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error “EXC_BAD_ACCESS” in my programm

- by zp26

Hi, i have a problem. When i compile my program there isn't a error but, when i start it these retern with “EXC_BAD_ACCESS”. I looking for the error with the debug and i find it in these method but i don't understand where... Can you help me? Thanks and sorry for the english. PS:the program enters in the loop sometimes. -(void)updateMinPosition{ float valueMinX = 150; float valueMinY = 150; float valueMinZ = 150; NSString *nameMinimoX = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"default"]; NSString *nameMinimoY = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"default"]; NSString *nameMinimoZ = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"default"]; for(int i = 0; i< [arrayPosizioniMovimento count]; i++){ //Posizione is my class. It contain a NSString name, 3 float valueX, valueY, valueZ Posizione *tempPosition; tempPosition = [[Posizione alloc]init]; tempPosition = [arrayPosizioniMovimento objectAtIndex:i]; if(tempPosition.valueX <= valueMinX){ valueMinX = tempPosition.valueX; nameMinimoX = tempPosition.nome; } if(tempPosition.valueY <= valueMinY){ valueMinY = tempPosition.valueY; nameMinimoY = tempPosition.nome; } if(tempPosition.valueZ <= valueMinZ){ valueMinZ = tempPosition.valueZ; nameMinimoZ = tempPosition.nome; } [tempPosition dealloc]; } labelMinX.text = nameMinimoX; labelMinY.text = nameMinimoY; labelMinZ.text = nameMinimoZ; }

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Introducing the Earthquake Locator – A Bing Maps Silverlight Application, part 1

- by Bobby Diaz

Update: Live demo and source code now available! The recent wave of earthquakes (no pun intended) being reported in the news got me wondering about the frequency and severity of earthquakes around the world. Since I’ve been doing a lot of Silverlight development lately, I decided to scratch my curiosity with a nice little Bing Maps application that will show the location and relative strength of recent seismic activity. Here is a list of technologies this application will utilize, so be sure to have everything downloaded and installed if you plan on following along. Silverlight 3 WCF RIA Services Bing Maps Silverlight Control * Managed Extensibility Framework (optional) MVVM Light Toolkit (optional) log4net (optional) * If you are new to Bing Maps or have not signed up for a Developer Account, you will need to visit www.bingmapsportal.com to request a Bing Maps key for your application. Getting Started We start out by creating a new Silverlight Application called EarthquakeLocator and specify that we want to automatically create the Web Application Project with RIA Services enabled. I cleaned up the web app by removing the Default.aspx and EarthquakeLocatorTestPage.html. Then I renamed the EarthquakeLocatorTestPage.aspx to Default.aspx and set it as my start page. I also set the development server to use a specific port, as shown below. RIA Services Next, I created a Services folder in the EarthquakeLocator.Web project and added a new Domain Service Class called EarthquakeService.cs. This is the RIA Services Domain Service that will provide earthquake data for our client application. I am not using LINQ to SQL or Entity Framework, so I will use the <empty domain service class> option. We will be pulling data from an external Atom feed, but this example could just as easily pull data from a database or another web service. This is an important distinction to point out because each scenario I just mentioned could potentially use a different Domain Service base class (i.e. LinqToSqlDomainService<TDataContext>). Now we can start adding Query methods to our EarthquakeService that pull data from the USGS web site. Here is the complete code for our service class: using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.IO; using System.Linq; using System.ServiceModel.Syndication; using System.Web.DomainServices; using System.Web.Ria; using System.Xml; using log4net; using EarthquakeLocator.Web.Model; namespace EarthquakeLocator.Web.Services { /// <summary> /// Provides earthquake data to client applications. /// </summary> [EnableClientAccess()] public class EarthquakeService : DomainService { private static readonly ILog log = LogManager.GetLogger(typeof(EarthquakeService)); // USGS Data Feeds: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/catalogs/ private const string FeedForPreviousDay = "http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/catalogs/1day-M2.5.xml"; private const string FeedForPreviousWeek = "http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/catalogs/7day-M2.5.xml"; /// <summary> /// Gets the earthquake data for the previous week. /// </summary> /// <returns>A queryable collection of <see cref="Earthquake"/> objects.</returns> public IQueryable<Earthquake> GetEarthquakes() { var feed = GetFeed(FeedForPreviousWeek); var list = new List<Earthquake>(); if ( feed != null ) { foreach ( var entry in feed.Items ) { var quake = CreateEarthquake(entry); if ( quake != null ) { list.Add(quake); } } } return list.AsQueryable(); } /// <summary> /// Creates an <see cref="Earthquake"/> object for each entry in the Atom feed. /// </summary> /// <param name="entry">The Atom entry.</param> /// <returns></returns> private Earthquake CreateEarthquake(SyndicationItem entry) { Earthquake quake = null; string title = entry.Title.Text; string summary = entry.Summary.Text; string point = GetElementValue<String>(entry, "point"); string depth = GetElementValue<String>(entry, "elev"); string utcTime = null; string localTime = null; string depthDesc = null; double? magnitude = null; double? latitude = null; double? longitude = null; double? depthKm = null; if ( !String.IsNullOrEmpty(title) && title.StartsWith("M") ) { title = title.Substring(2, title.IndexOf(',')-3).Trim(); magnitude = TryParse(title); } if ( !String.IsNullOrEmpty(point) ) { var values = point.Split(' '); if ( values.Length == 2 ) { latitude = TryParse(values[0]); longitude = TryParse(values[1]); } } if ( !String.IsNullOrEmpty(depth) ) { depthKm = TryParse(depth); if ( depthKm != null ) { depthKm = Math.Round((-1 * depthKm.Value) / 100, 2); } } if ( !String.IsNullOrEmpty(summary) ) { summary = summary.Replace("</p>", ""); var values = summary.Split( new string[] { "<p>" }, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries); if ( values.Length == 3 ) { var times = values[1].Split( new string[] { "<br>" }, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries); if ( times.Length > 0 ) { utcTime = times[0]; } if ( times.Length > 1 ) { localTime = times[1]; } depthDesc = values[2]; depthDesc = "Depth: " + depthDesc.Substring(depthDesc.IndexOf(":") + 2); } } if ( latitude != null && longitude != null ) { quake = new Earthquake() { Id = entry.Id, Title = entry.Title.Text, Summary = entry.Summary.Text, Date = entry.LastUpdatedTime.DateTime, Url = entry.Links.Select(l => Path.Combine(l.BaseUri.OriginalString, l.Uri.OriginalString)).FirstOrDefault(), Age = entry.Categories.Where(c => c.Label == "Age") .Select(c => c.Name).FirstOrDefault(), Magnitude = magnitude.GetValueOrDefault(), Latitude = latitude.GetValueOrDefault(), Longitude = longitude.GetValueOrDefault(), DepthInKm = depthKm.GetValueOrDefault(), DepthDesc = depthDesc, UtcTime = utcTime, LocalTime = localTime }; } return quake; } private T GetElementValue<T>(SyndicationItem entry, String name) { var el = entry.ElementExtensions.Where(e => e.OuterName == name).FirstOrDefault(); T value = default(T); if ( el != null ) { value = el.GetObject<T>(); } return value; } private double? TryParse(String value) { double d; if ( Double.TryParse(value, out d) ) { return d; } return null; } /// <summary> /// Gets the feed at the specified URL. /// </summary> /// <param name="url">The URL.</param> /// <returns>A <see cref="SyndicationFeed"/> object.</returns> public static SyndicationFeed GetFeed(String url) { SyndicationFeed feed = null; try { log.Debug("Loading RSS feed: " + url); using ( var reader = XmlReader.Create(url) ) { feed = SyndicationFeed.Load(reader); } } catch ( Exception ex ) { log.Error("Error occurred while loading RSS feed: " + url, ex); } return feed; } } } The only method that will be generated in the client side proxy class, EarthquakeContext, will be the GetEarthquakes() method. The reason being that it is the only public instance method and it returns an IQueryable<Earthquake> collection that can be consumed by the client application. GetEarthquakes() calls the static GetFeed(String) method, which utilizes the built in SyndicationFeed API to load the external data feed. You will need to add a reference to the System.ServiceModel.Web library in order to take advantage of the RSS/Atom reader. The API will also allow you to create your own feeds to serve up in your applications. Model I have also created a Model folder and added a new class, Earthquake.cs. The Earthquake object will hold the various properties returned from the Atom feed. Here is a sample of the code for that class. Notice the [Key] attribute on the Id property, which is required by RIA Services to uniquely identify the entity. using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Linq; using System.Runtime.Serialization; using System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations; namespace EarthquakeLocator.Web.Model { /// <summary> /// Represents an earthquake occurrence and related information. /// </summary> [DataContract] public class Earthquake { /// <summary> /// Gets or sets the id. /// </summary> /// <value>The id.</value> [Key] [DataMember] public string Id { get; set; } /// <summary> /// Gets or sets the title. /// </summary> /// <value>The title.</value> [DataMember] public string Title { get; set; } /// <summary> /// Gets or sets the summary. /// </summary> /// <value>The summary.</value> [DataMember] public string Summary { get; set; } // additional properties omitted } } View Model The recent trend to use the MVVM pattern for WPF and Silverlight provides a great way to separate the data and behavior logic out of the user interface layer of your client applications. I have chosen to use the MVVM Light Toolkit for the Earthquake Locator, but there are other options out there if you prefer another library. That said, I went ahead and created a ViewModel folder in the Silverlight project and added a EarthquakeViewModel class that derives from ViewModelBase. Here is the code: using System; using System.Collections.ObjectModel; using System.ComponentModel.Composition; using System.ComponentModel.Composition.Hosting; using Microsoft.Maps.MapControl; using GalaSoft.MvvmLight; using EarthquakeLocator.Web.Model; using EarthquakeLocator.Web.Services; namespace EarthquakeLocator.ViewModel { /// <summary> /// Provides data for views displaying earthquake information. /// </summary> public class EarthquakeViewModel : ViewModelBase { [Import] public EarthquakeContext Context; /// <summary> /// Initializes a new instance of the <see cref="EarthquakeViewModel"/> class. /// </summary> public EarthquakeViewModel() { var catalog = new AssemblyCatalog(GetType().Assembly); var container = new CompositionContainer(catalog); container.ComposeParts(this); Initialize(); } /// <summary> /// Initializes a new instance of the <see cref="EarthquakeViewModel"/> class. /// </summary> /// <param name="context">The context.</param> public EarthquakeViewModel(EarthquakeContext context) { Context = context; Initialize(); } private void Initialize() { MapCenter = new Location(20, -170); ZoomLevel = 2; } #region Private Methods private void OnAutoLoadDataChanged() { LoadEarthquakes(); } private void LoadEarthquakes() { var query = Context.GetEarthquakesQuery(); Context.Earthquakes.Clear(); Context.Load(query, (op) => { if ( !op.HasError ) { foreach ( var item in op.Entities ) { Earthquakes.Add(item); } } }, null); } #endregion Private Methods #region Properties private bool autoLoadData; /// <summary> /// Gets or sets a value indicating whether to auto load data. /// </summary> /// <value><c>true</c> if auto loading data; otherwise, <c>false</c>.</value> public bool AutoLoadData { get { return autoLoadData; } set { if ( autoLoadData != value ) { autoLoadData = value; RaisePropertyChanged("AutoLoadData"); OnAutoLoadDataChanged(); } } } private ObservableCollection<Earthquake> earthquakes; /// <summary> /// Gets the collection of earthquakes to display. /// </summary> /// <value>The collection of earthquakes.</value> public ObservableCollection<Earthquake> Earthquakes { get { if ( earthquakes == null ) { earthquakes = new ObservableCollection<Earthquake>(); } return earthquakes; } } private Location mapCenter; /// <summary> /// Gets or sets the map center. /// </summary> /// <value>The map center.</value> public Location MapCenter { get { return mapCenter; } set { if ( mapCenter != value ) { mapCenter = value; RaisePropertyChanged("MapCenter"); } } } private double zoomLevel; /// <summary> /// Gets or sets the zoom level. /// </summary> /// <value>The zoom level.</value> public double ZoomLevel { get { return zoomLevel; } set { if ( zoomLevel != value ) { zoomLevel = value; RaisePropertyChanged("ZoomLevel"); } } } #endregion Properties } } The EarthquakeViewModel class contains all of the properties that will be bound to by the various controls in our views. Be sure to read through the LoadEarthquakes() method, which handles calling the GetEarthquakes() method in our EarthquakeService via the EarthquakeContext proxy, and also transfers the loaded entities into the view model’s Earthquakes collection. Another thing to notice is what’s going on in the default constructor. I chose to use the Managed Extensibility Framework (MEF) for my composition needs, but you can use any dependency injection library or none at all. To allow the EarthquakeContext class to be discoverable by MEF, I added the following partial class so that I could supply the appropriate [Export] attribute: using System; using System.ComponentModel.Composition; namespace EarthquakeLocator.Web.Services { /// <summary> /// The client side proxy for the EarthquakeService class. /// </summary> [Export] public partial class EarthquakeContext { } } One last piece I wanted to point out before moving on to the user interface, I added a client side partial class for the Earthquake entity that contains helper properties that we will bind to later: using System; namespace EarthquakeLocator.Web.Model { /// <summary> /// Represents an earthquake occurrence and related information. /// </summary> public partial class Earthquake { /// <summary> /// Gets the location based on the current Latitude/Longitude. /// </summary> /// <value>The location.</value> public string Location { get { return String.Format("{0},{1}", Latitude, Longitude); } } /// <summary> /// Gets the size based on the Magnitude. /// </summary> /// <value>The size.</value> public double Size { get { return (Magnitude * 3); } } } } View Now the fun part! Usually, I would create a Views folder to place all of my View controls in, but I took the easy way out and added the following XAML code to the default MainPage.xaml file. Be sure to add the bing prefix associating the Microsoft.Maps.MapControl namespace after adding the assembly reference to your project. The MVVM Light Toolkit project templates come with a ViewModelLocator class that you can use via a static resource, but I am instantiating the EarthquakeViewModel directly in my user control. I am setting the AutoLoadData property to true as a way to trigger the LoadEarthquakes() method call. The MapItemsControl found within the <bing:Map> control binds its ItemsSource property to the Earthquakes collection of the view model, and since it is an ObservableCollection<T>, we get the automatic two way data binding via the INotifyCollectionChanged interface. <UserControl x:Class="EarthquakeLocator.MainPage" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008" xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006" xmlns:bing="clr-namespace:Microsoft.Maps.MapControl;assembly=Microsoft.Maps.MapControl" xmlns:vm="clr-namespace:EarthquakeLocator.ViewModel" mc:Ignorable="d" d:DesignWidth="640" d:DesignHeight="480" > <UserControl.Resources> <DataTemplate x:Key="EarthquakeTemplate"> <Ellipse Fill="Red" Stroke="Black" StrokeThickness="1" Width="{Binding Size}" Height="{Binding Size}" bing:MapLayer.Position="{Binding Location}" bing:MapLayer.PositionOrigin="Center"> <ToolTipService.ToolTip> <StackPanel> <TextBlock Text="{Binding Title}" FontSize="14" FontWeight="Bold" /> <TextBlock Text="{Binding UtcTime}" /> <TextBlock Text="{Binding LocalTime}" /> <TextBlock Text="{Binding DepthDesc}" /> </StackPanel> </ToolTipService.ToolTip> </Ellipse> </DataTemplate> </UserControl.Resources> <UserControl.DataContext> <vm:EarthquakeViewModel AutoLoadData="True" /> </UserControl.DataContext> <Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot"> <bing:Map x:Name="map" CredentialsProvider="--Your-Bing-Maps-Key--" Center="{Binding MapCenter, Mode=TwoWay}" ZoomLevel="{Binding ZoomLevel, Mode=TwoWay}"> <bing:MapItemsControl ItemsSource="{Binding Earthquakes}" ItemTemplate="{StaticResource EarthquakeTemplate}" /> </bing:Map> </Grid> </UserControl> The EarthquakeTemplate defines the Ellipse that will represent each earthquake, the Width and Height that are determined by the Magnitude, the Position on the map, and also the tooltip that will appear when we mouse over each data point. Running the application will give us the following result (shown with a tooltip example): That concludes this portion of our show but I plan on implementing additional functionality in later blog posts. Be sure to come back soon to see the next installments in this series. Enjoy! Additional Resources USGS Earthquake Data Feeds Brad Abrams shows how RIA Services and MVVM can work together

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VS 2010 SP1 and SQL CE

- by ScottGu

Last month we released the Beta of VS 2010 Service Pack 1 (SP1). You can learn more about the VS 2010 SP1 Beta from Jason Zander’s two blog posts about it, and from Scott Hanselman’s blog post that covers some of the new capabilities enabled with it. You can download and install the VS 2010 SP1 Beta here. Last week I blogged about the new Visual Studio support for IIS Express that we are adding with VS 2010 SP1. In today’s post I’m going to talk about the new VS 2010 SP1 tooling support for SQL CE, and walkthrough some of the cool scenarios it enables. SQL CE – What is it and why should you care? SQL CE is a free, embedded, database engine that enables easy database storage. No Database Installation Required SQL CE does not require you to run a setup or install a database server in order to use it. You can simply copy the SQL CE binaries into the \bin directory of your ASP.NET application, and then your web application can use it as a database engine. No setup or extra security permissions are required for it to run. You do not need to have an administrator account on the machine. Just copy your web application onto any server and it will work. This is true even of medium-trust applications running in a web hosting environment. SQL CE runs in-memory within your ASP.NET application and will start-up when you first access a SQL CE database, and will automatically shutdown when your application is unloaded. SQL CE databases are stored as files that live within the \App_Data folder of your ASP.NET Applications. Works with Existing Data APIs SQL CE 4 works with existing .NET-based data APIs, and supports a SQL Server compatible query syntax. This means you can use existing data APIs like ADO.NET, as well as use higher-level ORMs like Entity Framework and NHibernate with SQL CE. This enables you to use the same data programming skills and data APIs you know today. Supports Development, Testing and Production Scenarios SQL CE can be used for development scenarios, testing scenarios, and light production usage scenarios. With the SQL CE 4 release we’ve done the engineering work to ensure that SQL CE won’t crash or deadlock when used in a multi-threaded server scenario (like ASP.NET). This is a big change from previous releases of SQL CE – which were designed for client-only scenarios and which explicitly blocked running in web-server environments. Starting with SQL CE 4 you can use it in a web-server as well. There are no license restrictions with SQL CE. It is also totally free. Easy Migration to SQL Server SQL CE is an embedded database – which makes it ideal for development, testing, and light-usage scenarios. For high-volume sites and applications you’ll probably want to migrate your database to use SQL Server Express (which is free), SQL Server or SQL Azure. These servers enable much better scalability, more development features (including features like Stored Procedures – which aren’t supported with SQL CE), as well as more advanced data management capabilities. We’ll ship migration tools that enable you to optionally take SQL CE databases and easily upgrade them to use SQL Server Express, SQL Server, or SQL Azure. You will not need to change your code when upgrading a SQL CE database to SQL Server or SQL Azure. Our goal is to enable you to be able to simply change the database connection string in your web.config file and have your application just work. New Tooling Support for SQL CE in VS 2010 SP1 VS 2010 SP1 includes much improved tooling support for SQL CE, and adds support for using SQL CE within ASP.NET projects for the first time. With VS 2010 SP1 you can now: Create new SQL CE Databases Edit and Modify SQL CE Database Schema and Indexes Populate SQL CE Databases within Data Use the Entity Framework (EF) designer to create model layers against SQL CE databases Use EF Code First to define model layers in code, then create a SQL CE database from them, and optionally edit the DB with VS Deploy SQL CE databases to remote servers using Web Deploy and optionally convert them to full SQL Server databases You can take advantage of all of the above features from within both ASP.NET Web Forms and ASP.NET MVC based projects. Download You can enable SQL CE tooling support within VS 2010 by first installing VS 2010 SP1 (beta). Once SP1 is installed, you’ll also then need to install the SQL CE Tools for Visual Studio download. This is a separate download that enables the SQL CE tooling support for VS 2010 SP1. Walkthrough of Two Scenarios In this blog post I’m going to walkthrough how you can take advantage of SQL CE and VS 2010 SP1 using both an ASP.NET Web Forms and an ASP.NET MVC based application. Specifically, we’ll walkthrough: How to create a SQL CE database using VS 2010 SP1, then use the EF4 visual designers in Visual Studio to construct a model layer from it, and then display and edit the data using an ASP.NET GridView control. How to use an EF Code First approach to define a model layer using POCO classes and then have EF Code-First “auto-create” a SQL CE database for us based on our model classes. We’ll then look at how we can use the new VS 2010 SP1 support for SQL CE to inspect the database that was created, populate it with data, and later make schema changes to it. We’ll do all this within the context of an ASP.NET MVC based application. You can follow the two walkthroughs below on your own machine by installing VS 2010 SP1 (beta) and then installing the SQL CE Tools for Visual Studio download (which is a separate download that enables SQL CE tooling support for VS 2010 SP1). Walkthrough 1: Create a SQL CE Database, Create EF Model Classes, Edit the Data with a GridView This first walkthrough will demonstrate how to create and define a SQL CE database within an ASP.NET Web Form application. We’ll then build an EF model layer for it and use that model layer to enable data editing scenarios with an <asp:GridView> control. Step 1: Create a new ASP.NET Web Forms Project We’ll begin by using the File->New Project menu command within Visual Studio to create a new ASP.NET Web Forms project. We’ll use the “ASP.NET Web Application” project template option so that it has a default UI skin implemented: Step 2: Create a SQL CE Database Right click on the “App_Data” folder within the created project and choose the “Add->New Item” menu command: This will bring up the “Add Item” dialog box. Select the “SQL Server Compact 4.0 Local Database” item (new in VS 2010 SP1) and name the database file to create “Store.sdf”: Note that SQL CE database files have a .sdf filename extension. Place them within the /App_Data folder of your ASP.NET application to enable easy deployment. When we clicked the “Add” button above a Store.sdf file was added to our project: Step 3: Adding a “Products” Table Double-clicking the “Store.sdf” database file will open it up within the Server Explorer tab. Since it is a new database there are no tables within it: Right click on the “Tables” icon and choose the “Create Table” menu command to create a new database table. We’ll name the new table “Products” and add 4 columns to it. We’ll mark the first column as a primary key (and make it an identify column so that its value will automatically increment with each new row): When we click “ok” our new Products table will be created in the SQL CE database. Step 4: Populate with Data Once our Products table is created it will show up within the Server Explorer. We can right-click it and choose the “Show Table Data” menu command to edit its data: Let’s add a few sample rows of data to it: Step 5: Create an EF Model Layer We have a SQL CE database with some data in it – let’s now create an EF Model Layer that will provide a way for us to easily query and update data within it. Let’s right-click on our project and choose the “Add->New Item” menu command. This will bring up the “Add New Item” dialog – select the “ADO.NET Entity Data Model” item within it and name it “Store.edmx” This will add a new Store.edmx item to our solution explorer and launch a wizard that allows us to quickly create an EF model: Select the “Generate From Database” option above and click next. Choose to use the Store.sdf SQL CE database we just created and then click next again. The wizard will then ask you what database objects you want to import into your model. Let’s choose to import the “Products” table we created earlier: When we click the “Finish” button Visual Studio will open up the EF designer. It will have a Product entity already on it that maps to the “Products” table within our SQL CE database: The VS 2010 SP1 EF designer works exactly the same with SQL CE as it does already with SQL Server and SQL Express. The Product entity above will be persisted as a class (called “Product”) that we can programmatically work against within our ASP.NET application. Step 6: Compile the Project Before using your model layer you’ll need to build your project. Do a Ctrl+Shift+B to compile the project, or use the Build->Build Solution menu command. Step 7: Create a Page that Uses our EF Model Layer Let’s now create a simple ASP.NET Web Form that contains a GridView control that we can use to display and edit the our Products data (via the EF Model Layer we just created). Right-click on the project and choose the Add->New Item command. Select the “Web Form from Master Page” item template, and name the page you create “Products.aspx”. Base the master page on the “Site.Master” template that is in the root of the project. Add an <h2>Products</h2> heading the new Page, and add an <asp:gridview> control within it: Then click the “Design” tab to switch into design-view. Select the GridView control, and then click the top-right corner to display the GridView’s “Smart Tasks” UI: Choose the “New data source…” drop down option above. This will bring up the below dialog which allows you to pick your Data Source type: Select the “Entity” data source option – which will allow us to easily connect our GridView to the EF model layer we created earlier. This will bring up another dialog that allows us to pick our model layer: Select the “StoreEntities” option in the dropdown – which is the EF model layer we created earlier. Then click next – which will allow us to pick which entity within it we want to bind to: Select the “Products” entity in the above dialog – which indicates that we want to bind against the “Product” entity class we defined earlier. Then click the “Enable automatic updates” checkbox to ensure that we can both query and update Products. When you click “Finish” VS will wire-up an <asp:EntityDataSource> to your <asp:GridView> control: The last two steps we’ll do will be to click the “Enable Editing” checkbox on the Grid (which will cause the Grid to display an “Edit” link on each row) and (optionally) use the Auto Format dialog to pick a UI template for the Grid. Step 8: Run the Application Let’s now run our application and browse to the /Products.aspx page that contains our GridView. When we do so we’ll see a Grid UI of the Products within our SQL CE database. Clicking the “Edit” link for any of the rows will allow us to edit their values: When we click “Update” the GridView will post back the values, persist them through our EF Model Layer, and ultimately save them within our SQL CE database. Learn More about using EF with ASP.NET Web Forms Read this tutorial series on the http://asp.net site to learn more about how to use EF with ASP.NET Web Forms. The tutorial series uses SQL Express as the database – but the nice thing is that all of the same steps/concepts can also now also be done with SQL CE. Walkthrough 2: Using EF Code-First with SQL CE and ASP.NET MVC 3 We used a database-first approach with the sample above – where we first created the database, and then used the EF designer to create model classes from the database. In addition to supporting a designer-based development workflow, EF also enables a more code-centric option which we call “code first development”. Code-First Development enables a pretty sweet development workflow. It enables you to: Define your model objects by simply writing “plain old classes” with no base classes or visual designer required Use a “convention over configuration” approach that enables database persistence without explicitly configuring anything Optionally override the convention-based persistence and use a fluent code API to fully customize the persistence mapping Optionally auto-create a database based on the model classes you define – allowing you to start from code first I’ve done several blog posts about EF Code First in the past – I really think it is great. The good news is that it also works very well with SQL CE. The combination of SQL CE, EF Code First, and the new VS tooling support for SQL CE, enables a pretty nice workflow. Below is a simple example of how you can use them to build a simple ASP.NET MVC 3 application. Step 1: Create a new ASP.NET MVC 3 Project We’ll begin by using the File->New Project menu command within Visual Studio to create a new ASP.NET MVC 3 project. We’ll use the “Internet Project” template so that it has a default UI skin implemented: Step 2: Use NuGet to Install EFCodeFirst Next we’ll use the NuGet package manager (automatically installed by ASP.NET MVC 3) to add the EFCodeFirst library to our project. We’ll use the Package Manager command shell to do this. Bring up the package manager console within Visual Studio by selecting the View->Other Windows->Package Manager Console menu command. Then type: install-package EFCodeFirst within the package manager console to download the EFCodeFirst library and have it be added to our project: When we enter the above command, the EFCodeFirst library will be downloaded and added to our application: Step 3: Build Some Model Classes Using a “code first” based development workflow, we will create our model classes first (even before we have a database). We create these model classes by writing code. For this sample, we will right click on the “Models” folder of our project and add the below three classes to our project: The “Dinner” and “RSVP” model classes above are “plain old CLR objects” (aka POCO). They do not need to derive from any base classes or implement any interfaces, and the properties they expose are standard .NET data-types. No data persistence attributes or data code has been added to them. The “NerdDinners” class derives from the DbContext class (which is supplied by EFCodeFirst) and handles the retrieval/persistence of our Dinner and RSVP instances from a database. Step 4: Listing Dinners We’ve written all of the code necessary to implement our model layer for this simple project. Let’s now expose and implement the URL: /Dinners/Upcoming within our project. We’ll use it to list upcoming dinners that happen in the future. We’ll do this by right-clicking on our “Controllers” folder and select the “Add->Controller” menu command. We’ll name the Controller we want to create “DinnersController”. We’ll then implement an “Upcoming” action method within it that lists upcoming dinners using our model layer above. We will use a LINQ query to retrieve the data and pass it to a View to render with the code below: We’ll then right-click within our Upcoming method and choose the “Add-View” menu command to create an “Upcoming” view template that displays our dinners. We’ll use the “empty” template option within the “Add View” dialog and write the below view template using Razor: Step 4: Configure our Project to use a SQL CE Database We have finished writing all of our code – our last step will be to configure a database connection-string to use. We will point our NerdDinners model class to a SQL CE database by adding the below <connectionString> to the web.config file at the top of our project: EF Code First uses a default convention where context classes will look for a connection-string that matches the DbContext class name. Because we created a “NerdDinners” class earlier, we’ve also named our connectionstring “NerdDinners”. Above we are configuring our connection-string to use SQL CE as the database, and telling it that our SQL CE database file will live within the \App_Data directory of our ASP.NET project. Step 5: Running our Application Now that we’ve built our application, let’s run it! We’ll browse to the /Dinners/Upcoming URL – doing so will display an empty list of upcoming dinners: You might ask – but where did it query to get the dinners from? We didn’t explicitly create a database?!? One of the cool features that EF Code-First supports is the ability to automatically create a database (based on the schema of our model classes) when the database we point it at doesn’t exist. Above we configured EF Code-First to point at a SQL CE database in the \App_Data\ directory of our project. When we ran our application, EF Code-First saw that the SQL CE database didn’t exist and automatically created it for us. Step 6: Using VS 2010 SP1 to Explore our newly created SQL CE Database Click the “Show all Files” icon within the Solution Explorer and you’ll see the “NerdDinners.sdf” SQL CE database file that was automatically created for us by EF code-first within the \App_Data\ folder: We can optionally right-click on the file and “Include in Project" to add it to our solution: We can also double-click the file (regardless of whether it is added to the project) and VS 2010 SP1 will open it as a database we can edit within the “Server Explorer” tab of the IDE. Below is the view we get when we double-click our NerdDinners.sdf SQL CE file. We can drill in to see the schema of the Dinners and RSVPs tables in the tree explorer. Notice how two tables - Dinners and RSVPs – were automatically created for us within our SQL CE database. This was done by EF Code First when we accessed the NerdDinners class by running our application above: We can right-click on a Table and use the “Show Table Data” command to enter some upcoming dinners in our database: We’ll use the built-in editor that VS 2010 SP1 supports to populate our table data below: And now when we hit “refresh” on the /Dinners/Upcoming URL within our browser we’ll see some upcoming dinners show up: Step 7: Changing our Model and Database Schema Let’s now modify the schema of our model layer and database, and walkthrough one way that the new VS 2010 SP1 Tooling support for SQL CE can make this easier. With EF Code-First you typically start making database changes by modifying the model classes. For example, let’s add an additional string property called “UrlLink” to our “Dinner” class. We’ll use this to point to a link for more information about the event: Now when we re-run our project, and visit the /Dinners/Upcoming URL we’ll see an error thrown: We are seeing this error because EF Code-First automatically created our database, and by default when it does this it adds a table that helps tracks whether the schema of our database is in sync with our model classes. EF Code-First helpfully throws an error when they become out of sync – making it easier to track down issues at development time that you might otherwise only find (via obscure errors) at runtime. Note that if you do not want this feature you can turn it off by changing the default conventions of your DbContext class (in this case our NerdDinners class) to not track the schema version. Our model classes and database schema are out of sync in the above example – so how do we fix this? There are two approaches you can use today: Delete the database and have EF Code First automatically re-create the database based on the new model class schema (losing the data within the existing DB) Modify the schema of the existing database to make it in sync with the model classes (keeping/migrating the data within the existing DB) There are a couple of ways you can do the second approach above. Below I’m going to show how you can take advantage of the new VS 2010 SP1 Tooling support for SQL CE to use a database schema tool to modify our database structure. We are also going to be supporting a “migrations” feature with EF in the future that will allow you to automate/script database schema migrations programmatically. Step 8: Modify our SQL CE Database Schema using VS 2010 SP1 The new SQL CE Tooling support within VS 2010 SP1 makes it easy to modify the schema of our existing SQL CE database. To do this we’ll right-click on our “Dinners” table and choose the “Edit Table Schema” command: This will bring up the below “Edit Table” dialog. We can rename, change or delete any of the existing columns in our table, or click at the bottom of the column listing and type to add a new column. Below I’ve added a new “UrlLink” column of type “nvarchar” (since our property is a string): When we click ok our database will be updated to have the new column and our schema will now match our model classes. Because we are manually modifying our database schema, there is one additional step we need to take to let EF Code-First know that the database schema is in sync with our model classes. As i mentioned earlier, when a database is automatically created by EF Code-First it adds a “EdmMetadata” table to the database to track schema versions (and hash our model classes against them to detect mismatches between our model classes and the database schema): Since we are manually updating and maintaining our database schema, we don’t need this table – and can just delete it: This will leave us with just the two tables that correspond to our model classes: And now when we re-run our /Dinners/Upcoming URL it will display the dinners correctly: One last touch we could do would be to update our view to check for the new UrlLink property and render a <a> link to it if an event has one: And now when we refresh our /Dinners/Upcoming we will see hyperlinks for the events that have a UrlLink stored in the database: Summary SQL CE provides a free, embedded, database engine that you can use to easily enable database storage. With SQL CE 4 you can now take advantage of it within ASP.NET projects and applications (both Web Forms and MVC). VS 2010 SP1 provides tooling support that enables you to easily create, edit and modify SQL CE databases – as well as use the standard EF designer against them. This allows you to re-use your existing skills and data knowledge while taking advantage of an embedded database option. This is useful both for small applications (where you don’t need the scalability of a full SQL Server), as well as for development and testing scenarios – where you want to be able to rapidly develop/test your application without having a full database instance. SQL CE makes it easy to later migrate your data to a full SQL Server or SQL Azure instance if you want to – without having to change any code in your application. All we would need to change in the above two scenarios is the <connectionString> value within the web.config file in order to have our code run against a full SQL Server. This provides the flexibility to scale up your application starting from a small embedded database solution as needed. Hope this helps, Scott P.S. In addition to blogging, I am also now using Twitter for quick updates and to share links. Follow me at: twitter.com/scottgu

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Creating Custom Ajax Control Toolkit Controls

- by Stephen Walther

The goal of this blog entry is to explain how you can extend the Ajax Control Toolkit with custom Ajax Control Toolkit controls. I describe how you can create the two halves of an Ajax Control Toolkit control: the server-side control extender and the client-side control behavior. Finally, I explain how you can use the new Ajax Control Toolkit control in a Web Forms page. At the end of this blog entry, there is a link to download a Visual Studio 2010 solution which contains the code for two Ajax Control Toolkit controls: SampleExtender and PopupHelpExtender. The SampleExtender contains the minimum skeleton for creating a new Ajax Control Toolkit control. You can use the SampleExtender as a starting point for your custom Ajax Control Toolkit controls. The PopupHelpExtender control is a super simple custom Ajax Control Toolkit control. This control extender displays a help message when you start typing into a TextBox control. The animated GIF below demonstrates what happens when you click into a TextBox which has been extended with the PopupHelp extender. Here’s a sample of a Web Forms page which uses the control: <%@ Page Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeBehind="ShowPopupHelp.aspx.cs" Inherits="MyACTControls.Web.Default" %> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html > <head runat="server"> <title>Show Popup Help</title> </head> <body> <form id="form1" runat="server"> <div> <act:ToolkitScriptManager ID="tsm" runat="server" /> <%-- Social Security Number --%> <asp:Label ID="lblSSN" Text="SSN:" AssociatedControlID="txtSSN" runat="server" /> <asp:TextBox ID="txtSSN" runat="server" /> <act:PopupHelpExtender id="ph1" TargetControlID="txtSSN" HelpText="Please enter your social security number." runat="server" /> <%-- Social Security Number --%> <asp:Label ID="lblPhone" Text="Phone Number:" AssociatedControlID="txtPhone" runat="server" /> <asp:TextBox ID="txtPhone" runat="server" /> <act:PopupHelpExtender id="ph2" TargetControlID="txtPhone" HelpText="Please enter your phone number." runat="server" /> </div> </form> </body> </html> In the page above, the PopupHelp extender is used to extend the functionality of the two TextBox controls. When focus is given to a TextBox control, the popup help message is displayed. An Ajax Control Toolkit control extender consists of two parts: a server-side control extender and a client-side behavior. For example, the PopupHelp extender consists of a server-side PopupHelpExtender control (PopupHelpExtender.cs) and a client-side PopupHelp behavior JavaScript script (PopupHelpBehavior.js). Over the course of this blog entry, I describe how you can create both the server-side extender and the client-side behavior. Writing the Server-Side Code Creating a Control Extender You create a control extender by creating a class that inherits from the abstract ExtenderControlBase class. For example, the PopupHelpExtender control is declared like this: public class PopupHelpExtender: ExtenderControlBase { } The ExtenderControlBase class is part of the Ajax Control Toolkit. This base class contains all of the common server properties and methods of every Ajax Control Toolkit extender control. The ExtenderControlBase class inherits from the ExtenderControl class. The ExtenderControl class is a standard class in the ASP.NET framework located in the System.Web.UI namespace. This class is responsible for generating a client-side behavior. The class generates a call to the Microsoft Ajax Library $create() method which looks like this: <script type="text/javascript"> $create(MyACTControls.PopupHelpBehavior, {"HelpText":"Please enter your social security number.","id":"ph1"}, null, null, $get("txtSSN")); }); </script> The JavaScript $create() method is part of the Microsoft Ajax Library. The reference for this method can be found here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb397487.aspx This method accepts the following parameters: type – The type of client behavior to create. The $create() method above creates a client PopupHelpBehavior. Properties – Enables you to pass initial values for the properties of the client behavior. For example, the initial value of the HelpText property. This is how server property values are passed to the client. Events – Enables you to pass client-side event handlers to the client behavior. References – Enables you to pass references to other client components. Element – The DOM element associated with the client behavior. This will be the DOM element associated with the control being extended such as the txtSSN TextBox. The $create() method is generated for you automatically. You just need to focus on writing the server-side control extender class. Specifying the Target Control All Ajax Control Toolkit extenders inherit a TargetControlID property from the ExtenderControlBase class. This property, the TargetControlID property, points at the control that the extender control extends. For example, the Ajax Control Toolkit TextBoxWatermark control extends a TextBox, the ConfirmButton control extends a Button, and the Calendar control extends a TextBox. You must indicate the type of control which your extender is extending. You indicate the type of control by adding a [TargetControlType] attribute to your control. For example, the PopupHelp extender is declared like this: [TargetControlType(typeof(TextBox))] public class PopupHelpExtender: ExtenderControlBase { } The PopupHelp extender can be used to extend a TextBox control. If you try to use the PopupHelp extender with another type of control then an exception is thrown. If you want to create an extender control which can be used with any type of ASP.NET control (Button, DataView, TextBox or whatever) then use the following attribute: [TargetControlType(typeof(Control))] Decorating Properties with Attributes If you decorate a server-side property with the [ExtenderControlProperty] attribute then the value of the property gets passed to the control’s client-side behavior. The value of the property gets passed to the client through the $create() method discussed above. The PopupHelp control contains the following HelpText property: [ExtenderControlProperty] [RequiredProperty] public string HelpText { get { return GetPropertyValue("HelpText", "Help Text"); } set { SetPropertyValue("HelpText", value); } } The HelpText property determines the help text which pops up when you start typing into a TextBox control. Because the HelpText property is decorated with the [ExtenderControlProperty] attribute, any value assigned to this property on the server is passed to the client automatically. For example, if you declare the PopupHelp extender in a Web Form page like this: <asp:TextBox ID="txtSSN" runat="server" /> <act:PopupHelpExtender id="ph1" TargetControlID="txtSSN" HelpText="Please enter your social security number." runat="server" /> Then the PopupHelpExtender renders the call to the the following Microsoft Ajax Library $create() method: $create(MyACTControls.PopupHelpBehavior, {"HelpText":"Please enter your social security number.","id":"ph1"}, null, null, $get("txtSSN")); You can see this call to the JavaScript $create() method by selecting View Source in your browser. This call to the $create() method calls a method named set_HelpText() automatically and passes the value “Please enter your social security number”. There are several attributes which you can use to decorate server-side properties including: ExtenderControlProperty – When a property is marked with this attribute, the value of the property is passed to the client automatically. ExtenderControlEvent – When a property is marked with this attribute, the property represents a client event handler. Required – When a value is not assigned to this property on the server, an error is displayed. DefaultValue – The default value of the property passed to the client. ClientPropertyName – The name of the corresponding property in the JavaScript behavior. For example, the server-side property is named ID (uppercase) and the client-side property is named id (lower-case). IDReferenceProperty – Applied to properties which refer to the IDs of other controls. URLProperty – Calls ResolveClientURL() to convert from a server-side URL to a URL which can be used on the client. ElementReference – Returns a reference to a DOM element by performing a client $get(). The WebResource, ClientResource, and the RequiredScript Attributes The PopupHelp extender uses three embedded resources named PopupHelpBehavior.js, PopupHelpBehavior.debug.js, and PopupHelpBehavior.css. The first two files are JavaScript files and the final file is a Cascading Style sheet file. These files are compiled as embedded resources. You don’t need to mark them as embedded resources in your Visual Studio solution because they get added to the assembly when the assembly is compiled by a build task. You can see that these files get embedded into the MyACTControls assembly by using Red Gate’s .NET Reflector tool: In order to use these files with the PopupHelp extender, you need to work with both the WebResource and the ClientScriptResource attributes. The PopupHelp extender includes the following three WebResource attributes. [assembly: WebResource("PopupHelp.PopupHelpBehavior.js", "text/javascript")] [assembly: WebResource("PopupHelp.PopupHelpBehavior.debug.js", "text/javascript")] [assembly: WebResource("PopupHelp.PopupHelpBehavior.css", "text/css", PerformSubstitution = true)] These WebResource attributes expose the embedded resource from the assembly so that they can be accessed by using the ScriptResource.axd or WebResource.axd handlers. The first parameter passed to the WebResource attribute is the name of the embedded resource and the second parameter is the content type of the embedded resource. The PopupHelp extender also includes the following ClientScriptResource and ClientCssResource attributes: [ClientScriptResource("MyACTControls.PopupHelpBehavior", "PopupHelp.PopupHelpBehavior.js")] [ClientCssResource("PopupHelp.PopupHelpBehavior.css")] Including these attributes causes the PopupHelp extender to request these resources when you add the PopupHelp extender to a page. If you open View Source in a browser which uses the PopupHelp extender then you will see the following link for the Cascading Style Sheet file: <link href="/WebResource.axd?d=0uONMsWXUuEDG-pbJHAC1kuKiIMteQFkYLmZdkgv7X54TObqYoqVzU4mxvaa4zpn5H9ch0RDwRYKwtO8zM5mKgO6C4WbrbkWWidKR07LD1d4n4i_uNB1mHEvXdZu2Ae5mDdVNDV53znnBojzCzwvSw2&t=634417392021676003" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /> You also will see the following script include for the JavaScript file: <script src="/ScriptResource.axd?d=pIS7xcGaqvNLFBvExMBQSp_0xR3mpDfS0QVmmyu1aqDUjF06TrW1jVDyXNDMtBHxpRggLYDvgFTWOsrszflZEDqAcQCg-hDXjun7ON0Ol7EXPQIdOe1GLMceIDv3OeX658-tTq2LGdwXhC1-dE7_6g2&t=ffffffff88a33b59" type="text/javascript"></script> The JavaScrpt file returned by this request to ScriptResource.axd contains the combined scripts for any and all Ajax Control Toolkit controls in a page. By default, the Ajax Control Toolkit combines all of the JavaScript files required by a page into a single JavaScript file. Combining files in this way really speeds up how quickly all of the JavaScript files get delivered from the web server to the browser. So, by default, there will be only one ScriptResource.axd include for all of the JavaScript files required by a page. If you want to disable Script Combining, and create separate links, then disable Script Combining like this: <act:ToolkitScriptManager ID="tsm" runat="server" CombineScripts="false" /> There is one more important attribute used by Ajax Control Toolkit extenders. The PopupHelp behavior uses the following two RequirdScript attributes to load the JavaScript files which are required by the PopupHelp behavior: [RequiredScript(typeof(CommonToolkitScripts), 0)] [RequiredScript(typeof(PopupExtender), 1)] The first parameter of the RequiredScript attribute represents either the string name of a JavaScript file or the type of an Ajax Control Toolkit control. The second parameter represents the order in which the JavaScript files are loaded (This second parameter is needed because .NET attributes are intrinsically unordered). In this case, the RequiredScript attribute will load the JavaScript files associated with the CommonToolkitScripts type and the JavaScript files associated with the PopupExtender in that order. The PopupHelp behavior depends on these JavaScript files. Writing the Client-Side Code The PopupHelp extender uses a client-side behavior written with the Microsoft Ajax Library. Here is the complete code for the client-side behavior: (function () { // The unique name of the script registered with the // client script loader var scriptName = "PopupHelpBehavior"; function execute() { Type.registerNamespace('MyACTControls'); MyACTControls.PopupHelpBehavior = function (element) { /// <summary> /// A behavior which displays popup help for a textbox /// </summmary> /// <param name="element" type="Sys.UI.DomElement">The element to attach to</param> MyACTControls.PopupHelpBehavior.initializeBase(this, [element]); this._textbox = Sys.Extended.UI.TextBoxWrapper.get_Wrapper(element); this._cssClass = "ajax__popupHelp"; this._popupBehavior = null; this._popupPosition = Sys.Extended.UI.PositioningMode.BottomLeft; this._popupDiv = null; this._helpText = "Help Text"; this._element$delegates = { focus: Function.createDelegate(this, this._element_onfocus), blur: Function.createDelegate(this, this._element_onblur) }; } MyACTControls.PopupHelpBehavior.prototype = { initialize: function () { MyACTControls.PopupHelpBehavior.callBaseMethod(this, 'initialize'); // Add event handlers for focus and blur var element = this.get_element(); $addHandlers(element, this._element$delegates); }, _ensurePopup: function () { if (!this._popupDiv) { var element = this.get_element(); var id = this.get_id(); this._popupDiv = $common.createElementFromTemplate({ nodeName: "div", properties: { id: id + "_popupDiv" }, cssClasses: ["ajax__popupHelp"] }, element.parentNode); this._popupBehavior = new $create(Sys.Extended.UI.PopupBehavior, { parentElement: element }, {}, {}, this._popupDiv); this._popupBehavior.set_positioningMode(this._popupPosition); } }, get_HelpText: function () { return this._helpText; }, set_HelpText: function (value) { if (this._HelpText != value) { this._helpText = value; this._ensurePopup(); this._popupDiv.innerHTML = value; this.raisePropertyChanged("Text") } }, _element_onfocus: function (e) { this.show(); }, _element_onblur: function (e) { this.hide(); }, show: function () { this._popupBehavior.show(); }, hide: function () { if (this._popupBehavior) { this._popupBehavior.hide(); } }, dispose: function() { var element = this.get_element(); $clearHandlers(element); if (this._popupBehavior) { this._popupBehavior.dispose(); this._popupBehavior = null; } } }; MyACTControls.PopupHelpBehavior.registerClass('MyACTControls.PopupHelpBehavior', Sys.Extended.UI.BehaviorBase); Sys.registerComponent(MyACTControls.PopupHelpBehavior, { name: "popupHelp" }); } // execute if (window.Sys && Sys.loader) { Sys.loader.registerScript(scriptName, ["ExtendedBase", "ExtendedCommon"], execute); } else { execute(); } })(); In the following sections, we’ll discuss how this client-side behavior works. Wrapping the Behavior for the Script Loader The behavior is wrapped with the following script: (function () { // The unique name of the script registered with the // client script loader var scriptName = "PopupHelpBehavior"; function execute() { // Behavior Content } // execute if (window.Sys && Sys.loader) { Sys.loader.registerScript(scriptName, ["ExtendedBase", "ExtendedCommon"], execute); } else { execute(); } })(); This code is required by the Microsoft Ajax Library Script Loader. You need this code if you plan to use a behavior directly from client-side code and you want to use the Script Loader. If you plan to only use your code in the context of the Ajax Control Toolkit then you can leave out this code. Registering a JavaScript Namespace The PopupHelp behavior is declared within a namespace named MyACTControls. In the code above, this namespace is created with the following registerNamespace() method: Type.registerNamespace('MyACTControls'); JavaScript does not have any built-in way of creating namespaces to prevent naming conflicts. The Microsoft Ajax Library extends JavaScript with support for namespaces. You can learn more about the registerNamespace() method here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb397723.aspx Creating the Behavior The actual Popup behavior is created with the following code. MyACTControls.PopupHelpBehavior = function (element) { /// <summary> /// A behavior which displays popup help for a textbox /// </summmary> /// <param name="element" type="Sys.UI.DomElement">The element to attach to</param> MyACTControls.PopupHelpBehavior.initializeBase(this, [element]); this._textbox = Sys.Extended.UI.TextBoxWrapper.get_Wrapper(element); this._cssClass = "ajax__popupHelp"; this._popupBehavior = null; this._popupPosition = Sys.Extended.UI.PositioningMode.BottomLeft; this._popupDiv = null; this._helpText = "Help Text"; this._element$delegates = { focus: Function.createDelegate(this, this._element_onfocus), blur: Function.createDelegate(this, this._element_onblur) }; } MyACTControls.PopupHelpBehavior.prototype = { initialize: function () { MyACTControls.PopupHelpBehavior.callBaseMethod(this, 'initialize'); // Add event handlers for focus and blur var element = this.get_element(); $addHandlers(element, this._element$delegates); }, _ensurePopup: function () { if (!this._popupDiv) { var element = this.get_element(); var id = this.get_id(); this._popupDiv = $common.createElementFromTemplate({ nodeName: "div", properties: { id: id + "_popupDiv" }, cssClasses: ["ajax__popupHelp"] }, element.parentNode); this._popupBehavior = new $create(Sys.Extended.UI.PopupBehavior, { parentElement: element }, {}, {}, this._popupDiv); this._popupBehavior.set_positioningMode(this._popupPosition); } }, get_HelpText: function () { return this._helpText; }, set_HelpText: function (value) { if (this._HelpText != value) { this._helpText = value; this._ensurePopup(); this._popupDiv.innerHTML = value; this.raisePropertyChanged("Text") } }, _element_onfocus: function (e) { this.show(); }, _element_onblur: function (e) { this.hide(); }, show: function () { this._popupBehavior.show(); }, hide: function () { if (this._popupBehavior) { this._popupBehavior.hide(); } }, dispose: function() { var element = this.get_element(); $clearHandlers(element); if (this._popupBehavior) { this._popupBehavior.dispose(); this._popupBehavior = null; } } }; The code above has two parts. The first part of the code is used to define the constructor function for the PopupHelp behavior. This is a factory method which returns an instance of a PopupHelp behavior: MyACTControls.PopupHelpBehavior = function (element) { } The second part of the code modified the prototype for the PopupHelp behavior: MyACTControls.PopupHelpBehavior.prototype = { } Any code which is particular to a single instance of the PopupHelp behavior should be placed in the constructor function. For example, the default value of the _helpText field is assigned in the constructor function: this._helpText = "Help Text"; Any code which is shared among all instances of the PopupHelp behavior should be added to the PopupHelp behavior’s prototype. For example, the public HelpText property is added to the prototype: get_HelpText: function () { return this._helpText; }, set_HelpText: function (value) { if (this._HelpText != value) { this._helpText = value; this._ensurePopup(); this._popupDiv.innerHTML = value; this.raisePropertyChanged("Text") } }, Registering a JavaScript Class After you create the PopupHelp behavior, you must register the behavior as a class by using the Microsoft Ajax registerClass() method like this: MyACTControls.PopupHelpBehavior.registerClass('MyACTControls.PopupHelpBehavior', Sys.Extended.UI.BehaviorBase); This call to registerClass() registers PopupHelp behavior as a class which derives from the base Sys.Extended.UI.BehaviorBase class. Like the ExtenderControlBase class on the server side, the BehaviorBase class on the client side contains method used by every behavior. The documentation for the BehaviorBase class can be found here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb311020.aspx The most important methods and properties of the BehaviorBase class are the following: dispose() – Use this method to clean up all resources used by your behavior. In the case of the PopupHelp behavior, the dispose() method is used to remote the event handlers created by the behavior and disposed the Popup behavior. get_element() -- Use this property to get the DOM element associated with the behavior. In other words, the DOM element which the behavior extends. get_id() – Use this property to the ID of the current behavior. initialize() – Use this method to initialize the behavior. This method is called after all of the properties are set by the $create() method. Creating Debug and Release Scripts You might have noticed that the PopupHelp behavior uses two scripts named PopupHelpBehavior.js and PopupHelpBehavior.debug.js. However, you never create these two scripts. Instead, you only create a single script named PopupHelpBehavior.pre.js. The pre in PopupHelpBehavior.pre.js stands for preprocessor. When you build the Ajax Control Toolkit (or the sample Visual Studio Solution at the end of this blog entry), a build task named JSBuild generates the PopupHelpBehavior.js release script and PopupHelpBehavior.debug.js debug script automatically. The JSBuild preprocessor supports the following directives: #IF #ELSE #ENDIF #INCLUDE #LOCALIZE #DEFINE #UNDEFINE The preprocessor directives are used to mark code which should only appear in the debug version of the script. The directives are used extensively in the Microsoft Ajax Library. For example, the Microsoft Ajax Library Array.contains() method is created like this: $type.contains = function Array$contains(array, item) { //#if DEBUG var e = Function._validateParams(arguments, [ {name: "array", type: Array, elementMayBeNull: true}, {name: "item", mayBeNull: true} ]); if (e) throw e; //#endif return (indexOf(array, item) >= 0); } Notice that you add each of the preprocessor directives inside a JavaScript comment. The comment prevents Visual Studio from getting confused with its Intellisense. The release version, but not the debug version, of the PopupHelpBehavior script is also minified automatically by the Microsoft Ajax Minifier. The minifier is invoked by a build step in the project file. Conclusion The goal of this blog entry was to explain how you can create custom AJAX Control Toolkit controls. In the first part of this blog entry, you learned how to create the server-side portion of an Ajax Control Toolkit control. You learned how to derive a new control from the ExtenderControlBase class and decorate its properties with the necessary attributes. Next, in the second part of this blog entry, you learned how to create the client-side portion of an Ajax Control Toolkit control by creating a client-side behavior with JavaScript. You learned how to use the methods of the Microsoft Ajax Library to extend your client behavior from the BehaviorBase class. Download the Custom ACT Starter Solution

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jQuery Time Entry with Time Navigation Keys

- by Rick Strahl

So, how do you display time values in your Web applications? Displaying date AND time values in applications is lot less standardized than date display only. While date input has become fairly universal with various date picker controls available, time entry continues to be a bit of a non-standardized. In my own applications I tend to use the jQuery UI DatePicker control for date entries and it works well for that. Here's an example: The date entry portion is well defined and it makes perfect sense to have a calendar pop up so you can pick a date from a rich UI when necessary. However, time values are much less obvious when it comes to displaying a UI or even just making time entries more useful. There are a slew of time picker controls available but other than adding some visual glitz, they are not really making time entry any easier. Part of the reason for this is that time entry is usually pretty simple. Clicking on a dropdown of any sort and selecting a value from a long scrolling list tends to take more user interaction than just typing 5 characters (7 if am/pm is used). Keystrokes can make Time Entry easier Time entry maybe pretty simple, but I find that adding a few hotkeys to handle date navigation can make it much easier. Specifically it'd be nice to have keys to: Jump to the current time (Now) Increase/decrease minutes Increase/decrease hours The timeKeys jQuery PlugIn Some time ago I created a small plugin to handle this scenario. It's non-visual other than tooltip that pops up when you press ? to display the hotkeys that are available: Try it Online The keys loosely follow the ancient Quicken convention of using the first and last letters of what you're increasing decreasing (ie. H to decrease, R to increase hours and + and - for the base unit or minutes here). All navigation happens via the keystrokes shown above, so it's all non-visual, which I think is the most efficient way to deal with dates. To hook up the plug-in, start with the textbox:<input type="text" id="txtTime" name="txtTime" value="12:05 pm" title="press ? for time options" /> Note the title which might be useful to alert people using the field that additional functionality is available. To hook up the plugin code is as simple as:$("#txtTime").timeKeys(); You essentially tie the plugin to any text box control. OptionsThe syntax for timeKeys allows for an options map parameter:$(selector).timeKeys(options); Options are passed as a parameter map object which can have the following properties: timeFormatYou can pass in a format string that allows you to format the date. The default is "hh:mm t" which is US time format that shows a 12 hour clock with am/pm. Alternately you can pass in "HH:mm" which uses 24 hour time. HH, hh, mm and t are translated in the format string - you can arrange the format as you see fit. callbackYou can also specify a callback function that is called when the date value has been set. This allows you to either re-format the date or perform post processing (such as displaying highlight if it's after a certain hour for example). Here's another example that uses both options:$("#txtTime").timeKeys({ timeFormat: "HH:mm", callback: function (time) { showStatus("new time is: " + time.toString() + " " + $(this).val() ); } }); The plugin code itself is fairly simple. It hooks the keydown event and checks for the various keys that affect time navigation which is straight forward. The bulk of the code however deals with parsing the time value and formatting the output using a Time class that implements parsing, formatting and time navigation methods. Here's the code for the timeKeys jQuery plug-in:/// <reference path="jquery.js" /> /// <reference path="ww.jquery.js" /> (function ($) { $.fn.timeKeys = function (options) { /// <summary> /// Attaches a set of hotkeys to time fields /// + Add minute - subtract minute /// H Subtract Hour R Add houR /// ? Show keys /// </summary> /// <param name="options" type="object"> /// Options: /// timeFormat: "hh:mm t" by default HH:mm alternate /// callback: callback handler after time assignment /// </param> /// <example> /// var proxy = new ServiceProxy("JsonStockService.svc/"); /// proxy.invoke("GetStockQuote",{symbol:"msft"},function(quote) { alert(result.LastPrice); },onPageError); ///</example> if (this.length < 1) return this; var opt = { timeFormat: "hh:mm t", callback: null } $.extend(opt, options); return this.keydown(function (e) { var $el = $(this); var time = new Time($el.val()); //alert($(this).val() + " " + time.toString() + " " + time.date.toString()); switch (e.keyCode) { case 78: // [N]ow time = new Time(new Date()); break; case 109: case 189: // - time.addMinutes(-1); break; case 107: case 187: // + time.addMinutes(1); break; case 72: //H time.addHours(-1); break; case 82: //R time.addHours(1); break; case 191: // ? if (e.shiftKey) $(this).tooltip("<b>N</b> Now<br/><b>+</b> add minute<br /><b>-</b> subtract minute<br /><b>H</b> Subtract Hour<br /><b>R</b> add hour", 4000, { isHtml: true }); return false; default: return true; } $el.val(time.toString(opt.timeFormat)); if (opt.callback) { // call async and set context in this element setTimeout(function () { opt.callback.call($el.get(0), time) }, 1); } return false; }); } Time = function (time, format) { /// <summary> /// Time object that can parse and format /// a time values. /// </summary> /// <param name="time" type="object"> /// A time value as a string (12:15pm or 23:01), a Date object /// or time value. /// /// </param> /// <param name="format" type="string"> /// Time format string: /// HH:mm (23:01) /// hh:mm t (11:01 pm) /// </param> /// <example> /// var time = new Time( new Date()); /// time.addHours(5); /// time.addMinutes(10); /// var s = time.toString(); /// /// var time2 = new Time(s); // parse with constructor /// var t = time2.parse("10:15 pm"); // parse with .parse() method /// alert( t.hours + " " + t.mins + " " + t.ampm + " " + t.hours25) ///</example> var _I = this; this.date = new Date(); this.timeFormat = "hh:mm t"; if (format) this.timeFormat = format; this.parse = function (time) { /// <summary> /// Parses time value from a Date object, or string in format of: /// 12:12pm or 23:01 /// </summary> /// <param name="time" type="any"> /// A time value as a string (12:15pm or 23:01), a Date object /// or time value. /// /// </param> if (!time) return null; // Date if (time.getDate) { var t = {}; var d = time; t.hours24 = d.getHours(); t.mins = d.getMinutes(); t.ampm = "am"; if (t.hours24 > 11) { t.ampm = "pm"; if (t.hours24 > 12) t.hours = t.hours24 - 12; } time = t; } if (typeof (time) == "string") { var parts = time.split(":"); if (parts < 2) return null; var time = {}; time.hours = parts[0] * 1; time.hours24 = time.hours; time.mins = parts[1].toLowerCase(); if (time.mins.indexOf("am") > -1) { time.ampm = "am"; time.mins = time.mins.replace("am", ""); if (time.hours == 12) time.hours24 = 0; } else if (time.mins.indexOf("pm") > -1) { time.ampm = "pm"; time.mins = time.mins.replace("pm", ""); if (time.hours < 12) time.hours24 = time.hours + 12; } time.mins = time.mins * 1; } _I.date.setMinutes(time.mins); _I.date.setHours(time.hours24); return time; }; this.addMinutes = function (mins) { /// <summary> /// adds minutes to the internally stored time value. /// </summary> /// <param name="mins" type="number"> /// number of minutes to add to the date /// </param> _I.date.setMinutes(_I.date.getMinutes() + mins); } this.addHours = function (hours) { /// <summary> /// adds hours the internally stored time value. /// </summary> /// <param name="hours" type="number"> /// number of hours to add to the date /// </param> _I.date.setHours(_I.date.getHours() + hours); } this.getTime = function () { /// <summary> /// returns a time structure from the currently /// stored time value. /// Properties: hours, hours24, mins, ampm /// </summary> return new Time(new Date()); h } this.toString = function (format) { /// <summary> /// returns a short time string for the internal date /// formats: 12:12 pm or 23:12 /// </summary> /// <param name="format" type="string"> /// optional format string for date /// HH:mm, hh:mm t /// </param> if (!format) format = _I.timeFormat; var hours = _I.date.getHours(); if (format.indexOf("t") > -1) { if (hours > 11) format = format.replace("t", "pm") else format = format.replace("t", "am") } if (format.indexOf("HH") > -1) format = format.replace("HH", hours.toString().padL(2, "0")); if (format.indexOf("hh") > -1) { if (hours > 12) hours -= 12; if (hours == 0) hours = 12; format = format.replace("hh", hours.toString().padL(2, "0")); } if (format.indexOf("mm") > -1) format = format.replace("mm", _I.date.getMinutes().toString().padL(2, "0")); return format; } // construction if (time) this.time = this.parse(time); } String.prototype.padL = function (width, pad) { if (!width || width < 1) return this; if (!pad) pad = " "; var length = width - this.length if (length < 1) return this.substr(0, width); return (String.repeat(pad, length) + this).substr(0, width); } String.repeat = function (chr, count) { var str = ""; for (var x = 0; x < count; x++) { str += chr }; return str; } })(jQuery); The plugin consists of the actual plugin and the Time class which handles parsing and formatting of the time value via the .parse() and .toString() methods. Code like this always ends up taking up more effort than the actual logic unfortunately. There are libraries out there that can handle this like datejs or even ww.jquery.js (which is what I use) but to keep the code self contained for this post the plugin doesn't rely on external code. There's one optional exception: The code as is has one dependency on ww.jquery.js for the tooltip plugin that provides the small popup for all the hotkeys available. You can replace that code with some other mechanism to display hotkeys or simply remove it since that behavior is optional. While we're at it: A jQuery dateKeys plugIn Although date entry tends to be much better served with drop down calendars to pick dates from, often it's also easier to pick dates using a few simple hotkeys. Navigation that uses + - for days and M and H for MontH navigation, Y and R for YeaR navigation are a quick way to enter dates without having to resort to using a mouse and clicking around to what you want to find. Note that this plugin does have a dependency on ww.jquery.js for the date formatting functionality.$.fn.dateKeys = function (options) { /// <summary> /// Attaches a set of hotkeys to date 'fields' /// + Add day - subtract day /// M Subtract Month H Add montH /// Y Subtract Year R Add yeaR /// ? Show keys /// </summary> /// <param name="options" type="object"> /// Options: /// dateFormat: "MM/dd/yyyy" by default "MMM dd, yyyy /// callback: callback handler after date assignment /// </param> /// <example> /// var proxy = new ServiceProxy("JsonStockService.svc/"); /// proxy.invoke("GetStockQuote",{symbol:"msft"},function(quote) { alert(result.LastPrice); },onPageError); ///</example> if (this.length < 1) return this; var opt = { dateFormat: "MM/dd/yyyy", callback: null }; $.extend(opt, options); return this.keydown(function (e) { var $el = $(this); var d = new Date($el.val()); if (!d) d = new Date(1900, 0, 1, 1, 1); var month = d.getMonth(); var year = d.getFullYear(); var day = d.getDate(); switch (e.keyCode) { case 84: // [T]oday d = new Date(); break; case 109: case 189: d = new Date(year, month, day - 1); break; case 107: case 187: d = new Date(year, month, day + 1); break; case 77: //M d = new Date(year, month - 1, day); break; case 72: //H d = new Date(year, month + 1, day); break; case 191: // ? if (e.shiftKey) $el.tooltip("<b>T</b> Today<br/><b>+</b> add day<br /><b>-</b> subtract day<br /><b>M</b> subtract Month<br /><b>H</b> add montH<br/><b>Y</b> subtract Year<br/><b>R</b> add yeaR", 5000, { isHtml: true }); return false; default: return true; } $el.val(d.formatDate(opt.dateFormat)); if (opt.callback) // call async setTimeout(function () { opt.callback.call($el.get(0),d); }, 10); return false; }); } The logic for this plugin is similar to the timeKeys plugin, but it's a little simpler as it tries to directly parse the date value from a string via new Date(inputString). As mentioned it also uses a helper function from ww.jquery.js to format dates which removes the logic to perform date formatting manually which again reduces the size of the code. And the Key is… I've been using both of these plugins in combination with the jQuery UI datepicker for datetime values and I've found that I rarely actually pop up the date picker any more. It's just so much more efficient to use the hotkeys to navigate dates. It's still nice to have the picker around though - it provides the expected behavior for date entry. For time values however I can't justify the UI overhead of a picker that doesn't make it any easier to pick a time. Most people know how to type in a time value and if they want shortcuts keystrokes easily beat out any pop up UI. Hopefully you'll find this as useful as I have found it for my code. Resources Online Sample Download Sample Project © Rick Strahl, West Wind Technologies, 2005-2011Posted in jQuery HTML Tweet (function() { var po = document.createElement('script'); po.type = 'text/javascript'; po.async = true; po.src = 'https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(po, s); })();

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Using BPEL Performance Statistics to Diagnose Performance Bottlenecks

- by fip

Tuning performance of Oracle SOA 11G applications could be challenging. Because SOA is a platform for you to build composite applications that connect many applications and "services", when the overall performance is slow, the bottlenecks could be anywhere in the system: the applications/services that SOA connects to, the infrastructure database, or the SOA server itself.How to quickly identify the bottleneck becomes crucial in tuning the overall performance. Fortunately, the BPEL engine in Oracle SOA 11G (and 10G, for that matter) collects BPEL Engine Performance Statistics, which show the latencies of low level BPEL engine activities. The BPEL engine performance statistics can make it a bit easier for you to identify the performance bottleneck. Although the BPEL engine performance statistics are always available, the access to and interpretation of them are somewhat obscure in the early and current (PS5) 11G versions. This blog attempts to offer instructions that help you to enable, retrieve and interpret the performance statistics, before the future versions provides a more pleasant user experience. Overview of BPEL Engine Performance Statistics SOA BPEL has a feature of collecting some performance statistics and store them in memory. One MBean attribute, StatLastN, configures the size of the memory buffer to store the statistics. This memory buffer is a "moving window", in a way that old statistics will be flushed out by the new if the amount of data exceeds the buffer size. Since the buffer size is limited by StatLastN, impacts of statistics collection on performance is minimal. By default StatLastN=-1, which means no collection of performance data. Once the statistics are collected in the memory buffer, they can be retrieved via another MBean oracle.as.soainfra.bpel:Location=[Server Name],name=BPELEngine,type=BPELEngine.> My friend in Oracle SOA development wrote this simple 'bpelstat' web app that looks up and retrieves the performance data from the MBean and displays it in a human readable form. It does not have beautiful UI but it is fairly useful. Although in Oracle SOA 11.1.1.5 onwards the same statistics can be viewed via a more elegant UI under "request break down" at EM -> SOA Infrastructure -> Service Engines -> BPEL -> Statistics, some unsophisticated minds like mine may still prefer the simplicity of the 'bpelstat' JSP. One thing that simple JSP does do well is that you can save the page and send it to someone to further analyze Follows are the instructions of how to install and invoke the BPEL statistic JSP. My friend in SOA Development will soon blog about interpreting the statistics. Stay tuned. Step1: Enable BPEL Engine Statistics for Each SOA Servers via Enterprise Manager First st you need to set the StatLastN to some number as a way to enable the collection of BPEL Engine Performance Statistics EM Console -> soa-infra(Server Name) -> SOA Infrastructure -> SOA Administration -> BPEL Properties Click on "More BPEL Configuration Properties" Click on attribute "StatLastN", set its value to some integer number. Typically you want to set it 1000 or more. Step 2: Download and Deploy bpelstat.war File to Admin Server, Note: the WAR file contains a JSP that does NOT have any security restriction. You do NOT want to keep in your production server for a long time as it is a security hazard. Deactivate the war once you are done. Download the bpelstat.war to your local PC At WebLogic Console, Go to Deployments -> Install Click on the "upload your file(s)" Click the "Browse" button to upload the deployment to Admin Server Accept the uploaded file as the path, click next Check the default option "Install this deployment as an application" Check "AdminServer" as the target server Finish the rest of the deployment with default settings Console -> Deployments Check the box next to "bpelstat" application Click on the "Start" button. It will change the state of the app from "prepared" to "active" Step 3: Invoke the BPEL Statistic Tool The BPELStat tool merely call the MBean of BPEL server and collects and display the in-memory performance statics. You usually want to do that after some peak loads. Go to http://<admin-server-host>:<admin-server-port>/bpelstat Enter the correct admin hostname, port, username and password Enter the SOA Server Name from which you want to collect the performance statistics. For example, SOA_MS1, etc. Click Submit Keep doing the same for all SOA servers. Step 3: Interpret the BPEL Engine Statistics You will see a few categories of BPEL Statistics from the JSP Page. First it starts with the overall latency of BPEL processes, grouped by synchronous and asynchronous processes. Then it provides the further break down of the measurements through the life time of a BPEL request, which is called the "request break down". 1. Overall latency of BPEL processes The top of the page shows that the elapse time of executing the synchronous process TestSyncBPELProcess from the composite TestComposite averages at about 1543.21ms, while the elapse time of executing the asynchronous process TestAsyncBPELProcess from the composite TestComposite2 averages at about 1765.43ms. The maximum and minimum latency were also shown. Synchronous process statistics <statistics> <stats key="default/TestComposite!2.0.2-ScopedJMSOSB*soa_bfba2527-a9ba-41a7-95c5-87e49c32f4ff/TestSyncBPELProcess" min="1234" max="4567" average="1543.21" count="1000"> </stats> </statistics> Asynchronous process statistics <statistics> <stats key="default/TestComposite2!2.0.2-ScopedJMSOSB*soa_bfba2527-a9ba-41a7-95c5-87e49c32f4ff/TestAsyncBPELProcess" min="2234" max="3234" average="1765.43" count="1000"> </stats> </statistics> 2. Request break down Under the overall latency categorized by synchronous and asynchronous processes is the "Request breakdown". Organized by statistic keys, the Request breakdown gives finer grain performance statistics through the life time of the BPEL requests.It uses indention to show the hierarchy of the statistics. Request breakdown <statistics> <stats key="eng-composite-request" min="0" max="0" average="0.0" count="0"> <stats key="eng-single-request" min="22" max="606" average="258.43" count="277"> <stats key="populate-context" min="0" max="0" average="0.0" count="248"> Please note that in SOA 11.1.1.6, the statistics under Request breakdown is aggregated together cross all the BPEL processes based on statistic keys. It does not differentiate between BPEL processes. If two BPEL processes happen to have the statistic that share same statistic key, the statistics from two BPEL processes will be aggregated together. Keep this in mind when we go through more details below. 2.1 BPEL process activity latencies A very useful measurement in the Request Breakdown is the performance statistics of the BPEL activities you put in your BPEL processes: Assign, Invoke, Receive, etc. The names of the measurement in the JSP page directly come from the names to assign to each BPEL activity. These measurements are under the statistic key "actual-perform" Example 1: Follows is the measurement for BPEL activity "AssignInvokeCreditProvider_Input", which looks like the Assign activity in a BPEL process that assign an input variable before passing it to the invocation: <stats key="AssignInvokeCreditProvider_Input" min="1" max="8" average="1.9" count="153"> <stats key="sensor-send-activity-data" min="0" max="1" average="0.0" count="306"> </stats> <stats key="sensor-send-variable-data" min="0" max="0" average="0.0" count="153"> </stats> <stats key="monitor-send-activity-data" min="0" max="0" average="0.0" count="306"> </stats> </stats> Note: because as previously mentioned that the statistics cross all BPEL processes are aggregated together based on statistic keys, if two BPEL processes happen to name their Invoke activity the same name, they will show up at one measurement (i.e. statistic key). Example 2: Follows is the measurement of BPEL activity called "InvokeCreditProvider". You can not only see that by average it takes 3.31ms to finish this call (pretty fast) but also you can see from the further break down that most of this 3.31 ms was spent on the "invoke-service". <stats key="InvokeCreditProvider" min="1" max="13" average="3.31" count="153"> <stats key="initiate-correlation-set-again" min="0" max="0" average="0.0" count="153"> </stats> <stats key="invoke-service" min="1" max="13" average="3.08" count="153"> <stats key="prep-call" min="0" max="1" average="0.04" count="153"> </stats> </stats> <stats key="initiate-correlation-set" min="0" max="0" average="0.0" count="153"> </stats> <stats key="sensor-send-activity-data" min="0" max="0" average="0.0" count="306"> </stats> <stats key="sensor-send-variable-data" min="0" max="0" average="0.0" count="153"> </stats> <stats key="monitor-send-activity-data" min="0" max="0" average="0.0" count="306"> </stats> <stats key="update-audit-trail" min="0" max="2" average="0.03" count="153"> </stats> </stats> 2.2 BPEL engine activity latency Another type of measurements under Request breakdown are the latencies of underlying system level engine activities. These activities are not directly tied to a particular BPEL process or process activity, but they are critical factors in the overall engine performance. These activities include the latency of saving asynchronous requests to database, and latency of process dehydration. My friend Malkit Bhasin is working on providing more information on interpreting the statistics on engine activities on his blog (https://blogs.oracle.com/malkit/). I will update this blog once the information becomes available. Update on 2012-10-02: My friend Malkit Bhasin has published the detail interpretation of the BPEL service engine statistics at his blog http://malkit.blogspot.com/2012/09/oracle-bpel-engine-soa-suite.html.

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unrecognized selector sent to instance in xcode using objective c and sup as backend

- by user1765037

I am a beginner in native development.I made a project using xcode in objective C.It builded successfully.But when I run the project ,an error came like 'unrecognized selector sent to instance'.Why this is happening ?can anyone help me to solve this?I am attaching the error that I am getting with this.. And I am posting the code with this.... ConnectionController.m #import "ConnectionController.h" #import "SUPApplication.h" #import "Flight_DetailsFlightDB.h" #import "CallbackHandler.h" @interface ConnectionController() @property (nonatomic,retain)CallbackHandler *callbackhandler; @end @implementation ConnectionController @synthesize callbackhandler; static ConnectionController *appConnectionController; //Begin Application Setup +(void)beginApplicationSetup { if(!appConnectionController) { appConnectionController = [[[ConnectionController alloc]init]retain]; appConnectionController.callbackhandler = [[CallbackHandler getInstance]retain]; } if([SUPApplication connectionStatus] == SUPConnectionStatus_DISCONNECTED) [appConnectionController setupApplicationConnection]; else NSLog(@"Already Connected"); } -(BOOL)setupApplicationConnection { SUPApplication *app = [SUPApplication getInstance]; [app setApplicationIdentifier:@"HWC"]; [app setApplicationCallback:self.callbackhandler]; NSLog(@"inside setupApp"); SUPConnectionProperties *properties = [app connectionProperties]; NSLog(@"server"); [properties setServerName:@"sapecxxx.xxx.com"]; NSLog(@"inside setupAppser"); [properties setPortNumber:5001]; NSLog(@"inside setupApppot"); [properties setFarmId:@"0"]; NSLog(@"inside setupAppfarm"); [properties setUrlSuffix:@"/tm/?cid=%cid%"]; NSLog(@"inside setupAppurlsuff"); [properties setNetworkProtocol:@"http"]; SUPLoginCredentials *loginCred = [SUPLoginCredentials getInstance]; NSLog(@"inside setupAppmac"); [loginCred setUsername:@"mac"]; [loginCred setPassword:nil]; [properties setLoginCredentials:loginCred]; [properties setActivationCode:@"1234"]; if(![Flight_DetailsFlightDB databaseExists]) { [Flight_DetailsFlightDB createDatabase]; } SUPConnectionProfile *connprofile = [Flight_DetailsFlightDB getSynchronizationProfile]; [connprofile setNetworkProtocol:@"http"]; NSLog(@"inside setupAppPort2"); [connprofile setPortNumber:2480]; NSLog(@"inside setupAppser2"); [connprofile setServerName:@"sapecxxx.xxx.com"]; NSLog(@"inside setupAppdom2"); [connprofile setDomainName:@"Development"]; NSLog(@"inside setupAppuser"); [connprofile setUser:@"supAdmin"]; [connprofile setPassword:@"s3pAdmin"]; [connprofile setAsyncReplay:YES]; [connprofile setClientId:@"0"]; // [Flight_DetailsFlightDB beginOnlineLogin:@"supAdmin" password:@"s3pAdmin"]; [Flight_DetailsFlightDB registerCallbackHandler:self.callbackhandler]; [Flight_DetailsFlightDB setApplication:app]; if([SUPApplication connectionStatus] == SUPRegistrationStatus_REGISTERED) { [app startConnection:0]; } else { [app registerApplication:0]; } } @end ViewController.m #import "Demo_FlightsViewController.h" #import "ConnectionController.h" #import "Flight_DetailsFlightDB.h" #import "SUPObjectList.h" #import "Flight_DetailsSessionPersonalization.h" #import "Flight_DetailsFlight_MBO.h" #import "Flight_DetailsPersonalizationParameters.h" @interface Demo_FlightsViewController () @end @implementation Demo_FlightsViewController - (void)viewDidLoad { [super viewDidLoad]; // Do any additional setup after loading the view, typically from a nib. } -(IBAction)Connect:(id)sender { @try { [ConnectionController beginApplicationSetup]; } @catch (NSException *exception) { NSLog(@"ConnectionAborted"); } // synchronise } -(IBAction)Synchronise:(id)sender { @try { [Flight_DetailsFlightDB synchronize]; NSLog(@"SYNCHRONISED"); } @catch (NSException *exception) { NSLog(@"Synchronisation Failed"); } } -(IBAction)findall:(id)sender { SUPObjectList *list = [Flight_DetailsSessionPersonalization findAll]; NSLog(@"no of lines got synchronised is %d",list.size); } -(IBAction)confirm:(id)sender { Flight_DetailsPersonalizationParameters *pp = [Flight_DetailsFlightDB getPersonalizationParameters]; MBOLogInfo(@"personalisation parmeter for airline id= %@",pp.Airline_PK); [pp setAirline_PK:@"AA"]; [pp save]; while([Flight_DetailsFlightDB hasPendingOperations]) { [NSThread sleepForTimeInterval:1]; } NSLog(@"inside confirm............"); [Flight_DetailsFlightDB beginSynchronize]; Flight_DetailsFlight_MBO *flight = nil; SUPObjectList *cl = nil; cl =[Flight_DetailsFlight_MBO findAll]; if(cl && cl.length > 0) { int i; for(i=0;i<cl.length;i++) { flight = [cl item:i]; if(flight) { NSLog(@"details are %@",flight.CITYFROM); } } } } - (void)viewDidUnload { [super viewDidUnload]; // Release any retained subviews of the main view. } - (BOOL)shouldAutorotateToInterfaceOrientation:(UIInterfaceOrientation)interfaceOrientation { return (interfaceOrientation != UIInterfaceOrientationPortraitUpsideDown); } @end SUPConnectionProfile.h #import "sybase_sup.h" #define FROM_IMPORT_THREAD TRUE #define FROM_APP_THREAD FALSE #define SUP_UL_MAX_CACHE_SIZE 10485760 @class SUPBooleanUtil; @class SUPNumberUtil; @class SUPStringList; @class SUPStringUtil; @class SUPPersistenceException; @class SUPLoginCertificate; @class SUPLoginCredentials; @class SUPConnectionProfile; /*! @class SUPConnectionProfile @abstract This class contains fields and methods needed to connect and authenticate to an SUP server. @discussion */ @interface SUPConnectionProfile : NSObject { SUPConnectionProfile* _syncProfile; SUPBoolean _threadLocal; SUPString _wrapperData; NSMutableDictionary* _delegate; SUPLoginCertificate* _certificate; SUPLoginCredentials* _credentials; int32_t _maxDbConnections; BOOL initTraceCalled; } /*! @method @abstract Return a new instance of SUPConnectionProfile. @discussion @result The SUPconnectionprofile object. */ + (SUPConnectionProfile*)getInstance; /*! @method @abstract Return a new instance of SUPConnectionProfile. @discussion This method is deprecated. use getInstance instead. @result The SUPconnectionprofile object. */ + (SUPConnectionProfile*)newInstance DEPRECATED_ATTRIBUTE NS_RETURNS_NON_RETAINED; - (SUPConnectionProfile*)init; /*! @property @abstract The sync profile. @discussion */ @property(readwrite, retain, nonatomic) SUPConnectionProfile* syncProfile; /*! @property @abstract The maximum number of active DB connections allowed @discussion Default value is 4, but can be changed by application developer. */ @property(readwrite, assign, nonatomic) int32_t maxDbConnections; /*! @method @abstract The SUPConnectionProfile manages an internal dictionary of key value pairs. This method returns the SUPString value for a given string. @discussion @param name The string. */ - (SUPString)getString:(SUPString)name; /*! @method @abstract The SUPConnectionProfile manages an internal dictionary of key value pairs. This method returns the SUPString value for a given string. If the value is not found, returns 'defaultValue'. @discussion @param name The string. @param defaultValue The default Value. */ - (SUPString)getStringWithDefault:(SUPString)name:(SUPString)defaultValue; /*! @method @abstract The SUPConnectionProfile manages an internal dictionary of key value pairs. This method returns the SUPBoolean value for a given string. @discussion @param name The string. */ - (SUPBoolean)getBoolean:(SUPString)name; /*! @method @abstract The SUPConnectionProfile manages an internal dictionary of key value pairs. This method returns the SUPBoolean value for a given string. If the value is not found, returns 'defaultValue'. @discussion @param name The string. @param defaultValue The default Value. */ - (SUPBoolean)getBooleanWithDefault:(SUPString)name:(SUPBoolean)defaultValue; /*! @method @abstract The SUPConnectionProfile manages an internal dictionary of key value pairs. This method returns the SUPInt value for a given string. @discussion @param name The string. */ - (SUPInt)getInt:(SUPString)name; /*! @method @abstract The SUPConnectionProfile manages an internal dictionary of key value pairs. This method returns the SUPInt value for a given string. If the value is not found, returns 'defaultValue'. @discussion @param name The string. @param defaultValue The default Value. */ - (SUPInt)getIntWithDefault:(SUPString)name:(SUPInt)defaultValue; /*! @method getUPA @abstract retrieve upa from profile @discussion if it is in profile's dictionary, it returns value for key "upa"; if it is not found in profile, it composes the upa value from base64 encoding of username:password; and also inserts it into profile's dictionary. @param none @result return string value of upa. */ - (SUPString)getUPA; /*! @method @abstract Sets the SUPString 'value' for the given 'name'. @discussion @param name The name. @param value The value. */ - (void)setString:(SUPString)name:(SUPString)value; /*! @method @abstract Sets the SUPBoolean 'value' for the given 'name'. @discussion @param name The name. @param value The value. */ - (void)setBoolean:(SUPString)name:(SUPBoolean)value; /*! @method @abstract Sets the SUPInt 'value' for the given 'name'. @discussion @param name The name. @param value The value. */ - (void)setInt:(SUPString)name:(SUPInt)value; /*! @method @abstract Sets the username. @discussion @param value The value. */ - (void)setUser:(SUPString)value; /*! @method @abstract Sets the password. @discussion @param value The value. */ - (void)setPassword:(SUPString)value; /*! @method @abstract Sets the ClientId. @discussion @param value The value. */ - (void)setClientId:(SUPString)value; /*! @method @abstract Returns the databasename. @discussion @param value The value. */ - (SUPString)databaseName; /*! @method @abstract Sets the databasename. @discussion @param value The value. */ - (void)setDatabaseName:(SUPString)value; @property(readwrite,copy, nonatomic) SUPString databaseName; /*! @method @abstract Gets the encryption key. @discussion @result The encryption key. */ - (SUPString)getEncryptionKey; /*! @method @abstract Sets the encryption key. @discussion @param value The value. */ - (void)setEncryptionKey:(SUPString)value; @property(readwrite,copy, nonatomic) SUPString encryptionKey; /*! @property @abstract The authentication credentials (username/password or certificate) for this profile. @discussion */ @property(retain,readwrite,nonatomic) SUPLoginCredentials *credentials; /*! @property @abstract The authentication certificate. @discussion If this is not null, certificate will be used for authentication. If this is null, credentials property (username/password) will be used. */ @property(readwrite,retain,nonatomic) SUPLoginCertificate *certificate; @property(readwrite, assign, nonatomic) BOOL initTraceCalled; /*! @method @abstract Gets the UltraLite collation creation parameter @discussion @result conllation string */ - (SUPString)getCollation; /*! @method @abstract Sets the UltraLite collation creation parameter @discussion @param value The value. */ - (void)setCollation:(SUPString)value; @property(readwrite,copy, nonatomic) SUPString collation; /*! @method @abstract Gets the maximum cache size in bytes; the default value for iOS is 10485760 (10 MB). @discussion @result max cache size */ - (int)getCacheSize; /*! @method @abstract Sets the maximum cache size in bytes. @discussion For Ultralite, passes the cache_max_size property into the connection parameters for DB connections; For SQLite, executes the "PRAGMA cache_size" statement when a connection is opened. @param cacheSize value */ - (void)setCacheSize:(int)cacheSize; @property(readwrite,assign, nonatomic) int cacheSize; /*! @method @abstract Returns the user. @discussion @result The username. */ - (SUPString)getUser; /*! @method @abstract Returns the password hash value. @discussion @result The password hash value. */ - (NSUInteger)getPasswordHash; /*! @method @abstract Returns the password. @discussion @result The password hash value. */ - (NSString*)getPassword; /*! @method @abstract Adds a new key value pair. @discussion @param key The key. @param value The value. */ - (void)add:(SUPString)key:(SUPString)value; /*! @method @abstract Removes the key. @discussion @param key The key to remove. */ - (void)remove:(SUPString)key; - (void)clear; /*! @method @abstract Returns a boolean indicating if the key is present. @discussion @param key The key. @result The result indicating if the key is present. */ - (SUPBoolean)containsKey:(SUPString)key; /*! @method @abstract Returns the item for the given key. @discussion @param key The key. @result The item. */ - (SUPString)item:(SUPString)key; /*! @method @abstract Returns the list of keys. @discussion @result The keylist. */ - (SUPStringList*)keys; /*! @method @abstract Returns the list of values. @discussion @result The value list. */ - (SUPStringList*)values; /*! @method @abstract Returns the internal map of key value pairs. @discussion @result The NSMutableDictionary with key value pairs. */ - (NSMutableDictionary*)internalMap; /*! @method @abstract Returns the domain name. @result The domain name. @discussion */ - (SUPString)getDomainName; /*! @method @abstract Sets the domain name. @param value The domain name. @discussion */ - (void)setDomainName:(SUPString)value; /*! @method @abstract Get async operation replay property. Default is true. @result YES : if ansync operation replay is enabled; NO: if async operation is disabled. @discussion */ - (BOOL) getAsyncReplay; /*! @method @abstract Set async operation replay property. Default is true. @result value: enable/disable async replay operation. @discussion */ - (void) setAsyncReplay:(BOOL) value; /*! @method @abstract enable or disable the trace in client object API. @param enable - YES: enable the trace; NO: disable the trace. @discussion */ - (void)enableTrace:(BOOL)enable; /*! @method @abstract enable or disable the trace with payload info in client object API. @param enable - YES: enable the trace; NO: disable the trace. @param withPayload = YES: show payload information; NO: not show payload information. @discussion */ - (void)enableTrace:(BOOL)enable withPayload:(BOOL)withPayload; /*! @method @abstract initialize trace levels from server configuration. @discussion */ - (void)initTrace; - (void)dealloc; /* ultralite/mobilink required parameters */ - (SUPString)getNetworkProtocol; - (void)setNetworkProtocol:(SUPString)protocol; - (SUPString)getNetworkStreamParams; - (void)setNetworkStreamParams:(SUPString)stream; - (SUPString)getServerName; - (void)setServerName:(SUPString)name; - (int)getPortNumber; - (void)setPortNumber:(int)port; - (int)getPageSize; - (void)setPageSize:(int)size; @end @interface SUPConnectionProfile(internal) - (void)applyPropertiesFromApplication; @end We are using SUP 2.1.3 library files.Please go through the code and help me...

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Modify PHP Search Script to Handle Multiple Entries For a Single Input

- by Thomas

I need to modify a php search script so that it can handle multiple entries for a single field. The search engine is designed for a real estate website. The current search form allows users to search for houses by selecting a single neighborhood from a dropdown menu. Instead of a dropdown menu, I would like to use a list of checkboxes so that the the user can search for houses in multiple neighborhoods at one time. I have converted all of the dropdown menu items into checkboxes on the HTML side but the PHP script only searches for houses in the last checkbox selected. For example, if I selected: 'Dallas' 'Boston' 'New York' the search engine will only search for houses in New York. Im new to PHP, so I am a little at a loss as to how to modify this script to handle the behavior I have described: <?php require_once(dirname(__FILE__).'/extra_search_fields.php'); //Add Widget for configurable search. add_action('plugins_loaded',array('DB_CustomSearch_Widget','init')); class DB_CustomSearch_Widget extends DB_Search_Widget { function DB_CustomSearch_Widget($params=array()){ DB_CustomSearch_Widget::__construct($params); } function __construct($params=array()){ $this->loadTranslations(); parent::__construct(__('Custom Fields ','wp-custom-fields-search'),$params); add_action('admin_print_scripts', array(&$this,'print_admin_scripts'), 90); add_action('admin_menu', array(&$this,'plugin_menu'), 90); add_filter('the_content', array(&$this,'process_tag'),9); add_shortcode( 'wp-custom-fields-search', array(&$this,'process_shortcode') ); wp_enqueue_script('jquery'); if(version_compare("2.7",$GLOBALS['wp_version'])>0) wp_enqueue_script('dimensions'); } function init(){ global $CustomSearchFieldStatic; $CustomSearchFieldStatic['Object'] = new DB_CustomSearch_Widget(); $CustomSearchFieldStatic['Object']->ensureUpToDate(); } function currentVersion(){ return "0.3.16"; } function ensureUpToDate(){ $version = $this->getConfig('version'); $latest = $this->currentVersion(); if($version<$latest) $this->upgrade($version,$latest); } function upgrade($current,$target){ $options = $this->getConfig(); if(version_compare($current,"0.3")<0){ $config = $this->getDefaultConfig(); $config['name'] = __('Default Preset','wp-custom-fields-search'); $options['preset-default'] = $config; } $options['version']=$target; update_option($this->id,$options); } function getInputs($params = false,$visitedPresets=array()){ if(is_array($params)){ $id = $params['widget_id']; } else { $id = $params; } if($visitedPresets[$id]) return array(); $visitedPresets[$id]=true; global $CustomSearchFieldStatic; if(!$CustomSearchFieldStatic['Inputs'][$id]){ $config = $this->getConfig($id); $inputs = array(); if($config['preset']) $inputs = $this->getInputs($config['preset'],$visitedPresets); $nonFields = $this->getNonInputFields(); if($config) foreach($config as $k=>$v){ if(in_array($k,$nonFields)) continue; if(!(class_exists($v['input']) && class_exists($v['comparison']) && class_exists($v['joiner']))) { continue; } $inputs[] = new CustomSearchField($v); } foreach($inputs as $k=>$v){ $inputs[$k]->setIndex($k); } $CustomSearchFieldStatic['Inputs'][$id]=$inputs; } return $CustomSearchFieldStatic['Inputs'][$id]; } function getTitle($params){ $config = $this->getConfig($params['widget_id']); return $config['name']; } function form_processPost($post,$old){ unset($post['###TEMPLATE_ID###']); if(!$post) $post=array('exists'=>1); return $post; } function getDefaultConfig(){ return array('name'=>'Site Search', 1=>array( 'label'=>__('Key Words','wp-custom-fields-search'), 'input'=>'TextField', 'comparison'=>'WordsLikeComparison', 'joiner'=>'PostDataJoiner', 'name'=>'all' ), 2=>array( 'label'=>__('Category','wp-custom-fields-search'), 'input'=>'DropDownField', 'comparison'=>'EqualComparison', 'joiner'=>'CategoryJoiner' ), ); } function form_outputForm($values,$pref){ $defaults=$this->getDefaultConfig(); $prefId = preg_replace('/^.*\[([^]]*)\]$/','\\1',$pref); $this->form_existsInput($pref); $rand = rand(); ?> <div id='config-template-<?php echo $prefId?>' style='display: none;'> <?php $templateDefaults = $defaults[1]; $templateDefaults['label'] = 'Field ###TEMPLATE_ID###'; echo $this->singleFieldHTML($pref,'###TEMPLATE_ID###',$templateDefaults); ?> </div> <?php foreach($this->getClasses('input') as $class=>$desc) { if(class_exists($class)) $form = new $class(); else $form = false; if(compat_method_exists($form,'getConfigForm')){ if($form = $form->getConfigForm($pref.'[###TEMPLATE_ID###]',array('name'=>'###TEMPLATE_NAME###'))){ ?> <div id='config-input-templates-<?php echo $class?>-<?php echo $prefId?>' style='display: none;'> <?php echo $form?> </div> <?php } } } ?> <div id='config-form-<?php echo $prefId?>'> <?php if(!$values) $values = $defaults; $maxId=0; $presets = $this->getPresets(); array_unshift($presets,__('NONE','wp-custom-fields-search')); ?> <div class='searchform-name-wrapper'><label for='<?php echo $prefId?>[name]'><?php echo __('Search Title','wp-custom-fields-search')?></label><input type='text' class='form-title-input' id='<?php echo $prefId?>[name]' name='<?php echo $pref?>[name]' value='<?php echo $values['name']?>'/></div> <div class='searchform-preset-wrapper'><label for='<?php echo $prefId?>[preset]'><?php echo __('Use Preset','wp-custom-fields-search')?></label> <?php $dd = new AdminDropDown($pref."[preset]",$values['preset'],$presets); echo $dd->getInput()."</div>"; $nonFields = $this->getNonInputFields(); foreach($values as $id => $val){ $maxId = max($id,$maxId); if(in_array($id,$nonFields)) continue; echo "<div id='config-form-$prefId-$id'>".$this->singleFieldHTML($pref,$id,$val)."</div>"; } ?> </div> <br/><a href='#' onClick="return CustomSearch.get('<?php echo $prefId?>').add();"><?php echo __('Add Field','wp-custom-fields-search')?></a> <script type='text/javascript'> CustomSearch.create('<?php echo $prefId?>','<?php echo $maxId?>'); <?php foreach($this->getClasses('joiner') as $joinerClass=>$desc){ if(compat_method_exists($joinerClass,'getSuggestedFields')){ $options = eval("return $joinerClass::getSuggestedFields();"); $str = ''; foreach($options as $i=>$v){ $k=$i; if(is_numeric($k)) $k=$v; $options[$i] = json_encode(array('id'=>$k,'name'=>$v)); } $str = '['.join(',',$options).']'; echo "CustomSearch.setOptionsFor('$joinerClass',".$str.");\n"; }elseif(eval("return $joinerClass::needsField();")){ echo "CustomSearch.setOptionsFor('$joinerClass',[]);\n"; } } ?> </script> <?php } function getNonInputFields(){ return array('exists','name','preset','version'); } function singleFieldHTML($pref,$id,$values){ $prefId = preg_replace('/^.*\[([^]]*)\]$/','\\1',$pref); $pref = $pref."[$id]"; $htmlId = $pref."[exists]"; $output = "<input type='hidden' name='$htmlId' value='1'/>"; $titles="<th>".__('Label','wp-custom-fields-search')."</th>"; $inputs="<td><input type='text' name='$pref"."[label]' value='$values[label]' class='form-field-title'/></td><td><a href='#' onClick='return CustomSearch.get(\"$prefId\").toggleOptions(\"$id\");'>".__('Show/Hide Config','wp-custom-fields-search')."</a></td>"; $output.="<table class='form-field-table'><tr>$titles</tr><tr>$inputs</tr></table>"; $output.="<div id='form-field-advancedoptions-$prefId-$id' style='display: none'>"; $inputs='';$titles=''; $titles="<th>".__('Data Field','wp-custom-fields-search')."</th>"; $inputs="<td><div id='form-field-dbname-$prefId-$id' class='form-field-title-div'><input type='text' name='$pref"."[name]' value='$values[name]' class='form-field-title'/></div></td>"; $count=1; foreach(array('joiner'=>__('Data Type','wp-custom-fields-search'),'comparison'=>__('Compare','wp-custom-fields-search'),'input'=>__('Widget','wp-custom-fields-search')) as $k=>$v){ $dd = new AdminDropDown($pref."[$k]",$values[$k],$this->getClasses($k),array('onChange'=>'CustomSearch.get("'.$prefId.'").updateOptions("'.$id.'","'.$k.'")','css_class'=>"wpcfs-$k")); $titles="<th>".$v."</th>".$titles; $inputs="<td>".$dd->getInput()."</td>".$inputs; if(++$count==2){ $output.="<table class='form-field-table form-class-$k'><tr>$titles</tr><tr>$inputs</tr></table>"; $count=0; $inputs = $titles=''; } } if($titles){ $output.="<table class='form-field-table'><tr>$titles</tr><tr>$inputs</tr></table>"; $inputs = $titles=''; } $titles.="<th>".__('Numeric','wp-custom-fields-search')."</th><th>".__('Widget Config','wp-custom-fields-search')."</th>"; $inputs.="<td><input type='checkbox' ".($values['numeric']?"checked='true'":"")." name='$pref"."[numeric]'/></td>"; if(class_exists($widgetClass = $values['input'])){ $widget = new $widgetClass(); if(compat_method_exists($widget,'getConfigForm')) $widgetConfig=$widget->getConfigForm($pref,$values); } $inputs.="<td><div id='$this->id"."-$prefId"."-$id"."-widget-config'>$widgetConfig</div></td>"; $output.="<table class='form-field-table'><tr>$titles</tr><tr>$inputs</tr></table>"; $output.="</div>"; $output.="<a href='#' onClick=\"return CustomSearch.get('$prefId').remove('$id');\">Remove Field</a>"; return "<div class='field-wrapper'>$output</div>"; } function getRootURL(){ return WP_CONTENT_URL .'/plugins/' . dirname(plugin_basename(__FILE__) ) . '/'; } function print_admin_scripts($params){ $jsRoot = $this->getRootURL().'js'; $cssRoot = $this->getRootURL().'css'; $scripts = array('Class.js','CustomSearch.js','flexbox/jquery.flexbox.js'); foreach($scripts as $file){ echo "<script src='$jsRoot/$file' ></script>"; } echo "<link rel='stylesheet' href='$cssRoot/admin.css' >"; echo "<link rel='stylesheet' href='$jsRoot/flexbox/jquery.flexbox.css' >"; } function getJoiners(){ return $this->getClasses('joiner'); } function getComparisons(){ return $this->getClasses('comparison'); } function getInputTypes(){ return $this->getClasses('input'); } function getClasses($type){ global $CustomSearchFieldStatic; if(!$CustomSearchFieldStatic['Types']){ $CustomSearchFieldStatic['Types'] = array( "joiner"=>array( "PostDataJoiner" =>__( "Post Field",'wp-custom-fields-search'), "CustomFieldJoiner" =>__( "Custom Field",'wp-custom-fields-search'), "CategoryJoiner" =>__( "Category",'wp-custom-fields-search'), "TagJoiner" =>__( "Tag",'wp-custom-fields-search'), "PostTypeJoiner" =>__( "Post Type",'wp-custom-fields-search'), ), "input"=>array( "TextField" =>__( "Text Input",'wp-custom-fields-search'), "DropDownField" =>__( "Drop Down",'wp-custom-fields-search'), "RadioButtonField" =>__( "Radio Button",'wp-custom-fields-search'), "HiddenField" =>__( "Hidden Constant",'wp-custom-fields-search'), ), "comparison"=>array( "EqualComparison" =>__( "Equals",'wp-custom-fields-search'), "LikeComparison" =>__( "Phrase In",'wp-custom-fields-search'), "WordsLikeComparison" =>__( "Words In",'wp-custom-fields-search'), "LessThanComparison" =>__( "Less Than",'wp-custom-fields-search'), "MoreThanComparison" =>__( "More Than",'wp-custom-fields-search'), "AtMostComparison" =>__( "At Most",'wp-custom-fields-search'), "AtLeastComparison" =>__( "At Least",'wp-custom-fields-search'), "RangeComparison" =>__( "Range",'wp-custom-fields-search'), //TODO: Make this work... // "NotEqualComparison" =>__( "Not Equal To",'wp-custom-fields-search'), ) ); $CustomSearchFieldStatic['Types'] = apply_filters('custom_search_get_classes',$CustomSearchFieldStatic['Types']); } return $CustomSearchFieldStatic['Types'][$type]; } function plugin_menu(){ add_options_page('Form Presets','WP Custom Fields Search',8,__FILE__,array(&$this,'presets_form')); } function getPresets(){ $presets = array(); foreach(array_keys($config = $this->getConfig()) as $key){ if(strpos($key,'preset-')===0) { $presets[$key] = $key; if($name = $config[$key]['name']) $presets[$key]=$name; } } return $presets; } function presets_form(){ $presets=$this->getPresets(); if(!$preset = $_REQUEST['selected-preset']){ $preset = 'preset-default'; } if(!$presets[$preset]){ $defaults = $this->getDefaultConfig(); $options = $this->getConfig(); $options[$preset] = $defaults; if($n = $_POST[$this->id][$preset]['name']) $options[$preset]['name'] = $n; elseif($preset=='preset-default') $options[$preset]['name'] = 'Default'; else{ list($junk,$id) = explode("-",$preset); $options[$preset]['name'] = 'New Preset '.$id; } update_option($this->id,$options); $presets[$preset] = $options[$preset]['name']; } if($_POST['delete']){ check_admin_referer($this->id.'-editpreset-'.$preset); $options = $this->getConfig(); unset($options[$preset]); unset($presets[$preset]); update_option($this->id,$options); list($preset,$name) = each($presets); } $index = 1; while($presets["preset-$index"]) $index++; $presets["preset-$index"] = __('New Preset','wp-custom-fields-search'); $linkBase = $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']; $linkBase = preg_replace("/&?selected-preset=[^&]*(&|$)/",'',$linkBase); foreach($presets as $key=>$name){ $config = $this->getConfig($key); if($config && $config['name']) $name=$config['name']; if(($n = $_POST[$this->id][$key]['name'])&&(!$_POST['delete'])) $name = $n; $presets[$key]=$name; } $plugin=&$this; ob_start(); wp_nonce_field($this->id.'-editpreset-'.$preset); $hidden = ob_get_contents(); $hidden.="<input type='hidden' name='selected-preset' value='$preset'>"; $shouldSave = $_POST['selected-preset'] && !$_POST['delete'] && check_admin_referer($this->id.'-editpreset-'.$preset); ob_end_clean(); include(dirname(__FILE__).'/templates/options.php'); } function process_tag($content){ $regex = '/\[\s*wp-custom-fields-search\s+(?:([^\]=]+(?:\s+.*)?))?\]/'; return preg_replace_callback($regex, array(&$this, 'generate_from_tag'), $content); } function process_shortcode($atts,$content){ return $this->generate_from_tag(array("",$atts['preset'])); } function generate_from_tag($reMatches){ global $CustomSearchFieldStatic; ob_start(); $preset=$reMatches[1]; if(!$preset) $preset = 'default'; wp_custom_fields_search($preset); $form = ob_get_contents(); ob_end_clean(); return $form; } } global $CustomSearchFieldStatic; $CustomSearchFieldStatic['Inputs'] = array(); $CustomSearchFieldStatic['Types'] = array(); class AdminDropDown extends DropDownField { function AdminDropDown($name,$value,$options,$params=array()){ AdminDropDown::__construct($name,$value,$options,$params); } function __construct($name,$value,$options,$params=array()){ $params['options'] = $options; $params['id'] = $params['name']; parent::__construct($params); $this->name = $name; $this->value = $value; } function getHTMLName(){ return $this->name; } function getValue(){ return $this->value; } function getInput(){ return parent::getInput($this->name,null); } } if (!function_exists('json_encode')) { function json_encode($a=false) { if (is_null($a)) return 'null'; if ($a === false) return 'false'; if ($a === true) return 'true'; if (is_scalar($a)) { if (is_float($a)) { // Always use "." for floats. return floatval(str_replace(",", ".", strval($a))); } if (is_string($a)) { static $jsonReplaces = array(array("\\", "/", "\n", "\t", "\r", "\b", "\f", '"'), array('\\\\', '\\/', '\\n', '\\t', '\\r', '\\b', '\\f', '\"')); return '"' . str_replace($jsonReplaces[0], $jsonReplaces[1], $a) . '"'; } else return $a; } $isList = true; for ($i = 0, reset($a); $i < count($a); $i++, next($a)) { if (key($a) !== $i) { $isList = false; break; } } $result = array(); if ($isList) { foreach ($a as $v) $result[] = json_encode($v); return '[' . join(',', $result) . ']'; } else { foreach ($a as $k => $v) $result[] = json_encode($k).':'.json_encode($v); return '{' . join(',', $result) . '}'; } } } function wp_custom_fields_search($presetName='default'){ global $CustomSearchFieldStatic; if(strpos($presetName,'preset-')!==0) $presetName="preset-$presetName"; $CustomSearchFieldStatic['Object']->renderWidget(array('widget_id'=>$presetName,'noTitle'=>true),array('number'=>$presetName)); } function compat_method_exists($class,$method){ return method_exists($class,$method) || in_array(strtolower($method),get_class_methods($class)); }

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How to obtain a random sub-datatable from another data table

- by developerit

Introduction In this article, I’ll show how to get a random subset of data from a DataTable. This is useful when you already have queries that are filtered correctly but returns all the rows. Analysis I came across this situation when I wanted to display a random tag cloud. I already had the query to get the keywords ordered by number of clicks and I wanted to created a tag cloud. Tags that are the most popular should have more chance to get picked and should be displayed larger than less popular ones. Implementation In this code snippet, there is everything you need. ' Min size, in pixel for the tag Private Const MIN_FONT_SIZE As Integer = 9 ' Max size, in pixel for the tag Private Const MAX_FONT_SIZE As Integer = 14 ' Basic function that retreives Tags from a DataBase Public Shared Function GetTags() As MediasTagsDataTable ' Simple call to the TableAdapter, to get the Tags ordered by number of clicks Dim dt As MediasTagsDataTable = taMediasTags.GetDataValide ' If the query returned no result, return an empty DataTable If dt Is Nothing OrElse dt.Rows.Count < 1 Then Return New MediasTagsDataTable End If ' Set the font-size of the group of data ' We are dividing our results into sub set, according to their number of clicks ' Example: 10 results -> [0,2] will get font size 9, [3,5] will get font size 10, [6,8] wil get 11, ... ' This is the number of elements in one group Dim groupLenth As Integer = CType(Math.Floor(dt.Rows.Count / (MAX_FONT_SIZE - MIN_FONT_SIZE)), Integer) ' Counter of elements in the same group Dim counter As Integer = 0 ' Counter of groups Dim groupCounter As Integer = 0 ' Loop througt the list For Each row As MediasTagsRow In dt ' Set the font-size in a custom column row.c_FontSize = MIN_FONT_SIZE + groupCounter ' Increment the counter counter += 1 ' If the group counter is less than the counter If groupLenth <= counter Then ' Start a new group counter = 0 groupCounter += 1 End If Next ' Return the new DataTable with font-size Return dt End Function ' Function that generate the random sub set Public Shared Function GetRandomSampleTags(ByVal KeyCount As Integer) As MediasTagsDataTable ' Get the data Dim dt As MediasTagsDataTable = GetTags() ' Create a new DataTable that will contains the random set Dim rep As MediasTagsDataTable = New MediasTagsDataTable ' Count the number of row in the new DataTable Dim count As Integer = 0 ' Random number generator Dim rand As New Random() While count < KeyCount Randomize() ' Pick a random row Dim r As Integer = rand.Next(0, dt.Rows.Count - 1) Dim tmpRow As MediasTagsRow = dt(r) ' Import it into the new DataTable rep.ImportRow(tmpRow) ' Remove it from the old one, to be sure not to pick it again dt.Rows.RemoveAt(r) ' Increment the counter count += 1 End While ' Return the new sub set Return rep End Function Pro’s This method is good because it doesn’t require much work to get it work fast. It is a good concept when you are working with small tables, let says less than 100 records. Con’s If you have more than 100 records, out of memory exception may occur since we are coping and duplicating rows. I would consider using a stored procedure instead.

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Apache2 configuration error: "<VirtualHost> was not closed" error

- by Chris

So I've already checked through my config file and I really can't see an instance where any tag hasn't been properly closed...but I keep getting this configuration error...Would you mind taking a look through the error and the config file below? Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. FYI, I've already googled the life out of the error and looked through the log extensively, I really can't find anything. Error: apache2: Syntax error on line 236 of /etc/apache2/apache2.conf: syntax error on line 1 of /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/000-default: /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/000-default:1: was not closed. Line 236 of apache2.conf: # Include the virtual host configurations: Include /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/ Contents of 000-default: <VirtualHost *:80> ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost DocumentRoot /var/www <Directory /> Options FollowSymLinks AllowOverride None </Directory> <Directory /var/www/> Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews AllowOverride None Order allow,deny allow from all </Directory> ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ /usr/lib/cgi-bin/ <Directory "/usr/lib/cgi-bin"> AllowOverride None Options +ExecCGI -MultiViews +SymLinksIfOwnerMatch Order allow,deny Allow from all </Directory> ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/error.log # Possible values include: debug, info, notice, warn, error, crit, # alert, emerg. LogLevel warn CustomLog /var/log/apache2/access.log combined Alias /doc/ "/usr/share/doc/" <Directory "/usr/share/doc/"> Options Indexes MultiViews FollowSymLinks AllowOverride None Order deny,allow Deny from all Allow from 127.0.0.0/255.0.0.0 ::1/128 </Directory> </VirtualHost> <VirtualHost *:443> SetEnvIf Request_URI "^/u" dontlog ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/error.log Loglevel warn SSLEngine On SSLCertificateFile /etc/apache2/ssl/apache.pem ProxyRequests Off <Proxy *> AuthUserFile /srv/ajaxterm/.htpasswd AuthName EnterPassword AuthType Basic require valid-user Order Deny,allow Allow from all </Proxy> ProxyPass / http://localhost:8022/ ProxyPassReverse / http://localhost:8022/ </VirtualHost> UPDATE I had a load of other issues with my install so I wound up just wiping it and reinstalling. If I run into the same problem, I'll repost. Everyone, thanks for your help/suggestions.

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Solution: Testing Web Services with MSTest on Team Build

- by Martin Hinshelwood

Guess what. About 20 minutes after I fixed the build, Allan broke it again! Update: 4th March 2010 – After having huge problems getting this working I read Billy Wang’s post which showed me the light. The problem here is that even though the test passes locally it will not during an Automated Build. When you send your tests to the build server it does not understand that you want to spin up the web site and run tests against that! When you run the test in Visual Studio it spins up the web site anyway, but would you expect your test to pass if you told the website not to spin up? Of course not. So, when you send the code to the build server you need to tell it what to spin up. First, the best way to get the parameters you need is to right click on the method you want to test and select “Create Unit Test”. This will detect wither you are running in IIS or ASP.NET Development Server or None, and create the relevant tags. Figure: Right clicking on “SaveDefaultProjectFile” will produce a context menu with “Create Unit tests…” on it. If you use this option it will AutoDetect most of the Attributes that are required. /// <summary> ///A test for SSW.SQLDeploy.SilverlightUI.Web.Services.IProfileService.SaveDefaultProjectFile ///</summary> // TODO: Ensure that the UrlToTest attribute specifies a URL to an ASP.NET page (for example, // http://.../Default.aspx). This is necessary for the unit test to be executed on the web server, // whether you are testing a page, web service, or a WCF service. [TestMethod()] [HostType("ASP.NET")] [AspNetDevelopmentServerHost("D:\\Workspaces\\SSW\\SSW\\SqlDeploy\\DEV\\Main\\SSW.SQLDeploy.SilverlightUI.Web", "/")] [UrlToTest("http://localhost:3100/")] [DeploymentItem("SSW.SQLDeploy.SilverlightUI.Web.dll")] public void SaveDefaultProjectFileTest() { IProfileService target = new ProfileService(); // TODO: Initialize to an appropriate value string strComputerName = string.Empty; // TODO: Initialize to an appropriate value bool expected = false; // TODO: Initialize to an appropriate value bool actual; actual = target.SaveDefaultProjectFile(strComputerName); Assert.AreEqual(expected, actual); Assert.Inconclusive("Verify the correctness of this test method."); } Figure: Auto created code that shows the attributes required to run correctly in IIS or in this case ASP.NET Development Server If you are a purist and don’t like creating unit tests like this then you just need to add the three attributes manually. HostType – This attribute specified what host to use. Its an extensibility point, so you could write your own. Or you could just use “ASP.NET”. UrlToTest – This specifies the start URL. For most tests it does not matter which page you call, as long as it is a valid page otherwise your test may not run on the server, but may pass anyway. AspNetDevelopmentServerHost – This is a nasty one, it is only used if you are using ASP.NET Development Host and is unnecessary if you are using IIS. This sets the host settings and the first value MUST be the physical path to the root of your web application. OK, so all that was rubbish and I could not get anything working using the MSDN documentation. Google provided very little help until I ran into Billy Wang’s post and I heard that heavenly music that all developers hear when understanding dawns that what they have been doing up until now is just plain stupid. I am sure that the above will work when I am doing Web Unit Tests, but there is a much easier way when doing web services. You need to add the AspNetDevelopmentServer attribute to your code. This will tell MSTest to spin up an ASP.NET Development server to host the service. Specify the path to the web application you want to use. [AspNetDevelopmentServer("WebApp1", "D:\\Workspaces\\SSW\\SSW\\SqlDeploy\\DEV\\Main\\SSW.SQLDeploy.SilverlightUI.Web")] [DeploymentItem("SSW.SQLDeploy.SilverlightUI.Web.dll")] [TestMethod] public void ProfileService_Integration_SaveDefaultProjectFile_Returns_True() { ProfileServiceClient target = new ProfileServiceClient(); bool isTrue = target.SaveDefaultProjectFile("Mav"); Assert.AreEqual(true, isTrue); } Figure: This AspNetDevelopmentServer will make sure that the specified web application is launched. Now we can run the test and have it pass, but if the dynamically assigned ASP.NET Development server port changes what happens to the details in your app.config that was generated when creating a reference to the web service? Well, it would be wrong and the test would fail. This is where Billy’s helper method comes in. Once you have created an instance of your service call, and it has loaded the config, but before you make any calls to it you need to go in and dynamically set the Endpoint address to the same address as your dynamically hosted Web Application. using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Linq; using System.Text; using Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.UnitTesting; using System.Reflection; using System.ServiceModel.Description; using System.ServiceModel; namespace SSW.SQLDeploy.Test { class WcfWebServiceHelper { public static bool TryUrlRedirection(object client, TestContext context, string identifier) { bool result = true; try { PropertyInfo property = client.GetType().GetProperty("Endpoint"); string webServer = context.Properties[string.Format("AspNetDevelopmentServer.{0}", identifier)].ToString(); Uri webServerUri = new Uri(webServer); ServiceEndpoint endpoint = (ServiceEndpoint)property.GetValue(client, null); EndpointAddressBuilder builder = new EndpointAddressBuilder(endpoint.Address); builder.Uri = new Uri(endpoint.Address.Uri.OriginalString.Replace(endpoint.Address.Uri.Authority, webServerUri.Authority)); endpoint.Address = builder.ToEndpointAddress(); } catch (Exception e) { context.WriteLine(e.Message); result = false; } return result; } } } Figure: This fixes a problem with the URL in your web.config not being the same as the dynamically hosted ASP.NET Development server port. We can now add a call to this method after we created the Proxy object and change the Endpoint for the Service to the correct one. This process is wrapped in an assert as if it fails there is no point in continuing. [AspNetDevelopmentServer("WebApp1", D:\\Workspaces\\SSW\\SSW\\SqlDeploy\\DEV\\Main\\SSW.SQLDeploy.SilverlightUI.Web")] [DeploymentItem("SSW.SQLDeploy.SilverlightUI.Web.dll")] [TestMethod] public void ProfileService_Integration_SaveDefaultProjectFile_Returns_True() { ProfileServiceClient target = new ProfileServiceClient(); Assert.IsTrue(WcfWebServiceHelper.TryUrlRedirection(target, TestContext, "WebApp1")); bool isTrue = target.SaveDefaultProjectFile("Mav"); Assert.AreEqual(true, isTrue); } Figure: Editing the Endpoint from the app.config on the fly to match the dynamically hosted ASP.NET Development Server URL and port is now easy. As you can imagine AspNetDevelopmentServer poses some problems of you have multiple developers. What are the chances of everyone using the same location to store the source? What about if you are using a build server, how do you tell MSTest where to look for the files? To the rescue is a property called" “%PathToWebRoot%” which is always right on the build server. It will always point to your build drop folder for your solutions web sites. Which will be “\\tfs.ssw.com.au\BuildDrop\[BuildName]\Debug\_PrecompiledWeb\” or whatever your build drop location is. So lets change the code above to add this. [AspNetDevelopmentServer("WebApp1", "%PathToWebRoot%\\SSW.SQLDeploy.SilverlightUI.Web")] [DeploymentItem("SSW.SQLDeploy.SilverlightUI.Web.dll")] [TestMethod] public void ProfileService_Integration_SaveDefaultProjectFile_Returns_True() { ProfileServiceClient target = new ProfileServiceClient(); Assert.IsTrue(WcfWebServiceHelper.TryUrlRedirection(target, TestContext, "WebApp1")); bool isTrue = target.SaveDefaultProjectFile("Mav"); Assert.AreEqual(true, isTrue); } Figure: Adding %PathToWebRoot% to the AspNetDevelopmentServer path makes it work everywhere. Now we have another problem… this will ONLY run on the build server and will fail locally as %PathToWebRoot%’s default value is “C:\Users\[profile]\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Projects”. Well this sucks… How do we get the test to run on any build server and any developer laptop. Open “Tools | Options | Test Tools | Test Execution” in Visual Studio and you will see a field called “Web application root directory”. This is where you override that default above. Figure: You can override the default website location for tests. In my case I would put in “D:\Workspaces\SSW\SSW\SqlDeploy\DEV\Main” and all the developers working with this branch would put in the folder that they have mapped. Can you see a problem? What is I create a “$/SSW/SqlDeploy/DEV/34567” branch from Main and I want to run tests in there. Well… I would have to change the value above. This is not ideal, but as you can put your projects anywhere on a computer, it has to be done. Conclusion Although this looks convoluted and complicated there are real problems being solved here that mean that you have a test ANYWHERE solution. Any build server, any Developer workstation. Resources: http://billwg.blogspot.com/2009/06/testing-wcf-web-services.html http://tough-to-find.blogspot.com/2008/04/testing-asmx-web-services-in-visual.html http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms243399(VS.100).aspx http://blogs.msdn.com/dscruggs/archive/2008/09/29/web-tests-unit-tests-the-asp-net-development-server-and-code-coverage.aspx http://www.5z5.com/News/?543f8bc8b36b174f Technorati Tags: VS2010,MSTest,Team Build 2010,Team Build,Visual Studio,Visual Studio 2010,Visual Studio ALM,Team Test,Team Test 2010

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How can I control which IP address IIS7 uses?

- by brennanwstehling

In Win2k3 I used httpcfg to tell IIS to listen to specific IP addresses on the server. I want to run Apache with VisualSVN Server on port 80 on another IP address but IIS7 binds to all ports by default. What utility for IIS7 controls the IIS7 bindings? Update: I found the answer. There is a utility called netsh. netsh http add iplisten ipaddress=xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx By default there are not IP addresses on the list so IIS7 will bind to all IP addressed. If you add one IP to the list it will listen to just that IP or any IP added to the list. It is necessary to restart IIS7 for the change to take affect.

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Fix: Orchard Error ‘The controller for path '/OrchardLocal/' was not found or does not implement IController.

- by Ken Cox [MVP]

Suddenly, in a local Orchard 1.6 project, I started getting this error in ShellRoute.cs: The controller for path '/OrchardLocal/' was not found or does not implement IController. Obviously I had changed something, but the error wasn’t helping much. After losing far too much time, I copied over the original Orchard source code and was back in business. Shortly thereafter, I further flattened my forehead by applying a sudden, solid blow with the lower portion of my palm! You see, in testing the importing of comments via blogML, I had set the added blog as the Orchard site’s Start page. Then, I deleted the blog so I could test another import batch. The upshot was that by deleting the blog, Orchard no longer had a default (home) page at the root of the site. The site’s default content was missing. The fix was to go to the Admin subdirectory (http://localhost:30320/OrchardLocal/admin) . add a new page, and check Set as homepage. Once again, the problem was between the keyboard and the chair. I hope this helps someone else. Ken

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Installing WindowsAuthentication breaks authentication / web.config?

- by Ian Quigley

I have a clean Windows 2008 R2 box (on a VM) and have installed IIS 7.5 with default options. I then copied a website to it (from Windows 7, IIS 7) and after a little tweaking the website is working fine. The website is currently using and working with Anonymous Authentication. I have gone back to the Windows Components/Sever Manager, Roles - Security and ticked and installed Windows Authentication. When I check my server in IIS (top level above sites) - Authentication, I see Anonymous Authentication (enabled) ASP.NET Impersonation (disabled) Forms Authentication (disbaled) Windows Authentication (enabled) When I check my default website - Authentication, I see as above but "Retrieving status" and an error dialog saying There was an error while performing this operation. Details: Filename c:\inetpub\wwwroot\screwturnwiki\web.config Line number: 96 Error: This configuration section cannot be used in this path. This happens when the section is being locked at the parent level. Locking is either by default (overriderModeDefault="Deny"), or set explicity by a location tag with overrideMode="Deny" or the legacy allowOverride="False". I have tried hand editing the web.config with no success. (How to use locking in IIS7 Configuration) UN-installing Windows Authentication happily returns my site to working with Anonymous Authentication, and allows me to enable/disable these three options. FYI. I am using ScrewTurnWiki with the Active Directory plug in. It all works fine under Windows 7 IIS 7 locally (has been for months) Web.Config <system.webServer> (edit) <handlers> ( deleted removes/adds ) </handlers> <security> <authentication> 96: <windowsAuthentication enabled="true" useKernelMode="true"> <extendedProtection tokenChecking="Allow" /> <providers> <clear /> <add value="NTLM" /> <add value="Negotiate" /> </providers> </windowsAuthentication> </authentication> </security>

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How to Upgrade Your Netbook to Windows 7 Home Premium

- by Matthew Guay

Would you like more features and flash in Windows on your netbook? Here’s how you can easily upgrade your netbook to Windows 7 Home Premium the easy way. Most new netbooks today ship with Windows 7 Starter, which is the cheapest edition of Windows 7. It is fine for many computing tasks, and will run all your favorite programs great, but it lacks many customization, multimedia, and business features found in higher editions. Here we’ll show you how you can quickly upgrade your netbook to more full-featured edition of Windows 7 using Windows Anytime Upgrade. Also, if you want to upgrade your laptop or desktop to another edition of Windows 7, say Professional, you can follow these same steps to upgrade it, too. Please note: This is only for computers already running Windows 7. If your netbook is running XP or Vista, you will have to run a traditional upgrade to install Windows 7. Upgrade Advisor First, let’s make sure your netbook can support the extra features, such as Aero Glass, in Windows 7 Home Premium. Most modern netbooks that ship with Windows 7 Starter can run the advanced features in Windows 7 Home Premium, but let’s check just in case. Download the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor (link below), and install as normal. Once it’s installed, run it and click Start Check. Make sure you’re connected to the internet before you run the check, or otherwise you may see this error message. If you see it, click Ok and then connect to the internet and start the check again. It will now scan all of your programs and hardware to make sure they’re compatible with Windows 7. Since you’re already running Windows 7 Starter, it will also tell you if your computer will support the features in other editions of Windows 7. After a few moments, the Upgrade Advisor will show you want it found. Here we see that our netbook, a Samsung N150, can be upgraded to Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional, or Ultimate. We also see that we had one issue, but this was because a driver we had installed was not recognized. Click “See all system requirements” to see what your netbook can do with the new edition. This shows you which of the requirements, including support for Windows Aero, your netbook meets. Here our netbook supports Aero, so we’re ready to go upgrade. For more, check out our article on how to make sure your computer can run Windows 7 with Upgrade Advisor. Upgrade with Anytime Upgrade Now, we’re ready to upgrade our netbook to Windows 7 Home Premium. Enter “Anytime Upgrade” in the Start menu search,and select Windows Anytime Upgrade. Windows Anytime Upgrade lets you upgrade using product key you already have or one you purchase during the upgrade process. And, it installs without any downloads or Windows disks, so it works great even for netbooks without DVD drives. Anytime Upgrades are cheaper than a standard upgrade, and for a limited time, select retailers in the US are offering Anytime Upgrades to Windows 7 Home Premium for only $49.99 if purchased with a new netbook. If you already have a netbook running Windows 7 Starter, you can either purchase an Anytime Upgrade package at a retail store or purchase a key online during the upgrade process for $79.95. Or, if you have a standard Windows 7 product key (full or upgrade), you can use it in Anytime upgrade. This is especially nice if you can purchase Windows 7 cheaper through your school, university, or office. Purchase an upgrade online To purchase an upgrade online, click “Go online to choose the edition of Windows 7 that’s best for you”. Here you can see a comparison of the features of each edition of Windows 7. Note that you can upgrade to either Home Premium, Professional, or Ultimate. We chose home Premium because it has most of the features that home users want, including Media Center and Aero Glass effects. Also note that the price of each upgrade is cheaper than the respective upgrade from Windows XP or Vista. Click buy under the edition you want. Enter your billing information, then your payment information. Once you confirm your purchase, you will directly be taken to the Upgrade screen. Make sure to save your receipt, as you will need the product key if you ever need to reinstall Windows on your computer. Upgrade with an existing product key If you purchased an Anytime Upgrade kit from a retailer, or already have a Full or Upgrade key for another edition of Windows 7, choose “Enter an upgrade key”. Enter your product key, and click Next. If you purchased an Anytime Upgrade kit, the product key will be located on the inside of the case on a yellow sticker. The key will be verified as a valid key, and Anytime Upgrade will automatically choose the correct edition of Windows 7 based on your product key. Click Next when this is finished. Continuing the Upgrade process Whether you entered a key or purchased a key online, the process is the same from here on. Click “I accept” to accept the license agreement. Now, you’re ready to install your upgrade. Make sure to save all open files and close any programs, and then click Upgrade. The upgrade only takes about 10 minutes in our experience but your mileage may vary. Any available Microsoft updates, including ones for Office, Security Essentials, and other products, will be installed before the upgrade takes place. After a couple minutes, your computer will automatically reboot and finish the installation. It will then reboot once more, and your computer will be ready to use! Welcome to your new edition of Windows 7! Here’s a before and after shot of our desktop. When you do an Anytime Upgrade, all of your programs, files, and settings will be just as they were before you upgraded. The only change we noticed was that our pinned taskbar icons were slightly rearranged to the default order of Internet Explorer, Explorer, and Media Player. Here’s a shot of our desktop before the upgrade. Notice that all of our pinned programs and desktop icons are still there, as well as our taskbar customization (we are using small icons on the taskbar instead of the default large icons). Before, with the Windows 7 Starter background and the Aero Basic theme: And after, with Aero Glass and the more colorful default Windows 7 background. All of the features of Windows 7 Home Premium are now ready to use. The Aero theme was activate by default, but you can now customize your netbook theme, background, and more with the Personalization pane. To open it, right-click on your desktop and select Personalize. You can also now use Windows Media Center, and can play-back DVD movies using an external drive. One of our favorite tools, the Snipping Tool, is also now available for easy screenshots and clips. Activating you new edition of Windows 7 You will still need to activate your new edition of Windows 7. To do this right away, open the start menu, right-click on Computer, and select Properties. Scroll to the bottom, and click “Activate Windows Now”. Make sure you’re connected to the internet, and then select “Activate Windows online now”. Activation may take a few minutes, depending on your internet connection speed. When it is done, the Activation wizard will let you know that Windows is activated and genuine. Your upgrade is all finished! Conclusion Windows Anytime Upgrade makes it easy, and somewhat cheaper, to upgrade to another edition of Windows 7. It’s useful for desktop and laptop owners who want to upgrade to Professional or Ultimate, but many more netbook owners will want to upgrade from Starter to Home Premium or another edition. Links Download the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor Windows Team Blog: Anytime Upgrade Special with new PC purchase Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips How To Upgrade from Vista to Windows 7 Home Premium EditionAnother Blog You Should Subscribe ToMysticgeek Blog: Turn Vista Home Premium Into Ultimate (Part 3) – Shadow CopyUpgrade Ubuntu from Breezy to DapperHow to Upgrade the Windows 7 RC to RTM (Final Release) TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 Get Your Delicious Bookmarks In Firefox’s Awesome Bar Manage Photos Across Different Social Sites With Dropico Test Drive Windows 7 Online Download Wallpapers From National Geographic Site Spyware Blaster v4.3 Yes, it’s Patch Tuesday

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ASP.NET MVC Paging/Sorting/Filtering a list using ModelMetadata

- by rajbk

This post looks at how to control paging, sorting and filtering when displaying a list of data by specifying attributes in your Model using the ASP.NET MVC framework and the excellent MVCContrib library. It also shows how to hide/show columns and control the formatting of data using attributes. This uses the Northwind database. A sample project is attached at the end of this post. Let’s start by looking at a class called ProductViewModel. The properties in the class are decorated with attributes. The OrderBy attribute tells the system that the Model can be sorted using that property. The SearchFilter attribute tells the system that filtering is allowed on that property. Filtering type is set by the FilterType enum which currently supports Equals and Contains. The ScaffoldColumn property specifies if a column is hidden or not The DisplayFormat specifies how the data is formatted. public class ProductViewModel { [OrderBy(IsDefault = true)] [ScaffoldColumn(false)] public int? ProductID { get; set; } [SearchFilter(FilterType.Contains)] [OrderBy] [DisplayName("Product Name")] public string ProductName { get; set; } [OrderBy] [DisplayName("Unit Price")] [DisplayFormat(DataFormatString = "{0:c}")] public System.Nullable<decimal> UnitPrice { get; set; } [DisplayName("Category Name")] public string CategoryName { get; set; } [SearchFilter] [ScaffoldColumn(false)] public int? CategoryID { get; set; } [SearchFilter] [ScaffoldColumn(false)] public int? SupplierID { get; set; } [OrderBy] public bool Discontinued { get; set; } } Before we explore the code further, lets look at the UI. The UI has a section for filtering the data. The column headers with links are sortable. Paging is also supported with the help of a pager row. The pager is rendered using the MVCContrib Pager component. The data is displayed using a customized version of the MVCContrib Grid component. The customization was done in order for the Grid to be aware of the attributes mentioned above. Now, let’s look at what happens when we perform actions on this page. The diagram below shows the process: The form on the page has its method set to “GET” therefore we see all the parameters in the query string. The query string is shown in blue above. This query gets routed to an action called Index with parameters of type ProductViewModel and PageSortOptions. The parameters in the query string get mapped to the input parameters using model binding. The ProductView object created has the information needed to filter data while the PageAndSorting object is used for paging and sorting the data. The last block in the figure above shows how the filtered and paged list is created. We receive a product list from our product repository (which is of type IQueryable) and first filter it by calliing the AsFiltered extension method passing in the productFilters object and then call the AsPagination extension method passing in the pageSort object. The AsFiltered extension method looks at the type of the filter instance passed in. It skips properties in the instance that do not have the SearchFilter attribute. For properties that have the SearchFilter attribute, it adds filter expression trees to filter against the IQueryable data. The AsPagination extension method looks at the type of the IQueryable and ensures that the column being sorted on has the OrderBy attribute. If it does not find one, it looks for the default sort field [OrderBy(IsDefault = true)]. It is required that at least one attribute in your model has the [OrderBy(IsDefault = true)]. This because a person could be performing paging without specifying an order by column. As you may recall the LINQ Skip method now requires that you call an OrderBy method before it. Therefore we need a default order by column to perform paging. The extension method adds a order expressoin tree to the IQueryable and calls the MVCContrib AsPagination extension method to page the data. Implementation Notes Auto Postback The search filter region auto performs a get request anytime the dropdown selection is changed. This is implemented using the following jQuery snippet $(document).ready(function () { $("#productSearch").change(function () { this.submit(); }); }); Strongly Typed View The code used in the Action method is shown below: public ActionResult Index(ProductViewModel productFilters, PageSortOptions pageSortOptions) { var productPagedList = productRepository.GetProductsProjected().AsFiltered(productFilters).AsPagination(pageSortOptions); var productViewFilterContainer = new ProductViewFilterContainer(); productViewFilterContainer.Fill(productFilters.CategoryID, productFilters.SupplierID, productFilters.ProductName); var gridSortOptions = new GridSortOptions { Column = pageSortOptions.Column, Direction = pageSortOptions.Direction }; var productListContainer = new ProductListContainerModel { ProductPagedList = productPagedList, ProductViewFilterContainer = productViewFilterContainer, GridSortOptions = gridSortOptions }; return View(productListContainer); } As you see above, the object that is returned to the view is of type ProductListContainerModel. This contains all the information need for the view to render the Search filter section (including dropdowns), the Html.Pager (MVCContrib) and the Html.Grid (from MVCContrib). It also stores the state of the search filters so that they can recreate themselves when the page reloads (Viewstate, I miss you! :0) The class diagram for the container class is shown below. Custom MVCContrib Grid The MVCContrib grid default behavior was overridden so that it would auto generate the columns and format the columns based on the metadata and also make it aware of our custom attributes (see MetaDataGridModel in the sample code). The Grid ensures that the ShowForDisplay on the column is set to true This can also be set by the ScaffoldColumn attribute ref: http://bradwilson.typepad.com/blog/2009/10/aspnet-mvc-2-templates-part-2-modelmetadata.html) Column headers are set using the DisplayName attribute Column sorting is set using the OrderBy attribute. The data is formatted using the DisplayFormat attribute. Generic Extension methods for Sorting and Filtering The extension method AsFiltered takes in an IQueryable<T> and uses expression trees to query against the IQueryable data. The query is constructed using the Model metadata and the properties of the T filter (productFilters in our case). Properties in the Model that do not have the SearchFilter attribute are skipped when creating the filter expression tree. It returns an IQueryable<T>. The extension method AsPagination takes in an IQuerable<T> and first ensures that the column being sorted on has the OrderBy attribute. If not, we look for the default OrderBy column ([OrderBy(IsDefault = true)]). We then build an expression tree to sort on this column. We finally hand off the call to the MVCContrib AsPagination which returns an IPagination<T>. This type as you can see in the class diagram above is passed to the view and used by the MVCContrib Grid and Pager components. Custom Provider To get the system to recognize our custom attributes, we create our MetadataProvider as mentioned in this article (http://bradwilson.typepad.com/blog/2010/01/why-you-dont-need-modelmetadataattributes.html) protected override ModelMetadata CreateMetadata(IEnumerable<Attribute> attributes, Type containerType, Func<object> modelAccessor, Type modelType, string propertyName) { ModelMetadata metadata = base.CreateMetadata(attributes, containerType, modelAccessor, modelType, propertyName); SearchFilterAttribute searchFilterAttribute = attributes.OfType<SearchFilterAttribute>().FirstOrDefault(); if (searchFilterAttribute != null) { metadata.AdditionalValues.Add(Globals.SearchFilterAttributeKey, searchFilterAttribute); } OrderByAttribute orderByAttribute = attributes.OfType<OrderByAttribute>().FirstOrDefault(); if (orderByAttribute != null) { metadata.AdditionalValues.Add(Globals.OrderByAttributeKey, orderByAttribute); } return metadata; } We register our MetadataProvider in Global.asax.cs. protected void Application_Start() { AreaRegistration.RegisterAllAreas(); RegisterRoutes(RouteTable.Routes); ModelMetadataProviders.Current = new MvcFlan.QueryModelMetaDataProvider(); } Bugs, Comments and Suggestions are welcome! You can download the sample code below. This code is purely experimental. Use at your own risk. Download Sample Code (VS 2010 RTM) MVCNorthwindSales.zip

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Error while installing vmware tools v8.8.2 in Ubuntu 12.04 beta

- by Dipen Patel

I just upgraded to Ubuntu 12.04 from 11.10 using update manager. I use it as virtual machine on VMWare Player 4.xx. As usual I installed vmware tools to enable full screen mode and shared folder functionality. But while installing I got an error while building modules for shared folder and fast networking utilities for vmware tools. Error is ============================================== /tmp/vmware-root/modules/vmhgfs-only/fsutil.c: In function ‘HgfsChangeFileAttributes’: /tmp/vmware-root/modules/vmhgfs-only/fsutil.c:610:4: error: assignment of read-only member ‘i_nlink’ make[2]: *** [/tmp/vmware-root/modules/vmhgfs-only/fsutil.o] Error 1 make[2]: *** Waiting for unfinished jobs.... /tmp/vmware-root/modules/vmhgfs-only/file.c:128:4: warning: initialization from incompatible pointer type [enabled by default] /tmp/vmware-root/modules/vmhgfs-only/file.c:128:4: warning: (near initialization for ‘HgfsFileFileOperations.fsync’) [enabled by default] /tmp/vmware-root/modules/vmhgfs-only/tcp.c:53:30: error: expected ‘)’ before numeric constant /tmp/vmware-root/modules/vmhgfs-only/tcp.c:56:25: error: expected ‘)’ before ‘int’ /tmp/vmware-root/modules/vmhgfs-only/tcp.c:59:33: error: expected ‘)’ before ‘int’ make[2]: *** [/tmp/vmware-root/modules/vmhgfs-only/tcp.o] Error 1 make[1]: *** [_module_/tmp/vmware-root/modules/vmhgfs-only] Error 2 make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-3.2.0-22-generic' make: *** [vmhgfs.ko] Error 2 make: Leaving directory `/tmp/vmware-root/modules/vmhgfs-only' The filesystem driver (vmhgfs module) is used only for the shared folder feature. The rest of the software provided by VMware Tools is designed to work independently of this feature. Let me know if anyone has encountered and solved this problem. Regards, Dipen Patel

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Using LINQ Distinct: With an Example on ASP.NET MVC SelectListItem

- by Joe Mayo

One of the things that might be surprising in the LINQ Distinct standard query operator is that it doesn’t automatically work properly on custom classes. There are reasons for this, which I’ll explain shortly. The example I’ll use in this post focuses on pulling a unique list of names to load into a drop-down list. I’ll explain the sample application, show you typical first shot at Distinct, explain why it won’t work as you expect, and then demonstrate a solution to make Distinct work with any custom class. The technologies I’m using are LINQ to Twitter, LINQ to Objects, Telerik Extensions for ASP.NET MVC, ASP.NET MVC 2, and Visual Studio 2010. The function of the example program is to show a list of people that I follow. In Twitter API vernacular, these people are called “Friends”; though I’ve never met most of them in real life. This is part of the ubiquitous language of social networking, and Twitter in particular, so you’ll see my objects named accordingly. Where Distinct comes into play is because I want to have a drop-down list with the names of the friends appearing in the list. Some friends are quite verbose, which means I can’t just extract names from each tweet and populate the drop-down; otherwise, I would end up with many duplicate names. Therefore, Distinct is the appropriate operator to eliminate the extra entries from my friends who tend to be enthusiastic tweeters. The sample doesn’t do anything with the drop-down list and I leave that up to imagination for what it’s practical purpose could be; perhaps a filter for the list if I only want to see a certain person’s tweets or maybe a quick list that I plan to combine with a TextBox and Button to reply to a friend. When the program runs, you’ll need to authenticate with Twitter, because I’m using OAuth (DotNetOpenAuth), for authentication, and then you’ll see the drop-down list of names above the grid with the most recent tweets from friends. Here’s what the application looks like when it runs: As you can see, there is a drop-down list above the grid. The drop-down list is where most of the focus of this article will be. There is some description of the code before we talk about the Distinct operator, but we’ll get there soon. This is an ASP.NET MVC2 application, written with VS 2010. Here’s the View that produces this screen: <%@ Page Language="C#" MasterPageFile="~/Views/Shared/Site.Master" Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewPage<TwitterFriendsViewModel>" %> <%@ Import Namespace="DistinctSelectList.Models" %> <asp:Content ID="Content1" ContentPlaceHolderID="TitleContent" runat="server"> Home Page </asp:Content><asp:Content ID="Content2" ContentPlaceHolderID="MainContent" runat="server"> <fieldset> <legend>Twitter Friends</legend> <div> <%= Html.DropDownListFor( twendVM => twendVM.FriendNames, Model.FriendNames, "<All Friends>") %> </div> <div> <% Html.Telerik().Grid<TweetViewModel>(Model.Tweets) .Name("TwitterFriendsGrid") .Columns(cols => { cols.Template(col => { %> <img src="<%= col.ImageUrl %>" alt="<%= col.ScreenName %>" /> <% }); cols.Bound(col => col.ScreenName); cols.Bound(col => col.Tweet); }) .Render(); %> </div> </fieldset> </asp:Content> As shown above, the Grid is from Telerik’s Extensions for ASP.NET MVC. The first column is a template that renders the user’s Avatar from a URL provided by the Twitter query. Both the Grid and DropDownListFor display properties that are collections from a TwitterFriendsViewModel class, shown below: using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Web.Mvc; namespace DistinctSelectList.Models { /// /// For finding friend info on screen /// public class TwitterFriendsViewModel { /// /// Display names of friends in drop-down list /// public List FriendNames { get; set; } /// /// Display tweets in grid /// public List Tweets { get; set; } } } I created the TwitterFreindsViewModel. The two Lists are what the View consumes to populate the DropDownListFor and Grid. Notice that FriendNames is a List of SelectListItem, which is an MVC class. Another custom class I created is the TweetViewModel (the type of the Tweets List), shown below: namespace DistinctSelectList.Models { /// /// Info on friend tweets /// public class TweetViewModel { /// /// User's avatar /// public string ImageUrl { get; set; } /// /// User's Twitter name /// public string ScreenName { get; set; } /// /// Text containing user's tweet /// public string Tweet { get; set; } } } The initial Twitter query returns much more information than we need for our purposes and this a special class for displaying info in the View. Now you know about the View and how it’s constructed. Let’s look at the controller next. The controller for this demo performs authentication, data retrieval, data manipulation, and view selection. I’ll skip the description of the authentication because it’s a normal part of using OAuth with LINQ to Twitter. Instead, we’ll drill down and focus on the Distinct operator. However, I’ll show you the entire controller, below, so that you can see how it all fits together: using System.Linq; using System.Web.Mvc; using DistinctSelectList.Models; using LinqToTwitter; namespace DistinctSelectList.Controllers { [HandleError] public class HomeController : Controller { private MvcOAuthAuthorization auth; private TwitterContext twitterCtx; /// /// Display a list of friends current tweets /// /// public ActionResult Index() { auth = new MvcOAuthAuthorization(InMemoryTokenManager.Instance, InMemoryTokenManager.AccessToken); string accessToken = auth.CompleteAuthorize(); if (accessToken != null) { InMemoryTokenManager.AccessToken = accessToken; } if (auth.CachedCredentialsAvailable) { auth.SignOn(); } else { return auth.BeginAuthorize(); } twitterCtx = new TwitterContext(auth); var friendTweets = (from tweet in twitterCtx.Status where tweet.Type == StatusType.Friends select new TweetViewModel { ImageUrl = tweet.User.ProfileImageUrl, ScreenName = tweet.User.Identifier.ScreenName, Tweet = tweet.Text }) .ToList(); var friendNames = (from tweet in friendTweets select new SelectListItem { Text = tweet.ScreenName, Value = tweet.ScreenName }) .Distinct() .ToList(); var twendsVM = new TwitterFriendsViewModel { Tweets = friendTweets, FriendNames = friendNames }; return View(twendsVM); } public ActionResult About() { return View(); } } } The important part of the listing above are the LINQ to Twitter queries for friendTweets and friendNames. Both of these results are used in the subsequent population of the twendsVM instance that is passed to the view. Let’s dissect these two statements for clarification and focus on what is happening with Distinct. The query for friendTweets gets a list of the 20 most recent tweets (as specified by the Twitter API for friend queries) and performs a projection into the custom TweetViewModel class, repeated below for your convenience: var friendTweets = (from tweet in twitterCtx.Status where tweet.Type == StatusType.Friends select new TweetViewModel { ImageUrl = tweet.User.ProfileImageUrl, ScreenName = tweet.User.Identifier.ScreenName, Tweet = tweet.Text }) .ToList(); The LINQ to Twitter query above simplifies what we need to work with in the View and the reduces the amount of information we have to look at in subsequent queries. Given the friendTweets above, the next query performs another projection into an MVC SelectListItem, which is required for binding to the DropDownList. This brings us to the focus of this blog post, writing a correct query that uses the Distinct operator. The query below uses LINQ to Objects, querying the friendTweets collection to get friendNames: var friendNames = (from tweet in friendTweets select new SelectListItem { Text = tweet.ScreenName, Value = tweet.ScreenName }) .Distinct() .ToList(); The above implementation of Distinct seems normal, but it is deceptively incorrect. After running the query above, by executing the application, you’ll notice that the drop-down list contains many duplicates. This will send you back to the code scratching your head, but there’s a reason why this happens. To understand the problem, we must examine how Distinct works in LINQ to Objects. Distinct has two overloads: one without parameters, as shown above, and another that takes a parameter of type IEqualityComparer<T>. In the case above, no parameters, Distinct will call EqualityComparer<T>.Default behind the scenes to make comparisons as it iterates through the list. You don’t have problems with the built-in types, such as string, int, DateTime, etc, because they all implement IEquatable<T>. However, many .NET Framework classes, such as SelectListItem, don’t implement IEquatable<T>. So, what happens is that EqualityComparer<T>.Default results in a call to Object.Equals, which performs reference equality on reference type objects. You don’t have this problem with value types because the default implementation of Object.Equals is bitwise equality. However, most of your projections that use Distinct are on classes, just like the SelectListItem used in this demo application. So, the reason why Distinct didn’t produce the results we wanted was because we used a type that doesn’t define its own equality and Distinct used the default reference equality. This resulted in all objects being included in the results because they are all separate instances in memory with unique references. As you might have guessed, the solution to the problem is to use the second overload of Distinct that accepts an IEqualityComparer<T> instance. If you were projecting into your own custom type, you could make that type implement IEqualityComparer<T>, but SelectListItem belongs to the .NET Framework Class Library. Therefore, the solution is to create a custom type to implement IEqualityComparer<T>, as in the SelectListItemComparer class, shown below: using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Web.Mvc; namespace DistinctSelectList.Models { public class SelectListItemComparer : EqualityComparer { public override bool Equals(SelectListItem x, SelectListItem y) { return x.Value.Equals(y.Value); } public override int GetHashCode(SelectListItem obj) { return obj.Value.GetHashCode(); } } } The SelectListItemComparer class above doesn’t implement IEqualityComparer<SelectListItem>, but rather derives from EqualityComparer<SelectListItem>. Microsoft recommends this approach for consistency with the behavior of generic collection classes. However, if your custom type already derives from a base class, go ahead and implement IEqualityComparer<T>, which will still work. EqualityComparer is an abstract class, that implements IEqualityComparer<T> with Equals and GetHashCode abstract methods. For the purposes of this application, the SelectListItem.Value property is sufficient to determine if two items are equal. Since SelectListItem.Value is type string, the code delegates equality to the string class. The code also delegates the GetHashCode operation to the string class.You might have other criteria in your own object and would need to define what it means for your object to be equal. Now that we have an IEqualityComparer<SelectListItem>, let’s fix the problem. The code below modifies the query where we want distinct values: var friendNames = (from tweet in friendTweets select new SelectListItem { Text = tweet.ScreenName, Value = tweet.ScreenName }) .Distinct(new SelectListItemComparer()) .ToList(); Notice how the code above passes a new instance of SelectListItemComparer as the parameter to the Distinct operator. Now, when you run the application, the drop-down list will behave as you expect, showing only a unique set of names. In addition to Distinct, other LINQ Standard Query Operators have overloads that accept IEqualityComparer<T>’s, You can use the same techniques as shown here, with SelectListItemComparer, with those other operators as well. Now you know how to resolve problems with getting Distinct to work properly and also have a way to fix problems with other operators that require equality comparisons. @JoeMayo

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Running ASP.NET Webforms and ASP.NET MVC side by side

- by rajbk

One of the nice things about ASP.NET MVC and its older brother ASP.NET WebForms is that they are both built on top of the ASP.NET runtime environment. The advantage of this is that, you can still run them side by side even though MVC and WebForms are different frameworks. Another point to note is that with the release of the ASP.NET routing in .NET 3.5 SP1, we are able to create SEO friendly URLs that do not map to specific files on disk. The routing is part of the core runtime environment and therefore can be used by both WebForms and MVC. To run both frameworks side by side, we could easily create a separate folder in your MVC project for all our WebForm files and be good to go. What this post shows you instead, is how to have an MVC application with WebForm pages that both use a common master page and common routing for SEO friendly URLs. A sample project that shows WebForms and MVC running side by side is attached at the bottom of this post. So why would we want to run WebForms and MVC in the same project? WebForms come with a lot of nice server controls that provide a lot of functionality. One example is the ReportViewer control. Using this control and client report definition files (RDLC), we can create rich interactive reports (with charting controls). I show you how to use the ReportViewer control in a WebForm project here : Creating an ASP.NET report using Visual Studio 2010. We can create even more advanced reports by using SQL reporting services that can also be rendered by the ReportViewer control. Now, consider the sample MVC application I blogged about called ASP.NET MVC Paging/Sorting/Filtering using the MVCContrib Grid and Pager. Assume you were given the requirement to add a UI to the MVC application where users could interact with a report and be given the option to export the report to Excel, PDF or Word. How do you go about doing it? This is a perfect scenario to use the ReportViewer control and RDLCs. As you saw in the post on creating the ASP.NET report, the ReportViewer control is a Web Control and is designed to be run in a WebForm project with dependencies on, amongst others, a ScriptManager control and the beloved Viewstate. Since MVC and WebForm both run under the same runtime, the easiest thing to is to add the WebForm application files (index.aspx, rdlc, related class files) into our MVC project. You can copy the files over from the WebForm project into the MVC project. Create a new folder in our MVC application called CommonReports. Add the index.aspx and rdlc file from the Webform project Right click on the Index.aspx file and convert it to a web application. This will add the index.aspx.designer.cs file (this step is not required if you are manually adding a WebForm aspx file into the MVC project). Verify that all the type names for the ObjectDataSources in code behind to point to the correct ProductRepository and fix any compiler errors. Right click on Index.aspx and select “View in browser”. You should see a screen like the one below: There are two issues with our page. It does not use our site master page and the URL is not SEO friendly. Common Master Page The easiest way to use master pages with both MVC and WebForm pages is to have a common master page that each inherits from as shown below. The reason for this is most WebForm controls require them to be inside a Form control and require ControlState or ViewState. ViewMasterPages used in MVC, on the other hand, are designed to be used with content pages that derive from ViewPage with Viewstate turned off. By having a separate master page for MVC and WebForm that inherit from the Root master page,, we can set properties that are specific to each. For example, in the Webform master, we can turn on ViewState, add a form tag etc. Another point worth noting is that if you set a WebForm page to use a MVC site master page, you may run into errors like the following: A ViewMasterPage can be used only with content pages that derive from ViewPage or ViewPage<TViewItem> or Control 'MainContent_MyButton' of type 'Button' must be placed inside a form tag with runat=server. Since the ViewMasterPage inherits from MasterPage as seen below, we make our Root.master inherit from MasterPage, MVC.master inherit from ViewMasterPage and Webform.master inherits from MasterPage. We define the attributes on the master pages like so: Root.master <%@ Master Inherits="System.Web.UI.MasterPage" … %> MVC.master <%@ Master MasterPageFile="~/Views/Shared/Root.Master" Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewMasterPage" … %> WebForm.master <%@ Master MasterPageFile="~/Views/Shared/Root.Master" Inherits="NorthwindSales.Views.Shared.Webform" %> Code behind: public partial class Webform : System.Web.UI.MasterPage {} We make changes to our reports aspx file to use the Webform.master. See the source of the master pages in the sample project for a better understanding of how they are connected. SEO friendly links We want to create SEO friendly links that point to our report. A request to /Reports/Products should render the report located in ~/CommonReports/Products.aspx. Simillarly to support future reports, a request to /Reports/Sales should render a report in ~/CommonReports/Sales.aspx. Lets start by renaming our index.aspx file to Products.aspx to be consistent with our routing criteria above. As mentioned earlier, since routing is part of the core runtime environment, we ca easily create a custom route for our reports by adding an entry in Global.asax. public static void RegisterRoutes(RouteCollection routes) { routes.IgnoreRoute("{resource}.axd/{*pathInfo}"); //Custom route for reports routes.MapPageRoute( "ReportRoute", // Route name "Reports/{reportname}", // URL "~/CommonReports/{reportname}.aspx" // File ); routes.MapRoute( "Default", // Route name "{controller}/{action}/{id}", // URL with parameters new { controller = "Home", action = "Index", id = UrlParameter.Optional } // Parameter defaults ); } With our custom route in place, a request to Reports/Employees will render the page at ~/CommonReports/Employees.aspx. We make this custom route the first entry since the routing system walks the table from top to bottom, and the first route to match wins. Note that it is highly recommended that you write unit tests for your routes to ensure that the mappings you defined are correct. Common Menu Structure The master page in our original MVC project had a menu structure like so: <ul id="menu"> <li> <%=Html.ActionLink("Home", "Index", "Home") %></li> <li> <%=Html.ActionLink("Products", "Index", "Products") %></li> <li> <%=Html.ActionLink("Help", "Help", "Home") %></li> </ul> We want this menu structure to be common to all pages/views and hence should reside in Root.master. Unfortunately the Html.ActionLink helpers will not work since Root.master inherits from MasterPage which does not have the helper methods available. The quickest way to resolve this issue is to use RouteUrl expressions. Using RouteUrl expressions, we can programmatically generate URLs that are based on route definitions. By specifying parameter values and a route name if required, we get back a URL string that corresponds to a matching route. We move our menu structure to Root.master and change it to use RouteUrl expressions: <ul id="menu"> <li> <asp:HyperLink ID="hypHome" runat="server" NavigateUrl="<%$RouteUrl:routename=default,controller=home,action=index%>">Home</asp:HyperLink></li> <li> <asp:HyperLink ID="hypProducts" runat="server" NavigateUrl="<%$RouteUrl:routename=default,controller=products,action=index%>">Products</asp:HyperLink></li> <li> <asp:HyperLink ID="hypReport" runat="server" NavigateUrl="<%$RouteUrl:routename=ReportRoute,reportname=products%>">Product Report</asp:HyperLink></li> <li> <asp:HyperLink ID="hypHelp" runat="server" NavigateUrl="<%$RouteUrl:routename=default,controller=home,action=help%>">Help</asp:HyperLink></li> </ul> We are done adding the common navigation to our application. The application now uses a common theme, routing and navigation structure. Conclusion We have seen how to do the following through this post Add a WebForm page from a WebForm project to an existing ASP.NET MVC application Use a common master page for both WebForm and MVC pages Use routing for SEO friendly links Use a common menu structure for both WebForm and MVC. The sample project is attached below. Version: VS 2010 RTM Remember to change your connection string to point to your Northwind database NorthwindSalesMVCWebform.zip

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Is there a Telecommunications Reference Architecture?

- by raul.goycoolea

@font-face { font-family: "Arial"; }@font-face { font-family: "Courier New"; }@font-face { font-family: "Wingdings"; }@font-face { font-family: "Cambria"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraph, li.MsoListParagraph, div.MsoListParagraph { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }ol { margin-bottom: 0cm; }ul { margin-bottom: 0cm; } Abstract Reference architecture provides needed architectural information that can be provided in advance to an enterprise to enable consistent architectural best practices. Enterprise Reference Architecture helps business owners to actualize their strategies, vision, objectives, and principles. It evaluates the IT systems, based on Reference Architecture goals, principles, and standards. It helps to reduce IT costs by increasing functionality, availability, scalability, etc. Telecom Reference Architecture provides customers with the flexibility to view bundled service bills online with the provision of multiple services. It provides real-time, flexible billing and charging systems, to handle complex promotions, discounts, and settlements with multiple parties. This paper attempts to describe the Reference Architecture for the Telecom Enterprises. It lays the foundation for a Telecom Reference Architecture by articulating the requirements, drivers, and pitfalls for telecom service providers. It describes generic reference architecture for telecom enterprises and moves on to explain how to achieve Enterprise Reference Architecture by using SOA. Introduction A Reference Architecture provides a methodology, set of practices, template, and standards based on a set of successful solutions implemented earlier. These solutions have been generalized and structured for the depiction of both a logical and a physical architecture, based on the harvesting of a set of patterns that describe observations in a number of successful implementations. It helps as a reference for the various architectures that an enterprise can implement to solve various problems. It can be used as the starting point or the point of comparisons for various departments/business entities of a company, or for the various companies for an enterprise. It provides multiple views for multiple stakeholders. Major artifacts of the Enterprise Reference Architecture are methodologies, standards, metadata, documents, design patterns, etc. Purpose of Reference Architecture In most cases, architects spend a lot of time researching, investigating, defining, and re-arguing architectural decisions. It is like reinventing the wheel as their peers in other organizations or even the same organization have already spent a lot of time and effort defining their own architectural practices. This prevents an organization from learning from its own experiences and applying that knowledge for increased effectiveness. Reference architecture provides missing architectural information that can be provided in advance to project team members to enable consistent architectural best practices. Enterprise Reference Architecture helps an enterprise to achieve the following at the abstract level: · Reference architecture is more of a communication channel to an enterprise · Helps the business owners to accommodate to their strategies, vision, objectives, and principles. · Evaluates the IT systems based on Reference Architecture Principles · Reduces IT spending through increasing functionality, availability, scalability, etc · A Real-time Integration Model helps to reduce the latency of the data updates Is used to define a single source of Information · Provides a clear view on how to manage information and security · Defines the policy around the data ownership, product boundaries, etc. · Helps with cost optimization across project and solution portfolios by eliminating unused or duplicate investments and assets · Has a shorter implementation time and cost Once the reference architecture is in place, the set of architectural principles, standards, reference models, and best practices ensure that the aligned investments have the greatest possible likelihood of success in both the near term and the long term (TCO). Common pitfalls for Telecom Service Providers Telecom Reference Architecture serves as the first step towards maturity for a telecom service provider. During the course of our assignments/experiences with telecom players, we have come across the following observations – Some of these indicate a lack of maturity of the telecom service provider: · In markets that are growing and not so mature, it has been observed that telcos have a significant amount of in-house or home-grown applications. In some of these markets, the growth has been so rapid that IT has been unable to cope with business demands. Telcos have shown a tendency to come up with workarounds in their IT applications so as to meet business needs. · Even for core functions like provisioning or mediation, some telcos have tried to manage with home-grown applications. · Most of the applications do not have the required scalability or maintainability to sustain growth in volumes or functionality. · Applications face interoperability issues with other applications in the operator's landscape. Integrating a new application or network element requires considerable effort on the part of the other applications. · Application boundaries are not clear, and functionality that is not in the initial scope of that application gets pushed onto it. This results in the development of the multiple, small applications without proper boundaries. · Usage of Legacy OSS/BSS systems, poor Integration across Multiple COTS Products and Internal Systems. Most of the Integrations are developed on ad-hoc basis and Point-to-Point Integration. · Redundancy of the business functions in different applications • Fragmented data across the different applications and no integrated view of the strategic data • Lot of performance Issues due to the usage of the complex integration across OSS and BSS systems However, this is where the maturity of the telecom industry as a whole can be of help. The collaborative efforts of telcos to overcome some of these problems have resulted in bodies like the TM Forum. They have come up with frameworks for business processes, data, applications, and technology for telecom service providers. These could be a good starting point for telcos to clean up their enterprise landscape. Industry Trends in Telecom Reference Architecture Telecom reference architectures are evolving rapidly because telcos are facing business and IT challenges. “The reality is that there probably is no killer application, no silver bullet that the telcos can latch onto to carry them into a 21st Century.... Instead, there are probably hundreds – perhaps thousands – of niche applications.... And the only way to find which of these works for you is to try out lots of them, ramp up the ones that work, and discontinue the ones that fail.” – Martin Creaner President & CTO TM Forum. The following trends have been observed in telecom reference architecture: · Transformation of business structures to align with customer requirements · Adoption of more Internet-like technical architectures. The Web 2.0 concept is increasingly being used. · Virtualization of the traditional operations support system (OSS) · Adoption of SOA to support development of IP-based services · Adoption of frameworks like Service Delivery Platforms (SDPs) and IP Multimedia Subsystem · (IMS) to enable seamless deployment of various services over fixed and mobile networks · Replacement of in-house, customized, and stove-piped OSS/BSS with standards-based COTS products · Compliance with industry standards and frameworks like eTOM, SID, and TAM to enable seamless integration with other standards-based products Drivers of Reference Architecture The drivers of the Reference Architecture are Reference Architecture Goals, Principles, and Enterprise Vision and Telecom Transformation. The details are depicted below diagram. @font-face { font-family: "Cambria"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoCaption, li.MsoCaption, div.MsoCaption { margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; font-size: 9pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; color: rgb(79, 129, 189); font-weight: bold; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; } Figure 1. Drivers for Reference Architecture @font-face { font-family: "Arial"; }@font-face { font-family: "Courier New"; }@font-face { font-family: "Wingdings"; }@font-face { font-family: "Cambria"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraph, li.MsoListParagraph, div.MsoListParagraph { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }ol { margin-bottom: 0cm; }ul { margin-bottom: 0cm; } Today’s telecom reference architectures should seamlessly integrate traditional legacy-based applications and transition to next-generation network technologies (e.g., IP multimedia subsystems). This has resulted in new requirements for flexible, real-time billing and OSS/BSS systems and implications on the service provider’s organizational requirements and structure. Telecom reference architectures are today expected to: · Integrate voice, messaging, email and other VAS over fixed and mobile networks, back end systems · Be able to provision multiple services and service bundles • Deliver converged voice, video and data services · Leverage the existing Network Infrastructure · Provide real-time, flexible billing and charging systems to handle complex promotions, discounts, and settlements with multiple parties. · Support charging of advanced data services such as VoIP, On-Demand, Services (e.g. Video), IMS/SIP Services, Mobile Money, Content Services and IPTV. · Help in faster deployment of new services • Serve as an effective platform for collaboration between network IT and business organizations · Harness the potential of converging technology, networks, devices and content to develop multimedia services and solutions of ever-increasing sophistication on a single Internet Protocol (IP) · Ensure better service delivery and zero revenue leakage through real-time balance and credit management · Lower operating costs to drive profitability Enterprise Reference Architecture The Enterprise Reference Architecture (RA) fills the gap between the concepts and vocabulary defined by the reference model and the implementation. Reference architecture provides detailed architectural information in a common format such that solutions can be repeatedly designed and deployed in a consistent, high-quality, supportable fashion. This paper attempts to describe the Reference Architecture for the Telecom Application Usage and how to achieve the Enterprise Level Reference Architecture using SOA. • Telecom Reference Architecture • Enterprise SOA based Reference Architecture Telecom Reference Architecture Tele Management Forum’s New Generation Operations Systems and Software (NGOSS) is an architectural framework for organizing, integrating, and implementing telecom systems. NGOSS is a component-based framework consisting of the following elements: · The enhanced Telecom Operations Map (eTOM) is a business process framework. · The Shared Information Data (SID) model provides a comprehensive information framework that may be specialized for the needs of a particular organization. · The Telecom Application Map (TAM) is an application framework to depict the functional footprint of applications, relative to the horizontal processes within eTOM. · The Technology Neutral Architecture (TNA) is an integrated framework. TNA is an architecture that is sustainable through technology changes. NGOSS Architecture Standards are: · Centralized data · Loosely coupled distributed systems · Application components/re-use · A technology-neutral system framework with technology specific implementations · Interoperability to service provider data/processes · Allows more re-use of business components across multiple business scenarios · Workflow automation The traditional operator systems architecture consists of four layers, · Business Support System (BSS) layer, with focus toward customers and business partners. Manages order, subscriber, pricing, rating, and billing information. · Operations Support System (OSS) layer, built around product, service, and resource inventories. · Networks layer – consists of Network elements and 3rd Party Systems. · Integration Layer – to maximize application communication and overall solution flexibility. Reference architecture for telecom enterprises is depicted below. @font-face { font-family: "Arial"; }@font-face { font-family: "Courier New"; }@font-face { font-family: "Wingdings"; }@font-face { font-family: "Cambria"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoCaption, li.MsoCaption, div.MsoCaption { margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; font-size: 9pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; color: rgb(79, 129, 189); font-weight: bold; }p.MsoListParagraph, li.MsoListParagraph, div.MsoListParagraph { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }ol { margin-bottom: 0cm; }ul { margin-bottom: 0cm; } Figure 2. Telecom Reference Architecture The major building blocks of any Telecom Service Provider architecture are as follows: 1. Customer Relationship Management CRM encompasses the end-to-end lifecycle of the customer: customer initiation/acquisition, sales, ordering, and service activation, customer care and support, proactive campaigns, cross sell/up sell, and retention/loyalty. CRM also includes the collection of customer information and its application to personalize, customize, and integrate delivery of service to a customer, as well as to identify opportunities for increasing the value of the customer to the enterprise. The key functionalities related to Customer Relationship Management are · Manage the end-to-end lifecycle of a customer request for products. · Create and manage customer profiles. · Manage all interactions with customers – inquiries, requests, and responses. · Provide updates to Billing and other south bound systems on customer/account related updates such as customer/ account creation, deletion, modification, request bills, final bill, duplicate bills, credit limits through Middleware. · Work with Order Management System, Product, and Service Management components within CRM. · Manage customer preferences – Involve all the touch points and channels to the customer, including contact center, retail stores, dealers, self service, and field service, as well as via any media (phone, face to face, web, mobile device, chat, email, SMS, mail, the customer's bill, etc.). · Support single interface for customer contact details, preferences, account details, offers, customer premise equipment, bill details, bill cycle details, and customer interactions. CRM applications interact with customers through customer touch points like portals, point-of-sale terminals, interactive voice response systems, etc. The requests by customers are sent via fulfillment/provisioning to billing system for ordering processing. 2. Billing and Revenue Management Billing and Revenue Management handles the collection of appropriate usage records and production of timely and accurate bills – for providing pre-bill usage information and billing to customers; for processing their payments; and for performing payment collections. In addition, it handles customer inquiries about bills, provides billing inquiry status, and is responsible for resolving billing problems to the customer's satisfaction in a timely manner. This process grouping also supports prepayment for services. The key functionalities provided by these applications are · To ensure that enterprise revenue is billed and invoices delivered appropriately to customers. · To manage customers’ billing accounts, process their payments, perform payment collections, and monitor the status of the account balance. · To ensure the timely and effective fulfillment of all customer bill inquiries and complaints. · Collect the usage records from mediation and ensure appropriate rating and discounting of all usage and pricing. · Support revenue sharing; split charging where usage is guided to an account different from the service consumer. · Support prepaid and post-paid rating. · Send notification on approach / exceeding the usage thresholds as enforced by the subscribed offer, and / or as setup by the customer. · Support prepaid, post paid, and hybrid (where some services are prepaid and the rest of the services post paid) customers and conversion from post paid to prepaid, and vice versa. · Support different billing function requirements like charge prorating, promotion, discount, adjustment, waiver, write-off, account receivable, GL Interface, late payment fee, credit control, dunning, account or service suspension, re-activation, expiry, termination, contract violation penalty, etc. · Initiate direct debit to collect payment against an invoice outstanding. · Send notification to Middleware on different events; for example, payment receipt, pre-suspension, threshold exceed, etc. Billing systems typically get usage data from mediation systems for rating and billing. They get provisioning requests from order management systems and inquiries from CRM systems. Convergent and real-time billing systems can directly get usage details from network elements. 3. Mediation Mediation systems transform/translate the Raw or Native Usage Data Records into a general format that is acceptable to billing for their rating purposes. The following lists the high-level roles and responsibilities executed by the Mediation system in the end-to-end solution. · Collect Usage Data Records from different data sources – like network elements, routers, servers – via different protocol and interfaces. · Process Usage Data Records – Mediation will process Usage Data Records as per the source format. · Validate Usage Data Records from each source. · Segregates Usage Data Records coming from each source to multiple, based on the segregation requirement of end Application. · Aggregates Usage Data Records based on the aggregation rule if any from different sources. · Consolidates multiple Usage Data Records from each source. · Delivers formatted Usage Data Records to different end application like Billing, Interconnect, Fraud Management, etc. · Generates audit trail for incoming Usage Data Records and keeps track of all the Usage Data Records at various stages of mediation process. · Checks duplicate Usage Data Records across files for a given time window. 4. Fulfillment This area is responsible for providing customers with their requested products in a timely and correct manner. It translates the customer's business or personal need into a solution that can be delivered using the specific products in the enterprise's portfolio. This process informs the customers of the status of their purchase order, and ensures completion on time, as well as ensuring a delighted customer. These processes are responsible for accepting and issuing orders. They deal with pre-order feasibility determination, credit authorization, order issuance, order status and tracking, customer update on customer order activities, and customer notification on order completion. Order management and provisioning applications fall into this category. The key functionalities provided by these applications are · Issuing new customer orders, modifying open customer orders, or canceling open customer orders; · Verifying whether specific non-standard offerings sought by customers are feasible and supportable; · Checking the credit worthiness of customers as part of the customer order process; · Testing the completed offering to ensure it is working correctly; · Updating of the Customer Inventory Database to reflect that the specific product offering has been allocated, modified, or cancelled; · Assigning and tracking customer provisioning activities; · Managing customer provisioning jeopardy conditions; and · Reporting progress on customer orders and other processes to customer. These applications typically get orders from CRM systems. They interact with network elements and billing systems for fulfillment of orders. 5. Enterprise Management This process area includes those processes that manage enterprise-wide activities and needs, or have application within the enterprise as a whole. They encompass all business management processes that · Are necessary to support the whole of the enterprise, including processes for financial management, legal management, regulatory management, process, cost, and quality management, etc.; · Are responsible for setting corporate policies, strategies, and directions, and for providing guidelines and targets for the whole of the business, including strategy development and planning for areas, such as Enterprise Architecture, that are integral to the direction and development of the business; · Occur throughout the enterprise, including processes for project management, performance assessments, cost assessments, etc. (i) Enterprise Risk Management: Enterprise Risk Management focuses on assuring that risks and threats to the enterprise value and/or reputation are identified, and appropriate controls are in place to minimize or eliminate the identified risks. The identified risks may be physical or logical/virtual. Successful risk management ensures that the enterprise can support its mission critical operations, processes, applications, and communications in the face of serious incidents such as security threats/violations and fraud attempts. Two key areas covered in Risk Management by telecom operators are: · Revenue Assurance: Revenue assurance system will be responsible for identifying revenue loss scenarios across components/systems, and will help in rectifying the problems. The following lists the high-level roles and responsibilities executed by the Revenue Assurance system in the end-to-end solution. o Identify all usage information dropped when networks are being upgraded. o Interconnect bill verification. o Identify where services are routinely provisioned but never billed. o Identify poor sales policies that are intensifying collections problems. o Find leakage where usage is sent to error bucket and never billed for. o Find leakage where field service, CRM, and network build-out are not optimized. · Fraud Management: Involves collecting data from different systems to identify abnormalities in traffic patterns, usage patterns, and subscription patterns to report suspicious activity that might suggest fraudulent usage of resources, resulting in revenue losses to the operator. The key roles and responsibilities of the system component are as follows: o Fraud management system will capture and monitor high usage (over a certain threshold) in terms of duration, value, and number of calls for each subscriber. The threshold for each subscriber is decided by the system and fixed automatically. o Fraud management will be able to detect the unauthorized access to services for certain subscribers. These subscribers may have been provided unauthorized services by employees. The component will raise the alert to the operator the very first time of such illegal calls or calls which are not billed. o The solution will be to have an alarm management system that will deliver alarms to the operator/provider whenever it detects a fraud, thus minimizing fraud by catching it the first time it occurs. o The Fraud Management system will be capable of interfacing with switches, mediation systems, and billing systems (ii) Knowledge Management This process focuses on knowledge management, technology research within the enterprise, and the evaluation of potential technology acquisitions. Key responsibilities of knowledge base management are to · Maintain knowledge base – Creation and updating of knowledge base on ongoing basis. · Search knowledge base – Search of knowledge base on keywords or category browse · Maintain metadata – Management of metadata on knowledge base to ensure effective management and search. · Run report generator. · Provide content – Add content to the knowledge base, e.g., user guides, operational manual, etc. (iii) Document Management It focuses on maintaining a repository of all electronic documents or images of paper documents relevant to the enterprise using a system. (iv) Data Management It manages data as a valuable resource for any enterprise. For telecom enterprises, the typical areas covered are Master Data Management, Data Warehousing, and Business Intelligence. It is also responsible for data governance, security, quality, and database management. Key responsibilities of Data Management are · Using ETL, extract the data from CRM, Billing, web content, ERP, campaign management, financial, network operations, asset management info, customer contact data, customer measures, benchmarks, process data, e.g., process inputs, outputs, and measures, into Enterprise Data Warehouse. · Management of data traceability with source, data related business rules/decisions, data quality, data cleansing data reconciliation, competitors data – storage for all the enterprise data (customer profiles, products, offers, revenues, etc.) · Get online update through night time replication or physical backup process at regular frequency. · Provide the data access to business intelligence and other systems for their analysis, report generation, and use. (v) Business Intelligence It uses the Enterprise Data to provide the various analysis and reports that contain prospects and analytics for customer retention, acquisition of new customers due to the offers, and SLAs. It will generate right and optimized plans – bolt-ons for the customers. The following lists the high-level roles and responsibilities executed by the Business Intelligence system at the Enterprise Level: · It will do Pattern analysis and reports problem. · It will do Data Analysis – Statistical analysis, data profiling, affinity analysis of data, customer segment wise usage patterns on offers, products, service and revenue generation against services and customer segments. · It will do Performance (business, system, and forecast) analysis, churn propensity, response time, and SLAs analysis. · It will support for online and offline analysis, and report drill down capability. · It will collect, store, and report various SLA data. · It will provide the necessary intelligence for marketing and working on campaigns, etc., with cost benefit analysis and predictions. It will advise on customer promotions with additional services based on loyalty and credit history of customer · It will Interface with Enterprise Data Management system for data to run reports and analysis tasks. It will interface with the campaign schedules, based on historical success evidence. (vi) Stakeholder and External Relations Management It manages the enterprise's relationship with stakeholders and outside entities. Stakeholders include shareholders, employee organizations, etc. Outside entities include regulators, local community, and unions. Some of the processes within this grouping are Shareholder Relations, External Affairs, Labor Relations, and Public Relations. (vii) Enterprise Resource Planning It is used to manage internal and external resources, including tangible assets, financial resources, materials, and human resources. Its purpose is to facilitate the flow of information between all business functions inside the boundaries of the enterprise and manage the connections to outside stakeholders. ERP systems consolidate all business operations into a uniform and enterprise wide system environment. The key roles and responsibilities for Enterprise System are given below: · It will handle responsibilities such as core accounting, financial, and management reporting. · It will interface with CRM for capturing customer account and details. · It will interface with billing to capture the billing revenue and other financial data. · It will be responsible for executing the dunning process. Billing will send the required feed to ERP for execution of dunning. · It will interface with the CRM and Billing through batch interfaces. Enterprise management systems are like horizontals in the enterprise and typically interact with all major telecom systems. E.g., an ERP system interacts with CRM, Fulfillment, and Billing systems for different kinds of data exchanges. 6. External Interfaces/Touch Points The typical external parties are customers, suppliers/partners, employees, shareholders, and other stakeholders. External interactions from/to a Service Provider to other parties can be achieved by a variety of mechanisms, including: · Exchange of emails or faxes · Call Centers · Web Portals · Business-to-Business (B2B) automated transactions These applications provide an Internet technology driven interface to external parties to undertake a variety of business functions directly for themselves. These can provide fully or partially automated service to external parties through various touch points. Typical characteristics of these touch points are · Pre-integrated self-service system, including stand-alone web framework or integration front end with a portal engine · Self services layer exposing atomic web services/APIs for reuse by multiple systems across the architectural environment · Portlets driven connectivity exposing data and services interoperability through a portal engine or web application These touch points mostly interact with the CRM systems for requests, inquiries, and responses. 7. Middleware The component will be primarily responsible for integrating the different systems components under a common platform. It should provide a Standards-Based Platform for building Service Oriented Architecture and Composite Applications. The following lists the high-level roles and responsibilities executed by the Middleware component in the end-to-end solution. · As an integration framework, covering to and fro interfaces · Provide a web service framework with service registry. · Support SOA framework with SOA service registry. · Each of the interfaces from / to Middleware to other components would handle data transformation, translation, and mapping of data points. · Receive data from the caller / activate and/or forward the data to the recipient system in XML format. · Use standard XML for data exchange. · Provide the response back to the service/call initiator. · Provide a tracking until the response completion. · Keep a store transitional data against each call/transaction. · Interface through Middleware to get any information that is possible and allowed from the existing systems to enterprise systems; e.g., customer profile and customer history, etc. · Provide the data in a common unified format to the SOA calls across systems, and follow the Enterprise Architecture directive. · Provide an audit trail for all transactions being handled by the component. 8. Network Elements The term Network Element means a facility or equipment used in the provision of a telecommunications service. Such terms also includes features, functions, and capabilities that are provided by means of such facility or equipment, including subscriber numbers, databases, signaling systems, and information sufficient for billing and collection or used in the transmission, routing, or other provision of a telecommunications service. Typical network elements in a GSM network are Home Location Register (HLR), Intelligent Network (IN), Mobile Switching Center (MSC), SMS Center (SMSC), and network elements for other value added services like Push-to-talk (PTT), Ring Back Tone (RBT), etc. Network elements are invoked when subscribers use their telecom devices for any kind of usage. These elements generate usage data and pass it on to downstream systems like mediation and billing system for rating and billing. They also integrate with provisioning systems for order/service fulfillment. 9. 3rd Party Applications 3rd Party systems are applications like content providers, payment gateways, point of sale terminals, and databases/applications maintained by the Government. Depending on applicability and the type of functionality provided by 3rd party applications, the integration with different telecom systems like CRM, provisioning, and billing will be done. 10. Service Delivery Platform A service delivery platform (SDP) provides the architecture for the rapid deployment, provisioning, execution, management, and billing of value added telecom services. SDPs are based on the concept of SOA and layered architecture. They support the delivery of voice, data services, and content in network and device-independent fashion. They allow application developers to aggregate network capabilities, services, and sources of content. SDPs typically contain layers for web services exposure, service application development, and network abstraction. SOA Reference Architecture SOA concept is based on the principle of developing reusable business service and building applications by composing those services, instead of building monolithic applications in silos. It’s about bridging the gap between business and IT through a set of business-aligned IT services, using a set of design principles, patterns, and techniques. In an SOA, resources are made available to participants in a value net, enterprise, line of business (typically spanning multiple applications within an enterprise or across multiple enterprises). It consists of a set of business-aligned IT services that collectively fulfill an organization’s business processes and goals. We can choreograph these services into composite applications and invoke them through standard protocols. SOA, apart from agility and reusability, enables: · The business to specify processes as orchestrations of reusable services · Technology agnostic business design, with technology hidden behind service interface · A contractual-like interaction between business and IT, based on service SLAs · Accountability and governance, better aligned to business services · Applications interconnections untangling by allowing access only through service interfaces, reducing the daunting side effects of change · Reduced pressure to replace legacy and extended lifetime for legacy applications, through encapsulation in services · A Cloud Computing paradigm, using web services technologies, that makes possible service outsourcing on an on-demand, utility-like, pay-per-usage basis The following section represents the Reference Architecture of logical view for the Telecom Solution. The new custom built application needs to align with this logical architecture in the long run to achieve EA benefits. Packaged implementation applications, such as ERP billing applications, need to expose their functions as service providers (as other applications consume) and interact with other applications as service consumers. COT applications need to expose services through wrappers such as adapters to utilize existing resources and at the same time achieve Enterprise Architecture goal and objectives. The following are the various layers for Enterprise level deployment of SOA. This diagram captures the abstract view of Enterprise SOA layers and important components of each layer. Layered architecture means decomposition of services such that most interactions occur between adjacent layers. However, there is no strict rule that top layers should not directly communicate with bottom layers. The diagram below represents the important logical pieces that would result from overall SOA transformation. @font-face { font-family: "Arial"; }@font-face { font-family: "Courier New"; }@font-face { font-family: "Wingdings"; }@font-face { font-family: "Cambria"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoCaption, li.MsoCaption, div.MsoCaption { margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; font-size: 9pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; color: rgb(79, 129, 189); font-weight: bold; }p.MsoListParagraph, li.MsoListParagraph, div.MsoListParagraph { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }ol { margin-bottom: 0cm; }ul { margin-bottom: 0cm; } Figure 3. Enterprise SOA Reference Architecture 1. Operational System Layer: This layer consists of all packaged applications like CRM, ERP, custom built applications, COTS based applications like Billing, Revenue Management, Fulfilment, and the Enterprise databases that are essential and contribute directly or indirectly to the Enterprise OSS/BSS Transformation. ERP holds the data of Asset Lifecycle Management, Supply Chain, and Advanced Procurement and Human Capital Management, etc. CRM holds the data related to Order, Sales, and Marketing, Customer Care, Partner Relationship Management, Loyalty, etc. Content Management handles Enterprise Search and Query. Billing application consists of the following components: · Collections Management, Customer Billing Management, Invoices, Real-Time Rating, Discounting, and Applying of Charges · Enterprise databases will hold both the application and service data, whether structured or unstructured. MDM - Master data majorly consists of Customer, Order, Product, and Service Data. 2. Enterprise Component Layer: This layer consists of the Application Services and Common Services that are responsible for realizing the functionality and maintaining the QoS of the exposed services. This layer uses container-based technologies such as application servers to implement the components, workload management, high availability, and load balancing. Application Services: This Service Layer enables application, technology, and database abstraction so that the complex accessing logic is hidden from the other service layers. This is a basic service layer, which exposes application functionalities and data as reusable services. The three types of the Application access services are: · Application Access Service: This Service Layer exposes application level functionalities as a reusable service between BSS to BSS and BSS to OSS integration. This layer is enabled using disparate technology such as Web Service, Integration Servers, and Adaptors, etc. · Data Access Service: This Service Layer exposes application data services as a reusable reference data service. This is done via direct interaction with application data. and provides the federated query. · Network Access Service: This Service Layer exposes provisioning layer as a reusable service from OSS to OSS integration. This integration service emphasizes the need for high performance, stateless process flows, and distributed design. Common Services encompasses management of structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data such as information services, portal services, interaction services, infrastructure services, and security services, etc. 3. Integration Layer: This consists of service infrastructure components like service bus, service gateway for partner integration, service registry, service repository, and BPEL processor. Service bus will carry the service invocation payloads/messages between consumers and providers. The other important functions expected from it are itinerary based routing, distributed caching of routing information, transformations, and all qualities of service for messaging-like reliability, scalability, and availability, etc. Service registry will hold all contracts (wsdl) of services, and it helps developers to locate or discover service during design time or runtime. • BPEL processor would be useful in orchestrating the services to compose a complex business scenario or process. • Workflow and business rules management are also required to support manual triggering of certain activities within business process. based on the rules setup and also the state machine information. Application, data, and service mediation layer typically forms the overall composite application development framework or SOA Framework. 4. Business Process Layer: These are typically the intermediate services layer and represent Shared Business Process Services. At Enterprise Level, these services are from Customer Management, Order Management, Billing, Finance, and Asset Management application domains. 5. Access Layer: This layer consists of portals for Enterprise and provides a single view of Enterprise information management and dashboard services. 6. Channel Layer: This consists of various devices; applications that form part of extended enterprise; browsers through which users access the applications. 7. Client Layer: This designates the different types of users accessing the enterprise applications. The type of user typically would be an important factor in determining the level of access to applications. 8. Vertical pieces like management, monitoring, security, and development cut across all horizontal layers Management and monitoring involves all aspects of SOA-like services, SLAs, and other QoS lifecycle processes for both applications and services surrounding SOA governance. 9. EA Governance, Reference Architecture, Roadmap, Principles, and Best Practices: EA Governance is important in terms of providing the overall direction to SOA implementation within the enterprise. This involves board-level involvement, in addition to business and IT executives. At a high level, this involves managing the SOA projects implementation, managing SOA infrastructure, and controlling the entire effort through all fine-tuned IT processes in accordance with COBIT (Control Objectives for Information Technology). Devising tools and techniques to promote reuse culture, and the SOA way of doing things needs competency centers to be established in addition to training the workforce to take up new roles that are suited to SOA journey. Conclusions Reference Architectures can serve as the basis for disparate architecture efforts throughout the organization, even if they use different tools and technologies. Reference architectures provide best practices and approaches in the independent way a vendor deals with technology and standards. Reference Architectures model the abstract architectural elements for an enterprise independent of the technologies, protocols, and products that are used to implement an SOA. Telecom enterprises today are facing significant business and technology challenges due to growing competition, a multitude of services, and convergence. Adopting architectural best practices could go a long way in meeting these challenges. The use of SOA-based architecture for communication to each of the external systems like Billing, CRM, etc., in OSS/BSS system has made the architecture very loosely coupled, with greater flexibility. Any change in the external systems would be absorbed at the Integration Layer without affecting the rest of the ecosystem. The use of a Business Process Management (BPM) tool makes the management and maintenance of the business processes easy, with better performance in terms of lead time, quality, and cost. Since the Architecture is based on standards, it will lower the cost of deploying and managing OSS/BSS applications over their lifecycles.

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Ubuntu 12.04 on Amazon EC2: /dev/xvda1 will be checked for errors at next reboot?

- by cwd

I'm running the lastest Ubuntu 12.04 AMI (ami-a29943cb) from Canonical on Amazon EC2 and quite often when I log in I get the message: *** /dev/xvda1 will be checked for errors at next reboot *** I have read a bunch of documentation on this and seem to understand that every so many reboots (around 37 see Mount count / Maximum mount count below) Ubuntu wants to check a disk for errors. I can see that by using dumpe2fs -h /dev/xvda1 (reference) to get information such as: Last mounted on: / Filesystem UUID: 1ad27d06-4ecf-493d-bb19-4710c3caf924 Filesystem magic number: 0xEF53 Filesystem revision #: 1 (dynamic) Filesystem features: has_journal ext_attr resize_inode dir_index filetype needs_recovery extent flex_bg sparse_super large_file huge_file uninit_bg dir_nlink extra_isize Filesystem flags: signed_directory_hash Default mount options: (none) Filesystem state: clean Errors behavior: Continue Filesystem OS type: Linux Inode count: 524288 Block count: 2097152 Reserved block count: 104857 Free blocks: 1778055 Free inodes: 482659 First block: 0 Block size: 4096 Fragment size: 4096 Reserved GDT blocks: 511 Blocks per group: 32768 Fragments per group: 32768 Inodes per group: 8192 Inode blocks per group: 512 Flex block group size: 16 Filesystem created: Tue Apr 24 03:07:48 2012 Last mount time: Thu Nov 8 03:17:58 2012 Last write time: Tue Apr 24 03:08:52 2012 Mount count: 3 Maximum mount count: 37 Last checked: Tue Apr 24 03:07:48 2012 Check interval: 15552000 (6 months) Next check after: Sun Oct 21 03:07:48 2012 Lifetime writes: 2454 MB Reserved blocks uid: 0 (user root) Reserved blocks gid: 0 (group root) First inode: 11 Inode size: 256 Required extra isize: 28 Desired extra isize: 28 Journal inode: 8 Default directory hash: half_md4 Directory Hash Seed: 0a25e04c-6169-4d68-bfa6-a1acd8e39632 Journal backup: inode blocks Journal features: journal_incompat_revoke Journal size: 128M Journal length: 32768 Journal sequence: 0x0000158b Journal start: 1 I've tried these things to get rid of the message and usually the badblocks is what does it for me: Run this command and reboot: sudo touch /forcefsck Run badblocks to check the disk: badblocks /dev/sda1 Edit /etc/fstab and change the last "0" which is the fs_passno column accordingly and then reboot: The root filesystem should be specified with a fs_passno of 1, and other filesystems should have a fs_passno of 2. I don't understand: If this is a virtual drive shouldn't it be less prone to errors? Was the image created with one of the flags set? If not what is triggering it? Why is fs_passno set to 0 on Amazon EC2 Ubuntu images? This is not the first one that is like this.

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Dependency Injection in ASP.NET MVC NerdDinner App using Ninject

- by shiju

In this post, I am applying Dependency Injection to the NerdDinner application using Ninject. The controllers of NerdDinner application have Dependency Injection enabled constructors. So we can apply Dependency Injection through constructor without change any existing code. A Dependency Injection framework injects the dependencies into a class when the dependencies are needed. Dependency Injection enables looser coupling between classes and their dependencies and provides better testability of an application and it removes the need for clients to know about their dependencies and how to create them. If you are not familiar with Dependency Injection and Inversion of Control (IoC), read Martin Fowler’s article Inversion of Control Containers and the Dependency Injection pattern. The Open Source Project NerDinner is a great resource for learning ASP.NET MVC. A free eBook provides an end-to-end walkthrough of building NerdDinner.com application. The free eBook and the Open Source Nerddinner application are extremely useful if anyone is trying to lean ASP.NET MVC. The first release of Nerddinner was as a sample for the first chapter of Professional ASP.NET MVC 1.0. Currently the application is updating to ASP.NET MVC 2 and you can get the latest source from the source code tab of Nerddinner at http://nerddinner.codeplex.com/SourceControl/list/changesets. I have taken the latest ASP.NET MVC 2 source code of the application and applied Dependency Injection using Ninject and Ninject extension Ninject.Web.Mvc.Ninject & Ninject.Web.MvcNinject is available at http://github.com/enkari/ninject and Ninject.Web.Mvc is available at http://github.com/enkari/ninject.web.mvcNinject is a lightweight and a great dependency injection framework for .NET. Ninject is a great choice of dependency injection framework when building ASP.NET MVC applications. Ninject.Web.Mvc is an extension for ninject which providing integration with ASP.NET MVC.Controller constructors and dependencies of NerdDinner application Listing 1 – Constructor of DinnersController public DinnersController(IDinnerRepository repository) { dinnerRepository = repository; } Listing 2 – Constrcutor of AccountControllerpublic AccountController(IFormsAuthentication formsAuth, IMembershipService service) { FormsAuth = formsAuth ?? new FormsAuthenticationService(); MembershipService = service ?? new AccountMembershipService(); } Listing 3 – Constructor of AccountMembership – Concrete class of IMembershipService public AccountMembershipService(MembershipProvider provider) { _provider = provider ?? Membership.Provider; } Dependencies of NerdDinnerDinnersController, RSVPController SearchController and ServicesController have a dependency with IDinnerRepositiry. The concrete implementation of IDinnerRepositiry is DinnerRepositiry. AccountController has dependencies with IFormsAuthentication and IMembershipService. The concrete implementation of IFormsAuthentication is FormsAuthenticationService and the concrete implementation of IMembershipService is AccountMembershipService. The AccountMembershipService has a dependency with ASP.NET Membership Provider. Dependency Injection in NerdDinner using NinjectThe below steps will configure Ninject to apply controller injection in NerdDinner application.Step 1 – Add reference for NinjectOpen the NerdDinner application and add reference to Ninject.dll and Ninject.Web.Mvc.dll. Both are available from http://github.com/enkari/ninject and http://github.com/enkari/ninject.web.mvcStep 2 – Extend HttpApplication with NinjectHttpApplication Ninject.Web.Mvc extension allows integration between the Ninject and ASP.NET MVC. For this, you have to extend your HttpApplication with NinjectHttpApplication. Open the Global.asax.cs and inherit your MVC application from NinjectHttpApplication instead of HttpApplication. public class MvcApplication : NinjectHttpApplication Then the Application_Start method should be replace with OnApplicationStarted method. Inside the OnApplicationStarted method, call the RegisterAllControllersIn() method. protected override void OnApplicationStarted() { AreaRegistration.RegisterAllAreas(); RegisterRoutes(RouteTable.Routes); ViewEngines.Engines.Clear(); ViewEngines.Engines.Add(new MobileCapableWebFormViewEngine()); RegisterAllControllersIn(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly()); } The RegisterAllControllersIn method will enables to activating all controllers through Ninject in the assembly you have supplied .We are passing the current assembly as parameter for RegisterAllControllersIn() method. Now we can expose dependencies of controller constructors and properties to request injectionsStep 3 – Create Ninject ModulesWe can configure your dependency injection mapping information using Ninject Modules.Modules just need to implement the INinjectModule interface, but most should extend the NinjectModule class for simplicity. internal class ServiceModule : NinjectModule { public override void Load() { Bind<IFormsAuthentication>().To<FormsAuthenticationService>(); Bind<IMembershipService>().To<AccountMembershipService>(); Bind<MembershipProvider>().ToConstant(Membership.Provider); Bind<IDinnerRepository>().To<DinnerRepository>(); } } The above Binding inforamtion specified in the Load method tells the Ninject container that, to inject instance of DinnerRepositiry when there is a request for IDinnerRepositiry and inject instance of FormsAuthenticationService when there is a request for IFormsAuthentication and inject instance of AccountMembershipService when there is a request for IMembershipService. The AccountMembershipService class has a dependency with ASP.NET Membership provider. So we configure that inject the instance of Membership Provider. When configuring the binding information, you can specify the object scope in you application.There are four built-in scopes available in Ninject:Transient - A new instance of the type will be created each time one is requested. (This is the default scope). Binding method is .InTransientScope() Singleton - Only a single instance of the type will be created, and the same instance will be returned for each subsequent request. Binding method is .InSingletonScope()Thread - One instance of the type will be created per thread. Binding method is .InThreadScope() Request - One instance of the type will be created per web request, and will be destroyed when the request ends. Binding method is .InRequestScope() Step 4 – Configure the Ninject KernelOnce you create NinjectModule, you load them into a container called the kernel. To request an instance of a type from Ninject, you call the Get() extension method. We can configure the kernel, through the CreateKernel method in the Global.asax.cs. protected override IKernel CreateKernel() { var modules = new INinjectModule[] { new ServiceModule() }; return new StandardKernel(modules); } Here we are loading the Ninject Module (ServiceModule class created in the step 3) onto the container called the kernel for performing dependency injection.Source CodeYou can download the source code from http://nerddinneraddons.codeplex.com. I just put the modified source code onto CodePlex repository. The repository will update with more add-ons for the NerdDinner application.

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Troubles with start up defenition of networking service in Ubuntu

- by Rodnower

I use Ubuntu 12.04.1. I put attention that networking script starting in runlevel 0: user@comp:/etc/rc0.d$ chkconfig -l networking networking 0:on 1:off 2:off 3:off 4:off 5:off 6:off When I try to move it working to appropriate run levels I get error: user@comp:/etc/rc0.d$ sudo update-rc.d networking defaults update-rc.d: warning: networking start runlevel arguments (2 3 4 5) do not match LSB Default-Start values (none) update-rc.d: warning: networking stop runlevel arguments (0 1 6) do not match LSB Default-Stop values (0 6) System start/stop links for /etc/init.d/networking already exist. What should I do?

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How to Customize the File Open/Save Dialog Box in Windows

- by Lori Kaufman

Generally, there are two kinds of Open/Save dialog boxes in Windows. One kind looks like Windows Explorer, with the tree on the left containing Favorites, Libraries, Computer, etc. The other kind contains a vertical toolbar, called the Places Bar. The Windows Explorer-style Open/Save dialog box can be customized by adding your own folders to the Favorites list. You can, then, click the arrows to the left of the main items, except the Favorites, to collapse them, leaving only the list of default and custom Favorites. The Places Bar is located along the left side of the File Open/Save dialog box and contains buttons providing access to frequently-used folders. The default buttons on the Places Bar are links to Recent Places, Desktop, Libraries, Computer, and Network. However, you change these links to be links to custom folders of your choice. We will show you how to customize the Places Bar using the registry and using a free tool in case you are not comfortable making changes in the registry. Use Your Android Phone to Comparison Shop: 4 Scanner Apps Reviewed How to Run Android Apps on Your Desktop the Easy Way HTG Explains: Do You Really Need to Defrag Your PC?

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Python version issues

- by MidnightLightning

I have a Mac which uses MacPorts to have multiple versions of Python installed and use the python_select application to switch between them. Currently, this Mac has OS 10.6.6, which comes with Python 2.6.1 installed as /usr/bin/python. Using MacPorts, I've installed the python27, python31, and python_select ports and now have this issue: python_select seems to not be switching the default python properly: $ which python /usr/bin/python $ python -V Python 2.6.1 $ /usr/bin/python -V Python 2.6.1 $ sudo python_select python27 Selecting version "python27" for python $ which python /opt/local/bin/python $ ls -l /opt/local/bin/python lrwxr-xr-x 1 root admin 24B Mar 18 10:24 /opt/local/bin/python -> /opt/local/bin/python2.7 $ python -V Python 2.6.1 # <-- Wrong!!! $ /opt/local/bin/python -V Python 2.7.1 # <-- Why are you not default? So, after running python_select, which python seems to think that the /opt/local/bin version is going to be used, but in reality, it seems that the /usr/bin one is taking precedent unless I specifically call the /opt/local/bin one. Is there something I'm doing wrong?

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