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  • Branching and Merging Improvements in TFS2010

    - by jehan
    Introducing the concept of “first class branches” is a significant improvement as part of the 2010 release with respect to version control.  Not only does it help to distinguish between folders and branches, but it enables branch visualizations. Let us see improvements in detail. ·         In TFS2008, you don’t know which of the folders are Branches: All folders looks the same, all have the folder icon. Now, In TFS 2010 there is a new icon that shows which of the folder is a Branch.       ·      There is no visual means to manage branches in TFS2008:   You dont have any means to identify which branches are related and the relation type. Now, In TFS 2010 you have visual tools to see the Branches Hierarchy. In order to see a Branch Hierarchy just Right Click the Branch and choose: Branching and Merging –> View Hierarchy     ·         In TFS2008, there is no option to track changes path between the Branches:  If you have made a merge in a Branch you can’t track from which Branch this Merge came from. Now, you have the tools that shows the path of change between the Branches, you can also see where change was added on a timeline.  In order to track a change do the following: Step1: Right click the Branch and click View History   Step 2: Choose a changeset to track and click the “Track Changeset” button.     Step 3: Choose the branches that will be in the view and click “Visualize”. In above visual, you can see that Changesets 108,109,110 and 119 where merged from Main to Release1.0 Branch and then “Release_1.0” Branched to “Dev1.0. Step4: You can also see the Merges on a Timeline by clicking on the “Timeline Tracking” button.   Creating New Branches: In TFS 2010, the creation of branches has been streamlined a bit from the process in 2008.  In 2008, creating a new branch was like every other action in the system – changes were pended on the client, and then checked in to the server. Because of this creating new branch in TFS2008 was time-consuming process.  In TFS2010, the step where changes are pended has been bypassed and now performing the branch creation is entirely on the server.  With this approach, the round trip time for downloading a copy of each file on the branch and then uploading each file again has been eliminated.  Note: In TFS2010, the new branch will be created and committed as a single operation on the server. Pending changes will not be created, it doesn’t require a check-in as it will be carried out as a single operation and it’s not possible to cancel.     Manage Branch Permissions: The properties view for branches is also different than that of ordinary folders or file, containing some metadata for the branch, relationship information, and permissions for the branch. In TFS2008, the users who have checkout and Check-in permissions can create a branch. But, In TFS2010 you can control the permissions for Branches using Manage Branch permissions.   Reparent option in TFS2010: In TFS2008, if we have two branches which don’t have parent-child relation and we want perform merge between these two branches then we have to perform baseless merge using tf.exe command line. I have two branches Release_1.0 and Dev1.0_F2 which don’t have any relation between them, that’s why when I click on merge option in Release_1.0, in Target Branch it’s not showing Dev1.0_F2 branch to perform the merges.     Let us see what can we do for this in TFS2010, first perform a TFS baseless merge to establish a relationship between the parent branch and the child branches.  It will only merge the folder, not its contents. TFS baseless merges are performed via the command line using VS2010 command prompt and do the following:   tf merge /baseless <ParentBranch> <childBranch> Check in your pending changes. It will create the link between the branches but the relationships are still not completed.  Now, select the child branch in Source Control Explorer and from the File menu choose Source Control –> Branching and Merging –> Reparent.      In the dialog box,  choose the appropriate branch as the new parent.   Click Reparent and then go to parent branch and click merge. Now, will see that in Target Branch option Dev1.0_F2 branch is added.         Converting Folders to Branches and Branches to Folders: You can convert any Folder as Branch from Context Menu by performing right click on the folderàBranching and MergingàConvert to Branch. In similar way, you can convert the Branches to Folder using Convert to Folder option available in File Menu (FileàSource ControlàBranching and MergingàConvert to Branch). This option is not available in context menu.

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  • JDK bug migration: components and subcomponents

    - by darcy
    One subtask of the JDK migration from the legacy bug tracking system to JIRA was reclassifying bugs from a three-level taxonomy in the legacy system, (product, category, subcategory), to a fundamentally two-level scheme in our customized JIRA instance, (component, subcomponent). In the JDK JIRA system, there is technically a third project-level classification, but by design a large majority of JDK-related bugs were migrated into a single "JDK" project. In the end, over 450 legacy subcategories were simplified into about 120 subcomponents in JIRA. The 120 subcomponents are distributed among 17 components. A rule of thumb used was that a subcategory had to have at least 50 bugs in it for it to be retained. Below is a listing the component / subcomponent classification of the JDK JIRA project along with some notes and guidance on which OpenJDK email addresses cover different areas. Eventually, a separate incidents project to host new issues filed at bugs.sun.com will use a slightly simplified version of this scheme. The preponderance of bugs and subcomponents for the JDK are in library-related areas, with components named foo-libs and subcomponents primarily named after packages. While there was an overall condensation of subcomponents in the migration, in some cases long-standing informal divisions in core libraries based on naming conventions in the description were promoted to formal subcomponents. For example, hundreds of bugs in the java.util subcomponent whose descriptions started with "(coll)" were moved into java.util:collections. Likewise, java.lang bugs starting with "(reflect)" and "(proxy)" were moved into java.lang:reflect. client-libs (Predominantly discussed on 2d-dev and awt-dev and swing-dev.) 2d demo java.awt java.awt:i18n java.beans (See beans-dev.) javax.accessibility javax.imageio javax.sound (See sound-dev.) javax.swing core-libs (See core-libs-dev.) java.io java.io:serialization java.lang java.lang.invoke java.lang:class_loading java.lang:reflect java.math java.net java.nio (Discussed on nio-dev.) java.nio.charsets java.rmi java.sql java.sql:bridge java.text java.util java.util.concurrent java.util.jar java.util.logging java.util.regex java.util:collections java.util:i18n javax.annotation.processing javax.lang.model javax.naming (JNDI) javax.script javax.script:javascript javax.sql org.openjdk.jigsaw (See jigsaw-dev.) security-libs (See security-dev.) java.security javax.crypto (JCE: includes SunJCE/MSCAPI/UCRYPTO/ECC) javax.crypto:pkcs11 (JCE: PKCS11 only) javax.net.ssl (JSSE, includes javax.security.cert) javax.security javax.smartcardio javax.xml.crypto org.ietf.jgss org.ietf.jgss:krb5 other-libs corba corba:idl corba:orb corba:rmi-iiop javadb other (When no other subcomponent is more appropriate; use judiciously.) Most of the subcomponents in the xml component are related to jaxp. xml jax-ws jaxb javax.xml.parsers (JAXP) javax.xml.stream (JAXP) javax.xml.transform (JAXP) javax.xml.validation (JAXP) javax.xml.xpath (JAXP) jaxp (JAXP) org.w3c.dom (JAXP) org.xml.sax (JAXP) For OpenJDK, most JVM-related bugs are connected to the HotSpot Java virtual machine. hotspot (See hotspot-dev.) build compiler (See hotspot-compiler-dev.) gc (garbage collection, see hotspot-gc-dev.) jfr (Java Flight Recorder) jni (Java Native Interface) jvmti (JVM Tool Interface) mvm (Multi-Tasking Virtual Machine) runtime (See hotspot-runtime-dev.) svc (Servicability) test core-svc (See serviceability-dev.) debugger java.lang.instrument java.lang.management javax.management tools The full JDK bug database contains entries related to legacy virtual machines that predate HotSpot as well as retired APIs. vm-legacy jit (Sun Exact VM) jit_symantec (Symantec VM, before Exact VM) jvmdi (JVM Debug Interface ) jvmpi (JVM Profiler Interface ) runtime (Exact VM Runtime) Notable command line tools in the $JDK/bin directory have corresponding subcomponents. tools appletviewer apt (See compiler-dev.) hprof jar javac (See compiler-dev.) javadoc(tool) (See compiler-dev.) javah (See compiler-dev.) javap (See compiler-dev.) jconsole launcher updaters (Timezone updaters, etc.) visualvm Some aspects of JDK infrastructure directly affect JDK Hg repositories, but other do not. infrastructure build (See build-dev and build-infra-dev.) licensing (Covers updates to the third party readme, licenses, and similar files.) release_eng (Release engineering) staging (Staging of web pages related to JDK releases.) The specification subcomponent encompasses the formal language and virtual machine specifications. specification language (The Java Language Specification) vm (The Java Virtual Machine Specification) The code for the deploy and install areas is not currently included in OpenJDK. deploy deployment_toolkit plugin webstart install auto_update install servicetags In the JDK, there are a number of cross-cutting concerns whose organization is essentially orthogonal to other areas. Since these areas generally have dedicated teams working on them, it is easier to find bugs of interest if these bugs are grouped first by their cross-cutting component rather than by the affected technology. docs doclet guides hotspot release_notes tools tutorial embedded build hotspot libraries globalization locale-data translation performance hotspot libraries The list of subcomponents will no doubt grow over time, but my inclination is to resist that growth since the addition of each subcomponent makes the system as a whole more complicated and harder to use. When the system gets closer to being externalized, I plan to post more blog entries describing recommended use of various custom fields in the JDK project.

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  • Master Data Management Implementation Styles

    - by david.butler(at)oracle.com
    In any Master Data Management solution deployment, one of the key decisions to be made is the choice of the MDM architecture. Gartner and other analysts describe some different Hub deployment styles, which must be supported by a best of breed MDM solution in order to guarantee the success of the deployment project.   Registry Style: In a Registry Style MDM Hub, the various source systems publish their data and a subscribing Hub stores only the source system IDs, the Foreign Keys (record IDs on source systems) and the key data values needed for matching. The Hub runs the cleansing and matching algorithms and assigns unique global identifiers to the matched records, but does not send any data back to the source systems. The Registry Style MDM Hub uses data federation capabilities to build the "virtual" golden view of the master entity from the connected systems.   Consolidation Style: The Consolidation Style MDM Hub has a physically instantiated, "golden" record stored in the central Hub. The authoring of the data remains distributed across the spoke systems and the master data can be updated based on events, but is not guaranteed to be up to date. The master data in this case is usually not used for transactions, but rather supports reporting; however, it can also be used for reference operationally.   Coexistence Style: The Coexistence Style MDM Hub involves master data that's authored and stored in numerous spoke systems, but includes a physically instantiated golden record in the central Hub and harmonized master data across the application portfolio. The golden record is constructed in the same manner as in the consolidation style, and, in the operational world, Consolidation Style MDM Hubs often evolve into the Coexistence Style. The key difference is that in this architectural style the master data stored in the central MDM system is selectively published out to the subscribing spoke systems.   Transaction Style: In this architecture, the Hub stores, enhances and maintains all the relevant (master) data attributes. It becomes the authoritative source of truth and publishes this valuable information back to the respective source systems. The Hub publishes and writes back the various data elements to the source systems after the linking, cleansing, matching and enriching algorithms have done their work. Upstream, transactional applications can read master data from the MDM Hub, and, potentially, all spoke systems subscribe to updates published from the central system in a form of harmonization. The Hub needs to support merging of master records. Security and visibility policies at the data attribute level need to be supported by the Transaction Style hub, as well.   Adaptive Transaction Style: This is similar to the Transaction Style, but additionally provides the capability to respond to diverse information and process requests across the enterprise. This style emerged most recently to address the limitations of the above approaches. With the Adaptive Transaction Style, the Hub is built as a platform for consolidating data from disparate third party and internal sources and for serving unified master entity views to operational applications, analytical systems or both. This approach delivers a real-time Hub that has a reliable, persistent foundation of master reference and relationship data, along with all the history and lineage of data changes needed for audit and compliance tracking. On top of this persistent master data foundation, the Hub can dynamically aggregate transaction data on demand from different source systems to deliver the unified golden view to downstream systems. Data can also be accessed through batch interfaces, published to a message bus or served through a real-time services layer. New data sources can be readily added in this approach by extending the data model and by configuring the new source mappings and the survivorship rules, meaning that all legacy data hubs can be leveraged to contribute their records/rules into the new transaction hub. Finally, through rich user interfaces for data stewardship, it allows exception handling by business analysts to keep it current with business rules/practices while maintaining the reliability of best-of-breed master records.   Confederation Style: In this architectural style, several Hubs are maintained at departmental and/or agency and/or territorial level, and each of them are connected to the other Hubs either directly or via a central Super-Hub. Each Domain level Hub can be implemented using any of the previously described styles, but normally the Central Super-Hub is a Registry Style one. This is particularly important for Public Sector organizations, where most of the time it is practically or legally impossible to store in a single central hub all the relevant constituent information from all departments.   Oracle MDM Solutions can be deployed according to any of the above MDM architectural styles, and have been specifically designed to fully support the Transaction and Adaptive Transaction styles. Oracle MDM Solutions provide strong data federation and integration capabilities which are key to enabling the use of the Confederated Hub as a possible architectural style approach. Don't lock yourself into a solution that cannot evolve with your needs. With Oracle's support for any type of deployment architecture, its ability to leverage the outstanding capabilities of the Oracle technology stack, and its open interfaces for non-Oracle technology stacks, Oracle MDM Solutions provide a low TCO and a quick ROI by enabling a phased implementation strategy.

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  • Planning an Event&ndash;SPS NYC

    - by MOSSLover
    I bet some of you were wondering why I am not going to any events for the most part in June and July (aside from volunteering at SPS Chicago).  Well I basically have no life for the next 2 months.  We are approaching the 11th hour of SharePoint Saturday New York City.  The event is slated to have 350 to 400 attendees.  This is second year in a row I’ve helped run it with Jason Gallicchio.  It’s amazingly crazy how much effort this event requires versus Kansas City.  It’s literally 2x the volume of attendees, speakers, and sponsors plus don’t even get me started about volunteers.  So here is a bit of the break down… We have 30 volunteers+ that Tasha Scott from the Hampton Roads Area will be managing the day of the event to do things like timing the speakers, handing out food, making sure people don’t walk into the event that did not sign up until we get a count for fire code, registering people, watching the sharpees, watching the prizes, making sure attendees get to the right place,  opening and closing the partition in the big room, moving chairs, moving furniture, etc…Then there is Jason, Greg, and I who will be making sure that the speakers, sponsors, and everything is going smoothly in the background.  We need to make sure that everything is setup properly and in the right spot.  We also need to make sure signs are printed, schedules are created, bags are stuffed with sponsor material.  Plus we need to send out emails to sponsors reminding them to send us the right information to post on the site for charity sessions, send us boxes with material to stuff bags, and we need to make sure that Michael Lotter gets there information for invoicing.  We also need to check that Michael has invoiced everyone and who has paid, because we can’t order anything for the event without money.  Once people have paid we need to setup food orders, speaker and volunteer dinners, buy prizes, buy bags, buy speakers/volunteer/organizer shirts, etc…During this process we need all the abstracts from speakers, all the bios, pictures, shirt sizes, and other items so we can create schedules and order items.  We also need to keep track of who is attending the dinner the night before for volunteers and speakers and make sure we don’t hit capacity.  Then there is attendee tracking and making sure that we don’t hit too many attendees.  We need to make sure that attendees know where to go and what to do.  We have to make all kinds of random supply lists during this process and keep on track with a variety of lists and emails plus conference calls.  All in all it’s a lot of work and I am trying to keep track of it all the top so that we don’t duplicate anything or miss anything.  So basically all in all if you don’t see me around for another month don’t worry I do exist. Right now if you look at what I’m doing I am traveling every Monday morning and Thursday night back and forth to Washington DC from New Jersey.  Every night I am working on organizational stuff for SharePoint Saturday New York City.  Every Tuesday night we are running an event conference call.  Every weekend I am either with family or my boyfriend and cat trying hard not to touch the event.  So all my time is pretty much work, event, and family/boyfriend.  I have 0 bandwidth for anything in the community.  If you compound that with my severe allergy problems in DC and a doctor’s appointment every month plus a new med once a week I’m lucky I am still standing and walking.  So basically once July 30th hits hopefully Jason Gallicchio, Greg Hurlman, and myself will be able to breathe a little easier.  If I forget to do this thank you Greg and Jason.  Thank you Tom Daly.  Thank you Michael Lotter.  Thank you Tasha Scott.  Thank you Kevin Griffin.  Thank you all the volunteers, speakers, sponsors, and attendees who will and have made this event a success.  Hopefully, we have enough time until next year to regroup, recharge, and make the event grow bigger in a different venue.  Awesome job everyone we sole out within 3 days of registration and we still have several weeks to go.  Right now the waitlist is at 49 people with room to grow.  If you attend the event thank all these guys I mentioned above for making it possible.  It’s going to be awesome I know it but I probably won’t remember half of it due to the blur of things that we will all be taking care of the day of the event.  Catch you all in the end of July/Early August where I will attempt to post something useful and clever and possibly while wearing a fez. Technorati Tags: SPS NYC,SharePoint Saturday,SharePoint Saturday New York City

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  • Oracle CRM On Demand Release 24 is Generally Available

    - by Richard Lefebvre
    Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 We are pleased to announce that Oracle CRM On Demand Release 24 is Generally Available as of October 25, 2013 Get smarter, more productive and the best value with Oracle CRM On Demand Release 24. Oracle CRM On Demand continues to be the most complete Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) CRM solution available. Now, with Release 24, organizations of all types and sizes benefit from actionable insight anywhere, anytime, as well as key enhancements in mobility, embedded social, analytics, integration and extensibility, and ease of use.Next Generation Mobile and Desktop Solutions : Oracle CRM On Demand Release 24 offers a complete set of mobile and desktop solutions that improve productivity by enabling reps to access and update information anywhere, anytime. Capabilities include: Oracle CRM On Demand Disconnected Mobile Sales (DMS) – A disconnected native iPad solution, DMS has been further streamlined mobile sales process by adding Structured Product Messaging to record brand specific call objectives, enhancements in HTML5 eDetailing including message response tracking and improvements in administration and configuration such as more field management options for read only fields, role management and enhanced logging. Oracle CRM On Demand Connected Mobile Sales. This add-on mobile service provides a configurable mobile solution on iOS, BlackBerry and now Android devices. You can access data from CRM On Demand in real time with a rich, native user experience, that is comfortable and familiar to current iOS, BlackBerry and Android users. New features also include Single Sign On to enhance security for mobile users.  Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop: This application centralizes essential CRM information in the familiar Microsoft Outlook environment,increasing user adoption and decreasing training costs. Users can manage CRM data while disconnected, then synchronize bi-directionally when they are back on the network. New in Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop Version 3 is the ability to synchronize by Books of Business, and improved Online Lookup. Mobile Browser Support: The following mobile device browsers are now supported: Apple iPhone, Apple iPad, Windows 8 Tablets, and Google Android. Leverage the Social Enterprise Engaging customers via social channels is rapidly becoming a significant key to enhanced customer experience as it provides proactive customer service, targeted messaging and greater intimacy throughout the entire customer lifecycle. Listening to customers on the social channels can identify a customers’ sphere of influence and the real value they bring to their organization, or the impact they can have on the opportunity. Servicing the customer’s need is the first step towards loyalty to a brand, integrating with social channels allows us to maximize brand affinity and virally expand customer engagements thus increasing revenue. Oracle CRM On Demand is leveraging the Social Enterprise through its integration with Oracle’s Social Relationship Management (SRM) product suite by providing out-of-the-box integration with Social Engagement and Monitoring (SEM), Social Marketing (SM) and Oracle Social Network (OSN). With Oracle CRM On Demand Release 24, users are able to create a service request from a social post via SEM and have leads entered on a SM lead form automatically entered into Oracle CRM On Demand along with the campaign, streamlining the lead qualification process. Get Smarter with Actionable Insight The difference between making good decisions and great decisions depends heavily upon the quality, structure, and availability of information at hand. Oracle CRM On Demand Release 24 expands upon its industry-leading analytics capabilities to provide greater business insight than ever before. New capabilities include flexible permissions on analytics reports folders, allowing for read only access to reports, and additional field and object coverage. Get More Productive with Powerful Tools Oracle CRM On Demand Release 24 introduces a new set of powerful capabilities designed to maximize productivity. A significant new feature for customizing Oracle CRM On Demand is a JavaScript API. The JS API allows customers to add new buttons, suppress existing buttons and even change what happens when a user clicks an existing button. Other usability enhancements, such as personalized related information applets, extended case insensitive search provide users with better, more intuitive, experience. Additional privileges for viewing private activities and notes allow administrators to reassign records as needed, and Custom Object management. Workflow has been added to the Order Item object; and now tasks can be assigned to a relative user, such as an Account Owner, allowing more complex business processes to be automated and adhered to. Get the Best Value Oracle CRM On Demand delivers unprecedented value with the broadest set of capabilities from a single-provider solution, the industry’s lowest total cost of ownership, the most on-demand deployment options, the deepest CRM expertise and experience of any CRM provider, and the most secure CRM in the cloud. With Release 24, Oracle CRM On Demand now includes even more enterprise-grade security, integration, and extensibility features, along with enhanced industry editions to save you time and money. New features include: Business Process Administration: A new privilege has been added that allows administrators to override a Business Process Administration rule.This privilege permits users to edit a locked record, or unlock a record, in the event of a material change that needs to be reflected per corporatepolicy. Additionally, the Products Detailed object has been added to Business Process Administration, enabling record locking and logic to be applied. Expanded Integration: Oracle continues to improve Web Services each release, by adding more object coverage enabling customers and partners to easily integrate with CRM On Demand. Bottom Line Oracle CRM On Demand Release 24 enables organizations to get smarter, get more productive, and get the best value, period. For more information on Oracle CRM On Demand Release 24, please visit oracle.com/crmondemand

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  • Oracle RightNow CX for Good Customer Experiences

    - by Andreea Vaduva
    Oracle RightNow CX is all about the customer experience, it’s about understanding what drives a good interaction and it’s about delivering a solution which works for our customers and by extension, their customers. One of the early guiding principles of Oracle RightNow was an 8-point strategy to providing good customer experiences. Establish a knowledge foundation Empowering the customer Empower employees Offer multi-channel choice Listen to the customer Design seamless experiences Engage proactively Measure and improve continuously The application suite provides all of the tools necessary to deliver a rewarding, repeatable and measurable relationship between business and customer. The Knowledge Authoring tool provides gap analysis, WYSIWIG editing (and includes HTML rich content for non-developers), multi-level categorisation, permission based publishing and Web self-service publishing. Oracle RightNow Customer Portal, is a complete web application framework that enables businesses to control their own end-user page branding experience, which in turn will allow customers to self-serve. The Contact Centre Experience Designer builds a combination of workspaces, agent scripting and guided assistances into a Desktop Workflow. These present an agent with the tools they need, at the time they need them, providing even the newest and least experienced advisors with consistently accurate and efficient information, whilst guiding them through the complexities of internal business processes. Oracle RightNow provides access points for customers to feedback about specific knowledge articles or about the support site in general. The system will generate ‘incidents’ based on the scoring of the comments submitted. This makes it easy to view and respond to customer feedback. It is vital, more now than ever, not to under-estimate the power of the social web – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube – they have the ability to cause untold amounts of damage to businesses with a single post – witness musician Dave Carroll and his protest song on YouTube, posted in response to poor customer services from an American airline. The first day saw 150,000 views and is currently at 12,011,375. The Times reported that within 4 days of the post, the airline’s stock price fell by 10 percent, which represented a cost to shareholders of $180 million dollars. It is a universally acknowledged fact, that when customers are unhappy, they will not come back, and, generally speaking, it only takes one bad experience to lose a customer. The idea that customer loyalty can be regained by using social media channels was the subject of a 2011 Survey commissioned by RightNow and conducted by Harris Interactive. The survey discovered that 68% of customers who posted a negative review about a holiday on a social networking site received a response from the business. It further found that 33% subsequently posted a positive review and 34% removed the original negative review. Cloud Monitor provides the perfect mechanism for seeing what is being said about a business on public Facebook pages, Twitter or YouTube posts; it allows agents to respond proactively – either by creating an Oracle RightNow incident or by using the same channel as the original post. This leaves step 8 – Measuring and Improving: How does a business know whether it’s doing the right thing? How does it know if its customers are happy? How does it know if its staff are being productive? How does it know if its staff are being effective? Cue Oracle RightNow Analytics – fully integrated across the entire platform – Service, Marketing and Sales – there are in excess of 800 standard reports. If this were not enough, a large proportion of the database has been made available via the administration console, allowing users without any prior database experience to write their own reports, format them and schedule them for e-mail delivery to a distribution list. It handles the complexities of table joins, and allows for the manipulation of data with ease. Oracle RightNow believes strongly in the customer owning their solution, and to provide the best foundation for success, Oracle University can give you the RightNow knowledge and skills you need. This is a selection of the courses offered: RightNow Customer Service Administration Rel 12.02 (3 days) Available as In Class and Live Virtual Class (Release 11.11 is available as In Class, Live Virtual Class and Training On Demand) This course familiarises users with the tasks and concepts needed to configure and maintain their system. RightNow Customer Portal Designer and Contact Center Experience Designer Administration Rel 12.02 (2 days) Available as In Class and Live Virtual Class (Release 11.11 is available as In Class, Live Virtual Class and Training On Demand) This course introduces basic CP structure and how to make changes to the look, feel and behaviour of their self-service pages RightNow Analytics Rel 12.02 (2 days) Available as In Class, Live Virtual Class and Training On Demand (Release 11.11 is available as In Class and Live Virtual Class) This course equips users with the skills necessary to understand data supplied by standard reports and to create custom reports RightNow Integration and Customization For Developers Rel 12.02 (5-days) Available as In Class and Live Virtual Class (Release 11.11 is available as In Class, Live Virtual Class and Training On Demand) This course is for experienced web developers and offers an introduction to Add-In development using the Desktop Add-In Framework and introduces the core knowledge that developers need to begin integrating Oracle RightNow CX with other systems A full list of courses offered can be found on the Oracle University website. For more information and course dates please get in contact with your local Oracle University team. On top of the Service components, the suite also provides marketing tools, complex survey creation and tracking and sales functionality. I’m a fan of the application, and I think I’ve made that clear: It’s completely geared up to providing customers with support at point of need. It can be configured to meet even the most stringent of business requirements. Oracle RightNow is passionate about, and committed to, providing the best customer experience possible. Oracle RightNow CX is the application that makes it possible. About the Author: Sarah Anderson worked for RightNow for 4 years in both in both a consulting and training delivery capacity. She is now a Senior Instructor with Oracle University, delivering the following Oracle RightNow courses: RightNow Customer Service Administration RightNow Analytics RightNow Customer Portal Designer and Contact Center Experience Designer Administration RightNow Marketing and Feedback

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  • Oracle Fusion Middleware gives you Choice and Portability for Public and Private Cloud

    - by Michelle Kimihira
    Author: Margaret Lee, Senior Director, Product Management, Oracle Fusion Middleware Cloud Computing allows customers to quickly develop and deploy applications in a shared environment.  The environment can span across hardward (IaaS), foundation layer software (PaaS), and end-user software (SaaS). Cloud Computing provides compelling benefits in terms of business agility and IT cost savings.  However, with complex, existing heterogeneous architectures, and concerns for security and manageability, enterprises are challenged to define their Cloud strategy.  For most enterprises, the solution is a hybrid of private and public cloud.  Fusion Middleware supports customers’ Cloud requirements through choice and portability. Fusion Middleware supports a variety of cloud development and deployment models:  Oracle [Public] Cloud; customer private cloud; hybrid of these two, and traditional dedicated, on-premise model Customers can develop applications in any of these models and deployed in another, providing the flexibility and portability they need Oracle Cloud is a public cloud offering.  Within Oracle Cloud, Fusion Middleware provides two key offerings include the Developer cloud service and Java cloud deployment service. Developer Cloud Service Simplify Development: Automated provisioned environment; pre-configured and integrated; web-based administration Deploy Automatically: Fully integrated with Oracle Cloud for Java deployment; workflow ensures build & test Collaborate & Manage: Fits any size team; integrated team source repository; continuous integration; task/defect tracking Integrated with all major IDEs: Oracle JDeveloper; NetBeans; Eclipse Java Cloud Service Java Cloud service provides flexible Java deployment environment for departmental applications and development, staging, QA, training, and demo environments.  It also supports customizations deployments for SaaS-based Fusion Applications customers.  Some key features of Java Cloud Service include: WebLogic Server on Exalogic, secure, highly available infrastructure Database Service & IDE Integration Open, Standard-based Deploy Web Apps, Web Services, REST Services Fully managed and supported by Oracle For more information, please visit Oracle Cloud, Oracle Cloud Java Service and Oracle Cloud Developer Service. If your enterprise prefers a private cloud, for reasons such as security, control, manageability, and complex integration that prevent your applications from being deployed on a public cloud, Fusion Middleware also provide you with the products and tools you need.  Sometimes called Private PaaS, private clouds have their predecessors in shared-services arrangements many large companies have been building in the past decade.  The difference, however, are in the scope of the services, and depth of their capabilities.  In terms of vertical stack depth, private clouds not only provide hardware and software infrastructure to run your applications, they also provide services such as integration and security, that your applications need.  Horizontally, private clouds provide monitoring, management, lifecycle, and charge back capabilities out-of-box that shared-services platforms did not have before. Oracle Fusion Middleware includes the complete stack of hardware and software for you to build private clouds: SOA suite and BPM suite to support systems integration and process flow between applications deployed on your private cloud and the rest of your organization Identity and Access Management suite to provide security, provisioning, and access services for applications deployed on your private cloud WebLogic Server to run your applications Enterprise Manager's Cloud Management pack to monitor, manage, upgrade applications running on your private cloud Exalogic or optimized Oracle-Sun hardware to build out your private cloud The most important key differentiator for Oracle's cloud solutions is portability, between private and public clouds.  This is unique to Oracle because portability requires the vendor to have product depth and breadth in both public cloud services and private cloud product offerings.  Most public cloud vendors cannot provide the infrastructure and tools customers need to build their own private clouds.  In reverse, traditional software tools vendors typically do not have the product and expertise breadth to build out and offer a public cloud.  Oracle can.  It is important for customers that the products and technologies  Oracle uses to build its public is the same set that it sells to customers for them to build private clouds.  Fundamentally, that enables skills reuse,  as well as application portability. For more information on Oracle PaaS offerings, please visit Oracle's product information page.    Resources Follow us on Twitter and Facebook Subscribe to our regular Fusion Middleware Newsletter

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  • Computer Networks UNISA - Chap 15 &ndash; Network Management

    - by MarkPearl
    After reading this section you should be able to Understand network management and the importance of documentation, baseline measurements, policies, and regulations to assess and maintain a network’s health. Manage a network’s performance using SNMP-based network management software, system and event logs, and traffic-shaping techniques Identify the reasons for and elements of an asset managements system Plan and follow regular hardware and software maintenance routines Fundamentals of Network Management Network management refers to the assessment, monitoring, and maintenance of all aspects of a network including checking for hardware faults, ensuring high QoS, maintaining records of network assets, etc. Scope of network management differs depending on the size and requirements of the network. All sub topics of network management share the goals of enhancing the efficiency and performance while preventing costly downtime or loss. Documentation The way documentation is stored may vary, but to adequately manage a network one should at least record the following… Physical topology (types of LAN and WAN topologies – ring, star, hybrid) Access method (does it use Ethernet 802.3, token ring, etc.) Protocols Devices (Switches, routers, etc) Operating Systems Applications Configurations (What version of operating system and config files for serve / client software) Baseline Measurements A baseline is a report of the network’s current state of operation. Baseline measurements might include the utilization rate for your network backbone, number of users logged on per day, etc. Baseline measurements allow you to compare future performance increases or decreases caused by network changes or events with past network performance. Obtaining baseline measurements is the only way to know for certain whether a pattern of usage has changed, or whether a network upgrade has made a difference. There are various tools available for measuring baseline performance on a network. Policies, Procedures, and Regulations Following rules helps limit chaos, confusion, and possibly downtime. The following policies and procedures and regulations make for sound network management. Media installations and management (includes designing physical layout of cable, etc.) Network addressing policies (includes choosing and applying a an addressing scheme) Resource sharing and naming conventions (includes rules for logon ID’s) Security related policies Troubleshooting procedures Backup and disaster recovery procedures In addition to internal policies, a network manager must consider external regulatory rules. Fault and Performance Management After documenting every aspect of your network and following policies and best practices, you are ready to asses you networks status on an on going basis. This process includes both performance management and fault management. Network Management Software To accomplish both fault and performance management, organizations often use enterprise-wide network management software. There various software packages that do this, each collect data from multiple networked devices at regular intervals, in a process called polling. Each managed device runs a network management agent. So as not to affect the performance of a device while collecting information, agents do not demand significant processing resources. The definition of a managed devices and their data are collected in a MIB (Management Information Base). Agents communicate information about managed devices via any of several application layer protocols. On modern networks most agents use SNMP which is part of the TCP/IP suite and typically runs over UDP on port 161. Because of the flexibility and sophisticated network management applications are a challenge to configure and fine-tune. One needs to be careful to only collect relevant information and not cause performance issues (i.e. pinging a device every 5 seconds can be a problem with thousands of devices). MRTG (Multi Router Traffic Grapher) is a simple command line utility that uses SNMP to poll devices and collects data in a log file. MRTG can be used with Windows, UNIX and Linux. System and Event Logs Virtually every condition recognized by an operating system can be recorded. This is typically done using event logs. In Windows there is a GUI event log viewer. Similar information is recorded in UNIX and Linux in a system log. Much of the information collected in event logs and syslog files does not point to a problem, even if it is marked with a warning so it is important to filter your logs appropriately to reduce the noise. Traffic Shaping When a network must handle high volumes of network traffic, users benefit from performance management technique called traffic shaping. Traffic shaping involves manipulating certain characteristics of packets, data streams, or connections to manage the type and amount of traffic traversing a network or interface at any moment. Its goals are to assure timely delivery of the most important traffic while offering the best possible performance for all users. Several types of traffic prioritization exist including prioritizing traffic according to any of the following characteristics… Protocol IP address User group DiffServr VLAN tag in a Data Link layer frame Service or application Caching In addition to traffic shaping, a network or host might use caching to improve performance. Caching is the local storage of frequently needed files that would otherwise be obtained from an external source. By keeping files close to the requester, caching allows the user to access those files quickly. The most common type of caching is Web caching, in which Web pages are stored locally. To an ISP, caching is much more than just convenience. It prevents a significant volume of WAN traffic, thus improving performance and saving money. Asset Management Another key component in managing networks is identifying and tracking its hardware. This is called asset management. The first step to asset management is to take an inventory of each node on the network. You will also want to keep records of every piece of software purchased by your organization. Asset management simplifies maintaining and upgrading the network chiefly because you know what the system includes. In addition, asset management provides network administrators with information about the costs and benefits of certain types of hardware or software. Change Management Networks are always in a stage of flux with various aspects including… Software changes and patches Client Upgrades Shared Application Upgrades NOS Upgrades Hardware and Physical Plant Changes Cabling Upgrades Backbone Upgrades For a detailed explanation on each of these read the textbook (Page 750 – 761)

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  • Goodbye my beloved Nexus One, hello Windows Phone 7

    - by George Clingerman
    Last night my wife’s Nexus One finally bit the dust. You may not know but I’ve been nursing her Nexus One one along for quite a while after her screen shattered. I was able to replace it on my own (go me!) but little quirks have been popping up and the phone was quickly deteriorating. Lately it’s been the power button. Wifey would often have to press the power button several times to get her phone to turn on and last night it just wouldn’t wake up again. I took it apart and tried my best to see if I could somehow make it live once again but no luck this time. It was finally ready to retire. We looked at first for a replacement phone for her but she wasn’t really seeing anything she liked. So I decided to make the ultimate sacrifice and offer up my much loved Nexus One and I would then get a new Windows Phone 7 device. I love T-Mobile for my service so my choices were immediately limited to basically just a single phone. The HTC HD7. I read reviews and they were all over the board from people loving to people hating the phone but I decided, hey, why not, let’s take this plunge. And I did. I’ve only had the phone for about two days now so below is my list of first reaction pros/cons. These are basically things I’ve missed or things I’ve noticed that I really like about my new Windows Phone. Cons: * No Google Talk – I used this a LOT on my Nexus. I’ve found an application called “Flory” but it’s just an ok substitute, not the same as the full featured GTalk I had on my Nexus. * Seesmic is limited– I loved the way Seesmic worked on my Nexus. It was my mobile twitter client of choice. Everything about it worked really well. On Windows Phone 7 it’s just ok. I don’t get notification of new tweets, it’s several clicks to even see a new tweet. It’s definitely got some more development before it has the same features as it did on my Nexus. * Buttons don’t give great feedback – I’d read this on the reviews about the HTC HD7 and I’m finding it true myself. Pressing the buttons on the side of the phone and the power button on the top is finicky and I have to be looking at my phone to make sure I actually got them to press. * Web browsing is slow – I’m not sure what’s up with this, I’m connected to my wireless network at my house but it’s noticeably slower on my WP7 device than my Nexus. I even switched back to verify and it’s definitely true. Retrieving tweets, hitting up the XNA forums and just general web activities are all much slower on my WP7. I can’t think of any reason this would be true but it almost seems like it’s not using my wireless for everything.   Pros: * It’s pretty – the phone is really gorgeous. I loved the form of my Nexus One by the HTC HD7 is just as pretty, maybe even prettier! It’s got a nice large, bright screen. It feels good in my hand. And it even has a little kickstand to set the phone up for movie watching. Definitely a gorgeous phone. * LIVE integration – I lost a lot of nice integration with Google services but I gained a lot of integration with LIVE services that I also use. Now I can see when I get new GMail messages AND Hotmail messages. And having the Xbox LIVE integration is admittedly cool as well. * Tile notification rock – The Windows Phone 7 commercials are TRYING to get this message out but they’re doing a really poor job of this. Tile notifications really do save you from your phone. I have a whole little mini-informational dashboard at a glance. I unlock my phone and at a glace I can see new IMs, new mail messages, software updates etc. All just letting me know in the tiles I have arranged. That’s pretty cool. * The interface works really well – I feel super hip and cool swiping and sliding things around on my Windows Phone 7. Everything works that way and it’s great and fast and really good looking. I’m all about me feeling cool. * I’m gaming more – I had gotten a few games on my Nexus One but there really weren’t a lot of good developers flocking to the service. Just browsing through the Windows Phone 7 marketplace I’m already seeing a ton of games I want to try and buy. And I sat down and bet Pixel Man 0 just yesterday on my phone. I’m already gaming more than I did on my Nexus One. * Netflix integration is fantastic - It works just like it does on my Xbox 360 and I love having this feature on my phone. * It’s basically a Zune – I’ve been taking my Zune to work and listening to music off of that while I code. I no longer need to take it with me, now I just sync songs onto my phone and it’s my new Zune. I freaking love that. One less device to carry around.   All in all my cons have really little to do with the phone (just the buttons and the web browsing) and more to do with the applications needing to catch up a bit to what I’m used to. And the Pros are things that ARE phone specific so I’m seeing that as a good sign that I’m going to be very happy with my Windows Phone 7. So Wifey is happy having her Nexus One again, I’m happy with my new Windows Phone 7. Life is good. Now I just need to make a game to pay for it….

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  • BizTalk &ndash; Routing failure on Delivery Notifications (BizTalk 2006 R2 to 2013)

    - by S.E.R.
    Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/SERivas/archive/2013/11/11/biztalk-routing-failure-on-delivery-notifications.aspxThis is a detailed explanation of a something I posted a few month ago on stackoverflow, concerning a weird behavior (a bug, really…) of the delivery notifications in BizTalk. Reminder: what are delivery notifications Mechanism BizTalk has the ability to automatically publish positive acknowledgments (ACK) when it has succeeded transmitting a message or negative acknowledgments (NACK) in case of a transmission failure. Orchestrations can use delivery notifications to subscribe to those ACKs and NACKs in order to know if a message sent on a one-way send port has been successfully transmitted. Delivery Notifications can be “activated” in two ways: The most common and easy way is to set the Delivery Notification property of a logical send port (in the orchestration designer) to Transmitted: Another way is to set the BTS.AckRequired context property of the message to be sent to true: NOTE: fundamentally, those methods are strictly equivalent since the fact of setting the Delivery Notification to Transmitted on the send port only tells BizTalk the BTS.AckRequired context property has to be set to true on the outgoing message. Related context properties ACKs and NACKs have a common set of propoted context properties, which are : Propriété Description AckType Equals ACK when successful or NACK otherwise AckID MessageID of the message concerned by the acknowledgment AckOwnerID InstanceID of the instance associated with the acknowledgment AckSendPortID ID of the send port AckSendPortName Name of the send port AckOutboundTransportLocation URI of the send port AckReceivePortID ID of the port the message came from AckReceivePortName Name of the port the message came from AckInboundTransportLocation URI of the port the message came from Detailed behavior The way Delivery Notifications are handled by BizTalk is peculiar compared to the standard behavior of the Message Box: if no active subscription exists for the acknowledgment, it is simply discarded. The direct consequence of this is that there can be no routing failure for an acknowledgment, and an acknowledgment cannot be suspended. Moreover, when a message is sent to a send port where Delivery Notification = Transmitted, a correlation set is initialized and a correlation token is attached to the message (Context property: CorrelationToken). This correlation token will also be attached to the acknowledgment. So when the acknowledgment is issued, it is automatically routed to the source orchestration. Finally, when a NACK is received by the source orchestration, a DeliveryFailureException is thrown, which can be caught in Catch section. Context of the problem Consider this scenario: In an orchestration, Delivery Notifications are activated on a One-Way send port In case of a transmission failure, the messaging instance is suspended and the orchestration catches an exception (DeliveryFailureException). When the exception is caught, the orchestration does some logging and then terminates (thanks to a Terminate shape). So that leaves only the suspended messaging instance, waiting to be resumed. Symptoms Once the problem that caused the transmission failure is solved, the messaging instance is resumed. Considering what was said in the reminder, we would expect the instance to complete, leaving no active or suspended instance. Nevertheless, the result is that the messaging instance is once more suspended, this time because of a routing failure: The routing failure report shows that the suspended message has the following attached properties: Explanation Those properties clearly indicate that the message being suspended is an acknowledgment (ACK in this case), which was published in the message box and was supended because no subscribers were found. This makes sense, since the source orchestration was terminated before we resumed the messaging instance. So its subscription to the acknowledgments was no longer active when the ACK was published, which explains the routing failure. But this behavior is in direct contradiction with what was said earlier: an acknowledgment must be discarded when no subscriber is found and therefore should not be suspended. Cause It is indeed an outright bug, which appeared with the SP1 of BizTalk 2006 R2 and was never corrected since then: not in the next 4 CUs, not in BizTalk 2009, not in 2010 and not event in 2013 – though I haven’t tested CU1 and CU2 for this last edition, but I bet there is nothing to be expected from those CUs (on this particular point). Side effects This bug can have pretty nasty side effects: this behavior can be propagated to other ports, due to routing mechanisms. For instance: you have configured the ESB Toolkit and have activated the “Enable routing failure for failed messages”. The result will be that the ESB Exception SQL send port will also try and publish ACKs or NACKs concerning its own messaging instances. In itself, this is already messy, but remember that those acknowledgments will also have the source correlation token attached to them… See how far it goes? Well, actually there is more: in SQL send ports, transactions will be rolled back because of the routing failure (I guess it also happens with other adapters - like Oracle, but I haven’t tested them). Again, think of what happens when the send port is the ESB Exception send port: your BizTalk box is going mad, but you have no idea since no exception can be written in the exception database! All of this can be tricky to diagnose, I can tell you that… Solution There is no real solution, only a work-around, but it won’t solve all of the problems and side effects. The idea is to create an orchestration which subscribes to all acknowledgments. That is to say: The message type of the incoming message will be XmlDocument The BTS.AckType property exists The logical receive port will use direct binding By doing so, all acknowledgments will be consumed by an instance of this orchestration, thus avoiding the routing failure. Here is an example of what this orchestration could look like: In order not to pollute the HAT and the DTA Db (after all, this orchestration is only meant to be a palliative to some faulty internal BizTalk mechanism, so there should be no trace of its execution), all tracking must be deactivated:

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  • Why Is Vertical Resolution Monitor Resolution so Often a Multiple of 360?

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    Stare at a list of monitor resolutions long enough and you might notice a pattern: many of the vertical resolutions, especially those of gaming or multimedia displays, are multiples of 360 (720, 1080, 1440, etc.) But why exactly is this the case? Is it arbitrary or is there something more at work? Today’s Question & Answer session comes to us courtesy of SuperUser—a subdivision of Stack Exchange, a community-driven grouping of Q&A web sites. The Question SuperUser reader Trojandestroy recently noticed something about his display interface and needs answers: YouTube recently added 1440p functionality, and for the first time I realized that all (most?) vertical resolutions are multiples of 360. Is this just because the smallest common resolution is 480×360, and it’s convenient to use multiples? (Not doubting that multiples are convenient.) And/or was that the first viewable/conveniently sized resolution, so hardware (TVs, monitors, etc) grew with 360 in mind? Taking it further, why not have a square resolution? Or something else unusual? (Assuming it’s usual enough that it’s viewable). Is it merely a pleasing-the-eye situation? So why have the display be a multiple of 360? The Answer SuperUser contributor User26129 offers us not just an answer as to why the numerical pattern exists but a history of screen design in the process: Alright, there are a couple of questions and a lot of factors here. Resolutions are a really interesting field of psychooptics meeting marketing. First of all, why are the vertical resolutions on youtube multiples of 360. This is of course just arbitrary, there is no real reason this is the case. The reason is that resolution here is not the limiting factor for Youtube videos – bandwidth is. Youtube has to re-encode every video that is uploaded a couple of times, and tries to use as little re-encoding formats/bitrates/resolutions as possible to cover all the different use cases. For low-res mobile devices they have 360×240, for higher res mobile there’s 480p, and for the computer crowd there is 360p for 2xISDN/multiuser landlines, 720p for DSL and 1080p for higher speed internet. For a while there were some other codecs than h.264, but these are slowly being phased out with h.264 having essentially ‘won’ the format war and all computers being outfitted with hardware codecs for this. Now, there is some interesting psychooptics going on as well. As I said: resolution isn’t everything. 720p with really strong compression can and will look worse than 240p at a very high bitrate. But on the other side of the spectrum: throwing more bits at a certain resolution doesn’t magically make it better beyond some point. There is an optimum here, which of course depends on both resolution and codec. In general: the optimal bitrate is actually proportional to the resolution. So the next question is: what kind of resolution steps make sense? Apparently, people need about a 2x increase in resolution to really see (and prefer) a marked difference. Anything less than that and many people will simply not bother with the higher bitrates, they’d rather use their bandwidth for other stuff. This has been researched quite a long time ago and is the big reason why we went from 720×576 (415kpix) to 1280×720 (922kpix), and then again from 1280×720 to 1920×1080 (2MP). Stuff in between is not a viable optimization target. And again, 1440P is about 3.7MP, another ~2x increase over HD. You will see a difference there. 4K is the next step after that. Next up is that magical number of 360 vertical pixels. Actually, the magic number is 120 or 128. All resolutions are some kind of multiple of 120 pixels nowadays, back in the day they used to be multiples of 128. This is something that just grew out of LCD panel industry. LCD panels use what are called line drivers, little chips that sit on the sides of your LCD screen that control how bright each subpixel is. Because historically, for reasons I don’t really know for sure, probably memory constraints, these multiple-of-128 or multiple-of-120 resolutions already existed, the industry standard line drivers became drivers with 360 line outputs (1 per subpixel). If you would tear down your 1920×1080 screen, I would be putting money on there being 16 line drivers on the top/bottom and 9 on one of the sides. Oh hey, that’s 16:9. Guess how obvious that resolution choice was back when 16:9 was ‘invented’. Then there’s the issue of aspect ratio. This is really a completely different field of psychology, but it boils down to: historically, people have believed and measured that we have a sort of wide-screen view of the world. Naturally, people believed that the most natural representation of data on a screen would be in a wide-screen view, and this is where the great anamorphic revolution of the ’60s came from when films were shot in ever wider aspect ratios. Since then, this kind of knowledge has been refined and mostly debunked. Yes, we do have a wide-angle view, but the area where we can actually see sharply – the center of our vision – is fairly round. Slightly elliptical and squashed, but not really more than about 4:3 or 3:2. So for detailed viewing, for instance for reading text on a screen, you can utilize most of your detail vision by employing an almost-square screen, a bit like the screens up to the mid-2000s. However, again this is not how marketing took it. Computers in ye olden days were used mostly for productivity and detailed work, but as they commoditized and as the computer as media consumption device evolved, people didn’t necessarily use their computer for work most of the time. They used it to watch media content: movies, television series and photos. And for that kind of viewing, you get the most ‘immersion factor’ if the screen fills as much of your vision (including your peripheral vision) as possible. Which means widescreen. But there’s more marketing still. When detail work was still an important factor, people cared about resolution. As many pixels as possible on the screen. SGI was selling almost-4K CRTs! The most optimal way to get the maximum amount of pixels out of a glass substrate is to cut it as square as possible. 1:1 or 4:3 screens have the most pixels per diagonal inch. But with displays becoming more consumery, inch-size became more important, not amount of pixels. And this is a completely different optimization target. To get the most diagonal inches out of a substrate, you want to make the screen as wide as possible. First we got 16:10, then 16:9 and there have been moderately successful panel manufacturers making 22:9 and 2:1 screens (like Philips). Even though pixel density and absolute resolution went down for a couple of years, inch-sizes went up and that’s what sold. Why buy a 19″ 1280×1024 when you can buy a 21″ 1366×768? Eh… I think that about covers all the major aspects here. There’s more of course; bandwidth limits of HDMI, DVI, DP and of course VGA played a role, and if you go back to the pre-2000s, graphics memory, in-computer bandwdith and simply the limits of commercially available RAMDACs played an important role. But for today’s considerations, this is about all you need to know. Have something to add to the explanation? Sound off in the the comments. Want to read more answers from other tech-savvy Stack Exchange users? Check out the full discussion thread here.     

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  • Project of Projects with team Foundation Server 2010

    - by Martin Hinshelwood
    It is pretty much accepted that you should use Areas instead of having many small Team Projects when you are using Team Foundation Server 2010. I have implemented this scenario many times and this is the current iteration of layout and considerations. If like me you work with many customers you will find that you get into a grove for how to set these things up to make them as easily understandable for everyone, while giving the best functionality. The trick is in making it as intuitive as possible for both you and the developers that need to work with it. There are five main places where you need to have the Product or Project name in prominence of any other value. Area Iteration Source Code Work Item Queries Build Once you decide how you are doing this in each of these places you need to keep to it religiously. Evan if you have one source code file to keep, make sure it is in the right place. This makes your developers and others working with the format familiar with where everything should go, as well as building up mussel memory. This prevents the neat system degenerating into a nasty mess. Areas Areas are traditionally used to separate out parts of your product / project so that you can see how much effort has gone into each. Figure: The top level areas are for reporting and work item separation There are massive advantages of using this method. You can: move work from one project to another rename a project / product It is far more likely that a project or product gets renamed than a department. Tip: If you have many projects, over 100, you should consider categorising them here, but make sure that the actual project name always sits at the same level so you know which is which. Figure: Always keep things that are the same at the same level Note: You may use these categories only at the Area/Iteration level to make it easier to select on drop down lists. You may not want to use them everywhere. On the other hand, for consistency it would be better to. Iterations Iterations are usually used to some sort of time based consideration. Here I am splitting into Iterations with periodic releases. Figure: Each product needs to be able to have its own cadence The ability to have each project run at its own pace and to enable them to have their own release schedule is often of paramount importance and you don’t want to fix your 100+ projects to all be released on the same date. Source Code Having a good structure for your source even if you are not branching or having multiple products under the same structure is always a good idea. Figure: Separate out your products source You need to think about both your branches as well as the structure of your source. All your code should be under “Source” and everything you need to build your solution including Build Scripts and 3rd party tools should be under your “Main” (branch) folder. This should them be branched by “Quality”, “Release” or both to get the most out of your branching structure. The important thing is to make sure you branch (or be able to branch) everything you need to build, test and deploy your application to an environment. That environment may be development, test or even production, but I can’t stress the importance of having everything your need. Note: You usually will not be able to install custom software on your build server. Store any *.dll’s or *.exe’s that you need under the “Tools\Tool1” folder. Note: Consult the Branching Guidance for Team Foundation Server 2010 for more on branching Figure: Adding category may be a necessary evil Even if you have to have a couple of categories called “Default”, it is better than not knowing the difference between a folder, Product and Branch. Work Item Queries Queries are used to load lists of Work Items out of TFS so you can see what work you have. This means that you want to also separate queries out by Product / project to make it easier to Figure: Again you have the same first level structure Having Folders also in Work Item Tracking we do the same thing. We put all the queries under a folder named for the Product / Project and change each query to have “AreaPath=[TeamProject]\[ProductX]” in the query instead of the standard “Project=@Project”. Tip: Don’t have a folder with new queries for each iteration. Instead have a single “Current” folder that has queries that point to the current iteration. Just change the queries as you move from one iteration to another. Tip: You can ctrl+drag the “Product1” folder to create your “Product2” folder. Builds You may have many builds both for individual products but also for different quality's. This can be further complicated by having some builds that action “Gated Check-In” and others that are specifically for “Release”, “Test” or another purpose. Figure: There are no folders, yet, for the builds so you need a good naming convention Its a pity that there are no folders under builds, some way to categorise would be nice. In lue of that at the moment you can use a functional naming convention that at least allows you to find what you want. Conclusion It is really easy to both achieve and to stick to this format if you take the time to do it. Unless you have 1000+ builds or 100+ Products you are unlikely run into any issues. Even then there are things you can do to mitigate the issues and I have describes some of them above. Let me know if you can think of any other things to make this easier.

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  • Who could ask for more with LESS CSS? (Part 3 of 3&ndash;Clrizr)

    - by ToString(theory);
    Welcome back!  In the first two posts in this series, I covered some of the awesome features in CSS precompilers such as SASS and LESS, as well as how to get an initial project setup up and running in ASP.Net MVC 4. In this post, I will cover an actual advanced example of using LESS in a project, and show some of the great productivity features we gain from its usage. Introduction In the first post, I mentioned two subjects that I will be using in this example – constants, and color functions.  I’ve always enjoyed using online color scheme utilities such as Adobe Kuler or Color Scheme Designer to come up with a scheme based off of one primary color.  Using these tools, and requesting a complementary scheme you can get a couple of shades of your primary color, and a couple of shades of a complementary/accent color to display. Because there is no way in regular css to do color operations or store variables, there was no way to accomplish something like defining a primary color, and have a site theme cascade off of that.  However with tools such as LESS, that impossibility becomes a reality!  So, if you haven’t guessed it by now, this post is on the creation of a plugin/module/less file to drop into your project, plugin one color, and have your primary theme cascade from it.  I only went through the trouble of creating a module for getting Complementary colors.  However, it wouldn’t be too much trouble to go through other options such as Triad or Monochromatic to get a module that you could use off of that. Step 1 – Analysis I decided to mimic Adobe Kuler’s Complementary theme algorithm as I liked its simplicity and aesthetics.  Color Scheme Designer is great, but I do believe it can give you too many color options, which can lead to chaos and overload.  The first thing I had to check was if the complementary values for the color schemes were actually hues rotated by 180 degrees at all times – they aren’t.  Apparently Adobe applies some variance to the complementary colors to get colors that are actually more aesthetically appealing to users.  So, I opened up Excel and began to plot complementary hues based on rotation in increments of 10: Long story short, I completed the same calculations for Hue, Saturation, and Lightness.  For Hue, I only had to record the Complementary hue values, however for saturation and lightness, I had to record the values for ALL of the shades.  Since the functions were too complicated to put into LESS since they aren’t constant/linear, but rather interval functions, I instead opted to extrapolate the HSL values using the trendline function for each major interval, onto intervals of spacing 1. For example, using the hue extraction, I got the following values: Interval Function 0-60 60-140 140-270 270-360 Saturation and Lightness were much worse, but in the end, I finally had functions for all of the intervals, and then went the route of just grabbing each shades value in intervals of 1.  Step 2 – Mapping I declared variable names for each of these sections as something that shouldn’t ever conflict with a variable someone would define in their own file.  After I had each of the values, I extracted the values and put them into files of their own for hue variables, saturation variables, and lightness variables…  Example: /*HUE CONVERSIONS*/@clrizr-hue-source-0deg: 133.43;@clrizr-hue-source-1deg: 135.601;@clrizr-hue-source-2deg: 137.772;@clrizr-hue-source-3deg: 139.943;@clrizr-hue-source-4deg: 142.114;.../*SATURATION CONVERSIONS*/@clrizr-saturation-s2SV0px: 0;@clrizr-saturation-s2SV1px: 0;@clrizr-saturation-s2SV2px: 0;@clrizr-saturation-s2SV3px: 0;@clrizr-saturation-s2SV4px: 0;.../*LIGHTNESS CONVERSIONS*/@clrizr-lightness-s2LV0px: 30;@clrizr-lightness-s2LV1px: 31;@clrizr-lightness-s2LV2px: 32;@clrizr-lightness-s2LV3px: 33;@clrizr-lightness-s2LV4px: 34;...   In the end, I have 973 lines of mapping/conversion from source HSL to shade HSL for two extra primary shades, and two complementary shades. The last bit of the work was the file to compose each of the shades from these mappings. Step 3 – Clrizr Mapper The final step was the hardest to overcome as I was still trying to understand LESS to its fullest extent.  Imports As mentioned previously, I had separated the HSL mappings into different files, so the first necessary step is to import those for use into the Clrizr plugin: @import url("hue.less");@import url("saturation.less");@import url("lightness.less"); Extract Component Values For Each Shade Next, I extracted the necessary information for each shade HSL before shade composition: @clrizr-input-saturation: 1px+floor(saturation(@clrizr-input))-1;@clrizr-input-lightness: 1px+floor(lightness(@clrizr-input))-1; @clrizr-complementary-hue: formatstring("clrizr-hue-source-{0}", ceil(hue(@clrizr-input))); @clrizr-primary-2-saturation: formatstring("clrizr-saturation-s2SV{0}",@clrizr-input-saturation);@clrizr-primary-1-saturation: formatstring("clrizr-saturation-s1SV{0}",@clrizr-input-saturation);@clrizr-complementary-1-saturation: formatstring("clrizr-saturation-c1SV{0}",@clrizr-input-saturation); @clrizr-primary-2-lightness: formatstring("clrizr-lightness-s2LV{0}",@clrizr-input-lightness);@clrizr-primary-1-lightness: formatstring("clrizr-lightness-s1LV{0}",@clrizr-input-lightness);@clrizr-complementary-1-lightness: formatstring("clrizr-lightness-c1LV{0}",@clrizr-input-lightness); Here, you can see a couple of odd things…  On the first line, I am using operations to add units to the saturation and lightness.  This is due to some limitations in the operations that would give me saturation or lightness in %, which can’t be in a variable name.  So, I use first add 1px to it, which casts the result of the following functions as px instead of %, and then at the end, I remove that pixel.  You can also see here the formatstring method which is exactly what it sounds like – something like String.Format(string str, params object[] obj). Get Primary & Complementary Shades Now that I have components for each of the different shades, I can now compose them into each of their pieces.  For this, I use the @@ operator which will look for a variable with the name specified in a string, and then call that variable: @clrizr-primary-2: hsl(hue(@clrizr-input), @@clrizr-primary-2-saturation, @@clrizr-primary-2-lightness);@clrizr-primary-1: hsl(hue(@clrizr-input), @@clrizr-primary-1-saturation, @@clrizr-primary-1-lightness);@clrizr-primary: @clrizr-input;@clrizr-complementary-1: hsl(@@clrizr-complementary-hue, @@clrizr-complementary-1-saturation, @@clrizr-complementary-1-lightness);@clrizr-complementary-2: hsl(@@clrizr-complementary-hue, saturation(@clrizr-input), lightness(@clrizr-input)); That’s is it, for the most part.  These variables now hold the theme for the one input color – @clrizr-input.  However, I have one last addition… Perceptive Luminance Well, after I got the colors, I decided I wanted to also get the best font color that would go on top of it.  Black or white depending on light or dark color.  Now I couldn’t just go with checking the lightness, as that is half the story.  You see, the human eye doesn’t see ALL colors equally well but rather has more cells for interpreting green light compared to blue or red.  So, using the ratio, we can calculate the perceptive luminance of each of the shades, and get the font color that best matches it! @clrizr-perceptive-luminance-ps2: round(1 - ( (0.299 * red(@clrizr-primary-2) ) + ( 0.587 * green(@clrizr-primary-2) ) + (0.114 * blue(@clrizr-primary-2)))/255)*255;@clrizr-perceptive-luminance-ps1: round(1 - ( (0.299 * red(@clrizr-primary-1) ) + ( 0.587 * green(@clrizr-primary-1) ) + (0.114 * blue(@clrizr-primary-1)))/255)*255;@clrizr-perceptive-luminance-ps: round(1 - ( (0.299 * red(@clrizr-primary) ) + ( 0.587 * green(@clrizr-primary) ) + (0.114 * blue(@clrizr-primary)))/255)*255;@clrizr-perceptive-luminance-pc1: round(1 - ( (0.299 * red(@clrizr-complementary-1)) + ( 0.587 * green(@clrizr-complementary-1)) + (0.114 * blue(@clrizr-complementary-1)))/255)*255;@clrizr-perceptive-luminance-pc2: round(1 - ( (0.299 * red(@clrizr-complementary-2)) + ( 0.587 * green(@clrizr-complementary-2)) + (0.114 * blue(@clrizr-complementary-2)))/255)*255; @clrizr-col-font-on-primary-2: rgb(@clrizr-perceptive-luminance-ps2, @clrizr-perceptive-luminance-ps2, @clrizr-perceptive-luminance-ps2);@clrizr-col-font-on-primary-1: rgb(@clrizr-perceptive-luminance-ps1, @clrizr-perceptive-luminance-ps1, @clrizr-perceptive-luminance-ps1);@clrizr-col-font-on-primary: rgb(@clrizr-perceptive-luminance-ps, @clrizr-perceptive-luminance-ps, @clrizr-perceptive-luminance-ps);@clrizr-col-font-on-complementary-1: rgb(@clrizr-perceptive-luminance-pc1, @clrizr-perceptive-luminance-pc1, @clrizr-perceptive-luminance-pc1);@clrizr-col-font-on-complementary-2: rgb(@clrizr-perceptive-luminance-pc2, @clrizr-perceptive-luminance-pc2, @clrizr-perceptive-luminance-pc2); Conclusion That’s it!  I have posted a project on clrizr.codePlex.com for this, and included a testing page for you to test out how it works.  Feel free to use it in your own project, and if you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please feel free to leave them here as a comment, or on the contact page!

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  • BizTalk: Sample: Context routing and Throttling with orchestration

    - by Leonid Ganeline
    The sample demonstrates using orchestration for throttling and using context routing. Usually throttling is implemented on the host level (in BizTalk 2010 we can also using the host instance level throttling). Here is demonstrated the throttling with orchestration convoy that slows down message flow from some customers. Sample implements sort of quality service agreement layer for different kind of customers. The sample demonstrates the context routing between orchestrations. It has several advantages over the content routing. For example, we don’t have to create the property schema and promote properties on the schemas; we don’t have to change the message content to change routing. Use case:  The BizTalk application has a main processing orchestration that process all input messages. The application usually works as an OLTP application. Input messages came in random order without peaks, typical scenario for the on-line users. But sometimes the big data batch payloads come. These batches overload processing orchestrations. All processes, activated by on-line users after the payload, come to the same queue and are processed only after the payload. Result is on-line users can see significant delay in processing. It can be minutes or hours, depending of the batch size. Requirements: On-line user’s processing should work without delays. Big batches cannot disturb on-line users. There should be higher priority for the on-line users and the lower priority for the batches. Design: Decision is to divide the message flow in two branches, one for on-line users and second for batches. Branch with batches provides messages to the processing line with low priority, and the on-line user’s branch – with high priority. All messages are provided by hi-speed receive port. BTS.ReceivePortName context property is used for routing. The Router orchestration separates messages sent from on-line users and from the batch messages. But the Router does not use the BizTalk provided value of this property, the Router set up this value by itself. Router uses the content of the messages to decide if it is from on-line users or from batches. The message context property the BTS.ReceivePortName is changed respectively, its value works as a recipient address, as the “To” address for the next recipient orchestrations. Those next orchestrations are the BatchBottleneck and the MainProcess orchestrations. Messages with context equal “ToBatch” are filtered up by the BatchBottleneck orchestration. It is a unified convoy orchestration and it throttles the message flow, delaying the message delivery to the MainProcess orchestration. The BatchBottleneck orchestration changes the message context to the “ToProcess” and sends messages one after another with small delay in between. Delay can be configured in the BizTalk config file as:                 <appSettings>                                 <add key="GLD_Tests_TwoWayRouting_BatchBottleneck_DelayMillisec" value="100"/>                 </appSettings>   Of course, messages with context equal “ToProcess” are filtered up by the MainProcess orchestration.   NOTES: Filters with string values: In Orchestrations (the first Receive shape in orchestration) use string values WITH quotes; in Send Ports use string values WITHOUT quotes. Filters on the Send Ports are dynamic; we can change them in run-time. Filters on the Orchestrations are static; we can change them only in design-time. To check the existence of the promoted property inside orchestration use the Expression shape with construction like this:       if (BTS.ReceivePortName exists myMessage) { …; } It is not possible in the Message Assignment shape because using the “if” statement inside Message Assignment is prohibited. Several predefined context properties can behave in specific way. Say MessageTracking.OriginatingMessage or XMLNORM.DocumentSpecName, they are required some internal rules should be applied to the format or usage of this properties. MessageTracking.* parameters require you have to use tracking and you can get unexpected run-time errors in some cases. My recommendation is - use very limited set of the predefined context properties. To “attach” the new promoted property to the message, we have to use correlation. The correlation type should include this property. [Here is a good explanation by Saravana ] The sample code is here [sorry, temporary trubles with CodePlex].

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  • Webcast Q&A: Qualcomm Provides a Seamless Experience for Customers with Oracle WebCenter

    - by kellsey.ruppel
    Last Thursday we had the second webcast in our WebCenter in Action webcast series, "Qualcomm Provides a Seamless Experience for Customers with Oracle WebCenter, where customer Michael Chander from Qualcomm and Vince Casarez & Gourav Goyal from Oracle Partner Keste shared how Oracle WebCenter is powering Qualcomm’s externally facing website and providing a seamless experience for their customers. In case you missed it, here's a recap of the Q&A.   Mike Chandler, Qualcomm Q: Did you run into any issues when integrating all of the different applications together?A: Definitely, our main challenges were in the area of user provisioning and security propagation, all the standard stuff you might expect when hooking up SSO for authentication and authorization. In addition, we spent several iterations getting the UI’s in sync. While everyone was given the same digital material to build too, each team interpreted and implemented it their own way. Initially as a user navigated, if you were looking for it, you could slight variations in color or font or width , stuff like that. So we had to pull all the developers responsible for the UI together and get pixel level agreement on a lot of things so we could ensure seamless transitions across applications. Q: What has been the biggest benefit your end users have seen?A: Wow, there have been several. An SSO enabled environment was huge a win for our users. The portal application that this replaced had not really been invested in by the business. With this project, we had full business participation and backing, and it really showed in some key areas like the shopping experience. For example, while ordering in the previous site, the items did not have any pictures or really usable descriptions. A tremendous amount of work was done to try and make the site more intuitive and user friendly. Site performance has also drastically improved thanks to new hardware, improved database design, and of course the fact that ADF has made great strides in runtime performance. Q: Was there any resistance internally when implementing the solution? If so, how did you overcome that?A: Within a large company, I’m sure there is always going to be competition for large projects, as there was here. Once we got through the technical analysis and settled on the technology choices, it was actually no resistance to implementing the solution. This project was fully driven by the business with the aim of long term growth. I can confidently say that the fact that this project was given the utmost importance by both the business and IT really help put down any resistance that you would typically see while implementing a new solution. Q: Given the performance, what do you estimate to be the top end capacity of the system? A:I think our top end capacity is really only limited by our hardware. I’m comfortable saying we could grow 10x on our current hardware, both in terms of transactions and users. We can easily spin up new JVM instances if needed. We already use less JVM’s than we had planned. In addition, ADF is doing a very good job with his connection pooling and application module pooling, so we see a very good ratio of users connected to the systems vs db connections, without impacting performace. Q: What's the overview or summary of feedback from the users interacting with the site?A: Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive from both the business and our customers. They’re very happy with the new SSO environment , the new LAF, and the performance of the site. Of course, it’s not all roses. No matter what, there are always going to be people that don’t like the layout or the color scheme, etc. By and large though, customers are happy and the business is happy. Q: Can you describe the impressions about the site before and after the project within Qualcomm?A: Before the project, the site worked and people were using it, but most people were not happy with it. It was slow and tended to be a bit tempermental, for example a user would perform a transaction and the system would throw and unexpected error. The user could back up and retry the steps and things would work fine, so why didn’t work the first time?. From a UI perspective, we’d hear comments like it looked like it was built by a high school student.  Vince Casarez & Gourav Goyal, Keste Q: Did you run into any obstacles when implementing the solution?A: It's interesting some people call them "obstacles" on this project we just called them "dependencies".  There were both technical and business related dependencies that we had to work out. Mike points out the SSO dependencies and the coordination and synchronization between the teams to have a seamless login experience and a seamless end user experience.  There was also a set of dependencies on the User Acceptance testing to make sure that everyone understood the use cases for how the system would be used.  With a branching into a new market and trying to match a simple user experience as many consumer sites have today, there was always a tendency for the team members to provide their suggestions on how things could be simpler.  But with all the work up front on the user design and getting the business driving this set of experiences, this minimized the downstream suggestions that tend to distract a team.  In this case, all the work up front allowed us to enumerate the "dependencies" and keep the distractions to a minimum. Q: Was there a lot of custom work that needed to be done for this particular solution?A: The focus for this particular solution was really on the custom processes. The interesting thing is that with the data flows and the integration with applications, there are some pre-built integrations, but realistically for the process flow, we had to build those. The framework and tooling we used made things easier so we didn’t have to implement core functionality, like transitioning from screen to screen or from flow to flow. The design feature of Task Flows really helped speed the development and keep the component infrastructure in line with the dynamic processes.  Task flows and other elements like Skins are core to the infrastructure or technology stack of Oracle. This then allowed the team to center the project focus around the business flows and use cases to meet the core requirements and keep the project on time. Q: What do you think were the keys to success for rolling out WebCenter?A:  The 5 main keys to success were: 1) Sponsorship from the whole organization around this project from senior executive agreement, business owners driving functionality, and IT development alignment; 2) Upfront design planning and use case definition to clearly define the project scope and requirements; 3) Focussed development and project management aligned with the top level goals and drivers; 4) User acceptance and usability testing along the way to identify potential issues and direct resolution of the issues;  and 5) Constant prioritization of the issues for development to fix by the business.  It also helps to have great team chemistry and really smart people working on the project. If you missed the webcast, be sure to catch the replay to see a live demonstration of WebCenter in action!  Qualcomm Provides a Seamless Experience for Customers with Oracle WebCenter from Oracle WebCenter

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  • Database Rebuild

    - by Robert May
    I promised I’d have a simpler mechanism for rebuilding the database.  Below is a complete MSBuild targets file for rebuilding the database from scratch.  I don’t know if I’ve explained the rational for this.  The reason why you’d WANT to do this is so that each developer has a clean version of the database on their local machine.  This also includes the continuous integration environment.  Basically, you can do whatever you want to the database without fear, and in a minute or two, have a completely rebuilt database structure. DBDeploy (including the KTSC build task for dbdeploy) is used in this script to do change tracking on the database itself.  The MSBuild ExtensionPack is used in this target file.  You can get an MSBuild DBDeploy task here. There are two database scripts that you’ll see below.  First is the task for creating an admin (dbo) user in the system.  This script looks like the following: USE [master] GO If not Exists (select Name from sys.sql_logins where name = '$(User)') BEGIN CREATE LOGIN [$(User)] WITH PASSWORD=N'$(Password)', DEFAULT_DATABASE=[$(DatabaseName)], CHECK_EXPIRATION=OFF, CHECK_POLICY=OFF END GO EXEC master..sp_addsrvrolemember @loginame = N'$(User)', @rolename = N'sysadmin' GO USE [$(DatabaseName)] GO CREATE USER [$(User)] FOR LOGIN [$(User)] GO ALTER USER [$(User)] WITH DEFAULT_SCHEMA=[dbo] GO EXEC sp_addrolemember N'db_owner', N'$(User)' GO The second creates the changelog table.  This script can also be found in the dbdeploy.net install\scripts directory. CREATE TABLE changelog ( change_number INTEGER NOT NULL, delta_set VARCHAR(10) NOT NULL, start_dt DATETIME NOT NULL, complete_dt DATETIME NULL, applied_by VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL, description VARCHAR(500) NOT NULL ) GO ALTER TABLE changelog ADD CONSTRAINT Pkchangelog PRIMARY KEY (change_number, delta_set) GO Finally, Here’s the targets file. <Projectxmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003" ToolsVersion="4.0" DefaultTargets="Update">   <PropertyGroup>     <DatabaseName>TestDatabase</DatabaseName>     <Server>localhost</Server>     <ScriptDirectory>.\Scripts</ScriptDirectory>     <RebuildDirectory>.\Rebuild</RebuildDirectory>     <TestDataDirectory>.\TestData</TestDataDirectory>     <DbDeploy>.\DBDeploy</DbDeploy>     <User>TestUser</User>     <Password>TestPassword</Password>     <BCP>bcp</BCP>     <BCPOptions>-S$(Server) -U$(User) -P$(Password) -N -E -k</BCPOptions>     <OutputFileName>dbDeploy-output.sql</OutputFileName>     <UndoFileName>dbDeploy-output-undo.sql</UndoFileName>     <LastChangeToApply>99999</LastChangeToApply>   </PropertyGroup>     <ImportProject="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\ExtensionPack\4.0\MSBuild.ExtensionPack.tasks"/>   <UsingTask TaskName="Ktsc.Build.DBDeploy" AssemblyFile="$(DbDeploy)\Ktsc.Build.dll"/>   <ItemGroup>     <VariableInclude="DatabaseName">       <Value>$(DatabaseName)</Value>     </Variable>     <VariableInclude="Server">       <Value>$(Server)</Value>     </Variable>     <VariableInclude="User">       <Value>$(User)</Value>     </Variable>     <VariableInclude="Password">       <Value>$(Password)</Value>     </Variable>   </ItemGroup>     <TargetName="Rebuild">     <!--Take the database offline to disconnect any users. Requires that the current user is an admin of the sql server machine.-->     <MSBuild.ExtensionPack.SqlServer.SqlCmd Variables="@(Variable)" Database="$(DatabaseName)" TaskAction="Execute" CommandLineQuery ="ALTER DATABASE $(DatabaseName) SET OFFLINE WITH ROLLBACK IMMEDIATE"/>         <!--Bring it back online.  If you don't, the database files won't be deleted.-->     <MSBuild.ExtensionPack.Sql2008.DatabaseTaskAction="SetOnline" DatabaseItem="$(DatabaseName)"/>     <!--Delete the database, removing the existing files.-->     <MSBuild.ExtensionPack.Sql2008.DatabaseTaskAction="Delete" DatabaseItem="$(DatabaseName)"/>     <!--Create the new database in the default database path location.-->     <MSBuild.ExtensionPack.Sql2008.DatabaseTaskAction="Create" DatabaseItem="$(DatabaseName)" Force="True"/>         <!--Create admin user-->     <MSBuild.ExtensionPack.SqlServer.SqlCmd TaskAction="Execute" Server="(local)" Database="$(DatabaseName)" InputFiles="$(RebuildDirectory)\0002 Create Admin User.sql" Variables="@(Variable)" />     <!--Create the dbdeploy changelog.-->     <MSBuild.ExtensionPack.SqlServer.SqlCmd TaskAction="Execute" Server="(local)" Database="$(DatabaseName)" LogOn="$(User)" Password="$(Password)" InputFiles="$(RebuildDirectory)\0003 Create Changelog.sql" Variables="@(Variable)" />     <CallTarget Targets="Update;ImportData"/>     </Target>    <TargetName="Update" DependsOnTargets="CreateUpdateScript">     <MSBuild.ExtensionPack.SqlServer.SqlCmd TaskAction="Execute" Server="(local)" Database="$(DatabaseName)" LogOn="$(User)" Password="$(Password)" InputFiles="$(OutputFileName)" Variables="@(Variable)" />   </Target>   <TargetName="CreateUpdateScript">     <ktsc.Build.DBDeploy DbType="mssql"                                        DbConnection="User=$(User);Password=$(Password);Data Source=$(Server);Initial Catalog=$(DatabaseName);"                                        Dir="$(ScriptDirectory)"                                        OutputFile="..\$(OutputFileName)"                                        UndoOutputFile="..\$(UndoFileName)"                                        LastChangeToApply="$(LastChangeToApply)"/>   </Target>     <TargetName="ImportData">     <ItemGroup>       <TestData Include="$(TestDataDirectory)\*.dat"/>     </ItemGroup>     <ExecCommand="$(BCP) $(DatabaseName).dbo.%(TestData.Filename) in&quot;%(TestData.Identity)&quot;$(BCPOptions)"/>   </Target> </Project> Technorati Tags: MSBuild

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  • How to follow object on CatmullRomSplines at constant speed (e.g. train and train carriage)?

    - by Simon
    I have a CatmullRomSpline, and using the very good example at https://github.com/libgdx/libgdx/wiki/Path-interface-%26-Splines I have my object moving at an even pace over the spline. Using a simple train and carriage example, I now want to have the carriage follow the train at the same speed as the train (not jolting along as it does with my code below). This leads into my main questions: How can I make the carriage have the same constant speed as the train and make it non jerky (it has something to do with the derivative I think, I don't understand how that part works)? Why do I need to divide by the line length to convert to metres per second, and is that correct? It wasn't done in the linked examples? I have used the example I linked to above, and modified for my specific example: private void process(CatmullRomSpline catmullRomSpline) { // Render path with precision of 1000 points renderPath(catmullRomSpline, 1000); float length = catmullRomSpline.approxLength(catmullRomSpline.spanCount * 1000); // Render the "train" Vector2 trainDerivative = new Vector2(); Vector2 trainLocation = new Vector2(); catmullRomSpline.derivativeAt(trainDerivative, current); // For some reason need to divide by length to convert from pixel speed to metres per second but I do not // really understand why I need it, it wasn't done in the examples??????? current += (Gdx.graphics.getDeltaTime() * speed / length) / trainDerivative.len(); catmullRomSpline.valueAt(trainLocation, current); renderCircleAtLocation(trainLocation); if (current >= 1) { current -= 1; } // Render the "carriage" Vector2 carriageLocation = new Vector2(); float carriagePercentageCovered = (((current * length) - 1f) / length); // I would like it to follow at 1 metre behind carriagePercentageCovered = Math.max(carriagePercentageCovered, 0); catmullRomSpline.valueAt(carriageLocation, carriagePercentageCovered); renderCircleAtLocation(carriageLocation); } private void renderPath(CatmullRomSpline catmullRomSpline, int k) { // catMulPoints would normally be cached when initialising, but for sake of example... Vector2[] catMulPoints = new Vector2[k]; for (int i = 0; i < k; ++i) { catMulPoints[i] = new Vector2(); catmullRomSpline.valueAt(catMulPoints[i], ((float) i) / ((float) k - 1)); } SHAPE_RENDERER.begin(ShapeRenderer.ShapeType.Line); SHAPE_RENDERER.setColor(Color.NAVY); for (int i = 0; i < k - 1; ++i) { SHAPE_RENDERER.line((Vector2) catMulPoints[i], (Vector2) catMulPoints[i + 1]); } SHAPE_RENDERER.end(); } private void renderCircleAtLocation(Vector2 location) { SHAPE_RENDERER.begin(ShapeRenderer.ShapeType.Filled); SHAPE_RENDERER.setColor(Color.YELLOW); SHAPE_RENDERER.circle(location.x, location.y, .5f); SHAPE_RENDERER.end(); } To create a decent sized CatmullRomSpline for testing this out: Vector2[] controlPoints = makeControlPointsArray(); CatmullRomSpline myCatmull = new CatmullRomSpline(controlPoints, false); .... private Vector2[] makeControlPointsArray() { Vector2[] pointsArray = new Vector2[78]; pointsArray[0] = new Vector2(1.681817f, 10.379999f); pointsArray[1] = new Vector2(2.045455f, 10.379999f); pointsArray[2] = new Vector2(2.663636f, 10.479999f); pointsArray[3] = new Vector2(3.027272f, 10.700000f); pointsArray[4] = new Vector2(3.663636f, 10.939999f); pointsArray[5] = new Vector2(4.245455f, 10.899999f); pointsArray[6] = new Vector2(4.736363f, 10.720000f); pointsArray[7] = new Vector2(4.754545f, 10.339999f); pointsArray[8] = new Vector2(4.518181f, 9.860000f); pointsArray[9] = new Vector2(3.790908f, 9.340000f); pointsArray[10] = new Vector2(3.172727f, 8.739999f); pointsArray[11] = new Vector2(3.300000f, 8.340000f); pointsArray[12] = new Vector2(3.700000f, 8.159999f); pointsArray[13] = new Vector2(4.227272f, 8.520000f); pointsArray[14] = new Vector2(4.681818f, 8.819999f); pointsArray[15] = new Vector2(5.081817f, 9.200000f); pointsArray[16] = new Vector2(5.463636f, 9.460000f); pointsArray[17] = new Vector2(5.972727f, 9.300000f); pointsArray[18] = new Vector2(6.063636f, 8.780000f); pointsArray[19] = new Vector2(6.027272f, 8.259999f); pointsArray[20] = new Vector2(5.700000f, 7.739999f); pointsArray[21] = new Vector2(5.300000f, 7.440000f); pointsArray[22] = new Vector2(4.645454f, 7.179999f); pointsArray[23] = new Vector2(4.136363f, 6.940000f); pointsArray[24] = new Vector2(3.427272f, 6.720000f); pointsArray[25] = new Vector2(2.572727f, 6.559999f); pointsArray[26] = new Vector2(1.900000f, 7.100000f); pointsArray[27] = new Vector2(2.336362f, 7.440000f); pointsArray[28] = new Vector2(2.590908f, 7.940000f); pointsArray[29] = new Vector2(2.318181f, 8.500000f); pointsArray[30] = new Vector2(1.663636f, 8.599999f); pointsArray[31] = new Vector2(1.209090f, 8.299999f); pointsArray[32] = new Vector2(1.118181f, 7.700000f); pointsArray[33] = new Vector2(1.045455f, 6.880000f); pointsArray[34] = new Vector2(1.154545f, 6.100000f); pointsArray[35] = new Vector2(1.281817f, 5.580000f); pointsArray[36] = new Vector2(1.700000f, 5.320000f); pointsArray[37] = new Vector2(2.190908f, 5.199999f); pointsArray[38] = new Vector2(2.900000f, 5.100000f); pointsArray[39] = new Vector2(3.700000f, 5.100000f); pointsArray[40] = new Vector2(4.372727f, 5.220000f); pointsArray[41] = new Vector2(4.827272f, 5.220000f); pointsArray[42] = new Vector2(5.463636f, 5.160000f); pointsArray[43] = new Vector2(5.554545f, 4.700000f); pointsArray[44] = new Vector2(5.245453f, 4.340000f); pointsArray[45] = new Vector2(4.445455f, 4.280000f); pointsArray[46] = new Vector2(3.609091f, 4.260000f); pointsArray[47] = new Vector2(2.718181f, 4.160000f); pointsArray[48] = new Vector2(1.990908f, 4.140000f); pointsArray[49] = new Vector2(1.427272f, 3.980000f); pointsArray[50] = new Vector2(1.609090f, 3.580000f); pointsArray[51] = new Vector2(2.136363f, 3.440000f); pointsArray[52] = new Vector2(3.227272f, 3.280000f); pointsArray[53] = new Vector2(3.972727f, 3.340000f); pointsArray[54] = new Vector2(5.027272f, 3.360000f); pointsArray[55] = new Vector2(5.718181f, 3.460000f); pointsArray[56] = new Vector2(6.100000f, 4.240000f); pointsArray[57] = new Vector2(6.209091f, 4.500000f); pointsArray[58] = new Vector2(6.118181f, 5.320000f); pointsArray[59] = new Vector2(5.772727f, 5.920000f); pointsArray[60] = new Vector2(4.881817f, 6.140000f); pointsArray[61] = new Vector2(5.318181f, 6.580000f); pointsArray[62] = new Vector2(6.263636f, 7.020000f); pointsArray[63] = new Vector2(6.645453f, 7.420000f); pointsArray[64] = new Vector2(6.681817f, 8.179999f); pointsArray[65] = new Vector2(6.627272f, 9.080000f); pointsArray[66] = new Vector2(6.572727f, 9.699999f); pointsArray[67] = new Vector2(6.263636f, 10.820000f); pointsArray[68] = new Vector2(5.754546f, 11.479999f); pointsArray[69] = new Vector2(4.536363f, 11.599998f); pointsArray[70] = new Vector2(3.572727f, 11.700000f); pointsArray[71] = new Vector2(2.809090f, 11.660000f); pointsArray[72] = new Vector2(1.445455f, 11.559999f); pointsArray[73] = new Vector2(0.936363f, 11.280000f); pointsArray[74] = new Vector2(0.754545f, 10.879999f); pointsArray[75] = new Vector2(0.700000f, 9.939999f); pointsArray[76] = new Vector2(0.918181f, 9.620000f); pointsArray[77] = new Vector2(1.463636f, 9.600000f); return pointsArray; } Disclaimer: My math is very rusty, so please explain in lay mans terms....

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  • Gamification = -10#/3mo

    - by erikanollwebb
    One of the purposes of gamification of anything is to see if you can modify the behavior of the user. In the enterprise, that might mean getting sales people to enter more information into a CRM system, encouraging employees to update their HR records, motivating people to participate in forums and discussions, or process invoices more quickly.  Wikipedia defines behavior modification as "the traditional term for the use of empirically demonstrated behavior change techniques to increase or decrease the frequency of behaviors, such as altering an individual's behaviors and reactions to stimuli through positive and negative reinforcement of adaptive behavior and/or the reduction of behavior through its extinction, punishment and/or satiation."  Gamification is just a way to modify someone's behavior using game mechanics. And the magic question is always whether it works. So I thought I would present my own little experiment from the last few months.  This spring, I upgraded to a Samsung Galaxy 4.  It's a pretty sweet phone in many ways, but one of the little extras I discovered was a built in app called S Health. S Health is an app that you can use to track calories, weight, exercise and it has a built in pedometer. I looked at it when I got the phone, but assumed you had to turn it on to use it so I didn't look at it much.  But sometime in July, I realized that in fact, it just ran in the background and was quietly tracking my steps, with a goal of 10,000 per day.  10,000 steps per day is this magic number recommended by the Surgeon General and the American Heart Association.  Dr. Oz pushes it as the goal for daily exercise.  It's about 5 miles of walking. I'm generally not the kind of person who always has my phone with me.  I leave it in my purse and pull it out when I need it.  But then I realized that meant I wasn't getting a good measure of my steps.  I decided to do a little experiment, and carry it with me as much as possible for a week.  That's when I discovered the gamification that changed my life over the last 3 months.  When I hit 10,000 steps, the app jingled out a little "success!" tune and I got a badge.  I was hooked.  I started carrying my phone.  I started making sure I had shoes I could walk in with me.  I started walking at lunch time, because I realized how often I sat at my desk for 8-10 hours every day without moving.  I started pestering my husband to walk with me after work because I hadn't hit my 10,000 yet, leading him at one point to say "I'm not as much a slave to that badge as you are!"  I started looking at parking lots differently.  Can't get a space up close?  No worries, just that many steps toward my 10,000.  I even tried to see if there was a second power user level at 15,000 or 20,000 (*sadly, no).  If I was close at the end of the day, I have done laps around my house until I got my badge.  I have walked around the block one more time to get my badge.  I have mentally chastised myself when I forgot to put my phone in my pocket because I don't know how many steps I got.  The badge below I got when my boss and I were in New York City and we walked around the block of our hotel just to watch the badge pop up. There are a bunch of tools out on the market now that have similar ideas for helping you to track your exercise, make it social.  There are apps (my favorite is still Zombies, Run!).  You could buy a FitBit or UP by Jawbone.   Interactive fitness makes the Expresso stationary bike with built in video games.  All designed to help you be more aware of your activity and keep you engaged and motivated.  And the idea is to help you change your behavior. I know someone who would spend extra time and work hard on the Expresso because he had built up strategies for how to kill the most dragons while he was riding to get more points.  When the machine broke down, he didn't ride a different bike because it just wasn't that interesting. But for me, just the simple jingle and badge have been all I needed.  I admit, I still giggle gleefully when I hear the tune sing out from my pocket. After a few weeks, I noticed I had dropped a few pounds.  Not a lot, just 2-3.  But then I was really hooked.  I started making a point both to eat a little less and hit 10,000 steps as much as I could.  I bemoaned that during the floods in Boulder, I wasn't hitting my 10,000 steps.  And now, a few months later, I'm almost 10 lbs lighter. All for 1 badge a day. So yes, simple gamification can increase motivation and engagement.  And that can lead to changes in behavior.  Now the job is to apply that to the enterprise space in a meaningful and engaging way. 

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  • Clone a VirtualBox Machine

    I just installed VirtualBox, which I want to try out based on recommendations from peers for running a server from within my Windows 7 x64 OS.  Ive never used VirtualBox, so Im certainly no expert at it, but I did want to share my experience with it thus far.  Specifically, my intention is to create a couple of virtual machines.  One I intend to use as a build server, for which a virtual machine makes sense because I can easily move it around as needed if there are hardware issues (its worth noting my need for setting up a build server at the moment is a result of a disk failure on the old build server).  The other VM I want to set up will act as a proxy server for the issue tracking system were using at Code Project, Axosoft OnTime.  They have a Remote Server application for this purpose, and since the OnTime install is 300 miles away from my location, the Remote Server should speed up my use of the OnTime client by limiting the chattiness with the database (at least, thats the hope). So, I need two VMs, and Im lazy.  I dont want to have to install the OS and such twice.  No problem, it should be simple to clone a virtualbox machine, or clone a virtualbox hard drive, right?  Well unfortunately, if you look at the UI for VirtualBox, theres no such command.  Youre left wondering How do I clone a VirtualBox machine? or the slightly related How do I clone a VirtualBox hard drive? If youve used VirtualPC, then you know that its actually pretty easy to copy and move around those VMs.  Not quite so easy with VirtualBox.  Finding the files is easy, theyre located in your user folder within the .VirtualBox folder (possibly within a HardDisks folder).  The disks have a .vdi extension and will be pretty large if youve installed anything.  The one shown here has just Windows Server 2008 R2 installed on it nothing else. If you copy the .vdi file and rename it, you can use the Virtual Media Manager to view it and you can create a new machine and choose the new drive to attach to.  Unfortunately, if you simply make a copy of the drive, this wont work and youll get an error that says something to the effect of: Cannot register the hard disk PATH with UUID {id goes here} because a hard disk PATH2 with UUID {same id goes here} already exists in the media registry (PATH to XML file). There are command line tools you can use to do this in a way that avoids this error.  Specifically, the c:\Program File\Sun\VirtualBox\VBoxManage.exe program is used for all command line access to VirtualBox, and to copy a virtual disk (.vdi file) you would call something like this: VBoxManage clonehd Disk1.vdi Disk1_Copy.vdi However, in my case this didnt work.  I got basically the same error I showed above, along with some debug information for line 628 of VBoxManageDisk.cpp.  As my main task was not to debug the C++ code used to write VirtualBox, I continued looking for a simple way to clone a virtual drive.  I found it in this blog post. The Secret setvdiuuid Command VBoxManage has a whole bunch of commands you can use with it just pass it /? to see the list.  However, it also has a special command called internalcommands that opens up access to even more commands.  The one thats interesting for us here is the setvdiuuid command.  By calling this command and passing in the file path to your vdi file, it will reset the UUID to a new (random, apparently) UUID.  This then allows the virtual media manager to cope with the file, and lets you set up new machines that reference the newly UUIDd virtual drive.  The full command line would be: VBoxManage internalcommands setvdiuuid MyCopy.vdi The following screenshot shows the error when trying clonehd as well as the successful use of setvdiuuid. Summary Now that I can clone machines easily, its a simple matter to set up base builds of any OS I might need, and then fork from there as needed.  Hopefully the GUI for VirtualBox will be improved to include better support for copying machines/disks, as this is Im sure a very common scenario. Did you know that DotNetSlackers also publishes .net articles written by top known .net Authors? We already have over 80 articles in several categories including Silverlight. Take a look: here.

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  • Box2D blocky map. Body, Fixtures a huge map and performance

    - by Solom
    Right now I'm still in the planning phase of a my very first game. I'm creating a "Minecraft"-like game in 2D that features blocks that can be destroyed as well as players moving around the map. For creating the map I chose a 2D-Array of Integers that represent the Block ID. For testing purposes I created a huge map (16348 * 256) and in my prototype that didn't use Box2D everything worked like a charm. I only rendered those blocks that where within the bounds of my camera and got 60 fps straight. The problem started when I decided to use an existing physics-solution rather than implementing my own one. What I had was basically simple hitboxes around the blocks and then I had to manually check if the player collided with any of those in his neighborhood. For more advanced physics as well as the collision detection I want to switch over to Box2D. The problem I have right now is ... how to go about the bodies? I mean, the blocks are of a static bodytype. They don't move on their own, they just are there to be collided with. But as far as I can see it, every block needs his own body with a rectangular fixture attached to it, so as to be destroyable. But for a huge map such as mine, this turns out to be a real performance bottle-neck. (In fact even a rather small map [compared to the other] of 1024*256 is unplayable.) I mean I create thousands of thousands of blocks. Even if I just render those that are in my immediate neighborhood there are hundreds of them and (at least with the debugRenderer) I drop to 1 fps really quickly (on my own "monster machine"). I thought about strategies like creating just one body, attaching multiple fixtures and only if a fixture got hit, separate it from the body, create a new one and destroy it, but this didn't turn out quite as successful as hoped. (In fact the core just dumps. Ah hello C! I really missed you :X) Here is the code: public class Box2DGameScreen implements Screen { private World world; private Box2DDebugRenderer debugRenderer; private OrthographicCamera camera; private final float TIMESTEP = 1 / 60f; // 1/60 of a second -> 1 frame per second private final int VELOCITYITERATIONS = 8; private final int POSITIONITERATIONS = 3; private Map map; private BodyDef blockBodyDef; private FixtureDef blockFixtureDef; private BodyDef groundDef; private Body ground; private PolygonShape rectangleShape; @Override public void show() { world = new World(new Vector2(0, -9.81f), true); debugRenderer = new Box2DDebugRenderer(); camera = new OrthographicCamera(); // Pixel:Meter = 16:1 // Body definition BodyDef ballDef = new BodyDef(); ballDef.type = BodyDef.BodyType.DynamicBody; ballDef.position.set(0, 1); // Fixture definition FixtureDef ballFixtureDef = new FixtureDef(); ballFixtureDef.shape = new CircleShape(); ballFixtureDef.shape.setRadius(.5f); // 0,5 meter ballFixtureDef.restitution = 0.75f; // between 0 (not jumping up at all) and 1 (jumping up the same amount as it fell down) ballFixtureDef.density = 2.5f; // kg / m² ballFixtureDef.friction = 0.25f; // between 0 (sliding like ice) and 1 (not sliding) // world.createBody(ballDef).createFixture(ballFixtureDef); groundDef = new BodyDef(); groundDef.type = BodyDef.BodyType.StaticBody; groundDef.position.set(0, 0); ground = world.createBody(groundDef); this.map = new Map(20, 20); rectangleShape = new PolygonShape(); // rectangleShape.setAsBox(1, 1); blockFixtureDef = new FixtureDef(); // blockFixtureDef.shape = rectangleShape; blockFixtureDef.restitution = 0.1f; blockFixtureDef.density = 10f; blockFixtureDef.friction = 0.9f; } @Override public void render(float delta) { Gdx.gl.glClearColor(1, 1, 1, 1); Gdx.gl.glClear(GL20.GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT); debugRenderer.render(world, camera.combined); drawMap(); world.step(TIMESTEP, VELOCITYITERATIONS, POSITIONITERATIONS); } private void drawMap() { for(int a = 0; a < map.getHeight(); a++) { /* if(camera.position.y - (camera.viewportHeight/2) > a) continue; if(camera.position.y - (camera.viewportHeight/2) < a) break; */ for(int b = 0; b < map.getWidth(); b++) { /* if(camera.position.x - (camera.viewportWidth/2) > b) continue; if(camera.position.x - (camera.viewportWidth/2) < b) break; */ /* blockBodyDef = new BodyDef(); blockBodyDef.type = BodyDef.BodyType.StaticBody; blockBodyDef.position.set(b, a); world.createBody(blockBodyDef).createFixture(blockFixtureDef); */ PolygonShape rectangleShape = new PolygonShape(); rectangleShape.setAsBox(1, 1, new Vector2(b, a), 0); blockFixtureDef.shape = rectangleShape; ground.createFixture(blockFixtureDef); rectangleShape.dispose(); } } } @Override public void resize(int width, int height) { camera.viewportWidth = width / 16; camera.viewportHeight = height / 16; camera.update(); } @Override public void hide() { dispose(); } @Override public void pause() { } @Override public void resume() { } @Override public void dispose() { world.dispose(); debugRenderer.dispose(); } } As you can see I'm facing multiple problems here. I'm not quite sure how to check for the bounds but also if the map is bigger than 24*24 like 1024*256 Java just crashes -.-. And with 24*24 I get like 9 fps. So I'm doing something really terrible here, it seems and I assume that there most be a (much more performant) way, even with Box2D's awesome physics. Any other ideas? Thanks in advance!

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  • Eloqua Experience 2013: Mystique, Modern Marketing and Masterful Engagement

    - by Mike Stiles
    The following is a guest post from Erick Mott, a social business leader at Oracle Eloqua. There’s a growing gap between 20th century marketing and a modern marketing way of doing business. I can’t think of a better example of modern marketing in action than what more than 2,000 people experienced in San Francisco at #EE13; customer-obsession, multichannel content, and real-time engagement all coming together at one extraordinary event. This was my first Eloqua Experience as a new Oracle Eloqua employee. In weeks prior, I heard about the mystique but didn’t know what to expect. What I’ve come to understand with more clarity is everything we do revolves around customer success, and we operate and educate at all times with these five tenets in mind: 1. Targeting: Really Know Your Buyer 2. Engagement: Create a 1:1 Relationship 3. Conversion: Visualize Guided Thinking 4. Analysis: Learn What’s Working 5. Marketing Technology: Enable and Extend the Cloud Product News from Eloqua Experience 2013 We made some announcements that John Stetic, VP of Products, Oracle Eloqua covers in this brief ‘Modern Marketing Minute’ video recorded after Wednesday’s keynote; summarized below, too: Oracle Eloqua AdFocus: While understanding the impact of a specific marketing channel was formerly relegated to marketers’ wish lists, the channels we now focus on are digital, social, and mobile. AdFocus gives marketers a single platform to dynamically create, manage and measure display ads alongside owned and earned media. AdFocus enables marketers to target only key accounts or prospects you want to reach with display ads, as well as provide creative content or personalized ad copy based on their persona and activities. Oracle Eloqua Profiler: The details of what we now know about customers have expanded into a universal customer profile, which can be used to create highly targeted segments. Marketers now can take data that’s not even stored in Eloqua to help targeted and score prospects for a complete, multichannel view of the customer. Profiler gives sales reps one, detailed view of the prospect to extend views beyond Oracle Eloqua asset activity (emails, forms, page views) to any external assets stored in Oracle Eloqua. Marketing Resource Management: New capabilities create more secure and controlled access to marketing resources and data. New integrations provide greater insight into campaign resources and management through a central marketing calendar and simplify resource management. Integrated Sales and Marketing Funnel: An integrated sales and marketing funnel view gives marketing and sales users, cross-functional teams, and executive management a consistent and clear view of pipeline performance. It also quickly provides users with historical metrics across different time spans and conditions. Eloqua AppCloud: More than 20 new AppCloud partners have been added to the community, which now includes 100+ apps. Eloqua AppCloud now provides modern marketers with an even broader range of marketing applications that help expand and enrich sales and marketing efforts; easily accessible in the Topliners Community. Social Capabilities: Recent integration between Oracle Eloqua and Oracle Social Relationship Management (SRM) deliver a comprehensive, scalable and integrated modern marketing solution. New capabilities include better tracking of social activities for a more complete customer profile. Engage Facebook custom audiences with AdFocus to deliver ads and meaningful experiences through trusted social networks. Biggest and Best Eloqua Experience. There’s a lot of talk in the industry about the Marketing Cloud. At Oracle Eloqua, we have been on a mission of delivering the most advanced and integrated modern marketing technology on the planet. It’s not just a concept but reality with proven execution, as seen first-hand this week in San Francisco. In this video, Kevin Akeroyd, SVP of Oracle Eloqua, provides some highlights of what made this year’s Eloqua Experience, exceptional, including Steve Woods’ presentation about the journey of modern marketers and Andrea Ward’s conversation with Vince Gilligan, creator of the Breaking Bad television series. The 2013 Markie Awards The Oracle Eloqua Marketing Cloud was best exemplified for me as 19 Markies were awarded to customers for their exceptional creativity and results as modern marketers. Wow, what a night to remember with so many committed and talented people working to create an extraordinary experience! To learn more about how to become a modern marketer, check out these resources. We look forward to seeing you next year at Eloqua Experience. More on Erick: 20 years experience at Oracle, Ektron, Sitecore, Lyris, Habeas, Nokia, creatorbase, Mark Monitor, Cisco Systems, GlobalFluency, Sun Microsystems, Philips NV, Elm Products and CBS TV. Patent holder with agency, Fortune 500, media, and startup company expertise. @mikestiles

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  • OpenGL loading functions error [on hold]

    - by Ghilliedrone
    I'm new to OpenGL, and I bought a book on it for beginners. I finished writing the sample code for making a context/window. I get an error on this line at the part PFNWGLCREATECONTEXTATTRIBSARBPROC, saying "Error: expected a ')'": typedef HGLRC(APIENTRYP PFNWGLCREATECONTEXTATTRIBSARBPROC)(HDC, HGLRC, const int*); Replacing it or adding a ")" makes it error, but the error disappears when I use the OpenGL headers included in the books CD, which are OpenGL 3.0. I would like a way to make this work with the newest gl.h/wglext.h and without libraries. Here's the rest of the class if it's needed: #include <ctime> #include <windows.h> #include <iostream> #include <gl\GL.h> #include <gl\wglext.h> #include "Example.h" #include "GLWindow.h" typedef HGLRC(APIENTRYP PFNWGLCREATECONTEXTATTRIBSARBPROC)(HDC, HGLRC, const int*); PFNWGLCREATECONTEXTATTRIBSARBPROC wglCreateContextAttribsARB = NULL; bool GLWindow::create(int width, int height, int bpp, bool fullscreen) { DWORD dwExStyle; //Window Extended Style DWORD dwStyle; //Window Style m_isFullscreen = fullscreen;//Store the fullscreen flag m_windowRect.left = 0L; m_windowRect.right = (long)width; m_windowRect.top = 0L; m_windowRect.bottom = (long)height;//Set bottom to height // fill out the window class structure m_windowClass.cbSize = sizeof(WNDCLASSEX); m_windowClass.style = CS_HREDRAW | CS_VREDRAW; m_windowClass.lpfnWndProc = GLWindow::StaticWndProc; //We set our static method as the event handler m_windowClass.cbClsExtra = 0; m_windowClass.cbWndExtra = 0; m_windowClass.hInstance = m_hinstance; m_windowClass.hIcon = LoadIcon(NULL, IDI_APPLICATION); // default icon m_windowClass.hCursor = LoadCursor(NULL, IDC_ARROW); // default arrow m_windowClass.hbrBackground = NULL; // don't need background m_windowClass.lpszMenuName = NULL; // no menu m_windowClass.lpszClassName = (LPCWSTR)"GLClass"; m_windowClass.hIconSm = LoadIcon(NULL, IDI_WINLOGO); // windows logo small icon if (!RegisterClassEx(&m_windowClass)) { MessageBox(NULL, (LPCWSTR)"Failed to register window class", NULL, MB_OK); return false; } if (m_isFullscreen)//If we are fullscreen, we need to change the display { DEVMODE dmScreenSettings; //Device mode memset(&dmScreenSettings, 0, sizeof(dmScreenSettings)); dmScreenSettings.dmSize = sizeof(dmScreenSettings); dmScreenSettings.dmPelsWidth = width; //Screen width dmScreenSettings.dmPelsHeight = height; //Screen height dmScreenSettings.dmBitsPerPel = bpp; //Bits per pixel dmScreenSettings.dmFields = DM_BITSPERPEL | DM_PELSWIDTH | DM_PELSHEIGHT; if (ChangeDisplaySettings(&dmScreenSettings, CDS_FULLSCREEN) != DISP_CHANGE_SUCCESSFUL) { MessageBox(NULL, (LPCWSTR)"Display mode failed", NULL, MB_OK); m_isFullscreen = false; } } if (m_isFullscreen) //Is it fullscreen? { dwExStyle = WS_EX_APPWINDOW; //Window Extended Style dwStyle = WS_POPUP; //Windows Style ShowCursor(false); //Hide mouse pointer } else { dwExStyle = WS_EX_APPWINDOW | WS_EX_WINDOWEDGE; //Window Exteneded Style dwStyle = WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW; //Windows Style } AdjustWindowRectEx(&m_windowRect, dwStyle, false, dwExStyle); //Adjust window to true requested size //Class registered, so now create window m_hwnd = CreateWindowEx(NULL, //Extended Style (LPCWSTR)"GLClass", //Class name (LPCWSTR)"Chapter 2", //App name dwStyle | WS_CLIPCHILDREN | WS_CLIPSIBLINGS, 0, 0, //x, y coordinates m_windowRect.right - m_windowRect.left, m_windowRect.bottom - m_windowRect.top, //Width and height NULL, //Handle to parent NULL, //Handle to menu m_hinstance, //Application instance this); //Pass a pointer to the GLWindow here //Check if window creation failed, hwnd would equal NULL if (!m_hwnd) { return 0; } m_hdc = GetDC(m_hwnd); ShowWindow(m_hwnd, SW_SHOW); UpdateWindow(m_hwnd); m_lastTime = GetTickCount() / 1000.0f; return true; } LRESULT CALLBACK GLWindow::StaticWndProc(HWND hWnd, UINT uMsg, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam) { GLWindow* window = nullptr; //If this is the create message if (uMsg == WM_CREATE) { //Get the pointer we stored during create window = (GLWindow*)((LPCREATESTRUCT)lParam)->lpCreateParams; //Associate the window pointer with the hwnd for the other events to access SetWindowLongPtr(hWnd, GWL_USERDATA, (LONG_PTR)window); } else { //If this is not a creation event, then we should have stored a pointer to the window window = (GLWindow*)GetWindowLongPtr(hWnd, GWL_USERDATA); if (!window) { //Do the default event handling return DefWindowProc(hWnd, uMsg, wParam, lParam); } } //Call our window's member WndProc(allows us to access member variables) return window->WndProc(hWnd, uMsg, wParam, lParam); } LRESULT GLWindow::WndProc(HWND hWnd, UINT uMsg, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam) { switch (uMsg) { case WM_CREATE: { m_hdc = GetDC(hWnd); setupPixelFormat(); //Set the version that we want, in this case 3.0 int attribs[] = { WGL_CONTEXT_MAJOR_VERSION_ARB, 3, WGL_CONTEXT_MINOR_VERSION_ARB, 0, 0}; //Create temporary context so we can get a pointer to the function HGLRC tmpContext = wglCreateContext(m_hdc); //Make the context current wglMakeCurrent(m_hdc, tmpContext); //Get the function pointer wglCreateContextAttribsARB = (PFNWGLCREATECONTEXTATTRIBSARBPROC)wglGetProcAddress("wglCreateContextAttribsARB"); //If this is NULL then OpenGl 3.0 is not supported if (!wglCreateContextAttribsARB) { MessageBox(NULL, (LPCWSTR)"OpenGL 3.0 is not supported", (LPCWSTR)"An error occured", MB_ICONERROR | MB_OK); DestroyWindow(hWnd); return 0; } //Create an OpenGL 3.0 context using the new function m_hglrc = wglCreateContextAttribsARB(m_hdc, 0, attribs); //Delete the temporary context wglDeleteContext(tmpContext); //Make the GL3 context current wglMakeCurrent(m_hdc, m_hglrc); m_isRunning = true; } break; case WM_DESTROY: //Window destroy case WM_CLOSE: //Windows is closing wglMakeCurrent(m_hdc, NULL); wglDeleteContext(m_hglrc); m_isRunning = false; //Stop the main loop PostQuitMessage(0); break; case WM_SIZE: { int height = HIWORD(lParam); //Get height and width int width = LOWORD(lParam); getAttachedExample()->onResize(width, height); //Call the example's resize method } break; case WM_KEYDOWN: if (wParam == VK_ESCAPE) //If the escape key was pressed { DestroyWindow(m_hwnd); } break; default: break; } return DefWindowProc(hWnd, uMsg, wParam, lParam); } void GLWindow::processEvents() { MSG msg; //While there are messages in the queue, store them in msg while (PeekMessage(&msg, NULL, 0, 0, PM_REMOVE)) { //Process the messages TranslateMessage(&msg); DispatchMessage(&msg); } } Here is the header: #pragma once #include <ctime> #include <windows.h> class Example;//Declare our example class class GLWindow { public: GLWindow(HINSTANCE hInstance); //default constructor bool create(int width, int height, int bpp, bool fullscreen); void destroy(); void processEvents(); void attachExample(Example* example); bool isRunning(); //Is the window running? void swapBuffers() { SwapBuffers(m_hdc); } static LRESULT CALLBACK StaticWndProc(HWND wnd, UINT msg, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam); LRESULT CALLBACK WndProc(HWND wnd, UINT msg, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam); float getElapsedSeconds(); private: Example* m_example; //A link to the example program bool m_isRunning; //Is the window still running? bool m_isFullscreen; HWND m_hwnd; //Window handle HGLRC m_hglrc; //Rendering context HDC m_hdc; //Device context RECT m_windowRect; //Window bounds HINSTANCE m_hinstance; //Application instance WNDCLASSEX m_windowClass; void setupPixelFormat(void); Example* getAttachedExample() { return m_example; } float m_lastTime; };

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  • Controlling the Sizing of the af:messages Dialog

    - by Duncan Mills
    Over the last day or so a small change in behaviour between 11.1.2.n releases of ADF and earlier versions has come to my attention. This has concerned the default sizing of the dialog that the framework automatically generates to handle the display of JSF messages being handled by the <af:messages> component. Unlike a normal popup, you don't have a physical <af:dialog> or <af:window> to set the sizing on in your page definition, so you're at the mercy of what the framework provides. In this case the framework now defines a fixed 250x250 pixel content area dialog for these messages, which can look a bit weird if the message is either very short, or very long. Unfortunately this is not something that you can control through the skin, instead you have to be a little more creative. Here's the solution I've come up with.  Unfortunately, I've not found a supportable way to reset the dialog so as to say  just size yourself based on your contents, it is actually possible to do this by tweaking the correct DOM objects, but I wanted to start with a mostly supportable solution that only uses the best practice of working through the ADF client side APIs. The Technique The basic approach I've taken is really very simple.  The af:messages dialog is just a normal richDialog object, it just happens to be one that is pre-defined for you with a particular known name "msgDlg" (which hopefully won't change). Knowing this, you can call the accepted APIs to control the content width and height of that dialog, as our meerkat friends would say, "simples" 1 The JavaScript For this example I've defined three JavaScript functions.   The first does all the hard work and is designed to be called from server side Java or from a page load event to set the default. The second is a utility function used by the first to validate the values you're about to use for height and width. The final function is one that can be called from the page load event to set an initial default sizing if that's all you need to do. Function resizeDefaultMessageDialog() /**  * Function that actually resets the default message dialog sizing.  * Note that the width and height supplied define the content area  * So the actual physical dialog size will be larger to account for  * the chrome containing the header / footer etc.  * @param docId Faces component id of the document  * @param contentWidth - new content width you need  * @param contentHeight - new content height  */ function resizeDefaultMessageDialog(docId, contentWidth, contentHeight) {   // Warning this value may change from release to release   var defMDName = "::msgDlg";   //Find the default messages dialog   msgDialogComponent = AdfPage.PAGE.findComponentByAbsoluteId(docId + defMDName); // In your version add a check here to ensure we've found the right object!   // Check the new width is supplied and is a positive number, if so apply it.   if (dimensionIsValid(contentWidth)){       msgDialogComponent.setContentWidth(contentWidth);   }   // Check the new height is supplied and is a positive number, if so apply it.   if (dimensionIsValid(contentHeight)){       msgDialogComponent.setContentHeight(contentHeight);   } }  Function dimensionIsValid()  /**  * Simple function to check that sensible numeric values are   * being proposed for a dimension  * @param sampleDimension   * @return booolean  */ function dimensionIsValid(sampleDimension){     return (!isNaN(sampleDimension) && sampleDimension > 0); } Function  initializeDefaultMessageDialogSize() /**  * This function will re-define the default sizing applied by the framework   * in 11.1.2.n versions  * It is designed to be called with the document onLoad event  */ function initializeDefaultMessageDialogSize(loadEvent){   //get the configuration information   var documentId = loadEvent.getSource().getProperty('documentId');   var newWidth = loadEvent.getSource().getProperty('defaultMessageDialogContentWidth');   var newHeight = loadEvent.getSource().getProperty('defaultMessageDialogContentHeight');   resizeDefaultMessageDialog(documentId, newWidth, newHeight); } Wiring in the Functions As usual, the first thing we need to do when using JavaScript with ADF is to define an af:resource  in the document metaContainer facet <af:document>   ....     <f:facet name="metaContainer">     <af:resource type="javascript" source="/resources/js/hackMessagedDialog.js"/>    </f:facet> </af:document> This makes the script functions available to call.  Next if you want to use the option of defining an initial default size for the dialog you use a combination of <af:clientListener> and <af:clientAttribute> tags like this. <af:document title="MyApp" id="doc1">   <af:clientListener method="initializeDefaultMessageDialogSize" type="load"/>   <af:clientAttribute name="documentId" value="doc1"/>   <af:clientAttribute name="defaultMessageDialogContentWidth" value="400"/>   <af:clientAttribute name="defaultMessageDialogContentHeight" value="150"/>  ...   Just in Time Dialog Sizing  So  what happens if you have a variety of messages that you might add and in some cases you need a small dialog and an other cases a large one? Well in that case you can re-size these dialogs just before you submit the message. Here's some example Java code: FacesContext ctx = FacesContext.getCurrentInstance();          //reset the default dialog size for this message ExtendedRenderKitService service =              Service.getRenderKitService(ctx, ExtendedRenderKitService.class); service.addScript(ctx, "resizeDefaultMessageDialog('doc1',100,50);");          FacesMessage msg = new FacesMessage("Short message"); msg.setSeverity(FacesMessage.SEVERITY_ERROR); ctx.addMessage(null, msg);  So there you have it. This technique should, at least, allow you to control the dialog sizing just enough to stop really objectionable whitespace or scrollbars. 1 Don't worry if you don't get the reference, lest's just say my kids watch too many adverts.

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  • how to use 3D map Actionscript class in mxml file for display map.

    - by nemade-vipin
    hello friends, I have created the application in which I have to use 3D map Action Script class in mxml file to display a map in form. that is in tab navigator last tab. My ActionScript 3D map class is(FlyingDirections):- package src.SBTSCoreObject { import src.SBTSCoreObject.JSONDecoder; import com.google.maps.InfoWindowOptions; import com.google.maps.LatLng; import com.google.maps.LatLngBounds; import com.google.maps.Map3D; import com.google.maps.MapEvent; import com.google.maps.MapOptions; import com.google.maps.MapType; import com.google.maps.MapUtil; import com.google.maps.View; import com.google.maps.controls.NavigationControl; import com.google.maps.geom.Attitude; import com.google.maps.interfaces.IPolyline; import com.google.maps.overlays.Marker; import com.google.maps.overlays.MarkerOptions; import com.google.maps.services.Directions; import com.google.maps.services.DirectionsEvent; import com.google.maps.services.Route; import flash.display.Bitmap; import flash.display.DisplayObject; import flash.display.DisplayObjectContainer; import flash.display.Loader; import flash.display.LoaderInfo; import flash.display.Sprite; import flash.events.Event; import flash.events.IOErrorEvent; import flash.events.MouseEvent; import flash.events.TimerEvent; import flash.filters.DropShadowFilter; import flash.geom.Point; import flash.net.URLLoader; import flash.net.URLRequest; import flash.net.navigateToURL; import flash.text.TextField; import flash.text.TextFieldAutoSize; import flash.text.TextFormat; import flash.utils.Timer; import flash.utils.getTimer; public class FlyingDirections extends Map3D { /** * Panoramio home page. */ private static const PANORAMIO_HOME:String = "http://www.panoramio.com/"; /** * The icon for the car. */ [Embed("assets/car-icon-24px.png")] private static const Car:Class; /** * The Panoramio icon. */ [Embed("assets/iw_panoramio.png")] private static const PanoramioIcon:Class; /** * We animate a zoom in to the start the route before the car starts * to move. This constant sets the time in seconds over which this * zoom occurs. */ private static const LEAD_IN_DURATION:Number = 3; /** * Duration of the trip in seconds. */ private static const TRIP_DURATION:Number = 40; /** * Constants that define the geometry of the Panoramio image markers. */ private static const BORDER_T:Number = 3; private static const BORDER_L:Number = 10; private static const BORDER_R:Number = 10; private static const BORDER_B:Number = 3; private static const GAP_T:Number = 2; private static const GAP_B:Number = 1; private static const IMAGE_SCALE:Number = 1; /** * Trajectory that the camera follows over time. Each element is an object * containing properties used to generate parameter values for flyTo(..). * fraction = 0 corresponds to the start of the trip; fraction = 1 * correspondsto the end of the trip. */ private var FLY_TRAJECTORY:Array = [ { fraction: 0, zoom: 6, attitude: new Attitude(0, 0, 0) }, { fraction: 0.2, zoom: 8.5, attitude: new Attitude(30, 30, 0) }, { fraction: 0.5, zoom: 9, attitude: new Attitude(30, 40, 0) }, { fraction: 1, zoom: 8, attitude: new Attitude(50, 50, 0) }, { fraction: 1.1, zoom: 8, attitude: new Attitude(130, 50, 0) }, { fraction: 1.2, zoom: 8, attitude: new Attitude(220, 50, 0) }, ]; /** * Number of panaramio photos for which we load data. We&apos;ll select a * subset of these approximately evenly spaced along the route. */ private static const NUM_GEOTAGGED_PHOTOS:int = 50; /** * Number of panaramio photos that we actually show. */ private static const NUM_SHOWN_PHOTOS:int = 7; /** * Scaling between real trip time and animation time. */ private static const SCALE_TIME:Number = 0.001; /** * getTimer() value at the instant that we start the trip. If this is 0 then * we have not yet started the car moving. */ private var startTimer:int = 0; /** * The current route. */ private var route:Route; /** * The polyline for the route. */ private var polyline:IPolyline; /** * The car marker. */ private var marker:Marker; /** * The cumulative duration in seconds over each step in the route. * cumulativeStepDuration[0] is 0; cumulativeStepDuration[1] adds the * duration of step 0; cumulativeStepDuration[2] adds the duration * of step 1; etc. */ private var cumulativeStepDuration:/*Number*/Array = []; /** * The cumulative distance in metres over each vertex in the route polyline. * cumulativeVertexDistance[0] is 0; cumulativeVertexDistance[1] adds the * distance to vertex 1; cumulativeVertexDistance[2] adds the distance to * vertex 2; etc. */ private var cumulativeVertexDistance:Array; /** * Array of photos loaded from Panoramio. This array has the same format as * the &apos;photos&apos; property within the JSON returned by the Panoramio API * (see http://www.panoramio.com/api/), with additional properties added to * individual photo elements to hold the loader structures that fetch * the actual images. */ private var photos:Array = []; /** * Array of polyline vertices, where each element is in world coordinates. * Several computations can be faster if we can use world coordinates * instead of LatLng coordinates. */ private var worldPoly:/*Point*/Array; /** * Whether the start button has been pressed. */ private var startButtonPressed:Boolean = false; /** * Saved event from onDirectionsSuccess call. */ private var directionsSuccessEvent:DirectionsEvent = null; /** * Start button. */ private var startButton:Sprite; /** * Alpha value used for the Panoramio image markers. */ private var markerAlpha:Number = 0; /** * Index of the current driving direction step. Used to update the * info window content each time we progress to a new step. */ private var currentStepIndex:int = -1; /** * The fly directions map constructor. * * @constructor */ public function FlyingDirections() { key="ABQIAAAA7QUChpcnvnmXxsjC7s1fCxQGj0PqsCtxKvarsoS-iqLdqZSKfxTd7Xf-2rEc_PC9o8IsJde80Wnj4g"; super(); addEventListener(MapEvent.MAP_PREINITIALIZE, onMapPreinitialize); addEventListener(MapEvent.MAP_READY, onMapReady); } /** * Handles map preintialize. Initializes the map center and zoom level. * * @param event The map event. */ private function onMapPreinitialize(event:MapEvent):void { setInitOptions(new MapOptions({ center: new LatLng(-26.1, 135.1), zoom: 4, viewMode: View.VIEWMODE_PERSPECTIVE, mapType:MapType.PHYSICAL_MAP_TYPE })); } /** * Handles map ready and looks up directions. * * @param event The map event. */ private function onMapReady(event:MapEvent):void { enableScrollWheelZoom(); enableContinuousZoom(); addControl(new NavigationControl()); // The driving animation will be updated on every frame. addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, enterFrame); addStartButton(); // We start the directions loading now, so that we&apos;re ready to go when // the user hits the start button. var directions:Directions = new Directions(); directions.addEventListener( DirectionsEvent.DIRECTIONS_SUCCESS, onDirectionsSuccess); directions.addEventListener( DirectionsEvent.DIRECTIONS_FAILURE, onDirectionsFailure); directions.load("48 Pirrama Rd, Pyrmont, NSW to Byron Bay, NSW"); } /** * Adds a big blue start button. */ private function addStartButton():void { startButton = new Sprite(); startButton.buttonMode = true; startButton.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, onStartClick); startButton.graphics.beginFill(0x1871ce); startButton.graphics.drawRoundRect(0, 0, 150, 100, 10, 10); startButton.graphics.endFill(); var startField:TextField = new TextField(); startField.autoSize = TextFieldAutoSize.LEFT; startField.defaultTextFormat = new TextFormat("_sans", 20, 0xffffff, true); startField.text = "Start!"; startButton.addChild(startField); startField.x = 0.5 * (startButton.width - startField.width); startField.y = 0.5 * (startButton.height - startField.height); startButton.filters = [ new DropShadowFilter() ]; var container:DisplayObjectContainer = getDisplayObject() as DisplayObjectContainer; container.addChild(startButton); startButton.x = 0.5 * (container.width - startButton.width); startButton.y = 0.5 * (container.height - startButton.height); var panoField:TextField = new TextField(); panoField.autoSize = TextFieldAutoSize.LEFT; panoField.defaultTextFormat = new TextFormat("_sans", 11, 0x000000, true); panoField.text = "Photos provided by Panoramio are under the copyright of their owners."; container.addChild(panoField); panoField.x = container.width - panoField.width - 5; panoField.y = 5; } /** * Handles directions success. Starts flying the route if everything * is ready. * * @param event The directions event. */ private function onDirectionsSuccess(event:DirectionsEvent):void { directionsSuccessEvent = event; flyRouteIfReady(); } /** * Handles click on the start button. Starts flying the route if everything * is ready. */ private function onStartClick(event:MouseEvent):void { startButton.removeEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, onStartClick); var container:DisplayObjectContainer = getDisplayObject() as DisplayObjectContainer; container.removeChild(startButton); startButtonPressed = true; flyRouteIfReady(); } /** * If we have loaded the directions and the start button has been pressed * start flying the directions route. */ private function flyRouteIfReady():void { if (!directionsSuccessEvent || !startButtonPressed) { return; } var directions:Directions = directionsSuccessEvent.directions; // Extract the route. route = directions.getRoute(0); // Draws the polyline showing the route. polyline = directions.createPolyline(); addOverlay(directions.createPolyline()); // Creates a car marker that is moved along the route. var car:DisplayObject = new Car(); marker = new Marker(route.startGeocode.point, new MarkerOptions({ icon: car, iconOffset: new Point(-car.width / 2, -car.height) })); addOverlay(marker); transformPolyToWorld(); createCumulativeArrays(); // Load Panoramio data for the region covered by the route. loadPanoramioData(directions.bounds); var duration:Number = route.duration; // Start a timer that will trigger the car moving after the lead in time. var leadInTimer:Timer = new Timer(LEAD_IN_DURATION * 1000, 1); leadInTimer.addEventListener(TimerEvent.TIMER, onLeadInDone); leadInTimer.start(); var flyTime:Number = -LEAD_IN_DURATION; // Set up the camera flight trajectory. for each (var flyStep:Object in FLY_TRAJECTORY) { var time:Number = flyStep.fraction * duration; var center:LatLng = latLngAt(time); var scaledTime:Number = time * SCALE_TIME; var zoom:Number = flyStep.zoom; var attitude:Attitude = flyStep.attitude; var elapsed:Number = scaledTime - flyTime; flyTime = scaledTime; flyTo(center, zoom, attitude, elapsed); } } /** * Loads Panoramio data for the route bounds. We load data about more photos * than we need, then select a subset lying along the route. * @param bounds Bounds within which to fetch images. */ private function loadPanoramioData(bounds:LatLngBounds):void { var params:Object = { order: "popularity", set: "full", from: "0", to: NUM_GEOTAGGED_PHOTOS.toString(10), size: "small", minx: bounds.getWest(), miny: bounds.getSouth(), maxx: bounds.getEast(), maxy: bounds.getNorth() }; var loader:URLLoader = new URLLoader(); var request:URLRequest = new URLRequest( "http://www.panoramio.com/map/get_panoramas.php?" + paramsToString(params)); loader.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, onPanoramioDataLoaded); loader.addEventListener(IOErrorEvent.IO_ERROR, onPanoramioDataFailed); loader.load(request); } /** * Transforms the route polyline to world coordinates. */ private function transformPolyToWorld():void { var numVertices:int = polyline.getVertexCount(); worldPoly = new Array(numVertices); for (var i:int = 0; i < numVertices; ++i) { var vertex:LatLng = polyline.getVertex(i); worldPoly[i] = fromLatLngToPoint(vertex, 0); } } /** * Returns the time at which the route approaches closest to the * given point. * @param world Point in world coordinates. * @return Route time at which the closest approach occurs. */ private function getTimeOfClosestApproach(world:Point):Number { var minDistSqr:Number = Number.MAX_VALUE; var numVertices:int = worldPoly.length; var x:Number = world.x; var y:Number = world.y; var minVertex:int = 0; for (var i:int = 0; i < numVertices; ++i) { var dx:Number = worldPoly[i].x - x; var dy:Number = worldPoly[i].y - y; var distSqr:Number = dx * dx + dy * dy; if (distSqr < minDistSqr) { minDistSqr = distSqr; minVertex = i; } } return cumulativeVertexDistance[minVertex]; } /** * Returns the array index of the first element that compares greater than * the given value. * @param ordered Ordered array of elements. * @param value Value to use for comparison. * @return Array index of the first element that compares greater than * the given value. */ private function upperBound(ordered:Array, value:Number, first:int=0, last:int=-1):int { if (last < 0) { last = ordered.length; } var count:int = last - first; var index:int; while (count > 0) { var step:int = count >> 1; index = first + step; if (value >= ordered[index]) { first = index + 1; count -= step - 1; } else { count = step; } } return first; } /** * Selects up to a given number of photos approximately evenly spaced along * the route. * @param ordered Array of photos, each of which is an object with * a property &apos;closestTime&apos;. * @param number Number of photos to select. */ private function selectEvenlySpacedPhotos(ordered:Array, number:int):Array { var start:Number = cumulativeVertexDistance[0]; var end:Number = cumulativeVertexDistance[cumulativeVertexDistance.length - 2]; var closestTimes:Array = []; for each (var photo:Object in ordered) { closestTimes.push(photo.closestTime); } var selectedPhotos:Array = []; for (var i:int = 0; i < number; ++i) { var idealTime:Number = start + ((end - start) * (i + 0.5) / number); var index:int = upperBound(closestTimes, idealTime); if (index < 1) { index = 0; } else if (index >= ordered.length) { index = ordered.length - 1; } else { var errorToPrev:Number = Math.abs(idealTime - closestTimes[index - 1]); var errorToNext:Number = Math.abs(idealTime - closestTimes[index]); if (errorToPrev < errorToNext) { --index; } } selectedPhotos.push(ordered[index]); } return selectedPhotos; } /** * Handles completion of loading the Panoramio index data. Selects from the * returned photo indices a subset of those that lie along the route and * initiates load of each of these. * @param event Load completion event. */ private function onPanoramioDataLoaded(event:Event):void { var loader:URLLoader = event.target as URLLoader; var decoder:JSONDecoder = new JSONDecoder(loader.data as String); var allPhotos:Array = decoder.getValue().photos; for each (var photo:Object in allPhotos) { var latLng:LatLng = new LatLng(photo.latitude, photo.longitude); photo.closestTime = getTimeOfClosestApproach(fromLatLngToPoint(latLng, 0)); } allPhotos.sortOn("closestTime", Array.NUMERIC); photos = selectEvenlySpacedPhotos(allPhotos, NUM_SHOWN_PHOTOS); for each (photo in photos) { var photoLoader:Loader = new Loader(); // The images aren&apos;t on panoramio.com: we can&apos;t acquire pixel access // using "new LoaderContext(true)". photoLoader.load( new URLRequest(photo.photo_file_url)); photo.loader = photoLoader; // Save the loader info: we use this to find the original element when // the load completes. photo.loaderInfo = photoLoader.contentLoaderInfo; photoLoader.contentLoaderInfo.addEventListener( Event.COMPLETE, onPhotoLoaded); } } /** * Creates a MouseEvent listener function that will navigate to the given * URL in a new window. * @param url URL to which to navigate. */ private function createOnClickUrlOpener(url:String):Function { return function(event:MouseEvent):void { navigateToURL(new URLRequest(url)); }; } /** * Handles completion of loading an individual Panoramio image. * Adds a custom marker that displays the image. Initially this is made * invisible so that it can be faded in as needed. * @param event Load completion event. */ private function onPhotoLoaded(event:Event):void { var loaderInfo:LoaderInfo = event.target as LoaderInfo; // We need to find which photo element this image corresponds to. for each (var photo:Object in photos) { if (loaderInfo == photo.loaderInfo) { var imageMarker:Sprite = createImageMarker(photo.loader, photo.owner_name, photo.owner_url); var options:MarkerOptions = new MarkerOptions({ icon: imageMarker, hasShadow: true, iconAlignment: MarkerOptions.ALIGN_BOTTOM | MarkerOptions.ALIGN_LEFT }); var latLng:LatLng = new LatLng(photo.latitude, photo.longitude); var marker:Marker = new Marker(latLng, options); photo.marker = marker; addOverlay(marker); // A hack: we add the actual image after the overlay has been added, // which creates the shadow, so that the shadow is valid even if we // don&apos;t have security privileges to generate the shadow from the // image. marker.foreground.visible = false; marker.shadow.alpha = 0; var imageHolder:Sprite = new Sprite(); imageHolder.addChild(photo.loader); imageHolder.buttonMode = true; imageHolder.addEventListener( MouseEvent.CLICK, createOnClickUrlOpener(photo.photo_url)); imageMarker.addChild(imageHolder); return; } } trace("An image was loaded which could not be found in the photo array."); } /** * Creates a custom marker showing an image. */ private function createImageMarker(child:DisplayObject, ownerName:String, ownerUrl:String):Sprite { var content:Sprite = new Sprite(); var panoramioIcon:Bitmap = new PanoramioIcon(); var iconHolder:Sprite = new Sprite(); iconHolder.addChild(panoramioIcon); iconHolder.buttonMode = true; iconHolder.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, onPanoramioIconClick); panoramioIcon.x = BORDER_L; panoramioIcon.y = BORDER_T; content.addChild(iconHolder); // NOTE: we add the image as a child only after we&apos;ve added the marker // to the map. Currently the API requires this if it&apos;s to generate the // shadow for unprivileged content. // Shrink the image, so that it doesn&apos;t obcure too much screen space. // Ideally, we&apos;d subsample, but we don&apos;t have pixel level access. child.scaleX = IMAGE_SCALE; child.scaleY = IMAGE_SCALE; var imageW:Number = child.width; var imageH:Number = child.height; child.x = BORDER_L + 30; child.y = BORDER_T + iconHolder.height + GAP_T; var authorField:TextField = new TextField(); authorField.autoSize = TextFieldAutoSize.LEFT; authorField.defaultTextFormat = new TextFormat("_sans", 12); authorField.text = "author:"; content.addChild(authorField); authorField.x = BORDER_L; authorField.y = BORDER_T + iconHolder.height + GAP_T + imageH + GAP_B; var ownerField:TextField = new TextField(); ownerField.autoSize = TextFieldAutoSize.LEFT; var textFormat:TextFormat = new TextFormat("_sans", 14, 0x0e5f9a); ownerField.defaultTextFormat = textFormat; ownerField.htmlText = "<a href=\"" + ownerUrl + "\" target=\"_blank\">" + ownerName + "</a>"; content.addChild(ownerField); ownerField.x = BORDER_L + authorField.width; ownerField.y = BORDER_T + iconHolder.height + GAP_T + imageH + GAP_B; var totalW:Number = BORDER_L + Math.max(imageW, ownerField.width + authorField.width) + BORDER_R; var totalH:Number = BORDER_T + iconHolder.height + GAP_T + imageH + GAP_B + ownerField.height + BORDER_B; content.graphics.beginFill(0xffffff); content.graphics.drawRoundRect(0, 0, totalW, totalH, 10, 10); content.graphics.endFill(); var marker:Sprite = new Sprite(); marker.addChild(content); content.x = 30; content.y = 0; marker.graphics.lineStyle(); marker.graphics.beginFill(0xff0000); marker.graphics.drawCircle(0, totalH + 30, 3); marker.graphics.endFill(); marker.graphics.lineStyle(2, 0xffffff); marker.graphics.moveTo(30 + 10, totalH - 10); marker.graphics.lineTo(0, totalH + 30); return marker; } /** * Handles click on the Panoramio icon. */ private function onPanoramioIconClick(event:MouseEvent):void { navigateToURL(new URLRequest(PANORAMIO_HOME)); } /** * Handles failure of a Panoramio image load. */ private function onPanoramioDataFailed(event:IOErrorEvent):void { trace("Load of image failed: " + event); } /** * Returns a string containing cgi query parameters. * @param Associative array mapping query parameter key to value. * @return String containing cgi query parameters. */ private static function paramsToString(params:Object):String { var result:String = ""; var separator:String = ""; for (var key:String in params) { result += separator + encodeURIComponent(key) + "=" + encodeURIComponent(params[key]); separator = "&"; } return result; } /** * Called once the lead-in flight is done. Starts the car driving along * the route and starts a timer to begin fade in of the Panoramio * images in 1.5 seconds. */ private function onLeadInDone(event:Event):void { // Set startTimer non-zero so that the car starts to move. startTimer = getTimer(); // Start a timer that will fade in the Panoramio images. var fadeInTimer:Timer = new Timer(1500, 1); fadeInTimer.addEventListener(TimerEvent.TIMER, onFadeInTimer); fadeInTimer.start(); } /** * Handles the fade in timer&apos;s TIMER event. Sets markerAlpha above zero * which causes the frame enter handler to fade in the markers. */ private function onFadeInTimer(event:Event):void { markerAlpha = 0.01; } /** * The end time of the flight. */ private function get endTime():Number { if (!cumulativeStepDuration || cumulativeStepDuration.length == 0) { return startTimer; } return startTimer + cumulativeStepDuration[cumulativeStepDuration.length - 1]; } /** * Creates the cumulative arrays, cumulativeStepDuration and * cumulativeVertexDistance. */ private function createCumulativeArrays():void { cumulativeStepDuration = new Array(route.numSteps + 1); cumulativeVertexDistance = new Array(polyline.getVertexCount() + 1); var polylineTotal:Number = 0; var total:Number = 0; var numVertices:int = polyline.getVertexCount(); for (var stepIndex:int = 0; stepIndex < route.numSteps; ++stepIndex) { cumulativeStepDuration[stepIndex] = total; total += route.getStep(stepIndex).duration; var startVertex:int = stepIndex >= 0 ? route.getStep(stepIndex).polylineIndex : 0; var endVertex:int = stepIndex < (route.numSteps - 1) ? route.getStep(stepIndex + 1).polylineIndex : numVertices; var duration:Number = route.getStep(stepIndex).duration; var stepVertices:int = endVertex - startVertex; var latLng:LatLng = polyline.getVertex(startVertex); for (var vertex:int = startVertex; vertex < endVertex; ++vertex) { cumulativeVertexDistance[vertex] = polylineTotal; if (vertex < numVertices - 1) { var nextLatLng:LatLng = polyline.getVertex(vertex + 1); polylineTotal += nextLatLng.distanceFrom(latLng); } latLng = nextLatLng; } } cumulativeStepDuration[stepIndex] = total; } /** * Opens the info window above the car icon that details the given * step of the driving directions. * @param stepIndex Index of the current step. */ private function openInfoForStep(stepIndex:int):void { // Sets the content of the info window. var content:String; if (stepIndex >= route.numSteps) { content = "<b>" + route.endGeocode.address + "</b>" + "<br /><br />" + route.summaryHtml; } else { content = "<b>" + stepIndex + ".</b> " + route.getStep(stepIndex).descriptionHtml; } marker.openInfoWindow(new InfoWindowOptions({ contentHTML: content })); } /** * Displays the driving directions step appropriate for the given time. * Opens the info window showing the step instructions each time we * progress to a new step. * @param time Time for which to display the step. */ private function displayStepAt(time:Number):void { var stepIndex:int = upperBound(cumulativeStepDuration, time) - 1; var minStepIndex:int = 0; var maxStepIndex:int = route.numSteps - 1; if (stepIndex >= 0 && stepIndex <= maxStepIndex && currentStepIndex != stepIndex) { openInfoForStep(stepIndex); currentStepIndex = stepIndex; } } /** * Returns the LatLng at which the car should be positioned at the given * time. * @param time Time for which LatLng should be found. * @return LatLng. */ private function latLngAt(time:Number):LatLng { var stepIndex:int = upperBound(cumulativeStepDuration, time) - 1; var minStepIndex:int = 0; var maxStepIndex:int = route.numSteps - 1; if (stepIndex < minStepIndex) { return route.startGeocode.point; } else if (stepIndex > maxStepIndex) { return route.endGeocode.point; } var stepStart:Number = cumulativeStepDuration[stepIndex]; var stepEnd:Number = cumulativeStepDuration[stepIndex + 1]; var stepFraction:Number = (time - stepStart) / (stepEnd - stepStart); var startVertex:int = route.getStep(stepIndex).polylineIndex; var endVertex:int = (stepIndex + 1) < route.numSteps ? route.getStep(stepIndex + 1).polylineIndex : polyline.getVertexCount(); var stepVertices:int = endVertex - startVertex; var stepLeng

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  • Need additional help with binding multiple CommandParameters using MultiBinding

    - by Dave
    I need to have a command handler for a ToggleButton that can take multiple parameters, namely the IsChecked property of said ToggleButton, along with a constant value, which could be a string, byte, int... doesn't matter. I found this great question on SO and followed the answer's link and read up on MultiBinding and IMultiValueConverter. It went really smoothly until I had to write the MultiBinding, when I realized that I also need to pass a constant value and couldn't do something like <Binding Value="1" /> I then came across another similar question that Kent Boogaart answered, and then I started to think about ways that I could get around this. One possible way is to not use MVVM and simply add the Tag property to my ToggleButton, in which case my MultiBinding would look like this: <MultiBinding Converter="{StaticResource MyConverter}"> <MultiBinding.Bindings> <Binding Path="IsChecked" /> <Binding Path="Tag" /> </MultiBinding.Bindings> </MultiBinding> Kent had made a comment along the lines of, "if you're using MVVM you should be able to get around this issue". However, I'm not sure that's an option for me, even though I have adopted MVVM as my WPF pattern of necessity choice. The reason why I say this is that I have wayyyy more than one ToggleButton in the UserControl, and each of the ToggleButtons' Commands need to call the same function. But since they are ToggleButtons, I can't use the property bound to IsChecked in the ViewModel, because I don't know which one was last clicked. I suppose I could add another private property to keep track of this, but it seems a little silly. As far as the constant goes, I could probably get rid of this if I did the tracking idea, but not sure of any other way to get around it. Does anyone have good suggestions for me here? :) EDIT -- ok, so I need to update my bindings, which still don't work quite right: <ToggleButton Tag="1" Command="{Binding MyCommand}" Style="{StaticResource PassFailToggleButtonStyle}" HorizontalContentAlignment="Center" Background="Transparent" BorderBrush="Transparent" BorderThickness="0"> <ToggleButton.CommandParameter> <MultiBinding Converter="{StaticResource MyConverter}"> <MultiBinding.Bindings> <Binding Path="IsChecked" RelativeSource="{RelativeSource Mode=Self}" /> <Binding Path="Tag" RelativeSource="{RelativeSource Mode=Self}" /> </MultiBinding.Bindings> </MultiBinding> </ToggleButton.CommandParameter> </ToggleButton> IsChecked was working, but not Tag. I just realized that Tag is a string... duh. It's working now! The key was to use a RelativeSource of Self.

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