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• SQLAuthority News – Social Media Series – YouTube and Movies

  - by pinaldave

  Pinal Dave on Youtube! Some people might not know it, but YouTube is actually more than a place to watch funny cat videos and people singing their favorite pop songs – it’s actually a social media site.  When you are a member of YouTube you can follow people who regularly post videos, post video responses of your own, and even gain a following for your own videos.  I myself was not aware of YouTube’s potential until recently, when I started to make SQL Server in Sixty Seconds videos. YouTube is very different than other types of social media, and a big factor is that anyone can look at videos without being a member.  Unlike other social media sites, like Twitter and Facebook, you have to have an account in order to participate.  But on YouTube you are even more anonymous.  To make and post videos you need an account, but anyone who comes to the site can look at what you’ve made without signing in or leaving any trace of having seen your material.  This makes YouTube very anonymous and hard to track. However, we should not overlook the power of video on the internet.  Over the past few months I have been making SQL Server in Sixty Second videos and have come to love it.  It is very exciting to be able to talk about a subject that mostly I write about, and for many people video is far more accessible and easy to understand.   I have really enjoyed diving into something new, and would love to have more people check out these videos and give me feedback.  You can find me at www.youtube.com/user/pinaldave. I am very excited with all the possibilities on YouTube and it might just be the technology evangelist in me, but I would love for other people to discover how fun and exciting this site can be, too.  Don’t think of it as just a place to find funny videos and waste a few minutes of your time, think of it as a place to learn and interact with interesting people.  Come watch a few of my videos, while you’re there.  Remember, everything is free and there are no contracts to sign, but I hope that you get as excited as I am and join up.  We need more people creating good content on this site! Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLServer, T SQL, Technology Tagged: Social Media

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• How to create dynamic Scatter Plot/Matrix with labels and categories on both axis in Excel 2010?

  - by user1581900

  Let us consider a following data set: Name | Age | Hair Color ----------------------------- John | Young | Brown Sophie | Old | Blond Adam | Mature| Blond Mark | Teen | Dark Jeremy | Old | Grey Alex | Young | Brown etc... Both Age and Hair Color, can take only defined values(Young/teen/mature/old and Blond/brown/Dark/Grey). Name is the only real variable here. I want to create a Scatter Plot / Matrix that will look something like that: I know that I schould use this tool to add labels to the scatter plot. I also found this youtube video that explains how to display categories on Y-axis Moreover I need the chart to be dynamic as explained in another youtube video. How do I combine all these approaches to get a Scatter Plot with categories as values on both axis?

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• I am the one who needs 5000 cd's!!!!!!

  - by cabey

  I didn't realise how world wide the users of the site are. I am based in England and will be helping out at an International Camp for young people in Finland this summer. I will be in charge off an game where we will have 1500 young people searcing for these CD's that will be hidden all over the camp site. They will have to find them and bringing them back to base one at a time. The young people will be divided into 5 teams and the team that brings back the most gets a prize. Hope this helps and allows me to put the reequest back on the site. I have tried to source them in Finland but have had no success.

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• Simple XML variable returns "0"

  - by Warren Haskins

  Ok, so im working with tumblr's API and im using SimpleXMLElement with php and ive run into a problem. Basically, when I call on a variable it just prints a zero. for instance : <?php echo $data->posts->post[0]->photo-url[5]; ?> This just breaks the page, and when I leave out the [5] it just prints zero I want to echo the photo-url with the number [5] but I cant get my head around this and its killing me. I just dont understand why it wont work. Heres a sample of the simpleXMLElement print-out : SimpleXMLElement Object ( [@attributes] = Array ( [version] = 1.0 ) [posts] => SimpleXMLElement Object ( [@attributes] => Array ( [type] => photo ) [post] => Array ( [0] => SimpleXMLElement Object ( [@attributes] => Array ( [id] => 574166180 [url] => http://young-n-reckless.tumblr.com/post/574166180 [url-with-slug] => http://young-n-reckless.tumblr.com/post/574166180 [type] => photo [date-gmt] => 2010-05-05 19:52:46 GMT [date] => Wed, 05 May 2010 15:52:46 [unix-timestamp] => 1273089166 [format] => html [reblog-key] => vc9EfT7d [slug] => [tumblelog] => young-n-reckless [bookmarklet] => true ) [tumblelog] => SimpleXMLElement Object ( [@attributes] => Array ( [title] => Young & Reckless [name] => young-n-reckless [url] => http://young-n-reckless.tumblr.com/ [timezone] => US/Eastern [avatar-url-16] => http://24.media.tumblr.com/avatar_424f776dd55c_16.png [avatar-url-24] => http://24.media.tumblr.com/avatar_424f776dd55c_24.png [avatar-url-30] => http://24.media.tumblr.com/avatar_424f776dd55c_30.png [avatar-url-40] => http://25.media.tumblr.com/avatar_424f776dd55c_40.png [avatar-url-48] => http://24.media.tumblr.com/avatar_424f776dd55c_48.png [avatar-url-64] => http://26.media.tumblr.com/avatar_424f776dd55c_64.png [avatar-url-96] => http://25.media.tumblr.com/avatar_424f776dd55c_96.png [avatar-url-128] => http://24.media.tumblr.com/avatar_424f776dd55c_128.png [avatar-url-512] => http://29.media.tumblr.com/avatar_424f776dd55c_512.png ) ) [photo-link-url] => http://www.flickr.com/photos/katiemabey/3429588812/ [photo-url] => Array ( [0] => http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l1w1qd7Zcg1qatgoto1_500.jpg [1] => http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l1w1qd7Zcg1qatgoto1_500.jpg [2] => http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l1w1qd7Zcg1qatgoto1_400.jpg [3] => http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l1w1qd7Zcg1qatgoto1_250.jpg [4] => http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l1w1qd7Zcg1qatgoto1_100.jpg [5] => http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l1w1qd7Zcg1qatgoto1_75sq.jpg ) ) Any help would be greatly appreciated, and thanks in advance. Warren

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• Jquery getJSON cross domain problems

  - by Charlie

  I cant seem to get my JSON file to work when pulling it in from another domain using JQuerys getJSON. I have placed the callback part at the end of the url but still have no joy. Firebug tells me its a cross domain issue, which seems to make sense as if I place the json file locally the below code (excluding the ?jsoncallback=? works fine) Heres the Jquery part $.getJSON("http://anotherdomain/js/morearticles.js?jsoncallback=?", function(json){ if (show5More.nextSetCount ' + this.titletext + '' + this.paratext + '').appendTo("#lineupswitch"); } else { $('' + this.titletext + '' + this.paratext + '').appendTo("#lineupswitch"); } }); return false; } }); } }); } And the JSON, which I have validated. { "items": [ [ { "href": "/edinburgh/video/news-090415-s2-squalor-edinburgh/", "thumbimg": "http://brightcove.vo.llnwd.net/d7/unsecured/media/1486976045/1486976045_19721015001_asset-1239819553334.jpg?pubId=1486976045", "titletext": "Cannabis plants found in house with neglected children", "paratext": "A court has heard four young children lived in", "cname": "" }, { "href": "/edinburgh/video/news-090414-s2-waverley-station-edinburgh/", "thumbimg": "http://brightcove.vo.llnwd.net/d7/unsecured/media/1486976045/1486976045_19537855001_asset-1239732920496.jpg?pubId=1486976045", "titletext": "Multi-million pound revamp for Waverley Station", "paratext": "Edinburgh's Waverley Station is set for a", "cname": "" }, { "href": "/edinburgh/video/news-s2-natal-20090408/", "thumbimg":"http://brightcove.vo.llnwd.net/d7/unsecured/media/1486976045/1486976045_18948154001_asset-1239206353135.jpg?pubId=1486976045", "titletext": "Stillbirth charity on the road to raise awareness", "paratext": "SANDS Lothian are hoping to highlight their", "cname": "" }, { "href": "/edinburgh/video/news-090407-l2-rbs/", "thumbimg":"http://brightcove.vo.llnwd.net/d7/unsecured/media/1486976045/1486976045_18827378001_asset-1239110600777.jpg?pubId=1486976045", "titletext": "Thousands of jobs to go at Royal Bank of Scotland", "paratext": "Edinburgh-based bank to cut 4,500 positions in the", "cname": "" }, { "href": "/edinburgh/video/news-090415-s2-squalor-edinburgh/", "thumbimg": "http://brightcove.vo.llnwd.net/d7/unsecured/media/1486976045/1486976045_19721015001_asset-1239819553334.jpg?pubId=1486976045", "titletext": "1", "paratext": "A court has heard four young children lived in", "cname": "lastlineup" } ], [ { "href": "/edinburgh/video/news-090415-s2-squalor-edinburgh/", "thumbimg": "http://brightcove.vo.llnwd.net/d7/unsecured/media/1486976045/1486976045_19721015001_asset-1239819553334.jpg?pubId=1486976045", "titletext": "1", "paratext": "A court has heard four young children lived in", "cname": "" }, { "href": "/edinburgh/video/news-090414-s2-waverley-station-edinburgh/", "thumbimg": "http://brightcove.vo.llnwd.net/d7/unsecured/media/1486976045/1486976045_19537855001_asset-1239732920496.jpg?pubId=1486976045", "titletext": "2", "paratext": "Edinburgh's Waverley Station is set for a", "cname": "" }, { "href": "/edinburgh/video/news-s2-natal-20090408/", "thumbimg":"http://brightcove.vo.llnwd.net/d7/unsecured/media/1486976045/1486976045_18948154001_asset-1239206353135.jpg?pubId=1486976045", "titletext": "Stillbirth charity on the road to raise awareness", "paratext": "3", "cname": "" }, { "href": "/edinburgh/video/news-090407-l2-rbs/", "thumbimg":"http://brightcove.vo.llnwd.net/d7/unsecured/media/1486976045/1486976045_18827378001_asset-1239110600777.jpg?pubId=1486976045", "titletext": "Thousands of jobs to go at Royal Bank of Scotland", "paratext": "4", "cname": "" }, { "href": "/edinburgh/video/news-090407-l2-rbs/", "thumbimg":"http://brightcove.vo.llnwd.net/d7/unsecured/media/1486976045/1486976045_18827378001_asset-1239110600777.jpg?pubId=1486976045", "titletext": "Thousands of jobs to go at Royal Bank of Scotland", "paratext": "Edinburgh-based bank to cut 4,500 positions in the", "cname": "lastlineup" } ] ] } { "items": [ [ { "href": "/edinburgh/video/news-090415-s2-squalor-edinburgh/", "thumbimg": "http://brightcove.vo.llnwd.net/d7/unsecured/media/1486976045/1486976045_19721015001_asset-1239819553334.jpg?pubId=1486976045", "titletext": "Cannabis plants found in house with neglected children", "paratext": "A court has heard four young children lived in", "cname": "" }, { "href": "/edinburgh/video/news-090414-s2-waverley-station-edinburgh/", "thumbimg": "http://brightcove.vo.llnwd.net/d7/unsecured/media/1486976045/1486976045_19537855001_asset-1239732920496.jpg?pubId=1486976045", "titletext": "Multi-million pound revamp for Waverley Station", "paratext": "Edinburgh's Waverley Station is set for a", "cname": "" }, { "href": "/edinburgh/video/news-s2-natal-20090408/", "thumbimg":"http://brightcove.vo.llnwd.net/d7/unsecured/media/1486976045/1486976045_18948154001_asset-1239206353135.jpg?pubId=1486976045", "titletext": "Stillbirth charity on the road to raise awareness", "paratext": "SANDS Lothian are hoping to highlight their", "cname": "" }, { "href": "/edinburgh/video/news-090407-l2-rbs/", "thumbimg":"http://brightcove.vo.llnwd.net/d7/unsecured/media/1486976045/1486976045_18827378001_asset-1239110600777.jpg?pubId=1486976045", "titletext": "Thousands of jobs to go at Royal Bank of Scotland", "paratext": "Edinburgh-based bank to cut 4,500 positions in the", "cname": "" }, { "href": "/edinburgh/video/news-090415-s2-squalor-edinburgh/", "thumbimg": "http://brightcove.vo.llnwd.net/d7/unsecured/media/1486976045/1486976045_19721015001_asset-1239819553334.jpg?pubId=1486976045", "titletext": "1", "paratext": "A court has heard four young children lived in", "cname": "lastlineup" } ], [ { "href": "/edinburgh/video/news-090415-s2-squalor-edinburgh/", "thumbimg": "http://brightcove.vo.llnwd.net/d7/unsecured/media/1486976045/1486976045_19721015001_asset-1239819553334.jpg?pubId=1486976045", "titletext": "1", "paratext": "A court has heard four young children lived in", "cname": "" }, { "href": "/edinburgh/video/news-090414-s2-waverley-station-edinburgh/", "thumbimg": "http://brightcove.vo.llnwd.net/d7/unsecured/media/1486976045/1486976045_19537855001_asset-1239732920496.jpg?pubId=1486976045", "titletext": "2", "paratext": "Edinburgh's Waverley Station is set for a", "cname": "" }, { "href": "/edinburgh/video/news-s2-natal-20090408/", "thumbimg":"http://brightcove.vo.llnwd.net/d7/unsecured/media/1486976045/1486976045_18948154001_asset-1239206353135.jpg?pubId=1486976045", "titletext": "Stillbirth charity on the road to raise awareness", "paratext": "3", "cname": "" }, { "href": "/edinburgh/video/news-090407-l2-rbs/", "thumbimg":"http://brightcove.vo.llnwd.net/d7/unsecured/media/1486976045/1486976045_18827378001_asset-1239110600777.jpg?pubId=1486976045", "titletext": "Thousands of jobs to go at Royal Bank of Scotland", "paratext": "4", "cname": "" }, { "href": "/edinburgh/video/news-090407-l2-rbs/", "thumbimg":"http://brightcove.vo.llnwd.net/d7/unsecured/media/1486976045/1486976045_18827378001_asset-1239110600777.jpg?pubId=1486976045", "titletext": "Thousands of jobs to go at Royal Bank of Scotland", "paratext": "Edinburgh-based bank to cut 4,500 positions in the", "cname": "lastlineup" } ] ] }

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• Natural talent vs experience [on hold]

  - by Tord Johansson Munk

  Hi i have a question for you guys if you had a choice of hiring one of two programmers. One of them is a natural born programming talent, he has been programming since he was 14 year old and he has been programming all sorts of things by him self, 3d renders,games,his own frameworks, he is really good at algorithms and problem solving. He is now about 25 years old and is looking for a job after some unchallenged years of college the only experience he has is working on his own/university stuff and some open source project. This guy spends all his free time programming and has several pet projects at home. The other person is a 37 year old career programmer. He has been programming since he graduated from university at the age of 26 and have been working since then. He did not have an interest in programming before university. During his studies he discovered that programming was fun and challenging but it never was a "passion". During his career he mainly worked with "enterprise" platforms such as .net or javaEE. He mainly have done database business applications and thus is lacking skills of the young talent like abstract problem solving or algorithms. But he know the tools he has been using during the years and is reliable and almost always makes his boss happy. He keeps him self updated in the platform and tools he has and is using. But outside the office walls he don't touch any code at all. Witch one would you hire? Would you favor one of them in certain projects? Do you think that if the young talent learns his tools he will be a better programmer than the older one? Would your decision be different if both of them where lacking a degree? or if only one of them was lacking a degree be the old and experienced or the young genius.

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• MySQL 5.5 is GA!

  - by rob.young(at)oracle.com

  It is my pleasure to announce that MySQL 5.5 is now GA and ready for production deployment.  You can read Oracle's official press release here. I am excited about 5.5 because of the performance and scalability gains, new replication enhancements and overall improved technical efficiencies.  Congratulations and a sincere "Thanks!" go out to the entire MySQL Community and product engineering teams for making 5.5 the best release of MySQL to date.Please join us for today's MySQL Technology Update webcast where Tomas Ulin and I will cover what's new in MySQL 5.5 and provide an update on the other technologies we are working on. You can download MySQL 5.5 here.  All of the documentation and what's new information is here.  There is also a great article on MySQL 5.5 and the MySQL community here.Thanks for reading, and as always, THANKS for your support of MySQL!

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• Advise on career development [closed]

  - by Mike Young

  I am an amateur programmer working at a start-up. I didn't try coding at college. I've been working for 2 months now on web development. I'm satisfied with my progress. My project will go live soon. I work on front-end and my colleague integrates my work in his. So I decided to learn back-end technologies so that I would be able to work on a project from scratch, help my company build up. I recently got to know about the technologies used by fb and was fascinated to learn ,work on them,keep motivating myself. Now I want to work on building a product from scratch, be good at database concepts, a language like ruby or python, and get to know load balancing, dynamic requests from servers, hosting a website, real time communication, secured login, implementing sophisticated search feature for the app, using git by the end of the project.I would like to be a full stack developer in due course of time and learn everything in detail. I decide to keep myself out of time frame, learn every concept in detail.I would like to use both rdbms and non relational dbm for the project. I have no experience except some beginner knowledge in html5,css and JavaScript. I would like to get some advice on how to proceed forward step by step,flow what technologies to pick up and project idea which includes all the above.

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• Lightning talk: Coderetreat

  - by Michael Williamson

  In the spirit of trying to encourage more deliberate practice amongst coders in Red Gate, Lauri Pesonen had the idea of running a coderetreat in Red Gate. Lauri and I ran the first one a few weeks ago: given that neither of us hadn’t even been to a coderetreat before, let alone run one, I think it turned out quite well. The participants gave positive feedback, saying that they enjoyed the day, wrote some thought-provoking code and would do it again. Sam Blackburn was one of the attendees, and gave a lightning talk to the other developers in one of our regular lightning talk sessions: In case you can’t watch the video, I’ve transcribed the talk below, although I’d recommend watching the video if you can — I didn’t have much time to do the transcribing! So, what is a coderetreat? So it’s not just something in Red Gate, there’s a website and everything, although it’s not a very big website. It calls itself a community network. The basic ideas behind coderetreat are: you’ve got one day, and you split it into one hour sections. You spend three quarters of that coding, and do a little retrospective at the end. You’re supposed to start fresh each, we were told to delete our code after every session. We were in pairs, swapping after each session, and we did the same task every time. In fact, Conway’s Game of Life is the only task mentioned anywhere that I find for coderetreat. So I don’t know what we’ll do next time, or if we’re meant to do the same thing again. There are some guiding principles which felt to us like restrictions, that you have to code in crazy ways to encourage better code. Final thing is that it’s supposed to be free for outsiders to join. It’s meant to be a kind of networking thing, where you link up with people from other companies. We had a pilot day with Michael and Lauri. Since it was basically the first time any of us had done anything like this, everybody was from Red Gate. We didn’t chat to anybody else for the initial one. The task was Conway’s Game of Life, which most of you have probably heard of it, all but one of us knew about it when did the coderetreat. I won’t got into the details of what it is, but it felt like the right size of task, basically one or two groups actually produced something working by the end of the day, and of course that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily a day’s work to produce that because we were starting again every hour. The task really drives you more than trying to create good code, I found. It was really tempting to try and get it working rather than stick to the rules. But it’s really good to stop and try again because there are so many what-ifs when you’ve finished writing something, “what if I’d done it this way?”. You can answer all those questions at a coderetreat because it’s not about getting a product out the door, it’s about learning and playing with ideas. So we had all these different practices we were trying. I’ll try and go through most of these. Single responsibility is this idea that everything should do just one thing. It was the very first session, we were still trying to figure out how do you go about the Game of Life? So by the end of forty-five minutes hadn’t produced very much for that first session. We were still thinking, “Do we start with a board, how do we represent all these squares? It can be infinitely big, help, this is getting really difficult!”. So, most of us didn’t really get anywhere on the first one. Although it was interesting that some people started with the board, one group started with the FateDecider class that decides whether things live or die. A sort of god class, but in a good way. They managed to implement all of the rules without even defining how the squares were arranged or anything like that. Another thing we tried was TDD (test-driven development). I’m sure most of you know what TDD is: Watch a test, watch it fail for the right reason Write code to pass the test, watch it pass Refactor, check the test still passes Repeat! It basically worked, we were able to produce code, but we often found the tests defined the direction that code went, which is obviously the idea of TDD. But you tend to find that by the time you’ve even written your first assertion, which is supposed to be the very first thing you write, because you write your tests backwards from the assertions back to the initial conditions, you’ve already constrained the logic of the code in some way by the time you’ve done that. You then get to this situation of, “Well, we actually want to go in a slightly different direction. Can we do this?”. Can we write tests that don’t constrain the architecture? Wrapping up all primitives: it’s kind of turtles all the way down. We had a Size, which has a Width and Height, which both derive from Dimension. You’ve got pages of code before you’ve even done anything. No getters and setters (use tell don’t ask instead): mocks and stubs for tests are required if you want to assert that your results are what you think they should be. You can’t just check the internal state of the code. And people found that really challenging and it made them think in a different way which I think is really good. Not having mutable state: that was kind of confusing because we weren’t quite sure what fitted within that rule and what didn’t, and I think we were trying too hard to follow the rule rather than the guideline. No if-statements: supposed to use polymorphism instead, but polymorphism still requires a factory with conditional behaviour. We did something really crazy to get around this: public T If(bool condition, Func<T> left, Func<T> right) { var dict = new Dictionary<bool, Func<T>> {{true, left}, {false, right}}; return dict[condition].Invoke(); } That is not really polymorphism, is it? For-loops: you can always replace a for-loop with recursion, but it doesn’t tend to make it any more readable unless it’s the kind of task that really lends itself to that. So it was interesting, it was good practice, but it wouldn’t make it easier it’s the kind of tree-structure algorithm where that would help. Having a limit on the number of levels of indentation: again, I think it does produce very nice, clean code, but it wasn’t actually a challenge because you just extract methods. That’s quite a useful thing because you can apply that to real code and say, “Okay, should this method really be going crazy like this?” No talking: we hated that. It’s like there’s two of you at a computer, and one of you is doing the typing, what does the other guy do if they’re not allowed to talk. The answer is TDD ping-pong – one person writes the tests, and then the other person writes the code to pass the test. And that creates communication without actually having to have discussion about things which is kind of cool. No code comments: just makes no difference to anything. It’s a forty-five minute exercise, so what are you going to put comments in code for? Finally, this is my fault. I discovered an entertaining way of doing the calculation that was kind of cool (using convolutions over the state of the board). Unfortunately, it turns out to be really hard to implement in C#, so didn’t even manage to work out how to do that convolution in C#. It’s trivial in some high-level languages, but you need something matrix-orientated for it to really work. That’s most of it, really. The thoughts that people went away with: we put down our answers to questions like “What have you learnt?” and “What surprised you?”, “How are you going to do things differently?”, and most people said redoing the problem is really, really good for understanding it properly. People hate having a massive legacy codebase that they can’t change, so being able to attack something three different ways in an environment where the end-product isn’t important: that’s something people really enjoyed. Pair-programming: also people said that they wanted to do more of that, especially with TDD ping-pong, where you write the test and somebody else writes the code. Various people thought different things about immutables, but most people thought they were good, they promote functional programming. And TDD people found really hard. “Tell, don’t ask” people found really, really hard and really, really, really hard to do well. And the recursion just made things trickier to debug. But most people agreed that coderetreats are really cool, and we should do more of them.

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• Using the BAM Interceptor with Continuation

  - by Charles Young

  Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/cyoung/archive/2014/06/02/using-the-bam-interceptor-with-continuation.aspxI’ve recently been resurrecting some code written several years ago that makes extensive use of the BAM Interceptor provided as part of BizTalk Server’s BAM event observation library.  In doing this, I noticed an issue with continuations.  Essentially, whenever I tried to configure one or more continuations for an activity, the BAM Interceptor failed to complete the activity correctly.   Careful inspection of my code confirmed that I was initializing and invoking the BAM interceptor correctly, so I was mystified.  However, I eventually found the problem.  It is a logical error in the BAM Interceptor code itself. The BAM Interceptor provides a useful mechanism for implementing dynamic tracking.  It supports configurable ‘track points’.  These are grouped into named ‘locations’.  BAM uses the term ‘step’ as a synonym for ‘location’.   Each track point defines a BAM action such as starting an activity, extracting a data item, enabling a continuation, etc.  Each step defines a collection of track points. Understanding Steps The BAM Interceptor provides an abstract model for handling configuration of steps.  It doesn’t, however, define any specific configuration mechanism (e.g., config files, SSO, etc.)  It is up to the developer to decide how to store, manage and retrieve configuration data.  At run time, this configuration is used to register track points which then drive the BAM Interceptor. The full semantics of a step are not immediately clear from Microsoft’s documentation.  They represent a point in a business activity where BAM tracking occurs.  They are named locations in the code.  What is less obvious is that they always represent either the full tracking work for a given activity or a discrete fragment of that work which commences with the start of a new activity or the continuation of an existing activity.  The BAM Interceptor enforces this by throwing an error if no ‘start new’ or ‘continue’ track point is registered for a named location. This constraint implies that each step must marked with an ‘end activity’ track point.  One of the peculiarities of BAM semantics is that when an activity is continued under a correlated ID, you must first mark the current activity as ‘ended’ in order to ensure the right housekeeping is done in the database.  If you re-start an ended activity under the same ID, you will leave the BAM import tables in an inconsistent state.  A step, therefore, always represents an entire unit of work for a given activity or continuation ID.  For activities with continuation, each unit of work is termed a ‘fragment’. Instance and Fragment State Internally, the BAM Interceptor maintains state data at two levels.  First, it represents the overall state of the activity using a ‘trace instance’ token.  This token contains the name and ID of the activity together with a couple of state flags.  The second level of state represents a ‘trace fragment’.   As we have seen, a fragment of an activity corresponds directly to the notion of a ‘step’.  It is the unit of work done at a named location, and it must be bounded by start and end, or continue and end, actions. When handling continuations, the BAM Interceptor differentiates between ‘root’ fragments and other fragments.  Very simply, a root fragment represents the start of an activity.  Other fragments represent continuations.  This is where the logic breaks down.  The BAM Interceptor loses state integrity for root fragments when continuations are defined. Initialization Microsoft’s BAM Interceptor code supports the initialization of BAM Interceptors from track point configuration data.  The process starts by populating an Activity Interceptor Configuration object with an array of track points.  These can belong to different steps (aka ‘locations’) and can be registered in any order.  Once it is populated with track points, the Activity Interceptor Configuration is used to initialise the BAM Interceptor.  The BAM Interceptor sets up a hash table of array lists.  Each step is represented by an array list, and each array list contains an ordered set of track points.  The BAM Interceptor represents track points as ‘executable’ components.  When the OnStep method of the BAM Interceptor is called for a given step, the corresponding list of track points is retrieved and each track point is executed in turn.  Each track point retrieves any required data using a call back mechanism and then serializes a BAM trace fragment object representing a specific action (e.g., start, update, enable continuation, stop, etc.).  The serialised trace fragment is then handed off to a BAM event stream (buffered or direct) which takes the appropriate action. The Root of the Problem The logic breaks down in the Activity Interceptor Configuration.  Each Activity Interceptor Configuration is initialised with an instance of a ‘trace instance’ token.  This provides the basic metadata for the activity as a whole.  It contains the activity name and ID together with state flags indicating if the activity ID is a root (i.e., not a continuation fragment) and if it is completed.  This single token is then shared by all trace actions for all steps registered with the Activity Interceptor Configuration. Each trace instance token is automatically initialised to represent a root fragment.  However, if you subsequently register a ‘continuation’ step with the Activity Interceptor Configuration, the ‘root’ flag is set to false at the point the ‘continue’ track point is registered for that step.   If you use a ‘reflector’ tool to inspect the code for the ActivityInterceptorConfiguration class, you can see the flag being set in one of the overloads of the RegisterContinue method.    This makes no sense.  The trace instance token is shared across all the track points registered with the Activity Interceptor Configuration.  The Activity Interceptor Configuration is designed to hold track points for multiple steps.  The ‘root’ flag is clearly meant to be initialised to ‘true’ for the preliminary root fragment and then subsequently set to false at the point that a continuation step is processed.  Instead, if the Activity Interceptor Configuration contains a continuation step, it is changed to ‘false’ before the root fragment is processed.  This is clearly an error in logic. The problem causes havoc when the BAM Interceptor is used with continuation.  Effectively the root step is no longer processed correctly, and the ultimate effect is that the continued activity never completes!   This has nothing to do with the root and the continuation being in the same process.  It is due to a fundamental mistake of setting the ‘root’ flag to false for a continuation before the root fragment is processed. The Workaround Fortunately, it is easy to work around the bug.  The trick is to ensure that you create a new Activity Interceptor Configuration object for each individual step.  This may mean filtering your configuration data to extract the track points for a single step or grouping the configured track points into individual steps and the creating a separate Activity Interceptor Configuration for each group.  In my case, the first approach was required.  Here is what the amended code looks like: // Because of a logic error in Microsoft's code, a separate ActivityInterceptorConfiguration must be used // for each location. The following code extracts only those track points for a given step name (location). var trackPointGroup = from ResolutionService.TrackPoint tp in bamActivity.TrackPoints                       where (string)tp.Location == bamStepName                       select tp; var bamActivityInterceptorConfig =     new Microsoft.BizTalk.Bam.EventObservation.ActivityInterceptorConfiguration(activityName); foreach (var trackPoint in trackPointGroup) {     switch (trackPoint.Type)     {         case TrackPointType.Start:             bamActivityInterceptorConfig.RegisterStartNew(trackPoint.Location, trackPoint.ExtractionInfo);             break; etc… I’m using LINQ to filter a list of track points for those entries that correspond to a given step and then registering only those track points on a new instance of the ActivityInterceptorConfiguration class.   As soon as I re-wrote the code to do this, activities with continuations started to complete correctly.

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• New in MySQL Enterprise Edition: Policy-based Auditing!

  - by Rob Young

  Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* 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; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* 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; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} For those with an interest in MySQL, this weekend's MySQL Connect conference in San Francisco has gotten off to a great start. On Saturday Tomas announced the feature complete MySQL 5.6 Release Candidate that is now available for Community adoption and testing. This announcement marks the sprint to GA that should be ready for release within the next 90 days. You can get a quick summary of the key 5.6 features here or better yet download the 5.6 RC (under “Development Releases”), review what's new and try it out for yourself! There were also product related announcements around MySQL Cluster 7.3 and MySQL Enterprise Edition . This latter announcement is of particular interest if you are faced with internal and regulatory compliance requirements as it addresses and solves a pain point that is shared by most developers and DBAs; new, out of the box compliance for MySQL applications via policy-based audit logging of user and query level activity. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* 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; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} One of the most common requests we get for the MySQL roadmap is for quick and easy logging of audit events. This is mainly due to how web-based applications have evolved from nice-to-have enablers to mission-critical revenue generation and the important role MySQL plays in the new dynamic. In today’s virtual marketplace, PCI compliance guidelines ensure credit card data is secure within e-commerce apps; from a corporate standpoint, Sarbanes-Oxely, HIPAA and other regulations guard the medical, financial, public sector and other personal data centric industries. For supporting applications audit policies and controls that monitor the eyes and hands that have viewed and acted upon the most sensitive of data is most commonly implemented on the back-end database. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* 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; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} With this in mind, MySQL 5.5 introduced an open audit plugin API that enables all MySQL users to write their own auditing plugins based on application specific requirements. While the supporting docs are very complete and provide working code samples, writing an audit plugin requires time and low-level expertise to develop, test, implement and maintain. To help those who don't have the time and/or expertise to develop such a plugin, Oracle now ships MySQL 5.5.28 and higher with an easy to use, out-of-the-box auditing solution; MySQL Enterprise Audit. MySQL Enterprise Audit The premise behind MySQL Enterprise Audit is simple; we wanted to provide an easy to use, policy-based auditing solution that enables you to quickly and seamlessly add compliance to their MySQL applications. MySQL Enterprise Audit meets this requirement by enabling you to: 1. Easily install the needed components. Installation requires an upgrade to MySQL 5.5.28 (Enterprise edition), which can be downloaded from the My Oracle Support portal or the Oracle Software Delivery Cloud. After installation, you simply add the following to your my.cnf file to register and enable the audit plugin: [mysqld] plugin-load=audit_log.so (keep in mind the audit_log suffix is platform dependent, so .dll on Windows, etc.) or alternatively you can load the plugin at runtime: mysql> INSTALL PLUGIN audit_log SONAME 'audit_log.so'; 2. Dynamically enable and disable the audit stream for a specific MySQL server. A new global variable called audit_log_policy allows you to dynamically enable and disable audit stream logging for a specific MySQL server. The variable parameters are described below. 3. Define audit policy based on what needs to be logged (everything, logins, queries, or nothing), by server. The new audit_log_policy variable uses the following valid, descriptively named values to enable, disable audit stream logging and to filter the audit events that are logged to the audit stream: "ALL" - enable audit stream and log all events "LOGINS" - enable audit stream and log only login events "QUERIES" - enable audit stream and log only querie events "NONE" - disable audit stream 4. Manage audit log files using basic MySQL log rotation features. A new global variable, audit_log_rotate_on_size, allows you to automate the rotation and archival of audit stream log files based on size with archived log files renamed and appended with datetime stamp when a new file is opened for logging. 5. Integrate the MySQL audit stream with MySQL, Oracle tools and other third-party solutions. The MySQL audit stream is written as XML, using UFT-8 and can be easily formatted for viewing using a standard XML parser. This enables you to leverage tools from MySQL and others to view the contents. The audit stream was also developed to meet the Oracle database audit stream specification so combined Oracle/MySQL shops can import and manage MySQL audit images using the same Oracle tools they use for their Oracle databases. So assuming a successful MySQL 5.5.28 upgrade or installation, a common set up and use case scenario might look something like this: Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* 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-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} It should be noted that MySQL Enterprise Audit was designed to be transparent at the application layer by allowing you to control the mix of log output buffering and asynchronous or synchronous disk writes to minimize the associated overhead that comes when the audit stream is enabled. The net result is that, depending on the chosen audit stream log stream options, most application users will see little to no difference in response times when the audit stream is enabled. So what are your next steps? Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* 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-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} Get all of the grainy details on MySQL Enterprise Audit, including all of the additional configuration options from the MySQL documentation. MySQL Enterprise Edition customers can download MySQL 5.5.28 with the Audit extension for production use from the My Oracle Support portal. Everyone can download MySQL 5.5.28 with the Audit extension for evaluation from the Oracle Software Delivery Cloud. Learn more about MySQL Enterprise Edition. As always, thanks for your continued support of MySQL!

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• MySQL 5.5.18 Debian packaging now available

  - by Rob Young

  I am happy to announce that MySQL 5.5.18 is now available via Debian native packaging.  We have gotten many requests for this and our build and release teams have pulled together to ensure that our DEB packages are delivered with the highest quality.  You can download MySQL 5.5.18 Debian 5 and 6 packages from the MySQL Community Download page or from the My Oracle Support portal. As always, thanks for your continued support of MySQL!

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• What's New in 5.6 RC and more from MySQL Connect conference

  - by Rob Young

  Keeping with the tradition of great MySQL Community events, the first annual MySQL Connect conference is now in the books.  It was great to see so many familiar faces in the crowd and at the podium sharing their ideas and thoughts on the evolution of MySQL under Oracle. The headliner of the conference was Tomas' keynote announcement of the fully featured and fully enabled MySQL 5.6 Release Candidate.  This new article on the MySQL DevZone summarizes all of the great new features ready for Community adoption, all MySQL Engineering blogs and where and how to download all of the bits. As always, early adoption and feedback on the 5.6 RC is appreciated and the sooner we get your feedback the sooner we release the "ready for production" sanctioned GA product.    Also available now, Cluster 7.3 provides support for Foreign Keys, node.js NoSQL access to underlying data and a new Auto Installer that helps you quickly and easily get up and running with Cluster 7.2 and 7.3.  The 7.3 downloads are provided in the first 7.3 Development Milestone Release (under "Development Releases" tab) and via the MySQL Labs. Oracle also announced key new additions to MySQL Enterprise Edition: New policy-based compliance Auditing. MySQL Enterprise Edition Audit adds policy-based auditing compliance to existing MySQL applications without the need to change any code.  This new plugin is available for MySQL 5.5.28 and higher; existing MySQL Enterprise Edition customers can download the upgrade from the My Oracle Support portal and all can download for evaluation from Oracle's Software Delivery Cloud. New MySQL Enterprise High Available additions provide even more options for ensuring MySQL applications remain available and running a their peak: Oracle Linux + DRBD Oracle Solaris Clustering for MySQL All in all, the first MySQL Connect conference was a great success and with refinements planned in response to attendee, sponsor and speaker feedback we expect it to grow and improve going forward. As always, thanks for your continued support of MySQL!

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• Top 5 Developer Enabling Nuggets in MySQL 5.6

  - by Rob Young

  MySQL 5.6 is truly a better MySQL and reflects Oracle's commitment to the evolution of the most popular and widelyused open source database on the planet.  The feature-complete 5.6 release candidate was announced at MySQL Connect in late September and the production-ready, generally available ("GA") product should be available in early 2013.  While the message around 5.6 has been focused mainly on mass appeal, advanced topics like performance/scale, high availability, and self-healing replication clusters, MySQL 5.6 also provides many developer-friendly nuggets that are designed to enable those who are building the next generation of web-based and embedded applications and services. Boiling down the 5.6 feature set into a smaller set, of simple, easy to use goodies designed with developer agility in mind, these things deserve a quick look:Subquery Optimizations Using semi-JOINs and late materialization, the MySQL 5.6 Optimizer delivers greatly improved subquery performance. Specifically, the optimizer is now more efficient in handling subqueries in the FROM clause; materialization of subqueries in the FROM clause is now postponed until their contents are needed during execution. Additionally, the optimizer may add an index to derived tables during execution to speed up row retrieval. Internal tests run using the DBT-3 benchmark Query #13, shown below, demonstrate an order of magnitude improvement in execution times (from days to seconds) over previous versions. select c_name, c_custkey, o_orderkey, o_orderdate, o_totalprice, sum(l_quantity)from customer, orders, lineitemwhere o_orderkey in (                select l_orderkey                from lineitem                group by l_orderkey                having sum(l_quantity) > 313  )  and c_custkey = o_custkey  and o_orderkey = l_orderkeygroup by c_name, c_custkey, o_orderkey, o_orderdate, o_totalpriceorder by o_totalprice desc, o_orderdateLIMIT 100;What does this mean for developers?  For starters, simplified subqueries can now be coded instead of complex joins for cross table lookups: SELECT title FROM film WHERE film_id IN (SELECT film_id FROM film_actor GROUP BY film_id HAVING count(*) > 12); And even more importantly subqueries embedded in packaged applications no longer need to be re-written into joins.  This is good news for both ISVs and their customers who have access to the underlying queries and who have spent development cycles writing, testing and maintaining their own versions of re-written queries across updated versions of a packaged app.The details are in the MySQL 5.6 docs. Online DDL OperationsToday's web-based applications are designed to rapidly evolve and adapt to meet business and revenue-generationrequirements. As a result, development SLAs are now most often measured in minutes vs days or weeks. For example, when an application must quickly support new product lines or new products within existing product lines, the backend database schema must adapt in kind, and most commonly while the application remains available for normal business operations.  MySQL 5.6 supports this level of online schema flexibility and agility by providing the following new ALTER TABLE online DDL syntax additions:  CREATE INDEX DROP INDEX Change AUTO_INCREMENT value for a column ADD/DROP FOREIGN KEY Rename COLUMN Change ROW FORMAT, KEY_BLOCK_SIZE for a table Change COLUMN NULL, NOT_NULL Add, drop, reorder COLUMN Again, the details are in the MySQL 5.6 docs. Key-value access to InnoDB via Memcached APIMany of the next generation of web, cloud, social and mobile applications require fast operations against simple Key/Value pairs. At the same time, they must retain the ability to run complex queries against the same data, as well as ensure the data is protected with ACID guarantees. With the new NoSQL API for InnoDB, developers have allthe benefits of a transactional RDBMS, coupled with the performance capabilities of Key/Value store.MySQL 5.6 provides simple, key-value interaction with InnoDB data via the familiar Memcached API.  Implemented via a new Memcached daemon plug-in to mysqld, the new Memcached protocol is mapped directly to the native InnoDB API and enables developers to use existing Memcached clients to bypass the expense of query parsing and go directly to InnoDB data for lookups and transactional compliant updates.  The API makes it possible to re-use standard Memcached libraries and clients, while extending Memcached functionality by integrating a persistent, crash-safe, transactional database back-end.  The implementation is shown here:So does this option provide a performance benefit over SQL?  Internal performance benchmarks using a customized Java application and test harness show some very promising results with a 9X improvement in overall throughput for SET/INSERT operations:You can follow the InnoDB team blog for the methodology, implementation and internal test cases that generated these results here. How to get started with Memcached API to InnoDB is here. New Instrumentation in Performance SchemaThe MySQL Performance Schema was introduced in MySQL 5.5 and is designed to provide point in time metrics for key performance indicators.  MySQL 5.6 improves the Performance Schema in answer to the most common DBA and Developer problems.  New instrumentations include: Statements/Stages What are my most resource intensive queries? Where do they spend time? Table/Index I/O, Table Locks Which application tables/indexes cause the most load or contention? Users/Hosts/Accounts Which application users, hosts, accounts are consuming the most resources? Network I/O What is the network load like? How long do sessions idle? Summaries Aggregated statistics grouped by statement, thread, user, host, account or object. The MySQL 5.6 Performance Schema is now enabled by default in the my.cnf file with optimized and auto-tune settings that minimize overhead (< 5%, but mileage will vary), so using the Performance Schema ona production server to monitor the most common application use cases is less of an issue.  In addition, new atomic levels of instrumentation enable the capture of granular levels of resource consumption by users, hosts, accounts, applications, etc. for billing and chargeback purposes in cloud computing environments.The MySQL docs are an excellent resource for all that is available and that can be done with the 5.6 Performance Schema. Better Condition Handling - GET DIAGNOSTICSMySQL 5.6 enables developers to easily check for error conditions and code for exceptions by introducing the new MySQL Diagnostics Area and corresponding GET DIAGNOSTICS interface command. The Diagnostic Area can be populated via multiple options and provides 2 kinds of information:Statement - which provides affected row count and number of conditions that occurredCondition - which provides error codes and messages for all conditions that were returned by a previous operation The addressable items for each are: The new GET DIAGNOSTICS command provides a standard interface into the Diagnostics Area and can be used via the CLI or from within application code to easily retrieve and handle the results of the most recent statement execution.  An example of how it is used might be:mysql> DROP TABLE test.no_such_table; ERROR 1051 (42S02): Unknown table 'test.no_such_table' mysql> GET DIAGNOSTICS CONDITION 1 -> @p1 = RETURNED_SQLSTATE, @p2 = MESSAGE_TEXT; mysql> SELECT @p1, @p2; +-------+------------------------------------+| @p1   | @p2                                | +-------+------------------------------------+| 42S02 | Unknown table 'test.no_such_table' | +-------+------------------------------------+ Options for leveraging the MySQL Diagnotics Area and GET DIAGNOSTICS are detailed in the MySQL Docs.While the above is a summary of some of the key developer enabling 5.6 features, it is by no means exhaustive. You can dig deeper into what MySQL 5.6 has to offer by reading this developer zone article or checking out "What's New in MySQL 5.6" in the MySQL docs.BONUS ALERT!  If you are developing on Windows or are considering MySQL as an alternative to SQL Server for your next project, application or shipping product, you should check out the MySQL Installer for Windows.  The installer includes the MySQL 5.6 RC database, all drivers, Visual Studio and Excel plugins, tray monitor and development tools all a single download and GUI installer.   So what are your next steps? Register for Dec. 13 "MySQL 5.6: Building the Next Generation of Web-Based Applications and Services" live web event.  Hurry!  Seats are limited. Download the MySQL 5.6 Release Candidate (look under the Development Releases tab) Provide Feedback <link to http://bugs.mysql.com/> Join the Developer discussion on the MySQL Forums Explore all MySQL Products and Developer Tools As always, thanks for your continued support of MySQL!

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• New Replication, Optimizer and High Availability features in MySQL 5.6.5!

  - by Rob Young

  As the Product Manager for the MySQL database it is always great to announce when the MySQL Engineering team delivers another great product release.  As a field DBA and developer it is even better when that release contains improvements and innovation that I know will help those currently using MySQL for apps that range from modest intranet sites to the most highly trafficked web sites on the web.  That said, it is my pleasure to take my hat off to MySQL Engineering for today's release of the MySQL 5.6.5 Development Milestone Release ("DMR"). The new highlighted features in MySQL 5.6.5 are discussed here: New Self-Healing Replication ClustersThe 5.6.5 DMR improves MySQL Replication by adding Global Transaction Ids and automated utilities for self-healing Replication clusters.  Prior to 5.6.5 this has been somewhat of a pain point for MySQL users with most developing custom solutions or looking to costly, complex third-party solutions for these capabilities.  With 5.6.5 these shackles are all but removed by a solution that is included with the GPL version of the database and supporting GPL tools.  You can learn all about the details of the great, problem solving Replication features in MySQL 5.6 in Mat Keep's Developer Zone article.  New Replication Administration and Failover UtilitiesAs mentioned above, the new Replication features, Global Transaction Ids specifically, are now supported by a set of automated GPL utilities that leverage the new GTIDs to provide administration and manual or auto failover to the most up to date slave (that is the default, but user configurable if needed) in the event of a master failure. The new utilities, along with links to Engineering related blogs, are discussed in detail in the DevZone Article noted above. Better Query Optimization and ThroughputThe MySQL Optimizer team continues to amaze with the latest round of improvements in 5.6.5. Along with much refactoring of the legacy code base, the Optimizer team has improved complex query optimization and throughput by adding these functional improvements: Subquery Optimizations - Subqueries are now included in the Optimizer path for runtime optimization.  Better throughput of nested queries enables application developers to simplify and consolidate multiple queries and result sets into a single unit or work. Optimizer now uses CURRENT_TIMESTAMP as default for DATETIME columns - For simplification, this eliminates the need for application developers to assign this value when a column of this type is blank by default. Optimizations for Range based queries - Optimizer now uses ready statistics vs Index based scans for queries with multiple range values. Optimizations for queries using filesort and ORDER BY.  Optimization criteria/decision on execution method is done now at optimization vs parsing stage. Print EXPLAIN in JSON format for hierarchical readability and Enterprise tool consumption. You can learn the details about these new features as well all of the Optimizer based improvements in MySQL 5.6 by following the Optimizer team blog. You can download and try the MySQL 5.6.5 DMR here. (look under "Development Releases")  Please let us know what you think!  The new HA utilities for Replication Administration and Failover are available as part of the MySQL Workbench Community Edition, which you can download here .Also New in MySQL LabsAs has become our tradition when announcing DMRs we also like to provide "Early Access" development features to the MySQL Community via the MySQL Labs.  Today is no exception as we are also releasing the following to Labs for you to download, try and let us know your thoughts on where we need to improve:InnoDB Online OperationsMySQL 5.6 now provides Online ADD Index, FK Drop and Online Column RENAME.  These operations are non-blocking and will continue to evolve in future DMRs.  You can learn the grainy details by following John Russell's blog.InnoDB data access via Memcached API ("NotOnlySQL") - Improved refresh of an earlier feature releaseSimilar to Cluster 7.2, MySQL 5.6 provides direct NotOnlySQL access to InnoDB data via the familiar Memcached API. This provides the ultimate in flexibility for developers who need fast, simple key/value access and complex query support commingled within their applications.Improved Transactional Performance, ScaleThe InnoDB Engineering team has once again under promised and over delivered in the area of improved performance and scale.  These improvements are also included in the aggregated Spring 2012 labs release:InnoDB CPU cache performance improvements for modern, multi-core/CPU systems show great promise with internal tests showing:    2x throughput improvement for read only activity 6x throughput improvement for SELECT range Read/Write benchmarks are in progress More details on the above are available here. You can download all of the above in an aggregated "InnoDB 2012 Spring Labs Release" binary from the MySQL Labs. You can also learn more about these improvements and about related fixes to mysys mutex and hash sort by checking out the InnoDB team blog.MySQL 5.6.5 is another installment in what we believe will be the best release of the MySQL database ever.  It also serves as a shining example of how the MySQL Engineering team at Oracle leads in MySQL innovation.You can get the overall Oracle message on the MySQL 5.6.5 DMR and Early Access labs features here. As always, thanks for your continued support of MySQL, the #1 open source database on the planet!

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• Microsoft Cloud Day - the ups and downs

  - by Charles Young

  The term ‘cloud’ can sometimes obscure the obvious.  Today’s Microsoft Cloud Day conference in London provided a good example.  Scott Guthrie was halfway through what was an excellent keynote when he lost network connectivity.  This proved very disruptive to his presentation which centred on a series of demonstrations of the Azure platform in action.  Great efforts were made to find a solution, but no quick fix presented itself.  The venue’s IT facilities were dreadful – no WiFi, poor 3G reception (forget 4G…this is the UK) and, unbelievably, no-one on hand from the venue staff to help with infrastructure issues.  Eventually, after an unscheduled break, a solution was found and Scott managed to complete his demonstrations.  Further connectivity issues occurred during the day. I can say that the cause was prosaic.  A member of the venue staff had interfered with a patch board and inadvertently disconnected Scott Guthrie’s machine from the network by pulling out a cable. I need to state the obvious here.  If your PC is disconnected from the network it can’t communicate with other systems.  This could include a machine under someone’s desk, a mail server located down the hall, a server in the local data centre, an Internet search engine or even, heaven forbid, a role running on Azure. Inadvertently disconnecting a PC from the network does not imply a fundamental problem with the cloud or any specific cloud platform.  Some of the tweeted comments I’ve seen today are analogous to suggesting that, if you accidently unplug your microwave from the mains, this suggests some fundamental flaw with the electricity supply to your house.   This is poor reasoning, to say the least. As far as the conference was concerned, the connectivity issue in the keynote, coupled with some later problems in a couple of presentations, served to exaggerate the perception of poor organisation.   Software problems encountered before the conference prevented the correct set-up of a smartphone app intended to convey agenda information to attendees.  Although some information was available via this app, the organisers decided to print out an agenda at the last moment.  Unfortunately, the agenda sheet did not convey enough information, and attendees were forced to approach conference staff through the day to clarify locations of the various presentations. Despite these problems, the overwhelming feedback from conference attendees was very positive.  There was a real sense of excitement in the morning keynote.  For many, this was their first sight of new Azure features delivered in the ‘spring’ release.  The most common reaction I heard was amazement and appreciation that Azure’s new IaaS features deliver built-in template support for several flavours of Linux from day one.  This coupled with open source SDKs and several presentations on Azure’s support for Java, node.js, PHP, MongoDB and Hadoop served to communicate that the Azure platform is maturing quickly.  The new virtual network capabilities also surprised many attendees, and the much improved portal experience went down very well. So, despite some very irritating and disruptive problems, the event served its purpose well, communicating the breadth and depth of the newly upgraded Azure platform.  I enjoyed the day very much.

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• MySQL Policy-Based Auditing Webinar Recording Now Availabile

  - by Rob Young

  For those who missed the live event, the recording of the "How to Add Policy-Based Auditing to your MySQL Applications" webinar is now available.  You can view it here. This presentation builds on my earlier blog post on MySQL Enterprise Audit that was announced at MySQL Connect in late September.  The web presentation expands on the introductory blog and covers: The regulatory problem to be solved (internal audit, PCI, Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA, others) MySQL Audit solutions for both Community and Enterprise users: General Log - use the basic features of the MySQL server MySQL 5.5 open audit API - or use your time and talent to build your own solution MySQL Enterprise Audit - or use the out of the box, ready for production solution from MySQL Simple, step-by-step process for installing, enabling and configuring the MySQL Enterprise Audit plugin for use with existing apps New variables and options for tuning the MySQL Enterprise Audit plugin for your specific use case Best practices for securing and managing audit log files and archived images Roadmap for adding an integrated solution around MySQL Enterprise Audit for MySQL only and Oracle/MySQL shops You can learn all the technical details on MySQL Enterprise Audit in the MySQL docs and learn all about MySQL Enterprise Edition and Auditing here. As always, thanks for your support of MySQL!

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• Thank You MySQL Community! MySQL 5.6.9 Release Candidate Available Now!

  - by Rob Young

  The MySQL Community continues its good work in testing and refining MySQL 5.6, and as such the next iteration of the 5.6 Release Candidate is now available for download.  You can get MySQL 5.6.9 here (look under the "Development Releases" tab).  This version is the result of feedback we have gotten since MySQL 5.6.7 was announced at MySQL Connect in late September. As iron sharpens iron, Community feedback sharpens the quality and performance of MySQL so please download 5.6.9 and let us know how we can improve it as we move toward the production-ready product release in early 2013. MySQL 5.6 is designed to meet the agility demands of the next generation of web apps and services and includes across the board improvements to the Optimizer, InnoDB performance/scale and online DDL operations, self-healing Replication, Performance Schema Instrumentation, Security and developer enabling NoSQL functionality.  You can learn all the details and follow MySQL Engineering blogs on all of the key features in this MySQL DevZone article. On a related note, plan to join this week's live webinars to learn more about MySQL 5.6 Self-Healing Replication Clusters and Building the Next Generation of Web, Cloud, SaaS, Embedded Application and Services with MySQL 5.6.  Hurry!  Seating is limited!  As always, thanks for your continued support of MySQL!

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• Top 10 Reasons to Use MySQL and MySQL Cluster as an Embedded Database

  - by Rob Young

  If you are considering using MySQL and/or MySQL Cluster as the embedded database solution for your application, you should join us for today's webcast where we will discuss how you can cut costs, add flexibility and benefit from new performance and scalability enhancements that are now available in MySQL 5.6 and MySQL Cluster 7.2.  We will cover the top 10 reasons that make MySQL and MySQL Cluster the best solutions for embedding in both shrink wrapped and SaaS provided applications, how industry leaders leverage MySQL products and how you can get started with the latest innovations and support offerings across the MySQL product line. You can learn more and reserve your seat here. As always, thanks for your support of MySQL!

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• Tellago releases a RESTful API for BizTalk Server business rules

  - by Charles Young

  Jesus Rodriguez has blogged recently on Tellago Devlabs' release of an open source RESTful API for BizTalk Server Business Rules.   This is an excellent addition to the BizTalk ecosystem and I congratulate Tellago on their work.   See http://weblogs.asp.net/gsusx/archive/2011/02/08/tellago-devlabs-a-restful-api-for-biztalk-server-business-rules.aspx   The Microsoft BRE was originally designed to be used as an embedded library in .NET applications. This is reflected in the implementation of the Rules Engine Update (REU) Service which is a TCP/IP service that is hosted by a Windows service running locally on each BizTalk box. The job of the REU is to distribute rules, managed and held in a central database repository, across the various servers in a BizTalk group.   The engine is therefore distributed on each box, rather than exploited behind a central rules service.   This model is all very well, but proves quite restrictive in enterprise environments. The problem is that the BRE can only run legally on licensed BizTalk boxes. Increasingly we need to deliver rules capabilities across a more widely distributed environment. For example, in the project I am working on currently, we need to surface decisioning capabilities for use within WF workflow services running under AppFabric on non-BTS boxes. The BRE does not, currently, offer any centralised rule service facilities out of the box, and hence you have to roll your own (and then run your rules services on BTS boxes which has raised a few eyebrows on my current project, as all other WCF services run on a dedicated server farm ).   Tellago's API addresses this by providing a RESTful API for querying the rules repository and executing rule sets against XML passed in the request payload. As Jesus points out in his post, using a RESTful approach hugely increases the reach of BRE-based decisioning, allowing simple invocation from code written in dynamic languages, mobile devices, etc.   We developed our own SOAP-based general-purpose rules service to handle scenarios such as the one we face on my current project. SOAP is arguably better suited to enterprise service bus environments (please don't 'flame' me - I refuse to engage in the RESTFul vs. SOAP war). For example, on my current project we use claims based authorisation across the entire service bus and use WIF and WS-Federation for this purpose.   We have extended this to the rules service. I can't release the code for commercial reasons :-( but this approach allows us to legally extend the reach of BRE far beyond the confines of the BizTalk boxes on which it runs and to provide general purpose decisioning capabilities on the bus.   So, well done Tellago.   I haven't had a chance to play with the API yet, but am looking forward to doing so.

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• Open Source AI Bot interfaces

  - by David Young

  What are some open source AI Bot interfaces? Similar to Pogamut 3 GameBots2004 for custom Unreal Tournament bots or Brood Wars API for Starcraft bots etc. If you could please post one AI bot interface per answer (make sure to provide a link) and give a brief summary as to the content of the blog posts. Please include what type of bot interface structure it is, client/server, server/server, etc e.g. BWAPI is client/server which emulates a real player

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• Conways Game of Life C#

  - by Darren Young

  Hi, Not sure if this is the correct place for this question or SO - mods please move if necessary. I am going to have a go at creating GoL over the weekend as a little test project : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conway's_Game_of_Life I understand the algorithm, however I just wanted to check regarding the implementation, from maybe somebody that has tried it. Essentially, my first (basic) implementation, will be a static grid at a set speed. If I understand correctly, these are the steps I will need: Initial seed Create 2d array with initial set up Foreach iteration, create temporary array, calculating each cells new state based on the Game of Life algorithm Assign temp array to proper array. Redraw grid from proper array. My concerns are over speed. When I am populating the grid from the array, would it simply be a case of looping through the array, assigning on or off to each grid cell and then redraw the grid? Am I on the correct path?

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• Project Idea - Android

  - by Darren Young

  Hi, I am trying to come up with some project ideas for my final year at University, and I think that I have one that would offer be a (massive) challenge, and something I could potentially make money from. I just want to check something. Is it possible(from a photograph), to be able to determine somebodys face and the individual parts of that face - eyes, ears, nose, etc? This will probably be via Android. Thanks.

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• The Singleton Pattern

  - by Darren Young

  Hi, I am a new programmer (4 months into my first job) and have recently taken an interest in design patterns. One that I have used recently is the Singleton. However, looking at some comments on this thread Overused or abused programming techniques .......it has some bad feedback. Come somebody explain why? I have found it useful in some places, however I could probably have achieved the same without it using a static class. Thanks.

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• The Bing Sting - an alternative opinion

  - by Charles Young

  I know I'm a bit of an MS fanboy at times, but please, am I missing something here? Microsoft, with permission of users, exploits clickstream data gathered by observing user behaviour. One use for this data is to improve Bing queries. Google equips twenty of its engineers with laptops and installs the widgets required to provide Microsoft with clickstream data. It then gets their engineers to repeatedly (I assume) type in 'synthetic' queries which bring back 'doctored' hits. It asks its engineers to then click these results (think about this!). So, the behaviour of the engineers is observed and the resulting clickstream data goes off to Microsoft. It is processed and 'improves' Bing results accordingly.   What exactly did Microsoft do wrong here?   Google's so-called 'Bing sting' is clearly a very effective attack from a propaganda perspective, but is poor practice from a company that claims to do no evil. Generating and sending clickstream data deliberately so that you can then subsequently claim that your competitor 'copied' that data from you is neither fair nor reasonable, and suggests to me a degree of desperation in the face of real competition.   Monopolies are undesirable, whether they are Microsoft monopolies or Google monopolies.    Personally, I'm glad Microsoft has technology in place to observe user behaviour (with permission, of course) and improve their search results using such data. I can only assume Google doesn't implement similar capabilities. Sounds to me as if, at least in this respect, Microsoft may offer the better technology.

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