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I want to change DPI with Imagemagick without changing the actual byte-size of the image data

- by user1694803

I feel so horribly sorry that I have to ask this question here, but after hours of researching how to do an actually very simple task I'm still failing... In Gimp there is a very simple way to do what I want. I only have the German dialog installed but I'll try to translate it. I'm talking about going to "Picture-PrintingSize" and then adjusting the Values "X-Resolution" and "Y-Resolution" which are known to me as so called DPI values. You can also choose the format which by default is "Pixel/Inch". (In German the dialog is "Bild-Druckgröße" and there "X-Auflösung" and "Y-Auflösung") Ok, the values there are often "72" by default. When I change them to e.g. "300" this has the effect that the image stays the same on the computer, but if I print it, it will be smaller if you look at it, but all the details are still there, just smaller - it has a higher resolution on the printed paper (but smaller size... which is fine for me). I am often doing that when I am working with LaTeX, or to be exact with the command "pdflatex" on a recent Ubuntu-Machine. When I'm doing the above process with Gimp manually everything works just fine. The images will appear smaller in the resulting PDF but with high printing quality. What I am trying to do is to automate the process of going into Gimp and adjusting the DPI values. Since Imagemagick is known to be superb and I used it for many other tasks I tried to achieve my goal with this tool. But it does just not do what I want. After trying a lot of things I think this actually is be the command that should be my friend: convert input.png -density 300 output.png This should set the DPI to 300, as I can read everywhere in the web. It seems to work. When I check the file it stays the same. file input.png output.png input.png: PNG image data, 611 x 453, 8-bit grayscale, non-interlaced output.png: PNG image data, 611 x 453, 8-bit grayscale, non-interlaced When I use this command, it seems like it did what I wanted: identify -verbose output.png | grep 300 Resolution: 300x300 PNG:pHYs : x_res=300, y_res=300, units=0 (Funny enough, the same output comes for input.png which confuses me... so this might be the wrong parameters to watch?) But when I now render my TeX with "pdflatex" the image is still big and blurry. Also when I open the image with Gimp again the DPI values are set to "72" instead of "300". So there actually was no effect at all. Now what is the problem here. Am I getting something completely wrong? I can't be that wrong since everything works just fine with Gimp... Thanks for any help in this. I am also open to other automated solutions which are easily done on a Linux system...

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WDS DHCP same server on Windows Server 2008

- by Richard

I have been struggling with a problem on my Windows Server 2008 for the past 4 - 5 hours and cannot figure out whats wrong. I have tried pretty much everything that I found on google and all the links are purple. Hopefully you guys can help me. I am running a Windows Server 2008 Standard edition with the latest updates as of today. Furthermore I am running a Windows Server 2003. Both are virtual machines on my ESXi 5 server. My network is: 192.168.10.0/24 W2k8: 192.168.10.251 is the PDC running ADS, DHCP and WDS W2k3: 192.168.10.253 AND 192.168.1.175 running Routing and Remote Access and ISA 2006 Enterprise In my internal network (192.168.10.0/24) I have my client machine (192.168.10.10) that runs a VMWare Workstation. I am trying to deploy Windows 7 Home Premium to a virtual machine on my VMWorkstation via PXE. I have set the Workstation's VM network adapter to "bridged" so that it uses the physical network adapter and is connected to my internal network. The DHCP pool is configured to give IP addresses from 192.168.10.10-192.168.10.15 (works for normal clients and is not used up) When I start my VM with the PXE I get the error: PXE-E52:proxyDHCP offers were received. No DHCP offers were received Apperently this means "that means that WDS responded but the DHCP server did not." People suggested to direct the traffic to both WDS and DHCP on the router, since everything is on the same subnet there is no need for that as the broadcast is seen by everyone (WDS and DHCP) No reservation for the virtual mac addrs is made on the DHCP. Furthermore it was suggested to configure the DHCP options: Option 60= PXEClient Option 66= WDS server name or IP address Option 67= Boot file name However, this is not recommended by Microsoft, I tried it and it did not solve my problem. The configuration on the WDS (My System is German therefore the actual naming might be different): PXE response tab: PXE responses is set to "ALL (known and unknown)" DHCP Tab: Do not listen to port 67 is NOT ticked - if I tick this I do not get any responses and the PXE errors gets PXE-E51 that neither DHCP or proxyDHCP were received DHCP-Option 60 for "PXEClient" is ticked The confusing part here is that it is advised in the tab to tick the first option since it is on the same server. Network Configuration Tab: Use the following IP-Address range for Multicast-IP-Address: 224.0.1.0 - 224.0.10.0 Thats not the default one, however it is in the allowed range. The UDP port range is the default since it is not advised to change them. I tried to change the "networkprofile" from 100mbits/1gbits and custom. I am running a 1gbit network with CAT6 cables and 1gbit netgear switch 5 ports. Everything is configured to use 1gbit. The WDS is authorised for the DHCP server. My ISA 2006 configuration: For the internal networking i have configured the following policy array: Allow protocols on internal network including the w2k3 host: 67,68,53,ICMP, 4011 UDP receive, 64001-6500 UDP send receive, 69 UDP send Routing and Remote Access I tried the DHCP relay agent configuration that was suggested as well, but that did not work I would highly appreciate anykind of help because I am pretty much done here with my nerves. Thank you very much in advance.

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Fix overscan in Linux with Intel graphics Vizio HDTV

- by Padenton

I am connecting my server to my HDTV so that I can conveniently display it there. My VIZIO HDTV cuts off all 4 edges. I already realize it is not optimal to be running a GUI on a server; this server will not have much external traffic so I prefer it for convenience. I have already spent countless hours searching for a fix, but all I could find required an ATI or NVIDIA graphics card, or didn’t work. In Windows, the Intel driver has a setting for underscan, though it seems only to be available by a glitch. Here’s my specs: Ubuntu Linux (Quantal 12.10) (Likely to switch to Arch) This is a home server computer, with KDE for managing(for now, at least) Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 4000 from Ivy Bridge Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 CPU: Intel Core i5-3450 My monitors: Dell LCD monitor Vizio VX37L_HDTV10A 37" on HDMI input I have tried all of the following from both HDMI?HDMI and DVI?HDMI cables connected to the ports on my motherboard: Setting properties in xrandr Making sure drivers are all up to date Trying several different modes The TV was “cheap”; max resolution 1080i. I am able to get a 1920x1080 modeline, in both GNU/Linux and Windows, without difficulty. There is no setting in the menu to fix the overscan (I have tried all of them, I realize it’s not always called overscan). I have been in the service menu for the TV, which still does not contain an option to fix it. No aspect ratio settings, etc. The TV has a VGA connector but I am unsure if it would fix it, as I don’t have a VGA cable long enough, and am not sure it would get me the 1920x1080 resolution which I want. Using another resolution does not fix the problem. I tried custom modelines with the dimensions of my screen’s viewable area, but it wouldn’t let me use them. Ubuntu apparently doesn’t automatically generate an xorg.conf file for use. I read somewhere that modifying it may help solve it. I tried X -configure several times(with reboots, etc.) but it consistently gave the following error messages: In log file: … (WW) Falling back to old probe method for vesa Number of created screens does not match number of detected devices. Configuration failed. In output: … (++) Using config file: "/root/xorg.conf.new" (==) Using system config directory "/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d" Number of created screens does not match number of detected devices. Configuration failed. Server terminated with error (2). Closing log file. Tried using 'overscan' prop in xrandr: root@xxx:/home/xxx# xrandr --output HDMI1 --set overscan off X Error of failed request: BadName (named color or font does not exist) Major opcode of failed request: 140 (RANDR) Minor opcode of failed request: 11 (RRQueryOutputProperty) Serial number of failed request: 42 Current serial number in output stream: 42 'overscan on', 'underscan off', 'underscan on' were all also tried. Originally tried with Ubuntu 12.04, but failed and so updated to 12.10 when it was released. All software is up to date. I am not opposed to reinstalling my OS, likely will anyways (my preference being Arch).

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Moving users folder on Windows-7 to another partition - bad idea?

- by Donat

Hi, I'd like to re-submit here a question posted by Benjol on Aug 17at 5:57 "Moving users folder on Windows Vista to another partition - bad idea?" (I can't post one than one link until I earn "10 reputation" and removed my "answer" there to post my follow-up questions here). I am anxiously getting ready at long last to to carry out a clean install (using custom install option) from Vista to Windows-7 Home Premium 64bit with the free upgrade I received late October. For my Vista system I successfully set-up last Summer a multi-partitions scheme with Users and Program Data on a a different partition than the operating system (see link below, and its subsequent links in my comment for details). http://tuts4tech.net/2009/08/05/windows-7-move-the-users-and-program-files-directories-to-a-different-partition/comment-page-1/#comment-562 I was planning a similar set-up for windows 7, a little more streamlined, with OS, Program Files on C:, Users and Program Data on D:, and TV media recording on a separate partition. Reading the Question submitted by Benjol, I am second guessing too. Is moving Users and Program Data on a different partition than the default primary partition with OS and Program Files such a good idea? The couple of people I talked to at the official Microsoft Windows 7 booth at CES 2010 gave the same answer to the intention of moving the Users profile folder to another partition. In a nutshell, they all told me that they used to do this in XP and less in Vista but not anymore with Windows 7... "It is stable, after two months still no problem" I had the feeling it was a scripted answer to emphasize how Windows 7 is so stable and efficient... (Will Windows-7 system not become bugged down over the course of several months to a year or two? Only time will tell) Long story short, I share the same view than Benjol expressed with respect to being "able to backup and restore system and user data independently." I just received a 2TB usb2, eSATA external hard drive as a back-up drive, which includes NTI Shadow 4 (4.1.0.150) for back-up solution. I took note of the issue with NTUSER.DAT and I will read more about Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) for Windows 7. I am willing to put the effort if placing Users and Program Data on a different partition would allow to restore a fresher OS+Program image when the system gets bugged down. Questions: Is it such a bad idea? What is the "easy route" referred by Benjol in his post? Is it to just relocate folders to another partition using the Folder property tool? (It is not practical for several users and might not provide a straightforward restore process of just OS and Program Files when needed.) I am starting to learn about Windows 7 libraries. Would Windows 7 libraries be another alternative to achieve this? All this reading to decide how to organize the partition scheme for my custom system is starting to be confusing. I apologize for this lengthy Question. It is my first day here on SuperUser and I am just learning how different from a discussion thread it is. Thank you in advance for all your suggestions and comments. Donat

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Where should I go with hosting my site: VPS, GAE, another option?

- by Jonathan Hayward

My website, http://JonathansCorner.com/, began life before 1994 as www.imsa.edu/~jhayward/ and has been through various iterations and improvements to content, HTML, and the like, but remains a literature site that is from a web administrator's perspective fairly simple and primitive: a fair amount of static HTML and supporting files, a little bit of CGI and URI rewriting, .htaccess files providing Expires: headers and the like. An associated site demoes various CGI scripts that fall under the category of "and other creations"; the site as a whole has the purpose of sharing my creative works, and so far a fairly rudimentary use of Apache functionality, supported by Unix tools to, for instance, update RSS feed and the "starting point" link on the home page, has served that purpose fairly well. I looked around here on web hosting, and found the note on web host reccommendations as a good note for "What are some of people's favorite web hosts overall," but I wanted to ask a more focused question of "What are the best web hosts for criteria XYZ:" I am looking at a VPS so I will have root, be able to install stuff and edit Apache's config files etc., running Gentoo or other Linux, BSD, or the like. I would like a system that is secure enough that the host's vulnerabilities are mostly the ones that come along with what I am trying to do: that is, I won't be trying to administer and secure an ancient Linux like some have complained about at 1and1. I would like good uptime/reliability and competent support staff: if the level 1 help desk is going to tell me to go to "My Computer" on a Linux box, I'd like to be able to get past them. Ideally I would like a site hosted within some place that will have low latency for U.S. visitors in particular. I would like a hosting solution that will be with a stable business, one that will probably be around, and one unlikely to vanish without warning. With those things specified, I would be interested in knowing what are the less expensive options. (I expect that some of the things I've specified will knock out all of the cheapest options, but I'm still interested in price.) With all that stated, I'd like to back up a bit and look at whether I am asking the right question. I am concerned that the above is a very good way of asking, "How can I keep my site in line with the wave of the past?" I am wondering if it might be specifically wiser to look to adapt my site to newer technologies instead of trying to keep it on older technologies. For instance, while I would hardly portray my site as a way to show off the full power of Google App Engine, the main site at least should be a straightforward port if I were to do that. And beyond Google App Engine, my knowledge of cloud solutions is basic. If it is a better and more future-proof solution to port my site to another kind of solution, I would be interested in knowing where those future-proof solutions lie. So I would be interested in wisdom. If the question I asked in detail is still a good question to be asking, what would people suggest? Or if I should seriously consider porting my site to a newer basic option, what should I try there? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

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ISP 5 Device Limit ... again

- by Tommo

Sorry for the delay in responding to the suggestions that were posted in my first question (ISP 5 Device Limit - double NAT the solution?). I've been travelling and have not been able to try anything. Below is what I've tried and where I have not been successful. Any more help gratefully appreciated. I figure I need to give a more comprehensive overview of what I've got and how it's set up. First of all - I am using all Apple products here. I am iMac, iPad, iPhone, Apple TV, Airport Express and Time Capsule. I used to like the way that it 'just worked'. Now I find that it requires a bit of encouragement before it 'just works'. So, as I stated in my original question; my ISP has a router in my building that is limiting me to 5 devices. I am hard wired into this router and I can neither access it physically nor logically (they won't let me access it). Also, I only appear to be able to connect to it through the LAN ports on my Time Capsule. Any device I connect appears to be on a rolling IP list with the following settings: Router 91.72.80.1 Devices then get assigned IPv4 addresses in the range (as far as I can see) from 91.72.80.2 onwards. SubNet Mask 255.255.255.0 DNS Servers 213.132.63.25, 80.227.2.4 I have my Time Capsule / Router in Bridge-Mode which means I am limited to the 5 devices and cannot use Guest Networks etc. What I've tried today. Static IPs: On all devices, I went from DHCP to Static and put in the same information when they had connected using DHCP. Somewhat surprisingly this did not work. None of the devices enjoyed any connection to the router and certainly no internet connection. Intentional Double-NAT - Time Capsule to 'DHCP and NAT': By selecting DHCP and NAT on my Router I was able to connect devices to my Time Capsule in the range 10.0.1.2 to 10.0.1.200. This offered no internet connectivity and didn't really help the situation. In this mode, however, I was able to force the devices - individually and laboriously - to look for the Router and previously listed DNSs by inputting the numbers from 'Bridge-mode' into the STATIC settings and then resetting the connection. The Router then appeared to assign a distinct IP address to the device and it worked on the network. I had this working for more than 5 devices. However, this is not a great solution because as soon as one of the mobile devices left the building it needed repointing to the Router. The connections were also not very stable. Especially when trying to hold onto a VPN. Spoofing a few MAC addresses: I'm afraid I don't really know what this would achieve, nor how to do it on an Apple device… So … I'm almost back at Square One. I have had to withdraw to the Bridge-Mode position again with the 5 device limit to see if there's a better course of action to follow. ANY help would be much appreciated. I am positive that I cannot be the only one suffering under this 5 device limit!

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SQLAuthority News – 1600 Blog Post Articles – A Milestone

- by pinaldave

It was really a very interesting moment for me when I was writing my 1600th milestone blog post. Now it`s a lot more exciting because this time it`s my 1600th blog post. Every time I write a milestone blog post such as this, I have the same excitement as when I was writing my very first blog post. Today I want to write about a few statistics of the blog. Statistics I am frequently asked about my blog stats, so I have already published my blog stats which are measured by WordPress.com. Currently, I have more than 22 Million+ Views on this blog from various sources. There are more than 6200+ feed subscribers in Google Reader only; I think I don`t have to count all other subscribers. My LinkedIn has 1250+ connection, while my Twitter has 2150+. Because I feel that I`m well connected with the Community, I am very thankful to you, my readers. Today I also want to say Thank You to those experts who have helped me to improve. I have maintained a list of all the articles I have written. If you go to my first articles, you will notice that they were a little different from the articles I am writing today. The reason for this is simple: I have two kinds of people helping me write all the better: readers and experts. To my Readers You read the articles and gave me feedback about what was right or wrong, what you liked or disliked. Quite often, you were helpful in writing guest posts, and I also recognize how you were a bit brutal in criticizing some articles, making me re-write them. Because of you, I was able to write better blog posts. To Experts You read the articles and helped me improve. I get inspiration from you and learned a lot from you. Just like everybody, I am a guy who is trying to learn. There are times when I had vague understanding of some subjects, and you did not hesitate to help me. Number of Posts Many ask me if the number of posts is important to me. My answer is YES. Actually, it`s just not about the number of my posts; it is about my blog, my routine, my learning experience and my journey. During the last four years, I have decided that I would be learning one thing a day. This blog has helped me accomplish this goal because in here I have been able to keep my notes and bookmarks. Whatever I learn or experience, I blog and share it with the Community. For me, the blog post number is more than just a number: it`s a summary of my experiences and memories. Once again, thanks for reading and supporting my blog! Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: About Me, Pinal Dave, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Milestone, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLAuthority News, SQLServer, T SQL, Technology

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SQLAuthority News – Wireless Router Security and Attached Devices – Complex Password

- by pinaldave

In the last four days (April 21-24), I have received calls from friends who told me that they have got strange emails from me. To my surprise, I did not send them any emails. I was not worried until my wife complained that she was not able to find one of the very important folders containing our daughter’s photo that is located in our shared drive. This was alarming in my par, so I started a search around my computer’s folders. Again, please note that I am by no means a security expert. I checked my entire computer with virus and spyware, and strangely, there I found nothing. I tried to think what can cause this happening. I suddenly realized that there was a power outage in my area for about two hours during the days I have mentioned. Back then, my wireless router needed to be reset, and so I did. I had set up my WPA-PSK [TKIP] + WPA2-PSK [AES] very well. My key was very simple ( ‘SQLAuthority1′), and I never thought of changing it. (It is now replaced with a very complex one). While checking the Attached Devices, I found out that there was another very strange computer name and IP attached to my network. And so as soon as I found out that there is strange device attached to my computer, I shutdown my local network. Afterwards, I reconfigured my wireless router with a more complex security key. Since I created the complex password, I noticed that the user is no more connecting to my machine. Subsequently, I figured out that I can also set up Access Control List. I added my networked computer to that list as well. When I tried to connect from an external laptop which was not in the list but with a valid security key, I was not able to access the network, neither able to connect to it. I wasn’t also able to connect using a remote desktop, so I think it was good. If you have received any nasty emails from me (from my gmail account) during the afore-mentioned days, I want to apologize. I am already paying for my negligence of not putting a complex password; by way of losing the important photos of my daughter. I have already checked with my client, whose password I saved in SSMS, so there was no issue at all. In fact, I have decided to never leave any saved password of production server in my SSMS. Here is the tip SQL SERVER – Clear Drop Down List of Recent Connection From SQL Server Management Studio to clean them. I think after doing all this, I am feeling safe right now. However, I believe that safety is an illusion of many times. I need your help and advice if there is anymore I can do to stop unauthorized access. I am seeking advice and help through your comments. Reference : Pinal Dave (http://www.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Security, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLAuthority News, T SQL, Technology

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Configuring Fed Authentication Methods in OIF / IdP

- by Damien Carru

In this article, I will provide examples on how to configure OIF/IdP to map OAM Authentication Schemes to Federation Authentication Methods, based on the concepts introduced in my previous entry. I will show examples for the three protocols supported by OIF: SAML 2.0 SSO SAML 1.1 SSO OpenID 2.0 Enjoy the reading! Configuration As I mentioned in my previous article, mapping Federation Authentication Methods to OAM Authentication Schemes is protocol dependent, since the methods are defined in the various protocols (SAML 2.0, SAML 1.1, OpenID 2.0). As such, the WLST commands to set those mappings will involve: Either the SP Partner Profile and affect all Partners referencing that profile, which do not override the Federation Authentication Method to OAM Authentication Scheme mappings Or the SP Partner entry, which will only affect the SP Partner It is important to note that if an SP Partner is configured to define one or more Federation Authentication Method to OAM Authentication Scheme mappings, then all the mappings defined in the SP Partner Profile will be ignored. WLST Commands The two OIF WLST commands that can be used to define mapping Federation Authentication Methods to OAM Authentication Schemes are: addSPPartnerProfileAuthnMethod() to define a mapping on an SP Partner Profile, taking as parameters: The name of the SP Partner Profile The Federation Authentication Method The OAM Authentication Scheme name addSPPartnerAuthnMethod() to define a mapping on an SP Partner , taking as parameters: The name of the SP Partner The Federation Authentication Method The OAM Authentication Scheme name Note: I will discuss in a subsequent article the other parameters of those commands. In the next sections, I will show examples on how to use those methods: For SAML 2.0, I will configure the SP Partner Profile, that will apply all the mappings to SP Partners referencing this profile, unless they override mapping definition For SAML 1.1, I will configure the SP Partner. For OpenID 2.0, I will configure the SP/RP Partner SAML 2.0 Test Setup In this setup, OIF is acting as an IdP and is integrated with a remote SAML 2.0 SP partner identified by AcmeSP. In this test, I will perform Federation SSO with OIF/IdP configured to: Use LDAPScheme as the Authentication Scheme Use BasicScheme as the Authentication Scheme Map BasicSessionScheme to the urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:ac:classes:Password Federation Authentication Method Use OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme as the Authentication Scheme Map OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme to the urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:ac:classes:PasswordProtectedTransport Federation Authentication Method LDAPScheme as Authentication Scheme Using the OOTB settings regarding user authentication in OAM, the user will be challenged via a FORM based login page based on the LDAPScheme. Also the default Federation Authentication Method mappings configuration maps only the urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:ac:classes:PasswordProtectedTransport to LDAPScheme (also marked as the default scheme used for authentication), FAAuthScheme, BasicScheme and BasicFAScheme. After authentication via FORM, OIF/IdP would issue an Assertion similar to: <samlp:Response ...> <saml:Issuer ...>https://idp.com/oam/fed</saml:Issuer> <samlp:Status> <samlp:StatusCode Value="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:status:Success"/> </samlp:Status> <saml:Assertion ...> <saml:Issuer ...>https://idp.com/oam/fed</saml:Issuer> <dsig:Signature> ... </dsig:Signature> <saml:Subject> <saml:NameID ...>[email protected]</saml:NameID> <saml:SubjectConfirmation Method="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:cm:bearer"> <saml:SubjectConfirmationData .../> </saml:SubjectConfirmation> </saml:Subject> <saml:Conditions ...> <saml:AudienceRestriction> <saml:Audience>https://acme.com/sp</saml:Audience> </saml:AudienceRestriction> </saml:Conditions> <saml:AuthnStatement AuthnInstant="2014-03-21T20:53:55Z" SessionIndex="id-6i-Dm0yB-HekG6cejktwcKIFMzYE8Yrmqwfd0azz" SessionNotOnOrAfter="2014-03-21T21:53:55Z"> <saml:AuthnContext> <saml:AuthnContextClassRef> urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:ac:classes:PasswordProtectedTransport </saml:AuthnContextClassRef> </saml:AuthnContext> </saml:AuthnStatement> </saml:Assertion></samlp:Response> BasicScheme as Authentication Scheme For this test, I will switch the default Authentication Scheme for the SP Partner Profile to BasicScheme instead of LDAPScheme. I will use the OIF WLST setSPPartnerProfileDefaultScheme() command and specify which scheme to be used as the default for the SP Partner Profile referenced by AcmeSP (which is saml20-sp-partner-profile in this case: getFedPartnerProfile("AcmeSP", "sp") ): Enter the WLST environment by executing:$IAM_ORACLE_HOME/common/bin/wlst.sh Connect to the WLS Admin server:connect() Navigate to the Domain Runtime branch:domainRuntime() Execute the setSPPartnerProfileDefaultScheme() command:setSPPartnerProfileDefaultScheme("saml20-sp-partner-profile", "BasicScheme") Exit the WLST environment:exit() The user will now be challenged via HTTP Basic Authentication defined in the BasicScheme for AcmeSP. Also, as noted earlier, the default Federation Authentication Method mappings configuration maps only the urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:ac:classes:PasswordProtectedTransport to LDAPScheme (also marked as the default scheme used for authentication), FAAuthScheme, BasicScheme and BasicFAScheme. After authentication via HTTP Basic Authentication, OIF/IdP would issue an Assertion similar to: <samlp:Response ...> <saml:Issuer ...>https://idp.com/oam/fed</saml:Issuer> <samlp:Status> <samlp:StatusCode Value="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:status:Success"/> </samlp:Status> <saml:Assertion ...> <saml:Issuer ...>https://idp.com/oam/fed</saml:Issuer> <dsig:Signature> ... </dsig:Signature> <saml:Subject> <saml:NameID ...>[email protected]</saml:NameID> <saml:SubjectConfirmation Method="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:cm:bearer"> <saml:SubjectConfirmationData .../> </saml:SubjectConfirmation> </saml:Subject> <saml:Conditions ...> <saml:AudienceRestriction> <saml:Audience>https://acme.com/sp</saml:Audience> </saml:AudienceRestriction> </saml:Conditions> <saml:AuthnStatement AuthnInstant="2014-03-21T20:53:55Z" SessionIndex="id-6i-Dm0yB-HekG6cejktwcKIFMzYE8Yrmqwfd0azz" SessionNotOnOrAfter="2014-03-21T21:53:55Z"> <saml:AuthnContext> <saml:AuthnContextClassRef> urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:ac:classes:PasswordProtectedTransport </saml:AuthnContextClassRef> </saml:AuthnContext> </saml:AuthnStatement> </saml:Assertion></samlp:Response> Mapping BasicScheme To change the Federation Authentication Method mapping for the BasicScheme to urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:ac:classes:Password instead of urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:ac:classes:PasswordProtectedTransport for the saml20-sp-partner-profile SAML 2.0 SP Partner Profile (the profile to which my AcmeSP Partner is bound to), I will execute the addSPPartnerProfileAuthnMethod() method: Enter the WLST environment by executing:$IAM_ORACLE_HOME/common/bin/wlst.sh Connect to the WLS Admin server:connect() Navigate to the Domain Runtime branch:domainRuntime() Execute the addSPPartnerProfileAuthnMethod() command:addSPPartnerProfileAuthnMethod("saml20-sp-partner-profile", "urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:ac:classes:Password", "BasicScheme") Exit the WLST environment:exit() After authentication via HTTP Basic Authentication, OIF/IdP would now issue an Assertion similar to (see that the AuthnContextClassRef was changed from PasswordProtectedTransport to Password): <samlp:Response ...> <saml:Issuer ...>https://idp.com/oam/fed</saml:Issuer> <samlp:Status> <samlp:StatusCode Value="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:status:Success"/> </samlp:Status> <saml:Assertion ...> <saml:Issuer ...>https://idp.com/oam/fed</saml:Issuer> <dsig:Signature> ... </dsig:Signature> <saml:Subject> <saml:NameID ...>[email protected]</saml:NameID> <saml:SubjectConfirmation Method="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:cm:bearer"> <saml:SubjectConfirmationData .../> </saml:SubjectConfirmation> </saml:Subject> <saml:Conditions ...> <saml:AudienceRestriction> <saml:Audience>https://acme.com/sp</saml:Audience> </saml:AudienceRestriction> </saml:Conditions> <saml:AuthnStatement AuthnInstant="2014-03-21T20:53:55Z" SessionIndex="id-6i-Dm0yB-HekG6cejktwcKIFMzYE8Yrmqwfd0azz" SessionNotOnOrAfter="2014-03-21T21:53:55Z"> <saml:AuthnContext> <saml:AuthnContextClassRef> urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:ac:classes:Password </saml:AuthnContextClassRef> </saml:AuthnContext> </saml:AuthnStatement> </saml:Assertion></samlp:Response> OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme as Authentication Scheme For this test, I will switch the default Authentication Scheme for the SP Partner Profile to OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme instead of BasicScheme. I will use the OIF WLST setSPPartnerProfileDefaultScheme() command and specify which scheme to be used as the default for the SP Partner Profile referenced by AcmeSP (which is saml20-sp-partner-profile in this case: getFedPartnerProfile("AcmeSP", "sp") ): Enter the WLST environment by executing:$IAM_ORACLE_HOME/common/bin/wlst.sh Connect to the WLS Admin server:connect() Navigate to the Domain Runtime branch:domainRuntime() Execute the setSPPartnerProfileDefaultScheme() command:setSPPartnerProfileDefaultScheme("saml20-sp-partner-profile", "OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme") Exit the WLST environment:exit() The user will now be challenged via FORM defined in the OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme for AcmeSP. Contrarily to LDAPScheme and BasicScheme, the OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme is not mapped by default to any Federation Authentication Methods. As such, OIF/IdP will not be able to find a Federation Authentication Method and will set the method in the SAML Assertion to the OAM Authentication Scheme name. After authentication via FORM, OIF/IdP would issue an Assertion similar to (see the AuthnContextClassRef set to OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme): <samlp:Response ...> <saml:Issuer ...>https://idp.com/oam/fed</saml:Issuer> <samlp:Status> <samlp:StatusCode Value="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:status:Success"/> </samlp:Status> <saml:Assertion ...> <saml:Issuer ...>https://idp.com/oam/fed</saml:Issuer> <dsig:Signature> ... </dsig:Signature> <saml:Subject> <saml:NameID ...>[email protected]</saml:NameID> <saml:SubjectConfirmation Method="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:cm:bearer"> <saml:SubjectConfirmationData .../> </saml:SubjectConfirmation> </saml:Subject> <saml:Conditions ...> <saml:AudienceRestriction> <saml:Audience>https://acme.com/sp</saml:Audience> </saml:AudienceRestriction> </saml:Conditions> <saml:AuthnStatement AuthnInstant="2014-03-21T20:53:55Z" SessionIndex="id-6i-Dm0yB-HekG6cejktwcKIFMzYE8Yrmqwfd0azz" SessionNotOnOrAfter="2014-03-21T21:53:55Z"> <saml:AuthnContext> <saml:AuthnContextClassRef> OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme </saml:AuthnContextClassRef> </saml:AuthnContext> </saml:AuthnStatement> </saml:Assertion></samlp:Response> Mapping OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme To add the OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme to the Federation Authentication Method urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:ac:classes:PasswordProtectedTransport mapping, I will execute the addSPPartnerProfileAuthnMethod() method: Enter the WLST environment by executing:$IAM_ORACLE_HOME/common/bin/wlst.sh Connect to the WLS Admin server:connect() Navigate to the Domain Runtime branch:domainRuntime() Execute the addSPPartnerProfileAuthnMethod() command:addSPPartnerProfileAuthnMethod("saml20-sp-partner-profile", "urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:ac:classes:PasswordProtectedTransport", "OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme") Exit the WLST environment:exit() After authentication via FORM, OIF/IdP would now issue an Assertion similar to (see that the method was changed from OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme to PasswordProtectedTransport): <samlp:Response ...> <saml:Issuer ...>https://idp.com/oam/fed</saml:Issuer> <samlp:Status> <samlp:StatusCode Value="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:status:Success"/> </samlp:Status> <saml:Assertion ...> <saml:Issuer ...>https://idp.com/oam/fed</saml:Issuer> <dsig:Signature> ... </dsig:Signature> <saml:Subject> <saml:NameID ...>[email protected]</saml:NameID> <saml:SubjectConfirmation Method="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:cm:bearer"> <saml:SubjectConfirmationData .../> </saml:SubjectConfirmation> </saml:Subject> <saml:Conditions ...> <saml:AudienceRestriction> <saml:Audience>https://acme.com/sp</saml:Audience> </saml:AudienceRestriction> </saml:Conditions> <saml:AuthnStatement AuthnInstant="2014-03-21T20:53:55Z" SessionIndex="id-6i-Dm0yB-HekG6cejktwcKIFMzYE8Yrmqwfd0azz" SessionNotOnOrAfter="2014-03-21T21:53:55Z"> <saml:AuthnContext> <saml:AuthnContextClassRef> urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:ac:classes:PasswordProtectedTransport </saml:AuthnContextClassRef> </saml:AuthnContext> </saml:AuthnStatement> </saml:Assertion></samlp:Response> SAML 1.1 Test Setup In this setup, OIF is acting as an IdP and is integrated with a remote SAML 1.1 SP partner identified by AcmeSP. In this test, I will perform Federation SSO with OIF/IdP configured to: Use LDAPScheme as the Authentication Scheme Use OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme as the Authentication Scheme Map OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme to the urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:ac:classes:PasswordProtectedTransport Federation Authentication Method Use LDAPScheme as the Authentication Scheme Map LDAPScheme to the urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:ac:classes:PasswordProtectedTransport Federation Authentication Method LDAPScheme as Authentication Scheme Using the OOTB settings regarding user authentication in OAM, the user will be challenged via a FORM based login page based on the LDAPScheme. Also the default Federation Authentication Method mappings configuration maps only the urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.0:am:password to LDAPScheme (also marked as the default scheme used for authentication), FAAuthScheme, BasicScheme and BasicFAScheme. After authentication via FORM, OIF/IdP would issue an Assertion similar to: <samlp:Response ...> <samlp:Status> <samlp:StatusCode Value="samlp:Success"/> </samlp:Status> <saml:Assertion Issuer="https://idp.com/oam/fed" ...> <saml:Conditions ...> <saml:AudienceRestriction> <saml:Audience>https://acme.com/sp/ssov11</saml:Audience> </saml:AudienceRestriction> </saml:Conditions> <saml:AuthnStatement AuthenticationInstant="2014-03-21T20:53:55Z" AuthenticationMethod="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.0:am:password"> <saml:Subject> <saml:NameIdentifier ...>[email protected]</saml:NameIdentifier> <saml:SubjectConfirmation> <saml:ConfirmationMethod> urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.0:cm:bearer </saml:ConfirmationMethod> </saml:SubjectConfirmation> </saml:Subject> </saml:AuthnStatement> <dsig:Signature> ... </dsig:Signature> </saml:Assertion></samlp:Response> OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme as Authentication Scheme For this test, I will switch the default Authentication Scheme for the SP Partner to OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme instead of LDAPScheme. I will use the OIF WLST setSPPartnerDefaultScheme() command and specify which scheme to be used as the default for the SP Partner: Enter the WLST environment by executing:$IAM_ORACLE_HOME/common/bin/wlst.sh Connect to the WLS Admin server:connect() Navigate to the Domain Runtime branch:domainRuntime() Execute the setSPPartnerDefaultScheme() command:setSPPartnerDefaultScheme("AcmeSP", "OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme") Exit the WLST environment:exit() The user will be challenged via FORM defined in the OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme for AcmeSP. Contrarily to LDAPScheme, the OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme is not mapped by default to any Federation Authentication Methods (in the SP Partner Profile). As such, OIF/IdP will not be able to find a Federation Authentication Method and will set the method in the SAML Assertion to the OAM Authentication Scheme name. After authentication via FORM, OIF/IdP would issue an Assertion similar to (see the AuthenticationMethod set to OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme): <samlp:Response ...> <samlp:Status> <samlp:StatusCode Value="samlp:Success"/> </samlp:Status> <saml:Assertion Issuer="https://idp.com/oam/fed" ...> <saml:Conditions ...> <saml:AudienceRestriction> <saml:Audience>https://acme.com/sp/ssov11</saml:Audience> </saml:AudienceRestriction> </saml:Conditions> <saml:AuthnStatement AuthenticationInstant="2014-03-21T20:53:55Z" AuthenticationMethod="OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme"> <saml:Subject> <saml:NameIdentifier ...>[email protected]</saml:NameIdentifier> <saml:SubjectConfirmation> <saml:ConfirmationMethod> urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.0:cm:bearer </saml:ConfirmationMethod> </saml:SubjectConfirmation> </saml:Subject> </saml:AuthnStatement> <dsig:Signature> ... </dsig:Signature> </saml:Assertion></samlp:Response> Mapping OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme To map the OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme to the Federation Authentication Method urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.0:am:password for this SP Partner only, I will execute the addSPPartnerAuthnMethod() method: Enter the WLST environment by executing:$IAM_ORACLE_HOME/common/bin/wlst.sh Connect to the WLS Admin server:connect() Navigate to the Domain Runtime branch:domainRuntime() Execute the addSPPartnerAuthnMethod() command:addSPPartnerAuthnMethod("AcmeSP", "urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.0:am:password", "OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme") Exit the WLST environment:exit() After authentication via FORM, OIF/IdP would now issue an Assertion similar to (see that the method was changed from OAMLDAPPluginAuthnScheme to password): <samlp:Response ...> <samlp:Status> <samlp:StatusCode Value="samlp:Success"/> </samlp:Status> <saml:Assertion Issuer="https://idp.com/oam/fed" ...> <saml:Conditions ...> <saml:AudienceRestriction> <saml:Audience>https://acme.com/sp/ssov11</saml:Audience> </saml:AudienceRestriction> </saml:Conditions> <saml:AuthnStatement AuthenticationInstant="2014-03-21T20:53:55Z" AuthenticationMethod="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.0:am:password"> <saml:Subject> <saml:NameIdentifier ...>[email protected]</saml:NameIdentifier> <saml:SubjectConfirmation> <saml:ConfirmationMethod> urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.0:cm:bearer </saml:ConfirmationMethod> </saml:SubjectConfirmation> </saml:Subject> </saml:AuthnStatement> <dsig:Signature> ... </dsig:Signature> </saml:Assertion></samlp:Response> LDAPScheme as Authentication Scheme I will now show that by defining a Federation Authentication Mapping at the Partner level, this now ignores all mappings defined at the SP Partner Profile level. For this test, I will switch the default Authentication Scheme for this SP Partner back to LDAPScheme, and the Assertion issued by OIF/IdP will not be able to map this LDAPScheme to a Federation Authentication Method anymore, since A Federation Authentication Method mapping is defined at the SP Partner level and thus the mappings defined at the SP Partner Profile are ignored The LDAPScheme is not listed in the mapping at the Partner level I will use the OIF WLST setSPPartnerDefaultScheme() command and specify which scheme to be used as the default for this SP Partner: Enter the WLST environment by executing:$IAM_ORACLE_HOME/common/bin/wlst.sh Connect to the WLS Admin server:connect() Navigate to the Domain Runtime branch:domainRuntime() Execute the setSPPartnerDefaultScheme() command:setSPPartnerDefaultScheme("AcmeSP", "LDAPScheme") Exit the WLST environment:exit() After authentication via FORM, OIF/IdP would issue an Assertion similar to (see the AuthenticationMethod set to LDAPScheme): <samlp:Response ...> <samlp:Status> <samlp:StatusCode Value="samlp:Success"/> </samlp:Status> <saml:Assertion Issuer="https://idp.com/oam/fed" ...> <saml:Conditions ...> <saml:AudienceRestriction> <saml:Audience>https://acme.com/sp/ssov11</saml:Audience> </saml:AudienceRestriction> </saml:Conditions> <saml:AuthnStatement AuthenticationInstant="2014-03-21T20:53:55Z" AuthenticationMethod="LDAPScheme"> <saml:Subject> <saml:NameIdentifier ...>[email protected]</saml:NameIdentifier> <saml:SubjectConfirmation> <saml:ConfirmationMethod> urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.0:cm:bearer </saml:ConfirmationMethod> </saml:SubjectConfirmation> </saml:Subject> </saml:AuthnStatement> <dsig:Signature> ... </dsig:Signature> </saml:Assertion></samlp:Response> Mapping LDAPScheme at Partner Level To fix this issue, we will need to add the LDAPScheme to the Federation Authentication Method urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.0:am:password mapping for this SP Partner only. I will execute the addSPPartnerAuthnMethod() method: Enter the WLST environment by executing:$IAM_ORACLE_HOME/common/bin/wlst.sh Connect to the WLS Admin server:connect() Navigate to the Domain Runtime branch:domainRuntime() Execute the addSPPartnerAuthnMethod() command:addSPPartnerAuthnMethod("AcmeSP", "urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.0:am:password", "LDAPScheme") Exit the WLST environment:exit() After authentication via FORM, OIF/IdP would now issue an Assertion similar to (see that the method was changed from LDAPScheme to password): <samlp:Response ...> <samlp:Status> <samlp:StatusCode Value="samlp:Success"/> </samlp:Status> <saml:Assertion Issuer="https://idp.com/oam/fed" ...> <saml:Conditions ...> <saml:AudienceRestriction> <saml:Audience>https://acme.com/sp/ssov11</saml:Audience> </saml:AudienceRestriction> </saml:Conditions> <saml:AuthnStatement AuthenticationInstant="2014-03-21T20:53:55Z" AuthenticationMethod="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.0:am:password"> <saml:Subject> <saml:NameIdentifier ...>[email protected]</saml:NameIdentifier> <saml:SubjectConfirmation> <saml:ConfirmationMethod> urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.0:cm:bearer </saml:ConfirmationMethod> </saml:SubjectConfirmation> </saml:Subject> </saml:AuthnStatement> <dsig:Signature> ... </dsig:Signature> </saml:Assertion></samlp:Response> OpenID 2.0 In the OpenID 2.0 flows, the RP must request use of PAPE, in order for OIF/IdP/OP to include PAPE information. For OpenID 2.0, the configuration will involve mapping a list of OpenID 2.0 policies to a list of Authentication Schemes. The WLST command will take a list of policies, delimited by the ',' character, instead of SAML 2.0 or SAML 1.1 where a single Federation Authentication Method had to be specified. Test Setup In this setup, OIF is acting as an IdP/OP and is integrated with a remote OpenID 2.0 SP/RP partner identified by AcmeRP. In this test, I will perform Federation SSO with OIF/IdP configured to: Use LDAPScheme as the Authentication Scheme Map LDAPScheme to the http://schemas.openid.net/pape/policies/2007/06/phishing-resistant and http://openid-policies/password-protected policies Federation Authentication Methods (the second one is a custom for this use case) LDAPScheme as Authentication Scheme Using the OOTB settings regarding user authentication in OAM, the user will be challenged via a FORM based login page based on the LDAPScheme. No Federation Authentication Method is defined OOTB for OpenID 2.0, so if the IdP/OP issue an SSO response with a PAPE Response element, it will specify the scheme name instead of Federation Authentication Methods After authentication via FORM, OIF/IdP would issue an SSO Response similar to: https://acme.com/openid?refid=id-9PKVXZmRxAeDYcgLqPm36ClzOMA-&openid.ns=http%3A%2F%2Fspecs.openid.net%2Fauth%2F2.0&openid.mode=id_res&openid.op_endpoint=https%3A%2F%2Fidp.com%2Fopenid&openid.claimed_id=https%3A%2F%2Fidp.com%2Fopenid%3Fid%3Did-38iCmmlAVEXPsFjnFVKArfn5RIiF75D5doorhEgqqPM%3D&openid.identity=https%3A%2F%2Fidp.com%2Fopenid%3Fid%3Did-38iCmmlAVEXPsFjnFVKArfn5RIiF75D5doorhEgqqPM%3D&openid.return_to=https%3A%2F%2Facme.com%2Fopenid%3Frefid%3Did-9PKVXZmRxAeDYcgLqPm36ClzOMA-&openid.response_nonce=2014-03-24T19%3A20%3A06Zid-YPa2kTNNFftZkgBb460jxJGblk2g--iNwPpDI7M1&openid.assoc_handle=id-6a5S6zhAKaRwQNUnjTKROREdAGSjWodG1el4xyz3&openid.ns.ax=http%3A%2F%2Fopenid.net%2Fsrv%2Fax%2F1.0&openid.ax.mode=fetch_response&openid.ax.type.attr0=http%3A%2F%2Fsession%2Fcount&openid.ax.value.attr0=1&openid.ax.type.attr1=http%3A%2F%2Fopenid.net%2Fschema%2FnamePerson%2Ffriendly&openid.ax.value.attr1=My+name+is+Bobby+Smith&openid.ax.type.attr2=http%3A%2F%2Fschemas.openid.net%2Fax%2Fapi%2Fuser_id&openid.ax.value.attr2=bob&openid.ax.type.attr3=http%3A%2F%2Faxschema.org%2Fcontact%2Femail&openid.ax.value.attr3=bob%40oracle.com&openid.ax.type.attr4=http%3A%2F%2Fsession%2Fipaddress&openid.ax.value.attr4=10.145.120.253&openid.ns.pape=http%3A%2F%2Fspecs.openid.net%2Fextensions%2Fpape%2F1.0&openid.pape.auth_time=2014-03-24T19%3A20%3A05Z&openid.pape.auth_policies=LDAPScheme&openid.signed=op_endpoint%2Cclaimed_id%2Cidentity%2Creturn_to%2Cresponse_nonce%2Cassoc_handle%2Cns.ax%2Cax.mode%2Cax.type.attr0%2Cax.value.attr0%2Cax.type.attr1%2Cax.value.attr1%2Cax.type.attr2%2Cax.value.attr2%2Cax.type.attr3%2Cax.value.attr3%2Cax.type.attr4%2Cax.value.attr4%2Cns.pape%2Cpape.auth_time%2Cpape.auth_policies&openid.sig=mYMgbGYSs22l8e%2FDom9NRPw15u8%3D Mapping LDAPScheme To map the LDAP Scheme to the http://schemas.openid.net/pape/policies/2007/06/phishing-resistant and http://openid-policies/password-protected policies Federation Authentication Methods, I will execute the addSPPartnerAuthnMethod() method (the policies will be comma separated): Enter the WLST environment by executing:$IAM_ORACLE_HOME/common/bin/wlst.sh Connect to the WLS Admin server:connect() Navigate to the Domain Runtime branch:domainRuntime() Execute the addSPPartnerAuthnMethod() command:addSPPartnerAuthnMethod("AcmeRP", "http://schemas.openid.net/pape/policies/2007/06/phishing-resistant,http://openid-policies/password-protected", "LDAPScheme") Exit the WLST environment:exit() After authentication via FORM, OIF/IdP would now issue an Assertion similar to (see that the method was changed from LDAPScheme to the two policies): https://acme.com/openid?refid=id-9PKVXZmRxAeDYcgLqPm36ClzOMA-&openid.ns=http%3A%2F%2Fspecs.openid.net%2Fauth%2F2.0&openid.mode=id_res&openid.op_endpoint=https%3A%2F%2Fidp.com%2Fopenid&openid.claimed_id=https%3A%2F%2Fidp.com%2Fopenid%3Fid%3Did-38iCmmlAVEXPsFjnFVKArfn5RIiF75D5doorhEgqqPM%3D&openid.identity=https%3A%2F%2Fidp.com%2Fopenid%3Fid%3Did-38iCmmlAVEXPsFjnFVKArfn5RIiF75D5doorhEgqqPM%3D&openid.return_to=https%3A%2F%2Facme.com%2Fopenid%3Frefid%3Did-9PKVXZmRxAeDYcgLqPm36ClzOMA-&openid.response_nonce=2014-03-24T19%3A20%3A06Zid-YPa2kTNNFftZkgBb460jxJGblk2g--iNwPpDI7M1&openid.assoc_handle=id-6a5S6zhAKaRwQNUnjTKROREdAGSjWodG1el4xyz3&openid.ns.ax=http%3A%2F%2Fopenid.net%2Fsrv%2Fax%2F1.0&openid.ax.mode=fetch_response&openid.ax.type.attr0=http%3A%2F%2Fsession%2Fcount&openid.ax.value.attr0=1&openid.ax.type.attr1=http%3A%2F%2Fopenid.net%2Fschema%2FnamePerson%2Ffriendly&openid.ax.value.attr1=My+name+is+Bobby+Smith&openid.ax.type.attr2=http%3A%2F%2Fschemas.openid.net%2Fax%2Fapi%2Fuser_id&openid.ax.value.attr2=bob&openid.ax.type.attr3=http%3A%2F%2Faxschema.org%2Fcontact%2Femail&openid.ax.value.attr3=bob%40oracle.com&openid.ax.type.attr4=http%3A%2F%2Fsession%2Fipaddress&openid.ax.value.attr4=10.145.120.253&openid.ns.pape=http%3A%2F%2Fspecs.openid.net%2Fextensions%2Fpape%2F1.0&openid.pape.auth_time=2014-03-24T19%3A20%3A05Z&openid.pape.auth_policies=http%3A%2F%2Fschemas.openid.net%2Fpape%2Fpolicies%2F2007%2F06%2Fphishing-resistant+http%3A%2F%2Fopenid-policies%2Fpassword-protected&openid.signed=op_endpoint%2Cclaimed_id%2Cidentity%2Creturn_to%2Cresponse_nonce%2Cassoc_handle%2Cns.ax%2Cax.mode%2Cax.type.attr0%2Cax.value.attr0%2Cax.type.attr1%2Cax.value.attr1%2Cax.type.attr2%2Cax.value.attr2%2Cax.type.attr3%2Cax.value.attr3%2Cax.type.attr4%2Cax.value.attr4%2Cns.pape%2Cpape.auth_time%2Cpape.auth_policies&openid.sig=mYMgbGYSs22l8e%2FDom9NRPw15u8%3D In the next article, I will cover how OIF/IdP can be configured so that an SP can request a specific Federation Authentication Method to challenge the user during Federation SSO.Cheers,Damien Carru

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Installer Reboots at "Detecting hardware" (disks and other hardware) on all recent Server Installs

- by Ryan Rosario

I have a very frustrating problem with my PC. I cannot install any recent version of Ubuntu Server (or even Desktop) since 9.04 even using the text-based installer. I boot from a USB stick created by Unetbootin (I also tried other methods such as startup disk creator with no difference). On the Server installer, it gets to "Detecting Hardware" (the second one about disks and all other hardware, not network hardware) and then either hangs at 0% (waited 24 hours), or reboots after a minute or two. My system (late 2007): ASUS P5NSLI motherboard Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4Ghz 2 x 1GB Corsair 667MHz RAM nVidia GeForce 6600 I have unplugged everything (including the only hard disk, CD-ROMs and floppy). I have only one stick of RAM (tried each one to no avail) and am booting the installer from a USB stick (booting from CD-ROM yields the same problem). I also tried several of the boot options (nomodeset, nousb, acpi=off, noapic, i915.modeset=1/0, xforcevesa) in all combinations) to no avail. The only active parts of my system are the video card, mouse, keyboard and USB stick. I have also updated the BIOS to the most recent version. (FWIW, on the Desktop installer, I get a black screen after hitting the Install option.) Even after removing "quiet" I am unable to see what kernel panic is occurring (or not occurring) to cause the install to crash. I am only able to save the debug logs via a simple webserver in the installer. After the last line (I repeatedly refreshed), the server stops responding and the installer hangs or reboots: Jan 2 01:04:03 main-menu[302]: INFO: Menu item 'disk-detect' selected Jan 2 01:04:04 kernel: [ 309.154372] sata_nv 0000:00:0e.0: version 3.5 Jan 2 01:04:04 kernel: [ 309.154409] sata_nv 0000:00:0e.0: Using SWNCQ mode Jan 2 01:04:04 kernel: [ 309.154531] sata_nv 0000:00:0e.0: setting latency timer to 64 Jan 2 01:04:04 kernel: [ 309.164442] scsi0 : sata_nv Jan 2 01:04:04 kernel: [ 309.167610] scsi1 : sata_nv Jan 2 01:04:04 kernel: [ 309.167762] ata1: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0x9f0 ctl 0xbf0 bmdma 0xd400 irq 10 Jan 2 01:04:04 kernel: [ 309.167774] ata2: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0x970 ctl 0xb70 bmdma 0xd408 irq 10 Jan 2 01:04:04 kernel: [ 309.167948] sata_nv 0000:00:0f.0: Using SWNCQ mode Jan 2 01:04:04 kernel: [ 309.168071] sata_nv 0000:00:0f.0: setting latency timer to 64 Jan 2 01:04:04 kernel: [ 309.171931] scsi2 : sata_nv Jan 2 01:04:04 kernel: [ 309.173793] scsi3 : sata_nv Jan 2 01:04:04 kernel: [ 309.173943] ata3: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0x9e0 ctl 0xbe0 bmdma 0xe800 irq 11 Jan 2 01:04:04 kernel: [ 309.173954] ata4: SATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0x960 ctl 0xb60 bmdma 0xe808 irq 11 Jan 2 01:04:04 kernel: [ 309.174061] pata_amd 0000:00:0d.0: version 0.4.1 Jan 2 01:04:04 kernel: [ 309.174160] pata_amd 0000:00:0d.0: setting latency timer to 64 Jan 2 01:04:04 kernel: [ 309.177045] scsi4 : pata_amd Jan 2 01:04:04 kernel: [ 309.178628] scsi5 : pata_amd Jan 2 01:04:04 kernel: [ 309.178801] ata5: PATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0x1f0 ctl 0x3f6 bmdma 0xf000 irq 14 Jan 2 01:04:04 kernel: [ 309.178811] ata6: PATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0x170 ctl 0x376 bmdma 0xf008 irq 15 Jan 2 01:04:04 net/hw-detect.hotplug: Detected hotpluggable network interface eth0 Jan 2 01:04:04 net/hw-detect.hotplug: Detected hotpluggable network interface lo Jan 2 01:04:04 kernel: [ 309.485062] ata3: SATA link down (SStatus 0 SControl 300) Jan 2 01:04:04 kernel: [ 309.633094] ata1: SATA link up 3.0 Gbps (SStatus 123 SControl 300) Jan 2 01:04:04 kernel: [ 309.641647] ata1.00: ATA-8: ST31000528AS, CC38, max UDMA/133 Jan 2 01:04:04 kernel: [ 309.641658] ata1.00: 1953525168 sectors, multi 1: LBA48 NCQ (depth 31/32) Jan 2 01:04:04 kernel: [ 309.657614] ata1.00: configured for UDMA/133 Jan 2 01:04:04 kernel: [ 309.657969] scsi 0:0:0:0: Direct-Access ATA ST31000528AS CC38 PQ: 0 ANSI: 5 Jan 2 01:04:04 kernel: [ 309.658482] sd 0:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0 Jan 2 01:04:04 kernel: [ 309.658588] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 1953525168 512-byte logical blocks: (1.00 TB/931 GiB) Jan 2 01:04:04 kernel: [ 309.658812] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off Jan 2 01:04:04 kernel: [ 309.658823] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00 Jan 2 01:04:04 kernel: [ 309.658918] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA Jan 2 01:04:04 kernel: [ 309.675630] sda: sda1 sda2 Jan 2 01:04:04 kernel: [ 309.676440] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI disk Jan 2 01:04:05 kernel: [ 309.969102] ata2: SATA link down (SStatus 0 SControl 300) Jan 2 01:04:05 kernel: [ 310.281137] ata4: SATA link down (SStatus 0 SControl 300) Anybody have any additional ideas I could try? I am getting ready to just toss the motherboard.

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Expression Studio 4 - without SketchFlow…

- by mbcrump

is kinda like an explosion with no “Ka-Boom”… I was excited to hear the news yesterday at Microsoft Teched that Expression Studio 4 had officially launched. MSDN subscribers could log in and download the full release. So, I logged into my MSDN account and started downloading Expression Studio 4 Premium thinking that I was only minutes away from trying out SketchFlow 4. To my dismay, I launched Blend 4 and noticed it did not say SketchFlow on the splash screen. So, I went to New Project and the template was not available. After some digging around on the net, I learned my premium MSDN subscription did not include SketchFlow and I would need to purchase the Ultimate Edition. Below is a excerpt directly from Microsoft: Q: What products are included in the Microsoft Expression Studio 4 Ultimate? A: Expression Studio 4 Ultimate is comprised of 4 products, Expression Web 4, Microsoft Expression Blend® 4 + SketchFlow, Expression Encoder 4 Pro and Expression Design 4. Expression Blend 4 includes SketchFlow in Expression Studio 4 Ultimate product only. Q: What products are included in the Microsoft Expression Studio 4 Premium? A: Expression Studio 4 Premium is comprised of 4 products, Expression Web 4, Microsoft Expression Blend 4, Expression Encoder 4 and Expression Design 4. Expression Studio 4 Premium is not available for retail purchase. Q: What products are included in the Microsoft Expression Studio 4 Web Professional? A: Expression Studio 4 Web Professional is comprised of 3 products, Expression Web 4, Expression Encoder 4 and Expression Design 4. As you can see, we got screwed on this deal and plenty of people are complaining: Kiran Says: 6.07.2010 at 5:07 PM No SketchFlow for Expression Studio 4 Premium? What a bumper for Microsoft Partners!! Martin Says: 6.07.2010 at 6:18 PM Why does Expression Professional Subscription not include upgrades and new releases of Expression Studio. Good question hey. I bought my subscription 5 days ago thinking I would get what i purchased but no Expression upgrades or new releases for me, what a waste of money. I think I am not the only long term user of this software that feels disgruntled. Sorry john just had to tell someone. shaggygi Says: 6.07.2010 at 7:31 PM SketchFlow NOT included in Studio 4? WTF! I repeat.... WT...Freaking.... F! This is totally unacceptable. My development team purchased VS 2010 Premium w/ MSDN with the impression by Adam Kinney, Scott Guthrie, etc. that this would be included in the Premium package or some sort of free upgrade. I understand this is a Marketing thing, but come on! I believe, at very least, this should have been explained in detail before this release. John Papa... as a rep to give feedback to the team... Please please and please.... tell powers-at-be to fix this problem. Sorry for the rant. Besides this issue, I believe it is a very good product:) Thanks Vaclav Elias Says: 6.08.2010 at 4:30 AM Well, I am also not happy that SketchFlow is only for the chosen ones :-) It is very nice product. Actually, kind of foundation for web development so they could really support any MSDN subscribers.. :-( I am hoping that Microsoft will make this right for all of us with MSDN premier subscriptions. In the meantime, you can check out the 5 day training series available here.

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Calling Web Services in classic ASP

- by cabhilash

Last day my colleague asked me the provide her a solution to call the Web service from classic ASP. (Yes Classic ASP. still people are using this :D ) We can call web service SOAP toolkit also. But invoking the service using the XMLHTTP object was more easier & fast. To create the Service I used the normal Web Service in .Net 2.0 with [Webmethod] public class WebService1 : System.Web.Services.WebService { [WebMethod] public string HelloWorld(string name){return name + " Pay my dues :) "; // a reminder to pay my consultation fee :D} } In Web.config add the following entry in System.web<webServices><protocols><add name="HttpGet"/><add name="HttpPost"/></protocols></webServices> Alternatively, you can enable these protocols for all Web services on the computer by editing the <protocols> section in Machine.config. The following example enables HTTP GET, HTTP POST, and also SOAP and HTTP POST from localhost: <protocols> <add name="HttpSoap"/> <add name="HttpPost"/> <add name="HttpGet"/> <add name="HttpPostLocalhost"/>  <add name="Documentation"/> </protocols> By adding these entries I am enabling the HTTPGET & HTTPPOST (After .Net 1.1 by default HTTPGET & HTTPPOST is disabled because of security concerns)The .NET Framework 1.1 defines a new protocol that is named HttpPostLocalhost. By default, this new protocol is enabled. This protocol permits invoking Web services that use HTTP POST requests from applications on the same computer. This is true provided the POST URL uses http://localhost, not http://hostname. This permits Web service developers to use the HTML-based test form to invoke the Web service from the same computer where the Web service resides. Classic ASP Code to call Web service <%Option Explicit Dim objRequest, objXMLDoc, objXmlNode Dim strRet, strError, strNome Dim strName strName= "deepa" Set objRequest = Server.createobject("MSXML2.XMLHTTP") With objRequest .open "GET", "http://localhost:3106/WebService1.asmx/HelloWorld?name=" & strName, False .setRequestHeader "Content-Type", "text/xml" .setRequestHeader "SOAPAction", "http://localhost:3106/WebService1.asmx/HelloWorld" .send End With Set objXMLDoc = Server.createobject("MSXML2.DOMDocument") objXmlDoc.async = false Response.ContentType = "text/xml" Response.Write(objRequest.ResponseText) %> In Line 6 I created an MSXML XMLHTTP object. Line 9 Using the HTTPGET protocol I am openinig connection to WebService Line 10:11 – setting the Header for the service In line 15, I am getting the output from the webservice in XML Doc format & reading the responseText(line 18). In line 9 if you observe I am passing the parameter strName to the Webservice You can pass multiple parameters to the Web service by just like any other QueryString Parameters. In similar fashion you can invoke the Web service using HTTPPost. Only you have to ensure that the form contains all th required parameters for webmethod. Happy coding !!!!!!!

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Fünf Jahre Bonn-to-Code.Net – das muss gefeiert werden!

- by WeigeltRo

Als ich am 1. Januar 2006 die .NET User Group “Bonn-to-Code.Net” gründete (den genialen Namen ließ sich mein Kollege Jens Schaller in Anlehnung an das Motto meines Blogs einfallen), ahnte ich nicht, wie schnell sich alles entwickeln würde. So konnte, nach ein wenig Werbung über diverse Kanäle, bereits am 14. Februar 2006 das erste Treffen stattfinden und wenige Tage später wurde Bonn-to-Code.Net offiziell in den Kreis der INETA User Groups aufgenommen. Das ist nun etwas über fünf Jahre her und soll am 22. März 2011 um 19:00 (Einlass ab 18:30) gebührend gefeiert werden, und zwar im Rahmen unseres März-Treffens. Der Abend bietet Vorträge zu “Flow Design und seine Umsetzung mit Event Based Components” sowie “WCF Services mal anders” (ausführlichere Infos zu den Vortragsinhalten gibt es hier). Anschließend gibt es bei einer großen Verlosung neben Büchern auch hochkarätige Software-Preise zu gewinnen. Zusätzlich zu Lizenzen für JetBrains ReSharper und Telerik Ultimate Collection warten dieses Mal (mit freundlicher Unterstützung durch Microsoft Deutschland) je ein Windows 7 Ultimate und ein Office 2010 Professional Plus auf ihre glücklichen Gewinner. Und wer nicht zu spät kommt, kann auch ganz ohne Losglück eines von vielen kleinen Goodies abgreifen. Eine Anmeldung ist nicht erforderlich, eine Anfahrtsbeschreibung gibt es auf der Bonn-to-Code.Net Website. Es freut mich dabei besonders, dass wir zu diesem Termin u.a. einen Sprecher an Bord haben, der bereits beim Gründungstreffen dabei war: Stefan Lieser. Mittlerweile z.B. durch die Clean Code Developer Initiative bekannt, ist Stefan nur ein Beispiel für eine ganze Reihe von Sprechern auf den diversen Entwicklerkonferenzen, die ihre ersten Erfahrungen u.a. bei Bonn-to-Code.Net gemacht haben. …und was ist in den fünf Jahren so passiert? Einiges! Ein Community Launch Event in 2007, zwei Microsoft TechTalks (2007,2008), Gastsprecher aus ganz Deutschland und dem Ausland (JP Boodhoo, Harry Pierson). Doch nichts hat die fünf Jahre so geprägt wie die Zusammenarbeit mit “den Nachbarn aus Köln”. Zum Zeitpunkt der Gründung von Bonn-to-Code.Net gab es im gesamten Köln/Bonner Raum keine .NET User Group. Und so war es nicht ungewöhnlich, dass der erste Interessent, der sich auf meinen Blog-Eintrag vom 4. Januar 2006 hin meldete, aus Köln stammte: Albert Weinert. Kurze Zeit nach der Bonner Gruppe wurde dann – initiiert durch Angelika Wöpking und Stefan Lange – schließlich die .NET User Group Köln gegründet. Wobei Stefan wiederum vor dem Kölner Gründungstreffen Ende April bereits Bonner Treffen besucht hatte; insgesamt also eine Menge personeller Überlapp zwischen Köln und Bonn. Als nach einem etwas holprigen Start der Kölner Gruppe schließlich Albert und Stefan die Leitung übernahmen, war klar dass Köln und Bonn in vielerlei Hinsicht eng zusammenarbeiten würden. Sei es durch die Koordination von Themen und Terminen oder auch durch Werbung für die Treffen der jeweils anderen Gruppe. Der nächste Schritt kam dann mit der Beteiligung der Kölner und Bonner Gruppen an der Organisation des “AfterLaunch” im April 2008. Der große Erfolg dieser Veranstaltung war der Ansporn, in Bezug auf die Zusammenarbeit ein neues Kapitel aufzuschlagen. Anfang 2009 wurde zunächst der dotnet Köln/Bonn e.V. gegründet, um für eigene Großveranstaltungen ein solides Fundament zu schaffen. Im Mai 2009 folgte dann die erste “dotnet Cologne” – ein voller Erfolg. Und mit der “dotnet Cologne 2010” etablierte sich diese Konferenz als das große .NET Community Event in Deutschland. Am 6. Mai 2011 findet nun die “dotnet Cologne 2011” statt; hinter den Kulissen laufen die Vorbereitungen dazu bereits seit Monaten auf Hochtouren. Alles in allem sehr aufregende fünf Jahre, in denen viel passiert ist. Mal schauen, wie die nächsten fünf Jahre werden…

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Best Practices for Handing over Legacy Code

- by PersonalNexus

In a couple of months a colleague will be moving on to a new project and I will be inheriting one of his projects. To prepare, I have already ordered Michael Feathers' Working Effectively with Legacy Code. But this books as well as most questions on legacy code I found so far are concerned with the case of inheriting code as-is. But in this case I actually have access to the original developer and we do have some time for an orderly hand-over. Some background on the piece of code I will be inheriting: It's functioning: There are no known bugs, but as performance requirements keep going up, some optimizations will become necessary in the not too distant future. Undocumented: There is pretty much zero documentation at the method and class level. What the code is supposed to do at a higher level, though, is well-understood, because I have been writing against its API (as a black-box) for years. Only higher-level integration tests: There are only integration tests testing proper interaction with other components via the API (again, black-box). Very low-level, optimized for speed: Because this code is central to an entire system of applications, a lot of it has been optimized several times over the years and is extremely low-level (one part has its own memory manager for certain structs/records). Concurrent and lock-free: While I am very familiar with concurrent and lock-free programming and have actually contributed a few pieces to this code, this adds another layer of complexity. Large codebase: This particular project is more than ten thousand lines of code, so there is no way I will be able to have everything explained to me. Written in Delphi: I'm just going to put this out there, although I don't believe the language to be germane to the question, as I believe this type of problem to be language-agnostic. I was wondering how the time until his departure would best be spent. Here are a couple of ideas: Get everything to build on my machine: Even though everything should be checked into source code control, who hasn't forgotten to check in a file once in a while, so this should probably be the first order of business. More tests: While I would like more class-level unit tests so that when I will be making changes, any bugs I introduce can be caught early on, the code as it is now is not testable (huge classes, long methods, too many mutual dependencies). What to document: I think for starters it would be best to focus documentation on those areas in the code that would otherwise be difficult to understand e.g. because of their low-level/highly optimized nature. I am afraid there are a couple of things in there that might look ugly and in need of refactoring/rewriting, but are actually optimizations that have been out in there for a good reason that I might miss (cf. Joel Spolsky, Things You Should Never Do, Part I) How to document: I think some class diagrams of the architecture and sequence diagrams of critical functions accompanied by some prose would be best. Who to document: I was wondering what would be better, to have him write the documentation or have him explain it to me, so I can write the documentation. I am afraid, that things that are obvious to him but not me would otherwise not be covered properly. Refactoring using pair-programming: This might not be possible to do due to time constraints, but maybe I could refactor some of his code to make it more maintainable while he was still around to provide input on why things are the way they are. Please comment on and add to this. Since there isn't enough time to do all of this, I am particularly interested in how you would prioritize.

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SQL SERVER – #TechEdIn – Presenting Tomorrow on SQL Server Misconception and Resolution with Vinod Kumar at TechEd India 2012

- by pinaldave

I am excited AND nervous at the same time. I am going to present a very interesting topic tomorrow at an SQL Server track in India. This will be my fourth time presenting at TechEd India. So far, I have received so much feedback about this one session. It seems like every single person out there has their own wishes and requests. I am sure that it is going to very challenging experience to satisfy everyone who attends the event through my presentation. Surprise Element Here is the good news: I am going to co-present this session with Vinod Kumar, my long time friend and co-worker. We have known each other for almost four years now, but this is the very first time that we are going to present together on the big stage of TechEd. When there are more than two presenters, the usual trick is to practice the session multiple times and know exactly what each other is going to present and talk about. However, there’s a catch – we decided to make it different this time and have shared nothing to each other regarding what exactly we are going to present. This makes everything extremely interesting as each of us will be as clueless as the audience when other person is going to talk. Action Item Here are a few of the action items for all of those who are going to attend this session. Vinod and I will be present at the venue 15 minutes before the session. Do come in early and talk with us. We would be glad to talk with you and see if either of us can accommodate your suggestion in our session. If we do, we will give a surprise gift for you. As discussed, this session is going to be a unique two-presenter session. You will have chance to take a side with one speaker and stump the other speaker. Come early to decide which speaker you want to cheer during the session. Quiz and Goodies By now, you must have figured out that this session is going to be an extremely interactive session. We need your support through your active participation. We will have some really brain-twisting quiz line up just for you. You will have to take part and win surprises from us! Trust me. If you get it right, we will give you something which can help you learn more! We will have a quiz on Twitter as well. We will ask a question in person and you will be able to participate on Twitter. 10 – Demos As I said, both of us do not know what each other is going to present, but there are few things which we know very well. We have 10 demos and 6 slides. I think this is going to be an exciting demo marathon. Trust me, you will love it and the taste of this session will be in your mouth till the next TechEd. Session Details Title: SQL Server Misconceptions and Resolution – A Practical Perspective (Add to Calendar) Abstract: “The earth is flat”! – An ancient common misconception, which has been proven incorrect as we progressed in modern times. In this session, we will see various database misconceptions prevailing and their resolutions with the aid of the demos. In this unique session, the audience will be a part of the conversation and resolution. Date and Time: March 21, 2012, 15:15 to 16:15 Location: Hotel Lalit Ashok - Kumara Krupa High Grounds, Bengaluru – 560001, Karnataka, India. Add to Calendar Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Interview Questions and Answers, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLServer, T SQL, Technology

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Reflections on Life

- by MOSSLover

I haven’t written a blog post in a while. I understand there is blog neglect going on, but there is a lot going on in my life. I am trying really hard to embrace the change and roll with everything thrown my way. I had a really hard year it was not my best and it was not my worst. I cannot say it was entirely hard, because January 1st I received the MVP Award. If you know me you know the three things that happened starting in August, but if you really know me it was miserable for a substantial period of time prior to August. There was some personal life issues I neglected to deal with that came into a headway. Anyway I’d like to think that as of today I am doing much better. I finally went to Paris and London. I found out I love Paris and Nottingham. I think that London is something I need to visit a few more times. I would love to go back to the UK and France. I think I’d love to live overseas someday, but not anytime soon. The past few weeks were like a whirlwind experience. I felt like I had been sitting around for months just waiting for this trip and the big move. Maybe it was something I was waiting to do for several years. I needed a big change. I needed to get unstuck. I feel like August, however horrible it was, helped me get to the point where I am somewhere happy. For at least two years I have been miserable outside of my work (community and otherwise). I was just downright unhappy. One of my coworkers said that my tweets were just horrible this past year. Depressing might I add. I agree they were incredibly depressing for the past several years. But things are on an upturn. I decided a month or so ago that I was going to do all the things I have wanted to do without looking back. So I dove into this trip and into this move to NYC head first. I was scared for a bit and I didn’t think it would come through. Everyone friend-wise and coworker-wise has helped me accomplish this great feat. I am now a New Yorker and as of January 1st 100% living in the city. Thank you for those who have checked up on me. Thank you for those who listened to all my problems and continue to do so. Thank you to everyone who has helped me through this really terrible time. You guys mean the world to me. You are my friends. Some of you I have not met and some of you I barely know. I have been to a lot of events where people just walked up to me and asked me if I was doing ok. I will continue to keep moving forward one foot in front of the other. If I ever get so down again please remind me about this year. I hope to see you all in the upcoming year as I attend more events. Have a good night or a good morning or a good afternoon. I will catch you all later. Technorati Tags: Life,2011,Disaster Year,Happinness

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glsl shader to allow color change of skydome ogre3d

- by Tim

I'm still very new to all this but learning a lot. I'm putting together an application using Ogre3d as the rendering engine. So far I've got it running, with a simple scene, a day/night cycle system which is working okay. I'm now moving on to looking at changing the color of the skydome material based on the time of day. What I've done so far is to create a struct to hold the ColourValues for the different aspects of the scene. struct todColors { Ogre::ColourValue sky; Ogre::ColourValue ambient; Ogre::ColourValue sun; }; I created an array to store all the colours todColors sceneColours [4]; I populated the array with the colours I want to use for the various times of the day. For instance DayTime (when the sun is high in the sky) sceneColours[2].sky = Ogre::ColourValue(135/255, 206/255, 235/255, 255); sceneColours[2].ambient = Ogre::ColourValue(135/255, 206/255, 235/255, 255); sceneColours[2].sun = Ogre::ColourValue(135/255, 206/255, 235/255, 255); I've got code to work out the time of the day using a float currentHours to store the current hour of the day 10.5 = 10:30 am. This updates constantly and updates the sun as required. I am then calculating the appropriate colours for the time of day when relevant using else if( currentHour >= 4 && currentHour < 7) { // Lerp from night to morning Ogre::ColourValue lerp = Ogre::Math::lerp<Ogre::ColourValue, float>(sceneColours[GT_TOD_NIGHT].sky , sceneColours[GT_TOD_MORNING].sky, (currentHour - 4) / (7 - 4)); } My original attempt to get this to work was to dynamically generate a material with the new colour and apply that material to the skydome. This, as you can probably guess... didn't go well. I know it's possible to use shaders where you can pass information such as colour to the shader from the code but I am unsure if there is an existing simple shader to change a colour like this or if I need to create one. What is involved in creating a shader and material definition that would allow me to change the colour of a material without the overheads of dynamically generating materials all the time? EDIT : I've created a glsl vertex and fragment shaders as follows. Vertex uniform vec4 newColor; void main() { gl_FrontColor = newColor; gl_Position = ftransform(); } Fragment void main() { gl_FragColor = gl_Color; } I can pass a colour to it using ShaderDesigner and it seems to work. I now need to investigate how to use it within Ogre as a material. EDIT : I created a material file like this : vertex_program colour_vs_test glsl { source test.vert default_params { param_named newColor float4 0.0 0.0 0.0 1 } } fragment_program colour_fs_glsl glsl { source test.frag } material Test/SkyColor { technique { pass { lighting off fragment_program_ref colour_fs_glsl { } vertex_program_ref colour_vs_test { } } } } In the code I have tried : Ogre::MaterialPtr material = Ogre::MaterialManager::getSingleton().getByName("Test/SkyColor"); Ogre::GpuProgramParametersSharedPtr params = material->getTechnique(0)->getPass(0)->getVertexProgramParameters(); params->setNamedConstant("newcolor", Ogre::Vector4(0.7, 0.5, 0.3, 1)); I've set that as the Skydome material which seems to work initially. I am doing the same with the code that is attempting to lerp between colours, but when I include it there, it all goes black. Seems like there is now a problem with my colour lerping.

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MySQL – Video Course – MySQL Backup and Recovery Fundamentals

- by Pinal Dave

Data is the one of the most crucial things for any organization and keeping data safe is the biggest challenge for any DBA. This is true for any organizations. Think about the scenario that you have a database which is extremely important and suddenly you accidently delete the most important table from that database. I am sure this is a very difficult time. In times like this people often get stressed or just make even second mistake. In my career of 10 years I have done often this mistake and often got stressed out due to un-availability of the database backup. In the SQL Server field, we have plenty of the help on this subject, but in MySQL domain there is not enough help. For the same reason I have build this MySQL course on Backup and Recovery. Course Outline Data is very important to any application and business. It is very important that every business plan for data safety. Database backup strategies are often discussed after the disaster has already happened. In this introductory course we will explore a few of the basic backup strategies every business should implement for data safely. We will explore how we can recover our server quickly after any unfriendly incident to our MySQL database. Click to View Course Here are various important aspects which we have discussed in this course. How to take backup of single database? How to take backup of multiple database? How to backup various database objects? How to restore a single database? How to restore multiple databases? How to use MySQL Workbench for Backup and Restore? How to restore Point in Time for any database? What is the best time to backup? How to copy database from one server to another server? All of the above concepts and many more subjects are covered in the MySQL Backup and Recovery Fundamentals course. It is available on Pluralsight. Scenarios As learning about Backup and Recovery can be very much boring, I decided to create two fictitious characters and demonstrate the entire course based on their conversation. The story is about Mike and Rahul. Mike is Sr. Database administrator in USA and Rahul is an intern in India. Rahul aspires to become a senior database administrator and this is a story about his challenges and how he overcomes those challenges. I had a great time to build this course and I have got very good feedback on this course. I encourage all of you to attempt to learn MySQL Backup and Recovery Fundamental course with this innovative effort. It will be very valuable to know your feedback. You will need a valid Pluralsight subscription to watch this course. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)Filed under: MySQL, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Backup and Restore, SQL Query, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL

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How to mix textures in DirectX?

- by tobsen

I am new to DirectX development and I am wondering if I am taking the wrong route to achieve the following: I would like to mix three textures which contain transparent areas and some solid areas (Red, Blue, Green). The three textures should blend like shown in this example: How can I achieve that in DirectX (preferably in directx9)? A link or example code would be nice. Update: My rendering method looks like this and I still think I am doing it wrong, because the sprite only shows the last texture (nothing is rendered transparent or blended): void D3DTester::render() { d3ddevice->Clear(0, NULL, D3DCLEAR_TARGET, D3DCOLOR_XRGB(0,0,0), 1.0f, 0); d3ddevice->BeginScene(); d3ddevice->SetRenderState(D3DRS_ALPHABLENDENABLE, TRUE); d3ddevice->SetRenderState(D3DRS_SRCBLEND, D3DBLEND_ONE); d3ddevice->SetRenderState(D3DRS_DESTBLEND, D3DBLEND_ONE); LPD3DXSPRITE sprite=NULL; HRESULT hres = D3DXCreateSprite(d3ddevice, &sprite); if(hres != S_OK) { throw std::exception(); } sprite->Begin(D3DXSPRITE_ALPHABLEND); std::vector<LPDIRECT3DTEXTURE9>::iterator it; for ( it=textures.begin() ; it < textures.end(); it++ ) { sprite->Draw(*it, NULL, NULL, NULL, 0xFFFFFFFF); } sprite->End(); d3ddevice->EndScene(); d3ddevice->Present(NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL); } The resulting image looks like this: But I need it to look like this instead: Update2: I figured out that I have to SetRenderState after I use sprite->Begin(D3DXSPRITE_ALPHABLEND); thanks to the hint by Josh Petrie. However, by using this: sprite->Begin(D3DXSPRITE_ALPHABLEND); d3ddevice->SetRenderState(D3DRS_ALPHABLENDENABLE, TRUE); d3ddevice->SetRenderState(D3DRS_SRCBLEND, D3DBLEND_ONE); d3ddevice->SetRenderState(D3DRS_DESTBLEND, D3DBLEND_ONE); std::vector<LPDIRECT3DTEXTURE9>::iterator it; for ( it=textures.begin() ; it < textures.end(); it++ ) { sprite->Draw(*it, NULL, NULL, NULL, 0xFFFFFFFF); } sprite->End(); The sprites colors are becoming transparent towards the background scene e.g.: if I use d3ddevice->Clear(0, NULL, D3DCLEAR_TARGET, D3DCOLOR_XRGB(0,100,21), 1.0f, 0); the result looks like: Is there any way to avoid that? I would like the sprites be transparent to each other but to be still solid to the background. Update3: After having sombody explained to me, how to do what @LaurentCouvidou and @JoshPetrie suggested, I have a working solution and therfore accept the answer: d3ddevice->BeginScene(); D3DCOLOR white = D3DCOLOR_RGBA((UINT)255, (UINT)255, (UINT)255, 255); D3DCOLOR black = D3DCOLOR_RGBA((UINT)0, (UINT)0, (UINT)0, 255); sprite->Begin(D3DXSPRITE_ALPHABLEND); sprite->Draw(pTextureRed, NULL, NULL, NULL, black); sprite->Draw(pTextureGreen, NULL, NULL, NULL, black); sprite->Draw(pTextureBlue, NULL, NULL, NULL, black); sprite->End(); sprite->Begin(D3DXSPRITE_ALPHABLEND); d3ddevice->SetRenderState(D3DRS_ALPHATESTENABLE, TRUE); d3ddevice->SetRenderState(D3DRS_BLENDOP, D3DBLENDOP_ADD); d3ddevice->SetRenderState(D3DRS_SRCBLEND, D3DBLEND_ONE); d3ddevice->SetRenderState(D3DRS_DESTBLEND, D3DBLEND_ONE); sprite->Draw(pTextureRed, NULL, NULL, NULL, white); sprite->Draw(pTextureGreen, NULL, NULL, NULL, white); sprite->Draw(pTextureBlue, NULL, NULL, NULL, white); sprite->End(); d3ddevice->EndScene(); d3ddevice->Present(NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL);

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ORACLE is WEB 2.0

- by anca.rosu

You never know what to expect in life, where it can take you and what kind of fulfillment it can offer you. It’s just like an amazing lottery with millions of winning tickets. My name is Paula, I am an Online Marketing Specialist at Oracle University and this is my story. Having graduated from a technical profile college, it seemed almost normal to follow the same career path. But I said no. I wanted to try something else, so I took an Advertising Masters Program and I really became in love with this entire industry. Advertising and the new impact of the Internet through social networking is my current fascination. I knew I had to work to incorporate both my skills intro one dream job. I want to believe that I have come to work at Oracle as part of a great plan that life has for me. It’s not the most glamorous job in advertising or in the fashion industry, but it’s everything you need to start investing in your development and to build relationships. A normal day at work begins at 9.30 at our Oracle Office in Bucharest. After a short chit-chat, coffee and some conference calls, marketing gets to work! Some of the members of my team are working besides me but others are based all over Europe. This is extremely useful when coordinating the EMEA Marketing for Oracle University, because this way it’s easier to keep an eye on these various locations. Even though it’s a team play, you need to speak up and make your mark. I am the kind of person that never stands-by and waits to be given directions, I am curious and intuitive. This makes things easier. In Oracle you really need to find your own way and to discover how to organize your time and how to get involved with people. People to people, this is the focus. But everything is up to you and it strongly depends on the type of personality that you have. I try to get involved in various activities, participate in Oracle Days Events, interact and meet all kinds of people. For those who are newly graduates or interns, Oracle has lots of trainings and webcasts you can attend to help you develop your career shape and to understand better the way the business works. You can also be awarded for ideas and setting the trends so that makes it worth it. What I like most about my job is the fact that I can come with ideas and bring them to life. For example Oracle University has a special seminar program called “Celebrity Seminars” where top industry speakers teach 1-day or 2-day condensed seminars. We thought of creating something exclusive and a video was the best idea. So my colleague and I became reporters for a day and interviewed this well-known speaker regarding his seminar. I think this is a good way to market this business. Live footage is a very good marketing tool so we are planning to use the video to target our online audiences via Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. This can even go in the newsletters that marketing sends regarding the Celebrity Seminars. This is what I meant when I said Oracle is a free spirited organization and you can surely find your place here among us. The best way to describe my job is WEB 2.0. The modern online approach comes to life while we are trying to sell our business. We need to be out there and we are responsible of spreading the buzz regarding our training offerings and our official courseware materials. There are so many new ways to interact with the target audience nowadays and I am so eager to discover the best online techniques! If you have any questions related to this article feel free to contact [email protected]. You can find our job opportunities via http://campus.oracle.com Technorati Tags: WEB 2.0,Online Marketing,Oracle University,Bucharest,events,graduates,interns,training,webcast,seminar,newsletters,business,Facebook,Twitter,LinkedIn

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Create bullet physics rigid body along the vertices of a blender model

- by Krishnabhadra

I am working on my first 3D game, for iphone, and I am using Blender to create models, Cocos3D game engine and Bullet for physics simulation. I am trying to learn the use of physics engine. What I have done I have created a small model in blender which contains a Cube (default blender cube) at the origin and a UVSphere hovering exactly on top of this cube (without touching the cube) I saved the file to get MyModel.blend. Then I used File -> Export -> PVRGeoPOD (.pod/.h/.cpp) in Blender to export the model to .pod format to use along with Cocos3D. In the coding side, I added necessary bullet files to my Cocos3D template project in XCode. I am also using a bullet objective C wrapper. -(void) initializeScene { _physicsWorld = [[CC3PhysicsWorld alloc] init]; [_physicsWorld setGravity:0 y:-9.8 z:0]; /*Setup camera, lamp etc.*/ .......... ........... /*Add models created in blender to scene*/ [self addContentFromPODFile: @"MyModel.pod"]; /*Create OpenGL ES buffers*/ [self createGLBuffers]; /*get models*/ CC3MeshNode* cubeNode = (CC3MeshNode*)[self getNodeNamed:@"Cube"]; CC3MeshNode* sphereNode = (CC3MeshNode*)[self getNodeNamed:@"Sphere"]; /*Those boring grey colors..*/ [cubeNode setColor:ccc3(255, 255, 0)]; [sphereNode setColor:ccc3(255, 0, 0)]; float *cVertexData = (float*)((CC3VertexArrayMesh*)cubeNode.mesh).vertexLocations.vertices; int cVertexCount = (CC3VertexArrayMesh*)cubeNode.mesh).vertexLocations.vertexCount; btTriangleMesh* cTriangleMesh = new btTriangleMesh(); // for (int i = 0; i < cVertexCount * 3; i+=3) { // printf("\n%f", cVertexData[i]); // printf("\n%f", cVertexData[i+1]); // printf("\n%f", cVertexData[i+2]); // } /*Trying to create a triangle mesh that curresponds the cube in 3D space.*/ int offset = 0; for (int i = 0; i < (cVertexCount / 3); i++){ unsigned int index1 = offset; unsigned int index2 = offset+6; unsigned int index3 = offset+12; cTriangleMesh->addTriangle( btVector3(cVertexData[index1], cVertexData[index1+1], cVertexData[index1+2] ), btVector3(cVertexData[index2], cVertexData[index2+1], cVertexData[index2+2] ), btVector3(cVertexData[index3], cVertexData[index3+1], cVertexData[index3+2] )); offset += 18; } [self releaseRedundantData]; /*Create a collision shape from triangle mesh*/ btBvhTriangleMeshShape* cTriMeshShape = new btBvhTriangleMeshShape(cTriangleMesh,true); btCollisionShape *sphereShape = new btSphereShape(1); /*Create physics objects*/ gTriMeshObject = [_physicsWorld createPhysicsObjectTrimesh:cubeNode shape:cTriMeshShape mass:0 restitution:1.0 position:cubeNode.location]; sphereObject = [_physicsWorld createPhysicsObject:sphereNode shape:sphereShape mass:1 restitution:0.1 position:sphereNode.location]; sphereObject.rigidBody->setDamping(0.1,0.8); } When I run the sphere and cube shows up fine. I expect the sphere object to fall directly on top of the cube, since I have given it a mass of 1 and the physics world gravity is given as -9.8 in y direction. But What is happening the spere rotates around cube three or times and then just jumps out of the scene. Then I know I have some basic misunderstanding about the whole process. So my question is, how can I create a physics collision shape which corresponds to the shape of a particular mesh model. I may need complex shapes than cube and sphere, but before going into them I want to understand the concepts.

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SQLAuthority News – Random Thoughts and Random Ideas

- by pinaldave

There are days when I keep on wondering about SQL, and even my life overall. Today is Saturday so I decided to write about SQL Server. Just like any other mornings, I woke up at 5 and opened my blog editor. I usually do not open Twitter or Facebook when I am planning to focus on my work, as they are little distractions for me. But today I opened my Twitter account and came across a very interesting quote from a friend: ‘Can I expect you to be different today?’ Well, I think it was very powerful quote for me to read first thing on a new day. This quote froze me for a while and made me think, “Do I really want to write about an SQL Server tip, or something different?” After a little thinking, I’ve realized that for today I would go on and write something different. I am going to write about a few of the ideas and thoughts I had yesterday. After writing all these, I realized that if I am thinking so much in a day, and if I write a blog post of my random musing of the week or month, it can be so long (and boring). Here are some of my random thoughts I’d like to share with you: When the airplane lands, why does everybody get up and try to rush out when their luggage would be coming probably 20-30 minutes later? I really do not like this question when it was asked to me: “SQL Server is not using optimal index which I just created – how can I force it?” I am not going elaborate on this statement but you are allowed to in the comment section. Why do some people wish Good Morning even when they meet us after 4 PM? Can I optimize a query so much that it gives me a result before I execute it? Is it corruption when someone does their personal household work at office? The lane where I drive is always the slowest lane. Why waste time on correcting others when there are a lot of pending improvements for ourselves? If I have to get Tattoo, which SQL Server Execution Plan symbol should I get? Why do I reach office so early that the coffee machine is yet running its daily cleaning job? Why does every laptop have a ‘Page Up’ key at different locations on the keyboard? While I like color movies, I really appreciate black and white photographs. I do not appreciate statements like, “If I receive your books in PDF, I will spread it to many people to give you much greater exposure. So would you please send them to me ASAP?” Do not tell me, “Why does the database grow back after shrinking it every day?” I suggest you use “Search this blog” for the explanation. Petrol prices are currently at INR 74. I hope the rate remains there. Let me ask you the same question which started my day today: “Can I expect you to be different today?” Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: About Me, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

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Internships at Oracle – a truly multicultural experience!

- by cristian.condurache(at)oracle.com

Hello everybody!!! Our names are Lena and Laura, we both study in the same Grande Ecole in France, IPAG and we are about to complete our 16 week-internship in Oracle in the UK. Below a summary of our experience! My name is Lena. I am 20 years old and joined Oracle UK in September 2010 – more specifically, I joined the EMEA Graduate's Recruitment Team (EMEA stands for Europe, Middle East and Africa), and I have learned a lot about working life. It was a really good experience, which made me realize that I soon will be looking for a fulltime employee in a company in less than 3 years. I am glad to have had this first experience in Oracle. First of all because it's a very welcoming company which treats interns as employees and gives them the opportunity to show their potential. I also discovered that it is nice to work in a company where everybody knows everybody, and where the atmosphere is really good. The multicultural aspect is one of the most important and beautiful elements of Oracle. It gives you the opportunity to have contacts in many parts of the world and discover a lot of nice people. During my internship I learned a lot about Recruitment. I discovered I want to work in a Human Resources role after I graduate. I like the contact I will have with candidates and the fact that I have to be in touch with managers and understand their needs. I would be glad to work for the company in the near future. I would like to thank all my team members for welcoming me like they did. It was a real pleasure to share this experience in Oracle and in this team and I hope to return after I graduate. Hi all! I am Laura. My wish for this internship was to focus on training of personal skills for employees and, by the same time of course, for the company’s development.... and I did it in the OTD team (EMEA Organization Talent Development Team). I could not have done something better than this! It was truly instructive. I learnt how to work in such a big international company, the values and the rules to follow and to interact and be part of the organisation. In Oracle, there are so different aspects of every department, so many possibilities in HR as well as in Finance or Sales... The jobs are very various and the employees’ cultures are also really different thanks to this international and multicultural company. I am working with OTD for the entire EMEA region, having many of my colleagues in other countries, with other cultures, other ways to work, and other ways to think... this is so inspiring! Oracle offers the best environment to learn about a job, as well as to learn about work life in such large companies. This company is about new technologies, it always goes fast, and everything changes quickly! You have to be aware of these changes and keep track of the wishes of customers. For OTD of course, these customers are the employees. Looking back I have learnt more then I would have ever thought and I know that it is what I want to do... And now I hope to come back again! I want to thank all my team for welcoming me and integrating me with such happiness. I will truly miss them!! If you have any questions related to this article feel free to contact [email protected]. You can find our job opportunities via http://campus.oracle.com. Technorati Tags: Oracle,EMEA,Recruitment,internship,ODT,team

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Help me get my 3D camera to look like the ones in RTS

- by rFactor

I am a newbie in 3D game development and I am trying to make a real-time strategy game. I am struggling with the camera currently as I am unable to make it look like they do in RTS games. Here is my Camera.cs class using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Linq; using System.Text; using Microsoft.Xna.Framework; using Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Input; namespace BB { public class Camera : Microsoft.Xna.Framework.GameComponent { public Matrix view; public Matrix projection; protected Game game; KeyboardState currentKeyboardState; Vector3 cameraPosition = new Vector3(600.0f, 0.0f, 600.0f); Vector3 cameraForward = new Vector3(0, -0.4472136f, -0.8944272f); BoundingFrustum cameraFrustum = new BoundingFrustum(Matrix.Identity); // Light direction Vector3 lightDir = new Vector3(-0.3333333f, 0.6666667f, 0.6666667f); public Camera(Game game) : base(game) { this.game = game; } public override void Initialize() { this.view = Matrix.CreateLookAt(this.cameraPosition, this.cameraPosition + this.cameraForward, Vector3.Up); this.projection = Matrix.CreatePerspectiveFieldOfView(MathHelper.PiOver4, this.game.renderer.aspectRatio, 1, 10000); base.Initialize(); } /* Handles the user input * @ param GameTime gameTime */ private void HandleInput(GameTime gameTime) { float time = (float)gameTime.ElapsedGameTime.TotalMilliseconds; currentKeyboardState = Keyboard.GetState(); } void UpdateCamera(GameTime gameTime) { float time = (float)gameTime.ElapsedGameTime.TotalMilliseconds; // Check for input to rotate the camera. float pitch = 0.0f; float turn = 0.0f; if (currentKeyboardState.IsKeyDown(Keys.Up)) pitch += time * 0.001f; if (currentKeyboardState.IsKeyDown(Keys.Down)) pitch -= time * 0.001f; if (currentKeyboardState.IsKeyDown(Keys.Left)) turn += time * 0.001f; if (currentKeyboardState.IsKeyDown(Keys.Right)) turn -= time * 0.001f; Vector3 cameraRight = Vector3.Cross(Vector3.Up, cameraForward); Vector3 flatFront = Vector3.Cross(cameraRight, Vector3.Up); Matrix pitchMatrix = Matrix.CreateFromAxisAngle(cameraRight, pitch); Matrix turnMatrix = Matrix.CreateFromAxisAngle(Vector3.Up, turn); Vector3 tiltedFront = Vector3.TransformNormal(cameraForward, pitchMatrix * turnMatrix); // Check angle so we cant flip over if (Vector3.Dot(tiltedFront, flatFront) > 0.001f) { cameraForward = Vector3.Normalize(tiltedFront); } // Check for input to move the camera around. if (currentKeyboardState.IsKeyDown(Keys.W)) cameraPosition += cameraForward * time * 0.4f; if (currentKeyboardState.IsKeyDown(Keys.S)) cameraPosition -= cameraForward * time * 0.4f; if (currentKeyboardState.IsKeyDown(Keys.A)) cameraPosition += cameraRight * time * 0.4f; if (currentKeyboardState.IsKeyDown(Keys.D)) cameraPosition -= cameraRight * time * 0.4f; if (currentKeyboardState.IsKeyDown(Keys.R)) { cameraPosition = new Vector3(0, 50, 50); cameraForward = new Vector3(0, 0, -1); } cameraForward.Normalize(); // Create the new view matrix view = Matrix.CreateLookAt(cameraPosition, cameraPosition + cameraForward, Vector3.Up); // Set the new frustum value cameraFrustum.Matrix = view * projection; } public override void Update(Microsoft.Xna.Framework.GameTime gameTime) { HandleInput(gameTime); UpdateCamera(gameTime); } } } The problem is that the initial view is looking in a horizontal direction. I would like to have an RTS like top down view (but with a slight pitch). Can you help me out?

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How do developer get rid of silly requirements?

- by sugar

Hmm ! First of all let me give you the note of the requirement. So that you can have idea what kind of problem I am facing. Words From Project Manager : Hey ! Sugar, I am assigning you a task for developing a framework. This framework is supposed to be developed for all iOS application. Please go through brief of the required framework. It should be able to detect the thickness of my Thumb. It should be able to detect whether User is using thumb or Fingers If user is using thumbs/Fingers, Framework should calculate the size of thumb/fingers. Once size is been calculated, all elements of user interface should arranged & resized automatically. ( not specified how & where as its framework - it should be smart enough to arrange automatically ) If thumb size is larger elements should get arranged near by center area of iPad/iPhone If thumb size is smaller elements should get arranged near by corners of iPad/iPhone If thumb size is larger, fonts of all elements should get smaller. ( assuming = aged person ) If thumb size is smaller, fonts of all elements should get larger. ( assuming smaller thumb = low aged person ) Summary : This framework is required for creating user-friendly user-interfaces programmatically. We need to develop a very developer-friendly framework. Framework should be developed in such a way that we can use in as many projects as needed. Well, I am a developer. What I want to have as an answer is as follows. How to describe them - the way of they thinking is bit ridiculous ? How do I explain them - we can better concentrate on developing actual projects ? How do I convince them - that this kind of things even if possible, is not recommended to develop such things ? How do I say politely, gently & respectfully NO to this ? What should I say, So that they can not point at my experience ? ( e.g. you are 3 years experienced guy & you must have abilities to develop such things ) Feeling horror. Please help. Thanks in advance, Sugar. Note : Please help me to tag this question properly. I am stuck & this is real situation. Frustrated & tensed. You guys might have faced such requirements from TopLevel. requesting you to help with your experience. Well ! I came to know that - those TOPLEVEL guys don't have any idea of iPad, iPhone, Apple etc. I would do one thing. Sir, before we go further for framework development. It is strongly recommended to read Apple Human Interface Guidlines.

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