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  • Debugging methods for Windows XP hangups

    - by Cooper
    I experience occasional 'freezes' on my desktop machine (Windows XP SP3). I've tried the normal debugging methods I know (watching Process Explorer, running ProcMon (hard to get a good trace because the hangups are so intermittent). Are there any additional system debugging methods that might be useful in discovering what would cause these hang ups? While this question is more about debugging methods than the actual issue itself (which is probably more of a superuser question), the symptoms of the hangup are: All windows become non-responding. Can be brought the foreground, but do not repaint. Taskbar/explorer windows are non-responsive Ctrl+Alt+Del, Ctrl+Shift+Esc, Win+L, do not do anything (though the actions are queued up, and when the system unhangs, they are performed) Oddly enough, usually I can still scroll through the current page I have open in Google Chrome, but I cannot change tabs. Hangup can happen when I have tons of apps open, but also when I only have Outlook, Chrome, and MS Communicator (plus all the corporate spyware). Usually the hang lasts between 30sec and 3 minutes or so. After which I can continue working as usual.

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  • Install KVM based Windows 2008 remotely over SSH on a headless, no graphics Ubuntu 10.04 server?

    - by taazaa
    Hi, I have a Dell server at a remote data center with Ubuntu 10.04 as the host. It is a minimal install with the necessary virtulization packages. There is no X and the machine is headless. I have the win2008 DVD in the machine and want to remotely install it. I tried: virt-install --connect qemu:///system -n vmwin2k8 -r 1024 --disk path=server2k8.qcow2,size=50 --cdrom /dev/sr0 --vnc --noautoconsole --os-type windows --os-variant win2k8 The qcow2 image get created However I don't understand how to connect to see the install via VNC. This is my first time doing it so it may be trivial or may not be possible. Remotely I have a Win 7 machine with Putty and RealVNC viewer. Where is the graphic output of VNC going? Do I have to have VNC server running on the host or some other machine and then connect to it from my VNC client? Please let me know or point me to the right direction. I have been searching the web for several days to figure out how this is suppose to work. Thanks!

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  • Printer irregularly producing garbage output

    - by John Gardeniers
    Every now and then instead of getting the proper output we get numerous pages, mostly with just a single line, of output which appears to be the raw PCL. My theory is that this happens when the first byte or two of the document is somehow not received by the printer, which then doesn't know how to interpret the rest and does it's best by spitting it out as text. This is a problem I've seen many times over the years but has been popping up more often since we upgraded to Win 7 64 bit, which introduced a number of headaches because of the HP lack of real support for 64 bits. It also appears to happen most often when printing PDF files. We have tried several different PDF readers in addition to Adobe's own but that hasn't helped. While we mainly use HP printers, and the problem is not limited to any particular model, I've also seen it happen on other brands, albeit to a lesser extent. I've also been unable to discern a difference between printers used via a print server or those connected directly by IP address. It also happens to USB attached printers. Because of the erratic nature of this problem there is precious little I can think of to try and debug it, so I'm after any ideas that might help to eliminate it.

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  • Windows 7 clean install becomes corrupt after reboot (repeated many fresh installs)

    - by pjotr_dolphin
    My laptop keeps crashing on boot after clean Windows 7 install. Ok, here is the story, and some fact. Computer: Samsung NP900X3C-A04HK (256GB SSD, 8GB RAM) OS to install: Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 (not from Samsung, own fresh Win) I purchased this laptop about a year ago, never booted it into the Windows Home that was installed on it, installed directly Ubuntu on the machine. Full disc encryption was the selected install, so of course it wiped the complete disc (including Samsung Recovery Partition). After some time, I felt like going back to Windows, as Windows 7 is actually quite nice. So I went to buy a fresh Windows 7Ultimate with SP1. Now to the tricky part. Windows installs perfectly, and after installing all Windows updates, drivers from Samsung, software I need, it is time for shutting it down and go to bed. Starting it up again, and it is not booting, these are the type of errors I have gotten so far (fresh installed it more then a dozen times now, and tried different suggestions from threads on the net). Windows failed to start... Status: 0xc000000f Info: The boot selection failed because a required device is inaccessible. File: /boot/bcd Status: 0xc000000f Info: an error occurred while attempting to read the boot configuration data. And some other errors, not all the same. Not memory of this. I have run different disc checks, and all says my SSD is in perfect shape. Note: Soft reboots from Windows menu works, never gets corrupted. But if I Shutdown and then start it up again, this is when it happens. Can someone help me not get back to Ubunut? What can be the cause, and how can it be fixed so I do not get there problems again?

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  • Website is not accessible from server which is using proxy

    - by Bhoot
    I hosted a website in a win 2008 R2 server which runs in private domain. I set up bindings for port 80 and 443 for http & https respectively. Created inbound rule for port 80 and 443 also in windows firewall. After doing all this, i am still not able to access my website from remote machine. IE : Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage. Chrome : Oops! Google Chrome could not find xxxxxx Tried accessing website by ip address but no luck. I tried to ping that server but it says TTL expired in Transit. Now i found some more information over internet to check if the server is using any kind of proxy in between. I found my IP address at www.getip.com, but ipconfig/all gives me a different IP address. Is it really a problem if we use proxy ? I am not sure if i have concluded it correctly. But is there any way out to resolve this issue? Update ::: I figured it out. I have to call that website with external IP address. due to the proxy settings i was not able to call that website by the server's IP or name of that machine.

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  • Display on secondary video card (Nvidia 8400 GS): horrible refresh, bogs system

    - by minameismud
    This is my work computer, but it's a small shop. We do business software development. The most hardcore thing we create is some web animations with html5 and fancy javascript/css. The base machine is a Dell Precision T3500 - Xeon W3550 (3.07GHz quad), 6GB ram, pair of 500GB harddrives, and Win 7 x64 Enterprise SP1. My primary video card is an ATI FirePro V4800 1GB in a PCIe slot of some speed driving a pair of 23s at 1920x1080 through DisplayPort-HDMI adapters. The secondary card is an NVidia GeForce 8400GS in a PCI slot driving a single 17" at 1280x1024 through DVI. On either of the 23" monitors, windows move smoothly, scroll quickly, and are generally very responsive. On the 17", it's slow, chunky, and when I'm trying to scroll a ton of content, Windows will occasionally suggest I drop to the Windows Basic theme. I've updated drivers for both cards, and I've gotten every Windows update relating to video. Specifically: ATI FirePro Provider: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc Date: 6/22/2014 Version: 13.352.1014.0 NVidia 8400 GS Provider: NVIDIA Date: 7/2/2014 Version: 9.18.13.4052 Unfortunately, new hardware isn't really an option. Is there anything I can do software-wise to speed up the NVidia-driven monitor?

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  • Change "Show Desktop" to "Minimize All"

    - by V0R73X
    I'd like to use Alt-Tab a lot when I'm programming under Windows. It's the quickest method to switch between windows. However, there's one annoying thing about this, and that is when I switch over to "Desktop" using Alt-Tab, Windows uses the "Show Desktop" command instead of minimizing all Windows. I personally hate Show Desktop, since it creates a separate window on top of all the other windows which captures a live display of desktop, and this causes all the widgets I have on the desktop to be hidden under this live window, and I LOVE my widgets. An ideal behavior for when I switch tabs to Desktop using Alt-Tab would be the "Minimize All" behavior, which simply minimizes all windows, leaving me with my actual desktop, which sits behind everything. In order to achieve this, I have to move my fingers across the keyboard, and press Win+M. This decreases my efficiency by .5 seconds, which is a LOT of time. How can I tell windows to use "Minimize All" rather than "Show Desktop" when I use my good ol' Alt-Tab functionality to switch over to desktop and save .5 seconds in time?

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  • Windows 7 Upgrade Fail from Home Premium to Ultimate Professional

    - by Michael S-B
    I had a hard drive crash, which meant I had to install a new HDD in my Dell 64-Bit XPS 1350 (lovely computer). I had previously been running Windows 7 Ultimate Professional which I had upgraded from the OEM Win 7 Home Premium by means of a disk I purchased from my university. Using the Recovery disk from Dell I installed Windows 7 Home Premium successfully on the new hard drive, but when I have tried to upgrade via my disk to Ultimate it installs the whole thing, says its complete, but when I reboot, tells me: "This version of Windows could not be installed. Your previous version of Windows has been restored, and you can continue to use it." I've installed the drivers from Dell's driver disk, but still to no avail. I've also used Driver Robot to update all my drivers. I can't find a .dmp file anywhere under C:\$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources but I did find this file under C:\$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\Panther. setupact.log https://www.dropbox.com/s/yzy7fhkxlzc235y/setupact.log If anyone could please advise me what I need to do to fix Windows so it will upgrade properly, I would greatly appreciate it.

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  • Create taskbar shortcut to website in Window 7

    - by BJ292
    I'd like to create a shortcut to a website in Windows 7 on the taskbar that is not pinned to the default web browser. Currently if I drag the favicon from the left end of the firefox address bar to the Win 7 taskbar it will pin a shortcut to the firefox browser icon. Similarly if I create a shortcut on the desktop to a website and drag it to the taskbar it will also end up pinned to the firefox icon. The problem with this is to get to that shortcut I have to right click on the firefox icon and then select the pinned shortcut. That is workable for me but I want to do this for a child - so the shortcut needs to be right there on the taskbar as a stand-alone item. There is a workaround that pretty much solves the problem - create a new folder somewhere safe - create the shortcut to the website in the new folder - right click the taskbar and select toolbars - new toolbar - then browse to the folder you created and select it as the new toolbar. The contents of the folder will now appear on the taskbar as shortcuts. You need to drag it from the right hand end of the taskbar into the middle - turn off show titles and show text and make the icon large. I'd call this a 75% solution. Anyone know how to make a web shortcut that looks and operates just like any of the other shortcuts on the taskbar?

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  • Handling aces and finding a segfault in a blackjack program

    - by Bill Adams
    Here's what i have so far... I have yet to figure out how i'm going to handle the 11 / 1 situation with an ace, and when the player chooses an option for hit/stand, i get segfault. HELP!!! #include <stdio.h> #include <string.h> #include <stdlib.h> #include <time.h> #define DECKSIZE 52 #define VALUE 9 #define FACE 4 #define HANDSIZE 26 typedef struct { int value; char* suit; char* name; }Card; typedef struct { int value; char* suit; char* name; }dealerHand; typedef struct { int value; char* suit; char* name; }playerHand; Card cards[DECKSIZE]; dealerHand deal[HANDSIZE]; playerHand dealt[HANDSIZE]; char *faceName[]={"two","three", "four","five","six", "seven","eight","nine", "ten", "jack","queen", "king","ace"}; char *suitName[]={"spades","diamonds","clubs","hearts"}; void printDeck(){ int i; for(i=0;i<DECKSIZE;i++){ printf("%s of %s value = %d\n ",cards[i].name,cards[i].suit,cards[i].value); if((i+1)%13==0 && i!=0) printf("-------------------\n\n"); } } void shuffleDeck(){ srand(time(NULL)); int this; int that; Card temp; int c; for(c=0;c<10000;c++){ //c is the index for number of individual card shuffles should be set to c<10000 or more this=rand()%DECKSIZE; that=rand()%DECKSIZE; temp=cards[this]; cards[this]=cards[that]; cards[that]=temp; } } /*void hitStand(i,y){ // I dumped this because of a segfault i couldn't figure out. int k; printf(" Press 1 to HIT or press 2 to STAND:"); scanf("%d",k); if(k=1){ dealt[y].suit=cards[i].suit; dealt[y].name=cards[i].name; dealt[y].value=cards[i].value; y++; i++; } } */ int main(){ int suitCount=0; int faceCount=0; int i; int x; int y; int d; int p; int k; for(i=0;i<DECKSIZE;i++){ //this for statement builds the deck if(faceCount<9){ cards[i].value=faceCount+2; }else{ //assigns face cards as value 10 cards[i].value=10; } cards[i].suit=suitName[suitCount]; cards[i].name=faceName[faceCount++]; if(faceCount==13){ //this if loop increments suit count once cards[i].value=11; //all faces have been assigned, and also suitCount++; //assigns the ace as 11 faceCount=0; } //end building deck } /*printDeck(); //prints the deck in order shuffleDeck(); //shuffles the deck printDeck(); //prints the deck as shuffled This was used in testing, commented out to keep the deck hidden!*/ shuffleDeck(); x=0; y=0; for(i=0;i<4;i++){ //this for loop deals the first 4 cards, dealt[y].suit=cards[i].suit; //first card to player, second to dealer, dealt[y].name=cards[i].name; //as per standard dealing practice. dealt[y].value=cards[i].value; i++; y++; deal[x].suit=cards[i].suit; deal[x].name=cards[i].name; deal[x].value=cards[i].value; x++; } printf(" Dealer's hand is: %s of %s and XXXX of XXXX. (Second card is hidden!)\n",deal[0].name,deal[0].suit,deal[1].name,deal[1].suit); printf(" Player's hand is: %s of %s and %s of %s.\n",dealt[0].name,dealt[0].suit,dealt[1].name,dealt[1].suit); printf(" the current value of the index i=%d\n",i); //this line gave me the value of i for testing d=deal[0].value+deal[1].value; p=dealt[0].value+dealt[1].value; if(d==21){ printf(" The Dealer has Blackjack! House win!\n"); }else{ if(d>21){ printf(" The dealer is Bust! You win!\n"); }else{ if(d>17){ printf(" Press 1 to HIT or 2 to STAND"); scanf("%d",k); if(k==1){ dealt[y].suit=cards[i].suit; dealt[y].name=cards[i].name; dealt[y].value=cards[i].value; y++; i++; } }else{ if(d<17){ printf(" Dealer Hits!"); deal[x].suit=cards[i].suit; deal[x].name=cards[i].name; deal[x].value=cards[i].value; x++; i++; } } } } return 0; }

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  • ANSI C blackjack assignment, linux GCC compiler, i'm stuck...

    - by Bill Adams
    Here's what i have so far... I have yet to figure out how i'm going to handle the 11 / 1 situation with an ace, and when the player chooses an option for hit/stand, i get segfault. HELP!!! #include <stdio.h> #include <string.h> #include <stdlib.h> #include <time.h> #define DECKSIZE 52 #define VALUE 9 #define FACE 4 #define HANDSIZE 26 typedef struct { int value; char* suit; char* name; }Card; typedef struct { int value; char* suit; char* name; }dealerHand; typedef struct { int value; char* suit; char* name; }playerHand; Card cards[DECKSIZE]; dealerHand deal[HANDSIZE]; playerHand dealt[HANDSIZE]; char *faceName[]={"two","three", "four","five","six", "seven","eight","nine", "ten", "jack","queen", "king","ace"}; char *suitName[]={"spades","diamonds","clubs","hearts"}; void printDeck(){ int i; for(i=0;i<DECKSIZE;i++){ printf("%s of %s value = %d\n ",cards[i].name,cards[i].suit,cards[i].value); if((i+1)%13==0 && i!=0) printf("-------------------\n\n"); } } void shuffleDeck(){ srand(time(NULL)); int this; int that; Card temp; int c; for(c=0;c<10000;c++){ //c is the index for number of individual card shuffles should be set to c<10000 or more this=rand()%DECKSIZE; that=rand()%DECKSIZE; temp=cards[this]; cards[this]=cards[that]; cards[that]=temp; } } /*void hitStand(i,y){ // I dumped this because of a segfault i couldn't figure out. int k; printf(" Press 1 to HIT or press 2 to STAND:"); scanf("%d",k); if(k=1){ dealt[y].suit=cards[i].suit; dealt[y].name=cards[i].name; dealt[y].value=cards[i].value; y++; i++; } } */ int main(){ int suitCount=0; int faceCount=0; int i; int x; int y; int d; int p; int k; for(i=0;i<DECKSIZE;i++){ //this for statement builds the deck if(faceCount<9){ cards[i].value=faceCount+2; }else{ //assigns face cards as value 10 cards[i].value=10; } cards[i].suit=suitName[suitCount]; cards[i].name=faceName[faceCount++]; if(faceCount==13){ //this if loop increments suit count once cards[i].value=11; //all faces have been assigned, and also suitCount++; //assigns the ace as 11 faceCount=0; } //end building deck } /*printDeck(); //prints the deck in order shuffleDeck(); //shuffles the deck printDeck(); //prints the deck as shuffled This was used in testing, commented out to keep the deck hidden!*/ shuffleDeck(); x=0; y=0; for(i=0;i<4;i++){ //this for loop deals the first 4 cards, dealt[y].suit=cards[i].suit; //first card to player, second to dealer, dealt[y].name=cards[i].name; //as per standard dealing practice. dealt[y].value=cards[i].value; i++; y++; deal[x].suit=cards[i].suit; deal[x].name=cards[i].name; deal[x].value=cards[i].value; x++; } printf(" Dealer's hand is: %s of %s and XXXX of XXXX. (Second card is hidden!)\n",deal[0].name,deal[0].suit,deal[1].name,deal[1].suit); printf(" Player's hand is: %s of %s and %s of %s.\n",dealt[0].name,dealt[0].suit,dealt[1].name,dealt[1].suit); printf(" the current value of the index i=%d\n",i); //this line gave me the value of i for testing d=deal[0].value+deal[1].value; p=dealt[0].value+dealt[1].value; if(d==21){ printf(" The Dealer has Blackjack! House win!\n"); }else{ if(d>21){ printf(" The dealer is Bust! You win!\n"); }else{ if(d>17){ printf(" Press 1 to HIT or 2 to STAND"); scanf("%d",k); if(k==1){ dealt[y].suit=cards[i].suit; dealt[y].name=cards[i].name; dealt[y].value=cards[i].value; y++; i++; } }else{ if(d<17){ printf(" Dealer Hits!"); deal[x].suit=cards[i].suit; deal[x].name=cards[i].name; deal[x].value=cards[i].value; x++; i++; } } } } return 0; }

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  • Native ComboBox not displaying choices correctly

    - by anothershrubery
    EDIT: It seems that ListPicker is the way to go but I have had further problems with that detailed Microsoft.Phone.Controls.Toolkit ListPicker throws XamlParseException I have the following ComboBox in code: <ComboBox x:Name="Result" Grid.Column="6" HorizontalAlignment="Center" VerticalAlignment="Center" Foreground="Black" Background="White"> <ComboBoxItem Content="Win" /> <ComboBoxItem Content="Place" /> <ComboBoxItem Content="Lose" /> </ComboBox> But it does not display as I would have expected. When you drop down the ComboBox the options don't appear, it's just like empty items. See below: However, when an item is selected, it displays correctly and the correct index/item is returned. See below: I'm sure there is something simple I have missed but can't put my finger on it. EDIT: Ok I am posting the full code for this. I have a user control, OddsRow, that looks like this: <UserControl xmlns:toolkit="clr-namespace:Microsoft.Phone.Controls;assembly=Microsoft.Phone.Controls.Toolkit" x:Class="MojoPinBetOddsCalculator.OddsRow" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008" xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006" mc:Ignorable="d" FontFamily="{StaticResource PhoneFontFamilyNormal}" FontSize="{StaticResource PhoneFontSizeNormal}" Foreground="{StaticResource PhoneForegroundBrush}" d:DesignHeight="480" d:DesignWidth="480"> <Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot" Background="{StaticResource PhoneChromeBrush}"> <Grid.RowDefinitions> <RowDefinition Height="70"/> </Grid.RowDefinitions> <Grid.ColumnDefinitions> <ColumnDefinition Width="50*"></ColumnDefinition> <ColumnDefinition Width="70*"></ColumnDefinition> <ColumnDefinition Width="30*"></ColumnDefinition> <ColumnDefinition Width="70*"></ColumnDefinition> <ColumnDefinition Width="70*"></ColumnDefinition> <ColumnDefinition Width="70*" ></ColumnDefinition> <ColumnDefinition Width="100*"></ColumnDefinition> </Grid.ColumnDefinitions> <TextBlock x:Name="RowNumber" Grid.Column="0" VerticalAlignment="Center" HorizontalAlignment="Center"></TextBlock> <TextBox x:Name="OddsNumerator" Grid.Column="1" Width="90" Height="70" HorizontalAlignment="Center" TextAlignment="Center" VerticalAlignment="Center" MaxLength="3" InputScope="TelephoneNumber"></TextBox> <TextBlock x:Name="Slash" Grid.Column="2" Text="/" HorizontalAlignment="Center" VerticalAlignment="Center"></TextBlock> <TextBox x:Name="OddsDenominator" Grid.Column="3" Width="90" Height="70" VerticalAlignment="Center" TextAlignment="Center" MaxLength="3" HorizontalAlignment="Center" InputScope="TelephoneNumber"></TextBox> <CheckBox x:Name="EachWay" Grid.Column="4" VerticalAlignment="Center" HorizontalAlignment="Center" Margin="10,0,0,0" /> <CheckBox x:Name="Place" Grid.Column="5" HorizontalAlignment="Center" VerticalAlignment="Center" BorderThickness="0" Width="71" Margin="10,0,0,0" Padding="0" /> <ComboBox x:Name="Result" Grid.Column="6" HorizontalAlignment="Center" VerticalAlignment="Center" Foreground="Black" Background="White"> <ComboBoxItem Content="Win" /> <ComboBoxItem Content="Place" /> <ComboBoxItem Content="Lose" /> </ComboBox> </Grid> </UserControl> And it is displayed in the MainPage like so: <phone:PhoneApplicationPage xmlns:my="clr-namespace:MojoPinBetOddsCalculator" x:Class="MojoPinBetOddsCalculator.MainPage" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" xmlns:phone="clr-namespace:Microsoft.Phone.Controls;assembly=Microsoft.Phone" xmlns:shell="clr-namespace:Microsoft.Phone.Shell;assembly=Microsoft.Phone" xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008" xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006" mc:Ignorable="d" d:DesignWidth="480" d:DesignHeight="768" FontFamily="{StaticResource PhoneFontFamilyNormal}" FontSize="{StaticResource PhoneFontSizeNormal}" Foreground="{StaticResource PhoneForegroundBrush}" SupportedOrientations="Portrait" Orientation="Portrait" shell:SystemTray.IsVisible="True"> <!--LayoutRoot is the root grid where all page content is placed--> <Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot" Background="Transparent"> <Grid.RowDefinitions> <RowDefinition Height="Auto"/> <RowDefinition Height="*"/> </Grid.RowDefinitions> <!--TitlePanel contains the name of the application and page title--> <StackPanel x:Name="TitlePanel" Grid.Row="0" Margin="12,17,0,28"> <TextBlock x:Name="ApplicationTitle" Text="BET ODDS CALCULATOR" Style="{StaticResource PhoneTextNormalStyle}"/> <TextBlock x:Name="PageTitle" Text="calculate" Margin="9,-7,0,0" Style="{StaticResource PhoneTextTitle1Style}"/> </StackPanel> <!--ContentPanel - place additional content here--> <Grid x:Name="ContentPanel" Grid.Row="1" Margin="12,0,12,0" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch"> <Grid x:Name="Scrollable"> <ScrollViewer> <Grid x:Name="BettingGrid"> <Grid.RowDefinitions> <RowDefinition Height="Auto"></RowDefinition> <RowDefinition Height="*"></RowDefinition> </Grid.RowDefinitions> <Grid x:Name="BetList"> <Grid.RowDefinitions> <RowDefinition Height="30"></RowDefinition> <RowDefinition Height="70"></RowDefinition> <RowDefinition Height="70"></RowDefinition> <RowDefinition Height="70"></RowDefinition> <RowDefinition Height="70"></RowDefinition> <RowDefinition Height="70"></RowDefinition> <RowDefinition Height="70"></RowDefinition> </Grid.RowDefinitions> <Grid.ColumnDefinitions> <ColumnDefinition Width="50*"></ColumnDefinition> <ColumnDefinition Width="70*"></ColumnDefinition> <ColumnDefinition Width="30*"></ColumnDefinition> <ColumnDefinition Width="70*"></ColumnDefinition> <ColumnDefinition Width="70*"></ColumnDefinition> <ColumnDefinition Width="70*"></ColumnDefinition> <ColumnDefinition Width="100*"></ColumnDefinition> </Grid.ColumnDefinitions> <TextBlock Text="EW" Style="{StaticResource PhoneTextNormalStyle}" Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="4" HorizontalAlignment="Center" /> <TextBlock Text="Place" Style="{StaticResource PhoneTextNormalStyle}" Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="5" HorizontalAlignment="Center" /> <TextBlock Text="Result" Style="{StaticResource PhoneTextNormalStyle}" Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="6" HorizontalAlignment="Center" /> <my:OddsRow Grid.Row="1" Grid.ColumnSpan="7" Row="1"/> <my:OddsRow Grid.Row="2" Grid.ColumnSpan="7" Row="2"/> <my:OddsRow Grid.Row="3" Grid.ColumnSpan="7" Row="3"/> <my:OddsRow Grid.Row="4" Grid.ColumnSpan="7" Row="4"/> <my:OddsRow Grid.Row="5" Grid.ColumnSpan="7" Row="5"/> <my:OddsRow Grid.Row="6" Grid.ColumnSpan="7" Row="6"/> </Grid> <Grid x:Name="ControlsGrid" Grid.Row="1"> <Button x:Name="AddRowButton" Background="#BFFFFFFF" BorderBrush="#BFFFFFFF" Foreground="Black" Content="Add Row" FontSize="16" Click="AddRowButton_Click" Height="70" /> </Grid> </Grid> </ScrollViewer> </Grid> </Grid> </Grid> </phone:PhoneApplicationPage> Separately the ComboBox works, and also the code for the OddsRow works as expected... separately. When combined it doesn't display the items. OddsRow.xaml.cs public partial class OddsRow : UserControl { private int m_Row; public OddsRow() { InitializeComponent(); } public int Row { get { return m_Row; } set { m_Row = value; RowNumber.Text = m_Row + " - "; } } }

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  • InputDispatcher Error

    - by StarDust
    INFO/ActivityManager(68): Process com.example (pid 390) has died. ERROR/InputDispatcher(68): channel '406ed580 com.example/com.example.afeTest (server)' ~ Consumer closed input channel or an error occurred. events=0x8 ERROR/InputDispatcher(68): channel '406ed580 com.example/com.example.afeTest (server)' ~ Channel is unrecoverably broken and will be disposed! ERROR/InputDispatcher(68): Received spurious receive callback for unknown input channel. fd=165, events=0x8 Can anyone tell what may be the reason behind this error? I've ported a native code on the Android-ndk. One thing I noticed regarding fd (that may be some reason :S) My code uses fd_sets which was defined in winsock2.h But I didn't find fd_sets defined in android-ndk. So I had included "select.h" where fd_set is a typedef in the android-ndk: typedef __kernel_fd_set fd_set; Here is the log cat: 04-06 11:15:32.405: INFO/DEBUG(31): *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** 04-06 11:15:32.405: INFO/DEBUG(31): Build fingerprint: 'generic/sdk/generic:2.3.3/GRI34/101070:eng/test-keys' 04-06 11:15:32.415: INFO/DEBUG(31): pid: 335, tid: 348 >>> com.example <<< 04-06 11:15:32.426: INFO/DEBUG(31): signal 11 (SIGSEGV), code 1 (SEGV_MAPERR), fault addr deadbaad 04-06 11:15:32.426: INFO/DEBUG(31): r0 deadbaad r1 0000000c r2 00000027 r3 00000000 04-06 11:15:32.445: INFO/DEBUG(31): r4 00000080 r5 afd46668 r6 0000a000 r7 00000078 04-06 11:15:32.445: INFO/DEBUG(31): r8 804ab00d r9 002a9778 10 00100000 fp 00000001 04-06 11:15:32.445: INFO/DEBUG(31): ip ffffffff sp 44295d10 lr afd19375 pc afd15ef0 cpsr 00000030 04-06 11:15:32.756: INFO/DEBUG(31): #00 pc 00015ef0 /system/lib/libc.so 04-06 11:15:32.756: INFO/DEBUG(31): #01 pc 00013852 /system/lib/libc.so 04-06 11:15:32.767: INFO/DEBUG(31): code around pc: 04-06 11:15:32.785: INFO/DEBUG(31): afd15ed0 68241c23 d1fb2c00 68dae027 d0042a00 04-06 11:15:32.785: INFO/DEBUG(31): afd15ee0 20014d18 6028447d 48174790 24802227 04-06 11:15:32.785: INFO/DEBUG(31): afd15ef0 f7f57002 2106eb56 ec92f7f6 0563aa01 04-06 11:15:32.796: INFO/DEBUG(31): afd15f00 60932100 91016051 1c112006 e818f7f6 04-06 11:15:32.807: INFO/DEBUG(31): afd15f10 2200a905 f7f62002 f7f5e824 2106eb42 04-06 11:15:32.815: INFO/DEBUG(31): code around lr: 04-06 11:15:32.815: INFO/DEBUG(31): afd19354 b0834a0d 589c447b 26009001 686768a5 04-06 11:15:32.825: INFO/DEBUG(31): afd19364 220ce008 2b005eab 1c28d003 47889901 04-06 11:15:32.836: INFO/DEBUG(31): afd19374 35544306 d5f43f01 2c006824 b003d1ee 04-06 11:15:32.836: INFO/DEBUG(31): afd19384 bdf01c30 000281a8 ffffff88 1c0fb5f0 04-06 11:15:32.846: INFO/DEBUG(31): afd19394 43551c3d a904b087 1c16ac01 604d9004 04-06 11:15:32.856: INFO/DEBUG(31): stack: 04-06 11:15:32.856: INFO/DEBUG(31): 44295cd0 00000408 04-06 11:15:32.867: INFO/DEBUG(31): 44295cd4 afd18407 /system/lib/libc.so 04-06 11:15:32.875: INFO/DEBUG(31): 44295cd8 afd4270c /system/lib/libc.so 04-06 11:15:32.875: INFO/DEBUG(31): 44295cdc afd426b8 /system/lib/libc.so 04-06 11:15:32.885: INFO/DEBUG(31): 44295ce0 00000000 04-06 11:15:32.896: INFO/DEBUG(31): 44295ce4 afd19375 /system/lib/libc.so 04-06 11:15:32.896: INFO/DEBUG(31): 44295ce8 804ab00d /data/data/com.example/lib/libAFE.so 04-06 11:15:32.896: INFO/DEBUG(31): 44295cec afd183d9 /system/lib/libc.so 04-06 11:15:32.906: INFO/DEBUG(31): 44295cf0 00000078 04-06 11:15:32.906: INFO/DEBUG(31): 44295cf4 00000000 04-06 11:15:32.906: INFO/DEBUG(31): 44295cf8 afd46668 04-06 11:15:32.906: INFO/DEBUG(31): 44295cfc 0000a000 [heap] 04-06 11:15:32.916: INFO/DEBUG(31): 44295d00 00000078 04-06 11:15:32.927: INFO/DEBUG(31): 44295d04 afd18677 /system/lib/libc.so 04-06 11:15:32.927: INFO/DEBUG(31): 44295d08 df002777 04-06 11:15:32.945: INFO/DEBUG(31): 44295d0c e3a070ad 04-06 11:15:32.945: INFO/DEBUG(31): #00 44295d10 002c43a0 [heap] 04-06 11:15:32.945: INFO/DEBUG(31): 44295d14 002a9900 [heap] 04-06 11:15:32.956: INFO/DEBUG(31): 44295d18 afd46608 04-06 11:15:32.966: INFO/DEBUG(31): 44295d1c afd11010 /system/lib/libc.so 04-06 11:15:32.976: INFO/DEBUG(31): 44295d20 002c4298 [heap] 04-06 11:15:32.976: INFO/DEBUG(31): 44295d24 fffffbdf 04-06 11:15:33.006: INFO/DEBUG(31): 44295d28 000000da 04-06 11:15:33.006: INFO/DEBUG(31): 44295d2c afd46450 04-06 11:15:33.006: INFO/DEBUG(31): 44295d30 000001b4 04-06 11:15:33.026: INFO/DEBUG(31): 44295d34 afd13857 /system/lib/libc.so 04-06 11:15:33.026: INFO/DEBUG(31): #01 44295d38 afd46450 04-06 11:15:33.035: INFO/DEBUG(31): 44295d3c afd13857 /system/lib/libc.so 04-06 11:15:33.056: INFO/DEBUG(31): 44295d40 804ab00d /data/data/com.example/lib/libAFE.so 04-06 11:15:33.056: INFO/DEBUG(31): 44295d44 44295e8c 04-06 11:15:33.056: INFO/DEBUG(31): 44295d48 804ab00d /data/data/com.example/lib/libAFE.so 04-06 11:15:33.056: INFO/DEBUG(31): 44295d4c 804bfec3 /data/data/com.example/lib/libAFE.so 04-06 11:15:33.056: INFO/DEBUG(31): 44295d50 002c43a0 [heap] 04-06 11:15:33.066: INFO/DEBUG(31): 44295d54 44295e8c 04-06 11:15:33.066: INFO/DEBUG(31): 44295d58 804ab00d /data/data/com.example/lib/libAFE.so 04-06 11:15:33.076: INFO/DEBUG(31): 44295d5c 002a9778 [heap] 04-06 11:15:33.085: INFO/DEBUG(31): 44295d60 00000078 04-06 11:15:33.085: INFO/DEBUG(31): 44295d64 afd14769 /system/lib/libc.so 04-06 11:15:33.085: INFO/DEBUG(31): 44295d68 44295e8c 04-06 11:15:33.085: INFO/DEBUG(31): 44295d6c 805d9763 /data/data/com.example/lib/libAFE.so 04-06 11:15:33.085: INFO/DEBUG(31): 44295d70 44295e8c 04-06 11:15:33.085: INFO/DEBUG(31): 44295d74 8051dc35 /data/data/com.example/lib/libAFE.so 04-06 11:15:33.085: INFO/DEBUG(31): 44295d78 0000003a 04-06 11:15:33.085: INFO/DEBUG(31): 44295d7c 002a9900 [heap] 04-06 11:15:37.126: DEBUG/Zygote(33): Process 335 terminated by signal (11) 04-06 11:15:37.146: INFO/ActivityManager(68): Process com.example (pid 335) has died. 04-06 11:15:37.178: ERROR/InputDispatcher(68): channel '406f03a0 com.example/com.example.afeTest (server)' ~ Consumer closed input channel or an error occurred. events=0x8 04-06 11:15:37.178: ERROR/InputDispatcher(68): channel '406f03a0 com.example/com.example.afeTest (server)' ~ Channel is unrecoverably broken and will be disposed! 04-06 11:15:37.185: INFO/BootReceiver(68): Copying /data/tombstones/tombstone_09 to DropBox (SYSTEM_TOMBSTONE) 04-06 11:15:37.576: DEBUG/dalvikvm(68): GC_FOR_MALLOC freed 266K, 47% free 4404K/8199K, external 3520K/3903K, paused 306ms 04-06 11:15:37.835: DEBUG/dalvikvm(68): GC_FOR_MALLOC freed 203K, 47% free 4457K/8391K, external 3520K/3903K, paused 120ms 04-06 11:15:37.886: INFO/WindowManager(68): WIN DEATH: Window{406f03a0 com.example/com.example.afeTest paused=false} 04-06 11:15:38.095: DEBUG/dalvikvm(68): GC_FOR_MALLOC freed 67K, 47% free 4518K/8391K, external 3511K/3903K, paused 94ms 04-06 11:15:38.095: INFO/dalvikvm-heap(68): Grow heap (frag case) to 10.575MB for 196628-byte allocation 04-06 11:15:38.126: DEBUG/dalvikvm(126): GC_EXPLICIT freed 110K, 51% free 2903K/5895K, external 4701K/5293K, paused 2443ms 04-06 11:15:38.217: DEBUG/dalvikvm(68): GC_FOR_MALLOC freed 1K, 46% free 4708K/8647K, external 3511K/3903K, paused 96ms 04-06 11:15:38.225: INFO/WindowManager(68): WIN DEATH: Window{406f72f8 com.example/com.example.afeTest paused=false} 04-06 11:15:38.405: DEBUG/dalvikvm(68): GC_FOR_MALLOC freed 492K, 50% free 4345K/8647K, external 3511K/3903K, paused 96ms 04-06 11:15:38.485: ERROR/InputDispatcher(68): Received spurious receive callback for unknown input channel. fd=164, events=0x8

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  • Enterprise Library Logging / Exception handling and Postsharp

    - by subodhnpushpak
    One of my colleagues came-up with a unique situation where it was required to create log files based on the input file which is uploaded. For example if A.xml is uploaded, the corresponding log file should be A_log.txt. I am a strong believer that Logging / EH / caching are cross-cutting architecture aspects and should be least invasive to the business-logic written in enterprise application. I have been using Enterprise Library for logging / EH (i use to work with Avanade, so i have affection towards the library!! :D ). I have been also using excellent library called PostSharp for cross cutting aspect. Here i present a solution with and without PostSharp all in a unit test. Please see full source code at end of the this blog post. But first, we need to tweak the enterprise library so that the log files are created at runtime based on input given. Below is Custom trace listner which writes log into a given file extracted out of Logentry extendedProperties property. using Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Common.Configuration; using Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Logging.Configuration; using Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Logging.TraceListeners; using Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Logging; using System.IO; using System.Text; using System; using System.Diagnostics;   namespace Subodh.Framework.Logging { [ConfigurationElementType(typeof(CustomTraceListenerData))] public class LogToFileTraceListener : CustomTraceListener {   private static object syncRoot = new object();   public override void TraceData(TraceEventCache eventCache, string source, TraceEventType eventType, int id, object data) {   if ((data is LogEntry) & this.Formatter != null) { WriteOutToLog(this.Formatter.Format((LogEntry)data), (LogEntry)data); } else { WriteOutToLog(data.ToString(), (LogEntry)data); } }   public override void Write(string message) { Debug.Print(message.ToString()); }   public override void WriteLine(string message) { Debug.Print(message.ToString()); }   private void WriteOutToLog(string BodyText, LogEntry logentry) { try { //Get the filelocation from the extended properties if (logentry.ExtendedProperties.ContainsKey("filelocation")) { string fullPath = Path.GetFullPath(logentry.ExtendedProperties["filelocation"].ToString());   //Create the directory where the log file is written to if it does not exist. DirectoryInfo directoryInfo = new DirectoryInfo(Path.GetDirectoryName(fullPath));   if (directoryInfo.Exists == false) { directoryInfo.Create(); }   //Lock the file to prevent another process from using this file //as data is being written to it.   lock (syncRoot) { using (FileStream fs = new FileStream(fullPath, FileMode.Append, FileAccess.Write, FileShare.Write, 4096, true)) { using (StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter(fs, Encoding.UTF8)) { Log(BodyText, sw); sw.Close(); } fs.Close(); } } } } catch (Exception ex) { throw new LoggingException(ex.Message, ex); } }   /// <summary> /// Write message to named file /// </summary> public static void Log(string logMessage, TextWriter w) { w.WriteLine("{0}", logMessage); } } }   The above can be “plugged into” the code using below configuration <loggingConfiguration name="Logging Application Block" tracingEnabled="true" defaultCategory="Trace" logWarningsWhenNoCategoriesMatch="true"> <listeners> <add listenerDataType="Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Logging.Configuration.CustomTraceListenerData, Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Logging, Version=4.1.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" traceOutputOptions="None" filter="All" type="Subodh.Framework.Logging.LogToFileTraceListener, Subodh.Framework.Logging, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null" name="Subodh Custom Trace Listener" initializeData="" formatter="Text Formatter" /> </listeners> Similarly we can use PostSharp to expose the above as cross cutting aspects as below using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Linq; using System.Text; using System.Reflection; using PostSharp.Laos; using System.Diagnostics; using GC.FrameworkServices.ExceptionHandler; using Subodh.Framework.Logging;   namespace Subodh.Framework.ExceptionHandling { [Serializable] public sealed class LogExceptionAttribute : OnExceptionAspect { private string prefix; private MethodFormatStrings formatStrings;   // This field is not serialized. It is used only at compile time. [NonSerialized] private readonly Type exceptionType; private string fileName;   /// <summary> /// Declares a <see cref="XTraceExceptionAttribute"/> custom attribute /// that logs every exception flowing out of the methods to which /// the custom attribute is applied. /// </summary> public LogExceptionAttribute() { }   /// <summary> /// Declares a <see cref="XTraceExceptionAttribute"/> custom attribute /// that logs every exception derived from a given <see cref="Type"/> /// flowing out of the methods to which /// the custom attribute is applied. /// </summary> /// <param name="exceptionType"></param> public LogExceptionAttribute( Type exceptionType ) { this.exceptionType = exceptionType; }   public LogExceptionAttribute(Type exceptionType, string fileName) { this.exceptionType = exceptionType; this.fileName = fileName; }   /// <summary> /// Gets or sets the prefix string, printed before every trace message. /// </summary> /// <value> /// For instance <c>[Exception]</c>. /// </value> public string Prefix { get { return this.prefix; } set { this.prefix = value; } }   /// <summary> /// Initializes the current object. Called at compile time by PostSharp. /// </summary> /// <param name="method">Method to which the current instance is /// associated.</param> public override void CompileTimeInitialize( MethodBase method ) { // We just initialize our fields. They will be serialized at compile-time // and deserialized at runtime. this.formatStrings = Formatter.GetMethodFormatStrings( method ); this.prefix = Formatter.NormalizePrefix( this.prefix ); }   public override Type GetExceptionType( MethodBase method ) { return this.exceptionType; }   /// <summary> /// Method executed when an exception occurs in the methods to which the current /// custom attribute has been applied. We just write a record to the tracing /// subsystem. /// </summary> /// <param name="context">Event arguments specifying which method /// is being called and with which parameters.</param> public override void OnException( MethodExecutionEventArgs context ) { string message = String.Format("{0}Exception {1} {{{2}}} in {{{3}}}. \r\n\r\nStack Trace {4}", this.prefix, context.Exception.GetType().Name, context.Exception.Message, this.formatStrings.Format(context.Instance, context.Method, context.GetReadOnlyArgumentArray()), context.Exception.StackTrace); if(!string.IsNullOrEmpty(fileName)) { ApplicationLogger.LogException(message, fileName); } else { ApplicationLogger.LogException(message, Source.UtilityService); } } } } To use the above below is the unit test [TestMethod] [ExpectedException(typeof(NotImplementedException))] public void TestMethod1() { MethodThrowingExceptionForLog(); try { MethodThrowingExceptionForLogWithPostSharp(); } catch (NotImplementedException ex) { throw ex; } }   private void MethodThrowingExceptionForLog() { try { throw new NotImplementedException(); } catch (NotImplementedException ex) { // create file and then write log ApplicationLogger.TraceMessage("this is a trace message which will be logged in Test1MyFile", @"D:\EL\Test1Myfile.txt"); ApplicationLogger.TraceMessage("this is a trace message which will be logged in YetAnotherTest1Myfile", @"D:\EL\YetAnotherTest1Myfile.txt"); } }   // Automatically log details using attributes // Log exception using attributes .... A La WCF [FaultContract(typeof(FaultMessage))] style] [Log(@"D:\EL\Test1MyfileLogPostsharp.txt")] [LogException(typeof(NotImplementedException), @"D:\EL\Test1MyfileExceptionPostsharp.txt")] private void MethodThrowingExceptionForLogWithPostSharp() { throw new NotImplementedException(); } The good thing about the approach is that all the logging and EH is done at centralized location controlled by PostSharp. Of Course, if some other library has to be used instead of EL, it can easily be plugged in. Also, the coder ARE ONLY involved in writing business code in methods, which makes code cleaner. Here is the full source code. The third party assemblies provided are from EL and PostSharp and i presume you will find these useful. Do let me know your thoughts / ideas on the same. Technorati Tags: PostSharp,Enterprize library,C#,Logging,Exception handling

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  • CodePlex Daily Summary for Monday, March 22, 2010

    CodePlex Daily Summary for Monday, March 22, 2010New Projects[Tool] Vczh Non-public DLL Classes Caller: Generate C# code for you to call non-public classes in DLLs very easily.Artefact Animator: Artefact Animator provides an easy to use framework for procedural time-based animations in Silverlight and WPF.cacheroo: Cacheroo is a social networking community that will make it easier for people who love geocaching to get connected.Data Processing Toolkit: An utility app to collected data from different sources (i.e. bugzilla bug reports) in a structured way. We are currently setting up the site. Mo...eXternal SQL Bridge (PHP): The eXternal SQL Bridge (XSB) allows you to bridge two websites together in a secure manner through pre-shared keys. XSB is resilient against repla...'G' - Language to Define Gestures for Touch Based Applications: A cross plat form multi-touch application framework with a language to define gestures. The application is build on Silverlight 4.0 and the languag...IIS Network Diagnostic Tools: Web implementation of "looking glass" like services (ping, traceroute) as HTTP modules for Internet Information Services.Interop Router: This project establishes a communication framework and job dispatcher for a mixed operating system cluster environment.L2 Commander: L2Commander makes it easier for both new and old l2j users to manage your server.You no longer have to waste time on finding the files you need and...MediaHelper: A utility to help clean up empty/unwanted files and folders in your filesystem.mhinze: matt hinze stuffOneMan: Focus on Silverlight and WCF technology.Rss Photo Frame Android Widget: RSS Photo Frame Android Widget permits showing pictures from any RSS feed on your Android device's desktopSingle Web Session: Web Tool Kits Current project provide developer with different tools that help to enhance web site performance, security, and other common functio...Work Item Visualization: Use DGML to visualize and analyze your TFS Work Items. Included is the ability to perform basic risk/impact analysis. It helps answer the question,...New Releases[Tool] Vczh Non-public DLL Classes Caller: Wrapper Coder (beta): Click "<Click Me To Open Assembly File>", WrapperCoder will load the assembly and referenced assembly. Check the non-public classes that you want...APS - Automatic Print Screen: APS 1.0: APS automatizes the tasks of paste the image in Paint and save it after print screen or alt+print screen. Choose directory, name and file extension...BTP Tools: e-Sword generator build 20100321: 1. Modify the indent after subtitle. 2. Add 2 spaces after subtitle.Combres - WebForm & MVC Client-side Resource Combine Library: Combres 2.0: Changes since last version (1.2) Support ignore Combres pipeline in debug mode - see issue #6088 Debug mode generates comment helping identify in...Desafio Office 2010 Brasil: DesafioOutlook: Controlando um robo com o Outlook 2010dylan.NET: dylan.NET v. 9.4: Adding Platform Invocation Services Support, full Managed Pointer Support, Charset,Dllimport,Callconv setting for P/Invoke, MarshalAs for parametersFamily Tree Analyzer: Version 1.3.2.0: Version 1.3.2.0 Add open folder button to IGI Search Form Fixes to Fact Location processing - IGIName renamed to RegionID Fix if Region ID not fou...Fasterflect - A Fast and Simple Reflection API: Fasterflect 2.0: We are pleased to release version 2.0 of Fasterflect, which contains a lot of additions and improvements from the previous version. Please refer t...IIS Network Diagnostic Tools: 1.0: Initial public release.Informant: Informant (Desktop) v0.1: This release allows users to send sms messages to 1-Many Groups or 1-Many contacts. It is a very basic release of the application. No styling has b...InfoService: InfoService v1.5 - MPE1 Package: InfoService Release v1.5.0.65 Please read Plugin installation for installation instructions.InfoService: InfoService v1.5 - RAR Package: InfoService Release v1.5.0.65 Please read Plugin installation for installation instructions.L2 Commander: Source Code Link: Where to find our source.ModularCMS: ModularCMS 1.2: Minor bug fixes.NMTools: NMTools-v40b0-20100321-0: The most noticeable aspect of this release is that NMTools is now an independent project. It will no longer tied to OpenSLIM. Nevertheless, OpenSLI...SharePoint LogViewer: SharePoint LogViewer 1.5.3: Log loading performance enhanced. Search text box now has auto complete feature.Single Web Session: Single Web Session: !Single Web Session! <httpModules> <add name="SingleSession" type="SingleWebSession.Model.WebSessionModule, SingleWebSession"/> </httpModules>Sprite Sheet Packer: 2.1 Release: Made a few crucial fixes from 2.0: - Fixed error with paths having spaces. - Fixed error with UI not unlocking. - Fixed NullReferenceException on ...uManage - AD Self-Service Portal: uManage v1.1 (.NET 4.0 RC): Updated Releasev1.1 Adds the primary ability to setup and configure the application through a setup wizard. The setup wizard will continue to evol...VCC: Latest build, v2.1.30321.0: Automatic drop of latest buildVS ChessMania: VS ChessMania V2 March Beta: Second Beta Release with move correction and making application more safe for user. New features will be added soon.WatchersNET CKEditor™ Provider for DotNetNuke: CKEditor Provider 1.9.00: Whats New Added New Toolbar Plugin (By Kent Safransk) 'MediaEmbed' to Include Embed Media from Youtube, Vimeo, etc. Media Embed Plugin Added New ...WeatherBar: WeatherBar 1.0 [No Installation]: Extract the ZIP archive and run WeatherBar.exe. Current release contains some bugs that will be fixed in the next version. Check the Issue Tracker...Work Item Visualization: Release 1.0: This is the initial release of the Work Item Visualization tool. There are no known issues when it comes to the visualization aspects of the tool b...WPF Application Framework (WAF): WPF Application Framework (WAF) 1.0.0.10: Version: 1.0.0.10 (Milestone 10): This release contains the source code of the WPF Application Framework (WAF) and the sample applications. Requi...WPF AutoComplete TextBox Control: Version 1.2: What's Newadds AutoAppend feature adds a new provider: UrlHistoryDataProvider sample application is updated to reflect the new things Bug Fixe...ZoomBarPlus: V2 (Beta): - Fixed bug: if the active window changed while you were in the middle of a single tap delay, long tap delay, or swipe-repeat, it would continue re...Most Popular ProjectsMetaSharpSavvy DateTimeRawrWBFS ManagerSilverlight ToolkitASP.NET Ajax LibraryMicrosoft SQL Server Product Samples: DatabaseAJAX Control ToolkitLiveUpload to FacebookWindows Presentation Foundation (WPF)Most Active ProjectsLINQ to TwitterRawrOData SDK for PHPjQuery Library for SharePoint Web ServicesDirectQPHPExcelFarseer Physics Enginepatterns & practices – Enterprise LibraryBlogEngine.NETNB_Store - Free DotNetNuke Ecommerce Catalog Module

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  • Too Many Kittens To Juggle At Once

    - by Bil Simser
    Ahh, the Internet. That crazy, mixed up place where one tweet turns into a conversation between dozens of people and spawns a blogpost. This is the direct result of such an event this morning. It started innocently enough, with this: Then followed up by a blog post by Joel here. In the post, Joel introduces us to the term Business Solutions Architect with mad skillz like InfoPath, Access Services, Excel Services, building Workflows, and SSRS report creation, all while meeting the business needs of users in a SharePoint environment. I somewhat disagreed with Joel that this really wasn’t a new role (at least IMHO) and that a good Architect or BA should really be doing this job. As Joel pointed out when you’re building a SharePoint team this kind of role is often overlooked. Engineers might be able to build workflows but is the right workflow for the right problem? Michael Pisarek wrote about a SharePoint Business Architect a few months ago and it’s a pretty solid assessment. Again, I argue you really shouldn’t be looking for roles that don’t exist and I don’t suggest anyone create roles to hire people to fill them. That’s basically creating a solution looking for problems. Michael’s article does have some great points if you’re lost in the quagmire of SharePoint duties though (and I especially like John Ross’ quote “The coolest shit is worthless if it doesn’t meet business needs”). SharePoinTony summed it up nicely with “SharePoint Solutions knowledge is both lacking and underrated in most environments. Roles help”. Having someone on the team who can dance between a business user and a coder can be difficult. Remember the idea of telling something to someone and them passing it on to the next person. By the time the story comes round the circle it’s a shadow of it’s former self with little resemblance to the original tale. This is very much business requirements as they’re told by the user to a business analyst, written down on paper, read by an architect, tuned into a solution plan, and implemented by a developer. Transformations between what was said, what was heard, what was written down, and what was developed can be distant cousins. Not everyone has the skill of communication and even less have negotiation skills to suit the SharePoint platform. Negotiation is important because not everything can be (or should be) done in SharePoint. Sometimes it’s just not appropriate to build it on the SharePoint platform but someone needs to know enough about the platform and what limitations it might have, then communicate that (and/or negotiate) with a customer or user so it’s not about “You can’t have this” to “Let’s try it this way”. Visualize the possible instead of denying the impossible. So what is the right SharePoint team? My cromag brain came with a fairly simpleton answer (and I’m sure people will just say this is a cop-out). The perfect SharePoint team is just enough people to do the job that know the technology and business problem they’re solving. Bridge the gap between business need and technology platform and you have an architect. Communicate the needs of the business effectively so the entire team understands it and you have a business analyst. Can you get this with full time workers? Maybe but don’t expect miracles out of the gate. Also don’t take a consultant’s word as gospel. Some consultants just don’t have the diversity of the SharePoint platform to be worth their value so be careful. You really need someone who knows enough about SharePoint to be able to validate a consultants knowledge level. This is basically try for any consultant, not just a SharePoint one. Specialization is good and needed. A good, well-balanced SharePoint team is one of people that can solve problems with work with the technology, not against it. Having a top developer is great, but don’t rely on them to solve world hunger if they can’t communicate very well with users. An expert business analyst might be great at gathering requirements so the entire team can understand them, but if it means building 100% custom solutions because they don’t fit inside the SharePoint boundaries isn’t of much value. Just repeat. There is no silver bullet. There is no silver bullet. There is no silver bullet. A few people pointed out Nick Inglis’ article Excluding The Information Professional In SharePoint. It’s a good read too and hits home that maybe some developers and IT pros need some extra help in the information space. If you’re in an organization that needs labels on people, come up with something everyone understands and go with it. If that’s Business Solutions Architect, SharePoint Advisor, or Guy Who Knows A Lot About Portals, make it work for you. We all wish that one person could master all that is SharePoint but we also know that doesn’t scale very well and you quickly get into the hit-by-a-bus syndrome (with the organization coming to a full crawl when the guy or girl goes on vacation, gets sick, or pops out a baby). There are too many gaps in SharePoint knowledge to have any one person know it all and too many kittens to juggle all at once. We like to consider ourselves experts in our field, but trying to tackle too many roles at once and we end up being mediocre jack of all trades, master of none. Don't fall into this pit. It's a deep, dark hole you don't want to try to claw your way out of. Trust me. Been there. Done that. Got the t-shirt. In the end I don’t disagree with Joel. SharePoint is a beast and not something that should be taken on by newbies. If you just read “Teach Yourself SharePoint in 24 Hours” and want to go build your corporate intranet or the next killer business solution with all your new found knowledge plan to pony up consultant dollars a few months later when everything goes to Hell in a handbasket and falls over. I’m not saying don’t build solutions in SharePoint. I’m just saying that building effective ones takes skill like any craft and not something you can just cobble together with a little bit of cursory knowledge. Thanks to *everyone* who participated in this tweet rush. It was fun and educational.

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  • Part 2&ndash;Load Testing In The Cloud

    - by Tarun Arora
    Welcome to Part 2, In Part 1 we discussed the advantages of creating a Test Rig in the cloud, the Azure edge and the Test Rig Topology we want to get to. In Part 2, Let’s start by understanding the components of Azure we’ll be making use of followed by manually putting them together to create the test rig, so… let’s get down dirty start setting up the Test Rig.  What Components of Azure will I be using for building the Test Rig in the Cloud? To run the Test Agents we’ll make use of Windows Azure Compute and to enable communication between Test Controller and Test Agents we’ll make use of Windows Azure Connect.  Azure Connect The Test Controller is on premise and the Test Agents are in the cloud (How will they talk?). To enable communication between the two, we’ll make use of Windows Azure Connect. With Windows Azure Connect, you can use a simple user interface to configure IPsec protected connections between computers or virtual machines (VMs) in your organization’s network, and roles running in Windows Azure. With this you can now join Windows Azure role instances to your domain, so that you can use your existing methods for domain authentication, name resolution, or other domain-wide maintenance actions. For more details refer to an overview of Windows Azure connect. A very useful video explaining everything you wanted to know about Windows Azure connect.  Azure Compute Windows Azure compute provides developers a platform to host and manage applications in Microsoft’s data centres across the globe. A Windows Azure application is built from one or more components called ‘roles.’ Roles come in three different types: Web role, Worker role, and Virtual Machine (VM) role, we’ll be using the Worker role to set up the Test Agents. A very nice blog post discussing the difference between the 3 role types. Developers are free to use the .NET framework or other software that runs on Windows with the Worker role or Web role. Developers can also create applications using languages such as PHP and Java. More on Windows Azure Compute. Each Windows Azure compute instance represents a virtual server... Virtual Machine Size CPU Cores Memory Cost Per Hour Extra Small Shared 768 MB $0.04 Small 1 1.75 GB $0.12 Medium 2 3.50 GB $0.24 Large 4 7.00 GB $0.48 Extra Large 8 14.00 GB $0.96   You might want to review the Windows Azure Pricing FAQ. Let’s Get Started building the Test Rig… Configuration Machine Role Comments VM – 1 Domain Controller for Playpit.com On Premise VM – 2 TFS, Test Controller On Premise VM – 3 Test Agent Cloud   In this blog post I would assume that you have the domain, Team Foundation Server and Test Controller Installed and set up already. If not, please refer to the TFS 2010 Installation Guide and this walkthrough on MSDN to set up your Test Controller. You can also download a preconfigured TFS 2010 VM from Brian Keller's blog, Brian also has some great hands on Labs on TFS 2010 that you may want to explore. I. Lets start building VM – 3: The Test Agent Download the Windows Azure SDK and Tools Open Visual Studio and create a new Windows Azure Project using the Cloud Template                   Choose the Worker Role for reasons explained in the earlier post         The WorkerRole.cs implements the Run() and OnStart() methods, no code changes required. You should be able to compile the project and run it in the compute emulator (The compute emulator should have been installed as part of the Windows Azure Toolkit) on your local machine.                   We will only be making changes to WindowsAzureProject, open ServiceDefinition.csdef. Ensure that the vmsize is small (remember the cost chart above). Import the “Connect” module. I am importing the Connect module because I need to join the Worker role VM to the Playpit domain. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <ServiceDefinition name="WindowsAzureProject2" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ServiceHosting/2008/10/ServiceDefinition"> <WorkerRole name="WorkerRole1" vmsize="Small"> <Imports> <Import moduleName="Diagnostics" /> <Import moduleName="Connect"/> </Imports> </WorkerRole> </ServiceDefinition> Go to the ServiceConfiguration.Cloud.cscfg and note that settings with key ‘Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.%%%%’ have been added to the configuration file. This is because you decided to import the connect module. See the config below. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <ServiceConfiguration serviceName="WindowsAzureProject2" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ServiceHosting/2008/10/ServiceConfiguration" osFamily="1" osVersion="*"> <Role name="WorkerRole1"> <Instances count="1" /> <ConfigurationSettings> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Diagnostics.ConnectionString" value="UseDevelopmentStorage=true" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.ActivationToken" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Refresh" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.WaitForConnectivity" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Upgrade" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.EnableDomainJoin" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainFQDN" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainControllerFQDN" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainAccountName" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainPassword" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainOU" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Administrators" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainSiteName" value="" /> </ConfigurationSettings> </Role> </ServiceConfiguration>             Let’s go step by step and understand all the highlighted parameters and where you can find the values for them.       osFamily – By default this is set to 1 (Windows Server 2008 SP2). Change this to 2 if you want the Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system. The Advantage of using osFamily = “2” is that you get Powershell 2.0 rather than Powershell 1.0. In Powershell 2.0 you could simply use “powershell -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted ./myscript.ps1” and it will work while in Powershell 1.0 you will have to change the registry key by including the following in your command file “reg add HKLM\Software\Microsoft\PowerShell\1\ShellIds\Microsoft.PowerShell /v ExecutionPolicy /d Unrestricted /f” before you can execute any power shell. The other reason you might want to move to os2 is if you wanted IIS 7.5.       Activation Token – To enable communication between the on premise machine and the Windows Azure Worker role VM both need to have the same token. Log on to Windows Azure Management Portal, click on Connect, click on Get Activation Token, this should give you the activation token, copy the activation token to the clipboard and paste it in the configuration file. Note – Later in the blog I’ll be showing you how to install connect on the on premise machine.                       EnableDomainJoin – Set the value to true, ofcourse we want to join the on windows azure worker role VM to the domain.       DomainFQDN, DomainControllerFQDN, DomainAccountName, DomainPassword, DomainOU, Administrators – This information is specific to your domain. I have extracted this information from the ‘service manager’ and ‘Active Directory Users and Computers’. Also, i created a new Domain-OU namely ‘CloudInstances’ so all my cloud instances joined to my domain show up here, this is optional. You can encrypt the DomainPassword – refer to the instructions here. Or hold fire, I’ll be covering that when i come to certificates and encryption in the coming section.       Now once you have filled all this information up, the configuration file should look something like below, <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <ServiceConfiguration serviceName="WindowsAzureProject2" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ServiceHosting/2008/10/ServiceConfiguration" osFamily="2" osVersion="*"> <Role name="WorkerRole1"> <Instances count="1" /> <ConfigurationSettings> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Diagnostics.ConnectionString" value="UseDevelopmentStorage=true" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.ActivationToken" value="45f55fea-f194-4fbc-b36e-25604faac784" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Refresh" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.WaitForConnectivity" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Upgrade" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.EnableDomainJoin" value="true" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainFQDN" value="play.pit.com" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainControllerFQDN" value="WIN-KUDQMQFGQOL.play.pit.com" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainAccountName" value="playpit\Administrator" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainPassword" value="************************" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainOU" value="OU=CloudInstances, DC=Play, DC=Pit, DC=com" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Administrators" value="Playpit\Administrator" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainSiteName" value="" /> </ConfigurationSettings> </Role> </ServiceConfiguration> Next we will be enabling the Remote Desktop module in to the ServiceDefinition.csdef, we could make changes manually or allow a beautiful wizard to help us make changes. I prefer the second option. So right click on the Windows Azure project and choose Publish       Now once you get the publish wizard, if you haven’t already you would be asked to import your Windows Azure subscription, this is simply the Msdn subscription activation key xml. Once you have done click Next to go to the Settings page and check ‘Enable Remote Desktop for all roles’.       As soon as you do that you get another pop up asking you the details for the user that you would be logging in with (make sure you enter a reasonable expiry date, you do not want the user account to expire today). Notice the more information tag at the bottom, click that to get access to the certificate section. See screen shot below.       From the drop down select the option to create a new certificate        In the pop up window enter the friendly name for your certificate. In my case I entered ‘WAC – Test Rig’ and click ok. This will create a new certificate for you. Click on the view button to see the certificate details. Do you see the Thumbprint, this is the value that will go in the config file (very important). Now click on the Copy to File button to copy the certificate, we will need to import the certificate to the windows Azure Management portal later. So, make sure you save it a safe location.                                Click Finish and enter details of the user you would like to create with permissions for remote desktop access, once you have entered the details on the ‘Remote desktop configuration’ screen click on Ok. From the Publish Windows Azure Wizard screen press Cancel. Cancel because we don’t want to publish the role just yet and Yes because we want to save all the changes in the config file.       Now if you go to the ServiceDefinition.csdef file you will see that the RemoteAccess and RemoteForwarder roles have been imported for you. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <ServiceDefinition name="WindowsAzureProject2" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ServiceHosting/2008/10/ServiceDefinition"> <WorkerRole name="WorkerRole1" vmsize="Small"> <Imports> <Import moduleName="Diagnostics" /> <Import moduleName="Connect" /> <Import moduleName="RemoteAccess" /> <Import moduleName="RemoteForwarder" /> </Imports> </WorkerRole> </ServiceDefinition> Now go to the ServiceConfiguration.Cloud.cscfg file and you see a whole bunch for setting “Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.RemoteAccess.%%%” values added for you. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <ServiceConfiguration serviceName="WindowsAzureProject2" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ServiceHosting/2008/10/ServiceConfiguration" osFamily="2" osVersion="*"> <Role name="WorkerRole1"> <Instances count="1" /> <ConfigurationSettings> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Diagnostics.ConnectionString" value="UseDevelopmentStorage=true" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.ActivationToken" value="45f55fea-f194-4fbc-b36e-25604faac784" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Refresh" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.WaitForConnectivity" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Upgrade" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.EnableDomainJoin" value="true" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainFQDN" value="play.pit.com" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainControllerFQDN" value="WIN-KUDQMQFGQOL.play.pit.com" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainAccountName" value="playpit\Administrator" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainPassword" value="************************" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainOU" value="OU=CloudInstances, DC=Play, DC=Pit, DC=com" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Administrators" value="Playpit\Administrator" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainSiteName" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.RemoteAccess.Enabled" value="true" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.RemoteAccess.AccountUsername" value="Administrator" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.RemoteAccess.AccountEncryptedPassword" value="MIIBnQYJKoZIhvcNAQcDoIIBjjCCAYoCAQAxggFOMIIBSgIBADAyMB4xHDAaBgNVBAMME1dpbmRvd 3MgQXp1cmUgVG9vbHMCEGa+B46voeO5T305N7TSG9QwDQYJKoZIhvcNAQEBBQAEggEABg4ol5Xol66Ip6QKLbAPWdmD4ae ADZ7aKj6fg4D+ATr0DXBllZHG5Umwf+84Sj2nsPeCyrg3ZDQuxrfhSbdnJwuChKV6ukXdGjX0hlowJu/4dfH4jTJC7sBWS AKaEFU7CxvqYEAL1Hf9VPL5fW6HZVmq1z+qmm4ecGKSTOJ20Fptb463wcXgR8CWGa+1w9xqJ7UmmfGeGeCHQ4QGW0IDSBU6ccg vzF2ug8/FY60K1vrWaCYOhKkxD3YBs8U9X/kOB0yQm2Git0d5tFlIPCBT2AC57bgsAYncXfHvPesI0qs7VZyghk8LVa9g5IqaM Cp6cQ7rmY/dLsKBMkDcdBHuCTAzBgkqhkiG9w0BBwEwFAYIKoZIhvcNAwcECDRVifSXbA43gBApNrp40L1VTVZ1iGag+3O1" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.RemoteAccess.AccountExpiration" value="2012-11-27T23:59:59.0000000+00:00" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.RemoteForwarder.Enabled" value="true" /> </ConfigurationSettings> <Certificates> <Certificate name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.RemoteAccess.PasswordEncryption" thumbprint="AA23016CF0BDFC344400B5B82706B608B92E4217" thumbprintAlgorithm="sha1" /> </Certificates> </Role> </ServiceConfiguration>          Okay let’s look at them one at a time,       Enabled - Yes, we would like to enable Remote Access.       AccountUserName – This is the user name you entered while you were on the publish windows azure role screen, as detailed above.       AccountEncrytedPassword – Try and decode that, the certificate is used to encrypt the password you specified for the user account. Remember earlier i said, either use the instructions or wait and i’ll be showing you encryption, now the user account i am using for rdp has the same password as my domain password, so i can simply copy the value of the AccountEncryptedPassword to the DomainPassword as well.       AccountExpiration – This is the expiration as you specified in the wizard earlier, make sure your account does not expire today.       Remote Forwarder – Check out the documentation, below is how I understand it, -- One role in an application that implements a remote desktop connection must import the RemoteForwarder module. The two modules work together to enable the remote desktop connections to role instances. -- If you have multiple roles defined in the service model, it does not matter which role you add the RemoteForwarder module to, but you must add it to only one of the role definitions.       Certificate – Remember the certificate thumbprint from the wizard, the on premise machine and windows azure role machine that need to speak to each other must have the same thumbprint. More on that when we install Windows Azure connect Endpoints on the on premise machine. As i said earlier, in this blog post, I’ll be showing you the manual process so i won’t be scripting any star up tasks to install the test agent or register the test agent with the TFS Server. I’ll be showing you all this cool stuff in the next blog post, that’s because it’s important to understand the manual side of it, it becomes easier for you to troubleshoot in case something fails. Having said that, the changes we have made are sufficient to spin up the Windows Azure Worker Role aka Test Agent VM, have it connected with the play.pit.com domain and have remote access enabled on it. Before we deploy the Test Agent VM we need to set up Windows Azure Connect on the TFS Server. II. Windows Azure Connect: Setting up Connect on VM – 2 i.e. TFS & Test Controller Glad you made it so far, now to enable communication between the on premise TFS/Test Controller and Azure-ed Test Agent we need to enable communication. We have set up the Azure connect module in the Test Agent configuration, now the connect end points need to be enabled on the on premise machines, let’s have a look at how we can do this. Log on to VM – 2 running the TFS Server and Test Controller Log on to the Windows Azure Management Portal and click on Virtual Network Click on Virtual Network, if you already have a subscription you should see the below screen shot, if not, you would be asked to complete the subscription first        Click on Install Local Endpoints from the top left on the panel and you get a url appended with a token id in it, remember the token i showed you earlier, in theory the token you get here should match the token you added to the Test Agent config file.        Copy the url to the clip board and paste it in IE explorer (important, the installation at present only works out of IE and you need to have cookies enabled in order to complete the installation). As stated in the pop up, you can NOT download and run the software later, you need to run it as is, since it contains a token. Once the installation completes you should see the Windows Azure connect icon in the system tray.                         Right click the Azure Connect icon, choose Diagnostics and refer to this link for diagnostic detail terminology. NOTE – Unfortunately I could not see the Windows Azure connect icon in the system tray, a bit of binging with Google revealed that the azure connect icon is only shown when the ‘Windows Azure Connect Endpoint’ Service is started. So go to services.msc and make sure that the service is started, if not start it, unfortunately again, the service did not start for me on a manual start and i realised that one of the dependant services was disabled, you can look at the service dependencies and start them and then start windows azure connect. Bottom line, you need to start Windows Azure connect service before you can proceed. Please refer here on MSDN for more on Troubleshooting Windows Azure connect. (Follow the next step as well)   Now go back to the Windows Azure Management Portal and from Groups and Roles create a new group, lets call it ‘Test Rig’. Make sure you add the VM – 2 (the TFS Server VM where you just installed the endpoint).       Now if you go back to the Azure Connect icon in the system tray and click ‘Refresh Policy’ you will notice that the disconnected status of the icon should change to ready for connection. III. Importing Certificate in to Windows Azure Management Portal But before that you need to import the certificate you created in Step I in to the Windows Azure Management Portal. Log on to the Windows Azure Management Portal and click on ‘Hosted Services, Storage Accounts & CDN’ and then ‘Management Certificates’ followed by Add Certificates as shown in the screen shot below        Browse to the location where you saved the certificate earlier, remember… Refer to Step I in case you forgot.        Now you should be able to see the imported certificate here, make sure the thumbprint of the certificate matches the one you inserted in the config files        IV. Publish Windows Azure Worker Role aka Test Agent Having completed I, II and III, you are ready to publish the Test Agent VM – 3 to the cloud. Go to Visual Studio and right click the Windows Azure project and select Publish. Verify the infomration in the wizard, from the advanced settings tab, you can also enabled capture of intellitrace or profiling information.         Click Next and Click Publish! From the view menu bar select the Windows Azure Activity Log window.       Now you should be able to see the deployment progress in real time.             In the Windows Azure Management Portal, you should also be able to see the progress of creation of a new Worker Role.       Once the deployment is complete you should be able to RDP (go to run prompt type mstsc and in the pop up the machine name) in to the Test Agent Worker Role VM from the Playpit network using the domain admin user account. In case you are unable to log in to the Test Agent using the domain admin user account it means the process of joining the Test Agent to the domain has failed! But the good news is, because you imported the connect module, you can connect to the Test Agent machine using Windows Azure Management Portal and troubleshoot the reason for failure, you will be able to log in with the user name and password you specified in the config file for the keys ‘RemoteAccess.AccountUsername, RemoteAccess.EncryptedPassword (just that enter the password unencrypted)’, fix it or manually join the machine to the domain. Once you have managed to Join the Test Agent VM to the Domain move to the next step.      So, log in to the Test Agent Worker Role VM with the Playpit Domain Administrator and verify that you can log in, the machine is connected to the domain and the connect service is successfully running. If yes, give your self a pat on the back, you are 80% mission accomplished!         Go to the Windows Azure Management Portal and click on Virtual Network, click on Groups and Roles and click on Test Rig, click Edit Group, the edit the Test Rig group you created earlier. In the Connect to section, click on Add to select the worker role you have just deployed. Also, check the ‘Allow connections between endpoints in the group’ with this you will enable to communication between test controller and test agents and test agents/test agents. Click Save.      Now, you are ready to deploy the Test Agent software on the Worker Role Test Agent VM and configure it to work with the Test Controller. V. Configuring VM – 3: Installing Test Agent and Associating Test Agent to Controller Log in to the Worker Role Test Agent VM that you have just successfully deployed, make sure you log in with the domain administrator account. Download the All Agents software from MSDN, ‘en_visual_studio_agents_2010_x86_x64_dvd_509679.iso’, extract the iso and navigate to where you have extracted the iso. In my case, i have extracted the iso to “C:\Resources\Temp\VsAgentSetup”. Open the Test Agent folder and double click on setup.exe. Once you have installed the Test Agent you should reach the configuration window. If you face any issues installing TFS Test Agent on the VM, refer to the walkthrough on MSDN.       Once you have successfully installed the Test Agent software you will need to configure the test agent. Right click the test agent configuration tool and run as a different user. i.e. an Administrator. This is really to run the configuration wizard with elevated privileges (you might have UAC block something's otherwise).        In the run options, you can select ‘service’ you do not need to run the agent as interactive un less you are running coded UI tests. I have specified the domain administrator to connect to the TFS Test Controller. In real life, i would never do that, i would create a separate test user service account for this purpose. But for the blog post, we are using the most powerful user so that any policies or restrictions don’t block you.        Click the Apply Settings button and you should be all green! If not, the summary usually gives helpful error messages that you can resolve and proceed. As per my experience, you may run in to either a permission or a firewall blocking communication issue.        And now the moment of truth! Go to VM –2 open up Visual Studio and from the Test Menu select Manage Test Controller       Mission Accomplished! You should be able to see the Test Agent that you have just configured here,         VI. Creating and Running Load Tests on your brand new Azure-ed Test Rig I have various blog posts on Performance Testing with Visual Studio Ultimate, you can follow the links and videos below, Blog Posts: - Part 1 – Performance Testing using Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate - Part 2 – Performance Testing using Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate - Part 3 – Performance Testing using Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate Videos: - Test Tools Configuration & Settings in Visual Studio - Why & How to Record Web Performance Tests in Visual Studio Ultimate - Goal Driven Load Testing using Visual Studio Ultimate Now that you have created your load tests, there is one last change you need to make before you can run the tests on your Azure Test Rig, create a new Test settings file, and change the Test Execution method to ‘Remote Execution’ and select the test controller you have configured the Worker Role Test Agent against in our case VM – 2 So, go on, fire off a test run and see the results of the test being executed on the Azur-ed Test Rig. Review and What’s next? A quick recap of the benefits of running the Test Rig in the cloud and what i will be covering in the next blog post AND I would love to hear your feedback! Advantages Utilizing the power of Azure compute to run a heavy virtual user load. Benefiting from the Azure flexibility, destroy Test Agents when not in use, takes < 25 minutes to spin up a new Test Agent. Most important test Network Latency, (network latency and speed of connection are two different things – usually network latency is very hard to test), by placing the Test Agents in Microsoft Data centres around the globe, one can actually test the lag in transferring the bytes not because of a slow connection but because the page has been requested from the other side of the globe. Next Steps The process of spinning up the Test Agents in windows Azure is not 100% automated. I am working on the Worker process and power shell scripts to make the role deployment, unattended install of test agent software and registration of the test agent to the test controller automated. In the next blog post I will show you how to make the complete process unattended and automated. Remember to subscribe to http://feeds.feedburner.com/TarunArora. Hope you enjoyed this post, I would love to hear your feedback! If you have any recommendations on things that I should consider or any questions or feedback, feel free to leave a comment. See you in Part III.   Share this post : CodeProject

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  • A Good Developer is So Hard to Find

    - by James Michael Hare
    Let me start out by saying I want to damn the writers of the Toughest Developer Puzzle Ever – 2. It is eating every last shred of my free time! But as I've been churning through each puzzle and marvelling at the brain teasers and trivia within, I began to think about interviewing developers and why it seems to be so hard to find good ones.  The problem is, it seems like no matter how hard we try to find the perfect way to separate the chaff from the wheat, inevitably someone will get hired who falls far short of expectations or someone will get passed over for missing a piece of trivia or a tricky brain teaser that could have been an excellent team member.   In shops that are primarily software-producing businesses or other heavily IT-oriented businesses (Microsoft, Amazon, etc) there often exists a much tighter bond between HR and the hiring development staff because development is their life-blood. Unfortunately, many of us work in places where IT is viewed as a cost or just a means to an end. In these shops, too often, HR and development staff may work against each other due to differences in opinion as to what a good developer is or what one is worth.  It seems that if you ask two different people what makes a good developer, often you will get three different opinions.   With the exception of those shops that are purely development-centric (you guys have it much easier!), most other shops have management who have very little knowledge about the development process.  Their view can often be that development is simply a skill that one learns and then once aquired, that developer can produce widgets as good as the next like workers on an assembly-line floor.  On the other side, you have many developers that feel that software development is an art unto itself and that the ability to create the most pure design or know the most obscure of keywords or write the shortest-possible obfuscated piece of code is a good coder.  So is it a skill?  An Art?  Or something entirely in between?   Saying that software is merely a skill and one just needs to learn the syntax and tools would be akin to saying anyone who knows English and can use Word can write a 300 page book that is accurate, meaningful, and stays true to the point.  This just isn't so.  It takes more than mere skill to take words and form a sentence, join those sentences into paragraphs, and those paragraphs into a document.  I've interviewed candidates who could answer obscure syntax and keyword questions and once they were hired could not code effectively at all.  So development must be more than a skill.   But on the other end, we have art.  Is development an art?  Is our end result to produce art?  I can marvel at a piece of code -- see it as concise and beautiful -- and yet that code most perform some stated function with accuracy and efficiency and maintainability.  None of these three things have anything to do with art, per se.  Art is beauty for its own sake and is a wonderful thing.  But if you apply that same though to development it just doesn't hold.  I've had developers tell me that all that matters is the end result and how you code it is entirely part of the art and I couldn't disagree more.  Yes, the end result, the accuracy, is the prime criteria to be met.  But if code is not maintainable and efficient, it would be just as useless as a beautiful car that breaks down once a week or that gets 2 miles to the gallon.  Yes, it may work in that it moves you from point A to point B and is pretty as hell, but if it can't be maintained or is not efficient, it's not a good solution.  So development must be something less than art.   In the end, I think I feel like development is a matter of craftsmanship.  We use our tools and we use our skills and set about to construct something that satisfies a purpose and yet is also elegant and efficient.  There is skill involved, and there is an art, but really it boils down to being able to craft code.  Crafting code is far more than writing code.  Anyone can write code if they know the syntax, but so few people can actually craft code that solves a purpose and craft it well.  So this is what I want to find, I want to find code craftsman!  But how?   I used to ask coding-trivia questions a long time ago and many people still fall back on this.  The thought is that if you ask the candidate some piece of coding trivia and they know the answer it must follow that they can craft good code.  For example:   What C++ keyword can be applied to a class/struct field to allow it to be changed even from a const-instance of that class/struct?  (answer: mutable)   So what do we prove if a candidate can answer this?  Only that they know what mutable means.  One would hope that this would infer that they'd know how to use it, and more importantly when and if it should ever be used!  But it rarely does!  The problem with triva questions is that you will either: Approve a really good developer who knows what some obscure keyword is (good) Reject a really good developer who never needed to use that keyword or is too inexperienced to know how to use it (bad) Approve a really bad developer who googled "C++ Interview Questions" and studied like hell but can't craft (very bad) Many HR departments love these kind of tests because they are short and easy to defend if a legal issue arrises on hiring decisions.  After all it's easy to say a person wasn't hired because they scored 30 out of 100 on some trivia test.  But unfortunately, you've eliminated a large part of your potential developer pool and possibly hired a few duds.  There are times I've hired candidates who knew every trivia question I could throw out them and couldn't craft.  And then there are times I've interviewed candidates who failed all my trivia but who I took a chance on who were my best finds ever.    So if not trivia, then what?  Brain teasers?  The thought is, these type of questions measure the thinking power of a candidate.  The problem is, once again, you will either: Approve a good candidate who has never heard the problem and can solve it (good) Reject a good candidate who just happens not to see the "catch" because they're nervous or it may be really obscure (bad) Approve a candidate who has studied enough interview brain teasers (once again, you can google em) to recognize the "catch" or knows the answer already (bad). Once again, you're eliminating good candidates and possibly accepting bad candidates.  In these cases, I think testing someone with brain teasers only tests their ability to answer brain teasers, not the ability to craft code. So how do we measure someone's ability to craft code?  Here's a novel idea: have them code!  Give them a computer and a compiler, or a whiteboard and a pen, or paper and pencil and have them construct a piece of code.  It just makes sense that if we're going to hire someone to code we should actually watch them code.  When they're done, we can judge them on several criteria: Correctness - does the candidate's solution accurately solve the problem proposed? Accuracy - is the candidate's solution reasonably syntactically correct? Efficiency - did the candidate write or use the more efficient data structures or algorithms for the job? Maintainability - was the candidate's code free of obfuscation and clever tricks that diminish readability? Persona - are they eager and willing or aloof and egotistical?  Will they work well within your team? It may sound simple, or it may sound crazy, but when I'm looking to hire a developer, I want to see them actually develop well-crafted code.

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  • DRY and SRP

    - by Timothy Klenke
    Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/TimothyK/archive/2014/06/11/dry-and-srp.aspxKent Beck’s XP Simplicity Rules (aka Four Rules of Simple Design) are a prioritized list of rules that when applied to your code generally yield a great design.  As you’ll see from the above link the list has slightly evolved over time.  I find today they are usually listed as: All Tests Pass Don’t Repeat Yourself (DRY) Express Intent Minimalistic These are prioritized.  If your code doesn’t work (rule 1) then everything else is forfeit.  Go back to rule one and get the code working before worrying about anything else. Over the years the community have debated whether the priority of rules 2 and 3 should be reversed.  Some say a little duplication in the code is OK as long as it helps express intent.  I’ve debated it myself.  This recent post got me thinking about this again, hence this post.   I don’t think it is fair to compare “Expressing Intent” against “DRY”.  This is a comparison of apples to oranges.  “Expressing Intent” is a principal of code quality.  “Repeating Yourself” is a code smell.  A code smell is merely an indicator that there might be something wrong with the code.  It takes further investigation to determine if a violation of an underlying principal of code quality has actually occurred. For example “using nouns for method names”, “using verbs for property names”, or “using Booleans for parameters” are all code smells that indicate that code probably isn’t doing a good job at expressing intent.  They are usually very good indicators.  But what principle is the code smell of Duplication pointing to and how good of an indicator is it? Duplication in the code base is bad for a couple reasons.  If you need to make a change and that needs to be made in a number of locations it is difficult to know if you have caught all of them.  This can lead to bugs if/when one of those locations is overlooked.  By refactoring the code to remove all duplication there will be left with only one place to change, thereby eliminating this problem. With most projects the code becomes the single source of truth for a project.  If a production code base is inconsistent with a five year old requirements or design document the production code that people are currently living with is usually declared as the current reality (or truth).  Requirement or design documents at this age in a project life cycle are usually of little value. Although comparing production code to external documentation is usually straight forward, duplication within the code base muddles this declaration of truth.  When code is duplicated small discrepancies will creep in between the two copies over time.  The question then becomes which copy is correct?  As different factions debate how the software should work, trust in the software and the team behind it erodes. The code smell of Duplication points to a violation of the “Single Source of Truth” principle.  Let me define that as: A stakeholder’s requirement for a software change should never cause more than one class to change. Violation of the Single Source of Truth principle will always result in duplication in the code.  However, the inverse is not always true.  Duplication in the code does not necessarily indicate that there is a violation of the Single Source of Truth principle. To illustrate this, let’s look at a retail system where the system will (1) send a transaction to a bank and (2) print a receipt for the customer.  Although these are two separate features of the system, they are closely related.  The reason for printing the receipt is usually to provide an audit trail back to the bank transaction.  Both features use the same data:  amount charged, account number, transaction date, customer name, retail store name, and etcetera.  Because both features use much of the same data, there is likely to be a lot of duplication between them.  This duplication can be removed by making both features use the same data access layer. Then start coming the divergent requirements.  The receipt stakeholder wants a change so that the account number has the last few digits masked out to protect the customer’s privacy.  That can be solve with a small IF statement whilst still eliminating all duplication in the system.  Then the bank wants to take a picture of the customer as well as capture their signature and/or PIN number for enhanced security.  Then the receipt owner wants to pull data from a completely different system to report the customer’s loyalty program point total. After a while you realize that the two stakeholders have somewhat similar, but ultimately different responsibilities.  They have their own reasons for pulling the data access layer in different directions.  Then it dawns on you, the Single Responsibility Principle: There should never be more than one reason for a class to change. In this example we have two stakeholders giving two separate reasons for the data access class to change.  It is clear violation of the Single Responsibility Principle.  That’s a problem because it can often lead the project owner pitting the two stakeholders against each other in a vein attempt to get them to work out a mutual single source of truth.  But that doesn’t exist.  There are two completely valid truths that the developers need to support.  How is this to be supported and honour the Single Responsibility Principle?  The solution is to duplicate the data access layer and let each stakeholder control their own copy. The Single Source of Truth and Single Responsibility Principles are very closely related.  SST tells you when to remove duplication; SRP tells you when to introduce it.  They may seem to be fighting each other, but really they are not.  The key is to clearly identify the different responsibilities (or sources of truth) over a system.  Sometimes there is a single person with that responsibility, other times there are many.  This can be especially difficult if the same person has dual responsibilities.  They might not even realize they are wearing multiple hats. In my opinion Single Source of Truth should be listed as the second rule of simple design with Express Intent at number three.  Investigation of the DRY code smell should yield to the proper application SST, without violating SRP.  When necessary leave duplication in the system and let the class names express the different people that are responsible for controlling them.  Knowing all the people with responsibilities over a system is the higher priority because you’ll need to know this before you can express it.  Although it may be a code smell when there is duplication in the code, it does not necessarily mean that the coder has chosen to be expressive over DRY or that the code is bad.

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  • Inspire Geek Love with These Hilarious Geek Valentines

    - by Eric Z Goodnight
    Want to send some Geek Love to that special someone? Why not do it with these elementary school throwback valentines, and win their heart this upcoming Valentine’s day—the geek way! Read on to see the simple method to make your own custom Valentines, as well as download a set of eleven ready-made ones any geek guy or gal should be delighted get. It’s amore! How to Make Custom Valentines A size we’ve used for all of our Valentines is a 3” x 4” at 150 dpi. This is fairly low resolution for print, but makes a great graphic to email. With your new image open, Navigate to Edit > Fill and fill your background layer with a rich, red color (or whatever appeals to you.) By setting “Use” to “Foreground color as shown above, you’ll paint whatever foreground color you have in your color picker. Press to select the text tool. Set a few text objects, using whatever fonts appeal to you. Pixel fonts, like this one, are freely downloadable, and we’ve already shared a great list of Valentines fonts. Copy an image from the internet if you’re confident your sweetie won’t mind a bit of fair use of copyrighted imagery. If they do mind, find yourself some great Creative Commons images. to do a free transform on your image, sizing it to whatever dimensions work best for your design. Right click your newly added image layer in your panel and Choose “Blending Effects” to pick a Layer Style. “Stroke” with this setting adds a black line around your image. Also turning on “Outer Glow” with this setting puts a dark black shadow around the top and bottom (and sides, although they are hidden). Add some more text. Double entendre is recommended. Click and hold down on the “Rectangle Tool” to get the “Custom Shape Tool.” The custom shape tool has useful vector shapes built into it. Find the “Shape” dropdown in the menu to find the heart image. Click and drag to create a vector heart shape in your image. Your layers panel is where you can change the color, if it happens to use the wrong one at first. Click the color swatch in your panel, highlighted in blue above. will transform your vector heart. You can also use it to rotate, if you like. Add some details, like this Power or Standby symbol, which can be found in symbol fonts, taken from images online, or drawn by hand. Your Valentine is now ready to be saved as a JPG or PNG and sent to the object of your affection! Keep reading to see a list of 11 downloadable How-To Geek Valentines, including this one and the three from the header image. Download The HTG Set of Valentines Download the HTG Geek Valentines (ZIP) Download the HTG Geek Valentines (ZIP) When he’s not wooing ladies with Valentines cards, you can email the author at [email protected] with your Photoshop and Graphics questions. Your questions may be featured in a future How-To Geek article! Latest Features How-To Geek ETC Inspire Geek Love with These Hilarious Geek Valentines How to Integrate Dropbox with Pages, Keynote, and Numbers on iPad RGB? CMYK? Alpha? What Are Image Channels and What Do They Mean? How to Recover that Photo, Picture or File You Deleted Accidentally How To Colorize Black and White Vintage Photographs in Photoshop How To Get SSH Command-Line Access to Windows 7 Using Cygwin How to Kid Proof Your Computer’s Power and Reset Buttons Microsoft’s Windows Media Player Extension Adds H.264 Support Back to Google Chrome Android Notifier Pushes Android Notices to Your Desktop Dead Space 2 Theme for Chrome and Iron Carl Sagan and Halo Reach Mashup – We Humans are Capable of Greatness [Video] Battle the Necromorphs Once Again on Your Desktop with the Dead Space 2 Theme for Windows 7

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  • Some VS 2010 RC Updates (including patches for Intellisense and Web Designer fixes)

    - by ScottGu
    [In addition to blogging, I am also now using Twitter for quick updates and to share links. Follow me at: twitter.com/scottgu] We are continuing to make progress on shipping Visual Studio 2010.  I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who has downloaded and tried out the VS 2010 Release Candidate, and especially to those who have sent us feedback or reported issues with it. This data has been invaluable in helping us find and fix remaining bugs before we ship the final release. Last month I blogged about a patch we released for the VS 2010 RC that fixed a bad intellisense crash issue.  This past week we released two additional patches that you can download and apply to the VS 2010 RC to immediately fix two other common issues we’ve seen people run into: Patch that fixes crashes with Tooltip invocation and when hovering over identifiers The Visual Studio team recently released a second patch that fixes some crashes we’ve seen when tooltips are displayed – most commonly when hovering over an identifier to view a QuickInfo tooltip. You can learn more about this issue from this blog post, and download and apply the patch here. Patch that fixes issues with the Web Forms designer not correctly adding controls to the auto-generated designer files The Visual Web Developer team recently released a patch that fixes issues where web controls are not correctly added to the .designer.cs file associated with the .aspx file – which means they can’t be programmed against in the code-behind file.  This issue is most commonly described as “controls are not being recognized in the code-behind” or “editing existing .aspx files regenerates the .aspx.designer.(vb or cs) file and controls are now missing” or “I can’t embed controls within the Ajax Control Toolkit TabContainer or the <asp:createuserwizard> control”. You can learn more about the issue here, and download the patch that fixes it here. Common Cause of Intellisense and IDE sluggishness on Windows XP, Vista, Win Server 2003/2008 systems Over the last few months we’ve occasionally seen reports of people seeing tremendous slowness when typing and using intellisense within VS 2010 despite running on decent machines.  It took us awhile to track down the cause – but we have found that the common culprit seems to be that these machines don’t have the latest versions of the UIA (Windows Automation) component installed. UIA 3 ships with Windows 7, and is a recommended Windows Update patch on XP and Vista (which is why we didn’t see the problem in our tests – since our machines are patched with all recommended updates).  Many systems (especially on XP) don’t automatically install recommended updates, though, and are running with older versions of UIA. This can cause significant performance slow-downs within the VS 2010 editor when large lists are displayed (for example: with intellisense). If you are running on Windows XP, Vista, or Windows Server 2003 or 2008 and are seeing any performance issues with the editor or IDE, please install the free UIA 3 update that can be downloaded from this page.  If you scroll down the page you’ll find direct links to versions for each OS. Note that we are making improvements to the final release of VS 2010 so that we don’t have big perf issues when UIA 3 isn’t installed – and we are also adding a message within the IDE that will warn you if you don’t have UIA 3 installed and accessibility is activated. Improved Text Rendering with WPF 4 and VS 2010 We recently made some nice changes to WPF 4 which improve the text clarity and text crispness over what was in the VS 2010/.NET 4 Release Candidate.  In particular these changes improve scenarios where you have a dark background with light text. You can learn more about these improvements in this WPF Team blog post.  These changes will be in the final release of VS 2010 and .NET 4. Hope this helps, Scott

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  • Sneak peek at next generation Three MiFi unit – Huawei E585

    - by Liam Westley
    Last Wednesday I was fortunate to be invited to a sneak preview of the next generation Three MiFi unit, the Huawei E585. Many thanks to all those who posted questions both via this blog or via @westleyl on Twitter. I think I made sure I asked every question posed to the MiFi product manager from Three UK, and so here's the answers you were after. What is a MiFi? For those who are wondering, a MiFi unit is a 3G broadband modem combined with a WiFi access point, providing 3G broadband data access to up to five devices simultaneously via standard WiFi connections. What is different? It appears the prime task of enhancing the MiFi was to improve the user experience and user interface, both in terms of the device hardware and within the management software to configure the device.  I think this was a very sensible decision as these areas had substantial room for improvement. Single button operation to switch on, enable WiFi and connect to 3G Improved OELD display (see below), replacing the multi coloured LEDs; including signal strength, SMS notifications, the number of connected clients and data usage Management is via a web based dashboard accessible from any web browser. This is a big win for those running Linux, Mac OS/X, iPad users and, for me, as I can now configure the device from Windows 7 64-bit Charging is via micro USB, the new standard for small USB devices; you cannot use your old charger for the new MiFi unit Automatic reconnection when regaining a signal Improved charging time, which should allow recharging of the device when in use Although subjective, the black and silver design does look more classy than the silver and white plastic of the original MiFi What is the same? Virtually the same size and weight The battery is the same unit as the original MiFi so you’ll have a handy spare if you upgrade Data plans remain the same as the current MiFi, so cheapest price for upgraders will be £49 pay as you go Still only works on 3G networks, with no fallback to GPRS or EDGE There is no specific upgrade path for existing three customers, either from dongle or from the original MiFi My opinion I think three have concentrated on the correct areas of usability and user experience rather than trying to add new whizz bang technology features which aren’t of interest to mainstream users. The one button operation and the improved device display will make it much easier to use when out and about. If the automatic reconnection proves reliable that will remove a major bugbear that I experienced the previous evening when travelling on the First Great Western line from Paddington to Didcot Parkway.  The signal was repeatedly lost as we sped through tunnels and cuttings, and without automatic reconnection is was a real pain to keep pressing the data button on the MiFi to re-establish my data connection. And finally, the web based dashboard will mean I no longer need to resort to my XP based netbook to configure the SSID and password. My everyday laptop runs Windows 7 64-bit which appears to confuse the older 3 WiFi manager which cannot locate the MiFi when connected. Links to other sites, and other images of the device Good first impressions from Ben Smith, http://thereallymobileproject.com/2010/06/3uk-announce-a-new-mifi-with-a-screen/ Also, a round up of other sneak preview posts, http://www.3mobilebuzz.com/2010/06/11/mifi-round-two-your-view/ Pictures Here is a comparison of the old MiFi device next to the new device, complete with OLED display and the Huawei logo now being a prominent feature on the front of the device. One of my fellow bloggers had a Linux based netbook, showing off the web based dashboard complete with Text messages panel to manage SMS. And finally, I never thought that my blog sub title would ever end up printed onto a cup cake, ... and here's some of the other cup cakes ...

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  • How To Disable Control Panel in Windows 7

    - by Mysticgeek
    If you have a shared computer that your family and friends can access, you might not want them to mess around in the Control Panel, and luckily with a simple tweak you can disable it. Disable Control Panel with Group Policy Note: This process uses Local Group Policy Editor which is not available in Home versions of Windows 7. Skip down below for the registry hack version that works on Home editions as well. First type gpedit.msc into the Search box in the Start menu and hit Enter. When Local Group Policy Editor opens, navigate to User Configuration \ Administrative Templates then select Control Panel in the left Column. In the right column double-click on Prohibit access to the Control Panel. In the next window, select Enable, click OK, then close out of Local Group Policy Editor. After the Control Panel is disabled, you’ll notice it’s no longer listed in the Start Menu. If the user tries to type Control Panel into the Search box in the Start menu, they will get the following message indicating it’s restricted. Disable Control Panel with a Registry Tweak You can also tweak the Registry to disable Control Panel. This will work with all versions of Windows 7, Vista, and XP. Making changes in the Registry is not recommended for beginners and you should create a Restore Point, or backup the Registry before making any changes. Type regedit into the Search box in the Start menu and hit Enter. In Registry Editor navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Policies\Explorer. Then right-click in the right pane and create a new DWORD (32-bit) Value. Name the value NoControlPanel. Then right-click on the new Value and click Modify…   In the Value data field change the value to “1” then click OK. Close out of Registry Editor and restart the machine to complete the process. When you get back from reboot, you’ll notice Control Panel is no longer listed in the Start menu. If a user tries to access it by typing Control Panel into the Search box in the Start menu… They will get the following message indicating it is restricted, just like if you were to disable it via Group Policy. If you want to re-enable the Control Panel, go back into the Registry and change the NoControlPanel value back to “0” then reboot the computer. This comes in handy if you have inexperienced users working on your machine and don’t want them messing with Control Panel settings. Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Disable User Account Control (UAC) the Easy Way on Win 7 or VistaStill Useful in Vista: Startup Control PanelRestore Missing Items in Windows Vista Control PanelHow To Manage Action Center in Windows 7New Vista Syntax for Opening Control Panel Items from the Command-line TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 Home Networks – How do they look like & the problems they cause Check Your IMAP Mail Offline In Thunderbird Follow Finder Finds You Twitter Users To Follow Combine MP3 Files Easily QuicklyCode Provides Cheatsheets & Other Programming Stuff Download Free MP3s from Amazon

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  • Surface Review from Canadian Guy Who Didn&rsquo;t Go To Build

    - by D'Arcy Lussier
    I didn’t go to Build last week, opted to stay home and go trick-or-treating with my daughters instead. I had many friends that did go however, and I was able to catch up with James Chambers last night to hear about the conference and play with his Surface RT and Nokia 920 WP8 devices. I’ve been using Windows 8 for a while now, so I’m not going to comment on OS features – lots of posts out there on that already. Let me instead comment on the hardware itself. Size and Weight The size of the tablet was awesome. The Windows 8 tablet I’m using to reference this against is the one from Build 2011 (Samsung model) we received as well as my iPad. The Surface RT was taller and slightly heavier than the iPad, but smaller and lighter than the Samsung Win 8 tablet. I still don’t prefer the default wide-screen format, but the Surface RT is much more usable even when holding it by the long edge than the Samsung. Build Quality No issues with the build quality, it seemed very solid. But…y’know, people have been going on about how the Surface RT materials are so much better than the plastic feeling models Samsung and others put out. I didn’t really notice *that* much difference in that regard with the Surface RT. Interesting feature I didn’t expect – the Windows button on the device is touch-sensitive, not a mechanical one. I didn’t try video or anything, so I can’t comment on the media experience. The kickstand is a great feature, and the way the Surface RT connects to the combo case/keyboard touchcover is very slick while being incredibly simple. What About That Touch Cover Keyboard? So first, kudos to Microsoft on the touch cover! This thing was insanely responsive (including the trackpad) and really delivered on the thinness I was expecting. With that said, and remember this is with very limited use, I would probably go with the Type Cover instead of the Touch Cover. The difference is buttons. The Touch Cover doesn’t actually have “buttons” on the keyboard – hence why its a “touch” cover. You tap on a key to type it. James tells me after a while you get used to it and you can type very fast. For me, I just prefer the tactile feeling of a button being pressed/depressed. But still – typing on the touch case worked very well. Would I Buy One? So after playing with it, did I cry out in envy and rage that I wasn’t able to get one of these machines? Did I curse my decision to collect Halloween candy with my kids instead of being at Build getting hardware? Well – no. Even with the keyboard, the Surface RT is not a business laptop replacement device. While Office does come included, you can’t install any other applications outside of Windows Store Apps. This might be limiting depending on what other applications you need to have available on your computer. Surface RT is a great personal computing device, as long as you’re not already invested in a competing ecosystem. I’ve heard people make statements that they’re going to replace all the iPads in their homes with Surface tablets. In my home, that’s not feasible – my wife and daughters have amassed quite a collection of games via iTunes. We also buy all our music via iTunes as well, so even with the XBox streaming music service now available we’re still tied quite tightly to iTunes. So who is the Surface RT for? In my mind, if you’re looking for a solid, compact device that provides basic business functionality (read: email) or if you have someone that needs a very simple to use computer for email, web browsing, etc., then Surface RT is a great option. For me, I’m waiting on the Samsung Ativ Smart PC Pro and am curious to see what changes the Surface Pro will come with.

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  • Update Metadata and Cover Art in Windows Media Player 12

    - by DigitalGeekery
    If you use Windows Media Player 12 in Windows 7, you may notice some of your media is missing information when displayed in the library. Today we look at how to edit and update metadata and cover art in WMP 12. By default, Windows Media Player will pull metadata, such as the title, artist, album, and cover art from the Internet. If you did not accept that default option during setup, we’ll need to turn the feature on first. Select Tools > Options from the top Menu bar. On the Library tab, ensure that Retrieve additional information form the Internet is checked. Click OK. Editing Metadata Now we’re ready to update some files. Find a media file with incorrect details or cover art. Right-click on the title and select Find album info. This will bring up the Find album information window. Here you’ll see the existing information that Windows Media Player interpreted as correct on the left side. The results of  WMP’s search for the media information are on the right. Click on Artists,  Albums , or Tracks to scroll through the search results and try to find a match. You can also type in new keywords in the Search box and hit enter (or click the Search button) to perform a new search.   If you find a correct match for your media file, click to select it and click Next. You’ll be prompted to confirm your selection, then click Finish. You should now see your media file displayed properly in Windows Media Player. Manually Entering Metadata If your search for the correct media information comes up empty, you can always manually enter the information yourself. On the Find album information window, click Edit under Existing Information. You can edit the existing information in the text boxes or the Genre dropdown box. There are a couple hidden text boxes below. Click next to Contributing Artist or Composer to enter that information.   Choosing Your Own Cover Art If your media file doesn’t pull the proper cover art, or if you simply wish to find a different image, you can add your own. Search online for a suitable image. An ideal size would be around 300 x 300 pixels, give or take. Right-click on the image copy the image. You’ll need to switch to Expanded title (if you haven’t already) to paste the image.   Paste your new image by right-clicking on the current image and select Paste album art. Note: If the image is not suitable size or type, the Paste album art option will not be available. Your new cover art will appear in Windows Media Player.   Even though it is pulled from the Internet, cover art is cached on your computer and will still be available when you are disconnected from the Internet. Are you new to Windows Media Player? If so, check out our article on how to Manage your music with Windows Media Player. Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Make VLC Player Look like Windows Media Player 11Fixing When Windows Media Player Library Won’t Let You Add FilesMake VLC Player Look like Windows Media Player 10Add Images and Metadata to Windows 7 Media Center Movie LibraryMake VLC Player Look like Winamp 5 (Kinda) TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 Awe inspiring, inter-galactic theme (Win 7) Case Study – How to Optimize Popular Wordpress Sites Restore Hidden Updates in Windows 7 & Vista Iceland an Insurance Job? Find Downloads and Add-ins for Outlook Recycle !

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