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• JavaOne Afterglow by Simon Ritter

  - by JuergenKress

  Last week was the eighteenth JavaOne conference and I thought it would be a good idea to write up my thoughts about how things went. Firstly thanks to Yoshio Terada for the photos, I didn't bother bringing a camera with me so it's good to have some pictures to add to the words. Things kicked off full-throttle on Sunday.  We had the Java Champions and JUG leaders breakfast, which was a great way to meet up with a lot of familiar faces and start talking all things Java.  At midday the show really started with the Strategy and Technical Keynotes.  This was always going to be tougher job than some years because there was no big shiny ball to reveal to the audience.  With the Java EE 7 spec being finalised a few months ago and Java SE 8, Java ME 8 and JDK8 not due until the start of next year there was not going to be any big announcement.  I thought both keynotes worked really well each focusing on the things most important to Java developers: Strategy One of the things that is becoming more and more prominent in many companies marketing is the Internet of Things (IoT).  We've moved from the conventional desktop/laptop environment to much more mobile connected computing with smart phones and tablets.  The next wave of the internet is not just billions of people connected, but 10s or 100s of billions of devices connected to the network, all generating data and providing much more precise control of almost any process you can imagine.  This ties into the ideas of Big Data and Cloud Computing, but implementation is certainly not without its challenges.  As Peter Utzschneider explained it's about three Vs: Volume, Velocity and Value.  All these devices will create huge volumes of data at very high speed; to avoid being overloaded these devices will need some sort of processing capabilities that can filter the useful data from the redundant.  The raw data then needs to be turned into useful information that has value.  To make this happen will require applications on devices, at gateways and on the back-end servers, all very tightly integrated.  This is where Java plays a pivotal role, write once, run everywhere becomes essential, having nine million developers fluent in the language makes it the defacto lingua franca of IoT.  There will be lots more information on how this will become a reality, so watch this space. Technical How do we make the IoT a reality, technically?  Using the game of chess Mark Reinhold, with the help of people like John Ceccarelli, Jasper Potts and Richard Bair, showed what you could do.  Using Java EE on the back end, Java SE and JavaFX on the desktop and Java ME Embedded and JavaFX on devices they showed a complete end-to-end demo. This was really impressive, using 3D features from JavaFX 8 (that's included with JDK8) to make a 3D animated Duke chess board.  Jasper also unveiled the "DukePad" a home made tablet using a Raspberry Pi, touch screen and accelerometer. Although the Raspberry Pi doesn't have earth shattering CPU performance (about the same level as a mid 1990s Pentium), it does have really quite good GPU performance so the GUI works really well.  The plans are all open sourced and available here.  One small, but very significant announcement was that Java SE will now be included with the NOOB and Raspbian Linux distros provided by the Raspberry Pi foundation (these can be found here).  No more hassle having to download and install the JDK after you've flashed your SD card OS image.  The finale was the Raspberry Pi powered chess playing robot.  Really very, very cool.  I talked to Jasper about this and he told me each of the chess pieces had been 3D printed and then he had to use acetone to give them a glossy finish (not sure what his wife thought of him spending hours in the kitchen in a gas mask!)  The way the robot arm worked was very impressive as it did not have any positioning data (like a potentiometer connected to each motor), but relied purely on carefully calibrated timings to get the arm to the right place.  Having done things like this myself in the past I know how easy it is to find a small error gets magnified into very big mistakes. Here's some pictures from the keynote: The "Dukepad" architecture Nice clear perspex case so you can see the innards. The very nice 3D chess set.  Maya's obviously a great tool. Read the full article here. WebLogic Partner Community For regular information become a member in the WebLogic Partner Community please visit: http://www.oracle.com/partners/goto/wls-emea ( OPN account required). If you need support with your account please contact the Oracle Partner Business Center. Blog Twitter LinkedIn Mix Forum Wiki Technorati Tags: Simon Ritter,Java One,OOW,Oracle OpenWorld,WebLogic,WebLogic Community,Oracle,OPN,Jürgen Kress

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• API Message Localization

  - by Jesse Taber

  In my post, “Keep Localizable Strings Close To Your Users” I talked about the internationalization and localization difficulties that can arise when you sprinkle static localizable strings throughout the different logical layers of an application. The main point of that post is that you should have your localizable strings reside as close to the user-facing modules of your application as possible. For example, if you’re developing an ASP .NET web forms application all of the localizable strings should be kept in .resx files that are associated with the .aspx views of the application. In this post I want to talk about how this same concept can be applied when designing and developing APIs. An API Facilitates Machine-to-Machine Interaction You can typically think about a web, desktop, or mobile application as a collection “views” or “screens” through which users interact with the underlying logic and data. The application can be designed based on the assumption that there will be a human being on the other end of the screen working the controls. You are designing a machine-to-person interaction and the application should be built in a way that facilitates the user’s clear understanding of what is going on. Dates should be be formatted in a way that the user will be familiar with, messages should be presented in the user’s preferred language, etc. When building an API, however, there are no screens and you can’t make assumptions about who or what is on the other end of each call. An API is, by definition, a machine-to-machine interaction. A machine-to-machine interaction should be built in a way that facilitates a clear and unambiguous understanding of what is going on. Dates and numbers should be formatted in predictable and standard ways (e.g. ISO 8601 dates) and messages should be presented in machine-parseable formats. For example, consider an API for a time tracking system that exposes a resource for creating a new time entry. The JSON for creating a new time entry for a user might look like: 1: { 2: "userId": 4532, 3: "startDateUtc": "2012-10-22T14:01:54.98432Z", 4: "endDateUtc": "2012-10-22T11:34:45.29321Z" 5: }   Note how the parameters for start and end date are both expressed as ISO 8601 compliant dates in UTC. Using a date format like this in our API leaves little room for ambiguity. It’s also important to note that using ISO 8601 dates is a much, much saner thing than the \/Date(<milliseconds since epoch>)\/ nonsense that is sometimes used in JSON serialization. Probably the most important thing to note about the JSON snippet above is the fact that the end date comes before the start date! The API should recognize that and disallow the time entry from being created, returning an error to the caller. You might inclined to send a response that looks something like this: 1: { 2: "errors": [ {"message" : "The end date must come after the start date"}] 3: }   While this may seem like an appropriate thing to do there are a few problems with this approach: What if there is a user somewhere on the other end of the API call that doesn’t speak English?  What if the message provided here won’t fit properly within the UI of the application that made the API call? What if the verbiage of the message isn’t consistent with the rest of the application that made the API call? What if there is no user directly on the other end of the API call (e.g. this is a batch job uploading time entries once per night unattended)? The API knows nothing about the context from which the call was made. There are steps you could take to given the API some context (e.g.allow the caller to send along a language code indicating the language that the end user speaks), but that will only get you so far. As the designer of the API you could make some assumptions about how the API will be called, but if we start making assumptions we could very easily make the wrong assumptions. In this situation it’s best to make no assumptions and simply design the API in such a way that the caller has the responsibility to convey error messages in a manner that is appropriate for the context in which the error was raised. You would work around some of these problems by allowing callers to add metadata to each request describing the context from which the call is being made (e.g. accepting a ‘locale’ parameter denoting the desired language), but that will add needless clutter and complexity. It’s better to keep the API simple and push those context-specific concerns down to the caller whenever possible. For our very simple time entry example, this can be done by simply changing our error message response to look like this: 1: { 2: "errors": [ {"code": 100}] 3: }   By changing our error error from exposing a string to a numeric code that is easily parseable by another application, we’ve placed all of the responsibility for conveying the actual meaning of the error message on the caller. It’s best to have the caller be responsible for conveying this meaning because the caller understands the context much better than the API does. Now the caller can see error code 100, know that it means that the end date submitted falls before the start date and take appropriate action. Now all of the problems listed out above are non-issues because the caller can simply translate the error code of ‘100’ into the proper action and message for the current context. The numeric code representation of the error is a much better way to facilitate the machine-to-machine interaction that the API is meant to facilitate. An API Does Have Human Users While APIs should be built for machine-to-machine interaction, people still need to wire these interactions together. As a programmer building a client application that will consume the time entry API I would find it frustrating to have to go dig through the API documentation every time I encounter a new error code (assuming the documentation exists and is accurate). The numeric error code approach hurts the discoverability of the API and makes it painful to integrate with. We can help ease this pain by merging our two approaches: 1: { 2: "errors": [ {"code": 100, "message" : "The end date must come after the start date"}] 3: }   Now we have an easily parseable numeric error code for the machine-to-machine interaction that the API is meant to facilitate and a human-readable message for programmers working with the API. The human-readable message here is not intended to be viewed by end-users of the API and as such is not really a “localizable string” in my opinion. We could opt to expose a locale parameter for all API methods and store translations for all error messages, but that’s a lot of extra effort and overhead that doesn’t add a lot real value to the API. I might be a bit of an “ugly American”, but I think it’s probably fine to have the API return English messages when the target for those messages is a programmer. When resources are limited (which they always are), I’d argue that you’re better off hard-coding these messages in English and putting more effort into building more useful features, improving security, tweaking performance, etc.

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• When OneTug Just Isn&rsquo;t Enough&hellip;

  - by onefloridacoder

  I stole that from the back of a T-shirt I saw at the Orlando Code Camp 2010.  This was my first code camp and my first time volunteering for an event like this as well.  It was an awesome day.  I cannot begin to count the “aaahh”, “I did-not-know I could do that”, in the crowds and for myself.  I think it was a great day of learning for everyone at all levels.  All of the presenters were different and provided great insights into the topics they were presenting.  Here’s a list of the ones that I attended. KodeFuGuru, “Pirates vs. Ninjas” He touched on many good topics to relax some of the ways we think when we are writing out code, and still looks good, readable, etc.  As he pointed out in all of his examples, we might not always realize everything that’s going on under the covers.  He exposed a bug in his own code, and verbalized the mental gymnastics he went through when he knew there was something wrong with one of his IEnumerable implementations.  For me, it was great to hear that someone else labors over these gut reactions to code quickly snapped together, to the point that we rush to the refactor stage to fix what’s bothering us – and learn.  He has some content on extension methods that was very interesting.  My “that is so cool” moment was when he swapped out AddEntity method on an entity class and used a With extension method instead.  Some of the LINQ scales fell off my eyes at that moment, and I realized my own code could be a lot more powerful (and readable) if incorporate a few of these examples at the appropriate times.  And he cautioned as well… “don’t go crazy with this stuff”, there’s a place and time for everything.  One of his examples demo’d toward the end of the talk is on his sight where he’s chaining methods together, cool stuff. Quotes I liked: “Extension Methods - Extension methods to put features back on the model type, without impacting the type.” “Favor Declarative Code” – Check out the ? and ?? operators if you’re not already using them. “Favor Fluent Code” “Avoid Pirate Ninja Zombies!  If you see one run!” I’m definitely going to be looking at “Extract Projection” when I get into VS2010. BDD 101 – Sean Chambers http://github.com/schambers This guy had a whole host of gremlins against him, final score Sean 5, Gremlins 1.  He ran the code samples from his github repo  in the code github code viewer since the PC they school gave him to use didn’t have VS installed. He did a great job of converting the grammar between BDD and TDD, and how this style of development can be used in integration tests as well as the different types of gated builds on a CI box – he didn’t go into a discussion around CI, but we could infer that it could work. Like when we use WSSF, it does cause a class explosion to happen however the amount of code per class it limit to just covering the concern at hand – no more, no less.  As in “When I as a <Role>, expect {something} to happen, because {}”  This keeps us (the developer) from gold plating our solutions and creating less waste.  He basically keeps the code that prove out the requirement to two lines of code.  Nice. He uses SpecUnit to merge this grammar into his .NET projects and gave an overview on how this ties into writing his own BDD tests.  Some folks were familiar with Given / When / Then as story acceptance criteria and here’s how he mapped it: “Given <Context>  When <Something Happens> Then <I expect...>”  There are a few base classes and overrides in the SpecUnit framework that help with setting up the context for each test which looked very handy. Successfully Running Your Own Coding Business The speaker ran through a list of items that sounded like common sense stuff LLC, banking, separating expenses, etc.  Then moved into role playing with business owners and an ISV.  That was pretty good stuff, it pays to be a good listener all of the time even if your client is sitting on the other side of the phone tearing you head off for you – but that’s all it is, and get used to it its par for the course.  Oh, yeah always answer the phone was one simple thing that you can do to move  your business forward.  But like Cory Foy tweeted this week, “If you owe me a lot of money, don’t have a message that says your away for five weeks skiing in Colorado.”  Lots of food for thought that’s on my list of “todo’s and to-don’ts”. Speaker Idol Next, I had the pleasure of helping Russ Fustino tape this part of Code Camp as my primary volunteer opportunity that day.  You remember Russ, “know the code” from the awesome Russ’ Tool Shed series.  He did a great job orchestrating and capturing the Speaker Idol finals.   So I didn’t actually miss any sessions, but was able to see three back to back in one setting.  The idol finalists gave a 10 minute talk and very deep subjects, but different styles of talks.  No one walked away empty handed for jobs very well done.  Russ has details on his site.  The pictures and  video captured is supposed to be published on Channel 9 at a later date.  It was also a valuable experience to see what makes technical speakers effective in their talks.  I picked up quite a few speaking tips from what I heard from the judges and contestants. Design For Developers – Diane Leeper If you are a great developer, you’re probably a lousy designer.  Diane didn’t come to poke holes in what we think we can do with UI layout and design, but she provided some tools we can use to figure out metaphors for visualizing data.  If you need help with that check out Silverlight Pivot – that’s what she was getting at.  I was first introduced to her at one of John Papa’s talks last year at a Lakeland User Group meeting and she’s very passionate about design.  She was able to discuss different elements of Pivot, while to a developer is just looked cool. I believe she was providing the deck from her talk to folks after her talk, so send her an email if you’re interested.   She says she can talk about design for hours and hours – we all left that session believing her.   Rinse and Repeat Orlando Code Camp 2010 was awesome, and would totally do it again.  There were lots of folks from my shop there, and some that have left my shop to go elsewhere.  So it was a reunion of sorts and a great celebration for the simple fact that its great to be a developer and there’s a community that supports and recognizes it as well.  The sponsors were generous and the organizers were very tired, namely Esteban Garcia and Will Strohl who were responsible for making a lot of this magic happen.  And if you don’t believe me, check out the chatter on Twitter.

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• Updating a SharePoint master page via a solution (WSP)

  - by Kelly Jones

  In my last blog post, I wrote how to deploy a SharePoint theme using Features and a solution package.  As promised in that post, here is how to update an already deployed master page. There are several ways to update a master page in SharePoint.  You could upload a new version to the master page gallery, or you could upload a new master page to the gallery, and then set the site to use this new page.  Manually uploading your master page to the master page gallery might be the best option, depending on your environment.  For my client, I did these steps in code, which is what they preferred. (Image courtesy of: http://www.joiningdots.net/blog/2007/08/sharepoint-and-quick-launch.html ) Before you decide which method you need to use, take a look at your existing pages.  Are they using the SharePoint dynamic token or the static token for the master page reference?  The wha, huh? SO, there are four ways to tell an .aspx page hosted in SharePoint which master page it should use: “~masterurl/default.master” – tells the page to use the default.master property of the site “~masterurl/custom.master” – tells the page to use the custom.master property of the site “~site/default.master” – tells the page to use the file named “default.master” in the site’s master page gallery “~sitecollection/default.master” – tells the page to use the file named “default.master” in the site collection’s master page gallery For more information about these tokens, take a look at this article on MSDN. Once you determine which token your existing pages are pointed to, then you know which file you need to update.  So, if the ~masterurl tokens are used, then you upload a new master page, either replacing the existing one or adding another one to the gallery.  If you’ve uploaded a new file with a new name, you’ll just need to set it as the master page either through the UI (MOSS only) or through code (MOSS or WSS Feature receiver code – or using SharePoint Designer). If the ~site or ~sitecollection tokens were used, then you’re limited to either replacing the existing master page, or editing all of your existing pages to point to another master page.  In most cases, it probably makes sense to just replace the master page. For my project, I’m working with WSS and the existing pages are set to the ~sitecollection token.  Based on this, I decided to just upload a new version of the existing master page (and not modify the dozens of existing pages). Also, since my client prefers Features and solutions, I created a master page Feature and a corresponding Feature Receiver.  For information on creating the elements and feature files, check out this post: http://sharepointmagazine.net/technical/development/deploying-the-master-page . This works fine, unless you are overwriting an existing master page, which was my case.  You’ll run into errors because the master page file needs to be checked out, replaced, and then checked in.  I wrote code in my Feature Activated event handler to accomplish these steps. Here are the steps necessary in code: Get the file name from the elements file of the Feature Check out the file from the master page gallery Upload the file to the master page gallery Check in the file to the master page gallery Here’s the code in my Feature Receiver: 1: public override void FeatureActivated(SPFeatureReceiverProperties properties) 2: { 3: try 4: { 5:   6: SPElementDefinitionCollection col = properties.Definition.GetElementDefinitions(System.Globalization.CultureInfo.CurrentCulture); 7:   8: using (SPWeb curweb = GetCurWeb(properties)) 9: { 10: foreach (SPElementDefinition ele in col) 11: { 12: if (string.Compare(ele.ElementType, "Module", true) == 0) 13: { 14: // <Module Name="DefaultMasterPage" List="116" Url="_catalogs/masterpage" RootWebOnly="FALSE"> 15: // <File Url="myMaster.master" Type="GhostableInLibrary" IgnoreIfAlreadyExists="TRUE" 16: // Path="MasterPages/myMaster.master" /> 17: // </Module> 18: string Url = ele.XmlDefinition.Attributes["Url"].Value; 19: foreach (System.Xml.XmlNode file in ele.XmlDefinition.ChildNodes) 20: { 21: string Url2 = file.Attributes["Url"].Value; 22: string Path = file.Attributes["Path"].Value; 23: string fileType = file.Attributes["Type"].Value; 24:   25: if (string.Compare(fileType, "GhostableInLibrary", true) == 0) 26: { 27: //Check out file in document library 28: SPFile existingFile = curweb.GetFile(Url + "/" + Url2); 29:   30: if (existingFile != null) 31: { 32: if (existingFile.CheckOutStatus != SPFile.SPCheckOutStatus.None) 33: { 34: throw new Exception("The master page file is already checked out. Please make sure the master page file is checked in, before activating this feature."); 35: } 36: else 37: { 38: existingFile.CheckOut(); 39: existingFile.Update(); 40: } 41: } 42:   43: //Upload file to document library 44: string filePath = System.IO.Path.Combine(properties.Definition.RootDirectory, Path); 45: string fileName = System.IO.Path.GetFileName(filePath); 46: char slash = Convert.ToChar("/"); 47: string[] folders = existingFile.ParentFolder.Url.Split(slash); 48:   49: if (folders.Length > 2) 50: { 51: Logger.logMessage("More than two folders were detected in the library path for the master page. Only two are supported.", 52: Logger.LogEntryType.Information); //custom logging component 53: } 54:   55: SPFolder myLibrary = curweb.Folders[folders[0]].SubFolders[folders[1]]; 56:   57: FileStream fs = File.OpenRead(filePath); 58:   59: SPFile newFile = myLibrary.Files.Add(fileName, fs, true); 60:   61: myLibrary.Update(); 62: newFile.CheckIn("Updated by Feature", SPCheckinType.MajorCheckIn); 63: newFile.Update(); 64: } 65: } 66: } 67: } 68: } 69: } 70: catch (Exception ex) 71: { 72: string msg = "Error occurred during feature activation"; 73: Logger.logException(ex, msg, ""); 74: } 75:   76: } 77:   78: /// <summary> 79: /// Using a Feature's properties, get a reference to the Current Web 80: /// </summary> 81: /// <param name="properties"></param> 82: public SPWeb GetCurWeb(SPFeatureReceiverProperties properties) 83: { 84: SPWeb curweb; 85:   86: //Check if the parent of the web is a site or a web 87: if (properties != null && properties.Feature.Parent.GetType().ToString() == "Microsoft.SharePoint.SPWeb") 88: { 89:   90: //Get web from parent 91: curweb = (SPWeb)properties.Feature.Parent; 92: 93: } 94: else 95: { 96: //Get web from Site 97: using (SPSite cursite = (SPSite)properties.Feature.Parent) 98: { 99: curweb = (SPWeb)cursite.OpenWeb(); 100: } 101: } 102:   103: return curweb; 104: } This did the trick.  It allowed me to update my existing master page, through an easily repeatable process (which is great when you are working with more than one environment and what to do things like TEST it!).  I did run into what I would classify as a strange issue with one of my subsites, but that’s the topic for another blog post.

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• CodePlex Daily Summary for Sunday, June 06, 2010

  CodePlex Daily Summary for Sunday, June 06, 2010New ProjectsActive Worlds Dot Net Wrapper (Based on AwSdk): Active Worlds Dot Net Wrapper (Based on AwSdk)Combina: Smart calculator for large combinatorial calculations.Concurrent Cache: ConcurrentCache is a smart output cache library extending OutputCacheProvider. It consists of in memory, cache files and compressed files modes and...Decay: Personal use. For learningFazTalk: FazTalk is a suite of tools and products that are designed to improve collaboration and workflow interactions. FazTalk takes an innovative approach...grouped: A peer to peer text editor, written in C# [update] I wrote this little thing a while back and even forgot about it, I stopped coding for more tha...HitchARide MVC 2 Sample: An MVC 2 sample written as part of the Microsoft 2010 London Web Camp based on the wireframes at http://schematics.earthware.co.uk/hitcharide. Not...Inspiration.Web: Description: A simple (but entertaining) ASP.NET MVC (C#) project to suggest random code names for projects. Intended audience: People who ne...NetFileBrowser - TinyMCE: tinyMCE file plugin with asp.netOil Slick Live Feeds: All live feeds from BP's Remotely Operated VehiclesParticle Lexer: Parser and Tokenizer libraryPdf Form Tool: Pdf Form Tool demonstrates how the iTextSharp library could be used to fill PDF forms. The input data is provided as a csv file. The application ...Planning Poker Windows Mobile 7: This project is a Planning Poker application for Windows Mobile 7 (and later?). RandomRat: RandomRat is a program for generating random sets that meet specific criteriaScience.NET: A scientific library written in managed code. It supports advanced mathematics (algebra system, sequences, statistics, combinatorics...), data stru...Spider Compiler: Spider Compiler parses the input of a spider programming source file and compiles it (with help of csc.exe; the C#-Compiler) to an exe-file. This p...Sununpro: sunun's project for study by team foundation server.TFS Buddy: An application that manipulates your I-Buddy whenever something happens in your Team Foundation ServerValveSoft: ValveSysWiiMote Physics: WiiMote Physics is an application that allows you to retrieve data from your WiiMote or Balance Board and display it in real-time. It has a number...WinGet: WinGet is a download manager for Windows. You can drag links onto the WinGet Widget and it will download a file on the selected folder. It is dev...XProject.NET: A project management and team collaboration platformNew Releases.NET DiscUtils: Version 0.9 Preview: This release is still under development. New features available in this release: Support for accessing short file names stored in WIM files Incr...Active Worlds Dot Net Wrapper (Based on AwSdk): Active World Dot Net Wrapper (0.0.1.85): Based on AwSdk 85AwSdk UnOfficial Wrapper Howto Use: C# using AwWrapper; VB.Net Import AwWrapperAjaxControlToolkit additional extenders: ZhecheAjaxControls for .NET3.5: Used AJAX Control Toolkit Release Notes - April 12th 2010 Release Version 40412. Fixed deadlock in long operation canceling Some other fixesAnyCAD: AnyCAD.v1.2.ENU.Install: http://www.anycad.net Parametric Modeling *3D: Sphere, Box, Cylinder, Cone •2D: Line, Rectangle, Arc, Arch, Circle, Spline, Polygon •Feature: Extr...Community Forums NNTP bridge: Community Forums NNTP Bridge V29: Release of the Community Forums NNTP Bridge to access the social and anwsers MS forums with a single, open source NNTP bridge. This release has ad...Concurrent Cache: 1.0: This is the first release for the ConcurrentCache library.Configuration Section Designer: 2.0.0: This is the first Beta Release for VS 2010 supportDoxygen Browser Addin for VS: Doxygen Browser Addin - v0.1.4 Beta: Support for Visual Studio 2010 improved the logging of errors (Event Logs) Fixed some issues/bugs Hot key for navigation "Control + F1, Contr...Folder Bookmarks: Folder Bookmarks 1.6.2: The latest version of Folder Bookmarks (1.6.2), with new UI changes. Once you have extracted the file, do not delete any files/folders. They are n...HERB.IQ: Beta 0.1 Source code release 5: Beta 0.1 Source code release 5Inspiration.Web: Initial release (deployment package): Initial release (deployment package)NetFileBrowser - TinyMCE: Demo Project: Demo ProjectNetFileBrowser - TinyMCE: NetFileBrowser: NetImageBrowserNLog - Advanced .NET Logging: Nightly Build 2010.06.05.001: Changes since the last build:2010-06-04 23:29:42 Jarek Kowalski Massive update to documentation generator. 2010-05-28 15:41:42 Jarek Kowalski upda...Oil Slick Live Feeds: Oil Slick Live Feeds 0.1: A the first release, with feeds from the MS Skandi, Boa Deep C, Enterprise and Q4000. They are live streams from the ROV's monitoring the damaged...Pcap.Net: Pcap.Net 0.7.0 (46671): Pcap.Net - June 2010 Release Pcap.Net is a .NET wrapper for WinPcap written in C++/CLI and C#. It Features almost all WinPcap features and includes...sqwarea: Sqwarea 0.0.289.0 (alpha): API supportTFS Buddy: TFS Buddy First release (Beta 1): This is the first release of the TFS Buddy.Visual Studio DSite: Looping Animation (Visual C++ 2008): A solider firing a bullet that loops and displays an explosion everytime it hits the edge of the form.WiiMote Physics: WiiMote Physics v4.0: v4.0.0.1 Recovered from existing compiled assembly after hard drive failure Now requires .NET 4.0 (it seems to make it run faster) Added new c...WinGet: Alpha 1: First Alpha of WinGet. It includes all the planned features but it contains many bugs. Packaged using 7-Zip and ClickOnce.Most Popular ProjectsWBFS ManagerRawrAJAX Control ToolkitMicrosoft SQL Server Product Samples: DatabaseSilverlight ToolkitWindows Presentation Foundation (WPF)PHPExcelpatterns & practices – Enterprise LibraryMicrosoft SQL Server Community & SamplesASP.NETMost Active ProjectsCommunity Forums NNTP bridgeRawrpatterns & practices – Enterprise LibraryGMap.NET - Great Maps for Windows Forms & PresentationN2 CMSIonics Isapi Rewrite FilterStyleCopsmark C# LibraryFarseer Physics Enginepatterns & practices: Composite WPF and Silverlight

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• racket scheme get-argb-pixels

  - by Giles Roberts

  I have a 32 by 32 pixel png file. I'm trying to read the values within it using get-argb-pixels. My code is as follows: #lang racket/gui (require racket/gui/base) (define floor (make-object bitmap% "C:\\floortile.png")) (define pixels (make-bytes (* 32 32 4))) (send floor get-argb-pixels 0 0 32 32 pixels) After executing the code I was expecting a series of 8 bit values to be contained within pixels. Examining pixels gives me the following output: > pixels #"\377\2148\30\377\214<\30\377\234E\30\377\245I\30\377\245I\30\377\234E\30\377\234A\30\377\224A\30\377\224A\30\377\234A\30\377\245E\30\377\255M\30\377\224A\30\377\234E\30\377\245I\30\377\224A\30\377\234E\30\377\234E\30\377\255I\30\377\245I\30\377\245E\30\377\234A\30\377\234E\30\377\234A\30\377\245I\30\377\265Q\30\377\306]\30\377\306Y\30\377\275U\30\377\265Q\30\377\306a!\377\306]!\377\214<\30\377\224A\30\377\224A\30\377\245I\30\377\255M\30\377\255M\30\377\245I\30\377\234E\30\377\234E\30\377\245I\30\377\245I\30\377\255M\30\377\234A\30\377\245E\30\377\265M\30\377\234A\30\377\245I\30\377\245E\30\377\245E\30\377\255M\30\377\245I\30\377\245E\30\377\234A\30\377\234E\30\377\255I\30\377\275U\30\377\306]\30\377\326e!\377\336e!\377\265Q\30\377\326e!\377\326a!\377{8\30\377\224E\30\377\224A\30\377\245I\30\377\245I\30\377\255M\30\377\255M\30\377\255I\30\377\245I\30\377\245I\30\377\245I\30\377\265Q\30\377\214<\30\377\245I\30\377\255M\30\377\265M\30\377\255M\30\377\265M\30\377\265M\30\377\245I\30\377\234E\30\377\234E\30\377\234E\30\377\245E\30\377\275Q\30\377\306]!\377\316a!\377\336i!\377\357q!\377\275Y\30\377\316e!\377\347i!\377k0\20\377\2048\30\377\224A\30\377\265U!\377\234E\30\377\234E\30\377\245M\30\377\255M\30\377\255M\30\377\255I\30\377\255M\30\377\265M\30\377\2048\20\377\245I\30\377\245I\30\377\306Y!\377\265Q\30\377\255M\30\377\265Q\30\377\265M\30\377\265M\30\377\255I\30\377\265Q\30\377\265M\30\377\275U\30\377\316a!\377\326i!\377\347m!\377\367\216)\377\347y)\377\336m)\377\326]!\377s0\20\377{8\30\377{4\20\377\2048\30\377s4\20\377\2048\30\377{4\20\377\214<\30\377\224A\30\377\234A\30\377\224A\30\377\224A\30\377\214<\30\377\2148\30\377\224<\30\377\234A\30\377\214<\30\377\234E\30\377\245I\30\377\265Q\30\377\255M\30\377\265U\30\377\306Y\30\377\265Q\30\377\275U\30\377\326a!\377\336i!\377\347u!\377\357\206)\377\326q)\377\326i)\377\347i!\377s0\20\377{4\20\377{4\30\377\214<\30\377s4\20\377\2048\30\377s4\20\377\224A\30\377\224A\30\377\224<\30\377\234A\30\377\245E\30\377\234E\30\377\234I\30\377\234E\30\377\245I\30\377\245I\30\377\245I\30\377\265Q\30\377\306]\30\377\255M\30\377\255M\30\377\255M\30\377\255M\30\377\275U\30\377\255M\30\377\275U\30\377\316a!\377\306]!\377\326i!\377\367\206)\377\377})\377s4\30\377k,\20\377k,\20\377s4\30\377{4\20\377\2048\30\377c(\20\377\2048\20\377\234A\30\377\245E\30\377\245E\30\377\255I\30\377\245I\30\377\245I\30\377\245I\30\377\265Q\30\377\275U!\377\255M\30\377\255M\30\377\255M\30\377\255M\30\377\275U\30\377\306]!\377\275U\30\377\255M\30\377\306Y!\377\306]!\377\316e!\377\316a!\377\326i!\377\347y)\377\367y)\377c(\20\377c,\20\377k,\20\377s0\20\377s4\20\377\2048\30\377\214<\30\377{4\20\377\214<\30\377\234E\30\377\234A\30\377\245I\30\377\255M\30\377\255M\30\377\255M\30\377\265Q\30\377\265M\30\377\265Q\30\377\265Q\30\377\255M\30\377\265U\30\377\255M\30\377\265Q\30\377\265U\30\377\265U\30\377\265Q\30\377\306Y\30\377\316a!\377\306a!\377\326i!\377\347y)\377\367\202)\377c,\20\377k,\20\377s0\20\377s0\20\377{8\30\377\214<\30\377s,\20\377s0\20\377\214<\30\377\234A\30\377\245E\30\377\255M\30\377\255M\30\377\245I\30\377\255M\30\377\275U\30\377\265U\30\377\265Q\30\377\265Q\30\377\275Y\30\377\255M\30\377\255I\30\377\275U\30\377\275Y!\377\275Y\30\377\265U\30\377\306Y!\377\326e!\377\336m!\377\336q!\377\347})\377\357\202)\377s0\20\377s4\30\377s4\30\377\2048\30\377\234E\30\377\2048\20\377\2148\30\377c(\20\377\2048\30\377\214<\30\377\234E\30\377\265Q\30\377\265Q\30\377\255M\30\377\265M\30\377\316a!\377\275U\30\377\275Y\30\377\265Q\30\377\265Q\30\377\265Q\30\377\265Q\30\377\255M\30\377\275Y\30\377\275Y!\377\275Y\30\377\275U\30\377\316a!\377\347q)\377\367\202)\377\357})\377\347y)\377k0\20\377\2048\30\377{4\30\377\2048\30\377\214A\30\377\2048\30\377\2044\30\377s4\20\377k,\20\377\2048\30\377\224A\30\377\245I\30\377\234A\30\377\234E\30\377\255Q\30\377\275U\30\377\306Y!\377\265Q\30\377\255Q\30\377\265U\30\377\265U\30\377\265Q\30\377\265Q\30\377\316e!\377\316a!\377\306]!\377\275Y!\377\306]!\377\336i!\377\357})\377\367\202)\377\336u)\377k0\20\377s0\30\377\2048\30\377\204<\30\377\204<\30\377\2048\30\377\2048\30\377\214<\30\377s4\20\377\2048\30\377\214A\30\377\224A\30\377\224E\30\377\234E\30\377\265Q\30\377\275U\30\377\306Y\30\377\255M\30\377\265Q\30\377\265Q\30\377\316]!\377\326e!\377\316]!\377\336m)\377\336i)\377\316e!\377\306a!\377\326e!\377\367y)\377\367})\377\367\2061\377\367\2061\377s4\30\377{8\30\377{8\30\377\214<\30\377\214<\30\377\204<\30\377{4\20\377\214<\30\377\214<\30\377\214<\30\377\234E\30\377\234E\30\377\224E\30\377\234E\30\377\245M\30\377\275U\30\377\275U!\377\275U\30\377\306]!\377\306]!\377\316a!\377\326i)\377\347u)\377\326e!\377\347q)\377\336q)\377\326i)\377\326i)\377\347q)\377\367\202)\377\367})\377\367\2061\377{8\30\377s4\30\377{8\30\377\214<\30\377\224A\30\377\234E\30\377\214<\30\377\214<\30\377\224A\30\377\224<\30\377\234E\30\377\255M\30\377\245I\30\377\245I\30\377\255M\30\377\265U\30\377\306]!\377\306]!\377\316a!\377\316e!\377\326e!\377\347m)\377\316e!\377\306]!\377\347u)\377\347u)\377\336m)\377\316e)\377\336q)\377\357y)\377\367\202)\377\367\2021\377{4\30\377s4\30\377\2048\30\377\214A\30\377\224A\30\377\224A\30\377\224E\30\377\214<\30\377\214<\30\377\245I\30\377\234A\30\377\255M\30\377\255M\30\377\245I\30\377\255M\30\377\255Q\30\377\306]!\377\306]!\377\316a!\377\316a!\377\316a!\377\347u)\377\326e!\377\275Y!\377\265Y!\377\336m)\377\306a)\377\336m)\377\336m)\377\326e)\377\347q)\377\336q)\377s0\30\377s0\30\377\204<\30\377\224A\30\377\224E\30\377\234I\30\377\234E\30\377\234E\30\377\255M\30\377\234E\30\377{4\30\377\224<\30\377\245M\30\377\255I\30\377\234A\30\377\255M\30\377\245E\30\377\255M\30\377\265Q\30\377\245I\30\377\275U\30\377\255I\30\377\234A\30\377\224E\30\377\265U\30\377\234I\30\377\224E\30\377\245M\30\377\234M!\377\224A\30\377\234I\30\377\224E\30\377k0\20\377s0\20\377{4\30\377\214<\30\377\224E\30\377\234E\30\377\245I\30\377\234I\30\377\245I\30\377\214<\30\377\214<\30\377\255M\30\377\265Q!\377\265Q!\377\255M\30\377\306]!\377\316a)\377\326e)\377\326a!\377\316]!\377\265Q\30\377\326a!\377\255M\30\377\204<\20\377\245M\30\377\234I\30\377\245M\30\377\275]!\377\234I\30\377\255U!\377\265Y!\377\245M!\377c(\20\377k,\20\377k0\20\377\2048\30\377\224A\30\377\224E\30\377\234I\30\377\245I\30\377\275Y!\377\234E\30\377\245I\30\377\245I\30\377\265U!\377\265Q!\377\265Q!\377\306]!\377\306]!\377\316a!\377\316a!\377\336e)\377\326a!\377\316]!\377\265Q\30\377\224A\30\377\234I\30\377\275]!\377\265Y!\377\275Y!\377\275Y!\377\265U!\377\265])\377\275])\377s4\30\377c(\20\377k,\20\377s0\20\377\214A\30\377\224E\30\377\234E\30\377\306]!\377\234I\30\377\224A\30\377\265U!\377\245I\30\377\265Q!\377\265Q!\377\265M!\377\255M\30\377\306]!\377\306Y!\377\306]!\377\306]!\377\326a)\377\336i)\377\275U!\377\224A\30\377\224A\30\377\306a!\377\275]!\377\275Y!\377\275]!\377\275])\377\275Y!\377\275Y!\377s0\20\377k,\20\377s0\20\377\2048\30\377\214<\30\377\224E\30\377\234E\30\377\245M\30\377\224A\30\377\214A\30\377\245M\30\377\265Q!\377\275U!\377\255I\30\377\245I\30\377\245I\30\377\275U!\377\306Y!\377\275Y!\377\306]!\377\306]!\377\265Q\30\377\255M\30\377\224A\30\377\204<\30\377\255Q\30\377\245M\30\377\255Q!\377\265Y!\377\275]!\377\265Y!\377\275Y!\377s0\20\377k0\20\377{0\20\377\2048\30\377\204<\30\377\204<\30\377\214<\30\377\224A\30\377\316a!\377\245I\30\377\234E\30\377\245I\30\377\265U!\377\265Q!\377\265Q!\377\255M!\377\275U!\377\275U!\377\275U!\377\275Q!\377\255I\30\377\255M\30\377\255Q\30\377\234E\30\377{4\30\377\224A\30\377\214<\30\377\275Y!\377\275Y!\377\275]!\377\255Q!\377\255Q!\377k,\20\377k,\20\377s0\20\377\2044\30\377{4\20\377{4\30\377\2048\30\377\245M\30\377\265U!\377\245I\30\377\214A\30\377\275Y!\377\234A\30\377\255M\30\377\265Q!\377\245M!\377\265U!\377\275Q!\377\245I\30\377\245I\30\377\245M\30\377\265Q!\377\255Q!\377\255M\30\377\214<\30\377\245I\30\377\255Q!\377\306]!\377\306]!\377\275U!\377\265U!\377\255Q!\377c(\20\377Z(\20\377c(\20\377k,\20\377{8\30\377{4\30\377\214<\30\377\214A\30\377\234E\30\377\245I\30\377\245M\30\377\214<\30\377s0\30\377\255M!\377\255I!\377\255M!\377\255M!\377\265Q!\377\265Q!\377\255M!\377\265Q\30\377\245I\30\377\255I\30\377\306Y!\377\275Y!\377\214A\30\377\255Q\30\377\275]!\377\306])\377\306]!\377\255U!\377\255Q!\377k0\30\377k0\20\377k,\20\377s0\20\377s0\20\377s4\30\377{4\30\377\214<\30\377\245I\30\377\224A\30\377\306Y!\377\234A\30\377s0\20\377\245I\30\377\255M!\377\255M!\377\255M!\377\255M!\377\255Q!\377\265M!\377\316]!\377\245E\30\377\316]!\377\306Y!\377\275U!\377{8\30\377\255Q!\377\265Y!\377\275]!\377\275Y!\377\275Y!\377\255Q!\377k0\20\377c,\20\377k,\20\377s0\20\377{4\30\377s0\20\377{4\30\377{4\30\377\2048\30\377\245I\30\377\234E\30\377\234E\30\377k,\20\377\214<\30\377\224A\30\377\245M\30\377\214<\30\377\224E\30\377\214<\30\377\214<\30\377\214<\30\377\245I\30\377\234E\30\377\224A\30\377\224A\30\377k,\20\377\224A\30\377\265Q!\377\265Y!\377\265U!\377\265Y!\377\275Y!\377c(\20\377c,\20\377k,\20\377s0\20\377k,\20\377k0\20\377\2048\30\377\234A\30\377\214<\30\377\224A\30\377\245I\30\377\245I\30\377k0\20\377{4\20\377\214<\30\377\214A\30\377\214<\30\377\204<\30\377\2048\30\377\234I\30\377\224A\30\377\214<\30\377\234E\30\377\234E\30\377\255M\30\377\224A\30\377{8\30\377\255Q!\377\265U!\377\255U!\377\255U!\377\265U!\377c(\20\377k,\20\377s0\20\377s0\20\377{4\20\377\2048\30\377\2048\30\377\2048\30\377\224A\30\377\245M\30\377\245E\30\377\234E\30\377{4\20\377Z(\20\377k0\30\377{8\30\377\2048\30\377\214A\30\377\224A\30\377\234I\30\377\214<\30\377\224A\30\377\224A\30\377\234E\30\377\245I\30\377\255M\30\377{8\30\377\214A\30\377\255U!\377\255U!\377\245Q!\377\265U!\377c,\20\377c(\20\377k,\20\377Z$\20\377Z$\20\377Z(\20\377c(\20\377k,\20\377k,\20\377c(\20\377c(\20\377c,\20\377k0\20\377R \20\377c,\20\377s4\30\377{4\30\377\204<\30\377\2048\30\377\214A\30\377\224A\30\377\224A\30\377\234I\30\377\234I\30\377\224A\30\377\245I\30\377\224E\30\377\2048\30\377\255U!\377\255Q!\377\265U!\377\265Y)\377J \20\377J\34\20\377Z(\20\377k,\20\377k(\20\377c(\20\377R \20\377c(\20\377k,\20\377s0\20\377k0\20\377k0\20\377c,\20\377Z(\20\377c,\20\377s4\20\377s4\20\377\2048\30\377\2048\20\377\2048\30\377\224A\30\377\214A\30\377\234I\30\377\245I\30\377\234I\30\377\245M!\377\245M\30\377\204<\30\377\234M!\377\245Q!\377\265U!\377\255U!\377c,\20\377c,\20\377c(\20\377c(\20\377c(\20\377c(\20\377c(\20\377k,\20\377k,\20\377k,\20\377k0\20\377s4\20\377s0\30\377\204<\30\377c(\20\377s4\20\377s4\30\377{4\20\377{4\30\377\204<\30\377\224A\30\377\234E\30\377\234E\30\377\234E\30\377\234E\30\377\245I\30\377\245I\30\377\224E\30\377\204<\30\377\245Q!\377\255Q!\377\347\327\326\377R$\20\377k,\20\377c(\20\377c(\20\377c(\20\377c(\20\377Z$\20\377c(\20\377c(\20\377k,\20\377k,\20\377k,\20\377s0\20\377{4\30\377\204<\30\377k,\20\377s4\20\377s4\20\377{8\30\377\2048\20\377\214<\30\377\214<\30\377\214A\30\377\234E\30\377\234E\30\377\224A\30\377\224E\30\377\224E\30\377s4\30\377\214A\30\377\265\206s\377\377\377\377\377c,\20\377k,\30\377k0\20\377k,\20\377c(\20\377Z$\20\377Z(\20\377Z$\20\377c(\20\377c(\20\377c(\20\377k,\20\377k0\20\377{4\30\377{8\30\377k,\20\377c,\20\377k0\20\377s0\20\377{8\30\377\2048\30\377\2048\30\377\214<\30\377\224A\30\377\224E\30\377\214<\30\377\214A\30\377\234I\30\377{8!\377\214M1\377\377\373\377\377\377\377\377" This doesn't look like a series of 8 bit values to me. Have I done something wrong or am I misinterpreting the results?

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• CodePlex Daily Summary for Sunday, May 16, 2010

  CodePlex Daily Summary for Sunday, May 16, 2010New Projects3D Calculator: 3D Calc is a simple calculator application for Windows Phone 7, the purpose of this project is to demo the 3D animations capabilities of WP7 and sh...azaleas: AzaleasBlueset Studio Opensource Projects: Only for Opensource projects form Blueset Studio.Breck: A Phoenix and Jumper Moneky Production: Breck is a first person non-violent shooter developed in C++ and Dark GDK. After the main game is developed we are looking into making a sequel or...Discuz! Forum SDK: This project is use to login in and post or reply topic on discuz forum.Dominion.NET: Evolving Dominion source code originally written in VB6 and posted by "jatill" on Collectible Card Game Headquarters. Migration of the design and s...EkspSys2010-ITR: A mini project for the course Experimental System devolopment in spring 2010Facebook Graph Toolkit: This project is a .Net implementation of the Facebook Graph API. The aim of this project is to be a replacement to the existing Facebook Toolkit (h...iFree: This is a solution for Vietnamese network socialInfoPath Editor for Developer: InfoPath Editor for developer allows user to modify the html text directly inside InfoPath designer or filler and push the change back to InfoPath ...iZeit: Run your own online calendar, with blog integration, recurrence, todo list and categories.machgos dotNet Tests: Just some little test-projects for learningmim: TBAMinePost: MinePost is a game made for the first 48 hour Reddit Game Jam.Mockina: Mockina is a mock framework. Expression tree syntax is used to specify which members to mock, both public and non-public. The code is easy to under...MSBuild Launch Pad (mPad): This is just another shell extension for MSBuild to enable quick execution of MSBuild scripts via Windows Explorer context menu. (C) 2010 Lex LiPeacock: A browser like tabbed applicationPrimeCalculation: PrimeCalculation is a .NET app to calculate primes in a given range. Speed on Core2Duo 2,4GHZ: Found all primes from 0 to 1 billion in 35 seconds (...Slightly Silverlight: A Framework that leverages Silverlight for processing, business logic but standard HTML for the presentation layer.Stopwatch: Stopwatch is a tool for measuring the time. To start and pause stopwatch you only need to press a key on the keyboard. An additional context menu a...YAXLib: Yet Another XML Serialization Library for the .NET Framework: YAXLib is an XML Serialization library which helps you structure freely the XML result, choose among private and public fields to be serialized, an...New ReleasesActivate Your Glutes: v1.0.3.0: This release is a migration to VS2010, .Net 4, MVC2 and Entity Framework 4. The code has also been considerably cleaned up - taking advantage of E...AnyCAD: AnyCAD.Free.ENU.v1.1: http://www.anycad.net Modeling •2D: Line, Rectangle, Arc, Arch, Circle, Spline, Polygon •Feature: Extrude, Loft, Chamfer, Sweep, Revol •Boolean: ...Blueset Studio Opensource Projects: 多功能计算器 3.5: 稳定版本。Code for Rapid C# Windows Development eBook: LLBLGen LINQPad Data Context Driver Ver 1.0.0.0: First release of a Static LLBLGen Pro Data Context Driver for LINQPad I recommend LINQPad 4 as it seems more stable with this driver than LINQPad 2.DSQLT - Dynamic SQL Templates: Release 1.2. Some behaviour has changed!!: Attention. Some behaviour has changed! Now its necessary to use WildCards in the pattern-parameter for DSQLT.AllSourceContains DSQLT.Databases DSQ...FDS AutoCAD plug-in: FDS to AutoCAD plug-in: Basic functionality was implemented. Some routines like setting fds executable location are still not automated.Feature Builder Guidance Extensions: FBGX 2 - Standalone FX: Background: The Feature Builder Guidance is extensible and displays guidance content supplied by all the Feature Builder Guidance Extensions (FBGX...Floe IRC Client: Floe IRC Client 2010-05 R3: - You can now right click on the input box to get options for toggling bold, underline, colors, etc. - The size of the nickname column is now saved...Floe IRC Client: Floe IRC Client 2010-05 R4: - A user's channel status now appears next to their nick when they talk (e.g. @Nick or +Nick) - Fixed an error where certain kinds of network probl...HD-Trailers.NET Downloader: HD-Trailers.NET Downloader v1.0: Version 1.0 Thanks to Wolfgang for all his help. I let this project languish for too long while focusing on other things, but his involvement has ...InfoPath Editor for Developer: InfoPath Editor Beta 1: Intial Release: Can load InfoPath inner html. Can edit InfoPath inner html. InfoPath 2007 only.LinkSharp: LinkSharp 0.1.0: First release of LinkSharp. Set up iis, and use the sql script to create a new database.PowerAuras: PowerAuras V3.0.0F: This version adds better integration with GTFO New Flags Added PvP flag In 5-Man Instance In Raid Instance In Battleground In ArenaRx Contrib: V1.4: Add the ability to catch internal exception and the ability to publish error by queue adaptersSEO SiteMap: SEO SiteMap RC1: -SevenZipLib Library: v9.13.2: Stable release associated with 7z.dll 9.13 beta. Ability to create and update archives not implemente yet.Silverlight / WPF Controls: Upload, FlipPanel, DeepZoom, Animation, Encryption: Code Camp Demonstration: This code example demonstrates MVVM/MEF with WPF with attached properties,security and custom ICommand class.SQL Data Capture - Black Box Application Testing: SQLDataCapture V1.2: Added Entity Framework Support to CRUD generator (Insert Stored Procedure) and switched to VS 2010 for development.Stopwatch: Stopwatch 0.1: Stopwatch Release 0.1VCC: Latest build, v2.1.30515.0: Automatic drop of latest buildYet another developer blog - Examples: Asynchronous TreeView in ASP.NET MVC: This sample application shows how to use jQuery TreeView plugin for creating an asynchronous TreeView in ASP.NET MVC. This application is accompani...Most Popular ProjectsRawrWBFS ManagerAJAX Control ToolkitMicrosoft SQL Server Product Samples: DatabaseSilverlight ToolkitWindows Presentation Foundation (WPF)patterns & practices – Enterprise LibraryMicrosoft SQL Server Community & SamplesPHPExcelASP.NETMost Active Projectspatterns & practices – Enterprise LibraryRawrPHPExcelBlogEngine.NETMicrosoft Biology FoundationCustomer Portal Accelerator for Microsoft Dynamics CRMWindows Azure Command-line Tools for PHP DevelopersMirror Testing SystemN2 CMSStyleCop

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• My Code Kata–A Solution Kata

  - by Glav

  There are many developers and coders out there who like to do code Kata’s to keep their coding ability up to scratch and to practice their skills. I think it is a good idea. While I like the concept, I find them dead boring and of minimal purpose. Yes, they serve to hone your skills but that’s about it. They are often quite abstract, in that they usually focus on a small problem set requiring specific solutions. It is fair enough as that is how they are designed but again, I find them quite boring. What I personally like to do is go for something a little larger and a little more fun. It takes a little more time and is not as easily executed as a kata though, but it services the same purposes from a practice perspective and allows me to continue to solve some problems that are not directly part of the initial goal. This means I can cover a broader learning range and have a bit more fun. If I am lucky, sometimes they even end up being useful tools. With that in mind, I thought I’d share my current ‘kata’. It is not really a code kata as it is too big. I prefer to think of it as a ‘solution kata’. The code is on bitbucket here. What I wanted to do was create a kind of simplistic virtual world where I can create a player, or a class, stuff it into the world, and see if it survives, and can navigate its way to the exit. Requirements were pretty simple: Must be able to define a map to describe the world using simple X,Y co-ordinates. Z co-ordinates as well if you feel like getting clever. Should have the concept of entrances, exists, solid blocks, and potentially other materials (again if you want to get clever). A coder should be able to easily write a class which will act as an inhabitant of the world. An inhabitant will receive stimulus from the world in the form of surrounding environment and be able to make a decision on action which it passes back to the ‘world’ for processing. At a minimum, an inhabitant will have sight and speed characteristics which determine how far they can ‘see’ in the world, and how fast they can move. Coders who write a really bad ‘inhabitant’ should not adversely affect the rest of world. Should allow multiple inhabitants in the world. So that was the solution I set out to act as a practice solution and a little bit of fun. It had some interesting problems to solve and I figured, if it turned out ok, I could potentially use this as a ‘developer test’ for interviews. Ask a potential coder to write a class for an inhabitant. Show the coder the map they will navigate, but also mention that we will use their code to navigate a map they have not yet seen and a little more complex. I have been playing with solution for a short time now and have it working in basic concepts. Below is a screen shot using a very basic console visualiser that shows the map, boundaries, blocks, entrance, exit and players/inhabitants. The yellow asterisks ‘*’ are the players, green ‘O’ the entrance, purple ‘^’ the exit, maroon/browny ‘#’ are solid blocks. The players can move around at different speeds, knock into each others, and make directional movement decisions based on what they see and who is around them. It has been quite fun to write and it is also quite fun to develop different players to inject into the world. The code below shows a really simple implementation of an inhabitant that can work out what to do based on stimulus from the world. It is pretty simple and just tries to move in some direction if there is nothing blocking the path. public class TestPlayer:LivingEntity { public TestPlayer() { Name = "Beta Boy"; LifeKey = Guid.NewGuid(); } public override ActionResult DecideActionToPerform(EcoDev.Core.Common.Actions.ActionContext actionContext) { try { var action = new MovementAction(); // move forward if we can if (actionContext.Position.ForwardFacingPositions.Length > 0) { if (CheckAccessibilityOfMapBlock(actionContext.Position.ForwardFacingPositions[0])) { action.DirectionToMove = MovementDirection.Forward; return action; } } if (actionContext.Position.LeftFacingPositions.Length > 0) { if (CheckAccessibilityOfMapBlock(actionContext.Position.LeftFacingPositions[0])) { action.DirectionToMove = MovementDirection.Left; return action; } } if (actionContext.Position.RearFacingPositions.Length > 0) { if (CheckAccessibilityOfMapBlock(actionContext.Position.RearFacingPositions[0])) { action.DirectionToMove = MovementDirection.Back; return action; } } if (actionContext.Position.RightFacingPositions.Length > 0) { if (CheckAccessibilityOfMapBlock(actionContext.Position.RightFacingPositions[0])) { action.DirectionToMove = MovementDirection.Right; return action; } } return action; } catch (Exception ex) { World.WriteDebugInformation("Player: "+ Name, string.Format("Player Generated exception: {0}",ex.Message)); throw ex; } } private bool CheckAccessibilityOfMapBlock(MapBlock block) { if (block == null || block.Accessibility == MapBlockAccessibility.AllowEntry || block.Accessibility == MapBlockAccessibility.AllowExit || block.Accessibility == MapBlockAccessibility.AllowPotentialEntry) { return true; } return false; } } It is simple and it seems to work well. The world implementation itself decides the stimulus context that is passed to he inhabitant to make an action decision. All movement is carried out on separate threads and timed appropriately to be as fair as possible and to cater for additional skills such as speed, and eventually maybe stamina, strength, with actions like fighting. It is pretty fun to make up random maps and see how your inhabitant does. You can download the code from here. Along the way I have played with parallel extensions to make the compute intensive stuff spread across all cores, had to heavily factor in visibility of methods and properties so design of classes was paramount, work out movement algorithms that play fairly in the world and properly favour the players with higher abilities, as well as a host of other issues. So that is my ‘solution kata’. If I keep going with it, I may develop a web interface for it where people can upload assemblies and watch their player within a web browser visualiser and maybe even a map designer. What do you do to keep the fires burning?

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• Rockmelt, the technology adoption model, and Facebook's spare internet

  - by Roger Hart

  Regardless of how good it is, you'd have to have a heart of stone not to make snide remarks about Rockmelt. After all, on the surface it looks a lot like some people spent two years building a browser instead of just bashing out a Chrome extension over a wet weekend. It probably does some more stuff. I don't know for sure because artificial scarcity is cool, apparently, so the "invitation" is still in the post*. I may in fact never know for sure, because I'm not wild about Facebook sign-in as a prerequisite for anything. From the video, and some initial reviews, my early reaction was: I have a browser, I have a Twitter client; what on earth is this for? The answer, of course, is "not me". Rockmelt is, in a way, quite audacious. Oh, sure, on launch day it's Bay Area bar-chat for the kids with no lenses in their retro specs and trousers that give you deep-vein thrombosis, but it's not really about them. Likewise,  Facebook just launched Google Wave, or something. And all the tech snobbery and scorn packed into describing it that way is irrelevant next to what they're doing with their platform. Here's something I drew in MS Paint** because I don't want to get sued: (see: The technology adoption lifecycle) A while ago in the Guardian, John Lanchester dusted off the idiom that "technology is stuff that doesn't work yet". The rest of the article would be quite interesting if it wasn't largely about MySpace, and he's sort of got a point. If you bolt on the sentiment that risk-averse businessmen like things that work, you've got the essence of Crossing the Chasm. Products for the mainstream market don't look much like technology. Think for  a second about early (1980s ish) hi-fi systems, with all the knobs and fiddly bits, their ostentatious technophile aesthetic. Then consider their sleeker and less (or at least less conspicuously) functional successors in the 1990s. The theory goes that innovators and early adopters like technology, it's a hobby in itself. The rest of the humans seem to like magic boxes with very few buttons that make stuff happen and never trouble them about why. Personally, I consider Apple's maddening insistence that iTunes is an acceptable way to move files around to be more or less morally unacceptable. Most people couldn't care less. Hence Rockmelt, and hence Facebook's continued growth. Rockmelt looks pointless to me, because I aggregate my social gubbins with Digsby, or use TweetDeck. But my use case is different and so are my enthusiasms. If I want to share photos, I'll use Flickr - but Facebook has photo sharing. If I want a short broadcast message, I'll use Twitter - Facebook has status updates. If I want to sell something with relatively little hassle, there's eBay - or Facebook marketplace. YouTube - check, FB Video. Email - messaging. Calendaring apps, yeah there are loads, or FB Events. What if I want to host a simple web page? Sure, they've got pages. Also Notes for blogging, and more games than I can count. This stuff is right there, where millions and millions of users are already, and for what they need it just works. It's not about me, because I'm not in the big juicy area under the curve. It's what 1990s portal sites could never have dreamed of achieving. Facebook is AOL on speed, crack, and some designer drugs it had specially imported from the future. It's a n00b-friendly gateway to the internet that just happens to serve up all the things you want to do online, right where you are. Oh, and everybody else is there too. The price of having all this and the social graph too is that you have all of this, and the social graph too. But plenty of folks have more incisive things to say than me about the whole privacy shebang, and it's not really what I'm talking about. Facebook is maintaining a vast, and fairly fully-featured training-wheels internet. And it makes up a large proportion of the online experience for a lot of people***. It's the entire web (2.0?) experience for the early and late majority. And sure, no individual bit of it is quite as slick or as fully-realised as something like Flickr (which wows me a bit every time I use it. Those guys are good at the web), but it doesn't have to be. It has to be unobtrusively good enough for the regular humans. It has to not feel like technology. This is what Rockmelt sort of is. You're online, you want something nebulously social, and you don't want to faff about with, say, Twitter clients. Wow! There it is on a really distracting sidebar, right in your browser. No effort! Yeah - fish nor fowl, much? It might work, I guess. There may be a demographic who want their social web experience more simply than tech tinkering, and who aren't just getting it from Facebook (or, for that matter, mobile devices). But I'd be surprised. Rockmelt feels like an attempt to grab a slice of Facebook-style "Look! It's right here, where you already are!", but it's still asking the mature market to install a new browser. Presumably this is where that Facebook sign-in predicate comes in handy, though it'll take some potent awareness marketing to make it fly. Meanwhile, Facebook quietly has the entire rest of the internet as a product management resource, and can continue to give most of the people most of what they want. Something that has not gone un-noticed in its potential to look a little sinister. But heck, they might even make Google Wave popular.     *This was true last week when I drafted this post. I got an invite subsequently, hence the screenshot. **MS Paint is no fun any more. It's actually good in Windows 7. Farewell ironically-shonky diagrams. *** It's also behind a single sign-in, lending a veneer of confidence, and partially solving the problem of usernames being crummy unique identifiers. I'll be blogging about that at some point.

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• Mocking successive calls of similar type via sequential mocking

  - by mehfuzh

  In this post , i show how you can benefit from  sequential mocking feature[In JustMock] for setting up expectations with successive calls of same type.  To start let’s first consider the following dummy database and entity class. public class Person {     public virtual string Name { get; set; }     public virtual int Age { get; set; } }   public interface IDataBase {     T Get<T>(); } Now, our test goal is to return different entity for successive calls on IDataBase.Get<T>(). By default, the behavior in JustMock is override , which is similar to other popular mocking tools. By override it means that the tool will consider always the latest user setup. Therefore, the first example will return the latest entity every-time and will fail in line #12: Person person1 = new Person { Age = 30, Name = "Kosev" }; Person person2 = new Person { Age = 80, Name = "Mihail" };   var database = Mock.Create<IDataBase>();   Queue<Person> queue = new Queue<Person>();   Mock.Arrange(() => database.Get<Person>()).Returns(() => queue.Dequeue()); Mock.Arrange(() => database.Get<Person>()).Returns(person2);   // this will fail Assert.Equal(person1.GetHashCode(), database.Get<Person>().GetHashCode());   Assert.Equal(person2.GetHashCode(), database.Get<Person>().GetHashCode()); We can solve it the following way using a Queue and that removes the item from bottom on each call: Person person1 = new Person { Age = 30, Name = "Kosev" }; Person person2 = new Person { Age = 80, Name = "Mihail" };   var database = Mock.Create<IDataBase>();   Queue<Person> queue = new Queue<Person>();   queue.Enqueue(person1); queue.Enqueue(person2);   Mock.Arrange(() => database.Get<Person>()).Returns(queue.Dequeue());   Assert.Equal(person1.GetHashCode(), database.Get<Person>().GetHashCode()); Assert.Equal(person2.GetHashCode(), database.Get<Person>().GetHashCode()); This will ensure that right entity is returned but this is not an elegant solution. So, in JustMock we introduced a  new option that lets you set up your expectations sequentially. Like: Person person1 = new Person { Age = 30, Name = "Kosev" }; Person person2 = new Person { Age = 80, Name = "Mihail" };   var database = Mock.Create<IDataBase>();   Mock.Arrange(() => database.Get<Person>()).Returns(person1).InSequence(); Mock.Arrange(() => database.Get<Person>()).Returns(person2).InSequence();   Assert.Equal(person1.GetHashCode(), database.Get<Person>().GetHashCode()); Assert.Equal(person2.GetHashCode(), database.Get<Person>().GetHashCode()); The  “InSequence” modifier will tell the mocking tool to return the expected result as in the order it is specified by user. The solution though pretty simple and but neat(to me) and way too simpler than using a collection to solve this type of cases. Hope that helps P.S. The example shown in my blog is using interface don’t require a profiler  and you can even use a notepad and build it referencing Telerik.JustMock.dll, run it with GUI tools and it will work. But this feature also applies to concrete methods that includes JM profiler and can be implemented for more complex scenarios.

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• Why does a bash-zenity script has that title on Unity Panel and that icon on Unity Launcher?

  - by Sadi

  I have this small bash script which helps use Infinality font rendering options via a more user-friendly Zenity window. But whenever I launch it I have this "Color Picker" title on Unity Panel together with the icon assigned for "Color Picker" utility. I wonder why and how this is happening and how I can change it? #!/bin/bash # A simple script to provide a basic, zenity-based GUI to change Infinality Style. # v.1.2 # infinality_current=`cat /etc/profile.d/infinality-settings.sh | grep "USE_STYLE=" | awk -F'"' '{print $2}'` sudo_password="$( gksudo --print-pass --message 'Provide permission to make system changes: Enter your password to start or press Cancel to quit.' -- : 2>/dev/null )" # Check for null entry or cancellation. if [[ ${?} != 0 || -z ${sudo_password} ]] then # Add a zenity message here if you want. exit 4 fi # Check that the password is valid. if ! sudo -kSp '' [ 1 ] <<<"${sudo_password}" 2>/dev/null then # Add a zenity message here if you want. exit 4 fi # menu(){ im="zenity --width=500 --height=490 --list --radiolist --title=\"Change Infinality Style\" --text=\"Current <i>Infinality Style</i> is\: <b>$infinality_current</b>\n? To <i>change</i> it, select any other option below and press <b>OK</b>\n? To <i>quit without changing</i>, press <b>Cancel</b>\" " im=$im" --column=\" \" --column \"Options\" --column \"Description\" " im=$im"FALSE \"DEFAULT\" \"Use default settings - a compromise that should please most people\" " im=$im"FALSE \"OSX\" \"Simulate OSX rendering\" " im=$im"FALSE \"IPAD\" \"Simulate iPad rendering\" " im=$im"FALSE \"UBUNTU\" \"Simulate Ubuntu rendering\" " im=$im"FALSE \"LINUX\" \"Generic Linux style - no snapping or certain other tweaks\" " im=$im"FALSE \"WINDOWS\" \"Simulate Windows rendering\" " im=$im"FALSE \"WIN7\" \"Simulate Windows 7 rendering with normal glyphs\" " im=$im"FALSE \"WINLIGHT\" \"Simulate Windows 7 rendering with lighter glyphs\" " im=$im"FALSE \"VANILLA\" \"Just subpixel hinting\" " im=$im"FALSE \"CLASSIC\" \"Infinality rendering circa 2010 - No snapping.\" " im=$im"FALSE \"NUDGE\" \"Infinality - Classic with lightly stem snapping and tweaks\" " im=$im"FALSE \"PUSH\" \"Infinality - Classic with medium stem snapping and tweaks\" " im=$im"FALSE \"SHOVE\" \"Infinality - Full stem snapping and tweaks without sharpening\" " im=$im"FALSE \"SHARPENED\" \"Infinality - Full stem snapping, tweaks, and Windows-style sharpening\" " im=$im"FALSE \"INFINALITY\" \"Infinality - Standard\" " im=$im"FALSE \"DISABLED\" \"Act without extra infinality enhancements - just subpixel hinting\" " } # option(){ choice=`echo $im | sh -` # if echo $choice | grep "DEFAULT" > /dev/null; then sudo -Sp '' sed -i "s/USE_STYLE=\"${infinality_current}\"/USE_STYLE=\"DEFAULT\"/g" '/etc/profile.d/infinality-settings.sh' <<<"${sudo_password}" fi # if echo $choice | grep "OSX" > /dev/null; then sudo -Sp '' sed -i "s/USE_STYLE=\"${infinality_current}\"/USE_STYLE=\"OSX\"/g" '/etc/profile.d/infinality-settings.sh' <<<"${sudo_password}" fi # if echo $choice | grep "IPAD" > /dev/null; then sudo -Sp '' sed -i "s/USE_STYLE=\"${infinality_current}\"/USE_STYLE=\"IPAD\"/g" '/etc/profile.d/infinality-settings.sh' <<<"${sudo_password}" fi # if echo $choice | grep "UBUNTU" > /dev/null; then sudo -Sp '' sed -i "s/USE_STYLE=\"${infinality_current}\"/USE_STYLE=\"UBUNTU\"/g" '/etc/profile.d/infinality-settings.sh' <<<"${sudo_password}" fi # if echo $choice | grep "LINUX" > /dev/null; then sudo -Sp '' sed -i "s/USE_STYLE=\"${infinality_current}\"/USE_STYLE=\"LINUX\"/g" '/etc/profile.d/infinality-settings.sh' <<<"${sudo_password}" fi # if echo $choice | grep "WINDOWS" > /dev/null; then sudo -Sp '' sed -i "s/USE_STYLE=\"${infinality_current}\"/USE_STYLE=\"WINDOWS\"/g" '/etc/profile.d/infinality-settings.sh' <<<"${sudo_password}" fi # if echo $choice | grep "WIN7" > /dev/null; then sudo -Sp '' sed -i "s/USE_STYLE=\"${infinality_current}\"/USE_STYLE=\"WINDOWS7\"/g" '/etc/profile.d/infinality-settings.sh' <<<"${sudo_password}" fi # if echo $choice | grep "WINLIGHT" > /dev/null; then sudo -Sp '' sed -i "s/USE_STYLE=\"${infinality_current}\"/USE_STYLE=\"WINDOWS7LIGHT\"/g" '/etc/profile.d/infinality-settings.sh' <<<"${sudo_password}" fi # if echo $choice | grep "VANILLA" > /dev/null; then sudo -Sp '' sed -i "s/USE_STYLE=\"${infinality_current}\"/USE_STYLE=\"VANILLA\"/g" '/etc/profile.d/infinality-settings.sh' <<<"${sudo_password}" fi # if echo $choice | grep "CLASSIC" > /dev/null; then sudo -Sp '' sed -i "s/USE_STYLE=\"${infinality_current}\"/USE_STYLE=\"CLASSIC\"/g" '/etc/profile.d/infinality-settings.sh' <<<"${sudo_password}" fi # if echo $choice | grep "NUDGE" > /dev/null; then sudo -Sp '' sed -i "s/USE_STYLE=\"${infinality_current}\"/USE_STYLE=\"NUDGE\"/g" '/etc/profile.d/infinality-settings.sh' <<<"${sudo_password}" fi # if echo $choice | grep "PUSH" > /dev/null; then sudo -Sp '' sed -i "s/USE_STYLE=\"${infinality_current}\"/USE_STYLE=\"PUSH\"/g" '/etc/profile.d/infinality-settings.sh' <<<"${sudo_password}" fi # if echo $choice | grep "SHOVE" > /dev/null; then sudo -Sp '' sed -i "s/USE_STYLE=\"${infinality_current}\"/USE_STYLE=\"SHOVE\"/g" '/etc/profile.d/infinality-settings.sh' <<<"${sudo_password}" fi # if echo $choice | grep "SHARPENED" > /dev/null; then sudo -Sp '' sed -i "s/USE_STYLE=\"${infinality_current}\"/USE_STYLE=\"SHARPENED\"/g" '/etc/profile.d/infinality-settings.sh' <<<"${sudo_password}" fi # if echo $choice | grep "INFINALITY" > /dev/null; then sudo -Sp '' sed -i "s/USE_STYLE=\"${infinality_current}\"/USE_STYLE=\"INFINALITY\"/g" '/etc/profile.d/infinality-settings.sh' <<<"${sudo_password}" fi # if echo $choice | grep "DISABLED" > /dev/null; then sudo -Sp '' sed -i "s/USE_STYLE=\"${infinality_current}\"/USE_STYLE=\"DISABLED\"/g" '/etc/profile.d/infinality-settings.sh' <<<"${sudo_password}" fi # } # menu option # if test ${#choice} -gt 0; then echo "Operation completed" fi # exit 0

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• Using SQL Source Control with Fortress or Vault &ndash; Part 1

  - by AjarnMark

  I am fanatical when it comes to managing the source code for my company.  Everything that we build (in source form) gets put into our source control management system.  And I’m not just talking about the UI and middle-tier code written in C# and ASP.NET, but also the back-end database stuff, which at times has been a pain.  We even script out our Scheduled Jobs and keep a copy of those under source control. The UI and middle-tier stuff has long been easy to manage as we mostly use Visual Studio which has integration with source control systems built in.  But the SQL code has been a little harder to deal with.  I have been doing this for many years, well before Microsoft came up with Data Dude, so I had already established a methodology that, while not as smooth as VS, nonetheless let me keep things well controlled, and allowed doing my database development in my tool of choice, Query Analyzer in days gone by, and now SQL Server Management Studio.  It just makes sense to me that if I’m going to do database development, let’s use the database tool set.  (Although, I have to admit I was pretty impressed with the demo of Juneau that Don Box did at the PASS Summit this year.)  So as I was saying, I had developed a methodology that worked well for us (and I’ll probably outline in a future post) but it could use some improvement. When Solutions and Projects were first introduced in SQL Management Studio, I thought we were finally going to get our same experience that we have in Visual Studio.  Well, let’s say I was underwhelmed by Version 1 in SQL 2005, and apparently so were enough other people that by the time SQL 2008 came out, Microsoft decided that Solutions and Projects would be deprecated and completely removed from a future version.  So much for that idea. Then I came across SQL Source Control from Red-Gate.  I have used several tools from Red-Gate in the past, including my favorites SQL Compare, SQL Prompt, and SQL Refactor.  SQL Prompt is worth its weight in gold, and the others are great, too.  Earlier this year, we upgraded from our earlier product bundles to the new Developer Bundle, and in the process added SQL Source Control to our collection.  I thought this might really be the golden ticket I was looking for.  But my hopes were quickly dashed when I discovered that it only integrated with Microsoft Team Foundation Server and Subversion as the source code repositories.  We have been using SourceGear’s Vault and Fortress products for years, and I wholeheartedly endorse them.  So I was out of luck for the time being, although there were a number of people voting for Vault/Fortress support on their feedback forum (as did I) so I had hope that maybe next year I could look at it again. But just a couple of weeks ago, I was pleasantly surprised to receive notice in my email that Red-Gate had an Early Access version of SQL Source Control that worked with Vault and Fortress, so I quickly downloaded it and have been putting it through its paces.  So far, I really like what I see, and I have been quite impressed with Red-Gate’s responsiveness when I have contacted them with any issues or concerns that I have had.  I have had several communications with Gyorgy Pocsi at Red-Gate and he has been immensely helpful and responsive. I must say that development with SQL Source Control is very different from what I have been used to.  This post is getting long enough, so I’ll save some of the details for a separate write-up, but the short story is that in my regular mode, it’s all about the script files.  Script files are King and you dare not make a change to the database other than by way of a script file, or you are in deep trouble.  With SQL Source Control, you make your changes to your development database however you like.  I still prefer writing most of my changes in T-SQL, but you can also use any of the GUI functionality of SSMS to make your changes, and SQL Source Control “manages” the script for you.  Basically, when you first link your database to source control, the tool generates scripts for every primary object (tables and their indexes are together in one script, not broken out into separate scripts like DB Projects do) and those scripts are checked into your source control.  So, if you needed to, you could still do a GET from your source control repository and build the database from scratch.  But for the day-to-day work, SQL Source Control uses the same technique as SQL Compare to determine what changes have been made to your development database and how to represent those in your repository scripts.  I think that once I retrain myself to just work in the database and quit worrying about having to find and open the right script file, that this will actually make us more efficient. And for deployment purposes, SQL Source Control integrates with the full SQL Compare utility to produce a synchronization script (or do a live sync).  This is similar in concept to Microsoft’s DACPAC, if you’re familiar with that. If you are not currently keeping your database development efforts under source control, definitely examine this tool.  If you already have a methodology that is working for you, then I still think this is worth a review and comparison to your current approach.  You may find it more efficient.  But remember that the version which integrates with Vault/Fortress is still in pre-release mode, so treat it with a little caution.  I have found it to be fairly stable, but there was one bug that I found which had inconvenient side-effects and could have really been frustrating if I had been running this on my normal active development machine.  However, I can verify that that bug has been fixed in a more recent build version (did I mention Red-Gate’s responsiveness?).

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• NDepend 4 – First Steps

  - by Ricardo Peres

  Introduction Thanks to Patrick Smacchia I had the chance to test NDepend 4. I can only say: awesome! This will be the first of a series of posts on NDepend, where I will talk about my discoveries. Keep in mind that I am just starting to use it, so more experienced users may find these too basic, I just hope I don’t say anything foolish! I must say that I am in no way affiliated with NDepend and I never actually met Patrick. Installation No installation program – a curious decision, I’m not against it -, just unzip the files to a folder and run the executable. It will optionally register itself with Visual Studio 2008, 2010 and 11 as well as RedGate’s Reflector; also, it automatically looks for updates. NDepend can either be used as a stand-alone program (with or without a GUI) or from within Visual Studio or Reflector. Getting Started One thing that really pleases me is the Getting Started section of the stand-alone, with links to pages on NDepend’s web site, featuring detailed explanations, which usually include screenshots and small videos (<5 minutes). There’s also an How do I with hierarchical navigation that guides us to through the major features so that we can easily find what we want. Usage There are two basic ways to use NDepend: Analyze .NET solutions, projects or assemblies; Compare two versions of the same assembly. I have so far not used NDepend to compare assemblies, so I will first talk about the first option. After selecting a solution and some of its projects, it generates a single HTML page with an highly detailed report of the analysis it produced. This includes some metrics such as number of lines of code, IL instructions, comments, types, methods and properties, the calculation of the cyclomatic complexity, coupling and lots of others indicators, typically grouped by type, namespace and assembly. The HTML also includes some nice diagrams depicting assembly dependencies, type and method relative proportions (according to the number of IL instructions, I guess) and assembly analysis relating to abstractness and stability. Useful, I would say. Then there’s the rules; NDepend tests the target assemblies against a set of more than 120 rules, grouped in categories Code Quality, Object Oriented Design, Design, Architecture and Layering, Dead Code, Visibility, Naming Conventions, Source Files Organization and .NET Framework Usage. The full list can be configured on the application, and an explanation of each rule can be found on the web site. Rules can be validated, violated and violated in a critical manner, and the HTML will contain the violated rules, their queries – more on this later - and results. The HTML uses some nice JavaScript effects, which allow paging and sorting of tables, so its nice to use. Similar to the rules, there are some queries that display results for a number (about 200) questions grouped as Object Oriented Design, API Breaking Changes (for assembly version comparison), Code Diff Summary (also for version comparison) and Dead Code. The difference between queries and rules is that queries are not classified as passes, violated or critically violated, just present results. The queries and rules are expressed through CQLinq, which is a very powerful LINQ derivative specific to code analysis. All of the included rules and queries can be enabled or disabled and new ones can be added, with intellisense to help. Besides the HTML report file, the NDepend application can be used to explore all analysis results, compare different versions of analysis reports and to run custom queries. Comparison to Other Analysis Tools Unlike StyleCop, NDepend only works with assemblies, not source code, so you can’t expect it to be able to enforce brackets placement, for example. It is more similar to FxCop, but you don’t have the option to analyze at the IL level, that is, other that the number of IL instructions and the complexity. What’s Next In the next days I’ll continue my exploration with a real-life test case. References The NDepend web site is http://www.ndepend.com/. Patrick keeps an updated blog on http://codebetter.com/patricksmacchia/ and he regularly monitors StackOverflow for questions tagged NDepend, which you can find on http://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/ndepend. The default list of CQLinq rules, queries and statistics can be found at http://www.ndepend.com/DefaultRules/webframe.html. The syntax itself is described at http://www.ndepend.com/Doc_CQLinq_Syntax.aspx and its features at http://www.ndepend.com/Doc_CQLinq_Features.aspx.

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• How to Use RDA to Generate WLS Thread Dumps At Specified Intervals?

  - by Daniel Mortimer

  Introduction There are many ways to generate a thread dump of a WebLogic Managed Server. For example, take a look at: Taking Thread Dumps - [an excellent blog post on the Middleware Magic site]or  Different ways to take thread dumps in WebLogic Server (Document 1098691.1) There is another method - use Remote Diagnostic Agent! The solution described below is not documented, but it is relatively straightforward to execute. One advantage of using RDA to collect the thread dumps is RDA will also collect configuration, log files, network, system, performance information at the same time. Instructions 1. Not familiar with Remote Diagnostic Agent? Take a look at my previous blog "Resolve SRs Faster Using RDA - Find the Right Profile" 2. Choose a profile, which includes the WebLogic Server data collection modules (for example the profile "WebLogicServer"). At RDA setup time you should see the prompt below: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- S301WLS: Collects Oracle WebLogic Server Information ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Enter the location of the directory where the domains to analyze are located (For example in UNIX, <BEA Home>/user_projects/domains or <Middleware Home>/user_projects/domains) Hit 'Return' to accept the default (/oracle/11AS/Middleware/user_projects/domains) > For a successful WLS connection, ensure that the domain Admin Server is up and running. Data Collection Type:   1  Collect for a single server (offline mode)   2  Collect for a single server (using WLS connection)   3  Collect for multiple servers (using WLS connection) Enter the item number Hit 'Return' to accept the default (1) > 2 Choose option 2 or 3. Note: Collect for a single server or multiple servers using WLS connection means that RDA will attempt to connect to execute online WLST commands against the targeted server(s). The thread dumps are collected using the WLST function - "threadDumps()". If WLST cannot connect to the managed server, RDA will proceed to collect other data and ignore the request to collect thread dumps. If in the final output you see no Thread Dump menu item, then it's likely that the managed server is in a state which prevents new connections to it. If faced with this scenario, you would have to employ alternative methods for collecting thread dumps. 3. The RDA setup will create a setup.cfg file in the RDA_HOME directory. Open this file in an editor. You will find the following parameters which govern the number of thread dumps and thread dump interval. #N.Number of thread dumps to capture WREQ_THREAD_DUMP=10 #N.Thread dump interval WREQ_THREAD_DUMP_INTERVAL=5000 The example lines above show the default settings. In other words, RDA will collect 10 thread dumps at 5000 millisecond (5 second) intervals. You may want to change this to something like: #N.Number of thread dumps to capture WREQ_THREAD_DUMP=10 #N.Thread dump interval WREQ_THREAD_DUMP_INTERVAL=30000 However, bear in mind, that such change will increase the total amount of time it takes for RDA to complete its run. 4. Once you are happy with the setup.cfg, run RDA. RDA will collect, render, generate and package all files in the output directory. 5. For ease of viewing, open up the RDA Start html file - "xxxx__start.htm". The thread dumps can be found under the WLST Collections for the target managed server(s). See screenshots belowScreenshot 1:RDA Start Page - Main Index Screenshot 2: Managed Server Sub Index Screenshot 3: WLST Collections Screenshot 4: Thread Dump Page - List of dump file links Screenshot 5: Thread Dump Dat File Link Additional Comment: A) You can view the thread dump files within the RDA Start Page framework, but most likely you will want to download the dat files for in-depth analysis via thread dump analysis tools such as: Thread Dump Analyzer -  Samurai - a GUI based tail , thread dump analysis tool If you are new to thread dump analysis - take a look at this recorded Support Advisor Webcast  Oracle WebLogic Server: Diagnosing Performance Issues through Java Thread Dumps[Slidedeck from webcast in PDF format]B) I have logged a couple of enhancement requests for the RDA Development Team to consider: Add timestamp to dump file links, dat filename and at the top of the body of the dat file Package the individual thread dumps in a zip so all dump files can be conveniently downloaded in one go.

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• Is this proper OO design for C++?

  - by user121917

  I recently took a software processes course and this is my first time attempting OO design on my own. I am trying to follow OO design principles and C++ conventions. I attempted and gave up on MVC for this application, but I am trying to "decouple" my classes such that they can be easily unit-tested and so that I can easily change the GUI library used and/or the target OS. At this time, I have finished designing classes but have not yet started implementing methods. The function of the software is to log all packets sent and received, and display them on the screen (like WireShark, but for one local process only). The software accomplishes this by hooking the send() and recv() functions in winsock32.dll, or some other pair of analogous functions depending on what the intended Target is. The hooks add packets to SendPacketList/RecvPacketList. The GuiLogic class starts a thread which checks for new packets. When new packets are found, it utilizes the PacketFilter class to determine the formatting for the new packet, and then sends it to MainWindow, a native win32 window (with intent to later port to Qt).1 Full size image of UML class diagram Here are my classes in skeleton/header form (this is my actual code): class PacketModel { protected: std::vector<byte> data; int id; public: PacketModel(); PacketModel(byte* data, unsigned int size); PacketModel(int id, byte* data, unsigned int size); int GetLen(); bool IsValid(); //len >= sizeof(opcode_t) opcode_t GetOpcode(); byte* GetData(); //returns &(data[0]) bool GetData(byte* outdata, int maxlen); void SetData(byte* pdata, int len); int GetId(); void SetId(int id); bool ParseData(char* instr); bool StringRepr(char* outstr); byte& operator[] (const int index); }; class SendPacket : public PacketModel { protected: byte* returnAddy; public: byte* GetReturnAddy(); void SetReturnAddy(byte* addy); }; class RecvPacket : public PacketModel { protected: byte* callAddy; public: byte* GetCallAddy(); void SetCallAddy(byte* addy); }; //problem: packets may be added to list at any time by any number of threads //solution: critical section associated with each packet list class Synch { public: void Enter(); void Leave(); }; template<class PacketType> class PacketList { private: static const int MAX_STORED_PACKETS = 1000; public: static const int DEFAULT_SHOWN_PACKETS = 100; private: vector<PacketType> list; Synch synch; //wrapper for critical section public: void AddPacket(PacketType* packet); PacketType* GetPacket(int id); int TotalPackets(); }; class SendPacketList : PacketList<SendPacket> { }; class RecvPacketList : PacketList<RecvPacket> { }; class Target //one socket { bool Send(SendPacket* packet); bool Inject(RecvPacket* packet); bool InitSendHook(SendPacketList* sendList); bool InitRecvHook(RecvPacketList* recvList); }; class FilterModel { private: opcode_t opcode; int colorID; bool bFilter; char name[41]; }; class FilterFile { private: FilterModel filter; public: void Save(); void Load(); FilterModel* GetFilter(opcode_t opcode); }; class PacketFilter { private: FilterFile filters; public: bool IsFiltered(opcode_t opcode); bool GetName(opcode_t opcode, char* namestr); //return false if name does not exist COLORREF GetColor(opcode_t opcode); //return default color if no custom color }; class GuiLogic { private: SendPacketList sendList; RecvPacketList recvList; PacketFilter packetFilter; void GetPacketRepr(PacketModel* packet); void ReadNew(); void AddToWindow(); public: void Refresh(); //called from thread void GetPacketInfo(int id); //called from MainWindow }; I'm looking for a general review of my OO design, use of UML, and use of C++ features. I especially just want to know if I'm doing anything considerably wrong. From what I've read, design review is on-topic for this site (and off-topic for the Code Review site). Any sort of feedback is greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading this.

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• Using Windows Previous Versions to access ZFS Snapshots (July 14, 2009)

  - by user12612012

  The Previous Versions tab on the Windows desktop provides a straightforward, intuitive way for users to view or recover files from ZFS snapshots.  ZFS snapshots are read-only, point-in-time instances of a ZFS dataset, based on the same copy-on-write transactional model used throughout ZFS.  ZFS snapshots can be used to recover deleted files or previous versions of files and they are space efficient because unchanged data is shared between the file system and its snapshots.  Snapshots are available locally via the .zfs/snapshot directory and remotely via Previous Versions on the Windows desktop. Shadow Copies for Shared Folders was introduced with Windows Server 2003 but subsequently renamed to Previous Versions with the release of Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.  Windows shadow copies, or snapshots, are based on the Volume Snapshot Service (VSS) and, as the [Shared Folders part of the] name implies, are accessible to clients via SMB shares, which is good news when using the Solaris CIFS Service.  And the nice thing is that no additional configuration is required - it "just works". On Windows clients, snapshots are accessible via the Previous Versions tab in Windows Explorer using the Shadow Copy client, which is available by default on Windows XP SP2 and later.  For Windows 2000 and pre-SP2 Windows XP, the client software is available for download from Microsoft: Shadow Copies for Shared Folders Client. Assuming that we already have a shared ZFS dataset, we can create ZFS snapshots and view them from a Windows client. zfs snapshot tank/home/administrator@snap101zfs snapshot tank/home/administrator@snap102 To view the snapshots on Windows, map the dataset on the client then right click on a folder or file and select Previous Versions.  Note that Windows will only display previous versions of objects that differ from the originals.  So you may have to modify files after creating a snapshot in order to see previous versions of those files. The screenshot above shows various snapshots in the Previous Versions window, created at different times.  On the left panel, the .zfs folder is visible, illustrating that this is a ZFS share.  The .zfs setting can be toggled as desired, it makes no difference when using previous versions.  To make the .zfs folder visible: zfs set snapdir=visible tank/home/administrator To hide the .zfs folder: zfs set snapdir=hidden tank/home/administrator The following screenshot shows the Previous Versions panel when a file has been selected.  In this case the user is prompted to view, copy or restore the file from one of the available snapshots. As can be seen from the screenshots above, the Previous Versions window doesn't display snapshot names: snapshots are listed by snapshot creation time, sorted in time order from most recent to oldest.  There's nothing we can do about this, it's the way that the interface works.  Perhaps one point of note, to avoid confusion, is that the ZFS snapshot creation time isnot the same as the root directory creation timestamp. In ZFS, all object attributes in the original dataset are preserved when a snapshot is taken, including the creation time of the root directory.  Thus the root directory creation timestamp is the time that the directory was created in the original dataset. # ls -d% all /home/administrator         timestamp: atime         Mar 19 15:40:23 2009         timestamp: ctime         Mar 19 15:40:58 2009         timestamp: mtime         Mar 19 15:40:58 2009         timestamp: crtime         Mar 19 15:18:34 2009 # ls -d% all /home/administrator/.zfs/snapshot/snap101         timestamp: atime         Mar 19 15:40:23 2009         timestamp: ctime         Mar 19 15:40:58 2009         timestamp: mtime         Mar 19 15:40:58 2009         timestamp: crtime         Mar 19 15:18:34 2009 The snapshot creation time can be obtained using the zfs command as shown below. # zfs get all tank/home/administrator@snap101NAME                             PROPERTY  VALUEtank/home/administrator@snap101  type      snapshottank/home/administrator@snap101  creation  Mon Mar 23 18:21 2009 In this example, the dataset was created on March 19th and the snapshot was created on March 23rd. In conclusion, Shadow Copies for Shared Folders provides a straightforward way for users to view or recover files from ZFS snapshots.  The Windows desktop provides an easy to use, intuitive GUI and no configuration is required to use or access previous versions of files or folders. REFERENCES FOR MORE INFORMATION ZFS ZFS Learning Center Introduction to Shadow Copies of Shared Folders Shadow Copies for Shared Folders Client

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• Computer Networks UNISA - Chap 15 &ndash; Network Management

  - by MarkPearl

  After reading this section you should be able to Understand network management and the importance of documentation, baseline measurements, policies, and regulations to assess and maintain a network’s health. Manage a network’s performance using SNMP-based network management software, system and event logs, and traffic-shaping techniques Identify the reasons for and elements of an asset managements system Plan and follow regular hardware and software maintenance routines Fundamentals of Network Management Network management refers to the assessment, monitoring, and maintenance of all aspects of a network including checking for hardware faults, ensuring high QoS, maintaining records of network assets, etc. Scope of network management differs depending on the size and requirements of the network. All sub topics of network management share the goals of enhancing the efficiency and performance while preventing costly downtime or loss. Documentation The way documentation is stored may vary, but to adequately manage a network one should at least record the following… Physical topology (types of LAN and WAN topologies – ring, star, hybrid) Access method (does it use Ethernet 802.3, token ring, etc.) Protocols Devices (Switches, routers, etc) Operating Systems Applications Configurations (What version of operating system and config files for serve / client software) Baseline Measurements A baseline is a report of the network’s current state of operation. Baseline measurements might include the utilization rate for your network backbone, number of users logged on per day, etc. Baseline measurements allow you to compare future performance increases or decreases caused by network changes or events with past network performance. Obtaining baseline measurements is the only way to know for certain whether a pattern of usage has changed, or whether a network upgrade has made a difference. There are various tools available for measuring baseline performance on a network. Policies, Procedures, and Regulations Following rules helps limit chaos, confusion, and possibly downtime. The following policies and procedures and regulations make for sound network management. Media installations and management (includes designing physical layout of cable, etc.) Network addressing policies (includes choosing and applying a an addressing scheme) Resource sharing and naming conventions (includes rules for logon ID’s) Security related policies Troubleshooting procedures Backup and disaster recovery procedures In addition to internal policies, a network manager must consider external regulatory rules. Fault and Performance Management After documenting every aspect of your network and following policies and best practices, you are ready to asses you networks status on an on going basis. This process includes both performance management and fault management. Network Management Software To accomplish both fault and performance management, organizations often use enterprise-wide network management software. There various software packages that do this, each collect data from multiple networked devices at regular intervals, in a process called polling. Each managed device runs a network management agent. So as not to affect the performance of a device while collecting information, agents do not demand significant processing resources. The definition of a managed devices and their data are collected in a MIB (Management Information Base). Agents communicate information about managed devices via any of several application layer protocols. On modern networks most agents use SNMP which is part of the TCP/IP suite and typically runs over UDP on port 161. Because of the flexibility and sophisticated network management applications are a challenge to configure and fine-tune. One needs to be careful to only collect relevant information and not cause performance issues (i.e. pinging a device every 5 seconds can be a problem with thousands of devices). MRTG (Multi Router Traffic Grapher) is a simple command line utility that uses SNMP to poll devices and collects data in a log file. MRTG can be used with Windows, UNIX and Linux. System and Event Logs Virtually every condition recognized by an operating system can be recorded. This is typically done using event logs. In Windows there is a GUI event log viewer. Similar information is recorded in UNIX and Linux in a system log. Much of the information collected in event logs and syslog files does not point to a problem, even if it is marked with a warning so it is important to filter your logs appropriately to reduce the noise. Traffic Shaping When a network must handle high volumes of network traffic, users benefit from performance management technique called traffic shaping. Traffic shaping involves manipulating certain characteristics of packets, data streams, or connections to manage the type and amount of traffic traversing a network or interface at any moment. Its goals are to assure timely delivery of the most important traffic while offering the best possible performance for all users. Several types of traffic prioritization exist including prioritizing traffic according to any of the following characteristics… Protocol IP address User group DiffServr VLAN tag in a Data Link layer frame Service or application Caching In addition to traffic shaping, a network or host might use caching to improve performance. Caching is the local storage of frequently needed files that would otherwise be obtained from an external source. By keeping files close to the requester, caching allows the user to access those files quickly. The most common type of caching is Web caching, in which Web pages are stored locally. To an ISP, caching is much more than just convenience. It prevents a significant volume of WAN traffic, thus improving performance and saving money. Asset Management Another key component in managing networks is identifying and tracking its hardware. This is called asset management. The first step to asset management is to take an inventory of each node on the network. You will also want to keep records of every piece of software purchased by your organization. Asset management simplifies maintaining and upgrading the network chiefly because you know what the system includes. In addition, asset management provides network administrators with information about the costs and benefits of certain types of hardware or software. Change Management Networks are always in a stage of flux with various aspects including… Software changes and patches Client Upgrades Shared Application Upgrades NOS Upgrades Hardware and Physical Plant Changes Cabling Upgrades Backbone Upgrades For a detailed explanation on each of these read the textbook (Page 750 – 761)

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• UppercuT v1.0 and 1.1&ndash;Linux (Mono), Multi-targeting, SemVer, Nitriq and Obfuscation, oh my!

  - by Robz / Fervent Coder

  Recently UppercuT (UC) quietly released version 1 (in August). I’m pretty happy with where we are, although I think it’s a few months later than I originally planned. I’m glad I held it back, it gave me some more time to think about some things a little more and also the opportunity to receive a patch for running builds with UC on Linux. We also released v1.1 very recently (December). UppercuT v1 Builds On Linux Perhaps the most significant changes to UC going v1 is that it now supports builds on Linux using Mono! This is thanks mostly to Svein Ackenhausen for the patches and working with me on getting it all working while not breaking the windows builds!  This means you can use mono on Windows or Linux. Notice the shell files to execute with Linux that come as part of UC now. Multi-Targeting Perhaps one of the hardest things to do that requires an automated build is multi-targeting. At v1 this is early, and possibly prone to some issues, but available.  We believe in making everything stupid simple, so it’s as simple as adding a comma to the microsoft.framework property. i.e. “net-3.5, net-4.0” to suddenly produce both framework builds. When you build, this is what you get (if you meet each framework’s requirements): At this time you have to let UC override the build location (as it does by default) or this will not work.  Semantic Versioning By now many of you have been using UppercuT for awhile and have watched how we have done versioning. Many of you who use git already know we put the revision hash in the informational/product version as the last octet. At v1, UppercuT has adopted the semantic versioning scheme. What does that mean? This is a short read, but a good one: http://SemVer.org SemVer (Semantic Versioning) is really using versioning what it was meant for. You have three octets. Major.Minor.Patch as in 1.1.0.  UC will use three different versioning concepts, one for the assembly version, one for the file version, and one for the product version. All versions - The first three octects of the version are owned by SemVer. Major.Minor.Patch i.e.: 1.1.0 Assembly Version - The assembly version would much closer follow SemVer. Last digit is always 0. Major.Minor.Patch.0 i.e: 1.1.0.0 File Version - The file version occupies the build number as the last digit. Major.Minor.Patch.Build i.e.: 1.1.0.2650 Product/Informational Version - The last octect of your product/informational version is the source control revision/hash. Major.Minor.Patch.RevisionOrHash i.e. (TFS/SVN): 1.1.0.235 i.e. (Git/HG): 1.1.0.a45ace4346adef0 SemVer is not on by default, the passive versioning scheme is still in effect. Notice that version.use_semanticversioning has been added to the UppercuT.config file (and version.patch in support of the third octet): Gems Support Gems support was added at v1. This will probably be deprecated as some point once there is an announced sunset for Nu v1. Application gems may keep it around since there is no alternative for that yet though (CoApp would be a possible replacement). Nitriq Support Nitriq is a code analysis tool like NDepend. It’s built by Mr. Jon von Gillern. It uses LINQ query language, so you can use a familiar idiom when analyzing your code base. It’s a pretty awesome tool that has a free version for those looking to do code analysis! To use Nitriq with UC, you are going to need the console edition.  To take advantage of Nitriq, you just need to update the location of Nitriq in the config: Then add the nitriq project files at the root of your source. Please refer to the Nitriq documentation on how these are created. UppercuT v1.1 Obfuscation One thing I started looking into was an easy way to obfuscate my code. I came across EazFuscator, which is both free and awesome. Plus the GUI for it is super simple to use. How do you make obfuscation even easier? Make it a convention and a configurable property in the UC config file! And the code gets obfuscated! Closing Definitely get out and look at the new release. It contains lots of chocolaty (sp?) goodness. And remember, the upgrade path is almost as simple as drag and drop!

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• How to handle updated configuration when it's already been cloned for editing

  - by alexrussell

  Really sorry about the title that probably doesn't make much sense. Hopefully I can explain myself better here as it's something that's kinda bugged me for ages, and is now becoming a pressing concern as I write a bit of software with configuration. Most software comes with default configuration options stored in the app itself, and then there's a configuration file (let's say) that a user can edit. Once created/edited for the first time, subsequent updates to the application can not (easily) modify this configuration file for fear of clobbering the user's own changes to the default configuration. So my question is, if my application adds a new configurable parameter, what's the best way to aid discoverability of the setting and allow the user (developer) to override it as nicely as possible given the following constraints: I actually don't have a canonical default config in the application per se, it's more of a 'cascading filesystem'-like affair - the config template is stored in default/config.json and when the user wishes to edit the configuration, it's copied to user/config.json. If a user config is found it is used - there is no automatic overriding of a subset of keys, the whole new file is used and that's that. If there's no user config the default config is used. When a user wishes to edit the config they run a command to 'generate' it for them (which simply copies the config.json file from the default to the user directory). There is no UI for the configuration options as it's not appropriate to the userbase (think of my software as a library or something, the users are developers, the config is done in the user/config.json file). Due to my software being library-like there's no simple way to, on updating of the software, run some tasks automatically (so any ideas of look at the current config, compare to template config, add ing missing keys) aren't appropriate. The only solution I can think of right now is to say "there's a new config setting X" in release notes, but this doesn't seem ideal to me. If you want any more information let me know. The above specifics are not actually 100% true to my situation, but they represent the problem equally well with lower complexity. If you do want specifics, however, I can explain the exact setup. Further clarification of the type of configuration I mean: think of the Atom code editor. There appears to be a default 'template' config file somewhere, but as soon as a configuration option is edited ~/.atom/config.cson is generated and the setting goes in there. From now on is Atom is updated and gets a new configuration key, this file cannot be overwritten by Atom without a lot of effort to ensure that the addition/modification of the key does not clobber. In Atom's case, because there is a GUI for editing settings, they can get away with just adding the UI for the new setting into the UI to aid 'discoverability' of the new setting. I don't have that luxury. Clarification of my constraints and what I'm actually looking for: The software I'm writing is actually a package for a larger system. This larger system is what provides the configuration, and the way it works is kinda fixed - I just do a config('some.key') kinda call and it knows to look to see if the user has a config clone and if so use it, otherwise use the default config which is part of my package. Now, while I could make my application edit the user's configuration files (there is a convention about where they're stored), it's generally not done, so I'd like to live with the constraints of the system I'm using if possible. And it's not just about discoverability either, one large concern is that the addition of a configuration key won't actually work as soon as the user has their own copy of the original template. Adding the key to the template won't make a difference as that file is never read. As such, I think this is actually quite a big flaw in the design of the configuration cascading system and thus needs to be taken up with my upstream. So, thinking about it, based on my constraints, I don't think there's going to be a good solution save for either editing the user's configuration or using a new config file every time there are updates to the default configuration. Even the release notes idea from above isn't doable as, if the user does not follow the advice, suddenly I have a config key with no value (user-defined or default). So the new question is this: what is the general way to solve the problem of having a default configuration in template config files and allowing a user to make user-specific version of these in order to override the defaults? A per-key cascade (rather than per-file cascade) where the user only specifies their overrides? In this case, what happens if a configuration value is an array - do we replace or append to the default (or, more realistically, how does the user specify whether they wish to replace or append to)? It seems like configuration is kinda hard, so how is it solved in the wild?

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• Using EUSM to manage EUS mappings in OUD

  - by Sylvain Duloutre

  EUSM is a command line tool that can be used to manage the EUS settings starting with the 11.1 release of Oracle. In the 11.1 release the tool is not yet documented in the Oracle EUS documentation, but this is planned for a coming release. The same commands used by EUSM can be performed from the Database Console GUI or from Grid Control*. For more details, search for the document ID 1085065.1 on OTN. The examples below don't include all the EUSM options, only the options that are used by EUS. EUSM is user friendly and intuitive. Typing eusm help <option> lists the parameters to be used for any of the available options. Here are the options related to connectivity with OUD : ldap_host="gnb.fr.oracle.com" - name of the OUD server. ldap_port=1389 - nonSSL (SASL) port used for OUD connections.  ldap_user_dn="cn=directory manager" - OUD administrator nameldap_user_password="welcome1" - OUD administrator password Find below common commands: To List Enterprise roles in OUD eusm listEnterpriseRoles domain_name=<Domain> realm_dn=<realm> ldap_host=<hostname> ldap_port=<port> ldap_user_dn=<oud administrator> ldap_user_password=<oud admin password> To List Mappings eusm listMappings domain_name=<Domain> realm_dn=<realm> ldap_host=<hostname> ldap_port=<port> ldap_user_dn=<oud admin> ldap_user_password=<oud admin password> To List Enterprise Role Info eusm listEnterpriseRoleInfo enterprise_role=<rdn of enterprise role> domain_name=<Domain> realm_dn=<realm> ldap_host=<hostname> ldap_port=<port> ldap_user_dn="<oud admin>" ldap_user_password=<oud admin password> To Create Enterprise Role eusm createRole enterprise_role=<rdn of the enterprise role> domain_name=<Domain> realm_dn=<realm> ldap_host=<hostname> ldap_port=<port> ldap_user_dn="<oud admin>" ldap_user_password=<oud admin password> To Create User-Schema Mapping eusm createMapping database_name=<SID of target database> realm_dn="<realm>" map_type=<ENTRY/SUBTREE> map_dn="<dn of enterprise user>" schema="<name of the shared schema>" ldap_host=<oud hostname> ldap_port=<port> ldap_user_dn="<oud admin>" ldap_user_password="<oud admin password>" To Create Proxy Permission eusm createProxyPerm proxy_permission=<Name of the proxypermission> domain_name=<Domain> realm_dn="<realm>" ldap_host=<hostname> ldap_port=<port> ldap_user_dn="<oud admin>" ldap_user_password=<oud admin password> To Grant Proxy permission to Proxy group eusm grantProxyPerm proxy_permission=<Name of the proxy permission> domain_name=<Domain> realm_dn="<realm>" ldap_host=<hostname> ldap_port=<port> ldap_user_dn="<oud admin>" ldap_user_password=<password> group_dn="<dn of the enterprise group>" To Map proxy permission to proxy user in DB eusm addTargetUser proxy_permission=<Name of the proxy permission> domain_name=<Domain> realm_dn="<realm>" ldap_host=<hostname> ldap_port=<port> ldap_user_dn="<oud admin>" ldap_user_password=<oud admin password> database_name=<SID of the target database> target_user=<target database user> dbuser=<Database user with DBA privileges> dbuser_password=<database user password> dbconnect_string=<database_host>:<port>:<DBSID> Enterprise role to Global role mapping eusm addGlobalRole enterprise_role=<rdn of the enterprise role> domain_name=<Domain> realm_dn="<realm>" database_name=<SID of the target database> global_role=<name of the global role defined in the target database> dbuser=<database user> dbuser_password=<database user password> dbconnect_string=<database_host>:<port>:<DBSID> ldap_host=<oid_hostname> ldap_port=<port> ldap_user_dn="<oud admin>" ldap_user_password=<oud admin password>

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• A very useful custom component

  - by Kevin Smith

  Whenever I am debugging a problem in WebCenter Content (WCC) I often find it useful to see the contents of the internal data binder used by WCC when executing a service. I want to know the value of all parameters passed in by the caller, either a user in the web GUI or from an application calling the service via RIDC or web services. I also want to the know the value of binder variables calculated by WCC as it processes a service. What defaults has it applied based on configuration settings or profile rules? What values has it derived based on the user input? To help with this I created a  component that uses a java filter to dump out the contents of the internal data binder to the WCC trace file. It dumps the binder contents using the toString() method. You can register this filter code using many different filter hooks to see how the binder is updated as WCC processes the service. By default, it uses the validateStandard filter hook which is useful during a CHECKIN service. It uses the system trace section, so make sure that trace section is enabled before looking for the output from this component. Here is some sample output>system/6    10.09 09:57:40.648    IdcServer-1    filter: postParseDataForServiceRequest, binder start -- system/6    10.09 09:57:40.698    IdcServer-1    *** LocalData *** system/6    10.09 09:57:40.698    IdcServer-1    (10 keys + 0 defaults) system/6    10.09 09:57:40.698    IdcServer-1    ClientEncoding=UTF-8 system/6    10.09 09:57:40.698    IdcServer-1    IdcService=CHECKIN_UNIVERSAL system/6    10.09 09:57:40.698    IdcServer-1    NoHttpHeaders=0 system/6    10.09 09:57:40.698    IdcServer-1    UserDateFormat=iso8601 system/6    10.09 09:57:40.698    IdcServer-1    UserTimeZone=UTC system/6    10.09 09:57:40.698    IdcServer-1    dDocTitle=Check in from RIDC using Framework Folder system/6    10.09 09:57:40.698    IdcServer-1    dDocType=Document system/6    10.09 09:57:40.698    IdcServer-1    dSecurityGroup=Public system/6    10.09 09:57:40.698    IdcServer-1    parentFolderPath=/folder1/folder2 system/6    10.09 09:57:40.698    IdcServer-1    primaryFile=testfile5.bin     system/6    10.09 09:57:40.698    IdcServer-1    ***  RESULT SETS  ***>system/6    10.09 09:57:40.698    IdcServer-1    binder end -------------------------------------------- See the readme included in the component for more details. You can download the component from here.

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• Value cannot be null, ArgumentNullException

  - by Wooolie

  I am currently trying to return an array which contains information about a seat at a theate such as Seat number, Name, Price and Status. I am using a combobox where I want to list all vacant or reserved seats based upon choice. When I choose reserved seats in my combobox, I call upon a method using AddRange. This method is supposed to loop through an array containing all seats and their information. If a seat is Vacant, I add it to an array. When all is done, I return this array. However, I am dealing with a ArgumentNullException. MainForm namespace Assignment4 { public partial class MainForm : Form { // private const int totNumberOfSeats = 240; private SeatManager seatMngr; private const int columns = 10; private const int rows = 10; public enum DisplayOptions { AllSeats, VacantSeats, ReservedSeats } public MainForm() { InitializeComponent(); seatMngr = new SeatManager(rows, columns); InitializeGUI(); } /// <summary> /// Fill the listbox with information from the beginning, /// let the user be able to choose from vacant seats. /// </summary> private void InitializeGUI() { rbReserve.Checked = true; txtName.Text = string.Empty; txtPrice.Text = string.Empty; lblTotalSeats.Text = seatMngr.GetNumOfSeats().ToString(); cmbOptions.Items.AddRange(Enum.GetNames(typeof(DisplayOptions))); cmbOptions.SelectedIndex = 0; UpdateGUI(); } /// <summary> /// call on methods ValidateName and ValidatePrice with arguments /// </summary> /// <param name="name"></param> /// <param name="price"></param> /// <returns></returns> private bool ValidateInput(out string name, out double price) { bool nameOK = ValidateName(out name); bool priceOK = ValidatePrice(out price); return nameOK && priceOK; } /// <summary> /// Validate name using inputUtility, show error if input is invalid /// </summary> /// <param name="name"></param> /// <returns></returns> private bool ValidateName(out string name) { name = txtName.Text.Trim(); if (!InputUtility.ValidateString(name)) { //inform user MessageBox.Show("Input of name is Invalid. It can not be empty, " + Environment.NewLine + "and must have at least one character.", " Error!"); txtName.Focus(); txtName.Text = " "; txtName.SelectAll(); return false; } return true; } /// <summary> /// Validate price using inputUtility, show error if input is invalid /// </summary> /// <param name="price"></param> /// <returns></returns> private bool ValidatePrice(out double price) { // show error if input is invalid if (!InputUtility.GetDouble(txtPrice.Text.Trim(), out price, 0)) { //inform user MessageBox.Show("Input of price is Invalid. It can not be less than 0, " + Environment.NewLine + "and must not be empty.", " Error!"); txtPrice.Focus(); txtPrice.Text = " "; txtPrice.SelectAll(); return false; } return true; } /// <summary> /// Check if item is selected in listbox /// </summary> /// <returns></returns> private bool CheckSelectedIndex() { int index = lbSeats.SelectedIndex; if (index < 0) { MessageBox.Show("Please select an item in the box"); return false; } else return true; } /// <summary> /// Call method ReserveOrCancelSeat when button OK is clicked /// </summary> /// <param name="sender"></param> /// <param name="e"></param> private void btnOK_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) { ReserveOrCancelSeat(); } /// <summary> /// Reserve or cancel seat depending on choice the user makes. Update GUI after choice. /// </summary> private void ReserveOrCancelSeat() { if (CheckSelectedIndex() == true) { string name = string.Empty; double price = 0.0; int selectedSeat = lbSeats.SelectedIndex; bool reserve = false; bool cancel = false; if (rbReserve.Checked) { DialogResult result = MessageBox.Show("Do you want to continue?", "Approve", MessageBoxButtons.YesNo); if (result == DialogResult.Yes) { if (ValidateInput(out name, out price)) { reserve = seatMngr.ReserveSeat(name, price, selectedSeat); if (reserve == true) { MessageBox.Show("Seat has been reserved"); UpdateGUI(); } else { MessageBox.Show("Seat has already been reserved"); } } } } else { DialogResult result = MessageBox.Show("Do you want to continue?", "Approve", MessageBoxButtons.YesNo); if (result == DialogResult.Yes) { cancel = seatMngr.CancelSeat(selectedSeat); if (cancel == true) { MessageBox.Show("Seat has been cancelled"); UpdateGUI(); } else { MessageBox.Show("Seat is already vacant"); } } } UpdateGUI(); } } /// <summary> /// Update GUI with new information. /// </summary> /// <param name="customerName"></param> /// <param name="price"></param> private void UpdateGUI() { lbSeats.Items.Clear(); lbSeats.Items.AddRange(seatMngr.GetSeatInfoString()); lblVacantSeats.Text = seatMngr.GetNumOfVacant().ToString(); lblReservedSeats.Text = seatMngr.GetNumOfReserved().ToString(); if (rbReserve.Checked) { txtName.Text = string.Empty; txtPrice.Text = string.Empty; } } /// <summary> /// set textboxes to false if cancel reservation button is checked /// </summary> /// <param name="sender"></param> /// <param name="e"></param> private void rbCancel_CheckedChanged_1(object sender, EventArgs e) { txtName.Enabled = false; txtPrice.Enabled = false; } /// <summary> /// set textboxes to true if reserved radiobutton is checked /// </summary> /// <param name="sender"></param> /// <param name="e"></param> private void rbReserve_CheckedChanged_1(object sender, EventArgs e) { txtName.Enabled = true; txtPrice.Enabled = true; } /// <summary> /// Make necessary changes on the list depending on what choice the user makes. Show only /// what the user wants to see, whether its all seats, reserved seats or vacant seats only. /// </summary> /// <param name="sender"></param> /// <param name="e"></param> private void cmbOptions_SelectedIndexChanged(object sender, EventArgs e) { if (cmbOptions.SelectedIndex == 0 && rbReserve.Checked) //All seats visible. { UpdateGUI(); txtName.Enabled = true; txtPrice.Enabled = true; btnOK.Enabled = true; } else if (cmbOptions.SelectedIndex == 0 && rbCancel.Checked) { UpdateGUI(); txtName.Enabled = false; txtPrice.Enabled = false; btnOK.Enabled = true; } else if (cmbOptions.SelectedIndex == 1) //Only vacant seats visible. { lbSeats.Items.Clear(); lbSeats.Items.AddRange(seatMngr.ReturnVacantSeats()); // Value cannot be null txtName.Enabled = false; txtPrice.Enabled = false; btnOK.Enabled = false; } else if (cmbOptions.SelectedIndex == 2) //Only reserved seats visible. { lbSeats.Items.Clear(); lbSeats.Items.AddRange(seatMngr.ReturnReservedSeats()); // Value cannot be null txtName.Enabled = false; txtPrice.Enabled = false; btnOK.Enabled = false; } } } } SeatManager namespace Assignment4 { class SeatManager { private string[,] nameList = null; private double[,] priceList = null; private string[,] seatList = null; private readonly int totCols; private readonly int totRows; /// <summary> /// Constructor with declarations of size for all arrays. /// </summary> /// <param name="totNumberOfSeats"></param> public SeatManager(int row, int cols) { totCols = cols; totRows = row; nameList = new string[row, cols]; priceList = new double[row, cols]; seatList = new string[row, cols]; for (int rows = 0; rows < row; rows++) { for (int col = 0; col < totCols; col++) { seatList[rows, col] = "Vacant"; } } } /// <summary> /// Check if index is within bounds of the array /// </summary> /// <param name="index"></param> /// <returns></returns> private bool CheckIndex(int index) { if (index >= 0 && index < nameList.Length) return true; else return false; } /// <summary> /// Return total number of seats /// </summary> /// <returns></returns> public int GetNumOfSeats() { int count = 0; for (int rows = 0; rows < totRows; rows++) { for (int cols = 0; cols < totCols; cols++) { count++; } } return count; } /// <summary> /// Calculate and return total number of reserved seats /// </summary> /// <returns></returns> public int GetNumOfReserved() { int totReservedSeats = 0; for (int rows = 0; rows < totRows; rows++) { for (int col = 0; col < totCols; col++) { if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(nameList[rows, col])) { totReservedSeats++; } } } return totReservedSeats; } /// <summary> /// Calculate and return total number of vacant seats /// </summary> /// <returns></returns> public int GetNumOfVacant() { int totVacantSeats = 0; for (int rows = 0; rows < totRows; rows++) { for (int col = 0; col < totCols; col++) { if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(nameList[rows, col])) { totVacantSeats++; } } } return totVacantSeats; } /// <summary> /// Return formated string with info about the seat, name, price and its status /// </summary> /// <param name="index"></param> /// <returns></returns> public string GetSeatInfoAt(int index) { int cols = ReturnColumn(index); int rows = ReturnRow(index); string strOut = string.Format("{0,2} {1,10} {2,17} {3,20} {4,35:f2}", rows+1, cols+1, seatList[rows, cols], nameList[rows, cols], priceList[rows, cols]); return strOut; } /// <summary> /// Send an array containing all seats in the cinema /// </summary> /// <returns></returns> public string[] GetSeatInfoString() { int count = totRows * totCols; if (count <= 0) return null; string[] strSeatInfoStrings = new string[count]; for (int i = 0; i < totRows * totCols; i++) { strSeatInfoStrings[i] = GetSeatInfoAt(i); } return strSeatInfoStrings; } /// <summary> /// Reserve seat if seat is vacant /// </summary> /// <param name="name"></param> /// <param name="price"></param> /// <param name="index"></param> /// <returns></returns> public bool ReserveSeat(string name, double price, int index) { int cols = ReturnColumn(index); int rows = ReturnRow(index); if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(nameList[rows, cols])) { nameList[rows, cols] = name; priceList[rows, cols] = price; seatList[rows, cols] = "Reserved"; return true; } else return false; } public string[] ReturnVacantSeats() { int totVacantSeats = int.Parse(GetNumOfVacant().ToString()); string[] vacantSeats = new string[totVacantSeats]; for (int i = 0; i < vacantSeats.Length; i++) { if (GetSeatInfoAt(i) == "Vacant") { vacantSeats[i] = GetSeatInfoAt(i); } } return vacantSeats; } public string[] ReturnReservedSeats() { int totReservedSeats = int.Parse(GetNumOfReserved().ToString()); string[] reservedSeats = new string[totReservedSeats]; for (int i = 0; i < reservedSeats.Length; i++) { if (GetSeatInfoAt(i) == "Reserved") { reservedSeats[i] = GetSeatInfoAt(i); } } return reservedSeats; } /// <summary> /// Cancel seat if seat is reserved /// </summary> /// <param name="index"></param> /// <returns></returns> public bool CancelSeat(int index) { int cols = ReturnColumn(index); int rows = ReturnRow(index); if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(nameList[rows, cols])) { nameList[rows, cols] = ""; priceList[rows, cols] = 0.0; seatList[rows, cols] = "Vacant"; return true; } else { return false; } } /// <summary> /// Convert index to row and return value /// </summary> /// <param name="index"></param> /// <returns></returns> public int ReturnRow(int index) { int vectorRow = index; int row; row = (int)Math.Ceiling((double)(vectorRow / totCols)); return row; } /// <summary> /// Convert index to column and return value /// </summary> /// <param name="index"></param> /// <returns></returns> public int ReturnColumn(int index) { int row = index; int col = row % totCols; return col; } } } In MainForm, this is where I get ArgumentNullException: lbSeats.Items.AddRange(seatMngr.ReturnVacantSeats()); And this is the method where the array is to be returned containing all vacant seats: public string[] ReturnVacantSeats() { int totVacantSeats = int.Parse(GetNumOfVacant().ToString()); string[] vacantSeats = new string[totVacantSeats]; for (int i = 0; i < vacantSeats.Length; i++) { if (GetSeatInfoAt(i) == "Vacant") { vacantSeats[i] = GetSeatInfoAt(i); } } return vacantSeats; }

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• Clone a VirtualBox Machine

  I just installed VirtualBox, which I want to try out based on recommendations from peers for running a server from within my Windows 7 x64 OS.  Ive never used VirtualBox, so Im certainly no expert at it, but I did want to share my experience with it thus far.  Specifically, my intention is to create a couple of virtual machines.  One I intend to use as a build server, for which a virtual machine makes sense because I can easily move it around as needed if there are hardware issues (its worth noting my need for setting up a build server at the moment is a result of a disk failure on the old build server).  The other VM I want to set up will act as a proxy server for the issue tracking system were using at Code Project, Axosoft OnTime.  They have a Remote Server application for this purpose, and since the OnTime install is 300 miles away from my location, the Remote Server should speed up my use of the OnTime client by limiting the chattiness with the database (at least, thats the hope). So, I need two VMs, and Im lazy.  I dont want to have to install the OS and such twice.  No problem, it should be simple to clone a virtualbox machine, or clone a virtualbox hard drive, right?  Well unfortunately, if you look at the UI for VirtualBox, theres no such command.  Youre left wondering How do I clone a VirtualBox machine? or the slightly related How do I clone a VirtualBox hard drive? If youve used VirtualPC, then you know that its actually pretty easy to copy and move around those VMs.  Not quite so easy with VirtualBox.  Finding the files is easy, theyre located in your user folder within the .VirtualBox folder (possibly within a HardDisks folder).  The disks have a .vdi extension and will be pretty large if youve installed anything.  The one shown here has just Windows Server 2008 R2 installed on it nothing else. If you copy the .vdi file and rename it, you can use the Virtual Media Manager to view it and you can create a new machine and choose the new drive to attach to.  Unfortunately, if you simply make a copy of the drive, this wont work and youll get an error that says something to the effect of: Cannot register the hard disk PATH with UUID {id goes here} because a hard disk PATH2 with UUID {same id goes here} already exists in the media registry (PATH to XML file). There are command line tools you can use to do this in a way that avoids this error.  Specifically, the c:\Program File\Sun\VirtualBox\VBoxManage.exe program is used for all command line access to VirtualBox, and to copy a virtual disk (.vdi file) you would call something like this: VBoxManage clonehd Disk1.vdi Disk1_Copy.vdi However, in my case this didnt work.  I got basically the same error I showed above, along with some debug information for line 628 of VBoxManageDisk.cpp.  As my main task was not to debug the C++ code used to write VirtualBox, I continued looking for a simple way to clone a virtual drive.  I found it in this blog post. The Secret setvdiuuid Command VBoxManage has a whole bunch of commands you can use with it just pass it /? to see the list.  However, it also has a special command called internalcommands that opens up access to even more commands.  The one thats interesting for us here is the setvdiuuid command.  By calling this command and passing in the file path to your vdi file, it will reset the UUID to a new (random, apparently) UUID.  This then allows the virtual media manager to cope with the file, and lets you set up new machines that reference the newly UUIDd virtual drive.  The full command line would be: VBoxManage internalcommands setvdiuuid MyCopy.vdi The following screenshot shows the error when trying clonehd as well as the successful use of setvdiuuid. Summary Now that I can clone machines easily, its a simple matter to set up base builds of any OS I might need, and then fork from there as needed.  Hopefully the GUI for VirtualBox will be improved to include better support for copying machines/disks, as this is Im sure a very common scenario. Did you know that DotNetSlackers also publishes .net articles written by top known .net Authors? We already have over 80 articles in several categories including Silverlight. Take a look: here.

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• Organization &amp; Architecture UNISA Studies &ndash; Chap 4

  - by MarkPearl

  Learning Outcomes Explain the characteristics of memory systems Describe the memory hierarchy Discuss cache memory principles Discuss issues relevant to cache design Describe the cache organization of the Pentium Computer Memory Systems There are key characteristics of memory… Location – internal or external Capacity – expressed in terms of bytes Unit of Transfer – the number of bits read out of or written into memory at a time Access Method – sequential, direct, random or associative From a users perspective the two most important characteristics of memory are… Capacity Performance – access time, memory cycle time, transfer rate The trade off for memory happens along three axis… Faster access time, greater cost per bit Greater capacity, smaller cost per bit Greater capacity, slower access time This leads to people using a tiered approach in their use of memory   As one goes down the hierarchy, the following occurs… Decreasing cost per bit Increasing capacity Increasing access time Decreasing frequency of access of the memory by the processor The use of two levels of memory to reduce average access time works in principle, but only if conditions 1 to 4 apply. A variety of technologies exist that allow us to accomplish this. Thus it is possible to organize data across the hierarchy such that the percentage of accesses to each successively lower level is substantially less than that of the level above. A portion of main memory can be used as a buffer to hold data temporarily that is to be read out to disk. This is sometimes referred to as a disk cache and improves performance in two ways… Disk writes are clustered. Instead of many small transfers of data, we have a few large transfers of data. This improves disk performance and minimizes processor involvement. Some data designed for write-out may be referenced by a program before the next dump to disk. In that case the data is retrieved rapidly from the software cache rather than slowly from disk. Cache Memory Principles Cache memory is substantially faster than main memory. A caching system works as follows.. When a processor attempts to read a word of memory, a check is made to see if this in in cache memory… If it is, the data is supplied, If it is not in the cache, a block of main memory, consisting of a fixed number of words is loaded to the cache. Because of the phenomenon of locality of references, when a block of data is fetched into the cache, it is likely that there will be future references to that same memory location or to other words in the block. Elements of Cache Design While there are a large number of cache implementations, there are a few basic design elements that serve to classify and differentiate cache architectures… Cache Addresses Cache Size Mapping Function Replacement Algorithm Write Policy Line Size Number of Caches Cache Addresses Almost all non-embedded processors support virtual memory. Virtual memory in essence allows a program to address memory from a logical point of view without needing to worry about the amount of physical memory available. When virtual addresses are used the designer may choose to place the cache between the MMU (memory management unit) and the processor or between the MMU and main memory. The disadvantage of virtual memory is that most virtual memory systems supply each application with the same virtual memory address space (each application sees virtual memory starting at memory address 0), which means the cache memory must be completely flushed with each application context switch or extra bits must be added to each line of the cache to identify which virtual address space the address refers to. Cache Size We would like the size of the cache to be small enough so that the overall average cost per bit is close to that of main memory alone and large enough so that the overall average access time is close to that of the cache alone. Also, larger caches are slightly slower than smaller ones. Mapping Function Because there are fewer cache lines than main memory blocks, an algorithm is needed for mapping main memory blocks into cache lines. The choice of mapping function dictates how the cache is organized. Three techniques can be used… Direct – simplest technique, maps each block of main memory into only one possible cache line Associative – Each main memory block to be loaded into any line of the cache Set Associative – exhibits the strengths of both the direct and associative approaches while reducing their disadvantages For detailed explanations of each approach – read the text book (page 148 – 154) Replacement Algorithm For associative and set associating mapping a replacement algorithm is needed to determine which of the existing blocks in the cache must be replaced by a new block. There are four common approaches… LRU (Least recently used) FIFO (First in first out) LFU (Least frequently used) Random selection Write Policy When a block resident in the cache is to be replaced, there are two cases to consider If no writes to that block have happened in the cache – discard it If a write has occurred, a process needs to be initiated where the changes in the cache are propagated back to the main memory. There are several approaches to achieve this including… Write Through – all writes to the cache are done to the main memory as well at the point of the change Write Back – when a block is replaced, all dirty bits are written back to main memory The problem is complicated when we have multiple caches, there are techniques to accommodate for this but I have not summarized them. Line Size When a block of data is retrieved and placed in the cache, not only the desired word but also some number of adjacent words are retrieved. As the block size increases from very small to larger sizes, the hit ratio will at first increase because of the principle of locality, which states that the data in the vicinity of a referenced word are likely to be referenced in the near future. As the block size increases, more useful data are brought into cache. The hit ratio will begin to decrease as the block becomes even bigger and the probability of using the newly fetched information becomes less than the probability of using the newly fetched information that has to be replaced. Two specific effects come into play… Larger blocks reduce the number of blocks that fit into a cache. Because each block fetch overwrites older cache contents, a small number of blocks results in data being overwritten shortly after they are fetched. As a block becomes larger, each additional word is farther from the requested word and therefore less likely to be needed in the near future. The relationship between block size and hit ratio is complex, and no set approach is judged to be the best in all circumstances.   Pentium 4 and ARM cache organizations The processor core consists of four major components: Fetch/decode unit – fetches program instruction in order from the L2 cache, decodes these into a series of micro-operations, and stores the results in the L2 instruction cache Out-of-order execution logic – Schedules execution of the micro-operations subject to data dependencies and resource availability – thus micro-operations may be scheduled for execution in a different order than they were fetched from the instruction stream. As time permits, this unit schedules speculative execution of micro-operations that may be required in the future Execution units – These units execute micro-operations, fetching the required data from the L1 data cache and temporarily storing results in registers Memory subsystem – This unit includes the L2 and L3 caches and the system bus, which is used to access main memory when the L1 and L2 caches have a cache miss and to access the system I/O resources

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• update jframe in java or revalidate/repaint/ panel

  - by user1516251

  How to update a java frame with changed content I want to update a frame or just the panel with updated content. What do I use for this Here is where i want to revalidate the frame or repaint mainpanel or whatever will work I have tried a number of things, but none of them have worked. public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) { //System.out.println(e.getActionCommand()); if (e.getActionCommand().equals("advance")) { multi--; // Revalidate update repaint here <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< } else if (e.getActionCommand().equals("reverse")) { multi++; // Revalidate update repaint here <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< } else { openURL(e.getActionCommand()); } } Here is the whole java file /* * * */ package build; import java.lang.reflect.Method; import javax.swing.JOptionPane; import java.util.Arrays; import java.util.*; import java.util.ArrayList; import javax.swing.*; import javax.swing.AbstractButton; import javax.swing.JScrollPane; import javax.swing.JButton; import javax.swing.JPanel; import javax.swing.JFrame; import javax.swing.ImageIcon; import java.awt.*; import java.awt.event.ActionEvent; import java.awt.event.ActionListener; import java.awt.event.KeyEvent; /* * ButtonDemo.java requires the following files: * images/right.gif * images/middle.gif * images/left.gif */ public class StockTable extends JPanel implements ActionListener { static int multi = 1; int roll = 0; static TextVars textvars = new TextVars(); static final String[] browsers = { "firefox", "opera", "konqueror", "epiphany", "seamonkey", "galeon", "kazehakase", "mozilla", "netscape" }; JFrame frame; JPanel mainpanel, panel1, panel2, panel3, panel4, panel2left, panel2center, panel2right; JButton stknames_btn[] = new JButton[textvars.getNumberOfStocks()]; JLabel label[] = new JLabel[textvars.getNumberOfStocks()]; JLabel headlabel, dayspan, namelabel; JRadioButton radioButton; JButton button; JScrollPane scrollpane; int wid = 825; public JPanel createContentPane() { mainpanel = new JPanel(); mainpanel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(wid, 800)); mainpanel.setLayout(new GridBagLayout()); GridBagConstraints c = new GridBagConstraints(); panel1 = new JPanel(); panel1.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(wid, 25)); c.gridx = 0; c.gridy = 0; c.insets = new Insets(0,0,0,0); mainpanel.add(panel1, c); // Panel 2------------ panel2 = new JPanel(); panel2.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(wid, 51)); c.gridx = 0; c.gridy = 1; c.insets = new Insets(0,0,0,0); mainpanel.add(panel2, c); panel2left = new JPanel(); panel2left.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(270, 51)); c.gridx = 0; c.gridy = 1; c.insets = new Insets(0,0,0,0); panel2.add(panel2left, c); panel2center = new JPanel(); panel2center.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(258, 51)); c.gridx = 1; c.gridy = 1; c.insets = new Insets(0,0,0,0); panel2.add(panel2center, c); panel2right = new JPanel(); panel2right.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(270, 51)); c.gridx = 2; c.gridy = 1; c.insets = new Insets(0,0,0,0); panel2.add(panel2right, c); // ------------------ panel3 = new JPanel(); panel3.setLayout(new GridBagLayout()); scrollpane = new JScrollPane(panel3); scrollpane.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(wid, 675)); c.gridx = 0; c.gridy = 2; c.insets = new Insets(0,0,0,0); mainpanel.add(scrollpane, c); ImageIcon leftButtonIcon = createImageIcon("images/right.gif"); //b1 = new JButton("Disable middle button", leftButtonIcon); //b1.setVerticalTextPosition(AbstractButton.CENTER); //b1.setHorizontalTextPosition(AbstractButton.LEADING); //aka LEFT, for left-to-right locales //b1.setMnemonic(KeyEvent.VK_D); //b1.setActionCommand("disable"); //Listen for actions on buttons 1 //b1.addActionListener(this); //b1.setToolTipText("Click this button to disable the middle button."); //Add Components to this container, using the default FlowLayout. //add(b1); headlabel = new JLabel("hellorow1"); c.gridx = 0; c.gridy = 0; c.insets = new Insets(0, 0, 0, 0); panel1.add(headlabel, c); radioButton = new JRadioButton("Percentage"); c.gridx = 2; c.gridy = 0; c.insets = new Insets(0, 0, 0, 0); panel1.add(radioButton, c); radioButton = new JRadioButton("Days Range"); c.gridx = 3; c.gridy = 0; c.insets = new Insets(0, 0, 0, 0); panel1.add(radioButton, c); radioButton = new JRadioButton("Open / Close"); c.gridx = 4; c.gridy = 0; c.insets = new Insets(0, 0, 0,0 ); panel1.add(radioButton, c); button = new JButton("<<"); button.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(50, 50)); button.setActionCommand("reverse"); button.addActionListener(this); c.gridx = 0; c.gridy = 1; c.insets = new Insets(0, 0, 0, 0); panel2left.add(button, c); dayspan = new JLabel("hellorow2"); dayspan.setHorizontalAlignment(JLabel.CENTER); dayspan.setVerticalAlignment(JLabel.CENTER); dayspan.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(270, 50)); c.gridx = 1; c.gridy = 1; c.insets = new Insets(0, 0, 0, 0); panel2center.add(dayspan, c); button = new JButton(">>"); button.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(50, 50)); button.setActionCommand("advance"); button.addActionListener(this); if (multi == 0) { button.setEnabled(false); } else { button.setEnabled(true); } c.gridx = 2; c.gridy = 1; c.insets = new Insets(0, 0, 0, 0); panel2right.add(button, c); int availSpace_int = textvars.getStocks().size()-textvars.getNumberOfStocks()*7; ArrayList<String[]> stocknames = textvars.getStockNames(); ArrayList<String[]> stocks = textvars.getStocks(); for (int column = 0; column < 8; column++) { for (int row = 0; row < textvars.getNumberOfStocks(); row++) { if (column==0) { if (row==0) { namelabel = new JLabel(stocknames.get(0)[0]); namelabel.setVerticalAlignment(JLabel.CENTER); namelabel.setHorizontalAlignment(JLabel.CENTER); namelabel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(100, 25)); c.gridx = column; c.gridy = row; c.insets = new Insets(0, 0, 0, 0); panel3.add(namelabel, c); } else { stknames_btn[row] = new JButton(stocknames.get(row)[0], leftButtonIcon); stknames_btn[row].setVerticalTextPosition(AbstractButton.CENTER); stknames_btn[row].setActionCommand(stocknames.get(row)[1]); stknames_btn[row].addActionListener(this); stknames_btn[row].setToolTipText("go to Google Finance "+stocknames.get(row)[0]); stknames_btn[row].setPreferredSize(new Dimension(100, 25)); c.gridx = column; c.gridy = row; c.insets = new Insets(0, 0, 0, 0); //scrollpane.add(stknames[row], c); panel3.add(stknames_btn[row], c); } } else { label[row]= new JLabel(textvars.getStocks().get(columnMulti(multi))[1]); label[row].setBorder(BorderFactory.createLineBorder(Color.black)); label[row].setVerticalAlignment(JLabel.CENTER); label[row].setHorizontalAlignment(JLabel.CENTER); label[row].setPreferredSize(new Dimension(100, 25)); c.gridx = column; c.gridy = row; c.insets = new Insets(0,0,0,0); panel3.add(label[row], c); } } } return mainpanel; } public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) { //System.out.println(e.getActionCommand()); if (e.getActionCommand().equals("advance")) { multi--; } else if (e.getActionCommand().equals("reverse")) { multi++; } else { openURL(e.getActionCommand()); } } /** Returns an ImageIcon, or null if the path was invalid. */ protected static ImageIcon createImageIcon(String path) { java.net.URL imgURL = StockTable.class.getResource(path); if (imgURL != null) { return new ImageIcon(imgURL); } else { System.err.println("Couldn't find file: " + path); return null; } } public static void openURL(String url) { String osName = System.getProperty("os.name"); try { if (osName.startsWith("Mac OS")) { Class<?> fileMgr = Class.forName("com.apple.eio.FileManager"); Method openURL = fileMgr.getDeclaredMethod("openURL", new Class[] {String.class}); openURL.invoke(null, new Object[] {url}); } else if (osName.startsWith("Windows")) { Runtime.getRuntime().exec("rundll32 url.dll,FileProtocolHandler " + url); } else { //assume Unix or Linux boolean found = false; for (String browser : browsers) if (!found) { found = Runtime.getRuntime().exec( new String[] {"which", browser}).waitFor() == 0; if (found) Runtime.getRuntime().exec(new String[] {browser, url}); } if (!found) throw new Exception(Arrays.toString(browsers)); } } catch (Exception e) { JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Error attempting to launch web browser\n" + e.toString()); } } int reit = 0; int start = textvars.getStocks().size()-((textvars.getNumberOfStocks()*5)*7)-1; public int columnMulti(int multi) { reit++; start++; if (reit == textvars.getNumberOfStocks()) { reit = 0; start=start+64; } //start = start - (multi*(textvars.getNumberOfStocks())); return start; } /** * Create the GUI and show it. For thread safety, * this method should be invoked from the * event-dispatching thread. */ private static void createAndShowGUI() { //Create and set up the window. JFrame frame = new JFrame("Stock Table"); frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE); //Create and set up the content pane. StockTable newContentPane = new StockTable(); //newContentPane.setOpaque(true); //content panes must be opaque //frame.setContentPane(newContentPane); frame.setContentPane(newContentPane.createContentPane()); frame.setSize(800, 800); //Display the window. frame.pack(); frame.setVisible(true); } public static void main(String[] args) { //Schedule a job for the event-dispatching thread: //creating and showing this application's GUI. javax.swing.SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() { public void run() { createAndShowGUI(); } }); } }

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