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  • Bind: dns not 'spreaded'

    - by realtebo
    I've elfoip.net with bind $ whois elfoip.net | grep 'Name Server' Name Server: NS.ELFOIP.NET I need elfoip.net be able to serve third levels domain, like mickymouse.elfoip.net, etc... Yes, I'm trying to create an other useless dyndns clone. i've added some third level as A RR. Eg: executing this from the server itself $ dig @localhost mattinauno.elfoip.net ;; ANSWER SECTION: mattinauno.elfoip.net. 60 IN A 192.81.221.113 I was expecting in one or two days, from my pc i can digit in browser mattinauno.elfoip.net and get page a 192.81.221.113 But this is not happening. Are there any prerequisites to satisfy to allow dns of my isp to be able to forward dns resolution of *.elfoip.net to MY dns ? (Or to ask to him and then cache ?) TTL of zone is set a 5m I've not AllowQuey directive, is it necessary for other dns to cache from mine ? I've cheched the zone with bind utility named-checkzone but no error detected. How to diagnose why other dns doesn't take in account RR from mine ? from my home pc dig @ns.elfoip.net mattinauno.elfoip.net ;; ANSWER SECTION: mattinauno.elfoip.net. 60 IN A 192.81.221.113 ;; AUTHORITY SECTION: elfoip.net. 300 IN NS ns.elfoip.net. but dig @8.8.8.8 mattinauno.elfoip.net give no answers Whole zone file: note I've used nsupdate, so this file has been re-edited and re-formatted from this utility ! root@mirko:/var/named# cat elfoip.net.db $ORIGIN . $TTL 300 ; 5 minutes elfoip.net IN SOA ns.elfoip.net. hostmaster.elfoip.net. ( 2013062314 ; serial 3600 ; refresh (1 hour) 600 ; retry (10 minutes) 86400 ; expire (1 day) 60 ; minimum (1 minute) ) NS ns.elfoip.net. A 109.168.99.6 $ORIGIN elfoip.net. $TTL 60 ; 1 minute google A 173.194.35.56 maiscai A 192.81.221.113 mattinadue A 192.81.221.113 mattinauno A 192.81.221.113 $TTL 300 ; 5 minutes ns A 109.168.99.6 $TTL 60 ; 1 minute prova A 208.67.222.222 prova2 A 13.23.34.45 A 13.23.34.46 www CNAME elfoip.net. EDIT: added named.conf.local zone "elfoip.net" { type master; // file "/etc/bind/elfoip.net.db"; file "/var/named/elfoip.net.db"; allow-update { key elfoip.net ; }; }; EDIT: I've no setup list-on directive *EDIT Added a TCPDUMP after [email protected] wwww.elfoip.net from a machine which uses my company internal dns, who allow recursive query. root@mirko:~# tcpdump -i eth0 'port 53' tcpdump: verbose output suppressed, use -v or -vv for full protocol decode listening on eth0, link-type EN10MB (Ethernet), capture size 65535 bytes 11:57:23.293611 IP host9-210-static.22-87-b.business.telecomitalia.it.45958 > mirko.elfoip.net.domain: 61337+ A? www.elfoip.net. (32) 11:57:23.294114 IP mirko.elfoip.net.domain > host9-210-static.22-87-b.business.telecomitalia.it.45958: 61337* 2/1/1 CNAME elfoip.net., A 109.168.99.6 (95) 11:57:23.294554 IP mirko.elfoip.net.59571 > google-public-dns-a.google.com.domain: 45851+ PTR? 9.210.22.87.in-addr.arpa. (42) 11:57:23.330444 IP google-public-dns-a.google.com.domain > mirko.elfoip.net.59571: 45851 1/0/0 PTR host9-210-static.22-87-b.business.telecomitalia.it. (106) 11:57:23.331181 IP mirko.elfoip.net.44171 > google-public-dns-a.google.com.domain: 33339+ PTR? 8.8.8.8.in-addr.arpa. (38) 11:57:23.439405 IP google-public-dns-a.google.com.domain > mirko.elfoip.net.44171: 33339 1/0/0 PTR google-public-dns-a.google.com. (82) 11:57:31.350654 IP host9-210-static.22-87-b.business.telecomitalia.it.30108 > mirko.elfoip.net.domain: 38269 [1au] A? ns.elfoip.net. (42) 11:57:31.351117 IP mirko.elfoip.net.domain > host9-210-static.22-87-b.business.telecomitalia.it.30108: 38269* 1/1/1 A 109.168.99.6 (72) If i dig @8.8.8.8 www.elfoip.net, NOTHING happens in dump log !

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  • How do I get a rt2800usb wireless device working?

    - by Jii
    My brand new desktop running 13.04 has endless problems with wireless. Dozens of others are flooding forums with reports of the same problems. It worked fine for a few days, then there were a few days where it started having problems sometimes and working sometimes. Now it never works at all. I have 5+ devices all able to connect without any trouble at all, including iPhone, Android phone, 3DS, multiple game consoles, a laptop running windows 7, and even a second desktop machine running Ubuntu 12.04 sitting right behind the 13.04 machine. All other devices have full wireless bars displayed (strong signals). At any moment, one of the following is happening, and it changes randomly: Trying to connect forever, but never establishing a connection. Wireless icon constantly animating. Finds no wireless networks at all. (There are 12+ in range according to other devices.) Will not try to connect to the network. If I use the icon to connect, it will display "Disconnected" within a few seconds. Will continuously ask for the network password. Typing it in correctly does not help. Wireless is working fine. This happens sometimes. It can work for days at a time, or only 10 mins at a time. Various things that usually do nothing but sometimes fix the problem: Reboot. This has the best chance of helping, but it usually takes 5+ times. Disable/re-enable Wi-Fi using the wireless icon. Disable/re-enable Networking using the wireless icon. Use the icon to try and connect to a network (if found). Use the icon to open Edit Connections and delete my connection info, causing it to be recreated (once it's actually found again). Various things that seem to make no difference: Changing between using Linux headers in grub at bootup, between 3.10.0, 3.9.0, or 3.8.0. Move the wireless router very close to the desktop. Running sudo rfkill unblock all (I dunno what this is supposed to do.) I've used Ubuntu for 6 years and I've never had a problem with networking. Now I'm spending all my time reading through endless problem reports and trying all the answers. None of them have helped. I am doing this instead of getting work done, which is defeating the whole purpose of using Ubuntu. It's heartbreaking to be honest. In the current state of "no networks are showing up", here are outputs from the random things that other people are usually asked to run: lspic 00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Haswell DRAM Controller (rev 06) 00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Haswell PCI Express x16 Controller (rev 06) 00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Lynx Point USB xHCI Host Controller (rev 04) 00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation Lynx Point MEI Controller #1 (rev 04) 00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Ethernet Connection I217-V (rev 04) 00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Lynx Point USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 (rev 04) 00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation Lynx Point High Definition Audio Controller (rev 04) 00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Lynx Point PCI Express Root Port #1 (rev d4) 00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev d4) 00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Lynx Point USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 (rev 04) 00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Lynx Point LPC Controller (rev 04) 00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation Lynx Point 6-port SATA Controller 1 [AHCI mode] (rev 04) 00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation Lynx Point SMBus Controller (rev 04) 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GF119 [GeForce GT 610] (rev a1) 01:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation GF119 HDMI Audio Controller (rev a1) 03:00.0 PCI bridge: ASMedia Technology Inc. ASM1083/1085 PCIe to PCI Bridge (rev 03) lsmod Module Size Used by e100 41119 0 nls_iso8859_1 12713 1 parport_pc 28284 0 ppdev 17106 0 bnep 18258 2 rfcomm 47863 12 binfmt_misc 17540 1 arc4 12573 2 rt2800usb 27201 0 rt2x00usb 20857 1 rt2800usb rt2800lib 68029 1 rt2800usb rt2x00lib 55764 3 rt2x00usb,rt2800lib,rt2800usb coretemp 13596 0 mac80211 656164 3 rt2x00lib,rt2x00usb,rt2800lib kvm_intel 138733 0 kvm 452835 1 kvm_intel cfg80211 547224 2 mac80211,rt2x00lib crc_ccitt 12707 1 rt2800lib ghash_clmulni_intel 13259 0 aesni_intel 55449 0 usb_storage 61749 1 aes_x86_64 17131 1 aesni_intel joydev 17613 0 xts 12922 1 aesni_intel nouveau 1001310 3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi 37407 1 lrw 13294 1 aesni_intel gf128mul 14951 2 lrw,xts mxm_wmi 13021 1 nouveau snd_hda_codec_realtek 46511 1 ablk_helper 13597 1 aesni_intel wmi 19256 2 mxm_wmi,nouveau snd_hda_intel 44397 5 ttm 88251 1 nouveau drm_kms_helper 49082 1 nouveau drm 295908 5 ttm,drm_kms_helper,nouveau snd_hda_codec 190010 3 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel cryptd 20501 3 ghash_clmulni_intel,aesni_intel,ablk_helper snd_hwdep 13613 1 snd_hda_codec snd_pcm 102477 3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel btusb 18291 0 snd_page_alloc 18798 2 snd_pcm,snd_hda_intel snd_seq_midi 13324 0 i2c_algo_bit 13564 1 nouveau snd_seq_midi_event 14899 1 snd_seq_midi snd_rawmidi 30417 1 snd_seq_midi snd_seq 61930 2 snd_seq_midi_event,snd_seq_midi bluetooth 251354 22 bnep,btusb,rfcomm snd_seq_device 14497 3 snd_seq,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_midi lpc_ich 17060 0 snd_timer 29989 2 snd_pcm,snd_seq mei 46588 0 snd 69533 20 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hwdep,snd_timer,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_pcm,snd_seq,snd_rawmidi,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel,snd_seq_device psmouse 97838 0 microcode 22923 0 soundcore 12680 1 snd video 19467 1 nouveau mac_hid 13253 0 serio_raw 13215 0 lp 17799 0 parport 46562 3 lp,ppdev,parport_pc hid_generic 12548 0 usbhid 47346 0 hid 101248 2 hid_generic,usbhid ahci 30063 3 libahci 32088 1 ahci e1000e 207005 0 ptp 18668 1 e1000e pps_core 14080 1 ptp sudo lshw -c network 00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Haswell DRAM Controller (rev 06) 00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Haswell PCI Express x16 Controller (rev 06) 00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Lynx Point USB xHCI Host Controller (rev 04) 00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation Lynx Point MEI Controller #1 (rev 04) 00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Ethernet Connection I217-V (rev 04) 00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Lynx Point USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 (rev 04) 00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation Lynx Point High Definition Audio Controller (rev 04) 00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Lynx Point PCI Express Root Port #1 (rev d4) 00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev d4) 00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Lynx Point USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 (rev 04) 00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Lynx Point LPC Controller (rev 04) 00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation Lynx Point 6-port SATA Controller 1 [AHCI mode] (rev 04) 00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation Lynx Point SMBus Controller (rev 04) 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GF119 [GeForce GT 610] (rev a1) 01:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation GF119 HDMI Audio Controller (rev a1) 03:00.0 PCI bridge: ASMedia Technology Inc. ASM1083/1085 PCIe to PCI Bridge (rev 03) sudo iwconfig eth0 no wireless extensions. lo no wireless extensions. wlan0 IEEE 802.11bgn ESSID:off/any Mode:Managed Access Point: Not-Associated Tx-Power=20 dBm Retry long limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off Encryption key:off Power Management:on sudo iwlist scan eth0 Interface doesn't support scanning. lo Interface doesn't support scanning. wlan0 No scan results NOTE: This dmesg was done after a reboot where the network manager was continuously displaying the "disconnected" message over and over. So it must have been trying to connect at this time. My network was displayed in the list of options, as the only option despite other devices picking up 12+ access points. The router channel is set to auto. dmesg | tail -30 [ 187.418446] wlan0: associated [ 190.405601] wlan0: disassociated from 00:14:d1:a8:c3:44 (Reason: 15) [ 190.443312] cfg80211: Calling CRDA to update world regulatory domain [ 190.443431] wlan0: deauthenticating from 00:14:d1:a8:c3:44 by local choice (reason=3) [ 190.451635] cfg80211: World regulatory domain updated: [ 190.451643] cfg80211: (start_freq - end_freq @ bandwidth), (max_antenna_gain, max_eirp) [ 190.451648] cfg80211: (2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm) [ 190.451652] cfg80211: (2457000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ 20000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm) [ 190.451656] cfg80211: (2474000 KHz - 2494000 KHz @ 20000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm) [ 190.451659] cfg80211: (5170000 KHz - 5250000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm) [ 190.451662] cfg80211: (5735000 KHz - 5835000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm) [ 191.824451] wlan0: authenticate with 00:14:d1:a8:c3:44 [ 191.850608] wlan0: send auth to 00:14:d1:a8:c3:44 (try 1/3) [ 191.884604] wlan0: send auth to 00:14:d1:a8:c3:44 (try 2/3) [ 191.886309] wlan0: authenticated [ 191.886579] rt2800usb 3-5.3:1.0 wlan0: disabling HT as WMM/QoS is not supported by the AP [ 191.886588] rt2800usb 3-5.3:1.0 wlan0: disabling VHT as WMM/QoS is not supported by the AP [ 191.889556] wlan0: associate with 00:14:d1:a8:c3:44 (try 1/3) [ 192.001493] wlan0: associate with 00:14:d1:a8:c3:44 (try 2/3) [ 192.040274] wlan0: RX AssocResp from 00:14:d1:a8:c3:44 (capab=0x431 status=0 aid=3) [ 192.044235] wlan0: associated [ 193.948188] wlan0: deauthenticating from 00:14:d1:a8:c3:44 by local choice (reason=3) [ 193.981501] cfg80211: Calling CRDA to update world regulatory domain [ 193.984080] cfg80211: World regulatory domain updated: [ 193.984082] cfg80211: (start_freq - end_freq @ bandwidth), (max_antenna_gain, max_eirp) [ 193.984084] cfg80211: (2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm) [ 193.984085] cfg80211: (2457000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ 20000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm) [ 193.984085] cfg80211: (2474000 KHz - 2494000 KHz @ 20000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm) [ 193.984086] cfg80211: (5170000 KHz - 5250000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm) [ 193.984087] cfg80211: (5735000 KHz - 5835000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm) The router uses MAC filtering, and security is WPA PSK with cipher as auto. So, any ideas? Or is the solution just to not use 13.04 unless you have a wired connection? (I don't have this option.) If so, please just tell me straight. I survived 9.04 Jaunty, and I can survive 13.04 Raring. Update #1 Results from trying Wild Man's first answer: jii@conan:~$ echo "options rt2800usb nohwcrypt=y" | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/rt2800usb.conf options rt2800usb nohwcrypt=y jii@conan:~$ sudo modprobe -rfv rt2800usb rmmod rt2800usb rmmod rt2800lib rmmod crc_ccitt rmmod rt2x00usb rmmod rt2x00lib rmmod mac80211 rmmod cfg80211 jii@conan:~$ sudo modprobe -v rt2800usb insmod /lib/modules/3.10.0-031000-generic/kernel/lib/crc-ccitt.ko insmod /lib/modules/3.10.0-031000-generic/kernel/net/wireless/cfg80211.ko insmod /lib/modules/3.10.0-031000-generic/kernel/net/mac80211/mac80211.ko insmod /lib/modules/3.10.0-031000-generic/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/rt2x00/rt2x00lib.ko insmod /lib/modules/3.10.0-031000-generic/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/rt2x00/rt2800lib.ko insmod /lib/modules/3.10.0-031000-generic/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/rt2x00/rt2x00usb.ko insmod /lib/modules/3.10.0-031000-generic/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/rt2x00/rt2800usb.ko nohwcrypt=y I tried: gksudo gedit /etc/pm/power.d/wireless but I didn't have the package. It said to install gksu. I tried that, but of course, not having Internet, I didn't get the package. So instead I did: sudo gedit /etc/pm/power.d/wireless Which created the file. Here is the body: #!/bin/sh /sbin/iwconfig wlan0 power off I then rebooted. No change. I tried adding exit 0 to the bottom of the wireless file, and rebooted. No change. Please note that this is a desktop machine. I'm assuming power management is primarily for laptops, but the iwconfig does state that power management is on, so who knows. The recommended router changes I did not do, since the current router settings are (I think) required for some of the older devices I have, and because the current settings work on all my modern devices including Ubuntu 12.04 and Windows 7. I do appreciate the advice though, and I'll look into it when I have time. Anything else to try? Update #2 I booted into Ubuntu 12.04.3 from a dvd, and the same problems exist. I have a separate old desktop machine with 12.04 installed that has no wireless problems at all. So obviously the problem is wireless hardware compatibility in both 12.04.03 LTS and 13.04. Update #3 The same problems exist even when using a wired connection. I plugged an ethernet cable directly to the router and the network manager added an "Auto Ethernet" entry, but it cannot establish a connection to it. So the problem is not specific to wireless. Meanwhile, I purchased a Trendnet N300 wireless USB adapter, TEW-664UB. I plugged it in, but I have no idea how to get Ubuntu to try and use it. Can anyone tell me how? Can I download a package on another computer and copy the .deb over to do an install, etc? I'm installing windows 7 to double check that the internet connection works there and it's not just some magically faulty hardware. Thanks for your help.

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  • CodePlex Daily Summary for Tuesday, September 11, 2012

    CodePlex Daily Summary for Tuesday, September 11, 2012Popular ReleasesMetodología General Ajustada - MGA: 03.01.04: Cambios Parmenio: Envio actualizaciones al formato PRO_F02, costos y fuentes. Se debe ejecutar el script en la base de datos. Soluciona problema que al tener varias alternativas, traiga en el formulario PR-02 los costos de la otra alternativa. Cambios John: Integración de código con cambios enviados por Parmenio Bonilla. Generación de instaladores. Soporte técnico por correo electrónico y telefónico. Restauración y recuperación de dos proycetos de Bakcup de Base de Datos de Chocó.Arduino for Visual Studio: Arduino 1.x for Visual Studio 2012, 2010 and 2008: Register for the visualmicro.com forum for more news and updates Version 1209.10 includes support for VS2012 and minor fixes for the Arduino debugger beta test team. Version 1208.19 is considered stable for visual studio 2010 and 2008. If you are upgrading from an older release of Visual Micro and encounter a problem then uninstall "Visual Micro for Arduino" using "Control Panel>Add and Remove Programs" and then run the install again. Key Features of 1209.10 Support for Visual Studio 2...Microsoft Script Explorer for Windows PowerShell: Script Explorer Reference Implementation(s): This download contains Source Code and Documentation for Script Explorer DB Reference Implementation. You can create your own provider and use it in Script Explorer. Refer to the documentation for more information. The source code is provided "as is" without any warranty. Read the Readme.txt file in the SourceCode.Social Network Importer for NodeXL: SocialNetImporter(v.1.5): This new version includes: - Fixed the "resource limit" bug caused by Facebook - Bug fixes To use the new graph data provider, do the following: Unzip the Zip file into the "PlugIns" folder that can be found in the NodeXL installation folder (i.e "C:\Program Files\Social Media Research Foundation\NodeXL Excel Template\PlugIns") Open NodeXL template and you can access the new importer from the "Import" menuAcDown????? - AcDown Downloader Framework: AcDown????? v4.1: ??●AcDown??????????、??、??、???????。????,????,?????????????????????????。???????????Acfun、????(Bilibili)、??、??、YouTube、??、???、??????、SF????、????????????。 ●??????AcPlay?????,??????、????????????????。 ● AcDown??????????????????,????????????????????????????。 ● AcDown???????C#??,????.NET Framework 2.0??。?????"Acfun?????"。 ????32??64? Windows XP/Vista/7/8 ???? 32??64? ???Linux ????(1)????????Windows XP???,?????????.NET Framework 2.0???(x86),?????"?????????"??? (2)???????????Linux???,????????Mono?? ??...Move Mouse: Move Mouse 2.5.2: FIXED - Minor fixes and improvements.MVC Controls Toolkit: Mvc Controls Toolkit 2.3: Added The new release is compatible with Mvc4 RTM. Support for handling Time Zones in dates. Specifically added helper methods to convert to UTC or local time all DateTimes contained in a model received by a controller, and helper methods to handle date only fileds. This together with a detailed documentation on how TimeZones are handled in all situations by the Asp.net Mvc framework, will contribute to mitigate the nightmare of dates and timezones. Multiple Templates, and more options to...DNN Metro7 style Skin package: Metro7 style Skin for DotNetNuke 06.02.00: Maintenance Release Changes on Metro7 06.02.00 Fixed width and height on the jQuery popup for the Editor. Navigation Provider changed to DDR menu Added menu files and scripts Changed skins to Doctype HTML Changed manifest to dnn6 manifest file Changed License to HTML view Fixed issue on Metro7/PinkTitle.ascx with double registering of the Actions Changed source folder structure and start folder, so the project works with the default DNN structure on developing Added VS 20...Mishra Reader: Mishra Reader Beta 4: Additional bug fixes and logging in this release to try to find the reason some users aren't able to see the main window pop up. Also, a few UI tweaks to tighten up the feed item list. This release requires the final version of .NET 4.5. If the ClickOnce installer doesn't work for you, please try the additional setup exe.Xenta Framework - extensible enterprise n-tier application framework: Xenta Framework 1.9.0: Release Notes Imporved framework architecture Improved the framework security More import/export formats and operations New WebPortal application which includes forum, new, blog, catalog, etc. UIs Improved WebAdmin app. Reports, navigation and search Perfomance optimization Improve Xenta.Catalog domain More plugin interfaces and plugin implementations Refactoring Windows Azure support and much more... Package Guide Source Code - package contains the source code Binaries...Json.NET: Json.NET 4.5 Release 9: New feature - Added JsonValueConverter New feature - Set a property's DefaultValueHandling to Ignore when EmitDefaultValue from DataMemberAttribute is false Fix - Fixed DefaultValueHandling.Ignore not igoring default values of non-nullable properties Fix - Fixed DefaultValueHandling.Populate error with non-nullable properties Fix - Fixed error when writing JSON for a JProperty with no value Fix - Fixed error when calling ToList on empty JObjects and JArrays Fix - Fixed losing deci...Microsoft Ajax Minifier: Microsoft Ajax Minifier 4.66: Just going to bite the bullet and rip off the band-aid... SEMI-BREAKING CHANGE! Well, it's a BREAKING change to those who already adjusted their projects to use the previous breaking change's ill-conceived renamed DLLs (versions 4.61-4.65). For those who had not adapted and were still stuck in this-doesn't-work-please-fix-me mode, this is more like a fixing change. The previous breaking change just broke too many people, I'm sorry to say. Renaming the DLL from AjaxMin.dll to AjaxMinLibrary.dl...DotNetNuke® Community Edition CMS: 07.00.00 CTP (Not for Production Use): NOTE: New Minimum Requirementshttp://www.dotnetnuke.com/Portals/25/Blog/Files/1/3418/Windows-Live-Writer-1426fd8a58ef_902C-MinimumVersionSupport_2.png Simplified InstallerThe first thing you will notice is that the installer has been updated. Not only have we updated the look and feel, but we also simplified the overall install process. You shouldn’t have to click through a series of screens in order to just get your website running. With the 7.0 installer we have taken an approach that a...WinRT XAML Toolkit: WinRT XAML Toolkit - 1.2.2: WinRT XAML Toolkit based on the Windows 8 RTM SDK. Download the latest source from the SOURCE CODE page. For compiled version use NuGet. You can add it to your project in Visual Studio by going to View/Other Windows/Package Manager Console and entering: PM> Install-Package winrtxamltoolkit Features AsyncUI extensions Controls and control extensions Converters Debugging helpers Imaging IO helpers VisualTree helpers Samples Recent changes NOTE: Namespace changes DebugConsol...BIDS Helper: BIDS Helper 1.6.1: In addition to fixing a number of bugs that beta testers reported, this release includes the following new features for Tabular models in SQL 2012: New Features: Tabular Display Folders Tabular Translations Editor Tabular Sync Descriptions Fixed Issues: Biml issues 32849 fixing bug in Tabular Actions Editor Form where you type in an invalid action name which is a reserved word like CON or which is a duplicate name to another action 32695 - fixing bug in SSAS Sync Descriptions whe...Umbraco CMS: Umbraco 4.9.0: Whats newThe media section has been overhauled to support HTML5 uploads, just drag and drop files in, even multiple files are supported on any HTML5 capable browser. The folder content overview is also much improved allowing you to filter it and perform common actions on your media items. The Rich Text Editor’s “Media” button now uses an embedder based on the open oEmbed standard (if you’re upgrading, enable the media button in the Rich Text Editor datatype settings and set TidyEditorConten...WordMat: WordMat v. 1.02: This version was used for the 2012 exam.Microsoft SQL Server Product Samples: Database: AdventureWorks OData Feed: The AdventureWorks OData service exposes resources based on specific SQL views. The SQL views are a limited subset of the AdventureWorks database that results in several consuming scenarios: CompanySales Documents ManufacturingInstructions ProductCatalog TerritorySalesDrilldown WorkOrderRouting How to install the sample You can consume the AdventureWorks OData feed from http://services.odata.org/AdventureWorksV3/AdventureWorks.svc. You can also consume the AdventureWorks OData fe...Desktop Google Reader: 1.4.6: Sorting feeds alphabetical is now optional (see preferences window)Droid Explorer: Droid Explorer 0.8.8.7 Beta: Bug in the display icon for apk's, will fix with next release Added fallback icon if unable to get the image/icon from the Cloud Service Removed some stale plugins that were either out dated or incomplete. Added handler for *.ab files for restoring backups Added plugin to create device backups Backups stored in %USERPROFILE%\Android Backups\%DEVICE_ID%\ Added custom folder icon for the android backups directory better error handling for installing an apk bug fixes for the Runn...New Projects&*^&hjkdhasdas;!231231+_)_(asldjhdasjkdhasjkd!#$: aaaaaasdsadsbob.js: bob.js is a JavaScript framework which will help you design better JavaScript objects, and to write better JavaScript code in general.CS559: CS559 - Graphics project at UW MadisonEjemplodeProyectosII: El sisguiente es un ejemplo de pruebasHow to apply MVC to mobile project: I am setting up simple ASP NET MVC test project in order to demonstrate how to create cross-platform webdelivery backend with ASP.NET IntelsiWEB: Proyecto Intelsi WEBjass: xcxczzzzccxzcxcxzcxzcxMajo Proyecto de Prueba: Este proyecto es un proyectoManaged silverlight roaches: Just roaches for silverlight. nothing moreMetro Jalali Calendar: The Jalali Calendar for Windows 8 Metro User Interface. "Jalali Calendar" aka "Shamsi Calendar" aka "Iranian Calendar"MyBackupTool: Basic c# .net 4.0 library to help copy files / folders, very simple to use.NCT Inventory System: This is a sample Inventory System ProjectNDEF Library for Proximity APIs (NFC): Easily parse and create NDEF records with C# and the Windows Proximity APIs (NFC).OAMaster: Help company to manage their information of staff.Open School Management System: Open School Management System is an open source initiative that I am undertaking to contribute to the society that we live in.Oscilloscope Frequency Calculator: Oscilloscope Frequency Calculator Gives you the frequency when you have a analogue oscilloscopePCControl: testPersonal Expenses: A simple web application to track personal expenses.PMOM: project management tool on SharePointpostback tutorial: This is a tutorial project.ProjectJabbr910: pappaProyecto: Primer proyectoProyecto Cachanga: Demo proyectos 2Proyecto de Prueba: Demo proyecto 2Proyecto Integrador 2: CURSO : PROYECTO INTEGRADOR 2 DEMOProyecto Integrador Para Soluciones Empresariales: Demo Proyecto 2Proyecto Integrador Soluciones Empresariales II - 2012-2: Demo proyectos 2Proyecto Prueba: practica codeplexRaquelAzureProject: Test projectSILAS: Sistema de Información Local de Agua Y Saneamiento: Sistema de Información Local para el Área de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales de la Municipalidad Provincial de CajamarcaSilasPro: Proyecto de proyecto integradorSistem LPK Pemkot Semarang versi x86: Sistem Laporan Pelaksanaan Kegiatan SKPD Kota Semarang khusus untuk komputer Windows 64 bitSSIS Compressed File Source and Destination Components: Compressed File Source and Destination Components for SSIS 2012.testscenairo7: kudutestTorrentTrafficInspector: IT Solution Georgia TowerDef: Ð? tài opensource c?a group môn CNPMUdpBBS: BBS that uses UDP messages for communication to allow small, simple clients to use IP connections to interact with the BBS.WPFYard: my wpf yardWPUtils: WPUtils provides out-of-box attached properties/behaviors to extent existing controls/components.XiSD: A simple XSD to C# code generation tool with support for included XSD files and data contract attributes.xxxxf32: xxx

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  • CodePlex Daily Summary for Saturday, November 02, 2013

    CodePlex Daily Summary for Saturday, November 02, 2013Popular ReleasesWsus Package Publisher: Release v1.3.1311.02: Add three new Actions in Custom Updates : Work with Files (Copy, Delete, Rename), Work with Folders (Add, Delete, Rename) and Work with Registry Keys (Add, Delete, Rename). Fix a bug, where after resigning an update, the display is not refresh. Modify the way WPP sort rows in 'Updates Detail Viewer' and 'COmputer List Viewer' so that dates are correctly sorted. Add a Tab in the settings form to set Proxy settings when WPP needs to go on Internet. Fix a bug where 'Manage Catalogs Subsc...uComponents: uComponents v6.0.0: This release of uComponents will compile against and support the new API in Umbraco v6.1.0. What's new in uComponents v6.0.0? New DataTypesImage Point XML DropDownList XPath Templatable List New features / Resolved issuesThe following workitems have been implemented and/or resolved: 14781 14805 14808 14818 14854 14827 14868 14859 14790 14853 14790 DataType Grid 14788 14810 14873 14833 14864 14855 / 14860 14816 14823 Drag & Drop support for rows Su...SmartStore.NET - Free ASP.NET MVC Ecommerce Shopping Cart Solution: SmartStore.NET 1.2.1: New FeaturesAdded option Limit to current basket subtotal to HadSpentAmount discount rule Items in product lists can be labelled as NEW for a configurable period of time Product templates can optionally display a discount sign when discounts were applied Added the ability to set multiple favicons depending on stores and/or themes Plugin management: multiple plugins can now be (un)installed in one go Added a field for the HTML body id to store entity (Developer) New property 'Extra...CodeGen Code Generator: CodeGen 4.3.2: Changes in this release include: Removed old tag tokens from several example templates. Fixed a bug which was causing the default author and company names not to be picked up from the registry under .NET. Added several additional tag loop expressions: <IF FIRST_TAG>, <IF LAST_TAG>, <IF MULTIPLE_TAGS> and<IF SINGLE_TAG>. Upgraded to Synergy/DE 10.1.1b, Visual Studio 2013 and Installshield Limited Edition 2013.Community Forums NNTP bridge: Community Forums NNTP Bridge V54 (LiveConnect): This is the first release which can be used with the new LiveConnect authentication. Fixes the problem that the authentication will not work after 1 hour. Also a logfile will now be stored in "%AppData%\Community\CommunityForumsNNTPServer". If you have any problems please feel free to sent me the file "LogFile.txt".Aricie - Friendlier Url Provider: Aricie - Friendlier Url Provider Version 2.5.3: This is mainly a maintenance release to stabilize the new Url Group paradigm. As usual, don't forget to install the Aricie - Shared extension first Highlights Fixed: UI bugs Min Requirements: .Net 3.5+ DotNetNuke 4.8.1+ Aricie - Shared 1.7.7+Aricie Shared: Aricie.Shared Version 1.7.7: This is mainly a maintenance version. Fixes in Property Editor: list import/export Min Requirements: DotNetNuke 4.8.1+ .Net 3.5+WPF Extended DataGrid: WPF Extended DataGrid 2.0.0.9 binaries: Fixed issue with ICollectionView containg null values (AutoFilter issue)Community TFS Build Extensions: October 2013: The October 2013 release contains Scripts - a new addition to our delivery. These are a growing library of PowerShell scripts to use with VS2013. See our documentation for more on scripting. VS2010 Activities(target .NET 4.0) VS2012 Activities (target .NET 4.5) VS2013 Activities (target .NET 4.5.1) Community TFS Build Manager VS2012 Community TFS Build Manager VS2013 The Community TFS Build Managers for VS2010, 2012 and 2013 can also be found in the Visual Studio Gallery where upda...SuperSocket, an extensible socket server framework: SuperSocket 1.6 stable: Changes included in this release: Process level isolation SuperSocket ServerManager (include server and client) Connect to client from server side initiatively Client certificate validation New configuration attributes "textEncoding", "defaultCulture", and "storeLocation" (certificate node) Many bug fixes http://docs.supersocket.net/v1-6/en-US/New-Features-and-Breaking-ChangesBarbaTunnel: BarbaTunnel 8.1: Check Version History for more information about this release.Mugen MVVM Toolkit: Mugen MVVM Toolkit 2.1: v 2.1 Added the 'Should' class instead of the 'Validate' class. The 'Validate' class is now obsolete. Added 'Toolkit.Annotations' to support the Mugen MVVM Toolkit ReSharper plugin. Updated JetBrains annotations within the project. Added the 'GlobalSettings.DefaultActivationPolicy' property to represent the default activation policy. Removed the 'GetSettings' method from the 'ViewModelBase' class. Instead of it, the 'GlobalSettings.DefaultViewModelSettings' property is used. Updated...NAudio: NAudio 1.7: full release notes available at http://mark-dot-net.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/naudio-17-release-notes.htmlDirectX Tool Kit: October 2013: October 28, 2013 Updated for Visual Studio 2013 and Windows 8.1 SDK RTM Added DGSLEffect, DGSLEffectFactory, VertexPositionNormalTangentColorTexture, and VertexPositionNormalTangentColorTextureSkinning Model loading and effect factories support loading skinned models MakeSpriteFont now has a smooth vs. sharp antialiasing option: /sharp Model loading from CMOs now handles UV transforms for texture coordinates A number of small fixes for EffectFactory Minor code and project cleanup ...ExtJS based ASP.NET Controls: FineUI v4.0beta1: +2013-10-28 v4.0 beta1 +?????Collapsed???????????????。 -????:window/group_panel.aspx??,???????,???????,?????????。 +??????SelectedNodeIDArray???????????????。 -????:tree/checkbox/tree_checkall.aspx??,?????,?????,????????????。 -??TimerPicker???????(????、????ing)。 -??????????????????????(???)。 -?????????????,??type=text/css(??~`)。 -MsgTarget???MessageTarget,???None。 -FormOffsetRight?????20px??5px。 -?Web.config?PageManager??FormLabelAlign???。 -ToolbarPosition??Left/Right。 -??Web.conf...CODE Framework: 4.0.31028.0: See change notes in the documentation section for details on what's new. Note: If you download the class reference help file with, you have to right-click the file, pick "Properties", and then unblock the file, as many browsers flag the file as blocked during download (for security reasons) and thus hides all content.VidCoder: 1.5.10 Beta: Broke out all the encoder-specific passthrough options into their own dropdown. This should make what they do a bit more clear and clean up the codec list a bit. Updated HandBrake core to SVN 5855.Indent Guides for Visual Studio: Indent Guides v14: ImportantThis release has a separate download for Visual Studio 2010. The first link is for VS 2012 and later. Version History Changed in v14 Improved performance when scrolling and editing Fixed potential crash when Resharper is installed Fixed highlight of guides split around pragmas in C++/C# Restored VS 2010 support as a separate download Changed in v13 Added page width guide lines Added guide highlighting options Fixed guides appearing over collapsed blocks Fixed guides not...ASP.net MVC Awesome - jQuery Ajax Helpers: 3.5.3 (mvc5): version 3.5.3 - support for mvc5 version 3.5.2 - fix for setting single value to multivalue controls - datepicker min max date offset fix - html encoding for keys fix - enable Column.ClientFormatFunc to be a function call that will return a function version 3.5.1 ========================== - fixed html attributes rendering - fixed loading animation rendering - css improvements version 3.5 ========================== - autosize for all popups ( can be turned off by calling in js...Media Companion: Media Companion MC3.585b: IMDB plot scraping Fixed. New* Movie - Rename Folder using Movie Set, option to move ignored articles to end of Movie Set, only for folder renaming. Fixed* Media Companion - Fixed if using profiles, config files would blown up in size due to some settings duplicating. * Ignore Article of An was cutting of last character of movie title. * If Rescraping title, sort title changed depending on 'Move article to end of Sort Title' setting. * Movie - If changing Poster source order, list would beco...New ProjectsCarTrade.dk: program that will help make it easier for cardealers to do trade cars amongst themselvesCMSPORTAL: Nothing CruxOMatic Contributions: Crux-O-Matic-Contrib is the contribution project where the Crux-O-Matic community can contribute Crux-O-Matic components and extenders.Dynamics CRM 2013 Easy Solution Importer: Dynamics CRM 2013 Easy Solution ImporterGlobal Excel Automation PowerShell Library: The goal of the library is to automate common infrastructure tasks.HappyBin AutoUpdater: HappyBin is an auto-updater for .NET apps. It is designed as an api, and can be used as a boot-strap or a passive updater. Every app deserves a HappyBin!HashTag WCF Membership and Role Provider: Membership provider for using WCF to connect to a hosted membership endpont. Also includes comprehensive tests for custom membership and role providers.Luwx-Mobile-Store: Xây d?ng trang web bán di?n tho?i trên MVC4Pokémon Bank Online: Pokémon Bank for PBO/POQuickMatch Game: CLI multiplayer game on a single console.seizyUtils: SQL Mapping For Windows Embedded Compact SharePoint 2013 Global Metadata Navigation: Deploy your SharePoint 2013 Managed Metadata navigation term set to an unlimited number of site collections using JQuery, SCOM, CSS, and a custom master page.Simple ASP.NET MVC 3: a simple blog - Guest: view posts and add comments. - Admin: view, edit, delete posts and delete comments. User must be log in.SPRepository: SPRepository aims to be a generic Repository Design Pattern implementation for accessing SharePoint objects (but is not inherently SP).WebSocket Security: WebSocket SecutrityWildfire Ttraining Server: Server for application that tracks Wildfire around the world??? ???? 2013: ??????? ? ?????? ????? ???????????? 2013

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  • Elegance, thy Name is jQuery

    - by SGWellens
    So, I'm browsing though some questions over on the Stack Overflow website and I found a good jQuery question just a few minutes old. Here is a link to it. It was a tough question; I knew that by answering it, I could learn new stuff and reinforce what I already knew: Reading is good, doing is better. Maybe I could help someone in the process too. I cut and pasted the HTML from the question into my Visual Studio IDE and went back to Stack Overflow to reread the question. Dang, someone had already answered it! And it was a great answer. I never even had a chance to start analyzing the issue. Now I know what a one-legged man feels like in an ass-kicking contest. Nevertheless, since the question and answer were so interesting, I decided to dissect them and learn as much as possible. The HTML consisted of some divs separated by h3 headings.  Note the elements are laid out sequentially with no programmatic grouping: <h3 class="heading">Heading 1</h3> <div>Content</div> <div>More content</div> <div>Even more content</div><h3 class="heading">Heading 2</h3> <div>some content</div> <div>some more content</div><h3 class="heading">Heading 3</h3> <div>other content</div></form></body>  The requirement was to wrap a div around each h3 heading and the subsequent divs grouping them into sections. Why? I don't know, I suppose if you screen-scrapped some HTML from another site, you might want to reformat it before displaying it on your own. Anyways… Here is the marvelously, succinct posted answer: $('.heading').each(function(){ $(this).nextUntil('.heading').andSelf().wrapAll('<div class="section">');}); I was familiar with all the parts except for nextUntil and andSelf. But, I'll analyze the whole answer for completeness. I'll do this by rewriting the posted answer in a different style and adding a boat-load of comments: function Test(){ // $Sections is a jQuery object and it will contain three elements var $Sections = $('.heading'); // use each to iterate over each of the three elements $Sections.each(function () { // $this is a jquery object containing the current element // being iterated var $this = $(this); // nextUntil gets the following sibling elements until it reaches // an element with the CSS class 'heading' // andSelf adds in the source element (this) to the collection $this = $this.nextUntil('.heading').andSelf(); // wrap the elements with a div $this.wrapAll('<div class="section" >'); });}  The code here doesn't look nearly as concise and elegant as the original answer. However, unless you and your staff are jQuery masters, during development it really helps to work through algorithms step by step. You can step through this code in the debugger and examine the jQuery objects to make sure one step is working before proceeding on to the next. It's much easier to debug and troubleshoot when each logical coding step is a separate line. Note: You may think the original code runs much faster than this version. However, the time difference is trivial: Not enough to worry about: Less than 1 millisecond (tested in IE and FF). Note: You may want to jam everything into one line because it results in less traffic being sent to the client. That is true. However, most Internet servers now compress HTML and JavaScript by stripping out comments and white space (go to Bing or Google and view the source). This feature should be enabled on your server: Let the server compress your code, you don't need to do it. Free Career Advice: Creating maintainable code is Job One—Maximum Priority—The Prime Directive. If you find yourself suddenly transferred to customer support, it may be that the code you are writing is not as readable as it could be and not as readable as it should be. Moving on… I created a CSS class to see the results: .section{ background-color: yellow; border: 2px solid black; margin: 5px;} Here is the rendered output before:   …and after the jQuery code runs.   Pretty Cool! But, while playing with this code, the logic of nextUntil began to bother me: What happens in the last section? What stops elements from being collected since there are no more elements with the .heading class? The answer is nothing.  In this case it stopped because it was at the end of the page.  But what if there were additional HTML elements? I added an anchor tag and another div to the HTML: <h3 class="heading">Heading 1</h3> <div>Content</div> <div>More content</div> <div>Even more content</div><h3 class="heading">Heading 2</h3> <div>some content</div> <div>some more content</div><h3 class="heading">Heading 3</h3> <div>other content</div><a>this is a link</a><div>unrelated div</div> </form></body> The code as-is will include both the anchor and the unrelated div. This isn't what we want.   My first attempt to correct this used the filter parameter of the nextUntil function: nextUntil('.heading', 'div')  This will only collect div elements. But it merely skipped the anchor tag and it still collected the unrelated div:   The problem is we need a way to tell the nextUntil function when to stop. CSS selectors to the rescue: nextUntil('.heading, a')  This tells nextUntil to stop collecting sibling elements when it gets to an element with a .heading class OR when it gets to an anchor tag. In this case it solved the problem. FYI: The comma operator in a CSS selector allows multiple criteria.   Bingo! One final note, we could have broken the code down even more: We could have replaced the andSelf function here: $this = $this.nextUntil('.heading, a').andSelf(); With this: // get all the following siblings and then add the current item$this = $this.nextUntil('.heading, a');$this.add(this);  But in this case, the andSelf function reads real nice. In my opinion. Here's a link to a jsFiddle if you want to play with it. I hope someone finds this useful Steve Wellens CodeProject

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  • first install for windows eight.....da beta

    - by raysmithequip
    The W8 preview is now installed and I am enjoying it.  I remember the learning curve of my first unix machine back in the eighties, this ain't that.It is normal for me to do the first os install with a keyboard and low end monitor...you never know what you'll encounter out in the field.  The OS took like a fish to water.  I used a low end INTEL motherboard dp55w I gathered on the cheap, an 1157 i5 from the used bin a pair of 6 gig ddr3 sticks, a rosewell 550 watt power supply a cheap used twenty buck sub 200g wd sata drive, a half working dvd burner and an asus fanless nvidia vid card, not a great one but Sub 50.00 on newey eggey...I did have to hunt the ms forums for a key and of course to activate the thing, if dos would of needed this outmoded ritual, we would still be on cpm and osborne would be a household name, of course little do people know that this ritual was common as far back as the seventies on att unix installs....not, but it was possible, I used to joke about when I ran a bbs, what hell would of been wrought had dos 3.2 machines been required to dial into my bbs to send fido mail to ms and wait for an acknowledgement.  All in all the thing was pushing a seven on the ms richter scale, not including the vid card, sadly it came in at just a tad over three....I wanted to evaluate it for a possible replacement on critical machines that in the past went down due to a vid card fan failure....you have no idea what a customer thinks when you show them a failed vid card fan..."you mean that little plastic piece of junk caused all this!!??!!!"...yea man.  Some production machines don't need any sort of vid, I will at least keep it on the maybe list for those, MTBF is a very important factor, some big box stores should put percentage of failure rate within 24 month estimates on the outside of the carton for sure.  And a warning that the power supplies are already at their limit.  Let's face it, today even 550w can be iffy.A few neat eye candy improvements over the earlier windows is nice, the metro screen is nice, anyone who has used a newer phone recently will intuitively drag their fingers across the screen....lot of good that was with no mouse or touch screen though.  Lucky me, I have been using windows since day one, I still have a copy of win 2.0 (and every other version) for no good reason.  Still the old ix collection of disks is much larger, recompiling any kernal is another silly ritual, same machine, different day, same recompile...argh. Rh is my all time fav, mandrake was always missing something, like it rewrote the init file or something, novell is ok as long as you stay on the beaten path and of course ubuntu normally recompiles with the same errors consistantly....makes life easy that way....no errors on windows eight, just a screen that did not match the installed hardware, natuarally I alt tabbed right out of it, then hit the flag key to find the start menu....no start button. I miss the start button already. Keyboard cowboy funnin and I was browsing the harddrive, nothing stunning there, I like that, means I can find stuff. Only I can't find what I want, the start button....the start menu is that first screen for touch tablets. No biggie for useruser, that is where they will want to be, I can see that. Admins won't want to be there, it is easy enough to get the control panel a bazzilion other ways though, just not the start button. (see a pattern here?). Personally, from the keyboard I find it fun to hit the carets along the location bar at the top of the explorer screen with tabs and arrows and choose SHOW ALL CONTROL PANEL ITEMS, or thereabouts. Bottom line, I love seven and I'll love eight even more!...very happy I did not have to follow the normal rule of thumb (a customer watching me build a system and asking questions said "oh I get it, so every piece you put in there is basically a hundred bucks, right?)...ok, sure, pretty much, more or less, well, ya dude.  It will be WAY past october till I get a real touch screen but I did pick up a pair of cheap tatungs so I can try the NEW main start screen, I parse a lot of folders and have a vision of how a pair of touch screens will be easier than landing a rover on mars.  Ok.  fine, they are way smallish, and I don't expect multitouch to work but we are talking a few percent of a new 21 inch viewsonic touch screen.  Will this OS be a game changer?  I don't know.  Bottom line with all the pads and droids in the world, it is more of a catch up move at first glance.  Not something ms is used to.  An app store?  I can see ms's motivation, the others have it.  I gather there will not be gadgets there, go ahead and see what ms did  to the once populated gadget page...go ahead, google gadgets and take a gander, used to hundreds of gadgets, they are already gone.  They replaced gadgets?  sort of, I'll drop that, it's a bit of a sore point for me.  More of interest was what happened when I downloaded stuff off codeplex and some other normal programs that I like, like orbitron, top o' my list!!...cardware it is...anyways, click on the exe, get a screen, normal for windows, this one indicated that I was not running a normal windows program and had a button for  exit the install, naw, I hit details, a hidden run program anyways came into view....great, my path to the normal windows has detected a program tha.....yea ok, acl is on, fine, moving along I got orbitron installed in record time and was tracking the iss on the newest Microsoft OS, beta of course, felt like the first time I setup bsd all those year ago...FUN!!...I suppose I gotta start to think about budgeting for the real os when it comes out in october, by then I should have a rasberry pi and be done with fedora remixed.  Of course that sounds like fun too!!  I would use this OS on a tablet or phone.  I don't like the idea of being hearded to an app store, don't like that on anything, we are americans and want real choices not marketed hype, lest you are younger with opm (other peoples money).   This os would be neat on a zune, but I suspect the zune is a gonner, I am rooting for microsoft, after all their default password is not admin anymore, nor alpine,  it's blank. Others force a password, my first fawn password was so long I could not even log into it with the password in front of me, who the heck uses %$# anyways, and if I was writing a brute force attack what the heck kinda impasse is that anyways at .00001 microseconds of a code execution cycle (just a non qualified number, not a real clock speed)....AI is where it will be before too long, MS is on that path, perhaps soon someone will sit down and write an app for the kinect that watches your eyes while you scan the new main start screen, clicking on the big E icon when you blink.....boy is that going to be fun!!!! sure. Blink,dammit,blink,dammit...... OPM no doubt.I like windows eight, we are moving forwards, better keep a close eye on ubuntu.  The real clinch comes when open source becomes paid source......don't blink, I already see plenty of very expensive 'ix apps, some even in app stores already.  more to come.......

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  • Can Google Employees See My Saved Google Chrome Passwords?

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    Storing your passwords in your web browser seems like a great time saver, but are the passwords secure and inaccessible to others (even employees of the browser company) when squirreled away? Today’s Question & Answer session comes to us courtesy of SuperUser—a subdivision of Stack Exchange, a community-driven grouping of Q&A web sites. The Question SuperUser reader MMA is curious if Google employees have (or could have) access to the passwords he stores in Google Chrome: I understand that we are really tempted to save our passwords in Google Chrome. The likely benefit is two fold, You don’t need to (memorize and) input those long and cryptic passwords. These are available wherever you are once you log in to your Google account. The last point sparked my doubt. Since the password is available anywhere, the storage must in some central location, and this should be at Google. Now, my simple question is, can a Google employee see my passwords? Searching over the Internet revealed several articles/messages. Do you save passwords in Chrome? Maybe you should reconsider: Talks about your passwords being stolen by someone who has access to your computer account. Nothing mentioned about the central storage security and vulnerability. There is even a response from Chrome browser security tech lead about the first issue. Chrome’s insane password security strategy: Mostly along the same line. You can steal password from somebody if you have access to the computer account. How to Steal Passwords Saved in Google Chrome in 5 Simple Steps: Teaches you how to actually perform the act mentioned in the previous two when you have access to somebody else’s account. There are many more (including this one at this site), mostly along the same line, points, counter-points, huge debates. I refrain from mentioning them here, simply carry a search if you want to find them. Coming back to my original query, can a Google employee see my password? Since I can view the password using a simple button, definitely they can be unhashed (decrypted) even if encrypted. This is very different from the passwords saved in Unix-like OS’s where the saved password can never be seen in plain text. They use a one-way encryption algorithm to encrypt your passwords. This encrypted password is then stored in the passwd or shadow file. When you attempt to login, the password you type in is encrypted again and compared with the entry in the file that stores your passwords. If they match, it must be the same password, and you are allowed access. Thus, a superuser can change my password, can block my account, but he can never see my password. So are his concerns well founded or will a little insight dispel his worry? The Answer SuperUser contributor Zeel helps put his mind at ease: Short answer: No* Passwords stored on your local machine can be decrypted by Chrome, as long as your OS user account is logged in. And then you can view those in plain text. At first this seems horrible, but how did you think auto-fill worked? When that password field gets filled in, Chrome must insert the real password into the HTML form element – or else the page wouldn’t work right, and you could not submit the form. And if the connection to the website is not over HTTPS, the plain text is then sent over the internet. In other words, if chrome can’t get the plain text passwords, then they are totally useless. A one way hash is no good, because we need to use them. Now the passwords are in fact encrypted, the only way to get them back to plain text is to have the decryption key. That key is your Google password, or a secondary key you can set up. When you sign into Chrome and sync the Google servers will transmit the encrypted passwords, settings, bookmarks, auto-fill, etc, to your local machine. Here Chrome will decrypt the information and be able to use it. On Google’s end all that info is stored in its encrpyted state, and they do not have the key to decrypt it. Your account password is checked against a hash to log in to Google, and even if you let chrome remember it, that encrypted version is hidden in the same bundle as the other passwords, impossible to access. So an employee could probably grab a dump of the encrypted data, but it wouldn’t do them any good, since they would have no way to use it.* So no, Google employees can not** access your passwords, since they are encrypted on their servers. * However, do not forget that any system that can be accessed by an authorized user can be accessed by an unauthorized user. Some systems are easier to break than other, but none are fail-proof. . . That being said, I think I will trust Google and the millions they spend on security systems, over any other password storage solution. And heck, I’m a wimpy nerd, it would be easier to beat the passwords out of me than break Google’s encryption. ** I am also assuming that there isn’t a person who just happens to work for Google gaining access to your local machine. In that case you are screwed, but employment at Google isn’t actually a factor any more. Moral: Hit Win + L before leaving machine. While we agree with zeel that it’s a pretty safe bet (as long as your computer is not compromised) that your passwords are in fact safe while stored in Chrome, we prefer to encrypt all our logins and passwords in a LastPass vault. Have something to add to the explanation? Sound off in the the comments. Want to read more answers from other tech-savvy Stack Exchange users? Check out the full discussion thread here.     

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  • How Mature is Your Database Change Management Process?

    - by Ben Rees
    .dbd-banner p{ font-size:0.75em; padding:0 0 10px; margin:0 } .dbd-banner p span{ color:#675C6D; } .dbd-banner p:last-child{ padding:0; } @media ALL and (max-width:640px){ .dbd-banner{ background:#f0f0f0; padding:5px; color:#333; margin-top: 5px; } } -- Database Delivery Patterns & Practices Further Reading Organization and team processes How do you get your database schema changes live, on to your production system? As your team of developers and DBAs are working on the changes to the database to support your business-critical applications, how do these updates wend their way through from dev environments, possibly to QA, hopefully through pre-production and eventually to production in a controlled, reliable and repeatable way? In this article, I describe a model we use to try and understand the different stages that customers go through as their database change management processes mature, from the very basic and manual, through to advanced continuous delivery practices. I also provide a simple chart that will help you determine “How mature is our database change management process?” This process of managing changes to the database – which all of us who have worked in application/database development have had to deal with in one form or another – is sometimes known as Database Change Management (even if we’ve never used the term ourselves). And it’s a difficult process, often painfully so. Some developers take the approach of “I’ve no idea how my changes get live – I just write the stored procedures and add columns to the tables. It’s someone else’s problem to get this stuff live. I think we’ve got a DBA somewhere who deals with it – I don’t know, I’ve never met him/her”. I know I used to work that way. I worked that way because I assumed that making the updates to production was a trivial task – how hard can it be? Pause the application for half an hour in the middle of the night, copy over the changes to the app and the database, and switch it back on again? Voila! But somehow it never seemed that easy. And it certainly was never that easy for database changes. Why? Because you can’t just overwrite the old database with the new version. Databases have a state – more specifically 4Tb of critical data built up over the last 12 years of running your business, and if your quick hotfix happened to accidentally delete that 4Tb of data, then you’re “Looking for a new role” pretty quickly after the failed release. There are a lot of other reasons why a managed database change management process is important for organisations, besides job security, not least: Frequency of releases. Many business managers are feeling the pressure to get functionality out to their users sooner, quicker and more reliably. The new book (which I highly recommend) Lean Enterprise by Jez Humble, Barry O’Reilly and Joanne Molesky provides a great discussion on how many enterprises are having to move towards a leaner, more frequent release cycle to maintain their competitive advantage. It’s no longer acceptable to release once per year, leaving your customers waiting all year for changes they desperately need (and expect) Auditing and compliance. SOX, HIPAA and other compliance frameworks have demanded that companies implement proper processes for managing changes to their databases, whether managing schema changes, making sure that the data itself is being looked after correctly or other mechanisms that provide an audit trail of changes. We’ve found, at Red Gate that we have a very wide range of customers using every possible form of database change management imaginable. Everything from “Nothing – I just fix the schema on production from my laptop when things go wrong, and write it down in my notebook” to “A full Continuous Delivery process – any change made by a dev gets checked in and recorded, fully tested (including performance tests) before a (tested) release is made available to our Release Management system, ready for live deployment!”. And everything in between of course. Because of the vast number of customers using so many different approaches we found ourselves struggling to keep on top of what everyone was doing – struggling to identify patterns in customers’ behavior. This is useful for us, because we want to try and fit the products we have to different needs – different products are relevant to different customers and we waste everyone’s time (most notably, our customers’) if we’re suggesting products that aren’t appropriate for them. If someone visited a sports store, looking to embark on a new fitness program, and the store assistant suggested the latest $10,000 multi-gym, complete with multiple weights mechanisms, dumb-bells, pull-up bars and so on, then he’s likely to lose that customer. All he needed was a pair of running shoes! To solve this issue – in an attempt to simplify how we understand our customers and our offerings – we built a model. This is a an attempt at trying to classify our customers in to some sort of model or “Customer Maturity Framework” as we rather grandly term it, which somehow simplifies our understanding of what our customers are doing. The great statistician, George Box (amongst other things, the “Box” in the Box-Jenkins time series model) gave us the famous quote: “Essentially all models are wrong, but some are useful” We’ve taken this quote to heart – we know it’s a gross over-simplification of the real world of how users work with complex legacy and new database developments. Almost nobody precisely fits in to one of our categories. But we hope it’s useful and interesting. There are actually a number of similar models that exist for more general application delivery. We’ve found these from ThoughtWorks/Forrester, from InfoQ and others, and initially we tried just taking these models and replacing the word “application” for “database”. However, we hit a problem. From talking to our customers we know that users are far less further down the road of mature database change management than they are for application development. As a simple example, no application developer, who wants to keep his/her job would develop an application for an organisation without source controlling that code. Sure, he/she might not be using an advanced Gitflow branching methodology but they’ll certainly be making sure their code gets managed in a repo somewhere with all the benefits of history, auditing and so on. But this certainly isn’t the case (yet) for the database – a very large segment of the people we speak to have no source control set up for their databases whatsoever, even at the most basic level (for example, keeping change scripts in a source control system somewhere). By the way, if this is you, Red Gate has a great whitepaper here, on the barriers people face getting a source control process implemented at their organisations. This difference in maturity is the same as you move in to areas such as continuous integration (common amongst app developers, relatively rare for database developers) and automated release management (growing amongst app developers, very rare for the database). So, when we created the model we started from scratch and biased the levels of maturity towards what we actually see amongst our customers. But, what are these stages? And what level are you? The table below describes our definitions for four levels of maturity – Baseline, Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced. As I say, this is a model – you won’t fit any of these categories perfectly, but hopefully one will ring true more than others. We’ve also created a PDF with a flow chart to help you find which of these groups most closely matches your team:  Download the Database Delivery Maturity Framework PDF here   Level D1 – Baseline Work directly on live databases Sometimes work directly in production Generate manual scripts for releases. Sometimes use a product like SQL Compare or similar to do this Any tests that we might have are run manually Level D2 – Beginner Have some ad-hoc DB version control such as manually adding upgrade scripts to a version control system Attempt is made to keep production in sync with development environments There is some documentation and planning of manual deployments Some basic automated DB testing in process Level D3 – Intermediate The database is fully version-controlled with a product like Red Gate SQL Source Control or SSDT Database environments are managed Production environment schema is reproducible from the source control system There are some automated tests Have looked at using migration scripts for difficult database refactoring cases Level D4 – Advanced Using continuous integration for database changes Build, testing and deployment of DB changes carried out through a proper database release process Fully automated tests Production system is monitored for fast feedback to developers   Does this model reflect your team at all? Where are you on this journey? We’d be very interested in knowing how you get on. We’re doing a lot of work at the moment, at Red Gate, trying to help people progress through these stages. For example, if you’re currently not source controlling your database, then this is a natural next step. If you are already source controlling your database, what about the next stage – continuous integration and automated release management? To help understand these issues, there’s a summary of the Red Gate Database Delivery learning program on our site, alongside a Patterns and Practices library here on Simple-Talk and a Training Academy section on our documentation site to help you get up and running with the tools you need to progress. All feedback is welcome and it would be great to hear where you find yourself on this journey! This article is part of our database delivery patterns & practices series on Simple Talk. Find more articles for version control, automated testing, continuous integration & deployment.

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  • Learnings from trying to write better software: Loud errors from the very start

    - by theo.spears
    Microsoft made a very small number of backwards incompatible changes between .NET 1.1 and 2.0, because they wanted to make it as easy and safe as possible to port applications to the new runtime. (Here’s a list.) However, one thing they did change was what happens when a background thread fails with an unhanded exception - in .NET 1.1 nothing happened, the thread terminated, and the application continued oblivious. Try the same trick in .NET 2.0 and the entire application, including all threads, will rudely terminate. There are three reasons for this. Firstly if a background thread has crashed, it may have left the entire application in an inconsistent state, in a way that will affect other threads. It’s better to terminate the entire application than continue and have the application perform actions based on a broken state, for example take customer orders, or write corrupt files to disk.  Secondly, during software development, it is far better for errors to be loud and obtrusive. Even if you have unit tests and integration tests (and you should), a key part of ensuring software works properly is to actually try using it, both through systematic testing and through the casual use all software gets by its developers during use. Subtle errors are easy to miss if you are not actually doing real work using the application, loud errors are obvious. Thirdly, and most importantly, even if catching and swallowing exceptions indiscriminately doesn't cause any problems in your application, the presence of unexpected exceptions shows you do not fully understand the behavior of your code. The currently released version of your application may be absolutely correct. However, because your mental model of the behavior is wrong, any future change you make to the program could and probably will introduce critical errors.  This applies to more than just exceptions causing threads to exit, any unexpected state should make the application blow up in an un-ignorable way. The worst thing you can do is silently swallow errors and continue. And let's be clear, writing to a log file does not count as blowing up in an un-ignorable way.  This is all simple as long as the call stack only contains your code, but when your functions start to be called by third party or .NET framework code, it's surprisingly easy for exceptions to start vanishing. Let's look at two examples.   1. Windows forms drag drop events  Usually if you throw an exception from a winforms event handler it will bring up the "application has crashed" dialog with abort and continue options. This is a good default behavior - the error is big and loud, but it is possible for the user to ignore the error and hopefully save their data, if somehow this bug makes it past testing. However drag and drop are different - throw an exception from one of these and it will just be silently swallowed with no explanation.  By the way, it's not just drag and drop events. Timer events do it too.  You can research how exceptions are treated in different handlers and code appropriately, but the safest and most user friendly approach is to always catch exceptions in your event handlers and show your own error message. I'll talk about one good approach to handling these exceptions at the end of this post.   2. SSMS integration for SQL Tab Magic  A while back wrote an SSMS add-in called SQL Tab Magic (learn more about the process here). It works by listening to certain SSMS events and remembering what documents are opened and closed. I deployed it internally and it was used for a few months by a number of people without problems, so I was reasonably confident in its quality. Before releasing I made a few cleanups, including introducing error reporting. Bam. A few days later I was looking at over 1,000 error reports in my inbox. In turns out I wasn't handling table designers properly. The exceptions were there, but again SSMS was helpfully swallowing them all for me, so I was blissfully unaware. Had I made my errors loud from the start, I would have noticed these issues long before and fixed them.   Handling exceptions  Now you are systematically catching exceptions throughout your application, you need to do something with them. I've tried 3 options: log them, alert the user, and automatically send them home.  There are a few good options for logging in .NET. The most widespread is Apache log4net, which provides a very capable and configurable logging framework. There is also NLog which has a compatible interface, with a greater emphasis on fluent rather than XML configuration.  Alerting the user serves two purposes. Firstly it means they understand their action has failed to they don't just assume it worked (Silent file copy failure is a problem if you then delete the originals) or that they should keep waiting for a background task to complete. Secondly, it means the users can report the bug to your support team, and then you can fix it. This means the message you show the user should contain the information you need as a developer to identify and fix it. And the user will probably just send you a screenshot of the dialog, so it shouldn't be hidden by scroll bars.  This leads us to the third option, automatically sending error reports home. By automatic I mean with minimal effort on the part of the user, rather than doing it silently behind their backs. The advantage of this is you can send back far more detailed and precise information than you can expect a user to include in an email, and by making it easier to report errors, you make it more likely users will do so.  We do this using a great tool called SmartAssembly (full disclosure: this is a product made by Red Gate). It captures complete stack traces including the values of all local variables and then allows the user to send all this information back with a single click. We also capture log files to help understand what lead up to the error. We then use the free SmartAssembly Sync for Jira to dedupe these reports and raise them as bugs in our bug tracking system.  The combined effect of loud errors during development and then automatic error reporting once software is deployed allows us to find and fix more bugs, correct misunderstandings on how our software works, and overall is a key piece in delivering higher quality software. However it is no substitute for having motivated cunning testers in the building - and we're looking to hire more of those too.   If you found this post interesting you should follow me on twitter.  

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  • Combined Likelihood Models

    - by Lukas Vermeer
    In a series of posts on this blog we have already described a flexible approach to recording events, a technique to create analytical models for reporting, a method that uses the same principles to generate extremely powerful facet based predictions and a waterfall strategy that can be used to blend multiple (possibly facet based) models for increased accuracy. This latest, and also last, addition to this sequence of increasing modeling complexity will illustrate an advanced approach to amalgamate models, taking us to a whole new level of predictive modeling and analytical insights; combination models predicting likelihoods using multiple child models. The method described here is far from trivial. We therefore would not recommend you apply these techniques in an initial implementation of Oracle Real-Time Decisions. In most cases, basic RTD models or the approaches described before will provide more than enough predictive accuracy and analytical insight. The following is intended as an example of how more advanced models could be constructed if implementation results warrant the increased implementation and design effort. Keep implemented statistics simple! Combining likelihoods Because facet based predictions are based on metadata attributes of the choices selected, it is possible to generate such predictions for more than one attribute of a choice. We can predict the likelihood of acceptance for a particular product based on the product category (e.g. ‘toys’), as well as based on the color of the product (e.g. ‘pink’). Of course, these two predictions may be completely different (the customer may well prefer toys, but dislike pink products) and we will have to somehow combine these two separate predictions to determine an overall likelihood of acceptance for the choice. Perhaps the simplest way to combine multiple predicted likelihoods into one is to calculate the average (or perhaps maximum or minimum) likelihood. However, this would completely forgo the fact that some facets may have a far more pronounced effect on the overall likelihood than others (e.g. customers may consider the product category more important than its color). We could opt for calculating some sort of weighted average, but this would require us to specify up front the relative importance of the different facets involved. This approach would also be unresponsive to changing consumer behavior in these preferences (e.g. product price bracket may become more important to consumers as a result of economic shifts). Preferably, we would want Oracle Real-Time Decisions to learn, act upon and tell us about, the correlations between the different facet models and the overall likelihood of acceptance. This additional level of predictive modeling, where a single supermodel (no pun intended) combines the output of several (facet based) models into a single prediction, is what we call a combined likelihood model. Facet Based Scores As an example, we have implemented three different facet based models (as described earlier) in a simple RTD inline service. These models will allow us to generate predictions for likelihood of acceptance for each product based on three different metadata fields: Category, Price Bracket and Product Color. We will use an Analytical Scores entity to store these different scores so we can easily pass them between different functions. A simple function, creatively named Compute Analytical Scores, will compute for each choice the different facet scores and return an Analytical Scores entity that is stored on the choice itself. For each score, a choice attribute referring to this entity is also added to be returned to the client to facilitate testing. One Offer To Predict Them All In order to combine the different facet based predictions into one single likelihood for each product, we will need a supermodel which can predict the likelihood of acceptance, based on the outcomes of the facet models. This model will not need to consider any of the attributes of the session, because they are already represented in the outcomes of the underlying facet models. For the same reason, the supermodel will not need to learn separately for each product, because the specific combination of facets for this product are also already represented in the output of the underlying models. In other words, instead of learning how session attributes influence acceptance of a particular product, we will learn how the outcomes of facet based models for a particular product influence acceptance at a higher level. We will therefore be using a single All Offers choice to represent all offers in our combined likelihood predictions. This choice has no attribute values configured, no scores and not a single eligibility rule; nor is it ever intended to be returned to a client. The All Offers choice is to be used exclusively by the Combined Likelihood Acceptance model to predict the likelihood of acceptance for all choices; based solely on the output of the facet based models defined earlier. The Switcheroo In Oracle Real-Time Decisions, models can only learn based on attributes stored on the session. Therefore, just before generating a combined prediction for a given choice, we will temporarily copy the facet based scores—stored on the choice earlier as an Analytical Scores entity—to the session. The code for the Predict Combined Likelihood Event function is outlined below. // set session attribute to contain facet based scores. // (this is the only input for the combined model) session().setAnalyticalScores(choice.getAnalyticalScores); // predict likelihood of acceptance for All Offers choice. CombinedLikelihoodChoice c = CombinedLikelihood.getChoice("AllOffers"); Double la = CombinedLikelihoodAcceptance.getChoiceEventLikelihoods(c, "Accepted"); // clear session attribute of facet based scores. session().setAnalyticalScores(null); // return likelihood. return la; This sleight of hand will allow the Combined Likelihood Acceptance model to predict the likelihood of acceptance for the All Offers choice using these choice specific scores. After the prediction is made, we will clear the Analytical Scores session attribute to ensure it does not pollute any of the other (facet) models. To guarantee our combined likelihood model will learn based on the facet based scores—and is not distracted by the other session attributes—we will configure the model to exclude any other inputs, save for the instance of the Analytical Scores session attribute, on the model attributes tab. Recording Events In order for the combined likelihood model to learn correctly, we must ensure that the Analytical Scores session attribute is set correctly at the moment RTD records any events related to a particular choice. We apply essentially the same switching technique as before in a Record Combined Likelihood Event function. // set session attribute to contain facet based scores // (this is the only input for the combined model). session().setAnalyticalScores(choice.getAnalyticalScores); // record input event against All Offers choice. CombinedLikelihood.getChoice("AllOffers").recordEvent(event); // force learn at this moment using the Internal Dock entry point. Application.getPredictor().learn(InternalLearn.modelArray, session(), session(), Application.currentTimeMillis()); // clear session attribute of facet based scores. session().setAnalyticalScores(null); In this example, Internal Learn is a special informant configured as the learn location for the combined likelihood model. The informant itself has no particular configuration and does nothing in itself; it is used only to force the model to learn at the exact instant we have set the Analytical Scores session attribute to the correct values. Reporting Results After running a few thousand (artificially skewed) simulated sessions on our ILS, the Decision Center reporting shows some interesting results. In this case, these results reflect perfectly the bias we ourselves had introduced in our tests. In practice, we would obviously use a wider range of customer attributes and expect to see some more unexpected outcomes. The facetted model for categories has clearly picked up on the that fact our simulated youngsters have little interest in purchasing the one red-hot vehicle our ILS had on offer. Also, it would seem that customer age is an excellent predictor for the acceptance of pink products. Looking at the key drivers for the All Offers choice we can see the relative importance of the different facets to the prediction of overall likelihood. The comparative importance of the category facet for overall prediction might, in part, be explained by the clear preference of younger customers for toys over other product types; as evident from the report on the predictiveness of customer age for offer category acceptance. Conclusion Oracle Real-Time Decisions' flexible decisioning framework allows for the construction of exceptionally elaborate prediction models that facilitate powerful targeting, but nonetheless provide insightful reporting. Although few customers will have a direct need for such a sophisticated solution architecture, it is encouraging to see that this lies within the realm of the possible with RTD; and this with limited configuration and customization required. There are obviously numerous other ways in which the predictive and reporting capabilities of Oracle Real-Time Decisions can be expanded upon to tailor to individual customers needs. We will not be able to elaborate on them all on this blog; and finding the right approach for any given problem is often more difficult than implementing the solution. Nevertheless, we hope that these last few posts have given you enough of an understanding of the power of the RTD framework and its models; so that you can take some of these ideas and improve upon your own strategy. As always, if you have any questions about the above—or any Oracle Real-Time Decisions design challenges you might face—please do not hesitate to contact us; via the comments below, social media or directly at Oracle. We are completely multi-channel and would be more than glad to help. :-)

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  • VFS: file-max limit 1231582 reached

    - by Rick Koshi
    I'm running a Linux 2.6.36 kernel, and I'm seeing some random errors. Things like ls: error while loading shared libraries: libpthread.so.0: cannot open shared object file: Error 23 Yes, my system can't consistently run an 'ls' command. :( I note several errors in my dmesg output: # dmesg | tail [2808967.543203] EXT4-fs (sda3): re-mounted. Opts: (null) [2837776.220605] xv[14450] general protection ip:7f20c20c6ac6 sp:7fff3641b368 error:0 in libpng14.so.14.4.0[7f20c20a9000+29000] [4931344.685302] EXT4-fs (md16): re-mounted. Opts: (null) [4982666.631444] VFS: file-max limit 1231582 reached [4982666.764240] VFS: file-max limit 1231582 reached [4982767.360574] VFS: file-max limit 1231582 reached [4982901.904628] VFS: file-max limit 1231582 reached [4982964.930556] VFS: file-max limit 1231582 reached [4982966.352170] VFS: file-max limit 1231582 reached [4982966.649195] top[31095]: segfault at 14 ip 00007fd6ace42700 sp 00007fff20746530 error 6 in libproc-3.2.8.so[7fd6ace3b000+e000] Obviously, the file-max errors look suspicious, being clustered together and recent. # cat /proc/sys/fs/file-max 1231582 # cat /proc/sys/fs/file-nr 1231712 0 1231582 That also looks a bit odd to me, but the thing is, there's no way I have 1.2 million files open on this system. I'm the only one using it, and it's not visible to anyone outside the local network. # lsof | wc 16046 148253 1882901 # ps -ef | wc 574 6104 44260 I saw some documentation saying: file-max & file-nr: The kernel allocates file handles dynamically, but as yet it doesn't free them again. The value in file-max denotes the maximum number of file- handles that the Linux kernel will allocate. When you get lots of error messages about running out of file handles, you might want to increase this limit. Historically, the three values in file-nr denoted the number of allocated file handles, the number of allocated but unused file handles, and the maximum number of file handles. Linux 2.6 always reports 0 as the number of free file handles -- this is not an error, it just means that the number of allocated file handles exactly matches the number of used file handles. Attempts to allocate more file descriptors than file-max are reported with printk, look for "VFS: file-max limit reached". My first reading of this is that the kernel basically has a built-in file descriptor leak, but I find that very hard to believe. It would imply that any system in active use needs to be rebooted every so often to free up the file descriptors. As I said, I can't believe this would be true, since it's normal to me to have Linux systems stay up for months (even years) at a time. On the other hand, I also can't believe that my nearly-idle system is holding over a million files open. Does anyone have any ideas, either for fixes or further diagnosis? I could, of course, just reboot the system, but I don't want this to be a recurring problem every few weeks. As a stopgap measure, I've quit Firefox, which was accounting for almost 2000 lines of lsof output (!) even though I only had one window open, and now I can run 'ls' again, but I doubt that will fix the problem for long. (edit: Oops, spoke too soon. By the time I finished typing out this question, the symptom was/is back) Thanks in advance for any help. And another update: My system was basically unusable, so I decided I had no option but to reboot. But before I did, I carefully quit one process at a time, checking /proc/sys/fs/file-nr after each termination. I found that, predictably, the number of open files gradually went down as I closed things down. Unfortunately, it wasn't a large effect. Yes, I was able to clear up 5000-10000 open files, but there were still over 1.2 million left. I shut down just about everything. All interactive shells, except for the one ssh I left open to finish closing down, httpd, even nfs service. Basically everything in the process table that wasn't a kernel process, and there were still an appalling number of files apparently left open. After the reboot, I found that /proc/sys/fs/file-nr showed about 2000 files open, which is much more reasonable. Starting up 2 Xvnc sessions as usual, along with the dozen or so monitoring windows I like to keep open, brought the total up to about 4000 files. I can see nothing wrong with that, of course, but I've obviously failed to identify the root cause. I'm still looking for ideas, since I definitely expect it to happen again. And another update, the next day: I watched the system carefully, and discovered that /proc/sys/fs/file-nr showed a growth of about 900 open files per hour. I shut down the system's only NFS client for the night, and the growth stopped. Mind you, it didn't free up the resources, but it did at least stop consuming more. Is this a known bug with NFS? I'll be bringing the NFS client back online today, and I'll narrow it down further. If anyone is familiar with this behavior, feel free to jump in with "Yeah, NFS4 has this problem, go back to NFS3" or something like that.

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  • BizTalk: History of one project architecture

    - by Leonid Ganeline
    "In the beginning God made heaven and earth. Then he started to integrate." At the very start was the requirement: integrate two working systems. Small digging up: It was one system. It was good but IT guys want to change it to the new one, much better, chipper, more flexible, and more progressive in technologies, more suitable for the future, for the faster world and hungry competitors. One thing. One small, little thing. We cannot turn off the old system (call it A, because it was the first), turn on the new one (call it B, because it is second but not the last one). The A has a hundreds users all across a country, they must study B. A still has a lot nice custom features, home-made features that cannot disappear. These features have to be moved to the B and it is a long process, months and months of redevelopment. So, the decision was simple. Let’s move not jump, let’s both systems working side-by-side several months. In this time we could teach the users and move all custom A’s special functionality to B. That automatically means both systems should work side-by-side all these months and use the same data. Data in A and B must be in sync. That’s how the integration projects get birth. Moreover, the specific of the user tasks requires the both systems must be in sync in real-time. Nightly synchronization is not working, absolutely.   First draft The first draft seems simple. Both systems keep data in SQL databases. When data changes, the Create, Update, Delete operations performed on the data, and the sync process could be started. The obvious decision is to use triggers on tables. When we are talking about data, we are talking about several entities. For example, Orders and Items [in Orders]. We decided to use the BizTalk Server to synchronize systems. Why it was chosen is another story. Second draft   Let’s take an example how it works in more details. 1.       User creates a new entity in the A system. This fires an insert trigger on the entity table. Trigger has to pass the message “Entity created”. This message includes all attributes of the new entity, but I focused on the Id of this entity in the A system. Notation for this message is id.A. System A sends id.A to the BizTalk Server. 2.       BizTalk transforms id.A to the format of the system B. This is easiest part and I will not focus on this kind of transformations in the following text. The message on the picture is still id.A but it is in slightly different format, that’s why it is changing in color. BizTalk sends id.A to the system B. 3.       The system B creates the entity on its side. But it uses different id-s for entities, these id-s are id.B. System B saves id.A+id.B. System B sends the message id.A+id.B back to the BizTalk. 4.       BizTalk sends the message id.A+id.B to the system A. 5.       System A saves id.A+id.B. Why both id-s should be saved on both systems? It was one of the next requirements. Users of both systems have to know the systems are in sync or not in sync. Users working with the entity on the system A can see the id.B and use it to switch to the system B and work there with the copy of the same entity. The decision was to store the pairs of entity id-s on both sides. If there is only one id, the entities are not in sync yet (for the Create operation). Third draft Next problem was the reliability of the synchronization. The synchronizing process can be interrupted on each step, when message goes through the wires. It can be communication problem, timeout, temporary shutdown one of the systems, the second system cannot be synchronized by some internal reason. There were several potential problems that prevented from enclosing the whole synchronization process in one transaction. Decision was to restart the whole sync process if it was not finished (in case of the error). For this purpose was created an additional service. Let’s call it the Resync service. We still keep the id pairs in both systems, but only for the fast access not for the synchronization process. For the synchronizing these id-s now are kept in one main place, in the Resync service database. The Resync service keeps record as: ·       Id.A ·       Id.B ·       Entity.Type ·       Operation (Create, Update, Delete) ·       IsSyncStarted (true/false) ·       IsSyncFinished (true/false0 The example now looks like: 1.       System A creates id.A. id.A is saved on the A. Id.A is sent to the BizTalk. 2.       BizTalk sends id.A to the Resync and to the B. id.A is saved on the Resync. 3.       System B creates id.B. id.A+id.B are saved on the B. id.A+id.B are sent to the BizTalk. 4.       BizTalk sends id.A+id.B to the Resync and to the A. id.A+id.B are saved on the Resync. 5.       id.A+id.B are saved on the B. Resync changes the IsSyncStarted and IsSyncFinished flags accordingly. The Resync service implements three main methods: ·       Save (id.A, Entity.Type, Operation) ·       Save (id.A, id.B, Entity.Type, Operation) ·       Resync () Two Save() are used to save id-s to the service storage. See in the above example, in 2 and 4 steps. What about the Resync()? It is the method that finishes the interrupted synchronization processes. If Save() is started by the trigger event, the Resync() is working as an independent process. It periodically scans the Resync storage to find out “unfinished” records. Then it restarts the synchronization processes. It tries to synchronize them several times then gives up.     One more thing, both systems A and B must tolerate duplicates of one synchronizing process. Say on the step 3 the system B was not able to send id.A+id.B back. The Resync service must restart the synchronization process that will send the id.A to B second time. In this case system B must just send back again also created id.A+id.B pair without errors. That means “tolerate duplicates”. Fourth draft Next draft was created only because of the aesthetics. As it always happens, aesthetics gave significant performance gain to the whole system. First was the stupid question. Why do we need this additional service with special database? Can we just master the BizTalk to do something like this Resync() does? So the Resync orchestration is doing the same thing as the Resync service. It is started by the Id.A and finished by the id.A+id.B message. The first works as a Start message, the second works as a Finish message.     Here is a diagram the whole process without errors. It is pretty straightforward. The Resync orchestration is waiting for the Finish message specific period of time then resubmits the Id.A message. It resubmits the Id.A message specific number of times then gives up and gets suspended. It can be resubmitted then it starts the whole process again: waiting [, resubmitting [, get suspended]], finishing. Tuning up The Resync orchestration resubmits the id.A message with special “Resubmitted” flag. The subscription filter on the Resync orchestration includes predicate as (Resubmit_Flag != “Resubmitted”). That means only the first Sync orchestration starts the Resync orchestration. Other Sync orchestration instantiated by the resubmitting can finish this Resync orchestration but cannot start another instance of the Resync   Here is a diagram where system B was inaccessible for some period of time. The Resync orchestration resubmitted the id.A two times. Then system B got the response the id.A+id.B and this finished the Resync service execution. What is interesting about this, there were submitted several identical id.A messages and only one id.A+id.B message. Because of this, the system B and the Resync must tolerate the duplicate messages. We also told about this requirement for the system B. Now the same requirement is for the Resunc. Let’s assume the system B was very slow in the first response and the Resync service had time to resubmit two id.A messages. System B responded not, as it was in previous case, with one id.A+id.B but with two id.A+id.B messages. First of them finished the Resync execution for the id.A. What about the second id.A+id.B? Where it goes? So, we have to add one more internal requirement. The whole solution must tolerate many identical id.A+id.B messages. It is easy task with the BizTalk. I added the “SinkExtraMessages” subscriber (orchestration with one receive shape), that just get these messages and do nothing. Real design Real architecture is much more complex and interesting. In reality each system can submit several id.A almost simultaneously and completely unordered. There are not only the “Create entity” operation but the Update and Delete operations. And these operations relate each other. Say the Update operation after Delete means not the same as Update after Create. In reality there are entities related each other. Say the Order and Order Items. Change on one of it could start the series of the operations on another. Moreover, the system internals are the “black boxes” and we cannot predict the exact content and order of the operation series. It worth to say, I had to spend a time to manage the zombie message problems. The zombies are still here, but this is not a problem now. And this is another story. What is interesting in the last design? One orchestration works to help another to be more reliable. Why two orchestration design is more reliable, isn’t it something strange? The Synch orchestration takes all the message exchange between systems, here is the area where most of the errors could happen. The Resync orchestration sends and receives messages only within the BizTalk server. Is there another design? Sure. All Resync functionality could be implemented inside the Sync orchestration. Hey guys, some other ideas?

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  • Tomcat 7 on Ubuntu 12.04 with JRE 7 not starting

    - by Andreas Krueger
    I am running a virtual server in the web on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS / 32 Bit. After a clean install of JRE 7 and Tomcat 7, following the instructions on http://www.sysadminslife.com, I don't get Tomcat 7 up and running. > java -version java version "1.7.0_09" Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.7.0_09-b05) Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 23.5-b02, mixed mode) > /etc/init.d/tomcat start Starting Tomcat Using CATALINA_BASE: /usr/local/tomcat Using CATALINA_HOME: /usr/local/tomcat Using CATALINA_TMPDIR: /usr/local/tomcat/temp Using JRE_HOME: /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle Using CLASSPATH: /usr/local/tomcat/bin/bootstrap.jar:/usr/local/tomcat/bin/tomcat-juli.jar > telnet localhost 8080 Trying ::1... Trying 127.0.0.1... telnet: Unable to connect to remote host: Connection refused netstat sometimes shows a Java process, most of the times not. If it does, nothing works either. Does anyone have a solution or encountered similar situations? Here are the contents of catalina.out: 16.11.2012 18:36:39 org.apache.catalina.core.AprLifecycleListener init INFO: The APR based Apache Tomcat Native library which allows optimal performance in production environments was not found on the java.library.path: /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-oracle/lib/i386/client:/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-oracle/lib/i386:/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-oracle/../lib/i386:/usr/java/packages/lib/i386:/lib:/usr/lib 16.11.2012 18:36:40 org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol init INFO: Initializing ProtocolHandler ["http-bio-8080"] 16.11.2012 18:36:40 org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol init INFO: Initializing ProtocolHandler ["ajp-bio-8009"] 16.11.2012 18:36:40 org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina load INFO: Initialization processed in 1509 ms 16.11.2012 18:36:40 org.apache.catalina.core.StandardService startInternal INFO: Starting service Catalina 16.11.2012 18:36:40 org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine startInternal INFO: Starting Servlet Engine: Apache Tomcat/7.0.29 16.11.2012 18:36:40 org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig deployDirectory INFO: Deploying web application directory /usr/local/tomcat/webapps/manager Here come the results of ps -ef, iptables --list and netstat -plut: > ps -ef UID PID PPID C STIME TTY TIME CMD root 1 0 0 Nov16 ? 00:00:00 init root 2 1 0 Nov16 ? 00:00:00 [kthreadd/206616] root 3 2 0 Nov16 ? 00:00:00 [khelper/2066167] root 4 2 0 Nov16 ? 00:00:00 [rpciod/2066167/] root 5 2 0 Nov16 ? 00:00:00 [rpciod/2066167/] root 6 2 0 Nov16 ? 00:00:00 [rpciod/2066167/] root 7 2 0 Nov16 ? 00:00:00 [rpciod/2066167/] root 8 2 0 Nov16 ? 00:00:00 [nfsiod/2066167] root 119 1 0 Nov16 ? 00:00:00 upstart-udev-bridge --daemon root 125 1 0 Nov16 ? 00:00:00 /sbin/udevd --daemon root 157 125 0 Nov16 ? 00:00:00 /sbin/udevd --daemon root 158 125 0 Nov16 ? 00:00:00 /sbin/udevd --daemon root 205 1 0 Nov16 ? 00:00:00 upstart-socket-bridge --daemon root 276 1 0 Nov16 ? 00:00:00 /usr/sbin/sshd -D root 335 1 0 Nov16 ? 00:00:00 /usr/sbin/xinetd -dontfork -pidfile /var/run/xinetd.pid -stayalive -inetd root 348 1 0 Nov16 ? 00:00:00 cron syslog 368 1 0 Nov16 ? 00:00:00 /sbin/syslogd -u syslog root 472 1 0 Nov16 ? 00:00:00 /usr/lib/postfix/master postfix 482 472 0 Nov16 ? 00:00:00 qmgr -l -t fifo -u root 520 1 0 Nov16 ? 00:00:04 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start www-data 523 520 0 Nov16 ? 00:00:00 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start www-data 525 520 0 Nov16 ? 00:00:00 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start www-data 526 520 0 Nov16 ? 00:00:00 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start tomcat 1074 1 0 Nov16 ? 00:01:08 /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-oracle/bin/java -Djava.util.logging.config.file=/usr/ postfix 1351 472 0 Nov16 ? 00:00:00 tlsmgr -l -t unix -u -c postfix 3413 472 0 17:00 ? 00:00:00 pickup -l -t fifo -u -c root 3457 276 0 17:31 ? 00:00:00 sshd: root@pts/0 root 3459 3457 0 17:31 pts/0 00:00:00 -bash root 3470 3459 0 17:31 pts/0 00:00:00 ps -ef > iptables --list Chain INPUT (policy ACCEPT) target prot opt source destination ACCEPT tcp -- anywhere anywhere tcp dpt:http-alt ACCEPT tcp -- anywhere anywhere tcp dpt:8005 ACCEPT tcp -- anywhere anywhere tcp dpt:http-alt Chain FORWARD (policy ACCEPT) target prot opt source destination Chain OUTPUT (policy ACCEPT) target prot opt source destination > netstat -plut Active Internet connections (only servers) Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address Foreign Address State PID/Program name tcp 0 0 *:smtp *:* LISTEN 472/master tcp 0 0 *:3213 *:* LISTEN 276/sshd tcp6 0 0 [::]:smtp [::]:* LISTEN 472/master tcp6 0 0 [::]:8009 [::]:* LISTEN 1074/java tcp6 0 0 [::]:3213 [::]:* LISTEN 276/sshd tcp6 0 0 [::]:http-alt [::]:* LISTEN 1074/java tcp6 0 0 [::]:http [::]:* LISTEN 520/apache2

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  • PASS: Election Changes for 2011

    - by Bill Graziano
    Last year after the election, the PASS Board created an Election Review Committee.  This group was charged with reviewing our election procedures and making suggestions to improve the process.  You can read about the formation of the group and review some of the intermediate work on the site – especially in the forums. I was one of the members of the group along with Joe Webb (Chair), Lori Edwards, Brian Kelley, Wendy Pastrick, Andy Warren and Allen White.  This group worked from October to April on our election process.  Along the way we: Interviewed interested parties including former NomCom members, Board candidates and anyone else that came forward. Held a session at the Summit to allow interested parties to discuss the issues Had numerous conference calls and worked through the various topics I can’t thank these people enough for the work they did.  They invested a tremendous number of hours thinking, talking and writing about our elections.  I’m proud to say I was a member of this group and thoroughly enjoyed working with everyone (even if I did finally get tired of all the calls.) The ERC delivered their recommendations to the PASS Board prior to our May Board meeting.  We reviewed those and made a few modifications.  I took their recommendations and rewrote them as procedures while incorporating those changes.  Their original recommendations as well as our final document are posted at the ERC documents page.  Please take a second and read them BEFORE we start the elections.  If you have any questions please post them in the forums on the ERC site. (My final document includes a change log at the end that I decided to leave in.  If you want to know which areas to pay special attention to that’s a good start.) Many of those recommendations were already posted in the forums or in the blogs of individual ERC members.  Hopefully nothing in the ERC document is too surprising. In this post I’m going to walk through some of the key changes and talk about what I remember from both ERC and Board discussions.  I’ll pay a little extra attention to things the Board changed from the ERC.  I’d also encourage any of the Board or ERC members to blog their thoughts on this. The Nominating Committee will continue to exist.  Personally, I was curious to see what the non-Board ERC members would think about the NomCom.  There was broad agreement that a group to vet candidates had value to the organization. The NomCom will be composed of five members.  Two will be Board members and three will be from the membership at large.  The only requirement for the three community members is that you’ve volunteered in some way (and volunteering is defined very broadly).  We expect potential at-large NomCom members to participate in a forum on the PASS site to answer questions from the other PASS members. We’re going to hold an election to determine the three community members.  It will be closer to voting for Summit sessions than voting for Board members.  That means there won’t be multiple dedicated emails.  If you’re at all paying attention it will be easy to participate.  Personally I wanted it easy for those that cared to participate but not overwhelm those that didn’t care.  I think this strikes a good balance. There’s also a clause that in order to be considered a winner in this NomCom election, you must receive 10 votes.  This is something I suggested.  I have no idea how popular the NomCom election is going to be.  I just wanted a fallback that if no one participated and some random person got in with one or two votes.  Any open slots will be filled by the NomCom chair (usually the PASS Immediate Past President).  My assumption is that they would probably take the next highest vote getters unless they were throwing flames in the forums or clearly unqualified.  As a final check, the Board still approves the final NomCom. The NomCom is going to rank candidates instead of rating them.  This has interesting implications.  This was championed by another ERC member and I’m hoping they write something about it.  This will really force the NomCom to make decisions between candidates.  You can’t just rate everyone a 3 and be done with it.  It may also make candidates appear further apart than they actually are.  I’m looking forward talking with the NomCom after this election and getting their feedback on this. The PASS Board added an option to remove a candidate with a unanimous vote of the NomCom.  This was primarily put in place to handle people that lied on their application or had a criminal background or some other unusual situation and we figured it out. We list an explicit goal of three candidate per open slot. We also wanted an easy way to find the NomCom candidate rankings from the ballot.  Hopefully this will satisfy those that want a broad candidate pool and those that want the NomCom to identify the most qualified candidates. The primary spokesperson for the NomCom is the committee chair.  After the issues around the election last year we didn’t have a good communication plan in place.  We should have and that was a failure on the part of the Board.  If there is criticism of the election this year I hope that falls squarely on the Board.  The community members of the NomCom shouldn’t be fielding complaints over the election process.  That said, the NomCom is ranking candidates and we are forcing them to rank some lower than others.  I’m sure you’ll each find someone that you think should have been ranked differently.  I also want to highlight one other change to the process that we started last year and isn’t included in these documents.  I think the candidate forums on the PASS site were tremendously helpful last year in helping people to find out more about candidates.  That gives our members a way to ask hard questions of the candidates and publicly see their answers. This year we have two important groups to fill.  The first is the NomCom.  We need three people from our membership to step up and fill this role.  It won’t be easy.  You will have to make subjective rankings of your fellow community members.  Your actions will be important in deciding who the future leaders of PASS will be.  There’s a 50/50 chance that one of the people you interview will be the President of PASS someday.  This is not a responsibility to be taken lightly. The second is the slate of candidates.  If you’ve ever thought about running for the Board this is the year.  We’ve never had nine candidates on the ballot before.  Your chance of making it through the NomCom are higher than in any previous year.  Unfortunately the more of you that run, the more of you that will lose in the election.  And hopefully that competition will mean more community involvement and better Board members for PASS. Is this the end of changes to the election process?  It isn’t.  Every year that I’ve been on the Board the election process has changed.  Some years there have been small changes and some years there have been large changes.  After this election we’ll look at how the process worked and decide what steps to take – just like we do every year.

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  • The Faces in the Crowdsourcing

    - by Applications User Experience
    By Jeff Sauro, Principal Usability Engineer, Oracle Imagine having access to a global workforce of hundreds of thousands of people who can perform tasks or provide feedback on a design quickly and almost immediately. Distributing simple tasks not easily done by computers to the masses is called "crowdsourcing" and until recently was an interesting concept, but due to practical constraints wasn't used often. Enter Amazon.com. For five years, Amazon has hosted a service called Mechanical Turk, which provides an easy interface to the crowds. The service has almost half a million registered, global users performing a quarter of a million human intelligence tasks (HITs). HITs are submitted by individuals and companies in the U.S. and pay from $.01 for simple tasks (such as determining if a picture is offensive) to several dollars (for tasks like transcribing audio). What do we know about the people who toil away in this digital crowd? Can we rely on the work done in this anonymous marketplace? A rendering of the actual Mechanical Turk (from Wikipedia) Knowing who is behind Amazon's Mechanical Turk is fitting, considering the history of the actual Mechanical Turk. In the late 1800's, a mechanical chess-playing machine awed crowds as it beat master chess players in what was thought to be a mechanical miracle. It turned out that the creator, Wolfgang von Kempelen, had a small person (also a chess master) hiding inside the machine operating the arms to provide the illusion of automation. The field of human computer interaction (HCI) is quite familiar with gathering user input and incorporating it into all stages of the design process. It makes sense then that Mechanical Turk was a popular discussion topic at the recent Computer Human Interaction usability conference sponsored by the Association for Computing Machinery in Atlanta. It is already being used as a source for input on Web sites (for example, Feedbackarmy.com) and behavioral research studies. Two papers shed some light on the faces in this crowd. One paper tells us about the shifting demographics from mostly stay-at-home moms to young men in India. The second paper discusses the reliability and quality of work from the workers. Just who exactly would spend time doing tasks for pennies? In "Who are the crowdworkers?" University of California researchers Ross, Silberman, Zaldivar and Tomlinson conducted a survey of Mechanical Turk worker demographics and compared it to a similar survey done two years before. The initial survey reported workers consisting largely of young, well-educated women living in the U.S. with annual household incomes above $40,000. The more recent survey reveals a shift in demographics largely driven by an influx of workers from India. Indian workers went from 5% to over 30% of the crowd, and this block is largely male (two-thirds) with a higher average education than U.S. workers, and 64% report an annual income of less than $10,000 (keeping in mind $1 has a lot more purchasing power in India). This shifting demographic certainly has implications as language and culture can play critical roles in the outcome of HITs. Of course, the demographic data came from paying Turkers $.10 to fill out a survey, so there is some question about both a self-selection bias (characteristics which cause Turks to take this survey may be unrepresentative of the larger population), not to mention whether we can really trust the data we get from the crowd. Crowds can perform tasks or provide feedback on a design quickly and almost immediately for usability testing. (Photo attributed to victoriapeckham Flikr While having immediate access to a global workforce is nice, one major problem with Mechanical Turk is the incentive structure. Individuals and companies that deploy HITs want quality responses for a low price. Workers, on the other hand, want to complete the task and get paid as quickly as possible, so that they can get on to the next task. Since many HITs on Mechanical Turk are surveys, how valid and reliable are these results? How do we know whether workers are just rushing through the multiple-choice responses haphazardly answering? In "Are your participants gaming the system?" researchers at Carnegie Mellon (Downs, Holbrook, Sheng and Cranor) set up an experiment to find out what percentage of their workers were just in it for the money. The authors set up a 30-minute HIT (one of the more lengthy ones for Mechanical Turk) and offered a very high $4 to those who qualified and $.20 to those who did not. As part of the HIT, workers were asked to read an email and respond to two questions that determined whether workers were likely rushing through the HIT and not answering conscientiously. One question was simple and took little effort, while the second question required a bit more work to find the answer. Workers were led to believe other factors than these two questions were the qualifying aspect of the HIT. Of the 2000 participants, roughly 1200 (or 61%) answered both questions correctly. Eighty-eight percent answered the easy question correctly, and 64% answered the difficult question correctly. In other words, about 12% of the crowd were gaming the system, not paying enough attention to the question or making careless errors. Up to about 40% won't put in more than a modest effort to get paid for a HIT. Young men and those that considered themselves in the financial industry tended to be the most likely to try to game the system. There wasn't a breakdown by country, but given the demographic information from the first article, we could infer that many of these young men come from India, which makes language and other cultural differences a factor. These articles raise questions about the role of crowdsourcing as a means for getting quick user input at low cost. While compensating users for their time is nothing new, the incentive structure and anonymity of Mechanical Turk raises some interesting questions. How complex of a task can we ask of the crowd, and how much should these workers be paid? Can we rely on the information we get from these professional users, and if so, how can we best incorporate it into designing more usable products? Traditional usability testing will still play a central role in enterprise software. Crowdsourcing doesn't replace testing; instead, it makes certain parts of gathering user feedback easier. One can turn to the crowd for simple tasks that don't require specialized skills and get a lot of data fast. As more studies are conducted on Mechanical Turk, I suspect we will see crowdsourcing playing an increasing role in human computer interaction and enterprise computing. References: Downs, J. S., Holbrook, M. B., Sheng, S., and Cranor, L. F. 2010. Are your participants gaming the system?: screening mechanical turk workers. In Proceedings of the 28th international Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Atlanta, Georgia, USA, April 10 - 15, 2010). CHI '10. ACM, New York, NY, 2399-2402. Link: http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1753326.1753688 Ross, J., Irani, L., Silberman, M. S., Zaldivar, A., and Tomlinson, B. 2010. Who are the crowdworkers?: shifting demographics in mechanical turk. In Proceedings of the 28th of the international Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Atlanta, Georgia, USA, April 10 - 15, 2010). CHI EA '10. ACM, New York, NY, 2863-2872. Link: http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1753846.1753873

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  • I see no LOBs!

    - by Paul White
    Is it possible to see LOB (large object) logical reads from STATISTICS IO output on a table with no LOB columns? I was asked this question today by someone who had spent a good fraction of their afternoon trying to work out why this was occurring – even going so far as to re-run DBCC CHECKDB to see if any corruption had taken place.  The table in question wasn’t particularly pretty – it had grown somewhat organically over time, with new columns being added every so often as the need arose.  Nevertheless, it remained a simple structure with no LOB columns – no TEXT or IMAGE, no XML, no MAX types – nothing aside from ordinary INT, MONEY, VARCHAR, and DATETIME types.  To add to the air of mystery, not every query that ran against the table would report LOB logical reads – just sometimes – but when it did, the query often took much longer to execute. Ok, enough of the pre-amble.  I can’t reproduce the exact structure here, but the following script creates a table that will serve to demonstrate the effect: IF OBJECT_ID(N'dbo.Test', N'U') IS NOT NULL DROP TABLE dbo.Test GO CREATE TABLE dbo.Test ( row_id NUMERIC IDENTITY NOT NULL,   col01 NVARCHAR(450) NOT NULL, col02 NVARCHAR(450) NOT NULL, col03 NVARCHAR(450) NOT NULL, col04 NVARCHAR(450) NOT NULL, col05 NVARCHAR(450) NOT NULL, col06 NVARCHAR(450) NOT NULL, col07 NVARCHAR(450) NOT NULL, col08 NVARCHAR(450) NOT NULL, col09 NVARCHAR(450) NOT NULL, col10 NVARCHAR(450) NOT NULL, CONSTRAINT [PK dbo.Test row_id] PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED (row_id) ) ; The next script loads the ten variable-length character columns with one-character strings in the first row, two-character strings in the second row, and so on down to the 450th row: WITH Numbers AS ( -- Generates numbers 1 - 450 inclusive SELECT TOP (450) n = ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY (SELECT 0)) FROM master.sys.columns C1, master.sys.columns C2, master.sys.columns C3 ORDER BY n ASC ) INSERT dbo.Test WITH (TABLOCKX) SELECT REPLICATE(N'A', N.n), REPLICATE(N'B', N.n), REPLICATE(N'C', N.n), REPLICATE(N'D', N.n), REPLICATE(N'E', N.n), REPLICATE(N'F', N.n), REPLICATE(N'G', N.n), REPLICATE(N'H', N.n), REPLICATE(N'I', N.n), REPLICATE(N'J', N.n) FROM Numbers AS N ORDER BY N.n ASC ; Once those two scripts have run, the table contains 450 rows and 10 columns of data like this: Most of the time, when we query data from this table, we don’t see any LOB logical reads, for example: -- Find the maximum length of the data in -- column 5 for a range of rows SELECT result = MAX(DATALENGTH(T.col05)) FROM dbo.Test AS T WHERE row_id BETWEEN 50 AND 100 ; But with a different query… -- Read all the data in column 1 SELECT result = MAX(DATALENGTH(T.col01)) FROM dbo.Test AS T ; …suddenly we have 49 LOB logical reads, as well as the ‘normal’ logical reads we would expect. The Explanation If we had tried to create this table in SQL Server 2000, we would have received a warning message to say that future INSERT or UPDATE operations on the table might fail if the resulting row exceeded the in-row storage limit of 8060 bytes.  If we needed to store more data than would fit in an 8060 byte row (including internal overhead) we had to use a LOB column – TEXT, NTEXT, or IMAGE.  These special data types store the large data values in a separate structure, with just a small pointer left in the original row. Row Overflow SQL Server 2005 introduced a feature called row overflow, which allows one or more variable-length columns in a row to move to off-row storage if the data in a particular row would otherwise exceed 8060 bytes.  You no longer receive a warning when creating (or altering) a table that might need more than 8060 bytes of in-row storage; if SQL Server finds that it can no longer fit a variable-length column in a particular row, it will silently move one or more of these columns off the row into a separate allocation unit. Only variable-length columns can be moved in this way (for example the (N)VARCHAR, VARBINARY, and SQL_VARIANT types).  Fixed-length columns (like INTEGER and DATETIME for example) never move into ‘row overflow’ storage.  The decision to move a column off-row is done on a row-by-row basis – so data in a particular column might be stored in-row for some table records, and off-row for others. In general, if SQL Server finds that it needs to move a column into row-overflow storage, it moves the largest variable-length column record for that row.  Note that in the case of an UPDATE statement that results in the 8060 byte limit being exceeded, it might not be the column that grew that is moved! Sneaky LOBs Anyway, that’s all very interesting but I don’t want to get too carried away with the intricacies of row-overflow storage internals.  The point is that it is now possible to define a table with non-LOB columns that will silently exceed the old row-size limit and result in ordinary variable-length columns being moved to off-row storage.  Adding new columns to a table, expanding an existing column definition, or simply storing more data in a column than you used to – all these things can result in one or more variable-length columns being moved off the row. Note that row-overflow storage is logically quite different from old-style LOB and new-style MAX data type storage – individual variable-length columns are still limited to 8000 bytes each – you can just have more of them now.  Having said that, the physical mechanisms involved are very similar to full LOB storage – a column moved to row-overflow leaves a 24-byte pointer record in the row, and the ‘separate storage’ I have been talking about is structured very similarly to both old-style LOBs and new-style MAX types.  The disadvantages are also the same: when SQL Server needs a row-overflow column value it needs to follow the in-row pointer a navigate another chain of pages, just like retrieving a traditional LOB. And Finally… In the example script presented above, the rows with row_id values from 402 to 450 inclusive all exceed the total in-row storage limit of 8060 bytes.  A SELECT that references a column in one of those rows that has moved to off-row storage will incur one or more lob logical reads as the storage engine locates the data.  The results on your system might vary slightly depending on your settings, of course; but in my tests only column 1 in rows 402-450 moved off-row.  You might like to play around with the script – updating columns, changing data type lengths, and so on – to see the effect on lob logical reads and which columns get moved when.  You might even see row-overflow columns moving back in-row if they are updated to be smaller (hint: reduce the size of a column entry by at least 1000 bytes if you hope to see this). Be aware that SQL Server will not warn you when it moves ‘ordinary’ variable-length columns into overflow storage, and it can have dramatic effects on performance.  It makes more sense than ever to choose column data types sensibly.  If you make every column a VARCHAR(8000) or NVARCHAR(4000), and someone stores data that results in a row needing more than 8060 bytes, SQL Server might turn some of your column data into pseudo-LOBs – all without saying a word. Finally, some people make a distinction between ordinary LOBs (those that can hold up to 2GB of data) and the LOB-like structures created by row-overflow (where columns are still limited to 8000 bytes) by referring to row-overflow LOBs as SLOBs.  I find that quite appealing, but the ‘S’ stands for ‘small’, which makes expanding the whole acronym a little daft-sounding…small large objects anyone? © Paul White 2011 email: [email protected] twitter: @SQL_Kiwi

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  • Create and Backup Multiple Profiles in Google Chrome

    - by Asian Angel
    Other browsers such as Firefox and SeaMonkey allow you to have multiple profiles but not Chrome…at least not until now. If you want to use multiple profiles and create backups for them then join us as we look at Google Chrome Backup. Note: There is a paid version of this program available but we used the free version for our article. Google Chrome Backup in Action During the installation process you will run across this particular window. It will have a default user name filled in as shown here…you will not need to do anything except click on Next to continue installing the program. When you start the program for the first time this is what you will see. Your default Chrome Profile will already be visible in the window. A quick look at the Profile Menu… In the Tools Menu you can go ahead and disable the Start program at Windows Startup setting…the only time that you will need the program running is if you are creating or restoring a profile. When you create a new profile the process will start with this window. You can access an Advanced Options mode if desired but most likely you will not need it. Here is a look at the Advanced Options mode. It is mainly focused on adding Switches to the new Chrome Shortcut. The drop-down menu for the Switches available… To create your new profile you will need to choose: A profile location A profile name (as you type/create the profile name it will automatically be added to the Profile Path) Make certain that the Create a new shortcut to access new profile option is checked For our example we decided to try out the Disable plugins switch option… Click OK to create the new profile. Once you have created your new profile, you will find a new shortcut on the Desktop. Notice that the shortcut’s name will be Google Chrome + profile name that you chose. Note: On our system we were able to move the new shortcut to the “Start Menu” without problems. Clicking on our new profile’s shortcut opened up a fresh and clean looking instance of Chrome. Just out of curiosity we did decide to check the shortcut to see if the Switch set up correctly. Unfortunately it did not in this instance…so your mileage with the Switches may vary. This was just a minor quirk and nothing to get excited or upset over…especially considering that you can create multiple profiles so easily. After opening up our default profile of Chrome you can see the individual profile icons (New & Default in order) sitting in the Taskbar side-by-side. And our two profiles open at the same time on our Desktop… Backing Profiles Up For the next part of our tests we decided to create a backup for each of our profiles. Starting the wizard will allow you to choose between creating or restoring a profile. Note: To create or restore a backup click on Run Wizard. When you reach the second part of the process you can go with the Backup default profile option or choose a particular one from a drop-down list using the Select a profile to backup option. We chose to backup the Default Profile first… In the third part of the process you will need to select a location to save the profile to. Once you have selected the location you will see the Target Path as shown here. You can choose your own name for the backup file…we decided to go with the default name instead since it contained the backup’s calendar date. A very nice feature is the ability to have the cache cleared before creating the backup. We clicked on Yes…choose the option that best suits your needs. Once you have chosen either Yes or No the backup will then be created. Click Finish to complete the process. The backup file for our Default Profile at 14.0 MB in size. And the backup file for our Chrome Fresh Profile…2.81 MB. Restoring Profiles For the final part of our tests we decided to do a Restore. Select Restore and click Next to get the process started. In the second step you will need to browse for the Profile Backup File (and select the desired profile if you have created multiples). For our example we decided to overwrite the original Default Profile with the Chrome Fresh Profile. The third step lets you choose where to restore the chosen profile to…you can go with the Default Profile or choose one from the drop-down list using the Restore to a selected profile option. The final step will get you on your way to restoring the chosen profile. The program will conduct a check regarding the previous/old profile and ask if you would like to proceed with overwriting it. Definitely nice in case you change your mind at the last moment. Clicking Yes will finish the restoration. The only other odd quirk that we noticed while using the program was that the Next Button did not function after restoring the profile. You can easily get around the problem by clicking to close the window. Which one is which? After the restore process we had identical twins. Conclusion If you have been looking for a way to create multiple profiles in Google Chrome, then you might want to add this program to your system. Links Download Google Chrome Backup Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Backup and Restore Firefox Profiles EasilyBackup Different Browsers Easily with FavBackupBackup Your Browser with the New FavBackupStupid Geek Tricks: Compare Your Browser’s Memory Usage with Google ChromeHow to Make Google Chrome Your Default Browser TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips Acronis Online Backup DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows Tech Fanboys Field Guide Check these Awesome Chrome Add-ons iFixit Offers Gadget Repair Manuals Online Vista style sidebar for Windows 7 Create Nice Charts With These Web Based Tools Track Daily Goals With 42Goals

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  • External File Upload Optimizations for Windows Azure

    - by rgillen
    [Cross posted from here: http://rob.gillenfamily.net/post/External-File-Upload-Optimizations-for-Windows-Azure.aspx] I’m wrapping up a bit of the work we’ve been doing on data movement optimizations for cloud computing and the latest set of data yielded some interesting points I thought I’d share. The work done here is not really rocket science but may, in some ways, be slightly counter-intuitive and therefore seemed worthy of posting. Summary: for those who don’t like to read detailed posts or don’t have time, the synopsis is that if you are uploading data to Azure, block your data (even down to 1MB) and upload in parallel. Set your block size based on your source file size, but if you must choose a fixed value, use 1MB. Following the above will result in significant performance gains… upwards of 10x-24x and a reduction in overall file transfer time of upwards of 90% (eg, uploading a 1GB file averaged 46.37 minutes prior to optimizations and averaged 1.86 minutes afterwards). Detail: For those of you who want more detail, or think that the claims at the end of the preceding paragraph are over-reaching, what follows is information and code supporting these claims. As the title would indicate, these tests were run from our research facility pointing to the Azure cloud (specifically US North Central as it is physically closest to us) and do not represent intra-cloud results… we have performed intra-cloud tests and the overall results are similar in notion but the data rates are significantly different as well as the tipping points for the various block sizes… this will be detailed separately). We started by building a very simple console application that would loop through a directory and upload each file to Azure storage. This application used the shipping storage client library from the 1.1 version of the azure tools. The only real variation from the client library is that we added code to collect and record the duration (in ms) and size (in bytes) for each file transferred. The code is available here. We then created a directory that had a collection of files for the following sizes: 2KB, 32KB, 64KB, 128KB, 512KB, 1MB, 5MB, 10MB, 25MB, 50MB, 100MB, 250MB, 500MB, 750MB, and 1GB (50 files for each size listed). These files contained randomly-generated binary data and do not benefit from compression (a separate discussion topic). Our file generation tool is available here. The baseline was established by running the application described above against the directory containing all of the data files. This application uploads the files in a random order so as to avoid transferring all of the files of a given size sequentially and thereby spreading the affects of periodic Internet delays across the collection of results.  We then ran some scripts to split the resulting data and generate some reports. The raw data collected for our non-optimized tests is available via the links in the Related Resources section at the bottom of this post. For each file size, we calculated the average upload time (and standard deviation) and the average transfer rate (and standard deviation). As you likely are aware, transferring data across the Internet is susceptible to many transient delays which can cause anomalies in the resulting data. It is for this reason that we randomized the order of source file processing as well as executed the tests 50x for each file size. We expect that these steps will yield a sufficiently balanced set of results. Once the baseline was collected and analyzed, we updated the test harness application with some methods to split the source file into user-defined block sizes and then to upload those blocks in parallel (using the PutBlock() method of Azure storage). The parallelization was handled by simply relying on the Parallel Extensions to .NET to provide a Parallel.For loop (see linked source for specific implementation details in Program.cs, line 173 and following… less than 100 lines total). Once all of the blocks were uploaded, we called PutBlockList() to assemble/commit the file in Azure storage. For each block transferred, the MD5 was calculated and sent ensuring that the bits that arrived matched was was intended. The timer for the blocked/parallelized transfer method wraps the entire process (source file splitting, block transfer, MD5 validation, file committal). A diagram of the process is as follows: We then tested the affects of blocking & parallelizing the transfers by running the updated application against the same source set and did a parameter sweep on the block size including 256KB, 512KB, 1MB, 2MB, and 4MB (our assumption was that anything lower than 256KB wasn’t worth the trouble and 4MB is the maximum size of a block supported by Azure). The raw data for the parallel tests is available via the links in the Related Resources section at the bottom of this post. This data was processed and then compared against the single-threaded / non-optimized transfer numbers and the results were encouraging. The Excel version of the results is available here. Two semi-obvious points need to be made prior to reviewing the data. The first is that if the block size is larger than the source file size you will end up with a “negative optimization” due to the overhead of attempting to block and parallelize. The second is that as the files get smaller, the clock-time cost of blocking and parallelizing (overhead) is more apparent and can tend towards negative optimizations. For this reason (and is supported in the raw data provided in the linked worksheet) the charts and dialog below ignore source file sizes less than 1MB. (click chart for full size image) The chart above illustrates some interesting points about the results: When the block size is smaller than the source file, performance increases but as the block size approaches and then passes the source file size, you see decreasing benefit to the point of negative gains (see the values for the 1MB file size) For some of the moderately-sized source files, small blocks (256KB) are best As the size of the source file gets larger (see values for 50MB and up), the smallest block size is not the most efficient (presumably due, at least in part, to the increased number of blocks, increased number of individual transfer requests, and reassembly/committal costs). Once you pass the 250MB source file size, the difference in rate for 1MB to 4MB blocks is more-or-less constant The 1MB block size gives the best average improvement (~16x) but the optimal approach would be to vary the block size based on the size of the source file.    (click chart for full size image) The above is another view of the same data as the prior chart just with the axis changed (x-axis represents file size and plotted data shows improvement by block size). It again highlights the fact that the 1MB block size is probably the best overall size but highlights the benefits of some of the other block sizes at different source file sizes. This last chart shows the change in total duration of the file uploads based on different block sizes for the source file sizes. Nothing really new here other than this view of the data highlights the negative affects of poorly choosing a block size for smaller files.   Summary What we have found so far is that blocking your file uploads and uploading them in parallel results in significant performance improvements. Further, utilizing extension methods and the Task Parallel Library (.NET 4.0) make short work of altering the shipping client library to provide this functionality while minimizing the amount of change to existing applications that might be using the client library for other interactions.   Related Resources Source code for upload test application Source code for random file generator ODatas feed of raw data from non-optimized transfer tests Experiment Metadata Experiment Datasets 2KB Uploads 32KB Uploads 64KB Uploads 128KB Uploads 256KB Uploads 512KB Uploads 1MB Uploads 5MB Uploads 10MB Uploads 25MB Uploads 50MB Uploads 100MB Uploads 250MB Uploads 500MB Uploads 750MB Uploads 1GB Uploads Raw Data OData feeds of raw data from blocked/parallelized transfer tests Experiment Metadata Experiment Datasets Raw Data 256KB Blocks 512KB Blocks 1MB Blocks 2MB Blocks 4MB Blocks Excel worksheet showing summarizations and comparisons

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  • Day 3 - XNA: Hacking around with images

    - by dapostolov
    Yay! Today I'm going to get into some code! My mind has been on this all day! I find it amusing how I practice, daily, to be "in the moment" or "present" and the excitement and anticipation of this project seems to snatch it away from me frequently. WELL!!! (Shakes Excitedly) Let's do this =)! Let's code! For these next few days it is my intention to better understand image rendering using XNA; after said prototypes are complete I should (fingers crossed) be able to dive into my game code using the design document I hammered out the other night. On a personal note, I think the toughest thing right now is finding the time to do this project. Each night, after my little ones go to bed I can only really afford a couple hours of work on this project. However, I hope to utilise this time as best as I can because this is the first time in a while I've found a project that I've been passionate about. A friend recently asked me if I intend to go 3D or extend the game design. Yes. For now I'm keeping it simple. Lastly, just as a note, as I was doing some further research into image rendering this morning I came across some other XNA content and lessons learned. I believe this content could have probably been posted in the first couple of posts, however, I will share the new content as I learn it at the end of each day. Maybe I'll take some time later to fix the posts but for now Installation and Deployment - Lessons Learned I had installed the XNA studio  (Day 1) and the site instructions were pretty easy to follow. However, I had a small difficulty with my development environment. You see, I run a virtual desktop development environment. Even though I was able to code and compile all the tutorials the game failed to run...because I lacked a 3D capable card; it was not detected on the virtual box... First Lesson: The XNA runtime needs to "see" the 3D card! No sweat, Il copied the files over to my parent box and executed the program. ERROR. Hmm... Second Lesson (which I should have probably known but I let the excitement get the better of me): you need the XNA runtime on the client PC to run the game, oh, and don't forget the .Net Runtime! Sprite, it ain't just a Soft Drink... With these prototypes I intend to understand and perform the following tasks. learn game development terminology how to place and position (rotate) a static image on the screen how to layer static images on the screen understand image scaling can we reuse images? understand how framerate is handled in XNA how to display text , basic shapes, and colors on the screen how to interact with an image (collision of user input?) how to animate an image and understand basic animation techniques how to detect colliding images or screen edges how to manipulate the image, lets say colors, stretching how to focus on a segment of an image...like only displaying a frame on a film reel what's the best way to manage images (compression, storage, location, prevent artwork theft, etc.) Well, let's start with this "prototype" task list for now...Today, let's get an image on the screen and maybe I can mark a few of the tasks as completed... C# Prototype1 New Visual Studio Project Select the XNA Game Studio 3.1 Project Type Select the Windows Game 3.1 Template Type Prototype1 in the Name textbox provided Press OK. At this point code has auto-magically been created. Feel free to press the F5 key to run your first XNA program. You should have a blue screen infront of you. Without getting into the nitty gritty right, the code that was generated basically creates some basic code to clear the window content with the lovely CornFlowerBlue color. Something to notice, when you move your mouse into the window...nothing. ooooo spoooky. Let's put an image on that screen! Step A - Get an Image into the solution Under "Content" in your Solution Explorer, right click and add a new folder and name it "Sprites". Copy a small image in there; I copied a "Royalty Free" wizard hat from a quick google search and named it wizards_hat.jpg (rightfully so!) Step B - Add the sprite and position fields Now, open/edit  Game1.cs Locate the following line:  SpriteBatch spriteBatch; Under this line type the following:         SpriteBatch spriteBatch; // the line you are looking for...         Texture2D sprite;         Vector2 position; Step C - Load the image asset Locate the "Load Content" Method and duplicate the following:             protected override void LoadContent()         {             spriteBatch = new SpriteBatch(GraphicsDevice);             // your image name goes here...             sprite = Content.Load<Texture2D>("Sprites\\wizards_hat");             position = new Vector2(200, 100);             base.LoadContent();         } Step D - Draw the image Locate the "Draw" Method and duplicate the following:        protected override void Draw(GameTime gameTime)         {             GraphicsDevice.Clear(Color.CornflowerBlue);             spriteBatch.Begin(SpriteBlendMode.AlphaBlend);             spriteBatch.Draw(sprite, position, Color.White);             spriteBatch.End();             base.Draw(gameTime);         }  Step E - Compile and Run Engage! (F5) - Debug! Your image should now display on a cornflowerblue window about 200 pixels from the left and 100 pixels from the top. Awesome! =) Pretty cool how we only coded a few lines to display an image, but believe me, there is plenty going on behind the scenes. However, for now, I'm going to call it a night here. Blogging all this progress certainly takes time... However, tomorrow night I'm going to detail what we just did, plus start checking off points on that list! I'm wondering right now if I should add pictures / code to this post...let me know if you want them =) Best Regards, D.

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  • Following my passion

    - by Maria Sandu
    Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii- mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi- mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-ansi-language:RO;} Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii- mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi- mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-ansi-language:RO;} Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii- mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi- mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-ansi-language:RO;} What makes you go the extra mile? What makes you move forward and be ambitious? My name is Alin Gheorghe and I am currently working as a Contracts Administrator in the Shared Service Centre in Bucharest, Romania. I have graduated from the Political Science Faculty of the National School of Political and Administrative Studies here in Bucharest and I am currently undergoing a Master Program on Security and Diplomacy at the same university. Although I have been working a full time job here at Oracle since January 2011 and also going to school after work, I am going to tell you how I spend my spare time and about my passion. I always thought that if one doesn’t have something that he would consider a passion it’s always just a matter of time until he would discover one. Looking back, I can tell you that I discovered mine when I was 14 years old and I remember watching a football game when suddenly I became fascinated by the “man in black” that all football players obeyed during the match. That year I attended and promoted a referee course within my local referee committee and about 6 months later I was delegated to my first official game at youth tournament. Almost 10 years have passed since then and I can tell you that I very much love and appreciate this activity that I have spent doing, each and every weekend, 9 months every year, acquiring more than 600 official games until now. And even if not having a real free weekend or holiday might be sound very consuming, I can say that having something I am passionate about helps me to keep myself balanced and happy while giving me an option to channel any stress or anxiety I may feel. I think it’s important to have something of your own besides work that you spend time and effort on. Whether it’s painting, writing or a sport, having a passion can only have a positive effect on your life. And as every extra thing, it’s not always easy to follow your passion, but is it worth it? Speaking from my own experience I am sure it is, and here are some tips and tricks I constantly use not to give up on my passion: Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE -"/ /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii- mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi- mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-ansi-language:RO;} No matter how much time you spend at work and how much credit you get for that, it will always be the passion related achievements that will comfort you more and boost your self esteem and nothing compares to that feeling you get. I always try to keep this in mind so that each time I think about giving up I get even more ambitious to move forward. Everybody can just do what they are paid to do or what they are requested to do at work but not everybody can go that extra mile when it comes to following their passion and putting in extra work for that. By exercising this constantly you get used to also applying this attitude on the work related tasks. It takes accurate planning, anticipation and forecasting in order to combine your work with your passion. Therefore having a full schedule and keeping up with it will only help develop and exercise such skills and also will prove to you that you are up to such a challenge. I always keep in mind as a final goal that if you get very good at your passion you can actually start earning from it. And I think that is the ultimate level when you can say that you make a living by doing exactly what you are passionate about. In conclusion, by taking the easy way not only do you miss out on something nice, but life’s priceless rewards are usually given by those things that you actually believe in and know how to stand up for over time.

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  • CodePlex Daily Summary for Sunday, June 16, 2013

    CodePlex Daily Summary for Sunday, June 16, 2013Popular ReleasesEmployee Info Starter Kit: v6.0 - ASP.NET MVC Edition: Release Home - Getting Started - Hands on Coding Walkthrough – Technology Stack - Design & Architecture EISK v6.0 – ASP.NET MVC edition bundles most of the greatest and successful platforms, frameworks and technologies together, to enable web developers to learn and build manageable and high performance web applications with rich user experience effectively and quickly. User End SpecificationsCreating a new employee record Read existing employee records Update an existing employee reco...OLAP PivotTable Extensions: Release 0.8.1: Use the 32-bit download for... Excel 2007 Excel 2010 32-bit (even Excel 2010 32-bit on a 64-bit operating system) Excel 2013 32-bit (even Excel 2013 32-bit on a 64-bit operating system) Use the 64-bit download for... Excel 2010 64-bit Excel 2013 64-bit Just download and run the EXE. There is no need to uninstall the previous release. If you have problems getting the add-in to work, see the Troubleshooting Installation wiki page. The new features in this release are: View #VALUE! Err...VidCoder: 1.4.22: New in 1.4.22 Added Xbox 360 preset, thanks to Relhak. Added Spanish translation, thanks to fantasmanegro. Added Basque translation, thanks to azpidatziak. Fixed behavior of custom anamorphic auto display width and max width/height. Fixed double-logging on local encodes. Fixed remote encoder not using libdvdnav even when enabled, which had caused some problems with multi-angle DVDs. New in 1.4 Updated HandBrake core to 0.9.9 Blu-ray subtitle (PGS) support Additional framerates: 30...WPF Application Framework (WAF): WPF Application Framework (WAF) 3.0.0.440: Version: 3.0.0.440 (Release Candidate): This release contains the source code of the WPF Application Framework (WAF) and the sample applications. Please build the whole solution before you start one of the sample applications. Requirements .NET Framework 4.5 (The package contains a solution file for Visual Studio 2012) Changelog Legend: [B] Breaking change; [O] Marked member as obsolete Samples: Use ValueConverters via StaticResource instead of x:Static. Other Downloads Downloads OverviewSFDL.NET: SFDL.NET v1.1.0.5: Changelog: Implemeted SFDL Container v4 (AES Encryption, Set Character Set) Added Stopwatch (download time) Many Bugfixes and ImprovementsBlackJumboDog: Ver5.9.1: 2013.06.13 Ver5.9.1 (1) Web??????SSI?#include???、CGI?????????????????????? (2) ???????????????????????????Lakana - WPF Framework: Lakana V2.1 RTM: - Dynamic text localization - A new application wide message busFree language translator and file converter: Free Language Translator 3.3: some bug fixes and a new link to video tutorials on Youtube.Pokemon Battle Online: ETV: ETV???2012?12??????,????,???????$/PBO/branches/PrivateBeta??。 ???????bug???????。 ???? Server??????,?????。 ?????????,?????????????,?????????。 ????????,????,?????????,???????????(??)??。 ???? ????????????。 ???????。 ???PP????,????????????????????PP????,??3。 ?????????????,??????????。 ???????? ??? ?? ???? ??? ???? ?? ?????????? ?? ??? ??? ??? ???????? ???? ???? ???????????????、???????????,??“???????”??。 ???bug ???Modern UI for WPF: Modern UI 1.0.4: The ModernUI assembly including a demo app demonstrating the various features of Modern UI for WPF. Related downloads NuGet ModernUI for WPF is also available as NuGet package in the NuGet gallery, id: ModernUI.WPF Download Modern UI for WPF Templates A Visual Studio 2012 extension containing a collection of project and item templates for Modern UI for WPF. The extension includes the ModernUI.WPF NuGet package. DownloadToolbox for Dynamics CRM 2011: XrmToolBox (v1.2013.6.11): XrmToolbox improvement Add exception handling when loading plugins Updated information panel for displaying two lines of text Tools improvementMetadata Document Generator (v1.2013.6.10)New tool Web Resources Manager (v1.2013.6.11)Retrieve list of unused web resources Retrieve web resources from a solution All tools listAccess Checker (v1.2013.2.5) Attribute Bulk Updater (v1.2013.1.17) FetchXml Tester (v1.2013.3.4) Iconator (v1.2013.1.17) Metadata Document Generator (v1.2013.6.10) Privilege...Document.Editor: 2013.23: What's new for Document.Editor 2013.23: New Insert Emoticon support Improved Format support Minor Bug Fix's, improvements and speed upsChristoc's DotNetNuke Module Development Template: DotNetNuke 7 Project Templates V2.4 for VS2012: V2.4 - Release Date 6/10/2013 Items addressed in this 2.4 release Updated MSBuild Community Tasks reference to 1.4.0.61 Setting up your DotNetNuke Module Development Environment Installing Christoc's DotNetNuke Module Development Templates Customizing the latest DotNetNuke Module Development Project TemplatesLayered Architecture Sample for .NET: Leave Sample - June 2013 (for .NET 4.5): Thank You for downloading Layered Architecture Sample. Please read the accompanying README.txt file for setup and installation instructions. This is the first set of a series of revised samples that will be released to illustrate the layered architecture design pattern. This version is only supported on Visual Studio 2012. This set contains 2 samples that illustrates the use of: ASP.NET Web Forms, ASP.NET Model Binding, Windows Communications Foundation (WCF), Windows Workflow Foundation (W...Papercut: Papercut 2013-6-10: Feature: Shows From, To, Date and Subject of Email. Feature: Async UI and loading spinner. Enhancement: Improved speed when loading large attachments. Enhancement: Decoupled SMTP server into secondary assembly. Enhancement: Upgraded to .NET v4. Fix: Messages lost when received very fast. Fix: Email encoding issues on display/Automatically detect message Encoding Installation Note:Installation is copy and paste. Incoming messages are written to the start-up directory of Papercut. If you do n...Supporting Guidance and Whitepapers: v1.BETA Unit test Generator Documentation: Welcome to the Unit Test Generator Once you’ve moved to Visual Studio 2012, what’s a dev to do without the Create Unit Tests feature? Based on the high demand on User Voice for this feature to be restored, the Visual Studio ALM Rangers have introduced the Unit Test Generator Visual Studio Extension. The extension adds the “create unit test” feature back, with a focus on automating project creation, adding references and generating stubs, extensibility, and targeting of multiple test framewor...MapWindow 4: MapWindow GIS v4.8.8 - Release Candidate - 32Bit: Download the release notes here: http://svn.mapwindow.org/svnroot/MapWindow4Dev/Bin/MapWindowNotes.rtfLINQ to Twitter: LINQ to Twitter v2.1.06: Supports .NET 3.5, .NET 4.0, .NET 4.5, Silverlight 4.0, Windows Phone 7.1, Windows Phone 8, Client Profile, Windows 8, and Windows Azure. 100% Twitter API coverage. Also supports Twitter API v1.1! Also on NuGet.VR Player: VR Player 0.3.1 ALPHA: New plugin system with individual folders TrackIR support Maya and 3ds max formats support Dual screen support Mono layouts (left and right) Cylinder height parameter Barel effect factor parameter Razer hydra filter parameter VRPN bug fixes UI improvements Performances improvements Stabilization and logging with Log4Net New default values base on users feedback CTRL key to open menuSimCityPak: SimCityPak 0.1.0.8: SimCityPak 0.1.0.8 New features: Import BMP color palettes for vehicles Import RASTER file (uncompressed 8.8.8.8 DDS files) View different channels of RASTER files or preview of all layers combined Find text in javascripts TGA viewer Ground textures added to lot editor Many additional identified instances and propertiesNew ProjectsADJD-S311-CR99 Colour Sensor Arduino: Integrating the Avago ADJD-s311-CR999 with ArduinoBerkeley Algorithm: student project for DS course Berkeley Algorithm C#Code Kata - HarryPotter Win8: HarryPotter Series discount programming excerciseHad CMS: Had CMSjean0615mercurialmm: ddjet.version.Incrementor: It's a console tool parse AssemblyInfo.cs files in given directory and set AssemblyVersion and AssemblyFileVersion attribtes to given version. It can be easilyLogger - logging for your .NET project using file, mail, debug output: A light weight yet competent logger for .NET with configurable output modules, such as log file, e-mail and debug log. Easy to add your own output module if needed.MatUtils: Um projecto onde se incluem algumas ferramentas matemáticas.MoGo Mobile: The first makings of an open source Mobile Game!myFirstHTML5: Project was to create a mobile responsive websiteNeTools: This Tool Allows You To Know & Monitor Your Network Better. You'l Be Able To Hijack The Network's Traffic, Poison The Network, Kick Devices From It & Many More.Prism Photo Browser: This is a functioning photo browser written in C# for a WPF platform implementing the Model View View-Model (MVVM) design pattern and PrismQuesTime: This is a quiz projectSM130 Arduino Integration: A project to integrate an SM130 RFID module with Arduino.SQL Server Analysis Services Cube Status Web Part for SharePoint: The Cube Status project provides a SharePoint Web Part that connects to a SQL Server Analysis Services instance and shows the status of a specific cubeSQLite Sync for Windows Phone 8: Project Description This project is the Windows Phone 8 implementation of the Sync Framework Toolkit to enable synchronization with Windows Phone 8 and SQLite.Test Project: testTool To Recover or Restore Windows 7 Files: Impossible Is Nothing!: Get easy to use Windows 2007 Recovery software which is fully helpful application that can easily recover or restore Windows 2007 files with full of quality.Vitus Localization: An Orchard module containing a collection of features useful for localized or multilingual Orchard websites.Wedn.Net: Blog ????: ????? ??? ?????? ????? ???? ??? ????? ???? ??? ?? ??? ???????

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  • DBA Best Practices - A Blog Series: Episode 1 - Backups

    - by Argenis
      This blog post is part of the DBA Best Practices series, on which various topics of concern for daily database operations are discussed. Your feedback and comments are very much welcome, so please drop by the comments section and be sure to leave your thoughts on the subject. Morning Coffee When I was a DBA, the first thing I did when I sat down at my desk at work was checking that all backups had completed successfully. It really was more of a ritual, since I had a dual system in place to check for backup completion: 1) the scheduled agent jobs to back up the databases were set to alert the NOC in failure, and 2) I had a script run from a central server every so often to check for any backup failures. Why the redundancy, you might ask. Well, for one I was once bitten by the fact that database mail doesn't work 100% of the time. Potential causes for failure include issues on the SMTP box that relays your server email, firewall problems, DNS issues, etc. And so to be sure that my backups completed fine, I needed to rely on a mechanism other than having the servers do the taking - I needed to interrogate the servers and ask each one if an issue had occurred. This is why I had a script run every so often. Some of you might have monitoring tools in place like Microsoft System Center Operations Manager (SCOM) or similar 3rd party products that would track all these things for you. But at that moment, we had no resort but to write our own Powershell scripts to do it. Now it goes without saying that if you don't have backups in place, you might as well find another career. Your most sacred job as a DBA is to protect the data from a disaster, and only properly safeguarded backups can offer you peace of mind here. "But, we have a cluster...we don't need backups" Sadly I've heard this line more than I would have liked to. You need to understand that a cluster is comprised of shared storage, and that is precisely your single point of failure. A cluster will protect you from an issue at the Operating System level, and also under an outage of any SQL-related service or dependent devices. But it will most definitely NOT protect you against corruption, nor will it protect you against somebody deleting data from a table - accidentally or otherwise. Backup, fine. How often do I take a backup? The answer to this is something you will hear frequently when working with databases: it depends. What does it depend on? For one, you need to understand how much data your business is willing to lose. This is what's called Recovery Point Objective, or RPO. If you don't know how much data your business is willing to lose, you need to have an honest and realistic conversation about data loss expectations with your customers, internal or external. From my experience, their first answer to the question "how much data loss can you withstand?" will be "zero". In that case, you will need to explain how zero data loss is very difficult and very costly to achieve, even in today's computing environments. Do you want to go ahead and take full backups of all your databases every hour, or even every day? Probably not, because of the impact that taking a full backup can have on a system. That's what differential and transaction log backups are for. Have I answered the question of how often to take a backup? No, and I did that on purpose. You need to think about how much time you have to recover from any event that requires you to restore your databases. This is what's called Recovery Time Objective. Again, if you go ask your customer how long of an outage they can withstand, at first you will get a completely unrealistic number - and that will be your starting point for discussing a solution that is cost effective. The point that I'm trying to get across is that you need to have a plan. This plan needs to be practiced, and tested. Like a football playbook, you need to rehearse the moves you'll perform when the time comes. How often is up to you, and the objective is that you feel better about yourself and the steps you need to follow when emergency strikes. A backup is nothing more than an untested restore Backups are files. Files are prone to corruption. Put those two together and realize how you feel about those backups sitting on that network drive. When was the last time you restored any of those? Restoring your backups on another box - that, by the way, doesn't have to match the specs of your production server - will give you two things: 1) peace of mind, because now you know that your backups are good and 2) a place to offload your consistency checks with DBCC CHECKDB or any of the other DBCC commands like CHECKTABLE or CHECKCATALOG. This is a great strategy for VLDBs that cannot withstand the additional load created by the consistency checks. If you choose to offload your consistency checks to another server though, be sure to run DBCC CHECKDB WITH PHYSICALONLY on the production server, and if you're using SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1 CU4 and above, be sure to enable traceflags 2562 and/or 2549, which will speed up the PHYSICALONLY checks further - you can read more about this enhancement here. Back to the "How Often" question for a second. If you have the disk, and the network latency, and the system resources to do so, why not backup the transaction log often? As in, every 5 minutes, or even less than that? There's not much downside to doing it, as you will have to clear the log with a backup sooner than later, lest you risk running out space on your tlog, or even your drive. The one drawback to this approach is that you will have more files to deal with at restore time, and processing each file will add a bit of extra time to the entire process. But it might be worth that time knowing that you minimized the amount of data lost. Again, test your plan to make sure that it matches your particular needs. Where to back up to? Network share? Locally? SAN volume? This is another topic where everybody has a favorite choice. So, I'll stick to mentioning what I like to do and what I consider to be the best practice in this regard. I like to backup to a SAN volume, i.e., a drive that actually lives in the SAN, and can be easily attached to another server in a pinch, saving you valuable time - you wouldn't need to restore files on the network (slow) or pull out drives out a dead server (been there, done that, it’s also slow!). The key is to have a copy of those backup files made quickly, and, if at all possible, to a remote target on a different datacenter - or even the cloud. There are plenty of solutions out there that can help you put such a solution together. That right there is the first step towards a practical Disaster Recovery plan. But there's much more to DR, and that's material for a different blog post in this series.

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  • BizTalk and SQL: Alternatives to the SQL receive adapter. Using Msmq to receive SQL data

    - by Leonid Ganeline
    If we have to get data from the SQL database, the standard way is to use a receive port with SQL adapter. SQL receive adapter is a solicit-response adapter. It periodically polls the SQL database with queries. That’s only way it can work. Sometimes it is undesirable. With new WCF-SQL adapter we can use the lightweight approach but still with the same principle, the WCF-SQL adapter periodically solicits the database with queries to check for the new records. Imagine the situation when the new records can appear in very broad time limits, some - in a second interval, others - in the several minutes interval. Our requirement is to process the new records ASAP. That means the polling interval should be near the shortest interval between the new records, a second interval. As a result the most of the poll queries would return nothing and would load the database without good reason. If the database is working under heavy payload, it is very undesirable. Do we have other choices? Sure. We can change the polling to the “eventing”. The good news is the SQL server could issue the event in case of new records with triggers. Got a new record –the trigger event is fired. No new records – no the trigger events – no excessive load to the database. The bad news is the SQL Server doesn’t have intrinsic methods to send the event data outside. For example, we would rather use the adapters that do listen for the data and do not solicit. There are several such adapters-listeners as File, Ftp, SOAP, WCF, and Msmq. But the SQL Server doesn’t have methods to create and save files, to consume the Web-services, to create and send messages in the queue, does it? Can we use the File, FTP, Msmq, WCF adapters to get data from SQL code? Yes, we can. The SQL Server 2005 and 2008 have the possibility to use .NET code inside SQL code. See the SQL Integration. How it works for the Msmq, for example: ·         New record is created, trigger is fired ·         Trigger calls the CLR stored procedure and passes the message parameters to it ·         The CLR stored procedure creates message and sends it to the outgoing queue in the SQL Server computer. ·         Msmq service transfers message to the queue in the BizTalk Server computer. ·         WCF-NetMsmq adapter receives the message from this queue. For the File adapter the idea is the same, the CLR stored procedure creates and stores the file with message, and then the File adapter picks up this file. Using WCF-NetMsmq adapter to get data from SQL I am describing the full set of the deployment and development steps for the case with the WCF-NetMsmq adapter. Development: 1.       Create the .NET code: project, class and method to create and send the message to the MSMQ queue. 2.       Create the SQL code in triggers to call the .NET code. Installation and Deployment: 1.       SQL Server: a.       Register the CLR assembly with .NET (CLR) code b.      Install the MSMQ Services 2.       BizTalk Server: a.       Install the MSMQ Services b.      Create the MSMQ queue c.       Create the WCF-NetMsmq receive port. The detailed description is below. Code .NET code … using System.Xml; using System.Xml.Linq; using System.Xml.Serialization;   //namespace MyCompany.MySolution.MyProject – doesn’t work. The assembly name is MyCompany.MySolution.MyProject // I gave up with the compound namespace. Seems the CLR Integration cannot work with it L. Maybe I’m wrong.     public class Event     {         static public XElement CreateMsg(int par1, int par2, int par3)         {             XNamespace ns = "http://schemas.microsoft.com/Sql/2008/05/TypedPolling/my_storedProc";             XElement xdoc =                 new XElement(ns + "TypedPolling",                     new XElement(ns + "TypedPollingResultSet0",                         new XElement(ns + "TypedPollingResultSet0",                             new XElement(ns + "par1", par1),                             new XElement(ns + "par2", par2),                             new XElement(ns + "par3", par3),                         )                     )                 );             return xdoc;         }     }   //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// … using System.ServiceModel; using System.ServiceModel.Channels; using System.Transactions; using System.Data; using System.Data.Sql; using System.Data.SqlTypes;   public class MsmqHelper {     [Microsoft.SqlServer.Server.SqlProcedure]     // msmqAddress as "net.msmq://localhost/private/myapp.myqueue";     public static void SendMsg(string msmqAddress, string action, int par1, int par2, int par3)     {         using (TransactionScope scope = new TransactionScope(TransactionScopeOption.Suppress))         {             NetMsmqBinding binding = new NetMsmqBinding(NetMsmqSecurityMode.None);             binding.ExactlyOnce = true;             EndpointAddress address = new EndpointAddress(msmqAddress);               using (ChannelFactory<IOutputChannel> factory = new ChannelFactory<IOutputChannel>(binding, address))             {                 IOutputChannel channel = factory.CreateChannel();                 try                 {                     XElement xe = Event.CreateMsg(par1, par2, par3);                     XmlReader xr = xe.CreateReader();                     Message msg = Message.CreateMessage(MessageVersion.Default, action, xr);                     channel.Send(msg);                     //SqlContext.Pipe.Send(…); // to test                 }                 catch (Exception ex)                 { …                 }             }             scope.Complete();         }     }   SQL code in triggers   -- sp_SendMsg was registered as a name of the MsmqHelper.SendMsg() EXEC sp_SendMsg'net.msmq://biztalk_server_name/private/myapp.myqueue', 'Create', @par1, @par2, @par3   Installation and Deployment On the SQL Server Registering the CLR assembly 1.       Prerequisites: .NET 3.5 SP1 Framework. It could be the issue for the production SQL Server! 2.       For more information, please, see the link http://nielsb.wordpress.com/sqlclrwcf/ 3.       Copy files: >copy “\Windows\Microsoft.net\Framework\v3.0\Windows Communication Foundation\Microsoft.Transactions.Bridge.dll” “\Program Files\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework\v3.0 \Microsoft.Transactions.Bridge.dll” If your machine is a 64-bit, run two commands: >copy “\Windows\Microsoft.net\Framework\v3.0\Windows Communication Foundation\Microsoft.Transactions.Bridge.dll” “\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework\v3.0 \Microsoft.Transactions.Bridge.dll” >copy “\Windows\Microsoft.net\Framework64\v3.0\Windows Communication Foundation\Microsoft.Transactions.Bridge.dll” “\Program Files\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework\v3.0 \Microsoft.Transactions.Bridge.dll” 4.       Execute the SQL code to register the .NET assemblies: -- For x64 OS: CREATE ASSEMBLY SMdiagnostics AUTHORIZATION dbo FROM 'C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.0\Windows Communication Foundation\SMdiagnostics.dll' WITH permission_set = unsafe CREATE ASSEMBLY [System.Web] AUTHORIZATION dbo FROM 'C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v2.0.50727\System.Web.dll' WITH permission_set = unsafe CREATE ASSEMBLY [System.Messaging] AUTHORIZATION dbo FROM 'C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\System.Messaging.dll' WITH permission_set = unsafe CREATE ASSEMBLY [System.ServiceModel] AUTHORIZATION dbo FROM 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework\v3.0\System.ServiceModel.dll' WITH permission_set = unsafe CREATE ASSEMBLY [System.Xml.Linq] AUTHORIZATION dbo FROM 'C:\Program Files\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework\v3.5\System.Xml.Linq.dll' WITH permission_set = unsafe   -- For x32 OS: --CREATE ASSEMBLY SMdiagnostics AUTHORIZATION dbo FROM 'C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.0\Windows Communication Foundation\SMdiagnostics.dll' WITH permission_set = unsafe --CREATE ASSEMBLY [System.Web] AUTHORIZATION dbo FROM 'C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\System.Web.dll' WITH permission_set = unsafe --CREATE ASSEMBLY [System.Messaging] AUTHORIZATION dbo FROM 'C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\System.Messaging.dll' WITH permission_set = unsafe --CREATE ASSEMBLY [System.ServiceModel] AUTHORIZATION dbo FROM 'C:\Program Files\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework\v3.0\System.ServiceModel.dll' WITH permission_set = unsafe 5.       Register the assembly with the external stored procedure: CREATE ASSEMBLY [HelperClass] AUTHORIZATION dbo FROM ’<FilePath>MyCompany.MySolution.MyProject.dll' WITH permission_set = unsafe where the <FilePath> - the path of the file on this machine! 6. Create the external stored procedure CREATE PROCEDURE sp_SendMsg (        @msmqAddress nvarchar(100),        @Action NVARCHAR(50),        @par1 int,        @par2 int,        @par3 int ) AS EXTERNAL NAME HelperClear.MsmqHelper.SendMsg   Installing the MSMQ Services 1.       Check if the MSMQ service is NOT installed. To check:  Start / Administrative Tools / Computer Management, on the left pane open the “Services and Applications”, search to the “Message Queuing”. If you cannot see it, follow next steps. 2.       Start / Control Panel / Programs and Features 3.       Click “Turn Windows Features on or off” 4.       Click Features, click “Add Features” 5.       Scroll down the feature list; open the “Message Queuing” / “Message Queuing Services”; and check the “Message Queuing Server” option  6.       Click Next; Click Install; wait to the successful finish of the installation Creating the MSMQ queue We don’t need to create the queue on the “sender” side. On the BizTalk Server Installing the MSMQ Services The same is as for the SQL Server. Creating the MSMQ queue 1.       Start / Administrative Tools / Computer Management, on the left pane open the “Services and Applications”, open the “Message Queuing”, and open the “Private Queues”. 2.       Right-click the “Private Queues”; choose New; choose “Private Queue”. 3.       Type the Queue name as ’myapp.myqueue'; check the “Transactional” option. Creating the WCF-NetMsmq receive port I will not go through this step in all details. It is straightforward. URI for this receive location should be 'net.msmq://localhost/private/myapp.myqueue'. Notes ·         The biggest problem is usually on the step the “Registering the CLR assembly”. It is hard to predict where are the assemblies from the assembly list, what version should be used, x86 or x64. It is pity of such “rude” integration of the SQL with .NET. ·         In couple cases the new WCF-NetMsmq port was not able to work with the queue. Try to replace the WCF- NetMsmq port with the WCF-Custom port with netMsmqBinding. It was working fine for me. ·         To test how messages go through the queue you can turn on the Journal /Enabled option for the queue. I used the QueueExplorer utility to look to the messages in Journal. The Computer Management can also show the messages but it shows only small part of the message body and in the weird format. The QueueExplorer can do the better job; it shows the whole body and Xml messages are in good color format.

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  • When someone deletes a shared data source in SSRS

    - by Rob Farley
    SQL Server Reporting Services plays nicely. You can have things in the catalogue that get shared. You can have Reports that have Links, Datasets that can be used across different reports, and Data Sources that can be used in a variety of ways too. So if you find that someone has deleted a shared data source, you potentially have a bit of a horror story going on. And this works for this month’s T-SQL Tuesday theme, hosted by Nick Haslam, who wants to hear about horror stories. I don’t write about LobsterPot client horror stories, so I’m writing about a situation that a fellow MVP friend asked me about recently instead. The best thing to do is to grab a recent backup of the ReportServer database, restore it somewhere, and figure out what’s changed. But of course, this isn’t always possible. And it’s much nicer to help someone with this kind of thing, rather than to be trying to fix it yourself when you’ve just deleted the wrong data source. Unfortunately, it lets you delete data sources, without trying to scream that the data source is shared across over 400 reports in over 100 folders, as was the case for my friend’s colleague. So, suddenly there’s a big problem – lots of reports are failing, and the time to turn it around is small. You probably know which data source has been deleted, but getting the shared data source back isn’t the hard part (that’s just a connection string really). The nasty bit is all the re-mapping, to get those 400 reports working again. I know from exploring this kind of stuff in the past that the ReportServer database (using its default name) has a table called dbo.Catalog to represent the catalogue, and that Reports are stored here. However, the information about what data sources these deployed reports are configured to use is stored in a different table, dbo.DataSource. You could be forgiven for thinking that shared data sources would live in this table, but they don’t – they’re catalogue items just like the reports. Let’s have a look at the structure of these two tables (although if you’re reading this because you have a disaster, feel free to skim past). Frustratingly, there doesn’t seem to be a Books Online page for this information, sorry about that. I’m also not going to look at all the columns, just ones that I find interesting enough to mention, and that are related to the problem at hand. These fields are consistent all the way through to SQL Server 2012 – there doesn’t seem to have been any changes here for quite a while. dbo.Catalog The Primary Key is ItemID. It’s a uniqueidentifier. I’m not going to comment any more on that. A minor nice point about using GUIDs in unfamiliar databases is that you can more easily figure out what’s what. But foreign keys are for that too… Path, Name and ParentID tell you where in the folder structure the item lives. Path isn’t actually required – you could’ve done recursive queries to get there. But as that would be quite painful, I’m more than happy for the Path column to be there. Path contains the Name as well, incidentally. Type tells you what kind of item it is. Some examples are 1 for a folder and 2 a report. 4 is linked reports, 5 is a data source, 6 is a report model. I forget the others for now (but feel free to put a comment giving the full list if you know it). Content is an image field, remembering that image doesn’t necessarily store images – these days we’d rather use varbinary(max), but even in SQL Server 2012, this field is still image. It stores the actual item definition in binary form, whether it’s actually an image, a report, whatever. LinkSourceID is used for Linked Reports, and has a self-referencing foreign key (allowing NULL, of course) back to ItemID. Parameter is an ntext field containing XML for the parameters of the report. Not sure why this couldn’t be a separate table, but I guess that’s just the way it goes. This field gets changed when the default parameters get changed in Report Manager. There is nothing in dbo.Catalog that describes the actual data sources that the report uses. The default data sources would be part of the Content field, as they are defined in the RDL, but when you deploy reports, you typically choose to NOT replace the data sources. Anyway, they’re not in this table. Maybe it was already considered a bit wide to throw in another ntext field, I’m not sure. They’re in dbo.DataSource instead. dbo.DataSource The Primary key is DSID. Yes it’s a uniqueidentifier... ItemID is a foreign key reference back to dbo.Catalog Fields such as ConnectionString, Prompt, UserName and Password do what they say on the tin, storing information about how to connect to the particular source in question. Link is a uniqueidentifier, which refers back to dbo.Catalog. This is used when a data source within a report refers back to a shared data source, rather than embedding the connection information itself. You’d think this should be enforced by foreign key, but it’s not. It does allow NULLs though. Flags this is an int, and I’ll come back to this. When a Data Source gets deleted out of dbo.Catalog, you might assume that it would be disallowed if there are references to it from dbo.DataSource. Well, you’d be wrong. And not because of the lack of a foreign key either. Deleting anything from the catalogue is done by calling a stored procedure called dbo.DeleteObject. You can look at the definition in there – it feels very much like the kind of Delete stored procedures that many people write, the kind of thing that means they don’t need to worry about allowing cascading deletes with foreign keys – because the stored procedure does the lot. Except that it doesn’t quite do that. If it deleted everything on a cascading delete, we’d’ve lost all the data sources as configured in dbo.DataSource, and that would be bad. This is fine if the ItemID from dbo.DataSource hooks in – if the report is being deleted. But if a shared data source is being deleted, you don’t want to lose the existence of the data source from the report. So it sets it to NULL, and it marks it as invalid. We see this code in that stored procedure. UPDATE [DataSource]    SET       [Flags] = [Flags] & 0x7FFFFFFD, -- broken link       [Link] = NULL FROM    [Catalog] AS C    INNER JOIN [DataSource] AS DS ON C.[ItemID] = DS.[Link] WHERE    (C.Path = @Path OR C.Path LIKE @Prefix ESCAPE '*') Unfortunately there’s no semi-colon on the end (but I’d rather they fix the ntext and image types first), and don’t get me started about using the table name in the UPDATE clause (it should use the alias DS). But there is a nice comment about what’s going on with the Flags field. What I’d LIKE it to do would be to set the connection information to a report-embedded copy of the connection information that’s in the shared data source, the one that’s about to be deleted. I understand that this would cause someone to lose the benefit of having the data sources configured in a central point, but I’d say that’s probably still slightly better than LOSING THE INFORMATION COMPLETELY. Sorry, rant over. I should log a Connect item – I’ll put that on my todo list. So it sets the Link field to NULL, and marks the Flags to tell you they’re broken. So this is your clue to fixing it. A bitwise AND with 0x7FFFFFFD is basically stripping out the ‘2’ bit from a number. So numbers like 2, 3, 6, 7, 10, 11, etc, whose binary representation ends in either 11 or 10 get turned into 0, 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, etc. We can test for it using a WHERE clause that matches the SET clause we’ve just used. I’d also recommend checking for Link being NULL and also having no ConnectionString. And join back to dbo.Catalog to get the path (including the name) of broken reports are – in case you get a surprise from a different data source being broken in the past. SELECT c.Path, ds.Name FROM dbo.[DataSource] AS ds JOIN dbo.[Catalog] AS c ON c.ItemID = ds.ItemID WHERE ds.[Flags] = ds.[Flags] & 0x7FFFFFFD AND ds.[Link] IS NULL AND ds.[ConnectionString] IS NULL; When I just ran this on my own machine, having deleted a data source to check my code, I noticed a Report Model in the list as well – so if you had thought it was just going to be reports that were broken, you’d be forgetting something. So to fix those reports, get your new data source created in the catalogue, and then find its ItemID by querying Catalog, using Path and Name to find it. And then use this value to fix them up. To fix the Flags field, just add 2. I prefer to use bitwise OR which should do the same. Use the OUTPUT clause to get a copy of the DSIDs of the ones you’re changing, just in case you need to revert something later after testing (doing it all in a transaction won’t help, because you’ll just lock out the table, stopping you from testing anything). UPDATE ds SET [Flags] = [Flags] | 2, [Link] = '3AE31CBA-BDB4-4FD1-94F4-580B7FAB939D' /*Insert your own GUID*/ OUTPUT deleted.Name, deleted.DSID, deleted.ItemID, deleted.Flags FROM dbo.[DataSource] AS ds JOIN dbo.[Catalog] AS c ON c.ItemID = ds.ItemID WHERE ds.[Flags] = ds.[Flags] & 0x7FFFFFFD AND ds.[Link] IS NULL AND ds.[ConnectionString] IS NULL; But please be careful. Your mileage may vary. And there’s no reason why 400-odd broken reports needs to be quite the nightmare that it could be. Really, it should be less than five minutes. @rob_farley

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  • Loaded OBJ Model Will Not Display in OpenGL / C++ Project

    - by Drake Summers
    I have been experimenting with new effects in game development. The programs I have written have been using generic shapes for the visuals. I wanted to test the effects on something a bit more complex, and wrote a resource loader for Wavefront OBJ files. I started with a simple cube in blender, exported it to an OBJ file with just vertices and triangulated faces, and used it to test the resource loader. I could not get the mesh to show up in my application. The loader never gave me any errors, so I wrote a snippet to loop through my vertex and index arrays that were returned from the loader. The data is exactly the way it is supposed to be. So I simplified the OBJ file by editing it directly to just show a front facing square. Still, nothing is displayed in the application. And don't worry, I did check to make sure that I decreased the value of each index by one while importing the OBJ. - BEGIN EDIT I also tested using glDrawArrays(GL_TRIANGLES, 0, 3 ); to draw the first triangle and it worked! So the issue could be in the binding of the VBO/IBO items. END EDIT - INDEX/VERTEX ARRAY OUTPUT: GLOBALS AND INITIALIZATION FUNCTION: GLuint program; GLint attrib_coord3d; std::vector<GLfloat> vertices; std::vector<GLushort> indices; GLuint vertexbuffer, indexbuffer; GLint uniform_mvp; int initialize() { if (loadModel("test.obj", vertices, indices)) { GLfloat myverts[vertices.size()]; copy(vertices.begin(), vertices.end(), myverts); GLushort myinds[indices.size()]; copy(indices.begin(), indices.end(), myinds); glGenBuffers(1, &vertexbuffer); glBindBuffer(GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, vertexbuffer); glBufferData(GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, sizeof(myverts), myverts, GL_STATIC_DRAW); glGenBuffers(1, &indexbuffer); glBindBuffer(GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, indexbuffer); glBufferData(GL_ELEMENT_ARRAY_BUFFER, sizeof(myinds), myinds, GL_STATIC_DRAW); // OUTPUT DATA FROM NEW ARRAYS TO CONSOLE // ERROR HANDLING OMITTED FOR BREVITY } GLint link_result = GL_FALSE; GLuint vert_shader, frag_shader; if ((vert_shader = create_shader("tri.v.glsl", GL_VERTEX_SHADER)) == 0) return 0; if ((frag_shader = create_shader("tri.f.glsl", GL_FRAGMENT_SHADER)) == 0) return 0; program = glCreateProgram(); glAttachShader(program, vert_shader); glAttachShader(program, frag_shader); glLinkProgram(program); glGetProgramiv(program, GL_LINK_STATUS, &link_result); // ERROR HANDLING OMITTED FOR BREVITY const char* attrib_name; attrib_name = "coord3d"; attrib_coord3d = glGetAttribLocation(program, attrib_name); // ERROR HANDLING OMITTED FOR BREVITY const char* uniform_name; uniform_name = "mvp"; uniform_mvp = glGetUniformLocation(program, uniform_name); // ERROR HANDLING OMITTED FOR BREVITY return 1; } RENDERING FUNCTION: glm::mat4 model = glm::translate(glm::mat4(1.0f), glm::vec3(0.0, 0.0, -4.0)); glm::mat4 view = glm::lookAt(glm::vec3(0.0, 0.0, 4.0), glm::vec3(0.0, 0.0, 3.0), glm::vec3(0.0, 1.0, 0.0)); glm::mat4 projection = glm::perspective(45.0f, 1.0f*(screen_width/screen_height), 0.1f, 10.0f); glm::mat4 mvp = projection * view * model; int size; glUseProgram(program); glUniformMatrix4fv(uniform_mvp, 1, GL_FALSE, glm::value_ptr(mvp)); glClearColor(0.5, 0.5, 0.5, 1.0); glClear(GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT|GL_DEPTH_BUFFER_BIT); glEnableVertexAttribArray(attrib_coord3d); glBindBuffer(GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, vertexbuffer); glVertexAttribPointer(attrib_coord3d, 3, GL_FLOAT, GL_FALSE, 0, 0); glBindBuffer(GL_ELEMENT_ARRAY_BUFFER, indexbuffer); glGetBufferParameteriv(GL_ELEMENT_ARRAY_BUFFER, GL_BUFFER_SIZE, &size); glDrawElements(GL_TRIANGLES, size/sizeof(GLushort), GL_UNSIGNED_SHORT, 0); glDisableVertexAttribArray(attrib_coord3d); VERTEX SHADER: attribute vec3 coord3d; uniform mat4 mvp; void main(void) { gl_Position = mvp * vec4(coord3d, 1.0); } FRAGMENT SHADER: void main(void) { gl_FragColor[0] = 0.0; gl_FragColor[1] = 0.0; gl_FragColor[2] = 1.0; gl_FragColor[3] = 1.0; } OBJ RESOURCE LOADER: bool loadModel(const char * path, std::vector<GLfloat> &out_vertices, std::vector<GLushort> &out_indices) { std::vector<GLfloat> temp_vertices; std::vector<GLushort> vertexIndices; FILE * file = fopen(path, "r"); // ERROR HANDLING OMITTED FOR BREVITY while(1) { char lineHeader[128]; int res = fscanf(file, "%s", lineHeader); if (res == EOF) { break; } if (strcmp(lineHeader, "v") == 0) { float _x, _y, _z; fscanf(file, "%f %f %f\n", &_x, &_y, &_z ); out_vertices.push_back(_x); out_vertices.push_back(_y); out_vertices.push_back(_z); } else if (strcmp(lineHeader, "f") == 0) { unsigned int vertexIndex[3]; int matches = fscanf(file, "%d %d %d\n", &vertexIndex[0], &vertexIndex[1], &vertexIndex[2]); out_indices.push_back(vertexIndex[0] - 1); out_indices.push_back(vertexIndex[1] - 1); out_indices.push_back(vertexIndex[2] - 1); } else { ... } } // ERROR HANDLING OMITTED FOR BREVITY return true; } I can edit the question to provide any further info you may need. I attempted to provide everything of relevance and omit what may have been unnecessary. I'm hoping this isn't some really poor mistake, because I have been at this for a few days now. If anyone has any suggestions or advice on the matter, I look forward to hearing it. As a final note: I added some arrays into the code with manually entered data, and was able to display meshes by using those arrays instead of the generated ones. I do not understand!

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