geeks with blogs - Page 70

Friend of Red Gate

- by Nick Harrison

Friend of Red Gate I recently joined the friend of Red Gate program. I am very honored to be included in this group. This program is a big part of Red Gates community outreach. If you are not familiar with Red Gate, I urge you to check them out. They have some wonderful tools for the SQL Server community and the DotNet community. They are also building up some tools for Exchange and Oracle. I was invited to join this program primarliy because of my work with Simple Talk and promoting one of their newest products, Reflector. Reflector is a wonderful tool. I doubt that anyone who has ever used it would argue that point. Red Gate did a wonderful job taking over the support of Reflector. I know many people had their doubts. The initial release under Red Gate should set those fears to rest. I was very impressed with how their developers interacted with their users during the preview phase! Red Gate is also a good partner for the community. They activly support the community, sponsoring Code Camps, sponsoring User Groups, supporting the Forums, etc. And their tools are pretty amazing as well.

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A Reusable Builder Class for Ruby Testing

- by Liam McLennan

My last post was about a class for building test data objects in C#. This post describes the same tool, but implemented in Ruby. The C# version was written first but I originally came up with the solution in my head using Ruby, and then I translated it to C#. The Ruby version was easier to write and is easier to use thanks to Ruby’s dynamic nature making generics unnecessary. Here are my example domain classes: class Person attr_accessor :name, :age def initialize(name, age) @name = name @age = age end end class Property attr_accessor :street, :manager def initialize(street, manager) @street = street @manager = manager end end and the test class showing what the builder does: class Test_Builder < Test::Unit::TestCase def setup @build = Builder.new @build.configure({ Property => lambda { Property.new '127 Creek St', @build.a(Person) }, Person => lambda { Person.new 'Liam', 26 } }) end def test_create assert_not_nil @build end def test_can_get_a_person @person = @build.a(Person) assert_not_nil @person assert_equal 'Liam', @person.name assert_equal 26, @person.age end def test_can_get_a_modified_person @person = @build.a Person do |person| person.age = 999 end assert_not_nil @person assert_equal 'Liam', @person.name assert_equal 999, @person.age end def test_can_get_a_different_type_that_depends_on_a_type_that_has_not_been_configured_yet @my_place = @build.a(Property) assert_not_nil @my_place assert_equal '127 Creek St', @my_place.street assert_equal @build.a(Person).name, @my_place.manager.name end end Finally, the implementation of Builder: class Builder # defaults is a hash of Class => creation lambda def configure defaults @defaults = defaults end def a(klass) temp = @defaults[klass].call() yield temp if block_given? temp end end

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Get to Know a Candidate (17 of 25): James Harris–Socialist Workers Party

- by Brian Lanham

DISCLAIMER: This is not a post about “Romney” or “Obama”. This is not a post for whom I am voting. Information sourced for Wikipedia. Harris (born 1948) is an African American communist politician and member of the National Committee of the Socialist Workers Party. He was the party's candidate for President of the United States in 1996 receiving 8,463 votes and again in 2000 when his ticket received 7,378 votes. Harris also served as an alternate candidate for Róger Calero in 2004 and 2008 in states where Calero could not qualify for the ballot (due to being born in Nicaragua). In 2004 he received 7,102 votes of the parties 10,791 votes. In 2008 he received 2,424 votes. More recently Harris was the SWP candidate in the 2009 Los Angeles mayoral election receiving 2,057 votes for 0.89% of the vote. Harris served for a time as the national organization secretary of the SWP. He was a staff writer for the socialist newsweekly The Militant in New York. He wrote about the internal resistance to South African apartheid and in 1994 traveled to South Africa to attend the Congress of South African Trade Unions convention. The Socialist Workers Party is a far-left political organization in the United States. The group places a priority on "solidarity work" to aid strikes and is strongly supportive of Cuba. The SWP publishes The Militant, a weekly newspaper that dates back to 1928, and maintains Pathfinder Press. Harris has Ballot Access in: CO, IO, LA, MN, NJ, WA (write-in access: NY) Learn more about James Harris and Socialist Workers Party on Wikipedia.

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Mathematica Programming Language–An Introduction

- by JoshReuben

The Mathematica http://www.wolfram.com/mathematica/ programming model consists of a kernel computation engine (or grid of such engines) and a front-end of notebook instances that communicate with the kernel throughout a session. The programming model of Mathematica is incredibly rich & powerful – besides numeric calculations, it supports symbols (eg Pi, I, E) and control flow logic. obviously I could use this as a simple calculator: 5 * 10 --> 50 but this language is much more than that! for example, I could use control flow logic & setup a simple infinite loop: x=1; While [x>0, x=x,x+1] Different brackets have different purposes: square brackets for function arguments: Cos[x] round brackets for grouping: (1+2)*3 curly brackets for lists: {1,2,3,4} The power of Mathematica (as opposed to say Matlab) is that it gives exact symbolic answers instead of a rounded numeric approximation (unless you request it): Mathematica lets you define scoped variables (symbols): a=1; b=2; c=a+b --> 5 these variables can contain symbolic values – you can think of these as partially computed functions: use Clear[x] or Remove[x] to zero or dereference a variable. To compute a numerical approximation to n significant digits (default n=6), use N[x,n] or the //N prefix: Pi //N -->3.14159 N[Pi,50] --> 3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751 The kernel uses % to reference the lastcalculation result, %% the 2nd last, %%% the 3rd last etc –> clearer statements: eg instead of: Sqrt[Pi+Sqrt[Sqrt[Pi+Sqrt[Pi]]] do: Sqrt[Pi]; Sqrt[Pi+%]; Sqrt[Pi+%] The help system supports wildcards, so I can search for functions like so: ?Inv* Mathematica supports some very powerful programming constructs and a rich function library that allow you to do things that you would have to write allot of code for in a language like C++. the Factor function – factorization: Factor[x^3 – 6*x^2 +11x – 6] --> (-3+x) (-2+x) (-1+x) the Solve function – find the roots of an equation: Solve[x^3 – 2x + 1 == 0] --> the Expand function – express (1+x)^10 in polynomial form: Expand[(1+x)^10] --> 1+10x+45x^2+120x^3+210x^4+252x^5+210x^6+120x^7+45x^8+10x^9+x^10 the Prime function – what is the 1000th prime? Prime[1000] -->7919 Mathematica also has some powerful graphics capabilities: the Plot function – plot the graph of y=Sin x in a single period: Plot[Sin[x], {x,0,2*Pi}] you can also plot 3D surfaces of functions using Plot3D function

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The future for Microsoft

- by Scott Dorman

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/sdorman/archive/2013/10/16/the-future-for-microsoft.aspxMicrosoft is in the process of reinventing itself. While some may argue that it’s “too little, too late” or that their growing consumer-focused strategy is wrong, the truth of the situation is that Microsoft is reinventing itself into a new company. While Microsoft is now calling themselves a “devices and services” company, that’s not entirely accurate. Let’s look at some facts: Microsoft will always (for the long-term foreseeable future) be financially split into the following divisions: Windows/Operating Systems, which for FY13 made up approximately 24% of overall revenue. Server and Tools, which for FY13 made up approximately 26% of overall revenue. Enterprise/Business Products, which for FY13 made up approximately 32% of overall revenue. Entertainment and Devices, which for FY13 made up approximately 13% of overall revenue. Online Services, which for FY13 made up approximately 4% of overall revenue. It is important to realize that hardware products like the Surface fall under the Windows/Operating Systems division while products like the Xbox 360 fall under the Entertainment and Devices division. (Presumably other hardware, such as mice, keyboards, and cameras, also fall under the Entertainment and Devices division.) It’s also unclear where Microsoft’s recent acquisition of Nokia’s handset division will fall, but let’s assume that it will be under Entertainment and Devices as well. Now, for the sake of argument, let’s assume a slightly different structure that I think is more in line with how Microsoft presents itself and how the general public sees it: Consumer Products and Devices, which would probably make up approximately 9% of overall revenue. Developer Tools, which would probably make up approximately 13% of overall revenue. Enterprise Products and Devices, which would probably make up approximately 47% of overall revenue. Entertainment, which would probably make up approximately 13% of overall revenue. Online Services, which would probably make up approximately 17% of overall revenue. (Just so we’re clear, in this structure hardware products like the Surface, a portion of Windows sales, and other hardware fall under the Consumer Products and Devices division. I’m assuming that more of the income for the Windows division is coming from enterprise/volume licenses so 15% of that income went to the Enterprise Products and Devices division. Most of the enterprise services, like Azure, fall under the Online Services division so half of the Server and Tools income went there as well.) No matter how you look at it, the bulk of Microsoft’s income still comes from not just the enterprise but also software sales, and this really shouldn’t surprise anyone. So, now that the stage is set…what’s the future for Microsoft? The future I see for Microsoft (again, this is just my prediction based on my own instinct, gut-feel and publicly available information) is this: Microsoft is becoming a consumer-focused enterprise company. Let’s look at it a different way. Microsoft is an enterprise-focused company trying to create a larger consumer presence. To a large extent, this is the exact opposite of Apple, who is really a consumer-focused company trying to create a larger enterprise presence. The major reason consumer-focused companies (like Apple) have started making in-roads into the enterprise is the “bring your own device” phenomenon. Yes, Apple has created some “game-changing” products but their enterprise influence is still relatively small. Unfortunately (for this blog post at least), Apple provides revenue in terms of hardware products rather than business divisions, so it’s not possible to do a direct comparison. However, in the interest of transparency, from Apple’s Quarterly Report (filed 24 July 2013), their revenue breakdown is: iPhone, which for the 3 months ending 29 June 2013 made up approximately 51% of revenue. iPad, which for the 3 months ending 29 June 2013 made up approximately 18% of revenue. Mac, which for the 3 months ending 29 June 2013 made up approximately 14% of revenue. iPod, which for the 3 months ending 29 June 2013 made up approximately 2% of revenue. iTunes, Software, and Services, which for the 3 months ending 29 June 2013 made up approximately 11% of revenue. Accessories, which for the 3 months ending 29 July 2013 made up approximately 3% of revenue. From this, it’s pretty clear that Apple is a consumer-and-hardware-focused company. At this point, you may be asking yourself “Where is all of this going?” The answer to that lies in Microsoft’s shift in company focus. They are becoming more consumer focused, but what exactly does that mean? The biggest change (at least that’s been in the news lately) is the pending purchase of Nokia’s handset division. This, in combination with their Surface line of tablets and the Xbox, will put Microsoft squarely in the realm of a hardware-focused company in addition to being a software-focused company. That can (and most likely will) shift the revenue split to looking at revenue based on software sales (both consumer and enterprise) and also hardware sales (mostly on the consumer side). If we look at things strictly from a Windows perspective, Microsoft clearly has a lot of irons in the fire at the moment. Discounting the various product SKUs available and painting the picture with broader strokes, there are currently 5 different Windows-based operating systems: Windows Phone Windows Phone 7.x, which runs on top of the Windows CE kernel Windows Phone 8.x+, which runs on top of the Windows 8 kernel Windows RT The ARM-based version of Windows 8, which runs on top of the Windows 8 kernel Windows (Pro) The Intel-based version of Windows 8, which runs on top of the Windows 8 kernel Xbox The Xbox 360, which runs it’s own proprietary OS. The Xbox One, which runs it’s own proprietary OS, a version of Windows running on top of the Windows 8 kernel and a proprietary “manager” OS which manages the other two. Over time, Windows Phone 7.x devices will fade so that really leaves 4 different versions. Looking at Windows RT and Windows Phone 8.x paints an interesting story. Right now, all mobile phone devices run on some sort of ARM chip and that doesn’t look like it will change any time soon. That means Microsoft has two different Windows based operating systems for the ARM platform. Long term, it doesn’t make sense for Microsoft to continue supporting that arrangement. I have long suspected (since the Surface was first announced) that Microsoft will unify these two variants of Windows and recent speculation from some of the leading Microsoft watchers lends credence to this suspicion. It is rumored that upcoming Windows Phone releases will include support for larger screen sizes, relax the requirement to have a hardware-based back button and will continue to improve API parity between Windows Phone and Windows RT. At the same time, Windows RT will include support for smaller screen sizes. Since both of these operating systems are based on the same core Windows kernel, it makes sense (both from a financial and development resource perspective) for Microsoft to unify them. The user interfaces are already very similar. So similar in fact, that visually it’s difficult to tell them apart. To illustrate this, here are two screen captures: Other than a few variations (the Bing News app, the picture shown in the Pictures tile and the spacing between the tiles) these are identical. The one on the left is from my Windows 8.1 laptop (which looks the same as on my Surface RT) and the one on the right is from my Windows Phone 8 Lumia 925. This pretty clearly shows that from a consumer perspective, there really is no practical difference between how these two operating systems look and how you interact with them. For the consumer, your entertainment device (Xbox One), phone (Windows Phone) and mobile computing device (Surface [or some other vendors tablet], laptop, netbook or ultrabook) and your desktop computing device (desktop) will all look and feel the same. While many people will denounce this consistency of user experience, I think this will be a good thing in the long term, especially for the upcoming generations. For example, my 5-year old son knows how to use my tablet, phone and Xbox because they all feature nearly identical user experiences. When Windows 8 was released, Microsoft allowed a Windows Store app to be purchased once and installed on as many as 5 devices. With Windows 8.1, this limit has been increased to over 50. Why is that important? If you consider that your phone, computing devices, and entertainment device will be running the same operating system (with minor differences related to physical hardware chipset), that means that I could potentially purchase my sons favorite Angry Birds game once and be able to install it on all of the devices I own. (And for those of you wondering, it’s only 7 [at the moment].) From an app developer perspective, the story becomes even more compelling. Right now there are differences between the different operating systems, but those differences are shrinking. The user interface technology for both is XAML but there are different controls available and different user experience concepts. Some of the APIs available are the same while some are not. You can’t develop a Windows Phone app that can also run on Windows (either Windows Pro or RT). With each release of Windows Phone and Windows RT, those difference become smaller and smaller. Add to this mix the Xbox One, which will also feature a Windows-based operating system and the same “modern” (tile-based) user interface and the visible distinctions between the operating systems will become even smaller. Unifying the operating systems means one set of APIs and one code base to maintain for an app that can run on multiple devices. One code base means it’s easier to add features and fix bugs and that those changes become available on all devices at the same time. It also means a single app store, which will increase the discoverability and reach of your app and consolidate revenue and app profile management. Now, the choice of what devices an app is available on becomes a simple checkbox decision rather than a technical limitation. Ultimately, this means more apps available to consumers, which is always good for the app ecosystem. Is all of this just rumor, speculation and conjecture? Of course, but it’s not unfounded. As I mentioned earlier, some of the prominent Microsoft watchers are also reporting similar rumors. However, Microsoft itself has even hinted at this future with their recent organizational changes and by telling developers “if you want to develop for Xbox One, start developing for Windows 8 now.” I think this pretty clearly paints the following picture: Microsoft is committed to the “modern” user interface paradigm. Microsoft is changing their release cadence (for all products, not just operating systems) to be faster and more modular. Microsoft is going to continue to unify their OS platforms both from a consumer perspective and a developer perspective. While this direction will certainly concern some people it will excite many others. Microsoft’s biggest failing has always been following through with a strong and sustained marketing strategy that presents a consistent view point and highlights what this unified and connected experience looks like and how it benefits consumers and enterprises. We’ve started to see some of this over the last few years, but it needs to continue and become more aggressive and consistent. In the long run, I think Microsoft will be able to pull all of these technologies and devices together into one seamless ecosystem. It isn’t going to happen overnight, but my prediction is that we will be there by the end of 2016. As both a consumer and a developer, I, for one, am excited about the future of Microsoft.

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O’Reilly Deal of the Day 10/June/2014 - AngularJS Directives

- by TATWORTH

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/TATWORTH/archive/2014/06/10/orsquoreilly-deal-of-the-day-10june2014---angularjs-directives.aspxToday’s half-price E-Book offer from O’Reilly at http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9781783280339.do is AngularJS Directives. “AngularJS, propelled by Google, is quickly becoming one of the most popular JavaScript MVC frameworks available, working to invert the development paradigm and bring data-driven modularity to the web frontend. Directives serve as the core building blocks in AngularJS and enable you to create reusable models that mold around your data structures and breathe new life into the intersection of HTML and JavaScript.”

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Autoscaling in a modern world…. Part 3

- by Steve Loethen

The Wasabi Hands on Labs give you a good look at the basic mechanics, but I don’t find the setup too practical. Using a local console application to host the Autoscaler and rules files is probably the (IMHO) least likely architecture. Far more common would be hosting in a service on premise (if you want to have the Autoscaler local) or most likely, host it in a Azure role of it’s own. I chose to go the Azure route. First step was to get the rules.xml and the services.xml files into the cloud. I tend to be a “one step at a time” sort of guy, so running the console application with the rules sitting in a Azure hosted set of blobs seemed to be the logical first step. Here are the steps: 1) Create a container in the storage account you wish to use. Name does not matter, you will get a chance to set the container name (as well as the file names) in the app.config 2) Copy the two files from where you created them to your container. I used the same files I had locally. I made the container public to eliminate security issues, but in the final application, a bit of security needs to be applied (one problem at a time). The content type was set to text/xml. I found one reference claiming the importance of this step, and it makes sense. 3) Adjust the app.config to set the location of the files. This will let you set all the storage account and key information needed to reach into the cloud form your console application. The sections of your app.config will look like this: <rulesStores> <add name="Blob Rules Store" type="Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.WindowsAzure.Autoscaling.Rules.Configuration.BlobXmlFileRulesStore, Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.WindowsAzure.Autoscaling, Version=5.0.1118.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" blobContainerName="[ContainerName]" blobName="rules.xml" storageAccount="DefaultEndpointsProtocol=https;AccountName=[StorageAccount];AccountKey=[AccountKey]" monitoringRate="00:00:30" certificateThumbprint="" certificateStoreLocation="LocalMachine" checkCertificateValidity="false" /> </rulesStores> <serviceInformationStores> <add name="Blob Service Information Store" type="Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.WindowsAzure.Autoscaling.ServiceModel.Configuration.BlobXmlFileServiceInformationStore, Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.WindowsAzure.Autoscaling, Version=5.0.1118.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" blobContainerName="[ContainerName]" blobName="services.xml" storageAccount="DefaultEndpointsProtocol=https;AccountName=[StorageAccount];AccountKey=[AccountKey]" monitoringRate="00:00:30" certificateThumbprint="" certificateStoreLocation="LocalMachine" checkCertificateValidity="false" /> </serviceInformationStores> Once I had the files up in the sky, I renamed the local copies to just to make my self feel better about the application using the correct set of rules and services. Deploy the web role to the cloud. Once it is up and running, start the console application. You should find the application scales up and down in response to the buttons on the web site. Tune in next time for moving the hosting of the Autoscaler to a worker role, discussions on getting the logging information into diagnostics into storage, and a set of discussions about certs and how they play a role.

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MSCRM Tax default to Zero

- by MarkPearl

I have been playing around with MSCRM4 lately. It has been interesting going. I had a problem getting the tax to reflect correctly, it was defaulting at zero. Eventually I found a solution after scouring the web for a while... see steps below… Add the following code to OnSave and OnLoad events of quotedetails form with (crmForm.all) { try { var dTax = (baseamount.DataValue - manualdiscountamount.DataValue) *15.5 /100; tax.DataValue = dTax; extendedamount.DataValue = baseamount.DataValue - manualdiscountamount.DataValue + tax.DataValue ; } catch(e) { alert(e.message); } } // with Don’t forget to publish your changes once you are done and to test.

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How to restore your production database without needing additional storage

- by David Atkinson

Production databases can get very large. This in itself is to be expected, but when a copy of the database is needed the database must be restored, requiring additional and costly storage. For example, if you want to give each developer a full copy of your production server, you’ll need n times the storage cost for your n-developer team. The same is true for any test databases that are created during the course of your project lifecycle. If you’ve read my previous blog posts, you’ll be aware that I’ve been focusing on the database continuous integration theme. In my CI setup I create a “production”-equivalent database directly from its source control representation, and use this to test my upgrade scripts. Despite this being a perfectly valid and practical thing to do as part of a CI setup, it’s not the exact equivalent to running the upgrade script on a copy of the actual production database. So why shouldn’t I instead simply restore the most recent production backup as part of my CI process? There are two reasons why this would be impractical. 1. My CI environment isn’t an exact copy of my production environment. Indeed, this would be the case in a perfect world, and it is strongly recommended as a good practice if you follow Jez Humble and David Farley’s “Continuous Delivery” teachings, but in practical terms this might not always be possible, especially where storage is concerned. It may just not be possible to restore a huge production database on the environment you’ve been allotted. 2. It’s not just about the storage requirements, it’s also the time it takes to do the restore. The whole point of continuous integration is that you are alerted as early as possible whether the build (yes, the database upgrade script counts!) is broken. If I have to run an hour-long restore each time I commit a change to source control I’m just not going to get the feedback quickly enough to react. So what’s the solution? Red Gate has a technology, SQL Virtual Restore, that is able to restore a database without using up additional storage. Although this sounds too good to be true, the explanation is quite simple (although I’m sure the technical implementation details under the hood are quite complex!) Instead of restoring the backup in the conventional sense, SQL Virtual Restore will effectively mount the backup using its HyperBac technology. It creates a data and log file, .vmdf, and .vldf, that becomes the delta between the .bak file and the virtual database. This means that both read and write operations are permitted on a virtual database as from SQL Server’s point of view it is no different from a conventional database. Instead of doubling the storage requirements upon a restore, there is no ‘duplicate’ storage requirements, other than the trivially small virtual log and data files (see illustration below). The benefit is magnified the more databases you mount to the same backup file. This technique could be used to provide a large development team a full development instance of a large production database. It is also incredibly easy to set up. Once SQL Virtual Restore is installed, you simply run a conventional RESTORE command to create the virtual database. This is what I have running as part of a nightly “release test” process triggered by my CI tool. RESTORE DATABASE WidgetProduction_Virtual FROM DISK=N'D:\VirtualDatabase\WidgetProduction.bak' WITH MOVE N'WidgetProduction' TO N'C:\WidgetWF\ProdBackup\WidgetProduction_WidgetProduction_Virtual.vmdf', MOVE N'WidgetProduction_log' TO N'C:\WidgetWF\ProdBackup\WidgetProduction_log_WidgetProduction_Virtual.vldf', NORECOVERY, STATS=1, REPLACE GO RESTORE DATABASE WidgetProduction_Virtual WITH RECOVERY Note the only change from what you would do normally is the naming of the .vmdf and .vldf files. SQL Virtual Restore intercepts this by monitoring the extension and applies its magic, ensuring the ‘virtual’ restore happens rather than the conventional storage-heavy restore. My automated release test then applies the upgrade scripts to the virtual production database and runs some validation tests, giving me confidence that were I to run this on production for real, all would go smoothly. For illustration, here is my 8Gb production database: And its corresponding backup file: Here are the .vldf and .vmdf files, which represent the only additional used storage for the new database following the virtual restore. The beauty of this product is its simplicity. Once it is installed, the interaction with the backup and virtual database is exactly the same as before, as the clever stuff is being done at a lower level. SQL Virtual Restore can be downloaded as a fully functional 14-day trial. Technorati Tags: SQL Server

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DDD East Anglia, 29th June 2013 - Async Patterns presentation and source code

- by Liam Westley

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/twickers/archive/2013/07/01/ddd-east-anglia-29th-june-2013---async-patterns-presentation.aspxMany thanks to the team in Cambridge for an awesome first conference DDD East Anglia. I definitely appreciate how each of the different areas have their own distinctive atmosphere and feel. Thanks to some great sponsors we enjoyed a great venue and some excellent nibbles. For those who attended my Async my source code and presentation are available on GitHub, https://github.com/westleyl/DDDEastAnglia2013-Async.git If you are new to Git then the easiest client to install is GitHub for Windows, a graphical UI for accessing GitHub. Personally, I also have Git Extensions and Tortoise Git installed. Tortoise Git is the file explorer add-in that works in a familiar manner to TortoiseSVN. As I mentioned during the presentation I have not included the sample data, the music files, in the source code placed on GitHub but I have included instructions on how to download them from http://silents.bandcamp.comand place them in the correct folders. Also, Windows Media Player, by default, does not play Ogg Vorbis and Flac music files, however you can download the codec installer for these, for free, from http://xiph.org/dshow. I have included the .Net 4.0 version of the source code that uses the Microsoft.Bcl.Async NuGet package - once you have got the project from GitHub you will need to install this NuGet package for the code to compile. Load Project into Visual Studio 2012 Access the NuGet package manager (Tools -> Library Package Manager -> Manage NuGet Packages For Solution) Highlight Online and then Search Online for microsoft.bcl.async Click on Install button Resources : You can download the Task-based Asynchronous Pattern white paper by Stephen Toub, which was the inspiration for this presentation from here - http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=19957 Presentation : If you just want the presentation and don’t want to bother with a GitHub login you can download the PowerPoint presentation from here.

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PowerShell – Sexy PoSH console

- by Waclaw Chrabaszcz

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/Wchrabaszcz/archive/2014/08/15/powershell--sexy-posh-console.aspxPowerShell don't has to be boring. Download this module: http://www.powertheshell.com/download/modules/PTSAeroConsole.zip Extract it into C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\Modules(you may need to enable both module files by right clicking | Prosperities |Unlock) Now you can start PowerShell window: Import-Module PTSAeroConsoleEnable-AeroGlassThemeDisable-AeroGlassTheme Enjoy!

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The Agile Engineering Rules of Test Code

- by Malcolm Anderson

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-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} Lots of test code gets written, a lot of it is waste, some of it is well engineered waste.Companies hire Agile Engineering Coaches because agile engineering is easy to do wrong.Very easy.So here's a quick tool you can use for self coaching.It's what I call, "The Agile Engineering Rules of Test Code" and it's going to act as a sort of table of contents for some future posts.The Agile Engineering Rules of Test Code Malcolm Anderson Test code is not throw away code Test code is production code 8 questions to determine the quality of your test code Does the test code have appropriate comments?Is the test code executed as part of the build?Every Time?Is the test code getting refactored?Does everyone use the same test code?Can the test code be described as “Well Maintained”?Can a bright six year old tell you why any particular test failed?Are the tests independent and infinitely repeatable?

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Windows Live Mail = 500 GB. Awesome.

- by Shaurya Anand

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Unity DontDestroyOnLoad causing scenes to stay open

- by jkrebsbach

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/jkrebsbach/archive/2014/08/11/unity-dontdestroyonload-causing-scenes-to-stay-open.aspxMy Unity project has a class (ClientSettings) where most of the game state & management properties are stored. Among these are some utility functions that derive from MonoBehavior. However, between every scene this object was getting recreated and I was losing all sorts of useful data. I learned that with DontDestroyOnLoad, I can persist this entity between scenes. Super.Persisting information between scenesThe problem with adding DontDestroyOnLoad to my "ClientSettings" was suddenly my previous scene would stay alive, and continue to execute its update routines. An important part of the documentation helps shed light to my issues:"If the object is a component or game object then its entire transform hierarchy will not be destroyed either."My ClientSettings script was attached to the main camera on my first scene. Because of this, the Main Camera was part of the hierarchy of the component, and therefore was also not able to destroy when switching scenes. Now the first scene's main camera Update routine continues to execute after the second scene is running - causing me to have some very nasty bugs.Suddenly I wasn't sure how I should be creating a persistent entity - so I created a new sandbox project and tested different approaches until I found one that works:In the main scene: Create an empty Game Object: "GameManager" - and attach the ClientSettings script to this game object. Set any properties to the clientsettings script as appropriate.Create a prefab, using the GameManager.Remove the Game Object from the main scene.In the Main Camera, I created a script: Main Script. This is my primary script for the main scene.<code> public GameObject[] prefabs; private ClientSettings _clientSettings; // Use this for initialization void Start () { GameObject res = (GameObject)Instantiate(prefabs[0]); }</code>Now go back out to scene view, and add the new GameManager prefab to the prefabs collection of MainScript.When the main scene loads, the GameManager is set up, but is not part of the main scene's hierarchy, so the two are no longer tied up together.Now in our second scene, we have a script - SecondScript - and we can get a reference to the ClientSettings we created in the previous scene like so:<code>private ConnectionSettings _clientSettings; // Use this for initialization void Start () { _clientSettings = FindObjectOfType<ConnectionSettings> (); }</code>And the scenes can start and finish without creating strange long-running scene side effects.

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MVVM Light Toolkit V3 SP1 for Windows Phone 7

- by Laurent Bugnion

He he I start to sound like Microsoft… Anyway… I just released a service pack (SP1) for MVVM Light Toolkit V3. Why? Well mostly because I worked a bit more with the Windows Phone 7 tools that were released at MIX0, and I noticed a few things that could be better in the Windows Phone 7 template. Also, I only found out at MIX that you can actually install custom project templates for Visual Studio Express. For some reason I thought it was not possible. The best way to solve these issues is through a service pack, which consists of a few zip files. Simply follow the instructions on the “Installing Manually” page. You can go ahead and overwrite the files that were installed with V3, all the file structure and names are exactly the same. What? So what do you get in this service pack that was not already in V3? (for more info about what’s new in V3, check the What’s New page). Project and Item templates for Visual Studio 10 Express (phone edition). Unzip these files in your “My Documents” folder, and you can now create a new MVVM Light application in the WinPhone7 version of Visual Studio 2010 Express. Signed assemblies: All the assemblies are now signed, which is a requirement in certain build configurations. XML documentation files: Thanks to Matt Casto for pinging me and reminding me that I had forgotten to include them (doh). New and improved Windows Phone 7 assemblies and templates: This one deserves its own section (see below). What was wrong with the old Silverlight 3 assemblies in Windows Phone 7 projects? It was kind of weird. Functionality wise, it was working just right. However, if you noticed, the EventToCommand behavior was not visible in the Assets tab of Expression Blend, under Behaviors, where it should normally have been. The reason was that even though the Windows Phone 7 is using Silverlight 3, the System.Windows.Interactivity that Blend was expecting is the version that is normally used in Silverlight 4. Yeah, I know, it’s weird. This led me to create a specific version of these assemblies for the phone. The assemblies are located into C:\Program Files\Laurent Bugnion (GalaSoft)\Mvvm Light Toolkit\Binaries\WP7. There are 3 DLLs: GalaSoft.MvvmLight.WP7.dll with RelayCommand, Messenger and ViewModelBase GalaSoft.MvvmLight.Extras.WP7.dll with EventToCommand and DispatcherHelper System.Windows.Interactivity.dll which is the same DLL installed in the Blend SDK, and which is needed for the EventToCommand behavior to work. Happy coding! That’s all! Download and install the service pack according to the instructions on the Installation page, and create your first MVVM Light application for the phone (a blog post will follow later with more details). Laurent Bugnion (GalaSoft) Subscribe | Twitter | Facebook | Flickr | LinkedIn

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A simple Dynamic Proxy

- by Abhijeet Patel

Frameworks such as EF4 and MOQ do what most developers consider "dark magic". For instance in EF4, when you use a POCO for an entity you can opt-in to get behaviors such as "lazy-loading" and "change tracking" at runtime merely by ensuring that your type has the following characteristics: The class must be public and not sealed. The class must have a public or protected parameter-less constructor. The class must have public or protected properties Adhere to this and your type is magically endowed with these behaviors without any additional programming on your part. Behind the scenes the framework subclasses your type at runtime and creates a "dynamic proxy" which has these additional behaviors and when you navigate properties of your POCO, the framework replaces the POCO type with derived type instances. The MOQ framework does simlar magic. Let's say you have a simple interface: public interface IFoo { int GetNum(); } We can verify that the GetNum() was invoked on a mock like so: var mock = new Mock<IFoo>(MockBehavior.Default); mock.Setup(f => f.GetNum()); var num = mock.Object.GetNum(); mock.Verify(f => f.GetNum()); Beind the scenes the MOQ framework is generating a dynamic proxy by implementing IFoo at runtime. the call to moq.Object returns the dynamic proxy on which we then call "GetNum" and then verify that this method was invoked. No dark magic at all, just clever programming is what's going on here, just not visible and hence appears magical! Let's create a simple dynamic proxy generator which accepts an interface type and dynamically creates a proxy implementing the interface type specified at runtime. public static class DynamicProxyGenerator { public static T GetInstanceFor<T>() { Type typeOfT = typeof(T); var methodInfos = typeOfT.GetMethods(); AssemblyName assName = new AssemblyName("testAssembly"); var assBuilder = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.DefineDynamicAssembly(assName, AssemblyBuilderAccess.RunAndSave); var moduleBuilder = assBuilder.DefineDynamicModule("testModule", "test.dll"); var typeBuilder = moduleBuilder.DefineType(typeOfT.Name + "Proxy", TypeAttributes.Public); typeBuilder.AddInterfaceImplementation(typeOfT); var ctorBuilder = typeBuilder.DefineConstructor( MethodAttributes.Public, CallingConventions.Standard, new Type[] { }); var ilGenerator = ctorBuilder.GetILGenerator(); ilGenerator.EmitWriteLine("Creating Proxy instance"); ilGenerator.Emit(OpCodes.Ret); foreach (var methodInfo in methodInfos) { var methodBuilder = typeBuilder.DefineMethod( methodInfo.Name, MethodAttributes.Public | MethodAttributes.Virtual, methodInfo.ReturnType, methodInfo.GetParameters().Select(p => p.GetType()).ToArray() ); var methodILGen = methodBuilder.GetILGenerator(); methodILGen.EmitWriteLine("I'm a proxy"); if (methodInfo.ReturnType == typeof(void)) { methodILGen.Emit(OpCodes.Ret); } else { if (methodInfo.ReturnType.IsValueType || methodInfo.ReturnType.IsEnum) { MethodInfo getMethod = typeof(Activator).GetMethod(/span>"CreateInstance",new Type[]{typeof((Type)}); LocalBuilder lb = methodILGen.DeclareLocal(methodInfo.ReturnType); methodILGen.Emit(OpCodes.Ldtoken, lb.LocalType); methodILGen.Emit(OpCodes.Call, typeofype).GetMethod("GetTypeFromHandle")); )); methodILGen.Emit(OpCodes.Callvirt, getMethod); methodILGen.Emit(OpCodes.Unbox_Any, lb.LocalType); } else { methodILGen.Emit(OpCodes.Ldnull); } methodILGen.Emit(OpCodes.Ret); } typeBuilder.DefineMethodOverride(methodBuilder, methodInfo); } Type constructedType = typeBuilder.CreateType(); var instance = Activator.CreateInstance(constructedType); return (T)instance; } } Dynamic proxies are created by calling into the following main types: AssemblyBuilder, TypeBuilder, Modulebuilder and ILGenerator. These types enable dynamically creating an assembly and emitting .NET modules and types in that assembly, all using IL instructions. Let's break down the code above a bit and examine it piece by piece Type typeOfT = typeof(T); var methodInfos = typeOfT.GetMethods(); AssemblyName assName = new AssemblyName("testAssembly"); var assBuilder = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.DefineDynamicAssembly(assName, AssemblyBuilderAccess.RunAndSave); var moduleBuilder = assBuilder.DefineDynamicModule("testModule", "test.dll"); var typeBuilder = moduleBuilder.DefineType(typeOfT.Name + "Proxy", TypeAttributes.Public); We are instructing the runtime to create an assembly caled "test.dll"and in this assembly we then emit a new module called "testModule". We then emit a new type definition of name "typeName"Proxy into this new module. This is the definition for the "dynamic proxy" for type T typeBuilder.AddInterfaceImplementation(typeOfT); var ctorBuilder = typeBuilder.DefineConstructor( MethodAttributes.Public, CallingConventions.Standard, new Type[] { }); var ilGenerator = ctorBuilder.GetILGenerator(); ilGenerator.EmitWriteLine("Creating Proxy instance"); ilGenerator.Emit(OpCodes.Ret); The newly created type implements type T and defines a default parameterless constructor in which we emit a call to Console.WriteLine. This call is not necessary but we do this so that we can see first hand that when the proxy is constructed, when our default constructor is invoked. var methodBuilder = typeBuilder.DefineMethod( methodInfo.Name, MethodAttributes.Public | MethodAttributes.Virtual, methodInfo.ReturnType, methodInfo.GetParameters().Select(p => p.GetType()).ToArray() ); We then iterate over each method declared on type T and add a method definition of the same name into our "dynamic proxy" definition if (methodInfo.ReturnType == typeof(void)) { methodILGen.Emit(OpCodes.Ret); } If the return type specified in the method declaration of T is void we simply return. if (methodInfo.ReturnType.IsValueType || methodInfo.ReturnType.IsEnum) { MethodInfo getMethod = typeof(Activator).GetMethod("CreateInstance", new Type[]{typeof(Type)}); LocalBuilder lb = methodILGen.DeclareLocal(methodInfo.ReturnType); methodILGen.Emit(OpCodes.Ldtoken, lb.LocalType); methodILGen.Emit(OpCodes.Call, typeof(Type).GetMethod("GetTypeFromHandle")); methodILGen.Emit(OpCodes.Callvirt, getMethod); methodILGen.Emit(OpCodes.Unbox_Any, lb.LocalType); } If the return type in the method declaration of T is either a value type or an enum, then we need to create an instance of the value type and return that instance the caller. In order to accomplish that we need to do the following: 1) Get a handle to the Activator.CreateInstance method 2) Declare a local variable which represents the Type of the return type(i.e the type object of the return type) specified on the method declaration of T(obtained from the MethodInfo) and push this Type object onto the evaluation stack. In reality a RuntimeTypeHandle is what is pushed onto the stack. 3) Invoke the "GetTypeFromHandle" method(a static method in the Type class) passing in the RuntimeTypeHandle pushed onto the stack previously as an argument, the result of this invocation is a Type object (representing the method's return type) which is pushed onto the top of the evaluation stack. 4) Invoke Activator.CreateInstance passing in the Type object from step 3, the result of this invocation is an instance of the value type boxed as a reference type and pushed onto the top of the evaluation stack. 5) Unbox the result and place it into the local variable of the return type defined in step 2 methodILGen.Emit(OpCodes.Ldnull); If the return type is a reference type then we just load a null onto the evaluation stack methodILGen.Emit(OpCodes.Ret); Emit a a return statement to return whatever is on top of the evaluation stack(null or an instance of a value type) back to the caller Type constructedType = typeBuilder.CreateType(); var instance = Activator.CreateInstance(constructedType); return (T)instance; Now that we have a definition of the "dynamic proxy" implementing all the methods declared on T, we can now create an instance of the proxy type and return that out typed as T. The caller can now invoke the generator and request a dynamic proxy for any type T. In our example when the client invokes GetNum() we get back "0". Lets add a new method on the interface called DayOfWeek GetDay() public interface IFoo { int GetNum(); DayOfWeek GetDay(); } When GetDay() is invoked, the "dynamic proxy" returns "Sunday" since that is the default value for the DayOfWeek enum This is a very trivial example of dynammic proxies, frameworks like MOQ have a way more sophisticated implementation of this paradigm where in you can instruct the framework to create proxies which return specified values for a method implementation.

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.NET Rocks VS2010 Road Trip

- by Blog Author

.NET Rocks!! is going on the road again in honor of the release of VS2010, and here are the details: Carl and Richard are loading up the DotNetMobile (a 30 foot RV) and driving to your town again to show off the latest and greatest in Visual Studio 2010 and .NET 4.0! And to make the night even more fun, we’re going to bring a mystery rock star from the Visual Studio world to the event and interview them for a special .NET Rocks Road Trip show series. Along the way we’ll be giving away some great prizes, showing off some awesome technology and having a ton of laughs. And one lucky person at the event will win “Ride Along with Carl and Richard” and get to board the RV and ride with the boys to the next town on the tour (don’t worry, we’ll get you home again!) The details can be found here: http://www.dotnetrocks.com/roadtrip.aspx

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Code Bubbles: Disruption comes to the IDE

- by andrewbrust

If you’re like me, you might see the open source Eclipse IDE as a copy or, more generously, a port of the Microsoft’s Visual Studio for the non-.NET world. It’s not that Microsoft invented the IDE (I would credit Borland with that), but they really took the idea and ran with it for the first version of Visual Studio .NET in 2002. The question is whether someone outside of Microsoft could take the modern IDE yet another major step forward in both principle and productivity. I think that has actually happened already, and I think the innovator in question is a second-year Computer Science PhD student at Brown, named Andrew Bragdon. His project, which he calls Code Bubbles, is an IDE that allows for editing, debugging and exploration of code in “bubbles” which remind me a little bit of the discrete note tiles on OneNote…but they’re much more than that. Bubbles actually allow for call stack traversal, saved debug sessions, sophisticated breakpoint and value watch behaviors and more. And because bubbles, unlike windows, are borderless, and focus on code fragments rather than whole files, the de-cluttering effect is unbelievably liberating. The best way to understand what Code Bubbles does is to watch the screencast video: Code Bubbles is an IDE for Java development. Why didn’t Microsoft come up with something like this for .NET devs? Between the existing features in Visual Studio 2010, its WPF code editor, and the fact that OneNote’s UI bears some affinity to Code Bubbles’, it’s interesting that Microsoft still has not thought outside of its own “box” to get us something like this. Heck, that’s easy for me to say. But it’s easy for you to say that you’d like something like this in Visual Studio sometime soon. That’s because the ASP.NET site within UserVoice is taking votes on this very issue. Just click this link and vote! Thanks to my fellow Microsoft Regional Director Sondre Bjellås for making me aware of Code Bubbles, and to RD Steve Smith for creating the UserVoice voting option.

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Sam Abraham To Speak At The LI .Net User Group on June 3rd, 2010

- by Sam Abraham

As you might know, I lived and worked on LI, NY for 11 years before relocating to South Florida. As I will be visiting my family who still live there in the first week of June, I couldn't resist reaching out to Dan Galvez, LI .Net User Group Leader, and asking if he needed a speaker for June's meeting. Apparently the stars were lined up right and I am now scheduled to speak at my "home" group on June 3rd, which I am pretty excited about. Here is a brief abstract of my talk and speaker bio. What's New in MVC2 We will start by briefly reviewing the basics of the Microsoft MVC Framework. Next, we will look at the new features introduced in the latest and greatest MVC2. Many new enhancements were introduced to both the MS MVC Framework and to VS2010 to improve developers' experience and reduce development time. We will be talking about new MVC2 features such as: Model Validation, Areas and Template Helpers. We will also discuss the new built-in MVC project templates that ship with VS2010. About the Speaker Sam Abraham is a Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) and Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS ASP.Net 3.5) He currently lives in South Florida where he leads the West Palm Beach .Net User Group (www.fladotnet.com) and actively participates in various local .Net Community events as organizer and/or technical speaker. Sam is also an active committee member on various initiatives at the South Florida Chapter of the Project Management Institute (www.southfloridapmi.org). Sam finds his passion in leveraging latest and greatest .Net Technologies along with proven Project Management practices and methodologies to produce high quality, cost-competitive software. Sam can be reached through his blog: http://www.geekswithblogs.net/wildturtle

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C++ Little Wonders: The C++11 auto keyword redux

- by James Michael Hare

I’ve decided to create a sub-series of my Little Wonders posts to focus on C++. Just like their C# counterparts, these posts will focus on those features of the C++ language that can help improve code by making it easier to write and maintain. The index of the C# Little Wonders can be found here. This has been a busy week with a rollout of some new website features here at my work, so I don’t have a big post for this week. But I wanted to write something up, and since lately I’ve been renewing my C++ skills in a separate project, it seemed like a good opportunity to start a C++ Little Wonders series. Most of my development work still tends to focus on C#, but it was great to get back into the saddle and renew my C++ knowledge. Today I’m going to focus on a new feature in C++11 (formerly known as C++0x, which is a major move forward in the C++ language standard). While this small keyword can seem so trivial, I feel it is a big step forward in improving readability in C++ programs. The auto keyword If you’ve worked on C++ for a long time, you probably have some passing familiarity with the old auto keyword as one of those rarely used C++ keywords that was almost never used because it was the default. That is, in the code below (before C++11): 1: int foo() 2: { 3: // automatic variables (allocated and deallocated on stack) 4: int x; 5: auto int y; 6: 7: // static variables (retain their value across calls) 8: static int z; 9: 10: return 0; 11: } The variable x is assumed to be auto because that is the default, thus it is unnecessary to specify it explicitly as in the declaration of y below that. Basically, an auto variable is one that is allocated and de-allocated on the stack automatically. Contrast this to static variables, that are allocated statically and exist across the lifetime of the program. Because auto was so rarely (if ever) used since it is the norm, they decided to remove it for this purpose and give it new meaning in C++11. The new meaning of auto: implicit typing Now, if your compiler supports C++ 11 (or at least a good subset of C++11 or 0x) you can take advantage of type inference in C++. For those of you from the C# world, this means that the auto keyword in C++ now behaves a lot like the var keyword in C#! For example, many of us have had to declare those massive type declarations for an iterator before. Let’s say we have a std::map of std::string to int which will map names to ages: 1: std::map<std::string, int> myMap; And then let’s say we want to find the age of a given person: 1: // Egad that's a long type... 2: std::map<std::string, int>::const_iterator pos = myMap.find(targetName); Notice that big ugly type definition to declare variable pos? Sure, we could shorten this by creating a typedef of our specific map type if we wanted, but now with the auto keyword there’s no need: 1: // much shorter! 2: auto pos = myMap.find(targetName); The auto now tells the compiler to determine what type pos should be based on what it’s being assigned to. This is not dynamic typing, it still determines the type as if it were explicitly declared and once declared that type cannot be changed. That is, this is invalid: 1: // x is type int 2: auto x = 42; 3: 4: // can't assign string to int 5: x = "Hello"; Once the compiler determines x is type int it is exactly as if we typed int x = 42; instead, so don’t' confuse it with dynamic typing, it’s still very type-safe. An interesting feature of the auto keyword is that you can modify the inferred type: 1: // declare method that returns int* 2: int* GetPointer(); 3: 4: // p1 is int*, auto inferred type is int 5: auto *p1 = GetPointer(); 6: 7: // ps is int*, auto inferred type is int* 8: auto p2 = GetPointer(); Notice in both of these cases, p1 and p2 are determined to be int* but in each case the inferred type was different. because we declared p1 as auto *p1 and GetPointer() returns int*, it inferred the type int was needed to complete the declaration. In the second case, however, we declared p2 as auto p2 which means the inferred type was int*. Ultimately, this make p1 and p2 the same type, but which type is inferred makes a difference, if you are chaining multiple inferred declarations together. In these cases, the inferred type of each must match the first: 1: // Type inferred is int 2: // p1 is int* 3: // p2 is int 4: // p3 is int& 5: auto *p1 = GetPointer(), p2 = 42, &p3 = p2; Note that this works because the inferred type was int, if the inferred type was int* instead: 1: // syntax error, p1 was inferred to be int* so p2 and p3 don't make sense 2: auto p1 = GetPointer(), p2 = 42, &p3 = p2; You could also use const or static to modify the inferred type: 1: // inferred type is an int, theAnswer is a const int 2: const auto theAnswer = 42; 3: 4: // inferred type is double, Pi is a static double 5: static auto Pi = 3.1415927; Thus in the examples above it inferred the types int and double respectively, which were then modified to const and static. Summary The auto keyword has gotten new life in C++11 to allow you to infer the type of a variable from it’s initialization. This simple little keyword can be used to cut down large declarations for complex types into a much more readable form, where appropriate. Technorati Tags: C++, C++11, Little Wonders, auto

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Disaster Recovery Plan–Rebuild System Disk (Dell Server 2900 with PERC RAID controller)

- by Jim Lahman

Goal: Since the system disk is a RAID 1 mirrored set, we can rebuild the shadow set by replacing one of the good sets with a blank disk Steps Shutdown and power down server Remove the disk from bay 9, which is part of the system shadow set. Put this disk on the shelf Insert blank/old disk into the empty bay Label the new disk before inserting it into the empty bay Power up server During the booting process, the following message appears: “Some configured disks have been removed from your system…” Press ‘C’ to Load Configuration utility Press 'Y' to confirm to load the foreign configuration In this example, the system shadow set is Disk Group 2. (Before proceeding, confirm this is the disk group in your case). Expanding the physical disks shows a disk in bay 8 and a missing disk in bay 9. This is correct. Now, we have to include the new inserted disk in this group RAID controller reporting bay 9 is empty There may be times when the new disk is seen as a foreign disk. In this case, do the following: Foreign disk is reported in bay 9 CTRL-N (Next Page) to Foreign Mgt All the disk groups will be displayed. Typically, the disk group containing the foreign disk will be grey. To remove the foreign disk Highlight Controller Press F2 Select Foreign Select Clear (do NOT import the configuration!) Clear the foreign configuration Now the disk can be brought into the system shadow set disk group as a hot spare To include the newly inserted disk into the system shadowset disk group, it must be brought in as a hot spare Highlight Disk Group 2 (VD Management) Hit F2 Select 'Manage Ded. HS' Manage dedicated hot swap Select the disk in bay 9 (Hit space bar to select) Tab to 'OK'. Hit the return key Select hot spare to bring into RAID 1 mirror set Rebuild automatically commences Rebuild in process Restart now or restart after rebuild is completed

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More Retro Games

- by Matt Christian

Last week I made 2 stops to my local game stores and spent a load of cash on a bunch of new retro games for my collection. Here are the recent additions: NES - Mega Man 2 - The Adventures of Bayou Billy - Ducktales - Metal Gear - Super Mario Bros / Duck Hunt - Firestorm - Dragon's Lair - Bartman Meets Radioactive Man N64 - Superman 64 - Zelda: Ocarina of Time (in original box, box is in poor condition) Atari - Superman - Adventure - Donkey Kong - Raiders of the Lost Ark Dreamcast - Memory card with view screen - Space Channel 5 Genesis (all in case) - Jurassic Park - Sonic Spinball - Sonic the Hegehog 3 (missing manual) - Spiderman (also called Spiderman vs. The Kingpin) GameGear - Bart vs The Space Mutants Quite a large haul given it was all purchased in 2 days. Although, Metal Gear I got for a great deal and almost considered buying their other copy simply to resale for more though I decided against it to let another lucky soul find it. I may need to run over there again because I think they had TMNT 2 (NES) for around $6 and it usually sells for more than that. I could have sworn I grabbed it and bought it but my receipt tells me differently. I also found my copy of Super Mario 3 and added that to my collection. Unfortunately one of the corners of the label has begun to peel up pretty badly which sucks although it's still a good item for the collection. In other retro news, this weekend was Easter and while at my grandparents the cousins wanted to play on their NES which was not working. Me being the retro NES nerd I am, grabbed a screw driver, some Windex, a few toothpicks, and a few cotton swabs and had it up and running under an hour (that includes eating dinner!). The NES holds the games tighter, has a better connection, and works almost instantly. I should do THAT for a living!

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WSS 3.0/MOSS 2007 Active Directory Forms Based Authentication PeoplePicker no users found

- by John Haigh

WSS 3.0/MOSS 2007 Active Directory Forms Based Authentication PeoplePicker no users found After finding these steps online from http://dattard.blogspot.com/2008/11/active-directory-forms-based.html in order to setup Active Directory Forms Based Authentication I was all set to complete this task, except for one problem. These steps are missing one very important vital step in order for FBA to work with Active Directory. A supplement to step 3 before granting access in step 5 through the people picker. You need to specify the Active Directory Provider Name to the people picker, otherwise you will not be able specify users through the Policy for Web Application. <PeoplePickerWildcards> <clear /> <add key="ADMembershipProvider" value="%" /> </PeoplePickerWildcards> Recently we needed to use Forms Based Authentication with Active Directory from an Extranet. This is how we got it to work. 1. Extend the Web Application Instead of tweaking the internal web app, Extend the web application you want to expose to the Extranet, giving it the required host headers etc. 2. Configure SharePoint Central Admin to use FBA for the "new" Web Applications Login to SharePoint Central Admin Go to Application Management / Application Security / Authentication Providers and Change the Web Application to the one which needs to be configured for Forms Based Authentication Click zone / default, change authentication type to forms and enter ActiveDirectoryMemebershipProvider under membership provider name ( for example , "ADMembershipProvider") and save this change 3. Update the web.config of SharePoint Central admin site under configuration node <connectionStrings> <add name="ADConnectionString" connectionString="LDAP://DynamicsAX.local/CN=Users,DC=DynamicsAX,DC=local /> </connectionStrings> under system.web node <membership defaultProvider="ADMembershipProvider"> <providers> <add name="ADMembershipProvider" type="System.Web.Security.ActiveDirectoryMembershipProvider,System.Web,Version=2.0.0.0,Culture=neutral,PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a" connectionStringName="ADConnectionString" connectionUsername="xxx" connectionPassword="yyy" enableSearchMethods="true" attributeMapUsername="sAMAccountName"/> </providers> </membership> 4.Update the web.config of SharePoint Web application Repeat step 3 for the web.config of the SharePoint webapplication to be configured for Forms Based Authentication Change the authentication in web.config to <authentication mode="Forms"> <forms loginUrl="/_layouts/login.aspx"></forms> </authentication> 5. Grant Access on the extended Web Application Your extranet web application is now configured to use FBA. However, until users, who will be accessing the site via FBA, are given permissions for the site, it will be inaccessible to them. To get started, open your browser and navigate to your farm’s Central Administration site. Click on Application Management and then click on Policy for Web Application. Make sure that you are working on the extranet web application. Do the following steps: Click on Add Users. In the Zones drop down, select the appropriate Extranet zone. IMPORTANT: If you select the incorrect zone, you may not be able to resolve user names. Hence, the zone you select must match the zone of the web application that is configured to use FBA. Click the Next button. In the Users edit box, type the name of the FBA user whom you wish to have full control for the site. Click the Resolve link next to the Users edit box. If the web application's FBA information has been configured correctly, the name will resolve and become underlined. Check the Full Control checkbox. Click the Finish button.

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It seems another season of previews is upon us

- by Enrique Lima

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/enriquelima/archive/2013/06/26/it-seems-another-season-of-previews-is-upon-us.aspxThe past couple of weeks have been packed with teasers and updates. But here they go. Visual Studio Update 3: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/confirmation.aspx?id=39305 Visual Studio 2013 and TFS 2013 Preview: http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/eng/2013-downloads SQL Server 2014 CTP1 : http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/dn205290.aspx Windows Server 2012 R2 Preview: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/dn205286.aspx Windows 8.1 : http://preview.windows.com

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Silverlight Cream for April 17, 2010 -- #839

- by Dave Campbell

In this Issue: ITLackey, SilverLaw, Max Paulousky, Alex Yakhnin, Paul Sheriff, Douglas, Jeremy Likness, Tomasz Janczuk, Anoop Madhusudanan, Adam Kinney, and Ashish Shetty. Shoutout: If you haven't already seen it, CrocusGirl did a great job of summarizing Day 2 of DevConnections with her Silverlight 4 Launch Notes From SilverlightCream.com: RIA Services - IIS6 Virtual Directory Deployment ITLackey has a post up building on his previous post on Windows Authentication with RIA Services and discusses deploying to an IIS Virtual Directory. How To: Determine ChildWindow Position At Runtime - Silverlight 3 SilverLaw has a post up about determining the position of a ChildWindow at run-time, for example after the user moves it. Modularity in Silverlight Applications - An Issue With ModuleInitializeException – Part 2 Max Paulousky has part 2 of his series up on Modularity in Silverlight... he discusses using XAML as a catalog and registering modules at runtime, and compares to WPF. Creating LINQ Data Provider for WP7 (Part 1) Alex Yakhnin has a first cut at a LINQ Data Provider for WP7 ... I was expecting this to hit pretty soon, because we're all going to want it... check out the code and d/l the project. Synchronize Data between a Silverlight ListBox and a User Control Paul Sheriff demonstrates databinding in XAML between local data in a ListBox and a UserControl. The beginnings of Silverlight development with Expression Blend Douglas has a good post up on beginning your Silverlight development with Expression Blend. He covers a lot of ground in this post. Converting Silverlight 3 to Silverlight 4 Jeremy Likness has a video up demonstrating converting Silverlight 3 to Silverlight 4 with download links and also using commanding on buttons. Debugging WCF RIA Services with WCF traces Tomasz Janczuk has a post up discussing the use of WCF RIA Services traces to help diagnose and debug problems in a deployed service. Bing Maps + oData + Windows Phone 7 - Nerd Dinner Client For Windows Phone 7 Check out what Anoop Madhusudanan has provided... Nerd Dinner for WP7, including OData and BingMaps... just very cool! A few cool new features added in Expression Blend 4 RC Adam Kinney announced the availability of the new Expression Blend and highlights some of the new features... like MakeLayoutPath... FTW! Of Crashing and Sometimes Burning Ashish Shetty has a discourse posted about where the causes of errors might come from, what to expect from the platform, where to find crash dumps, and links to more reading. Stay in the 'Light! Twitter SilverlightNews | Twitter WynApse | WynApse.com | Tagged Posts | SilverlightCream Join me @ SilverlightCream | Phoenix Silverlight User Group Technorati Tags: Silverlight Silverlight 3 Silverlight 4 Windows Phone MIX10

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