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• Improve disk read performance (multiple files) with threading

  - by pablo

  I need to find a method to read a big number of small files (about 300k files) as fast as possible. Reading them sequentially using FileStream and reading the entire file in a single call takes between 170 and 208 seconds (you know, you re-run, disk cache plays its role and time varies). Then I tried using PInvoke with CreateFile/ReadFile and using FILE_FLAG_SEQUENTIAL_SCAN, but I didn't appreciate any changes. I tried with several threads (divide the big set in chunks and have every thread reading its part) and this way I was able to improve speed just a little bit (not even a 5% with every new thread up to 4). Any ideas on how to find the most effective way to do this?

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• WPF binding problem

  - by Lolo

  I've got problem with binding in XAML/WPF. I created Action class witch extends FrameworkElement. Each Action has list of ActionItem. The problem is that the Data/DataContext properties of ActionItem are not set, so they are always null. XAML: <my:Action DataContext="{Binding}"> <my:Action.Items> <my:ActionItem DataContext="{Binding}" Data="{Binding}" /> </my:Action.Items> </my:Action> C#: public class Action : FrameworkElement { public static readonly DependencyProperty ItemsProperty = DependencyProperty.Register("Items", typeof(IList), typeof(Action), new PropertyMetadata(null, null), null); public Action() { this.Items = new ArrayList(); this.DataContextChanged += (s, e) => MessageBox.Show("Action.DataContext"); } public IList Items { get { return (IList)this.GetValue(ItemsProperty); } set { this.SetValue(ItemsProperty, value); } } } public class ActionItem : FrameworkElement { public static readonly DependencyProperty DataProperty = DependencyProperty.Register("Data", typeof(object), typeof(ActionItem), new PropertyMetadata( null, null, (d, v) => { if (v != null) MessageBox.Show("ActionItem.Data is not null"); return v; } ), null ); public object Data { get { return this.GetValue(DataProperty); } set { this.SetValue(DataProperty, value); } } public ActionItem() { this.DataContextChanged += (s, e) => MessageBox.Show("ActionItem.DataContext"); } } Any ideas?

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• How to use CellRenderer for GregorianCalendar?

  - by HansDampf

  So I have been trying to use the example from Tutorial and change it so it fits my program. The getColumnValue method returns the object that holds the information that is supposed to be displayed. Is this the way to go or should it rather return the actual String to be displayed. I guess not because that way I would mix the presentation with the data, which I was trying to avoid. public class IssueTableFormat implements TableFormat<Appointment> { public int getColumnCount() { return 6; } public String getColumnName(int column) { if(column == 0) return "Datum"; else if(column == 1) return "Uhrzeit"; else if(column == 2) return "Nummer"; else if(column == 3) return "Name"; else if(column == 4) return "letzte Aktion"; else if(column == 5) return "Kommentar"; throw new IllegalStateException(); } public Object getColumnValue(Appointment issue, int column) { if(column == 0) return issue.getDate(); else if(column == 1) return issue.getDate(); else if(column == 2) return issue.getSample(); else if(column == 3) return issue.getSample(); else if(column == 4) return issue.getHistory(); else if(column == 5) return issue.getComment(); throw new IllegalStateException(); } } The column 0 and 1 contain a GregorianCalendar object, but I want column 0 to show the date and 1 to show the time. So I know using cellRenderers can help here. This is what I tried. public class DateRenderer extends DefaultTableCellRenderer { public DateRenderer() { super(); } public void setValue(Object value) { GregorianCalendar g =(GregorianCalendar) value; value=g.get(GregorianCalendar.HOUR); } } But the cell doesnt show anything, what is wrong here?

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• Is there a Twitter Bootstrap class that means "initially hidden"?

  - by bgp

  Using Bootstrap 3, I have an element on a page I want to show later in response to the user clicking a button. Example: <div id="search_results"> ... gets populated from ajax data later ... </div> <button id="search_button" type="button" class="btn btn-primary pull-right">Search</button> <script> $('#search_button').click(function() { // ... do the call to search // and in the callback: $('#search_results').show(); }); </script> The search_results div should be initially hidden. Is there some normal/best practice way of doing this with bootstrap? Yes, I do realize I can just put style="display:none" on search_results, but is that the best way to do it? It would seem to be a bit better to have a style that semantically means "initially hidden". (NOTE: The hidden or hide classes don't do this as they are !important and show(), toggle(), etc. use an inline style which does not override them, i.e. setting "hidden" as the class makes it unshowable from jQuery.)

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• auto_complete plugin error: Couldn't find Question with ID=auto_complete_for_...

  - by bgadoci

  I have successfully set up this plugin before so I am curious as to what I am doing wrong here. I have built the ability for users to add tags to questions. I am not using tagging plugin here but that shouldn't matter for this. With respect to the auto complete, I am trying to have the form located in the /views/questions/show.html.erb file access the Tags table and display entries in the tags.tags_name column. When I begin to type in the field I get the following error message: Processing QuestionsController#show (for 127.0.0.1 at 2010-05-31 15:22:20) [GET] Parameters: {"tag"=>{"tag_name"=>"a"}, "id"=>"auto_complete_for_tag_tag_name"} Question Load (0.1ms) SELECT * FROM "questions" WHERE ("questions"."id" = 0) ActiveRecord::RecordNotFound (Couldn't find Question with ID=auto_complete_for_tag_tag_name): app/controllers/application_controller.rb:15:in `init_data' For some reason I am actually passing the field name as the Question.id. The plugin set up is fairly simple as you add the following line to your controller: auto_complete_for :tag, :tag_name and the following line in your routes.rb file: map.resources :tags, :collection => {:auto_complete_for_tag_tag_name => :get } I have added the controller line to both my tags and questions controller and also mapped resources for both tags and questions in my routes.rb file: map.resources :tags, :collection => {:auto_complete_for_tag_tag_name => :get } map.resources :questions, :collection => {:auto_complete_for_tag_tag_name => :get } I have played around with removing either or of the above but can't seem to fix it. Any ideas what I am doing wrong here? UPDATE: My QuestionsController#show action is fishing posts by: @question = Question.find(params[:id])

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• Upsides of a timebox for a customer

  - by Ivo

  So I have a customer with a potential big project that (ofcourse) does not know what they want exactly. The size of this project can be more that 4 or 5 months so that is a big risk. Thats why I want to sell a timebox. For me that takes away the risk of spending 10 months instead of 5 for the same price. The problem is that I can't comeup with good arguments to convince the customer that a timebox is better for them. Any suggestions? How do you people handle this/

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• displaying a dialog using an activity?

  - by ricardo123

  what am i doing wrong here or what do i need to add? package dialog.com; import android.app.Activity; import android.app.AlertDialog; import android.content.DialogInterface; import android.app.Dialog; import android.os.Bundle; import android.view.View; import android.widget.Button; import android.widget.Toast; public class Dialog extends Activity { CharSequence [] items = { "google", "apple", "microsoft" }; boolean [] itemschecked = new boolean [items.length]; /** Called when the activity is first created. */ @Override public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) { super.onCreate(savedInstanceState); setContentView(R.layout.main); Button btn = (Button) findViewById(R.id.btn_dialog); btn.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() { public void onClick(View v) { showDialog(0); } }); } @Override protected Dialog onCreateDialog(int id) { switch(id) { case 0: return new AlertDialog.Builder(this) .setIcon(R.drawable.icon) .setTitle("This is a Dialog with some simple text...") .setPositiveButton("ok", new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() { public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int whichbutton) { Toast.makeText(getBaseContext(), "OK Clicked!", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show(); } }); .setNegativeButton("cancel",new DialogInterface.OnclickListener() { public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int whichButton) {Toast.makeText(getBaseContext(), "cancel clicked!", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show(); } }); .setMultiChoiceItems(itemschecked, new DialogInterface.OnMultiChoiceClickListener() { @Override public void onClick(dialoginterface dialog, int which, boolean isChecked) { Toast.makeText(getBaseContext(), items[which] + (isChecked ? " checked!": "unchecked!"), Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show(); } } ) .create(); } return null: }}}

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• iPhone loading view from nib only works once

  - by The Swissdude

  Hi Forum I'm trying to add a «loader-view» to my app which shows a spinner while doing stuff. This works fine the first time, but it doesn't work a second time. here's what I do: I have a viewController for the spinner (spinnerViewController) and a nib-file which I made in IB (spinner.xib). I load the nib in the viewDidLoad-event: spinnerView = [[spinnerViewController alloc] initWithNibName:@"spinner" bundle:nil]; [spinnerView retain]; spinnerView is declared in the .h-file (spinnerViewController *spinnerView;) next, I show the spinner-view: [self.view addSubview:spinnerView.view]; [self.view bringSubviewToFront:spinnerView.view]; which works fine... And now the trouble starts. No matter what I do, I can't show the spinner view again. I tried just hiding it (self.view sendSubViewToBack: spinnerView.view) which works for hiding, but when I try to bring it to the front again (self.view bringSubViewToFront: spinnerView.view) it doesn't work. I also tried removing the spinner-view and add it again with no success (within the spinnerViewController: [self.view removeFromSuperview] and to show it again [self.view addSubview... ) Any ideas what I'm doing wrong??? ;) Thanks for the help!

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• Why is my index view not working when I implement datepicker in my rails app

  - by user3736107

  Hi I am new to rails and would really appreciate some help, I am using the jQuery datepicker, the show view works however the index view doesn't, i get "undefined method `start_date' for nil:NilClass" in my index.html.erb file. Can you please let me know what is wrong with my index view and how i can fix it. The following are included in my app: meetups_controller.rb def show @meetup = Meetup.find(params[:id]) end def index @meetups = Meetup.where('user_id = ?', current_user.id).order('created_at DESC') end show.html.erb <h3>Title: <%= @meetup.title %></h3> <p>Start date: <%= @meetup.start_date.strftime("%B %e, %Y") %></p> <p>Start time: <%= @meetup.start_time.strftime("%l:%M %P") %></p> <p>End date: <%= @meetup.end_date.strftime("%B %e, %Y") %></p> <p>End time: <%= @meetup.end_time.strftime("%l:%M %P") %></p> index.html.erb <% if @meetups.any? %> <% @meetups.each do |meetup| %> <h3><%= link_to meetup.title, meetup_path(meetup) %></h3> <p>Start date: <%= meetup.start_date.strftime("%B %e, %Y") %></p> <p>Start time: <%= meetup.start_time.strftime("%l:%M %P") %></p> <p>End date: <%= @meetup.end_date.strftime("%B %e, %Y") %></p> <p>End time: <%= @meetup.end_time.strftime("%l:%M %P") %></p>

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• Dynamically changing layout

  - by LTMOD

  I have a 2 x 2 grid of buttons. Each row of 2 is wrapped in a horizontal linear layout. <LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" android:orientation="horizontal" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="100dip"> <Button android:layout_weight=".5" android:id="@+id/btn1" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:layout_gravity="center_vertical|center_horizontal" android:padding="5dip" android:layout_margin="2dip"> </Button> <Button android:layout_weight=".5" android:id="@+id/btn2" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:padding="5dip" android:layout_margin="2dip"> </Button> At times I want to show all 4 buttons, and other times, I show the top 2 only, and sometimes, I need to show 2 on top, and one on the bottom. I would like to center the bottom one, but can't seem to accomplish this. In my code, I call btn4.setVisibility(8); //8 = GONE, which makes my 4th button disappear, but then btn3 ends up filling the entire layout. What I would like it to do instead is center itself within the layout at its correct width / height. I'm a bit new to this, so any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

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• change resolution in matlab

  - by ett

  if i have an image with a black and big frame, how can i take it off?

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• Can JQuery/JavaScript be used to write a substantial client side application?

  - by Ian

  I have an unusual situation - I have an embedded video streaming device with a complicated UI, and I need to use an embedded web server to reproduce that UI through a web browser. I'm thinking of using JavaScript/JQuery on a C++ backend (I am NOT coding all this myself, I need to hire people for the grunt work). The embedded web server is much less powerful than a PC, so I want to write an application that runs the entire UI in the browser, and only communicates with the server to pass new program settings back and forth, get status updates from the device, and control video playback. In other words, the client gets one big page or a small number of big pages (effectively downloading the application), the application maintains significant local memory storage, and once the pages are first loaded the server never sends anything layout-related. The application has two rows of tabs to navigate ~40 menu pages, drag-and-select controls to pick cells in a grid, sorted lists, lots of standard data entry options, and it should be able to control up to 16 embedded video players at once (preferably VLC). Is this possible in JavaScript/JQuery with a C++ backend?

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• how can i query a table that got split to 2 smaller tables? Union? view ?

  - by danfromisrael

  hello friends, I have a very big table (nearly 2,000,000 records) that got split to 2 smaller tables. one table contains only records from last week and the other contains all the rest (which is a lot...) now i got some Stored Procedures / Functions that used to query the big table before it got split. i still need them to query the union of both tables, however it seems that creating a View which uses the union statement between the two tables lasts forever... that's my view: CREATE VIEW `united_tables_view` AS select * from table1 union select * from table2; and then i'd like to switch everywhere the Stored procedure select from 'oldBigTable' to select from 'united_tables_view'... i've tried adding indexes to make the time shorter but nothing helps... any Ideas? PS the view and union are my idea but any other creative idea would be perfect! bring it on! thanks!

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• How to define large list of strings in Visual Basic

  - by Jenny_Winters

  I'm writing a macro in Visual Basic for PowerPoint 2010. I'd like to initialize a really big list of strings like: big_ol_array = Array( _ "string1", _ "string2", _ "string3", _ "string4" , _ ..... "string9999" _ ) ...but I get the "Too many line continuations" error in the editor. When I try to just initialize the big array with no line breaks, the VB editor can't handle such a long line (1000+) characters. Does anyone know a good way to initialize a huge list of strings in VB? Thanks in advance!

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• rails restful select_tag with :on_change

  - by Sam

  So I'm finally starting to use rest in rails. I want to have a select_tag with product categories and when one of the categories is selected I want it to update the products on change. I did this before with <% form_for :category, :url => { :action => "show" } do |f| %> <%= select_tag :id, options_from_collection_for_select(Category.find(:all), :id, :name), { :onchange => "this.form.submit();"} %> <% end %> however now it doesn't work because it tries to do the show action. I have two controllers 1) products 2) product_categories products belongs_to product_categories with a has_many How should I do this. Since the products are listed on the products controller and index action should I use the products controller or should I use the product_categories controller to find the category such as in the show action and then render the product/index page. But the real problem I have is how to get this form or any other option to work with restful routes.

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• Integrating HTML into Silverlight Applications

  - by dwahlin

  Looking for a way to display HTML content within a Silverlight application? If you haven’t tried doing that before it can be challenging at first until you know a few tricks of the trade.  Being able to display HTML is especially handy when you’re required to display RSS feeds (with embedded HTML), SQL Server Reporting Services reports, PDF files (not actually HTML – but the techniques discussed will work), or other HTML content.  In this post I'll discuss three options for displaying HTML content in Silverlight applications and describe how my company is using these techniques in client applications. Displaying HTML Overlays If you need to display HTML over a Silverlight application (such as an RSS feed containing HTML data in it) you’ll need to set the Silverlight control’s windowless parameter to true. This can be done using the object tag as shown next: <object data="data:application/x-silverlight-2," type="application/x-silverlight-2" width="100%" height="100%"> <param name="source" value="ClientBin/HTMLAndSilverlight.xap"/> <param name="onError" value="onSilverlightError" /> <param name="background" value="white" /> <param name="minRuntimeVersion" value="4.0.50401.0" /> <param name="autoUpgrade" value="true" /> <param name="windowless" value="true" /> <a href="http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=149156&v=4.0.50401.0" style="text-decoration:none"> <img src="http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=161376" alt="Get Microsoft Silverlight" style="border-style:none"/> </a> </object> By setting the control to “windowless” you can overlay HTML objects by using absolute positioning and other CSS techniques. Keep in mind that on Windows machines the windowless setting can result in a performance hit when complex animations or HD video are running since the plug-in content is displayed directly by the browser window. It goes without saying that you should only set windowless to true when you really need the functionality it offers. For example, if I want to display my blog’s RSS content on top of a Silverlight application I could set windowless to true and create a user control that grabbed the content and output it using a DataList control: <style type="text/css"> a {text-decoration:none;font-weight:bold;font-size:14pt;} </style> <div style="margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px;margin-right:5px;"> <asp:DataList ID="RSSDataList" runat="server" DataSourceID="RSSDataSource"> <ItemTemplate> <a href='<%# XPath("link") %>'><%# XPath("title") %></a> <br /> <%# XPath("description") %> <br /> </ItemTemplate> </asp:DataList> <asp:XmlDataSource ID="RSSDataSource" DataFile="http://weblogs.asp.net/dwahlin/rss.aspx" XPath="rss/channel/item" CacheDuration="60" runat="server" /> </div> The user control can then be placed in the page hosting the Silverlight control as shown below. This example adds a Close button, additional content to display in the overlay window and the HTML generated from the user control. <div id="RSSDiv"> <div style="background-color:#484848;border:1px solid black;height:35px;width:100%;"> <img alt="Close Button" align="right" src="Images/Close.png" onclick="HideOverlay();" style="cursor:pointer;" /> </div> <div style="overflow:auto;width:800px;height:565px;"> <div style="float:left;width:100px;height:103px;margin-left:10px;margin-top:5px;"> <img src="http://weblogs.asp.net/blogs/dwahlin/dan2008.jpg" style="border:1px solid Gray" /> </div> <div style="float:left;width:300px;height:103px;margin-top:5px;"> <a href="http://weblogs.asp.net/dwahlin" style="margin-left:10px;font-size:20pt;">Dan Wahlin's Blog</a> </div> <br /><br /><br /> <div style="clear:both;margin-top:20px;"> <uc:BlogRoller ID="BlogRoller" runat="server" /> </div> </div> </div> Of course, we wouldn’t want the RSS HTML content to be shown until requested. Once it’s requested the absolute position of where it should show above the Silverlight control can be set using standard CSS styles. The following ID selector named #RSSDiv handles hiding the overlay div shown above and determines where it will be display on the screen. #RSSDiv { background-color:White; position:absolute; top:100px; left:300px; width:800px; height:600px; border:1px solid black; display:none; } Now that the HTML content to display above the Silverlight control is set, how can we show it as a user clicks a HyperlinkButton or other control in the application? Fortunately, Silverlight provides an excellent HTML bridge that allows direct access to content hosted within a page. The following code shows two JavaScript functions that can be called from Siverlight to handle showing or hiding HTML overlay content. The two functions rely on jQuery (http://www.jQuery.com) to make it easy to select HTML objects and manipulate their properties: function ShowOverlay() { rssDiv.css('display', 'block'); } function HideOverlay() { rssDiv.css('display', 'none'); } Calling the ShowOverlay function is as simple as adding the following code into the Silverlight application within a button’s Click event handler: private void OverlayHyperlinkButton_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) { HtmlPage.Window.Invoke("ShowOverlay"); } The result of setting the Silverlight control’s windowless parameter to true and showing the HTML overlay content is shown in the following screenshot:   Thinking Outside the Box to Show HTML Content Setting the windowless parameter to true may not be a viable option for some Silverlight applications or you may simply want to go about showing HTML content a different way. The next technique I’ll show takes advantage of simple HTML, CSS and JavaScript code to handle showing HTML content while a Silverlight application is running in the browser. Keep in mind that with Silverlight’s HTML bridge feature you can always pop-up HTML content in a new browser window using code similar to the following: System.Windows.Browser.HtmlPage.Window.Navigate( new Uri("http://silverlight.net"), "_blank"); For this example I’ll demonstrate how to hide the Silverlight application while maximizing a container div containing the HTML content to show. This allows HTML content to take up the full screen area of the browser without having to set windowless to true and when done right can make the user feel like they never left the Silverlight application. The following HTML shows several div elements that are used to display HTML within the same browser window as the Silverlight application: <div id="JobPlanDiv"> <div style="vertical-align:middle"> <img alt="Close Button" align="right" src="Images/Close.png" onclick="HideJobPlanIFrame();" style="cursor:pointer;" /> </div> <div id="JobPlan_IFrame_Container" style="height:95%;width:100%;margin-top:37px;"></div> </div> The JobPlanDiv element acts as a container for two other divs that handle showing a close button and hosting an iframe that will be added dynamically at runtime. JobPlanDiv isn’t visible when the Silverlight application loads due to the following ID selector added into the page: #JobPlanDiv { position:absolute; background-color:#484848; overflow:hidden; left:0; top:0; height:100%; width:100%; display:none; } When the HTML content needs to be shown or hidden the JavaScript functions shown next can be used: var jobPlanIFrameID = 'JobPlan_IFrame'; var slHost = null; var jobPlanContainer = null; var jobPlanIFrameContainer = null; var rssDiv = null; $(document).ready(function () { slHost = $('#silverlightControlHost'); jobPlanContainer = $('#JobPlanDiv'); jobPlanIFrameContainer = $('#JobPlan_IFrame_Container'); rssDiv = $('#RSSDiv'); }); function ShowJobPlanIFrame(url) { jobPlanContainer.css('display', 'block'); $('<iframe id="' + jobPlanIFrameID + '" src="' + url + '" style="height:100%;width:100%;" />') .appendTo(jobPlanIFrameContainer); slHost.css('width', '0%'); } function HideJobPlanIFrame() { jobPlanContainer.css('display', 'none'); $('#' + jobPlanIFrameID).remove(); slHost.css('width', '100%'); } ShowJobPlanIFrame() handles showing the JobPlanDiv div and adding an iframe into it dynamically. Once JobPlanDiv is shown, the Silverlight control host has its width set to a value of 0% to allow the control to stay alive while making it invisible to the user. I found that this technique works better across multiple browsers as opposed to manipulating the Silverlight control host div’s display or visibility properties. Now that you’ve seen the code to handle showing and hiding the HTML content area, let’s switch focus to the Silverlight application. As a user clicks on a link such as “View Report” the ShowJobPlanIFrame() JavaScript function needs to be called. The following code handles that task: private void ReportHyperlinkButton_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) { ShowBrowser(_BaseUrl + "/Report.aspx"); } public void ShowBrowser(string url) { HtmlPage.Window.Invoke("ShowJobPlanIFrame", url); } Any URL can be passed into the ShowBrowser() method which handles invoking the JavaScript function. This includes standard web pages or even PDF files. We’ve used this technique frequently with our SmartPrint control (http://www.smartwebcontrols.com) which converts Silverlight screens into PDF documents and displays them. Here’s an example of the content generated:   Silverlight 4’s WebBrowser Control Both techniques shown to this point work well when Silverlight is running in-browser but not so well when it’s running out-of-browser since there’s no host page that you can access using the HTML bridge. Fortunately, Silverlight 4 provides a WebBrowser control that can be used to perform the same functionality quite easily. We’re currently using it in client applications to display PDF documents, SSRS reports and standard HTML content. Using the WebBrowser control simplifies the application quite a bit since no JavaScript is required if the application only runs out-of-browser. Here’s a simple example of defining the WebBrowser control in XAML. I typically define it in MainPage.xaml when a Silverlight Navigation template is used to create the project so that I can re-use the functionality across multiple screens. <Grid x:Name="WebBrowserGrid" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" VerticalAlignment="Stretch" Visibility="Collapsed"> <StackPanel HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" VerticalAlignment="Stretch"> <Border Background="#484848" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" Height="40"> <Image x:Name="WebBrowserImage" Width="100" Height="33" Cursor="Hand" HorizontalAlignment="Right" Source="/HTMLAndSilverlight;component/Assets/Images/Close.png" MouseLeftButtonDown="WebBrowserImage_MouseLeftButtonDown" /> </Border> <WebBrowser x:Name="JobPlanReportWebBrowser" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" VerticalAlignment="Stretch" /> </StackPanel> </Grid> Looking through the XAML you can see that a close image is defined along with the WebBrowser control. Because the URL that the WebBrowser should navigate to isn’t known at design time no value is assigned to the control’s Source property. If the XAML shown above is left “as is” you’ll find that any HTML content assigned to the WebBrowser doesn’t display properly. This is due to no height or width being set on the control. To handle this issue the following code is added into the XAML’s code-behind file to dynamically determine the height and width of the page and assign it to the WebBrowser. This is done by handling the SizeChanged event. void MainPage_SizeChanged(object sender, SizeChangedEventArgs e) { WebBrowserGrid.Height = JobPlanReportWebBrowser.Height = ActualHeight; WebBrowserGrid.Width = JobPlanReportWebBrowser.Width = ActualWidth; } When the user wants to view HTML content they click a button which executes the code shown in next: public void ShowBrowser(string url) { if (Application.Current.IsRunningOutOfBrowser) { JobPlanReportWebBrowser.NavigateToString("<html><body><iframe src='" + url + "' style='width:100%;height:97%;' /></body></html>"); WebBrowserGrid.Visibility = Visibility.Visible; } else { HtmlPage.Window.Invoke("ShowJobPlanIFrame", url); } } private void WebBrowserImage_MouseLeftButtonDown(object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e) { WebBrowserGrid.Visibility = Visibility.Collapsed; }   Looking through the code you’ll see that it checks to see if the Silverlight application is running out-of-browser and then either displays the WebBrowser control or runs the JavaScript function discussed earlier. Although the WebBrowser control’s Source property could be assigned the URI of the page to navigate to, by assigning HTML content using the NavigateToString() method and adding an iframe, content can be shown from any site including cross-domain sites. This is especially handy when you need to grab a page from a reporting site that’s in a different domain than the Silverlight application. Here’s an example of viewing  PDF file inside of an out-of-browser application. The first image shows the application running out-of-browser before the user clicks a PDF HyperlinkButton.  The second image shows the PDF being displayed.   While there are certainly other techniques that can be used, the ones shown here have worked well for us in different applications and provide the ability to display HTML content in-browser or out-of-browser. Feel free to add a comment if you have another tip or trick you like to use when working with HTML content in Silverlight applications.   Download Code Sample   For more information about onsite, online and video training, mentoring and consulting solutions for .NET, SharePoint or Silverlight please visit http://www.thewahlingroup.com.

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• 2 drives, slow software RAID1 (md)

  - by bart613

  Hello, I've got a server from hetzner.de (EQ4) with 2* SAMSUNG HD753LJ drives (750G 32MB cache). OS is CentOS 5 (x86_64). Drives are combined together into two RAID1 partitions: /dev/md0 which is 512MB big and has only /boot partitions /dev/md1 which is over 700GB big and is one big LVM which hosts other partitions Now, I've been running some benchmarks and it seems like even though exactly the same drives, speed differs a bit on each of them. # hdparm -tT /dev/sda /dev/sda: Timing cached reads: 25612 MB in 1.99 seconds = 12860.70 MB/sec Timing buffered disk reads: 352 MB in 3.01 seconds = 116.80 MB/sec # hdparm -tT /dev/sdb /dev/sdb: Timing cached reads: 25524 MB in 1.99 seconds = 12815.99 MB/sec Timing buffered disk reads: 342 MB in 3.01 seconds = 113.64 MB/sec Also, when I run eg. pgbench which is stressing IO quite heavily, I can see following from iostat output: Device: rrqm/s wrqm/s r/s w/s rsec/s wsec/s avgrq-sz avgqu-sz await svctm %util sda 0.00 231.40 0.00 298.00 0.00 9683.20 32.49 0.17 0.58 0.34 10.24 sda1 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 sda2 0.00 231.40 0.00 298.00 0.00 9683.20 32.49 0.17 0.58 0.34 10.24 sdb 0.00 231.40 0.00 301.80 0.00 9740.80 32.28 14.19 51.17 3.10 93.68 sdb1 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 sdb2 0.00 231.40 0.00 301.80 0.00 9740.80 32.28 14.19 51.17 3.10 93.68 md1 0.00 0.00 0.00 529.60 0.00 9692.80 18.30 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 md0 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 dm-0 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.60 0.00 4.80 8.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 dm-1 0.00 0.00 0.00 529.00 0.00 9688.00 18.31 24.51 49.91 1.81 95.92 Device: rrqm/s wrqm/s r/s w/s rsec/s wsec/s avgrq-sz avgqu-sz await svctm %util sda 0.00 152.40 0.00 330.60 0.00 5176.00 15.66 0.19 0.57 0.19 6.24 sda1 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 sda2 0.00 152.40 0.00 330.60 0.00 5176.00 15.66 0.19 0.57 0.19 6.24 sdb 0.00 152.40 0.00 326.20 0.00 5118.40 15.69 19.96 55.36 3.01 98.16 sdb1 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 sdb2 0.00 152.40 0.00 326.20 0.00 5118.40 15.69 19.96 55.36 3.01 98.16 md1 0.00 0.00 0.00 482.80 0.00 5166.40 10.70 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 md0 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 dm-0 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 dm-1 0.00 0.00 0.00 482.80 0.00 5166.40 10.70 30.19 56.92 2.05 99.04 Device: rrqm/s wrqm/s r/s w/s rsec/s wsec/s avgrq-sz avgqu-sz await svctm %util sda 0.00 181.64 0.00 324.55 0.00 5445.11 16.78 0.15 0.45 0.21 6.87 sda1 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 sda2 0.00 181.64 0.00 324.55 0.00 5445.11 16.78 0.15 0.45 0.21 6.87 sdb 0.00 181.84 0.00 328.54 0.00 5493.01 16.72 18.34 61.57 3.01 99.00 sdb1 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 sdb2 0.00 181.84 0.00 328.54 0.00 5493.01 16.72 18.34 61.57 3.01 99.00 md1 0.00 0.00 0.00 506.39 0.00 5477.05 10.82 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 md0 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 dm-0 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 dm-1 0.00 0.00 0.00 506.39 0.00 5477.05 10.82 28.77 62.15 1.96 99.00 And this is completely getting me confused. How come two exactly the same specced drives have such a difference in write speed (see util%)? I haven't really paid attention to those speeds before, so perhaps that something normal -- if someone could confirm I would be really grateful. Otherwise, if someone have seen such behavior again or knows what is causing such behavior I would really appreciate answer. I'll also add that both "smartctl -a" and "hdparm -I" output are exactly the same and are not indicating any hardware problems. The slower drive was changed already two times (to new ones). Also I asked to change the drives with places, and then sda were slower and sdb quicker (so the slow one was the same drive). SATA cables were changed two times already.

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• Performance issues in android game

  - by user1446632

  I am making an android game, but however, the game is functioning like it should, but i am experiencing some performance issues. I think it has something to do with the sound. Cause each time i touch the screen, it makes a sound. I am using the standard MediaPlayer. The method is onTouchEvent() and onPlaySound1(). Could you please help me with an alternate solution for playing the sound? Thank you so much in advance! It would be nice if you also came up with some suggestions on how i can improve my code. Take a look at my code here: package com.mycompany.mygame; import java.util.ArrayList; import android.content.Context; import android.content.Intent; import android.graphics.Bitmap; import android.graphics.BitmapFactory; import android.graphics.Canvas; import android.graphics.Color; import android.graphics.Paint; import android.media.MediaPlayer; import android.os.Handler; import android.os.Message; import android.util.Log; import android.view.Menu; import android.view.MenuInflater; import android.view.MenuItem; import android.view.MotionEvent; import android.view.SurfaceHolder; import android.view.SurfaceView; import android.view.View; import android.webkit.WebView; import android.widget.TextView; import android.widget.Toast; public class ExampleView extends SurfaceView implements SurfaceHolder.Callback { class ExampleThread extends Thread { private ArrayList<Parachuter> parachuters; private Bitmap parachuter; private Bitmap background; private Paint black; private boolean running; private SurfaceHolder mSurfaceHolder; private Context mContext; private Context mContext1; private Handler mHandler; private Handler mHandler1; private GameScreenActivity mActivity; private long frameRate; private boolean loading; public float x; public float y; public float x1; public float y1; public MediaPlayer mp1; public MediaPlayer mp2; public int parachuterIndexToResetAndDelete; public int canvasGetWidth; public int canvasGetWidth1; public int canvasGetHeight; public int livesLeftValue; public int levelValue = 1; public int levelValue1; public int parachutersDown; public int difficultySet; public boolean isSpecialAttackAvailible; public ExampleThread(SurfaceHolder sHolder, Context context, Handler handler) { mSurfaceHolder = sHolder; mHandler = handler; mHandler1 = handler; mContext = context; mActivity = (GameScreenActivity) context; parachuters = new ArrayList<Parachuter>(); parachuter = BitmapFactory.decodeResource(getResources(), R.drawable.parachuteman); black = new Paint(); black.setStyle(Paint.Style.FILL); black.setColor(Color.GRAY); background = BitmapFactory.decodeResource(getResources(), R.drawable.gamescreenbackground); running = true; // This equates to 26 frames per second. frameRate = (long) (1000 / 26); loading = true; mp1 = MediaPlayer.create(getContext(), R.raw.bombsound); } @Override public void run() { while (running) { Canvas c = null; try { c = mSurfaceHolder.lockCanvas(); synchronized (mSurfaceHolder) { long start = System.currentTimeMillis(); doDraw(c); long diff = System.currentTimeMillis() - start; if (diff < frameRate) Thread.sleep(frameRate - diff); } } catch (InterruptedException e) { } finally { if (c != null) { mSurfaceHolder.unlockCanvasAndPost(c); } } } } protected void doDraw(Canvas canvas) { canvas.drawRect(0, 0, canvas.getWidth(), canvas.getHeight(), black); //Draw for (int i = 0; i < parachuters.size(); i++) { canvas.drawBitmap(parachuter, parachuters.get(i).getX(), parachuters.get(i).getY(), null); parachuters.get(i).tick(); } //Remove for (int i = 0; i < parachuters.size(); i++) { if (parachuters.get(i).getY() > canvas.getHeight()) { parachuters.remove(i); onPlaySound(); checkLivesLeftValue(); checkAmountOfParachuters(); } else if(parachuters.get(i).isTouched()) { parachuters.remove(i); } else{ //Do nothing } } } public void loadBackground(Canvas canvas) { //Load background canvas.drawBitmap(background, 0, 0, black); } public void checkAmountOfParachuters() { mHandler.post(new Runnable() { @Override public void run() { if(parachuters.isEmpty()) { levelValue = levelValue + 1; Toast.makeText(getContext(), "New level! " + levelValue, 15).show(); if (levelValue == 3) { drawParachutersGroup1(); drawParachutersGroup2(); drawParachutersGroup3(); drawParachutersGroup4(); } else if (levelValue == 5) { drawParachutersGroup1(); drawParachutersGroup2(); drawParachutersGroup3(); drawParachutersGroup4(); drawParachutersGroup5(); } else if (levelValue == 7) { drawParachutersGroup1(); drawParachutersGroup2(); drawParachutersGroup3(); drawParachutersGroup4(); drawParachutersGroup5(); drawParachutersGroup6(); } else if (levelValue == 9) { //Draw 7 groups of parachuters drawParachutersGroup1(); drawParachutersGroup2(); drawParachutersGroup3(); drawParachutersGroup4(); drawParachutersGroup5(); drawParachutersGroup6(); drawParachutersGroup1(); } else if (levelValue > 9) { //Draw 7 groups of parachuters drawParachutersGroup1(); drawParachutersGroup2(); drawParachutersGroup3(); drawParachutersGroup4(); drawParachutersGroup5(); drawParachutersGroup6(); drawParachutersGroup1(); } else { //Draw normal 3 groups of parachuters drawParachutersGroup1(); drawParachutersGroup2(); drawParachutersGroup3(); } } else { //Do nothing } } }); } private void checkLivesLeftValue() { mHandler.post(new Runnable() { @Override public void run() { Log.d("checkLivesLeftValue", "lives = " + livesLeftValue); // TODO Auto-generated method stub if (livesLeftValue == 3) { //Message to display: "You lost! Log.d("checkLivesLeftValue", "calling onMethod now"); parachuters.removeAll(parachuters); onMethod(); } else if (livesLeftValue == 2) { Toast.makeText(getContext(), "Lives left=1", 15).show(); livesLeftValue = livesLeftValue + 1; Log.d("checkLivesLeftValue", "increased lives to " + livesLeftValue); } else if (livesLeftValue == 1) { Toast.makeText(getContext(), "Lives left=2", 15).show(); livesLeftValue = livesLeftValue + 1; Log.d("checkLivesLeftValue", "increased lives to " + livesLeftValue); } else { //Set livesLeftValueText 3 Toast.makeText(getContext(), "Lives left=3", 15).show(); livesLeftValue = livesLeftValue + 1; Log.d("checkLivesLeftValue", "increased lives to " + livesLeftValue); } } }); } public void onMethod() { mHandler.post(new Runnable() { @Override public void run() { try { Toast.makeText(getContext(), "You lost!", 15).show(); livesLeftValue = 0; //Tell the user that he lost: android.content.Context ctx = mContext; Intent i = new Intent(ctx, playerLostMessageActivity.class); i.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK); i.putExtra("KEY","You got to level " + levelValue + " And you shot down " + parachutersDown + " parachuters"); i.putExtra("levelValue", levelValue); ctx.startActivity(i); System.exit(0); } catch (Exception e) { // TODO Auto-generated catch block e.printStackTrace(); //Exit activity and start playerLostMessageActivity Toast.makeText(getContext(), "You lost!", 15).show(); livesLeftValue = 0; //Tell the user that he lost: android.content.Context ctx = mContext; Intent i = new Intent(ctx, playerLostMessageActivity.class); i.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK); i.putExtra("KEY","You got to level " + levelValue + " And you shot down " + parachutersDown + " parachuters"); i.putExtra("levelValue", levelValue); System.exit(0); ctx.startActivity(i); System.exit(0); } } }); } public void onPlaySound() { try { mp1.start(); } catch (Exception e) { e.printStackTrace(); mp1.release(); } } public void onDestroy() { try { parachuters.removeAll(parachuters); mp1.stop(); mp1.release(); } catch (Exception e) { e.printStackTrace(); } } public void onPlaySound1() { try { mp2 = MediaPlayer.create(getContext(), R.raw.airriflesoundeffect); mp2.start(); } catch (Exception e) { e.printStackTrace(); mp2.release(); } } public boolean onTouchEvent(MotionEvent event) { if (event.getAction() != MotionEvent.ACTION_DOWN) releaseMediaPlayer(); x1 = event.getX(); y1 = event.getY(); checkAmountOfParachuters(); removeParachuter(); return false; } public void releaseMediaPlayer() { try { mp1.release(); } catch (Exception e) { e.printStackTrace(); } } public void removeParachuter() { try { for (Parachuter p: parachuters) { if (x1 > p.getX() && x1 < p.getX() + parachuter.getWidth() && y1 > p.getY() && y1 < p.getY() + parachuter.getHeight()) { p.setTouched(true); onPlaySound1(); parachutersDown = parachutersDown + 1; p.setTouched(false); } } } catch (Exception e) { e.printStackTrace(); } } public void initiateDrawParachuters() { drawParachutersGroup1(); } public void drawParachutersGroup1() { // TODO Auto-generated method stub //Parachuter group nr. 1 //Parachuter nr. 2 x = 75; y = 77; Parachuter p1 = new Parachuter(x, y); parachuters.add(p1); //Parachuter nr.1 x = 14; y = 28; Parachuter p = new Parachuter(x, y); parachuters.add(p); //Parachuter nr. 3 x = 250; y = 94; Parachuter p3 = new Parachuter(x, y); parachuters.add(p3); //Parachuter nr. 3 x = 275; y = 80; Parachuter p2 = new Parachuter(x, y); parachuters.add(p2); //Parachuter nr. 5 x = 280; y = 163; Parachuter p5 = new Parachuter(x, y); parachuters.add(p5); x = 125; y = 118; Parachuter p4 = new Parachuter(x, y); parachuters.add(p4); //Parachuter nr. 7 x = 126; y = 247; Parachuter p7 = new Parachuter(x, y); parachuters.add(p7); //Parachuter nr. 6 x = 123; y = 77; Parachuter p6 = new Parachuter(x, y); parachuters.add(p6); } public void drawParachutersGroup2() { // TODO Auto-generated method stub //Parachuter group nr. 2 //Parachuter nr. 5 x = 153; y = 166; Parachuter p5 = new Parachuter(x, y); parachuters.add(p5); x = 133; y = 123; Parachuter p4 = new Parachuter(x, y); parachuters.add(p4); //Parachuter nr. 7 x = 170; y = 213; Parachuter p7 = new Parachuter(x, y); parachuters.add(p7); //Parachuter nr. 6 x = 190; y = 121; Parachuter p6 = new Parachuter(x, y); parachuters.add(p6); } public void drawParachutersGroup3() { // TODO Auto-generated method stub //Parachuter group nr. 3 //Parachuter nr. 2 x = 267; y = 115; Parachuter p1 = new Parachuter(x, y); parachuters.add(p1); //Parachuter nr.1 x = 255; y = 183; Parachuter p = new Parachuter(x, y); parachuters.add(p); //Parachuter nr. 3 x = 170; y = 280; Parachuter p3 = new Parachuter(x, y); parachuters.add(p3); //Parachuter nr. 3 x = 116; y = 80; Parachuter p2 = new Parachuter(x, y); parachuters.add(p2); //Parachuter nr. 5 x = 67; y = 112; Parachuter p5 = new Parachuter(x, y); parachuters.add(p5); x = 260; y = 89; Parachuter p4 = new Parachuter(x, y); parachuters.add(p4); //Parachuter nr. 7 x = 260; y = 113; Parachuter p7 = new Parachuter(x, y); parachuters.add(p7); //Parachuter nr. 6 x = 178; y = 25; Parachuter p6 = new Parachuter(x, y); parachuters.add(p6); } public void drawParachutersGroup4() { // TODO Auto-generated method stub //Parachuter group nr. 1 //Parachuter nr. 2 x = 75; y = 166; Parachuter p1 = new Parachuter(x, y); parachuters.add(p1); //Parachuter nr.1 x = 118; y = 94; Parachuter p = new Parachuter(x, y); parachuters.add(p); //Parachuter nr. 3 x = 38; y = 55; Parachuter p3 = new Parachuter(x, y); parachuters.add(p3); //Parachuter nr. 3 x = 57; y = 18; Parachuter p2 = new Parachuter(x, y); parachuters.add(p2); //Parachuter nr. 5 x = 67; y = 119; Parachuter p5 = new Parachuter(x, y); parachuters.add(p5); x = 217; y = 113; Parachuter p4 = new Parachuter(x, y); parachuters.add(p4); //Parachuter nr. 7 x = 245; y = 234; Parachuter p7 = new Parachuter(x, y); parachuters.add(p7); //Parachuter nr. 6 x = 239; y = 44; Parachuter p6 = new Parachuter(x, y); parachuters.add(p6); } public void drawParachutersGroup5() { // TODO Auto-generated method stub //Parachuter group nr. 1 //Parachuter nr. 2 x = 59; y = 120; Parachuter p1 = new Parachuter(x, y); parachuters.add(p1); //Parachuter nr.1 x = 210; y = 169; Parachuter p = new Parachuter(x, y); parachuters.add(p); //Parachuter nr. 3 x = 199; y = 138; Parachuter p3 = new Parachuter(x, y); parachuters.add(p3); //Parachuter nr. 3 x = 22; y = 307; Parachuter p2 = new Parachuter(x, y); parachuters.add(p2); //Parachuter nr. 5 x = 195; y = 22; Parachuter p5 = new Parachuter(x, y); parachuters.add(p5); x = 157; y = 132; Parachuter p4 = new Parachuter(x, y); parachuters.add(p4); //Parachuter nr. 7 x = 150; y = 183; Parachuter p7 = new Parachuter(x, y); parachuters.add(p7); //Parachuter nr. 6 x = 130; y = 20; Parachuter p6 = new Parachuter(x, y); parachuters.add(p6); } public void drawParachutersGroup6() { // TODO Auto-generated method stub //Parachuter group nr. 1 //Parachuter nr. 2 x = 10; y = 10; Parachuter p1 = new Parachuter(x, y); parachuters.add(p1); //Parachuter nr.1 x = 20; y = 20; Parachuter p = new Parachuter(x, y); parachuters.add(p); //Parachuter nr. 3 x = 30; y = 30; Parachuter p3 = new Parachuter(x, y); parachuters.add(p3); //Parachuter nr. 3 x = 60; y = 60; Parachuter p2 = new Parachuter(x, y); parachuters.add(p2); //Parachuter nr. 5 x = 90; y = 90; Parachuter p5 = new Parachuter(x, y); parachuters.add(p5); x = 120; y = 120; Parachuter p4 = new Parachuter(x, y); parachuters.add(p4); //Parachuter nr. 7 x = 150; y = 150; Parachuter p7 = new Parachuter(x, y); parachuters.add(p7); //Parachuter nr. 6 x = 180; y = 180; Parachuter p6 = new Parachuter(x, y); parachuters.add(p6); } public void drawParachuters() { Parachuter p = new Parachuter(x, y); parachuters.add(p); Toast.makeText(getContext(), "x=" + x + " y=" + y, 15).show(); } public void setRunning(boolean bRun) { running = bRun; } public boolean getRunning() { return running; } } /** Handle to the application context, used to e.g. fetch Drawables. */ private Context mContext; /** Pointer to the text view to display "Paused.." etc. */ private TextView mStatusText; /** The thread that actually draws the animation */ private ExampleThread eThread; public ExampleView(Context context) { super(context); // register our interest in hearing about changes to our surface SurfaceHolder holder = getHolder(); holder.addCallback(this); // create thread only; it's started in surfaceCreated() eThread = new ExampleThread(holder, context, new Handler() { @Override public void handleMessage(Message m) { // mStatusText.setVisibility(m.getData().getInt("viz")); // mStatusText.setText(m.getData().getString("text")); } }); setFocusable(true); } @Override public boolean onTouchEvent(MotionEvent event) { return eThread.onTouchEvent(event); } public ExampleThread getThread() { return eThread; } @Override public void surfaceChanged(SurfaceHolder arg0, int arg1, int arg2, int arg3) { // TODO Auto-generated method stub } public void surfaceCreated(SurfaceHolder holder) { if (eThread.getState() == Thread.State.TERMINATED) { eThread = new ExampleThread(getHolder(), getContext(), getHandler()); eThread.start(); } else { eThread.start(); } } @Override public void surfaceDestroyed(SurfaceHolder holder) { boolean retry = true; eThread.setRunning(false); while (retry) { try { eThread.join(); retry = false; } catch (InterruptedException e) { } } } }

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• Hosting the Razor Engine for Templating in Non-Web Applications

  - by Rick Strahl

  Microsoft’s new Razor HTML Rendering Engine that is currently shipping with ASP.NET MVC previews can be used outside of ASP.NET. Razor is an alternative view engine that can be used instead of the ASP.NET Page engine that currently works with ASP.NET WebForms and MVC. It provides a simpler and more readable markup syntax and is much more light weight in terms of functionality than the full blown WebForms Page engine, focusing only on features that are more along the lines of a pure view engine (or classic ASP!) with focus on expression and code rendering rather than a complex control/object model. Like the Page engine though, the parser understands .NET code syntax which can be embedded into templates, and behind the scenes the engine compiles markup and script code into an executing piece of .NET code in an assembly. Although it ships as part of the ASP.NET MVC and WebMatrix the Razor Engine itself is not directly dependent on ASP.NET or IIS or HTTP in any way. And although there are some markup and rendering features that are optimized for HTML based output generation, Razor is essentially a free standing template engine. And what’s really nice is that unlike the ASP.NET Runtime, Razor is fairly easy to host inside of your own non-Web applications to provide templating functionality. Templating in non-Web Applications? Yes please! So why might you host a template engine in your non-Web application? Template rendering is useful in many places and I have a number of applications that make heavy use of it. One of my applications – West Wind Html Help Builder - exclusively uses template based rendering to merge user supplied help text content into customizable and executable HTML markup templates that provide HTML output for CHM style HTML Help. This is an older product and it’s not actually using .NET at the moment – and this is one reason I’m looking at Razor for script hosting at the moment. For a few .NET applications though I’ve actually used the ASP.NET Runtime hosting to provide templating and mail merge style functionality and while that works reasonably well it’s a very heavy handed approach. It’s very resource intensive and has potential issues with versioning in various different versions of .NET. The generic implementation I created in the article above requires a lot of fix up to mimic an HTTP request in a non-HTTP environment and there are a lot of little things that have to happen to ensure that the ASP.NET runtime works properly most of it having nothing to do with the templating aspect but just satisfying ASP.NET’s requirements. The Razor Engine on the other hand is fairly light weight and completely decoupled from the ASP.NET runtime and the HTTP processing. Rather it’s a pure template engine whose sole purpose is to render text templates. Hosting this engine in your own applications can be accomplished with a reasonable amount of code (actually just a few lines with the tools I’m about to describe) and without having to fake HTTP requests. It’s also much lighter on resource usage and you can easily attach custom properties to your base template implementation to easily pass context from the parent application into templates all of which was rather complicated with ASP.NET runtime hosting. Installing the Razor Template Engine You can get Razor as part of the MVC 3 (RC and later) or Web Matrix. Both are available as downloadable components from the Web Platform Installer Version 3.0 (!important – V2 doesn’t show these components). If you already have that version of the WPI installed just fire it up. You can get the latest version of the Web Platform Installer from here: http://www.microsoft.com/web/gallery/install.aspx Once the platform Installer 3.0 is installed install either MVC 3 or ASP.NET Web Pages. Once installed you’ll find a System.Web.Razor assembly in C:\Program Files\Microsoft ASP.NET\ASP.NET Web Pages\v1.0\Assemblies\System.Web.Razor.dll which you can add as a reference to your project. Creating a Wrapper The basic Razor Hosting API is pretty simple and you can host Razor with a (large-ish) handful of lines of code. I’ll show the basics of it later in this article. However, if you want to customize the rendering and handle assembly and namespace includes for the markup as well as deal with text and file inputs as well as forcing Razor to run in a separate AppDomain so you can unload the code-generated assemblies and deal with assembly caching for re-used templates little more work is required to create something that is more easily reusable. For this reason I created a Razor Hosting wrapper project that combines a bunch of this functionality into an easy to use hosting class, a hosting factory that can load the engine in a separate AppDomain and a couple of hosting containers that provided folder based and string based caching for templates for an easily embeddable and reusable engine with easy to use syntax. If you just want the code and play with the samples and source go grab the latest code from the Subversion Repository at: http://www.west-wind.com:8080/svn/articles/trunk/RazorHosting/ or a snapshot from: http://www.west-wind.com/files/tools/RazorHosting.zip Getting Started Before I get into how hosting with Razor works, let’s take a look at how you can get up and running quickly with the wrapper classes provided. It only takes a few lines of code. The easiest way to use these Razor Hosting Wrappers is to use one of the two HostContainers provided. One is for hosting Razor scripts in a directory and rendering them as relative paths from these script files on disk. The other HostContainer serves razor scripts from string templates… Let’s start with a very simple template that displays some simple expressions, some code blocks and demonstrates rendering some data from contextual data that you pass to the template in the form of a ‘context’. Here’s a simple Razor template: @using System.Reflection Hello @Context.FirstName! Your entry was entered on: @Context.Entered @{ // Code block: Update the host Windows Form passed in through the context Context.WinForm.Text = "Hello World from Razor at " + DateTime.Now.ToString(); } AppDomain Id: @AppDomain.CurrentDomain.FriendlyName Assembly: @Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().FullName Code based output: @{ // Write output with Response object from code string output = string.Empty; for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) { output += i.ToString() + " "; } Response.Write(output); } Pretty easy to see what’s going on here. The only unusual thing in this code is the Context object which is an arbitrary object I’m passing from the host to the template by way of the template base class. I’m also displaying the current AppDomain and the executing Assembly name so you can see how compiling and running a template actually loads up new assemblies. Also note that as part of my context I’m passing a reference to the current Windows Form down to the template and changing the title from within the script. It’s a silly example, but it demonstrates two-way communication between host and template and back which can be very powerful. The easiest way to quickly render this template is to use the RazorEngine<TTemplateBase> class. The generic parameter specifies a template base class type that is used by Razor internally to generate the class it generates from a template. The default implementation provided in my RazorHosting wrapper is RazorTemplateBase. Here’s a simple one that renders from a string and outputs a string: var engine = new RazorEngine<RazorTemplateBase>(); // we can pass any object as context - here create a custom context var context = new CustomContext() { WinForm = this, FirstName = "Rick", Entered = DateTime.Now.AddDays(-10) }; string output = engine.RenderTemplate(this.txtSource.Text new string[] { "System.Windows.Forms.dll" }, context); if (output == null) this.txtResult.Text = "*** ERROR:\r\n" + engine.ErrorMessage; else this.txtResult.Text = output; Simple enough. This code renders a template from a string input and returns a result back as a string. It  creates a custom context and passes that to the template which can then access the Context’s properties. Note that anything passed as ‘context’ must be serializable (or MarshalByRefObject) – otherwise you get an exception when passing the reference over AppDomain boundaries (discussed later). Passing a context is optional, but is a key feature in being able to share data between the host application and the template. Note that we use the Context object to access FirstName, Entered and even the host Windows Form object which is used in the template to change the Window caption from within the script! In the code above all the work happens in the RenderTemplate method which provide a variety of overloads to read and write to and from strings, files and TextReaders/Writers. Here’s another example that renders from a file input using a TextReader: using (reader = new StreamReader("templates\\simple.csHtml", true)) { result = host.RenderTemplate(reader, new string[] { "System.Windows.Forms.dll" }, this.CustomContext); } RenderTemplate() is fairly high level and it handles loading of the runtime, compiling into an assembly and rendering of the template. If you want more control you can use the lower level methods to control each step of the way which is important for the HostContainers I’ll discuss later. Basically for those scenarios you want to separate out loading of the engine, compiling into an assembly and then rendering the template from the assembly. Why? So we can keep assemblies cached. In the code above a new assembly is created for each template rendered which is inefficient and uses up resources. Depending on the size of your templates and how often you fire them you can chew through memory very quickly. This slighter lower level approach is only a couple of extra steps: // we can pass any object as context - here create a custom context var context = new CustomContext() { WinForm = this, FirstName = "Rick", Entered = DateTime.Now.AddDays(-10) }; var engine = new RazorEngine<RazorTemplateBase>(); string assId = null; using (StringReader reader = new StringReader(this.txtSource.Text)) { assId = engine.ParseAndCompileTemplate(new string[] { "System.Windows.Forms.dll" }, reader); } string output = engine.RenderTemplateFromAssembly(assId, context); if (output == null) this.txtResult.Text = "*** ERROR:\r\n" + engine.ErrorMessage; else this.txtResult.Text = output; The difference here is that you can capture the assembly – or rather an Id to it – and potentially hold on to it to render again later assuming the template hasn’t changed. The HostContainers take advantage of this feature to cache the assemblies based on certain criteria like a filename and file time step or a string hash that if not change indicate that an assembly can be reused. Note that ParseAndCompileTemplate returns an assembly Id rather than the assembly itself. This is done so that that the assembly always stays in the host’s AppDomain and is not passed across AppDomain boundaries which would cause load failures. We’ll talk more about this in a minute but for now just realize that assemblies references are stored in a list and are accessible by this ID to allow locating and re-executing of the assembly based on that id. Reuse of the assembly avoids recompilation overhead and creation of yet another assembly that loads into the current AppDomain. You can play around with several different versions of the above code in the main sample form:   Using Hosting Containers for more Control and Caching The above examples simply render templates into assemblies each and every time they are executed. While this works and is even reasonably fast, it’s not terribly efficient. If you render templates more than once it would be nice if you could cache the generated assemblies for example to avoid re-compiling and creating of a new assembly each time. Additionally it would be nice to load template assemblies into a separate AppDomain optionally to be able to be able to unload assembli es and also to protect your host application from scripting attacks with malicious template code. Hosting containers provide also provide a wrapper around the RazorEngine<T> instance, a factory (which allows creation in separate AppDomains) and an easy way to start and stop the container ‘runtime’. The Razor Hosting samples provide two hosting containers: RazorFolderHostContainer and StringHostContainer. The folder host provides a simple runtime environment for a folder structure similar in the way that the ASP.NET runtime handles a virtual directory as it’s ‘application' root. Templates are loaded from disk in relative paths and the resulting assemblies are cached unless the template on disk is changed. The string host also caches templates based on string hashes – if the same string is passed a second time a cached version of the assembly is used. Here’s how HostContainers work. I’ll use the FolderHostContainer because it’s likely the most common way you’d use templates – from disk based templates that can be easily edited and maintained on disk. The first step is to create an instance of it and keep it around somewhere (in the example it’s attached as a property to the Form): RazorFolderHostContainer Host = new RazorFolderHostContainer(); public RazorFolderHostForm() { InitializeComponent(); // The base path for templates - templates are rendered with relative paths // based on this path. Host.TemplatePath = Path.Combine(Environment.CurrentDirectory, TemplateBaseFolder); // Add any assemblies you want reference in your templates Host.ReferencedAssemblies.Add("System.Windows.Forms.dll"); // Start up the host container Host.Start(); } Next anytime you want to render a template you can use simple code like this: private void RenderTemplate(string fileName) { // Pass the template path via the Context var relativePath = Utilities.GetRelativePath(fileName, Host.TemplatePath); if (!Host.RenderTemplate(relativePath, this.Context, Host.RenderingOutputFile)) { MessageBox.Show("Error: " + Host.ErrorMessage); return; } this.webBrowser1.Navigate("file://" + Host.RenderingOutputFile); } You can also render the output to a string instead of to a file: string result = Host.RenderTemplateToString(relativePath,context); Finally if you want to release the engine and shut down the hosting AppDomain you can simply do: Host.Stop(); Stopping the AppDomain and restarting it (ie. calling Stop(); followed by Start()) is also a nice way to release all resources in the AppDomain. The FolderBased domain also supports partial Rendering based on root path based relative paths with the same caching characteristics as the main templates. From within a template you can call out to a partial like this: @RenderPartial(@"partials\PartialRendering.cshtml", Context) where partials\PartialRendering.cshtml is a relative to the template root folder. The folder host example lets you load up templates from disk and display the result in a Web Browser control which demonstrates using Razor HTML output from templates that contain HTML syntax which happens to me my target scenario for Html Help Builder.   The Razor Engine Wrapper Project The project I created to wrap Razor hosting has a fair bit of code and a number of classes associated with it. Most of the components are internally used and as you can see using the final RazorEngine<T> and HostContainer classes is pretty easy. The classes are extensible and I suspect developers will want to build more customized host containers for their applications. Host containers are the key to wrapping up all functionality – Engine, BaseTemplate, AppDomain Hosting, Caching etc in a logical piece that is ready to be plugged into an application. When looking at the code there are a couple of core features provided: Core Razor Engine Hosting This is the core Razor hosting which provides the basics of loading a template, compiling it into an assembly and executing it. This is fairly straightforward, but without a host container that can cache assemblies based on some criteria templates are recompiled and re-created each time which is inefficient (although pretty fast). The base engine wrapper implementation also supports hosting the Razor runtime in a separate AppDomain for security and the ability to unload it on demand. Host Containers The engine hosting itself doesn’t provide any sort of ‘runtime’ service like picking up files from disk, caching assemblies and so forth. So my implementation provides two HostContainers: RazorFolderHostContainer and RazorStringHostContainer. The FolderHost works off a base directory and loads templates based on relative paths (sort of like the ASP.NET runtime does off a virtual). The HostContainers also deal with caching of template assemblies – for the folder host the file date is tracked and checked for updates and unless the template is changed a cached assembly is reused. The StringHostContainer similiarily checks string hashes to figure out whether a particular string template was previously compiled and executed. The HostContainers also act as a simple startup environment and a single reference to easily store and reuse in an application. TemplateBase Classes The template base classes are the base classes that from which the Razor engine generates .NET code. A template is parsed into a class with an Execute() method and the class is based on this template type you can specify. RazorEngine<TBaseTemplate> can receive this type and the HostContainers default to specific templates in their base implementations. Template classes are customizable to allow you to create templates that provide application specific features and interaction from the template to your host application. How does the RazorEngine wrapper work? You can browse the source code in the links above or in the repository or download the source, but I’ll highlight some key features here. Here’s part of the RazorEngine implementation that can be used to host the runtime and that demonstrates the key code required to host the Razor runtime. The RazorEngine class is implemented as a generic class to reflect the Template base class type: public class RazorEngine<TBaseTemplateType> : MarshalByRefObject where TBaseTemplateType : RazorTemplateBase The generic type is used to internally provide easier access to the template type and assignments on it as part of the template processing. The class also inherits MarshalByRefObject to allow execution over AppDomain boundaries – something that all the classes discussed here need to do since there is much interaction between the host and the template. The first two key methods deal with creating a template assembly: /// <summary> /// Creates an instance of the RazorHost with various options applied. /// Applies basic namespace imports and the name of the class to generate /// </summary> /// <param name="generatedNamespace"></param> /// <param name="generatedClass"></param> /// <returns></returns> protected RazorTemplateEngine CreateHost(string generatedNamespace, string generatedClass) { Type baseClassType = typeof(TBaseTemplateType); RazorEngineHost host = new RazorEngineHost(new CSharpRazorCodeLanguage()); host.DefaultBaseClass = baseClassType.FullName; host.DefaultClassName = generatedClass; host.DefaultNamespace = generatedNamespace; host.NamespaceImports.Add("System"); host.NamespaceImports.Add("System.Text"); host.NamespaceImports.Add("System.Collections.Generic"); host.NamespaceImports.Add("System.Linq"); host.NamespaceImports.Add("System.IO"); return new RazorTemplateEngine(host); } /// <summary> /// Parses and compiles a markup template into an assembly and returns /// an assembly name. The name is an ID that can be passed to /// ExecuteTemplateByAssembly which picks up a cached instance of the /// loaded assembly. /// /// </summary> /// <param name="namespaceOfGeneratedClass">The namespace of the class to generate from the template</param> /// <param name="generatedClassName">The name of the class to generate from the template</param> /// <param name="ReferencedAssemblies">Any referenced assemblies by dll name only. Assemblies must be in execution path of host or in GAC.</param> /// <param name="templateSourceReader">Textreader that loads the template</param> /// <remarks> /// The actual assembly isn't returned here to allow for cross-AppDomain /// operation. If the assembly was returned it would fail for cross-AppDomain /// calls. /// </remarks> /// <returns>An assembly Id. The Assembly is cached in memory and can be used with RenderFromAssembly.</returns> public string ParseAndCompileTemplate( string namespaceOfGeneratedClass, string generatedClassName, string[] ReferencedAssemblies, TextReader templateSourceReader) { RazorTemplateEngine engine = CreateHost(namespaceOfGeneratedClass, generatedClassName); // Generate the template class as CodeDom GeneratorResults razorResults = engine.GenerateCode(templateSourceReader); // Create code from the codeDom and compile CSharpCodeProvider codeProvider = new CSharpCodeProvider(); CodeGeneratorOptions options = new CodeGeneratorOptions(); // Capture Code Generated as a string for error info // and debugging LastGeneratedCode = null; using (StringWriter writer = new StringWriter()) { codeProvider.GenerateCodeFromCompileUnit(razorResults.GeneratedCode, writer, options); LastGeneratedCode = writer.ToString(); } CompilerParameters compilerParameters = new CompilerParameters(ReferencedAssemblies); // Standard Assembly References compilerParameters.ReferencedAssemblies.Add("System.dll"); compilerParameters.ReferencedAssemblies.Add("System.Core.dll"); compilerParameters.ReferencedAssemblies.Add("Microsoft.CSharp.dll"); // dynamic support! // Also add the current assembly so RazorTemplateBase is available compilerParameters.ReferencedAssemblies.Add(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().CodeBase.Substring(8)); compilerParameters.GenerateInMemory = Configuration.CompileToMemory; if (!Configuration.CompileToMemory) compilerParameters.OutputAssembly = Path.Combine(Configuration.TempAssemblyPath, "_" + Guid.NewGuid().ToString("n") + ".dll"); CompilerResults compilerResults = codeProvider.CompileAssemblyFromDom(compilerParameters, razorResults.GeneratedCode); if (compilerResults.Errors.Count > 0) { var compileErrors = new StringBuilder(); foreach (System.CodeDom.Compiler.CompilerError compileError in compilerResults.Errors) compileErrors.Append(String.Format(Resources.LineX0TColX1TErrorX2RN, compileError.Line, compileError.Column, compileError.ErrorText)); this.SetError(compileErrors.ToString() + "\r\n" + LastGeneratedCode); return null; } AssemblyCache.Add(compilerResults.CompiledAssembly.FullName, compilerResults.CompiledAssembly); return compilerResults.CompiledAssembly.FullName; } Think of the internal CreateHost() method as setting up the assembly generated from each template. Each template compiles into a separate assembly. It sets up namespaces, and assembly references, the base class used and the name and namespace for the generated class. ParseAndCompileTemplate() then calls the CreateHost() method to receive the template engine generator which effectively generates a CodeDom from the template – the template is turned into .NET code. The code generated from our earlier example looks something like this: //------------------------------------------------------------------------------ // <auto-generated> // This code was generated by a tool. // Runtime Version:4.0.30319.1 // // Changes to this file may cause incorrect behavior and will be lost if // the code is regenerated. // </auto-generated> //------------------------------------------------------------------------------ namespace RazorTest { using System; using System.Text; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Linq; using System.IO; using System.Reflection; public class RazorTemplate : RazorHosting.RazorTemplateBase { #line hidden public RazorTemplate() { } public override void Execute() { WriteLiteral("Hello "); Write(Context.FirstName); WriteLiteral("! Your entry was entered on: "); Write(Context.Entered); WriteLiteral("\r\n\r\n"); // Code block: Update the host Windows Form passed in through the context Context.WinForm.Text = "Hello World from Razor at " + DateTime.Now.ToString(); WriteLiteral("\r\nAppDomain Id:\r\n "); Write(AppDomain.CurrentDomain.FriendlyName); WriteLiteral("\r\n \r\nAssembly:\r\n "); Write(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().FullName); WriteLiteral("\r\n\r\nCode based output: \r\n"); // Write output with Response object from code string output = string.Empty; for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) { output += i.ToString() + " "; } } } } Basically the template’s body is turned into code in an Execute method that is called. Internally the template’s Write method is fired to actually generate the output. Note that the class inherits from RazorTemplateBase which is the generic parameter I used to specify the base class when creating an instance in my RazorEngine host: var engine = new RazorEngine<RazorTemplateBase>(); This template class must be provided and it must implement an Execute() and Write() method. Beyond that you can create any class you chose and attach your own properties. My RazorTemplateBase class implementation is very simple: public class RazorTemplateBase : MarshalByRefObject, IDisposable { /// <summary> /// You can pass in a generic context object /// to use in your template code /// </summary> public dynamic Context { get; set; } /// <summary> /// Class that generates output. Currently ultra simple /// with only Response.Write() implementation. /// </summary> public RazorResponse Response { get; set; } public object HostContainer {get; set; } public object Engine { get; set; } public RazorTemplateBase() { Response = new RazorResponse(); } public virtual void Write(object value) { Response.Write(value); } public virtual void WriteLiteral(object value) { Response.Write(value); } /// <summary> /// Razor Parser implements this method /// </summary> public virtual void Execute() {} public virtual void Dispose() { if (Response != null) { Response.Dispose(); Response = null; } } } Razor fills in the Execute method when it generates its subclass and uses the Write() method to output content. As you can see I use a RazorResponse() class here to generate output. This isn’t necessary really, as you could use a StringBuilder or StringWriter() directly, but I prefer using Response object so I can extend the Response behavior as needed. The RazorResponse class is also very simple and merely acts as a wrapper around a TextWriter: public class RazorResponse : IDisposable { /// <summary> /// Internal text writer - default to StringWriter() /// </summary> public TextWriter Writer = new StringWriter(); public virtual void Write(object value) { Writer.Write(value); } public virtual void WriteLine(object value) { Write(value); Write("\r\n"); } public virtual void WriteFormat(string format, params object[] args) { Write(string.Format(format, args)); } public override string ToString() { return Writer.ToString(); } public virtual void Dispose() { Writer.Close(); } public virtual void SetTextWriter(TextWriter writer) { // Close original writer if (Writer != null) Writer.Close(); Writer = writer; } } The Rendering Methods of RazorEngine At this point I’ve talked about the assembly generation logic and the template implementation itself. What’s left is that once you’ve generated the assembly is to execute it. The code to do this is handled in the various RenderXXX methods of the RazorEngine class. Let’s look at the lowest level one of these which is RenderTemplateFromAssembly() and a couple of internal support methods that handle instantiating and invoking of the generated template method: public string RenderTemplateFromAssembly( string assemblyId, string generatedNamespace, string generatedClass, object context, TextWriter outputWriter) { this.SetError(); Assembly generatedAssembly = AssemblyCache[assemblyId]; if (generatedAssembly == null) { this.SetError(Resources.PreviouslyCompiledAssemblyNotFound); return null; } string className = generatedNamespace + "." + generatedClass; Type type; try { type = generatedAssembly.GetType(className); } catch (Exception ex) { this.SetError(Resources.UnableToCreateType + className + ": " + ex.Message); return null; } // Start with empty non-error response (if we use a writer) string result = string.Empty; using(TBaseTemplateType instance = InstantiateTemplateClass(type)) { if (instance == null) return null; if (outputWriter != null) instance.Response.SetTextWriter(outputWriter); if (!InvokeTemplateInstance(instance, context)) return null; // Capture string output if implemented and return // otherwise null is returned if (outputWriter == null) result = instance.Response.ToString(); } return result; } protected virtual TBaseTemplateType InstantiateTemplateClass(Type type) { TBaseTemplateType instance = Activator.CreateInstance(type) as TBaseTemplateType; if (instance == null) { SetError(Resources.CouldnTActivateTypeInstance + type.FullName); return null; } instance.Engine = this; // If a HostContainer was set pass that to the template too instance.HostContainer = this.HostContainer; return instance; } /// <summary> /// Internally executes an instance of the template, /// captures errors on execution and returns true or false /// </summary> /// <param name="instance">An instance of the generated template</param> /// <returns>true or false - check ErrorMessage for errors</returns> protected virtual bool InvokeTemplateInstance(TBaseTemplateType instance, object context) { try { instance.Context = context; instance.Execute(); } catch (Exception ex) { this.SetError(Resources.TemplateExecutionError + ex.Message); return false; } finally { // Must make sure Response is closed instance.Response.Dispose(); } return true; } The RenderTemplateFromAssembly method basically requires the namespace and class to instantate and creates an instance of the class using InstantiateTemplateClass(). It then invokes the method with InvokeTemplateInstance(). These two methods are broken out because they are re-used by various other rendering methods and also to allow subclassing and providing additional configuration tasks to set properties and pass values to templates at execution time. In the default mode instantiation sets the Engine and HostContainer (discussed later) so the template can call back into the template engine, and the context is set when the template method is invoked. The various RenderXXX methods use similar code although they create the assemblies first. If you’re after potentially cashing assemblies the method is the one to call and that’s exactly what the two HostContainer classes do. More on that in a minute, but before we get into HostContainers let’s talk about AppDomain hosting and the like. Running Templates in their own AppDomain With the RazorEngine class above, when a template is parsed into an assembly and executed the assembly is created (in memory or on disk – you can configure that) and cached in the current AppDomain. In .NET once an assembly has been loaded it can never be unloaded so if you’re loading lots of templates and at some time you want to release them there’s no way to do so. If however you load the assemblies in a separate AppDomain that new AppDomain can be unloaded and the assemblies loaded in it with it. In order to host the templates in a separate AppDomain the easiest thing to do is to run the entire RazorEngine in a separate AppDomain. Then all interaction occurs in the other AppDomain and no further changes have to be made. To facilitate this there is a RazorEngineFactory which has methods that can instantiate the RazorHost in a separate AppDomain as well as in the local AppDomain. The host creates the remote instance and then hangs on to it to keep it alive as well as providing methods to shut down the AppDomain and reload the engine. Sounds complicated but cross-AppDomain invocation is actually fairly easy to implement. Here’s some of the relevant code from the RazorEngineFactory class. Like the RazorEngine this class is generic and requires a template base type in the generic class name: public class RazorEngineFactory<TBaseTemplateType> where TBaseTemplateType : RazorTemplateBase Here are the key methods of interest: /// <summary> /// Creates an instance of the RazorHost in a new AppDomain. This /// version creates a static singleton that that is cached and you /// can call UnloadRazorHostInAppDomain to unload it. /// </summary> /// <returns></returns> public static RazorEngine<TBaseTemplateType> CreateRazorHostInAppDomain() { if (Current == null) Current = new RazorEngineFactory<TBaseTemplateType>(); return Current.GetRazorHostInAppDomain(); } public static void UnloadRazorHostInAppDomain() { if (Current != null) Current.UnloadHost(); Current = null; } /// <summary> /// Instance method that creates a RazorHost in a new AppDomain. /// This method requires that you keep the Factory around in /// order to keep the AppDomain alive and be able to unload it. /// </summary> /// <returns></returns> public RazorEngine<TBaseTemplateType> GetRazorHostInAppDomain() { LocalAppDomain = CreateAppDomain(null); if (LocalAppDomain == null) return null; /// Create the instance inside of the new AppDomain /// Note: remote domain uses local EXE's AppBasePath!!! RazorEngine<TBaseTemplateType> host = null; try { Assembly ass = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly(); string AssemblyPath = ass.Location; host = (RazorEngine<TBaseTemplateType>) LocalAppDomain.CreateInstanceFrom(AssemblyPath, typeof(RazorEngine<TBaseTemplateType>).FullName).Unwrap(); } catch (Exception ex) { ErrorMessage = ex.Message; return null; } return host; } /// <summary> /// Internally creates a new AppDomain in which Razor templates can /// be run. /// </summary> /// <param name="appDomainName"></param> /// <returns></returns> private AppDomain CreateAppDomain(string appDomainName) { if (appDomainName == null) appDomainName = "RazorHost_" + Guid.NewGuid().ToString("n"); AppDomainSetup setup = new AppDomainSetup(); // *** Point at current directory setup.ApplicationBase = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory; AppDomain localDomain = AppDomain.CreateDomain(appDomainName, null, setup); return localDomain; } /// <summary> /// Allow unloading of the created AppDomain to release resources /// All internal resources in the AppDomain are released including /// in memory compiled Razor assemblies. /// </summary> public void UnloadHost() { if (this.LocalAppDomain != null) { AppDomain.Unload(this.LocalAppDomain); this.LocalAppDomain = null; } } The static CreateRazorHostInAppDomain() is the key method that startup code usually calls. It uses a Current singleton instance to an instance of itself that is created cross AppDomain and is kept alive because it’s static. GetRazorHostInAppDomain actually creates a cross-AppDomain instance which first creates a new AppDomain and then loads the RazorEngine into it. The remote Proxy instance is returned as a result to the method and can be used the same as a local instance. The code to run with a remote AppDomain is simple: private RazorEngine<RazorTemplateBase> CreateHost() { if (this.Host != null) return this.Host; // Use Static Methods - no error message if host doesn't load this.Host = RazorEngineFactory<RazorTemplateBase>.CreateRazorHostInAppDomain(); if (this.Host == null) { MessageBox.Show("Unable to load Razor Template Host", "Razor Hosting", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Exclamation); } return this.Host; } This code relies on a local reference of the Host which is kept around for the duration of the app (in this case a form reference). To use this you’d simply do: this.Host = CreateHost(); if (host == null) return; string result = host.RenderTemplate( this.txtSource.Text, new string[] { "System.Windows.Forms.dll", "Westwind.Utilities.dll" }, this.CustomContext); if (result == null) { MessageBox.Show(host.ErrorMessage, "Template Execution Error", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Exclamation); return; } this.txtResult.Text = result; Now all templates run in a remote AppDomain and can be unloaded with simple code like this: RazorEngineFactory<RazorTemplateBase>.UnloadRazorHostInAppDomain(); this.Host = null; One Step further – Providing a caching ‘Runtime’ Once we can load templates in a remote AppDomain we can add some additional functionality like assembly caching based on application specific features. One of my typical scenarios is to render templates out of a scripts folder. So all templates live in a folder and they change infrequently. So a Folder based host that can compile these templates once and then only recompile them if something changes would be ideal. Enter host containers which are basically wrappers around the RazorEngine<t> and RazorEngineFactory<t>. They provide additional logic for things like file caching based on changes on disk or string hashes for string based template inputs. The folder host also provides for partial rendering logic through a custom template base implementation. There’s a base implementation in RazorBaseHostContainer, which provides the basics for hosting a RazorEngine, which includes the ability to start and stop the engine, cache assemblies and add references: public abstract class RazorBaseHostContainer<TBaseTemplateType> : MarshalByRefObject where TBaseTemplateType : RazorTemplateBase, new() { public RazorBaseHostContainer() { UseAppDomain = true; GeneratedNamespace = "__RazorHost"; } /// <summary> /// Determines whether the Container hosts Razor /// in a separate AppDomain. Seperate AppDomain /// hosting allows unloading and releasing of /// resources. /// </summary> public bool UseAppDomain { get; set; } /// <summary> /// Base folder location where the AppDomain /// is hosted. By default uses the same folder /// as the host application. /// /// Determines where binary dependencies are /// found for assembly references. /// </summary> public string BaseBinaryFolder { get; set; } /// <summary> /// List of referenced assemblies as string values. /// Must be in GAC or in the current folder of the host app/ /// base BinaryFolder /// </summary> public List<string> ReferencedAssemblies = new List<string>(); /// <summary> /// Name of the generated namespace for template classes /// </summary> public string GeneratedNamespace {get; set; } /// <summary> /// Any error messages /// </summary> public string ErrorMessage { get; set; } /// <summary> /// Cached instance of the Host. Required to keep the /// reference to the host alive for multiple uses. /// </summary> public RazorEngine<TBaseTemplateType> Engine; /// <summary> /// Cached instance of the Host Factory - so we can unload /// the host and its associated AppDomain. /// </summary> protected RazorEngineFactory<TBaseTemplateType> EngineFactory; /// <summary> /// Keep track of each compiled assembly /// and when it was compiled. /// /// Use a hash of the string to identify string /// changes. /// </summary> protected Dictionary<int, CompiledAssemblyItem> LoadedAssemblies = new Dictionary<int, CompiledAssemblyItem>(); /// <summary> /// Call to start the Host running. Follow by a calls to RenderTemplate to /// render individual templates. Call Stop when done. /// </summary> /// <returns>true or false - check ErrorMessage on false </returns> public virtual bool Start() { if (Engine == null) { if (UseAppDomain) Engine = RazorEngineFactory<TBaseTemplateType>.CreateRazorHostInAppDomain(); else Engine = RazorEngineFactory<TBaseTemplateType>.CreateRazorHost(); Engine.Configuration.CompileToMemory = true; Engine.HostContainer = this; if (Engine == null) { this.ErrorMessage = EngineFactory.ErrorMessage; return false; } } return true; } /// <summary> /// Stops the Host and releases the host AppDomain and cached /// assemblies. /// </summary> /// <returns>true or false</returns> public bool Stop() { this.LoadedAssemblies.Clear(); RazorEngineFactory<RazorTemplateBase>.UnloadRazorHostInAppDomain(); this.Engine = null; return true; } … } This base class provides most of the mechanics to host the runtime, but no application specific implementation for rendering. There are rendering functions but they just call the engine directly and provide no caching – there’s no context to decide how to cache and reuse templates. The key methods are Start and Stop and their main purpose is to start a new AppDomain (optionally) and shut it down when requested. The RazorFolderHostContainer – Folder Based Runtime Hosting Let’s look at the more application specific RazorFolderHostContainer implementation which is defined like this: public class RazorFolderHostContainer : RazorBaseHostContainer<RazorTemplateFolderHost> Note that a customized RazorTemplateFolderHost class template is used for this implementation that supports partial rendering in form of a RenderPartial() method that’s available to templates. The folder host’s features are: Render templates based on a Template Base Path (a ‘virtual’ if you will) Cache compiled assemblies based on the relative path and file time stamp File changes on templates cause templates to be recompiled into new assemblies Support for partial rendering using base folder relative pathing As shown in the startup examples earlier host containers require some startup code with a HostContainer tied to a persistent property (like a Form property): // The base path for templates - templates are rendered with relative paths // based on this path. HostContainer.TemplatePath = Path.Combine(Environment.CurrentDirectory, TemplateBaseFolder); // Default output rendering disk location HostContainer.RenderingOutputFile = Path.Combine(HostContainer.TemplatePath, "__Preview.htm"); // Add any assemblies you want reference in your templates HostContainer.ReferencedAssemblies.Add("System.Windows.Forms.dll"); // Start up the host container HostContainer.Start(); Once that’s done, you can render templates with the host container: // Pass the template path for full filename seleted with OpenFile Dialog // relativepath is: subdir\file.cshtml or file.cshtml or ..\file.cshtml var relativePath = Utilities.GetRelativePath(fileName, HostContainer.TemplatePath); if (!HostContainer.RenderTemplate(relativePath, Context, HostContainer.RenderingOutputFile)) { MessageBox.Show("Error: " + HostContainer.ErrorMessage); return; } webBrowser1.Navigate("file://" + HostContainer.RenderingOutputFile); The most critical task of the RazorFolderHostContainer implementation is to retrieve a template from disk, compile and cache it and then deal with deciding whether subsequent requests need to re-compile the template or simply use a cached version. Internally the GetAssemblyFromFileAndCache() handles this task: /// <summary> /// Internally checks if a cached assembly exists and if it does uses it /// else creates and compiles one. Returns an assembly Id to be /// used with the LoadedAssembly list. /// </summary> /// <param name="relativePath"></param> /// <param name="context"></param> /// <returns></returns> protected virtual CompiledAssemblyItem GetAssemblyFromFileAndCache(string relativePath) { string fileName = Path.Combine(TemplatePath, relativePath).ToLower(); int fileNameHash = fileName.GetHashCode(); if (!File.Exists(fileName)) { this.SetError(Resources.TemplateFileDoesnTExist + fileName); return null; } CompiledAssemblyItem item = null; this.LoadedAssemblies.TryGetValue(fileNameHash, out item); string assemblyId = null; // Check for cached instance if (item != null) { var fileTime = File.GetLastWriteTimeUtc(fileName); if (fileTime <= item.CompileTimeUtc) assemblyId = item.AssemblyId; } else item = new CompiledAssemblyItem(); // No cached instance - create assembly and cache if (assemblyId == null) { string safeClassName = GetSafeClassName(fileName); StreamReader reader = null; try { reader = new StreamReader(fileName, true); } catch (Exception ex) { this.SetError(Resources.ErrorReadingTemplateFile + fileName); return null; } assemblyId = Engine.ParseAndCompileTemplate(this.ReferencedAssemblies.ToArray(), reader); // need to ensure reader is closed if (reader != null) reader.Close(); if (assemblyId == null) { this.SetError(Engine.ErrorMessage); return null; } item.AssemblyId = assemblyId; item.CompileTimeUtc = DateTime.UtcNow; item.FileName = fileName; item.SafeClassName = safeClassName; this.LoadedAssemblies[fileNameHash] = item; } return item; } This code uses a LoadedAssembly dictionary which is comprised of a structure that holds a reference to a compiled assembly, a full filename and file timestamp and an assembly id. LoadedAssemblies (defined on the base class shown earlier) is essentially a cache for compiled assemblies and they are identified by a hash id. In the case of files the hash is a GetHashCode() from the full filename of the template. The template is checked for in the cache and if not found the file stamp is checked. If that’s newer than the cache’s compilation date the template is recompiled otherwise the version in the cache is used. All the core work defers to a RazorEngine<T> instance to ParseAndCompileTemplate(). The three rendering specific methods then are rather simple implementations with just a few lines of code dealing with parameter and return value parsing: /// <summary> /// Renders a template to a TextWriter. Useful to write output into a stream or /// the Response object. Used for partial rendering. /// </summary> /// <param name="relativePath">Relative path to the file in the folder structure</param> /// <param name="context">Optional context object or null</param> /// <param name="writer">The textwriter to write output into</param> /// <returns></returns> public bool RenderTemplate(string relativePath, object context, TextWriter writer) { // Set configuration data that is to be passed to the template (any object) Engine.TemplatePerRequestConfigurationData = new RazorFolderHostTemplateConfiguration() { TemplatePath = Path.Combine(this.TemplatePath, relativePath), TemplateRelativePath = relativePath, }; CompiledAssemblyItem item = GetAssemblyFromFileAndCache(relativePath); if (item == null) { writer.Close(); return false; } try { // String result will be empty as output will be rendered into the // Response object's stream output. However a null result denotes // an error string result = Engine.RenderTemplateFromAssembly(item.AssemblyId, context, writer); if (result == null) { this.SetError(Engine.ErrorMessage); return false; } } catch (Exception ex) { this.SetError(ex.Message); return false; } finally { writer.Close(); } return true; } /// <summary> /// Render a template from a source file on disk to a specified outputfile. /// </summary> /// <param name="relativePath">Relative path off the template root folder. Format: path/filename.cshtml</param> /// <param name="context">Any object that will be available in the template as a dynamic of this.Context</param> /// <param name="outputFile">Optional - output file where output is written to. If not specified the /// RenderingOutputFile property is used instead /// </param> /// <returns>true if rendering succeeds, false on failure - check ErrorMessage</returns> public bool RenderTemplate(string relativePath, object context, string outputFile) { if (outputFile == null) outputFile = RenderingOutputFile; try { using (StreamWriter writer = new StreamWriter(outputFile, false, Engine.Configuration.OutputEncoding, Engine.Configuration.StreamBufferSize)) { return RenderTemplate(relativePath, context, writer); } } catch (Exception ex) { this.SetError(ex.Message); return false; } return true; } /// <summary> /// Renders a template to string. Useful for RenderTemplate /// </summary> /// <param name="relativePath"></param> /// <param name="context"></param> /// <returns></returns> public string RenderTemplateToString(string relativePath, object context) { string result = string.Empty; try { using (StringWriter writer = new StringWriter()) { // String result will be empty as output will be rendered into the // Response object's stream output. However a null result denotes // an error if (!RenderTemplate(relativePath, context, writer)) { this.SetError(Engine.ErrorMessage); return null; } result = writer.ToString(); } } catch (Exception ex) { this.SetError(ex.Message); return null; } return result; } The idea is that you can create custom host container implementations that do exactly what you want fairly easily. Take a look at both the RazorFolderHostContainer and RazorStringHostContainer classes for the basic concepts you can use to create custom implementations. Notice also that you can set the engine’s PerRequestConfigurationData() from the host container: // Set configuration data that is to be passed to the template (any object) Engine.TemplatePerRequestConfigurationData = new RazorFolderHostTemplateConfiguration() { TemplatePath = Path.Combine(this.TemplatePath, relativePath), TemplateRelativePath = relativePath, }; which when set to a non-null value is passed to the Template’s InitializeTemplate() method. This method receives an object parameter which you can cast as needed: public override void InitializeTemplate(object configurationData) { // Pick up configuration data and stuff into Request object RazorFolderHostTemplateConfiguration config = configurationData as RazorFolderHostTemplateConfiguration; this.Request.TemplatePath = config.TemplatePath; this.Request.TemplateRelativePath = config.TemplateRelativePath; } With this data you can then configure any custom properties or objects on your main template class. It’s an easy way to pass data from the HostContainer all the way down into the template. The type you use is of type object so you have to cast it yourself, and it must be serializable since it will likely run in a separate AppDomain. This might seem like an ugly way to pass data around – normally I’d use an event delegate to call back from the engine to the host, but since this is running over AppDomain boundaries events get really tricky and passing a template instance back up into the host over AppDomain boundaries doesn’t work due to serialization issues. So it’s easier to pass the data from the host down into the template using this rather clumsy approach of set and forward. It’s ugly, but it’s something that can be hidden in the host container implementation as I’ve done here. It’s also not something you have to do in every implementation so this is kind of an edge case, but I know I’ll need to pass a bunch of data in some of my applications and this will be the easiest way to do so. Summing Up Hosting the Razor runtime is something I got jazzed up about quite a bit because I have an immediate need for this type of templating/merging/scripting capability in an application I’m working on. I’ve also been using templating in many apps and it’s always been a pain to deal with. The Razor engine makes this whole experience a lot cleaner and more light weight and with these wrappers I can now plug .NET based templating into my code literally with a few lines of code. That’s something to cheer about… I hope some of you will find this useful as well… Resources The examples and code require that you download the Razor runtimes. Projects are for Visual Studio 2010 running on .NET 4.0 Platform Installer 3.0 (install WebMatrix or MVC 3 for Razor Runtimes) Latest Code in Subversion Repository Download Snapshot of the Code Documentation (CHM Help File) © Rick Strahl, West Wind Technologies, 2005-2010Posted in ASP.NET  .NET  

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• Adobe Reader XI and Acrobat X will not open

  - by irule311

  Just a few days ago, Adobe Reader XI and Acrobat X stopped opening. When I try to open a pdf or either one of these programs the cursor would show a busy icon for a few seconds and stop. Each time I open it a process will show up in task manager, but no window will open. I have tried these things, but none will work Restarting the computer Running as Administrator Repairing the installation Reinstalling Following this guide: http://helpx.adobe.com/creative-suite/kb/acrobat-failed-launch-30-days.html When I ran acrofix it returned exit code 3 Also I have seen this, but I am not running tune up: Adobe Reader XI will not launch I am running windows 7 ultimate x64. Can someone help? Thanks!

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• Developer’s Life – Every Developer is a Captain America

  - by Pinal Dave

  Captain America was first created as a comic book character in the 1940’s as a way to boost morale during World War II.  Aimed at a children’s audience, his legacy faded away when the war ended.  However, he has recently has a major reboot to become a popular movie character that deals with modern issues. When Captain America was first written, there was no such thing as a developer, programmer or a computer (the way we think of them, anyway).  Despite these limitations, I think there are still a lot of ways that modern Captain America is like modern developers. So how are developers like Captain America? Well, read on my list of reasons. Take on Big Projects Captain America isn’t afraid to take on big projects – and takes responsibility when the project is co-opted by the evil organization HYDRA.  Developers may not have super villains out there corrupting their work, but they know to keep on top of their projects and own what they do. Elderly Wisdom Steve Rogers, Captain America’s alter ego, was frozen in ice for decades, and brought back to life to solve problems. Developers can learn from this by respecting the opinions of their elders – technology is an ever-changing market, but the old-timers still have a few tricks up their sleeves! Don’t be Afraid of Change Don’t be afraid of change.  Captain America woke up to find the world he was accustomed to is now completely different.  He might have even felt his skills were no longer necessary.  He, and developers, know that everyone has their place in a team, though.  If you try your best, you will make it work. Fight Your Own Battle Sometimes you have to make it on your own.  Captain America is an integral part of the Avengers, but in his own movies, the other superheroes aren’t around to back him up.  Developers, too, must learn to work both within and with out a team. Solid Integrity One of Captain America’s greatest qualities is his integrity.  His determine to do what is right, keep his word, and act honestly earns him mockery from some of the less-savory characters – even “good guys” like Iron Man.  Developers, and everyone else, need to develop the strength of character to keep their integrity.  No matter your walk of life, there will be tempting obstacles.  Think of Captain America, and say “no.” There is a lot for all of us to learn from Captain America, to take away in our own lives, and admire in those who display it – I am specifically thinking of developers.  If you are enjoying this series as much as I am, please let me know who else you would like to see featured. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)Filed under: PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL Tagged: Developer, Superhero

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• Some VS 2010 RC Updates (including patches for Intellisense and Web Designer fixes)

  - by Latest Microsoft Blogs

  [In addition to blogging, I am also now using Twitter for quick updates and to share links. Follow me at: twitter.com/scottgu ] We are continuing to make progress on shipping Visual Studio 2010.  I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who has Read More......(read more)

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• HAProxy: Display a "BADREQ" | BADREQ's by the thousands

  - by GruffTech

  My HAProxy Configuration. #HA-Proxy version 1.3.22 2009/10/14 Copyright 2000-2009 Willy Tarreau <[email protected]> global maxconn 10000 spread-checks 50 user haproxy group haproxy daemon stats socket /tmp/haproxy log localhost local0 log localhost local1 notice defaults mode http maxconn 50000 timeout client 10000 option forwardfor except 127.0.0.1 option httpclose option httplog listen dcaustin 0.0.0.0:80 mode http timeout connect 12000 timeout server 60000 timeout queue 120000 balance roundrobin option httpchk GET /index.html log global option httplog option dontlog-normal server web1 10.10.10.101:80 maxconn 300 check fall 1 server web2 10.10.10.102:80 maxconn 300 check fall 1 server web3 10.10.10.103:80 maxconn 300 check fall 1 server web4 10.10.10.104:80 maxconn 300 check fall 1 listen stats 0.0.0.0:9000 mode http balance log global timeout client 5000 timeout connect 4000 timeout server 30000 stats uri /haproxy HAProxy is running, and the socket is working... adam@dcaustin:/etc/haproxy# echo "show info" | socat stdio /tmp/haproxy Name: HAProxy Version: 1.3.22 Release_date: 2009/10/14 Nbproc: 1 Process_num: 1 Pid: 6320 Uptime: 0d 0h14m58s Uptime_sec: 898 Memmax_MB: 0 Ulimit-n: 20017 Maxsock: 20017 Maxconn: 10000 Maxpipes: 0 CurrConns: 47 PipesUsed: 0 PipesFree: 0 Tasks: 51 Run_queue: 1 node: dcaustin desiption: Errors show nothing from socket... adam@dcaustin:/etc/haproxy# echo "show errors" | socat stdio /tmp/haproxy adam@dcaustin:/etc/haproxy# However... My Error log is exploding with "badrequests" with the Error code cR. cR (according to 1.3 documentation) is The "timeout http-request" stroke before the client sent a full HTTP request. This is sometimes caused by too large TCP MSS values on the client side for PPPoE networks which cannot transport full-sized packets, or by clients sending requests by hand and not typing fast enough, or forgetting to enter the empty line at the end of the request. The HTTP status code is likely a 408 here. Correct on the 408, but we're getting literally thousands of these requests every hour. (This log snippet is an clip for about 10 seconds of time...) Jun 30 11:08:52 localhost haproxy[6320]: 92.22.213.32:26448 [30/Jun/2011:11:08:42.384] dcaustin dcaustin/<NOSRV> -1/-1/-1/-1/10002 408 212 - - cR-- 35/35/18/0/0 0/0 "<BADREQ>" Jun 30 11:08:54 localhost haproxy[6320]: 71.62.130.24:62818 [30/Jun/2011:11:08:44.457] dcaustin dcaustin/<NOSRV> -1/-1/-1/-1/10001 408 212 - - cR-- 39/39/16/0/0 0/0 "<BADREQ>" Jun 30 11:08:55 localhost haproxy[6320]: 84.73.75.236:3589 [30/Jun/2011:11:08:45.021] dcaustin dcaustin/<NOSRV> -1/-1/-1/-1/10008 408 212 - - cR-- 35/35/15/0/0 0/0 "<BADREQ>" Jun 30 11:08:55 localhost haproxy[6320]: 69.39.20.190:49969 [30/Jun/2011:11:08:45.709] dcaustin dcaustin/<NOSRV> -1/-1/-1/-1/10000 408 212 - - cR-- 37/37/16/0/0 0/0 "<BADREQ>" Jun 30 11:08:56 localhost haproxy[6320]: 2.29.0.9:58772 [30/Jun/2011:11:08:46.846] dcaustin dcaustin/<NOSRV> -1/-1/-1/-1/10001 408 212 - - cR-- 43/43/22/0/0 0/0 "<BADREQ>" Jun 30 11:08:57 localhost haproxy[6320]: 212.139.250.242:57537 [30/Jun/2011:11:08:47.568] dcaustin dcaustin/<NOSRV> -1/-1/-1/-1/10000 408 212 - - cR-- 42/42/21/0/0 0/0 "<BADREQ>" Jun 30 11:08:58 localhost haproxy[6320]: 74.79.195.75:55046 [30/Jun/2011:11:08:48.559] dcaustin dcaustin/<NOSRV> -1/-1/-1/-1/10000 408 212 - - cR-- 46/46/24/0/0 0/0 "<BADREQ>" Jun 30 11:08:58 localhost haproxy[6320]: 74.79.195.75:55044 [30/Jun/2011:11:08:48.554] dcaustin dcaustin/<NOSRV> -1/-1/-1/-1/10004 408 212 - - cR-- 45/45/24/0/0 0/0 "<BADREQ>" Jun 30 11:08:58 localhost haproxy[6320]: 74.79.195.75:55045 [30/Jun/2011:11:08:48.554] dcaustin dcaustin/<NOSRV> -1/-1/-1/-1/10005 408 212 - - cR-- 44/44/24/0/0 0/0 "<BADREQ>" Jun 30 11:09:00 localhost haproxy[6320]: 68.197.56.2:52781 [30/Jun/2011:11:08:50.975] dcaustin dcaustin/<NOSRV> -1/-1/-1/-1/10000 408 212 - - cR-- 49/49/28/0/0 0/0 "<BADREQ>" From what I read on google, if i wanted to see what the bad requests are, I can show errors to the socket and it will spit them out. We do run a pretty heavily trafficed website and the percentage of "BADREQS" to normal requests is quite low, but I'd like to be able to get ahold of what that request WAS so I can debug it. stats # pxname,svname,qcur,qmax,scur,smax,slim,stot,bin,bout,dreq,dresp,ereq,econ,eresp,wretr,wredis,status,weight,act,bck,chkfail,chkdown,lastchg,downtime,qlimit,pid,iid,sid,throttle,lbtot,tracked,type,rate,rate_lim,rate_max, dcaustin,FRONTEND,,,64,120,50000,88433,105889100,2553809875,0,0,4641,,,,,OPEN,,,,,,,,,1,1,0,,,,0,45,0,128, dcaustin,web1,0,0,10,28,300,20941,25402112,633143416,,0,,0,3,0,0,UP,1,1,0,0,0,2208,0,,1,1,1,,20941,,2,11,,30, dcaustin,web2,0,0,9,30,300,20941,25026691,641475169,,0,,0,3,0,0,UP,1,1,0,0,0,2208,0,,1,1,2,,20941,,2,11,,30, dcaustin,web3,0,0,10,27,300,20940,30116527,635015040,,0,,0,9,0,0,UP,1,1,0,0,0,2208,0,,1,1,3,,20940,,2,10,,31, dcaustin,web4,0,0,5,28,300,20940,25343770,643209546,,0,,0,8,0,0,UP,1,1,0,0,0,2208,0,,1,1,4,,20940,,2,11,,31, dcaustin,BACKEND,0,0,34,95,50000,83762,105889100,2553809875,0,0,,0,34,0,0,UP,4,4,0,,0,2208,0,,1,1,0,,83762,,1,43,,122, 88500 "Sessions" and 4500 errors. in the last 20 minutes.

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• IASA Sessions on Social Networking Note Influence of Millennial Generation on Insurance Technology

  - by [email protected]

  Helen Pitts, senior product marketing manager for Oracle Insurance is blogging from the 2010 IASA Annual Conference and Business Show this week. Social networking continues to be a buzzword for many in the industry. Erin Esurance, the Geico Gecko and even Nationwide's "The World's Greatest Spokesperson in the World" all have a prominent presence in the social media world. Sessions at the 2010 IASA Annual Conference and Business Show this week in Grapevine, Texas, highlighted how the millennial generation's exploding use of social media is spurring more carriers to leverage tools like Facebook, LinkedIn and other social networks to engage prospect and customers. While panelists encouraged carriers to leverage social networking tools for marketing and communications, they expressed the need for caution and corporate governance when it comes to using the tools as a part of claims, underwriting, and human resources recruitment business practices, and interactions with producers. (A previous Oracle Insurance blog entry by my colleague Susan Keuer noted that social networking and its impact on the underwriting process was also a hot topic at the recent AHOU conference.) Speaking of the millennial generation, IASA announced a new scholarship program and awarded three scholarships during the association's conference this week. The IASA Insurance Industry Collegiate Scholarship Program awards $2,000 scholarships to students in their second or third year of college who are studying an insurance-related field at a four-year college or university. The IASA scholarship committee is co-chaired by Wendy Gibson, vice president of business development for Oracle Insurance. Gibson, a long time IASA volunteer, is completing her second term on IASA's volunteer management team as vice president of industry relations. Helen Pitts is senior product marketing manager for Oracle Insurance.

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• Guidance: A Branching strategy for Scrum Teams

  - by Martin Hinshelwood

  Having a good branching strategy will save your bacon, or at least your code. Be careful when deviating from your branching strategy because if you do, you may be worse off than when you started! This is one possible branching strategy for Scrum teams and I will not be going in depth with Scrum but you can find out more about Scrum by reading the Scrum Guide and you can even assess your Scrum knowledge by having a go at the Scrum Open Assessment. You can also read SSW’s Rules to Better Scrum using TFS which have been developed during our own Scrum implementations. Acknowledgements Bill Heys – Bill offered some good feedback on this post and helped soften the language. Note: Bill is a VS ALM Ranger and co-wrote the Branching Guidance for TFS 2010 Willy-Peter Schaub – Willy-Peter is an ex Visual Studio ALM MVP turned blue badge and has been involved in most of the guidance including the Branching Guidance for TFS 2010 Chris Birmele – Chris wrote some of the early TFS Branching and Merging Guidance. Dr Paul Neumeyer, Ph.D Parallel Processes, ScrumMaster and SSW Solution Architect – Paul wanted to have feature branches coming from the release branch as well. We agreed that this is really a spin-off that needs own project, backlog, budget and Team. Scenario: A product is developed RTM 1.0 is released and gets great sales.  Extra features are demanded but the new version will have double to price to pay to recover costs, work is approved by the guys with budget and a few sprints later RTM 2.0 is released.  Sales a very low due to the pricing strategy. There are lots of clients on RTM 1.0 calling out for patches. As I keep getting Reverse Integration and Forward Integration mixed up and Bill keeps slapping my wrists I thought I should have a reminder: You still seemed to use reverse and/or forward integration in the wrong context. I would recommend reviewing your document at the end to ensure that it agrees with the common understanding of these terms merge (forward integration) from parent to child (same direction as the branch), and merge  (reverse integration) from child to parent (the reverse direction of the branch). - one of my many slaps on the wrist from Bill Heys.   As I mentioned previously we are using a single feature branching strategy in our current project. The single biggest mistake developers make is developing against the “Main” or “Trunk” line. This ultimately leads to messy code as things are added and never finished. Your only alternative is to NEVER check in unless your code is 100%, but this does not work in practice, even with a single developer. Your ADD will kick in and your half-finished code will be finished enough to pass the build and the tests. You do use builds don’t you? Sadly, this is a very common scenario and I have had people argue that branching merely adds complexity. Then again I have seen the other side of the universe ... branching  structures from he... We should somehow convince everyone that there is a happy between no-branching and too-much-branching. - Willy-Peter Schaub, VS ALM Ranger, Microsoft   A key benefit of branching for development is to isolate changes from the stable Main branch. Branching adds sanity more than it adds complexity. We do try to stress in our guidance that it is important to justify a branch, by doing a cost benefit analysis. The primary cost is the effort to do merges and resolve conflicts. A key benefit is that you have a stable code base in Main and accept changes into Main only after they pass quality gates, etc. - Bill Heys, VS ALM Ranger & TFS Branching Lead, Microsoft The second biggest mistake developers make is branching anything other than the WHOLE “Main” line. If you branch parts of your code and not others it gets out of sync and can make integration a nightmare. You should have your Source, Assets, Build scripts deployment scripts and dependencies inside the “Main” folder and branch the whole thing. Some departments within MSFT even go as far as to add the environments used to develop the product in there as well; although I would not recommend that unless you have a massive SQL cluster to house your source code. We tried the “add environment” back in South-Africa and while it was “phenomenal”, especially when having to switch between environments, the disk storage and processing requirements killed us. We opted for virtualization to skin this cat of keeping a ready-to-go environment handy. - Willy-Peter Schaub, VS ALM Ranger, Microsoft   I think people often think that you should have separate branches for separate environments (e.g. Dev, Test, Integration Test, QA, etc.). I prefer to think of deploying to environments (such as from Main to QA) rather than branching for QA). - Bill Heys, VS ALM Ranger & TFS Branching Lead, Microsoft   You can read about SSW’s Rules to better Source Control for some additional information on what Source Control to use and how to use it. There are also a number of branching Anti-Patterns that should be avoided at all costs: You know you are on the wrong track if you experience one or more of the following symptoms in your development environment: Merge Paranoia—avoiding merging at all cost, usually because of a fear of the consequences. Merge Mania—spending too much time merging software assets instead of developing them. Big Bang Merge—deferring branch merging to the end of the development effort and attempting to merge all branches simultaneously. Never-Ending Merge—continuous merging activity because there is always more to merge. Wrong-Way Merge—merging a software asset version with an earlier version. Branch Mania—creating many branches for no apparent reason. Cascading Branches—branching but never merging back to the main line. Mysterious Branches—branching for no apparent reason. Temporary Branches—branching for changing reasons, so the branch becomes a permanent temporary workspace. Volatile Branches—branching with unstable software assets shared by other branches or merged into another branch. Note   Branches are volatile most of the time while they exist as independent branches. That is the point of having them. The difference is that you should not share or merge branches while they are in an unstable state. Development Freeze—stopping all development activities while branching, merging, and building new base lines. Berlin Wall—using branches to divide the development team members, instead of dividing the work they are performing. -Branching and Merging Primer by Chris Birmele - Developer Tools Technical Specialist at Microsoft Pty Ltd in Australia   In fact, this can result in a merge exercise no-one wants to be involved in, merging hundreds of thousands of change sets and trying to get a consolidated build. Again, we need to find a happy medium. - Willy-Peter Schaub on Merge Paranoia Merge conflicts are generally the result of making changes to the same file in both the target and source branch. If you create merge conflicts, you will eventually need to resolve them. Often the resolution is manual. Merging more frequently allows you to resolve these conflicts close to when they happen, making the resolution clearer. Waiting weeks or months to resolve them, the Big Bang approach, means you are more likely to resolve conflicts incorrectly. - Bill Heys, VS ALM Ranger & TFS Branching Lead, Microsoft   Figure: Main line, this is where your stable code lives and where any build has known entities, always passes and has a happy test that passes as well? Many development projects consist of, a single “Main” line of source and artifacts. This is good; at least there is source control . There are however a couple of issues that need to be considered. What happens if: you and your team are working on a new set of features and the customer wants a change to his current version? you are working on two features and the customer decides to abandon one of them? you have two teams working on different feature sets and their changes start interfering with each other? I just use labels instead of branches? That's a lot of “what if’s”, but there is a simple way of preventing this. Branching… In TFS, labels are not immutable. This does not mean they are not useful. But labels do not provide a very good development isolation mechanism. Branching allows separate code sets to evolve separately (e.g. Current with hotfixes, and vNext with new development). I don’t see how labels work here. - Bill Heys, VS ALM Ranger & TFS Branching Lead, Microsoft   Figure: Creating a single feature branch means you can isolate the development work on that branch.   Its standard practice for large projects with lots of developers to use Feature branching and you can check the Branching Guidance for the latest recommendations from the Visual Studio ALM Rangers for other methods. In the diagram above you can see my recommendation for branching when using Scrum development with TFS 2010. It consists of a single Sprint branch to contain all the changes for the current sprint. The main branch has the permissions changes so contributors to the project can only Branch and Merge with “Main”. This will prevent accidental check-ins or checkouts of the “Main” line that would contaminate the code. The developers continue to develop on sprint one until the completion of the sprint. Note: In the real world, starting a new Greenfield project, this process starts at Sprint 2 as at the start of Sprint 1 you would have artifacts in version control and no need for isolation.   Figure: Once the sprint is complete the Sprint 1 code can then be merged back into the Main line. There are always good practices to follow, and one is to always do a Forward Integration from Main into Sprint 1 before you do a Reverse Integration from Sprint 1 back into Main. In this case it may seem superfluous, but this builds good muscle memory into your developer’s work ethic and means that no bad habits are learned that would interfere with additional Scrum Teams being added to the Product. The process of completing your sprint development: The Team completes their work according to their definition of done. Merge from “Main” into “Sprint1” (Forward Integration) Stabilize your code with any changes coming from other Scrum Teams working on the same product. If you have one Scrum Team this should be quick, but there may have been bug fixes in the Release branches. (we will talk about release branches later) Merge from “Sprint1” into “Main” to commit your changes. (Reverse Integration) Check-in Delete the Sprint1 branch Note: The Sprint 1 branch is no longer required as its useful life has been concluded. Check-in Done But you are not yet done with the Sprint. The goal in Scrum is to have a “potentially shippable product” at the end of every Sprint, and we do not have that yet, we only have finished code.   Figure: With Sprint 1 merged you can create a Release branch and run your final packaging and testing In 99% of all projects I have been involved in or watched, a “shippable product” only happens towards the end of the overall lifecycle, especially when sprints are short. The in-between releases are great demonstration releases, but not shippable. Perhaps it comes from my 80’s brain washing that we only ship when we reach the agreed quality and business feature bar. - Willy-Peter Schaub, VS ALM Ranger, Microsoft Although you should have been testing and packaging your code all the way through your Sprint 1 development, preferably using an automated process, you still need to test and package with stable unchanging code. This is where you do what at SSW we call a “Test Please”. This is first an internal test of the product to make sure it meets the needs of the customer and you generally use a resource external to your Team. Then a “Test Please” is conducted with the Product Owner to make sure he is happy with the output. You can read about how to conduct a Test Please on our Rules to Successful Projects: Do you conduct an internal "test please" prior to releasing a version to a client?   Figure: If you find a deviation from the expected result you fix it on the Release branch. If during your final testing or your “Test Please” you find there are issues or bugs then you should fix them on the release branch. If you can’t fix them within the time box of your Sprint, then you will need to create a Bug and put it onto the backlog for prioritization by the Product owner. Make sure you leave plenty of time between your merge from the development branch to find and fix any problems that are uncovered. This process is commonly called Stabilization and should always be conducted once you have completed all of your User Stories and integrated all of your branches. Even once you have stabilized and released, you should not delete the release branch as you would with the Sprint branch. It has a usefulness for servicing that may extend well beyond the limited life you expect of it. Note: Don't get forced by the business into adding features into a Release branch instead that indicates the unspoken requirement is that they are asking for a product spin-off. In this case you can create a new Team Project and branch from the required Release branch to create a new Main branch for that product. And you create a whole new backlog to work from.   Figure: When the Team decides it is happy with the product you can create a RTM branch. Once you have fixed all the bugs you can, and added any you can’t to the Product Backlog, and you Team is happy with the result you can create a Release. This would consist of doing the final Build and Packaging it up ready for your Sprint Review meeting. You would then create a read-only branch that represents the code you “shipped”. This is really an Audit trail branch that is optional, but is good practice. You could use a Label, but Labels are not Auditable and if a dispute was raised by the customer you can produce a verifiable version of the source code for an independent party to check. Rare I know, but you do not want to be at the wrong end of a legal battle. Like the Release branch the RTM branch should never be deleted, or only deleted according to your companies legal policy, which in the UK is usually 7 years.   Figure: If you have made any changes in the Release you will need to merge back up to Main in order to finalise the changes. Nothing is really ever done until it is in Main. The same rules apply when merging any fixes in the Release branch back into Main and you should do a reverse merge before a forward merge, again for the muscle memory more than necessity at this stage. Your Sprint is now nearly complete, and you can have a Sprint Review meeting knowing that you have made every effort and taken every precaution to protect your customer’s investment. Note: In order to really achieve protection for both you and your client you would add Automated Builds, Automated Tests, Automated Acceptance tests, Acceptance test tracking, Unit Tests, Load tests, Web test and all the other good engineering practices that help produce reliable software.     Figure: After the Sprint Planning meeting the process begins again. Where the Sprint Review and Retrospective meetings mark the end of the Sprint, the Sprint Planning meeting marks the beginning. After you have completed your Sprint Planning and you know what you are trying to achieve in Sprint 2 you can create your new Branch to develop in. How do we handle a bug(s) in production that can’t wait? Although in Scrum the only work done should be on the backlog there should be a little buffer added to the Sprint Planning for contingencies. One of these contingencies is a bug in the current release that can’t wait for the Sprint to finish. But how do you handle that? Willy-Peter Schaub asked an excellent question on the release activities: In reality Sprint 2 starts when sprint 1 ends + weekend. Should we not cater for a possible parallelism between Sprint 2 and the release activities of sprint 1? It would introduce FI’s from main to sprint 2, I guess. Your “Figure: Merging print 2 back into Main.” covers, what I tend to believe to be reality in most cases. - Willy-Peter Schaub, VS ALM Ranger, Microsoft I agree, and if you have a single Scrum team then your resources are limited. The Scrum Team is responsible for packaging and release, so at least one run at stabilization, package and release should be included in the Sprint time box. If more are needed on the current production release during the Sprint 2 time box then resource needs to be pulled from Sprint 2. The Product Owner and the Team have four choices (in order of disruption/cost): Backlog: Add the bug to the backlog and fix it in the next Sprint Buffer Time: Use any buffer time included in the current Sprint to fix the bug quickly Make time: Remove a Story from the current Sprint that is of equal value to the time lost fixing the bug(s) and releasing. Note: The Team must agree that it can still meet the Sprint Goal. Cancel Sprint: Cancel the sprint and concentrate all resource on fixing the bug(s) Note: This can be a very costly if the current sprint has already had a lot of work completed as it will be lost. The choice will depend on the complexity and severity of the bug(s) and both the Product Owner and the Team need to agree. In this case we will go with option #2 or #3 as they are uncomplicated but severe bugs. Figure: Real world issue where a bug needs fixed in the current release. If the bug(s) is urgent enough then then your only option is to fix it in place. You can edit the release branch to find and fix the bug, hopefully creating a test so it can’t happen again. Follow the prior process and conduct an internal and customer “Test Please” before releasing. You can read about how to conduct a Test Please on our Rules to Successful Projects: Do you conduct an internal "test please" prior to releasing a version to a client?   Figure: After you have fixed the bug you need to ship again. You then need to again create an RTM branch to hold the version of the code you released in escrow.   Figure: Main is now out of sync with your Release. We now need to get these new changes back up into the Main branch. Do a reverse and then forward merge again to get the new code into Main. But what about the branch, are developers not working on Sprint 2? Does Sprint 2 now have changes that are not in Main and Main now have changes that are not in Sprint 2? Well, yes… and this is part of the hit you take doing branching. But would this scenario even have been possible without branching?   Figure: Getting the changes in Main into Sprint 2 is very important. The Team now needs to do a Forward Integration merge into their Sprint and resolve any conflicts that occur. Maybe the bug has already been fixed in Sprint 2, maybe the bug no longer exists! This needs to be identified and resolved by the developers before they continue to get further out of Sync with Main. Note: Avoid the “Big bang merge” at all costs.   Figure: Merging Sprint 2 back into Main, the Forward Integration, and R0 terminates. Sprint 2 now merges (Reverse Integration) back into Main following the procedures we have already established.   Figure: The logical conclusion. This then allows the creation of the next release. By now you should be getting the big picture and hopefully you learned something useful from this post. I know I have enjoyed writing it as I find these exploratory posts coupled with real world experience really help harden my understanding.  Branching is a tool; it is not a silver bullet. Don’t over use it, and avoid “Anti-Patterns” where possible. Although the diagram above looks complicated I hope showing you how it is formed simplifies it as much as possible.   Technorati Tags: Branching,Scrum,VS ALM,TFS 2010,VS2010

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