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• How do I create a safe local development environment?

  - by docgnome

  I'm currently doing web development with another developer on a centralized development server. In the past this has worked alright, as we have two separate projects we are working on and rarely conflict. Now, however, we are adding a third (possible) developer into the mix. This is clearly going to create problems with other developers changes affecting my work and vice versa. To solve this problem, I'm thinking the best solution would be to create a virtual machine to distribute between the developers for local use. The problem I have is when it comes to the database. Given that we all develop on laptops, simply keeping a local copy of the live data is plain stupid. I've considered sanitizing the data, but I can't really figure out how to replace the real data, with data that would be representative of what people actually enter with out repeating the same information over and over again, e.g. everyone's address becomes 123 Testing Lane, Test Town, WA, 99999 or something. Is this really something to be concerned about? Are there tools to help with this sort of thing? I'm using MySQL. Ideally, if I sanitized the db it should be done from a script that I can run regularly. If I do this I'd also need a way to reduce the size of the db itself. (I figure I could select all the records created after x and whack them and all the records in corresponding tables out so that isn't really a big deal.) The second solution I've thought of is to encrypt the hard drive of the vm, but I'm unsure of how practical this is in terms of speed and also in the event of a lost/stolen laptop. If I do this, should the vm hard drive file itself be encrypted or should it be encrypted in the vm? (I'm assuming the latter as it would be portable and doesn't require the devs to have any sort of encryption capability on their OS of choice.) The third is to create a copy of the database for each developer on our development server that they are then responsible to keep the schema in sync with the canonical db by means of migration scripts or what have you. This solution seems to be the simplest but doesn't really scale as more developers are added. How do you deal with this problem?

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• Combining FileStream and MemoryStream to avoid disk accesses/paging while receiving gigabytes of data?

  - by w128

  I'm receiving a file as a stream of byte[] data packets (total size isn't known in advance) that I need to store somewhere before processing it immediately after it's been received (I can't do the processing on the fly). Total received file size can vary from as small as 10 KB to over 4 GB. One option for storing the received data is to use a MemoryStream, i.e. a sequence of MemoryStream.Write(bufferReceived, 0, count) calls to store the received packets. This is very simple, but obviously will result in out of memory exception for large files. An alternative option is to use a FileStream, i.e. FileStream.Write(bufferReceived, 0, count). This way, no out of memory exceptions will occur, but what I'm unsure about is bad performance due to disk writes (which I don't want to occur as long as plenty of memory is still available) - I'd like to avoid disk access as much as possible, but I don't know of a way to control this. I did some testing and most of the time, there seems to be little performance difference between say 10 000 consecutive calls of MemoryStream.Write() vs FileStream.Write(), but a lot seems to depend on buffer size and the total amount of data in question (i.e the number of writes). Obviously, MemoryStream size reallocation is also a factor. Does it make sense to use a combination of MemoryStream and FileStream, i.e. write to memory stream by default, but once the total amount of data received is over e.g. 500 MB, write it to FileStream; then, read in chunks from both streams for processing the received data (first process 500 MB from the MemoryStream, dispose it, then read from FileStream)? Another solution is to use a custom memory stream implementation that doesn't require continuous address space for internal array allocation (i.e. a linked list of memory streams); this way, at least on 64-bit environments, out of memory exceptions should no longer be an issue. Con: extra work, more room for mistakes. So how do FileStream vs MemoryStream read/writes behave in terms of disk access and memory caching, i.e. data size/performance balance. I would expect that as long as enough RAM is available, FileStream would internally read/write from memory (cache) anyway, and virtual memory would take care of the rest. But I don't know how often FileStream will explicitly access a disk when being written to. Any help would be appreciated.

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• Can I use the [] operator in C++ to create virtual arrays

  - by Shane MacLaughlin

  I have a large code base, originally C ported to C++ many years ago, that is operating on a number of large arrays of spatial data. These arrays contain structs representing point and triangle entities that represent surface models. I need to refactor the code such that the specific way these entities are stored internally varies for specific scenarios. For example if the points lie on a regular flat grid, I don't need to store the X and Y coordinates, as they can be calculated on the fly, as can the triangles. Similarly, I want to take advantage of out of core tools such as STXXL for storage. The simplest way of doing this is replacing array access with put and get type functions, e.g. point[i].x = XV; becomes Point p = GetPoint(i); p.x = XV; PutPoint(i,p); As you can imagine, this is a very tedious refactor on a large code base, prone to all sorts of errors en route. What I'd like to do is write a class that mimics the array by overloading the [] operator. As the arrays already live on the heap, and move around with reallocs, the code already assumes that references into the array such as point *p = point + i; may not be used. Is this class feasible to write? For example writing the methods below in terms of the [] operator; void MyClass::PutPoint(int Index, Point p) { if (m_StorageStrategy == RegularGrid) { int xoffs,yoffs; ComputeGridFromIndex(Index,xoffs,yoffs); StoreGridPoint(xoffs,yoffs,p.z); } else m_PointArray[Index] = p; } } Point MyClass::GetPoint(int Index) { if (m_StorageStrategy == RegularGrid) { int xoffs,yoffs; ComputeGridFromIndex(Index,xoffs,yoffs); return GetGridPoint(xoffs,yoffs); // GetGridPoint returns Point } else return m_PointArray[Index]; } } My concern is that all the array classes I've seen tend to pass by reference, whereas I think I'll have to pass structs by value. I think it should work put other than performance, can anyone see any major pitfalls with this approach. n.b. the reason I have to pass by value is to get point[a].z = point[b].z + point[c].z to work correctly where the underlying storage type varies.

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• I have to do two seemingly mutually exclusive things on leaving an asp:textbox. Please help me get

  - by aape

  This project has gone from being a simple '99 Ford F-150 to the Homer. I've got controls with a gridview with textboxes for data entry. All the user controls on the pages are in AJAX updatepanels. User types in a database column or budget entity or some other financial thing they want to include in the report. The textboxes in the gridview have autopostback = true set. overly long background info When the user leaves the textbox, during the postback (triggered by onTextChanged) I do some validation back on the server on their entry - regexs, do they have rights to that column, is that column locked, etc. If it fails, I put a error message next to the textbox. If it passes, I wipe out any title or error that used to be next to the code. Focus is getting lost from the postback if they're tabbing out of the box, rather than going to the next textbox in the gridview. So to fix that I need, if their leaving the tb via the tab key, to also figure out what textbox or gridviewrow they're on, if they're not on the last row, and after the validation and labeling, put the focus on the textbox in the next row. I can't figure out how, in ontextchanged, to find what caused me to leave the textbox, so I'm thinking use javascript onkeyup to test the key pressed and then find the next box etc, but the ontextchanged fires first and then the js never does, and also, since the control is all AJAXed, the javascript can't find the textboxes because when you enter the page everything is collapsed (the requirements people loooove to collapse and expand things), and so when it's expanded, all the 'new' textboxes are up in the viewstate stuff in the page source, and not down where javascript can see them. The questions So I'm wondering if I can have an onblur in the javascript that can trigger a postback where I can do my validation and such, and either 1) include the keypressed or pick it out of sender in the event or 2) followup the onblur with onkeyup and somehow figure out what textbox is next on the grid and throw focus there. Or, is there another .NET based approach that could work for this? In terms of tearing the whole thing down and starting from scratch, I couldn't sell that to the bosses, I'm past the point of no return as far as that goes.

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• Webservice for uploading data: security considerations

  - by Philip Daubmeier

  Hi everyone! Im not sure about what authentification method I should use for my webservice. I've searched on SO, and found nothing that helped me. Preliminary Im building an application that uploads data from a local database to a server (running my webservice), where all records are merged and stored in a central database. I am currently binary serializing a DataTable, that holds a small fragment of the local database, where all uninteresting stuff is already filtered out. The byte[] (serialized DataTable), together with the userid and a hash of the users password is then uploaded to the webservice via SOAP. The application together with the webservice already work exactly like intended. The Problem The issue I am thinking about is now: What is if someone just sniffs the network traffic, 'steals' the users id and password hash to send his own SOAP message with modified data that corrupts my database? Options The approaches to solving that problem, I already thought of, are: Using ssl + certificates for establishing the connection: I dont really want to use ssl, I would prefer a simpler solution. After all, every information that is transfered to the webservice can be seen on the website later on. What I want to say is: there is no secret/financial/business-critical information, that has to be hidden. I think ssl would be sort of an overkill for that task. Encrypting the byte[]: I think that would be a performance killer, considering that the goal of the excercise was simply to authenticate the user. Hashing the users password together with the data: I kind of like the idea: Creating a checksum from the data, concatenating that checksum with the password-hash and hashing this whole thing again. That would assure the data was sent from this specific user, and the data wasnt modified. The actual question So, what do you think is the best approach in terms of meeting the following requirements? Rather simple solution (As it doesnt have to be super secure; no secret/business-critical information transfered) Easily implementable retrospectively (Dont want to write it all again :) ) Doesnt impact to much on performance What do you think of my prefered solution, the last one in the list above? Is there any alternative solution I didnt mention, that would fit better? You dont have to answer every question in detail. Just push me in the right direction. I very much appreciate every well-grounded opinion. Thanks in advance!

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• Is typeid of type name always evaluated at compile time in c++ ?

  - by cyril42e

  I wanted to check that typeid is evaluated at compile time when used with a type name (ie typeid(int), typeid(std::string)...). To do so, I repeated in a loop the comparison of two typeid calls, and compiled it with optimizations enabled, in order to see if the compiler simplified the loop (by looking at the execution time which is 1us when it simplifies instead of 160ms when it does not). And I get strange results, because sometimes the compiler simplifies the code, and sometimes it does not. I use g++ (I tried different 4.x versions), and here is the program: #include <iostream> #include <typeinfo> #include <time.h> class DisplayData {}; class RobotDisplay: public DisplayData {}; class SensorDisplay: public DisplayData {}; class RobotQt {}; class SensorQt {}; timespec tp1, tp2; const int n = 1000000000; int main() { int avg = 0; clock_gettime(CLOCK_REALTIME, &tp1); for(int i = 0; i < n; ++i) { // if (typeid(RobotQt) == typeid(RobotDisplay)) // (1) compile time // if (typeid(SensorQt) == typeid(SensorDisplay)) // (2) compile time if (typeid(RobotQt) == typeid(RobotDisplay) || typeid(SensorQt) == typeid(SensorDisplay)) // (3) not compile time ???!!! avg++; else avg--; } clock_gettime(CLOCK_REALTIME, &tp2); std::cout << "time (" << avg << "): " << (tp2.tv_sec-tp1.tv_sec)*1000000000+(tp2.tv_nsec-tp1.tv_nsec) << " ns" << std::endl; } The conditions in which this problem appear are not clear, but: - if there is no inheritance involved, no problem (always compile time) - if I do only one comparison, no problem - the problem only appears only with a disjunction of comparisons if all the terms are false So is there something I didn't get with how typeid works (is it always supposed to be evaluated at compilation time when used with type names?) or may this be a gcc bug in evaluation or optimization? About the context, I tracked down the problem to this very simplified example, but my goal is to use typeid with template types (as partial function template specialization is not possible). Thanks for your help!

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• Subclassing and adding data members

  - by Marius

  I have an hierarchy of classes that looks like the following: class Critical { public: Critical(int a, int b) : m_a(a), m_b(b) { } virtual ~Critical() { } int GetA() { return m_a; } int GetB() { return m_b; } void SetA(int a) { m_a = a; } void SetB(int b) { m_b = b; } protected: int m_a; int m_b; }; class CriticalFlavor : public Critical { public: CriticalFlavor(int a, int b, int flavor) : Critical(a, b), m_flavor(flavor) { } virtual ~CriticalFlavor() { } int GetFlavor() { return m_flavor; } void SetFlavor(int flavor) { m_flavor = flavor; } protected: int m_flavor; }; class CriticalTwist : public Critical { public: CriticalTwist(int a, int b, int twist) : Critical(a, b), m_twist(twist) { } virtual ~CriticalTwist() { } int GetTwist() { return m_twist; } void SetTwist(int twist) { m_twist = twist; } protected: int m_twist; }; The above does not seem right to me in terms of the design and what bothers me the most is the fact that the addition of member variables seems to drive the interface of these classes (the real code that does the above is a little more complex but still embracing the same pattern). That will proliferate when in need for another "Critical" class that just adds some other property. Does this feel right to you? How could I refactor such code? An idea would be to have just a set of interfaces and use composition when it comes to the base object like the following: class Critical { public: virtual int GetA() = 0; virtual int GetB() = 0; virtual void SetA(int a) = 0; virtual void SetB(int b) = 0; }; class CriticalImpl { public: CriticalImpl(int a, int b) : m_a(a), m_b(b) { } ~CriticalImpl() { } int GetA() { return m_a; } int GetB() { return m_b; } void SetA(int a) { m_a = a; } void SetB(int b) { m_b = b; } private: int m_a; int m_b; }; class CriticalFlavor { public: virtual int GetFlavor() = 0; virtual void SetFlavor(int flavor) = 0; }; class CriticalFlavorImpl : public Critical, public CriticalFlavor { public: CriticalFlavorImpl(int a, int b, int flavor) : m_flavor(flavor), m_critical(new CriticalImpl(a, b)) { } ~CriticalFlavorImpl() { delete m_critical; } int GetFlavor() { return m_flavor; } void SetFlavor(int flavor) { m_flavor = flavor; } int GetA() { return m_critical-GetA(); } int GetB() { return m_critical-GetB(); } void SetA(int a) { m_critical-SetA(a); } void SetB(int b) { m_critical-SetB(b); } private: int m_flavor; CriticalImpl* m_critical; };

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• This Android SDK requires Android Developer Toolkit version 22.0.0 or above. Current version is 21.x.x.

  - by user2626673

  Hi i have a problem with my Eclipse and the SDK (i have download and install the latest ADT Bundle for windows ) when i start my eclipse i get this problem : This Android SDK requires Android Developer Toolkit version 22.0.0 or above. Current version is 20.0.0. please update your SDK tools to the latest version i have tried the option : Help - check for updates But with no new update find then i try this one : How to Update your ADT to Latest Version In Eclipse go to Help Install New Software ---> Add inside Add Repository write the Name: ADT (or whatever you want) and Location: https://dl-ssl.google.com/android/eclipse/ after loading you should get Developer Tools and NDK Plugins check both if you want to use the Native Developer Kit (NDK) in the future or check Developer Tool only click Next Finish But i dont have the option to click next to finish (the back , next and finish options are grey ) Then i try this method : Go here download latest version of ADT-22.0.4.zip (*) At Eclipse > Help > Install new software... > Uncheck Contact all update sites during install to find required software (last bottom preference) that will avoid any unwanted delays during install. then at the same screen (top) Click Add > Archive > select downloaded ADT-X.X.X.zip > follow on screen installation steps But had the same problem when it was to finish the installation.. no option to click ''next'' then i try this one : Help – Install New Software in the ADT menu. Type https://dl-ssl.google.com/android/eclipse/site.xml in “Work with:” and Enter. You can see the “Developer Tools” item. Select it and click Next. Click Next one more. Click Finish accepting the terms of the license agreements. Click OK in the “Security Warning” window. Let the installer restart ADT after installing the tools. But and in this option have the same problem as above.. can click the ''next'' to finish http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c316/caslor_1978/diafora/atdproblem_zps0d141b7b.jpg i check my version and it is the latest but have the problem http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c316/caslor_1978/diafora/atdproblem2_zps81de6317.jpg How can i fix this problem ? any suggestion? Win7 / 32bit / java SE Development kit7 update 25

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• Execution plan issue requires reset on SQL Server 2005, how to determine cause?

  - by Tony Brandner

  We have a web application that delivers training to thousands of corporate students running on top of SQL Server 2005. Recently, we started seeing that a single specific query in the application went from 1 second to about 30 seconds in terms of execution time. The application started throwing timeouts in that area. Our first thought was that we may have incorrect indexes, so we reviewed the tables and indexes. However, similar queries elsewhere in the application also run quickly. Reviewing the indexes showed us that they were configured as expected. We were able to narrow it down to a single query, not a stored procedure. Running this query in SQL Studio also runs quickly. We tried running the application in a different server environment. So a different web server with the same query, parameters and database. The query still ran slow. The query is a fairly large one related to determining a student's current list of training. It includes joins and left joins on a dozen tables and subqueries. A few of the tables are fairly large (hundreds of thousands of rows) and some of the other tables are small lookup tables. The query uses a grouping clause and a few where conditions. A few of the tables are quite active and the contents change often but the volume of added rows doesn't seem extreme. These symptoms led us to consider the execution plan. First off, as soon as we reset the execution plan cache with the SQL command 'DBCC FREEPROCCACHE', the problem went away. Unfortunately, the problem started to reoccur within a few days. The problem has continued to plague us for awhile now. It's usually the same query, but we did appear to see the problem occur in another single query recently. It happens enough to be a nuisance. We're having a heck of a time trying to fix it since we can't reproduce it in any other environment other than production. I have downloaded the High Availability guide from Red Gate and I read up more on execution plans. I hope to run the profiler on the live server, but I'm a bit concerned about impact. I would like to ask - what is the best way to figure out what is triggering this problem? Has anyone else seen this same issue?

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• Need MYSQL query for finding lowest score per game player

  - by Chris Barnhill

  I have a game on Facebook called Rails Across Europe. I have a Best Scores page where I show the players with the best 20 scores, which in game terms refers to the lowest winning turn. The problem is that there are a small number of players who play frequently, and their scores dominate the page. I'd like to make the scores page open to more players. So I thought that I could display the single lowest winning turn for each player instead of displaying all of the lowest winning turns for all players. The problem is that the query for this eludes me. So I hope that one of you brilliant StackOverflow folks can help me with this. I have included the relevant MYSQL table schemas below. Here are the the table relationships: player_stats contains statistics for either a game in progress or a completed game. If a game is in progress, winning_turn is zero (which means that games with a winning_turn of zero should not be included in the query). player_stats has a game_player table id reference. game_player contains data describing games currently in progress. game_player has a player table id reference. player contains data describing a person who plays the game. Here's the query I'm currently using: 'SELECT p.fb_user_id, ps.winning_turn, gp.difficulty_level, c.name as city_name, g.name as goods_name, d.cost FROM game_player as gp, player as p, player_stats as ps, demand as d, city as c, goods as g WHERE p.status = "ACTIVE" AND gp.player_id = p.id AND ps.game_player_id = gp.id AND d.id = ps.highest_demand_id AND c.id = d.city_id AND g.id = d.goods_id AND ps.winning_turn > 0 ORDER BY ps.winning_turn ASC, d.cost DESC LIMIT '.$limit.';'; Here are the relevant table schemas: -- -- Table structure for table `player_stats` -- CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `player_stats` ( `id` int(11) NOT NULL auto_increment, `game_player_id` int(11) NOT NULL, `winning_turn` int(11) NOT NULL, `highest_demand_id` int(11) NOT NULL, PRIMARY KEY (`id`), KEY `game_player_id` (`game_player_id`,`highest_demand_id`) ) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8 AUTO_INCREMENT=3814 ; -- -- Table structure for table `game_player` -- CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `game_player` ( `id` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL auto_increment, `game_id` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL, `player_id` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL, `player_number` int(11) NOT NULL, `funds` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL, `turn` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL, `difficulty_level` enum('STANDARD','ADVANCED','MASTER','ULTIMATE') NOT NULL, `date_last_used` datetime NOT NULL, PRIMARY KEY (`id`), KEY `game_id` (`game_id`,`player_id`) ) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8 AUTO_INCREMENT=3814 ; -- -- Table structure for table `player` -- CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `player` ( `id` int(11) NOT NULL auto_increment, `fb_user_id` char(255) NOT NULL, `fb_proxied_email` text NOT NULL, `first_name` char(255) NOT NULL, `last_name` char(255) NOT NULL, `birthdate` date NOT NULL, `date_registered` datetime NOT NULL, `date_last_logged_in` datetime NOT NULL, `status` enum('ACTIVE','SUSPENDED','CLOSED') NOT NULL, PRIMARY KEY (`id`), KEY `fb_user_id` (`fb_user_id`) ) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8 AUTO_INCREMENT=1646 ;

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• SQL Query takes about 10 - 20 minutes

  - by masfenix

  I have a select from (nothing to complex) Select * from VIEW This view has about 6000 records and about 40 columns. It comes from a Lotus Notes SQL database. So my ODBC drive is the LotusNotesSQL driver. The query takes about 30 seconds to execute. The company I worked for used EXCEL to run the query and write everything to the worksheet. Since I am assuming it writes everything cell by cell, it used to take up to 30 - 40 minutes to complete. I then used MS access. I made a replica local table on Access to store the data. My first try was INSERT INTO COLUMNS OF LOCAL TABLE FROM (SELECT * FROM VIEW) note that this is pseudocode. This ran successfully, but again took up to 20 - 30 minutes. Then I used VBA to loop through the data and insert it in manually (using an INSERT statement) for each seperate record. This took about 10 - 15 minutes. This has been my best case yet. What i need to do after: After i have the data, I need to filter through it by department. The thing is if I put a where clause in the SQL query (the time jumps from 30 seconds to execute the query, to about 10 minutes + the time to write to local table/excel). I dont know why. MAYBE because the columns are all text columns? If we change some of the columns to integer, would that make it faster in terms of the where clause? I am looking for suggestions on how to approach this. My boss has said we could employ some Java based solution. Will this help? I am not a java person but a c#, and maybe I'll convince them to use c# as well, but i am mainly looking for suggestions on how to cut down the time. I've already cut it down from 40 minutes to 10 minutes, but the want it under 2 minutes. Just to recap: Query takes about 30 seconds to exceute Query takes about 15 - 40 minutes to be used locally in excel/acess Need it under 2 minutes Could use java based solution You may suggest other solutions instead of java.

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• passing back answers in prolog

  - by AhmadAssaf

  i have this code than runs perfectly .. returns a true .. when tracing the values are ok .. but its not returning back the answer .. it acts strangely when it ends and always return empty list .. uninstantiated variable .. test :- extend(4,12,[4,3,1,2],[[1,5],[3,4],[6]],_ExtendedBins). %printing basic information about the extend(NumBins,Capacity,RemainingNumbers,BinsSoFar,_ExtendedBins) :- getNumberofBins(BinsSoFar,NumberOfBins), msort(RemainingNumbers,SortedRemaining),nl, format("Current Number of Bins is :~w\n",[NumberOfBins]), format("Allowed Capacity is :~w\n",[Capacity]), format("maximum limit in bin is :~w\n",[NumBins]), format("Trying to fit :~w\n\n",[SortedRemaining]), format("Possible Solutions :\n\n"), fitElements(NumBins,NumberOfBins, Capacity,SortedRemaining,BinsSoFar,[]). %this is were the creation for possibilities will start %will check first if the number of bins allowed is less than then %we create a new list with all the possible combinations %after that we start matching to other bins with capacity constraint fitElements(NumBins,NumberOfBins, Capacity,RemainingNumbers,Bins,ExtendedBins) :- ( NumberOfBins < NumBins -> print('Creating new set: '); print('Sorry, Cannot create New Sets')), createNewList(Capacity,RemainingNumbers,Bins,ExtendedBins). createNewList(Capacity,RemainingNumbers,Bins,ExtendedBins) :- createNewList(Capacity,RemainingNumbers,Bins,[],ExtendedBins), print(ExtendedBins). createNewList(0,Bins,Bins,ExtendedBins,ExtendedBins). createNewList(_,[],_,ExtendedBins,ExtendedBins). createNewList(Capacity,[Element|Rest],Bins,Temp,ExtendedBins) :- conjunct_to_list(Element,ListedElement), append(ListedElement,Temp,NewList), sumlist(NewList,Sum), (Sum =< Capacity, append(ListedElement,ExtendedBins,Result); Capacity = 0), createNewList(Capacity,Rest,Bins,NewList,Result). fit(0,[],ExtendedBins,ExtendedBins). fit(Capacity,[Element|Rest],Bin,ExtendedBins) :- conjunct_to_list(Element,Listed), append(Listed,Bin,NewBin), sumlist(NewBin,Sum), (Sum =< Capacity -> fit(Capacity,Rest,NewBin,ExtendedBins); Capacity = 0, append(NewBin,ExtendedBins,NewExtendedBins), print(NewExtendedBins), fit(0,[],NewBin,ExtendedBins)). %get the number of bins provided getNumberofBins(List,NumberOfBins) :- getNumberofBins(List,0,NumberOfBins). getNumberofBins([],NumberOfBins,NumberOfBins). getNumberofBins([_List|Rest],TempCount,NumberOfBins) :- NewCount is TempCount + 1, %calculate the count getNumberofBins(Rest,NewCount,NumberOfBins). %recursive call %Convert set of terms into a list - used when needed to append conjunct_to_list((A,B), L) :- !, conjunct_to_list(A, L0), conjunct_to_list(B, L1), append(L0, L1, L). conjunct_to_list(A, [A]). Greatly appreciate the help

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• ODBC: when is the best time to create my database?

  - by mawg

  I have a windows program which generates PGP forms which will be filled in later. Those PHP forms will populate a database. It looks very much like MySql, but I can't be certain, so let's call it ODBC. And, yes, it does have to be a windows program. There will also be PHP forms which query the database - examine which tables and fields it contains and then generates forms which can be used to search the database (e.g, it finds a table with fields "employee_name", etc and generates a form which lets you search based on employee name. Let's call that design time and run time. At design time, some manager or IT guy or similar gets to define the nature of the database and at runtime 1) a worker fills in the form daily and 2) management can extract reports. Here's my question: given that the database is defined at "design time" (and populated at run time), where and how is best to do so? 1 I could use an ODBC interface from the windows program, but I am having difficulty finding something good to work with Delphi. Things like ADO and firebird tend to expect you to already have a database and allow you to manipulate it, but I can find no code example of how to create a database and some tables, so ... 2 I could used DOS commands from Delphi in my windows program. I just tried and got a response to MySql --version, but am not sure if MySql etc are more interactive. That is, can I use a script file or a very long stacked command with semicolons and returns separating? e.g 'CREATE DATABASE db; CREATE TABLE t1;' 3) Since the best way to work with databases seems to be PHP, perhaps my windows program could spit out a PHP page which would, when run in a browser, create the database. I have tried to make this as uncomplicated as I can, but please feel free to ask questions. It may be that there are several valid ways, but there is probably one 'better' solution in terms of ease of implementation or maintenance. Better scratch option 3. What if the user later wants to come back and have the windows program change the input form? It needs to update the database too.

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• Should I HttpCombine Google Jquery Hosted File?

  - by chobo2

  Hi I am using something called HttpCombiner: http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/HttpCombiner An HTTP handler that combines multiple CSS, Javascript or URL into one response for faster page load. It can combine, compress and cache response which results in faster page load and better scalability of web application It's a good practice to use many small Javascript and CSS files instead of one large Javascript/CSS file for better code maintainability, but bad in terms of website performance. Although you should write your Javascript code in small files and break large CSS files into small chunks but when browser requests those javascript and css files, it makes one Http request per file. Every Http Request results in a network roundtrip form your browser to the server and the delay in reaching the server and coming back to the browser is called latency. So, if you have four javascripts and three css files loaded by a page, you are wasting time in seven network roundtrips. Within USA, latency is average 70ms. So, you waste 7x70 = 490ms, about half a second of delay. Outside USA, average latency is around 200ms. So, that means 1400ms of waiting. Browser cannot show the page properly until Css and Javascripts are fully loaded. So, the more latency you have, the slower page loads. You can reduce the wait time by using a CDN. Read my previous blog post about using CDN. However, a better solution is to deliver multiple files over one request using an HttpHandler that combines several files and delivers as one output. So, instead of putting many or tag, you just put one and one tag, and point them to the HttpHandler. You tell the handler which files to combine and it delivers those files in one response. This saves browser from making many requests and eliminates the latency. This Http Handler reads the file names defined in a configuration and combines all those files and delivers as one response. It delivers the response as gzip compressed to save bandwidth. Moreover, it generates proper cache header to cache the response in browser cache, so that, browser does not request it again on future visit. Now I am wondering since it can handle adding links should I put in it the jquery file? The reason I am not sure is if it gets combined with my other files I think I might close the advantages of it being hosted on googles servers such as caching(my thinking is if it gets combined it will look different so even if a user has it in it's cache I am not sure if it will use the one for the cahce or not). So should I combine it or only the finals that I am using locally?

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• Writing OpenGL enabled GUI

  - by Jaen

  I am exploring a possibility to write a kind of a notebook analogue that would reproduce the look and feel of using a traditional notebook, but with the added benefit of customizing the page in ways you can't do on paper - ask the program to lay ruled paper here, grid paper there, paste an image, insert a recording from the built-in camera, try to do handwriting recognition on the tablet input, insert some latex for neat formulas and so on. I'm pretty interested in developing it just to see if writing notes on computer can come anywhere close to the comfort plain paper + pencil offer (hard to do IMO) and can always turn it in as a university C++ project, so double gain there. Coming from the type of project there are certain requirements for the user interface: the user will be able to zoom, move and rotate the notebook as he wishes and I think it's pretty sensible delegate it to OpenGL, so the prospective GUI needs to work well with OGL (preferably being rendered in it) the interface should be navigable with as little of keyboard input as user wishes (incorporating some sort of gestures maybe) up to limiting the keyboard keys as modifiers to the pen movements and taps; this includes tablet and possible multitouch support the interface should keep out of the way where not needed and come up where needed and be easily layerable the notebook sheet itself will be a container for objects representing the notebook blurbs, so it would be nice if the GUI would be able to overlay some frames over the exact parts of the OpenGL-drawn sheet to signify what can be done with given part (like moving, rotating, deleting, copying, editing etc.) and it's extents In terms of interface it's probably going to end up similar to Alias' Sketch Book Pro: [picture][http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_GGxlzvZW-CY/SeKYA_oBdSI/AAAAAAAAErE/J6A0kyXiuqA/s400/Autodesk_Alias_SketchBook_Pro_2.jpg] As far as toolkits go I'm considering Qt and nui, but I'm not really aware how well would they match up the requirements and how well would they handle such an application. As far as I know you can somehow coerce Qt into doing widget drawing with OpenGL, but on the other hand I heard voices it's slot-signal framework isn't exactly optimal and requires it's own preprocessor and I don't know how hard would be to do all the custom widgets I would need (say color-wheel, ruler, blurb frames, blurb selection, tablet-targeted pop-up menu etc.) in the constraints of Qt. Also quite a few Qt programs I've had on my machine seemed really sluggish, but it may be attributed to me having old PC or programmers using Qt suboptimally rather to the framework itself. As for [nui][http://www.libnui.net/] I know it's also cross-platform and all of the basic things you would require of a GUI toolkit and what is the biggest plus it is OpenGL-enabled from the start, but I don't know how it is with custom widgets and other facets and it certainly has smaller userbase and less elaborate documentation than Qt. The question goes as this: Does any of these toolkits fulfill (preferably all of) the requirements or there is a well fitting toolkit I haven't come across or maybe I should just roll up my sleeves, get SFML (or maybe Clutter would be more suited to this?) and something like FastDelegates or libsigc++ and program the GUI framework from the ground up myself? I would be very glad if anyone had experience with a similar GUI project and can offer some comments on how well these toolkits hold up or is it worthwhile to pursue own GUI toolkit in this case. Sorry for longwindedness, duh.

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• Authlogic: passwords saved in the DB are not working as expected.

  - by user570459

  Hello everyone, Im having trouble with authlogic on my production server. Im able to update passwords in the database but when i try to validate a user using the new password, the validation fails. Please check the below console output. Notice how the salt and crypted_password fields get update before and after the new password is saved. The issue is only on my production server (running passenger). Everything works fine on my development machine. => #<User id: 3, login: "saravk", email: "[email protected]", crypted_password: "9bc86247105e940bb748ab680c0e77d9c44a82ea", salt: "WdVpQIdwl68k8lJWOU"> irb(main):003:0> u.password = "kettik123" => "kettik123" irb(main):004:0> u.password_confirmation = "kettik123" => "kettik123" irb(main):005:0> u.save! => true irb(main):006:0> u.valid_password?("kettik123") => true irb(main):007:0> u.reload => #<User id: 3, login: "saravk", email: "[email protected]", crypted_password: "f059007c56f498a12c63209c849c1e65bb151174", salt: "lVmmczhyGE0gxsbV421A"> irb(main):008:0> u.valid_password?("kettik123") => false The authlogic configuration in my User model.. class User < ActiveRecord::Base acts_as_authentic do |c| c.login_field :email c.validate_login_field false c.validate_email_field false c.perishable_token_valid_for = 1.day c.disable_perishable_token_maintenance = true end I use the email field as the main key for the user. Also the email field is allowed to be blank in some cases (eg a facebook user) Also i belive that my schema is proper (in terms of the length of the salt & crypted password fields) create_table "users", :force => true do |t| t.string "login" t.string "email" t.string "crypted_password", :limit => 128, :default => "" t.string "salt", Any help on this would be highly appreciated. Thanks.

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• How to see if type is instance of a class in Haskell?

  - by Raekye

  I'm probably doing this completely wrong (the unhaskell way); I'm just learning so please let me know if there's a better way to approach this. Context: I'm writing a bunch of tree structures. I want to reuse my prettyprint function for binary trees. Not all trees can use the generic Node/Branch data type though; different trees need different extra data. So to reuse the prettyprint function I thought of creating a class different trees would be instances of: class GenericBinaryTree a where is_leaf :: a -> Bool left :: a -> a node :: a -> b right :: a -> a This way they only have to implement methods to retrieve the left, right, and current node value, and prettyprint doesn't need to know about the internal structure. Then I get down to here: prettyprint_helper :: GenericBinaryTree a => a -> [String] prettyprint_helper tree | is_leaf tree = [] | otherwise = ("{" ++ (show (node tree)) ++ "}") : (prettyprint_subtree (left tree) (right tree)) where prettyprint_subtree left right = ((pad "+- " "| ") (prettyprint_helper right)) ++ ((pad "`- " " ") (prettyprint_helper left)) pad first rest = zipWith (++) (first : repeat rest) And I get the Ambiguous type variable 'a0' in the constraint: (Show a0) arising from a use of 'show' error for (show (node tree)) Here's an example of the most basic tree data type and instance definition (my other trees have other fields but they're irrelevant to the generic prettyprint function) data Tree a = Branch (Tree a) a (Tree a) | Leaf instance GenericBinaryTree (Tree a) where is_leaf Leaf = True is_leaf _ = False left (Branch left node right) = left right (Branch left node right) = right node (Branch left node right) = node I could have defined node :: a -> [String] and deal with the stringification in each instance/type of tree, but this feels neater. In terms of prettyprint, I only need a string representation, but if I add other generic binary tree functions later I may want the actual values. So how can I write this to work whether the node value is an instance of Show or not? Or what other way should I be approaching this problem? In an object oriented language I could easily check whether a class implements something, or if an object has a method. I can't use something like prettyprint :: Show a => a -> String Because it's not the tree that needs to be showable, it's the value inside the tree (returned by function node) that needs to be showable. I also tried changing node to Show b => a -> b without luck (and a bunch of other type class/preconditions/whatever/I don't even know what I'm doing anymore).

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• How To Start Your Own Professional Blog with WordPress

  - by Matthew Guay

  Would you like to start your own blog or website?  With a free WordPress  account, it’s free and easy to get started creating your own professional quality blog site. This is the first part in a series on how to create your own professional quality blog site. No, we’re not talking about some cheapo looking blog from Blogger or something on Facebook, but creating a quality blog you can be proud of and present to millions of readers online. WordPress is one of the most popular blogging platforms, powering hundreds of high-profile websites and blogs around the world.  It’s both powerful and easy to use, which makes it great whether you’re just starting out or are a blogging pro.  To start out with your blogging project WordPress is completely free, and you can use the online interface or install the WordPress software on your own server and blog from there. Getting Started You can start a blog in just a few minutes.  Head over to WordPress.com and click Sign up now on the right-hand side of the main page. Enter a username and password, check that you agree with the legal terms, select the “Gimme a blog” bullet, and click Next. WordPress may inform you that your username is already taken, simply choose a new one and try again. Next, choose a domain for your blog.  This will be the address for your site, and cannot be changed, so be sure to choose exactly what you want.  If you’d prefer your address to be yourname.com instead of yourname.wordpress.com, you can add your own domain for a fee after your blog is setup…but we’ll cover that later. Once you click signup, you will be sent a confirmation email.  While you wait for the email to arrive you can go ahead and enter in your name and a short bio about yourself. When you receive your confirmation email, click the link.  Congratulations; you now have your own blog! You can view your new blog immediately, though the default theme isn’t very interesting without your content and pictures. Back on the page you opened from the email, click Login to access your blog’s administration page and to start adding stuff to your blog.  You can also access your blog’s admin page anytime by from yourname.wordpress.com/admin, substituting your own blog name for yourname. Enter your username and password, then click Log in to get started. Adding Content to your WordPress.com Blog When you sign in to your WordPress blog, you’ll first see the WordPress Admin page.  Here you can see recent posts and comments, and you can see stats of how many people have visited your site.  You can also access all of your blog tools and settings right from this page. To add a new post to your blog, click the Posts link on the left, then click “Add New” either on the left menu or on the top of the Edit Posts page.  Or, if you want to edit the default first post, hover over it and select Edit. Or click the New Posts button on the top of the page.  This menu bar is always visible whenever you’re logged in, so it’s an easy way to add a post. The editor lets you easily write anything you want in a Microsoft Word-style editor.  You can format your text, add lists, links, quotes, and more.  When you’re ready to share your content with the world, click Publish on the right side. To add pictures or other files, click the picture icon beside “Upload/Insert”.  Your free blog account can store up to 3Gb of pictures and documents which will definitely give you a good start. Click Select Files, and then choose the pictures or documents you want to add to your post. When the pictures have uploaded, you can add a caption and choose how to position the picture.  When you’re finished, select “Insert into Post”.   Or, if you want to add a video, click the video button.  You have to add a paid upgrade to upload videos directly, but you can add YouTube and other online videos for free. Click the “From URL” tab, and then paste the link to the YouTube video and click Insert into post. If you’re a code geek, click the HTML tab in the editor and edit the HTML of your blog post the geeky way. Once you’ve added all your content and edited it the way you want, click the Publish button on the right of the editor.  Or, you can click Preview to make sure it looks right, and then click Publish. Here’s our blog with the new blog post containing a picture and video.  While you’re getting to know you’re way around the controls in WordPress, the Preview feature will be your best friend while you try to organize the content to your liking.   Conclusion It only takes a couple minutes to get started blogging at WordPress.com. Whether you want to write about your daily life, share pictures of your children, or review the latest books and gadgets, WordPress.com is a great place to get started for free.  But we’ve only covered a small portion of the WordPress features…but this should get you started. Check back for more WordPress and blogging coverage coming up soon! Links Signup for a free WordPress.com account Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Add Social Bookmarking (Digg This!) Links to your Wordpress BlogHow-To Geek SoftwareProtecting Your WordPress Admin Panel From Hackers With .htaccessMake a Backup Copy of your Production Wordpress Blog on UbuntuLinux QuickTip: Downloading and Un-tarring in One Step 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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• How To Activate Your Free Office 2007 to 2010 Tech Guarantee Upgrade

  - by Matthew Guay

  Have you purchased Office 2007 since March 5th, 2010?  If so, here’s how you can activate and download your free upgrade to Office 2010! Microsoft Office 2010 has just been released, and today you can purchase upgrades from most retail stores or directly from Microsoft via download.  But if you’ve purchased a new copy of Office 2007 or a new computer that came with Office 2007 since March 5th, 2010, then you’re entitled to an absolutely free upgrade to Office 2010.  You’ll need enter information about your Office 2007 and then download the upgrade, so we’ll step you through the process. Getting Started First, if you’ve recently purchased Office 2007 but haven’t installed it, you’ll need to go ahead and install it before you can get your free Office 2010 upgrade.  Install it as normal.   Once Office 2007 is installed, run any of the Office programs.  You’ll be prompted to activate Office.  Make sure you’re connected to the internet, and then click Next to activate. Get your Free Upgrade to Office 2010 Now you’re ready to download your upgrade to Office 2010.  Head to the Office Tech Guarantee site (link below), and click Upgrade now. You’ll need to enter some information about your Office 2007.  Check that you purchased your copy of Office 2007 after March 5th, select your computer manufacturer, and check that you agree to the terms. Now you’re going to need the Product ID number from Office 2007.  To find this, open Word or any other Office 2007 application.  Click the Office Orb, and select Options on the bottom. Select the Resources button on the left, and then click About. Near the bottom of this dialog, you’ll see your Product ID.  This should be a number like: 12345-123-1234567-12345   Go back to the Office Tech Guarantee signup page in your browser, and enter this Product ID.  Select the language of your edition of Office 2007, enter the verification code, and then click Submit. It may take a few moments to validate your Product ID. When it is finished, you’ll be taken to an order page that shows the edition of Office 2010 you’re eligible to receive.  The upgrade download is free, but if you’d like to purchase a backup DVD of Office 2010, you can add it to your order for $13.99.  Otherwise, simply click Continue to accept. Do note that the edition of Office 2010 you receive may be different that the edition of Office 2007 you purchased, as the number of editions has been streamlined in the Office 2010 release.  Here’s a chart you can check to see what edition you’ll receive.  Note that you’ll still be allowed to install Office on the same number of computers; for example, Office 2007 Home and Student allows you to install it on up to 3 computers in the same house, and your Office 2010 upgrade will allow the same. Office 2007 Edition Office 2010 Upgrade You’ll Receive Office 2007 Home and Student Office Home and Student 2010 Office Basic 2007Office Standard 2007 Office Home and Business 2010 Office Small Business 2007Office Professional 2007Office Ultimate 2007 Office Professional 2010 Office Professional 2007 AcademicOffice Ultimate 2007 Academic Office Professional Academic 2010 Sign in with your Windows Live ID, or create a new one if you don’t already have one. Enter your name, select your country, and click Create My Account.  Note that Office will send Office 2010 tips to your email address; if you don’t wish to receive them, you can unsubscribe from the emails later.   Finally, you’re ready to download Office 2010!  Click the Download Now link to start downloading Office 2010.  Your Product Key will appear directly above the Download link, so you can copy it and then paste it in the installer when your download is finished.  You will additionally receive an email with the download links and product key, so if your download fails you can always restart it from that link. If your edition of Office 2007 included the Office Business Contact Manager, you will be able to download it from the second Download link.  And, of course, even if you didn’t order a backup DVD, you can always burn the installers to a DVD for a backup.   Install Office 2010 Once you’re finished downloading Office 2010, run the installer to get it installed on your computer.  Enter your Product Key from the Tech Guarantee website as above, and click Continue. Accept the license agreement, and then click Upgrade to upgrade to the latest version of Office.   The installer will remove all of your Office 2007 applications, and then install their 2010 counterparts.  If you wish to keep some of your Office 2007 applications instead, click Customize and then select to either keep all previous versions or simply keep specific applications. By default, Office 2010 will try to activate online automatically.  If it doesn’t activate during the install, you’ll need to activate it when you first run any of the Office 2010 apps.   Conclusion The Tech Guarantee makes it easy to get the latest version of Office if you recently purchased Office 2007.  The Tech Guarantee program is open through the end of September, so make sure to grab your upgrade during this time.  Actually, if you find a great deal on Office 2007 from a major retailer between now and then, you could also take advantage of this program to get Office 2010 cheaper. And if you need help getting started with Office 2010, check out our articles that can help you get situated in your new version of Office! Link Activate and Download Your free Office 2010 Tech Guarantee Upgrade Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Remove Office 2010 Beta and Reinstall Office 2007Upgrade Office 2003 to 2010 on XP or Run them Side by SideCenter Pictures and Other Objects in Office 2007 & 2010Change the Default Color Scheme in Office 2010Show Two Time Zones in Your Outlook 2007 Calendar 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 HippoRemote Pro 2.2 Xobni Plus for Outlook All My Movies 5.9 CloudBerry Online Backup 1.5 for Windows Home Server Windows Media Player Plus! – Cool WMP Enhancer Get Your Team’s World Cup Schedule In Google Calendar Backup Drivers With Driver Magician TubeSort: YouTube Playlist Organizer XPS file format & XPS Viewer Explained Microsoft Office Web Apps Guide

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• Week in Geek: FBI Back Door in OpenBSD Edition

  - by Asian Angel

  This week we learned how to migrate bookmarks from Delicious to Diigo, fix annoying arrows, play old-school DOS games, schedule smart computer shutdowns, use breaks in Microsoft Word to better format documents, check the condition of hard-disks using Linux disk utilities, & what the Linux fstab is and how it works. Photo by Jameson42. Random Geek Links Another week with extra news link goodness to help keep you up to date. Photo by justmakeit. Report of FBI back door roils OpenBSD community Allegations that the FBI surreptitiously placed a back door into the OpenBSD operating system have alarmed the computer security community, prompting calls for an audit of the source code and claims that the charges must be a hoax. Fortinet: Job outlook improving for cybercrooks In an ironic twist in the job market, more positions will open up for developers who can write customized malware packers, people who can break CAPTCHA codes, and distributors who can spread malicious code, according to Fortinet. Enisa: Malware for smartphones is a ’serious risk’ Businesses and consumers are at risk of data breaches through smartphone use, according to the European Network and Information Security Agency. The trick with the f: Google and Microsoft web sites distribute malware Last week, Google’s DoubleClick advertising platform and Microsoft’s rad.msn.com online ad network briefly distributed malware to other web sites in the form of advertising banners. New scam tactic: Fake disk defraggers It would appear that scammers are trying out new programs to see which might best confuse potential victims and evade detection by legitimate antivirus software. Microsoft closes IE and Stuxnet holes As previously announced, Microsoft has released 17 security updates to close 40 security holes. All four Windows holes so far disclosed in connection with Stuxnet have now been closed. Microsoft Offers H.264 Support to Firefox on Windows via Add-On The new HTML5 Extension for Windows Media Player Firefox Plug-in add-on from Microsoft offers users that are running Firefox on Windows 7 H.264 support for HTML5 video playback. Google proclaims Chrome business-ready Google has announced that Chrome is ready for corporate use. Microsoft Tells Exchange Customers to Think Twice Before Opting for Google Message Continuity This week, Microsoft is telling companies still running Exchange 2010’s precursors that they should carefully consider the implications of embracing Google Message Continuity. Who Google has in mind for its Chrome OS users Steven Vaughan-Nichols explains why he feels that Chrome OS will be ideal for either office-workers or people who need a computer, but do not know the first thing about how to use one safely. Oracle takes office suite to the cloud Oracle has introduced Cloud Office 1.0, a cloud-based version of its office suite, which is aimed at web and mobile users. Mozilla pays premiums for reports of vulnerabilities The Mozilla Foundation has followed Google’s example by expanding its rewards program for reports of vulnerabilities in its Web applications. Who bought those 882 Novell patents? Not just Microsoft The mysterious CPTN Holdings — the organization that bought the 882 Novell patents as part of the terms of the Attachmate acquisition of Novell – has been unmasked (Microsoft, Apple, EMC and Oracle). Appeals court: Feds need warrants for e-mail Police must obtain search warrants before perusing Internet users’ e-mail records, a federal appeals court ruled today in a landmark decision that struck down part of a 1986 law allowing warrantless access. Geek Video of the Week What happens when someone plays a wicked prank by shoveling crazy snow paths that lead to dead ends or turn back on themselves? Watch to find out! Photo by CollegeHumor. Janitor Snow Shoveling Prank Random TinyHacker Links The Oatmeal on Cat vs Internet What lengths will our poor neglected kitty hero have to go to in order to get some attention? Guide On Using JoliCloud With Windows JoliCloud is a nifty operating system that’s made for people who need a light-weight OS that’s mostly cloud based. Check this guide on using it with Windows. Use Cameyo to Easily Create Portable Programs Here’s a nifty tool to make portable apps out of programs in Windows. Check out the guide to do it. Better Family Tech Support A nice new site by Google to help members of family understand how computers work. Track Your Stolen Mobile Phone With F-Secure A useful anti-theft tool for your mobile phone. Super User Questions Another week with great answers to popular questions from Super User. What Chrome password manager fits my requirements? What’s the best way to be able to reimage windows computers? Could you suggest feature-rich disk-based personal backup program for linux (and I’ve seen a few)? What is IPv6 and why should I care? Is there any way to find out what programs are trying to connect to Internet on windows? How-To Geek Weekly Article Recap Here are our hottest articles full of geeky goodness from this past week at HTG. 20 OS X Keyboard Shortcuts You Might Not Know Microsoft Security Essentials 2.0 Kills Viruses Dead. Download It Now. Is Your Desktop Printer More Expensive Than Printing Services? Ask the Readers: Would You Be Willing to Give Windows Up and Use a Different O.S.? The Twelve Days of Geekmas One Year Ago on How-To Geek Enjoy reading through our latest batch of retro-geek goodness from one year ago. Macrium Reflect is a Free and Easy To Use Backup Utility How To Turn a Physical Computer Into A Virtual Machine with Disk2vhd How To Restore Windows 7 from a System Image How To Manage Hard Drive Space Used by Windows 7 Backup and Restore How To Manage Hibernate Mode in Windows 7 The Geek Note That is all we have for you this week, so see you back here again after the holidays! Got a great tip? Send it in to us at [email protected]. Photo by mitjamavsar. Latest Features How-To Geek ETC The Complete List of iPad Tips, Tricks, and Tutorials The 50 Best Registry Hacks that Make Windows Better The How-To Geek Holiday Gift Guide (Geeky Stuff We Like) LCD? LED? Plasma? The How-To Geek Guide to HDTV Technology The How-To Geek Guide to Learning Photoshop, Part 8: Filters Improve Digital Photography by Calibrating Your Monitor Deathwing the Destroyer – WoW Cataclysm Dragon Wallpaper Drag2Up Lets You Drag and Drop Files to the Web With Ease The Spam Police Parts 1 and 2 – Goodbye Spammers [Videos] Snow Angels Theme for Windows 7 Exploring the Jungle Ruins Wallpaper Protect Your Privacy When Browsing with Chrome and Iron Browser

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• Conversation as User Assistance

  - by ultan o'broin

  Applications User Experience members (Erika Web, Laurie Pattison, and I) attended the User Assistance Europe Conference in Stockholm, Sweden. We were impressed with the thought leadership and practical application of ideas in Anne Gentle's keynote address "Social Web Strategies for Documentation". After the conference, we spoke with Anne to explore the ideas further. Anne Gentle (left) with Applications User Experience Senior Director Laurie Pattison In Anne's book called Conversation and Community: The Social Web for Documentation, she explains how user assistance is undergoing a seismic shift. The direction is away from the old print manuals and online help concept towards a web-based, user community-driven solution using social media tools. User experience professionals now have a vast range of such tools to start and nurture this "conversation": blogs, wikis, forums, social networking sites, microblogging systems, image and video sharing sites, virtual worlds, podcasts, instant messaging, mashups, and so on. That user communities are a rich source of user assistance is not a surprise, but the extent of available assistance is. For example, we know from the Consortium for Service Innovation that there has been an 'explosion' of user-generated content on the web. User-initiated community conversations provide as much as 30 times the number of official help desk solutions for consortium members! The growing reliance on user community solutions is clearly a user experience issue. Anne says that user assistance as conversation "means getting closer to users and helping them perform well. User-centered design has been touted as one of the most important ideas developed in the last 20 years of workplace writing. Now writers can take the idea of user-centered design a step further by starting conversations with users and enabling user assistance in interactions." Some of Anne's favorite examples of this paradigm shift from the world of traditional documentation to community conversation include: Writer Bob Bringhurst's blog about Adobe InDesign and InCopy products and Adobe's community help The Microsoft Development Network Community Center ·The former Sun (now Oracle) OpenDS wiki, NetBeans Ruby and other community approaches to engage diverse audiences using screencasts, wikis, and blogs. Cisco's customer support wiki, EMC's community, as well as Symantec and Intuit's approaches The efforts of Ubuntu, Mozilla, and the FLOSS community generally Adobe Writer Bob Bringhurst's Blog Oracle is not without a user community conversation too. Besides the community discussions and blogs around documentation offerings, we have the My Oracle Support Community forums, Oracle Technology Network (OTN) communities, wiki, blogs, and so on. We have the great work done by our user groups and customer councils. Employees like David Haimes reach out, and enthusiastic non-employee gurus like Chet Justice (OracleNerd), Floyd Teter and Eddie Awad provide great "how-to" information too. But what does this paradigm shift mean for existing technical writers as users turn away from the traditional printable PDF manual deliverables? We asked Anne after the conference. The writer role becomes one of conversation initiator or enabler. The role evolves, along with the process, as the users define their concept of user assistance and terms of engagement with the product instead of having it pre-determined. It is largely a case now of "inventing the job while you're doing it, instead of being hired for it" Anne said. There is less emphasis on formal titles. Anne mentions that her own title "Content Stacker" at OpenStack; others use titles such as "Content Curator" or "Community Lead". However, the role remains one essentially about communications, "but of a new type--interacting with users, moderating, curating content, instead of sitting down to write a manual from start to finish." Clearly then, this role is open to more than professional technical writers. Product managers who write blogs, developers who moderate forums, support professionals who update wikis, rock star programmers with a penchant for YouTube are ideal. Anyone with the product knowledge, empathy for the user, and flair for relationships on the social web can join in. Some even perform these roles already but do not realize it. Anne feels the technical communicator space will move from hiring new community conversation professionals (who are already active in the space through blogging, tweets, wikis, and so on) to retraining some existing writers over time. Our own research reveals that the established proponents of community user assistance even set employee performance objectives for internal content curators about the amount of community content delivered by people outside the organization! To take advantage of the conversations on the web as user assistance, enterprises must first establish where on the spectrum their community lies. "What is the line between community willingness to contribute and the enterprise objectives?" Anne asked. "The relationship with users must be managed and also measured." Anne believes that the process can start with a "just do it" approach. Begin by reaching out to existing user groups, individual bloggers and tweeters, forum posters, early adopter program participants, conference attendees, customer advisory board members, and so on. Use analytical tools to measure the level of conversation about your products and services to show a return on investment (ROI), winning management support. Anne emphasized that success with the community model is dependent on lowering the technical and motivational barriers so that users can readily contribute to the conversation. Simple tools must be provided, and guidelines, if any, must be straightforward but not mandatory. The conversational approach is one where traditional style and branding guides do not necessarily apply. Tools and infrastructure help users to create content easily, to search and find the information online, read it, rate it, translate it, and participate further in the content's evolution. Recognizing contributors by using ratings on forums, giving out Twitter kudos, conference invitations, visits to headquarters, free products, preview releases, and so on, also encourages the adoption of the conversation model. The move to conversation as user assistance is not free, but there is a business ROI. The conversational model means that customer service is enhanced, as user experience moves from a functional to a valued, emotional level. Studies show a positive correlation between loyalty and financial performance (Consortium for Service Innovation, 2010), and as customer experience and loyalty become key differentiators, user experience professionals cannot explore the model's possibilities. The digital universe (measured at 1.2 million petabytes in 2010) is doubling every 12 to 18 months, and 70 percent of that universe consists of user-generated content (IDC, 2010). Conversation as user assistance cannot be ignored but must be embraced. It is a time to manage for abundance, not scarcity. Besides, the conversation approach certainly sounds more interesting, rewarding, and fun than the traditional model! I would like to thank Anne for her time and thoughts, and recommend that all user assistance professionals read her book. You can follow Anne on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/annegentle. Oracle's Acrolinx IQ deployment was used to author this article.

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• Parallelism in .NET – Part 6, Declarative Data Parallelism

  - by Reed

  When working with a problem that can be decomposed by data, we have a collection, and some operation being performed upon the collection.  I’ve demonstrated how this can be parallelized using the Task Parallel Library and imperative programming using imperative data parallelism via the Parallel class.  While this provides a huge step forward in terms of power and capabilities, in many cases, special care must still be given for relative common scenarios. C# 3.0 and Visual Basic 9.0 introduced a new, declarative programming model to .NET via the LINQ Project.  When working with collections, we can now write software that describes what we want to occur without having to explicitly state how the program should accomplish the task.  By taking advantage of LINQ, many operations become much shorter, more elegant, and easier to understand and maintain.  Version 4.0 of the .NET framework extends this concept into the parallel computation space by introducing Parallel LINQ. Before we delve into PLINQ, let’s begin with a short discussion of LINQ.  LINQ, the extensions to the .NET Framework which implement language integrated query, set, and transform operations, is implemented in many flavors.  For our purposes, we are interested in LINQ to Objects.  When dealing with parallelizing a routine, we typically are dealing with in-memory data storage.  More data-access oriented LINQ variants, such as LINQ to SQL and LINQ to Entities in the Entity Framework fall outside of our concern, since the parallelism there is the concern of the data base engine processing the query itself. LINQ (LINQ to Objects in particular) works by implementing a series of extension methods, most of which work on IEnumerable<T>.  The language enhancements use these extension methods to create a very concise, readable alternative to using traditional foreach statement.  For example, let’s revisit our minimum aggregation routine we wrote in Part 4: double min = double.MaxValue; foreach(var item in collection) { double value = item.PerformComputation(); min = System.Math.Min(min, value); } .csharpcode, .csharpcode pre { font-size: small; color: black; font-family: consolas, "Courier New", courier, monospace; background-color: #ffffff; /*white-space: pre;*/ } .csharpcode pre { margin: 0em; } .csharpcode .rem { color: #008000; } .csharpcode .kwrd { color: #0000ff; } .csharpcode .str { color: #006080; } .csharpcode .op { color: #0000c0; } .csharpcode .preproc { color: #cc6633; } .csharpcode .asp { background-color: #ffff00; } .csharpcode .html { color: #800000; } .csharpcode .attr { color: #ff0000; } .csharpcode .alt { background-color: #f4f4f4; width: 100%; margin: 0em; } .csharpcode .lnum { color: #606060; } Here, we’re doing a very simple computation, but writing this in an imperative style.  This can be loosely translated to English as: Create a very large number, and save it in min Loop through each item in the collection. For every item: Perform some computation, and save the result If the computation is less than min, set min to the computation Although this is fairly easy to follow, it’s quite a few lines of code, and it requires us to read through the code, step by step, line by line, in order to understand the intention of the developer. We can rework this same statement, using LINQ: double min = collection.Min(item => item.PerformComputation()); Here, we’re after the same information.  However, this is written using a declarative programming style.  When we see this code, we’d naturally translate this to English as: Save the Min value of collection, determined via calling item.PerformComputation() That’s it – instead of multiple logical steps, we have one single, declarative request.  This makes the developer’s intentions very clear, and very easy to follow.  The system is free to implement this using whatever method required. Parallel LINQ (PLINQ) extends LINQ to Objects to support parallel operations.  This is a perfect fit in many cases when you have a problem that can be decomposed by data.  To show this, let’s again refer to our minimum aggregation routine from Part 4, but this time, let’s review our final, parallelized version: // Safe, and fast! double min = double.MaxValue; // Make a "lock" object object syncObject = new object(); Parallel.ForEach( collection, // First, we provide a local state initialization delegate. () => double.MaxValue, // Next, we supply the body, which takes the original item, loop state, // and local state, and returns a new local state (item, loopState, localState) => { double value = item.PerformComputation(); return System.Math.Min(localState, value); }, // Finally, we provide an Action<TLocal>, to "merge" results together localState => { // This requires locking, but it's only once per used thread lock(syncObj) min = System.Math.Min(min, localState); } ); Here, we’re doing the same computation as above, but fully parallelized.  Describing this in English becomes quite a feat: Create a very large number, and save it in min Create a temporary object we can use for locking Call Parallel.ForEach, specifying three delegates For the first delegate: Initialize a local variable to hold the local state to a very large number For the second delegate: For each item in the collection, perform some computation, save the result If the result is less than our local state, save the result in local state For the final delegate: Take a lock on our temporary object to protect our min variable Save the min of our min and local state variables Although this solves our problem, and does it in a very efficient way, we’ve created a set of code that is quite a bit more difficult to understand and maintain. PLINQ provides us with a very nice alternative.  In order to use PLINQ, we need to learn one new extension method that works on IEnumerable<T> – ParallelEnumerable.AsParallel(). That’s all we need to learn in order to use PLINQ: one single method.  We can write our minimum aggregation in PLINQ very simply: double min = collection.AsParallel().Min(item => item.PerformComputation()); By simply adding “.AsParallel()” to our LINQ to Objects query, we converted this to using PLINQ and running this computation in parallel!  This can be loosely translated into English easily, as well: Process the collection in parallel Get the Minimum value, determined by calling PerformComputation on each item Here, our intention is very clear and easy to understand.  We just want to perform the same operation we did in serial, but run it “as parallel”.  PLINQ completely extends LINQ to Objects: the entire functionality of LINQ to Objects is available.  By simply adding a call to AsParallel(), we can specify that a collection should be processed in parallel.  This is simple, safe, and incredibly useful.

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• Upgrading Windows 8 boot to VHD to Windows 8.1&ndash;Step by step guide

  - by Liam Westley

  Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/twickers/archive/2013/10/19/upgrading-windows-8-boot-to-vhd-to-windows-8.1ndashstep-by.aspxBoot to VHD – dual booting Windows 7 and Windows 8 became easy When Windows 8 arrived, quite a few people decided that they would still dual boot their machines, and instead of mucking about with resizing disk partitions to free up space for Windows 8 they decided to use the boot from VHD feature to create a huge hard disc image into which Windows 8 could be installed.  Scott Hanselman wrote this installation guide, while I myself used the installation guide from Ed Bott of ZD net fame. Boot to VHD is a great solution, it achieves a dual boot, can be backed up easily and had virtually no effect on the original Windows 7 partition. As a developer who has dual booted Windows operating systems for years, hacking boot.ini files, the boot to VHD was a much easier solution. Upgrade to Windows 8.1 – ah, you can’t do that on a virtual disk installation (boot to VHD) Last week the final version of Windows 8.1 arrived, and I went into the Windows Store to upgrade.  Luckily I’m on a fast download service, and use an SSD, because once the upgrade was downloaded and prepared Windows informed that This PC can’t run Windows 8.1, and provided the reason, You can’t install Windows on a virtual drive.  You can see an image of the message and discussion that sparked my search for a solution in this Microsoft Technet forum post. I was determined not to have to resize partitions yet again and fiddle with VHD to disk utilities and back again, and in the end I did succeed in upgrading to a Windows 8.1 boot to VHD partition.  It takes quite a bit of effort though … tldr; Simple steps of how you upgrade Boot into Windows 7 – make a copy of your Windows 8 VHD, to become Windows 8.1 Enable Hyper-V in your Windows 8 (the original boot to VHD partition) Create a new virtual machine, attaching the copy of your Windows 8 VHD Start the virtual machine, upgrade it via the Windows Store to Windows 8.1 Shutdown the virtual machine Boot into Windows 7 – use the bcedit tool to create a new Windows 8.1 boot to VHD option (pointing at the copy) Boot into the new Windows 8.1 option Reactivate Windows 8.1 (it will have become deactivated by running under Hyper-V) Remove the original Windows 8 VHD, and in Windows 7 use bcedit to remove it from the boot menu Things you’ll need A system that can run Hyper-V under Windows 8 (Intel i5, i7 class CPU) Enough space to have your original Windows 8 boot to VHD and a copy at the same time An ISO or DVD for Windows 8 to create a bootable Windows 8 partition Step by step guide Boot to your base o/s, the real one, Windows 7. Make a copy of the Windows 8 VHD file that you use to boot Windows 8 (via boot from VHD) – I copied it from a folder on C: called VHD-Win8 to VHD-Win8.1 on my N: drive. Reboot your system into Windows 8, and enable Hyper-V if not already present (this may require reboot) Use the Hyper-V manager , create a new Hyper-V machine, using half your system memory, and use the option to attach an existing VHD on the main IDE controller – this will be the new copy you made in Step 2. Start the virtual machine, use Connect to view it, and you’ll probably discover it cannot boot as there is no boot record If this is the case, go to Hyper-V manager, edit the Settings for the virtual machine to attach an ISO of a Windows 8 DVD to the second IDE controller. Start the virtual machine, use Connect to view it, and it should now attempt a fresh installation of Windows 8.  You should select Advanced Options and choose Repair - this will make VHD bootable When the setup reboots your virtual machine, turn off the virtual machine, and remove the ISO of the Windows 8 DVD from the virtual machine settings. Start virtual machine, use Connect to view it.  You will see the devices to be re-discovered (including your quad CPU becoming single CPU).  Eventually you should see the Windows Login screen. You may notice that your desktop background (Win+D) will have turned black as your Windows installation has become deactivate due to the hardware changes between your real PC and Hyper-V. Fortunately becoming deactivated, does not stop you using the Windows Store, where you can select the update to Windows 8.1. You can now watch the progress joy of the Windows 8 update; downloading, preparing to update, checking compatibility, gathering info, preparing to restart, and finally, confirm restart - remember that you are restarting your virtual machine sitting on the copy of the VHD, not the Windows 8 boot to VHD you are currently using to run Hyper-V (confused yet?) After the reboot you get the real upgrade messages; setting up x%, xx%, (quite slow) After a while, Getting ready Applying PC Settings x%, xx% (really slow) Updating your system (fast) Setting up a few more things x%, (quite slow) Getting ready, again Accept license terms Express settings Confirmed previous password Next, I had to set up a Microsoft account – which is possibly now required, and not optional Using the Microsoft account required a 2 factor authorization, via text message, a 7 digit code for me Finalising settings Blank screen, HI .. We're setting up things for you (similar to original Windows 8 install) 'You can get new apps from the Store', below which is ’Installing your apps’ - I had Windows Media Center which is counts as an app from the Store ‘Taking care of a few things’, below which is ‘Installing your apps’ ‘Taking care of a few things’, below ‘Don't turn off your PC’ ‘Getting your apps ready’, below ‘Don't turn off your PC’ ‘Almost ready’, below ‘Don't turn off your PC’ … finally, we get the Windows 8.1 start menu, and a quick Win+D to check the desktop confirmed all the application icons I expected, pinned items on the taskbar, and one app moaning about a missing drive At this point the upgrade is complete – you can shutdown the virtual machine Reboot from the original Windows 8 and return to Windows 7 to configure booting to the Windows 8.1 copy of the VHD In an administrator command prompt do following use the bcdedit tool (from an MSDN blog about configuring VHD to boot in Windows 7) Type bcedit to list the current boot options, so you can copy the GUID (complete with brackets/braces) for the original Windows 8 boot to VHD Create a new menu option, copy of the Windows 8 option; bcdedit /copy {originalguid} /d "Windows 8.1" Point the new Windows 8.1 option to the copy of the VHD; bcdedit /set {newguid} device vhd=[D:]\Image.vhd Point the new Windows 8.1 option to the copy of the VHD; bcdedit /set {newguid} osdevice vhd=[D:]\Image.vhd Set autodetection of the HAL (may already be set); bcdedit /set {newguid} detecthal on Reboot from Windows 7 and select the new option 'Windows 8.1' on the boot menu, and you’ll have some messages to look at, as your hardware is redetected (as you are back from 1 CPU to 4 CPUs) ‘Getting devices ready, blank then %xx, with occasional blank screen, for the graphics driver, (fast-ish) Getting Ready message (fast) You will have to suffer one final reboots, choose 'Windows 8.1' and you can now login to a lovely Windows 8.1 start screen running on non virtualized hardware via boot to VHD After checking everything is running fine, you can now choose to Activate Windows, which for me was a toll free phone call to the automated system where you type in lots of numbers to be given a whole bunch of new activation codes. Once you’re happy with your new Windows 8.1 boot to VHD, and no longer need the Windows 8 boot to VHD, feel free to delete the old one.  I do believe once you upgrade, you are no longer licensed to use it anyway. There, that was simple wasn’t it? Looking at the huge list of steps it took to perform this upgrade, you may wonder whether I think this is worth it.  Well, I think it is worth booting to VHD.  It makes backups a snap (go to Windows 7, copy the VHD, you backed up the o/s) and helps with disk management – want to move the o/s, you can move the VHD and repoint the boot menu to the new location. The downside is that Microsoft has complete neglected to support boot to VHD as an upgradable option.  Quite a poor decision in my opinion, and if you read twitter and the forums quite a few people agree with that view.  It’s a shame this got missed in the work on creating the upgrade packages for Windows 8.1.

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• Soapi.CS : A fully relational fluent .NET Stack Exchange API client library

  - by Sky Sanders

  Soapi.CS for .Net / Silverlight / Windows Phone 7 / Mono as easy as breathing...: var context = new ApiContext(apiKey).Initialize(false); Question thisPost = context.Official .StackApps .Questions.ById(386) .WithComments(true) .First(); Console.WriteLine(thisPost.Title); thisPost .Owner .Questions .PageSize(5) .Sort(PostSort.Votes) .ToList() .ForEach(q=> { Console.WriteLine("\t" + q.Score + "\t" + q.Title); q.Timeline.ToList().ForEach(t=> Console.WriteLine("\t\t" + t.TimelineType + "\t" + t.Owner.DisplayName)); Console.WriteLine(); }); // if you can think it, you can get it. Output Soapi.CS : A fully relational fluent .NET Stack Exchange API client library 21 Soapi.CS : A fully relational fluent .NET Stack Exchange API client library Revision code poet Revision code poet Votes code poet Votes code poet Revision code poet Revision code poet Revision code poet Votes code poet Votes code poet Votes code poet Revision code poet Revision code poet Revision code poet Revision code poet Revision code poet Revision code poet Revision code poet Revision code poet Revision code poet Revision code poet Votes code poet Comment code poet Revision code poet Votes code poet Revision code poet Revision code poet Revision code poet Answer code poet Revision code poet Revision code poet 14 SOAPI-WATCH: A realtime service that notifies subscribers via twitter when the API changes in any way. Votes code poet Revision code poet Votes code poet Comment code poet Comment code poet Comment code poet Votes lfoust Votes code poet Comment code poet Comment code poet Comment code poet Comment code poet Revision code poet Comment lfoust Votes code poet Revision code poet Votes code poet Votes lfoust Votes code poet Revision code poet Comment Dave DeLong Revision code poet Revision code poet Votes code poet Comment lfoust Comment Dave DeLong Comment lfoust Comment lfoust Comment Dave DeLong Revision code poet 11 SOAPI-EXPLORE: Self-updating single page JavaSript API test harness Votes code poet Votes code poet Votes code poet Votes code poet Votes code poet Comment code poet Revision code poet Votes code poet Revision code poet Revision code poet Revision code poet Comment code poet Revision code poet Votes code poet Comment code poet Question code poet Votes code poet 11 Soapi.JS V1.0: fluent JavaScript wrapper for the StackOverflow API Comment George Edison Comment George Edison Comment George Edison Comment George Edison Comment George Edison Comment George Edison Answer George Edison Votes code poet Votes code poet Votes code poet Votes code poet Revision code poet Revision code poet Answer code poet Comment code poet Revision code poet Comment code poet Comment code poet Comment code poet Revision code poet Revision code poet Votes code poet Votes code poet Votes code poet Votes code poet Comment code poet Comment code poet Comment code poet Comment code poet Comment code poet 9 SOAPI-DIFF: Your app broke? Check SOAPI-DIFF to find out what changed in the API Votes code poet Revision code poet Comment Dennis Williamson Answer Dennis Williamson Votes code poet Votes Dennis Williamson Comment code poet Question code poet Votes code poet About A robust, fully relational, easy to use, strongly typed, end-to-end StackOverflow API Client Library. Out of the box, Soapi provides you with a robust client library that abstracts away most all of the messy details of consuming the API and lets you concentrate on implementing your ideas. A few features include: A fully relational model of the API data set exposed via a fully 'dot navigable' IEnumerable (LINQ) implementation. Simply tell Soapi what you want and it will get it for you. e.g. "On my first question, from the author of the first comment, get the first page of comments by that person on any post" my.Questions.First().Comments.First().Owner.Comments.ToList(); (yes this is a real expression that returns the data as expressed!) Full coverage of the API, all routes and all parameters with an intuitive syntax. Strongly typed Domain Data Objects for all API data structures. Eager and Lazy Loading of 'stub' objects. Eager\Lazy loading may be disabled. When finer grained control of requests is desired, the core RouteMap objects may be leveraged to request data from any of the API paths using all available parameters as documented on the help pages. A rich Asynchronous implementation. A configurable request cache to reduce unnecessary network traffic and to simplify your usage logic. There is no need to go out of your way to be frugal. You may set a distinct cache duration for any particular route. A configurable request throttle to ensure compliance with the api terms of usage and to simplify your code in that you do not have to worry about and respond to 50X errors. The RequestCache and Throttled Queue are thread-safe, so can make as many requests as you like from as many threads as you like as fast as you like and not worry about abusing the api or having to write reams of management/compensation code. Configurable retry threshold that will, by default, make up to 3 attempts to retrieve a request before failing. Every request made by Soapi is properly formed and directed so most any http error will be the result of a timeout or other network infrastructure. A retry buffer provides a level of fault tolerance that you can rely on. An almost identical javascript library, Soapi.JS, and it's full figured big brother, Soapi.JS2, that will enable you to leverage your server cycles and bandwidth for only those tasks that require it and offload things like status updates to the client's browser. License Licensed GPL Version 2 license. Why is Soapi.CS GPL? Can I get an LGPL license for Soapi.CS? (hint: probably) Platforms .NET 3.5 .NET 4.0 Silverlight 3 Silverlight 4 Windows Phone 7 Mono Download Source code lives @ http://soapics.codeplex.com. Binary releases are forthcoming. codeplex is acting up again. get the source and binaries @ http://bitbucket.org/bitpusher/soapi.cs/downloads The source is C# 3.5. and includes projects and solutions for the following IDEs Visual Studio 2008 Visual Studio 2010 ModoDevelop 2.4 Documentation Full documentation is available at http://soapi.info/help/cs/index.aspx Sample Code / Usage Examples Sample code and usage examples will be added as answers to this question. Full API Coverage all API routes are covered Full Parameter Parity If the API exposes it, Soapi giftwraps it for you. Building a simple app with Soapi.CS - a simple app that gathers all traces of a user in the whole stackiverse. Fluent Configuration - Setting up a Soapi.ApiContext could not be easier Bulk Data Import - A tiny app that quickly loads a SQLite data file with all users in the stackiverse. Paged Results - Soapi.CS transparently handles multi-page operations. Asynchronous Requests - Soapi.CS provides a rich asynchronous model that is especially useful when writing api apps in Silverlight or Windows Phone 7. Caching and Throttling - how and why Apps that use Soapi.CS Soapi.FindUser - .net utility for locating a user anywhere in the stackiverse Soapi.Explore - The entire API at your command Soapi.LastSeen - List users by last access time Add your app/site here - I know you are out there ;-) if you are not comfortable editing this post, simply add a comment and I will add it. The CS/SL/WP7/MONO libraries all compile the same code and with the exception of environmental considerations of Silverlight, the code samples are valid for all libraries. You may also find guidance in the test suites. More information on the SOAPI eco-system. Contact This library is currently the effort of me, Sky Sanders (code poet) and can be reached at gmail - sky.sanders Any who are interested in improving this library are welcome. Support Soapi You can help support this project by voting for Soapi's Open Source Ad post For more information about the origins of Soapi.CS and the rest of the Soapi eco-system see What is Soapi and why should I care?

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• SQL Azure Reporting Limited CTP Arrived

  - by Shaun

  It’s about 3 months later when I registered the SQL Azure Reporting CTP on the Microsoft Connect after TechED 2010 China. Today when I checked my mailbox I found that the SQL Azure team had just accepted my request and sent the activation code over to me. So let’s have a look on the new SQL Azure Reporting.   Concept The SQL Azure Reporting provides cloud-based reporting as a service, built on SQL Server Reporting Services and SQL Azure technologies. Cloud-based reporting solutions such as SQL Azure Reporting provide many benefits, including rapid provisioning, cost-effective scalability, high availability, and reduced management overhead for report servers; and secure access, viewing, and management of reports. By using the SQL Azure Reporting service, we can do: Embed the Visual Studio Report Viewer ADO.NET Ajax control or Windows Form control to view the reports deployed on SQL Azure Reporting Service in our web or desktop application. Leverage the SQL Azure Reporting SOAP API to manage and retrieve the report content from any kinds of application. Use the SQL Azure Reporting Service Portal to navigate and view the reports deployed on the cloud. Since the SQL Azure Reporting was built based on the SQL Server 2008 R2 Reporting Service, we can use any tools we are familiar with, such as the SQL Server Integration Studio, Visual Studio Report Viewer. The SQL Azure Reporting Service runs as a remote SQL Server Reporting Service just on the cloud rather than on a server besides us.   Establish a New SQL Azure Reporting Let’s move to the windows azure deveploer portal and click the Reporting item from the left side navigation bar. If you don’t have the activation code you can click the Sign Up button to send a requirement to the Microsoft Connect. Since I already recieved the received code mail I clicked the Provision button. Then after agree the terms of the service I will select the subscription for where my SQL Azure Reporting CTP should be provisioned. In this case I selected my free Windows Azure Pass subscription. Then the final step, paste the activation code and enter the password of our SQL Azure Reporting Service. The user name of the SQL Azure Reporting will be generated by SQL Azure automatically. After a while the new SQL Azure Reporting Server will be shown on our developer portal. The Reporting Service URL and the user name will be shown as well. We can reset the password from the toolbar button.   Deploy Report to SQL Azure Reporting If you are familiar with SQL Server Reporting Service you will find this part will be very similar with what you know and what you did before. Firstly we open the SQL Server Business Intelligence Development Studio and create a new Report Server Project. Then we will create a shared data source where the report data will be retrieved from. This data source can be SQL Azure but we can use local SQL Server or other database if it opens the port up. In this case we use a SQL Azure database located in the same data center of our reporting service. In the Credentials tab page we entered the user name and password to this SQL Azure database. The SQL Azure Reporting CTP only available at the North US Data Center now so that the related SQL Server and hosted service might be better to select the same data center to avoid the external data transfer fee. Then we create a very simple report, just retrieve all records from a table named Members and have a table in the report to list them. In the data source selection step we choose the shared data source we created before, then enter the T-SQL to select all records from the Member table, then put all fields into the table columns. The report will be like this as following In order to deploy the report onto the SQL Azure Reporting Service we need to update the project property. Right click the project node from the solution explorer and select the property item. In the Target Server URL item we will specify the reporting server URL of our SQL Azure Reporting. We can go back to the developer portal and select the reporting node from the left side, then copy the Web Service URL and paste here. But notice that we need to append “/reportserver” after pasted. Then just click the Deploy menu item in the context menu of the project, the Visual Studio will compile the report and then upload to the reporting service accordingly. In this step we will be prompted to input the user name and password of our SQL Azure Reporting Service. We can get the user name from the developer portal, just next to the Web Service URL in the SQL Azure Reporting page. And the password is the one we specified when created the reporting service. After about one minute the report will be deployed succeed.   View the Report in Browser SQL Azure Reporting allows us to view the reports which deployed on the cloud from a standard browser. We copied the Web Service URL from the reporting service main page and appended “/reportserver” in HTTPS protocol then we will have the SQL Azure Reporting Service login page. After entered the user name and password of the SQL Azure Reporting Service we can see the directories and reports listed. Click the report will launch the Report Viewer to render the report.   View Report in a Web Role with the Report Viewer The ASP.NET and Windows Form Report Viewer works well with the SQL Azure Reporting Service as well. We can create a ASP.NET Web Role and added the Report Viewer control in the default page. What we need to change to the report viewer are Change the Processing Mode to Remote. Specify the Report Server URL under the Server Remote category to the URL of the SQL Azure Reporting Web Service URL with “/reportserver” appended. Specify the Report Path to the report which we want to display. The report name should NOT include the extension name. For example my report was in the SqlAzureReportingTest project and named MemberList.rdl then the report path should be /SqlAzureReportingTest/MemberList. And the next one is to specify the SQL Azure Reporting Credentials. We can use the following class to wrap the report server credential. 1: private class ReportServerCredentials : IReportServerCredentials 2: { 3: private string _userName; 4: private string _password; 5: private string _domain; 6:  7: public ReportServerCredentials(string userName, string password, string domain) 8: { 9: _userName = userName; 10: _password = password; 11: _domain = domain; 12: } 13:  14: public WindowsIdentity ImpersonationUser 15: { 16: get 17: { 18: return null; 19: } 20: } 21:  22: public ICredentials NetworkCredentials 23: { 24: get 25: { 26: return null; 27: } 28: } 29:  30: public bool GetFormsCredentials(out Cookie authCookie, out string user, out string password, out string authority) 31: { 32: authCookie = null; 33: user = _userName; 34: password = _password; 35: authority = _domain; 36: return true; 37: } 38: } And then in the Page_Load method, pass it to the report viewer. 1: protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e) 2: { 3: ReportViewer1.ServerReport.ReportServerCredentials = new ReportServerCredentials( 4: "<user name>", 5: "<password>", 6: "<sql azure reporting web service url>"); 7: } Finally deploy it to Windows Azure and enjoy the report.   Summary In this post I introduced the SQL Azure Reporting CTP which had just available. Likes other features in Windows Azure, the SQL Azure Reporting is very similar with the SQL Server Reporting. As you can see in this post we can use the existing and familiar tools to build and deploy the reports and display them on a website. But the SQL Azure Reporting is just in the CTP stage which means It is free. There’s no support for it. Only available at the North US Data Center. You can get more information about the SQL Azure Reporting CTP from the links following SQL Azure Reporting Limited CTP at MSDN SQL Azure Reporting Samples at TechNet Wiki You can download the solutions and the projects used in this post here.   Hope this helps, Shaun All documents and related graphics, codes are provided "AS IS" without warranty of any kind. Copyright © Shaun Ziyan Xu. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons License.

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