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• Announcing the New Windows Azure Web Sites Shared Scaling Tier

  - by Clint Edmonson

  Windows Azure Web Sites has added a new pricing tier that will solve the #1 blocker for the web development community. The shared tier now supports custom domain names mapped to shared-instance web sites. This post will outline the plan changes and elaborate on how the new pricing model makes Windows Azure Web Sites an even richer option for web development shops of all sizes. Free Shared Reserved # of Sites 10 100 100 Egress 165MB/Day 5GB/Month Included 5GB/Month Included Storage 1GB 1GB 10GB Throttling CPU/Memory/Egress CPU/Memory Unlimited Price Free $.02/hr per site, per instance $.08/hr per core Setting the Stage In June, we released the first public preview of Windows Azure Web Sites, which gave web developers a great platform on which to get web sites running using their web development framework of choice. PHP, Node.js, classic ASP, and ASP.NET developers can all utilize the Windows Azure platform to create and launch their web sites. Likewise, these developers have a series of data storage options using Windows Azure SQL Databases, MySQL, or Windows Azure Storage. The Windows Azure Web Sites free offer enabled startups to get their site up and running on Windows Azure with a minimal investment, and with multiple deployment and continuous integration features such as Git, Team Foundation Services, FTP, and Web Deploy.  The response to the Windows Azure Web Sites offer has been overwhelmingly positive. Since the addition of the service on June 12th, tens of thousands of web sites have been deployed to Windows Azure and the volume of adoption is increasing every week. Preview Feedback In spite of the growth and success of the product, the community has had questions about features lacking in the free preview offer. The main question web developers asked regarding Windows Azure Web Sites relates to the lack of the free offer’s support for domain name mapping. During the preview launch period, customer feedback made it obvious that the lack of domain name mapping support was an area of concern. We’re happy to announce that this #1 request has been delivered as a feature of the new shared plan. New Shared Tier Portal Features In the screen shot below, the “Scale” tab in the portal shows the new tiers – Free, Shared, and Reserved – and gives the user the ability to quickly move any of their free web sites into the shared tier. With a single mouse-click, the user can move their site into the shared tier. Once a site has been moved into the shared tier, a new Manage Domains button appears in the bottom action bar of the Windows Azure Portal giving site owners the ability to manage their domain names for a shared site. This button brings up the domain-management dialog, which can be used to enter in a specific domain name that will be mapped to the Windows Azure Web Site. Shared Tier Benefits Startups and large web agencies will both benefit from this plan change. Here are a few examples of scenarios which fit the new pricing model: Startups no longer have to select the reserved plan to map domain names to their sites. Instead, they can use the free option to develop their sites and choose on a site-by-site basis which sites they elect to move into the shared plan, paying only for the sites that are finished and ready to be domain-mapped Agencies who manage dozens of sites will realize a lower cost of ownership over the long term by moving their sites into reserved mode. Once multi-site companies reach a certain price point in the shared tier, it is much more cost-effective to move sites to a reserved tier.  Long-term, it’s easy to see how the new Windows Azure Web Sites shared pricing tier makes Windows Azure Web Sites it a great choice for both startups and agency customers, as it enables rapid growth and upgrades while keeping the cost to a minimum. Large agencies will be able to have all of their sites in their own instances, and startups will have the capability to scale up to multiple-shared instances for minimal cost and eventually move to reserved instances without worrying about the need to incur continually additional costs. Customers can feel confident they have the power of the Microsoft Windows Azure brand and our world-class support, at prices competitive in the market. Plus, in addition to realizing the cost savings, they’ll have the whole family of Windows Azure features available. Continuous Deployment from GitHub and CodePlex Along with this new announcement are two other exciting new features. I’m proud to announce that web developers can now publish their web sites directly from CodePlex or GitHub.com repositories. Once connections are established between these services and your web sites, Windows Azure will automatically be notified every time a check-in occurs. This will then trigger Windows Azure to pull the source and compile/deploy the new version of your app to your web site automatically. Walk-through videos on how to perform these functions are below: Publishing to an Azure Web Site from CodePlex Publishing to an Azure Web Site from GitHub.com These changes, as well as the enhancements to the reserved plan model, make Windows Azure Web Sites a truly competitive hosting option. It’s never been easier or cheaper for a web developer to get up and running. Check out the free Windows Azure web site offering and see for yourself. Stay tuned to my twitter feed for Windows Azure announcements, updates, and links: @clinted

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• Converting projects to use Automatic NuGet restore

  - by terje

  Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/terje/archive/2014/06/11/converting-projects-to-use-automatic-nuget-restore.aspxDownload tool In version 2.7 of NuGet automatic nuget restore was introduced, meaning you no longer need to distort your msbuild project files with nuget target information.   Visual Studio and TFS 2013 build have this enabled by default.  However, if your project was created before this was introduced, and/or if you have used the “Enable NuGet Package Restore” afterwards, you now have a series of unwanted things in your projects, and a series of project files that have been modified – and – you no longer neither want nor need this !  You might also get into some unwanted issues due to these modifications.  This is a MSBuild modification that was needed only before NuGet 2.7 ! So: DON’T USE THIS FUNCTION !!! There is an issue https://nuget.codeplex.com/workitem/4019 on this on the NuGet project site to get this function removed, renamed or at least moved farther away from the top level (please help vote it up!).  The response seems to be that it WILL BE removed, around version 3.0. This function does nothing you need after the introduction of NuGet 2.7.  What is also unfortunate is the naming of it – it implies that it is needed, it is not, and what is worse, there is no corresponding function to remove what it does ! So to fix this use the tool named IFix, that will fix this issue for you   - all free of course, and the code is open source.  Also report issues there:  https://github.com/OsirisTerje/IFix    IFix information DOWNLOAD HERE This command line tool installs using an MSI, and add itself to the system path.  If you work in a team, you will probably need to use the  tool multiple times.  Anyone in the team may at any time use the “Enable NuGet Package Restore” function and mess up your project again.  The IFix program can be run either in a  check modus, where it does not write anything back – it only checks if you have any issues, or in a Fix mode, where it will also perform the necessary fixes for you. The IFix program is used like this: IFix <command> [-c/--check] [-f/--fix]  [-v/--verbose] The command in this case is “nugetrestore”.  It will do a check from the location where it is being called, and run through all subfolders from that location. So  “IFix nugetrestore  --check” , will do the check ,  and “IFix nugetrestore  --fix”  will perform the changes, for all files and folders below the current working directory. (Note that --check  can be replaced with only –c, and --fix with –f, and so on. ) BEWARE: When you run the fix option, all solutions to be affected must be closed in Visual Studio ! So, if you just want to DO it, then: IFix nugetrestore --check to see if you have issues then IFix nugetrestore  --fix to fix them. How does it work IFix nugetrestore  checks and optionally fixes four issues that the older enabling of nuget restore did.  The issues are related to the MSBuild projess, and are: Deleting the nuget.targets file. Deleting the nuget.exe that is located under the .nuget folder Removing all references to nuget.targets in the solution file Removing all properties and target imports of nuget.targets inside the csproj files. IFix fixes these issues in the same sequence. The first step, removing the nuget.targets file is the most critical one, and all instances of the nuget.targets file within the scope of a solution has to be removed, and in addition it has to be done with the solution closed in Visual Studio.  If Visual Studio finds a nuget.targets file, the csproj files will be automatically messed up again. This means the removal process above might need to be done multiple times, specially when you’re working with a team, and that solution context menu still has the “Enable NuGet Package Restore” function.  Someone on the team might inadvertently do this at any time. It can be a good idea to add this check to a checkin policy – if you run TFS standard version control, but that will have no effect if you use TFS Git version control of course. So, better be prepared to run the IFix check from time to time. Or, even better, install IFix on your build servers, and add a call to IFix nugetrestore --check in the TFS Build script.    How does it look As a first example I have run the IFix program from the top of a set of git repositories, so it spans multiple repositories with multiple solutions. The result from the check option is as follows: We see the four red lines, there is one for each of the four checks we talked about in the previous section. The fact that they are red, means we have that particular issue. The first section (above the first red text line) is the nuget targets section.  Notice  No.1, it says it has found no paths to copy.  What IFix does here is to check if there are any defined paths to other nuget galleries.  If there are, then those are copied over to the nuget.config file, where is where it should be in version 2.7 and above.   No.2 says it has found the particular nuget.targets file,  No.3  states it HAS found some other nuget galleries defines in the targets file, which then it would like to copy to the config.file. No.4 is the section for nuget.exe files, and list those it has found, and which it would like to delete. No 5 states it has found a reference to nuget.targets in the solution file.  This reference comes from the fact that the .nuget folder is a solution folder, and the items within are described in the solution file. It then checks the csproj files, and as can be seen from the last red line, it ha found issues in 96 out of 198 csproj files.  There are two possible issues in a csproj files.  No.6 is the first one, and the most common and most important one, an “Import project” section.  This is the section that calls the nuget.targets files.  No.7 is another issue, which seems to sometimes be there, sometimes not, it is a RestorePackages property, which also should go away. Now, if we run the IFix nugetrestore –fix command, and then the check again after that, the result is: All green !

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• Get Proactive: automatischer Support bietet Vorteile

  - by A&C Redaktion

  „Proaktiv“, das bedeutet soviel wie: handeln statt abwarten, Initiative statt Reaktion. So möchte auch die Aktion „Get Proactive“ für Oracle Premier Support Kunden einen vorausschauenden, offensiven Umgang mit Support-Fällen fördern. Die automatisierte Unterstützung der Systeme, die Oracle Partner und Kunden einen deutlichen Vorsprung vor der Konkurrenz verschaffen kann, umfasst drei Bereiche: Sie heißen Prevent, Resolve und Upgrade. „Prevent“ umfasst alle Maßnahmen der Vorsorge: Deren Ziel ist es, ein mögliches Problem aufzudecken und zu lösen, noch bevor es es sich negativ auswirkt. So können beispielsweise produktbezogene Security Alerts zugeschickt werden, ebenso auf das jeweilige System zugeschnittene Patch-Empfehlungen und Risiko-Warnungen. „Resolve“ steht für den Anspruch, auftretende Probleme schneller und zielgerichtet zu lösen. Notwendig sind dafür die passenden Diagnosetools und -maßnahmen. Spezifische Informationen für individuelle Systeme stehen im Product Information Center zur Verfügung. Zudem helfen Auto-Detect-Werkzeuge dabei, Lösungen für bekannte Probleme zu finden. Wertvolle Hinweise bieten auch die Partner und User in der Online Support Community und natürlich die umfangreiche Wissensbasis in MOS. „Upgrade“ bündelt, wie der Name schon sagt, Schritte zur Risikominimierung durch Unterstützung beim Upgrade. Jeder kann dabei selbst die jeweilige Umgebung auf zertifizierte Produkte prüfen. Tipps und Tricks verrät der Upgrade Advisor mit Best Practices für verschiedenste Produkte, Prozesse und Versionen. Der Patch- und Upgrade-Plan erleichtert die Systemupgrade-Planung. Detaillierte Informationen finden Sie auf den Oracle-Support-Webseiten – geben Sie einfach „Get Proactive“ in die Suchmaske ein.

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• Recording Topics manually and automatically

  - by maria.cozzolino(at)oracle.com

  When you are recording UPK topics, the default mode for recording is manual recording, where you tell the system when to record each screen shot. This mode allows you to take the exact screen shot you need. However, it does get a bit tedious when you are recording long topics, especially if you forget to take a few screen shots. In UPK 3.5, a new version of recording was introduced - Automatic Recording. It was designed to simplify the recording process by automatically capturing screen shots as you perform your transaction. If you haven't experimented with Automatic Recording, I'd recommend you give it a try - it might make your recording life easier. If you are recording with sound, you can also narrate your topic while recording it. To turn on Automatic Recording: 1. In Tools/Options, there are two recorder tabs. The first tab, under content defaults, includes settings that you may want to share between developers, like whether keyboard shortcuts are automatically captured. 2. The second tab is the one that contains the personal preferences, like screen shot capture key and whether to record automatically or manually. On this tab, choose the option for Automatic Recording. 3. Save the settings. Note that this setting will NOT impact content defaults; this is for your user only. When you launch the recorder, you will notice a slightly different message with guidance on how to start and stop automatic recording. Once you start recording, the recorder window is hidden until the end of the recording session to allow you to capture your transaction. In the task tray, there is a series of icons that let you know that you are capturing content. You can pause the recording, as well as set and view your sound levels if you are using sound. A camera appears during each screen capture to help you know when the system is capturing a screen shot, and a context indicator appears to show the recognition. With automatic recording, you can let the system capture the necessary screen shots. It may provide a more natural recording experience, and is probably easier for the untrained developer. On the other hand, you have a bit more control with manual recording on which screen shot appears, but it also means you have to remember to capture the screen shot. :) We'd be interested in hearing which type of recording you do, and any rationale on why you made that choice. Please comment and let us know. --Maria Cozzolino, Manager of UPK Software Requirements and UI Design

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• BizTalk Envelopes explained

  - by Robert Kokuti

  Recently I've been trying to get some order into an ESB-BizTalk pub/sub scenario, and decided to wrap the payload into standardized envelopes. I have used envelopes before in a 'light weight' fashion, and I found that they can be quite useful and powerful if used systematically. Here is what I learned. The Theory In my experience, Envelopes are often underutilised in a BizTalk solution, and quite often their full potential is not well understood. Here I try to simplify the theory behind the Envelopes within BizTalk.   Envelopes can be used to attach additional data to the ‘real’ data (payload). This additional data can contain all routing and processing information, and allows treating the business data as a ‘black box’, possibly compressed and/or encrypted etc. The point here is that the infrastructure does not need to know anything about the business data content, just as a post man does not need to know the letter within the envelope. BizTalk has built-in support for envelopes through the XMLDisassembler and XMLAssembler pipeline components (these are part of the XMLReceive and XMLSend default pipelines). These components, among other things, perform the following: XMLDisassembler Extracts the payload from the envelope into the Message Body Copies data from the envelope into the message context, as specified by the property schema(s) associated by the envelope schema. Typically, once the envelope is through the XMLDisassembler, the payload is submitted into the Messagebox, and the rest of the envelope data are copied into the context of the submitted message. The XMLDisassembler uses the Property Schemas, referenced by the Envelope Schema, to determine the name of the promoted Message Context element.   XMLAssembler Wraps the Message Body inside the specified envelope schema Populates the envelope values from the message context, as specified by the property schema(s) associated by the envelope schema. Notice that there are no requirements to use the receiving envelope schema when sending. The sent message can be wrapped within any suitable envelope, regardless whether the message was originally received within an envelope or not. However, by sharing Property Schemas between Envelopes, it is possible to pass values from the incoming envelope to the outgoing envelope via the Message Context. The Practice Creating the Envelope Add a new Schema to the BizTalk project:   Envelopes are defined as schemas, with the <Schema> Envelope property set to Yes, and the root node’s Body XPath property pointing to the node which contains the payload. Typically, you’d create an envelope structure similar to this: Click on the <Schema> node and set the Envelope property to Yes. Then, click on the Envelope node, and set the Body XPath property pointing to the ‘Body’ node:   The ‘Body’ node is a Child Element, and its Data Structure Type is set to xs:anyType.  This allows the Body node to carry any payload data. The XMLReceive pipeline will submit the data found in the Body node, while the XMLSend pipeline will copy the message into the Body node, before sending to the destination. Promoting Properties Once you defined the envelope, you may want to promote the envelope data (anything other than the Body) as Property Fields, in order to preserve their value in the message context. Anything not promoted will be lost when the XMLDisassembler extracts the payload from the Body. Typically, this means you promote everything in the Header node. Property promotion uses associated Property Schemas. These are special BizTalk schemas which have a flat field structure. Property Schemas define the name of the promoted values in the Message Context, by combining the Property Schema’s Namespace and the individual Field names. It is worth being systematic when it comes to naming your schemas, their namespace and type name. A coherent method will make your life easier when it comes to referencing the schemas during development, and managing subscriptions (filters) in BizTalk Administration. I developed a fairly coherent naming convention which I’ll probably share in another article. Because the property schema must be flat, I recommend creating one for each level in the envelope header hierarchy. Property schemas are very useful in passing data between incoming as outgoing envelopes. As I mentioned earlier, in/out envelopes do not have to be the same, but you can use the same property schema when you promote the outgoing envelope fields as you used for the incoming schema.  As you can reference many property schemas for field promotion, you can pick data from a variety of sources when you define your outgoing envelope. For example, the outgoing envelope can carry some of the incoming envelope’s promoted values, plus some values from the standard BizTalk message context, like the AdapterReceiveCompleteTime property from the BizTalk message-tracking properties. The values you promote for the outgoing envelope will be automatically populated from the Message Context by the XMLAssembler pipeline component. Using the Envelope Receiving Enveloped messages are automatically recognized by the XMLReceive pipeline, or any other custom pipeline which includes the XMLDisassembler component. The Body Path node will become the Message Body, while the rest of the envelope values will be added to the Message context, as defined by the Property Shemas referenced by the Envelope Schema. Sending The Send Port’s filter expression can use the promoted properties from the incoming envelope. If you want to enclose the sent message within an envelope, the Send Port XMLAssembler component must be configured with the fully qualified envelope name:   One way of obtaining the fully qualified envelope name is copy it off from the envelope schema property page: The full envelope schema name is constructed as <Name>, <Assembly> The outgoing envelope is populated by the XMLAssembler pipeline component. The Message Body is copied to the specified envelope’s Body Path node, while the rest of the envelope fields are populated from the Message Context, according to the Property Schemas associated with the Envelope Schema. That’s all for now, happy enveloping!

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• Alcatel-Lucent Boosts Broadband Over Copper To 300Mbps

  - by Ratman21

  alphadogg at Slashdot writes "Alcatel-Lucent has come up with a way to [0]move data at 300Mbps over copper lines. So far the results have only been reproduced in a lab environment — real products and services won't be available for at least a year. From the article: 'Researchers at the company's Bell Labs demonstrated the 300Mbps technology over a distance of 400 meters using VDSL2 (Very high bitrate Digital Subscriber Line), according to Stefaan Vanhastel, director of product marketing at Alcatel-Lucent Wireline Networks. The test showed that it can also do 100Mbps over a distance of 1,000 meters, he said. Currently, copper is the most common broadband medium. About 65 percent of subscribers have a broadband connection that's based on DSL, compared to 20 percent for cable and 12 percent for fiber, according to market research company Point Topic. Today, the average advertised DSL speeds for residential users vary between 9.2 Mbps and 1.9Mbps in various parts of the world, Point Topic said.'" Discuss this story at: http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=10/04/21/239243

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• IOUC Summit: Open Arms and Cheese Shoes

  - by Justin Kestelyn

  Last week's International Oracle User Group Committee (IOUC) Summit at Oracle HQ was a high point of the past year, for a number of reasons: A "quorum" of Java User Group leaders, several Java Champions among them, were in attendance (Bert Breeman, Stephan Janssen, Dan Sline, Stephen Chin, Bruno Souza, Van Riper, and others), and it was great to get face time with them. Their guidance and advice about JavaOne and other things are always much appreciated. Mix in some Oracle ACE Directors (Debra Lilley, Dan Morgan, Sten Vesterli, and others), and you really have the making of a dynamic group. Stephan describes it best: "We (the JUG Leaders) discovered that behind the more formal dress code the ACE directors are actually as crazy as we are." (See link below for more.) Thanks to Bert's (NLJug) kindness, I am now the proud owner of a bonafide, straight-from-the-NL cheese shoe. How the heck did he get this through security? I suggest that you also read more robust reports from Stephan, Arun Gupta, and of course "Team Stanley."

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• Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4 Training Kit April 2010 Release

  - by Harish Pavithran

  The Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4 Training Kit includes presentations, hands-on labs, and demos. This content is designed to help you learn how to utilize the Visual Studio 2010 features and a variety of framework technologies including: C# 4 Visual Basic 10 F# Parallel Extensions Windows Communication Foundation Windows Workflow Windows Presentation Foundation ASP.NET 4 Windows 7 Entity Framework ADO.NET Data Services Managed Extensibility Framework Visual Studio Team System This version of the Training Kit works with Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4.  Here is the link enjoy www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx

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• Get Proactive: automatischer Support bietet Vorteile

  - by A&C Redaktion

  „Proaktiv“, das bedeutet soviel wie: handeln statt abwarten, Initiative statt Reaktion. So möchte auch die Aktion „Get Proactive“ für Oracle Premier Support Kunden einen vorausschauenden, offensiven Umgang mit Support-Fällen fördern. Die automatisierte Unterstützung der Systeme, die Oracle Partner und Kunden einen deutlichen Vorsprung vor der Konkurrenz verschaffen kann, umfasst drei Bereiche: Sie heißen Prevent, Resolve und Upgrade. „Prevent“ umfasst alle Maßnahmen der Vorsorge: Deren Ziel ist es, ein mögliches Problem aufzudecken und zu lösen, noch bevor es es sich negativ auswirkt. So können beispielsweise produktbezogene Security Alerts zugeschickt werden, ebenso auf das jeweilige System zugeschnittene Patch-Empfehlungen und Risiko-Warnungen. „Resolve“ steht für den Anspruch, auftretende Probleme schneller und zielgerichtet zu lösen. Notwendig sind dafür die passenden Diagnosetools und -maßnahmen. Spezifische Informationen für individuelle Systeme stehen im Product Information Center zur Verfügung. Zudem helfen Auto-Detect-Werkzeuge dabei, Lösungen für bekannte Probleme zu finden. Wertvolle Hinweise bieten auch die Partner und User in der Online Support Community und natürlich die umfangreiche Wissensbasis in MOS. „Upgrade“ bündelt, wie der Name schon sagt, Schritte zur Risikominimierung durch Unterstützung beim Upgrade. Jeder kann dabei selbst die jeweilige Umgebung auf zertifizierte Produkte prüfen. Tipps und Tricks verrät der Upgrade Advisor mit Best Practices für verschiedenste Produkte, Prozesse und Versionen. Der Patch- und Upgrade-Plan erleichtert die Systemupgrade-Planung. Detaillierte Informationen finden Sie auf den Oracle-Support-Webseiten – geben Sie einfach „Get Proactive“ in die Suchmaske ein.

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• How to use Azure storage for uploading and displaying pictures.

  - by Magnus Karlsson

  Basic set up of Azure storage for local development and production. This is a somewhat completion of the following guide from http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/develop/net/how-to-guides/blob-storage/ that also involves a practical example that I believe is commonly used, i.e. upload and present an image from a user.   First we set up for local storage and then we configure for them to work on a web role. Steps: 1. Configure connection string locally. 2. Configure model, controllers and razor views.   1. Setup connectionsstring 1.1 Right click your web role and choose “Properties”. 1.2 Click Settings. 1.3 Add setting. 1.4 Name your setting. This will be the name of the connectionstring. 1.5 Click the ellipsis to the right. (the ellipsis appear when you mark the area. 1.6 The following window appears- Select “Windows Azure storage emulator” and click ok.   Now we have a connection string to use. To be able to use it we need to make sure we have windows azure tools for storage. 2.1 Click Tools –> Library Package manager –> Manage Nuget packages for solution. 2.2 This is what it looks like after it has been added.   Now on to what the code should look like. 3.1 First we need a view which collects images to upload. Here Index.cshtml. 1: @model List<string> 2:  3: @{ 4: ViewBag.Title = "Index"; 5: } 6:  7: <h2>Index</h2> 8: <form action="@Url.Action("Upload")" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data"> 9:  10: <label for="file">Filename:</label> 11: <input type="file" name="file" id="file1" /> 12: <br /> 13: <label for="file">Filename:</label> 14: <input type="file" name="file" id="file2" /> 15: <br /> 16: <label for="file">Filename:</label> 17: <input type="file" name="file" id="file3" /> 18: <br /> 19: <label for="file">Filename:</label> 20: <input type="file" name="file" id="file4" /> 21: <br /> 22: <input type="submit" value="Submit" /> 23: 24: </form> 25:  26: @foreach (var item in Model) { 27:  28: <img src="@item" alt="Alternate text"/> 29: } 3.2 We need a controller to receive the post. Notice the “containername” string I send to the blobhandler. I use this as a folder for the pictures for each user. If this is not a requirement you could just call it container or anything with small characters directly when creating the container. 1: public ActionResult Upload(IEnumerable<HttpPostedFileBase> file) 2: { 3: BlobHandler bh = new BlobHandler("containername"); 4: bh.Upload(file); 5: var blobUris=bh.GetBlobs(); 6: 7: return RedirectToAction("Index",blobUris); 8: } 3.3 The handler model. I’ll let the comments speak for themselves. 1: public class BlobHandler 2: { 3: // Retrieve storage account from connection string. 4: CloudStorageAccount storageAccount = CloudStorageAccount.Parse( 5: CloudConfigurationManager.GetSetting("StorageConnectionString")); 6: 7: private string imageDirecoryUrl; 8: 9: /// <summary> 10: /// Receives the users Id for where the pictures are and creates 11: /// a blob storage with that name if it does not exist. 12: /// </summary> 13: /// <param name="imageDirecoryUrl"></param> 14: public BlobHandler(string imageDirecoryUrl) 15: { 16: this.imageDirecoryUrl = imageDirecoryUrl; 17: // Create the blob client. 18: CloudBlobClient blobClient = storageAccount.CreateCloudBlobClient(); 19: 20: // Retrieve a reference to a container. 21: CloudBlobContainer container = blobClient.GetContainerReference(imageDirecoryUrl); 22: 23: // Create the container if it doesn't already exist. 24: container.CreateIfNotExists(); 25: 26: //Make available to everyone 27: container.SetPermissions( 28: new BlobContainerPermissions 29: { 30: PublicAccess = BlobContainerPublicAccessType.Blob 31: }); 32: } 33: 34: public void Upload(IEnumerable<HttpPostedFileBase> file) 35: { 36: // Create the blob client. 37: CloudBlobClient blobClient = storageAccount.CreateCloudBlobClient(); 38: 39: // Retrieve a reference to a container. 40: CloudBlobContainer container = blobClient.GetContainerReference(imageDirecoryUrl); 41: 42: if (file != null) 43: { 44: foreach (var f in file) 45: { 46: if (f != null) 47: { 48: CloudBlockBlob blockBlob = container.GetBlockBlobReference(f.FileName); 49: blockBlob.UploadFromStream(f.InputStream); 50: } 51: } 52: } 53: } 54: 55: public List<string> GetBlobs() 56: { 57: // Create the blob client. 58: CloudBlobClient blobClient = storageAccount.CreateCloudBlobClient(); 59: 60: // Retrieve reference to a previously created container. 61: CloudBlobContainer container = blobClient.GetContainerReference(imageDirecoryUrl); 62: 63: List<string> blobs = new List<string>(); 64: 65: // Loop over blobs within the container and output the URI to each of them 66: foreach (var blobItem in container.ListBlobs()) 67: blobs.Add(blobItem.Uri.ToString()); 68: 69: return blobs; 70: } 71: } 3.4 So, when the files have been uploaded we will get them to present them to out user in the index page. Pretty straight forward. In this example we only present the image by sending the Uri’s to the view. A better way would be to save them up in a view model containing URI, metadata, alternate text, and other relevant information but for this example this is all we need.   4. Now press F5 in your solution to try it out. You can see the storage emulator UI here:     4.1 If you get any exceptions or errors I suggest to first check if the service Is running correctly. I had problem with this and they seemed related to the installation and a reboot fixed my problems.     5. Set up for Cloud storage. To do this we need to add configuration for cloud just as we did for local in step one. 5.1 We need our keys to do this. Go to the windows Azure menagement portal, select storage icon to the right and click “Manage keys”. (Image from a different blog post though).   5.2 Do as in step 1.but replace step 1.6 with: 1.6 Choose “Manually entered credentials”. Enter your account name. 1.7 Paste your Account Key from step 5.1. and click ok.   5.3. Save, publish and run! Please feel free to ask any questions using the comments form at the bottom of this page. I will get back to you to help you solve any questions. Our consultancy agency also provides services in the Nordic regions if you would like any further support.

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• FileOpenPicker/FileSavePicker doesn't allow *.* wildcard file associations

  - by mbrit

  On Twitter, Matthias Jauernig commented that the FileOpenPicker and FileSavePicker doesn't allow *.* wildcard file associations. I was relaxed about this and wrote back that it was related to sandboxing implying it was a "good thing", however as Matthias commented back, perhaps it's not.In Metro-style the sandboxing works that if something gives you a file (e.g. the picker, or a share operation), you can access it regardless of where on the system. If you find the file yourself, you have to declare the type.The reason why I think it's related to sandboxing is because if you work with files programmatically you have to be explicit about the file types. This is to stop malware that you think is only interested in - say .PDF files, scanning and uploading any .EML files that it can find on the machine. It follows then on the pickers that restriction would continue. It allow's the retail store team to validate that an app is likely to behave itself. If it's an app that works with images, locking down the picker so that it can only access image file types makes sense.However Matthias mentioned that he has an app that should allow files of any arbitrary file. That fits more into the "if the user selects it, it must be OK" camp than the "programmatic scanning" camp. So now I'm left wondering why the picker doesn't allow any type to be selected.I think then maybe the decision comes down to simplicity. A lot of the decisions in Metro-style design relate to ideas about "zero intimidation". Allow the user to select any file is too much like Old Windows, and not enough like Reimagined Windows. What happens in Matthias's app if the user selects Explorer.exe as the file he or she wants to work with? I guess it's fine if you expect your user to know what they're doing (Old Windows), but not so fine if you're expecting a three year old to work with it (Reimagined Windows).

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• Devoxx UK JCP & Adopt-a-JSR activities

  - by Heather VanCura

  Devoxx UK starts this week!  The JCP Program is organizing many activities throughout the conference, including some tables in the Hackergarten area on 12-13 June.  Topics include Java EE, Data Grids, Java SE 8 (Lambdas and Date & Time API), Money & Currency API and OpenJDK.  We will have two book signings by Richard Warburton and Peter Pilgrim during the Hackergarten - free signed copy of their books at these times - first come, first served (limited quantities available).  Thursday night is the party and the Birds of a Feather (BoF) sessions - come with your favorite questions and topics related to the JCP, Adopt-a-JSR and Adopt OpenJDK Programs!  See below for the schedule of activities; I will fill in details for each session tomorrow.    Thursday 12 June 10:20 - 12:50 Java EE -- Arun Gupta 13:30-17:00 Lambdas/Date & Time API --Richard Warburton & Raoul-Gabriel Urma (also a book signing with Richard Warburon during the afternoon break) 14:30-17:30 Data Grids - Peter Lawrey 14:30-18:00 Money & Currency -- Anatole Tresch 18:45 Adopt OpenJDK BoF session (Java EE BoF runs concurrently) 19:45 JCP & Adopt-a-JSR BoF session Friday 13 June 10:20-13:00 OpenJDK -- Mani Sarkar  10:20- 14:30 Money & Currency -- Anatole Tresch 10:20 - 13:00 Java EE -- Peter Pilgrim 13:00-13:30 Peter Pilgrim Java EE 7 Book signing sponsored by JCP @ lunch time 13:30 - 15:30 JCP.Next/JSR 364 -- Heather VanCura

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• Get to Know a Candidate (5 of 25): Jim Carlson&ndash;Grassroots Party

  - by Brian Lanham

  DISCLAIMER: This is not a post about “Romney” or “Obama”. This is not a post for whom I am voting. Information sourced for Wikipedia. Carlson is an American businessman and the Grassroots Party nominee. Carlson is the owner of Last Place on Earth, a head shop located in Duluth, Minnesota. In September 2011, the shop was raided by police for selling bath salts and synthetic marijuana. After the raid, Carlson filed a lawsuit to strike down Minnesota's ban on the substances. His suit was dismissed by the court in November 2011. The Grassroots Party was created in the 1980s to oppose drug prohibition.  The party shares many of the the political leftist values of the Green Party but with a greater emphasis on marijuana/hemp legalization issues.  The permanent platform of the Grassroots Party is the Bill of Rights. Individual candidate's positions on issues vary from Libertarian to Green. All Grassroots candidates would end marijuana/hemp prohibition and re-legalize Cannabis for all its uses. Learn more about Jim Carlson and Grassroots Party on Wikipedia.

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• Partner Webcast – Implementing Web Services & SOA Security with Oracle Fusion Middleware - 20 September 2012

  - by Thanos

  Security was always one of the main pain points for the IT industry, and new security challenges has been introduced with the proliferation  of the service-oriented approach to building modern software. Oracle Fusion Middleware provides a wide variety of features that ease the building service-oriented solutions, but how these services can be secured?Should we implement the security features in each and every service or there’s a better way? During the webinar we are going to show how to implement non-intrusive declarative security for your SOA components by introducing the Oracle product portfolio in this area, such as Oracle Web Services Manager and Oracle IDM. Agenda: SOA & Web Services basics: quick refresher Building your SOA with Oracle Fusion Middleware: product review Common security risks in the Web Services world SOA & Web Services security standards Implementing Web Services Security with the Oracle products Web Services Security with Oracle – the big picture Declarative end point security with Oracle Web Services Manager Perimeter Security with Oracle Enterprise Gateway Utilizing the other Oracle IDM products for the advanced scenarios Q&A session Delivery Format This FREE online LIVE eSeminar will be delivered over the Web. Registrations received less than 24hours prior to start time may not receive confirmation to attend. Thursday, September 20, 2012 - 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM CET (GMT/UTC+1)Duration: 1 hour Register Now Send your questions and migration/upgrade requests [email protected] Visit regularly our ISV Migration Center blog or Follow us @oracleimc to learn more on Oracle Technologies, upcoming partner webcasts and events. All content is made available through our YouTube - SlideShare - Oracle Mix.

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• Favorite moments of JavaOne

  - by Tori Wieldt

  There are so many events and sessions to attend at JavaOne, it's unfair to ask people to choose just one thing they liked, but here are some favorite moments: I loved meeting many open source contributors and friends I have not met in person before and seeing that projects like e.g. Hudson are alive and kicking and have a great future ahead of them. -Manfred Moser My "The Problem with Women" session. It had LOADS of interactivity from the audience, who really helped to make that session.  I came out if it with a real sense of optimism - we love our jobs, we love what we do, and we should be proud of telling everyone about it to attract different talent into the industry. (Read her blog JavaOne: The Problem With Women - A Technical Approach for details.) -Trish Gee My kudos to Oracle for making the presentation materials quickly available to the public. Some of them were already available during JavaOne. Lots of slide decks are already there, and in some cases you may even find the video recordings too. Go to http://www.oracle.com/javaone and select JavaOne Technical Sessions.  -Yakov Fain I loved that not only was James Gosling present at the Community Keynote (which felt more like the keynotes of old times [big space, big screens, fun and tech]) but he was also found wandering the halls of the Hilton the day prior. Bring back James! Add back the toys section in the Community Keynote. Let the t-shirt tossing begin anew. These are "small" things that really fire up the community. -Andres Almiray Seeing James Gosling at JavaOne was a real shot in the arm for Java.  He needs to be there every year. -Frank Greco +42 on having James and the T-shirt tossing. -Stephan Janssen The session "Integrate Java with Robots, Home Automation, Musical Instruments, and Kinect." Fabiane Nardon explained connecting Jenkins to jHome to a truck horn placed in their sysadmin's bedroom. She dubbed it "extreme feedback."  -Tori Wieldt The User Group Forum [on Sunday] was a success! Congratulations Bruno Souza and John Yeary and everybody that were involved. I believe it really helps to increase community participation! There were lots of interesting talks, and great discussion with JUG leaders and members. Thank you Oracle for supporting that! -Yara Senger What was your favorite moment? Please comment! 

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• ArchBeat Link-o-Rama Top 10 for August 2012

  - by Bob Rhubart

  The Top 10 most popular items shared via the OTN ArchBeat Facebook page for the month of August 2012. Now Available: Oracle SQL Developer 3.2 (3.2.09.23) New features include APEX listener, UI enhancements, and 12c database support. The Role of Oracle VM Server for SPARC in a Virtualization Strategy In this article, Matthias Pfutzner discusses hardware, desktop, and operating system virtualization, along with various Oracle virtualization technologies, including Oracle VM Server for SPARC. How to Manually Install Flash Player Plugin to see the Oracle Enterprise Manager Performance Page | Kai Yu So, you're a DBA and you want to check the Performance page in Oracle Enterprise Manager (11g or 12c). So you click the Performance tab and… nothing. Zip. Nada. The Flash plugin is a no-show. Relax! Oracle ACE Director Kai Yu shows you what you need to do to see all the pretty colors instead of that dull grey screen. Relationally Challenged (CX - CRM - EQ/RQ/CRQ) | Chris Warticki Self-proclaimed Oracle Support "spokesmodel" Chris Chris Warticki has some advice for those interested in Customer Relationship Management: "How about we just dumb it down, strip it to the core, keep it simple and LISTEN?! No more focus groups, no more surveys, and no need to gather more data. We have plenty of that. Why not just provide the customer what they are asking for?" Free WebLogic Server Course | Middleware Magic So you want to sharpen your Oracle WebLogic Server skills, but you prefer to skip the whole classroom bit and don't want to be bothered with dealing with an instructor? No problem! Oracle ACE Rene van Wijk, a prolific Middleware Magic blogger, has information on an Oracle WebLogic course you can take on your own time, at your own pace. Oracle VM VirtualBox 4.1.20 released Oracle VM VirtualBox 4.1.20 was just released at the community and Oracle download sites, reports the Fat Bloke. This is a maintenance release containing bug fixes and stability improvements. Optimizing OLTP Oracle Database Performance using Dell Express Flash PCIe SSDs | Kai Yu Oracle ACE Director Kai Yu shares resources based on "several extensive performance studies on a single node Oracle 11g R2 database as well as a two node 11gR2 Oracle Real Application clusters (RAC) database running on Dell PowerEdge R720 servers with Dell Express Flash PCIe SSDs on Oracle Enterprise Linux 6.2 platform." Oracle ACE sessions at Oracle OpenWorld With so many great sessions at this year's event, building your Oracle OpenWorld schedule can involve making a lot of tough choices. But you'll find that the sessions led by Oracle ACEs just might be the icing on the cake for your OpenWorld experience. MySQL Update: The Cleveland MySQL Meetup (Independence, OH) Oracle MySQL team member Benjamin Wood, a MySQL engineer and five year veteran of the MySQL organization, will speak at the Cleveland MySQL Meetup event on September 12. The presentation will include a MySQL 5.5 Overview, Oracle's Roadmap for MySQL, including specifics on MySQL 5.6, best practices and how to overcome development and operational MySQL challenges, and the new MySQL commercial extensions. Click the link for time and location information. Parsing XML in Oracle Database | Martijn van der Kamp Martijn van der Kamp's post deals with processing XML in PL/SQL code and processing the data into the database. Thought for the Day "Walking on water and developing software from a specification are easy if both are frozen." — Edward V. Berard Source: SoftwareQuotes.com

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• BI für schnelle Analysen: Ein Erfolgsprojekt für die DAB bank, durchgeführt von Riverland Reply

  - by A & C Redaktion

  Zufriedene Kunden sind die beste Marketingstrategie. Deshalb bieten wir spezialisierten Partnern die Möglichkeit, professionelle Anwenderberichte über eigene erfolgreiche Oracle Projekte erstellen zu lassen. Hier im Blog präsentieren wir Ihnen in loser Folge Referenzberichte, mit denen Partner bereits erfolgreich werben. Heute: Der Oracle Partner Riverland Reply und sein Business-Intelligence-Projekt für die DAB bank Für die Direkt Anlage Bank, kurz DAB, sind BI-Lösungen längst zu einem wichtigen Steuerungstool geworden. Dabei müssen Datenströme aus verschiedenen Quellen zuverlässig gesteuert werden können. Um die neuesten CRM- und Business Intelligence-Funktionalitäten nutzen zu können, entschied sich die DAB bank für ein Upgrade auf Siebel CRM 8.1.1.7 mit CTI sowie die Integration von Oracle Business Intelligence 11g. Um ihren Wunsch nach Vereinfachung und Vereinheitlichung umzusetzen, fand die DAB in der Münchner Riverland Reply GmbH einen zuverlässigen Partner, der auf technische Beratung, Implementierung und Systemintegration in den Bereichen Prozesse, Businesslösungen und Technologien spezialisiert ist. Die Bedienbarkeit konnte deutlich verbessert werden, was die Prozessabläufe erleichtert. Den Datenzugriff erleichtert nun eine einheitliche Umgebung, und die Reporting-, Visualisierungs-, Such- und Collaboration-Funktionen sind in einem BI-Tool zusammengeführt. Details zum genauen Projektverlauf und den spezifischen Anforderungen finden Sie hier im Anwenderbericht der DAB. Die Möglichkeit, sich und ihre Arbeit gewinnbringend zu präsentieren, können alle spezialisierten Partner nutzen, die ein repräsentatives Oracle Projekt abgeschlossen haben. Erfahrene Fachjournalisten interviewen sowohl Partner als auch Endkunde und erstellen einen ausführlichen, ansprechend aufbereiteten Bericht. Die Veröffentlichung erfolgt über verschiedene Marketing-Kanäle. Natürlich können die Partner die Anwenderberichte auch für eigene Marketingzwecke nutzen, z. B. für Veranstaltungen. Haben Sie Interesse? Dann wenden Sie sich an Frau Renate Mayer. Wir benötigen von Ihnen einige Eckdaten wie Kundenname, Ansprechpartner und eingesetzte Oracle Produkte, eine Beschreibung des Projektes in drei-vier Sätzen und Ihren Ansprechpartner im Haus. Und dann: Lassen Sie Ihre gute Arbeit für sich sprechen!

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• Oracle ADF at Oracle OpenWorld 2012

  - by Shay Shmeltzer

  This year is going to be very busy for Oracle ADF developers who'll attend Oracle Open World. Check out the list of Oracle ADF related sessions, labs, demos and other Oracle ADF activities.  This list will help you not to miss any ADF related activity. We have over 50 ADF related sessions, multiple labs including new ones on ADF Mobile, Application Life Cycle Management and ADF in Eclipse, we'll have several demo booths where you can meet product managers, and we'll be featured in several keynotes as well. While we have several "beginners" sessions, you'll find that we have a lot of in-depth technical sessions and sessions that cover best-practices too. Of course, it is not just us product managers presenting about Oracle ADF, there are a lot of Oracle ADF sessions presented by customers, Oracle ACEs, and other developers. So you can learn from the experience of real life implementations. Note that the ADF content starts early on Sunday with a full set of Oracle ADF sessions arranged for you by the Oracle ADF Enterprise Methodology Group - so plan your trip accordingly and be there early Sunday morning. First thing on Monday morning, don't miss the keynote for Oracle ADF developers at 10:45 at the Marriott Marquis - Salon 8 - "The Future of Development for Oracle Fusion—From Desktop to Mobile to Cloud". We are also arranging a meet-up of developers using Oracle ADF at the OTN Lounge on Wed at 4:30pm - and we would love to meet you there - this will also give you an opportunity to meet other Oracle ADF users and members of the community. And after that we can all head over to the big Wed party to see Pearl Jam and Kings of Leon. One recommendation for those who are already registered - start planning your schedule and booking your place in the sessions now through the schedule builder. This will guarantee that you won't be left out of sessions you want to attend due room size limitations. Oracle OpenWorld 2013 will be a must attend event for serious Oracle ADF developers - don't miss it.

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• Oracle ODP.NET und Windows PowerShell

  - by cjandaus

  In der Microsoft Welt wohlbekannt, in der Oracle Welt nur ein Schulterzucken hervorrufend - die sogenannten Scripting Guys. Wie der Name bereits vermuten lässt, geht es in deren Hey, Scripting Guy! Blog um Scripting. Und damit natürlich um die Windows PowerShell. Ja, die Zeiten des DOS-Kommandofensters und Batch-Dateien ist vorbei. Die PowerShell ist eine mächtige Scripting-Umgebung unter Windows, die selbst unter Unix/Linux-Administratoren Gefallen finden sollte. Dass man damit wunderbar auch auf Oracle Datenbanken zugreifen kann, haben wir bereits vor Jahren in einer Oracle Workshop Reihe bewiesen. Damals begleitete mich Klaus Rohe von Microsoft, der mit mir dann auch gemeinsam einen Vortrag auf DOAG Konferenz hielt. Unser gemeinsames Ziel war es damals wie heute, die Oracle Anwender von der hervorragenden Integration zwischen Oracle, Windows und .NET zu überzeugen. Was lag näher, als sich dies von beiden Herstellern gemeinsam bestätigen zu lassen? Vor allem die ewigen Zweifler begrüßten dies. Seither war die PowerShell bei mir nicht mehr auf dem Radar und auch Oracle Anwender haben das Thema nicht mehr aufgeworfen. Möglicherweise auch deshalb, weil es zu neu oder zu unbekannt ist? Eher unwahrscheinlich ... Vielleicht liegt es vielmehr daran, dass man einfach mal davon ausgeht, dass PowerShell nur für Microsoft Produkte richtig nutzbar ist? Oder man bekommt erzählt, dass nur die Integration mit der Microsoft-eigenen Datenbank SQL Server möglich ist? Und das ist natürlich nicht richtig - so wie immer (ich denke dabei unter anderem an das Microsoft Active Directory - aber dazu ein andermal mehr). Umso mehr freut es mich, einen brandneuen Blog-Beitrag zu genau diesem Thema zu lesen, auf den mich Alex Keh, (Produkt Manager für Windows und .NET im Oracle Headquarter in San Francisco) aufmerksam gemacht hat. Was die Sache noch besser macht, dieser Beitrag stammt aus der Microsoft Welt und belegt damit zwischen den Zeilen, dass die Oracle Datenbank und unsere .NET Integration via dem Oracle Data Provider for .NET (ODP.NET) auch hier eine bedeutende Rolle spielt. In diesem Sinne: Beide Daumen hoch für die Scripting Guys! Der Beitrag nennt sich Use Oracle ODP.NET and PowerShell to Simplify Data Access und trotz ein paar weniger Ausreißer, ist der Artikel sehr zu empfehlen, um in das Thema einzusteigen. Lassen Sie es mich wissen, wie Sie zu dieser Integration stehen, ob die PowerShell für Sie in der Praxis wichtig ist oder werden könnte, und falls Sie Features vermissen, die Oracle künftig umsetzen sollte. Danke!

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• Join us at the Gartner MDM Summit in LA on April 4-5

  - by Dain C. Hansen

  This year, we're proud to announce that Oracle is a Platinum sponsor of the Gartner Master Data Management Summit this April 4 – 5, 2012 in Los Angeles. The event will be a follow-on event from the Gartner BI Summit, so if you already attending that event, stick around on Wednesday and Thursday and don't miss it. Especially, don't miss our key session at 9:30 AM on Thursday April 4th, "Brace for Impact: Key Trends in Master Data Management" with Ford Goodman and Dain Hansen. Master Data Management helps organizations perform better by creating a single coherent version of customers, products and suppliers. But how do you get started? And if you've laid a foundation, how do you become world-class? Designed to address all MDM maturity levels, Gartner Master Data Management Summit delivers the tools, technologies and best practices to help you take control of your master data and dramatically improve business performance. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet with Oracle experts in a variety of sessions, including demonstrations during the showcase receptions. Oracle Customer Case Study and Solution Provider Session Oracle Solution Showcase Receptions Oracle Face-to-Face Meetings Hot topics to be covered: Forecasting key trends shaping MDM Building a business-driven MDM program Assessing MDM maturity Creating the MDM organization Evolving to multidomain MDM Learn more about this event, or to register, click here

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• Crack Protected Excel Sheet

  - by Gino Abraham

  The following snippet will allow you to unprotect an excel sheet which is protected using a password. press Alt + F11 when the excel is open, it will open up VB macro editor. Insert a Module and copy the following code. this will clear the password and you will be free to edit the file. if you want to unprotect the workbook rather the a work sheet change ActiveSheet to ThisWorkbook in the following code. Happy Cracking    Sub CrackPassword()       Dim v1 As Integer, u1 As Integer, w1 As Integer   Dim v2 As Integer, u2 As Integer, w2 As Integer   Dim v3 As Integer, u3 As Integer, w3 As Integer   Dim v4 As Integer, u4 As Integer, w4 As Integer   On Error Resume Next     For v1 = 65 To 66: For u1 = 65 To 66: For w1 = 65 To 66   For v2 = 65 To 66: For u2 = 65 To 66: For w2 = 65 To 66   For v3 = 65 To 66: For u3 = 65 To 66: For w3 = 65 To 66   For v4 = 65 To 66: For u4 = 65 To 66: For w4 = 32 To 126               ActiveSheet.Unprotect Chr(v1) & Chr(u1) & Chr(w1) & _       Chr(v2) & Chr(u2) & Chr(v3) & Chr(u3) & Chr(w3) & _       Chr(v4) & Chr(u4) & Chr(w4) & Chr(w2)          Next: Next: Next: Next: Next: Next   Next: Next: Next: Next: Next: Next End Sub

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• Amazon.com Cutting Off Colorado Affiliates

  - by Joe Mayo

  I received an email from Amazon.com today, essentially cutting off my affiliate status because I'm in Colorado. Colorado recently passed legislation that requires retailers to either collect sales tax for on-line transactions or engage in an onerous process that makes you wish you had collected sales tax.  After I Tweeted this, Mike Jones tweeted a link to the legislation.  Here's an excerpt from Amazon.com's email: "Dear Colorado-based Amazon Associate: We are writing from the Amazon Associates Program to inform you that the Colorado government recently enacted a law to impose sales tax regulations on online retailers. The regulations are burdensome and no other state has similar rules. The new regulations do not require online retailers to collect sales tax. Instead, they are clearly intended to increase the compliance burden to a point where online retailers will be induced to "voluntarily" collect Colorado sales tax -- a course we won't take. We and many others strongly opposed this legislation, known as HB 10-1193, but it was enacted anyway. Regrettably, as a result of the new law, we have decided to stop advertising through Associates based in Colorado. We plan to continue to sell to Colorado residents, however, and will advertise through other channels, including through Associates based in other states. There is a right way for Colorado to pursue its revenue goals, but this new law is a wrong way. As we repeatedly communicated to Colorado legislators, including those who sponsored and supported the new law, we are not opposed to collecting sales tax within a constitutionally-permissible system applied even-handedly. The US Supreme Court has defined what would be constitutional, and if Colorado would repeal the current law or follow the constitutional approach to collection, we would welcome the opportunity to reinstate Colorado-based Associates. You may express your views of Colorado's new law to members of the General Assembly and to Governor Ritter, who signed the bill. Your Associates account has been closed as of March 8, 2010, and we will no longer pay advertising fees for customers you refer to Amazon.com after that date. Please be assured that all qualifying advertising fees earned prior to March 8, 2010, will be processed and paid in accordance with our regular payment schedule. Based on your account closure date of March 8, any final payments will be paid by May 31, 2010. We have enjoyed working with you and other Colorado-based participants in the Amazon Associates Program, and wish you all the best in your future.   Best Regards,   The Amazon Associates Team"

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• Finding the Right Solution to Source and Manage Your Contractors

  - by mark.rosenberg(at)oracle.com

  Many of our PeopleSoft Enterprise applications customers operate in service-based industries, and all of our customers have at least some internal service units, such as IT, marketing, and facilities. Employing the services of contractors, often referred to as "contingent labor," to deliver either or both internal and external services is common practice. As we've transitioned from an industrial age to a knowledge age, talent has become a primary competitive advantage for most organizations. Contingent labor offers talent on flexible terms; it offers the ability to scale up operations, close skill gaps, and manage risk in the process of delivering services. Talent comes from many sources and the rise in the contingent worker (contractor, consultant, temporary, part time) has increased significantly in the past decade and is expected to reach 40 percent in the next decade. Managing the total pool of talent in a seamless integrated fashion not only saves organizations money and increases efficiency, but creates a better place for workers of all kinds to work. Although the term "contingent labor" is frequently used to describe both contractors and employees who have flexible schedules and relationships with an organization, the remainder of this discussion focuses on contractors. The term "contingent labor" is used interchangeably with "contractor." Recognizing the importance of contingent labor, our PeopleSoft customers often ask our team, "What Oracle vendor management system (VMS) applications should I evaluate for managing contractors?" In response, I thought it would be useful to describe and compare the three most common Oracle-based options available to our customers. They are:   The enterprise licensed software model in which you implement and utilize the PeopleSoft Services Procurement (sPro) application and potentially other PeopleSoft applications;  The software-as-a-service model in which you gain access to a derivative of PeopleSoft sPro from an Oracle Business Process Outsourcing Partner; and  The managed service provider (MSP) model in which staffing industry professionals utilize either your enterprise licensed software or the software-as-a-service application to administer your contingent labor program. At this point, you may be asking yourself, "Why three options?" The answer is that since there is no "one size fits all" in terms of talent, there is also no "one size fits all" for effectively sourcing and managing contingent workers. Various factors influence how an organization thinks about and relates to its contractors, and each of the three Oracle-based options addresses an organization's needs and preferences differently. For the purposes of this discussion, I will describe the options with respect to (A) pricing and software provisioning models; (B) control and flexibility; (C) level of engagement with contractors; and (D) approach to sourcing, employment law, and financial settlement. Option 1:  Enterprise Licensed Software In this model, you purchase from Oracle the license and support for the applications you need. Typically, you license PeopleSoft sPro as your VMS tool for sourcing, monitoring, and paying your contract labor. In conjunction with sPro, you can also utilize PeopleSoft Human Capital Management (HCM) applications (if you do not already) to configure more advanced business processes for recruiting, training, and tracking your contractors. Many customers choose this enterprise license software model because of the functionality and natural integration of the PeopleSoft applications and because the cost for the PeopleSoft software is explicit. There is no fee per transaction to source each contractor under this model. Our customers that employ contractors to augment their permanent staff on billable client engagements often find this model appealing because there are no fees to affect their profit margins. With this model, you decide whether to have your own IT organization run the software or have the software hosted and managed by either Oracle or another application services provider. Your organization, perhaps with the assistance of consultants, configures, deploys, and operates the software for managing your contingent workforce. This model offers you the highest level of control and flexibility since your organization can configure the contractor process flow exactly to your business and security requirements and can extend the functionality with PeopleTools. This option has proven very valuable and applicable to our customers engaged in government contracting because their contingent labor management practices are subject to complex standards and regulations. Customers find a great deal of value in the application functionality and configurability the enterprise licensed software offers for managing contingent labor. Some examples of that functionality are... The ability to create a tiered network of preferred suppliers including competencies, pricing agreements, and elaborate candidate management capabilities. Configurable alerts and online collaboration for bid, resource requisition, timesheet, and deliverable entry, routing, and approval for both resource and deliverable-based services. The ability to manage contractors with the same PeopleSoft HCM and Projects applications that are used to manage the permanent workforce. Because it allows you to utilize much of the same PeopleSoft HCM and Projects application functionality for contractors that you use for permanent employees, the enterprise licensed software model supports the deepest level of engagement with the contingent workforce. For example, you can: fill job openings with contingent labor; guide contingent workers through essential safety and compliance training with PeopleSoft Enterprise Learning Management; and source contingent workers directly to project-based assignments in PeopleSoft Resource Management and PeopleSoft Program Management. This option enables contingent workers to collaborate closely with your permanent staff on complex, knowledge-based efforts - R&D projects, billable client contracts, architecture and engineering projects spanning multiple years, and so on. With the enterprise licensed software model, your organization maintains responsibility for the sourcing, onboarding (including adherence to employment laws), and financial settlement processes. This means your organization maintains on staff or hires the expertise in these domains to utilize the software and interact with suppliers and contractors. Option 2:  Software as a Service (SaaS) The effort involved in setting up and operating VMS software to handle a contingent workforce leads many organizations to seek a system that can be activated and configured within a few days and for which they can pay based on usage. Oracle's Business Process Outsourcing partner, Provade, Inc., provides exactly this option to our customers. Provade offers its vendor management software as a service over the Internet and usually charges your organization a fee that is a percentage of your total contingent labor spending processed through the Provade software. (Percentage of spend is the predominant fee model, although not the only one.) In addition to lower implementation costs, the effort of configuring and maintaining the software is largely upon Provade, not your organization. This can be very appealing to IT organizations that are thinly stretched supporting other important information technology initiatives. Built upon PeopleSoft sPro, the Provade solution is tailored for simple and quick deployment and administration. Provade has added capabilities to clone users rapidly and has simplified business documents, like work orders and change orders, to facilitate enterprise-wide, self-service adoption with little to no training. Provade also leverages Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE) to provide integrated spend analytics and dashboards. Although pure customization is more limited than with the enterprise licensed software model, Provade offers a very effective option for organizations that are regularly on-boarding and off-boarding high volumes of contingent staff hired to perform discrete support tasks (for example, order fulfillment during the holiday season, hourly clerical work, desktop technology repairs, and so on) or project tasks. The software is very configurable and at the same time very intuitive to even the most computer-phobic users. The level of contingent worker engagement your organization can achieve with the Provade option is generally the same as with the enterprise licensed software model since Provade can automatically establish contingent labor resources in your PeopleSoft applications. Provade has pre-built integrations to Oracle's PeopleSoft and the Oracle E-Business Suite procurement, projects, payables, and HCM applications, so that you can evaluate, train, assign, and track contingent workers like your permanent employees. Similar to the enterprise licensed software model, your organization is responsible for the contingent worker sourcing, administration, and financial settlement processes. This means your organization needs to maintain the staff expertise in these domains. Option 3:  Managed Services Provider (MSP) Whether you are using the enterprise licensed model or the SaaS model, you may want to engage the services of sourcing, employment, payroll, and financial settlement professionals to administer your contingent workforce program. Firms that offer this expertise are often referred to as "MSPs," and they are typically staffing companies that also offer permanent and temporary hiring services. (In fact, many of the major MSPs are Oracle applications customers themselves, and they utilize the PeopleSoft Solution for the Staffing Industry to run their own business operations.) Usually, MSPs place their staff on-site at your facilities, and they can utilize either your enterprise licensed PeopleSoft sPro application or the Provade VMS SaaS software to administer the network of suppliers providing contingent workers. When you utilize an MSP, there is a separate fee for the MSP's service that is typically funded by the participating suppliers of the contingent labor. Also in this model, the suppliers of the contingent labor (not the MSP) usually pay the contingent labor force. With an MSP, you are intentionally turning over business process control for the advantages associated with having someone else manage the processes. The software option you choose will to a certain extent affect your process flexibility; however, the MSPs are often able to adapt their processes to the unique demands of your business. When you engage an MSP, you will want to give some thought to the level of engagement and "partnering" you need with your contingent workforce. Because the MSP acts as an intermediary, it can be very valuable in handling high volume, routine contracting for which there is a relatively low need for "partnering" with the contingent workforce. However, if your organization (or part of your organization) engages contingent workers for high-profile client projects that require diplomacy, intensive amounts of interaction, and personal trust, introducing an MSP into the process may prove less effective than handling the process with your own staff. In fact, in many organizations, it is common to enlist an MSP to handle contractors working on internal projects and to have permanent employees handle the contractor relationships that affect the portion of the services portfolio focused on customer-facing, billable projects. One of the key advantages of enlisting an MSP is that you do not have to maintain the expertise required for orchestrating the sourcing, hiring, and paying of contingent workers.  These are the domain of the MSPs. If your own staff members are not prepared to manage the essential "overhead" processes associated with contingent labor, working with an MSP can make solid business sense. Proper administration of a contingent workforce can make the difference between project success and failure, operating profit and loss, and legal compliance and fines. Concluding Thoughts There is little doubt that thoughtfully and purposefully constructing a service delivery strategy that leverages the strengths of contingent workers can lead to better projects, deliverables, and business results. What requires a bit more thinking is determining the platform (or platforms) that will enable each part of your organization to best deliver on its mission.

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• Syntax Highlighting for Gherkin (Cucumber Language)

  - by Liam McLennan

  SyntaxHighlighter is the de facto standard for syntax highlighting on the web. I am currently working on a tool for publishing BDD specifications on the web and I want syntax highlighting. Unfortunately, SyntaxHighlighter does not support Gherkin, the language Cucumber and SpecFlow use to define BDD specifications. Writing new language parsers for SyntaxHighlighter is very easy, so I implemented one for Gherkin. Here is what a syntax highlighted Gherkin file looks like: # A comment here Feature: Some terse yet descriptive text of what is desired In order to realize a named business value As a explicit system actor I want to gain some beneficial outcome which furthers the goal @secretlabel Scenario: Some determinable business situation Given some precondition And some other precondition When some action by the actor And some other action And yet another action Then some testable outcome is achieved And something else we can check happens too Like all SyntaxHighlighter brushes to use this one you need to install the brush (shBrushGherkin.js). I have also used a custom theme to get it just the way I wanted it (shThemeGherkin.css). If you would like to use my Gherkin brush you may download the code and example page.

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• BI für schnelle Analysen: Ein Erfolgsprojekt für die DAB bank, durchgeführt von Riverland Reply

  - by A & C Redaktion

  Zufriedene Kunden sind die beste Marketingstrategie. Deshalb bieten wir spezialisierten Partnern die Möglichkeit, professionelle Anwenderberichte über eigene erfolgreiche Oracle Projekte erstellen zu lassen. Hier im Blog präsentieren wir Ihnen in loser Folge Referenzberichte, mit denen Partner bereits erfolgreich werben. Heute: Der Oracle Partner Riverland Reply und sein Business-Intelligence-Projekt für die DAB bank Für die Direkt Anlage Bank, kurz DAB, sind BI-Lösungen längst zu einem wichtigen Steuerungstool geworden. Dabei müssen Datenströme aus verschiedenen Quellen zuverlässig gesteuert werden können. Um die neuesten CRM- und Business Intelligence-Funktionalitäten nutzen zu können, entschied sich die DAB bank für ein Upgrade auf Siebel CRM 8.1.1.7 mit CTI sowie die Integration von Oracle Business Intelligence 11g. Um ihren Wunsch nach Vereinfachung und Vereinheitlichung umzusetzen, fand die DAB in der Münchner Riverland Reply GmbH einen zuverlässigen Partner, der auf technische Beratung, Implementierung und Systemintegration in den Bereichen Prozesse, Businesslösungen und Technologien spezialisiert ist. Die Bedienbarkeit konnte deutlich verbessert werden, was die Prozessabläufe erleichtert. Den Datenzugriff erleichtert nun eine einheitliche Umgebung, und die Reporting-, Visualisierungs-, Such- und Collaboration-Funktionen sind in einem BI-Tool zusammengeführt. Details zum genauen Projektverlauf und den spezifischen Anforderungen finden Sie hier im Anwenderbericht der DAB. Die Möglichkeit, sich und ihre Arbeit gewinnbringend zu präsentieren, können alle spezialisierten Partner nutzen, die ein repräsentatives Oracle Projekt abgeschlossen haben. Erfahrene Fachjournalisten interviewen sowohl Partner als auch Endkunde und erstellen einen ausführlichen, ansprechend aufbereiteten Bericht. Die Veröffentlichung erfolgt über verschiedene Marketing-Kanäle. Natürlich können die Partner die Anwenderberichte auch für eigene Marketingzwecke nutzen, z. B. für Veranstaltungen. Haben Sie Interesse? Dann wenden Sie sich an Frau Renate Mayer. Wir benötigen von Ihnen einige Eckdaten wie Kundenname, Ansprechpartner und eingesetzte Oracle Produkte, eine Beschreibung des Projektes in drei-vier Sätzen sowie Ihren Ansprechpartner im Haus. Und dann: Lassen Sie Ihre gute Arbeit für sich sprechen!

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