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• Xcode "Build and Archive" from command line

  - by Dan Fabulich

  Xcode 3.2 provides an awesome new feature under the Build menu, "Build and Archive" which generates an .ipa file suitable for Ad Hoc distribution. You can also open the Organizer, go to "Archived Applications," and "Submit Application to iTunesConnect." Is there a way to use "Build and Archive" from the command line (as part of a build script)? I'd assume that xcodebuild would be involved somehow, but the man page doesn't seem to say anything about this. UPDATE Michael Grinich requested clarification; here's what exactly you can't do with command-line builds, features you can ONLY do with Xcode's Organizer after you "Build and Archive." You can click "Share Application..." to share your IPA with beta testers. As Guillaume points out below, due to some Xcode magic, this IPA file does not require a separately distributed .mobileprovision file that beta testers need to install; that's magical. No command-line script can do it. For example, Arrix's script (submitted May 1) does not meet that requirement. More importantly, after you've beta tested a build, you can click "Submit Application to iTunes Connect" to submit that EXACT same build to Apple, the very binary you tested, without rebuilding it. That's impossible from the command line, because signing the app is part of the build process; you can sign bits for Ad Hoc beta testing OR you can sign them for submission to the App Store, but not both. No IPA built on the command-line can be beta tested on phones and then submitted directly to Apple. I'd love for someone to come along and prove me wrong: both of these features work great in the Xcode GUI and cannot be replicated from the command line.

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• Problems using (building?) native gem extensions on OS X

  - by goodmike

  I am having trouble with some of my rubygems, in particular those that use native extensions. I am on a MacBookPro, with Snow Leopard. I have XCode 3.2.1 installed, with gcc 4.2.1. Ruby 1.8.6, because I'm lazy and a scaredy cat and don't want to upgrade yet. Ruby is running in 32-bit mode. I built this ruby from scratch when my MBP ran OSX 10.4. When I require one of the affected gems in irb, I get a Load Error for the gem extension's bundle file. For example, here's nokogigi dissing me: > require 'rubygems' = true > require 'nokogiri' LoadError: Failed to load /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/nokogiri-1.4.1/lib/nokogiri/nokogiri.bundle This is also happening with the Postgres pg and MongoDB mongo gems. My first thought was that the extensions must not be building right. But gem install wasn't throwing any errors. So I reinstalled with the verbose flag, hoping to see some helpful warnings. I've put the output in a Pastie, and the only warning I see is a consistent one about "passing argument n of ‘foo’ with different width due to prototype." I suspect that this might be an issue from upgrading to Snow Leopard, but I'm a little surprised to experience it now, since I've updated my XCode. Could it stem from running Ruby in 1.8.6? I'm embarrassed that I don't know quite enough about my Mac and OSX to know where to look next, so any guidance, even just a pointer to some document I couldn't find via Google, would be most welcome. Michael

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• Can I do this?? Trying to load an object from within itself.

  - by Smikey

  Hi all! I have an object which conforms to the NSCoding protocol. The object contains a method to save itself to memory, like so: - (void)saveToFile { NSMutableData *data = [[NSMutableData alloc] init]; NSKeyedArchiver *archiver = [[NSKeyedArchiver alloc] initForWritingWithMutableData:data]; [archiver encodeObject:self forKey:kDataKey]; [archiver finishEncoding]; [data writeToFile:[self dataFilePath] atomically:YES]; [archiver release]; [data release]; } This works just fine. But I would also like to initialise an empty version of this object and then call its own 'Load' method to load whatever data exists on file into its variables. So I've created the following: - (void)loadFromFile { NSString *filePath = [self dataFilePath]; if ([[NSFileManager defaultManager] fileExistsAtPath:filePath]) { NSData *data = [[NSMutableData alloc] initWithContentsOfFile:[self dataFilePath]]; NSKeyedUnarchiver *unarchiver = [[NSKeyedUnarchiver alloc] initForReadingWithData:data]; self = [unarchiver decodeObjectForKey:kDataKey]; [unarchiver finishDecoding]; } } Now this second method doesn't manage to load any variables. Is this line not possible perhaps? self = [unarchiver decodeObjectForKey:kDataKey]; Ultimately I would like to use the code like this: One viewController takes user entered input, creates an object and saves it to memory using [anObject saveToFile]; And a second viewController creates an empty object, then initialises its values to those stored on file by calling: [emptyObject loadFromFile]; Any suggestions on how to make this work would be hugely appreciated. Thanks :) Michael

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• What Getters and Setters should and shouldn't do.

  - by cyclotis04

  I've run into a lot of differing opinions on Getters and Setters lately, so I figured I should make it into it's own question. A previous question of mine received an immediate comment (later deleted) that stated setters shouldn't have any side effects, and a SetProperty method would be a better choice. Indeed, this seems to be Microsoft's opinion as well. However, their properties often raise events, such as Resized when a form's Width or Height property is set. OwenP also states "you shouldn't let a property throw exceptions, properties shouldn't have side effects, order shouldn't matter, and properties should return relatively quickly." Yet Michael Stum states that exceptions should be thrown while validating data within a setter. If your setter doesn't throw an exception, how could you effectively validate data, as so many of the answers to this question suggest? What about when you need to raise an event, like nearly all of Microsoft's Control's do? Aren't you then at the mercy of whomever subscribed to your event? If their handler performs a massive amount of information, or throws an error itself, what happens to your setter? Finally, what about lazy loading within the getter? This too could violate the previous guidelines. What is acceptable to place in a getter or setter, and what should be kept in only accessor methods?

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• Android ListView: how to select an item?

  - by mmo

  I am having trouble with a ListView I created: I want an item to get selected when I click on it. My code for this looks like: protected void onResume() { ... ListView lv = getListView(); lv.setOnItemSelectedListener(new OnItemSelectedListener() { public void onItemSelected(AdapterView<?> adapterView, View view, int pos, long id) { Log.v(TAG, "onItemSelected(..., " + pos + ",...) => selected: " + getSelectedItemPosition()); } public void onNothingSelected(AdapterView<?> adapterView) { Log.v(TAG, "onNothingSelected(...) => selected: " + getSelectedItemPosition()); } }); lv.setOnItemClickListener(new OnItemClickListener() { public void onItemClick(AdapterView<?> adapterView, View view, int pos, long id) { lv.setSelection(pos); Log.v(TAG, "onItemClick(..., " + pos + ",...) => selected: " + getSelectedItemPosition()); } }); ... } When I run this and click e.g. on the second item (i.e. pos=1) I get: 04-03 23:08:36.994: V/DisplayLists(663): onItemClick(..., 1,...) => selected: -1 i.e. even though the OnItemClickListener is called with the proper argument and calls a setSelection(1), there is no item selected (and hence also OnItemSelectedListener.onItemSelected(...) is never called) and getSelectedItemPosition() still yields -1 after the setSelection(1)-call. What am I missing? Michael PS.: My list does have =2 elements...

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• routes as explained in RoR tutorial 2nd Ed?

  - by 7stud

  The author, Michael Hartl, says: Here the rule: get "static_pages/home" maps requests for the URI /static_pages/home to the home action in the StaticPages controller. How? The type of request is given, the url is given, but where is the mapping to a controller and action? My tests all pass, though. I also tried deleting all the actions in the StaticPagesController, which just looks like this: class StaticPagesController < ApplicationController def home end def about end def help end def contact end end ...and my tests still pass, which is puzzling. The 2nd edition of the book(online) is really frustrating. Specifically, the section about making changes to the Guardfile is impossible to follow. For instance, if I instruct you to edit this file: blah blah blah dog dog dog beetle beetle beetle jump jump jump and make these changes: blah blah blah . . . go go go . . . jump jump jump ...would you have any idea where the line 'go go go' should be in the code? And the hint for exercise 3.5-1 is flat out wrong. If the author would put up a comment section at the end of every chapter, the rails community could self-edit the book.

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• Can't get node.js built on cygwin

  - by mwt

  Following the instructions here: https://github.com/ry/node/wiki/Building-node.js-on-Cygwin-(Windows) I've tried installing on two machines, either of which I'd be happy to get up and running. WinXP On 'make', I get: Build failed: -> task failed <err #2>: {task: libv8.a SConstruct -> libv8.a} According to the instructions, this is caused by having $SHELL set to a Windows style path, but I've set it to /bin/bash and get the same error. Win7 On './configure', I get: $ ./configure Checking for program g++ or c++ : /usr/bin/g++ Checking for program cpp : /usr/bin/cpp Checking for program ar : /usr/bin/ar Checking for program ranlib : /usr/bin/ranlib Checking for g++ : ok Checking for program gcc or cc : /usr/bin/gcc 0 [main] python 1092 C:\bin\python.exe: *** fatal error - unable to remap \\?\C:\lib\python2.6\lib-dynload\_functools.dll to same address as parent: 0x360000 != 0x3E0000 Stack trace: Frame Function Args 002891E8 6102749B (002891E8, 00000000, 00000000, 00000000) 002894D8 6102749B (61177B80, 00008000, 00000000, 61179977) 0028A508 61004AFB (611A136C, 61241CF4, 00360000, 003E0000) End of stack trace 0 [main] python 3536 fork: child 1092 - died waiting for dll loading, errno 11 /Users/Michael/Desktop/node/wscript:177: error: could not configure a c compiler! I've run 'rebaseall' and restarted the machine but still get that error. Edit: Ok, rebaseall was apparently erroring on some mingw stuff, so I edited the rebaseall script to fix that, and now it configures on Win7. The new problem is that it emits the exact same error as my XP machine now when I try to make. This is on tag v0.3.5.

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• casting vs using the 'as' keyword in the CLR

  - by Frank V

  I'm learning about design patterns and because of that I've ended using a lot of interfaces. One of my "goals" is to program to an interface, not an implementation. What I've found is that I'm doing a lot of casting or object type conversion. What I'd like to know is if there is a difference between these two methods of conversion: public interface IMyInterface { void AMethod(); } public class MyClass : IMyInterface { public void AMethod() { //Do work } // other helper methods.... } public class Implementation { IMyInterface _MyObj; MyClass _myCls1; MyClass _myCls2; public Implementation() { _MyObj = new MyClass(); // What is the difference here: _myCls1 = (MyClass)_MyObj; _myCls2 = (_MyObj as MyClass); } } If there is a difference, is there a cost difference or how does this affect my program? Hopefully this makes sense. Sorry for the bad example; it is all I could think of... Update: What is "in general" the preferred method? (I had a question similar to this posted in the 'answers'. I moved it up here at the suggestion of Michael Haren. Also, I want to thank everyone who's provided insight and perspective on my question.

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• Userdefined margins in WPF printing

  - by MTR

  Most printing samples for WPF go like this: PrintDialog dialog = new PrintDialog(); if (dialog.ShowDialog() == true) { StackPanel myPanel = new StackPanel(); myPanel.Margin = new Thickness(15); Image myImage = new Image(); myImage.Width = dialog.PrintableAreaWidth; myImage.Stretch = Stretch.Uniform; myImage.Source = new BitmapImage(new Uri("pack://application:,,,/Images/picture.bmp")); myPanel.Children.Add(myImage); myPanel.Measure(new Size(dialog.PrintableAreaWidth, dialog.PrintableAreaHeight)); myPanel.Arrange(new Rect(new Point(0, 0), myPanel.DesiredSize)); dialog.PrintVisual(myPanel, "A Great Image."); } What I don't like about this is, that they always set the margin to a fixed value. But in PrintDialog the user has the option to choose a individual margin that no sample cares about. If the user now selects a margin that is larger as the fixed margin set by program, the printout is truncated. Is there a way to get the user selected margin value from PrintDialog? TIA Michael

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• How to detect a Socket disconnection?

  - by AngryHacker

  I've implemented a task using the async Sockets pattern in Silverlight 3. I started with Michael Schwarz's implementation and built on top of that. So basically, my Silverlight app establishes a persistent socket connection to a device and then data flows both ways as necessary between the device and the Silverlight app. One thing I am struggling with is how to detect disconnection. I could think of 2 approaches: Keep-Alive. I know this can be done at the Sockets level, but I am not sure how to do this in an async model. How would the Socket class let me know there has been a disconnection. Manual keep alive. Basically, I am having the Silverlight app send a dummy packet every 20 seconds or so. If it fails, I'd assume disconnection. However, incredibly, SocketAsyncEventArgs.SocketError always reports success, even if I simply unplug the device that the Silverlight app is connected to. I am not sure whether this is a bug or what or perhaps I need to upgrade to SL4. Any ideas, direction or implementation would be appreciated.

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• Switching between 2 UINavigationControllers

  - by Smikey

  Hi all, I seem to have a problem switching between 2 UINavigationControllers, i.e. one which controls the main (selection) menu of my application, and the second which controls the main session (i.e. the user can't go back to the selection menu once they're started a new session). The first works just fine, but I get into trouble when trying to load the second. I have a class called GameViewController which contains the second UINavigationController instance. I set this up as usual, linking it as an IBOutlet to the delegate and setting up the NavController in the GameViewController.xib file with its 'Class' property pointing at GameScreenViewController (my main game screen), and its NIB Name property pointing to the GameScreenViewController nib file. I then create a new instance of GameViewController and load it. In IB, the navigation controller looks fine, with its View 'loaded from "GameScreenViewController"', however when the NavigationController is loaded in the game, it actually loads the GameViewController's UIWindow instance (just a blank window). I'm not sure how to make it load the Navigation Controller's view rather than its own window? Also, another quick question. When I load the second navigation controller from the first, which makes more sense to use: [self.view addSubview:gameViewController.view]; or [self presentModalViewController:gameViewController animated:YES]; Thanks for any help, much appreciated :D Michael

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• Voice Recognition Google API

  - by user2966744

  thanks for reading. I'm creating a simple web based drawing app that uses speech recognition. I have created a simple page, the project is on github here: https://github.com/a5hton/speechdraw It has a 16x16 pixel grid. I would like to be able to draw on this grid by using simple words. For example if you say "right", the pixel to the right will be colored black. If you say "down" the pixel below the last one will be colored black. You can say up, down, left or right and the corresponding pixels will be colored. Saying "erase" will switch to erase mode, colouring the pixels back to their original color. Saying "lift" will lift the pen off the page. Saying "draw" will enable the draw mode. Could you please help me work out how to make this happen. Please see the simple page at to get an understanding. Thank you! Cheers, Michael

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• SQL SERVER – History of SQL Server Database Encryption

  - by pinaldave

  I recently met Michael Coles and Rodeney Landrum the author of one of the kind book Expert SQL Server 2008 Encryption at SQLPASS in Seattle. During the conversation we ended up how Microsoft is evolving encryption technology. The same discussion lead to talking about history of encryption tools in SQL Server. Michale pointed me to page 18 of his book of encryption. He explicitly give me permission to re-produce relevant part of history from his book. Encryption in SQL Server 2000 Built-in cryptographic encryption functionality was nonexistent in SQL Server 2000 and prior versions. In order to get server-side encryption in SQL Server you had to resort to purchasing or creating your own SQL Server XPs. Creating your own cryptographic XPs could be a daunting task owing to the fact that XPs had to be compiled as native DLLs (using a language like C or C++) and the XP application programming interface (API) was poorly documented. In addition there were always concerns around creating wellbehaved XPs that “played nicely” with the SQL Server process. Encryption in SQL Server 2005 Prior to the release of SQL Server 2005 there was a flurry of regulatory activity in response to accounting scandals and attacks on repositories of confidential consumer data. Much of this regulation centered onthe need for protecting and controlling access to sensitive financial and consumer information. With the release of SQL Server 2005 Microsoft responded to the increasing demand for built-in encryption byproviding the necessary tools to encrypt data at the column level. This functionality prominently featured the following: Support for column-level encryption of data using symmetric keys or passphrases. Built-in access to a variety of symmetric and asymmetric encryption algorithms, including AES, DES, Triple DES, RC2, RC4, and RSA. Capability to create and manage symmetric keys. Key creation and management. Ability to generate asymmetric keys and self-signed certificates, or to install external asymmetric keys and certificates. Implementation of hierarchical model for encryption key management, similar to the ANSI X9.17 standard model. SQL functions to generate one-way hash codes and digital signatures, including SHA-1 and MD5 hashes. Additional SQL functions to encrypt and decrypt data. Extensions to the SQL language to support creation, use, and administration of encryption keys and certificates. SQL CLR extensions that provide access to .NET-based encryption functionality. Encryption in SQL Server 2008 Encryption demands have increased over the past few years. For instance, there has been a demand for the ability to store encryption keys “off-the-box,” physically separate from the database and the data it contains. Also there is a recognized requirement for legacy databases and applications to take advantage of encryption without changing the existing code base. To address these needs SQL Server 2008 adds the following features to its encryption arsenal: Transparent Data Encryption (TDE): Allows you to encrypt an entire database, including log files and the tempdb database, in such a way that it is transparent to client applications. Extensible Key Management (EKM): Allows you to store and manage your encryption keys on an external device known as a hardware security module (HSM). Cryptographic random number generation functionality. Additional cryptography-related catalog views and dynamic management views. SQL language extensions to support the new encryption functionality. The encryption book covers all the tools in its various chapter in one simple story. If you are interested how encryption evolved and reached to the stage where it is today, this book is must for everyone. You can read my earlier review of the book over here. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLAuthority Book Review, SQLAuthority News, T SQL, Technology Tagged: Encryption, SQL Server Encryption, SQLPASS

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• SQL SERVER – What is Spatial Database? – Developing with SQL Server Spatial and Deep Dive into Spati

  - by pinaldave

  What is Spatial Database? A spatial database is a database that is optimized to store and query data related to objects in space, including points, lines and polygons. While typical databases can understand various numeric and character types of data, additional functionality needs to be added for databases to process spatial data types. (Source: Wikipedia) Today I will be talking about the same subject at Microsoft TechEd India. If you want to learn about how to spatial aspect of data and how to integrate them with SQL Server this is the perfect session for you. Spatial is very special concept of SQL Server and I really like how it is implemented in SQL Server. In general Performance Tuning and Query Optimization is something I always have enjoyed in my professional life. Index are my best friends and many time, by implementing and many time by removing I have improved the performance of the system. In this session, I will be talking about Index along with Spatial Data. As Spatial Database is very interesting concept, I will cover super short but very interesting 10 quick slides about this subject. I will make sure in very first 20 mins, you will understand following topics Introduction to Spatial Database One line definition Understanding Spatial Indexing Index Internals Query/Performance Tuning Query Hinting/Cost Analysis Spatial Index Catalog Views Performance Troubleshooting Finding Optimal Index using Spatial Index SP Common Errors Index Maintenance This slides decks will be followed by around 30 mins demo which will have story of geometry, geography, index internals and performance tuning. If you are interested in learning how GIS works and how SQL Server out of the box supports this wonderful tools, you will really like how the story is told. I am sure all people who attend the event will know how the Bangalore is positioned on the map of India. I will take example of Bangalore and Hyderabad and demonstrate how index can improve the performance. Well there are lots of story to tell in the session, and I will be opening this session with the beautiful script of Botticelli’s Birth of Venus created by Michael J. Swart. I will also demonstrate few real life scenario where I will be talking about Spatial Database and its usage. Do not miss this session. At the end of session there will be book awarded to best participant. My session details: Session 3: Developing with SQL Server Spatial and Deep Dive into Spatial Indexing Date: April 14, 2010 Time: 5:00pm-6:00pm Microsoft SQL Server 2008 delivers new spatial data types that enable you to consume, use, and extend location-based data through spatial-enabled applications. Attend this session to learn how to use spatial functionality in next version of SQL Server to build and optimize spatial queries. This session outlines the new geography data type to store geodetic spatial data and perform operations on it, use the new geometry data type to store planar spatial data and perform operations on it, take advantage of new spatial indexes for high performance queries, use the new spatial results tab to quickly and easily view spatial query results directly from within Management Studio, extend spatial data capabilities by building or integrating location-enabled applications through support for spatial standards and specifications and much more. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Index, SQL Optimization, SQL Performance, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLAuthority Author Visit, T SQL, Technology Tagged: Spatial Database

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• JavaOne Tutorial Report - JavaFX 2 – A Java Developer’s Guide

  - by Janice J. Heiss

  Oracle Java Technology Evangelist Stephen Chin and Independent Consultant Peter Pilgrim presented a tutorial session intended to help developers get a handle on JavaFX 2. Stephen Chin, a Java Champion, is co-author of the Pro JavaFX Platform 2, while Java Champion Peter Pilgrim is an independent consultant who works out of London.NightHacking with Stephen ChinBefore discussing the tutorial, a note about Chin’s “NightHacking Tour,” wherein from 10/29/12 to 11/11/12, he will be traveling across Europe via motorcycle stopping at JUGs and interviewing Java developers and offering live video streaming of the journey. As he says, “Along the way, I will visit user groups, interviewing interesting folks, and hack on open source projects. The last stop will be the Devoxx conference in Belgium.”It’s a dirty job but someone’s got to do it. His trip will take him from the UK through the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, France, and finally to Devoxx in Belgium. He has interviews lined up with Ben Evans, Trisha Gee, Stephen Coulebourne, Martijn Verburg, Simon Ritter, Bert Ertman, Tony Epple, Adam Bien, Michael Hutterman, Sven Reimers, Andres Almiray, Gerrit Grunewald, Bertrand Boetzmann, Luc Duponcheel, Stephen Janssen, Cheryl Miller, and Andrew Phillips. If you expect to be in Chin’s vicinity at the end of October and in early November, by all means get in touch with him at his site and add your perspective. The more the merrier! Taking the JavaFX PlungeNow to the business at hand. The “JavaFX 2 – A Java Developer’s Guide” tutorial introduced Java developers to the JavaFX 2 platform from the perspective of seasoned Java developers. It demonstrated the breadth of the JavaFX APIs through examples that are built out in the course of the session in an effort to present the basic requirements in using JavaFX to build rich internet applications. Chin began with a quote from Oracle’s Christopher Oliver, the creator of F3, the original version of JavaFX, on the importance of GUIs:“At the end of the day, on the one hand we have computer systems, and on the other, people. Connecting them together, and allowing people to interact with computer systems in a compelling way, requires graphical user interfaces.”Chin explained that JavaFX is about producing an immersive application experience that involves cross-platform animation, video and charting. It can integrate Java, JavaScript and HTML in the same application. The new graphics stack takes advantage of hardware acceleration for 2D and 3D applications. In addition, we can integrate Swing applications using JFXPanel.He reminded attendees that they were building JavaFX apps using pure Java APIs that included builders for declarative construction; in addition, alternative languages can be used for simpler UI creation. In addition, developers can call upon alternative languages such as GroovyFX, ScalaFX and Visage, if they want simpler UI creation. He presented the fundamentals of JavaFX 2.0: properties, lists and binding and then explored primitive, object and FX list collection properties. Properties in JavaFX are observable, lazy and type safe. He then provided an example of property declaration in code.  Pilgrim and Chin explained the architectural structure of JavaFX 2 and its basic properties:JavaFX 2.0 properties – Primitive, Object, and FX List Collection properties. * Primitive Properties* Object Properties* FX List Collection Properties* Properties are:– Observable– Lazy– Type SafeChin and Pilgrim then took attendees through several participatory demos and got deep into the weeds of the code for the two-hour session. At the end, everyone knew a lot more about the inner workings of JavaFX 2.0.

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• XNA Notes 008

  - by George Clingerman

  This week has been a rough one. I’ve been sick and then in some kind of slump for my afternoon coding sessions. It could be from the cold, could be I’m still tired from writing that Windows Phone 7 game development book (which is out now!) or it could just be I’m tired of winter and want some sunshine. All I know is that even while I’m stick, the XNA world keeps going along at it’s whirlwind pace. Below are the things I caught in between my coughing fits.. Time Critical XNA News: The 2011 MVP summit is almost here so pass along your feelings and thoughts so the MVPs can take them and share them with the team in person http://forums.create.msdn.com/forums/p/76317/464136.aspx#464136 Dream Build Play - there’s no new announcement yet, but you can’t get much more to the end of February than this! http://www.dreambuildplay.com/Main/Home.aspx XNA Team: Dean Johnson from the XNA team shares an excellent way of handling Guide.IsTrialMode on WP7 http://blogs.msdn.com/b/dejohn/archive/2011/02/21/calling-guide-istrialmode-on-windows-phone-7.aspx Nick Gravelyn tries a new tactic in deciding if there’s enough interest to develop a sequel or not. Don’t YOU want Pixel Man 2 to come out? http://nickgravelyn.com/pixelman2/ XNA MVPs: Andy “The ZMan” Dunn finally shares what he’s been secretly working on these past 4 months http://twitter.com/#!/The_Zman/status/40590269392887808 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rg8Z0ZdYbvg&feature=youtu.be Joel Martinez lets developers around NYC know they should by signing up for Game Hack Day http://twitter.com/joelmartinez/statuses/41118590862102528 http://gamehackday.org/71fdk XNA Developers: Michael McLaughlin shares an XNA RenderTarget2D Sample http://geekswithblogs.net/mikebmcl/archive/2011/02/18/xna-rendertarget2d-sample.aspx Martin Caine starts a new series on Deferred Rendering in XNA 4.0 http://twitter.com/#!/MartinCaine/status/39735221339291648 http://martincaine.com/xna/deferred_rendering_in_xna_4_introduction ElemenyCy posts about his fun time with the IntermediateSerializer http://www.ubergamermonkey.com/xna/holy-bloated-xml-batman/ Ben Kane releases a narrated dev diary video for Project Splice. Let him know if you’d like to see more! (I know I do!) http://twitter.com/#!/benkane/status/39846959498002432 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EmziXZUo08&feature=youtu.be Jason Swearingen (of Novaleaf) posts his part 1 of Spatial Partitioning solutions http://altdevblogaday.org/2011/02/21/spatial-partitioning-part-1-survey-of-spatial-partitioning-solutions/ Brian Lawson of Dark Flow Studios shares what his been up to lately with lots of pretty screenshots and hints of announcements from Microsoft... http://www.darkflowstudios.com/entry/short-and-sweet-part-1 Luke Avery starts a new blog where he plans on making XNA tutorials for beginners (and he’s got a few started already!) http://programmingwithovery.wordpress.com/ Xbox LIVE Indie Games (XBLIG): GameMarx Episode 10 http://www.gamemarx.com/video/the-show/24/ep-10-february-18-2010.aspx Minecraft clone FortressCraft coming to XBLIG http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-02-23-minecraft-clone-fortresscraft-hits-xblig ezMuze+ starts an IndieGoGo fundraiser campaign to help fund their second game and get it onto even more devices! http://www.indiegogo.com/ezmuze Gamergeddon XBLIG round up http://www.gamergeddon.com/2011/02/20/xbox-indie-game-round-up-february-20th/?utm_campaign=twitter&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitter JForce Games loses their Ego http://jforcegames.com/blog/index.php?itemid=121&catid=4 XNA Game Development: @BallerIndustry reminds all XNA developers that the Maths are important ;) http://twitter.com/#!/BallerIndustry/status/39317618280243200 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjV3XDFsjP4&feature=player_embedded#at=106 @suhinini stumbles on an older but extremely useful post on XNA Content Pipeline debugging http://twitter.com/#!/suhinini/status/39270189476352000 http://badcorporatelogo.wordpress.com/2010/10/31/xna-content-pipeline-debugging-4-0/ XNA Game Development Workshops at Singapore Universities http://innovativesingapore.com/2011/02/xna-game-development-workshops-at-singapore-universities/ Indiefreaks announces that IGF v0.3 is out with Xbox 360 support, SunBurn 2.0.12 and it’s now Open Source! http://twitter.com/#!/indiefreaks/status/39391953971982336 @liotral announces a new series on properly designing a game http://twitter.com/#!/liortal53/status/39466905081217024 http://liortalblog.wordpress.com/2011/02/20/hello-cosmos/ Indies and XNA at CodeStock 2011 http://www.gamemarx.com/news/2011/02/20/indies-and-xna-at-codestock-2011.aspx Train Frontier Express posts about XNA Content Hotloading http://trainfrontierexpress.blogspot.com/2011/02/xna-content-hotloading-overview.html Slyprid announces a new character editor in Transmute http://twitter.com/#!/slyprid/status/40146992818696192 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKhFAc78LDs&feature=youtu.be The XNA 2D from the ground up tutorial series http://xna-uk.net/blogs/darkgenesis/archive/2011/02/23/recap-the-xna-2d-from-the-ground-up-tutorial-series.aspx Sgt.Conker posts a “Clingerman” (hey that’s me!) to stay relevant http://www.sgtconker.com/2011/02/posting-a-clingerman-to-stay-relevant/

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• Silverlight Cream for March 26, 2010 -- #821

  - by Dave Campbell

  In this Issue: Max Paulousky, Christian Schormann, John Papa, Phani Raj, David Anson(-2-, -3-), Brad Abrams(-2-), and Jeff Wilcox(-2-, -3-). Shoutouts: Jeff Wilcox posted his material from mix and some preview TestFramework bits: Unit Testing Silverlight & Windows Phone Applications – talk now online At MIX10, Jeff Wilcox demo'd an app called "Peppermint"... here's the bleeding edge demo: “Peppermint” MIX demo sources Erik Mork and Co. have put out their weekly This Week In Silverlight 3.25.2010 Brad Abrams has all his materials posted for his MIX10 session Mix2010: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for Microsoft Silverlight... including play-by-play of the demo and all source. Do you use Rooler? Well you should! Watch a video Pete Brown did with Pete Blois on Expression Blend, Windows Phone, Rooler Interested in Silverlight and XNA for WP7? Me too! Michael Klucher has a post outlining the two: Silverlight and XNA Framework Game Development and Compatibility From SilverlightCream.com: Modularity in Silverlight Applications - An Issue With ModuleInitializeException Max Paulousky has a truly ugly error trace listed by way of not having a reference listed, and the obvious simple solution. Next time he'll talk about the difficult situations. Using SketchFlow to Prototype for Windows Phone Christian Schormann has a tutorial up on using Expression Blend to develop for WP7 ... who better than Christian for that task?? Silverlight TV 18: WCF RIA Services Validation John Papa held forth with Nikhil Kothari on WCF RIA Services and validation just prior to MIX10, and was posted yesterday. Building SL3 applications using OData client Library with Vs 2010 RC Phani Raj walks through building an OData consumer in SL3, the first problem you're going to hit, and the easy solution to it. Tip: When creating a DependencyProperty, follow the handy convention of "wrapper+register+static+virtual" David Anson has a couple more of his 'Tips' up... this first is about Dependency Properties again... having a good foundation for all your Dependency Properties is a great way to avoid problems. Tip: Do not assign DependencyProperty values in a constructor; it prevents users from overriding them In the next post, David Anson talks about not assigning Dependency Property values in a constructor and gives one of the two ways to get around doing so. Tip: Set DependencyProperty default values in a class's default style if it's more convenient In his latest post, David Anson gives the second way to avoid setting a Dependency Property value in the constructor. Silverlight 4 + RIA Services - Ready for Business: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Brad Abrams Abrams adds SEO to the tutorial series he's doing. He begins with his PDC09 session material on the subject and then takes off on a great detailed tutorial all with source. Silverlight 4 + RIA Services - Ready for Business: Localizing Business Application Brad Abrams then discusses localization and Silverlight in another detailed tutorial with all code included. Silverlight Toolkit and the Windows Phone: WrapPanel, and a few others Jeff Wilcox has a few WP7 posts I'm going to push today. This first is from earlier this week and is about using the Toolkit in WP7 and better than that, he includes the bits you need if all you want is the WrapPanel Data binding user settings in Windows Phone applications In the next one from yesterday, Jeff Wilcox demonstrates saving some user info in Isolated Storage to improve the user experience, and shares all the necessary plumbing files, and other external links as well. Displaying 2D QR barcodes in Windows Phone applications In a post from today, Jeff Wilcox ported his Silverlight 2D QR Barcode app from last year into WP7 ... just very cool... get the source and display your Microsoft Tag. 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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• Silverlight Cream for March 25, 2010 -- #820

  - by Dave Campbell

  In this Issue: René Schulte, Jeremy Likness, Hassan, Victor Gaudioso, SilverLaw, Mike Taulty, Phani Raj, Tim Heuer, Christian Schormann, Brad Abrams, David Anson, Diptimaya Patra, and Daniel Vaughan. Shoutouts: Last week, Koen Zwikstra announced Silverlight Spy at MIX10 Anand Iyer announced this for students on the Windows Team Blog: Be a Windows Phone 7 “Rockstar” Justin Angel blogged that Silverlight Isn't Fully Cross-Platform ... let him know if you think it's a yawn or important. On behalf of SilverlightShow, Cigdem Patlak posted MIX10: Laurent Bugnion on Silverlight adoption, WP7 and the EcoContest From SilverlightCream.com: Coding4Fun - Silverlight Real Time Face Detection René Schulte has a Coding 4 Fun article posted on facial recognition. Who better to be manipulating graphics like this than René? Sequential Asynchronous Workflows Part 2: Simplified Jeremy Likness follows up his previous post with another one that is 'simplified'. Remember his previous post began with a post on the Silverlight.net forum and Rob Eisenburg's MVVM presentation from MIX10 Windows Phone 7 Video Tutorial Hassan has a new video up on his AfricanGeek site, and that's a continuation of his previous WP7 video tutorial, adding a listbox and databinding it to the selected index of another listbox. The Los Angeles Silverlight Usergorup will be Streaming its March Meeting LIVE in Silverlight – Tonight! Victor Gaudioso used his Live Streaming knowledge to stream his User Group meeting last night from LA where Michael Washington presented on MVVM followed by Victor himself. That was last night. Today he has a couple of the videos up to view. Shining 3D Font Design - Silverlight 3 SilverLaw has a "Shining 3D Font" tutorial up, and a video on it here: New Video: How to create a 3D effect on a Silverlight 3 Textblock ... this is also available in the Expression Gallery. Silverlight 4 RC – Signing trusted apps with home made certificates Mike Taulty has a post up about building a hand-rolled cert to test out the XAP signing features, and then gives a nod to John Papa with a link to the Silverlight White Paper I've posted about before, because this info is in there as well. Developing a Windows Phone 7 Application that consumes OData Phani Raj has a tutorial up on consuming the NetFlix OData catalog on the WP7 emulator ... now *that* is cool! Make your Silverlight applications Speak to you with Microsoft Translator Tim Heuer used Silverlight to demonstrate Microsoft Translator as a speech synthesis tool using the Speak API included ... pretty cool, Tim ... lots of external links and code. Blend 4: About Path Layout, Sidebar – More About ListBox Than You Ever Wanted To Know Christian Schormann has another outstanding tutorial up on the ListBox and PathLayout in Expression Blend ... just check out the screen shots and you'll wanna read it! Silverlight 4 + RIA Services: Ready for Business: Updating Data in the Client This is the continuation of Brad Abrams' series on WCF RIA Services and is a tutorial on setting up to deal with updating the data. Tip: The CLR wrapper for a DependencyProperty should do its job and nothing more David Anson is posting some "Development Tips", and this is the first ... discussing making sure your DependencyProperty CLR wrapper stays on point... Create and Apply Theme Silverlight Application Diptimaya Patra has a tutorial up on creating and using themes. He states that "Themes are nothing but some predefined styles" ... check it out and see if it's really that easy :) Building a Windows Phone 7 Puzzle Game Daniel Vaughan has a great post up starting with installing all the tools and ending with a maze game for WP7 using XNA for sound... this is the first I've seen that integrates XNA (I think). 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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• How do NTP Servers Manage to Stay so Accurate?

  - by Akemi Iwaya

  Many of us have had the occasional problem with our computers and other devices retaining accurate time settings, but a quick sync with an NTP server makes all well again. But if our own devices can lose accuracy, how do NTP servers manage to stay so accurate? 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. Photo courtesy of LEOL30 (Flickr). The Question SuperUser reader Frank Thornton wants to know how NTP servers are able to remain so accurate: I have noticed that on my servers and other machines, the clocks always drift so that they have to sync up to remain accurate. How do the NTP server clocks keep from drifting and always remain so accurate? How do the NTP servers manage to remain so accurate? The Answer SuperUser contributor Michael Kjorling has the answer for us: NTP servers rely on highly accurate clocks for precision timekeeping. A common time source for central NTP servers are atomic clocks, or GPS receivers (remember that GPS satellites have atomic clocks onboard). These clocks are defined as accurate since they provide a highly exact time reference. There is nothing magical about GPS or atomic clocks that make them tell you exactly what time it is. Because of how atomic clocks work, they are simply very good at, having once been told what time it is, keeping accurate time (since the second is defined in terms of atomic effects). In fact, it is worth noting that GPS time is distinct from the UTC that we are more used to seeing. These atomic clocks are in turn synchronized against International Atomic Time or TAI in order to not only accurately tell the passage of time, but also the time. Once you have an exact time on one system connected to a network like the Internet, it is a matter of protocol engineering enabling transfer of precise times between hosts over an unreliable network. In this regard a Stratum 2 (or farther from the actual time source) NTP server is no different from your desktop system syncing against a set of NTP servers. By the time you have a few accurate times (as obtained from NTP servers or elsewhere) and know the rate of advancement of your local clock (which is easy to determine), you can calculate your local clock’s drift rate relative to the “believed accurate” passage of time. Once locked in, this value can then be used to continuously adjust the local clock to make it report values very close to the accurate passage of time, even if the local real-time clock itself is highly inaccurate. As long as your local clock is not highly erratic, this should allow keeping accurate time for some time even if your upstream time source becomes unavailable for any reason. Some NTP client implementations (probably most ntpd daemon or system service implementations) do this, and others (like ntpd’s companion ntpdate which simply sets the clock once) do not. This is commonly referred to as a drift file because it persistently stores a measure of clock drift, but strictly speaking it does not have to be stored as a specific file on disk. In NTP, Stratum 0 is by definition an accurate time source. Stratum 1 is a system that uses a Stratum 0 time source as its time source (and is thus slightly less accurate than the Stratum 0 time source). Stratum 2 again is slightly less accurate than Stratum 1 because it is syncing its time against the Stratum 1 source and so on. In practice, this loss of accuracy is so small that it is completely negligible in all but the most extreme of cases. Have something to add to the explanation? Sound off in 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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• Oracle Forms Migration to ADF - Webinar vom ORACLE Partner PITSS

  - by Thomas Leopold

    Tuesday, February 22, 2011 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM CET Free Webinar Re-Engineering Legacy Oracle Forms Migration from Forms to ADF - A Case Study Join Oracle's Grant Ronald and PITSS to see a software architecture comparison of Oracle Forms and ADF and a live step-by-step presentation on how to achieve a successful migration. Learn about various migration options, challenges and best practices to protect your current investment in Oracle Forms. PL/SQL is without match for what it does: manipulating data in the database. If you blindly migrate all your PL/SQL to Java you will, in all probability, end up with less maintainable and less efficient code. Instead you should consider which code it best left as PL/SQL..." Grant Ronald - "Migrating Oracle Forms to Fusion: Myth or Magic Bullet?" Re-Engineering existing business logic is mandatory for your legacy Forms application to take advantage of the new Software architectures like ADF. The PITSS.CON solution combines the deep understanding of Oracle Forms and Reports applications architecture with powerful re-engineering capabilities that allows the developer community to protect the investment in the existing Forms applications and to concentrate on fine-tuning and customization of the modernized functionality rather than manually recreating every module and business logic from bottom up. Registration: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/971702250   PITSS GmbHKönigsdorferstrasse 25D-82515 WolfratshausenDo not forget to check out these Free Webinars in March! Thursday, March 3, 2011 Upgrade and Modernize Your Application to Forms 11g Registration/Information Tuesday, March 15, 2011 Shaping the Future for your Oracle Forms Application:Forms 11g, ADF, APEX Registration/Information Tuesday, March 29, 2011 Oracle Forms Modernization to APEX Registration/Information Registration is limited, so sign up  today!Presented By:        Grant Ronald, Senior Group Product Manager,Oracle       Magdalena Serban, Product Manager,PITSS   Contact Us:            PITSS in Americas +1 248.740.0935 [email protected] www.pitssamerica.com       PITSS in Europe +49 (0) 717287 5200 [email protected] www.pitss.com   White Paper:      From Oracle Forms to Oracle ADF and JEE     © Copyright 2010 PITSS GmbH, Wolfratshausen, Stuttgart, München; Managing Directors: Dipl.-Ing. Andreas Gaede, Michael Kilimann, Dipl.-Ing. Dirk Fleischmann Commercial Register: HRB 125471 at District Court Munich. All rights reserved. Any duplication or further treatment in any medium, in parts or as a whole, requires a written agreement. If you do not want to receive invitations for events, meetings and seminars from us, then please click here.

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• Rails Tutorial Error with gemspec for "rspec" "annotate" "spork" "ansicolor" [closed]

  - by Chris H

  I'm following the Rails Tutorial by Michael Hartl and I'm getting this error when I run. bundle exec rspec spec/requests/static_pages_spec.rb Invalid gemspec in [/Users/chrishuang02/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p125@rails3tutorial2ndEd/specifications/annotate-2.4.1.beta1.gemspec]: invalid date format in specification: "2011-09-02 00:00:00.000000000Z" Invalid gemspec in [/Users/chrishuang02/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p125@rails3tutorial2ndEd/specifications/guard-rspec-0.5.5.gemspec]: invalid date format in specification: "2011-11-20 00:00:00.000000000Z" Invalid gemspec in [/Users/chrishuang02/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p125@rails3tutorial2ndEd/specifications/guard-spork-0.3.2.gemspec]: invalid date format in specification: "2011-11-18 00:00:00.000000000Z" Invalid gemspec in [/Users/chrishuang02/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p125@rails3tutorial2ndEd/specifications/spork-0.9.0.gemspec]: invalid date format in specification: "2012-01-22 00:00:00.000000000Z" Invalid gemspec in [/Users/chrishuang02/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p125@rails3tutorial2ndEd/specifications/term-ansicolor-1.0.7.gemspec]: invalid date format in specification: "2011-10-13 00:00:00.000000000Z" Invalid gemspec in [/Users/chrishuang02/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p125@rails3tutorial2ndEd/specifications/annotate-2.4.1.beta1.gemspec]: invalid date format in specification: "2011-09-02 00:00:00.000000000Z" Invalid gemspec in [/Users/chrishuang02/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p125@rails3tutorial2ndEd/specifications/guard-rspec-0.5.5.gemspec]: invalid date format in specification: "2011-11-20 00:00:00.000000000Z" Invalid gemspec in [/Users/chrishuang02/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p125@rails3tutorial2ndEd/specifications/guard-spork-0.3.2.gemspec]: invalid date format in specification: "2011-11-18 00:00:00.000000000Z" Invalid gemspec in [/Users/chrishuang02/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p125@rails3tutorial2ndEd/specifications/spork-0.9.0.gemspec]: invalid date format in specification: "2012-01-22 00:00:00.000000000Z" Invalid gemspec in [/Users/chrishuang02/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p125@rails3tutorial2ndEd/specifications/term-ansicolor-1.0.7.gemspec]: invalid date format in specification: "2011-10-13 00:00:00.000000000Z" Invalid gemspec in [/Users/chrishuang02/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p125@rails3tutorial2ndEd/specifications/annotate-2.4.1.beta1.gemspec]: invalid date format in specification: "2011-09-02 00:00:00.000000000Z" Invalid gemspec in [/Users/chrishuang02/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p125@rails3tutorial2ndEd/specifications/guard-rspec-0.5.5.gemspec]: invalid date format in specification: "2011-11-20 00:00:00.000000000Z" Invalid gemspec in [/Users/chrishuang02/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p125@rails3tutorial2ndEd/specifications/guard-spork-0.3.2.gemspec]: invalid date format in specification: "2011-11-18 00:00:00.000000000Z" Invalid gemspec in [/Users/chrishuang02/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p125@rails3tutorial2ndEd/specifications/spork-0.9.0.gemspec]: invalid date format in specification: "2012-01-22 00:00:00.000000000Z" Invalid gemspec in [/Users/chrishuang02/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p125@rails3tutorial2ndEd/specifications/term-ansicolor-1.0.7.gemspec]: invalid date format in specification: "2011-10-13 00:00:00.000000000Z" Invalid gemspec in [/Users/chrishuang02/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p125@rails3tutorial2ndEd/specifications/annotate-2.4.1.beta1.gemspec]: invalid date format in specification: "2011-09-02 00:00:00.000000000Z" Invalid gemspec in [/Users/chrishuang02/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p125@rails3tutorial2ndEd/specifications/guard-rspec-0.5.5.gemspec]: invalid date format in specification: "2011-11-20 00:00:00.000000000Z" Invalid gemspec in [/Users/chrishuang02/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p125@rails3tutorial2ndEd/specifications/guard-spork-0.3.2.gemspec]: invalid date format in specification: "2011-11-18 00:00:00.000000000Z" Invalid gemspec in [/Users/chrishuang02/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p125@rails3tutorial2ndEd/specifications/spork-0.9.0.gemspec]: invalid date format in specification: "2012-01-22 00:00:00.000000000Z" Invalid gemspec in [/Users/chrishuang02/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p125@rails3tutorial2ndEd/specifications/term-ansicolor-1.0.7.gemspec]: invalid date format in specification: "2011-10-13 00:00:00.000000000Z" /Users/chrishuang02/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p125@rails3tutorial2ndEd/gems/rspec-core-2.9.0/lib/rspec/core/configuration.rb:746:in `load': cannot load such file -- /Users/chrishuang02/Desktop/rails_projects/first_app/spec/requests/spec/requests/static_pages_spec.rb (LoadError) from /Users/chrishuang02/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p125@rails3tutorial2ndEd/gems/rspec-core-2.9.0/lib/rspec/core/configuration.rb:746:in `block in load_spec_files' from /Users/chrishuang02/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p125@rails3tutorial2ndEd/gems/rspec-core-2.9.0/lib/rspec/core/configuration.rb:746:in `map' from /Users/chrishuang02/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p125@rails3tutorial2ndEd/gems/rspec-core-2.9.0/lib/rspec/core/configuration.rb:746:in `load_spec_files' from /Users/chrishuang02/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p125@rails3tutorial2ndEd/gems/rspec-core-2.9.0/lib/rspec/core/command_line.rb:22:in `run' from /Users/chrishuang02/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p125@rails3tutorial2ndEd/gems/rspec-core-2.9.0/lib/rspec/core/runner.rb:69:in `run' from /Users/chrishuang02/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p125@rails3tutorial2ndEd/gems/rspec-core-2.9.0/lib/rspec/core/runner.rb:10:in `block in autorun'

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• Best Practices for Handing over Legacy Code

  - by PersonalNexus

  In a couple of months a colleague will be moving on to a new project and I will be inheriting one of his projects. To prepare, I have already ordered Michael Feathers' Working Effectively with Legacy Code. But this books as well as most questions on legacy code I found so far are concerned with the case of inheriting code as-is. But in this case I actually have access to the original developer and we do have some time for an orderly hand-over. Some background on the piece of code I will be inheriting: It's functioning: There are no known bugs, but as performance requirements keep going up, some optimizations will become necessary in the not too distant future. Undocumented: There is pretty much zero documentation at the method and class level. What the code is supposed to do at a higher level, though, is well-understood, because I have been writing against its API (as a black-box) for years. Only higher-level integration tests: There are only integration tests testing proper interaction with other components via the API (again, black-box). Very low-level, optimized for speed: Because this code is central to an entire system of applications, a lot of it has been optimized several times over the years and is extremely low-level (one part has its own memory manager for certain structs/records). Concurrent and lock-free: While I am very familiar with concurrent and lock-free programming and have actually contributed a few pieces to this code, this adds another layer of complexity. Large codebase: This particular project is more than ten thousand lines of code, so there is no way I will be able to have everything explained to me. Written in Delphi: I'm just going to put this out there, although I don't believe the language to be germane to the question, as I believe this type of problem to be language-agnostic. I was wondering how the time until his departure would best be spent. Here are a couple of ideas: Get everything to build on my machine: Even though everything should be checked into source code control, who hasn't forgotten to check in a file once in a while, so this should probably be the first order of business. More tests: While I would like more class-level unit tests so that when I will be making changes, any bugs I introduce can be caught early on, the code as it is now is not testable (huge classes, long methods, too many mutual dependencies). What to document: I think for starters it would be best to focus documentation on those areas in the code that would otherwise be difficult to understand e.g. because of their low-level/highly optimized nature. I am afraid there are a couple of things in there that might look ugly and in need of refactoring/rewriting, but are actually optimizations that have been out in there for a good reason that I might miss (cf. Joel Spolsky, Things You Should Never Do, Part I) How to document: I think some class diagrams of the architecture and sequence diagrams of critical functions accompanied by some prose would be best. Who to document: I was wondering what would be better, to have him write the documentation or have him explain it to me, so I can write the documentation. I am afraid, that things that are obvious to him but not me would otherwise not be covered properly. Refactoring using pair-programming: This might not be possible to do due to time constraints, but maybe I could refactor some of his code to make it more maintainable while he was still around to provide input on why things are the way they are. Please comment on and add to this. Since there isn't enough time to do all of this, I am particularly interested in how you would prioritize.

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• Silverlight Cream for March 31, 2010 -- #826

  - by Dave Campbell

  In this Issue: Andrea Boschin, Radenko Zec, Andrej Tozon, Bobby Diaz, Brad Abrams, Wolf Schmidt, Colin Eberhardt, Anand Iyer, Matthias Shapiro, Jaime Rodriguez, Bill Reiss, and Lee. Shoutouts: Cigdem has a post up about here MIX10 Interviewing experiences: MIX10 SilverlightShow Interviews Ian T. Lackey has his material up from his talk Silverlight SEO at the St. Louis .Net Users Group Not Silverlight but definitely WP7 cool, Michael Klucher reports that there are New Windows Phone Samples on Creators Club Online Tim Heuer posted a survey: What tools are the minimum to get started in Silverlight? From SilverlightCream.com: A RoleManager to apply roles declaratively to user interface Andrea Boschin also has a new post at SilverlightShow discussing the use of a RoleManager in WCF RIA Services to apply user roles to elements of the UI... good stuff, Andrea. Virtualization in Silverlight 4 RC Radenko Zec has a post out at SilverlightShow where he explains UI and Data Virtualization then gives some examples of their use in Silverlight 4RC, and some issues as well. MS Word Mail Merge with Silverlight 4 COM Automation Andrej Tozon has a post up at SilverlightShow that I missed in the rush of MIX10. He's doing MailMerge with COM automation and Silverlight 4... actually prett cool stuff and all the source! KISS and Tell - MVVM and the ViewModelLocator Bobby Diaz is blogging about a very popular subject right now: ViewModelLocator. He's not showing production code, but it's a thought... check it out. Silverlight 4 + RIA Services - Ready for Business: Validating Data I'm running behind, but Brad Abrams' next post in his series is about validating data in the business application. He also discusses setting up shared code validation. A One-stop Shopping XAML Namespace for Silverlight Client SDK Controls Wolf Schmidt at the Silverlight SDK has a post up highlighting the SL4 XAML namespace prefix. He starts with SL3 then demonstrates the feature's use in SL4. Binding a Silverlight 3 DataGrid to dynamic data via IDictionary (Updated) Colin Eberhardt has an update to his previous article of the same title. This one is a bug fix on an upgrade to SL3 and also an expansion of the previous post. Demo Apps from MIX10 on Windows Phone 7 Anand Iyer posted links to all the WP7 demos used at MIX10 and at least in the case of FourSquare, the source is on CodePlex. XAML Files for Location Visualizations in Silverlight and WPF Matthias Shapiro has graciously provided XAML for us for Silverlight and WPF for a bunch of different US maps... too cool, now we don't have to be asking 'where did you get that map?'... thanks Matthias! Theming in Windows Phone Jaime Rodriguez has a post up that deep-dives theming in general and demonstrates using it on WP7... end-user configurations and developer stuff. Space Rocks game step 7: Moving the ship It appears that in the heat of battle (blogging) I said Bill Reiss' Space Rocks game he's building is for WP7... obviously it's not, but it's a game folks... :) THis is Episode 7 and he's moving the ship now. SL4(RC) RichTextBox and Access Violation Lee has some code that looks like it should work for a RichTextBox in SL4RC, and it's throwing an error... see if you have a solution for him... or is it a bug? 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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• Iron Speed Designer 7.0 - the great gets greater!

  - by GGBlogger

  For Immediate Release Iron Speed, Inc. Kelly Fisher +1 (408) 228-3436 [email protected] http://www.ironspeed.com       Iron Speed Version 7.0 Generates SharePoint Applications New! Support for Microsoft SharePoint speeds application generation and deployment   San Jose, CA – June 8, 2010. Software development tools-maker Iron Speed, Inc. released Iron Speed Designer Version 7.0, the latest version of its popular Web 2.0 application generator. Iron Speed Designer generates rich, interactive database and reporting applications for .NET, Microsoft SharePoint and the Cloud.    In addition to .NET applications, Iron Speed Designer V7.0 generates database-driven SharePoint applications. The ability to quickly create database-driven applications for SharePoint eliminates a lot of work, helping IT departments generate productivity-enhancing applications in just a few hours.  Generated applications include integrated SharePoint application security and use SharePoint master pages.    “It’s virtually impossible to build database-driven application in SharePoint by hand. Iron Speed Designer V7.0 not only makes this possible, the tool makes it easy.” – Razi Mohiuddin, President, Iron Speed, Inc.     Integrated SharePoint application security Generated applications include integrated SharePoint application security. SharePoint sites and their groups are used to retrieve security roles. Iron Speed Designer validates the user against a Microsoft SharePoint server on your network by retrieving the logged in user’s credentials from the SharePoint Context.    “The Iron Speed Designer generated application integrates seamlessly with SharePoint security, removing the hassle of designing, testing and approving your own security layer.” -Michael Landi, Solutions Architect, Light Speed Solutions     SharePoint Solution Packages Iron Speed Designer V7.0 creates SharePoint Solution Packages (WSPs) for easy application deployment. Using the Deployment Wizard, a single application WSP is created and can be deployed to your SharePoint server.   “Iron Speed Designer is the first product on the market that allows easy and painless deployment of database-driven .NET web applications inside the SharePoint environment.” -Bryan Patrick, Developer, Pseudo Consulting     SharePoint master pages and themes In V7.0, generated applications use SharePoint master pages and contain the same content as other SharePoint pages. Generated applications use the current SharePoint color scheme and display standard SharePoint navigation controls on each page.   “Iron Speed Designer preserves the look and feel of the SharePoint environment in deployed database applications without additional hand-coding.” -Kirill Dmitriev, Software Developer, Iron Speed, Inc.     Iron Speed Designer Version 7.0 System Requirements Iron Speed Designer Version 7.0 runs on Microsoft Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 and 2008. It generates .NET Web applications for Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, Microsoft Access and MySQL. These applications may be deployed on any machine running the .NET Framework. Iron Speed Designer supports Microsoft SharePoint 2007 and Windows SharePoint Services (WSS3). Find complete information about Iron Speed Designer Version 7.0 at www.ironspeed.com.     About Iron Speed, Inc. Iron Speed is the leader in enterprise-class application generation. Our software development tools generate database and reporting applications in significantly less time and cost than hand-coding. Our flagship product, Iron Speed Designer, is the fastest way to deliver applications for the Microsoft .NET and software-as-a-service cloud computing environments.   With products built on decades of experience in enterprise application development and large-scale e-commerce systems, Iron Speed products eliminate the need for developers to choose between "full featured" and "on schedule."   Founded in 1999, Iron Speed is well funded with a capital base of over $20M and strategic investors that include Arrow Electronics and Avnet, as well as executives from AMD, Excelan, Onsale, and Oracle. The company is based in San Jose, Calif., and is located online at www.ironspeed.com.

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• Silverlight Cream for January 04, 2011 -- #1022

  - by Dave Campbell

  In this Issue: Dennis Doomen, Doug Holland, Kunal Chowdhury, Sacha Barber, Paul Sheriff, Mike Snow(-2-), Peter Kuhn(-2-), and Mike Ormond. Above the Fold: Silverlight: "Silverlight: Fixing the BookShelf Sample" Peter Kuhn WP7: "Searching the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace Programmatically" Doug Holland Prism/Cinch: "PRISM 4 Custom Transitioning Region" Sacha Barber Shoutouts: Sacha Barber the author of Cinch asks for some advice from users: Cinch V2 : Question For The Reader Michael Crump introduces us to SnippetManager as a way to organize your Silverlight snippets... I'm thinking any snippet: A better way to organize your Silverlight Code Snippets. Andy Beaulieu announced an update of Physics Helper 4.2 using Farseer 3.2 ... check out the breaking changes though! Dennis Doomen blogged about a new release of his Fluent Assertions: A new year with a new release of Fluent Assertions, with a blog post about it below From SilverlightCream.com: Verifying PropertyChanged events in Silverlight using Fluent Assertions Dennis Doomen release his latest Fluent Assertions for .NET and Silverlight and wrote up a big post about the new event monitoring syntax. Searching the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace Programmatically Doug Holland has a post up on MSDN blogs talking about searching the WP7 Marketplace programmatically... ya know you should be able to do it... here's how. Beginners Guide to Visual Studio LightSwitch (Part - 5) Kunal Chowdhury has Part 5 of a tutorial series on Lightswitch up at SilverlightShow... working with custom validation this time, and for the first time in this series so far actually writes some code! PRISM 4 Custom Transitioning Region Sacha Barber took time to look at Prism4/MEF and Cinch2 and found things to be fine then wrote a custom PRISM region adaptor that uses a TransitionalElement from the Microsoft Transitionals project... code available, blog post to come. Get Application Title from Windows Phone Paul Sheriff has a cool chunk of code up... getting the Application's title programmatically... and other attributes as well, if you were wondering why you might wanna do that. Detecting Users Win7 Mobile Theme Color Mike Snow has a couple as well... first up is how to detect your user's theme... obviously useful if you wanna match it. Selecting an Item in a ComboBox after Adding Items Second for Mike Snow is a general Silverlight issue... setting the selected item on a ComboBox after filling it... if you haven't stumbled across this yet, you will... A Simplified Grid Markup Reloaded Peter Kuhn has a pair of posts up since last time... this first is an extension of Colin Eberhardt's simplified Grid markup system, but it's only useful if you don't plan on using Blend... can we get a show of hands? :) Silverlight: Fixing the BookShelf Sample Next Peter Kuhn has some changes to the Bookshelf code, but more importantly has some excelling tips about shader effects, Effects on Visual Elements and how to make best use of all the above. Displaying HTML Content in Windows Phone 7 Mike Ormond has a WP7 post up describing problems a customer had early on displaying rich text and an attempt to use the WebBrowser control to pull it off and the problems that caused... check out the resultant code, and read the comments as well. 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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