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Storing and displaying unicode string (??????) using PHP and MySQL

- by Anirudh Goel

I have to store hindi text in a MySQL database, fetch it using a PHP script and display it on a webpage. I did the following: I created a database and set its encoding to UTF-8 and also the collation to utf8_bin. I added a varchar field in the table and set it to accept UTF-8 text in the charset property. Then I set about adding data to it. Here I had to copy data from an existing site. The hindi text looks like this: ????????:05:30 I directly copied this text into my database and used the PHP code echo(utf8_encode($string)) to display the data. Upon doing so the browser showed me "??????". When I inserted the UTF equivalent of the text by going to "view source" in the browser, however, ???????? translates into सूर्योदय. If I enter and store सूर्योदय in the database, it converts perfectly. So what I want to know is how I can directly store ???????? into my database and fetch it and display it in my webpage using PHP. Also, can anyone help me understand if there's a script which when I type in ????????, gives me सूर्योदय? Solution Found I wrote the following sample script which worked for me. Hope it helps someone else too <html> <head> <title>Hindi</title></head> <body> <?php include("connection.php"); //simple connection setting $result = mysql_query("SET NAMES utf8"); //the main trick $cmd = "select * from hindi"; $result = mysql_query($cmd); while ($myrow = mysql_fetch_row($result)) { echo ($myrow[0]); } ?> </body> </html> The dump for my database storing hindi utf strings is CREATE TABLE `hindi` ( `data` varchar(1000) character set utf8 collate utf8_bin default NULL ) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1; INSERT INTO `hindi` VALUES ('????????'); Now my question is, how did it work without specifying "META" or header info? Thanks!

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CSS: my side bar overflow the container div's border when I set it's height to 100%

- by mnml

Hi, My side bar overflow the container div's border when I set it's height to 100%, I would like to know if there is any way I can have it's height 100% minus some px. Here is the source: <div id="main"> <br /><br /> <div class="content"> <div id="sidecontent"> <h1 id="title">Title</h1> ***** </div> <div id="sidebar"> <div class="sidebox"> **** </div> </div> </div> <div class="bottom"></div> </div> #main { position: relative; background:transparent url('/public/images/main_bg.png') top left repeat-y; padding:37px 37px 37px 37px; margin-left: auto ; margin-right: auto ; width:940px; min-height: 363px; } #main div.top, #main div.bottom { height:70px; width:1015px; position: absolute; left:0px; } #main div.content { padding:0 15px 0 15px; } #sidecontent { width: 675px; } #sidebar { background: #fff url('/public/images/bg_side.png') top right repeat-y; position: absolute; height: 100%; right:34px; top:42px; width: 200px; padding: 10px 10px 0px 40px; z-index:50; } .created_at { color:gray; } .sidebox { margin-bottom: 5px; } #main div.top { top:-70px; background: transparent url(/public/images/main_top.png) bottom no-repeat; } #main div.bottom { bottom:-70px; background: transparent url(/public/images/main_bottom.png) top no-repeat; }

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What does it mean to add a hyphen to the closing tag of a ruby loop <% -%>

- by Lee

I'm a noob at this and can't figure out why the hyphen gets added to something like this: <% if flash[:notice] -% <%= flash[:notice] % <% end -% Not even sure if my jargon in the title of this question is accurate.

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Windows Azure: Import/Export Hard Drives, VM ACLs, Web Sockets, Remote Debugging, Continuous Delivery, New Relic, Billing Alerts and More

- by ScottGu

Two weeks ago we released a giant set of improvements to Windows Azure, as well as a significant update of the Windows Azure SDK. This morning we released another massive set of enhancements to Windows Azure. Today’s new capabilities include: Storage: Import/Export Hard Disk Drives to your Storage Accounts HDInsight: General Availability of our Hadoop Service in the cloud Virtual Machines: New VM Gallery, ACL support for VIPs Web Sites: WebSocket and Remote Debugging Support Notification Hubs: Segmented customer push notification support with tag expressions TFS & GIT: Continuous Delivery Support for Web Sites + Cloud Services Developer Analytics: New Relic support for Web Sites + Mobile Services Service Bus: Support for partitioned queues and topics Billing: New Billing Alert Service that sends emails notifications when your bill hits a threshold you define All of these improvements are now available to use immediately (note that some features are still in preview). Below are more details about them. Storage: Import/Export Hard Disk Drives to Windows Azure I am excited to announce the preview of our new Windows Azure Import/Export Service! The Windows Azure Import/Export Service enables you to move large amounts of on-premises data into and out of your Windows Azure Storage accounts. It does this by enabling you to securely ship hard disk drives directly to our Windows Azure data centers. Once we receive the drives we’ll automatically transfer the data to or from your Windows Azure Storage account. This enables you to import or export massive amounts of data more quickly and cost effectively (and not be constrained by available network bandwidth). Encrypted Transport Our Import/Export service provides built-in support for BitLocker disk encryption – which enables you to securely encrypt data on the hard drives before you send it, and not have to worry about it being compromised even if the disk is lost/stolen in transit (since the content on the transported hard drives is completely encrypted and you are the only one who has the key to it). The drive preparation tool we are shipping today makes setting up bitlocker encryption on these hard drives easy. How to Import/Export your first Hard Drive of Data You can read our Getting Started Guide to learn more about how to begin using the import/export service. You can create import and export jobs via the Windows Azure Management Portal as well as programmatically using our Server Management APIs. It is really easy to create a new import or export job using the Windows Azure Management Portal. Simply navigate to a Windows Azure storage account, and then click the new Import/Export tab now available within it (note: if you don’t have this tab make sure to sign-up for the Import/Export preview): Then click the “Create Import Job” or “Create Export Job” commands at the bottom of it. This will launch a wizard that easily walks you through the steps required: For more comprehensive information about Import/Export, refer to Windows Azure Storage team blog. You can also send questions and comments to the [email protected] email address. We think you’ll find this new service makes it much easier to move data into and out of Windows Azure, and it will dramatically cut down the network bandwidth required when working on large data migration projects. We hope you like it. HDInsight: 100% Compatible Hadoop Service in the Cloud Last week we announced the general availability release of Windows Azure HDInsight. HDInsight is a 100% compatible Hadoop service that allows you to easily provision and manage Hadoop clusters for big data processing in Windows Azure. This release is now live in production, backed by an enterprise SLA, supported 24x7 by Microsoft Support, and is ready to use for production scenarios. HDInsight allows you to use Apache Hadoop tools, such as Pig and Hive, to process large amounts of data in Windows Azure Blob Storage. Because data is stored in Windows Azure Blob Storage, you can choose to dynamically create Hadoop clusters only when you need them, and then shut them down when they are no longer required (since you pay only for the time the Hadoop cluster instances are running this provides a super cost effective way to use them). You can create Hadoop clusters using either the Windows Azure Management Portal (see below) or using our PowerShell and Cross Platform Command line tools: The import/export hard drive support that came out today is a perfect companion service to use with HDInsight – the combination allows you to easily ingest, process and optionally export a limitless amount of data. We’ve also integrated HDInsight with our Business Intelligence tools, so users can leverage familiar tools like Excel in order to analyze the output of jobs. You can find out more about how to get started with HDInsight here. Virtual Machines: VM Gallery Enhancements Today’s update of Windows Azure brings with it a new Virtual Machine gallery that you can use to create new VMs in the cloud. You can launch the gallery by doing New->Compute->Virtual Machine->From Gallery within the Windows Azure Management Portal: The new Virtual Machine Gallery includes some nice enhancements that make it even easier to use: Search: You can now easily search and filter images using the search box in the top-right of the dialog. For example, simply type “SQL” and we’ll filter to show those images in the gallery that contain that substring. Category Tree-view: Each month we add more built-in VM images to the gallery. You can continue to browse these using the “All” view within the VM Gallery – or now quickly filter them using the category tree-view on the left-hand side of the dialog. For example, by selecting “Oracle” in the tree-view you can now quickly filter to see the official Oracle supplied images. MSDN and Supported checkboxes: With today’s update we are also introducing filters that makes it easy to filter out types of images that you may not be interested in. The first checkbox is MSDN: using this filter you can exclude any image that is not part of the Windows Azure benefits for MSDN subscribers (which have highly discounted pricing - you can learn more about the MSDN pricing here). The second checkbox is Supported: this filter will exclude any image that contains prerelease software, so you can feel confident that the software you choose to deploy is fully supported by Windows Azure and our partners. Sort options: We sort gallery images by what we think customers are most interested in, but sometimes you might want to sort using different views. So we’re providing some additional sort options, like “Newest,” to customize the image list for what suits you best. Pricing information: We now provide additional pricing information about images and options on how to cost effectively run them directly within the VM Gallery. The above improvements make it even easier to use the VM Gallery and quickly create launch and run Virtual Machines in the cloud. Virtual Machines: ACL Support for VIPs A few months ago we exposed the ability to configure Access Control Lists (ACLs) for Virtual Machines using Windows PowerShell cmdlets and our Service Management API. With today’s release, you can now configure VM ACLs using the Windows Azure Management Portal as well. You can now do this by clicking the new Manage ACL command in the Endpoints tab of a virtual machine instance: This will enable you to configure an ordered list of permit and deny rules to scope the traffic that can access your VM’s network endpoints. For example, if you were on a virtual network, you could limit RDP access to a Windows Azure virtual machine to only a few computers attached to your enterprise. Or if you weren’t on a virtual network you could alternatively limit traffic from public IPs that can access your workloads: Here is the default behaviors for ACLs in Windows Azure: By default (i.e. no rules specified), all traffic is permitted. When using only Permit rules, all other traffic is denied. When using only Deny rules, all other traffic is permitted. When there is a combination of Permit and Deny rules, all other traffic is denied. Lastly, remember that configuring endpoints does not automatically configure them within the VM if it also has firewall rules enabled at the OS level. So if you create an endpoint using the Windows Azure Management Portal, Windows PowerShell, or REST API, be sure to also configure your guest VM firewall appropriately as well. Web Sites: Web Sockets Support With today’s release you can now use Web Sockets with Windows Azure Web Sites. This feature enables you to easily integrate real-time communication scenarios within your web based applications, and is available at no extra charge (it even works with the free tier). Higher level programming libraries like SignalR and socket.io are also now supported with it. You can enable Web Sockets support on a web site by navigating to the Configure tab of a Web Site, and by toggling Web Sockets support to “on”: Once Web Sockets is enabled you can start to integrate some really cool scenarios into your web applications. Check out the new SignalR documentation hub on www.asp.net to learn more about some of the awesome scenarios you can do with it. Web Sites: Remote Debugging Support The Windows Azure SDK 2.2 we released two weeks ago introduced remote debugging support for Windows Azure Cloud Services. With today’s Windows Azure release we are extending this remote debugging support to also work with Windows Azure Web Sites. With live, remote debugging support inside of Visual Studio, you are able to have more visibility than ever before into how your code is operating live in Windows Azure. It is now super easy to attach the debugger and quickly see what is going on with your application in the cloud. Remote Debugging of a Windows Azure Web Site using VS 2013 Enabling the remote debugging of a Windows Azure Web Site using VS 2013 is really easy. Start by opening up your web application’s project within Visual Studio. Then navigate to the “Server Explorer” tab within Visual Studio, and click on the deployed web-site you want to debug that is running within Windows Azure using the Windows Azure->Web Sites node in the Server Explorer. Then right-click and choose the “Attach Debugger” option on it: When you do this Visual Studio will remotely attach the debugger to the Web Site running within Windows Azure. The debugger will then stop the web site’s execution when it hits any break points that you have set within your web application’s project inside Visual Studio. For example, below I set a breakpoint on the “ViewBag.Message” assignment statement within the HomeController of the standard ASP.NET MVC project template. When I hit refresh on the “About” page of the web site within the browser, the breakpoint was triggered and I am now able to debug the app remotely using Visual Studio: Note above how we can debug variables (including autos/watchlist/etc), as well as use the Immediate and Command Windows. In the debug session above I used the Immediate Window to explore some of the request object state, as well as to dynamically change the ViewBag.Message property. When we click the the “Continue” button (or press F5) the app will continue execution and the Web Site will render the content back to the browser. This makes it super easy to debug web apps remotely. Tips for Better Debugging To get the best experience while debugging, we recommend publishing your site using the Debug configuration within Visual Studio’s Web Publish dialog. This will ensure that debug symbol information is uploaded to the Web Site which will enable a richer debug experience within Visual Studio. You can find this option on the Web Publish dialog on the Settings tab: When you ultimately deploy/run the application in production we recommend using the “Release” configuration setting – the release configuration is memory optimized and will provide the best production performance. To learn more about diagnosing and debugging Windows Azure Web Sites read our new Troubleshooting Windows Azure Web Sites in Visual Studio guide. Notification Hubs: Segmented Push Notification support with tag expressions In August we announced the General Availability of Windows Azure Notification Hubs - a powerful Mobile Push Notifications service that makes it easy to send high volume push notifications with low latency from any mobile app back-end. Notification hubs can be used with any mobile app back-end (including ones built using our Mobile Services capability) and can also be used with back-ends that run in the cloud as well as on-premises. Beginning with the initial release, Notification Hubs allowed developers to send personalized push notifications to both individual users as well as groups of users by interest, by associating their devices with tags representing the logical target of the notification. For example, by registering all devices of customers interested in a favorite MLB team with a corresponding tag, it is possible to broadcast one message to millions of Boston Red Sox fans and another message to millions of St. Louis Cardinals fans with a single API call respectively. New support for using tag expressions to enable advanced customer segmentation With today’s release we are adding support for even more advanced customer targeting. You can now identify customers that you want to send push notifications to by defining rich tag expressions. With tag expressions, you can now not only broadcast notifications to Boston Red Sox fans, but take that segmenting a step farther and reach more granular segments. This opens up a variety of scenarios, for example: Offers based on multiple preferences—e.g. send a game day vegetarian special to users tagged as both a Boston Red Sox fan AND a vegetarian Push content to multiple segments in a single message—e.g. rain delay information only to users who are tagged as either a Boston Red Sox fan OR a St. Louis Cardinal fan Avoid presenting subsets of a segment with irrelevant content—e.g. season ticket availability reminder to users who are tagged as a Boston Red Sox fan but NOT also a season ticket holder To illustrate with code, consider a restaurant chain app that sends an offer related to a Red Sox vs Cardinals game for users in Boston. Devices can be tagged by your app with location tags (e.g. “Loc:Boston”) and interest tags (e.g. “Follows:RedSox”, “Follows:Cardinals”), and then a notification can be sent by your back-end to “(Follows:RedSox || Follows:Cardinals) && Loc:Boston” in order to deliver an offer to all devices in Boston that follow either the RedSox or the Cardinals. This can be done directly in your server backend send logic using the code below: var notification = new WindowsNotification(messagePayload); hub.SendNotificationAsync(notification, "(Follows:RedSox || Follows:Cardinals) && Loc:Boston"); In your expressions you can use all Boolean operators: AND (&&), OR (||), and NOT (!). Some other cool use cases for tag expressions that are now supported include: Social: To “all my group except me” - group:id && !user:id Events: Touchdown event is sent to everybody following either team or any of the players involved in the action: Followteam:A || Followteam:B || followplayer:1 || followplayer:2 … Hours: Send notifications at specific times. E.g. Tag devices with time zone and when it is 12pm in Seattle send to: GMT8 && follows:thaifood Versions and platforms: Send a reminder to people still using your first version for Android - version:1.0 && platform:Android For help on getting started with Notification Hubs, visit the Notification Hub documentation center. Then download the latest NuGet package (or use the Notification Hubs REST APIs directly) to start sending push notifications using tag expressions. They are really powerful and enable a bunch of great new scenarios. TFS & GIT: Continuous Delivery Support for Web Sites + Cloud Services With today’s Windows Azure release we are making it really easy to enable continuous delivery support with Windows Azure and Team Foundation Services. Team Foundation Services is a cloud based offering from Microsoft that provides integrated source control (with both TFS and Git support), build server, test execution, collaboration tools, and agile planning support. It makes it really easy to setup a team project (complete with automated builds and test runners) in the cloud, and it has really rich integration with Visual Studio. With today’s Windows Azure release it is now really easy to enable continuous delivery support with both TFS and Git based repositories hosted using Team Foundation Services. This enables a workflow where when code is checked in, built successfully on an automated build server, and all tests pass on it – I can automatically have the app deployed on Windows Azure with zero manual intervention or work required. The below screen-shots demonstrate how to quickly setup a continuous delivery workflow to Windows Azure with a Git-based ASP.NET MVC project hosted using Team Foundation Services. Enabling Continuous Delivery to Windows Azure with Team Foundation Services The project I’m going to enable continuous delivery with is a simple ASP.NET MVC project whose source code I’m hosting using Team Foundation Services. I did this by creating a “SimpleContinuousDeploymentTest” repository there using Git – and then used the new built-in Git tooling support within Visual Studio 2013 to push the source code to it. Below is a screen-shot of the Git repository hosted within Team Foundation Services: I can access the repository within Visual Studio 2013 and easily make commits with it (as well as branch, merge and do other tasks). Using VS 2013 I can also setup automated builds to take place in the cloud using Team Foundation Services every time someone checks in code to the repository: The cool thing about this is that I don’t have to buy or rent my own build server – Team Foundation Services automatically maintains its own build server farm and can automatically queue up a build for me (for free) every time someone checks in code using the above settings. This build server (and automated testing) support now works with both TFS and Git based source control repositories. Connecting a Team Foundation Services project to Windows Azure Once I have a source repository hosted in Team Foundation Services with Automated Builds and Testing set up, I can then go even further and set it up so that it will be automatically deployed to Windows Azure when a source code commit is made to the repository (assuming the Build + Tests pass). Enabling this is now really easy. To set this up with a Windows Azure Web Site simply use the New->Compute->Web Site->Custom Create command inside the Windows Azure Management Portal. This will create a dialog like below. I gave the web site a name and then made sure the “Publish from source control” checkbox was selected: When we click next we’ll be prompted for the location of the source repository. We’ll select “Team Foundation Services”: Once we do this we’ll be prompted for our Team Foundation Services account that our source repository is hosted under (in this case my TFS account is “scottguthrie”): When we click the “Authorize Now” button we’ll be prompted to give Windows Azure permissions to connect to the Team Foundation Services account. Once we do this we’ll be prompted to pick the source repository we want to connect to. Starting with today’s Windows Azure release you can now connect to both TFS and Git based source repositories. This new support allows me to connect to the “SimpleContinuousDeploymentTest” respository we created earlier: Clicking the finish button will then create the Web Site with the continuous delivery hooks setup with Team Foundation Services. Now every time someone pushes source control to the repository in Team Foundation Services, it will kick off an automated build, run all of the unit tests in the solution , and if they pass the app will be automatically deployed to our Web Site in Windows Azure. You can monitor the history and status of these automated deployments using the Deployments tab within the Web Site: This enables a really slick continuous delivery workflow, and enables you to build and deploy apps in a really nice way. Developer Analytics: New Relic support for Web Sites + Mobile Services With today’s Windows Azure release we are making it really easy to enable Developer Analytics and Monitoring support with both Windows Azure Web Site and Windows Azure Mobile Services. We are partnering with New Relic, who provide a great dev analytics and app performance monitoring offering, to enable this - and we have updated the Windows Azure Management Portal to make it really easy to configure. Enabling New Relic with a Windows Azure Web Site Enabling New Relic support with a Windows Azure Web Site is now really easy. Simply navigate to the Configure tab of a Web Site and scroll down to the “developer analytics” section that is now within it: Clicking the “add-on” button will display some additional UI. If you don’t already have a New Relic subscription, you can click the “view windows azure store” button to obtain a subscription (note: New Relic has a perpetually free tier so you can enable it even without paying anything): Clicking the “view windows azure store” button will launch the integrated Windows Azure Store experience we have within the Windows Azure Management Portal. You can use this to browse from a variety of great add-on services – including New Relic: Select “New Relic” within the dialog above, then click the next button, and you’ll be able to choose which type of New Relic subscription you wish to purchase. For this demo we’ll simply select the “Free Standard Version” – which does not cost anything and can be used forever: Once we’ve signed-up for our New Relic subscription and added it to our Windows Azure account, we can go back to the Web Site’s configuration tab and choose to use the New Relic add-on with our Windows Azure Web Site. We can do this by simply selecting it from the “add-on” dropdown (it is automatically populated within it once we have a New Relic subscription in our account): Clicking the “Save” button will then cause the Windows Azure Management Portal to automatically populate all of the needed New Relic configuration settings to our Web Site: Deploying the New Relic Agent as part of a Web Site The final step to enable developer analytics using New Relic is to add the New Relic runtime agent to our web app. We can do this within Visual Studio by right-clicking on our web project and selecting the “Manage NuGet Packages” context menu: This will bring up the NuGet package manager. You can search for “New Relic” within it to find the New Relic agent. Note that there is both a 32-bit and 64-bit edition of it – make sure to install the version that matches how your Web Site is running within Windows Azure (note: you can configure your Web Site to run in either 32-bit or 64-bit mode using the Web Site’s “Configuration” tab within the Windows Azure Management Portal): Once we install the NuGet package we are all set to go. We’ll simply re-publish the web site again to Windows Azure and New Relic will now automatically start monitoring the application Monitoring a Web Site using New Relic Now that the application has developer analytics support with New Relic enabled, we can launch the New Relic monitoring portal to start monitoring the health of it. We can do this by clicking on the “Add Ons” tab in the left-hand side of the Windows Azure Management Portal. Then select the New Relic add-on we signed-up for within it. The Windows Azure Management Portal will provide some default information about the add-on when we do this. Clicking the “Manage” button in the tray at the bottom will launch a new browser tab and single-sign us into the New Relic monitoring portal associated with our account: When we do this a new browser tab will launch with the New Relic admin tool loaded within it: We can now see insights into how our app is performing – without having to have written a single line of monitoring code. The New Relic service provides a ton of great built-in monitoring features allowing us to quickly see: Performance times (including browser rendering speed) for the overall site and individual pages. You can optionally set alert thresholds to trigger if the speed does not meet a threshold you specify. Information about where in the world your customers are hitting the site from (and how performance varies by region) Details on the latency performance of external services your web apps are using (for example: SQL, Storage, Twitter, etc) Error information including call stack details for exceptions that have occurred at runtime SQL Server profiling information – including which queries executed against your database and what their performance was And a whole bunch more… The cool thing about New Relic is that you don’t need to write monitoring code within your application to get all of the above reports (plus a lot more). The New Relic agent automatically enables the CLR profiler within applications and automatically captures the information necessary to identify these. This makes it super easy to get started and immediately have a rich developer analytics view for your solutions with very little effort. If you haven’t tried New Relic out yet with Windows Azure I recommend you do so – I think you’ll find it helps you build even better cloud applications. Following the above steps will help you get started and deliver you a really good application monitoring solution in only minutes. Service Bus: Support for partitioned queues and topics With today’s release, we are enabling support within Service Bus for partitioned queues and topics. Enabling partitioning enables you to achieve a higher message throughput and better availability from your queues and topics. Higher message throughput is achieved by implementing multiple message brokers for each partitioned queue and topic. The multiple messaging stores will also provide higher availability. You can create a partitioned queue or topic by simply checking the Enable Partitioning option in the custom create wizard for a Queue or Topic: Read this article to learn more about partitioned queues and topics and how to take advantage of them today. Billing: New Billing Alert Service Today’s Windows Azure update enables a new Billing Alert Service Preview that enables you to get proactive email notifications when your Windows Azure bill goes above a certain monetary threshold that you configure. This makes it easier to manage your bill and avoid potential surprises at the end of the month. With the Billing Alert Service Preview, you can now create email alerts to monitor and manage your monetary credits or your current bill total. To set up an alert first sign-up for the free Billing Alert Service Preview. Then visit the account management page, click on a subscription you have setup, and then navigate to the new Alerts tab that is available: The alerts tab allows you to setup email alerts that will be sent automatically once a certain threshold is hit. For example, by clicking the “add alert” button above I can setup a rule to send myself email anytime my Windows Azure bill goes above $100 for the month: The Billing Alert Service will evolve to support additional aspects of your bill as well as support multiple forms of alerts such as SMS. Try out the new Billing Alert Service Preview today and give us feedback. Summary Today’s Windows Azure release enables a ton of great new scenarios, and makes building applications hosted in the cloud even easier. If you don’t already have a Windows Azure account, you can sign-up for a free trial and start using all of the above features today. Then visit the Windows Azure Developer Center to learn more about how to build apps with it. Hope this helps, Scott P.S. In addition to blogging, I am also now using Twitter for quick updates and to share links. Follow me at: twitter.com/scottgu

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How do I create a Linked Server in SQL Server 2005 to a password protected Access 95 database?

- by Brad Knowles

I need to create a linked server with SQL Server Management Studio 2005 to an Access 95 database, which happens to be password protected at the database level. User level security has not been implemented. I cannot convert the Access database to a newer version. It is being used by a 3rd party application; so modifying it, in any way, is not allowed. I've tried using the Jet 4.0 OLE DB Provider and the ODBC OLE DB Provider. The 3rd party application creates a System DSN (with the proper database password), but I've not had any luck in using either method. If I were using a standard connection string, I think it would look something like this: Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source='C:\Test.mdb';Jet OLEDB:Database Password=####; I'm fairly certain I need to somehow incorporate Jet OLEDB:Database Password into the linked server setup, but haven't figured out how. I've posted the scripts I'm using along with the associated error messages below. Any help is greatly appreciated. I'll provide more details if needed, just ask. Thanks! Method #1 - Using the Jet 4.0 Provider When I try to run these statements to create the linked server: sp_dropserver 'Test', 'droplogins'; EXEC sp_addlinkedserver @server = N'Test', @provider = N'Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0', @srvproduct = N'Access DB', @datasrc = N'C:\Test.mdb' GO EXEC sp_addlinkedsrvlogin @rmtsrvname=N'Test', @useself=N'False',@locallogin=NULL, @rmtuser=N'Admin', @rmtpassword='####' GO I get this error when testing the connection: TITLE: Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio ------------------------------ "The test connection to the linked server failed." ------------------------------ ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: An exception occurred while executing a Transact-SQL statement or batch. (Microsoft.SqlServer.ConnectionInfo) ------------------------------ The OLE DB provider "Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0" for linked server "Test" reported an error. Authentication failed. Cannot initialize the data source object of OLE DB provider "Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0" for linked server "Test". OLE DB provider "Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0" for linked server "Test" returned message "Cannot start your application. The workgroup information file is missing or opened exclusively by another user.". (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 7399) ------------------------------ Method #2 - Using the ODBC Provider... sp_dropserver 'Test', 'droplogins'; EXEC sp_addlinkedserver @server = N'Test', @provider = N'MSDASQL', @srvproduct = N'ODBC', @datasrc = N'Test:DSN' GO EXEC sp_addlinkedsrvlogin @rmtsrvname=N'Test', @useself=N'False',@locallogin=NULL, @rmtuser=N'Admin', @rmtpassword='####' GO I get this error: TITLE: Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio ------------------------------ "The test connection to the linked server failed." ------------------------------ ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: An exception occurred while executing a Transact-SQL statement or batch. (Microsoft.SqlServer.ConnectionInfo) ------------------------------ Cannot initialize the data source object of OLE DB provider "MSDASQL" for linked server "Test". OLE DB provider "MSDASQL" for linked server "Test" returned message "[Microsoft][ODBC Driver Manager] Driver's SQLSetConnectAttr failed". OLE DB provider "MSDASQL" for linked server "Test" returned message "[Microsoft][ODBC Driver Manager] Driver's SQLSetConnectAttr failed". OLE DB provider "MSDASQL" for linked server "Test" returned message "[Microsoft][ODBC Microsoft Access Driver] Cannot open database '(unknown)'. It may not be a database that your application recognizes, or the file may be corrupt.". (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 7303)

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Useful Command-line Commands on Windows

- by Sung Meister

The aim for this Wiki is to promote using a command to open up commonly used applications without having to go through many mouse clicks - thus saving time on monitoring and troubleshooting Windows machines. Answer entries need to specify Application name Commands Screenshot (Optional) Shortcut to commands && - Command Chaining %SYSTEMROOT%\System32\rcimlby.exe -LaunchRA - Remote Assistance (Windows XP) appwiz.cpl - Programs and Features (Formerly Known as "Add or Remove Programs") appwiz.cpl @,2 - Turn Windows Features On and Off (Add/Remove Windows Components pane) arp - Displays and modifies the IP-to-Physical address translation tables used by address resolution protocol (ARP) at - Schedule tasks either locally or remotely without using Scheduled Tasks bootsect.exe - Updates the master boot code for hard disk partitions to switch between BOOTMGR and NTLDR cacls - Change Access Control List (ACL) permissions on a directory, its subcontents, or files calc - Calculator chkdsk - Check/Fix the disk surface for physical errors or bad sectors cipher - Displays or alters the encryption of directories [files] on NTFS partitions cleanmgr.exe - Disk Cleanup clip - Redirects output of command line tools to the Windows clipboard cls - clear the command line screen cmd /k - Run command with command extensions enabled color - Sets the default console foreground and background colors in console command.com - Default Operating System Shell compmgmt.msc - Computer Management control.exe /name Microsoft.NetworkAndSharingCenter - Network and Sharing Center control keyboard - Keyboard Properties control mouse(or main.cpl) - Mouse Properties control sysdm.cpl,@0,3 - Advanced Tab of the System Properties dialog control userpasswords2 - Opens the classic User Accounts dialog desk.cpl - opens the display properties devmgmt.msc - Device Manager diskmgmt.msc - Disk Management diskpart - Disk management from the command line dsa.msc - Opens active directory users and computers dsquery - Finds any objects in the directory according to criteria dxdiag - DirectX Diagnostic Tool eventvwr - Windows Event Log (Event Viewer) explorer . - Open explorer with the current folder selected. explorer /e, . - Open explorer, with folder tree, with current folder selected. F7 - View command history find - Searches for a text string in a file or files findstr - Find a string in a file firewall.cpl - Opens the Windows Firewall settings fsmgmt.msc - Shared Folders fsutil - Perform tasks related to FAT and NTFS file systems ftp - Transfers files to and from a computer running an FTP server service getmac - Shows the mac address(es) of your network adapter(s) gpedit.msc - Group Policy Editor gpresult - Displays the Resultant Set of Policy (RSoP) information for a target user and computer httpcfg.exe - HTTP Configuration Utility iisreset - To restart IIS InetMgr.exe - Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager 7 InetMgr6.exe - Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager 6 intl.cpl - Regional and Language Options ipconfig - Internet protocol configuration lusrmgr.msc - Local Users and Groups Administrator msconfig - System Configuration notepad - Notepad? ;) mmsys.cpl - Sound/Recording/Playback properties mode - Configure system devices more - Displays one screen of output at a time mrt - Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool mstsc.exe - Remote Desktop Connection nbstat - displays protocol statistics and current TCP/IP connections using NBT ncpa.cpl - Network Connections netsh - Display or modify the network configuration of a computer that is currently running netstat - Network Statistics net statistics - Check computer up time net stop - Stops a running service. net use - Connects a computer to or disconnects a computer from a shared resource, or displays information about computer connections odbcad32.exe - ODBC Data Source Administrator pathping - A traceroute that collects detailed packet loss stats perfmon - Opens Reliability and Performance Monitor ping - Determine whether a remote computer is accessible over the network powercfg.cpl - Power management control panel applet quser - Display information about user sessions on a terminal server qwinsta - See disconnected remote desktop sessions reg.exe - Console Registry Tool for Windows regedit - Registry Editor rasdial - Connects to a VPN or a dialup network robocopy - Backup/Restore/Copy large amounts of files reliably rsop.msc - Resultant Set of Policy (shows the combined effect of all group policies active on the current system/login) runas - Run specific tools and programs with different permissions than the user's current logon provides sc - Manage anything you want to do with services. schtasks - Enables an administrator to create, delete, query, change, run and end scheduled tasks on a local or remote system. secpol.msc - Local Security Settings services.msc - Services control panel set - Displays, sets, or removes cmd.exe environment variables. set DIRCMD - Preset dir parameter in cmd.exe start - Starts a separate window to run a specified program or command start. - opens the current directory in the Windows Explorer. shutdown.exe - Shutdown or Reboot a local/remote machine subst.exe - Associates a path with a drive letter, including local drives systeminfo -Displays a comprehensive information about the system taskkill - terminate tasks by process id (PID) or image name tasklist.exe - List Processes on local or a remote machine taskmgr.exe - Task Manager telephon.cpl - Telephone and Modem properties timedate.cpl - Date and Time title - Change the title of the CMD window you have open tracert - Trace route wmic - Windows Management Instrumentation Command-line winver.exe - Find Windows Version wscui.cpl - Windows Security Center wuauclt.exe - Windows Update AutoUpdate Client

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cron.daily not running at the time it should?

- by Mariano Martinez Peck

My /etc/cron.daily scripts seem to be executing far later from what I understand they should. I am in Ubuntu and anacron is installed. If I do a sudo cat /var/log/syslog | grep cron I get something like: Aug 23 01:17:01 mymachine CRON[25171]: (root) CMD ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly) Aug 23 02:17:01 mymachine CRON[25588]: (root) CMD ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly) Aug 23 03:17:01 mymachine CRON[26026]: (root) CMD ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly) Aug 23 03:25:01 mymachine CRON[30320]: (root) CMD (test -x /usr/sbin/anacron || ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.daily )) Aug 23 04:17:01 mymachine CRON[26363]: (root) CMD ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly) Aug 23 05:17:01 mymachine CRON[26770]: (root) CMD ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly) Aug 23 06:17:01 mymachine CRON[27168]: (root) CMD ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly) Aug 23 07:17:01 mymachine CRON[27547]: (root) CMD ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly) Aug 23 07:30:01 mymachine CRON[2249]: (root) CMD (start -q anacron || :) Aug 23 07:30:02 mymachine anacron[2252]: Anacron 2.3 started on 2014-08-23 Aug 23 07:30:02 mymachine anacron[2252]: Will run job `cron.daily' in 5 min. Aug 23 07:30:02 mymachine anacron[2252]: Jobs will be executed sequentially Aug 23 07:35:02 mymachine anacron[2252]: Job `cron.daily' started As you can see, at 3:25 it tried to do something. But the cron.daily execution started really at 7:35. My /etc/crontab is: # /etc/crontab: system-wide crontab # Unlike any other crontab you don't have to run the `crontab' # command to install the new version when you edit this file # and files in /etc/cron.d. These files also have username fields, # that none of the other crontabs do. SHELL=/bin/sh PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin # m h dom mon dow user command 17 * * * * root cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly 25 3 * * * root test -x /usr/sbin/anacron || ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.daily ) 47 6 * * 7 root test -x /usr/sbin/anacron || ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.weekly ) 52 6 1 * * root test -x /usr/sbin/anacron || ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.monthly ) # From what I understand, daily scripts are indeed for 3:25. My /etc/anacrontab is: # /etc/anacrontab: configuration file for anacron # See anacron(8) and anacrontab(5) for details. SHELL=/bin/sh PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin HOME=/root LOGNAME=root # These replace cron's entries 1 5 cron.daily run-parts --report /etc/cron.daily 7 10 cron.weekly run-parts --report /etc/cron.weekly @monthly 15 cron.monthly run-parts --report /etc/cron.monthly So...does someone know why my cron started to do something at 3:25 but then really start the jobs at 7:35? Also..as you can see in the log, hourly jobs are being executed at correct time: hour and 17 minutes, which is exactly what I have in /etc/crontab Finally, from the logs, it seems my daily jobs are being actually run by anacron rather than cron? So cron finds nothing to run (at 3:25) and then anacron runs the jobs at 7:35? If true, how can I fix this? Thanks in advance,

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Using Upstart to manage Unicorn w/ rbenv + bundler binstubs w/ ruby-local-exec shebang

- by codykrieger

Alright, this is melting my brain. It might have something to do with the fact that I don't understand Upstart as well as I should. Sorry in advance for the long question. I'm trying to use Upstart to manage a Rails app's Unicorn master process. Here is my current /etc/init/app.conf: description "app" start on runlevel [2] stop on runlevel [016] console owner # expect daemon script APP_ROOT=/home/deploy/app PATH=/home/deploy/.rbenv/shims:/home/deploy/.rbenv/bin:$PATH $APP_ROOT/bin/unicorn -c $APP_ROOT/config/unicorn.rb -E production # >> /tmp/upstart.log 2>&1 end script # respawn That works just fine - the Unicorns start up great. What's not great is that the PID detected is not of the Unicorn master, it's of an sh process. That in and of itself isn't so bad, either - if I wasn't using the automagical Unicorn zero-downtime deployment strategy. Because shortly after I send -USR2 to my Unicorn master, a new master spawns up, and the old one dies...and so does the sh process. So Upstart thinks my job has died, and I can no longer restart it with restart or stop it with stop if I want. I've played around with the config file, trying to add -D to the Unicorn line (like this: $APP_ROOT/bin/unicorn -c $APP_ROOT/config/unicorn.rb -E production -D) to daemonize Unicorn, and I added the expect daemon line, but that didn't work either. I've tried expect fork as well. Various combinations of all of those things can cause start and stop to hang, and then Upstart gets really confused about the state of the job. Then I have to restart the machine to fix it. I think Upstart is having problems detecting when/if Unicorn is forking because I'm using rbenv + the ruby-local-exec shebang in my $APP_ROOT/bin/unicorn script. Here it is: #!/usr/bin/env ruby-local-exec # # This file was generated by Bundler. # # The application 'unicorn' is installed as part of a gem, and # this file is here to facilitate running it. # require 'pathname' ENV['BUNDLE_GEMFILE'] ||= File.expand_path("../../Gemfile", Pathname.new(__FILE__).realpath) require 'rubygems' require 'bundler/setup' load Gem.bin_path('unicorn', 'unicorn') Additionally, the ruby-local-exec script looks like this: #!/usr/bin/env bash # # `ruby-local-exec` is a drop-in replacement for the standard Ruby # shebang line: # # #!/usr/bin/env ruby-local-exec # # Use it for scripts inside a project with an `.rbenv-version` # file. When you run the scripts, they'll use the project-specified # Ruby version, regardless of what directory they're run from. Useful # for e.g. running project tasks in cron scripts without needing to # `cd` into the project first. set -e export RBENV_DIR="${1%/*}" exec ruby "$@" So there's an exec in there that I'm worried about. It fires up a Ruby process, which fires up Unicorn, which may or may not daemonize itself, which all happens from an sh process in the first place...which makes me seriously doubt the ability of Upstart to track all of this nonsense. Is what I'm trying to do even possible? From what I understand, the expect stanza in Upstart can only be told (via daemon or fork) to expect a maximum of two forks.

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Apache mod_jk Setting for Tomcat - workers.properties

- by sissonb

I am trying to direct files with .jsp extensions to tomcat. Otherwise I want apache to serve the file directly (no tomcat). Currently I have a test.jsp which is supposed to create an HTML page with the current date in the body. Instead when I go to that .jsp I see the JK Status Manager. The mod_jk.logs only show, init_jk::mod_jk.c (3365): mod_jk/1.2.35 initialized. I have tomcat and apache setup on my server. Apache runs on 80 and tomcat runs on 8080. localhost:8080 show the tomcat welcome page. I downloaded tomcat-connectors-1.2.35-windows-i386-httpd-2.2.x and copied the mod_jk.so to C:\apache\modules. Then I added LoadModule jk_module modules/mod_jk.so to my httpd.conf. I restart apache and the module loads just fine. Next I downloaded the mod_jk source to get the workers.properties file. I copy workers.properties to C:\apache\confg. Then I added this user, workers.tomcat_home="C:/Program Files/Apache Software Foundation/Tomcat 7.0" workers.java_home="C:/Program Files/Java/jdk1.7.0_03" worker.list=ajp13 worker.ajp13.port=8080 worker.ajp13.host=localhost worker.ajp13.type=ajp13 worker.ajp13.socket_timeout=10 When I try to use the ajp13 user in my httpd.conf I get the following error in my mod_jk.log, [Wed Mar 28 13:08:51 2012] [2196:4100] [info] ajp_connection_tcp_get_message::jk_ajp_common.c (1258): (ajp13) can't receive the response header message from tomcat, network problems or tomcat (127.0.0.1:8080) is down (errno=60) [Wed Mar 28 13:08:51 2012] [2196:4100] [error] ajp_get_reply::jk_ajp_common.c (2117): (ajp13) Tomcat is down or refused connection. No response has been sent to the client (yet) [Wed Mar 28 13:08:51 2012] [2196:4100] [info] ajp_service::jk_ajp_common.c (2614): (ajp13) sending request to tomcat failed (recoverable), (attempt=1) Next I update my httpd.conf with, JkWorkersFile C:/apache/conf/workers.properties JkLogFile C:/apache/logs/mod_jk.log JkLogLevel info JkLogStampFormat "[%a %b %d %H:%M:%S %Y] " Also I added JkMount /*.jsp jk-status to my virtual host like this, <VirtualHost 192.168.5.250:80> JkMount /*.jsp jk-status #JkMount /*.jsp ajp13 ServerName bgsisson.com ServerAlias www.bgsisson.com DocumentRoot C:/www/resume </VirtualHost> I think i need to include a uriworkermap.properties file, but this is where I am getting stuck. I have put up a test .jsp at bgsisson.com/test.jsp It shows the JK Status Manager when I use JkMount /*.jsp jk-status and 502 Bad Gateway when I use JkMount /*.jsp ajp13 test.jsp <%-- use the 'taglib' directive to make the JSTL 1.0 core tags available; use the uri "http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core" for JSTL 1.1 --%> <%@ taglib uri="http://java.sun.com/jstl/core" prefix="c" %> <%-- use the 'jsp:useBean' standard action to create the Date object; the object is set as an attribute in page scope --%> <jsp:useBean id="date" class="java.util.Date" /> <html> <head><title>First JSP</title></head> <body> <h2>Here is today's date</h2> <c:out value="${date}" /> </body> </html>

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What can I send back to the browser while I wait for PHP execution?

- by Matt Malesky

So....I have a PHP page that involves a lot of backend execution, namely 'exec' calls to run shell commands on the host server. This can take upwards of a few minutes depending on the calls involved. (If you look below, each recursion through the exec calls is mounting a LUN; I'd like to sometimes do upwards of 100 per execution.) I'm curious on what I can do to send content back to the browser (and prevent it from timing out). <!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <title>sfvmtk</title> </head> <body> <?php // TEMPORARY VARIABLES FOR TESTING $hba = 'vmhba38'; $svip = '10.10.20.100'; $targets = array ( 0 => array ( 'iqn' => 'iqn.2010-01.com.sf:t5np.esxtest.41', 'account' => 'esx', 'isecret' => 'isecret00000', 'tsecret' => 'tsecret00000' ), 1 => array ( 'iqn' => 'iqn.2010-01.com.sf:t5np.esxtest2.42', 'account' => 'esx2', 'isecret' => 'isecret00001', 'tsecret' => 'tsecret00001' ) ); $hostname = $_REQUEST['hostname']; $username = $_REQUEST['username']; $password = $_REQUEST['password']; foreach ($targets as $ctarget) { exec('esxcli -s '.$hostname.' -u '.$username.' -p '.$password.' iscsi adapter discovery statictarget add -A '.$hba.' -a '.$svip.' -n '.$ctarget['iqn'], $out); exec('esxcli -s '.$hostname.' -u '.$username.' -p '.$password.' iscsi adapter target portal auth chap set -A '.$hba.' -a '.$svip.' -N '.$ctarget['account'].' -d uni -l required -n '.$ctarget['iqn'].' -S '.$ctarget['isecret'], $out); exec('esxcli -s '.$hostname.' -u '.$username.' -p '.$password.' iscsi adapter target portal auth chap set -A '.$hba.' -a '.$svip.' -N '.$ctarget['account'].' -d mutual -l required -n '.$ctarget['iqn'].' -S '.$ctarget['tsecret'], $out); } exec('vicfg-rescan --server '.$hostname.' --username '.$username.' --password '.$password.' '.$hba, $out); ?> </body> </html>

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Why am I getting a 403 error on a POST to a PHP script?

- by John Gallagher

Background I want to allow my users to submit a crash report which will get emailed to me. I'm using UKCrashReporter with the bundled PHP script I've modified. This code does a POST to a specified URL along with the crash report. I'm on a shared server running Linux. My main domain is synapticmishap.co.uk. The Problem When I send the crash report off, on the Cocoa side, it reports as having sent it successfully, but I don't receive an email. The code has been used in lots of other well established Cocoa projects and it was working for me a few months ago. That leads me to conclude that the problems are related to my web server setup, something I know almost nothing about. When I look at my log files, I see entries like this: IP Redacted - - [10/Jun/2010:09:47:53 +0100] "POST /synapticmishap/crashreportform.php HTTP/1.1" 403 74 "-" "UKCrashReporter" What I've tried I've tried accessing the page at http://synapticmishap.co.uk/synapticmishap/crashreportform.php via a browser. It loads fine. I've made sure the permissions on this php script are set so anyone can execute it. I've tried removing the deny entries from the section of .htaccess at various levels starting with root. I've downloaded the URLParams plugin for Firefox which allows you to simulate POSTs. I put in the URL above and tried a post with "crashlog" as the parameter and "test" as the value. This generated a 200 log entry in my log file - it seemed to work, although no mail message was sent. Code I've got the following at http://synapticmishap.co.uk/synapticmishap/crashreportform.php. I've simplified it to just the bare bones in an effort to get it working. <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd"> <html> <head> <title>Crash Report</title> </head> <body> <p>This page contains super special magic which submits a crash report item to me.</p> <p>Nothing to see here - move along.</p> <?php mail( "[email protected]", "Crash Report", "\r\n\r\nThis is a test."); ?> </body> </html> This is my top level .htaccess file: RewriteEngine on # -FrontPage- IndexIgnore .htaccess */.??* *~ *# */HEADER* */README* */_vti* <Limit GET POST> order deny,allow deny from all allow from all </Limit> <Limit PUT DELETE> order deny,allow deny from all </Limit> Options All -Indexes RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^synapticmishap.co.uk$ [OR] RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.synapticmishap.co.uk$ RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^lapsusapp.co.uk$ [OR] RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.lapsusapp.co.uk$ RewriteRule ^/?$ "http\:\/\/synapticmishap\.co\.uk\/synapticmishap\/lapsuspromo\/" [R=301,L] RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^jgtutoring.co.uk$ [OR] RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.jgtutoring.co.uk$ RewriteRule ^/?$ "http\:\/\/synapticmishap\.co\.uk\/tutoring" [R=301,L] RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^synapticmishap.co.uk$ [OR] RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.synapticmishap.co.uk$ RewriteRule ^/?$ "http\:\/\/synapticmishap\.co\.uk\/synapticmishap" [R=301,L] RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^jgediting.co.uk$ [OR] RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.jgediting.co.uk$ RewriteRule ^/?$ "http\:\/\/synapticmishap\.co\.uk\/editing" [R=301,L] RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$ RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://synapticmishap.co.uk/.*$ [NC] RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://synapticmishap.co.uk$ [NC] RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://www.synapticmishap.co.uk/.*$ [NC] RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://www.synapticmishap.co.uk$ [NC] RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://synapticmishap.co.uk/synapticmishap/crashreportform.php/.*$ [NC] RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://synapticmishap.co.uk/synapticmishap/crashreportform.php$ [NC] RewriteRule .*\.(jpg|jpeg|gif|png|bmp)$ - [F,NC] Help! I'm at the end of my tether with this and I'm in a very unfamiliar space with all this web stuff. I'd be most appreciative of any thoughts people had on why this isn't working. Thanks.

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SQL2008R2 install issues on windows 7 - unable to install setup support files?

- by Liam

I am trying to install the above but am getting the following errors when its attempting to install the setup support files, This is the first error that occurs during installation of the setup support files TITLE: Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Setup ------------------------------ The following error has occurred: The installer has encountered an unexpected error. The error code is 2337. Could not close file: Microsoft.SqlServer.GridControl.dll GetLastError: 0. Click 'Retry' to retry the failed action, or click 'Cancel' to cancel this action and continue setup. For help, click: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink?LinkID=20476&ProdName=Microsoft+SQL+Server&EvtSrc=setup.rll&EvtID=50000&ProdVer=10.50.1600.1&EvtType=0xDF039760%25401201%25401 This is the second error that occurs after clicking continue in the installer after the first error is generated TITLE: Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Setup ------------------------------ The following error has occurred: SQL Server Setup has encountered an error when running a Windows Installer file. Windows Installer error message: The Windows Installer Service could not be accessed. This can occur if the Windows Installer is not correctly installed. Contact your support personnel for assistance. Windows Installer file: C:\Users\watto_uk\Desktop\In-Digital\Software\Microsoft\SQL Server 2008 R2\1033_ENU_LP\x64\setup\sqlsupport_msi\SqlSupport.msi Windows Installer log file: C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Setup Bootstrap\Log\20110713_205508\SqlSupport_Cpu64_1_ComponentUpdate.log Click 'Retry' to retry the failed action, or click 'Cancel' to cancel this action and continue setup. For help, click: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink?LinkID=20476&ProdName=Microsoft+SQL+Server&EvtSrc=setup.rll&EvtID=50000&ProdVer=10.50.1600.1&EvtType=0xDC80C325 These errors are generated from an ISO package downloaded from Microsoft. I have also tried using the web platform installer to install the express version instead but the SQL Server Installation fails with that also. The management studio installs fine but not the server. I have checked to make sure that the Windows Installer is started and it is. Cant seem to find an answer for this anywhere as all previous reported issues appear to be related to XP. I did have the express edition installed on the machine previously but uninstalled it to upgrade to the full version, I wish I hadn't now. Can anyone kindly offer any advice or point me in the right direction to stop me going insane with this? Any advice will be appreciated. Update======================= After digging a bit deeper ive located details of the error from the setup log file, i can also upload the log file if required. MSI (s) (E8:28) [23:35:18:705]: Assembly Error:The module '%1' was expected to contain an assembly manifest. MSI (s) (E8:28) [23:35:18:705]: Note: 1: 1935 2: 3: 0x80131018 4: IStream 5: Commit 6: MSI (s) (E8:28) [23:35:18:705]: Note: 1: 2337 2: 0 3: Microsoft.SqlServer.GridControl.dll MSI (s) (E8:28) [23:35:22:869]: Product: Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Setup (English) -- Error 2337. The installer has encountered an unexpected error. The error code is 2337. Could not close file: Microsoft.SqlServer.GridControl.dll GetLastError: 0. MSI (s) (E8:28) [23:35:22:916]: Internal Exception during install operation: 0xc0000005 at 0x000007FEE908A23E. MSI (s) (E8:28) [23:35:22:916]: WER report disabled for silent install. MSI (s) (E8:28) [23:35:22:932]: Internal MSI error. Installer terminated prematurely. Error 2337. The installer has encountered an unexpected error. The error code is 2337. Could not close file: Microsoft.SqlServer.GridControl.dll GetLastError: 0. MSI (s) (E8:28) [23:35:22:932]: MainEngineThread is returning 1603 MSI (s) (E8:58) [23:35:22:932]: RESTART MANAGER: Session closed. Installer stopped prematurely. MSI (c) (0C:14) [23:35:22:947]: Decrementing counter to disable shutdown. If counter >= 0, shutdown will be denied. Counter after decrement: -1 MSI (c) (0C:14) [23:35:22:947]: MainEngineThread is returning 1601 === Verbose logging stopped: 13/07/2011 23:35:22 ===

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Apache config that uses two document roots based on whether the requested resource exists in the first

- by mattalexx

Background I have a client site that consists of a CakePHP installation and a Magento installation: /web/example.com/ /web/example.com/app/ <== CakePHP /web/example.com/app/webroot/ <== DocumentRoot /web/example.com/app/webroot/store/ <== Magento /web/example.com/config/ <== Site-wide config /web/example.com/vendors/ <== Site-wide libraries The server runs Apache 2.2.3. The problem The whole company has FTP access and got used to clogging up the /web/example.com/, /web/example.com/app/webroot/, and /web/example.com/app/webroot/store/ directories with their own files. Sometimes these files need HTTP access and sometimes they don't. In any case, this mess makes my job harder when it comes to maintaining the site. Code merges, tarring the live code, etc, is very complicated and usually requires a bunch of filters. Abandoned solution At first, I thought I would set up a new subdomain on the same server, move all of their files there, and change their FTP chroot. But that wouldn't work for these reasons: Firstly, I have no idea (and neither do they remember) what marketing materials they've sent out that contain URLs to certain resources they've uploaded to the server, using the main domain, and also using abstract subdomains that use the main virtual host because it has ServerAlias *.example.com. So suddenly having them only use static.example.com isn't feasible. Secondly, The PHP scripts in their projects are potentially very non-portable. I want their files to stay in as similar an environment as they were built as I can. Also, I do not want to debug their code to make it portable. Half-baked solution After some thought, I decided to find a way to section off the actual website files into another directory that they would not touch. The company's uploaded files would stay where they were. This would ensure that I didn't break any of their projects that needed HTTP access. It would look something like this: /web/example.com/ <== A bunch of their files are in here /web/example.com/app/webroot/ <== 1st DocumentRoot; A bunch of their files are in here /web/example.com/app/webroot/store/ <== Some more are in here /web/example.com/site/ <== New dir; Contains only site files /web/example.com/site/app/ <== CakePHP /web/example.com/site/app/webroot/ <== 2nd DocumentRoot /web/example.com/site/app/webroot/store/ <== Magento /web/example.com/site/config/ <== Site-wide config /web/example.com/site/vendors/ <== Site-wide libraries After I made this change, I would not need to pay attention to anything except for the stuff within /web/example.com/site/ and my job would be a lot easier. I would be the only one changing stuff in there. So here's where the Apache magic would happen: I need an HTTP request to http://www.example.com/ to first use /web/example.com/app/webroot/ as the document root. If nothing is found (no miscellaneous uploaded company projects are found), try finding something within /web/example.com/site/app/webroot/. Another thing to keep in mind is, the site might have some problems if the $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] variable reads /web/example.com/app/webroot/ but the actual files are within /web/example.com/site/app/webroot/. It would be better if the DOCUMENT_ROOT environment variable could be /web/example.com/site/app/webroot/ for anything within the /web/example.com/site/app/webroot/ directory. Conclusion Is my half-baked solution possible with Apache 2.2.3? Is there a better way to solve this problem?

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PHP, Apache and curl: Differences between Windows and Linux?

- by beginner_

I'm trying to run my php App on Ubuntu Server 11.10. This App works fine under Apache + PHP in windows. I have other applications that I can simply copy&paste between the 2 OS and they work on both. (These don't use cURL). However this one uses the php library tonic (RESTful webservices) and makes us of php cURL module. The issue is I'm not getting an error message which makes it impossible to find the issue. I (must) use NTLM authentication and this is done with AuthenNTLM Apache Module: Order allow,deny Allow from all PerlAuthenHandler Apache2::AuthenNTLM AuthType ntlm AuthName "Protected Access" require valid-user PerlAddVar ntdomain "domainName server" PerlSetVar defaultdomain domainName PerlSetVar ntlmsemtimeout 2 PerlSetVar ntlmdebug 1 PerlSetVar splitdomainprefix 0 All files that cURL needs to fetch override AuthenNTLM authentication: order deny,allow deny from all allow from 127.0.0.1 Satisfy any Since these files are only fectehd by cURL from same server, access can be limited to localhost. Possible issues are: NTLM auth isn't overridden for files requested through cURL (even though AllowOverride All is set) curl works differently on linux $ch = curl_init(); curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_COOKIE, $strCookie); curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $baseUrl . $queryString); curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1); $html = curl_exec($ch); curl_close($ch); other? Apache log says: [error] Bad/Missing NTLM/Basic Authorization Header for /myApp/webservice/local/viewList.php But this directory should override NTLM authentication using curl command line from windows to access same resource i get: <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML 2.0//EN"> <html> <head> <title>406 Not Acceptable</title> </head> <body> <h1>Not Acceptable</h1> <p>An appropriate representation of the requested resource /myApp/webservice/myResource could not be found on this server.</p> Available variants: <ul> <li><a href="myResource.php">myResource.php</a> , type application/x-httpd-php</li> </ul> <hr> <address>Apache/2.2.20 (Ubuntu) Server at localhost Port 80</address> </body> </html> Note: This is duplicate from http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9821979/php-curl-on-linux-what-is-the-difference-to-curl-on-windows Is it was suggested I post it here. EDIT: Please see Ubuntu Server: Apache2 seems to attach .php to URI as I discovered why it does not work but need help so the issue does not occur anymore. ANSWER: The issue is the default Apache configuration on Ubuntu: Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews MultiViews is changing request_uri from myResource to myResource.php. Solutions: disable MultiViews in .htaccess: Options -MultiViews remove MultiViews from default config rename the file as example to myResourceClass I chose last option because that should work regardless of configuration and I only have 3 such files so the change took about 30 secs...

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Windows 8 Stuck on Start Screen File Search

- by baturayd

I have been searching someone else having the same issue but I couldn't find any. Here is my problem: I'm using Windows 8 Pro with Media Center. File search screen does not close itself after I make a file search within start screen. It stuck on that screen. I can't go back to desktop, therefore, task manager is inaccessible. Only way to get out of it is to sign out. It also looks like non-operational. It doesn't give me any result at all. It's just a blank screen with "Files" title. It used to work perfectly. Things I have done before coming here: Safe mode minimal boot to ensure no other 3rd party software interferes. sfc haven't found any inconsistencies. Search index has been rebuild. Normal boot with all 3rd party services and start-up items disabled. System restore to a date that I know this feature was functional. And by the way, I have installed all updates released so far. I strongly used file search via start menu back in Windows 7. This is an absolute game changer for me. I'm curious what causes this. I'll do a "system refresh" if I can't fix this. I'm working on it, I'll keep this thread updated should I find any fix. First update: I just discovered that file search screen gets stuck if it's invoked by typing query directly in start screen. It doesn't get stuck if it's invoked from win + x menu. I was able to "escape" from stuck screen with invoking it again by win + x menu. After rebuilding search index again, search suggestions started to appear again but still there is no file search functionality. Second update: "Results for" expression appears only for a second near to "Files" title when search is initialized. Third update: As a last resort, I finally tried to do a "System Refresh" which has also failed to refresh by giving an error after waiting almost 20 minutes at 99%. (Seriously?) After cold boot it began to undo changes. After changes were reverted, I boot the machine without doing anything further and bingo! Search began acting normal again. This is a totally weird solution. It obviously fixed certain system files during failed refresh, and kept those changes untouched because they were supposed to be that way at the first place. I'll keep this thread alive should anyone comes with a more logical explanation. Forth update: After a windows update, search functionality again stopped responding. It happened after a system update for the first time. Now I have a pretty good suspicion about system update, though I have no solid proof of its involvement with this problem.

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Ajax Control Toolkit December 2013 Release

- by Stephen.Walther

Today, we released a new version of the Ajax Control Toolkit that contains several important bug fixes and new features. The new release contains a new Tabs control that has been entirely rewritten in jQuery. You can download the December 2013 release of the Ajax Control Toolkit at http://Ajax.CodePlex.com. Alternatively, you can install the latest version directly from NuGet: The Ajax Control Toolkit and jQuery The Ajax Control Toolkit now contains two controls written with jQuery: the ToggleButton control and the Tabs control. The goal is to rewrite the Ajax Control Toolkit to use jQuery instead of the Microsoft Ajax Library gradually over time. The motivation for rewriting the controls in the Ajax Control Toolkit to use jQuery is to modernize the toolkit. We want to continue to accept new controls written for the Ajax Control Toolkit contributed by the community. The community wants to use jQuery. We want to make it easy for the community to submit bug fixes. The community understands jQuery. Using the Ajax Control Toolkit with a Website that Already uses jQuery But what if you are already using jQuery in your website? Will adding the Ajax Control Toolkit to your website break your existing website? No, and here is why. The Ajax Control Toolkit uses jQuery.noConflict() to avoid conflicting with an existing version of jQuery in a page. The version of jQuery that the Ajax Control Toolkit uses is represented by a variable named actJQuery. You can use actJQuery side-by-side with an existing version of jQuery in a page without conflict.Imagine, for example, that you add jQuery to an ASP.NET page using a <script> tag like this: <%@ Page Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeBehind="WebForm1.aspx.cs" Inherits="TestACTDec2013.WebForm1" %> <!DOCTYPE html> <html > <head runat="server"> <title></title> </head> <body> <form id="form1" runat="server"> <div> <script src="Scripts/jquery-2.0.3.min.js"></script> <ajaxToolkit:ToolkitScriptManager runat="server" /> <ajaxToolkit:TabContainer runat="server"> <ajaxToolkit:TabPanel runat="server"> <HeaderTemplate> Tab 1 </HeaderTemplate> <ContentTemplate> <h1>First Tab</h1> </ContentTemplate> </ajaxToolkit:TabPanel> <ajaxToolkit:TabPanel runat="server"> <HeaderTemplate> Tab 2 </HeaderTemplate> <ContentTemplate> <h1>Second Tab</h1> </ContentTemplate> </ajaxToolkit:TabPanel> </ajaxToolkit:TabContainer> </div> </form> </body> </html> The page above uses the Ajax Control Toolkit Tabs control (TabContainer and TabPanel controls). The Tabs control uses the version of jQuery that is currently bundled with the Ajax Control Toolkit (jQuery version 1.9.1). The page above also includes a <script> tag that references jQuery version 2.0.3. You might need that particular version of jQuery, for example, to use a particular jQuery plugin. The two versions of jQuery in the page do not create a conflict. This fact can be demonstrated by entering the following two commands in the JavaScript console window: actJQuery.fn.jquery $.fn.jquery Typing actJQuery.fn.jquery will display the version of jQuery used by the Ajax Control Toolkit and typing $.fn.jquery (or jQuery.fn.jquery) will show the version of jQuery used by other jQuery plugins in the page. Preventing jQuery from Loading Twice So by default, the Ajax Control Toolkit will not conflict with any existing version of jQuery used in your application. However, this does mean that if you are already using jQuery in your application then jQuery will be loaded twice. For performance reasons, you might want to avoid loading the jQuery library twice. By taking advantage of the <remove> element in the AjaxControlToolkit.config file, you can prevent the Ajax Control Toolkit from loading its version of jQuery. <ajaxControlToolkit> <scripts> <remove name="jQuery.jQuery.js" /> </scripts> <controlBundles> <controlBundle> <control name="TabContainer" /> <control name="TabPanel" /> </controlBundle> </controlBundles> </ajaxControlToolkit> Be careful here: the name of the script being removed – jQuery.jQuery.js – is case-sensitive. If you remove jQuery then it is your responsibility to add the exact same version of jQuery back into your application. You can add jQuery back using a <script> tag like this: <script src="Scripts/jquery-1.9.1.min.js"></script> Make sure that you add the <script> tag before the server-side <form> tag or the Ajax Control Toolkit won’t detect the presence of jQuery. Alternatively, you can use the ToolkitScriptManager like this: <ajaxToolkit:ToolkitScriptManager runat="server"> <Scripts> <asp:ScriptReference Name="jQuery.jQuery.js" /> </Scripts> </ajaxToolkit:ToolkitScriptManager> The Ajax Control Toolkit is tested against the particular version of jQuery that is bundled with the Ajax Control Toolkit. Currently, the Ajax Control Toolkit uses jQuery version 1.9.1. If you attempt to use a different version of jQuery with the Ajax Control Toolkit then you will get the exception jQuery 1.9.1 is required in your JavaScript console window: If you need to use a different version of jQuery in the same page as the Ajax Control Toolkit then you should not use the <remove> element. Instead, allow the Ajax Control Toolkit to load its version of jQuery side-by-side with the other version of jQuery. Lots of Bug Fixes As usual, we implemented several important bug fixes with this release. The bug fixes concerned the following three controls: Tabs control – In the course of rewriting the Tabs control to use jQuery, we fixed several bugs related to the Tabs control. AjaxFileUpload control – We resolved an issue concerning the AjaxFileUpload and the TMP directory. HTMLEditor control – We updated the HTMLEditor control to use the new Ajax Control Toolkit bundling and minification framework. Summary I would like to thank the Superexpert team for their hard work on this release. Many long hours of coding and testing went into making this release possible.

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OCR anything with OneNote 2007 and 2010

- by Matthew Guay

Quality OCR software can often be very expensive, but you may have one already installed on your computer that you didn’t know about. Here’s how you can use OneNote to OCR anything on your computer. OneNote is one of the overlooked gems in recent versions of Microsoft Office. OneNote makes it simple to take notes and keep track of everything with integrated search, and offers more features than its popular competitor Evernote. One way it is better is its high quality optical character recognition (OCR) engine. One of Evernote’s most popular features is that you can search for anything, including text in an image, and you can easily find it. OneNote takes this further, and instantly OCRs any text in images you add. Then, you can use this text easily and copy it from the image. Let’s see how this works and how you can use OneNote as the ultimate OCR. Please Note: This feature is available in OneNote 2007 and 2010. OneNote 2007 is included with Office 2007 Home and Student, Enterprise, and Ultimate, while OneNote 2010 is included with all edition of Office 2010 except for Starter edition. OCR anything First, let’s add something to OCR into OneNote. There are many different ways you can add items to OCR into OneNote. Open a blank page or one you want to insert something into, and then follow these steps to add what you want into OneNote. Picture Simply drag-and-drop a picture with text into a notebook… You can insert a picture directly from OneNote as well. In OneNote 2010, select the Insert tab, and then choose Picture. In OneNote 2007, select the Insert menu, select Picture, and then choose From File. Screen Clipping There are many times we’d like to copy text from something we see onscreen, but there is no direct way to copy text from that thing. For instance, you cannot copy text from the title-bar of a window, or from a flash-based online presentation. For these cases, the Screen Clipping option is very useful. To add a clip of anything onscreen in OneNote 2010, select the Insert tab in the ribbon and click Screen Clipping. In OneNote 2007, either click the Clip button on the toolbar or select the Insert menu and choose Screen Clipping. Alternately, you can take a screen clipping by pressing the windows key + S. When you click Screen Clipping, OneNote will minimize, your desktop will fade lighter, and your mouse pointer will change to a plus sign. Now, click and drag over anything you want to add to OneNote. Here we’re selecting the title of this article. The section you selected will now show up in your OneNote notebook, complete with the date and time the clip was made. Insert a file You’re not limited to pictures; OneNote can even OCR anything in most files on your computer. You can add files directly in OneNote 2010 by selecting File Printout in the Insert tab. In OneNote 2007, select the Insert menu and choose Files as Printout. Choose the file you want to add to OneNote in the dialog. Select Insert, and OneNote will pause momentarily as it processes the file. Now your file will show up in OneNote as a printout with a link to the original file above it. You can also send any file directly to OneNote via the OneNote virtual printer. If you have a file open, such as a PDF, that you’d like to OCR, simply open the print dialog in that program and select the “Send to OneNote” printer. Or, if you have a scanner, you can scan documents directly into OneNote by clicking Scanner Printout in the Insert tab in OneNote 2010. In OneNote 2003, to add a scanned document select the Insert menu, select Picture, and then choose From Scanner or Camera. OCR the image, file, or screenshot you put in OneNote Now that you’ve got your stuff into OneNote, let’s put it to work. OneNote automatically did an OCR scan on anything you inserted into OneNote. You can check to make sure by right-clicking on any picture, screenshot, or file you inserted. Select “Make Text in Image Searchable” and then make sure the correct language is selected. Now, you can copy text from the Picture. Simply right-click on the picture, and select “Copy Text from Picture”. And here’s the text that OneNote found in this picture: OCR anything with OneNote 2007 and 2010 - Windows Live Writer Not bad, huh? Now you can paste the text from the picture into a document or anywhere you need to use the text. If you are instead copying text from a printout, it may give you the option to copy text from this page or all pages of the printout. This works the exact same in OneNote 2007. In OneNote 2010, you can also edit the text OneNote has saved in the image from the OCR. This way, if OneNote read something incorrectly you can change it so you can still find it when you use search in OneNote. Additionally, you can copy only a specific portion of the text from the edit box, so it can be useful just for general copying as well. To do this, right-click on the item and select “Edit Alt Text”. Here is the window to edit alternate text. If you want to copy only a portion of the text, simply select it and press Ctrl+C to copy that portion. Searching OneNote’s OCR engine is very useful for finding specific pictures you have saved in OneNote. Simply enter your search query in the search box on top right, and OneNote will automatically find all instances of that term in all of your notebooks. Notice how it highlights the search term even in the image! This works the same in OneNote 2007. Notice how it highlighted “How-to” in a shot of the header image in our favorite website. In Windows Vista and 7, you can even search for things OneNote OCRed from the Start Menu search. Here the start menu search found the words “Windows Live Writer” in our OCR Test notebook in OneNote where we inserted the screen clip above. Conclusion OneNote is a very useful OCR tool, and can help you capture text from just about anything. Plus, since you can easily search everything you have stored in OneNote, you can quickly find anything you insert anytime. OneNote is one of the least-used Office tools, but we have found it very useful and hope you do too. Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Add or Remove Apps from the Microsoft Office 2007 or 2010 SuiteRemove Office 2010 Beta and Reinstall Office 2007How To Create and Publish Blog Posts in Word 2010 & 2007How To Copy Worksheets in Excel 2007 & 2010Add Page Numbers to Documents in Word 2007 & 2010 TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 Using TrueCrypt to Secure Your Data Quickly Schedule Meetings With NeedtoMeet Share Flickr Photos On Facebook Automatically Are You Blocked On Gtalk? Find out Discover Latest Android Apps On AppBrain The Ultimate Guide For YouTube Lovers

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Adding the New HTML Editor Extender to a Web Forms Application using NuGet

- by Stephen Walther

The July 2011 release of the Ajax Control Toolkit includes a new, lightweight, HTML5 compatible HTML Editor extender. In this blog entry, I explain how you can take advantage of NuGet to quickly add the new HTML Editor control extender to a new or existing ASP.NET Web Forms application. Installing the Latest Version of the Ajax Control Toolkit with NuGet NuGet is a package manager. It enables you to quickly install new software directly from within Visual Studio 2010. You can use NuGet to install additional software when building any type of .NET application including ASP.NET Web Forms and ASP.NET MVC applications. If you have not already installed NuGet then you can install NuGet by navigating to the following address and clicking the giant install button: http://nuget.org/ After you install NuGet, you can add the Ajax Control Toolkit to a new or existing ASP.NET Web Forms application by selecting the Visual Studio menu option Tools, Library Package Manager, Package Manager Console: Selecting this menu option opens the Package Manager Console. You can enter the command Install-Package AjaxControlToolkit in the console to install the Ajax Control Toolkit: After you install the Ajax Control Toolkit with NuGet, your application will include an assembly reference to the AjaxControlToolkit.dll and SanitizerProviders.dll assemblies: Furthermore, your Web.config file will be updated to contain a new tag prefix for the Ajax Control Toolkit controls: <configuration> <system.web> <compilation debug="true" targetFramework="4.0" /> <pages> <controls> <add tagPrefix="ajaxToolkit" assembly="AjaxControlToolkit" namespace="AjaxControlToolkit" /> </controls> </pages> </system.web> </configuration> The configuration file installed by NuGet adds the prefix ajaxToolkit for all of the Ajax Control Toolkit controls. You can type ajaxToolkit: in source view to get auto-complete in Source view. You can, of course, change this prefix to anything you want. Using the HTML Editor Extender After you install the Ajax Control Toolkit, you can use the HTML Editor Extender with the standard ASP.NET TextBox control to enable users to enter rich formatting such as bold, underline, italic, different fonts, and different background and foreground colors. For example, the following page can be used for entering comments. The page contains a standard ASP.NET TextBox, Button, and Label control. When you click the button, any text entered into the TextBox is displayed in the Label control. It is a pretty boring page: Let’s make this page fancier by extending the standard ASP.NET TextBox with the HTML Editor extender control: Notice that the ASP.NET TextBox now has a toolbar which includes buttons for performing various kinds of formatting. For example, you can change the size and font used for the text. You also can change the foreground and background color – and make many other formatting changes. You can customize the toolbar buttons which the HTML Editor extender displays. To learn how to customize the toolbar, see the HTML Editor Extender sample page here: http://www.asp.net/ajaxLibrary/AjaxControlToolkitSampleSite/HTMLEditorExtender/HTMLEditorExtender.aspx Here’s the source code for the ASP.NET page: <%@ Page Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeBehind="Default.aspx.cs" Inherits="WebApplication1.Default" %> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head runat="server"> <title>Add Comments</title> </head> <body> <form id="form1" runat="server"> <div> <ajaxToolkit:ToolkitScriptManager ID="TSM1" runat="server" /> <asp:TextBox ID="txtComments" TextMode="MultiLine" Columns="50" Rows="8" Runat="server" /> <ajaxToolkit:HtmlEditorExtender ID="hee" TargetControlID="txtComments" Runat="server" /> <br /><br /> <asp:Button ID="btnSubmit" Text="Add Comment" Runat="server" onclick="btnSubmit_Click" /> <hr /> <asp:Label ID="lblComment" Runat="server" /> </div> </form> </body> </html> Notice that the page above contains 5 controls. The page contains a standard ASP.NET TextBox, Button, and Label control. However, the page also contains an Ajax Control Toolkit ToolkitScriptManager control and HtmlEditorExtender control. The HTML Editor extender control extends the standard ASP.NET TextBox control. The HTML Editor TargetID attribute points at the TextBox control. Here’s the code-behind for the page above: using System; namespace WebApplication1 { public partial class Default : System.Web.UI.Page { protected void btnSubmit_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) { lblComment.Text = txtComments.Text; } } } Preventing XSS/JavaScript Injection Attacks If you use an HTML Editor -- any HTML Editor -- in a public facing web page then you are opening your website up to Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attacks. An evil hacker could submit HTML using the HTML Editor which contains JavaScript that steals private information such as other user’s passwords. Imagine, for example, that you create a web page which enables your customers to post comments about your website. Furthermore, imagine that you decide to redisplay the comments so every user can see them. In that case, a malicious user could submit JavaScript which displays a dialog asking for a user name and password. When an unsuspecting customer enters their secret password, the script could transfer the password to the hacker’s website. So how do you accept HTML content without opening your website up to JavaScript injection attacks? The Ajax Control Toolkit HTML Editor supports the Anti-XSS library. You can use the Anti-XSS library to sanitize any HTML content. The Anti-XSS library, for example, strips away all JavaScript automatically. You can download the Anti-XSS library from NuGet. Open the Package Manager Console and execute the command Install-Package AntiXSS: Adding the Anti-XSS library to your application adds two assemblies to your application named AntiXssLibrary.dll and HtmlSanitizationLibrary.dll. After you install the Anti-XSS library, you can configure the HTML Editor extender to use the Anti-XSS library your application’s web.config file: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <configuration> <configSections> <sectionGroup name="system.web"> <section name="sanitizer" requirePermission="false" type="AjaxControlToolkit.Sanitizer.ProviderSanitizerSection, AjaxControlToolkit"/> </sectionGroup> </configSections> <system.web> <sanitizer defaultProvider="AntiXssSanitizerProvider"> <providers> <add name="AntiXssSanitizerProvider" type="AjaxControlToolkit.Sanitizer.AntiXssSanitizerProvider"></add> </providers> </sanitizer> <compilation debug="true" targetFramework="4.0" /> <pages> <controls> <add tagPrefix="ajaxToolkit" assembly="AjaxControlToolkit" namespace="AjaxControlToolkit" /> </controls> </pages> </system.web> </configuration> Summary In this blog entry, I described how you can quickly get started using the new HTML Editor extender – included with the July 2011 release of the Ajax Control Toolkit – by installing the Ajax Control Toolkit with NuGet. If you want to learn more about the HTML Editor then please take a look at the Ajax Control Toolkit sample site: http://www.asp.net/ajaxLibrary/AjaxControlToolkitSampleSite/HTMLEditorExtender/HTMLEditorExtender.aspx

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Metro: Introduction to the WinJS ListView Control

- by Stephen.Walther

The goal of this blog entry is to provide a quick introduction to the ListView control – just the bare minimum that you need to know to start using the control. When building Metro style applications using JavaScript, the ListView control is the primary control that you use for displaying lists of items. For example, if you are building a product catalog app, then you can use the ListView control to display the list of products. The ListView control supports several advanced features that I plan to discuss in future blog entries. For example, you can group the items in a ListView, you can create master/details views with a ListView, and you can efficiently work with large sets of items with a ListView. In this blog entry, we’ll keep things simple and focus on displaying a list of products. There are three things that you need to do in order to display a list of items with a ListView: Create a data source Create an Item Template Declare the ListView Creating the ListView Data Source The first step is to create (or retrieve) the data that you want to display with the ListView. In most scenarios, you will want to bind a ListView to a WinJS.Binding.List object. The nice thing about the WinJS.Binding.List object is that it enables you to take a standard JavaScript array and convert the array into something that can be bound to the ListView. It doesn’t matter where the JavaScript array comes from. It could be a static array that you declare or you could retrieve the array as the result of an Ajax call to a remote server. The following JavaScript file – named products.js – contains a list of products which can be bound to a ListView. (function () { "use strict"; var products = new WinJS.Binding.List([ { name: "Milk", price: 2.44 }, { name: "Oranges", price: 1.99 }, { name: "Wine", price: 8.55 }, { name: "Apples", price: 2.44 }, { name: "Steak", price: 1.99 }, { name: "Eggs", price: 2.44 }, { name: "Mushrooms", price: 1.99 }, { name: "Yogurt", price: 2.44 }, { name: "Soup", price: 1.99 }, { name: "Cereal", price: 2.44 }, { name: "Pepsi", price: 1.99 } ]); WinJS.Namespace.define("ListViewDemos", { products: products }); })(); The products variable represents a WinJS.Binding.List object. This object is initialized with a plain-old JavaScript array which represents an array of products. To avoid polluting the global namespace, the code above uses the module pattern and exposes the products using a namespace. The list of products is exposed to the world as ListViewDemos.products. To learn more about the module pattern and namespaces in WinJS, see my earlier blog entry: http://stephenwalther.com/blog/archive/2012/02/22/metro-namespaces-and-modules.aspx Creating the ListView Item Template The ListView control does not know how to render anything. It doesn’t know how you want each list item to appear. To get the ListView control to render something useful, you must create an Item Template. Here’s what our template for rendering an individual product looks like: <div id="productTemplate" data-win-control="WinJS.Binding.Template"> <div class="product"> <span data-win-bind="innerText:name"></span> <span data-win-bind="innerText:price"></span> </div> </div> This template displays the product name and price from the data source. Normally, you will declare your template in the same file as you declare the ListView control. In our case, both the template and ListView are declared in the default.html file. To learn more about templates, see my earlier blog entry: http://stephenwalther.com/blog/archive/2012/02/27/metro-using-templates.aspx Declaring the ListView The final step is to declare the ListView control in a page. Here’s the markup for declaring a ListView: <div data-win-control="WinJS.UI.ListView" data-win-options="{ itemDataSource:ListViewDemos.products.dataSource, itemTemplate:select('#productTemplate') }"> </div> You declare a ListView by adding the data-win-control to an HTML DIV tag. The data-win-options attribute is used to set two properties of the ListView. The ListView is associated with its data source with the itemDataSource property. Notice that the data source is ListViewDemos.products.dataSource and not just ListViewDemos.products. You need to associate the ListView with the dataSoure property. The ListView is associated with its item template with the help of the itemTemplate property. The ID of the item template — #productTemplate – is used to select the template from the page. Here’s what the complete version of the default.html page looks like: <!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <meta charset="utf-8"> <title>ListViewDemos</title>  <link href="//Microsoft.WinJS.0.6/css/ui-dark.css" rel="stylesheet"> <script src="//Microsoft.WinJS.0.6/js/base.js"></script> <script src="//Microsoft.WinJS.0.6/js/ui.js"></script>  <link href="/css/default.css" rel="stylesheet"> <script src="/js/default.js"></script> <script src="/js/products.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <style type="text/css"> .product { width: 200px; height: 100px; border: white solid 1px; } </style> </head> <body> <div id="productTemplate" data-win-control="WinJS.Binding.Template"> <div class="product"> <span data-win-bind="innerText:name"></span> <span data-win-bind="innerText:price"></span> </div> </div> <div data-win-control="WinJS.UI.ListView" data-win-options="{ itemDataSource:ListViewDemos.products.dataSource, itemTemplate:select('#productTemplate') }"> </div> </body> </html> Notice that the page above includes a reference to the products.js file: <script src=”/js/products.js” type=”text/javascript”></script> The page above also contains a Template control which contains the ListView item template. Finally, the page includes the declaration of the ListView control. Summary The goal of this blog entry was to describe the minimal set of steps which you must complete to use the WinJS ListView control to display a simple list of items. You learned how to create a data source, declare an item template, and declare a ListView control.

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Week in Geek: FBI Back Door in OpenBSD Edition

- by Asian Angel

This week we learned how to migrate bookmarks from Delicious to Diigo, fix annoying arrows, play old-school DOS games, schedule smart computer shutdowns, use breaks in Microsoft Word to better format documents, check the condition of hard-disks using Linux disk utilities, & what the Linux fstab is and how it works. Photo by Jameson42. Random Geek Links Another week with extra news link goodness to help keep you up to date. Photo by justmakeit. Report of FBI back door roils OpenBSD community Allegations that the FBI surreptitiously placed a back door into the OpenBSD operating system have alarmed the computer security community, prompting calls for an audit of the source code and claims that the charges must be a hoax. Fortinet: Job outlook improving for cybercrooks In an ironic twist in the job market, more positions will open up for developers who can write customized malware packers, people who can break CAPTCHA codes, and distributors who can spread malicious code, according to Fortinet. Enisa: Malware for smartphones is a ’serious risk’ Businesses and consumers are at risk of data breaches through smartphone use, according to the European Network and Information Security Agency. The trick with the f: Google and Microsoft web sites distribute malware Last week, Google’s DoubleClick advertising platform and Microsoft’s rad.msn.com online ad network briefly distributed malware to other web sites in the form of advertising banners. New scam tactic: Fake disk defraggers It would appear that scammers are trying out new programs to see which might best confuse potential victims and evade detection by legitimate antivirus software. Microsoft closes IE and Stuxnet holes As previously announced, Microsoft has released 17 security updates to close 40 security holes. All four Windows holes so far disclosed in connection with Stuxnet have now been closed. Microsoft Offers H.264 Support to Firefox on Windows via Add-On The new HTML5 Extension for Windows Media Player Firefox Plug-in add-on from Microsoft offers users that are running Firefox on Windows 7 H.264 support for HTML5 video playback. Google proclaims Chrome business-ready Google has announced that Chrome is ready for corporate use. Microsoft Tells Exchange Customers to Think Twice Before Opting for Google Message Continuity This week, Microsoft is telling companies still running Exchange 2010’s precursors that they should carefully consider the implications of embracing Google Message Continuity. Who Google has in mind for its Chrome OS users Steven Vaughan-Nichols explains why he feels that Chrome OS will be ideal for either office-workers or people who need a computer, but do not know the first thing about how to use one safely. Oracle takes office suite to the cloud Oracle has introduced Cloud Office 1.0, a cloud-based version of its office suite, which is aimed at web and mobile users. Mozilla pays premiums for reports of vulnerabilities The Mozilla Foundation has followed Google’s example by expanding its rewards program for reports of vulnerabilities in its Web applications. Who bought those 882 Novell patents? Not just Microsoft The mysterious CPTN Holdings — the organization that bought the 882 Novell patents as part of the terms of the Attachmate acquisition of Novell – has been unmasked (Microsoft, Apple, EMC and Oracle). Appeals court: Feds need warrants for e-mail Police must obtain search warrants before perusing Internet users’ e-mail records, a federal appeals court ruled today in a landmark decision that struck down part of a 1986 law allowing warrantless access. Geek Video of the Week What happens when someone plays a wicked prank by shoveling crazy snow paths that lead to dead ends or turn back on themselves? Watch to find out! Photo by CollegeHumor. Janitor Snow Shoveling Prank Random TinyHacker Links The Oatmeal on Cat vs Internet What lengths will our poor neglected kitty hero have to go to in order to get some attention? Guide On Using JoliCloud With Windows JoliCloud is a nifty operating system that’s made for people who need a light-weight OS that’s mostly cloud based. Check this guide on using it with Windows. Use Cameyo to Easily Create Portable Programs Here’s a nifty tool to make portable apps out of programs in Windows. Check out the guide to do it. Better Family Tech Support A nice new site by Google to help members of family understand how computers work. Track Your Stolen Mobile Phone With F-Secure A useful anti-theft tool for your mobile phone. Super User Questions Another week with great answers to popular questions from Super User. What Chrome password manager fits my requirements? What’s the best way to be able to reimage windows computers? Could you suggest feature-rich disk-based personal backup program for linux (and I’ve seen a few)? What is IPv6 and why should I care? Is there any way to find out what programs are trying to connect to Internet on windows? How-To Geek Weekly Article Recap Here are our hottest articles full of geeky goodness from this past week at HTG. 20 OS X Keyboard Shortcuts You Might Not Know Microsoft Security Essentials 2.0 Kills Viruses Dead. Download It Now. Is Your Desktop Printer More Expensive Than Printing Services? Ask the Readers: Would You Be Willing to Give Windows Up and Use a Different O.S.? The Twelve Days of Geekmas One Year Ago on How-To Geek Enjoy reading through our latest batch of retro-geek goodness from one year ago. Macrium Reflect is a Free and Easy To Use Backup Utility How To Turn a Physical Computer Into A Virtual Machine with Disk2vhd How To Restore Windows 7 from a System Image How To Manage Hard Drive Space Used by Windows 7 Backup and Restore How To Manage Hibernate Mode in Windows 7 The Geek Note That is all we have for you this week, so see you back here again after the holidays! Got a great tip? Send it in to us at [email protected]. Photo by mitjamavsar. Latest Features How-To Geek ETC The Complete List of iPad Tips, Tricks, and Tutorials The 50 Best Registry Hacks that Make Windows Better The How-To Geek Holiday Gift Guide (Geeky Stuff We Like) LCD? LED? Plasma? The How-To Geek Guide to HDTV Technology The How-To Geek Guide to Learning Photoshop, Part 8: Filters Improve Digital Photography by Calibrating Your Monitor Deathwing the Destroyer – WoW Cataclysm Dragon Wallpaper Drag2Up Lets You Drag and Drop Files to the Web With Ease The Spam Police Parts 1 and 2 – Goodbye Spammers [Videos] Snow Angels Theme for Windows 7 Exploring the Jungle Ruins Wallpaper Protect Your Privacy When Browsing with Chrome and Iron Browser

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Creating a dynamic proxy generator with c# – Part 2 – Interceptor Design

- by SeanMcAlinden

Creating a dynamic proxy generator – Part 1 – Creating the Assembly builder, Module builder and caching mechanism For the latest code go to http://rapidioc.codeplex.com/ Before getting too involved in generating the proxy, I thought it would be worth while going through the intended design, this is important as the next step is to start creating the constructors for the proxy. Each proxy derives from a specified type The proxy has a corresponding constructor for each of the base type constructors The proxy has overrides for all methods and properties marked as Virtual on the base type For each overridden method, there is also a private method whose sole job is to call the base method. For each overridden method, a delegate is created whose sole job is to call the private method that calls the base method. The following class diagram shows the main classes and interfaces involved in the interception process. I’ll go through each of them to explain their place in the overall proxy. IProxy Interface The proxy implements the IProxy interface for the sole purpose of adding custom interceptors. This allows the created proxy interface to be cast as an IProxy and then simply add Interceptors by calling it’s AddInterceptor method. This is done internally within the proxy building process so the consumer of the API doesn’t need knowledge of this. IInterceptor Interface The IInterceptor interface has one method: Handle. The handle method accepts a IMethodInvocation parameter which contains methods and data for handling method interception. Multiple classes that implement this interface can be added to the proxy. Each method override in the proxy calls the handle method rather than simply calling the base method. How the proxy fully works will be explained in the next section MethodInvocation. IMethodInvocation Interface & MethodInvocation class The MethodInvocation will contain one main method and multiple helper properties. Continue Method The method Continue() has two functions hidden away from the consumer. When Continue is called, if there are multiple Interceptors, the next Interceptors Handle method is called. If all Interceptors Handle methods have been called, the Continue method then calls the base class method. Properties The MethodInvocation will contain multiple helper properties including at least the following: Method Name (Read Only) Method Arguments (Read and Write) Method Argument Types (Read Only) Method Result (Read and Write) – this property remains null if the method return type is void Target Object (Read Only) Return Type (Read Only) DefaultInterceptor class The DefaultInterceptor class is a simple class that implements the IInterceptor interface. Here is the code: DefaultInterceptor namespace Rapid.DynamicProxy.Interception { /// <summary> /// Default interceptor for the proxy. /// </summary> /// <typeparam name="TBase">The base type.</typeparam> public class DefaultInterceptor<TBase> : IInterceptor<TBase> where TBase : class { /// <summary> /// Handles the specified method invocation. /// </summary> /// <param name="methodInvocation">The method invocation.</param> public void Handle(IMethodInvocation<TBase> methodInvocation) { methodInvocation.Continue(); } } } This is automatically created in the proxy and is the first interceptor that each method override calls. It’s sole function is to ensure that if no interceptors have been added, the base method is still called. Custom Interceptor Example A consumer of the Rapid.DynamicProxy API could create an interceptor for logging when the FirstName property of the User class is set. Just for illustration, I have also wrapped a transaction around the methodInvocation.Coninue() method. This means that any overriden methods within the user class will run within a transaction scope. MyInterceptor public class MyInterceptor : IInterceptor<User<int, IRepository>> { public void Handle(IMethodInvocation<User<int, IRepository>> methodInvocation) { if (methodInvocation.Name == "set_FirstName") { Logger.Log("First name seting to: " + methodInvocation.Arguments[0]); } using (TransactionScope scope = new TransactionScope()) { methodInvocation.Continue(); } if (methodInvocation.Name == "set_FirstName") { Logger.Log("First name has been set to: " + methodInvocation.Arguments[0]); } } } Overridden Method Example To show a taster of what the overridden methods on the proxy would look like, the setter method for the property FirstName used in the above example would look something similar to the following (this is not real code but will look similar): set_FirstName public override void set_FirstName(string value) { set_FirstNameBaseMethodDelegate callBase = new set_FirstNameBaseMethodDelegate(this.set_FirstNameProxyGetBaseMethod); object[] arguments = new object[] { value }; IMethodInvocation<User<IRepository>> methodInvocation = new MethodInvocation<User<IRepository>>(this, callBase, "set_FirstName", arguments, interceptors); this.Interceptors[0].Handle(methodInvocation); } As you can see, a delegate instance is created which calls to a private method on the class, the private method calls the base method and would look like the following: calls base setter private void set_FirstNameProxyGetBaseMethod(string value) { base.set_FirstName(value); } The delegate is invoked when methodInvocation.Continue() is called within an interceptor. The set_FirstName parameters are loaded into an object array. The current instance, delegate, method name and method arguments are passed into the methodInvocation constructor (there will be more data not illustrated here passed in when created including method info, return types, argument types etc.) The DefaultInterceptor’s Handle method is called with the methodInvocation instance as it’s parameter. Obviously methods can have return values, ref and out parameters etc. in these cases the generated method override body will be slightly different from above. I’ll go into more detail on these aspects as we build them. Conclusion I hope this has been useful, I can’t guarantee that the proxy will look exactly like the above, but at the moment, this is pretty much what I intend to do. Always worth downloading the code at http://rapidioc.codeplex.com/ to see the latest. There will also be some tests that you can debug through to help see what’s going on. Cheers, Sean.

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Soapi.CS : A fully relational fluent .NET Stack Exchange API client library

- by Sky Sanders

Soapi.CS for .Net / Silverlight / Windows Phone 7 / Mono as easy as breathing...: var context = new ApiContext(apiKey).Initialize(false); Question thisPost = context.Official .StackApps .Questions.ById(386) .WithComments(true) .First(); Console.WriteLine(thisPost.Title); thisPost .Owner .Questions .PageSize(5) .Sort(PostSort.Votes) .ToList() .ForEach(q=> { Console.WriteLine("\t" + q.Score + "\t" + q.Title); q.Timeline.ToList().ForEach(t=> Console.WriteLine("\t\t" + t.TimelineType + "\t" + t.Owner.DisplayName)); Console.WriteLine(); }); // if you can think it, you can get it. Output Soapi.CS : A fully relational fluent .NET Stack Exchange API client library 21 Soapi.CS : A fully relational fluent .NET Stack Exchange API client library Revision code poet Revision code poet Votes code poet Votes code poet Revision code poet Revision code poet Revision code poet Votes code poet Votes code poet Votes code poet Revision code poet Revision code poet Revision code poet Revision code poet Revision code poet Revision code poet Revision code poet Revision code poet Revision code poet Revision code poet Votes code poet Comment code poet Revision code poet Votes code poet Revision code poet Revision code poet Revision code poet Answer code poet Revision code poet Revision code poet 14 SOAPI-WATCH: A realtime service that notifies subscribers via twitter when the API changes in any way. Votes code poet Revision code poet Votes code poet Comment code poet Comment code poet Comment code poet Votes lfoust Votes code poet Comment code poet Comment code poet Comment code poet Comment code poet Revision code poet Comment lfoust Votes code poet Revision code poet Votes code poet Votes lfoust Votes code poet Revision code poet Comment Dave DeLong Revision code poet Revision code poet Votes code poet Comment lfoust Comment Dave DeLong Comment lfoust Comment lfoust Comment Dave DeLong Revision code poet 11 SOAPI-EXPLORE: Self-updating single page JavaSript API test harness Votes code poet Votes code poet Votes code poet Votes code poet Votes code poet Comment code poet Revision code poet Votes code poet Revision code poet Revision code poet Revision code poet Comment code poet Revision code poet Votes code poet Comment code poet Question code poet Votes code poet 11 Soapi.JS V1.0: fluent JavaScript wrapper for the StackOverflow API Comment George Edison Comment George Edison Comment George Edison Comment George Edison Comment George Edison Comment George Edison Answer George Edison Votes code poet Votes code poet Votes code poet Votes code poet Revision code poet Revision code poet Answer code poet Comment code poet Revision code poet Comment code poet Comment code poet Comment code poet Revision code poet Revision code poet Votes code poet Votes code poet Votes code poet Votes code poet Comment code poet Comment code poet Comment code poet Comment code poet Comment code poet 9 SOAPI-DIFF: Your app broke? Check SOAPI-DIFF to find out what changed in the API Votes code poet Revision code poet Comment Dennis Williamson Answer Dennis Williamson Votes code poet Votes Dennis Williamson Comment code poet Question code poet Votes code poet About A robust, fully relational, easy to use, strongly typed, end-to-end StackOverflow API Client Library. Out of the box, Soapi provides you with a robust client library that abstracts away most all of the messy details of consuming the API and lets you concentrate on implementing your ideas. A few features include: A fully relational model of the API data set exposed via a fully 'dot navigable' IEnumerable (LINQ) implementation. Simply tell Soapi what you want and it will get it for you. e.g. "On my first question, from the author of the first comment, get the first page of comments by that person on any post" my.Questions.First().Comments.First().Owner.Comments.ToList(); (yes this is a real expression that returns the data as expressed!) Full coverage of the API, all routes and all parameters with an intuitive syntax. Strongly typed Domain Data Objects for all API data structures. Eager and Lazy Loading of 'stub' objects. Eager\Lazy loading may be disabled. When finer grained control of requests is desired, the core RouteMap objects may be leveraged to request data from any of the API paths using all available parameters as documented on the help pages. A rich Asynchronous implementation. A configurable request cache to reduce unnecessary network traffic and to simplify your usage logic. There is no need to go out of your way to be frugal. You may set a distinct cache duration for any particular route. A configurable request throttle to ensure compliance with the api terms of usage and to simplify your code in that you do not have to worry about and respond to 50X errors. The RequestCache and Throttled Queue are thread-safe, so can make as many requests as you like from as many threads as you like as fast as you like and not worry about abusing the api or having to write reams of management/compensation code. Configurable retry threshold that will, by default, make up to 3 attempts to retrieve a request before failing. Every request made by Soapi is properly formed and directed so most any http error will be the result of a timeout or other network infrastructure. A retry buffer provides a level of fault tolerance that you can rely on. An almost identical javascript library, Soapi.JS, and it's full figured big brother, Soapi.JS2, that will enable you to leverage your server cycles and bandwidth for only those tasks that require it and offload things like status updates to the client's browser. License Licensed GPL Version 2 license. Why is Soapi.CS GPL? Can I get an LGPL license for Soapi.CS? (hint: probably) Platforms .NET 3.5 .NET 4.0 Silverlight 3 Silverlight 4 Windows Phone 7 Mono Download Source code lives @ http://soapics.codeplex.com. Binary releases are forthcoming. codeplex is acting up again. get the source and binaries @ http://bitbucket.org/bitpusher/soapi.cs/downloads The source is C# 3.5. and includes projects and solutions for the following IDEs Visual Studio 2008 Visual Studio 2010 ModoDevelop 2.4 Documentation Full documentation is available at http://soapi.info/help/cs/index.aspx Sample Code / Usage Examples Sample code and usage examples will be added as answers to this question. Full API Coverage all API routes are covered Full Parameter Parity If the API exposes it, Soapi giftwraps it for you. Building a simple app with Soapi.CS - a simple app that gathers all traces of a user in the whole stackiverse. Fluent Configuration - Setting up a Soapi.ApiContext could not be easier Bulk Data Import - A tiny app that quickly loads a SQLite data file with all users in the stackiverse. Paged Results - Soapi.CS transparently handles multi-page operations. Asynchronous Requests - Soapi.CS provides a rich asynchronous model that is especially useful when writing api apps in Silverlight or Windows Phone 7. Caching and Throttling - how and why Apps that use Soapi.CS Soapi.FindUser - .net utility for locating a user anywhere in the stackiverse Soapi.Explore - The entire API at your command Soapi.LastSeen - List users by last access time Add your app/site here - I know you are out there ;-) if you are not comfortable editing this post, simply add a comment and I will add it. The CS/SL/WP7/MONO libraries all compile the same code and with the exception of environmental considerations of Silverlight, the code samples are valid for all libraries. You may also find guidance in the test suites. More information on the SOAPI eco-system. Contact This library is currently the effort of me, Sky Sanders (code poet) and can be reached at gmail - sky.sanders Any who are interested in improving this library are welcome. Support Soapi You can help support this project by voting for Soapi's Open Source Ad post For more information about the origins of Soapi.CS and the rest of the Soapi eco-system see What is Soapi and why should I care?

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Getting Started with Media Browser for Windows Media Center

- by DigitalGeekery

If you are a Windows Media Center user, you’ll really want to check out Media Browser. The Media Browser plug-in for Windows Media Center takes your digital media files and displays them in a visually appealing, user friendly interface, complete with images and metadata. Requirements Windows 7 or Vista Microsoft .Net 3.5 Framework Preparing your Media Files For Media Browser to be able to automatically download images and metadata for your media libraries, your files will have to be correctly named. For example, if you have an mp4 file of the movie Batman Begins, it needs to be named Batman Begins.mp4. It cannot be Batmanbegins.mp4 or Batman-begins.mp4. Otherwise, it’s unlikely that Media Browser will display images and metadata. If you find some of your files aren’t pulling cover art or metadata, double-check the official title of the media on a site like IMBD.com. TV Show files TV show files are handled a bit differently. Every TV series in your collection must have a main folder with the show’s name and individual subfolders for each season. Here is an example of folder structure and supported naming conventions. TV Shows\South Park\Season 1\s01e01 – episode 1.mp4 TV Shows\South Park\Season 1\South Park 1×01 – episode 1.mp4 TV Shows\South Park\Season 1\101 – episode 1.mp4 Note: You need to always have a Season 1 folder even if the show only has only one season. If you have several seasons of a particular show, but don’t happen to have Season 1, simply create a blank season 1 folder. Without a season 1 folder, other seasons will not display properly. Installation and Configuration Download and run the latest Media Browser .msi file by taking the defaults. (Download link below) When you reach the final window, leave the “Configure initial settings” box checked, and click “Finish.” You may get a pop up window informing you that folder permissions are not set correctly for Media Browser. Click “Yes.” Adding Your Media The Browser Configuration Tool should have opened automatically. If not, you can open it by going to Start > All Programs > Media Browser > Media Browser Configuration Wizard. To begin adding media files, click “Add.” Browse for a folder that contains media files and click “OK.” Here we are adding a folder with a group of movie files. You can add multiple folders to each media library. For example, if you have movie files stored in 4 or 5 different folders, you can add them all under a single library in Media Browser. To add additional folders, click the “Add” button on the right side under your currently added folder. The “Add” button to the left will add an additional Media Library, such as one for TV Shows. When you are finished, close out of the Media Browser Configuration Tool. Open Windows Media Center. You will see Media Browser tile on the main interface. Click to open it. When you initially open Media Browser, you will be prompted to run the initial configuration. Click “OK.” You will see a few general configuration options. The important option is the Metadata. Leave this option checked (it is by default) if you wish to pull images & other metadata for your media. When finished, click “Continue,” and then “OK” to restart Media Browser. When you re-enter Media Browser you’ll see your Media Categories listed below, and recently added files in the main display. Click on a Media Library to view the files. Click “View” at the top to check out some of the different display options to choose from. Below you see can “Detail.” This presents your videos in a list to the left. When you hover over a title, the synopsis and cover art is displayed to the right. “Cover Flow” displays your titles in a right to left format with mirror cover art. “Thumb Strip” displays your titles in a strip along the bottom with a synopsis, image, and movie data above. Configurations Settings and options can be changed through the Media Browser Configuration Tool, or directly in Media Browser by clicking on the “Wrench” at the bottom right of the main Media Browser page. Certain settings may only be available in one location or the other. Some will be available in both places. Plug-ins and Themes Media Browser features a variety of Plug-ins and Themes that can add optional customization and slick visual appeal. To install plug-ins or themes, open the Media Browser Configuration Tool. Click on the “plug-ins” tab, and then the “More Plug-ins…” button. Note: Clicking on “Advanced” at the top will reveal several additional configuration tabs. Browse the list of plug-ins on the left. When you find want you like, select it and then click “Install.” When the install is complete, you’ll see them listed under “Installed Plug-ins.” To activate any installed theme, click on the “Display” tab. Select it from the Visual Theme drop down list. Close out of the Media Browser Configuration Tool when finished. Some themes, such as the “Diamond” theme shown below, include optional views and settings which can be accessed through a configuration button at the top of the screen. Clicking on the movie gives you additional images and information such as a synopsis, runtime, IMDB rating… … and even actors and character names. All that’s left is to hit “Play” when you’re ready to watch. Conclusion Media Browser is a fantastic plug-in that brings an entirely different level of media management and aesthetics to Windows Media Center. There are numerous additional customizations and configurations we have not covered here such as adding film trailers, music support, and integrating Recorded TV. Media Browser will run on both Windows 7 and Vista. Extenders are also supported but may require additional configuration. Download Media Browser Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Using Netflix Watchnow in Windows Vista Media Center (Gmedia)Schedule Updates for Windows Media CenterIntegrate Hulu Desktop and Windows Media Center in Windows 7Add Color Coding to Windows 7 Media Center Program GuideIntegrate Boxee with Media Center in Windows 7 TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 If it were only this easy SyncToy syncs Files and Folders across Computers on a Network (or partitions on the same drive) Classic Cinema Online offers 100’s of OnDemand Movies OutSync will Sync Photos of your Friends on Facebook and Outlook Windows 7 Easter Theme YoWindoW, a real time weather screensaver

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Agile Awakenings and the Rules of Agile

- by Robert May

For those that care, you can read my history of management and technology to understand why I think I’m qualified to talk about this at all. It’s boring, so feel free to skip it. Awakenings I first started to play around with the idea of “agile” in 2004 or 2005. I found a book on the Rational Unified Process that I thought was good, and attempted to implement parts of it. I thought I was agile, but really, it wasn’t. I still didn’t understand the concept of a team. I still wanted to tell the team what to do and how to get it done. I still thought I was smarter than the team. After that job, I started work on another project and began helping that team. The first few months were really rough. We were implementing Scrum, which was relatively new to everyone on the team, and, quite frankly, I was doing a poor job of it. I was trying to micro-manage every aspect of the teams work, and we were all miserable. The moment of change came when the senior architect bailed on the project. His comment to me was: “This isn’t Agile. Where are the stand-ups? Where are the stories?” He was dead on, and I finally woke up. I finally realized that I was the problem! I wasn’t trusting the team. I wasn’t helping the team. I was being a manager. Like many (most?), I was claiming to be Agile and use Scrum, but I wasn’t in fact following the rules Scrum. Since then, I’ve done a lot of studying, hands on practice, coaching of many different teams, and other learning around Scrum, and I have discovered that Scrum has some rules that must be followed for success, even though the process is about continuous improvement. I’ve been practicing Scrum right for about 4 years now and have helped multiple teams implement it successfully, so what you’re about to get is based on experience, rather than just theory. The Rules of Scrum In my experience, what I’ve found is that most companies that claim to be doing Scrum or Agile are actually NOT doing either. This stems largely because they think that they can “adopt the rules of Agile that fit their organization.” Sadly, many of them think that this means they can adopt iterations (sprints) and not much else. Either that, or they think they can do whatever they want, or were doing before, and call it Scrum. This is simply not true. Here are some rules that must be followed for you to really be doing Scrum. I’ll go into detail on each one of these posts in future blog posts and update links here. My intent is that this will help other teams implementing scrum to see more success. Agile does not allow you to do whatever you want A Product Owner is required A ScrumMaster is required The team must function as a Team, and QA must be part of the team Support from upper management is required A prioritized product backlog is required A prioritized sprint backlog is required Release planning is required Complete spring planning is required Showcases are required Velocity must be measured Retrospectives are required Daily stand-ups are required Visibility is absolutely required For now, I think that’s enough, although I reserve the right to add more. If you’re breaking any of these rules, you’re probably not doing Scrum. There are exceptions to these rules, but until you have practiced Scrum for a while, you don’t know what those exceptions are. Breaking the Rules Many teams break these rules because they are the ones that expose the most pain. Scrum is not Advil. It’s not intended to mask the pain, its intended to cure it. Let me explain that analogy a bit more. Recently, my 7 year old son broke his arm, quite severely (see the X-Ray to the right). That caused him a great deal of pain. We went first to one doctor, and after viewing the X-Ray, they determined that there was no way that they’d cast the arm at their location. It was simply too bad of a break for them to deal with. They did, however, give him some Advil for the pain and put a splint on his arm to stabilize the broken bones. Within minutes, he was feeling much better. Had we been stupid, we could have gone home and he’d have been just as happy as ever . . . until the pain medication wore off or one of his siblings touched the splint. Then, all of that pain would come right back to the top. Sure, he could make it go away by just taking more Advil and moving the splint out of the way, but that wasn’t going to fix the problem permanently. We ended up in an emergency room with a doctor who could fix his arm. However, we were warned that the fix was going to be VERY painful, and it was. Even with heavy sedation (Propofol), my son was in enough pain that he squirmed and wiggled trying to get his arm away from the doctor. He had to endure this pain in order to have a functional arm. But the setting wasn’t the end. He had to have several casts, had to have it re-broken once, since the first setting didn’t take and finally was given a clean bill of health. Agile implementation is much like this story. Agile was developed as a result of people recognizing that the development methodologies that were currently in place simply were ineffective. However, the fix to the broken development that’s been festering for many years is not painless. Many people start Agile thinking that things will be wonderful. They won’t! Agile is about visibility, and often, it brings great pain to surface. It causes all of the missed deadlines, the cowboy coders, the coasters, the micro-managers, the lazy, and all of the other problems that are really part of your development process now to become painfully visible to EVERYONE. Many people don’t like this exposure. Agile will make the pain better, but not if you remove the cast (the rules above) prematurely and start breaking the rules that expose the most pain. The healing will take time and is not instant (like Advil). Figuring out what the true source of pain and fixing it is very valuable to you, your team, and your company. Remember as you’re doing this that Agile isn’t the source of the pain, it’s really just exposing it. Find the source. My recommendation is that ALL of these rules are followed for a minimum of six months, and preferably for an entire year, before you decide to break any of these rules. Get a few good releases under your belt. Figure out what your velocity is and start firing as a team. Chances are, after you see agile really in action, you won’t want to break the rules because you’ll see their value. More Reading Jean Tabaka recently published a list of 78 Things I Have Learned in 6 Years of Agile Coaching. Highly recommended. Technorati Tags: Agile,Scrum,Rules

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dasBlog

- by Daniel Moth

Some people like blogging on a site that is completely managed by someone else (e.g. http://wordpress.com/) and others, like me, prefer hosting their own blog at their own domain. In the latter case you need to decide what blog engine to install on your web space to power your blog. There are many free blog engines to choose from (e.g. the one from http://wordpress.org/). If, like me, you want to use a blog engine that is based on the .NET platform you have many choices including BlogEngine.NET, Subtext and the one I picked: dasBlog. In this post I'll describe the steps I took to get going with the open source dasBlog (home page, source page). A. Installing First I installed dasBlog on my local Windows 7 machine where I have IIS7 installed. To install dasBlog, I started by clicking the "Install" button on its web gallery page. After that I went through configuration, theming and adding content as described below. Once I was happy that everything was working correctly on the local machine, I set this up on a hosting service. I went for a Windows IIS7 shared hosting 3 month Economy plan from GoDaddy. The dasBlog site lists a bunch of other hosts. You can read the installation instructions for dasBlog, and with GoDaddy I just had to click one button since it is available as part of their quick-install apps. With GoDaddy I had a previewdns option that allowed me to play around and preview my site before going live. B. Configuring After it was installed (on local machine and/or hosting provider), I followed the obvious steps to create an admin user and logged in. This displays an admin navigation bar with the following options: 1. Navigator Links: I decided I was not going to use this feature. I manage links on the side of my blog manually elsewhere as part of the theme. So, I deleted every entry on this page and ignored it thereafter. 2. Blogroll: Ditto - same comment as for Navigator Links. 3. Content Filters: I did not delete (or add) these, but I did ensure both checkboxes are not checked. I.e. I am not using this feature now, but I may return to it in the future. 4. Activity: This is a read-only view of various statistics. So nothing to configure here, but useful to come back to for complementary statistics to whatever other statistical package you use (e.g. free stats as part of the hosting and I also use feedburner for syndication stats). 5. Cross-posting: I did not need that, so I turned it off via the Configuration Settings discussed next. 6. Configuration Settings: This is where the bulk of the configuration for the blog takes place and they are stored in a single XML file: Site.Config file. There are truly self-explanatory options to pick for Basic Settings, Services Settings and Services to Ping, Syndication Settings (this is where you link to your feedburner name if you have one) and Mail to Weblog Settings (I keep this turned off). There are also "Xml Storage System Settings" (I keep this turned off), "OpenId Settings" (I allow OpenID commenters), "Spammer Settings" (Enable captcha, never show email addresses) and "Comment settings" (Enable comments, don't allow on older posts, don't allow html). There are also Appearance Settings (I checked the "Use Post Title for Permalink", replaced spaces with hyphen and unchecked the "Use Unique Title"). Finally, there are also Notification Settings, but they are a bit of hit and miss in my case, in that I don’t always get the emails (still investigating this). C. Adding Content You can add content via the "Add Entry" link on the admin navigation bar or by configuring the "Mail to Weblog" settings and sending email or, do what I've started doing, use Live Writer (also the team has a blog). Another way to add content is programmatically if, for example, you are migrating content from another blog (and I'll cover that in separate post sharing the code). What you should know is that all blog content (posts and comments) live in XML files in a folder called "content" under your dasBlog installation. D. Theming There is a very good guide about themes for dasBlog, there is also a similar guide with screenshots (scroll down to "So how do I create a theme") and the dasBlog macro reference. When you install dasBlog, there are many themes available; each theme is in its own folder (representing the folder name) under the themes folder. You may have noticed that you can switch between these via the "Appearance Settings" described above (look for the combobox after the Default Theme label). I created my own theme by copy-pasting an existing theme folder, renaming it and then switching to it as the default. I then opened the folder in Visual Studio and hacked around the HTML in the 3 files (itemTemplate, homeTemplate and dayTemplate). These files have a blogtemplate file extension, which I temporarily renamed to HTML as I was editing them. There is no more advice I can offer here as this is a matter of taste and the aforementioned links is all I used. Personally, I had salvaged the CSS (and structure) from my previous blog and wanted to make this one match it as closely as possible - I think I have succeeded. E. If you run into any issue with dasBlog... ...use your favorite search engine to find answers. Many bloggers have been using this engine for a while and have documented issues and workarounds over time. One such example is ScottHa's dasBlog category; another example is therightstuff where I "borrowed" the idea/macro for the outlook-style on-page navigation. If you don't find what you want through searching, try posting a question to the forums. Comments about this post welcome at the original blog.

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