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  • 26 Days: Countdown to Oracle OpenWorld 2012

    - by Michael Snow
    Welcome to our countdown to Oracle OpenWorld! Oracle OpenWorld 2012 is just around the corner. In less than 26 days, San Francisco will be invaded by an expected 50,000 people from all over the world. Here on the Oracle WebCenter team, we’ve all been working to help make the experience a great one for all our WebCenter customers. For a sneak peak  – we’ll be spending this week giving you a teaser of what to look forward to if you are joining us in San Francisco from September 30th through October 4th. We have Oracle WebCenter sessions covering all topics imaginable. Take a look and use the tools we provide to build out your schedule in advance and reserve your seats in your favorite sessions.  That gives you plenty of time to plan for your week with us in San Francisco. If unfortunately, your boss denied your request to attend - there are still some ways that you can join in the experience virtually On-Demand. This year - we are expanding even more up North of Market Street and will be taking over Union Square as well. Check out this map of San Francisco to get a sense of how much of a footprint Oracle OpenWorld has grown to this year. With so much to see and so many sessions to learn from - its no wonder that people get excited. Add to that a good mix of fun and all of the possible WebCenter sessions you could attend - you won't want to sleep at all to take full advantage of such an opportunity. We'll also have our annual WebCenter Customer Appreciation reception - stay tuned this week for some more info on registration to make sure you'll be able to join us. If you've been following the America's Cup at all and believe in EXTREME PERFORMANCE you'll definitely want to take a look at this video from last year's OpenWorld Keynote. 12.00 Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii- mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi- mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} Important OpenWorld Links:  Attendee / Presenters Toolkit Oracle Schedule Builder WebCenter Sessions (listed in the catalog under Fusion Middleware as "Portals, Sites, Content, and Collaboration" ) Oracle Music Festival - AMAZING Line up!!  Oracle Customer Appreciation Night -LOOK HERE!! Oracle OpenWorld LIVE On-Demand Here are all the WebCenter sessions broken down by day for your viewing pleasure. Monday, October 1st CON8885 - Simplify CRM Engagement with Contextual Collaboration Are your sales teams disconnected and disengaged? Do you want a tool for easily connecting expertise across your organization and providing visibility into the complete sales process? Do you want a way to enhance and retain organization knowledge? Oracle Social Network is the answer. Attend this session to learn how to make CRM easy, effective, and efficient for use across virtual sales teams. Also learn how Oracle Social Network can drive sales force collaboration with natural conversations throughout the sales cycle, promote sales team productivity through purposeful social networking without the noise, and build cross-team knowledge by integrating conversations with CRM and other business applications. CON8268 - Oracle WebCenter Strategy: Engaging Your Customers. Empowering Your Business Oracle WebCenter is a user engagement platform for social business, connecting people and information. Attend this session to learn about the Oracle WebCenter strategy, and understand where Oracle is taking the platform to help companies engage customers, empower employees, and enable partners. Business success starts with ensuring that everyone is engaged with the right people and the right information and can access what they need through the channel of their choice—Web, mobile, or social. Are you giving customers, employees, and partners the best-possible experience? Come learn how you can! ¶ HOL10208 - Add Social Capabilities to Your Enterprise Applications Oracle Social Network enables you to add real-time collaboration capabilities into your enterprise applications, so that conversations can happen directly within your business systems. In this hands-on lab, you will try out the Oracle Social Network product to collaborate with other attendees, using real-time conversations with document sharing capabilities. Next you will embed social capabilities into a sample Web-based enterprise application, using embedded UI components. Experts will also write simple REST-based integrations, using the Oracle Social Network API to programmatically create social interactions. ¶ CON8893 - Improve Employee Productivity with Intuitive and Social Work Environments Social technologies have already transformed the ways customers, employees, partners, and suppliers communicate and stay informed. Forward-thinking organizations today need technologies and infrastructures to help them advance to the next level and integrate social activities with business applications to deliver a user experience that simplifies business processes and enterprise application engagement. Attend this session to hear from an innovative Oracle Social Network customer and learn how you can improve productivity with intuitive and social work environments and empower your employees with innovative social tools to enable contextual access to content and dynamic personalization of solutions. ¶ CON8270 - Oracle WebCenter Content Strategy and Vision Oracle WebCenter provides a strategic content infrastructure for managing documents, images, e-mails, and rich media files. With a single repository, organizations can address any content use case, such as accounts payable, HR onboarding, document management, compliance, records management, digital asset management, or Website management. In this session, learn about future plans for how Oracle WebCenter will address new use cases as well as new integrations with Oracle Fusion Middleware and Oracle Applications, leveraging your investments by making your users more productive and error-free. ¶ CON8269 - Oracle WebCenter Sites Strategy and Vision Oracle’s Web experience management solution, Oracle WebCenter Sites, enables organizations to use the online channel to drive customer acquisition and brand loyalty. It helps marketers and business users easily create and manage contextually relevant, social, interactive online experiences across multiple channels on a global scale. In this session, learn about future plans for how Oracle WebCenter Sites will provide you with the tools, capabilities, and integrations you need in order to continue to address your customers’ evolving requirements for engaging online experiences and keep moving your business forward. ¶ CON8896 - Living with SharePoint SharePoint is a popular platform, but it’s not always the best fit for Oracle customers. In this session, you’ll discover the technical and nontechnical limitations and pitfalls of SharePoint and learn about Oracle alternatives for collaboration, portals, enterprise and Web content management, social computing, and application integration. The presentation shows you how to integrate with SharePoint when business or IT requirements dictate and covers cloud-based (Office 365) and on-premises versions of SharePoint. Presented by a former Microsoft director of SharePoint product management and backed by independent customer research, this session will prepare you to answer the question “Why don’t we just use SharePoint for that?’ the next time it comes up in your organization. ¶ CON7843 - Content-Enabling Enterprise Processes with Oracle WebCenter Organizations today continually strive to automate business processes, reduce costs, and improve efficiency. Many business processes are content-intensive and unstructured, requiring ad hoc collaboration, and distributed in nature, requiring many approvals and generating huge volumes of paper. In this session, learn how Oracle and SYSTIME have partnered to help a customer content-enable its enterprise with Oracle WebCenter Content and Oracle WebCenter Imaging 11g and integrate them with Oracle Applications. ¶ CON6114 - Tape Robotics’ Newest Superhero: Now Fueled by Oracle Software For small, midsize, and rapidly growing businesses that want the most energy-efficient, scalable storage infrastructure to meet their rapidly growing data demands, Oracle’s most recent addition to its award-winning tape portfolio leverages several pieces of Oracle software. With Oracle Linux, Oracle WebLogic, and Oracle Fusion Middleware tools, the library achieves a higher level of usability than previous products while offering customers a familiar interface for management, plus ease of use. This session examines the competitive advantages of the tape library and how Oracle software raises customer satisfaction. Learn how the combination of Oracle engineered systems, Oracle Secure Backup, and Oracle’s StorageTek tape libraries provide end-to-end coverage of your data. ¶ CON9437 - Mobile Access Management With more than five billion mobile devices on the planet and an increasing number of users using their own devices to access corporate data and applications, securely extending identity management to mobile devices has become a hot topic. This session focuses on how to extend your existing identity management infrastructure and policies to securely and seamlessly enable mobile user access. CON7815 - Customer Experience Online in Cloud: Oracle WebCenter Sites, Oracle ATG Apps, Oracle Exalogic Oracle WebCenter Sites and Oracle’s ATG product line together can provide a compelling marketing and e-commerce experience. When you couple them with the extreme performance of Oracle Exalogic, you’ll see unmatched scalability that provides you with a true cloud-based solution. In this session, you’ll learn how running Oracle WebCenter Sites and ATG applications on Oracle Exalogic delivers both a private and a public cloud experience. Find out what it takes to get these systems working together and delivering engaging Web experiences. Even if you aren’t considering Oracle Exalogic today, the rich Web experience of Oracle WebCenter, paired with the depth of the ATG product line, can provide your business full support, from merchandising through sale completion. ¶ CON8271 - Oracle WebCenter Portal Strategy and Vision To innovate and keep a competitive edge, organizations need to leverage the power of agile and responsive Web applications. Oracle WebCenter Portal enables you to do just that, by delivering intuitive user experiences for enterprise applications to drive innovation with composite applications and mashups. Attend this session to learn firsthand from customers how Oracle WebCenter Portal extends the value of existing enterprise applications, business processes, and content; delivers a superior business user experience; and maximizes limited IT resources. ¶ CON8880 - The Connected Customer Experience Begins with the Online Channel There’s a lot of talk these days about how to connect the customer journey across various touchpoints—from Websites and e-commerce to call centers and in-store—to provide experiences that are more relevant and engaging and ultimately gain competitive edge. Doing it all at once isn’t a realistic objective, so where do you start? Come to this session, and hear about three steps you can take that can help you begin your journey toward delivering the connected customer experience. You’ll hear how Oracle now has an integrated digital marketing platform for your corporate Website, your e-commerce site, your self-service portal, and your marketing and loyalty campaigns, and you’ll learn what you can do today to begin executing on your customer experience initiatives. ¶ GEN11451 - General Session: Building Mobile Applications with Oracle Cloud With the prevalence of smart mobile devices, companies are facing an increased demand to provide access to data and applications from new channels. However, developing applications for mobile devices poses some unique challenges. Come to this session to learn how Oracle addresses these challenges, offering a simpler way to develop and deploy cross-device mobile applications. See how Oracle Cloud enables you to access applications, data, and services from mobile channels in an easier way.  CON8272 - Oracle Social Network Strategy and Vision One key way of increasing employee productivity is by bringing people, processes, and information together—providing new social capabilities to enable business users to quickly correspond and collaborate on business activities. Oracle WebCenter provides a user engagement platform with social and collaborative technologies to empower business users to focus on their key business processes, applications, and content in the context of their role and process. Attend this session to hear how the latest social capabilities in Oracle Social Network are enabling organizations to transform themselves into social businesses.  --- Tuesday, October 2nd HOL10194 - Enterprise Content Management Simplified: Oracle WebCenter Content’s Next-Generation UI Regardless of the nature of your business, unstructured content underpins many of its daily functions. Whether you are working with traditional presentations, spreadsheets, or text documents—or even with digital assets such as images and multimedia files—your content needs to be accessible and manageable in convenient and intuitive ways to make working with the content easier. Additionally, you need the ability to easily share documents with coworkers to facilitate a collaborative working environment. Come to this session to see how Oracle WebCenter Content’s next-generation user interface helps modern knowledge workers easily manage personal and enterprise documents in a collaborative environment.¶ CON8877 - Develop a Mobile Strategy with Oracle WebCenter: Engage Customers, Employees, and Partners Mobile technology has gone from nice-to-have to a cornerstone of user engagement. Mobile access enables users to have information available at their fingertips, enabling them to take action the moment they make a decision, interact in the moment of convenience, and take advantage of new service offerings in their preferred channels. All your employees have your mobile applications in their pocket; now what are you going to do? It is a critical step for companies to think through what their employees, customers, and partners really need on their devices. Attend this session to see how Oracle WebCenter enables you to better engage your customers, employees, and partners by providing a unified experience across multiple channels. ¶ CON9447 - Enabling Access for Hundreds of Millions of Users How do you grow your business by identifying, authenticating, authorizing, and federating users on the Web, leveraging social identity and the open source OAuth protocol? How do you scale your access management solution to support hundreds of millions of users? With social identity support out of the box, Oracle’s access management solution is also benchmarked for 250-million-user deployment according to real-world customer scenarios. In this session, you will learn about the social identity capability and the 250-million-user benchmark testing of Oracle Access Manager and Oracle Adaptive Access Manager running on Oracle Exalogic and Oracle Exadata. ¶ HOL10207 - Build an Intranet Portal with Oracle WebCenter In this hands-on lab, you’ll work with Oracle WebCenter Portal and Oracle WebCenter Content to build out an enterprise portal that maximizes the productivity of teams and individual contributors. Using browser-based tools, you’ll manage site resources such as page styles, templates, and navigation. You’ll edit content stored in Oracle WebCenter Content directly from your portal. You’ll also experience the latest features that promote collaboration, social networking, and personal productivity. ¶ CON2906 - Get Proactive: Best Practices for Maintaining Oracle Fusion Middleware You chose Oracle Fusion Middleware products to help your organization deliver superior business results. Now learn how to take full advantage of your software with all the great tools, resources, and product updates you’re entitled to through Oracle Support. In this session, Oracle product experts provide proven best practices to help you work more efficiently, plan and prepare for upgrades and patching more effectively, and manage risk. Topics include configuration management tools, remote diagnostics, My Oracle Support Community, and My Oracle Support Lifecycle Advisors. New users and Oracle Fusion Middleware experts alike are guaranteed to leave with fresh ideas and practical, easy-to-implement next steps. ¶ CON8878 - Oracle WebCenter’s Cloud Strategy: From Social and Platform Services to Mashups Cloud computing represents a paradigm shift in how we build applications, automate processes, collaborate, and share and in how we secure our enterprise. Additionally, as you adopt cloud-based services in your organization, it’s likely that you will still have many critical on-premises applications running. With these mixed environments, multiple user interfaces, different security, and multiple datasources and content sources, how do you start evolving your strategy to account for these challenges? Oracle WebCenter offers a complete array of technologies enabling you to solve these challenges and prepare you for the cloud. Attend this session to learn how you can use Oracle WebCenter in the cloud as well as create on-premises and cloud application mash-ups. ¶ CON8901 - Optimize Enterprise Business Processes with Oracle WebCenter and Oracle BPM Do you have business processes that span multiple applications? Are you grappling with how to have visibility across these business processes; how to manage content that is associated with these processes; and, most importantly, how to model and optimize these business processes? Attend this session to hear how Oracle WebCenter and Oracle Business Process Management provide a unique set of integrated solutions to provide a composite application dashboard across these business processes and offer a solution for content-centric business processes. ¶ CON8883 - Deliver Engaging Interfaces to Oracle Applications with Oracle WebCenter Critical business processes live within enterprise applications, and application users need to manage and execute these processes as effectively as possible. Oracle provides a comprehensive user engagement platform to increase user productivity and optimize overall processes within Oracle Applications—Oracle E-Business Suite and Oracle’s Siebel, PeopleSoft, and JD Edwards product families—and third-party applications. Attend this session to learn how you can integrate these applications with Oracle WebCenter to deliver composite application dashboards to your end users—whether they are your customers, partners, or employees—for enhanced usability and Web 2.0–enabled enterprise portals.¶ Wednesday, October 3rd CON8895 - Future-Ready Intranets: How Aramark Re-engineered the Application Landscape There are essential techniques and technologies you can use to deliver employee portals that garner higher productivity, improve business efficiency, and increase user engagement. Attend this session to learn how you can leverage Oracle WebCenter Portal as a user engagement platform for bringing together business process management, enterprise content management, and business intelligence into a highly relevant and integrated experience. Hear how Aramark has leveraged Oracle WebCenter Portal and Oracle WebCenter Content to deliver a unified workspace providing simpler navigation and processing, consolidation of tools, easy access to information, integrated search, and single sign-on. ¶ CON8886 - Content Consolidation: Save Money, Increase Efficiency, and Eliminate Silos Organizations are looking for ways to save money and be more efficient. With content in many different places, it’s difficult to know where to look for a document and whether the document is the most current version. With Oracle WebCenter, content can be consolidated into one best-of-breed repository that is secure, scalable, and integrated with your business processes and applications. Users can find the content they need, where they need it, and ensure that it is the right content. This session covers content challenges that affect your business; content consolidation that can lead to savings in storage and administration costs and can lower risks; and how companies are realizing savings. ¶ CON8911 - Improve Online Experiences for Customers and Partners with Self-Service Portals Are you able to provide your customers and partners an easy-to-use online self-service experience? Are you processing high-volume transactions and struggling with call center bottlenecks or back-end systems that won’t integrate, causing order delays and customer frustration? Are you looking to target content such as product and service offerings to your end users? This session shares approaches to providing targeted delivery as well as strategies and best practices for transforming your business by providing an intuitive user experience for your customers and partners. ¶ CON6156 - Top 10 Ways to Integrate Oracle WebCenter Content This session covers 10 common ways to integrate Oracle WebCenter Content with other enterprise applications and middleware. It discusses out-of-the-box modules that provide expanded features in Oracle WebCenter Content—such as enterprise search, SOA, and BPEL—as well as developer tools you can use to create custom integrations. The presentation also gives guidance on which integration option may work best in your environment. ¶ HOL10207 - Build an Intranet Portal with Oracle WebCenter In this hands-on lab, you’ll work with Oracle WebCenter Portal and Oracle WebCenter Content to build out an enterprise portal that maximizes the productivity of teams and individual contributors. Using browser-based tools, you’ll manage site resources such as page styles, templates, and navigation. You’ll edit content stored in Oracle WebCenter Content directly from your portal. You’ll also experience the latest features that promote collaboration, social networking, and personal productivity. ¶ CON7817 - Migration to Oracle WebCenter Imaging 11g Customers today continually strive to automate business processes, reduce costs, and improve efficiency. The accounts payable process—which is often distributed in nature, requires many approvals, and generates huge volumes of paper invoices—is automated by many customers. In this session, learn how Oracle and SYSTIME have partnered to help a customer migrate its existing Oracle Imaging and Process Management Release 7.6 to the latest Oracle WebCenter Imaging 11g and integrate it with Oracle’s JD Edwards family of products. ¶ CON8910 - How to Engage Customers Across Web, Mobile, and Social Channels Whether on desktops at the office, on tablets at home, or on mobile phones when on the go, today’s customers are always connected. To engage today’s customers, you need to make the online customer experience connected and consistent across a host of devices and multiple channels, including Web, mobile, and social networks. Managing this multichannel environment can result in lots of headaches without the right tools. Attend this session to learn how Oracle WebCenter Sites solves the challenge of multichannel customer engagement. ¶ HOL10206 - Oracle WebCenter Sites 11g: Transforming the Content Contributor Experience Oracle WebCenter Sites 11g makes it easy for marketers and business users to contribute to and manage Websites with the new visual, contextual, and intuitive Web authoring interface. In this hands-on lab, you will create and manage content for a sports-themed Website, using many of the new and enhanced features of the 11g release. ¶ CON8900 - Building Next-Generation Portals: An Interactive Customer Panel Discussion Social and collaborative technologies have changed how people interact, learn, and collaborate, and providing a modern, social Web presence is imperative to remain competitive in today’s market. Can your business benefit from a more collaborative and interactive portal environment for employees, customers, and partners? Attend this session to hear from Oracle WebCenter Portal customers as they share their strategies and best practices for providing users with a modern experience that adapts to their needs and includes personalized access to content in context. The panel also addresses how customers have benefited from creating next-generation portals by migrating from older portal technologies to Oracle WebCenter Portal. ¶ CON9625 - Taking Control of Oracle WebCenter Security Organizations are increasingly looking to extend their Oracle WebCenter portal for social business, to serve external users and provide seamless access to the right information. In particular, many organizations are extending Oracle WebCenter in a business-to-business scenario requiring secure identification and authorization of business partners and their users. This session focuses on how customers are leveraging, securing, and providing access control to Oracle WebCenter portal and mobile solutions. You will learn best practices and hear real-world examples of how to provide flexible and granular access control for Oracle WebCenter deployments, using Oracle Platform Security Services and Oracle Access Management Suite product offerings. ¶ CON8891 - Extending Social into Enterprise Applications and Business Processes Oracle Social Network is an extensible social platform that enables contextual collaboration within enterprise applications and business processes, providing relevant data from across various enterprise systems in one place. Attend this session to see how an Oracle Social Network customer is integrating multiple applications—such as CRM, HCM, and business processes—into Oracle Social Network and Oracle WebCenter to enable individuals and teams to solve complex cross-organizational business problems more effectively by utilizing the social enterprise. ¶ Thursday, October 4th CON8899 - Becoming a Social Business: Stories from the Front Lines of Change What does it really mean to be a social business? How can you change our organization to embrace social approaches? What pitfalls do you need to avoid? In this lively panel discussion, customer and industry thought leaders in social business explore these topics and more as they share their stories of the good, the bad, and the ugly that can happen when embracing social methods and technologies to improve business success. Using moderated questions and open Q&A from the audience, the panel discusses vital topics such as the critical factors for success, the major issues to avoid, how to gain senior executive support for social efforts, how to handle undesired behavior, and how to measure business impact. It takes a thought-provoking look at becoming a social business from the inside. ¶ CON6851 - Oracle WebCenter and Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition to Create Vendor Portals Large manufacturers of grocery items routinely find themselves depending on the inventory management expertise of their wholesalers and distributors. Inventory costs can be managed more efficiently by the manufacturers if they have better insight into the inventory levels of items carried by their distributors. This creates a unique opportunity for distributors and wholesalers to leverage this knowledge into a revenue-generating subscription service. Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition and Oracle WebCenter Portal play a key part in enabling creation of business-managed business intelligence portals for vendors. This session discusses one customer that implemented this by leveraging Oracle WebCenter and Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition. ¶ CON8879 - Provide a Personalized and Consistent Customer Experience in Your Websites and Portals Your customers engage with your company online in different ways throughout their journey—from prospecting by acquiring information on your corporate Website to transacting through self-service applications on your customer portal—and then the cycle begins again when they look for new products and services. Ensuring that the customer experience is consistent and personalized across online properties—from branding and content to interactions and transactions—can be a daunting task. Oracle WebCenter enables you to speak and interact with your customers with one voice across your Websites and portals by providing an integrated platform for delivery of self-service and engagement that unifies and personalizes the online experience. Learn more in this session. ¶ CON8898 - Land Mines, Potholes, and Dirt Roads: Navigating the Way to ECM Nirvana Ten years ago, people were predicting that by this time in history, we’d be some kind of utopian paperless society. As we all know, we’re not there yet, but are we getting closer? What is keeping companies from driving down the road to enterprise content management bliss? Most people understand that using ECM as a central platform enables organizations to expedite document-centric processes, but most business processes in organizations are still heavily paper-based. Many of these processes could be automated and improved with an ECM platform infrastructure. In this panel discussion, you’ll hear from Oracle WebCenter customers that have already solved some of these challenges as they share their strategies for success and roads to avoid along your journey. ¶ CON8908 - Oracle WebCenter Portal: Creating and Using Content Presenter Templates Oracle WebCenter Portal applications use task flows to display and integrate content stored in the Oracle WebCenter Content server. Among the most flexible task flows is Content Presenter, which renders various types of content on an Oracle WebCenter Portal page. Although Oracle WebCenter Portal comes with a set of predefined Content Presenter templates, developers can create their own templates for specific rendering needs. This session shows the lifecycle of developing Content Presenter task flows, including how to create, package, import, modify at runtime, and use such templates. In addition to simple examples with Oracle Application Development Framework (Oracle ADF) UI elements to render the content, it shows how to use other UI technologies, CSS files, and JavaScript libraries. ¶ CON8897 - Using Web Experience Management to Drive Online Marketing Success Every year, the online channel becomes more imperative for driving organizational top-line revenue, but for many companies, mastering how to best market their products and services in a fast-evolving online world with high customer expectations for personalized experiences can be a complex proposition. Come to this panel discussion, and hear directly from online marketers how they are succeeding today by using Web experience management to drive marketing success, using capabilities such as targeting and optimization, user-generated content, mobile site publishing, and site visitor personalization to deliver engaging online experiences. ¶ CON8892 - Oracle’s Journey to Social Business Social business is a revolution, one that is causing rapidly accelerating change in how companies and customers engage with one another and how employees work together. Oracle’s goal in becoming a social business is to create a socially connected organization in which working collaboratively across geographical locations, lines of business, and management chains is second nature, enabling innovative solutions to business challenges. We can achieve this by connecting the right people, finding the right content, communicating with the right people, collaborating at the right time, and building the right communities in the right context—all ready in the CLOUD. Attend this session to see how Oracle is transforming itself into a social business. ¶  ------------ If you've read all the way to the end here - we are REALLY looking forward to seeing you in San Francisco.

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  • Ajax/PHP contact form not able to send mail

    - by Steph
    The funny thing is it did work for one evening. I contacted my host, and they are saying there's no reason it should not be working. I have also attempted to test it in Firebug, but it seemed to be sending. And I specifically put the email address (hosted in my domain) on my email safe list, so that is not the culprit either. Would anyone here take a look at it for me? I'd be so grateful. In the header I have: <script type="text/javascript"> $(document).ready(function() { var options = { target: '#alert' }; $('#contactForm').ajaxForm(options); }); $.fn.clearForm = function() { return this.each(function() { var type = this.type, tag = this.tagName.toLowerCase(); if (tag == 'form') return $(':input',this).clearForm(); if (type == 'text' || type == 'password' || tag == 'textarea') this.value = ''; else if (type == 'checkbox' || type == 'radio') this.checked = false; else if (tag == 'select') this.selectedIndex = -1; }); }; </script> Here is the actual form: <form id="contactForm" method="post" action="sendmail.php"> <fieldset> <p>Email Me</p> <div id="fieldset_container"> <label for="name">Your Name:</label> <input type="text" name="name" id="name" /><br /><br /> <label for="email">Email:</label> <input type="text" name="email" id="email" /><br /><br /> <span style="display:none;"> <label for="last">Honeypot:</label> <input type="text" name="last" value="" id="last" /> </span><br /><br /> <label for="message">Comments &amp; Inquiries:</label> <textarea name="message" id="message" cols="" rows=""></textarea><br/> </div> <div id="submit_button"> <input type="submit" name="submit" id="submit" value="Send It" /> </div> </fieldset> </form> <div class="message"><div id="alert"></div></div> Here is the code from my validating page, sendmail.php: <?php // Who you want to recieve the emails from the form. (Hint: generally you.) $sendto = '[email protected]'; // The subject you'll see in your inbox $subject = 'SH Contact Form'; // Message for the user when he/she doesn't fill in the form correctly. $errormessage = 'There seems to have been a problem. May I suggest...'; // Message for the user when he/she fills in the form correctly. $thanks = "Thanks for the email!"; // Message for the bot when it fills in in at all. $honeypot = "You filled in the honeypot! If you're human, try again!"; // Various messages displayed when the fields are empty. $emptyname = 'Entering your name?'; $emptyemail = 'Entering your email address?'; $emptymessage = 'Entering a message?'; // Various messages displayed when the fields are incorrectly formatted. $alertname = 'Entering your name using only the standard alphabet?'; $alertemail = 'Entering your email in this format: <i>[email protected]</i>?'; $alertmessage = "Making sure you aren't using any parenthesis or other escaping characters in the message? Most URLS are fine though!"; //Setting used variables. $alert = ''; $pass = 0; // Sanitizing the data, kind of done via error messages first. Twice is better! ;-) function clean_var($variable) { $variable = strip_tags(stripslashes(trim(rtrim($variable)))); return $variable; } //The first if for honeypot. if ( empty($_REQUEST['last']) ) { // A bunch of if's for all the fields and the error messages. if ( empty($_REQUEST['name']) ) { $pass = 1; $alert .= "<li>" . $emptyname . "</li>"; } elseif ( ereg( "[][{}()*+?.\\^$|]", $_REQUEST['name'] ) ) { $pass = 1; $alert .= "<li>" . $alertname . "</li>"; } if ( empty($_REQUEST['email']) ) { $pass = 1; $alert .= "<li>" . $emptyemail . "</li>"; } elseif ( !eregi("^[_a-z0-9-]+(.[_a-z0-9-]+)*@[a-z0-9-]+(.[a-z0-9-]+)*(.[a-z]{2,3})$", $_REQUEST['email']) ) { $pass = 1; $alert .= "<li>" . $alertemail . "</li>"; } if ( empty($_REQUEST['message']) ) { $pass = 1; $alert .= "<li>" . $emptymessage . "</li>"; } elseif ( ereg( "[][{}()*+?\\^$|]", $_REQUEST['message'] ) ) { $pass = 1; $alert .= "<li>" . $alertmessage . "</li>"; } //If the user err'd, print the error messages. if ( $pass==1 ) { //This first line is for ajax/javascript, comment it or delete it if this isn't your cup o' tea. echo "<script>$(\".message\").hide(\"slow\").show(\"slow\"); </script>"; echo "<b>" . $errormessage . "</b>"; echo "<ul>"; echo $alert; echo "</ul>"; // If the user didn't err and there is in fact a message, time to email it. } elseif (isset($_REQUEST['message'])) { //Construct the message. $message = "From: " . clean_var($_REQUEST['name']) . "\n"; $message .= "Email: " . clean_var($_REQUEST['email']) . "\n"; $message .= "Message: \n" . clean_var($_REQUEST['message']); $header = 'From:'. clean_var($_REQUEST['email']); //Mail the message - for production mail($sendto, $subject, $message, $header, "[email protected]"); //This is for javascript, echo "<script>$(\".message\").hide(\"slow\").show(\"slow\").animate({opacity: 1.0}, 4000).hide(\"slow\"); $(':input').clearForm() </script>"; echo $thanks; die(); //Echo the email message - for development echo "<br/><br/>" . $message; } //If honeypot is filled, trigger the message that bot likely won't see. } else { echo "<script>$(\".message\").hide(\"slow\").show(\"slow\"); </script>"; echo $honeypot; } ?>

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  • Android: restful API service

    - by Martyn
    Hey, I'm looking to make a service which I can use to make calls to a web based rest api. I've spent a couple of days looking through stackoverflow.com, reading books and looking at articles whilst playing about with some code and I can't get anything which I'm happy with. Basically I want to start a service on app init then I want to be able to ask that service to request a url and return the results. In the meantime I want to be able to display a progress window or something similar. I've created a service currently which uses IDL, I've read somewhere that you only really need this for cross app communication, so think these needs stripping out but unsure how to do callbacks without it. Also when I hit the post(Config.getURL("login"), values) the app seems to pause for a while (seems weird - thought the idea behind a service was that it runs on a different thread!) Currently I have a service with post and get http methods inside, a couple of AIDL files (for two way communication), a ServiceManager which deals with starting, stopping, binding etc to the service and I'm dynamically creating a Handler with specific code for the callbacks as needed. I don't want anyone to give me a complete code base to work on, but some pointers would be greatly appreciated; even if it's to say I'm doing it completely wrong. I'm pretty new to Android and Java dev so if there are any blindingly obvious mistakes here - please don't think I'm a rubbish developer, I'm just wet behind the ears and would appreciate being told exactly where I'm going wrong. Anyway, code in (mostly) full (really didn't want to put this much code here, but I don't know where I'm going wrong - apologies in advance): public class RestfulAPIService extends Service { final RemoteCallbackList<IRemoteServiceCallback> mCallbacks = new RemoteCallbackList<IRemoteServiceCallback>(); public void onStart(Intent intent, int startId) { super.onStart(intent, startId); } public IBinder onBind(Intent intent) { return binder; } public void onCreate() { super.onCreate(); } public void onDestroy() { super.onDestroy(); mCallbacks.kill(); } private final IRestfulService.Stub binder = new IRestfulService.Stub() { public void doLogin(String username, String password) { Message msg = new Message(); Bundle data = new Bundle(); HashMap<String, String> values = new HashMap<String, String>(); values.put("username", username); values.put("password", password); String result = post(Config.getURL("login"), values); data.putString("response", result); msg.setData(data); msg.what = Config.ACTION_LOGIN; mHandler.sendMessage(msg); } public void registerCallback(IRemoteServiceCallback cb) { if (cb != null) mCallbacks.register(cb); } }; private final Handler mHandler = new Handler() { public void handleMessage(Message msg) { // Broadcast to all clients the new value. final int N = mCallbacks.beginBroadcast(); for (int i = 0; i < N; i++) { try { switch (msg.what) { case Config.ACTION_LOGIN: mCallbacks.getBroadcastItem(i).userLogIn( msg.getData().getString("response")); break; default: super.handleMessage(msg); return; } } catch (RemoteException e) { } } mCallbacks.finishBroadcast(); } public String post(String url, HashMap<String, String> namePairs) {...} public String get(String url) {...} }; A couple of AIDL files: package com.something.android oneway interface IRemoteServiceCallback { void userLogIn(String result); } and package com.something.android import com.something.android.IRemoteServiceCallback; interface IRestfulService { void doLogin(in String username, in String password); void registerCallback(IRemoteServiceCallback cb); } and the service manager: public class ServiceManager { final RemoteCallbackList<IRemoteServiceCallback> mCallbacks = new RemoteCallbackList<IRemoteServiceCallback>(); public IRestfulService restfulService; private RestfulServiceConnection conn; private boolean started = false; private Context context; public ServiceManager(Context context) { this.context = context; } public void startService() { if (started) { Toast.makeText(context, "Service already started", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show(); } else { Intent i = new Intent(); i.setClassName("com.something.android", "com.something.android.RestfulAPIService"); context.startService(i); started = true; } } public void stopService() { if (!started) { Toast.makeText(context, "Service not yet started", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show(); } else { Intent i = new Intent(); i.setClassName("com.something.android", "com.something.android.RestfulAPIService"); context.stopService(i); started = false; } } public void bindService() { if (conn == null) { conn = new RestfulServiceConnection(); Intent i = new Intent(); i.setClassName("com.something.android", "com.something.android.RestfulAPIService"); context.bindService(i, conn, Context.BIND_AUTO_CREATE); } else { Toast.makeText(context, "Cannot bind - service already bound", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show(); } } protected void destroy() { releaseService(); } private void releaseService() { if (conn != null) { context.unbindService(conn); conn = null; Log.d(LOG_TAG, "unbindService()"); } else { Toast.makeText(context, "Cannot unbind - service not bound", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show(); } } class RestfulServiceConnection implements ServiceConnection { public void onServiceConnected(ComponentName className, IBinder boundService) { restfulService = IRestfulService.Stub.asInterface((IBinder) boundService); try { restfulService.registerCallback(mCallback); } catch (RemoteException e) {} } public void onServiceDisconnected(ComponentName className) { restfulService = null; } }; private IRemoteServiceCallback mCallback = new IRemoteServiceCallback.Stub() { public void userLogIn(String result) throws RemoteException { mHandler.sendMessage(mHandler.obtainMessage(Config.ACTION_LOGIN, result)); } }; private Handler mHandler; public void setHandler(Handler handler) { mHandler = handler; } } Service init and bind: // this I'm calling on app onCreate servicemanager = new ServiceManager(this); servicemanager.startService(); servicemanager.bindService(); application = (ApplicationState)this.getApplication(); application.setServiceManager(servicemanager); service function call: // this lot i'm calling as required - in this example for login progressDialog = new ProgressDialog(Login.this); progressDialog.setMessage("Logging you in..."); progressDialog.show(); application = (ApplicationState) getApplication(); servicemanager = application.getServiceManager(); servicemanager.setHandler(mHandler); try { servicemanager.restfulService.doLogin(args[0], args[1]); } catch (RemoteException e) { e.printStackTrace(); } ...later in the same file... Handler mHandler = new Handler() { public void handleMessage(Message msg) { switch (msg.what) { case Config.ACTION_LOGIN: if (progressDialog.isShowing()) { progressDialog.dismiss(); } try { ...process login results... } } catch (JSONException e) { Log.e("JSON", "There was an error parsing the JSON", e); } break; default: super.handleMessage(msg); } } }; Any and all help is greatly appreciated and I'll even buy you a coffee or a beer if you fancy :D Martyn

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  • How to set up dual quadro cards on RHEL 5.5?

    - by Alex J. Roberts
    I have a RHEL 5 workstation with 2 nvidia Quadro FX4500 cards, with one display attached to each card. After doing a clean install of RHEL 5.5, the second display doesnt work (it worked ok in RHEL 5.2). Neither separate X screens nor Xinerama are working. The kernel version is 2.6.18-194.el5 I've tried nvidia drivers 185.18.36 (the ones that i was using on 5.2) and the latest 260.19.36 and neither works. My xorg.conf is as follows: # nvidia-settings: X configuration file generated by nvidia-settings # nvidia-settings: version 1.0 (buildmeister@builder58) Fri Aug 14 18:34:43 PDT 2009 Section "ServerLayout" Identifier "Layout0" Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0 Screen 1 "Screen1" RightOf "Screen0" InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard" InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer" EndSection Section "Files" FontPath "unix/:7100" EndSection Section "ServerFlags" Option "Xinerama" "1" EndSection Section "InputDevice" # generated from default Identifier "Mouse0" Driver "mouse" Option "Protocol" "auto" Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice" Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no" Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5" EndSection Section "InputDevice" # generated from data in "/etc/sysconfig/keyboard" Identifier "Keyboard0" Driver "kbd" Option "XkbLayout" "us" Option "XkbModel" "pc105" EndSection Section "Monitor" # HorizSync source: edid, VertRefresh source: edid Identifier "Monitor0" VendorName "Unknown" ModelName "DELL 3007WFP" HorizSync 49.3 - 98.5 VertRefresh 60.0 Option "DPMS" EndSection Section "Monitor" # HorizSync source: edid, VertRefresh source: edid Identifier "Monitor1" VendorName "Unknown" ModelName "DELL 3007WFP" HorizSync 49.3 - 98.5 VertRefresh 60.0 Option "DPMS" EndSection Section "Device" Identifier "Device0" Driver "nvidia" VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation" BoardName "Quadro FX 4500" BusID "PCI:10:0:0" EndSection Section "Device" Identifier "Device1" Driver "nvidia" VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation" BoardName "Quadro FX 4500" BusID "PCI:129:0:0" EndSection Section "Screen" Identifier "Screen0" Device "Device0" Monitor "Monitor0" DefaultDepth 24 Option "TwinView" "0" Option "metamodes" "nvidia-auto-select +0+0" SubSection "Display" Depth 24 EndSubSection EndSection Section "Screen" Identifier "Screen1" Device "Device1" Monitor "Monitor1" DefaultDepth 24 Option "TwinView" "0" Option "metamodes" "nvidia-auto-select +0+0" SubSection "Display" Depth 24 EndSubSection EndSection And the Xorg Log: X Window System Version 7.1.1 Release Date: 12 May 2006 X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0, Release 7.1.1 Build Operating System: Linux 2.6.18-164.11.1.el5 x86_64 Red Hat, Inc. Current Operating System: Linux blur.svsdsde 2.6.18-194.el5 #1 SMP Tue Mar 16 21:52:39 EDT 2010 x86_64 Build Date: 06 March 2010 Build ID: xorg-x11-server 1.1.1-48.76.el5 Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.x.org to make sure that you have the latest version. Module Loader present Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting, (++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational, (WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown. (==) Log file: "/var/log/Xorg.0.log", Time: Fri Feb 18 09:52:08 2011 (==) Using config file: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf" (==) ServerLayout "Layout0" (**) |-->Screen "Screen0" (0) (**) | |-->Monitor "Monitor0" (**) | |-->Device "Device0" (**) |-->Screen "Screen1" (1) (**) | |-->Monitor "Monitor1" (**) | |-->Device "Device1" (**) |-->Input Device "Keyboard0" (**) |-->Input Device "Mouse0" (**) FontPath set to: unix/:7100 (==) RgbPath set to "/usr/share/X11/rgb" (==) ModulePath set to "/usr/lib64/xorg/modules" (**) Option "Xinerama" "1" (**) Xinerama: enabled (==) Max clients allowed: 512, resource mask: 0xfffff (II) Open ACPI successful (/var/run/acpid.socket) (II) Module ABI versions: X.Org ANSI C Emulation: 0.3 X.Org Video Driver: 1.0 X.Org XInput driver : 0.6 X.Org Server Extension : 0.3 X.Org Font Renderer : 0.5 (II) Loader running on linux (II) LoadModule: "bitmap" (II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/fonts/libbitmap.so (II) Module bitmap: vendor="X.Org Foundation" compiled for 7.1.1, module version = 1.0.0 Module class: X.Org Font Renderer ABI class: X.Org Font Renderer, version 0.5 (II) Loading font Bitmap (II) LoadModule: "pcidata" (II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/libpcidata.so (II) Module pcidata: vendor="X.Org Foundation" compiled for 7.1.1, module version = 1.0.0 ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 1.0 (++) using VT number 7 (II) PCI: PCI scan (all values are in hex) (II) PCI: 00:00:0: chip 10de,005e card 103c,1500 rev a3 class 05,80,00 hdr 00 (II) PCI: 00:01:0: chip 10de,0051 card 103c,1500 rev a3 class 06,01,00 hdr 80 (II) PCI: 00:01:1: chip 10de,0052 card 103c,1500 rev a2 class 0c,05,00 hdr 80 (II) PCI: 00:02:0: chip 10de,005a card 103c,1500 rev a2 class 0c,03,10 hdr 80 (II) PCI: 00:02:1: chip 10de,005b card 103c,1500 rev a3 class 0c,03,20 hdr 80 (II) PCI: 00:04:0: chip 10de,0059 card 103c,1500 rev a2 class 04,01,00 hdr 00 (II) PCI: 00:06:0: chip 10de,0053 card 103c,1500 rev f2 class 01,01,8a hdr 00 (II) PCI: 00:07:0: chip 10de,0054 card 103c,1500 rev f3 class 01,01,85 hdr 00 (II) PCI: 00:08:0: chip 10de,0055 card 103c,1500 rev f3 class 01,01,85 hdr 00 (II) PCI: 00:09:0: chip 10de,005c card 0000,0000 rev a2 class 06,04,01 hdr 01 (II) PCI: 00:0a:0: chip 10de,0057 card 103c,1500 rev a3 class 06,80,00 hdr 00 (II) PCI: 00:0e:0: chip 10de,005d card 0000,0000 rev a3 class 06,04,00 hdr 01 (II) PCI: 00:18:0: chip 1022,1100 card 0000,0000 rev 00 class 06,00,00 hdr 80 (II) PCI: 00:18:1: chip 1022,1101 card 0000,0000 rev 00 class 06,00,00 hdr 80 (II) PCI: 00:18:2: chip 1022,1102 card 0000,0000 rev 00 class 06,00,00 hdr 80 (II) PCI: 00:18:3: chip 1022,1103 card 0000,0000 rev 00 class 06,00,00 hdr 80 (II) PCI: 00:19:0: chip 1022,1100 card 0000,0000 rev 00 class 06,00,00 hdr 80 (II) PCI: 00:19:1: chip 1022,1101 card 0000,0000 rev 00 class 06,00,00 hdr 80 (II) PCI: 00:19:2: chip 1022,1102 card 0000,0000 rev 00 class 06,00,00 hdr 80 (II) PCI: 00:19:3: chip 1022,1103 card 0000,0000 rev 00 class 06,00,00 hdr 80 (II) PCI: 05:05:0: chip 104c,8023 card 103c,1500 rev 00 class 0c,00,10 hdr 00 (II) PCI: 0a:00:0: chip 10de,009d card 10de,02af rev a1 class 03,00,00 hdr 00 (II) PCI: End of PCI scan (II) PCI-to-ISA bridge: (II) Bus -1: bridge is at (0:1:0), (0,-1,-1), BCTRL: 0x0008 (VGA_EN is set) (II) Subtractive PCI-to-PCI bridge: (II) Bus 5: bridge is at (0:9:0), (0,5,5), BCTRL: 0x0206 (VGA_EN is cleared) (II) Bus 5 non-prefetchable memory range: [0] -1 0 0xf5000000 - 0xf50fffff (0x100000) MX[B] (II) PCI-to-PCI bridge: (II) Bus 10: bridge is at (0:14:0), (0,10,10), BCTRL: 0x000a (VGA_EN is set) (II) Bus 10 I/O range: [0] -1 0 0x00003000 - 0x00003fff (0x1000) IX[B] (II) Bus 10 non-prefetchable memory range: [0] -1 0 0xf3000000 - 0xf4ffffff (0x2000000) MX[B] (II) Bus 10 prefetchable memory range: [0] -1 0 0xc0000000 - 0xcfffffff (0x10000000) MX[B] (II) Host-to-PCI bridge: (II) Bus 0: bridge is at (0:24:0), (0,0,10), BCTRL: 0x0008 (VGA_EN is set) (II) Bus 0 I/O range: [0] -1 0 0x00000000 - 0x0000ffff (0x10000) IX[B] (II) Bus 0 non-prefetchable memory range: [0] -1 0 0x00000000 - 0xffffffff (0x100000000) MX[B] (II) Bus 0 prefetchable memory range: [0] -1 0 0x00000000 - 0xffffffff (0x100000000) MX[B] (--) PCI:*(10:0:0) nVidia Corporation Quadro FX 4500 rev 161, Mem @ 0xf3000000/24, 0xc0000000/28, 0xf4000000/24, I/O @ 0x3000/7 (II) Addressable bus resource ranges are [0] -1 0 0x00000000 - 0xffffffff (0x100000000) MX[B] [1] -1 0 0x00000000 - 0x0000ffff (0x10000) IX[B] (II) OS-reported resource ranges: [0] -1 0 0x00100000 - 0x3fffffff (0x3ff00000) MX[B]E(B) [1] -1 0 0x000f0000 - 0x000fffff (0x10000) MX[B] [2] -1 0 0x000c0000 - 0x000effff (0x30000) MX[B] [3] -1 0 0x00000000 - 0x0009ffff (0xa0000) MX[B] [4] -1 0 0x0000ffff - 0x0000ffff (0x1) IX[B] [5] -1 0 0x00000000 - 0x000000ff (0x100) IX[B] (II) Active PCI resource ranges: [0] -1 0 0xf5000000 - 0xf5003fff (0x4000) MX[B] [1] -1 0 0xf5004000 - 0xf50047ff (0x800) MX[B] [...snipped... post too long] [28] -1 0 0x0000fb00 - 0x0000fbff (0x100) IX[B] [29] -1 0 0x00003000 - 0x0000307f (0x80) IX[B](B) (II) Active PCI resource ranges after removing overlaps: [0] -1 0 0xf5000000 - 0xf5003fff (0x4000) MX[B] [1] -1 0 0xf5004000 - 0xf50047ff (0x800) MX[B] [...snipped... post too long] [28] -1 0 0x0000fb00 - 0x0000fbff (0x100) IX[B] [29] -1 0 0x00003000 - 0x0000307f (0x80) IX[B](B) (II) OS-reported resource ranges after removing overlaps with PCI: [0] -1 0 0x00100000 - 0x3fffffff (0x3ff00000) MX[B]E(B) [1] -1 0 0x000f0000 - 0x000fffff (0x10000) MX[B] [2] -1 0 0x000c0000 - 0x000effff (0x30000) MX[B] [3] -1 0 0x00000000 - 0x0009ffff (0xa0000) MX[B] [4] -1 0 0x0000ffff - 0x0000ffff (0x1) IX[B] [5] -1 0 0x00000000 - 0x000000ff (0x100) IX[B] (II) All system resource ranges: [0] -1 0 0x00100000 - 0x3fffffff (0x3ff00000) MX[B]E(B) [1] -1 0 0x000f0000 - 0x000fffff (0x10000) MX[B] [2] -1 0 0x000c0000 - 0x000effff (0x30000) MX[B] [3] -1 0 0x00000000 - 0x0009ffff (0xa0000) MX[B] [4] -1 0 0xf5000000 - 0xf5003fff (0x4000) MX[B] [5] -1 0 0xf5004000 - 0xf50047ff (0x800) MX[B] [6] -1 0 0xf5104000 - 0xf5104fff (0x1000) MX[B] [7] -1 0 0xf5103000 - 0xf5103fff (0x1000) MX[B] [8] -1 0 0xf5102000 - 0xf5102fff (0x1000) MX[B] [9] -1 0 0xf5101000 - 0xf5101fff (0x1000) MX[B] [10] -1 0 0xfebf0000 - 0xfebf00ff (0x100) MX[B] [11] -1 0 0xf5100000 - 0xf5100fff (0x1000) MX[B] [12] -1 0 0xf4000000 - 0xf4ffffff (0x1000000) MX[B](B) [13] -1 0 0xc0000000 - 0xcfffffff (0x10000000) MX[B](B) [14] -1 0 0xf3000000 - 0xf3ffffff (0x1000000) MX[B](B) [15] -1 0 0x0000ffff - 0x0000ffff (0x1) IX[B] [16] -1 0 0x00000000 - 0x000000ff (0x100) IX[B] [17] -1 0 0x000048f0 - 0x000048f7 (0x8) IX[B] [18] -1 0 0x000048c0 - 0x000048cf (0x10) IX[B] [19] -1 0 0x00004c04 - 0x00004c07 (0x4) IX[B] [20] -1 0 0x000048e8 - 0x000048ef (0x8) IX[B] [21] -1 0 0x00004c00 - 0x00004c03 (0x4) IX[B] [22] -1 0 0x000048e0 - 0x000048e7 (0x8) IX[B] [23] -1 0 0x000048b0 - 0x000048bf (0x10) IX[B] [24] -1 0 0x000048fc - 0x000048ff (0x4) IX[B] [25] -1 0 0x000048d8 - 0x000048df (0x8) IX[B] [26] -1 0 0x000048f8 - 0x000048fb (0x4) IX[B] [27] -1 0 0x000048d0 - 0x000048d7 (0x8) IX[B] [28] -1 0 0x000048a0 - 0x000048af (0x10) IX[B] [29] -1 0 0x00004400 - 0x000044ff (0x100) IX[B] [30] -1 0 0x00004000 - 0x000040ff (0x100) IX[B] [31] -1 0 0x00004840 - 0x0000487f (0x40) IX[B] [32] -1 0 0x00004800 - 0x0000483f (0x40) IX[B] [33] -1 0 0x00004880 - 0x0000489f (0x20) IX[B] [34] -1 0 0x0000fb00 - 0x0000fbff (0x100) IX[B] [35] -1 0 0x00003000 - 0x0000307f (0x80) IX[B](B) (II) LoadModule: "extmod" (II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/extensions/libextmod.so (II) Module extmod: vendor="X.Org Foundation" compiled for 7.1.1, module version = 1.0.0 Module class: X.Org Server Extension ABI class: X.Org Server Extension, version 0.3 (II) Loading extension SHAPE (II) Loading extension MIT-SUNDRY-NONSTANDARD (II) Loading extension BIG-REQUESTS (II) Loading extension SYNC (II) Loading extension MIT-SCREEN-SAVER (II) Loading extension XC-MISC (II) Loading extension XFree86-VidModeExtension (II) Loading extension XFree86-Misc (II) Loading extension XFree86-DGA (II) Loading extension DPMS (II) Loading extension TOG-CUP (II) Loading extension Extended-Visual-Information (II) Loading extension XVideo (II) Loading extension XVideo-MotionCompensation (II) Loading extension X-Resource (II) LoadModule: "dbe" (II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/extensions/libdbe.so (II) Module dbe: vendor="X.Org Foundation" compiled for 7.1.1, module version = 1.0.0 Module class: X.Org Server Extension ABI class: X.Org Server Extension, version 0.3 (II) Loading extension DOUBLE-BUFFER (II) LoadModule: "glx" (II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/extensions/libglx.so (II) Module glx: vendor="NVIDIA Corporation" compiled for 4.0.2, module version = 1.0.0 Module class: X.Org Server Extension (II) NVIDIA GLX Module 185.18.36 Fri Aug 14 18:27:24 PDT 2009 (II) Loading extension GLX (II) LoadModule: "freetype" (II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/fonts/libfreetype.so (II) Module freetype: vendor="X.Org Foundation & the After X-TT Project" compiled for 7.1.1, module version = 2.1.0 Module class: X.Org Font Renderer ABI class: X.Org Font Renderer, version 0.5 (II) Loading font FreeType (II) LoadModule: "type1" (II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/fonts/libtype1.so (II) Module type1: vendor="X.Org Foundation" compiled for 7.1.1, module version = 1.0.2 Module class: X.Org Font Renderer ABI class: X.Org Font Renderer, version 0.5 (II) Loading font Type1 (II) LoadModule: "record" (II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/extensions/librecord.so (II) Module record: vendor="X.Org Foundation" compiled for 7.1.1, module version = 1.13.0 Module class: X.Org Server Extension ABI class: X.Org Server Extension, version 0.3 (II) Loading extension RECORD (II) LoadModule: "dri" (II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/extensions/libdri.so (II) Module dri: vendor="X.Org Foundation" compiled for 7.1.1, module version = 1.0.0 ABI class: X.Org Server Extension, version 0.3 (II) Loading sub module "drm" (II) LoadModule: "drm" (II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/linux/libdrm.so (II) Module drm: vendor="X.Org Foundation" compiled for 7.1.1, module version = 1.0.0 ABI class: X.Org Server Extension, version 0.3 (II) Loading extension XFree86-DRI (II) LoadModule: "nvidia" (II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/drivers/nvidia_drv.so (II) Module nvidia: vendor="NVIDIA Corporation" compiled for 4.0.2, module version = 1.0.0 Module class: X.Org Video Driver (II) LoadModule: "kbd" (II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/input/kbd_drv.so (II) Module kbd: vendor="X.Org Foundation" compiled for 7.1.1, module version = 1.1.0 Module class: X.Org XInput Driver ABI class: X.Org XInput driver, version 0.6 (II) LoadModule: "mouse" (II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/input/mouse_drv.so (II) Module mouse: vendor="X.Org Foundation" compiled for 7.1.1, module version = 1.1.1 Module class: X.Org XInput Driver ABI class: X.Org XInput driver, version 0.6 (II) NVIDIA dlloader X Driver 185.18.36 Fri Aug 14 17:51:02 PDT 2009 (II) NVIDIA Unified Driver for all Supported NVIDIA GPUs (II) Primary Device is: PCI 0a:00:0 (--) Chipset NVIDIA GPU found (II) Loading sub module "fb" (II) LoadModule: "fb" (II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/libfb.so (II) Module fb: vendor="X.Org Foundation" compiled for 7.1.1, module version = 1.0.0 ABI class: X.Org ANSI C Emulation, version 0.3 (II) Loading sub module "wfb" (II) LoadModule: "wfb" (II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/libwfb.so (II) Module wfb: vendor="NVIDIA Corporation" compiled for 7.1.99.2, module version = 1.0.0 (II) Loading sub module "ramdac" (II) LoadModule: "ramdac" (II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/libramdac.so (II) Module ramdac: vendor="X.Org Foundation" compiled for 7.1.1, module version = 0.1.0 ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 1.0 (II) resource ranges after xf86ClaimFixedResources() call: [0] -1 0 0x00100000 - 0x3fffffff (0x3ff00000) MX[B]E(B) [1] -1 0 0x000f0000 - 0x000fffff (0x10000) MX[B] [2] -1 0 0x000c0000 - 0x000effff (0x30000) MX[B] [3] -1 0 0x00000000 - 0x0009ffff (0xa0000) MX[B] [4] -1 0 0xf5000000 - 0xf5003fff (0x4000) MX[B] [5] -1 0 0xf5004000 - 0xf50047ff (0x800) MX[B] [6] -1 0 0xf5104000 - 0xf5104fff (0x1000) MX[B] [7] -1 0 0xf5103000 - 0xf5103fff (0x1000) MX[B] [8] -1 0 0xf5102000 - 0xf5102fff (0x1000) MX[B] [9] -1 0 0xf5101000 - 0xf5101fff (0x1000) MX[B] [10] -1 0 0xfebf0000 - 0xfebf00ff (0x100) MX[B] [11] -1 0 0xf5100000 - 0xf5100fff (0x1000) MX[B] [12] -1 0 0xf4000000 - 0xf4ffffff (0x1000000) MX[B](B) [13] -1 0 0xc0000000 - 0xcfffffff (0x10000000) MX[B](B) [14] -1 0 0xf3000000 - 0xf3ffffff (0x1000000) MX[B](B) [15] -1 0 0x0000ffff - 0x0000ffff (0x1) IX[B] [16] -1 0 0x00000000 - 0x000000ff (0x100) IX[B] [17] -1 0 0x000048f0 - 0x000048f7 (0x8) IX[B] [18] -1 0 0x000048c0 - 0x000048cf (0x10) IX[B] [19] -1 0 0x00004c04 - 0x00004c07 (0x4) IX[B] [20] -1 0 0x000048e8 - 0x000048ef (0x8) IX[B] [21] -1 0 0x00004c00 - 0x00004c03 (0x4) IX[B] [22] -1 0 0x000048e0 - 0x000048e7 (0x8) IX[B] [23] -1 0 0x000048b0 - 0x000048bf (0x10) IX[B] [24] -1 0 0x000048fc - 0x000048ff (0x4) IX[B] [25] -1 0 0x000048d8 - 0x000048df (0x8) IX[B] [26] -1 0 0x000048f8 - 0x000048fb (0x4) IX[B] [27] -1 0 0x000048d0 - 0x000048d7 (0x8) IX[B] [28] -1 0 0x000048a0 - 0x000048af (0x10) IX[B] [29] -1 0 0x00004400 - 0x000044ff (0x100) IX[B] [30] -1 0 0x00004000 - 0x000040ff (0x100) IX[B] [31] -1 0 0x00004840 - 0x0000487f (0x40) IX[B] [32] -1 0 0x00004800 - 0x0000483f (0x40) IX[B] [33] -1 0 0x00004880 - 0x0000489f (0x20) IX[B] [34] -1 0 0x0000fb00 - 0x0000fbff (0x100) IX[B] [35] -1 0 0x00003000 - 0x0000307f (0x80) IX[B](B) (II) resource ranges after probing: [0] -1 0 0x00100000 - 0x3fffffff (0x3ff00000) MX[B]E(B) [1] -1 0 0x000f0000 - 0x000fffff (0x10000) MX[B] [2] -1 0 0x000c0000 - 0x000effff (0x30000) MX[B] [3] -1 0 0x00000000 - 0x0009ffff (0xa0000) MX[B] [4] -1 0 0xf5000000 - 0xf5003fff (0x4000) MX[B] [5] -1 0 0xf5004000 - 0xf50047ff (0x800) MX[B] [6] -1 0 0xf5104000 - 0xf5104fff (0x1000) MX[B] [7] -1 0 0xf5103000 - 0xf5103fff (0x1000) MX[B] [8] -1 0 0xf5102000 - 0xf5102fff (0x1000) MX[B] [9] -1 0 0xf5101000 - 0xf5101fff (0x1000) MX[B] [10] -1 0 0xfebf0000 - 0xfebf00ff (0x100) MX[B] [11] -1 0 0xf5100000 - 0xf5100fff (0x1000) MX[B] [12] -1 0 0xf4000000 - 0xf4ffffff (0x1000000) MX[B](B) [13] -1 0 0xc0000000 - 0xcfffffff (0x10000000) MX[B](B) [14] -1 0 0xf3000000 - 0xf3ffffff (0x1000000) MX[B](B) [15] 0 0 0x000a0000 - 0x000affff (0x10000) MS[B] [16] 0 0 0x000b0000 - 0x000b7fff (0x8000) MS[B] [17] 0 0 0x000b8000 - 0x000bffff (0x8000) MS[B] [18] -1 0 0x0000ffff - 0x0000ffff (0x1) IX[B] [19] -1 0 0x00000000 - 0x000000ff (0x100) IX[B] [20] -1 0 0x000048f0 - 0x000048f7 (0x8) IX[B] [21] -1 0 0x000048c0 - 0x000048cf (0x10) IX[B] [22] -1 0 0x00004c04 - 0x00004c07 (0x4) IX[B] [23] -1 0 0x000048e8 - 0x000048ef (0x8) IX[B] [24] -1 0 0x00004c00 - 0x00004c03 (0x4) IX[B] [25] -1 0 0x000048e0 - 0x000048e7 (0x8) IX[B] [26] -1 0 0x000048b0 - 0x000048bf (0x10) IX[B] [27] -1 0 0x000048fc - 0x000048ff (0x4) IX[B] [28] -1 0 0x000048d8 - 0x000048df (0x8) IX[B] [29] -1 0 0x000048f8 - 0x000048fb (0x4) IX[B] [30] -1 0 0x000048d0 - 0x000048d7 (0x8) IX[B] [31] -1 0 0x000048a0 - 0x000048af (0x10) IX[B] [32] -1 0 0x00004400 - 0x000044ff (0x100) IX[B] [33] -1 0 0x00004000 - 0x000040ff (0x100) IX[B] [34] -1 0 0x00004840 - 0x0000487f (0x40) IX[B] [35] -1 0 0x00004800 - 0x0000483f (0x40) IX[B] [36] -1 0 0x00004880 - 0x0000489f (0x20) IX[B] [37] -1 0 0x0000fb00 - 0x0000fbff (0x100) IX[B] [38] -1 0 0x00003000 - 0x0000307f (0x80) IX[B](B) [39] 0 0 0x000003b0 - 0x000003bb (0xc) IS[B] [40] 0 0 0x000003c0 - 0x000003df (0x20) IS[B] (II) Setting vga for screen 0. (**) NVIDIA(0): Depth 24, (--) framebuffer bpp 32 (==) NVIDIA(0): RGB weight 888 (==) NVIDIA(0): Default visual is TrueColor (==) NVIDIA(0): Using gamma correction (1.0, 1.0, 1.0) (**) NVIDIA(0): Option "TwinView" "0" (**) NVIDIA(0): Option "MetaModes" "nvidia-auto-select +0+0" (**) NVIDIA(0): Enabling RENDER acceleration (II) NVIDIA(0): Support for GLX with the Damage and Composite X extensions is (II) NVIDIA(0): enabled. (II) NVIDIA(0): NVIDIA GPU Quadro FX 4500 (G70GL) at PCI:10:0:0 (GPU-0) (--) NVIDIA(0): Memory: 524288 kBytes (--) NVIDIA(0): VideoBIOS: 05.70.02.41.01 (II) NVIDIA(0): Detected PCI Express Link width: 16X (--) NVIDIA(0): Interlaced video modes are supported on this GPU (--) NVIDIA(0): Connected display device(s) on Quadro FX 4500 at PCI:10:0:0: (--) NVIDIA(0): DELL 3007WFP (DFP-0) (--) NVIDIA(0): DELL 3007WFP (DFP-0): 310.0 MHz maximum pixel clock (--) NVIDIA(0): DELL 3007WFP (DFP-0): Internal Dual Link TMDS (II) NVIDIA(0): Assigned Display Device: DFP-0 (II) NVIDIA(0): Validated modes: (II) NVIDIA(0): "nvidia-auto-select+0+0" (II) NVIDIA(0): Virtual screen size determined to be 2560 x 1600 (--) NVIDIA(0): DPI set to (101, 101); computed from "UseEdidDpi" X config (--) NVIDIA(0): option (WW) NVIDIA(0): UBB is incompatible with the Composite extension. Disabling (WW) NVIDIA(0): UBB. (==) NVIDIA(0): Disabling 32-bit ARGB GLX visuals. (--) Depth 24 pixmap format is 32 bpp (II) do I need RAC? No, I don't. (II) resource ranges after preInit: [0] -1 0 0x00100000 - 0x3fffffff (0x3ff00000) MX[B]E(B) [1] -1 0 0x000f0000 - 0x000fffff (0x10000) MX[B] [2] -1 0 0x000c0000 - 0x000effff (0x30000) MX[B] [3] -1 0 0x00000000 - 0x0009ffff (0xa0000) MX[B] [4] -1 0 0xf5000000 - 0xf5003fff (0x4000) MX[B] [5] -1 0 0xf5004000 - 0xf50047ff (0x800) MX[B] [6] -1 0 0xf5104000 - 0xf5104fff (0x1000) MX[B] [7] -1 0 0xf5103000 - 0xf5103fff (0x1000) MX[B] [8] -1 0 0xf5102000 - 0xf5102fff (0x1000) MX[B] [9] -1 0 0xf5101000 - 0xf5101fff (0x1000) MX[B] [10] -1 0 0xfebf0000 - 0xfebf00ff (0x100) MX[B] [11] -1 0 0xf5100000 - 0xf5100fff (0x1000) MX[B] [12] -1 0 0xf4000000 - 0xf4ffffff (0x1000000) MX[B](B) [13] -1 0 0xc0000000 - 0xcfffffff (0x10000000) MX[B](B) [14] -1 0 0xf3000000 - 0xf3ffffff (0x1000000) MX[B](B) [15] 0 0 0x000a0000 - 0x000affff (0x10000) MS[B] [16] 0 0 0x000b0000 - 0x000b7fff (0x8000) MS[B] [17] 0 0 0x000b8000 - 0x000bffff (0x8000) MS[B] [18] -1 0 0x0000ffff - 0x0000ffff (0x1) IX[B] [19] -1 0 0x00000000 - 0x000000ff (0x100) IX[B] [20] -1 0 0x000048f0 - 0x000048f7 (0x8) IX[B] [21] -1 0 0x000048c0 - 0x000048cf (0x10) IX[B] [22] -1 0 0x00004c04 - 0x00004c07 (0x4) IX[B] [23] -1 0 0x000048e8 - 0x000048ef (0x8) IX[B] [24] -1 0 0x00004c00 - 0x00004c03 (0x4) IX[B] [25] -1 0 0x000048e0 - 0x000048e7 (0x8) IX[B] [26] -1 0 0x000048b0 - 0x000048bf (0x10) IX[B] [27] -1 0 0x000048fc - 0x000048ff (0x4) IX[B] [28] -1 0 0x000048d8 - 0x000048df (0x8) IX[B] [29] -1 0 0x000048f8 - 0x000048fb (0x4) IX[B] [30] -1 0 0x000048d0 - 0x000048d7 (0x8) IX[B] [31] -1 0 0x000048a0 - 0x000048af (0x10) IX[B] [32] -1 0 0x00004400 - 0x000044ff (0x100) IX[B] [33] -1 0 0x00004000 - 0x000040ff (0x100) IX[B] [34] -1 0 0x00004840 - 0x0000487f (0x40) IX[B] [35] -1 0 0x00004800 - 0x0000483f (0x40) IX[B] [36] -1 0 0x00004880 - 0x0000489f (0x20) IX[B] [37] -1 0 0x0000fb00 - 0x0000fbff (0x100) IX[B] [38] -1 0 0x00003000 - 0x0000307f (0x80) IX[B](B) [39] 0 0 0x000003b0 - 0x000003bb (0xc) IS[B] [40] 0 0 0x000003c0 - 0x000003df (0x20) IS[B] (II) NVIDIA(GPU-1): NVIDIA GPU Quadro FX 4500 (G70GL) at PCI:129:0:0 (GPU-1) (--) NVIDIA(GPU-1): Memory: 524288 kBytes (--) NVIDIA(GPU-1): VideoBIOS: 05.70.02.41.01 (II) NVIDIA(GPU-1): Detected PCI Express Link width: 16X (--) NVIDIA(GPU-1): Interlaced video modes are supported on this GPU (--) NVIDIA(GPU-1): Connected display device(s) on Quadro FX 4500 at PCI:129:0:0: (--) NVIDIA(GPU-1): DELL 3007WFP (DFP-0) (--) NVIDIA(GPU-1): DELL 3007WFP (DFP-0): 310.0 MHz maximum pixel clock (--) NVIDIA(GPU-1): DELL 3007WFP (DFP-0): Internal Dual Link TMDS (II) NVIDIA(0): Initialized GPU GART. (II) NVIDIA(0): Setting mode "nvidia-auto-select+0+0" (II) Loading extension NV-GLX (II) NVIDIA(0): NVIDIA 3D Acceleration Architecture Initialized (==) NVIDIA(0): Disabling shared memory pixmaps (II) NVIDIA(0): Using the NVIDIA 2D acceleration architecture (==) NVIDIA(0): Backing store disabled (==) NVIDIA(0): Silken mouse enabled (**) Option "dpms" (**) NVIDIA(0): DPMS enabled (II) Loading extension NV-CONTROL (==) RandR enabled (II) Setting vga for screen 0. (II) Initializing built-in extension MIT-SHM (II) Initializing built-in extension XInputExtension (II) Initializing built-in extension XTEST (II) Initializing built-in extension XKEYBOARD (II) Initializing built-in extension XC-APPGROUP (II) Initializing built-in extension SECURITY (II) Initializing built-in extension XINERAMA (II) Initializing built-in extension XFIXES (II) Initializing built-in extension XFree86-Bigfont (II) Initializing built-in extension RENDER (II) Initializing built-in extension RANDR (II) Initializing built-in extension COMPOSITE (II) Initializing built-in extension DAMAGE (II) Initializing built-in extension XEVIE (II) Initializing extension GLX (WW) Disabling Composite since Xinerama is enabled (**) Option "CoreKeyboard" (**) Keyboard0: Core Keyboard (**) Option "Protocol" "standard" (**) Keyboard0: Protocol: standard (**) Option "AutoRepeat" "500 30" (**) Option "XkbRules" "xorg" (**) Keyboard0: XkbRules: "xorg" (**) Option "XkbModel" "pc105" (**) Keyboard0: XkbModel: "pc105" (**) Option "XkbLayout" "us" (**) Keyboard0: XkbLayout: "us" (**) Option "CustomKeycodes" "off" (**) Keyboard0: CustomKeycodes disabled (**) Option "Protocol" "auto" (**) Mouse0: Device: "/dev/input/mice" (**) Mouse0: Protocol: "auto" (**) Option "CorePointer" (**) Mouse0: Core Pointer (**) Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice" (**) Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no" (**) Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5" (**) Mouse0: ZAxisMapping: buttons 4 and 5 (**) Mouse0: Buttons: 9 (II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "Mouse0" (type: MOUSE) (II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "Keyboard0" (type: KEYBOARD) (--) Mouse0: PnP-detected protocol: "ExplorerPS/2" (II) Mouse0: ps2EnableDataReporting: succeeded (II) Open ACPI successful (/var/run/acpid.socket) (II) NVIDIA(0): Setting mode "nvidia-auto-select+0+0" (II) Mouse0: ps2EnableDataReporting: succeeded (the snipped part can be changed if necessary) Any help at all would be appreciated. Cheers, Alex

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  • compass-rails 1.03 - TypeError: can't convert nil into String

    - by Romiko
    I am running: ruby 1.9.3p392 (2013-02-22) [i386-mingw32] compass-rails 1.0.3 I used the Windows RailsInstaller to install Ruby on Rails Gemfile group :assets do gem 'sass-rails', '~> 3.2.3' gem 'coffee-rails', '~> 3.2.1' gem 'compass-rails','~> 1.0.2' # See https://github.com/sstephenson/execjs#readme for more supported runtimes # gem 'therubyracer', :platforms => :ruby gem 'uglifier', '>= 1.0.3' end I am currently experiencing issues importing sprites. My sprites are in: assets/images/source in my _shared.scss file I have: //Sprites @import "./source/*.png"; $source-sprite-dimensions: true; In my application.scss I have: /* * This is a manifest file that'll be compiled into application.css, which will include all the files * listed below. * * Any CSS and SCSS file within this directory, lib/assets/stylesheets, vendor/assets/stylesheets, * or vendor/assets/stylesheets of plugins, if any, can be referenced here using a relative path. * * You're free to add application-wide styles to this file and they'll appear at the top of the * compiled file, but it's generally better to create a new file per style scope. * *= require_self */ @import "_shared.scss"; @import "baseline.scss"; @import "global.scss"; @import "normalize.scss"; @import "print.scss"; @import "desktop.scss"; @import "tablet.scss"; @import "home.css.scss"; I am also using rails server and not compass watcher. However when I browse to the page at localhost:3000/assets/application.css, I get the following error: body:before { font-weight: bold; content: "\000a TypeError: can't convert nil into String\000a (in c:\002f RangerRomOnRails\002f RangerRom\002f app\002f assets\002f stylesheets\002f desktop.scss)"; } body:after { content: "\000a C:\002f RailsInstaller\002f Ruby1.9.3\002f lib\002f ruby\002f gems\002f 1.9.1\002f gems\002f compass-0.12.2\002f lib\002f compass\002f sass_extensions\002f functions\002f image_size.rb:17:in `extname'"; } Here is the full stack trace: compass (0 .12.2) lib/compass/sass_extensions/functions/image_size.rb:17:in `extname' compass (0.12.2) lib/compass/sass_extensions/functions/image_size.rb:17:in `initialize' compass (0.12.2) lib/compass/sass_extensions/functions/image_size.rb:50:in `new' compass (0.12.2) lib/compass/sass_extensions/functions/image_size.rb:50:in `image_dimensions' compass (0.12.2) lib/compass/sass_extensions/functions/image_size.rb:4:in `image_width' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/script/funcall.rb:112:in `_perform' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/script/node.rb:40:in `perform' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/tree/visitors/perform.rb:298:in `visit_prop' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/tree/visitors/base.rb:37:in `visit' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/tree/visitors/perform.rb:100:in `visit' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/tree/visitors/base.rb:53:in `block in visit_children' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/tree/visitors/base.rb:53:in `map' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/tree/visitors/base.rb:53:in `visit_children' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/tree/visitors/perform.rb:109:in `block in visit_children' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/tree/visitors/perform.rb:121:in `with_environment' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/tree/visitors/perform.rb:108:in `visit_children' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/tree/visitors/base.rb:37:in `block in visit' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/tree/visitors/perform.rb:320:in `visit_rule' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/tree/visitors/base.rb:37:in `visit' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/tree/visitors/perform.rb:100:in `visit' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/tree/visitors/base.rb:53:in `block in visit_children' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/tree/visitors/base.rb:53:in `map' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/tree/visitors/base.rb:53:in `visit_children' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/tree/visitors/perform.rb:109:in `block in visit_children' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/tree/visitors/perform.rb:121:in `with_environment' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/tree/visitors/perform.rb:108:in `visit_children' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/tree/visitors/base.rb:37:in `block in visit' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/tree/visitors/perform.rb:320:in `visit_rule' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/tree/visitors/base.rb:37:in `visit' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/tree/visitors/perform.rb:100:in `visit' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/tree/visitors/base.rb:53:in `block in visit_children' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/tree/visitors/base.rb:53:in `map' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/tree/visitors/base.rb:53:in `visit_children' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/tree/visitors/perform.rb:109:in `block in visit_children' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/tree/visitors/perform.rb:121:in `with_environment' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/tree/visitors/perform.rb:108:in `visit_children' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/tree/visitors/base.rb:37:in `block in visit' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/tree/visitors/perform.rb:362:in `visit_media' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/tree/visitors/base.rb:37:in `visit' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/tree/visitors/perform.rb:100:in `visit' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/tree/visitors/base.rb:53:in `block in visit_children' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/tree/visitors/base.rb:53:in `map' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/tree/visitors/base.rb:53:in `visit_children' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/tree/visitors/perform.rb:109:in `block in visit_children' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/tree/visitors/perform.rb:121:in `with_environment' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/tree/visitors/perform.rb:108:in `visit_children' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/tree/visitors/base.rb:37:in `block in visit' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/tree/visitors/perform.rb:128:in `visit_root' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/tree/visitors/base.rb:37:in `visit' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/tree/visitors/perform.rb:100:in `visit' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/tree/visitors/perform.rb:7:in `visit' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/tree/root_node.rb:20:in `render' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/engine.rb:315:in `_render' sass (3.2.9) lib/sass/engine.rb:262:in `render' sass-rails (3.2.6) lib/sass/rails/template_handlers.rb:106:in `evaluate' tilt (1.4.1) lib/tilt/template.rb:103:in `render' sprockets (2.2.2) lib/sprockets/context.rb:193:in `block in evaluate' sprockets (2.2.2) lib/sprockets/context.rb:190:in `each' sprockets (2.2.2) lib/sprockets/context.rb:190:in `evaluate' sprockets (2.2.2) lib/sprockets/processed_asset.rb:12:in `initialize' sprockets (2.2.2) lib/sprockets/base.rb:249:in `new' sprockets (2.2.2) lib/sprockets/base.rb:249:in `block in build_asset' sprockets (2.2.2) lib/sprockets/base.rb:270:in `circular_call_protection' sprockets (2.2.2) lib/sprockets/base.rb:248:in `build_asset' sprockets (2.2.2) lib/sprockets/index.rb:93:in `block in build_asset' sprockets (2.2.2) lib/sprockets/caching.rb:19:in `cache_asset' sprockets (2.2.2) lib/sprockets/index.rb:92:in `build_asset' sprockets (2.2.2) lib/sprockets/base.rb:169:in `find_asset' sprockets (2.2.2) lib/sprockets/index.rb:60:in `find_asset' sprockets (2.2.2) lib/sprockets/processed_asset.rb:111:in `block in resolve_dependencies' sprockets (2.2.2) lib/sprockets/processed_asset.rb:105:in `each' sprockets (2.2.2) lib/sprockets/processed_asset.rb:105:in `resolve_dependencies' sprockets (2.2.2) lib/sprockets/processed_asset.rb:97:in `build_required_assets' sprockets (2.2.2) lib/sprockets/processed_asset.rb:16:in `initialize' sprockets (2.2.2) lib/sprockets/base.rb:249:in `new' sprockets (2.2.2) lib/sprockets/base.rb:249:in `block in build_asset' sprockets (2.2.2) lib/sprockets/base.rb:270:in `circular_call_protection' sprockets (2.2.2) lib/sprockets/base.rb:248:in `build_asset' sprockets (2.2.2) lib/sprockets/index.rb:93:in `block in build_asset' sprockets (2.2.2) lib/sprockets/caching.rb:19:in 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  • Agile Development

    - by James Oloo Onyango
    Alot of literature has and is being written about agile developement and its surrounding philosophies. In my quest to find the best way to express the importance of agile methodologies, i have found Robert C. Martin's "A Satire Of Two Companies" to be both the most concise and thorough! Enjoy the read! Rufus Inc Project Kick Off Your name is Bob. The date is January 3, 2001, and your head still aches from the recent millennial revelry. You are sitting in a conference room with several managers and a group of your peers. You are a project team leader. Your boss is there, and he has brought along all of his team leaders. His boss called the meeting. "We have a new project to develop," says your boss's boss. Call him BB. The points in his hair are so long that they scrape the ceiling. Your boss's points are just starting to grow, but he eagerly awaits the day when he can leave Brylcream stains on the acoustic tiles. BB describes the essence of the new market they have identified and the product they want to develop to exploit this market. "We must have this new project up and working by fourth quarter October 1," BB demands. "Nothing is of higher priority, so we are cancelling your current project." The reaction in the room is stunned silence. Months of work are simply going to be thrown away. Slowly, a murmur of objection begins to circulate around the conference table.   His points give off an evil green glow as BB meets the eyes of everyone in the room. One by one, that insidious stare reduces each attendee to quivering lumps of protoplasm. It is clear that he will brook no discussion on this matter. Once silence has been restored, BB says, "We need to begin immediately. How long will it take you to do the analysis?" You raise your hand. Your boss tries to stop you, but his spitwad misses you and you are unaware of his efforts.   "Sir, we can't tell you how long the analysis will take until we have some requirements." "The requirements document won't be ready for 3 or 4 weeks," BB says, his points vibrating with frustration. "So, pretend that you have the requirements in front of you now. How long will you require for analysis?" No one breathes. Everyone looks around to see whether anyone has some idea. "If analysis goes beyond April 1, we have a problem. Can you finish the analysis by then?" Your boss visibly gathers his courage: "We'll find a way, sir!" His points grow 3 mm, and your headache increases by two Tylenol. "Good." BB smiles. "Now, how long will it take to do the design?" "Sir," you say. Your boss visibly pales. He is clearly worried that his 3 mms are at risk. "Without an analysis, it will not be possible to tell you how long design will take." BB's expression shifts beyond austere.   "PRETEND you have the analysis already!" he says, while fixing you with his vacant, beady little eyes. "How long will it take you to do the design?" Two Tylenol are not going to cut it. Your boss, in a desperate attempt to save his new growth, babbles: "Well, sir, with only six months left to complete the project, design had better take no longer than 3 months."   "I'm glad you agree, Smithers!" BB says, beaming. Your boss relaxes. He knows his points are secure. After a while, he starts lightly humming the Brylcream jingle. BB continues, "So, analysis will be complete by April 1, design will be complete by July 1, and that gives you 3 months to implement the project. This meeting is an example of how well our new consensus and empowerment policies are working. Now, get out there and start working. I'll expect to see TQM plans and QIT assignments on my desk by next week. Oh, and don't forget that your crossfunctional team meetings and reports will be needed for next month's quality audit." "Forget the Tylenol," you think to yourself as you return to your cubicle. "I need bourbon."   Visibly excited, your boss comes over to you and says, "Gosh, what a great meeting. I think we're really going to do some world shaking with this project." You nod in agreement, too disgusted to do anything else. "Oh," your boss continues, "I almost forgot." He hands you a 30-page document. "Remember that the SEI is coming to do an evaluation next week. This is the evaluation guide. You need to read through it, memorize it, and then shred it. It tells you how to answer any questions that the SEI auditors ask you. It also tells you what parts of the building you are allowed to take them to and what parts to avoid. We are determined to be a CMM level 3 organization by June!"   You and your peers start working on the analysis of the new project. This is difficult because you have no requirements. But from the 10-minute introduction given by BB on that fateful morning, you have some idea of what the product is supposed to do.   Corporate process demands that you begin by creating a use case document. You and your team begin enumerating use cases and drawing oval and stick diagrams. Philosophical debates break out among the team members. There is disagreement as to whether certain use cases should be connected with <<extends>> or <<includes>> relationships. Competing models are created, but nobody knows how to evaluate them. The debate continues, effectively paralyzing progress.   After a week, somebody finds the iceberg.com Web site, which recommends disposing entirely of <<extends>> and <<includes>> and replacing them with <<precedes>> and <<uses>>. The documents on this Web site, authored by Don Sengroiux, describes a method known as stalwart-analysis, which claims to be a step-by-step method for translating use cases into design diagrams. More competing use case models are created using this new scheme, but again, people can't agree on how to evaluate them. The thrashing continues. More and more, the use case meetings are driven by emotion rather than by reason. If it weren't for the fact that you don't have requirements, you'd be pretty upset by the lack of progress you are making. The requirements document arrives on February 15. And then again on February 20, 25, and every week thereafter. Each new version contradicts the previous one. Clearly, the marketing folks who are writing the requirements, empowered though they might be, are not finding consensus.   At the same time, several new competing use case templates have been proposed by the various team members. Each template presents its own particularly creative way of delaying progress. The debates rage on. On March 1, Prudence Putrigence, the process proctor, succeeds in integrating all the competing use case forms and templates into a single, all-encompassing form. Just the blank form is 15 pages long. She has managed to include every field that appeared on all the competing templates. She also presents a 159- page document describing how to fill out the use case form. All current use cases must be rewritten according to the new standard.   You marvel to yourself that it now requires 15 pages of fill-in-the-blank and essay questions to answer the question: What should the system do when the user presses Return? The corporate process (authored by L. E. Ott, famed author of "Holistic Analysis: A Progressive Dialectic for Software Engineers") insists that you discover all primary use cases, 87 percent of all secondary use cases, and 36.274 percent of all tertiary use cases before you can complete analysis and enter the design phase. You have no idea what a tertiary use case is. So in an attempt to meet this requirement, you try to get your use case document reviewed by the marketing department, which you hope will know what a tertiary use case is.   Unfortunately, the marketing folks are too busy with sales support to talk to you. Indeed, since the project started, you have not been able to get a single meeting with marketing, which has provided a never-ending stream of changing and contradictory requirements documents.   While one team has been spinning endlessly on the use case document, another team has been working out the domain model. Endless variations of UML documents are pouring out of this team. Every week, the model is reworked.   The team members can't decide whether to use <<interfaces>> or <<types>> in the model. A huge disagreement has been raging on the proper syntax and application of OCL. Others on the team just got back from a 5-day class on catabolism, and have been producing incredibly detailed and arcane diagrams that nobody else can fathom.   On March 27, with one week to go before analysis is to be complete, you have produced a sea of documents and diagrams but are no closer to a cogent analysis of the problem than you were on January 3. **** And then, a miracle happens.   **** On Saturday, April 1, you check your e-mail from home. You see a memo from your boss to BB. It states unequivocally that you are done with the analysis! You phone your boss and complain. "How could you have told BB that we were done with the analysis?" "Have you looked at a calendar lately?" he responds. "It's April 1!" The irony of that date does not escape you. "But we have so much more to think about. So much more to analyze! We haven't even decided whether to use <<extends>> or <<precedes>>!" "Where is your evidence that you are not done?" inquires your boss, impatiently. "Whaaa . . . ." But he cuts you off. "Analysis can go on forever; it has to be stopped at some point. And since this is the date it was scheduled to stop, it has been stopped. Now, on Monday, I want you to gather up all existing analysis materials and put them into a public folder. Release that folder to Prudence so that she can log it in the CM system by Monday afternoon. Then get busy and start designing."   As you hang up the phone, you begin to consider the benefits of keeping a bottle of bourbon in your bottom desk drawer. They threw a party to celebrate the on-time completion of the analysis phase. BB gave a colon-stirring speech on empowerment. And your boss, another 3 mm taller, congratulated his team on the incredible show of unity and teamwork. Finally, the CIO takes the stage to tell everyone that the SEI audit went very well and to thank everyone for studying and shredding the evaluation guides that were passed out. Level 3 now seems assured and will be awarded by June. (Scuttlebutt has it that managers at the level of BB and above are to receive significant bonuses once the SEI awards level 3.)   As the weeks flow by, you and your team work on the design of the system. Of course, you find that the analysis that the design is supposedly based on is flawedno, useless; no, worse than useless. But when you tell your boss that you need to go back and work some more on the analysis to shore up its weaker sections, he simply states, "The analysis phase is over. The only allowable activity is design. Now get back to it."   So, you and your team hack the design as best you can, unsure of whether the requirements have been properly analyzed. Of course, it really doesn't matter much, since the requirements document is still thrashing with weekly revisions, and the marketing department still refuses to meet with you.     The design is a nightmare. Your boss recently misread a book named The Finish Line in which the author, Mark DeThomaso, blithely suggested that design documents should be taken down to code-level detail. "If we are going to be working at that level of detail," you ask, "why don't we simply write the code instead?" "Because then you wouldn't be designing, of course. And the only allowable activity in the design phase is design!" "Besides," he continues, "we have just purchased a companywide license for Dandelion! This tool enables 'Round the Horn Engineering!' You are to transfer all design diagrams into this tool. It will automatically generate our code for us! It will also keep the design diagrams in sync with the code!" Your boss hands you a brightly colored shrinkwrapped box containing the Dandelion distribution. You accept it numbly and shuffle off to your cubicle. Twelve hours, eight crashes, one disk reformatting, and eight shots of 151 later, you finally have the tool installed on your server. You consider the week your team will lose while attending Dandelion training. Then you smile and think, "Any week I'm not here is a good week." Design diagram after design diagram is created by your team. Dandelion makes it very difficult to draw these diagrams. There are dozens and dozens of deeply nested dialog boxes with funny text fields and check boxes that must all be filled in correctly. And then there's the problem of moving classes between packages. At first, these diagram are driven from the use cases. But the requirements are changing so often that the use cases rapidly become meaningless. Debates rage about whether VISITOR or DECORATOR design patterns should be used. One developer refuses to use VISITOR in any form, claiming that it's not a properly object-oriented construct. Someone refuses to use multiple inheritance, since it is the spawn of the devil. Review meetings rapidly degenerate into debates about the meaning of object orientation, the definition of analysis versus design, or when to use aggregation versus association. Midway through the design cycle, the marketing folks announce that they have rethought the focus of the system. Their new requirements document is completely restructured. They have eliminated several major feature areas and replaced them with feature areas that they anticipate customer surveys will show to be more appropriate. You tell your boss that these changes mean that you need to reanalyze and redesign much of the system. But he says, "The analysis phase is system. But he says, "The analysis phase is over. The only allowable activity is design. Now get back to it."   You suggest that it might be better to create a simple prototype to show to the marketing folks and even some potential customers. But your boss says, "The analysis phase is over. The only allowable activity is design. Now get back to it." Hack, hack, hack, hack. You try to create some kind of a design document that might reflect the new requirements documents. However, the revolution of the requirements has not caused them to stop thrashing. Indeed, if anything, the wild oscillations of the requirements document have only increased in frequency and amplitude.   You slog your way through them.   On June 15, the Dandelion database gets corrupted. Apparently, the corruption has been progressive. Small errors in the DB accumulated over the months into bigger and bigger errors. Eventually, the CASE tool just stopped working. Of course, the slowly encroaching corruption is present on all the backups. Calls to the Dandelion technical support line go unanswered for several days. Finally, you receive a brief e-mail from Dandelion, informing you that this is a known problem and that the solution is to purchase the new version, which they promise will be ready some time next quarter, and then reenter all the diagrams by hand.   ****   Then, on July 1 another miracle happens! You are done with the design!   Rather than go to your boss and complain, you stock your middle desk drawer with some vodka.   **** They threw a party to celebrate the on-time completion of the design phase and their graduation to CMM level 3. This time, you find BB's speech so stirring that you have to use the restroom before it begins. New banners and plaques are all over your workplace. They show pictures of eagles and mountain climbers, and they talk about teamwork and empowerment. They read better after a few scotches. That reminds you that you need to clear out your file cabinet to make room for the brandy. You and your team begin to code. But you rapidly discover that the design is lacking in some significant areas. Actually, it's lacking any significance at all. You convene a design session in one of the conference rooms to try to work through some of the nastier problems. But your boss catches you at it and disbands the meeting, saying, "The design phase is over. The only allowable activity is coding. Now get back to it."   ****   The code generated by Dandelion is really hideous. It turns out that you and your team were using association and aggregation the wrong way, after all. All the generated code has to be edited to correct these flaws. Editing this code is extremely difficult because it has been instrumented with ugly comment blocks that have special syntax that Dandelion needs in order to keep the diagrams in sync with the code. If you accidentally alter one of these comments, the diagrams will be regenerated incorrectly. It turns out that "Round the Horn Engineering" requires an awful lot of effort. The more you try to keep the code compatible with Dandelion, the more errors Dandelion generates. In the end, you give up and decide to keep the diagrams up to date manually. A second later, you decide that there's no point in keeping the diagrams up to date at all. Besides, who has time?   Your boss hires a consultant to build tools to count the number of lines of code that are being produced. He puts a big thermometer graph on the wall with the number 1,000,000 on the top. Every day, he extends the red line to show how many lines have been added. Three days after the thermometer appears on the wall, your boss stops you in the hall. "That graph isn't growing quickly enough. We need to have a million lines done by October 1." "We aren't even sh-sh-sure that the proshect will require a m-million linezh," you blather. "We have to have a million lines done by October 1," your boss reiterates. His points have grown again, and the Grecian formula he uses on them creates an aura of authority and competence. "Are you sure your comment blocks are big enough?" Then, in a flash of managerial insight, he says, "I have it! I want you to institute a new policy among the engineers. No line of code is to be longer than 20 characters. Any such line must be split into two or more preferably more. All existing code needs to be reworked to this standard. That'll get our line count up!"   You decide not to tell him that this will require two unscheduled work months. You decide not to tell him anything at all. You decide that intravenous injections of pure ethanol are the only solution. You make the appropriate arrangements. Hack, hack, hack, and hack. You and your team madly code away. By August 1, your boss, frowning at the thermometer on the wall, institutes a mandatory 50-hour workweek.   Hack, hack, hack, and hack. By September 1st, the thermometer is at 1.2 million lines and your boss asks you to write a report describing why you exceeded the coding budget by 20 percent. He institutes mandatory Saturdays and demands that the project be brought back down to a million lines. You start a campaign of remerging lines. Hack, hack, hack, and hack. Tempers are flaring; people are quitting; QA is raining trouble reports down on you. Customers are demanding installation and user manuals; salespeople are demanding advance demonstrations for special customers; the requirements document is still thrashing, the marketing folks are complaining that the product isn't anything like they specified, and the liquor store won't accept your credit card anymore. Something has to give.    On September 15, BB calls a meeting. As he enters the room, his points are emitting clouds of steam. When he speaks, the bass overtones of his carefully manicured voice cause the pit of your stomach to roll over. "The QA manager has told me that this project has less than 50 percent of the required features implemented. He has also informed me that the system crashes all the time, yields wrong results, and is hideously slow. He has also complained that he cannot keep up with the continuous train of daily releases, each more buggy than the last!" He stops for a few seconds, visibly trying to compose himself. "The QA manager estimates that, at this rate of development, we won't be able to ship the product until December!" Actually, you think it's more like March, but you don't say anything. "December!" BB roars with such derision that people duck their heads as though he were pointing an assault rifle at them. "December is absolutely out of the question. Team leaders, I want new estimates on my desk in the morning. I am hereby mandating 65-hour work weeks until this project is complete. And it better be complete by November 1."   As he leaves the conference room, he is heard to mutter: "Empowermentbah!" * * * Your boss is bald; his points are mounted on BB's wall. The fluorescent lights reflecting off his pate momentarily dazzle you. "Do you have anything to drink?" he asks. Having just finished your last bottle of Boone's Farm, you pull a bottle of Thunderbird from your bookshelf and pour it into his coffee mug. "What's it going to take to get this project done? " he asks. "We need to freeze the requirements, analyze them, design them, and then implement them," you say callously. "By November 1?" your boss exclaims incredulously. "No way! Just get back to coding the damned thing." He storms out, scratching his vacant head.   A few days later, you find that your boss has been transferred to the corporate research division. Turnover has skyrocketed. Customers, informed at the last minute that their orders cannot be fulfilled on time, have begun to cancel their orders. Marketing is re-evaluating whether this product aligns with the overall goals of the company. Memos fly, heads roll, policies change, and things are, overall, pretty grim. Finally, by March, after far too many sixty-five hour weeks, a very shaky version of the software is ready. In the field, bug-discovery rates are high, and the technical support staff are at their wits' end, trying to cope with the complaints and demands of the irate customers. Nobody is happy.   In April, BB decides to buy his way out of the problem by licensing a product produced by Rupert Industries and redistributing it. The customers are mollified, the marketing folks are smug, and you are laid off.     Rupert Industries: Project Alpha   Your name is Robert. The date is January 3, 2001. The quiet hours spent with your family this holiday have left you refreshed and ready for work. You are sitting in a conference room with your team of professionals. The manager of the division called the meeting. "We have some ideas for a new project," says the division manager. Call him Russ. He is a high-strung British chap with more energy than a fusion reactor. He is ambitious and driven but understands the value of a team. Russ describes the essence of the new market opportunity the company has identified and introduces you to Jane, the marketing manager, who is responsible for defining the products that will address it. Addressing you, Jane says, "We'd like to start defining our first product offering as soon as possible. When can you and your team meet with me?" You reply, "We'll be done with the current iteration of our project this Friday. We can spare a few hours for you between now and then. After that, we'll take a few people from the team and dedicate them to you. We'll begin hiring their replacements and the new people for your team immediately." "Great," says Russ, "but I want you to understand that it is critical that we have something to exhibit at the trade show coming up this July. If we can't be there with something significant, we'll lose the opportunity."   "I understand," you reply. "I don't yet know what it is that you have in mind, but I'm sure we can have something by July. I just can't tell you what that something will be right now. In any case, you and Jane are going to have complete control over what we developers do, so you can rest assured that by July, you'll have the most important things that can be accomplished in that time ready to exhibit."   Russ nods in satisfaction. He knows how this works. Your team has always kept him advised and allowed him to steer their development. He has the utmost confidence that your team will work on the most important things first and will produce a high-quality product.   * * *   "So, Robert," says Jane at their first meeting, "How does your team feel about being split up?" "We'll miss working with each other," you answer, "but some of us were getting pretty tired of that last project and are looking forward to a change. So, what are you people cooking up?" Jane beams. "You know how much trouble our customers currently have . . ." And she spends a half hour or so describing the problem and possible solution. "OK, wait a second" you respond. "I need to be clear about this." And so you and Jane talk about how this system might work. Some of her ideas aren't fully formed. You suggest possible solutions. She likes some of them. You continue discussing.   During the discussion, as each new topic is addressed, Jane writes user story cards. Each card represents something that the new system has to do. The cards accumulate on the table and are spread out in front of you. Both you and Jane point at them, pick them up, and make notes on them as you discuss the stories. The cards are powerful mnemonic devices that you can use to represent complex ideas that are barely formed.   At the end of the meeting, you say, "OK, I've got a general idea of what you want. I'm going to talk to the team about it. I imagine they'll want to run some experiments with various database structures and presentation formats. Next time we meet, it'll be as a group, and we'll start identifying the most important features of the system."   A week later, your nascent team meets with Jane. They spread the existing user story cards out on the table and begin to get into some of the details of the system. The meeting is very dynamic. Jane presents the stories in the order of their importance. There is much discussion about each one. The developers are concerned about keeping the stories small enough to estimate and test. So they continually ask Jane to split one story into several smaller stories. Jane is concerned that each story have a clear business value and priority, so as she splits them, she makes sure that this stays true.   The stories accumulate on the table. Jane writes them, but the developers make notes on them as needed. Nobody tries to capture everything that is said; the cards are not meant to capture everything but are simply reminders of the conversation.   As the developers become more comfortable with the stories, they begin writing estimates on them. These estimates are crude and budgetary, but they give Jane an idea of what the story will cost.   At the end of the meeting, it is clear that many more stories could be discussed. It is also clear that the most important stories have been addressed and that they represent several months worth of work. Jane closes the meeting by taking the cards with her and promising to have a proposal for the first release in the morning.   * * *   The next morning, you reconvene the meeting. Jane chooses five cards and places them on the table. "According to your estimates, these cards represent about one perfect team-week's worth of work. The last iteration of the previous project managed to get one perfect team-week done in 3 real weeks. If we can get these five stories done in 3 weeks, we'll be able to demonstrate them to Russ. That will make him feel very comfortable about our progress." Jane is pushing it. The sheepish look on her face lets you know that she knows it too. You reply, "Jane, this is a new team, working on a new project. It's a bit presumptuous to expect that our velocity will be the same as the previous team's. However, I met with the team yesterday afternoon, and we all agreed that our initial velocity should, in fact, be set to one perfectweek for every 3 real-weeks. So you've lucked out on this one." "Just remember," you continue, "that the story estimates and the story velocity are very tentative at this point. We'll learn more when we plan the iteration and even more when we implement it."   Jane looks over her glasses at you as if to say "Who's the boss around here, anyway?" and then smiles and says, "Yeah, don't worry. I know the drill by now."Jane then puts 15 more cards on the table. She says, "If we can get all these cards done by the end of March, we can turn the system over to our beta test customers. And we'll get good feedback from them."   You reply, "OK, so we've got our first iteration defined, and we have the stories for the next three iterations after that. These four iterations will make our first release."   "So," says Jane, can you really do these five stories in the next 3 weeks?" "I don't know for sure, Jane," you reply. "Let's break them down into tasks and see what we get."   So Jane, you, and your team spend the next several hours taking each of the five stories that Jane chose for the first iteration and breaking them down into small tasks. The developers quickly realize that some of the tasks can be shared between stories and that other tasks have commonalities that can probably be taken advantage of. It is clear that potential designs are popping into the developers' heads. From time to time, they form little discussion knots and scribble UML diagrams on some cards.   Soon, the whiteboard is filled with the tasks that, once completed, will implement the five stories for this iteration. You start the sign-up process by saying, "OK, let's sign up for these tasks." "I'll take the initial database generation." Says Pete. "That's what I did on the last project, and this doesn't look very different. I estimate it at two of my perfect workdays." "OK, well, then, I'll take the login screen," says Joe. "Aw, darn," says Elaine, the junior member of the team, "I've never done a GUI, and kinda wanted to try that one."   "Ah, the impatience of youth," Joe says sagely, with a wink in your direction. "You can assist me with it, young Jedi." To Jane: "I think it'll take me about three of my perfect workdays."   One by one, the developers sign up for tasks and estimate them in terms of their own perfect workdays. Both you and Jane know that it is best to let the developers volunteer for tasks than to assign the tasks to them. You also know full well that you daren't challenge any of the developers' estimates. You know these people, and you trust them. You know that they are going to do the very best they can.   The developers know that they can't sign up for more perfect workdays than they finished in the last iteration they worked on. Once each developer has filled his or her schedule for the iteration, they stop signing up for tasks.   Eventually, all the developers have stopped signing up for tasks. But, of course, tasks are still left on the board.   "I was worried that that might happen," you say, "OK, there's only one thing to do, Jane. We've got too much to do in this iteration. What stories or tasks can we remove?" Jane sighs. She knows that this is the only option. Working overtime at the beginning of a project is insane, and projects where she's tried it have not fared well.   So Jane starts to remove the least-important functionality. "Well, we really don't need the login screen just yet. We can simply start the system in the logged-in state." "Rats!" cries Elaine. "I really wanted to do that." "Patience, grasshopper." says Joe. "Those who wait for the bees to leave the hive will not have lips too swollen to relish the honey." Elaine looks confused. Everyone looks confused. "So . . .," Jane continues, "I think we can also do away with . . ." And so, bit by bit, the list of tasks shrinks. Developers who lose a task sign up for one of the remaining ones.   The negotiation is not painless. Several times, Jane exhibits obvious frustration and impatience. Once, when tensions are especially high, Elaine volunteers, "I'll work extra hard to make up some of the missing time." You are about to correct her when, fortunately, Joe looks her in the eye and says, "When once you proceed down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny."   In the end, an iteration acceptable to Jane is reached. It's not what Jane wanted. Indeed, it is significantly less. But it's something the team feels that can be achieved in the next 3 weeks.   And, after all, it still addresses the most important things that Jane wanted in the iteration. "So, Jane," you say when things had quieted down a bit, "when can we expect acceptance tests from you?" Jane sighs. This is the other side of the coin. For every story the development team implements,   Jane must supply a suite of acceptance tests that prove that it works. And the team needs these long before the end of the iteration, since they will certainly point out differences in the way Jane and the developers imagine the system's behaviour.   "I'll get you some example test scripts today," Jane promises. "I'll add to them every day after that. You'll have the entire suite by the middle of the iteration."   * * *   The iteration begins on Monday morning with a flurry of Class, Responsibilities, Collaborators sessions. By midmorning, all the developers have assembled into pairs and are rapidly coding away. "And now, my young apprentice," Joe says to Elaine, "you shall learn the mysteries of test-first design!"   "Wow, that sounds pretty rad," Elaine replies. "How do you do it?" Joe beams. It's clear that he has been anticipating this moment. "OK, what does the code do right now?" "Huh?" replied Elaine, "It doesn't do anything at all; there is no code."   "So, consider our task; can you think of something the code should do?" "Sure," Elaine said with youthful assurance, "First, it should connect to the database." "And thereupon, what must needs be required to connecteth the database?" "You sure talk weird," laughed Elaine. "I think we'd have to get the database object from some registry and call the Connect() method. "Ah, astute young wizard. Thou perceives correctly that we requireth an object within which we can cacheth the database object." "Is 'cacheth' really a word?" "It is when I say it! So, what test can we write that we know the database registry should pass?" Elaine sighs. She knows she'll just have to play along. "We should be able to create a database object and pass it to the registry in a Store() method. And then we should be able to pull it out of the registry with a Get() method and make sure it's the same object." "Oh, well said, my prepubescent sprite!" "Hay!" "So, now, let's write a test function that proves your case." "But shouldn't we write the database object and registry object first?" "Ah, you've much to learn, my young impatient one. Just write the test first." "But it won't even compile!" "Are you sure? What if it did?" "Uh . . ." "Just write the test, Elaine. Trust me." And so Joe, Elaine, and all the other developers began to code their tasks, one test case at a time. The room in which they worked was abuzz with the conversations between the pairs. The murmur was punctuated by an occasional high five when a pair managed to finish a task or a difficult test case.   As development proceeded, the developers changed partners once or twice a day. Each developer got to see what all the others were doing, and so knowledge of the code spread generally throughout the team.   Whenever a pair finished something significant whether a whole task or simply an important part of a task they integrated what they had with the rest of the system. Thus, the code base grew daily, and integration difficulties were minimized.   The developers communicated with Jane on a daily basis. They'd go to her whenever they had a question about the functionality of the system or the interpretation of an acceptance test case.   Jane, good as her word, supplied the team with a steady stream of acceptance test scripts. The team read these carefully and thereby gained a much better understanding of what Jane expected the system to do. By the beginning of the second week, there was enough functionality to demonstrate to Jane. She watched eagerly as the demonstration passed test case after test case. "This is really cool," Jane said as the demonstration finally ended. "But this doesn't seem like one-third of the tasks. Is your velocity slower than anticipated?"   You grimace. You'd been waiting for a good time to mention this to Jane but now she was forcing the issue. "Yes, unfortunately, we are going more slowly than we had expected. The new application server we are using is turning out to be a pain to configure. Also, it takes forever to reboot, and we have to reboot it whenever we make even the slightest change to its configuration."   Jane eyes you with suspicion. The stress of last Monday's negotiations had still not entirely dissipated. She says, "And what does this mean to our schedule? We can't slip it again, we just can't. Russ will have a fit! He'll haul us all into the woodshed and ream us some new ones."   You look Jane right in the eyes. There's no pleasant way to give someone news like this. So you just blurt out, "Look, if things keep going like they're going, we're not going to be done with everything by next Friday. Now it's possible that we'll figure out a way to go faster. But, frankly, I wouldn't depend on that. You should start thinking about one or two tasks that could be removed from the iteration without ruining the demonstration for Russ. Come hell or high water, we are going to give that demonstration on Friday, and I don't think you want us to choose which tasks to omit."   "Aw forchrisakes!" Jane barely manages to stifle yelling that last word as she stalks away, shaking her head. Not for the first time, you say to yourself, "Nobody ever promised me project management would be easy." You are pretty sure it won't be the last time, either.   Actually, things went a bit better than you had hoped. The team did, in fact, have to drop one task from the iteration, but Jane had chosen wisely, and the demonstration for Russ went without a hitch. Russ was not impressed with the progress, but neither was he dismayed. He simply said, "This is pretty good. But remember, we have to be able to demonstrate this system at the trade show in July, and at this rate, it doesn't look like you'll have all that much to show." Jane, whose attitude had improved dramatically with the completion of the iteration, responded to Russ by saying, "Russ, this team is working hard, and well. When July comes around, I am confident that we'll have something significant to demonstrate. It won't be everything, and some of it may be smoke and mirrors, but we'll have something."   Painful though the last iteration was, it had calibrated your velocity numbers. The next iteration went much better. Not because your team got more done than in the last iteration but simply because the team didn't have to remove any tasks or stories in the middle of the iteration.   By the start of the fourth iteration, a natural rhythm has been established. Jane, you, and the team know exactly what to expect from one another. The team is running hard, but the pace is sustainable. You are confident that the team can keep up this pace for a year or more.   The number of surprises in the schedule diminishes to near zero; however, the number of surprises in the requirements does not. Jane and Russ frequently look over the growing system and make recommendations or changes to the existing functionality. But all parties realize that these changes take time and must be scheduled. So the changes do not cause anyone's expectations to be violated. In March, there is a major demonstration of the system to the board of directors. The system is very limited and is not yet in a form good enough to take to the trade show, but progress is steady, and the board is reasonably impressed.   The second release goes even more smoothly than the first. By now, the team has figured out a way to automate Jane's acceptance test scripts. The team has also refactored the design of the system to the point that it is really easy to add new features and change old ones. The second release was done by the end of June and was taken to the trade show. It had less in it than Jane and Russ would have liked, but it did demonstrate the most important features of the system. Although customers at the trade show noticed that certain features were missing, they were very impressed overall. You, Russ, and Jane all returned from the trade show with smiles on your faces. You all felt as though this project was a winner.   Indeed, many months later, you are contacted by Rufus Inc. That company had been working on a system like this for its internal operations. Rufus has canceled the development of that system after a death-march project and is negotiating to license your technology for its environment.   Indeed, things are looking up!

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