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  • Redeploy using Active Directory

    - by Noam Gal
    I am trying to use group policy to deploy our msi through AD. For some strange reason, when I overwrite the msi with a newer version, and then go to the policy, and click on "Redeploy Application", the application gets uninstalled on the users' machines, and all reg keys, binaries and shortcuts are gone from them. The "Add/Remove Programs" still contain the application entry. I have managed to create a minimal vdproj that does nothing but write its current Product Version to a registry key, and created two versions of it (1.0.0 and 1.1.0). I still face the same problems when using this msi in my AD environment. I did check that my Package Codes and Product Codes are different for both versions, and that the Upgrade Codes are identical. I also checked the RemovePreviousVersion to true. Checking with some other msi (firefox 3.0.0 and 3.6.3) I downloaded from a site specifically for AD deploy, it worked just as expected (first installing the 3.0.0, then I over-written the msi, and clicked on "Redeploy", and the users got 3.6.3 after the next log-off-log-on). What am I missing here?

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  • SeLinux blocking connection to sshd on Ubuntu 9.10

    - by Barton Chittenden
    When I try to log on to my laptop, which runs Ubuntu 9.10, the server rejects my login attempts. Checking /var/log/auth.log, I see the following: Feb 14 12:41:16 tiger-laptop sshd[6798]: error: ssh_selinux_getctxbyname: Failed to get default SELinux security context for tiger I googled for this, and ran across the following: http://www.spinics.net/lists/fedora-.../msg13049.html Here's the part that I think relates to the problem that I'm having: Quote: What's wrong on my system? Why it's not possible to login even if selinux is in permissive mode? Any suggestions? I'd start by trying to figure out why sshd isn't running in sshd_t (it seems to be running in sysadm_t). Paul. selinux mailing list selinux@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mail...stinfo/selinux Yes, sshd is running in sysadm_t: ps axZ | grep sshd system_u:system_r:sysadm_t 3632 ? Ss 0:00 /usr/sbin/sshd -o PidFile=/var/run/sshd.init.pi ls -Z /usr/sbin/sshd system_ubject_r:sshd_exec_t /usr/sbin/sshd Don't know why it's not sshd_t. I didn't modified something. It's a standard installation of sles11 with the default reference policy from tresys. Maybe this code snippet from policy/modules/services/ssh.te is responsible for that: Allow ssh logins as sysadm_r:sysadm_t gen_tunable(ssh_sysadm_login, true) Any ideas? Do you have boolean init_upstart set to on? if not try setting it to on. I do not believe ssh_sysadm_login boolean works currently but i may be mistaken. -- Yeah, setting init_upstart to on did the trick! THANK A LOT! Do you know why this prevents the user from logging in through ssh even if selinux is set to permissive?? Ok, so the million dollar question is "where do I set 'init_upstart=1'"? It's not clear from context which configuration file needs to be edited, and I'm not at all familiar with SELinux configuration.

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  • Apache Mod SVN Access Forbidden

    - by Cerin
    How do you resolve the error svn: access to '/repos/!svn/vcc/default' forbidden? I recently upgraded a Fedora 13 server to 16, and now I'm trying to debug an access error with a Subversion server running on using Apache with mod_dav_svn. Running: svn ls http://myserver/repos/myproject/trunk Lists the correct files. But when I go to commit, I get the error: svn: access to '/repos/!svn/vcc/default' forbidden My Apache virtualhost for svn is: <VirtualHost *:80> ServerName svn.mydomain.com ServerAlias svn DocumentRoot "/var/www/html" <Directory /> Options FollowSymLinks AllowOverride None </Directory> <Directory "/var/www/html"> Options Indexes FollowSymLinks AllowOverride None Order allow,deny Allow from all </Directory> <Location /repos> Order allow,deny Allow from all DAV svn SVNPath /var/svn/repos SVNAutoversioning On # Authenticate with Kerberos AuthType Kerberos AuthName "Subversion Repository" KrbAuthRealms mydomain.com Krb5KeyTab /etc/httpd/conf/krb5.HTTP.keytab # Get people from LDAP AuthLDAPUrl ldap://ldap.mydomain.com/ou=people,dc=mydomain,dc=corp?uid # For any operations other than these, require an authenticated user. <LimitExcept GET PROPFIND OPTIONS REPORT> Require valid-user </LimitExcept> </Location> </VirtualHost> What's causing this error? EDIT: In my /var/log/httpd/error_log I'm seeing a lot of these: [Fri Jun 22 13:22:51 2012] [error] [client 10.157.10.144] ModSecurity: Warning. Operator LT matched 20 at TX:inbound_anomaly_score. [file "/etc/httpd/modsecurity.d/base_rules/modsecurity_crs_60_correlation.conf"] [line "31"] [msg "Inbound Anomaly Score (Total Inbound Score: 15, SQLi=, XSS=): Method is not allowed by policy"] [hostname "svn.mydomain.com"] [uri "/repos/!svn/act/0510a2b7-9bbe-4f8c-b928-406f6ac38ff2"] [unique_id "T@Sp638DCAEBBCyGfioAAABK"] I'm not entirely sure how to read this, but I'm interpreting "Method is not allowed by policy" as meaning that there's some security Apache module that might be blocking access. How do I change this?

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  • iptables to block VPN-traffic if not through tun0

    - by dacrow
    I have a dedicated Webserver running Debian 6 and some Apache, Tomcat, Asterisk and Mail-stuff. Now we needed to add VPN support for a special program. We installed OpenVPN and registered with a VPN provider. The connection works well and we have a virtual tun0 interface for tunneling. To archive the goal for only tunneling a single program through VPN, we start the program with sudo -u username -g groupname command and added a iptables rule to mark all traffic coming from groupname iptables -t mangle -A OUTPUT -m owner --gid-owner groupname -j MARK --set-mark 42 Afterwards we tell iptables to to some SNAT and tell ip route to use special routing table for marked traffic packets. Problem: if the VPN failes, there is a chance that the special to-be-tunneled program communicates over the normal eth0 interface. Desired solution: All marked traffic should not be allowed to go directly through eth0, it has to go through tun0 first. I tried the following commands which didn't work: iptables -A OUTPUT -m owner --gid-owner groupname ! -o tun0 -j REJECT iptables -A OUTPUT -m owner --gid-owner groupname -o eth0 -j REJECT It might be the problem, that the above iptable-rules didn't work due to the fact, that the packets are first marked, then put into tun0 and then transmitted by eth0 while they are still marked.. I don't know how to de-mark them after in tun0 or to tell iptables, that all marked packet may pass eth0, if they where in tun0 before or if they going to the gateway of my VPN provider. Does someone has any idea to a solution? Some config infos: iptables -nL -v --line-numbers -t mangle Chain OUTPUT (policy ACCEPT 11M packets, 9798M bytes) num pkts bytes target prot opt in out source destination 1 591K 50M MARK all -- * * 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0 owner GID match 1005 MARK set 0x2a 2 82812 6938K CONNMARK all -- * * 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0 owner GID match 1005 CONNMARK save iptables -nL -v --line-numbers -t nat Chain POSTROUTING (policy ACCEPT 393 packets, 23908 bytes) num pkts bytes target prot opt in out source destination 1 15 1052 SNAT all -- * tun0 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0 mark match 0x2a to:VPN_IP ip rule add from all fwmark 42 lookup 42 ip route show table 42 default via VPN_IP dev tun0

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  • Powershell script to delete secondary SMTP addresses of Exchange 2010 Mail Contacts

    - by Zero Subnet
    I have a few thousand Exchange 2010 Mail Contacts who get erroneously assigned internal SMTP addresses by the default recipient policy. I'm trying to use the following command to delete these addresses (keeping the primary SMTP) and disabling the automatic update from recipient policy so the SMTP addresses don't get recreated again. Get-MailContact -OrganizationalUnit "domain.local/OU" -Filter {EmailAddresses -like *@domain.local -and name -notlike "ExchangeUM*"} -ResultSize unlimited -IgnoreDefaultScope | foreach {$contact = $_; $email = $contact.emailaddresses; $email | foreach {if ($_.smtpaddress -like *@domain.local) {$address = $_.smtpaddress; write-host "Removing address" $address "from Contact" $contact.name; Set-Mailcontact -Identity $contact.identity -EmailAddresses @{Remove=$address}; $contact | set-mailcontact -emailaddresspolicyenabled $false} }} I'm getting the following error though: You must provide a value expression on the right-hand side of the '-like' operator. At line:1 char:312 + Get-MailContact -OrganizationalUnit "domain.local/testou" -Filter {EmailAddresses -like "@domain.local" -and name -notlike "ExchangeUM"} -ResultSize unlimited -IgnoreDefaultScope | foreach {$contact = $; $ email = $contact.emailaddresses; $email | foreach {if ($.smtpaddress -like <<<< *@domain.local) {$address = $_.smt paddress; write-host "Removing address" $address "from Contact" $contact.name; Set-Mailcontact -Identity $contact.ident ity -EmailAddresses @{Remove=$address}; $contact }} + CategoryInfo : ParserError: (:) [], ParentContainsErrorRecordException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : ExpectedValueExpression Any help as to how to fix this?

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  • How do I configure VMware View location-based printing to use Active Directory Groups?

    - by Jason Pearce
    I am attempting to configure VMware View 4.5's Location-Based Printing, which leverages an included OEM version of ThinPrint, to assign printers to active directory groups. The location-based printing feature maps printers that are physically near client systems to VMware View desktops. I am using the Active Directory group policy setting AutoConnect Location-based Printing for VMware View, which is located in the Microsoft Group Policy Object Editor in the Software Settings folder under Computer Configuration. The AutoConnect Location-based Printing for VMware View appearst to be just a name translation table. It permits me to assign a specific printer or printers to an IP Range, Client Name, Mac Address, User, or User Group. I'm attempting to assign printers to active directory user groups. I have created a new active directory group for each printer that I intend to use in VMware View desktop pools. I will then assign active directory users to the active directory groups that represent each network printer. Example: doej is a member of the PTR-FLOOR2-NORTH-ROOM255 active directory group. Using AutoConnect, I assigned the group to receive a network printer by adding PTR-FLOOR2-NORTH-ROOM255 in the User/Group column. Problem: When doej logs in to his VDI session, the printer is not present. However, if I use a wildcard "*" in the User/Group column instead of the specific PTR-FLOOR2-NORTH-ROOM255 active directory group, the printer is present and functions as designed. Alternatives: I have tried assigning printers to active directory groups within AutoConnect in the following ways, all unsuccesfull: PTR-FLOOR2-NORTH-ROOM255 domainexample\PTR-FLOOR2-NORTH-ROOM255 domainexample.local\PTR-FLOOR2-NORTH-ROOM255 Confirmation: The information used to map the printer to the VMware View desktop is stored in a registry entry on the View desktop in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\thinprint\tpautoconnect. For each of these examples, I have reviewed the registry entry and can confirm that the desktop is receiving the information from the AutoConnect translation table. Summary: Can anyone provide an example of how to configure VMware View 4.5's Location-Based Printing so that I may assign network printers to active directory groups via the included AutoConnect tool? I would welcome a clear example of a working configuration. Thank you.

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  • iptables firewall rules not allowing ssh from lan to DMZ

    - by ageis23
    Chain INPUT (policy ACCEPT) target prot opt source destination REJECT tcp -- anywhere anywhere tcp dpt:www reject-with tcp-reset REJECT tcp -- anywhere anywhere tcp dpt:telnet reject-with tcp-reset ACCEPT 0 -- anywhere anywhere state RELATED,ESTABLISHED DROP udp -- anywhere anywhere udp dpt:route DROP udp -- anywhere anywhere udp dpt:route ACCEPT udp -- anywhere anywhere udp dpt:route logdrop icmp -- anywhere anywhere logdrop igmp -- anywhere anywhere ACCEPT udp -- anywhere anywhere udp dpt:5060 ACCEPT 0 -- anywhere anywhere state NEW logaccept 0 -- anywhere anywhere state NEW ACCEPT 0 -- anywhere anywhere ACCEPT 0 -- anywhere anywhere ACCEPT 0 -- anywhere anywhere logdrop 0 -- anywhere anywhere Chain FORWARD (policy ACCEPT) target prot opt source destination REJECT 0 -- 192.168.0.0/24 192.168.2.0/24 reject-with icmp-port-unreachable ACCEPT tcp -- choister 192.168.2.142 tcp dpt:ssh state NEW REJECT 0 -- 192.168.0.0/24 192.168.3.0/24 reject-with icmp-port-unreachable ACCEPT gre -- 192.168.1.0/24 anywhere ACCEPT tcp -- 192.168.1.0/24 anywhere tcp dpt:1723 ACCEPT 0 -- anywhere anywhere ACCEPT 0 -- anywhere anywhere ACCEPT 0 -- anywhere anywhere ACCEPT 0 -- anywhere anywhere TCPMSS tcp -- anywhere anywhere tcp flags:SYN,RST/SYN TCPMSS clamp to PMTU lan2wan 0 -- anywhere anywhere ACCEPT 0 -- anywhere anywhere state RELATED,ESTABLISHED logaccept tcp -- anywhere choister tcp dpt:www TRIGGER 0 -- anywhere anywhere TRIGGER type:in match:0 relate:0 trigger_out 0 -- anywhere anywhere logaccept 0 -- anywhere anywhere state NEW logdrop 0 -- anywhere anywhere The ssh server I'm trying to connect to is in the DMZ(192.168.0.145). It's mainly used as a web server. I need access to it from my room 192.168.2.142. I don't get why ssh can't forward onto the 192.168.2.0 subnet? I'm sure it's the reject rule that causing this because it works without it.

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  • iptables drops some packets on port 80 and i don't know the cause.

    - by Janning
    Hi, We are running a firewall with iptables on our Debian Lenny system. I show you only the relevant entries of our firewall. Chain INPUT (policy DROP 0 packets, 0 bytes) target prot opt in out source destination ACCEPT all -- lo * 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0 ACCEPT all -- * * 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0 state RELATED,ESTABLISHED ACCEPT tcp -- * * 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0 tcp dpt:80 state NEW Chain OUTPUT (policy DROP 0 packets, 0 bytes) target prot opt in out source destination ACCEPT all -- * lo 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0 ACCEPT all -- * * 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0 state RELATED,ESTABLISHED LOGDROP all -- * * 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0 Some packets get dropped each day with log messages like this: Feb 5 15:11:02 host1 kernel: [104332.409003] dropped IN= OUT=eth0 SRC= DST= LEN=1420 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=64 ID=18576 DF PROTO=TCP SPT=80 DPT=59327 WINDOW=54 RES=0x00 ACK URGP=0 for privacy reasons I replaced IP Addresses with and This is no reason for any concern, but I just want to understand what's happening. The web server tries to send a packet to the client, but the firewall somehow came to the conclusion that this packet is "UNRELATED" to any prior traffic. I have set a kernel parameter ip_conntrack_ma to a high enough value to be sure to get all connections tracked by iptables state module: sysctl -w net.ipv4.netfilter.ip_conntrack_max=524288 What's funny about that is I get one connection drop every 20 minutes: 06:34:54 droppedIN= 06:52:10 droppedIN= 07:10:48 droppedIN= 07:30:55 droppedIN= 07:51:29 droppedIN= 08:10:47 droppedIN= 08:31:00 droppedIN= 08:50:52 droppedIN= 09:10:50 droppedIN= 09:30:52 droppedIN= 09:50:49 droppedIN= 10:11:00 droppedIN= 10:30:50 droppedIN= 10:50:56 droppedIN= 11:10:53 droppedIN= 11:31:00 droppedIN= 11:50:49 droppedIN= 12:10:49 droppedIN= 12:30:50 droppedIN= 12:50:51 droppedIN= 13:10:49 droppedIN= 13:30:57 droppedIN= 13:51:01 droppedIN= 14:11:12 droppedIN= 14:31:32 droppedIN= 14:50:59 droppedIN= 15:11:02 droppedIN= That's from today, but on other days it looks like this, too (sometimes the rate varies). What might be the reason? Any help is greatly appreciated. kind regards Janning

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  • File permissions on web server

    - by plua
    I have just read this useful article on files permissions, and I am about to implement a as-strict-as-possible file permissions policy on our webserver. Our situation: we have a web server accessed through sftp by different users from within our company, and we have the general public accessing Apache - sometimes uploading files through PHP. I distinguish folders and files by their use. So based on this reading, here is my plan: All people who need to upload files will have separate users. But all of those users will belong to two groups: uploaders, and webserver. Apache will belong to the group webserver. Directories Permission: 771 Owner: user:uploaders Explanation: to access files in the folder, everybody needs to have execute permission. Only uploaders will be adding/removing files, so they also get r+w permission. Files within the web-root Permission: 664 Owner: user:uploaders Explanation: they will be uploaded and changed by different users, so both owner and group need to have w+r permissions. Webserver needs to only read files, so r permission only. Upload-directories Permission: 771 Owner: user:webserver Explanation: when files need to be uploaded, Apache needs to be able to write to this directory. But I figure it is safer to change the owner to webroot, thus giving Apache sufficient privileges (and all uploaders also belong to this group and will have the same permissions), while safeguarding from "others" writing to this folder. Uploaded files Permission: 664 Owner: user:webserver Explanation: after uploading Apache might need to delete files, but this is no problem because they have w+r permission of the folder. So no need to make this file any more accessible than r access for group. Being not an expert on file permissions, my question is whether or not this is the best possible policy for our situation? Any suggestions welcome.

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  • Uploads fail with shorewall enabled

    - by JamesArmes
    I have an Ubuntu 8.04 server with shorewall 4.0.6 installed. When I try to upload files using FTP, SCP, or cURL the file upload stalls almost immediatly and eventually times out. If I turn off shorewall then the uploads work fine. I don't have any rules that specifically allow FTP and I'm not too concerned with it, but I do need to be able to upload via 22 (SCP) and 80 & 443 (cURL). This is what my rules look like: COMMENT Allow Server to respond to any web (80) and SSL (443) requests ACCEPT net $FW tcp 80 ACCEPT $FW net tcp 80 ACCEPT net $FW tcp 443 ACCEPT $FW net tcp 443 COMMENT Allow Server to respond to SNMPD (161) requests ACCEPT net $FW udp 161 COMMENT Allow Server to respond to MySQL (3306) requests (for MySQL Graphing) ACCEPT net $FW tcp 3306 COMMENT Allow Server to respond to any SSH connection attempts, and to SSH out. SSH/ACCEPT net $FW SSH/ACCEPT $FW net COMMENT Allow Server to make DNS Requests out. DNS/ACCEPT $FW net COMMENT Default "close" anything else. Ping/REJECT net $FW ACCEPT $FW net icmp #LAST LINE -- ADD YOUR ENTRIES BEFORE THIS ONE -- DO NOT REMOVE I expected the top four ACCEPT lines to allow inbound and outbound traffic over 80 and 443 and I expected the two SSH/ACCEPT lines to allow inbound and outbound trffic over 22, including SCP. Any help is greatly appreciated. /etc/shorewall/policy contains the following (all lines above are commented out): # # Allow all connection requests from teh firewall to the internet # $FW net ACCEPT # # Policies for traffic originating from the Internet zone (net) # Drop (ignore) all connection requests from the Internet to the firewall # net all DROP info # THE FOLLOWING POLICY MUST BE LAST # Reject all other connection requests all all REJECT info #LAST LINE -- ADD YOUR ENTRIES ABOVE THIS LINE -- DO NOT REMOVE

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  • How do I setup routing for two companies with different Internet connections on the same LAN?

    - by Clint Miller
    Here's the setup: Two companies (A & B) share office space and a LAN. A 2nd ISP is brought in and company A wants its own Internet connection (ISP A) and company B wants its own Internet connection (ISP B). VLANs are deployed internally to separate the two companies' networks (company A: VLAN 1, company B: VLAN 2, shared VOIP: VLAN 3). With separate VLANs it's simple enough to use separate DHCP servers (or separate scopes on the same server) to assign the default gateway to each company's gateway for their Internet connection. Static routes can be created on each gateway to point traffic destined for the other company's VLAN or the voice VLAN so that all nodes are reachable as expected. However, I think this is a form of asymmetrical routing, right? (The path from node A1 to node B1 is not the same as the path back from node B1 to node A1). Can I set up policy-based routing to correct this? In that case, can I assign the same default gateway to every device on all VLANs and create a routing policy on a L3 switch to look at the source address and forward traffic to the appropriate next hop? In that case, I want the routing logic to go like this: If the destination address is known, forward the traffic (traffic destined for a different VLAN). If the destination address is unknown, forward the traffic to ISP A's gateway if the source address is on VLAN A; or forward the traffic to ISP B's gateway if the source address is VLAN B. Am I thinking about this problem in the correct way? Is there another way to solve this problem that I am overlooking?

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  • JSON error Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException

    - by user3821853
    im trying to make a register page on android using JSON. everytime i press register button on avd, i get an error "unfortunately database has stopped". i have a error on my logcat that i cannot understand. this my code. please someone help me. this my register.java import android.app.Activity; import android.app.ProgressDialog; import android.os.AsyncTask; import android.os.Bundle; import android.util.Log; import android.view.View; import android.view.View.OnClickListener; import android.widget.Button; import android.widget.EditText; import android.widget.Toast; import org.apache.http.NameValuePair; import org.apache.http.message.BasicNameValuePair; import org.json.JSONException; import org.json.JSONObject; import java.util.ArrayList; import java.util.List; public class Register extends Activity implements OnClickListener{ private EditText user, pass; private Button mRegister; // Progress Dialog private ProgressDialog pDialog; // JSON parser class JSONParser jsonParser = new JSONParser(); //php register script //localhost : //testing on your device //put your local ip instead, on windows, run CMD > ipconfig //or in mac's terminal type ifconfig and look for the ip under en0 or en1 // private static final String REGISTER_URL = "http://xxx.xxx.x.x:1234/webservice/register.php"; //testing on Emulator: private static final String REGISTER_URL = "http://10.0.2.2:1234/webservice/register.php"; //testing from a real server: //private static final String REGISTER_URL = "http://www.mybringback.com/webservice/register.php"; //ids private static final String TAG_SUCCESS = "success"; private static final String TAG_MESSAGE = "message"; @Override protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) { // TODO Auto-generated method stub super.onCreate(savedInstanceState); setContentView(R.layout.register); user = (EditText)findViewById(R.id.username); pass = (EditText)findViewById(R.id.password); mRegister = (Button)findViewById(R.id.register); mRegister.setOnClickListener(this); } @Override public void onClick(View v) { // TODO Auto-generated method stub new CreateUser().execute(); } class CreateUser extends AsyncTask<String, String, String> { @Override protected void onPreExecute() { super.onPreExecute(); pDialog = new ProgressDialog(Register.this); pDialog.setMessage("Creating User..."); pDialog.setIndeterminate(false); pDialog.setCancelable(true); pDialog.show(); } @Override protected String doInBackground(String... args) { // TODO Auto-generated method stub // Check for success tag int success; String username = user.getText().toString(); String password = pass.getText().toString(); try { // Building Parameters List<NameValuePair> params = new ArrayList<NameValuePair>(); params.add(new BasicNameValuePair("username", username)); params.add(new BasicNameValuePair("password", password)); Log.d("request!", "starting"); //Posting user data to script JSONObject json = jsonParser.makeHttpRequest( REGISTER_URL, "POST", params); // full json response Log.d("Registering attempt", json.toString()); // json success element success = json.getInt(TAG_SUCCESS); if (success == 1) { Log.d("User Created!", json.toString()); finish(); return json.getString(TAG_MESSAGE); }else{ Log.d("Registering Failure!", json.getString(TAG_MESSAGE)); return json.getString(TAG_MESSAGE); } } catch (JSONException e) { e.printStackTrace(); } return null; } protected void onPostExecute(String file_url) { // dismiss the dialog once product deleted pDialog.dismiss(); if (file_url != null){ Toast.makeText(Register.this, file_url, Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show(); } } } } this is JSONparser.java import android.util.Log; import org.apache.http.HttpEntity; import org.apache.http.HttpResponse; import org.apache.http.NameValuePair; import org.apache.http.client.ClientProtocolException; import org.apache.http.client.entity.UrlEncodedFormEntity; import org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpGet; import org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpPost; import org.apache.http.client.utils.URLEncodedUtils; import org.apache.http.impl.client.DefaultHttpClient; import org.json.JSONException; import org.json.JSONObject; import java.io.BufferedReader; import java.io.IOException; import java.io.InputStream; import java.io.InputStreamReader; import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException; import java.util.List; public class JSONParser { static InputStream is = null; static JSONObject jObj = null; static String json = ""; // constructor public JSONParser() { } public JSONObject getJSONFromUrl(final String url) { // Making HTTP request try { // Construct the client and the HTTP request. DefaultHttpClient httpClient = new DefaultHttpClient(); HttpPost httpPost = new HttpPost(url); // Execute the POST request and store the response locally. HttpResponse httpResponse = httpClient.execute(httpPost); // Extract data from the response. HttpEntity httpEntity = httpResponse.getEntity(); // Open an inputStream with the data content. is = httpEntity.getContent(); } catch (UnsupportedEncodingException e) { e.printStackTrace(); } catch (ClientProtocolException e) { e.printStackTrace(); } catch (IOException e) { e.printStackTrace(); } try { // Create a BufferedReader to parse through the inputStream. BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader( is, "iso-8859-1"), 8); // Declare a string builder to help with the parsing. StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(); // Declare a string to store the JSON object data in string form. String line = null; // Build the string until null. while ((line = reader.readLine()) != null) { sb.append(line + "\n"); } // Close the input stream. is.close(); // Convert the string builder data to an actual string. json = sb.toString(); } catch (Exception e) { Log.e("Buffer Error", "Error converting result " + e.toString()); } // Try to parse the string to a JSON object try { jObj = new JSONObject(json); } catch (JSONException e) { Log.e("JSON Parser", "Error parsing data " + e.toString()); } // Return the JSON Object. return jObj; } // function get json from url // by making HTTP POST or GET mehtod public JSONObject makeHttpRequest(String url, String method, List<NameValuePair> params) { // Making HTTP request try { // check for request method if(method == "POST"){ // request method is POST // defaultHttpClient DefaultHttpClient httpClient = new DefaultHttpClient(); HttpPost httpPost = new HttpPost(url); httpPost.setEntity(new UrlEncodedFormEntity(params)); HttpResponse httpResponse = httpClient.execute(httpPost); HttpEntity httpEntity = httpResponse.getEntity(); is = httpEntity.getContent(); }else if(method == "GET"){ // request method is GET DefaultHttpClient httpClient = new DefaultHttpClient(); String paramString = URLEncodedUtils.format(params, "utf-8"); url += "?" + paramString; HttpGet httpGet = new HttpGet(url); HttpResponse httpResponse = httpClient.execute(httpGet); HttpEntity httpEntity = httpResponse.getEntity(); is = httpEntity.getContent(); } } catch (UnsupportedEncodingException e) { e.printStackTrace(); } catch (ClientProtocolException e) { e.printStackTrace(); } catch (IOException e) { e.printStackTrace(); } try { BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader( is, "iso-8859-1"), 8); StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(); String line = null; while ((line = reader.readLine()) != null) { sb.append(line + "\n"); } is.close(); json = sb.toString(); } catch (Exception e) { Log.e("Buffer Error", "Error converting result " + e.toString()); } // try parse the string to a JSON object try { jObj = new JSONObject(json); } catch (JSONException e) { Log.e("JSON Parser", "Error parsing data " + e.toString()); } // return JSON String return jObj; } } and this my error 08-18 23:40:02.381 2000-2018/com.example.blackcustomzier.database E/Buffer Error? Error converting result java.lang.NullPointerException: lock == null 08-18 23:40:02.381 2000-2018/com.example.blackcustomzier.database E/JSON Parser? Error parsing data org.json.JSONException: End of input at character 0 of 08-18 23:40:02.391 2000-2018/com.example.blackcustomzier.database W/dalvikvm? threadid=15: thread exiting with uncaught exception (group=0xb0f37648) 08-18 23:40:02.391 2000-2018/com.example.blackcustomzier.database E/AndroidRuntime? FATAL EXCEPTION: AsyncTask #4 java.lang.RuntimeException: An error occured while executing doInBackground() at android.os.AsyncTask$3.done(AsyncTask.java:299) at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.finishCompletion(FutureTask.java:352) at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.setException(FutureTask.java:219) at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:239) at android.os.AsyncTask$SerialExecutor$1.run(AsyncTask.java:230) at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1080) at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:573) at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:841) Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException at com.example.blackcustomzier.database.Register$CreateUser.doInBackground(Register.java:108) at com.example.blackcustomzier.database.Register$CreateUser.doInBackground(Register.java:74) at android.os.AsyncTask$2.call(AsyncTask.java:287) at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:234)             at android.os.AsyncTask$SerialExecutor$1.run(AsyncTask.java:230)             at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1080)             at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:573)             at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:841) 08-18 23:40:02.501 2000-2000/com.example.blackcustomzier.database W/EGL_emulation? eglSurfaceAttrib not implemented 08-18 23:40:02.591 2000-2000/com.example.blackcustomzier.database W/EGL_emulation? eglSurfaceAttrib not implemented 08-18 23:40:02.981 2000-2000/com.example.blackcustomzier.database E/WindowManager? Activity com.example.blackcustomzier.database.Register has leaked window com.android.internal.policy.impl.PhoneWindow$DecorView{b1294c60 V.E..... R......D 0,0-1026,288} that was originally added here android.view.WindowLeaked: Activity com.example.blackcustomzier.database.Register has leaked window com.android.internal.policy.impl.PhoneWindow$DecorView{b1294c60 V.E..... R......D 0,0-1026,288} that was originally added here at android.view.ViewRootImpl.<init>(ViewRootImpl.java:345) at android.view.WindowManagerGlobal.addView(WindowManagerGlobal.java:239) at android.view.WindowManagerImpl.addView(WindowManagerImpl.java:69) at android.app.Dialog.show(Dialog.java:281) at com.example.blackcustomzier.database.Register$CreateUser.onPreExecute(Register.java:85) at android.os.AsyncTask.executeOnExecutor(AsyncTask.java:586) at android.os.AsyncTask.execute(AsyncTask.java:534) at com.example.blackcustomzier.database.Register.onClick(Register.java:70) at android.view.View.performClick(View.java:4240) at android.view.View.onKeyUp(View.java:7928) at android.widget.TextView.onKeyUp(TextView.java:5606) at android.view.KeyEvent.dispatch(KeyEvent.java:2647) at android.view.View.dispatchKeyEvent(View.java:7343) at android.view.ViewGroup.dispatchKeyEvent(ViewGroup.java:1393) at android.view.ViewGroup.dispatchKeyEvent(ViewGroup.java:1393) at android.view.ViewGroup.dispatchKeyEvent(ViewGroup.java:1393) at android.view.ViewGroup.dispatchKeyEvent(ViewGroup.java:1393) at com.android.internal.policy.impl.PhoneWindow$DecorView.superDispatchKeyEvent(PhoneWindow.java:1933) at com.android.internal.policy.impl.PhoneWindow.superDispatchKeyEvent(PhoneWindow.java:1408) at android.app.Activity.dispatchKeyEvent(Activity.java:2384) at com.android.internal.policy.impl.PhoneWindow$DecorView.dispatchKeyEvent(PhoneWindow.java:1860) at android.view.ViewRootImpl$ViewPostImeInputStage.processKeyEvent(ViewRootImpl.java:3791) at android.view.ViewRootImpl$ViewPostImeInputStage.onProcess(ViewRootImpl.java:3774) at android.view.ViewRootImpl$InputStage.deliver(ViewRootImpl.java:3379) at android.view.ViewRootImpl$InputStage.onDeliverToNext(ViewRootImpl.java:3429) at android.view.ViewRootImpl$InputStage.forward(ViewRootImpl.java:3398) at android.view.ViewRootImpl$AsyncInputStage.forward(ViewRootImpl.java:3483) at android.view.ViewRootImpl$InputStage.apply(ViewRootImpl.java:3406) at android.view.ViewRootImpl$AsyncInputStage.apply(ViewRootImpl.java:3540) at android.view.ViewRootImpl$InputStage.deliver(ViewRootImpl.java:3379) at android.view.ViewRootImpl$InputStage.onDeliverToNext(ViewRootImpl.java:3429) at android.view.ViewRootImpl$InputStage.forward(ViewRootImpl.java:3398) at android.view.ViewRootImpl$InputStage.apply(ViewRootImpl.java:3406) at android.view.ViewRootImpl$InputStage.deliver(ViewRootImpl.java:3379) at android.view.ViewRootImpl$InputStage.onDeliverToNext(ViewRootImpl.java:3429) at android.view.ViewRootImpl$InputStage.forward(ViewRootImpl.java:3398) at android.view.ViewRootImpl$AsyncInputStage.forward(ViewRootImpl.java:3516) at android.view.ViewRootImpl$ImeInputStage.onFinishedInputEvent(ViewRootImpl.java:3666) at android.view.inputmethod.InputMethodManager$PendingEvent.run(InputMethodManager.java:1982) at android.view.inputmethod.InputMethodManager.invokeFinishedInputEventCallback(InputMethodManager.java:1698) at android.view.inputmethod.InputMethodManager.finishedInputEvent(InputMethodManager.java:1689) at android.view.inputmethod.InputMethodManager$ImeInputEventSender.onInputEventFinished(InputMethodManager.java:1959) at android.view.InputEventSender.dispatchInputEventFinished(InputEventSender.java:141) at android.os.MessageQueue.nativePollOnce(Native Method) at android.os.MessageQueue.next(MessageQueue.java:132) at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:124) at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:5103) at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method) at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:525) at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCal please help me to solve this thx

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  • Unable to checkout svn repositories

    - by lucaghera
    I have an ubuntu 12.04 machine were apache2 is set up with SSL certificates. In the same machine there is a SVN server. It all worked great till the update to 12.04. Now I'm able to access the svn via a web-browser and also by using an eclipse plugin (subversive), but I'm not able to access the svn via command line. When I try to check out a repo from a Mac Os X client it returns: svn: E120171: Unable to connect to a repository at URL 'https://IP/svn/repo_name' svn: E120171: Error running context: An error occurred during SSL communication If I try to check out a repo from an Ubuntu client it returns: svn: OPTIONS of 'https://IP/svn/repo_name': SSL handshake failed: SSL error: A TLS warning alert has been received. (https://IP)

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  • How To Run XP Mode in VirtualBox on Windows 7 (sort of)

    - by Matthew Guay
    A few weeks ago we showed you how to run XP Mode on a Windows 7 computer without Hardware Virtualization using VMware. Some of you have been asking if it can be done in Virtual Box as well. The answer is “Yes!” and here we’ll show you how. Editor Update: Apparently there isn’t a way to activate XP Mode through VirtualBox using this method. You will however, be able to run it for 30 days. We have a new updated article on how to Install XP Mode with VirtualBox Using the VMLite Plugin.   Earlier we showed you how to run XP mode on windows 7 machines without hardware virtualization capability. Since then, a lot of you have been asking to a write up a tutorial about doing the same thing using VirtualBox.  This makes it another great way to run XP Mode if your computer does not have hardware virtualization.  Here we’ll see how to import the XP Mode from Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, or Ultimate into VirtualBox so you can run XP in it for free. Note: You need to have Windows 7 Professional or above to use XP Mode in this manner. In our tests we were able to get it to run on Home Premium as well, but you’ll be breaking Windows 7 licensing agreements. Getting Started First, download and install XP Mode (link below).  There is no need to download Virtual PC if your computer cannot run it, so just download the XP Mode from the link on the left. Install XP mode; just follow the default prompts as usual. Now, download and install VirtualBox 3.1.2 or higher(link below).  Install as normal, and simply follow the default prompts. VirtualBox may notify you that your network connection will be reset during the installation.  Press Yes to continue. During the install, you may see several popups asking you if you wish to install device drivers for USB and Network interfaces.  Simply click install, as these are needed for VirtualBox to run correctly. Setup only took a couple minutes, and doesn’t require a reboot. Setup XP Mode in VirtualBox: First we need to copy the default XP Mode so VirtualBox will not affect the original copy.  Browse to C:\Program Files\Windows XP Mode, and copy the file “Windows XP Mode base.vhd”.  Paste it in another folder of your choice, such as your Documents folder. Once you’ve copied the file, right-click on it and click Properties. Uncheck the “Read-only” box in this dialog, and then click Ok. Now, in VirtualBox, click New to create a new virtual machine. Enter the name of your virtual machine, and make sure the operating system selected is Windows XP. Choose how much memory you want to allow the virtual machine to use.  VirtualBox’ default is 192 Mb ram, but for better performance you can select 256 or 512Mb. Now, select the hard drive for the virtual machine.  Select “Use existing hard disk”, then click the folder button to choose the XP Mode virtual drive. In this window, click Add, and then browse to find the copy of XP Mode you previously made. Make sure the correct virtual drive is selected, then press Select. After selecting the VHD your screen should look like the following then click Next. Verify the settings you made are correct. If not, you can go back and make any changes. When everything looks correct click Finish. Setup XP Mode Now, in VirtualBox, click start to run XP Mode. The Windows XP in this virtual drive is not fully setup yet, so you will have to go through the setup process.   If you didn’t uncheck the “Read-only” box in the VHD properties before, you may see the following error.  If you see it, go back and check the file to makes sure it is not read-only. When you click in the virtual machine, it will capture your mouse by default.  Simply press the right Ctrl key to release your mouse so you can go back to using Windows 7.  This will only be the case during the setup process; after the Guest Additions are installed, the mouse will seamlessly move between operating systems. Now, accept the license agreement in XP.   Choose your correct locale and keyboard settings. Enter a name for your virtual XP, and an administrative password. Check the date, time, and time zone settings, and adjust them if they are incorrect.  The time and date are usually correct, but the time zone often has to be corrected. XP will now automatically finish setting up your virtual machine, and then will automatically reboot. After rebooting, select your automatic update settings. You may see a prompt to check for drivers; simply press cancel, as all the drivers we need will be installed later with the Guest Additions. Your last settings will be finalized, and finally you will see your XP desktop in VirtualBox. Please note that XP Mode may not remain activated after importing it into VirtualBox. When you activate it, use the key that is located at C:\Program Files\Windows XP Mode\key.txt.  Note: During our tests we weren’t able to get the activation to go through. We are looking into the issue and will have a revised article showing the correct way to get XP Mode in VirutalBox working correctly soon.    Now we have one final thing to install – the VirtualBox Guest Additions.  In the VirtualBox window, click “Devices” and then select “Install Guest Additions”. This should automatically launch in XP; if it doesn’t, click Start, then My Computer, and finally double-click on the CD drive which should say VirtualBox Guest Additions. Simply install with the normal presets. You can select to install an experimental 3D graphics driver if you wish to try to run games in XP in VirtualBox; however, do note that this is not fully supported and is currently a test feature. You may see a prompt informing you that the drivers have not passed Logo testing; simply press “Continue Anyway” to proceed with the installation.   When installation has completed, you will be required to reboot your virtual machine. Now, you can move your mouse directly from Windows XP to Windows 7 without pressing Ctrl. Integrating with Windows 7 Once your virtual machine is rebooted, you can integrate it with your Windows 7 desktop.  In the VirtualBox window, click Machine and then select “Seamless Mode”.   In Seamless mode you’ll have the XP Start menu and taskbar sit on top of your Windows 7 Start and Taskbar. Here we see XP running on Virtual Box in Seamless Mode. We have the old XP WordPad sitting next to the new Windows 7 version of WordPad. Another view of everything running seamlessly together on the same Windows 7 desktop. Hover the pointer over the XP taskbar to pull up the Virtual Box menu items. You can exit out of Seamless Mode from the VirtualBox menu or using “Ctrl+L”. Then you go back to having it run separately on your desktop again. Conclusion Running XP Mode in a Virtual Machine is a great way to experience the feature on computers without Hardware Virtualization capabilities. If you prefer VMware Player, then you’ll want to check out our articles on how to run XP Mode on Windows 7 machines without Hardware Virtualization, and how to create an XP Mode for Windows 7 Home Premium and Vista. Download VirtualBox Download XP Mode Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Install XP Mode with VirtualBox Using the VMLite PluginUsing Windows 7 or Vista Compatibility ModeMake Safari Stop Crashing Every 20 Seconds on Windows VistaForce Windows 7 / Vista to Boot Into Safe Mode Without Using the F8 KeyHow To Run Chrome OS in VirtualBox 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 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 PCmover Professional Enable Check Box Selection in Windows 7 OnlineOCR – Free OCR Service Betting on the Blind Side, a Vanity Fair article 30 Minimal Logo Designs that Say More with Less LEGO Digital Designer – Free Create a Personal Website Quickly using Flavors.me

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  • How To Run XP Mode in VirtualBox on Windows 7 (sort of)

    - by Matthew Guay
    A few weeks ago we showed you how to run XP Mode on a Windows 7 computer without Hardware Virtualization using VMware. Some of you have been asking if it can be done in Virtual Box as well. The answer is “Yes!” and here we’ll show you how. Editor Update: Apparently there isn’t a way to activate XP Mode through VirtualBox using this method. You will however, be able to run it for 30 days. We have a new updated article on how to Install XP Mode with VirtualBox Using the VMLite Plugin.   Earlier we showed you how to run XP mode on windows 7 machines without hardware virtualization capability. Since then, a lot of you have been asking to a write up a tutorial about doing the same thing using VirtualBox.  This makes it another great way to run XP Mode if your computer does not have hardware virtualization.  Here we’ll see how to import the XP Mode from Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, or Ultimate into VirtualBox so you can run XP in it for free. Note: You need to have Windows 7 Professional or above to use XP Mode in this manner. In our tests we were able to get it to run on Home Premium as well, but you’ll be breaking Windows 7 licensing agreements. Getting Started First, download and install XP Mode (link below).  There is no need to download Virtual PC if your computer cannot run it, so just download the XP Mode from the link on the left. Install XP mode; just follow the default prompts as usual. Now, download and install VirtualBox 3.1.2 or higher(link below).  Install as normal, and simply follow the default prompts. VirtualBox may notify you that your network connection will be reset during the installation.  Press Yes to continue. During the install, you may see several popups asking you if you wish to install device drivers for USB and Network interfaces.  Simply click install, as these are needed for VirtualBox to run correctly. Setup only took a couple minutes, and doesn’t require a reboot. Setup XP Mode in VirtualBox: First we need to copy the default XP Mode so VirtualBox will not affect the original copy.  Browse to C:\Program Files\Windows XP Mode, and copy the file “Windows XP Mode base.vhd”.  Paste it in another folder of your choice, such as your Documents folder. Once you’ve copied the file, right-click on it and click Properties. Uncheck the “Read-only” box in this dialog, and then click Ok. Now, in VirtualBox, click New to create a new virtual machine. Enter the name of your virtual machine, and make sure the operating system selected is Windows XP. Choose how much memory you want to allow the virtual machine to use.  VirtualBox’ default is 192 Mb ram, but for better performance you can select 256 or 512Mb. Now, select the hard drive for the virtual machine.  Select “Use existing hard disk”, then click the folder button to choose the XP Mode virtual drive. In this window, click Add, and then browse to find the copy of XP Mode you previously made. Make sure the correct virtual drive is selected, then press Select. After selecting the VHD your screen should look like the following then click Next. Verify the settings you made are correct. If not, you can go back and make any changes. When everything looks correct click Finish. Setup XP Mode Now, in VirtualBox, click start to run XP Mode. The Windows XP in this virtual drive is not fully setup yet, so you will have to go through the setup process.   If you didn’t uncheck the “Read-only” box in the VHD properties before, you may see the following error.  If you see it, go back and check the file to makes sure it is not read-only. When you click in the virtual machine, it will capture your mouse by default.  Simply press the right Ctrl key to release your mouse so you can go back to using Windows 7.  This will only be the case during the setup process; after the Guest Additions are installed, the mouse will seamlessly move between operating systems. Now, accept the license agreement in XP.   Choose your correct locale and keyboard settings. Enter a name for your virtual XP, and an administrative password. Check the date, time, and time zone settings, and adjust them if they are incorrect.  The time and date are usually correct, but the time zone often has to be corrected. XP will now automatically finish setting up your virtual machine, and then will automatically reboot. After rebooting, select your automatic update settings. You may see a prompt to check for drivers; simply press cancel, as all the drivers we need will be installed later with the Guest Additions. Your last settings will be finalized, and finally you will see your XP desktop in VirtualBox. Please note that XP Mode may not remain activated after importing it into VirtualBox. When you activate it, use the key that is located at C:\Program Files\Windows XP Mode\key.txt.  Note: During our tests we weren’t able to get the activation to go through. We are looking into the issue and will have a revised article showing the correct way to get XP Mode in VirutalBox working correctly soon.    Now we have one final thing to install – the VirtualBox Guest Additions.  In the VirtualBox window, click “Devices” and then select “Install Guest Additions”. This should automatically launch in XP; if it doesn’t, click Start, then My Computer, and finally double-click on the CD drive which should say VirtualBox Guest Additions. Simply install with the normal presets. You can select to install an experimental 3D graphics driver if you wish to try to run games in XP in VirtualBox; however, do note that this is not fully supported and is currently a test feature. You may see a prompt informing you that the drivers have not passed Logo testing; simply press “Continue Anyway” to proceed with the installation.   When installation has completed, you will be required to reboot your virtual machine. Now, you can move your mouse directly from Windows XP to Windows 7 without pressing Ctrl. Integrating with Windows 7 Once your virtual machine is rebooted, you can integrate it with your Windows 7 desktop.  In the VirtualBox window, click Machine and then select “Seamless Mode”.   In Seamless mode you’ll have the XP Start menu and taskbar sit on top of your Windows 7 Start and Taskbar. Here we see XP running on Virtual Box in Seamless Mode. We have the old XP WordPad sitting next to the new Windows 7 version of WordPad. Another view of everything running seamlessly together on the same Windows 7 desktop. Hover the pointer over the XP taskbar to pull up the Virtual Box menu items. You can exit out of Seamless Mode from the VirtualBox menu or using “Ctrl+L”. Then you go back to having it run separately on your desktop again. Conclusion Running XP Mode in a Virtual Machine is a great way to experience the feature on computers without Hardware Virtualization capabilities. If you prefer VMware Player, then you’ll want to check out our articles on how to run XP Mode on Windows 7 machines without Hardware Virtualization, and how to create an XP Mode for Windows 7 Home Premium and Vista. Download VirtualBox Download XP Mode Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Install XP Mode with VirtualBox Using the VMLite PluginUsing Windows 7 or Vista Compatibility ModeMake Safari Stop Crashing Every 20 Seconds on Windows VistaForce Windows 7 / Vista to Boot Into Safe Mode Without Using the F8 KeyHow To Run Chrome OS in VirtualBox 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 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 PCmover Professional Enable Check Box Selection in Windows 7 OnlineOCR – Free OCR Service Betting on the Blind Side, a Vanity Fair article 30 Minimal Logo Designs that Say More with Less LEGO Digital Designer – Free Create a Personal Website Quickly using Flavors.me

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  • How to Upgrade Your Netbook to Windows 7 Home Premium

    - by Matthew Guay
    Would you like more features and flash in Windows on your netbook?  Here’s how you can easily upgrade your netbook to Windows 7 Home Premium the easy way. Most new netbooks today ship with Windows 7 Starter, which is the cheapest edition of Windows 7.  It is fine for many computing tasks, and will run all your favorite programs great, but it lacks many customization, multimedia, and business features found in higher editions.  Here we’ll show you how you can quickly upgrade your netbook to more full-featured edition of Windows 7 using Windows Anytime Upgrade.  Also, if you want to upgrade your laptop or desktop to another edition of Windows 7, say Professional, you can follow these same steps to upgrade it, too. Please note: This is only for computers already running Windows 7.  If your netbook is running XP or Vista, you will have to run a traditional upgrade to install Windows 7. Upgrade Advisor First, let’s make sure your netbook can support the extra features, such as Aero Glass, in Windows 7 Home Premium.  Most modern netbooks that ship with Windows 7 Starter can run the advanced features in Windows 7 Home Premium, but let’s check just in case.  Download the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor (link below), and install as normal. Once it’s installed, run it and click Start Check.   Make sure you’re connected to the internet before you run the check, or otherwise you may see this error message.  If you see it, click Ok and then connect to the internet and start the check again. It will now scan all of your programs and hardware to make sure they’re compatible with Windows 7.  Since you’re already running Windows 7 Starter, it will also tell you if your computer will support the features in other editions of Windows 7. After a few moments, the Upgrade Advisor will show you want it found.  Here we see that our netbook, a Samsung N150, can be upgraded to Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional, or Ultimate. We also see that we had one issue, but this was because a driver we had installed was not recognized.  Click “See all system requirements” to see what your netbook can do with the new edition. This shows you which of the requirements, including support for Windows Aero, your netbook meets.  Here our netbook supports Aero, so we’re ready to go upgrade. For more, check out our article on how to make sure your computer can run Windows 7 with Upgrade Advisor. Upgrade with Anytime Upgrade Now, we’re ready to upgrade our netbook to Windows 7 Home Premium.  Enter “Anytime Upgrade” in the Start menu search,and select Windows Anytime Upgrade. Windows Anytime Upgrade lets you upgrade using product key you already have or one you purchase during the upgrade process.  And, it installs without any downloads or Windows disks, so it works great even for netbooks without DVD drives. Anytime Upgrades are cheaper than a standard upgrade, and for a limited time, select retailers in the US are offering Anytime Upgrades to Windows 7 Home Premium for only $49.99 if purchased with a new netbook.  If you already have a netbook running Windows 7 Starter, you can either purchase an Anytime Upgrade package at a retail store or purchase a key online during the upgrade process for $79.95.  Or, if you have a standard Windows 7 product key (full or upgrade), you can use it in Anytime upgrade.  This is especially nice if you can purchase Windows 7 cheaper through your school, university, or office. Purchase an upgrade online To purchase an upgrade online, click “Go online to choose the edition of Windows 7 that’s best for you”.   Here you can see a comparison of the features of each edition of Windows 7.  Note that you can upgrade to either Home Premium, Professional, or Ultimate.  We chose home Premium because it has most of the features that home users want, including Media Center and Aero Glass effects.  Also note that the price of each upgrade is cheaper than the respective upgrade from Windows XP or Vista.  Click buy under the edition you want.   Enter your billing information, then your payment information.  Once you confirm your purchase, you will directly be taken to the Upgrade screen.  Make sure to save your receipt, as you will need the product key if you ever need to reinstall Windows on your computer. Upgrade with an existing product key If you purchased an Anytime Upgrade kit from a retailer, or already have a Full or Upgrade key for another edition of Windows 7, choose “Enter an upgrade key”. Enter your product key, and click Next.  If you purchased an Anytime Upgrade kit, the product key will be located on the inside of the case on a yellow sticker. The key will be verified as a valid key, and Anytime Upgrade will automatically choose the correct edition of Windows 7 based on your product key.  Click Next when this is finished. Continuing the Upgrade process Whether you entered a key or purchased a key online, the process is the same from here on.  Click “I accept” to accept the license agreement. Now, you’re ready to install your upgrade.  Make sure to save all open files and close any programs, and then click Upgrade. The upgrade only takes about 10 minutes in our experience but your mileage may vary.  Any available Microsoft updates, including ones for Office, Security Essentials, and other products, will be installed before the upgrade takes place. After a couple minutes, your computer will automatically reboot and finish the installation.  It will then reboot once more, and your computer will be ready to use!  Welcome to your new edition of Windows 7! Here’s a before and after shot of our desktop.  When you do an Anytime Upgrade, all of your programs, files, and settings will be just as they were before you upgraded.  The only change we noticed was that our pinned taskbar icons were slightly rearranged to the default order of Internet Explorer, Explorer, and Media Player.  Here’s a shot of our desktop before the upgrade.  Notice that all of our pinned programs and desktop icons are still there, as well as our taskbar customization (we are using small icons on the taskbar instead of the default large icons). Before, with the Windows 7 Starter background and the Aero Basic theme: And after, with Aero Glass and the more colorful default Windows 7 background.   All of the features of Windows 7 Home Premium are now ready to use.  The Aero theme was activate by default, but you can now customize your netbook theme, background, and more with the Personalization pane.  To open it, right-click on your desktop and select Personalize. You can also now use Windows Media Center, and can play-back DVD movies using an external drive. One of our favorite tools, the Snipping Tool, is also now available for easy screenshots and clips. Activating you new edition of Windows 7 You will still need to activate your new edition of Windows 7.  To do this right away, open the start menu, right-click on Computer, and select Properties.   Scroll to the bottom, and click “Activate Windows Now”. Make sure you’re connected to the internet, and then select “Activate Windows online now”. Activation may take a few minutes, depending on your internet connection speed. When it is done, the Activation wizard will let you know that Windows is activated and genuine.  Your upgrade is all finished! Conclusion Windows Anytime Upgrade makes it easy, and somewhat cheaper, to upgrade to another edition of Windows 7.  It’s useful for desktop and laptop owners who want to upgrade to Professional or Ultimate, but many more netbook owners will want to upgrade from Starter to Home Premium or another edition.  Links Download the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor Windows Team Blog: Anytime Upgrade Special with new PC purchase Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips How To Upgrade from Vista to Windows 7 Home Premium EditionAnother Blog You Should Subscribe ToMysticgeek Blog: Turn Vista Home Premium Into Ultimate (Part 3) – Shadow CopyUpgrade Ubuntu from Breezy to DapperHow to Upgrade the Windows 7 RC to RTM (Final Release) 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 Get Your Delicious Bookmarks In Firefox’s Awesome Bar Manage Photos Across Different Social Sites With Dropico Test Drive Windows 7 Online Download Wallpapers From National Geographic Site Spyware Blaster v4.3 Yes, it’s Patch Tuesday

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  • Map a Network Drive from XP to Windows 7

    - by Mysticgeek
    We’ve received a lot of questions about mapping a drive from XP to Windows 7 to access data easily. Today we look at how to map a drive in Windows 7, and how to map to an XP drive from Windows 7. With the new Homegroup feature in Windows 7, it makes sharing data between computers a lot easier. But you might need to map a network drive so you can go directly into a folder to access its contents. Mapping a network drive may sound like “IT talk”, but the process is fairly easy. Map Network Drive in Windows 7 Note: All of the computers used in this article are part of the same workgroup on a home network. In this first example we’re mapping to another Windows 7 drive on the network. Open Computer and from the toolbar click on Map Network Drive. Alternately in Computer you can hit “Alt+T” to pull up the toolbar and click on Tools \ Map Network Drive. Now give it an available drive letter, type in the path or browse to the folder you want to map to. Check the box next to Reconnect at logon if you want it available after a reboot, and click Finish. If both machines aren’t part of the same Homegroup, you may be prompted to enter in a username and password. Make sure and check the box next to Remember my credentials if you don’t want to log in every time to access it. The drive will map and the contents of the folder will open up. When you look in Computer, you’ll see the drive under network location. This process works if you want to connect to a server drive as well. In this example we map to a Home Server drive. Map an XP Drive to Windows 7 There might be times when you need to map a drive on an XP machine on your network. There are extra steps you’ll need to take to make it work however. Here we take a look at the problem you’ll encounter when trying to map to an XP machine if things aren’t set up correctly. If you try to browse to your XP machine you’ll see a message that you don’t have permission. Or if you try to enter in the path directly, you’ll be prompted for a username and password, and the annoyance is, no matter what credentials you put in, you can’t connect. To solve the problem we need to set up the Windows 7 machine as a user on the XP machine and make them part of the Administrators group. Right-click My Computer and select Manage. Under Computer Management expand Local Users and Groups and click on the Users folder. Right-click an empty area and click New User. Add in the user credentials, uncheck User must change password at next logon, then check Password never expires then click Create. Now you see the new user you created in the list. After the user is added you might want to reboot before proceeding to the next step.   Next we need to make the user part of the Administrators group. So go back into Computer Management \ Local Users and Groups \ Groups then double click on Administrators. Click the Add button in Administrators Properties window. Enter in the new user you created and click OK. An easy way to do this is to enter the name of the user you created then click Check Names and the path will be entered in for you. Now you see the user as a member of the Administrators group. Back on the Windows 7 machine we’ll start the process of mapping a drive. Here we’re browsing to the XP Media Center Edition machine. Now we can enter in the user name and password we just created. If you only want to access specific shared folders on the XP machine you can browse to them. Or if you want to map to the entire drive, enter in the drive path where in this example it’s “\\XPMCE\C$” –Don’t forget the “$” sign after the local drive letter. Then login… Again the contents of the drive will open up for you to access. Here you can see we have two drives mapped. One to another Windows 7 machine on the network, and the other one to the XP computer.   If you ever want to disconnect a drive, just right-click on it and then Disconnect. There are several scenarios where you might want to map a drive in Windows 7 to access specific data. It takes a little bit of work but you can map to an XP drive from Windows 7 as well. This comes in handy where you have a network with different versions of Windows running on it. Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Find Your Missing USB Drive on Windows XPMake Vista Index Your Network ConnectionsEasily Backup & Import Your Wireless Network Settings in Windows 7Quickly Open Network Connections List in Windows 7 or VistaHow To Find Drives Easily with Desk Drive 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 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 PCmover Professional Kill Processes Quickly with Process Assassin Need to Come Up with a Good Name? Try Wordoid StockFox puts a Lightweight Stock Ticker in your Statusbar Explore Google Public Data Visually The Ultimate Excel Cheatsheet Convert the Quick Launch Bar into a Super Application Launcher

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  • Fix: Windows Live Mail Error ID 0x8004108D

    - by Ken Cox [MVP]
    Over the last few days Windows Live Mail stopped fetching my Hotmail. I assumed it was a problem with Microsoft’s NNTP Web service, so I went back to using the browser to check my Hotmail. Well, it didn’t right itself, so I started probing and discovered the fix… no default connection. To repair it: From the Tools menu, click Accounts. On the Accounts screen select Hotmail and then click Properties. On the Connection tab select Local Area Network and check the Always Connect to This Account Using...(read more)

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  • SSIS - Access Denied with UNC paths - The file name is a device or contains invalid characters

    - by simonsabin
    I spent another day tearing my hair out yesterday trying to resolve an issue with SSIS packages runnning in SQLAgent (not got much left at the moment, maybe I should contact the SSIS team for a wig). My situation was that I am deploying packages to a development server, and to provide isolation I was running jobs with a proxy account that only had access to the development servers. Proxies are an awesome feature and mean that you should never have to "just run the job as sysadmin". The issue I was facing was that the job step was failing. The job step was a simple execution of the package.The following errors appeared in my log file. I always check the "Log step output in history" for a job step, this ensures you get all the output from the command that you run. I'll blog about this later. If looking at the output in sysdtslog90 then you will have an entry with datacode -1073573533 and error message File or directory "<filename>" represented by connection "<connection>" does not exist.  Not exactly helpful. If you get the output from the console then you will also get these errors. 0xC0202070 "The file name property is not valid. The file name is a device or contains invalid characters." 0xC001401E "specified in the connection was not valid." It appears this error is due to the use of a UNC path and the account runnnig the package not having access to all the folders in the path. Solution To solve this you need to ensure that the proxy account has access to ALL folders in the path you are accessing. To check this works, logon as the relevant proxy user, or run a command window as the specified user. Then try and do net use \\server\share and then do a dir for each folder in the path and check you have access. If these work and you still have the problem then you have some other problem, sorry. The following are posts on experts exchange that also discuss this,http://www.experts-exchange.com/Microsoft/Development/MS-SQL-Server/SSIS/Q_24056047.htmlhttp://www.experts-exchange.com/Microsoft/Development/MS-SQL-Server/SSIS/Q_23968903.html This blog had a post about it being a 64 bit issue. That definitely wasn't the issue for me as I was on a 32 bit server http://blogs.perkinsconsulting.com/post/64-bit-SQL-Server-2005-SSIS-and-UNC-paths-Part-2.aspx  

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  • Dec 5th Links: ASP.NET, ASP.NET MVC, jQuery, Silverlight, Visual Studio

    - by ScottGu
    Here is the latest in my link-listing series.  Also check out my VS 2010 and .NET 4 series for another on-going blog series I’m working on. [In addition to blogging, I am also now using Twitter for quick updates and to share links. Follow me at: twitter.com/scottgu] ASP.NET ASP.NET Code Samples Collection: J.D. Meier has a great post that provides a detailed round-up of ASP.NET code samples and tutorials from a wide variety of sources.  Lots of useful pointers. Slash your ASP.NET compile/load time without any hard work: Nice article that details a bunch of optimizations you can make to speed up ASP.NET project load and compile times. You might also want to read my previous blog post on this topic here. 10 Essential Tools for Building ASP.NET Websites: Great article by Stephen Walther on 10 great (and free) tools that enable you to more easily build great ASP.NET Websites.  Highly recommended reading. Optimize Images using the ASP.NET Sprite and Image Optimization Framework: A nice article by 4GuysFromRolla that discusses how to use the open-source ASP.NET Sprite and Image Optimization Framework (one of the tools recommended by Stephen in the previous article).  You can use this to significantly improve the load-time of your pages on the client. Formatting Dates, Times and Numbers in ASP.NET: Scott Mitchell has a great article that discusses formatting dates, times and numbers in ASP.NET.  A very useful link to bookmark.  Also check out James Michael’s DateTime is Packed with Goodies blog post for other DateTime tips. Examining ASP.NET’s Membership, Roles and Profile APIs (Part 18): Everything you could possibly want to known about ASP.NET’s built-in Membership, Roles and Profile APIs must surely be in this tutorial series. Part 18 covers how to store additional user info with Membership. ASP.NET with jQuery An Introduction to jQuery Templates: Stephen Walther has written an outstanding introduction and tutorial on the new jQuery Template plugin that the ASP.NET team has contributed to the jQuery project. Composition with jQuery Templates and jQuery Templates, Composite Rendering, and Remote Loading: Dave Ward has written two nice posts that talk about composition scenarios with jQuery Templates and some cool scenarios you can enable with them. Using jQuery and ASP.NET to Build a News Ticker: Scott Mitchell has a nice tutorial that demonstrates how to build a dynamically updated “news ticker” style UI with ASP.NET and jQuery. Checking All Checkboxes in a GridView using jQuery: Scott Mitchell has a nice post that covers how to use jQuery to enable a checkbox within a GridView’s header to automatically check/uncheck all checkboxes contained within rows of it. Using jQuery to POST Form Data to an ASP.NET AJAX Web Service: Rick Strahl has a nice post that discusses how to capture form variables and post them to an ASP.NET AJAX Web Service (.asmx). ASP.NET MVC ASP.NET MVC Diagnostics Using NuGet: Phil Haack has a nice post that demonstrates how to easily install a diagnostics page (using NuGet) that can help identify and diagnose common configuration issues within your apps. ASP.NET MVC 3 JsonValueProviderFactory: James Hughes has a nice post that discusses how to take advantage of the new JsonValueProviderFactory support built into ASP.NET MVC 3.  This makes it easy to post JSON payloads to MVC action methods. Practical jQuery Mobile with ASP.NET MVC: James Hughes has another nice post that discusses how to use the new jQuery Mobile library with ASP.NET MVC to build great mobile web applications. Credit Card Validator for ASP.NET MVC 3: Benjii Me has a nice post that demonstrates how to build a [CreditCard] validator attribute that can be used to easily validate credit card numbers are in the correct format with ASP.NET MVC. Silverlight Silverlight FireStarter Keynote and Sessions: A great blog post from John Papa that contains pointers and descriptions of all the great Silverlight content we published last week at the Silverlight FireStarter.  You can watch all of the talks online.  More details on my keynote and Silverlight 5 announcements can be found here. 31 Days of Windows Phone 7: 31 great tutorials on how to build Windows Phone 7 applications (using Silverlight).  Silverlight for Windows Phone Toolkit Update: David Anson has a nice post that discusses some of the additional controls provided with the Silverlight for Windows Phone Toolkit. Visual Studio JavaScript Editor Extensions: A nice (and free) Visual Studio plugin built by the web tools team that significantly improves the JavaScript intellisense support within Visual Studio. HTML5 Intellisense for Visual Studio: Gil has a blog post that discusses a new extension my team has posted to the Visual Studio Extension Gallery that adds HTML5 schema support to Visual Studio 2008 and 2010. Team Build + Web Deployment + Web Deploy + VS 2010 = Goodness: Visual blogs about how to enable a continuous deployment system with VS 2010, TFS 2010 and the Microsoft Web Deploy framework.  Visual Studio 2010 Emacs Emulation Extension and VIM Emulation Extension: Check out these two extensions if you are fond of Emacs and VIM key bindings and want to enable them within Visual Studio 2010. Hope this helps, Scott

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  • Silverlight TV 15: Announcing Silverlight 4 RC at MIX 10

     John and Adam discuss Silverlight 4 RC, following up the MIX10 keynote announcement of Silverlight 4 RC by discussing what is new and what materials have been released on the Channel 9 learning center website. They cover their picks for some of the most impactful features in Silverlight 4 RC and review the concept behind the new two-day Building Business Applications course (check out the course via this link). You can also check out the 60+ page whitepaper that covers the full feature...Did you know that DotNetSlackers also publishes .net articles written by top known .net Authors? We already have over 80 articles in several categories including Silverlight. Take a look: here.

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  • Google’s April Fools Day Prank– Google Maps For Nintendo Entertainment System(NES)

    - by Gopinath
    Google is a funny organization and they celebrate most of events we love, in a geeky way. On the occasion of April Fool’s day 2012, Google released 8 bit Google Maps for Nintendo Entertainment System(NES). Here is the screen grab of Buckingham Palace, on 8 bit Google Maps. For those who are not aware of NES,  it is XBox of 1980’s.  NES is considered one of the most influential video game systems ever produced. Released in 1983, NES conquered millions of gamers heart and had a long lasting impact of 20 years. In the year of 2003, Nintendo finally stopped production of NES. Check out the embedded Google’s launch video of 8 Bit Google Maps for NES If you interested to take a tour the 8 bit Google Maps, go to Google Maps and click on the quest button available on right top corner. The guys at techi.com has a good collection of screen grabs taken from 8 Bit Google Maps, check it out here.

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  • Guidance: A Branching strategy for Scrum Teams

    - by Martin Hinshelwood
    Having a good branching strategy will save your bacon, or at least your code. Be careful when deviating from your branching strategy because if you do, you may be worse off than when you started! This is one possible branching strategy for Scrum teams and I will not be going in depth with Scrum but you can find out more about Scrum by reading the Scrum Guide and you can even assess your Scrum knowledge by having a go at the Scrum Open Assessment. You can also read SSW’s Rules to Better Scrum using TFS which have been developed during our own Scrum implementations. Acknowledgements Bill Heys – Bill offered some good feedback on this post and helped soften the language. Note: Bill is a VS ALM Ranger and co-wrote the Branching Guidance for TFS 2010 Willy-Peter Schaub – Willy-Peter is an ex Visual Studio ALM MVP turned blue badge and has been involved in most of the guidance including the Branching Guidance for TFS 2010 Chris Birmele – Chris wrote some of the early TFS Branching and Merging Guidance. Dr Paul Neumeyer, Ph.D Parallel Processes, ScrumMaster and SSW Solution Architect – Paul wanted to have feature branches coming from the release branch as well. We agreed that this is really a spin-off that needs own project, backlog, budget and Team. Scenario: A product is developed RTM 1.0 is released and gets great sales.  Extra features are demanded but the new version will have double to price to pay to recover costs, work is approved by the guys with budget and a few sprints later RTM 2.0 is released.  Sales a very low due to the pricing strategy. There are lots of clients on RTM 1.0 calling out for patches. As I keep getting Reverse Integration and Forward Integration mixed up and Bill keeps slapping my wrists I thought I should have a reminder: You still seemed to use reverse and/or forward integration in the wrong context. I would recommend reviewing your document at the end to ensure that it agrees with the common understanding of these terms merge (forward integration) from parent to child (same direction as the branch), and merge  (reverse integration) from child to parent (the reverse direction of the branch). - one of my many slaps on the wrist from Bill Heys.   As I mentioned previously we are using a single feature branching strategy in our current project. The single biggest mistake developers make is developing against the “Main” or “Trunk” line. This ultimately leads to messy code as things are added and never finished. Your only alternative is to NEVER check in unless your code is 100%, but this does not work in practice, even with a single developer. Your ADD will kick in and your half-finished code will be finished enough to pass the build and the tests. You do use builds don’t you? Sadly, this is a very common scenario and I have had people argue that branching merely adds complexity. Then again I have seen the other side of the universe ... branching  structures from he... We should somehow convince everyone that there is a happy between no-branching and too-much-branching. - Willy-Peter Schaub, VS ALM Ranger, Microsoft   A key benefit of branching for development is to isolate changes from the stable Main branch. Branching adds sanity more than it adds complexity. We do try to stress in our guidance that it is important to justify a branch, by doing a cost benefit analysis. The primary cost is the effort to do merges and resolve conflicts. A key benefit is that you have a stable code base in Main and accept changes into Main only after they pass quality gates, etc. - Bill Heys, VS ALM Ranger & TFS Branching Lead, Microsoft The second biggest mistake developers make is branching anything other than the WHOLE “Main” line. If you branch parts of your code and not others it gets out of sync and can make integration a nightmare. You should have your Source, Assets, Build scripts deployment scripts and dependencies inside the “Main” folder and branch the whole thing. Some departments within MSFT even go as far as to add the environments used to develop the product in there as well; although I would not recommend that unless you have a massive SQL cluster to house your source code. We tried the “add environment” back in South-Africa and while it was “phenomenal”, especially when having to switch between environments, the disk storage and processing requirements killed us. We opted for virtualization to skin this cat of keeping a ready-to-go environment handy. - Willy-Peter Schaub, VS ALM Ranger, Microsoft   I think people often think that you should have separate branches for separate environments (e.g. Dev, Test, Integration Test, QA, etc.). I prefer to think of deploying to environments (such as from Main to QA) rather than branching for QA). - Bill Heys, VS ALM Ranger & TFS Branching Lead, Microsoft   You can read about SSW’s Rules to better Source Control for some additional information on what Source Control to use and how to use it. There are also a number of branching Anti-Patterns that should be avoided at all costs: You know you are on the wrong track if you experience one or more of the following symptoms in your development environment: Merge Paranoia—avoiding merging at all cost, usually because of a fear of the consequences. Merge Mania—spending too much time merging software assets instead of developing them. Big Bang Merge—deferring branch merging to the end of the development effort and attempting to merge all branches simultaneously. Never-Ending Merge—continuous merging activity because there is always more to merge. Wrong-Way Merge—merging a software asset version with an earlier version. Branch Mania—creating many branches for no apparent reason. Cascading Branches—branching but never merging back to the main line. Mysterious Branches—branching for no apparent reason. Temporary Branches—branching for changing reasons, so the branch becomes a permanent temporary workspace. Volatile Branches—branching with unstable software assets shared by other branches or merged into another branch. Note   Branches are volatile most of the time while they exist as independent branches. That is the point of having them. The difference is that you should not share or merge branches while they are in an unstable state. Development Freeze—stopping all development activities while branching, merging, and building new base lines. Berlin Wall—using branches to divide the development team members, instead of dividing the work they are performing. -Branching and Merging Primer by Chris Birmele - Developer Tools Technical Specialist at Microsoft Pty Ltd in Australia   In fact, this can result in a merge exercise no-one wants to be involved in, merging hundreds of thousands of change sets and trying to get a consolidated build. Again, we need to find a happy medium. - Willy-Peter Schaub on Merge Paranoia Merge conflicts are generally the result of making changes to the same file in both the target and source branch. If you create merge conflicts, you will eventually need to resolve them. Often the resolution is manual. Merging more frequently allows you to resolve these conflicts close to when they happen, making the resolution clearer. Waiting weeks or months to resolve them, the Big Bang approach, means you are more likely to resolve conflicts incorrectly. - Bill Heys, VS ALM Ranger & TFS Branching Lead, Microsoft   Figure: Main line, this is where your stable code lives and where any build has known entities, always passes and has a happy test that passes as well? Many development projects consist of, a single “Main” line of source and artifacts. This is good; at least there is source control . There are however a couple of issues that need to be considered. What happens if: you and your team are working on a new set of features and the customer wants a change to his current version? you are working on two features and the customer decides to abandon one of them? you have two teams working on different feature sets and their changes start interfering with each other? I just use labels instead of branches? That's a lot of “what if’s”, but there is a simple way of preventing this. Branching… In TFS, labels are not immutable. This does not mean they are not useful. But labels do not provide a very good development isolation mechanism. Branching allows separate code sets to evolve separately (e.g. Current with hotfixes, and vNext with new development). I don’t see how labels work here. - Bill Heys, VS ALM Ranger & TFS Branching Lead, Microsoft   Figure: Creating a single feature branch means you can isolate the development work on that branch.   Its standard practice for large projects with lots of developers to use Feature branching and you can check the Branching Guidance for the latest recommendations from the Visual Studio ALM Rangers for other methods. In the diagram above you can see my recommendation for branching when using Scrum development with TFS 2010. It consists of a single Sprint branch to contain all the changes for the current sprint. The main branch has the permissions changes so contributors to the project can only Branch and Merge with “Main”. This will prevent accidental check-ins or checkouts of the “Main” line that would contaminate the code. The developers continue to develop on sprint one until the completion of the sprint. Note: In the real world, starting a new Greenfield project, this process starts at Sprint 2 as at the start of Sprint 1 you would have artifacts in version control and no need for isolation.   Figure: Once the sprint is complete the Sprint 1 code can then be merged back into the Main line. There are always good practices to follow, and one is to always do a Forward Integration from Main into Sprint 1 before you do a Reverse Integration from Sprint 1 back into Main. In this case it may seem superfluous, but this builds good muscle memory into your developer’s work ethic and means that no bad habits are learned that would interfere with additional Scrum Teams being added to the Product. The process of completing your sprint development: The Team completes their work according to their definition of done. Merge from “Main” into “Sprint1” (Forward Integration) Stabilize your code with any changes coming from other Scrum Teams working on the same product. If you have one Scrum Team this should be quick, but there may have been bug fixes in the Release branches. (we will talk about release branches later) Merge from “Sprint1” into “Main” to commit your changes. (Reverse Integration) Check-in Delete the Sprint1 branch Note: The Sprint 1 branch is no longer required as its useful life has been concluded. Check-in Done But you are not yet done with the Sprint. The goal in Scrum is to have a “potentially shippable product” at the end of every Sprint, and we do not have that yet, we only have finished code.   Figure: With Sprint 1 merged you can create a Release branch and run your final packaging and testing In 99% of all projects I have been involved in or watched, a “shippable product” only happens towards the end of the overall lifecycle, especially when sprints are short. The in-between releases are great demonstration releases, but not shippable. Perhaps it comes from my 80’s brain washing that we only ship when we reach the agreed quality and business feature bar. - Willy-Peter Schaub, VS ALM Ranger, Microsoft Although you should have been testing and packaging your code all the way through your Sprint 1 development, preferably using an automated process, you still need to test and package with stable unchanging code. This is where you do what at SSW we call a “Test Please”. This is first an internal test of the product to make sure it meets the needs of the customer and you generally use a resource external to your Team. Then a “Test Please” is conducted with the Product Owner to make sure he is happy with the output. You can read about how to conduct a Test Please on our Rules to Successful Projects: Do you conduct an internal "test please" prior to releasing a version to a client?   Figure: If you find a deviation from the expected result you fix it on the Release branch. If during your final testing or your “Test Please” you find there are issues or bugs then you should fix them on the release branch. If you can’t fix them within the time box of your Sprint, then you will need to create a Bug and put it onto the backlog for prioritization by the Product owner. Make sure you leave plenty of time between your merge from the development branch to find and fix any problems that are uncovered. This process is commonly called Stabilization and should always be conducted once you have completed all of your User Stories and integrated all of your branches. Even once you have stabilized and released, you should not delete the release branch as you would with the Sprint branch. It has a usefulness for servicing that may extend well beyond the limited life you expect of it. Note: Don't get forced by the business into adding features into a Release branch instead that indicates the unspoken requirement is that they are asking for a product spin-off. In this case you can create a new Team Project and branch from the required Release branch to create a new Main branch for that product. And you create a whole new backlog to work from.   Figure: When the Team decides it is happy with the product you can create a RTM branch. Once you have fixed all the bugs you can, and added any you can’t to the Product Backlog, and you Team is happy with the result you can create a Release. This would consist of doing the final Build and Packaging it up ready for your Sprint Review meeting. You would then create a read-only branch that represents the code you “shipped”. This is really an Audit trail branch that is optional, but is good practice. You could use a Label, but Labels are not Auditable and if a dispute was raised by the customer you can produce a verifiable version of the source code for an independent party to check. Rare I know, but you do not want to be at the wrong end of a legal battle. Like the Release branch the RTM branch should never be deleted, or only deleted according to your companies legal policy, which in the UK is usually 7 years.   Figure: If you have made any changes in the Release you will need to merge back up to Main in order to finalise the changes. Nothing is really ever done until it is in Main. The same rules apply when merging any fixes in the Release branch back into Main and you should do a reverse merge before a forward merge, again for the muscle memory more than necessity at this stage. Your Sprint is now nearly complete, and you can have a Sprint Review meeting knowing that you have made every effort and taken every precaution to protect your customer’s investment. Note: In order to really achieve protection for both you and your client you would add Automated Builds, Automated Tests, Automated Acceptance tests, Acceptance test tracking, Unit Tests, Load tests, Web test and all the other good engineering practices that help produce reliable software.     Figure: After the Sprint Planning meeting the process begins again. Where the Sprint Review and Retrospective meetings mark the end of the Sprint, the Sprint Planning meeting marks the beginning. After you have completed your Sprint Planning and you know what you are trying to achieve in Sprint 2 you can create your new Branch to develop in. How do we handle a bug(s) in production that can’t wait? Although in Scrum the only work done should be on the backlog there should be a little buffer added to the Sprint Planning for contingencies. One of these contingencies is a bug in the current release that can’t wait for the Sprint to finish. But how do you handle that? Willy-Peter Schaub asked an excellent question on the release activities: In reality Sprint 2 starts when sprint 1 ends + weekend. Should we not cater for a possible parallelism between Sprint 2 and the release activities of sprint 1? It would introduce FI’s from main to sprint 2, I guess. Your “Figure: Merging print 2 back into Main.” covers, what I tend to believe to be reality in most cases. - Willy-Peter Schaub, VS ALM Ranger, Microsoft I agree, and if you have a single Scrum team then your resources are limited. The Scrum Team is responsible for packaging and release, so at least one run at stabilization, package and release should be included in the Sprint time box. If more are needed on the current production release during the Sprint 2 time box then resource needs to be pulled from Sprint 2. The Product Owner and the Team have four choices (in order of disruption/cost): Backlog: Add the bug to the backlog and fix it in the next Sprint Buffer Time: Use any buffer time included in the current Sprint to fix the bug quickly Make time: Remove a Story from the current Sprint that is of equal value to the time lost fixing the bug(s) and releasing. Note: The Team must agree that it can still meet the Sprint Goal. Cancel Sprint: Cancel the sprint and concentrate all resource on fixing the bug(s) Note: This can be a very costly if the current sprint has already had a lot of work completed as it will be lost. The choice will depend on the complexity and severity of the bug(s) and both the Product Owner and the Team need to agree. In this case we will go with option #2 or #3 as they are uncomplicated but severe bugs. Figure: Real world issue where a bug needs fixed in the current release. If the bug(s) is urgent enough then then your only option is to fix it in place. You can edit the release branch to find and fix the bug, hopefully creating a test so it can’t happen again. Follow the prior process and conduct an internal and customer “Test Please” before releasing. You can read about how to conduct a Test Please on our Rules to Successful Projects: Do you conduct an internal "test please" prior to releasing a version to a client?   Figure: After you have fixed the bug you need to ship again. You then need to again create an RTM branch to hold the version of the code you released in escrow.   Figure: Main is now out of sync with your Release. We now need to get these new changes back up into the Main branch. Do a reverse and then forward merge again to get the new code into Main. But what about the branch, are developers not working on Sprint 2? Does Sprint 2 now have changes that are not in Main and Main now have changes that are not in Sprint 2? Well, yes… and this is part of the hit you take doing branching. But would this scenario even have been possible without branching?   Figure: Getting the changes in Main into Sprint 2 is very important. The Team now needs to do a Forward Integration merge into their Sprint and resolve any conflicts that occur. Maybe the bug has already been fixed in Sprint 2, maybe the bug no longer exists! This needs to be identified and resolved by the developers before they continue to get further out of Sync with Main. Note: Avoid the “Big bang merge” at all costs.   Figure: Merging Sprint 2 back into Main, the Forward Integration, and R0 terminates. Sprint 2 now merges (Reverse Integration) back into Main following the procedures we have already established.   Figure: The logical conclusion. This then allows the creation of the next release. By now you should be getting the big picture and hopefully you learned something useful from this post. I know I have enjoyed writing it as I find these exploratory posts coupled with real world experience really help harden my understanding.  Branching is a tool; it is not a silver bullet. Don’t over use it, and avoid “Anti-Patterns” where possible. Although the diagram above looks complicated I hope showing you how it is formed simplifies it as much as possible.   Technorati Tags: Branching,Scrum,VS ALM,TFS 2010,VS2010

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  • December release of Microsoft All-In-One Code Framework is available now.

    - by Jialiang
    The code samples in Microsoft All-In-One Code Framework are updated on 2010-12-13. Download address: http://1code.codeplex.com/releases/view/57459#DownloadId=185534 Updated code sample index categorized by technologies: http://1code.codeplex.com/wikipage?title=All-In-One%20Code%20Framework%20Sample%20Catalog (it also allows you to download individual code samples instead of the entire All-In-One Code Framework sample package.) If it’s the first time that you hear about Microsoft All-In-One Code Framework, please watch the introduction video on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cO5Li3APU58, or read the introduction on our homepage http://1code.codeplex.com/,  and this Port25 article http://port25.technet.com/archive/2010/01/18/the-all-in-one-code-framework.aspx.  -------------- New ASP.NET Code Samples VBASPNETAJAXWebChat and CSASPNETAJAXWebChat Most of you have some experience in chatting with friends on the web. So you may want to know how to make a web chat application, it seems to be quite complicated. But ASP.NET gives you the power to buiild a chat room easily. In this code sample, we will construct our own web chat room with the amazing AJAX feature. The principle is simple relatively. As we all know, a base chat application need 4 base controls: one List control to show the chat room members, one List control to show the message list, one TextBox control to input messages and one button to send message. User inputs his message in the textbox first and then presses Send button, it will send the message to the server. The message list will update every 2 seconds to get the newest message list in the chat room from the server. We need to know, it is hard for us to make an AJAX web chat application like a windows form application because we cannot keep the connection after one web request ended. So a lot of events which communicates between client side and server side cannot be realized. The common workaround is to make web requests in every some seconds to check whether the server side has been updated. But another technique called COMET makes it possible. But it is different with AJAX and will not be talked in details in this KB. For more details about COMET, we can get some clues from the Reference.   CSASPNETCurrentOnlineUserList and VBASPNETCurrentOnlineUserList This sample demos a system that needs to display a list of current online users' information. As a matter of fact, Membership.GetNumberOfUsersOnline Method  can get the number of online users and there is a convenient approach to check whether the user is online by using Membership.GetUser(string userName).IsOnline property,however many asp.net projects are not using membership.So in this case,the sample shows how to display a list of current online users' information without using membership provider. It is not difficult to check whether the user is online by using session.Many projects tend to be used “Session_End” event to mark a user as “Offline”,however ,it may not be a good idea,because it can’t detect the user status accurately. In addition, "Session_End" event is only available in the "InProc" session mode. If you are storing session states in the State Server or SQL Server, "Session_End" event will never fire. To handle this issue, we need to save the user online status to a  global DataTable or  DataBase. In the sample application, define a global DataTable to store the information of online users.Use XmlHttpRequest in the pages to update and check user's last active time at intervals and also retrieve information on how many users are still online. The sample project can auto delete offline users' information from a global DataTable by checking users’ last active time. A step-by-step guide illustrating how to display a list of current online users' information without using membership provider: 1. Login page. Let user sign in and add current user’s information to a global datatable while Initialize the global datatable which used to store information of current online users. 2. Current online user list page. Use XmlHttpRequest in this page to update and check user's last active time at intervals and also retrieve information on how many users are still online. 3. If user closes the page without clicking  the sign out link button ,the sample project can auto mark the user as offline and delete offline users' information from a global DataTable which used to store information of current online users  by checking users’ last active time. Then the current online user list will be like this:   CSASPNETIPtoLocation This sample demonstrates how to find the geographical location from an IP address. As we know, it is not hard for us to get the IP address of visitors via Request.ServerVariable property, but it is really difficult for us to know where they come from. To achieve this feature, the sample uses a free third party web service from http://freegeoip.appspot.com/, which returns the information about an IP address we send to the server in the format of XML, JSON or CSV. It makes all things easier.   CSASPNETBackgroundWorker Sometimes we do an operation which needs long time to complete. It will stop the response and the page is blank until the operation finished. In this case, we want the operation to run in the background, and in the page, we want to display the progress of the running operation. Therefore, the user can know the operation is running and can know the progress. CSASPNETInheritingFromTreeNode In windows forms TreeView, each tree node has a property called "Tag" which can be used to store a custom object. Many customers want to implement the same tag feature in ASP.NET TreeView. This project creates a custom TreeView control named "CustomTreeView" to achieve this goal. CSASPNETRemoteUploadAndDownload and VBASPNETRemoteUploadAndDownload This code sample was created in response to a code sample request in our new code sample request frunction for customers. The code samples demonstrate uploading files to and downloading files from a remote HTTP or FTP server. In .NET Framework 2.0 and higher versions, there are some lightweight class libraries which support HTTP and FTP protocol transmission. By using these classes, we can achieve this programming requirement.   CSASPNETImageEditUpload and VBASPNETImageEditUpload This demo will shows how to insert, edit and update a common image with the type of "jpg", "png", "gif" or "bmp" . We mainly use two different SqlDataSources with the same database to bind to GridView and FormView in order to establish the “cascading” effort. Besides we apply our self-made ImageHanlder to encoding or decoding images of different types, and use context to output the stream of images. We will explicitly assign the binary streams of images through the event of “FormView_ItemInserting” or “Form_ItemUpdating” to synchronize the stream both in what we can see on an aspx page as well as in what’s really stored in the database.   WebBrowser Control, Network and other Windows General New Code Samples   CSWebBrowserSuppressError and VBWebBrowserSuppressError The sample demonstrates how to make WebBrowser suppress errors, such as script error, navigation error and so on.   CSWebBrowserWithProxy and VBWebBrowserWithProxy The sample demonstrates how to make WebBrowser use a proxy server.   CSWebDownloadProgress and VBWebDownloadProgress The sample demonstrates how to show progress during the download. It also supplies the features to Start, Pause, Resume and Cancel a download.   CppSetDesktopWallpaper, CSSetDesktopWallpaper and VBSetDesktopWallpaper This code sample application allows you select an image, view a preview (resized smaller to fit if necessary), select a display style among Tile, Center, Stretch, Fit (Windows 7 and later) and Fill (Windows 7 and later), and set the image as the Desktop wallpaper. CSWindowsServiceRecoveryProperty and VBWindowsServiceRecoveryProperty CSWindowsServiceRecoveryProperty example demonstrates how to use ChangeServiceConfig2 to configure the service "Recovery" properties in C#. This example operates all the options you can see on the service "Recovery" tab, including setting the "Enable actions for stops with errors" option in Windows Vista and later operating systems. This example also include how to grant the shut down privilege to the process, so that we can configure a special option in the "Recovery" tab - "Restart Computer Options...".   New Office Development Code Samples   CSOneNoteRibbonAddIn and VBOneNoteRibbonAddIn The code sample demonstrates a OneNote 2010 COM add-in that implements IDTExtensibility2. The add-in also supports customizing the Ribbon by implementing the IRibbonExtensibility interface. It is a skeleton OneNote add-in that developers can extend it to implement more functions. The code sample was requested by a customer in our code sample request service. We expect that this could help developers in the community.   New Windows Shell Code Samples   CppShellExtPreviewHandler, CSShellExtPreviewHandler and VBShellExtPreviewHandler In the past two months, we released the code samples of Windows Context Menu Handler, Infotip Handler, and Thumbnail Handler. This is the fourth part of the shell extension series: Preview Handler. The code samples demo the C++, C# and VB.NET implementation of a preview handler for a new file type registered with the .recipe extension. Preview handlers are called when an item is selected to show a lightweight, rich, read-only preview of the file's contents in the view's reading pane. This is done without launching the file's associated application. Windows Vista and later operating systems support preview handlers. To be a valid preview handler, several interfaces must be implemented. This includes IPreviewHandler (shobjidl.h); IInitializeWithFile, IInitializeWithStream, or IInitializeWithItem (propsys.h); IObjectWithSite (ocidl.h); and IOleWindow (oleidl.h). There are also optional interfaces, such as IPreviewHandlerVisuals (shobjidl.h), that a preview handler can implement to provide extended support. Windows API Code Pack for Microsoft .NET Framework makes the implementation of these interfaces very easy in .NET. The example preview handler provides previews for .recipe files. The .recipe file type is simply an XML file registered as a unique file name extension. It includes the title of the recipe, its author, difficulty, preparation time, cook time, nutrition information, comments, an embedded preview image, and so on. The preview handler extracts the title, comments, and the embedded image, and display them in a preview window.   In response to many customers' request, we added setup projects in every shell extension samples in this release. Those setup projects allow you to deploy the shell extensions to your end users' machines. ---------- Download address: http://1code.codeplex.com/releases/view/57459#DownloadId=185534 Updated code sample index categorized by technologies: http://1code.codeplex.com/wikipage?title=All-In-One%20Code%20Framework%20Sample%20Catalog (it also allows you to download individual code samples instead of the entire All-In-One Code Framework sample package.) If you have any feedback for us, please email: [email protected]. We look forward to your comments.

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  • Parallelism in .NET – Part 1, Decomposition

    - by Reed
    The first step in designing any parallelized system is Decomposition.  Decomposition is nothing more than taking a problem space and breaking it into discrete parts.  When we want to work in parallel, we need to have at least two separate things that we are trying to run.  We do this by taking our problem and decomposing it into parts. There are two common abstractions that are useful when discussing parallel decomposition: Data Decomposition and Task Decomposition.  These two abstractions allow us to think about our problem in a way that helps leads us to correct decision making in terms of the algorithms we’ll use to parallelize our routine. To start, I will make a couple of minor points. I’d like to stress that Decomposition has nothing to do with specific algorithms or techniques.  It’s about how you approach and think about the problem, not how you solve the problem using a specific tool, technique, or library.  Decomposing the problem is about constructing the appropriate mental model: once this is done, you can choose the appropriate design and tools, which is a subject for future posts. Decomposition, being unrelated to tools or specific techniques, is not specific to .NET in any way.  This should be the first step to parallelizing a problem, and is valid using any framework, language, or toolset.  However, this gives us a starting point – without a proper understanding of decomposition, it is difficult to understand the proper usage of specific classes and tools within the .NET framework. Data Decomposition is often the simpler abstraction to use when trying to parallelize a routine.  In order to decompose our problem domain by data, we take our entire set of data and break it into smaller, discrete portions, or chunks.  We then work on each chunk in the data set in parallel. This is particularly useful if we can process each element of data independently of the rest of the data.  In a situation like this, there are some wonderfully simple techniques we can use to take advantage of our data.  By decomposing our domain by data, we can very simply parallelize our routines.  In general, we, as developers, should be always searching for data that can be decomposed. Finding data to decompose if fairly simple, in many instances.  Data decomposition is typically used with collections of data.  Any time you have a collection of items, and you’re going to perform work on or with each of the items, you potentially have a situation where parallelism can be exploited.  This is fairly easy to do in practice: look for iteration statements in your code, such as for and foreach. Granted, every for loop is not a candidate to be parallelized.  If the collection is being modified as it’s iterated, or the processing of elements depends on other elements, the iteration block may need to be processed in serial.  However, if this is not the case, data decomposition may be possible. Let’s look at one example of how we might use data decomposition.  Suppose we were working with an image, and we were applying a simple contrast stretching filter.  When we go to apply the filter, once we know the minimum and maximum values, we can apply this to each pixel independently of the other pixels.  This means that we can easily decompose this problem based off data – we will do the same operation, in parallel, on individual chunks of data (each pixel). Task Decomposition, on the other hand, is focused on the individual tasks that need to be performed instead of focusing on the data.  In order to decompose our problem domain by tasks, we need to think about our algorithm in terms of discrete operations, or tasks, which can then later be parallelized. Task decomposition, in practice, can be a bit more tricky than data decomposition.  Here, we need to look at what our algorithm actually does, and how it performs its actions.  Once we have all of the basic steps taken into account, we can try to analyze them and determine whether there are any constraints in terms of shared data or ordering.  There are no simple things to look for in terms of finding tasks we can decompose for parallelism; every algorithm is unique in terms of its tasks, so every algorithm will have unique opportunities for task decomposition. For example, say we want our software to perform some customized actions on startup, prior to showing our main screen.  Perhaps we want to check for proper licensing, notify the user if the license is not valid, and also check for updates to the program.  Once we verify the license, and that there are no updates, we’ll start normally.  In this case, we can decompose this problem into tasks – we have a few tasks, but there are at least two discrete, independent tasks (check licensing, check for updates) which we can perform in parallel.  Once those are completed, we will continue on with our other tasks. One final note – Data Decomposition and Task Decomposition are not mutually exclusive.  Often, you’ll mix the two approaches while trying to parallelize a single routine.  It’s possible to decompose your problem based off data, then further decompose the processing of each element of data based on tasks.  This just provides a framework for thinking about our algorithms, and for discussing the problem.

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