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• Using Resources the Right Way

  - by BuckWoody

  It’s an interesting time in computing technology. At one point there was a dearth of information available for solving a given problem, or educating ourselves on broader topics so that we can solve problems in the future. With dozens, perhaps hundreds or thousands of web sites and content available (for free, in many cases) from vendors, peers, even colleges and universities, it seems like there is actually too much information. Who has the time to absorb all this information and training? Even if you had the inclination, where to start? In fact, it seems so overwhelming that I often hear people saying that they can’t find the training they need, or that vendor X or Y “doesn’t help their users”. On questioning these folks, however, I often find that they – and sometimes I - haven’t put in the effort to learn what resources we have. That’s where blogs, like this one, can help. If you follow a blog, either by checking it often or perhaps subscribing to the Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feed, you’ll be able to spread out the search or create a mental filter for the information you need. But it’s not enough just read a blog or a web page. The creators need real feedback – what doesn’t work, and what does. Yes, you’re allowed to tell a vendor or writer “This helped me because…” so that you reinforce the positives. To be sure, bring up what doesn’t work as well –  that’s fine. But be specific, and be constructive. You’d be surprised at how much it matters. I know for a fact at Microsoft we listen – there is a real live person that reads your comments. I’m sure this is true of other vendors, and I also know that most blog authors – yours truly most especially – wants to know what you think.   In this blog entry I’d to call your attention to three resources you have at your disposal, and how you can use them to help. I’ll try to bring up things like this from time to time that I find useful, and cover in them in more depth like this. Think of this as a synopsis of a longer set of resources that you can use to filter whether you want to research further, bookmark, or forward on to a circle of friends where you think it might help them.   Data Driven Design Concepts http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/jj156154 I’ll start with a great site that walks you through the process of designing a solution from a data-first perspective. As you know, I believe all computing is merely re-arranging data. If you follow that logic as well, you’ll realize that whenever you create a solution, you should start at the data-end of the application. This resource helps you do that. Even if you don’t use the specific technologies the instructions use, the concepts hold for almost any other technology that deals with data. This should be a definite bookmark for a developer, DBA, or Data Architect. When I mentioned my admiration for this resource here at Microsoft, the team that created it contacted me and asked if I’d share an e-mail address to my readers so that you can comment on it. You’re guaranteed to be heard – you can suggest changes, talk about how useful – or not – it is, and so on. Here’s that address:  [email protected]   End-to-End Example of a complete Hybrid Application – with Live Demo https://azurestocktrader.cloudapp.net/Default.aspx I learn by example. I also like having ready-made, live, functional demos that show the completed solution at work. If you’ve ever wanted to learn how a complex, complete, hybrid application that bridges on-premises systems with cloud-based databases, code, functions and more, this is it. It’s a stock-trading simulator, and you can get everything from the design to the code itself, or you can just play with the application. It’s running on Windows Azure, the actual production servers we use for everything else. Using a Cloud-Based Service https://azureconfigweb.cloudapp.net/Default.aspx Along with that stock-trading application, you have a full demonstration and usable code sample of a web-based service available. If you’re a developer, this is a style of code you need to understand for everything from iPhone development to a full Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) environment. So check out these resources. I’ll post more from time to time as I run across them. Hopefully they’ll be as useful to you as they are to me. Oh, and if you have a comment on any of the resources, let them know. And if you have any comments about these or any of my entries, feel free to post away. To quote a famous TV Show: “Hello Seattle – I’m listening…”

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• Rebuilding CoasterBuzz, Part II: Hot data objects

  - by Jeff

  This is the second post, originally from my personal blog, in a series about rebuilding one of my Web sites, which has been around for 12 years. More: Part I: Evolution, and death to WCF After the rush to get moving on stuff, I temporarily lost interest. I went almost two weeks without touching the project, in part because the next thing on my backlog was doing up a bunch of administrative pages. So boring. Unfortunately, because most of the site's content is user-generated, you need some facilities for editing data. CoasterBuzz has a database full of amusement parks and roller coasters. The entities enjoy the relationships that you would expect, though they're further defined by "instances" of a coaster, to define one that has moved between parks as one, with different names and operational dates. And of course, there are pictures and news items, too. It's not horribly complex, except when you have to account for a name change and display just the newest name. In all previous versions, data access was straight SQL. As so much of the old code was rooted in 2003, with some changes in 2008, there wasn't much in the way of ORM frameworks going on then. Let me rephrase that, I mostly wasn't interested in ORM's. Since that time, I used a little LINQ to SQL in some projects, and a whole bunch of nHibernate while at Microsoft. Through all of that experience, I have to admit that these frameworks are often a bigger pain in the ass than not. They're great for basic crud operations, but when you start having all kinds of exotic relationships, they get difficult, and generate all kinds of weird SQL under the covers. The black box can quickly turn into a black hole. Sometimes you end up having to build all kinds of new expertise to do things "right" with a framework. Still, despite my reservations, I used the newer version of Entity Framework, with the "code first" modeling, in a science project and I really liked it. Since it's just a right-click away with NuGet, I figured I'd give it a shot here. My initial effort was spent defining the context class, which requires a bit of work because I deviate quite a bit from the conventions that EF uses, starting with table names. Then throw some partial querying of certain tables (where you'll find image data), and you're splitting tables across several objects (navigation properties). I won't go into the details, because these are all things that are well documented around the Internet, but there was a minor learning curve there. The basics of reading data using EF are fantastic. For example, a roller coaster object has a park associated with it, as well as a number of instances (if it was ever relocated), and there also might be a big banner image for it. This is stupid easy to use because it takes one line of code in your repository class, and by the time you pass it to the view, you have a rich object graph that has everything you need to display stuff. Likewise, editing simple data is also, well, simple. For this goodness, thank the ASP.NET MVC framework. The UpdateModel() method on the controllers is very elegant. Remember the old days of assigning all kinds of properties to objects in your Webforms code-behind? What a time consuming mess that used to be. Even if you're not using an ORM tool, having hydrated objects come off the wire is such a time saver. Not everything is easy, though. When you have to persist a complex graph of objects, particularly if they were composed in the user interface with all kinds of AJAX elements and list boxes, it's not just a simple matter of submitting the form. There were a few instances where I ended up going back to "old-fashioned" SQL just in the interest of time. It's not that I couldn't do what I needed with EF, it's just that the efficiency, both my own and that of the generated SQL, wasn't good. Since EF context objects expose a database connection object, you can use that to do the old school ADO.NET stuff you've done for a decade. Using various extension methods from POP Forums' data project, it was a breeze. You just have to stick to your decision, in this case. When you start messing with SQL directly, you can't go back in the same code to messing with entities because EF doesn't know what you're changing. Not really a big deal. There are a number of take-aways from using EF. The first is that you write a lot less code, which has always been a desired outcome of ORM's. The other lesson, and I particularly learned this the hard way working on the MSDN forums back in the day, is that trying to retrofit an ORM framework into an existing schema isn't fun at all. The CoasterBuzz database isn't bad, but there are design decisions I'd make differently if I were starting from scratch. Now that I have some of this stuff done, I feel like I can start to move on to the more interesting things on the backlog. There's a lot to do, but at least it's fun stuff, and not more forms that will be used infrequently.

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• My Feelings About Microsoft Surface

  - by Valter Minute

  Advice: read the title carefully, I’m talking about “feelings” and not about advanced technical points proved in a scientific and objective way I still haven’t had a chance to play with a MS Surface tablet (I would love to, of course) and so my ideas just came from reading different articles on the net and MS official statements. Remember also that the MVP motto begins with “Independent” (“Independent Experts. Real World Answers.”) and this is just my humble opinion about a product and a technology. I know that, being an MS MVP you can be called an “MS-fanboy”, I don’t care, I hope that people can appreciate my opinion, even if it doesn’t match theirs. The “Surface” brand can be confusing for techies that knew the “original” surface concept but I think that will be a fresh new brand name for most of the people out there. But marketing department are here to confuse people… so I can understand this “recycle” of an existing name. So Microsoft is entering the hardware arena… for me this is good news. Microsoft developed some nice hardware in the past: the xbox, zune (even if the commercial success was quite limited) and, last but not least, the two arc mices (old and new model) that I use and appreciate. In the past Microsoft worked with OEMs and that model lead to good and bad things. Good thing (for microsoft, at least) is market domination by windows-based PCs that only in the last years has been reduced by the return of the Mac and tablets. Google is also moving in the hardware business with its acquisition of Motorola, and Apple leveraged his control of both the hardware and software sides to develop innovative products. Microsoft can scare OEMs and make them fly away from windows (but where?) or just lead the pack, showing how devices should be designed to compete in the market and bring back some of the innovation that disappeared from recent PC products (look at the shelves of your favorite electronics store and try to distinguish a laptop between the huge mass of anonymous PCs on displays… only Macs shine out there…). Having to compete with MS “official” hardware will force OEMs to develop better product and bring back some real competition in a market that was ruled only by prices (the lower the better even when that means low quality) and no innovative features at all (when it was the last time that a new PC surprised you?). Moving into a new market is a big and risky move, but with Windows 8 Microsoft is playing a crucial move for its future, trying to be back in the innovation run against apple and google. MS can’t afford to fail this time. I saw the new devices (the WinRT and Pro) and the specifications are scarce, misleading and confusing. The first impression is that the device looks like an iPad with a nice keyboard cover… Using “HD” and “full HD” to define display resolution instead of using the real figures and reviving the “ClearType” brand (now dead on Win8 as reported here and missed by people who hate to read text on displays, like myself) without providing clear figures (couldn’t you count those damned pixels?) seems to imply that MS was caught by surprise by apple recent “retina” displays that brought very high definition screens on tablets.Also there are no specifications about the processors used (even if some sources report NVidia Tegra for the ARM tablet and i5 for the x86 one) and expected battery life (a critical point for tablets and the point that killed Windows7 x86 based tablets). Also nothing about the price, and this will be another critical point because other platform out there already provide lots of applications and have a good user base, if MS want to enter this market tablets pricing must be competitive. There are some expansion ports (SD and USB), so no fixed storage model (even if the specs talks about 32-64GB for RT and 128-256GB for pro). I like this and don’t like the apple model where flash memory (that it’s dirt cheap used in thumdrives or SD cards) is as expensive as gold (or cocaine to have a more accurate per gram measurement) when mounted inside a tablet/phone. For big files you’ll be able to use external media and an SD card could be used to store files that don’t require super-fast SSD-like access times, I hope. To be honest I really don’t like the marketplace model and the limitation of Windows RT APIs (no local database? from a company that based a good share of its success on VB6+Access!) and lack of desktop support on the ARM (even if the support is here and has been used to port office). It’s a step toward the consumer market (where competitors are making big money), but may impact enterprise (and embedded) users that may not appreciate Windows 8 new UI or the limitations of the new app model (if you aren’t connected you are dead ). Not having compatibility with the desktop will require brand new applications and honestly made all the CPU cycles spent to convert .NET IL into real machine code in the past like a huge waste of time… as soon as a new processor architecture is supported by Windows you still have to rewrite part of your application (and MS is pushing HTML5+JS and native code more than .NET in my perception). On the other side I believe that the development experience provided by Visual Studio is still miles (or kilometres) ahead of the competition and even the all-uppercase menu of VS2012 hasn’t changed this situation. The new metro UI got mixed reviews. On my side I should say that is very pleasant to use on a touch screen, I like the minimalist design (even if sometimes is too minimal and hides stuff that, in my opinion, should be visible) but I should also say that using it with mouse and keyboard is like trying to pick your nose with boxing gloves… Metro is also very interesting for embedded devices where touch screen usage is quite common and where having an application taking all the screen is the norm. For devices like kiosks, vending machines etc. this kind of UI can be a great selling point. I don’t need a new tablet (to be honest I’m pretty happy with my wife’s iPad and with my PC), but I may change my opinion after having a chance to play a little bit with those new devices and understand what’s hidden under all this mysterious and generic announcements and specifications!

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• Social Engagement: One Size Doesn't Fit Anyone

  - by Mike Stiles

  The key to achieving meaningful social engagement is to know who you’re talking to, know what they like, and consistently deliver that kind of material to them. Every magazine for women knows this. When you read the article titles promoted on their covers, there’s no mistaking for whom that magazine is intended. And yet, confusion still reigns at many brands as to exactly whom they want to talk to, what those people want to hear, and what kind of content they should be creating for them. In most instances, the root problem is brands want to be all things to all people. Their target audience…the world! Good luck with that. It’s 2012, the age of aggregation and custom content delivery. To cope with the modern day barrage of information, people have constructed technological filters so that content they regard as being “for them” is mostly what gets through. Even if your brand is for men and women, young and old, you may want to consider social properties that divide men from women, and young from old. Yes, a man might find something in a women’s magazine that interests him. But that doesn’t mean he’s going to subscribe to it, or buy even one issue. In fact he’ll probably never see the article he’d otherwise be interested in, because in his mind, “This isn’t for me.” It wasn’t packaged for him. News Flash: men and women are different. So it’s a tall order to craft your Facebook Page or Twitter handle to simultaneously exude the motivators for both. The Harris Interactive study “2012 Connecting and Communicating Online: State of Social Media” sheds light on the differing social behaviors and drivers. -65% of women (vs. 59% of men) stay glued to social because they don’t want to miss anything. -25% of women check social when they wake up, before they check email. Only 18% of men check social before e-mail. -95% of women surveyed belong to Facebook vs. 86% of men. -67% of women log in to Facebook once a day or more vs. 54% of men. -Conventional wisdom is Pinterest is mostly a woman-thing, right? That may be true for viewing, but not true for sharing. Men are actually more likely to share on Pinterest than women, 23% to 10%. -The sharing divide extends to YouTube. 68% of women use it mainly for consumption, as opposed to 52% of men. -Women are as likely to have a Twitter account as men, but they’re much less likely to check it often. 54% of women check it once a week compared to 2/3 of men. Obviously, there are some takeaways from this depending on your target. Women don’t want to miss out on anything, so serialized content might be a good idea, right? Promotional posts that lead to a big payoff could keep them hooked. Posts for women might be better served first thing in the morning. If sharing is your goal, maybe male-targeted content is more likely to get those desired shares. And maybe Twitter is a better place to aim your male-targeted content than Facebook. Some grocery stores started experimenting with male-only aisles. The results have been impressive. Why? Because while it’s true men were finding those same items in the store just fine before, now something has been created just for them. They have a place in the store where they belong. Each brand’s strategy and targets are going to differ. The point is…know who you’re talking to, know how they behave, know what they like, and deliver content using any number of social relationship management targeting tools that meets their expectations. If, however, you’re committed to a one-size-fits-all, “our content is for everybody” strategy (or even worse, a “this is what we want to put out and we expect everybody to love it” strategy), your content will miss the mark for more often than it hits. @mikestilesPhoto via stock.schng

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• Windows Phone 8 Announcement

  - by Tim Murphy

  As if the Surface announcement on Monday wasn’t exciting enough, today Microsoft announce that Windows Phone 8 will be coming this fall.  That itself is great news, but the features coming were like confetti flying in all different directions.  Given this speed I couldn’t capture every feature they covered.  A summary of what I did capture is listed below starting with their eight main features. Common Core The first thing that they covered is that Windows Phone 8 will share a core OS with Windows 8.  It will also run natively on multiple cores.  They mentioned that they have run it on up to 64 cores to this point.  The phones as you might expect will at least start as dual core.  If you remember there were metrics saying that Windows Phone 7 performed operations faster on a single core than other platforms did with dual cores.  The metrics they showed here indicate that Windows Phone 8 runs faster on comparable dual core hardware than other platforms. New Screen Resolutions Screen resolution has never been an issue for me, but it has been a criticism of Windows Phone 7 in the media.  Windows Phone 8 will supports three screen resolutions: WVGA 800 x 480, WXGA 1280 x 768, and 720 1280x720.  Hopefully this makes pixel counters a little happier. MicroSD Support This was one of my pet peeves when I got my Samsung Focus. With Windows Phone 8 the operating system will support adding MicroSD cards after initial setup.  Of course this is dependent on the hardware company on implementing it, but I think we have seen that even feature phone manufacturers have not had a problem supporting this in the past. NFC NFC has been an anticipated feature for some time.  What Microsoft showed today included the fact that they didn’t just want it to be for the phone.  There is cross platform NFC functionality between Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8.  The demos , while possibly a bit fanciful, showed would could be achieved even in a retail environment.  We are getting closer and closer to a Minority Report world with these technologies. Wallet Windows Phone 8 isn’t the first platform to have a wallet concept.  What they have done to differentiate themselves is to make it sot that it is not dependent on a SIM type chip like other platforms.  They have also expanded the concept beyond just banks to other types of credits such as airline miles. Nokia Mapping People have been envious of the Lumia phones having the Nokia mapping software.  Now all Windows Phone 8 devices will use NavTeq data and will have the capability to run in an offline fashion.  This is a major step forward from the Bing “touch for the next turn” maps. IT Administration The lack of features for enterprise administration and deployment was a complaint even before the Windows Phone 7 was released.  With the Windows Phone 8 release such features as Bitlocker and Secure boot will be baked into the OS. We will also have the ability to privately sign and distribute applications. Changing Start Screen Joe Belfiore made a big deal about this aspect of the new release.  Users will have more color themes available to them and the live tiles will be highly customizable. You will have the ability to resize and organize the tiles in a more dynamic way.  This allows for less important tiles or ones with less information to be made smaller.  And There Is More So what other tidbits came out of the presentation?  Later this summer the API for WP8 will be available.  There will be developer events coming to a city near you.  Another announcement of interest to developers is the ability to write applications at a native code level.  This is a boon for game developers and those who need highly efficient applications. As a topper on the cake there was mention of in app payment. On the consumer side we also found out that all updates will be available over the air.  Along with this came the fact that Microsoft will support all devices with updates for at least 18 month and you will be able to subscribe for early updates.  Update coming for Windows Phone 7.5 customers to WP7.8.  The main enhancement will be the new live tile features.  The big bonus is that the update will bypass the carriers.  I would assume though that you will be brought up to date with all previous patches that your carrier may not have released. There is so much more, but that is enough for one post.  Needless to say, EXCITING! del.icio.us Tags: Windows Phone 8,WP8,Windows Phone 7,WP7,Announcements,Microsoft

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• Are IE9 really good ?

  - by anirudha

  IE9 started a campaign for kill IE6 from the core because they know that IE6 is a big trouble or  problem for them for promote 9 version of IE. so they started a campaign for killing IE6. next time they kill IE 7 , 8,9 whenever they found this old version have a big problem for them to promote next version of IE.   Why they not make a update system who automatically update the browser and tell user to restart and update goes installed in the user system. well IE9 should learn from all other that they have very well design auto-update system who never give user in trouble that your browser goes old. Chrome and Firefox both update themselves and say user restart to enjoy another good version. in IE6 a big problem is that updates. no one sure that they installed new version of IE6 without any hassles and update goes install without any problem because they really know or care about “you need this to install this and this for this” so they thing “why I update IE whenever I am unsure that my browser goes update and I have no problem again” so they do nothing because their work done with no problem because common person used high profile application who work even in IE6. so they do nothing.    IE6 countdown website have designed a banner for warn or force user to upgrade to next version of IE. well there is no good reason for put the banner on website some of reason are:-   Windows 7 comes with pre-installed IE8 and Vista comes with upgrade version them IE6 so that is sure that you force a user who have Windows XP [luna] and if they want to upgrade IE then they can get IE8 not version 9 because IE9 is design for Windows 7 or Vista Service pack 2. so What is the use of update when user still have a outdate version too because IE8 is old version and not have any capability of HTML5 so forcing user by using the banner have no sense. I am not know why they all listed on website put the banner on their own website. it’s good that you offer user what they want instead of giving them a outdate version of IE again. My means to give a user list of browser they can try to enhance their browser experience instead of only IE.   IE9 build upon WPF and they spent more time on using WPF in IE instead of making user experience browser.  many thing is designed wrongly in IE first thing is tabs. the tabs in chrome are bigger and easily to move and same in Firefox even not have smooth tabbing. IE have same tabbing as chrome have but leak a point that it’s too small. if you really  want to move then sometime they create a problem that they going elsewhere from the current instance of IE.   Chrome have a big buttons, tabs and menu to enhance browser experience and Firefox have a good feature that you can make them bigger or small. you can put the icon for add-ons on the toolbar for easily use but IE have no relation with customization so we never can thinking about that.   When chrome provide lot’s of extensions and a  webstore for browser application and same feature in Firefox can be seen then there is no plugin in IE. really you can see their IE addons Website where no plugin listed for web development. even in the category or tag. as a response from many blog there is new for developer that new version of IE9 developer tool. well IE9 have three new tabs a blogger tell on their blog. when I trying them I found many thing but I still unable to edit the Css from the HTML tab and no plugin I found I can get to enhance IE9 web development. something more other provide never IE9 give me like personas , customization , browser extension or any other they used to tell a small thing customization  .   IE9 still have some problem with JavaScript that when I use Firefox and chrome and logout in both then my cookie is deleted but in IE it’s not done. it’s show me that IE9 still have different from other not for good thing even some bad thing too. When I trying to read a article that is written in Hindi using Unicode font I found that they show many thing misspelled. there is three Sha in Hindi but they all goes wrong in IE. the misprint thing is not that the writing  for the articles goes wrong. it’s problem or browser to rendering a font. the Firefox and chrome not give me this problem even opera render the font in italic style by decrease the font-size but all those work perfect.   in Pwn2Own the apple’s safari  and IE9 both are hacked. this is a awesome news for whose who thing that  open-source is lose in  Security and close-source is highly-secured software. well this is not a good parameter for talking about software. it’s should depend how much application tested and used. because more testing and more use of application make them better.   I  appreciate IE to making their new version 9 and good luck for them. there is a another matter that I personally found nothing on them.

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• Waiting for Windows 8: A Long, Hot Summer

  - by andrewbrust

  Microsoft has revealed some things about Windows 8, and revealed a part of the developer story for new Windows 8 “tailored,” “immersive” applications.  In retrospect, very little was shared.  The bit that was revealed to us is that those applications can be developed using a combination of HTML 5 and JavaScript.  Not much else was said, except that additional details would be revealed at Microsoft’s //Build/ conference in Anaheim, California in September. This has left a lot of people in suspense, and it seems that suspended state is going to last all summer.  The problem, of course, is that in the absence of hard information, people fill the void with Speculation, Rumor and Gloom.  That’s a bit like Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt, except that it’s self-imposed by the Microsoft community and not planted by Microsoft’s competitors. This is a less-than-perfect situation.  Not only is it causing developers to worry about the value of their skill sets, but I am already hearing from consulting shops that customers are getting nervous too and, in extreme cases, opting for non-Microsoft tools for their projects as a result.  I’m also hearing from dev tool ISVs that sales have suffered as a result. It’s quite possible that the customers moving off .NET wanted to do so anyway and it’s also possible that dev tool ISVs are suffering slower sales this year due a slowed rate of economic recovery. Without hard information, tend to people interpret things negatively.  Actually, that’s the major point in all of this. While there is multitude of opinions about what the Windows 8 development platform will look like once fully revealed, there is an emerging consensus around one thing: it sure would help if Microsoft revealed more of its strategy…just enough to quash absurd rumors, stabilize the .NET ecosystem and get people to stay calm. We’ve had some reassurances thus far: there will be a Windows desktop mode; we’ll still have Windows Explorer, we’ll still run Office, we’ll still have a task bar, and all the skills and tools we use now will still work there.  But with reassurances like that…people still feel insecure.  Because telling us that Windows 8 will have what is essentially a “classic” mode sure makes it sound like today’s skill sets will soon be “classic” too…and then maybe they’ll just become obsolete. Humans find change scary; it’s natural.  And when left alone with their fears – because no one is saying anything to dispel them – people can go from frightened to paranoid, and can start to viewing things in a downright conspiratorial light.  It would be great if Microsoft stepped into the void now and told us what is coming – especially because whatever they tell us is bound to be at least a little better than what people think they are going to hear. I don’t know what the announcements will be, but I do have it on authority, from a number of sources, that Microsoft isn’t gong to talk until //Build/.  That means no news until September September 13th.  Nothing until after Labor Day.  You get zippo until after the Back-to-School sales are done. What to do?  Try not to let the dark voices of gloom and doom fill your head.  Even in the absence of answers, we still have some important facts: The .NET developer community is huge. Microsoft’s customers have major investments in .NET, and in .NET skills. Political infighting in Redmond might make for irrational decisions, but ultimately public companies can’t just alienate their advocates and piss off their customers.  Spite doesn’t trump fiduciary responsibility. The computing device markets are changing, software is changing, software business models are changing and developers are changing.  Microsoft has to keep up. The HTML + JavaScript community is huge too, and it includes many of the “changed” developers. Public companies can’t ignore new markets nor the popular standards that can help them enter those new markets.  Loyalty doesn’t trump fiduciary responsibility either. If Microsoft can appeal to new developers, then it should. If Microsoft can keep catering to its existing developers and customers -- not just through legacy support, but also through empowering futures -- then it probably will. You don’t have to shove your old friends out into the rain to make room for new ones; you can bring those new constituents in under a bigger tent.  I hope Microsoft will enlarge the tent, and I have trouble imagining why it would not.

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• Eloqua Experience 2013: Mystique, Modern Marketing and Masterful Engagement

  - by Mike Stiles

  The following is a guest post from Erick Mott, a social business leader at Oracle Eloqua. There’s a growing gap between 20th century marketing and a modern marketing way of doing business. I can’t think of a better example of modern marketing in action than what more than 2,000 people experienced in San Francisco at #EE13; customer-obsession, multichannel content, and real-time engagement all coming together at one extraordinary event. This was my first Eloqua Experience as a new Oracle Eloqua employee. In weeks prior, I heard about the mystique but didn’t know what to expect. What I’ve come to understand with more clarity is everything we do revolves around customer success, and we operate and educate at all times with these five tenets in mind: 1. Targeting: Really Know Your Buyer 2. Engagement: Create a 1:1 Relationship 3. Conversion: Visualize Guided Thinking 4. Analysis: Learn What’s Working 5. Marketing Technology: Enable and Extend the Cloud Product News from Eloqua Experience 2013 We made some announcements that John Stetic, VP of Products, Oracle Eloqua covers in this brief ‘Modern Marketing Minute’ video recorded after Wednesday’s keynote; summarized below, too: Oracle Eloqua AdFocus: While understanding the impact of a specific marketing channel was formerly relegated to marketers’ wish lists, the channels we now focus on are digital, social, and mobile. AdFocus gives marketers a single platform to dynamically create, manage and measure display ads alongside owned and earned media. AdFocus enables marketers to target only key accounts or prospects you want to reach with display ads, as well as provide creative content or personalized ad copy based on their persona and activities. Oracle Eloqua Profiler: The details of what we now know about customers have expanded into a universal customer profile, which can be used to create highly targeted segments. Marketers now can take data that’s not even stored in Eloqua to help targeted and score prospects for a complete, multichannel view of the customer. Profiler gives sales reps one, detailed view of the prospect to extend views beyond Oracle Eloqua asset activity (emails, forms, page views) to any external assets stored in Oracle Eloqua. Marketing Resource Management: New capabilities create more secure and controlled access to marketing resources and data. New integrations provide greater insight into campaign resources and management through a central marketing calendar and simplify resource management. Integrated Sales and Marketing Funnel: An integrated sales and marketing funnel view gives marketing and sales users, cross-functional teams, and executive management a consistent and clear view of pipeline performance. It also quickly provides users with historical metrics across different time spans and conditions. Eloqua AppCloud: More than 20 new AppCloud partners have been added to the community, which now includes 100+ apps. Eloqua AppCloud now provides modern marketers with an even broader range of marketing applications that help expand and enrich sales and marketing efforts; easily accessible in the Topliners Community. Social Capabilities: Recent integration between Oracle Eloqua and Oracle Social Relationship Management (SRM) deliver a comprehensive, scalable and integrated modern marketing solution. New capabilities include better tracking of social activities for a more complete customer profile. Engage Facebook custom audiences with AdFocus to deliver ads and meaningful experiences through trusted social networks. Biggest and Best Eloqua Experience. There’s a lot of talk in the industry about the Marketing Cloud. At Oracle Eloqua, we have been on a mission of delivering the most advanced and integrated modern marketing technology on the planet. It’s not just a concept but reality with proven execution, as seen first-hand this week in San Francisco. In this video, Kevin Akeroyd, SVP of Oracle Eloqua, provides some highlights of what made this year’s Eloqua Experience, exceptional, including Steve Woods’ presentation about the journey of modern marketers and Andrea Ward’s conversation with Vince Gilligan, creator of the Breaking Bad television series. The 2013 Markie Awards The Oracle Eloqua Marketing Cloud was best exemplified for me as 19 Markies were awarded to customers for their exceptional creativity and results as modern marketers. Wow, what a night to remember with so many committed and talented people working to create an extraordinary experience! To learn more about how to become a modern marketer, check out these resources. We look forward to seeing you next year at Eloqua Experience. More on Erick: 20 years experience at Oracle, Ektron, Sitecore, Lyris, Habeas, Nokia, creatorbase, Mark Monitor, Cisco Systems, GlobalFluency, Sun Microsystems, Philips NV, Elm Products and CBS TV. Patent holder with agency, Fortune 500, media, and startup company expertise. @mikestiles

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• Tip #19 Module Private Visibility in OSGi

  - by ByronNevins

  I hate public and protected methods and classes.  It requires so much work to change them in a huge project like GlassFish.  Not to mention that you may well have to support those APIs forever.  They are highly overused in GlassFish.  In fact I'd bet that > 95% of classes are marked as public for no good reason.  It's just (bad) habit is my guess. private and default visibility (I call it package-private) is easier to maintain.  It is much much easier to change such classes and methods around.  If you have ANY public method or public class in GlassFish you'll need to grep through a tremendous amount of source code to find all callers.  But even that won't be theoretically reliable.  What if a caller is using reflection to access public methods?  You may never find such usages. If you have package private methods, it's easy.  Simply grep through all the code in that one package.  As long as that package compiles ok you're all set.  There can' be any compile errors anywhere else.  It's a waste of time to even look around or build the "outside" world.  So you may be thinking: "Aha!  I'll just make my module have one giant package with all the java files.  Then I can use the default visibility and maintenance will be much easier.  But there's a problem.  You are wasting a very nice feature of java -- organizing code into separate packages.  It also makes the code much more encapsulated.  Unfortunately to share code between the packages you have no choice but to declare public visibility. What happens in practice is that a module ends up having tons of public classes and methods that are used exclusively inside the module.  Which finally brings me to the point of this blog:  If Only There Was A Module-Private Visibility Available Well, surprise!  There is such a mechanism.  If your project is running under OSGi that is.  Like GlassFish does!  With this mechanism you can easily add another level of visibility by telling OSGi exactly which public you want to be exposed outside of the module.  You get the best of both worlds: Better encapsulation of your code so that maintenance is easier and productivity is increased. Usage of public visibility inside the module so that you can encapsulate intra-module better with packages. How I do this in GlassFish: Carefully plan out at least one package that will contain "true" publics.  This is the package that will be exported by OSGi.  I recommend just one package. Here is how to tell OSGi to use it in GlassFish -- edit osgi.bundle like so:-exportcontents:     org.glassfish.mymodule.truepublics;  version=${project.osgi.version} Now all publics declared in any other packages will be visible module-wide but not outside the module. There is one caveat: Accessing "module-private" items outside of the module is controlled at run-time, not compile-time.  The compiler has no clue that a public in a dependent module isn't really public.  it will happily compile it.  At runtime you will definitely see fireworks.  The good news is that you don't have to wait for the code path that tries to use the "module-private" items to fire.  OSGi will complain loudly when that module gets loaded.  OSGi will refuse to load it.  You will see an error like this: remote failure: Error while loading FOO: Exception while adding the new configuration : Error occurred during deployment: Exception while loading the app : org.osgi.framework.BundleException: Unresolved constraint in bundle com.oracle.glassfish.miscreant.code [115]: Unable to resolve 115.0: missing requirement [115.0] osgi.wiring.package; (osgi.wiring.package=org.glassfish.mymodule.unexported). Please see server.log for more details. That is if you accidentally change code in module B to use a public that is really a "module-private" in module A, then you will see the error immediately when you try to test whatever you were changing in module B.

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• Redirect Google crawler to different robots.txt via .htaccess

  - by user3474818

  I have googled for the answer all day and still couldn't find an answer. I have a virtual subdomain www.static.example.com which is a mirror site of www.example.com. It means I have just one root folder for subdomain and domain aswell. I want to redirect crawlers to different robots.txt file - robots_static.txt when they see .static in url in which I will forbid indexing via /disallow command. I want to do this because I have duplicated content in Google search results. Subdomain is showing the exact same content as the main domain. Does anyone know how could I achieve that crawlers sees robots_static.txt instead of robots.txt? What I have managed to find so far is this: RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.static.*$ [NC] RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,9}\ /.*robots\.txt.*\ HTTP/ [NC] RewriteRule ^robots\.txt /robots_static.txt [NC,L] but when I check in webmaster tools, it still sees robots.txt as my robots file instead of robots_static.txt, so it crawls and index everything twice. What did I do wrong? Thanks EDIT: This is my .htaccess file ## # @package Joomla # @copyright Copyright (C) 2005 - 2013 Open Source Matters. All rights reserved. # @license GNU General Public License version 2 or later; see LICENSE.txt ## ## # READ THIS COMPLETELY IF YOU CHOOSE TO USE THIS FILE! # # The line just below this section: 'Options +FollowSymLinks' may cause problems # with some server configurations. It is required for use of mod_rewrite, but may already # be set by your server administrator in a way that dissallows changing it in # your .htaccess file. If using it causes your server to error out, comment it out (add # to # beginning of line), reload your site in your browser and test your sef url's. If they work, # it has been set by your server administrator and you do not need it set here. ## ## Can be commented out if causes errors, see notes above. Options +FollowSymLinks ## Mod_rewrite in use. RewriteEngine On RewriteEngine On RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\. RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.%{HTTP_HOST}/$1 [R=301,L] RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.static.*$ [NC] RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,9}\ /.*robots\.txt.*\ HTTP/ [NC] RewriteRule ^robots\.txt /robots_static.txt [NC,L] ## Begin - Rewrite rules to block out some common exploits. # If you experience problems on your site block out the operations listed below # This attempts to block the most common type of exploit `attempts` to Joomla! # # Block out any script trying to base64_encode data within the URL. RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} base64_encode[^(]*\([^)]*\) [OR] # Block out any script that includes a <script> tag in URL. RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} (<|%3C)([^s]*s)+cript.*(>|%3E) [NC,OR] # Block out any script trying to set a PHP GLOBALS variable via URL. RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} GLOBALS(=|\[|\%[0-9A-Z]{0,2}) [OR] # Block out any script trying to modify a _REQUEST variable via URL. RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} _REQUEST(=|\[|\%[0-9A-Z]{0,2}) # Return 403 Forbidden header and show the content of the root homepage RewriteRule .* index.php [F] # ## End - Rewrite rules to block out some common exploits. ## Begin - Custom redirects # # If you need to redirect some pages, or set a canonical non-www to # www redirect (or vice versa), place that code here. Ensure those # redirects use the correct RewriteRule syntax and the [R=301,L] flags. # ## End - Custom redirects ## # Uncomment following line if your webserver's URL # is not directly related to physical file paths. # Update Your Joomla! Directory (just / for root). ## # RewriteBase / RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^GET.*index\.php [NC] RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} !/system/.* RewriteRule (.*?)index\.php/*(.*) /$1$2 [R=301,L] RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^GET ## Begin - Joomla! core SEF Section. # RewriteRule .* - [E=HTTP_AUTHORIZATION:%{HTTP:Authorization}] # # If the requested path and file is not /index.php and the request # has not already been internally rewritten to the index.php script RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/index\.php # and the request is for something within the component folder, # or for the site root, or for an extensionless URL, or the # requested URL ends with one of the listed extensions RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} /component/|(/[^.]*|\.(php|html?|feed|pdf|vcf|raw))$ [NC] # and the requested path and file doesn't directly match a physical file RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f # and the requested path and file doesn't directly match a physical folder RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d # internally rewrite the request to the index.php script RewriteRule .* index.php [L] # ## End - Joomla! core SEF Section. <FilesMatch "\.(ico|pdf|flv|jpg|ttf|jpg|jpeg|png|gif|js|css|swf)$"> Header set Expires "Wed, 15 Apr 2020 20:00:00 GMT" Header set Cache-Control "public" </FilesMatch> <ifModule mod_headers.c> Header set Connection keep-alive </ifModule> ########## Begin - Remove Etags # FileETag none # ########## End - Remove Etags

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• What Counts for A DBA: Observant

  - by drsql

  When walking up to the building where I work, I can see CCTV cameras placed here and there for monitoring access to the building. We are required to wear authorization badges which could be checked at any time. Do we have enemies?  Of course! No one is 100% safe; even if your life is a fairy tale, there is always a witch with an apple waiting to snack you into a thousand years of slumber (or at least so I recollect from elementary school.) Even Little Bo Peep had to keep a wary lookout.    We nerdy types (or maybe it was just me?) generally learned on the school playground to keep an eye open for unprovoked attack from simpler, but more muscular souls, and take steps to avoid messy confrontations well in advance. After we’d apprehensively negotiated adulthood with varying degrees of success, these skills of watching for danger, and avoiding it,  translated quite well to the technical careers so many of us were destined for. And nowhere else is this talent for watching out for irrational malevolence so appropriate as in a career as a production DBA.   It isn’t always active malevolence that the DBA needs to watch out for, but the even scarier quirks of common humanity.  A large number of the issues that occur in the enterprise happen just randomly or even just one time ever in a spurious manner, like in the case where a person decided to download the entire MSDN library of software, cross join every non-indexed billion row table together, and simultaneously stream the HD feed of 5 different sporting events, making the network access slow while the corporate online sales just started. The decent DBA team, like the going, gets tough under such circumstances. They spring into action, checking all of the sources of active information, observes the issue is no longer happening now, figures that either it wasn’t the database’s fault and that the reboot of the whatever device on the network fixed the problem.  This sort of reactive support is good, and will be the initial reaction of even excellent DBAs, but it is not the end of the story if you really want to know what happened and avoid getting called again when it isn’t even your fault.   When fires start raging within the corporate software forest, the DBA’s instinct is to actively find a way to douse the flames and get back to having no one in the company have any idea who they are.  Even better for them is to find a way of killing a potential problem while the fires are small, long before they can be classified as raging. The observant DBA will have already been monitoring the server environment for months in advance.  Most troubles, such as disk space and security intrusions, can be predicted and dealt with by alerting systems, whereas other trouble can come out of the blue and requires a skill of observing ongoing conditions and noticing inexplicable changes that could signal an emerging problem.  You can’t automate the DBA, because the bankable skill of a DBA is in detecting the early signs of unexpected problems, and working out how to deal with them before anyone else notices them.    To achieve this, the DBA will check the situation as it is currently happening,  and in many cases is likely to have been the person who submitted the problem to the level 1 support person in the first place, just to let the support team know of impending issues (always well received, I tell you what!). Database and host computer settings, configurations, and even critical data might be profiled and captured for later comparisons. He’ll use Monitoring tools, built-in, commercial (Not to be too crassly commercial or anything, but there is one such tool is SQL Monitor) and lots of homebrew monitoring tools to monitor for problems and changes in the server environment.   You will know that you have it right when a support call comes in and you can look at your monitoring tools and quickly respond that “response time is well within the normal range, the query that supports the failing interface works perfectly and has actually only been called 67% as often as normal, so I am more than willing to help diagnose the problem, but it isn’t the database server’s fault and is probably a client or networking slowdown causing the interface to be used less frequently than normal.” And that is the best thing for any DBA to observe…

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• IE9, LightSwitch Beta 2 and Zune HD: A Study in Risk Management?

  - by andrewbrust

  Photo by parl, 'Risk.’ Under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License This has been a busy week for Microsoft, and for me as well.  On Monday, Microsoft launched Internet Explorer 9 at South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, TX.  That evening I flew from New York to Seattle.  On Tuesday morning, Microsoft launched Visual Studio LightSwitch, Beta 2 with a Go-Live license, in Redmond, and I had the privilege of speaking at the keynote presentation where the announcement was made.  Readers of this blog know I‘m a fan of LightSwitch, so I was happy to tell the app dev tools partners in the audience that I thought the LightSwitch extensions ecosystem represented a big opportunity – comparable to the opportunity when Visual Basic 1.0 was entering its final beta roughly 20 years ago.  On Tuesday evening, I flew back to New York (and wrote most of this post in-flight). Two busy, productive days.  But there was a caveat that impacts the accomplishments, because Monday was also the day reports surfaced from credible news agencies that Microsoft was discontinuing its dedicated Zune hardware efforts.  While the Zune brand, technology and service will continue to be a component of Windows Phone and a piece of the Xbox puzzle as well, speculation is that Microsoft will no longer be going toe-to-toe with iPod touch in the portable music player market. If we take all three of these developments together (even if one of them is based on speculation), two interesting conclusions can reasonably be drawn, one good and one less so. Microsoft is doubling down on technologies it finds strategic and de-emphasizing those that it does not.  HTML 5 and the Web are strategic, so here comes IE9, and it’s a very good browser.  Try it and see.  Silverlight is strategic too, as is SQL Server, Windows Azure and SQL Azure, so here comes Visual Studio LightSwitch Beta 2 and a license to deploy its apps to production.  Downloads of that product have exceeded Microsoft’s projections by more than 50%, and the company is even citing analyst firms’ figures covering the number of power-user developers that might use it. (I happen to think the product will be used by full-fledged developers as well, but that’s a separate discussion.) Windows Phone is strategic too…I wasn’t 100% positive of that before, but the Nokia agreement has made me confident.  Xbox as an entertainment appliance is also strategic.  Standalone music players are not strategic – and even if they were, selling them has been a losing battle for Microsoft.  So if Microsoft has consolidated the Zune content story and the ZunePass subscription into Xbox and Windows Phone, it would make sense, and would be a smart allocation of resources.  Essentially, it would be for the greater good. But it’s not all good.  In this scenario, Zune player customers would lose out.  Unless they wanted to switch to Windows Phone, and then use their phone’s battery for the portable media needs, they’re going to need a new platform.  They’re going to feel abandoned.  Even if Zune lives, there have been other such cul de sacs for customers.  Remember SPOT watches?  Live Spaces?  The original Live Mesh?  Microsoft discontinued each of these products.  The company is to be commended for cutting its losses, as admitting a loss isn’t easy.  But Redmond won’t be well-regarded by the victims of those decisions.  Instead, it gets black marks. What’s the answer?  I think it’s a bit like the 1980’s New York City “don’t block the box” gridlock rules: don’t enter an intersection unless you see a clear path through it.  If the light turns red and you’re blocking the perpendicular traffic, that’s your fault in judgment.  You get fined and get points on your license and you don’t get to shrug it off as beyond your control.  Accountability is key.  The same goes for Microsoft.  If it decides to enter a market, it should see a reasonable path through success in that market. Switching analogies, Microsoft shouldn’t make investments haphazardly, and it certainly shouldn’t ask investors to buy into a high-risk fund that is sold as safe and which offers only moderate returns.  People won’t continue to invest with a fund manager with a track record of over-zealous, imprudent, sub-prime investments.  The same is true on the product side for Microsoft, and not just with music players and geeky wrist watches.  It’s true of Web browsers, and line-of-business app dev tools, and smartphones, and cloud platforms and operating systems too.  When Microsoft is casual about its own risk, it raises risk for its customers, and weakens its reputation, market share and credibility.  That doesn’t mean all risk is bad, but it does mean no product team’s risk should be taken lightly. For mutual fund companies, it’s the CEO’s job to give his fund managers autonomy, but to make sure they’re conforming to a standard of rational risk management.  Because all those funds carry the same brand, and many of them serve the same investors. The same goes for Microsoft, its product portfolio, its executive ranks and its product managers.

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• Windows 8/Surface Lunch Event Summary

  - by Tim Murphy

  Today was a big day for Microsoft with two separate launch event.  The first for Windows 8 and all of it’s hardware partners.  The second was specifically to introduce the Microsoft Windows 8 Surface tablet.  Below are some of the take-aways I got from the webcasts. Windows 8 Launch The three general area that Microsoft focused on were the release of the OS itself, the public unveiling of the Windows Store and the new devices available from its hardware partners. The release of the OS focused on the fact that it will be available at mid-night tonight for both new PCs and for upgrades.  I can’t say that this interested me that much since it was already known to most people.  I think what they did show well was how easy the OS really is to use. The Windows Store is also not a new feature to those of us who have been running the pre-release versions of Windows 8 or have owned Windows Phone 7 for the past 2 years.  What was interesting is that the Windows Store launches with more apps available than any other platforms store at their respective launch.  I think this says a lot about how Microsoft focuses on the ability of developers to create software and make it available.  The of course were sure to emphasize that the Windows Store has better monetary terms for developers than its competitors. The also showed off the fact that XBox Music streaming is available for to all Windows 8 user for free.  Couple this with the Bing suite of apps that give you news, weather, sports and finance right out of the box and I think most people will find the environment a joy to use. I think the hardware demo, while quick and furious, really show where Windows shine: CHOICE!  They made a statement that over 1000 devices have been certified for Windows 8.  They showed tablets, laptops, desktops, all-in-ones and convertibles.  Since these devices have industry standard connectors they give a much wider variety of accessories and devices that you can use with them. Steve Balmer then came on stage and tried to see how many times he could use the “magical”.  He focused on how the Windows 8 OS is designed to integrate with SkyDrive, Skype and Outlook.com.  He also enforced that they think Windows 8 is the best choice for the Enterprise when it comes to protecting data and integrating across devices including Windows Phone 8. With that we were left to wait for the second event of the day. Surface Launch The second event of the day started with kids with magnets.  Ok, they were adults, but who doesn’t like playing with magnets.  Steven Sinofsky detached and reattached the Surface keyboard repeatedly, clearly enjoying himself.  It turns out that there are 4 magnets in the cover, 2 for alignment and 2 as connectors. They then went to giving us the details on the display.  The 10.6” display is optically bonded to the case and is optimized to reduce glare.  I think this came through very well in the demonstrations. The properties of the case were also a great selling point.  The VaporMg allowed them to drop the device on stage, on purpose, and continue working.  Of course they had to bring out the skate boards made from Surface devices. “It just has to feel right” was the reason they gave for many of their design decisions from the weight and size of the device to the way the kickstand and camera work together.  While this gave you the feeling that the whole process was trial and error you could tell that a lot of science went into the specs.  This included making sure that the magnets were strong enough to hold the cover on and still have a 3 year old remove the cover without effort. I am glad that they also decided the a USB port would be part of the spec since it give so many options.  They made the point that this allows Surface to leverage over 420 million existing devices.  That works for me. The last feature that I really thought was important was the microSD port.  Begin stuck with the onboard memory has been an aggravation of mine with many of the devices in the market today. I think they did job of really getting the audience to understand why you want this platform and this particular device.  Using personal examples like creating a video of a birthday party and being in it or the fact that the device was being used to live blog the event and control the lights and presentation.  They showed very well that it was not only fun but very capable of getting real work done.  Handing out tablets to the crowd didn’t hurt either.  In the end I really wanted a Surface even though I really have no need for one on a daily basis.  Great job Microsoft! del.icio.us Tags: Windows 8,Win8,Windows 8 Luanch

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• State of the (Commerce) Union: What the healthcare.gov hiccups teach us about the commerce customer experience

  - by Katrina Gosek

  Guest Post by Brenna Johnson, Oracle Commerce Product A lot has been said about the healthcare.gov debacle in the last week. Regardless of your feelings about the Affordable Care Act, there’s a hidden issue in this story that most of the American people don’t understand: delivering a great commerce customer experience (CX) is hard. It shouldn’t be, but it is. The reality of the government’s issues getting the healthcare site up and running smooth is something we in the online commerce community know too well.  If there’s one thing the botched launch of the site has taught us, it’s that regardless of the size of your budget or the power of an executive with a high-profile project, some of the biggest initiatives with the most attention (and the most at stake) don’t go as planned. It may even give you a moment of solace – we have the same issues! But why?  Organizations engage too many separate vendors with different technologies, running sections or pieces of a site to get live. When things go wrong, it takes time to identify the problem – and who or what is at the center of it. Unfortunately, this is a brittle way of setting up a site, making it susceptible to breaks, bugs, and scaling issues. But, it’s the reality of running a site with legacy technology constraints in today’s demanding, customer-centric market. This approach also means there’s also a lot of cooks in lots of different kitchens. You’ve got development and IT, the business and the marketing team, an external Systems Integrator to bring it all together, a digital agency or consultant, QA, product experts, 3rd party suppliers, and the list goes on. To complicate things, different business units are held responsible for different pieces of the site and managing different technologies. And again – due to legacy organizational structure and processes, this is all accepted as the normal State of the Union. Digital commerce has been commonplace for 15 years. Yet, getting a site live, maintained and performing requires orchestrating a cast of thousands (or at least, dozens), big dollars, and some finger-crossing. But it shouldn’t. The great thing about the advent of mobile commerce and the continued maturity of online commerce is that it’s forced organizations to think from the outside, in. Consumers – whether they’re shopping for shoes or a new healthcare plan – don’t care about what technology issues or processes you have behind the scenes. They just want it to work.  They want their experience to be easy, fast, and tailored to them and their needs – whatever they are. This doesn’t sound like a tall order to the American consumer – especially since they interact with sites that do work smoothly.  But the reality is that it takes scores of people, teams, check-ins, late nights, testing, and some good luck to get sites to run, and even more so at Black Friday (or October 1st) traffic levels.  The last thing on a customer’s mind is making excuses for why they can’t buy a product – just get it to work. So what is the government doing? My guess is working day and night to get the site performing  - and having to throw big money at the problem. In the meantime they’re sending frustrated online users to the call center, or even a location where a trained “navigator” can help them in-person to complete their selection. Sounds a lot like multichannel commerce (where broken communication between siloed touchpoints will only frustrate the consumer more). One thing we’ve learned is that consumers spend their time and money with brands they know and trust. When sites are easy to use and adapt to their needs, they tend to spend more, come back, and even become long-time loyalists. Achieving this may require moving internal mountains, but there’s too much at stake to ignore the sea change in how organizations are thinking about their customer. If the thought of re-thinking your internal teams, technologies, and processes sounds like a headache, think about the pain associated with losing valuable customers – and dollars. Regardless if you’re in B2B or B2C, it’s guaranteed that your competitors are making CX a priority. Those early to the game who have made CX a priority have already begun to outpace their competition. So as you’re planning for 2014, look to the news this week. Make sure the customer experience is a focus at your organization. Expectations are at record highs. Map your customer’s journey, and think from the outside, in. How easy is it for your customers to do business with you? If they interact with many touchpoints across your organization, are the call center, website, mobile environment, or brick and mortar location in sync? Do you have the technology in place to achieve this? It’s time to give the people what they want!

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• If I were in a Silverlight focus group, here is ten things I would say.

  - by mbcrump

  Silverlight is a great product right off the shelf. I use it, love it and spend a lot of time helping the community understand it. This however, doesn’t mean that I don’t think that it can get better. If I were invited to a Microsoft Focus Group about Silverlight here is 10 things I would say:  We need more navigation templates. I’ve found (4) templates that Microsoft has released (Cosmo, Windows 7, Accent and JetPack). This number needs to be around 16. In order to get more people developing for Silverlight, we need to give them a variety of templates to get them off the ground quickly. Silverlight needs to ship with the next version of Windows. At least version 4 needs to be pre-installed on Windows going forward. It’s small, in its own sandbox and I cannot find a reason for it not to be included. Silverlight needs to run on more platforms.  iOS and Android are the key here. I think Microsoft should shoot for Android first since I believe Android will take the lead in the mobile market (at least for the short-term). It would also be great to see Microsoft use Silverlight as the focus on their new tablets / “AppleTV”. I would even invest in getting it working with Kinect. When creating a new project in Silverlight, we should have the option to create a Unit Test. Most Silverlight developers are not unit testing. If this is surprising to you then you need to get out and talk to more developers. I partially blame this on Microsoft. When you create a new ASP.NET MVC application, you simply put a check to create a Unit Test project. We need the same thing for Silverlight. We should steer the developer into the right direction. Design patterns such as MVVM need to be easier to implement in Silverlight solutions.  I’d go so far as to say that MVVM Light should ship with Visual Studio. With the project / item templates and code snippets, Laurent puts you into the right direction. This is the way that it should have been. Easy for the 9-5 developer to grasp. I believe the majority of developers use code behind because that’s what is in all the demos provided by Microsoft. They are not trying to write sucky code it is that they simply don’t know a better way.  The XAP Files should be obfuscated/unused references deleted by default when in “Release” mode. A better Silverlight experience starts with a smaller XAP file. The less that a user has to download is the better, even with the majority of people on broadband. I would also recommend built-in obfuscation by Microsoft. People are paranoid that they can rename the .zip and run it through reflector. Get rid of the boring install experiences. Here is a great write up on what I’m talking about. The default “Install Silverlight” and “Loading screens” suck. They suck bad. We need a choice of templates that a professional designer has created.  Silverlight needs to supports more image formats. For example: it would be great to use .gif’s without converting them to .png.    Switching between Blend 4 and VS2010 to develop a Silverlight application is a pain. Probably one of the biggest issues that I can’t think of a good solution for. It would be nice if VS2012 had the best of both worlds and you never have to leave VS. We need reporting controls with SSRS included with the Silverlight Toolkit. I can’t think of another control that we need built into the toolkit. It would also be helpful to have export to .xls, .pdf and .doc included with the control. I hope that this post will at least get a few people talking. Who knows, Microsoft could be working on these things right now. Thanks for reading!  Subscribe to my feed CodeProject

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• Part 4 of 4 : Tips/Tricks for Silverlight Developers.

  - by mbcrump

  Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 I wanted to create a series of blog post that gets right to the point and is aimed specifically at Silverlight Developers. The most important things I want this series to answer is : What is it?  Why do I care? How do I do it? I hope that you enjoy this series. Let’s get started: Tip/Trick #16) What is it? Find out version information about Silverlight and which WebKit it is using by going to http://issilverlightinstalled.com/scriptverify/. Why do I care? I’ve had those users that its just easier to give them a site and say copy/paste the line that says User Agent in order to troubleshoot a Silverlight problem. I’ve also been debugging my own Silverlight applications and needed an easy way to determine if the plugin is disabled or not. How do I do it: Simply navigate to http://issilverlightinstalled.com/scriptverify/ and hit the Verify button. An example screenshot is located below: Results from Chrome 7 Results from Internet Explorer 8 (With Silverlight Disabled) Tip/Trick #17) What is it? Use Lambdas whenever you can. Why do I care?  It is my personal opinion that code is easier to read using Lambdas after you get past the syntax. How do I do it: For example: You may write code like the following: void MainPage_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) { //Check and see if we have a newer .XAP file on the server Application.Current.CheckAndDownloadUpdateAsync(); Application.Current.CheckAndDownloadUpdateCompleted += new CheckAndDownloadUpdateCompletedEventHandler(Current_CheckAndDownloadUpdateCompleted); } void Current_CheckAndDownloadUpdateCompleted(object sender, CheckAndDownloadUpdateCompletedEventArgs e) { if (e.UpdateAvailable) { MessageBox.Show( "An update has been installed. To see the updates please exit and restart the application"); } } To me this style forces me to look for the other Method to see what the code is actually doing. The style located below is much easier to read in my opinion and does the exact same thing. void MainPage_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) { //Check and see if we have a newer .XAP file on the server Application.Current.CheckAndDownloadUpdateAsync(); Application.Current.CheckAndDownloadUpdateCompleted += (s, e) => { if (e.UpdateAvailable) { MessageBox.Show( "An update has been installed. To see the updates please exit and restart the application"); } }; } Tip/Trick #18) What is it? Prevent development Web Service references from breaking when Visual Studio auto generates a new port number. Why do I care?  We have all been there, we are developing a Silverlight Application and all of a sudden our development web services break. We check and find out that the local port number that Visual Studio assigned has changed and now we need up to update all of our service references. We need a way to stop this. How do I do it: This can actually be prevented with just a few mouse click. Right click on your web solution and goto properties. Click the tab that says, Web. You just need to click the radio button and specify a port number. Now you won’t be bothered with that anymore. Tip/Trick #19) What is it? You can disable the Close Button a ChildWindow. Why do I care?  I wouldn’t blog about it if I hadn’t seen it. Devs trying to override keystrokes to prevent users from closing a Child Window. How do I do it: A property exist on the ChildWindow called “HasCloseButton”, you simply change that to false and your close button is gone. You can delete the “Cancel” button and add some logic to the OK button if you want the user to respond before proceeding. Tip/Trick #20) What is it? Cleanup your XAML. Why do I care?  By removing unneeded namespaces, not naming all of your controls and getting rid of designer markup you can improve code quality and readability. How do I do it: (This is a 3 in one tip) Remove unused Designer markup: 1) Have you ever wondered what the following code snippet does? xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008" xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006" mc:Ignorable="d" d:DesignWidth="640" d:DesignHeight="480" This code is telling the designer to do something special with this page in “Design mode” Specifically the width and the height of the page. When its running in the browser it will not use this information and it is actually ignored by the XAML parser. In other words, if you don’t need it then delete it. 2) If you are not using a namespace then remove it. In the code sample below, I am using Resharper which will tell me the ones that I’m not using by the grayed out line below. If you don’t have resharper you can look in your XAML and manually remove the unneeded namespaces. 3) Don’t name an control unless you actually need to refer to it in procedural code. If you name a control you will take a slight performance hit that is totally unnecessary if its not being called. <TextBlock Height="23" Text="TextBlock" />   That is the end of the series. I hope that you enjoyed it and please check out Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 if your hungry for more.  Subscribe to my feed CodeProject

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• Using Subjects to Deploy Queries Dynamically

  - by Roman Schindlauer

  In the previous blog posting, we showed how to construct and deploy query fragments to a StreamInsight server, and how to re-use them later. In today’s posting we’ll integrate this pattern into a method of dynamically composing a new query with an existing one. The construct that enables this scenario in StreamInsight V2.1 is a Subject. A Subject lets me create a junction element in an existing query that I can tap into while the query is running. To set this up as an end-to-end example, let’s first define a stream simulator as our data source: var generator = myApp.DefineObservable(     (TimeSpan t) => Observable.Interval(t).Select(_ => new SourcePayload())); This ‘generator’ produces a new instance of SourcePayload with a period of t (system time) as an IObservable. SourcePayload happens to have a property of type double as its payload data. Let’s also define a sink for our example—an IObserver of double values that writes to the console: var console = myApp.DefineObserver(     (string label) => Observer.Create<double>(e => Console.WriteLine("{0}: {1}", label, e)))     .Deploy("ConsoleSink"); The observer takes a string as parameter which is used as a label on the console, so that we can distinguish the output of different sink instances. Note that we also deploy this observer, so that we can retrieve it later from the server from a different process. Remember how we defined the aggregation as an IQStreamable function in the previous article? We will use that as well: var avg = myApp     .DefineStreamable((IQStreamable<SourcePayload> s, TimeSpan w) =>         from win in s.TumblingWindow(w)         select win.Avg(e => e.Value))     .Deploy("AverageQuery"); Then we define the Subject, which acts as an observable sequence as well as an observer. Thus, we can feed a single source into the Subject and have multiple consumers—that can come and go at runtime—on the other side: var subject = myApp.CreateSubject("Subject", () => new Subject<SourcePayload>()); Subject are always deployed automatically. Their name is used to retrieve them from a (potentially) different process (see below). Note that the Subject as we defined it here doesn’t know anything about temporal streams. It is merely a sequence of SourcePayloads, without any notion of StreamInsight point events or CTIs. So in order to compose a temporal query on top of the Subject, we need to 'promote' the sequence of SourcePayloads into an IQStreamable of point events, including CTIs: var stream = subject.ToPointStreamable(     e => PointEvent.CreateInsert<SourcePayload>(e.Timestamp, e),     AdvanceTimeSettings.StrictlyIncreasingStartTime); In a later posting we will show how to use Subjects that have more awareness of time and can be used as a junction between QStreamables instead of IQbservables. Having turned the Subject into a temporal stream, we can now define the aggregate on this stream. We will use the IQStreamable entity avg that we defined above: var longAverages = avg(stream, TimeSpan.FromSeconds(5)); In order to run the query, we need to bind it to a sink, and bind the subject to the source: var standardQuery = longAverages     .Bind(console("5sec average"))     .With(generator(TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(300)).Bind(subject)); Lastly, we start the process: standardQuery.Run("StandardProcess"); Now we have a simple query running end-to-end, producing results. What follows next is the crucial part of tapping into the Subject and adding another query that runs in parallel, using the same query definition (the “AverageQuery”) but with a different window length. We are assuming that we connected to the same StreamInsight server from a different process or even client, and thus have to retrieve the previously deployed entities through their names: // simulate the addition of a 'fast' query from a separate server connection, // by retrieving the aggregation query fragment // (instead of simply using the 'avg' object) var averageQuery = myApp     .GetStreamable<IQStreamable<SourcePayload>, TimeSpan, double>("AverageQuery"); // retrieve the input sequence as a subject var inputSequence = myApp     .GetSubject<SourcePayload, SourcePayload>("Subject"); // retrieve the registered sink var sink = myApp.GetObserver<string, double>("ConsoleSink"); // turn the sequence into a temporal stream var stream2 = inputSequence.ToPointStreamable(     e => PointEvent.CreateInsert<SourcePayload>(e.Timestamp, e),     AdvanceTimeSettings.StrictlyIncreasingStartTime); // apply the query, now with a different window length var shortAverages = averageQuery(stream2, TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1)); // bind new sink to query and run it var fastQuery = shortAverages     .Bind(sink("1sec average"))     .Run("FastProcess"); The attached solution demonstrates the sample end-to-end. Regards, The StreamInsight Team

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• C++ strongly typed typedef

  - by Kian

  I've been trying to think of a way of declaring strongly typed typedefs, to catch a certain class of bugs in the compilation stage. It's often the case that I'll typedef an int into several types of ids, or a vector to position or velocity: typedef int EntityID; typedef int ModelID; typedef Vector3 Position; typedef Vector3 Velocity; This can make the intent of code more clear, but after a long night of coding one might make silly mistakes like comparing different kinds of ids, or adding a position to a velocity perhaps. EntityID eID; ModelID mID; if ( eID == mID ) // <- Compiler sees nothing wrong { /*bug*/ } Position p; Velocity v; Position newP = p + v; // bug, meant p + v*s but compiler sees nothing wrong Unfortunately, suggestions I've found for strongly typed typedefs include using boost, which at least for me isn't a possibility (I do have c++11 at least). So after a bit of thinking, I came upon this idea, and wanted to run it by someone. First, you declare the base type as a template. The template parameter isn't used for anything in the definition, however: template < typename T > class IDType { unsigned int m_id; public: IDType( unsigned int const& i_id ): m_id {i_id} {}; friend bool operator==<T>( IDType<T> const& i_lhs, IDType<T> const& i_rhs ); }; Friend functions actually need to be forward declared before the class definition, which requires a forward declaration of the template class. We then define all the members for the base type, just remembering that it's a template class. Finally, when we want to use it, we typedef it as: class EntityT; typedef IDType<EntityT> EntityID; class ModelT; typedef IDType<ModelT> ModelID; The types are now entirely separate. Functions that take an EntityID will throw a compiler error if you try to feed them a ModelID instead, for example. Aside from having to declare the base types as templates, with the issues that entails, it's also fairly compact. I was hoping anyone had comments or critiques about this idea? One issue that came to mind while writing this, in the case of positions and velocities for example, would be that I can't convert between types as freely as before. Where before multiplying a vector by a scalar would give another vector, so I could do: typedef float Time; typedef Vector3 Position; typedef Vector3 Velocity; Time t = 1.0f; Position p = { 0.0f }; Velocity v = { 1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f }; Position newP = p + v*t; With my strongly typed typedef I'd have to tell the compiler that multypling a Velocity by a Time results in a Position. class TimeT; typedef Float<TimeT> Time; class PositionT; typedef Vector3<PositionT> Position; class VelocityT; typedef Vector3<VelocityT> Velocity; Time t = 1.0f; Position p = { 0.0f }; Velocity v = { 1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f }; Position newP = p + v*t; // Compiler error To solve this, I think I'd have to specialize every conversion explicitly, which can be kind of a bother. On the other hand, this limitation can help prevent other kinds of errors (say, multiplying a Velocity by a Distance, perhaps, which wouldn't make sense in this domain). So I'm torn, and wondering if people have any opinions on my original issue, or my approach to solving it.

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• ????????????????? Oracle Solaris ??? - Solaris 11 ????(??)

  - by kazun

  ???????????????? OS ????????????????????? 20 ??????????????????? Solaris?????????????????????? OS????????????????????????Solaris ???????????????????? ??????Oracle Solaris ??????????????6??????????????????Oracle Solaris ?????????????????????? [????????????] ?????(????????????? ???)?????(??????????????)?????(??????????????)?????(????????)???? ?(?????????????????)?????(???????????)(50??) Solaris????? ??: Solaris ??????????????????????????????????????Solaris ??Solaris ???????????????????????????? 10 ??? Solaris ?????????????????????? OS ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? OS ???? Solaris ?????? ??: Solaris ????????????????????????????OS?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ???: ??????????????????????? 15 ??????????????????????????????????????????? Solaris ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????5 ???10 ??????????????????????????? Solaris ???????????? ??: ??? Solaris ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? OS ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ??: ??????? OS ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????DTrace ????????????????????????????? Solaris ???????? ???: 1980 ?????Sun ???????OS???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?Solaris ????1988?????Sun ? AT&T ? System V Release 4.0 ?????????????Sun ????????? System V Release 4.0 ?????????? Unix OS ??? SunOS 5.0(?? 1992 ????????? Solaris 2.0)???????????????????? SMP ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????Solaris 2.0 ?????????????? OS ????????(?)???????????????????????????????? 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 ??????????? 2.0 ????????????????? ??: Solaris ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????OS?????????? ??: ????????????????????????? ???: ????????????????? OS ??????????? x86 ? SPARC ? 2 ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? CPU ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Solaris ??? ????? ?? Solaris 2.0 - 2.1 AT&T ? UNIX System V Release 4 ??????????????SMP/?????????????????API ????? SunOS 5.0 ????????Solaris 2.0 ????x86 ?? SPARC ?? Solaris 2.1 ?????????????????????????????? Solaris 2.2 - 2.4 - ???????? (SVR4 ??) - ???????????(2.5.1 ?? PowerPC ?????????) - 2.4 ?? x86 ?????????????????? Solaris 2.6?Solaris 7(2.7 ??????) 64 bit ??(Itanium ?????) Solaris 8 - 9 ?????????? Solaris 10 - 11 ??????????????????(OS ????????????????) Solaris??????? ??: ?????????????????????????????????????????Solaris ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ??: ?????????????????? OS ???????????Solaris 2.3 ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ???: ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? OS ????????????? Solaris ??????? ??: ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ??: ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????DTrace ?????????????????????????????????? ??: ????Solaris ? UNIX ????????????????????????????????????? OS ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Solaris ????????????????????????????????????????????????? OS ??????????????????? Solaris ???????? ??: ??????????????????????????1?? OS ?????????????? OS ??????????????????????????????????????Solaris ????? 1 ?? Solaris ??????????????????OS????????????????? ???: Legacy Container ????????????? Solaris(Solaris 8?Solaris 9) ???????????? ??: Solaris 10 ?????? SMF(Service Management Facility) ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ??: SMF?FMA (Fault Management Architecture)?????????????????????????????? Solaris ?????????????????????????? ???: ????????????????????????? ??: ?????????????????????1???????????????????????????????????????? Sun ??????????The Network Is The Computer???? ??: ??????Solaris 10 ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Solaris?????? ??: Solaris ?????????????????????Sun ?????????????(? 20 ??)??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????Sun ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????Sun ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ???: Solaris ????? SunOS ????????????????????????? OS ??????? ??: ??????????????????????????????Sun ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ??: 1990 ??????????????????? Solaris ???????? ???: ?????X Windows ???? Sun ??????????NeWS??????????????????????????????X Windows ??????????????????????????????????????? Sun ? Solaris ???????????????????????? ??: ???????Solaris ??????????????? OS ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ??: ????????????????????? Solaris ????????????ZFS ???????????????????????????????? ??: ????? OS ??????? Solaris ??????(???)??????????????? ???: Solaris ???????????????????? Solaris??????Solaris 2.0 ???? 2 ??? 1 ??????????????(?????????)??????Solaris ? 2 ??????????????????????????????????????? 2 ????????????????????????????2 ??? 1 ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ????OS???????????? ???: Solaris ?????? Solaris ????????????OS ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ??: ??????????????????????????????????????????????(?)?????????????????????????????????????????????15 ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ??: Solaris ??????? Solaris ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ??: ????????????????????????????????????????????????Solaris ??????????????????????????? ???: ??????????????Solaris ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Solaris ?????????? ??: Solaris ???????????????????????????????????????????????????? ??: ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ???: 1994 ?????????????????????????????????????? ??: ??????????????????????????Solaris ????????????????????????????????????? ???: ???????????????? ??: ???Solaris ?????? 2 ?????????????????????????????????????? Solaris ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????OS?????????????????????????????????????????????????????Solaris ???????????? ??????Oracle Solaris ????????????6??????????????????Oracle Solaris ??????????????????????

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• Openlayers - Redraw() layer. Add / Remove layer.

  - by Ozaki

  TLDR: I have an Openlayers map with a layer called 'track' I want to remove track and add track back in. I have an image 'imageFeature' on a layer that rotates on load to the direction being set. I want it to update this rotation that is set in 'styleMap' on a layer called 'tracking'. I set the var 'stylemap' to apply the external image & rotation. The 'imageFeature' is added to the layer at the coords specified. 'imageFeature' is removed. 'imageFeature' is added again in its new location. Rotation is not applied.. As the 'styleMap' applies to the layer I think that I have to remove the layer and add it again rather than just the 'imageFeature' Layer: var tracking = new OpenLayers.Layer.GML("Tracking", "coordinates.json", { format: OpenLayers.Format.GeoJSON, styleMap: styleMap }); styleMap: var styleMap = new OpenLayers.StyleMap({ fillOpacity: 1, pointRadius: 10, rotation: heading, }); Now wrapped in a timed function the imageFeature: map.layers[3].addFeatures(new OpenLayers.Feature.Vector( new OpenLayers.Geometry.Point(longitude, latitude), {rotation: heading, type: parseInt(Math.random() * 3)} )); Type refers to a lookup of 1 of 3 images.: styleMap.addUniqueValueRules("default", "type", lookup); var lookup = { 0: {externalGraphic: "Image1.png", rotation: heading}, 1: {externalGraphic: "Image2.png", rotation: heading}, 2: {externalGraphic: "Image3.png", rotation: heading} } I have tried the 'redraw()' function: but it returns "tracking is undefined" or "map.layers[2]" is undefined. tracking.redraw(true); map.layers[2].redraw(true); Heading is a variable: from a JSON feed. var heading = 13.542; But so far can't get anything to work it will only rotate the image onload. The image will move in coordinates as it should though. So what am I doing wrong with the redraw function or how can I get this image to rotate live? Thanks in advance -Ozaki Add: I managed to get map.layers[2].redraw(true); to sucessfully redraw layer 2. But it still does not update the rotation. I am thinking because the stylemap is updating. But it runs through the style map every n sec, but no updates to rotation and the variable for heading is updating correctly if i put a watch on it in firebug.

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• Deploying MVC2 application to IIS7.5 - Ninject asked to provide controllers for content files

  - by Rune Jacobsen

  I have an application that started life as an MVC (1.0) app in Visual Studio 2008 Sp1 with a bunch of Silverlight 3 projects as part of the site. Nothing fancy at all. Using Ninject for dependency injection (first version 2 beta, now the released version 2 with the MVC extensions). With the release of .Net 4.0, VS2010, MVC2 etc., we decided to move the application to the newest platform. The conversion wizard in VS2010 apparently took care of everything, with one exception - it didn't change references to mvc1 to now point to mvc2, so I had to do that manually. Of course, this makes me think about other MVC2 things that could be missing from my app, that would be there if I did File - New Project... But that is not the focus of this question. When I deploy this application to the IIS 7.5 server (running on Win2008 R2 x64), the application as such works. However, images, scripts and other static content doesn't seem to exist. Of course they are there on disk on the server, but they don't show up in the client web browser. I am fairly new to IIS, so the only trick I knew is to try to open the web page in a browser on the server, as that could give me more information. And here, finally, we meet our enemy. If I try to go directly to the URL of one of the images (http://server/Content/someimage.jpg for instance), I get the following error in the browser: The IControllerFactory 'Ninject.Web.Mvc.NinjectControllerFactory' did not return a controller for a controller named 'Content'. Aha. The web server tries to feed this request to MVC, who with its' default routing setup assumes Content to be a controller, and fails. How can I get it to treat Content/ and Scripts/ (among others) as non-controllers and just pass through the static content? This of course works with Cassini on my developer machine, but as soon as I deploy, this problem hits. I am using the last version of Ninject MVC 2 where the IoC tool should pass missing controllers to the base controller factory, but this has apparently not helped. I have also tried to add ignore routes for Content etc., but this apparently has no effect either. I am not even sure I am addressing the problem on the right level. Does anyone know where to look to get this app going? I have full control of the web server so I can more or less do whatever I want to it, as long as it starts working. Thanks!

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• Long-running ASP.NET tasks

  - by John Leidegren

  I know there's a bunch of APIs out there that do this, but I also know that the hosting environment (being ASP.NET) puts restrictions on what you can reliably do in a separate thread. I could be completely wrong, so please correct me if I am, this is however what I think I know. A request typically timeouts after 120 seconds (this is configurable) but eventually the ASP.NET runtime will kill a request that's taking too long to complete. The hosting environment, typically IIS, employs process recycling and can at any point decide to recycle your app. When this happens all threads are aborted and the app restarts. I'm however not sure how aggressive it is, it would be kind of stupid to assume that it would abort a normal ongoing HTTP request but I would expect it to abort a thread because it doesn't know anything about the unit of work of a thread. If you had to create a programming model that easily and reliably and theoretically put a long running task, that would have to run for days, how would you accomplish this from within an ASP.NET application? The following are my thoughts on the issue: I've been thinking a long the line of hosting a WCF service in a win32 service. And talk to the service through WCF. This is however not very practical, because the only reason I would choose to do so, is to send tasks (units of work) from several different web apps. I'd then eventually ask the service for status updates and act accordingly. My biggest concern with this is that it would NOT be a particular great experience if I had to deploy every task to the service for it to be able to execute some instructions. There's also this issue of input, how would I feed this service with data if I had a large data set and needed to chew through it? What I typically do right now is this SELECT TOP 10 * FROM WorkItem WITH (ROWLOCK, UPDLOCK, READPAST) WHERE WorkCompleted IS NULL It allows me to use a SQL Server database as a work queue and periodically poll the database with this query for work. If the work item completed with success, I mark it as done and proceed until there's nothing more to do. What I don't like is that I could theoretically be interrupted at any point and if I'm in-between success and marking it as done, I could end up processing the same work item twice. I might be a bit paranoid and this might be all fine but as I understand it there's no guarantee that that won't happen... I know there's been similar questions on SO before but non really answers with a definitive answer. This is a really common thing, yet the ASP.NET hosting environment is ill equipped to handle long-running work. Please share your thoughts.

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• WPF RowDetailsTemplate width issue

  - by Ed Courtenay

  Apologies if this is a dupe, but I can't seem to find a rational solution for what must be a fairly simple issue. <Window x:Class="FeedTest.MainWindow" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" Title="MainWindow" Height="350" Width="525"> <Window.Resources> <XmlNamespaceMappingCollection x:Key="map"> <XmlNamespaceMapping Prefix="media" Uri="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" /> </XmlNamespaceMappingCollection> <XmlDataProvider x:Key="newsFeed" XPath="//item[string-length(title)>0]" Source="http://newsrss.bbc.co.uk/rss/newsonline_uk_edition/uk/rss.xml" /> <DataTemplate x:Key="rowDetailTemplate"> <Border BorderThickness="2"> <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal"> <Image Source="{Binding XPath=media:thumbnail/@url}" Width="66" Height="49" /> <StackPanel Orientation="Vertical" Margin="5"> <TextBlock Text="{Binding XPath=description}" TextWrapping="Wrap" /> </StackPanel> </StackPanel> </Border> </DataTemplate> <Style TargetType="{x:Type DataGrid}"> <Setter Property="GridLinesVisibility" Value="None" /> </Style> </Window.Resources> <Grid Binding.XmlNamespaceManager="{StaticResource map}"> <DataGrid AutoGenerateColumns="False" ItemsSource="{Binding Source={StaticResource newsFeed}}" RowDetailsVisibilityMode="VisibleWhenSelected" RowDetailsTemplate="{StaticResource rowDetailTemplate}"> <DataGrid.Columns> <DataGridTextColumn Header="Title" Binding="{Binding XPath=title}" MinWidth="150" Width="*" /> </DataGrid.Columns> </DataGrid> </Grid> The attached XAML gets a news feed, and displays the title of each item in a DataGrid. Selecting an item shows the RowDetailsTemplate which is where my problem lies - why does the RowDetailsTemplate expand beyond the width of the containing DataGrid (thus forcing a horizontal scrollbar), and more importantly, how do I stop it doing this? Many thanks.

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• PostgreSQL to Data-Warehouse: Best approach for near-real-time ETL / extraction of data

  - by belvoir

  Background: I have a PostgreSQL (v8.3) database that is heavily optimized for OLTP. I need to extract data from it on a semi real-time basis (some-one is bound to ask what semi real-time means and the answer is as frequently as I reasonably can but I will be pragmatic, as a benchmark lets say we are hoping for every 15min) and feed it into a data-warehouse. How much data? At peak times we are talking approx 80-100k rows per min hitting the OLTP side, off-peak this will drop significantly to 15-20k. The most frequently updated rows are ~64 bytes each but there are various tables etc so the data is quite diverse and can range up to 4000 bytes per row. The OLTP is active 24x5.5. Best Solution? From what I can piece together the most practical solution is as follows: Create a TRIGGER to write all DML activity to a rotating CSV log file Perform whatever transformations are required Use the native DW data pump tool to efficiently pump the transformed CSV into the DW Why this approach? TRIGGERS allow selective tables to be targeted rather than being system wide + output is configurable (i.e. into a CSV) and are relatively easy to write and deploy. SLONY uses similar approach and overhead is acceptable CSV easy and fast to transform Easy to pump CSV into the DW Alternatives considered .... Using native logging (http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.3/static/runtime-config-logging.html). Problem with this is it looked very verbose relative to what I needed and was a little trickier to parse and transform. However it could be faster as I presume there is less overhead compared to a TRIGGER. Certainly it would make the admin easier as it is system wide but again, I don't need some of the tables (some are used for persistent storage of JMS messages which I do not want to log) Querying the data directly via an ETL tool such as Talend and pumping it into the DW ... problem is the OLTP schema would need tweaked to support this and that has many negative side-effects Using a tweaked/hacked SLONY - SLONY does a good job of logging and migrating changes to a slave so the conceptual framework is there but the proposed solution just seems easier and cleaner Using the WAL Has anyone done this before? Want to share your thoughts?

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• Need help with wp_rewrite in a WordPress Plugin

  - by Brad

  Ok, I've got this code that I've been using to spit out news to an application of mine. It was working until today. I've cutout all the logic in the following code to make it simpiler. But it should "WORK" Can someone help me fix this code to where it works, and is done right? I know it's hacked together ,but it didn't seem to have any problems until today. I have not updated anything, don't know what the deal is. Plugin Name: MyPlugin Example Version: 1.0.1 if ( ! class_exists("MyPlugin") ) { class MyPlugin { var $db_version = "1.0"; //not used yet function init() { //Nothing as of now. } function activate() { global $wp_rewrite; $this-flush_rewrite_rules(); } function pushoutput( $id ) { $output-out =' The output worked!'; $this-output( $output ); } function output( $output ) { ob_start(); ob_end_clean(); header( 'Cache-Control: no-cache, must-revalidate' ); header( 'Expires: Mon, 26 Jul 1997 05:00:00 GMT' ); header( 'Content-type: application/json' ); echo json_encode( $output ); //Must encode this... } function flush_rewrite_rules() { global $wp_rewrite; $wp_rewrite-flush_rules(); } function createRewriteRules( $rewrite ) { global $wp_rewrite; $new_rules = array( 'MyPlugin/(.+)' = 'index.php?MyPlugin=' . $wp_rewrite-preg_index(1) ); if ( ! is_array($wp_rewrite-rules) ) { $wp_rewrite-rules = array(); } $wp_rewrite-rules = $new_rules + $wp_rewrite-rules; return $wp_rewrite; } function add_query_vars( $qvars ) { $qvars[] = 'MyPlugin'; return $qvars; } function template_redirect_intercept() { global $wp_query; if ( $wp_query-get('MyPlugin') ) { $id = $wp_query-query_vars['MyPlugin']; $this-pushoutput( $id ); exit; } } } } if ( class_exists("MyPlugin") ) { $MyPluginCode = new MyPlugin(); } if ( isset($MyPluginCode) ) { register_activation_hook( __file__, array($MyPluginCode, 'activate') ); add_action( 'admin-init', array(&$MyPluginCode, 'flush_rewrite_rules') ); //add_action( 'init', array(&$MyPluginCode, 'init') ); add_action( 'generate_rewrite_rules', array(&$MyPluginCode, 'createRewriteRules') ); add_action( 'template_redirect', array(&$MyPluginCode, 'template_redirect_intercept') ); // add_filter( 'query_vars', array(&$MyPluginCode, 'add_query_vars') ); }

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