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• CodePlex Daily Summary for Tuesday, March 20, 2012

  CodePlex Daily Summary for Tuesday, March 20, 2012Popular ReleasesNearforums - ASP.NET MVC forum engine: Nearforums v8.0: Version 8.0 of Nearforums, the ASP.NET MVC Forum Engine, containing new features: Internationalization Custom authentication provider Access control list for forums and threads Webdeploy package checksum: abc62990189cf0d488ef915d4a55e4b14169bc01BIDS Helper: BIDS Helper 1.6: This beta release is the first to support SQL Server 2012 (in addition to SQL Server 2005, 2008, and 2008 R2). Since it is marked as a beta release, we are looking for bug reports in the next few months as you use BIDS Helper on real projects. In addition to getting all existing BIDS Helper functionality working appropriately in SQL Server 2012 (SSDT), the following features are new... Analysis Services Tabular Smart Diff Tabular Actions Editor Tabular HideMemberIf Tabular Pre-Build ...JavaScript Web Resource Manager for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011: JavaScript Web Resource Manager (1.2.1420.191): BUG FIXED : When loading scripts from disk, the import of the web resource didn't do anything When scripts were saved to disk, it wasn't possible to edit them with an editorSQL Monitor - managing sql server performance: SQLMon 4.2 alpha 12: 1. improved process visualizer, now shows how many dead locks, and what are the locked objects 2. fixed some other problems.Json.NET: Json.NET 4.5 Release 1: New feature - Windows 8 Metro build New feature - JsonTextReader automatically reads ISO strings as dates New feature - Added DateFormatHandling to control whether dates are written in the MS format or ISO format, with ISO as the default New feature - Added DateTimeZoneHandling to control reading and writing DateTime time zone details New feature - Added async serialize/deserialize methods to JsonConvert New feature - Added Path to JsonReader/JsonWriter/ErrorContext and exceptions w...SCCM Client Actions Tool: SCCM Client Actions Tool v1.11: SCCM Client Actions Tool v1.11 is the latest version. It comes with following changes since last version: Fixed a bug when ping and cmd.exe kept running in endless loop after action progress was finished. Fixed update checking from Codeplex RSS feed. The tool is downloadable as a ZIP file that contains four files: ClientActionsTool.hta – The tool itself. Cmdkey.exe – command line tool for managing cached credentials. This is needed for alternate credentials feature when running the HTA...WebSocket4Net: WebSocket4Net 0.5: Changes in this release fixed the wss's default port bug improved JsonWebSocket supported set client access policy protocol for silverlight fixed a handshake issue in Silverlight fixed a bug that "Host" field in handshake hadn't contained port if the port is not default supported passing in Origin parameter for handshaking supported reacting pings from server side fixed a bug in data sending fixed the bug sending a closing handshake with no message which would cause an excepti...SuperWebSocket, a .NET WebSocket Server: SuperWebSocket 0.5: Changes included in this release: supported closing handshake queue checking improved JSON subprotocol supported sending ping from server to client fixed a bug about sending a closing handshake with no message refactored the code to improve protocol compatibility fixed a bug about sub protocol configuration loading in Mono improved BasicSubProtocol added JsonWebSocketSessionDaun Management Studio: Daun Management Studio 0.1 (Alpha Version): These are these the alpha application packages for Daun Management Studio to manage MongoDB Server. Please visit our official website http://www.daun-project.comSurvey™ - web survey & form engine: Survey™ 2.0: The new stable Survey™ Project 2.0.0.1 version contains many new features like: Technical changes: - Use of Jquery, ASTreeview, Tabs, Tooltips and new menuprovider Features & Bugfixes: Survey list and search function Folder structure for surveys New Menustructure Library list New Library fields User list and search functions Layout options for a survey with CSS, page header and footer New IP filter security feature Enhanced Token Management New Question fields as ID, Alias...RiP-Ripper & PG-Ripper: RiP-Ripper 2.9.28: changes NEW: Added Support for "PixHub.eu" linksSmartNet: V1.0.0.0: DY SmartNet ?????? V1.0callisto: callisto 2.0.21: Added an option to disable local host detection.Javascript .NET: Javascript .NET v0.6: Upgraded to the latest stable branch of v8 (/tags/3.9.18), and switched to using their scons build system. We no longer include v8 source code as part of this project's source code. Simultaneous multithreaded use of v8 now supported (v8 Isolates), although different contexts may not share objects or call each other. 64-bit .Net 4.0 DLL now included. (Download now includes x86 and x64 for both .Net 3.5 and .Net 4.0.)MyRouter (Virtual WiFi Router): MyRouter 1.0.6: This release should be more stable there were a few bug fixes including the x64 issue as well as an error popping up when MyRouter started this was caused by a NULL valueGoogle Books Downloader for Windows: Google Books Downloader-2.0.0.0.: Google Books DownloaderFinestra Virtual Desktops: 2.5.4501: This is a very minor update release. Please see the information about the 2.5 and 2.5.4500 releases for more information on recent changes. This update did not even have an automatic update triggered for it. Adds error checking and reporting to all threads, not only those with message loopsAcDown????? - Anime&Comic Downloader: AcDown????? v3.9.2: ?? ●AcDown??????????、??、??????，????1M，????，????，?????????????????????????。???????????Acfun、????(Bilibili)、??、??、YouTube、??、???、??????、SF????、????????????。??????AcPlay?????，??????、????????????????。 ● AcDown???????????????????????????，???，???????????????????。 ● AcDown???????C#??，????.NET Framework 2.0??。?????"Acfun?????"。 ????32??64? Windows XP/Vista/7/8 ????????????? ??：????????Windows XP???,?????????.NET Framework 2.0???(x86)，?????"?????????"??? ??????????????，??????????： ??"AcDo...ArcGIS Editor for OpenStreetMap: ArcGIS Editor for OSM 2.0 Release Candidate: Your feedback is welcome - and this is your last chance to get your fixes in for this version! Includes installer for both Feature Server extension and Desktop extension, enhanced functionality for the Desktop tools, and enhanced built-in Javascript Editor for the Feature Server component. This release candidate includes fixes to beta 4 that accommodate domain users for setting up the Server Component, and fixes for reporting/uploading references tracked in the revision table. See Code In-P...C.B.R. : Comic Book Reader: CBR 0.6: 20 Issue trackers are closed and a lot of bugs too Localize view is now MVVM and delete is working. Added the unused flag (take care that it goes to true only when displaying screen elements) Backstage - new input/output format choice control for the conversion Backstage - Add display, behaviour and register file type options in the extended options dialog Explorer list view has been transformed to a custom control. New group header, colunms order and size are saved Single insta...New Projects{3S} SQL Smart Security "Protect your T-SQL know-how!": {3S} SQL Smart Security is an add-in which can be installed in Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS). It enables software companies to create a secured content for database objects. The add-in brings much higher level of protection in comparison with SQL Server built in WITH ENCRYPTION feature.BETA - Content Slider for SharePoint 2010 / Office 365: SharePoint Banner / SharePoint 2010 Sliding Banner / Content Slider tools in Office 365/ Sliding Content in SharePoint is a general tool which could be used for sliding Banners or any other sliding content to be placed on any Office 365 / SharePoint 2010 / SharePoint Foundation.BF3 Development Server: The main issue of this project is to deliver a test server to all developers working on RCon (Remote-Administration-Console) Tools for Battlefield 3. Actually the only possibility to test the work made is to hire a real Game Server. BizTalk Server 2010 TCP/IP Adapter: This project is migration of existing BizTalk server 2009 TCPIP adapter to BizTalk server 2010. I have made few configuration changes which are making this adapter and installation compatible to BizTalk Server 2010. I have not modified adapter source code.BryhtCommon: It`s for easy to develope WP7 ,it contains some useful method Bug.Net Defect Tracking Components: Bug.Net server-side controls and components to add defect (bug) tracking to your current ASP.NET website.Customize Survey With Client Object Model: Customize OOB Survey/Vote/Poll in Share?Point With Client Object Model Visit http://swatipoint.blogspot.in/2011/12/sharepoint-client-object-modellist.html for more detailsDropboxToDo: A simple todo, synchronizing by Dropbox or, in future, by SkydriveFoggy: Foggy is a WPF dashboard for FogBugz information.Fort Myers High School Website: A website for Fort Myers High School in Fort Myers, Florida. This website will allow for both students and parents to better interact with the school. Developed in ASP.net (C#).Gonte.DataAccess: Data access for NET. It's developed in C#.Gonte.ObjectModel: Metadata about objects. It's developed in C#Gonte.SqlGenerator: Sql Generator It's developed in C#.kLib: This project space is for datastructures and classes, which should always be available. Any developer should use these in their projects. Liuyi.Phone.CharmScreen: Liuyi.Phone.CharmScreen Liuyi windows phone appLoU: Lord of Ultima helper suite.Managing Supplies: This WP7 project is able to manage your own suppliesNAV Fixed Assets 2012: Changes related to 'Dossier Fiscal' in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 - New Model 30 - Changes to model 31 and model 32NCAA Tourney DotNetNuke Module: The NCAA Tourney is a DotNetNuke 3.X - 6.X module that allows you to add a NCAA tournament to your portal. You can allow users to record their picks for the tournament and then manage the outcome of the tournament calculating the winner of your tourney based on customizable point system. The module has been designed to be very user friendly and efficient for the end user as well as the administrator of the tournament.nothing here anymore: nothing here anymoreOrchard Dream Store Project: A simple website using Orchard CMS. For a school projectPowerShell Management Library for TEM: A project to provide a PowerShell functionality for managing your Tivoli Endpoint Manager (built upon BigFix technology). You can locally or remotely manage endpoints and relays via these simple and easy to use PowerShell Module.PrismWebBuilder: Web Builder ProjectProjeto Northwind: Northwind - FPUQLCF: QLCFShipwire API: Shipwire makes it easier for consumers of Shipwire's international shipment fulfilment service to integrate their XML API quickly and easily. Current features are: Inventory Service Rate Service (Shipping Costs) Future features are: Order Entry Service Order Tracking ServiceSmith XNA tools: Smith's XNA tools is a set of useful that i make to improve some basics features to XNA and make the Game Design More Easy.ST Recover: ST Recover can read Atari ST floppy disks on a PC under Windows, including special formats as 800 or 900 KB and damaged or desynchronized disks, and produces standard .ST disk image files. Then the image files can be read in ST emulators as WinSTon or Steem.SyncSMS: Windows desktop client for the Android App SyncSMS. This code is not affiliated with SyncSMS in any way,tempzz: tempzzTruxtor: Truxtor modular concept for electronic gadgetsTT SA TEST1: TT SA Test 1VisualQuantCode: Neuroquants is a library in c# for quants It's developed in c#.Weeps: Generate Bass and drum line in type of midi to be guitar's backing track that was playing by userxxtest: xxtest???-????? "???????????": ?????-????????? ???????????? Digital Design 2012. ??? ????. ?????? ?: ?????????????????? ??????? ?????. ??????? ?????????? ????????? ????????. ?????????? ?????????????? ??????? ??????? ? ????? ???????????? Digital Design 2012.????? ???????????? Digital Design 2012. ??? ????. ?????? ?: ?????????????????? ??????? ?????. ??????? ?????????? ????????? ????????. ?????????? ?????????????? ??????? ??????? ? ????? ???????????? Digital Design 2012.

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• The Changing Face of PASS

  - by Bill Graziano

  I’m starting my sixth year on the PASS Board.  I served two years as the Program Director, two years as the Vice-President of Marketing and I’m starting my second year as the Executive Vice-President of Finance.  There’s a pretty good chance that if PASS has done something you don’t like or is doing something you don’t like, that I’m involved in one way or another. Andy Leonard asked in a comment on his blog if the Board had ever reversed itself based on community input.  He asserted that it hadn’t.  I disagree.  I’m not going to try and list all the changes we make inside portfolios based on feedback from and meetings with the community.  I’m going to focus on major governance issues since I was elected to the Board. Management Company The first big change was our management company.  Our old management company had a standard approach to running a non-profit.  It worked well when PASS was launched.  Having a ready-made structure and process to run the organization enabled the organization to grow quickly.  As time went on we were limited in some of the things we wanted to do.  The more involved you were with PASS, the more you saw these limitations.  Key volunteers were regularly providing feedback that they wanted certain changes that were difficult for us to accomplish.  The Board at that time wanted changes that were difficult or impossible to accomplish under that structure. This was not a simple change.  Imagine a $2.5 million dollar company letting all its employees go on a Friday and starting with a new staff on Monday.  We also had a very narrow window to accomplish that so that we wouldn’t affect the Summit – our only source of revenue.  We spent the year after the change rebuilding processes and putting on the Summit in Denver.  That’s a concrete example of a huge change that PASS made to better serve its members.  And it was a change that many in the community were telling us we needed to make. Financials We heard regularly from our members that they wanted our financials posted.  Today on our web site you can find audited financials going back to 2004.  We publish our budget at the start of each year.  If you ask a question about the financials on the PASS site I do my best to answer it.  I’m also trying to do a better job answering financial questions posted in other locations.  (And yes, I know I owe a few of you some blog posts.) That’s another concrete example of a change that our members asked for that the Board agreed was a good decision. Minutes When I started on the Board the meeting minutes were very limited.  The minutes from a two day Board meeting might fit on one page.  I think we did the bare minimum we were legally required to do.  Today Board meeting minutes run from 5 to 12 pages and go into incredible detail on what we talk about.  There are certain topics that are NDA but where possible we try to list the topic we discussed but that the actual discussion was under NDA.  We also publish the agenda of Board meetings ahead of time. This is another specific example where input from the community influenced the decision.  It was certainly easier to have limited minutes but I think the extra effort helps our members understand what’s going on. Board Q&A At the 2009 Summit the Board held its first public Q&A with our members.  We’d always been available individually to answer questions.  There’s a benefit to getting us all in one room and asking the really hard questions to watch us squirm.  We learn what questions we don’t have good answers for.  We get to see how many people in the crowd look interested in the various questions and answers. I don’t recall the genesis of how this came about.  I’m fairly certain there was some community pressure though. Board Votes Until last November, the Board only reported the vote totals and not how individual Board members voted.  That was one of the topics at a great lunch I had with Tim Mitchell and Kendal van Dyke at the Summit.  That was also the topic of the first question asked at the Board Q&A by Kendal.  Kendal expressed his opposition to to anonymous votes clearly and passionately and without trying to paint anyone into a corner.  Less than 24 hours later the PASS Board voted to make individual votes public unless the topic was under NDA.  That’s another area where the Board decided to change based on feedback from our members. Summit Location While this isn’t actually a governance issue it is one of the more public decisions we make that has taken some public criticism.  There is a significant portion of our members that want the Summit near them.  There is a significant portion of our members that like the Summit in Seattle.  There is a significant portion of our members that think it should move around the country.  I was one that felt strongly that there were significant, tangible benefits to our attendees to being in Seattle every year.  I’m also one that has been swayed by some very compelling arguments that we need to have at least one outside Seattle and then revisit the decision.  I can’t tell you how the Board will vote but I know the opinion of our members weighs heavily on the decision. Elections And that brings us to the grand-daddy of all governance issues.  My thesis for this blog post is that the PASS Board has implemented policy changes in response to member feedback.  It isn’t to defend or criticize our election process.  It’s just to say that is has been under going continuous change since I’ve been on the Board.  I ran for the Board in the fall of 2005.  I don’t know much about what happened before then.  I was actively volunteering for PASS for four years prior to that as a chapter leader and on the program committee.  I don’t recall any complaints about elections but that doesn’t mean they didn’t occur.  The questions from the Nominating Committee (NomCom) were trivial and the selection process rudimentary (For example, “Tell us about your accomplishments”).  I don’t even remember who I ran against or how many other people ran.  I ran for the VP of Marketing in the fall of 2007.  I don’t recall any significant changes the Board made in the election process for that election.  I think a lot of the changes in 2007 came from us asking the management company to work on the election process.  I was expecting a similar set of puff ball questions from my previous election.  Boy, was I in for a shock.  The NomCom had found a much better set of questions and really made the interview portion difficult.  The questions were much more behavioral in nature.  I’d already written about my vision for PASS and my goals.  They wanted to know how I handled adversity, how I handled criticism, how I handled conflict, how I handled troublesome volunteers, how I motivated people and how I responded to motivation. And many, many other things. They grilled me for over an hour.  I’ve done a fair bit of technical sales in my time.  I feel I speak well under pressure addressing pointed questions.  This interview intentionally put me under pressure.  In addition to wanting to know about my interpersonal skills, my work experience, my volunteer experience and my supervisory experience they wanted to see how I’d do under pressure.  They wanted to see who would respond under pressure and who wouldn’t.  It was a bit of a shock. That was the first big change I remember in the election process.  I know there were other improvements around the process but none of them stick in my mind quite like the unexpected hour-long grilling. The next big change I remember was after the 2009 elections.  Andy Warren was unhappy with the election process and wanted to make some changes.  He worked with Hannes at HQ and they came up with a better set of processes.  I think Andy moved PASS in the right direction.  Nonetheless, after the 2010 election even more people were very publicly clamoring for changes to our election process.  In August of 2010 we had a choice to make.  There were numerous bloggers criticizing the Board and our upcoming election.  The easy change would be to announce that we were changing the process in a way that would satisfy our critics.  I believe that a knee-jerk response to criticism is seldom correct. Instead the Board spent August and September and October and November listening to the community.  I visited two SQLSaturdays and asked questions of everyone I could.  I attended chapter meetings and asked questions of as many people as they’d let me.  At Summit I made it a point to introduce myself to strangers and ask them about the election.  At every breakfast I’d sit down at a table full of strangers and ask about the election.  I’m happy to say that I left most tables arguing about the election.  Most days I managed to get 2 or 3 breakfasts in. I spent less time talking to people that had already written about the election.  They were already expressing their opinion.  I wanted to talk to people that hadn’t spoken up.  I wanted to know what the silent majority thought.  The Board all attended the Q&A session where our members expressed their concerns about a variety of issues including the election. The PASS Board also chose to create the Election Review Committee.  We wanted people from the community that had been involved with PASS to look at our election process with fresh eyes while listening to what the community had to say and give us some advice on how we could improve the process.  I’m a part of this as is Andy Warren.  None of the other members are on the Board.  I’ve sat in numerous calls and interviews with this group and attended an open meeting at the Summit.  We asked anyone that wanted to discuss the election to come speak with us.  The ERC held an open meeting at the Summit and invited anyone to attend.  There are forums on the ERC web site where we’ve invited people to participate.  The ERC has reached to key people involved in recent elections.  The years that I haven’t mentioned also saw minor improvements in the election process.  Off the top of my head I don’t recall what exact changes were made each year.  Specifically since the 2010 election we’ve gone out of our way to seek input from the community about the process.  I’m not sure what more we could have done to invite feedback from the community. I think to say that we haven’t “fixed” the election process isn’t a fair criticism at this time.  We haven’t rushed any changes through the process.  If you don’t see any changes in our election process in July or August then I think it’s fair to criticize us for ignoring the community or ask for an explanation for what we’ve done. In Summary Andy’s main point was that the PASS Board hasn’t changed in response to our members wishes.  I think I’ve shown that time and time again the PASS Board has changed in response to what our members want.  There are only two outstanding issues: Summit location and elections.  The 2013 Summit location hasn’t been decided yet.  Our work on the elections is also in progress.  And at every step in the election review we’ve gone out of our way to listen to the community and incorporate their feedback on the process. I also hope I’m not encouraging everyone that wants some change in the organization to organize a “blog rush” against the Board.  We take public suggestions very seriously but we also take the time to evaluate those suggestions and learn what the rest of our members think and make a measured decision.

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• CodePlex Daily Summary for Sunday, June 19, 2011

  CodePlex Daily Summary for Sunday, June 19, 2011Popular ReleasesMicrosoft All-In-One Code Framework - a centralized code sample library: All-In-One Code Framework 2011-06-19: Alternatively, you can install Sample Browser or Sample Browser VS extension, and download the code samples from Sample Browser. Improved and Newly Added Examples:For an up-to-date code sample index, please refer to All-In-One Code Framework Sample Catalog. NEW Samples for Windows Azure Sample Description Owner CSAzureStartupTask The sample demonstrates using the startup tasks to install the prerequisites or to modify configuration settings for your environment in Windows Azure Rafe Wu ...EnhSim: EnhSim 2.4.8 BETA: 2.4.8 BETAThis release supports WoW patch 4.1 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 - Fixed Lava Lash to ...Media Companion: MC 3.408b weekly: Some minor fixes..... Fixed messagebox coming up during batch scrape Added <originaltitle></originaltitle> to movie nfo's - when a new movie is scraped, the original title will be set as the returned title. The end user can of course change the title in MC, however the original title will not change. The original title can be seen by hovering over the movie title in the right pane of the main movie tab. To update all of your current nfo's to add the original title the same as your current ...NLog - Advanced .NET Logging: NLog 2.0 Release Candidate: Release notes for NLog 2.0 RC can be found at http://nlog-project.org/nlog-2-rc-release-notesGendering Add-In for Microsoft Office Word 2010: Gendering Add-In: This is the first stable Version of the Gendering Add-In. Unzip the package and start "setup.exe". The .reg file shows how to config an alternate path for suggestion table.TerrariViewer: TerrariViewer v3.1 [Terraria Inventory Editor]: This version adds tool tips. Almost every picture box you mouse over will tell you what item is in that box. I have also cleaned up the GUI a little more to make things easier on my end. There are various bug fixes including ones associated with opening different characters in the same instance of the program. As always, please bring any bugs you find to my attention.Kinect Paint: KinectPaint V1.0: This is version 1.0 of Kinect Paint. To run it, follow the steps: Install the Kinect SDK for Windows (available at http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/projects/kinectsdk/download.aspx) Connect your Kinect device to the computer and to the power. Download the Zip file. Unblock the Zip file by right clicking on it, and pressing the Unblock button in the file properties (if available). Extract the content of the Zip file. Run KinectPaint.exe.CommonLibrary.NET: CommonLibrary.NET - 0.9.7 Beta: A collection of very reusable code and components in C# 3.5 ranging from ActiveRecord, Csv, Command Line Parsing, Configuration, Holiday Calendars, Logging, Authentication, and much more. Samples in <root>\src\Lib\CommonLibrary.NET\Samples CommonLibrary.NET 0.9.7Documentation 6738 6503 New 6535 Enhancements 6583 6737DropBox Linker: DropBox Linker 1.2: Public sub-folders are now monitored for changes as well (thanks to mcm69) Automatic public sync folder detection (thanks to mcm69) Non-Latin and special characters encoded correctly in URLs Pop-ups are now slot-based (use first free slot and will never be overlapped — test it while previewing timeout) Public sync folder setting is hidden when auto-detected Timeout interval is displayed in popup previews A lot of major and minor code refactoring performed .NET Framework 4.0 Client...Terraria World Viewer: Version 1.3: Update June 15th Removed "Draw Markers" checkbox from main window because of redundancy/confusing. (Select all or no items from the Settings tab for the same effect.) Fixed Marker preferences not being saved. It is now possible to render more than one map without having to restart the application. World file will not be locked while the world is being rendered. Note: The World Viewer might render an inaccurate map or even crash if Terraria decides to modify the World file during the pro...MVC Controls Toolkit: Mvc Controls Toolkit 1.1.5 RC: Added Extended Dropdown allows a prompt item to be inserted as first element. RequiredAttribute, if present, trggers if no element is chosen Client side javascript function to set/get the values of DateTimeInput, TypedTextBox, TypedEditDisplay, and to bind/unbind a "change" handler The selected page in the pager is applied the attribute selected-page="selected" that can be used in the definition of CSS rules to style the selected page items controls now interpret a null value as an empr...Umbraco CMS: Umbraco CMS 5.0 CTP 1: Umbraco 5 Community Technology Preview Umbraco 5 will be the next version of everyone's favourite, friendly ASP.NET CMS that already powers over 100,000 websites worldwide. Try out our first CTP of version 5 today! If you're new to Umbraco and would like to get a quick low-down on our popular and easy-to-learn approach to content management, check out our intro video here. What's in the v5 CTP box? This is a preview version of version 5 and includes support for the following familiar Umbr...Coding4Fun Kinect Toolkit: Coding4Fun.Kinect Toolkit: Version 1.0Kinect Mouse Cursor: Kinect Mouse Cursor v1.0: The initial release of the Kinect Mouse Cursor project!patterns & practices: Project Silk: Project Silk Community Drop 11 - June 14, 2011: Changes from previous drop: Many code changes: please see the readme.mht for details. New "Client Data Management and Caching" chapter. Updated "Application Notifications" chapter. Updated "Architecture" chapter. Updated "jQuery UI Widget" chapter. Updated "Widget QuickStart" appendix and code. Guidance Chapters Ready for Review The Word documents for the chapters are included with the source code in addition to the CHM to help you provide feedback. The PDF is provided as a separat...Orchard Project: Orchard 1.2: Build: 1.2.41 Published: 6/14/2010 How to Install Orchard To install Orchard using Web PI, follow these instructions: http://www.orchardproject.net/docs/Installing-Orchard.ashx. Web PI will detect your hardware environment and install the application. Alternatively, to install the release manually, download the Orchard.Web.1.2.41.zip file. http://orchardproject.net/docs/Manually-installing-Orchard-zip-file.ashx The zip contents are pre-built and ready-to-run. Simply extract the contents o...Snippet Designer: Snippet Designer 1.4.0: Snippet Designer 1.4.0 for Visual Studio 2010 Change logSnippet Explorer ChangesReworked language filter UI to work better in the side bar. Added result count drop down which lets you choose how many results to see. Language filter and result count choices are persisted after Visual Studio is closed. Added file name to search criteria. Search is now case insensitive. Snippet Editor Changes Snippet Editor ChangesAdded menu option for the $end$ symbol which indicates where the c...Mobile Device Detection and Redirection: 1.0.4.1: Stable Release 51 Degrees.mobi Foundation is the best way to detect and redirect mobile devices and their capabilities on ASP.NET and is being used on thousands of websites worldwide. We’re highly confident in our software and we recommend all users update to this version. Changes to Version 1.0.4.1Changed the BlackberryHandler and BlackberryVersion6Handler to have equal CONFIDENCE values to ensure they both get a chance at detecting BlackBerry version 4&5 and version 6 devices. Prior to thi...Rawr: Rawr 4.1.06: This is the Downloadable WPF version of Rawr!For web-based version see http://elitistjerks.com/rawr.php You can find the version notes at: http://rawr.codeplex.com/wikipage?title=VersionNotes Rawr AddonWe now have a Rawr Official Addon for in-game exporting and importing of character data hosted on Curse. The Addon does not perform calculations like Rawr, it simply shows your exported Rawr data in wow tooltips and lets you export your character to Rawr (including bag and bank items) like Char...AcDown????? - Anime&Comic Downloader: AcDown????? v3.0 Beta6: ??AcDown?????????????，?????????????，????、????。?????Acfun????? ????32??64? Windows XP/Vista/7 ????????????? ??：????????Windows XP???,?????????.NET Framework 2.0???(x86)?.NET Framework 2.0???(x64)，?????"?????????"??? ??v3.0 Beta6 ?????(imanhua.com)????? ???? ?? ??"????","?????","?????","????"?????? "????"?????"????????"?? ??????????? ?????????????? ?????????????/???? ?? ????Windows 7???????????? ????????? ?? ????????????? ???????/??????????? ???????????? ?? ?? ?????(imanh...New Projects.NET Utility Library: DotNetUtility is a .Net utility project which contains extension methods of different types, utility methods for example, configuration reader to read configuration file, Generic design pattern and Parser to parse different types. The project has been divided into different sections and each of these sections contains project and related test project. This project is developed by C# in .Net Framework 4.0 and the development environment is Visual studio 2010.A Windows Phone 7 RSS Reader - DFW Unified Communications User Group News: A simple RSS Reader for Windows Phone 7. I made it for the Microsoft DFW Unified Communications User Group to have an "official" Window Phone 7 App.Agile Project Management Tool: APMT manages all the activities of Agile Software Development Process for Scrum Methodology. Highly customizable application for Software Houses who are using Scrum methodology. Core features include: Custom Fields, Customizable Workflow, Risk Assessment, Custom Search FiltersAlmondega: Como desenvolver um projeto que produza com rapidez e eficiência o que é feito pra realizar.Bitcoin C#: Bitcoin C# is a port of the native Bitcoin P2P protocol into a C# library. Bitcoin C# makes it easy for C# application developers to add bitcoin features to their applications. The goal is to make Bitcoin C# the best C# implementation of the bitcoin protocol.blog.o51k.com: blog.o51k.comCapthca in Sharepoint 2010: Modified the Captcha control of asp.net so that it can work with Sharepoint 2010.Diamond Programming Language: Diamond is a free open source programming language being developed by Grunt X Productions. It is developed in C#DyyGame: a simple gameEffectControls-Silverlight controls with animation effects: EffectControls is free open source Silverlight interface controls with animation effects. EffectControls is in the development of FreeForm (FreeForm Silverlight Form Designer) when the effect of development control. Entity Framework Validation Extension: Provides additonal properties within Entity Framework model to allow declarative validationExamenFinal: Examen finalExtJS 4 .Net Entity Framework 4: Simple to use support for Sencha's ExtJS 4 stores backed by Microsoft's Entity Framework 4.gameYetUnknown: game yet unknowniWork: iWorkjasBetaApplication: Beta place for the JAS-applicationjtfscli: jtfscli provides a command line client for TFS written in Java.Soft-Wear: Soft-Wear is designed to help people dress up, according to current weather and weather forcasts.TheBeerHouse By Libra: TheBeerHouseWP7 language resource generator: WP7ResxLocGenerator is a simple tool targeted at wp7 projects to create language resource files from a source language

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• Top 50 ASP.Net Interview Questions & Answers

  - by Samir R. Bhogayta

  1. What is ASP.Net? It is a framework developed by Microsoft on which we can develop new generation web sites using web forms(aspx), MVC, HTML, Javascript, CSS etc. Its successor of Microsoft Active Server Pages(ASP). Currently there is ASP.NET 4.0, which is used to develop web sites. There are various page extensions provided by Microsoft that are being used for web site development. Eg: aspx, asmx, ascx, ashx, cs, vb, html, xml etc. 2. What’s the use of Response.Output.Write()? We can write formatted output  using Response.Output.Write(). 3. In which event of page cycle is the ViewState available?   After the Init() and before the Page_Load(). 4. What is the difference between Server.Transfer and Response.Redirect?   In Server.Transfer page processing transfers from one page to the other page without making a round-trip back to the client’s browser.  This provides a faster response with a little less overhead on the server.  The clients url history list or current url Server does not update in case of Server.Transfer. Response.Redirect is used to redirect the user’s browser to another page or site.  It performs trip back to the client where the client’s browser is redirected to the new page.  The user’s browser history list is updated to reflect the new address. 5. From which base class all Web Forms are inherited? Page class.  6. What are the different validators in ASP.NET? Required field Validator Range  Validator Compare Validator Custom Validator Regular expression Validator Summary Validator 7. Which validator control you use if you need to make sure the values in two different controls matched? Compare Validator control. 8. What is ViewState? ViewState is used to retain the state of server-side objects between page post backs. 9. Where the viewstate is stored after the page postback? ViewState is stored in a hidden field on the page at client side.  ViewState is transported to the client and back to the server, and is not stored on the server or any other external source. 10. How long the items in ViewState exists? They exist for the life of the current page. 11. What are the different Session state management options available in ASP.NET? In-Process Out-of-Process. In-Process stores the session in memory on the web server. Out-of-Process Session state management stores data in an external server.  The external server may be either a SQL Server or a State Server.  All objects stored in session are required to be serializable for Out-of-Process state management. 12. How you can add an event handler?  Using the Attributes property of server side control. e.g. [csharp] btnSubmit.Attributes.Add(“onMouseOver”,”JavascriptCode();”) [/csharp] 13. What is caching? Caching is a technique used to increase performance by keeping frequently accessed data or files in memory. The request for a cached file/data will be accessed from cache instead of actual location of that file. 14. What are the different types of caching? ASP.NET has 3 kinds of caching : Output Caching, Fragment Caching, Data Caching. 15. Which type if caching will be used if we want to cache the portion of a page instead of whole page? Fragment Caching: It caches the portion of the page generated by the request. For that, we can create user controls with the below code: [xml] <%@ OutputCache Duration=”120? VaryByParam=”CategoryID;SelectedID”%> [/xml] 16. List the events in page life cycle.   1) Page_PreInit 2) Page_Init 3) Page_InitComplete 4) Page_PreLoad 5) Page_Load 6) Page_LoadComplete 7) Page_PreRender 8)Render 17. Can we have a web application running without web.Config file?   Yes 18. Is it possible to create web application with both webforms and mvc? Yes. We have to include below mvc assembly references in the web forms application to create hybrid application. [csharp] System.Web.Mvc System.Web.Razor System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations [/csharp] 19. Can we add code files of different languages in App_Code folder?   No. The code files must be in same language to be kept in App_code folder. 20. What is Protected Configuration? It is a feature used to secure connection string information. 21. Write code to send e-mail from an ASP.NET application? [csharp] MailMessage mailMess = new MailMessage (); mailMess.From = “[email protected]”; mailMess.To = “[email protected]”; mailMess.Subject = “Test email”; mailMess.Body = “Hi This is a test mail.”; SmtpMail.SmtpServer = “localhost”; SmtpMail.Send (mailMess); [/csharp] MailMessage and SmtpMail are classes defined System.Web.Mail namespace.  22. How can we prevent browser from caching an ASPX page?   We can SetNoStore on HttpCachePolicy object exposed by the Response object’s Cache property: [csharp] Response.Cache.SetNoStore (); Response.Write (DateTime.Now.ToLongTimeString ()); [/csharp] 23. What is the good practice to implement validations in aspx page? Client-side validation is the best way to validate data of a web page. It reduces the network traffic and saves server resources. 24. What are the event handlers that we can have in Global.asax file? Application Events: Application_Start , Application_End, Application_AcquireRequestState, Application_AuthenticateRequest, Application_AuthorizeRequest, Application_BeginRequest, Application_Disposed,  Application_EndRequest, Application_Error, Application_PostRequestHandlerExecute, Application_PreRequestHandlerExecute, Application_PreSendRequestContent, Application_PreSendRequestHeaders, Application_ReleaseRequestState, Application_ResolveRequestCache, Application_UpdateRequestCache Session Events: Session_Start,Session_End 25. Which protocol is used to call a Web service? HTTP Protocol 26. Can we have multiple web config files for an asp.net application? Yes. 27. What is the difference between web config and machine config? Web config file is specific to a web application where as machine config is specific to a machine or server. There can be multiple web config files into an application where as we can have only one machine config file on a server. 28.  Explain role based security ?   Role Based Security used to implement security based on roles assigned to user groups in the organization. Then we can allow or deny users based on their role in the organization. Windows defines several built-in groups, including Administrators, Users, and Guests. [xml] <AUTHORIZATION>< authorization > < allow roles=”Domain_Name\Administrators” / >   < !– Allow Administrators in domain. — > < deny users=”*”  / >                            < !– Deny anyone else. — > < /authorization > [/xml] 29. What is Cross Page Posting? When we click submit button on a web page, the page post the data to the same page. The technique in which we post the data to different pages is called Cross Page posting. This can be achieved by setting POSTBACKURL property of  the button that causes the postback. Findcontrol method of PreviousPage can be used to get the posted values on the page to which the page has been posted. 30. How can we apply Themes to an asp.net application? We can specify the theme in web.config file. Below is the code example to apply theme: [xml] <configuration> <system.web> <pages theme=”Windows7? /> </system.web> </configuration> [/xml] 31: What is RedirectPermanent in ASP.Net?   RedirectPermanent Performs a permanent redirection from the requested URL to the specified URL. Once the redirection is done, it also returns 301 Moved Permanently responses. 32: What is MVC? MVC is a framework used to create web applications. The web application base builds on  Model-View-Controller pattern which separates the application logic from UI, and the input and events from the user will be controlled by the Controller. 33. Explain the working of passport authentication. First of all it checks passport authentication cookie. If the cookie is not available then the application redirects the user to Passport Sign on page. Passport service authenticates the user details on sign on page and if valid then stores the authenticated cookie on client machine and then redirect the user to requested page 34. What are the advantages of Passport authentication? All the websites can be accessed using single login credentials. So no need to remember login credentials for each web site. Users can maintain his/ her information in a single location. 35. What are the asp.net Security Controls? <asp:Login>: Provides a standard login capability that allows the users to enter their credentials <asp:LoginName>: Allows you to display the name of the logged-in user <asp:LoginStatus>: Displays whether the user is authenticated or not <asp:LoginView>: Provides various login views depending on the selected template <asp:PasswordRecovery>:  email the users their lost password 36: How do you register JavaScript for webcontrols ? We can register javascript for controls using <CONTROL -name>Attribtues.Add(scriptname,scripttext) method. 37. In which event are the controls fully loaded? Page load event. 38: what is boxing and unboxing? Boxing is assigning a value type to reference type variable. Unboxing is reverse of boxing ie. Assigning reference type variable to value type variable. 39. Differentiate strong typing and weak typing In strong typing, the data types of variable are checked at compile time. On the other hand, in case of weak typing the variable data types are checked at runtime. In case of strong typing, there is no chance of compilation error. Scripts use weak typing and hence issues arises at runtime. 40. How we can force all the validation controls to run? The Page.Validate() method is used to force all the validation controls to run and to perform validation. 41. List all templates of the Repeater control. ItemTemplate AlternatingltemTemplate SeparatorTemplate HeaderTemplate FooterTemplate 42. List the major built-in objects in ASP.NET?  Application Request Response Server Session Context Trace 43. What is the appSettings Section in the web.config file? The appSettings block in web config file sets the user-defined values for the whole application. For example, in the following code snippet, the specified ConnectionString section is used throughout the project for database connection: [csharp] <em><configuration> <appSettings> <add key=”ConnectionString” value=”server=local; pwd=password; database=default” /> </appSettings></em> [/csharp] 44.      Which data type does the RangeValidator control support? The data types supported by the RangeValidator control are Integer, Double, String, Currency, and Date. 45. What is the difference between an HtmlInputCheckBox control and anHtmlInputRadioButton control? In HtmlInputCheckBoxcontrol, multiple item selection is possible whereas in HtmlInputRadioButton controls, we can select only single item from the group of items. 46. Which namespaces are necessary to create a localized application? System.Globalization System.Resources 47. What are the different types of cookies in ASP.NET? Session Cookie – Resides on the client machine for a single session until the user does not log out. Persistent Cookie – Resides on a user’s machine for a period specified for its expiry, such as 10 days, one month, and never. 48. What is the file extension of web service? Web services have file extension .asmx.. 49. What are the components of ADO.NET? The components of ADO.Net are Dataset, Data Reader, Data Adaptor, Command, connection. 50. What is the difference between ExecuteScalar and ExecuteNonQuery? ExecuteScalar returns output value where as ExecuteNonQuery does not return any value but the number of rows affected by the query. ExecuteScalar used for fetching a single value and ExecuteNonQuery used to execute Insert and Update statements.

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• CodePlex Daily Summary for Sunday, January 30, 2011

  CodePlex Daily Summary for Sunday, January 30, 2011Popular ReleasesWPF Application Framework (WAF): WPF Application Framework (WAF) 2.0.0.3: Version: 2.0.0.3 (Milestone 3): This release contains the source code of the WPF Application Framework (WAF) and the sample applications. Requirements .NET Framework 4.0 (The package contains a solution file for Visual Studio 2010) The unit test projects require Visual Studio 2010 Professional Remark The sample applications are using Microsoft’s IoC container MEF. However, the WPF Application Framework (WAF) doesn’t force you to use the same IoC container in your application. You can use ...Rawr: Rawr 4.0.17 Beta: Rawr is now web-based. The link to use Rawr4 is: http://elitistjerks.com/rawr.phpThis is the Cataclysm Beta Release. More details can be found at the following link http://rawr.codeplex.com/Thread/View.aspx?ThreadId=237262 and on the Version Notes page: http://rawr.codeplex.com/wikipage?title=VersionNotes As of the 4.0.16 release, you can now also begin using the new Downloadable WPF version of Rawr!This is a pre-alpha release of the WPF version, there are likely to be a lot of issues. If you...VivoSocial: VivoSocial 7.4.2: Version 7.4.2 of VivoSocial has been released. If you experienced any issues with the previous version, please update your modules to the 7.4.2 release and see if they persist. If you have any questions about this release, please post them in our Support forums. If you are experiencing a bug or would like to request a new feature, please submit it to our issue tracker. Web Controls * Updated Business Objects and added a new SQL Data Provider File. Groups * Fixed a security issue whe...PHP Manager for IIS: PHP Manager 1.1.1 for IIS 7: This is a minor release of PHP Manager for IIS 7. It contains all the functionality available in 56962 plus several bug fixes (see change list for more details). Also, this release includes Russian language support. SHA1 codes for the downloads are: PHPManagerForIIS-1.1.0-x86.msi - 6570B4A8AC8B5B776171C2BA0572C190F0900DE2 PHPManagerForIIS-1.1.0-x64.msi - 12EDE004EFEE57282EF11A8BAD1DC1ADFD66A654VFPX: VFP2C32 2.0.0.8 Release Candidate: This release includes several bugfixes, new functions and finally a CHM help file for the complete library.EnhSim: EnhSim 2.3.3 ALPHA: 2.3.3 ALPHAThis release supports WoW patch 4.06 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 - Added back in a p...DB>doc for Microsoft SQL Server: 1.0.0.0: Initial release Supported output HTML WikiPlex markup Raw XML Supported objects Tables Primary Keys Foreign Keys ViewsmojoPortal: 2.3.6.1: see release notes on mojoportal.com http://www.mojoportal.com/mojoportal-2361-released.aspx Note that we have separate deployment packages for .NET 3.5 and .NET 4.0 The deployment package downloads on this page are pre-compiled and ready for production deployment, they contain no C# source code. To download the source code see the Source Code Tab I recommend getting the latest source code using TortoiseHG, you can get the source code corresponding to this release here.Office Web.UI: Alpha preview: This is the first alpha release. Very exciting moment... This download is just the demo application : "Contoso backoffice Web App". No source included for the moment, just the app, for testing purposes and for feedbacks !! This package includes a set of official MS Office icons (143 png 16x16 and 132 png 32x32) to really make a great app ! Please rate and give feedback ThanksParallel Programming with Microsoft Visual C++: Drop 6 - Chapters 4 and 5: This is Drop 6. It includes: Drafts of the Preface, Introduction, Chapters 2-7, Appendix B & C and the glossary Sample code for chapters 2-7 and Appendix A & B. The new material we'd like feedback on is: Chapter 4 - Parallel Aggregation Chapter 5 - Futures The source code requires Visual Studio 2010 in order to run. There is a known bug in the A-Dash sample when the user attempts to cancel a parallel calculation. We are working to fix this.Catel - WPF and Silverlight MVVM library: 1.1: (+) Styles can now be changed dynamically, see Examples application for a how-to (+) ViewModelBase class now have a constructor that allows services injection (+) ViewModelBase services can now be configured by IoC (via Microsoft.Unity) (+) All ViewModelBase services now have a unit test implementation (+) Added IProcessService to run processes from a viewmodel with directly using the process class (which makes it easier to unit test view models) (*) If the HasErrors property of DataObjec...NodeXL: Network Overview, Discovery and Exploration for Excel: NodeXL Excel Template, version 1.0.1.160: The NodeXL Excel template displays a network graph using edge and vertex lists stored in an Excel 2007 or Excel 2010 workbook. What's NewThis release improves NodeXL's Twitter and Pajek features. See the Complete NodeXL Release History for details. Installation StepsFollow these steps to install and use the template: Download the Zip file. Unzip it into any folder. Use WinZip or a similar program, or just right-click the Zip file in Windows Explorer and select "Extract All." Close Ex...Kooboo CMS: Kooboo CMS 3.0 CTP: Files in this downloadkooboo_CMS.zip: The kooboo application files Content_DBProvider.zip: Additional content database implementation of MSSQL, RavenDB and SQLCE. Default is XML based database. To use them, copy the related dlls into web root bin folder and remove old content provider dlls. Content provider has the name like "Kooboo.CMS.Content.Persistence.SQLServer.dll" View_Engines.zip: Supports of Razor, webform and NVelocity view engine. Copy the dlls into web root bin folder to enable...UOB & ME: UOB ME 2.6: UOB ME 2.6????: ???? V1.0: ???? V1.0 ??Password Generator: 2.2: Parallel password generation Password strength calculation ( Same method used by Microsoft here : https://www.microsoft.com/protect/fraud/passwords/checker.aspx ) Minor code refactoringVisual Studio 2010 Architecture Tooling Guidance: Spanish - Architecture Guidance: Francisco Fagas http://geeks.ms/blogs/ffagas, Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP), localized the Visual Studio 2010 Quick Reference Guidance for the Spanish communities, based on http://vsarchitectureguide.codeplex.com/releases/view/47828. Release Notes The guidance is available in a xps-only (default) or complete package. The complete package contains the files in xps, pdf and Office 2007 formats. 2011-01-24 Publish version 1.0 of the Spanish localized bits.ASP.NET MVC Project Awesome, jQuery Ajax helpers (controls): 1.6.2: A rich set of 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 the html generation has been optimized, the html page size is much smaller nowFacebook Graph Toolkit: Facebook Graph Toolkit 0.6: new Facebook Graph objects: Application, Page, Post, Comment Improved Intellisense documentation new Graph Api connections: albums, photos, posts, feed, home, friends JSON Toolkit upgraded to version 0.9 (beta release) with bug fixes and new features bug fixed: error when handling empty JSON arrays bug fixed: error when handling JSON array with square or large brackets in the message bug fixed: error when handling JSON obejcts with double quotation in the message bug fixed: erro...Microsoft All-In-One Code Framework: Visual Studio 2008 Code Samples 2011-01-23: Code samples for Visual Studio 2008New ProjectsAnaida - WebSocket Client/Adapter: Anaida is a WebSocket Client Library/Adapter. With 3 versions for Java, Silverlight and C#CutPasteAssign: Visual Studio extension to assist in the common refactoring of assigning parameters to local variables.Drori Photos: Photos of Drori the photographerD-Solution: App de D-SolutionEnigma Home Inventory: Most consumers do not have an itemized list of proof of ownership. Enigma Home Inventory may take the hassle out of arguing with the insurance companies. This project is aimed to be for a simple inventory program for end users who are not computer savvy.FastKnow: is a CMS & wikiFileSignatures: FileSignatures aims to create a class library that can identify the file format based on file contents. The project is written in C# 3.0, and can be used in .NET 3.5 and 4.0 projects.Genrsis: The aim of the Genrsis project is to be a suite of products that you can use to build things, starting with a workflow-based project management tool. Built in C#, it should be a one-stop place to get well-integrated products to get you up and running.MVC Demos: MVC 2 and MVC 3 examples with ajax and json.MVC Templates for DevExpress: Scaffolding templates for use in ASP.NET MVC 2 with DevExpress MVC Extensions for ASP.NET MVCPixel Replacer: The Pixel Replacer is a simple library for replacing pixel colors with a new color, by setting a filter rule.ReviewPal - The Code Review Companion for .Net.: ReviewPal, the Code Review Companion for .Net. This is an Add-In / Extension for Visual Studio 2008 & Visual Studio 2010. The aim of the Add-In / Extension is to do a source code review within the Visual Studio IDE where code makes more sense and most readable.SMVector3: Vector3 class implemented as float array or with SIMD instructions with the same interface so it is transparant whether you decide to use one version or another. You can also chance version during the life cycle of the projects.uRibbon - Office 2007 Ribbon control for VB.NET: Office 2007 ribbon control, with Orb and graphic transitions. After searching for many day looking for an Office 2007-like ribbon bar, I finally gave up and decided to write my own. It's in decent shape as-is. But anyone interested in helping me to continue the devlopment??vtcheck: This will read a target binary and check to see if it is detected by VirusTotal.Web Scheduled Task Framework: A simple set of classes intended to allow the standalone scheduling of tasks (arbitrary code to execute) on a .net website without requiring access to the operating system.WP7 codeproject app: A Windows Phone 7 app for browsing codeproject.com.zhongjh: ?????????，???????。???????????: ???????????

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• Using Durandal to Create Single Page Apps

  - by Stephen.Walther

  A few days ago, I gave a talk on building Single Page Apps on the Microsoft Stack. In that talk, I recommended that people use Knockout, Sammy, and RequireJS to build their presentation layer and use the ASP.NET Web API to expose data from their server. After I gave the talk, several people contacted me and suggested that I investigate a new open-source JavaScript library named Durandal. Durandal stitches together Knockout, Sammy, and RequireJS to make it easier to use these technologies together. In this blog entry, I want to provide a brief walkthrough of using Durandal to create a simple Single Page App. I am going to demonstrate how you can create a simple Movies App which contains (virtual) pages for viewing a list of movies, adding new movies, and viewing movie details. The goal of this blog entry is to give you a sense of what it is like to build apps with Durandal. Installing Durandal First things first. How do you get Durandal? The GitHub project for Durandal is located here: https://github.com/BlueSpire/Durandal The Wiki — located at the GitHub project — contains all of the current documentation for Durandal. Currently, the documentation is a little sparse, but it is enough to get you started. Instead of downloading the Durandal source from GitHub, a better option for getting started with Durandal is to install one of the Durandal NuGet packages. I built the Movies App described in this blog entry by first creating a new ASP.NET MVC 4 Web Application with the Basic Template. Next, I executed the following command from the Package Manager Console: Install-Package Durandal.StarterKit As you can see from the screenshot of the Package Manager Console above, the Durandal Starter Kit package has several dependencies including: · jQuery · Knockout · Sammy · Twitter Bootstrap The Durandal Starter Kit package includes a sample Durandal application. You can get to the Starter Kit app by navigating to the Durandal controller. Unfortunately, when I first tried to run the Starter Kit app, I got an error because the Starter Kit is hard-coded to use a particular version of jQuery which is already out of date. You can fix this issue by modifying the App_Start\DurandalBundleConfig.cs file so it is jQuery version agnostic like this: bundles.Add( new ScriptBundle("~/scripts/vendor") .Include("~/Scripts/jquery-{version}.js") .Include("~/Scripts/knockout-{version}.js") .Include("~/Scripts/sammy-{version}.js") // .Include("~/Scripts/jquery-1.9.0.min.js") // .Include("~/Scripts/knockout-2.2.1.js") // .Include("~/Scripts/sammy-0.7.4.min.js") .Include("~/Scripts/bootstrap.min.js") ); The recommendation is that you create a Durandal app in a folder off your project root named App. The App folder in the Starter Kit contains the following subfolders and files: · durandal – This folder contains the actual durandal JavaScript library. · viewmodels – This folder contains all of your application’s view models. · views – This folder contains all of your application’s views. · main.js — This file contains all of the JavaScript startup code for your app including the client-side routing configuration. · main-built.js – This file contains an optimized version of your application. You need to build this file by using the RequireJS optimizer (unfortunately, before you can run the optimizer, you must first install NodeJS). For the purpose of this blog entry, I wanted to start from scratch when building the Movies app, so I deleted all of these files and folders except for the durandal folder which contains the durandal library. Creating the ASP.NET MVC Controller and View A Durandal app is built using a single server-side ASP.NET MVC controller and ASP.NET MVC view. A Durandal app is a Single Page App. When you navigate between pages, you are not navigating to new pages on the server. Instead, you are loading new virtual pages into the one-and-only-one server-side view. For the Movies app, I created the following ASP.NET MVC Home controller: public class HomeController : Controller { public ActionResult Index() { return View(); } } There is nothing special about the Home controller – it is as basic as it gets. Next, I created the following server-side ASP.NET view. This is the one-and-only server-side view used by the Movies app: @{ Layout = null; } <!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <title>Index</title> </head> <body> <div id="applicationHost"> Loading app.... </div> @Scripts.Render("~/scripts/vendor") <script type="text/javascript" src="~/App/durandal/amd/require.js" data-main="/App/main"></script> </body> </html> Notice that I set the Layout property for the view to the value null. If you neglect to do this, then the default ASP.NET MVC layout will be applied to the view and you will get the <!DOCTYPE> and opening and closing <html> tags twice. Next, notice that the view contains a DIV element with the Id applicationHost. This marks the area where virtual pages are loaded. When you navigate from page to page in a Durandal app, HTML page fragments are retrieved from the server and stuck in the applicationHost DIV element. Inside the applicationHost element, you can place any content which you want to display when a Durandal app is starting up. For example, you can create a fancy splash screen. I opted for simply displaying the text “Loading app…”: Next, notice the view above includes a call to the Scripts.Render() helper. This helper renders out all of the JavaScript files required by the Durandal library such as jQuery and Knockout. Remember to fix the App_Start\DurandalBundleConfig.cs as described above or Durandal will attempt to load an old version of jQuery and throw a JavaScript exception and stop working. Your application JavaScript code is not included in the scripts rendered by the Scripts.Render helper. Your application code is loaded dynamically by RequireJS with the help of the following SCRIPT element located at the bottom of the view: <script type="text/javascript" src="~/App/durandal/amd/require.js" data-main="/App/main"></script> The data-main attribute on the SCRIPT element causes RequireJS to load your /app/main.js JavaScript file to kick-off your Durandal app. Creating the Durandal Main.js File The Durandal Main.js JavaScript file, located in your App folder, contains all of the code required to configure the behavior of Durandal. Here’s what the Main.js file looks like in the case of the Movies app: require.config({ paths: { 'text': 'durandal/amd/text' } }); define(function (require) { var app = require('durandal/app'), viewLocator = require('durandal/viewLocator'), system = require('durandal/system'), router = require('durandal/plugins/router'); //>>excludeStart("build", true); system.debug(true); //>>excludeEnd("build"); app.start().then(function () { //Replace 'viewmodels' in the moduleId with 'views' to locate the view. //Look for partial views in a 'views' folder in the root. viewLocator.useConvention(); //configure routing router.useConvention(); router.mapNav("movies/show"); router.mapNav("movies/add"); router.mapNav("movies/details/:id"); app.adaptToDevice(); //Show the app by setting the root view model for our application with a transition. app.setRoot('viewmodels/shell', 'entrance'); }); }); There are three important things to notice about the main.js file above. First, notice that it contains a section which enables debugging which looks like this: //>>excludeStart(“build”, true); system.debug(true); //>>excludeEnd(“build”); This code enables debugging for your Durandal app which is very useful when things go wrong. When you call system.debug(true), Durandal writes out debugging information to your browser JavaScript console. For example, you can use the debugging information to diagnose issues with your client-side routes: (The funny looking //> symbols around the system.debug() call are RequireJS optimizer pragmas). The main.js file is also the place where you configure your client-side routes. In the case of the Movies app, the main.js file is used to configure routes for three page: the movies show, add, and details pages. //configure routing router.useConvention(); router.mapNav("movies/show"); router.mapNav("movies/add"); router.mapNav("movies/details/:id");   The route for movie details includes a route parameter named id. Later, we will use the id parameter to lookup and display the details for the right movie. Finally, the main.js file above contains the following line of code: //Show the app by setting the root view model for our application with a transition. app.setRoot('viewmodels/shell', 'entrance'); This line of code causes Durandal to load up a JavaScript file named shell.js and an HTML fragment named shell.html. I’ll discuss the shell in the next section. Creating the Durandal Shell You can think of the Durandal shell as the layout or master page for a Durandal app. The shell is where you put all of the content which you want to remain constant as a user navigates from virtual page to virtual page. For example, the shell is a great place to put your website logo and navigation links. The Durandal shell is composed from two parts: a JavaScript file and an HTML file. Here’s what the HTML file looks like for the Movies app: <h1>Movies App</h1> <div class="container-fluid page-host"> <!--ko compose: { model: router.activeItem, //wiring the router afterCompose: router.afterCompose, //wiring the router transition:'entrance', //use the 'entrance' transition when switching views cacheViews:true //telling composition to keep views in the dom, and reuse them (only a good idea with singleton view models) }--><!--/ko--> </div> And here is what the JavaScript file looks like: define(function (require) { var router = require('durandal/plugins/router'); return { router: router, activate: function () { return router.activate('movies/show'); } }; }); The JavaScript file contains the view model for the shell. This view model returns the Durandal router so you can access the list of configured routes from your shell. Notice that the JavaScript file includes a function named activate(). This function loads the movies/show page as the first page in the Movies app. If you want to create a different default Durandal page, then pass the name of a different age to the router.activate() method. Creating the Movies Show Page Durandal pages are created out of a view model and a view. The view model contains all of the data and view logic required for the view. The view contains all of the HTML markup for rendering the view model. Let’s start with the movies show page. The movies show page displays a list of movies. The view model for the show page looks like this: define(function (require) { var moviesRepository = require("repositories/moviesRepository"); return { movies: ko.observable(), activate: function() { this.movies(moviesRepository.listMovies()); } }; }); You create a view model by defining a new RequireJS module (see http://requirejs.org). You create a RequireJS module by placing all of your JavaScript code into an anonymous function passed to the RequireJS define() method. A RequireJS module has two parts. You retrieve all of the modules which your module requires at the top of your module. The code above depends on another RequireJS module named repositories/moviesRepository. Next, you return the implementation of your module. The code above returns a JavaScript object which contains a property named movies and a method named activate. The activate() method is a magic method which Durandal calls whenever it activates your view model. Your view model is activated whenever you navigate to a page which uses it. In the code above, the activate() method is used to get the list of movies from the movies repository and assign the list to the view model movies property. The HTML for the movies show page looks like this: <table> <thead> <tr> <th>Title</th><th>Director</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody data-bind="foreach:movies"> <tr> <td data-bind="text:title"></td> <td data-bind="text:director"></td> <td><a data-bind="attr:{href:'#/movies/details/'+id}">Details</a></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <a href="#/movies/add">Add Movie</a> Notice that this is an HTML fragment. This fragment will be stuffed into the page-host DIV element in the shell.html file which is stuffed, in turn, into the applicationHost DIV element in the server-side MVC view. The HTML markup above contains data-bind attributes used by Knockout to display the list of movies (To learn more about Knockout, visit http://knockoutjs.com). The list of movies from the view model is displayed in an HTML table. Notice that the page includes a link to a page for adding a new movie. The link uses the following URL which starts with a hash: #/movies/add. Because the link starts with a hash, clicking the link does not cause a request back to the server. Instead, you navigate to the movies/add page virtually. Creating the Movies Add Page The movies add page also consists of a view model and view. The add page enables you to add a new movie to the movie database. Here’s the view model for the add page: define(function (require) { var app = require('durandal/app'); var router = require('durandal/plugins/router'); var moviesRepository = require("repositories/moviesRepository"); return { movieToAdd: { title: ko.observable(), director: ko.observable() }, activate: function () { this.movieToAdd.title(""); this.movieToAdd.director(""); this._movieAdded = false; }, canDeactivate: function () { if (this._movieAdded == false) { return app.showMessage('Are you sure you want to leave this page?', 'Navigate', ['Yes', 'No']); } else { return true; } }, addMovie: function () { // Add movie to db moviesRepository.addMovie(ko.toJS(this.movieToAdd)); // flag new movie this._movieAdded = true; // return to list of movies router.navigateTo("#/movies/show"); } }; }); The view model contains one property named movieToAdd which is bound to the add movie form. The view model also has the following three methods: 1. activate() – This method is called by Durandal when you navigate to the add movie page. The activate() method resets the add movie form by clearing out the movie title and director properties. 2. canDeactivate() – This method is called by Durandal when you attempt to navigate away from the add movie page. If you return false then navigation is cancelled. 3. addMovie() – This method executes when the add movie form is submitted. This code adds the new movie to the movie repository. I really like the Durandal canDeactivate() method. In the code above, I use the canDeactivate() method to show a warning to a user if they navigate away from the add movie page – either by clicking the Cancel button or by hitting the browser back button – before submitting the add movie form: The view for the add movie page looks like this: <form data-bind="submit:addMovie"> <fieldset> <legend>Add Movie</legend> <div> <label> Title: <input data-bind="value:movieToAdd.title" required /> </label> </div> <div> <label> Director: <input data-bind="value:movieToAdd.director" required /> </label> </div> <div> <input type="submit" value="Add" /> <a href="#/movies/show">Cancel</a> </div> </fieldset> </form> I am using Knockout to bind the movieToAdd property from the view model to the INPUT elements of the HTML form. Notice that the FORM element includes a data-bind attribute which invokes the addMovie() method from the view model when the HTML form is submitted. Creating the Movies Details Page You navigate to the movies details Page by clicking the Details link which appears next to each movie in the movies show page: The Details links pass the movie ids to the details page: #/movies/details/0 #/movies/details/1 #/movies/details/2 Here’s what the view model for the movies details page looks like: define(function (require) { var router = require('durandal/plugins/router'); var moviesRepository = require("repositories/moviesRepository"); return { movieToShow: { title: ko.observable(), director: ko.observable() }, activate: function (context) { // Grab movie from repository var movie = moviesRepository.getMovie(context.id); // Add to view model this.movieToShow.title(movie.title); this.movieToShow.director(movie.director); } }; }); Notice that the view model activate() method accepts a parameter named context. You can take advantage of the context parameter to retrieve route parameters such as the movie Id. In the code above, the context.id property is used to retrieve the correct movie from the movie repository and the movie is assigned to a property named movieToShow exposed by the view model. The movie details view displays the movieToShow property by taking advantage of Knockout bindings: <div> <h2 data-bind="text:movieToShow.title"></h2> directed by <span data-bind="text:movieToShow.director"></span> </div> Summary The goal of this blog entry was to walkthrough building a simple Single Page App using Durandal and to get a feel for what it is like to use this library. I really like how Durandal stitches together Knockout, Sammy, and RequireJS and establishes patterns for using these libraries to build Single Page Apps. Having a standard pattern which developers on a team can use to build new pages is super valuable. Once you get the hang of it, using Durandal to create new virtual pages is dead simple. Just define a new route, view model, and view and you are done. I also appreciate the fact that Durandal did not attempt to re-invent the wheel and that Durandal leverages existing JavaScript libraries such as Knockout, RequireJS, and Sammy. These existing libraries are powerful libraries and I have already invested a considerable amount of time in learning how to use them. Durandal makes it easier to use these libraries together without losing any of their power. Durandal has some additional interesting features which I have not had a chance to play with yet. For example, you can use the RequireJS optimizer to combine and minify all of a Durandal app’s code. Also, Durandal supports a way to create custom widgets (client-side controls) by composing widgets from a controller and view. You can download the code for the Movies app by clicking the following link (this is a Visual Studio 2012 project): Durandal Movie App

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• Scrum in 5 Minutes

  - by Stephen.Walther

  The goal of this blog entry is to explain the basic concepts of Scrum in less than five minutes. You learn how Scrum can help a team of developers to successfully complete a complex software project. Product Backlog and the Product Owner Imagine that you are part of a team which needs to create a new website – for example, an e-commerce website. You have an overwhelming amount of work to do. You need to build (or possibly buy) a shopping cart, install an SSL certificate, create a product catalog, create a Facebook page, and at least a hundred other things that you have not thought of yet. According to Scrum, the first thing you should do is create a list. Place the highest priority items at the top of the list and the lower priority items lower in the list. For example, creating the shopping cart and buying the domain name might be high priority items and creating a Facebook page might be a lower priority item. In Scrum, this list is called the Product Backlog. How do you prioritize the items in the Product Backlog? Different stakeholders in the project might have different priorities. Gary, your division VP, thinks that it is crucial that the e-commerce site has a mobile app. Sally, your direct manager, thinks taking advantage of new HTML5 features is much more important. Multiple people are pulling you in different directions. According to Scrum, it is important that you always designate one person, and only one person, as the Product Owner. The Product Owner is the person who decides what items should be added to the Product Backlog and the priority of the items in the Product Backlog. The Product Owner could be the customer who is paying the bills, the project manager who is responsible for delivering the project, or a customer representative. The critical point is that the Product Owner must always be a single person and that single person has absolute authority over the Product Backlog. Sprints and the Sprint Backlog So now the developer team has a prioritized list of items and they can start work. The team starts implementing the first item in the Backlog — the shopping cart — and the team is making good progress. Unfortunately, however, half-way through the work of implementing the shopping cart, the Product Owner changes his mind. The Product Owner decides that it is much more important to create the product catalog before the shopping cart. With some frustration, the team switches their developmental efforts to focus on implementing the product catalog. However, part way through completing this work, once again the Product Owner changes his mind about the highest priority item. Getting work done when priorities are constantly shifting is frustrating for the developer team and it results in lower productivity. At the same time, however, the Product Owner needs to have absolute authority over the priority of the items which need to get done. Scrum solves this conflict with the concept of Sprints. In Scrum, a developer team works in Sprints. At the beginning of a Sprint the developers and the Product Owner agree on the items from the backlog which they will complete during the Sprint. This subset of items from the Product Backlog becomes the Sprint Backlog. During the Sprint, the Product Owner is not allowed to change the items in the Sprint Backlog. In other words, the Product Owner cannot shift priorities on the developer team during the Sprint. Different teams use Sprints of different lengths such as one month Sprints, two-week Sprints, and one week Sprints. For high-stress, time critical projects, teams typically choose shorter sprints such as one week sprints. For more mature projects, longer one month sprints might be more appropriate. A team can pick whatever Sprint length makes sense for them just as long as the team is consistent. You should pick a Sprint length and stick with it. Daily Scrum During a Sprint, the developer team needs to have meetings to coordinate their work on completing the items in the Sprint Backlog. For example, the team needs to discuss who is working on what and whether any blocking issues have been discovered. Developers hate meetings (well, sane developers hate meetings). Meetings take developers away from their work of actually implementing stuff as opposed to talking about implementing stuff. However, a developer team which never has meetings and never coordinates their work also has problems. For example, Fred might get stuck on a programming problem for days and never reach out for help even though Tom (who sits in the cubicle next to him) has already solved the very same problem. Or, both Ted and Fred might have started working on the same item from the Sprint Backlog at the same time. In Scrum, these conflicting needs – limiting meetings but enabling team coordination – are resolved with the idea of the Daily Scrum. The Daily Scrum is a meeting for coordinating the work of the developer team which happens once a day. To keep the meeting short, each developer answers only the following three questions: 1. What have you done since yesterday? 2. What do you plan to do today? 3. Any impediments in your way? During the Daily Scrum, developers are not allowed to talk about issues with their cat, do demos of their latest work, or tell heroic stories of programming problems overcome. The meeting must be kept short — typically about 15 minutes. Issues which come up during the Daily Scrum should be discussed in separate meetings which do not involve the whole developer team. Stories and Tasks Items in the Product or Sprint Backlog – such as building a shopping cart or creating a Facebook page – are often referred to as User Stories or Stories. The Stories are created by the Product Owner and should represent some business need. Unlike the Product Owner, the developer team needs to think about how a Story should be implemented. At the beginning of a Sprint, the developer team takes the Stories from the Sprint Backlog and breaks the stories into tasks. For example, the developer team might take the Create a Shopping Cart story and break it into the following tasks: · Enable users to add and remote items from shopping cart · Persist the shopping cart to database between visits · Redirect user to checkout page when Checkout button is clicked During the Daily Scrum, members of the developer team volunteer to complete the tasks required to implement the next Story in the Sprint Backlog. When a developer talks about what he did yesterday or plans to do tomorrow then the developer should be referring to a task. Stories are owned by the Product Owner and a story is all about business value. In contrast, the tasks are owned by the developer team and a task is all about implementation details. A story might take several days or weeks to complete. A task is something which a developer can complete in less than a day. Some teams get lazy about breaking stories into tasks. Neglecting to break stories into tasks can lead to “Never Ending Stories” If you don’t break a story into tasks, then you can’t know how much of a story has actually been completed because you don’t have a clear idea about the implementation steps required to complete the story. Scrumboard During the Daily Scrum, the developer team uses a Scrumboard to coordinate their work. A Scrumboard contains a list of the stories for the current Sprint, the tasks associated with each Story, and the state of each task. The developer team uses the Scrumboard so everyone on the team can see, at a glance, what everyone is working on. As a developer works on a task, the task moves from state to state and the state of the task is updated on the Scrumboard. Common task states are ToDo, In Progress, and Done. Some teams include additional task states such as Needs Review or Needs Testing. Some teams use a physical Scrumboard. In that case, you use index cards to represent the stories and the tasks and you tack the index cards onto a physical board. Using a physical Scrumboard has several disadvantages. A physical Scrumboard does not work well with a distributed team – for example, it is hard to share the same physical Scrumboard between Boston and Seattle. Also, generating reports from a physical Scrumboard is more difficult than generating reports from an online Scrumboard. Estimating Stories and Tasks Stakeholders in a project, the people investing in a project, need to have an idea of how a project is progressing and when the project will be completed. For example, if you are investing in creating an e-commerce site, you need to know when the site can be launched. It is not enough to just say that “the project will be done when it is done” because the stakeholders almost certainly have a limited budget to devote to the project. The people investing in the project cannot determine the business value of the project unless they can have an estimate of how long it will take to complete the project. Developers hate to give estimates. The reason that developers hate to give estimates is that the estimates are almost always completely made up. For example, you really don’t know how long it takes to build a shopping cart until you finish building a shopping cart, and at that point, the estimate is no longer useful. The problem is that writing code is much more like Finding a Cure for Cancer than Building a Brick Wall. Building a brick wall is very straightforward. After you learn how to add one brick to a wall, you understand everything that is involved in adding a brick to a wall. There is no additional research required and no surprises. If, on the other hand, I assembled a team of scientists and asked them to find a cure for cancer, and estimate exactly how long it will take, they would have no idea. The problem is that there are too many unknowns. I don’t know how to cure cancer, I need to do a lot of research here, so I cannot even begin to estimate how long it will take. So developers hate to provide estimates, but the Product Owner and other product stakeholders, have a legitimate need for estimates. Scrum resolves this conflict by using the idea of Story Points. Different teams use different units to represent Story Points. For example, some teams use shirt sizes such as Small, Medium, Large, and X-Large. Some teams prefer to use Coffee Cup sizes such as Tall, Short, and Grande. Finally, some teams like to use numbers from the Fibonacci series. These alternative units are converted into a Story Point value. Regardless of the type of unit which you use to represent Story Points, the goal is the same. Instead of attempting to estimate a Story in hours (which is doomed to failure), you use a much less fine-grained measure of work. A developer team is much more likely to be able to estimate that a Story is Small or X-Large than the exact number of hours required to complete the story. So you can think of Story Points as a compromise between the needs of the Product Owner and the developer team. When a Sprint starts, the developer team devotes more time to thinking about the Stories in a Sprint and the developer team breaks the Stories into Tasks. In Scrum, you estimate the work required to complete a Story by using Story Points and you estimate the work required to complete a task by using hours. The difference between Stories and Tasks is that you don’t create a task until you are just about ready to start working on a task. A task is something that you should be able to create within a day, so you have a much better chance of providing an accurate estimate of the work required to complete a task than a story. Burndown Charts In Scrum, you use Burndown charts to represent the remaining work on a project. You use Release Burndown charts to represent the overall remaining work for a project and you use Sprint Burndown charts to represent the overall remaining work for a particular Sprint. You create a Release Burndown chart by calculating the remaining number of uncompleted Story Points for the entire Product Backlog every day. The vertical axis represents Story Points and the horizontal axis represents time. A Sprint Burndown chart is similar to a Release Burndown chart, but it focuses on the remaining work for a particular Sprint. There are two different types of Sprint Burndown charts. You can either represent the remaining work in a Sprint with Story Points or with task hours (the following image, taken from Wikipedia, uses hours). When each Product Backlog Story is completed, the Release Burndown chart slopes down. When each Story or task is completed, the Sprint Burndown chart slopes down. Burndown charts typically do not always slope down over time. As new work is added to the Product Backlog, the Release Burndown chart slopes up. If new tasks are discovered during a Sprint, the Sprint Burndown chart will also slope up. The purpose of a Burndown chart is to give you a way to track team progress over time. If, halfway through a Sprint, the Sprint Burndown chart is still climbing a hill then you know that you are in trouble. Team Velocity Stakeholders in a project always want more work done faster. For example, the Product Owner for the e-commerce site wants the website to launch before tomorrow. Developers tend to be overly optimistic. Rarely do developers acknowledge the physical limitations of reality. So Project stakeholders and the developer team often collude to delude themselves about how much work can be done and how quickly. Too many software projects begin in a state of optimism and end in frustration as deadlines zoom by. In Scrum, this problem is overcome by calculating a number called the Team Velocity. The Team Velocity is a measure of the average number of Story Points which a team has completed in previous Sprints. Knowing the Team Velocity is important during the Sprint Planning meeting when the Product Owner and the developer team work together to determine the number of stories which can be completed in the next Sprint. If you know the Team Velocity then you can avoid committing to do more work than the team has been able to accomplish in the past, and your team is much more likely to complete all of the work required for the next Sprint. Scrum Master There are three roles in Scrum: the Product Owner, the developer team, and the Scrum Master. I’v e already discussed the Product Owner. The Product Owner is the one and only person who maintains the Product Backlog and prioritizes the stories. I’ve also described the role of the developer team. The members of the developer team do the work of implementing the stories by breaking the stories into tasks. The final role, which I have not discussed, is the role of the Scrum Master. The Scrum Master is responsible for ensuring that the team is following the Scrum process. For example, the Scrum Master is responsible for making sure that there is a Daily Scrum meeting and that everyone answers the standard three questions. The Scrum Master is also responsible for removing (non-technical) impediments which the team might encounter. For example, if the team cannot start work until everyone installs the latest version of Microsoft Visual Studio then the Scrum Master has the responsibility of working with management to get the latest version of Visual Studio as quickly as possible. The Scrum Master can be a member of the developer team. Furthermore, different people can take on the role of the Scrum Master over time. The Scrum Master, however, cannot be the same person as the Product Owner. Using SonicAgile SonicAgile (SonicAgile.com) is an online tool which you can use to manage your projects using Scrum. You can use the SonicAgile Product Backlog to create a prioritized list of stories. You can estimate the size of the Stories using different Story Point units such as Shirt Sizes and Coffee Cup sizes. You can use SonicAgile during the Sprint Planning meeting to select the Stories that you want to complete during a particular Sprint. You can configure Sprints to be any length of time. SonicAgile calculates Team Velocity automatically and displays a warning when you add too many stories to a Sprint. In other words, it warns you when it thinks you are overcommitting in a Sprint. SonicAgile also includes a Scrumboard which displays the list of Stories selected for a Sprint and the tasks associated with each story. You can drag tasks from one task state to another. Finally, SonicAgile enables you to generate Release Burndown and Sprint Burndown charts. You can use these charts to view the progress of your team. To learn more about SonicAgile, visit SonicAgile.com. Summary In this post, I described many of the basic concepts of Scrum. You learned how a Product Owner uses a Product Backlog to create a prioritized list of tasks. I explained why work is completed in Sprints so the developer team can be more productive. I also explained how a developer team uses the daily scrum to coordinate their work. You learned how the developer team uses a Scrumboard to see, at a glance, who is working on what and the state of each task. I also discussed Burndown charts. You learned how you can use both Release and Sprint Burndown charts to track team progress in completing a project. Finally, I described the crucial role of the Scrum Master – the person who is responsible for ensuring that the rules of Scrum are being followed. My goal was not to describe all of the concepts of Scrum. This post was intended to be an introductory overview. For a comprehensive explanation of Scrum, I recommend reading Ken Schwaber’s book Agile Project Management with Scrum: http://www.amazon.com/Agile-Project-Management-Microsoft-Professional/dp/073561993X/ref=la_B001H6ODMC_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1345224000&sr=1-1

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• Basic Spatial Data with SQL Server and Entity Framework 5.0

  - by Rick Strahl

  In my most recent project we needed to do a bit of geo-spatial referencing. While spatial features have been in SQL Server for a while using those features inside of .NET applications hasn't been as straight forward as could be, because .NET natively doesn't support spatial types. There are workarounds for this with a few custom project like SharpMap or a hack using the Sql Server specific Geo types found in the Microsoft.SqlTypes assembly that ships with SQL server. While these approaches work for manipulating spatial data from .NET code, they didn't work with database access if you're using Entity Framework. Other ORM vendors have been rolling their own versions of spatial integration. In Entity Framework 5.0 running on .NET 4.5 the Microsoft ORM finally adds support for spatial types as well. In this post I'll describe basic geography features that deal with single location and distance calculations which is probably the most common usage scenario. SQL Server Transact-SQL Syntax for Spatial Data Before we look at how things work with Entity framework, lets take a look at how SQL Server allows you to use spatial data to get an understanding of the underlying semantics. The following SQL examples should work with SQL 2008 and forward. Let's start by creating a test table that includes a Geography field and also a pair of Long/Lat fields that demonstrate how you can work with the geography functions even if you don't have geography/geometry fields in the database. Here's the CREATE command:CREATE TABLE [dbo].[Geo]( [id] [int] IDENTITY(1,1) NOT NULL, [Location] [geography] NULL, [Long] [float] NOT NULL, [Lat] [float] NOT NULL ) Now using plain SQL you can insert data into the table using geography::STGeoFromText SQL CLR function:insert into Geo( Location , long, lat ) values ( geography::STGeomFromText ('POINT(-121.527200 45.712113)', 4326), -121.527200, 45.712113 ) insert into Geo( Location , long, lat ) values ( geography::STGeomFromText ('POINT(-121.517265 45.714240)', 4326), -121.517265, 45.714240 ) insert into Geo( Location , long, lat ) values ( geography::STGeomFromText ('POINT(-121.511536 45.714825)', 4326), -121.511536, 45.714825) The STGeomFromText function accepts a string that points to a geometric item (a point here but can also be a line or path or polygon and many others). You also need to provide an SRID (Spatial Reference System Identifier) which is an integer value that determines the rules for how geography/geometry values are calculated and returned. For mapping/distance functionality you typically want to use 4326 as this is the format used by most mapping software and geo-location libraries like Google and Bing. The spatial data in the Location field is stored in binary format which looks something like this: Once the location data is in the database you can query the data and do simple distance computations very easily. For example to calculate the distance of each of the values in the database to another spatial point is very easy to calculate. Distance calculations compare two points in space using a direct line calculation. For our example I'll compare a new point to all the points in the database. Using the Location field the SQL looks like this:-- create a source point DECLARE @s geography SET @s = geography:: STGeomFromText('POINT(-121.527200 45.712113)' , 4326); --- return the ids select ID, Location as Geo , Location .ToString() as Point , @s.STDistance( Location) as distance from Geo order by distance The code defines a new point which is the base point to compare each of the values to. You can also compare values from the database directly, but typically you'll want to match a location to another location and determine the difference for which you can use the geography::STDistance function. This query produces the following output: The STDistance function returns the straight line distance between the passed in point and the point in the database field. The result for SRID 4326 is always in meters. Notice that the first value passed was the same point so the difference is 0. The other two points are two points here in town in Hood River a little ways away - 808 and 1256 meters respectively. Notice also that you can order the result by the resulting distance, which effectively gives you results that are ordered radially out from closer to further away. This is great for searches of points of interest near a central location (YOU typically!). These geolocation functions are also available to you if you don't use the Geography/Geometry types, but plain float values. It's a little more work, as each point has to be created in the query using the string syntax, but the following code doesn't use a geography field but produces the same result as the previous query.--- using float fields select ID, geography::STGeomFromText ('POINT(' + STR (long, 15,7 ) + ' ' + Str(lat ,15, 7) + ')' , 4326), geography::STGeomFromText ('POINT(' + STR (long, 15,7 ) + ' ' + Str(lat ,15, 7) + ')' , 4326). ToString(), @s.STDistance( geography::STGeomFromText ('POINT(' + STR(long ,15, 7) + ' ' + Str(lat ,15, 7) + ')' , 4326)) as distance from geo order by distance Spatial Data in the Entity Framework Prior to Entity Framework 5.0 on .NET 4.5 consuming of the data above required using stored procedures or raw SQL commands to access the spatial data. In Entity Framework 5 however, Microsoft introduced the new DbGeometry and DbGeography types. These immutable location types provide a bunch of functionality for manipulating spatial points using geometry functions which in turn can be used to do common spatial queries like I described in the SQL syntax above. The DbGeography/DbGeometry types are immutable, meaning that you can't write to them once they've been created. They are a bit odd in that you need to use factory methods in order to instantiate them - they have no constructor() and you can't assign to properties like Latitude and Longitude. Creating a Model with Spatial Data Let's start by creating a simple Entity Framework model that includes a Location property of type DbGeography: public class GeoLocationContext : DbContext { public DbSet<GeoLocation> Locations { get; set; } } public class GeoLocation { public int Id { get; set; } public DbGeography Location { get; set; } public string Address { get; set; } } That's all there's to it. When you run this now against SQL Server, you get a Geography field for the Location property, which looks the same as the Location field in the SQL examples earlier. Adding Spatial Data to the Database Next let's add some data to the table that includes some latitude and longitude data. An easy way to find lat/long locations is to use Google Maps to pinpoint your location, then right click and click on What's Here. Click on the green marker to get the GPS coordinates. To add the actual geolocation data create an instance of the GeoLocation type and use the DbGeography.PointFromText() factory method to create a new point to assign to the Location property:[TestMethod] public void AddLocationsToDataBase() { var context = new GeoLocationContext(); // remove all context.Locations.ToList().ForEach( loc => context.Locations.Remove(loc)); context.SaveChanges(); var location = new GeoLocation() { // Create a point using native DbGeography Factory method Location = DbGeography.PointFromText( string.Format("POINT({0} {1})", -121.527200,45.712113) ,4326), Address = "301 15th Street, Hood River" }; context.Locations.Add(location); location = new GeoLocation() { Location = CreatePoint(45.714240, -121.517265), Address = "The Hatchery, Bingen" }; context.Locations.Add(location); location = new GeoLocation() { // Create a point using a helper function (lat/long) Location = CreatePoint(45.708457, -121.514432), Address = "Kaze Sushi, Hood River" }; context.Locations.Add(location); location = new GeoLocation() { Location = CreatePoint(45.722780, -120.209227), Address = "Arlington, OR" }; context.Locations.Add(location); context.SaveChanges(); } As promised, a DbGeography object has to be created with one of the static factory methods provided on the type as the Location.Longitude and Location.Latitude properties are read only. Here I'm using PointFromText() which uses a "Well Known Text" format to specify spatial data. In the first example I'm specifying to create a Point from a longitude and latitude value, using an SRID of 4326 (just like earlier in the SQL examples). You'll probably want to create a helper method to make the creation of Points easier to avoid that string format and instead just pass in a couple of double values. Here's my helper called CreatePoint that's used for all but the first point creation in the sample above:public static DbGeography CreatePoint(double latitude, double longitude) { var text = string.Format(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture.NumberFormat, "POINT({0} {1})", longitude, latitude); // 4326 is most common coordinate system used by GPS/Maps return DbGeography.PointFromText(text, 4326); } Using the helper the syntax becomes a bit cleaner, requiring only a latitude and longitude respectively. Note that my method intentionally swaps the parameters around because Latitude and Longitude is the common format I've seen with mapping libraries (especially Google Mapping/Geolocation APIs with their LatLng type). When the context is changed the data is written into the database using the SQL Geography type which looks the same as in the earlier SQL examples shown. Querying Once you have some location data in the database it's now super easy to query the data and find out the distance between locations. A common query is to ask for a number of locations that are near a fixed point - typically your current location and order it by distance. Using LINQ to Entities a query like this is easy to construct:[TestMethod] public void QueryLocationsTest() { var sourcePoint = CreatePoint(45.712113, -121.527200); var context = new GeoLocationContext(); // find any locations within 5 kilometers ordered by distance var matches = context.Locations .Where(loc => loc.Location.Distance(sourcePoint) < 5000) .OrderBy( loc=> loc.Location.Distance(sourcePoint) ) .Select( loc=> new { Address = loc.Address, Distance = loc.Location.Distance(sourcePoint) }); Assert.IsTrue(matches.Count() > 0); foreach (var location in matches) { Console.WriteLine("{0} ({1:n0} meters)", location.Address, location.Distance); } } This example produces: 301 15th Street, Hood River (0 meters)The Hatchery, Bingen (809 meters)Kaze Sushi, Hood River (1,074 meters)   The first point in the database is the same as my source point I'm comparing against so the distance is 0. The other two are within the 5 mile radius, while the Arlington location which is 65 miles or so out is not returned. The result is ordered by distance from closest to furthest away. In the code, I first create a source point that is the basis for comparison. The LINQ query then selects all locations that are within 5km of the source point using the Location.Distance() function, which takes a source point as a parameter. You can either use a pre-defined value as I'm doing here, or compare against another database DbGeography property (say when you have to points in the same database for things like routes). What's nice about this query syntax is that it's very clean and easy to read and understand. You can calculate the distance and also easily order by the distance to provide a result that shows locations from closest to furthest away which is a common scenario for any application that places a user in the context of several locations. It's now super easy to accomplish this. Meters vs. Miles As with the SQL Server functions, the Distance() method returns data in meters, so if you need to work with miles or feet you need to do some conversion. Here are a couple of helpers that might be useful (can be found in GeoUtils.cs of the sample project):/// <summary> /// Convert meters to miles /// </summary> /// <param name="meters"></param> /// <returns></returns> public static double MetersToMiles(double? meters) { if (meters == null) return 0F; return meters.Value * 0.000621371192; } /// <summary> /// Convert miles to meters /// </summary> /// <param name="miles"></param> /// <returns></returns> public static double MilesToMeters(double? miles) { if (miles == null) return 0; return miles.Value * 1609.344; } Using these two helpers you can query on miles like this:[TestMethod] public void QueryLocationsMilesTest() { var sourcePoint = CreatePoint(45.712113, -121.527200); var context = new GeoLocationContext(); // find any locations within 5 miles ordered by distance var fiveMiles = GeoUtils.MilesToMeters(5); var matches = context.Locations .Where(loc => loc.Location.Distance(sourcePoint) <= fiveMiles) .OrderBy(loc => loc.Location.Distance(sourcePoint)) .Select(loc => new { Address = loc.Address, Distance = loc.Location.Distance(sourcePoint) }); Assert.IsTrue(matches.Count() > 0); foreach (var location in matches) { Console.WriteLine("{0} ({1:n1} miles)", location.Address, GeoUtils.MetersToMiles(location.Distance)); } } which produces: 301 15th Street, Hood River (0.0 miles)The Hatchery, Bingen (0.5 miles)Kaze Sushi, Hood River (0.7 miles) Nice 'n simple. .NET 4.5 Only Note that DbGeography and DbGeometry are exclusive to Entity Framework 5.0 (not 4.4 which ships in the same NuGet package or installer) and requires .NET 4.5. That's because the new DbGeometry and DbGeography (and related) types are defined in the 4.5 version of System.Data.Entity which is a CLR assembly and is only updated by major versions of .NET. Why this decision was made to add these types to System.Data.Entity rather than to the frequently updated EntityFramework assembly that would have possibly made this work in .NET 4.0 is beyond me, especially given that there are no native .NET framework spatial types to begin with. I find it also odd that there is no native CLR spatial type. The DbGeography and DbGeometry types are specific to Entity Framework and live on those assemblies. They will also work for general purpose, non-database spatial data manipulation, but then you are forced into having a dependency on System.Data.Entity, which seems a bit silly. There's also a System.Spatial assembly that's apparently part of WCF Data Services which in turn don't work with Entity framework. Another example of multiple teams at Microsoft not communicating and implementing the same functionality (differently) in several different places. Perplexed as a I may be, for EF specific code the Entity framework specific types are easy to use and work well. Working with pre-.NET 4.5 Entity Framework and Spatial Data If you can't go to .NET 4.5 just yet you can also still use spatial features in Entity Framework, but it's a lot more work as you can't use the DbContext directly to manipulate the location data. You can still run raw SQL statements to write data into the database and retrieve results using the same TSQL syntax I showed earlier using Context.Database.ExecuteSqlCommand(). Here's code that you can use to add location data into the database:[TestMethod] public void RawSqlEfAddTest() { string sqlFormat = @"insert into GeoLocations( Location, Address) values ( geography::STGeomFromText('POINT({0} {1})', 4326),@p0 )"; var sql = string.Format(sqlFormat,-121.527200, 45.712113); Console.WriteLine(sql); var context = new GeoLocationContext(); Assert.IsTrue(context.Database.ExecuteSqlCommand(sql,"301 N. 15th Street") > 0); } Here I'm using the STGeomFromText() function to add the location data. Note that I'm using string.Format here, which usually would be a bad practice but is required here. I was unable to use ExecuteSqlCommand() and its named parameter syntax as the longitude and latitude parameters are embedded into a string. Rest assured it's required as the following does not work:string sqlFormat = @"insert into GeoLocations( Location, Address) values ( geography::STGeomFromText('POINT(@p0 @p1)', 4326),@p2 )";context.Database.ExecuteSqlCommand(sql, -121.527200, 45.712113, "301 N. 15th Street") Explicitly assigning the point value with string.format works however. There are a number of ways to query location data. You can't get the location data directly, but you can retrieve the point string (which can then be parsed to get Latitude and Longitude) and you can return calculated values like distance. Here's an example of how to retrieve some geo data into a resultset using EF's and SqlQuery method:[TestMethod] public void RawSqlEfQueryTest() { var sqlFormat = @" DECLARE @s geography SET @s = geography:: STGeomFromText('POINT({0} {1})' , 4326); SELECT Address, Location.ToString() as GeoString, @s.STDistance( Location) as Distance FROM GeoLocations ORDER BY Distance"; var sql = string.Format(sqlFormat, -121.527200, 45.712113); var context = new GeoLocationContext(); var locations = context.Database.SqlQuery<ResultData>(sql); Assert.IsTrue(locations.Count() > 0); foreach (var location in locations) { Console.WriteLine(location.Address + " " + location.GeoString + " " + location.Distance); } } public class ResultData { public string GeoString { get; set; } public double Distance { get; set; } public string Address { get; set; } } Hopefully you don't have to resort to this approach as it's fairly limited. Using the new DbGeography/DbGeometry types makes this sort of thing so much easier. When I had to use code like this before I typically ended up retrieving data pks only and then running another query with just the PKs to retrieve the actual underlying DbContext entities. This was very inefficient and tedious but it did work. Summary For the current project I'm working on we actually made the switch to .NET 4.5 purely for the spatial features in EF 5.0. This app heavily relies on spatial queries and it was worth taking a chance with pre-release code to get this ease of integration as opposed to manually falling back to stored procedures or raw SQL string queries to return spatial specific queries. Using native Entity Framework code makes life a lot easier than the alternatives. It might be a late addition to Entity Framework, but it sure makes location calculations and storage easy. Where do you want to go today? ;-) Resources Download Sample Project© Rick Strahl, West Wind Technologies, 2005-2012Posted in ADO.NET  Sql Server  .NET   Tweet !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs"); (function() { var po = document.createElement('script'); po.type = 'text/javascript'; po.async = true; po.src = 'https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(po, s); })();

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• The Incremental Architect&acute;s Napkin &ndash; #3 &ndash; Make Evolvability inevitable

  - by Ralf Westphal

  Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/theArchitectsNapkin/archive/2014/06/04/the-incremental-architectacutes-napkin-ndash-3-ndash-make-evolvability-inevitable.aspxThe easier something to measure the more likely it will be produced. Deviations between what is and what should be can be readily detected. That´s what automated acceptance tests are for. That´s what sprint reviews in Scrum are for. It´s no small wonder our software looks like it looks. It has all the traits whose conformance with requirements can easily be measured. And it´s lacking traits which cannot easily be measured. Evolvability (or Changeability) is such a trait. If an operation is correct, if an operation if fast enough, that can be checked very easily. But whether Evolvability is high or low, that cannot be checked by taking a measure or two. Evolvability might correlate with certain traits, e.g. number of lines of code (LOC) per function or Cyclomatic Complexity or test coverage. But there is no threshold value signalling “evolvability too low”; also Evolvability is hardly tangible for the customer. Nevertheless Evolvability is of great importance - at least in the long run. You can get away without much of it for a short time. Eventually, though, it´s needed like any other requirement. Or even more. Because without Evolvability no other requirement can be implemented. Evolvability is the foundation on which all else is build. Such fundamental importance is in stark contrast with its immeasurability. To compensate this, Evolvability must be put at the very center of software development. It must become the hub around everything else revolves. Since we cannot measure Evolvability, though, we cannot start watching it more. Instead we need to establish practices to keep it high (enough) at all times. Chefs have known that for long. That´s why everybody in a restaurant kitchen is constantly seeing after cleanliness. Hygiene is important as is to have clean tools at standardized locations. Only then the health of the patrons can be guaranteed and production efficiency is constantly high. Still a kitchen´s level of cleanliness is easier to measure than software Evolvability. That´s why important practices like reviews, pair programming, or TDD are not enough, I guess. What we need to keep Evolvability in focus and high is… to continually evolve. Change must not be something to avoid but too embrace. To me that means the whole change cycle from requirement analysis to delivery needs to be gone through more often. Scrum´s sprints of 4, 2 even 1 week are too long. Kanban´s flow of user stories across is too unreliable; it takes as long as it takes. Instead we should fix the cycle time at 2 days max. I call that Spinning. No increment must take longer than from this morning until tomorrow evening to finish. Then it should be acceptance checked by the customer (or his/her representative, e.g. a Product Owner). For me there are several resasons for such a fixed and short cycle time for each increment: Clear expectations Absolute estimates (“This will take X days to complete.”) are near impossible in software development as explained previously. Too much unplanned research and engineering work lurk in every feature. And then pervasive interruptions of work by peers and management. However, the smaller the scope the better our absolute estimates become. That´s because we understand better what really are the requirements and what the solution should look like. But maybe more importantly the shorter the timespan the more we can control how we use our time. So much can happen over the course of a week and longer timespans. But if push comes to shove I can block out all distractions and interruptions for a day or possibly two. That´s why I believe we can give rough absolute estimates on 3 levels: Noon Tonight Tomorrow Think of a meeting with a Product Owner at 8:30 in the morning. If she asks you, how long it will take you to implement a user story or bug fix, you can say, “It´ll be fixed by noon.”, or you can say, “I can manage to implement it until tonight before I leave.”, or you can say, “You´ll get it by tomorrow night at latest.” Yes, I believe all else would be naive. If you´re not confident to get something done by tomorrow night (some 34h from now) you just cannot reliably commit to any timeframe. That means you should not promise anything, you should not even start working on the issue. So when estimating use these four categories: Noon, Tonight, Tomorrow, NoClue - with NoClue meaning the requirement needs to be broken down further so each aspect can be assigned to one of the first three categories. If you like absolute estimates, here you go. But don´t do deep estimates. Don´t estimate dozens of issues; don´t think ahead (“Issue A is a Tonight, then B will be a Tomorrow, after that it´s C as a Noon, finally D is a Tonight - that´s what I´ll do this week.”). Just estimate so Work-in-Progress (WIP) is 1 for everybody - plus a small number of buffer issues. To be blunt: Yes, this makes promises impossible as to what a team will deliver in terms of scope at a certain date in the future. But it will give a Product Owner a clear picture of what to pull for acceptance feedback tonight and tomorrow. Trust through reliability Our trade is lacking trust. Customers don´t trust software companies/departments much. Managers don´t trust developers much. I find that perfectly understandable in the light of what we´re trying to accomplish: delivering software in the face of uncertainty by means of material good production. Customers as well as managers still expect software development to be close to production of houses or cars. But that´s a fundamental misunderstanding. Software development ist development. It´s basically research. As software developers we´re constantly executing experiments to find out what really provides value to users. We don´t know what they need, we just have mediated hypothesises. That´s why we cannot reliably deliver on preposterous demands. So trust is out of the window in no time. If we switch to delivering in short cycles, though, we can regain trust. Because estimates - explicit or implicit - up to 32 hours at most can be satisfied. I´d say: reliability over scope. It´s more important to reliably deliver what was promised then to cover a lot of requirement area. So when in doubt promise less - but deliver without delay. Deliver on scope (Functionality and Quality); but also deliver on Evolvability, i.e. on inner quality according to accepted principles. Always. Trust will be the reward. Less complexity of communication will follow. More goodwill buffer will follow. So don´t wait for some Kanban board to show you, that flow can be improved by scheduling smaller stories. You don´t need to learn that the hard way. Just start with small batch sizes of three different sizes. Fast feedback What has been finished can be checked for acceptance. Why wait for a sprint of several weeks to end? Why let the mental model of the issue and its solution dissipate? If you get final feedback after one or two weeks, you hardly remember what you did and why you did it. Resoning becomes hard. But more importantly youo probably are not in the mood anymore to go back to something you deemed done a long time ago. It´s boring, it´s frustrating to open up that mental box again. Learning is harder the longer it takes from event to feedback. Effort can be wasted between event (finishing an issue) and feedback, because other work might go in the wrong direction based on false premises. Checking finished issues for acceptance is the most important task of a Product Owner. It´s even more important than planning new issues. Because as long as work started is not released (accepted) it´s potential waste. So before starting new work better make sure work already done has value. By putting the emphasis on acceptance rather than planning true pull is established. As long as planning and starting work is more important, it´s a push process. Accept a Noon issue on the same day before leaving. Accept a Tonight issue before leaving today or first thing tomorrow morning. Accept a Tomorrow issue tomorrow night before leaving or early the day after tomorrow. After acceptance the developer(s) can start working on the next issue. Flexibility As if reliability/trust and fast feedback for less waste weren´t enough economic incentive, there is flexibility. After each issue the Product Owner can change course. If on Monday morning feature slices A, B, C, D, E were important and A, B, C were scheduled for acceptance by Monday evening and Tuesday evening, the Product Owner can change her mind at any time. Maybe after A got accepted she asks for continuation with D. But maybe, just maybe, she has gotten a completely different idea by then. Maybe she wants work to continue on F. And after B it´s neither D nor E, but G. And after G it´s D. With Spinning every 32 hours at latest priorities can be changed. And nothing is lost. Because what got accepted is of value. It provides an incremental value to the customer/user. Or it provides internal value to the Product Owner as increased knowledge/decreased uncertainty. I find such reactivity over commitment economically very benefical. Why commit a team to some workload for several weeks? It´s unnecessary at beast, and inflexible and wasteful at worst. If we cannot promise delivery of a certain scope on a certain date - which is what customers/management usually want -, we can at least provide them with unpredecented flexibility in the face of high uncertainty. Where the path is not clear, cannot be clear, make small steps so you´re able to change your course at any time. Premature completion Customers/management are used to premeditating budgets. They want to know exactly how much to pay for a certain amount of requirements. That´s understandable. But it does not match with the nature of software development. We should know that by now. Maybe there´s somewhere in the world some team who can consistently deliver on scope, quality, and time, and budget. Great! Congratulations! I, however, haven´t seen such a team yet. Which does not mean it´s impossible, but I think it´s nothing I can recommend to strive for. Rather I´d say: Don´t try this at home. It might hurt you one way or the other. However, what we can do, is allow customers/management stop work on features at any moment. With spinning every 32 hours a feature can be declared as finished - even though it might not be completed according to initial definition. I think, progress over completion is an important offer software development can make. Why think in terms of completion beyond a promise for the next 32 hours? Isn´t it more important to constantly move forward? Step by step. We´re not running sprints, we´re not running marathons, not even ultra-marathons. We´re in the sport of running forever. That makes it futile to stare at the finishing line. The very concept of a burn-down chart is misleading (in most cases). Whoever can only think in terms of completed requirements shuts out the chance for saving money. The requirements for a features mostly are uncertain. So how does a Product Owner know in the first place, how much is needed. Maybe more than specified is needed - which gets uncovered step by step with each finished increment. Maybe less than specified is needed. After each 4–32 hour increment the Product Owner can do an experient (or invite users to an experiment) if a particular trait of the software system is already good enough. And if so, she can switch the attention to a different aspect. In the end, requirements A, B, C then could be finished just 70%, 80%, and 50%. What the heck? It´s good enough - for now. 33% money saved. Wouldn´t that be splendid? Isn´t that a stunning argument for any budget-sensitive customer? You can save money and still get what you need? Pull on practices So far, in addition to more trust, more flexibility, less money spent, Spinning led to “doing less” which also means less code which of course means higher Evolvability per se. Last but not least, though, I think Spinning´s short acceptance cycles have one more effect. They excert pull-power on all sorts of practices known for increasing Evolvability. If, for example, you believe high automated test coverage helps Evolvability by lowering the fear of inadverted damage to a code base, why isn´t 90% of the developer community practicing automated tests consistently? I think, the answer is simple: Because they can do without. Somehow they manage to do enough manual checks before their rare releases/acceptance checks to ensure good enough correctness - at least in the short term. The same goes for other practices like component orientation, continuous build/integration, code reviews etc. None of that is compelling, urgent, imperative. Something else always seems more important. So Evolvability principles and practices fall through the cracks most of the time - until a project hits a wall. Then everybody becomes desperate; but by then (re)gaining Evolvability has become as very, very difficult and tedious undertaking. Sometimes up to the point where the existence of a project/company is in danger. With Spinning that´s different. If you´re practicing Spinning you cannot avoid all those practices. With Spinning you very quickly realize you cannot deliver reliably even on your 32 hour promises. Spinning thus is pulling on developers to adopt principles and practices for Evolvability. They will start actively looking for ways to keep their delivery rate high. And if not, management will soon tell them to do that. Because first the Product Owner then management will notice an increasing difficulty to deliver value within 32 hours. There, finally there emerges a way to measure Evolvability: The more frequent developers tell the Product Owner there is no way to deliver anything worth of feedback until tomorrow night, the poorer Evolvability is. Don´t count the “WTF!”, count the “No way!” utterances. In closing For sustainable software development we need to put Evolvability first. Functionality and Quality must not rule software development but be implemented within a framework ensuring (enough) Evolvability. Since Evolvability cannot be measured easily, I think we need to put software development “under pressure”. Software needs to be changed more often, in smaller increments. Each increment being relevant to the customer/user in some way. That does not mean each increment is worthy of shipment. It´s sufficient to gain further insight from it. Increments primarily serve the reduction of uncertainty, not sales. Sales even needs to be decoupled from this incremental progress. No more promises to sales. No more delivery au point. Rather sales should look at a stream of accepted increments (or incremental releases) and scoup from that whatever they find valuable. Sales and marketing need to realize they should work on what´s there, not what might be possible in the future. But I digress… In my view a Spinning cycle - which is not easy to reach, which requires practice - is the core practice to compensate the immeasurability of Evolvability. From start to finish of each issue in 32 hours max - that´s the challenge we need to accept if we´re serious increasing Evolvability. Fortunately higher Evolvability is not the only outcome of Spinning. Customer/management will like the increased flexibility and “getting more bang for the buck”.

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• Sniffing out SQL Code Smells: Inconsistent use of Symbolic names and Datatypes

  - by Phil Factor

  It is an awkward feeling. You’ve just delivered a database application that seems to be working fine in production, and you just run a few checks on it. You discover that there is a potential bug that, out of sheer good chance, hasn’t kicked in to produce an error; but it lurks, like a smoking bomb. Worse, maybe you find that the bug has started its evil work of corrupting the data, but in ways that nobody has, so far detected. You investigate, and find the damage. You are somehow going to have to repair it. Yes, it still very occasionally happens to me. It is not a nice feeling, and I do anything I can to prevent it happening. That’s why I’m interested in SQL code smells. SQL Code Smells aren’t necessarily bad practices, but just show you where to focus your attention when checking an application. Sometimes with databases the bugs can be subtle. SQL is rather like HTML: the language does its best to try to carry out your wishes, rather than to be picky about your bugs. Most of the time, this is a great benefit, but not always. One particular place where this can be detrimental is where you have implicit conversion between different data types. Most of the time it is completely harmless but we’re  concerned about the occasional time it isn’t. Let’s give an example: String truncation. Let’s give another even more frightening one, rounding errors on assignment to a number of different precision. Each requires a blog-post to explain in detail and I’m not now going to try. Just remember that it is not always a good idea to assign data to variables, parameters or even columns when they aren’t the same datatype, especially if you are relying on implicit conversion to work its magic.For details of the problem and the consequences, see here:  SR0014: Data loss might occur when casting from {Type1} to {Type2} . For any experienced Database Developer, this is a more frightening read than a Vampire Story. This is why one of the SQL Code Smells that makes me edgy, in my own or other peoples’ code, is to see parameters, variables and columns that have the same names and different datatypes. Whereas quite a lot of this is perfectly normal and natural, you need to check in case one of two things have gone wrong. Either sloppy naming, or mixed datatypes. Sure it is hard to remember whether you decided that the length of a log entry was 80 or 100 characters long, or the precision of a number. That is why a little check like this I’m going to show you is excellent for tidying up your code before you check it back into source Control! 1/ Checking Parameters only If you were just going to check parameters, you might just do this. It simply groups all the parameters, either input or output, of all the routines (e.g. stored procedures or functions) by their name and checks to see, in the HAVING clause, whether their data types are all the same. If not, it lists all the examples and their origin (the routine) Even this little check can occasionally be scarily revealing. ;WITH userParameter AS  ( SELECT   c.NAME AS ParameterName,  OBJECT_SCHEMA_NAME(c.object_ID) + '.' + OBJECT_NAME(c.object_ID) AS ObjectName,  t.name + ' '     + CASE     --we may have to put in the length            WHEN t.name IN ('char', 'varchar', 'nchar', 'nvarchar')             THEN '('               + CASE WHEN c.max_length = -1 THEN 'MAX'                ELSE CONVERT(VARCHAR(4),                    CASE WHEN t.name IN ('nchar', 'nvarchar')                      THEN c.max_length / 2 ELSE c.max_length                    END)                END + ')'         WHEN t.name IN ('decimal', 'numeric')             THEN '(' + CONVERT(VARCHAR(4), c.precision)                   + ',' + CONVERT(VARCHAR(4), c.Scale) + ')'         ELSE ''      END  --we've done with putting in the length      + CASE WHEN XML_collection_ID <> 0         THEN --deal with object schema names             '(' + CASE WHEN is_XML_Document = 1                    THEN 'DOCUMENT '                    ELSE 'CONTENT '                   END              + COALESCE(               (SELECT QUOTENAME(ss.name) + '.' + QUOTENAME(sc.name)                FROM sys.xml_schema_collections sc                INNER JOIN Sys.Schemas ss ON sc.schema_ID = ss.schema_ID                WHERE sc.xml_collection_ID = c.XML_collection_ID),'NULL') + ')'          ELSE ''         END        AS [DataType]  FROM sys.parameters c  INNER JOIN sys.types t ON c.user_Type_ID = t.user_Type_ID  WHERE OBJECT_SCHEMA_NAME(c.object_ID) <> 'sys'   AND parameter_id>0)SELECT CONVERT(CHAR(80),objectName+'.'+ParameterName),DataType FROM UserParameterWHERE ParameterName IN   (SELECT ParameterName FROM UserParameter    GROUP BY ParameterName    HAVING MIN(Datatype)<>MAX(DataType))ORDER BY ParameterName   so, in a very small example here, we have a @ClosingDelimiter variable that is only CHAR(1) when, by the looks of it, it should be up to ten characters long, or even worse, a function that should be a char(1) and seems to let in a string of ten characters. Worth investigating. Then we have a @Comment variable that can't decide whether it is a VARCHAR(2000) or a VARCHAR(MAX) 2/ Columns and Parameters Actually, once we’ve cleared up the mess we’ve made of our parameter-naming in the database we’re inspecting, we’re going to be more interested in listing both columns and parameters. We can do this by modifying the routine to list columns as well as parameters. Because of the slight complexity of creating the string version of the datatypes, we will create a fake table of both columns and parameters so that they can both be processed the same way. After all, we want the datatypes to match Unfortunately, parameters do not expose all the attributes we are interested in, such as whether they are nullable (oh yes, subtle bugs happen if this isn’t consistent for a datatype). We’ll have to leave them out for this check. Voila! A slight modification of the first routine ;WITH userObject AS  ( SELECT   Name AS DataName,--the actual name of the parameter or column ('@' removed)  --and the qualified object name of the routine  OBJECT_SCHEMA_NAME(ObjectID) + '.' + OBJECT_NAME(ObjectID) AS ObjectName,  --now the harder bit: the definition of the datatype.  TypeName + ' '     + CASE     --we may have to put in the length. e.g. CHAR (10)           WHEN TypeName IN ('char', 'varchar', 'nchar', 'nvarchar')             THEN '('               + CASE WHEN MaxLength = -1 THEN 'MAX'                ELSE CONVERT(VARCHAR(4),                    CASE WHEN TypeName IN ('nchar', 'nvarchar')                      THEN MaxLength / 2 ELSE MaxLength                    END)                END + ')'         WHEN TypeName IN ('decimal', 'numeric')--a BCD number!             THEN '(' + CONVERT(VARCHAR(4), Precision)                   + ',' + CONVERT(VARCHAR(4), Scale) + ')'         ELSE ''      END  --we've done with putting in the length      + CASE WHEN XML_collection_ID <> 0 --tush tush. XML         THEN --deal with object schema names             '(' + CASE WHEN is_XML_Document = 1                    THEN 'DOCUMENT '                    ELSE 'CONTENT '                   END              + COALESCE(               (SELECT TOP 1 QUOTENAME(ss.name) + '.' + QUOTENAME(sc.Name)                FROM sys.xml_schema_collections sc                INNER JOIN Sys.Schemas ss ON sc.schema_ID = ss.schema_ID                WHERE sc.xml_collection_ID = XML_collection_ID),'NULL') + ')'          ELSE ''         END        AS [DataType],       DataObjectType  FROM   (Select t.name AS TypeName, REPLACE(c.name,'@','') AS Name,          c.max_length AS MaxLength, c.precision AS [Precision],           c.scale AS [Scale], c.[Object_id] AS ObjectID, XML_collection_ID,          is_XML_Document,'P' AS DataobjectType  FROM sys.parameters c  INNER JOIN sys.types t ON c.user_Type_ID = t.user_Type_ID  AND parameter_id>0  UNION all  Select t.name AS TypeName, c.name AS Name, c.max_length AS MaxLength,          c.precision AS [Precision], c.scale AS [Scale],          c.[Object_id] AS ObjectID, XML_collection_ID,is_XML_Document,          'C' AS DataobjectType            FROM sys.columns c  INNER JOIN sys.types t ON c.user_Type_ID = t.user_Type_ID   WHERE OBJECT_SCHEMA_NAME(c.object_ID) <> 'sys'  )f)SELECT CONVERT(CHAR(80),objectName+'.'   + CASE WHEN DataobjectType ='P' THEN '@' ELSE '' END + DataName),DataType FROM UserObjectWHERE DataName IN   (SELECT DataName FROM UserObject   GROUP BY DataName    HAVING MIN(Datatype)<>MAX(DataType))ORDER BY DataName     Hmm. I can tell you I found quite a few minor issues with the various tabases I tested this on, and found some potential bugs that really leap out at you from the results. Here is the start of the result for AdventureWorks. Yes, AccountNumber is, for some reason, a Varchar(10) in the Customer table. Hmm. odd. Why is a city fifty characters long in that view?  The idea of the description of a colour being 256 characters long seems over-ambitious. Go down the list and you'll spot other mistakes. There are no bugs, but just mess. We started out with a listing to examine parameters, then we mixed parameters and columns. Our last listing is for a slightly more in-depth look at table columns. You’ll notice that we’ve delibarately removed the indication of whether a column is persisted, or is an identity column because that gives us false positives for our code smells. If you just want to browse your metadata for other reasons (and it can quite help in some circumstances) then uncomment them! ;WITH userColumns AS  ( SELECT   c.NAME AS columnName,  OBJECT_SCHEMA_NAME(c.object_ID) + '.' + OBJECT_NAME(c.object_ID) AS ObjectName,  REPLACE(t.name + ' '   + CASE WHEN is_computed = 1 THEN ' AS ' + --do DDL for a computed column          (SELECT definition FROM sys.computed_columns cc           WHERE cc.object_id = c.object_id AND cc.column_ID = c.column_ID)     --we may have to put in the length            WHEN t.Name IN ('char', 'varchar', 'nchar', 'nvarchar')             THEN '('               + CASE WHEN c.Max_Length = -1 THEN 'MAX'                ELSE CONVERT(VARCHAR(4),                    CASE WHEN t.Name IN ('nchar', 'nvarchar')                      THEN c.Max_Length / 2 ELSE c.Max_Length                    END)                END + ')'       WHEN t.name IN ('decimal', 'numeric')       THEN '(' + CONVERT(VARCHAR(4), c.precision) + ',' + CONVERT(VARCHAR(4), c.Scale) + ')'       ELSE ''      END + CASE WHEN c.is_rowguidcol = 1          THEN ' ROWGUIDCOL'          ELSE ''         END + CASE WHEN XML_collection_ID <> 0            THEN --deal with object schema names             '(' + CASE WHEN is_XML_Document = 1                THEN 'DOCUMENT '                ELSE 'CONTENT '               END + COALESCE((SELECT                QUOTENAME(ss.name) + '.' + QUOTENAME(sc.name)                FROM                sys.xml_schema_collections sc                INNER JOIN Sys.Schemas ss ON sc.schema_ID = ss.schema_ID                WHERE                sc.xml_collection_ID = c.XML_collection_ID),                'NULL') + ')'            ELSE ''           END + CASE WHEN is_identity = 1             THEN CASE WHEN OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id,                'IsUserTable') = 1 AND COLUMNPROPERTY(object_id,                c.name,                'IsIDNotForRepl') = 0 AND OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id,                'IsMSShipped') = 0                THEN ''                ELSE ' NOT FOR REPLICATION '               END             ELSE ''            END + CASE WHEN c.is_nullable = 0               THEN ' NOT NULL'               ELSE ' NULL'              END + CASE                WHEN c.default_object_id <> 0                THEN ' DEFAULT ' + object_Definition(c.default_object_id)                ELSE ''               END + CASE                WHEN c.collation_name IS NULL                THEN ''                WHEN c.collation_name <> (SELECT                collation_name                FROM                sys.databases                WHERE                name = DB_NAME()) COLLATE Latin1_General_CI_AS                THEN COALESCE(' COLLATE ' + c.collation_name,                '')                ELSE ''                END,'  ',' ') AS [DataType]FROM sys.columns c  INNER JOIN sys.types t ON c.user_Type_ID = t.user_Type_ID  WHERE OBJECT_SCHEMA_NAME(c.object_ID) <> 'sys')SELECT CONVERT(CHAR(80),objectName+'.'+columnName),DataType FROM UserColumnsWHERE columnName IN (SELECT columnName FROM UserColumns  GROUP BY columnName  HAVING MIN(Datatype)<>MAX(DataType))ORDER BY columnName If you take a look down the results against Adventureworks, you'll see once again that there are things to investigate, mostly, in the illustration, discrepancies between null and non-null datatypes So I here you ask, what about temporary variables within routines? If ever there was a source of elusive bugs, you'll find it there. Sadly, these temporary variables are not stored in the metadata so we'll have to find a more subtle way of flushing these out, and that will, I'm afraid, have to wait!

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• Custom rails route problem with 2.3.8 and Mongrel

  - by CHsurfer

  I have a controller called 'exposures' which I created automatically with the script/generate scaffold call. The scaffold pages work fine. I created a custom action called 'test' in the exposures controller. When I try to call the page (http://127.0.0.1:3000/exposures/test/1) I get a blank, white screen with no text at all in the source. I am using Rails 2.3.8 and mongrel in the development environment. There are no entries in development.log and the console that was used to open mongrel has the following error: You might have expected an instance of Array. The error occurred while evaluating nil.split D:/Rails/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/actionpack-2.3.8/lib/action_controller/cgi_process.rb:52:in dispatch_cgi' D:/Rails/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/actionpack-2.3.8/lib/action_controller/dispatcher.rb:101:in dispatch_cgi' D:/Rails/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/actionpack-2.3.8/lib/action_controller/dispatcher.rb:27:in dispatch' D:/Rails/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.1.2-x86-mswin32/bin/../lib/mongrel/rails.rb:76:in process' D:/Rails/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.1.2-x86-mswin32/bin/../lib/mongrel/rails.rb:74:in synchronize' D:/Rails/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.1.2-x86-mswin32/bin/../lib/mongrel/rails.rb:74:in process' D:/Rails/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.1.2-x86-mswin32/bin/../lib/mongrel.rb:159:in process_client' D:/Rails/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.1.2-x86-mswin32/bin/../lib/mongrel.rb:158:in each' D:/Rails/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.1.2-x86-mswin32/bin/../lib/mongrel.rb:158:in process_client' D:/Rails/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.1.2-x86-mswin32/bin/../lib/mongrel.rb:285:in run' D:/Rails/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.1.2-x86-mswin32/bin/../lib/mongrel.rb:285:in initialize' D:/Rails/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.1.2-x86-mswin32/bin/../lib/mongrel.rb:285:in new' D:/Rails/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.1.2-x86-mswin32/bin/../lib/mongrel.rb:285:in run' D:/Rails/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.1.2-x86-mswin32/bin/../lib/mongrel.rb:268:in initialize' D:/Rails/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.1.2-x86-mswin32/bin/../lib/mongrel.rb:268:in new' D:/Rails/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.1.2-x86-mswin32/bin/../lib/mongrel.rb:268:in run' D:/Rails/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.1.2-x86-mswin32/bin/../lib/mongrel/configurator.rb:282:in run' D:/Rails/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.1.2-x86-mswin32/bin/../lib/mongrel/configurator.rb:281:in each' D:/Rails/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.1.2-x86-mswin32/bin/../lib/mongrel/configurator.rb:281:in run' D:/Rails/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.1.2-x86-mswin32/bin/mongrel_rails:128:in run' D:/Rails/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.1.2-x86-mswin32/bin/../lib/mongrel/command.rb:212:in run' D:/Rails/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.1.2-x86-mswin32/bin/mongrel_rails:281 D:/Rails/ruby/bin/mongrel_rails:19:in load' D:/Rails/ruby/bin/mongrel_rails:19 Here is the exposures_controller code: class ExposuresController < ApplicationController # GET /exposures # GET /exposures.xml def index @exposures = Exposure.all respond_to do |format| format.html # index.html.erb format.xml { render :xml => @exposures } end end #/exposure/graph/1 def graph @exposure = Exposure.find(params[:id]) project_name = @exposure.tender.project.name group_name = @exposure.tender.user.group.name tender_desc = @exposure.tender.description direction = "Cash Out" direction = "Cash In" if @exposure.supply currency_1_and_2 = "#{@exposure.currency_in} = #{@exposure.currency_out}" title = "#{project_name}:#{group_name}:#{tender_desc}/n" title += "#{direction}:#{currency_1_and_2}" factors = Array.new carrieds = Array.new days = Array.new @exposure.rates.each do |r| factors << r.factor carrieds << r.carried days << r.day.to_s end max = (factors+carrieds).max min = (factors+carrieds).min g = Graph.new g.title(title, '{font-size: 12px;}') g.set_data(factors) g.line_hollow(2, 4, '0x80a033', 'Bounces', 10) g.set_x_labels(days) g.set_x_label_style( 10, '#CC3399', 2 ); g.set_y_min(min*0.9) g.set_y_max(max*1.1) g.set_y_label_steps(5) render :text = g.render end def test render :text = "this works" end # GET /exposures/1 # GET /exposures/1.xml def show @exposure = Exposure.find(params[:id]) @graph = open_flash_chart_object(700,250, "/exposures/graph/#{@exposure.id}") #@graph = "/exposures/graph/#{@exposure.id}" respond_to do |format| format.html # show.html.erb format.xml { render :xml => @exposure } end end # GET /exposures/new # GET /exposures/new.xml def new @exposure = Exposure.new respond_to do |format| format.html # new.html.erb format.xml { render :xml => @exposure } end end # GET /exposures/1/edit def edit @exposure = Exposure.find(params[:id]) end # POST /exposures # POST /exposures.xml def create @exposure = Exposure.new(params[:exposure]) respond_to do |format| if @exposure.save flash[:notice] = 'Exposure was successfully created.' format.html { redirect_to(@exposure) } format.xml { render :xml => @exposure, :status => :created, :location => @exposure } else format.html { render :action => "new" } format.xml { render :xml => @exposure.errors, :status => :unprocessable_entity } end end end # PUT /exposures/1 # PUT /exposures/1.xml def update @exposure = Exposure.find(params[:id]) respond_to do |format| if @exposure.update_attributes(params[:exposure]) flash[:notice] = 'Exposure was successfully updated.' format.html { redirect_to(@exposure) } format.xml { head :ok } else format.html { render :action => "edit" } format.xml { render :xml => @exposure.errors, :status => :unprocessable_entity } end end end # DELETE /exposures/1 # DELETE /exposures/1.xml def destroy @exposure = Exposure.find(params[:id]) @exposure.destroy respond_to do |format| format.html { redirect_to(exposures_url) } format.xml { head :ok } end end end Clever readers will notice the 'graph' action. This is what I really want to work, but if I can't even get the test action working, then I'm sure I have no chance. Any ideas? I have restarted mongrel a few times with no change. Here is the output of Rake routes (but I don't believe this is the problem. The error would be in the form of and HTML error response). D:\Rails\rails_apps\fxrake routes (in D:/Rails/rails_apps/fx) DEPRECATION WARNING: Rake tasks in vendor/plugins/open_flash_chart/tasks are deprecated. Use lib/tasks instead. (called from D:/ by/gems/1.8/gems/rails-2.3.8/lib/tasks/rails.rb:10) rates GET /rates(.:format) {:controller="rates", :action="index"} POST /rates(.:format) {:controller="rates", :action="create"} new_rate GET /rates/new(.:format) {:controller="rates", :action="new"} edit_rate GET /rates/:id/edit(.:format) {:controller="rates", :action="edit"} rate GET /rates/:id(.:format) {:controller="rates", :action="show"} PUT /rates/:id(.:format) {:controller="rates", :action="update"} DELETE /rates/:id(.:format) {:controller="rates", :action="destroy"} tenders GET /tenders(.:format) {:controller="tenders", :action="index"} POST /tenders(.:format) {:controller="tenders", :action="create"} new_tender GET /tenders/new(.:format) {:controller="tenders", :action="new"} edit_tender GET /tenders/:id/edit(.:format) {:controller="tenders", :action="edit"} tender GET /tenders/:id(.:format) {:controller="tenders", :action="show"} PUT /tenders/:id(.:format) {:controller="tenders", :action="update"} DELETE /tenders/:id(.:format) {:controller="tenders", :action="destroy"} exposures GET /exposures(.:format) {:controller="exposures", :action="index"} POST /exposures(.:format) {:controller="exposures", :action="create"} new_exposure GET /exposures/new(.:format) {:controller="exposures", :action="new"} edit_exposure GET /exposures/:id/edit(.:format) {:controller="exposures", :action="edit"} exposure GET /exposures/:id(.:format) {:controller="exposures", :action="show"} PUT /exposures/:id(.:format) {:controller="exposures", :action="update"} DELETE /exposures/:id(.:format) {:controller="exposures", :action="destroy"} currencies GET /currencies(.:format) {:controller="currencies", :action="index"} POST /currencies(.:format) {:controller="currencies", :action="create"} new_currency GET /currencies/new(.:format) {:controller="currencies", :action="new"} edit_currency GET /currencies/:id/edit(.:format) {:controller="currencies", :action="edit"} currency GET /currencies/:id(.:format) {:controller="currencies", :action="show"} PUT /currencies/:id(.:format) {:controller="currencies", :action="update"} DELETE /currencies/:id(.:format) {:controller="currencies", :action="destroy"} projects GET /projects(.:format) {:controller="projects", :action="index"} POST /projects(.:format) {:controller="projects", :action="create"} new_project GET /projects/new(.:format) {:controller="projects", :action="new"} edit_project GET /projects/:id/edit(.:format) {:controller="projects", :action="edit"} project GET /projects/:id(.:format) {:controller="projects", :action="show"} PUT /projects/:id(.:format) {:controller="projects", :action="update"} DELETE /projects/:id(.:format) {:controller="projects", :action="destroy"} groups GET /groups(.:format) {:controller="groups", :action="index"} POST /groups(.:format) {:controller="groups", :action="create"} new_group GET /groups/new(.:format) {:controller="groups", :action="new"} edit_group GET /groups/:id/edit(.:format) {:controller="groups", :action="edit"} group GET /groups/:id(.:format) {:controller="groups", :action="show"} PUT /groups/:id(.:format) {:controller="groups", :action="update"} DELETE /groups/:id(.:format) {:controller="groups", :action="destroy"} users GET /users(.:format) {:controller="users", :action="index"} POST /users(.:format) {:controller="users", :action="create"} new_user GET /users/new(.:format) {:controller="users", :action="new"} edit_user GET /users/:id/edit(.:format) {:controller="users", :action="edit"} user GET /users/:id(.:format) {:controller="users", :action="show"} PUT /users/:id(.:format) {:controller="users", :action="update"} DELETE /users/:id(.:format) {:controller="users", :action="destroy"} /:controller/:action/:id /:controller/:action/:id(.:format) D:\Rails\rails_apps\fxrails -v Rails 2.3.8 Thanks in advance for the help -Jon

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• Communicating between C# application and Android app via bluetooth

  - by Akki

  The android application acts as a server in this case. I have a main activity which creates a Thread to handle serverSocket and a different thread to handle the socket connection. I am using a uuid common to C# and android. I am using 32feet bluetooth library for C#. The errors i am facing are 1) My logcat shows this debug log Error while doing socket.connect()1 java.io.IOException: File descriptor in bad state Message: File descriptor in bad state Localized Message: File descriptor in bad state Received : Testing Connection Count of Thread is : 1 2) When i try to send something via C# app the second time, this exception is thrown: A first chance exception of type 'System.InvalidOperationException' occurred in System.dll System.InvalidOperationException: BeginConnect cannot be called while another asynchronous operation is in progress on the same Socket. at System.Net.Sockets.Socket.DoBeginConnect(EndPoint endPointSnapshot, SocketAddress socketAddress, LazyAsyncResult asyncResult) at System.Net.Sockets.Socket.BeginConnect(EndPoint remoteEP, AsyncCallback callback, Object state) at InTheHand.Net.Bluetooth.Msft.SocketBluetoothClient.BeginConnect(BluetoothEndPoint remoteEP, AsyncCallback requestCallback, Object state) at InTheHand.Net.Sockets.BluetoothClient.BeginConnect(BluetoothEndPoint remoteEP, AsyncCallback requestCallback, Object state) at InTheHand.Net.Sockets.BluetoothClient.BeginConnect(BluetoothAddress address, Guid service, AsyncCallback requestCallback, Object state) at BTSyncClient.Form1.connect() in c:\users\----\documents\visual studio 2010\Projects\TestClient\TestClient\Form1.cs:line 154 I only know android application programming and i designed the C# by learning bit and pieces. FYI, My android phone is galaxy s with ICS running on it.Please point out my mistakes.. Source codes : C# Code using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.ComponentModel; using System.Data; using System.Drawing; using System.Linq; using System.Text; using System.Windows.Forms; using System.Threading; using System.Net.Sockets; using InTheHand.Net.Bluetooth; using InTheHand.Windows.Forms; using InTheHand.Net.Sockets; using InTheHand.Net; namespace BTSyncClient { public partial class Form1 : Form { BluetoothClient myself; BluetoothDeviceInfo bTServerDevice; private Guid uuid = Guid.Parse("00001101-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB"); bool isConnected; public Form1() { InitializeComponent(); if (BluetoothRadio.IsSupported) { myself = new BluetoothClient(); } } private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e) { } private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) { connect(); } private void Form1_FormClosing(object sender, FormClosingEventArgs e) { try { myself.GetStream().Close(); myself.Dispose(); } catch (Exception ex) { Console.Out.WriteLine(ex); } } private void button2_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) { SelectBluetoothDeviceDialog dialog = new SelectBluetoothDeviceDialog(); DialogResult result = dialog.ShowDialog(this); if(result.Equals(DialogResult.OK)){ bTServerDevice = dialog.SelectedDevice; } } private void callback(IAsyncResult ar) { String msg = (String)ar.AsyncState; if (ar.IsCompleted) { isConnected = myself.Connected; if (myself.Connected) { UTF8Encoding encoder = new UTF8Encoding(); NetworkStream stream = myself.GetStream(); if (!stream.CanWrite) { MessageBox.Show("Stream is not Writable"); } System.IO.StreamWriter mywriter = new System.IO.StreamWriter(stream, Encoding.UTF8); mywriter.WriteLine(msg); mywriter.Flush(); } else MessageBox.Show("Damn thing isnt connected"); } } private void connect() { try { if (bTServerDevice != null) { myself.BeginConnect(bTServerDevice.DeviceAddress, uuid, new AsyncCallback(callback) , message.Text); } } catch (Exception e) { Console.Out.WriteLine(e); } } } } Server Thread import java.io.IOException; import java.util.UUID; import android.bluetooth.BluetoothAdapter; import android.bluetooth.BluetoothServerSocket; import android.bluetooth.BluetoothSocket; import android.util.Log; public class ServerSocketThread extends Thread { private static final String TAG = "TestApp"; private BluetoothAdapter btAdapter; private BluetoothServerSocket serverSocket; private boolean stopMe; private static final UUID uuid = UUID.fromString("00001101-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB"); //private static final UUID uuid = UUID.fromString("6e58c9d5-b0b6-4009-ad9b-fd9481aef9b3"); private static final String SERVICE_NAME = "TestService"; public ServerSocketThread() { stopMe = false; btAdapter = BluetoothAdapter.getDefaultAdapter(); try { serverSocket = btAdapter.listenUsingRfcommWithServiceRecord(SERVICE_NAME, uuid); } catch (IOException e) { Log.d(TAG,e.toString()); } } public void signalStop(){ stopMe = true; } public void run(){ Log.d(TAG,"In ServerThread"); BluetoothSocket socket = null; while(!stopMe){ try { socket = serverSocket.accept(); } catch (IOException e) { break; } if(socket != null){ AcceptThread newClientConnection = new AcceptThread(socket); newClientConnection.start(); } } Log.d(TAG,"Server Thread now dead"); } // Will cancel the listening socket and cause the thread to finish public void cancel(){ try { serverSocket.close(); } catch (IOException e) { } } } Accept Thread import java.io.IOException; import java.io.InputStream; import java.util.Scanner; import android.bluetooth.BluetoothSocket; import android.util.Log; public class AcceptThread extends Thread { private BluetoothSocket socket; private String TAG = "TestApp"; static int count = 0; public AcceptThread(BluetoothSocket Socket) { socket = Socket; } volatile boolean isError; String output; String error; public void run() { Log.d(TAG, "AcceptThread Started"); isError = false; try { socket.connect(); } catch (IOException e) { Log.d(TAG,"Error while doing socket.connect()"+ ++count); Log.d(TAG, e.toString()); Log.d(TAG,"Message: "+e.getLocalizedMessage()); Log.d(TAG,"Localized Message: "+e.getMessage()); isError = true; } InputStream in = null; try { in = socket.getInputStream(); } catch (IOException e) { Log.d(TAG,"Error while doing socket.getInputStream()"); Log.d(TAG, e.toString()); Log.d(TAG,"Message: "+e.getLocalizedMessage()); Log.d(TAG,"Localized Message: "+e.getMessage()); isError = true; } Scanner istream = new Scanner(in); if (istream.hasNextLine()) { Log.d(TAG, "Received : "+istream.nextLine()); Log.d(TAG,"Count of Thread is : " + count); } istream.close(); try { in.close(); } catch (IOException e) { Log.d(TAG,"Error while doing in.close()"); Log.d(TAG, e.toString()); Log.d(TAG,"Message: "+e.getLocalizedMessage()); Log.d(TAG,"Localized Message: "+e.getMessage()); isError = true; } try { socket.close(); } catch (IOException e) { Log.d(TAG,"Error while doing socket.close()"); Log.d(TAG, e.toString()); Log.d(TAG,"Message: "+e.getLocalizedMessage()); Log.d(TAG,"Localized Message: "+e.getMessage()); isError = true; } } }

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• Passing XML markers to Google Map

  - by djmadscribbler

  I've been creating a V3 Google map based on this example from Mike Williams http://www.geocodezip.com/v3_MW_example_map3.html I've run into a bit of a problem though. If I have no parameters in my URL then I get the error "id is undefined idmarkers [id.toLowerCase()] = marker;" in Firebug and only one marker will show up. If I have a parameter (?id=105 for example) then all the sidebar links say 105 (or whatever the parameter in the URL was) instead of their respective label as listed in the XML file and a random infowindow will be opened instead of the window for the id in the URL. Here is my javascript: var map = null; var lastmarker = null; // ========== Read paramaters that have been passed in ========== // Before we go looking for the passed parameters, set some defaults // in case there are no parameters var id; var index = -1; // these set the initial center, zoom and maptype for the map // if it is not specified in the query string var lat = 42.194741; var lng = -121.700301; var zoom = 18; var maptype = google.maps.MapTypeId.HYBRID; function MapTypeId2UrlValue(maptype) { var urlValue = 'm'; switch (maptype) { case google.maps.MapTypeId.HYBRID: urlValue = 'h'; break; case google.maps.MapTypeId.SATELLITE: urlValue = 'k'; break; case google.maps.MapTypeId.TERRAIN: urlValue = 't'; break; default: case google.maps.MapTypeId.ROADMAP: urlValue = 'm'; break; } return urlValue; } // If there are any parameters at eh end of the URL, they will be in location.search // looking something like "?marker=3" // skip the first character, we are not interested in the "?" var query = location.search.substring(1); // split the rest at each "&" character to give a list of "argname=value" pairs var pairs = query.split("&"); for (var i = 0; i < pairs.length; i++) { // break each pair at the first "=" to obtain the argname and value var pos = pairs[i].indexOf("="); var argname = pairs[i].substring(0, pos).toLowerCase(); var value = pairs[i].substring(pos + 1).toLowerCase(); // process each possible argname - use unescape() if theres any chance of spaces if (argname == "id") { id = unescape(value); } if (argname == "marker") { index = parseFloat(value); } if (argname == "lat") { lat = parseFloat(value); } if (argname == "lng") { lng = parseFloat(value); } if (argname == "zoom") { zoom = parseInt(value); } if (argname == "type") { // from the v3 documentation 8/24/2010 // HYBRID This map type displays a transparent layer of major streets on satellite images. // ROADMAP This map type displays a normal street map. // SATELLITE This map type displays satellite images. // TERRAIN This map type displays maps with physical features such as terrain and vegetation. if (value == "m") { maptype = google.maps.MapTypeId.ROADMAP; } if (value == "k") { maptype = google.maps.MapTypeId.SATELLITE; } if (value == "h") { maptype = google.maps.MapTypeId.HYBRID; } if (value == "t") { maptype = google.maps.MapTypeId.TERRAIN; } } } // this variable will collect the html which will eventually be placed in the side_bar var side_bar_html = ""; // arrays to hold copies of the markers and html used by the side_bar // because the function closure trick doesnt work there var gmarkers = []; var idmarkers = []; // global "map" variable var map = null; // A function to create the marker and set up the event window function function createMarker(point, icon, label, html) { var contentString = html; var marker = new google.maps.Marker({ position: point, map: map, title: label, icon: icon, zIndex: Math.round(point.lat() * -100000) << 5 }); marker.id = id; marker.index = gmarkers.length; google.maps.event.addListener(marker, 'click', function () { lastmarker = new Object; lastmarker.id = marker.id; lastmarker.index = marker.index; infowindow.setContent(contentString); infowindow.open(map, marker); }); // save the info we need to use later for the side_bar gmarkers.push(marker); idmarkers[id.toLowerCase()] = marker; // add a line to the side_bar html side_bar_html += '<a href="javascript:myclick(' + (gmarkers.length - 1) + ')">' + id + '<\/a><br>'; } // This function picks up the click and opens the corresponding info window function myclick(i) { google.maps.event.trigger(gmarkers[i], "click"); } function makeLink() { var mapinfo = "lat=" + map.getCenter().lat().toFixed(6) + "&lng=" + map.getCenter().lng().toFixed(6) + "&zoom=" + map.getZoom() + "&type=" + MapTypeId2UrlValue(map.getMapTypeId()); if (lastmarker) { var a = "/about/map/default.aspx?id=" + lastmarker.id + "&" + mapinfo; var b = "/about/map/default.aspx?marker=" + lastmarker.index + "&" + mapinfo; } else { var a = "/about/map/default.aspx?" + mapinfo; var b = a; } document.getElementById("idlink").innerHTML = '<a href="' + a + '" id=url target=_new>- Link directly to this page by id</a> (id in xml file also entry &quot;name&quot; in sidebar menu)'; document.getElementById("indexlink").innerHTML = '<a href="' + b + '" id=url target=_new>- Link directly to this page by index</a> (position in gmarkers array)'; } function initialize() { // create the map var myOptions = { zoom: zoom, center: new google.maps.LatLng(lat, lng), mapTypeId: maptype, mapTypeControlOptions: { style: google.maps.MapTypeControlStyle.DROPDOWN_MENU }, navigationControl: true, mapTypeId: google.maps.MapTypeId.HYBRID }; map = new google.maps.Map(document.getElementById("map_canvas"), myOptions); var stylesarray = [ { featureType: "poi", elementType: "labels", stylers: [ { visibility: "off" } ] }, { featureType: "landscape.man_made", elementType: "labels", stylers: [ { visibility: "off" } ] } ]; var options = map.setOptions({ styles: stylesarray }); // Make the link the first time when the page opens makeLink(); // Make the link again whenever the map changes google.maps.event.addListener(map, 'maptypeid_changed', makeLink); google.maps.event.addListener(map, 'center_changed', makeLink); google.maps.event.addListener(map, 'bounds_changed', makeLink); google.maps.event.addListener(map, 'zoom_changed', makeLink); google.maps.event.addListener(map, 'click', function () { lastmarker = null; makeLink(); infowindow.close(); }); // Read the data from example.xml downloadUrl("example.xml", function (doc) { var xmlDoc = xmlParse(doc); var markers = xmlDoc.documentElement.getElementsByTagName("marker"); for (var i = 0; i < markers.length; i++) { // obtain the attribues of each marker var lat = parseFloat(markers[i].getAttribute("lat")); var lng = parseFloat(markers[i].getAttribute("lng")); var point = new google.maps.LatLng(lat, lng); var html = markers[i].getAttribute("html"); var label = markers[i].getAttribute("label"); var icon = markers[i].getAttribute("icon"); // create the marker var marker = createMarker(point, icon, label, html); } // put the assembled side_bar_html contents into the side_bar div document.getElementById("side_bar").innerHTML = side_bar_html; // ========= If a parameter was passed, open the info window ========== if (id) { if (idmarkers[id]) { google.maps.event.trigger(idmarkers[id], "click"); } else { alert("id " + id + " does not match any marker"); } } if (index > -1) { if (index < gmarkers.length) { google.maps.event.trigger(gmarkers[index], "click"); } else { alert("marker " + index + " does not exist"); } } }); } var infowindow = new google.maps.InfoWindow( { size: new google.maps.Size(150, 50) }); google.maps.event.addDomListener(window, "load", initialize); And here is an example of my XML formatting <marker lat="42.196175" lng="-121.699224" html="This is the information about 104" iconimage="/about/map/images/104.png" label="104" />

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• Authoritative sources about Database vs. Flatfile decision

  - by FastAl

  <tldr>looking for a reference to a book or other undeniably authoritative source that gives reasons when you should choose a database vs. when you should choose other storage methods. I have provided an un-authoritative list of reasons about 2/3 of the way down this post.</tldr> I have a situation at my company where a database is being used where it would be better to use another solution (in this case, an auto-generated piece of source code that contains a static lookup table, searched by binary sort). Normally, a database would be an OK solution even though the problem does not require a database, e.g, none of the elements of ACID are needed, as it is read-only data, updated about every 3-5 years (also requiring other sourcecode changes), and fits in memory, and can be keyed into via binary search (a tad faster than db, but speed is not an issue). The problem is that this code runs on our enterprise server, but is shared with several PC platforms (some disconnected, some use a central DB, etc.), and parts of it are managed by multiple programming units, parts by the DBAs, parts even by mathematicians in another department, etc. These hit their own platform’s version of their databases (containing their own copy of the static data). What happens is that every implementation, every little change, something different goes wrong. There are many other issues as well. I can’t even use a flatfile, because one mode of running on our enterprise server does not have permission to read files (only databases, and of course, its own literal storage, e.g., in-source table). Of course, other parts of the system use databases in proper, less obscure manners; there is no problem with those parts. So why don’t we just change it? I don’t have administrative ability to force a change. But I’m affected because sometimes I have to help fix the problems, but mostly because it causes outages and tons of extra IT time by other programmers and d*mmit that makes me mad! The reason neither management, nor the designers of the system, can see the problem is that they propose a solution that won’t work: increase communication; implement more safeguards and standards; etc. But every time, in a different part of the already-pared-down but still multi-step processes, a few different diligent, hard-working, top performing IT personnel make a unique subtle error that causes it to fail, sometimes after the last round of testing! And in general these are not single-person failures, but understandable miscommunications. And communication at our company is actually better than most. People just don't think that's the case because they haven't dug into the matter. However, I have it on very good word from somebody with extensive formal study of sociology and psychology that the relatively small amount of less-than-proper database usage in this gigantic cross-platform multi-source, multi-language project is bureaucratically un-maintainable. Impossible. No chance. At least with Human Beings in the loop, and it can’t be automated. In addition, the management and developers who could change this, though intelligent and capable, don’t understand the rigidity of this ‘how humans are’ issue, and are not convincible on the matter. The reason putting the static data in sourcecode will solve the problem is, although the solution is less sexy than a database, it would function with no technical drawbacks; and since the sharing of sourcecode already works very well, you basically erase any database-related effort from this section of the project, along with all the drawbacks of it that are causing problems. OK, that’s the background, for the curious. I won’t be able to convince management that this is an unfixable sociological problem, and that the real solution is coding around these limits of human nature, just as you would code around a bug in a 3rd party component that you can’t change. So what I have to do is exploit the unsuitableness of the database solution, and not do it using logic, but rather authority. I am aware of many reasons, and posts on this site giving reasons for one over the other; I’m not looking for lists of reasons like these (although you can add a comment if I've miss a doozy): WHY USE A DATABASE? instead of flatfile/other DB vs. file: if you need... Random Read / Transparent search optimization Advanced / varied / customizable Searching and sorting capabilities Transaction/rollback Locks, semaphores Concurrency control / Shared users Security 1-many/m-m is easier Easy modification Scalability Load Balancing Random updates / inserts / deletes Advanced query Administrative control of design, etc. SQL / learning curve Debugging / Logging Centralized / Live Backup capabilities Cached queries / dvlp & cache execution plans Interleaved update/read Referential integrity, avoid redundant/missing/corrupt/out-of-sync data Reporting (from on olap or oltp db) / turnkey generation tools [Disadvantages:] Important to get right the first time - professional design - but only b/c it's meant to last s/w & h/w cost Usu. over a network, speed issue (best vs. best design vs. local=even then a separate process req's marshalling/netwk layers/inter-p comm) indicies and query processing can stand in the way of simple processing (vs. flatfile) WHY USE FLATFILE: If you only need... Sequential Row processing only Limited usage append only (no reading, no master key/update) Only Update the record you're reading (fixed length recs only) Too big to fit into memory If Local disk / read-ahead network connection Portability / small system Email / cut & Paste / store as document by novice - simple format Low design learning curve but high cost later WHY USE IN-MEMORY/TABLE (tables, arrays, etc.): if you need... Processing a single db/ff record that was imported Known size of data Static data if hardcoding the table Narrow, unchanging use (e.g., one program or proc) -includes a class that will be shared, but encapsulates its data manipulation Extreme speed needed / high transaction frequency Random access - but search is dependent on implementation Following are some other posts about the topic: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1499239/database-vs-flat-text-file-what-are-some-technical-reasons-for-choosing-one-over http://stackoverflow.com/questions/332825/are-flat-file-databases-any-good http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2356851/database-vs-flat-files http://stackoverflow.com/questions/514455/databases-vs-plain-text/514530 What I’d like to know is if anybody could recommend a hard, authoritative source containing these reasons. I’m looking for a paper book I can buy, or a reputable website with whitepapers about the issue (e.g., Microsoft, IBM), not counting the user-generated content on those sites. This will have a greater change to elicit a change that I’m looking for: less wasted programmer time, and more reliable programs. Thanks very much for your help. You win a prize for reading such a large post!

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• Dealing with external processes

  - by Jesse Aldridge

  I've been working on a gui app that needs to manage external processes. Working with external processes leads to a lot of issues that can make a programmer's life difficult. I feel like maintenence on this app is taking an unacceptably long time. I've been trying to list the things that make working with external processes difficult so that I can come up with ways of mitigating the pain. This kind of turned into a rant which I thought I'd post here in order to get some feedback and to provide some guidance to anybody thinking about sailing into these very murky waters. Here's what I've got so far: Output from the child can get mixed up with output from the parent. This can make both outputs misleading and hard to read. It can be hard to tell what came from where. It becomes harder to figure out what's going on when things are asynchronous. Here's a contrived example: import textwrap, os, time from subprocess import Popen test_path = 'test_file.py' with open(test_path, 'w') as file: file.write(textwrap.dedent(''' import time for i in range(3): print 'Hello %i' % i time.sleep(1)''')) proc = Popen('python -B "%s"' % test_path) for i in range(3): print 'Hello %i' % i time.sleep(1) os.remove(test_path) I guess I could have the child process write its output to a file. But it can be annoying to have to open up a file every time I want to see the result of a print statement. If I have code for the child process I could add a label, something like print 'child: Hello %i', but it can be annoying to do that for every print. And it adds some noise to the output. And of course I can't do it if I don't have access to the code. I could manually manage the process output. But then you open up a huge can of worms with threads and polling and stuff like that. A simple solution is to treat processes like synchronous functions, that is, no further code executes until the process completes. In other words, make the process block. But that doesn't work if you're building a gui app. Which brings me to the next problem... Blocking processes cause the gui to become unresponsive. import textwrap, sys, os from subprocess import Popen from PyQt4.QtGui import * from PyQt4.QtCore import * test_path = 'test_file.py' with open(test_path, 'w') as file: file.write(textwrap.dedent(''' import time for i in range(3): print 'Hello %i' % i time.sleep(1)''')) app = QApplication(sys.argv) button = QPushButton('Launch process') def launch_proc(): # Can't move the window until process completes proc = Popen('python -B "%s"' % test_path) proc.communicate() button.connect(button, SIGNAL('clicked()'), launch_proc) button.show() app.exec_() os.remove(test_path) Qt provides a process wrapper of its own called QProcess which can help with this. You can connect functions to signals to capture output relatively easily. This is what I'm currently using. But I'm finding that all these signals behave suspiciously like goto statements and can lead to spaghetti code. I think I want to get sort-of blocking behavior by having the 'finished' signal from QProcess call a function containing all the code that comes after the process call. I think that should work but I'm still a bit fuzzy on the details... Stack traces get interrupted when you go from the child process back to the parent process. If a normal function screws up, you get a nice complete stack trace with filenames and line numbers. If a subprocess screws up, you'll be lucky if you get any output at all. You end up having to do a lot more detective work everytime something goes wrong. Speaking of which, output has a way of disappearing when dealing external processes. Like if you run something via the windows 'cmd' command, the console will pop up, execute the code, and then disappear before you have a chance to see the output. You have to pass the /k flag to make it stick around. Similar issues seem to crop up all the time. I suppose both problems 3 and 4 have the same root cause: no exception handling. Exception handling is meant to be used with functions, it doesn't work with processes. Maybe there's some way to get something like exception handling for processes? I guess that's what stderr is for? But dealing with two different streams can be annoying in itself. Maybe I should look into this more... Processes can hang and stick around in the background without you realizing it. So you end up yelling at your computer cuz it's going so slow until you finally bring up your task manager and see 30 instances of the same process hanging out in the background. Also, hanging background processes can interefere with other instances of the process in various fun ways, such as causing permissions errors by holding a handle to a file or someting like that. It seems like an easy solution to this would be to have the parent process kill the child process on exit if the child process didn't close itself. But if the parent process crashes, cleanup code might not get called and the child can be left hanging. Also, if the parent waits for the child to complete, and the child is in an infinite loop or something, you can end up with two hanging processes. This problem can tie in to problem 2 for extra fun, causing your gui to stop responding entirely and force you to kill everything with the task manager. F***ing quotes Parameters often need to be passed to processes. This is a headache in itself. Especially if you're dealing with file paths. Say... 'C:/My Documents/whatever/'. If you don't have quotes, the string will often be split at the space and interpreted as two arguments. If you need nested quotes you can use ' and ". But if you need to use more than two layers of quotes, you have to do some nasty escaping, for example: "cmd /k 'python \'path 1\' \'path 2\''". A good solution to this problem is passing parameters as a list rather than as a single string. Subprocess allows you to do this. Can't easily return data from a subprocess. You can use stdout of course. But what if you want to throw a print in there for debugging purposes? That's gonna screw up the parent if it's expecting output formatted a certain way. In functions you can print one string and return another and everything works just fine. Obscure command-line flags and a crappy terminal based help system. These are problems I often run into when using os level apps. Like the /k flag I mentioned, for holding a cmd window open, who's idea was that? Unix apps don't tend to be much friendlier in this regard. Hopefully you can use google or StackOverflow to find the answer you need. But if not, you've got a lot of boring reading and frusterating trial and error to do. External factors. This one's kind of fuzzy. But when you leave the relatively sheltered harbor of your own scripts to deal with external processes you find yourself having to deal with the "outside world" to a much greater extent. And that's a scary place. All sorts of things can go wrong. Just to give a random example: the cwd in which a process is run can modify it's behavior. There are probably other issues, but those are the ones I've written down so far. Any other snags you'd like to add? Any suggestions for dealing with these problems?

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• How do I prove I should put a table of values in source code instead of a database table?

  - by FastAl

  <tldr>looking for a reference to a book or other undeniably authoritative source that gives reasons when you should choose a database vs. when you should choose other storage methods. I have provided an un-authoritative list of reasons about 2/3 of the way down this post.</tldr> I have a situation at my company where a database is being used where it would be better to use another solution (in this case, an auto-generated piece of source code that contains a static lookup table, searched by binary sort). Normally, a database would be an OK solution even though the problem does not require a database, e.g, none of the elements of ACID are needed, as it is read-only data, updated about every 3-5 years (also requiring other sourcecode changes), and fits in memory, and can be keyed into via binary search (a tad faster than db, but speed is not an issue). The problem is that this code runs on our enterprise server, but is shared with several PC platforms (some disconnected, some use a central DB, etc.), and parts of it are managed by multiple programming units, parts by the DBAs, parts even by mathematicians in another department, etc. These hit their own platform’s version of their databases (containing their own copy of the static data). What happens is that every implementation, every little change, something different goes wrong. There are many other issues as well. I can’t even use a flatfile, because one mode of running on our enterprise server does not have permission to read files (only databases, and of course, its own literal storage, e.g., in-source table). Of course, other parts of the system use databases in proper, less obscure manners; there is no problem with those parts. So why don’t we just change it? I don’t have administrative ability to force a change. But I’m affected because sometimes I have to help fix the problems, but mostly because it causes outages and tons of extra IT time by other programmers and d*mmit that makes me mad! The reason neither management, nor the designers of the system, can see the problem is that they propose a solution that won’t work: increase communication; implement more safeguards and standards; etc. But every time, in a different part of the already-pared-down but still multi-step processes, a few different diligent, hard-working, top performing IT personnel make a unique subtle error that causes it to fail, sometimes after the last round of testing! And in general these are not single-person failures, but understandable miscommunications. And communication at our company is actually better than most. People just don't think that's the case because they haven't dug into the matter. However, I have it on very good word from somebody with extensive formal study of sociology and psychology that the relatively small amount of less-than-proper database usage in this gigantic cross-platform multi-source, multi-language project is bureaucratically un-maintainable. Impossible. No chance. At least with Human Beings in the loop, and it can’t be automated. In addition, the management and developers who could change this, though intelligent and capable, don’t understand the rigidity of this ‘how humans are’ issue, and are not convincible on the matter. The reason putting the static data in sourcecode will solve the problem is, although the solution is less sexy than a database, it would function with no technical drawbacks; and since the sharing of sourcecode already works very well, you basically erase any database-related effort from this section of the project, along with all the drawbacks of it that are causing problems. OK, that’s the background, for the curious. I won’t be able to convince management that this is an unfixable sociological problem, and that the real solution is coding around these limits of human nature, just as you would code around a bug in a 3rd party component that you can’t change. So what I have to do is exploit the unsuitableness of the database solution, and not do it using logic, but rather authority. I am aware of many reasons, and posts on this site giving reasons for one over the other; I’m not looking for lists of reasons like these (although you can add a comment if I've miss a doozy): WHY USE A DATABASE? instead of flatfile/other DB vs. file: if you need... Random Read / Transparent search optimization Advanced / varied / customizable Searching and sorting capabilities Transaction/rollback Locks, semaphores Concurrency control / Shared users Security 1-many/m-m is easier Easy modification Scalability Load Balancing Random updates / inserts / deletes Advanced query Administrative control of design, etc. SQL / learning curve Debugging / Logging Centralized / Live Backup capabilities Cached queries / dvlp & cache execution plans Interleaved update/read Referential integrity, avoid redundant/missing/corrupt/out-of-sync data Reporting (from on olap or oltp db) / turnkey generation tools [Disadvantages:] Important to get right the first time - professional design - but only b/c it's meant to last s/w & h/w cost Usu. over a network, speed issue (best vs. best design vs. local=even then a separate process req's marshalling/netwk layers/inter-p comm) indicies and query processing can stand in the way of simple processing (vs. flatfile) WHY USE FLATFILE: If you only need... Sequential Row processing only Limited usage append only (no reading, no master key/update) Only Update the record you're reading (fixed length recs only) Too big to fit into memory If Local disk / read-ahead network connection Portability / small system Email / cut & Paste / store as document by novice - simple format Low design learning curve but high cost later WHY USE IN-MEMORY/TABLE (tables, arrays, etc.): if you need... Processing a single db/ff record that was imported Known size of data Static data if hardcoding the table Narrow, unchanging use (e.g., one program or proc) -includes a class that will be shared, but encapsulates its data manipulation Extreme speed needed / high transaction frequency Random access - but search is dependent on implementation Following are some other posts about the topic: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1499239/database-vs-flat-text-file-what-are-some-technical-reasons-for-choosing-one-over http://stackoverflow.com/questions/332825/are-flat-file-databases-any-good http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2356851/database-vs-flat-files http://stackoverflow.com/questions/514455/databases-vs-plain-text/514530 What I’d like to know is if anybody could recommend a hard, authoritative source containing these reasons. I’m looking for a paper book I can buy, or a reputable website with whitepapers about the issue (e.g., Microsoft, IBM), not counting the user-generated content on those sites. This will have a greater change to elicit a change that I’m looking for: less wasted programmer time, and more reliable programs. Thanks very much for your help. You win a prize for reading such a large post!

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• UAC being turned off once a day on Windows 7

  - by Mehper C. Palavuzlar

  I have strange problem on my HP laptop. This began to happen recently. Whenever I start my machine, Windows 7 Action Center displays the following warning: You need to restart your computer for UAC to be turned off. Actually, this does not happen if it happened once on a specific day. For example, when I start the machine in the morning, it shows up; but it never shows up in the subsequent restarts within that day. On the next day, the same thing happens again. I never disable UAC, but obviously some rootkit or virus causes this. As soon as I get this warning, I head for the UAC settings, and re-enable UAC to dismiss this warning. This is a bothersome situation as I can't fix it. First, I have run a full scan on the computer for any probable virus and malware/rootkit activity, but TrendMicro OfficeScan said that no viruses have been found. I went to an old Restore Point using Windows System Restore, but the problem was not solved. What I have tried so far (which couldn't find the rootkit): TrendMicro OfficeScan Antivirus AVAST Malwarebytes' Anti-malware Ad-Aware Vipre Antivirus GMER TDSSKiller (Kaspersky Labs) HiJackThis RegRuns UnHackMe SuperAntiSpyware Portable Tizer Rootkit Razor (*) Sophos Anti-Rootkit SpyHunter 4 There are no other strange activities on the machine. Everything works fine except this bizarre incident. What could be the name of this annoying rootkit? How can I detect and remove it? EDIT: Below is the log file generated by HijackThis: Logfile of Trend Micro HijackThis v2.0.4 Scan saved at 13:07:04, on 17.01.2011 Platform: Windows 7 (WinNT 6.00.3504) MSIE: Internet Explorer v8.00 (8.00.7600.16700) Boot mode: Normal Running processes: C:\Windows\system32\taskhost.exe C:\Windows\system32\Dwm.exe C:\Windows\Explorer.EXE C:\Program Files\CheckPoint\SecuRemote\bin\SR_GUI.Exe C:\Windows\System32\igfxtray.exe C:\Windows\System32\hkcmd.exe C:\Windows\system32\igfxsrvc.exe C:\Windows\System32\igfxpers.exe C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\HP Wireless Assistant\HPWAMain.exe C:\Program Files\Synaptics\SynTP\SynTPEnh.exe C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\HP Quick Launch Buttons\QLBCTRL.exe C:\Program Files\Analog Devices\Core\smax4pnp.exe C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\HP Quick Launch Buttons\VolCtrl.exe C:\Program Files\LightningFAX\LFclient\lfsndmng.exe C:\Program Files\Common Files\Java\Java Update\jusched.exe C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office Communicator\communicator.exe C:\Program Files\Iron Mountain\Connected BackupPC\Agent.exe C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\OfficeScan Client\PccNTMon.exe C:\Program Files\Microsoft LifeCam\LifeExp.exe C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\Shared\HpqToaster.exe C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\sidebar.exe C:\Program Files\mimio\mimio Studio\system\aps_tablet\atwtusb.exe C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\OUTLOOK.EXE C:\Program Files\Babylon\Babylon-Pro\Babylon.exe C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe C:\Users\userx\Desktop\HijackThis.exe R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896 R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = about:blank R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157 R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Search_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896 R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896 R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157 R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,SearchAssistant = R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,CustomizeSearch = R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings,AutoConfigURL = http://www.yaysat.com.tr/proxy/proxy.pac R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar,LinksFolderName = O2 - BHO: AcroIEHelperStub - {18DF081C-E8AD-4283-A596-FA578C2EBDC3} - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Acrobat\ActiveX\AcroIEHelperShim.dll O2 - BHO: Babylon IE plugin - {9CFACCB6-2F3F-4177-94EA-0D2B72D384C1} - C:\Program Files\Babylon\Babylon-Pro\Utils\BabylonIEPI.dll O2 - BHO: Java(tm) Plug-In 2 SSV Helper - {DBC80044-A445-435b-BC74-9C25C1C588A9} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\jp2ssv.dll O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [IgfxTray] C:\Windows\system32\igfxtray.exe O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [HotKeysCmds] C:\Windows\system32\hkcmd.exe O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Persistence] C:\Windows\system32\igfxpers.exe O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [hpWirelessAssistant] C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\HP Wireless Assistant\HPWAMain.exe O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SynTPEnh] C:\Program Files\Synaptics\SynTP\SynTPEnh.exe O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [QlbCtrl.exe] C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\HP Quick Launch Buttons\QlbCtrl.exe /Start O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SoundMAXPnP] C:\Program Files\Analog Devices\Core\smax4pnp.exe O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Adobe Reader Speed Launcher] "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Reader 9.0\Reader\Reader_sl.exe" O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Adobe ARM] "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\ARM\1.0\AdobeARM.exe" O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [lfsndmng] C:\Program Files\LightningFAX\LFclient\LFSNDMNG.EXE O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SunJavaUpdateSched] "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Java\Java Update\jusched.exe" O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Communicator] "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office Communicator\communicator.exe" /fromrunkey O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [AgentUiRunKey] "C:\Program Files\Iron Mountain\Connected BackupPC\Agent.exe" -ni -sss -e http://localhost:16386/ O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [OfficeScanNT Monitor] "C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\OfficeScan Client\pccntmon.exe" -HideWindow O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Babylon Client] C:\Program Files\Babylon\Babylon-Pro\Babylon.exe -AutoStart O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [LifeCam] "C:\Program Files\Microsoft LifeCam\LifeExp.exe" O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [Sidebar] C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\sidebar.exe /autoRun O4 - Global Startup: mimio Studio.lnk = C:\Program Files\mimio\mimio Studio\mimiosys.exe O8 - Extra context menu item: Microsoft Excel'e &Ver - res://C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~1\Office12\EXCEL.EXE/3000 O8 - Extra context menu item: Translate this web page with Babylon - res://C:\Program Files\Babylon\Babylon-Pro\Utils\BabylonIEPI.dll/ActionTU.htm O8 - Extra context menu item: Translate with Babylon - res://C:\Program Files\Babylon\Babylon-Pro\Utils\BabylonIEPI.dll/Action.htm O9 - Extra button: Research - {92780B25-18CC-41C8-B9BE-3C9C571A8263} - C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~1\Office12\REFIEBAR.DLL O9 - Extra button: Translate this web page with Babylon - {F72841F0-4EF1-4df5-BCE5-B3AC8ACF5478} - C:\Program Files\Babylon\Babylon-Pro\Utils\BabylonIEPI.dll O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Translate this web page with Babylon - {F72841F0-4EF1-4df5-BCE5-B3AC8ACF5478} - C:\Program Files\Babylon\Babylon-Pro\Utils\BabylonIEPI.dll O16 - DPF: {00134F72-5284-44F7-95A8-52A619F70751} (ObjWinNTCheck Class) - https://172.20.12.103:4343/officescan/console/html/ClientInstall/WinNTChk.cab O16 - DPF: {08D75BC1-D2B5-11D1-88FC-0080C859833B} (OfficeScan Corp Edition Web-Deployment SetupCtrl Class) - https://172.20.12.103:4343/officescan/console/html/ClientInstall/setup.cab O17 - HKLM\System\CCS\Services\Tcpip\Parameters: Domain = yaysat.com O17 - HKLM\Software\..\Telephony: DomainName = yaysat.com O17 - HKLM\System\CS1\Services\Tcpip\Parameters: Domain = yaysat.com O17 - HKLM\System\CS2\Services\Tcpip\Parameters: Domain = yaysat.com O18 - Protocol: qcom - {B8DBD265-42C3-43E6-B439-E968C71984C6} - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Quest Shared\CodeXpert\qcom.dll O22 - SharedTaskScheduler: FencesShellExt - {1984DD45-52CF-49cd-AB77-18F378FEA264} - C:\Program Files\Stardock\Fences\FencesMenu.dll O23 - Service: Andrea ADI Filters Service (AEADIFilters) - Andrea Electronics Corporation - C:\Windows\system32\AEADISRV.EXE O23 - Service: AgentService - Iron Mountain Incorporated - C:\Program Files\Iron Mountain\Connected BackupPC\AgentService.exe O23 - Service: Agere Modem Call Progress Audio (AgereModemAudio) - LSI Corporation - C:\Program Files\LSI SoftModem\agrsmsvc.exe O23 - Service: BMFMySQL - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files\Quest Software\Benchmark Factory for Databases\Repository\MySQL\bin\mysqld-max-nt.exe O23 - Service: Com4QLBEx - Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. - C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\HP Quick Launch Buttons\Com4QLBEx.exe O23 - Service: hpqwmiex - Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. - C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\Shared\hpqwmiex.exe O23 - Service: OfficeScanNT RealTime Scan (ntrtscan) - Trend Micro Inc. - C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\OfficeScan Client\ntrtscan.exe O23 - Service: SMS Task Sequence Agent (smstsmgr) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\CCM\TSManager.exe O23 - Service: Check Point VPN-1 Securemote service (SR_Service) - Check Point Software Technologies - C:\Program Files\CheckPoint\SecuRemote\bin\SR_Service.exe O23 - Service: Check Point VPN-1 Securemote watchdog (SR_Watchdog) - Check Point Software Technologies - C:\Program Files\CheckPoint\SecuRemote\bin\SR_Watchdog.exe O23 - Service: Trend Micro Unauthorized Change Prevention Service (TMBMServer) - Trend Micro Inc. - C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\OfficeScan Client\..\BM\TMBMSRV.exe O23 - Service: OfficeScan NT Listener (tmlisten) - Trend Micro Inc. - C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\OfficeScan Client\tmlisten.exe O23 - Service: OfficeScan NT Proxy Service (TmProxy) - Trend Micro Inc. - C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\OfficeScan Client\TmProxy.exe O23 - Service: VNC Server Version 4 (WinVNC4) - RealVNC Ltd. - C:\Program Files\RealVNC\VNC4\WinVNC4.exe -- End of file - 8204 bytes As suggested in this very similar question, I have run full scans (+boot time scans) with RegRun and UnHackMe, but they also did not find anything. I have carefully examined all entries in the Event Viewer, but there's nothing wrong. Now I know that there is a hidden trojan (rootkit) on my machine which seems to disguise itself quite successfully. Note that I don't have the chance to remove the HDD, or reinstall the OS as this is a work machine subjected to certain IT policies on a company domain. Despite all my attempts, the problem still remains. I strictly need a to-the-point method or a pukka rootkit remover to remove whatever it is. I don't want to monkey with the system settings, i.e. disabling auto runs one by one, messing the registry, etc. EDIT 2: I have found an article which is closely related to my trouble: Malware can turn off UAC in Windows 7; “By design” says Microsoft. Special thanks(!) to Microsoft. In the article, a VBScript code is given to disable UAC automatically: '// 1337H4x Written by _____________ '// (12 year old) Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell") '// Toggle Start menu WshShell.SendKeys("^{ESC}") WScript.Sleep(500) '// Search for UAC applet WshShell.SendKeys("change uac") WScript.Sleep(2000) '// Open the applet (assuming second result) WshShell.SendKeys("{DOWN}") WshShell.SendKeys("{DOWN}") WshShell.SendKeys("{ENTER}") WScript.Sleep(2000) '// Set UAC level to lowest (assuming out-of-box Default setting) WshShell.SendKeys("{TAB}") WshShell.SendKeys("{DOWN}") WshShell.SendKeys("{DOWN}") WshShell.SendKeys("{DOWN}") '// Save our changes WshShell.SendKeys("{TAB}") WshShell.SendKeys("{ENTER}") '// TODO: Add code to handle installation of rebound '// process to continue exploitation, i.e. place something '// evil in Startup folder '// Reboot the system '// WshShell.Run "shutdown /r /f" Unfortunately, that doesn't tell me how I can get rid of this malicious code running on my system. EDIT 3: Last night, I left the laptop open because of a running SQL task. When I came in the morning, I saw that UAC was turned off. So, I suspect that the problem is not related to startup. It is happening once a day for sure no matter if the machine is rebooted.

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• Red Gate Coder interviews: Alex Davies

  - by Michael Williamson

  Alex Davies has been a software engineer at Red Gate since graduating from university, and is currently busy working on .NET Demon. We talked about tackling parallel programming with his actors framework, a scientific approach to debugging, and how JavaScript is going to affect the programming languages we use in years to come. So, if we start at the start, how did you get started in programming? When I was seven or eight, I was given a BBC Micro for Christmas. I had asked for a Game Boy, but my dad thought it would be better to give me a proper computer. For a year or so, I only played games on it, but then I found the user guide for writing programs in it. I gradually started doing more stuff on it and found it fun. I liked creating. As I went into senior school I continued to write stuff on there, trying to write games that weren’t very good. I got a real computer when I was fourteen and found ways to write BASIC on it. Visual Basic to start with, and then something more interesting than that. How did you learn to program? Was there someone helping you out? Absolutely not! I learnt out of a book, or by experimenting. I remember the first time I found a loop, I was like “Oh my God! I don’t have to write out the same line over and over and over again any more. It’s amazing!” When did you think this might be something that you actually wanted to do as a career? For a long time, I thought it wasn’t something that you would do as a career, because it was too much fun to be a career. I thought I’d do chemistry at university and some kind of career based on chemical engineering. And then I went to a careers fair at school when I was seventeen or eighteen, and it just didn’t interest me whatsoever. I thought “I could be a programmer, and there’s loads of money there, and I’m good at it, and it’s fun”, but also that I shouldn’t spoil my hobby. Now I don’t really program in my spare time any more, which is a bit of a shame, but I program all the rest of the time, so I can live with it. Do you think you learnt much about programming at university? Yes, definitely! I went into university knowing how to make computers do anything I wanted them to do. However, I didn’t have the language to talk about algorithms, so the algorithms course in my first year was massively important. Learning other language paradigms like functional programming was really good for breadth of understanding. Functional programming influences normal programming through design rather than actually using it all the time. I draw inspiration from it to write imperative programs which I think is actually becoming really fashionable now, but I’ve been doing it for ages. I did it first! There were also some courses on really odd programming languages, a bit of Prolog, a little bit of C. Having a little bit of each of those is something that I would have never done on my own, so it was important. And then there are knowledge-based courses which are about not programming itself but things that have been programmed like TCP. Those are really important for examples for how to approach things. Did you do any internships while you were at university? Yeah, I spent both of my summers at the same company. I thought I could code well before I went there. Looking back at the crap that I produced, it was only surpassed in its crappiness by all of the other code already in that company. I’m so much better at writing nice code now than I used to be back then. Was there just not a culture of looking after your code? There was, they just didn’t hire people for their abilities in that area. They hired people for raw IQ. The first indicator of it going wrong was that they didn’t have any computer scientists, which is a bit odd in a programming company. But even beyond that they didn’t have people who learnt architecture from anyone else. Most of them had started straight out of university, so never really had experience or mentors to learn from. There wasn’t the experience to draw from to teach each other. In the second half of my second internship, I was being given tasks like looking at new technologies and teaching people stuff. Interns shouldn’t be teaching people how to do their jobs! All interns are going to have little nuggets of things that you don’t know about, but they shouldn’t consistently be the ones who know the most. It’s not a good environment to learn. I was going to ask how you found working with people who were more experienced than you… When I reached Red Gate, I found some people who were more experienced programmers than me, and that was difficult. I’ve been coding since I was tiny. At university there were people who were cleverer than me, but there weren’t very many who were more experienced programmers than me. During my internship, I didn’t find anyone who I classed as being a noticeably more experienced programmer than me. So, it was a shock to the system to have valid criticisms rather than just formatting criticisms. However, Red Gate’s not so big on the actual code review, at least it wasn’t when I started. We did an entire product release and then somebody looked over all of the UI of that product which I’d written and say what they didn’t like. By that point, it was way too late and I’d disagree with them. Do you think the lack of code reviews was a bad thing? I think if there’s going to be any oversight of new people, then it should be continuous rather than chunky. For me I don’t mind too much, I could go out and get oversight if I wanted it, and in those situations I felt comfortable without it. If I was managing the new person, then maybe I’d be keener on oversight and then the right way to do it is continuously and in very, very small chunks. Have you had any significant projects you’ve worked on outside of a job? When I was a teenager I wrote all sorts of stuff. I used to write games, I derived how to do isomorphic projections myself once. I didn’t know what the word was so I couldn’t Google for it, so I worked it out myself. It was horrifically complicated. But it sort of tailed off when I started at university, and is now basically zero. If I do side-projects now, they tend to be work-related side projects like my actors framework, NAct, which I started in a down tools week. Could you explain a little more about NAct? It is a little C# framework for writing parallel code more easily. Parallel programming is difficult when you need to write to shared data. Sometimes parallel programming is easy because you don’t need to write to shared data. When you do need to access shared data, you could just have your threads pile in and do their work, but then you would screw up the data because the threads would trample on each other’s toes. You could lock, but locks are really dangerous if you’re using more than one of them. You get interactions like deadlocks, and that’s just nasty. Actors instead allows you to say this piece of data belongs to this thread of execution, and nobody else can read it. If you want to read it, then ask that thread of execution for a piece of it by sending a message, and it will send the data back by a message. And that avoids deadlocks as long as you follow some obvious rules about not making your actors sit around waiting for other actors to do something. There are lots of ways to write actors, NAct allows you to do it as if it was method calls on other objects, which means you get all the strong type-safety that C# programmers like. Do you think that this is suitable for the majority of parallel programming, or do you think it’s only suitable for specific cases? It’s suitable for most difficult parallel programming. If you’ve just got a hundred web requests which are all independent of each other, then I wouldn’t bother because it’s easier to just spin them up in separate threads and they can proceed independently of each other. But where you’ve got difficult parallel programming, where you’ve got multiple threads accessing multiple bits of data in multiple ways at different times, then actors is at least as good as all other ways, and is, I reckon, easier to think about. When you’re using actors, you presumably still have to write your code in a different way from you would otherwise using single-threaded code. You can’t use actors with any methods that have return types, because you’re not allowed to call into another actor and wait for it. If you want to get a piece of data out of another actor, then you’ve got to use tasks so that you can use “async” and “await” to await asynchronously for it. But other than that, you can still stick things in classes so it’s not too different really. Rather than having thousands of objects with mutable state, you can use component-orientated design, where there are only a few mutable classes which each have a small number of instances. Then there can be thousands of immutable objects. If you tend to do that anyway, then actors isn’t much of a jump. If I’ve already built my system without any parallelism, how hard is it to add actors to exploit all eight cores on my desktop? Usually pretty easy. If you can identify even one boundary where things look like messages and you have components where some objects live on one side and these other objects live on the other side, then you can have a granddaddy object on one side be an actor and it will parallelise as it goes across that boundary. Not too difficult. If we do get 1000-core desktop PCs, do you think actors will scale up? It’s hard. There are always in the order of twenty to fifty actors in my whole program because I tend to write each component as actors, and I tend to have one instance of each component. So this won’t scale to a thousand cores. What you can do is write data structures out of actors. I use dictionaries all over the place, and if you need a dictionary that is going to be accessed concurrently, then you could build one of those out of actors in no time. You can use queuing to marshal requests between different slices of the dictionary which are living on different threads. So it’s like a distributed hash table but all of the chunks of it are on the same machine. That means that each of these thousand processors has cached one small piece of the dictionary. I reckon it wouldn’t be too big a leap to start doing proper parallelism. Do you think it helps if actors get baked into the language, similarly to Erlang? Erlang is excellent in that it has thread-local garbage collection. C# doesn’t, so there’s a limit to how well C# actors can possibly scale because there’s a single garbage collected heap shared between all of them. When you do a global garbage collection, you’ve got to stop all of the actors, which is seriously expensive, whereas in Erlang garbage collections happen per-actor, so they’re insanely cheap. However, Erlang deviated from all the sensible language design that people have used recently and has just come up with crazy stuff. You can definitely retrofit thread-local garbage collection to .NET, and then it’s quite well-suited to support actors, even if it’s not baked into the language. Speaking of language design, do you have a favourite programming language? I’ll choose a language which I’ve never written before. I like the idea of Scala. It sounds like C#, only with some of the niggles gone. I enjoy writing static types. It means you don’t have to writing tests so much. When you say it doesn’t have some of the niggles? C# doesn’t allow the use of a property as a method group. It doesn’t have Scala case classes, or sum types, where you can do a switch statement and the compiler checks that you’ve checked all the cases, which is really useful in functional-style programming. Pattern-matching, in other words. That’s actually the major niggle. C# is pretty good, and I’m quite happy with C#. And what about going even further with the type system to remove the need for tests to something like Haskell? Or is that a step too far? I’m quite a pragmatist, I don’t think I could deal with trying to write big systems in languages with too few other users, especially when learning how to structure things. I just don’t know anyone who can teach me, and the Internet won’t teach me. That’s the main reason I wouldn’t use it. If I turned up at a company that writes big systems in Haskell, I would have no objection to that, but I wouldn’t instigate it. What about things in C#? For instance, there’s contracts in C#, so you can try to statically verify a bit more about your code. Do you think that’s useful, or just not worthwhile? I’ve not really tried it. My hunch is that it needs to be built into the language and be quite mathematical for it to work in real life, and that doesn’t seem to have ended up true for C# contracts. I don’t think anyone who’s tried them thinks they’re any good. I might be wrong. On a slightly different note, how do you like to debug code? I think I’m quite an odd debugger. I use guesswork extremely rarely, especially if something seems quite difficult to debug. I’ve been bitten spending hours and hours on guesswork and not being scientific about debugging in the past, so now I’m scientific to a fault. What I want is to see the bug happening in the debugger, to step through the bug happening. To watch the program going from a valid state to an invalid state. When there’s a bug and I can’t work out why it’s happening, I try to find some piece of evidence which places the bug in one section of the code. From that experiment, I binary chop on the possible causes of the bug. I suppose that means binary chopping on places in the code, or binary chopping on a stage through a processing cycle. Basically, I’m very stupid about how I debug. I won’t make any guesses, I won’t use any intuition, I will only identify the experiment that’s going to binary chop most effectively and repeat rather than trying to guess anything. I suppose it’s quite top-down. Is most of the time then spent in the debugger? Absolutely, if at all possible I will never debug using print statements or logs. I don’t really hold much stock in outputting logs. If there’s any bug which can be reproduced locally, I’d rather do it in the debugger than outputting logs. And with SmartAssembly error reporting, there’s not a lot that can’t be either observed in an error report and just fixed, or reproduced locally. And in those other situations, maybe I’ll use logs. But I hate using logs. You stare at the log, trying to guess what’s going on, and that’s exactly what I don’t like doing. You have to just look at it and see does this look right or wrong. We’ve covered how you get to grip with bugs. How do you get to grips with an entire codebase? I watch it in the debugger. I find little bugs and then try to fix them, and mostly do it by watching them in the debugger and gradually getting an understanding of how the code works using my process of binary chopping. I have to do a lot of reading and watching code to choose where my slicing-in-half experiment is going to be. The last time I did it was SmartAssembly. The old code was a complete mess, but at least it did things top to bottom. There wasn’t too much of some of the big abstractions where flow of control goes all over the place, into a base class and back again. Code’s really hard to understand when that happens. So I like to choose a little bug and try to fix it, and choose a bigger bug and try to fix it. Definitely learn by doing. I want to always have an aim so that I get a little achievement after every few hours of debugging. Once I’ve learnt the codebase I might be able to fix all the bugs in an hour, but I’d rather be using them as an aim while I’m learning the codebase. If I was a maintainer of a codebase, what should I do to make it as easy as possible for you to understand? Keep distinct concepts in different places. And name your stuff so that it’s obvious which concepts live there. You shouldn’t have some variable that gets set miles up the top of somewhere, and then is read miles down to choose some later behaviour. I’m talking from a very much SmartAssembly point of view because the old SmartAssembly codebase had tons and tons of these things, where it would read some property of the code and then deal with it later. Just thousands of variables in scope. Loads of things to think about. If you can keep concepts separate, then it aids me in my process of fixing bugs one at a time, because each bug is going to more or less be understandable in the one place where it is. And what about tests? Do you think they help at all? I’ve never had the opportunity to learn a codebase which has had tests, I don’t know what it’s like! What about when you’re actually developing? How useful do you find tests in finding bugs or regressions? Finding regressions, absolutely. Running bits of code that would be quite hard to run otherwise, definitely. It doesn’t happen very often that a test finds a bug in the first place. I don’t really buy nebulous promises like tests being a good way to think about the spec of the code. My thinking goes something like “This code works at the moment, great, ship it! Ah, there’s a way that this code doesn’t work. Okay, write a test, demonstrate that it doesn’t work, fix it, use the test to demonstrate that it’s now fixed, and keep the test for future regressions.” The most valuable tests are for bugs that have actually happened at some point, because bugs that have actually happened at some point, despite the fact that you think you’ve fixed them, are way more likely to appear again than new bugs are. Does that mean that when you write your code the first time, there are no tests? Often. The chance of there being a bug in a new feature is relatively unaffected by whether I’ve written a test for that new feature because I’m not good enough at writing tests to think of bugs that I would have written into the code. So not writing regression tests for all of your code hasn’t affected you too badly? There are different kinds of features. Some of them just always work, and are just not flaky, they just continue working whatever you throw at them. Maybe because the type-checker is particularly effective around them. Writing tests for those features which just tend to always work is a waste of time. And because it’s a waste of time I’ll tend to wait until a feature has demonstrated its flakiness by having bugs in it before I start trying to test it. You can get a feel for whether it’s going to be flaky code as you’re writing it. I try to write it to make it not flaky, but there are some things that are just inherently flaky. And very occasionally, I’ll think “this is going to be flaky” as I’m writing, and then maybe do a test, but not most of the time. How do you think your programming style has changed over time? I’ve got clearer about what the right way of doing things is. I used to flip-flop a lot between different ideas. Five years ago I came up with some really good ideas and some really terrible ideas. All of them seemed great when I thought of them, but they were quite diverse ideas, whereas now I have a smaller set of reliable ideas that are actually good for structuring code. So my code is probably more similar to itself than it used to be back in the day, when I was trying stuff out. I’ve got more disciplined about encapsulation, I think. There are operational things like I use actors more now than I used to, and that forces me to use immutability more than I used to. The first code that I wrote in Red Gate was the memory profiler UI, and that was an actor, I just didn’t know the name of it at the time. I don’t really use object-orientation. By object-orientation, I mean having n objects of the same type which are mutable. I want a constant number of objects that are mutable, and they should be different types. I stick stuff in dictionaries and then have one thing that owns the dictionary and puts stuff in and out of it. That’s definitely a pattern that I’ve seen recently. I think maybe I’m doing functional programming. Possibly. It’s plausible. If you had to summarise the essence of programming in a pithy sentence, how would you do it? Programming is the form of art that, without losing any of the beauty of architecture or fine art, allows you to produce things that people love and you make money from. So you think it’s an art rather than a science? It’s a little bit of engineering, a smidgeon of maths, but it’s not science. Like architecture, programming is on that boundary between art and engineering. If you want to do it really nicely, it’s mostly art. You can get away with doing architecture and programming entirely by having a good engineering mind, but you’re not going to produce anything nice. You’re not going to have joy doing it if you’re an engineering mind. Architects who are just engineering minds are not going to enjoy their job. I suppose engineering is the foundation on which you build the art. Exactly. How do you think programming is going to change over the next ten years? There will be an unfortunate shift towards dynamically-typed languages, because of JavaScript. JavaScript has an unfair advantage. JavaScript’s unfair advantage will cause more people to be exposed to dynamically-typed languages, which means other dynamically-typed languages crop up and the best features go into dynamically-typed languages. Then people conflate the good features with the fact that it’s dynamically-typed, and more investment goes into dynamically-typed languages. They end up better, so people use them. What about the idea of compiling other languages, possibly statically-typed, to JavaScript? It’s a reasonable idea. I would like to do it, but I don’t think enough people in the world are going to do it to make it pick up. The hordes of beginners are the lifeblood of a language community. They are what makes there be good tools and what makes there be vibrant community websites. And any particular thing which is the same as JavaScript only with extra stuff added to it, although it might be technically great, is not going to have the hordes of beginners. JavaScript is always to be quickest and easiest way for a beginner to start programming in the browser. And dynamically-typed languages are great for beginners. Compilers are pretty scary and beginners don’t write big code. And having your errors come up in the same place, whether they’re statically checkable errors or not, is quite nice for a beginner. If someone asked me to teach them some programming, I’d teach them JavaScript. If dynamically-typed languages are great for beginners, when do you think the benefits of static typing start to kick in? The value of having a statically typed program is in the tools that rely on the static types to produce a smooth IDE experience rather than actually telling me my compile errors. And only once you’re experienced enough a programmer that having a really smooth IDE experience makes a blind bit of difference, does static typing make a blind bit of difference. So it’s not really about size of codebase. If I go and write up a tiny program, I’m still going to get value out of writing it in C# using ReSharper because I’m experienced with C# and ReSharper enough to be able to write code five times faster if I have that help. Any other visions of the future? Nobody’s going to use actors. Because everyone’s going to be running on single-core VMs connected over network-ready protocols like JSON over HTTP. So, parallelism within one operating system is going to die. But until then, you should use actors. More Red Gater Coder interviews

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• FreeBSD performance tuning. Sysctls, loader.conf, kernel

  - by SaveTheRbtz

  I wanted to share knowledge of tuning FreeBSD via sysctl.conf/loader.conf/KENCONF. It was initially based on Igor Sysoev's (author of nginx) presentation about FreeBSD tuning up to 100,000-200,000 active connections. Tunings are for FreeBSD-CURRENT. Since 7.2 amd64 some of them are tuned well by default. Prior 7.0 some of them are boot only (set via /boot/loader.conf) or does not exist at all. sysctl.conf: # No zero mapping feature # May break wine # (There are also reports about broken samba3) #security.bsd.map_at_zero=0 # If you have really busy webserver with apache13 you may run out of processes #kern.maxproc=10000 # Same for servers with apache2 / Pound #kern.threads.max_threads_per_proc=4096 # Max. backlog size kern.ipc.somaxconn=4096 # Shared memory // 7.2+ can use shared memory > 2Gb kern.ipc.shmmax=2147483648 # Sockets kern.ipc.maxsockets=204800 # Can cause this on older kernels: # http://old.nabble.com/Significant-performance-regression-for-increased-maxsockbuf-on-8.0-RELEASE-tt26745981.html#a26745981 ) kern.ipc.maxsockbuf=10485760 # Mbuf 2k clusters (on amd64 7.2+ 25600 is default) # For such high value vm.kmem_size must be increased to 3G kern.ipc.nmbclusters=262144 # Jumbo pagesize(_SC_PAGESIZE) clusters # Used as general packet storage for jumbo frames # can be monitored via `netstat -m` #kern.ipc.nmbjumbop=262144 # Jumbo 9k/16k clusters # If you are using them #kern.ipc.nmbjumbo9=65536 #kern.ipc.nmbjumbo16=32768 # For lower latency you can decrease scheduler's maximum time slice # default: stathz/10 (~ 13) #kern.sched.slice=1 # Increase max command-line length showed in `ps` (e.g for Tomcat/Java) # Default is PAGE_SIZE / 16 or 256 on x86 # This avoids commands to be presented as [executable] in `ps` # For more info see: http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/query-pr.cgi?pr=120749 kern.ps_arg_cache_limit=4096 # Every socket is a file, so increase them kern.maxfiles=204800 kern.maxfilesperproc=200000 kern.maxvnodes=200000 # On some systems HPET is almost 2 times faster than default ACPI-fast # Useful on systems with lots of clock_gettime / gettimeofday calls # See http://old.nabble.com/ACPI-fast-default-timecounter,-but-HPET-83--faster-td23248172.html # After revision 222222 HPET became default: http://svnweb.freebsd.org/base?view=revision&revision=222222 kern.timecounter.hardware=HPET # Small receive space, only usable on http-server, on file server this # should be increased to 65535 or even more #net.inet.tcp.recvspace=8192 # This is useful on Fat-Long-Pipes #net.inet.tcp.recvbuf_max=10485760 #net.inet.tcp.recvbuf_inc=65535 # Small send space is useful for http servers that serve small files # Autotuned since 7.x net.inet.tcp.sendspace=16384 # This is useful on Fat-Long-Pipes #net.inet.tcp.sendbuf_max=10485760 #net.inet.tcp.sendbuf_inc=65535 # Turn off receive autotuning # You can play with it. #net.inet.tcp.recvbuf_auto=0 #net.inet.tcp.sendbuf_auto=0 # This should be enabled if you going to use big spaces (>64k) # Also timestamp field is useful when using syncookies net.inet.tcp.rfc1323=1 # Turn this off on high-speed, lossless connections (LAN 1Gbit+) # If you set it there is no need in TCP_NODELAY sockopt (see man tcp) net.inet.tcp.delayed_ack=0 # This feature is useful if you are serving data over modems, Gigabit Ethernet, # or even high speed WAN links (or any other link with a high bandwidth delay product), # especially if you are also using window scaling or have configured a large send window. # Automatically disables on small RTT ( http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/cvsweb.cgi/src/sys/netinet/tcp_subr.c?#rev1.237 ) # This sysctl was removed in 10-CURRENT: # See: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg06178.html #net.inet.tcp.inflight.enable=0 # TCP slowstart algorithm tunings # We assuming we have very fast clients #net.inet.tcp.slowstart_flightsize=100 #net.inet.tcp.local_slowstart_flightsize=100 # Disable randomizing of ports to avoid false RST # Before usage check SA here www.bsdcan.org/2006/papers/ImprovingTCPIP.pdf # (it's also says that port randomization auto-disables at some conn.rates, but I didn't checked it thou) #net.inet.ip.portrange.randomized=0 # Increase portrange # For outgoing connections only. Good for seed-boxes and ftp servers. net.inet.ip.portrange.first=1024 net.inet.ip.portrange.last=65535 # # stops route cache degregation during a high-bandwidth flood # http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en/books/handbook/securing-freebsd.html #net.inet.ip.rtexpire=2 net.inet.ip.rtminexpire=2 net.inet.ip.rtmaxcache=1024 # Security net.inet.ip.redirect=0 net.inet.ip.sourceroute=0 net.inet.ip.accept_sourceroute=0 net.inet.icmp.maskrepl=0 net.inet.icmp.log_redirect=0 net.inet.icmp.drop_redirect=1 net.inet.tcp.drop_synfin=1 # # There is also good example of sysctl.conf with comments: # http://www.thern.org/projects/sysctl.conf # # icmp may NOT rst, helpful for those pesky spoofed # icmp/udp floods that end up taking up your outgoing # bandwidth/ifqueue due to all that outgoing RST traffic. # #net.inet.tcp.icmp_may_rst=0 # Security net.inet.udp.blackhole=1 net.inet.tcp.blackhole=2 # IPv6 Security # For more info see http://www.fosslc.org/drupal/content/security-implications-ipv6 # Disable Node info replies # To see this vulnerability in action run `ping6 -a sglAac ::1` or `ping6 -w ::1` on unprotected node net.inet6.icmp6.nodeinfo=0 # Turn on IPv6 privacy extensions # For more info see proposal http://unix.derkeiler.com/Mailing-Lists/FreeBSD/net/2008-06/msg00103.html net.inet6.ip6.use_tempaddr=1 net.inet6.ip6.prefer_tempaddr=1 # Disable ICMP redirect net.inet6.icmp6.rediraccept=0 # Disable acceptation of RA and auto linklocal generation if you don't use them #net.inet6.ip6.accept_rtadv=0 #net.inet6.ip6.auto_linklocal=0 # Increases default TTL, sometimes useful # Default is 64 net.inet.ip.ttl=128 # Lessen max segment life to conserve resources # ACK waiting time in miliseconds # (default: 30000. RFC from 1979 recommends 120000) net.inet.tcp.msl=5000 # Max bumber of timewait sockets net.inet.tcp.maxtcptw=200000 # Don't use tw on local connections # As of 15 Apr 2009. Igor Sysoev says that nolocaltimewait has some buggy realization. # So disable it or now till get fixed #net.inet.tcp.nolocaltimewait=1 # FIN_WAIT_2 state fast recycle net.inet.tcp.fast_finwait2_recycle=1 # Time before tcp keepalive probe is sent # default is 2 hours (7200000) #net.inet.tcp.keepidle=60000 # Should be increased until net.inet.ip.intr_queue_drops is zero net.inet.ip.intr_queue_maxlen=4096 # Interrupt handling via multiple CPU, but with context switch. # You can play with it. Default is 1; #net.isr.direct=0 # This is for routers only #net.inet.ip.forwarding=1 #net.inet.ip.fastforwarding=1 # This speed ups dummynet when channel isn't saturated net.inet.ip.dummynet.io_fast=1 # Increase dummynet(4) hash #net.inet.ip.dummynet.hash_size=2048 #net.inet.ip.dummynet.max_chain_len # Should be increased when you have A LOT of files on server # (Increase until vfs.ufs.dirhash_mem becomes lower) vfs.ufs.dirhash_maxmem=67108864 # Note from commit http://svn.freebsd.org/base/head@211031 : # For systems with RAID volumes and/or virtualization envirnments, where # read performance is very important, increasing this sysctl tunable to 32 # or even more will demonstratively yield additional performance benefits. vfs.read_max=32 # Explicit Congestion Notification (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Explicit_Congestion_Notification) net.inet.tcp.ecn.enable=1 # Flowtable - flow caching mechanism # Useful for routers #net.inet.flowtable.enable=1 #net.inet.flowtable.nmbflows=65535 # Extreme polling tuning #kern.polling.burst_max=1000 #kern.polling.each_burst=1000 #kern.polling.reg_frac=100 #kern.polling.user_frac=1 #kern.polling.idle_poll=0 # IPFW dynamic rules and timeouts tuning # Increase dyn_buckets till net.inet.ip.fw.curr_dyn_buckets is lower net.inet.ip.fw.dyn_buckets=65536 net.inet.ip.fw.dyn_max=65536 net.inet.ip.fw.dyn_ack_lifetime=120 net.inet.ip.fw.dyn_syn_lifetime=10 net.inet.ip.fw.dyn_fin_lifetime=2 net.inet.ip.fw.dyn_short_lifetime=10 # Make packets pass firewall only once when using dummynet # i.e. packets going thru pipe are passing out from firewall with accept #net.inet.ip.fw.one_pass=1 # shm_use_phys Wires all shared pages, making them unswappable # Use this to lessen Virtual Memory Manager's work when using Shared Mem. # Useful for databases #kern.ipc.shm_use_phys=1 # ZFS # Enable prefetch. Useful for sequential load type i.e fileserver. # FreeBSD sets vfs.zfs.prefetch_disable to 1 on any i386 systems and # on any amd64 systems with less than 4GB of avaiable memory # For additional info check this nabble thread http://old.nabble.com/Samba-read-speed-performance-tuning-td27964534.html #vfs.zfs.prefetch_disable=0 # On highload servers you may notice following message in dmesg: # "Approaching the limit on PV entries, consider increasing either the # vm.pmap.shpgperproc or the vm.pmap.pv_entry_max tunable" vm.pmap.shpgperproc=2048 loader.conf: # Accept filters for data, http and DNS requests # Useful when your software uses select() instead of kevent/kqueue or when you under DDoS # DNS accf available on 8.0+ accf_data_load="YES" accf_http_load="YES" accf_dns_load="YES" # Async IO system calls aio_load="YES" # Linux specific devices in /dev # As for 8.1 it only /dev/full #lindev_load="YES" # Adds NCQ support in FreeBSD # WARNING! all ad[0-9]+ devices will be renamed to ada[0-9]+ # 8.0+ only #ahci_load="YES" #siis_load="YES" # FreeBSD 8.2+ # New Congestion Control for FreeBSD # http://caia.swin.edu.au/urp/newtcp/tools/cc_chd-readme-0.1.txt # http://www.ietf.org/proceedings/78/slides/iccrg-5.pdf # Initial merge commit message http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg31410.html #cc_chd_load="YES" # Increase kernel memory size to 3G. # # Use ONLY if you have KVA_PAGES in kernel configuration, and you have more than 3G RAM # Otherwise panic will happen on next reboot! # # It's required for high buffer sizes: kern.ipc.nmbjumbop, kern.ipc.nmbclusters, etc # Useful on highload stateful firewalls, proxies or ZFS fileservers # (FreeBSD 7.2+ amd64 users: Check that current value is lower!) #vm.kmem_size="3G" # If your server has lots of swap (>4Gb) you should increase following value # according to http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-hackers/2009-October/029616.html # Otherwise you'll be getting errors # "kernel: swap zone exhausted, increase kern.maxswzone" # kern.maxswzone="256M" # Older versions of FreeBSD can't tune maxfiles on the fly #kern.maxfiles="200000" # Useful for databases # Sets maximum data size to 1G # (FreeBSD 7.2+ amd64 users: Check that current value is lower!) #kern.maxdsiz="1G" # Maximum buffer size(vfs.maxbufspace) # You can check current one via vfs.bufspace # Should be lowered/upped depending on server's load-type # Usually decreased to preserve kmem # (default is 10% of mem) #kern.maxbcache="512M" # Sendfile buffers # For i386 only #kern.ipc.nsfbufs=10240 # FreeBSD 9+ # HPET "legacy route" support. It should allow HPET to work per-CPU # See http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg03603.html #hint.atrtc.0.clock=0 #hint.attimer.0.clock=0 #hint.hpet.0.legacy_route=1 # syncache Hash table tuning net.inet.tcp.syncache.hashsize=1024 net.inet.tcp.syncache.bucketlimit=512 net.inet.tcp.syncache.cachelimit=65536 # Increased hostcache # Later host cache can be viewed via net.inet.tcp.hostcache.list hidden sysctl # Very useful for it's RTT RTTVAR # Must be power of two net.inet.tcp.hostcache.hashsize=65536 # hashsize * bucketlimit (which is 30 by default) # It allocates 255Mb (1966080*136) of RAM net.inet.tcp.hostcache.cachelimit=1966080 # TCP control-block Hash table tuning net.inet.tcp.tcbhashsize=4096 # Disable ipfw deny all # Should be uncommented when there is a chance that # kernel and ipfw binary may be out-of sync on next reboot #net.inet.ip.fw.default_to_accept=1 # # SIFTR (Statistical Information For TCP Research) is a kernel module that # logs a range of statistics on active TCP connections to a log file. # See prerelease notes http://groups.google.com/group/mailing.freebsd.current/browse_thread/thread/b4c18be6cdce76e4 # and man 4 sitfr #siftr_load="YES" # Enable superpages, for 7.2+ only # Also read http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-hackers/2009-November/030094.html vm.pmap.pg_ps_enabled=1 # Usefull if you are using Intel-Gigabit NIC #hw.em.rxd=4096 #hw.em.txd=4096 #hw.em.rx_process_limit="-1" # Also if you have ALOT interrupts on NIC - play with following parameters # NOTE: You should set them for every NIC #dev.em.0.rx_int_delay: 250 #dev.em.0.tx_int_delay: 250 #dev.em.0.rx_abs_int_delay: 250 #dev.em.0.tx_abs_int_delay: 250 # There is also multithreaded version of em/igb drivers can be found here: # http://people.yandex-team.ru/~wawa/ # # for additional em monitoring and statistics use # sysctl dev.em.0.stats=1 ; dmesg # sysctl dev.em.0.debug=1 ; dmesg # Also after r209242 (-CURRENT) there is a separate sysctl for each stat variable; # Same tunings for igb #hw.igb.rxd=4096 #hw.igb.txd=4096 #hw.igb.rx_process_limit=100 # Some useful netisr tunables. See sysctl net.isr #net.isr.maxthreads=4 #net.isr.defaultqlimit=4096 #net.isr.maxqlimit: 10240 # Bind netisr threads to CPUs #net.isr.bindthreads=1 # # FreeBSD 9.x+ # Increase interface send queue length # See commit message http://svn.freebsd.org/viewvc/base?view=revision&revision=207554 #net.link.ifqmaxlen=1024 # Nicer boot logo =) loader_logo="beastie" And finally here is KERNCONF: # Just some of them, see also # cat /sys/{i386,amd64,}/conf/NOTES # This one useful only on i386 #options KVA_PAGES=512 # You can play with HZ in environments with high interrupt rate (default is 1000) # 100 is for my notebook to prolong it's battery life #options HZ=100 # Polling is goot on network loads with high packet rates and low-end NICs # NB! Do not enable it if you want more than one netisr thread #options DEVICE_POLLING # Eliminate datacopy on socket read-write # To take advantage with zero copy sockets you should have an MTU >= 4k # This req. is only for receiving data. # Read more in man zero_copy_sockets # Also this epic thread on kernel trap: # http://kerneltrap.org/node/6506 # Here Linus says that "anybody that does it that way (FreeBSD) is totally incompetent" #options ZERO_COPY_SOCKETS # Support TCP sign. Used for IPSec options TCP_SIGNATURE # There was stackoverflow found in KAME IPSec stack: # See http://secunia.com/advisories/43995/ # For quick workaround you can use `ipfw add deny proto ipcomp` options IPSEC # This ones can be loaded as modules. They described in loader.conf section #options ACCEPT_FILTER_DATA #options ACCEPT_FILTER_HTTP # Adding ipfw, also can be loaded as modules options IPFIREWALL # On 8.1+ you can disable verbose to see blocked packets on ipfw0 interface. # Also there is no point in compiling verbose into the kernel, because # now there is net.inet.ip.fw.verbose tunable. #options IPFIREWALL_VERBOSE #options IPFIREWALL_VERBOSE_LIMIT=10 options IPFIREWALL_FORWARD # Adding kernel NAT options IPFIREWALL_NAT options LIBALIAS # Traffic shaping options DUMMYNET # Divert, i.e. for userspace NAT options IPDIVERT # This is for OpenBSD's pf firewall device pf device pflog # pf's QoS - ALTQ options ALTQ options ALTQ_CBQ # Class Bases Queuing (CBQ) options ALTQ_RED # Random Early Detection (RED) options ALTQ_RIO # RED In/Out options ALTQ_HFSC # Hierarchical Packet Scheduler (HFSC) options ALTQ_PRIQ # Priority Queuing (PRIQ) options ALTQ_NOPCC # Required for SMP build # Pretty console # Manual can be found here http://forums.freebsd.org/showthread.php?t=6134 #options VESA #options SC_PIXEL_MODE # Disable reboot on Ctrl Alt Del #options SC_DISABLE_REBOOT # Change normal|kernel messages color options SC_NORM_ATTR=(FG_GREEN|BG_BLACK) options SC_KERNEL_CONS_ATTR=(FG_YELLOW|BG_BLACK) # More scroll space options SC_HISTORY_SIZE=8192 # Adding hardware crypto device device crypto device cryptodev # Useful network interfaces device vlan device tap #Virtual Ethernet driver device gre #IP over IP tunneling device if_bridge #Bridge interface device pfsync #synchronization interface for PF device carp #Common Address Redundancy Protocol device enc #IPsec interface device lagg #Link aggregation interface device stf #IPv4-IPv6 port # Also for my notebook, but may be used with Opteron device amdtemp # Same for Intel processors device coretemp # man 4 cpuctl device cpuctl # CPU control pseudo-device # Support for ECMP. More than one route for destination # Works even with default route so one can use it as LB for two ISP # For now code is unstable and panics (panic: rtfree 2) on route deletions. #options RADIX_MPATH # Multicast routing #options MROUTING #options PIM # Debug & DTrace options KDB # Kernel debugger related code options KDB_TRACE # Print a stack trace for a panic options KDTRACE_FRAME # amd64-only(?) options KDTRACE_HOOKS # all architectures - enable general DTrace hooks #options DDB #options DDB_CTF # all architectures - kernel ELF linker loads CTF data # Adaptive spining in lockmgr (8.x+) # See http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg10782.html options ADAPTIVE_LOCKMGRS # UTF-8 in console (8.x+) #options TEKEN_UTF8 # FreeBSD 8.1+ # Deadlock resolver thread # For additional information see http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg18124.html # (FYI: "resolution" is panic so use with caution) #options DEADLKRES # Increase maximum size of Raw I/O and sendfile(2) readahead #options MAXPHYS=(1024*1024) #options MAXBSIZE=(1024*1024) # For scheduler debug enable following option. # Debug will be available via `kern.sched.stats` sysctl # For more information see http://svnweb.freebsd.org/base/head/sys/conf/NOTES?view=markup #options SCHED_STATS If you are tuning network for maximum performance you may wish to play with ifconfig options like: # You can list all capabilities via `ifconfig -m` ifconfig [-]rxcsum [-]txcsum [-]tso [-]lro mtu In case you've enabled DDB in kernel config, you should edit your /etc/ddb.conf and add something like this to enable automatic reboot (and textdump as bonus): script kdb.enter.panic=textdump set; capture on; show pcpu; bt; ps; alltrace; capture off; call doadump; reset script kdb.enter.default=textdump set; capture on; bt; ps; capture off; call doadump; reset And do not forget to add ddb_enable="YES" to /etc/rc.conf Since FreeBSD 9 you can select to enable/disable flowcontrol on your NIC: # See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethernet_flow_control and # http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg07927.html for additional info ifconfig bge0 media auto mediaopt flowcontrol PS. Also most of FreeBSD's limits can be monitored by # vmstat -z and # limits PPS. variety of network counters can be monitored via # netstat -s In FreeBSD-9 netstat's -Q option appeared, try following command to display netisr stats # netstat -Q PPPS. also see # man 7 tuning PPPPS. I wanted to thank FreeBSD community, especially author of nginx - Igor Sysoev, nginx-ru@ and FreeBSD-performance@ mailing lists for providing useful information about FreeBSD tuning. FreeBSD WIP * Whats cooking for FreeBSD 7? * Whats cooking for FreeBSD 8? * Whats cooking for FreeBSD 9? So here is the question: What tunings are you using on yours FreeBSD servers? You can also post your /etc/sysctl.conf, /boot/loader.conf, kernel options, etc with description of its' meaning (do not copy-paste from sysctl -d). Don't forget to specify server type (web, smb, gateway, etc) Let's share experience!

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• Data Modeling: Logical Modeling Exercise

  - by swisscheese

  In trying to learn the art of data storage I have been trying to take in as much solid information as possible. PerformanceDBA posted some really helpful tutorials/examples in the following posts among others: is my data normalized? and Relational table naming convention. I already asked a subset question of this model here. So to make sure I understood the concepts he presented and I have seen elsewhere I wanted to take things a step or two further and see if I am grasping the concepts. Hence the purpose of this post, which hopefully others can also learn from. Everything I present is conceptual to me and for learning rather than applying it in some production system. It would be cool to get some input from PerformanceDBA also since I used his models to get started, but I appreciate all input given from anyone. As I am new to databases and especially modeling I will be the first to admit that I may not always ask the right questions, explain my thoughts clearly, or use the right verbage due to lack of expertise on the subject. So please keep that in mind and feel free to steer me in the right direction if I head off track. If there is enough interest in this I would like to take this from the logical to physical phases to show the evolution of the process and share it here on Stack. I will keep this thread for the Logical Diagram though and start new one for the additional steps. For my understanding I will be building a MySQL DB in the end to run some tests and see if what I came up with actually works. Here is the list of things that I want to capture in this conceptual model. Edit for V1.2 The purpose of this is to list Bands, their members, and the Events that they will be appearing at, as well as offer music and other merchandise for sale Members will be able to match up with friends Members can write reviews on the Bands, their music, and their events. There can only be one review per member on a given item, although they can edit their reviews and history will be maintained. BandMembers will have the chance to write a single Comment on Reviews about the Band they are associated with. Collectively as a Band only one Comment is allowed per Review. Members can then rate all Reviews and Comments but only once per given instance Members can select their favorite Bands, music, Merchandise, and Events Bands, Songs, and Events will be categorized into the type of Genre that they are and then further subcategorized into a SubGenre if necessary. It is ok for a Band or Event to fall into more then one Genre/SubGenre combination. Event date, time, and location will be posted for a given band and members can show that they will be attending the Event. An Event can be comprised of more than one Band, and multiple Events can take place at a single location on the same day Every party will be tied to at least one address and address history shall be maintained. Each party could also be tied to more then one address at a time (i.e. billing, shipping, physical) There will be stored profiles for Bands, BandMembers, and general members. So there it is, maybe a bit involved but could be a great learning tool for many hopefully as the process evolves and input is given by the community. Any input? EDIT v1.1 In response to PerformanceDBA U.3) That means no merchandise other than Band merchandise in the database. Correct ? That was my original thought but you got me thinking. Maybe the site would want to sell its own merchandise or even other merchandise from the bands. Not sure a mod to make for that. Would it require an entire rework of the Catalog section or just the identifying relationship that exists with the Band? Attempted a mod to sell both complete albums or song. Either way they would both be in electronic format only available for download. That is why I listed an Album as being comprised of Songs rather then 2 separate entities. U.5) I understand what you bring up about the circular relation with Favorite. I would like to get to this “It is either one Entity with some form of differentiation (FavoriteType) which identifies its treatment” but how to is not clear to me. What am I missing here? u.6) “Business Rules This is probably the only area you are weak in.” Thanks for the honest response. I will readdress these but I hope to clear up some confusion in my head first with the responses I have posted back to you. Q.1) Yes I would like to have Accepted, Rejected, and Blocked. I am not sure what you are referring to as to how this would change the logical model? Q.2) A person does not have to be a User. They can exist only as a BandMember. Is that what you are asking? Minor Issue Zero, One, or More…Oops I admit I forgot to give this attention when building the model. I am submitting this version as is and will address in a future version. I need to read up more on Constraint Checking to make sure I am understanding things. M.4) Depends if you envision OrderPurchase in the future. Can you expand as to what you mean here? EDIT V1.2 In response to PerformanceDBA input... Lessons learned. I was mixing the concept of Identifying / Non-Identifying and Cardinality (i.e. Genre / SubGenre), and doing so inconsistently to make things worse. Associative Tables are not required in Logical Diagrams as their many-to-many relationships can be depicted and then expanded in the Physical Model. I was overlooking the Cardinality in a lot of the relationships The importance of reading through relationships using effective Verb Phrases to reassure I am modeling what I want to accomplish. U.2) In the concept of this model it is only required to track a Venue as a location for an Event. No further data needs to be collected. With that being said Events will take place on a given EventDate and will be hosted at a Venue. Venues will host multiple events and possibly multiple events on a given date. In my new model my thinking was that EventDate is already tied to Event . Therefore, Venue will not need a relationship with EventDate. The 5th and 6th bullets you have listed under U.2) leave me questioning my thinking though. Am I missing something here? U.3) Is it time to move the link between Item and Band up to Item and Party instead? With the current design I don't see a possibility to sell merchandise not tied to the band as you have brought up. U.5) I left as per your input rather than making it a discrete Supertype/Subtype Relationship as I don’t see a benefit of having that type of roll up. Additional Revisions AR.1) After going through the exercise for FavoriteItem, I feel that Item to Review requires a many-to-many relationship so that is indicated. Necessary? Ok here we go for v1.3 I took a few days on this version, going back and forth with my design. Once the logical process is complete, as I want to see if I am on the right track, I will go through in depth what I had learned and the troubles I faced as a beginner going through this process. The big point for this version was it took throwing in some Keys to help see what I was missing in the past. Going through the process of doing a matrix proved to be of great help also. Regardless of anything, if it wasn't for the input given by PerformanceDBA I would still be a lost soul wondering in the dark. Who knows my current design might reaffirm that I still am, but I have learned a lot so I am know I at least have a flashlight in my hand. At this point in time I admit that I am still confused about identifying and non-identifying relationships. In my model I had to use non-identifying relationships with non nulls just to join the relationships I wanted to model. In reading a lot on the subject there seems to be a lot of disagreement and indecisiveness on the subject so I did what I thought represented the right things in my model. When to force (identifying) and when to be free (non-identifying)? Anyone have inputs? EDIT V1.4 Ok took the V1.3 inputs and cleaned things up for this V1.4 Currently working on a V1.5 to include attributes.

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• Using IIS Application Request Routing (ARR) for ASP.NET MVC

  - by Malcolm Frexner

  I use a simple ASP.NET MVC web (the template you use when you create a new site) and the web works as expected in my live environment. I now try to use IIS Application Request Routing version 2. I have a rule that send all reuqests to a different server that match a rule. The settings are a bit like this: http://blogs.iis.net/wonyoo/archive/2008/07/09/application-request-routing-arr-as-a-reverse-proxy.aspx My rule is just a bit different it is /shop(.*). Only requests that contain shop are send to a different server. I have to use rewrite, not redirect (The same as in the Picture) This works as long as the web the original requests go to is no ASP.NET MVC web. I tried to use a plain htm file in the webfolder and it worked. If put a compiled ASP.NET application into the webfolder it worked. But as soon as I put an ASP.NET MVC web into the folder, request arr served by this application. My understanding is that the ARR should kick in before the web application gets the chance to handle the request. Did anybody use ARR sucessfully as a reverse proxy for a ASP.NET MVC web? EDIT Here is the resulting web config when the rewrite roule is entered. With this rule I get a 404 that indicates that the rule is not used. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <configuration> <configSections> <sectionGroup name="system.web.extensions" type="System.Web.Configuration.SystemWebExtensionsSectionGroup, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"> <sectionGroup name="scripting" type="System.Web.Configuration.ScriptingSectionGroup, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"> <section name="scriptResourceHandler" type="System.Web.Configuration.ScriptingScriptResourceHandlerSection, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" requirePermission="false" allowDefinition="MachineToApplication" /> <sectionGroup name="webServices" type="System.Web.Configuration.ScriptingWebServicesSectionGroup, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"> <section name="jsonSerialization" type="System.Web.Configuration.ScriptingJsonSerializationSection, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" requirePermission="false" allowDefinition="Everywhere" /> <section name="profileService" type="System.Web.Configuration.ScriptingProfileServiceSection, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" requirePermission="false" allowDefinition="MachineToApplication" /> <section name="authenticationService" type="System.Web.Configuration.ScriptingAuthenticationServiceSection, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" requirePermission="false" allowDefinition="MachineToApplication" /> <section name="roleService" type="System.Web.Configuration.ScriptingRoleServiceSection, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" requirePermission="false" allowDefinition="MachineToApplication" /> </sectionGroup> </sectionGroup> </sectionGroup> </configSections> <appSettings /> <connectionStrings> <add name="ApplicationServices" connectionString="data source=.\SQLEXPRESS;Integrated Security=SSPI;AttachDBFilename=|DataDirectory|aspnetdb.mdf;User Instance=true" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" /> </connectionStrings> <system.web> <!-- Set compilation debug="true" to insert debugging symbols into the compiled page. Because this affects performance, set this value to true only during development. --> <compilation debug="false"> <assemblies> <add assembly="System.Core, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=B77A5C561934E089" /> <add assembly="System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" /> <add assembly="System.Web.Abstractions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" /> <add assembly="System.Web.Routing, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" /> <add assembly="System.Web.Mvc, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" /> <add assembly="System.Data.DataSetExtensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=B77A5C561934E089" /> <add assembly="System.Xml.Linq, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=B77A5C561934E089" /> <add assembly="System.Data.Linq, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=B77A5C561934E089" /> </assemblies> </compilation> <!-- The <authentication> section enables configuration of the security authentication mode used by ASP.NET to identify an incoming user. --> <authentication mode="Forms"> <forms loginUrl="~/Account/LogOn" timeout="2880" /> </authentication> <membership> <providers> <clear /> <add name="AspNetSqlMembershipProvider" type="System.Web.Security.SqlMembershipProvider, System.Web, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a" connectionStringName="ApplicationServices" enablePasswordRetrieval="false" enablePasswordReset="true" requiresQuestionAndAnswer="false" requiresUniqueEmail="false" passwordFormat="Hashed" maxInvalidPasswordAttempts="5" minRequiredPasswordLength="6" minRequiredNonalphanumericCharacters="0" passwordAttemptWindow="10" passwordStrengthRegularExpression="" applicationName="/" /> </providers> </membership> <profile> <providers> <clear /> <add name="AspNetSqlProfileProvider" type="System.Web.Profile.SqlProfileProvider, System.Web, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a" connectionStringName="ApplicationServices" applicationName="/" /> </providers> </profile> <roleManager enabled="false"> <providers> <clear /> <add connectionStringName="ApplicationServices" applicationName="/" name="AspNetSqlRoleProvider" type="System.Web.Security.SqlRoleProvider, System.Web, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a" /> <add applicationName="/" name="AspNetWindowsTokenRoleProvider" type="System.Web.Security.WindowsTokenRoleProvider, System.Web, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a" /> </providers> </roleManager> <!-- The <customErrors> section enables configuration of what to do if/when an unhandled error occurs during the execution of a request. Specifically, it enables developers to configure html error pages to be displayed in place of a error stack trace. <customErrors mode="RemoteOnly" defaultRedirect="GenericErrorPage.htm"> <error statusCode="403" redirect="NoAccess.htm" /> <error statusCode="404" redirect="FileNotFound.htm" /> </customErrors> --> <pages> <controls> <add tagPrefix="asp" namespace="System.Web.UI" assembly="System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" /> <add tagPrefix="asp" namespace="System.Web.UI.WebControls" assembly="System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" /> </controls> <namespaces> <add namespace="System.Web.Mvc" /> <add namespace="System.Web.Mvc.Ajax" /> <add namespace="System.Web.Mvc.Html" /> <add namespace="System.Web.Routing" /> <add namespace="System.Linq" /> <add namespace="System.Collections.Generic" /> </namespaces> </pages> <httpHandlers> <remove verb="*" path="*.asmx" /> <add verb="*" path="*.asmx" validate="false" type="System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptHandlerFactory, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" /> <add verb="*" path="*_AppService.axd" validate="false" type="System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptHandlerFactory, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" /> <add verb="GET,HEAD" path="ScriptResource.axd" type="System.Web.Handlers.ScriptResourceHandler, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" validate="false" /> <add verb="*" path="*.mvc" validate="false" type="System.Web.Mvc.MvcHttpHandler, System.Web.Mvc, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" /> </httpHandlers> <httpModules> <add name="ScriptModule" type="System.Web.Handlers.ScriptModule, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" /> <add name="UrlRoutingModule" type="System.Web.Routing.UrlRoutingModule, System.Web.Routing, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" /> </httpModules> </system.web> <system.codedom> <compilers> <compiler language="c#;cs;csharp" extension=".cs" warningLevel="4" type="Microsoft.CSharp.CSharpCodeProvider, System, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089"> <providerOption name="CompilerVersion" value="v3.5" /> <providerOption name="WarnAsError" value="false" /> </compiler> <compiler language="vb;vbs;visualbasic;vbscript" extension=".vb" warningLevel="4" type="Microsoft.VisualBasic.VBCodeProvider, System, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089"> <providerOption name="CompilerVersion" value="v3.5" /> <providerOption name="OptionInfer" value="true" /> <providerOption name="WarnAsError" value="false" /> </compiler> </compilers> </system.codedom> <system.web.extensions /> <!-- The system.webServer section is required for running ASP.NET AJAX under Internet Information Services 7.0. It is not necessary for previous version of IIS. --> <system.webServer> <rewrite> <rules> <rule name="shop" stopProcessing="true"> <match url="^shop/([_0-9a-z-.]+)" /> <action type="Rewrite" url="article.aspx?title={R:1}" logRewrittenUrl="true" /> </rule> </rules> </rewrite> <validation validateIntegratedModeConfiguration="false" /> <modules runAllManagedModulesForAllRequests="true"> <remove name="ScriptModule" /> <remove name="UrlRoutingModule" /> <add name="ScriptModule" preCondition="managedHandler" type="System.Web.Handlers.ScriptModule, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" /> <add name="UrlRoutingModule" type="System.Web.Routing.UrlRoutingModule, System.Web.Routing, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" /> </modules> <handlers> <remove name="WebServiceHandlerFactory-Integrated" /> <remove name="ScriptHandlerFactory" /> <remove name="ScriptHandlerFactoryAppServices" /> <remove name="ScriptResource" /> <remove name="MvcHttpHandler" /> <remove name="UrlRoutingHandler" /> <add name="ScriptHandlerFactory" verb="*" path="*.asmx" preCondition="integratedMode" type="System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptHandlerFactory, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" /> <add name="ScriptHandlerFactoryAppServices" verb="*" path="*_AppService.axd" preCondition="integratedMode" type="System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptHandlerFactory, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" /> <add name="ScriptResource" preCondition="integratedMode" verb="GET,HEAD" path="ScriptResource.axd" type="System.Web.Handlers.ScriptResourceHandler, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" /> <add name="MvcHttpHandler" preCondition="integratedMode" verb="*" path="*.mvc" type="System.Web.Mvc.MvcHttpHandler, System.Web.Mvc, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" /> <add name="UrlRoutingHandler" preCondition="integratedMode" verb="*" path="UrlRouting.axd" type="System.Web.HttpForbiddenHandler, System.Web, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a" /> </handlers> </system.webServer> </configuration>

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• Compiling a program with a legacy version of gcc

  - by wyatt

  This is probably a very difficult problem to troubleshoot with the information I can practically provide, but I'm hoping someone might be able to at least point me in a possible direction. I'm trying to install HTK (http://htk.eng.cam.ac.uk/), which, according to this page needs to be installed using gcc 3.4. Their method of implementing backwards compatibility: #yum install compat-gcc-34-c++ compat-gcc-34 won't work for me as I'm running Ubuntu (On that note, I take it I can't simply install YUM and the subsequent package, since it's an entirely different distro, but if I'm wrong I'd love to hear it). I instead installed two versions of gcc 3.4 - 3.4.0 and 3.4.6 using instructions from this site. I then added the lines suggested by that page to the top of the makefile (on this note, what's the difference between makefile and makefile.in? I tried adding the lines to the top of both files regardless), both for version 3.4.0 and 3.4.6, but both failed. I also tried, on the off-chance, compiling it with my current version (4.4.1), but that also failed. I got the errors: (cd HTKLib && make HTKLib.a) \ || case "" in k) fail=yes;; ) exit 1;; esac; make1: Entering directory /home/charles/bin/htk-3.4/HTKLib' gcc -ansi -D_SVID_SOURCE -DOSS_AUDIO -D'ARCH="i686"' -Wall -Wno-switch -g -O2 -I. -c -o HGraf.o HGraf.c HGraf.c:73:77: error: X11/Xlib.h: No such file or directory HGraf.c:74:23: error: X11/Xutil.h: No such file or directory HGraf.c:75:21: error: X11/Xos.h: No such file or directory HGraf.c:77:27: error: X11/keysymdef.h: No such file or directory HGraf.c:87: error: expected ‘=’, ‘,’, ‘;’, ‘asm’ or ‘__attribute__’ before ‘*’ token HGraf.c:88: error: expected ‘=’, ‘,’, ‘;’, ‘asm’ or ‘__attribute__’ before ‘rootW’ HGraf.c:91: error: expected ‘=’, ‘,’, ‘;’, ‘asm’ or ‘__attribute__’ before ‘theCmap’ HGraf.c:92: error: expected ‘=’, ‘,’, ‘;’, ‘asm’ or ‘__attribute__’ before ‘theGC’ HGraf.c:93: error: expected ‘=’, ‘,’, ‘;’, ‘asm’ or ‘__attribute__’ before ‘gcs’ HGraf.c:95: error: expected ‘=’, ‘,’, ‘;’, ‘asm’ or ‘__attribute__’ before ‘*’ token HGraf.c:96: error: expected ‘=’, ‘,’, ‘;’, ‘asm’ or ‘__attribute__’ before ‘report’ HGraf.c:97: error: expected ‘=’, ‘,’, ‘;’, ‘asm’ or ‘__attribute__’ before ‘hints’ HGraf.c:111: error: ‘GXcopy’ undeclared here (not in a function) HGraf.c:111: error: ‘GXor’ undeclared here (not in a function) HGraf.c:111: error: ‘GXxor’ undeclared here (not in a function) HGraf.c:111: error: ‘GXinvert’ undeclared here (not in a function) HGraf.c:151: error: expected ‘=’, ‘,’, ‘;’, ‘asm’ or ‘__attribute__’ before ‘*’ token HGraf.c: In function ‘InstallFonts’: HGraf.c:164: error: ‘FontInfo’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:164: error: (Each undeclared identifier is reported only once HGraf.c:164: error: for each function it appears in.) HGraf.c:164: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘XLoadQueryFont’ HGraf.c:164: error: ‘theDisp’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:167: error: ‘DefaultFont’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c: At top level: HGraf.c:176: error: expected ‘)’ before ‘*’ token HGraf.c: In function ‘HGetEvent’: HGraf.c:219: error: ‘XEvent’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:219: error: expected ‘;’ before ‘xev’ HGraf.c:223: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘XFlush’ HGraf.c:223: error: ‘theDisp’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:225: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘XEventsQueued’ HGraf.c:225: error: ‘QueuedAfterFlush’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:226: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘XNextEvent’ HGraf.c:226: error: ‘xev’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:228: error: ‘theWindow’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:230: error: ‘ButtonPress’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:235: error: ‘ButtonRelease’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:240: error: ‘MotionNotify’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:245: error: ‘KeyPress’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:249: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘DecodeKeyPress’ HGraf.c:251: error: ‘KeyRelease’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:257: error: ‘Expose’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c: In function ‘HEventsPending’: HGraf.c:281: error: ‘theDisp’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:281: error: ‘QueuedAfterFlush’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c: In function ‘HMousePos’: HGraf.c:288: error: ‘Window’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:288: error: expected ‘;’ before ‘root’ HGraf.c:293: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘XQueryPointer’ HGraf.c:293: error: ‘theDisp’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:293: error: ‘theWindow’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:293: error: ‘root’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:293: error: ‘child’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c: In function ‘InstallColours’: HGraf.c:311: error: ‘XColor’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:311: error: expected ‘;’ before ‘greyDef’ HGraf.c:317: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘XParseColor’ HGraf.c:317: error: ‘theDisp’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:317: error: ‘theCmap’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:317: error: ‘colourDef’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:320: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘XAllocColor’ HGraf.c:334: error: ‘whiteDef’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:334: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘XQueryColor’ HGraf.c:335: error: ‘blackDef’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:341: error: ‘greyDef’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c: In function ‘HSetColour’: HGraf.c:361: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘XSetForeground’ HGraf.c:361: error: ‘theDisp’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:361: error: ‘gcs’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c: In function ‘HSetGrey’: HGraf.c:370: error: ‘theDisp’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:370: error: ‘gcs’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c: In function ‘HDrawLines’: HGraf.c:388: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘XDrawLines’ HGraf.c:388: error: ‘theDisp’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:388: error: ‘theWindow’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:388: error: ‘theGC’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:388: error: ‘XPoint’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:388: error: expected expression before ‘)’ token HGraf.c: In function ‘HDrawRectangle’: HGraf.c:395: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘XDrawRectangle’ HGraf.c:395: error: ‘theDisp’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:395: error: ‘theWindow’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:395: error: ‘theGC’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c: In function ‘HFillRectangle’: HGraf.c:402: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘XFillRectangle’ HGraf.c:402: error: ‘theDisp’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:402: error: ‘theWindow’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:402: error: ‘theGC’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c: In function ‘HDrawLine’: HGraf.c:408: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘XDrawLine’ HGraf.c:408: error: ‘theDisp’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:408: error: ‘theWindow’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:408: error: ‘theGC’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c: In function ‘HFillPolygon’: HGraf.c:414: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘XFillPolygon’ HGraf.c:414: error: ‘theDisp’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:414: error: ‘theWindow’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:414: error: ‘theGC’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:414: error: ‘XPoint’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:414: error: expected expression before ‘)’ token HGraf.c: In function ‘HDrawArc’: HGraf.c:427: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘XDrawArc’ HGraf.c:427: error: ‘theDisp’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:427: error: ‘theWindow’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:427: error: ‘theGC’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c: In function ‘HFillArc’: HGraf.c:440: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘XFillArc’ HGraf.c:440: error: ‘theDisp’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:440: error: ‘theWindow’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:440: error: ‘theGC’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c: In function ‘HPrintf’: HGraf.c:451: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘XDrawString’ HGraf.c:451: error: ‘theDisp’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:451: error: ‘theWindow’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:451: error: ‘theGC’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c: In function ‘HCopyArea’: HGraf.c:457: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘XCopyArea’ HGraf.c:457: error: ‘theDisp’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:457: error: ‘theWindow’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:457: error: ‘theGC’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c: In function ‘HPlotVector’: HGraf.c:476: error: ‘theDisp’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:476: error: ‘theWindow’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:476: error: ‘theGC’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c: In function ‘HSetFontSize’: HGraf.c:490: error: ‘CurrentFont’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:490: error: ‘DefaultFont’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:499: error: ‘FontInfo’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:502: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘XSetFont’ HGraf.c:502: error: ‘theDisp’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:502: error: ‘gcs’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c: In function ‘HSetLineWidth’: HGraf.c:511: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘XSetLineAttributes’ HGraf.c:511: error: ‘theDisp’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:511: error: ‘gcs’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:511: error: ‘LineSolid’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:511: error: ‘JoinRound’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:511: error: ‘FillSolid’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c: In function ‘HSetXMode’: HGraf.c:517: error: ‘theGC’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:517: error: ‘gcs’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c: In function ‘CentreX’: HGraf.c:523: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘XTextWidth’ HGraf.c:523: error: ‘CurrentFont’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c: In function ‘CentreY’: HGraf.c:529: error: ‘CurrentFont’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c: In function ‘HTextWidth’: HGraf.c:535: error: ‘CurrentFont’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c: In function ‘HTextHeight’: HGraf.c:541: error: ‘CurrentFont’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c: In function ‘HDrawImage’: HGraf.c:550: error: expected ‘=’, ‘,’, ‘;’, ‘asm’ or ‘__attribute__’ before ‘*’ token HGraf.c:550: error: ‘xi’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:557: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘XDestroyImage’ HGraf.c:558: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘XGetImage’ HGraf.c:558: error: ‘theDisp’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:558: error: ‘theWindow’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:558: error: ‘AllPlanes’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:558: error: ‘XYPixmap’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:562: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘XPutPixel’ HGraf.c:564: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘XPutImage’ HGraf.c:564: error: ‘theGC’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c: In function ‘HFlush’: HGraf.c:570: error: ‘theDisp’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c: In function ‘InitGCs’: HGraf.c:780: error: ‘XGCValues’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:780: error: expected ‘;’ before ‘values’ HGraf.c:783: error: ‘GCLineWidth’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:783: error: ‘GCFunction’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:783: error: ‘GCForeground’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:785: error: ‘values’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:788: error: ‘gcs’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:788: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘XCreateGC’ HGraf.c:788: error: ‘theDisp’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:788: error: ‘theWindow’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:790: error: ‘GCPlaneMask’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c: In function ‘InitGlobals’: HGraf.c:800: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘DefaultScreen’ HGraf.c:800: error: ‘theDisp’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:801: error: ‘theCmap’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:801: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘DefaultColormap’ HGraf.c:802: error: ‘rootW’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:802: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘RootWindow’ HGraf.c:803: error: ‘theGC’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:803: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘DefaultGC’ HGraf.c:804: error: ‘theVisual’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:804: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘DefaultVisual’ HGraf.c:805: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘DisplayCells’ HGraf.c:806: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘DisplayWidth’ HGraf.c:807: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘DisplayHeight’ HGraf.c:808: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘DisplayPlanes’ HGraf.c:809: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘WhitePixel’ HGraf.c:810: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘BlackPixel’ HGraf.c: In function ‘MakeXGraf’: HGraf.c:817: error: ‘Window’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:817: error: expected ‘;’ before ‘window’ HGraf.c:818: error: ‘XSetWindowAttributes’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:818: error: expected ‘;’ before ‘setwinattr’ HGraf.c:823: error: ‘theDisp’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:823: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘XOpenDisplay’ HGraf.c:824: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘XDisplayName’ HGraf.c:828: error: ‘parent’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:829: error: ‘window’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:829: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘XCreateSimpleWindow’ HGraf.c:831: error: ‘CWBackingStore’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:831: error: ‘setwinattr’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:831: error: ‘WhenMapped’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:832: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘XChangeWindowAttributes’ HGraf.c:834: error: ‘hints’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:834: error: ‘PPosition’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:834: error: ‘PSize’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:834: error: ‘PMaxSize’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:834: error: ‘PMinSize’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:841: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘XSetStandardProperties’ HGraf.c:841: error: ‘None’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:843: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘XSelectInput’ HGraf.c:843: error: ‘ExposureMask’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:843: error: ‘KeyPressMask’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:843: error: ‘ButtonPressMask’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:844: error: ‘ButtonReleaseMask’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:844: error: ‘PointerMotionHintMask’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:844: error: ‘PointerMotionMask’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:845: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘XMapWindow’ HGraf.c:845: error: ‘theWindow’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:850: error: ‘report’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:851: error: ‘Expose’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:852: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘XSendEvent’ HGraf.c:852: error: ‘False’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c: In function ‘TermHGraf’: HGraf.c:861: error: ‘theDisp’ undeclared (first use in this function) HGraf.c:862: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘XCloseDisplay’ make[1]: *** [HGraf.o] Error 1 make[1]: Leaving directory/home/charles/bin/htk-3.4/HTKLib' make: ** [HTKLib/HTKLib.a] Error 1 Thank you for any help you can provide.

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• Cache Simulator in C

  - by DuffDuff

  Ok this is only my second question, and it's quite a doozy. It's for a school assignment, but no one (including the TAs) seems to be able to help me. It's kind of a tall order but I'm not sure where else to turn. Essentially the assignment was to make a cache simulator. This version is direct mapping and is actually only a small portion of the whole project, but if I can't even get this down I have no chance with other associativities. I'm posting my whole code because I don't want to make any assumptions about where the problem is. This is the test case: http://www.mediafire.com/?ty5dnihydnw And you run the following command: ./sims 512 direct 32 fifo wt pinatrace.out You're supposed to get: hits: 604037 misses 138349 writes: 239269 reads: 138349 But I get: Hits: 587148 Misses: 155222 Writes: 239261 Reads: 155222 If anyone could at least point me in the right direction it would be greatly appreciated. I've been stuck on this for about 12 hours. #include <stdio.h> #include <stdlib.h> #include <string.h> #include <math.h> struct myCache { int valid; char *tag; char *block; }; /* sim [-h] <cache size> <associativity> <block size> <replace alg> <write policy> <trace file> */ //God willing I come up with a better Hex to Bin convertion that maintains the beginning 0s... void hex2bin(char input[], char output[]) { int i; int a = 0; int b = 1; int c = 2; int d = 3; int x = 4; int size; size = strlen(input); for (i = 0; i < size; i++) { if (input[i] =='0') { output[i*x +a] = '0'; output[i*x +b] = '0'; output[i*x +c] = '0'; output[i*x +d] = '0'; } else if (input[i] =='1') { output[i*x +a] = '0'; output[i*x +b] = '0'; output[i*x +c] = '0'; output[i*x +d] = '1'; } else if (input[i] =='2') { output[i*x +a] = '0'; output[i*x +b] = '0'; output[i*x +c] = '1'; output[i*x +d] = '0'; } else if (input[i] =='3') { output[i*x +a] = '0'; output[i*x +b] = '0'; output[i*x +c] = '1'; output[i*x +d] = '1'; } else if (input[i] =='x') { output[i*x +a] = '0'; output[i*x +b] = '1'; output[i*x +c] = '0'; output[i*x +d] = '0'; } else if (input[i] =='5') { output[i*x +a] = '0'; output[i*x +b] = '1'; output[i*x +c] = '0'; output[i*x +d] = '1'; } else if (input[i] =='6') { output[i*x +a] = '0'; output[i*x +b] = '1'; output[i*x +c] = '1'; output[i*x +d] = '0'; } else if (input[i] =='7') { output[i*x +a] = '0'; output[i*x +b] = '1'; output[i*x +c] = '1'; output[i*x +d] = '1'; } else if (input[i] =='8') { output[i*x +a] = '1'; output[i*x +b] = '0'; output[i*x +c] = '0'; output[i*x +d] = '0'; } else if (input[i] =='9') { output[i*x +a] = '1'; output[i*x +b] = '0'; output[i*x +c] = '0'; output[i*x +d] = '1'; } else if (input[i] =='a') { output[i*x +a] = '1'; output[i*x +b] = '0'; output[i*x +c] = '1'; output[i*x +d] = '0'; } else if (input[i] =='b') { output[i*x +a] = '1'; output[i*x +b] = '0'; output[i*x +c] = '1'; output[i*x +d] = '1'; } else if (input[i] =='c') { output[i*x +a] = '1'; output[i*x +b] = '1'; output[i*x +c] = '0'; output[i*x +d] = '0'; } else if (input[i] =='d') { output[i*x +a] = '1'; output[i*x +b] = '1'; output[i*x +c] = '0'; output[i*x +d] = '1'; } else if (input[i] =='e') { output[i*x +a] = '1'; output[i*x +b] = '1'; output[i*x +c] = '1'; output[i*x +d] = '0'; } else if (input[i] =='f') { output[i*x +a] = '1'; output[i*x +b] = '1'; output[i*x +c] = '1'; output[i*x +d] = '1'; } } output[32] = '\0'; } int main(int argc, char* argv[]) { FILE *tracefile; char readwrite; int trash; int cachesize; int blocksize; int setnumber; int blockbytes; int setbits; int blockbits; int tagsize; int m; int count = 0; int count2 = 0; int count3 = 0; int i; int j; int xindex; int jindex; int kindex; int lindex; int setadd; int totalset; int writeMiss = 0; int writeHit = 0; int cacheMiss = 0; int cacheHit = 0; int read = 0; int write = 0; int size; int extra; char bbits[100]; char sbits[100]; char tbits[100]; char output[100]; char input[100]; char origtag[100]; if (argc != 7) { if (strcmp(argv[0], "-h")) { printf("./sim2 <cache size> <associativity> <block size> <replace alg> <write policy> <trace file>\n"); return 0; } else { fprintf(stderr, "Error: wrong number of parameters.\n"); return -1; } } tracefile = fopen(argv[6], "r"); if(tracefile == NULL) { fprintf(stderr, "Error: File is NULL.\n"); return -1; } //Determining size of sbits, bbits, and tag cachesize = atoi(argv[1]); blocksize = atoi(argv[3]); setnumber = (cachesize/blocksize); printf("setnumber: %d\n", setnumber); setbits = (round((log(setnumber))/(log(2)))); printf("sbits: %d\n", setbits); blockbits = log(blocksize)/log(2); printf("bbits: %d\n", blockbits); tagsize = 32 - (blockbits + setbits); printf("t: %d\n", tagsize); struct myCache newCache[setnumber]; //Allocating Space for Tag Bits, initiating tag and valid to 0s for(i=0;i<setnumber;i++) { newCache[i].tag = (char *)malloc(sizeof(char)*(tagsize+1)); for(j=0;j<tagsize;j++) { newCache[i].tag[j] = '0'; } newCache[i].valid = 0; } while(fgetc(tracefile)!='#') { setadd = 0; totalset = 0; //read in file fseek(tracefile,-1,SEEK_CUR); fscanf(tracefile, "%x: %c %s\n", &trash, &readwrite, origtag); //shift input Hex size = strlen(origtag); extra = (10 - size); for(i=0; i<extra; i++) input[i] = '0'; for(i=extra, j=0; i<(size-(2-extra)); j++, i++) input[i]=origtag[j+2]; input[8] = '\0'; // Convert Hex to Binary hex2bin(input, output); //Resolving the Address into tbits, sbits, bbits for (xindex=0, jindex=(32-blockbits); jindex<32; jindex++, xindex++) { bbits[xindex] = output[jindex]; } bbits[xindex]='\0'; for (xindex=0, kindex=(32-(blockbits+setbits)); kindex<32-(blockbits); kindex++, xindex++){ sbits[xindex] = output[kindex]; } sbits[xindex]='\0'; for (xindex=0, lindex=0; lindex<(32-(blockbits+setbits)); lindex++, xindex++){ tbits[xindex] = output[lindex]; } tbits[xindex]='\0'; //Convert set bits from char array into ints for(xindex = 0, kindex = (setbits -1); xindex < setbits; xindex ++, kindex--) { if (sbits[xindex] == '1') setadd = 1; if (sbits[xindex] == '0') setadd = 0; setadd = setadd * pow(2, kindex); totalset += setadd; } //Calculating Hits and Misses if (newCache[totalset].valid == 0) { newCache[totalset].valid = 1; strcpy(newCache[totalset].tag, tbits); } else if (newCache[totalset].valid == 1) { if(strcmp(newCache[totalset].tag, tbits) == 0) { if (readwrite == 'W') { cacheHit++; write++; } if (readwrite == 'R') cacheHit++; } else { if (readwrite == 'R') { cacheMiss++; read++; } if (readwrite == 'W') { cacheMiss++; read++; write++; } strcpy(newCache[totalset].tag, tbits); } } } printf("Hits: %d\n", cacheHit); printf("Misses: %d\n", cacheMiss); printf("Writes: %d\n", write); printf("Reads: %d\n", read); }

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• Advantage Database Server: slow stored procedure performance.

  - by ie

  I have a question about a performance of stored procedures in the ADS. I created a simple database with the following structure: CREATE TABLE MainTable ( Id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, Name VARCHAR(50), Value INTEGER ); CREATE UNIQUE INDEX MainTableName_UIX ON MainTable ( Name ); CREATE TABLE SubTable ( Id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, MainId INTEGER, Name VARCHAR(50), Value INTEGER ); CREATE INDEX SubTableMainId_UIX ON SubTable ( MainId ); CREATE UNIQUE INDEX SubTableName_UIX ON SubTable ( Name ); CREATE PROCEDURE CreateItems ( MainName VARCHAR ( 20 ), SubName VARCHAR ( 20 ), MainValue INTEGER, SubValue INTEGER, MainId INTEGER OUTPUT, SubId INTEGER OUTPUT ) BEGIN DECLARE @MainName VARCHAR ( 20 ); DECLARE @SubName VARCHAR ( 20 ); DECLARE @MainValue INTEGER; DECLARE @SubValue INTEGER; DECLARE @MainId INTEGER; DECLARE @SubId INTEGER; @MainName = (SELECT MainName FROM __input); @SubName = (SELECT SubName FROM __input); @MainValue = (SELECT MainValue FROM __input); @SubValue = (SELECT SubValue FROM __input); @MainId = (SELECT MAX(Id)+1 FROM MainTable); @SubId = (SELECT MAX(Id)+1 FROM SubTable ); INSERT INTO MainTable (Id, Name, Value) VALUES (@MainId, @MainName, @MainValue); INSERT INTO SubTable (Id, Name, MainId, Value) VALUES (@SubId, @SubName, @MainId, @SubValue); INSERT INTO __output SELECT @MainId, @SubId FROM system.iota; END; CREATE PROCEDURE UpdateItems ( MainName VARCHAR ( 20 ), MainValue INTEGER, SubValue INTEGER ) BEGIN DECLARE @MainName VARCHAR ( 20 ); DECLARE @MainValue INTEGER; DECLARE @SubValue INTEGER; DECLARE @MainId INTEGER; @MainName = (SELECT MainName FROM __input); @MainValue = (SELECT MainValue FROM __input); @SubValue = (SELECT SubValue FROM __input); @MainId = (SELECT TOP 1 Id FROM MainTable WHERE Name = @MainName); UPDATE MainTable SET Value = @MainValue WHERE Id = @MainId; UPDATE SubTable SET Value = @SubValue WHERE MainId = @MainId; END; CREATE PROCEDURE SelectItems ( MainName VARCHAR ( 20 ), CalculatedValue INTEGER OUTPUT ) BEGIN DECLARE @MainName VARCHAR ( 20 ); @MainName = (SELECT MainName FROM __input); INSERT INTO __output SELECT m.Value * s.Value FROM MainTable m INNER JOIN SubTable s ON m.Id = s.MainId WHERE m.Name = @MainName; END; CREATE PROCEDURE DeleteItems ( MainName VARCHAR ( 20 ) ) BEGIN DECLARE @MainName VARCHAR ( 20 ); DECLARE @MainId INTEGER; @MainName = (SELECT MainName FROM __input); @MainId = (SELECT TOP 1 Id FROM MainTable WHERE Name = @MainName); DELETE FROM SubTable WHERE MainId = @MainId; DELETE FROM MainTable WHERE Id = @MainId; END; Actually, the problem I had - even so light stored procedures work very-very slow (about 50-150 ms) relatively to plain queries (0-5ms). To test the performance, I created a simple test (in F# using ADS ADO.NET provider): open System; open System.Data; open System.Diagnostics; open Advantage.Data.Provider; let mainName = "main name #"; let subName = "sub name #"; // INSERT let cmdTextScriptInsert = " DECLARE @MainId INTEGER; DECLARE @SubId INTEGER; @MainId = (SELECT MAX(Id)+1 FROM MainTable); @SubId = (SELECT MAX(Id)+1 FROM SubTable ); INSERT INTO MainTable (Id, Name, Value) VALUES (@MainId, :MainName, :MainValue); INSERT INTO SubTable (Id, Name, MainId, Value) VALUES (@SubId, :SubName, @MainId, :SubValue); SELECT @MainId, @SubId FROM system.iota;"; let cmdTextProcedureInsert = "CreateItems"; // UPDATE let cmdTextScriptUpdate = " DECLARE @MainId INTEGER; @MainId = (SELECT TOP 1 Id FROM MainTable WHERE Name = :MainName); UPDATE MainTable SET Value = :MainValue WHERE Id = @MainId; UPDATE SubTable SET Value = :SubValue WHERE MainId = @MainId;"; let cmdTextProcedureUpdate = "UpdateItems"; // SELECT let cmdTextScriptSelect = " SELECT m.Value * s.Value FROM MainTable m INNER JOIN SubTable s ON m.Id = s.MainId WHERE m.Name = :MainName;"; let cmdTextProcedureSelect = "SelectItems"; // DELETE let cmdTextScriptDelete = " DECLARE @MainId INTEGER; @MainId = (SELECT TOP 1 Id FROM MainTable WHERE Name = :MainName); DELETE FROM SubTable WHERE MainId = @MainId; DELETE FROM MainTable WHERE Id = @MainId;"; let cmdTextProcedureDelete = "DeleteItems"; let cnnStr = @"data source=D:\DB\test.add; ServerType=local; user id=adssys; password=***;"; let cnn = new AdsConnection(cnnStr); try cnn.Open(); let cmd = cnn.CreateCommand(); let parametrize ix prms = cmd.Parameters.Clear(); let addParam = function | "MainName" -> cmd.Parameters.Add(":MainName" , mainName + ix.ToString()) |> ignore; | "SubName" -> cmd.Parameters.Add(":SubName" , subName + ix.ToString() ) |> ignore; | "MainValue" -> cmd.Parameters.Add(":MainValue", ix * 3 ) |> ignore; | "SubValue" -> cmd.Parameters.Add(":SubValue" , ix * 7 ) |> ignore; | _ -> () prms |> List.iter addParam; let runTest testData = let (cmdType, cmdName, cmdText, cmdParams) = testData; let toPrefix cmdType cmdName = let prefix = match cmdType with | CommandType.StoredProcedure -> "Procedure-" | CommandType.Text -> "Script -" | _ -> "Unknown -" in prefix + cmdName; let stopWatch = new Stopwatch(); let runStep ix prms = parametrize ix prms; stopWatch.Start(); cmd.ExecuteNonQuery() |> ignore; stopWatch.Stop(); cmd.CommandText <- cmdText; cmd.CommandType <- cmdType; let startId = 1500; let count = 10; for id in startId .. startId+count do runStep id cmdParams; let elapsed = stopWatch.Elapsed; Console.WriteLine("Test '{0}' - total: {1}; per call: {2}ms", toPrefix cmdType cmdName, elapsed, Convert.ToInt32(elapsed.TotalMilliseconds)/count); let lst = [ (CommandType.Text, "Insert", cmdTextScriptInsert, ["MainName"; "SubName"; "MainValue"; "SubValue"]); (CommandType.Text, "Update", cmdTextScriptUpdate, ["MainName"; "MainValue"; "SubValue"]); (CommandType.Text, "Select", cmdTextScriptSelect, ["MainName"]); (CommandType.Text, "Delete", cmdTextScriptDelete, ["MainName"]) (CommandType.StoredProcedure, "Insert", cmdTextProcedureInsert, ["MainName"; "SubName"; "MainValue"; "SubValue"]); (CommandType.StoredProcedure, "Update", cmdTextProcedureUpdate, ["MainName"; "MainValue"; "SubValue"]); (CommandType.StoredProcedure, "Select", cmdTextProcedureSelect, ["MainName"]); (CommandType.StoredProcedure, "Delete", cmdTextProcedureDelete, ["MainName"])]; lst |> List.iter runTest; finally cnn.Close(); And I'm getting the following results: Test 'Script -Insert' - total: 00:00:00.0292841; per call: 2ms Test 'Script -Update' - total: 00:00:00.0056296; per call: 0ms Test 'Script -Select' - total: 00:00:00.0051738; per call: 0ms Test 'Script -Delete' - total: 00:00:00.0059258; per call: 0ms Test 'Procedure-Insert' - total: 00:00:01.2567146; per call: 125ms Test 'Procedure-Update' - total: 00:00:00.7442440; per call: 74ms Test 'Procedure-Select' - total: 00:00:00.5120446; per call: 51ms Test 'Procedure-Delete' - total: 00:00:01.0619165; per call: 106ms The situation with the remote server is much better, but still a great gap between plaqin queries and stored procedures: Test 'Script -Insert' - total: 00:00:00.0709299; per call: 7ms Test 'Script -Update' - total: 00:00:00.0161777; per call: 1ms Test 'Script -Select' - total: 00:00:00.0258113; per call: 2ms Test 'Script -Delete' - total: 00:00:00.0166242; per call: 1ms Test 'Procedure-Insert' - total: 00:00:00.5116138; per call: 51ms Test 'Procedure-Update' - total: 00:00:00.3802251; per call: 38ms Test 'Procedure-Select' - total: 00:00:00.1241245; per call: 12ms Test 'Procedure-Delete' - total: 00:00:00.4336334; per call: 43ms Is it any chance to improve the SP performance? Please advice. ADO.NET driver version - 9.10.2.9 Server version - 9.10.0.9 (ANSI - GERMAN, OEM - GERMAN) Thanks!

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• System.InvalidOperationException in Output Window

  - by user318068

  I constantly get the following message in my output/debug windows. The app doesn't crash but I was wondering what the deal with it is: A first chance exception of type 'System.InvalidOperationException' occurred in System.dll my code :sol.cs using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Linq; using System.Text; namespace ConsoleApplication1 { class Sol { public LinkedList<int> tower1 = new LinkedList<int>(); public LinkedList<int> tower2 = new LinkedList<int>(); public LinkedList<int> tower3 = new LinkedList<int>(); public static LinkedList<string> BFS = new LinkedList<string>(); public static LinkedList<string> DFS = new LinkedList<string>(); public static LinkedList<string> IDS = new LinkedList<string>(); public int depth; public LinkedList<Sol> neighbors; public Sol() { } public Sol(LinkedList<int> tower1, LinkedList<int> tower2, LinkedList<int> tower3) { this.tower1 = tower1; this.tower2 = tower2; this.tower3 = tower3; neighbors = new LinkedList<Sol>(); } public virtual void getneighbors() { Sol temp = this.copy(); Sol neighbor1 = this.copy(); Sol neighbor2 = this.copy(); Sol neighbor3 = this.copy(); Sol neighbor4 = this.copy(); Sol neighbor5 = this.copy(); Sol neighbor6 = this.copy(); if (temp.tower1.Count != 0) { if (neighbor1.tower2.Count != 0) { if (neighbor1.tower1.First.Value < neighbor1.tower2.First.Value) { neighbor1.tower2.AddFirst(neighbor1.tower1.First); neighbor1.tower1.RemoveFirst(); neighbors.AddLast(neighbor1); } } else { neighbor1.tower2.AddFirst(neighbor1.tower1.First); neighbor1.tower1.RemoveFirst(); neighbors.AddLast(neighbor1); } if (neighbor2.tower3.Count != 0) { if (neighbor2.tower1.First.Value < neighbor2.tower3.First.Value) { neighbor2.tower3.AddFirst(neighbor2.tower1.First); neighbor2.tower1.RemoveFirst(); neighbors.AddLast(neighbor2); } } else { neighbor2.tower3.AddFirst(neighbor2.tower1.First); neighbor2.tower1.RemoveFirst(); neighbors.AddLast(neighbor2); } } //------------- if (temp.tower2.Count != 0) { if (neighbor3.tower1.Count != 0) { if (neighbor3.tower2.First.Value < neighbor3.tower1.First.Value) { neighbor3.tower1.AddFirst(neighbor3.tower2.First); neighbor3.tower2.RemoveFirst(); neighbors.AddLast(neighbor3); } } else { neighbor3.tower1.AddFirst(neighbor3.tower2.First); neighbor3.tower2.RemoveFirst(); neighbors.AddLast(neighbor3); } if (neighbor4.tower3.Count != 0) { if (neighbor4.tower2.First.Value < neighbor4.tower3.First.Value) { neighbor4.tower3.AddFirst(neighbor4.tower2.First); neighbor4.tower2.RemoveFirst(); neighbors.AddLast(neighbor4); } } else { neighbor4.tower3.AddFirst(neighbor4.tower2.First); neighbor4.tower2.RemoveFirst(); neighbors.AddLast(neighbor4); } } //------------------------ if (temp.tower3.Count() != 0) { if (neighbor5.tower1.Count() != 0) { if (neighbor5.tower3.ElementAtOrDefault(0) < neighbor5.tower1.ElementAtOrDefault(0)) { neighbor5.tower1.AddFirst(neighbor5.tower3.First); neighbor5.tower3.RemoveFirst(); neighbors.AddLast(neighbor5); } } else { neighbor5.tower1.AddFirst(neighbor5.tower3.First); neighbor5.tower3.RemoveFirst(); neighbors.AddLast(neighbor5); } if (neighbor6.tower2.Count() != 0) { if (neighbor6.tower3.ElementAtOrDefault(0) < neighbor6.tower2.ElementAtOrDefault(0)) { neighbor6.tower2.AddFirst(neighbor6.tower3.First); neighbor6.tower3.RemoveFirst(); neighbors.AddLast(neighbor6); } } else { neighbor6.tower2.AddFirst(neighbor6.tower3.First); neighbor6.tower3.RemoveFirst(); neighbors.AddLast(neighbor6); } } } public override string ToString() { string str; str = "tower1" + tower1.ToString() + " tower2" + tower2.ToString() + " tower3" + tower3.ToString(); return str; } public Sol copy() { Sol So; LinkedList<int> l1 = new LinkedList<int>(); LinkedList<int> l2 = new LinkedList<int>(); LinkedList<int> l3 = new LinkedList<int>(); for (int i = 0; i <= this.tower1.Count() - 1; i++) { l1.AddLast(tower1.ElementAt(i)); } for (int i = 0; i <= this.tower2.Count - 1; i++) { l2.AddLast(tower2.ElementAt(i)); } for (int i = 0; i <= this.tower3.Count - 1; i++) { l3.AddLast(tower3.ElementAt(i)); } So = new Sol(l1, l2, l3); return So; } public bool Equals(Sol sol) { if (this.tower1.Equals(sol.tower1) & this.tower2.Equals(sol.tower2) & this.tower3.Equals(sol.tower3)) return true; return false; } public virtual bool containedin(Stack<Sol> vec) { bool found = false; for (int i = 0; i <= vec.Count - 1; i++) { if (vec.ElementAt(i).tower1.Equals(this.tower1) && vec.ElementAt(i).tower2.Equals(this.tower2) && vec.ElementAt(i).tower3.Equals(this.tower3)) { found = true; break; } } return found; } public virtual bool breadthFirst(Sol start, Sol goal) { Stack<Sol> nextStack = new Stack<Sol>(); Stack<Sol> traversed = new Stack<Sol>(); bool found = false; start.depth = 0; nextStack.Push(start); while (nextStack.Count != 0) { Sol sol = nextStack.Pop(); BFS.AddFirst("poped State:" + sol.ToString() + "level " + sol.depth); traversed.Push(sol); if (sol.Equals(goal)) { found = true; BFS.AddFirst("Goal:" + sol.ToString()); break; } else { sol.getneighbors(); foreach (Sol neighbor in sol.neighbors) { if (!neighbor.containedin(traversed) && !neighbor.containedin(nextStack)) { neighbor.depth = (sol.depth + 1); nextStack.Push(neighbor); } } } } return found; } public virtual bool depthFirst(Sol start, Sol goal) { Stack<Sol> nextStack = new Stack<Sol>(); Stack<Sol> traversed = new Stack<Sol>(); bool found = false; start.depth = 0; nextStack.Push(start); while (nextStack.Count != 0) { //Dequeue next State for comparison //And add it 2 list of traversed States Sol sol = nextStack.Pop(); DFS.AddFirst("poped State:" + sol.ToString() + "level " + sol.depth); traversed.Push(sol); if (sol.Equals(goal)) { found = true; DFS.AddFirst("Goal:" + sol.ToString()); break; } else { sol.getneighbors(); foreach (Sol neighbor in sol.neighbors) { if (!neighbor.containedin(traversed) && !neighbor.containedin(nextStack)) { neighbor.depth = sol.depth + 1; nextStack.Push(neighbor); } } } } return found; } public virtual bool iterativedeepening(Sol start, Sol goal) { bool found = false; for (int level = 0; ; level++) { Stack<Sol> nextStack = new Stack<Sol>(); Stack<Sol> traversed = new Stack<Sol>(); start.depth = 0; nextStack.Push(start); while (nextStack.Count != 0) { Sol sol = nextStack.Pop(); IDS.AddFirst("poped State:" + sol.ToString() + "Level" + sol.depth); traversed.Push(sol); if (sol.Equals(goal)) { found = true; IDS.AddFirst("Goal:" + sol.ToString()); break; } else if (sol.depth < level) { sol.getneighbors(); foreach (Sol neighbor in sol.neighbors) { if (!neighbor.containedin(traversed) && !neighbor.containedin(nextStack)) { neighbor.depth = sol.depth + 1; nextStack.Push(neighbor); } //end if } //end for each } //end else if } // end while if (found == true) break; } // end for return found; } } } Just wondering if I may be doing something wrong somewhere or something.

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