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  • How do I delete files in a class?

    - by user3682906
    I want to have a CRUD management on my gallery but I have no idea how. I have searched the internet but I did not find what I was looking for. This is my class: class Gallery { public function renderImages($map) { $images = ""; foreach (glob($map ."*.{jpeg,jpg,png,gif}", GLOB_BRACE) as $image){ $images .= "<a href='".$image."' data-lightbox='afbeelding'><img src='".$image."' class='thumbnail'></img></a>"; } return $images; } } and this is my gallery: <div class="gallery"> <center> <a href="index.php">Back:</a> <style> body { margin:0; padding:0; background:#efefef; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: black; text-align:center; /* used to center div in IE */ } </style> <?php $gallery = new Gallery(); echo $gallery -> renderImages("../images/"); $connection = new DatabaseConnection(); $render = new RenderData(); $page = 1; if(isset($_GET['page'])) { $check = new CheckData(); if($check->PageCheck($_GET['page'])) { $page = $_GET['page']; } } ?> <table> <div id="Intro"> <tr> <td>Hieronder kan je uploaden.</td> </tr> </div> <tr> <td>Max. 500000000Bytes</td> </tr> <tr> <form action="pages/upload_file.php" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data"> <td><label for="file">Filename:</label></td> </tr> <tr> <td><input type="file" name="file" id="file"></td> </tr> <tr> <td><input type="submit" name="submit" value="Submit"></td> </tr> <tr> <td><input type="submit" name="delete" value="Delete"></td> </tr> </form> </table> How do I make a CRUD management on this? I want to select the photo and then delete it from my computer. I hope you guys can help me out...

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  • show hidden div tag from another page

    - by neueweblernen
    I'm trying to link to an all-inclusive FAQ page from various pages. The answers are contained in tags, nested within a line item of an unordered list housed by categories. The FAQ page has the following categories: Practical Nurse Exam Online Renewal Practice Hours etc. Under Practical Nurse Exam, there are sub categories, subjects, with questions below in tags that expand onClick. (e.g. Examination Day, Exam Results, etc.) Let's say I'm on a different page called Registration and there's a link to the FAQs for Exam Results. I'm able to link to the page and included the hashtag on the anchor or Exam Results, but it does not expand the subcategory. I've read this thread but it didn't work for me. Please help! The code is below: <script type="text/javascript"> function toggle(Info,pic) { var CState = document.getElementById(Info); CState.style.display = (CState.style.display != 'block') ? 'block' : 'none'; } window.onload = function() { var hash = window.location.hash; // would be "#div1" or something if(hash != "") { var id = hash.substr(1); // get rid of # document.getElementById(id).style.display = 'block'; } } </script> <style type="text/css"> .FAQ { cursor:hand; cursor:pointer; } .FAA { display:none; padding-left:20px; text-indent:-20px; } #FAQlist li { list-style-type: none; } #FAQlist ul { margin-left:0px; } headingOne{ font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color:#66BBFF; font-size:20px; font-weight:bold;} </style> Here's the body (part of it anyway) <headingOne class="FAQ" onClick="toggle('CPNRE', this)">PRACTICAL NURSE EXAM</headingOne> <div class="FAA" id="CPNRE"> <h3><a name="applying">Applying to write the CPNRE</a></h3> <ul id="FAQlist" style="width:450px;"> <li class="FAQ"> <p onclick="toggle('faq1',this)"> <strong>Q: How much does it cost to write the exam?</strong></p> <div class="FAA" id="faq1"> <b>A.</b> In 2013, the cost for the first exam writing is $600.00 which includes the interim license fee. See <a href="https://www.clpnbc.org/What-is-an-LPN/Becoming-an-LPN/Canadian-Practical-Nurse-Registration-Examination/Fees-and-Deadlines.aspx"> fee schedule</a>.</div> <hr /> </li> and here's the body of the other page that contains the link and the same script syntax as the all-inclusive FAQ page. This is just a test, that's not exactly what it will say: <a onclick="toggle('CPNRE', this)" href="file:///S|/Designs/Web stuff/FAQ all inclusive.html#applying"> click here</a>

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  • Filter syslog in php functions, then display contents in JS div?

    - by qx3rt
    Let's revise this question with a new approach...I have three files: logtail.php, ajax.js and index.php. My goal is to create a syslog viewer (Linux). On index.php I made a div where I want to display only the filtered contents of the syslog. I must filter the contents in logtail.php. I have to use a shell_exec and | grep the contents with multiple different regexes. Right now I | grep the entire syslog file and it displays live in the log viewer, but my filters are not working as planned. I need help figuring out how to use $_GET to grab only the contents from the syslog that the user wants to see. I have a text field and submit button prepared for that in my index.php file. Should I use functions (tried this already)? Or is there a better approach? Can you give me some examples? logtail.php //Executes a shell script to grab all file contents from syslog on the device //Explodes that content into an array by new line, sorts from most recent entry to oldest entry if (file_exists($filename = '/var/log/syslog')) { $syslogContent = shell_exec("cat $filename | grep -e '.*' $filename"); $contentArray = explode("\n", $syslogContent); rsort($contentArray); print_r($contentArray); } ajax.js (working properly) function createRequest() { var request = null; try { request = new XMLHttpRequest(); } catch (trymicrosoft) { try { request = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP"); } catch (othermicrosoft) { try { request = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP"); } catch (failed) { request = null; } } } if (request == null) { return alert("Error creating request object!"); } else { return request; } } var request = createRequest(); function getLog(timer) { var url = 'logtail.php'; request.open("GET", url, true); request.onreadystatechange = updatePage; request.send(null); startTail(timer); } function startTail(timer) { if (timer == "stop") { stopTail(); } else { t = setTimeout("getLog()",1000); } } function stopTail() { clearTimeout(t); var pause = "The log viewer has been paused. To begin viewing again, click the Start Log button.\n"; logDiv = document.getElementById("log"); var newNode = document.createTextNode(pause); logDiv.replaceChild(newNode,logDiv.childNodes[0]); } function updatePage() { if (request.readyState == 4) { if (request.status == 200) { var currentLogValue = request.responseText.split("\n"); eval(currentLogValue); logDiv = document.getElementById("log"); var logLine = ' '; for (i = 0; i < currentLogValue.length - 1; i++) { logLine += currentLogValue[i] + "<br/>\n"; } logDiv.innerHTML = logLine; } else alert("Error! Request status is " + request.status); } } index.php <script type="text/javascript" src="scripts/ajax.js"></script> <button style="margin-left:25px;" onclick="getLog('start');">Start Log</button> <button onclick="stopTail();">Stop Log</button> <form action="" method="get"> //This is where the filter options would be Date & Time (ex. Nov 03 07:24:57): <input type="text" name="dateTime" /> <input type="submit" value="submit" /> </form> <br> <div id="log" style="..."> //This is where the log contents are displayed </div>

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  • Placeholder is not shown in jquery sortable, drag & drop

    - by balakrishnan
    I can't show Place holder for the sortable items in a div. &lt;script type="text/javascript"&gt; $(function() { $("#userContent").sortable({ handle: '.close_button', connectWith: '#userContent', placeholder: 'placeholder', forcePlaceholderSize: true, tolerance: 'pointer', revert: true, }); }); </script> <style type="text/css"> .webtitle_paragraphs { width:98%; float:left; border:1px solid #0099CC; margin:5px; } .close_button { display:block; overflow:visible; visibility:visible; height:20px; background:#0099CC; width:100%; } .placeholder { background: #f0f0f0; border:1px dashed #ddd; visibility: visible !important; } .webtitle input { width:98%; font: bold 20px verdana; border:0px; } .paragraph_txt textarea { width:98%; height:auto; border:0px; } </style> </head> <body> <div id="userContent"> <div class="webtitle_paragraphs" id="div4463_text"> <div class="close_button" id="close_4463"><a onclick="removeDiv('div4463_text');"><img src="images/close_button.png" alt="close" width="15" height="15" border="0" align="right"/></a></div> <div class="webtitle_paragraph"> <div class="webtitle"> <input value="Title" name="webtitle4463" type="text" class="text _4463" /> </div> </div> </div> <div class="webtitle_paragraphs" id="div7192_image"> <div class="close_button" id="close_7192"><a onclick="removeDiv('div7192_image');"><img src="images/close_button.png" alt="close" width="15" height="15" border="0" align="right"/></a></div> <div class="webtitle_paragraph"> <div class="paragraph"><img src="https://localhost/web20/user_site_designs/images/noImage.jpeg" id="img7192" class="imageCntrl" onclick="uploadFile(7192)"/> <input type="hidden" name="imgName7192" id="imgName7192" value="" class="image _7192"/> </div> </div> </div> <div class="webtitle_paragraphs" id="div9683_paragraph"> <div class="close_button" id="close_9683"><a onclick="removeDiv('div9683_paragraph');"><img src="images/close_button.png" alt="close" width="15" height="15" border="0" align="right"/></a></div> <div class="webtitle_paragraph"> <div class="paragraph_txt"> <textarea class="paragraph _9683" name="myTextarea9683" id="myTextarea9683">Paragraphp</textarea> </div> </div> </div> </div> Thanks is advance.

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  • Setting background image in asp.net (Master page)

    - by JRC
    I'm new in asp.net. And I am having trouble setting my background image. Here's the master page source: <%@ Master Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeFile="Master.master.cs" Inherits="Master"%> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head runat="server"> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="scripts/style.css"/> <title>Tracker</title> <asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="head" runat="server"> </asp:ContentPlaceHolder> </head> <body> <form id="form1" runat="server"> <div> <div class="container"> <a href="#"><img src="images/cross-header.gif" alt="Insert Logo Here" width="100%" id="Insert_logo" style="background: #C6D580; display:block;" /></a> <div class="sidebar1"> <nav> <ul> <li><a href="#">Home</a></li> <li><a href="#">LINK</a></li> <li><a href="#">LINK</a></li> <li><a href="#"><span style="font-weight:italic">LINK</span></a></li> <li><a href="#"><span style="font-weight:italic">LINK</span></a></li> </ul> </nav> <p>SOME LABEL</p> <p>SOME QUOTE HERE</p> <p></p> </div> </div> <footer> <a href="#">LINK HERE</a> | <a href="#">LINK HERE</a> | <a href="contact.php">CONTACT</a> | <a href="register.php">REGISTER</a> | <a href="login.php">LOGIN</a> <address> Copyright 2012 @JRC </address> </footer> </div> </form> </body> </html> The image that I am trying to use is located at the folder image. I don't know whats wrong. And here's what the style.css source: body { font: 100%/1.4 Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin: 0; padding: 0; background-image:url('images/background.jpg'); background-repeat:no-repeat; background-attachment:scroll; background-position:repeat-x; } I also tried this url('image/background.jpeg') etc. but still fails.

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  • CSS + jQuery - Unable to perform .toggle() and repeated jQueryTemplate Item [I must warn you this is a bit overwhelming]

    - by user1027620
    Okay here we go: Stream.html (Template file) <div class="streamItem clearfix"> <input type="button" /> <div class="clientStrip"> <img src="" alt="${Sender}" /> </div> <div class="clientView"> <a href="#" class="clientName">${Sender}</a> <p>${Value}</p> <p>${DateTime}</p> <div class="itemGadgets"> <ul> <li class="toggleInput">Value</li> <li></li> </ul> </div> <div class="inputContainer"> <input type="text" value="" /> </div> </div> </div> <div class="spacer" /> Default.aspx (jQuery) $('.toggleInput').live('click', function () { $(this).parent().parent() .find('.inputContainer').toggle(); $(this).parent().parent().find('.inputContainer') .find('input[type=text]').focus(); }); Update: The above has been changed to: $('.toggleInput').live('click', function () { $(this).closest(".clientView").find(".inputContainer").toggle() $(this).closest(".clientView").find(".inputContainer") .find('input[type=text]').focus(); }); Issues with jQuery: I have comments that belong to each .streamItem. My previous solution was to use ListView control as follows: <ItemTemplate> <asp:Panel ID="StreamItem" CssClass="StreamItem" runat="server"> ... <!-- Insert another nested ListView control here to load the comments for the parent stream. --> So as you can see, this is not a solution since I started using jQuery Templates and I am fetching the data using the following jQuery $.ajax method: $.ajax({ type: 'POST', url: 'Services.asmx/GetStream', data: "{}", contentType: 'application/json', success: function (Stream) { $.get('Templates/Stream.html', function (template) { $.tmpl(template, Stream.d).appendTo("#Stream"); }); } }); How can I resolve this without using the old ListView solution but by using jQuery Templates to load the comments whenever I am getting data for a specific stream? I am using a simple WebMethod to return my data as follows: [WebMethod] public List<Stream> GetStream() { List<Stream> Streams = Stream.GetRange(X, X, HttpContext.Current.User.Identity.Name); return Streams; } I am looking for a way to handle the .toggleInput click event. I need check if .Comments (a main container for the (to be comments container <div>)) has children (or more than one .commentItem). If so, then I need to show that .inputContainer and hide all the other .inputContainer divs with .Comments size() == 0 if they're visible. Please see the image below: Default.aspx (Partial CSS) div.streamItem div.clientView { float : left; width : 542px; } div.streamItem div.clientView p { margin : 5px 0 0 0; font-size : 10pt; } div.streamItem div.clientView div.inputContainer { display : none; /* Doesn't hide .inputContainer */ padding : 2px; background-color : #f1f1f1; } Issues with CSS: On page load, display: none; has no effect. That's it! If you're reading this I'd like to thank you for your time and thoughts! :)

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  • how to bind input fields to a modal input fields AngularJS

    - by user3919120
    I have a form with a Customer and its properties populating input fields. If the user needs to change the Customer they click on the CustomerName input. A modal opens with a Customer List for them to choose from. There selection populates the input fields in that modal. I need to have that new information put in the already populated input fields. plunkr <div class="form-group"> <div class="input-group"> <span class="input-group-addon">C. Name</span> <input style="width:400px" ng-model="currentItem.CustomerName" class="form-control btn btn-default" ng-click="editJobCustomerModal()" /> </div> </div> <div class="form-group"> <div class="input-group"> <span class="input-group-addon">C. Address</span> <input style="width:390px" ng-model="currentItem.CustomerAddress" class="form-control" type="text"> </div> </div> Modal <div ng-controller="JobCtrl" data-backdrop="static" data-keyboard="false" class="modal fade" id="editJobCustomerModal" tabindex="-1" role="dialog" aria-labelledby="edit" aria-hidden="true"> <div class=" modal-dialog modal-editJobCustomer"> <div class="modal-content"> <div class="modal-header"> <h4 class="modal-title custom_align" id="Heading">Change Job Customer</h4> </div> <div class="modal-body"> <div class="container"> <form ng-submit="submitJob()" enctype="multipart/form-data"> <fieldset> <div class="col-md-8"> <!-- Prepended text--> <div class="form-group"> <div class="input-group"> <span class="input-group-addon">C. Name</span> <input style="width:400px" ng-model="selectedCustomer.CustomerName" class="form-control" type="text" /> </div> </div> <div class="form-group"> <div class="input-group"> <span class="input-group-addon">C. Address</span> <input style="width:390px" ng-model="selectedCustomer.CustomerAddress" class="form-control" type="text"> </div> </div> </fieldset><br /> <input style="float:right" class="btn btn-danger" ng-click="" type="button" value="Update"/> <input style="float:right; margin-right:20px" type="button" class="btn btn-primary" data-dismiss="modal" value="Cancel" /> </form> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>

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  • Unable to display images through media queries form stylesheet

    - by kNair
    I'm trying to create a responsive homepage with max-width of 1024 first. However the images are not displaying when I called from the css file. I did include the stylesheet inside the home page and the current viewport is 1024. I can't find my mistake, please help. Thanks. homepage <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width,initial-scale=1"/> <title>Responsive design</title> <link rel="stylesheet" href="res-style.css" type="text/css" media="screen and (max-width:1024px)"/> </head> <body> <table class="ct"> <tr> <td class="1"> <?php include 'menu.php'; ?> </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="2"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td class='3'> <img src="NewLogo1.png"></td> </tr> <tr> <td class='4'> </td> </tr> <tr> <td class='5'> wefhuiweabhfuia</td> </tr> </table> </body> </html> stylesheet @charset "utf-8"; /* CSS Document */ @media screen and (max-width:1024px) { .ct{min-width:1000px;height:898px;border:0;} .1{background-image:url('images/text-5_02.png');min-width:1000px;height:43px;margin-left:10px;background-repeat:no-repeat;display:inherit;} .2{background-image:url('images/text-5_04.png');min-width:1000px;height:256px;background-repeat:no-repeat;} .3{background-image:url('images/text-5_05.png');min-width:1000px;height:288px;padding-left:25%;background-repeat:no-repeat;} .4{background-image:url('images/text-5_06.png');min-width:1000px;height:256px;background-repeat:no-repeat;} .5{background-image:url('images/text-5_07.png');min-width:1000px;height:55px;background-repeat:no-repeat;} }

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  • Netflix, jQuery, JSONP, and OData

    - by Stephen Walther
    At the last MIX conference, Netflix announced that they are exposing their catalog of movie information using the OData protocol. This is great news! This means that you can take advantage of all of the advanced OData querying features against a live database of Netflix movies. In this blog entry, I’ll demonstrate how you can use Netflix, jQuery, JSONP, and OData to create a simple movie lookup form. The form enables you to enter a movie title, or part of a movie title, and display a list of matching movies. For example, Figure 1 illustrates the movies displayed when you enter the value robot into the lookup form.   Using the Netflix OData Catalog API You can learn about the Netflix OData Catalog API at the following website: http://developer.netflix.com/docs/oData_Catalog The nice thing about this website is that it provides plenty of samples. It also has a good general reference for OData. For example, the website includes a list of OData filter operators and functions. The Netflix Catalog API exposes 4 top-level resources: Titles – A database of Movie information including interesting movie properties such as synopsis, BoxArt, and Cast. People – A database of people information including interesting information such as Awards, TitlesDirected, and TitlesActedIn. Languages – Enables you to get title information in different languages. Genres – Enables you to get title information for specific movie genres. OData is REST based. This means that you can perform queries by putting together the right URL. For example, if you want to get a list of the movies that were released after 2010 and that had an average rating greater than 4 then you can enter the following URL in the address bar of your browser: http://odata.netflix.com/Catalog/Titles?$filter=ReleaseYear gt 2010&AverageRating gt 4 Entering this URL returns the movies in Figure 2. Creating the Movie Lookup Form The complete code for the Movie Lookup form is contained in Listing 1. Listing 1 – MovieLookup.htm <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <title>Netflix with jQuery</title> <style type="text/css"> #movieTemplateContainer div { width:400px; padding: 10px; margin: 10px; border: black solid 1px; } </style> <script src="http://ajax.microsoft.com/ajax/jquery/jquery-1.4.2.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <script src="App_Scripts/Microtemplates.js" type="text/javascript"></script> </head> <body> <label>Search Movies:</label> <input id="movieName" size="50" /> <button id="btnLookup">Lookup</button> <div id="movieTemplateContainer"></div> <script id="movieTemplate" type="text/html"> <div> <img src="<%=BoxArtSmallUrl %>" /> <strong><%=Name%></strong> <p> <%=Synopsis %> </p> </div> </script> <script type="text/javascript"> $("#btnLookup").click(function () { // Build OData query var movieName = $("#movieName").val(); var query = "http://odata.netflix.com/Catalog" // netflix base url + "/Titles" // top-level resource + "?$filter=substringof('" + escape(movieName) + "',Name)" // filter by movie name + "&$callback=callback" // jsonp request + "&$format=json"; // json request // Make JSONP call to Netflix $.ajax({ dataType: "jsonp", url: query, jsonpCallback: "callback", success: callback }); }); function callback(result) { // unwrap result var movies = result["d"]["results"]; // show movies in template var showMovie = tmpl("movieTemplate"); var html = ""; for (var i = 0; i < movies.length; i++) { // flatten movie movies[i].BoxArtSmallUrl = movies[i].BoxArt.SmallUrl; // render with template html += showMovie(movies[i]); } $("#movieTemplateContainer").html(html); } </script> </body> </html> The HTML page in Listing 1 includes two JavaScript libraries: <script src="http://ajax.microsoft.com/ajax/jquery/jquery-1.4.2.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <script src="App_Scripts/Microtemplates.js" type="text/javascript"></script> The first script tag retrieves jQuery from the Microsoft Ajax CDN. You can learn more about the Microsoft Ajax CDN by visiting the following website: http://www.asp.net/ajaxLibrary/cdn.ashx The second script tag is used to reference Resig’s micro-templating library. Because I want to use a template to display each movie, I need this library: http://ejohn.org/blog/javascript-micro-templating/ When you enter a value into the Search Movies input field and click the button, the following JavaScript code is executed: // Build OData query var movieName = $("#movieName").val(); var query = "http://odata.netflix.com/Catalog" // netflix base url + "/Titles" // top-level resource + "?$filter=substringof('" + escape(movieName) + "',Name)" // filter by movie name + "&$callback=callback" // jsonp request + "&$format=json"; // json request // Make JSONP call to Netflix $.ajax({ dataType: "jsonp", url: query, jsonpCallback: "callback", success: callback }); This code Is used to build a query that will be executed against the Netflix Catalog API. For example, if you enter the search phrase King Kong then the following URL is created: http://odata.netflix.com/Catalog/Titles?$filter=substringof(‘King%20Kong’,Name)&$callback=callback&$format=json This query includes the following parameters: $filter – You assign a filter expression to this parameter to filter the movie results. $callback – You assign the name of a JavaScript callback method to this parameter. OData calls this method to return the movie results. $format – you assign either the value json or xml to this parameter to specify how the format of the movie results. Notice that all of the OData parameters -- $filter, $callback, $format -- start with a dollar sign $. The Movie Lookup form uses JSONP to retrieve data across the Internet. Because WCF Data Services supports JSONP, and Netflix uses WCF Data Services to expose movies using the OData protocol, you can use JSONP when interacting with the Netflix Catalog API. To learn more about using JSONP with OData, see Pablo Castro’s blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/pablo/archive/2009/02/25/adding-support-for-jsonp-and-url-controlled-format-to-ado-net-data-services.aspx The actual JSONP call is performed by calling the $.ajax() method. When this call successfully completes, the JavaScript callback() method is called. The callback() method looks like this: function callback(result) { // unwrap result var movies = result["d"]["results"]; // show movies in template var showMovie = tmpl("movieTemplate"); var html = ""; for (var i = 0; i < movies.length; i++) { // flatten movie movies[i].BoxArtSmallUrl = movies[i].BoxArt.SmallUrl; // render with template html += showMovie(movies[i]); } $("#movieTemplateContainer").html(html); } The movie results from Netflix are passed to the callback method. The callback method takes advantage of Resig’s micro-templating library to display each of the movie results. A template used to display each movie is passed to the tmpl() method. The movie template looks like this: <script id="movieTemplate" type="text/html"> <div> <img src="<%=BoxArtSmallUrl %>" /> <strong><%=Name%></strong> <p> <%=Synopsis %> </p> </div> </script>   This template looks like a server-side ASP.NET template. However, the template is rendered in the client (browser) instead of the server. Summary The goal of this blog entry was to demonstrate how well jQuery works with OData. We managed to use a number of interesting open-source libraries and open protocols while building the Movie Lookup form including jQuery, JSONP, JSON, and OData.

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  • Productivity Tips

    - by Brian T. Jackett
    A few months ago during my first end of year review at Microsoft I was doing an assessment of my year.  One of my personal goals to come out of this reflection was to improve my personal productivity.  While I hear many people say “I wish I had more hours in the day so that I could get more done” I feel like that is the wrong approach.  There is an inherent assumption that you are being productive with your time that you already have and thus more time would allow you to be as productive given more time.    Instead of wishing I could add more hours to the day I’ve begun adopting a number of processes or behavior changes in my personal life to make better use of my time with the goal of improving productivity.  The areas of focus are as follows: Focus Processes Tools Personal health Email Note: A number of these topics have spawned from reading Scott Hanselman’s blog posts on productivity, reading of David Allen’s book Getting Things Done, and discussions with friends and coworkers who had great insights into this topic.   Focus Pre-reading / viewing: Overcome your work addiction Millennials paralyzed by choice Its Not What You Read Its What You Ignore (Scott Hanselman video)    I highly recommend Scott Hanselman’s video above and this post before continuing with this article.  It is well worth the 40+ mins price of admission for the video and couple minutes for article.  One key takeaway for me was listing out my activities in an average week and realizing which ones held little or no value to me.  We all have a finite amount of time to work each day.  Do you know how much time and effort you spend on various aspects of your life (family, friends, religion, work, personal happiness, etc.)?  Do your actions and commitments reflect your priorities?    The biggest time consumers with little value for me were time spent on social media services (Twitter and Facebook), playing an MMO video game, and watching TV.  I still check up on Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft internal chat forums, and other services to keep contact with others but I’ve reduced that time significantly.  As for TV I’ve cut the cord and no longer subscribe to cable TV.  Instead I use Netflix, RedBox, and over the air channels but again with reduced time consumption.  With the time I’ve freed up I’m back to working out 2-3 times a week and reading 4 nights a week (both of which I had been neglecting previously).  I’ll mention a few tools for helping measure your time in the Tools section.   Processes    Do not multi-task.  I’ll say it again.  Do not multi-task.  There is no such thing as multi tasking.  The human brain is optimized to work on one thing at a time.  When you are “multi-tasking” you are really doing 2 or more things at less than 100%, usually by a wide margin.  I take pride in my work and when I’m doing something less than 100% the results typically degrade rapidly.    Now there are some ways of bending the rules of physics for this one.  There is the notion of getting a double amount of work done in the same timeframe.  Some examples would be listening to podcasts / watching a movie while working out, using a treadmill as your work desk, or reading while in the bathroom.    Personally I’ve found good results in combining one task that does not require focus (making dinner, playing certain video games, working out) and one task that does (watching a movie, listening to podcasts).  I believe this is related to me being a visual and kinesthetic (using my hands or actually doing it) learner.  I’m terrible with auditory learning.  My fiance and I joke that sometimes we talk and talk to each other but never really hear each other.   Goals / Tasks    Goals can give us direction in life and a sense of accomplishment when we complete them.  Goals can also overwhelm us and give us a sense of failure when we don’t complete them.  I propose that you shift your perspective and not dwell on all of the things that you haven’t gotten done, but focus instead on regularly setting measureable goals that are within reason of accomplishing.    At the end of each time frame have a retrospective to review your progress.  Do not feel guilty about what you did not accomplish.  Feel proud of what you did accomplish and readjust your goals for the next time frame to more attainable goals.  Here is a sample schedule I’ve seen proposed by some.  I have not consistently set goals for each timeframe, but I do typically set 3 small goals a day (this blog post is #2 for today). Each day set 3 small goals Each week set 3 medium goals Each month set 1 large goal Each year set 2 very large goals   Tools    Tools are an extension of our human body.  They help us extend beyond what we can physically and mentally do.  Below are some tools I use almost daily or have found useful as of late. Disclaimer: I am not getting endorsed to promote any of these products.  I just happen to like them and find them useful. Instapaper – Save internet links for reading later.  There are many tools like this but I’ve found this to be a great one.  There is even a “read it later” JavaScript button you can add to your browser so when you navigate to a site it will then add this to your list. Stacks for Instapaper – A Windows Phone 7 app for reading my Instapaper articles on the go.  It does require a subscription to Instapaper (nominal $3 every three months) but is easily worth the cost.  Alternatively you can set up your Kindle to sync with Instapaper easily but I haven’t done so. SlapDash Podcast – Apps for Windows Phone and  Windows 8 (possibly other platforms) to sync podcast viewing / listening across multiple devices.  Now that I have my Surface RT device (which I love) this is making my consumption easier to manage. Feed Reader – Simple Windows 8 app for quickly catching up on my RSS feeds.  I used to have hundreds of unread items all the time.  Now I’m down to 20-50 regularly and it is much easier and faster to consume on my Surface RT.  There is also a free version (which I use) and I can’t see much different between the free and paid versions currently. Rescue Time – Have you ever wondered how much time you’ve spent on websites vs. email vs. “doing work”?  This service tracks your computer actions and then lets you report on them.  This can help you quantitatively identify areas where your actions are not in line with your priorities. PowerShell – Windows automation tool.  It is now built into every client and server OS.  This tool has saved me days (and I mean the full 24 hrs worth) of time and effort in the past year alone.  If you haven’t started learning PowerShell and you administrating any Windows OS or server product you need to start today. Various blogging tools – I wrote a post a couple years ago called How I Blog about my blogging process and tools used.  Almost all of it still applies today.   Personal Health    Some of these may be common sense or debatable, but I’ve found them to help prioritize my daily activities. Get plenty of sleep on a regular basis.  Sacrificing sleep too many nights a week negatively impacts your cognition, attitude, and overall health. Exercise at least three days.  Exercise could be lifting weights, taking the stairs up multiple flights of stairs, walking for 20 mins, or a number of other "non-traditional” activities.  I find that regular exercise helps with sleep and improves my overall attitude. Eat a well balanced diet.  Too much sugar, caffeine, junk food, etc. are not good for your body.  This is not a matter of losing weight but taking care of your body and helping you perform at your peak potential.   Email    Email can be one of the biggest time consumers (i.e. waster) if you aren’t careful. Time box your email usage.  Set a meeting invite for yourself if necessary to limit how much time you spend checking email. Use rules to prioritize your email.  Email from external customers, my manager, or include me directly on the To line go into my inbox.  Everything else goes a level down and I have 30+ rules to further sort it, mostly distribution lists. Use keyboard shortcuts (when available).  I use Outlook for my primary email and am constantly hitting Alt + S to send, Ctrl + 1 for my inbox, Ctrl + 2 for my calendar, Space / Tab / Shift + Tab to mark items as read, and a number of other useful commands.  Learn them and you’ll see your speed getting through emails increase. Keep emails short.  No one Few people like reading through long emails.  The first line should state exactly why you are sending the email followed by a 3-4 lines to support it.  Anything longer might be better suited as a phone call or in person discussion.   Conclusion    In this post I walked through various tips and tricks I’ve found for improving personal productivity.  It is a mix of re-focusing on the things that matter, using tools to assist in your efforts, and cutting out actions that are not aligned with your priorities.  I originally had a whole section on keyboard shortcuts, but with my recent purchase of the Surface RT I’m finding that touch gestures have replaced numerous keyboard commands that I used to need.  I see a big future in touch enabled devices.  Hopefully some of these tips help you out.  If you have any tools, tips, or ideas you would like to share feel free to add in the comments section.         -Frog Out   Links Scott Hanselman Productivity posts http://www.hanselman.com/blog/CategoryView.aspx?category=Productivity Overcome your work addiction http://blogs.hbr.org/hbsfaculty/2012/05/overcome-your-work-addiction.html?awid=5512355740280659420-3271   Millennials paralyzed by choice http://priyaparker.com/blog/millennials-paralyzed-by-choice   Its Not What You Read Its What You Ignore (video) http://www.hanselman.com/blog/ItsNotWhatYouReadItsWhatYouIgnoreVideoOfScottHanselmansPersonalProductivityTips.aspx   Cutting the cord – Jeff Blankenburg http://www.jeffblankenburg.com/2011/04/06/cutting-the-cord/   Building a sitting standing desk – Eric Harlan http://www.ericharlan.com/Everything_Else/building-a-sitting-standing-desk-a229.html   Instapaper http://www.instapaper.com/u   Stacks for Instapaper http://www.stacksforinstapaper.com/   Slapdash Podcast Windows Phone -  http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/slapdash-podcasts/90e8b121-080b-e011-9264-00237de2db9e Windows 8 - http://apps.microsoft.com/webpdp/en-us/app/slapdash-podcasts/0c62e66a-f2e4-4403-af88-3430a821741e/m/ROW   Feed Reader http://apps.microsoft.com/webpdp/en-us/app/feed-reader/d03199c9-8e08-469a-bda1-7963099840cc/m/ROW   Rescue Time http://www.rescuetime.com/   PowerShell Script Center http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/scriptcenter/bb410849.aspx

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  • Exam 70-480 Study Material: Programming in HTML5 with JavaScript and CSS3

    - by Stacy Vicknair
    Here’s a list of sources of information for the different elements that comprise the 70-480 exam: General Resources http://www.w3schools.com (As pointed out in David Pallmann’s blog some of this content is unverified, but it is a decent source of information. For more about when it isn’t decent, see http://www.w3fools.com ) http://www.bloggedbychris.com/2012/09/19/microsoft-exam-70-480-study-guide/ (A guy who did a lot of what I did already, sadly I found this halfway through finishing my resources list. This list is expertly put together so I would recommend checking it out.) http://davidpallmann.blogspot.com/2012/08/microsoft-certification-exam-70-480.html http://pluralsight.com/training/Courses (Yes, this isn’t free, but if you look at the course listing there is an entire section on HTML5, CSS3 and Javascript. You can always try the trial!)   Some of the links I put below will overlap with the other resources above, but I tried to find explanations that looked beneficial to me on links outside those already mentioned.   Test Breakdown Implement and Manipulate Document Structures and Objects (24%) Create the document structure. o This objective may include but is not limited to: structure the UI by using semantic markup, including for search engines and screen readers (Section, Article, Nav, Header, Footer, and Aside); create a layout container in HTML http://www.w3schools.com/html/html5_new_elements.asp   Write code that interacts with UI controls. o This objective may include but is not limited to: programmatically add and modify HTML elements; implement media controls; implement HTML5 canvas and SVG graphics http://www.w3schools.com/html/html5_canvas.asp http://www.w3schools.com/html/html5_svg.asp   Apply styling to HTML elements programmatically. o This objective may include but is not limited to: change the location of an element; apply a transform; show and hide elements   Implement HTML5 APIs. o This objective may include but is not limited to: implement storage APIs, AppCache API, and Geolocation API http://www.w3schools.com/html/html5_geolocation.asp http://www.w3schools.com/html/html5_webstorage.asp http://www.w3schools.com/html/html5_app_cache.asp   Establish the scope of objects and variables. o This objective may include but is not limited to: define the lifetime of variables; keep objects out of the global namespace; use the “this” keyword to reference an object that fired an event; scope variables locally and globally http://robertnyman.com/2008/10/09/explaining-javascript-scope-and-closures/ http://www.quirksmode.org/js/this.html   Create and implement objects and methods. o This objective may include but is not limited to: implement native objects; create custom objects and custom properties for native objects using prototypes and functions; inherit from an object; implement native methods and create custom methods http://www.javascriptkit.com/javatutors/object.shtml http://www.crockford.com/javascript/inheritance.html http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1635116/javascript-class-method-vs-class-prototype-method http://www.javascriptkit.com/javatutors/proto.shtml     Implement Program Flow (25%) Implement program flow. o This objective may include but is not limited to: iterate across collections and array items; manage program decisions by using switch statements, if/then, and operators; evaluate expressions http://www.javascriptkit.com/jsref/looping.shtml http://www.javascriptkit.com/javatutors/varshort.shtml http://www.javascriptkit.com/javatutors/switch.shtml   Raise and handle an event. o This objective may include but is not limited to: handle common events exposed by DOM (OnBlur, OnFocus, OnClick); declare and handle bubbled events; handle an event by using an anonymous function http://dev.w3.org/2006/webapi/DOM-Level-3-Events/html/DOM3-Events.html http://javascript.info/tutorial/bubbling-and-capturing   Implement exception handling. o This objective may include but is not limited to: set and respond to error codes; throw an exception; request for null checks; implement try-catch-finally blocks http://www.javascriptkit.com/javatutors/trycatch.shtml   Implement a callback. o This objective may include but is not limited to: receive messages from the HTML5 WebSocket API; use jQuery to make an AJAX call; wire up an event; implement a callback by using anonymous functions; handle the “this” pointer http://www.w3.org/TR/2011/WD-websockets-20110419/ http://www.html5rocks.com/en/tutorials/websockets/basics/ http://api.jquery.com/jQuery.ajax/   Create a web worker process. o This objective may include but is not limited to: start and stop a web worker; pass data to a web worker; configure timeouts and intervals on the web worker; register an event listener for the web worker; limitations of a web worker https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/DOM/Using_web_workers http://www.html5rocks.com/en/tutorials/workers/basics/   Access and Secure Data (26%) Validate user input by using HTML5 elements. o This objective may include but is not limited to: choose the appropriate controls based on requirements; implement HTML input types and content attributes (for example, required) to collect user input http://diveintohtml5.info/forms.html   Validate user input by using JavaScript. o This objective may include but is not limited to: evaluate a regular expression to validate the input format; validate that you are getting the right kind of data type by using built-in functions; prevent code injection http://www.regular-expressions.info/javascript.html http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/66ztdbe6(v=vs.94).aspx https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/JavaScript/Reference/Operators/typeof http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2008/06/safe-html-and-xss/ http://stackoverflow.com/questions/942011/how-to-prevent-javascript-injection-attacks-within-user-generated-html   Consume data. o This objective may include but is not limited to: consume JSON and XML data; retrieve data by using web services; load data or get data from other sources by using XMLHTTPRequest http://www.erichynds.com/jquery/working-with-xml-jquery-and-javascript/ http://www.webdevstuff.com/86/javascript-xmlhttprequest-object.html http://www.json.org/ http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4935632/how-to-parse-json-in-javascript   Serialize, deserialize, and transmit data. o This objective may include but is not limited to: binary data; text data (JSON, XML); implement the jQuery serialize method; Form.Submit; parse data; send data by using XMLHTTPRequest; sanitize input by using URI/form encoding http://api.jquery.com/serialize/ http://www.javascript-coder.com/javascript-form/javascript-form-submit.phtml http://stackoverflow.com/questions/327685/is-there-a-way-to-read-binary-data-into-javascript https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/encodeURI     Use CSS3 in Applications (25%) Style HTML text properties. o This objective may include but is not limited to: apply styles to text appearance (color, bold, italics); apply styles to text font (WOFF and @font-face, size); apply styles to text alignment, spacing, and indentation; apply styles to text hyphenation; apply styles for a text drop shadow http://www.w3schools.com/css/css_text.asp http://www.w3schools.com/css/css_font.asp http://nicewebtype.com/notes/2009/10/30/how-to-use-css-font-face/ http://webdesign.about.com/od/beginningcss/p/aacss5text.htm http://www.w3.org/TR/css3-text/ http://www.css3.info/preview/box-shadow/   Style HTML box properties. o This objective may include but is not limited to: apply styles to alter appearance attributes (size, border and rounding border corners, outline, padding, margin); apply styles to alter graphic effects (transparency, opacity, background image, gradients, shadow, clipping); apply styles to establish and change an element’s position (static, relative, absolute, fixed) http://net.tutsplus.com/tutorials/html-css-techniques/10-css3-properties-you-need-to-be-familiar-with/ http://www.w3schools.com/css/css_image_transparency.asp http://www.w3schools.com/cssref/pr_background-image.asp http://ie.microsoft.com/testdrive/graphics/cssgradientbackgroundmaker/default.html http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS21/visufx.html http://www.barelyfitz.com/screencast/html-training/css/positioning/ http://davidwalsh.name/css-fixed-position   Create a flexible content layout. o This objective may include but is not limited to: implement a layout using a flexible box model; implement a layout using multi-column; implement a layout using position floating and exclusions; implement a layout using grid alignment; implement a layout using regions, grouping, and nesting http://www.html5rocks.com/en/tutorials/flexbox/quick/ http://www.css3.info/preview/multi-column-layout/ http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ie/hh673558(v=vs.85).aspx http://dev.w3.org/csswg/css3-grid-layout/ http://dev.w3.org/csswg/css3-regions/   Create an animated and adaptive UI. o This objective may include but is not limited to: animate objects by applying CSS transitions; apply 3-D and 2-D transformations; adjust UI based on media queries (device adaptations for output formats, displays, and representations); hide or disable controls http://www.bloggedbychris.com/2012/09/19/microsoft-exam-70-480-study-guide/   Find elements by using CSS selectors and jQuery. o This objective may include but is not limited to: choose the correct selector to reference an element; define element, style, and attribute selectors; find elements by using pseudo-elements and pseudo-classes (for example, :before, :first-line, :first-letter, :target, :lang, :checked, :first-child) http://www.bloggedbychris.com/2012/09/19/microsoft-exam-70-480-study-guide/   Structure a CSS file by using CSS selectors. o This objective may include but is not limited to: reference elements correctly; implement inheritance; override inheritance by using !important; style an element based on pseudo-elements and pseudo-classes (for example, :before, :first-line, :first-letter, :target, :lang, :checked, :first-child) http://www.bloggedbychris.com/2012/09/19/microsoft-exam-70-480-study-guide/   Technorati Tags: 70-480,CSS3,HTML5,HTML,CSS,JavaScript,Certification

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  • The fastest way to resize images from ASP.NET. And it’s (more) supported-ish.

    - by Bertrand Le Roy
    I’ve shown before how to resize images using GDI, which is fairly common but is explicitly unsupported because we know of very real problems that this can cause. Still, many sites still use that method because those problems are fairly rare, and because most people assume it’s the only way to get the job done. Plus, it works in medium trust. More recently, I’ve shown how you can use WPF APIs to do the same thing and get JPEG thumbnails, only 2.5 times faster than GDI (even now that GDI really ultimately uses WIC to read and write images). The boost in performance is great, but it comes at a cost, that you may or may not care about: it won’t work in medium trust. It’s also just as unsupported as the GDI option. What I want to show today is how to use the Windows Imaging Components from ASP.NET APIs directly, without going through WPF. The approach has the great advantage that it’s been tested and proven to scale very well. The WIC team tells me you should be able to call support and get answers if you hit problems. Caveats exist though. First, this is using interop, so until a signed wrapper sits in the GAC, it will require full trust. Second, the APIs have a very strong smell of native code and are definitely not .NET-friendly. And finally, the most serious problem is that older versions of Windows don’t offer MTA support for image decoding. MTA support is only available on Windows 7, Vista and Windows Server 2008. But on 2003 and XP, you’ll only get STA support. that means that the thread safety that we so badly need for server applications is not guaranteed on those operating systems. To make it work, you’d have to spin specialized threads yourself and manage the lifetime of your objects, which is outside the scope of this article. We’ll assume that we’re fine with al this and that we’re running on 7 or 2008 under full trust. Be warned that the code that follows is not simple or very readable. This is definitely not the easiest way to resize an image in .NET. Wrapping native APIs such as WIC in a managed wrapper is never easy, but fortunately we won’t have to: the WIC team already did it for us and released the results under MS-PL. The InteropServices folder, which contains the wrappers we need, is in the WicCop project but I’ve also included it in the sample that you can download from the link at the end of the article. In order to produce a thumbnail, we first have to obtain a decoding frame object that WIC can use. Like with WPF, that object will contain the command to decode a frame from the source image but won’t do the actual decoding until necessary. Getting the frame is done by reading the image bytes through a special WIC stream that you can obtain from a factory object that we’re going to reuse for lots of other tasks: var photo = File.ReadAllBytes(photoPath); var factory = (IWICComponentFactory)new WICImagingFactory(); var inputStream = factory.CreateStream(); inputStream.InitializeFromMemory(photo, (uint)photo.Length); var decoder = factory.CreateDecoderFromStream( inputStream, null, WICDecodeOptions.WICDecodeMetadataCacheOnLoad); var frame = decoder.GetFrame(0); We can read the dimensions of the frame using the following (somewhat ugly) code: uint width, height; frame.GetSize(out width, out height); This enables us to compute the dimensions of the thumbnail, as I’ve shown in previous articles. We now need to prepare the output stream for the thumbnail. WIC requires a special kind of stream, IStream (not implemented by System.IO.Stream) and doesn’t directlyunderstand .NET streams. It does provide a number of implementations but not exactly what we need here. We need to output to memory because we’ll want to persist the same bytes to the response stream and to a local file for caching. The memory-bound version of IStream requires a fixed-length buffer but we won’t know the length of the buffer before we resize. To solve that problem, I’ve built a derived class from MemoryStream that also implements IStream. The implementation is not very complicated, it just delegates the IStream methods to the base class, but it involves some native pointer manipulation. Once we have a stream, we need to build the encoder for the output format, which could be anything that WIC supports. For web thumbnails, our only reasonable options are PNG and JPEG. I explored PNG because it’s a lossless format, and because WIC does support PNG compression. That compression is not very efficient though and JPEG offers good quality with much smaller file sizes. On the web, it matters. I found the best PNG compression option (adaptive) to give files that are about twice as big as 100%-quality JPEG (an absurd setting), 4.5 times bigger than 95%-quality JPEG and 7 times larger than 85%-quality JPEG, which is more than acceptable quality. As a consequence, we’ll use JPEG. The JPEG encoder can be prepared as follows: var encoder = factory.CreateEncoder( Consts.GUID_ContainerFormatJpeg, null); encoder.Initialize(outputStream, WICBitmapEncoderCacheOption.WICBitmapEncoderNoCache); The next operation is to create the output frame: IWICBitmapFrameEncode outputFrame; var arg = new IPropertyBag2[1]; encoder.CreateNewFrame(out outputFrame, arg); Notice that we are passing in a property bag. This is where we’re going to specify our only parameter for encoding, the JPEG quality setting: var propBag = arg[0]; var propertyBagOption = new PROPBAG2[1]; propertyBagOption[0].pstrName = "ImageQuality"; propBag.Write(1, propertyBagOption, new object[] { 0.85F }); outputFrame.Initialize(propBag); We can then set the resolution for the thumbnail to be 96, something we weren’t able to do with WPF and had to hack around: outputFrame.SetResolution(96, 96); Next, we set the size of the output frame and create a scaler from the input frame and the computed dimensions of the target thumbnail: outputFrame.SetSize(thumbWidth, thumbHeight); var scaler = factory.CreateBitmapScaler(); scaler.Initialize(frame, thumbWidth, thumbHeight, WICBitmapInterpolationMode.WICBitmapInterpolationModeFant); The scaler is using the Fant method, which I think is the best looking one even if it seems a little softer than cubic (zoomed here to better show the defects): Cubic Fant Linear Nearest neighbor We can write the source image to the output frame through the scaler: outputFrame.WriteSource(scaler, new WICRect { X = 0, Y = 0, Width = (int)thumbWidth, Height = (int)thumbHeight }); And finally we commit the pipeline that we built and get the byte array for the thumbnail out of our memory stream: outputFrame.Commit(); encoder.Commit(); var outputArray = outputStream.ToArray(); outputStream.Close(); That byte array can then be sent to the output stream and to the cache file. Once we’ve gone through this exercise, it’s only natural to wonder whether it was worth the trouble. I ran this method, as well as GDI and WPF resizing over thirty twelve megapixel images for JPEG qualities between 70% and 100% and measured the file size and time to resize. Here are the results: Size of resized images   Time to resize thirty 12 megapixel images Not much to see on the size graph: sizes from WPF and WIC are equivalent, which is hardly surprising as WPF calls into WIC. There is just an anomaly for 75% for WPF that I noted in my previous article and that disappears when using WIC directly. But overall, using WPF or WIC over GDI represents a slight win in file size. The time to resize is more interesting. WPF and WIC get similar times although WIC seems to always be a little faster. Not surprising considering WPF is using WIC. The margin of error on this results is probably fairly close to the time difference. As we already knew, the time to resize does not depend on the quality level, only the size does. This means that the only decision you have to make here is size versus visual quality. This third approach to server-side image resizing on ASP.NET seems to converge on the fastest possible one. We have marginally better performance than WPF, but with some additional peace of mind that this approach is sanctioned for server-side usage by the Windows Imaging team. It still doesn’t work in medium trust. That is a problem and shows the way for future server-friendly managed wrappers around WIC. The sample code for this article can be downloaded from: http://weblogs.asp.net/blogs/bleroy/Samples/WicResize.zip The benchmark code can be found here (you’ll need to add your own images to the Images directory and then add those to the project, with content and copy if newer in the properties of the files in the solution explorer): http://weblogs.asp.net/blogs/bleroy/Samples/WicWpfGdiImageResizeBenchmark.zip WIC tools can be downloaded from: http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/wictools To conclude, here are some of the resized thumbnails at 85% fant:

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  • Routing to a Controller with no View in Angular

    - by Rick Strahl
    I've finally had some time to put Angular to use this week in a small project I'm working on for fun. Angular's routing is great and makes it real easy to map URL routes to controllers and model data into views. But what if you don't actually need a view, if you effectively need a headless controller that just runs code, but doesn't render a view?Preserve the ViewWhen Angular navigates a route and and presents a new view, it loads the controller and then renders the view from scratch. Views are not cached or stored, but displayed and then removed. So if you have routes configured like this:'use strict'; // Declare app level module which depends on filters, and services window.myApp = angular.module('myApp', ['myApp.filters', 'myApp.services', 'myApp.directives', 'myApp.controllers']). config(['$routeProvider', function($routeProvider) { $routeProvider.when('/map', { template: "partials/map.html ", controller: 'mapController', reloadOnSearch: false, animation: 'slide' }); … $routeProvider.otherwise({redirectTo: '/map'}); }]); Angular routes to the mapController and then re-renders the map.html template with the new data from the $scope filled in.But, but… I don't want a new View!Now in most cases this works just fine. If I'm rendering plain DOM content, or textboxes in a form interface that is all fine and dandy - it's perfectly fine to completely re-render the UI.But in some cases, the UI that's being managed has state and shouldn't be redrawn. In this case the main page in question has a Google Map on it. The map is  going to be manipulated throughout the lifetime of the application and the rest of the pages. In my application I have a toolbar on the bottom and the rest of the content is replaced/switched out by the Angular Views:The problem is that the map shouldn't be redrawn each time the Location view is activated. It should maintain its state, such as the current position selected (which can move), and shouldn't redraw due to the overhead of re-rendering the initial map.Originally I set up the map, exactly like all my other views - as a partial, that is rendered with a separate file, but that didn't work.The Workaround - Controller Only RoutesThe workaround for this goes decidedly against Angular's way of doing things:Setting up a Template-less RouteIn-lining the map view directly into the main pageHiding and showing the map view manuallyLet's see how this works.Controller Only RouteThe template-less route is basically a route that doesn't have any template to render. This is not directly supported by Angular, but thankfully easy to fake. The end goal here is that I want to simply have the Controller fire and then have the controller manage the display of the already active view by hiding and showing the map and any other view content, in effect bypassing Angular's view display management.In short - I want a controller action, but no view rendering.The controller-only or template-less route looks like this: $routeProvider.when('/map', { template: " ", // just fire controller controller: 'mapController', animation: 'slide' });Notice I'm using the template property rather than templateUrl (used in the first example above), which allows specifying a string template, and leaving it blank. The template property basically allows you to provide a templated string using Angular's HandleBar like binding syntax which can be useful at times. You can use plain strings or strings with template code in the template, or as I'm doing here a blank string to essentially fake 'just clear the view'. In-lined ViewSo if there's no view where does the HTML go? Because I don't want Angular to manage the view the map markup is in-lined directly into the page. So instead of rendering the map into the Angular view container, the content is simply set up as inline HTML to display as a sibling to the view container.<div id="MapContent" data-icon="LocationIcon" ng-controller="mapController" style="display:none"> <div class="headerbar"> <div class="right-header" style="float:right"> <a id="btnShowSaveLocationDialog" class="iconbutton btn btn-sm" href="#/saveLocation" style="margin-right: 2px;"> <i class="icon-ok icon-2x" style="color: lightgreen; "></i> Save Location </a> </div> <div class="left-header">GeoCrumbs</div> </div> <div class="clearfix"></div> <div id="Message"> <i id="MessageIcon"></i> <span id="MessageText"></span> </div> <div id="Map" class="content-area"> </div> </div> <div id="ViewPlaceholder" ng-view></div>Note that there's the #MapContent element and the #ViewPlaceHolder. The #MapContent is my static map view that is always 'live' and is initially hidden. It is initially hidden and doesn't get made visible until the MapController controller activates it which does the initial rendering of the map. After that the element is persisted with the map data already loaded and any future access only updates the map with new locations/pins etc.Note that default route is assigned to the mapController, which means that the mapController is fired right as the page loads, which is actually a good thing in this case, as the map is the cornerstone of this app that is manipulated by some of the other controllers/views.The Controller handles some UISince there's effectively no view activation with the template-less route, the controller unfortunately has to take over some UI interaction directly. Specifically it has to swap the hidden state between the map and any of the other views.Here's what the controller looks like:myApp.controller('mapController', ["$scope", "$routeParams", "locationData", function($scope, $routeParams, locationData) { $scope.locationData = locationData.location; $scope.locationHistory = locationData.locationHistory; if ($routeParams.mode == "currentLocation") { bc.getCurrentLocation(false); } bc.showMap(false,"#LocationIcon"); }]);bc.showMap is responsible for a couple of display tasks that hide/show the views/map and for activating/deactivating icons. The code looks like this:this.showMap = function (hide,selActiveIcon) { if (!hide) $("#MapContent").show(); else { $("#MapContent").hide(); } self.fitContent(); if (selActiveIcon) { $(".iconbutton").removeClass("active"); $(selActiveIcon).addClass("active"); } };Each of the other controllers in the app also call this function when they are activated to basically hide the map and make the View Content area visible. The map controller makes the map.This is UI code and calling this sort of thing from controllers is generally not recommended, but I couldn't figure out a way using directives to make this work any more easily than this. It'd be easy to hide and show the map and view container using a flag an ng-show, but it gets tricky because of scoping of the $scope. I would have to resort to storing this setting on the $rootscope which I try to avoid. The same issues exists with the icons.It sure would be nice if Angular had a way to explicitly specify that a View shouldn't be destroyed when another view is activated, so currently this workaround is required. Searching around, I saw a number of whacky hacks to get around this, but this solution I'm using here seems much easier than any of that I could dig up even if it doesn't quite fit the 'Angular way'.Angular nice, until it's notOverall I really like Angular and the way it works although it took me a bit of time to get my head around how all the pieces fit together. Once I got the idea how the app/routes, the controllers and views snap together, putting together Angular pages becomes fairly straightforward. You can get quite a bit done never going beyond those basics. For most common things Angular's default routing and view presentation works very well.But, when you do something a bit more complex, where there are multiple dependencies or as in this case where Angular doesn't appear to support a feature that's absolutely necessary, you're on your own. Finding information on more advanced topics is not trivial especially since versions are changing so rapidly and the low level behaviors are changing frequently so finding something that works is often an exercise in trial and error. Not that this is surprising. Angular is a complex piece of kit as are all the frameworks that try to hack JavaScript into submission to do something that it was really never designed to. After all everything about a framework like Angular is an elaborate hack. A lot of shit has to happen to make this all work together and at that Angular (and Ember, Durandel etc.) are pretty amazing pieces of JavaScript code. So no harm, no foul, but I just can't help feeling like working in toy sandbox at times :-)© Rick Strahl, West Wind Technologies, 2005-2013Posted in Angular  JavaScript   Tweet !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs"); (function() { var po = document.createElement('script'); po.type = 'text/javascript'; po.async = true; po.src = 'https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(po, s); })();

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  • Ogre 3d and bullet physics interaction

    - by Tim
    I have been playing around with Ogre3d and trying to integrate bullet physics. I have previously somewhat successfully got this functionality working with irrlicht and bullet and I am trying to base this on what I had done there, but modifying it to fit with Ogre. It is working but not correctly and I would like some help to understand what it is I am doing wrong. I have a state system and when I enter the "gamestate" I call some functions such as setting up a basic scene, creating the physics simulation. I am doing that as follows. void GameState::enter() { ... // Setup Physics btBroadphaseInterface *BroadPhase = new btAxisSweep3(btVector3(-1000,-1000,-1000), btVector3(1000,1000,1000)); btDefaultCollisionConfiguration *CollisionConfiguration = new btDefaultCollisionConfiguration(); btCollisionDispatcher *Dispatcher = new btCollisionDispatcher(CollisionConfiguration); btSequentialImpulseConstraintSolver *Solver = new btSequentialImpulseConstraintSolver(); World = new btDiscreteDynamicsWorld(Dispatcher, BroadPhase, Solver, CollisionConfiguration); ... createScene(); } In the createScene method I add a light and try to setup a "ground" plane to act as the ground for things to collide with.. as follows. I expect there is issues with this as I get objects colliding with the ground but half way through it and they glitch around like crazy on collision. void GameState::createScene() { m_pSceneMgr->createLight("Light")->setPosition(75,75,75); // Physics // As a test we want a floor plane for things to collide with Ogre::Entity *ent; Ogre::Plane p; p.normal = Ogre::Vector3(0,1,0); p.d = 0; Ogre::MeshManager::getSingleton().createPlane( "FloorPlane", Ogre::ResourceGroupManager::DEFAULT_RESOURCE_GROUP_NAME, p, 200000, 200000, 20, 20, true, 1, 9000,9000,Ogre::Vector3::UNIT_Z); ent = m_pSceneMgr->createEntity("floor", "FloorPlane"); ent->setMaterialName("Test/Floor"); Ogre::SceneNode *node = m_pSceneMgr->getRootSceneNode()->createChildSceneNode(); node->attachObject(ent); btTransform Transform; Transform.setIdentity(); Transform.setOrigin(btVector3(0,1,0)); // Give it to the motion state btDefaultMotionState *MotionState = new btDefaultMotionState(Transform); btCollisionShape *Shape = new btStaticPlaneShape(btVector3(0,1,0),0); // Add Mass btVector3 LocalInertia; Shape->calculateLocalInertia(0, LocalInertia); // CReate the rigid body object btRigidBody *RigidBody = new btRigidBody(0, MotionState, Shape, LocalInertia); // Store a pointer to the Ogre Node so we can update it later RigidBody->setUserPointer((void *) (node)); // Add it to the physics world World->addRigidBody(RigidBody); Objects.push_back(RigidBody); m_pNumEntities++; // End Physics } I then have a method to create a cube and give it rigid body physics properties. I know there will be errors here as I get the items colliding with the ground but not with each other properly. So I would appreciate some input on what I am doing wrong. void GameState::CreateBox(const btVector3 &TPosition, const btVector3 &TScale, btScalar TMass) { Ogre::Vector3 size = Ogre::Vector3::ZERO; Ogre::Vector3 pos = Ogre::Vector3::ZERO; Ogre::Vector3 scale = Ogre::Vector3::ZERO; pos.x = TPosition.getX(); pos.y = TPosition.getY(); pos.z = TPosition.getZ(); scale.x = TScale.getX(); scale.y = TScale.getY(); scale.z = TScale.getZ(); Ogre::Entity *entity = m_pSceneMgr->createEntity( "Box" + Ogre::StringConverter::toString(m_pNumEntities), "cube.mesh"); entity->setCastShadows(true); Ogre::AxisAlignedBox boundingB = entity->getBoundingBox(); size = boundingB.getSize(); //size /= 2.0f; // Only the half needed? //size *= 0.96f; // Bullet margin is a bit bigger so we need a smaller size entity->setMaterialName("Test/Cube"); Ogre::SceneNode *node = m_pSceneMgr->getRootSceneNode()->createChildSceneNode(); node->attachObject(entity); node->setPosition(pos); //node->scale(scale); // Physics btTransform Transform; Transform.setIdentity(); Transform.setOrigin(TPosition); // Give it to the motion state btDefaultMotionState *MotionState = new btDefaultMotionState(Transform); btVector3 HalfExtents(TScale.getX()*0.5f,TScale.getY()*0.5f,TScale.getZ()*0.5f); btCollisionShape *Shape = new btBoxShape(HalfExtents); // Add Mass btVector3 LocalInertia; Shape->calculateLocalInertia(TMass, LocalInertia); // CReate the rigid body object btRigidBody *RigidBody = new btRigidBody(TMass, MotionState, Shape, LocalInertia); // Store a pointer to the Ogre Node so we can update it later RigidBody->setUserPointer((void *) (node)); // Add it to the physics world World->addRigidBody(RigidBody); Objects.push_back(RigidBody); m_pNumEntities++; } Then in the GameState::update() method which which runs every frame to handle input and render etc I call an UpdatePhysics method to update the physics simulation. void GameState::UpdatePhysics(unsigned int TDeltaTime) { World->stepSimulation(TDeltaTime * 0.001f, 60); btRigidBody *TObject; for(std::vector<btRigidBody *>::iterator it = Objects.begin(); it != Objects.end(); ++it) { // Update renderer Ogre::SceneNode *node = static_cast<Ogre::SceneNode *>((*it)->getUserPointer()); TObject = *it; // Set position btVector3 Point = TObject->getCenterOfMassPosition(); node->setPosition(Ogre::Vector3((float)Point[0], (float)Point[1], (float)Point[2])); // set rotation btVector3 EulerRotation; QuaternionToEuler(TObject->getOrientation(), EulerRotation); node->setOrientation(1,(Ogre::Real)EulerRotation[0], (Ogre::Real)EulerRotation[1], (Ogre::Real)EulerRotation[2]); //node->rotate(Ogre::Vector3(EulerRotation[0], EulerRotation[1], EulerRotation[2])); } } void GameState::QuaternionToEuler(const btQuaternion &TQuat, btVector3 &TEuler) { btScalar W = TQuat.getW(); btScalar X = TQuat.getX(); btScalar Y = TQuat.getY(); btScalar Z = TQuat.getZ(); float WSquared = W * W; float XSquared = X * X; float YSquared = Y * Y; float ZSquared = Z * Z; TEuler.setX(atan2f(2.0f * (Y * Z + X * W), -XSquared - YSquared + ZSquared + WSquared)); TEuler.setY(asinf(-2.0f * (X * Z - Y * W))); TEuler.setZ(atan2f(2.0f * (X * Y + Z * W), XSquared - YSquared - ZSquared + WSquared)); TEuler *= RADTODEG; } I seem to have issues with the cubes not colliding with each other and colliding strangely with the ground. I have tried to capture the effect with the attached image. I would appreciate any help in understanding what I have done wrong. Thanks. EDIT : Solution The following code shows the changes I made to get accurate physics. void GameState::createScene() { m_pSceneMgr->createLight("Light")->setPosition(75,75,75); // Physics // As a test we want a floor plane for things to collide with Ogre::Entity *ent; Ogre::Plane p; p.normal = Ogre::Vector3(0,1,0); p.d = 0; Ogre::MeshManager::getSingleton().createPlane( "FloorPlane", Ogre::ResourceGroupManager::DEFAULT_RESOURCE_GROUP_NAME, p, 200000, 200000, 20, 20, true, 1, 9000,9000,Ogre::Vector3::UNIT_Z); ent = m_pSceneMgr->createEntity("floor", "FloorPlane"); ent->setMaterialName("Test/Floor"); Ogre::SceneNode *node = m_pSceneMgr->getRootSceneNode()->createChildSceneNode(); node->attachObject(ent); btTransform Transform; Transform.setIdentity(); // Fixed the transform vector here for y back to 0 to stop the objects sinking into the ground. Transform.setOrigin(btVector3(0,0,0)); // Give it to the motion state btDefaultMotionState *MotionState = new btDefaultMotionState(Transform); btCollisionShape *Shape = new btStaticPlaneShape(btVector3(0,1,0),0); // Add Mass btVector3 LocalInertia; Shape->calculateLocalInertia(0, LocalInertia); // CReate the rigid body object btRigidBody *RigidBody = new btRigidBody(0, MotionState, Shape, LocalInertia); // Store a pointer to the Ogre Node so we can update it later RigidBody->setUserPointer((void *) (node)); // Add it to the physics world World->addRigidBody(RigidBody); Objects.push_back(RigidBody); m_pNumEntities++; // End Physics } void GameState::CreateBox(const btVector3 &TPosition, const btVector3 &TScale, btScalar TMass) { Ogre::Vector3 size = Ogre::Vector3::ZERO; Ogre::Vector3 pos = Ogre::Vector3::ZERO; Ogre::Vector3 scale = Ogre::Vector3::ZERO; pos.x = TPosition.getX(); pos.y = TPosition.getY(); pos.z = TPosition.getZ(); scale.x = TScale.getX(); scale.y = TScale.getY(); scale.z = TScale.getZ(); Ogre::Entity *entity = m_pSceneMgr->createEntity( "Box" + Ogre::StringConverter::toString(m_pNumEntities), "cube.mesh"); entity->setCastShadows(true); Ogre::AxisAlignedBox boundingB = entity->getBoundingBox(); // The ogre bounding box is slightly bigger so I am reducing it for // use with the rigid body. size = boundingB.getSize()*0.95f; entity->setMaterialName("Test/Cube"); Ogre::SceneNode *node = m_pSceneMgr->getRootSceneNode()->createChildSceneNode(); node->attachObject(entity); node->setPosition(pos); node->showBoundingBox(true); //node->scale(scale); // Physics btTransform Transform; Transform.setIdentity(); Transform.setOrigin(TPosition); // Give it to the motion state btDefaultMotionState *MotionState = new btDefaultMotionState(Transform); // I got the size of the bounding box above but wasn't using it to set // the size for the rigid body. This now does. btVector3 HalfExtents(size.x*0.5f,size.y*0.5f,size.z*0.5f); btCollisionShape *Shape = new btBoxShape(HalfExtents); // Add Mass btVector3 LocalInertia; Shape->calculateLocalInertia(TMass, LocalInertia); // CReate the rigid body object btRigidBody *RigidBody = new btRigidBody(TMass, MotionState, Shape, LocalInertia); // Store a pointer to the Ogre Node so we can update it later RigidBody->setUserPointer((void *) (node)); // Add it to the physics world World->addRigidBody(RigidBody); Objects.push_back(RigidBody); m_pNumEntities++; } void GameState::UpdatePhysics(unsigned int TDeltaTime) { World->stepSimulation(TDeltaTime * 0.001f, 60); btRigidBody *TObject; for(std::vector<btRigidBody *>::iterator it = Objects.begin(); it != Objects.end(); ++it) { // Update renderer Ogre::SceneNode *node = static_cast<Ogre::SceneNode *>((*it)->getUserPointer()); TObject = *it; // Set position btVector3 Point = TObject->getCenterOfMassPosition(); node->setPosition(Ogre::Vector3((float)Point[0], (float)Point[1], (float)Point[2])); // Convert the bullet Quaternion to an Ogre quaternion btQuaternion btq = TObject->getOrientation(); Ogre::Quaternion quart = Ogre::Quaternion(btq.w(),btq.x(),btq.y(),btq.z()); // use the quaternion with setOrientation node->setOrientation(quart); } } The QuaternionToEuler function isn't needed so that was removed from code and header files. The objects now collide with the ground and each other appropriately.

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  • Investigation: Can different combinations of components effect Dataflow performance?

    - by jamiet
    Introduction The Dataflow task is one of the core components (if not the core component) of SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) and often the most misunderstood. This is not surprising, its an incredibly complicated beast and we’re abstracted away from that complexity via some boxes that go yellow red or green and that have some lines drawn between them. Example dataflow In this blog post I intend to look under that facade and get into some of the nuts and bolts of the Dataflow Task by investigating how the decisions we make when building our packages can affect performance. I will do this by comparing the performance of three dataflows that all have the same input, all produce the same output, but which all operate slightly differently by way of having different transformation components. I also want to use this blog post to challenge a common held opinion that I see perpetuated over and over again on the SSIS forum. That is, that people assume adding components to a dataflow will be detrimental to overall performance. Its not surprising that people think this –it is intuitive to think that more components means more work- however this is not a view that I share. I have always been of the opinion that there are many factors affecting dataflow duration and the number of components is actually one of the less important ones; having said that I have never proven that assertion and that is one reason for this investigation. I have actually seen evidence that some people think dataflow duration is simply a function of number of rows and number of components. I’ll happily call that one out as a myth even without any investigation!  The Setup I have a 2GB datafile which is a list of 4731904 (~4.7million) customer records with various attributes against them and it contains 2 columns that I am going to use for categorisation: [YearlyIncome] [BirthDate] The data file is a SSIS raw format file which I chose to use because it is the quickest way of getting data into a dataflow and given that I am testing the transformations, not the source or destination adapters, I want to minimise external influences as much as possible. In the test I will split the customers according to month of birth (12 of those) and whether or not their yearly income is above or below 50000 (2 of those); in other words I will be splitting them into 24 discrete categories and in order to do it I shall be using different combinations of SSIS’ Conditional Split and Derived Column transformation components. The 24 datapaths that occur will each input to a rowcount component, again because this is the least resource intensive means of terminating a datapath. The test is being carried out on a Dell XPS Studio laptop with a quad core (8 logical Procs) Intel Core i7 at 1.73GHz and Samsung SSD hard drive. Its running SQL Server 2008 R2 on Windows 7. The Variables Here are the three combinations of components that I am going to test:     One Conditional Split - A single Conditional Split component CSPL Split by Month of Birth and income category that will use expressions on [YearlyIncome] & [BirthDate] to send each row to one of 24 outputs. This next screenshot displays the expression logic in use: Derived Column & Conditional Split - A Derived Column component DER Income Category that adds a new column [IncomeCategory] which will contain one of two possible text values {“LessThan50000”,”GreaterThan50000”} and uses [YearlyIncome] to determine which value each row should get. A Conditional Split component CSPL Split by Month of Birth and Income Category then uses that new column in conjunction with [BirthDate] to determine which of the same 24 outputs to send each row to. Put more simply, I am separating the Conditional Split of #1 into a Derived Column and a Conditional Split. The next screenshots display the expression logic in use: DER Income Category         CSPL Split by Month of Birth and Income Category       Three Conditional Splits - A Conditional Split component that produces two outputs based on [YearlyIncome], one for each Income Category. Each of those outputs will go to a further Conditional Split that splits the input into 12 outputs, one for each month of birth (identical logic in each). In this case then I am separating the single Conditional Split of #1 into three Conditional Split components. The next screenshots display the expression logic in use: CSPL Split by Income Category         CSPL Split by Month of Birth 1& 2       Each of these combinations will provide an input to one of the 24 rowcount components, just the same as before. For illustration here is a screenshot of the dataflow containing three Conditional Split components: As you can these dataflows have a fair bit of work to do and remember that they’re doing that work for 4.7million rows. I will execute each dataflow 10 times and use the average for comparison. I foresee three possible outcomes: The dataflow containing just one Conditional Split (i.e. #1) will be quicker There is no significant difference between any of them One of the two dataflows containing multiple transformation components will be quicker Regardless of which of those outcomes come to pass we will have learnt something and that makes this an interesting test to carry out. Note that I will be executing the dataflows using dtexec.exe rather than hitting F5 within BIDS. The Results and Analysis The table below shows all of the executions, 10 for each dataflow. It also shows the average for each along with a standard deviation. All durations are in seconds. I’m pasting a screenshot because I frankly can’t be bothered with the faffing about needed to make a presentable HTML table. It is plain to see from the average that the dataflow containing three conditional splits is significantly faster, the other two taking 43% and 52% longer respectively. This seems strange though, right? Why does the dataflow containing the most components outperform the other two by such a big margin? The answer is actually quite logical when you put some thought into it and I’ll explain that below. Before progressing, a side note. The standard deviation for the “Three Conditional Splits” dataflow is orders of magnitude smaller – indicating that performance for this dataflow can be predicted with much greater confidence too. The Explanation I refer you to the screenshot above that shows how CSPL Split by Month of Birth and salary category in the first dataflow is setup. Observe that there is a case for each combination of Month Of Date and Income Category – 24 in total. These expressions get evaluated in the order that they appear and hence if we assume that Month of Date and Income Category are uniformly distributed in the dataset we can deduce that the expected number of expression evaluations for each row is 12.5 i.e. 1 (the minimum) + 24 (the maximum) divided by 2 = 12.5. Now take a look at the screenshots for the second dataflow. We are doing one expression evaluation in DER Income Category and we have the same 24 cases in CSPL Split by Month of Birth and Income Category as we had before, only the expression differs slightly. In this case then we have 1 + 12.5 = 13.5 expected evaluations for each row – that would account for the slightly longer average execution time for this dataflow. Now onto the third dataflow, the quick one. CSPL Split by Income Category does a maximum of 2 expression evaluations thus the expected number of evaluations per row is 1.5. CSPL Split by Month of Birth 1 & CSPL Split by Month of Birth 2 both have less work to do than the previous Conditional Split components because they only have 12 cases to test for thus the expected number of expression evaluations is 6.5 There are two of them so total expected number of expression evaluations for this dataflow is 6.5 + 6.5 + 1.5 = 14.5. 14.5 is still more than 12.5 & 13.5 though so why is the third dataflow so much quicker? Simple, the conditional expressions in the first two dataflows have two boolean predicates to evaluate – one for Income Category and one for Month of Birth; the expressions in the Conditional Split in the third dataflow however only have one predicate thus they are doing a lot less work. To sum up, the difference in execution times can be attributed to the difference between: MONTH(BirthDate) == 1 && YearlyIncome <= 50000 and MONTH(BirthDate) == 1 In the first two dataflows YearlyIncome <= 50000 gets evaluated an average of 12.5 times for every row whereas in the third dataflow it is evaluated once and once only. Multiply those 11.5 extra operations by 4.7million rows and you get a significant amount of extra CPU cycles – that’s where our duration difference comes from. The Wrap-up The obvious point here is that adding new components to a dataflow isn’t necessarily going to make it go any slower, moreover you may be able to achieve significant improvements by splitting logic over multiple components rather than one. Performance tuning is all about reducing the amount of work that needs to be done and that doesn’t necessarily mean use less components, indeed sometimes you may be able to reduce workload in ways that aren’t immediately obvious as I think I have proven here. Of course there are many variables in play here and your mileage will most definitely vary. I encourage you to download the package and see if you get similar results – let me know in the comments. The package contains all three dataflows plus a fourth dataflow that will create the 2GB raw file for you (you will also need the [AdventureWorksDW2008] sample database from which to source the data); simply disable all dataflows except the one you want to test before executing the package and remember, execute using dtexec, not within BIDS. If you want to explore dataflow performance tuning in more detail then here are some links you might want to check out: Inequality joins, Asynchronous transformations and Lookups Destination Adapter Comparison Don’t turn the dataflow into a cursor SSIS Dataflow – Designing for performance (webinar) Any comments? Let me know! @Jamiet

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  • CodePlex Daily Summary for Tuesday, October 15, 2013

    CodePlex Daily Summary for Tuesday, October 15, 2013Popular ReleasesFFXIV Crafting Simulator: Crafting Simulator 2.4.1: -Fixed the offset for the new patch (Auto Loading function)iBoxDB.EX - Fast Transactional NoSQL Database Resources: iBoxDB.net fast transactional nosql database 1.5.2: Easily process objects and documents, zero configuration. fast embeddable transactional nosql document database, includes CURD, QueryLanguage, Master-Master-Slave Replication, MVCC, etc. supports .net2, .net4, windows phone, mono, unity3d, node.js , copy and run. http://download-codeplex.sec.s-msft.com/Download?ProjectName=iboxdb&DownloadId=737783 Benchmark with MongoDB Compatibility more platforms for java versionneurogoody: slicebox: this is the slice box jsEvent-Based Components AppBuilder: AB3.AppDesigner.55: Iteration 55 (Feature): Moving of TargetEdge (simple wires only) by mouse.Sandcastle Help File Builder: SHFB v1.9.8.0 with Visual Studio Package: General InformationIMPORTANT: On some systems, the content of the ZIP file is blocked and the installer may fail to run. Before extracting it, right click on the ZIP file, select Properties, and click on the Unblock button if it is present in the lower right corner of the General tab in the properties dialog. This new release contains bug fixes and feature enhancements. There are some potential breaking changes in this release as some features of the Help File Builder have been moved into...SharpConfig: SharpConfig 1.2: Implemented comment parsing. Comments are now part of settings and setting categories. New properties: Setting: Comment PreComments SettingCategory: Comment PreCommentsC++ REST SDK (codename "Casablanca"): C++ REST SDK 1.3.0: This release fixes multiple customer reported issues as well as the following: Full support for Dev12 binaries and project files Full support for Windows XP New sample highlighting the Client and Server APIs : BlackJack Expose underlying native handle to set custom options on http_client Improvements to Listener Library Note: Dev10 binaries have been dropped as of this release, however the Dev10 project files are still available in the Source CodeAD ACL Scanner: 1.3.2: Minor bug fixed: Powershell 4.0 will report: Select—Object: Parameter cannot be processed because the parameter name p is ambiguous.Json.NET: Json.NET 5.0 Release 7: New feature - Added support for Immutable Collections New feature - Added WriteData and ReadData settings to DataExtensionAttribute New feature - Added reference and type name handling support to extension data New feature - Added default value and required support to constructor deserialization Change - Extension data is now written when serializing Fix - Added missing casts to JToken Fix - Fixed parsing large floating point numbers Fix - Fixed not parsing some ISO date ...RESX Manager: ResxManager 0.2.1: FIXED: Many critical bugs have been fixed. New Features Error logging for improved exception handling New toolbar Improvements of user interfaceFast YouTube Downloader: YouTube Downloader 2.2.0: YouTube Downloader 2.2.0VidCoder: 1.5.8 Beta: Added hardware acceleration options: Bicubic OpenCL scaling algorithm, QSV decoding/encoding and DXVA decoding. Updated HandBrake core to SVN 5834. Updated VidCoder setup icon. Fixed crash when choosing the mp4v2 container on x86 and opening on x64. Warning: the hardware acceleration features require specific hardware or file types to work correctly: QSV: Need an Intel processor that supports Quick Sync Video encoding, with a monitor hooked up to the Intel HD Graphics output and the lat...ASP.net MVC Awesome - jQuery Ajax Helpers: 3.5.2: version 3.5.2 - fix for setting single value to multivalue controls - datepicker min max date offset fix - html encoding for keys fix - enable Column.ClientFormatFunc to be a function call that will return a function version 3.5.1 - fixed html attributes rendering - fixed loading animation rendering - css improvements version 3.5 ========================== - autosize for all popups ( can be turned off by calling in js awe.autoSize = false ) - added Parent, Paremeter extensions ...Wsus Package Publisher: Release v1.3.1310.12: Allow the Update Creation Wizard to be set in full screen mode. Fix a bug which prevent WPP to Reset Remote Sus Client ID. Change the behavior of links in the Update Detail Viewer. Left-Click to open, Right-Click to copy to the Clipboard.TerrariViewer: TerrariViewer v7 [Terraria Inventory Editor]: This is a complete overhaul but has the same core style. I hope you enjoy it. This version is compatible with 1.2.0.3 Please send issues to my Twitter or https://github.com/TJChap2840WDTVHubGen - Adds Metadata, thumbnails and subtitles to WDTV Live Hubs: WDTVHubGen.v2.1.6.maint: I think this covers all of the issues. new additions: fixed the thumbnail problem for backgrounds. general clean up and error checking. need to get this put through the wringer and all feedback is welcome.BIDS Helper: BIDS Helper 1.6.4: This BIDS Helper release brings the following new features and fixes: New Features: A new Bus Matrix style report option when you run the Printer Friendly Dimension Usage report for an SSAS cube. The Biml engine is now fully in sync with the supported subset of Varigence Mist 3.4. This includes a large number of language enhancements, bugfixes, and project deployment support. Fixed Issues: Fixed Biml execution for project connections fixing a bug with Tabular Translations Editor not a...MoreTerra (Terraria World Viewer): MoreTerra 1.11.3: =========== =New Features= =========== New Markers added for Plantera's Bulb, Heart Fruits and Gold Cache. Markers now correctly display for the gems found in rock debris on the floor. =========== =Compatibility= =========== Fixed header changes found in Terraria 1.0.3.1Media Companion: Media Companion MC3.581b: Fix in place for TVDB xml issue. New* Movie - General Preferences, allow saving of ignored 'The' or 'A' to end of movie title, stored in sorttitle field. * Movie - New Way for Cropping Posters. Fixed* Movie - Rename of folders/filename. caught error message. * Movie - Fixed Bug in Save Cropped image, only saving in Pre-Frodo format if Both model selected. * Movie - Fixed Cropped image didn't take zoomed ratio into effect. * Movie - Separated Folder Renaming and File Renaming fuctions durin...SmartStore.NET - Free ASP.NET MVC Ecommerce Shopping Cart Solution: SmartStore.NET 1.2.0: HighlightsMulti-store support "Trusted Shops" plugins Highly improved SmartStore.biz Importer plugin Add custom HTML content to pages Performance optimization New FeaturesMulti-store-support: now multiple stores can be managed within a single application instance (e.g. for building different catalogs, brands, landing pages etc.) Added 3 new Trusted Shops plugins: Seal, Buyer Protection, Store Reviews Added Display as HTML Widget to CMS Topics (store owner now can add arbitrary HT...New ProjectsArtezio SharePoint 2013 Workflow Activities: SharePoint Workflow 2013 doesn’t provide activities to work with permissions, we've fixed it using HttpSend activity that makes REST API calls.Dependency.Injection: An attempt to write a really simple dependency injection framework. Does property-based and recursive dependency injection. Handles singletons. Yay!DHGMS SUO Killer: SUO Killer is a Visual Studio extension to deal with the removal of SUO file to mitigate SUO related issues in Visual Studio. This project is written in C#.dynamicsheet: dynamicsheetExcel Comparator: Excel Comparator is an add-in for Microsoft Excel that allows the user to compare a range between two sheets. FetchAIP: FetchAIP is a utility to download the various sections of the Aeronautical Information Publication (AIP) for New Zealand.Fluent Method and Type Builder: Still working on the summary.getboost: NuGet package for Boost framework.Goldstone Forum: WebForms Forum - TelerikAcademy Team ProjectGroupMe Software Development Kit: .NET Software Development Kit for http://groupme.com/ chat service.GSLMS: ----Import Excel Files Into SQL Server: Load Excel files into SQL Database without schema changes.Inaction: ?????????? jBegin: Learning ASP.net MVC from beginning, then here will be the source code for jbegin.comKDG's Statistical Quality Control Solver: This tool will include methods that can solve sample standard deviation, sample variance, median, mode, moving average, percentiles, margin of error, etc.kpi: Key Performance Indicator (KPI)????; visual studio 2010 with .NET 4.0 runtimeLECO Remote Control Client Application: Sample code and binaries are provided to demonstrate the remote control capability of a LECO Cornerstone instrument.LinkPad: My first Windows Store app intended for student to sketch up thoughts and concepts in quick diagrams.Modler.NET - Automating Graphical Data Model Co-Evolution: Modler.NET was the tool created for a Master's thesis project, which automates the co-evolution of graphical data models and the database that they represent.MyFileManager1: SummaryNever Lotto: Korean 465 Lotto Analyzer and Simulator. The real purpose of this project is to show that this kind of lotto things are just shit.NHibernate: The purpose of this project is to demo CRUD operations using NHibernate with Mono in Visual Studio 2012 using C# language. OAuth2 Authorizer: OAuth2 Authorizer helps you get the access code for a standard OAuth2 REST service that implements 3-legged authentication.Regular Expression for Excel: Regular Expression For Excel is an Excel Plugin. It provides a regular expressions EXCEL support. We can use it in the EXCEL function.Service Tester: Service Tester is an Azure Cloud based load testing application targeted at Soap Web Services which allows you to invoke your Web Service by random parameters.Simple TypeScript and C# Class Generator: Simple GUI application to generate compatible class source code for C# and TypeScript for communications between C# and TypeScript. Soccer team management: ---Spanner: No more stringly-typed web development! Build statically typed single page web applications in C#, automatically generating all HTML, JavaScript, and Knockout.

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  • 'Content' is NOT 'Text' in XAML

    - by psheriff
    One of the key concepts in XAML is that the Content property of a XAML control like a Button or ComboBoxItem does not have to contain just textual data. In fact, Content can be almost any other XAML that you want. To illustrate here is a simple example of how to spruce up your Button controls in Silverlight. Here is some very simple XAML that consists of two Button controls within a StackPanel on a Silverlight User Control. <StackPanel>  <Button Name="btnHome"          HorizontalAlignment="Left"          Content="Home" />  <Button Name="btnLog"          HorizontalAlignment="Left"          Content="Logs" /></StackPanel> The XAML listed above will produce a Silverlight control within a Browser that looks like Figure 1.   Figure 1: Normal button controls are quite boring. With just a little bit of refactoring to move the button attributes into Styles, we can make the buttons look a little better. I am a big believer in Styles, so I typically create a Resources section within my user control where I can factor out the common attribute settings for a particular set of controls. Here is a Resources section that I added to my Silverlight user control. <UserControl.Resources>  <Style TargetType="Button"         x:Key="NormalButton">    <Setter Property="HorizontalAlignment"            Value="Left" />    <Setter Property="MinWidth"            Value="50" />    <Setter Property="Margin"            Value="10" />  </Style></UserControl.Resources> Now back in the XAML within the Grid control I update the Button controls to use the Style attribute and have each button use the Static Resource called NormalButton. <StackPanel>  <Button Name="btnHome"          Style="{StaticResource NormalButton}"          Content="Home" />  <Button Name="btnLog"          Style="{StaticResource NormalButton}"          Content="Logs" /></StackPanel> With the additional attributes set in the Resources section on the Button, the above XAML will now display the two buttons as shown in Figure 2. Figure 2: Use Resources to Make Buttons More Consistent Now let’s re-design these buttons even more. Instead of using words for each button, let’s replace the Content property to use a picture. As they say… a picture is worth a thousand words, so let’s take advantage of that. Modify each of the Button controls and eliminate the Content attribute and instead, insert an <Image> control with the <Button> and the </Button> tags. Add a ToolTip to still display the words you had before in the Content and you will now have better looking buttons, as shown in Figure 3.   Figure 3: Using pictures instead of words can be an effective method of communication The XAML to produce Figure 3 is shown in the following listing: <StackPanel>  <Button Name="btnHome"          ToolTipService.ToolTip="Home"          Style="{StaticResource NormalButton}">    <Image Style="{StaticResource NormalImage}"            Source="Images/Home.jpg" />  </Button>  <Button Name="btnLog"          ToolTipService.ToolTip="Logs"          Style="{StaticResource NormalButton}">    <Image Style="{StaticResource NormalImage}"            Source="Images/Log.jpg" />  </Button></StackPanel> You will also need to add the following XAML to the User Control’s Resources section. <Style TargetType="Image"        x:Key="NormalImage">  <Setter Property="Width"          Value="50" /></Style> Add Multiple Controls to Content Now, since the Content can be whatever we want, you could also modify the Content of each button to be a StackPanel control. Then you can have an image and text within the button. <StackPanel>  <Button Name="btnHome"          ToolTipService.ToolTip="Home"          Style="{StaticResource NormalButton}">    <StackPanel>      <Image Style="{StaticResource NormalImage}"              Source="Images/Home.jpg" />      <TextBlock Text="Home"                  Style="{StaticResource NormalTextBlock}" />    </StackPanel>  </Button>  <Button Name="btnLog"          ToolTipService.ToolTip="Logs"          Style="{StaticResource NormalButton}">    <StackPanel>      <Image Style="{StaticResource NormalImage}"              Source="Images/Log.jpg" />      <TextBlock Text="Logs"                  Style="{StaticResource NormalTextBlock}" />    </StackPanel>  </Button></StackPanel> You will need to add one more resource for the TextBlock control too. <Style TargetType="TextBlock"        x:Key="NormalTextBlock">  <Setter Property="HorizontalAlignment"          Value="Center" /></Style> All of the above will now produce the following:   Figure 4: Add multiple controls to the content to make your buttons even more interesting. Summary While this is a simple example, you can see how XAML Content has great flexibility. You could add a MediaElement control as the content of a Button and play a video within the Button. Not that you would necessarily do this, but it does work. What is nice about adding different content within the Button control is you still get the Click event and other attributes of a button, but it does necessarily look like a normal button. Good Luck with your Coding,Paul Sheriff ** SPECIAL OFFER FOR MY BLOG READERS **Visit http://www.pdsa.com/Event/Blog for a free video on Silverlight entitled "Silverlight XAML for the Complete Novice - Part 1."

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  • Performance Enhancement in Full-Text Search Query

    - by Calvin Sun
    Ever since its first release, we are continuing consolidating and developing InnoDB Full-Text Search feature. There is one recent improvement that worth blogging about. It is an effort with MySQL Optimizer team that simplifies some common queries’ Query Plans and dramatically shorted the query time. I will describe the issue, our solution and the end result by some performance numbers to demonstrate our efforts in continuing enhancement the Full-Text Search capability. The Issue: As we had discussed in previous Blogs, InnoDB implements Full-Text index as reversed auxiliary tables. The query once parsed will be reinterpreted into several queries into related auxiliary tables and then results are merged and consolidated to come up with the final result. So at the end of the query, we’ll have all matching records on hand, sorted by their ranking or by their Doc IDs. Unfortunately, MySQL’s optimizer and query processing had been initially designed for MyISAM Full-Text index, and sometimes did not fully utilize the complete result package from InnoDB. Here are a couple examples: Case 1: Query result ordered by Rank with only top N results: mysql> SELECT FTS_DOC_ID, MATCH (title, body) AGAINST ('database') AS SCORE FROM articles ORDER BY score DESC LIMIT 1; In this query, user tries to retrieve a single record with highest ranking. It should have a quick answer once we have all the matching documents on hand, especially if there are ranked. However, before this change, MySQL would almost retrieve rankings for almost every row in the table, sort them and them come with the top rank result. This whole retrieve and sort is quite unnecessary given the InnoDB already have the answer. In a real life case, user could have millions of rows, so in the old scheme, it would retrieve millions of rows' ranking and sort them, even if our FTS already found there are two 3 matched rows. Apparently, the million ranking retrieve is done in vain. In above case, it should just ask for 3 matched rows' ranking, all other rows' ranking are 0. If it want the top ranking, then it can just get the first record from our already sorted result. Case 2: Select Count(*) on matching records: mysql> SELECT COUNT(*) FROM articles WHERE MATCH (title,body) AGAINST ('database' IN NATURAL LANGUAGE MODE); In this case, InnoDB search can find matching rows quickly and will have all matching rows. However, before our change, in the old scheme, every row in the table was requested by MySQL one by one, just to check whether its ranking is larger than 0, and later comes up a count. In fact, there is no need for MySQL to fetch all rows, instead InnoDB already had all the matching records. The only thing need is to call an InnoDB API to retrieve the count The difference can be huge. Following query output shows how big the difference can be: mysql> select count(*) from searchindex_inno where match(si_title, si_text) against ('people')  +----------+ | count(*) | +----------+ | 666877 | +----------+ 1 row in set (16 min 17.37 sec) So the query took almost 16 minutes. Let’s see how long the InnoDB can come up the result. In InnoDB, you can obtain extra diagnostic printout by turning on “innodb_ft_enable_diag_print”, this will print out extra query info: Error log: keynr=2, 'people' NL search Total docs: 10954826 Total words: 0 UNION: Searching: 'people' Processing time: 2 secs: row(s) 666877: error: 10 ft_init() ft_init_ext() keynr=2, 'people' NL search Total docs: 10954826 Total words: 0 UNION: Searching: 'people' Processing time: 3 secs: row(s) 666877: error: 10 Output shows it only took InnoDB only 3 seconds to get the result, while the whole query took 16 minutes to finish. So large amount of time has been wasted on the un-needed row fetching. The Solution: The solution is obvious. MySQL can skip some of its steps, optimize its plan and obtain useful information directly from InnoDB. Some of savings from doing this include: 1) Avoid redundant sorting. Since InnoDB already sorted the result according to ranking. MySQL Query Processing layer does not need to sort to get top matching results. 2) Avoid row by row fetching to get the matching count. InnoDB provides all the matching records. All those not in the result list should all have ranking of 0, and no need to be retrieved. And InnoDB has a count of total matching records on hand. No need to recount. 3) Covered index scan. InnoDB results always contains the matching records' Document ID and their ranking. So if only the Document ID and ranking is needed, there is no need to go to user table to fetch the record itself. 4) Narrow the search result early, reduce the user table access. If the user wants to get top N matching records, we do not need to fetch all matching records from user table. We should be able to first select TOP N matching DOC IDs, and then only fetch corresponding records with these Doc IDs. Performance Results and comparison with MyISAM The result by this change is very obvious. I includes six testing result performed by Alexander Rubin just to demonstrate how fast the InnoDB query now becomes when comparing MyISAM Full-Text Search. These tests are base on the English Wikipedia data of 5.4 Million rows and approximately 16G table. The test was performed on a machine with 1 CPU Dual Core, SSD drive, 8G of RAM and InnoDB_buffer_pool is set to 8 GB. Table 1: SELECT with LIMIT CLAUSE mysql> SELECT si_title, match(si_title, si_text) against('family') as rel FROM si WHERE match(si_title, si_text) against('family') ORDER BY rel desc LIMIT 10; InnoDB MyISAM Times Faster Time for the query 1.63 sec 3 min 26.31 sec 127 You can see for this particular query (retrieve top 10 records), InnoDB Full-Text Search is now approximately 127 times faster than MyISAM. Table 2: SELECT COUNT QUERY mysql>select count(*) from si where match(si_title, si_text) against('family‘); +----------+ | count(*) | +----------+ | 293955 | +----------+ InnoDB MyISAM Times Faster Time for the query 1.35 sec 28 min 59.59 sec 1289 In this particular case, where there are 293k matching results, InnoDB took only 1.35 second to get all of them, while take MyISAM almost half an hour, that is about 1289 times faster!. Table 3: SELECT ID with ORDER BY and LIMIT CLAUSE for selected terms mysql> SELECT <ID>, match(si_title, si_text) against(<TERM>) as rel FROM si_<TB> WHERE match(si_title, si_text) against (<TERM>) ORDER BY rel desc LIMIT 10; Term InnoDB (time to execute) MyISAM(time to execute) Times Faster family 0.5 sec 5.05 sec 10.1 family film 0.95 sec 25.39 sec 26.7 Pizza restaurant orange county California 0.93 sec 32.03 sec 34.4 President united states of America 2.5 sec 36.98 sec 14.8 Table 4: SELECT title and text with ORDER BY and LIMIT CLAUSE for selected terms mysql> SELECT <ID>, si_title, si_text, ... as rel FROM si_<TB> WHERE match(si_title, si_text) against (<TERM>) ORDER BY rel desc LIMIT 10; Term InnoDB (time to execute) MyISAM(time to execute) Times Faster family 0.61 sec 41.65 sec 68.3 family film 1.15 sec 47.17 sec 41.0 Pizza restaurant orange county california 1.03 sec 48.2 sec 46.8 President united states of america 2.49 sec 44.61 sec 17.9 Table 5: SELECT ID with ORDER BY and LIMIT CLAUSE for selected terms mysql> SELECT <ID>, match(si_title, si_text) against(<TERM>) as rel  FROM si_<TB> WHERE match(si_title, si_text) against (<TERM>) ORDER BY rel desc LIMIT 10; Term InnoDB (time to execute) MyISAM(time to execute) Times Faster family 0.5 sec 5.05 sec 10.1 family film 0.95 sec 25.39 sec 26.7 Pizza restaurant orange county califormia 0.93 sec 32.03 sec 34.4 President united states of america 2.5 sec 36.98 sec 14.8 Table 6: SELECT COUNT(*) mysql> SELECT count(*) FROM si_<TB> WHERE match(si_title, si_text) against (<TERM>) LIMIT 10; Term InnoDB (time to execute) MyISAM(time to execute) Times Faster family 0.47 sec 82 sec 174.5 family film 0.83 sec 131 sec 157.8 Pizza restaurant orange county califormia 0.74 sec 106 sec 143.2 President united states of america 1.96 sec 220 sec 112.2  Again, table 3 to table 6 all showing InnoDB consistently outperform MyISAM in these queries by a large margin. It becomes obvious the InnoDB has great advantage over MyISAM in handling large data search. Summary: These results demonstrate the great performance we could achieve by making MySQL optimizer and InnoDB Full-Text Search more tightly coupled. I think there are still many cases that InnoDB’s result info have not been fully taken advantage of, which means we still have great room to improve. And we will continuously explore the area, and get more dramatic results for InnoDB full-text searches. Jimmy Yang, September 29, 2012

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  • Windows Azure ASP.NET MVC 2 Role with Silverlight

    - by GeekAgilistMercenary
    I was working through some scenarios recently with Azure and Silverlight.  I immediately decided a quick walk through for setting up a Silverlight Application running in an ASP.NET MVC 2 Application would be a cool project. This walk through I have Visual Studio 2010, Silverlight 4, and the Azure SDK all installed.  If you need to download any of those go get em? now. Launch Visual Studio 2010 and start a new project.  Click on the section for cloud templates as shown below. After you name the project, the dialog for what type of Windows Azure Cloud Service Role will display.  I selected ASP.NET MVC 2 Web Role, which adds the MvcWebRole1 Project to the Cloud Service Solution. Since I selected the ASP.NET MVC 2 Project type, it immediately prompts for a unit test project.  Because I just want to get everything running first, I will probably be unit testing the Silverlight and just using the MVC Project as a host for the Silverlight for now, and because I would prefer to just add the unit test project later, I am going to select no here. Once you've created the ASP.NET MVC 2 project to host the Silverlight, then create another new project.  Select the Silverlight section under the Installed Templates in the Add New Project dialog.  Then select Silverlight Application. The next dialog that comes up will inquire about using the existing ASP.NET MVC Application I just created, which I do want it to use that so I leave it checked.  The options section however I do not want to check RIA Web Services, do not want a test page added to the project, and I want Silverlight debugging enabled so I leave that checked.  Once those options are appropriately set, just click on OK and the Silverlight Project will be added to the overall solution. The next steps now are to get the Silverlight object appropriately embedded in the web page.  First open up the Site.Master file in the ASP.NET MVC 2 Project located under the Veiws/Shared/ location.  After you open the file review the content of the <header></header> section.  In that section add another <contentplaceholder></contentplaceholder> tag as shown in the code snippet below. <head runat="server"> <title> <asp:ContentPlaceHolder ID="TitleContent" runat="server" /> </title> <link href="../../Content/Site.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> <asp:ContentPlaceHolder ID="HeaderContent" runat="server" /> </head> I usually put it toward the bottom of the header section.  It just seems the <title></title> should be on the top of the section and I like to keep it that way. Now open up the Index.aspx page under the ASP.NET MVC 2 Project located in the Views/Home/ directory.  When you open up that file add a <asp:Content><asp:Content> tag as shown in the next snippet. <asp:Content ID="Content1" ContentPlaceHolderID="TitleContent" runat="server"> Home Page </asp:Content>   <asp:Content ID=headerContent ContentPlaceHolderID=HeaderContent runat=server>   </asp:Content>   <asp:Content ID="Content2" ContentPlaceHolderID="MainContent" runat="server"> <h2><%= Html.Encode(ViewData["Message"]) %></h2> <p> To learn more about ASP.NET MVC visit <a href="http://asp.net/mvc" title="ASP.NET MVC Website">http://asp.net/mvc</a>. </p> </asp:Content> In that center tag, I am now going to add what is needed to appropriately embed the Silverlight object into the page.  The first thing I needed is a reference to the Silverlight.js file. <script type="text/javascript" src="Silverlight.js"></script> After that comes a bit of nitty gritty Javascript.  I create another tag (and for those in the know, this is exactly like the generated code that is dumped into the *.html page generated with any Silverlight Project if you select to "add a test page that references the application".  The complete Javascript is below. function onSilverlightError(sender, args) { var appSource = ""; if (sender != null && sender != 0) { appSource = sender.getHost().Source; }   var errorType = args.ErrorType; var iErrorCode = args.ErrorCode;   if (errorType == "ImageError" || errorType == "MediaError") { return; }   var errMsg = "Unhandled Error in Silverlight Application " + appSource + "\n";   errMsg += "Code: " + iErrorCode + " \n"; errMsg += "Category: " + errorType + " \n"; errMsg += "Message: " + args.ErrorMessage + " \n";   if (errorType == "ParserError") { errMsg += "File: " + args.xamlFile + " \n"; errMsg += "Line: " + args.lineNumber + " \n"; errMsg += "Position: " + args.charPosition + " \n"; } else if (errorType == "RuntimeError") { if (args.lineNumber != 0) { errMsg += "Line: " + args.lineNumber + " \n"; errMsg += "Position: " + args.charPosition + " \n"; } errMsg += "MethodName: " + args.methodName + " \n"; }   throw new Error(errMsg); } I literally, since it seems to work fine, just use what is populated in the automatically generated page.  After getting the appropriate Javascript into place I put the actual Silverlight Object Embed code into the HTML itself.  Just so I know the positioning and for final verification when running the application I insert the embed code just below the Index.aspx page message.  As shown below. <asp:Content ID="Content2" ContentPlaceHolderID="MainContent" runat="server"> <h2> <%= Html.Encode(ViewData["Message"]) %></h2> <p> To learn more about ASP.NET MVC visit <a href="http://asp.net/mvc" title="ASP.NET MVC Website"> http://asp.net/mvc</a>. </p> <div id="silverlightControlHost"> <object data="data:application/x-silverlight-2," type="application/x-silverlight-2" width="100%" height="100%"> <param name="source" value="ClientBin/CloudySilverlight.xap" /> <param name="onError" value="onSilverlightError" /> <param name="background" value="white" /> <param name="minRuntimeVersion" value="4.0.50401.0" /> <param name="autoUpgrade" value="true" /> <a href="http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=149156&v=4.0.50401.0" style="text-decoration: none"> <img src="http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=161376" alt="Get Microsoft Silverlight" style="border-style: none" /> </a> </object> <iframe id="_sl_historyFrame" style="visibility: hidden; height: 0px; width: 0px; border: 0px"></iframe> </div> </asp:Content> I then open up the Silverlight Project MainPage.xaml.  Just to make it visibly obvious that the Silverlight Application is running in the page, I added a button as shown below. <UserControl x:Class="CloudySilverlight.MainPage" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008" xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006" mc:Ignorable="d" d:DesignHeight="300" d:DesignWidth="400">   <Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot" Background="White"> <Button Content="Button" Height="23" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="48,40,0,0" Name="button1" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="75" Click="button1_Click" /> </Grid> </UserControl> Just for kicks, I added a message box that would popup, just to show executing functionality also. private void button1_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) { MessageBox.Show("It runs in the cloud!"); } I then executed the ASP.NET MVC 2 and could see the Silverlight Application in page.  With a quick click of the button, I got a message box.  Success! Now the next step is getting the ASP.NET MVC 2 Project and Silverlight published to the cloud.  As of Visual Studio 2010, Silverlight 4, and the latest Azure SDK, this is actually a ridiculously easy process. Navigate to the Azure Cloud Services web site. Once that is open go back in Visual Studio and right click on the cloud project and select publish. This will publish two files into a directory.  Copy that directory so you can easily paste it into the Azure Cloud Services web site.  You'll have to click on the application role in the cloud (I will have another blog entry soon about where, how, and best practices in the cloud). In the text boxes shown, select the application package file and the configuration file and place them in the appropriate text boxes.  This is the part were it comes in handy to have copied the directory path of the file location.  That way when you click on browser you can just paste that in, then hit enter.  The two files will be listed and you can select the appropriate file. Once that is done, name the service deployment.  Then click on publish.  After a minute or so you will see the following screen. Now click on run.  Once the MvcWebRole1 goes green (the little light symbol to the left of the status) click on the Web Site URL.  Be patient during this process too, it could take a minute or two.  The Silverlight application should again come up just like you ran it on your local machine. Once staging is up and running, click on the circular icon with two arrows to move staging to production.  Once you are done make sure the green light is again go for the production deploy, then click on the Web Site URL to verify the site is working.  At this point I had a successful development, staging, and production deployment. Thanks for reading, hope this was helpful.  I have more Windows Azure and other cloud related material coming, so stay tuned. Original Entry

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  • Silverlight 4 Twitter Client &ndash; Part 6

    - by Max
    In this post, we are going to look into implementing lists into our twitter application and also about enhancing the data grid to display the status messages in a pleasing way with the profile images. Twitter lists are really cool feature that they recently added, I love them and I’ve quite a few lists setup one for DOTNET gurus, SQL Server gurus and one for a few celebrities. You can follow them here. Now let us move onto our tutorial. 1) Lists can be subscribed to in two ways, one can be user’s own lists, which he has created and another one is the lists that the user is following. Like for example, I’ve created 3 lists myself and I am following 1 other lists created by another user. Both of them cannot be fetched in the same api call, its a two step process. 2) In the TwitterCredentialsSubmit method we’ve in Home.xaml.cs, let us do the first api call to get the lists that the user has created. For this the call has to be made to https://twitter.com/<TwitterUsername>/lists.xml. The API reference is available here. myService1.AllowReadStreamBuffering = true; myService1.UseDefaultCredentials = false; myService1.Credentials = new NetworkCredential(GlobalVariable.getUserName(), GlobalVariable.getPassword()); myService1.DownloadStringCompleted += new DownloadStringCompletedEventHandler(ListsRequestCompleted); myService1.DownloadStringAsync(new Uri("https://twitter.com/" + GlobalVariable.getUserName() + "/lists.xml")); 3) Now let us look at implementing the event handler – ListRequestCompleted for this. public void ListsRequestCompleted(object sender, System.Net.DownloadStringCompletedEventArgs e) { if (e.Error != null) { StatusMessage.Text = "This application must be installed first."; parseXML(""); } else { //MessageBox.Show(e.Result.ToString()); parseXMLLists(e.Result.ToString()); } } 4) Now let us look at the parseXMLLists in detail xdoc = XDocument.Parse(text); var answer = (from status in xdoc.Descendants("list") select status.Element("name").Value); foreach (var p in answer) { Border bord = new Border(); bord.CornerRadius = new CornerRadius(10, 10, 10, 10); Button b = new Button(); b.MinWidth = 70; b.Background = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.Black); b.Foreground = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.Black); //b.Width = 70; b.Height = 25; b.Click += new RoutedEventHandler(b_Click); b.Content = p.ToString(); bord.Child = b; TwitterListStack.Children.Add(bord); } So here what am I doing, I am just dynamically creating a button for each of the lists and put them within a StackPanel and for each of these buttons, I am creating a event handler b_Click which will be fired on button click. We will look into this method in detail soon. For now let us get the buttons displayed. 5) Now the user might have some lists to which he has subscribed to. We need to create a button for these as well. In the end of TwitterCredentialsSubmit method, we need to make a call to http://api.twitter.com/1/<TwitterUsername>/lists/subscriptions.xml. Reference is available here. The code will look like this below. myService2.AllowReadStreamBuffering = true; myService2.UseDefaultCredentials = false; myService2.Credentials = new NetworkCredential(GlobalVariable.getUserName(), GlobalVariable.getPassword()); myService2.DownloadStringCompleted += new DownloadStringCompletedEventHandler(ListsSubsRequestCompleted); myService2.DownloadStringAsync(new Uri("http://api.twitter.com/1/" + GlobalVariable.getUserName() + "/lists/subscriptions.xml")); 6) In the event handler – ListsSubsRequestCompleted, we need to parse through the xml string and create a button for each of the lists subscribed, let us see how. I’ve taken only the “full_name”, you can choose what you want, refer the documentation here. Note the point that the full_name will have @<UserName>/<ListName> format – this will be useful very soon. xdoc = XDocument.Parse(text); var answer = (from status in xdoc.Descendants("list") select status.Element("full_name").Value); foreach (var p in answer) { Border bord = new Border(); bord.CornerRadius = new CornerRadius(10, 10, 10, 10); Button b = new Button(); b.Background = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.Black); b.Foreground = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.Black); //b.Width = 70; b.MinWidth = 70; b.Height = 25; b.Click += new RoutedEventHandler(b_Click); b.Content = p.ToString(); bord.Child = b; TwitterListStack.Children.Add(bord); } Please note, I am setting the button width to be auto based on the content and also giving it a midwidth value. I wanted to create a rounded corner buttons, but for some reason its not working. Also add this StackPanel – TwitterListStack of the Home.xaml <StackPanel HorizontalAlignment="Center" Orientation="Horizontal" Name="TwitterListStack"></StackPanel> After doing this, you would get a series of buttons in the top of the home page. 7) Now the button click event handler – b_Click, in this method, once the button is clicked, I call another method with the content string of the button which is clicked as the parameter. Button b = (Button)e.OriginalSource; getListStatuses(b.Content.ToString()); 8) Now the getListsStatuses method: toggleProgressBar(true); WebRequest.RegisterPrefix("http://", System.Net.Browser.WebRequestCreator.ClientHttp); WebClient myService = new WebClient(); myService.AllowReadStreamBuffering = true; myService.UseDefaultCredentials = false; myService.DownloadStringCompleted += new DownloadStringCompletedEventHandler(TimelineRequestCompleted); if (listName.IndexOf("@") > -1 && listName.IndexOf("/") > -1) { string[] arrays = null; arrays = listName.Split('/'); arrays[0] = arrays[0].Replace("@", " ").Trim(); //MessageBox.Show(arrays[0]); //MessageBox.Show(arrays[1]); string url = "http://api.twitter.com/1/" + arrays[0] + "/lists/" + arrays[1] + "/statuses.xml"; //MessageBox.Show(url); myService.DownloadStringAsync(new Uri(url)); } else myService.DownloadStringAsync(new Uri("http://api.twitter.com/1/" + GlobalVariable.getUserName() + "/lists/" + listName + "/statuses.xml")); Please note that the url to look at will be different based on the list clicked – if its user created, the url format will be http://api.twitter.com/1/<CurentUser>/lists/<ListName>/statuses.xml But if it is some lists subscribed, it will be http://api.twitter.com/1/<ListOwnerUserName>/lists/<ListName>/statuses.xml The first one is pretty straight forward to implement, but if its a list subscribed, we need to split the listName string to get the list owner and list name and user them to form the string. So that is what I’ve done in this method, if the listName has got “@” and “/” I build the url differently. 9) Until now, we’ve been using only a few nodes of the status message xml string, now we will look to fetch a new field - “profile_image_url”. Images in datagrid – COOL. So for that, we need to modify our Status.cs file to include two more fields one string another BitmapImage with get and set. public string profile_image_url { get; set; } public BitmapImage profileImage { get; set; } 10) Now let us change the generic parseXML method which is used for binding to the datagrid. public void parseXML(string text) { XDocument xdoc; xdoc = XDocument.Parse(text); statusList = new List<Status>(); statusList = (from status in xdoc.Descendants("status") select new Status { ID = status.Element("id").Value, Text = status.Element("text").Value, Source = status.Element("source").Value, UserID = status.Element("user").Element("id").Value, UserName = status.Element("user").Element("screen_name").Value, profile_image_url = status.Element("user").Element("profile_image_url").Value, profileImage = new BitmapImage(new Uri(status.Element("user").Element("profile_image_url").Value)) }).ToList(); DataGridStatus.ItemsSource = statusList; StatusMessage.Text = "Datagrid refreshed."; toggleProgressBar(false); } We are here creating a new bitmap image from the image url and creating a new Status object for every status and binding them to the data grid. Refer to the Twitter API documentation here. You can choose any column you want. 11) Until now, we’ve been using the auto generate columns for the data grid, but if you want it to be really cool, you need to define the columns with templates, etc… <data:DataGrid AutoGenerateColumns="False" Name="DataGridStatus" Height="Auto" MinWidth="400"> <data:DataGrid.Columns> <data:DataGridTemplateColumn Width="50" Header=""> <data:DataGridTemplateColumn.CellTemplate> <DataTemplate> <Image Source="{Binding profileImage}" Width="50" Height="50" Margin="1"/> </DataTemplate> </data:DataGridTemplateColumn.CellTemplate> </data:DataGridTemplateColumn> <data:DataGridTextColumn Width="Auto" Header="User Name" Binding="{Binding UserName}" /> <data:DataGridTemplateColumn MinWidth="300" Width="Auto" Header="Status"> <data:DataGridTemplateColumn.CellTemplate> <DataTemplate> <TextBlock TextWrapping="Wrap" Text="{Binding Text}"/> </DataTemplate> </data:DataGridTemplateColumn.CellTemplate> </data:DataGridTemplateColumn> </data:DataGrid.Columns> </data:DataGrid> I’ve used only three columns – Profile image, Username, Status text. Now our Datagrid will look super cool like this. Coincidentally,  Tim Heuer is on the screenshot , who is a Silverlight Guru and works on SL team in Microsoft. His blog is really super. Here is the zipped file for all the xaml, xaml.cs & class files pages. Ok let us stop here for now, will look into implementing few more features in the next few posts and then I am going to look into developing a ASP.NET MVC 2 application. Hope you all liked this post. If you have any queries / suggestions feel free to comment below or contact me. Cheers! Technorati Tags: Silverlight,LINQ,Twitter API,Twitter,Silverlight 4

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  • Using Native Drag and Drop in HTML 5 pages

    - by nikolaosk
    This is going to be the eighth post in a series of posts regarding HTML 5. You can find the other posts here, here , here , here, here , here and here. In this post I will show you how to implement Drag and Drop functionality in an HTML 5 page using JQuery.This is a great functionality and we do not need to resort anymore to plugins like Silverlight and Flash to achieve this great feature. This is also called a native approach on Drag and Drop.I will use some events and I will write code to respond when these events are fired.As I said earlier we need to write Javascript to implement the drag and drop functionality. I will use the very popular JQuery Library. Please download the library (minified version) from http://jquery.com/downloadI will create a simple HTML page.There will be two thumbnails pics on it. There will also be the drag and drop area where the user will drag the thumb pics into it and they will resize to their actual size. The HTML markup for the page follows<!doctype html><html lang="en"><head><title>Liverpool Legends Gallery</title><meta charset="utf-8"><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="style.css"><script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8" src="jquery-1.8.1.min.js"></script>  <script language="JavaScript" src="drag.js"></script>   </head><body><header><h1>A page dedicated to Liverpool Legends</h1><h2>Drag and Drop the thumb image in the designated area to see the full image</h2></header><div id="main"><img src="thumbs/steven-gerrard.jpg"  big="large-images/steven-gerrard-large.jpg" alt="John Barnes"><img src="thumbs/robbie-fowler.jpg" big="large-images/robbie-fowler-large.jpg" alt="Ian Rush"><div id="drag"><p>Drop your image here</p> </div></body></html> There is nothing difficult or fancy in the HTML markup above. I have a link to the external JQuery library and another javascript file that I will implement the whole drag and drop functionality.The code for the css file (style.css) follows#main{  float: left;  width: 340px;  margin-right: 30px;}#drag{  float: left;  width: 400px;  height:300px;  background-color: #c0c0c0;}These are simple CSS rules. This post cannot be a tutorial on CSS.For all these posts I assume that you have the basic HTML,CSS,Javascript skills.Now I am going to create a javascript file (drag.js) to implement the drag and drop functionality.I will provide the whole code for the drag.js file and then I will explain what I am doing in each step.$(function() {          var players = $('#main img');          players.attr('draggable', 'true');                    players.bind('dragstart', function(event) {              var data = event.originalEvent.dataTransfer;               var src = $(this).attr("big");              data.setData("Text", src);               return true;          });          var target = $('#drag');          target.bind('drop', function(event) {            var data = event.originalEvent.dataTransfer;            var src = ( data.getData('Text') );                         var img = $("<img></img>").attr("src", src);            $(this).html(img);            if (event.preventDefault) event.preventDefault();            return(false);          });                   target.bind('dragover', function(event) {                if (event.preventDefault) event.preventDefault();            return false;          });           players.bind('dragend', function(event) {             if (event.preventDefault) event.preventDefault();             return false;           });        });   In these lines var players = $('#main img'); players.attr('draggable', 'true');We grab all the images in the #main div and store them in a variable and then make them draggable.Then in following lines I am using the dragstart event.  players.bind('dragstart', function(event) {              var data = event.originalEvent.dataTransfer;               var src = $(this).attr("big");              data.setData("Text", src);               return true;          }); In this event I am associating the custom data attribute value with the item I am dragging.Then I create a variable to get hold of the dropping area var target = $('#drag'); Then in the following lines I implement the drop event and what happens when the user drops the image in the designated area on the page. target.bind('drop', function(event) {            var data = event.originalEvent.dataTransfer;            var src = ( data.getData('Text') );                         var img = $("<img></img>").attr("src", src);            $(this).html(img);            if (event.preventDefault) event.preventDefault();            return(false);          }); The dragend  event is fired when the user has finished the drag operation        players.bind('dragend', function(event) {             if (event.preventDefault) event.preventDefault();             return false;           }); When this method event.preventDefault() is called , the default action of the event will not be triggered.Please have a look a the picture below to see how the page looks before the drag and drop takes place. Then simply I drag and drop a picture in the dropping area.Have a look at the picture below It works!!! Hope it helps!!  

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  • Adventures in Windows 8: Placing items in a GridView with a ColumnSpan or RowSpan

    - by Laurent Bugnion
    Currently working on a Windows 8 app for an important client, I will be writing about small issues, tips and tricks, ideas and whatever occurs to me during the development and the integration of this app. When working with a GridView, it is quite common to use a VariableSizedWrapGrid as the ItemsPanel. This creates a nice flowing layout which will auto-adapt for various resolutions. This is ideal when you want to build views like the Windows 8 start menu. However immediately we notice that the Start menu allows to place items on one column (Smaller) or two columns (Larger). This switch happens through the AppBar. So how do we implement that in our app? Using ColumnSpan and RowSpan When you use a VariableSizedWrapGrid directly in your XAML, you can attach the VariableSizedWrapGrid.ColumnSpan and VariableSizedWrapGrid.RowSpan attached properties directly to an item to create the desired effect. For instance this code create this output (shown in Blend but it runs just the same): <VariableSizedWrapGrid ItemHeight="100" ItemWidth="100" Width="200" Orientation="Horizontal"> <Rectangle Fill="Purple" /> <Rectangle Fill="Orange" /> <Rectangle Fill="Yellow" VariableSizedWrapGrid.ColumnSpan="2" /> <Rectangle Fill="Red" VariableSizedWrapGrid.ColumnSpan="2" VariableSizedWrapGrid.RowSpan="2" /> <Rectangle Fill="Green" VariableSizedWrapGrid.RowSpan="2" /> <Rectangle Fill="Blue" /> <Rectangle Fill="LightGray" /> </VariableSizedWrapGrid> Using the VariableSizedWrapGrid as ItemsPanel When you use a GridView however, you typically bind the ItemsSource property to a collection, for example in a viewmodel. In that case, you want to be able to switch the ColumnSpan and RowSpan depending on properties on the item. I tried to find a way to bind the VariableSizedWrapGrid.ColumnSpan attached property on the GridView’s ItemContainerStyle template to an observable property on the item, but it didn’t work. Instead, I decided to use a StyleSelector to switch the GridViewItem’s style. Here’s how: First I added my two GridViews to my XAML as follows: <Page.Resources> <local:MainViewModel x:Key="Main" /> <DataTemplate x:Key="DataTemplate1"> <Grid Background="{Binding Brush}"> <TextBlock Text="{Binding BrushCode}" /> </Grid> </DataTemplate> </Page.Resources> <Page.DataContext> <Binding Source="{StaticResource Main}" /> </Page.DataContext> <Grid Background="{StaticResource ApplicationPageBackgroundThemeBrush}" Margin="20"> <Grid.ColumnDefinitions> <ColumnDefinition Width="Auto" /> <ColumnDefinition Width="*" /> </Grid.ColumnDefinitions> <GridView ItemsSource="{Binding Items}" ItemTemplate="{StaticResource DataTemplate1}" VerticalAlignment="Top"> <GridView.ItemsPanel> <ItemsPanelTemplate> <VariableSizedWrapGrid ItemHeight="150" ItemWidth="150" /> </ItemsPanelTemplate> </GridView.ItemsPanel> </GridView> <GridView Grid.Column="1" ItemsSource="{Binding Items}" ItemTemplate="{StaticResource DataTemplate1}" VerticalAlignment="Top"> <GridView.ItemsPanel> <ItemsPanelTemplate> <VariableSizedWrapGrid ItemHeight="100" ItemWidth="100" /> </ItemsPanelTemplate> </GridView.ItemsPanel> </GridView> </Grid> The MainViewModel looks like this: public class MainViewModel { public IList<Item> Items { get; private set; } public MainViewModel() { Items = new List<Item> { new Item { Brush = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.Red) }, new Item { Brush = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.Blue) }, new Item { Brush = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.Green), }, // And more... }; } } As for the Item class, I am using an MVVM Light ObservableObject but you can use your own simple implementation of INotifyPropertyChanged of course: public class Item : ObservableObject { public const string ColSpanPropertyName = "ColSpan"; private int _colSpan = 1; public int ColSpan { get { return _colSpan; } set { Set(ColSpanPropertyName, ref _colSpan, value); } } public SolidColorBrush Brush { get; set; } public string BrushCode { get { return Brush.Color.ToString(); } } } Then I copied the GridViewItem’s style locally. To do this, I use Expression Blend’s functionality. It has the disadvantage to copy a large portion of XAML to your application, but the HUGE advantage to allow you to change the look and feel of your GridViewItem everywhere in the application. For example, you can change the selection chrome, the item’s alignments and many other properties. Actually everytime I use a ListBox, ListView or any other data control, I typically copy the item style to a resource dictionary in my application and I tweak it. Note that Blend for Windows 8 apps is automatically installed with every edition of Visual Studio 2012 (including Express) so you have no excuses anymore not to use Blend :) Open MainPage.xaml in Expression Blend by right clicking on the MainPage.xaml file in the Solution Explorer and selecting Open in Blend from the context menu. Note that the items do not look very nice! The reason is that the default ItemContainerStyle sets the content’s alignment to “Center” which I never quite understood. Seems to me that you rather want the content to be stretched, but anyway it is easy to change.   Right click on the GridView on the left and select Edit Additional Templates, Edit Generated Item Container (ItemContainerStyle), Edit a Copy. In the Create Style Resource dialog, enter the name “DefaultGridViewItemStyle”, select “Application” and press OK. Side note 1: You need to save in a global resource dictionary because later we will need to retrieve that Style from a global location. Side note 2": I would rather copy the style to an external resource dictionary that I link into the App.xaml file, but I want to keep things simple here. Blend switches in Template edit mode. The template you are editing now is inside the ItemContainerStyle and will govern the appearance of your items. This is where, for instance, the “checked” chrome is defined, and where you can alter it if you need to. Note that you can reuse this style for all your GridViews even if you use a different DataTemplate for your items. Makes sense? I probably need to think about writing another blog post dedicated to the ItemContainerStyle :) In the breadcrumb bar on top of the page, click on the style icon. The property we want to change now can be changed in the Style instead of the Template, which is a better idea. Blend is not in Style edit mode, as you can see in the Objects and Timeline pane. In the Properties pane, in the Search box, enter the word “content”. This will filter all the properties containing that partial string, including the two we are interested in: HorizontalContentAlignment and VerticalContentAlignment. Set these two values to “Stretch” instead of the default “Center”. Using the breadcrumb bar again, set the scope back to the Page (by clicking on the first crumb on the left). Notice how the items are now showing as squares in the first GridView. We will now use the same ItemContainerStyle for the second GridView. To do this, right click on the second GridView and select Edit Additional Templates, Edit Generate Item Container, Apply Resource, DefaultGridViewItemStyle. The page now looks nicer: And now for the ColumnSpan! So now, let’s change the ColumnSpan property. First, let’s define a new Style that inherits the ItemContainerStyle we created before. Make sure that you save everything in Blend by pressing Ctrl-Shift-S. Open App.xaml in Visual Studio. Below the newly created DefaultGridViewItemStyle resource, add the following style: <Style x:Key="WideGridViewItemStyle" TargetType="GridViewItem" BasedOn="{StaticResource DefaultGridViewItemStyle}"> <Setter Property="VariableSizedWrapGrid.ColumnSpan" Value="2" /> </Style> Add a new class to the project, and name it MainItemStyleSelector. Implement the class as follows: public class MainItemStyleSelector : StyleSelector { protected override Style SelectStyleCore(object item, DependencyObject container) { var i = (Item)item; if (i.ColSpan == 2) { return Application.Current.Resources["WideGridViewItemStyle"] as Style; } return Application.Current.Resources["DefaultGridViewItemStyle"] as Style; } } In MainPage.xaml, add a resource to the Page.Resources section: <local:MainItemStyleSelector x:Key="MainItemStyleSelector" /> In MainPage.xaml, replace the ItemContainerStyle property on the first GridView with the ItemContainerStyleSelector property, pointing to the StaticResource we just defined. <GridView ItemsSource="{Binding Items}" ItemTemplate="{StaticResource DataTemplate1}" VerticalAlignment="Top" ItemContainerStyleSelector="{StaticResource MainItemStyleSelector}"> <GridView.ItemsPanel> <ItemsPanelTemplate> <VariableSizedWrapGrid ItemHeight="150" ItemWidth="150" /> </ItemsPanelTemplate> </GridView.ItemsPanel> </GridView> Do the same for the second GridView as well. Finally, in the MainViewModel, change the ColumnSpan property on the 3rd Item to 2. new Item { Brush = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.Green), ColSpan = 2 }, Running the application now creates the following image, which is what we wanted. Notice how the green item is now a “wide tile”. You can also experiment by creating different Styles, all inheriting the DefaultGridViewItemStyle and using different values of RowSpan for instance. This will allow you to create any layout you want, while leaving the heavy lifting of “flowing the layout” to the GridView control. What about changing these values dynamically? Of course as we can see in the Start menu, it would be nice to be able to change the ColumnSpan and maybe even the RowSpan values at runtime. Unfortunately at this time I have not found a good way to do that. I am investigating however and will make sure to post a follow up when I find what I am looking for!   Laurent Bugnion (GalaSoft) Subscribe | Twitter | Facebook | Flickr | LinkedIn

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  • SQL Developer Q&A from ODTUG Tips & Tricks Webcast

    - by thatjeffsmith
    Another great webcast yesterday – if you’re a paying member of ODTUG you can watch the show for yourself in their archives. If not, you can get my slide deck off of SlideShare. About 150 of you brave souls sat through an entire hour of me talking and then 10 more minutes of Q&A. We went through everything rapid-fire style, so I thought I would post the questions and my refined answers here for your perusal. In the order in which I received them: You showed the preference to choose between resultsets in same tab or ain a new tab. I understand that we can not have it both using different hotkeys? For example: F5 run and resultset to same tab, ctrl-f5 same but to new tab? Sometimes you want the one other times the other. The questioner is asking about this preference, Tools Preferences Database Worksheet ‘Show query results in new tabs.’ This is an all or nothing proposition. But, there’s another, perhaps better way: the document PINs. If you have a result set you don’t want to lose, ‘pin it.’ Pin multiple result sets or plans for review and comparisons. You mentioned that sometimes it’s hard to remember where a certain preference is. I agree. So enhancement request: add a search-box to the preferences window. Maybe like in, for example, UltraEdit. It shows you all preferences containing your search criteria. Actually, we do have a search mechanism type the search string, we auto-filter the preferences Is there a version of SQL Developer that will connect to an 8i database (Yes, I realize how old that database version is!) Sorry, no. We also don’t have a version that will run on Windows 3.11 for Workgroups…probably. How do we access your blog? Carefully, and with much trepidation. When you’re ready, go to http://www.thatjeffsmith.com Is there a way to get good formatting with predefined settings? I believe the questioner is referring to the script output a la SQL*Plus formatting commands. Yes, there is. You can build your formatting commands into your login.sql script, and those will be applied for your script execution sessions. Example here. Why this version 4.0 doesn’t support external plugins? It does, it just requires the plugin developer to re-factor it for OSGi. This came about when we updated the JDeveloper framework to the later 11g/12c stuff. Any change in hookup with SVN? The only change with Subversion is that internally we’re using 1.7 stuff now. You can use SQLDev to work with a 1.8 SVN server, but if you get a working copy with a 1.8 client SQLDev won’t be able to do anything with it… Command line utilities ? improvements Yes! The long answer is here. Is that a Hint or a Comment?? /*CSV*/ It’s a comment – the database won’t recognize it, but SQLDev does when it goes through our statement pre-processor. We’ll redirect the output through our CSV formatter before displaying the results in the Script Output panel. That’s why this will ONLY work in SQL Developer. Are you selecting “”Run Script”" to get that CSV or HTML output, rather than “”Run Statement”"? Yes, the formatter hints like the CSV one mentioned above only make sense in a script output panel vs a grid. How do you save relational models once they’re defined? I’ve had trouble with setting one up, “”saving”" it, then the design work I did is longer there when loading it later. File – Data Modeler – Save. If you’re running the Modeler inside of SQL Developer, the menu’ing interface can get a bit tricky. That’s why I recommend using the stand along if you’re doing anything with a model that takes more than 5 minutes. See how the Data Modeler menus are folded up under the SQL Dev menus? Can u unplug and plug into another container in a database with only sqldeveloper? Yes, you can ‘Detach’ a multitentant 12c Database ‘pluggable’ and plug it into another instance. You have the option to copy or move the files. This isn’t a trivial operation, pay attention Can you run APEX code directly on the adopter? No, at least not as I understand your question. Give me an example and I can give you a better example. Is there a way that when u click on a particular table it wouldn’t show the table with the info but just to see the columns underneath clicking on the node? Yes, another one of my tips! Disable Tools Preferences Datbase ObjectViewer ‘Open Object on Single Click.’ Is there a patch to allow a double click on a procedure on an open package body to take you to that procedure in the editor? This has been fixed for EA3 – to be released soon. Can you open the spec with the body? You can open the spec or the body, and then also open the other. But you can’t open both with a single click. So if you want you can set it to CSV but can you also see it as a regular result set in rows and then click in the results to export to excel? If you run your query as a statement with Ctrl-Enter, you can send the data to Excel via the Export dialog. Will it do intellisense like using the alias and pop up the column, object names? Yes! You can select more than one column… Can a DBA turn off items from a high level for users so the only thing they can perform would be selects? A DBA should turn things ON, not OFF. Create a user with only CONNECT and required SELECT privs and you’re good to go, regardless of which application they are using. I use PL/SQL Developer from allround automations and was SQL Developer illiterate and now I like this for myself as a DBA. Now I get to train developers on this tool since they have been asking how to use this tool. Thank you. No, THANK YOU! Can you run multi queries in the worksheet after you added it to the worksheet? Yes, highlight what you want to run, and hit Ctrl-Enter. Can you export the result sets to excel, etc. Yes. In version 4.0 and going forward, I recommend you use the XLSX option for exports. It will run faster and consume much, much less memory. Will this be available after the webinar? If you are a ODTUG member, check out the webinar recordings in the archives. That’s worth the $99 right there. Ask your boss if they have $99 in their training budget for you. If not, maybe time to look for another job? Can you run command lines from this tool? Like executes without issuing a command line prompt? Ok, I’m stumped on this one. Not sure what you’re asking. You can setup external tools under the Tools menu, and from there you could probably rig what you’re looking for, but I’m not sure what you’re looking for… This maybe?Where and when to put the program Is there any way to save a copy database command set (certain tables/views etc) in a script? Yes! Create a cart with the objects you want to be used in the Copy. Then use the new command-line interface to kick off SQL Developer to do the copy of those said objects. How can we export the preference and then import them into different or same version of SQL Developer ? Today, there’s no interface for this. But you could copy the files around manually…Kris Rice has a cool idea where you can set your preferences to be saved to your local drop box folder and then you can use SQL Developer from anywhere with the same preferences What happens to SQL*Plus commands like COL & BREAK Nothing. Those are not currently supported. Is there a place where all “”hotkey”" functionality is listed? thanks Yes. Tools – Preferences – Shortcut Keys. And you can change them! Any tips for the DBA side of things? will the SQL generated for objects have more information (e.g. user privileges) in v4? You can get this now. In Tools – Preferences – Database – Utilities – Export, check ‘Grants.’ Voila! You now have the code necessary to recreate your object privileges Is there a limit on the number of rows that could be imported / exported from/to excel ? The only hard-coded limit lies in Excel. For best performance, use v4 and XLSX formats for Exports. Is there a way to see/watch active sessions to see current SQL and the explain plan being used, etc. Kind of like that frog product. Cough, yes. Tools – Monitor Sessions. Click on session, see SQL and plan. The plan was added in v4. If you’re not in version 4, use the Reports – Active Sessions to get the plans. In the DBA section is there a way to manage say tablespaces to add data files, shrink, edit profiles, etc. Yes, we support all of that. View – DBA. Connect, go to the Storage node. Are you (Jeff) available for a live presentation at our Oracle User Group here in Indiana? Maybe. Email me and we’ll see, [email protected] Where do I go to download sql developer 4.0? The Internet of course! Can you directly edit query results? Nope. But what I think you’re asking is, can I edit the data in the tables that are reflected in my query results? You can change the query results by changing your query of course. Or this. Can you show html example? Sure. I’d embed the HTML here, but it’s a lot of code, try it for yourself! How can I quickly close many SQL worksheet windows, but not all? Window – Documents. Multi-select, hit the ‘Close Document(s)’ button. What does the vertical red line denote? That’s the margin. Tells you when you’ve typed too far and it’s time for a carriage return. Did DBA/Database Status/Instance Viewer make it officially into 4.0? It was sort-of included in the first EA. I have NO idea what you’re talking about, WINK-WINK. No, it’s not in v4.0. Is there a “”handy”" way to debug trigger code? Yes, open your trigger. Hit the debug button. Works great as long as it’s a DML trigger. Will you make your presentation file available for us ( in PPT and/or PDF format ) ? It’s on SlideShare. How do you get SqlDeveloper to escape ‘ correctly when you use the wizard to export data as insert statements? If it’s not doing that, it’s a bug. I’ll take a look at that scenario ASAP.

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  • Metro Walkthrough: Creating a Task List with a ListView and IndexedDB

    - by Stephen.Walther
    The goal of this blog entry is to describe how you can work with data in a Metro style application written with JavaScript. In particular, we create a super simple Task List application which enables you to create and delete tasks. Here’s a video which demonstrates how the Task List application works: In order to build this application, I had to take advantage of several features of the WinJS library and technologies including: IndexedDB – The Task List application stores data in an IndexedDB database. HTML5 Form Validation – The Task List application uses HTML5 validation to ensure that a required field has a value. ListView Control – The Task List application displays the tasks retrieved from the IndexedDB database in a WinJS ListView control. Creating the IndexedDB Database The Task List application stores all of its data in an IndexedDB database named TasksDB. This database is opened/created with the following code: var db; var req = window.msIndexedDB.open("TasksDB", 1); req.onerror = function () { console.log("Could not open database"); }; req.onupgradeneeded = function (evt) { var newDB = evt.target.result; newDB.createObjectStore("tasks", { keyPath: "id", autoIncrement:true }); }; The msIndexedDB.open() method accepts two parameters: the name of the database to open and the version of the database to open. If a database with a matching version already exists, then calling the msIndexedDB.open() method opens a connection to the existing database. If the database does not exist then the upgradeneeded event is raised. You handle the upgradeneeded event to create a new database. In the code above, the upgradeneeded event handler creates an object store named “tasks” (An object store roughly corresponds to a database table). When you add items to the tasks object store then each item gets an id property with an auto-incremented value automatically. The code above also includes an error event handler. If the IndexedDB database cannot be opened or created, for whatever reason, then an error message is written to the Visual Studio JavaScript Console window. Displaying a List of Tasks The TaskList application retrieves its list of tasks from the tasks object store, which we created above, and displays the list of tasks in a ListView control. Here is how the ListView control is declared: <div id="tasksListView" data-win-control="WinJS.UI.ListView" data-win-options="{ itemDataSource: TaskList.tasks.dataSource, itemTemplate: select('#taskTemplate'), tapBehavior: 'toggleSelect', selectionMode: 'multi', layout: { type: WinJS.UI.ListLayout } }"> </div> The ListView control is bound to the TaskList.tasks.dataSource data source. The TaskList.tasks.dataSource is created with the following code: // Create the data source var tasks = new WinJS.Binding.List(); // Open the database var db; var req = window.msIndexedDB.open("TasksDB", 1); req.onerror = function () { console.log("Could not open database"); }; req.onupgradeneeded = function (evt) { var newDB = evt.target.result; newDB.createObjectStore("tasks", { keyPath: "id", autoIncrement:true }); }; // Load the data source with data from the database req.onsuccess = function () { db = req.result; var tran = db.transaction("tasks"); tran.objectStore("tasks").openCursor().onsuccess = function(event) { var cursor = event.target.result; if (cursor) { tasks.dataSource.insertAtEnd(null, cursor.value); cursor.continue(); }; }; }; // Expose the data source and functions WinJS.Namespace.define("TaskList", { tasks: tasks }); Notice the success event handler. This handler is called when a database is successfully opened/created. In the code above, all of the items from the tasks object store are retrieved into a cursor and added to a WinJS.Binding.List object named tasks. Because the ListView control is bound to the WinJS.Binding.List object, copying the tasks from the object store into the WinJS.Binding.List object causes the tasks to appear in the ListView: Adding a New Task You add a new task in the Task List application by entering the title of a new task into an HTML form and clicking the Add button. Here’s the markup for creating the form: <form id="addTaskForm"> <input id="newTaskTitle" title="New Task" required /> <button>Add</button> </form> Notice that the INPUT element includes a required attribute. In a Metro application, you can take advantage of HTML5 Validation to validate form fields. If you don’t enter a value for the newTaskTitle field then the following validation error message is displayed: For a brief introduction to HTML5 validation, see my previous blog entry: http://stephenwalther.com/blog/archive/2012/03/13/html5-form-validation.aspx When you click the Add button, the form is submitted and the form submit event is raised. The following code is executed in the default.js file: // Handle Add Task document.getElementById("addTaskForm").addEventListener("submit", function (evt) { evt.preventDefault(); var newTaskTitle = document.getElementById("newTaskTitle"); TaskList.addTask({ title: newTaskTitle.value }); newTaskTitle.value = ""; }); The code above retrieves the title of the new task and calls the addTask() method in the tasks.js file. Here’s the code for the addTask() method which is responsible for actually adding the new task to the IndexedDB database: // Add a new task function addTask(taskToAdd) { var transaction = db.transaction("tasks", "readwrite"); var addRequest = transaction.objectStore("tasks").add(taskToAdd); addRequest.onsuccess = function (evt) { taskToAdd.id = evt.target.result; tasks.dataSource.insertAtEnd(null, taskToAdd); } } The code above does two things. First, it adds the new task to the tasks object store in the IndexedDB database. Second, it adds the new task to the data source bound to the ListView. The dataSource.insertAtEnd() method is called to add the new task to the data source so the new task will appear in the ListView (with a nice little animation). Deleting Existing Tasks The Task List application enables you to select one or more tasks by clicking or tapping on one or more tasks in the ListView. When you click the Delete button, the selected tasks are removed from both the IndexedDB database and the ListView. For example, in the following screenshot, two tasks are selected. The selected tasks appear with a teal background and a checkmark: When you click the Delete button, the following code in the default.js file is executed: // Handle Delete Tasks document.getElementById("btnDeleteTasks").addEventListener("click", function (evt) { tasksListView.winControl.selection.getItems().then(function(items) { items.forEach(function (item) { TaskList.deleteTask(item); }); }); }); The selected tasks are retrieved with the TaskList selection.getItem() method. In the code above, the deleteTask() method is called for each of the selected tasks. Here’s the code for the deleteTask() method: // Delete an existing task function deleteTask(listViewItem) { // Database key != ListView key var dbKey = listViewItem.data.id; var listViewKey = listViewItem.key; // Remove item from db and, if success, remove item from ListView var transaction = db.transaction("tasks", “readwrite”); var deleteRequest = transaction.objectStore("tasks").delete(dbKey); deleteRequest.onsuccess = function () { tasks.dataSource.remove(listViewKey); } } This code does two things: it deletes the existing task from the database and removes the existing task from the ListView. In both cases, the right task is removed by using the key associated with the task. However, the task key is different in the case of the database and in the case of the ListView. In the case of the database, the task key is the value of the task id property. In the case of the ListView, on the other hand, the task key is auto-generated by the ListView. When the task is removed from the ListView, an animation is used to collapse the tasks which appear above and below the task which was removed. The Complete Code Above, I did a lot of jumping around between different files in the application and I left out sections of code. For the sake of completeness, I want to include the entire code here: the default.html, default.js, and tasks.js files. Here are the contents of the default.html file. This file contains the UI for the Task List application: <!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <meta charset="utf-8"> <title>Task List</title> <!-- WinJS references --> <link href="//Microsoft.WinJS.0.6/css/ui-dark.css" rel="stylesheet"> <script src="//Microsoft.WinJS.0.6/js/base.js"></script> <script src="//Microsoft.WinJS.0.6/js/ui.js"></script> <!-- TaskList references --> <link href="/css/default.css" rel="stylesheet"> <script src="/js/default.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="js/tasks.js"></script> <style type="text/css"> body { font-size: x-large; } form { display: inline; } #appContainer { margin: 20px; width: 600px; } .win-container { padding: 10px; } </style> </head> <body> <div> <!-- Templates --> <div id="taskTemplate" data-win-control="WinJS.Binding.Template"> <div> <span data-win-bind="innerText:title"></span> </div> </div> <h1>Super Task List</h1> <div id="appContainer"> <form id="addTaskForm"> <input id="newTaskTitle" title="New Task" required /> <button>Add</button> </form> <button id="btnDeleteTasks">Delete</button> <div id="tasksListView" data-win-control="WinJS.UI.ListView" data-win-options="{ itemDataSource: TaskList.tasks.dataSource, itemTemplate: select('#taskTemplate'), tapBehavior: 'toggleSelect', selectionMode: 'multi', layout: { type: WinJS.UI.ListLayout } }"> </div> </div> </div> </body> </html> Here is the code for the default.js file. This code wires up the Add Task form and Delete button: (function () { "use strict"; var app = WinJS.Application; app.onactivated = function (eventObject) { if (eventObject.detail.kind === Windows.ApplicationModel.Activation.ActivationKind.launch) { WinJS.UI.processAll().then(function () { // Get reference to Tasks ListView var tasksListView = document.getElementById("tasksListView"); // Handle Add Task document.getElementById("addTaskForm").addEventListener("submit", function (evt) { evt.preventDefault(); var newTaskTitle = document.getElementById("newTaskTitle"); TaskList.addTask({ title: newTaskTitle.value }); newTaskTitle.value = ""; }); // Handle Delete Tasks document.getElementById("btnDeleteTasks").addEventListener("click", function (evt) { tasksListView.winControl.selection.getItems().then(function(items) { items.forEach(function (item) { TaskList.deleteTask(item); }); }); }); }); } }; app.start(); })(); Finally, here is the tasks.js file. This file contains all of the code for opening, creating, and interacting with IndexedDB: (function () { "use strict"; // Create the data source var tasks = new WinJS.Binding.List(); // Open the database var db; var req = window.msIndexedDB.open("TasksDB", 1); req.onerror = function () { console.log("Could not open database"); }; req.onupgradeneeded = function (evt) { var newDB = evt.target.result; newDB.createObjectStore("tasks", { keyPath: "id", autoIncrement:true }); }; // Load the data source with data from the database req.onsuccess = function () { db = req.result; var tran = db.transaction("tasks"); tran.objectStore("tasks").openCursor().onsuccess = function(event) { var cursor = event.target.result; if (cursor) { tasks.dataSource.insertAtEnd(null, cursor.value); cursor.continue(); }; }; }; // Add a new task function addTask(taskToAdd) { var transaction = db.transaction("tasks", "readwrite"); var addRequest = transaction.objectStore("tasks").add(taskToAdd); addRequest.onsuccess = function (evt) { taskToAdd.id = evt.target.result; tasks.dataSource.insertAtEnd(null, taskToAdd); } } // Delete an existing task function deleteTask(listViewItem) { // Database key != ListView key var dbKey = listViewItem.data.id; var listViewKey = listViewItem.key; // Remove item from db and, if success, remove item from ListView var transaction = db.transaction("tasks", "readwrite"); var deleteRequest = transaction.objectStore("tasks").delete(dbKey); deleteRequest.onsuccess = function () { tasks.dataSource.remove(listViewKey); } } // Expose the data source and functions WinJS.Namespace.define("TaskList", { tasks: tasks, addTask: addTask, deleteTask: deleteTask }); })(); Summary I wrote this blog entry because I wanted to create a walkthrough of building a simple database-driven application. In particular, I wanted to demonstrate how you can use a ListView control with an IndexedDB database to store and retrieve database data.

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  • Metro Walkthrough: Creating a Task List with a ListView and IndexedDB

    - by Stephen.Walther
    The goal of this blog entry is to describe how you can work with data in a Metro style application written with JavaScript. In particular, we create a super simple Task List application which enables you to create and delete tasks. Here’s a video which demonstrates how the Task List application works: In order to build this application, I had to take advantage of several features of the WinJS library and technologies including: IndexedDB – The Task List application stores data in an IndexedDB database. HTML5 Form Validation – The Task List application uses HTML5 validation to ensure that a required field has a value. ListView Control – The Task List application displays the tasks retrieved from the IndexedDB database in a WinJS ListView control. Creating the IndexedDB Database The Task List application stores all of its data in an IndexedDB database named TasksDB. This database is opened/created with the following code: var db; var req = window.msIndexedDB.open("TasksDB", 1); req.onerror = function () { console.log("Could not open database"); }; req.onupgradeneeded = function (evt) { var newDB = evt.target.result; newDB.createObjectStore("tasks", { keyPath: "id", autoIncrement:true }); }; The msIndexedDB.open() method accepts two parameters: the name of the database to open and the version of the database to open. If a database with a matching version already exists, then calling the msIndexedDB.open() method opens a connection to the existing database. If the database does not exist then the upgradeneeded event is raised. You handle the upgradeneeded event to create a new database. In the code above, the upgradeneeded event handler creates an object store named “tasks” (An object store roughly corresponds to a database table). When you add items to the tasks object store then each item gets an id property with an auto-incremented value automatically. The code above also includes an error event handler. If the IndexedDB database cannot be opened or created, for whatever reason, then an error message is written to the Visual Studio JavaScript Console window. Displaying a List of Tasks The TaskList application retrieves its list of tasks from the tasks object store, which we created above, and displays the list of tasks in a ListView control. Here is how the ListView control is declared: <div id="tasksListView" data-win-control="WinJS.UI.ListView" data-win-options="{ itemDataSource: TaskList.tasks.dataSource, itemTemplate: select('#taskTemplate'), tapBehavior: 'toggleSelect', selectionMode: 'multi', layout: { type: WinJS.UI.ListLayout } }"> </div> The ListView control is bound to the TaskList.tasks.dataSource data source. The TaskList.tasks.dataSource is created with the following code: // Create the data source var tasks = new WinJS.Binding.List(); // Open the database var db; var req = window.msIndexedDB.open("TasksDB", 1); req.onerror = function () { console.log("Could not open database"); }; req.onupgradeneeded = function (evt) { var newDB = evt.target.result; newDB.createObjectStore("tasks", { keyPath: "id", autoIncrement:true }); }; // Load the data source with data from the database req.onsuccess = function () { db = req.result; var tran = db.transaction("tasks"); tran.objectStore("tasks").openCursor().onsuccess = function(event) { var cursor = event.target.result; tasks.dataSource.beginEdits(); if (cursor) { tasks.dataSource.insertAtEnd(null, cursor.value); cursor.continue(); } else { tasks.dataSource.endEdits(); }; }; }; // Expose the data source and functions WinJS.Namespace.define("TaskList", { tasks: tasks }); Notice the success event handler. This handler is called when a database is successfully opened/created. In the code above, all of the items from the tasks object store are retrieved into a cursor and added to a WinJS.Binding.List object named tasks. Because the ListView control is bound to the WinJS.Binding.List object, copying the tasks from the object store into the WinJS.Binding.List object causes the tasks to appear in the ListView: Adding a New Task You add a new task in the Task List application by entering the title of a new task into an HTML form and clicking the Add button. Here’s the markup for creating the form: <form id="addTaskForm"> <input id="newTaskTitle" title="New Task" required /> <button>Add</button> </form> Notice that the INPUT element includes a required attribute. In a Metro application, you can take advantage of HTML5 Validation to validate form fields. If you don’t enter a value for the newTaskTitle field then the following validation error message is displayed: For a brief introduction to HTML5 validation, see my previous blog entry: http://stephenwalther.com/blog/archive/2012/03/13/html5-form-validation.aspx When you click the Add button, the form is submitted and the form submit event is raised. The following code is executed in the default.js file: // Handle Add Task document.getElementById("addTaskForm").addEventListener("submit", function (evt) { evt.preventDefault(); var newTaskTitle = document.getElementById("newTaskTitle"); TaskList.addTask({ title: newTaskTitle.value }); newTaskTitle.value = ""; }); The code above retrieves the title of the new task and calls the addTask() method in the tasks.js file. Here’s the code for the addTask() method which is responsible for actually adding the new task to the IndexedDB database: // Add a new task function addTask(taskToAdd) { var transaction = db.transaction("tasks", IDBTransaction.READ_WRITE); var addRequest = transaction.objectStore("tasks").add(taskToAdd); addRequest.onsuccess = function (evt) { taskToAdd.id = evt.target.result; tasks.dataSource.insertAtEnd(null, taskToAdd); } } The code above does two things. First, it adds the new task to the tasks object store in the IndexedDB database. Second, it adds the new task to the data source bound to the ListView. The dataSource.insertAtEnd() method is called to add the new task to the data source so the new task will appear in the ListView (with a nice little animation). Deleting Existing Tasks The Task List application enables you to select one or more tasks by clicking or tapping on one or more tasks in the ListView. When you click the Delete button, the selected tasks are removed from both the IndexedDB database and the ListView. For example, in the following screenshot, two tasks are selected. The selected tasks appear with a teal background and a checkmark: When you click the Delete button, the following code in the default.js file is executed: // Handle Delete Tasks document.getElementById("btnDeleteTasks").addEventListener("click", function (evt) { tasksListView.winControl.selection.getItems().then(function(items) { items.forEach(function (item) { TaskList.deleteTask(item); }); }); }); The selected tasks are retrieved with the TaskList selection.getItem() method. In the code above, the deleteTask() method is called for each of the selected tasks. Here’s the code for the deleteTask() method: // Delete an existing task function deleteTask(listViewItem) { // Database key != ListView key var dbKey = listViewItem.data.id; var listViewKey = listViewItem.key; // Remove item from db and, if success, remove item from ListView var transaction = db.transaction("tasks", IDBTransaction.READ_WRITE); var deleteRequest = transaction.objectStore("tasks").delete(dbKey); deleteRequest.onsuccess = function () { tasks.dataSource.remove(listViewKey); } } This code does two things: it deletes the existing task from the database and removes the existing task from the ListView. In both cases, the right task is removed by using the key associated with the task. However, the task key is different in the case of the database and in the case of the ListView. In the case of the database, the task key is the value of the task id property. In the case of the ListView, on the other hand, the task key is auto-generated by the ListView. When the task is removed from the ListView, an animation is used to collapse the tasks which appear above and below the task which was removed. The Complete Code Above, I did a lot of jumping around between different files in the application and I left out sections of code. For the sake of completeness, I want to include the entire code here: the default.html, default.js, and tasks.js files. Here are the contents of the default.html file. This file contains the UI for the Task List application: <!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <meta charset="utf-8"> <title>Task List</title> <!-- WinJS references --> <link href="//Microsoft.WinJS.0.6/css/ui-dark.css" rel="stylesheet"> <script src="//Microsoft.WinJS.0.6/js/base.js"></script> <script src="//Microsoft.WinJS.0.6/js/ui.js"></script> <!-- TaskList references --> <link href="/css/default.css" rel="stylesheet"> <script src="/js/default.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="js/tasks.js"></script> <style type="text/css"> body { font-size: x-large; } form { display: inline; } #appContainer { margin: 20px; width: 600px; } .win-container { padding: 10px; } </style> </head> <body> <div> <!-- Templates --> <div id="taskTemplate" data-win-control="WinJS.Binding.Template"> <div> <span data-win-bind="innerText:title"></span> </div> </div> <h1>Super Task List</h1> <div id="appContainer"> <form id="addTaskForm"> <input id="newTaskTitle" title="New Task" required /> <button>Add</button> </form> <button id="btnDeleteTasks">Delete</button> <div id="tasksListView" data-win-control="WinJS.UI.ListView" data-win-options="{ itemDataSource: TaskList.tasks.dataSource, itemTemplate: select('#taskTemplate'), tapBehavior: 'toggleSelect', selectionMode: 'multi', layout: { type: WinJS.UI.ListLayout } }"> </div> </div> </div> </body> </html> Here is the code for the default.js file. This code wires up the Add Task form and Delete button: (function () { "use strict"; var app = WinJS.Application; app.onactivated = function (eventObject) { if (eventObject.detail.kind === Windows.ApplicationModel.Activation.ActivationKind.launch) { WinJS.UI.processAll().then(function () { // Get reference to Tasks ListView var tasksListView = document.getElementById("tasksListView"); // Handle Add Task document.getElementById("addTaskForm").addEventListener("submit", function (evt) { evt.preventDefault(); var newTaskTitle = document.getElementById("newTaskTitle"); TaskList.addTask({ title: newTaskTitle.value }); newTaskTitle.value = ""; }); // Handle Delete Tasks document.getElementById("btnDeleteTasks").addEventListener("click", function (evt) { tasksListView.winControl.selection.getItems().then(function(items) { items.forEach(function (item) { TaskList.deleteTask(item); }); }); }); }); } }; app.start(); })(); Finally, here is the tasks.js file. This file contains all of the code for opening, creating, and interacting with IndexedDB: (function () { "use strict"; // Create the data source var tasks = new WinJS.Binding.List(); // Open the database var db; var req = window.msIndexedDB.open("TasksDB", 1); req.onerror = function () { console.log("Could not open database"); }; req.onupgradeneeded = function (evt) { var newDB = evt.target.result; newDB.createObjectStore("tasks", { keyPath: "id", autoIncrement:true }); }; // Load the data source with data from the database req.onsuccess = function () { db = req.result; var tran = db.transaction("tasks"); tran.objectStore("tasks").openCursor().onsuccess = function(event) { var cursor = event.target.result; tasks.dataSource.beginEdits(); if (cursor) { tasks.dataSource.insertAtEnd(null, cursor.value); cursor.continue(); } else { tasks.dataSource.endEdits(); }; }; }; // Add a new task function addTask(taskToAdd) { var transaction = db.transaction("tasks", IDBTransaction.READ_WRITE); var addRequest = transaction.objectStore("tasks").add(taskToAdd); addRequest.onsuccess = function (evt) { taskToAdd.id = evt.target.result; tasks.dataSource.insertAtEnd(null, taskToAdd); } } // Delete an existing task function deleteTask(listViewItem) { // Database key != ListView key var dbKey = listViewItem.data.id; var listViewKey = listViewItem.key; // Remove item from db and, if success, remove item from ListView var transaction = db.transaction("tasks", IDBTransaction.READ_WRITE); var deleteRequest = transaction.objectStore("tasks").delete(dbKey); deleteRequest.onsuccess = function () { tasks.dataSource.remove(listViewKey); } } // Expose the data source and functions WinJS.Namespace.define("TaskList", { tasks: tasks, addTask: addTask, deleteTask: deleteTask }); })(); Summary I wrote this blog entry because I wanted to create a walkthrough of building a simple database-driven application. In particular, I wanted to demonstrate how you can use a ListView control with an IndexedDB database to store and retrieve database data.

    Read the article

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