (RECOMPILE) hint. Count Dracula and the Horror Join. These tables of integers provide a rather unreal example, so let’s try a rather different example, and get stuck into some implicit indexing, by using constraints. What unusual words are contained in the book ‘Dracula’ by Bram Stoker? Here we get a table of all the common words in the English language (60,387 of them) and put them in a table. We put them in a Table Variable with the word as a primary key, a Table Variable Heap and a Table Variable with a primary key. We then take all the distinct words used in the book ‘Dracula’ (7,558 of them). We then create a table variable and insert into it all those uncommon words that are in ‘Dracula’. i.e. all the words in Dracula that aren’t matched in the list of common words. To do this we use a left outer join, where the right-hand value is null. The results show a huge variation, between the sublime and the gorblimey. If both tables contain a Primary Key on the columns we join on, and both are Table Variables, it took 33 Ms. If one table contains a Primary Key, and the other is a heap, and both are Table Variables, it took 46 Ms. If both Table Variables use a unique constraint, then the query takes 36 Ms. If neither table contains a Primary Key and both are Table Variables, it took 116383 Ms. Yes, nearly two minutes!! If both tables contain a Primary Key, one is a Table Variables and the other is a temporary table, it took 113 Ms. If one table contains a Primary Key, and both are Temporary Tables, it took 56 Ms.If both tables are temporary tables and both have primary keys, it took 46 Ms. Here we see table variables which are joined on their primary key again enjoying a  slight performance advantage over temporary tables. Where both tables are table variables and both are heaps, the query suddenly takes nearly two minutes! So what if you have two heaps and you use option Recompile? If you take the rogue query and add the hint, then suddenly, the query drops its time down to 76 Ms. If you add unique indexes, then you've done even better, down to half that time. Here are the text execution plans.So where have we got to? Without drilling down into the minutiae of the execution plans we can begin to create a hypothesis. If you are using table variables, and your tables are relatively small, they are faster than temporary tables, but as the number of rows increases you need to do one of two things: either you need to have a primary key on the column you are using to join on, or else you need to use option (RECOMPILE) If you try to execute a query that is a join, and both tables are table variable heaps, you are asking for trouble, well- slow queries, unless you give the table hint once the number of rows has risen past a point (30,000 in our first example, but this varies considerably according to context). Kevin’s Skew In describing the table-size, I used the term ‘relatively small’. Kevin Boles produced an interesting case where a single-row table variable produces a very poor execution plan when joined to a very, very skewed table. In the original, pasted into my article as a comment, a column consisted of 100000 rows in which the key column was one number (1) . To this was added eight rows with sequential numbers up to 9. When this was joined to a single-tow Table Variable with a key of 2 it produced a bad plan. This problem is unlikely to occur in real usage, and the Query Optimiser team probably never set up a test for it. Actually, the skew can be slightly less extreme than Kevin made it. The following test showed that once the table had 54 sequential rows in the table, then it adopted exactly the same execution plan as for the temporary table and then all was well. Undeniably, real data does occasionally cause problems to the performance of joins in Table Variables due to the extreme skew of the distribution. We've all experienced Perfectly Poisonous Table Variables in real live data. As in Kevin’s example, indexes merely make matters worse, and the OPTION (RECOMPILE) trick does nothing to help. In this case, there is no option but to use a temporary table. However, one has to note that once the slight de-skew had taken place, then the plans were identical across a huge range. Conclusions Where you need to hold intermediate results as part of a process, Table Variables offer a good alternative to temporary tables when used wisely. They can perform faster than a temporary table when the number of rows is not great. For some processing with huge tables, they can perform well when only a clustered index is required, and when the nature of the processing makes an index seek very effective. Table Variables are scoped to the batch or procedure and are unlikely to hang about in the TempDB when they are no longer required. They require no explicit cleanup. Where the number of rows in the table is moderate, you can even use them in joins as ‘Heaps’, unindexed. Beware, however, since, as the number of rows increase, joins on Table Variable heaps can easily become saddled by very poor execution plans, and this must be cured either by adding constraints (UNIQUE or PRIMARY KEY) or by adding the OPTION (RECOMPILE) hint if this is impossible. Occasionally, the way that the data is distributed prevents the efficient use of Table Variables, and this will require using a temporary table instead. Tables Variables require some awareness by the developer about the potential hazards and how to avoid them. If you are not prepared to do any performance monitoring of your code or fine-tuning, and just want to pummel out stuff that ‘just runs’ without considering namby-pamby stuff such as indexes, then stick to Temporary tables. If you are likely to slosh about large numbers of rows in temporary tables without considering the niceties of processing just what is required and no more, then temporary tables provide a safer and less fragile means-to-an-end for you.

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• ASP.NET MVC: Moving code from controller action to service layer

  - by DigiMortal

  I fixed one controller action in my application that doesn’t seemed good enough for me. It wasn’t big move I did but worth to show to beginners how nice code you can write when using correct layering in your application. As an example I use code from my posting ASP.NET MVC: How to implement invitation codes support. Problematic controller action Although my controller action works well I don’t like how it looks. It is too much for controller action in my opinion. [HttpPost] public ActionResult GetAccess(string accessCode) {     if(string.IsNullOrEmpty(accessCode.Trim()))     {         ModelState.AddModelError("accessCode", "Insert invitation code!");         return View();     }       Guid accessGuid;       try     {         accessGuid = Guid.Parse(accessCode);     }     catch     {         ModelState.AddModelError("accessCode", "Incorrect format of invitation code!");         return View();                    }       using(var ctx = new EventsEntities())     {         var user = ctx.GetNewUserByAccessCode(accessGuid);         if(user == null)         {             ModelState.AddModelError("accessCode", "Cannot find account with given invitation code!");             return View();         }           user.UserToken = User.Identity.GetUserToken();         ctx.SaveChanges();     }       Session["UserId"] = accessGuid;       return Redirect("~/admin"); } Looking at this code my first idea is that all this access code stuff must be located somewhere else. We have working functionality in wrong place and we should do something about it. Service layer I add layers to my application very carefully because I don’t like to use hand grenade to kill a fly. When I see real need for some layer and it doesn’t add too much complexity I will add new layer. Right now it is good time to add service layer to my small application. After that it is time to move code to service layer and inject service class to controller. public interface IUserService {     bool ClaimAccessCode(string accessCode, string userToken,                          out string errorMessage);       // Other methods of user service } I need this interface when writing unit tests because I need fake service that doesn’t communicate with database and other external sources. public class UserService : IUserService {     private readonly IDataContext _context;       public UserService(IDataContext context)     {         _context = context;     }       public bool ClaimAccessCode(string accessCode, string userToken, out string errorMessage)     {         if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(accessCode.Trim()))         {             errorMessage = "Insert invitation code!";             return false;         }           Guid accessGuid;         if (!Guid.TryParse(accessCode, out accessGuid))         {             errorMessage = "Incorrect format of invitation code!";             return false;         }           var user = _context.GetNewUserByAccessCode(accessGuid);         if (user == null)         {             errorMessage = "Cannot find account with given invitation code!";             return false;         }           user.UserToken = userToken;         _context.SaveChanges();           errorMessage = string.Empty;         return true;     } } Right now I used simple solution for errors and made access code claiming method to follow usual TrySomething() methods pattern. This way I can keep error messages and their retrieval away from controller and in controller I just mediate error message from service to view. Controller Now all the code is moved to service layer and we need also some modifications to controller code so it makes use of users service. I don’t show here DI/IoC details about how to give service instance to controller. GetAccess() action of controller looks like this right now. [HttpPost] public ActionResult GetAccess(string accessCode) {     var userToken = User.Identity.GetUserToken();     string errorMessage;       if (!_userService.ClaimAccessCode(accessCode, userToken,                                       out errorMessage))     {                       ModelState.AddModelError("accessCode", errorMessage);         return View();     }       Session["UserId"] = Guid.Parse(accessCode);     return Redirect("~/admin"); } It’s short and nice now and it deals with web site part of access code claiming. In the case of error user is shown access code claiming view with error message that ClaimAccessCode() method returns as output parameter. If everything goes fine then access code is reserved for current user and user is authenticated. Conclusion When controller action grows big you have to move code to layers it actually belongs. In this posting I showed you how I moved access code claiming functionality from controller action to user service class that belongs to service layer of my application. As the result I have controller action that coordinates the user interaction when going through access code claiming process. Controller communicates with service layer and gets information about how access code claiming succeeded.

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• Modify MDT wizard to automate computer naming

  - by Jeramy

  I originally posted this question to StackOverflow, but upon further consideration it might be more appropriate here. Situation: I am imaging new systems using MDT Lite-Touch. I am trying to customize the wizard to automate the naming of new systems so that they include a prefix "AG-", a department code which is selected from a drop-down box in the wizard page (eg. "COMM"), and finally the serial number of the computer being imaged, so that my result in this case would be "AG-COMM-1234567890" Status: I have banged away at this for a while but my Google searches have not turned up answers, my trial-and-error is not producing useful error messages and I think I am missing some fundamentals of how to get variables from the wizard page into the variables used by the lite-touch wizard. Progress: I first created the HTML page which I will include below and added a script to the page to concatenate the pieces into a variable called OSDComputername which, for testing, I could output in a msgbox and get to display correctly. The problem with this is I don't know how to trigger the script then assign it to the OSDComputername variable that is used throughout the rest of the Light-Touch process. I changed the script to a function and added it to DeployWiz_Initization.vbs then used the Initialization field in WDS to call it. I'll include the function below. The problem with this is I would get "Undefined Variable" for OSDComputername and I am not sure it is pulling the data from the HTML correctly. I tried adding the scripting into the customsettings.ini file after the "OSDComputername=" This resulted in the wizard just outputting my code in text as the computer name. I am now trying adding variables to "Properties=" (eg.DepartmentName) in the customsettings.ini, pulling thier value from the HTML Form and setting that value to the variable in my function in DeployWiz_Initization.vbs and calling them after "OSDComputername=" in the fashion "OSDComputername="AG-" & %DepartmentName%" in customsettings.ini I am rebuilding right now and will see how this goes Any help would be appreciated. The HTML page: <HTML> <H1>Configure the computer name.</H1> <span style="width: 95%;"> <p>Please answer the following questions. Your answers will be used to formulate the computer's name and description.</p> <FORM NAME="TestForm"> <p>Departmental Prefix: <!-- <label class=ErrMsg id=DepartmentalPrefix_Err>* Required (MISSING)</label> --> <SELECT NAME="DepartmentalPrefix_Edit" class=WideEdit> <option value="AADC">AADC</option> <option value="AEM">AEM</option> <option value="AIP">AIP</option> <option value="COM">COM</option> <option value="DO">DO</option> <option value="DSOC">DSOC</option> <option value="EDU">EDU</option> <option value="EPE">EPE</option> <option value="ITN">ITN</option> <option value="LA">LA</option> <option value="OAP">OAP</option> <option value="SML">SML</option> </SELECT> </p> <p><span class="Larger">Client's Net<u class=larger>I</u>D:</span> <INPUT NAME="ClientNetID" TYPE="TEXT" ID="ClientNetID" SIZE="15"></p> <p>Building: <!-- <label class=ErrMsg id=Building_Err>* Required (MISSING)</label> --> <SELECT NAME="Building_Edit" class=WideEdit> <option value="Academic Surge Facility A">Academic Surge Facility A</option> <option value="Academic Surge Facility B">Academic Surge Facility B</option> <option value="Caldwell">Caldwell</option> <option value="Kennedy">Kennedy</option> <option value="Roberts">Roberts</option> <option value="Warren">Warren</option> </SELECT> </p> <p> <span class="Larger">Room <u class=larger>N</u>umber:</span> <input type=text id="RoomNumber" name=RoomNumber size=15 /> </p> </FORM> </span> </HTML> The Function: Function SetComputerName OSDComputerName = "AG-" & oEnvironment.Item("DepartmentalPrefix_Edit") ComputerDescription = oEnvironment.Item("DepartmentalPrefix_Edit") & ", " & oEnvironment.Item("ClientNetID") & ", " & oEnvironment.Item("RoomNumber") & " " & oEnvironment.Item("Building_Edit") End Function

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• CodePlex Daily Summary for Wednesday, December 19, 2012

  CodePlex Daily Summary for Wednesday, December 19, 2012Popular ReleasesToolbox for Dynamics CRM 2011: XrmToolBox (1.0.0.0): Initial Release Contains following tools: Attribute Bulk Updater Iconator Role Updater Scripts Finder SiteMap Editor Solution Import View Layout Replicator WebResources Manager Also include the sample tool described in the documentation "How to develop your own tool" More tools to come later...NB_Store - Free DotNetNuke Ecommerce Catalog Module: NB_Store v2.3.3 Rel0: DNN 5.3.2 and above, and DNN 6 Compatible - Some release notes are discussed here. Important : v2.3.3 requires the Back Office module to be placed onto a seperate page to the productlist. During the upgrade process, this module retains your existing configuration by not overwriting any existing settings and templates. If you wish to reset your configuration to gain all new settings and templates, please review this KB article. Please view the following documentation if you are installing ...F# PowerPack with F# Compiler Source Drops: PowerPack for FSharp 3.0 + .NET 4.x + VS2010: This is a release of the old FSharp Power Pack binaries recompiled for F# 3.0, .NET 4.0/4.5 and Silveright 5. NOTE: This is for F# 3.0 & .NET 4.0 or F# 3.0 & Silverlight 5 NOTE: The assemblies are no longer strong named NOTE: The assemblies are not added to the GAC NOTE: In some cases functionality overlaps with F# 3.0, e.g. SI Units of measurecodeSHOW: codeSHOW AppPackage Release 16: This release is a package file built out of Visual Studio that you can side load onto your machine if for some reason you don't have access to the Windows Store. To install it, just unzip and run the .ps1 file using PowerShell (right click | run with PowerShell). Attention: if you want to download the source code for codeSHOW, you're in the wrong place. You need to go to the SOURCE CODE tab.Move Mouse: Move Mouse 2.5.3: FIXED - Issue where it errors on load if the screen saver interval is over 333 minutes.LINUX????????: LINUX????????: LINUX????????cnbeta: cnbeta: cnbetaCSDN ??: CSDN??????: CSDN??????PowerShell Community Extensions: 2.1.1 Production: PowerShell Community Extensions 2.1.1 Release NotesDec 16, 2012 This version of PSCX supports both Windows PowerShell 2.0 and 3.0. Bug fix for HelpUri error with the Get-Help proxy command. See the ReleaseNotes.txt download above for more information.VidCoder: 1.4.11 Beta: Added Hungarian translation, thanks to Brechler Zsolt. Update HandBrake core to SVN 5098. This update should fix crashes on some files. Updated the enqueue split button to fit in better with the active Windows theme. Updated presets to use x264 preset/profile/level.???: Cnblogs: CNBLOGSSandcastle Help File Builder: SHFB v1.9.6.0 with Visual Studio Package: General InformationIMPORTANT: On some systems, the content of the ZIP file is blocked and the installer may fail to run. Before extracting it, right click on the ZIP file, select Properties, and click on the Unblock button if it is present in the lower right corner of the General tab in the properties dialog. This new release contains bug fixes and feature enhancements. There are some potential breaking changes in this release as some features of the Help File Builder have been moved into...Electricity, Gas and Temperature Monitoring with Netduino Plus: V1.0.1 Netduino Plus Monitoring: This is the first stable release from the Netduino Plus Monitoring program. Bugfixing The code is enhanced at some places in respect to the V0.6.1 version There is a possibility to add multiple S0 meters Website for realtime display of data Website for configuring the Netduino Comments are welcome! Additions will not be made to this version. This is the first and last major Netduino Plus V1 release. The new development will take place with the Netduino Plus V2 development board in mi...Windows Store Application Library: Windows Store Application Library - 1.1.1.0: Windows Store Application Library StoreAppLib can be installed from Visual Studio "Manage NuGet Packages" tool. This release of Windows Store Application Library contains following controls and utilities. DatePicker control TimePicker control PageHeaderTextBlock control with Global Navigation Menu Popup manager AppBarButton control TapEffect animation DateTimeConverter ConcatenationConverter CountConverterCRM 2011 Visual Ribbon Editor: Visual Ribbon Editor (1.3.1116.8): [FIX] Fixed issue not displaying CRM system button images correctly (incorrect path in file VisualRibbonEditor.exe.config)My Expenses Windows Store LOB App Demo: My Expenses Version 1: This is version 1 of the MyExpenses Windows 8 line of business demo app. The app is written in XAML and C#. It calls a WCF service that works with a SQL Server database. The app uses the Callisto toolkit. You can get it at https://github.com/timheuer/callisto. The Expenses.sql file contains the SQL to create the Expenses database. The ExpensesWCFService.zip file contains the WCF service, also written in C#. You should create a WCF service. Create an Entity Framework model and point it to...Manage upload files for SP 2010: Manage upload files (SP 2010) 1.0.0: Version 1.0.0: Manage upload file size on specific application page Simple in use Simple installation Work on: SharePoint Foundation 2010 Sharepoint Server 2010 (Standard, Enterprise) Localized: English RussianMCEBuddy Viewer: MCEBuddy Viewer 1.0.0 Beta: MCEBuddy Viewer for MCEBuddy 2.x Windows Media Center Add-On to view the current job status of MCEbuddy. Requirements: 1. Installed MCEBuddy 2.x (tested on release 2.3.7-2.3.10) http://mcebuddy2x.codeplex.com 2. Windows Media Center (tested on Windows 7 Pro 32-bit&64-bit, Windows 8 Pro with WMC 64-bit) Before installing the new version of Plug-in uninstall old version through windows control panelBlackJumboDog: Ver5.7.4: 2012.12.13 Ver5.7.4 (1)Web???????、???????????????????????????????????????????VFPX: ssClasses A1.0: My initial release. See https://vfpx.codeplex.com/wikipage?title=ssClasses&referringTitle=Home for a brief description of what is inside this releaseNew ProjectsAutonomic Middleware: Reflective middleware using workflow that makes the middleware autonomic.Battleforge: Assault: A card battle game. This project is being built using Silverlight 4 in C#.ChurajPatterns: Design patterns testing and overview console application.FimExplorer: Tool for executing XPath queries against FIM without going through it's web portal.Financial Management Studio: This is a WPF application for the financial management. Will use bunch of technologies such as: MVVM, Microsoft Extension Framework and Entities Framework.iJob: Do u no what is this?Developed with C#.net3.5 MSSQL2008Interaction Production Server: A software based networked lighting controller. It brokers many protocols together to allow easy setup and development of new stage lighting controllers.Interface weaver Custom Tool: A CustomTool for vs auto implementing interface based on aspects (auto INotifyPropertychanged data context implementation, auto command mapping...).IntroductionWeb: This is the second time for us to build something extraordinaryiSteam: iSteam is a product being developed focusing on the Steamworks platform, to advertise and centralize everything about steam in one application.iSun_PLS: iSun PLS is a Photo libary System, to help you manager your pictures on your server!LSharp: A Scripting Language Interpreter for .NETMassive Dangerzone: Don't try this at home.MinGuid: An alternative / replacement for those long Guid strings, simply call the function in the library which generates the Unique 16 character string.Nx Portable Framework: Framework aiming to speed up cross platform movile developement.Orchard Training Demo module: Demo Orchard module for training purposes. This module completes the training materials at http://english.orchardproject.hu/Training/Oriol ASAP: ASAPPanopticonize API: This project provides code samples for the panopticonize.com video thumbnailing API.Registry Editor Navigator: The small utility that takes a path and makes Regedit open to that path. Similar to RegJump but it has UI, uses clipboard and has a global keyboard hook. SafetyExam: ??????????????Simple Queuing System: This project is created to show you how queuing system can be implemented in MSMQ in C#. The sample is implemented from real life queuing system. TypeScript plugin enhancements for VS 2010 add-in: This add-in allows to - Compile .ts files by saveVisual Studio Help Downloader 2012: Tool for downloading the Visual Studio 2012 help packages for offline useWebGoat.NET test repository: THis is a clone of the WebGoat.NET project hosted at GitHub, provided here for those who need to be able to have a TFS-accessible copy of WebGoat.WebPythonHost: A .NET application hosting web python environment.Wpf Sqlite Management: about 1 month i publish this project and use avalon edit and avalon doc in my project WPFSchematics: The WPFSchematics is a vector graphic interactive system,and based on WPF graphics technology.XEasyFileSearch: easy and quick file searcherZweiBooks: Plugin for a Bukkit-Server.

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• Software center is broken

  - by Colin

  When I started installing the Humble Indie Bundle 5 games the software center stopped working and now I get this error. Packages cannot be installed or removed, click here to repair. Which fails and gives these results. installArchives() failed: (Reading database ... (Reading database ... 5% (Reading database ... 10% (Reading database ... 15% (Reading database ... 20% (Reading database ... 25% (Reading database ... 30% (Reading database ... 35% (Reading database ... 40% (Reading database ... 45% (Reading database ... 50% (Reading database ... 55% (Reading database ... 60% (Reading database ... 65% (Reading database ... 70% (Reading database ... 75% (Reading database ... 80% (Reading database ... 85% (Reading database ... 90% (Reading database ... 95% (Reading database ... 100% (Reading database ... 255502 files and directories currently installed.) Unpacking libqtcore4:i386 (from .../libqtcore4_4%3a4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1_i386.deb) ... dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/libqtcore4_4%3a4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1_i386.deb (--unpack): conffile './etc/xdg/Trolltech.conf' is not in sync with other instances of the same package No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already Errors were encountered while processing: /var/cache/apt/archives/libqtcore4_4%3a4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1_i386.deb Error in function: dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libqtgui4:i386: libqtgui4:i386 depends on libqtcore4 (= 4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1); however: Package libqtcore4:i386 is not installed. dpkg: error processing libqtgui4:i386 (--configure): dependency problems - leaving unconfigured dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libqt4-sql:i386: libqt4-sql:i386 depends on libqtcore4 (= 4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1); however: Package libqtcore4:i386 is not installed. dpkg: error processing libqt4-sql:i386 (--configure): dependency problems - leaving unconfigured dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of ia32-libs-multiarch:i386: ia32-libs-multiarch:i386 depends on libqt4-sql; however: Package libqt4-sql:i386 is not configured yet. ia32-libs-multiarch:i386 depends on libqtcore4; however: Package libqtcore4:i386 is not installed. ia32-libs-multiarch:i386 depends on libqtgui4; however: Package libqtgui4:i386 is not configured yet. dpkg: error processing ia32-libs-multiarch:i386 (--configure): dependency problems - leaving unconfigured dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libqt4-declarative:i386: libqt4-declarative:i386 depends on libqt4-sql (= 4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1); however: Package libqt4-sql:i386 is not configured yet. libqt4-declarative:i386 depends on libqtcore4 (= 4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1); however: Package libqtcore4:i386 is not installed. libqt4-declarative:i386 depends on libqtgui4 (= 4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1); however: Package libqtgui4:i386 is not configured yet. dpkg: error processing libqt4-declarative:i386 (--configure): dependency problems - leaving unconfigured dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libqt4-svg:i386: libqt4-svg:i386 depends on libqtcore4 (= 4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1); however: Package libqtcore4:i386 is not installed. libqt4-svg:i386 depends on libqtgui4 (= 4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1); however: Package libqtgui4:i386 is not configured yet. dpkg: error processing libqt4-svg:i386 (--configure): dependency problems - leaving unconfigured dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libqt4-network:i386: libqt4-network:i386 depends on libqtcore4 (= 4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1); however: Package libqtcore4:i386 is not installed. dpkg: error processing libqt4-network:i386 (--configure): dependency problems - leaving unconfigured dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libqt4-sql-mysql:i386: libqt4-sql-mysql:i386 depends on libqt4-sql (= 4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1); however: Package libqt4-sql:i386 is not configured yet. libqt4-sql-mysql:i386 depends on libqtcore4 (= 4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1); however: Package libqtcore4:i386 is not installed. dpkg: error processing libqt4-sql-mysql:i386 (--configure): dependency problems - leaving unconfigured dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libqt4-script:i386: libqt4-script:i386 depends on libqtcore4 (= 4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1); however: Package libqtcore4:i386 is not installed. dpkg: error processing libqt4-script:i386 (--configure): dependency problems - leaving unconfigured dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libqt4-dbus:i386: libqt4-dbus:i386 depends on libqtcore4 (= 4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1); however: Package libqtcore4:i386 is not installed. dpkg: error processing libqt4-dbus:i386 (--configure): dependency problems - leaving unconfigured dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libqt4-opengl:i386: libqt4-opengl:i386 depends on libqtcore4 (= 4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1); however: Package libqtcore4:i386 is not installed. libqt4-opengl:i386 depends on libqtgui4 (= 4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1); however: Package libqtgui4:i386 is not configured yet. dpkg: error processing libqt4-opengl:i386 (--configure): dependency problems - leaving unconfigured dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libqtwebkit4:i386: libqtwebkit4:i386 depends on libqt4-network (>= 4:4.8.0~); however: Package libqt4-network:i386 is not configured yet. libqtwebkit4:i386 depends on libqtcore4 (>= 4:4.8.0~); however: Package libqtcore4:i386 is not installed. libqtwebkit4:i386 depends on libqtgui4 (>= 4:4.8.0); however: Package libqtgui4:i386 is not configured yet. dpkg: error processing libqtwebkit4:i386 (--configure): dependency problems - leaving unconfigured dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libqt4-designer:i386: libqt4-designer:i386 depends on libqt4-script (= 4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1); however: Package libqt4-script:i386 is not configured yet. libqt4-designer:i386 depends on libqtcore4 (= 4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1); however: Package libqtcore4:i386 is not installed. libqt4-designer:i386 depends on libqtgui4 (= 4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1); however: Package libqtgui4:i386 is not configured yet. dpkg: error processing libqt4-designer:i386 (--configure): dependency problems - leaving unconfigured dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of lonesurvivor-bin:i386: lonesurvivor-bin:i386 depends on ia32-libs-multiarch; however: Package ia32-libs-multiarch:i386 is not configured yet. dpkg: error processing lonesurvivor-bin:i386 (--configure): dependency problems - leaving unconfigured dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of lonesurvivor: lonesurvivor depends on lonesurvivor-bin (= 1.11d-0ubuntu5); however: Package lonesurvivor-bin is not installed. Package lonesurvivor-bin:i386 is not configured yet. dpkg: error processing lonesurvivor (--configure): dependency problems - leaving unconfigured dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libqt4-scripttools:i386: libqt4-scripttools:i386 depends on libqt4-script (= 4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1); however: Package libqt4-script:i386 is not configured yet. libqt4-scripttools:i386 depends on libqtcore4 (= 4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1); however: Package libqtcore4:i386 is not installed. libqt4-scripttools:i386 depends on libqtgui4 (= 4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1); however: Package libqtgui4:i386 is not configured yet. dpkg: error processing libqt4-scripttools:i386 (--configure): dependency problems - leaving unconfigured dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libqt4-qt3support:i386: libqt4-qt3support:i386 depends on libqt4-designer (= 4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1); however: Package libqt4-designer:i386 is not configured yet. libqt4-qt3support:i386 depends on libqt4-network (= 4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1); however: Package libqt4-network:i386 is not configured yet. libqt4-qt3support:i386 depends on libqt4-sql (= 4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1); however: Package libqt4-sql:i386 is not configured yet. libqt4-qt3support:i386 depends on libqtcore4 (= 4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1); however: Package libqtcore4:i386 is not installed. libqt4-qt3support:i386 depends on libqtgui4 (= 4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1); however: Package libqtgui4:i386 is not configured yet. dpkg: error processing libqt4-qt3support:i386 (--configure): dependency problems - leaving unconfigured dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libqt4-xml:i386: libqt4-xml:i386 depends on libqtcore4 (= 4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1); however: Package libqtcore4:i386 is not installed. dpkg: error processing libqt4-xml:i386 (--configure): dependency problems - leaving unconfigured dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libqt4-test:i386: libqt4-test:i386 depends on libqtcore4 (= 4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1); however: Package libqtcore4:i386 is not installed. dpkg: error processing libqt4-test:i386 (--configure): dependency problems - leaving unconfigured dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libqt4-xmlpatterns:i386: libqt4-xmlpatterns:i386 depends on libqt4-network (= 4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1); however: Package libqt4-network:i386 is not configured yet. libqt4-xmlpatterns:i386 depends on libqtcore4 (= 4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1); however: Package libqtcore4:i386 is not installed. dpkg: error processing libqt4-xmlpatterns:i386 (--configure): dependency problems - leaving unconfigured I couldn't get the apt-get update or upgrade to work either so I shut off the repositories and updated / upgraded one at a time without any problems. But that didn't fix the Software Center. Help would be greatly appreciated. ADDED UPDATE I've tried to install aptitude using dpkg but can't. I have also tried sudo apt-get dist-upgrade sudo apt-get autoremove sudo dpkg --configure -a --force-all and the -f options. Though I believe this is where my problem is originating: Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done Correcting dependencies... Done The following extra packages will be installed: libqtcore4:i386 The following NEW packages will be installed: libqtcore4:i386 0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. Need to get 0 B/2,061 kB of archives. After this operation, 9,041 kB of additional disk space will be used. Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y (Reading database ... 255526 files and directories currently installed.) Unpacking libqtcore4:i386 (from .../libqtcore4_4%3a4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1_i386.deb) ... dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/libqtcore4_4%3a4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1_i386.deb (--unpack): conffile './etc/xdg/Trolltech.conf' is not in sync with other instances of the same package Errors were encountered while processing: /var/cache/apt/archives/libqtcore4_4%3a4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1_i386.deb E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1) I hope this helps narrow it down some. SECOND UPDATE sudo apt-get --reinstall install software-center -f The following packages have unmet dependencies: ia32-libs-multiarch:i386 : Depends: libqtcore4:i386 but it is not going to be installed libqt4-dbus:i386 : Depends: libqtcore4:i386 (= 4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1) but it is not going to be installed libqt4-declarative:i386 : Depends: libqtcore4:i386 (= 4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1) but it is not going to be installed libqt4-designer:i386 : Depends: libqtcore4:i386 (= 4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1) but it is not going to be installed libqt4-network:i386 : Depends: libqtcore4:i386 (= 4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1) but it is not going to be installed libqt4-opengl:i386 : Depends: libqtcore4:i386 (= 4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1) but it is not going to be installed libqt4-qt3support:i386 : Depends: libqtcore4:i386 (= 4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1) but it is not going to be installed libqt4-script:i386 : Depends: libqtcore4:i386 (= 4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1) but it is not going to be installed libqt4-scripttools:i386 : Depends: libqtcore4:i386 (= 4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1) but it is not going to be installed libqt4-sql:i386 : Depends: libqtcore4:i386 (= 4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1) but it is not going to be installed libqt4-sql-mysql:i386 : Depends: libqtcore4:i386 (= 4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1) but it is not going to be installed libqt4-svg:i386 : Depends: libqtcore4:i386 (= 4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1) but it is not going to be installed libqt4-test:i386 : Depends: libqtcore4:i386 (= 4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1) but it is not going to be installed libqt4-xml:i386 : Depends: libqtcore4:i386 (= 4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1) but it is not going to be installed libqt4-xmlpatterns:i386 : Depends: libqtcore4:i386 (= 4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1) but it is not going to be installed libqtgui4:i386 : Depends: libqtcore4:i386 (= 4:4.8.1-0ubuntu4.1) but it is not going to be installed libqtwebkit4:i386 : Depends: libqtcore4:i386 (>= 4:4.8.0~) but it is not going to be installed E: Unmet dependencies. Try 'apt-get -f install' with no packages (or specify a solution). sudo apt-get -f install doesn't work either. Complete output of terminal for step 5 can be found here, http://paste.ubuntu.com/1066192/

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• CodePlex Daily Summary for Monday, May 19, 2014

  CodePlex Daily Summary for Monday, May 19, 2014Popular ReleasesLINQ to Twitter: LINQ to Twitter v3.0.3: Supports .NET 4.5x, Windows Phone 8.x, Windows 8.x, Windows Azure, Xamarin.Android, and Xamarin.iOS. New features include Status/Lookup, Mute APIs, and bug fixes. 100% Twitter API v1.1 coverage, Async, Portable Class Library (PCL).CS-Script for Notepad++ (C# intellisense and code execution): Release v1.0.26.0: Added access to the Release Notes during 'Check for Updates...'' Debug panels Added support for generic types members Members are grouped into 'Raw View' and 'Non-Public members' categories Implemented dedicated (array-like) view for Lists and Dictionaries http://download-codeplex.sec.s-msft.com/Download?ProjectName=csscriptnpp&DownloadId=846498ClosedXML - The easy way to OpenXML: ClosedXML 0.70.0: A lot of fixes. See history.SFDL.NET: SFDL.NET (2.2.9.2): Changelog: Neues Icon Xup.in CnL Plugin BugfixSEToolbox: SEToolbox 01.030.008 Release 1: Fixed cube editor failing to apply color to cubes. Added to cube editor, replace cube dialog, and Build Percent dialog. Corrected for hidden asteroid ore, allowing rare ore to show when importing an asteroid, or converting a 3d model to an asteroid (still appears to be limitations on rare ore in small asteroids). Allowed ore selection to Asteroid file import. (Can copy/import and convert existing asteroid to another ore). Added progress bars to common long running operations. Fixed ...Better Robocopy GUI: Command Line GUI for Robocopy: Better Robocopy GUI had become the primary plugin in Command Line GUI built on .NET 4Mini SQL Query: Mini SQL Query (1.0.71.456): Minor fixes and template corrections.HMS_TEST: ??1: ?? ???????TFS Planning and Disaster Recovery Avoidance Guide: v1.4.BETA - TFS, DR and Azure IaaS Planning Guides: Welcome to the TFS Planning and DR Avoidance Guidance What is new? A new crisper, more compact style, which is easier to consume on multiple devices without sacrificing any content. Also included are the new TFS on Azure IaaS guide and supplementary guides. Note Capacity planning workbook and posters are included in the Everything Zip package. Quality-Bar Detail Documentation has been reviewed by Visual Studio ALM Rangers Documentation has been through an independent technical review ...CRM Web API Lead Capture Example: CRM Web API Lead Capture Example: Sample Visual Studio 2013 project that provides an example of how you could use Web API and Microsoft Azure (could be deployed anywhere) to capture simple HTML form data into Dynamics CRM without directly having to integrate a .NET component.MB Tools: MDT Monitor Tool v1.4: This tool is used to connect to an MDT 2013 Monitor Webservice. The purpose is to provide an alternative to the MDT Deployment Workbench. Update: New in v1.4: Fixed bug where Dart Remote Viewer didnt work Option to show client local time instead of UTC, edit config.xml to enable/disable New in v1.2: Fixed Dart Remote Viewer not connection to full ip Issue: 1222 New in v1.1: Added timers for autorefresh of webservice info Added some better errorchecking and cleaned up the code a bit ...Bob The Simple Text Game: Bob The Simple Text Game: Bob The Simple Text GameWinAudit: WinAudit Freeware v3.0: WinAudit.exe v3.0 MD5: 88750CCF49FF7418199B2645755830FA Known Issues: 1. Report creation can be very slow when right-to-left (Hebrew) characters are present. 2. Emsisoft Anti-Malware may stop and/or quarantine WinAudit. This happens when WinAudit attempts to obtain a list if running programmes. You will need to set an exception rule in Emsisoft to allow WinAudit to run.crashme: crashme source tarball 2.7: Updated for 64-bit Linux environments with a system call to change the default no-execute-data protection. This tarball is equivalent to committed source revision 108727LUA for Windows CE: LUA 5.2.3 for Windows CE 5.0 (ARMV4I): LUA for Windows CE This is a preliminary porting of the latest LUA release (5.2.3) to the Windows CE platform. Command-line compiler, interpreter, dynamic-link-library, and import-library (both static and dynamic stubs) are provided as a binary release. In this release, the Windows CE compatibility CRT static library has been added, in order to embed statically the LUA interpreter. Moreover, the include files are present in the distribution archive, too.Jquery Dirty Flag: Beta Version 1.0: Simple Way to Manage Dirty Flag @ Client SideProView: ProView-2: Added a new short-cut key: Ctrl+D copies the value from the above cell to the current cell. The key combination Shift+NumPadMinus makes an underscore character Fixed a bug during renaming that displayed the message "The file is in use by another process" The spread sheet can now be customized with a highlighting row color for the currently displayed image.TerraMap (Terraria World Map Viewer): TerraMap 1.0.4: Added support for the new Terraria v1.2.4 update. New items, walls, and tiles Fixed Issue 35206: Hightlight/Find doesn't work for Demon Altars Fixed finding Demon Hearts/Shadow Orbs Added ability to find Enchanted Swords (in the stone) and Water Bolt books Fixed installer not uninstalling older versions The setup file will make sure .NET 4 is installed, install TerraMap, create desktop and start menu shortcuts, add a .wld file association, and launch TerraMap. If you prefer the zip ...WPF Localization Extension: v2.2.1: Issue #9277 Issue #9292 Issue #9311 Issue #9312 Issue #9313 Issue #9314CtrlAltStudio Viewer: CtrlAltStudio Viewer 1.2.1.41167 Release: This release of the CtrlAltStudio Viewer includes the following significant features: Oculus Rift support. Stereoscopic 3D display support. Variable walking / flying speed. Xbox 360 Controller support. Kinect for Windows support. Based on Firestorm viewer 4.6.5 codebase. For more details, see the release notes linked to below. Release notes: http://ctrlaltstudio.com/viewer/release-notes/1-2-1-41167-release Support info: http://ctrlaltstudio.com/viewer/support Privacy policy: http:/...New Projects.NET Development Library: .NET Development LibraryBizTalk Flow Visualizer: This tool has been designed to help BizTalk developers and administrators visualize the flow of messages through their implementation of BizTalk Server.BlackSwan: Provides tools for value investingCamel Case Parser: Simple method with unit tests for splitting an up or down camel cased word into the words that comprise it.eukota_sandbox: really just a repository for practicing with some students i mentor.Hyperlapse: Software repository for Hyperlapse, a Universal Store App for Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1, National Level entry in code.fun.do hackathon by Microsoft.Informiamoci Partecipando: Progetto presentato al #code4italyKipLink: MVC5 Web Api 2 EF DB First Oracle 11g Custom MembershipMatAcademyPlayground: MatAcademy 2014 playgroundOgCRM: Proyecto OgCRMPowerSYDI: This is an re-engineering of SYDI vbscript created by Patrick Ogenstad in PowerShell. SharpLightReporting: SharpLightReporting is a reporting system for .Net developers, based on open source SpreadsheetLight excel/spreadsheet automation system. T4 Template to pre-generate views for Entity Framework 5.0, .NET 4.5: T4 Template to pre-generate views for Entity Framework 6.0, .NET 4.5Task Board: Simple TaskboardWentex OS: Wentex das kostenfrei Betriebssystem für alleWinldTunnel - VIPBrowserProject: NoneWintcy: Wintcy's only function is to disable taskbar transparency that Microsoft for some reason has left in Windows 8.????????-????????【??】????????????: ????????????????????????,??????????,????,????,?????????、??????,??????。 ??????-??????【??】??????????: ???????????,?????????????? ??。????????、????、????、?????????? ???????。 ??????-??????【??】??????????: ???????????????????????:????、????、??????????????,????????。????????! ??????-【??】??????????: ???????????????????,????,????,????,???????,?????,?????.??????。 ??????-??????【??】??????????: ????????????????????????????:???????,??????,????,????,????,?????！ ??????-??????【??】??????????: ????????????,??,??,??,??? ?,??,,??,??,??,??,??,??,????????,??????！ ??????-??????【??】??????????: ?????????????????,?????????????。????????????,???????,???????,?????,?????。 ??????-??????【??】??????????: ???????????? ???? ???? ???? ???? ???? ??????? ?????，????????????????. ??????-??????【??】??????????: ???????????、????、????、??????、????、????????,????????、?????????,?????。 ???????-???????【??】???????????: ?????????????????????,??????????,????????、????,??????????,??????????。 ???????-???????【??】???????????: ???????????????????、????,??100%????,??????,????????????,???????????! ???????-???????【??】???????????: ?????????,??????:?????,?????,??????,??????????,????????。????????! ??????-??????【??】??????????: ???????【.????.????.????.????.】??【??】:、??、??、??、??、??、??、??、??、??、??、?????。 ??????-??????【??】??????????: ??????????????????,????,??.??.??.??.??.??.??.???，????，???????! ??????-??????【??】??????????: ??????????????????、????、??????、????????,????????????,???????????！ ??????-??????【??】??????????: ?????????????????,???????????????。???????????,??????:????、????、???????！ ??????-??????【??】??????????: ?????????????????????,????,????,??????????。???????????????,??,??,??????????,??????... ??????-??????【??】??????????: ??????????????,?????????????,????,?????????,?????????????,?????,?????! ??????-??????【??】??????????: ????????????????，???????、???????????，????????、????、????、??????、????????。 ??????-??????【??】??????????: ????????????????、?????,????????????????????,????,????,??????。 ??????-??????【??】??????????: ?????????????:??????、????、????、????、????、??????、??????，???????! ??????-??????【??】??????????: ???????????? 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,????????! ??????-??????【??】??????????: ??????????,????????,?????,???,???????????,???????????,?????,??????！ ??????-??????【??】??????????: ??????????,??????????????????????,???????????????,?????????????！ ??????-??????【??】??????????: ?????????????????????，?????????/?,,???????????,??????????????! ??????-??????【??】??????????: ????????????????,?????????、??、??、????,??????????,?????????????！ ??????-??????【??】??????????: ???????????、????、????、??????????,???,?????,???????????????. ??????-??????【??】??????????: ??????????????????????,?????, ... ????????????,????,????,?????,???????。

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• Automating deployments with the SQL Compare command line

  - by Jonathan Hickford

  In my previous article, “Five Tips to Get Your Organisation Releasing Software Frequently” I looked at how teams can automate processes to speed up release frequency. In this post, I’m looking specifically at automating deployments using the SQL Compare command line. SQL Compare compares SQL Server schemas and deploys the differences. It works very effectively in scenarios where only one deployment target is required – source and target databases are specified, compared, and a change script is automatically generated and applied. But if multiple targets exist, and pressure to increase the frequency of releases builds, this solution quickly becomes unwieldy.   This is where SQL Compare’s command line comes into its own. I’ve put together a PowerShell script that loops through the Servers table and pulls out the server and database, these are then passed to sqlcompare.exe to be used as target parameters. In the example the source database is a scripts folder, a folder structure of scripted-out database objects used by both SQL Source Control and SQL Compare. The script can easily be adapted to use schema snapshots.     -- Create a DeploymentTargets database and a Servers table CREATE DATABASE DeploymentTargets GO USE DeploymentTargets GO CREATE TABLE [dbo].[Servers]( [id] [int] IDENTITY(1,1) NOT NULL, [serverName] [nvarchar](50) NULL, [environment] [nvarchar](50) NULL, [databaseName] [nvarchar](50) NULL, CONSTRAINT [PK_Servers] PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED ([id] ASC) ) GO -- Now insert your target server and database details INSERT INTO dbo.Servers ( serverName , environment , databaseName) VALUES ( N'myserverinstance' , N'myenvironment1' , N'mydb1') INSERT INTO dbo.Servers ( serverName , environment , databaseName) VALUES ( N'myserverinstance' , N'myenvironment2' , N'mydb2') Here’s the PowerShell script you can adapt for yourself as well. # We're holding the server names and database names that we want to deploy to in a database table. # We need to connect to that server to read these details $serverName = "" $databaseName = "DeploymentTargets" $authentication = "Integrated Security=SSPI" #$authentication = "User Id=xxx;PWD=xxx" # If you are using database authentication instead of Windows authentication. # Path to the scripts folder we want to deploy to the databases $scriptsPath = "SimpleTalk" # Path to SQLCompare.exe $SQLComparePath = "C:\Program Files (x86)\Red Gate\SQL Compare 10\sqlcompare.exe" # Create SQL connection string, and connection $ServerConnectionString = "Data Source=$serverName;Initial Catalog=$databaseName;$authentication" $ServerConnection = new-object system.data.SqlClient.SqlConnection($ServerConnectionString); # Create a Dataset to hold the DataTable $dataSet = new-object "System.Data.DataSet" "ServerList" # Create a query $query = "SET NOCOUNT ON;" $query += "SELECT serverName, environment, databaseName " $query += "FROM dbo.Servers; " # Create a DataAdapter to populate the DataSet with the results $dataAdapter = new-object "System.Data.SqlClient.SqlDataAdapter" ($query, $ServerConnection) $dataAdapter.Fill($dataSet) | Out-Null # Close the connection $ServerConnection.Close() # Populate the DataTable $dataTable = new-object "System.Data.DataTable" "Servers" $dataTable = $dataSet.Tables[0] #For every row in the DataTable $dataTable | FOREACH-OBJECT { "Server Name: $($_.serverName)" "Database Name: $($_.databaseName)" "Environment: $($_.environment)" # Compare the scripts folder to the database and synchronize the database to match # NB. Have set SQL Compare to abort on medium level warnings. $arguments = @("/scripts1:$($scriptsPath)", "/server2:$($_.serverName)", "/database2:$($_.databaseName)", "/AbortOnWarnings:Medium") # + @("/sync" ) # Commented out the 'sync' parameter for safety, write-host $arguments & $SQLComparePath $arguments "Exit Code: $LASTEXITCODE" # Some interesting variations # Check that every database matches a folder. # For example this might be a pre-deployment step to validate everything is at the same baseline state. # Or a post deployment script to validate the deployment worked. # An exit code of 0 means the databases are identical. # # $arguments = @("/scripts1:$($scriptsPath)", "/server2:$($_.serverName)", "/database2:$($_.databaseName)", "/Assertidentical") # Generate a report of the difference between the folder and each database. Generate a SQL update script for each database. # For example use this after the above to generate upgrade scripts for each database # Examine the warnings and the HTML diff report to understand how the script will change objects # #$arguments = @("/scripts1:$($scriptsPath)", "/server2:$($_.serverName)", "/database2:$($_.databaseName)", "/ScriptFile:update_$($_.environment+"_"+$_.databaseName).sql", "/report:update_$($_.environment+"_"+$_.databaseName).html" , "/reportType:Interactive", "/showWarnings", "/include:Identical") } It’s worth noting that the above example generates the deployment scripts dynamically. This approach should be problem-free for the vast majority of changes, but it is still good practice to review and test a pre-generated deployment script prior to deployment. An alternative approach would be to pre-generate a single deployment script using SQL Compare, and run this en masse to multiple targets programmatically using sqlcmd, or using a tool like SQL Multi Script.  You can use the /ScriptFile, /report, and /showWarnings flags to generate change scripts, difference reports and any warnings.  See the commented out example in the PowerShell: #$arguments = @("/scripts1:$($scriptsPath)", "/server2:$($_.serverName)", "/database2:$($_.databaseName)", "/ScriptFile:update_$($_.environment+"_"+$_.databaseName).sql", "/report:update_$($_.environment+"_"+$_.databaseName).html" , "/reportType:Interactive", "/showWarnings", "/include:Identical") There is a drawback of running a pre-generated deployment script; it assumes that a given database target hasn’t drifted from its expected state. Often there are (rightly or wrongly) many individuals within an organization who have permissions to alter the production database, and changes can therefore be made outside of the prescribed development processes. The consequence is that at deployment time, the applied script has been validated against a target that no longer represents reality. The solution here would be to add a check for drift prior to running the deployment script. This is achieved by using sqlcompare.exe to compare the target against the expected schema snapshot using the /Assertidentical flag. Should this return any differences (sqlcompare.exe Exit Code 79), a drift report is outputted instead of executing the deployment script.  See the commented out example. # $arguments = @("/scripts1:$($scriptsPath)", "/server2:$($_.serverName)", "/database2:$($_.databaseName)", "/Assertidentical") Any checks and processes that should be undertaken prior to a manual deployment, should also be happen during an automated deployment. You might think about triggering backups prior to deployment – even better, automate the verification of the backup too.   You can use SQL Compare’s command line interface along with PowerShell to automate multiple actions and checks that you need in your deployment process. Automation is a practical solution where multiple targets and a higher release cadence come into play. As we know, with great power comes great responsibility – responsibility to ensure that the necessary checks are made so deployments remain trouble-free.  (The code sample supplied in this post automates the simple dynamic deployment case – if you are considering more advanced automation, e.g. the drift checks, script generation, deploying to large numbers of targets and backup/verification, please email me at [email protected] for further script samples or if you have further questions)

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• Boost your infrastructure with Coherence into the Cloud

  - by Nino Guarnacci

  Authors: Nino Guarnacci & Francesco Scarano,  at this URL could be found the original article:  http://blogs.oracle.com/slc/coherence_into_the_cloud_boost. Thinking about the enterprise cloud, come to mind many possible configurations and new opportunities in enterprise environments. Various customers needs that serve as guides to this new trend are often very different, but almost always united by two main objectives: Elasticity of infrastructure both Hardware and Software Investments related to the progressive needs of the current infrastructure Characteristics of innovation and economy. A concrete use case that I worked on recently demanded the fulfillment of two basic requirements of economy and innovation.The client had the need to manage a variety of data cache, which can process complex queries and parallel computational operations, maintaining the caches in a consistent state on different server instances, on which the application was installed.In addition, the customer was looking for a solution that would allow him to manage the likely situations in load peak during certain times of the year.For this reason, the customer requires a replication site, on which convey part of the requests during periods of peak; the desire was, however, to prevent the immobilization of investments in owned hardware-software architectures; so, to respond to this need, it was requested to seek a solution based on Cloud technologies and architectures already offered by the market. Coherence can already now address the requirements of large cache between different nodes in the cluster, providing further technology to search and parallel computing, with the simultaneous use of all hardware infrastructure resources. Moreover, thanks to the functionality of "Push Replication", which can replicate and update the information contained in the cache, even to a site hosted in the cloud, it is satisfied the need to make resilient infrastructure that can be based also on nodes temporarily housed in the Cloud architectures. There are different types of configurations that can be realized using the functionality "Push-Replication" of Coherence. Configurations can be either: Active - Passive  Hub and Spoke Active - Active Multi Master Centralized Replication Whereas the architecture of this particular project consists of two sites (Site 1 and Site Cloud), between which only Site 1 is enabled to write into the cache, it was decided to adopt an Active-Passive Configuration type (Hub and Spoke). If, however, the requirement should change over time, it will be particularly easy to change this configuration in an Active-Active configuration type. Although very simple, the small sample in this post, inspired by the specific project is effective, to better understand the features and capabilities of Coherence and its configurations. Let's create two distinct coherence cluster, located at miles apart, on two different domain contexts, one of them "hosted" at home (on-premise) and the other one hosted by any cloud provider on the network (or just the same laptop to test it :)). These two clusters, which we call Site 1 and Site Cloud, will contain the necessary information, so a simple client can insert data only into the Site 1. On both sites will be subscribed a listener, who listens to the variations of specific objects within the various caches. To implement these features, you need 4 simple classes: CachedResponse.java Represents the POJO class that will be inserted into the cache, and fulfills the task of containing useful information about the hypothetical links navigation ResponseSimulatorHelper.java Represents a link simulator, which has the task of randomly creating objects of type CachedResponse that will be added into the caches CacheCommands.java Represents the model of our example, because it is responsible for receiving instructions from the controller and performing basic operations against the cache, such as insert, delete, update, listening, objects within the cache Shell.java It is our controller, which give commands to be executed within the cache of the two Sites So, summarily, we execute the java class "Shell", asking it to put into the cache 100 objects of type "CachedResponse" through the java class "CacheCommands", then the simulator "ResponseSimulatorHelper" will randomly create new instances of objects "CachedResponse ". Finally, the Shell class will listen to for events occurring within the cache on the Site Cloud, while insertions and deletions are performed on Site 1. Now, we realize the two configurations of two respective sites / cluster: Site 1 and Site Cloud.For the Site 1 we define a cache of type "distributed" with features of "read and write", using the cache class store for the "push replication", a functionality offered by the project "incubator" of Oracle Coherence.For the "Site Cloud" we expect even the definition of “distributed” cache type with tcp proxy feature enabled, so it can receive updates from Site 1.  Coherence Cache Config XML file for "storage node" on "Site 1" site1-prod-cache-config.xml Coherence Cache Config XML file for "storage node" on "Site Cloud" site2-prod-cache-config.xml For two clients "Shell" which will connect respectively to the two clusters we have provided two easy access configurations.  Coherence Cache Config XML file for Shell on "Site 1" site1-shell-prod-cache-config.xml Coherence Cache Config XML file for Shell on "Site Cloud" site2-shell-prod-cache-config.xml Now, we just have to get everything and run our tests. To start at least one "storage" node (which holds the data) for the "Cloud Site", we can run the standard class  provided OOTB by Oracle Coherence com.tangosol.net.DefaultCacheServer with the following parameters and values:-Xmx128m-Xms64m-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote -Dtangosol.coherence.management=all -Dtangosol.coherence.management.remote=true -Dtangosol.coherence.distributed.localstorage=true -Dtangosol.coherence.cacheconfig=config/site2-prod-cache-config.xml-Dtangosol.coherence.clusterport=9002-Dtangosol.coherence.site=SiteCloud To start at least one "storage" node (which holds the data) for the "Site 1", we can perform again the standard class provided by Coherence  com.tangosol.net.DefaultCacheServer with the following parameters and values:-Xmx128m-Xms64m-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote -Dtangosol.coherence.management=all -Dtangosol.coherence.management.remote=true -Dtangosol.coherence.distributed.localstorage=true -Dtangosol.coherence.cacheconfig=config/site1-prod-cache-config.xml-Dtangosol.coherence.clusterport=9001-Dtangosol.coherence.site=Site1 Then, we start the first client "Shell" for the "Cloud Site", launching the java class it.javac.Shell  using these parameters and values: -Xmx64m-Xms64m-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote -Dtangosol.coherence.management=all -Dtangosol.coherence.management.remote=true -Dtangosol.coherence.distributed.localstorage=false -Dtangosol.coherence.cacheconfig=config/site2-shell-prod-cache-config.xml-Dtangosol.coherence.clusterport=9002-Dtangosol.coherence.site=SiteCloud Finally, we start the second client "Shell" for the "Site 1", re-launching a new instance of class  it.javac.Shell  using  the following parameters and values: -Xmx64m-Xms64m-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote -Dtangosol.coherence.management=all -Dtangosol.coherence.management.remote=true -Dtangosol.coherence.distributed.localstorage=false -Dtangosol.coherence.cacheconfig=config/site1-shell-prod-cache-config.xml-Dtangosol.coherence.clusterport=9001-Dtangosol.coherence.site=Site1  And now, let’s execute some tests to validate and better understand our configuration. TEST 1The purpose of this test is to load the objects into the "Site 1" cache and seeing how many objects are cached on the "Site Cloud". Within the "Shell" launched with parameters to access the "Site 1", let’s write and run the command: load test/100 Within the "Shell" launched with parameters to access the "Site Cloud" let’s write and run the command: size passive-cache Expected result If all is OK, the first "Shell" has uploaded 100 objects into a cache named "test"; consequently the "push-replication" functionality has updated the "Site Cloud" by sending the 100 objects to the second cluster where they will have been posted into a respective cache, which we named "passive-cache". TEST 2The purpose of this test is to listen to deleting and adding events happening on the "Site 1" and that are replicated within the cache on "Cloud Site". In the "Shell" launched with parameters to access the "Site Cloud" let’s write and run the command: listen passive-cache/name like '%' or a "cohql" query, with your preferred parameters In the "Shell" launched with parameters to access the "Site 1" let’s write and run the following commands: load test/10 load test2/20 delete test/50 Expected result If all is OK, the "Shell" to Site Cloud let us to listen to all the add and delete events within the cache "cache-passive", whose objects satisfy the query condition "name like '%' " (ie, every objects in the cache; you could change the tests and create different queries).Through the Shell to "Site 1" we launched the commands to add and to delete objects on different caches (test and test2). With the "Shell" running on "Site Cloud" we got the evidence (displayed or printed, or in a log file) that its cache has been filled with events and related objects generated by commands executed from the" Shell "on" Site 1 ", thanks to "push-replication" feature.  Other tests can be performed, such as, for example, the subscription to the events on the "Site 1" too, using different "cohql" queries, changing the cache configuration,  to effectively demonstrate both the potentiality and  the versatility produced by these different configurations, even in the cloud, as in our case. More information on how to configure Coherence "Push Replication" can be found in the Oracle Coherence Incubator project documentation at the following link: http://coherence.oracle.com/display/INC10/Home More information on Oracle Coherence "In Memory Data Grid" can be found at the following link: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/coherence/overview/index.html To download and execute the whole sources and configurations of the example explained in the above post,  click here to download them; After download the last available version of the Push-Replication Pattern library implementation from the Oracle Coherence Incubator site, and download also the related and required version of Oracle Coherence. For simplicity the required .jarS to execute the example (that can be found into the Push-Replication-Pattern  download and Coherence Distribution download) are: activemq-core-5.3.1.jar activemq-protobuf-1.0.jar aopalliance-1.0.jar coherence-commandpattern-2.8.4.32329.jar coherence-common-2.2.0.32329.jar coherence-eventdistributionpattern-1.2.0.32329.jar coherence-functorpattern-1.5.4.32329.jar coherence-messagingpattern-2.8.4.32329.jar coherence-processingpattern-1.4.4.32329.jar coherence-pushreplicationpattern-4.0.4.32329.jar coherence-rest.jar coherence.jar commons-logging-1.1.jar commons-logging-api-1.1.jar commons-net-2.0.jar geronimo-j2ee-management_1.0_spec-1.0.jar geronimo-jms_1.1_spec-1.1.1.jar http.jar jackson-all-1.8.1.jar je.jar jersey-core-1.8.jar jersey-json-1.8.jar jersey-server-1.8.jar jl1.0.jar kahadb-5.3.1.jar miglayout-3.6.3.jar org.osgi.core-4.1.0.jar spring-beans-2.5.6.jar spring-context-2.5.6.jar spring-core-2.5.6.jar spring-osgi-core-1.2.1.jar spring-osgi-io-1.2.1.jar At this URL could be found the original article: http://blogs.oracle.com/slc/coherence_into_the_cloud_boost Authors: Nino Guarnacci & Francesco Scarano

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• Microsoft Business Intelligence Seminar 2011

  - by DavidWimbush

  I was lucky enough to attend the maiden presentation of this at Microsoft Reading yesterday. It was pretty gripping stuff not only because of what was said but also because of what could only be hinted at. Here's what I took away from the day. (Disclaimer: I'm not a BI guru, just a reasonably experienced BI developer, so I may have misunderstood or misinterpreted a few things. Particularly when so much of the talk was about the vision and subtle hints of what is coming. Please comment if you think I've got anything wrong. I'm also not going to even try to cover Master Data Services as I struggled to imagine how you would actually use it.) I was a bit worried when I learned that the whole day was going to be presented by one guy but Rafal Lukawiecki is a very engaging speaker. He's going to be presenting this about 20 times around the world over the coming months. If you get a chance to hear him speak, I say go for it. No doubt some of the hints will become clearer as Denali gets closer to RTM. Firstly, things are definitely happening in the SQL Server Reporting and BI world. Traditionally IT would build a data warehouse, then cubes on top of that, and then publish them in a structured and controlled way. But, just as with many IT projects in general, by the time it's finished the business has moved on and the system no longer meets their requirements. This not sustainable and something more agile is needed but there has to be some control. Apparently we're going to be hearing the catchphrase 'Balancing agility with control' a lot. More users want more access to more data. Can they define what they want? Of course not, but they'll recognise it when they see it. It's estimated that only 28% of potential BI users have meaningful access to the data they need, so there is a real pent-up demand. The answer looks like: give them some self-service tools so they can experiment and see what works, and then IT can help to support the results. It's estimated that 32% of Excel users are comfortable with its analysis tools such as pivot tables. It's the power user's preferred tool. Why fight it? That's why PowerPivot is an Excel add-in and that's why they released a Data Mining add-in for it as well. It does appear that the strategy is going to be to use Reporting Services (in SharePoint mode), PowerPivot, and possibly something new (smiles and hints but no details) to create reports and explore data. Everything will be published and managed in SharePoint which gives users the ability to mash-up, share and socialise what they've found out. SharePoint also gives IT tools to understand what people are looking at and where to concentrate effort. If PowerPivot report X becomes widely used, it's time to check that it shows what they think it does and perhaps get it a bit more under central control. There was more SharePoint detail that went slightly over my head regarding where Excel Services and Excel Web Application fit in, the differences between them, and the suggestion that it is likely they will one day become one (but not in the immediate future). That basic pattern is set to be expanded upon by further exploiting Vertipaq (the columnar indexing engine that enables PowerPivot to store and process a lot of data fast and in a small memory footprint) to provide scalability 'from the desktop to the data centre', and some yet to be detailed advances in 'frictionless deployment' (part of which is about making the difference between local and the cloud pretty much irrelevant). Excel looks like becoming Microsoft's primary BI client. It already has: the ability to consume cubes strong visualisation tools slicers (which are part of Excel not PowerPivot) a data mining add-in PowerPivot A major hurdle for self-service BI is presenting the data in a consumable format. You can't just give users PowerPivot and a server with a copy of the OLTP database(s). Building cubes is labour intensive and doesn't always give the user what they need. This is where the BI Semantic Model (BISM) comes in. I gather it's a layer of metadata you define that can combine multiple data sources (and types of data source) into a clear 'interface' that users can work with. It comes with a new query language called DAX. SSAS cubes are unlikely to go away overnight because, with their pre-calculated results, they are still the most efficient way to work with really big data sets. A few other random titbits that came up: Reporting Services is going to get some good new stuff in Denali. Keep an eye on www.projectbotticelli.com for the slides. You can also view last year's seminar sessions which covered a lot of the same ground as far as the overall strategy is concerned. They plan to add more material as Denali's features are publicly exposed. Check out the PASS keynote address for a showing of Yahoo's SQL BI servers. Apparently they wheeled the rack out on stage still plugged in and running! Check out the Excel 2010 Data Mining Add-Ins. 32 bit only at present but 64 bit is on the way. There are lots of data sets, many of them free, at the Windows Azure Marketplace Data Market (where you can also get ESRI shape files). If you haven't already seen it, have a look at the Silverlight Pivot Viewer (http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2010/06/29/silverlight-pivotviewer-now-available.aspx). The Bing Maps Data Connector is worth a look if you're into spatial stuff (http://www.bing.com/community/site_blogs/b/maps/archive/2010/07/13/data-connector-sql-server-2008-spatial-amp-bing-maps.aspx).  

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• Adopting Technologies for the Sake of Technologies

  - by shiju

  Unlike other engineering industries, the software engineering industry is really lacking maturity. The lack of maturity can see in different aspects of entire software development life cycle. I think other engineering industries are well organised and structured with common, proven engineering practices. The software engineering industry is greatly a diverse industry with different operating systems, and variety of development platforms, programming languages, frameworks and tools. Now these days, people are going behind the hypes and intellectual thoughts without understanding their core business problems and adopting technologies and practices for the sake of technologies and practices and simply becoming a “poster child” of technologies and practices. Understanding the core business problem and providing best, solid solution with a platform neutral approach, will give you more business values and ROI, instead of blindly adopting technologies and tailor-made your applications for the sake of technologies and practices. People have been simply migrating their solutions in favour of new technologies and different versions of frameworks without any business need. The “Pepsi Challenge” in the Software Development  Pepsi Challenge marketing campaign of the 1980s was a popular and very interesting marketing promotion in which people taste one cup of Pepsi and another cup with Coca Cola. In the taste test, more than 50% of people were preferred Pepsi  over Coca Cola. The success story behind the Pepsi was more sweetness contains in the Pepsi cola. They have simply added more sugar and more people preferred more sweet flavour. You can’t simply identify the better one after sipping one cup of cola based on the sweetness which contains. These things have been happening in the software industry for choosing development frameworks and technologies. People have been simply choosing frameworks based on the initial sugary feeling without understanding its core strengths and weakness. The sugary framework might be more harmful when you develop real-world systems. There is not any silver bullet for solving all kind of problems and frameworks and tools do have strengths and weakness. So it would be better to understand their strength and weakness. And please keep in mind that you have to develop real apps to understand the real capabilities and weakness of a framework. Evaluating a technology based on few blog posts will harm your projects and these bloggers might be lacking real-world experience with the framework. The Problem with Align a Development Practice with Tools Recently I have observed a discussion in a group where one guy asked suggestions for practicing Continuous Delivery (CD) as part of the agile based application engineering. Then the discussion quickly went to using and choosing a Continuous Integration (CI) tool and different people suggested different Continuous Integration (CI) tools for simply practicing Continuous Delivery. If you have worked with core agile engineering practices, you could clearly know that the real essence of agile is neither choosing a tool nor choosing a process. By simply choosing CI tool from a particular vendor will not ensure that you are delivering an evolving software based on customer feedback. You have to understand the real essence of a engineering practice and choose a right tool for practicing it instead of simply focus on a particular tool for a practicing an development practice. If you want to adopt a practice, you need a solid understanding on it with its real essence where tools are just helping us for better automation. Adopting New Technologies for the Sake of Technologies The another problem is that developers have been a tendency to adopt new technologies and simply migrating their existing apps to new technologies. It is okay if your existing system is having problem  with a technology stack or or maintainability challenge with existing solution, and moving to new technology for solving the current problems. We have been adopting new technologies for solving new challenges like solving the scalability challenges when the application or user bases is growing unpredictably. Please keep in mind that all new technologies will become old after working with it for few years. The below Facebook status update of Janakiraman, expresses the attitude of a typical customer. For an example, Node.js is becoming a hottest buzzword in the software industry and many developers are trying to adopt Node.js for their apps. The important thing is that Node.js is a minimalist framework that does some great things for some problems, but it’s not a silver bullet. I have been also working with Node.js which is good for some problems, but really bad for choosing it for all kind of problems. By adopting new technologies for new projects is good if we could get real business values from it because newer framework would solve some existing well known problems and provide better solutions where it can incorporate good solutions for the latest challenges . But adopting a new technology for the sake of new technology is really bad idea. Another example is JavaScript is getting lot of attention so that lot of developers are developing heavy JavaScript centric web apps. First, they will adopt a client-side JavaScript MV* framework from AngularJS, Ember, Backbone etc, and develop a Single Page App(SPA) where they are repeating the mistakes we did in the past with server-side. The mistakes we did in the server-side is transforming to client-side. The problem is that people are just adopting new technologies, but not improving their solutions. I predict that many Single Page App will suck in the future. We need a hybrid approach where we should be able to leverage both server-side and client-side for developing next-generation web apps. The another problem is that if you like a particular framework, use it for all kind of apps. In the past, I know some Silverlight passionate guys were tried to use that framework for all kind of apps including larger line of business apps. And these days developers are migrating their existing Silverlight apps in favour of HTML5 buzzword. So the real question is, what is the business values we are getting from these apps when we are developing it for the sake of a particular technology instead of business need. The another problem is that our solutions consultants are trying to provide unnecessary solutions for the sake of a particular technology or for a hype. For an example, Big Data solutions are great for solving the problem of three Vs : volume, velocity and variety. But trying to put this for every application will make problems. Let’s say, there is a small web site running with limited budget and saying that we need a recommendation engine for the web site with a Hadoop based solution with a 16 node cluster, would be really horrible. If we really need a Hadoop based solution, got for it, but trying to put this for all application would be a big disaster. It would be great if could understand the core business problems first, and later choose a right framework for providing solutions for the actual business problem, instead of trying to provide so many solutions. The Problem with Tied Up to a Platform Vendor Some organizations and teams are tied up with a particular platform vendor where they don’t want to use any product other than their preferred or existing platform vendor. They will accept any product provided by the vendor regardless of its capability. This will lets you some benefits regards with integration and collaboration of different products provided by the same vendor, but it will loose your opportunity to provide better solution for your business problems. For a real world sample scenario, lot of companies have been using SAP for their ERP solutions. When they are thinking about mobility or thinking about developing hybrid mobile apps, they can easily find out a framework from SAP. SAP provides a framework for HTML 5 based UI development named SAPUI5. If you are simply adopting that framework only based for the preference of existing platform vendor, you might be loose different opportunities for providing better solution. Initially you might enjoy the sugary feeling provided by the platform vendor, but you have to think about developing apps which should be capable for solving future challenges. I am not saying that any framework is not good and I believe that all frameworks are good over another one for solving at least one problem. My point is that we should not tied up with any specific platform vendor unless your organization is having resource availability problems. Being Polyglot for Providing Right Solutions The modern software engineering industry is greatly diverse with different tools and platforms. Lot of open source frameworks and new programming languages have been releasing to the developer community, where choosing the right platform without any biased opinion, is really a difficult task. But it would really great if we could develop an attitude with platform neutral mindset and being a polyglot developer for providing better solutions based on the actual business problems. IMHO, we should learn a new programming language and a new framework every year. This will improve the quality of our developer capabilities and also improve the quality of our primary programming language skills. Being polyglot for individual developers and organizational teams will give you greater opportunity to your developer experience and also for your applications. Organizations can analyse their business problem without tied with any technology and later they can provide solutions by choosing different platform and tools. Summary    In this blog post, what I was trying to say that we should not tied up or biased with any development platform, technology, vendor or programming language and we should not adopt technologies and practices for the sake of technologies. If we are adopting a technology or a practice for the sake of it, we are simply becoming a “poster child” of the technology and practice. We should not become a poster child of other people’s intellectual thoughts and theories, instead of it we should become solutions developers and solutions consultants where we should be able to provide better solutions for the business problems. Being a polyglot developer is a good idea for improving your developer skills which lets you provide better solutions for the business problems. The most important thing is that we should become platform neutral developers where our passion should be for providing brilliant solutions. It would be great if we could provide minimalist, pragmatic business solutions. You can follow me on Twitter @shijucv

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• A Closable jQuery Plug-in

  - by Rick Strahl

  In my client side development I deal a lot with content that pops over the main page. Be it data entry ‘windows’ or dialogs or simple pop up notes. In most cases this behavior goes with draggable windows, but sometimes it’s also useful to have closable behavior on static page content that the user can choose to hide or otherwise make invisible or fade out. Here’s a small jQuery plug-in that provides .closable() behavior to most elements by using either an image that is provided or – more appropriately by using a CSS class to define the picture box layout. /* * * Closable * * Makes selected DOM elements closable by making them * invisible when close icon is clicked * * Version 1.01 * @requires jQuery v1.3 or later * * Copyright (c) 2007-2010 Rick Strahl * http://www.west-wind.com/ * * Licensed under the MIT license: * http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php Support CSS: .closebox { position: absolute; right: 4px; top: 4px; background-image: url(images/close.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; width: 14px; height: 14px; cursor: pointer; opacity: 0.60; filter: alpha(opacity="80"); } .closebox:hover { opacity: 0.95; filter: alpha(opacity="100"); } Options: * handle Element to place closebox into (like say a header). Use if main element and closebox container are two different elements. * closeHandler Function called when the close box is clicked. Return true to close the box return false to keep it visible. * cssClass The CSS class to apply to the close box DIV or IMG tag. * imageUrl Allows you to specify an explicit IMG url that displays the close icon. If used bypasses CSS image styling. * fadeOut Optional provide fadeOut speed. Default no fade out occurs */ (function ($) { $.fn.closable = function (options) { var opt = { handle: null, closeHandler: null, cssClass: "closebox", imageUrl: null, fadeOut: null }; $.extend(opt, options); return this.each(function (i) { var el = $(this); var pos = el.css("position"); if (!pos || pos == "static") el.css("position", "relative"); var h = opt.handle ? $(opt.handle).css({ position: "relative" }) : el; var div = opt.imageUrl ? $("<img>").attr("src", opt.imageUrl).css("cursor", "pointer") : $("<div>"); div.addClass(opt.cssClass) .click(function (e) { if (opt.closeHandler) if (!opt.closeHandler.call(this, e)) return; if (opt.fadeOut) $(el).fadeOut(opt.fadeOut); else $(el).hide(); }); if (opt.imageUrl) div.css("background-image", "none"); h.append(div); }); } })(jQuery); The plugin can be applied against any selector that is a container (typically a div tag). The close image or close box is provided typically by way of a CssClass - .closebox by default – which supplies the image as part of the CSS styling. The default styling for the box looks something like this: .closebox { position: absolute; right: 4px; top: 4px; background-image: url(images/close.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; width: 14px; height: 14px; cursor: pointer; opacity: 0.60; filter: alpha(opacity="80"); } .closebox:hover { opacity: 0.95; filter: alpha(opacity="100"); } Alternately you can also supply an image URL which overrides the background image in the style sheet. I use this plug-in mostly on pop up windows that can be closed, but it’s also quite handy for remove/delete behavior in list displays like this: you can find this sample here to look to play along: http://www.west-wind.com/WestwindWebToolkit/Samples/Ajax/AmazonBooks/BooksAdmin.aspx For closable windows it’s nice to have something reusable because in my client framework there are lots of different kinds of windows that can be created: Draggables, Modal Dialogs, HoverPanels etc. and they all use the client .closable plug-in to provide the closable operation in the same way with a few options. Plug-ins are great for this sort of thing because they can also be aggregated and so different components can pick and choose the behavior they want. The window here is a draggable, that’s closable and has shadow behavior and the server control can simply generate the appropriate plug-ins to apply to the main <div> tag: $().ready(function() { $('#ctl00_MainContent_panEditBook') .closable({ handle: $('#divEditBook_Header') }) .draggable({ dragDelay: 100, handle: '#divEditBook_Header' }) .shadow({ opacity: 0.25, offset: 6 }); }) The window is using the default .closebox style and has its handle set to the header bar (Book Information). The window is just closable to go away so no event handler is applied. Actually I cheated – the actual page’s .closable is a bit more ugly in the sample as it uses an image from a resources file: .closable({ imageUrl: '/WestWindWebToolkit/Samples/WebResource.axd?d=TooLongAndNastyToPrint', handle: $('#divEditBook_Header')}) so you can see how to apply a custom image, which in this case is generated by the server control wrapping the client DragPanel. More interesting maybe is to apply the .closable behavior to list scenarios. For example, each of the individual items in the list display also are .closable using this plug-in. Rather than having to define each item with Html for an image, event handler and link, when the client template is rendered the closable behavior is attached to the list. Here I’m using client-templating and the code that this is done with looks like this: function loadBooks() { showProgress(); // Clear the content $("#divBookListWrapper").empty(); var filter = $("#" + scriptVars.lstFiltersId).val(); Proxy.GetBooks(filter, function(books) { $(books).each(function(i) { updateBook(this); showProgress(true); }); }, onPageError); } function updateBook(book,highlight) { // try to retrieve the single item in the list by tag attribute id var item = $(".bookitem[tag=" +book.Pk +"]"); // grab and evaluate the template var html = parseTemplate(template, book); var newItem = $(html) .attr("tag", book.Pk.toString()) .click(function() { var pk = $(this).attr("tag"); editBook(this, parseInt(pk)); }) .closable({ closeHandler: function(e) { removeBook(this, e); }, imageUrl: "../../images/remove.gif" }); if (item.length > 0) item.after(newItem).remove(); else newItem.appendTo($("#divBookListWrapper")); if (highlight) { newItem .addClass("pulse") .effect("bounce", { distance: 15, times: 3 }, 400); setTimeout(function() { newItem.removeClass("pulse"); }, 1200); } } Here the closable behavior is applied to each of the items along with an event handler, which is nice and easy compared to having to embed the right HTML and click handling into each item in the list individually via markup. Ideally though (and these posts make me realize this often a little late) I probably should set up a custom cssClass to handle the rendering – maybe a CSS class called .removebox that only changes the image from the default box image. This example also hooks up an event handler that is fired in response to the close. In the list I need to know when the remove button is clicked so I can fire of a service call to the server to actually remove the item from the database. The handler code can also return false; to indicate that the window should not be closed optionally. Returning true will close the window. You can find more information about the .closable class behavior and options here: .closable Documentation Plug-ins make Server Control JavaScript much easier I find this plug-in immensely useful especial as part of server control code, because it simplifies the code that has to be generated server side tremendously. This is true of plug-ins in general which make it so much easier to create simple server code that only generates plug-in options, rather than full blocks of JavaScript code.  For example, here’s the relevant code from the DragPanel server control which generates the .closable() behavior: if (this.Closable && !string.IsNullOrEmpty(DragHandleID) ) { string imageUrl = this.CloseBoxImage; if (imageUrl == "WebResource" ) imageUrl = ScriptProxy.GetWebResourceUrl(this, this.GetType(), ControlResources.CLOSE_ICON_RESOURCE); StringBuilder closableOptions = new StringBuilder("imageUrl: '" + imageUrl + "'"); if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(this.DragHandleID)) closableOptions.Append(",handle: $('#" + this.DragHandleID + "')"); if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(this.ClientDialogHandler)) closableOptions.Append(",handler: " + this.ClientDialogHandler); if (this.FadeOnClose) closableOptions.Append(",fadeOut: 'slow'"); startupScript.Append(@" .closable({ " + closableOptions + "})"); } The same sort of block is then used for .draggable and .shadow which simply sets options. Compared to the code I used to have in pre-jQuery versions of my JavaScript toolkit this is a walk in the park. In those days there was a bunch of JS generation which was ugly to say the least. I know a lot of folks frown on using server controls, especially the UI is client centric as the example is. However, I do feel that server controls can greatly simplify the process of getting the right behavior attached more easily and with the help of IntelliSense. Often the script markup is easier is especially if you are dealing with complex, multiple plug-in associations that often express more easily with property values on a control. Regardless of whether server controls are your thing or not this plug-in can be useful in many scenarios. Even in simple client-only scenarios using a plug-in with a few simple parameters is nicer and more consistent than creating the HTML markup over and over again. I hope some of you find this even a small bit as useful as I have. Related Links Download jquery.closable West Wind Web Toolkit jQuery Plug-ins © Rick Strahl, West Wind Technologies, 2005-2010Posted in jQuery   ASP.NET  JavaScript  

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• CodePlex Daily Summary for Monday, July 02, 2012

  CodePlex Daily Summary for Monday, July 02, 2012Popular ReleasesDynamicToSql: DynamicToSql 1.0.0 (beta): 1.0.0 beta versionCommonLibrary.NET: CommonLibrary.NET 0.9.8.5 - Final Release: A collection of very reusable code and components in C# 4.0 ranging from ActiveRecord, Csv, Command Line Parsing, Configuration, Holiday Calendars, Logging, Authentication, and much more. FluentscriptCommonLibrary.NET 0.9.8 contains a scripting language called FluentScript. Releases notes for FluentScript located at http://fluentscript.codeplex.com/wikipage?action=Edit&title=Release%20Notes&referringTitle=Documentation Fluentscript - 0.9.8.5 - Final ReleaseApplication: FluentScript Versio...SharePoint 2010 Metro UI: SharePoint 2010 Metro UI8: Please review the documentation link for how to install. Installation takes some basic knowledge of how to upload and edit SharePoint Artifact files. Please view the discussions tab for ongoing FAQsKwCombinatorics - Pick-Combination, Permutation, Cartesian Product classes in C#: KwCombinatorics library v2.4.0: Version 2.4.0 Optimized Combination.Rank setter. Optimized Multicombination.Rank setter. Added methods Combinatoric.BinomialCoefficient, Combinatoric.Factorial. Version 2.3.0 Added Permutation.Backtrack method. Added N-Queens example programs. Multicombination ranking constructor accepts unsorted data. Combination ranking constructor accepts unsorted data. Fixed numeric overflow bug in Combination.Rank setter. Fixed missing numeric overflow checks in Product constructors. F...Back-Propagation Neural Networks Simulation: Back-Propagation Neural Networks Simulation: This is the first release application for Back-Propagation Neural Networks Simulation. It is required .NET Framework 4.0. Check this to use http://backpronn.codeplex.comnopCommerce. Open source shopping cart (ASP.NET MVC): nopcommerce 2.60: Highlight features & improvements: • Significant performance optimization. • Use AJAX for adding products to the cart. • New flyout mini-shopping cart. • Auto complete suggestions for product searching. • Full-Text support. • EU cookie law support. To see the full list of fixes and changes please visit the release notes page (http://www.nopCommerce.com/releasenotes.aspx).THE NVL Maker: The NVL Maker Ver 3.51: http://download.codeplex.com/Download?ProjectName=nvlmaker&DownloadId=371510 ????：http://115.com/file/beoef05k#THE-NVL-Maker-ver3.51-sim.7z ????：http://www.mediafire.com/file/6tqdwj9jr6eb9qj/THENVLMakerver3.51tra.7z ======================================== ???? ======================================== 3.51 beta ???： ·?????????????????????? ·?????????，?????????0，?????????????????????? ·??????????????????????????? ·?????????????TJS????（EXP??） ·??4:3???，???????????????，??????????? ·?????????...JavApi: JavApi 2012-07-01.13631: RELEASE NOTES JavApi 0.8 base release with some base classes of ported Java API, provided under Apache License 2.0. JavApi Common Codec is a JavApi based codec framework, ported form Apache Codec 1.4.0, provided under Apache License 2.0. JavApi Common Collections is a JavApi based collection framework, ported form Apache Collections 3.2.1, provided under Apache License 2.0. JavApi Common Compress is a JavApi based collection framework, ported form Apache Compress 1.1, provided under Apache L...????: ????2.0.3: 1、???????????。 2、????????。 3、????????????。 4、bug??，????。Apworks: Apworks (v2.5.4563.21309, 30JUN2012): Installation Prerequisites: 1. Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0 SP1 2. Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 SP1 3. Other required libraries & assemblies are now included in the installation package so no more prerequisites needed Functional Updates: 1. Refactor the identity field of the IEntity interface from 'Id' to 'ID' 2. Changed the MySql Storage to use the MySql NetConnector version 6.4.4. 3. Implemented the paging support for the repositories. 4. Added the Eager Loading Property specification t...AssaultCube Reloaded: 2.5 Intrepid: Linux has Ubuntu 11.10 32-bit precompiled binaries and Ubuntu 10.10 64-bit precompiled binaries, but you can compile your own as it also contains the source. If you are using Mac or other operating systems, download the Linux package. Try to compile it. If it fails, download a virtual machine. The server pack is ready for both Windows and Linux, but you might need to compile your own for Linux (source included) You should delete /home/config/saved.cfg to reset binds/other stuff If you us...Magelia WebStore Open-source Ecommerce software: Magelia WebStore 2.0: User Right Licensing ContentType version 2.0.267.1Designing Windows 8 Applications with C# and XAML: Chapters 1 - 7 Release Preview: Source code for all examples from Chapters 1 - 7 for the Release PreviewMicrosoft Ajax Minifier: Microsoft Ajax Minifier 4.57: Fix for issue #18284: evaluating literal expressions in the pattern c1 * (x / c2) where c1/c2 is an integer value (as opposed to c2/c1 being the integer) caused the expression to be destroyed.Visual Studio ALM Quick Reference Guidance: v2 - Visual Studio 2010 (Japanese): Rex Tang (?? ??) http://blogs.msdn.com/b/willy-peter_schaub/archive/2011/12/08/introducing-the-visual-studio-alm-rangers-rex-tang.aspx, Takaho Yamaguchi (?? ??), Masashi Fujiwara (?? ??), localized and reviewed the Quick Reference Guidance for the Japanese communities, based on http://vsarquickguide.codeplex.com/releases/view/52402. The Japanese guidance is available in AllGuides and Everything packages. The AllGuides package contains guidances in PDF file format, while the Everything packag...Visual Studio Team Foundation Server Branching and Merging Guide: v1 - Visual Studio 2010 (Japanese): Rex Tang (?? ??) http://blogs.msdn.com/b/willy-peter_schaub/archive/2011/12/08/introducing-the-visual-studio-alm-rangers-rex-tang.aspx, Takaho Yamaguchi (?? ??), Hirokazu Higashino (?? ??), localized and reviewed the Branching Guidance for the Japanese communities, based on http://vsarbranchingguide.codeplex.com/releases/view/38849. The Japanese guidance is available in AllGuides and Everything packages. The AllGuides package contains guidances in PDF file format, while the Everything packag...SQL Server FineBuild: Version 3.1.0: Top SQL Server FineBuild Version 3.1.0This is the stable version of FineBuild for SQL Server 2012, 2008 R2, 2008 and 2005 Documentation FineBuild Wiki containing details of the FineBuild process Known Issues Limitations with this release FineBuild V3.1.0 Release Contents List of changes included in this release Please DonateFineBuild is free, but please donate what you think FineBuild is worth as everything goes to charity. Tearfund is one of the UK's leading relief and de...EasySL: RapidSL V2: Rewrite RapidSL UI Framework, Using Silverlight 5.0 EF4.1 Code First Ria Service SP2 + Lastest Silverlight Toolkit.SOLID by example: All examples: All solid examplesSiteMap Editor for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011: SiteMap Editor (1.1.1726.406): Use of new version of connection controls for a full support of OSDP authentication mechanism for CRM Online.New ProjectsBack-Propagation Neural Networks Simulation: This is simple Back-Propagation Neural Network simulation using C#. This code is a part of my "Supervised Neural Network" book written in 2006.D3API.Net: Diablo 3 API Wrapper for .NET developersEIRENE: UnknownEnterprise Library 5 Caching with ProtoBuf.NET: Implementation of Enterprise Library 5 Caching using ProtoBuf.NET Isolated Storage Backing StoreField Modeler 2012: Field Modeler 2012 was designed to allow introductory and advanced undergraduate students to get a ‘feel’ for the nature of the electromagnetic field.Fill Disk Public: Fill Disk Public is a program which be used to fill fixed hard disks by dummy temporary files. The powerful tool is easy to fill/clean disks. FluffyCloud: Diskusní server pro ceskou furry komunitu.FusionUI: ASP.NET MVC user interface frameworkHexa Question Engine: The Hexa Question Engine is the free solution for companies and persons for gathering information from his customers. We provide a solution with the latest technology and continuous development by the best team of professionals.hybgpx: One Test ProjectiBoxDB: iBoxDB is a small&smart embedded database, supports .NET4 WindowsPhone. ( OODB , NoSQL , Pure C#, WP7)IBR.StringResourceBuilder: The String Resource Builder is a Visual Studio (VS) extension to extract string literals (C#, VB.NET) from source code into resource files (ResX).iTuanju: This project is just a demo and temporary location for files. MVC Ajax Controls (MvcAjaxControls): The MvcAjaxControls project provides a set of html and javascript helpers for adding Ajax functionality to ASP.NET MVC applications.Niko Mix: Just to learn smthingPowerRedis: This project is to access a Redis server via powershell. It’s basically a wrapper around the awesome ServiceStack C# library from servicestack.org.sample1: aspSharePoint 2010 Metro UI: Need a Windows 8 Metro style UI landing page? SharePoint 2010 Metro Masterpage and Css!Source Control Selector: This project aims to address a very basic problem of developers using Visual Studio: Forcing VS to select the correct Source Control Provider.Vitual DJ Mayhem Modules: This project is an add on for Project Mayhem that allows users to control Virtual DJ through the reactionsWPFHelperTools: when test application ,we need to copy test files, if have lots of file ,this is not a good work. YiHaoDian .NET Sdk: ???SDK

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• How to run node.js app on port 80? Are processes blocking my port?

  - by Lucas

  I believe the port 80 on my remote instance is blocked, and I am trying to run a node.js app using port 80. I have experimented with ports 3000 and 3002, and both ports are working fine, but I get an error when running on port 80. I suspect port 80 is blocked from my output of netstat -an below, but how can I find the process id's of the addresses that are blocking port 80 below? [lucas@ecoinstance]~/node/nodetest1$ netstat -an Active Internet connections (servers and established) Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address Foreign Address State tcp 0 0 127.0.0.1:27017 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:22 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:3002 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN tcp 0 0 127.0.0.1:27017 127.0.0.1:51108 ESTABLISHED tcp 0 0 127.0.0.1:51106 127.0.0.1:27017 ESTABLISHED tcp 0 0 127.0.0.1:27017 127.0.0.1:51106 ESTABLISHED tcp 0 0 127.0.0.1:51107 127.0.0.1:27017 ESTABLISHED tcp 0 0 10.240.241.116:3002 174.61.171.61:36583 TIME_WAIT tcp 0 0 127.0.0.1:27017 127.0.0.1:51109 ESTABLISHED tcp 0 0 10.240.241.116:42423 169.254.169.254:80 ESTABLISHED tcp 0 0 127.0.0.1:51108 127.0.0.1:27017 ESTABLISHED tcp 0 532 10.240.241.116:22 174.61.171.61:56824 ESTABLISHED tcp 0 0 127.0.0.1:27017 127.0.0.1:51107 ESTABLISHED tcp 0 0 10.240.241.116:42412 169.254.169.254:80 ESTABLISHED tcp 0 0 127.0.0.1:51109 127.0.0.1:27017 ESTABLISHED tcp 0 0 127.0.0.1:51105 127.0.0.1:27017 ESTABLISHED tcp 0 0 10.240.241.116:42422 169.254.169.254:80 TIME_WAIT tcp 0 0 127.0.0.1:27017 127.0.0.1:51105 ESTABLISHED tcp6 0 0 :::22 :::* LISTEN udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:49948 0.0.0.0:* udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:68 0.0.0.0:* udp 0 0 10.240.241.116:123 0.0.0.0:* udp 0 0 127.0.0.1:123 0.0.0.0:* udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:123 0.0.0.0:* udp6 0 0 :::12151 :::* udp6 0 0 :::123 :::* Active UNIX domain sockets (servers and established) Proto RefCnt Flags Type State I-Node Path unix 2 [ ACC ] STREAM LISTENING 405680 /tmp/ssh-KdkxJfFLpKTC/agent.22 813 unix 2 [ ACC ] STREAM LISTENING 408230 /tmp/ssh-ofUeNNEwAqtP/agent.22 243 unix 2 [ ACC ] STREAM LISTENING 416227 /tmp/mongodb-27017.sock unix 2 [ ACC ] SEQPACKET LISTENING 3692 /run/udev/control unix 7 [ ] DGRAM 5286 /dev/log unix 2 [ ACC ] STREAM LISTENING 5318 /var/run/acpid.socket unix 2 [ ACC ] STREAM LISTENING 16170 /tmp//tmux-1000/default unix 2 [ ACC ] STREAM LISTENING 414450 /var/run/dbus/system_bus_socke And here is the log when trying to run on port 80 with node.js: [lucas@ecoinstance]~/node/nodetest1$ npm start > [email protected] start /home/lucas/node/nodetest1 > node ./bin/www events.js:72 throw er; // Unhandled 'error' event ^ Error: listen EACCES at errnoException (net.js:904:11) at Server._listen2 (net.js:1023:19) at listen (net.js:1064:10) at Server.listen (net.js:1138:5) at Function.app.listen (/home/lucas/node/nodetest1/node_modules/express/lib/applicati on.js:532:24) at Object.<anonymous> (/home/lucas/node/nodetest1/bin/www:7:18) at Module._compile (module.js:456:26) at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:474:10) at Module.load (module.js:356:32) at Function.Module._load (module.js:312:12) npm ERR! [email protected] start: `node ./bin/www` npm ERR! Exit status 8 npm ERR! npm ERR! Failed at the [email protected] start script. npm ERR! This is most likely a problem with the nodetest1 package, npm ERR! not with npm itself. npm ERR! Tell the author that this fails on your system: npm ERR! node ./bin/www npm ERR! You can get their info via: npm ERR! npm owner ls nodetest1 npm ERR! There is likely additional logging output above. npm ERR! System Linux 3.13-0.bpo.1-amd64 npm ERR! command "/usr/local/bin/node" "/usr/local/bin/npm" "start" npm ERR! cwd /home/lucas/node/nodetest1 npm ERR! node -v v0.10.28 npm ERR! npm -v 1.4.9 npm ERR! code ELIFECYCLE npm ERR! npm ERR! Additional logging details can be found in: npm ERR! /home/lucas/node/nodetest1/npm-debug.log npm ERR! not ok code 0 And sudo netstat -lnp does not return any matching port 80's: [lucas@ecoinstance]~/node/nodetest1$ sudo netstat -lnp [48/648] Active Internet connections (only servers) Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address Foreign Address State PID/Progr am name tcp 0 0 127.0.0.1:27017 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 29160/mon god tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:22 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 1976/sshd tcp6 0 0 :::22 :::* LISTEN 1976/sshd udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:49948 0.0.0.0:* 1604/dhcl ient udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:68 0.0.0.0:* 1604/dhcl ient udp 0 0 10.240.241.116:123 0.0.0.0:* 2076/ntpd udp 0 0 127.0.0.1:123 0.0.0.0:* 2076/ntpd udp 0 0 0.0.0.0:123 0.0.0.0:* 2076/ntpd udp6 0 0 :::12151 :::* 1604/dhcl ient udp6 0 0 :::123 :::* 2076/ntpd Active UNIX domain sockets (only servers) Proto RefCnt Flags Type State I-Node PID/Program name Path unix 2 [ ACC ] STREAM LISTENING 405680 22814/ssh-agent /tmp/ssh-K dkxJfFLpKTC/agent.22813 unix 2 [ ACC ] STREAM LISTENING 408230 24049/ssh-agent /tmp/ssh-o fUeNNEwAqtP/agent.22243 unix 2 [ ACC ] STREAM LISTENING 416227 29160/mongod /tmp/mongo db-27017.sock unix 2 [ ACC ] SEQPACKET LISTENING 3692 284/udevd /run/udev/ control unix 2 [ ACC ] STREAM LISTENING 5318 1798/acpid /var/run/a cpid.socket unix 2 [ ACC ] STREAM LISTENING 16170 5177/tmux /tmp//tmux -1000/default unix 2 [ ACC ] STREAM LISTENING 414450 28213/dbus-daemon /var/run/d bus/system_bus_socket unix 2 [ ACC ] STREAM LISTENING 404225 22324/1 /tmp/ssh-9 TlDmu4bjl/agent.22324

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• Java JRE 1.7.0_60 Certified with Oracle E-Business Suite

  - by Steven Chan (Oracle Development)

  Java Runtime Environment 7u60 (a.k.a. JRE 7u60-b19) and later updates on the JRE 7 codeline are now certified with Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i and 12.0, 12.1, and 12.2 for Windows-based desktop clients. Effects of new support dates on Java upgrades for EBS environments Support dates for the E-Business Suite and Java have changed.  Please review the sections below for more details: What does this mean for Oracle E-Business Suite users? Will EBS users be forced to upgrade to JRE 7 for Windows desktop clients? Will EBS users be forced to upgrade to JDK 7 for EBS application tier servers? All JRE 6 and 7 releases are certified with EBS upon release Our standard policy is that all E-Business Suite customers can apply all JRE updates to end-user desktops from JRE 1.6.0_03 and later updates on the 1.6 codeline, and from JRE 7u10 and later updates on the JRE 7 codeline.  We test all new JRE 1.6 and JRE 7 releases in parallel with the JRE development process, so all new JRE 1.6 and 7 releases are considered certified with the E-Business Suite on the same day that they're released by our Java team.  You do not need to wait for a certification announcement before applying new JRE 1.6 or JRE 7 releases to your EBS users' desktops. What's new in JRE 1.7.0_60? JDK 7u60 contains IANA time zone data version 2014b. For more information, refer to Timezone Data Versions in the JRE Software. It is strongly recommended that all customers upgrade to this release.  Details about update in this release are listed in the release notes. 32-bit and 64-bit versions certified This certification includes both the 32-bit and 64-bit JRE versions for various Windows operating systems. See the respective Recommended Browser documentation for your EBS release for details. Where are the official patch requirements documented? All patches required for ensuring full compatibility of the E-Business Suite with JRE 7 are documented in these Notes: For EBS 11i: Deploying Sun JRE (Native Plug-in) for Windows Clients in Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i (Note 290807.1) Upgrading Developer 6i with Oracle E-Business Suite 11i (Note 125767.1) For EBS 12.0, 12.1, 12.2 Deploying Sun JRE (Native Plug-in) for Windows Clients in Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 (Note 393931.1) Upgrading OracleAS 10g Forms and Reports in Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 (Note 437878.1) EBS + Discoverer 11g Users JRE 1.7.0_60 is certified for Discoverer 11g in E-Business Suite environments with the following minimum requirements: Discoverer (11g) 11.1.1.6 plus Patch 13877486 and later  Reference: How To Find Oracle BI Discoverer 10g and 11g Certification Information (Document 233047.1) Worried about the 'mismanaged session cookie' issue? No need to worry -- it's fixed.  To recap: JRE releases 1.6.0_18 through 1.6.0_22 had issues with mismanaging session cookies that affected some users in some circumstances. The fix for those issues was first included in JRE 1.6.0_23. These fixes will carry forward and continue to be fixed in all future JRE releases on the JRE 6 and 7 codelines.  In other words, if you wish to avoid the mismanaged session cookie issue, you should apply any release after JRE 1.6.0_22 on the JRE 6 codeline, and JRE 7u10 and later JRE 7 codeline updates. Implications of Java 6 End of Public Updates for EBS Users The Support Roadmap for Oracle Java is published here: Oracle Java SE Support Roadmap The latest updates to that page (as of Sept. 19, 2012) state (emphasis added): Java SE 6 End of Public Updates Notice After February 2013, Oracle will no longer post updates of Java SE 6 to its public download sites. Existing Java SE 6 downloads already posted as of February 2013 will remain accessible in the Java Archive on Oracle Technology Network. Developers and end-users are encouraged to update to more recent Java SE versions that remain available for public download. For enterprise customers, who need continued access to critical bug fixes and security fixes as well as general maintenance for Java SE 6 or older versions, long term support is available through Oracle Java SE Support . What does this mean for Oracle E-Business Suite users? EBS users fall under the category of "enterprise users" above.  Java is an integral part of the Oracle E-Business Suite technology stack, so EBS users will continue to receive Java SE 6 updates from February 2013 to the end of Java SE 6 Extended Support in June 2017. In other words, nothing changes for EBS users after February 2013.  EBS users will continue to receive critical bug fixes and security fixes as well as general maintenance for Java SE 6 until the end of Java SE 6 Extended Support in June 2017. How can EBS customers obtain Java 6 updates after the public end-of-life? EBS customers can download Java 6 patches from My Oracle Support.  For a complete list of all Java SE patch numbers, see: All Java SE Downloads on MOS (Note 1439822.1) Both JDK and JRE packages are contained in a single combined download after 6u45.  Download the "JDK" package for both the desktop client JRE and the server-side JDK package.  Will EBS users be forced to upgrade to JRE 7 for Windows desktop clients? This upgrade is highly recommended but remains optional while Java 6 is covered by Extended Support. Updates will be delivered via My Oracle Support, where you can continue to receive critical bug fixes and security fixes as well as general maintenance for JRE 6 desktop clients.  Java 6 is covered by Extended Support until June 2017.  All E-Business Suite customers must upgrade to JRE 7 by June 2017. Coexistence of JRE 6 and JRE 7 on Windows desktops The upgrade to JRE 7 is highly recommended for EBS users, but some users may need to run both JRE 6 and 7 on their Windows desktops for reasons unrelated to the E-Business Suite. Most EBS configurations with IE and Firefox use non-static versioning by default. JRE 7 will be invoked instead of JRE 6 if both are installed on a Windows desktop. For more details, see "Appendix B: Static vs. Non-static Versioning and Set Up Options" in Notes 290807.1 and 393931.1. Applying Updates to JRE 6 and JRE 7 to Windows desktops Auto-update will keep JRE 7 up-to-date for Windows users with JRE 7 installed. Auto-update will only keep JRE 7 up-to-date for Windows users with both JRE 6 and 7 installed.  JRE 6 users are strongly encouraged to apply the latest Critical Patch Updates as soon as possible after each release. The Jave SE CPUs will be available via My Oracle Support.  EBS users can find more information about JRE 6 and 7 updates here: Information Center: Installation & Configuration for Oracle Java SE (Note 1412103.2) The dates for future Java SE CPUs can be found on the Critical Patch Updates, Security Alerts and Third Party Bulletin.  An RSS feed is available on that site for those who would like to be kept up-to-date. What do Mac users need? Mac users running Mac OS X 10.9 can run JRE 7 plug-ins.  See this article: EBS Release 12 Certified with Mac OS X 10.9 with Safari 7 and JRE 7 Will EBS users be forced to upgrade to JDK 7 for EBS application tier servers? JRE is used for desktop clients.  JDK is used for application tier servers JDK upgrades for E-Business Suite application tier servers are highly recommended but currently remain optional while Java 6 is covered by Extended Support. Updates will be delivered via My Oracle Support, where you can continue to receive critical bug fixes and security fixes as well as general maintenance for JDK 6 for application tier servers.  Java SE 6 is covered by Extended Support until June 2017.  All EBS customers with application tier servers on Windows, Solaris, and Linux must upgrade to JDK 7 by June 2017. EBS customers running their application tier servers on other operating systems should check with their respective vendors for the support dates for those platforms. JDK 7 is certified with E-Business Suite 12.  See: Java (JDK) 7 Certified for E-Business Suite 12.0 and 12.1 Servers Java (JDK) 7 Certified with E-Business Suite 12.2 Servers References Recommended Browsers for Oracle Applications 11i (Metalink Note 285218.1) Upgrading Sun JRE (Native Plug-in) with Oracle Applications 11i for Windows Clients (Metalink Note 290807.1) Recommended Browsers for Oracle Applications 12 (MetaLink Note 389422.1) Upgrading JRE Plugin with Oracle Applications R12 (MetaLink Note 393931.1) Related Articles Mismanaged Session Cookie Issue Fixed for EBS in JRE 1.6.0_23 Roundup: Oracle JInitiator 1.3 Desupported for EBS Customers in July 2009

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• Setting useLegacyV2RuntimeActivationPolicy At Runtime

  - by Reed

  Version 4.0 of the .NET Framework included a new CLR which is almost entirely backwards compatible with the 2.0 version of the CLR.  However, by default, mixed-mode assemblies targeting .NET 3.5sp1 and earlier will fail to load in a .NET 4 application.  Fixing this requires setting useLegacyV2RuntimeActivationPolicy in your app.Config for the application.  While there are many good reasons for this decision, there are times when this is extremely frustrating, especially when writing a library.  As such, there are (rare) times when it would be beneficial to set this in code, at runtime, as well as verify that it’s running correctly prior to receiving a FileLoadException. Typically, loading a pre-.NET 4 mixed mode assembly is handled simply by changing your app.Config file, and including the relevant attribute in the startup element: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?> <configuration> <startup useLegacyV2RuntimeActivationPolicy="true"> <supportedRuntime version="v4.0"/> </startup> </configuration> .csharpcode { background-color: #ffffff; font-family: consolas, "Courier New", courier, monospace; color: black; font-size: small } .csharpcode pre { background-color: #ffffff; font-family: consolas, "Courier New", courier, monospace; color: black; font-size: small } .csharpcode pre { margin: 0em } .csharpcode .rem { color: #008000 } .csharpcode .kwrd { color: #0000ff } .csharpcode .str { color: #006080 } .csharpcode .op { color: #0000c0 } .csharpcode .preproc { color: #cc6633 } .csharpcode .asp { background-color: #ffff00 } .csharpcode .html { color: #800000 } .csharpcode .attr { color: #ff0000 } .csharpcode .alt { background-color: #f4f4f4; margin: 0em; width: 100% } .csharpcode .lnum { color: #606060 } This causes your application to run correctly, and load the older, mixed-mode assembly without issues. For full details on what’s happening here and why, I recommend reading Mark Miller’s detailed explanation of this attribute and the reasoning behind it. Before I show any code, let me say: I strongly recommend using the official approach of using app.config to set this policy. That being said, there are (rare) times when, for one reason or another, changing the application configuration file is less than ideal. While this is the supported approach to handling this issue, the CLR Hosting API includes a means of setting this programmatically via the ICLRRuntimeInfo interface.  Normally, this is used if you’re hosting the CLR in a native application in order to set this, at runtime, prior to loading the assemblies.  However, the F# Samples include a nice trick showing how to load this API and bind this policy, at runtime.  This was required in order to host the Managed DirectX API, which is built against an older version of the CLR. This is fairly easy to port to C#.  Instead of a direct port, I also added a little addition – by trapping the COM exception received if unable to bind (which will occur if the 2.0 CLR is already bound), I also allow a runtime check of whether this property was setup properly: public static class RuntimePolicyHelper { public static bool LegacyV2RuntimeEnabledSuccessfully { get; private set; } static RuntimePolicyHelper() { ICLRRuntimeInfo clrRuntimeInfo = (ICLRRuntimeInfo)RuntimeEnvironment.GetRuntimeInterfaceAsObject( Guid.Empty, typeof(ICLRRuntimeInfo).GUID); try { clrRuntimeInfo.BindAsLegacyV2Runtime(); LegacyV2RuntimeEnabledSuccessfully = true; } catch (COMException) { // This occurs with an HRESULT meaning // "A different runtime was already bound to the legacy CLR version 2 activation policy." LegacyV2RuntimeEnabledSuccessfully = false; } } [ComImport] [InterfaceType(ComInterfaceType.InterfaceIsIUnknown)] [Guid("BD39D1D2-BA2F-486A-89B0-B4B0CB466891")] private interface ICLRRuntimeInfo { void xGetVersionString(); void xGetRuntimeDirectory(); void xIsLoaded(); void xIsLoadable(); void xLoadErrorString(); void xLoadLibrary(); void xGetProcAddress(); void xGetInterface(); void xSetDefaultStartupFlags(); void xGetDefaultStartupFlags(); [MethodImpl(MethodImplOptions.InternalCall, MethodCodeType = MethodCodeType.Runtime)] void BindAsLegacyV2Runtime(); } } Using this, it’s possible to not only set this at runtime, but also verify, prior to loading your mixed mode assembly, whether this will succeed. In my case, this was quite useful – I am working on a library purely for internal use which uses a numerical package that is supplied with both a completely managed as well as a native solver.  The native solver uses a CLR 2 mixed-mode assembly, but is dramatically faster than the pure managed approach.  By checking RuntimePolicyHelper.LegacyV2RuntimeEnabledSuccessfully at runtime, I can decide whether to enable the native solver, and only do so if I successfully bound this policy. There are some tricks required here – To enable this sort of fallback behavior, you must make these checks in a type that doesn’t cause the mixed mode assembly to be loaded.  In my case, this forced me to encapsulate the library I was using entirely in a separate class, perform the check, then pass through the required calls to that class.  Otherwise, the library will load before the hosting process gets enabled, which in turn will fail. This code will also, of course, try to enable the runtime policy before the first time you use this class – which typically means just before the first time you check the boolean value.  As a result, checking this early on in the application is more likely to allow it to work. Finally, if you’re using a library, this has to be called prior to the 2.0 CLR loading.  This will cause it to fail if you try to use it to enable this policy in a plugin for most third party applications that don’t have their app.config setup properly, as they will likely have already loaded the 2.0 runtime. As an example, take a simple audio player.  The code below shows how this can be used to properly, at runtime, only use the “native” API if this will succeed, and fallback (or raise a nicer exception) if this will fail: public class AudioPlayer { private IAudioEngine audioEngine; public AudioPlayer() { if (RuntimePolicyHelper.LegacyV2RuntimeEnabledSuccessfully) { // This will load a CLR 2 mixed mode assembly this.audioEngine = new AudioEngineNative(); } else { this.audioEngine = new AudioEngineManaged(); } } public void Play(string filename) { this.audioEngine.Play(filename); } } Now – the warning: This approach works, but I would be very hesitant to use it in public facing production code, especially for anything other than initializing your own application.  While this should work in a library, using it has a very nasty side effect: you change the runtime policy of the executing application in a way that is very hidden and non-obvious.

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• CodePlex Daily Summary for Tuesday, December 21, 2010

  CodePlex Daily Summary for Tuesday, December 21, 2010Popular ReleasesSQL Monitor - tracking sql server activities: SQL Monitor 3.0 alpha 7: 1. added script save/load in user query window 2. fixed problem with connection dialog when choosing windows auth but still ask for user name 3. auto open user table when double click one table node 4. improved alert message, added log only methodOpen NFe: Open NFe 2.0 (Beta): Última versão antes da versão final a ser lançada nos próximos dias.EnhSim: EnhSim 2.2.6 ALPHA: 2.2.6 ALPHAThis release supports WoW patch 4.03a at level 85 To use this release, you must have the Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable Package installed. This can be downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=A7B7A05E-6DE6-4D3A-A423-37BF0912DB84 To use the GUI you must have the .NET 4.0 Framework installed. This can be downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=9cfb2d51-5ff4-4491-b0e5-b386f32c0992 - Fixing up some r...LINQ to Twitter: LINQ to Twitter Beta v2.0.18: Silverlight, OAuth, 100% Twitter API coverage, streaming, extensibility via Raw Queries, and added documentation. Bug fixes.ASP.NET MVC Project Awesome (jQuery Ajax helpers): 1.4.3: Helpers (controls) that you can use to build highly responsive and interactive Ajax-enabled Web applications. These helpers include Autocomplete, AjaxDropdown, Lookup, Confirm Dialog, Popup Form, Popup and Pager new stuff: Improvements for confirm, popup, popup form RenderView controller extension the user experience for crud in live demo has been substantially improved + added search all the features are shown in the live demoGanttPlanner: GanttPlanner V1.0: GanttPlanner V1.0 include GanttPlanner.dll and also a Demo application.N2 CMS: 2.1 release candidate 3: * Web platform installer support available N2 is a lightweight CMS framework for ASP.NET. It helps you build great web sites that anyone can update. Major Changes Support for auto-implemented properties ({get;set;}, based on contribution by And Poulsen) A bunch of bugs were fixed File manager improvements (multiple file upload, resize images to fit) New image gallery Infinite scroll paging on news Content templates First time with N2? Try the demo site Download one of the templ...TweetSharp: TweetSharp v2.0.0.0 - Preview 6: Documentation for this release may be found at http://tweetsharp.codeplex.com/wikipage?title=UserGuide&referringTitle=Documentation. Note: This code is currently preview quality. Preview 6 ChangesMaintenance release with user reported fixes Preview 5 ChangesMaintenance release with user reported fixes Preview 4 ChangesReintroduced fluent interface support via satellite assembly Added entities support, entity segmentation, and ITweetable/ITweeter interfaces for client development Numer...Team Foundation Server Administration Tool: 2.1: TFS Administration Tool 2.1, is the first version of the TFS Administration Tool which is built on top of the Team Foundation Server 2010 object model. TFS Administration Tool 2.1 can be installed on machines that are running either Team Explorer 2010, or Team Foundation Server 2010.Hacker Passwords: HackerPasswords.zip: Source code, executable and documentationSubtitleTools: SubtitleTools 1.3: - Added .srt FileAssociation & Win7 ShowRecentCategory feature. - Applied UnifiedYeKe to fix Persian search problems. - Reduced file size of Persian subtitles for uploading @OSDB.Facebook C# SDK: 4.1.0: - Lots of bug fixes - Removed Dynamic Runtime Language dependencies from non-dynamic platforms. - Samples included in release for ASP.NET, MVC, Silverlight, Windows Phone 7, WPF, WinForms, and one Visual Basic Sample - Changed internal serialization to use Json.net - BREAKING CHANGE: Canvas Session is no longer support. Use Signed Request instead. Canvas Session has been deprecated by Facebook. - BREAKING CHANGE: Some renames and changes with Authorizer, CanvasAuthorizer, and Authorization ac...NuGet (formerly NuPack): NuGet 1.0 build 11217.102: Note: this release is slightly newer than RC1, and fixes a couple issues relating to updating packages to newer versions. NuGet is a free, open source developer focused package management system for the .NET platform intent on simplifying the process of incorporating third party libraries into a .NET application during development. This release is a Visual Studio 2010 extension and contains the the Package Manager Console and the Add Package Dialog. This new build targets the newer feed (h...WCF Community Site: WCF Web APIs 10.12.17: Welcome to the second release of WCF Web APIs on codeplex Here is what is new in this release. WCF Support for jQuery - create WCF web services that are easy to consume from JavaScript clients, in particular jQuery. Better support for using JsonValue as dynamic Support for JsonValue change notification events for databinding and other purposes Support for going between JsonValue and CLR types WCF HTTP - create HTTP / REST based web services. This is a minor release which contains fixe...LiveChat Starter Kit: LCSK v1.0: This is a working version of the LCSK for Visual Studio 2010, ASP.NET MVC 3 (using Razor View Engine). this is still provider based (with 1 provider Sql) and this is still using WebService and Windows Forms operator console. The solution is cleaner, with an installer to create tables etc. You can also install it via nuget (Install-Package lcsk) Let me know your feedbackOrchard Project: Orchard 0.9: Orchard Release Notes Build: 0.9.253 Published: 12/16/2010 How to Install OrchardTo install the Orchard tech preview using Web PI, follow these instructions: http://www.orchardproject.net/docs/Installing-Orchard-Using-Web-PI.ashx Web PI will detect your hardware environment and install the application. --OR-- Alternatively, to install the release manually, download the Orchard.Web.0.9.253.zip file. The zip contents are pre-built and ready-to-run. Simply extract the contents of the Orch...DotSpatial: DotSpatial 12-15-2010: This release contains a few minor bug fixes and hopefully the GDAL libraries for the 3.5 x86 build actually built to the correct directory this time.DotNetNuke® Community Edition: 05.06.01 Beta: This is the initial Beta of DotNetNuke 5.6.1. See the DotNetNuke Roadmap a full list of changes in this release.MSBuild Extension Pack: December 2010: Release Blog Post The MSBuild Extension Pack December 2010 release provides a collection of over 380 MSBuild tasks. A high level summary of what the tasks currently cover includes the following: System Items: Active Directory, Certificates, COM+, Console, Date and Time, Drives, Environment Variables, Event Logs, Files and Folders, FTP, GAC, Network, Performance Counters, Registry, Services, Sound Code: Assemblies, AsyncExec, CAB Files, Code Signing, DynamicExecute, File Detokenisation, GU...Silverlight Contrib: Silverlight Contrib 2010.1.0: 2010.1.0 New FeaturesCompatibility Release for Silverlight 4 and Visual Studio 2010New Projectsaqq2: aqq2aqq2aqq2aqq2aqq2aqq2aqq2aqq2aqq2aqq2aqq2aqq2aqq2aqq2aqq2aqq2aqq2aqq2aqq2aqq2Cameleon CMS: Caméléon, le CMS open-source le plus simple d'utilisation sur le marché.Dail Emulator: Dail Emulator is a software that emulates the server software of Aeonsofts game FlyFF. Specifically made for the now defunct version 6 of the game.Dmitry Lyalin's WP7 Sample Application: A project where im putting all my public samples in a single WP7 client test applicationElixir: DotNetNuke module test framework. Use this DLL to write concise, to-the-point tests for your modules that can target multiple DNN platforms and multiple browsers.FlightTableEditor: This edits the Flight and Healing Tables of Pokémon Fire Red and Pokémon Leaf Green.Genetico UNLaM: Algoritmo Genetico UNLaMHelpCentral HelpDesk Ticket Application: An open-ended framework and client for a helpdesk ticket application and bug tracker. Built to be as extensible and available as possible, the central system is a WCF webservice which can be accessed by any client application.Import Media for Umbraco: This package allows you to import multiple or large files that have been uploaded to the server via FTP or other means. A new media item is created in the media tree and the media is moved from the upload location to the new directory for the media item.LargeCMS full sample (How to call CryptMsg API in streaming mode): LargeCms implements SignedLargeCMS and EnvelopedLargeCMS classes, my own version of .NET SignedCms and EnvelopedCMS to work with large data. It shows a way to call CryptMsg API in streaming mode to overcome the limitations of current .NET classesLinq.Autocompiler: Adds runtime, on demand compilation of Linq queries (in Linq to SQL), which creates CompiledQuery instances and stores them in a cache. Mathetris: it's a game.MonoWiimote: Managed c# library for using Wii Remote device under Mono/Linux enviroment. It requires libcwiimote-0.4 (sudo apt-get install libcwiimote-0.4).Movie Captor: Concorrendo no Desafio .NETNSpotifyLib: A .NET library contains wrapper classes for the Spotify Metadata API. http://developer.spotify.com/en/metadata-api/overview/ This library supports searching for artists, albums and tracks by using the Spotify Metadata API. In the future I'll add support for Lookups as well.Silverhawk: It's developed in C# programming language.SimpleSpy: Detecting object handle on cursor move and get its information. Basically this is a bare bone program for detecting object handle at cursor and add your own logic to detect for further information. SunburnJitter: JitterSunburn contains helper classes and methods to use the jitter physics engine easier in your sunburn projects. Simple component based shapes will provide easy editing in editor. It's developed in C#.Sunrod: Sunrod is a .NET wrapper for the Obsidian Portal API.TouchStack - A MonoTouch ServiceStack.NET client: TouchStack makes it easier for MonoTouch developers to consume Web services created and exposed by the brilliant ServiceStack.NET webservice framework. TouchStack is written in C# and uses the MonoTouch library.VNTViewer: Viewer for notes/memos (VNT files)VpNet: Official .NET Wrapper for Virtual Paradise.xlGUI: Streamlet GUI Framework

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• Full-text Indexing Books Online

  - by Most Valuable Yak (Rob Volk)

  While preparing for a recent SQL Saturday presentation, I was struck by a crazy idea (shocking, I know): Could someone import the content of SQL Server Books Online into a database and apply full-text indexing to it?  The answer is yes, and it's really quite easy to do. The first step is finding the installed help files.  If you have SQL Server 2012, BOL is installed under the Microsoft Help Library.  You can find the install location by opening SQL Server Books Online and clicking the gear icon for the Help Library Manager.  When the new window pops up click the Settings link, you'll get the following: You'll see the path under Library Location. Once you navigate to that path you'll have to drill down a little further, to C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\HelpLibrary\content\Microsoft\store.  This is where the help file content is kept if you downloaded it for offline use. Depending on which products you've downloaded help for, you may see a few hundred files.  Fortunately they're named well and you can easily find the "SQL_Server_Denali_Books_Online_" files.  We are interested in the .MSHC files only, and can skip the Installation and Developer Reference files. Despite the .MHSC extension, these files are compressed with the standard Zip format, so your favorite archive utility (WinZip, 7Zip, WinRar, etc.) can open them.  When you do, you'll see a few thousand files in the archive.  We are only interested in the .htm files, but there's no harm in extracting all of them to a folder.  7zip provides a command-line utility and the following will extract to a D:\SQLHelp folder previously created: 7z e –oD:\SQLHelp "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\HelpLibrary\content\Microsoft\store\SQL_Server_Denali_Books_Online_B780_SQL_110_en-us_1.2.mshc" *.htm Well that's great Rob, but how do I put all those files into a full-text index? I'll tell you in a second, but first we have to set up a few things on the database side.  I'll be using a database named Explore (you can certainly change that) and the following setup is a fragment of the script I used in my presentation: USE Explore; GO CREATE SCHEMA help AUTHORIZATION dbo; GO -- Create default fulltext catalog for later FT indexes CREATE FULLTEXT CATALOG FTC AS DEFAULT; GO CREATE TABLE help.files(file_id int not null IDENTITY(1,1) CONSTRAINT PK_help_files PRIMARY KEY, path varchar(256) not null CONSTRAINT UNQ_help_files_path UNIQUE, doc_type varchar(6) DEFAULT('.xml'), content varbinary(max) not null); CREATE FULLTEXT INDEX ON help.files(content TYPE COLUMN doc_type LANGUAGE 1033) KEY INDEX PK_help_files; This will give you a table, default full-text catalog, and full-text index on that table for the content you're going to insert.  I'll be using the command line again for this, it's the easiest method I know: for %a in (D:\SQLHelp\*.htm) do sqlcmd -S. -E -d Explore -Q"set nocount on;insert help.files(path,content) select '%a', cast(c as varbinary(max)) from openrowset(bulk '%a', SINGLE_CLOB) as c(c)" You'll need to copy and run that as one line in a command prompt.  I'll explain what this does while you run it and watch several thousand files get imported: The "for" command allows you to loop over a collection of items.  In this case we want all the .htm files in the D:\SQLHelp folder.  For each file it finds, it will assign the full path and file name to the %a variable.  In the "do" clause, we'll specify another command to be run for each iteration of the loop.  I make a call to "sqlcmd" in order to run a SQL statement.  I pass in the name of the server (-S.), where "." represents the local default instance. I specify -d Explore as the database, and -E for trusted connection.  I then use -Q to run a query that I enclose in double quotes. The query uses OPENROWSET(BULK…SINGLE_CLOB) to open the file as a data source, and to treat it as a single character large object.  In order for full-text indexing to work properly, I have to convert the text content to varbinary. I then INSERT these contents along with the full path of the file into the help.files table created earlier.  This process continues for each file in the folder, creating one new row in the table. And that's it! 5 SQL Statements and 2 command line statements to unzip and import SQL Server Books Online!  In case you're wondering why I didn't use FILESTREAM or FILETABLE, it's simply because I haven't learned them…yet. I may return to this blog after I figure that out and update it with the steps to do so.  I believe that will make it even easier. In the spirit of exploration, I'll leave you to work on some fulltext queries of this content.  I also recommend playing around with the sys.dm_fts_xxxx DMVs (I particularly like sys.dm_fts_index_keywords, it's pretty interesting).  There are additional example queries in the download material for my presentation linked above. Many thanks to Kevin Boles (t) for his advice on (re)checking the content of the help files.  Don't let that .htm extension fool you! The 2012 help files are actually XML, and you'd need to specify '.xml' in your document type column in order to extract the full-text keywords.  (You probably noticed this in the default definition for the doc_type column.)  You can query sys.fulltext_document_types to get a complete list of the types that can be full-text indexed. I also need to thank Hilary Cotter for giving me the original idea. I believe he used MSDN content in a full-text index for an article from waaaaaaaaaaay back, that I can't find now, and had forgotten about until just a few days ago.  He is also co-author of Pro Full-Text Search in SQL Server 2008, which I highly recommend.  He also has some FTS articles on Simple Talk: http://www.simple-talk.com/sql/learn-sql-server/sql-server-full-text-search-language-features/ http://www.simple-talk.com/sql/learn-sql-server/sql-server-full-text-search-language-features,-part-2/

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• My linux server takes more than an hour to boot. Suggestions?

  - by jamieb

  I am building a CentOS 5.4 system that boots off a compact flash card using a card reader that emulates an IDE drive. It literally takes about an hour to boot. The ultra-slow part occurs when Grub is loading the kernel. Once that's done, the rest of the boot process only takes about a minute to get to a login prompt. Does anyone have any suggestions? I suspect that it may have to do with UDMA. Everything IDE-related in my BIOS seems to checkout. The read performance hdparm is telling me 1.77 MB/s. Ouch! (But even at that rate, it still shouldn't take an hour to decompress and load the kernel) [root@server ~]# hdparm -tT /dev/hdc /dev/hdc: Timing cached reads: 2444 MB in 2.00 seconds = 1222.04 MB/sec Timing buffered disk reads: 6 MB in 3.39 seconds = 1.77 MB/sec Trying to enable DMA is a no-go though: [root@server ~]# hdparm -d1 /dev/hdc /dev/hdc: setting using_dma to 1 (on) HDIO_SET_DMA failed: Operation not permitted using_dma = 0 (off) Here's some command outputs that might help: System [root@server ~]# uname -a Linux server.localdomain 2.6.18-164.el5xen #1 SMP Thu Sep 3 04:47:32 EDT 2009 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux PCI info: [root@server ~]# lspci -v 00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82945G/GZ/P/PL Memory Controller Hub (rev 02) Subsystem: Intel Corporation 82945G/GZ/P/PL Memory Controller Hub Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0 Capabilities: [e0] Vendor Specific Information 00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82945G/GZ Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller]) Subsystem: Intel Corporation 82945G/GZ Integrated Graphics Controller Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 10 Memory at fdf00000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=512K] I/O ports at ff00 [size=8] Memory at d0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M] Memory at fdf80000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256K] Capabilities: [90] Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit- Queue=0/0 Enable- Capabilities: [d0] Power Management version 2 00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [UHCI]) Subsystem: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16 I/O ports at fe00 [size=32] 00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [UHCI]) Subsystem: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17 I/O ports at fd00 [size=32] 00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [UHCI]) Subsystem: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18 I/O ports at fc00 [size=32] 00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [UHCI]) Subsystem: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 19 I/O ports at fb00 [size=32] 00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 01) (prog-if 20 [EHCI]) Subsystem: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16 Memory at fdfff000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K] Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2 Capabilities: [58] Debug port 00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev e1) (prog-if 01 [Subtractive decode]) Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0 Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=32 I/O behind bridge: 0000d000-0000dfff Memory behind bridge: fde00000-fdefffff Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000fdd00000-00000000fdd00000 Capabilities: [50] #0d [0000] 00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GB/GR (ICH7 Family) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 01) Subsystem: Intel Corporation 82801GB/GR (ICH7 Family) LPC Interface Bridge Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0 Capabilities: [e0] Vendor Specific Information 00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801GB/GR/GH (ICH7 Family) SATA IDE Controller (rev 01) (prog-if 80 [Master]) Subsystem: Intel Corporation 82801GB/GR/GH (ICH7 Family) SATA IDE Controller Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17 I/O ports at <unassigned> I/O ports at <unassigned> I/O ports at <unassigned> I/O ports at <unassigned> I/O ports at f800 [size=16] Capabilities: [70] Power Management version 2 00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 01) Subsystem: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 17 I/O ports at 0500 [size=32] 01:04.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10) Subsystem: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 18 I/O ports at de00 [size=256] Memory at fdeff000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256] Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2 01:06.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10) Subsystem: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 17 I/O ports at dc00 [size=256] Memory at fdefe000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256] Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2 01:07.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10) Subsystem: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 19 I/O ports at da00 [size=256] Memory at fdefd000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256] Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2 hdparm ouput: [root@server ~]# hdparm /dev/hdc /dev/hdc: multcount = 0 (off) IO_support = 0 (default 16-bit) unmaskirq = 0 (off) using_dma = 0 (off) keepsettings = 0 (off) readonly = 0 (off) readahead = 256 (on) geometry = 8146/16/63, sectors = 8211168, start = 0 [root@server ~]# hdparm -I /dev/hdc /dev/hdc: ATA device, with non-removable media Model Number: InnoDisk Corp. - iCF4000 4GB Serial Number: 20091023AACA70000753 Firmware Revision: 081107 Standards: Supported: 5 Likely used: 6 Configuration: Logical max current cylinders 8146 8146 heads 16 16 sectors/track 63 63 -- CHS current addressable sectors: 8211168 LBA user addressable sectors: 8211168 device size with M = 1024*1024: 4009 MBytes device size with M = 1000*1000: 4204 MBytes (4 GB) Capabilities: LBA, IORDY(can be disabled) Standby timer values: spec'd by Vendor R/W multiple sector transfer: Max = 2 Current = 2 DMA: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 udma0 udma1 *udma2 udma3 udma4 Cycle time: min=120ns recommended=120ns PIO: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4 Cycle time: no flow control=120ns IORDY flow control=120ns Commands/features: Enabled Supported: * Power Management feature set * WRITE_BUFFER command * READ_BUFFER command * NOP cmd * CFA feature set * Mandatory FLUSH_CACHE HW reset results: CBLID- above Vih Device num = 0 CFA power mode 1: enabled and required by some commands Maximum current = 100ma Checksum: correct

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• Building Publishing Pages in Code

  - by David Jacobus

  Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/djacobus/archive/2013/10/27/154478.aspxOne of the Mantras we developers try to follow: Ensure that the solution package we deliver to the client is complete.  We build Web Parts, Master Pages, Images, CSS files and other artifacts that we push to the client with a WSP (Solution Package) And then we have them finish the solution by building their site pages by adding the web parts to the site pages.       I am a proponent that we,  the developers,  should minimize this time consuming work and build these site pages in code.  I found a few blogs and some MSDN documentation but not really a complete solution that has all these artifacts working in one solution.   What I am will discuss and provide a solution for is a package that has: 1.  Master Page 2.  Page Layout 3.  Page Web Parts 4.  Site Pages   Most all done in code without the development team or the developers having to finish up the site building process spending a few hours or days completing the site!  I am not implying that in Development we do this. In fact,  we build these pages incrementally testing our web parts, etc. I am saying that the final action in our solution is that we take all these artifacts and add them to the site pages in code, the client then only needs to activate a few features and VIOLA their site appears!.  I had a project that had me build 8 pages like this as part of the solution.   In this blog post, I am taking a master page solution that I have called DJGreenMaster.  On My Office 365 Development Site it looks like this:     It is a generic master page for a SharePoint 2010 site Along with a three column layout.  Centered with a footer that uses a SharePoint List and Web Part for the footer links.  I use this master page a lot in my site development!  Easy to change the color and site logo with a little CSS.   I am going to add a few web parts for discussion purposes and then add these web parts to a site page in code.    Lets look at the solution package for DJ Green Master as that will be the basis project for building the site pages:   What you are seeing  is a complete solution to add a Master Page to a site collection which contains: 1.  Master Page Module which contains the Master Page and Page Layout 2.  The Footer Module to add the Footer Web Part 3.  Miscellaneous modules to add images, JQuery, CSS and subsite page 4.  3 features and two feature event receivers: a.  DJGreenCSS, used to add the master page CSS file to Style Sheet Library and an Event Receiver to check it in. b.  DJGreenMaster used to add the Master Page and Page Layout.  In an Event Receiver change the master page to DJGreenMaster , create the footer list and check the files in. c.  DJGreenMasterWebParts add the Footer Web Part to the site collection. I won’t go over the code for this as I will give it to you at the end of this blog post. I have discussed creating a list in code in a previous post.  So what we have is the basis to begin what is germane to this discussion.  I have the first two requirements completed.  I need now to add page web parts and the build the pages in code.  For the page web parts, I will use one downloaded from Codeplex which does not use a SharePoint custom list for simplicity:   Weather Web Part and another downloaded from MSDN which is a SharePoint Custom Calendar Web Part, I had to add some functionality to make the events color coded to exceed the built-in 10 overlays using JQuery!    Here is the solution with the added projects:     Here is a screen shot of the Weather Web Part Deployed:   Here is a screen shot of the Site Calendar with JQuery:     Okay, Now we get to the final item:  To create Publishing pages.   We need to add a feature receiver to the DJGreenMaster project I will name it DJSitePages and also add a Event Receiver:       We will build the page at the site collection level and all of the code necessary will be contained in the event receiver.   Added a reference to the Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.dll contained in the ISAPI folder of the 14 Hive.   First we will add some static methods from which we will call  in our Event Receiver:   1: private static void checkOut(string pagename, PublishingPage p) 2: { 3: if (p.Name.Equals(pagename, StringComparison.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase)) 4: { 5: 6: if (p.ListItem.File.CheckOutType == SPFile.SPCheckOutType.None) 7: { 8: p.CheckOut(); 9: } 10:   11: if (p.ListItem.File.CheckOutType == SPFile.SPCheckOutType.Online) 12: { 13: p.CheckIn("initial"); 14: p.CheckOut(); 15: } 16: } 17: } 18: private static void checkin(PublishingPage p,PublishingWeb pw) 19: { 20: SPFile publishFile = p.ListItem.File; 21:   22: if (publishFile.CheckOutType != SPFile.SPCheckOutType.None) 23: { 24:   25: publishFile.CheckIn( 26:   27: "CheckedIn"); 28:   29: publishFile.Publish( 30:   31: "published"); 32: } 33: // In case of content approval, approve the file need to add 34: //pulishing site 35: if (pw.PagesList.EnableModeration) 36: { 37: publishFile.Approve("Initial"); 38: } 39: publishFile.Update(); 40: }   In a Publishing Site, CheckIn and CheckOut  are required when dealing with pages in a publishing site.  Okay lets look at the Feature Activated Event Receiver: 1: public override void FeatureActivated(SPFeatureReceiverProperties properties) 2: { 3:   4:   5:   6: object oParent = properties.Feature.Parent; 7:   8:   9:   10: if (properties.Feature.Parent is SPWeb) 11: { 12:   13: currentWeb = (SPWeb)oParent; 14:   15: currentSite = currentWeb.Site; 16:   17: } 18:   19: else 20: { 21:   22: currentSite = (SPSite)oParent; 23:   24: currentWeb = currentSite.RootWeb; 25:   26: } 27: 28:   29: //create the publishing pages 30: CreatePublishingPage(currentWeb, "Home.aspx", "ThreeColumnLayout.aspx","Home"); 31: //CreatePublishingPage(currentWeb, "Dummy.aspx", "ThreeColumnLayout.aspx","Dummy"); 32: }     Basically we are calling the method Create Publishing Page with parameters:  Current Web, Name of the Page, The Page Layout, Title of the page.  Let’s look at the Create Publishing Page method:   1:   2: private void CreatePublishingPage(SPWeb site, string pageName, string pageLayoutName, string title) 3: { 4: PublishingSite pubSiteCollection = new PublishingSite(site.Site); 5: PublishingWeb pubSite = null; 6: if (pubSiteCollection != null) 7: { 8: // Assign an object to the pubSite variable 9: if (PublishingWeb.IsPublishingWeb(site)) 10: { 11: pubSite = PublishingWeb.GetPublishingWeb(site); 12: } 13: } 14: // Search for the page layout for creating the new page 15: PageLayout currentPageLayout = FindPageLayout(pubSiteCollection, pageLayoutName); 16: // Check or the Page Layout could be found in the collection 17: // if not (== null, return because the page has to be based on 18: // an excisting Page Layout 19: if (currentPageLayout == null) 20: { 21: return; 22: } 23:   24: 25: PublishingPageCollection pages = pubSite.GetPublishingPages(); 26: foreach (PublishingPage p in pages) 27: { 28: //The page allready exists 29: if ((p.Name == pageName)) return; 30:   31: } 32: 33:   34:   35: PublishingPage newPage = pages.Add(pageName, currentPageLayout); 36: newPage.Description = pageName.Replace(".aspx", ""); 37: // Here you can set some properties like: 38: newPage.IncludeInCurrentNavigation = true; 39: newPage.IncludeInGlobalNavigation = true; 40: newPage.Title = title; 41: 42: 43:   44:   45: 46:   47: //build the page 48:   49: 50: switch (pageName) 51: { 52: case "Homer.aspx": 53: checkOut("Courier.aspx", newPage); 54: BuildHomePage(site, newPage); 55: break; 56:   57:   58: default: 59: break; 60: } 61: // newPage.Update(); 62: //Now we can checkin the newly created page to the “pages” library 63: checkin(newPage, pubSite); 64: 65: 66: }     The narrative in what is going on here is: 1.  We need to find out if we are dealing with a Publishing Web.  2.  Get the Page Layout 3.  Create the Page in the pages list. 4.  Based on the page name we build that page.  (Here is where we can add all the methods to build multiple pages.) In the switch we call Build Home Page where all the work is done to add the web parts.  Prior to adding the web parts we need to add references to the two web part projects in the solution. using WeatherWebPart.WeatherWebPart; using CSSharePointCustomCalendar.CustomCalendarWebPart;   We can then reference them in the Build Home Page method.   Let’s look at Build Home Page: 1:   2: private static void BuildHomePage(SPWeb web, PublishingPage pubPage) 3: { 4: // build the pages 5: // Get the web part manager for each page and do the same code as below (copy and paste, change to the web parts for the page) 6: // Part Description 7: SPLimitedWebPartManager mgr = web.GetLimitedWebPartManager(web.Url + "/Pages/Home.aspx", System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts.PersonalizationScope.Shared); 8: WeatherWebPart.WeatherWebPart.WeatherWebPart wwp = new WeatherWebPart.WeatherWebPart.WeatherWebPart() { ChromeType = PartChromeType.None, Title = "Todays Weather", AreaCode = "2504627" }; 9: //Dictionary<string, string> wwpDic= new Dictionary<string, string>(); 10: //wwpDic.Add("AreaCode", "2504627"); 11: //setWebPartProperties(wwp, "WeatherWebPart", wwpDic); 12:   13: // Add the web part to a pagelayout Web Part Zone 14: mgr.AddWebPart(wwp, "g_685594D193AA4BBFABEF2FB0C8A6C1DD", 1); 15:   16: CSSharePointCustomCalendar.CustomCalendarWebPart.CustomCalendarWebPart cwp = new CustomCalendarWebPart() { ChromeType = PartChromeType.None, Title = "Corporate Calendar", listName="CorporateCalendar" }; 17:   18: mgr.AddWebPart(cwp, "g_20CBAA1DF45949CDA5D351350462E4C6", 1); 19:   20:   21: pubPage.Update(); 22:   23: } Here is what we are doing: 1.  We got  a reference to the SharePoint Limited Web Part Manager and linked/referenced Home.aspx  2.  Instantiated the a new Weather Web Part and used the Manager to add it to the page in a web part zone identified by ID,  thus the need for a Page Layout where the developer knows the ID’s. 3.  Instantiated the Calendar Web Part and used the Manager to add it to the page. 4. We the called the Publishing Page update method. 5.  Lastly, the Create Publishing Page method checks in the page just created.   Here is a screen shot of the page right after a deploy!       Okay!  I know we could make a home page look much better!  However, I built this whole Integrated solution in less than a day with the caveat that the Green Master was already built!  So what am I saying?  Build you web parts, master pages, etc.  At the very end of the engagement build the pages.  The client will be very happy!  Here is the code for this solution Code

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• Windows Phone Developer Spotlight: Nikolai Joukov

  - by Lori Lalonde

  Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/lorilalonde/archive/2014/06/04/windows-phone-developer-spotlight-nikolai-joukov.aspxAs part of an ongoing series, I plan to include a spotlight post on people within the community that are stars in their field and area of expertise. For my first spotlight post, I interviewed Nikolai Joukov, who is a regular attendee at my local area .NET User Group (CTTDNUG), and has also participated in many of the Mobile and Cloud workshops we have hosted over the past few years. Nikolai stood out immediately, because of his passion for developing mobile apps, his interest in continuous learning, and his drive to publish quality apps that people will find useful and entertaining. Background: Nikolai immigrated to Canada in 1995, and has been working in IT since 1997. He moved on to become an independent contractor in 2005, and has worked at various large scale organizations over the course of his career, including BMO, Enbridge, Economical Insurance, Equitable Life, Manulife and Sun Life. Nikolai is an accomplished Windows Phone and Windows Store publisher, with 11 published Windows Phone apps, and 8 published Windows Store apps. He has almost 6000 downloads and favourable reviews. Q & A with Nikolai How many years have you been developing Windows Phone apps? 2 years When did you develop your very first Windows Phone app, and what was it about? Actually, the very first app I wrote was for the Microsoft “Smart Phone” back in 2004. This phone was given to me by Microsoft during the Developers Days Conference in Toronto. It was some kind of experimental model named Smart Phone, but you had to use VB 3 to develop the applications. Needless to say, this was not very successful at that time. My app was a Stock Trades Calculator. Very primitive, but it was working for me. The phone was heavy and the battery barely lasted 4 hours. Microsoft stopped supporting it few months later and the phone stopped working shortly after, but I still have it as a souvenir. For Windows Phone, my first app was “Trip Packing Assistant”. This is a simple trip packing check list that allows you to list items by category, set required quantity of items, and mark off the item in the list when it is packed. I designed it for me and my wife Galina, since we love to travel and this program helps manage our list for us. How did you get started in Windows Phone development? I have to say thanks to our .NET User Group for introducing me to Windows Phone development. I was intrigued and decided to give it a try. In October 2012 during a 2 day training event that ObjectSharp hosted in London, I met Bruce Johnson. On his advice, I registered for Developer Movement, and it is was a good push to actually complete the apps that I started. You have a great series of travel guide apps both for Windows Phone and Windows Store. Tell us about how you came up with the idea to develop those apps and what process you went through to put it all together. Like I said earlier, my wife and I love to travel. Before I created Trip Packing Assistant, every time we were planning to travel somewhere new, Galina would spend 3-4 weeks doing research. She would create a Word document with all of the information. We didn’t want to have to carry our laptop with us all the time, so we printed out the Word document she created, and would take it with us. After we returned from the trip, we would bring back tons of pictures and materials. Then our friends started to ask us about our materials before they planned their trips to the same places we had visited. So I decided to give it a try and started making apps for Windows Phone and for Windows 8. I hope these applications will help people who are planning to travel. So, all of the pictures used in the travel apps you created were actually taken by you during these amazing trips? Yes Do you have another Windows Store/Windows Phone project in development right now? If so, can you give us a hint at what it will be about? I want to stay with travel apps for now. But this time I will try to write an app for us (Galina and I). Usually we go on the trip, then I write the apps after we have all this beautiful pictures in our hands. We are planning a trip to Rome. This app will not have the pictures, but I want to add a map with points of interest and all information that can be useful for us. Then we will go on our trip and test it on location. As well I am planning to work on my existing apps to make them better. What learning resources would you recommend for other developers that want to get started in Window Store and Windows Phone development? I would start with dev.windowsphone.com to get all tools and samples, also links to training materials. I like MVA (Microsoft Virtual Academy). Their videos are really useful and it is free. Pluralsight is good too but it is not free and I do not have a subscription anymore. Our .NET User Group meetings give good insights too. I went to all meetings and full day training events. When you start to develop your app, you need to do research for specific questions that arise during development. The Developer Portal and Nokia Developer are good resources too. Wrap Up Thanks Nikolai for participating in my first Spotlight blog post! Shown below is Nikolai’s publisher page in the Windows Phone Store and his publisher page in the Windows Store. Simply click on it to be taken to there to check out his portfolio of apps. Be sure to download his apps and try them out! They are all free! Nikolai’s Windows Phone apps   Nikolai’s Windows Store Apps

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• Taking web sites offline for demonstration

  While working in software development in general, and in web development for a couple of customers it is quite common that it is necessary to provide a test bed where the client is able to get an image, or better said, a feeling for the visions and ideas you are talking about. Usually here at IOS Indian Ocean Software Ltd. we set up a demo web site on one of our staging servers, and provide credentials to the customer to access and review our progress and work ad hoc. This gives us the highest flexibility on both sides, as the test bed is simply online and available 24/7. We can update the structure, the UI and data at any time, and the client is able to view it as it suits best for her/him. Limited or lack of online connectivity But what is going to happen when your client is not capable to be online - no matter for what reasons; here are some more obvious ones: No internet connection (permanently or temporarily) Expensive connection, ie. mobile data package, stay at a hotel, etc. Presentation devices at an exhibition, ie. using tablets or iPads Being abroad for a certain time, and only occasionally online No network coverage, especially on mobile Bad infrastructure, like ie. in Third World countries Providing a catalogue on CD or USB pen drive Anyway, it doesn't matter really. We should be able to provide a solution for the circumstances of our customers. Presentation during an exhibition Recently, we had the following request from a customer: Is it possible to let us have a desktop version of ResortWork.co.uk that we can use for demo purposes at the forthcoming Ski Shows? It would allow us to let stand visitors browse the sites on an iPad to view jobs and training directory course listings. Yes, sure we can do that. Eventually, you might think why don't they simply use 3G enabled iPads for that purpose? As stated above, there might be several reasons for that - low coverage, expensive data packages, etc. Anyway, it is not a question on how to circumvent the request but to deliver a solution to that. Possible solutions... or not? We already did offline websites earlier, and even established complete mirrors of one or two web sites on our systems. There are actually several possibilities to handle this kind of request, and it mainly depends on the system or device where the offline site should be available on. Here, it is clearly expressed that we have to address this on an Apple iPad, well actually, I think that they'd like to use multiple devices during their exhibitions. Following is an overview of possible solutions depending on the technology or device in use, and how it can be done: Replication of source files and database The above mentioned web site is running on ASP.NET, IIS and SQL Server. In case that a laptop or slate runs a Windows OS, the easiest way would be to take a snapshot of the source files and database, and transfer them as local installation to those Windows machines. This approach would be fully operational on the local machine. Saving pages for offline usage This is actually a quite tedious job but still practicable for small web sites Tool based approach to 'harvest' the web site There quite some tools in the wild that could handle this job, namely wget, httrack, web copier, etc. Screenshots bundled as PDF document Not really... ;-) Creating screencast or video Simply navigate through your website and record your desktop session. Actually, we are using this kind of approach to track down difficult problems in order to see and understand exactly what the user was doing to cause an error. Of course, this list isn't complete and I'd love to get more of your ideas in the comments section below the article. Preparations for offline browsing The original website is dynamically and data-driven by ASP.NET, and looks like this: As we have to put the result onto iPads we are going to choose the tool-based approach to 'download' the whole web site for offline usage. Again, depending on the complexity of your web site you might have to check which of the applications produces the best results for you. My usual choice is to use wget but in this case, we run into problems related to the rewriting of hyperlinks. As a consequence of that we opted for using HTTrack. HTTrack comes in different flavours, like console application but also as either GUI (WinHTTrack on Windows) or Web client (WebHTTrack on Linux/Unix/BSD). Here's a brief description taken from the original website about HTTrack: HTTrack is a free (GPL, libre/free software) and easy-to-use offline browser utility. It allows you to download a World Wide Web site from the Internet to a local directory, building recursively all directories, getting HTML, images, and other files from the server to your computer. HTTrack arranges the original site's relative link-structure. Simply open a page of the "mirrored" website in your browser, and you can browse the site from link to link, as if you were viewing it online. And there is an extensive documentation for all options and switches online. General recommendation is to go through the HTTrack Users Guide By Fred Cohen. It covers all the initial steps you need to get up and running. Be aware that it will take quite some time to get all the necessary resources down to your machine. Actually, for our customer we run the tool directly on their web server to avoid unnecessary traffic and bandwidth. After a couple of runs and some additional fine-tuning - explicit inclusion or exclusion of various external linked web sites - we finally had a more or less complete offline version available. A very handsome feature of HTTrack is the error/warning log after completing the download. It contains some detailed information about errors that appeared on the pages and the links within the pages that have been processed. Error: "Bad Request" (400) at link www.resortwork.co.uk/job-details_Ski_hire:tech_or_mgr_or_driver_37854.aspx (from www.resortwork.co.uk/Jobs_A_to_Z.aspx)Error: "Not Found" (404) at link www.247recruit.net/images/applynow.png (from www.247recruit.net/css/global.css)Error: "Not Found" (404) at link www.247recruit.net/activate.html (from www.247recruit.net/247recruit_tefl_jobs_network.html) In our situation, we took the records of HTTP 400/404 errors and passed them to the web development department. Improvements are to be expected soon. ;-) Quality assurance on the full-featured desktop Unfortunately, the generated output of HTTrack was still incomplete but luckily there were only images missing. Being directly on the web server we simply copied the missing images from the original source folder into our offline version. After that, we created an archive and transferred the file securely to our local workspace for further review and checks. From that point on, it wasn't necessary to get any more files from the original web server, and we could focus ourselves completely on the process of browsing and navigating through the offline version to isolate visual differences and functional problems. As said, the original web site runs on ASP.NET Web Forms and uses Postback calls for interaction like search, pagination and partly for navigation. This is the main field of improving the offline experience. Of course, same as for standard web development it is advised to test with various browsers, and strangely we discovered that the offline version looked pretty good on Firefox, Chrome and Safari, but not in Internet Explorer. A quick look at the HTML source shed some light on this, and there are conditional CSS inclusions based on the user agent. HTTrack is not acting as Internet Explorer and so we didn't have the necessary overrides for this browser. Not problematic after all in our case, but you might have to pay attention to this and get the IE-specific files explicitly. And while having a view at the source code, we also found out that HTTrack actually modifies the generated HTML output. In several occasions we discovered that <div> elements were converted into <table> constructs for no obvious reason; even nested structures. Search 'e'nd destroy - sed (or Notepad++) to the rescue During our intensive root cause analysis for a couple of HTML/CSS problems that needed some extra attention it is very helpful to be familiar with any editor that allows search and replace over multiple files like, ie. sed - stream editor for filtering and transforming text on Linux or my personal favourite Notepad++ on Windows. This allowed us to quickly fix a lot of anchors with onclick attributes and Javascript code that was addressed to ASP.NET files instead of their generated HTML counterparts, like so: grep -lr -e '.aspx' * | xargs sed -e 's/.aspx/.html?/g' The additional question mark after the HTML extension helps to separate the query string from the actual target and solved all our missing hyperlinks very fast. The same can be done in Notepad++ on Windows, too. Just use the 'Replace in files' feature and you are settled. Especially, in combination with Regular Expressions (regex). Landscape of browsers Okay, after several runs of HTML/CSS code analysis, searching and replacing some strings in a pool of more than 4.000 files, we finally had a very good match of an offline browsing experience in Firefox and Chrome on Linux. Next, we transferred that modified set of files to a Windows 8 machine for review on Firefox, Chrome and Internet Explorer 7 to 10, and a Mac mini running Mac OS X 10.7 to check the output on Safari and again on Chrome. Besides IE, for reasons already mentioned above, the results were identical. And last but not least it was about to check web site on tablets. Please continue to read on the following articles: Taking web sites offline for demonstration on Galaxy Tablet Taking web sites offline for demonstration on iPad

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• Premature-Optimization and Performance Anxiety

  - by James Michael Hare

  While writing my post analyzing the new .NET 4 ConcurrentDictionary class (here), I fell into one of the classic blunders that I myself always love to warn about.  After analyzing the differences of time between a Dictionary with locking versus the new ConcurrentDictionary class, I noted that the ConcurrentDictionary was faster with read-heavy multi-threaded operations.  Then, I made the classic blunder of thinking that because the original Dictionary with locking was faster for those write-heavy uses, it was the best choice for those types of tasks.  In short, I fell into the premature-optimization anti-pattern. Basically, the premature-optimization anti-pattern is when a developer is coding very early for a perceived (whether rightly-or-wrongly) performance gain and sacrificing good design and maintainability in the process.  At best, the performance gains are usually negligible and at worst, can either negatively impact performance, or can degrade maintainability so much that time to market suffers or the code becomes very fragile due to the complexity. Keep in mind the distinction above.  I'm not talking about valid performance decisions.  There are decisions one should make when designing and writing an application that are valid performance decisions.  Examples of this are knowing the best data structures for a given situation (Dictionary versus List, for example) and choosing performance algorithms (linear search vs. binary search).  But these in my mind are macro optimizations.  The error is not in deciding to use a better data structure or algorithm, the anti-pattern as stated above is when you attempt to over-optimize early on in such a way that it sacrifices maintainability. In my case, I was actually considering trading the safety and maintainability gains of the ConcurrentDictionary (no locking required) for a slight performance gain by using the Dictionary with locking.  This would have been a mistake as I would be trading maintainability (ConcurrentDictionary requires no locking which helps readability) and safety (ConcurrentDictionary is safe for iteration even while being modified and you don't risk the developer locking incorrectly) -- and I fell for it even when I knew to watch out for it.  I think in my case, and it may be true for others as well, a large part of it was due to the time I was trained as a developer.  I began college in in the 90s when C and C++ was king and hardware speed and memory were still relatively priceless commodities and not to be squandered.  In those days, using a long instead of a short could waste precious resources, and as such, we were taught to try to minimize space and favor performance.  This is why in many cases such early code-bases were very hard to maintain.  I don't know how many times I heard back then to avoid too many function calls because of the overhead -- and in fact just last year I heard a new hire in the company where I work declare that she didn't want to refactor a long method because of function call overhead.  Now back then, that may have been a valid concern, but with today's modern hardware even if you're calling a trivial method in an extremely tight loop (which chances are the JIT compiler would optimize anyway) the results of removing method calls to speed up performance are negligible for the great majority of applications.  Now, obviously, there are those coding applications where speed is absolutely king (for example drivers, computer games, operating systems) where such sacrifices may be made.  But I would strongly advice against such optimization because of it's cost.  Many folks that are performing an optimization think it's always a win-win.  That they're simply adding speed to the application, what could possibly be wrong with that?  What they don't realize is the cost of their choice.  For every piece of straight-forward code that you obfuscate with performance enhancements, you risk the introduction of bugs in the long term technical debt of the application.  It will become so fragile over time that maintenance will become a nightmare.  I've seen such applications in places I have worked.  There are times I've seen applications where the designer was so obsessed with performance that they even designed their own memory management system for their application to try to squeeze out every ounce of performance.  Unfortunately, the application stability often suffers as a result and it is very difficult for anyone other than the original designer to maintain. I've even seen this recently where I heard a C++ developer bemoaning that in VS2010 the iterators are about twice as slow as they used to be because Microsoft added range checking (probably as part of the 0x standard implementation).  To me this was almost a joke.  Twice as slow sounds bad, but it almost never as bad as you think -- especially if you're gaining safety.  The only time twice is really that much slower is when once was too slow to begin with.  Think about it.  2 minutes is slow as a response time because 1 minute is slow.  But if an iterator takes 1 microsecond to move one position and a new, safer iterator takes 2 microseconds, this is trivial!  The only way you'd ever really notice this would be in iterating a collection just for the sake of iterating (i.e. no other operations).  To my mind, the added safety makes the extra time worth it. Always favor safety and maintainability when you can.  I know it can be a hard habit to break, especially if you started out your career early or in a language such as C where they are very performance conscious.  But in reality, these type of micro-optimizations only end up hurting you in the long run. Remember the two laws of optimization.  I'm not sure where I first heard these, but they are so true: For beginners: Do not optimize. For experts: Do not optimize yet. This is so true.  If you're a beginner, resist the urge to optimize at all costs.  And if you are an expert, delay that decision.  As long as you have chosen the right data structures and algorithms for your task, your performance will probably be more than sufficient.  Chances are it will be network, database, or disk hits that will be your slow-down, not your code.  As they say, 98% of your code's bottleneck is in 2% of your code so premature-optimization may add maintenance and safety debt that won't have any measurable impact.  Instead, code for maintainability and safety, and then, and only then, when you find a true bottleneck, then you should go back and optimize further.

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• Getting your bearings and defining the project objective

  - by johndoucette

  I wrote this two years ago and thought it was worth posting… Some may think this is a daunting task and some may even say “what a waste of time” and want to open MS Project and start typing out tasks because someone asked for an estimate and a task list. Hell, maybe you even use Excel and pump out a spreadsheet with some real scientific formula for guessing how long it will take to code a bunch of classes. However, this short exercise will provide the basis for the entire project, whether small or large and be a great friend when communicating to anyone on your team or even your client. I call this the Project Brief. If you find yourself going beyond a single page, then you must decompose the sections and summarize your findings so there is a complete and clear picture of the project you are working on in a relatively short statement. Here is a great quote from the PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge) relative to what a project is;   A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result. With this in mind, the project brief should encompass the entirety (objective) of the endeavor in its explanation and what it will take (goals) to create the product, service or result (deliverables). Normally the process of identifying the project objective is done during the first stage of a project called the Project Kickoff, but you can perform this very important step anytime to help you get a bearing. There are many more parts to helping a project stay on course, but this is usually the foundation where it can be grounded on. Through a series of 3 exercises, you should be able to come up with the objective, goals and deliverables on your project. Follow these steps, and in no time (about &frac12; hour), you will have the foundation of your project plan. (See examples below) Exercise 1 – Objectives Begin with the end in mind. Think about your project in business terms with a couple things to help you understand the objective; Reference the business benefit in terms of cost, speed and / or quality, Provide a higher level of what the outcome will look like (future sense) It should be non-measurable, that’s what the goals are all about The output should be a single paragraph with three sentences and take 10 minutes to write. *Typically, agreement must be reached on the objectives of the project before you would proceed to the next steps of the project. Exercise 2 – Goals A project goal is a statement that answers questions about who, what, why, where and when. A good project goal statement; Answers the five “W” questions for the project Is measurable in each of its parts Is published and agreed on by all the owners This helps the Project Manager receive confirmation on defining the project target. Using the established project objective done in the first exercise, think about the things it will take to get the job done. Think about tangible activities which are the top level tasks in a typical Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). The overall goal statement plus all the deliverables (next exercise) can be seen as the project team’s contract with the project owners. Write 3 - 5 goals in about 10 minutes. You should not write the words “Who, what, why, where and when, but merely be able to answer the questions when you read a goal. Exercise 3 – Deliverables Every project creates some type of output and these outputs are called deliverables. There are two classes of deliverables; Internal – produced for project team members to meet their goals External – produced for project owners to meet their expectations The list you enter here provides a checklist for the team’s delivery and/or is a statement of all the expectations of the project owners. Here are some typical project deliverables; Product and product documentation End product/system Requirements/feature documents Installation guides Demo/prototype System design documents User guides/help files Plans Project plan Training plan Conversion/installation/delivery plan Test plans Documentation plan Communication plan Reports and general documentation Progress reports System acceptance tests Outstanding bug list Procedures Risk and issue logs Project history Deliverables should go with each of the goals. Have 3-5 deliverables for each goal. When you are done, you will have established a great foundation for the clarity of your project. This exercise can take some time, but with practice, you should be able to whip this one out in 10 minutes as well, especially if you are intimate with an ongoing project. Samples  Objective [Client] is implementing a series of MOSS sites to support external public (Internet), internal employee (Intranet) and an external secure (password protected Internet) applications. This project will focus on the public-facing web site and will provide [Client] with architectural recommendations based on the current design being done by their design partner [Partner] and the internal Content Team. In addition, it will provide [Client] with a development plan and confidence they need to deploy a world class public Internet website. Goals 1.  [Consultant] will provide technical guidance and set project team expectations for the implementation of the MOSS Internet site based on provided features/functions within three weeks. 2.  [Consultant] will understand phase 2 secure password-protected Internet site design and provide recommendations.   Deliverables 1.1  Public Internet (unsecure) Architectural Recommendation Plan 1.2  Physical Site construction Work Breakdown Structure and plan (Time, cost and resources needed) 2.1  Two Factor authentication recommendation document   Objective [Client] is currently using an application developed by [Consultant] many years ago called "XXX". This application, although functional, does not meet their new updated business requirements and contains a few defects which [Client] has developed work-around processes. [Client] would like to have a "new and improved" system to support their membership management needs by expanding membership and subscription capabilities, provide accounting integration with internal (GL) and external (VeriSign) systems, and implement hooks to the current CRM solution. This effort will take place through a series of phases, beginning with envisioning. Goals 1. Through discussions with users, [Consultant] will discover current issues/bugs which need to be resolved which must meet the current functionality requirements within three weeks. 2. [Consultant] will gather requirements from the users about what is "needed" vs. "what they have" for enhancements and provide a high level document supporting their needs. 3. [Consultant] will meet with the team members through a series of meetings and help define the overall project plan to deliver a new and improved solution. Deliverables 1.1 Prioritized list of Current application issues/bugs that need to be resolved 1.2 Provide a resolution plan on the issues/bugs identified in the current application 1.3 Risk Assessment Document 2.1 Deliver a Requirements Document showing high-level [Client] needs for the new XXX application. · New feature functionality not in the application today · Existing functionality that will remain in the new functionality 2.2 Reporting Requirements Document 3.1 A Project Plan showing the deliverables and cost for the next (second) phase of this project. 3.2 A Statement of Work for the next (second) phase of this project. 3.3 An Estimate of any work that would need to follow the second phase.

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• CodePlex Daily Summary for Saturday, August 02, 2014

  CodePlex Daily Summary for Saturday, August 02, 2014Popular ReleasesRecaptcha for .NET: Recaptcha for .NET v1.5.1: Added support for HTTPS. Signed the assemblies.PowerShell App Deployment Toolkit: PowerShell App Deployment Toolkit v3.1.5: *Added Send-Keys function to send a sequence of keys to an application window (Thanks to mmashwani) *Added 3 optimization/stability improvements to Execute-Process following MS best practice (Thanks to mmashwani) *Fixed issue where Execute-MSI did not use value from XML file for uninstall but instead ran all uninstalls silently by default *Fixed error on 1641 exit code (should be a success like 3010) *Fixed issue with error handling in Invoke-SCCMTask *Fixed issue with deferral dates where th...AutoUpdater.NET : Auto update library for VB.NET and C# Developer: AutoUpdater.NET 1.3: Fixed problem in DownloadUpdateDialog where download continues even if you close the dialog. Added support for new url field for 64 bit application setup. AutoUpdater.NET will decide which download url to use by looking at the value of IntPtr.Size. Added German translation provided by Rene Kannegiesser. Now developer can handle update logic herself using event suggested by ricorx7. Added italian translation provided by Gianluca Mariani. Fixed bug that prevents Application from exiti...SEToolbox: SEToolbox 01.041.012 Release 1: Added voxel material textures to read in with mods. Fixed missing texture replacements for mods. Fixed rounding issue in raytrace code. Fixed repair issue with corrupt checkpoint file. Fixed issue with updated SE binaries 01.041.012 using new container configuration.Magick.NET: Magick.NET 6.8.9.601: Magick.NET linked with ImageMagick 6.8.9.6 Breaking changes: - Changed arguments for the Map method of MagickImage. - QuantizeSettings uses Riemersma by default.SharePoint Real Time Log Viewer: SharePoint Real Time Log Viewer - Source: Source codeModern Audio Tagger: Modern Audio Tagger 1.0.0.0: Modern Audio Tagger is bornQuickMon: Version 3.20: Added a 'Directory Services Query' collector agent. This collector allows for querying Active Directory using simple DirectorySearcher queries.Grunndatakvalitet: Initial working: Show Altinn metadata in Excel. To get a live list you need to run the sql script on a server and update the connection string in ExcelMultiple Threads TCP Server: Project: this Project is based on VS 2013, .net freamwork 4.0, you can open it by vs 2010 or laterAccesorios de sitios Torrent en Español para Synology Download Station: Pack de Torrents en Español 6.0.0: Agregado los módulos de DivXTotal, el módulo de búsqueda depende del de alojamiento para bajar las series Utiliza el rss: http://www.divxtotal.com/rss.php DbEntry.Net (Leafing Framework): DbEntry.Net 4.2: DbEntry.Net is a lightweight Object Relational Mapping (ORM) database access compnent for .Net 4.0+. It has clearly and easily programing interface for ORM and sql directly, and supoorted Access, Sql Server, MySql, SQLite, Firebird, PostgreSQL and Oracle. It also provide a Ruby On Rails style MVC framework. Asp.Net DataSource and a simple IoC. DbEntry.Net.v4.2.Setup.zip include the setup package. DbEntry.Net.v4.2.Src.zip include source files and unit tests. DbEntry.Net.v4.2.Samples.zip ...Azure Storage Explorer: Azure Storage Explorer 6 Preview 1: Welcome to Azure Storage Explorer 6 Preview 1 This is the first release of the latest Azure Storage Explorer, code-named Phoenix. What's New?Here are some important things to know about version 6: Open Source Now being run as a full open source project. Full source code on CodePlex. Collaboration encouraged! Updated Code Base Brand-new code base (WPF/C#/.NET 4.5) Visual Studio 2013 solution (previously VS2010) Uses the Task Parallel Library (TPL) for asynchronous background operat...Wsus Package Publisher: release v1.3.1407.29: Updated WPP to recognize the very latest console version. Some files was missing into the latest release of WPP which lead to crash when trying to make a custom update. Add a workaround to avoid clipboard modification when double-clicking on a label when creating a custom update. Add the ability to publish detectoids. (This feature is still in a BETA phase. Packages relying on these detectoids to determine which computers need to be updated, may apply to all computers).VG-Ripper & PG-Ripper: PG-Ripper 1.4.32: changes NEW: Added Support for 'ImgMega.com' links NEW: Added Support for 'ImgCandy.net' links NEW: Added Support for 'ImgPit.com' links NEW: Added Support for 'Img.yt' links FIXED: 'Radikal.ru' links FIXED: 'ImageTeam.org' links FIXED: 'ImgSee.com' links FIXED: 'Img.yt' linksAsp.Net MVC-4,Entity Framework and JQGrid Demo with Todo List WebApplication: Asp.Net MVC-4,Entity Framework and JQGrid Demo: Asp.Net MVC-4,Entity Framework and JQGrid Demo with simple Todo List WebApplication, Overview TodoList is a simple web application to create, store and modify Todo tasks to be maintained by the users, which comprises of following fields to the user (Task Name, Task Description, Severity, Target Date, Task Status). TodoList web application is created using MVC - 4 architecture, code-first Entity Framework (ORM) and Jqgrid for displaying the data.Waterfox: Waterfox 31.0 Portable: New features in Waterfox 31.0: Added support for Unicode 7.0 Experimental support for WebCL New features in Firefox 31.0:New Add the search field to the new tab page Support of Prefer:Safe http header for parental control mozilla::pkix as default certificate verifier Block malware from downloaded files Block malware from downloaded files audio/video .ogg and .pdf files handled by Firefox if no application specified Changed Removal of the CAPS infrastructure for specifying site-sp...SuperSocket, an extensible socket server framework: SuperSocket 1.6.3: The changes below are included in this release: fixed an exception when collect a server's status but it has been stopped fixed a bug that can cause an exception in case of sending data when the connection dropped already fixed the log4net missing issue for a QuickStart project fixed a warning in a QuickStart projectYnote Classic: Ynote Classic 2.8.5 Beta: Several Changes - Multiple Carets and Multiple Selections - Improved Startup Time - Improved Syntax Highlighting - Search Improvements - Shell Command - Improved StabilityTEBookConverter: 1.2: Fixed: Could not start convertion in some cases Fixed: Progress show during convertion was truncated Fixed: Stopping convertion didn't reset program titleNew ProjectsCoder Camps Troop 64 7-28: Place for group projectsEasyMR: ????EasyMR???????????????????????????????，?????，????，????，????????，??????????????????????，????????????。??????Hadoop?????????，EasyMR???????，??????????????????。FlexGraph: A simple chart control for Windows delivered in form of a function DLL. Tested in C++ (MFC, QT), C# and VB.Net.Grunndatakvalitet: Project is meant to open up the Altinn national data hub for Access from other systems and eg self-service like ExcelKinect Avateering V2 SDK migration: Kinect V2 (new version with XBOX1) SDK Avatar Avateering sample migration from version 1.8SDK. lqwe: just devlzsoft-cdn: this is a projectMin Heap: MinHeap project provides a MinHeap implementation in C# for use in Dijkstra's algorithm for computing shortest path distances for non-negative edge lengths.Modern Audio Tagger: Modern Audio Tagger is a powerful, easy and extreme fast tool to reorganize your music libraryMultiple Threads TCP Server: A multi-threaded tcp server. Using a queue with multiple threads to handle large numbers of client requests.newTeamProject1: Game Minesweeper on Console ApplicationO(1): Scale-able partitioned pure .NET Property Graph Database intended to handle large complex graphs and provide high performance OLTP property graph capabilities.Orchard Single Page Application Theme: Orchard Single Page Application ( SPA ) ThemePersonal Assistance Suite (PAS): This C# project aims to set up a modular platform for private use. Microsoft Prism Library 5.0 for WPF is used to implement this modularity.PokitDok Platform API Client for C#: The PokitDok API allows you to perform X12 transactions, find healthcare providers, and get information on health care procedure pricing. REST, JSON, Oauth2.Powershell DSC Resource - cXML: Powershell DSC Resource Module for managing XML element in a text file.Powershell Uninstall Java: Identifies and uninstalls Java software from the local machine using WMI. The query to locate the installed software interogates the WIN32_Products claSharePoint Real Time Log Viewer: SharePoint Real Time Log Viewer is a winform application that allows you to view the logs generated by SharePoint.sqldataexporter: this is a projectVAK: we are trying to create an application that will be a place people can discuss IT related topics and also try to integrate lync 2013Windows Phone 8 DropBox API: Windows Phone REST API for DropBoxYet Another Steam Mover (YASM): Yet Another Steam Mover (YASM) is a Microsoft.NET Windows Forms application for moving large digital games across different volumes.

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