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  • Conditional Formatting of a Cell Based on Color Value in that Cell in Excel

    - by Otaku
    Is is possible to format a cell based on one component of the RGB value inside of it. For example, let's say I have 3 cells - A1, A2, A3. In A1, I want the cell color to be the shade of red anywhere between 0 and 255 of the number in the cell (so if it is 128, it should be like half red). For that given cell, the other values will just be 0, 0 (so in this case, zero green and zero blue). Is this possible?

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  • Problems with Windows XP Plug and Play devices, maybe relating to MSVCR71.dll

    - by Richard
    I believe this question is unanswered as of now so I appologize if I've overlooked it. I have been having trouble some external devices with windows recently and I'm trying my darnedest to get to the bottom of it. At first, my Zero Tension USB mouse would stop working...as in the laser in the bottom of it would be on and would register movement, but the mouse on the screen wouldn't budge even an inch. At first this would happen randomly and then it would correct itself. As time went on, it became more and more frequent. At some point, the computer would make the "doo doo" sound of plugging or unplugging a USB device when the mouse stopped/started working. I dealt with it for a while and usually if I rebooted my machine, the mouse would work again for a day or two. As more time has gone on, the computer fully does not recognize the mouse AT ALL...I have another mouse that I use with the computer that works just fine and cannot seem to figure out why my Zero Tension mouse has failed. I tried plugging the Zero Tension mouse into my Mac and low and behold, it works without hesitation and never stops on me... Needless to say, I am stumped about this. I figured because I had another mouse I could deal with the loss of my fancy one for now...until my speakers stopped being recognized. I have a set of Logitec speakers that I have plugged into my sound card. Again, every now and again the audio devices would cease to be recognized by my computer, but a reboot would fix the problem. Now my speakers do not work at all with my computer and I feel like it's time to ask for help. My computer seems to be having a neural shutdown...where I can plug in devices and the computer doesn't seem to notice anything wrong, but none of the devices work. I hope this doesn't get any worse! Please help! Also, on a potentially (un)related note, when I start up my machine I get the message "This application has failed to start because Msvcp71.dll was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem." in reference to qbupdate.exe I don't know if that DLL being messed up has anything to do with my mouse or speakers, but I figure it might...anyway, thanks in advance for an answer and let me know if I need to clarify anything. Let me sum up: Zero Tension Mouse gradually stopped working Logitec Speakers gradually stopped working MSVCR71.dll seems to be messed up I don't know if any of those are related but any help would be much appreciated

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  • What does the directory-name: '~MntWIM' on my Windows 7 / C:\ drive mean?

    - by J Puk
    This '~MntWIM' on my Windows 7 / C:\ drive, is sized: 694 MB (728.418.589 bytes) on harddrive. It contains 3 subdirectories. 1st = Program Files, containg zero volume 2nd = Users, containing zero volume 3rd = Windows, containing 693 MB (726.823.197 bytes) on harddrive It all looks a bit useless to me, so question is: Is it safe to delete the lot? Or does it have an important function there? Hoping for an answer from which I could lern something. B.R. JP

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  • Handling nmake errorlevel/return codes

    - by tlianza
    Hi all, I have an nmake-based project which in turn calls the asp compiler, which can throw an error, which nmake seems to recognize: NMAKE : fatal error U1077: 'C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\aspnet_compiler.exe' : return code '0x1' However, when I call nmake from within a batch file, the environment variable %ERRORLEVEL% remains set at zero: nmake /NOLOGO echo BUILD RETURNING: %ERRORLEVEL% If I control-c the nmake task, I do end up getting a non-zero ERRORLEVEL (it's set to 2) so my assumption is that I'm able to catch errors okay, but nmake isn't bubbling up the non-zero exit code from it's task. Or, at least, I'm mis-trapping it. Any help would be appreciated.

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  • Problem setting output flags for ALU in "Nand to Tetris" course

    - by MahlerFive
    Although I tagged this homework, it is actually for a course which I am doing on my own for free. Anyway, the course is called "From Nand to Tetris" and I'm hoping someone here has seen or taken the course so I can get some help. I am at the stage where I am building the ALU with the supplied hdl language. My problem is that I can't get my chip to compile properly. I am getting errors when I try to set the output flags for the ALU. I believe the problem is that I can't subscript any intermediate variable, since when I just try setting the flags to true or false based on some random variable (say an input flag), I do not get the errors. I know the problem is not with the chips I am trying to use since I am using all builtin chips. Here is my ALU chip so far: /** * The ALU. Computes a pre-defined set of functions out = f(x,y) * where x and y are two 16-bit inputs. The function f is selected * by a set of 6 control bits denoted zx, nx, zy, ny, f, no. * The ALU operation can be described using the following pseudocode: * if zx=1 set x = 0 // 16-bit zero constant * if nx=1 set x = !x // Bit-wise negation * if zy=1 set y = 0 // 16-bit zero constant * if ny=1 set y = !y // Bit-wise negation * if f=1 set out = x + y // Integer 2's complement addition * else set out = x & y // Bit-wise And * if no=1 set out = !out // Bit-wise negation * * In addition to computing out, the ALU computes two 1-bit outputs: * if out=0 set zr = 1 else zr = 0 // 16-bit equality comparison * if out<0 set ng = 1 else ng = 0 // 2's complement comparison */ CHIP ALU { IN // 16-bit inputs: x[16], y[16], // Control bits: zx, // Zero the x input nx, // Negate the x input zy, // Zero the y input ny, // Negate the y input f, // Function code: 1 for add, 0 for and no; // Negate the out output OUT // 16-bit output out[16], // ALU output flags zr, // 1 if out=0, 0 otherwise ng; // 1 if out<0, 0 otherwise PARTS: // Zero the x input Mux16( a=x, b=false, sel=zx, out=x2 ); // Zero the y input Mux16( a=y, b=false, sel=zy, out=y2 ); // Negate the x input Not16( in=x, out=notx ); Mux16( a=x, b=notx, sel=nx, out=x3 ); // Negate the y input Not16( in=y, out=noty ); Mux16( a=y, b=noty, sel=ny, out=y3 ); // Perform f Add16( a=x3, b=y3, out=addout ); And16( a=x3, b=y3, out=andout ); Mux16( a=andout, b=addout, sel=f, out=preout ); // Negate the output Not16( in=preout, out=notpreout ); Mux16( a=preout, b=notpreout, sel=no, out=out ); // zr flag Or8way( in=out[0..7], out=zr1 ); // PROBLEM SHOWS UP HERE Or8way( in=out[8..15], out=zr2 ); Or( a=zr1, b=zr2, out=zr ); // ng flag Not( in=out[15], out=ng ); } So the problem shows up when I am trying to send a subscripted version of 'out' to the Or8Way chip. I've tried using a different variable than 'out', but with the same problem. Then I read that you are not able to subscript intermediate variables. I thought maybe if I sent the intermediate variable to some other chip, and that chip subscripted it, it would solve the problem, but it has the same error. Unfortunately I just can't think of a way to set the zr and ng flags without subscripting some intermediate variable, so I'm really stuck! Just so you know, if I replace the problematic lines with the following, it will compile (but not give the right results since I'm just using some random input): // zr flag Not( in=zx, out=zr ); // ng flag Not( in=zx, out=ng ); Anyone have any ideas? Edit: Here is the appendix of the book for the course which specifies how the hdl works. Specifically look at section 5 which talks about buses and says: "An internal pin (like v above) may not be subscripted". Edit: Here is the exact error I get: "Line 68, Can't connect gate's output pin to part". The error message is sort of confusing though, since that does not seem to be the actual problem. If I just replace "Or8way( in=out[0..7], out=zr1 );" with "Or8way( in=false, out=zr1 );" it will not generate this error, which is what lead me to look up in the appendix and find that the out variable, since it was derived as intermediate, could not be subscripted.

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  • How to get scrollTop of page afer browser scrolled such page?

    - by Marco Demaio
    I know how to get the scrollTop of a page, I use this simple JS function (code copied around): function GetScrolledTop() { //I never work in IE quirkmode, I always use DOCTYPE as 1st line, so I don't need to test for document.body.scrollTop return self['pageYOffset'] || document.documentElement.scrollTop; } This works and my problem is the following: I tried to add it in the page onload event <body onload="alert(GetScrolledTop());"> On page load I get ZERO (which make sense), but the problem is that I get ZERO even if I scroll the page and then reload it without touching the scrollbar. It seems like the browser does: loads page calls my GetScrolledTop() (so obviously shows ZERO) then scrolls the page to where it was before. Do you know how to get the scolledTop after the step 3? I mean how to get the scrolledTop AFTER the browser scrolled the page? (maybe without using a timer) Thanks!

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  • Display continuous dates in Pivot Chart

    - by Douglas
    I have a set of data in a pivot table with date times and events. I've made a pivot chart with this data, and grouped the data by day and year, then display a count of events for each day. So, my horizontal axis goes from 19 March 2007 to 11 May 2010, and my vertical axis is numeric, going from zero to 140. For some days, I have zero events. These days don't seem to be shown on the horizontal axis, so 2008 is narrower than 2009. How do I display a count of zero for days with no events? I'd like my horizontal axis to be continuous, so that it does not miss any days, and every month ends up taking up the same amount of horizontal space. (This question is similar to the unanswered question here, but I'd rather not generate a table of all the days in the last x number of years just to get a smooth plot!)

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  • What logic operator to use, as3?

    - by VideoDnd
    What operator or expression can I use that will fire on every number, including zero? I want a logic operator that will fire with ever number it receives. My animations pause at zero. This skips on zero if (numberThing> 0); This skips on 9 if (numberThing>> 0); This jitters 'fires quickly and goes back on count' if (numberThing== 0); EXPLANATION I'm catching split string values in a logic function, and feeding them to a series of IF, ELSE IF statements. I'm using this with a timer, so I can measure the discrepency. CODE • I GET VALUES FROM TIMER • STRING GOES TO TEXTFIELD 'substr' • NUMBER TRIGGERS TWEENS 'parseInt' • Goes to series of IF and ELSE IF statements

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  • Avoid IF statement after condition has been met

    - by greye
    I have a division operation inside a cycle that repeats many times. It so happens that in the first few passes through the loop (more or less first 10 loops) the divisor is zero. Once it gains value, a div by zero error is not longer possible. I have an if condition to test the divisor value in order to avoid the div by zero, but I am wondering that there is a performance impact that evaluating this if will have for each run in subsequent loops, especially since I know it's of no use anymore. How should this be coded? in Python?

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  • Why does RIGHT(@foostr, 0) return NULL when @foostr is varchar(max)?

    - by bob-montgomery
    In SQL Server 2005 If I want to find the right-most one character of a varchar(max) variable, no problem: declare @foostr varchar(max) set @foostr = 'abcd' select right (@foostr, 1) ---- d If I want to find the right-most zero characters of a string literal, no problem: select right ('abcd', 0) ------------------ It returns an empty string. If I want to find the right-most zero characters of a varchar(10), no problem: declare @foostr varchar(10) set @foostr = 'abcd' select right (@foostr, 0) ---- It returns an empty string. If I want to find the right-most zero characters of a varchar(max), well: declare @foostr varchar(max) set @foostr = 'abcd' select right (@foostr, 0) ---- NULL It returns NULL. Why?

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  • Translate to MIPS

    - by user2334400
    HELP Translate A[i] = B[i-1] + B[i] + B[i+1] to MIPS the address of array A is $s1 the address of array B is $s2 the value of i is $s3 lb $s1,0($s3) # $s1=A[i] lb $s2,0($s3) # $s2=B[i] sb $s2,0($s3) # store s2 add $t0, $zero, $s2 #t0=B[i] addi $s3,$s3,-1 #i=i-1 lb $s2 0($s3) #$s2=B[i-1] add $t1,$zero,$s2 #t1=B[i-1] add $s1,$t0,$t1 #A[i]=B[i-1]+B[i] addi $s3,$s3,2 #i+1 lb $s2,0($s3) #s2=B[i+1] add $t2,$zero,$s2 #t2=B[i+1] add $s1,$s1,$t2 #A[i] = t1 + B[i+1] sb $s1 I know this is kind of mess, but it's the best i can write

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  • Click a button in another application

    - by sam
    I want yo use SendMessage or PostMessage to press a button in another app i have a sample code to do this but by getting Window Handle, but don't work also i used "WinDowse" to get required info. here is the code private const uint BM_CLICK = 0x00F5; private const uint WM_LBUTTONDOWN = 0x0201; private const uint WM_LBUTTONUP = 0x0202; private void PushOKButton(IntPtr ptrWindow) { WindowHandle = FindWindow(null, "Form1"); if (ptrWindow == IntPtr.Zero) return; IntPtr ptrOKButton = FindWindowEx(ptrWindow, IntPtr.Zero, "Button", "&Yes"); if (ptrOKButton == IntPtr.Zero) return; SendMessage(ptrOKButton, WM_LBUTTONDOWN, 0, 0); SendMessage(ptrOKButton, WM_LBUTTONUP, 0, 0); SendMessage(ptrOKButton, BM_CLICK, 0, 0); } is There a Compelete Suloution in c# ?

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  • What is the result of "new int[ 0 ]"? [closed]

    - by ArunSaha
    Possible Duplicates: What does zero-sized array allocation do/mean? C++ new int[0] — will it allocate memory? int * p; p = new int[ 0 ]; What is the expected outcome when new is called for zero number of elements? Is the outcome defined or undefined? Further, is it okay to call delete [] p; on that pointer? What is the intuition/analogy to this situation of pointer to an array of zero elements? Thanks in advance. Regards, Arun

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  • data type trouble in php

    - by user225269
    I don't know why but the data type in this code makes a trouble when the id in the url starts with the number zero like this: http://localhost/exp/update.php?id=03A43 In this case the id is 03A43. And my query looks like this: mysql_select_db("school", $con); $result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM student WHERE IDNO=".(int)$_GET['id']); ?> There is no problem in the design if the id does not start with the number zero. What might be the proper data type for numbers beginning in zero?

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  • Display continious dates in Pivot Chart

    - by Douglas
    I have a set of data in a pivot table with date times and events. I've made a pivot chart with this data, and grouped the data by day and year, then display a count of events for each day. So, my horizontal axis goes from 19 March 2007 to 11 May 2010, and my vertical axis is numeric, going from zero to 140. For some days, I have zero events. These days don't seem to be shown on the horizontal axis, so 2008 is narrower than 2009. How do I display a count of zero for days with no events? I'd like my horizontal axis to be continuous, so that it does not miss any days, and every month ends up taking up the same amount of horizontal space. (This question is similar to the unanswered question here, but I'd rather not generate a table of all the days in the last x number of years just to get a smooth plot!)

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  • zeroing out memory

    - by robUK
    Hello, gcc 4.4.4 c89 I am just wondering what most c programmers do when they want to zero out memory. For example I have a buffer of 1024 bytes. Sometimes I do this: char buffer[1024] = {0}; Which will zero all bytes. However, should I declare like this and use memset? char buffer[1024]; . . memset(buffer, 0, sizeof(buffer); Is there any real reason you have to zero the memory? What is the worst that can happen by not doing it? Many thanks for any suggestions,

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  • Fixing Robocopy for SQL Server Jobs

    - by Most Valuable Yak (Rob Volk)
    Robocopy is one of, if not the, best life-saving/greatest-thing-since-sliced-bread command line utilities ever to come from Microsoft.  If you're not using it already, what are you waiting for? Of course, being a Microsoft product, it's not exactly perfect. ;)  Specifically, it sets the ERRORLEVEL to a non-zero value even if the copy is successful.  This causes a problem in SQL Server job steps, since non-zero ERRORLEVELs report as failed. You can work around this by having your SQL job go to the next step on failure, but then you can't determine if there was a genuine error.  Plus you still see annoying red X's in your job history.  One way I've found to avoid this is to use a batch file that runs Robocopy, and I add some commands after it (in red): robocopy d:\backups \\BackupServer\BackupFolder *.bak rem suppress successful robocopy exit statuses, only report genuine errors (bitmask 16 and 8 settings)set/A errlev="%ERRORLEVEL% & 24" rem exit batch file with errorlevel so SQL job can succeed or fail appropriatelyexit/B %errlev% (The REM statements are simply comments and don't need to be included in the batch file) The SET command lets you use expressions when you use the /A switch.  So I set an environment variable "errlev" to a bitwise AND with the ERRORLEVEL value. Robocopy's exit codes use a bitmap/bitmask to specify its exit status.  The bits for 1, 2, and 4 do not indicate any kind of failure, but 8 and 16 do.  So by adding 16 + 8 to get 24, and doing a bitwise AND, I suppress any of the other bits that might be set, and allow either or both of the error bits to pass. The next step is to use the EXIT command with the /B switch to set a new ERRORLEVEL value, using the "errlev" variable.  This will now return zero (unless Robocopy had real errors) and allow your SQL job step to report success. This technique should also work for other command-line utilities.  The only issues I've found is that it requires the commands to be part of a batch file, so if you use Robocopy directly in your SQL job step you'd need to place it in a batch.  If you also have multiple Robocopy calls, you'll need to place the SET/A command ONLY after the last one.  You'd therefore lose any errors from previous calls, unless you use multiple "errlev" variables and AND them together. (I'll leave this as an exercise for the reader) The SET/A syntax also permits other kinds of expressions to be calculated.  You can get a full list by running "SET /?" on a command prompt.

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  • Replacing “if”s with your own number system

    - by Michael Williamson
    During our second code retreat at Red Gate, the restriction for one of the sessions was disallowing the use of if statements. That includes other constructs that have the same effect, such as switch statements or loops that will only be executed zero or one times. The idea is to encourage use of polymorphism instead, and see just how far it can be used to get rid of “if”s. The main place where people struggled to get rid of numbers from their implementation of Conway’s Game of Life was the piece of code that decides whether a cell is live or dead in the next generation. For instance, for a cell that’s currently live, the code might look something like this: if (numberOfNeighbours == 2 || numberOfNeighbours == 3) { return CellState.LIVE; } else { return CellState.DEAD; } The problem is that we need to change behaviour depending on the number of neighbours each cell has, but polymorphism only allows us to switch behaviour based on the type of a value. It follows that the solution is to make different numbers have different types: public interface IConwayNumber { IConwayNumber Increment(); CellState LiveCellNextGeneration(); } public class Zero : IConwayNumber { public IConwayNumber Increment() { return new One(); } public CellState LiveCellNextGeneration() { return CellState.DEAD; } } public class One : IConwayNumber { public IConwayNumber Increment() { return new Two(); } public CellState LiveCellNextGeneration() { return CellState.LIVE; } } public class Two : IConwayNumber { public IConwayNumber Increment() { return new ThreeOrMore(); } public CellState LiveCellNextGeneration() { return CellState.LIVE; } } public class ThreeOrMore : IConwayNumber { public IConwayNumber Increment() { return this; } public CellState LiveCellNextGeneration() { return CellState.DEAD; } } In the code that counts the number of neighbours, we use our new number system by starting with Zero and incrementing when we find a neighbour. To choose the next state of the cell, rather than inspecting the number of neighbours, we ask the number of neighbours for the next state directly: return numberOfNeighbours.LiveCellNextGeneration(); And now we have no “if”s! If C# had double-dispatch, or if we used the visitor pattern, we could move the logic for choosing the next cell out of the number classes, which might feel a bit more natural. I suspect that reimplementing the natural numbers is still going to feel about the same amount of crazy though.

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  • What Every Developer Should Know About MSI Components

    - by Alois Kraus
    Hopefully nothing. But if you have to do more than simple XCopy deployment and you need to support updates, upgrades and perhaps side by side scenarios there is no way around MSI. You can create Msi files with a Visual Studio Setup project which is severely limited or you can use the Windows Installer Toolset. I cannot talk about WIX with my German colleagues because WIX has a very special meaning. It is funny to always use the long name when I talk about deployment possibilities. Alternatively you can buy commercial tools which help you to author Msi files but I am not sure how good they are. Given enough pain with existing solutions you can also learn the MSI Apis and create your own packaging solution. If I were you I would use either a commercial visual tool when you do easy deployments or use the free Windows Installer Toolset. Once you know the WIX schema you can create well formed wix xml files easily with any editor. Then you can “compile” from the wxs files your Msi package. Recently I had the “pleasure” to get my hands dirty with C++ (again) and the MSI technology. Installation is a complex topic but after several month of digging into arcane MSI issues I can safely say that there should exist an easier way to install and update files as today. I am not alone with this statement as John Robbins (creator of the cool tool Paraffin) states: “.. It's a brittle and scary API in Windows …”. To help other people struggling with installation issues I present you the advice I (and others) found useful and what will happen if you ignore this advice. What is a MSI file? A MSI file is basically a database with tables which reference each other to control how your un/installation should work. The basic idea is that you declare via these tables what you want to install and MSI controls the how to get your stuff onto or off your machine. Your “stuff” consists usually of files, registry keys, shortcuts and environment variables. Therefore the most important tables are File, Registry, Environment and Shortcut table which define what will be un/installed. The key to master MSI is that every resource (file, registry key ,…) is associated with a MSI component. The actual payload consists of compressed files in the CAB format which can either be embedded into the MSI file or reside beside the MSI file or in a subdirectory below it. To examine MSI files you need Orca a free MSI editor provided by MS. There is also another free editor called Super Orca which does support diffs between MSI and it does not lock the MSI files. But since Orca comes with a shell extension I tend to use only Orca because it is so easy to right click on a MSI file and open it with this tool. How Do I Install It? Double click it. This does work for fresh installations as well as major upgrades. Updates need to be installed via the command line via msiexec /i <msi> REINSTALL=ALL REINSTALLMODE=vomus   This tells the installer to reinstall all already installed features (new features will NOT be installed). The reinstallmode letters do force an overwrite of the old cached package in the %WINDIR%\Installer folder. All files, shortcuts and registry keys are redeployed if they are missing or need to be replaced with a newer version. When things did go really wrong and you want to overwrite everything unconditionally use REINSTALLMODE=vamus. How To Enable MSI Logs? You can download a MSI from Microsoft which installs some registry keys to enable full MSI logging. The log files can be found in your %TEMP% folder and are called MSIxxxx.log. Alternatively you can add to your msiexec command line the option msiexec …. /l*vx <LogFileName> Personally I find it rather strange that * does not mean full logging. To really get all logs I need to add v and x which is documented in the msiexec help but I still find this behavior unintuitive. What are MSI components? The whole MSI logic is bound to the concept of MSI components. Nearly every msi table has a Component column which binds an installable resource to a component. Below are the screenshots of the FeatureComponents and Component table of an example MSI. The Feature table defines basically the feature hierarchy.  To find out what belongs to a feature you need to look at the FeatureComponents table where for each feature the components are listed which will be installed when a feature is installed. The MSI components are defined in the  Component table. This table has as first column the component name and as second column the component id which is a GUID. All resources you want to install belong to a MSI component. Therefore nearly all MSI tables have a Component_ column which contains the component name. If you look e.g. a the File table you see that every file belongs to a component which is true for all other tables which install resources. The component table is the glue between all other tables which contain the resources you want to install. So far so easy. Why is MSI then so complex? Most MSI problems arise from the fact that you did violate a MSI component rule in one or the other way. When you install a feature the reference count for all components belonging to this feature will increase by one. If your component is installed by more than one feature it will get a higher refcount. When you uninstall a feature its refcount will drop by one. Interesting things happen if the component reference count reaches zero: Then all associated resources will be deleted. That looks like a reasonable thing and it is. What it makes complex are the strange component rules you have to follow. Below are some important component rules from the Tao of the Windows Installer … Rule 16: Follow Component Rules Components are a very important part of the Installer technology. They are the means whereby the Installer manages the resources that make up your application. The SDK provides the following guidelines for creating components in your package: Never create two components that install a resource under the same name and target location. If a resource must be duplicated in multiple components, change its name or target location in each component. This rule should be applied across applications, products, product versions, and companies. Two components must not have the same key path file. This is a consequence of the previous rule. The key path value points to a particular file or folder belonging to the component that the installer uses to detect the component. If two components had the same key path file, the installer would be unable to distinguish which component is installed. Two components however may share a key path folder. Do not create a version of a component that is incompatible with all previous versions of the component. This rule should be applied across applications, products, product versions, and companies. Do not create components containing resources that will need to be installed into more than one directory on the user’s system. The installer installs all of the resources in a component into the same directory. It is not possible to install some resources into subdirectories. Do not include more than one COM server per component. If a component contains a COM server, this must be the key path for the component. Do not specify more than one file per component as a target for the Start menu or a Desktop shortcut. … And these rules do not even talk about component ids, update packages and upgrades which you need to understand as well. Lets suppose you install two MSIs (MSI1 and MSI2) which have the same ComponentId but different component names. Both do install the same file. What will happen when you uninstall MSI2?   Hm the file should stay there. But the component names are different. Yes and yes. But MSI uses not use the component name as key for the refcount. Instead the ComponentId column of the Component table which contains a GUID is used as identifier under which the refcount is stored. The components Comp1 and Comp2 are identical from the MSI perspective. After the installation of both MSIs the Component with the Id {100000….} has a refcount of two. After uninstallation of one MSI there is still a refcount of one which drops to zero just as expected when we uninstall the last msi. Then the file which was the same for both MSIs is deleted. You should remember that MSI keeps a refcount across MSIs for components with the same component id. MSI does manage components not the resources you did install. The resources associated with a component are then and only then deleted when the refcount of the component reaches zero.   The dependencies between features, components and resources can be described as relations. m,k are numbers >= 1, n can be 0. Inside a MSI the following relations are valid Feature    1  –> n Components Component    1 –> m Features Component      1  –>  k Resources These relations express that one feature can install several components and features can share components between them. Every (meaningful) component will install at least one resource which means that its name (primary key to stay in database speak) does occur in some other table in the Component column as value which installs some resource. Lets make it clear with an example. We want to install with the feature MainFeature some files a registry key and a shortcut. We can then create components Comp1..3 which are referenced by the resources defined in the corresponding tables.   Feature Component Registry File Shortcuts MainFeature Comp1 RegistryKey1     MainFeature Comp2   File.txt   MainFeature Comp3   File2.txt Shortcut to File2.txt   It is illegal that the same resource is part of more than one component since this would break the refcount mechanism. Lets illustrate this:            Feature ComponentId Resource Reference Count Feature1 {1000-…} File1.txt 1 Feature2 {2000-….} File1.txt 1 The installation part works well but what happens when you uninstall Feature2? Component {20000…} gets a refcount of zero where MSI deletes all resources belonging to this component. In this case File1.txt will be deleted. But Feature1 still has another component {10000…} with a refcount of one which means that the file was deleted too early. You just have ruined your installation. To fix it you then need to click on the Repair button under Add/Remove Programs to let MSI reinstall any missing registry keys, files or shortcuts. The vigilant reader might has noticed that there is more in the Component table. Beside its name and GUID it has also an installation directory, attributes and a KeyPath. The KeyPath is a reference to a file or registry key which is used to detect if the component is already installed. This becomes important when you repair or uninstall a component. To find out if the component is already installed MSI checks if the registry key or file referenced by the KeyPath property does exist. When it does not exist it assumes that it was either already uninstalled (can lead to problems during uninstall) or that it is already installed and all is fine. Why is this detail so important? Lets put all files into one component. The KeyPath should be then one of the files of your component to check if it was installed or not. When your installation becomes corrupt because a file was deleted you cannot repair it with the Repair button under Add/Remove Programs because MSI checks the component integrity via the Resource referenced by its KeyPath. As long as you did not delete the KeyPath file MSI thinks all resources with your component are installed and never executes any repair action. You get even more trouble when you try to remove files during an upgrade (you cannot remove files during an update) from your super component which contains all files. The only way out and therefore best practice is to assign for every resource you want to install an extra component. This ensures painless updatability and repairs and you have much less effort to remove specific files during an upgrade. In effect you get this best practice relation Feature 1  –> n Components Component   1  –>  1 Resources MSI Component Rules Rule 1 – One component per resource Every resource you want to install (file, registry key, value, environment value, shortcut, directory, …) must get its own component which does never change between versions as long as the install location is the same. Penalty If you add more than one resources to a component you will break the repair capability of MSI because the KeyPath is used to check if the component needs repair. MSI ComponentId Files MSI 1.0 {1000} File1-5 MSI 2.0 {2000} File2-5 You want to remove File1 in version 2.0 of your MSI. Since you want to keep the other files you create a new component and add them there. MSI will delete all files if the component refcount of {1000} drops to zero. The files you want to keep are added to the new component {2000}. Ok that does work if your upgrade does uninstall the old MSI first. This will cause the refcount of all previously installed components to reach zero which means that all files present in version 1.0 are deleted. But there is a faster way to perform your upgrade by first installing your new MSI and then remove the old one.  If you choose this upgrade path then you will loose File1-5 after your upgrade and not only File1 as intended by your new component design.   Rule 2 – Only add, never remove resources from a component If you did follow rule 1 you will not need Rule 2. You can add in a patch more resources to one component. That is ok. But you can never remove anything from it. There are tricky ways around that but I do not want to encourage bad component design. Penalty Lets assume you have 2 MSI files which install under the same component one file   MSI1 MSI2 {1000} - ComponentId {1000} – ComponentId File1.txt File2.txt   When you install and uninstall both MSIs you will end up with an installation where either File1 or File2 will be left. Why? It seems that MSI does not store the resources associated with each component in its internal database. Instead Windows will simply query the MSI that is currently uninstalled for all resources belonging to this component. Since it will find only one file and not two it will only uninstall one file. That is the main reason why you never can remove resources from a component!   Rule 3 Never Remove A Component From an Update MSI. This is the same as if you change the GUID of a component by accident for your new update package. The resulting update package will not contain all components from the previously installed package. Penalty When you remove a component from a feature MSI will set the feature state during update to Advertised and log a warning message into its log file when you did enable MSI logging. SELMGR: ComponentId '{2DCEA1BA-3E27-E222-484C-D0D66AEA4F62}' is registered to feature 'xxxxxxx, but is not present in the Component table.  Removal of components from a feature is not supported! MSI (c) (24:44) [07:53:13:436]: SELMGR: Removal of a component from a feature is not supported Advertised means that MSI treats all components of this feature as not installed. As a consequence during uninstall nothing will be removed since it is not installed! This is not only bad because uninstall does no longer work but this feature will also not get the required patches. All other features which have followed component versioning rules for update packages will be updated but the one faulty feature will not. This results in very hard to find bugs why an update was only partially successful. Things got better with Windows Installer 4.5 but you cannot rely on that nobody will use an older installer. It is a good idea to add to your update msiexec call MSIENFORCEUPGRADECOMPONENTRULES=1 which will abort the installation if you did violate this rule.

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  • XNA Screen Manager problem with transitions

    - by NexAddo
    I'm having issues using the game statemanagement example in the game I am developing. I have no issues with my first three screens transitioning between one another. I have a main menu screen, a splash screen and a high score screen that cycle: mainMenuScreen->splashScreen->highScoreScreen->mainMenuScreen The screens change every 15 seconds. Transition times public MainMenuScreen() { TransitionOnTime = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(0.5); TransitionOffTime = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(0.0); currentCreditAmount = Global.CurrentCredits; } public SplashScreen() { TransitionOnTime = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(0.5); TransitionOffTime = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(0.5); } public HighScoreScreen() { TransitionOnTime = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(0.5); TransitionOffTime = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(0.5); } public GamePlayScreen() { TransitionOnTime = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(0.5); TransitionOffTime = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(0.5); } When a user inserts credits they can play the game after pressing start mainMenuScreen->splashScreen->highScoreScreen->(loops forever) || || || ===========Credits In============= || Start || \/ LoadingScreen || Start || \/ GamePlayScreen During each of these transitions, between screens, the same code is used, which exits(removes) all current active screens and respects transitions, then adds the new screen to the screen manager: foreach (GameScreen screen in ScreenManager.GetScreens()) screen.ExitScreen(); //AddScreen takes a new screen to manage and the controlling player ScreenManager.AddScreen(new NameOfScreenHere(), null); Each screen is removed from the ScreenManager with ExitScreen() and using this function, each screen transition is respected. The problem I am having is with my gamePlayScreen. When the current game is finished and the transition is complete for the gamePlayScreen, it should be removed and the next screens should be added to the ScreenManager. GamePlayScreen Code Snippet private void FinishCurrentGame() { AudioManager.StopSounds(); this.UnloadContent(); if (Global.SaveDevice.IsReady) Stats.Save(); if (HighScoreScreen.IsInHighscores(timeLimit)) { foreach (GameScreen screen in ScreenManager.GetScreens()) screen.ExitScreen(); Global.TimeRemaining = timeLimit; ScreenManager.AddScreen(new BackgroundScreen(), null); ScreenManager.AddScreen(new MessageBoxScreen("Enter your Initials", true), null); } else { foreach (GameScreen screen in ScreenManager.GetScreens()) screen.ExitScreen(); ScreenManager.AddScreen(new BackgroundScreen(), null); ScreenManager.AddScreen(new MainMenuScreen(), null); } } The problem is that when isExiting is set to true by screen.ExitScreen() for the gamePlayScreen, the transition never completes the transition and removes the screen from the ScreenManager. Every other screen that I use the same technique to add and remove each screen fully transitions On/Off and is removed at the appropriate time from the ScreenManager, but noy my GamePlayScreen. Has anyone that has used the GameStateManagement example experienced this issue or can someone see the mistake I am making? EDIT This is what I tracked down. When the game is done, I call foreach (GameScreen screen in ScreenManager.GetScreens()) screen.ExitScreen(); to start the transition off process for the gameplay screen. At this point there is only 1 screen on the ScreenManager stack. The gamePlay screen gets isExiting set to true and starts to transition off. Right after the above call to ExitScreen() I add a background screen and menu screen to the screenManager: ScreenManager.AddScreen(new background(), null); ScreenManager.AddScreen(new Menu(), null); The count of the ScreenManager is now 3. What I noticed while stepping through the updates for GameScreen and ScreenManager, the gameplay screen never gets to the point where the transistion process finishes so the ScreenManager can remove it from the stack. This anomaly does not happen to any of my other screens when I switch between them. Screen Manager Code #region File Description //----------------------------------------------------------------------------- // ScreenManager.cs // // Microsoft XNA Community Game Platform // Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. //----------------------------------------------------------------------------- #endregion #define DEMO #region Using Statements using System; using System.Diagnostics; using System.Collections.Generic; using Microsoft.Xna.Framework; using Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Content; using Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Graphics; using PerformanceUtility.GameDebugTools; #endregion namespace GameStateManagement { /// <summary> /// The screen manager is a component which manages one or more GameScreen /// instances. It maintains a stack of screens, calls their Update and Draw /// methods at the appropriate times, and automatically routes input to the /// topmost active screen. /// </summary> public class ScreenManager : DrawableGameComponent { #region Fields List<GameScreen> screens = new List<GameScreen>(); List<GameScreen> screensToUpdate = new List<GameScreen>(); InputState input = new InputState(); SpriteBatch spriteBatch; SpriteFont font; Texture2D blankTexture; bool isInitialized; bool getOut; bool traceEnabled; #if DEBUG DebugSystem debugSystem; Stopwatch stopwatch = new Stopwatch(); bool debugTextEnabled; #endif #endregion #region Properties /// <summary> /// A default SpriteBatch shared by all the screens. This saves /// each screen having to bother creating their own local instance. /// </summary> public SpriteBatch SpriteBatch { get { return spriteBatch; } } /// <summary> /// A default font shared by all the screens. This saves /// each screen having to bother loading their own local copy. /// </summary> public SpriteFont Font { get { return font; } } public Rectangle ScreenRectangle { get { return new Rectangle(0, 0, GraphicsDevice.Viewport.Width, GraphicsDevice.Viewport.Height); } } /// <summary> /// If true, the manager prints out a list of all the screens /// each time it is updated. This can be useful for making sure /// everything is being added and removed at the right times. /// </summary> public bool TraceEnabled { get { return traceEnabled; } set { traceEnabled = value; } } #if DEBUG public bool DebugTextEnabled { get { return debugTextEnabled; } set { debugTextEnabled = value; } } public DebugSystem DebugSystem { get { return debugSystem; } } #endif #endregion #region Initialization /// <summary> /// Constructs a new screen manager component. /// </summary> public ScreenManager(Game game) : base(game) { // we must set EnabledGestures before we can query for them, but // we don't assume the game wants to read them. //TouchPanel.EnabledGestures = GestureType.None; } /// <summary> /// Initializes the screen manager component. /// </summary> public override void Initialize() { base.Initialize(); #if DEBUG debugSystem = DebugSystem.Initialize(Game, "Fonts/MenuFont"); #endif isInitialized = true; } /// <summary> /// Load your graphics content. /// </summary> protected override void LoadContent() { // Load content belonging to the screen manager. ContentManager content = Game.Content; spriteBatch = new SpriteBatch(GraphicsDevice); font = content.Load<SpriteFont>(@"Fonts\menufont"); blankTexture = content.Load<Texture2D>(@"Textures\Backgrounds\blank"); // Tell each of the screens to load their content. foreach (GameScreen screen in screens) { screen.LoadContent(); } } /// <summary> /// Unload your graphics content. /// </summary> protected override void UnloadContent() { // Tell each of the screens to unload their content. foreach (GameScreen screen in screens) { screen.UnloadContent(); } } #endregion #region Update and Draw /// <summary> /// Allows each screen to run logic. /// </summary> public override void Update(GameTime gameTime) { #if DEBUG debugSystem.TimeRuler.StartFrame(); debugSystem.TimeRuler.BeginMark("Update", Color.Blue); if (debugTextEnabled && getOut == false) { debugSystem.FpsCounter.Visible = true; debugSystem.TimeRuler.Visible = true; debugSystem.TimeRuler.ShowLog = true; getOut = true; } else if (debugTextEnabled == false) { getOut = false; debugSystem.FpsCounter.Visible = false; debugSystem.TimeRuler.Visible = false; debugSystem.TimeRuler.ShowLog = false; } #endif // Read the keyboard and gamepad. input.Update(); // Make a copy of the master screen list, to avoid confusion if // the process of updating one screen adds or removes others. screensToUpdate.Clear(); foreach (GameScreen screen in screens) screensToUpdate.Add(screen); bool otherScreenHasFocus = !Game.IsActive; bool coveredByOtherScreen = false; // Loop as long as there are screens waiting to be updated. while (screensToUpdate.Count > 0) { // Pop the topmost screen off the waiting list. GameScreen screen = screensToUpdate[screensToUpdate.Count - 1]; screensToUpdate.RemoveAt(screensToUpdate.Count - 1); // Update the screen. screen.Update(gameTime, otherScreenHasFocus, coveredByOtherScreen); if (screen.ScreenState == ScreenState.TransitionOn || screen.ScreenState == ScreenState.Active) { // If this is the first active screen we came across, // give it a chance to handle input. if (!otherScreenHasFocus) { screen.HandleInput(input); otherScreenHasFocus = true; } // If this is an active non-popup, inform any subsequent // screens that they are covered by it. if (!screen.IsPopup) coveredByOtherScreen = true; } } // Print debug trace? if (traceEnabled) TraceScreens(); #if DEBUG debugSystem.TimeRuler.EndMark("Update"); #endif } /// <summary> /// Prints a list of all the screens, for debugging. /// </summary> void TraceScreens() { List<string> screenNames = new List<string>(); foreach (GameScreen screen in screens) screenNames.Add(screen.GetType().Name); Debug.WriteLine(string.Join(", ", screenNames.ToArray())); } /// <summary> /// Tells each screen to draw itself. /// </summary> public override void Draw(GameTime gameTime) { #if DEBUG debugSystem.TimeRuler.StartFrame(); debugSystem.TimeRuler.BeginMark("Draw", Color.Yellow); #endif foreach (GameScreen screen in screens) { if (screen.ScreenState == ScreenState.Hidden) continue; screen.Draw(gameTime); } #if DEBUG debugSystem.TimeRuler.EndMark("Draw"); #endif #if DEMO SpriteBatch.Begin(); SpriteBatch.DrawString(font, "DEMO - NOT FOR RESALE", new Vector2(20, 80), Color.White); SpriteBatch.End(); #endif } #endregion #region Public Methods /// <summary> /// Adds a new screen to the screen manager. /// </summary> public void AddScreen(GameScreen screen, PlayerIndex? controllingPlayer) { screen.ControllingPlayer = controllingPlayer; screen.ScreenManager = this; screen.IsExiting = false; // If we have a graphics device, tell the screen to load content. if (isInitialized) { screen.LoadContent(); } screens.Add(screen); } /// <summary> /// Removes a screen from the screen manager. You should normally /// use GameScreen.ExitScreen instead of calling this directly, so /// the screen can gradually transition off rather than just being /// instantly removed. /// </summary> public void RemoveScreen(GameScreen screen) { // If we have a graphics device, tell the screen to unload content. if (isInitialized) { screen.UnloadContent(); } screens.Remove(screen); screensToUpdate.Remove(screen); } /// <summary> /// Expose an array holding all the screens. We return a copy rather /// than the real master list, because screens should only ever be added /// or removed using the AddScreen and RemoveScreen methods. /// </summary> public GameScreen[] GetScreens() { return screens.ToArray(); } /// <summary> /// Helper draws a translucent black fullscreen sprite, used for fading /// screens in and out, and for darkening the background behind popups. /// </summary> public void FadeBackBufferToBlack(float alpha) { Viewport viewport = GraphicsDevice.Viewport; spriteBatch.Begin(); spriteBatch.Draw(blankTexture, new Rectangle(0, 0, viewport.Width, viewport.Height), Color.Black * alpha); spriteBatch.End(); } #endregion } } Game Screen Parent of GamePlayScreen #region File Description //----------------------------------------------------------------------------- // GameScreen.cs // // Microsoft XNA Community Game Platform // Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. //----------------------------------------------------------------------------- #endregion #region Using Statements using System; using Microsoft.Xna.Framework; using Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Input; //using Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Input.Touch; using System.IO; #endregion namespace GameStateManagement { /// <summary> /// Enum describes the screen transition state. /// </summary> public enum ScreenState { TransitionOn, Active, TransitionOff, Hidden, } /// <summary> /// A screen is a single layer that has update and draw logic, and which /// can be combined with other layers to build up a complex menu system. /// For instance the main menu, the options menu, the "are you sure you /// want to quit" message box, and the main game itself are all implemented /// as screens. /// </summary> public abstract class GameScreen { #region Properties /// <summary> /// Normally when one screen is brought up over the top of another, /// the first screen will transition off to make room for the new /// one. This property indicates whether the screen is only a small /// popup, in which case screens underneath it do not need to bother /// transitioning off. /// </summary> public bool IsPopup { get { return isPopup; } protected set { isPopup = value; } } bool isPopup = false; /// <summary> /// Indicates how long the screen takes to /// transition on when it is activated. /// </summary> public TimeSpan TransitionOnTime { get { return transitionOnTime; } protected set { transitionOnTime = value; } } TimeSpan transitionOnTime = TimeSpan.Zero; /// <summary> /// Indicates how long the screen takes to /// transition off when it is deactivated. /// </summary> public TimeSpan TransitionOffTime { get { return transitionOffTime; } protected set { transitionOffTime = value; } } TimeSpan transitionOffTime = TimeSpan.Zero; /// <summary> /// Gets the current position of the screen transition, ranging /// from zero (fully active, no transition) to one (transitioned /// fully off to nothing). /// </summary> public float TransitionPosition { get { return transitionPosition; } protected set { transitionPosition = value; } } float transitionPosition = 1; /// <summary> /// Gets the current alpha of the screen transition, ranging /// from 1 (fully active, no transition) to 0 (transitioned /// fully off to nothing). /// </summary> public float TransitionAlpha { get { return 1f - TransitionPosition; } } /// <summary> /// Gets the current screen transition state. /// </summary> public ScreenState ScreenState { get { return screenState; } protected set { screenState = value; } } ScreenState screenState = ScreenState.TransitionOn; /// <summary> /// There are two possible reasons why a screen might be transitioning /// off. It could be temporarily going away to make room for another /// screen that is on top of it, or it could be going away for good. /// This property indicates whether the screen is exiting for real: /// if set, the screen will automatically remove itself as soon as the /// transition finishes. /// </summary> public bool IsExiting { get { return isExiting; } protected internal set { isExiting = value; } } bool isExiting = false; /// <summary> /// Checks whether this screen is active and can respond to user input. /// </summary> public bool IsActive { get { return !otherScreenHasFocus && (screenState == ScreenState.TransitionOn || screenState == ScreenState.Active); } } bool otherScreenHasFocus; /// <summary> /// Gets the manager that this screen belongs to. /// </summary> public ScreenManager ScreenManager { get { return screenManager; } internal set { screenManager = value; } } ScreenManager screenManager; public KeyboardState KeyboardState { get {return Keyboard.GetState();} } /// <summary> /// Gets the index of the player who is currently controlling this screen, /// or null if it is accepting input from any player. This is used to lock /// the game to a specific player profile. The main menu responds to input /// from any connected gamepad, but whichever player makes a selection from /// this menu is given control over all subsequent screens, so other gamepads /// are inactive until the controlling player returns to the main menu. /// </summary> public PlayerIndex? ControllingPlayer { get { return controllingPlayer; } internal set { controllingPlayer = value; } } PlayerIndex? controllingPlayer; /// <summary> /// Gets whether or not this screen is serializable. If this is true, /// the screen will be recorded into the screen manager's state and /// its Serialize and Deserialize methods will be called as appropriate. /// If this is false, the screen will be ignored during serialization. /// By default, all screens are assumed to be serializable. /// </summary> public bool IsSerializable { get { return isSerializable; } protected set { isSerializable = value; } } bool isSerializable = true; #endregion #region Initialization /// <summary> /// Load graphics content for the screen. /// </summary> public virtual void LoadContent() { } /// <summary> /// Unload content for the screen. /// </summary> public virtual void UnloadContent() { } #endregion #region Update and Draw /// <summary> /// Allows the screen to run logic, such as updating the transition position. /// Unlike HandleInput, this method is called regardless of whether the screen /// is active, hidden, or in the middle of a transition. /// </summary> public virtual void Update(GameTime gameTime, bool otherScreenHasFocus, bool coveredByOtherScreen) { this.otherScreenHasFocus = otherScreenHasFocus; if (isExiting) { // If the screen is going away to die, it should transition off. screenState = ScreenState.TransitionOff; if (!UpdateTransition(gameTime, transitionOffTime, 1)) { // When the transition finishes, remove the screen. ScreenManager.RemoveScreen(this); } } else if (coveredByOtherScreen) { // If the screen is covered by another, it should transition off. if (UpdateTransition(gameTime, transitionOffTime, 1)) { // Still busy transitioning. screenState = ScreenState.TransitionOff; } else { // Transition finished! screenState = ScreenState.Hidden; } } else { // Otherwise the screen should transition on and become active. if (UpdateTransition(gameTime, transitionOnTime, -1)) { // Still busy transitioning. screenState = ScreenState.TransitionOn; } else { // Transition finished! screenState = ScreenState.Active; } } } /// <summary> /// Helper for updating the screen transition position. /// </summary> bool UpdateTransition(GameTime gameTime, TimeSpan time, int direction) { // How much should we move by? float transitionDelta; if (time == TimeSpan.Zero) transitionDelta = 1; else transitionDelta = (float)(gameTime.ElapsedGameTime.TotalMilliseconds / time.TotalMilliseconds); // Update the transition position. transitionPosition += transitionDelta * direction; // Did we reach the end of the transition? if (((direction < 0) && (transitionPosition <= 0)) || ((direction > 0) && (transitionPosition >= 1))) { transitionPosition = MathHelper.Clamp(transitionPosition, 0, 1); return false; } // Otherwise we are still busy transitioning. return true; } /// <summary> /// Allows the screen to handle user input. Unlike Update, this method /// is only called when the screen is active, and not when some other /// screen has taken the focus. /// </summary> public virtual void HandleInput(InputState input) { } public KeyboardState currentKeyState; public KeyboardState lastKeyState; public bool IsKeyHit(Keys key) { if (currentKeyState.IsKeyDown(key) && lastKeyState.IsKeyUp(key)) return true; return false; } /// <summary> /// This is called when the screen should draw itself. /// </summary> public virtual void Draw(GameTime gameTime) { } #endregion #region Public Methods /// <summary> /// Tells the screen to serialize its state into the given stream. /// </summary> public virtual void Serialize(Stream stream) { } /// <summary> /// Tells the screen to deserialize its state from the given stream. /// </summary> public virtual void Deserialize(Stream stream) { } /// <summary> /// Tells the screen to go away. Unlike ScreenManager.RemoveScreen, which /// instantly kills the screen, this method respects the transition timings /// and will give the screen a chance to gradually transition off. /// </summary> public void ExitScreen() { if (TransitionOffTime == TimeSpan.Zero) { // If the screen has a zero transition time, remove it immediately. ScreenManager.RemoveScreen(this); } else { // Otherwise flag that it should transition off and then exit. isExiting = true; } } #endregion #region Helper Methods /// <summary> /// A helper method which loads assets using the screen manager's /// associated game content loader. /// </summary> /// <typeparam name="T">Type of asset.</typeparam> /// <param name="assetName">Asset name, relative to the loader root /// directory, and not including the .xnb extension.</param> /// <returns></returns> public T Load<T>(string assetName) { return ScreenManager.Game.Content.Load<T>(assetName); } #endregion } }

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  • Undocumented Gmail Search Operator Ferrets Out Large Email Attachments

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    If you’re looking for a way to quickly find large email attachments in your Gmail account, this undocumented search operator makes it simple to zero in on the hulking attachments hiding out in your inbox. To use the search operator simply plug in “size:” and some value to narrow your search to only emails that size or larger. In the screenshot above we searched for “size:20000000″ to search for files roughly 20MB or larger (if you want to be extremely precise, a true 20MB search would be “size:20971520″). If you’re looking to clean up your Gmail account this is a nearly zero-effort way to find the biggest space hogs–in our case, we found an email packed with massive PDF files from a 5 year old project that we were more than happy to purge. Finding Large Attachments in Google Mail/Gmail [via gHacks] 6 Ways Windows 8 Is More Secure Than Windows 7 HTG Explains: Why It’s Good That Your Computer’s RAM Is Full 10 Awesome Improvements For Desktop Users in Windows 8

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  • SQL SERVER – SSMS: Database Consistency History Report

    - by Pinal Dave
    Doctor and Database The last place I like to visit is always a hospital. With the monsoon season starting, intermittent rains, it has become sort of a routine to get a cycle of fever every other year (seriously I hate it). So when I visit my doctor, it is always interesting in the way he quizzes me. The routine question of – “How many days have you had this?”, “Is there any pattern?”, “Did you drench in rain?”, “Do you have any other symptom?” and so on. The idea here is that the doctor wants to find any anomaly or a pattern that will guide him to a viral or bacterial type. Most of the time they get it based on experience and sometimes after a battery of tests. So if there is consistent behavior to your problem, there is always a solution out. SQL Server has its way to find if the server data / files are in consistent state using the DBCC commands. Back to SQL Server In real life, Database consistency check is one of the critical operations a DBA generally doesn’t give much priority. Many readers of my blogs have asked many times, how do we know if the database is consistent? How do I read output of DBCC CHECKDB and find if everything is right or not? My common answer to all of them is – look at the bottom of checkdb (or checktable) output and look for below line. CHECKDB found 0 allocation errors and 0 consistency errors in database ‘DatabaseName’. Above is a “good sign” because we are seeing zero allocation and zero consistency error. If you are seeing non-zero errors then there is some problem with the database. Sample output is shown as below: CHECKDB found 0 allocation errors and 2 consistency errors in database ‘DatabaseName’. repair_allow_data_loss is the minimum repair level for the errors found by DBCC CHECKDB (DatabaseName). If we see non-zero error then most of the time (not always) we get repair options depending on the level of corruption. There is risk involved with above option (repair_allow_data_loss), that is – we would lose the data. Sometimes the option would be repair_rebuild which is little safer. Though these options are available, it is important to find the root cause to the problem. In standard report, there is a report which can show the history of checkdb executed for the selected database. Since this is a database level report, we need to right click on database, click Reports, click Standard Reports and then choose “Database Consistency History” report. The information in this report is picked from default trace. If default trace is disabled or there is no checkdb run or information is not there in default trace (because it’s rolled over), we would get report like below. As we can see report says it very clearly: Currently, no execution history of CHECKDB is available or default trace is not enabled. To demonstrate, I have caused corruption in one of the database and did below steps. Run CheckDB so that errors are reported. Fix the corruption by losing the data using repair option Run CheckDB again to check if corruption is cleared. After that I have launched the report and below is what we would see. If you are lazy like me and don’t want to run the report manually for each database then below query would be handy to provide same report for all database. This query is runs behind the scenes by the report. All I have done is remove the filter for database name (at the last – highlighted). DECLARE @curr_tracefilename VARCHAR(500); DECLARE @base_tracefilename VARCHAR(500); DECLARE @indx INT; SELECT @curr_tracefilename = path FROM sys.traces WHERE is_default = 1; SET @curr_tracefilename = REVERSE(@curr_tracefilename); SELECT @indx  = PATINDEX('%\%', @curr_tracefilename) ; SET @curr_tracefilename = REVERSE(@curr_tracefilename); SET @base_tracefilename = LEFT( @curr_tracefilename,LEN(@curr_tracefilename) - @indx) + '\log.trc'; SELECT  SUBSTRING(CONVERT(NVARCHAR(MAX),TEXTData),36, PATINDEX('%executed%',TEXTData)-36) AS command ,       LoginName ,       StartTime ,       CONVERT(INT,SUBSTRING(CONVERT(NVARCHAR(MAX),TEXTData),PATINDEX('%found%',TEXTData) +6,PATINDEX('%errors %',TEXTData)-PATINDEX('%found%',TEXTData)-6)) AS errors ,       CONVERT(INT,SUBSTRING(CONVERT(NVARCHAR(MAX),TEXTData),PATINDEX('%repaired%',TEXTData) +9,PATINDEX('%errors.%',TEXTData)-PATINDEX('%repaired%',TEXTData)-9)) repaired ,       SUBSTRING(CONVERT(NVARCHAR(MAX),TEXTData),PATINDEX('%time:%',TEXTData)+6,PATINDEX('%hours%',TEXTData)-PATINDEX('%time:%',TEXTData)-6)+':'+SUBSTRING(CONVERT(NVARCHAR(MAX),TEXTData),PATINDEX('%hours%',TEXTData) +6,PATINDEX('%minutes%',TEXTData)-PATINDEX('%hours%',TEXTData)-6)+':'+SUBSTRING(CONVERT(NVARCHAR(MAX),TEXTData),PATINDEX('%minutes%',TEXTData) +8,PATINDEX('%seconds.%',TEXTData)-PATINDEX('%minutes%',TEXTData)-8) AS time FROM::fn_trace_gettable( @base_tracefilename, DEFAULT) WHERE EventClass = 22 AND SUBSTRING(TEXTData,36,12) = 'DBCC CHECKDB' -- AND DatabaseName = @DatabaseName; Don’t get worried about the logic above. All it is doing is reading the trace files, parsing below entry and getting out information for underlined words. DBCC CHECKDB (CorruptedDatabase) executed by sa found 2 errors and repaired 0 errors. Elapsed time: 0 hours 0 minutes 0 seconds.  Internal database snapshot has split point LSN = 00000029:00000030:0001 and first LSN = 00000029:00000020:0001. Hopefully now onwards you would run checkdb and understand the importance of it. As responsible DBAs I am sure you are already doing it, let me know how often do you actually run them on you production environment? Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)Filed under: PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Server Management Studio, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL Tagged: SQL Reports

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  • SQL SERVER – Free Online Training on .net and SQL

    - by pinaldave
    I around 10 Free Online Training Codes available of .NET and SQL Training from Pluralsight. I am willing to give it to someone who wants learn technology this weekend. You just have to go to my Facebook page and leave a comment explaining in one line – what course will you learn during weekend. I will send all this codes to 10 winners whom I will randomly select using Facebook. Meanwhile do you know how can you generate Zero without using any numbers in T-SQL. My friend Madhivanan has done that and I find it very interesting.Run following T-SQL code – ‘SELECT $’. He has written many other tricks how to generate zero also on his blog. On another note – I have published my answer for question about SELECT * vs SELECT COUNT(*) here. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: About Me, Best Practices, Pinal Dave, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

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  • Contracting rate for Android development

    - by Robottinosino
    I am a developer, maybe I have a project to work on, not sure how much to "charge" for my work.... Help me find the price? Looking for an contracting rate interval, expressed in EUR, to offer for an Android development gig. Location: Europe, off-site (telecommuting) Environment: Android + HTTP back-end Length of project: 1 month Rate currency: EUR Rate measure: daily or hourly Other skills required: UI design, basic J2EE, web services Client profile: medium business (100+ employees) Previous published apps: 1, on G-Play Design work: partially already done, data flow is established, data models to be built Required graphics/multimedia elements: provided by the client Source control: remove over SSH Team size: one person in development, others (unknown) for marketing, copy, etc. Risk factor: medium Client reputation: modest but established Potential for continued work: absent (for now) Internationalisation/localisation: no Native code (C/C++,...): none, only Android SDK, pure Java Working culture: (based on initial discussion) - high pressure Other projects in the pipe: zero Opportunity to learn from the project or build new skills: 5% Negotiating experience: good Cost of accessories: (licenses, device to debug on) zero If I need to be more precise, please just say how and I will be.

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