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• Windows Phone 7 Review &ndash; Part 1: LG Quantum

  - by Nikita Polyakov

  As many of my fellow geeks, I ran out and got a retail windows Phone 7 on the first day. Just had to have it :) I’ve had the developer prototypes in my hands for previous 3 months on and off, so I finally wanted to have one I call my own. I’ve rushed the Launch   I’ve checked out both AT&T and T-Mobile offerings on day 1 and decided on a Samsung Focus. Great screen, super light and thin. If you don’t believe me that this phone can compete with the best of the non-Phone 7 offerings - get it in your hand to compare for yourself. I have to say that even though the on-screen keyboard on Windows Phone 7 is one of the best, the amount of text I write on my phone and my expectation of how long that takes for a short reply are very high. Also the phone being so slick and sexy did not feel solid or confident in my hand or pocket. As the dust settled   Arrives the LG Quantum – now on AT&T and worldwide. First impression of the softer plastic, the back battery cover is solid metal - the entire phone feels solid and indestructible! Phone fits just right in my hand, it’s almost too good. It does not feel like it will crack in your jeans. I feel safe holding it and don’t feel like if I or someone were to bump into me walking it’d fly out of my hand. I’ve dropped and had thrown the Focus a few times on accident as it’s weight is negligible. I won’t even dream of lying the first day adjusting to a 3.5’ LCD screen from the Samsung’s blistering bright and poppy AMOLED 4’ was hard. But the colors and sharpness are still very good. I find it almost easier on the eyes actually for day to day use.  I had a chance to lay the phone down in the line with the prototypes and final versions of other phones that had LCD screens – LG makes HTC looks like a budget LCD compared to a high end LCD in the home theatre department. I am consistently complemented by friends that have the HD7 or Surround on how much better my screen looks. The screen just looks like the most color correct phone out of the line up. Even next to Samsung it makes it look oversaturated, but can’t match the true blacks compensating with true white.   Day to Day Usability   What I also noticed that is a huge difference is how much I am not accidently hitting the soft keys at the bottom. I real pain on Focus since holding it in am average size hand already would accidently touch the controls at the bottom. QWERTY keyboard on this phone is great. It’s like the mission for LG is “make it solid!”. Keyboard has a very durable feel.   LG’s has a secret wild card though is the DLNA support. If you seen an ad for it, you should. Imagine this – playing a song from your phone straight to your network connected A/V receiver. Done. Pictures to TV. Done. Video. Done. DLNA works with components that advertise to as well as Windows 7, XBOX 360 and other consoles.  I will write an extensive review of that experience in near future. LG Exclusive apps – from panorama photo taker to voice to text translator and even look-n-type app that works like a backup inverse camera, there is quite a bit there that won’t be found on the other phones. I’ll review those in more detail in another segment. Conclusion So for a quick comparison: If you want a phone that is super thin, light and is core reference of a Windows Phone 7 – Samsung Focus it is. If you want a great phone with solid secure feel, real keyboard, media features - the hands down winner is LG Quantum.   You can pick up the LG Quantum at AT&T in US and worldwide as LG Optimus 7Q.   Final thought: I have not had SmartPhone that I felt was a reliable trusty primary communication device since Samsung BlackJack II, this time the LG got the crown.   [ Disclosure: Phone was provided to me free of charge. That has been the case for all of my phones for years, nothing new - I get them all. ]

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• Functional Adaptation

  - by Charles Courchaine

  In real life and OO programming we’re often faced with using adapters, DVI to VGA, 1/4” to 1/8” audio connections, 110V to 220V, wrapping an incompatible interface with a new one, and so on.  Where the adapter pattern is generally considered for interfaces and classes a similar technique can be applied to method signatures.  To be fair, this adaptation is generally used to reduce the number of parameters but I’m sure there are other clever possibilities to be had.  As Jan questioned in the last post, how can we use a common method to execute an action if the action has a differing number of parameters, going back to the greeting example it was suggested having an AddName method that takes a first and last name as parameters.  This is exactly what we’ll address in this post. Let’s set the stage with some review and some code changes.  First, our method that handles the setup/tear-down infrastructure for our WCF service: 1: private static TResult ExecuteGreetingFunc<TResult>(Func<IGreeting, TResult> theGreetingFunc) 2: { 3: IGreeting aGreetingService = null; 4: try 5: { 6: aGreetingService = GetGreetingChannel(); 7: return theGreetingFunc(aGreetingService); 8: } 9: finally 10: { 11: CloseWCFChannel((IChannel)aGreetingService); 12: } 13: } Our original AddName method: 1: private static string AddName(string theName) 2: { 3: return ExecuteGreetingFunc<string>(theGreetingService => theGreetingService.AddName(theName)); 4: } Our new AddName method: 1: private static int AddName(string firstName, string lastName) 2: { 3: return ExecuteGreetingFunc<int>(theGreetingService => theGreetingService.AddName(firstName, lastName)); 4: } Let’s change the AddName method, just a little bit more for this example and have it take the greeting service as a parameter. 1: private static int AddName(IGreeting greetingService, string firstName, string lastName) 2: { 3: return greetingService.AddName(firstName, lastName); 4: } The new signature of AddName using the Func delegate is now Func<IGreeting, string, string, int>, which can’t be used with ExecuteGreetingFunc as is because it expects Func<IGreeting, TResult>.  Somehow we have to eliminate the two string parameters before we can use this with our existing method.  This is where we need to adapt AddName to match what ExecuteGreetingFunc expects, and we’ll do so in the following progression. 1: Func<IGreeting, string, string, int> -> Func<IGreeting, string, int> 2: Func<IGreeting, string, int> -> Func<IGreeting, int>   For the first step, we’ll create a method using the lambda syntax that will “eliminate” the last name parameter: 1: string lastNameToAdd = "Smith"; 2: //Func<IGreeting, string, string, int> -> Func<IGreeting, string, int> 3: Func<IGreeting, string, int> addName = (greetingService, firstName) => AddName(greetingService, firstName, lastNameToAdd); The new addName method gets us one step close to the signature we need.  Let’s say we’re going to call this in a loop to add several names, we’ll take the final step from Func<IGreeting, string, int> -> Func<IGreeting, int> in line as a lambda passed to ExecuteGreetingFunc like so: 1: List<string> firstNames = new List<string>() { "Bob", "John" }; 2: int aID; 3: foreach (string firstName in firstNames) 4: { 5: //Func<IGreeting, string, int> -> Func<IGreeting, int> 6: aID = ExecuteGreetingFunc<int>(greetingService => addName(greetingService, firstName)); 7: Console.WriteLine(GetGreeting(aID)); 8: } If for some reason you needed to break out the lambda on line 6 you could replace it with 1: aID = ExecuteGreetingFunc<int>(ApplyAddName(addName, firstName)); and use this method: 1: private static Func<IGreeting, int> ApplyAddName(Func<IGreeting, string, int> addName, string lastName) 2: { 3: return greetingService => addName(greetingService, lastName); 4: } Splitting out a lambda into its own method is useful both in this style of coding as well as LINQ queries to improve the debugging experience.  It is not strictly necessary to break apart the steps & functions as was shown above; the lambda in line 6 (of the foreach example) could include both the last name and first name instead of being composed of two functions.  The process demonstrated above is one of partially applying functions, this could have also been done with Currying (also see Dustin Campbell’s excellent post on Currying for the canonical curried add example).  Matthew Podwysocki also has some good posts explaining both Currying and partial application and a follow up post that further clarifies the difference between Currying and partial application.  In either technique the ultimate goal is to reduce the number of parameters passed to a function.  Currying makes it a single parameter passed at each step, where partial application allows one to use multiple parameters at a time as we’ve done here.  This technique isn’t for everyone or every problem, but can be extremely handy when you need to adapt a call to something you don’t control.

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• How to get paid and figure out if I want to keep this client [migrated]

  - by Heiner Fawkes

  I have a client who is not paying on time, but it looks like the specifics don't match similar questions on this SE site. I got a call from a client I did website work for years ago. I had not done this kind of work for many years and frankly I'm not sure I want to now, but nevertheless about a month ago I agreed to bring his website, SEO, social media, and overall marketing for his small business up to speed. Why? He has told me many times how I'm the most honest, most well-informed contractor he's had experience with. And I personally kind of like him too. So I started working on an hourly basis. I sent one very small invoice and got paid. Then we talked a whole lot about all sorts of feature he would like me to implement. I started that work, and sent a second invoice on the first of the month (one of my two stated billing days). I didn't get paid. On every invoice it states that I charge a whopping ten percent per week late. I sent many voicemails and emails asking to please let me know what's going on with payment, and didn't get replies. Then the 15th of the month rolled around (which I stated initially as one of my invoicing dates). Since I hadn't been paid for the last invoice, I simply didn't send him an invoice at that time but emailed him and said that I will combine it with the next scheduled invoice for this reason (probably a bad idea I realize). Eventually he sent a portion of the invoice payment. I emailed back to let him know that he's three weeks late and what the remaining balance is. Finally we got in touch via phone. He basically told me that he thought I hadn't done all of the work I said I did. He looked at the page source code and it didn't look complete to him. I explained why his perception would be different and what work I had done as specified. He accepted this and said that part of the reason he didn't pay in full is that he's been swamped with personal family stuff, and part of the reason is that he didn't think I did all the work. That struck me as pretty weird. He also expressed concern that he has no idea now how much all the changes he has asked for are going to cost. And once again, he told me how honest and high-quality my services are compared to others he has dealt with. He also said he would pay me more (but not all) of the now three weeks overdue invoice that day. I didn't receive any payment. Basically this is how the client relationship strikes me: He's not good at communication. He's very busy and English isn't his first language. He almost never replies to emails but phone calls are fine. He's asked me to avoid emails for communication and I've asked him to please use email. He might not have enough money to afford all the things he has asked for. But so far I have been working for an hourly fee (which is quite high). He also has started paying monthly for hosting and social media services from me. What seems very abnormal is for a client to be so overdue on payments and to actually withhold payment of an invoice without any communication because he didn't think the work was done. I told him that I will send dollar estimates of each module of remaining work so that we can decide which ones are the highest priority if he cannot afford them all. I also reiterated that in the future if he has doubts about the work or an inability to pay, he must contact me immediately to say so. I basically plan to state the following to him: I would like to work for him and help his business. I also have sympathy for his recent family difficulties. I am happy to figure out payment plans that would work better for him, but first I need to be paid in full for all outstanding invoices, especially given that I skipped one of them just to be nice. The most crucial thing I need is communication about any problems with my work or his ability to pay. Once again, he heeds to pay in full immediately before we negotiate anything else. Does the above seem like an appropriate communication? Is anything missing from it? Is anything I'm doing here really abnormal?

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• Access Services in SharePoint Server 2010

  - by Wayne

  Another SharePoint Server 2010 feature which cannot go unnoticed is the Access Services. Access Services is a service in SharePoint Server 2010 that allows administrators to view, edit, and configure a Microsoft access application within a Web Browser. Access Services settings support backup and recovery, regardless of whether there is a UI setting in Central Administration. However, backup and recovery only apply to service-level and administrative-level settings; end-user content from the Access application is not backed up as part of this process. Access Services has Windows PowerShell functionality that can be used to provide the service that uses settings from a previous backup; configure and manage macro and query setting; manage and configure session management; and configure all the global settings of the service. Key Benefits of SharePoint Server Access Services Easier Access to right tools: The enhanced, customizable Ribbon in Access 2010 makes it easy to uncover more commands so you can focus on the end product. The new Microsoft Office BackstageTM view is yet another feature that can help you easily analyze and document your database, share, publish, and customize your Access 2010 experience, all from one convenient location. Helps build database effortlessly and quickly: Out-of-the box templates and reusable components make Access Services the fastest, simplest database solution available. It helps find new pre-built templates which you can start using without customization or select templates created by your peers in the Access online community and customize them to meet your needs. It builds your databases with new modular components. New Application Parts enable you to add a set of common Access components, such as a table and form for task management, to your database in a few simple clicks. Database navigation is now simplified. It creates Navigation Forms and makes your frequently used forms and reports more accessible without writing any code or logic. Create Impactful forms and reports: Whether it's an inventory of your assets or customer sales database, Access 2010 brings the innovative tools you'd expect from Microsoft Office. Access Services easily spot trends and add emphasis to your data. It quickly create coordinating database forms and reports and bring the Web into your database. Obtain a centralized landing pad for your data: Access 2010 offers easy ways to bring your data together and help increase work quality. New technologies help break down barriers so you can share and work together on your databases, making you or your team more efficient and productive. Add automation and complex expressions: If you need a more robust database design, such as preventing record deletion if a specific condition is met or if you need to create calculations to forecast your budget, Access 2010 empowers you to be your own developer. The enhanced Expression Builder greatly simplifies your expression building experience with IntelliSense®. With the revamped Macro Designer, it's now even easier for you to add basic logic to your database. New Data Macros allow you to attach logic to your data, centralizing the logic on the table, not the objects that update your data. Key features of Access Services 2010 - Access database content through a Web browser: Newly added Access Services on Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 enables you to make your databases available on the Web with new Web databases. Users without an Access client can open Web forms and reports via a browser and changes are automatically synchronized. - Simplify how you access the features you need: The Ribbon, improved in Access 2010, helps you access commands even more quickly by enabling you to customize or create your own tabs. The new Microsoft Office Backstage view replaces the traditional File menu to provide one central, organized location for all of your document management tasks. - Codeless navigation: Use professional looking web-like navigation forms to make frequently used forms and reports more accessible without writing any code or logic. - Easily reuse Access items in other databases: Use Application Parts to add pre-built Access components for common tasks to your database in a few simple clicks. You can also package common database components, such as data entry forms and reports for task management, and reuse them across your organization or other databases. - Simplified formatting: By using Office themes you can create coordinating professional forms and reports across your database. Simply select a familiar and great looking Office theme, or design your own, and apply it to your database. Newly created Access objects will automatically match your chosen theme.

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• Short Season, Long Models - Dealing with Seasonality

  - by Michel Adar

  Accounting for seasonality presents a challenge for the accurate prediction of events. Examples of seasonality include: ·         Boxed cosmetics sets are more popular during Christmas. They sell at other times of the year, but they rise higher than other products during the holiday season. ·         Interest in a promotion rises around the time advertising on TV airs ·         Interest in the Sports section of a newspaper rises when there is a big football match There are several ways of dealing with seasonality in predictions. Time Windows If the length of the model time windows is short enough relative to the seasonality effect, then the models will see only seasonal data, and therefore will be accurate in their predictions. For example, a model with a weekly time window may be quick enough to adapt during the holiday season. In order for time windows to be useful in dealing with seasonality it is necessary that: The time window is significantly shorter than the season changes There is enough volume of data in the short time windows to produce an accurate model An additional issue to consider is that sometimes the season may have an abrupt end, for example the day after Christmas. Input Data If available, it is possible to include the seasonality effect in the input data for the model. For example the customer record may include a list of all the promotions advertised in the area of residence. A model with these inputs will have to learn the effect of the input. It is possible to learn it specific to the promotion – and by the way learn about inter-promotion cross feeding – by leaving the list of ads as it is; or it is possible to learn the general effect by having a flag that indicates if the promotion is being advertised. For inputs to properly represent the effect in the model it is necessary that: The model sees enough events with the input present. For example, by virtue of the model lifetime (or time window) being long enough to see several “seasons” or by having enough volume for the model to learn seasonality quickly. Proportional Frequency If we create a model that ignores seasonality it is possible to use that model to predict how the specific person likelihood differs from average. If we have a divergence from average then we can transfer that divergence proportionally to the observed frequency at the time of the prediction. Definitions: Ft = trailing average frequency of the event at time “t”. The average is done over a suitable period of to achieve a statistical significant estimate. F = average frequency as seen by the model. L = likelihood predicted by the model for a specific person Lt = predicted likelihood proportionally scaled for time “t”. If the model is good at predicting deviation from average, and this holds over the interesting range of seasons, then we can estimate Lt as: Lt = L * (Ft / F) Considering that: L = (L – F) + F Substituting we get: Lt = [(L – F) + F] * (Ft / F) Which simplifies to: (i)                  Lt = (L – F) * (Ft / F)  +  Ft This latest expression can be understood as “The adjusted likelihood at time t is the average likelihood at time t plus the effect from the model, which is calculated as the difference from average time the proportion of frequencies”. The formula above assumes a linear translation of the proportion. It is possible to generalize the formula using a factor which we will call “a” as follows: (ii)                Lt = (L – F) * (Ft / F) * a  +  Ft It is also possible to use a formula that does not scale the difference, like: (iii)               Lt = (L – F) * a  +  Ft While these formulas seem reasonable, they should be taken as hypothesis to be proven with empirical data. A theoretical analysis provides the following insights: The Cumulative Gains Chart (lift) should stay the same, as at any given time the order of the likelihood for different customers is preserved If F is equal to Ft then the formula reverts to “L” If (Ft = 0) then Lt in (i) and (ii) is 0 It is possible for Lt to be above 1. If it is desired to avoid going over 1, for relatively high base frequencies it is possible to use a relative interpretation of the multiplicative factor. For example, if we say that Y is twice as likely as X, then we can interpret this sentence as: If X is 3%, then Y is 6% If X is 11%, then Y is 22% If X is 70%, then Y is 85% - in this case we interpret “twice as likely” as “half as likely to not happen” Applying this reasoning to (i) for example we would get: If (L < F) or (Ft < (1 / ((L/F) + 1)) Then  Lt = L * (Ft / F) Else Lt = 1 – (F / L) + (Ft * F / L)  

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• WIF, ADFS 2 and WCF&ndash;Part 5: Service Client (more Flexibility with WSTrustChannelFactory)

  - by Your DisplayName here!

  See the previous posts first. WIF includes an API to manually request tokens from a token service. This gives you more control over the request and more flexibility since you can use your own token caching scheme instead of being bound to the channel object lifetime. The API is straightforward. You first request a token from the STS and then use that token to create a channel to the relying party service. I’d recommend using the WS-Trust bindings that ship with WIF to talk to ADFS 2 – they are pre-configured to match the binding configuration of the ADFS 2 endpoints. The following code requests a token for a WCF service from ADFS 2: private static SecurityToken GetToken() {     // Windows authentication over transport security     var factory = new WSTrustChannelFactory(         new WindowsWSTrustBinding(SecurityMode.Transport),         stsEndpoint);     factory.TrustVersion = TrustVersion.WSTrust13;       var rst = new RequestSecurityToken     {         RequestType = RequestTypes.Issue,         AppliesTo = new EndpointAddress(svcEndpoint),         KeyType = KeyTypes.Symmetric     };       var channel = factory.CreateChannel();     return channel.Issue(rst); } Afterwards, the returned token can be used to create a channel to the service. Again WIF has some helper methods here that make this very easy: private static void CallService(SecurityToken token) {     // create binding and turn off sessions     var binding = new WS2007FederationHttpBinding(         WSFederationHttpSecurityMode.TransportWithMessageCredential);     binding.Security.Message.EstablishSecurityContext = false;       // create factory and enable WIF plumbing     var factory = new ChannelFactory<IService>(binding, new EndpointAddress(svcEndpoint));     factory.ConfigureChannelFactory<IService>();       // turn off CardSpace - we already have the token     factory.Credentials.SupportInteractive = false;       var channel = factory.CreateChannelWithIssuedToken<IService>(token);       channel.GetClaims().ForEach(c =>         Console.WriteLine("{0}\n {1}\n  {2} ({3})\n",             c.ClaimType,             c.Value,             c.Issuer,             c.OriginalIssuer)); } Why is this approach more flexible? Well – some don’t like the configuration voodoo. That’s a valid reason for using the manual approach. You also get more control over the token request itself since you have full control over the RST message that gets send to the STS. One common parameter that you may want to set yourself is the appliesTo value. When you use the automatic token support in the WCF federation binding, the appliesTo is always the physical service address. This means in turn that this address will be used as the audience URI value in the SAML token. Well – this in turn means that when you have an application that consists of multiple services, you always have to configure all physical endpoint URLs in ADFS 2 and in the WIF configuration of the service(s). Having control over the appliesTo allows you to use more symbolic realm names, e.g. the base address or a completely logical name. Since the URL is never de-referenced you have some degree of freedom here. In the next post we will look at the necessary code to request multiple tokens in a call chain. This is a common scenario when you first have to acquire a token from an identity provider and have to send that on to a federation gateway or Resource STS. Stay tuned.

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• Subterranean IL: Generics and array covariance

  - by Simon Cooper

  Arrays in .NET are curious beasts. They are the only built-in collection types in the CLR, and SZ-arrays (single dimension, zero-indexed) have their own commands and IL syntax. One of their stranger properties is they have a kind of built-in covariance long before generic variance was added in .NET 4. However, this causes a subtle but important problem with generics. First of all, we need to briefly recap on array covariance. SZ-array covariance To demonstrate, I'll tweak the classes I introduced in my previous posts: public class IncrementableClass { public int Value; public virtual void Increment(int incrementBy) { Value += incrementBy; } } public class IncrementableClassx2 : IncrementableClass { public override void Increment(int incrementBy) { base.Increment(incrementBy); base.Increment(incrementBy); } } In the CLR, SZ-arrays of reference types are implicitly convertible to arrays of the element's supertypes, all the way up to object (note that this does not apply to value types). That is, an instance of IncrementableClassx2[] can be used wherever a IncrementableClass[] or object[] is required. When an SZ-array could be used in this fashion, a run-time type check is performed when you try to insert an object into the array to make sure you're not trying to insert an instance of IncrementableClass into an IncrementableClassx2[]. This check means that the following code will compile fine but will fail at run-time: IncrementableClass[] array = new IncrementableClassx2[1]; array[0] = new IncrementableClass(); // throws ArrayTypeMismatchException These checks are enforced by the various stelem* and ldelem* il instructions in such a way as to ensure you can't insert a IncrementableClass into a IncrementableClassx2[]. For the rest of this post, however, I'm going to concentrate on the ldelema instruction. ldelema This instruction pops the array index (int32) and array reference (O) off the stack, and pushes a pointer (&) to the corresponding array element. However, unlike the ldelem instruction, the instruction's type argument must match the run-time array type exactly. This is because, once you've got a managed pointer, you can use that pointer to both load and store values in that array element using the ldind* and stind* (load/store indirect) instructions. As the same pointer can be used for both input and output to the array, the type argument to ldelema must be invariant. At the time, this was a perfectly reasonable restriction, and maintained array type-safety within managed code. However, along came generics, and with it the constrained callvirt instruction. So, what happens when we combine array covariance and constrained callvirt? .method public static void CallIncrementArrayValue() { // IncrementableClassx2[] arr = new IncrementableClassx2[1] ldc.i4.1 newarr IncrementableClassx2 // arr[0] = new IncrementableClassx2(); dup newobj instance void IncrementableClassx2::.ctor() ldc.i4.0 stelem.ref // IncrementArrayValue<IncrementableClass>(arr, 0) // here, we're treating an IncrementableClassx2[] as IncrementableClass[] dup ldc.i4.0 call void IncrementArrayValue<class IncrementableClass>(!!0[],int32) // ... ret } .method public static void IncrementArrayValue<(IncrementableClass) T>( !!T[] arr, int32 index) { // arr[index].Increment(1) ldarg.0 ldarg.1 ldelema !!T ldc.i4.1 constrained. !!T callvirt instance void IIncrementable::Increment(int32) ret } And the result: Unhandled Exception: System.ArrayTypeMismatchException: Attempted to access an element as a type incompatible with the array. at IncrementArrayValue[T](T[] arr, Int32 index) at CallIncrementArrayValue() Hmm. We're instantiating the generic method as IncrementArrayValue<IncrementableClass>, but passing in an IncrementableClassx2[], hence the ldelema instruction is failing as it's expecting an IncrementableClass[]. On features and feature conflicts What we've got here is a conflict between existing behaviour (ldelema ensuring type safety on covariant arrays) and new behaviour (managed pointers to object references used for every constrained callvirt on generic type instances). And, although this is an edge case, there is no general workaround. The generic method could be hidden behind several layers of assemblies, wrappers and interfaces that make it a requirement to use array covariance when calling the generic method. Furthermore, this will only fail at runtime, whereas compile-time safety is what generics were designed for! The solution is the readonly. prefix instruction. This modifies the ldelema instruction to ignore the exact type check for arrays of reference types, and so it lets us take the address of array elements using a covariant type to the actual run-time type of the array: .method public static void IncrementArrayValue<(IncrementableClass) T>( !!T[] arr, int32 index) { // arr[index].Increment(1) ldarg.0 ldarg.1 readonly. ldelema !!T ldc.i4.1 constrained. !!T callvirt instance void IIncrementable::Increment(int32) ret } But what about type safety? In return for ignoring the type check, the resulting controlled mutability pointer can only be used in the following situations: As the object parameter to ldfld, ldflda, stfld, call and constrained callvirt instructions As the pointer parameter to ldobj or ldind* As the source parameter to cpobj In other words, the only operations allowed are those that read from the pointer; stind* and similar that alter the pointer itself are banned. This ensures that the array element we're pointing to won't be changed to anything untoward, and so type safety within the array is maintained. This is a typical example of the maxim that whenever you add a feature to a program, you have to consider how that feature interacts with every single one of the existing features. Although an edge case, the readonly. prefix instruction ensures that generics and array covariance work together and that compile-time type safety is maintained. Tune in next time for a look at the .ctor generic type constraint, and what it means.

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• Cardinality Estimation Bug with Lookups in SQL Server 2008 onward

  - by Paul White

  Cost-based optimization stands or falls on the quality of cardinality estimates (expected row counts).  If the optimizer has incorrect information to start with, it is quite unlikely to produce good quality execution plans except by chance.  There are many ways we can provide good starting information to the optimizer, and even more ways for cardinality estimation to go wrong.  Good database people know this, and work hard to write optimizer-friendly queries with a schema and metadata (e.g. statistics) that reduce the chances of poor cardinality estimation producing a sub-optimal plan.  Today, I am going to look at a case where poor cardinality estimation is Microsoft’s fault, and not yours. SQL Server 2005 SELECT th.ProductID, th.TransactionID, th.TransactionDate FROM Production.TransactionHistory AS th WHERE th.ProductID = 1 AND th.TransactionDate BETWEEN '20030901' AND '20031231'; The query plan on SQL Server 2005 is as follows (if you are using a more recent version of AdventureWorks, you will need to change the year on the date range from 2003 to 2007): There is an Index Seek on ProductID = 1, followed by a Key Lookup to find the Transaction Date for each row, and finally a Filter to restrict the results to only those rows where Transaction Date falls in the range specified.  The cardinality estimate of 45 rows at the Index Seek is exactly correct.  The table is not very large, there are up-to-date statistics associated with the index, so this is as expected. The estimate for the Key Lookup is also exactly right.  Each lookup into the Clustered Index to find the Transaction Date is guaranteed to return exactly one row.  The plan shows that the Key Lookup is expected to be executed 45 times.  The estimate for the Inner Join output is also correct – 45 rows from the seek joining to one row each time, gives 45 rows as output. The Filter estimate is also very good: the optimizer estimates 16.9951 rows will match the specified range of transaction dates.  Eleven rows are produced by this query, but that small difference is quite normal and certainly nothing to worry about here.  All good so far. SQL Server 2008 onward The same query executed against an identical copy of AdventureWorks on SQL Server 2008 produces a different execution plan: The optimizer has pushed the Filter conditions seen in the 2005 plan down to the Key Lookup.  This is a good optimization – it makes sense to filter rows out as early as possible.  Unfortunately, it has made a bit of a mess of the cardinality estimates. The post-Filter estimate of 16.9951 rows seen in the 2005 plan has moved with the predicate on Transaction Date.  Instead of estimating one row, the plan now suggests that 16.9951 rows will be produced by each clustered index lookup – clearly not right!  This misinformation also confuses SQL Sentry Plan Explorer: Plan Explorer shows 765 rows expected from the Key Lookup (it multiplies a rounded estimate of 17 rows by 45 expected executions to give 765 rows total). Workarounds One workaround is to provide a covering non-clustered index (avoiding the lookup avoids the problem of course): CREATE INDEX nc1 ON Production.TransactionHistory (ProductID) INCLUDE (TransactionDate); With the Transaction Date filter applied as a residual predicate in the same operator as the seek, the estimate is again as expected: We could also force the use of the ultimate covering index (the clustered one): SELECT th.ProductID, th.TransactionID, th.TransactionDate FROM Production.TransactionHistory AS th WITH (INDEX(1)) WHERE th.ProductID = 1 AND th.TransactionDate BETWEEN '20030901' AND '20031231'; Summary Providing a covering non-clustered index for all possible queries is not always practical, and scanning the clustered index will rarely be optimal.  Nevertheless, these are the best workarounds we have today. In the meantime, watch out for poor cardinality estimates when a predicate is applied as part of a lookup. The worst thing is that the estimate after the lookup join in the 2008+ plans is wrong.  It’s not hopelessly wrong in this particular case (45 versus 16.9951 is not the end of the world) but it easily can be much worse, and there’s not much you can do about it.  Any decisions made by the optimizer after such a lookup could be based on very wrong information – which can only be bad news. If you think this situation should be improved, please vote for this Connect item. © 2012 Paul White – All Rights Reserved twitter: @SQL_Kiwi email: [email protected]

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• PhP Login/Register system [migrated]

  - by Marian

  I found this good tutorial on creating a login/register system using PhP and MySQL. The forum is around 5 years old (edited last year) but it can still be usefull. Beginner Simple Register-Login system There seems to be an issue with both login and register pages. <?php function register_form(){ $date = date('D, M, Y'); echo "<form action='?act=register' method='post'>" ."Username: <input type='text' name='username' size='30'><br>" ."Password: <input type='password' name='password' size='30'><br>" ."Confirm your password: <input type='password' name='password_conf' size='30'><br>" ."Email: <input type='text' name='email' size='30'><br>" ."<input type='hidden' name='date' value='$date'>" ."<input type='submit' value='Register'>" ."</form>"; } function register(){ $connect = mysql_connect("host", "username", "password"); if(!$connect){ die(mysql_error()); } $select_db = mysql_select_db("database", $connect); if(!$select_db){ die(mysql_error()); } $username = $_REQUEST['username']; $password = $_REQUEST['password']; $pass_conf = $_REQUEST['password_conf']; $email = $_REQUEST['email']; $date = $_REQUEST['date']; if(empty($username)){ die("Please enter your username!<br>"); } if(empty($password)){ die("Please enter your password!<br>"); } if(empty($pass_conf)){ die("Please confirm your password!<br>"); } if(empty($email)){ die("Please enter your email!"); } $user_check = mysql_query("SELECT username FROM users WHERE username='$username'"); $do_user_check = mysql_num_rows($user_check); $email_check = mysql_query("SELECT email FROM users WHERE email='$email'"); $do_email_check = mysql_num_rows($email_check); if($do_user_check > 0){ die("Username is already in use!<br>"); } if($do_email_check > 0){ die("Email is already in use!"); } if($password != $pass_conf){ die("Passwords don't match!"); } $insert = mysql_query("INSERT INTO users (username, password, email) VALUES ('$username', '$password', '$email')"); if(!$insert){ die("There's little problem: ".mysql_error()); } echo $username.", you are now registered. Thank you!<br><a href=login.php>Login</a> | <a href=index.php>Index</a>"; } switch($act){ default; register_form(); break; case "register"; register(); break; } ?> Once pressed the register button the page does nothing, fields are erased and no data is added inside the database or error given. I tought that the problem might be the switch($act){ part so I removed it and changed the page using a require require('connect.php'); where connect.php is <?php mysql_connect("localhost","host","password"); mysql_select_db("database"); ?> Removed the function register_form(){ and echo part turning it into an HTML code: <form action='register' method='post'> Username: <input type='text' name='username' size='30'><br> Password: <input type='password' name='password' size='30'><br> Confirm your password: <input type='password' name='password_conf' size='30'><br> Email: <input type='text' name='email' size='30'><br> <input type='hidden' name='date' value='$date'> <input type='submit' name="register" value='Register'> </form> And instead of having a function register(){ I replaced it with a if($register){ So when the Register button is pressed it runs the php code, but this edit doesn't seem to work either. So what can the problem be? If needed I can re-add this code on my Domain The login page has the same issue, nothing happens when the button is pressed beside emptying the fields.

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• jQuery - Why editable-select list plugin doesn't work with latest jQuery?

  - by Binyamin

  Why editable-select list plugin<select><option>value</option>doesn't work with latest jQuery? editable-select code: /** * Copyright (c) 2009 Anders Ekdahl (http://coffeescripter.com/) * Dual licensed under the MIT (http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php) * and GPL (http://www.opensource.org/licenses/gpl-license.php) licenses. * * Version: 1.3.1 * * Demo and documentation: http://coffeescripter.com/code/editable-select/ */ (function($) { var instances = []; $.fn.editableSelect = function(options) { var defaults = { bg_iframe: false, onSelect: false, items_then_scroll: 10, case_sensitive: false }; var settings = $.extend(defaults, options); // Only do bg_iframe for browsers that need it if(settings.bg_iframe && !$.browser.msie) { settings.bg_iframe = false; }; var instance = false; $(this).each(function() { var i = instances.length; if(typeof $(this).data('editable-selecter') == 'undefined') { instances[i] = new EditableSelect(this, settings); $(this).data('editable-selecter', i); }; }); return $(this); }; $.fn.editableSelectInstances = function() { var ret = []; $(this).each(function() { if(typeof $(this).data('editable-selecter') != 'undefined') { ret[ret.length] = instances[$(this).data('editable-selecter')]; }; }); return ret; }; var EditableSelect = function(select, settings) { this.init(select, settings); }; EditableSelect.prototype = { settings: false, text: false, select: false, wrapper: false, list_item_height: 20, list_height: 0, list_is_visible: false, hide_on_blur_timeout: false, bg_iframe: false, current_value: '', init: function(select, settings) { this.settings = settings; this.select = $(select); this.text = $('<input type="text">'); this.text.attr('name', this.select.attr('name')); this.text.data('editable-selecter', this.select.data('editable-selecter')); // Because we don't want the value of the select when the form // is submitted this.select.attr('disabled', 'disabled'); var id = this.select.attr('id'); if(!id) { id = 'editable-select'+ instances.length; }; this.text.attr('id', id); this.text.attr('autocomplete', 'off'); this.text.addClass('editable-select'); this.select.attr('id', id +'_hidden_select'); this.initInputEvents(this.text); this.duplicateOptions(); this.positionElements(); this.setWidths(); if(this.settings.bg_iframe) { this.createBackgroundIframe(); }; }, duplicateOptions: function() { var context = this; var wrapper = $(document.createElement('div')); wrapper.addClass('editable-select-options'); var option_list = $(document.createElement('ul')); wrapper.append(option_list); var options = this.select.find('option'); options.each(function() { if($(this).attr('selected')) { context.text.val($(this).val()); context.current_value = $(this).val(); }; var li = $('<li>'+ $(this).val() +'</li>'); context.initListItemEvents(li); option_list.append(li); }); this.wrapper = wrapper; this.checkScroll(); }, checkScroll: function() { var options = this.wrapper.find('li'); if(options.length > this.settings.items_then_scroll) { this.list_height = this.list_item_height * this.settings.items_then_scroll; this.wrapper.css('height', this.list_height +'px'); this.wrapper.css('overflow', 'auto'); } else { this.wrapper.css('height', 'auto'); this.wrapper.css('overflow', 'visible'); }; }, addOption: function(value) { var li = $('<li>'+ value +'</li>'); var option = $('<option>'+ value +'</option>'); this.select.append(option); this.initListItemEvents(li); this.wrapper.find('ul').append(li); this.setWidths(); this.checkScroll(); }, initInputEvents: function(text) { var context = this; var timer = false; $(document.body).click( function() { context.clearSelectedListItem(); context.hideList(); } ); text.focus( function() { // Can't use the blur event to hide the list, because the blur event // is fired in some browsers when you scroll the list context.showList(); context.highlightSelected(); } ).click( function(e) { e.stopPropagation(); context.showList(); context.highlightSelected(); } ).keydown( // Capture key events so the user can navigate through the list function(e) { switch(e.keyCode) { // Down case 40: if(!context.listIsVisible()) { context.showList(); context.highlightSelected(); } else { e.preventDefault(); context.selectNewListItem('down'); }; break; // Up case 38: e.preventDefault(); context.selectNewListItem('up'); break; // Tab case 9: context.pickListItem(context.selectedListItem()); break; // Esc case 27: e.preventDefault(); context.hideList(); return false; break; // Enter, prevent form submission case 13: e.preventDefault(); context.pickListItem(context.selectedListItem()); return false; }; } ).keyup( function(e) { // Prevent lots of calls if it's a fast typer if(timer !== false) { clearTimeout(timer); timer = false; }; timer = setTimeout( function() { // If the user types in a value, select it if it's in the list if(context.text.val() != context.current_value) { context.current_value = context.text.val(); context.highlightSelected(); }; }, 200 ); } ).keypress( function(e) { if(e.keyCode == 13) { // Enter, prevent form submission e.preventDefault(); return false; }; } ); }, initListItemEvents: function(list_item) { var context = this; list_item.mouseover( function() { context.clearSelectedListItem(); context.selectListItem(list_item); } ).mousedown( // Needs to be mousedown and not click, since the inputs blur events // fires before the list items click event function(e) { e.stopPropagation(); context.pickListItem(context.selectedListItem()); } ); }, selectNewListItem: function(direction) { var li = this.selectedListItem(); if(!li.length) { li = this.selectFirstListItem(); }; if(direction == 'down') { var sib = li.next(); } else { var sib = li.prev(); }; if(sib.length) { this.selectListItem(sib); this.scrollToListItem(sib); this.unselectListItem(li); }; }, selectListItem: function(list_item) { this.clearSelectedListItem(); list_item.addClass('selected'); }, selectFirstListItem: function() { this.clearSelectedListItem(); var first = this.wrapper.find('li:first'); first.addClass('selected'); return first; }, unselectListItem: function(list_item) { list_item.removeClass('selected'); }, selectedListItem: function() { return this.wrapper.find('li.selected'); }, clearSelectedListItem: function() { this.wrapper.find('li.selected').removeClass('selected'); }, pickListItem: function(list_item) { if(list_item.length) { this.text.val(list_item.text()); this.current_value = this.text.val(); }; if(typeof this.settings.onSelect == 'function') { this.settings.onSelect.call(this, list_item); }; this.hideList(); }, listIsVisible: function() { return this.list_is_visible; }, showList: function() { this.wrapper.show(); this.hideOtherLists(); this.list_is_visible = true; if(this.settings.bg_iframe) { this.bg_iframe.show(); }; }, highlightSelected: function() { var context = this; var current_value = this.text.val(); if(current_value.length < 0) { if(highlight_first) { this.selectFirstListItem(); }; return; }; if(!context.settings.case_sensitive) { current_value = current_value.toLowerCase(); }; var best_candiate = false; var value_found = false; var list_items = this.wrapper.find('li'); list_items.each( function() { if(!value_found) { var text = $(this).text(); if(!context.settings.case_sensitive) { text = text.toLowerCase(); }; if(text == current_value) { value_found = true; context.clearSelectedListItem(); context.selectListItem($(this)); context.scrollToListItem($(this)); return false; } else if(text.indexOf(current_value) === 0 && !best_candiate) { // Can't do return false here, since we still need to iterate over // all list items to see if there is an exact match best_candiate = $(this); }; }; } ); if(best_candiate && !value_found) { context.clearSelectedListItem(); context.selectListItem(best_candiate); context.scrollToListItem(best_candiate); } else if(!best_candiate && !value_found) { this.selectFirstListItem(); }; }, scrollToListItem: function(list_item) { if(this.list_height) { this.wrapper.scrollTop(list_item[0].offsetTop - (this.list_height / 2)); }; }, hideList: function() { this.wrapper.hide(); this.list_is_visible = false; if(this.settings.bg_iframe) { this.bg_iframe.hide(); }; }, hideOtherLists: function() { for(var i = 0; i < instances.length; i++) { if(i != this.select.data('editable-selecter')) { instances[i].hideList(); }; }; }, positionElements: function() { var offset = this.select.offset(); offset.top += this.select[0].offsetHeight; this.select.after(this.text); this.select.hide(); this.wrapper.css({top: offset.top +'px', left: offset.left +'px'}); $(document.body).append(this.wrapper); // Need to do this in order to get the list item height this.wrapper.css('visibility', 'hidden'); this.wrapper.show(); this.list_item_height = this.wrapper.find('li')[0].offsetHeight; this.wrapper.css('visibility', 'visible'); this.wrapper.hide(); }, setWidths: function() { // The text input has a right margin because of the background arrow image // so we need to remove that from the width var width = this.select.width() + 2; var padding_right = parseInt(this.text.css('padding-right').replace(/px/, ''), 10); this.text.width(width - padding_right); this.wrapper.width(width + 2); if(this.bg_iframe) { this.bg_iframe.width(width + 4); }; }, createBackgroundIframe: function() { var bg_iframe = $('<iframe frameborder="0" class="editable-select-iframe" src="about:blank;"></iframe>'); $(document.body).append(bg_iframe); bg_iframe.width(this.select.width() + 2); bg_iframe.height(this.wrapper.height()); bg_iframe.css({top: this.wrapper.css('top'), left: this.wrapper.css('left')}); this.bg_iframe = bg_iframe; } }; })(jQuery); $(function() { $('.editable-select').editableSelect( { bg_iframe: true, onSelect: function(list_item) { alert('List item text: '+ list_item.text()); // 'this' is a reference to the instance of EditableSelect // object, so you have full access to everything there // alert('Input value: '+ this.text.val()); }, case_sensitive: false, // If set to true, the user has to type in an exact // match for the item to get highlighted items_then_scroll: 10 // If there are more than 10 items, display a scrollbar } ); var select = $('.editable-select:first'); var instances = select.editableSelectInstances(); // instances[0].addOption('Germany, value added programmatically'); });

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• Physics System ignores collision in some rare cases

  - by Gajoo

  I've been developing a simple physics engine for my game. since the game physics is very simple I've decided to increase accuracy a little bit. Instead of formal integration methods like fourier or RK4, I'm directly computing the results after delta time "dt". based on the very first laws of physics : dx = 0.5 * a * dt^2 + v0 * dt dv = a * dt where a is acceleration and v0 is object's previous velocity. Also to handle collisions I've used a method which is somehow different from those I've seen so far. I'm detecting all the collision in the given time frame, stepping the world forward to the nearest collision, resolving it and again check for possible collisions. As I said the world consist of very simple objects, so I'm not loosing any performance due to multiple collision checking. First I'm checking if the ball collides with any walls around it (which is working perfectly) and then I'm checking if it collides with the edges of the walls (yellow points in the picture). the algorithm seems to work without any problem except some rare cases, in which the collision with points are ignored. I've tested everything and all the variables seem to be what they should but after leaving the system work for a minute or two the system the ball passes through one of those points. Here is collision portion of my code, hopefully one of you guys can give me a hint where to look for a potential bug! void PhysicalWorld::checkForPointCollision(Vec2 acceleration, PhysicsComponent& ball, Vec2& collisionNormal, float& collisionTime, Vec2 target) { // this function checks if there will be any collision between a circle and a point // ball contains informations about the circle (it's current velocity, position and radius) // collisionNormal is an output variable // collisionTime is also an output varialbe // target is the point I want to check for collisions Vec2 V = ball.mVelocity; Vec2 A = acceleration; Vec2 P = ball.mPosition - target; float wallWidth = mMap->getWallWidth() / (mMap->getWallWidth() + mMap->getHallWidth()) / 2; float r = ball.mRadius / (mMap->getWallWidth() + mMap->getHallWidth()); // r is ball radius scaled to match actual rendered object. if (A.any()) // todo : I need to first correctly solve the collisions in case there is no acceleration return; if (V.any()) // if object is not moving there will be no collisions! { float D = P.x * V.y - P.y * V.x; float Delta = r*r*V.length2() - D*D; if(Delta < eps) return; Delta = sqrt(Delta); float sgnvy = V.y > 0 ? 1: (V.y < 0?-1:0); Vec2 c1(( D*V.y+sgnvy*V.x*Delta) / V.length2(), (-D*V.x+fabs(V.y)*Delta) / V.length2()); Vec2 c2(( D*V.y-sgnvy*V.x*Delta) / V.length2(), (-D*V.x-fabs(V.y)*Delta) / V.length2()); float t1 = (c1.x - P.x) / V.x; float t2 = (c2.x - P.x) / V.x; if(t1 > eps && t1 <= collisionTime) { collisionTime = t1; collisionNormal = c1; } if(t2 > eps && t2 <= collisionTime) { collisionTime = t2; collisionNormal = c2; } } } // this function should step the world forward by dt. it doesn't check for collision of any two balls (components) // it just checks if there is a collision between the current component and 4 points forming a rectangle around it. void PhysicalWorld::step(float dt) { for (unsigned i=0;i<mObjects.size();i++) { PhysicsComponent &current = *mObjects[i]; Vec2 acceleration = current.mForces * current.mInvMass; float rt=dt; // stores how much more the world should advance while(rt > eps) { float collisionTime = rt; Vec2 collisionNormal = Vec2(0,0); float halfWallWidth = mMap->getWallWidth() / (mMap->getWallWidth() + mMap->getHallWidth()) / 2; // we check if there is any collision with any of those 4 points around the ball // if there is a collision both collisionNormal and collisionTime variables will change // after these functions collisionTime will be exactly the value of nearest collision (if any) // and if there was, collisionNormal will report in which direction the ball should return. checkForPointCollision(acceleration,current,collisionNormal,collisionTime,Vec2(floor(current.mPosition.x) + halfWallWidth,floor(current.mPosition.y) + halfWallWidth)); checkForPointCollision(acceleration,current,collisionNormal,collisionTime,Vec2(floor(current.mPosition.x) + halfWallWidth, ceil(current.mPosition.y) - halfWallWidth)); checkForPointCollision(acceleration,current,collisionNormal,collisionTime,Vec2( ceil(current.mPosition.x) - halfWallWidth,floor(current.mPosition.y) + halfWallWidth)); checkForPointCollision(acceleration,current,collisionNormal,collisionTime,Vec2( ceil(current.mPosition.x) - halfWallWidth, ceil(current.mPosition.y) - halfWallWidth)); // either if there is a collision or if there is not we step the forward since we are sure there will be no collision before collisionTime current.mPosition += collisionTime * (collisionTime * acceleration * 0.5 + current.mVelocity); current.mVelocity += collisionTime * acceleration; // if the ball collided with anything collisionNormal should be at least none zero in one of it's axis if (collisionNormal.any()) { collisionNormal *= Dot(collisionNormal, current.mVelocity) / collisionNormal.length2(); current.mVelocity -= 2 * collisionNormal; // simply reverse velocity along collision normal direction } rt -= collisionTime; } // reset all forces for current object so it'll be ready for later game event current.mForces.zero(); } }

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• career advice for PhD scientist seeking to program?

  - by C SD

  I'm largely a self-taught programmer. In fact, I first started programming about half way through biophysics grad school, and even though I think I've done some pretty nice work, I've never worked as part of a 'serious' development team that had more than one or two other developers (and I wouldn't hesitate to call them equally inexperienced in software development as a profession). After finishing my PhD I applied to Google, on a lark, since I had some confidence in my abilities, if not necessarily my experience, and I was hoping to maybe slip in and absorb all the experience and talent I'd be surrounded with and become productive enough, quickly enough, that they wouldn't immediately regret their decision. I was excited to actually get invited to interview up at Mountain View (this was ~ mid 2008). Overall, my memory of the interview was very positive, but after close to a three month wait (is that normal?) they ended up turning me down. I wasn't too surprised or disappointed (aside from the uncomfortably long wait) given my unusual background and admitted lack of experience. I decided to continue as a postdoc, but focus on improving my skills rather than doing research. I've done about three years of that, and my honest assessment is that I've learned a ton more, but I really need more of a peer group to maintain or accelerate my growth. Google invited me to interview again about eight months ago, and the interview process went even better than the first time around (I thought), though they again declined to give me an offer. I have to admit this second rejection was much more discouraging. They had insisted I interview even after I mentioned to them that a move on my part was unlikely given that I had bought a house, gotten married, etc. since the first interview. I guess I was hoping they'd at least give me an offer that I could parlay into a more conventional, but still interesting, programming position close to home. So here I am, going on my third year out of grad school, a glorified postdoc and I'm starting to get pretty discouraged. Even though I could technically get 'back-on-track' for a career in science, I have been focusing the vast majority of this time on gaining programming experience rather than on research and publications. The problem is, whenever I look, most job listings have requirements that seem impossibly grandiose and I hesitate to apply. That, or the job/project seems incredibly dull. Ironically, applying to Google struck me as less intimidating. I suspect that either most people are just a lot less realistic than I am when it comes to assessing how long it will take for them to get up to speed, or they don't care; my fear is that I'm just woefully unqualified for any interesting, well paying work. IE: I'm confident I could switch fully back into C++ mode with a couple weeks work (I mostly use C,Python,C# daily) but I don't list myself as being 'proficient' in C++ on my CV, or applying for jobs that 'require' such knowledge. The few applications for which I did feel I was a legitimately good match have not elicited a response. I suspect the following things are potential problems with my application/CV and I would like feedback on: I don't have a CS degree. My BS was in biochemistry and molecular biology, my PhD in biophysics. I took a undergrad and grad level CS course at UCSD and completely killed them, but I don't know how to translate that to my CV effectively. I have a PhD, but it's not in CS... I've been debating if I should remove it from my CV, and wether or not it would then be misleading to list at least some of those years as some kind of 'programming' job (in many respects it was). I think there are sometimes strong stigmas associated with 'self-taught' programmers. I am certainly one of those. I even recognize that some of those stigmas hold a hint of truth, but I really do want to be an asset to a team. How do I communicate that even though I have been largely self-directing for ~8 years I can still take marching orders when needed? Do I just say so outright? Should I just become a lot less scrupulous about the whole process? anecdote: I have a friend who applied for positions where he completely fudged his qualifications to get past the first culling. He was much more honest and forthcoming about his actual qualifications when contacted and he still managed to get invited to a couple of interviews and even got some offers. His balls are larger than mine though.

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• How to Apply a Business Card Template to a Contact and Customize it in Outlook 2013

  - by Lori Kaufman

  If you want to add a business card template to an existing contact in Outlook, you can do so without having to enter all of the information again. We will also show you how to customize the layout and format of the text on the card. Microsoft provides a couple of business card templates you can use. We will use their Blue Sky template as an example. To open the archive file for the template you downloaded, double-click on the .cab file. NOTE: You can also use a tool like 7-Zip to open the archive. A new Extract tab becomes available under Compressed Folder Tools and the files in the archive are listed. Select the .vcf file in the list of files. This automatically activates the Extract tab. Click Extract To and select a location or select Choose location if the desired location is not on the drop-down menu. Select a folder in which you want to save the .vcf file on the Copy Items dialog box and click Copy. NOTE: Use the Make New Folder button to create a new folder for the location, if desired. Double-click on the .vcf file that you copied out of the .cab archive file. By default, .vcf files are associated with Outlook so, when you double-click on a .vcf file, it automatically opens in a Contact window in Outlook. Change the Full Name to match the existing contact to which you want to apply this template. Delete the other contact info from the template. If you want to add any additional information not in the existing contact, enter it. Click Save & Close to save the contact with the new template. The Duplicate Contact Detected dialog box displays. To update the existing contact, select the Update information of selected Contact option. Click Update. NOTE: If you want to create a new contact from this template, select the Add new contact option. With the Contacts folder open (the People link on the Navigation Bar), click Business Card in the Current View section of the Home tab. You may notice that not all the fields from your contact display on the business card you just updated. Double-click on the contact to update the contact and the business card. On the Contact window, right-click on the image of the business card and select Edit Business Card from the popup menu. The Edit Business Card dialog box displays. You can change the design of the card, including changing he background color or image. The Fields box allows you to specify which fields display on the business card and in what order. Notice, in our example, that Company is listed below the Full Name, but no text displays on the business card below the name. That’s because we did not enter any information for Company in the Contact. We have information in Job Title. So, we select Company and click Remove to remove that field. Now, we want to add Job Title. First, select the field below which you want to add the new field. We select Full Name to add the Job Title below that. Then, we click Add and select Organization | Job Title from the popup menu to insert the Job Title. To make the Job Title white like the name, we select Job Title in the list of Fields and click the Font Color button in the Edit section. On the Color dialog box, select the color you want to use for the text in the selected field. Click OK. You can also make text bold, italic, or underlined. We chose to make the Job Title bold and the Full Name bold and italic. We also need to remove the Business Phone because this contact only has a mobile phone number. So, we add a Mobile Phone from the Phone submenu. Then, we need to remove enough blank lines so the Mobile Phone is visible on the card. We also added a website and email address and removed more blank lines so they are visible. You can also move text to the right side of the card or make it centered on the card. We also changed the color of the bottom three lines to blue. Click OK to accept your changes and close the dialog box. Your new business card design displays on the Contact window. Click Save & Close to save the changes you made to the business card for this contact and close the Contact window. The final design of the business card displays in the Business Card view on the People screen. If you have a signature that contains the business card for the contact you just updated, you will also need to update the signature by removing the business card and adding it again using the Business Card button in the Signature editor. You can also add the updated Business Card to a signature without the image or without the vCard (.vcf) file.     

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• Checksum Transformation

  The Checksum Transformation computes a hash value, the checksum, across one or more columns, returning the result in the Checksum output column. The transformation provides functionality similar to the T-SQL CHECKSUM function, but is encapsulated within SQL Server Integration Services, for use within the pipeline without code or a SQL Server connection. As featured in The Microsoft Data Warehouse Toolkit by Joy Mundy and Warren Thornthwaite from the Kimbal Group. Have a look at the book samples especially Sample package for custom SCD handling. All input columns are passed through the transformation unaltered, those selected are used to generate the checksum which is passed out through a single output column, Checksum. This does not restrict the number of columns available downstream from the transformation, as columns will always flow through a transformation. The Checksum output column is in addition to all existing columns within the pipeline buffer. The Checksum Transformation uses an algorithm based on the .Net framework GetHashCode method, it is not consistent with the T-SQL CHECKSUM() or BINARY_CHECKSUM() functions. The transformation does not support the following Integration Services data types, DT_NTEXT, DT_IMAGE and DT_BYTES. ChecksumAlgorithm Property There ChecksumAlgorithm property is defined with an enumeration. It was first added in v1.3.0, when the FrameworkChecksum was added. All previous algorithms are still supported for backward compatibility as ChecksumAlgorithm.Original (0). Original - Orginal checksum function, with known issues around column separators and null columns. This was deprecated in the first SQL Server 2005 RTM release. FrameworkChecksum - The hash function is based on the .NET Framework GetHash method for object types. This is based on the .NET Object.GetHashCode() method, which unfortunately differs between x86 and x64 systems. For that reason we now default to the CRC32 option. CRC32 - Using a standard 32-bit cyclic redundancy check (CRC), this provides a more open implementation. The component is provided as an MSI file, however to complete the installation, you will have to add the transformation to the Visual Studio toolbox by hand. This process has been described in detail in the related FAQ entry for How do I install a task or transform component?, just select Checksum from the SSIS Data Flow Items list in the Choose Toolbox Items window. Downloads The Checksum Transformation is available for SQL Server 2005, SQL Server 2008 (includes R2) and SQL Server 2012. Please choose the version to match your SQL Server version, or you can install multiple versions and use them side by side if you have more than one version of SQL Server installed. Checksum Transformation for SQL Server 2005 Checksum Transformation for SQL Server 2008 Checksum Transformation for SQL Server 2012 Version History SQL Server 2012 Version 3.0.0.27 – SQL Server 2012 release. Includes upgrade support for both 2005 and 2008 packages to 2012. (5 Jun 2010) SQL Server 2008 Version 2.0.0.27 – Fix for CRC-32 algorithm that inadvertently made it sort dependent. Fix for race condition which sometimes lead to the error Item has already been added. Key in dictionary: '79764919' . Fix for upgrade mappings between 2005 and 2008. (19 Oct 2010) Version 2.0.0.24 - SQL Server 2008 release. Introduces the new CRC-32 algorithm, which is consistent across x86 and x64.. The default algorithm is now CRC32. (29 Oct 2008) Version 2.0.0.6 - SQL Server 2008 pre-release. This version was released by mistake as part of the site migration, and had known issues. (20 Oct 2008) SQL Server 2005 Version 1.5.0.43 – Fix for CRC-32 algorithm that inadvertently made it sort dependent. Fix for race condition which sometimes lead to the error Item has already been added. Key in dictionary: '79764919' . (19 Oct 2010) Version 1.5.0.16 - Introduces the new CRC-32 algorithm, which is consistent across x86 and x64. The default algorithm is now CRC32. (20 Oct 2008) Version 1.4.0.0 - Installer refresh only. (22 Dec 2007) Version 1.4.0.0 - Refresh for minor UI enhancements. (5 Mar 2006) Version 1.3.0.0 - SQL Server 2005 RTM. The checksum algorithm has changed to improve cardinality when calculating multiple column checksums. The original algorithm is still available for backward compatibility. Fixed custom UI bug with Output column name not persisting. (10 Nov 2005) Version 1.2.0.1 - SQL Server 2005 IDW 15 June CTP. A user interface is provided, as well as the ability to change the checksum output column name. (29 Aug 2005) Version 1.0.0 - Public Release (Beta). (30 Oct 2004) Screenshot

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• Extended FindWindow

  - by João Angelo

  The Win32 API provides the FindWindow function that supports finding top-level windows by their class name and/or title. However, the title search does not work if you are trying to match partial text at the middle or the end of the full window title. You can however implement support for these extended search features by using another set of Win32 API like EnumWindows and GetWindowText. A possible implementation follows: using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Linq; using System.Runtime.InteropServices; using System.Text; public class WindowInfo { private IntPtr handle; private string className; internal WindowInfo(IntPtr handle, string title) { if (handle == IntPtr.Zero) throw new ArgumentException("Invalid handle.", "handle"); this.Handle = handle; this.Title = title ?? string.Empty; } public string Title { get; private set; } public string ClassName { get { if (className == null) { className = GetWindowClassNameByHandle(this.Handle); } return className; } } public IntPtr Handle { get { if (!NativeMethods.IsWindow(this.handle)) throw new InvalidOperationException("The handle is no longer valid."); return this.handle; } private set { this.handle = value; } } public static WindowInfo[] EnumerateWindows() { var windows = new List<WindowInfo>(); NativeMethods.EnumWindowsProcessor processor = (hwnd, lParam) => { windows.Add(new WindowInfo(hwnd, GetWindowTextByHandle(hwnd))); return true; }; bool succeeded = NativeMethods.EnumWindows(processor, IntPtr.Zero); if (!succeeded) return new WindowInfo[] { }; return windows.ToArray(); } public static WindowInfo FindWindow(Predicate<WindowInfo> predicate) { WindowInfo target = null; NativeMethods.EnumWindowsProcessor processor = (hwnd, lParam) => { var current = new WindowInfo(hwnd, GetWindowTextByHandle(hwnd)); if (predicate(current)) { target = current; return false; } return true; }; NativeMethods.EnumWindows(processor, IntPtr.Zero); return target; } private static string GetWindowTextByHandle(IntPtr handle) { if (handle == IntPtr.Zero) throw new ArgumentException("Invalid handle.", "handle"); int length = NativeMethods.GetWindowTextLength(handle); if (length == 0) return string.Empty; var buffer = new StringBuilder(length + 1); NativeMethods.GetWindowText(handle, buffer, buffer.Capacity); return buffer.ToString(); } private static string GetWindowClassNameByHandle(IntPtr handle) { if (handle == IntPtr.Zero) throw new ArgumentException("Invalid handle.", "handle"); const int WindowClassNameMaxLength = 256; var buffer = new StringBuilder(WindowClassNameMaxLength); NativeMethods.GetClassName(handle, buffer, buffer.Capacity); return buffer.ToString(); } } internal class NativeMethods { public delegate bool EnumWindowsProcessor(IntPtr hwnd, IntPtr lParam); [DllImport("user32.dll")] [return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)] public static extern bool EnumWindows( EnumWindowsProcessor lpEnumFunc, IntPtr lParam); [DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError = true, CharSet = CharSet.Auto)] public static extern int GetWindowText( IntPtr hWnd, StringBuilder lpString, int nMaxCount); [DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError = true, CharSet = CharSet.Auto)] public static extern int GetWindowTextLength(IntPtr hWnd); [DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError = true, CharSet = CharSet.Auto)] public static extern int GetClassName( IntPtr hWnd, StringBuilder lpClassName, int nMaxCount); [DllImport("user32.dll")] [return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)] public static extern bool IsWindow(IntPtr hWnd); } The access to the windows handle is preceded by a sanity check to assert if it’s still valid, but if you are dealing with windows out of your control then the window can be destroyed right after the check so it’s not guaranteed that you’ll get a valid handle. Finally, to wrap this up a usage, example: static void Main(string[] args) { var w = WindowInfo.FindWindow(wi => wi.Title.Contains("Test.docx")); if (w != null) { Console.Write(w.Title); } }

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• trouble running smooth animation in thread only when using key listener

  - by heysuse renard

  first time using a forum for coding help so sorry if i post this all wrong. i have more than a few classes i don't think screenManger or core holds the problem but i included them just incase. i got most of this code working through a set of tutorials. but a certain point started trying to do more on my own. i want to play the animation only when i'm moving my sprite. in my KeyTest class i am using threads to run the animation it used to work (poorly) but now not at all pluss it really gunks up my computer. i think it's because of the thread. im new to threads so i'm not to sure if i should even be using one in this situation or if its dangerous for my computer. the animation worked smoothly when i had the sprite bouce around the screen forever. the animation loop played with out stopping. i think the main problem is between the animationThread, Sprite, and keyTest classes, but itcould be more indepth. if someone could point me in the right direction for making the animation run smoothly when i push down a key and stop runing when i let off it would be greatly apriciated. i already looked at this Java a moving animation (sprite) obviously we were doing the same tutorial. but i feel my problem is slightly different. p.s. sorry for the typos. import java.awt.*; import java.awt.event.KeyEvent; import java.awt.event.KeyListener; import java.awt.image.BufferStrategy; import java.awt.image.BufferedImage; import java.util.ArrayList; import javax.swing.ImageIcon; import javax.swing.JFrame; public class KeyTest extends Core implements KeyListener { public static void main(String[] args) { new KeyTest().run(); } Sprite player1; Image hobo; Image background; animation hoboRun; animationThread t1; //init also calls init form superclass public void init() { super.init(); loadImages(); Window w = s.getFullScreenWindow(); w.setFocusTraversalKeysEnabled(false); w.addKeyListener(this); } //load method will go here. //load all pics need for animation and sprite public void loadImages() { background = new ImageIcon("\\\\STUART-PC\\Users\\Stuart\\workspace\\Gaming\\yellow square.jpg").getImage(); Image face1 = new ImageIcon("\\\\STUART-PC\\Users\\Stuart\\workspace\\Gaming\\circle.png").getImage(); Image face2 = new ImageIcon("\\\\STUART-PC\\Users\\Stuart\\workspace\\Gaming\\one eye.png").getImage(); hoboRun = new animation(); hoboRun.addScene(face1, 250); hoboRun.addScene(face2, 250); player1 = new Sprite(hoboRun); this.t1 = new animationThread(); this.t1.setAnimation(player1); } //key pressed public void keyPressed(KeyEvent e) { int keyCode = e.getKeyCode(); if (keyCode == KeyEvent.VK_ESCAPE) { stop(); } if (keyCode == KeyEvent.VK_RIGHT) { player1.setVelocityX(0.3f); try { this.t1.setRunning(true); Thread th1 = new Thread(this.t1); th1.start(); } catch (Exception ex) { System.out.println("noooo"); } } if (keyCode == KeyEvent.VK_LEFT) { player1.setVelocityX(-0.3f); try { this.t1.setRunning(true); Thread th1 = new Thread(this.t1); th1.start(); } catch (Exception ex) { System.out.println("noooo"); } } if (keyCode == KeyEvent.VK_DOWN) { player1.setVelocityY(0.3f); try { this.t1.setRunning(true); Thread th1 = new Thread(this.t1); th1.start(); } catch (Exception ex) { System.out.println("noooo"); } } if (keyCode == KeyEvent.VK_UP) { player1.setVelocityY(-0.3f); try { this.t1.setRunning(true); Thread th1 = new Thread(this.t1);; th1.start(); } catch (Exception ex) { System.out.println("noooo"); } } else { e.consume(); } } //keyReleased @SuppressWarnings("static-access") public void keyReleased(KeyEvent e) { int keyCode = e.getKeyCode(); if (keyCode == KeyEvent.VK_RIGHT || keyCode == KeyEvent.VK_LEFT) { player1.setVelocityX(0); try { this.t1.setRunning(false); } catch (Exception ex) { } } if (keyCode == KeyEvent.VK_UP || keyCode == KeyEvent.VK_DOWN) { player1.setVelocityY(0); try { this.t1.setRunning(false); } catch (Exception ex) { } } else { e.consume(); } } //last method from interface public void keyTyped(KeyEvent e) { e.consume(); } //draw public void draw(Graphics2D g) { Window w = s.getFullScreenWindow(); g.setColor(w.getBackground()); g.fillRect(0, 0, s.getWidth(), s.getHieght()); g.setColor(w.getForeground()); g.drawImage(player1.getImage(), Math.round(player1.getX()), Math.round(player1.getY()), null); } public void update(long timePassed) { player1.update(timePassed); } } abstract class Core { private static DisplayMode modes[] = { new DisplayMode(1600, 900, 64, 0), new DisplayMode(800, 600, 32, 0), new DisplayMode(800, 600, 24, 0), new DisplayMode(800, 600, 16, 0), new DisplayMode(800, 480, 32, 0), new DisplayMode(800, 480, 24, 0), new DisplayMode(800, 480, 16, 0),}; private boolean running; protected ScreenManager s; //stop method public void stop() { running = false; } public void run() { try { init(); gameLoop(); } finally { s.restoreScreen(); } } //set to full screen //set current background here public void init() { s = new ScreenManager(); DisplayMode dm = s.findFirstCompatibleMode(modes); s.setFullScreen(dm); Window w = s.getFullScreenWindow(); w.setFont(new Font("Arial", Font.PLAIN, 20)); w.setBackground(Color.GREEN); w.setForeground(Color.WHITE); running = true; } //main gameLoop public void gameLoop() { long startTime = System.currentTimeMillis(); long cumTime = startTime; while (running) { long timePassed = System.currentTimeMillis() - cumTime; cumTime += timePassed; update(timePassed); Graphics2D g = s.getGraphics(); draw(g); g.dispose(); s.update(); try { Thread.sleep(20); } catch (Exception ex) { } } } //update animation public void update(long timePassed) { } //draws to screen abstract void draw(Graphics2D g); } class animationThread implements Runnable { String name; boolean playing; Sprite a; //constructor takes input from keyboard public animationThread() { } //The run method for animation public void run() { long startTime = System.currentTimeMillis(); long cumTime = startTime; boolean test = getRunning(); while (test) { long timePassed = System.currentTimeMillis() - cumTime; cumTime += timePassed; test = getRunning(); } } public String getName() { return name; } public void setAnimation(Sprite a) { this.a = a; } public void setName(String name) { this.name = name; } public void setRunning(boolean running) { this.playing = running; } public boolean getRunning() { return playing; } } class animation { private ArrayList scenes; private int sceneIndex; private long movieTime; private long totalTime; //constructor public animation() { scenes = new ArrayList(); totalTime = 0; start(); } //add scene to ArrayLisy and set time for each scene public synchronized void addScene(Image i, long t) { totalTime += t; scenes.add(new OneScene(i, totalTime)); } public synchronized void start() { movieTime = 0; sceneIndex = 0; } //change scenes public synchronized void update(long timePassed) { if (scenes.size() > 1) { movieTime += timePassed; if (movieTime >= totalTime) { movieTime = 0; sceneIndex = 0; } while (movieTime > getScene(sceneIndex).endTime) { sceneIndex++; } } } //get animations current scene(aka image) public synchronized Image getImage() { if (scenes.size() == 0) { return null; } else { return getScene(sceneIndex).pic; } } //get scene private OneScene getScene(int x) { return (OneScene) scenes.get(x); } //Private Inner CLASS////////////// private class OneScene { Image pic; long endTime; public OneScene(Image pic, long endTime) { this.pic = pic; this.endTime = endTime; } } } class Sprite { private animation a; private float x; private float y; private float vx; private float vy; //Constructor public Sprite(animation a) { this.a = a; } //change position public void update(long timePassed) { x += vx * timePassed; y += vy * timePassed; } public void startAnimation(long timePassed) { a.update(timePassed); } //get x position public float getX() { return x; } //get y position public float getY() { return y; } //set x public void setX(float x) { this.x = x; } //set y public void setY(float y) { this.y = y; } //get sprite width public int getWidth() { return a.getImage().getWidth(null); } //get sprite height public int getHeight() { return a.getImage().getHeight(null); } //get horizontal velocity public float getVelocityX() { return vx; } //get vertical velocity public float getVelocityY() { return vx; } //set horizontal velocity public void setVelocityX(float vx) { this.vx = vx; } //set vertical velocity public void setVelocityY(float vy) { this.vy = vy; } //get sprite / image public Image getImage() { return a.getImage(); } } class ScreenManager { private GraphicsDevice vc; public ScreenManager() { GraphicsEnvironment e = GraphicsEnvironment.getLocalGraphicsEnvironment(); vc = e.getDefaultScreenDevice(); } //get all compatible DM public DisplayMode[] getCompatibleDisplayModes() { return vc.getDisplayModes(); } //compares DM passed into vc DM and see if they match public DisplayMode findFirstCompatibleMode(DisplayMode modes[]) { DisplayMode goodModes[] = vc.getDisplayModes(); for (int x = 0; x < modes.length; x++) { for (int y = 0; y < goodModes.length; y++) { if (displayModesMatch(modes[x], goodModes[y])) { return modes[x]; } } } return null; } //get current DM public DisplayMode getCurrentDisplayMode() { return vc.getDisplayMode(); } //checks if two modes match each other public boolean displayModesMatch(DisplayMode m1, DisplayMode m2) { if (m1.getWidth() != m2.getWidth() || m1.getHeight() != m2.getHeight()) { return false; } if (m1.getBitDepth() != DisplayMode.BIT_DEPTH_MULTI && m2.getBitDepth() != DisplayMode.BIT_DEPTH_MULTI && m1.getBitDepth() != m2.getBitDepth()) { return false; } if (m1.getRefreshRate() != DisplayMode.REFRESH_RATE_UNKNOWN && m2.getRefreshRate() != DisplayMode.REFRESH_RATE_UNKNOWN && m1.getRefreshRate() != m2.getRefreshRate()) { return false; } return true; } //make frame full screen public void setFullScreen(DisplayMode dm) { JFrame f = new JFrame(); f.setUndecorated(true); f.setIgnoreRepaint(true); f.setResizable(false); vc.setFullScreenWindow(f); if (dm != null && vc.isDisplayChangeSupported()) { try { vc.setDisplayMode(dm); } catch (Exception ex) { } } f.createBufferStrategy(2); } //sets graphics object = this return public Graphics2D getGraphics() { Window w = vc.getFullScreenWindow(); if (w != null) { BufferStrategy s = w.getBufferStrategy(); return (Graphics2D) s.getDrawGraphics(); } else { return null; } } //updates display public void update() { Window w = vc.getFullScreenWindow(); if (w != null) { BufferStrategy s = w.getBufferStrategy(); if (!s.contentsLost()) { s.show(); } } } //returns full screen window public Window getFullScreenWindow() { return vc.getFullScreenWindow(); } //get width of window public int getWidth() { Window w = vc.getFullScreenWindow(); if (w != null) { return w.getWidth(); } else { return 0; } } //get height of window public int getHieght() { Window w = vc.getFullScreenWindow(); if (w != null) { return w.getHeight(); } else { return 0; } } //get out of full screen public void restoreScreen() { Window w = vc.getFullScreenWindow(); if (w != null) { w.dispose(); } vc.setFullScreenWindow(null); } //create image compatible with monitor public BufferedImage createCopatibleImage(int w, int h, int t) { Window win = vc.getFullScreenWindow(); if (win != null) { GraphicsConfiguration gc = win.getGraphicsConfiguration(); return gc.createCompatibleImage(w, h, t); } return null; } }

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• Exalogic 2.0.1 Tea Break Snippets - Modifying the Default Shipped Template

  - by The Old Toxophilist

  Having installed your Exalogic Virtual environment by default you have a single template which can be used to create your vServers. Although this template is suitable for creating simple test or development vServers it is recommended that you look at creating your own custom vServers that match the environment you wish to build and deploy. Therefore this Tea Time Snippet will take you through the simple process of modifying the standard template. Before You Start To edit the template you will need the Oracle ModifyJeos Utility which can be downloaded from the eDelivery Site. Once the ModifyJeos Utility has been downloaded we can install the rpms onto either an existing vServer or one of the Control vServers. rpm -ivh ovm-modify-jeos-1.0.1-10.el5.noarch.rpm rpm -ivh ovm-template-config-1.0.1-5.el5.noarch.rpm Alternatively you can install the modify jeos packages on a none Exalogic OEL installation or a VirtualBox image. If you are doing this, assuming OEL 5u8, you will need the following rpms. rpm -ivh ovm-modify-jeos-1.0.1-10.el5.noarch.rpm rpm -ivh ovm-el5u2-xvm-jeos-1.0.1-5.el5.i386.rpm rpm -ivh ovm-template-config-1.0.1-5.el5.noarch.rpm Base Template If you have installed the modify onto a vServer running on the Exalogic then simply mount the /export/common/images from the ZFS storage and you will be able to find the el_x2-2_base_linux_guest_vm_template_2.0.1.1.0_64.tgz (or similar depending which version you have) template file. Alternatively the latest can be downloaded from the eDelivery Site. Now we have the Template tgz we will need the extract it as follows: tar -zxvf  el_x2-2_base_linux_guest_vm_template_2.0.1.1.0_64.tgz This will create a directory called BASE which will contain the System.img (VServer image) and vm.cfg (VServer Config information). This directory should be renamed to something more meaning full that indicates what we have done to the template and then the Simple name / name in the vm.cfg editted for the same reason. Modifying the Template Resizing Root File System By default the shipped template has a root size of 4 GB which will leave a vServer created from it running at 90% full on the root disk. We can simply resize the template by executing the following: modifyjeos -f System.img -T <New Size MB>) For example to imcrease the default 4 GB to 40 GB we would execute: modifyjeos -f System.img -T 40960) Resizing Swap We can modify the size of the swap space within a template by executing the following: modifyjeos -f System.img -S <New Size MB>) For example to increase the swap from the default 512 MB to 4 GB we would execute: modifyjeos -f System.img -S 4096) Changing RPMs Adding RPMs To add RPMs using modifyjeos, complete the following steps: Add the names of the new RPMs in a list file, such as addrpms.lst. In this file, you should list each new RPM in a separate line. Ensure that all of the new RPMs are in a single directory, such as rpms. Run the following command to add the new RPMs: modifyjeos -f System.img -a <path_to_addrpms.lst> -m <path_to_rpms> -nogpg Where <path_to_addrpms.lst> is the path to the location of the addrpms.lst file, and <path_to_rpms> is the path to the directory that contains the RPMs. The -nogpg option eliminates signature check on the RPMs. Removing RPMs To remove RPM s using modifyjeos, complete the following steps: Add the names of the RPMs (the ones you want to remove) in a list file, such as removerpms.lst. In this file, you should list each RPM in a separate line. The Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud Administrator's Guide provides a list of all RPMs that must not be removed from the vServer. Run the following command to remove the RPMs: modifyjeos -f System.img -e <path_to_removerpms.lst> Where <path_to_removerpms.lst> is the path to the location of the removerpms.lst file. Mounting the System.img For all other modifications that are not supported by the modifyjeos command (adding you custom yum repositories, pre configuring NTP, modify default NFSv4 Nobody functionality, etc) we can mount the System.img and access it directly. To facititate quick and easy mounting/unmounting of the System.img I have put together the simple scripts below. MountSystemImg.sh #!/bin/sh # The script assumes it's being run from the directory containing the System.img # Export for later i.e. during unmount export LOOP=`losetup -f` export SYSTEMIMG=/mnt/elsystem # Make Temp Mount Directory mkdir -p $SYSTEMIMG # Create Loop for the System Image losetup $LOOP System.img kpartx -a $LOOP mount /dev/mapper/`basename $LOOP`p2 $SYSTEMIMG #Change Dir into mounted Image cd $SYSTEMIMG UnmountSystemImg.sh #!/bin/sh # The script assumes it's being run from the directory containing the System.img # Assume the $LOOP & $SYSTEMIMG exist from a previous run on the MountSystemImg.sh umount $SYSTEMIMG kpartx -d $LOOP losetup -d $LOOP Packaging the Template Once you have finished modifying the template it can be simply repackaged and then imported into EMOC as described in "Exalogic 2.0.1 Tea Break Snippets - Importing Public Server Template". To do this we will simply cd to the directory above that containing the modified files and execute the following: tar -zcvf <New Template Directory> <New Template Name>.tgz The resulting.tgz file can be copied to the images directory on the ZFS and uploadd using the IB network. This entry was originally posted on the The Old Toxophilist Site.

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• Unable to boot: Missing Operating system

  - by Vivek S Panicker

  i had installed Ubuntu 11.10 along with the another Ubuntu 11.10 which already installed in my netbook. Later I formatted the partition I newly installed. Next time when I boot it went to Grub Rescue menu. I boot my system again with Ubuntu USB stick, Then I installed Boot repair package in USB and restored MBR and GRUB menu in hard disk. Now when I am restarting, I am getting a message Missing operating system, press any key to continue. Can somebody help me on this? Below is the output for sudo fdisk -l omitting empty partition (7) Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders, total 312581808 sectors Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disk identifier: 0x00058a60 Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sda1 * 2048 204072287 102035120 83 Linux /dev/sda2 204072958 312580095 54253569 5 Extended /dev/sda5 310507520 312580095 1036288 82 Linux swap / Solaris /dev/sda6 308432896 310503423 1035264 82 Linux swap / Solaris Partition table entries are not in disk order Disk /dev/sdb: 4006 MB, 4006608896 bytes 124 heads, 62 sectors/track, 1017 cylinders, total 7825408 sectors Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disk identifier: 0x0004d3df Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sdb1 * 62 7818695 3909317 b W95 FAT32 Below is the output for sudo blkid /dev/loop0: TYPE="squashfs" /dev/loop1: LABEL="casper-rw" UUID="533defb1-f073-254a-b46f-7ca0ac1f4e0c" TYPE="ext2" /dev/sda1: LABEL="Ubuntu" UUID="6a141040-3ba8-457a-9de5-ad06e6057084" TYPE="ext4" /dev/sda5: UUID="3a7f62d6-9c65-4d12-a3b6-5d62b9710f7d" TYPE="swap" /dev/sda6: UUID="274da115-cec2-4418-a1af-88fe921e3670" TYPE="swap" /dev/sdb1: LABEL="PENDRIVE" UUID="EC22-6BE4" TYPE="vfat" File /boot/grub/grub.cfg # # DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE # # It is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates # from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub # ### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ### if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then set have_grubenv=true load_env fi set default="0" if [ "${prev_saved_entry}" ]; then set saved_entry="${prev_saved_entry}" save_env saved_entry set prev_saved_entry= save_env prev_saved_entry set boot_once=true fi function savedefault { if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then saved_entry="${chosen}" save_env saved_entry fi } function recordfail { set recordfail=1 if [ -n "${have_grubenv}" ]; then if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then save_env recordfail; fi; fi } function load_video { insmod vbe insmod vga insmod video_bochs insmod video_cirrus } insmod part_msdos insmod ext2 set root='(hd0,msdos1)' search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 6a141040-3ba8-457a-9de5-ad06e6057084 if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then set gfxmode=auto load_video insmod gfxterm insmod part_msdos insmod ext2 set root='(hd0,msdos1)' search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 6a141040-3ba8-457a-9de5-ad06e6057084 set locale_dir=($root)/boot/grub/locale set lang=en_US insmod gettext fi terminal_output gfxterm if [ "${recordfail}" = 1 ]; then set timeout=10 else set timeout=10 fi ### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ### ### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ### set menu_color_normal=white/black set menu_color_highlight=black/light-gray if background_color 44,0,30; then clear fi ### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ### ### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ### if [ ${recordfail} != 1 ]; then if [ -e ${prefix}/gfxblacklist.txt ]; then if hwmatch ${prefix}/gfxblacklist.txt 3; then if [ ${match} = 0 ]; then set linux_gfx_mode=keep else set linux_gfx_mode=text fi else set linux_gfx_mode=text fi else set linux_gfx_mode=keep fi else set linux_gfx_mode=text fi export linux_gfx_mode if [ "$linux_gfx_mode" != "text" ]; then load_video; fi menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 3.0.0-12-generic' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os { recordfail set gfxpayload=$linux_gfx_mode insmod gzio insmod part_msdos insmod ext2 set root='(hd0,msdos1)' search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 6a141040-3ba8-457a-9de5-ad06e6057084 linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.0.0-12-generic root=UUID=6a141040-3ba8-457a-9de5-ad06e6057084 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7 initrd /boot/initrd.img-3.0.0-12-generic } menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 3.0.0-12-generic (recovery mode)' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os { recordfail insmod gzio insmod part_msdos insmod ext2 set root='(hd0,msdos1)' search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 6a141040-3ba8-457a-9de5-ad06e6057084 echo 'Loading Linux 3.0.0-12-generic ...' linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.0.0-12-generic root=UUID=6a141040-3ba8-457a-9de5-ad06e6057084 ro recovery nomodeset echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...' initrd /boot/initrd.img-3.0.0-12-generic } ### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ### ### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ### ### END /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ### ### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ### menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+)" { insmod part_msdos insmod ext2 set root='(hd0,msdos1)' search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 6a141040-3ba8-457a-9de5-ad06e6057084 linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin } menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)" { insmod part_msdos insmod ext2 set root='(hd0,msdos1)' search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 6a141040-3ba8-457a-9de5-ad06e6057084 linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin console=ttyS0,115200n8 } ### END /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ### ### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ### ### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ### ### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ### # This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries. Simply type the # menu entries you want to add after this comment. Be careful not to change # the 'exec tail' line above. ### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ### ### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/41_custom ### if [ -f $prefix/custom.cfg ]; then source $prefix/custom.cfg; fi ### END /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###

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• Can't see my partitions after grub recovery

  - by dimbo

  I stupidly inserted the windows CD into my dual boot Ubuntu 11.10 / windows xp system. I just wanted to see if I could install windows on my external usb HD, but didn't actually go ahead with the install. It seems like the windows CD messed up my MBR and I had to use boot-repair and the ubuntu 11.10 live CD to gain access to ubuntu again. It seems to boot up a little differently (slower) but works. However, I now cant see any of my partitions in nautilus (there are 3). When I open gparted, it just shows my whole hard drive as unallocated (I know it has a windows partition that works and my ubuntu partition that I am using now). If I insert a usb pen, it is also not visible in nautilus but in gparted shows up as a FAT32 partition (which is correct although I cannot access it). sudo fdisk -l gives the following : demian@dimbo-TP:~$ sudo fdisk -l [sudo] password for demian: omitting empty partition (5) Disk /dev/sda: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes 240 heads, 63 sectors/track, 41345 cylinders, total 625142448 sectors Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disk identifier: 0x877b877b Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sda1 * 63 63842309 31921123+ 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT /dev/sda2 63844350 133484084 34819867+ 5 Extended /dev/sda3 127636488 133484084 2923798+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris /dev/sda4 133484085 625137344 245826630 83 Linux /dev/sda5 63844352 123445247 29800448 83 Linux /dev/sda6 123447296 127635455 2094080 82 Linux swap / Solaris Disk /dev/sdb: 8100 MB, 8100249600 bytes 12 heads, 40 sectors/track, 32960 cylinders, total 15820800 sectors Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disk identifier: 0xc3072e18 Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sdb1 * 5992 15820799 7907404 c W95 FAT32 (LBA) Here is my grub.conf file. Like I said before, I had to use the 'boot-repair' utility with the live cd to get grub working again. I think that this utility maybe created a new grub for me because the startup is definitely not the same. The screen goes blank for a while, and then the ubuntu loading dots come up for a brief moment (instead of during the whole startup process) before the dektop is displayed. Anyway : # DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE # # It is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates # from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub # ### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ### if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then set have_grubenv=true load_env fi set default="0" if [ "${prev_saved_entry}" ]; then set saved_entry="${prev_saved_entry}" save_env saved_entry set prev_saved_entry= save_env prev_saved_entry set boot_once=true fi function savedefault { if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then saved_entry="${chosen}" save_env saved_entry fi } function recordfail { set recordfail=1 if [ -n "${have_grubenv}" ]; then if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then save_env recordfail; fi; fi } function load_video { insmod vbe insmod vga insmod video_bochs insmod video_cirrus } insmod part_msdos insmod ext2 set root='(hd0,msdos6)' search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 5349ff67-b7b7-489f-a881-ae49c1dcd84a if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then set gfxmode=auto load_video insmod gfxterm insmod part_msdos insmod ext2 set root='(hd0,msdos6)' search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 5349ff67-b7b7-489f-a881-ae49c1dcd84a set locale_dir=($root)/boot/grub/locale set lang=en_US insmod gettext fi terminal_output gfxterm if [ "${recordfail}" = 1 ]; then set timeout=10 else set timeout=10 fi ### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ### ### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ### set menu_color_normal=white/black set menu_color_highlight=black/light-gray if background_color 44,0,30; then clear fi ### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ### ### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ### if [ ${recordfail} != 1 ]; then if [ -e ${prefix}/gfxblacklist.txt ]; then if hwmatch ${prefix}/gfxblacklist.txt 3; then if [ ${match} = 0 ]; then set linux_gfx_mode=keep else set linux_gfx_mode=text fi else set linux_gfx_mode=text fi else set linux_gfx_mode=keep fi else set linux_gfx_mode=text fi export linux_gfx_mode if [ "$linux_gfx_mode" != "text" ]; then load_video; fi menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 3.0.0-12-generic' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os { recordfail set gfxpayload=$linux_gfx_mode insmod gzio insmod part_msdos insmod ext2 set root='(hd0,msdos6)' search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 5349ff67-b7b7-489f-a881-ae49c1dcd84a linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.0.0-12-generic root=UUID=5349ff67-b7b7-489f-a881-ae49c1dcd84a ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7 initrd /boot/initrd.img-3.0.0-12-generic } menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 3.0.0-12-generic (recovery mode)' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os { recordfail insmod gzio insmod part_msdos insmod ext2 set root='(hd0,msdos6)' search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 5349ff67-b7b7-489f-a881-ae49c1dcd84a echo 'Loading Linux 3.0.0-12-generic ...' linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.0.0-12-generic root=UUID=5349ff67-b7b7-489f-a881-ae49c1dcd84a ro recovery nomodeset echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...' initrd /boot/initrd.img-3.0.0-12-generic } ### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ### ### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ### ### END /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ### ### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ### menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+)" { insmod part_msdos insmod ext2 set root='(hd0,msdos6)' search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 5349ff67-b7b7-489f-a881-ae49c1dcd84a linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin } menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)" { insmod part_msdos insmod ext2 set root='(hd0,msdos6)' search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 5349ff67-b7b7-489f-a881-ae49c1dcd84a linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin console=ttyS0,115200n8 } ### END /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ### ### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ### menuentry "Microsoft Windows XP Professional (on /dev/sda1)" --class windows --class os { insmod part_msdos insmod ntfs set root='(hd0,msdos1)' search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 72A89361A89322A1 drivemap -s (hd0) ${root} chainloader +1 } ### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ### ### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ### # This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries. Simply type the # menu entries you want to add after this comment. Be careful not to change # the 'exec tail' line above. ### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ### ### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/41_custom ### if [ -f $prefix/custom.cfg ]; then source $prefix/custom.cfg; fi ### END /etc/grub.d/41_custom ### How can I get things back to normal. Thanks, Demian.

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• jqGrid - dynamically load different drop down values for different rows depending on another column value

  - by Renso

  Goal: As we all know the jqGrid examples in the demo and the Wiki always refer to static values for drop down boxes. This of course is a personal preference but in dynamic design these values should be populated from the database/xml file, etc, ideally JSON formatted. Can you do this in jqGrid, yes, but with some custom coding which we will briefly show below (refer to some of my other blog entries for a more detailed discussion on this topic). What you CANNOT do in jqGrid, referrign here up and to version 3.8.x, is to load different drop down values for different rows in the jqGrid. Well, not without some trickery, which is what this discussion is about. Issue: Of course the issue is that jqGrid has been designed for high performance and thus I have no issue with them loading a  reference to a single drop down values list for every column. This way if you have 500 rows or one, each row only refers to a single list for that particuolar column. Nice! SO how easy would it be to simply traverse the grid once loaded on gridComplete or loadComplete and simply load the select tag's options from scratch, via ajax, from memory variable, hard coded etc? Impossible! Since their is no embedded SELECT tag within each cell containing the drop down values (remeber it only has a reference to that list in memory), all you will see when you inspect the cell prior to clicking on it, or even before and on beforeEditCell, is an empty <TD></TD>. When trying to load that list via a click event on that cell will temporarily load the list but jqGrid's last internal callback event will remove it and replace it with the old one, and you are back to square one. Solution: Yes, after spending a few hours on this found a solution to the problem that does not require any updates to jqGrid source code, thank GOD! Before we get into the coding details, the solution here can of course be customized to suite your specific needs, this one loads the entire drop down list that would be needed across all rows once into global variable. I then parse this object that contains all the properties I need to filter the rows depending on which ones I want the user to see based off of another cell value in that row. This only happens when clicking the cell, so no performance penalty. You may of course to load it via ajax when the user clicks the cell, but I found it more effecient to load the entire list as part of jqGrid's normal editoptions: { multiple: false, value: listingStatus } colModel options which again keeps only a reference to the sinlge list, no duplciation. Lets get into the meat and potatoes of it.         var acctId = $('#Id').val();         var data = $.ajax({ url: $('#ajaxGetAllMaterialsTrackingLookupDataUrl').val(), data: { accountId: acctId }, dataType: 'json', async: false, success: function(data, result) { if (!result) alert('Failure to retrieve the Alert related lookup data.'); } }).responseText;         var lookupData = eval('(' + data + ')');         var listingCategory = lookupData.ListingCategory;         var listingStatus = lookupData.ListingStatus;         var catList = '{';         $(lookupData.ListingCategory).each(function() {             catList += this.Id + ':"' + this.Name + '",';         });         catList += '}';         var lastsel;         var ignoreAlert = true;         $(item)         .jqGrid({             url: listURL,             postData: '',             datatype: "local",             colNames: ['Id', 'Name', 'Commission<br />Rep', 'Business<br />Group', 'Order<br />Date', 'Edit', 'TBD', 'Month', 'Year', 'Week', 'Product', 'Product<br />Type', 'Online/<br />Magazine', 'Materials', 'Special<br />Placement', 'Logo', 'Image', 'Text', 'Contact<br />Info', 'Everthing<br />In', 'Category', 'Status'],             colModel: [                 { name: 'Id', index: 'Id', hidden: true, hidedlg: true },                 { name: 'AccountName', index: 'AccountName', align: "left", resizable: true, search: true, width: 100 },                 { name: 'OnlineName', index: 'OnlineName', align: 'left', sortable: false, width: 80 },                 { name: 'ListingCategoryName', index: 'ListingCategoryName', width: 85, editable: true, hidden: false, edittype: "select", editoptions: { multiple: false, value: eval('(' + catList + ')') }, editrules: { required: false }, formatoptions: { disabled: false} }             ],             jsonReader: {                 root: "List",                 page: "CurrentPage",                 total: "TotalPages",                 records: "TotalRecords",                 userdata: "Errors",                 repeatitems: false,                 id: "0"             },             rowNum: $rows,             rowList: [10, 20, 50, 200, 500, 1000, 2000],             imgpath: jQueryImageRoot,             pager: $(item + 'Pager'),             shrinkToFit: true,             width: 1455,             recordtext: 'Traffic lines',             sortname: 'OrderDate',             viewrecords: true,             sortorder: "asc",             altRows: true,             cellEdit: true,             cellsubmit: "remote",             cellurl: editURL + '?rows=' + $rows + '&page=1',             loadComplete: function() {               },             gridComplete: function() {             },             loadError: function(xhr, st, err) {             },             afterEditCell: function(rowid, cellname, value, iRow, iCol) {                 var select = $(item).find('td.edit-cell select');                 $(item).find('td.edit-cell select option').each(function() {                     var option = $(this);                     var optionId = $(this).val();                     $(lookupData.ListingCategory).each(function() {                         if (this.Id == optionId) {                                                       if (this.OnlineName != $(item).getCell(rowid, 'OnlineName')) {                                 option.remove();                                 return false;                             }                         }                     });                 });             },             search: true,             searchdata: {},             caption: "List of all Traffic lines",             editurl: editURL + '?rows=' + $rows + '&page=1',             hiddengrid: hideGrid   Here is the JSON data returned via the ajax call during the jqGrid function call above (NOTE it must be { async: false}: {"ListingCategory":[{"Id":29,"Name":"Document Imaging & Management","OnlineName":"RF Globalnet"} ,{"Id":1,"Name":"Ancillary Department Hardware","OnlineName":"Healthcare Technology Online"} ,{"Id":2,"Name":"Asset Tracking","OnlineName":"Healthcare Technology Online"} ,{"Id":3,"Name":"Asset Tracking","OnlineName":"Healthcare Technology Online"} ,{"Id":4,"Name":"Asset Tracking","OnlineName":"Healthcare Technology Online"} ,{"Id":5,"Name":"Document Imaging & Management","OnlineName":"Healthcare Technology Online"} ,{"Id":6,"Name":"Document Imaging & Management","OnlineName":"Healthcare Technology Online"} ,{"Id":7,"Name":"EMR/EHR Software","OnlineName":"Healthcare Technology Online"}]} I only need the Id and Name for the drop down list, but the third column in the JSON object is important, it is the only that I match up with the OnlineName in the jqGrid column, and then in the loop during afterEditCell simply remove the ones I don't want the user to see. That's it!

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• MERGE gives better OUTPUT options

  - by Rob Farley

  MERGE is very cool. There are a ton of useful things about it – mostly around the fact that you can implement a ton of change against a table all at once. This is great for data warehousing, handling changes made to relational databases by applications, all kinds of things. One of the more subtle things about MERGE is the power of the OUTPUT clause. Useful for logging.   If you’re not familiar with the OUTPUT clause, you really should be – it basically makes your DML (INSERT/DELETE/UPDATE/MERGE) statement return data back to you. This is a great way of returning identity values from INSERT commands (so much better than SCOPE_IDENTITY() or the older (and worse) @@IDENTITY, because you can get lots of rows back). You can even use it to grab default values that are set using non-deterministic functions like NEWID() – things you couldn’t normally get back without running another query (or with a trigger, I guess, but that’s not pretty). That inserted table I referenced – that’s part of the ‘behind-the-scenes’ work that goes on with all DML changes. When you insert data, this internal table called inserted gets populated with rows, and then used to inflict the appropriate inserts on the various structures that store data (HoBTs – the Heaps or B-Trees used to store data as tables and indexes). When deleting, the deleted table gets populated. Updates get a matching row in both tables (although this doesn’t mean that an update is a delete followed by an inserted, it’s just the way it’s handled with these tables). These tables can be referenced by the OUTPUT clause, which can show you the before and after for any DML statement. Useful stuff. MERGE is slightly different though. With MERGE, you get a mix of entries. Your MERGE statement might be doing some INSERTs, some UPDATEs and some DELETEs. One of the most common examples of MERGE is to perform an UPSERT command, where data is updated if it already exists, or inserted if it’s new. And in a single operation too. Here, you can see the usefulness of the deleted and inserted tables, which clearly reflect the type of operation (but then again, MERGE lets you use an extra column called $action to show this). (Don’t worry about the fact that I turned on IDENTITY_INSERT, that’s just so that I could insert the values) One of the things I love about MERGE is that it feels almost cursor-like – the UPDATE bit feels like “WHERE CURRENT OF …”, and the INSERT bit feels like a single-row insert. And it is – but into the inserted and deleted tables. The operations to maintain the HoBTs are still done using the whole set of changes, which is very cool. And $action – very convenient. But as cool as $action is, that’s not the point of my post. If it were, I hope you’d all be disappointed, as you can’t really go near the MERGE statement without learning about it. The subtle thing that I love about MERGE with OUTPUT is that you can hook into more than just inserted and deleted. Did you notice in my earlier query that my source table had a ‘src’ field, that wasn’t used in the insert? Normally, this would be somewhat pointless to include in my source query. But with MERGE, I can put that in the OUTPUT clause. This is useful stuff, particularly when you’re needing to audit the changes. Suppose your query involved consolidating data from a number of sources, but you didn’t need to insert that into the actual table, just into a table for audit. This is now very doable, either using the INTO clause of OUTPUT, or surrounding the whole MERGE statement in brackets (parentheses if you’re American) and using a regular INSERT statement. This is also doable if you’re using MERGE to just do INSERTs. In case you hadn’t realised, you can use MERGE in place of an INSERT statement. It’s just like the UPSERT-style statement we’ve just seen, except that we want nothing to match. That’s easy to do, we just use ON 1=2. This is obviously more convoluted than a straight INSERT. And it’s slightly more effort for the database engine too. But, if you want the extra audit capabilities, the ability to hook into the other source columns is definitely useful. Oh, and before people ask if you can also hook into the target table’s columns... Yes, of course. That’s what deleted and inserted give you.

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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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• BizTalk 2009 - Custom Functoid Wizard

  - by StuartBrierley

  When creating BizTalk maps you may find that there are times when you need perform tasks that the standard functoids do not cover.  At other times you may find yourself reapeating a pattern of standard functoids over and over again, adding visual complexity to an otherwise simple process.  In these cases you may find it preferable to create your own custom functoids.  In the past I have created a number of custom functoids from scratch, but recently I decided to try out the Custom Functoid Wizard for BizTalk 2009. After downloading and installing the wizard you should start Visual Studio and select to create a new BizTalk Server Functoid Project. Following the splash screen you will be presented with the General Properties screen, where you can set the classname, namespace, assembly name and strong name key file. The next screen is the first set of properties for the functoid.  First of all is the fuctoid ID; this must be a value above 6000. You should also then set the name, tooltip and description of the functoid.  The name will appear in the visual studio toolbox and the tooltip on hover over in the toolbox.  The descrition will be shown when you configure the functoid inputs when using it in a map; as such it should provide a decent level of information to allow the functoid to be used. Next you must set the category, exception mesage, icon and implementation language.  The category will affect the positioning of the functoid within the toolbox and also some of the behaviours of the functoid. We must then define the parameters and connections for our new functoid.  Here you can define the names and types of your input parameters along with the minimum and maximum number of input connections.  You will also need to define the types of connections accepted and the output type of the functoid. Finally you can click finish and your custom functoid project will be created. The results of this process can be seen in the solution explorer, where you will see that a project, functoid class file and a resource file have been created for you. If you open the class file you will see that the following code has been created for you: The "base" function sets all the properties that you previsouly detailed in the custom functoid wizard.  public TestFunctoids():base()  {    int functoidID;    // This has to be a number greater than 6000    functoidID = System.Convert.ToInt32(resmgr.GetString("FunctoidId"));    this.ID = functoidID;    // Set Resource strings, bitmaps    SetupResourceAssembly(ResourceName, Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly());    SetName("FunctoidName");                     SetTooltip("FunctoidToolTip");    SetDescription("FunctoidDescription");    SetBitmap("FunctoidBitmap");    // Minimum and maximum parameters that the functoid accepts    this.SetMinParams(2);    this.SetMaxParams(2);    /// Function name that needs to be called when this Functoid is invoked.    /// Put this in GAC.    SetExternalFunctionName(GetType().Assembly.FullName,     "MyCompany.BizTalk.Functoids.TestFuntoids.TestFunctoids", "Execute");    // Category for this functoid.    this.Category = FunctoidCategory.String;    // Input and output Connection type    this.OutputConnectionType = ConnectionType.AllExceptRecord;    AddInputConnectionType(ConnectionType.AllExceptRecord);   } The "Execute" function provides a skeleton function that contains the code to be executed by your new functoid.  The inputs and outputs should match those you defined in the Custom Functoid Wizard.   public System.Int32 Execute(System.Int32 Cool)   {    ResourceManager resmgr = new ResourceManager(ResourceName, Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly());    try    {     // TODO: Implement Functoid Logic    }    catch (Exception e)    {     throw new Exception(resmgr.GetString("FunctoidException"), e);    }   } Opening the resource file you will see some of the various string values that you defined in the Custom Functoid Wizard - Name, Tooltip, Description and Exception. You can also select to look at the image resources.  This will display the embedded icon image for the functoid.  To change this right click the icon and select "Import from File". Once you have completed the skeleton code you can then look at trying out your functoid. To do this you will need to build the project, copy the compiled DLL to C:\Program Files\Microsoft BizTalk Server 2009\Developer Tools\Mapper Extensions and then refresh the toolbox in visual studio.

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• Web Services Example - Part 2: Programmatic

  - by Denis T

  In this edition of the ADF Mobile blog we'll tackle part 2 of our Web Service examples.  In this posting we'll take a look at using a SOAP Web Service but calling it programmatically in code and parsing the return into a bean. Getting the sample code: Just click here to download a zip of the entire project.  You can unzip it and load it into JDeveloper and deploy it either to iOS or Android.  Please follow the previous blog posts if you need help getting JDeveloper or ADF Mobile installed.  Note: This is a different workspace than WS-Part1 Defining our Web Service: Just like our first installment, we are using the same public weather forecast web service provided free by CDYNE Corporation.  Sometimes this service goes down so please ensure you know it's up before reporting this example isn't working. We're going to concentrate on the same two web service methods, GetCityForecastByZIP and GetWeatherInformation. Defing the Application: The application setup is identical to the Weather1 version.  There are some improvements to the data that is displayed as part of this example though.  Now we are able to show the associated image along with each forecast line when using the Forecast By Zip feature.  We've also added the temperature Hi/Low values into the UI. Summary of Fundamental Changes In This Application The most fundamental change is that we're binding the UI to the Bean Data Controls instead of directly to the Web Service Data Controls.  This gives us much more flexibility to control the shape of the data and allows us to do caching of the data outside of the Web Service.  This way if your application is, say offline, your bean could still populate with data from a local cache and still show you some UI as opposed to completely failing because you don't have any connectivity. In general we promote this type of programming technique with ADF Mobile to insulate your application from any issues with network connectivity. What's different with this example? We have setup the Web Service DC the same way but now we have managed beans to process the data.  The following classes define the "Model" of our application:  CityInformation-CityForecast-Forecast, WeatherInformation-WeatherDescription.  We use WeatherBean for UI interaction to the model layer.  If you look through this example, we don't really do that much with the java code except use it to grab the image URL from the weather description.  In a more realistic example, you might be using some JDBC classes to persist the data to a local database. To have a good architecture it is always good to keep your model and UI layers separate.  This gets muddied if you start to use bindings on a page invoked from Java code and this java code starts to become your "model" layer.  Since bindings are page specific, your model layer starts to become entwined with your UI.  Not good!  To help with this, we've added some utility functions that let you invoke DC methods without having a binding and thus execute methods from your "model" layer without requiring a binding in your page definition.  We do this with the invokeDataControlMethod of the AdfmfJavaUtilities class.  An example of this method call is available in line 95 of WeatherInformation.java and line 93 of CityInformation.Java. What's a GenericType? Because Web Service Data Controls (and also URL Data Controls AKA REST) use generic name/value pairs to define their structure and don't have strongly typed objects, these are actually stored internally as GenericType objects.  The GenericType class is simply a property map of name/value pairs that can be hierarchical.  There are methods like getAttribute where you supply the index of the attribute or it's string property name.  Why is this important to know?  Because invokeDataControlMethod returns GenericType objects and developers either need to parse these GenericType objects themselves or use one of our helper functions. GenericTypeBeanSerializationHelper This class does exactly what it's name implies.  It's a helper class for developers to aid in serialization of GenericTypes to/from java objects.  This is extremely handy if you have a large GenericType object with many attributes (or you're just lazy like me!) and you just want to parse it out into a real java object you can use more easily.  Here you would use the fromGenericType method.  This method takes the class of the Java object you wish to return and the GenericType as parameters.  The method then parses through each attribute in the GenericType and uses reflection to set that same attribute in the Java class.  Then the method returns that new object of the class you specified.  This is obviously very handy to avoid a lot of shuffling code between GenericType and your own Java classes.  The reverse method, toGenericType is also available when you want to go the other way.  In this case you supply the string that represents the package location in the DataControl definition (Example: "MyDC.myParams.MyCollection") and then pass in the Java object you have that holds the data and a GenericType is returned to you.  Again, it will use reflection to calculate the attributes that match between the java class and the GenericType and call the getters/setters on those. Issues and Possible Improvements: In the next installment we'll show you how to make your web service calls asynchronously so your UI will fill dynamically when the service call returns but in the meantime you show the data you have locally in your bean fed from some local cache.  This gives your users instant delivery of some data while you fetch other data in the background.

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• Profiling NetBeans 7.0 Beta 2 and Reporting Problems

  - by christopher.jones

  With NetBeans 7.0 recently going into Beta 2 phase, now is the time to test it out properly and report issues. The development team has been squashing bugs, including memory issues with the PHP bundle.There are some great new PHP related features in NetBeans 7.0, so you know you want to try it out.If you identify something wrong with NetBeans, please report it following the guidelines http://wiki.netbeans.org/IssueReportingGuidelinesDepending on the issues, data to attach to the report is mentioned on: http://wiki.netbeans.org/FaqLogMessagesFile and http://wiki.netbeans.org/FaqProfileMeNowIf you have a memory issue then a memory dump would also be useful. Run the jmap tool for this. There is some background information on http://wiki.netbeans.org/FaqMemoryDump. Here's how I used it.First I set my environment to match the JDK used by NetBeans. In my case I am using a nightly build so the JDK is in the configuration file under $HOME/netbeans-dev-201102210501:$ egrep netbeans_jdkhome $HOME/netbeans-dev-201102210501/etc/netbeans.conf netbeans_jdkhome="/home/cjones/src/jdk1.6.0_24" $ export JAVA_HOME=/home/cjones/src/jdk1.6.0_24 $ export PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH Next, I found the correct process number to examine:$ ps -ef | egrep 'netbeans|jdk'cjones   23230     1  0 16:07 ?        00:00:00 /bin/bash /home/cjones/netbeans-cjones   23438 23230  2 16:07 ?        00:00:09 /home/cjones/src/jdk1.6.0_24/binFinally I used the parent JDK process as the jmap argument:$ jmap -histo:live 23438 num     #instances         #bytes  class name----------------------------------------------   1:         12075        9028656  [I   2:         49535        6581920  <constMethodKlass>   3:         49535        3964128  <methodKlass>   4:         80256        3840776  <symbolKlass>   5:         36093        3635336  [C   6:          5095        3341312  <constantPoolKlass>   7:          5095        2486016  <instanceKlassKlass>   8:          4325        1961432  <constantPoolCacheKlass>   9:         18729        1763976  [B  10:         59952        1438848  java.util.HashMap$Entry  . . .This histogram memory report will help identify the kind of memory issues you are seeing. It may not be as complete as an often tens of megabyte jmap -dump:live,file=/tmp/nbheap.log 23438 heap dump, but is much more easily attached to a bug report.If you want to keep up to date with NetBeans, nightly builds are at: http://bits.netbeans.org/download/trunk/nightly/latest/zip/

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