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• Partner outreach on the Oracle Fusion Applications user experience begins

  - by mvaughan

  by Misha Vaughan, Architect, Applications User Experience I have been asked the question repeatedly since about December of last year: “What is the Applications User Experience group doing about partner outreach?”  My answer, at the time, was: “We are thinking about it.”  My colleagues and I were really thinking about the content or tools that the Applications UX group should be developing. What would be valuable to our partners? What will actually help grow their applications business, and fits within the applications user experience charter?In the video above, you’ll hear Jeremy Ashley, vice president of the Applications User Experience team, talk about two fundamental initiatives that our group is working on now that speaks straight to partners.  Special thanks to Joel Borellis, Kelley Greenly, and Steve Hoodmaker for helping to make this video happen so flawlessly. Steve was responsible for pulling together a day of Oracle Fusion Applications-oriented content, including David Bowin, Director, Fusion Applications Strategy, on some of the basic benefits of Oracle Fusion Applications.  Joel Borellis, Group Vice President, Partner Enablement, and David Bowin in the Oracle Studios.Nigel King, Vice President Applications Functional Architecture, was also on the list, talking about co-existence opportunities with Oracle Fusion Applications.Me and Nigel King, just before his interview with Joel. Fusion Applications User Experience 101: Basic education  Oracle has invested an enormous amount of intellectual and developmental effort in the Oracle Fusion Applications user experience. Find out more about that at the Oracle Partner Network Fusion Learning Center (Oracle ID required). What you’ll learn will help you uncover how, exactly, Oracle made Fusion General Ledger “sexy,” and that’s a direct quote from Oracle Ace Director Debra Lilley, of Fujitsu. In addition, select Applications User Experience staff members, as well as our own Fusion User Experience Advocates,  can provide a briefing to our partners on Oracle’s investment in the Oracle Fusion Applications user experience. Looking forward: Taking the best of the Fusion Applications UX to your customersBeyond a basic orientation to one of the key differentiators for Oracle Fusion Applications, we are also working on partner-oriented training.A question we are often getting right now is: “How do I help customers build applications that look like Fusion?” We also hear: “How do I help customers build applications that take advantage of the next-generation design work done in Fusion?”Our answer to this is training and a tool – our user experience design patterns – these are a set of user experience best-practices. Design patterns are re-usable, usability-tested, user experience components that make creating Fusion Applications-like experiences straightforward.  It means partners can leverage Oracle’s investment, but also gain an advantage by not wasting time solving a problem we’ve already solved. Their developers can focus on helping customers tackle the harder development challenges. Ultan O’Broin, an Apps UX team member,  and I are working with Kevin Li and Chris Venezia of the Oracle Platform Technology Services team, as well as Grant Ronald in Oracle ADF, to bring you some of the best “how-to” UX training, customized for your local area. Our first workshop will be in EMEA. Stay tuned for an assessment and feedback from the event.

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• MySql Connector/NET 6.7.4 GA has been released

  - by fernando

  MySQL Connector/Net 6.7.4, a new version of the all-managed .NET driver for MySQL has been released.  This is the GA, is feature complete. It is recommended for production environments.  It is appropriate for use with MySQL server versions 5.0-5.7.  It is now available in source and binary form from http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/connector/net/#downloads and mirror sites (note that not all mirror sites may be up to date at this point-if you can't find this version on some mirror, please try again later or choose another download site.) The 6.7 version of MySQL Connector/Net brings the following new features: -  WinRT Connector. -  Load Balancing support. -  Entity Framework 5.0 support. -  Memcached support for Innodb Memcached plugin. -  This version also splits the product in two: from now on, starting version 6.7, Connector/NET will include only the former Connector/NET ADO.NET driver, Entity Framework and ASP.NET providers (Core libraries of MySql.Data, MySql.Data.Entity & MySql.Web). While all the former product Visual Studio integration (Design support, Intellisense, Debugger) are available as part of MySql Windows Installer under the name "MySql for Visual Studio".  WinRT Connector  ------------------------------------------- Now you can write MySql data access apps in Windows Runtime (aka Store Apps) using the familiar API of Connector/NET for .NET.  Load Balancing Support  -------------------------------------------  Now you can setup a Replication or Cluster configuration in the backend, and Connector/NET will balance the load of queries among all servers making up the backend topology.  Entity Framework 5.0  -------------------------------------------  Connector/NET is now compatible with EF 5, including special features of EF 5 like spatial types.  Memcached  -------------------------------------------  Just setup Innodb memcached plugin and use Connector/NET new APIs to establish a client to MySql 5.6 server's memcached daemon.  Bug fixes included in this release: - Fix for Entity Framework when inserts data having Identity columns (Oracle bug #16494585). - Fix for Connector/NET cannot read data from a MySql table using UTF-16/UTF-32 (MySql bug #69169, Oracle bug #16776818). - Fix for Malformed query in Entity Framework when eager loading due to multiple projections (MySql bug #67183, Oracle bug #16872852). - Fix for database objects with 'dbo' prefix when using automatic migrations in Entity Framework 5.0 (Oracle bug #16909439). - Fix for bug IIS application pool reset worker process causes website to crash (Oracle bug #16909237, Mysql Bug #67665). - Fix for bug Error in LINQ to Entities query when using Distinct().Count() (MySql Bug #68513, Oracle bug #16950146). - Fix for occasionally return no data when socket connection is slow, interrupted or delayed (MySql bug #69039, Oracle bug #16950212). - Fix for ConstraintException when filling a datatable (MySql bug #65065, Oracle bug #16952323). - Fix for Data Provider is not found after uninstalling Mysql for visual studio (Oracle bug #16973456). - Fix for nested sql generated for LINQ to Entities query with Take and Order by (MySql bug #65723, Oracle bug #16973939). The documentation is available at http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.7/en/connector-net.html  Enjoy and thanks for the support!  --  Fernando Gonzalez Sanchez | Software Engineer |  Oracle MySQL Windows Experience Team, Connector/NET  Guadalajara | Jalisco | Mexico 

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• Siebel CRM: Alive and Jamming at OpenWorld

  - by Tony Berk

  Yes, a rock 'n roll reference in a CRM/Customer Experience blog entry! Sorry, but we are getting excited about OpenWorld and all of the great CRM and Customer Experience sessions we've been planning for the past 6 months (yes, we really do start planning in March!). I also heard that some band named Pearl Jam is making an appearance. Who's tried the Rock Band guitar solo for Alive? Way too difficult for an amateur like me. Anyhow, we are supposed to be highlighting Siebel CRM at OpenWorld. Yes, Siebel will once again have a major presence at OpenWorld and there is a lot of new things to tell you about. If you search the OpenWorld Content Catalog with the tag "siebel", you'll find over 75 sessions. That's over 75 hours of opportunity to hear from Siebel customers, product managers, and implementers. While I invite you to read through the descriptions of all 75+ sessions or check out the OpenWorld Focus On Siebel document, I'd like to try and help with some highlights. The roadmap and strategy session was mentioned in my previous post, but it is important enough to mention again. Siebel CRM Overview, Strategy, and Roadmap (CON9700) - Oct 1, 12:15PM. Come to this session to learn about the Siebel product roadmap and how Oracle is committed to accelerating the pace of innovation and value for its customers on this platform. Additionally, the session covers how Siebel customers can leverage many Oracle assets such as Oracle WebCenter Sites; InQuira, RightNow, and ATG/Endeca applications, and Oracle Policy Automation in conjunction with their current Siebel investments. This session was FULL last year, so I strongly suggest you pre-register via the OpenWorld Schedule Builder. Every year, my favorites are the customer panels, where you get hear 2, 3 or even 4 customers talk about their implementations and often share best practices and lessons learned. Customer Panel: Business Benefits of Deploying Siebel CRM (Session ID: CON9717) - Oct 1, 10:45AM featuring GlaxoSmithKline, PNC Bank and Southwest Airlines. Maximizing User Adoption Rates for Siebel Sales and Siebel Partner Relationship Management (CON9690) Oct 1, 12:15PM featuring CSL Behring, Intuit and McKesson. Best Practices for Upgrading Your Siebel CRM Implementations: Customer Successes (CON9715) - Oct 1, 3:15PM featuring Citrix, Sunlife Financial and Oracle experts. Driving Great Customer Experiences with Siebel Service Applications (CON9604) - Oct 1, 4:45 featuring Farmers Insurance, US Department of Homeland Security and Waste Management There are also a number of customer case study sessions including: Lowe's (CON9740), American Red Cross (CON6535), Ontario Lottery & Gaming's Siebel Marketing and Loyalty (CON4114), and LexisNexis (CON9551). Also, an interesting session on optimizing Siebel on Oracle with ACCOR (CON4289). Have you heard about the new Open UI for Siebel? If you haven't, you should! There are sessions focused on introducing you to the new functionality and how you can unleash the power of the new user interface: User Interface Innovations with the New Siebel “Open UI” (CON9703) Oct 2, 10:15AM and Unleash the Power of “Open UI” (CON9705) - Oct 3, 11:45AM. Other Siebel-related topics you might want to check out: Knowledge Management: Increasing Return on Your CRM Investments with Knowledge (CON9779) - Oct 1, 3:15PM Mobile: Mobile Solutions for Siebel CRM (CON9697) - Oct 2, 5:00PM Siebel Loyalty: Best Practices for Maximizing the Success of Your Loyalty Program with Siebel Loyalty (CON9588) - Oct 2, 5:00PM  Siebel Marketing: Next-Generation Cross-Channel Insight-Driven Customer Dialogue with Siebel Marketing (CON9600) - Oct 3, 10:15AM Integrating with Oracle Commerce: Administer Once and Deploy Everywhere: Integrating the Siebel, ATG, and Endeca Platforms (CON9761) - Oct 2 5:00PM Finally, don't forget the Oracle Applications User Group (OAUG) Special Interest Group for Siebel on Sunday, September 30 at 2:15PM. And of course, the Demogrounds in Moscone West will be full of Oracle and partner demos and information on new solutions. Wow! I told you there was a lot! Good luck finding the best sessions for you and have a great time at OpenWorld. Don't forget to sing along with Pearl Jam!

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• T-SQL Tuesday #21 - Crap!

  - by Most Valuable Yak (Rob Volk)

  Adam Machanic's (blog | twitter) ever popular T-SQL Tuesday series is being held on Wednesday this time, and the topic is… SHIT CRAP. No, not fecal material.  But crap code.  Crap SQL.  Crap ideas that you thought were good at the time, or were forced to do due (doo-doo?) to lack of time. The challenge for me is to look back on my SQL Server career and find something that WASN'T crap.  Well, there's a lot that wasn't, but for some reason I don't remember those that well.  So the additional challenge is to pick one particular turd that I really wish I hadn't squeezed out.  Let's see if this outline fits the bill: An ETL process on text files; That had to interface between SQL Server and an AS/400 system; That didn't use SSIS (should have) or BizTalk (ummm, no) but command-line scripting, using Unix utilities(!) via: xp_cmdshell; That had to email reports and financial data, some of it sensitive Yep, the stench smell is coming back to me now, as if it was yesterday… As to why SSIS and BizTalk were not options, basically I didn't know either of them well enough to get the job done (and I still don't).  I also had a strict deadline of 3 days, in addition to all the other responsibilities I had, so no time to learn them.  And seeing how screwed up the rest of the process was: Payment files from multiple vendors in multiple formats; Sent via FTP, PGP encrypted email, or some other wizardry; Manually opened/downloaded and saved to a particular set of folders (couldn't change this); Once processed, had to be placed BACK in the same folders with the original archived; x2 divisions that had to run separately; Plus an additional vendor file in another format on a completely different schedule; So that they could be MANUALLY uploaded into the AS/400 system (couldn't change this either, even if it was technically possible) I didn't feel so bad about the solution I came up with, which was naturally: Copy the payment files to the local SQL Server drives, using xp_cmdshell Run batch files (via xp_cmdshell) to parse the different formats using sed, a Unix utility (this was before Powershell) Use other Unix utilities (join, split, grep, wc) to process parsed files and generate metadata (size, date, checksum, line count) Run sqlcmd to execute a stored procedure that passed the parsed file names so it would bulk load the data to do a comparison bcp the compared data out to ANOTHER text file so that I could grep that data out of the original file Run another stored procedure to import the matched data into SQL Server so it could process the payments, including file metadata Process payment batches and log which division and vendor they belong to Email the payment details to the finance group (since it was too hard for them to run a web report with the same data…which they ran anyway to compare the emailed file against…which always matched, surprisingly) Email another report showing unmatched payments so they could manually void them…about 3 months afterward All in "Excel" format, using xp_sendmail (SQL 2000 system) Copy the unmatched data back to the original folder locations, making sure to match the file format exactly (if you've ever worked with ACH files, you'll understand why this sucked) If you're one of the 10 people who have read my blog before, you know that I love the DOS "for" command.  Like passionately.  Like fairy-tale love.  So my batch files were riddled with for loops, nested within other for loops, that called other batch files containing for loops.  I think there was one section that had 4 or 5 nested for commands.  It was wrong, disturbed, and completely un-maintainable by anyone, even myself.  Months, even a year, after I left the company I got calls from someone who had to make a minor change to it, and they called me to talk them out of spraying the office with an AK-47 after looking at this code.  (for you Star Trek TOS fans) The funniest part of this, well, one of the funniest, is that I made the deadline…sort of, I was only a day late…and the DAMN THING WORKED practically unchanged for 3 years.  Most of the problems came from the manual parts of the overall process, like forgetting to decrypt the files, or missing/late files, or saved to the wrong folders.  I'm definitely not trying to toot my own horn here, because this was truly one of the dumbest, crappiest solutions I ever came up with.  Fortunately as far as I know it's no longer in use and someone has written a proper replacement.  Today I would knuckle down and do it in SSIS or Powershell, even if it took me weeks to get it right. The real lesson from this crap code is to make things MAINTAINABLE and UNDERSTANDABLE.  sed scripting regular expressions doesn't fit that criteria in any way.  If you ever find yourself under pressure to do something fast at all costs, DON'T DO IT.  Stop and consider long-term maintainability, not just for yourself but for others on your team.  If you can't explain the basic approach in under 5 minutes, it ultimately won't succeed.  And while you may love to leave all that crap behind, it may follow you anyway, and you'll step in it again.   P.S. - if you're wondering about all the manual stuff that couldn't be changed, it was because the entire process had gone through Six Sigma, and was deemed the best possible way.  Phew!  Talk about stink!

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• TechEd Israel 2010 may only accept speakers from sponsors

  - by RoyOsherove

  A month or so ago, Microsoft Israel started sending out emails to its partners and registered event users to “Save the date!” – Micraoft Teched Israel is coming, and it’s going to be this november! “Great news” I thought to myself. I’d been to a couple of the MS teched events, as a speaker and as an attendee, and it was lovely and professionally done. Israel is an amazing place for technology and development and TechEd hosted some big names in the world of MS software. A couple of weeks ago, I was shocked to hear from a couple of people that Microsoft Israel plans to only accept non-MS teched speakers, only from sponsors of the event. That means that according to the amount that you have paid, you get to insert one or more of your own selected speakers as part of teched. I’ve spent the past couple of weeks trying to gather more evidence of this, and have gotten some input from within MS about this information. It looks like that is indeed the case, though no MS rep. was prepared to answer any email I had publicly. If they approach me now I’d be happy to print their response. What does this mean? If this is true, it means that Microsoft Israel is making a grave mistake – They are diluting the quality of the speakers for pure money factors. That means, that as a teched attendee, who paid good money, you might be sitting down to watch nothing more that a bunch of infomercials, or sub-standard speakers – since speakers are no longer selected on quality or interest in their topic. They are turning the conference from a learning event to a commercial driven event They are closing off the stage to the community of speakers who may not be associated with any organization  willing to be a sponsor They are losing speakers (such as myself) who will not want to be part of such an event. (yes – even if my company ends up sponsoring the event, I will not take part in it, Sorry Eli!) They are saying “F&$K you” to the community of MVPs who should be the people to be approached first about technical talks (my guess is many MVPs wouldn’t want to talk at an event driven that way anyway ) I do hope this ends up not being true, but it looks like it is. MS Israel had already done such a thing with the Developer Days event previouly held in Israel – only sponsors were allowed to insert speakers into the event. If this turns out to be true I would urge the MS community in Israel to NOT TAKE PART AT THIS EVENT in any form (attendee, speaker, sponsor or otherwise). by taking part, you will be telling MS Israel it’s OK to piss all over the community that they are quietly suffocating anyway. The MVP case MS Israel has managed to screw the MVP program as well. MS MVPs (I’m one) have had a tough time here in Israel the past couple of years. ever since yosi taguri left the blue badge ranks, there was not real community leader left. Whoever runs things right now has their eyes and minds set elsewhere, with the software MVP community far from mind and heart. No special MVP events (except a couple of small ones this year). No real MVP leadership happens here, with the MVP MEA lead (Ruari) being on a remote line, is not really what’s needed. “MVP? What’s that?” I’m sure many MS Israel employees would say. Exactly my point. Last word I’ve been disappointed by the MS machine for a while now, but their slowness to realize what real community means in the past couple of years really turns me off. Maybe it’s time to move on. Maybe I shouldn’t be chasing people at MS Israel begging for a room to host the Agile Israel user group. Maybe it’s time to say a big bye bye and start looking at a life a bit more disconnected.

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• SOA Suite 11g Dynamic Payload Testing with soapUI Free Edition

  - by Greg Mally

  Overview Many web service developers use soapUI for various tests like: smoke test, unit test, and load testing because you can get a free edition that is fairly robust. However, if you need to venture into more complex testing that requires a dynamic payload, then the free edition doesn't necessarily make it easy. This feature does exist in soapUI, but for obvious reasons it is in the Pro version. In this blog I will show you how to use soapUI free edition for dynamic payloads in a simplified example. Hopefully this will open the doors for you to expand into more complex scenarios. The following assumes that you have a working knowledge of soapUI and will not go into concepts like setting up a project etc. For the basics, please review the documentation for soapUI: http://www.soapui.org/Getting-Started/. Additionally, we will be using asynchronous web services and you can review the setup for this in my blog: SOA Suite 11g Asynchronous Testing with soapUI. Features in soapUI Free Edition Relating to this Topic The soapUI test tool provides a very feature rich environment that can do many things provided you are willing to go beyond point and click. For this example, we will be leveraging just a couple features for our dynamic payload example: Test Case Properties Scripting with Groovy Basically, we will be using a property as a global variable and we will manipulate that property using a Groovy script. Setting Up Our Property Properties are available throughout soapUI and here is a snippet from the soapUI website defining the locations: Projects : for handling Project scope values, for example a subscription ID TestSuite : for handling TestSuite scoped values, can be seen as "arguments" to a TestSuite TestCases : for handling TestCase scoped values, can be seen as "arguments" to a TestCase Properties TestStep : for providing local values/state within a TestCase Local TestStep properties : several TestStep types maintain their own list of properties specific to their functionality : DataSource, DataSink, Run TestCase MockServices : for handling MockService scoped values/arguments MockResponses : for handling MockResponse scoped values Global Properties : for handling Global properties, optionally from an external source For our example, we will be defining a custom property in a TestCase called SimpleAsyncPayload. The property can be created in either the Custom Properties tab located at the bottom of the Navigator panel when the TestCase is selected in the Navigator or the Properties label in the TestCase editor: Navigator Panel TestCase Editor You will notice that I set a value of “0” for the custom property. For this simplified example, we will need to retrieve that value and manipulate it prior to making the web service request invocation. In order to accomplish this, we will need to get Groovy ;) Let's Get Groovy We will now add a new Groovy Script step to the TestCase called Manipulate Payload: TestCase Editor > Append Step > Groovy Script Once we have added the Groovy Script step to our TestCase, we can open the Groovy Script editor to add the code to: Get the current value of the property we created called SimpleAsyncPayload. Convert the value of the property to an integer. Increment the value. Store the incremented value back into the TestCase property called SimpleAsyncPayload. The script should look something like the following: Groovy Script Editor – Manipulate Payload At this point we can test the script to see if it is working by simply running the TestCase (left-click on the green triangle in the upper left-hand corner of the TestCase editor). To verify if it ran correctly, we can look at the value of the SimpleAsyncPayload property which should now be 1: TestCase Editor – Run Results All that is left to complete the TestCase is to append another step of type Test Request. The information required to append the request is a name and an operation to invoke. In this example we will use the default name and select the SimpleAsyncBPELProcessBingd -> process as the operation (any other information being requested, simply use the defaults unless you are calling an asynchronous operation then do not add any assertions). We are now in familiar ground with the Test Request editor. Depending upon the type of operation you are invoking (synchronous or asynchronous), please update the request with the necessary information (e.g., callback information for asynchronous operations). We will now tweak the Test Request payload to retrieve the value of the SimpleAsyncPayload property. The soapUI editor makes this very simple: right-click in the payload and navigate to the property (e.g., right-click > Get Data.. > TestCase: [Groovy TestCase] > Property [SimpleAsyncPayload]): Test Request Editor – Insert Property Value Your payload should now look something like the following: Test Request Editor – Inserted Property Value Just like before, we are now ready to run the TestCase. If everything goes as expected we should see a response like the following: Message Viewer – Results of TestCase Run We are now setup to be able to run a stress test where the payload will change for each request. This simple example can be expanded to include multiple payload values, complex calculations in the scripts, or whatever can be done via the soapUI scripting. Hopefully you have found this useful and happy testing to you :)

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• What's New in Oracle's EPM System?

  - by jmorourke

  Oracle’s EPM System R11.1.2.2  is now generally available to customers and partners on the download center.  Although the release number doesn’t sound significant, this is a major release of Oracle’s Hyperion EPM Suite with new modules as well as significant enhancements across the suite.  This release was announced back on April 4th as part of Oracle’s Business Analytics Strategy launch, so analytics is a key aspect of the release.  But the three biggest pieces of news in this release are Oracle Hyperion Planning support for the Exalytics In-Memory Machine, the new Project Financial Planning Application and the new Account Reconciliations Manager module. The Oracle Exalytics In-Memory Machine was announced back in October 2011, at Oracle OpenWorld.  It’s the latest installment from Oracle in a line of engineered systems that combine Oracle Sun hardware, with Oracle database and application technologies – in solutions that are designed to provide high scalability and performance for specific tasks.  Exalytics is the first engineered system specifically designed for high performance analytics.  Running in-memory versions of Oracle Essbase, as well as the Oracle TimesTen database and Oracle BI tools, Exalytics provides speed of thought response times for complex analytic processes with advanced visualizations.  Early adopter customers have achieved 5X to 100X faster interactivity and 6X to 10X faster planning cycles.  Hyperion Planning running with Oracle Exalytics will support enterprise-wide planning, budgeting and forecasting with more detailed data, with hundreds to thousands of users across an organization getting speed of thought performance. The new Hyperion Project Financial Planning application delivered with EPM 11.1.2.2 is also great news for Oracle customers.  This application follows on the heels of other special-purpose planning applications that Oracle has delivered for Workforce and Capital Asset planning.  It allows Project Managers to identify project-related expenses and revenues, plan and propose new projects, and track results over time. Finance Managers can evaluate and compare different projects, manage the funding process, monitor and report the actual financial results and impacts of projects and project portfolios. This new application is applicable to capital projects, contract projects and indirect projects like IT and HR projects across all industries.  This application is a great complement to existing Project Management applications, and helps bridge the gap between these applications, and the financial planning and budgeting process. Account reconciliations has to be one of the biggest bottlenecks and risks in the financial close and reporting process, and many organizations rely on spreadsheets and manual processes to perform this critical process.  To help address this problem, Oracle developed an Account Reconciliation Manager module that is being delivered as part of Oracle Hyperion Financial Close Management.   This module helps automate and streamline account reconciliations and eliminates the chances for errors, omissions and fraud.  But unlike standalone account reconciliation packages, it’s integrated with the rest of the Oracle Hyperion Financial Close suite, and can integrate balances from any source system.  This can help alleviate a major bottleneck in the financial close process, increase accuracy and reduce risk, and can complement existing investments in Hyperion Financial Management, as well as Oracle and non-Oracle transaction processing systems. Other enhancements in this release include an enhanced Web 2.0 interface for Hyperion Planning and Hyperion Financial Management (HFM), configurable dimensionality in HFM, new Predictive Planning feature in Hyperion Planning, new Detailed Profitability feature in Hyperion Profitability and Cost Management, new Smart View interface for Hyperion Strategic Finance, and integration of the Hyperion applications with JD Edwards Financials. For more information about Oracle EPM System R11.1.2.2 check out the links below: Press Release:  http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/press/1575775 Product Information on O.com:  http://www.oracle.com/us/solutions/business-analytics/overview/index.html Product Information on OTN:  http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/epm/downloads/index.html Webcast Replay:  http://www.oracle.com/us/go/index.html?Src=7317510&Act=65&pcode=WWMK11054701MPP046 Please contact me if you have any questions or need additional information – [email protected]

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• Microsoft TechEd 2010 - Day 2 @ Bangalore

  - by sathya

  Microsoft TechEd 2010 - Day 2 @ Bangalore Today is the day 2 @ Microsoft TechEd 2010. We had lot of technical sessions as usual there were many tracks going on side by side and I was attending the Web simplified track, Which comprised of the following sessions :   Developing a scalable Media Application using ASP.NET MVC - This was a kind of little advanced stuff. Anyways I couldn't understand much because this was not my piece of cake and I havent worked on this before ASP.Net MVC Unplugged - This was really great because this session covered from the basics of MVC showing what is Model,View and Controller and how it worked and the speaker went into the details of the same. Building RESTful Applications with the Open Data Protocol - There were some concepts explained about this from the basics on how to build RESTful Services and it went on till some advanced configurations of the same. Developing Scalable Web Applications with AppFabric Caching - This session showed about the integration of AppFabric with the .Net Web Applications. Instead of using Inproc Sessions, we can use this AppFabric as a substitute for Caching and outofProc Session Storage without writing code and doing a little bit of configurations which brings in High Scalability, performance to our applications. (But unfortunately there were no demos for this session ) Deep Dive : WCF RIA Services - This session was also an interactive one, in this the speaker presented from the basics of WCF and took a Book Store Application as a sample and explained all details concepts on linking with RIA Services   Apart from these sessions, in between there happened some small events in the breaks like Some discussions about Technology, Innovations Music Jokes Mimicry, etc. And on doing all these things, the developers were given some kool gifts / goodies like USBs, T-Shirts, etc. And today I got a chance to do the following certification : (70-562) Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist in .NET 3.5 Web Applications Since I already have an MCTS in .NET 2.0, I wanted to do an MCPD and for doing the same I was required to do an update to my MCTS with the .NET 3.5 framework and I did the same I cleared it and now am an MCTS in .NET 3.5 Web Apps And on doing this I got a T-Shirt and they gave something called Learning $ of worth 30$. And in various stalls for attending each quiz or some game or some referrals we got some Learning $ which we can redeem later based on our Total Learning $. I got 105 $ which i was able to redeem and got a Microsoft Learning BagPack, 1 free Microsoft certification offer, a laptop light and an e-learning content activated. And after all these sessions and small events, we had something called Demo Extravaganza like I mentioned yesterday. This was a great funfilled event with lot of goodies for the attendees. There were some lucky draw which enabled 2 attendees to get Netbooks (Sponsored by Intel) and 1 attendee to get X-box (Sponsored by Citrix). After Choosing the raffle in the lucky draw they kept it on a device called Microsoft Surface which is a kind of big touch screen device and on putting the raffle on that it detected the code of the attendee and said intelligently how many sessions that person has attended and if he has attended more than 5 he got a Netbook and this was coded by a guy called Imran. Apart from they showed demos on : Research by 2 Tamilnadu students from Krishna Arts and Science college, taken 1200 photographs of their college from different angles and put that up in Bing maps using silverlight and linked with Photosynth, which showed a 3d view of their college based on the photos they uploaded Reasearch by Microsoft on Panaramic HD views of the images. One young guy from Microsoft Research showed a demo of this on Srivilliputhur Andal Temple, in Tamil Nadu and its history with a panoramic view of the temple and the near by places with narration of the historical information on the same and with the videos embedded in it with high definition images which we can zoom to a very detailed level. Some Demo on a business app with Silverlight, Business Intelligence (BI) and maps integrated. It showed the sales of a particular product across locations. Some kool demos by 2 geeks who used Robots to show their development talents. 2 Robots fought with each other 2 Robots danced in sync for the A.R. Rehman song Humma Humma... A dream home project by Raman. He is currently using the same in his home too. Robots are controlling his home currently. They showed a video on this. Here are the list of activities that Robot does for him When he reads a book, robot automatically scans that and shows that image of that person in the screen (TV or comp) in front of him. It shows a wikipedia about that person. It says that person is not in linked in. do you want to add him If he sees an IPL Match news in the book and smiles it understands he is interested in that and opens a website related to that and shows the current game and the scorecard. It cooks for him It cleans the room for him whenever he leaves the house when he is doing something if some intruder comes inside his house his computer automatically switches his screen showing the video of the person coming inside. When he wakes up it automatically opens up the system, loads his mails and the news by the side, etc. Some Demos on Microsoft Pivot. This was there in livelabs but it is now available in getpivot.com its a pivoting of the pictorial data based on some categories and filters on the searches that we do. And finally on filling up some feedback forms we got T-Shirts and Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Training Kit CDs. Whats more on TechEd??? Stay tuned!!! Will update you soon on the other happenings!! PS : I typed a lot of content for more than a hour but I pressed a backspace and it went to the previous page and all my content were lost and I was not able to retrieve the same and I typed everything again.

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• Upcoming User Group Events in 2011

  - by john.orourke(at)oracle.com

  At a recent customer event, someone asked me if Oracle had any plans to re-create the Hyperion Solutions Conference.  Unfortunately the answer is no.  With so many different product lines it would be challenging and costly for Oracle to run separate user conferences for every product line, and it would create too many events for customers with multiple products to attend.  So Oracle Open World is the company's main event for showcasing what's new and what's coming across all product lines.  If customers find Oracle OpenWorld too overwhelming or if the timing is bad, there are a number of other conferences, which are run by Oracle user groups and include a number of sessions focused on Oracle Hyperion EPM and BI products.  Here's a sneak preview of what's coming up for conferences in 2011 where you can network with other Hyperion users and learn what's new and what's coming in our products. Alliance 2011:  This conference is run by the Oracle Higher Education User Group (HEUG).  It's being held March 27 - 30th in lovely Denver, Colorado.  (a great location and time for skiers!)  This event is targeted at customers in Higher Education and Public Sector organizations and is expecting to draw over 3,500 attendees.  There will be a number of sessions focusing on Oracle Hyperion EPM and BI products in the Budgeting track, as well as the Reporting & BI track.  This includes product-focused sessions delivered by Oracle and partners, as well as case studies delivered by customers.  Here's a link to the registration page where you can get more information: http://www.heug.org/p/cm/ld/fid=255 Collaborate 2011:  This conference is run by three different user groups;  OAUG, IOUG and Quest.  It's being held April 10 - 14th in sunny Orlando, Florida.  (yes, sunshine and warmth!)  This event is targeted to customers with Oracle E-Business Suite, PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, Hyperion, Primavera and other products and is expected to draw over 5,000 attendees.  You'll find a number of sessions focused on Oracle Hyperion EPM and BI products in the BI/Data Warehousing/EPM track.  This includes product-focused sessions delivered by Oracle, our partners, and customers as well as a number of customer case studies.  There will also be an exhibit area with a number of demo pods focused on EPM and BI products.  Here's a link to the conference web site where you can get more information: http://collaborate.oaug.org/ Also, please note that the OAUG has a Hyperion SIG that runs focused EPM/Hyperion events throughout the year.  Here's a link to their web site where you can get more information: http://hyperionsig.oaug.org/ Kscope 2011:  Formerly the Kaleidoscope conference, this one is run by the Oracle Developer Tools User Group (ODTUG).  This conference is being held June 26 - 30th in Long Beach, CA. (surf's up!)  Historically, this event has focused on Oracle Development tools, but over the past few years the EPM and BI content has grown with over 100 sessions planned this year.  So this event is becoming a great venue for existing Hyperion customers to learn about the latest developments with Oracle Essbase, Hyperion Planning, Hyperion Financial Management, Oracle BI and other products.   You'll also find hands-on workshops, product demonstrations as well as EPM and BI Symposiums run by Oracle Development staff.  Here's a link to the web site where you can get more details.  http://www.kscope11.com/biepm UKOUG Conference Series:  EPM and Hyperion 2011:  For Hyperion customers in the UK, the UKOUG has a Hyperion SIG that runs a focused conference for EPM and Hyperion products.  The 2011 event is planned for June in London.  Here's a link to the web site for this event where you can get more information: http://hyperion.ukoug.org/default.asp?p=8461 In addition to these conferences, you can also find Oracle EPM and BI content at regional user group meetings globally as well as Marketing events run by Oracle.  Check the events page at www.oracle.com for the details on upcoming Marketing and regional User Group events.  So while Oracle will not be trying to replicate the Hyperion Solutions conference, the good news is that there are a number of other events available where customers can find out what's new and what's coming with Oracle EPM and BI products.  And these events are running at different times of the year in different locations - so you can pick the event that makes the most sense for your company from a timing and location standpoint. I'll be delivering a number of sessions at the Alliance and Collaborate conferences and hope to see many of our loyal customers and partners at these events.  And there's always Oracle OpenWorld coming up in October, for which the planning has already started.  I look forward to seeing you in 2011.

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• Tip on Reusing Classes in Different .NET Project Types

  - by psheriff

  All of us have class libraries that we developed for use in our projects. When you create a .NET Class Library project with many classes, you can use that DLL in ASP.NET, Windows Forms and WPF applications. However, for Silverlight and Windows Phone, these .NET Class Libraries cannot be used. The reason is Silverlight and Windows Phone both use a scaled down version of .NET and thus do not have access to the full .NET framework class library. However, there are many classes and functionality that will work in the full .NET and in the scaled down versions that Silverlight and Windows Phone use.Let’s take an example of a class that you might want to use in all of the above mentioned projects. The code listing shown below might be something that you have in a Windows Form or an ASP.NET application. public class StringCommon{  public static bool IsAllLowerCase(string value)  {    return new Regex(@"^([^A-Z])+$").IsMatch(value);  }   public static bool IsAllUpperCase(string value)  {    return new Regex(@"^([^a-z])+$").IsMatch(value);  }} The StringCommon class is very simple with just two methods, but you know that the System.Text.RegularExpressions namespace is available in Silverlight and Windows Phone. Thus, you know that you may reuse this class in your Silverlight and Windows Phone projects. Here is the problem: if you create a Silverlight Class Library project and you right-click on that project in Solution Explorer and choose Add | Add Existing Item… from the menu, the class file StringCommon.cs will be copied from the original location and placed into the Silverlight Class Library project. You now have two files with the same code. If you want to change the code you will now need to change it in two places! This is a maintenance nightmare that you have just created. If you then add this to a Windows Phone Class Library project, you now have three places you need to modify the code! Add As LinkInstead of creating three separate copies of the same class file, you want to leave the original class file in its original location and just create a link to that file from the Silverlight and Windows Phone class libraries. Visual Studio will allow you to do this, but you need to do one additional step in the Add Existing Item dialog (see Figure 1). You will still right mouse click on the project and choose Add | Add Existing Item… from the menu. You will still highlight the file you want to add to your project, but DO NOT click on the Add button. Instead click on the drop down portion of the Add button and choose the “Add As Link” menu item. This will now create a link to the file on disk and will not copy the file into your new project. Figure 1: Add as Link will create a link, not copy the file over. When this linked file is added to your project, there will be a different icon next to that file in the Solution Explorer window. This icon signifies that this is a link to a file in another folder on your hard drive.   Figure 2: The Linked file will have a different icon to show it is a link. Of course, if you have code that will not work in Silverlight or Windows Phone -- because the code has dependencies on features of .NET that are not supported on those platforms – you  can always wrap conditional compilation code around the offending code so it will be removed when compiled in those class libraries. SummaryIn this short blog entry you learned how to reuse one of your class libraries from ASP.NET, Windows Forms or WPF applications in your Silverlight or Windows Phone class libraries. You can do this without creating a maintenance nightmare by using the “Add a Link” feature of the Add Existing Item dialog. Good Luck with your Coding,Paul Sheriff ** SPECIAL OFFER FOR MY BLOG READERS **Visit http://www.pdsa.com/Event/Blog for a free video on Silverlight entitled Silverlight XAML for the Complete Novice - Part 1.

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• SQLAuthority News – Who I Am And How I Got Here – True Story as Blog Post

  - by pinaldave

  Here are few of the sample questions I get every day? “Give me shortcut to become superstar?” “How do I become like you?” “Which book I should read so I know everything?” “Can you share your secret to be successful? I want to know it but do not share with others.” There is generic answer I always give is to work hard and read good educational material or watch good online videos. One of the emails really caught my attention. It was from a friend and SQL Server Expert John Sansom (Blog | Twitter). He wrote if I would like to share my story with the world about “Who I am and How I got Here”. I was very much intrigued with his suggestion. John is one guy I respect a lot. Every single topic he writes, I read it with dedication. I eagerly wait for his Weekly Summary of Best SQL Links. If you have not read them, you are missing something out. Writing a guest post for him was like walking in memory lane. I remembered the time when I was beginning my career and I was bit overconfident and bit naive. I had my share of mistakes when I started my career. As time passed by I realize the truth. Well, we all do mistakes. Though, I am proud that as soon as I know my mistakes I corrected them. I never acted on impulse or when I am angry. I think that alone has helped me analysis the situation better and become better human being. During the course, I have lost my ego and it is replaced by passion. I am much more happy and successful in my work. Quite often people ask me if I am always online and wether I have family or not. Honestly, I am able to work hard because of my family. They support me and they encourage me to be enjoy in what I do. They support everything I do and personally, I do not miss a single occasion to join them in daily chores of fun. If there was a shortcut to success – I want know. I learnt SQL Server hard way and I am still learning. There are so many things, I have to learn. There is not enough time to learn everything which we want to learn. I am constantly working on it every day. I welcome you to join my journey as well. Please join me with my journey to learn SQL Server – more the merrier. I have written a story of my life as a guest post.  Read Here: A Journey to SQL Authority Special thanks to John Sansom (Blog | Twitter) for giving me space to talk my story. Indeed I am honored. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: About Me, Best Practices, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

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• Copy New Files Only in .NET

  - by psheriff

  Recently I had a client that had a need to copy files from one folder to another. However, there was a process that was running that would dump new files into the original folder every minute or so. So, we needed to be able to copy over all the files one time, then also be able to go back a little later and grab just the new files. After looking into the System.IO namespace, none of the classes within here met my needs exactly. Of course I could build it out of the various File and Directory classes, but then I remembered back to my old DOS days (yes, I am that old!). The XCopy command in DOS (or the command prompt for you pure Windows people) is very powerful. One of the options you can pass to this command is to grab only newer files when copying from one folder to another. So instead of writing a ton of code I decided to simply call the XCopy command using the Process class in .NET. The command I needed to run at the command prompt looked like this: XCopy C:\Original\*.* D:\Backup\*.* /q /d /y What this command does is to copy all files from the Original folder on the C drive to the Backup folder on the D drive. The /q option says to do it quitely without repeating all the file names as it copies them. The /d option says to get any newer files it finds in the Original folder that are not in the Backup folder, or any files that have a newer date/time stamp. The /y option will automatically overwrite any existing files without prompting the user to press the "Y" key to overwrite the file. To translate this into code that we can call from our .NET programs, you can write the CopyFiles method presented below. C# using System.Diagnostics public void CopyFiles(string source, string destination){  ProcessStartInfo si = new ProcessStartInfo();  string args = @"{0}\*.* {1}\*.* /q /d /y";   args = string.Format(args, source, destination);   si.FileName = "xcopy";  si.Arguments = args;  Process.Start(si);} VB.NET Imports System.Diagnostics Public Sub CopyFiles(source As String, destination As String)  Dim si As New ProcessStartInfo()  Dim args As String = "{0}\*.* {1}\*.* /q /d /y"   args = String.Format(args, source, destination)   si.FileName = "xcopy"  si.Arguments = args  Process.Start(si)End Sub The CopyFiles method first creates a ProcessStartInfo object. This object is where you fill in name of the command you wish to run and also the arguments that you wish to pass to the command. I created a string with the arguments then filled in the source and destination folders using the string.Format() method. Finally you call the Start method of the Process class passing in the ProcessStartInfo object. That's all there is to calling any command in the operating system. Very simple, and much less code than it would have taken had I coded it using the various File and Directory classes. Good Luck with your Coding,Paul Sheriff ** SPECIAL OFFER FOR MY BLOG READERS **Visit http://www.pdsa.com/Event/Blog for a free video on Silverlight entitled Silverlight XAML for the Complete Novice - Part 1.  

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• Release 17 is here!

  - by Cheryl

  Our training development team has been busy updating courses to keep pace with the new release of CRM On Demand. Release 17 is here! And I heard recently that it's one of our biggest releases ever. A lot of new features and functionality for you to take advantage of - too much for me to cover in this blog post. But, I thought I'd tell you about a few of my favorites - be sure to take a look at the What's New in Release 17 recording to see the full list, though...because I'm only going to touch on a few. Create your own look - okay, I'm starting with the fun stuff. But, there is a new customizable themes feature so that you can change the look of the application; colors, logo, the shape of the tabs. And it's really easy. There's also a whole new library of ready-made themes for you to pick from if you just want to go with one of those. Use this new feature to match the look of your company logo and color scheme. Or blaze new trails. You can create the look for the whole company, or a different look for each CRM On Demand role. This might especially come in handy if you're using the Partner Relationship Management (PRM) capabilities of CRM On Demand - you can create themes for your partner-facing roles to provide branded partner portals. Speaking of PRM - there are enhancements in this release to help companies better manage their partner relationships. A new Deal Registration object, which is separate from the Opportunity record, and better Special Pricing Request and Marketing Development Fund Request processes, give a lot more flexibility in how companies can build and manage their relationships with partners. Some new options for Forecasts in in Release 17, too. You can now have more than one type of forecast generated each forecast period. For example, you might need to see a forecast of the total opportunity revenue for your sales team, as well as on that breaks down revenue by product. The forecast definition now lets you do that. Other options allow you to make submitting forecasts easier, split opportunity revenue across the team and forecast that split appropriately. And - look for the new Forecast subject area in Answers, for building custom forecast reports. Ever wish you could use Workflow Rules to automatically reassign leads if they haven't been followed up on...or to email a manager if the status of a service request isn't changed after a specified period of time? Then check out the new Wait action for workflows. I think you'll be happy. Ok, enough for today. There is a lot to Release 17 that I didn't mention - a lot has been added for our Life Science industry edition, some new data visibility options, a new Data Loader tool, and more. Stay tuned for more blog posts about these and other Release 17 features in the coming weeks. In the meantime, don't forget about all of the resources we have for you to learn more (see my Learning About Release 17 blog post for details).

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• Use Your Favorite Wallpapers in Windows 7 Starter Edition

  - by Asian Angel

  If you have Windows 7 Starter Edition installed on your netbook, the default wallpaper can get old. If you are tired of looking at the default wallpaper, then join us today as we look at changing it with Oceanis Change Background Windows 7. Special Notes This information is quoted directly from the website and needs to be kept in mind when using Oceanis Change Background Windows 7: If the Oceanis Change Background Windows 7 program no longer works properly after installing some Windows Updates, then uninstall and reinstall the Oceanis Change Background Windows 7 program to have it run properly again. If you ever do an in-place upgrade to another higher level edition of Windows 7 in the future, then be sure to uninstall this Oceanis Change Background Windows 7 program first to avoid incompatibility issues with it in the new edition of Windows 7. It was designed to only work in Windows 7 Starter edition. Before There it is…the default wallpaper everyone with the Starter Edition gets stuck with. Some people may not mind it, but if you are one of the people who really wants something different then get ready to rejoice. After The install file for Oceanis is contained in a zip file so you will need to unzip it to get started. The install process is quick and simple but you will need to do a system restart afterwards. Once you have restarted your computer this is what your screen will look like…do not panic and think that this is all there is to it. This is just the Starter Screen and can be easily changed… Note: Oceanis will auto-start with Windows each time. Using either the Desktop Icon or the Start Menu Entry, open up the Oceanis Main Window. You will see the set of four default wallpapers shown here. At this point the best thing to do is browse for the appropriate folder where you have all of those wonderful new wallpapers just waiting to be used. Note: We found Stretch to be the best Picture Position setting on our system. For our example we had three ready and waiting. We decided to try out the Wallpaper Slideshow feature first. We chose a time frame and saved our changes. Here are our three wallpapers as they switched through. This can be much more interesting than the default wallpaper. There was only one quirk that we encountered while using the Slideshow Setting. On occasion if we minimized a non-maximized window there would be a leftover partial image in place of the window. Our suggestion? Go with one wallpaper at a time and the settings shown below. These are the settings that we had terrific luck with…Only one picture selected, Picture Position = Stretch, & Change Picture Every = Every Day. Using these settings, the Starter Edition acted just like any of the other editions with regard to wallpaper management. Conclusion If you have grown tired of looking at the default wallpaper in Windows 7 Starter Edition then you will certainly appreciate what Oceanis Change Background Windows 7 can do to fix that problem. For more ways to customize your Windows 7 Started Edition, be sure to to check out how to personalize Windows 7 Starter. Links Download Oceanis Change Background Windows 7 Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Windows 7 Welcome Screen Taking Forever? Here’s the Fix (Maybe)Awesome Desktop Wallpapers: The Windows 7 EditionHow To Customize Wallpaper in Windows 7 Starter EditionDesktop Fun: Starship Theme WallpapersDesktop Fun: Underwater Theme Wallpapers TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips Acronis Online Backup DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows Vista style sidebar for Windows 7 Create Nice Charts With These Web Based Tools Track Daily Goals With 42Goals Video Toolbox is a Superb Online Video Editor Fun with 47 charts and graphs Tomorrow is Mother’s Day

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• Replacing ASP.NET Forms Authentication with WIF Session Authentication (for the better)

  - by Your DisplayName here!

  ASP.NET Forms Authentication and WIF Session Authentication (which has *nothing* to do with ASP.NET sessions) are very similar. Both inspect incoming requests for a special cookie that contains identity information, if that cookie is present it gets validated and if that is successful, the identity information is made available to the application via HttpContext.User/Thread.CurrentPrincipal. The main difference between the two is the identity to cookie serialization engine that sits below. Whereas ForsmAuth can only store the name of the user and an additional UserData string. It is limited to a single cookie and hardcoded to protection via the machine key. WIF session authentication in turn has these additional features: Can serialize a complete ClaimsPrincipal (including claims) to the cookie(s). Has a cookie overflow mechanism when data gets too big. In total it can create up to 8 cookies (á 4 KB) per domain (not that I would recommend round tripping that much data). Supports server side caching (which is an extensible mechanism). Has an extensible mechanism for protection (DPAPI by default, RSA as an option for web farms, and machine key based protection is coming in .NET 4.5) So in other words – session authentication is the superior technology, and if done cleverly enough you can replace FormsAuth without any changes to your application code. The only features missing is the redirect mechanism to a login page and an easy to use API to set authentication cookies. But that’s easy to add ;) FormsSessionAuthenticationModule This module is a sub class of the standard WIF session module, adding the following features: Handling EndRequest to do the redirect on 401s to the login page configured for FormsAuth. Reads the FormsAuth cookie name, cookie domain, timeout and require SSL settings to configure the module accordingly. Implements sliding expiration if configured for FormsAuth. It also uses the same algorithm as FormsAuth to calculate when the cookie needs renewal. Implements caching of the principal on the server side (aka session mode) if configured in an AppSetting. Supports claims transformation via a ClaimsAuthenticationManager. As you can see, the whole module is designed to easily replace the FormsAuth mechanism. Simply set the authentication mode to None and register the module. In the spirit of the FormsAuthentication class, there is also now a SessionAuthentication class with the same methods and signatures (e.g. SetAuthCookie and SignOut). The rest of your application code should not be affected. In addition the session module looks for a HttpContext item called “NoRedirect”. If that exists, the redirect to the login page will *not* happen, instead the 401 is passed back to the client. Very useful if you are implementing services or web APIs where you want the actual status code to be preserved. A corresponding UnauthorizedResult is provided that gives you easy access to the context item. The download contains a sample app, the module and an inspector for session cookies and tokens. Let’s hope that in .NET 4.5 such a module comes out of the box. HTH

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• JDK 7u25: Solutions to Issues caused by changes to Runtime.exec

  - by Devika Gollapudi

  The following examples were prepared by Java engineering for the benefit of Java developers who may have faced issues with Runtime.exec on the Windows platform. Background In JDK 7u21, the decoding of command strings specified to Runtime.exec(String), Runtime.exec(String,String[]) and Runtime.exec(String,String[],File) methods, has been made more strict. See JDK 7u21 Release Notes for more information. This caused several issues for applications. The following section describes some of the problems faced by developers and their solutions. Note: In JDK 7u25, the system property jdk.lang.Process.allowAmbigousCommands can be used to relax the checking process and helps as a workaround for some applications that cannot be changed. The workaround is only effective for applications that are run without a SecurityManager. See JDK 7u25 Release Notes for more information. Note: To understand the details of the Windows API CreateProcess call, see: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms682425%28v=vs.85%29.aspx There are two forms of Runtime.exec calls: with the command as string: "Runtime.exec(String command[, ...])" with the command as string array: "Runtime.exec(String[] cmdarray [, ...] )" The issues described in this section relate to the first form of call. With the first call form, developers expect the command to be passed "as is" to Windows where the command needs be split into its executable name and arguments parts first. But, in accordance with Java API, the command argument is split into executable name and arguments by spaces. Problem 1: "The file path for the command includes spaces" In the call: Runtime.getRuntime().exec("c:\\Program Files\\do.exe") the argument is split by spaces to an array of strings as: c:\\Program, Files\\do.exe The first element of parsed array is interpreted as the executable name, verified by SecurityManager (if present) and surrounded by quotations to avoid ambiguity in executable path. This results in the wrong command: "c:\\Program" "Files\\do.exe" which will fail. Solution: Use the ProcessBuilder class, or the Runtime.exec(String[] cmdarray [, ...] ) call, or quote the executable path. Where it is not possible to change the application code and where a SecurityManager is not used, the Java property jdk.lang.Process.allowAmbigousCommands could be used by setting its value to "true" from the command line: -Djdk.lang.Process.allowAmbigousCommands=true This will relax the checking process to allow ambiguous input. Examples: new ProcessBuilder("c:\\Program Files\\do.exe").start() Runtime.getRuntime().exec(new String[]{"c:\\Program Files\\do.exe"}) Runtime.getRuntime().exec("\"c:\\Program Files\\do.exe\"") Problem 2: "Shell command/.bat/.cmd IO redirection" The following implicit cmd.exe calls: Runtime.getRuntime().exec("dir temp.txt") new ProcessBuilder("foo.bat", "", "temp.txt").start() Runtime.getRuntime().exec(new String[]{"foo.cmd", "", "temp.txt"}) lead to the wrong command: "XXXX" "" temp.txt Solution: To specify the command correctly, use the following options: Runtime.getRuntime().exec("cmd /C \"dir temp.txt\"") new ProcessBuilder("cmd", "/C", "foo.bat temp.txt").start() Runtime.getRuntime().exec(new String[]{"cmd", "/C", "foo.cmd temp.txt"}) or Process p = new ProcessBuilder("cmd", "/C" "XXX").redirectOutput(new File("temp.txt")).start(); Problem 3: "Group execution of shell command and/or .bat/.cmd files" Due to enforced verification procedure, arguments in the following calls create the wrong commands.: Runtime.getRuntime().exec("first.bat && second.bat") new ProcessBuilder("dir", "&&", "second.bat").start() Runtime.getRuntime().exec(new String[]{"dir", "|", "more"}) Solution: To specify the command correctly, use the following options: Runtime.exec("cmd /C \"first.bat && second.bat\"") new ProcessBuilder("cmd", "/C", "dir && second.bat").start() Runtime.exec(new String[]{"cmd", "/C", "dir | more"}) The same scenario also works for the "&", "||", "^" operators of the cmd.exe shell. Problem 4: ".bat/.cmd with special DOS chars in quoted params” Due to enforced verification, arguments in the following calls will cause exceptions to be thrown.: Runtime.getRuntime().exec("log.bat \"error new ProcessBuilder("log.bat", "error Runtime.getRuntime().exec(new String[]{"log.bat", "error Solution: To specify the command correctly, use the following options: Runtime.getRuntime().exec("cmd /C log.bat \"error new ProcessBuilder("cmd", "/C", "log.bat", "error Runtime.getRuntime().exec(new String[]{"cmd", "/C", "log.bat", "error Examples: Complicated redirection for shell construction: cmd /c dir /b C:\ "my lovely spaces.txt" becomes Runtime.getRuntime().exec(new String[]{"cmd", "/C", "dir \b \"my lovely spaces.txt\"" }); The Golden Rule: In most cases, cmd.exe has two arguments: "/C" and the command for interpretation.

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• St. Louis Day of .NET 2010

  - by Scott Spradlin

  Register now at http://www.stlouisdayofdotnet.com/registration.aspx The Date This year's conference will be held on Friday and Saturday, August 20-21, 2010, at the Ameristar Conference Center in St. Charles, Missouri.  Sessions will begin at 8:00 a.m. and run through 4:30 p.m. on both days.  Registration and sign-in will open at 7:00 a.m. on Friday morning, and will run throughout the event. The Venue Based on the almost unanimous feedback from last year's event, we are very excited to bring our conference back to the Ameristar Conference Center. The Ameristar has worked with us to offer a great rate on their large suites, should you be traveling from out-of-town -- or are just interested in a night away from home.  Attendees can book a suite at a discounted rate of only $139/night, which is a substantial discount from their standard rates.  We encourage you take the opportunity to hang around, spend the night, and enjoy the social events and networking opportunities that we have planned. If you are interested in taking advantage of the discounted hotel rate, you can reserve your room online at Ameristar's Online Registration Site, using the special offer code: GDOTH10.  You can also call the hotel's reservation number at (636) 940-4301 and let them know you are attending the St. Louis Day of .NET 2010 to receive your discounted rates. The Content All attendees will have access to over 80 technical sessions by many great regional and national technology experts, covering a wide range of .NET development topics.  In addition to refreshments throughout the event, all attendees will be provided with breakfast and lunch on both days of the conference. You will find sessions on many of the most current .NET development topics including: Visual Studio .NET 2010 Silverlight 4.0 Windows 7 Series Phone Development ASP.NET MVC DotNetNuke SharePoint 2010 Architecture Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) And much, much more... This year's event will also include many informal "Open Space" sessions where all attendees with similar interests can discuss current trends or issues they are facing in today's real-world development environments. Finally, all attendees are invited to a social networking event at the HOME Nightclub at the Ameristar, which will be held on the Friday evening of the conference. The Cost The cost of this year's conference is $200 per attendee.  However, for a limited time we are offering a $75 discount for early registrants. To take advantage of this discounted rate, you must register on our site prior to July 10, 2010.  We accept Visa, MasterCard, and American Express.  In addition, this year we allow for a single user of our site to easily register multiple attendees at once. To register, please visit the official St. Louis Day of .NET site at www.stldodn.com, and click on the "Registration" tab. For More Information And for the most up-to-the-minute information on the event, please follow us online: Twitter:  @stldodn Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/stldodn We strongly encourage you to share this email, as well as the attached flier, with your peers and colleagues, and anyone else you think might be interested in this exciting event. If you have any questions regarding registration, you can email us at [email protected] and we will be happy to address them. Sponsors We are extremely thankful to the many great sponsors who are partnering with us this year to help make the St. Louis Day of .NET 2010 a huge success. (There are still sponsorship opportunities available. For complete information, visit the sponsor page on the web site.)

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• Upgrading SSIS Custom Components for SQL Server 2012

  Having finally got around to upgrading my custom components to SQL Server 2012, I thought I’d share some notes on the process. One of the goals was minimal duplication, so the same code files are used to build the 2008 and 2012 components, I just have a separate project file. The high level steps are listed below, followed by some more details. Create a 2012 copy of the project file Upgrade project, just open the new project file is VS2010 Change target framework to .NET 4.0 Set conditional compilation symbol for DENALI Change any conditional code, including assembly version and UI type name Edit project file to change referenced assemblies for 2012 Change target framework to .NET 4.0 Open the project properties. On the Applications page, change the Target framework to .NET Framework 4. Set conditional compilation symbol for DENALI Re-open the project properties. On the Build tab, first change the Configuration to All Configurations, then set a Conditional compilation symbol of DENALI. Change any conditional code, including assembly version and UI type name The value doesn’t have to be DENALI, it can actually be anything you like, that is just what I use. It is how I control sections of code that vary between versions. There were several API changes between 2005 and 2008, as well as interface name changes. Whilst we don’t have the same issues between 2008 and 2012, I still have some sections of code that do change such as the assembly attributes. #if DENALI [assembly: AssemblyDescription("Data Generator Source for SQL Server Integration Services 2012")] [assembly: AssemblyCopyright("Copyright © 2012 Konesans Ltd")] [assembly: AssemblyVersion("3.0.0.0")] #else [assembly: AssemblyDescription("Data Generator Source for SQL Server Integration Services 2008")] [assembly: AssemblyCopyright("Copyright © 2008 Konesans Ltd")] [assembly: AssemblyVersion("2.0.0.0")] #endif The Visual Studio editor automatically formats the code based on the current compilation symbols, hence in this case the 2008 code is grey to indicate it is disabled. As you can see in the previous example I have distinct assembly version attributes, ensuring I can run both 2008 and 2012 versions of my component side by side. For custom components with a user interface, be sure to update the UITypeName property of the DtsTask or DtsPipelineComponent attributes. As above I use the conditional compilation symbol to control the code. #if DENALI [DtsTask ( DisplayName = "File Watcher Task", Description = "File Watcher Task", IconResource = "Konesans.Dts.Tasks.FileWatcherTask.FileWatcherTask.ico", UITypeName = "Konesans.Dts.Tasks.FileWatcherTask.FileWatcherTaskUI,Konesans.Dts.Tasks.FileWatcherTask,Version=3.0.0.0,Culture=Neutral,PublicKeyToken=b2ab4a111192992b", TaskContact = "File Watcher Task; Konesans Ltd; Copyright © 2012 Konesans Ltd; http://www.konesans.com" )] #else [DtsTask ( DisplayName = "File Watcher Task", Description = "File Watcher Task", IconResource = "Konesans.Dts.Tasks.FileWatcherTask.FileWatcherTask.ico", UITypeName = "Konesans.Dts.Tasks.FileWatcherTask.FileWatcherTaskUI,Konesans.Dts.Tasks.FileWatcherTask,Version=2.0.0.0,Culture=Neutral,PublicKeyToken=b2ab4a111192992b", TaskContact = "File Watcher Task; Konesans Ltd; Copyright © 2004-2008 Konesans Ltd; http://www.konesans.com" )] #endif public sealed class FileWatcherTask: Task, IDTSComponentPersist, IDTSBreakpointSite, IDTSSuspend { // .. code goes on... } Shown below is another example I found that needed changing. I borrow one of the MS editors, and use it against a custom property, but need to ensure I reference the correct version of the MS controls assembly. This section of code is actually shared between the 2005, 2008 and 2012 versions of my component hence it has test for both DENALI and KATMAI symbols. #if DENALI const string multiLineUI = "Microsoft.DataTransformationServices.Controls.ModalMultilineStringEditor, Microsoft.DataTransformationServices.Controls, Version=11.0.00.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=89845dcd8080cc91"; #elif KATMAI const string multiLineUI = "Microsoft.DataTransformationServices.Controls.ModalMultilineStringEditor, Microsoft.DataTransformationServices.Controls, Version=10.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=89845dcd8080cc91"; #else const string multiLineUI = "Microsoft.DataTransformationServices.Controls.ModalMultilineStringEditor, Microsoft.DataTransformationServices.Controls, Version=9.0.242.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=89845dcd8080cc91"; #endif // Create Match Expression parameter IDTSCustomPropertyCollection100 propertyCollection = outputColumn.CustomPropertyCollection; IDTSCustomProperty100 property = propertyCollection.New(); property = propertyCollection.New(); property.Name = MatchParams.Name; property.Description = MatchParams.Description; property.TypeConverter = typeof(MultilineStringConverter).AssemblyQualifiedName; property.UITypeEditor = multiLineUI; property.Value = MatchParams.DefaultValue; Edit project file to change referenced assemblies for 2012 We now need to edit the project file itself. Open the MyComponente2012.cproj  in you favourite text editor, and then perform a couple of find and replaces as listed below: Find Replace Comment Version=10.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=89845dcd8080cc91 Version=11.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=89845dcd8080cc91 Change the assembly references version from SQL Server 2008 to SQL Server 2012. Microsoft SQL Server\100\ Microsoft SQL Server\110\ Change any assembly reference hint path locations from from SQL Server 2008 to SQL Server 2012. If you use any Build Events during development, such as copying the component assembly to the DTS folder, or calling GACUTIL to install it into the GAC, you can also change these now. An example of my new post-build event for a pipeline component is shown below, which uses the .NET 4.0 path for GACUTIL. It also uses the 110 folder location, instead of 100 for SQL Server 2008, but that was covered the the previous find and replace. "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\Bin\NETFX 4.0 Tools\gacutil.exe" /if "$(TargetPath)" copy "$(TargetPath)" "%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft SQL Server\110\DTS\PipelineComponents" /Y

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• javascript complex recurrsion [on hold]

  - by Achilles

  Given Below is my data in data array. What i am doing in code below is that from that given data i have to construct json in a special format which i also gave below. //code start here var hierarchy={}; hierarchy.name="Hierarchy"; hierarchy.children=[{"name":"","children":[{"name":"","children":[]}]}]; var countryindex; var flagExist=false; var data = [ {country :"America", city:"Kansas", employe:'Jacob'}, {country :"Pakistan", city:"Lahore", employe:'tahir'}, {country :"Pakistan", city:"Islamabad", employe:'fakhar'} , {country :"Pakistan", city:"Lahore", employe:'bilal'}, {country :"India", city:"d", employe:'ali'} , {country :"Pakistan", city:"Karachi", employe:'eden'}, {country :"America", city:"Kansas", employe:'Jeen'} , {country :"India", city:"Banglore", employe:'PP'} , {country :"India", city:"Banglore", employe:'JJ'} , ]; for(var i=0;i<data.length;i++) { for(var j=0;j<hierarchy.children.length;j++) { //for checking country match if(hierarchy.children[j].name==data[i].country) { countryindex=j; flagExist=true; break; } } if(flagExist)//country match now no need to add new country just add city in it { var cityindex; var cityflag=false; //hierarchy.children[countryindex].children.push({"name":data[i].city,"children":[]}) //if(hierarchy.children[index].children!=undefined) for(var k=0;k< hierarchy.children[countryindex].children.length;k++) { //for checking city match if(hierarchy.children[countryindex].children[k].name==data[i].city) { // hierarchy.children[countryindex].children[k].children.push({"name":data[i].employe}) cityflag=true; cityindex=k; break; } } if(cityflag)//city match now add just empolye at that city index { hierarchy.children[countryindex].children[cityindex].children.push({"name":data[i].employe}); cityflag=false; } else//no city match so add new with employe also as this is new city so its emplye will be 1st { hierarchy.children[countryindex].children.push({"name":data[i].city,children:[{"name":data[i].employe}]}); //same as above //hierarchy.children[countryindex].children[length-1].children.push({"name":data[i].employe}); } flagExist=false; } else{ //no country match adding new country //with city also as this is new city of new country console.log("sparta"); hierarchy.children.push({"name":data[i].country,"children":[{"name":data[i].city,"children":[{"name":data[i].employe}]}]}); // hierarchy.children.children.push({"name":data[i].city,"children":[]}); } //console.log(hierarchy); } hierarchy.children.shift(); var j=JSON.stringify(hierarchy); //code ends here //here is the json which i seccessfully formed from the code { "name":"Hierarchy", "children":[ { "name":"America", "children":[ { "name":"Kansas", "children":[{"name":"Jacob"},{"name":"Jeen"}]}]}, { "name":"Pakistan", "children":[ { "name":"Lahore", "children": [ {"name":"tahir"},{"name":"bilal"}]}, { "name":"Islamabad", "children":[{"name":"fakhar"}]}, { "name":"Karachi", "children":[{"name":"eden"}]}]}, { "name":"India", "children": [ { "name":"d", "children": [ {"name":"ali"}]}, { "name":"Banglore", "children":[{"name":"PP"},{"name":"JJ"}]}]}]} Now the orignal problem is that currently i am solving this problem for data of array of three keys and i have to go for 3 nested loops now i want to optimize this solution so that if data array of object has more than 3 key say 5 {country :"America", state:"NewYork",city:"newYOrk",street:"elm", employe:'Jacob'}, or more than my solution will not work and i cannot decide before how many keys will come so i thought recursion may suit best here. But i am horrible in writing recurrsion and the case is also complex. Can some awesome programmer help me writing recurrsion or suggest some other solution.

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• WebCenter Content shared folders for clustering

  - by Kyle Hatlestad

  When configuring a WebCenter Content (WCC) cluster, one of the things which makes it unique from some other WebLogic Server applications is its requirement for a shared file system.  This is actually not any different then 10g and previous versions of UCM when it ran directly on a JVM.  And while it is simple enough to say it needs a shared file system, there are some crucial details in how those directories are configured. And if they aren't followed, you may result in some unwanted behavior. This blog post will go into the details on how exactly the file systems should be split and what options are required. Beyond documents being stored on the file system and/or database and metadata being stored in the database along with other structured data, there is other information being read and written to on the file system.  Information such as user profile preferences, workflow item state information, metadata profiles, and other details are stored in files.  In addition, for certain processes within WCC, each of the nodes needs to know what the other nodes are doing so they don’t step on each other.  WCC keeps track of this through the use of lock files on the file system.  Because of this, each node of the WCC must have access to the same file system just as they have access to the same database. WCC uses its own locking mechanism using files, so it also needs to have access to those files without file attribute caching and without locking being done by the client (node).  If one of the nodes accesses a certain status file and it happens to be cached, that node might attempt to run a process which another node is already working on.  Or if a particular file is locked by one of the node clients, this could interfere with access by another node.  Unfortunately, when disabling file attribute caching on the file share, this can impact performance.  So it is important to only disable caching and locking on the particular folders which require it.  When configuring WebCenter Content after deploying the domain, it asks for 3 different directories: Content Server Instance Folder, Native File Repository Location, and Weblayout Folder.  And starting in PS5, it now asks for the User Profile Folder. Even if you plan on storing the content in the database, you still need to establish a Native File (Vault) and Weblayout directories.  These will be used for handling temporary files, cached files, and files used to deliver the UI. For these directories, the only folder which needs to have the file attribute caching and locking disabled is the ‘Content Server Instance Folder’.  So when establishing this share through NFS or a clustered file system, be sure to specify those options. For instance, if creating the share through NFS, use the ‘noac’ and ‘nolock’ options for the mount options. For the other directories, caching and locking should be enabled to provide best performance to those locations.   These directory path configurations are contained within the <domain dir>\ucm\cs\bin\intradoc.cfg file: #Server System PropertiesIDC_Id=UCM_server1 #Server Directory Variables IdcHomeDir=/u01/fmw/Oracle_ECM1/ucm/idc/ FmwDomainConfigDir=/u01/fmw/user_projects/domains/base_domain/config/fmwconfig/ AppServerJavaHome=/u01/jdk/jdk1.6.0_22/jre/ AppServerJavaUse64Bit=true IntradocDir=/mnt/share_no_cache/base_domain/ucm/cs/ VaultDir=/mnt/share_with_cache/ucm/cs/vault/ WeblayoutDir=/mnt/share_with_cache/ucm/cs/weblayout/ #Server Classpath variables #Additional Variables #NOTE: UserProfilesDir is only available in PS5 – 11.1.1.6.0UserProfilesDir=/mnt/share_with_cache/ucm/cs/data/users/profiles/ In addition to these folder configurations, it’s also recommended to move node-specific folders to local disk to avoid unnecessary traffic to the shared directory.  So on each node, go to <domain dir>\ucm\cs\bin\intradoc.cfg and add these additional configuration entries: VaultTempDir=<domain dir>/ucm/<cs>/vault/~temp/ TraceDirectory=<domain dir>/servers/<UCM_serverN>/logs/EventDirectory=<domain dir>/servers/<UCM_serverN>/logs/event/ And of course, don’t forget the cluster-specific configuration values to add as well.  These can be added through Admin Server -> General Configuration -> Additional Configuration Variables or directly in the <IntradocDir>/config/config.cfg file: ArchiverDoLocks=true DisableSharedCacheChecking=true ServiceAllowRetry=true    (use only with Oracle RAC Database)PublishLockTimeout=300000  (time can vary depending on publishing time and number of nodes) For additional information and details on clustering configuration, I highly recommend reviewing document [1209496.1] on the support site.  In addition, there is a great step-by-step guide on setting up a WebCenter Content cluster [1359930.1].

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• Guidance: How to layout you files for an Ideal Solution

  - by Martin Hinshelwood

  Creating a solution and having it maintainable over time is an art and not a science. I like being pedantic and having a place for everything, no matter how small. For setting up the Areas to run Multiple projects under one solution see my post on  When should I use Areas in TFS instead of Team Projects and for an explanation of branching see Guidance: A Branching strategy for Scrum Teams. Update 17th May 2010 – We are currently trialling running a single Sprint branch to improve our history. Whenever I setup a new Team Project I implement the basic version control structure. I put “readme.txt” files in the folder structure explaining the different levels, and a solution file called “[Client].[Product].sln” located at “$/[Client]/[Product]/DEV/Main” within version control. Developers should add any projects you need to create to that solution in the format “[Client].[Product].[ProductArea].[Assembly]” and they will automatically be picked up and built automatically when you setup Automated Builds using Team Foundation Build. All test projects need to be done using MSTest to get proper IDE and Team Foundation Build integration out-of-the-box and be named for the assembly that it is testing with a naming convention of “[Client].[Product].[ProductArea].[Assembly].Tests” Here is a description of the folder layout; this content should be replicated in readme files under version control in the relevant locations so that even developers new to the project can see how to do it. Figure: The Team Project level - at this level there should be a folder for each the products that you are building if you are using Areas correctly in TFS 2010. You should try very hard to avoided spaces as these things always end up in a URL eventually e.g. "Code Auditor" should be "CodeAuditor". Figure: Product Level - At this level there should be only 3 folders (DEV, RELESE and SAFE) all of which should be in capitals. These folders represent the three stages of your application production line. Each of them may contain multiple branches but this format leaves all of your branches at the same level. Figure: The DEV folder is where all of the Development branches reside. The DEV folder will contain the "Main" branch and all feature branches is they are being used. The DEV designation specifies that all code in every branch under this folder has not been released or made ready for release. And feature branches MUST merge (Forward Integrate) from Main and stabilise prior to merging (Reverse Integration) back down into Main and being decommissioned. Figure: In the Feature branching scenario only merges are allowed onto Main, no development can be done there. Once we have a mature product it is important that new features being developed in parallel are kept separate. This would most likely be used if we had more than one Scrum team working on a single product. Figure: when we are ready to do a release of our software we will create a release branch that is then stabilised prior to deployment. This protects the serviceability of of our released code allowing developers to fix bugs and re-release an existing version. Figure: All bugs found on a release are fixed on the release.  All bugs found in a release are fixed on the release and a new deployment is created. After the deployment is created the bug fixes are then merged (Reverse Integration) into the Main branch. We do this so that we separate out our development from our production ready code.  Figure: SAFE or RTM is a read only record of what you actually released. Labels are not immutable so are useless in this circumstance.  When we have completed stabilisation of the release branch and we are ready to deploy to production we create a read-only copy of the code for reference. In some cases this could be a regulatory concern, but in most cases it protects the company building the product from legal entanglements based on what you did or did not release. Figure: This allows us to reference any particular version of our application that was ever shipped.   In addition I am an advocate of having a single solution with all the Project folders directly under the “Trunk”/”Main” folder and using the full name for the project folders.. Figure: The ideal solution If you must have multiple solutions, because you need to use more than one version of Visual Studio, name the solutions “[Client].[Product][VSVersion].sln” and have it reside in the same folder as the other solution. This makes it easier for Automated build and improves the discoverability of your code and its dependencies. Send me your feedback!   Technorati Tags: VS ALM,VSTS Developing,VS 2010,VS 2008,TFS 2010,TFS 2008,TFBS

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• Windows Azure Recipe: Social Web / Big Media

  - by Clint Edmonson

  With the rise of social media there’s been an explosion of special interest media web sites on the web. From athletics to board games to funny animal behaviors, you can bet there’s a group of people somewhere on the web talking about it. Social media sites allow us to interact, share experiences, and bond with like minded enthusiasts around the globe. And through the power of software, we can follow trends in these unique domains in real time. Drivers Reach Scalability Media hosting Global distribution Solution Here’s a sketch of how a social media application might be built out on Windows Azure: Ingredients Traffic Manager (optional) – can be used to provide hosting and load balancing across different instances and/or data centers. Perfect if the solution needs to be delivered to different cultures or regions around the world. Access Control – this service is essential to managing user identity. It’s backed by a full blown implementation of Active Directory and allows the definition and management of users, groups, and roles. A pre-built ASP.NET membership provider is included in the training kit to leverage this capability but it’s also flexible enough to be combined with external Identity providers including Windows LiveID, Google, Yahoo!, and Facebook. The provider model has extensibility points to hook into other identity providers as well. Web Role – hosts the core of the web application and presents a central social hub users. Database – used to store core operational, functional, and workflow data for the solution’s web services. Caching (optional) – as a web site traffic grows caching can be leveraged to keep frequently used read-only, user specific, and application resource data in a high-speed distributed in-memory for faster response times and ultimately higher scalability without spinning up more web and worker roles. It includes a token based security model that works alongside the Access Control service. Tables (optional) – for semi-structured data streams that don’t need relational integrity such as conversations, comments, or activity streams, tables provide a faster and more flexible way to store this kind of historical data. Blobs (optional) – users may be creating or uploading large volumes of heterogeneous data such as documents or rich media. Blob storage provides a scalable, resilient way to store terabytes of user data. The storage facilities can also integrate with the Access Control service to ensure users’ data is delivered securely. Content Delivery Network (CDN) (optional) – for sites that service users around the globe, the CDN is an extension to blob storage that, when enabled, will automatically cache frequently accessed blobs and static site content at edge data centers around the world. The data can be delivered statically or streamed in the case of rich media content. Training These links point to online Windows Azure training labs and resources where you can learn more about the individual ingredients described above. (Note: The entire Windows Azure Training Kit can also be downloaded for offline use.) Windows Azure (16 labs) Windows Azure is an internet-scale cloud computing and services platform hosted in Microsoft data centers, which provides an operating system and a set of developer services which can be used individually or together. It gives developers the choice to build web applications; applications running on connected devices, PCs, or servers; or hybrid solutions offering the best of both worlds. New or enhanced applications can be built using existing skills with the Visual Studio development environment and the .NET Framework. With its standards-based and interoperable approach, the services platform supports multiple internet protocols, including HTTP, REST, SOAP, and plain XML SQL Azure (7 labs) Microsoft SQL Azure delivers on the Microsoft Data Platform vision of extending the SQL Server capabilities to the cloud as web-based services, enabling you to store structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data. Windows Azure Services (9 labs) As applications collaborate across organizational boundaries, ensuring secure transactions across disparate security domains is crucial but difficult to implement. Windows Azure Services provides hosted authentication and access control using powerful, secure, standards-based infrastructure. See my Windows Azure Resource Guide for more guidance on how to get started, including links web portals, training kits, samples, and blogs related to Windows Azure.

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• Webcast Q&A: Demystifying External Authorization

  - by B Shashikumar

  Thanks to everyone who joined us on our webcast with SANS Institute on "Demystifying External Authorization". Also a special thanks to Tanya Baccam from SANS for sharing her experiences reviewing Oracle Entitlements Server. If you missed the webcast, you can catch a replay of the webcast here.  Here is a compilation of the slides that were used on today's webcast.  SANS Institute Product Review: Oracle Entitlements Server We have captured the Q&A from the webcast for those who couldn't attend. Q: Is Oracle ADF integrated with Oracle Entitlements Server (OES) ? A:  In Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g and later, Oracle ADF, Oracle WebCenter, Oracle SOA Suite and other middleware products are all built on Oracle Platform Security Services (OPSS). OPSS privodes many security functions like authentication, audit, credential stores, token validaiton, etc. OES is the authorization solution underlying OPSS. And OES 11g unifies different authorization mechanisms including Java2/ABAC/RBAC.  Q: Which portal frameworks support the use of OES policies for portal entitlement decisions? A:  Many portals including Oracle WebCenter 11g  run natively on top of OES. The authorization engine in WebCenter is OES. Besides, OES offers out of the box integration with Microsoft SharePoint. So SharePoint sites, sub sites, web parts, navigation items, document access control can all be secured with OES. Several other portals have also been secured with OES ex: IBM websphere portal Q:  How do we enforce Seperation of Duties (SoD) rules using OES (also how does that integrate with a product like OIA) ? A:  A product like OIM or OIA can be used to set up and govern SoD policies. OES enforces these policies at run time. Role mapping policies in OES can assign roles dynamically to users under certain conditions. So this makes it simple to enforce SoD policies inside an application at runtime. Q:  Our web application has objects like buttons, text fields, drop down lists etc. is there any ”autodiscovery” capability that allows me to use/see those web page objects so you can start building policies over those objects? or how does it work? A:  There ae few different options with OES. When you build an app, and make authorization calls with the app in the test environment, you can put OES in discovery mode and have OES register those authorization calls and decisions. Instead of doing  this after the fact, an application like Oracle iFlex has built-in UI controls where when the app is running, a script can intercept authorization calls and migrate those over to OES. And in Oracle ADF, a lot of resources are protected so pages, task flows and other resources be registered without OES knowing about them. Q: Does current Oracle Fusion application use OES ? The documentation does not seem to indicate it. A:  The current version of Fusion Apps is using a preview version of OES. Soon it will be repalced with OES 11g.  Q: Can OES secure mobile apps? A: Absolutely. Nowadays users are bringing their own devices such as a a smartphone or tablet to work. With the Oracle IDM platform, we can tie identity context into the access management stack. With OES we can make use of context to enforce authorization for users accessing apps from mobile devices. For example: we can take into account different elements like authentication scheme, location, device type etc and tie all that information into an authorization decision.  Q:  Does Oracle Entitlements Server (OES) have an ESAPI implementation? A:  OES is an authorization solution. ESAPI/OWASP is something we include in our platform security solution for all oracle products, not specifically in OES Q:  ESAPI has an authorization API. Can I use that API to access OES? A:  If the API supports an interface / sspi model that can be configured to invoke an external authz system through some mechanism then yes

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• Mind Reading with the Raspberry Pi

  - by speakjava

  Mind Reading With The Raspberry Pi At JavaOne in San Francisco I did a session entitled "Do You Like Coffee with Your Dessert? Java and the Raspberry Pi".  As part of this I showed some demonstrations of things I'd done using Java on the Raspberry Pi.  This is the first part of a series of blog entries that will cover all the different aspects of these demonstrations. A while ago I had bought a MindWave headset from Neurosky.  I was particularly interested to see how this worked as I had had the opportunity to visit Neurosky several years ago when they were still developing this technology.  At that time the 'headset' consisted of a headband (very much in the Bjorn Borg style) with a sensor attached and some wiring that clearly wasn't quite production ready.  The commercial version is very simple and easy to use: there are two sensors, one which rests on the skin of your forehead, the other is a small clip that attaches to your earlobe. Typical EEG sensors used in hospitals require lots of sensors and they all need copious amounts of conductive gel to ensure the electrical signals are picked up.  Part of Neurosky's innovation is the development of this simple dry-sensor technology.  Having put on the sensor and turned it on (it powers off a single AAA size battery) it collects data and transmits it to a USB dongle plugged into a PC, or in my case a Raspberry Pi. From a hacking perspective the USB dongle is ideal because it does not require any special drivers for any complex, low level USB communication.  Instead it appears as a simple serial device, which on the Raspberry Pi is accessed as /dev/ttyUSB0.  Neurosky have published details of the command protocol.  In addition, the MindSet protocol document, including sample code for parsing the data from the headset, can be found here. To get everything working on the Raspberry Pi using Java the first thing was to get serial communications going.  Back in the dim distant past there was the Java Comm API.  Sadly this has grown a bit dusty over the years, but there is a more modern open source project that provides compatible and enhanced functionality, RXTXComm.  This can be installed easily on the Pi using sudo apt-get install librxtx-java.  Next I wrote a library that would send commands to the MindWave headset via the serial port dongle and read back data being sent from the headset.  The design is pretty simple, I used an event based system so that code using the library could register listeners for different types of events from the headset.  You can download a complete NetBeans project for this here.  This includes javadoc API documentation that should make it obvious how to use it (incidentally, this will work on platforms other than Linux.  I've tested it on Windows without any issues, just by changing the device name to something like COM4). To test this I wrote a simple application that would connect to the headset and then print the attention and meditation values as they were received from the headset.  Again, you can download the NetBeans project for that here. Oracle recently released a developer preview of JavaFX on ARM which will run on the Raspberry Pi.  I thought it would be cool to write a graphical front end for the MindWave data that could take advantage of the built in charts of JavaFX.  Yet another NetBeans project is available here.  Screen shots of the app, which uses a very nice dial from the JFxtras project, are shown below. I probably should add labels for the EEG data so the user knows which is the low alpha, mid gamma waves and so on.  Given that I'm not a neurologist I suspect that it won't increase my understanding of what the (rather random looking) traces mean. In the next blog I'll explain how I connected a LEGO motor to the GPIO pins on the Raspberry Pi and then used my mind to control the motor!

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• Guest blog: A Closer Look at Oracle Price Analytics by Will Hutchinson

  - by Takin Babaei

  Overview:  Price Analytics helps companies understand how much of each sale goes into discounts, special terms, and allowances. This visibility lets sales management see the panoply of discounts and start seeing whether each discount drives desired behavior. In Price Analytics monitors parts of the quote-to-order process, tracking quotes, including the whole price waterfall and seeing which result in orders. The “price waterfall” shows all discounts between list price and “pocket price”. Pocket price is the final price the vendor puts in its pocket after all discounts are taken. The value proposition: Based on benchmarks from leading consultancies and companies I have talked to, where they have studied the effects of discounting and started enforcing what many of them call “discount discipline”, they find they can increase the pocket price by 0.8-3%. Yes, in today’s zero or negative inflation environment, one can, through better monitoring of discounts, collect what amounts to a price rise of a few percent. We are not talking about selling more product, merely about collecting a higher pocket price without decreasing quantities sold. Higher prices fall straight to the bottom line. The best reference I have ever found for understanding this phenomenon comes from an article from the September-October 1992 issue of Harvard Business Review called “Managing Price, Gaining Profit” by Michael Marn and Robert Rosiello of McKinsey & Co. They describe the outsized impact price management has on bottom line performance compared to selling more product or cutting variable or fixed costs. Price Analytics manages what Marn and Rosiello call “transaction pricing”, namely the prices of a given transaction, as opposed to what is on the price list or pricing according to the value received. They make the point that if the vendor does not manage the price waterfall, customers will, to the vendor’s detriment. It also discusses its findings that in companies it studied, there was no correlation between discount levels and any indication of customer value. I urge you to read this article. What Price Analytics does: Price analytics looks at quotes the company issues and tracks them until either the quote is accepted or rejected or it expires. There are prebuilt adapters for EBS and Siebel as well as a universal adapter. The target audience includes pricing analysts, product managers, sales managers, and VP’s of sales, marketing, finance, and sales operations. It tracks how effective discounts have been, the win rate on quotes, how well pricing policies have been followed, customer and product profitability, and customer performance against commitments. It has the concept of price waterfall, the deal lifecycle, and price segmentation built into the product. These help product and sales managers understand their pricing and its effectiveness on driving revenue and profit. They also help understand how terms are adhered to during negotiations. They also help people understand what segments exist and how well they are adhered to. To help your company increase its profits and revenues, I urge you to look at this product. If you have questions, please contact me. Will HutchinsonMaster Principal Sales Consultant – Analytics, Oracle Corp. Will Hutchinson has worked in the business intelligence and data warehousing for over 25 years. He started building data warehouses in 1986 at Metaphor, advancing to running Metaphor UK’s sales consulting area. He also worked in A.T. Kearney’s business intelligence practice for over four years, running projects and providing training to new consultants in the IT practice. He also worked at Informatica and then Siebel, before coming to Oracle with the Siebel acquisition. He became Master Principal Sales Consultant in 2009. He has worked on developing ROI and TCO models for business intelligence for over ten years. Mr. Hutchinson has a BS degree in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University and an MBA in Finance from the University of Chicago.

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