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• Suggestions for implementing a dynamic 2D level

  - by Wouter

  I am working on a game that needs a level that is completely generated. Currently my approach is to draw textures for the levels pixel by pixel during the game (in XNA with SpriteBatch). This is too intensive unfortunately. The game has frame drops even when I only draw 1 level texture each draw cycle. Here is an example of the current prototype. It is a simple sidescroller with the avatar swimming through a cave. The shape of this cave will alter throughout the level (textures and physics collision shapes). You can clearly see the boundaries of the level tiles in the screenshot below. These are generated just before they move into camera view. For inspiration I looked at PixelJunk Shooter 2. These levels are obviously not generated, but some of the levels have movement. How do you guys think they implemented it? My guess is that the level and other objects in the game are actually flat 3d models, but I am not sure..

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• SQL SERVER – DMV sys.dm_exec_describe_first_result_set_for_object – Describes the First Result Metadata for the Module

  - by pinaldave

  Here is another interesting follow up blog post of SQL SERVER – sp_describe_first_result_set New System Stored Procedure in SQL Server 2012. While I was writing earlier blog post I had come across DMV sys.dm_exec_describe_first_result_set_for_object as well. I found that SQL Server 2012 is providing all this quick and new features which quite often we miss  to learn it and when in future someone demonstrates the same to us, we express our surprise on the subject. DMV sys.dm_exec_describe_first_result_set_for_object returns result set which describes the columns used in the stored procedure. Here is the quick example. Let us first create stored procedure. USE [AdventureWorks] GO ALTER PROCEDURE [dbo].[CompSP] AS SELECT [DepartmentID] id ,[Name] n ,[GroupName] gn FROM [HumanResources].[Department] GO Now let us run following two DMV which gives us meta data description of the stored procedure passed as a parameter. Option1: Pass second parameter @include_browse_information as a 0. SELECT * FROM sys.dm_exec_describe_first_result_set_for_object ( OBJECT_ID('[dbo].[CompSP]'),0) AS Table1 GO Option2: Pass second parameter @include_browse_information as a 1. SELECT * FROM sys.dm_exec_describe_first_result_set_for_object ( OBJECT_ID('[dbo].[CompSP]'),1) AS Table1 GO Here is the result of Option1 and Option2. If you see the result, there is absolutely no difference between the results. Both of the resultset are returning column names which are aliased in the stored procedure. Let us scroll on the right side and you will notice that there is clear difference in some columns. You will see in second resultset source_database, Source_schema as well few other columns are reporting original table instead of NULL values. When @include_browse_information result is set to 1 it will provide the columns details of the underlying table. I have just discovered this DMV, I have yet to use it in production code and find out where exactly I will use this DMV. Do you have any idea? Does any thing comes up to your mind where this DMV can be helpful. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL DMV, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

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• Restoring GRUB2 on Software RAID 0 after Windows 7 wiped it using Ubuntu 10.10 LiveCD

  - by unknownthreat

  I have installed Ubuntu 10.10 on my system. However, I need to install Windows 7 back, and I expect that it would alter GRUB and it did. Right now, my partition on my Software RAID 0 looks like this: nvidia_acajefec1 is Ubuntu 10.10 and nvidia_acajefec3 is Windows 7. I've been following some guides around and I am always stuck at GRUB not able to detect the usual RAID content. I've tried running: sudo grub > root (hd0,0) GRUB complains it couldn't find my hard disk. So I tried: find (hd0,0) And it complains that it couldn't find anything. So I tried: find /boot/grub/stage1 It said "file not found". Here's the text from the console: ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ grub Probing devices to guess BIOS drives. This may take a long time. [ Minimal BASH-like line editing is supported. For the first word, TAB lists possible command completions. Anywhere else TAB lists the possible completions of a device/filename. ] grub> root (hd0,0) root (hd0,0) Error 21: Selected disk does not exist grub> find /boot/grub/stage1 find /boot/grub/stage1 Error 15: File not found Fortunately, I got one person suggesting that what I've been trying to do is for GRUB Legacy, not GRUB2. So I went to the suggested website, ** (http://grub.enbug.org/Grub2LiveCdInstallGuide) **try to look around, and try: ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l Unable to seek on /dev/sda This is just the step 2 of the instruction in the http://grub.enbug.org/Grub2LiveCdInstallGuide and I cannot proceed because it cannot seek /dev/sda. However, ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo dmraid -r /dev/sdb: nvidia, "nvidia_acajefec", stripe, ok, 488397166 sectors, data@ 0 /dev/sda: nvidia, "nvidia_acajefec", stripe, ok, 488397166 sectors, data@ 0 So what now? Do you have an idea for how to make fdisk see my RAID array on live cd (Ubuntu 10.10)? Honestly, I am lost, very lost in trying to restore GRUB2 on this software RAID 0 system right now.

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• SQL SERVER – Function to Round Up Time to Nearest Minutes Interval

  - by pinaldave

  Though I have written more than 2300 blog posts, I always find things which I have not covered earlier in this blog post. Recently I was asked if I have written a function which rounds up or down the time based on the minute interval passed to it. Well, not earlier but it is here today. Here is a very simple example of how one can do the same. ALTER FUNCTION [dbo].[RoundTime] (@Time DATETIME, @RoundToMin INT) RETURNS DATETIME AS BEGIN RETURN ROUND(CAST(CAST(CONVERT(VARCHAR,@Time,121) AS DATETIME) AS FLOAT) * (1440/@RoundToMin),0)/(1440/@RoundToMin) END GO Above function needs two values. 1) The time which needs to be rounded up or down. 2) Time in minutes (the value passed here should be between 0 and 60 – if the value is incorrect the results will be incorrect.) Above function can be enhanced by adding functionalities like a) Validation of the parameters passed b) Accepting values like Quarter Hour, Half Hour etc. Here are few sample examples. SELECT dbo.roundtime1('17:29',30) SELECT dbo.roundtime1(GETDATE(),5) SELECT dbo.roundtime1('2012-11-02 07:27:07.000',15) When you run above code, it will return following results. Well, do you have any other way to achieve the same result? If yes, do share it here and I will be glad to share it on blog with due credit. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL DateTime, SQL Function, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

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• SQL SERVER – How to Change Compatibility of Database to SQL Server 2014

  - by Pinal Dave

  Yesterday I wrote about how we can install SQL Server 2014. Right after the blog post was live, I received a question from the developer that he has installed SQL Server 2014 and attached a database file from previous version of SQL Server. Right after attaching database, he was not able to work with the latest features of Cardinality Estimation. As soon as he sent me email I realize what has happened exactly. When he attached database, the database compatibility was set to still of the earlier version of SQL Server. To use most of the latest features of SQL Server 2014, one has to change the compatibility level of the database to the latest version (i.e. 120). Here are two different ways how we can change the compatibility of database to SQL Server 2014′s version. 1) Using Management Studio For this method first to go database and right click over it. Now select properties. On this screen user can change the compatibility level to 120. 2) Using T-SQL Script. You can execute following script and change the compatibility settings to 120. USE [master] GO ALTER DATABASE [AdventureWorks2012] SET COMPATIBILITY_LEVEL = 120 GO   Well, it is that easy :-) Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)Filed under: PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL

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• Win a Free Copy of Windows Presentation Foundation 4.5 Cookbook

  - by Ricardo Peres

  Win A free copy of the 'Windows Presentation Foundation 4.5 Cookbook', just by commenting! For the contest, Packt Publishing has two eBook copies of Windows Presentation Foundation 4.5 Cookbookto be given away to two lucky winners. How you can win: To win your copy of this book, all you need to do is come up with a comment below highlighting the reason "why you would like to win this book”. Duration of the contest & selection of winners: The contest is valid for 7 days (until November 26), and is open to everyone. Winners will be selected on the basis of their comment posted. Windows Presentation Foundation 4.5 Cookbookis written by Pavel Yosifovich, the CTO of CodeValue (http://www.codevalue.net), a software development, consulting, and training company, based in Israel. This book is written in an easy-to-read style, with a strong emphasis on real-world, practical examples. Step-by-step explanations are provided for performing important tasks. This book is the best guide for C# developer who is looking forward to increase understanding and knowledge of WPF. Using this book, readers will learn to build complex and flexible user interfaces using XAML, perform lengthy operations asynchronously while keeping the UI responsive, get well-versed with WPF features such as data binding, layout, resources, templates, and styles and also customize a control’s template to alter appearance but preserve behavior. In the next days I will post my review on this book. In the meantime, here’s the table of contents: Preface Chapter 1: Foundations Chapter 2: Resources Chapter 3: Layout and Panels Chapter 4: Using Standard Controls Chapter 5: Application and Windows Chapter 6: Data Binding Chapter 7: Commands and MVVM Chapter 8: Styles, Triggers, and Control Templates Chapter 9: Graphics and Animation Chapter 10: Custom Elements Chapter 11: Threading Index I’m waiting for your comments!

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• Affect movieclip scale from a .as doc to another

  - by Madcowe

  I've been working on a game following a tutorial on the internet, the game is an avoider where you have the Avatar, that has to avoid the objects that fall. The way it is made is: I have a DocumentClass which addChild's the screen you should be seeing and removeChild's the screen that you were. For example: first it loads the menuScreen, then when you press play unloads menu and loads playscreen. When you die it loads the gameoverScreen and loads the playscreen. And from the gameOverScreen you can press the SHOP button to go to the shop. From here on I'm on my own and not following any tutorials. The shop has a button that is supposed to alter the Avatar's X and Y scale to 0.5, but the problem is: how do I make that work? I tried creating a sharedObject.data.avatarSize, on the store's size button the code would be something like: sharedObject.data.avatarSize *= 0.5; And on the AvoiderGame.as, which is the most of the actual game, on the part where the avatar is created I tried putting this after it's creation: scaleX.avatar = sharedObject.data.avatarSize; scaleY.avatar = sharedObject.data.avatarSize; This did not work since it gives me the error 1009 saying can't access something that is null. I tried this before "using" the sharedObject: if( sharedObject.data.avatarSize == null ) { sharedObject.data.avatarSize = 1; } But it did not work... So now I'm not sure on what to do. I know we should reduce global variables as much as we can but how do I do it? Also, if it helps, I'm using Flash CS5 and working with AS3.0

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• SQL SERVER – ERROR – FIX – Msg 3702, Level 16, State 3, Line 1 Cannot drop database “MyDBName” because it is currently in use

  - by pinaldave

  I often go to do various seminars and presentations at various organizations. During presentations I often create and drop various databases for demonstrations purpose. Recently in one of the presentations, I tried to remove my recently created database, I got following error. Msg 3702, Level 16, State 3, Line 1 Cannot drop database “MyDBName” because it is currently in use. The reason was very simple as my database was in use by another session or window. I had option that I should go and find open session and close it right away; later followed by dropping the database. As I was in rush I quickly wrote down following code and I was able to successfully drop the database. USE MASTER GO ALTER DATABASE MyDBName SET SINGLE_USER WITH ROLLBACK IMMEDIATE; DROP DATABASE MyDBName GO Please note that I am doing all this on my demonstrations, do not run above code on production without proper approvals and supervisions. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Error Messages, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

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• Is this method pure?

  - by Thomas Levesque

  I have the following extension method: public static IEnumerable<T> Apply<T>( [NotNull] this IEnumerable<T> source, [NotNull] Action<T> action) where T : class { source.CheckArgumentNull("source"); action.CheckArgumentNull("action"); return source.ApplyIterator(action); } private static IEnumerable<T> ApplyIterator<T>(this IEnumerable<T> source, Action<T> action) where T : class { foreach (var item in source) { action(item); yield return item; } } It just applies an action to each item of the sequence before returning it. I was wondering if I should apply the Pure attribute (from Resharper annotations) to this method, and I can see arguments for and against it. Pros: strictly speaking, it is pure; just calling it on a sequence doesn't alter the sequence (it returns a new sequence) or make any observable state change calling it without using the result is clearly a mistake, since it has no effect unless the sequence is enumerated, so I'd like Resharper to warn me if I do that. Cons: even though the Apply method itself is pure, enumerating the resulting sequence will make observable state changes (which is the point of the method). For instance, items.Apply(i => i.Count++) will change the values of the items every time it's enumerated. So applying the Pure attribute is probably misleading... What do you think? Should I apply the attribute or not?

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• Update the model on HttpPost and render the changes in the View

  - by Etienne Giust

  With MVC3, I came over that problem where I was rendering a view with an updated model at the end of an HttpPost and the changes to the model were never applied to the rendered view :   NOT working as expected ! [HttpPost]         public ActionResult Edit(JobModel editedJobModel)         {             // Update some model property             editedJobModel.IsActive = true;                          // The view will NOT be updated as expected             return View(editedJobModel);         }   This is the standard behavior. In MVC3, POSTing the model does not render the Html helpers again. In my example, a HiddenFor bound to the IsActive value will not have its value set to true after the view is rendered.   Are you stuck, then ?   Well, for one, you’re not supposed to do that: in an ideal world you are supposed to apply the Post/Redirect/Get pattern. You would redirect to a new GET after your POST performed its actions. That’s what I usually do, but sometimes, when maintaining code and implementing slight changes to a pre-existing and tested logic, one prefers to keep structural changes to a minimum.   If you really have to (but my advice is to try to implement the PRG pattern whenever possible), here is a solution to alter values of the model on a POST and have the MVC engine render it correctly :   Solution [HttpPost] public ActionResult Edit(JobModel editedJobModel) {     // NOT WORKING : Update some model property     //editedJobModel.IsActive = true;     //Force ModelState value for IsActive property     ModelState["IsActive"].Value = new ValueProviderResult(true, "True", null);          // The view will be updated as expected     return View(editedJobModel); }   As you can see, it is a “dirty” solution, as the name (as a  string) of the updated property is used as a key of the ModelState dictionary. Also, the use of ValueProviderResult is not that straightforward.   But hey, it works.

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• How do I capture a 10053 trace for a SQL statement called in a PL/SQL package?

  - by Maria Colgan

  Traditionally if you wanted to capture an Optimizer trace (10053) for a SQL statement you would issue an alter session command to switch on a 10053 trace for that entire session, and then issue the SQL statement you wanted to capture the trace for. Once the statement completed you would exit the session to disable the trace. You would then look in the USER_DUMP_DEST directory for the trace file. But what if the SQL statement you were interested  in was actually called as part of a PL/SQL package? Oracle Database 11g, introduced a new diagnostic events infrastructure, which greatly simplifies the task of generating a 10053 trace for a specific SQL statement in a PL/SQL package. All you will need to know is the SQL_ID for the statement you are interested in. Instead of turning on the trace event for the entire session you can now switch it on for a specific SQL ID. Oracle will then capture a 10053 trace for the corresponding SQL statement when it is issued in that session. Remember the SQL statement still has to be hard parsed for the 10053 trace to be generated.  Let's begin our example by creating a PL/SQL package called 'cal_total_sales'. The SQL statement we are interested in is the same as the one in our original example, SELECT SUM(AMOUNT_SOLD) FROM SALES WHERE CUST_ID = :B1. We need to know the SQL_ID of this SQL statement to set up the trace, and we can find in V$SQL. We now have everything we need to generate the trace. Finally  you would look in the USER_DUMP_DEST directory for the trace file with the name you specified. Maria Colgan+

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• Share on: FB, Tweet, Digg, Linkedin, Delicious, My mother, ... it's just on fashion, or some real value?

  - by Marco Demaio

  Nowadays your site is not in fashion if you don't show at least a couple of share buttons like these: Is this just fashion, or do people actually get something good out of it? When I say "something good" I mostly mean something that you could measure, and not just the feeling that was good. Maybe I can better explain with an example: did you notice (in some way) that many people clicked on those links to share your page/s on those web 2.0 social sites? And in such a case on which social networks did you see they mostly share your pages? BTW I'm not talking about Google PR, i know all web 2.0 social sites use nofollow everywhere and even hidden links, so they are useless by themselves for PR. UPDATE: According to this video, Google's Alter Ego says that they now use in some way data from social sites in ranking. If this is true, it's obvious that the Share on button for FB, Tweet, etc are definitely of some values. But again my question is more about what you noticed in your real experience to be a direct benefit of adding those type of "Share On" links on your webisite? I.e. did you see more traffic coming in form FB, or some users who bought your products because of FB or Twitter? Or any other benefits? Thanks

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• Partial upgrade on 12.04, how to stop nagging after locking to a working NVIDIA & xorg

  - by alsk

  How to stop the upgrade manager from offering updates and upgrades that potentially would harm my working 2D and 3D graphics? Finally, I got 12.04 working as it should: with nvidia-173 drivers by downgrading xorg and locking the version: On my 32-bit system on Athlon64, with (Albatron) NVIDIA GeForce FX5700XT, locked (/pinned) to xorg 1:7.6-7ubuntu7, xserver-xorg-core 2:11.1-0obuntu10.07, nvidia-173 173.14.35-0ubuntu0.2? An annoying thing left is that every time the updates are checked, I get warning of partial updates, and ambiguous options of "partial update" and "close". Ambiguous in that sense that if I click close, I will get option to update a few packages, which has been OK, while "partial update" would like to update my kernel to 3.2, alter xorg, remove nvidia-173 etc., and update mesa etc. This is not what I call appropriate, after locking XORG and NVIDIA drivers to working ones. One may say according to package management logic it may be correct, but to me as an user it makes little sense. Last Ubuntu that worked without big mess for me was 10.10, hence I will not put 12.10 to my "production" system, until I can be sure it will not trash the system again. P.S. Is there a recommended way to keep NVIDIA GeForce FX working with 3D on Ubuntu... in future?

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• Bulk Rename Tool is a Lightweight but Powerful File Renaming Tool

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  There’s no need to settle for overly simplistic file renaming tools as long as Bulk Rename Tool is around. It’s lightweight, insanely customizable, portable, and sure to make short work of any renaming task you throw at it. Bulk Rename Tool is a great portable application (available as an installed version if you crave context menu integration) that blasts through file renaming tasks. The main panel is intimidatingly packed with toggles and variables you can alter; this isn’t a one-click solution by any means. That said, once you get comfortable using the interface it’s lightening fast and extremely flexible. One tip that will save you an enormous amount of frustrating when you get started: make sure to highlight the files you want to change in the file preview window (located in the upper right corner) or else you won’t see the preview and won’t know if the changes you’re making in the control panel are yielding the file names you desire. Hit up the link below to read more and grab a copy; Bulk Rename Tool is free, Windows only. Bulk Rename Tool Latest Features How-To Geek ETC How To Make Disposable Sleeves for Your In-Ear Monitors Macs Don’t Make You Creative! So Why Do Artists Really Love Apple? MacX DVD Ripper Pro is Free for How-To Geek Readers (Time Limited!) HTG Explains: What’s a Solid State Drive and What Do I Need to Know? How to Get Amazing Color from Photos in Photoshop, GIMP, and Paint.NET Learn To Adjust Contrast Like a Pro in Photoshop, GIMP, and Paint.NET Bring the Grid to Your Desktop with the TRON Legacy Theme for Windows 7 The Dark Knight and Team Fortress 2 Mashup Movie Trailer [Video] Dirt Cheap DSLR Viewfinder Improves Outdoor DSLR LCD Visibility Lakeside Sunset in the Mountains [Wallpaper] Taskbar Meters Turn Your Taskbar into a System Resource Monitor Create Shortcuts for Your Favorite or Most Used Folders in Ubuntu

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• SQL SERVER – SELECT INTO with FileGroup or Partitionis Not Possible

  - by Pinal Dave

  The other day, I received an email from user and after a long time before I answer the question, I had to check the answer online. Here is the question - I want to create a new table based from old table, but when I execute following script it gives me an error. Is there anything I am missing in my syntax? SELECT *  INTO NewTableName ON MyFileGroup FROM MyOldTableName I faintly remember that this was not possible in earlier version of SQL Server but I was not sure if this feature was added in the recent versions or not. I quickly tried few syntaxes and referred online documentation and learned that it is still not possible in the latest version of SQL Server. The alternative is to just go ahead and change the default filegroup of any new table with following script. Though, I do not like change the default filegroup for new tables. It is possible that when I have changed the default filegroup some other code executes behind the scene by automated system or my colleague, it will be also created on new filegroup. ALTER DATABASE DatabaseName MODIFY FILEGROUP NameofFileGroup DEFAULT The reason this feature is not supported is that SELCT INTO is minimally logged operation. I seriously hope that some day in the future this feature get added in. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)Filed under: SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL Tagged: Filegroup

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• Why to avoid SELECT * from tables in your Views

  - by Jeff Smith

  -- clean up any messes left over from before: if OBJECT_ID('AllTeams') is not null  drop view AllTeams go if OBJECT_ID('Teams') is not null  drop table Teams go -- sample table: create table Teams (  id int primary key,  City varchar(20),  TeamName varchar(20) ) go -- sample data: insert into Teams (id, City, TeamName ) select 1,'Boston','Red Sox' union all select 2,'New York','Yankees' go create view AllTeams as  select * from Teams go select * from AllTeams --Results: -- --id          City                 TeamName ------------- -------------------- -------------------- --1           Boston               Red Sox --2           New York             Yankees -- Now, add a new column to the Teams table: alter table Teams add League varchar(10) go -- put some data in there: update Teams set League='AL' -- run it again select * from AllTeams --Results: -- --id          City                 TeamName ------------- -------------------- -------------------- --1           Boston               Red Sox --2           New York             Yankees -- Notice that League is not displayed! -- Here's an even worse scenario, when the table gets altered in ways beyond adding columns: drop table Teams go -- recreate table putting the League column before the City: -- (i.e., simulate re-ordering and/or inserting a column) create table Teams (  id int primary key,  League varchar(10),  City varchar(20),  TeamName varchar(20) ) go -- put in some data: insert into Teams (id,League,City,TeamName) select 1,'AL','Boston','Red Sox' union all select 2,'AL','New York','Yankees' -- Now, Select again for our view: select * from AllTeams --Results: -- --id          City       TeamName ------------- ---------- -------------------- --1           AL         Boston --2           AL         New York -- The column labeled "City" in the View is actually the League, and the column labelled TeamName is actually the City! go -- clean up: drop view AllTeams drop table Teams

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• What's a good Game development platform for a platformer game with these characteristics?

  - by Joe

  Yes, I know, the best way to make an indie game is to learn to code. I've got some scripting experience, but I want to do worldbuilding with already-existing tools (and communities surrounding those tools), and I've been really impressed with games like An Untitled Story that were made with pre-packaged toolsets at their core, like Game Maker. :) So I'm planning to make my game using either Game Maker or something like it. The basic parameters of my planned game: -2D platformer. -Physics/speed akin to Sonic the Hedgehog. -Large, non-linear world, flowing as seamlessly as possible -- think Super Metroid, but without the forced screen transitions. The first two points have me leaning toward Game Maker -- Plenty of 2D platformers have been made with it, and there are serviceable, openly available Sonic-the-Hedgehog-style physics engines for it that could be adapted to my needs with minimal muss and fuss. But the third makes me antsy -- from what limited information I hear, Game Maker has problems with large levels/boards/screens/whateveryoucallthem, thus necessitating transitions between screens. I want to avoid that if at all possible -- it would, I believe, fundamentally alter the flow of the game. I understand that generally speaking, the more you have loaded into memory the more things are going to chug (especially for a one-size-fits-all game development platform that isn't a model of efficient coding), but I'm hoping there are systems that can un-load objects that are sufficiently far offscreen and thus better produce seamlessness. Any thoughts, people? :) The sooner I can get a basic pre-fab physics engine and world-building program up and running, the sooner I can start prototyping areas and generally tooling around. Should I be looking at Game Maker, or elsewhere? (My current plan is to more-or-less build the game prototype-style, then worry about art and sound at the very end once the damn thing is playable.)

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• Choosing Technology To Include In Software Design

  How many of us have been forced to select one technology over another when designing a new system? What factors do we and should we consider? How can we ensure the correct business decision is made? When faced with this type of decision it is important to gather as much information possible regarding each technology being considered as well as the project itself. Additionally, I tend to delay my decision about the technology until it is ultimately necessary to be made. The reason why I tend to delay such an important design decision is due to the fact that as the project progresses requirements and other factors can alter a decision for selecting the best technology for a project. Important factors to consider when making technology decisions: Time to Implement and Maintain Total Cost of Technology (including Implementation and maintenance) Adaptability of Technology Implementation Team’s Skill Sets Complexity of Technology (including Implementation and maintenance) orecasted Return On Investment (ROI) Forecasted Profit on Investment (POI) Of the factors to consider the ROI and POI weigh the heaviest because the take in to consideration the other factors when calculating the profitability and return on investments.For a real world example let us consider developing a web based lead management system for a new company. This system can either be hosted on Microsoft Windows based web server or on a Linux based web server. Important Factors for this Example Implementation Team’s Skill Sets Member 1  Skill Set: Classic ASP, ASP.Net, and MS SQL Server Experience: 10 years Member 2  Skill Set: PHP, MySQL, Photoshop and MS SQL Server Experience: 3 years Member 3  Skill Set: C++, VB6, ASP.Net, and MS SQL Server Experience: 12 years Total Cost of Technology (including Implementation and maintenance) Linux Initial Year: $5,000 (Random Value) Additional Years: $3,000 (Random Value) Windows Initial Year: $10,000 (Random Value) Additional Years: $3,000 (Random Value) Complexity of Technology Linux Large Learning Curve with user driven documentation Estimated learning cost: $30,000 Windows Minimal based on Teams skills with Microsoft based documentation Estimated learning cost: $5,000 ROI Linux Total Cost Initial Total Cost: $35,000 Additional Cost $3,000 per year Windows Total Cost Initial Total Cost: $15,000 Additional Cost $3,000 per year Based on the hypothetical numbers it would make more sense to select windows based web server because the initial investment of the technology is much lower initially compared to the Linux based web server.

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• Deleting a row from self-referencing table

  - by Jake Rutherford

  Came across this the other day and thought “this would be a great interview question!” I’d created a table with a self-referencing foreign key. The application was calling a stored procedure I’d created to delete a row which caused but of course…a foreign key exception. You may say “why not just use a the cascade delete option?” Good question, easy answer. With a typical foreign key relationship between different tables which would work. However, even SQL Server cannot do a cascade delete of a row on a table with self-referencing foreign key. So, what do you do?…… In my case I re-wrote the stored procedure to take advantage of recursion:   -- recursively deletes a Foo ALTER PROCEDURE [dbo].[usp_DeleteFoo]      @ID int     ,@Debug bit = 0    AS     SET NOCOUNT ON;     BEGIN TRANSACTION     BEGIN TRY         DECLARE @ChildFoos TABLE         (             ID int         )                 DECLARE @ChildFooID int                        INSERT INTO @ChildFoos         SELECT ID FROM Foo WHERE ParentFooID = @ID                 WHILE EXISTS (SELECT ID FROM @ChildFoos)         BEGIN             SELECT TOP 1                 @ChildFooID = ID             FROM                 @ChildFoos                             DELETE FROM @ChildFoos WHERE ID = @ChildFooID                         EXEC usp_DeleteFoo @ChildFooID         END                                    DELETE FROM dbo.[Foo]         WHERE [ID] = @ID                 IF @Debug = 1 PRINT 'DEBUG:usp_DeleteFoo, deleted - ID: ' + CONVERT(VARCHAR, @ID)         COMMIT TRANSACTION     END TRY     BEGIN CATCH         ROLLBACK TRANSACTION         DECLARE @ErrorMessage VARCHAR(4000), @ErrorSeverity INT, @ErrorState INT         SELECT @ErrorMessage = ERROR_MESSAGE(), @ErrorSeverity = ERROR_SEVERITY(), @ErrorState = ERROR_STATE()         IF @ErrorState <= 0 SET @ErrorState = 1         INSERT INTO ErrorLog(ErrorNumber,ErrorSeverity,ErrorState,ErrorProcedure,ErrorLine,ErrorMessage)         VALUES(ERROR_NUMBER(), @ErrorSeverity, @ErrorState, ERROR_PROCEDURE(), ERROR_LINE(), @ErrorMessage)         RAISERROR (@ErrorMessage, @ErrorSeverity, @ErrorState)     END CATCH   This procedure will first determine any rows which have the row we wish to delete as it’s parent. It then simply iterates each child row calling the procedure recursively in order to delete all ancestors before eventually deleting the row we wish to delete.

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• Restoring GRUB2 on Software RAID 0 after Windows 7 wiped it using LiveCD

  - by unknownthreat

  I have installed Ubuntu 10.10 on my system. However, I need to install Windows 7 back, and I expect that it would alter GRUB and it did. Right now, my partition on my Software RAID 0 looks like this: nvidia_acajefec1 is Ubuntu 10.10 and nvidia_acajefec3 is Windows 7. I've been following some guides around and I am always stuck at GRUB not able to detect the usual RAID content. I've tried running: sudo grub > root (hd0,0) GRUB complains it couldn't find my hard disk. So I tried: find (hd0,0) And it complains that it couldn't find anything. So I tried: find /boot/grub/stage1 It said "file not found". Here's the text from the console: ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ grub Probing devices to guess BIOS drives. This may take a long time. [ Minimal BASH-like line editing is supported. For the first word, TAB lists possible command completions. Anywhere else TAB lists the possible completions of a device/filename. ] grub> root (hd0,0) root (hd0,0) Error 21: Selected disk does not exist grub> find /boot/grub/stage1 find /boot/grub/stage1 Error 15: File not found Fortunately, I got one person suggesting that what I've been trying to do is for GRUB Legacy, not GRUB2. So I went to the suggested website, ** (http://grub.enbug.org/Grub2LiveCdInstallGuide) **try to look around, and try: ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l Unable to seek on /dev/sda This is just the step 2 of the instruction in the http://grub.enbug.org/Grub2LiveCdInstallGuide and I cannot proceed because it cannot seek /dev/sda. However, ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo dmraid -r /dev/sdb: nvidia, "nvidia_acajefec", stripe, ok, 488397166 sectors, data@ 0 /dev/sda: nvidia, "nvidia_acajefec", stripe, ok, 488397166 sectors, data@ 0 So what now? Do you have an idea for how to make fdisk see my RAID array on live cd (Ubuntu 10.10)? Honestly, I am lost, very lost in trying to restore GRUB2 on this software RAID 0 system right now.

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• Fn key sticks down

  - by Oli

  Just bought my significant other a shiny new Samsung Q330 13" netbook, stuck an OCZ Agility in it and installed Maverick. Just as a quick aside, this is a devastating combination. Graphics work perfectly and it cold-boots to desktop in about 7 seconds. Very quick. But (common to laptops) I've got a couple of problems. I'll start with the most problematic and start a new thread for the other. Like a lot of laptops, there is a Fn (function) modifier to allow some keys to have another purpose. When I tried to alter the brightness of the screen by tapping Fn+Down, it worked but kept on going until it was as dim as it could go. I tapped Fn+Up and it went to the other extreme. After that the entire keyboard ceases to work properly because the Fn modifier appears to be locked. Additionally, and as a direct side effect, I think, clicking on things doesn't result in a standard result. It's as if control is being held. A reboot is the only thing that seems to fix these problems. This isn't a problem if you don't touch the Fn key but as there are two of them on the keyboard, an accident is going to happen sooner than later, requiring a reboot (and probably some data loss). I don't have a lot of experience with laptops (I prefer my hulking great desktop) so this isn't my area of expertise. I'm open to all suggestions, even disabling the two Fn keys until we can find a better solution.

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• Customize Colors for Sprites in Web Game

  - by NateDSaint

  So I'm working on an html5/javascript/css3-based game. Without going into too much detail, I'm thinking of having the characters be simple 8 or 16-bit style sprites, but I'd like to allow the user to customize the colors of their character. Here are some examples of what I'm talking about : http://jsfiddle.net/simurai/CGmCe/light/ http://www.splashnology.com/article/sprite-animation-in-css3/1485/ So the problem I'm having is two-fold: 1) Should I use something other than a sprite map for my characters, like actually draw them as shapes and animate them in a canvas element? That way I can fill the sprite with colors of the user's choosing? My fear there is that this would be inefficient as far as resources and also waste a lot of time hand-drawing everything, but could allow other customization (like height/width etc). 2) Are there potentially some web apis that would allow you to alter colors inside of a sprite? I suppose I could do it on the back-end with GD, but I'm trying to make it entirely in-browser (including local storage). It's not a definitive one-answer only question, but I'm hoping someone can suggest something they've seen that approaches the same problem from another angle or gives us a way to customize the sprites or manipulate them in some manner. Or avoid them altogether, and use a different method.

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• Documenting your database with Visual Studio 2012 SSDT tools

  - by krislankford

  The title of this post is interesting and something I am wishing you and your colleagues had a better way to do. I understand as I am asked this question frequently. I couple of weeks ago I was asked the same question by a customer who documents their database using the ApexSQL Doc tools which uses the extended properties on objects to create automated documentation. I thought that was super interesting and went down the path to see how we could could support the creation of this documentation while leveraging the Visual Studio 2012 SSDT Tools. What I found is was rather intriguing. There is a property called “Description” on all objects in the SSDT tools. This property is rather subtle and I am betting overlooked. To be honest, this property has probably been there for a while and I just never discovered it. Adding text to this '”Description” property it allows Visual Studio to create the commands for the extended properties directly to your schema which should be version controlled. As I did more digging there seemed to be extended properties at every level in the SQL database objects. This fills some rather challenging gaps and allows organizations to manage SQL Schema using the Visual Studio SQL database tools while allowing a way to automatically document the database. This will also work in the automation of the creation and alter scripts that can be generated as part f an automated build system. Now we essentially get a way to store, build and document the database in a nice little ALM package. Happy Coding!

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• Oracle has some very helpful and free code...I think

  - by Casey

  I found that some of the code that Oracle uses is very useful so I don't have to re-invent the wheel. Given this is at the top of the file where the code in question is: /* * Copyright (c) 1997, 2006, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER. * * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it * under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 only, as * published by the Free Software Foundation. Oracle designates this * particular file as subject to the "Classpath" exception as provided * by Oracle in the LICENSE file that accompanied this code. * * This code is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT * ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License * version 2 for more details (a copy is included in the LICENSE file that * accompanied this code). * * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License version * 2 along with this work; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, * Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA. * * Please contact Oracle, 500 Oracle Parkway, Redwood Shores, CA 94065 USA * or visit www.oracle.com if you need additional information or have any * questions. */ If I leave the text intact, put it in my C++ header, and credit oracle for each method, and package the source into a static library...is it still a no-no?

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• Procedure or function has too many arguments specified

  - by bullpit

  This error took me a while to figure out. I was using SqlDataSource with stored procedures for SELECT and UPDATE commands. The SELECT worked fine. Then I added UPDATE command and while trying to update, I would get this error: "Procedure of function has too many arguments specified" Apparently, good guys at .NET decided it is necessary to send SELECT parameters with the UPDATE command as well. So when I was sending the required parameters to the UPDATE sp, in reality, it was also getting my SELECT parameters, and thus failing. I had to add the extra parameters in the UPDATE stored procedure and make them NULLABLE so that they are not required....phew... Here is piece of SP with unused parameters. ALTER PROCEDURE [dbo].[UpdateMaintenanceRecord]        @RecordID INT     ,@District VARCHAR(255)     ,@Location VARCHAR(255)         --UNUSED PARAMETERS     ,@MTBillTo VARCHAR(255) = NULL     ,@SerialNumber VARCHAR(255) = NULL     ,@PartNumber VARCHAR(255) = NULL Update: I was getting that error because unkowingly, I had bound the extra fields in my GridVeiw with Bind() call. I changed all the extra one's, which did not need to be in Update, to Eval() and everything works fine.

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