Search Results

Search found 812 results on 33 pages for 'dark elf2'.

Page 33/33 | < Previous Page | 29 30 31 32 33 

• Metro: Creating an IndexedDbDataSource for WinJS

  - by Stephen.Walther

  The goal of this blog entry is to describe how you can create custom data sources which you can use with the controls in the WinJS library. In particular, I explain how you can create an IndexedDbDataSource which you can use to store and retrieve data from an IndexedDB database. If you want to skip ahead, and ignore all of the fascinating content in-between, I’ve included the complete code for the IndexedDbDataSource at the very bottom of this blog entry. What is IndexedDB? IndexedDB is a database in the browser. You can use the IndexedDB API with all modern browsers including Firefox, Chrome, and Internet Explorer 10. And, of course, you can use IndexedDB with Metro style apps written with JavaScript. If you need to persist data in a Metro style app written with JavaScript then IndexedDB is a good option. Each Metro app can only interact with its own IndexedDB databases. And, IndexedDB provides you with transactions, indices, and cursors – the elements of any modern database. An IndexedDB database might be different than the type of database that you normally use. An IndexedDB database is an object-oriented database and not a relational database. Instead of storing data in tables, you store data in object stores. You store JavaScript objects in an IndexedDB object store. You create new IndexedDB object stores by handling the upgradeneeded event when you attempt to open a connection to an IndexedDB database. For example, here’s how you would both open a connection to an existing database named TasksDB and create the TasksDB database when it does not already exist: var reqOpen = window.indexedDB.open(“TasksDB”, 2); reqOpen.onupgradeneeded = function (evt) { var newDB = evt.target.result; newDB.createObjectStore("tasks", { keyPath: "id", autoIncrement: true }); }; reqOpen.onsuccess = function () { var db = reqOpen.result; // Do something with db }; When you call window.indexedDB.open(), and the database does not already exist, then the upgradeneeded event is raised. In the code above, the upgradeneeded handler creates a new object store named tasks. The new object store has an auto-increment column named id which acts as the primary key column. If the database already exists with the right version, and you call window.indexedDB.open(), then the success event is raised. At that point, you have an open connection to the existing database and you can start doing something with the database. You use asynchronous methods to interact with an IndexedDB database. For example, the following code illustrates how you would add a new object to the tasks object store: var transaction = db.transaction(“tasks”, “readwrite”); var reqAdd = transaction.objectStore(“tasks”).add({ name: “Feed the dog” }); reqAdd.onsuccess = function() { // Tasks added successfully }; The code above creates a new database transaction, adds a new task to the tasks object store, and handles the success event. If the new task gets added successfully then the success event is raised. Creating a WinJS IndexedDbDataSource The most powerful control in the WinJS library is the ListView control. This is the control that you use to display a collection of items. If you want to display data with a ListView control, you need to bind the control to a data source. The WinJS library includes two objects which you can use as a data source: the List object and the StorageDataSource object. The List object enables you to represent a JavaScript array as a data source and the StorageDataSource enables you to represent the file system as a data source. If you want to bind an IndexedDB database to a ListView then you have a choice. You can either dump the items from the IndexedDB database into a List object or you can create a custom data source. I explored the first approach in a previous blog entry. In this blog entry, I explain how you can create a custom IndexedDB data source. Implementing the IListDataSource Interface You create a custom data source by implementing the IListDataSource interface. This interface contains the contract for the methods which the ListView needs to interact with a data source. The easiest way to implement the IListDataSource interface is to derive a new object from the base VirtualizedDataSource object. The VirtualizedDataSource object requires a data adapter which implements the IListDataAdapter interface. Yes, because of the number of objects involved, this is a little confusing. Your code ends up looking something like this: var IndexedDbDataSource = WinJS.Class.derive( WinJS.UI.VirtualizedDataSource, function (dbName, dbVersion, objectStoreName, upgrade, error) { this._adapter = new IndexedDbDataAdapter(dbName, dbVersion, objectStoreName, upgrade, error); this._baseDataSourceConstructor(this._adapter); }, { nuke: function () { this._adapter.nuke(); }, remove: function (key) { this._adapter.removeInternal(key); } } ); The code above is used to create a new class named IndexedDbDataSource which derives from the base VirtualizedDataSource class. In the constructor for the new class, the base class _baseDataSourceConstructor() method is called. A data adapter is passed to the _baseDataSourceConstructor() method. The code above creates a new method exposed by the IndexedDbDataSource named nuke(). The nuke() method deletes all of the objects from an object store. The code above also overrides a method named remove(). Our derived remove() method accepts any type of key and removes the matching item from the object store. Almost all of the work of creating a custom data source goes into building the data adapter class. The data adapter class implements the IListDataAdapter interface which contains the following methods: · change() · getCount() · insertAfter() · insertAtEnd() · insertAtStart() · insertBefore() · itemsFromDescription() · itemsFromEnd() · itemsFromIndex() · itemsFromKey() · itemsFromStart() · itemSignature() · moveAfter() · moveBefore() · moveToEnd() · moveToStart() · remove() · setNotificationHandler() · compareByIdentity Fortunately, you are not required to implement all of these methods. You only need to implement the methods that you actually need. In the case of the IndexedDbDataSource, I implemented the getCount(), itemsFromIndex(), insertAtEnd(), and remove() methods. If you are creating a read-only data source then you really only need to implement the getCount() and itemsFromIndex() methods. Implementing the getCount() Method The getCount() method returns the total number of items from the data source. So, if you are storing 10,000 items in an object store then this method would return the value 10,000. Here’s how I implemented the getCount() method: getCount: function () { var that = this; return new WinJS.Promise(function (complete, error) { that._getObjectStore().then(function (store) { var reqCount = store.count(); reqCount.onerror = that._error; reqCount.onsuccess = function (evt) { complete(evt.target.result); }; }); }); } The first thing that you should notice is that the getCount() method returns a WinJS promise. This is a requirement. The getCount() method is asynchronous which is a good thing because all of the IndexedDB methods (at least the methods implemented in current browsers) are also asynchronous. The code above retrieves an object store and then uses the IndexedDB count() method to get a count of the items in the object store. The value is returned from the promise by calling complete(). Implementing the itemsFromIndex method When a ListView displays its items, it calls the itemsFromIndex() method. By default, it calls this method multiple times to get different ranges of items. Three parameters are passed to the itemsFromIndex() method: the requestIndex, countBefore, and countAfter parameters. The requestIndex indicates the index of the item from the database to show. The countBefore and countAfter parameters represent hints. These are integer values which represent the number of items before and after the requestIndex to retrieve. Again, these are only hints and you can return as many items before and after the request index as you please. Here’s how I implemented the itemsFromIndex method: itemsFromIndex: function (requestIndex, countBefore, countAfter) { var that = this; return new WinJS.Promise(function (complete, error) { that.getCount().then(function (count) { if (requestIndex >= count) { return WinJS.Promise.wrapError(new WinJS.ErrorFromName(WinJS.UI.FetchError.doesNotExist)); } var startIndex = Math.max(0, requestIndex - countBefore); var endIndex = Math.min(count, requestIndex + countAfter + 1); that._getObjectStore().then(function (store) { var index = 0; var items = []; var req = store.openCursor(); req.onerror = that._error; req.onsuccess = function (evt) { var cursor = evt.target.result; if (index < startIndex) { index = startIndex; cursor.advance(startIndex); return; } if (cursor && index < endIndex) { index++; items.push({ key: cursor.value[store.keyPath].toString(), data: cursor.value }); cursor.continue(); return; } results = { items: items, offset: requestIndex - startIndex, totalCount: count }; complete(results); }; }); }); }); } In the code above, a cursor is used to iterate through the objects in an object store. You fetch the next item in the cursor by calling either the cursor.continue() or cursor.advance() method. The continue() method moves forward by one object and the advance() method moves forward a specified number of objects. Each time you call continue() or advance(), the success event is raised again. If the cursor is null then you know that you have reached the end of the cursor and you can return the results. Some things to be careful about here. First, the return value from the itemsFromIndex() method must implement the IFetchResult interface. In particular, you must return an object which has an items, offset, and totalCount property. Second, each item in the items array must implement the IListItem interface. Each item should have a key and a data property. Implementing the insertAtEnd() Method When creating the IndexedDbDataSource, I wanted to go beyond creating a simple read-only data source and support inserting and deleting objects. If you want to support adding new items with your data source then you need to implement the insertAtEnd() method. Here’s how I implemented the insertAtEnd() method for the IndexedDbDataSource: insertAtEnd:function(unused, data) { var that = this; return new WinJS.Promise(function (complete, error) { that._getObjectStore("readwrite").done(function(store) { var reqAdd = store.add(data); reqAdd.onerror = that._error; reqAdd.onsuccess = function (evt) { var reqGet = store.get(evt.target.result); reqGet.onerror = that._error; reqGet.onsuccess = function (evt) { var newItem = { key:evt.target.result[store.keyPath].toString(), data:evt.target.result } complete(newItem); }; }; }); }); } When implementing the insertAtEnd() method, you need to be careful to return an object which implements the IItem interface. In particular, you should return an object that has a key and a data property. The key must be a string and it uniquely represents the new item added to the data source. The value of the data property represents the new item itself. Implementing the remove() Method Finally, you use the remove() method to remove an item from the data source. You call the remove() method with the key of the item which you want to remove. Implementing the remove() method in the case of the IndexedDbDataSource was a little tricky. The problem is that an IndexedDB object store uses an integer key and the VirtualizedDataSource requires a string key. For that reason, I needed to override the remove() method in the derived IndexedDbDataSource class like this: var IndexedDbDataSource = WinJS.Class.derive( WinJS.UI.VirtualizedDataSource, function (dbName, dbVersion, objectStoreName, upgrade, error) { this._adapter = new IndexedDbDataAdapter(dbName, dbVersion, objectStoreName, upgrade, error); this._baseDataSourceConstructor(this._adapter); }, { nuke: function () { this._adapter.nuke(); }, remove: function (key) { this._adapter.removeInternal(key); } } ); When you call remove(), you end up calling a method of the IndexedDbDataAdapter named removeInternal() . Here’s what the removeInternal() method looks like: setNotificationHandler: function (notificationHandler) { this._notificationHandler = notificationHandler; }, removeInternal: function(key) { var that = this; return new WinJS.Promise(function (complete, error) { that._getObjectStore("readwrite").done(function (store) { var reqDelete = store.delete (key); reqDelete.onerror = that._error; reqDelete.onsuccess = function (evt) { that._notificationHandler.removed(key.toString()); complete(); }; }); }); } The removeInternal() method calls the IndexedDB delete() method to delete an item from the object store. If the item is deleted successfully then the _notificationHandler.remove() method is called. Because we are not implementing the standard IListDataAdapter remove() method, we need to notify the data source (and the ListView control bound to the data source) that an item has been removed. The way that you notify the data source is by calling the _notificationHandler.remove() method. Notice that we get the _notificationHandler in the code above by implementing another method in the IListDataAdapter interface: the setNotificationHandler() method. You can raise the following types of notifications using the _notificationHandler: · beginNotifications() · changed() · endNotifications() · inserted() · invalidateAll() · moved() · removed() · reload() These methods are all part of the IListDataNotificationHandler interface in the WinJS library. Implementing the nuke() Method I wanted to implement a method which would remove all of the items from an object store. Therefore, I created a method named nuke() which calls the IndexedDB clear() method: nuke: function () { var that = this; return new WinJS.Promise(function (complete, error) { that._getObjectStore("readwrite").done(function (store) { var reqClear = store.clear(); reqClear.onerror = that._error; reqClear.onsuccess = function (evt) { that._notificationHandler.reload(); complete(); }; }); }); } Notice that the nuke() method calls the _notificationHandler.reload() method to notify the ListView to reload all of the items from its data source. Because we are implementing a custom method here, we need to use the _notificationHandler to send an update. Using the IndexedDbDataSource To illustrate how you can use the IndexedDbDataSource, I created a simple task list app. You can add new tasks, delete existing tasks, and nuke all of the tasks. You delete an item by selecting an item (swipe or right-click) and clicking the Delete button. Here’s the HTML page which contains the ListView, the form for adding new tasks, and the buttons for deleting and nuking tasks: <!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <meta charset="utf-8" /> <title>DataSources</title> <!-- WinJS references --> <link href="//Microsoft.WinJS.1.0.RC/css/ui-dark.css" rel="stylesheet" /> <script src="//Microsoft.WinJS.1.0.RC/js/base.js"></script> <script src="//Microsoft.WinJS.1.0.RC/js/ui.js"></script> <!-- DataSources references --> <link href="indexedDb.css" rel="stylesheet" /> <script type="text/javascript" src="indexedDbDataSource.js"></script> <script src="indexedDb.js"></script> </head> <body> <div id="tmplTask" data-win-control="WinJS.Binding.Template"> <div class="taskItem"> Id: <span data-win-bind="innerText:id"></span> <br /><br /> Name: <span data-win-bind="innerText:name"></span> </div> </div> <div id="lvTasks" data-win-control="WinJS.UI.ListView" data-win-options="{ itemTemplate: select('#tmplTask'), selectionMode: 'single' }"></div> <form id="frmAdd"> <fieldset> <legend>Add Task</legend> <label>New Task</label> <input id="inputTaskName" required /> <button>Add</button> </fieldset> </form> <button id="btnNuke">Nuke</button> <button id="btnDelete">Delete</button> </body> </html> And here is the JavaScript code for the TaskList app: /// <reference path="//Microsoft.WinJS.1.0.RC/js/base.js" /> /// <reference path="//Microsoft.WinJS.1.0.RC/js/ui.js" /> function init() { WinJS.UI.processAll().done(function () { var lvTasks = document.getElementById("lvTasks").winControl; // Bind the ListView to its data source var tasksDataSource = new DataSources.IndexedDbDataSource("TasksDB", 1, "tasks", upgrade); lvTasks.itemDataSource = tasksDataSource; // Wire-up Add, Delete, Nuke buttons document.getElementById("frmAdd").addEventListener("submit", function (evt) { evt.preventDefault(); tasksDataSource.beginEdits(); tasksDataSource.insertAtEnd(null, { name: document.getElementById("inputTaskName").value }).done(function (newItem) { tasksDataSource.endEdits(); document.getElementById("frmAdd").reset(); lvTasks.ensureVisible(newItem.index); }); }); document.getElementById("btnDelete").addEventListener("click", function () { if (lvTasks.selection.count() == 1) { lvTasks.selection.getItems().done(function (items) { tasksDataSource.remove(items[0].data.id); }); } }); document.getElementById("btnNuke").addEventListener("click", function () { tasksDataSource.nuke(); }); // This method is called to initialize the IndexedDb database function upgrade(evt) { var newDB = evt.target.result; newDB.createObjectStore("tasks", { keyPath: "id", autoIncrement: true }); } }); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", init); The IndexedDbDataSource is created and bound to the ListView control with the following two lines of code: var tasksDataSource = new DataSources.IndexedDbDataSource("TasksDB", 1, "tasks", upgrade); lvTasks.itemDataSource = tasksDataSource; The IndexedDbDataSource is created with four parameters: the name of the database to create, the version of the database to create, the name of the object store to create, and a function which contains code to initialize the new database. The upgrade function creates a new object store named tasks with an auto-increment property named id: function upgrade(evt) { var newDB = evt.target.result; newDB.createObjectStore("tasks", { keyPath: "id", autoIncrement: true }); } The Complete Code for the IndexedDbDataSource Here’s the complete code for the IndexedDbDataSource: (function () { /************************************************ * The IndexedDBDataAdapter enables you to work * with a HTML5 IndexedDB database. *************************************************/ var IndexedDbDataAdapter = WinJS.Class.define( function (dbName, dbVersion, objectStoreName, upgrade, error) { this._dbName = dbName; // database name this._dbVersion = dbVersion; // database version this._objectStoreName = objectStoreName; // object store name this._upgrade = upgrade; // database upgrade script this._error = error || function (evt) { console.log(evt.message); }; }, { /******************************************* * IListDataAdapter Interface Methods ********************************************/ getCount: function () { var that = this; return new WinJS.Promise(function (complete, error) { that._getObjectStore().then(function (store) { var reqCount = store.count(); reqCount.onerror = that._error; reqCount.onsuccess = function (evt) { complete(evt.target.result); }; }); }); }, itemsFromIndex: function (requestIndex, countBefore, countAfter) { var that = this; return new WinJS.Promise(function (complete, error) { that.getCount().then(function (count) { if (requestIndex >= count) { return WinJS.Promise.wrapError(new WinJS.ErrorFromName(WinJS.UI.FetchError.doesNotExist)); } var startIndex = Math.max(0, requestIndex - countBefore); var endIndex = Math.min(count, requestIndex + countAfter + 1); that._getObjectStore().then(function (store) { var index = 0; var items = []; var req = store.openCursor(); req.onerror = that._error; req.onsuccess = function (evt) { var cursor = evt.target.result; if (index < startIndex) { index = startIndex; cursor.advance(startIndex); return; } if (cursor && index < endIndex) { index++; items.push({ key: cursor.value[store.keyPath].toString(), data: cursor.value }); cursor.continue(); return; } results = { items: items, offset: requestIndex - startIndex, totalCount: count }; complete(results); }; }); }); }); }, insertAtEnd:function(unused, data) { var that = this; return new WinJS.Promise(function (complete, error) { that._getObjectStore("readwrite").done(function(store) { var reqAdd = store.add(data); reqAdd.onerror = that._error; reqAdd.onsuccess = function (evt) { var reqGet = store.get(evt.target.result); reqGet.onerror = that._error; reqGet.onsuccess = function (evt) { var newItem = { key:evt.target.result[store.keyPath].toString(), data:evt.target.result } complete(newItem); }; }; }); }); }, setNotificationHandler: function (notificationHandler) { this._notificationHandler = notificationHandler; }, /***************************************** * IndexedDbDataSource Method ******************************************/ removeInternal: function(key) { var that = this; return new WinJS.Promise(function (complete, error) { that._getObjectStore("readwrite").done(function (store) { var reqDelete = store.delete (key); reqDelete.onerror = that._error; reqDelete.onsuccess = function (evt) { that._notificationHandler.removed(key.toString()); complete(); }; }); }); }, nuke: function () { var that = this; return new WinJS.Promise(function (complete, error) { that._getObjectStore("readwrite").done(function (store) { var reqClear = store.clear(); reqClear.onerror = that._error; reqClear.onsuccess = function (evt) { that._notificationHandler.reload(); complete(); }; }); }); }, /******************************************* * Private Methods ********************************************/ _ensureDbOpen: function () { var that = this; // Try to get cached Db if (that._cachedDb) { return WinJS.Promise.wrap(that._cachedDb); } // Otherwise, open the database return new WinJS.Promise(function (complete, error, progress) { var reqOpen = window.indexedDB.open(that._dbName, that._dbVersion); reqOpen.onerror = function (evt) { error(); }; reqOpen.onupgradeneeded = function (evt) { that._upgrade(evt); that._notificationHandler.invalidateAll(); }; reqOpen.onsuccess = function () { that._cachedDb = reqOpen.result; complete(that._cachedDb); }; }); }, _getObjectStore: function (type) { type = type || "readonly"; var that = this; return new WinJS.Promise(function (complete, error) { that._ensureDbOpen().then(function (db) { var transaction = db.transaction(that._objectStoreName, type); complete(transaction.objectStore(that._objectStoreName)); }); }); }, _get: function (key) { return new WinJS.Promise(function (complete, error) { that._getObjectStore().done(function (store) { var reqGet = store.get(key); reqGet.onerror = that._error; reqGet.onsuccess = function (item) { complete(item); }; }); }); } } ); var IndexedDbDataSource = WinJS.Class.derive( WinJS.UI.VirtualizedDataSource, function (dbName, dbVersion, objectStoreName, upgrade, error) { this._adapter = new IndexedDbDataAdapter(dbName, dbVersion, objectStoreName, upgrade, error); this._baseDataSourceConstructor(this._adapter); }, { nuke: function () { this._adapter.nuke(); }, remove: function (key) { this._adapter.removeInternal(key); } } ); WinJS.Namespace.define("DataSources", { IndexedDbDataSource: IndexedDbDataSource }); })(); Summary In this blog post, I provided an overview of how you can create a new data source which you can use with the WinJS library. I described how you can create an IndexedDbDataSource which you can use to bind a ListView control to an IndexedDB database. While describing how you can create a custom data source, I explained how you can implement the IListDataAdapter interface. You also learned how to raise notifications — such as a removed or invalidateAll notification — by taking advantage of the methods of the IListDataNotificationHandler interface.

  Read the article

• Using R to Analyze G1GC Log Files

  - by user12620111

  Using R to Analyze G1GC Log Files body, td { font-family: sans-serif; background-color: white; font-size: 12px; margin: 8px; } tt, code, pre { font-family: 'DejaVu Sans Mono', 'Droid Sans Mono', 'Lucida Console', Consolas, Monaco, monospace; } h1 { font-size:2.2em; } h2 { font-size:1.8em; } h3 { font-size:1.4em; } h4 { font-size:1.0em; } h5 { font-size:0.9em; } h6 { font-size:0.8em; } a:visited { color: rgb(50%, 0%, 50%); } pre { margin-top: 0; max-width: 95%; border: 1px solid #ccc; white-space: pre-wrap; } pre code { display: block; padding: 0.5em; } code.r, code.cpp { background-color: #F8F8F8; } table, td, th { border: none; } blockquote { color:#666666; margin:0; padding-left: 1em; border-left: 0.5em #EEE solid; } hr { height: 0px; border-bottom: none; border-top-width: thin; border-top-style: dotted; border-top-color: #999999; } @media print { * { background: transparent !important; color: black !important; filter:none !important; -ms-filter: none !important; } body { font-size:12pt; max-width:100%; } a, a:visited { text-decoration: underline; } hr { visibility: hidden; page-break-before: always; } pre, blockquote { padding-right: 1em; page-break-inside: avoid; } tr, img { page-break-inside: avoid; } img { max-width: 100% !important; } @page :left { margin: 15mm 20mm 15mm 10mm; } @page :right { margin: 15mm 10mm 15mm 20mm; } p, h2, h3 { orphans: 3; widows: 3; } h2, h3 { page-break-after: avoid; } } pre .operator, pre .paren { color: rgb(104, 118, 135) } pre .literal { color: rgb(88, 72, 246) } pre .number { color: rgb(0, 0, 205); } pre .comment { color: rgb(76, 136, 107); } pre .keyword { color: rgb(0, 0, 255); } pre .identifier { color: rgb(0, 0, 0); } pre .string { color: rgb(3, 106, 7); } var hljs=new function(){function m(p){return p.replace(/&/gm,"&").replace(/"}while(y.length||w.length){var v=u().splice(0,1)[0];z+=m(x.substr(q,v.offset-q));q=v.offset;if(v.event=="start"){z+=t(v.node);s.push(v.node)}else{if(v.event=="stop"){var p,r=s.length;do{r--;p=s[r];z+=("")}while(p!=v.node);s.splice(r,1);while(r'+M[0]+""}else{r+=M[0]}O=P.lR.lastIndex;M=P.lR.exec(L)}return r+L.substr(O,L.length-O)}function J(L,M){if(M.sL&&e[M.sL]){var r=d(M.sL,L);x+=r.keyword_count;return r.value}else{return F(L,M)}}function I(M,r){var L=M.cN?'':"";if(M.rB){y+=L;M.buffer=""}else{if(M.eB){y+=m(r)+L;M.buffer=""}else{y+=L;M.buffer=r}}D.push(M);A+=M.r}function G(N,M,Q){var R=D[D.length-1];if(Q){y+=J(R.buffer+N,R);return false}var P=q(M,R);if(P){y+=J(R.buffer+N,R);I(P,M);return P.rB}var L=v(D.length-1,M);if(L){var O=R.cN?"":"";if(R.rE){y+=J(R.buffer+N,R)+O}else{if(R.eE){y+=J(R.buffer+N,R)+O+m(M)}else{y+=J(R.buffer+N+M,R)+O}}while(L1){O=D[D.length-2].cN?"":"";y+=O;L--;D.length--}var r=D[D.length-1];D.length--;D[D.length-1].buffer="";if(r.starts){I(r.starts,"")}return R.rE}if(w(M,R)){throw"Illegal"}}var E=e[B];var D=[E.dM];var A=0;var x=0;var y="";try{var s,u=0;E.dM.buffer="";do{s=p(C,u);var t=G(s[0],s[1],s[2]);u+=s[0].length;if(!t){u+=s[1].length}}while(!s[2]);if(D.length1){throw"Illegal"}return{r:A,keyword_count:x,value:y}}catch(H){if(H=="Illegal"){return{r:0,keyword_count:0,value:m(C)}}else{throw H}}}function g(t){var p={keyword_count:0,r:0,value:m(t)};var r=p;for(var q in e){if(!e.hasOwnProperty(q)){continue}var s=d(q,t);s.language=q;if(s.keyword_count+s.rr.keyword_count+r.r){r=s}if(s.keyword_count+s.rp.keyword_count+p.r){r=p;p=s}}if(r.language){p.second_best=r}return p}function i(r,q,p){if(q){r=r.replace(/^((]+|\t)+)/gm,function(t,w,v,u){return w.replace(/\t/g,q)})}if(p){r=r.replace(/\n/g,"")}return r}function n(t,w,r){var x=h(t,r);var v=a(t);var y,s;if(v){y=d(v,x)}else{return}var q=c(t);if(q.length){s=document.createElement("pre");s.innerHTML=y.value;y.value=k(q,c(s),x)}y.value=i(y.value,w,r);var u=t.className;if(!u.match("(\\s|^)(language-)?"+v+"(\\s|$)")){u=u?(u+" "+v):v}if(/MSIE [678]/.test(navigator.userAgent)&&t.tagName=="CODE"&&t.parentNode.tagName=="PRE"){s=t.parentNode;var p=document.createElement("div");p.innerHTML=""+y.value+"";t=p.firstChild.firstChild;p.firstChild.cN=s.cN;s.parentNode.replaceChild(p.firstChild,s)}else{t.innerHTML=y.value}t.className=u;t.result={language:v,kw:y.keyword_count,re:y.r};if(y.second_best){t.second_best={language:y.second_best.language,kw:y.second_best.keyword_count,re:y.second_best.r}}}function o(){if(o.called){return}o.called=true;var r=document.getElementsByTagName("pre");for(var p=0;p|=||=||=|\\?|\\[|\\{|\\(|\\^|\\^=|\\||\\|=|\\|\\||~";this.ER="(?![\\s\\S])";this.BE={b:"\\\\.",r:0};this.ASM={cN:"string",b:"'",e:"'",i:"\\n",c:[this.BE],r:0};this.QSM={cN:"string",b:'"',e:'"',i:"\\n",c:[this.BE],r:0};this.CLCM={cN:"comment",b:"//",e:"$"};this.CBLCLM={cN:"comment",b:"/\\*",e:"\\*/"};this.HCM={cN:"comment",b:"#",e:"$"};this.NM={cN:"number",b:this.NR,r:0};this.CNM={cN:"number",b:this.CNR,r:0};this.BNM={cN:"number",b:this.BNR,r:0};this.inherit=function(r,s){var p={};for(var q in r){p[q]=r[q]}if(s){for(var q in s){p[q]=s[q]}}return p}}();hljs.LANGUAGES.cpp=function(){var a={keyword:{"false":1,"int":1,"float":1,"while":1,"private":1,"char":1,"catch":1,"export":1,virtual:1,operator:2,sizeof:2,dynamic_cast:2,typedef:2,const_cast:2,"const":1,struct:1,"for":1,static_cast:2,union:1,namespace:1,unsigned:1,"long":1,"throw":1,"volatile":2,"static":1,"protected":1,bool:1,template:1,mutable:1,"if":1,"public":1,friend:2,"do":1,"return":1,"goto":1,auto:1,"void":2,"enum":1,"else":1,"break":1,"new":1,extern:1,using:1,"true":1,"class":1,asm:1,"case":1,typeid:1,"short":1,reinterpret_cast:2,"default":1,"double":1,register:1,explicit:1,signed:1,typename:1,"try":1,"this":1,"switch":1,"continue":1,wchar_t:1,inline:1,"delete":1,alignof:1,char16_t:1,char32_t:1,constexpr:1,decltype:1,noexcept:1,nullptr:1,static_assert:1,thread_local:1,restrict:1,_Bool:1,complex:1},built_in:{std:1,string:1,cin:1,cout:1,cerr:1,clog:1,stringstream:1,istringstream:1,ostringstream:1,auto_ptr:1,deque:1,list:1,queue:1,stack:1,vector:1,map:1,set:1,bitset:1,multiset:1,multimap:1,unordered_set:1,unordered_map:1,unordered_multiset:1,unordered_multimap:1,array:1,shared_ptr:1}};return{dM:{k:a,i:"",k:a,r:10,c:["self"]}]}}}();hljs.LANGUAGES.r={dM:{c:[hljs.HCM,{cN:"number",b:"\\b0[xX][0-9a-fA-F]+[Li]?\\b",e:hljs.IMMEDIATE_RE,r:0},{cN:"number",b:"\\b\\d+(?:[eE][+\\-]?\\d*)?L\\b",e:hljs.IMMEDIATE_RE,r:0},{cN:"number",b:"\\b\\d+\\.(?!\\d)(?:i\\b)?",e:hljs.IMMEDIATE_RE,r:1},{cN:"number",b:"\\b\\d+(?:\\.\\d*)?(?:[eE][+\\-]?\\d*)?i?\\b",e:hljs.IMMEDIATE_RE,r:0},{cN:"number",b:"\\.\\d+(?:[eE][+\\-]?\\d*)?i?\\b",e:hljs.IMMEDIATE_RE,r:1},{cN:"keyword",b:"(?:tryCatch|library|setGeneric|setGroupGeneric)\\b",e:hljs.IMMEDIATE_RE,r:10},{cN:"keyword",b:"\\.\\.\\.",e:hljs.IMMEDIATE_RE,r:10},{cN:"keyword",b:"\\.\\.\\d+(?![\\w.])",e:hljs.IMMEDIATE_RE,r:10},{cN:"keyword",b:"\\b(?:function)",e:hljs.IMMEDIATE_RE,r:2},{cN:"keyword",b:"(?:if|in|break|next|repeat|else|for|return|switch|while|try|stop|warning|require|attach|detach|source|setMethod|setClass)\\b",e:hljs.IMMEDIATE_RE,r:1},{cN:"literal",b:"(?:NA|NA_integer_|NA_real_|NA_character_|NA_complex_)\\b",e:hljs.IMMEDIATE_RE,r:10},{cN:"literal",b:"(?:NULL|TRUE|FALSE|T|F|Inf|NaN)\\b",e:hljs.IMMEDIATE_RE,r:1},{cN:"identifier",b:"[a-zA-Z.][a-zA-Z0-9._]*\\b",e:hljs.IMMEDIATE_RE,r:0},{cN:"operator",b:"|=||   Using R to Analyze G1GC Log Files   Using R to Analyze G1GC Log Files Introduction Working in Oracle Platform Integration gives an engineer opportunities to work on a wide array of technologies. My team’s goal is to make Oracle applications run best on the Solaris/SPARC platform. When looking for bottlenecks in a modern applications, one needs to be aware of not only how the CPUs and operating system are executing, but also network, storage, and in some cases, the Java Virtual Machine. I was recently presented with about 1.5 GB of Java Garbage First Garbage Collector log file data. If you’re not familiar with the subject, you might want to review Garbage First Garbage Collector Tuning by Monica Beckwith. The customer had been running Java HotSpot 1.6.0_31 to host a web application server. I was told that the Solaris/SPARC server was running a Java process launched using a commmand line that included the following flags: -d64 -Xms9g -Xmx9g -XX:+UseG1GC -XX:MaxGCPauseMillis=200 -XX:InitiatingHeapOccupancyPercent=80 -XX:PermSize=256m -XX:MaxPermSize=256m -XX:+PrintGC -XX:+PrintGCTimeStamps -XX:+PrintHeapAtGC -XX:+PrintGCDateStamps -XX:+PrintFlagsFinal -XX:+DisableExplicitGC -XX:+UnlockExperimentalVMOptions -XX:ParallelGCThreads=8 Several sources on the internet indicate that if I were to print out the 1.5 GB of log files, it would require enough paper to fill the bed of a pick up truck. Of course, it would be fruitless to try to scan the log files by hand. Tools will be required to summarize the contents of the log files. Others have encountered large Java garbage collection log files. There are existing tools to analyze the log files: IBM’s GC toolkit The chewiebug GCViewer gchisto HPjmeter Instead of using one of the other tools listed, I decide to parse the log files with standard Unix tools, and analyze the data with R. Data Cleansing The log files arrived in two different formats. I guess that the difference is that one set of log files was generated using a more verbose option, maybe -XX:+PrintHeapAtGC, and the other set of log files was generated without that option. Format 1 In some of the log files, the log files with the less verbose format, a single trace, i.e. the report of a singe garbage collection event, looks like this: {Heap before GC invocations=12280 (full 61): garbage-first heap total 9437184K, used 7499918K [0xfffffffd00000000, 0xffffffff40000000, 0xffffffff40000000) region size 4096K, 1 young (4096K), 0 survivors (0K) compacting perm gen total 262144K, used 144077K [0xffffffff40000000, 0xffffffff50000000, 0xffffffff50000000) the space 262144K, 54% used [0xffffffff40000000, 0xffffffff48cb3758, 0xffffffff48cb3800, 0xffffffff50000000) No shared spaces configured. 2014-05-14T07:24:00.988-0700: 60586.353: [GC pause (young) 7324M->7320M(9216M), 0.1567265 secs] Heap after GC invocations=12281 (full 61): garbage-first heap total 9437184K, used 7496533K [0xfffffffd00000000, 0xffffffff40000000, 0xffffffff40000000) region size 4096K, 0 young (0K), 0 survivors (0K) compacting perm gen total 262144K, used 144077K [0xffffffff40000000, 0xffffffff50000000, 0xffffffff50000000) the space 262144K, 54% used [0xffffffff40000000, 0xffffffff48cb3758, 0xffffffff48cb3800, 0xffffffff50000000) No shared spaces configured. } A simple grep can be used to extract a summary: $ grep "\[ GC pause (young" g1gc.log 2014-05-13T13:24:35.091-0700: 3.109: [GC pause (young) 20M->5029K(9216M), 0.0146328 secs] 2014-05-13T13:24:35.440-0700: 3.459: [GC pause (young) 9125K->6077K(9216M), 0.0086723 secs] 2014-05-13T13:24:37.581-0700: 5.599: [GC pause (young) 25M->8470K(9216M), 0.0203820 secs] 2014-05-13T13:24:42.686-0700: 10.704: [GC pause (young) 44M->15M(9216M), 0.0288848 secs] 2014-05-13T13:24:48.941-0700: 16.958: [GC pause (young) 51M->20M(9216M), 0.0491244 secs] 2014-05-13T13:24:56.049-0700: 24.066: [GC pause (young) 92M->26M(9216M), 0.0525368 secs] 2014-05-13T13:25:34.368-0700: 62.383: [GC pause (young) 602M->68M(9216M), 0.1721173 secs] But that format wasn't easily read into R, so I needed to be a bit more tricky. I used the following Unix command to create a summary file that was easy for R to read. $ echo "SecondsSinceLaunch BeforeSize AfterSize TotalSize RealTime" $ grep "\[GC pause (young" g1gc.log | grep -v mark | sed -e 's/[A-SU-z\(\),]/ /g' -e 's/->/ /' -e 's/: / /g' | more SecondsSinceLaunch BeforeSize AfterSize TotalSize RealTime 2014-05-13T13:24:35.091-0700 3.109 20 5029 9216 0.0146328 2014-05-13T13:24:35.440-0700 3.459 9125 6077 9216 0.0086723 2014-05-13T13:24:37.581-0700 5.599 25 8470 9216 0.0203820 2014-05-13T13:24:42.686-0700 10.704 44 15 9216 0.0288848 2014-05-13T13:24:48.941-0700 16.958 51 20 9216 0.0491244 2014-05-13T13:24:56.049-0700 24.066 92 26 9216 0.0525368 2014-05-13T13:25:34.368-0700 62.383 602 68 9216 0.1721173 Format 2 In some of the log files, the log files with the more verbose format, a single trace, i.e. the report of a singe garbage collection event, was more complicated than Format 1. Here is a text file with an example of a single G1GC trace in the second format. As you can see, it is quite complicated. It is nice that there is so much information available, but the level of detail can be overwhelming. I wrote this awk script (download) to summarize each trace on a single line. #!/usr/bin/env awk -f BEGIN { printf("SecondsSinceLaunch IncrementalCount FullCount UserTime SysTime RealTime BeforeSize AfterSize TotalSize\n") } ###################### # Save count data from lines that are at the start of each G1GC trace. # Each trace starts out like this: # {Heap before GC invocations=14 (full 0): # garbage-first heap total 9437184K, used 325496K [0xfffffffd00000000, 0xffffffff40000000, 0xffffffff40000000) ###################### /{Heap.*full/{ gsub ( "\\)" , "" ); nf=split($0,a,"="); split(a[2],b," "); getline; if ( match($0, "first") ) { G1GC=1; IncrementalCount=b[1]; FullCount=substr( b[3], 1, length(b[3])-1 ); } else { G1GC=0; } } ###################### # Pull out time stamps that are in lines with this format: # 2014-05-12T14:02:06.025-0700: 94.312: [GC pause (young), 0.08870154 secs] ###################### /GC pause/ { DateTime=$1; SecondsSinceLaunch=substr($2, 1, length($2)-1); } ###################### # Heap sizes are in lines that look like this: # [ 4842M->4838M(9216M)] ###################### /\[ .*]$/ { gsub ( "\\[" , "" ); gsub ( "\ \]" , "" ); gsub ( "->" , " " ); gsub ( "\\( " , " " ); gsub ( "\ \)" , " " ); split($0,a," "); if ( split(a[1],b,"M") > 1 ) {BeforeSize=b[1]*1024;} if ( split(a[1],b,"K") > 1 ) {BeforeSize=b[1];} if ( split(a[2],b,"M") > 1 ) {AfterSize=b[1]*1024;} if ( split(a[2],b,"K") > 1 ) {AfterSize=b[1];} if ( split(a[3],b,"M") > 1 ) {TotalSize=b[1]*1024;} if ( split(a[3],b,"K") > 1 ) {TotalSize=b[1];} } ###################### # Emit an output line when you find input that looks like this: # [Times: user=1.41 sys=0.08, real=0.24 secs] ###################### /\[Times/ { if (G1GC==1) { gsub ( "," , "" ); split($2,a,"="); UserTime=a[2]; split($3,a,"="); SysTime=a[2]; split($4,a,"="); RealTime=a[2]; print DateTime,SecondsSinceLaunch,IncrementalCount,FullCount,UserTime,SysTime,RealTime,BeforeSize,AfterSize,TotalSize; G1GC=0; } } The resulting summary is about 25X smaller that the original file, but still difficult for a human to digest. SecondsSinceLaunch IncrementalCount FullCount UserTime SysTime RealTime BeforeSize AfterSize TotalSize ... 2014-05-12T18:36:34.669-0700: 3985.744 561 0 0.57 0.06 0.16 1724416 1720320 9437184 2014-05-12T18:36:34.839-0700: 3985.914 562 0 0.51 0.06 0.19 1724416 1720320 9437184 2014-05-12T18:36:35.069-0700: 3986.144 563 0 0.60 0.04 0.27 1724416 1721344 9437184 2014-05-12T18:36:35.354-0700: 3986.429 564 0 0.33 0.04 0.09 1725440 1722368 9437184 2014-05-12T18:36:35.545-0700: 3986.620 565 0 0.58 0.04 0.17 1726464 1722368 9437184 2014-05-12T18:36:35.726-0700: 3986.801 566 0 0.43 0.05 0.12 1726464 1722368 9437184 2014-05-12T18:36:35.856-0700: 3986.930 567 0 0.30 0.04 0.07 1726464 1723392 9437184 2014-05-12T18:36:35.947-0700: 3987.023 568 0 0.61 0.04 0.26 1727488 1723392 9437184 2014-05-12T18:36:36.228-0700: 3987.302 569 0 0.46 0.04 0.16 1731584 1724416 9437184 Reading the Data into R Once the GC log data had been cleansed, either by processing the first format with the shell script, or by processing the second format with the awk script, it was easy to read the data into R. g1gc.df = read.csv("summary.txt", row.names = NULL, stringsAsFactors=FALSE,sep="") str(g1gc.df) ## 'data.frame': 8307 obs. of 10 variables: ## $ row.names : chr "2014-05-12T14:00:32.868-0700:" "2014-05-12T14:00:33.179-0700:" "2014-05-12T14:00:33.677-0700:" "2014-05-12T14:00:35.538-0700:" ... ## $ SecondsSinceLaunch: num 1.16 1.47 1.97 3.83 6.1 ... ## $ IncrementalCount : int 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ... ## $ FullCount : int 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ... ## $ UserTime : num 0.11 0.05 0.04 0.21 0.08 0.26 0.31 0.33 0.34 0.56 ... ## $ SysTime : num 0.04 0.01 0.01 0.05 0.01 0.06 0.07 0.06 0.07 0.09 ... ## $ RealTime : num 0.02 0.02 0.01 0.04 0.02 0.04 0.05 0.04 0.04 0.06 ... ## $ BeforeSize : int 8192 5496 5768 22528 24576 43008 34816 53248 55296 93184 ... ## $ AfterSize : int 1400 1672 2557 4907 7072 14336 16384 18432 19456 21504 ... ## $ TotalSize : int 9437184 9437184 9437184 9437184 9437184 9437184 9437184 9437184 9437184 9437184 ... head(g1gc.df) ## row.names SecondsSinceLaunch IncrementalCount ## 1 2014-05-12T14:00:32.868-0700: 1.161 0 ## 2 2014-05-12T14:00:33.179-0700: 1.472 1 ## 3 2014-05-12T14:00:33.677-0700: 1.969 2 ## 4 2014-05-12T14:00:35.538-0700: 3.830 3 ## 5 2014-05-12T14:00:37.811-0700: 6.103 4 ## 6 2014-05-12T14:00:41.428-0700: 9.720 5 ## FullCount UserTime SysTime RealTime BeforeSize AfterSize TotalSize ## 1 0 0.11 0.04 0.02 8192 1400 9437184 ## 2 0 0.05 0.01 0.02 5496 1672 9437184 ## 3 0 0.04 0.01 0.01 5768 2557 9437184 ## 4 0 0.21 0.05 0.04 22528 4907 9437184 ## 5 0 0.08 0.01 0.02 24576 7072 9437184 ## 6 0 0.26 0.06 0.04 43008 14336 9437184 Basic Statistics Once the data has been read into R, simple statistics are very easy to generate. All of the numbers from high school statistics are available via simple commands. For example, generate a summary of every column: summary(g1gc.df) ## row.names SecondsSinceLaunch IncrementalCount FullCount ## Length:8307 Min. : 1 Min. : 0 Min. : 0.0 ## Class :character 1st Qu.: 9977 1st Qu.:2048 1st Qu.: 0.0 ## Mode :character Median :12855 Median :4136 Median : 12.0 ## Mean :12527 Mean :4156 Mean : 31.6 ## 3rd Qu.:15758 3rd Qu.:6262 3rd Qu.: 61.0 ## Max. :55484 Max. :8391 Max. :113.0 ## UserTime SysTime RealTime BeforeSize ## Min. :0.040 Min. :0.0000 Min. : 0.0 Min. : 5476 ## 1st Qu.:0.470 1st Qu.:0.0300 1st Qu.: 0.1 1st Qu.:5137920 ## Median :0.620 Median :0.0300 Median : 0.1 Median :6574080 ## Mean :0.751 Mean :0.0355 Mean : 0.3 Mean :5841855 ## 3rd Qu.:0.920 3rd Qu.:0.0400 3rd Qu.: 0.2 3rd Qu.:7084032 ## Max. :3.370 Max. :1.5600 Max. :488.1 Max. :8696832 ## AfterSize TotalSize ## Min. : 1380 Min. :9437184 ## 1st Qu.:5002752 1st Qu.:9437184 ## Median :6559744 Median :9437184 ## Mean :5785454 Mean :9437184 ## 3rd Qu.:7054336 3rd Qu.:9437184 ## Max. :8482816 Max. :9437184 Q: What is the total amount of User CPU time spent in garbage collection? sum(g1gc.df$UserTime) ## [1] 6236 As you can see, less than two hours of CPU time was spent in garbage collection. Is that too much? To find the percentage of time spent in garbage collection, divide the number above by total_elapsed_time*CPU_count. In this case, there are a lot of CPU’s and it turns out the the overall amount of CPU time spent in garbage collection isn’t a problem when viewed in isolation. When calculating rates, i.e. events per unit time, you need to ask yourself if the rate is homogenous across the time period in the log file. Does the log file include spikes of high activity that should be separately analyzed? Averaging in data from nights and weekends with data from business hours may alias problems. If you have a reason to suspect that the garbage collection rates include peaks and valleys that need independent analysis, see the “Time Series” section, below. Q: How much garbage is collected on each pass? The amount of heap space that is recovered per GC pass is surprisingly low: At least one collection didn’t recover any data. (“Min.=0”) 25% of the passes recovered 3MB or less. (“1st Qu.=3072”) Half of the GC passes recovered 4MB or less. (“Median=4096”) The average amount recovered was 56MB. (“Mean=56390”) 75% of the passes recovered 36MB or less. (“3rd Qu.=36860”) At least one pass recovered 2GB. (“Max.=2121000”) g1gc.df$Delta = g1gc.df$BeforeSize - g1gc.df$AfterSize summary(g1gc.df$Delta) ## Min. 1st Qu. Median Mean 3rd Qu. Max. ## 0 3070 4100 56400 36900 2120000 Q: What is the maximum User CPU time for a single collection? The worst garbage collection (“Max.”) is many standard deviations away from the mean. The data appears to be right skewed. summary(g1gc.df$UserTime) ## Min. 1st Qu. Median Mean 3rd Qu. Max. ## 0.040 0.470 0.620 0.751 0.920 3.370 sd(g1gc.df$UserTime) ## [1] 0.3966 Basic Graphics Once the data is in R, it is trivial to plot the data with formats including dot plots, line charts, bar charts (simple, stacked, grouped), pie charts, boxplots, scatter plots histograms, and kernel density plots. Histogram of User CPU Time per Collection I don't think that this graph requires any explanation. hist(g1gc.df$UserTime, main="User CPU Time per Collection", xlab="Seconds", ylab="Frequency") Box plot to identify outliers When the initial data is viewed with a box plot, you can see the one crazy outlier in the real time per GC. Save this data point for future analysis and drop the outlier so that it’s not throwing off our statistics. Now the box plot shows many outliers, which will be examined later, using times series analysis. Notice that the scale of the x-axis changes drastically once the crazy outlier is removed. par(mfrow=c(2,1)) boxplot(g1gc.df$UserTime,g1gc.df$SysTime,g1gc.df$RealTime, main="Box Plot of Time per GC\n(dominated by a crazy outlier)", names=c("usr","sys","elapsed"), xlab="Seconds per GC", ylab="Time (Seconds)", horizontal = TRUE, outcol="red") crazy.outlier.df=g1gc.df[g1gc.df$RealTime > 400,] g1gc.df=g1gc.df[g1gc.df$RealTime < 400,] boxplot(g1gc.df$UserTime,g1gc.df$SysTime,g1gc.df$RealTime, main="Box Plot of Time per GC\n(crazy outlier excluded)", names=c("usr","sys","elapsed"), xlab="Seconds per GC", ylab="Time (Seconds)", horizontal = TRUE, outcol="red") box(which = "outer", lty = "solid") Here is the crazy outlier for future analysis: crazy.outlier.df ## row.names SecondsSinceLaunch IncrementalCount ## 8233 2014-05-12T23:15:43.903-0700: 20741 8316 ## FullCount UserTime SysTime RealTime BeforeSize AfterSize TotalSize ## 8233 112 0.55 0.42 488.1 8381440 8235008 9437184 ## Delta ## 8233 146432 R Time Series Data To analyze the garbage collection as a time series, I’ll use Z’s Ordered Observations (zoo). “zoo is the creator for an S3 class of indexed totally ordered observations which includes irregular time series.” require(zoo) ## Loading required package: zoo ## ## Attaching package: 'zoo' ## ## The following objects are masked from 'package:base': ## ## as.Date, as.Date.numeric head(g1gc.df[,1]) ## [1] "2014-05-12T14:00:32.868-0700:" "2014-05-12T14:00:33.179-0700:" ## [3] "2014-05-12T14:00:33.677-0700:" "2014-05-12T14:00:35.538-0700:" ## [5] "2014-05-12T14:00:37.811-0700:" "2014-05-12T14:00:41.428-0700:" options("digits.secs"=3) times=as.POSIXct( g1gc.df[,1], format="%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%OS%z:") g1gc.z = zoo(g1gc.df[,-c(1)], order.by=times) head(g1gc.z) ## SecondsSinceLaunch IncrementalCount FullCount ## 2014-05-12 17:00:32.868 1.161 0 0 ## 2014-05-12 17:00:33.178 1.472 1 0 ## 2014-05-12 17:00:33.677 1.969 2 0 ## 2014-05-12 17:00:35.538 3.830 3 0 ## 2014-05-12 17:00:37.811 6.103 4 0 ## 2014-05-12 17:00:41.427 9.720 5 0 ## UserTime SysTime RealTime BeforeSize AfterSize ## 2014-05-12 17:00:32.868 0.11 0.04 0.02 8192 1400 ## 2014-05-12 17:00:33.178 0.05 0.01 0.02 5496 1672 ## 2014-05-12 17:00:33.677 0.04 0.01 0.01 5768 2557 ## 2014-05-12 17:00:35.538 0.21 0.05 0.04 22528 4907 ## 2014-05-12 17:00:37.811 0.08 0.01 0.02 24576 7072 ## 2014-05-12 17:00:41.427 0.26 0.06 0.04 43008 14336 ## TotalSize Delta ## 2014-05-12 17:00:32.868 9437184 6792 ## 2014-05-12 17:00:33.178 9437184 3824 ## 2014-05-12 17:00:33.677 9437184 3211 ## 2014-05-12 17:00:35.538 9437184 17621 ## 2014-05-12 17:00:37.811 9437184 17504 ## 2014-05-12 17:00:41.427 9437184 28672 Example of Two Benchmark Runs in One Log File The data in the following graph is from a different log file, not the one of primary interest to this article. I’m including this image because it is an example of idle periods followed by busy periods. It would be uninteresting to average the rate of garbage collection over the entire log file period. More interesting would be the rate of garbage collect in the two busy periods. Are they the same or different? Your production data may be similar, for example, bursts when employees return from lunch and idle times on weekend evenings, etc. Once the data is in an R Time Series, you can analyze isolated time windows. Clipping the Time Series data Flashing back to our test case… Viewing the data as a time series is interesting. You can see that the work intensive time period is between 9:00 PM and 3:00 AM. Lets clip the data to the interesting period:     par(mfrow=c(2,1)) plot(g1gc.z$UserTime, type="h", main="User Time per GC\nTime: Complete Log File", xlab="Time of Day", ylab="CPU Seconds per GC", col="#1b9e77") clipped.g1gc.z=window(g1gc.z, start=as.POSIXct("2014-05-12 21:00:00"), end=as.POSIXct("2014-05-13 03:00:00")) plot(clipped.g1gc.z$UserTime, type="h", main="User Time per GC\nTime: Limited to Benchmark Execution", xlab="Time of Day", ylab="CPU Seconds per GC", col="#1b9e77") box(which = "outer", lty = "solid") Cumulative Incremental and Full GC count Here is the cumulative incremental and full GC count. When the line is very steep, it indicates that the GCs are repeating very quickly. Notice that the scale on the Y axis is different for full vs. incremental. plot(clipped.g1gc.z[,c(2:3)], main="Cumulative Incremental and Full GC count", xlab="Time of Day", col="#1b9e77") GC Analysis of Benchmark Execution using Time Series data In the following series of 3 graphs: The “After Size” show the amount of heap space in use after each garbage collection. Many Java objects are still referenced, i.e. alive, during each garbage collection. This may indicate that the application has a memory leak, or may indicate that the application has a very large memory footprint. Typically, an application's memory footprint plateau's in the early stage of execution. One would expect this graph to have a flat top. The steep decline in the heap space may indicate that the application crashed after 2:00. The second graph shows that the outliers in real execution time, discussed above, occur near 2:00. when the Java heap seems to be quite full. The third graph shows that Full GCs are infrequent during the first few hours of execution. The rate of Full GC's, (the slope of the cummulative Full GC line), changes near midnight.   plot(clipped.g1gc.z[,c("AfterSize","RealTime","FullCount")], xlab="Time of Day", col=c("#1b9e77","red","#1b9e77")) GC Analysis of heap recovered Each GC trace includes the amount of heap space in use before and after the individual GC event. During garbage coolection, unreferenced objects are identified, the space holding the unreferenced objects is freed, and thus, the difference in before and after usage indicates how much space has been freed. The following box plot and bar chart both demonstrate the same point - the amount of heap space freed per garbage colloection is surprisingly low. par(mfrow=c(2,1)) boxplot(as.vector(clipped.g1gc.z$Delta), main="Amount of Heap Recovered per GC Pass", xlab="Size in KB", horizontal = TRUE, col="red") hist(as.vector(clipped.g1gc.z$Delta), main="Amount of Heap Recovered per GC Pass", xlab="Size in KB", breaks=100, col="red") box(which = "outer", lty = "solid") This graph is the most interesting. The dark blue area shows how much heap is occupied by referenced Java objects. This represents memory that holds live data. The red fringe at the top shows how much data was recovered after each garbage collection. barplot(clipped.g1gc.z[,c("AfterSize","Delta")], col=c("#7570b3","#e7298a"), xlab="Time of Day", border=NA) legend("topleft", c("Live Objects","Heap Recovered on GC"), fill=c("#7570b3","#e7298a")) box(which = "outer", lty = "solid") When I discuss the data in the log files with the customer, I will ask for an explaination for the large amount of referenced data resident in the Java heap. There are two are posibilities: There is a memory leak and the amount of space required to hold referenced objects will continue to grow, limited only by the maximum heap size. After the maximum heap size is reached, the JVM will throw an “Out of Memory” exception every time that the application tries to allocate a new object. If this is the case, the aplication needs to be debugged to identify why old objects are referenced when they are no longer needed. The application has a legitimate requirement to keep a large amount of data in memory. The customer may want to further increase the maximum heap size. Another possible solution would be to partition the application across multiple cluster nodes, where each node has responsibility for managing a unique subset of the data. Conclusion In conclusion, R is a very powerful tool for the analysis of Java garbage collection log files. The primary difficulty is data cleansing so that information can be read into an R data frame. Once the data has been read into R, a rich set of tools may be used for thorough evaluation.

  Read the article

• current_user and Comments on Posts - Create another association or loop posts? - Ruby on Rails

  - by bgadoci

  I have created a blog application using Ruby on Rails and have just added an authentication piece and it is working nicely. I am now trying to go back through my application to adjust the code such that it only shows information that is associated with a certain user. Currently, Users has_many :posts and Posts has_many :comments. When a post is created I am successfully inserting the user_id into the post table. Additionally I am successfully only displaying the posts that belong to a certain user upon their login in the /views/posts/index.html.erb view. My problem is with the comments. For instance on the home page, when logged in, a user will see only posts that they have written, but comments from all users on all posts. Which is not what I want and need some direction in correcting. I want only to display the comments written on all of the logged in users posts. Do I need to create associations such that comments also belong to user? Or is there a way to adjust my code to simply loop through post to display this data. I have put the code for the PostsController, CommentsController, and /posts/index.html.erb below and also my view code but will post more if needed. class PostsController < ApplicationController before_filter :authenticate auto_complete_for :tag, :tag_name auto_complete_for :ugtag, :ugctag_name def index @tag_counts = Tag.count(:group => :tag_name, :order => 'count_all DESC', :limit => 20) conditions, joins = {}, :votes @ugtag_counts = Ugtag.count(:group => :ugctag_name, :order => 'count_all DESC', :limit => 20) conditions, joins = {}, :votes @vote_counts = Vote.count(:group => :post_title, :order => 'count_all DESC', :limit => 20) conditions, joins = {}, :votes unless(params[:tag_name] || "").empty? conditions = ["tags.tag_name = ? ", params[:tag_name]] joins = [:tags, :votes] end @posts= current_user.posts.paginate( :select => "posts.*, count(*) as vote_total", :joins => joins, :conditions=> conditions, :group => "votes.post_id, posts.id ", :order => "created_at DESC", :page => params[:page], :per_page => 5) @popular_posts=Post.paginate( :select => "posts.*, count(*) as vote_total", :joins => joins, :conditions=> conditions, :group => "votes.post_id, posts.id", :order => "vote_total DESC", :page => params[:page], :per_page => 3) respond_to do |format| format.html # index.html.erb format.xml { render :xml => @posts } format.json { render :json => @posts } format.atom end end def show @post = Post.find(params[:id]) respond_to do |format| format.html # show.html.erb format.xml { render :xml => @post } end end def new @post = Post.new respond_to do |format| format.html # new.html.erb format.xml { render :xml => @post } end end def edit @post = Post.find(params[:id]) end def create @post = current_user.posts.create(params[:post]) respond_to do |format| if @post.save flash[:notice] = 'Post was successfully created.' format.html { redirect_to(@post) } format.xml { render :xml => @post, :status => :created, :location => @post } else format.html { render :action => "new" } format.xml { render :xml => @post.errors, :status => :unprocessable_entity } end end end def update @post = Post.find(params[:id]) respond_to do |format| if @post.update_attributes(params[:post]) flash[:notice] = 'Post was successfully updated.' format.html { redirect_to(@post) } format.xml { head :ok } else format.html { render :action => "edit" } format.xml { render :xml => @post.errors, :status => :unprocessable_entity } end end end def destroy @post = Post.find(params[:id]) @post.destroy respond_to do |format| format.html { redirect_to(posts_url) } format.xml { head :ok } end end end CommentsController class CommentsController < ApplicationController before_filter :authenticate, :except => [:show, :create] def index @comments = Comment.find(:all, :include => :post, :order => "created_at DESC").paginate :page => params[:page], :per_page => 5 respond_to do |format| format.html # index.html.erb format.xml { render :xml => @comments } format.json { render :json => @comments } format.atom end end def show @comment = Comment.find(params[:id]) respond_to do |format| format.html # show.html.erb format.xml { render :xml => @comment } end end # GET /posts/new # GET /posts/new.xml # GET /posts/1/edit def edit @comment = Comment.find(params[:id]) end def update @comment = Comment.find(params[:id]) respond_to do |format| if @comment.update_attributes(params[:comment]) flash[:notice] = 'Comment was successfully updated.' format.html { redirect_to(@comment) } format.xml { head :ok } else format.html { render :action => "edit" } format.xml { render :xml => @comment.errors, :status => :unprocessable_entity } end end end def create @post = Post.find(params[:post_id]) @comment = @post.comments.build(params[:comment]) respond_to do |format| if @comment.save flash[:notice] = "Thanks for adding this comment" format.html { redirect_to @post } format.js else flash[:notice] = "Make sure you include your name and a valid email address" format.html { redirect_to @post } end end end def destroy @comment = Comment.find(params[:id]) @comment.destroy respond_to do |format| format.html { redirect_to Post.find(params[:post_id]) } format.js end end end View Code for Comments <% Comment.find(:all, :order => 'created_at DESC', :limit => 3).each do |comment| -%> <div id="side-bar-comments"> <p> <div class="small"><%=h comment.name %> commented on:</div> <div class="dark-grey"><%= link_to h(comment.post.title), comment.post %><br/></div> <i><%=h truncate(comment.body, :length => 100) %></i><br/> <div class="small"><i> <%= time_ago_in_words(comment.created_at) %> ago</i></div> </p> </div> <% end -%>

  Read the article

• scrolling lags in emacs 23.2 with GTK

  - by mefiX

  Hey there, I am using emacs 23.2 with the GTK toolkit. I built emacs from source using the following configure-params: ./configure --prefix=/usr --without-makeinfo --without-sound Which builds emacs with the following configuration: Where should the build process find the source code? /home/****/incoming/emacs-23.2 What operating system and machine description files should Emacs use? `s/gnu-linux.h' and `m/intel386.h' What compiler should emacs be built with? gcc -g -O2 -Wdeclaration-after-statement -Wno-pointer-sign Should Emacs use the GNU version of malloc? yes (Using Doug Lea's new malloc from the GNU C Library.) Should Emacs use a relocating allocator for buffers? yes Should Emacs use mmap(2) for buffer allocation? no What window system should Emacs use? x11 What toolkit should Emacs use? GTK Where do we find X Windows header files? Standard dirs Where do we find X Windows libraries? Standard dirs Does Emacs use -lXaw3d? no Does Emacs use -lXpm? yes Does Emacs use -ljpeg? yes Does Emacs use -ltiff? yes Does Emacs use a gif library? yes -lgif Does Emacs use -lpng? yes Does Emacs use -lrsvg-2? no Does Emacs use -lgpm? yes Does Emacs use -ldbus? yes Does Emacs use -lgconf? no Does Emacs use -lfreetype? yes Does Emacs use -lm17n-flt? no Does Emacs use -lotf? yes Does Emacs use -lxft? yes Does Emacs use toolkit scroll bars? yes When I'm scrolling within files of a common size (about 1000 lines) holding the up/down-keys, emacs almost hangs and produces about 50% CPU-load. I use the following plugins: ido linum tabbar auto-complete-config Starting emacs with -q fixes the problem, but then I don't have any plugins. I can't figure out, which part of my .emacs is responsible for this behaviour. Here's an excerpt of my .emacs-file: (require 'ido) (ido-mode 1) (require 'linum) (global-linum-mode 1) (require 'tabbar) (tabbar-mode 1) (tabbar-local-mode 0) (tabbar-mwheel-mode 0) (setq tabbar-buffer-groups-function (lambda () (list "All"))) (global-set-key [M-left] 'tabbar-backward) (global-set-key [M-right] 'tabbar-forward) ;; hide the toolbar (gtk etc.) (tool-bar-mode -1) ;; Mouse scrolling enhancements (setq mouse-wheel-progressive-speed nil) (setq mouse-wheel-scroll-amount '(5 ((shift) . 5) ((control) . nil))) ;; Smart-HOME (defun smart-beginning-of-line () "Forces the cursor to jump to the first none whitespace char of the current line when pressing HOME" (interactive) (let ((oldpos (point))) (back-to-indentation) (and (= oldpos (point)) (beginning-of-line)))) (put 'smart-beginning-of-line 'CUA 'move) (global-set-key [home] 'smart-beginning-of-line) (custom-set-variables ;; custom-set-variables was added by Custom. ;; If you edit it by hand, you could mess it up, so be careful. ;; Your init file should contain only one such instance. ;; If there is more than one, they won't work right. '(column-number-mode t) '(cua-mode t nil (cua-base)) '(custom-buffer-indent 4) '(delete-selection-mode nil) '(display-time-24hr-format t) '(display-time-day-and-date 1) '(display-time-mode t) '(global-font-lock-mode t nil (font-lock)) '(inhibit-startup-buffer-menu t) '(inhibit-startup-screen t) '(pc-select-meta-moves-sexps t) '(pc-select-selection-keys-only t) '(pc-selection-mode t nil (pc-select)) '(scroll-bar-mode (quote right)) '(show-paren-mode t) '(standard-indent 4) '(uniquify-buffer-name-style (quote forward) nil (uniquify))) (setq-default tab-width 4) (setq-default indent-tabs-mode t) (setq c-basic-offset 4) ;; Highlighting of the current line (global-hl-line-mode 1) (set-face-background 'hl-line "#E8F2FE") (defalias 'yes-or-no-p 'y-or-n-p) (display-time) (set-language-environment "Latin-1") ;; Change cursor color according to mode (setq djcb-read-only-color "gray") ;; valid values are t, nil, box, hollow, bar, (bar . WIDTH), hbar, ;; (hbar. HEIGHT); see the docs for set-cursor-type (setq djcb-read-only-cursor-type 'hbar) (setq djcb-overwrite-color "red") (setq djcb-overwrite-cursor-type 'box) (setq djcb-normal-color "black") (setq djcb-normal-cursor-type 'bar) (defun djcb-set-cursor-according-to-mode () "change cursor color and type according to some minor modes." (cond (buffer-read-only (set-cursor-color djcb-read-only-color) (setq cursor-type djcb-read-only-cursor-type)) (overwrite-mode (set-cursor-color djcb-overwrite-color) (setq cursor-type djcb-overwrite-cursor-type)) (t (set-cursor-color djcb-normal-color) (setq cursor-type djcb-normal-cursor-type)))) (add-hook 'post-command-hook 'djcb-set-cursor-according-to-mode) (define-key global-map '[C-right] 'forward-sexp) (define-key global-map '[C-left] 'backward-sexp) (define-key global-map '[s-left] 'windmove-left) (define-key global-map '[s-right] 'windmove-right) (define-key global-map '[s-up] 'windmove-up) (define-key global-map '[s-down] 'windmove-down) (define-key global-map '[S-down-mouse-1] 'mouse-stay-and-copy) (define-key global-map '[C-M-S-down-mouse-1] 'mouse-stay-and-swap) (define-key global-map '[S-mouse-2] 'mouse-yank-and-kill) (define-key global-map '[C-S-down-mouse-1] 'mouse-stay-and-kill) (define-key global-map "\C-a" 'mark-whole-buffer) (custom-set-faces ;; custom-set-faces was added by Custom. ;; If you edit it by hand, you could mess it up, so be careful. ;; Your init file should contain only one such instance. ;; If there is more than one, they won't work right. '(default ((t (:inherit nil :stipple nil :background "#f7f9fa" :foreground "#191919" :inverse-video nil :box nil :strike-through nil :overline nil :underline nil :slant normal :weight normal :height 98 :width normal :foundry "unknown" :family "DejaVu Sans Mono")))) '(font-lock-builtin-face ((((class color) (min-colors 88) (background light)) (:foreground "#642880" :weight bold)))) '(font-lock-comment-face ((((class color) (min-colors 88) (background light)) (:foreground "#3f7f5f")))) '(font-lock-constant-face ((((class color) (min-colors 88) (background light)) (:weight bold)))) '(font-lock-doc-face ((t (:inherit font-lock-string-face :foreground "#3f7f5f")))) '(font-lock-function-name-face ((((class color) (min-colors 88) (background light)) (:foreground "Black" :weight bold)))) '(font-lock-keyword-face ((((class color) (min-colors 88) (background light)) (:foreground "#7f0055" :weight bold)))) '(font-lock-preprocessor-face ((t (:inherit font-lock-builtin-face :foreground "#7f0055" :weight bold)))) '(font-lock-string-face ((((class color) (min-colors 88) (background light)) (:foreground "#0000c0")))) '(font-lock-type-face ((((class color) (min-colors 88) (background light)) (:foreground "#7f0055" :weight bold)))) '(font-lock-variable-name-face ((((class color) (min-colors 88) (background light)) (:foreground "Black")))) '(minibuffer-prompt ((t (:foreground "medium blue")))) '(mode-line ((t (:background "#222222" :foreground "White")))) '(tabbar-button ((t (:inherit tabbar-default :foreground "dark red")))) '(tabbar-button-highlight ((t (:inherit tabbar-default :background "white" :box (:line-width 2 :color "white"))))) '(tabbar-default ((t (:background "gray90" :foreground "gray50" :box (:line-width 3 :color "gray90") :height 100)))) '(tabbar-highlight ((t (:underline t)))) '(tabbar-selected ((t (:inherit tabbar-default :foreground "blue" :weight bold)))) '(tabbar-separator ((t nil))) '(tabbar-unselected ((t (:inherit tabbar-default))))) Any suggestions? Kind regards, mefiX

  Read the article

• Tips on how to refactor this unwieldy upvote/downvote code

  - by bob_cobb

  Basically this code is for an upvote/downvote system and I'm basically Incrementing the count by 1 when voting up Decrementing the count by 1 when voting down If the number of downvotes upvotes, we'll assume it's a negative score, so the count stays 0 Reverting the count back to what it originally was when clicking upvote twice or downvote twice Never go below 0 (by showing negative numbers); Basically it's the same scoring scheme reddit uses, and I tried to get some ideas from the source which was minified and kind of hard to grok: a.fn.vote = function(b, c, e, j) { if (reddit.logged && a(this).hasClass("arrow")) { var k = a(this).hasClass("up") ? 1 : a(this).hasClass("down") ? -1 : 0, v = a(this).all_things_by_id(), p = v.children().not(".child").find(".arrow"), q = k == 1 ? "up" : "upmod"; p.filter("." + q).removeClass(q).addClass(k == 1 ? "upmod" : "up"); q = k == -1 ? "down" : "downmod"; p.filter("." + q).removeClass(q).addClass(k == -1 ? "downmod" : "down"); reddit.logged && (v.each(function() { var b = a(this).find(".entry:first, .midcol:first"); k > 0 ? b.addClass("likes").removeClass("dislikes unvoted") : k < 0 ? b.addClass("dislikes").removeClass("likes unvoted") : b.addClass("unvoted").removeClass("likes dislikes") }), a.defined(j) || (j = v.filter(":first").thing_id(), b += e ? "" : "-" + j, a.request("vote", {id: j,dir: k,vh: b}))); c && c(v, k) } }; I'm trying to look for a pattern, but there are a bunch of edge cases that I've been adding in, and it's still a little off. My code (and fiddle): $(function() { var down = $('.vote-down'); var up = $('.vote-up'); var direction = up.add(down); var largeCount = $('#js-large-count'); var totalUp = $('#js-total-up'); var totalDown = $('#js-total-down'); var totalUpCount = parseInt(totalUp.text(), 10); var totalDownCount = parseInt(totalDown.text(), 10); var castVote = function(submissionId, voteType) { /* var postURL = '/vote'; $.post(postURL, { submissionId : submissionId, voteType : voteType } , function (data){ if (data.response === 'success') { totalDown.text(data.downvotes); totalUp.text(data.upvotes); } }, 'json'); */ alert('voted!'); }; $(direction).on('click', direction, function () { // The submission ID var $that = $(this), submissionId = $that.attr('id'), voteType = $that.attr('dir'), // what direction was voted? [up or down] isDown = $that.hasClass('down'), isUp = $that.hasClass('up'), curVotes = parseInt($that.parent().find('div.count').text(), 10); // current vote castVote(submissionId, voteType); // Voted up on submission if (voteType === 'up') { var alreadyVotedUp = $that.hasClass('likes'), upCount = $that.next('div.count'), dislikes = $that.nextAll('a').first(); // next anchor attr if (alreadyVotedUp) { // Clicked the up arrow and previously voted up $that.toggleClass('likes up'); if (totalUpCount > totalDownCount) { upCount.text(curVotes - 1); largeCount.text(curVotes - 1); } else { upCount.text(0); largeCount.text(0); } upCount.css('color', '#555').hide().fadeIn(); largeCount.hide().fadeIn(); } else if (dislikes.hasClass('dislikes')) { // Voted down now are voting up if (totalDownCount > totalUpCount) { upCount.text(0); largeCount.text(0); } else if (totalUpCount > totalDownCount) { console.log(totalDownCount); console.log(totalUpCount); if (totalDownCount === 0) { upCount.text(curVotes + 1); largeCount.text(curVotes + 1); } else { upCount.text(curVotes + 2); largeCount.text(curVotes + 2); } } else { upCount.text(curVotes + 1); largeCount.text(curVotes + 1); } dislikes.toggleClass('down dislikes'); upCount.css('color', '#296394').hide().fadeIn(200); largeCount.hide().fadeIn(); } else { if (totalDownCount > totalUpCount) { upCount.text(0); largeCount.text(0); } else { // They clicked the up arrow and haven't voted up yet upCount.text(curVotes + 1); largeCount.text(curVotes + 1).hide().fadeIn(200); upCount.css('color', '#296394').hide().fadeIn(200); } } // Change arrow to dark blue if (isUp) { $that.toggleClass('up likes'); } } // Voted down on submission if (voteType === 'down') { var alreadyVotedDown = $that.hasClass('dislikes'), downCount = $that.prev('div.count'); // Get previous anchor attribute var likes = $that.prevAll('a').first(); if (alreadyVotedDown) { if (curVotes === 0) { if (totalDownCount > totalUp) { downCount.text(curVotes); largeCount.text(curVotes); } else { if (totalUpCount < totalDownCount || totalUpCount == totalDownCount) { downCount.text(0); largeCount.text(0); } else { downCount.text((totalUpCount - totalUpCount) + 1); largeCount.text((totalUpCount - totalUpCount) + 1); } } } else { downCount.text(curVotes + 1); largeCount.text(curVotes + 1); } $that.toggleClass('down dislikes'); downCount.css('color', '#555').hide().fadeIn(200); largeCount.hide().fadeIn(); } else if (likes.hasClass('likes')) { // They voted up from 0, and now are voting down if (curVotes <= 1) { downCount.text(0); largeCount.text(0); } else { // They voted up, now they are voting down (from a number > 0) downCount.text(curVotes - 2); largeCount.text(curVotes - 2); } likes.toggleClass('up likes'); downCount.css('color', '#ba2a2a').hide().fadeIn(200); largeCount.hide().fadeIn(200); } else { if (curVotes > 0) { downCount.text(curVotes - 1); largeCount.text(curVotes - 1); } else { downCount.text(curVotes); largeCount.text(curVotes); } downCount.css('color', '#ba2a2a').hide().fadeIn(200); largeCount.hide().fadeIn(200); } // Change the arrow to red if (isDown) { $that.toggleClass('down dislikes'); } } return false; }); });? Pretty convoluted, right? Is there a way to do something similar but in about 1/3 of the code I've written? After attempting to re-write it, I find myself doing the same thing so I just gave up halfway through and decided to ask for some help (fiddle of most recent).

  Read the article

• Data Modeling: Logical Modeling Exercise

  - by swisscheese

  In trying to learn the art of data storage I have been trying to take in as much solid information as possible. PerformanceDBA posted some really helpful tutorials/examples in the following posts among others: is my data normalized? and Relational table naming convention. I already asked a subset question of this model here. So to make sure I understood the concepts he presented and I have seen elsewhere I wanted to take things a step or two further and see if I am grasping the concepts. Hence the purpose of this post, which hopefully others can also learn from. Everything I present is conceptual to me and for learning rather than applying it in some production system. It would be cool to get some input from PerformanceDBA also since I used his models to get started, but I appreciate all input given from anyone. As I am new to databases and especially modeling I will be the first to admit that I may not always ask the right questions, explain my thoughts clearly, or use the right verbage due to lack of expertise on the subject. So please keep that in mind and feel free to steer me in the right direction if I head off track. If there is enough interest in this I would like to take this from the logical to physical phases to show the evolution of the process and share it here on Stack. I will keep this thread for the Logical Diagram though and start new one for the additional steps. For my understanding I will be building a MySQL DB in the end to run some tests and see if what I came up with actually works. Here is the list of things that I want to capture in this conceptual model. Edit for V1.2 The purpose of this is to list Bands, their members, and the Events that they will be appearing at, as well as offer music and other merchandise for sale Members will be able to match up with friends Members can write reviews on the Bands, their music, and their events. There can only be one review per member on a given item, although they can edit their reviews and history will be maintained. BandMembers will have the chance to write a single Comment on Reviews about the Band they are associated with. Collectively as a Band only one Comment is allowed per Review. Members can then rate all Reviews and Comments but only once per given instance Members can select their favorite Bands, music, Merchandise, and Events Bands, Songs, and Events will be categorized into the type of Genre that they are and then further subcategorized into a SubGenre if necessary. It is ok for a Band or Event to fall into more then one Genre/SubGenre combination. Event date, time, and location will be posted for a given band and members can show that they will be attending the Event. An Event can be comprised of more than one Band, and multiple Events can take place at a single location on the same day Every party will be tied to at least one address and address history shall be maintained. Each party could also be tied to more then one address at a time (i.e. billing, shipping, physical) There will be stored profiles for Bands, BandMembers, and general members. So there it is, maybe a bit involved but could be a great learning tool for many hopefully as the process evolves and input is given by the community. Any input? EDIT v1.1 In response to PerformanceDBA U.3) That means no merchandise other than Band merchandise in the database. Correct ? That was my original thought but you got me thinking. Maybe the site would want to sell its own merchandise or even other merchandise from the bands. Not sure a mod to make for that. Would it require an entire rework of the Catalog section or just the identifying relationship that exists with the Band? Attempted a mod to sell both complete albums or song. Either way they would both be in electronic format only available for download. That is why I listed an Album as being comprised of Songs rather then 2 separate entities. U.5) I understand what you bring up about the circular relation with Favorite. I would like to get to this “It is either one Entity with some form of differentiation (FavoriteType) which identifies its treatment” but how to is not clear to me. What am I missing here? u.6) “Business Rules This is probably the only area you are weak in.” Thanks for the honest response. I will readdress these but I hope to clear up some confusion in my head first with the responses I have posted back to you. Q.1) Yes I would like to have Accepted, Rejected, and Blocked. I am not sure what you are referring to as to how this would change the logical model? Q.2) A person does not have to be a User. They can exist only as a BandMember. Is that what you are asking? Minor Issue Zero, One, or More…Oops I admit I forgot to give this attention when building the model. I am submitting this version as is and will address in a future version. I need to read up more on Constraint Checking to make sure I am understanding things. M.4) Depends if you envision OrderPurchase in the future. Can you expand as to what you mean here? EDIT V1.2 In response to PerformanceDBA input... Lessons learned. I was mixing the concept of Identifying / Non-Identifying and Cardinality (i.e. Genre / SubGenre), and doing so inconsistently to make things worse. Associative Tables are not required in Logical Diagrams as their many-to-many relationships can be depicted and then expanded in the Physical Model. I was overlooking the Cardinality in a lot of the relationships The importance of reading through relationships using effective Verb Phrases to reassure I am modeling what I want to accomplish. U.2) In the concept of this model it is only required to track a Venue as a location for an Event. No further data needs to be collected. With that being said Events will take place on a given EventDate and will be hosted at a Venue. Venues will host multiple events and possibly multiple events on a given date. In my new model my thinking was that EventDate is already tied to Event . Therefore, Venue will not need a relationship with EventDate. The 5th and 6th bullets you have listed under U.2) leave me questioning my thinking though. Am I missing something here? U.3) Is it time to move the link between Item and Band up to Item and Party instead? With the current design I don't see a possibility to sell merchandise not tied to the band as you have brought up. U.5) I left as per your input rather than making it a discrete Supertype/Subtype Relationship as I don’t see a benefit of having that type of roll up. Additional Revisions AR.1) After going through the exercise for FavoriteItem, I feel that Item to Review requires a many-to-many relationship so that is indicated. Necessary? Ok here we go for v1.3 I took a few days on this version, going back and forth with my design. Once the logical process is complete, as I want to see if I am on the right track, I will go through in depth what I had learned and the troubles I faced as a beginner going through this process. The big point for this version was it took throwing in some Keys to help see what I was missing in the past. Going through the process of doing a matrix proved to be of great help also. Regardless of anything, if it wasn't for the input given by PerformanceDBA I would still be a lost soul wondering in the dark. Who knows my current design might reaffirm that I still am, but I have learned a lot so I am know I at least have a flashlight in my hand. At this point in time I admit that I am still confused about identifying and non-identifying relationships. In my model I had to use non-identifying relationships with non nulls just to join the relationships I wanted to model. In reading a lot on the subject there seems to be a lot of disagreement and indecisiveness on the subject so I did what I thought represented the right things in my model. When to force (identifying) and when to be free (non-identifying)? Anyone have inputs? EDIT V1.4 Ok took the V1.3 inputs and cleaned things up for this V1.4 Currently working on a V1.5 to include attributes.

  Read the article

• Converting linear colors to SRGB shows banding in FFmpeg

  - by user1863947

  When I convert an EXR file sequence with x264 using FFmpeg and convert the colorspace from linear to SRGB (with gamma 0.45454545) I get some heavy banding issues (most visible on a dark gradient). Here is the ffmpeg command I use: C:/ffmpeg.exe -y -i C:/seq_v001.%04d.exr -vf lutrgb=r=gammaval(0.45454545):g=gammaval(0.45454545):b=gammaval(0.45454545) -vcodec libx264 -pix_fmt yuv420p -preset slow -crf 18 -r 25 C:/out.mov Here is the output: ffmpeg version N-47062-g26c531c Copyright (c) 2000-2012 the FFmpeg developers built on Nov 25 2012 12:25:21 with gcc 4.7.2 (GCC) configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --disable-pthreads --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-avisynth --enable-bzlib --enable-frei0r --enable-libass --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libfreetype --enable-libgsm --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libnut --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopus --enable-librtmp --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libutvideo --enable-libvo-aacenc --enable-libvo-amrwbenc --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-libx264 --enable-libxavs --enable-libxvid --enable-zlib libavutil 52. 9.100 / 52. 9.100 libavcodec 54. 77.100 / 54. 77.100 libavformat 54. 37.100 / 54. 37.100 libavdevice 54. 3.100 / 54. 3.100 libavfilter 3. 23.102 / 3. 23.102 libswscale 2. 1.102 / 2. 1.102 libswresample 0. 17.101 / 0. 17.101 libpostproc 52. 2.100 / 52. 2.100 Input #0, image2, from 'C:/seq_v001.%04d.exr': Duration: 00:00:09.60, start: 0.000000, bitrate: N/A Stream #0:0: Video: exr, rgb48le, 960x540 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 25 fps, 25 tbr, 25 tbn, 25 tbc [libx264 @ 0000000004d11540] using SAR=1/1 [libx264 @ 0000000004d11540] using cpu capabilities: MMX2 SSE2Fast SSSE3 FastShuffle SSE4.2 [libx264 @ 0000000004d11540] profile High, level 3.1 [libx264 @ 0000000004d11540] 264 - core 128 r2216 198a7ea - H.264/MPEG-4 AVC codec - Copyleft 2003-2012 - http://www.videolan.org/x264.html - options: cabac=1 ref=5 deblock=1:0:0 analyse=0x3:0x113 me=umh subme=8 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=-2 threads=18 lookahead_threads=3 sliced_threads=0 nr=0 decimate=1 interlaced=0 bluray_compat=0 constrained_intra=0 bframes=3 b_pyramid=2 b_adapt=2 b_bias=0 direct=3 weightb=1 open_gop=0 weightp=2 keyint=250 keyint_min=25 scenecut=40 intra_refresh=0 rc_lookahead=50 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, mov, to 'C:/out.mov': Metadata: encoder : Lavf54.37.100 Stream #0:0: Video: h264 (avc1 / 0x31637661), yuv420p, 960x540 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], q=-1--1, 12800 tbn, 25 tbc Stream mapping: Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (exr -> libx264) Press [q] to stop, [?] for help [exr @ 000000000dff8c40] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff90c0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9520] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9960] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9dc0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffa200] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffa660] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffaaa0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffaf00] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffb340] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffb7a0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffbbe0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffc040] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff8c40] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff90c0] Found more than one compression attribute frame= 16 fps=0.0 q=0.0 size= 0kB time=00:00:00.00 bitrate= 0.0kbits/s Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9960] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9dc0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffa200] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffa660] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffaaa0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffaf00] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffb340] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffb7a0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffbbe0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffc040] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff8c40] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff90c0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9520] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9960] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9dc0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffa200] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffa660] Found more than one compression attribute frame= 34 fps= 33 q=0.0 size= 0kB time=00:00:00.00 bitrate= 0.0kbits/s Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffaf00] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffb340] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffb7a0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffbbe0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffc040] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff8c40] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff90c0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9520] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9960] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9dc0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffa200] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffa660] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffaaa0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffaf00] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffb340] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffb7a0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffbbe0] Found more than one compression attribute frame= 52 fps= 34 q=0.0 size= 0kB time=00:00:00.00 bitrate= 0.0kbits/s Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff8c40] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff90c0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9520] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9960] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9dc0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffa200] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffa660] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffaaa0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffaf00] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffb340] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffb7a0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffbbe0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffc040] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff8c40] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff90c0] Found more than one compression attribute frame= 68 fps= 34 q=0.0 size= 0kB time=00:00:00.00 bitrate= 0.0kbits/s Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9960] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9dc0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffa200] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffa660] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffaaa0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffaf00] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffb340] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffb7a0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffbbe0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffc040] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff8c40] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff90c0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9520] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9960] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9dc0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffa200] Found more than one compression attribute frame= 85 fps= 33 q=23.0 size= 47kB time=00:00:00.44 bitrate= 867.5kbits/s Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffaaa0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffaf00] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffb340] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffb7a0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffbbe0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffc040] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff8c40] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff90c0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9520] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9960] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9dc0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffa200] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffa660] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffaaa0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffaf00] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffb340] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffb7a0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffbbe0] Found more than one compression attribute frame= 104 fps= 34 q=23.0 size= 94kB time=00:00:01.20 bitrate= 640.3kbits/s Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff8c40] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff90c0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9520] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9960] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9dc0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffa200] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffa660] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffaaa0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffaf00] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffb340] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffb7a0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffbbe0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffc040] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff8c40] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff90c0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9520] Found more than one compression attribute frame= 121 fps= 34 q=23.0 size= 133kB time=00:00:01.88 bitrate= 577.8kbits/s Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9dc0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffa200] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffa660] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffaaa0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffaf00] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffb340] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffb7a0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffbbe0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffc040] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff8c40] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff90c0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9520] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9960] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9dc0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffa200] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffa660] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffaaa0] Found more than one compression attribute frame= 139 fps= 34 q=23.0 size= 172kB time=00:00:02.60 bitrate= 543.4kbits/s Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffb340] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffb7a0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffbbe0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffc040] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff8c40] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff90c0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9520] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9960] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9dc0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffa200] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffa660] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffaaa0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffaf00] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffb340] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffb7a0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffbbe0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffc040] Found more than one compression attribute frame= 157 fps= 34 q=23.0 size= 213kB time=00:00:03.32 bitrate= 525.6kbits/s Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff90c0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9520] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9960] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9dc0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffa200] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffa660] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffaaa0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffaf00] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffb340] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffb7a0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffbbe0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffc040] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff8c40] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff90c0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9520] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9960] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9dc0] Found more than one compression attribute frame= 175 fps= 34 q=23.0 size= 254kB time=00:00:04.04 bitrate= 516.0kbits/s Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffa660] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffaaa0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffaf00] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffb340] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffb7a0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffbbe0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffc040] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff8c40] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff90c0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9520] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9960] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9dc0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffa200] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffa660] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffaaa0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffaf00] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffb340] Found more than one compression attribute frame= 193 fps= 35 q=23.0 size= 287kB time=00:00:04.76 bitrate= 494.6kbits/s Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffbbe0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffc040] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff8c40] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff90c0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9520] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9960] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9dc0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffa200] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffa660] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffaaa0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffaf00] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffb340] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffb7a0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffbbe0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffc040] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff8c40] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff90c0] Found more than one compression attribute frame= 211 fps= 35 q=23.0 size= 332kB time=00:00:05.48 bitrate= 496.4kbits/s Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9960] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9dc0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffa200] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffa660] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffaaa0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffaf00] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffb340] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffb7a0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffbbe0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffc040] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff8c40] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff90c0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9520] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9960] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dff9dc0] Found more than one compression attribute [exr @ 000000000dffa200] Found more than one compression attribute frame= 228 fps= 34 q=23.0 size= 421kB time=00:00:06.16 bitrate= 559.8kbits/s frame= 240 fps= 32 q=-1.0 Lsize= 708kB time=00:00:09.52 bitrate= 609.3kbits/s video:705kB audio:0kB subtitle:0 global headers:0kB muxing overhead 0.505636% [libx264 @ 0000000004d11540] frame I:2 Avg QP:15.07 size: 18186 [libx264 @ 0000000004d11540] frame P:73 Avg QP:16.51 size: 3719 [libx264 @ 0000000004d11540] frame B:165 Avg QP:18.38 size: 2502 [libx264 @ 0000000004d11540] consecutive B-frames: 2.5% 3.3% 42.5% 51.7% [libx264 @ 0000000004d11540] mb I I16..4: 46.2% 33.3% 20.4% [libx264 @ 0000000004d11540] mb P I16..4: 6.8% 2.0% 0.6% P16..4: 29.4% 10.5% 4.6% 0.0% 0.0% skip:46.1% [libx264 @ 0000000004d11540] mb B I16..4: 1.8% 0.7% 0.2% B16..8: 40.9% 6.5% 0.3% direct: 1.2% skip:48.5% L0:52.0% L1:47.5% BI: 0.5% [libx264 @ 0000000004d11540] 8x8 transform intra:24.7% inter:81.3% [libx264 @ 0000000004d11540] direct mvs spatial:93.3% temporal:6.7% [libx264 @ 0000000004d11540] coded y,uvDC,uvAC intra: 10.7% 31.4% 24.9% inter: 2.3% 9.0% 2.9% [libx264 @ 0000000004d11540] i16 v,h,dc,p: 83% 11% 6% 1% [libx264 @ 0000000004d11540] i8 v,h,dc,ddl,ddr,vr,hd,vl,hu: 9% 9% 52% 6% 4% 4% 5% 5% 5% [libx264 @ 0000000004d11540] i4 v,h,dc,ddl,ddr,vr,hd,vl,hu: 22% 11% 44% 5% 4% 3% 3% 4% 3% [libx264 @ 0000000004d11540] i8c dc,h,v,p: 69% 15% 15% 2% [libx264 @ 0000000004d11540] Weighted P-Frames: Y:0.0% UV:0.0% [libx264 @ 0000000004d11540] ref P L0: 48.9% 0.1% 16.8% 17.0% 11.3% 5.8% [libx264 @ 0000000004d11540] ref B L0: 57.7% 21.9% 13.9% 6.4% [libx264 @ 0000000004d11540] ref B L1: 82.4% 17.6% [libx264 @ 0000000004d11540] kb/s:600.61 For me it looks like it converts the video first and afterwards applies the gamma correction on 8-bit clipped video. Does someone have an idea?

  Read the article

• background image not showing in html

  - by Registered User

  I am having following css <!DOCTYPE html > <html> <head> <meta charset="utf-8"> <title>Black Goose Bistro Summer Menu</title> <link href='http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Marko+One' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'> <style> body { font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; line-height: 175%; margin: 0 15% 0; background-image:url(images/bullseye.png); } #header { margin-top: 0; padding: 3em 1em 2em 1em; text-align: center; } a { text-decoration: none; } h1 { font: bold 1.5em Georgia, serif; text-shadow: .1em .1em .2em gray; } h2 { font-size: 1em; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: .5em; text-align: center; } dt { font-weight: bold; } strong { font-style: italic; } ul { list-style-type: none; margin: 0; padding: 0; } #info p { font-style: italic; } .price { font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: italic; } p.warning, sup { font-size: small; } .label { font-weight: bold; font-variant: small-caps; font-style: normal; } h2 + p { text-align: center; font-style: italic; } ); </style> </head> <body> <div id="header"> <h1>Black Goose Bistro &bull; Summer Menu</h1> <div id="info"> <p>Baker's Corner, Seekonk, Massachusetts<br> <span class="label">Hours: Monday through Thursday:</span> 11 to 9, <span class="label">Friday and Saturday;</span> 11 to midnight</p> <ul> <li><a href="#appetizers">Appetizers</a></li> <li><a href="#entrees">Main Courses</a></li> <li><a href="#toast">Traditional Toasts</a></li> <li><a href="#dessert">Dessert Selection</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="appetizers"> <h2>Appetizers</h2> <p>This season, we explore the spicy flavors of the southwest in our appetizer collection.</p> <dl> <dt>Black bean purses</dt> <dd>Spicy black bean and a blend of mexican cheeses wrapped in sheets of phyllo and baked until golden. <span class="price">$3.95</span></dd> <dt class="newitem">Southwestern napoleons with lump crab &mdash; <strong>new item!</strong></dt> <dd>Layers of light lump crab meat, bean and corn salsa, and our handmade flour tortillas. <span class="price">$7.95</span></dd> </dl> </div> <div id="entrees"> <h2>Main courses</h2> <p>Big, bold flavors are the name of the game this summer. Allow us to assist you with finding the perfect wine.</p> <dl> <dt class="newitem">Jerk rotisserie chicken with fried plantains &mdash; <strong>new item!</strong></dt> <dd>Tender chicken slow-roasted on the rotisserie, flavored with spicy and fragrant jerk sauce and served with fried plantains and fresh mango. <strong>Very spicy.</strong> <span class="price">$12.95</span></dd> <dt>Shrimp sate kebabs with peanut sauce</dt> <dd>Skewers of shrimp marinated in lemongrass, garlic, and fish sauce then grilled to perfection. Served with spicy peanut sauce and jasmine rice. <span class="price">$12.95</span></dd> <dt>Grilled skirt steak with mushroom fricasee</dt> <dd>Flavorful skirt steak marinated in asian flavors grilled as you like it^*. Served over a blend of sauteed wild mushrooms with a side of blue cheese mashed potatoes. <span class="price">$16.95</span></dd> </dl> </div> <div id="toast"> <h2>Traditional Toasts</h2> <p>The ultimate comfort food, our traditional toast recipes are adapted from <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/13923/13923-h/13923-h.htm"><cite>The Whitehouse Cookbook</cite></a> published in 1887.</p> <dl> <dt>Cream toast</dt> <dd>Simple cream sauce over highest quality toasted bread, baked daily. <span class="price">$3.95</span></dd> <dt>Mushroom toast</dt> <dd>Layers of light lump crab meat, bean and corn salsa, and our handmade flour tortillas. <span class="price">$6.95</span></dd> <dt>Nun's toast</dt> <dd>Onions and hard-boiled eggs in a cream sauce over buttered hot toast. <span class="price">$6.95</span></dd> <dt>Apple toast</dt> <dd>Sweet, cinnamon stewed apples over delicious buttery grilled bread. <span class="price">$6.95</span></dd> </dl> </div> <div id="dessert"> <h2>Dessert Selection</h2> <p>Be sure to save room for our desserts, made daily by our own <a href="http://www.jwu.edu/college.aspx?id=19510">Johnson & Wales</a> trained pastry chef.</p> <dl> <dt class="newitem">Lemon chiffon cake &mdash; <strong>new item!</strong></dt> <dd>Light and citrus flavored sponge cake with buttercream frosting as light as a cloud. <span class="price">$2.95</span></dd> <dt class="newitem">Molten chocolate cake</dt> <dd>Bubba's special dark chocolate cake with a warm, molten center. Served with or without a splash of almond liqueur. <span class="price">$3.95</span></dd> </dl> </div> <p class="warning">^* We are required to warn you that undercooked food is a health risk.</p> </body> </html> but the background image does not appear in body tag you can see background-image:url(images/bullseye.png); this html page is bistro.html and the directory in which it is contained there is a folder images and inside images folder I have a file bullseye.png .I expect the png to appear in background.But that does not happen. For sake of question I am posting the image here also Let me know if the syntax of css wrong? following is image http://i.stack.imgur.com/YUKgg.png

  Read the article

• The Incremental Architect&rsquo;s Napkin - #5 - Design functions for extensibility and readability

  - by Ralf Westphal

  Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/theArchitectsNapkin/archive/2014/08/24/the-incremental-architectrsquos-napkin---5---design-functions-for.aspx The functionality of programs is entered via Entry Points. So what we´re talking about when designing software is a bunch of functions handling the requests represented by and flowing in through those Entry Points. Designing software thus consists of at least three phases: Analyzing the requirements to find the Entry Points and their signatures Designing the functionality to be executed when those Entry Points get triggered Implementing the functionality according to the design aka coding I presume, you´re familiar with phase 1 in some way. And I guess you´re proficient in implementing functionality in some programming language. But in my experience developers in general are not experienced in going through an explicit phase 2. “Designing functionality? What´s that supposed to mean?” you might already have thought. Here´s my definition: To design functionality (or functional design for short) means thinking about… well, functions. You find a solution for what´s supposed to happen when an Entry Point gets triggered in terms of functions. A conceptual solution that is, because those functions only exist in your head (or on paper) during this phase. But you may have guess that, because it´s “design” not “coding”. And here is, what functional design is not: It´s not about logic. Logic is expressions (e.g. +, -, && etc.) and control statements (e.g. if, switch, for, while etc.). Also I consider calling external APIs as logic. It´s equally basic. It´s what code needs to do in order to deliver some functionality or quality. Logic is what´s doing that needs to be done by software. Transformations are either done through expressions or API-calls. And then there is alternative control flow depending on the result of some expression. Basically it´s just jumps in Assembler, sometimes to go forward (if, switch), sometimes to go backward (for, while, do). But calling your own function is not logic. It´s not necessary to produce any outcome. Functionality is not enhanced by adding functions (subroutine calls) to your code. Nor is quality increased by adding functions. No performance gain, no higher scalability etc. through functions. Functions are not relevant to functionality. Strange, isn´t it. What they are important for is security of investment. By introducing functions into our code we can become more productive (re-use) and can increase evolvability (higher unterstandability, easier to keep code consistent). That´s no small feat, however. Evolvable code can hardly be overestimated. That´s why to me functional design is so important. It´s at the core of software development. To sum this up: Functional design is on a level of abstraction above (!) logical design or algorithmic design. Functional design is only done until you get to a point where each function is so simple you are very confident you can easily code it. Functional design an logical design (which mostly is coding, but can also be done using pseudo code or flow charts) are complementary. Software needs both. If you start coding right away you end up in a tangled mess very quickly. Then you need back out through refactoring. Functional design on the other hand is bloodless without actual code. It´s just a theory with no experiments to prove it. But how to do functional design? An example of functional design Let´s assume a program to de-duplicate strings. The user enters a number of strings separated by commas, e.g. a, b, a, c, d, b, e, c, a. And the program is supposed to clear this list of all doubles, e.g. a, b, c, d, e. There is only one Entry Point to this program: the user triggers the de-duplication by starting the program with the string list on the command line C:\>deduplicate "a, b, a, c, d, b, e, c, a" a, b, c, d, e …or by clicking on a GUI button. This leads to the Entry Point function to get called. It´s the program´s main function in case of the batch version or a button click event handler in the GUI version. That´s the physical Entry Point so to speak. It´s inevitable. What then happens is a three step process: Transform the input data from the user into a request. Call the request handler. Transform the output of the request handler into a tangible result for the user. Or to phrase it a bit more generally: Accept input. Transform input into output. Present output. This does not mean any of these steps requires a lot of effort. Maybe it´s just one line of code to accomplish it. Nevertheless it´s a distinct step in doing the processing behind an Entry Point. Call it an aspect or a responsibility - and you will realize it most likely deserves a function of its own to satisfy the Single Responsibility Principle (SRP). Interestingly the above list of steps is already functional design. There is no logic, but nevertheless the solution is described - albeit on a higher level of abstraction than you might have done yourself. But it´s still on a meta-level. The application to the domain at hand is easy, though: Accept string list from command line De-duplicate Present de-duplicated strings on standard output And this concrete list of processing steps can easily be transformed into code:static void Main(string[] args) { var input = Accept_string_list(args); var output = Deduplicate(input); Present_deduplicated_string_list(output); } Instead of a big problem there are three much smaller problems now. If you think each of those is trivial to implement, then go for it. You can stop the functional design at this point. But maybe, just maybe, you´re not so sure how to go about with the de-duplication for example. Then just implement what´s easy right now, e.g.private static string Accept_string_list(string[] args) { return args[0]; } private static void Present_deduplicated_string_list( string[] output) { var line = string.Join(", ", output); Console.WriteLine(line); } Accept_string_list() contains logic in the form of an API-call. Present_deduplicated_string_list() contains logic in the form of an expression and an API-call. And then repeat the functional design for the remaining processing step. What´s left is the domain logic: de-duplicating a list of strings. How should that be done? Without any logic at our disposal during functional design you´re left with just functions. So which functions could make up the de-duplication? Here´s a suggestion: De-duplicate Parse the input string into a true list of strings. Register each string in a dictionary/map/set. That way duplicates get cast away. Transform the data structure into a list of unique strings. Processing step 2 obviously was the core of the solution. That´s where real creativity was needed. That´s the core of the domain. But now after this refinement the implementation of each step is easy again:private static string[] Parse_string_list(string input) { return input.Split(',') .Select(s => s.Trim()) .ToArray(); } private static Dictionary<string,object> Compile_unique_strings(string[] strings) { return strings.Aggregate( new Dictionary<string, object>(), (agg, s) => { agg[s] = null; return agg; }); } private static string[] Serialize_unique_strings( Dictionary<string,object> dict) { return dict.Keys.ToArray(); } With these three additional functions Main() now looks like this:static void Main(string[] args) { var input = Accept_string_list(args); var strings = Parse_string_list(input); var dict = Compile_unique_strings(strings); var output = Serialize_unique_strings(dict); Present_deduplicated_string_list(output); } I think that´s very understandable code: just read it from top to bottom and you know how the solution to the problem works. It´s a mirror image of the initial design: Accept string list from command line Parse the input string into a true list of strings. Register each string in a dictionary/map/set. That way duplicates get cast away. Transform the data structure into a list of unique strings. Present de-duplicated strings on standard output You can even re-generate the design by just looking at the code. Code and functional design thus are always in sync - if you follow some simple rules. But about that later. And as a bonus: all the functions making up the process are small - which means easy to understand, too. So much for an initial concrete example. Now it´s time for some theory. Because there is method to this madness ;-) The above has only scratched the surface. Introducing Flow Design Functional design starts with a given function, the Entry Point. Its goal is to describe the behavior of the program when the Entry Point is triggered using a process, not an algorithm. An algorithm consists of logic, a process on the other hand consists just of steps or stages. Each processing step transforms input into output or a side effect. Also it might access resources, e.g. a printer, a database, or just memory. Processing steps thus can rely on state of some sort. This is different from Functional Programming, where functions are supposed to not be stateful and not cause side effects.[1] In its simplest form a process can be written as a bullet point list of steps, e.g. Get data from user Output result to user Transform data Parse data Map result for output Such a compilation of steps - possibly on different levels of abstraction - often is the first artifact of functional design. It can be generated by a team in an initial design brainstorming. Next comes ordering the steps. What should happen first, what next etc.? Get data from user Parse data Transform data Map result for output Output result to user That´s great for a start into functional design. It´s better than starting to code right away on a given function using TDD. Please get me right: TDD is a valuable practice. But it can be unnecessarily hard if the scope of a functionn is too large. But how do you know beforehand without investing some thinking? And how to do this thinking in a systematic fashion? My recommendation: For any given function you´re supposed to implement first do a functional design. Then, once you´re confident you know the processing steps - which are pretty small - refine and code them using TDD. You´ll see that´s much, much easier - and leads to cleaner code right away. For more information on this approach I call “Informed TDD” read my book of the same title. Thinking before coding is smart. And writing down the solution as a bunch of functions possibly is the simplest thing you can do, I´d say. It´s more according to the KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) principle than returning constants or other trivial stuff TDD development often is started with. So far so good. A simple ordered list of processing steps will do to start with functional design. As shown in the above example such steps can easily be translated into functions. Moving from design to coding thus is simple. However, such a list does not scale. Processing is not always that simple to be captured in a list. And then the list is just text. Again. Like code. That means the design is lacking visuality. Textual representations need more parsing by your brain than visual representations. Plus they are limited in their “dimensionality”: text just has one dimension, it´s sequential. Alternatives and parallelism are hard to encode in text. In addition the functional design using numbered lists lacks data. It´s not visible what´s the input, output, and state of the processing steps. That´s why functional design should be done using a lightweight visual notation. No tool is necessary to draw such designs. Use pen and paper; a flipchart, a whiteboard, or even a napkin is sufficient. Visualizing processes The building block of the functional design notation is a functional unit. I mostly draw it like this: Something is done, it´s clear what goes in, it´s clear what comes out, and it´s clear what the processing step requires in terms of state or hardware. Whenever input flows into a functional unit it gets processed and output is produced and/or a side effect occurs. Flowing data is the driver of something happening. That´s why I call this approach to functional design Flow Design. It´s about data flow instead of control flow. Control flow like in algorithms is of no concern to functional design. Thinking about control flow simply is too low level. Once you start with control flow you easily get bogged down by tons of details. That´s what you want to avoid during design. Design is supposed to be quick, broad brush, abstract. It should give overview. But what about all the details? As Robert C. Martin rightly said: “Programming is abot detail”. Detail is a matter of code. Once you start coding the processing steps you designed you can worry about all the detail you want. Functional design does not eliminate all the nitty gritty. It just postpones tackling them. To me that´s also an example of the SRP. Function design has the responsibility to come up with a solution to a problem posed by a single function (Entry Point). And later coding has the responsibility to implement the solution down to the last detail (i.e. statement, API-call). TDD unfortunately mixes both responsibilities. It´s just coding - and thereby trying to find detailed implementations (green phase) plus getting the design right (refactoring). To me that´s one reason why TDD has failed to deliver on its promise for many developers. Using functional units as building blocks of functional design processes can be depicted very easily. Here´s the initial process for the example problem: For each processing step draw a functional unit and label it. Choose a verb or an “action phrase” as a label, not a noun. Functional design is about activities, not state or structure. Then make the output of an upstream step the input of a downstream step. Finally think about the data that should flow between the functional units. Write the data above the arrows connecting the functional units in the direction of the data flow. Enclose the data description in brackets. That way you can clearly see if all flows have already been specified. Empty brackets mean “no data is flowing”, but nevertheless a signal is sent. A name like “list” or “strings” in brackets describes the data content. Use lower case labels for that purpose. A name starting with an upper case letter like “String” or “Customer” on the other hand signifies a data type. If you like, you also can combine descriptions with data types by separating them with a colon, e.g. (list:string) or (strings:string[]). But these are just suggestions from my practice with Flow Design. You can do it differently, if you like. Just be sure to be consistent. Flows wired-up in this manner I call one-dimensional (1D). Each functional unit just has one input and/or one output. A functional unit without an output is possible. It´s like a black hole sucking up input without producing any output. Instead it produces side effects. A functional unit without an input, though, does make much sense. When should it start to work? What´s the trigger? That´s why in the above process even the first processing step has an input. If you like, view such 1D-flows as pipelines. Data is flowing through them from left to right. But as you can see, it´s not always the same data. It get´s transformed along its passage: (args) becomes a (list) which is turned into (strings). The Principle of Mutual Oblivion A very characteristic trait of flows put together from function units is: no functional units knows another one. They are all completely independent of each other. Functional units don´t know where their input is coming from (or even when it´s gonna arrive). They just specify a range of values they can process. And they promise a certain behavior upon input arriving. Also they don´t know where their output is going. They just produce it in their own time independent of other functional units. That means at least conceptually all functional units work in parallel. Functional units don´t know their “deployment context”. They now nothing about the overall flow they are place in. They are just consuming input from some upstream, and producing output for some downstream. That makes functional units very easy to test. At least as long as they don´t depend on state or resources. I call this the Principle of Mutual Oblivion (PoMO). Functional units are oblivious of others as well as an overall context/purpose. They are just parts of a whole focused on a single responsibility. How the whole is built, how a larger goal is achieved, is of no concern to the single functional units. By building software in such a manner, functional design interestingly follows nature. Nature´s building blocks for organisms also follow the PoMO. The cells forming your body do not know each other. Take a nerve cell “controlling” a muscle cell for example:[2] The nerve cell does not know anything about muscle cells, let alone the specific muscel cell it is “attached to”. Likewise the muscle cell does not know anything about nerve cells, let a lone a specific nerve cell “attached to” it. Saying “the nerve cell is controlling the muscle cell” thus only makes sense when viewing both from the outside. “Control” is a concept of the whole, not of its parts. Control is created by wiring-up parts in a certain way. Both cells are mutually oblivious. Both just follow a contract. One produces Acetylcholine (ACh) as output, the other consumes ACh as input. Where the ACh is going, where it´s coming from neither cell cares about. Million years of evolution have led to this kind of division of labor. And million years of evolution have produced organism designs (DNA) which lead to the production of these different cell types (and many others) and also to their co-location. The result: the overall behavior of an organism. How and why this happened in nature is a mystery. For our software, though, it´s clear: functional and quality requirements needs to be fulfilled. So we as developers have to become “intelligent designers” of “software cells” which we put together to form a “software organism” which responds in satisfying ways to triggers from it´s environment. My bet is: If nature gets complex organisms working by following the PoMO, who are we to not apply this recipe for success to our much simpler “machines”? So my rule is: Wherever there is functionality to be delivered, because there is a clear Entry Point into software, design the functionality like nature would do it. Build it from mutually oblivious functional units. That´s what Flow Design is about. In that way it´s even universal, I´d say. Its notation can also be applied to biology: Never mind labeling the functional units with nouns. That´s ok in Flow Design. You´ll do that occassionally for functional units on a higher level of abstraction or when their purpose is close to hardware. Getting a cockroach to roam your bedroom takes 1,000,000 nerve cells (neurons). Getting the de-duplication program to do its job just takes 5 “software cells” (functional units). Both, though, follow the same basic principle. Translating functional units into code Moving from functional design to code is no rocket science. In fact it´s straightforward. There are two simple rules: Translate an input port to a function. Translate an output port either to a return statement in that function or to a function pointer visible to that function. The simplest translation of a functional unit is a function. That´s what you saw in the above example. Functions are mutually oblivious. That why Functional Programming likes them so much. It makes them composable. Which is the reason, nature works according to the PoMO. Let´s be clear about one thing: There is no dependency injection in nature. For all of an organism´s complexity no DI container is used. Behavior is the result of smooth cooperation between mutually oblivious building blocks. Functions will often be the adequate translation for the functional units in your designs. But not always. Take for example the case, where a processing step should not always produce an output. Maybe the purpose is to filter input. Here the functional unit consumes words and produces words. But it does not pass along every word flowing in. Some words are swallowed. Think of a spell checker. It probably should not check acronyms for correctness. There are too many of them. Or words with no more than two letters. Such words are called “stop words”. In the above picture the optionality of the output is signified by the astrisk outside the brackets. It means: Any number of (word) data items can flow from the functional unit for each input data item. It might be none or one or even more. This I call a stream of data. Such behavior cannot be translated into a function where output is generated with return. Because a function always needs to return a value. So the output port is translated into a function pointer or continuation which gets passed to the subroutine when called:[3]void filter_stop_words( string word, Action<string> onNoStopWord) { if (...check if not a stop word...) onNoStopWord(word); } If you want to be nitpicky you might call such a function pointer parameter an injection. And technically you´re right. Conceptually, though, it´s not an injection. Because the subroutine is not functionally dependent on the continuation. Firstly continuations are procedures, i.e. subroutines without a return type. Remember: Flow Design is about unidirectional data flow. Secondly the name of the formal parameter is chosen in a way as to not assume anything about downstream processing steps. onNoStopWord describes a situation (or event) within the functional unit only. Translating output ports into function pointers helps keeping functional units mutually oblivious in cases where output is optional or produced asynchronically. Either pass the function pointer to the function upon call. Or make it global by putting it on the encompassing class. Then it´s called an event. In C# that´s even an explicit feature.class Filter { public void filter_stop_words( string word) { if (...check if not a stop word...) onNoStopWord(word); } public event Action<string> onNoStopWord; } When to use a continuation and when to use an event dependens on how a functional unit is used in flows and how it´s packed together with others into classes. You´ll see examples further down the Flow Design road. Another example of 1D functional design Let´s see Flow Design once more in action using the visual notation. How about the famous word wrap kata? Robert C. Martin has posted a much cited solution including an extensive reasoning behind his TDD approach. So maybe you want to compare it to Flow Design. The function signature given is:string WordWrap(string text, int maxLineLength) {...} That´s not an Entry Point since we don´t see an application with an environment and users. Nevertheless it´s a function which is supposed to provide a certain functionality. The text passed in has to be reformatted. The input is a single line of arbitrary length consisting of words separated by spaces. The output should consist of one or more lines of a maximum length specified. If a word is longer than a the maximum line length it can be split in multiple parts each fitting in a line. Flow Design Let´s start by brainstorming the process to accomplish the feat of reformatting the text. What´s needed? Words need to be assembled into lines Words need to be extracted from the input text The resulting lines need to be assembled into the output text Words too long to fit in a line need to be split Does sound about right? I guess so. And it shows a kind of priority. Long words are a special case. So maybe there is a hint for an incremental design here. First let´s tackle “average words” (words not longer than a line). Here´s the Flow Design for this increment: The the first three bullet points turned into functional units with explicit data added. As the signature requires a text is transformed into another text. See the input of the first functional unit and the output of the last functional unit. In between no text flows, but words and lines. That´s good to see because thereby the domain is clearly represented in the design. The requirements are talking about words and lines and here they are. But note the asterisk! It´s not outside the brackets but inside. That means it´s not a stream of words or lines, but lists or sequences. For each text a sequence of words is output. For each sequence of words a sequence of lines is produced. The asterisk is used to abstract from the concrete implementation. Like with streams. Whether the list of words gets implemented as an array or an IEnumerable is not important during design. It´s an implementation detail. Does any processing step require further refinement? I don´t think so. They all look pretty “atomic” to me. And if not… I can always backtrack and refine a process step using functional design later once I´ve gained more insight into a sub-problem. Implementation The implementation is straightforward as you can imagine. The processing steps can all be translated into functions. Each can be tested easily and separately. Each has a focused responsibility. And the process flow becomes just a sequence of function calls: Easy to understand. It clearly states how word wrapping works - on a high level of abstraction. And it´s easy to evolve as you´ll see. Flow Design - Increment 2 So far only texts consisting of “average words” are wrapped correctly. Words not fitting in a line will result in lines too long. Wrapping long words is a feature of the requested functionality. Whether it´s there or not makes a difference to the user. To quickly get feedback I decided to first implement a solution without this feature. But now it´s time to add it to deliver the full scope. Fortunately Flow Design automatically leads to code following the Open Closed Principle (OCP). It´s easy to extend it - instead of changing well tested code. How´s that possible? Flow Design allows for extension of functionality by inserting functional units into the flow. That way existing functional units need not be changed. The data flow arrow between functional units is a natural extension point. No need to resort to the Strategy Pattern. No need to think ahead where extions might need to be made in the future. I just “phase in” the remaining processing step: Since neither Extract words nor Reformat know of their environment neither needs to be touched due to the “detour”. The new processing step accepts the output of the existing upstream step and produces data compatible with the existing downstream step. Implementation - Increment 2 A trivial implementation checking the assumption if this works does not do anything to split long words. The input is just passed on: Note how clean WordWrap() stays. The solution is easy to understand. A developer looking at this code sometime in the future, when a new feature needs to be build in, quickly sees how long words are dealt with. Compare this to Robert C. Martin´s solution:[4] How does this solution handle long words? Long words are not even part of the domain language present in the code. At least I need considerable time to understand the approach. Admittedly the Flow Design solution with the full implementation of long word splitting is longer than Robert C. Martin´s. At least it seems. Because his solution does not cover all the “word wrap situations” the Flow Design solution handles. Some lines would need to be added to be on par, I guess. But even then… Is a difference in LOC that important as long as it´s in the same ball park? I value understandability and openness for extension higher than saving on the last line of code. Simplicity is not just less code, it´s also clarity in design. But don´t take my word for it. Try Flow Design on larger problems and compare for yourself. What´s the easier, more straightforward way to clean code? And keep in mind: You ain´t seen all yet ;-) There´s more to Flow Design than described in this chapter. In closing I hope I was able to give you a impression of functional design that makes you hungry for more. To me it´s an inevitable step in software development. Jumping from requirements to code does not scale. And it leads to dirty code all to quickly. Some thought should be invested first. Where there is a clear Entry Point visible, it´s functionality should be designed using data flows. Because with data flows abstraction is possible. For more background on why that´s necessary read my blog article here. For now let me point out to you - if you haven´t already noticed - that Flow Design is a general purpose declarative language. It´s “programming by intention” (Shalloway et al.). Just write down how you think the solution should work on a high level of abstraction. This breaks down a large problem in smaller problems. And by following the PoMO the solutions to those smaller problems are independent of each other. So they are easy to test. Or you could even think about getting them implemented in parallel by different team members. Flow Design not only increases evolvability, but also helps becoming more productive. All team members can participate in functional design. This goes beyon collective code ownership. We´re talking collective design/architecture ownership. Because with Flow Design there is a common visual language to talk about functional design - which is the foundation for all other design activities.   PS: If you like what you read, consider getting my ebook “The Incremental Architekt´s Napkin”. It´s where I compile all the articles in this series for easier reading. I like the strictness of Function Programming - but I also find it quite hard to live by. And it certainly is not what millions of programmers are used to. Also to me it seems, the real world is full of state and side effects. So why give them such a bad image? That´s why functional design takes a more pragmatic approach. State and side effects are ok for processing steps - but be sure to follow the SRP. Don´t put too much of it into a single processing step. ? Image taken from www.physioweb.org ? My code samples are written in C#. C# sports typed function pointers called delegates. Action is such a function pointer type matching functions with signature void someName(T t). Other languages provide similar ways to work with functions as first class citizens - even Java now in version 8. I trust you find a way to map this detail of my translation to your favorite programming language. I know it works for Java, C++, Ruby, JavaScript, Python, Go. And if you´re using a Functional Programming language it´s of course a no brainer. ? Taken from his blog post “The Craftsman 62, The Dark Path”. ?

  Read the article

• Zen and the Art of File and Folder Organization

  - by Mark Virtue

  Is your desk a paragon of neatness, or does it look like a paper-bomb has gone off? If you’ve been putting off getting organized because the task is too huge or daunting, or you don’t know where to start, we’ve got 40 tips to get you on the path to zen mastery of your filing system. For all those readers who would like to get their files and folders organized, or, if they’re already organized, better organized—we have compiled a complete guide to getting organized and staying organized, a comprehensive article that will hopefully cover every possible tip you could want. Signs that Your Computer is Poorly Organized If your computer is a mess, you’re probably already aware of it.  But just in case you’re not, here are some tell-tale signs: Your Desktop has over 40 icons on it “My Documents” contains over 300 files and 60 folders, including MP3s and digital photos You use the Windows’ built-in search facility whenever you need to find a file You can’t find programs in the out-of-control list of programs in your Start Menu You save all your Word documents in one folder, all your spreadsheets in a second folder, etc Any given file that you’re looking for may be in any one of four different sets of folders But before we start, here are some quick notes: We’re going to assume you know what files and folders are, and how to create, save, rename, copy and delete them The organization principles described in this article apply equally to all computer systems.  However, the screenshots here will reflect how things look on Windows (usually Windows 7).  We will also mention some useful features of Windows that can help you get organized. Everyone has their own favorite methodology of organizing and filing, and it’s all too easy to get into “My Way is Better than Your Way” arguments.  The reality is that there is no perfect way of getting things organized.  When I wrote this article, I tried to keep a generalist and objective viewpoint.  I consider myself to be unusually well organized (to the point of obsession, truth be told), and I’ve had 25 years experience in collecting and organizing files on computers.  So I’ve got a lot to say on the subject.  But the tips I have described here are only one way of doing it.  Hopefully some of these tips will work for you too, but please don’t read this as any sort of “right” way to do it. At the end of the article we’ll be asking you, the reader, for your own organization tips. Why Bother Organizing At All? For some, the answer to this question is self-evident. And yet, in this era of powerful desktop search software (the search capabilities built into the Windows Vista and Windows 7 Start Menus, and third-party programs like Google Desktop Search), the question does need to be asked, and answered. I have a friend who puts every file he ever creates, receives or downloads into his My Documents folder and doesn’t bother filing them into subfolders at all.  He relies on the search functionality built into his Windows operating system to help him find whatever he’s looking for.  And he always finds it.  He’s a Search Samurai.  For him, filing is a waste of valuable time that could be spent enjoying life! It’s tempting to follow suit.  On the face of it, why would anyone bother to take the time to organize their hard disk when such excellent search software is available?  Well, if all you ever want to do with the files you own is to locate and open them individually (for listening, editing, etc), then there’s no reason to ever bother doing one scrap of organization.  But consider these common tasks that are not achievable with desktop search software: Find files manually.  Often it’s not convenient, speedy or even possible to utilize your desktop search software to find what you want.  It doesn’t work 100% of the time, or you may not even have it installed.  Sometimes its just plain faster to go straight to the file you want, if you know it’s in a particular sub-folder, rather than trawling through hundreds of search results. Find groups of similar files (e.g. all your “work” files, all the photos of your Europe holiday in 2008, all your music videos, all the MP3s from Dark Side of the Moon, all your letters you wrote to your wife, all your tax returns).  Clever naming of the files will only get you so far.  Sometimes it’s the date the file was created that’s important, other times it’s the file format, and other times it’s the purpose of the file.  How do you name a collection of files so that they’re easy to isolate based on any of the above criteria?  Short answer, you can’t. Move files to a new computer.  It’s time to upgrade your computer.  How do you quickly grab all the files that are important to you?  Or you decide to have two computers now – one for home and one for work.  How do you quickly isolate only the work-related files to move them to the work computer? Synchronize files to other computers.  If you have more than one computer, and you need to mirror some of your files onto the other computer (e.g. your music collection), then you need a way to quickly determine which files are to be synced and which are not.  Surely you don’t want to synchronize everything? Choose which files to back up.  If your backup regime calls for multiple backups, or requires speedy backups, then you’ll need to be able to specify which files are to be backed up, and which are not.  This is not possible if they’re all in the same folder. Finally, if you’re simply someone who takes pleasure in being organized, tidy and ordered (me! me!), then you don’t even need a reason.  Being disorganized is simply unthinkable. Tips on Getting Organized Here we present our 40 best tips on how to get organized.  Or, if you’re already organized, to get better organized. Tip #1.  Choose Your Organization System Carefully The reason that most people are not organized is that it takes time.  And the first thing that takes time is deciding upon a system of organization.  This is always a matter of personal preference, and is not something that a geek on a website can tell you.  You should always choose your own system, based on how your own brain is organized (which makes the assumption that your brain is, in fact, organized). We can’t instruct you, but we can make suggestions: You may want to start off with a system based on the users of the computer.  i.e. “My Files”, “My Wife’s Files”, My Son’s Files”, etc.  Inside “My Files”, you might then break it down into “Personal” and “Business”.  You may then realize that there are overlaps.  For example, everyone may want to share access to the music library, or the photos from the school play.  So you may create another folder called “Family”, for the “common” files. You may decide that the highest-level breakdown of your files is based on the “source” of each file.  In other words, who created the files.  You could have “Files created by ME (business or personal)”, “Files created by people I know (family, friends, etc)”, and finally “Files created by the rest of the world (MP3 music files, downloaded or ripped movies or TV shows, software installation files, gorgeous desktop wallpaper images you’ve collected, etc).”  This system happens to be the one I use myself.  See below:  Mark is for files created by meVC is for files created by my company (Virtual Creations)Others is for files created by my friends and familyData is the rest of the worldAlso, Settings is where I store the configuration files and other program data files for my installed software (more on this in tip #34, below). Each folder will present its own particular set of requirements for further sub-organization.  For example, you may decide to organize your music collection into sub-folders based on the artist’s name, while your digital photos might get organized based on the date they were taken.  It can be different for every sub-folder! Another strategy would be based on “currentness”.  Files you have yet to open and look at live in one folder.  Ones that have been looked at but not yet filed live in another place.  Current, active projects live in yet another place.  All other files (your “archive”, if you like) would live in a fourth folder. (And of course, within that last folder you’d need to create a further sub-system based on one of the previous bullet points). Put some thought into this – changing it when it proves incomplete can be a big hassle!  Before you go to the trouble of implementing any system you come up with, examine a wide cross-section of the files you own and see if they will all be able to find a nice logical place to sit within your system. Tip #2.  When You Decide on Your System, Stick to It! There’s nothing more pointless than going to all the trouble of creating a system and filing all your files, and then whenever you create, receive or download a new file, you simply dump it onto your Desktop.  You need to be disciplined – forever!  Every new file you get, spend those extra few seconds to file it where it belongs!  Otherwise, in just a month or two, you’ll be worse off than before – half your files will be organized and half will be disorganized – and you won’t know which is which! Tip #3.  Choose the Root Folder of Your Structure Carefully Every data file (document, photo, music file, etc) that you create, own or is important to you, no matter where it came from, should be found within one single folder, and that one single folder should be located at the root of your C: drive (as a sub-folder of C:\).  In other words, do not base your folder structure in standard folders like “My Documents”.  If you do, then you’re leaving it up to the operating system engineers to decide what folder structure is best for you.  And every operating system has a different system!  In Windows 7 your files are found in C:\Users\YourName, whilst on Windows XP it was C:\Documents and Settings\YourName\My Documents.  In UNIX systems it’s often /home/YourName. These standard default folders tend to fill up with junk files and folders that are not at all important to you.  “My Documents” is the worst offender.  Every second piece of software you install, it seems, likes to create its own folder in the “My Documents” folder.  These folders usually don’t fit within your organizational structure, so don’t use them!  In fact, don’t even use the “My Documents” folder at all.  Allow it to fill up with junk, and then simply ignore it.  It sounds heretical, but: Don’t ever visit your “My Documents” folder!  Remove your icons/links to “My Documents” and replace them with links to the folders you created and you care about! Create your own file system from scratch!  Probably the best place to put it would be on your D: drive – if you have one.  This way, all your files live on one drive, while all the operating system and software component files live on the C: drive – simply and elegantly separated.  The benefits of that are profound.  Not only are there obvious organizational benefits (see tip #10, below), but when it comes to migrate your data to a new computer, you can (sometimes) simply unplug your D: drive and plug it in as the D: drive of your new computer (this implies that the D: drive is actually a separate physical disk, and not a partition on the same disk as C:).  You also get a slight speed improvement (again, only if your C: and D: drives are on separate physical disks). Warning:  From tip #12, below, you will see that it’s actually a good idea to have exactly the same file system structure – including the drive it’s filed on – on all of the computers you own.  So if you decide to use the D: drive as the storage system for your own files, make sure you are able to use the D: drive on all the computers you own.  If you can’t ensure that, then you can still use a clever geeky trick to store your files on the D: drive, but still access them all via the C: drive (see tip #17, below). If you only have one hard disk (C:), then create a dedicated folder that will contain all your files – something like C:\Files.  The name of the folder is not important, but make it a single, brief word. There are several reasons for this: When creating a backup regime, it’s easy to decide what files should be backed up – they’re all in the one folder! If you ever decide to trade in your computer for a new one, you know exactly which files to migrate You will always know where to begin a search for any file If you synchronize files with other computers, it makes your synchronization routines very simple.   It also causes all your shortcuts to continue to work on the other machines (more about this in tip #24, below). Once you’ve decided where your files should go, then put all your files in there – Everything!  Completely disregard the standard, default folders that are created for you by the operating system (“My Music”, “My Pictures”, etc).  In fact, you can actually relocate many of those folders into your own structure (more about that below, in tip #6). The more completely you get all your data files (documents, photos, music, etc) and all your configuration settings into that one folder, then the easier it will be to perform all of the above tasks. Once this has been done, and all your files live in one folder, all the other folders in C:\ can be thought of as “operating system” folders, and therefore of little day-to-day interest for us. Here’s a screenshot of a nicely organized C: drive, where all user files are located within the \Files folder:   Tip #4.  Use Sub-Folders This would be our simplest and most obvious tip.  It almost goes without saying.  Any organizational system you decide upon (see tip #1) will require that you create sub-folders for your files.  Get used to creating folders on a regular basis. Tip #5.  Don’t be Shy About Depth Create as many levels of sub-folders as you need.  Don’t be scared to do so.  Every time you notice an opportunity to group a set of related files into a sub-folder, do so.  Examples might include:  All the MP3s from one music CD, all the photos from one holiday, or all the documents from one client. It’s perfectly okay to put files into a folder called C:\Files\Me\From Others\Services\WestCo Bank\Statements\2009.  That’s only seven levels deep.  Ten levels is not uncommon.  Of course, it’s possible to take this too far.  If you notice yourself creating a sub-folder to hold only one file, then you’ve probably become a little over-zealous.  On the other hand, if you simply create a structure with only two levels (for example C:\Files\Work) then you really haven’t achieved any level of organization at all (unless you own only six files!).  Your “Work” folder will have become a dumping ground, just like your Desktop was, with most likely hundreds of files in it. Tip #6.  Move the Standard User Folders into Your Own Folder Structure Most operating systems, including Windows, create a set of standard folders for each of its users.  These folders then become the default location for files such as documents, music files, digital photos and downloaded Internet files.  In Windows 7, the full list is shown below: Some of these folders you may never use nor care about (for example, the Favorites folder, if you’re not using Internet Explorer as your browser).  Those ones you can leave where they are.  But you may be using some of the other folders to store files that are important to you.  Even if you’re not using them, Windows will still often treat them as the default storage location for many types of files.  When you go to save a standard file type, it can become annoying to be automatically prompted to save it in a folder that’s not part of your own file structure. But there’s a simple solution:  Move the folders you care about into your own folder structure!  If you do, then the next time you go to save a file of the corresponding type, Windows will prompt you to save it in the new, moved location. Moving the folders is easy.  Simply drag-and-drop them to the new location.  Here’s a screenshot of the default My Music folder being moved to my custom personal folder (Mark): Tip #7.  Name Files and Folders Intelligently This is another one that almost goes without saying, but we’ll say it anyway:  Do not allow files to be created that have meaningless names like Document1.doc, or folders called New Folder (2).  Take that extra 20 seconds and come up with a meaningful name for the file/folder – one that accurately divulges its contents without repeating the entire contents in the name. Tip #8.  Watch Out for Long Filenames Another way to tell if you have not yet created enough depth to your folder hierarchy is that your files often require really long names.  If you need to call a file Johnson Sales Figures March 2009.xls (which might happen to live in the same folder as Abercrombie Budget Report 2008.xls), then you might want to create some sub-folders so that the first file could be simply called March.xls, and living in the Clients\Johnson\Sales Figures\2009 folder. A well-placed file needs only a brief filename! Tip #9.  Use Shortcuts!  Everywhere! This is probably the single most useful and important tip we can offer.  A shortcut allows a file to be in two places at once. Why would you want that?  Well, the file and folder structure of every popular operating system on the market today is hierarchical.  This means that all objects (files and folders) always live within exactly one parent folder.  It’s a bit like a tree.  A tree has branches (folders) and leaves (files).  Each leaf, and each branch, is supported by exactly one parent branch, all the way back to the root of the tree (which, incidentally, is exactly why C:\ is called the “root folder” of the C: drive). That hard disks are structured this way may seem obvious and even necessary, but it’s only one way of organizing data.  There are others:  Relational databases, for example, organize structured data entirely differently.  The main limitation of hierarchical filing structures is that a file can only ever be in one branch of the tree – in only one folder – at a time.  Why is this a problem?  Well, there are two main reasons why this limitation is a problem for computer users: The “correct” place for a file, according to our organizational rationale, is very often a very inconvenient place for that file to be located.  Just because it’s correctly filed doesn’t mean it’s easy to get to.  Your file may be “correctly” buried six levels deep in your sub-folder structure, but you may need regular and speedy access to this file every day.  You could always move it to a more convenient location, but that would mean that you would need to re-file back to its “correct” location it every time you’d finished working on it.  Most unsatisfactory. A file may simply “belong” in two or more different locations within your file structure.  For example, say you’re an accountant and you have just completed the 2009 tax return for John Smith.  It might make sense to you to call this file 2009 Tax Return.doc and file it under Clients\John Smith.  But it may also be important to you to have the 2009 tax returns from all your clients together in the one place.  So you might also want to call the file John Smith.doc and file it under Tax Returns\2009.  The problem is, in a purely hierarchical filing system, you can’t put it in both places.  Grrrrr! Fortunately, Windows (and most other operating systems) offers a way for you to do exactly that:  It’s called a “shortcut” (also known as an “alias” on Macs and a “symbolic link” on UNIX systems).  Shortcuts allow a file to exist in one place, and an icon that represents the file to be created and put anywhere else you please.  In fact, you can create a dozen such icons and scatter them all over your hard disk.  Double-clicking on one of these icons/shortcuts opens up the original file, just as if you had double-clicked on the original file itself. Consider the following two icons: The one on the left is the actual Word document, while the one on the right is a shortcut that represents the Word document.  Double-clicking on either icon will open the same file.  There are two main visual differences between the icons: The shortcut will have a small arrow in the lower-left-hand corner (on Windows, anyway) The shortcut is allowed to have a name that does not include the file extension (the “.docx” part, in this case) You can delete the shortcut at any time without losing any actual data.  The original is still intact.  All you lose is the ability to get to that data from wherever the shortcut was. So why are shortcuts so great?  Because they allow us to easily overcome the main limitation of hierarchical file systems, and put a file in two (or more) places at the same time.  You will always have files that don’t play nice with your organizational rationale, and can’t be filed in only one place.  They demand to exist in two places.  Shortcuts allow this!  Furthermore, they allow you to collect your most often-opened files and folders together in one spot for convenient access.  The cool part is that the original files stay where they are, safe forever in their perfectly organized location. So your collection of most often-opened files can – and should – become a collection of shortcuts! If you’re still not convinced of the utility of shortcuts, consider the following well-known areas of a typical Windows computer: The Start Menu (and all the programs that live within it) The Quick Launch bar (or the Superbar in Windows 7) The “Favorite folders” area in the top-left corner of the Windows Explorer window (in Windows Vista or Windows 7) Your Internet Explorer Favorites or Firefox Bookmarks Each item in each of these areas is a shortcut!  Each of those areas exist for one purpose only:  For convenience – to provide you with a collection of the files and folders you access most often. It should be easy to see by now that shortcuts are designed for one single purpose:  To make accessing your files more convenient.  Each time you double-click on a shortcut, you are saved the hassle of locating the file (or folder, or program, or drive, or control panel icon) that it represents. Shortcuts allow us to invent a golden rule of file and folder organization: “Only ever have one copy of a file – never have two copies of the same file.  Use a shortcut instead” (this rule doesn’t apply to copies created for backup purposes, of course!) There are also lesser rules, like “don’t move a file into your work area – create a shortcut there instead”, and “any time you find yourself frustrated with how long it takes to locate a file, create a shortcut to it and place that shortcut in a convenient location.” So how to we create these massively useful shortcuts?  There are two main ways: “Copy” the original file or folder (click on it and type Ctrl-C, or right-click on it and select Copy):  Then right-click in an empty area of the destination folder (the place where you want the shortcut to go) and select Paste shortcut: Right-drag (drag with the right mouse button) the file from the source folder to the destination folder.  When you let go of the mouse button at the destination folder, a menu pops up: Select Create shortcuts here. Note that when shortcuts are created, they are often named something like Shortcut to Budget Detail.doc (windows XP) or Budget Detail – Shortcut.doc (Windows 7).   If you don’t like those extra words, you can easily rename the shortcuts after they’re created, or you can configure Windows to never insert the extra words in the first place (see our article on how to do this). And of course, you can create shortcuts to folders too, not just to files! Bottom line: Whenever you have a file that you’d like to access from somewhere else (whether it’s convenience you’re after, or because the file simply belongs in two places), create a shortcut to the original file in the new location. Tip #10.  Separate Application Files from Data Files Any digital organization guru will drum this rule into you.  Application files are the components of the software you’ve installed (e.g. Microsoft Word, Adobe Photoshop or Internet Explorer).  Data files are the files that you’ve created for yourself using that software (e.g. Word Documents, digital photos, emails or playlists). Software gets installed, uninstalled and upgraded all the time.  Hopefully you always have the original installation media (or downloaded set-up file) kept somewhere safe, and can thus reinstall your software at any time.  This means that the software component files are of little importance.  Whereas the files you have created with that software is, by definition, important.  It’s a good rule to always separate unimportant files from important files. So when your software prompts you to save a file you’ve just created, take a moment and check out where it’s suggesting that you save the file.  If it’s suggesting that you save the file into the same folder as the software itself, then definitely don’t follow that suggestion.  File it in your own folder!  In fact, see if you can find the program’s configuration option that determines where files are saved by default (if it has one), and change it. Tip #11.  Organize Files Based on Purpose, Not on File Type If you have, for example a folder called Work\Clients\Johnson, and within that folder you have two sub-folders, Word Documents and Spreadsheets (in other words, you’re separating “.doc” files from “.xls” files), then chances are that you’re not optimally organized.  It makes little sense to organize your files based on the program that created them.  Instead, create your sub-folders based on the purpose of the file.  For example, it would make more sense to create sub-folders called Correspondence and Financials.  It may well be that all the files in a given sub-folder are of the same file-type, but this should be more of a coincidence and less of a design feature of your organization system. Tip #12.  Maintain the Same Folder Structure on All Your Computers In other words, whatever organizational system you create, apply it to every computer that you can.  There are several benefits to this: There’s less to remember.  No matter where you are, you always know where to look for your files If you copy or synchronize files from one computer to another, then setting up the synchronization job becomes very simple Shortcuts can be copied or moved from one computer to another with ease (assuming the original files are also copied/moved).  There’s no need to find the target of the shortcut all over again on the second computer Ditto for linked files (e.g Word documents that link to data in a separate Excel file), playlists, and any files that reference the exact file locations of other files. This applies even to the drive that your files are stored on.  If your files are stored on C: on one computer, make sure they’re stored on C: on all your computers.  Otherwise all your shortcuts, playlists and linked files will stop working! Tip #13.  Create an “Inbox” Folder Create yourself a folder where you store all files that you’re currently working on, or that you haven’t gotten around to filing yet.  You can think of this folder as your “to-do” list.  You can call it “Inbox” (making it the same metaphor as your email system), or “Work”, or “To-Do”, or “Scratch”, or whatever name makes sense to you.  It doesn’t matter what you call it – just make sure you have one! Once you have finished working on a file, you then move it from the “Inbox” to its correct location within your organizational structure. You may want to use your Desktop as this “Inbox” folder.  Rightly or wrongly, most people do.  It’s not a bad place to put such files, but be careful:  If you do decide that your Desktop represents your “to-do” list, then make sure that no other files find their way there.  In other words, make sure that your “Inbox”, wherever it is, Desktop or otherwise, is kept free of junk – stray files that don’t belong there. So where should you put this folder, which, almost by definition, lives outside the structure of the rest of your filing system?  Well, first and foremost, it has to be somewhere handy.  This will be one of your most-visited folders, so convenience is key.  Putting it on the Desktop is a great option – especially if you don’t have any other folders on your Desktop:  the folder then becomes supremely easy to find in Windows Explorer: You would then create shortcuts to this folder in convenient spots all over your computer (“Favorite Links”, “Quick Launch”, etc). Tip #14.  Ensure You have Only One “Inbox” Folder Once you’ve created your “Inbox” folder, don’t use any other folder location as your “to-do list”.  Throw every incoming or created file into the Inbox folder as you create/receive it.  This keeps the rest of your computer pristine and free of randomly created or downloaded junk.  The last thing you want to be doing is checking multiple folders to see all your current tasks and projects.  Gather them all together into one folder. Here are some tips to help ensure you only have one Inbox: Set the default “save” location of all your programs to this folder. Set the default “download” location for your browser to this folder. If this folder is not your desktop (recommended) then also see if you can make a point of not putting “to-do” files on your desktop.  This keeps your desktop uncluttered and Zen-like: (the Inbox folder is in the bottom-right corner) Tip #15.  Be Vigilant about Clearing Your “Inbox” Folder This is one of the keys to staying organized.  If you let your “Inbox” overflow (i.e. allow there to be more than, say, 30 files or folders in there), then you’re probably going to start feeling like you’re overwhelmed:  You’re not keeping up with your to-do list.  Once your Inbox gets beyond a certain point (around 30 files, studies have shown), then you’ll simply start to avoid it.  You may continue to put files in there, but you’ll be scared to look at it, fearing the “out of control” feeling that all overworked, chaotic or just plain disorganized people regularly feel. So, here’s what you can do: Visit your Inbox/to-do folder regularly (at least five times per day). Scan the folder regularly for files that you have completed working on and are ready for filing.  File them immediately. Make it a source of pride to keep the number of files in this folder as small as possible.  If you value peace of mind, then make the emptiness of this folder one of your highest (computer) priorities If you know that a particular file has been in the folder for more than, say, six weeks, then admit that you’re not actually going to get around to processing it, and move it to its final resting place. Tip #16.  File Everything Immediately, and Use Shortcuts for Your Active Projects As soon as you create, receive or download a new file, store it away in its “correct” folder immediately.  Then, whenever you need to work on it (possibly straight away), create a shortcut to it in your “Inbox” (“to-do”) folder or your desktop.  That way, all your files are always in their “correct” locations, yet you still have immediate, convenient access to your current, active files.  When you finish working on a file, simply delete the shortcut. Ideally, your “Inbox” folder – and your Desktop – should contain no actual files or folders.  They should simply contain shortcuts. Tip #17.  Use Directory Symbolic Links (or Junctions) to Maintain One Unified Folder Structure Using this tip, we can get around a potential hiccup that we can run into when creating our organizational structure – the issue of having more than one drive on our computer (C:, D:, etc).  We might have files we need to store on the D: drive for space reasons, and yet want to base our organized folder structure on the C: drive (or vice-versa). Your chosen organizational structure may dictate that all your files must be accessed from the C: drive (for example, the root folder of all your files may be something like C:\Files).  And yet you may still have a D: drive and wish to take advantage of the hundreds of spare Gigabytes that it offers.  Did you know that it’s actually possible to store your files on the D: drive and yet access them as if they were on the C: drive?  And no, we’re not talking about shortcuts here (although the concept is very similar). By using the shell command mklink, you can essentially take a folder that lives on one drive and create an alias for it on a different drive (you can do lots more than that with mklink – for a full rundown on this programs capabilities, see our dedicated article).  These aliases are called directory symbolic links (and used to be known as junctions).  You can think of them as “virtual” folders.  They function exactly like regular folders, except they’re physically located somewhere else. For example, you may decide that your entire D: drive contains your complete organizational file structure, but that you need to reference all those files as if they were on the C: drive, under C:\Files.  If that was the case you could create C:\Files as a directory symbolic link – a link to D:, as follows: mklink /d c:\files d:\ Or it may be that the only files you wish to store on the D: drive are your movie collection.  You could locate all your movie files in the root of your D: drive, and then link it to C:\Files\Media\Movies, as follows: mklink /d c:\files\media\movies d:\ (Needless to say, you must run these commands from a command prompt – click the Start button, type cmd and press Enter) Tip #18. Customize Your Folder Icons This is not strictly speaking an organizational tip, but having unique icons for each folder does allow you to more quickly visually identify which folder is which, and thus saves you time when you’re finding files.  An example is below (from my folder that contains all files downloaded from the Internet): To learn how to change your folder icons, please refer to our dedicated article on the subject. Tip #19.  Tidy Your Start Menu The Windows Start Menu is usually one of the messiest parts of any Windows computer.  Every program you install seems to adopt a completely different approach to placing icons in this menu.  Some simply put a single program icon.  Others create a folder based on the name of the software.  And others create a folder based on the name of the software manufacturer.  It’s chaos, and can make it hard to find the software you want to run. Thankfully we can avoid this chaos with useful operating system features like Quick Launch, the Superbar or pinned start menu items. Even so, it would make a lot of sense to get into the guts of the Start Menu itself and give it a good once-over.  All you really need to decide is how you’re going to organize your applications.  A structure based on the purpose of the application is an obvious candidate.  Below is an example of one such structure: In this structure, Utilities means software whose job it is to keep the computer itself running smoothly (configuration tools, backup software, Zip programs, etc).  Applications refers to any productivity software that doesn’t fit under the headings Multimedia, Graphics, Internet, etc. In case you’re not aware, every icon in your Start Menu is a shortcut and can be manipulated like any other shortcut (copied, moved, deleted, etc). With the Windows Start Menu (all version of Windows), Microsoft has decided that there be two parallel folder structures to store your Start Menu shortcuts.  One for you (the logged-in user of the computer) and one for all users of the computer.  Having two parallel structures can often be redundant:  If you are the only user of the computer, then having two parallel structures is totally redundant.  Even if you have several users that regularly log into the computer, most of your installed software will need to be made available to all users, and should thus be moved out of the “just you” version of the Start Menu and into the “all users” area. To take control of your Start Menu, so you can start organizing it, you’ll need to know how to access the actual folders and shortcut files that make up the Start Menu (both versions of it).  To find these folders and files, click the Start button and then right-click on the All Programs text (Windows XP users should right-click on the Start button itself): The Open option refers to the “just you” version of the Start Menu, while the Open All Users option refers to the “all users” version.  Click on the one you want to organize. A Windows Explorer window then opens with your chosen version of the Start Menu selected.  From there it’s easy.  Double-click on the Programs folder and you’ll see all your folders and shortcuts.  Now you can delete/rename/move until it’s just the way you want it. Note:  When you’re reorganizing your Start Menu, you may want to have two Explorer windows open at the same time – one showing the “just you” version and one showing the “all users” version.  You can drag-and-drop between the windows. Tip #20.  Keep Your Start Menu Tidy Once you have a perfectly organized Start Menu, try to be a little vigilant about keeping it that way.  Every time you install a new piece of software, the icons that get created will almost certainly violate your organizational structure. So to keep your Start Menu pristine and organized, make sure you do the following whenever you install a new piece of software: Check whether the software was installed into the “just you” area of the Start Menu, or the “all users” area, and then move it to the correct area. Remove all the unnecessary icons (like the “Read me” icon, the “Help” icon (you can always open the help from within the software itself when it’s running), the “Uninstall” icon, the link(s)to the manufacturer’s website, etc) Rename the main icon(s) of the software to something brief that makes sense to you.  For example, you might like to rename Microsoft Office Word 2010 to simply Word Move the icon(s) into the correct folder based on your Start Menu organizational structure And don’t forget:  when you uninstall a piece of software, the software’s uninstall routine is no longer going to be able to remove the software’s icon from the Start Menu (because you moved and/or renamed it), so you’ll need to remove that icon manually. Tip #21.  Tidy C:\ The root of your C: drive (C:\) is a common dumping ground for files and folders – both by the users of your computer and by the software that you install on your computer.  It can become a mess. There’s almost no software these days that requires itself to be installed in C:\.  99% of the time it can and should be installed into C:\Program Files.  And as for your own files, well, it’s clear that they can (and almost always should) be stored somewhere else. In an ideal world, your C:\ folder should look like this (on Windows 7): Note that there are some system files and folders in C:\ that are usually and deliberately “hidden” (such as the Windows virtual memory file pagefile.sys, the boot loader file bootmgr, and the System Volume Information folder).  Hiding these files and folders is a good idea, as they need to stay where they are and are almost never needed to be opened or even seen by you, the user.  Hiding them prevents you from accidentally messing with them, and enhances your sense of order and well-being when you look at your C: drive folder. Tip #22.  Tidy Your Desktop The Desktop is probably the most abused part of a Windows computer (from an organization point of view).  It usually serves as a dumping ground for all incoming files, as well as holding icons to oft-used applications, plus some regularly opened files and folders.  It often ends up becoming an uncontrolled mess.  See if you can avoid this.  Here’s why… Application icons (Word, Internet Explorer, etc) are often found on the Desktop, but it’s unlikely that this is the optimum place for them.  The “Quick Launch” bar (or the Superbar in Windows 7) is always visible and so represents a perfect location to put your icons.  You’ll only be able to see the icons on your Desktop when all your programs are minimized.  It might be time to get your application icons off your desktop… You may have decided that the Inbox/To-do folder on your computer (see tip #13, above) should be your Desktop.  If so, then enough said.  Simply be vigilant about clearing it and preventing it from being polluted by junk files (see tip #15, above).  On the other hand, if your Desktop is not acting as your “Inbox” folder, then there’s no reason for it to have any data files or folders on it at all, except perhaps a couple of shortcuts to often-opened files and folders (either ongoing or current projects).  Everything else should be moved to your “Inbox” folder. In an ideal world, it might look like this: Tip #23.  Move Permanent Items on Your Desktop Away from the Top-Left Corner When files/folders are dragged onto your desktop in a Windows Explorer window, or when shortcuts are created on your Desktop from Internet Explorer, those icons are always placed in the top-left corner – or as close as they can get.  If you have other files, folders or shortcuts that you keep on the Desktop permanently, then it’s a good idea to separate these permanent icons from the transient ones, so that you can quickly identify which ones the transients are.  An easy way to do this is to move all your permanent icons to the right-hand side of your Desktop.  That should keep them separated from incoming items. Tip #24.  Synchronize If you have more than one computer, you’ll almost certainly want to share files between them.  If the computers are permanently attached to the same local network, then there’s no need to store multiple copies of any one file or folder – shortcuts will suffice.  However, if the computers are not always on the same network, then you will at some point need to copy files between them.  For files that need to permanently live on both computers, the ideal way to do this is to synchronize the files, as opposed to simply copying them. We only have room here to write a brief summary of synchronization, not a full article.  In short, there are several different types of synchronization: Where the contents of one folder are accessible anywhere, such as with Dropbox Where the contents of any number of folders are accessible anywhere, such as with Windows Live Mesh Where any files or folders from anywhere on your computer are synchronized with exactly one other computer, such as with the Windows “Briefcase”, Microsoft SyncToy, or (much more powerful, yet still free) SyncBack from 2BrightSparks.  This only works when both computers are on the same local network, at least temporarily. A great advantage of synchronization solutions is that once you’ve got it configured the way you want it, then the sync process happens automatically, every time.  Click a button (or schedule it to happen automatically) and all your files are automagically put where they’re supposed to be. If you maintain the same file and folder structure on both computers, then you can also sync files depend upon the correct location of other files, like shortcuts, playlists and office documents that link to other office documents, and the synchronized files still work on the other computer! Tip #25.  Hide Files You Never Need to See If you have your files well organized, you will often be able to tell if a file is out of place just by glancing at the contents of a folder (for example, it should be pretty obvious if you look in a folder that contains all the MP3s from one music CD and see a Word document in there).  This is a good thing – it allows you to determine if there are files out of place with a quick glance.  Yet sometimes there are files in a folder that seem out of place but actually need to be there, such as the “folder art” JPEGs in music folders, and various files in the root of the C: drive.  If such files never need to be opened by you, then a good idea is to simply hide them.  Then, the next time you glance at the folder, you won’t have to remember whether that file was supposed to be there or not, because you won’t see it at all! To hide a file, simply right-click on it and choose Properties: Then simply tick the Hidden tick-box:   Tip #26.  Keep Every Setup File These days most software is downloaded from the Internet.  Whenever you download a piece of software, keep it.  You’ll never know when you need to reinstall the software. Further, keep with it an Internet shortcut that links back to the website where you originally downloaded it, in case you ever need to check for updates. See tip #33 below for a full description of the excellence of organizing your setup files. Tip #27.  Try to Minimize the Number of Folders that Contain Both Files and Sub-folders Some of the folders in your organizational structure will contain only files.  Others will contain only sub-folders.  And you will also have some folders that contain both files and sub-folders.  You will notice slight improvements in how long it takes you to locate a file if you try to avoid this third type of folder.  It’s not always possible, of course – you’ll always have some of these folders, but see if you can avoid it. One way of doing this is to take all the leftover files that didn’t end up getting stored in a sub-folder and create a special “Miscellaneous” or “Other” folder for them. Tip #28.  Starting a Filename with an Underscore Brings it to the Top of a List Further to the previous tip, if you name that “Miscellaneous” or “Other” folder in such a way that its name begins with an underscore “_”, then it will appear at the top of the list of files/folders. The screenshot below is an example of this.  Each folder in the list contains a set of digital photos.  The folder at the top of the list, _Misc, contains random photos that didn’t deserve their own dedicated folder: Tip #29.  Clean Up those CD-ROMs and (shudder!) Floppy Disks Have you got a pile of CD-ROMs stacked on a shelf of your office?  Old photos, or files you archived off onto CD-ROM (or even worse, floppy disks!) because you didn’t have enough disk space at the time?  In the meantime have you upgraded your computer and now have 500 Gigabytes of space you don’t know what to do with?  If so, isn’t it time you tidied up that stack of disks and filed them into your gorgeous new folder structure? So what are you waiting for?  Bite the bullet, copy them all back onto your computer, file them in their appropriate folders, and then back the whole lot up onto a shiny new 1000Gig external hard drive! Useful Folders to Create This next section suggests some useful folders that you might want to create within your folder structure.  I’ve personally found them to be indispensable. The first three are all about convenience – handy folders to create and then put somewhere that you can always access instantly.  For each one, it’s not so important where the actual folder is located, but it’s very important where you put the shortcut(s) to the folder.  You might want to locate the shortcuts: On your Desktop In your “Quick Launch” area (or pinned to your Windows 7 Superbar) In your Windows Explorer “Favorite Links” area Tip #30.  Create an “Inbox” (“To-Do”) Folder This has already been mentioned in depth (see tip #13), but we wanted to reiterate its importance here.  This folder contains all the recently created, received or downloaded files that you have not yet had a chance to file away properly, and it also may contain files that you have yet to process.  In effect, it becomes a sort of “to-do list”.  It doesn’t have to be called “Inbox” – you can call it whatever you want. Tip #31.  Create a Folder where Your Current Projects are Collected Rather than going hunting for them all the time, or dumping them all on your desktop, create a special folder where you put links (or work folders) for each of the projects you’re currently working on. You can locate this folder in your “Inbox” folder, on your desktop, or anywhere at all – just so long as there’s a way of getting to it quickly, such as putting a link to it in Windows Explorer’s “Favorite Links” area: Tip #32.  Create a Folder for Files and Folders that You Regularly Open You will always have a few files that you open regularly, whether it be a spreadsheet of your current accounts, or a favorite playlist.  These are not necessarily “current projects”, rather they’re simply files that you always find yourself opening.  Typically such files would be located on your desktop (or even better, shortcuts to those files).  Why not collect all such shortcuts together and put them in their own special folder? As with the “Current Projects” folder (above), you would want to locate that folder somewhere convenient.  Below is an example of a folder called “Quick links”, with about seven files (shortcuts) in it, that is accessible through the Windows Quick Launch bar: See tip #37 below for a full explanation of the power of the Quick Launch bar. Tip #33.  Create a “Set-ups” Folder A typical computer has dozens of applications installed on it.  For each piece of software, there are often many different pieces of information you need to keep track of, including: The original installation setup file(s).  This can be anything from a simple 100Kb setup.exe file you downloaded from a website, all the way up to a 4Gig ISO file that you copied from a DVD-ROM that you purchased. The home page of the software manufacturer (in case you need to look up something on their support pages, their forum or their online help) The page containing the download link for your actual file (in case you need to re-download it, or download an upgraded version) The serial number Your proof-of-purchase documentation Any other template files, plug-ins, themes, etc that also need to get installed For each piece of software, it’s a great idea to gather all of these files together and put them in a single folder.  The folder can be the name of the software (plus possibly a very brief description of what it’s for – in case you can’t remember what the software does based in its name).  Then you would gather all of these folders together into one place, and call it something like “Software” or “Setups”. If you have enough of these folders (I have several hundred, being a geek, collected over 20 years), then you may want to further categorize them.  My own categorization structure is based on “platform” (operating system): The last seven folders each represents one platform/operating system, while _Operating Systems contains set-up files for installing the operating systems themselves.  _Hardware contains ROMs for hardware I own, such as routers. Within the Windows folder (above), you can see the beginnings of the vast library of software I’ve compiled over the years: An example of a typical application folder looks like this: Tip #34.  Have a “Settings” Folder We all know that our documents are important.  So are our photos and music files.  We save all of these files into folders, and then locate them afterwards and double-click on them to open them.  But there are many files that are important to us that can’t be saved into folders, and then searched for and double-clicked later on.  These files certainly contain important information that we need, but are often created internally by an application, and saved wherever that application feels is appropriate. A good example of this is the “PST” file that Outlook creates for us and uses to store all our emails, contacts, appointments and so forth.  Another example would be the collection of Bookmarks that Firefox stores on your behalf. And yet another example would be the customized settings and configuration files of our all our software.  Granted, most Windows programs store their configuration in the Registry, but there are still many programs that use configuration files to store their settings. Imagine if you lost all of the above files!  And yet, when people are backing up their computers, they typically only back up the files they know about – those that are stored in the “My Documents” folder, etc.  If they had a hard disk failure or their computer was lost or stolen, their backup files would not include some of the most vital files they owned.  Also, when migrating to a new computer, it’s vital to ensure that these files make the journey. It can be a very useful idea to create yourself a folder to store all your “settings” – files that are important to you but which you never actually search for by name and double-click on to open them.  Otherwise, next time you go to set up a new computer just the way you want it, you’ll need to spend hours recreating the configuration of your previous computer! So how to we get our important files into this folder?  Well, we have a few options: Some programs (such as Outlook and its PST files) allow you to place these files wherever you want.  If you delve into the program’s options, you will find a setting somewhere that controls the location of the important settings files (or “personal storage” – PST – when it comes to Outlook) Some programs do not allow you to change such locations in any easy way, but if you get into the Registry, you can sometimes find a registry key that refers to the location of the file(s).  Simply move the file into your Settings folder and adjust the registry key to refer to the new location. Some programs stubbornly refuse to allow their settings files to be placed anywhere other then where they stipulate.  When faced with programs like these, you have three choices:  (1) You can ignore those files, (2) You can copy the files into your Settings folder (let’s face it – settings don’t change very often), or (3) you can use synchronization software, such as the Windows Briefcase, to make synchronized copies of all your files in your Settings folder.  All you then have to do is to remember to run your sync software periodically (perhaps just before you run your backup software!). There are some other things you may decide to locate inside this new “Settings” folder: Exports of registry keys (from the many applications that store their configurations in the Registry).  This is useful for backup purposes or for migrating to a new computer Notes you’ve made about all the specific customizations you have made to a particular piece of software (so that you’ll know how to do it all again on your next computer) Shortcuts to webpages that detail how to tweak certain aspects of your operating system or applications so they are just the way you like them (such as how to remove the words “Shortcut to” from the beginning of newly created shortcuts).  In other words, you’d want to create shortcuts to half the pages on the How-To Geek website! Here’s an example of a “Settings” folder: Windows Features that Help with Organization This section details some of the features of Microsoft Windows that are a boon to anyone hoping to stay optimally organized. Tip #35.  Use the “Favorite Links” Area to Access Oft-Used Folders Once you’ve created your great new filing system, work out which folders you access most regularly, or which serve as great starting points for locating the rest of the files in your folder structure, and then put links to those folders in your “Favorite Links” area of the left-hand side of the Windows Explorer window (simply called “Favorites” in Windows 7):   Some ideas for folders you might want to add there include: Your “Inbox” folder (or whatever you’ve called it) – most important! The base of your filing structure (e.g. C:\Files) A folder containing shortcuts to often-accessed folders on other computers around the network (shown above as Network Folders) A folder containing shortcuts to your current projects (unless that folder is in your “Inbox” folder) Getting folders into this area is very simple – just locate the folder you’re interested in and drag it there! Tip #36.  Customize the Places Bar in the File/Open and File/Save Boxes Consider the screenshot below: The highlighted icons (collectively known as the “Places Bar”) can be customized to refer to any folder location you want, allowing instant access to any part of your organizational structure. Note:  These File/Open and File/Save boxes have been superseded by new versions that use the Windows Vista/Windows 7 “Favorite Links”, but the older versions (shown above) are still used by a surprisingly large number of applications. The easiest way to customize these icons is to use the Group Policy Editor, but not everyone has access to this program.  If you do, open it up and navigate to: User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Explorer > Common Open File Dialog If you don’t have access to the Group Policy Editor, then you’ll need to get into the Registry.  Navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft  \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ comdlg32 \ Placesbar It should then be easy to make the desired changes.  Log off and log on again to allow the changes to take effect. Tip #37.  Use the Quick Launch Bar as a Application and File Launcher That Quick Launch bar (to the right of the Start button) is a lot more useful than people give it credit for.  Most people simply have half a dozen icons in it, and use it to start just those programs.  But it can actually be used to instantly access just about anything in your filing system: For complete instructions on how to set this up, visit our dedicated article on this topic. Tip #38.  Put a Shortcut to Windows Explorer into Your Quick Launch Bar This is only necessary in Windows Vista and Windows XP.  The Microsoft boffins finally got wise and added it to the Windows 7 Superbar by default. Windows Explorer – the program used for managing your files and folders – is one of the most useful programs in Windows.  Anyone who considers themselves serious about being organized needs instant access to this program at any time.  A great place to create a shortcut to this program is in the Windows XP and Windows Vista “Quick Launch” bar: To get it there, locate it in your Start Menu (usually under “Accessories”) and then right-drag it down into your Quick Launch bar (and create a copy). Tip #39.  Customize the Starting Folder for Your Windows 7 Explorer Superbar Icon If you’re on Windows 7, your Superbar will include a Windows Explorer icon.  Clicking on the icon will launch Windows Explorer (of course), and will start you off in your “Libraries” folder.  Libraries may be fine as a starting point, but if you have created yourself an “Inbox” folder, then it would probably make more sense to start off in this folder every time you launch Windows Explorer. To change this default/starting folder location, then first right-click the Explorer icon in the Superbar, and then right-click Properties:Then, in Target field of the Windows Explorer Properties box that appears, type %windir%\explorer.exe followed by the path of the folder you wish to start in.  For example: %windir%\explorer.exe C:\Files If that folder happened to be on the Desktop (and called, say, “Inbox”), then you would use the following cleverness: %windir%\explorer.exe shell:desktop\Inbox Then click OK and test it out. Tip #40.  Ummmmm…. No, that’s it.  I can’t think of another one.  That’s all of the tips I can come up with.  I only created this one because 40 is such a nice round number… Case Study – An Organized PC To finish off the article, I have included a few screenshots of my (main) computer (running Vista).  The aim here is twofold: To give you a sense of what it looks like when the above, sometimes abstract, tips are applied to a real-life computer, and To offer some ideas about folders and structure that you may want to steal to use on your own PC. Let’s start with the C: drive itself.  Very minimal.  All my files are contained within C:\Files.  I’ll confine the rest of the case study to this folder: That folder contains the following: Mark: My personal files VC: My business (Virtual Creations, Australia) Others contains files created by friends and family Data contains files from the rest of the world (can be thought of as “public” files, usually downloaded from the Net) Settings is described above in tip #34 The Data folder contains the following sub-folders: Audio:  Radio plays, audio books, podcasts, etc Development:  Programmer and developer resources, sample source code, etc (see below) Humour:  Jokes, funnies (those emails that we all receive) Movies:  Downloaded and ripped movies (all legal, of course!), their scripts, DVD covers, etc. Music:  (see below) Setups:  Installation files for software (explained in full in tip #33) System:  (see below) TV:  Downloaded TV shows Writings:  Books, instruction manuals, etc (see below) The Music folder contains the following sub-folders: Album covers:  JPEG scans Guitar tabs:  Text files of guitar sheet music Lists:  e.g. “Top 1000 songs of all time” Lyrics:  Text files MIDI:  Electronic music files MP3 (representing 99% of the Music folder):  MP3s, either ripped from CDs or downloaded, sorted by artist/album name Music Video:  Video clips Sheet Music:  usually PDFs The Data\Writings folder contains the following sub-folders: (all pretty self-explanatory) The Data\Development folder contains the following sub-folders: Again, all pretty self-explanatory (if you’re a geek) The Data\System folder contains the following sub-folders: These are usually themes, plug-ins and other downloadable program-specific resources. The Mark folder contains the following sub-folders: From Others:  Usually letters that other people (friends, family, etc) have written to me For Others:  Letters and other things I have created for other people Green Book:  None of your business Playlists:  M3U files that I have compiled of my favorite songs (plus one M3U playlist file for every album I own) Writing:  Fiction, philosophy and other musings of mine Mark Docs:  Shortcut to C:\Users\Mark Settings:  Shortcut to C:\Files\Settings\Mark The Others folder contains the following sub-folders: The VC (Virtual Creations, my business – I develop websites) folder contains the following sub-folders: And again, all of those are pretty self-explanatory. Conclusion These tips have saved my sanity and helped keep me a productive geek, but what about you? What tips and tricks do you have to keep your files organized?  Please share them with us in the comments.  Come on, don’t be shy… Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Fix For When Windows Explorer in Vista Stops Showing File NamesWhy Did Windows Vista’s Music Folder Icon Turn Yellow?Print or Create a Text File List of the Contents in a Directory the Easy WayCustomize the Windows 7 or Vista Send To MenuAdd Copy To / Move To on Windows 7 or Vista Right-Click Menu TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips Acronis Online Backup DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows Track Daily Goals With 42Goals Video Toolbox is a Superb Online Video Editor Fun with 47 charts and graphs Tomorrow is Mother’s Day Check the Average Speed of YouTube Videos You’ve Watched OutlookStatView Scans and Displays General Usage Statistics

  Read the article

• Agile Development

  - by James Oloo Onyango

  Alot of literature has and is being written about agile developement and its surrounding philosophies. In my quest to find the best way to express the importance of agile methodologies, i have found Robert C. Martin's "A Satire Of Two Companies" to be both the most concise and thorough! Enjoy the read! Rufus Inc Project Kick Off Your name is Bob. The date is January 3, 2001, and your head still aches from the recent millennial revelry. You are sitting in a conference room with several managers and a group of your peers. You are a project team leader. Your boss is there, and he has brought along all of his team leaders. His boss called the meeting. "We have a new project to develop," says your boss's boss. Call him BB. The points in his hair are so long that they scrape the ceiling. Your boss's points are just starting to grow, but he eagerly awaits the day when he can leave Brylcream stains on the acoustic tiles. BB describes the essence of the new market they have identified and the product they want to develop to exploit this market. "We must have this new project up and working by fourth quarter October 1," BB demands. "Nothing is of higher priority, so we are cancelling your current project." The reaction in the room is stunned silence. Months of work are simply going to be thrown away. Slowly, a murmur of objection begins to circulate around the conference table.   His points give off an evil green glow as BB meets the eyes of everyone in the room. One by one, that insidious stare reduces each attendee to quivering lumps of protoplasm. It is clear that he will brook no discussion on this matter. Once silence has been restored, BB says, "We need to begin immediately. How long will it take you to do the analysis?" You raise your hand. Your boss tries to stop you, but his spitwad misses you and you are unaware of his efforts.   "Sir, we can't tell you how long the analysis will take until we have some requirements." "The requirements document won't be ready for 3 or 4 weeks," BB says, his points vibrating with frustration. "So, pretend that you have the requirements in front of you now. How long will you require for analysis?" No one breathes. Everyone looks around to see whether anyone has some idea. "If analysis goes beyond April 1, we have a problem. Can you finish the analysis by then?" Your boss visibly gathers his courage: "We'll find a way, sir!" His points grow 3 mm, and your headache increases by two Tylenol. "Good." BB smiles. "Now, how long will it take to do the design?" "Sir," you say. Your boss visibly pales. He is clearly worried that his 3 mms are at risk. "Without an analysis, it will not be possible to tell you how long design will take." BB's expression shifts beyond austere.   "PRETEND you have the analysis already!" he says, while fixing you with his vacant, beady little eyes. "How long will it take you to do the design?" Two Tylenol are not going to cut it. Your boss, in a desperate attempt to save his new growth, babbles: "Well, sir, with only six months left to complete the project, design had better take no longer than 3 months."   "I'm glad you agree, Smithers!" BB says, beaming. Your boss relaxes. He knows his points are secure. After a while, he starts lightly humming the Brylcream jingle. BB continues, "So, analysis will be complete by April 1, design will be complete by July 1, and that gives you 3 months to implement the project. This meeting is an example of how well our new consensus and empowerment policies are working. Now, get out there and start working. I'll expect to see TQM plans and QIT assignments on my desk by next week. Oh, and don't forget that your crossfunctional team meetings and reports will be needed for next month's quality audit." "Forget the Tylenol," you think to yourself as you return to your cubicle. "I need bourbon."   Visibly excited, your boss comes over to you and says, "Gosh, what a great meeting. I think we're really going to do some world shaking with this project." You nod in agreement, too disgusted to do anything else. "Oh," your boss continues, "I almost forgot." He hands you a 30-page document. "Remember that the SEI is coming to do an evaluation next week. This is the evaluation guide. You need to read through it, memorize it, and then shred it. It tells you how to answer any questions that the SEI auditors ask you. It also tells you what parts of the building you are allowed to take them to and what parts to avoid. We are determined to be a CMM level 3 organization by June!"   You and your peers start working on the analysis of the new project. This is difficult because you have no requirements. But from the 10-minute introduction given by BB on that fateful morning, you have some idea of what the product is supposed to do.   Corporate process demands that you begin by creating a use case document. You and your team begin enumerating use cases and drawing oval and stick diagrams. Philosophical debates break out among the team members. There is disagreement as to whether certain use cases should be connected with <<extends>> or <<includes>> relationships. Competing models are created, but nobody knows how to evaluate them. The debate continues, effectively paralyzing progress.   After a week, somebody finds the iceberg.com Web site, which recommends disposing entirely of <<extends>> and <<includes>> and replacing them with <<precedes>> and <<uses>>. The documents on this Web site, authored by Don Sengroiux, describes a method known as stalwart-analysis, which claims to be a step-by-step method for translating use cases into design diagrams. More competing use case models are created using this new scheme, but again, people can't agree on how to evaluate them. The thrashing continues. More and more, the use case meetings are driven by emotion rather than by reason. If it weren't for the fact that you don't have requirements, you'd be pretty upset by the lack of progress you are making. The requirements document arrives on February 15. And then again on February 20, 25, and every week thereafter. Each new version contradicts the previous one. Clearly, the marketing folks who are writing the requirements, empowered though they might be, are not finding consensus.   At the same time, several new competing use case templates have been proposed by the various team members. Each template presents its own particularly creative way of delaying progress. The debates rage on. On March 1, Prudence Putrigence, the process proctor, succeeds in integrating all the competing use case forms and templates into a single, all-encompassing form. Just the blank form is 15 pages long. She has managed to include every field that appeared on all the competing templates. She also presents a 159- page document describing how to fill out the use case form. All current use cases must be rewritten according to the new standard.   You marvel to yourself that it now requires 15 pages of fill-in-the-blank and essay questions to answer the question: What should the system do when the user presses Return? The corporate process (authored by L. E. Ott, famed author of "Holistic Analysis: A Progressive Dialectic for Software Engineers") insists that you discover all primary use cases, 87 percent of all secondary use cases, and 36.274 percent of all tertiary use cases before you can complete analysis and enter the design phase. You have no idea what a tertiary use case is. So in an attempt to meet this requirement, you try to get your use case document reviewed by the marketing department, which you hope will know what a tertiary use case is.   Unfortunately, the marketing folks are too busy with sales support to talk to you. Indeed, since the project started, you have not been able to get a single meeting with marketing, which has provided a never-ending stream of changing and contradictory requirements documents.   While one team has been spinning endlessly on the use case document, another team has been working out the domain model. Endless variations of UML documents are pouring out of this team. Every week, the model is reworked.   The team members can't decide whether to use <<interfaces>> or <<types>> in the model. A huge disagreement has been raging on the proper syntax and application of OCL. Others on the team just got back from a 5-day class on catabolism, and have been producing incredibly detailed and arcane diagrams that nobody else can fathom.   On March 27, with one week to go before analysis is to be complete, you have produced a sea of documents and diagrams but are no closer to a cogent analysis of the problem than you were on January 3. **** And then, a miracle happens.   **** On Saturday, April 1, you check your e-mail from home. You see a memo from your boss to BB. It states unequivocally that you are done with the analysis! You phone your boss and complain. "How could you have told BB that we were done with the analysis?" "Have you looked at a calendar lately?" he responds. "It's April 1!" The irony of that date does not escape you. "But we have so much more to think about. So much more to analyze! We haven't even decided whether to use <<extends>> or <<precedes>>!" "Where is your evidence that you are not done?" inquires your boss, impatiently. "Whaaa . . . ." But he cuts you off. "Analysis can go on forever; it has to be stopped at some point. And since this is the date it was scheduled to stop, it has been stopped. Now, on Monday, I want you to gather up all existing analysis materials and put them into a public folder. Release that folder to Prudence so that she can log it in the CM system by Monday afternoon. Then get busy and start designing."   As you hang up the phone, you begin to consider the benefits of keeping a bottle of bourbon in your bottom desk drawer. They threw a party to celebrate the on-time completion of the analysis phase. BB gave a colon-stirring speech on empowerment. And your boss, another 3 mm taller, congratulated his team on the incredible show of unity and teamwork. Finally, the CIO takes the stage to tell everyone that the SEI audit went very well and to thank everyone for studying and shredding the evaluation guides that were passed out. Level 3 now seems assured and will be awarded by June. (Scuttlebutt has it that managers at the level of BB and above are to receive significant bonuses once the SEI awards level 3.)   As the weeks flow by, you and your team work on the design of the system. Of course, you find that the analysis that the design is supposedly based on is flawedno, useless; no, worse than useless. But when you tell your boss that you need to go back and work some more on the analysis to shore up its weaker sections, he simply states, "The analysis phase is over. The only allowable activity is design. Now get back to it."   So, you and your team hack the design as best you can, unsure of whether the requirements have been properly analyzed. Of course, it really doesn't matter much, since the requirements document is still thrashing with weekly revisions, and the marketing department still refuses to meet with you.     The design is a nightmare. Your boss recently misread a book named The Finish Line in which the author, Mark DeThomaso, blithely suggested that design documents should be taken down to code-level detail. "If we are going to be working at that level of detail," you ask, "why don't we simply write the code instead?" "Because then you wouldn't be designing, of course. And the only allowable activity in the design phase is design!" "Besides," he continues, "we have just purchased a companywide license for Dandelion! This tool enables 'Round the Horn Engineering!' You are to transfer all design diagrams into this tool. It will automatically generate our code for us! It will also keep the design diagrams in sync with the code!" Your boss hands you a brightly colored shrinkwrapped box containing the Dandelion distribution. You accept it numbly and shuffle off to your cubicle. Twelve hours, eight crashes, one disk reformatting, and eight shots of 151 later, you finally have the tool installed on your server. You consider the week your team will lose while attending Dandelion training. Then you smile and think, "Any week I'm not here is a good week." Design diagram after design diagram is created by your team. Dandelion makes it very difficult to draw these diagrams. There are dozens and dozens of deeply nested dialog boxes with funny text fields and check boxes that must all be filled in correctly. And then there's the problem of moving classes between packages. At first, these diagram are driven from the use cases. But the requirements are changing so often that the use cases rapidly become meaningless. Debates rage about whether VISITOR or DECORATOR design patterns should be used. One developer refuses to use VISITOR in any form, claiming that it's not a properly object-oriented construct. Someone refuses to use multiple inheritance, since it is the spawn of the devil. Review meetings rapidly degenerate into debates about the meaning of object orientation, the definition of analysis versus design, or when to use aggregation versus association. Midway through the design cycle, the marketing folks announce that they have rethought the focus of the system. Their new requirements document is completely restructured. They have eliminated several major feature areas and replaced them with feature areas that they anticipate customer surveys will show to be more appropriate. You tell your boss that these changes mean that you need to reanalyze and redesign much of the system. But he says, "The analysis phase is system. But he says, "The analysis phase is over. The only allowable activity is design. Now get back to it."   You suggest that it might be better to create a simple prototype to show to the marketing folks and even some potential customers. But your boss says, "The analysis phase is over. The only allowable activity is design. Now get back to it." Hack, hack, hack, hack. You try to create some kind of a design document that might reflect the new requirements documents. However, the revolution of the requirements has not caused them to stop thrashing. Indeed, if anything, the wild oscillations of the requirements document have only increased in frequency and amplitude.   You slog your way through them.   On June 15, the Dandelion database gets corrupted. Apparently, the corruption has been progressive. Small errors in the DB accumulated over the months into bigger and bigger errors. Eventually, the CASE tool just stopped working. Of course, the slowly encroaching corruption is present on all the backups. Calls to the Dandelion technical support line go unanswered for several days. Finally, you receive a brief e-mail from Dandelion, informing you that this is a known problem and that the solution is to purchase the new version, which they promise will be ready some time next quarter, and then reenter all the diagrams by hand.   ****   Then, on July 1 another miracle happens! You are done with the design!   Rather than go to your boss and complain, you stock your middle desk drawer with some vodka.   **** They threw a party to celebrate the on-time completion of the design phase and their graduation to CMM level 3. This time, you find BB's speech so stirring that you have to use the restroom before it begins. New banners and plaques are all over your workplace. They show pictures of eagles and mountain climbers, and they talk about teamwork and empowerment. They read better after a few scotches. That reminds you that you need to clear out your file cabinet to make room for the brandy. You and your team begin to code. But you rapidly discover that the design is lacking in some significant areas. Actually, it's lacking any significance at all. You convene a design session in one of the conference rooms to try to work through some of the nastier problems. But your boss catches you at it and disbands the meeting, saying, "The design phase is over. The only allowable activity is coding. Now get back to it."   ****   The code generated by Dandelion is really hideous. It turns out that you and your team were using association and aggregation the wrong way, after all. All the generated code has to be edited to correct these flaws. Editing this code is extremely difficult because it has been instrumented with ugly comment blocks that have special syntax that Dandelion needs in order to keep the diagrams in sync with the code. If you accidentally alter one of these comments, the diagrams will be regenerated incorrectly. It turns out that "Round the Horn Engineering" requires an awful lot of effort. The more you try to keep the code compatible with Dandelion, the more errors Dandelion generates. In the end, you give up and decide to keep the diagrams up to date manually. A second later, you decide that there's no point in keeping the diagrams up to date at all. Besides, who has time?   Your boss hires a consultant to build tools to count the number of lines of code that are being produced. He puts a big thermometer graph on the wall with the number 1,000,000 on the top. Every day, he extends the red line to show how many lines have been added. Three days after the thermometer appears on the wall, your boss stops you in the hall. "That graph isn't growing quickly enough. We need to have a million lines done by October 1." "We aren't even sh-sh-sure that the proshect will require a m-million linezh," you blather. "We have to have a million lines done by October 1," your boss reiterates. His points have grown again, and the Grecian formula he uses on them creates an aura of authority and competence. "Are you sure your comment blocks are big enough?" Then, in a flash of managerial insight, he says, "I have it! I want you to institute a new policy among the engineers. No line of code is to be longer than 20 characters. Any such line must be split into two or more preferably more. All existing code needs to be reworked to this standard. That'll get our line count up!"   You decide not to tell him that this will require two unscheduled work months. You decide not to tell him anything at all. You decide that intravenous injections of pure ethanol are the only solution. You make the appropriate arrangements. Hack, hack, hack, and hack. You and your team madly code away. By August 1, your boss, frowning at the thermometer on the wall, institutes a mandatory 50-hour workweek.   Hack, hack, hack, and hack. By September 1st, the thermometer is at 1.2 million lines and your boss asks you to write a report describing why you exceeded the coding budget by 20 percent. He institutes mandatory Saturdays and demands that the project be brought back down to a million lines. You start a campaign of remerging lines. Hack, hack, hack, and hack. Tempers are flaring; people are quitting; QA is raining trouble reports down on you. Customers are demanding installation and user manuals; salespeople are demanding advance demonstrations for special customers; the requirements document is still thrashing, the marketing folks are complaining that the product isn't anything like they specified, and the liquor store won't accept your credit card anymore. Something has to give.    On September 15, BB calls a meeting. As he enters the room, his points are emitting clouds of steam. When he speaks, the bass overtones of his carefully manicured voice cause the pit of your stomach to roll over. "The QA manager has told me that this project has less than 50 percent of the required features implemented. He has also informed me that the system crashes all the time, yields wrong results, and is hideously slow. He has also complained that he cannot keep up with the continuous train of daily releases, each more buggy than the last!" He stops for a few seconds, visibly trying to compose himself. "The QA manager estimates that, at this rate of development, we won't be able to ship the product until December!" Actually, you think it's more like March, but you don't say anything. "December!" BB roars with such derision that people duck their heads as though he were pointing an assault rifle at them. "December is absolutely out of the question. Team leaders, I want new estimates on my desk in the morning. I am hereby mandating 65-hour work weeks until this project is complete. And it better be complete by November 1."   As he leaves the conference room, he is heard to mutter: "Empowermentbah!" * * * Your boss is bald; his points are mounted on BB's wall. The fluorescent lights reflecting off his pate momentarily dazzle you. "Do you have anything to drink?" he asks. Having just finished your last bottle of Boone's Farm, you pull a bottle of Thunderbird from your bookshelf and pour it into his coffee mug. "What's it going to take to get this project done? " he asks. "We need to freeze the requirements, analyze them, design them, and then implement them," you say callously. "By November 1?" your boss exclaims incredulously. "No way! Just get back to coding the damned thing." He storms out, scratching his vacant head.   A few days later, you find that your boss has been transferred to the corporate research division. Turnover has skyrocketed. Customers, informed at the last minute that their orders cannot be fulfilled on time, have begun to cancel their orders. Marketing is re-evaluating whether this product aligns with the overall goals of the company. Memos fly, heads roll, policies change, and things are, overall, pretty grim. Finally, by March, after far too many sixty-five hour weeks, a very shaky version of the software is ready. In the field, bug-discovery rates are high, and the technical support staff are at their wits' end, trying to cope with the complaints and demands of the irate customers. Nobody is happy.   In April, BB decides to buy his way out of the problem by licensing a product produced by Rupert Industries and redistributing it. The customers are mollified, the marketing folks are smug, and you are laid off.     Rupert Industries: Project Alpha   Your name is Robert. The date is January 3, 2001. The quiet hours spent with your family this holiday have left you refreshed and ready for work. You are sitting in a conference room with your team of professionals. The manager of the division called the meeting. "We have some ideas for a new project," says the division manager. Call him Russ. He is a high-strung British chap with more energy than a fusion reactor. He is ambitious and driven but understands the value of a team. Russ describes the essence of the new market opportunity the company has identified and introduces you to Jane, the marketing manager, who is responsible for defining the products that will address it. Addressing you, Jane says, "We'd like to start defining our first product offering as soon as possible. When can you and your team meet with me?" You reply, "We'll be done with the current iteration of our project this Friday. We can spare a few hours for you between now and then. After that, we'll take a few people from the team and dedicate them to you. We'll begin hiring their replacements and the new people for your team immediately." "Great," says Russ, "but I want you to understand that it is critical that we have something to exhibit at the trade show coming up this July. If we can't be there with something significant, we'll lose the opportunity."   "I understand," you reply. "I don't yet know what it is that you have in mind, but I'm sure we can have something by July. I just can't tell you what that something will be right now. In any case, you and Jane are going to have complete control over what we developers do, so you can rest assured that by July, you'll have the most important things that can be accomplished in that time ready to exhibit."   Russ nods in satisfaction. He knows how this works. Your team has always kept him advised and allowed him to steer their development. He has the utmost confidence that your team will work on the most important things first and will produce a high-quality product.   * * *   "So, Robert," says Jane at their first meeting, "How does your team feel about being split up?" "We'll miss working with each other," you answer, "but some of us were getting pretty tired of that last project and are looking forward to a change. So, what are you people cooking up?" Jane beams. "You know how much trouble our customers currently have . . ." And she spends a half hour or so describing the problem and possible solution. "OK, wait a second" you respond. "I need to be clear about this." And so you and Jane talk about how this system might work. Some of her ideas aren't fully formed. You suggest possible solutions. She likes some of them. You continue discussing.   During the discussion, as each new topic is addressed, Jane writes user story cards. Each card represents something that the new system has to do. The cards accumulate on the table and are spread out in front of you. Both you and Jane point at them, pick them up, and make notes on them as you discuss the stories. The cards are powerful mnemonic devices that you can use to represent complex ideas that are barely formed.   At the end of the meeting, you say, "OK, I've got a general idea of what you want. I'm going to talk to the team about it. I imagine they'll want to run some experiments with various database structures and presentation formats. Next time we meet, it'll be as a group, and we'll start identifying the most important features of the system."   A week later, your nascent team meets with Jane. They spread the existing user story cards out on the table and begin to get into some of the details of the system. The meeting is very dynamic. Jane presents the stories in the order of their importance. There is much discussion about each one. The developers are concerned about keeping the stories small enough to estimate and test. So they continually ask Jane to split one story into several smaller stories. Jane is concerned that each story have a clear business value and priority, so as she splits them, she makes sure that this stays true.   The stories accumulate on the table. Jane writes them, but the developers make notes on them as needed. Nobody tries to capture everything that is said; the cards are not meant to capture everything but are simply reminders of the conversation.   As the developers become more comfortable with the stories, they begin writing estimates on them. These estimates are crude and budgetary, but they give Jane an idea of what the story will cost.   At the end of the meeting, it is clear that many more stories could be discussed. It is also clear that the most important stories have been addressed and that they represent several months worth of work. Jane closes the meeting by taking the cards with her and promising to have a proposal for the first release in the morning.   * * *   The next morning, you reconvene the meeting. Jane chooses five cards and places them on the table. "According to your estimates, these cards represent about one perfect team-week's worth of work. The last iteration of the previous project managed to get one perfect team-week done in 3 real weeks. If we can get these five stories done in 3 weeks, we'll be able to demonstrate them to Russ. That will make him feel very comfortable about our progress." Jane is pushing it. The sheepish look on her face lets you know that she knows it too. You reply, "Jane, this is a new team, working on a new project. It's a bit presumptuous to expect that our velocity will be the same as the previous team's. However, I met with the team yesterday afternoon, and we all agreed that our initial velocity should, in fact, be set to one perfectweek for every 3 real-weeks. So you've lucked out on this one." "Just remember," you continue, "that the story estimates and the story velocity are very tentative at this point. We'll learn more when we plan the iteration and even more when we implement it."   Jane looks over her glasses at you as if to say "Who's the boss around here, anyway?" and then smiles and says, "Yeah, don't worry. I know the drill by now."Jane then puts 15 more cards on the table. She says, "If we can get all these cards done by the end of March, we can turn the system over to our beta test customers. And we'll get good feedback from them."   You reply, "OK, so we've got our first iteration defined, and we have the stories for the next three iterations after that. These four iterations will make our first release."   "So," says Jane, can you really do these five stories in the next 3 weeks?" "I don't know for sure, Jane," you reply. "Let's break them down into tasks and see what we get."   So Jane, you, and your team spend the next several hours taking each of the five stories that Jane chose for the first iteration and breaking them down into small tasks. The developers quickly realize that some of the tasks can be shared between stories and that other tasks have commonalities that can probably be taken advantage of. It is clear that potential designs are popping into the developers' heads. From time to time, they form little discussion knots and scribble UML diagrams on some cards.   Soon, the whiteboard is filled with the tasks that, once completed, will implement the five stories for this iteration. You start the sign-up process by saying, "OK, let's sign up for these tasks." "I'll take the initial database generation." Says Pete. "That's what I did on the last project, and this doesn't look very different. I estimate it at two of my perfect workdays." "OK, well, then, I'll take the login screen," says Joe. "Aw, darn," says Elaine, the junior member of the team, "I've never done a GUI, and kinda wanted to try that one."   "Ah, the impatience of youth," Joe says sagely, with a wink in your direction. "You can assist me with it, young Jedi." To Jane: "I think it'll take me about three of my perfect workdays."   One by one, the developers sign up for tasks and estimate them in terms of their own perfect workdays. Both you and Jane know that it is best to let the developers volunteer for tasks than to assign the tasks to them. You also know full well that you daren't challenge any of the developers' estimates. You know these people, and you trust them. You know that they are going to do the very best they can.   The developers know that they can't sign up for more perfect workdays than they finished in the last iteration they worked on. Once each developer has filled his or her schedule for the iteration, they stop signing up for tasks.   Eventually, all the developers have stopped signing up for tasks. But, of course, tasks are still left on the board.   "I was worried that that might happen," you say, "OK, there's only one thing to do, Jane. We've got too much to do in this iteration. What stories or tasks can we remove?" Jane sighs. She knows that this is the only option. Working overtime at the beginning of a project is insane, and projects where she's tried it have not fared well.   So Jane starts to remove the least-important functionality. "Well, we really don't need the login screen just yet. We can simply start the system in the logged-in state." "Rats!" cries Elaine. "I really wanted to do that." "Patience, grasshopper." says Joe. "Those who wait for the bees to leave the hive will not have lips too swollen to relish the honey." Elaine looks confused. Everyone looks confused. "So . . .," Jane continues, "I think we can also do away with . . ." And so, bit by bit, the list of tasks shrinks. Developers who lose a task sign up for one of the remaining ones.   The negotiation is not painless. Several times, Jane exhibits obvious frustration and impatience. Once, when tensions are especially high, Elaine volunteers, "I'll work extra hard to make up some of the missing time." You are about to correct her when, fortunately, Joe looks her in the eye and says, "When once you proceed down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny."   In the end, an iteration acceptable to Jane is reached. It's not what Jane wanted. Indeed, it is significantly less. But it's something the team feels that can be achieved in the next 3 weeks.   And, after all, it still addresses the most important things that Jane wanted in the iteration. "So, Jane," you say when things had quieted down a bit, "when can we expect acceptance tests from you?" Jane sighs. This is the other side of the coin. For every story the development team implements,   Jane must supply a suite of acceptance tests that prove that it works. And the team needs these long before the end of the iteration, since they will certainly point out differences in the way Jane and the developers imagine the system's behaviour.   "I'll get you some example test scripts today," Jane promises. "I'll add to them every day after that. You'll have the entire suite by the middle of the iteration."   * * *   The iteration begins on Monday morning with a flurry of Class, Responsibilities, Collaborators sessions. By midmorning, all the developers have assembled into pairs and are rapidly coding away. "And now, my young apprentice," Joe says to Elaine, "you shall learn the mysteries of test-first design!"   "Wow, that sounds pretty rad," Elaine replies. "How do you do it?" Joe beams. It's clear that he has been anticipating this moment. "OK, what does the code do right now?" "Huh?" replied Elaine, "It doesn't do anything at all; there is no code."   "So, consider our task; can you think of something the code should do?" "Sure," Elaine said with youthful assurance, "First, it should connect to the database." "And thereupon, what must needs be required to connecteth the database?" "You sure talk weird," laughed Elaine. "I think we'd have to get the database object from some registry and call the Connect() method. "Ah, astute young wizard. Thou perceives correctly that we requireth an object within which we can cacheth the database object." "Is 'cacheth' really a word?" "It is when I say it! So, what test can we write that we know the database registry should pass?" Elaine sighs. She knows she'll just have to play along. "We should be able to create a database object and pass it to the registry in a Store() method. And then we should be able to pull it out of the registry with a Get() method and make sure it's the same object." "Oh, well said, my prepubescent sprite!" "Hay!" "So, now, let's write a test function that proves your case." "But shouldn't we write the database object and registry object first?" "Ah, you've much to learn, my young impatient one. Just write the test first." "But it won't even compile!" "Are you sure? What if it did?" "Uh . . ." "Just write the test, Elaine. Trust me." And so Joe, Elaine, and all the other developers began to code their tasks, one test case at a time. The room in which they worked was abuzz with the conversations between the pairs. The murmur was punctuated by an occasional high five when a pair managed to finish a task or a difficult test case.   As development proceeded, the developers changed partners once or twice a day. Each developer got to see what all the others were doing, and so knowledge of the code spread generally throughout the team.   Whenever a pair finished something significant whether a whole task or simply an important part of a task they integrated what they had with the rest of the system. Thus, the code base grew daily, and integration difficulties were minimized.   The developers communicated with Jane on a daily basis. They'd go to her whenever they had a question about the functionality of the system or the interpretation of an acceptance test case.   Jane, good as her word, supplied the team with a steady stream of acceptance test scripts. The team read these carefully and thereby gained a much better understanding of what Jane expected the system to do. By the beginning of the second week, there was enough functionality to demonstrate to Jane. She watched eagerly as the demonstration passed test case after test case. "This is really cool," Jane said as the demonstration finally ended. "But this doesn't seem like one-third of the tasks. Is your velocity slower than anticipated?"   You grimace. You'd been waiting for a good time to mention this to Jane but now she was forcing the issue. "Yes, unfortunately, we are going more slowly than we had expected. The new application server we are using is turning out to be a pain to configure. Also, it takes forever to reboot, and we have to reboot it whenever we make even the slightest change to its configuration."   Jane eyes you with suspicion. The stress of last Monday's negotiations had still not entirely dissipated. She says, "And what does this mean to our schedule? We can't slip it again, we just can't. Russ will have a fit! He'll haul us all into the woodshed and ream us some new ones."   You look Jane right in the eyes. There's no pleasant way to give someone news like this. So you just blurt out, "Look, if things keep going like they're going, we're not going to be done with everything by next Friday. Now it's possible that we'll figure out a way to go faster. But, frankly, I wouldn't depend on that. You should start thinking about one or two tasks that could be removed from the iteration without ruining the demonstration for Russ. Come hell or high water, we are going to give that demonstration on Friday, and I don't think you want us to choose which tasks to omit."   "Aw forchrisakes!" Jane barely manages to stifle yelling that last word as she stalks away, shaking her head. Not for the first time, you say to yourself, "Nobody ever promised me project management would be easy." You are pretty sure it won't be the last time, either.   Actually, things went a bit better than you had hoped. The team did, in fact, have to drop one task from the iteration, but Jane had chosen wisely, and the demonstration for Russ went without a hitch. Russ was not impressed with the progress, but neither was he dismayed. He simply said, "This is pretty good. But remember, we have to be able to demonstrate this system at the trade show in July, and at this rate, it doesn't look like you'll have all that much to show." Jane, whose attitude had improved dramatically with the completion of the iteration, responded to Russ by saying, "Russ, this team is working hard, and well. When July comes around, I am confident that we'll have something significant to demonstrate. It won't be everything, and some of it may be smoke and mirrors, but we'll have something."   Painful though the last iteration was, it had calibrated your velocity numbers. The next iteration went much better. Not because your team got more done than in the last iteration but simply because the team didn't have to remove any tasks or stories in the middle of the iteration.   By the start of the fourth iteration, a natural rhythm has been established. Jane, you, and the team know exactly what to expect from one another. The team is running hard, but the pace is sustainable. You are confident that the team can keep up this pace for a year or more.   The number of surprises in the schedule diminishes to near zero; however, the number of surprises in the requirements does not. Jane and Russ frequently look over the growing system and make recommendations or changes to the existing functionality. But all parties realize that these changes take time and must be scheduled. So the changes do not cause anyone's expectations to be violated. In March, there is a major demonstration of the system to the board of directors. The system is very limited and is not yet in a form good enough to take to the trade show, but progress is steady, and the board is reasonably impressed.   The second release goes even more smoothly than the first. By now, the team has figured out a way to automate Jane's acceptance test scripts. The team has also refactored the design of the system to the point that it is really easy to add new features and change old ones. The second release was done by the end of June and was taken to the trade show. It had less in it than Jane and Russ would have liked, but it did demonstrate the most important features of the system. Although customers at the trade show noticed that certain features were missing, they were very impressed overall. You, Russ, and Jane all returned from the trade show with smiles on your faces. You all felt as though this project was a winner.   Indeed, many months later, you are contacted by Rufus Inc. That company had been working on a system like this for its internal operations. Rufus has canceled the development of that system after a death-march project and is negotiating to license your technology for its environment.   Indeed, things are looking up!

  Read the article

• Position:absolute

  - by Andrew

  I have I have a div called logo. I want the logo to be on top of other areas and to overlap into the the preface top of a drupal site, the logo currently sits in the header area. I looked up position absolute and I think that what I need to use but when I use position absolute the logo disappears, I can see it if I use position fixed, relative etc. I thought the logo was being hidden because I was not using a z-index but even with that I cant see the logo. What am I doing wrong? #logo { position: absolute; top: 30px; /* 30 pixels from the top of the page */ left: 80px; /* 80 pixels from the left hand side */ z-index:1099; border: 1px solid red; /* So we can see what is happening */ } Also does anyone know of a really good free online css course? Here is some additional information, namely the CSS and the page.tpl.php: <?php // $Id: page.tpl.php,v 1.1.2.5 2010/04/08 07:02:59 sociotech Exp $ ?><!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="<?php print $language->language; ?>" xml:lang="<?php print $language->language; ?>"> <head> <title><?php print $head_title; ?></title> <?php print $head; ?> <?php print $styles; ?> <?php print $setting_styles; ?> <!--[if IE 8]> <?php print $ie8_styles; ?> <![endif]--> <!--[if IE 7]> <?php print $ie7_styles; ?> <![endif]--> <!--[if lte IE 6]> <?php print $ie6_styles; ?> <![endif]--> <?php print $local_styles; ?> <?php print $scripts; ?> </head> <body id="<?php print $body_id; ?>" class="<?php print $body_classes; ?>"> <div id="page" class="page"> <div id="page-inner" class="page-inner"> <div id="skip"> <a href="#main-content-area"><?php print t('Skip to Main Content Area'); ?></a> </div> <!-- header-top row: width = grid_width --> <?php print theme('grid_row', $header_top, 'header-top', 'full-width', $grid_width); ?> <!-- header-group row: width = grid_width --> <div id="header-group-wrapper" class="header-group-wrapper full-width"> <div id="header-group" class="header-group row <?php print $grid_width; ?>"> <div id="header-group-inner" class="header-group-inner inner clearfix"> <?php print theme('grid_block', theme('links', $secondary_links), 'secondary-menu'); ?> <?php print theme('grid_block', $search_box, 'search-box'); ?> <?php if ($logo || $site_name || $site_slogan): ?> <div id="header-site-info" class="header-site-info block"> <div id="header-site-info-inner" class="header-site-info-inner inner"> <?php if ($logo): ?> <div id="logo"> <a href="<?php print check_url($front_page); ?>" title="<?php print t('Home'); ?>"><img src="<?php print $logo; ?>" alt="<?php print t('Home'); ?>" /></a> </div> <?php endif; ?> <?php if ($site_name || $site_slogan): ?> <div id="site-name-wrapper" class="clearfix"> <?php if ($site_name): ?> <span id="site-name"><a href="<?php print check_url($front_page); ?>" title="<?php print t('Home'); ?>"><?php print $site_name; ?></a></span> <?php endif; ?> <?php if ($site_slogan): ?> <span id="slogan"><?php print $site_slogan; ?></span> <?php endif; ?> </div><!-- /site-name-wrapper --> <?php endif; ?> </div><!-- /header-site-info-inner --> </div><!-- /header-site-info --> <?php endif; ?> <?php print $header; ?> <?php print theme('grid_block', $primary_links_tree, 'primary-menu'); ?> </div><!-- /header-group-inner --> </div><!-- /header-group --> </div><!-- /header-group-wrapper --> <!-- preface-top row: width = grid_width --> <?php print theme('grid_row', $preface_top, 'preface-top', 'full-width', $grid_width); ?> <!-- main row: width = grid_width --> <div id="main-wrapper" class="main-wrapper full-width<?php if ($is_front) { print ' front'; } ?>"> <div id="main" class="main row <?php print $grid_width; ?>"> <div id="main-inner" class="main-inner inner clearfix"> <?php print theme('grid_row', $sidebar_first, 'sidebar-first', 'nested', $sidebar_first_width); ?> <!-- main group: width = grid_width - sidebar_first_width --> <div id="main-group" class="main-group row nested <?php print $main_group_width; ?>"> <div id="main-group-inner" class="main-group-inner inner"> <?php print theme('grid_row', $preface_bottom, 'preface-bottom', 'nested'); ?> <div id="main-content" class="main-content row nested"> <div id="main-content-inner" class="main-content-inner inner"> <!-- content group: width = grid_width - (sidebar_first_width + sidebar_last_width) --> <div id="content-group" class="content-group row nested <?php print $content_group_width; ?>"> <div id="content-group-inner" class="content-group-inner inner"> <?php print theme('grid_block', $breadcrumb, 'breadcrumbs'); ?> <?php if ($content_top || $help || $messages): ?> <div id="content-top" class="content-top row nested"> <div id="content-top-inner" class="content-top-inner inner"> <?php print theme('grid_block', $help, 'content-help'); ?> <?php print theme('grid_block', $messages, 'content-messages'); ?> <?php print $content_top; ?> </div><!-- /content-top-inner --> </div><!-- /content-top --> <?php endif; ?> <div id="content-region" class="content-region row nested"> <div id="content-region-inner" class="content-region-inner inner"> <a name="main-content-area" id="main-content-area"></a> <?php print theme('grid_block', $tabs, 'content-tabs'); ?> <div id="content-inner" class="content-inner block"> <div id="content-inner-inner" class="content-inner-inner inner"> <?php if ($title): ?> <h1 class="title"><?php print $title; ?></h1> <?php endif; ?> <?php if ($content): ?> <div id="content-content" class="content-content"> <?php print $content; ?> <?php print $feed_icons; ?> </div><!-- /content-content --> <?php endif; ?> </div><!-- /content-inner-inner --> </div><!-- /content-inner --> </div><!-- /content-region-inner --> </div><!-- /content-region --> <?php print theme('grid_row', $content_bottom, 'content-bottom', 'nested'); ?> </div><!-- /content-group-inner --> </div><!-- /content-group --> <?php print theme('grid_row', $sidebar_last, 'sidebar-last', 'nested', $sidebar_last_width); ?> </div><!-- /main-content-inner --> </div><!-- /main-content --> <?php print theme('grid_row', $postscript_top, 'postscript-top', 'nested'); ?> </div><!-- /main-group-inner --> </div><!-- /main-group --> </div><!-- /main-inner --> </div><!-- /main --> </div><!-- /main-wrapper --> <!-- postscript-bottom row: width = grid_width --> <?php print theme('grid_row', $postscript_bottom, 'postscript-bottom', 'full-width', $grid_width); ?> <!-- footer row: width = grid_width --> <?php print theme('grid_row', $footer, 'footer', 'full-width', $grid_width); ?> <!-- footer-message row: width = grid_width --> <div id="footer-message-wrapper" class="footer-message-wrapper full-width"> <div id="footer-message" class="footer-message row <?php print $grid_width; ?>"> <div id="footer-message-inner" class="footer-message-inner inner clearfix"> <?php print theme('grid_block', $footer_message, 'footer-message-text'); ?> </div><!-- /footer-message-inner --> </div><!-- /footer-message --> </div><!-- /footer-message-wrapper --> </div><!-- /page-inner --> </div><!-- /page --> <?php print $closure; ?> </body> </html> CSS /* $Id: style.css,v 1.1.2.11 2010/07/02 22:11:04 sociotech Exp $ */ /* Margin, Padding, Border Resets -------------------------------------------------------------- */ html, body, div, span, p, dl, dt, dd, ul, ol, li, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, form, fieldset, input, textarea { margin: 0; padding: 0; } img, abbr, acronym { border: 0; } /* HTML Elements -------------------------------------------------------------- */ p { margin: 1em 0; } h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6 { margin: 0 0 0.5em 0; } h1 { color: white !important; text-shadow: black !important; } ul, ol, dd { margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 2em; /* LTR */ } li ul, li ol { margin-bottom: 0; } ul { list-style-type: disc; } ol { list-style-type: decimal; } a { margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: none; } a:link, a:visited { } a:hover, a:focus, a:active { text-decoration: underline; } blockquote { } hr { height: 1px; border: 1px solid gray; } /* tables */ table { border-spacing: 0; width: 100%; } tr.even td, tr.odd td { background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 1px solid #dbdbdb; } caption { text-align: left; } th { margin: 0; padding: 0 10px 0 0; } th.active img { display: inline; } thead th { padding-right: 10px; } td { margin: 0; padding: 3px; } /* Remove grid block styles from Drupal's table ".block" class */ td.block { border: none; float: none; margin: 0; } /* Maintain light background/dark text on dragged table rows */ tr.drag td, tr.drag-previous td { background: #FFFFDD; color: #000; } /* Accessibility /-------------------------------------------------------------- */ /* skip-link to main content, hide offscreen */ #skip a, #skip a:hover, #skip a:visited { height: 1px; left: 0px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: -500px; width: 1px; } /* make skip link visible when selected */ #skip a:active, #skip a:focus { background-color: #fff; color: #000; height: auto; padding: 5px 10px; position: absolute; top: 0; width: auto; z-index: 99; } #skip a:hover { text-decoration: none; } /* Helper Classes /-------------------------------------------------------------- */ .hide { display: none; visibility: hidden; } .left { float: left; } .right { float: right; } .clear { clear: both; } /* clear floats after an element */ /* (also in ie6-fixes.css, ie7-fixes.css) */ .clearfix:after, .clearfix .inner:after { clear: both; content: "."; display: block; font-size: 0; height: 0; line-height: 0; overflow: auto; visibility: hidden; } /* Grid Layout Basics (specifics in 'gridnn_x.css') -------------------------------------------------------------- */ /* center page and full rows: override this for left-aligned page */ .page, .row { margin: 0 auto; } /* fix layout/background display on floated elements */ .row, .nested, .block { overflow: hidden; } /* full-width row wrapper */ div.full-width { width: 100%; } /* float, un-center & expand nested rows */ .nested { float: left; /* LTR */ margin: 0; width: 100%; } /* allow Superfish menus to overflow */ #sidebar-first.nested, #sidebar-last.nested, div.superfish { overflow: visible; } /* sidebar layouts */ .sidebars-both-first .content-group { float: right; /* LTR */ } .sidebars-both-last .sidebar-first { float: right; /* LTR */ } /* Grid Mask Overlay -------------------------------------------------------------- */ #grid-mask-overlay { display: none; left: 0; opacity: 0.75; position: absolute; top: 0; width: 100%; z-index: 997; } #grid-mask-overlay .row { margin: 0 auto; } #grid-mask-overlay .block .inner { background-color: #e3fffc; outline: none; } .grid-mask #grid-mask-overlay { display: block; } .grid-mask .block { overflow: visible; } .grid-mask .block .inner { outline: #f00 dashed 1px; } #grid-mask-toggle { background-color: #777; border: 2px outset #fff; color: #fff; cursor: pointer; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: normal; left: 0; -moz-border-radius: 5px; padding: 0 5px 2px 5px; position: absolute; text-align: center; top: 22px; -webkit-border-radius: 5px; z-index: 998; } #grid-mask-toggle.grid-on { border-style: inset; font-weight: bold; } /* Site Info -------------------------------------------------------------- */ #header-site-info { width: auto; } #site-name-wrapper { float: left; /* LTR */ } #site-name, #slogan { display: block; } #site-name a:link, #site-name a:visited, #site-name a:hover, #site-name a:active { text-decoration: none; } #site-name a { outline: 0; } /* Regions -------------------------------------------------------------- */ /* Header Regions -------------------------------------------------------------- */ #header-group { overflow: visible; } /* Content Regions (Main) -------------------------------------------------------------- */ .node-bottom { margin: 1.5em 0 0 0; } /* Clear floats on regions -------------------------------------------------------------- */ #header-top-wrapper, #header-group-wrapper, #preface-top-wrapper, #main-wrapper, #preface-bottom, #content-top, #content-region, #content-bottom, #postscript-top, #postscript-bottom-wrapper, #footer-wrapper, #footer-message-wrapper { clear: both; } /* Drupal Core /-------------------------------------------------------------- */ /* Lists /-------------------------------------------------------------- */ .item-list ul li { margin: 0; } .block ul, .block ol { margin-left: 2em; /* LTR */ padding: 0; } .content-inner ul, .content-inner ol { margin-bottom: 1.5em; } .content-inner li ul, .content-inner li ol { margin-bottom: 0; } .block ul.links { margin-left: 0; /* LTR */ } /* Menus /-------------------------------------------------------------- */ ul.menu li, ul.links li { margin: 0; padding: 0; } /* Primary Menu /-------------------------------------------------------------- */ /* use ID to override overflow: hidden for .block, dropdowns should always be visible */ #primary-menu { overflow: visible; } /* remove left margin from primary menu list */ #primary-menu.block ul { margin-left: 0; /* LTR */ } /* remove bullets, float left */ .primary-menu ul li { float: left; /* LTR */ list-style: none; position: relative; } /* style links, and unlinked parent items (via Special Menu Items module) */ .primary-menu ul li a, .primary-menu ul li .nolink { display: block; padding: 0.75em 1em; text-decoration: none; } /* Add cursor style for unlinked parent menu items */ .primary-menu ul li .nolink { cursor: default; } /* remove outline */ .primary-menu ul li:hover, .primary-menu ul li.sfHover, .primary-menu ul a:focus, .primary-menu ul a:hover, .primary-menu ul a:active { outline: 0; } /* Secondary Menu /-------------------------------------------------------------- */ .secondary-menu-inner ul.links { margin-left: 0; /* LTR */ } /* Skinr styles /-------------------------------------------------------------- */ /* Skinr selectable helper classes */ .fusion-clear { clear: both; } div.fusion-right { float: right; /* LTR */ } div.fusion-center { float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; } .fusion-center-content .inner { text-align: center; } .fusion-center-content .inner ul.menu { display: inline-block; text-align: center; } /* required to override drupal core */ .fusion-center-content #user-login-form { text-align: center; } .fusion-right-content .inner { text-align: right; /* LTR */ } /* required to override drupal core */ .fusion-right-content #user-login-form { text-align: right; /* LTR */ } /* Large, bold callout text style */ .fusion-callout .inner { font-weight: bold; } /* Extra padding on block */ .fusion-padding .inner { padding: 30px; } /* Adds 1px border and padding */ .fusion-border .inner { border-width: 1px; border-style: solid; padding: 10px; } /* Single line menu with separators */ .fusion-inline-menu .inner ul.menu { margin-left: 0; /* LTR */ } .fusion-inline-menu .inner ul.menu li { border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; display: inline; margin: 0; padding: 0; white-space: nowrap; } .fusion-inline-menu .inner ul.menu li a { padding: 0 8px 0 5px; /* LTR */ } .fusion-inline-menu .inner ul li.last { border: none; } /* Hide second level (and beyond) menu items */ .fusion-inline-menu .inner ul li.expanded ul { display: none; } /* Multi-column menu style with bolded top level menu items */ .fusion-multicol-menu .inner ul { margin-left: 0; /* LTR */ text-align: left; /* LTR */ } .fusion-multicol-menu .inner ul li { border-right: none; display: block; font-weight: bold; } .fusion-multicol-menu .inner ul li.last { border-right: none; } .fusion-multicol-menu .inner ul li.last a { padding-right: 0; /* LTR */ } .fusion-multicol-menu .inner ul li.expanded, .fusion-multicol-menu .inner ul li.leaf { float: left; /* LTR */ list-style-image: none; margin-left: 50px; /* LTR */ } .fusion-multicol-menu .inner ul.menu li.first { margin-left: 0; /* LTR */ } .fusion-multicol-menu .inner ul li.expanded li.leaf { float: none; margin-left: 0; /* LTR */ } .fusion-multicol-menu .inner ul li.expanded ul { display: block; margin-left: 0; /* LTR */ } .fusion-multicol-menu .inner ul li.expanded ul li { border: none; margin-left: 0; /* LTR */ text-align: left; /* LTR */ } .fusion-multicol-menu .inner ul.menu li ul.menu li { font-weight: normal; } /* Split list across multiple columns */ .fusion-2-col-list .inner .item-list ul li, .fusion-2-col-list .inner ul.menu li { float: left; /* LTR */ width: 50%; } .fusion-3-col-list .inner .item-list ul li, .fusion-3-col-list .inner ul.menu li { float: left; /* LTR */ width: 33%; } .fusion-2-col-list .inner .item-list ul.pager li, .fusion-3-col-list .inner .item-list ul.pager li { float: none; width: auto; } /* List with bottom border Fixes a common issue when list items have bottom borders and appear to be doubled when nested lists end and begin. This removes the extra border-bottom */ .fusion-list-bottom-border .inner ul li { list-style: none; list-style-type: none; list-style-image: none; } .fusion-list-bottom-border .inner ul li, .fusion-list-bottom-border .view-content div.views-row { padding: 0 0 0 10px; /* LTR */ border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; line-height: 216.7%; /* 26px */ } .fusion-list-bottom-border .inner ul { margin: 0; } .fusion-list-bottom-border .inner ul li ul { border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; } .fusion-list-bottom-border .inner ul li ul li.last { border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; margin-bottom: -1px; margin-top: -1px; } #views_slideshow_singleframe_pager_slideshow-page_2 .pager-item { display:block; } #views_slideshow_singleframe_pager_slideshow-page_2 { position:absolute; right:0; top:0; } #header-group-wrapper { background: none; } #page { background-color:#F3F3F3; background-image:url('/sites/all/themes/fusion/fusion_core/images/runswithgradient.jpg'); background-repeat:no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; width: auto; } #views_slideshow_singleframe_pager_slideshow-page_2 div a img { top:0px; height:60px; width:80px; padding-right:10px; padding-bottom:19px; } #mycontent{ width: 720px; } .product-body { -moz-border-radius: 4px 4px 4px 4px; margin: 0 0 20px; overflow: hidden; padding: 20px; background: none repeat scroll 0 0 #F7F7F7; border: 1px solid #000000; border-style:solid; border-width:thin; color:#000000; } #product-details { background: none repeat scroll 0 0 #F7F7F7 !important; border: 1px solid #000000 !important; color: #8E8E8E; } #logo { position: relative; top: 30px; /* 30 pixels from the top of the page */ left: 80px; /* 80 pixels from the left hand side */ z-index:1099; border: 1px solid red; /* So we can see what is happening */ } #breadcrumbs-inner { background: none; border-color: transparent; border-style: none; } #block-views-new_products-block_1{ height:200px; } /* List with no bullet and extra padding This is a common style for menus, which removes the bullet and adds more vertical padding for a simple list style */ .fusion-list-vertical-spacing .inner ul, .fusion-list-vertical-spacing div.views-row-first { margin-left: 0; margin-top: 10px; } .fusion-list-vertical-spacing .inner ul li, .fusion-list-vertical-spacing div.views-row { line-height: 133.3%; /* 16px/12px */ margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0; } .fusion-list-vertical-spacing .inner ul li { list-style: none; list-style-image: none; list-style-type: none; } .fusion-list-vertical-spacing .inner ul li ul { margin-left: 10px; /* LTR */ } /* Bold all links */ .fusion-bold-links .inner a { font-weight: bold; } /* Float imagefield images left and add margin */ .fusion-float-imagefield-left .field-type-filefield, .fusion-float-imagefield-left .image-insert, .fusion-float-imagefield-left .imagecache { float: left; /* LTR */ margin: 0 15px 15px 0; /* LTR */ } /* Clear float on new Views item so each row drops to a new line */ .fusion-float-imagefield-left .views-row { clear: left; /* LTR */ } /* Float imagefield images right and add margin */ .fusion-float-imagefield-right .field-type-filefield, .fusion-float-imagefield-right .image-insert .fusion-float-imagefield-right .imagecache { float: right; /* LTR */ margin: 0 0 15px 15px; /* LTR */ } /* Clear float on new Views item so each row drops to a new line */ .fusion-float-imagefield-right .views-row { clear: right; /* LTR */ } /* Superfish: all menus */ .sf-menu li { list-style: none; list-style-image: none; list-style-type: none; } /* Superfish: vertical menus */ .superfish-vertical { position: relative; z-index: 9; } ul.sf-vertical { background: #fafafa; margin: 0; width: 100%; } ul.sf-vertical li { border-bottom: 1px solid #ccc; font-weight: bold; line-height: 200%; /* 24px */ padding: 0; width: 100%; } ul.sf-vertical li a:link, ul.sf-vertical li a:visited, ul.sf-vertical li .nolink { margin-left: 10px; padding: 2px; } ul.sf-vertical li a:hover, ul.sf-vertical li a.active { text-decoration: underline; } ul.sf-vertical li ul { background: #fafafa; border-top: 1px solid #ccc; margin-left: 0; width: 150px; } ul.sf-vertical li ul li.last { border-top: 1px solid #ccc; margin-bottom: -1px; margin-top: -1px; } ul.sf-vertical li ul { border-top: none; padding: 4px 0; } ul.sf-vertical li ul li { border-bottom: none; line-height: 150%; /* 24px */ More below but I can't paste that much Thanks for the suggestion I've tried this #header-group { position: relative; z-index: 9; } #logo { position: abosolute; top: 230px; /* 30 pixels from the top of the page */ left: 10px; /* 80 pixels from the left hand side */ z-index: 999; } but it's not working. I've taken a screen shot of the div to show the structure. http://i.stack.imgur.com/ff4DP.png

  Read the article

< Previous Page | 29 30 31 32 33