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• Secure wipe of a hard drive using WinPE.

  - by Derek Meier

  Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} The wiping of a hard drive is typically seen as fairly trivial.  There are tons of applications out there that will do it for you.  Point àClickàGlobal-Thermo Nuclear War. However, these applications are typically expensive or unreliable.  Plus, if you have a laptop or lack a secondary computer to put the hard drive into – how on earth do you wipe it quickly and easily while still conforming to a 7 pass rule (this means that every possible bit on the hard drive is set to 0 and then to 1 seven times in a row)?  Yes, one pass should be enough – as turning every bit from a 1 to a zero will wipe the data from existence.  But, we’re dealing with tinfoil hat wearing types here people.  DOD standards dictate at least 3 passes, and typically 7 is the preferred amount.  I’m not going to argue about data recovery.  I have been told to use 7 passes, and so I will.  So say we all! Quite some time ago I used to make a BartPE XP-based boot cd for the original purpose of securely wiping data.  I loved BartPE and integrated so many plugins into my builds that I could do pretty much anything directly from CD.  Reset passwords, uninstall security updates, wipe drives, chkdsk, remove spyware, install Windows, etc.  However, with the newer multi-core systems and new chipsets coming out from vendors, I found that BartPE was rather difficult to keep up to date.  I have since switched to WinPE 3.0 (Windows Preinstallation Environment). http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc748933(WS.10).aspx  It is fairly simple to create your own CD, and I have made a few helpful scripts to easily integrate drivers and rebuild the ISO file for you.  I’ll cover making your own boot CD utilizing WinPE 3.0 in a later post – I can talk about WinPE forever and need to collect my thoughts!!  My wife loves talking about WinPE almost as much as talking about Doctor Who.  Wait, did I say loves?  Hmmmm, I may have meant loathes. The topic at hand?  Right. Wiping a drive! I must have drunk too much coffee this morning.  I like to use a simple batch script that calls a combination of diskpart.exe from Microsoft® and Sdelete.exe created by our friend Mark Russinovich. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897443.aspx All of the following files are located within the same directory on my WinPE boot CD. Here are the contents of wipe_me.bat, script.txt and sdelete.reg. Wipe_me.bat:   @echo off echo. echo     I will completely wipe the local hard drives using echo     7 individual wipes. The data will NOT echo     be recoverable.  I will begin after you pause echo. echo Preparing to partition and format disk. Diskpart.exe /s "script.txt" REM I was annoyed by not having a completely automated script – and Sdelete wants you to accept the license agreement. So, I added a registry file to skip doing that. regedit /S sdelete.reg rem sdelete options selected are: -p (passes) -c (zero free space) -s (recurse through subdirectories, if any) -z (clean free space) [drive letter] sdelete.exe -p 7 -c -s -z c: echo. echo Pass seven complete. echo. echo Wiping complete. Pause exit script.txt: list disk select disk 0 clean create partition primary select partition 1 active format FS=NTFS LABEL="New Volume" QUICK assign letter=c exit *Notes: This script assumes one local hard drive – change the script as you see fit for your environment.  The clean command will overwrite the master boot record and any hidden sector information – so be careful!   sdelete.reg: Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Sysinternals\SDelete] "EulaAccepted"=dword:00000001   With a combination of WinPE, sdelete.exe and your friendly neighborhood text editor you can begin wiping drives as quickly and easily as possible!  I hope this helps, I get asked this a lot in my line of work. Best of luck, Derek

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• Windows Azure: Backup Services Release, Hyper-V Recovery Manager, VM Enhancements, Enhanced Enterprise Management Support

  - by ScottGu

  This morning we released a huge set of updates to Windows Azure.  These new capabilities include: Backup Services: General Availability of Windows Azure Backup Services Hyper-V Recovery Manager: Public preview of Windows Azure Hyper-V Recovery Manager Virtual Machines: Delete Attached Disks, Availability Set Warnings, SQL AlwaysOn Configuration Active Directory: Securely manage hundreds of SaaS applications Enterprise Management: Use Active Directory to Better Manage Windows Azure Windows Azure SDK 2.2: A massive update of our SDK + Visual Studio tooling support All of these improvements are now available to use immediately.  Below are more details about them. Backup Service: General Availability Release of Windows Azure Backup Today we are releasing Windows Azure Backup Service as a general availability service.  This release is now live in production, backed by an enterprise SLA, supported by Microsoft Support, and is ready to use for production scenarios. Windows Azure Backup is a cloud based backup solution for Windows Server which allows files and folders to be backed up and recovered from the cloud, and provides off-site protection against data loss. The service provides IT administrators and developers with the option to back up and protect critical data in an easily recoverable way from any location with no upfront hardware cost. Windows Azure Backup is built on the Windows Azure platform and uses Windows Azure blob storage for storing customer data. Windows Server uses the downloadable Windows Azure Backup Agent to transfer file and folder data securely and efficiently to the Windows Azure Backup Service. Along with providing cloud backup for Windows Server, Windows Azure Backup Service also provides capability to backup data from System Center Data Protection Manager and Windows Server Essentials, to the cloud. All data is encrypted onsite before it is sent to the cloud, and customers retain and manage the encryption key (meaning the data is stored entirely secured and can’t be decrypted by anyone but yourself). Getting Started To get started with the Windows Azure Backup Service, create a new Backup Vault within the Windows Azure Management Portal.  Click New->Data Services->Recovery Services->Backup Vault to do this: Once the backup vault is created you’ll be presented with a simple tutorial that will help guide you on how to register your Windows Servers with it: Once the servers you want to backup are registered, you can use the appropriate local management interface (such as the Microsoft Management Console snap-in, System Center Data Protection Manager Console, or Windows Server Essentials Dashboard) to configure the scheduled backups and to optionally initiate recoveries. You can follow these tutorials to learn more about how to do this: Tutorial: Schedule Backups Using the Windows Azure Backup Agent This tutorial helps you with setting up a backup schedule for your registered Windows Servers. Additionally, it also explains how to use Windows PowerShell cmdlets to set up a custom backup schedule. Tutorial: Recover Files and Folders Using the Windows Azure Backup Agent This tutorial helps you with recovering data from a backup. Additionally, it also explains how to use Windows PowerShell cmdlets to do the same tasks. Below are some of the key benefits the Windows Azure Backup Service provides: Simple configuration and management. Windows Azure Backup Service integrates with the familiar Windows Server Backup utility in Windows Server, the Data Protection Manager component in System Center and Windows Server Essentials, in order to provide a seamless backup and recovery experience to a local disk, or to the cloud. Block level incremental backups. The Windows Azure Backup Agent performs incremental backups by tracking file and block level changes and only transferring the changed blocks, hence reducing the storage and bandwidth utilization. Different point-in-time versions of the backups use storage efficiently by only storing the changes blocks between these versions. Data compression, encryption and throttling. The Windows Azure Backup Agent ensures that data is compressed and encrypted on the server before being sent to the Windows Azure Backup Service over the network. As a result, the Windows Azure Backup Service only stores encrypted data in the cloud storage. The encryption key is not available to the Windows Azure Backup Service, and as a result the data is never decrypted in the service. Also, users can setup throttling and configure how the Windows Azure Backup service utilizes the network bandwidth when backing up or restoring information. Data integrity is verified in the cloud. In addition to the secure backups, the backed up data is also automatically checked for integrity once the backup is done. As a result, any corruptions which may arise due to data transfer can be easily identified and are fixed automatically. Configurable retention policies for storing data in the cloud. The Windows Azure Backup Service accepts and implements retention policies to recycle backups that exceed the desired retention range, thereby meeting business policies and managing backup costs. Hyper-V Recovery Manager: Now Available in Public Preview I’m excited to also announce the public preview of a new Windows Azure Service – the Windows Azure Hyper-V Recovery Manager (HRM). Windows Azure Hyper-V Recovery Manager helps protect your business critical services by coordinating the replication and recovery of System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 SP1 and System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 R2 private clouds at a secondary location. With automated protection, asynchronous ongoing replication, and orderly recovery, the Hyper-V Recovery Manager service can help you implement Disaster Recovery and restore important services accurately, consistently, and with minimal downtime. Application data in an Hyper-V Recovery Manager scenarios always travels on your on-premise replication channel. Only metadata (such as names of logical clouds, virtual machines, networks etc.) that is needed for orchestration is sent to Azure. All traffic sent to/from Azure is encrypted. You can begin using Windows Azure Hyper-V Recovery today by clicking New->Data Services->Recovery Services->Hyper-V Recovery Manager within the Windows Azure Management Portal.  You can read more about Windows Azure Hyper-V Recovery Manager in Brad Anderson’s 9-part series, Transform the datacenter. To learn more about setting up Hyper-V Recovery Manager follow our detailed step-by-step guide. Virtual Machines: Delete Attached Disks, Availability Set Warnings, SQL AlwaysOn Today’s Windows Azure release includes a number of nice updates to Windows Azure Virtual Machines.  These improvements include: Ability to Delete both VM Instances + Attached Disks in One Operation Prior to today’s release, when you deleted VMs within Windows Azure we would delete the VM instance – but not delete the drives attached to the VM.  You had to manually delete these yourself from the storage account.  With today’s update we’ve added a convenience option that now allows you to either retain or delete the attached disks when you delete the VM:   We’ve also added the ability to delete a cloud service, its deployments, and its role instances with a single action. This can either be a cloud service that has production and staging deployments with web and worker roles, or a cloud service that contains virtual machines.  To do this, simply select the Cloud Service within the Windows Azure Management Portal and click the “Delete” button: Warnings on Availability Sets with Only One Virtual Machine In Them One of the nice features that Windows Azure Virtual Machines supports is the concept of “Availability Sets”.  An “availability set” allows you to define a tier/role (e.g. webfrontends, databaseservers, etc) that you can map Virtual Machines into – and when you do this Windows Azure separates them across fault domains and ensures that at least one of them is always available during servicing operations.  This enables you to deploy applications in a high availability way. One issue we’ve seen some customers run into is where they define an availability set, but then forget to map more than one VM into it (which defeats the purpose of having an availability set).  With today’s release we now display a warning in the Windows Azure Management Portal if you have only one virtual machine deployed in an availability set to help highlight this: You can learn more about configuring the availability of your virtual machines here. Configuring SQL Server Always On SQL Server Always On is a great feature that you can use with Windows Azure to enable high availability and DR scenarios with SQL Server. Today’s Windows Azure release makes it even easier to configure SQL Server Always On by enabling “Direct Server Return” endpoints to be configured and managed within the Windows Azure Management Portal.  Previously, setting this up required using PowerShell to complete the endpoint configuration.  Starting today you can enable this simply by checking the “Direct Server Return” checkbox: You can learn more about how to use direct server return for SQL Server AlwaysOn availability groups here. Active Directory: Application Access Enhancements This summer we released our initial preview of our Application Access Enhancements for Windows Azure Active Directory.  This service enables you to securely implement single-sign-on (SSO) support against SaaS applications (including Office 365, SalesForce, Workday, Box, Google Apps, GitHub, etc) as well as LOB based applications (including ones built with the new Windows Azure AD support we shipped last week with ASP.NET and VS 2013). Since the initial preview we’ve enhanced our SAML federation capabilities, integrated our new password vaulting system, and shipped multi-factor authentication support. We've also turned on our outbound identity provisioning system and have it working with hundreds of additional SaaS Applications: Earlier this month we published an update on dates and pricing for when the service will be released in general availability form.  In this blog post we announced our intention to release the service in general availability form by the end of the year.  We also announced that the below features would be available in a free tier with it: SSO to every SaaS app we integrate with – Users can Single Sign On to any app we are integrated with at no charge. This includes all the top SAAS Apps and every app in our application gallery whether they use federation or password vaulting. Application access assignment and removal – IT Admins can assign access privileges to web applications to the users in their active directory assuring that every employee has access to the SAAS Apps they need. And when a user leaves the company or changes jobs, the admin can just as easily remove their access privileges assuring data security and minimizing IP loss User provisioning (and de-provisioning) – IT admins will be able to automatically provision users in 3rd party SaaS applications like Box, Salesforce.com, GoToMeeting, DropBox and others. We are working with key partners in the ecosystem to establish these connections, meaning you no longer have to continually update user records in multiple systems. Security and auditing reports – Security is a key priority for us. With the free version of these enhancements you'll get access to our standard set of access reports giving you visibility into which users are using which applications, when they were using them and where they are using them from. In addition, we'll alert you to un-usual usage patterns for instance when a user logs in from multiple locations at the same time. Our Application Access Panel – Users are logging in from every type of devices including Windows, iOS, & Android. Not all of these devices handle authentication in the same manner but the user doesn't care. They need to access their apps from the devices they love. Our Application Access Panel will support the ability for users to access access and launch their apps from any device and anywhere. You can learn more about our plans for application management with Windows Azure Active Directory here.  Try out the preview and start using it today. Enterprise Management: Use Active Directory to Better Manage Windows Azure Windows Azure Active Directory provides the ability to manage your organization in a directory which is hosted entirely in the cloud, or alternatively kept in sync with an on-premises Windows Server Active Directory solution (allowing you to seamlessly integrate with the directory you already have).  With today’s Windows Azure release we are integrating Windows Azure Active Directory even more within the core Windows Azure management experience, and enabling an even richer enterprise security offering.  Specifically: 1) All Windows Azure accounts now have a default Windows Azure Active Directory created for them.  You can create and map any users you want into this directory, and grant administrative rights to manage resources in Windows Azure to these users. 2) You can keep this directory entirely hosted in the cloud – or optionally sync it with your on-premises Windows Server Active Directory.  Both options are free.  The later approach is ideal for companies that wish to use their corporate user identities to sign-in and manage Windows Azure resources.  It also ensures that if an employee leaves an organization, his or her access control rights to the company’s Windows Azure resources are immediately revoked. 3) The Windows Azure Service Management APIs have been updated to support using Windows Azure Active Directory credentials to sign-in and perform management operations.  Prior to today’s release customers had to download and use management certificates (which were not scoped to individual users) to perform management operations.  We still support this management certificate approach (don’t worry – nothing will stop working).  But we think the new Windows Azure Active Directory authentication support enables an even easier and more secure way for customers to manage resources going forward.  4) The Windows Azure SDK 2.2 release (which is also shipping today) includes built-in support for the new Service Management APIs that authenticate with Windows Azure Active Directory, and now allow you to create and manage Windows Azure applications and resources directly within Visual Studio using your Active Directory credentials.  This, combined with updated PowerShell scripts that also support Active Directory, enables an end-to-end enterprise authentication story with Windows Azure. Below are some details on how all of this works: Subscriptions within a Directory As part of today’s update, we have associated all existing Window Azure accounts with a Windows Azure Active Directory (and created one for you if you don’t already have one). When you login to the Windows Azure Management Portal you’ll now see the directory name in the URI of the browser.  For example, in the screen-shot below you can see that I have a “scottgu” directory that my subscriptions are hosted within: Note that you can continue to use Microsoft Accounts (formerly known as Microsoft Live IDs) to sign-into Windows Azure.  These map just fine to a Windows Azure Active Directory – so there is no need to create new usernames that are specific to a directory if you don’t want to.  In the scenario above I’m actually logged in using my @hotmail.com based Microsoft ID which is now mapped to a “scottgu” active directory that was created for me.  By default everything will continue to work just like you used to before. Manage your Directory You can manage an Active Directory (including the one we now create for you by default) by clicking the “Active Directory” tab in the left-hand side of the portal.  This will list all of the directories in your account.  Clicking one the first time will display a getting started page that provides documentation and links to perform common tasks with it: You can use the built-in directory management support within the Windows Azure Management Portal to add/remove/manage users within the directory, enable multi-factor authentication, associate a custom domain (e.g. mycompanyname.com) with the directory, and/or rename the directory to whatever friendly name you want (just click the configure tab to do this).  You can also setup the directory to automatically sync with an on-premises Active Directory using the “Directory Integration” tab. Note that users within a directory by default do not have admin rights to login or manage Windows Azure based resources.  You still need to explicitly grant them co-admin permissions on a subscription for them to login or manage resources in Windows Azure.  You can do this by clicking the Settings tab on the left-hand side of the portal and then by clicking the administrators tab within it. Sign-In Integration within Visual Studio If you install the new Windows Azure SDK 2.2 release, you can now connect to Windows Azure from directly inside Visual Studio without having to download any management certificates.  You can now just right-click on the “Windows Azure” icon within the Server Explorer and choose the “Connect to Windows Azure” context menu option to do so: Doing this will prompt you to enter the email address of the username you wish to sign-in with (make sure this account is a user in your directory with co-admin rights on a subscription): You can use either a Microsoft Account (e.g. Windows Live ID) or an Active Directory based Organizational account as the email.  The dialog will update with an appropriate login prompt depending on which type of email address you enter: Once you sign-in you’ll see the Windows Azure resources that you have permissions to manage show up automatically within the Visual Studio server explorer and be available to start using: No downloading of management certificates required.  All of the authentication was handled using your Windows Azure Active Directory! Manage Subscriptions across Multiple Directories If you have already have multiple directories and multiple subscriptions within your Windows Azure account, we have done our best to create a good default mapping of your subscriptions->directories as part of today’s update.  If you don’t like the default subscription-to-directory mapping we have done you can click the Settings tab in the left-hand navigation of the Windows Azure Management Portal and browse to the Subscriptions tab within it: If you want to map a subscription under a different directory in your account, simply select the subscription from the list, and then click the “Edit Directory” button to choose which directory to map it to.  Mapping a subscription to a different directory takes only seconds and will not cause any of the resources within the subscription to recycle or stop working.  We’ve made the directory->subscription mapping process self-service so that you always have complete control and can map things however you want. Filtering By Directory and Subscription Within the Windows Azure Management Portal you can filter resources in the portal by subscription (allowing you to show/hide different subscriptions).  If you have subscriptions mapped to multiple directory tenants, we also now have a filter drop-down that allows you to filter the subscription list by directory tenant.  This filter is only available if you have multiple subscriptions mapped to multiple directories within your Windows Azure Account:   Windows Azure SDK 2.2 Today we are also releasing a major update of our Windows Azure SDK.  The Windows Azure SDK 2.2 release adds some great new features including: Visual Studio 2013 Support Integrated Windows Azure Sign-In support within Visual Studio Remote Debugging Cloud Services with Visual Studio Firewall Management support within Visual Studio for SQL Databases Visual Studio 2013 RTM VM Images for MSDN Subscribers Windows Azure Management Libraries for .NET Updated Windows Azure PowerShell Cmdlets and ScriptCenter I’ll post a follow-up blog shortly with more details about all of the above. Additional Updates In addition to the above enhancements, today’s release also includes a number of additional improvements: AutoScale: Richer time and date based scheduling support (set different rules on different dates) AutoScale: Ability to Scale to Zero Virtual Machines (very useful for Dev/Test scenarios) AutoScale: Support for time-based scheduling of Mobile Service AutoScale rules Operation Logs: Auditing support for Service Bus management operations Today we also shipped a major update to the Windows Azure SDK – Windows Azure SDK 2.2.  It has so much goodness in it that I have a whole second blog post coming shortly on it! :-) Summary Today’s Windows Azure release enables a bunch of great new scenarios, and enables a much richer enterprise authentication offering. If you don’t already have a Windows Azure account, you can sign-up for a free trial and start using all of the above features today.  Then visit the Windows Azure Developer Center to learn more about how to build apps with it. Hope this helps, Scott P.S. In addition to blogging, I am also now using Twitter for quick updates and to share links. Follow me at: twitter.com/scottgu

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• 8 Backup Tools Explained for Windows 7 and 8

  - by Chris Hoffman

  Backups on Windows can be confusing. Whether you’re using Windows 7 or 8, you have quite a few integrated backup tools to think about. Windows 8 made quite a few changes, too. You can also use third-party backup software, whether you want to back up to an external drive or back up your files to online storage. We won’t cover third-party tools here — just the ones built into Windows. Backup and Restore on Windows 7 Windows 7 has its own Backup and Restore feature that lets you create backups manually or on a schedule. You’ll find it under Backup and Restore in the Control Panel. The original version of Windows 8 still contained this tool, and named it Windows 7 File Recovery. This allowed former Windows 7 users to restore files from those old Windows 7 backups or keep using the familiar backup tool for a little while. Windows 7 File Recovery was removed in Windows 8.1. System Restore System Restore on both Windows 7 and 8 functions as a sort of automatic system backup feature. It creates backup copies of important system and program files on a schedule or when you perform certain tasks, such as installing a hardware driver. If system files become corrupted or your computer’s software becomes unstable, you can use System Restore to restore your system and program files from a System Restore point. This isn’t a way to back up your personal files. It’s more of a troubleshooting feature that uses backups to restore your system to its previous working state. Previous Versions on Windows 7 Windows 7′s Previous Versions feature allows you to restore older versions of files — or deleted files. These files can come from backups created with Windows 7′s Backup and Restore feature, but they can also come from System Restore points. When Windows 7 creates a System Restore point, it will sometimes contain your personal files. Previous Versions allows you to extract these personal files from restore points. This only applies to Windows 7. On Windows 8, System Restore won’t create backup copies of your personal files. The Previous Versions feature was removed on Windows 8. File History Windows 8 replaced Windows 7′s backup tools with File History, although this feature isn’t enabled by default. File History is designed to be a simple, easy way to create backups of your data files on an external drive or network location. File History replaces both Windows 7′s Backup and Previous Versions features. Windows System Restore won’t create copies of personal files on Windows 8. This means you can’t actually recover older versions of files until you enable File History yourself — it isn’t enabled by default. System Image Backups Windows also allows you to create system image backups. These are backup images of your entire operating system, including your system files, installed programs, and personal files. This feature was included in both Windows 7 and Windows 8, but it was hidden in the preview versions of Windows 8.1. After many user complaints, it was restored and is still available in the final version of Windows 8.1 — click System Image Backup on the File History Control Panel. Storage Space Mirroring Windows 8′s Storage Spaces feature allows you to set up RAID-like features in software. For example, you can use Storage Space to set up two hard disks of the same size in a mirroring configuration. They’ll appear as a single drive in Windows. When you write to this virtual drive, the files will be saved to both physical drives. If one drive fails, your files will still be available on the other drive. This isn’t a good long-term backup solution, but it is a way of ensuring you won’t lose important files if a single drive fails. Microsoft Account Settings Backup Windows 8 and 8.1 allow you to back up a variety of system settings — including personalization, desktop, and input settings. If you’re signing in with a Microsoft account, OneDrive settings backup is enabled automatically. This feature can be controlled under OneDrive > Sync settings in the PC settings app. This feature only backs up a few settings. It’s really more of a way to sync settings between devices. OneDrive Cloud Storage Microsoft hasn’t been talking much about File History since Windows 8 was released. That’s because they want people to use OneDrive instead. OneDrive — formerly known as SkyDrive — was added to the Windows desktop in Windows 8.1. Save your files here and they’ll be stored online tied to your Microsoft account. You can then sign in on any other computer, smartphone, tablet, or even via the web and access your files. Microsoft wants typical PC users “backing up” their files with OneDrive so they’ll be available on any device. You don’t have to worry about all these features. Just choose a backup strategy to ensure your files are safe if your computer’s hard disk fails you. Whether it’s an integrated backup tool or a third-party backup application, be sure to back up your files.

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• 8 Mac System Features You Can Access in Recovery Mode

  - by Chris Hoffman

  A Mac’s Recovery Mode is for more than just reinstalling Mac OS X. You’ll find many other useful troubleshooting utilities here — you can use these even if your Mac can’t boot normally. To access Recovery Mode, restart your Mac and press and hold the Command + R keys during the boot-up process. This is one of several hidden startup options on a Mac. Reinstall Mac OS X Most people know Recovery Mode as the place you go to reinstall OS X on your Mac. Recovery Mode will download the OS X installer files from teh Intenret if you don’t have them locally, so they don’t take up space on your disk and you’ll never have to hunt for an opearign system disc. Better yet, it will download up-to-date installation files so you don’t have to spend hours installing operating system updates later. Microsoft could learn a lot from Apple here. Restore From a Time Machine Backup Instead of reinstalling OS X, you can choose to restore your Mac from a time machine backup. This is like restoring a system image on another operating system. You’ll need an external disk containing a backup image created on the current computer to do this. Browse the Web The Get Help Online link opens the Safari web browser to Apple’s documentation site. It’s not limited to Apple’s website, though — you can navigate to any website you like. This feature allows you to access and use a browser on your Mac even if it isn’t booting properly. It’s ideal for looking up troubleshooting information. Manage Your Disks The Disk Utility option opens the same Disk Utility you can access from within Mac OS X. It allows you to partition disks, format them, scan disks for problems, wipe drives, and set up drives in a RAID configuration. If you need to edit partitions from outside your operating system, you can just boot into the recovery environment — you don’t have to download a special partitioning tool and boot into it. Choose the Default Startup Disk Click the Apple menu on the bar at the top of your screen and select Startup Disk to access the Choose Startup Disk tool. Use this tool to choose your computer’s default startup disk and reboot into another operating system. For example, it’s useful if you have Windows installed alongside Mac OS X with Boot Camp. Add or Remove an EFI Firmware Password You can also add a firmware password to your Mac. This works like a BIOS password or UEFI password on a Windows or Linux PC. Click the Utilities menu on the bar at the top of your screen and select Firmware Password Utility to open this tool. Use the tool to turn on a firmware password, which will prevent your computer from starting up from a different hard disk, CD, DVD, or USB drive without the password you provide. This prevents people form booting up your Mac with an unauthorized operating system. If you’ve already enabled a firmware password, you can remove it from here. Use Network Tools to Troubleshoot Your Connection Select Utilities > Network Utility to open a network diagnostic tool. This utility provides a graphical way to view your network connection information. You can also use the netstat, ping, lookup, traceroute, whois, finger, and port scan utilities from here. These can be helpful to troubleshoot Internet connection problems. For example, the ping command can demonstrate whether you can communicate with a remote host and show you if you’re experiencing packet loss, while the traceroute command can show you where a connection is failing if you can’t connect to a remote server. Open a Terminal If you’d like to get your hands dirty, you can select Utilities > Terminal to open a terminal from here. This terminal allows you to do more advanced troubleshooting. Mac OS X uses the bash shell, just as typical Linux distributions do. Most people will just need to use the Reinstall Mac OS X option here, but there are many other tools you can benefit from. If the Recovery Mode files on your Mac are damaged or unavailable, your Mac will automatically download them from Apple so you can use the full recovery environment.

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• RSS Feeds currently on Simple-Talk

  - by Andrew Clarke

  There are a number of news-feeds for the Simple-Talk site, but for some reason they are well hidden. Whilst we set about reorganizing them, I thought it would be a good idea to list some of the more important ones. The most important one for almost all purposes is the Homepage RSS feed which represents the blogs and articles that are placed on the homepage. Main Site Feed representing the Homepage ..which is good for most purposes but won't always have all the blogs, or maybe it will occasionally miss an article. If you aren't interested in all the content, you can just use the RSS feeds that are more relevant to your interests. (We'll be increasing these categories soon) The newsfeed for SQL articles The .NET section newsfeed The newsfeed for Red Gate books The newsfeed for Opinion articles The SysAdmin section newsfeed if you want to get a more refined feed, then you can pick and choose from these feeds for each category so as to make up your custom news-feed in the SQL section, SQL Training Learn SQL Server Database Administration TSQL Programming SQL Server Performance Backup and Recovery SQL Tools SSIS SSRS (Reporting Services) in .NET there are... ASP.NET Windows Forms .NET Framework ,NET Performance Visual Studio .NET tools in Sysadmin there are Exchange General Virtualisation Unified Messaging Powershell in opinion, there is... Geek of the Week Opinion Pieces in Books, there is .NET Books SQL Books SysAdmin Books And all the blogs have got feeds. So although you can get all the blogs from here.. Main Blog Feed          You can get individual RSS feeds.. AdamRG's Blog       Alex.Davies's Blog       AliceE's Blog       Andrew Clarke's Blog       Andrew Hunter's Blog       Bart Read's Blog       Ben Adderson's Blog       BobCram's Blog       bradmcgehee's Blog       Brian Donahue's Blog       Charles Brown's Blog       Chris Massey's Blog       CliveT's Blog       Damon's Blog       David Atkinson's Blog       David Connell's Blog       Dr Dionysus's Blog       drsql's Blog       FatherJack's Blog       Flibble's Blog       Gareth Marlow's Blog       Helen Joyce's Blog       James's Blog       Jason Crease's Blog       John Magnabosco's Blog       Laila's Blog       Lionel's Blog       Matt Lee's Blog       mikef's Blog       Neil Davidson's Blog       Nigel Morse's Blog       Phil Factor's Blog       red@work's Blog       reka.burmeister's Blog       Richard Mitchell's Blog       RobbieT's Blog       RobertChipperfield's Blog       Rodney's Blog       Roger Hart's Blog       Simon Cooper's Blog       Simon Galbraith's Blog       TheFutureOfMonitoring's Blog       Tim Ford's Blog       Tom Crossman's Blog       Tony Davis's Blog       As well as these blogs, you also have the forums.... SQL Server for Beginners Forum     Programming SQL Server Forum    Administering SQL Server Forum    .NET framework Forum    .Windows Forms Forum   ASP.NET Forum   ADO.NET Forum 

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• Pre-filtering and shaping OData feeds using WCF Data Services and the Entity Framework - Part 2

  - by rajbk

  In the previous post, you saw how to create an OData feed and pre-filter the data. In this post, we will see how to shape the data. A sample project is attached at the bottom of this post. Pre-filtering and shaping OData feeds using WCF Data Services and the Entity Framework - Part 1 Shaping the feed The Product feed we created earlier returns too much information about our products. Let’s change this so that only the following properties are returned – ProductID, ProductName, QuantityPerUnit, UnitPrice, UnitsInStock. We also want to return only Products that are not discontinued.  Splitting the Entity To shape our data according to the requirements above, we are going to split our Product Entity into two and expose one through the feed. The exposed entity will contain only the properties listed above. We will use the other Entity in our Query Interceptor to pre-filter the data so that discontinued products are not returned. Go to the design surface for the Entity Model and make a copy of the Product entity. A “Product1” Entity gets created.   Rename Product1 to ProductDetail. Right click on the Product entity and select “Add Association” Make a one to one association between Product and ProductDetails.   Keep only the properties we wish to expose on the Product entity and delete all other properties on it (see diagram below). You delete a property on an Entity by right clicking on the property and selecting “delete”. Keep the ProductID on the ProductDetail. Delete any other property on the ProductDetail entity that is already present in the Product entity. Your design surface should look like below:    Mapping Entity to Database Tables Right click on “ProductDetail” and go to “Table Mapping”   Add a mapping to the “Products” table in the Mapping Details.   After mapping ProductDetail, you should see the following.   Add a referential constraint. Lets add a referential constraint which is similar to a referential integrity constraint in SQL. Double click on the Association between the Entities and add the constraint with “Principal” set to “Product”. Let us review what we did so far. We made a copy of the Product entity and called it ProductDetail We created a one to one association between these entities Excluding the ProductID, we made sure properties were not duplicated between these entities  We added a ProductDetail entity to Products table mapping (Entity to Database). We added a referential constraint between the entities. Lets build our project. We get the following error: ”'NortwindODataFeed.Product' does not contain a definition for 'Discontinued' and no extension method 'Discontinued' accepting a first argument of type 'NortwindODataFeed.Product' could be found …" The reason for this error is because our Product Entity no longer has a “Discontinued” property. We “moved” it to the ProductDetail entity since we want our Product Entity to contain only properties that will be exposed by our feed. Since we have a one to one association between the entities, we can easily rewrite our Query Interceptor like so: [QueryInterceptor("Products")] public Expression<Func<Product, bool>> OnReadProducts() { return o => o.ProductDetail.Discontinued == false; } Similarly, all “hidden” properties of the Product table are available to us internally (through the ProductDetail Entity) for any additional logic we wish to implement. Compile the project and view the feed. We see that the feed returns only the properties that were part of the requirement.   To see the data in JSON format, you have to create a request with the following request header Accept: application/json, text/javascript, */* (easy to do in jQuery) The result should look like this: { "d" : { "results": [ { "__metadata": { "uri": "http://localhost.:2576/DataService.svc/Products(1)", "type": "NorthwindModel.Product" }, "ProductID": 1, "ProductName": "Chai", "QuantityPerUnit": "10 boxes x 20 bags", "UnitPrice": "18.0000", "UnitsInStock": 39 }, { "__metadata": { "uri": "http://localhost.:2576/DataService.svc/Products(2)", "type": "NorthwindModel.Product" }, "ProductID": 2, "ProductName": "Chang", "QuantityPerUnit": "24 - 12 oz bottles", "UnitPrice": "19.0000", "UnitsInStock": 17 }, { ... ... If anyone has the $format operation working, please post a comment. It was not working for me at the time of writing this.  We have successfully pre-filtered our data to expose only products that have not been discontinued and shaped our data so that only certain properties of the Entity are exposed. Note that there are several other ways you could implement this like creating a QueryView, Stored Procedure or DefiningQuery. You have seen how easy it is to create an OData feed, shape the data and pre-filter it by hardly writing any code of your own. For more details on OData, Google it with your favorite search engine :-) Also check out the one of the most passionate persons I have ever met, Pablo Castro – the Architect of Aristoria WCF Data Services. Watch his MIX 2010 presentation titled “OData: There's a Feed for That” here. Download Sample Project for VS 2010 RTM NortwindODataFeed.zip

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• Using the “Settings.settings” functionalities in VB.NET can be tricky…

  - by Vincent Grondin

  Sometime you’re searching for something forever and when you find it, you realize it was right under your nose.  Maybe you were distracted by other things around… or maybe that thing right under your nose was so well hidden that it deserves a blog post…   That happened to me a few days ago while using the “Settings.settings” functionalities in my VB.NET application…  I thought it was a cool feature and I decided to use it…  So there I am adding new settings with “USER” scope and StringCollection as the data type, testing my application and everything works perfectly fine...  That was before I decided to modify the “Value” of one of my settings…  After changing the value of one of my settings, I start my application again and, to my surprise, my new values aren’t showing!  Hmmm… That’s odd…  My setting was a pretty long list of strings so I was rather angry at myself for not saving my work after I was done…  So I open up the Settings.setting in the designer and click the ellipsis symbol to enter my string collection again, but to my great pleasure (and disbelief) my strings are there!!!  Alright, you rock VB.NET!  You’ve just save me a bunch of typing time and I’m thinking it’s just a simple Visual Studio glitch…  I hit “Save” then “Save All” (just in case) and finally I rebuild everything and fire up my app once again.  Huh?  Where are my darn strings????????  Ok there’s a bug there…  I open up the app.config and my new strings are there!!!  Alright, let’s recap…  My new strings are in the app.config, they show correctly in the Settings.settings designer UI but they aren’t showing at runtime…  Hmmmm?  Let’s try something else…  Let’s start the application but outside Visual Studio this time… I fire up the exe and BAM!  My strings where there!  I “alt-tab” and hit “F5” and BOOM, no strings!  So it’s a bug in the Visual Studio environment… or could it be a FEATURE?  I must admit that I’m a little confused over what’s a bug and what’s a feature in Visual Studio… lol!   Finally I found out there’s a “cache” for your Visual Studio located here:  C:\Users\<your username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\<your app name and a very weird temp ID>\<your app version>\user.config When using the “Settings.settings” with a setting of scope “user”, this file is out of sync with your app.config until you manually decide to update it… The button is right there… under your nose… at the top left corner of your screen in the settings designer…  See the big “Synchronize” button there?  Yep…  Now that’s user friendly isn’t it?  Oh, and wait until you see what it does when you click it…  It prompts you and basically says:  “Would you like your settings to start working inside Visual Studio now that you found out that I exist?” and of course the right answer is yes… or rather “OK”…  Unfortunately, you have to do this every time you edit a value… On the other hand, adding and removing settings seem to work flawlessly without having to click this magical button… go figure!  Oh and I almost forgot… this great “feature” is only available for VB.NET…  A project in C# using Settings.settings will work perfectly EVEN when editing values… Here’s a screenshot that shows this important button: Button Using other data types appears to work perfectly well…   Maybe it’s simply related to the StringCollection data type?  If you are a VB.NET programmer, you should pay attention to this when you plan on using the settings functionalities and your scope is “user” and your data type is StringCollection… Happy coding all!

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• On Life and TechEd&hellip;

  - by MOSSLover

  I haven’t been writing here I know.  I am very sorry, but I am just too busy trying to make my personal life just as good as my SharePoint life.  So I was at TechEd again helping with the hands on labs, but I had a very long couple of weeks.  I will have a long week again.  I started out going to my friend, Randy Walker’s, wedding and I ended up at my grandmother’s condo in Fort Lauderdale.  It was a very trying week.  I had to drive 5 1/2 hours to the wedding from St. Louis and back.  So Randy is an awesome person.  He is a great guy and he was the first person ever to nominate me for MVP.  I knew it probably wasn’t going anywhere, but it was the thought that count.  I met Randy in 2008 at Tulsa Techfest.  We had fun jamming out to Rockband.  I knew he was good people back then.  He has let me vent and I have let him vent over countless personal problems.  He has always been a great friend.  So it was a no brainer when I decided to go to his wedding no matter how much driving or stress or lack of sleep it was worth it.  I am incredibly happy for him to finally find a diamond amongst a lot of coal.  To take part in his celebration was so awesome.  I thank him again for letting me participate in this ceremony. Now after Randy’s wedding I drove 5 1/2 hours landed in St. Louis, fed a cat an asthma pill hidden in wet cat food, and slept for 4 hours.  I immediately saw my best friend who dropped me off at the airport and proceeded to TechEd.  I slept 1 hour on each flight, then ended up working a 3 hour shift at TechEd.  The rest of the week was a haze of connecting with people and sleeping very little.  I got to see my friend Tasha and her husband Casey plus a billion other people.  It was a great week and then I got a call from my grandmother.  It turns out her husband was admitted to the hospital. My grandparents on my dad's side have been divorced since the 60s, which means I never got to see them together.  I always felt like they never cliqued.  When I was a kid we would always spend half our time in Chicago at grandma’s and half our time at grandpa’s houses.  We would hang out with my grandpa’s wife Bobbi and my grandma’s husband Leo.  My cousin’s always called Leo by Pappa and my brother and I would use Leo.  My cousins lived in Chicago up until my cousin Gavi was born then they moved to Philadelphia.  I remember complaining to my dad that we never visited anywhere cool just Chicago and Kansas City.  I also remember Leo teaching me and my brother, Sam, how to climb a tree and play tennis on the back of the apartment wall.  My grandfather’s was kind of stuffy and boring, but we always enjoyed my grandmother’s.  She had games and Disney Movies and toys.  Leo always made it a ton of fun to visit.  I’m not sure a lot of people knew this fact, but when I was 16 years old I saw my grandfather on my mother’s side slowly die of congestive heart failure in a nursing home.  When I was 18 I saw my grandmother on my mother’s side slowly die of an infection over a 30 day period.  I hate hospitals and I hate nursing homes, but sometimes you have to suck in your gut and be strong.  I tried to do that this weekend and I hope I did an ok job.  I really hope things get better, but if they don’t I really appreciate everything he has given me in life.  I am a terrible tennis player and I haven’t climbed a tree in ages, but they both encouraged me when encouragement from my parents was lacking.  It was Father’s Day today and I have to at least pay tribute to Leo Morris, because he has been a good person to me all my life.  Technorati Tags: TechEd,Grandparents,Father's Day

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• .NET 3.5 Installation Problems in Windows 8

  - by Rick Strahl

  Windows 8 installs with .NET 4.5. A default installation of Windows 8 doesn't seem to include .NET 3.0 or 3.5, although .NET 2.0 does seem to be available by default (presumably because Windows has app dependencies on that). I ran into some pretty nasty compatibility issues regarding .NET 3.5 which I'll describe in this post. I'll preface this by saying that depending on how you install Windows 8 you may not run into these issues. In fact, it's probably a special case, but one that might be common with developer folks reading my blog. Specifically it's the install order that screwed things up for me -  installing Visual Studio before explicitly installing .NET 3.5 from Windows Features - in particular. If you install Visual Studio 2010 I highly recommend you install .NET 3.5 from Windows features BEFORE you install Visual Studio 2010 and save yourself the trouble I went through. So when I installed Windows 8, and then looked at the Windows Features to install after the fact in the Windows Feature dialog, I thought - .NET 3.5 - who needs it. I'd be happy to not have to install .NET 3.5, but unfortunately I found out quite a while after initial installation that one of my applications/tools (DevExpress's awesome CodeRush) depends on it and won't install without it. Enabling .NET 3.5 in Windows 8 If you want to run .NET 3.5 on Windows 8, don't download an installer - those installers don't work on Windows 8, and you don't need to do this because you can use the Windows Features dialog to enable .NET 3.5: And that *should* do the trick. If you do this before you install other apps that require .NET 3.5 and install a non-SP1 one version of it, you are going to have no problems. Unfortunately for me, even after I've installed the above, when I run the CodeRush installer I still get this lovely dialog: Now I double checked to see if .NET 3.5 is installed - it is, both for 32 bit and 64 bit. I went as far as creating a small .NET Console app and running it to verify that it actually runs. And it does… So naturally I thought the CodeRush installer is a little whacky. After some back and forth Alex Skorkin on Twitter pointed me in the right direction: He asked me to look in the registry for exact info on which version of .NET 3.5 is installed here: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP where I found that .NET 3.5 SP1 was installed. This is the 64 bit key which looks all correct. However, when I looked under the 32 bit node I found: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v3.5 Notice that the service pack number is set to 0, rather than 1 (which it was for the 64 bit install), which is what the installer requires. So to summarize: the 64 bit version is installed with SP1, the 32 bit version is not. Uhm, Ok… thanks for that! Easy to fix, you say - just install SP1. Nope, not so easy because the standalone installer doesn't work on Windows 8. I can't get either .NET 3.5 installer or the SP 1 installer to even launch. They simply start and hang (or exit immediately) without messages. I also tried to get Windows to update .NET 3.5 by checking for Windows Updates, which should pick up on the dated version of .NET 3.5 and pull down SP1, but that's also no go. Check for Updates doesn't bring down any updates for me yet. I'm sure at some random point in the future Windows will deem it necessary to update .NET 3.5 to SP1, but at this point it's not letting me coerce it to do it explicitly. How did this happen I'm not sure exactly whether this is the cause and effect, but I suspect the story goes like this: Installed Windows 8 without support for .NET 3.5 Installed Visual Studio 2010 which installs .NET 3.5 (no SP) I now had .NET 3.5 installed but without SP1. I then: Tried to install CodeRush - Error: .NET 3.5 SP1 required Enabled .NET 3.5 in Windows Features I figured enabling the .NET 3.5 Windows Features would do the trick. But still no go. Now I suspect Visual Studio installed the 32 bit version of .NET 3.5 on my machine and Windows Features detected the previous install and didn't reinstall it. This left the 32 bit install at least with no SP1 installed. How to Fix it My final solution was to completely uninstall .NET 3.5 *and* to reboot: Go to Windows Features Uncheck the .NET Framework 3.5 Restart Windows Go to Windows Features Check .NET Framework 3.5 and voila, I now have a proper installation of .NET 3.5. I tried this before but without the reboot step in between which did not work. Make sure you reboot between uninstalling and reinstalling .NET 3.5! More Problems The above fixed me right up, but in looking for a solution it seems that a lot of people are also having problems with .NET 3.5 installing properly from the Windows Features dialog. The problem there is that the feature wasn't properly loading from the installer disks or not downloading the proper components for updates. It turns out you can explicitly install Windows features using the DISM tool in Windows.dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:NetFX3 /Source:f:\sources\sxs You can try this without the /Source flag first - which uses the hidden Windows installer files if you kept those. Otherwise insert the DVD or ISO and point at the path \sources\sxs path where the installer lives. This also gives you a little more information if something does go wrong.© Rick Strahl, West Wind Technologies, 2005-2012Posted in Windows  .NET   Tweet !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs"); (function() { var po = document.createElement('script'); po.type = 'text/javascript'; po.async = true; po.src = 'https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(po, s); })();

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• Announcing the June 2012 Release of the Ajax Control Toolkit

  - by Stephen.Walther

  I’m excited to announce the June 2012 release of the Ajax Control Toolkit. You can download the new release by visiting http://AjaxControlToolkit.CodePlex.com or (better) download the new release with NuGet: Install-Package AjaxControlToolkit The Ajax Control Toolkit continues to be super popular. The previous release (May 2012) had over 87,000 downloads from CodePlex.com and over 16,000 downloads from NuGet. That’s over 100,000 downloads in less than 2 months. Security Improvements for the HtmlEditorExtender Unfortunately, in the previous release, we made the HtmlEditorExtender too secure! We upgraded the version of the Microsoft Anti-Cross Site Scripting Library included in the Ajax Control Toolkit to the latest version (version 4.2.1) and the latest version turned out to be way too aggressive about stripping HTML. It not only strips dangerous tags such as <script> tags, it also strips innocent tags such as <b> tags. When the latest version of the Microsoft Anti-Cross Site Scripting Library is used with the HtmlEditorExtender, the library strips all rich content from the HtmlEditorExtender control which defeats the purpose of using the control. Therefore, we had to find a replacement for the Microsoft Anti-Cross Site Scripting Library. In this release, we’ve created a new HTML sanitizer built on the HTML Agility Pack. If you were using the AntiXssSanitizerProvider then you will need to substitute the HtmlAgilityPackSanitizerProvider. In particular, you need to modify the sanitizer sections in your Web.config file like this: <configuration> <configSections> <sectionGroup name="system.web"> <section name="sanitizer" requirePermission="false" type="AjaxControlToolkit.Sanitizer.ProviderSanitizerSection, AjaxControlToolkit" /> </sectionGroup> </configSections> <system.web> <sanitizer defaultProvider="HtmlAgilityPackSanitizerProvider"> <providers> <add name="HtmlAgilityPackSanitizerProvider" type="AjaxControlToolkit.Sanitizer.HtmlAgilityPackSanitizerProvider"></add> </providers> </sanitizer> </system.web> </configuration> We made one other backwards-breaking change to improve the security of the HtmlEditorExtender. We want to make sure that users don’t accidently use the HtmlEditorExtender without an HTML sanitizer by accident. Therefore, if you don’t configure a HTML sanitizer provider in the web.config file then you’ll get the following error: If you really want to use the HtmlEditorExtender without using an HTML sanitizer – for example, you are using the HtmlEditorExtender for an Intranet application and you trust all of your fellow employees – then you can explicitly indicate that you don’t want to enable HTML sanitization by setting the EnableSanitization property to false like this: <ajaxToolkit:HtmlEditorExtender TargetControlID="txtComments" EnableSanitization="false" runat="server" /> Please don’t ever set the EnableSanitization property to false for a public website. If you disable HTML sanitization then you are making your website an easy target for Cross-Site Scripting attacks. Lots of Fixes for the ComboBox Control In the latest release, we also made several important bug fixes and feature enhancements to the ComboBox control. Here’s the list of issues that we fixed: 22930 — ComboBox doesn’t close its drop down list when losing input focus to another ComboBox control 23140 — ComboBox Issues – Delete, Backspace, Period 23142 — ComboxBox SelectedIndex = -1 does not clear text 24440 — ComboBox postback on enter 25295 — ComboBox problems when container is hidden at page load 25469 — ComboBox – MaxLength ignored 26686 — Backspace and Delete exception when optionList is null 27148 — Combobox breaks if ClientIDMode is static Fixes to Other Controls In this release, we also made bug fixes and enhancements to the UpdatePanelAnimation, Tabs, and Seadragon controls: 21310 — OnUpdated animation starts before OnUpdating has finished 26690 — Seadragon Control’s openTileSource() method doesn’t work (with fix) Title is required We also fixed an issue with the Tabs control which would result in an InvalidOperation exception. Summary I want to thank the Superexpert team for the hard work that they put into this release. In particular, I want to thank them for their effort in researching, building, and writing unit tests for the HtmlAgilityPack HTML sanitizer.

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• 10 Great Free Icon Packs To Theme Your Android Phone

  - by Chris Hoffman

  Android allows you to customize your home screen, adding widgets, arranging shortcuts and folders, choosing a background, and even replacing the included launcher entirely. You can install icon packs to theme your app icons, too. Third-party launchers use standard app icons by default, but they don’t have to. You can install icon packs that third-party launchers will use in place of standard app icons. How to Use Icon Packs To use icon packs, you’ll need to use a third-party launcher that supports them, such as Nova, Apex, ADW, Go Launcher, Holo Launcher, or Action Launcher Pro. Once you’re using a third-party launcher, you can install an icon pack and go into your launcher’s settings. You’ll find an option that allows you to choose between the icon packs you’ve installed. Many of these icon packs also include wallpapers, which you can set in the normal way. MIUI 5 Icons This icon pack offers over 1900 free icons that are similar to the icons used by the MIUi ROM developed by China’s Xiaomi Tech. The large list of icons is a big plus — this pack will give the majority of your app icons a very slick, consistent look. DCikonZ Theme DCikonZ is a free icon theme that includes a whopping 4000+ icons with a consistent look. This icon theme stands out not just because it’s huge, but also for offering for going in its own direction and avoiding the super-simple, flat look many icon packs use. Holo Icons Holo Icons replaces many app icons with simple, consistent-looking that match Google’s Holo style. If you’re a fan of Android’s Holo look, give it a try. It even tweaks many of the icons from Google’s own apps to make them look more consistent. Square Icon Pack Square Icon Pack turns your icons into simple squares. Even Google Chrome becomes an orb instead of a square. This makes every icon a consistent size and offers a unique look. The icons here almost look a bit like the small-size tiles available on Windows Phone and Windows 8.1. The free version doesn’t offer as many icons as the paid version, but it does offer icons for many popular apps. Rounded Want rounded icons instead? Try the Rounded icon theme, which offers simple rounded icons. The developer says they’re inspired by the consistently round icons used on Mozilla’s Firefox OS. Crumbled Icon Pack Crumbled Icon Pack applies an effect that makes icons look as if they’r crumbling. Rather than theming individual icons, Crumbled Icon Pack adds an effect to every app icon on your device. This means that all your app icons will be themed and consistent. Dainty Icon Pack Is your Android home screen too colorful? Dainty Icon Pack offers simple, gray-on-white icons for over 1200 apps. It’d be ideal over a simple background. The contrast may be a bit low here with the gray-on-white, but it’s otherwise very slick. Simplex Icons Simplex Icons offers more contrast, with black-on-gray icons. This icon pack could simplify busy home screens, allowing photographic wallpapers to come through. Min Icon Set Min attempts to go as minimal as possible, offering simple white icons for over 570 apps. It would be ideal over a simple wallpaper with app names hidden in your launcher, offering a calming, minimal home screen. For apps it doesn’t recognize, it will enclose part of the app’s icon in a white circle. Elegance Elegance goes in another direction entirely, offering icons that incorporate more details and gradients rather than going for minimalism. Its over 1200 icons offer another good option for people who aren’t into the minimal, flat look. Icon pack designers generally have to create and include their own icons to replace icons associated with specific apps, so you’ll probably find a few of your app icons aren’t replaced with most of these themes. Of course, a standard Android phone without an icon pack doesn’t have consistent icons, either. Even if all the icons in your app drawer aren’t themed, the few app icons you have on your home screen will be if you use widely used apps.     

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• .NET vs Windows 8

  - by Simon Cooper

  So, day 1 of DevWeek. Lots and lots of Windows 8 and WinRT, as you would expect. The keynote had some actual content in it, fleshed out some of the details of how your apps linked into the Metro infrastructure, and confirmed that there would indeed be an enterprise version of the app store available for Metro apps.) However, that's, not what I want to focus this post on. What I do want to focus on is this: Windows 8 does not make .NET developers obsolete. Phew! .NET in the New Ecosystem In all the hype around Windows 8 the past few months, a lot of developers have got the impression that .NET has been sidelined in Windows 8; C++ and COM is back in vogue, and HTML5 + JavaScript is the New Way of writing applications. You know .NET? It's yesterday's tech. Enter the 21st Century and write <div>! However, after speaking to people at the conference, and after a couple of talks by Dave Wheeler on the innards of WinRT and how .NET interacts with it, my views on the coming operating system have changed somewhat. To summarize what I've picked up, in no particular order (none of this is official, just my sense of what's been said by various people): Metro apps do not replace desktop apps. That is, Windows 8 fully supports .NET desktop applications written for every other previous version of Windows, and will continue to do so in the forseeable future. There are some apps that simply do not fit into Metro. They do not fit into the touch-based paradigm, and never will. Traditional desktop support is not going away anytime soon. The reason Silverlight has been hidden in all the Metro hype is that Metro is essentially based on Silverlight design principles. Silverlight developers will have a much easier time writing Metro apps than desktop developers, as they would already be used to all the principles of sandboxing and separation introduced with Silverlight. It's desktop developers who are going to have to adapt how they work. .NET + XAML is equal to HTML5 + JS in importance. Although the underlying WinRT system is built on C++ & COM, most application development will be done either using .NET or HTML5. Both systems have their own wrapper around the underlying WinRT infrastructure, hiding the implementation details. The CLR is unchanged; it's still the .NET 4 CLR, running IL in .NET assemblies. The thing that changes between desktop and Metro is the class libraries, which have more in common with the Silverlight libraries than the desktop libraries. In Metro, although all the types look and behave the same to callers, some of the core BCL types are now wrappers around their WinRT equivalents. These wrappers are then enhanced using standard .NET types and code to produce the Metro .NET class libraries. You can't simply port a desktop app into Metro. The underlying file IO, network, timing and database access is either completely different or simply missing. Similarly, although the UI is programmed using XAML, the behaviour of the Metro XAML is different to WPF or Silverlight XAML. Furthermore, the new design principles and touch-based interface for Metro applications demand a completely new UI. You will be able to re-use sections of your app encapsulating pure program logic, but everything else will need to be written from scratch. Microsoft has taken the opportunity to remove a whole raft of types and methods from the Metro framework that are obsolete (non-generic collections) or break the sandbox (synchronous APIs); if you use these, you will have to rewrite to use the alternatives, if they exist at all, to move your apps to Metro. If you want to write public WinRT components in .NET, there are some quite strict rules you have to adhere to. But the compilers know about these rules; you can write them in C# or VB, and the compilers will tell you when you do something that isn't allowed and deal with the translation to WinRT metadata rather than .NET assemblies. It is possible to write a class library that can be used in Metro and desktop applications. However, you need to be very careful not to use types that are available in one but not the other. One can imagine developers writing their own abstraction around file IO and UIs (MVVM anyone?) that can be implemented differently in Metro and desktop, but look the same within your shared library. So, if you're a .NET developer, you have a lot less to worry about. .NET is a viable platform on Metro, and traditional desktop apps are not going away. You don't have to learn HTML5 and JavaScript if you don't want to. Hurray!

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• Smarter, Faster, Cheaper: The Insurance Industry’s Dream

  - by Jenna Danko

  On June 3rd, I saw the Gaylord Resort Centre in Washington D.C. become the hub of C level executives and managers of insurance carriers for the IASA 2013 Conference.  Insurance Accounting/Regulation and Technology sessions took the focus, but there were plenty of tertiary sessions for career development, which complemented the overall strong networking side of the conference.  As an exhibitor, Oracle, along with several hundred other product providers, welcomed the opportunity to display and demonstrate our solutions and we were encouraged by hustle and bustle of the exhibition floor.  The IASA organizers had pre-arranged fast track tours whereby interested conference delegates could sign up for a series of like-themed presentations from Vendors, giving them a level of 'Speed Dating' introductions to possible solutions and services.  Oracle participated in a number of these, which were very well subscribed.  Clearly, the conference had a strong business focus; however, attendees saw technology as a key enabler to get their processes done smarter, faster and cheaper.  As we navigated through the exhibition, it became clear from the inquiries that came to us that insurance carriers are gravitating to a number of focus areas: Navigating the maze of upcoming regulatory reporting changes. For US carriers with European holdings, Solvency II carries a myriad of rules and reporting requirements. Alignment across the globe of the Own Risk and Solvency Assessment (ORSA) processes brings to the fore the National Insurance of Insurance commissioners' (NAIC) recent guidance manual publication. Doing more with less and to certainly expect more from technology for less dollars. The overall cost of IT, in particular hardware, has dropped in real terms (though the appetite for more has risen: more CPU, more RAM, more storage), but software has seen less change. Clearly, customers expect either to pay less or get a lot more from their software solutions for the same buck. Doing things smarter – A recognition that with the advance of technology to stand still no longer means you are technically going backwards. Technology and, in particular technology interactions with human business processes, has undergone incredible change over the past 5 years. Consumer usage (iPhones, etc.) has been at the forefront, but now at the Enterprise level ever more effective technology exploitation is beginning to take place. That data and, in particular gleaning knowledge from data, is refining and improving business processes.  Organizations are now consuming more data than ever before, and it is set to grow exponentially for some time to come.  Amassing large volumes of data is one thing, but effectively analyzing that data is another.  It is the results of such analysis that leads to improvements both in terms of insurance product offerings and the processes to support them. Regulatory Compliance, damned if you do and damned if you don’t! Clearly, around the globe at lot is changing from a regulatory perspective and it is evident that in terms of regulatory requirements, whilst there is a greater convergence across jurisdictions bringing uniformity, there is also a lot of work to be done in the next 5 years. Just like the big data, hidden behind effective regulatory compliance there often lies golden nuggets that can give competitive advantages. From Oracle's perspective, our Rating Engine, Billing, Document Management and Insurance Analytics solutions on display served to strike up good conversations and, as is always the case at conferences, it was a great opportunity to meet and speak with existing Oracle customers that we might not have otherwise caught up with for a while. Fortunately, I was able to catch up on a few sessions at the close of the Exhibition.  The speaker quality was high and the audience asked challenging, but pertinent, questions.  During Dr. Jackie Freiberg’s keynote “Bye Bye Business as Usual,” the author discussed 8 strategies to help leaders create a culture where teams consistently deliver innovative ideas by disrupting the status quo.  The very first strategy: Get wired for innovation.  Freiberg admitted that folks in the insurance and financial services industry understand and know innovation is important, but oftentimes they are slow adopters.  Today, technology and innovation go hand in hand. In speaking to delegates during and after the conference, a high degree of satisfaction could be measured from their positive comments of speaker sessions and the exhibitors. I suspect many will be back in 2014 with Indianapolis as the conference location. Did you attend the IASA Conference in Washington D.C.?  If so, I would love to hear your comments. Andrew Collins is the Director, Solvency II of Oracle Financial Services. He can be reached at andrew.collins AT oracle.com.

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• How to Increase the VMWare Boot Screen Delay

  - by Trevor Bekolay

  If you’ve wanted to try out a bootable CD or USB flash drive in a virtual machine environment, you’ve probably noticed that VMWare’s offerings make it difficult to change the boot device. We’ll show you how to change these options. You can do this either for one boot, or permanently for a particular virtual machine. Even experienced users of VMWare Player or Workstation may not recognize the screen above – it’s the virtual machine’s BIOS, which in most cases flashes by in the blink of an eye. If you want to boot up the virtual machine with a CD or USB key instead of the hard drive, then you’ll need more than an eye’s-blink to press Escape and bring up the Boot Menu. Fortunately, there is a way to introduce a boot delay that isn’t exposed in VMWare’s graphical interface – you have to edit the virtual machine’s settings file (a .vmx file) manually. Editing the Virtual Machine’s .vmx Find the .vmx file that contains the settings for your virtual machine. You chose a location for this when you created the virtual machine – in Windows, the default location is a folder called My Virtual Machines in your My Documents folder. In VMWare Workstation, the location of the .vmx file is listed on the virtual machine’s tab. If in doubt, search your hard drive for .vmx files. If you don’t want to use Windows default search, an awesome utility that locates files instantly is Everything. Open the .vmx file with any text editor. Somewhere in this file, enter in the following line… save the file, then close out of the text editor: bios.bootdelay = 20000 This will introduce a 20 second delay when the virtual machine loads up, giving you plenty of time to press the Escape button and access the boot menu. The number in this line is just a value in milliseconds, so for a five second boot delay, enter 5000, and so on. Change Boot Options Temporarily Now, when you boot up your virtual machine, you’ll have plenty of time to enter one of the keystrokes listed at the bottom of the BIOS screen on boot-up. Press Escape to bring up the Boot Menu. This allows you to select a different device to boot from – like a CD drive. Your selection will be forgotten the next time you boot up this virtual machine. Change Boot Options Permanently When the BIOS screen comes up, press F2 to enter the BIOS Setup menu. Switch to the Boot tab, and change the ordering of the items by pressing the “+” key to move items up on the list, and the “-” key to move items down the list. We’ve switched the order so that the CD-ROM Drive boots first. Once you make this change permanent, you may want to re-edit the .vmx file to remove the boot delay. Boot from a USB Flash Drive One thing that is noticeably missing from the list of boot options is a USB device. VMWare’s BIOS just does not allow this, but we can get around that limitation using the PLoP Boot Manager that we’ve previously written about. And as a bonus, since everything is virtual anyway, there’s no need to actually burn PLoP to a CD. Open the settings for the virtual machine you want to boot with a USB drive. Click on Add… at the bottom of the settings screen, and select CD/DVD Drive. Click Next. Click the Use ISO Image radio button, and click Next. Browse to find plpbt.iso or plpbtnoemul.iso from the PLoP zip file. Ensure that Connect at power on is checked, and then click Finish. Click OK on the main Virtual Machine Settings page. Now, if you use the steps above to boot using that CD/DVD drive, PLoP will load, allowing you to boot from a USB drive! Conclusion We’re big fans of VMWare Player and Workstation, as they let us try out a ton of geeky things without worrying about harming our systems. By introducing a boot delay, we can add bootable CDs and USB drives to the list of geeky things we can try out. Download PLoP Boot Manager Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips How To Switch to Console Mode for Ubuntu VMware GuestHack: Turn Off Debug Mode in VMWare Workstation 6 BetaStart Your Computer More Quickly by Delaying the Startup of a Service in VistaEnable Hidden BootScreen in Windows VistaEnable Copy and Paste from Ubuntu VMware Guest 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 OutlookStatView Scans and Displays General Usage Statistics How to Add Exceptions to the Windows Firewall Office 2010 reviewed in depth by Ed Bott FoxClocks adds World Times in your Statusbar (Firefox) Have Fun Editing Photo Editing with Citrify Outlook Connector Upgrade Error

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• Visualising data a different way with Pivot collections

  - by Rob Farley

  Roger’s been doing a great job extending PivotViewer recently, and you can find the list of LobsterPot pivots at http://pivot.lobsterpot.com.au Many months back, the TED Talk that Gary Flake did about Pivot caught my imagination, and I did some research into it. At the time, most of what we did with Pivot was geared towards what we could do for clients, including making Pivot collections based on students at a school, and using it to browse PDF invoices by their various properties. We had actual commercial work based on Pivot collections back then, and it was all kinds of fun. Later, we made some collections for events that were happening, and even got featured in the TechEd Australia keynote. But I’m getting ahead of myself... let me explain the concept. A Pivot collection is an XML file (with .cxml extension) which lists Items, each linking to an image that’s stored in a Deep Zoom format (this means that it contains tiles like Bing Maps, so that the browser can request only the ones of interest according to the zoom level). This collection can be shown in a Silverlight application that uses the PivotViewer control, or in the Pivot Browser that’s available from getpivot.com. Filtering and sorting the items according to their facets (attributes, such as size, age, category, etc), the PivotViewer rearranges the way that these are shown in a very dynamic way. To quote Gary Flake, this lets us “see patterns which are otherwise hidden”. This browsing mechanism is very suited to a number of different methods, because it’s just that – browsing. It’s not searching, it’s more akin to window-shopping than doing an internet search. When we decided to put something together for the conferences such as TechEd Australia 2010 and the PASS Summit 2010, we did some screen-scraping to provide a different view of data that was already available online. Nick Hodge and Michael Kordahi from Microsoft liked the idea a lot, and after a bit of tweaking, we produced one that Michael used in the TechEd Australia keynote to show the variety of talks on offer. It’s interesting to see a pattern in this data: The Office track has the most sessions, but if the Interactive Sessions and Instructor-Led Labs are removed, it drops down to only the sixth most popular track, with Cloud Computing taking over. This is something which just isn’t obvious when you look an ordinary search tool. You get a much better feel for the data when moving around it like this. The more observant amongst you will have noticed some difference in the collection that Michael is demonstrating in the picture above with the screenshots I’ve shown. That’s because it’s been extended some more. At the SQLBits conference in the UK this year, I had some interesting discussions with the guys from Xpert360, particularly Phil Carter, who I’d met in 2009 at an earlier SQLBits conference. They had got around to producing a Pivot collection based on the SQLBits data, which we had been planning to do but ran out of time. We discussed some of ways that Pivot could be used, including the ways that my old friend Howard Dierking had extended it for the MSDN Magazine. I’m not suggesting I influenced Xpert360 at all, but they certainly inspired us with some of their posts on the matter So with LobsterPot guys David Gardiner and Roger Noble both having dabbled in Pivot collections (and Dave doing some for clients), I set Roger to work on extending it some more. He’s used various events and so on to be able to make an environment that allows us to do quick deployment of new collections, as well as showing the data in a grid view which behaves as if it were simply a third view of the data (the other two being the array of images and the ‘histogram’ view). I see PivotViewer as being a significant step in data visualisation – so much so that I feature it when I deliver talks on Spatial Data Visualisation methods. Any time when there is information that can be conveyed through an image, you have to ask yourself how best to show that image, and whether that image is the focal point. For Spatial data, the image is most often a map, and the map becomes the central mode for navigation. I show Pivot with postcode areas, since I can browse the postcodes based on their data, and many of the images are recognisable (to locals of South Australia). Naturally, the images could link through to the map itself, and so on, but generally people think of Spatial data in terms of navigating a map, which doesn’t always gel with the information you’re trying to extract. Roger’s even looking into ways to hook PivotViewer into the Bing Maps API, in a similar way to the Deep Earth project, displaying different levels of map detail according to how ‘zoomed in’ the images are. Some of the work that Dave did with one of the schools was generating the Deep Zoom tiles “on the fly”, based on images stored in a database, and Roger has produced a collection which uses images from flickr, that lets you move from one search term to another. Pulling the images down from flickr.com isn’t particularly ideal from a performance aspect, and flickr doesn’t store images in a small-enough format to really lend itself to this use, but you might agree that it’s an interesting concept which compares nicely to using Maps. I’m looking forward to future versions of the PivotViewer control, and hope they provide many more events that can be used, and even more hooks into it. Naturally, LobsterPot could help provide your business with a PivotViewer experience, but you can probably do a lot of it yourself too. There’s a thorough guide at getpivot.com, which is how we got into it. For some examples of what we’ve done, have a look at http://pivot.lobsterpot.com.au. I’d like to see PivotViewer really catch on a data visualisation tool.

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• Create a Slide Show in Windows 7 Media Center

  - by DigitalGeekery

  Are you looking for a nice way to create and display a slide show from your photo collection? Today we’ll show you how to create a slide show, how to add music to it, and watch it from the comfort of your couch in Windows 7 Media Center. Create Slide Show Launch Windows 7 Media Center and click on the Picture Library tile found under Pictures and Videos.   In the Pictures Library, scroll across to slide shows and click on Create Slide show.   Enter a name for the slide show and click Next.   If you are using a Windows Media Center remote, click on the OK button to bring up the onscreen keyboard. Use the directional buttons to navigate across the keyboard and press OK to select each letter. Click Done when finished. Select Picture Library and click Next. Select the pictures to include in your slide show. If using a remote, navigate through the images and press OK to select. If you are using a mouse, simply click on the selections. When you are finished, click Next.    Now, we can review and edit the slide show. Click the up or down pointing arrows to move pictures up and down in the order.  (more intuitive titles would be helpful in this case as opposed to the randomly generated titles in the example below) If you are finished, click Create. You can also choose to go back and add music to your slide show. (or even more pictures) We’ll take a look at adding some music in our example. Click on the Add More button.   Add Music to Your Slide Show Here we’ll select Music Library to add a song. Click Next.   You’ll now be able to browse your Music Library to select songs for your slide show. Select your songs and click Next.   When you are finished adding Music and Pictures click Create.   Once your slide show is saved, you can play it any time by going to clicking on slide shows in the Picture Library, then selecting the slide show title. Select play slide show when you’re ready to enjoy your new production.   If you ever want to edit or delete the slide show, select it in the Picture Library, and scroll to Actions. You’ll see those option under additional commands. You have the option to Edit Slide Show, Burn a CD/DVD, or Delete. Editing Slide Show Settings Within Media Center, go to Tasks… Click on Pictures…   Then choose Slide Shows. From the Slide Show settings you have the option to Show pictures in random order, Show picture information, Show song information, and Use Pan and zoom effect. You can also adjust the length of time to display each picture, and change the background color. Be sure to click Save to apply and changes before exiting. If you choose to show picture information, the picture title, date, and star rating will be displayed in the top right.   If your slide show is accompanied by music and you choose to show song information, you will get a translucent overlay for a few seconds at the beginning of each song to indicate the song, album, and artist. One of the really cool things about creating a slide show in Windows 7 Media Center is you can complete the entire process using just a Media Center remote. Can’t get enough slide shows? Check out how to turn your desktop into a picture slide show in Windows 7. Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Using Netflix Watchnow in Windows Vista Media Center (Gmedia)Add Color Coding to Windows 7 Media Center Program GuideIntegrate Boxee with Media Center in Windows 7Schedule Updates for Windows Media CenterTurn Your Desktop into a Picture Slideshow in Windows 7 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 Case Study – How to Optimize Popular Wordpress Sites Restore Hidden Updates in Windows 7 & Vista Iceland an Insurance Job? Find Downloads and Add-ins for Outlook Recycle ! Find That Elusive Icon with FindIcons

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• Chart Control in ASP.Net 4 – Second Part

  - by sreejukg

    Couple of weeks before, I have written an introduction about the chart control available in .Net framework. In that article, I explained the basic usage of the chart control with a simple example. You can read that article from the url http://weblogs.asp.net/sreejukg/archive/2010/12/31/getting-started-with-chart-control-in-asp-net-4-0.aspx. In this article I am going to demonstrate how one can generate various types of charts that can be generated easily using the ASP.Net chart control. Let us recollect the data sample we were working in the previous sample. The following is the data I used in the previous article. id SaleAmount SalesPerson SaleType SaleDate CompletionStatus (%) 1 1000 Jack Development 2010-01-01 100 2 300 Mills Consultancy 2010-04-14 90 3 4000 Mills Development 2010-05-15 80 4 2500 Mike eMarketting 2010-06-15 40 5 1080 Jack Development 2010-07-15 30 6 6500 Mills Consultancy 2010-08-24 65 In this article I am going to demonstrate various graphical reports generated from this data with the help of chart control. The following are the reports I am going to generate 1. Representation of share of Sales by each Sales person. 2. Representation of share of sales data according to sale type 3. Representation of sales progress over time period I am going to demonstrate how to bind the chart control programmatically. In order to facilitate this, I created an aspx page named “SalesAnalysis.Aspx” to my project. In the page I added the following controls 1. Dropdownlist control – with id ddlAnalysisType, user will use this to choose the type of chart they want to see. 2. A Button control – with id btnSubmit , by clicking this button, the chart based on the dropdownlist selection will be shown to the user 3. A label Control – with id lblMessage, to display the message to the user, initially this will ask the user to select an option and click on the button. 4. Chart control – with id chrtAnalysis, by default, I set visible = false so that during the page load the chart will be hidden to the users. The following is the initial output of the page. Generating chart for salesperson share Now from Visual Studio, I have double clicked on the button; it created the event handler btnSubmit_Click. In the button Submit event handler, I am using a switch case to execute the corresponding SQL statement and bind it to the chart control. The below is the code for generating the sales person share chart using a pie chart. The above code produces the following output The steps for creating the above chart can be summarized as follows. You specify a chart area, then a series and bind the chart to some x and y values. That is it. If you want to control the chart size and position, you can set the properties for the ChartArea.Position element. For e.g. in the previous code, after instantiating the chart area, setting the below code will give you a bigger pie chart. c.Position.Width = 100; c.Position.Height = 100; The width and height values are in percentage. In this case the chart will be generated by utilizing all the width and height of the chart object. See the output updated with the width and height set to 100% each. Generate Chart for sales type share Now for generating the chart according to the sales type, you just need to change the SQL query and x and y values of the chart. The Sql query used is “SELECT SUM(saleAmount) amount, SaleType from SalesData group by SaleType” and the X-Value is amount and Y-Values is SaleType. s.XValueMember = "SaleType"; s.YValueMembers = "amount"; After modifying the above code with these, the following output is generated. Generate Chart for sales progress over time period For generating the progress of sale chart against sales amount / period, line chart is the ideal tool. In order to facilitate the line chart, you can use Chart Type as System.Web.UI.DataVisualization.Charting.SeriesChartType.Line. Also we need to retrieve the amount and sales date from the data source. I have used the following query to facilitate this. “SELECT SaleAmount, SaleDate FROM SalesData” The output for the line chart is as follows Now you have seen how easily you can build various types of charts. Chart control is an excellent one that helps you to bring business intelligence to your applications. What I demonstrated in only a small part of what you can do with the chart control. Refer http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd456632.aspx for further reading. If you want to get the project files in zip format, post your email below. Hope you enjoyed reading this article.

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• HTG Explains: Are You Using IPv6 Yet? Should You Even Care?

  - by Chris Hoffman

  IPv6 is extremely important for the long-term health of the Internet. But is your Internet service provider providing IPv6 connectivity yet? Does your home network support it? Should you even care if you’re using IPv6 yet? Switching from IPv4 to IPv6 will give the Internet a much larger pool of IP addresses. It should also allow every device to have its own public IP address, rather than be hidden behind a NAT router. IPv6 is Important Long-Term IPv6 is very important for the long-term health of the Internet. There are only about 3.7 billion public IPv4 addresses. This may sound like a lot, but it isn’t even one IP address for each person on the planet. Considering people have more and more Internet-connected devices — everything from light bulbs to thermostats are starting to become network-connected — the lack of IP addresses is already proving to be a serious problem. This may not affect those of us in well-off developed countries just yet, but developing countries are already running out of IPv4 addresses. So, if you work at an Internet service provider, manage Internet-connected servers, or develop software or hardware — yes, you should care about IPv6! You should be deploying it and ensuring your software and hardware works properly with it. It’s important to prepare for the future before the current IPv4 situation becomes completely unworkable. But, if you’re just typical user or even a typical geek with a home Internet connection and a home network, should you really care about your home network just yet? Probably not. What You Need to Use IPv6 To use IPv6, you’ll need three things: An IPv6-Compatible Operating System: Your operating system’s software must be capable of using IPv6. All modern desktop operating systems should be compatible — Windows Vista and newer versions of Windows, as well as modern versions of Mac OS X and Linux. Windows XP doesn’t have IPv6 support installed by default, but you shouldn’t be using Windows XP anymore, anyway. A Router With IPv6 Support: Many — maybe even most — consumer routers in the wild don’t support IPv6. Check your router’s specifications details to see if it supports IPv6 if you’re curious. If you’re going to buy a new router, you’ll probably want to get one with IPv6 support to future-proof yourself. If you don’t have an IPv6-enabled router yet, you don’t need to buy a new one just to get it. An ISP With IPv6 Enabled:  Your Internet service provider must also have IPv6 set up on their end. Even if you have modern software and hardware on your end, your ISP has to provide an IPv6 connection for you to use it. IPv6 is rolling out steadily, but slowly — there’s a good chance your ISP hasn’t enabled it for you yet. How to Tell If You’re Using IPv6 The easiest way to tell if you have IPv6 connectivity is to visit a website like testmyipv6.com. This website allows you to connect to it in different ways — click the links near the top to see if you can connect to the website via different types of connections. If you can’t connect via IPv6, it’s either because your operating system is too old (unlikely), your router doesn’t support IPv6 (very possible), or because your ISP hasn’t enabled it for you yet (very likely). Now What? If you can connect to the test website above via IPv6, congratulations! Everything is working as it should. Your ISP is doing a good job of rolling out IPv6 rather than dragging its feet. There’s a good chance you won’t have IPv6 working properly, however. So what should you do about this — should you head to Amazon and buy a new IPv6-enabled router or switch to an ISP that offers IPv6? Should you use a “tunnel broker,” as the test site recommends, to tunnel into IPv6 via your IPv4 connection? Well, probably not. Typical users shouldn’t have to worry about this yet. Connecting to the Internet via IPv6 shouldn’t be perceptibly faster, for example. It’s important for operating system vendors, hardware companies, and Internet service providers to prepare for the future and get IPv6 working, but you don’t need to worry about this on your home network. IPv6 is all about future-proofing. You shouldn’t be racing to implement this at home yet or worrying about it too much — but, when you need to buy a new router, try to buy one that supports IPv6. Image Credit: Adobe of Chaos on Flickr, hisperati on Flickr, Vox Efx on Flickr     

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• OpenWorld: Spotlight on Fusion CRM

  - by Tony Berk

  Oracle OpenWorld is less than 2 weeks away, so you need to start figuring out how you are going to maximize your week. I don't want to discourage you, but I'm pretty sure it is impossible to attend all 2000+ sessions. So you need to focus on what's important to you. Many of our CRM customers will be interested in Fusion CRM, since they have already started Fusion implementations or determining when to start. If that's you, or you are just looking for an overview of Fusion CRM, we've got you covered! Let's start at the top! For an overview of what is in Fusion CRM and where it is going, you should attend the general session and roadmap session: General Session: Oracle Fusion CRM—Improving Sales Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Ease of Use (Session ID: GEN9674) - Oct 2, 11:45 AM. Anthony Lye, Senior VP, Oracle leads this general session focused on Oracle Fusion CRM. Oracle Fusion CRM optimizes territories, combines quota management and incentive compensation, integrates sales and marketing, and cleanses and enriches data—all within a single application platform. Oracle Fusion can be configured, changed, and extended at runtime by end users, business managers, IT, and developers. Oracle Fusion CRM can be used from the Web, from a smartphone, from Microsoft Outlook, or from an iPad. Deloitte, sponsor of the CRM Track, will also present key concepts on CRM implementations. Oracle Fusion Customer Relationship Management: Overview/Strategy/Customer Experiences/Roadmap (CON9407) - Oct 1, 3:15PM. In this session, learn how Oracle Fusion CRM enables companies to create better sales plans, generate more quality leads, and achieve higher win rates and find out why customers are adopting Oracle Fusion CRM. Gain a deeper understanding of the unique capabilities only Oracle Fusion CRM provides, and learn how Oracle’s commitment to CRM innovation is driving a wide range of future enhancements. There is also a General Session for all Fusion Applications providing insight into the current strategy of the full product line and a high-level roadmap for each product area: Oracle Fusion Applications—Overview, Strategy, and Roadmap (GEN9433) - Oct 1, 10:45AM. This session will be repeated on Oct 3, 10:15AM. Now, if you want to drill down into some more detail, there are a lot more sessions with Oracle product management and customers. I'll highlight a few, but suggest you review the Fusion CRM Focus On document, or the search in the Content Catalog or Session Builder.  Driving Sales Performance with Oracle Fusion CRM (CON9744) - Oct 3, 10:15AM. Demonstrates how sales executives can gain instant visibility into their business, deliver pervasive coaching to their reps, maximize their sales pipeline, and drive team alignment. The result is increased sales performance that enables sales executives to deliver more revenue without increasing their resources or expenses. Maximize Your Revenue Potential with Oracle Fusion CRM Sales Planning (CON9751) - Oct 2, 1:15PM. Learn how Oracle Fusion CRM helps companies intelligently optimize sales planning and manage sales performance including the ability to predict their future sales opportunities and use those predictions in conjunction with past sales data to optimally define their sales territories, sales quotas, and incentive compensation plans. Boost Marketing’s Contribution to Revenue with Oracle Fusion CRM Marketing (CON9746) - Oct 3, 11:45AM. Learn how Oracle Fusion CRM can help your organization integrate sales and marketing, using one CRM platform. See how Oracle Fusion CRM can help your organization learn where to invest its precious marketing dollars; drive more revenue with cross-channel marketing and prospecting capabilities, including and not limited to e-mail, Web, and social media; improve lead conversion with integrated lead management functionality; and do more with less by automating many manual tasks. Oracle Fusion CRM: Social Marketing (CON11559) - Oct 1, 3:15PM. Learn how Oracle’s acquisition of Collective Intellect, Vitrue, and Involver extends Oracle Fusion Marketing as a world-class social marketing solution. Oracle Fusion Social CRM Strategy and Roadmap: Future of Collaboration and Social Engagement (CON9750) - Oct 4, 11:15AM. Hear how Oracle can help you know your customers better, encourage brand affinity, and improve collaboration within your ecosystem. This session reviews Oracle's social media solution and shows how you can discover hidden insights buried in your enterprise and social data. Also learn how Oracle Social Network revolutionizes how enterprise users work, collaborate, and share to achieve successful outcomes. Of course, we recommend you hear from the current Fusion CRM customers too. So, don't miss Oracle Fusion Customer Relationship Management: Customer Adoption and Experiences (CON9415) on Oct 3 at 10:15AM for panel of customers discussing implementation experiences, best practices and benefits.  After listening to all of this great information, you are probably going to have questions. Well, the experts will be on hand to help answer your questions and plan how your organization can get going with Fusion CRM. Be sure to head down to the DEMOgrounds and CRM Pavilion in the Moscone West Exhibit Hall. And finally, there is the always popular Meet the Experts session focused on Fusion CRM (MTE9658) on Oct 2 at 5PM (pre-registration via Schedule Builder is recommended.) In addition, there are more sessions on Mobility, Extensibility, Incentive Compensation, Fusion Customer Hub and other key components of the Fusion Applications infrastructure, Oracle Cloud and much, much more! For a full list, utilize the Fusion CRM Focus On document and Content Catalog. Enjoy!

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• List of Commonly Used Value Types in XNA Games

  - by Michael B. McLaughlin

  Most XNA programmers are concerned about generating garbage. More specifically about allocating GC-managed memory (GC stands for “garbage collector” and is both the name of the class that provides access to the garbage collector and an acronym for the garbage collector (as a concept) itself). Two of the major target platforms for XNA (Windows Phone 7 and Xbox 360) use variants of the .NET Compact Framework. On both variants, the GC runs under various circumstances (Windows Phone 7 and Xbox 360). Of concern to XNA programmers is the fact that it runs automatically after a fixed amount of GC-managed memory has been allocated (currently 1MB on both systems). Many beginning XNA programmers are unaware of what constitutes GC-managed memory, though. So here’s a quick overview. In .NET, there are two different “types” of types: value types and reference types. Only reference types are managed by the garbage collector. Value types are not managed by the garbage collector and are instead managed in other ways that are implementation dependent. For purposes of XNA programming, the important point is that they are not managed by the GC and thus do not, by themselves, increment that internal 1 MB allocation counter. (n.b. Structs are value types. If you have a struct that has a reference type as a member, then that reference type, when instantiated, will still be allocated in the GC-managed memory and will thus count against the 1 MB allocation counter. Putting it in a struct doesn’t change the fact that it gets allocated on the GC heap, but the struct itself is created outside of the GC’s purview). Both value types and reference types use the keyword ‘new’ to allocate a new instance of them. Sometimes this keyword is hidden by a method which creates new instances for you, e.g. XmlReader.Create. But the important thing to determine is whether or not you are dealing with a value types or a reference type. If it’s a value type, you can use the ‘new’ keyword to allocate new instances of that type without incrementing the GC allocation counter (except as above where it’s a struct with a reference type in it that is allocated by the constructor, but there are no .NET Framework or XNA Framework value types that do this so it would have to be a struct you created or that was in some third-party library you were using for that to even become an issue). The following is a list of most all of value types you are likely to use in a generic XNA game: AudioCategory (used with XACT; not available on WP7) AvatarExpression (Xbox 360 only, but exposed on Windows to ease Xbox development) bool BoundingBox BoundingSphere byte char Color DateTime decimal double any enum (System.Enum itself is a class, but all enums are value types such that there are no GC allocations for enums) float GamePadButtons GamePadCapabilities GamePadDPad GamePadState GamePadThumbSticks GamePadTriggers GestureSample int IntPtr (rarely but occasionally used in XNA) KeyboardState long Matrix MouseState nullable structs (anytime you see, e.g. int? something, that ‘?’ denotes a nullable struct, also called a nullable type) Plane Point Quaternion Ray Rectangle RenderTargetBinding sbyte (though I’ve never seen it used since most people would just use a short) short TimeSpan TouchCollection TouchLocation TouchPanelCapabilities uint ulong ushort Vector2 Vector3 Vector4 VertexBufferBinding VertexElement VertexPositionColor VertexPositionColorTexture VertexPositionNormalTexture VertexPositionTexture Viewport So there you have it. That’s not quite a complete list, mind you. For example: There are various structs in the .NET framework you might make use of. I left out everything from the Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Graphics.PackedVector namespace, since everything in there ventures into the realm of advanced XNA programming anyway (n.b. every single instantiable thing in that namespace is a struct and thus a value type; there are also two interfaces but interfaces cannot be instantiated at all and thus don’t figure in to this discussion). There are so many enums you’re likely to use (PlayerIndex, SpriteSortMode, SpriteEffects, SurfaceFormat, etc.) that including them would’ve flooded the list and reduced its utility. So I went with “any enum” and trust that you can figure out what the enums are (and it’s rare to use ‘new’ with an enum anyway). That list also doesn’t include any of the pre-defined static instances of some of the classes (e.g. BlendState.AlphaBlend, BlendState.Opaque, etc.) which are already allocated such that using them doesn’t cause any new allocations and therefore doesn’t increase that 1 MB counter. That list also has a few misleading things. VertexElement, VertexPositionColor, and all the other vertex types are structs. But you’re only likely to ever use them as an array (for use with VertexBuffer or DynamicVertexBuffer), and all arrays are reference types (even arrays of value types such as VertexPositionColor[ ] or int[ ]). * So that’s it for now. The note below may be a bit confusing (it deals with how the GC works and how arrays are managed in .NET). If so, you can probably safely ignore it for now but feel free to ask any questions regardless. * Arrays of value types (where the value type doesn’t contain any reference type members) are much faster for the GC to examine than arrays of reference types, so there is a definite benefit to using arrays of value types where it makes sense. But creating arrays of value types does cause the GC’s allocation counter to increase. Indeed, allocating a large array of a value type is one of the quickest ways to increment the allocation counter since a .NET array is a sequential block of memory. An array of reference types is just a sequential block of references (typically 4 bytes each) while an array of value types is a sequential block of instances of that type. So for an array of Vector3s it would be 12 bytes each since each float is 4 bytes and there are 3 in a Vector3; for an array of VertexPositionNormalTexture structs it would typically be 32 bytes each since it has two Vector3s and a Vector2. (Note that there are a few additional bytes taken up in the creation of an array, typically 12 but sometimes 16 or possibly even more, which depend on the implementation details of the array type on the particular platform the code is running on).

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• How to Share Files Between User Accounts on Windows, Linux, or OS X

  - by Chris Hoffman

  Your operating system provides each user account with its own folders when you set up several different user accounts on the same computer. Shared folders allow you to share files between user accounts. This process works similarly on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. These are all powerful multi-user operating systems with similar folder and file permission systems. Windows On Windows, the “Public” user’s folders are accessible to all users. You’ll find this folder under C:\Users\Public by default. Files you place in any of these folders will be accessible to other users, so it’s a good way to share music, videos, and other types of files between users on the same computer. Windows even adds these folders to each user’s libraries by default. For example, a user’s Music library contains the user’s music folder under C:\Users\NAME\as well as the public music folder under C:\Users\Public\. This makes it easy for each user to find the shared, public files. It also makes it easy to make a file public — just drag and drop a file from the user-specific folder to the public folder in the library. Libraries are hidden by default on Windows 8.1, so you’ll have to unhide them to do this. These Public folders can also be used to share folders publically on the local network. You’ll find the Public folder sharing option under Advanced sharing settings in the Network and Sharing Control Panel. You could also choose to make any folder shared between users, but this will require messing with folder permissions in Windows. To do this, right-click a folder anywhere in the file system and select Properties. Use the options on the Security tab to change the folder’s permissions and make it accessible to different user accounts. You’ll need administrator access to do this. Linux This is a bit more complicated on Linux, as typical Linux distributions don’t come with a special user folder all users have read-write access to. The Public folder on Ubuntu is for sharing files between computers on a network. You can use Linux’s permissions system to give other user accounts read or read-write access to specific folders. The process below is for Ubuntu 14.04, but it should be identical on any other Linux distribution using GNOME with the Nautilus file manager. It should be similar for other desktop environments, too. Locate the folder you want to make accessible to other users, right-click it, and select Properties. On the Permissions tab, give “Others” the “Create and delete files” permission. Click the Change Permissions for Enclosed Files button and give “Others” the “Read and write” and “Create and Delete Files” permissions. Other users on the same computer will then have read and write access to your folder. They’ll find it under /home/YOURNAME/folder under Computer. To speed things up, they can create a link or bookmark to the folder so they always have easy access to it. Mac OS X Mac OS X creates a special Shared folder that all user accounts have access to. This folder is intended for sharing files between different user accounts. It’s located at /Users/Shared. To access it, open the Finder and click Go > Computer. Navigate to Macintosh HD > Users > Shared. Files you place in this folder can be accessed by any user account on your Mac. These tricks are useful if you’re sharing a computer with other people and you all have your own user accounts — maybe your kids have their own limited accounts. You can share a music library, downloads folder, picture archive, videos, documents, or anything else you like without keeping duplicate copies.

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• How to get my list of rows from database to show while using Zend-Paginator

  - by Matto

  I'm fairly new to the world of Zend-Framework, and have taken over a site that is in zend-framework. There is a bug on one of the pages right now and I can not figure it out. I think it has something to do with Zend Paginator, but not sure. This is the code in the controller for the section I am having a problem with: $currentPage = $this->_getParam('page'); $numWebsitesFullOnline = $websites->getWebsitesFullOnline(); $select = $websites->select(); $select->setIntegrityCheck(false); $select->from(array('w' => 'websites'), array('id', 'online', 'kw_adjective', 'kw_name', 'kw_location', 'url', 'email', 'address', 'ftp_server', 'ftp_username', 'ftp_password', 'ftp_folder', 'phone_number', 'indexed', 'youtube_position', 'twitter_user', 'facebook_id', 'video_made', 'image1_id', 'image2_id', 'image3_id', 'bg_color', 'dark_color', 'light_color', 'links_color', 'text_color', 'google_account', 'ganalytics', 'gmaps_status', 'google_position', 'gmap_position', 'hp1', 'hp2', 'hp3', 'hp4', 'hp5', 'hp6', 'hp7', 'hp8', 'hp9', 'hp10', 'about1_id', 'about2_id', 'about3_id', 'tip1_id', 'tip2_id', 'tip3_id', 'contact_texts_id', 'quote_texts_id', 'demographics_id')) ->join(array('d' => 'demographics'), 'w.demographics_id = d.id', array('total_population')) ->order(array('total_population DESC', 'kw_location')); $paginator = new Zend_Paginator(new Zend_Paginator_Adapter_DbSelect($select)); $paginator->setItemCountPerPage(50); $paginator->setCurrentPageNumber($currentPage); $paginator->setPageRange(($paginator->getTotalItemCount() / 50) + 1); $this->view->paginator = $paginator; $numWebsitesOnline = $websites->getWebsitesOnline(); On the php page I have this code to call the websites that are in the database to a list: <p class="red"> Websites online: <?php echo $this->numOnline; ?> </p> <?php print_r(count($this->paginator)); ?> <?php if(count($this->paginator)): ?> <table class="table-list"> <?php foreach($this->paginator as $item): ?> <tr> <?php if($this->userIsAllowedAction('websites', 'reload')): ?> <td class="center noborder w30"> <img class="hidden" src="<?php echo $this->baseUrl() . '/images/loader.gif' ?>" alt="Loading..."/><a class="reload" title="refresh" href="<?php echo $this->baseUrl(); ?>/utils/ui/refresh-website.php" rel="<?php echo urlencode('http://' . $item['url'] . '/install.php'); ?>,<?php echo urlencode($item['ftp_server']); ?>,<?php echo $item['ftp_username']; ?>,<?php echo $item['ftp_password']; ?>,<?php echo $item['ftp_folder']; ?>,<?php echo $this->baseUrl(); ?>,<?php echo $item['id']; ?>"><img src="<?php echo $this->baseUrl(); ?>/images/icon-refresh.png" alt="Refresh"/></a> </td> <?php endif; ?> <td class="center noborder w30"> <?php if($this->userIsAllowedAction('websites', 'edit')): ?><a title="Edit" href="<?php echo $this->url(array('controller' => 'websites', 'action' => 'edit', 'id' => $item['id'])); ?>"><img src="<?php echo $this->baseUrl(); ?>/images/icon-edit.png" alt="Edit"/></a><?php endif; ?> </td> <td class="center noborder w30"> <?php if($this->userIsAllowedAction('websites', 'remove')): ?><a title="Remove" href="<?php echo $this->url(array('controller' => 'websites', 'action' => 'remove', 'id' => $item['id'])); ?>"><img src="<?php echo $this->baseUrl(); ?>/images/icon-delete.png" alt="Remove"/></a><?php endif; ?> </td> <td> <?php if($item['online']): ?> <span class="hidden"><?php echo trim($this->escape($item['kw_adjective'] . $item['kw_name'])); ?></span><a class="goto-website" href="http://<?php echo $item['url']; ?>" target="_blank"><?php echo $this->escape($item['kw_location']); ?></a> <?php else: ?> <?php echo $this->escape($item['kw_location']); ?> <?php endif; ?> </td> <td class="center population"> <?php if($item['total_population'] >= 0) echo $item['total_population']; ?> </td> <td class="center"> <?php if(!empty($item['url'])): ?><img src="<?php echo $this->baseUrl(); ?>/images/check_mark.png" alt="DONE"/><?php endif; ?> </td> <td class="center"> <?php if(!empty($item['email'])): ?><img src="<?php echo $this->baseUrl(); ?>/images/check_mark.png" alt="DONE"/><?php endif; ?> </td> <td class="center"> <?php if($item['demographics_id']): ?><img src="<?php echo $this->baseUrl(); ?>/images/check_mark.png" alt="DONE"/><?php endif; ?> </td> <td class="center"> <?php if($item['hp1'] && $item['hp2'] && $item['hp3'] && $item['hp4'] && $item['hp5'] && $item['hp6'] && $item['hp7'] && $item['hp8'] && $item['hp9'] && $item['hp10'] && $item['about1_id'] && $item['about2_id'] && $item['about3_id'] && $item['tip1_id'] && $item['tip2_id'] && $item['tip3_id'] && $item['contact_texts_id'] && $item['quote_texts_id']): ?><img src="<?php echo $this->baseUrl(); ?>/images/check_mark.png" alt="DONE"/><?php endif; ?> </td> <td class="center"> <?php if(file_exists($_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . $this->baseUrl() . Zend_Registry::get('assets_base_path') . '/' . $item['id'] . '/header.jpg')): ?><img src="<?php echo $this->baseUrl(); ?>/images/check_mark.png" alt="DONE"/><?php endif; ?> </td> <td class="center"> <?php if(($item['bg_color'] != '' && $item['bg_color'] != 'e6e6e6') || ($item['dark_color'] != '' && $item['dark_color'] != '003e75') || ($item['light_color'] != '' && $item['light_color'] != '3073ad') || ($item['links_color'] != '' && $item['links_color'] != '255593') || ($item['text_color'] != '' && $item['text_color'] != '4f4f4f')): ?> <img src="<?php echo $this->baseUrl(); ?>/images/check_mark.png" alt="DONE"/> <?php endif; ?> </td> <td class="center"> <?php if($item['image1_id'] && $item['image2_id'] && $item['image3_id']): ?><img src="<?php echo $this->baseUrl(); ?>/images/check_mark.png" alt="DONE"/><?php endif; ?> </td> <td class="center"> <?php if(!empty($item['twitter_user'])): ?><img src="<?php echo $this->baseUrl(); ?>/images/check_mark.png" alt="DONE"/><?php endif; ?> </td> <td class="center"> <?php if(!empty($item['facebook_id'])): ?><img src="<?php echo $this->baseUrl(); ?>/images/check_mark.png" alt="DONE"/><?php endif; ?> </td> <td class="center"> <?php if(!empty($item['phone_number'])): ?><img src="<?php echo $this->baseUrl(); ?>/images/check_mark.png" alt="DONE"/><?php endif; ?> </td> <td class="center"> <?php if($item['google_account']): ?><img src="<?php echo $this->baseUrl(); ?>/images/check_mark.png" alt="DONE"/><?php endif; ?> </td> <td class="center"> <?php if($item['video_made']): ?><img src="<?php echo $this->baseUrl(); ?>/images/check_mark.png" alt="DONE"/><?php endif; ?> </td> <td class="center"> <?php if($item['youtube_position']) { echo $item['youtube_position']; }; ?> </td> <td class="center"> <?php if(!empty($item['address'])): ?><img src="<?php echo $this->baseUrl(); ?>/images/check_mark.png" alt="DONE"/><?php endif; ?> </td> <td class="center"> <?php if($item['gmaps_status'] == 1): ?><img src="<?php echo $this->baseUrl(); ?>/images/icon-gmapspending.png" alt="Pending"/><?php elseif($item['gmaps_status'] == 2): ?><img src="<?php echo $this->baseUrl(); ?>/images/check_mark.png" alt="DONE"/><?php endif; ?> </td> <td class="center"> <?php if(!empty($item['ganalytics'])): ?><img src="<?php echo $this->baseUrl(); ?>/images/check_mark.png" alt="DONE"/><?php endif; ?> </td> <td class="center"> <?php if($item['online']): ?><img src="<?php echo $this->baseUrl(); ?>/images/check_mark_red.png" alt="Online!"/><?php endif; ?> </td> <td class="center"> <?php if($item['indexed']): ?><img src="<?php echo $this->baseUrl(); ?>/images/check_mark_red.png" alt="Online!"/><?php endif; ?> </td> <td class="center"> <?php if($item['gmap_position']) { echo $item['gmap_position']; }; ?> </td> <td class="center"> <?php if($item['google_position']) { echo $item['google_position']; }; ?> </td> </tr> <?php endforeach; ?> </table> <?php endif; ?> The print_r(count($this-paginator)); line is returning "0", and the $this-numOnline; line is returning 1. So it sees that there is one row in the websites table of the database, but it is not returning anything to page and listing out the rows in the websites table. Not sure if this is the paginator that is causing this cause it is returning 0 or something else I don't know about.

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• Android app crashes on emulator - logCat shows no errors

  - by David Miler

  I have just added the SherlockActionBar library to my android project. After some small changes (FragmentActivity - SherlockFragmentActivity, getActionBar() - getSupportActionBar(), imports) it all compiled nicely. After I run the app, however, the debugger stops, as though it had encountered an exception. However, there are no errors shown in the LogCat output. I just can't wrap my head around what's going on. Here is the logCat output after I terminate the app. 10-02 14:11:19.227: I/SystemUpdateService(174): UpdateTask at time 1349187079227 10-02 14:11:19.237: I/ActivityThread(328): Pub com.android.email.attachmentprovider: com.android.email.provider.AttachmentProvider 10-02 14:11:19.687: I/dalvikvm(81): Jit: resizing JitTable from 512 to 1024 10-02 14:11:19.809: D/MediaScannerService(150): start scanning volume internal: [/system/media] 10-02 14:11:20.047: V/AlarmClock(239): AlarmInitReceiver finished 10-02 14:11:20.087: I/ActivityManager(81): Start proc com.android.quicksearchbox for broadcast com.android.quicksearchbox/.SearchWidgetProvider: pid=346 uid=10012 gids={3003} 10-02 14:11:20.127: D/ExchangeService(320): !!! EAS ExchangeService, onStartCommand, startingUp = false, running = false 10-02 14:11:20.427: I/ActivityThread(346): Pub com.android.quicksearchbox.google: com.android.quicksearchbox.google.GoogleSuggestionProvider 10-02 14:11:20.497: I/ActivityThread(346): Pub com.android.quicksearchbox.shortcuts: com.android.quicksearchbox.ShortcutsProvider 10-02 14:11:20.657: I/ActivityManager(81): Start proc com.android.music for broadcast com.android.music/.MediaAppWidgetProvider: pid=358 uid=10028 gids={3003, 1015} 10-02 14:11:20.927: D/ExchangeService(320): !!! EAS ExchangeService, onCreate 10-02 14:11:20.967: D/dalvikvm(260): GC_CONCURRENT freed 213K, 6% free 6409K/6791K, paused 5ms+101ms 10-02 14:11:21.077: D/ExchangeService(320): !!! EAS ExchangeService, onStartCommand, startingUp = true, running = false 10-02 14:11:21.567: D/GTalkService(174): [ReonnectMgr] ### report Inet condition: status=false, networkType=0 10-02 14:11:21.587: D/ConnectivityService(81): reportNetworkCondition(0, 0) 10-02 14:11:21.597: D/ConnectivityService(81): Inet connectivity change, net=0, condition=0,mActiveDefaultNetwork=0 10-02 14:11:21.597: D/ConnectivityService(81): starting a change hold 10-02 14:11:21.697: D/GTalkService(174): [RawStanzaProvidersMgr] ##### searchProvidersFromIntent 10-02 14:11:21.697: D/GTalkService(174): [RawStanzaProvidersMgr] no intent receivers found 10-02 14:11:21.847: I/SystemUpdateService(174): cancelUpdate (empty URL) 10-02 14:11:21.847: E/TelephonyManager(174): Hidden constructor called more than once per process! 10-02 14:11:21.867: D/dalvikvm(174): GC_CONCURRENT freed 337K, 7% free 6561K/7047K, paused 5ms+4ms 10-02 14:11:21.917: D/GTalkService(174): [ReonnectMgr] ### report Inet condition: status=false, networkType=0 10-02 14:11:21.917: D/ConnectivityService(81): reportNetworkCondition(0, 0) 10-02 14:11:21.917: D/ConnectivityService(81): Inet connectivity change, net=0, condition=0,mActiveDefaultNetwork=0 10-02 14:11:21.917: D/ConnectivityService(81): currently in hold - not setting new end evt 10-02 14:11:21.990: E/TelephonyManager(174): Original: com.google.android.location, new: com.google.android.gsf 10-02 14:11:22.027: I/SystemUpdateService(174): removeAllDownloads (cancelUpdate) 10-02 14:11:22.127: D/dalvikvm(328): GC_CONCURRENT freed 205K, 6% free 6506K/6855K, paused 660ms+3ms 10-02 14:11:22.197: D/Eas Debug(320): Logging: 10-02 14:11:22.319: D/dalvikvm(81): GREF has increased to 401 10-02 14:11:22.947: D/ExchangeService(320): !!! EAS ExchangeService, onStartCommand, startingUp = true, running = false 10-02 14:11:23.130: D/Eas Debug(320): Logging: 10-02 14:11:23.307: I//system/bin/fsck_msdos(29): Attempting to allocate 2044 KB for FAT 10-02 14:11:23.560: I/ActivityManager(81): Starting: Intent { flg=0x10000000 cmp=com.google.android.gsf/.update.SystemUpdateInstallDialog } from pid 174 10-02 14:11:23.587: I/ActivityManager(81): Starting: Intent { flg=0x10000000 cmp=com.google.android.gsf/.update.SystemUpdateDownloadDialog } from pid 174 10-02 14:11:24.087: W/ActivityManager(81): Activity pause timeout for ActivityRecord{407c7320 com.android.launcher/com.android.launcher2.Launcher} 10-02 14:11:24.237: E/TelephonyManager(174): Hidden constructor called more than once per process! 10-02 14:11:24.237: E/TelephonyManager(174): Original: com.google.android.location, new: com.google.android.gsf 10-02 14:11:24.507: D/dalvikvm(174): GC_EXPLICIT freed 231K, 7% free 6596K/7047K, paused 4ms+6ms 10-02 14:11:24.607: D/ConnectivityService(81): Inet hold end, net=0, condition =0, published condition =0 10-02 14:11:24.607: D/ConnectivityService(81): no change in condition - aborting 10-02 14:11:24.707: D/dalvikvm(174): GC_EXPLICIT freed 17K, 7% free 6579K/7047K, paused 4ms+4ms 10-02 14:11:24.947: I//system/bin/fsck_msdos(29): ** Phase 2 - Check Cluster Chains 10-02 14:11:25.117: I//system/bin/fsck_msdos(29): ** Phase 3 - Checking Directories 10-02 14:11:25.128: I//system/bin/fsck_msdos(29): ** Phase 4 - Checking for Lost Files 10-02 14:11:25.167: I//system/bin/fsck_msdos(29): 12 files, 1044448 free (522224 clusters) 10-02 14:11:25.227: I/Vold(29): Filesystem check completed OK 10-02 14:11:25.227: I/Vold(29): Device /dev/block/vold/179:0, target /mnt/sdcard mounted @ /mnt/secure/staging 10-02 14:11:25.237: D/Vold(29): Volume sdcard state changing 3 (Checking) -> 4 (Mounted) 10-02 14:11:25.257: I/PackageManager(81): Updating external media status from unmounted to mounted 10-02 14:11:25.457: D/dalvikvm(303): GC_EXPLICIT freed 35K, 6% free 6242K/6595K, paused 3ms+312ms 10-02 14:11:25.987: D/ExchangeService(320): !!! EAS ExchangeService, onStartCommand, startingUp = true, running = false 10-02 14:11:26.157: D/MediaScanner(150): prescan time: 2905ms 10-02 14:11:26.167: D/MediaScanner(150): scan time: 148ms 10-02 14:11:26.167: D/MediaScanner(150): postscan time: 2ms 10-02 14:11:26.167: D/MediaScanner(150): total time: 3055ms 10-02 14:11:26.197: D/MediaScannerService(150): done scanning volume internal 10-02 14:11:26.237: D/MediaScannerService(150): start scanning volume external: [/mnt/sdcard] 10-02 14:11:26.497: D/dalvikvm(143): GC_EXPLICIT freed 234K, 8% free 7735K/8327K, paused 3ms+5ms 10-02 14:11:27.180: D/dalvikvm(143): GC_CONCURRENT freed 150K, 4% free 8004K/8327K, paused 7ms+3ms 10-02 14:11:27.397: D/dalvikvm(143): GC_FOR_ALLOC freed 96K, 6% free 8310K/8775K, paused 76ms 10-02 14:11:27.580: D/dalvikvm(143): GC_FOR_ALLOC freed 515K, 11% free 8135K/9095K, paused 79ms 10-02 14:11:27.829: D/dalvikvm(143): GC_CONCURRENT freed 3K, 5% free 8694K/9095K, paused 7ms+6ms 10-02 14:11:28.137: V/TLINE(143): new: android.text.TextLine@4065b280 10-02 14:11:28.527: D/dalvikvm(143): GC_CONCURRENT freed 729K, 10% free 8764K/9671K, paused 5ms+13ms 10-02 14:11:28.677: D/dalvikvm(143): GC_FOR_ALLOC freed 152K, 11% free 8683K/9671K, paused 99ms 10-02 14:11:28.717: I/dalvikvm-heap(143): Grow heap (frag case) to 11.434MB for 2975968-byte allocation 10-02 14:11:28.807: D/dalvikvm(143): GC_FOR_ALLOC freed 0K, 9% free 11589K/12615K, paused 84ms 10-02 14:11:29.159: D/dalvikvm(143): GC_CONCURRENT freed 197K, 7% free 12195K/12999K, paused 8ms+6ms 10-02 14:11:29.647: D/dalvikvm(143): GC_EXPLICIT freed 351K, 6% free 12790K/13511K, paused 8ms+17ms 10-02 14:11:29.717: I/SurfaceFlinger(32): Boot is finished (70768 ms) 10-02 14:11:29.877: I/ARMAssembler(32): generated scanline__00000177:03010104_00000002_00000000 [ 44 ipp] (66 ins) at [0x407c7290:0x407c7398] in 990662 ns 10-02 14:11:29.907: I/ARMAssembler(32): generated scanline__00000177:03515104_00000001_00000000 [ 73 ipp] (95 ins) at [0x407c73a0:0x407c751c] in 989381 ns 10-02 14:11:30.287: D/dalvikvm(174): GC_EXPLICIT freed 25K, 8% free 6554K/7047K, paused 4ms+32ms 10-02 14:11:30.380: D/dalvikvm(143): GC_EXPLICIT freed 349K, 6% free 13124K/13895K, paused 5ms+25ms 10-02 14:11:30.957: D/dalvikvm(143): GC_FOR_ALLOC freed 1069K, 10% free 13860K/15239K, paused 81ms 10-02 14:11:32.177: D/dalvikvm(150): GC_CONCURRENT freed 183K, 6% free 6438K/6791K, paused 5ms+4ms 10-02 14:11:32.187: W/ActivityManager(81): No content provider found for: 10-02 14:11:32.607: V/MediaScanner(150): pruneDeadThumbnailFiles... android.database.sqlite.SQLiteCursor@406724a8 10-02 14:11:32.617: V/MediaScanner(150): /pruneDeadThumbnailFiles... android.database.sqlite.SQLiteCursor@406724a8 10-02 14:11:32.640: W/ActivityManager(81): No content provider found for: 10-02 14:11:32.640: D/VoldCmdListener(29): asec list 10-02 14:11:32.647: I/PackageManager(81): No secure containers on sdcard 10-02 14:11:32.667: D/MediaScanner(150): prescan time: 107ms 10-02 14:11:32.667: D/MediaScanner(150): scan time: 89ms 10-02 14:11:32.667: D/MediaScanner(150): postscan time: 61ms 10-02 14:11:32.667: D/MediaScanner(150): total time: 257ms 10-02 14:11:32.697: W/PackageManager(81): Unknown permission android.permission.ADD_SYSTEM_SERVICE in package com.android.phone 10-02 14:11:32.707: W/PackageManager(81): Unknown permission com.android.smspush.WAPPUSH_MANAGER_BIND in package com.android.phone 10-02 14:11:32.737: W/PackageManager(81): Not granting permission android.permission.SEND_DOWNLOAD_COMPLETED_INTENTS to package com.android.browser (protectionLevel=2 flags=0x9be45) 10-02 14:11:32.737: W/PackageManager(81): Not granting permission android.permission.BIND_APPWIDGET to package com.android.widgetpreview (protectionLevel=3 flags=0x28be44) 10-02 14:11:32.767: W/PackageManager(81): Unknown permission android.permission.READ_OWNER_DATA in package com.android.exchange 10-02 14:11:32.778: W/PackageManager(81): Unknown permission android.permission.READ_OWNER_DATA in package com.android.email 10-02 14:11:32.788: W/PackageManager(81): Unknown permission com.android.providers.im.permission.READ_ONLY in package com.google.android.apps.maps 10-02 14:11:32.797: W/PackageManager(81): Not granting permission android.permission.DEVICE_POWER to package com.android.deskclock (protectionLevel=2 flags=0x8be45) 10-02 14:11:33.137: D/MediaScannerService(150): done scanning volume external 10-02 14:11:33.197: D/PackageParser(81): Scanning package: /data/app/vmdl257911298.tmp 10-02 14:11:33.837: I/InputReader(81): Device reconfigured: id=0, name='qwerty2', surface size is now 1024x800 10-02 14:11:34.097: D/dalvikvm(81): GC_CONCURRENT freed 12185K, 47% free 13966K/26311K, paused 8ms+23ms 10-02 14:11:36.798: I/TabletStatusBar(124): DISABLE_CLOCK: no 10-02 14:11:36.798: I/TabletStatusBar(124): DISABLE_NAVIGATION: no 10-02 14:11:37.348: I/ARMAssembler(32): generated scanline__00000177:03515104_00001001_00000000 [ 91 ipp] (114 ins) at [0x407c7520:0x407c76e8] in 919320 ns 10-02 14:11:37.598: I/TabletStatusBar(124): DISABLE_BACK: no 10-02 14:11:37.710: I/ActivityManager(81): Displayed com.android.launcher/com.android.launcher2.Launcher: +46s212ms 10-02 14:11:38.817: D/dalvikvm(143): GC_CONCURRENT freed 969K, 8% free 14867K/16007K, paused 4ms+10ms 10-02 14:11:39.437: I/dalvikvm(81): Jit: resizing JitTable from 1024 to 2048 10-02 14:11:40.267: D/dalvikvm(143): GC_FOR_ALLOC freed 2357K, 16% free 14395K/17031K, paused 80ms 10-02 14:11:40.717: D/dalvikvm(143): GC_EXPLICIT freed 742K, 16% free 14358K/17031K, paused 8ms+4ms 10-02 14:11:41.617: D/dalvikvm(81): GC_CONCURRENT freed 1955K, 48% free 13869K/26311K, paused 9ms+10ms 10-02 14:11:42.559: D/dalvikvm(81): GC_CONCURRENT freed 1830K, 48% free 13881K/26311K, paused 9ms+9ms 10-02 14:11:42.758: I/PackageManager(81): Removing non-system package:cz.trilimi.sfaui 10-02 14:11:42.758: I/ActivityManager(81): Force stopping package cz.trilimi.sfaui uid=10036 10-02 14:11:42.967: D/PackageManager(81): Scanning package cz.trilimi.sfaui 10-02 14:11:42.967: I/PackageManager(81): Package cz.trilimi.sfaui codePath changed from /data/app/cz.trilimi.sfaui-1.apk to /data/app/cz.trilimi.sfaui-2.apk; Retaining data and using new 10-02 14:11:42.967: I/PackageManager(81): Unpacking native libraries for /data/app/cz.trilimi.sfaui-2.apk 10-02 14:11:43.097: D/installd(35): DexInv: --- BEGIN '/data/app/cz.trilimi.sfaui-2.apk' --- 10-02 14:11:45.317: D/dalvikvm(391): DexOpt: load 434ms, verify+opt 1260ms 10-02 14:11:45.407: D/installd(35): DexInv: --- END '/data/app/cz.trilimi.sfaui-2.apk' (success) --- 10-02 14:11:45.407: W/PackageManager(81): Code path for pkg : cz.trilimi.sfaui changing from /data/app/cz.trilimi.sfaui-1.apk to /data/app/cz.trilimi.sfaui-2.apk 10-02 14:11:45.407: W/PackageManager(81): Resource path for pkg : cz.trilimi.sfaui changing from /data/app/cz.trilimi.sfaui-1.apk to /data/app/cz.trilimi.sfaui-2.apk 10-02 14:11:45.407: D/PackageManager(81): Activities: cz.trilimi.sfaui.ItemListActivity cz.trilimi.sfaui.ItemDetailActivity 10-02 14:11:45.427: I/ActivityManager(81): Force stopping package cz.trilimi.sfaui uid=10036 10-02 14:11:45.657: I/installd(35): move /data/dalvik-cache/data@[email protected]@classes.dex -> /data/dalvik-cache/data@[email protected]@classes.dex 10-02 14:11:45.657: D/PackageManager(81): New package installed in /data/app/cz.trilimi.sfaui-2.apk 10-02 14:11:45.997: I/ActivityManager(81): Force stopping package cz.trilimi.sfaui uid=10036 10-02 14:11:46.147: D/dalvikvm(143): GC_EXPLICIT freed 3K, 16% free 14356K/17031K, paused 10ms+9ms 10-02 14:11:46.237: D/PackageManager(81): generateServicesMap(android.accounts.AccountAuthenticator): 3 services unchanged 10-02 14:11:46.277: D/PackageManager(81): generateServicesMap(android.content.SyncAdapter): 5 services unchanged 10-02 14:11:46.337: D/PackageManager(81): generateServicesMap(android.accounts.AccountAuthenticator): 3 services unchanged 10-02 14:11:46.347: D/PackageManager(81): generateServicesMap(android.content.SyncAdapter): 5 services unchanged 10-02 14:11:46.437: D/dalvikvm(208): GC_EXPLICIT freed 258K, 7% free 6488K/6919K, paused 3ms+5ms 10-02 14:11:46.477: W/RecognitionManagerService(81): no available voice recognition services found 10-02 14:11:46.897: I/ActivityManager(81): Start proc com.svox.pico for broadcast com.svox.pico/.VoiceDataInstallerReceiver: pid=398 uid=10006 gids={} 10-02 14:11:47.087: I/ActivityThread(398): Pub com.svox.pico.providers.SettingsProvider: com.svox.pico.providers.SettingsProvider 10-02 14:11:47.138: D/GTalkService(174): [GTalkService.1] handlePackageInstalled: re-initialize providers 10-02 14:11:47.147: D/GTalkService(174): [RawStanzaProvidersMgr] ##### searchProvidersFromIntent 10-02 14:11:47.147: D/GTalkService(174): [RawStanzaProvidersMgr] no intent receivers found 10-02 14:11:47.718: I/AccountTypeManager(208): Loaded meta-data for 1 account types, 0 accounts in 186ms 10-02 14:11:48.377: D/dalvikvm(143): GC_CONCURRENT freed 1865K, 15% free 14513K/17031K, paused 7ms+4ms 10-02 14:11:48.917: D/dalvikvm(208): GC_CONCURRENT freed 219K, 6% free 6788K/7175K, paused 7ms+73ms 10-02 14:11:49.207: D/dalvikvm(143): GC_FOR_ALLOC freed 4558K, 31% free 11866K/17031K, paused 89ms 10-02 14:11:49.587: D/dalvikvm(143): GC_CONCURRENT freed 713K, 24% free 13010K/17031K, paused 5ms+4ms 10-02 14:11:49.967: D/dalvikvm(143): GC_CONCURRENT freed 1046K, 19% free 13922K/17031K, paused 5ms+4ms 10-02 14:11:50.437: D/dalvikvm(81): GC_EXPLICIT freed 898K, 47% free 13955K/26311K, paused 6ms+39ms 10-02 14:11:50.467: I/installd(35): unlink /data/dalvik-cache/data@[email protected]@classes.dex 10-02 14:11:50.477: D/AndroidRuntime(227): Shutting down VM 10-02 14:11:50.507: D/dalvikvm(227): GC_CONCURRENT freed 97K, 84% free 331K/2048K, paused 1ms+2ms 10-02 14:11:50.507: I/AndroidRuntime(227): NOTE: attach of thread 'Binder Thread #3' failed 10-02 14:11:50.517: D/jdwp(227): adbd disconnected 10-02 14:11:51.177: D/AndroidRuntime(410): >>>>>> AndroidRuntime START com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit <<<<<< 10-02 14:11:51.177: D/AndroidRuntime(410): CheckJNI is ON 10-02 14:11:51.897: D/AndroidRuntime(410): Calling main entry com.android.commands.am.Am 10-02 14:11:51.937: I/ActivityManager(81): Force stopping package cz.trilimi.sfaui uid=10036 10-02 14:11:51.937: I/ActivityManager(81): Starting: Intent { act=android.intent.action.MAIN cat=[android.intent.category.LAUNCHER] flg=0x10000000 cmp=cz.trilimi.sfaui/.ItemListActivity } from pid 410 10-02 14:11:51.968: W/WindowManager(81): Failure taking screenshot for (230x179) to layer 21005 10-02 14:11:51.997: I/ActivityManager(81): Start proc cz.trilimi.sfaui for activity cz.trilimi.sfaui/.ItemListActivity: pid=418 uid=10036 gids={} 10-02 14:11:52.007: D/AndroidRuntime(410): Shutting down VM 10-02 14:11:52.057: I/AndroidRuntime(410): NOTE: attach of thread 'Binder Thread #3' failed 10-02 14:11:52.097: D/dalvikvm(410): GC_CONCURRENT freed 98K, 83% free 360K/2048K, paused 1ms+0ms 10-02 14:11:52.097: D/jdwp(410): adbd disconnected 10-02 14:11:53.147: W/ActivityThread(418): Application cz.trilimi.sfaui is waiting for the debugger on port 8100... 10-02 14:11:53.207: I/System.out(418): Sending WAIT chunk 10-02 14:11:53.217: I/dalvikvm(418): Debugger is active 10-02 14:11:53.447: I/System.out(418): Debugger has connected 10-02 14:11:53.457: I/System.out(418): waiting for debugger to settle... 10-02 14:11:53.637: I/ARMAssembler(32): generated scanline__00000177:03515104_00001002_00000000 [ 87 ipp] (110 ins) at [0x407c76f0:0x407c78a8] in 598498 ns 10-02 14:11:53.660: I/System.out(418): waiting for debugger to settle... 10-02 14:11:53.857: I/System.out(418): waiting for debugger to settle... 10-02 14:11:54.057: I/System.out(418): waiting for debugger to settle... 10-02 14:11:54.257: I/System.out(418): waiting for debugger to settle... 10-02 14:11:54.317: V/TLINE(81): new: android.text.TextLine@4155dde8 10-02 14:11:54.467: I/System.out(418): waiting for debugger to settle... 10-02 14:11:54.667: I/System.out(418): waiting for debugger to settle... 10-02 14:11:54.870: I/System.out(418): waiting for debugger to settle... 10-02 14:11:55.027: D/dalvikvm(143): GC_EXPLICIT freed 900K, 16% free 14420K/17031K, paused 7ms+4ms 10-02 14:11:55.067: I/System.out(418): waiting for debugger to settle... 10-02 14:11:55.292: I/System.out(418): debugger has settled (1315) 10-02 14:12:02.008: W/ActivityManager(81): Launch timeout has expired, giving up wake lock! 10-02 14:12:02.971: W/ActivityManager(81): Activity idle timeout for ActivityRecord{4078c6b0 cz.trilimi.sfaui/.ItemListActivity} 10-02 14:12:08.359: D/ExchangeService(320): Received deviceId from Email app: androidc259148960 10-02 14:12:08.507: D/ExchangeService(320): Reconciling accounts... 10-02 14:16:11.437: D/SntpClient(81): request time failed: java.net.SocketException: Address family not supported by protocol 10-02 14:17:21.573: W/jdwp(418): Debugger is telling the VM to exit with code=1 10-02 14:17:21.573: I/dalvikvm(418): GC lifetime allocation: 8642 bytes 10-02 14:17:21.637: D/Zygote(33): Process 418 exited cleanly (1) 10-02 14:17:21.651: I/ActivityManager(81): Process cz.trilimi.sfaui (pid 418) has died. 10-02 14:17:21.847: D/dalvikvm(143): GC_EXPLICIT freed <1K, 16% free 14420K/17031K, paused 7ms+7ms 10-02 14:17:21.917: W/InputManagerService(81): Window already focused, ignoring focus gain of: com.android.internal.view.IInputMethodClient$Stub$Proxy@40bfbf28

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• Weird y offset when using custom frag shader (Cocos2d-x)

  - by Mister Guacamole

  I'm trying to mask a sprite so I wrote a simple fragment shader that renders only the pixels that are not hidden under another texture (the mask). The problem is that it seems my texture has its y-coordinate offset after passing through the shader. This is the init method of the sprite (GroundZone) I want to mask: bool GroundZone::initWithSize(Size size) { // [...] // Setup the mask of the sprite m_mask = RenderTexture::create(textureWidth, textureHeight); m_mask->retain(); m_mask->setKeepMatrix(true); Texture2D *maskTexture = m_mask->getSprite()->getTexture(); maskTexture->setAliasTexParameters(); // Disable linear interpolation on the mask // Load the custom frag shader with a default vert shader as the sprite’s program FileUtils *fileUtils = FileUtils::getInstance(); string vertexSource = ccPositionTextureA8Color_vert; string fragmentSource = fileUtils->getStringFromFile( fileUtils->fullPathForFilename("CustomShader_AlphaMask_frag.fsh")); GLProgram *shader = new GLProgram; shader->initWithByteArrays(vertexSource.c_str(), fragmentSource.c_str()); shader->bindAttribLocation(GLProgram::ATTRIBUTE_NAME_POSITION, GLProgram::VERTEX_ATTRIB_POSITION); shader->bindAttribLocation(GLProgram::ATTRIBUTE_NAME_TEX_COORD, GLProgram::VERTEX_ATTRIB_TEX_COORDS); shader->link(); CHECK_GL_ERROR_DEBUG(); shader->updateUniforms(); CHECK_GL_ERROR_DEBUG(); int maskTexUniformLoc = shader->getUniformLocationForName("u_alphaMaskTexture"); shader->setUniformLocationWith1i(maskTexUniformLoc, 1); this->setShaderProgram(shader); shader->release(); // [...] } These are the custom drawing methods for actually drawing the mask over the sprite: You need to know that m_mask is modified externally by another class, the onDraw() method only render it. void GroundZone::draw(Renderer *renderer, const kmMat4 &transform, bool transformUpdated) { m_renderCommand.init(_globalZOrder); m_renderCommand.func = CC_CALLBACK_0(GroundZone::onDraw, this, transform, transformUpdated); renderer->addCommand(&m_renderCommand); Sprite::draw(renderer, transform, transformUpdated); } void GroundZone::onDraw(const kmMat4 &transform, bool transformUpdated) { GLProgram *shader = this->getShaderProgram(); shader->use(); glActiveTexture(GL_TEXTURE1); glBindTexture(GL_TEXTURE_2D, m_mask->getSprite()->getTexture()->getName()); glActiveTexture(GL_TEXTURE0); } Below is the method (located in another class, GroundLayer) that modify the mask by drawing a line from point start to point end. Both points are in Cocos2d coordinates (Point (0,0) is down-left). void GroundLayer::drawTunnel(Point start, Point end) { // To dig a line, we need first to get the texture of the zone we will be digging into. Then we get the // relative position of the start and end point in the zone's node space. Finally we use the custom shader to // draw a mask over the existing texture. for (auto it = _children.begin(); it != _children.end(); it++) { GroundZone *zone = static_cast<GroundZone *>(*it); Point nodeStart = zone->convertToNodeSpace(start); Point nodeEnd = zone->convertToNodeSpace(end); // Now that we have our two points converted to node space, it's easy to draw a mask that contains a line // going from the start point to the end point and that is then applied over the current texture. Size groundZoneSize = zone->getContentSize(); RenderTexture *rt = zone->getMask(); rt->begin(); { // Draw a line going from start and going to end in the texture, the line will act as a mask over the // existing texture DrawNode *line = DrawNode::create(); line->retain(); line->drawSegment(nodeStart, nodeEnd, 20, Color4F::RED); line->visit(); } rt->end(); } } Finally, here's the custom shader I wrote. #ifdef GL_ES precision mediump float; #endif varying vec2 v_texCoord; uniform sampler2D u_texture; uniform sampler2D u_alphaMaskTexture; void main() { float maskAlpha = texture2D(u_alphaMaskTexture, v_texCoord).a; float texAlpha = texture2D(u_texture, v_texCoord).a; float blendAlpha = (1.0 - maskAlpha) * texAlpha; // Show only where mask is invisible vec3 texColor = texture2D(u_texture, v_texCoord).rgb; gl_FragColor = vec4(texColor, blendAlpha); return; } I got a problem with the y coordinates. Indeed, it seems that once it has passed through my custom shader, the sprite's texture is not at the right place: Without custom shader (the sprite is the brown thing): With custom shader: What's going on here? Thanks :) EDIT It looks like after passing through the shader when I set the position of the sprite I set it in points, with (0,0) being in the top-right. Indeed, when I do sprite->setPosition(320, 480), the sprite is perfectly placed at the top of the screen.

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• How to label a cuboid?

  - by usha

  Hi this is how my 3dcuboid looks, I have attached the complete code. I want to label this cuboid using different names across sides, how is this possible using opengl on android? public class MyGLRenderer implements Renderer { Context context; Cuboid rect; private float mCubeRotation; // private static float angleCube = 0; // Rotational angle in degree for cube (NEW) // private static float speedCube = -1.5f; // Rotational speed for cube (NEW) public MyGLRenderer(Context context) { rect = new Cuboid(); this.context = context; } public void onDrawFrame(GL10 gl) { // TODO Auto-generated method stub gl.glClear(GL10.GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT | GL10.GL_DEPTH_BUFFER_BIT); gl.glLoadIdentity(); // Reset the model-view matrix gl.glTranslatef(0.2f, 0.0f, -8.0f); // Translate right and into the screen gl.glScalef(0.8f, 0.8f, 0.8f); // Scale down (NEW) gl.glRotatef(mCubeRotation, 1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f); // gl.glRotatef(angleCube, 1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f); // rotate about the axis (1,1,1) (NEW) rect.draw(gl); mCubeRotation -= 0.15f; //angleCube += speedCube; } public void onSurfaceChanged(GL10 gl, int width, int height) { // TODO Auto-generated method stub if (height == 0) height = 1; // To prevent divide by zero float aspect = (float)width / height; // Set the viewport (display area) to cover the entire window gl.glViewport(0, 0, width, height); // Setup perspective projection, with aspect ratio matches viewport gl.glMatrixMode(GL10.GL_PROJECTION); // Select projection matrix gl.glLoadIdentity(); // Reset projection matrix // Use perspective projection GLU.gluPerspective(gl, 45, aspect, 0.1f, 100.f); gl.glMatrixMode(GL10.GL_MODELVIEW); // Select model-view matrix gl.glLoadIdentity(); // Reset } public void onSurfaceCreated(GL10 gl, EGLConfig config) { // TODO Auto-generated method stub gl.glClearColor(0.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f); // Set color's clear-value to black gl.glClearDepthf(1.0f); // Set depth's clear-value to farthest gl.glEnable(GL10.GL_DEPTH_TEST); // Enables depth-buffer for hidden surface removal gl.glDepthFunc(GL10.GL_LEQUAL); // The type of depth testing to do gl.glHint(GL10.GL_PERSPECTIVE_CORRECTION_HINT, GL10.GL_NICEST); // nice perspective view gl.glShadeModel(GL10.GL_SMOOTH); // Enable smooth shading of color gl.glDisable(GL10.GL_DITHER); // Disable dithering for better performance }} public class Cuboid{ private FloatBuffer mVertexBuffer; private FloatBuffer mColorBuffer; private ByteBuffer mIndexBuffer; private float vertices[] = { //width,height,depth -2.5f, -1.0f, -1.0f, 1.0f, -1.0f, -1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f, -1.0f, -2.5f, 1.0f, -1.0f, -2.5f, -1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f, -1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f, -2.5f, 1.0f, 1.0f }; private float colors[] = { // R,G,B,A COLOR 0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f, 0.5f, 0.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f, 0.5f, 0.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f }; private byte indices[] = { // VERTEX 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7 REPRESENTATION FOR FACES 0, 4, 5, 0, 5, 1, 1, 5, 6, 1, 6, 2, 2, 6, 7, 2, 7, 3, 3, 7, 4, 3, 4, 0, 4, 7, 6, 4, 6, 5, 3, 0, 1, 3, 1, 2 }; public Cuboid() { ByteBuffer byteBuf = ByteBuffer.allocateDirect(vertices.length * 4); byteBuf.order(ByteOrder.nativeOrder()); mVertexBuffer = byteBuf.asFloatBuffer(); mVertexBuffer.put(vertices); mVertexBuffer.position(0); byteBuf = ByteBuffer.allocateDirect(colors.length * 4); byteBuf.order(ByteOrder.nativeOrder()); mColorBuffer = byteBuf.asFloatBuffer(); mColorBuffer.put(colors); mColorBuffer.position(0); mIndexBuffer = ByteBuffer.allocateDirect(indices.length); mIndexBuffer.put(indices); mIndexBuffer.position(0); } public void draw(GL10 gl) { gl.glFrontFace(GL10.GL_CW); gl.glVertexPointer(3, GL10.GL_FLOAT, 0, mVertexBuffer); gl.glColorPointer(4, GL10.GL_FLOAT, 0, mColorBuffer); gl.glEnableClientState(GL10.GL_VERTEX_ARRAY); gl.glEnableClientState(GL10.GL_COLOR_ARRAY); gl.glDrawElements(GL10.GL_TRIANGLES, 36, GL10.GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE, mIndexBuffer); gl.glDisableClientState(GL10.GL_VERTEX_ARRAY); gl.glDisableClientState(GL10.GL_COLOR_ARRAY); } } public class Draw3drect extends Activity { private GLSurfaceView glView; // Use GLSurfaceView // Call back when the activity is started, to initialize the view @Override protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) { super.onCreate(savedInstanceState); glView = new GLSurfaceView(this); // Allocate a GLSurfaceView glView.setRenderer(new MyGLRenderer(this)); // Use a custom renderer this.setContentView(glView); // This activity sets to GLSurfaceView } // Call back when the activity is going into the background @Override protected void onPause() { super.onPause(); glView.onPause(); } // Call back after onPause() @Override protected void onResume() { super.onResume(); glView.onResume(); } }

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