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• Screen Casting using ffmpeg (too fast)

  - by rowman

  I can use ffmpeg to make screen casts: ffmpeg -f x11grab -s 1280x800 -i :0.0 -c:v libx264 -framerate 30 -r 30 -crf 18 out.mkv However the output comes out to be too fast paced. It also happens with GTK RecordMyDesktop if I enable the encode on the fly. So, the questions is how to get a normal video pace. Also in order to capture the sound with ffmpeg what option should be used? FFmpeg Output: ffmpeg -f x11grab -s 1280x800 -r 30 -i :0.0 -c:v libx264 -framerate 30 -r 30 -crf 18 out.mkv ffmpeg version N-35162-g87244c8 Copyright (c) 2000-2012 the FFmpeg developers built on Oct 7 2012 15:56:19 with gcc 4.6 (Ubuntu/Linaro 4.6.3-1ubuntu5) configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-libfaac --enable-libfdk-aac --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-librtmp --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-x11grab --enable-libx264 --enable-nonfree --enable-version3 libavutil 51. 73.102 / 51. 73.102 libavcodec 54. 64.100 / 54. 64.100 libavformat 54. 29.105 / 54. 29.105 libavdevice 54. 3.100 / 54. 3.100 libavfilter 3. 19.102 / 3. 19.102 libswscale 2. 1.101 / 2. 1.101 libswresample 0. 16.100 / 0. 16.100 libpostproc 52. 1.100 / 52. 1.100 [x11grab @ 0xab896a0] device: :0.0 -> display: :0.0 x: 0 y: 0 width: 1280 height: 800 [x11grab @ 0xab896a0] shared memory extension found [x11grab @ 0xab896a0] Estimating duration from bitrate, this may be inaccurate Input #0, x11grab, from ':0.0': Duration: N/A, start: 1350136942.608988, bitrate: 983040 kb/s Stream #0:0: Video: rawvideo (BGR[0] / 0x524742), bgr0, 1280x800, 983040 kb/s, 30 tbr, 1000k tbn, 30 tbc [libx264 @ 0xab87320] using cpu capabilities: MMX2 SSE2Fast SSSE3 Cache64 SlowCTZ SlowAtom [libx264 @ 0xab87320] profile High 4:4:4 Predictive, level 3.2, 4:4:4 8-bit [libx264 @ 0xab87320] 264 - core 128 r2 198a7ea - H.264/MPEG-4 AVC codec - Copyleft 2003-2012 - http://www.videolan.org/x264.html - options: cabac=1 ref=3 deblock=1:0:0 analyse=0x3:0x113 me=hex subme=7 psy=1 psy_rd=1.00:0.00 mixed_ref=1 me_range=16 chroma_me=1 trellis=1 8x8dct=1 cqm=0 deadzone=21,11 fast_pskip=1 chroma_qp_offset=4 threads=6 lookahead_threads=1 sliced_threads=0 nr=0 decimate=1 interlaced=0 bluray_compat=0 constrained_intra=0 bframes=3 b_pyramid=2 b_adapt=1 b_bias=0 direct=1 weightb=1 open_gop=0 weightp=2 keyint=250 keyint_min=25 scenecut=40 intra_refresh=0 rc_lookahead=40 rc=crf mbtree=1 crf=18.0 qcomp=0.60 qpmin=0 qpmax=69 qpstep=4 ip_ratio=1.40 aq=1:1.00 Output #0, matroska, to 'out.mkv': Metadata: encoder : Lavf54.29.105 Stream #0:0: Video: h264, yuv444p, 1280x800, q=-1--1, 1k tbn, 30 tbc Stream mapping: Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (rawvideo -> libx264) Press [q] to stop, [?] for help frame= 10 fps=0.0 q=0.0 size= 1kB time=00:00:00.00 bitrate= 0.0kbits/sframe= 19 fps= 17 q=0.0 size= 1kB time=00:00:00.00 bitrate= 0.0kbits/sframe= 28 fps= 17 q=0.0 size= 1kB time=00:00:00.00 bitrate= 0.0kbits/sframe= 37 fps= 17 q=0.0 size= 1kB time=00:00:00.00 bitrate= 0.0kbits/sframe= 45 fps= 16 q=0.0 size= 1kB time=00:00:00.00 bitrate= 0.0kbits/sframe= 47 fps= 14 q=0.0 size= 1kB time=00:00:00.00 bitrate= 0.0kbits/sframe= 52 fps= 13 q=24.0 size= 257kB time=00:00:00.00 bitrate=2101632.0kbiframe= 55 fps= 12 q=24.0 size= 257kB time=00:00:00.10 bitrate=20808.2kbitsframe= 59 fps= 11 q=24.0 size= 289kB time=00:00:00.23 bitrate=10145.0kbitsframe= 64 fps= 11 q=24.0 size= 289kB time=00:00:00.40 bitrate=5894.7kbits/frame= 70 fps= 11 q=24.0 size= 289kB time=00:00:00.60 bitrate=3933.1kbits/frame= 72 fps= 10 q=24.0 size= 289kB time=00:00:00.66 bitrate=3549.2kbits/frame= 77 fps=9.8 q=24.0 size= 289kB time=00:00:00.83 bitrate=2837.7kbits/frame= 80 fps=9.6 q=24.0 size= 289kB time=00:00:00.93 bitrate=2533.5kbits/frame= 85 fps=9.3 q=24.0 size= 289kB time=00:00:01.10 bitrate=2146.9kbits/frame= 89 fps=9.3 q=24.0 size= 289kB time=00:00:01.23 bitrate=1917.1kbits/frame= 92 fps=9.1 q=24.0 size= 289kB time=00:00:01.33 bitrate=1773.3kbits/frame= 96 fps=9.0 q=24.0 size= 289kB time=00:00:01.46 bitrate=1612.4kbits/frame= 99 fps=8.8 q=24.0 size= 321kB time=00:00:01.56 bitrate=1676.8kbits/frame= 104 fps=8.7 q=24.0 size= 321kB time=00:00:01.73 bitrate=1515.2kbits/frame= 109 fps=5.3 q=24.0 Lsize= 1093kB time=00:00:03.56 bitrate=2511.5kbits/s video:1092kB audio:0kB subtitle:0 global headers:0kB muxing overhead 0.120198% [libx264 @ 0xab87320] frame I:3 Avg QP:18.93 size:142610 [libx264 @ 0xab87320] frame P:43 Avg QP:20.79 size: 15751 [libx264 @ 0xab87320] frame B:63 Avg QP:23.75 size: 195 [libx264 @ 0xab87320] consecutive B-frames: 21.1% 1.8% 11.0% 66.1% [libx264 @ 0xab87320] mb I I16..4: 50.0% 21.1% 28.9% [libx264 @ 0xab87320] mb P I16..4: 6.1% 0.9% 3.2% P16..4: 5.5% 1.2% 0.6% 0.0% 0.0% skip:82.5% [libx264 @ 0xab87320] mb B I16..4: 0.4% 0.1% 0.0% B16..8: 2.9% 0.1% 0.0% direct: 0.0% skip:96.5% L0:40.7% L1:57.0% BI: 2.3% [libx264 @ 0xab87320] 8x8 transform intra:14.5% inter:46.1% [libx264 @ 0xab87320] coded y,u,v intra: 33.5% 24.1% 25.4% inter: 0.9% 0.4% 0.4% [libx264 @ 0xab87320] i16 v,h,dc,p: 70% 26% 1% 3% [libx264 @ 0xab87320] i8 v,h,dc,ddl,ddr,vr,hd,vl,hu: 11% 21% 30% 5% 7% 5% 7% 4% 10% [libx264 @ 0xab87320] i4 v,h,dc,ddl,ddr,vr,hd,vl,hu: 32% 35% 12% 2% 4% 3% 4% 3% 5% [libx264 @ 0xab87320] Weighted P-Frames: Y:0.0% UV:0.0% [libx264 @ 0xab87320] ref P L0: 57.0% 5.6% 26.8% 10.6% [libx264 @ 0xab87320] ref B L0: 69.4% 22.6% 8.0% [libx264 @ 0xab87320] ref B L1: 93.7% 6.3% [libx264 @ 0xab87320] kb/s:2460.40

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• Can't mass-assign protected attributes -- unsolved issue

  - by nfriend21

  I have read about 10 different posts here about this problem, and I have tried every single one and the error will not go away. So here goes: I am trying to have a nested form on my users/new page, where it accepts user-attributes and also company-attributes. When you submit the form: Here's what my error message reads: ActiveModel::MassAssignmentSecurity::Error in UsersController#create Can't mass-assign protected attributes: companies app/controllers/users_controller.rb:12:in `create' Here's the code for my form: <%= form_for @user do |f| %> <%= render 'shared/error_messages', object: f.object %> <%= f.fields_for :companies do |c| %> <%= c.label :name, "Company Name"%> <%= c.text_field :name %> <% end %> <%= f.label :name %> <%= f.text_field :name %> <%= f.label :email %> <%= f.text_field :email %> <%= f.label :password %> <%= f.password_field :password %> <%= f.label :password_confirmation %> <%= f.password_field :password_confirmation %> <br> <% if current_page?(signup_path) %> <%= f.submit "Sign Up", class: "btn btn-large btn-primary" %> Or, <%= link_to "Login", login_path %> <% else %> <%= f.submit "Update User", class: "btn btn-large btn-primary" %> <% end %> <% end %> Users Controller: class UsersController < ApplicationController def index @user = User.all end def new @user = User.new end def create @user = User.create(params[:user]) if @user.save session[:user_id] = @user.id #once user account has been created, a session is not automatically created. This fixes that by setting their session id. This could be put into Controller action to clean up duplication. flash[:success] = "Your account has been created!" redirect_to tasks_path else render 'new' end end def show @user = User.find(params[:id]) @tasks = @user.tasks end def edit @user = User.find(params[:id]) end def update @user = User.find(params[:id]) if @user.update_attributes(params[:user]) flash[:success] = @user.name.possessive + " profile has been updated" redirect_to @user else render 'edit' end #if @task.update_attributes params[:task] #redirect_to users_path #flash[:success] = "User was successfully updated." #end end def destroy @user = User.find(params[:id]) unless current_user == @user @user.destroy flash[:success] = "The User has been deleted." end redirect_to users_path flash[:error] = "Error. You can't delete yourself!" end end Company Controller class CompaniesController < ApplicationController def index @companies = Company.all end def new @company = Company.new end def edit @company = Company.find(params[:id]) end def create @company = Company.create(params[:company]) #if @company.save #session[:user_id] = @user.id #once user account has been created, a session is not automatically created. This fixes that by setting their session id. This could be put into Controller action to clean up duplication. #flash[:success] = "Your account has been created!" #redirect_to tasks_path #else #render 'new' #end end def show @comnpany = Company.find(params[:id]) end end User model class User < ActiveRecord::Base has_secure_password attr_accessible :name, :email, :password, :password_confirmation has_many :tasks, dependent: :destroy belongs_to :company accepts_nested_attributes_for :company validates :name, presence: true, length: { maximum: 50 } VALID_EMAIL_REGEX = /\A[\w+\-.]+@[a-z\d\-.]+\.[a-z]+\z/i validates :email, presence: true, format: { with: VALID_EMAIL_REGEX }, uniqueness: { case_sensitive: false } validates :password, length: { minimum: 6 } #below not needed anymore, due to has_secure_password #validates :password_confirmation, presence: true end Company Model class Company < ActiveRecord::Base attr_accessible :name has_and_belongs_to_many :users end Thanks for your help!!

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• Better Way To Use C++ Named Parameter Idiom?

  - by Head Geek

  I've been developing a GUI library for Windows (as a personal side project, no aspirations of usefulness). For my main window class, I've set up a hierarchy of option classes (using the Named Parameter Idiom), because some options are shared and others are specific to particular types of windows (like dialogs). The way the Named Parameter Idiom works, the functions of the parameter class have to return the object they're called on. The problem is that, in the hierarchy, each one has to be a different class -- the createWindowOpts class for standard windows, the createDialogOpts class for dialogs, and the like. I've dealt with that by making all the option classes templates. Here's an example: template <class T> class _sharedWindowOpts: public detail::_baseCreateWindowOpts { public: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// // No required parameters in this case. _sharedWindowOpts() { }; typedef T optType; // Commonly used options optType& at(int x, int y) { mX=x; mY=y; return static_cast<optType&>(*this); }; // Where to put the upper-left corner of the window; if not specified, the system sets it to a default position optType& at(int x, int y, int width, int height) { mX=x; mY=y; mWidth=width; mHeight=height; return static_cast<optType&>(*this); }; // Sets the position and size of the window in a single call optType& background(HBRUSH b) { mBackground=b; return static_cast<optType&>(*this); }; // Sets the default background to this brush optType& background(INT_PTR b) { mBackground=HBRUSH(b+1); return static_cast<optType&>(*this); }; // Sets the default background to one of the COLOR_* colors; defaults to COLOR_WINDOW optType& cursor(HCURSOR c) { mCursor=c; return static_cast<optType&>(*this); }; // Sets the default mouse cursor for this window; defaults to the standard arrow optType& hidden() { mStyle&=~WS_VISIBLE; return static_cast<optType&>(*this); }; // Windows are visible by default optType& icon(HICON iconLarge, HICON iconSmall=0) { mIcon=iconLarge; mSmallIcon=iconSmall; return static_cast<optType&>(*this); }; // Specifies the icon, and optionally a small icon // ...Many others removed... }; template <class T> class _createWindowOpts: public _sharedWindowOpts<T> { public: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// _createWindowOpts() { }; // These can't be used with child windows, or aren't needed optType& menu(HMENU m) { mMenuOrId=m; return static_cast<optType&>(*this); }; // Gives the window a menu optType& owner(HWND hwnd) { mParentOrOwner=hwnd; return static_cast<optType&>(*this); }; // Sets the optional parent/owner }; class createWindowOpts: public _createWindowOpts<createWindowOpts> { public: /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// createWindowOpts() { }; }; It works, but as you can see, it requires a noticeable amount of extra work: a type-cast on the return type for each function, extra template classes, etcetera. My question is, is there an easier way to implement the Named Parameter Idiom in this case, one that doesn't require all the extra stuff?

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• How do I determine what Excel-2007 is removing when it repairs my file?

  - by sage

  Summary: Excel repairs my file, tells me what was removed, I go into the xml/zip structure to investigate, and I cannot figure out what was changed. Does anybody know what I can do to better understand what Excel changed? Is it futile to try to determine? It feels like this should be possible and like I'm almost there... Details: When I open a file that I have renamed unnamed.xlsm, I receive the following notice: "Excel found unreadable content in 'unnamed.xlsm'. Do you want to recover the contents of this workbook? If you trust the sounce of this workbook, click Yes." I know the file is safe, I click yes, and I receive a message that "Excel was able to open the file by repairing or removing the unreadable content." It provides the following summary, but also provides an xml file which seems to contain the same content so I did not show it. Summary: Removed Records: Shared formula from /xl/worksheets/sheet3.xml part Removed Records: Formula from /xl/calcChain.xml part (Calculation properties) In order to determine issue, I have created a copy of the offending file, renamed it to have a '.zip' ending, opened up the files that Excel says it modified (sheet3), and perused the xml content, but this was not informative. I tried saving the repaired file and doing a simple diff on the xml for sheet3, but there are many changes and this is not informative either. I did the same thing for calcChain.xml and this was more useful. After saving the displayed xml with line breaks in text format, it was easy to identify the items that have been removed, but now I want to make sense of them. Perhaps they give clues of what happened to shee3. The following comparison is long, but I don't know if the entire train of differences is relevant. FILE COMPARISON Produced: 1-7-2011 2:42:26 PM Mode: Just Differences Left file: u:\My Documents\[redacted]\calcChain_orig.xml Right file: u:\My Documents\[redacted]\calcChain_rep.xml 812 <c r="H18" i="8" /> <> 812 <c r="N2" i="8" /> 814 <c r="G18" /> +- 816 <c r="D19" /> +- 818 <c r="F19" /> +- 820 <c r="E18" /> +- 822 <c r="N2" i="8" /> +- 824 <c r="H18" /> +- -+ 820 <c r="H15" /> 821 <c r="H13" /> 822 <c r="O19" /> 823 <c r="O17" /> 824 <c r="O15" /> 825 <c r="M19" /> 826 <c r="M17" /> 827 <c r="M15" /> 828 <c r="M13" /> 829 <c r="J19" /> 830 <c r="J17" /> 831 <c r="J15" /> 832 <c r="J13" /> 833 <c r="O14" /> 834 <c r="H18" i="8" /> 835 <c r="G18" /> 836 <c r="D19" i="5" /> 837 <c r="F19" /> 838 <c r="E18" i="8" /> 839 <c r="H18" i="9" /> 827 <c r="H15" /> +- 829 <c r="H13" /> +- 831 <c r="O19" /> +- 833 <c r="O17" /> +- 835 <c r="O15" /> +- 837 <c r="M19" /> +- 839 <c r="M17" /> +- 841 <c r="M15" /> +- 843 <c r="M13" /> +- 845 <c r="J19" /> +- 847 <c r="J17" /> +- 849 <c r="J15" /> +- 851 <c r="J13" /> +- 853 <c r="O14" /> +- 1209 <c r="H48" /> +- 1210 <c r="H62" />

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• How to unit test synchronized code

  - by gillJ

  Hi, I am new to Java and junit. I have the following peice of code that I want to test. Would appreciate if you could send your ideas about what's the best way to go about testing it. Basically, the following code is about electing a leader form a Cluster. The leader holds a lock on the shared cache and services of the leader get resumed and disposed if it somehow looses the lock on the cache. How can i make sure that a leader/thread still holds the lock on the cache and that another thread cannot get its services resumed while the first is in execution? public interface ContinuousService { public void resume(); public void pause(); } public abstract class ClusterServiceManager { private volatile boolean leader = false; private volatile boolean electable = true; private List<ContinuousService> services; protected synchronized void onElected() { if (!leader) { for (ContinuousService service : services) { service.resume(); } leader = true; } } protected synchronized void onDeposed() { if (leader) { for (ContinuousService service : services) { service.pause(); } leader = false; } } public void setServices(List<ContinuousService> services) { this.services = services; } @ManagedAttribute public boolean isElectable() { return electable; } @ManagedAttribute public boolean isLeader() { return leader; } public class TangosolLeaderElector extends ClusterServiceManager implements Runnable { private static final Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(TangosolLeaderElector.class); private String election; private long electionWaitTime= 5000L; private NamedCache cache; public void start() { log.info("Starting LeaderElector ({})",election); Thread t = new Thread(this, "LeaderElector ("+election+")"); t.setDaemon(true); t.start(); } public void run() { // Give the connection a chance to start itself up try { Thread.sleep(1000); } catch (InterruptedException e) {} boolean wasElectable = !isElectable(); while (true) { if (isElectable()) { if (!wasElectable) { log.info("Leadership requested on election: {}",election); wasElectable = isElectable(); } boolean elected = false; try { // Try and get the lock on the LeaderElectorCache for the current election if (!cache.lock(election, electionWaitTime)) { // We didn't get the lock. cycle round again. // This code to ensure we check the electable flag every now & then continue; } elected = true; log.info("Leadership taken on election: {}",election); onElected(); // Wait here until the services fail in some way. while (true) { try { Thread.sleep(electionWaitTime); } catch (InterruptedException e) {} if (!cache.lock(election, 0)) { log.warn("Cache lock no longer held for election: {}", election); break; } else if (!isElectable()) { log.warn("Node is no longer electable for election: {}", election); break; } // We're fine - loop round and go back to sleep. } } catch (Exception e) { if (log.isErrorEnabled()) { log.error("Leadership election " + election + " failed (try bfmq logs for details)", e); } } finally { if (elected) { cache.unlock(election); log.info("Leadership resigned on election: {}",election); onDeposed(); } // On deposition, do not try and get re-elected for at least the standard wait time. try { Thread.sleep(electionWaitTime); } catch (InterruptedException e) {} } } else { // Not electable - wait a bit and check again. if (wasElectable) { log.info("Leadership NOT requested on election ({}) - node not electable",election); wasElectable = isElectable(); } try { Thread.sleep(electionWaitTime); } catch (InterruptedException e) {} } } } public void setElection(String election) { this.election = election; } @ManagedAttribute public String getElection() { return election; } public void setNamedCache(NamedCache nc) { this.cache = nc; }

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• How to reduce virtual memory by optimising my PHP code?

  - by iCeR

  My current code (see below) uses 147MB of virtual memory! My provider has allocated 100MB by default and the process is killed once run, causing an internal error. The code is utilising curl multi and must be able to loop with more than 150 iterations whilst still minimizing the virtual memory. The code below is only set at 150 iterations and still causes the internal server error. At 90 iterations the issue does not occur. How can I adjust my code to lower the resource use / virtual memory? Thanks! <?php function udate($format, $utimestamp = null) { if ($utimestamp === null) $utimestamp = microtime(true); $timestamp = floor($utimestamp); $milliseconds = round(($utimestamp - $timestamp) * 1000); return date(preg_replace('`(?<!\\\\)u`', $milliseconds, $format), $timestamp); } $url = 'https://www.testdomain.com/'; $curl_arr = array(); $master = curl_multi_init(); for($i=0; $i<150; $i++) { $curl_arr[$i] = curl_init(); curl_setopt($curl_arr[$i], CURLOPT_URL, $url); curl_setopt($curl_arr[$i], CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1); curl_setopt($curl_arr[$i], CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYHOST, FALSE); curl_setopt($curl_arr[$i], CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, FALSE); curl_multi_add_handle($master, $curl_arr[$i]); } do { curl_multi_exec($master,$running); } while($running > 0); for($i=0; $i<150; $i++) { $results = curl_multi_getcontent ($curl_arr[$i]); $results = explode("<br>", $results); echo $results[0]; echo "<br>"; echo $results[1]; echo "<br>"; echo udate('H:i:s:u'); echo "<br><br>"; usleep(100000); } ?> Processor Information Total processors: 8 Processor #1 Vendor GenuineIntel Name Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5405 @ 2.00GHz Speed 1995.120 MHz Cache 6144 KB Processor #2 Vendor GenuineIntel Name Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5405 @ 2.00GHz Speed 1995.120 MHz Cache 6144 KB Processor #3 Vendor GenuineIntel Name Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5405 @ 2.00GHz Speed 1995.120 MHz Cache 6144 KB Processor #4 Vendor GenuineIntel Name Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5405 @ 2.00GHz Speed 1995.120 MHz Cache 6144 KB Processor #5 Vendor GenuineIntel Name Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5405 @ 2.00GHz Speed 1995.120 MHz Cache 6144 KB Processor #6 Vendor GenuineIntel Name Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5405 @ 2.00GHz Speed 1995.120 MHz Cache 6144 KB Processor #7 Vendor GenuineIntel Name Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5405 @ 2.00GHz Speed 1995.120 MHz Cache 6144 KB Processor #8 Vendor GenuineIntel Name Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5405 @ 2.00GHz Speed 1995.120 MHz Cache 6144 KB Memory Information Memory for crash kernel (0x0 to 0x0) notwithin permissible range Memory: 8302344k/9175040k available (2176k kernel code, 80272k reserved, 901k data, 228k init, 7466304k highmem) System Information Linux server3.server.com 2.6.18-194.17.1.el5PAE #1 SMP Wed Sep 29 13:31:51 EDT 2010 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux Physical Disks SCSI device sda: 1952448512 512-byte hdwr sectors (999654 MB) sda: Write Protect is off sda: Mode Sense: 03 00 00 08 SCSI device sda: drive cache: write back SCSI device sda: 1952448512 512-byte hdwr sectors (999654 MB) sda: Write Protect is off sda: Mode Sense: 03 00 00 08 SCSI device sda: drive cache: write back sd 0:1:0:0: Attached scsi disk sda sd 4:0:0:0: Attached scsi removable disk sdb sd 0:1:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg4 type 0 sd 4:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg7 type 0 Current Memory Usage total used free shared buffers cached Mem: 8306672 7847384 459288 0 487912 6444548 -/+ buffers/cache: 914924 7391748 Swap: 4095992 496 4095496 Total: 12402664 7847880 4554784 Current Disk Usage Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on /dev/mapper/VolGroup00-LogVol00 898G 307G 546G 36% / /dev/sda1 99M 19M 76M 20% /boot none 4.0G 0 4.0G 0% /dev/shm /var/tmpMnt 4.0G 1.8G 2.0G 48% /tmp

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• wordexp followed by strcpy = EXC_BAD_ACCESS + sharedlibrary apply-load-rules-all

  - by fyngyrz

  The implication is a memory problem. I have static allocations for these: char akdir[400]; char homedir[400]; This crashes on the first strcpy(): void setuplibfoo() { long ii; double x; wordexp_t result; // This obtains the user's home directory // -------------------------------------- homedir[0]=0; // in case wordexp fails switch (wordexp("~/",&result,0)) { case 0: // Successful. We'll fall into deallocate when done. { strcpy(homedir,result.we_wordv[0]); // <<--- CRASH! strcpy(akdir,homedir); strcat(akdir,"ak-plugins/"); vs_status(akdir); } case WRDE_NOSPACE: // If the error was WRDE_NOSPACE, then { // perhaps part of the result was allocated. wordfree (&result); } default: // all other errors do not require deallocation { break; } } ...additional code clipped.. doesn't get there on crash. This is in a shared library I've written that is linked to my application, also something I've written. In this case, it doesn't get very far, although if it starts, it's fine. ...I've read the wordexp docs several times; they say they allocate new objects, so you just set up that type and call them with the address. The switch error model is right from the wordexp docs: http://www.gnu.org/s/libc/manual/html_mono/libc.html#Wordexp-Example It doesn't always crash. Just sometimes, and just under 10.6. Never under 10.5 I'm building debug mode with XCode 3.1.1, under OSX 10.5.8 it seems to run ok, I've not seen a crash -- under 10.6, it crashes... sometimes. But always with that same exception, and always in the same place. The Google has it that this actually means, somehow, that it's too soon to allocate memory. But all the instances I could find were memory errors on the part of the programmer. Overruns, etc. And I can't find any docs on when it IS safe to allocate memory. Now, the path that expands there is nowhere near 400 characters. it's this (it it completes): /Users/flake/ak-plugins/ and this: /Users/flake/ ...if it doesn't. the strcpy... copies 2nd param to first. Theirs to mine. And it works! under 10.5. :/ So is wordexp broke? Is 10.6 broke? Am I cRaZy? Here's the debugger output: 0x00013446 <+0049> call 0xc98da <dyld_stub_wordexp> 0x0001344b <+0054> test %eax,%eax 0x0001344d <+0056> je 0x13454 <setuplibfoo+63> 0x0001344f <+0058> jmp 0x134da <setuplibfoo+197> 0x00013454 <+0063> mov -0x1c(%ebp),%eax 0x00013457 <+0066> mov (%eax),%eax 0x00013459 <+0068> mov %eax,0x4(%esp) 0x0001345d <+0072> lea 0xb6cc2(%ebx),%eax 0x00013463 <+0078> mov (%eax),%eax 0x00013465 <+0080> mov %eax,(%esp) 0x00013468 <+0083> call 0xc9898 <dyld_stub_strcpy> 0x0001346d <+0088> lea 0xb6cc2(%ebx),%eax <<--CRASH!

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• asp.net mvc DataViewModel Problem no insert and edit

  - by mazhar

  using the code DataViewModel with one form for create and edit with partial view , in the code below In the create*I am not able to enter the values to the database*,In the edit Mode I am not able to display the value as well in the textboxes for edit public class OrganizationGroupFormViewModel { // Properties public OrganizationGroup OrganizationGroup { get; private set; } public OrganizationGroupFormViewModel(OrganizationGroup organizationGroup) { OrganizationGroup = organizationGroup; } } public class OrganizationGroupsController : Controller { // // GET: /OrganizationGroups/ OrganizationGroupsRepository OrganizationGroupRepository = new OrganizationGroupsRepository(); OrganizationUsersDataContext _db = new OrganizationUsersDataContext(); public ActionResult Create() { try { OrganizationGroup OrgGroup = new OrganizationGroup() { int_CreatedBy=1, dtm_CreatedDate=DateTime.Now }; return View(new OrganizationGroupFormViewModel(OrgGroup)); } catch { return View(); } } [HttpPost] public ActionResult Create(OrganizationGroup OrgGroup) { if (ModelState.IsValid) { OrgGroup.int_CreatedBy = 1; OrgGroup.dtm_CreatedDate = DateTime.Now; OrganizationGroupRepository.Add(OrgGroup); OrganizationGroupRepository.Save(); return RedirectToAction("Details", new { id = OrganizationGroupRepository.int_OrganizationGroupId }); } return View(new OrganizationGroupFormViewModel(OrgGroup)); } // // GET: /OrganizationGroups/Edit/5 public ActionResult Edit(int id) { try { var OrgGroup = _db.OrganizationGroups.First(m => m.int_OrganizationGroupId == id); if (ModelState.IsValid) { OrgGroup.int_ModifiedBy = 1; OrgGroup.dtm_ModifiedDate = DateTime.Now; } return View(new OrganizationGroupFormViewModel(OrgGroup)); } catch { return View(); } } // // POST: /OrganizationGroups/Edit/5 [HttpPost] public ActionResult Edit(int id, FormCollection collection) { try { var OrgGroup = _db.OrganizationGroups.First(m => m.int_OrganizationGroupId == id); if (ModelState.IsValid) { OrgGroup.int_ModifiedBy = 1; OrgGroup.dtm_ModifiedDate = DateTime.Now; TryUpdateModel(OrgGroup); OrganizationGroupRepository.Save(); } return RedirectToAction("Details", new { id = OrgGroup.int_OrganizationGroupId }); } catch { return View(); } } Create View; <%@ Page Title="" Language="C#" MasterPageFile="~/Views/Shared/Site.Master" Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewPage<Egovst.Controllers.OrganizationGroupFormViewModel>" %> Create Organization Group <h2>Create</h2> <%= Html.ValidationSummary(true) %> <div> <% Html.RenderPartial("OrganizationGroup"); %> </div> Organization Group User Control <%@ Control Language="C#" Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewUserControl<Egovst.Controllers.OrganizationGroupFormViewModel>" %> <% using (Html.BeginForm()) {%> <%= Html.ValidationSummary(true) %> <fieldset> <legend>Fields</legend> <div class="editor-label"> Organization Group Name: </div> <div class="editor-field"> <%= Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.OrganizationGroup.vcr_OrganizationGroupName)%> <%= Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.OrganizationGroup.vcr_OrganizationGroupName)%> </div> <div class="editor-label"> Organization Group Description: </div> <div class="editor-field"> <%= Html.TextAreaFor(model => model.OrganizationGroup.vcr_OrganizationGroupDesc)%> <%= Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.OrganizationGroup.vcr_OrganizationGroupDesc)%> </div> <p> <input type="submit" value="Save" /> </p> </fieldset> <% } %>

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• Linux/Apache performance very slow even on local network

  - by klausch

  I have an Ubuntu server machine running Apache and MYSQL. System and version info is as follows: Linux kernel 3.0.0.-12 Apache/2.2.20 MySQL Ver 14.14.Distrib 5.1.58 I am running a few websites on this server, some HTML only, some PHP/MySQL. THe [problem is that response time is very slow, both on static as well as the dynamic sites. Sometimes it takes more than 10 seconds before a response is given, this makes the sites very slow and almost unusable. The problem occurs even when requesting from the local network. I have added the involved subdomains to my /etc/hosts file, and abolve all the problem is not solved by using IP numbers instead of URL's. So there is no DNS lookup issue. I have modified the log format by showing the response times and sometimes a files takes 12 seconds to be served, see the jquery~.js file in the example screenshot. I have no explanation for this extremely long response time, but is is not even the only issue here, some other files takes a long time to be served too, but do not show a long response time in the log file. So probably different tissues are involved here. I cannot find a solution until now, any suggestions??? THanx in advance, Klaas link to screenshot picture from access logfile Some extra configuration info: apache2.conf (comment is removed) LockFile ${APACHE_LOCK_DIR}/accept.lock PidFile ${APACHE_PID_FILE} Timeout 300 KeepAlive On MaxKeepAliveRequests 100 KeepAliveTimeout 5 <IfModule mpm_prefork_module> StartServers 5 MinSpareServers 5 MaxSpareServers 10 MaxClients 150 MaxRequestsPerChild 0 </IfModule> <IfModule mpm_worker_module> StartServers 2 MinSpareThreads 25 MaxSpareThreads 75 ThreadLimit 64 ThreadsPerChild 25 MaxClients 150 MaxRequestsPerChild 0 </IfModule> <IfModule mpm_event_module> StartServers 2 MinSpareThreads 25 MaxSpareThreads 75 ThreadLimit 64 ThreadsPerChild 25 MaxClients 150 MaxRequestsPerChild 0 </IfModule> User ${APACHE_RUN_USER} Group ${APACHE_RUN_GROUP} AccessFileName .htaccess <Files ~ "^\.ht"> Order allow,deny Deny from all Satisfy all </Files> DefaultType text/plain HostnameLookups Off ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log LogLevel warn Include mods-enabled/*.load Include mods-enabled/*.conf Include httpd.conf Include ports.conf LogFormat "%v:%p %h %l %u %t \"%r\" %>s %O \"%{Referer}i\" \"%{User-Agent}i\"" vhost_combined LogFormat "%h %l %u %t \"%r\" %>s %O \"%{Referer}i\" \"%{User-Agent}i\" %T/%D" combined LogFormat "%h %l %u %t \"%r\" %>s %O" common LogFormat "%{Referer}i -> %U" referer LogFormat "%{User-agent}i" agent Include conf.d/ Include sites-enabled/ And the virtual hostfile for one of the slow sites, in fact it is pretty straightforward... <VirtualHost *:80> ServerAdmin [email protected] ServerSignature EMail ServerName toenjoy.drsklaus.nl DocumentRoot /var/www/toenjoy.drsklaus.nl <Directory /> Options FollowSymLinks AllowOverride None </Directory> <Directory /var/www/toenjoy.drsklaus.nl/> Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews AllowOverride AuthConfig AuthType Basic AuthName "To Enjoy" AuthUserFile /etc/.htpasswd Require user petraaa Order allow,deny allow from all </Directory> ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ /usr/lib/cgi-bin/ <Directory "/usr/lib/cgi-bin"> AllowOverride None Options +ExecCGI -MultiViews +SymLinksIfOwnerMatch Order allow,deny Allow from all </Directory> ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/error.log # Possible values include: debug, info, notice, warn, error, crit, # alert, emerg. LogLevel warn CustomLog /var/log/apache2/access.log combined Alias /doc/ "/usr/share/doc/" <Directory "/usr/share/doc/"> Options Indexes MultiViews FollowSymLinks AllowOverride None Order deny,allow Deny from all Allow from 127.0.0.0/255.0.0.0 ::1/128 </Directory> </VirtualHost> And the output of free -m: klaas@ubuntu-server:/etc/apache2$ free -m total used free shared buffers cached Mem: 1997 1401 595 0 144 1017 -/+ buffers/cache: 238 1758 Swap: 2035 0 2035 and I have no indication that swapping occurs on the moments the site is slow. I have runned top and it does not appear to be a CPU issue. I have the impression that the spawning of a apache thread could maybe be the bottleneck but it is just a suggestion. Maybe this gives some extra information! EDIT: The problem seemed to be gone for some time but occurs again! And not only with Apache, also connecting using SSH takes a tremendous time, sometimes it takes up to 15 seconds before the keyphrase is asked for. Also scp works very slowly. The behavious is really unpredoctable and makes the server very hard to use. Any ideas...?

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• Updating nested attributes causes duplicate entries

  - by params_noob

  I have a has_many and belongs_to relationship between Job and Address. When I try to update Job and Address in the same form, it updates job but creates a duplicate entry for Address. Am I missing something here? The Edit and Update Actions from Jobs: def edit @job = Job.find(params[:id]) end def update @job = Job.find(params[:id]) if @job.update_attributes(job_params) flash[:success] = "Job Updated" redirect_to current_user else render 'edit' end end The edit form: <h1>Edit Job Information</h1> <div class="row"> <div class="span6 offset3"> <%= form_for(@job) do |f| %> <%= render 'shared/error_messages' %> <%= f.label :recipient %> <%= f.text_field :recipient %> <%= f.label :age %> <%= f.text_field :age %> <%= f.label :gender %> <%= f.text_field :gender %> <%= f.label :ethnicity %> <%= f.text_field :ethnicity %> <%= f.label :height %> <%= f.text_field :height %> <%= f.label :weight %> <%= f.text_field :weight %> <%= f.label :hair %> <%= f.text_field :hair %> <%= f.label :eyes %> <%= f.text_field :eyes %> <%= f.label :other_info %> <%= f.text_field :other_info %> <h3> Address Information </h3> <%= f.fields_for :addresses do |address| %> <%= address.label :label, "Label" %> <%= address.text_field :label %> <%= address.label :addy, "Address" %> <%= address.text_field :addy %> <%= address.label :apt, "Apt/Suite/etc" %> <%= address.text_field :apt %> <%= address.label :city, "City" %> <%= address.text_field :city %> <%= address.label :state, "State" %> <%= address.text_field :state %> <%= address.label :zip, "Zip code" %> <%= address.text_field :zip %> <% end %> <%= f.label :instructions, "Service Instructions" %> <%= f.text_field :instructions %> <%= check_box_tag(:rush) %> <%= label_tag(:rush, "Rush?") %> <%= f.submit "Update Job", class: "btn btn-large btn-primary" %> <% end %> </div> </div>

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• ASA 5540 v8.4(3) vpn to ASA 5505 v8.2(5), tunnel up but I cant ping from 5505 to IP on other side

  - by user223833

  I am having problems pinging from a 5505(remote) to IP 10.160.70.10 in the network behind the 5540(HQ side). 5505 inside IP: 10.56.0.1 Out: 71.43.109.226 5540 Inside: 10.1.0.8 out: 64.129.214.27 I Can ping from 5540 to 5505 inside 10.56.0.1. I also ran ASDM packet tracer in both directions, it is ok from 5540 to 5505, but drops the packet from 5505 to 5540. It gets through the ACL and dies at the NAT. Here is the 5505 config, I am sure it is something simple I am missing. ASA Version 8.2(5) ! hostname ASA-CITYSOUTHDEPOT domain-name rngint.net names ! interface Ethernet0/0 switchport access vlan 2 ! interface Ethernet0/1 ! interface Ethernet0/2 ! interface Ethernet0/3 ! interface Ethernet0/4 ! interface Ethernet0/5 ! interface Ethernet0/6 ! interface Ethernet0/7 ! interface Vlan1 nameif inside security-level 100 ip address 10.56.0.1 255.255.0.0 ! interface Vlan2 nameif outside security-level 0 ip address 71.43.109.226 255.255.255.252 ! banner motd ***ASA-CITYSOUTHDEPOT*** banner asdm CITY SOUTH DEPOT ASA5505 ftp mode passive clock timezone EST -5 clock summer-time EDT recurring dns server-group DefaultDNS domain-name rngint.net access-list outside_1_cryptomap extended permit ip host 71.43.109.226 host 10.1.0.125 access-list outside_1_cryptomap extended permit ip 10.56.0.0 255.255.0.0 10.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 access-list outside_1_cryptomap extended permit ip 10.56.0.0 255.255.0.0 10.106.70.0 255.255.255.0 access-list outside_1_cryptomap extended permit ip 10.56.0.0 255.255.0.0 10.106.130.0 255.255.255.0 access-list outside_1_cryptomap extended permit ip host 71.43.109.226 host 10.160.70.10 access-list inside_nat0_outbound extended permit ip host 71.43.109.226 host 10.1.0.125 access-list inside_nat0_outbound extended permit ip 10.56.0.0 255.255.0.0 10.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 access-list inside_nat0_outbound extended permit ip 10.56.0.0 255.255.0.0 10.106.130.0 255.255.255.0 access-list inside_nat0_outbound extended permit ip 10.56.0.0 255.255.0.0 10.106.70.0 255.255.255.0 access-list inside_nat0_outbound extended permit ip host 71.43.109.226 10.106.70.0 255.255.255.0 pager lines 24 logging enable logging buffer-size 25000 logging buffered informational logging asdm warnings mtu inside 1500 mtu outside 1500 icmp unreachable rate-limit 1 burst-size 1 icmp permit any inside no asdm history enable arp timeout 14400 global (outside) 1 interface nat (inside) 0 access-list inside_nat0_outbound nat (inside) 1 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 route outside 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 71.43.109.225 1 timeout xlate 3:00:00 timeout conn 1:00:00 half-closed 0:10:00 udp 0:02:00 icmp 0:00:02 timeout sunrpc 0:10:00 h323 0:05:00 h225 1:00:00 mgcp 0:05:00 mgcp-pat 0:05:00 timeout sip 0:30:00 sip_media 0:02:00 sip-invite 0:03:00 sip-disconnect 0:02:00 timeout sip-provisional-media 0:02:00 uauth 0:05:00 absolute timeout tcp-proxy-reassembly 0:01:00 timeout floating-conn 0:00:00 dynamic-access-policy-record DfltAccessPolicy aaa-server TACACS+ protocol tacacs+ aaa-server TACACS+ (inside) host 10.106.70.36 key ***** aaa authentication http console LOCAL aaa authentication ssh console LOCAL aaa authorization exec authentication-server http server enable http 192.168.1.0 255.255.255.0 inside http 10.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 inside http 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 outside snmp-server host inside 10.106.70.7 community ***** no snmp-server location no snmp-server contact snmp-server community ***** snmp-server enable traps snmp authentication linkup linkdown coldstart crypto ipsec transform-set ESP-3DES-SHA esp-3des esp-sha-hmac crypto ipsec transform-set ESP-AES-128-SHA esp-aes esp-sha-hmac crypto ipsec transform-set ESP-AES-128-MD5 esp-aes esp-md5-hmac crypto ipsec transform-set ESP-AES-192-SHA esp-aes-192 esp-sha-hmac crypto ipsec transform-set ESP-AES-192-MD5 esp-aes-192 esp-md5-hmac crypto ipsec transform-set ESP-AES-256-SHA esp-aes-256 esp-sha-hmac crypto ipsec transform-set ESP-AES-256-MD5 esp-aes-256 esp-md5-hmac crypto ipsec transform-set ESP-3DES-MD5 esp-3des esp-md5-hmac crypto ipsec transform-set ESP-DES-SHA esp-des esp-sha-hmac crypto ipsec transform-set ESP-DES-MD5 esp-des esp-md5-hmac crypto ipsec security-association lifetime seconds 28800 crypto ipsec security-association lifetime kilobytes 4608000 crypto map outside_map 1 match address outside_1_cryptomap crypto map outside_map 1 set pfs group1 crypto map outside_map 1 set peer 64.129.214.27 crypto map outside_map 1 set transform-set ESP-3DES-SHA crypto map outside_map interface outside crypto isakmp enable outside crypto isakmp policy 1 authentication pre-share encryption des hash md5 group 2 lifetime 86400 telnet timeout 5 ssh 10.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 inside ssh 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 outside ssh timeout 5 console timeout 0 management-access inside dhcpd auto_config outside ! dhcpd address 10.56.0.100-10.56.0.121 inside dhcpd dns 10.1.0.125 interface inside dhcpd auto_config outside interface inside ! dhcprelay server 10.1.0.125 outside dhcprelay enable inside dhcprelay setroute inside dhcprelay timeout 60 threat-detection basic-threat threat-detection statistics access-list no threat-detection statistics tcp-intercept tftp-server inside 10.1.1.25 CITYSOUTHDEPOT-ASA-Confg webvpn tunnel-group 64.129.214.27 type ipsec-l2l tunnel-group 64.129.214.27 ipsec-attributes pre-shared-key ***** ! ! prompt hostname context

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• Jquery validation in asp.net mvc

  - by Suja

  I have a view to create a DocumentTemplate <%@ Page Title="" Language="C#" MasterPageFile="~/Views/Shared/Site.Master" Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewPage" % <%@ Import Namespace="HexsolveMVC.Helpers" % Create <script type="text/javascript"> $(document).ready(function() { $("#reset").click(function(event) { $("#Part").get(0).selectedIndex = 0; $("#txtDocTitle").val(""); $("#txtarDocDesc").val(""); }); }); }); </script> <div class="container"> <div class="outer"> <div class="main_content"> <div> <%=Html.BreadCrumb(Model.BreadCrumbs)%> </div> <div class="form_container"> <h1> Document Template</h1> <ul> <li> <label> <span class="mandatory">*</span>Engine model:</label> <%=Html.DropDownList("Part", (SelectList)ViewData["Part"])%> <span class="tagline">Please select the engine model <%--<a href="#">Need Help</a>--%></span> </li> <li> <label> <span class="mandatory">*</span>Document Title:</label> <input id="txtDocTitle" name="docTitle" type="text" class="formstyle" /> </li> <li> <label> Discription:</label> <textarea name="docDesc" id="txtarDocDesc" cols="45" rows="5"></textarea> </li> <li> <div class="button_panel"> <input name="button" type="submit" class="btn_create_doc_big" id="button" value="Create" /> <span class="reset_field"><a href="#" id="reset">Reset the form</a></span><span class="mandatory_tag">[ <span class="mandatory">*</span> Mandatory fields ]</span> <div class="clear"> </div> </div> <span class="tagline">By clicking on '<span class="tagline_highlight">Create</span>' button your document will be created.<br /> And after you can add new instructions and subsections easily.</span></li> </ul> <div> <h2> Example of how to work a document </h2> <img alt="" src="../../html/images/diagram.jpg" width="738" height="172" /></div> </div> </div> <div class="clear"> </div> </div> </div> I need to validate the txtDocTitle since its a required field. How can i do this using jQuery. I cannot use Model validation coz this same model is used for other views also and it have properties from other tables. I need something to do with jQuery.

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• Infinite sharing system (PHP/MySQLi)

  - by Toine Lille

  I'm working on a discount system for whichever customer shares a product and brings in new customers. Each unique visit = $0.05 off, each new customer = $0.50 off (it's a cheap product so yeah, no big numbers). When a new customer shares the site, the customer initially responsible for the new customer (if any) will get half of the new customer's discount as well. The initial customer would get a fourth for the next level and the new customer half of that, etc, creating a tree or pyramid that way that could be infinite. Initial customer ($1.35 discount: 2 new+3 visits + half of 1 new+2 visits) Visitor ($0) Visitor ($0) New customer ($0.60) Visitor ($0) Visitor ($0) Newer customer ($0) New customer ($0) Visitor ($0) The customers are saved along with their IP addresses (bin2hex(inet_pton)) in a database table (customers) with info like a unique id, e-mail address and first date/time the purchased a product (= time of registration). The shares are saved in a separate table within the same database (sharing). Each unique IP addresses that visits the site creates a new row featuring the IP address (also saved as bin2hex(inet_pton)), the id of the customer who shared it and the date/time of the visit. Sharing goes via URL, featuring a GET element containing the customer's id. Visits and new customers overlap, as visits will always occur before the new customer does. That's fine. The date/times are used just to make it a little more secure (I also use the IP along with cookies to see if people cheat the system). If an IP is already in the sharing or customer tables, it does not count and will not create a new entry. Now the problem is, how to make the infinity happen and apply the different values to it? That's all I'd need to know. It needs to calculate the discount for each customer separately, but also allow for monitoring altogether (though that's just a matter of passing all ID's through it). I figured I'd start (after the database connection) with $stmt = $con->prepare('SELECT ip,datetime FROM sharing WHERE sender=?'); $stmt->bind_param('i',$customerid); $stmt->execute(); $stmt->store_result(); $discount = $discount + ($stmt->num_rows * 0.05); $stmt->bind_result($ip,$timeofsharing); to translate all the visits to $0.05 of discount each. To check for the new customers that came from these visits, I wrote the following: while ($sql->fetch()) { $stmt2 = $con->prepare("SELECT datetime FROM users WHERE ip=?"); $stmt2->bind_param('s',$ip); $stmt2->execute(); $stmt2->store_result(); $stmt2->bind_result($timeofpurchase); Followed by a little more security comparing the datetimes: while ($stmt2->fetch()) { if (strtotime($timeofpurchase) < strtotime($timeofsharing)) { $discount = $discount + $0.50; } But this is just for the initial customer's direct results. If I'd want to check for the next level, I'd basically have to put the exact same check and loop in itself, checking each new customer the initial customer they brought to the site, and then for the next level again to check all of the newer customers, etc, etc. What to do? / Where to go? / What would be the correct practice for this? Thanks!

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• How to filter using a dropdown in Knockout

  - by user517406

  I have just started using Knockout and I want to filter my data that I am displaying in my UI by selecting an item from a dropdown. I have got so far, but I cannot get the selected value from my dropdown yet, and then after that I need to actually filter the data displayed based upon that value. Here is my code so far : @model Models.Fixture @{ ViewBag.Title = "Fixtures"; Layout = "~/Areas/Development/Views/Shared/_Layout.cshtml"; } @Scripts.Render("~/bundles/jqueryval") <script type="text/javascript" src="@Url.Content("~/Scripts/knockout-2.1.0.js")"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> function FixturesViewModel() { var self = this; var baseUri = '@ViewBag.ApiUrl'; self.fixtures = ko.observableArray(); self.teams = ko.observableArray(); self.update = function (fixture) { $.ajax({ type: "PUT", url: baseUri + '/' + fixture.Id, data: fixture }); }; self.sortByAwayTeamScore = function () { this.fixtures.sort(function(a, b) { return a.AwayTeamScore < b.AwayTeamScore ? -1 : 1; }); }; self.select = function (team) { }; $.getJSON("/api/fixture", self.fixtures); $.getJSON("/api/team", self.teams); } $(document).ready(function () { ko.applyBindings(new FixturesViewModel()); }); </script> <div class="content"> <div> <table><tr><td><select data-bind="options: teams, optionsText: 'TeamName', optionsCaption: 'Select...', optionsValue: 'TeamId', click: $root.select"> </select></td></tr></table> <table class="details ui-widget-content"> <thead> <tr><td>FixtureId</td><td>Season</td><td>Week</td><td>AwayTeam</td><td><a id="header" data-bind='click: sortByAwayTeamScore'>AwayTeamScore</a></td><td>HomeTeam</td><td>HomeTeamScore</td></tr> </thead> <tbody data-bind="foreach: fixtures"> <tr> <td><span data-bind="text: $data.Id"></span></td> <td><span data-bind="text: $data.Season"></span></td> <td><span data-bind="text: $data.Week"></span></td> <td><span data-bind="text: $data.AwayTeamName"></span></td> <td><input type="text" data-bind="value: $data.AwayTeamScore"/></td> <td><span data-bind="text: $data.HomeTeamName"></span></td> <td><input type="text" data-bind="value: $data.HomeTeamScore"/></td> <td><input type="button" value="Update" data-bind="click: $root.update"/></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </div> </div> Can anybody please advise on this?

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• Referencing variables in a structure / C++

  - by user1628622

  Below, I provided a minimal example of code I created. I managed to get this code working, but I'm not sure if the practice being employed is sound. In essence, what I am trying to do is have the 'Parameter' class reference select elements in the 'States' class, so variables in States can be changed via Parameters. Questions I have: is the approach taken OK? If not, is there a better way to achieve what I am aiming for? Example code: struct VAR_TYPE{ public: bool is_fixed; // If is_fixed = true, then variable is a parameter double value; // Numerical value std::string name; // Description of variable (to identify it by name) }; struct NODE{ public: VAR_TYPE X, Y, Z; /* VAR_TYPE is a structure of primitive types */ }; class States{ private: std::vector <NODE_ptr> node; // shared ptr to struct NODE std::vector <PROP_DICTIONARY_ptr> property; // CAN NOT be part of Parameter std::vector <ELEMENT_ptr> element; // CAN NOT be part of Parameter public: /* ect */ void set_X_reference ( Parameter &T , int i ) { T.push_var( &node[i]->X ); } void set_Y_reference ( Parameter &T , int i ) { T.push_var( &node[i]->Y ); } void set_Z_reference ( Parameter &T , int i ) { T.push_var( &node[i]->Z ); } bool get_node_bool_X( int i ) { return node[i]->X.is_fixed; } // repeat for Y and Z }; class Parameter{ private: std::vector <VAR_TYPE*> var; public: /* ect */ }; int main(){ States S; Parameter P; /* Here I initialize and set S, and do other stuff */ // Now I assign components in States to Parameters for(int n=0 ; n<S.size_of_nodes() ; n++ ){ if ( S.get_node_bool_X(n)==true ){ S.set_X_reference ( P , n ); }; // repeat if statement for Y and Z }; /* Now P points selected to data in S, and I can * modify the contents of S through P */ return 0; }; Update The reason this issue cropped up is I am working with Fortran legacy code. To sum up this Fotran code - it's a numerical simulation of a flight vehicle. This code has a fairly rigid procedural framework one must work within, which comes with a pre-defined list of allowable Fortran types. The Fortran glue code can create an instance of a C++ object (in actuality, a reference from the perspective of Fortran), but is not aware what is contained in it (other means are used to extract C++ data into Fortran). The problem that I encountered is when a C++ module is dynamically linked to the Fortran glue code, C++ objects have to be initialized each instance the C++ code is called. This happens by virtue of how the Fortran template is defined. To avoid this cycle of re-initializing objects, I plan to use 'State' as a container class. The Fortran code allows a 'State' object, which has an arbitrary definition; but I plan to use it to harness all relevant information about the model. The idea is to use the Parameters class (which is exposed and updated by the Fortran code) to update variables in States.

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• Strange behaviour of CUDA kernel

  - by username_4567

  I'm writing code for calculating prefix sum. Here is my kernel __global__ void prescan(int *indata,int *outdata,int n,long int *sums) { extern __shared__ int temp[]; int tid=threadIdx.x; int offset=1,start_id,end_id; int *global_sum=&temp[n+2]; if(tid==0) { temp[n]=blockDim.x*blockIdx.x; temp[n+1]=blockDim.x*(blockIdx.x+1)-1; start_id=temp[n]; end_id=temp[n+1]; //cuPrintf("Value of start %d and end %d\n",start_id,end_id); } __syncthreads(); start_id=temp[n]; end_id=temp[n+1]; temp[tid]=indata[start_id+tid]; temp[tid+1]=indata[start_id+tid+1]; for(int d=n>>1;d>0;d>>=1) { __syncthreads(); if(tid<d) { int ai=offset*(2*tid+1)-1; int bi=offset*(2*tid+2)-1; temp[bi]+=temp[ai]; } offset*=2; } if(tid==0) { sums[blockIdx.x]=temp[n-1]; temp[n-1]=0; cuPrintf("sums %d\n",sums[blockIdx.x]); } for(int d=1;d<n;d*=2) { offset>>=1; __syncthreads(); if(tid<d) { int ai=offset*(2*tid+1)-1; int bi=offset*(2*tid+2)-1; int t=temp[ai]; temp[ai]=temp[bi]; temp[bi]+=t; } } __syncthreads(); if(tid==0) { outdata[start_id]=0; } __threadfence_block(); __syncthreads(); outdata[start_id+tid]=temp[tid]; outdata[start_id+tid+1]=temp[tid+1]; __syncthreads(); if(tid==0) { temp[0]=0; outdata[start_id]=0; } __threadfence_block(); __syncthreads(); if(blockIdx.x==0 && threadIdx.x==0) { for(int i=1;i<gridDim.x;i++) { sums[i]=sums[i]+sums[i-1]; } } __syncthreads(); __threadfence(); if(blockIdx.x==0 && threadIdx.x==0) { for(int i=0;i<gridDim.x;i++) { cuPrintf("****sums[%d]=%d ",i,sums[i]); } } __syncthreads(); __threadfence(); if(blockIdx.x!=gridDim.x-1) { int tid=(blockIdx.x+1)*blockDim.x+threadIdx.x; if(threadIdx.x==0) cuPrintf("Adding %d \n",sums[blockIdx.x]); outdata[tid]+=sums[blockIdx.x]; } __syncthreads(); } In above kernel, sums array will accumulate prefix sum per block and and then first thread will calculate prefix sum of this sum array. Now if I print this sum array from device side it'll show correct results while in cuPrintf("Adding %d \n",sums[blockIdx.x]); this line it prints that it is taking old value. What could be the reason?

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• ASP.NET MVC Paging/Sorting/Filtering using the MVCContrib Grid and Pager

  - by rajbk

  This post walks you through creating a UI for paging, sorting and filtering a list of data items. It makes use of the excellent MVCContrib Grid and Pager Html UI helpers. A sample project is attached at the bottom. Our UI will eventually look like this. The application will make use of the Northwind database. The top portion of the page has a filter area region. The filter region is enclosed in a form tag. The select lists are wired up with jQuery to auto post back the form. The page has a pager region at the top and bottom of the product list. The product list has a link to display more details about a given product. The column headings are clickable for sorting and an icon shows the sort direction. Strongly Typed View Models The views are written to expect strongly typed objects. We suffix these strongly typed objects with ViewModel since they are designed specifically for passing data down to the view.  The following listing shows the ProductViewModel. This class will be used to hold information about a Product. We use attributes to specify if the property should be hidden and what its heading in the table should be. This metadata will be used by the MvcContrib Grid to render the table. Some of the properties are hidden from the UI ([ScaffoldColumn(false)) but are needed because we will be using those for filtering when writing our LINQ query. public ActionResult Index( string productName, int? supplierID, int? categoryID, GridSortOptions gridSortOptions, int? page) {   var productList = productRepository.GetProductsProjected();   // Set default sort column if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(gridSortOptions.Column)) { gridSortOptions.Column = "ProductID"; }   // Filter on SupplierID if (supplierID.HasValue) { productList = productList.Where(a => a.SupplierID == supplierID); }   // Filter on CategoryID if (categoryID.HasValue) { productList = productList.Where(a => a.CategoryID == categoryID); }   // Filter on ProductName if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(productName)) { productList = productList.Where(a => a.ProductName.Contains(productName)); }   // Create all filter data and set current values if any // These values will be used to set the state of the select list and textbox // by sending it back to the view. var productFilterViewModel = new ProductFilterViewModel(); productFilterViewModel.SelectedCategoryID = categoryID ?? -1; productFilterViewModel.SelectedSupplierID = supplierID ?? -1; productFilterViewModel.Fill();   // Order and page the product list var productPagedList = productList .OrderBy(gridSortOptions.Column, gridSortOptions.Direction) .AsPagination(page ?? 1, 10);     var productListContainer = new ProductListContainerViewModel { ProductPagedList = productPagedList, ProductFilterViewModel = productFilterViewModel, GridSortOptions = gridSortOptions };   return View(productListContainer); } The following diagram shows the rest of the key ViewModels in our design. We have a container class called ProductListContainerViewModel which has nested classes. The ProductPagedList is of type IPagination<ProductViewModel>. The MvcContrib expects the IPagination<T> interface to determine the page number and page size of the collection we are working with. You convert any IEnumerable<T> into an IPagination<T> by calling the AsPagination extension method in the MvcContrib library. It also creates a paged set of type ProductViewModel. The ProductFilterViewModel class will hold information about the different select lists and the ProductName being searched on. It will also hold state of any previously selected item in the lists and the previous search criteria (you will recall that this type of state information was stored in Viewstate when working with WebForms). With MVC there is no state storage and so all state has to be fetched and passed back to the view. The GridSortOptions is a type defined in the MvcContrib library and is used by the Grid to determine the current column being sorted on and the current sort direction. The following shows the view and partial views used to render our UI. The Index view expects a type ProductListContainerViewModel which we described earlier. <%Html.RenderPartial("SearchFilters", Model.ProductFilterViewModel); %> <% Html.RenderPartial("Pager", Model.ProductPagedList); %> <% Html.RenderPartial("SearchResults", Model); %> <% Html.RenderPartial("Pager", Model.ProductPagedList); %> The View contains a partial view “SearchFilters” and passes it the ProductViewFilterContainer. The SearchFilter uses this Model to render all the search lists and textbox. The partial view “Pager” uses the ProductPageList which implements the interface IPagination. The “Pager” view contains the MvcContrib Pager helper used to render the paging information. This view is repeated twice since we want the pager UI to be available at the top and bottom of the product list. The Pager partial view is located in the Shared directory so that it can be reused across Views. The partial view “SearchResults” uses the ProductListContainer model. This partial view contains the MvcContrib Grid which needs both the ProdctPagedList and GridSortOptions to render itself. The Controller Action An example of a request like this: /Products?productName=test&supplierId=29&categoryId=4. The application receives this GET request and maps it to the Index method of the ProductController. Within the action we create an IQueryable<ProductViewModel> by calling the GetProductsProjected() method. /// <summary> /// This method takes in a filter list, paging/sort options and applies /// them to an IQueryable of type ProductViewModel /// </summary> /// <returns> /// The return object is a container that holds the sorted/paged list, /// state for the fiters and state about the current sorted column /// </returns> public ActionResult Index( string productName, int? supplierID, int? categoryID, GridSortOptions gridSortOptions, int? page) {   var productList = productRepository.GetProductsProjected();   // Set default sort column if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(gridSortOptions.Column)) { gridSortOptions.Column = "ProductID"; }   // Filter on SupplierID if (supplierID.HasValue) { productList.Where(a => a.SupplierID == supplierID); }   // Filter on CategoryID if (categoryID.HasValue) { productList = productList.Where(a => a.CategoryID == categoryID); }   // Filter on ProductName if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(productName)) { productList = productList.Where(a => a.ProductName.Contains(productName)); }   // Create all filter data and set current values if any // These values will be used to set the state of the select list and textbox // by sending it back to the view. var productFilterViewModel = new ProductFilterViewModel(); productFilterViewModel.SelectedCategoryID = categoryID ?? -1; productFilterViewModel.SelectedSupplierID = supplierID ?? -1; productFilterViewModel.Fill();   // Order and page the product list var productPagedList = productList .OrderBy(gridSortOptions.Column, gridSortOptions.Direction) .AsPagination(page ?? 1, 10);     var productListContainer = new ProductListContainerViewModel { ProductPagedList = productPagedList, ProductFilterViewModel = productFilterViewModel, GridSortOptions = gridSortOptions };   return View(productListContainer); } The supplier, category and productname filters are applied to this IQueryable if any are present in the request. The ProductPagedList class is created by applying a sort order and calling the AsPagination method. Finally the ProductListContainerViewModel class is created and returned to the view. You have seen how to use strongly typed views with the MvcContrib Grid and Pager to render a clean lightweight UI with strongly typed views. You also saw how to use partial views to get data from the strongly typed model passed to it from the parent view. The code also shows you how to use jQuery to auto post back. The sample is attached below. Don’t forget to change your connection string to point to the server containing the Northwind database. NorthwindSales_MvcContrib.zip My name is Kobayashi. I work for Keyser Soze.

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• CodePlex Daily Summary for Saturday, March 06, 2010

  CodePlex Daily Summary for Saturday, March 06, 2010New ProjectsAgr.CQRS: Agr.CQRS is a C# framework for DDD applications that use the Command Query Responsibility Segregation pattern (CQRS) and Event Sourcing. BigDays 2010: Big>Days 2010BizTalk - Controlled Admin: Hi .NET folks, I am planning to start project on a Controlled BizTalk Admin tool. This tool will be useful for the organizations which have "Sh...Blacklist of Providers: Blacklist of Providers - the application for department of warehouse logistics (warehouse) at firms.Career Vector: A job board software.Chargify Demo: This is a sample website for ChargifyConceptual: Concept description and animationEric Hexter: My publicly available source code and examplesFluentNHibernate.Search: A Fluent NHibernate.Search mapping interface for NHibernate provider implementation of Lucene.NET.FreelancePlanner: FreelancePlanner is a project tracking tool for freelance translators.HTMLx - JavaScript on the Server for .NET: HTMLx is a set of libraries based on ASP.NET engine to provide JavaScript programmability on the server side. It allows Web developers to use JavaS...IronMSBuild: IronMSBuild is a custom MSBuild Task, which allows you to execute IronRuby scripts. // have to provide some examples LINQ To Blippr: LINQ to Blippr is an open source LINQ Provider for the micro-reviewing service Blippr. LINQ to Blippr makes it easier and more efficent for develo...Luk@sh's HTML Parser: library that simplifies parsing of the HTML documents, for .NETMeta Choons: Unsure as yet but will be a kind of discogs type site but different..NetWork2: NetWork2Regular Expression Chooser: Simple gui for choosing the regular expressions that have become more than simple.See.Sharper: Hopefully useful C# extensions.SharePoint 2010 Toggle User Interface: Toggle the SharePoint 2010 user interface between the new SharePoint 2010 user interface and SharePoint 2007 user interface.Silverlight DiscussionBoard for SharePoint: This is a sharepoint 3.0 webpart that uses a silverlight treeview to display metadata about sharepoint discussions anduses the html bridge to show...Simple Sales Tracking CRM API Wrapper: The Simple Sales Tracking API Wrapper, enables easy extention development and integration with the hosted service at http://www.simplesalestracking...Syntax4Word: A syntax addin for word 2007.TortoiseHg installer builder: TortoiseHg and Mercurial installer builder for Windowsunbinder: Model un binding for route value dictionariesWindows Workflow Foundation on Codeplex: This site has previews of Workflow features which are released out of band for the purposes of adoption and feedback.XNA RSM Render State Manager: Render state management idea for XNA games. Enables isolation between draw calls whilst reducing DX9 SetRenderState calls to the minimum.New ReleasesAgr.CQRS: Sourcecode package: Agr.CQRS is a C# framework for DDD applications that use the Command Query Responsibility Segregation pattern (CQRS) and Event Sourcing. This dow...Book Cataloger: Preview 0.1.6a: New Features: Export to Word 2007 Bibliography format Dictionary list editors for Binding, Condition Improvements: Stability improved Content ...Braintree Client Library: Braintree-1.1.2: Includes minor enhancements to CreditCard and ValidationErrors to support upcoming example application.CassiniDev - Cassini 3.5 Developers Edition: CassiniDev v3.5.0.5: For usage see Readme.htm in download. New in CassiniDev v3.5.0.5 Reintroduced the Lib project and signed all Implemented the CassiniSqlFixture -...Composure: Calcium-64420-VS2010rc1.NET4.SL3: This is a simple conversion of Calcium (rev 64420) built in VS2010 RC1 against .NET4 and Silverlight 3. No source files were changed and ALL test...Composure: MS AJAX Library (46266) for VS2010 RC1 .NET4: This is a quick port of Microsoft's AJAX Library (rev 46266) for Visual Studio 2010 RC1 built against .NET 4.0. Since this conversion was thrown t...Composure: MS Web Test Lightweight for VS2010 RC1 .NET4: A simple conversion of Microsoft's Web Test Lightweight for Visual Studio 2010 RC1 .NET 4.0. This is part of a larger "special request" conversion...CoNatural Components: CoNatural Components 1.5: Supporting new data types: Added support for binary data types -> binary, varbinary, etc maps to byte[] Now supporting SQL Server 2008 new types ...Extensia: Extensia 2010-03-05: Extensia is a very large list of extension methods and a few helper types. Some extension methods are not practical (e.g. slow) whilst others are....Fluent Assertions: Fluent Assertions release 1.1: In this release, we've worked hard to add some important missing features that we really needed, and also improve resiliance against illegal argume...Fluent Ribbon Control Suite: Fluent Ribbon Control Suite 1.0 RC: Fluent Ribbon Control Suite 1.0 (Release Candidate)Includes: Fluent.dll (with .pdb and .xml, debug and release version) Showcase Application Sa...FluentNHibernate.Search: 0.1 Beta: First beta versionFolderSize: FolderSize.Win32.1.0.7.0: FolderSize.Win32.1.0.6.0 A simple utility intended to be used to scan harddrives for the folders that take most place and display this to the user...Free Silverlight & WPF Chart Control - Visifire: Silverlight and WPF Step Line Chart: Hi, With this release Visifire introduces Step Line Chart. This release also contains fix for the following issues: * In WPF, if AnimatedUpd...Html to OpenXml: HtmlToOpenXml 1.0: The dll library to include in your project. The dll is signed for GAC support. Compiled with .Net 3.5, Dependencies on System.Drawing.dll and Docu...Line Counter: 1.5.1: The Line Counter is a tool to calculate lines of your code files. The tool was written in .NET 2.0. Line Counter 1.5.1 Added outline icons and lin...Lokad Cloud - .NET O/C mapper (object to cloud) for Windows Azure: Lokad.Cloud v1.0.662.1: You can get the most recent release directly from the build server at http://build.lokad.com/distrib/Lokad.Cloud/Lost in Translation: LostInTranslation v0.2: Alpha release: function complete but not UX complete.MDownloader: MDownloader-0.15.7.56349: Supported large file resumption. Fixed minor bugs.Mini C# Lab: Mini CSharp Lab Ver 1.4: The primary new feature of Ver 1.4 is batch mode! Now you can run Mini C# Lab program as a scheduled task, no UI interactivity is needed. Here ar...Mobile Store: First drop: First droppatterns & practices SharePoint Guidance: SPG2010 Drop6: SharePoint Guidance Drop Notes Microsoft patterns and practices ****************************************** ***************************************...Picasa Downloader: PicasaDownloader (41446): Changelog: Replaced some exception messages by a Summary dialog shown after downloading if there have been problems. Corrected the Portable vers...Pod Thrower: Version 1: This is the first release, I'm sure there are bugs, the tool is fully functional and I'm using it currently.PowerShell Provider BizTalk: BizTalkFactory PowerShell Provider - 1.1-snapshot: This release constitutes the latest development snapshot for the Provider. Please, leave feedback and use the Issue Tracker to help improve this pr...Resharper Settings Manager: RSM 1.2.1: This is a bug fix release. Changes Fixed plug-in crash when shared settings file was modified externally.Reusable Library Demo: Reusable Library Demo v1.0.2: A demonstration of reusable abstractions for enterprise application developerSharePoint 2010 Toggle User Interface: SharePoint Toggle User Interface: Release 1.0.0.0Starter Kit Mytrip.Mvc.Entity: Mytrip.Mvc.Entity(net3.5 MySQL) 1.0 Beta: MySQL VS 2008 EF Membership UserManager FileManager Localization Captcha ClientValidation Theme CrossBrowserTortoiseHg: TortoiseHg 1.0: http://bitbucket.org/tortoisehg/stable/wiki/ReleaseNotes Please backup your user Mercurial.ini file and then uninstall any 0.9.X release before in...Visual Studio 2010 and Team Foundation Server 2010 VM Factory: Rangers Virtualization Guidance: Rangers Virtualization Guidance Focused guidance on creating a Rangers base image manually and introduction of PowerShell scripts to automate many ...Visual Studio DSite: Advanced Email Program (Visual Basic 2008): This email program can send email to any one using your email username and email credentials. The email program can also attatch attactments to you...WPF ShaderEffect Generator: WPF ShaderEffect Generator 1.6: Several improvements and bug fixes have gone into the comment parsing code for the registers. The plug-in should now correctly pay attention to th...WSDLGenerator: WSDLGenerator 0.0.0.3: - Fixed SharePoint generated *.wsdl.aspx file - Added commandline option -wsdl which does only generate the wsdl file.Most Popular ProjectsMetaSharpRawrWBFS ManagerAJAX Control ToolkitMicrosoft SQL Server Product Samples: DatabaseSilverlight ToolkitWindows Presentation Foundation (WPF)ASP.NETLiveUpload to FacebookMicrosoft SQL Server Community & SamplesMost Active ProjectsUmbraco CMSRawrSDS: Scientific DataSet library and toolsBlogEngine.NETjQuery Library for SharePoint Web Servicespatterns & practices – Enterprise LibraryIonics Isapi Rewrite FilterFluent AssertionsComposureDiffPlex - a .NET Diff Generator

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• CodePlex Daily Summary for Wednesday, February 17, 2010

  CodePlex Daily Summary for Wednesday, February 17, 2010New ProjectsAcademic Success Accounting System: The system is intended to use by school teacher to set marks to students and estimate their academic success and possibilities. The client applicat...Access.PowerTools: Access PowerTools is currently a sample MS Access add-in project to try & test features of Add-in Express™ 2009 for Microsoft® Office and .net (ht...AntoonCms: AntoonCms makes it easy to maintain a simple website with it's builtin administration pages. It's developed in C# on target Framework 2.0 The CMS...ASP.NET MVC Mehr Lib: Mehr Lib makes it easier for ASP.NET MVC developers to do develop projects. It's developed in C#. This version currently include Ajax master detail...BCryptTool: Developer tool that calculates BCrypt hash codes for strings. BCrypt is an implementation of the Blowfish cipher and a computationally-expensive ha...Coronasoft Cryostasis scripting engine: A scripting engine that allows you to dynamically load plugins from just about any supported .NET language. Its written in C#. Languages supported ...Critical Point Search: Critical Point Searchcritical points: critical pointsFont Family Name Retrieval: This library helps developer to retrieve the font family name from the TTF, OTF and TTC font files, so that developer can display the font without ...jQuery Form Input Hints Plugin: Automatically display hints on input textboxes in your forms using this jQuery plugin. I wrote this code to be as simple and as easy to use as pos...Kojax: kojax projectKronRetro: KronRetro! Making a Habbo Retro just got easier! Powered by PHP & MySQL you can make a Habbo Retro site fast!MVVM Wrapper Kit: MVVM Wrapper Kit makes it easier for View Model programmers to wrap their business objects and collections while preserving change notification and...ObjectCartographer: ObjectCartographer is an object to object mapper and object factory. It's developed in C#.PE-file Reader Writer API (PERWAPI): PERWAPI is a reader writer module for .NET program executables. It has been used as back-end for progamming language compilers such as Gardens Poi...Pinger: A simple Pinger, pings an address until you press a buttonQPV: 0.1: QPV aka Que pelicula es una aplicacion que consiste crear una base de datos potente de peliculas, criticas e informacion para poder filtrar pelicul...SIMD Detector: This SIMD class helps developers to detect the types of SIMD instruction available on users' processor. It supports Intel and AMD CPUs. It is writt...StackOverflow Test Project: Following Andrew Siemer's StackOverflow Knowledge Exchange Project.WeBlog: A blogging platform built on the MVC framework The project will showcase current technologies such as MVC 2, Silverlight 4 and jQuery 1.4. Data pro...Webmedia: this is my webmedia projectWindows Azure RSS Reader: This is and online RSS reader based on the Windows Azure platformWordEditor. A Word Editor for Windows, and an extended RichTextBox control.: This is a word editor that can be used as a stand alone word processor, or added to an existing project.Домашняя Бухгалтерия: Программа для ведения домашнего бухгалтерского учета финансов. New ReleasesAccess.PowerTools: Access PowerTools Add-In Community Edition v.0.0.1: Access PowerTools Add-In Community Edition v.0.0.1 is a sample MS Access add-in project to try & test Add-in Express™ 2009 for Microsoft® Office an...Active CSS: ActiveCSS-0.1.1: revision for version 0.1ASP.NET: Microsoft Ajax Minifier 4.0: The Microsoft Ajax Minifier enables you to improve the performance of your Ajax applications by reducing the size of your Cascading Style Sheet and...ASP.NET MVC Mehr Lib: V1.0: Mehr Lib V1.0 This version currently include ajax master detail combo facilities.ASP.net Ribbon: Version 1.2: New controls : Expandable gallery Color Picker Multi color File Menu Some JS modifications. Some CSS modifications. Includes some functionna...ASP.NET Web Forms Model-View-Presenter (MVP) Contrib: WebForms MVP Contrib CTP6: This is a release of the WebForms MVP Contrib project for WebForms MVP CTP6. Release includes: WebForms MVP Contrib framework Ninject IoC containerAwesomiumDotNet: AwesomiumDotNet 1.2.1: - Added Awesomium 1.5 features: URL filtering, header rewrite rules, SetOpensExternalLinksInCallingFrame. - Numerous fixes and improvements.BCryptTool: BCryptTool v0.1: The Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 (SP1) is needed to run this program.Buzz Dot Net: Buzz Dot Net v.1.10216: Features Parse Google Buzz feed to Objects Partial MVVM Implementation Partial OptimizationsCanvas VSDOC Intellisense: v1.0.0.0a: canvas-vsdoc.js and canvas-utils.js JavaScript intellisense for HTML5 Canvas element.CheckHeader: CheckHeader v0.8.5: The Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 (SP1) is needed to run this program.Claymore MVP: Claymore 1.0.2.0: Changelog Added ASP.NET WebForm support via ClaymoreHttpModule class. Added xsd schema for Visual Studio Intellisense within App.config and Web....Dam Gd - URL Shortner: Dam.gd Version 1.1: This is the latest instalment in our URL shortner. It uses The Easy API http://theeasyapi.com to access data that is used for the back-end analyti...D-AMPS: D-AMPS 0.9.1: Initial version.easySMS: easySMS 1.0 Source code: easySMS 1.0 Source codeFont Family Name Retrieval: 1st Release: Version 1.0.0Free Silverlight & WPF Chart Control - Visifire: Visifire Now Supports DataBinding: Hi, Today we are releasing the much awaited DataBinding feature in Visifire 3.0.3 beta 3. Now you can Bind any DataSource at the Series level so t...GenerateTypedBamApi: Version 2.0: Changes in this release: NEW: Export functionality no longer requires Excel to be installed (uses OLE DB vs. Excel Automation; also enables usage i...Gmail Notifier 2: GmailNotifier2 1.2.1: Fixes issues #9652, #9653iTuner - The iTunes Companion: iTuner 1.1.3699: This includes the first pass of the iTuner Librarian including management of dead tracks, duplicates, and empty directories... While I promised a ...jQuery Form Input Hints Plugin: jQuery.InputHints v1.0: jQuery.InputHints v1.0 Includes Standard & minified source Demo HTML file VS2008 SolutionLibWowArmory: LibWowArmory 0.2.3 beta: LibWowArmory 0.2.3 betaThis release of the LibWowArmory source code matches the WoW Armory as of version 3.3.2. Changes since version 0.2.2:Update...Managed Extensibility Framework: MEF Preview 9: We have merged the .net 3.5 and Silverlight 3 into a single zip. The bin folder contains the binaries for .net 3.5 whereas bin\SL contains the bina...MDX Parser,Builder,DOM and OLAP visual controls with Writeback for Silverlight: Ranet.UILibrary.Olap-1.3.3.0-6571.msi: February 16, 2010 * MdxDesigner: Fix for the issue where when an element is clicked, the mouse wheel stops working until the cursor leaves and r...MEFGeneric: MEFGeneric Preview 9: MEFGeneric Preview 9 release.Mesopotamia Experiment: Mesopotamia 1.2.26: Bug Fixes - mud map - progress window - recycle app domains on robotics engine crashes( in command prompt and visual, major work) - fixed rooomba h...Microsoft Solution Framework for Business Intelligence in Media: Release 1.0: This is the public release of the Microsoft Solution Framework for Business Intelligence in Media (Release 1.0).MVVM Wrapper Kit: MVVM Wrapper Beta: A simple test project is included to get you up and running, and wrapping those business objects.nBayes - Bayesian Filtering in C#: nBayes v0.2: nBayes' indexing system is factored in such a way that you can easily replace the index with a custom implementation. This release introduces an ad...NetSqlAzMan - .NET SQL Authorization Manager: 3.6.0.5: 3.6.0.5 16-February-2010 - Fix: SqlAzManSid Class. "Equals" matches object signiture instead of IAzManSid signiture. When a real null object is pas...ObjectCartographer: ObjectCartographer Code 1.0: This is the first release and contains code to help with object to object mapping (including mapping from one object to multiple objects), object f...Office Apps: 0.8.6: Bug fix's, added Calendar.OI - Open Internet: OI HTML and .XAP files (OI offline): this is the HTML code and the XAP file. please right-click the app at http://bit.ly/openinternet and select "install openinternet application to th...PE-file Reader Writer API (PERWAPI): PERWAPI-1.1.3: Perwapi version 1.1.3 is the complete distribution package. It contains Binary files, pdb files and xml files for the PERWAPI and SymbolRW compone...Pinger: Pinger 1.0.0.0 Binary: The Latest BinaryRNA Comparative Analysis Software Tools: RNA Comparative Analysis Software Tools 2.0: RNA Comparative Analysis Software Tools Version 2.0 Note: The RNA Comparative Analysis Software Tools are provided as is, without any warranty. No...SAL- Self Artificial Learning: Artificial Learning working proof of concept: This is a working proof of concept. 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• Using LINQ Distinct: With an Example on ASP.NET MVC SelectListItem

  - by Joe Mayo

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

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• Parallelism in .NET – Part 3, Imperative Data Parallelism: Early Termination

  - by Reed

  Although simple data parallelism allows us to easily parallelize many of our iteration statements, there are cases that it does not handle well.  In my previous discussion, I focused on data parallelism with no shared state, and where every element is being processed exactly the same. Unfortunately, there are many common cases where this does not happen.  If we are dealing with a loop that requires early termination, extra care is required when parallelizing. Often, while processing in a loop, once a certain condition is met, it is no longer necessary to continue processing.  This may be a matter of finding a specific element within the collection, or reaching some error case.  The important distinction here is that, it is often impossible to know until runtime, what set of elements needs to be processed. In my initial discussion of data parallelism, I mentioned that this technique is a candidate when you can decompose the problem based on the data involved, and you wish to apply a single operation concurrently on all of the elements of a collection.  This covers many of the potential cases, but sometimes, after processing some of the elements, we need to stop processing. As an example, lets go back to our previous Parallel.ForEach example with contacting a customer.  However, this time, we’ll change the requirements slightly.  In this case, we’ll add an extra condition – if the store is unable to email the customer, we will exit gracefully.  The thinking here, of course, is that if the store is currently unable to email, the next time this operation runs, it will handle the same situation, so we can just skip our processing entirely.  The original, serial case, with this extra condition, might look something like the following: foreach(var customer in customers) { // Run some process that takes some time... DateTime lastContact = theStore.GetLastContact(customer); TimeSpan timeSinceContact = DateTime.Now - lastContact; // If it's been more than two weeks, send an email, and update... if (timeSinceContact.Days > 14) { // Exit gracefully if we fail to email, since this // entire process can be repeated later without issue. if (theStore.EmailCustomer(customer) == false) break; customer.LastEmailContact = DateTime.Now; } } .csharpcode, .csharpcode pre { font-size: small; color: black; font-family: consolas, "Courier New", courier, monospace; background-color: #ffffff; /*white-space: pre;*/ } .csharpcode pre { margin: 0em; } .csharpcode .rem { color: #008000; } .csharpcode .kwrd { color: #0000ff; } .csharpcode .str { color: #006080; } .csharpcode .op { color: #0000c0; } .csharpcode .preproc { color: #cc6633; } .csharpcode .asp { background-color: #ffff00; } .csharpcode .html { color: #800000; } .csharpcode .attr { color: #ff0000; } .csharpcode .alt { background-color: #f4f4f4; width: 100%; margin: 0em; } .csharpcode .lnum { color: #606060; } Here, we’re processing our loop, but at any point, if we fail to send our email successfully, we just abandon this process, and assume that it will get handled correctly the next time our routine is run.  If we try to parallelize this using Parallel.ForEach, as we did previously, we’ll run into an error almost immediately: the break statement we’re using is only valid when enclosed within an iteration statement, such as foreach.  When we switch to Parallel.ForEach, we’re no longer within an iteration statement – we’re a delegate running in a method. This needs to be handled slightly differently when parallelized.  Instead of using the break statement, we need to utilize a new class in the Task Parallel Library: ParallelLoopState.  The ParallelLoopState class is intended to allow concurrently running loop bodies a way to interact with each other, and provides us with a way to break out of a loop.  In order to use this, we will use a different overload of Parallel.ForEach which takes an IEnumerable<T> and an Action<T, ParallelLoopState> instead of an Action<T>.  Using this, we can parallelize the above operation by doing: Parallel.ForEach(customers, (customer, parallelLoopState) => { // Run some process that takes some time... DateTime lastContact = theStore.GetLastContact(customer); TimeSpan timeSinceContact = DateTime.Now - lastContact; // If it's been more than two weeks, send an email, and update... if (timeSinceContact.Days > 14) { // Exit gracefully if we fail to email, since this // entire process can be repeated later without issue. if (theStore.EmailCustomer(customer) == false) parallelLoopState.Break(); else customer.LastEmailContact = DateTime.Now; } }); There are a couple of important points here.  First, we didn’t actually instantiate the ParallelLoopState instance.  It was provided directly to us via the Parallel class.  All we needed to do was change our lambda expression to reflect that we want to use the loop state, and the Parallel class creates an instance for our use.  We also needed to change our logic slightly when we call Break().  Since Break() doesn’t stop the program flow within our block, we needed to add an else case to only set the property in customer when we succeeded.  This same technique can be used to break out of a Parallel.For loop. That being said, there is a huge difference between using ParallelLoopState to cause early termination and to use break in a standard iteration statement.  When dealing with a loop serially, break will immediately terminate the processing within the closest enclosing loop statement.  Calling ParallelLoopState.Break(), however, has a very different behavior. The issue is that, now, we’re no longer processing one element at a time.  If we break in one of our threads, there are other threads that will likely still be executing.  This leads to an important observation about termination of parallel code: Early termination in parallel routines is not immediate.  Code will continue to run after you request a termination. This may seem problematic at first, but it is something you just need to keep in mind while designing your routine.  ParallelLoopState.Break() should be thought of as a request.  We are telling the runtime that no elements that were in the collection past the element we’re currently processing need to be processed, and leaving it up to the runtime to decide how to handle this as gracefully as possible.  Although this may seem problematic at first, it is a good thing.  If the runtime tried to immediately stop processing, many of our elements would be partially processed.  It would be like putting a return statement in a random location throughout our loop body – which could have horrific consequences to our code’s maintainability. In order to understand and effectively write parallel routines, we, as developers, need a subtle, but profound shift in our thinking.  We can no longer think in terms of sequential processes, but rather need to think in terms of requests to the system that may be handled differently than we’d first expect.  This is more natural to developers who have dealt with asynchronous models previously, but is an important distinction when moving to concurrent programming models. As an example, I’ll discuss the Break() method.  ParallelLoopState.Break() functions in a way that may be unexpected at first.  When you call Break() from a loop body, the runtime will continue to process all elements of the collection that were found prior to the element that was being processed when the Break() method was called.  This is done to keep the behavior of the Break() method as close to the behavior of the break statement as possible. We can see the behavior in this simple code: var collection = Enumerable.Range(0, 20); var pResult = Parallel.ForEach(collection, (element, state) => { if (element > 10) { Console.WriteLine("Breaking on {0}", element); state.Break(); } Console.WriteLine(element); }); If we run this, we get a result that may seem unexpected at first: 0 2 1 5 6 3 4 10 Breaking on 11 11 Breaking on 12 12 9 Breaking on 13 13 7 8 Breaking on 15 15 What is occurring here is that we loop until we find the first element where the element is greater than 10.  In this case, this was found, the first time, when one of our threads reached element 11.  It requested that the loop stop by calling Break() at this point.  However, the loop continued processing until all of the elements less than 11 were completed, then terminated.  This means that it will guarantee that elements 9, 7, and 8 are completed before it stops processing.  You can see our other threads that were running each tried to break as well, but since Break() was called on the element with a value of 11, it decides which elements (0-10) must be processed. If this behavior is not desirable, there is another option.  Instead of calling ParallelLoopState.Break(), you can call ParallelLoopState.Stop().  The Stop() method requests that the runtime terminate as soon as possible , without guaranteeing that any other elements are processed.  Stop() will not stop the processing within an element, so elements already being processed will continue to be processed.  It will prevent new elements, even ones found earlier in the collection, from being processed.  Also, when Stop() is called, the ParallelLoopState’s IsStopped property will return true.  This lets longer running processes poll for this value, and return after performing any necessary cleanup. The basic rule of thumb for choosing between Break() and Stop() is the following. Use ParallelLoopState.Stop() when possible, since it terminates more quickly.  This is particularly useful in situations where you are searching for an element or a condition in the collection.  Once you’ve found it, you do not need to do any other processing, so Stop() is more appropriate. Use ParallelLoopState.Break() if you need to more closely match the behavior of the C# break statement. Both methods behave differently than our C# break statement.  Unfortunately, when parallelizing a routine, more thought and care needs to be put into every aspect of your routine than you may otherwise expect.  This is due to my second observation: Parallelizing a routine will almost always change its behavior. This sounds crazy at first, but it’s a concept that’s so simple its easy to forget.  We’re purposely telling the system to process more than one thing at the same time, which means that the sequence in which things get processed is no longer deterministic.  It is easy to change the behavior of your routine in very subtle ways by introducing parallelism.  Often, the changes are not avoidable, even if they don’t have any adverse side effects.  This leads to my final observation for this post: Parallelization is something that should be handled with care and forethought, added by design, and not just introduced casually.

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• Using a WPF ListView as a DataGrid

  - by psheriff

  Many people like to view data in a grid format of rows and columns. WPF did not come with a data grid control that automatically creates rows and columns for you based on the object you pass it. However, the WPF Toolkit can be downloaded from CodePlex.com that does contain a DataGrid control. This DataGrid gives you the ability to pass it a DataTable or a Collection class and it will automatically figure out the columns or properties and create all the columns for you and display the data.The DataGrid control also supports editing and many other features that you might not always need. This means that the DataGrid does take a little more time to render the data. If you want to just display data (see Figure 1) in a grid format, then a ListView works quite well for this task. Of course, you will need to create the columns for the ListView, but with just a little generic code, you can create the columns on the fly just like the WPF Toolkit’s DataGrid. Figure 1: A List of Data using a ListView A Simple ListView ControlThe XAML below is what you would use to create the ListView shown in Figure 1. However, the problem with using XAML is you have to pre-define the columns. You cannot re-use this ListView except for “Product” data. <ListView x:Name="lstData"          ItemsSource="{Binding}">  <ListView.View>    <GridView>      <GridViewColumn Header="Product ID"                      Width="Auto"               DisplayMemberBinding="{Binding Path=ProductId}" />      <GridViewColumn Header="Product Name"                      Width="Auto"               DisplayMemberBinding="{Binding Path=ProductName}" />      <GridViewColumn Header="Price"                      Width="Auto"               DisplayMemberBinding="{Binding Path=Price}" />    </GridView>  </ListView.View></ListView> So, instead of creating the GridViewColumn’s in XAML, let’s learn to create them in code to create any amount of columns in a ListView. Create GridViewColumn’s From Data TableTo display multiple columns in a ListView control you need to set its View property to a GridView collection object. You add GridViewColumn objects to the GridView collection and assign the GridView to the View property. Each GridViewColumn object needs to be bound to a column or property name of the object that the ListView will be bound to. An ADO.NET DataTable object contains a collection of columns, and these columns have a ColumnName property which you use to bind to the GridViewColumn objects. Listing 1 shows a sample of reading and XML file into a DataSet object. After reading the data a GridView object is created. You can then loop through the DataTable columns collection and create a GridViewColumn object for each column in the DataTable. Notice the DisplayMemberBinding property is set to a new Binding to the ColumnName in the DataTable. C#private void FirstSample(){  // Read the data  DataSet ds = new DataSet();  ds.ReadXml(GetCurrentDirectory() + @"\Xml\Product.xml");    // Create the GridView  GridView gv = new GridView();   // Create the GridView Columns  foreach (DataColumn item in ds.Tables[0].Columns)  {    GridViewColumn gvc = new GridViewColumn();    gvc.DisplayMemberBinding = new Binding(item.ColumnName);    gvc.Header = item.ColumnName;    gvc.Width = Double.NaN;    gv.Columns.Add(gvc);  }   // Setup the GridView Columns  lstData.View = gv;  // Display the Data  lstData.DataContext = ds.Tables[0];} VB.NETPrivate Sub FirstSample()  ' Read the data  Dim ds As New DataSet()  ds.ReadXml(GetCurrentDirectory() & "\Xml\Product.xml")   ' Create the GridView  Dim gv As New GridView()   ' Create the GridView Columns  For Each item As DataColumn In ds.Tables(0).Columns    Dim gvc As New GridViewColumn()    gvc.DisplayMemberBinding = New Binding(item.ColumnName)    gvc.Header = item.ColumnName    gvc.Width = [Double].NaN    gv.Columns.Add(gvc)  Next   ' Setup the GridView Columns  lstData.View = gv  ' Display the Data  lstData.DataContext = ds.Tables(0)End SubListing 1: Loop through the DataTable columns collection to create GridViewColumn objects A Generic Method for Creating a GridViewInstead of having to write the code shown in Listing 1 for each ListView you wish to create, you can create a generic method that given any DataTable will return a GridView column collection. Listing 2 shows how you can simplify the code in Listing 1 by setting up a class called WPFListViewCommon and create a method called CreateGridViewColumns that returns your GridView. C#private void DataTableSample(){  // Read the data  DataSet ds = new DataSet();  ds.ReadXml(GetCurrentDirectory() + @"\Xml\Product.xml");   // Setup the GridView Columns  lstData.View =      WPFListViewCommon.CreateGridViewColumns(ds.Tables[0]);  lstData.DataContext = ds.Tables[0];} VB.NETPrivate Sub DataTableSample()  ' Read the data  Dim ds As New DataSet()  ds.ReadXml(GetCurrentDirectory() & "\Xml\Product.xml")   ' Setup the GridView Columns  lstData.View = _      WPFListViewCommon.CreateGridViewColumns(ds.Tables(0))  lstData.DataContext = ds.Tables(0)End SubListing 2: Call a generic method to create GridViewColumns. The CreateGridViewColumns MethodThe CreateGridViewColumns method will take a DataTable as a parameter and create a GridView object with a GridViewColumn object in its collection for each column in your DataTable. C#public static GridView CreateGridViewColumns(DataTable dt){  // Create the GridView  GridView gv = new GridView();  gv.AllowsColumnReorder = true;   // Create the GridView Columns  foreach (DataColumn item in dt.Columns)  {    GridViewColumn gvc = new GridViewColumn();    gvc.DisplayMemberBinding = new Binding(item.ColumnName);    gvc.Header = item.ColumnName;    gvc.Width = Double.NaN;    gv.Columns.Add(gvc);  }   return gv;} VB.NETPublic Shared Function CreateGridViewColumns _  (ByVal dt As DataTable) As GridView  ' Create the GridView  Dim gv As New GridView()  gv.AllowsColumnReorder = True   ' Create the GridView Columns  For Each item As DataColumn In dt.Columns    Dim gvc As New GridViewColumn()    gvc.DisplayMemberBinding = New Binding(item.ColumnName)    gvc.Header = item.ColumnName    gvc.Width = [Double].NaN    gv.Columns.Add(gvc)  Next   Return gvEnd FunctionListing 3: The CreateGridViewColumns method takes a DataTable and creates GridViewColumn objects in a GridView. By separating this method out into a class you can call this method anytime you want to create a ListView with a collection of columns from a DataTable. SummaryIn this blog you learned how to create a ListView that acts like a DataGrid. You are able to use a DataTable as both the source of the data, and for creating the columns for the ListView. In the next blog entry you will learn how to use the same technique, but for Collection classes. NOTE: You can download the complete sample code (in both VB and C#) at my website. http://www.pdsa.com/downloads. Choose Tips & Tricks, then "WPF ListView as a DataGrid" from the drop-down. Good Luck with your Coding,Paul Sheriff ** SPECIAL OFFER FOR MY BLOG READERS **Visit http://www.pdsa.com/Event/Blog for a free eBook on "Fundamentals of N-Tier".

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• Parallelism in .NET – Part 2, Simple Imperative Data Parallelism

  - by Reed

  In my discussion of Decomposition of the problem space, I mentioned that Data Decomposition is often the simplest abstraction to use when trying to parallelize a routine.  If a problem can be decomposed based off the data, we will often want to use what MSDN refers to as Data Parallelism as our strategy for implementing our routine.  The Task Parallel Library in .NET 4 makes implementing Data Parallelism, for most cases, very simple. Data Parallelism is the main technique we use to parallelize a routine which can be decomposed based off data.  Data Parallelism refers to taking a single collection of data, and having a single operation be performed concurrently on elements in the collection.  One side note here: Data Parallelism is also sometimes referred to as the Loop Parallelism Pattern or Loop-level Parallelism.  In general, for this series, I will try to use the terminology used in the MSDN Documentation for the Task Parallel Library.  This should make it easier to investigate these topics in more detail. Once we’ve determined we have a problem that, potentially, can be decomposed based on data, implementation using Data Parallelism in the TPL is quite simple.  Let’s take our example from the Data Decomposition discussion – a simple contrast stretching filter.  Here, we have a collection of data (pixels), and we need to run a simple operation on each element of the pixel.  Once we know the minimum and maximum values, we most likely would have some simple code like the following: for (int row=0; row < pixelData.GetUpperBound(0); ++row) { for (int col=0; col < pixelData.GetUpperBound(1); ++col) { pixelData[row, col] = AdjustContrast(pixelData[row, col], minPixel, maxPixel); } } .csharpcode, .csharpcode pre { font-size: small; color: black; font-family: consolas, "Courier New", courier, monospace; background-color: #ffffff; /*white-space: pre;*/ } .csharpcode pre { margin: 0em; } .csharpcode .rem { color: #008000; } .csharpcode .kwrd { color: #0000ff; } .csharpcode .str { color: #006080; } .csharpcode .op { color: #0000c0; } .csharpcode .preproc { color: #cc6633; } .csharpcode .asp { background-color: #ffff00; } .csharpcode .html { color: #800000; } .csharpcode .attr { color: #ff0000; } .csharpcode .alt { background-color: #f4f4f4; width: 100%; margin: 0em; } .csharpcode .lnum { color: #606060; } This simple routine loops through a two dimensional array of pixelData, and calls the AdjustContrast routine on each pixel. As I mentioned, when you’re decomposing a problem space, most iteration statements are potentially candidates for data decomposition.  Here, we’re using two for loops – one looping through rows in the image, and a second nested loop iterating through the columns.  We then perform one, independent operation on each element based on those loop positions. This is a prime candidate – we have no shared data, no dependencies on anything but the pixel which we want to change.  Since we’re using a for loop, we can easily parallelize this using the Parallel.For method in the TPL: Parallel.For(0, pixelData.GetUpperBound(0), row => { for (int col=0; col < pixelData.GetUpperBound(1); ++col) { pixelData[row, col] = AdjustContrast(pixelData[row, col], minPixel, maxPixel); } }); Here, by simply changing our first for loop to a call to Parallel.For, we can parallelize this portion of our routine.  Parallel.For works, as do many methods in the TPL, by creating a delegate and using it as an argument to a method.  In this case, our for loop iteration block becomes a delegate creating via a lambda expression.  This lets you write code that, superficially, looks similar to the familiar for loop, but functions quite differently at runtime. We could easily do this to our second for loop as well, but that may not be a good idea.  There is a balance to be struck when writing parallel code.  We want to have enough work items to keep all of our processors busy, but the more we partition our data, the more overhead we introduce.  In this case, we have an image of data – most likely hundreds of pixels in both dimensions.  By just parallelizing our first loop, each row of pixels can be run as a single task.  With hundreds of rows of data, we are providing fine enough granularity to keep all of our processors busy. If we parallelize both loops, we’re potentially creating millions of independent tasks.  This introduces extra overhead with no extra gain, and will actually reduce our overall performance.  This leads to my first guideline when writing parallel code: Partition your problem into enough tasks to keep each processor busy throughout the operation, but not more than necessary to keep each processor busy. Also note that I parallelized the outer loop.  I could have just as easily partitioned the inner loop.  However, partitioning the inner loop would have led to many more discrete work items, each with a smaller amount of work (operate on one pixel instead of one row of pixels).  My second guideline when writing parallel code reflects this: Partition your problem in a way to place the most work possible into each task. This typically means, in practice, that you will want to parallelize the routine at the “highest” point possible in the routine, typically the outermost loop.  If you’re looking at parallelizing methods which call other methods, you’ll want to try to partition your work high up in the stack – as you get into lower level methods, the performance impact of parallelizing your routines may not overcome the overhead introduced. Parallel.For works great for situations where we know the number of elements we’re going to process in advance.  If we’re iterating through an IList<T> or an array, this is a typical approach.  However, there are other iteration statements common in C#.  In many situations, we’ll use foreach instead of a for loop.  This can be more understandable and easier to read, but also has the advantage of working with collections which only implement IEnumerable<T>, where we do not know the number of elements involved in advance. As an example, lets take the following situation.  Say we have a collection of Customers, and we want to iterate through each customer, check some information about the customer, and if a certain case is met, send an email to the customer and update our instance to reflect this change.  Normally, this might look something like: foreach(var customer in customers) { // Run some process that takes some time... DateTime lastContact = theStore.GetLastContact(customer); TimeSpan timeSinceContact = DateTime.Now - lastContact; // If it's been more than two weeks, send an email, and update... if (timeSinceContact.Days > 14) { theStore.EmailCustomer(customer); customer.LastEmailContact = DateTime.Now; } } Here, we’re doing a fair amount of work for each customer in our collection, but we don’t know how many customers exist.  If we assume that theStore.GetLastContact(customer) and theStore.EmailCustomer(customer) are both side-effect free, thread safe operations, we could parallelize this using Parallel.ForEach: Parallel.ForEach(customers, customer => { // Run some process that takes some time... DateTime lastContact = theStore.GetLastContact(customer); TimeSpan timeSinceContact = DateTime.Now - lastContact; // If it's been more than two weeks, send an email, and update... if (timeSinceContact.Days > 14) { theStore.EmailCustomer(customer); customer.LastEmailContact = DateTime.Now; } }); Just like Parallel.For, we rework our loop into a method call accepting a delegate created via a lambda expression.  This keeps our new code very similar to our original iteration statement, however, this will now execute in parallel.  The same guidelines apply with Parallel.ForEach as with Parallel.For. The other iteration statements, do and while, do not have direct equivalents in the Task Parallel Library.  These, however, are very easy to implement using Parallel.ForEach and the yield keyword. Most applications can benefit from implementing some form of Data Parallelism.  Iterating through collections and performing “work” is a very common pattern in nearly every application.  When the problem can be decomposed by data, we often can parallelize the workload by merely changing foreach statements to Parallel.ForEach method calls, and for loops to Parallel.For method calls.  Any time your program operates on a collection, and does a set of work on each item in the collection where that work is not dependent on other information, you very likely have an opportunity to parallelize your routine.

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• Entity Association Mapping with Code First Part 1 : Mapping Complex Types

  - by mortezam

  Last week the CTP5 build of the new Entity Framework Code First has been released by data team at Microsoft. Entity Framework Code-First provides a pretty powerful code-centric way to work with the databases. When it comes to associations, it brings ultimate flexibility. I’m a big fan of the EF Code First approach and am planning to explain association mapping with code first in a series of blog posts and this one is dedicated to Complex Types. If you are new to Code First approach, you can find a great walkthrough here. In order to build a solid foundation for our discussion, we will start by learning about some of the core concepts around the relationship mapping.   What is Mapping?Mapping is the act of determining how objects and their relationships are persisted in permanent data storage, in our case, relational databases. What is Relationship mapping?A mapping that describes how to persist a relationship (association, aggregation, or composition) between two or more objects. Types of RelationshipsThere are two categories of object relationships that we need to be concerned with when mapping associations. The first category is based on multiplicity and it includes three types: One-to-one relationships: This is a relationship where the maximums of each of its multiplicities is one. One-to-many relationships: Also known as a many-to-one relationship, this occurs when the maximum of one multiplicity is one and the other is greater than one. Many-to-many relationships: This is a relationship where the maximum of both multiplicities is greater than one. The second category is based on directionality and it contains two types: Uni-directional relationships: when an object knows about the object(s) it is related to but the other object(s) do not know of the original object. To put this in EF terminology, when a navigation property exists only on one of the association ends and not on the both. Bi-directional relationships: When the objects on both end of the relationship know of each other (i.e. a navigation property defined on both ends). How Object Relationships Are Implemented in POCO domain models?When the multiplicity is one (e.g. 0..1 or 1) the relationship is implemented by defining a navigation property that reference the other object (e.g. an Address property on User class). When the multiplicity is many (e.g. 0..*, 1..*) the relationship is implemented via an ICollection of the type of other object. How Relational Database Relationships Are Implemented? Relationships in relational databases are maintained through the use of Foreign Keys. A foreign key is a data attribute(s) that appears in one table and must be the primary key or other candidate key in another table. With a one-to-one relationship the foreign key needs to be implemented by one of the tables. To implement a one-to-many relationship we implement a foreign key from the “one table” to the “many table”. We could also choose to implement a one-to-many relationship via an associative table (aka Join table), effectively making it a many-to-many relationship. Introducing the ModelNow, let's review the model that we are going to use in order to implement Complex Type with Code First. It's a simple object model which consist of two classes: User and Address. Each user could have one billing address. The Address information of a User is modeled as a separate class as you can see in the UML model below: In object-modeling terms, this association is a kind of aggregation—a part-of relationship. Aggregation is a strong form of association; it has some additional semantics with regard to the lifecycle of objects. In this case, we have an even stronger form, composition, where the lifecycle of the part is fully dependent upon the lifecycle of the whole. Fine-grained domain models The motivation behind this design was to achieve Fine-grained domain models. In crude terms, fine-grained means “more classes than tables”. For example, a user may have both a billing address and a home address. In the database, you may have a single User table with the columns BillingStreet, BillingCity, and BillingPostalCode along with HomeStreet, HomeCity, and HomePostalCode. There are good reasons to use this somewhat denormalized relational model (performance, for one). In our object model, we can use the same approach, representing the two addresses as six string-valued properties of the User class. But it’s much better to model this using an Address class, where User has the BillingAddress and HomeAddress properties. This object model achieves improved cohesion and greater code reuse and is more understandable. Complex Types: Splitting a Table Across Multiple Types Back to our model, there is no difference between this composition and other weaker styles of association when it comes to the actual C# implementation. But in the context of ORM, there is a big difference: A composed class is often a candidate Complex Type. But C# has no concept of composition—a class or property can’t be marked as a composition. The only difference is the object identifier: a complex type has no individual identity (i.e. no AddressId defined on Address class) which make sense because when it comes to the database everything is going to be saved into one single table. How to implement a Complex Types with Code First Code First has a concept of Complex Type Discovery that works based on a set of Conventions. The convention is that if Code First discovers a class where a primary key cannot be inferred, and no primary key is registered through Data Annotations or the fluent API, then the type will be automatically registered as a complex type. Complex type detection also requires that the type does not have properties that reference entity types (i.e. all the properties must be scalar types) and is not referenced from a collection property on another type. Here is the implementation: public class User{    public int UserId { get; set; }    public string FirstName { get; set; }    public string LastName { get; set; }    public string Username { get; set; }    public Address Address { get; set; }} public class Address {     public string Street { get; set; }     public string City { get; set; }            public string PostalCode { get; set; }        }public class EntityMappingContext : DbContext {     public DbSet<User> Users { get; set; }        } With code first, this is all of the code we need to write to create a complex type, we do not need to configure any additional database schema mapping information through Data Annotations or the fluent API. Database SchemaThe mapping result for this object model is as follows: Limitations of this mappingThere are two important limitations to classes mapped as Complex Types: Shared references is not possible: The Address Complex Type doesn’t have its own database identity (primary key) and so can’t be referred to by any object other than the containing instance of User (e.g. a Shipping class that also needs to reference the same User Address). No elegant way to represent a null reference There is no elegant way to represent a null reference to an Address. When reading from database, EF Code First always initialize Address object even if values in all mapped columns of the complex type are null. This means that if you store a complex type object with all null property values, EF Code First returns a initialized complex type when the owning entity object is retrieved from the database. SummaryIn this post we learned about fine-grained domain models which complex type is just one example of it. Fine-grained is fully supported by EF Code First and is known as the most important requirement for a rich domain model. Complex type is usually the simplest way to represent one-to-one relationships and because the lifecycle is almost always dependent in such a case, it’s either an aggregation or a composition in UML. In the next posts we will revisit the same domain model and will learn about other ways to map a one-to-one association that does not have the limitations of the complex types. References ADO.NET team blog Mapping Objects to Relational Databases Java Persistence with Hibernate

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• What You Need to Know About Windows 8.1

  - by Chris Hoffman

  Windows 8.1 is available to everyone starting today, October 19. The latest version of Windows improves on Windows 8 in every way. It’s a big upgrade, whether you use the desktop or new touch-optimized interface. The latest version of Windows has been dubbed “an apology” by some — it’s definitely more at home on a desktop PC than Windows 8 was. However, it also offers a more fleshed out and mature tablet experience. How to Get Windows 8.1 For Windows 8 users, Windows 8.1 is completely free. It will be available as a download from the Windows Store — that’s the “Store” app in the Modern, tiled interface. Assuming upgrading to the final version will be just like upgrading to the preview version, you’ll likely see a “Get Windows 8.1″ pop-up that will take you to the Windows Store and guide you through the download process. You’ll also be able to download ISO images of Windows 8.1, so can perform a clean install to upgrade. On any new computer, you can just install Windows 8.1 without going through Windows 8. New computers will start to ship with Windows 8.1 and boxed copies of Windows 8 will be replaced by boxed copies of Windows 8.1. If you’re using Windows 7 or a previous version of Windows, the update won’t be free. Getting Windows 8.1 will cost you the same amount as a full copy of Windows 8 — $120 for the standard version. If you’re an average Windows 7 user, you’re likely better off waiting until you buy a new PC with Windows 8.1 included rather than spend this amount of money to upgrade. Improvements for Desktop Users Some have dubbed Windows 8.1 “an apology” from Microsoft, although you certainly won’t see Microsoft referring to it this way. Either way, Steven Sinofsky, who presided over Windows 8′s development, left the company shortly after Windows 8 was released. Coincidentally, Windows 8.1 contains many features that Steven Sinofsky and Microsoft refused to implement. Windows 8.1 offers the following big improvements for desktop users: Boot to Desktop: You can now log in directly to the desktop, skipping the tiled interface entirely. Disable Top-Left and Top-Right Hot Corners: The app switcher and charms bar won’t appear when you move your mouse to the top-left or top-right corners of the screen if you enable this option. No more intrusions into the desktop. The Start Button Returns: Windows 8.1 brings back an always-present Start button on the desktop taskbar, dramatically improving discoverability for new Windows 8 users and providing a bigger mouse target for remote desktops and virtual machines. Crucially, the Start menu isn’t back — clicking this button will open the full-screen Modern interface. Start menu replacements will continue to function on Windows 8.1, offering more traditional Start menus. Show All Apps By Default: Luckily, you can hide the Start screen and its tiles almost entirely. Windows 8.1 can be configured to show a full-screen list of all your installed apps when you click the Start button, with desktop apps prioritized. The only real difference is that the Start menu is now a full-screen interface. Shut Down or Restart From Start Button: You can now right-click the Start button to access Shut down, Restart, and other power options in just as many clicks as you could on Windows 7. Shared Start Screen and Desktop Backgrounds; Windows 8 limited you to just a few Steven Sinofsky-approved background images for your Start screen, but Windows 8.1 allows you to use your desktop background on the Start screen. This can make the transition between the Start screen and desktop much less jarring. The tiles or shortcuts appear to be floating above the desktop rather than off in their own separate universe. Unified Search: Unified search is back, so you can start typing and search your programs, settings, and files all at once — no more awkwardly clicking between different categories when trying to open a Control Panel screen or search for a file. These all add up to a big improvement when using Windows 8.1 on the desktop. Microsoft is being much more flexible — the Start menu is full screen, but Microsoft has relented on so many other things and you’d never have to see a tile if you didn’t want to. For more information, read our guide to optimizing Windows 8.1 for a desktop PC. These are just the improvements specifically for desktop users. Windows 8.1 includes other useful features for everyone, such as deep SkyDrive integration that allows you to store your files in the cloud without installing any additional sync programs. Improvements for Touch Users If you have a Windows 8 or Windows RT tablet or another touch-based device you use the interface formerly known as Metro on, you’ll see many other noticeable improvements. Windows 8′s new interface was half-baked when it launched, but it’s now much more capable and mature. App Updates: Windows 8′s included apps were extremely limited in many cases. For example, Internet Explorer 10 could only display ten tabs at a time and the Mail app was a barren experience devoid of features. In Windows 8.1, some apps — like Xbox Music — have been redesigned from scratch, Internet Explorer allows you to display a tab bar on-screen all the time, while apps like Mail have accumulated quite a few useful features. The Windows Store app has been entirely redesigned and is less awkward to browse. Snap Improvements: Windows 8′s Snap feature was a toy, allowing you to snap one app to a small sidebar at one side of your screen while another app consumed most of your screen. Windows 8.1 allows you to snap two apps side-by-side, seeing each app’s full interface at once. On larger displays, you can even snap three or four apps at once. Windows 8′s ability to use multiple apps at once on a tablet is compelling and unmatched by iPads and Android tablets. You can also snap two of the same apps side-by-side — to view two web pages at once, for example. More Comprehensive PC Settings: Windows 8.1 offers a more comprehensive PC settings app, allowing you to change most system settings in a touch-optimized interface. You shouldn’t have to use the desktop Control Panel on a tablet anymore — or at least not as often. Touch-Optimized File Browsing: Microsoft’s SkyDrive app allows you to browse files on your local PC, finally offering a built-in, touch-optimized way to manage files without using the desktop. Help & Tips: Windows 8.1 includes a Help+Tips app that will help guide new users through its new interface, something Microsoft stubbornly refused to add during development. There’s still no “Modern” version of Microsoft Office apps (aside from OneNote), so you’ll still have to head to use desktop Office apps on tablets. It’s not perfect, but the Modern interface doesn’t feel anywhere near as immature anymore. Read our in-depth look at the ways Microsoft’s Modern interface, formerly known as Metro, is improved in Windows 8.1 for more information. In summary, Windows 8.1 is what Windows 8 should have been. All of these improvements are on top of the many great desktop features, security improvements, and all-around battery life and performance optimizations that appeared in Windows 8. If you’re still using Windows 7 and are happy with it, there’s probably no reason to race out and buy a copy of Windows 8.1 at the rather high price of $120. But, if you’re using Windows 8, it’s a big upgrade no matter what you’re doing. If you buy a new PC and it comes with Windows 8.1, you’re getting a much more flexible and comfortable experience. If you’re holding off on buying a new computer because you don’t want Windows 8, give Windows 8.1 a try — yes, it’s different, but Microsoft has compromised on the desktop while making a lot of improvements to the new interface. You just might find that Windows 8.1 is now a worthwhile upgrade, even if you only want to use the desktop.     

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