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• VLOOKUP in Excel, part 2: Using VLOOKUP without a database

  - by Mark Virtue

  In a recent article, we introduced the Excel function called VLOOKUP and explained how it could be used to retrieve information from a database into a cell in a local worksheet.  In that article we mentioned that there were two uses for VLOOKUP, and only one of them dealt with querying databases.  In this article, the second and final in the VLOOKUP series, we examine this other, lesser known use for the VLOOKUP function. If you haven’t already done so, please read the first VLOOKUP article – this article will assume that many of the concepts explained in that article are already known to the reader. When working with databases, VLOOKUP is passed a “unique identifier” that serves to identify which data record we wish to find in the database (e.g. a product code or customer ID).  This unique identifier must exist in the database, otherwise VLOOKUP returns us an error.  In this article, we will examine a way of using VLOOKUP where the identifier doesn’t need to exist in the database at all.  It’s almost as if VLOOKUP can adopt a “near enough is good enough” approach to returning the data we’re looking for.  In certain circumstances, this is exactly what we need. We will illustrate this article with a real-world example – that of calculating the commissions that are generated on a set of sales figures.  We will start with a very simple scenario, and then progressively make it more complex, until the only rational solution to the problem is to use VLOOKUP.  The initial scenario in our fictitious company works like this:  If a salesperson creates more than $30,000 worth of sales in a given year, the commission they earn on those sales is 30%.  Otherwise their commission is only 20%.  So far this is a pretty simple worksheet: To use this worksheet, the salesperson enters their sales figures in cell B1, and the formula in cell B2 calculates the correct commission rate they are entitled to receive, which is used in cell B3 to calculate the total commission that the salesperson is owed (which is a simple multiplication of B1 and B2). The cell B2 contains the only interesting part of this worksheet – the formula for deciding which commission rate to use: the one below the threshold of $30,000, or the one above the threshold.  This formula makes use of the Excel function called IF.  For those readers that are not familiar with IF, it works like this: IF(condition,value if true,value if false) Where the condition is an expression that evaluates to either true or false.  In the example above, the condition is the expression B1<B5, which can be read as “Is B1 less than B5?”, or, put another way, “Are the total sales less than the threshold”.  If the answer to this question is “yes” (true), then we use the value if true parameter of the function, namely B6 in this case – the commission rate if the sales total was below the threshold.  If the answer to the question is “no” (false), then we use the value if false parameter of the function, namely B7 in this case – the commission rate if the sales total was above the threshold. As you can see, using a sales total of $20,000 gives us a commission rate of 20% in cell B2.  If we enter a value of $40,000, we get a different commission rate: So our spreadsheet is working. Let’s make it more complex.  Let’s introduce a second threshold:  If the salesperson earns more than $40,000, then their commission rate increases to 40%: Easy enough to understand in the real world, but in cell B2 our formula is getting more complex.  If you look closely at the formula, you’ll see that the third parameter of the original IF function (the value if false) is now an entire IF function in its own right.  This is called a nested function (a function within a function).  It’s perfectly valid in Excel (it even works!), but it’s harder to read and understand. We’re not going to go into the nuts and bolts of how and why this works, nor will we examine the nuances of nested functions.  This is a tutorial on VLOOKUP, not on Excel in general. Anyway, it gets worse!  What about when we decide that if they earn more than $50,000 then they’re entitled to 50% commission, and if they earn more than $60,000 then they’re entitled to 60% commission? Now the formula in cell B2, while correct, has become virtually unreadable.  No-one should have to write formulae where the functions are nested four levels deep!  Surely there must be a simpler way? There certainly is.  VLOOKUP to the rescue! Let’s redesign the worksheet a bit.  We’ll keep all the same figures, but organize it in a new way, a more tabular way: Take a moment and verify for yourself that the new Rate Table works exactly the same as the series of thresholds above. Conceptually, what we’re about to do is use VLOOKUP to look up the salesperson’s sales total (from B1) in the rate table and return to us the corresponding commission rate.  Note that the salesperson may have indeed created sales that are not one of the five values in the rate table ($0, $30,000, $40,000, $50,000 or $60,000).  They may have created sales of $34,988.  It’s important to note that $34,988 does not appear in the rate table.  Let’s see if VLOOKUP can solve our problem anyway… We select cell B2 (the location we want to put our formula), and then insert the VLOOKUP function from the Formulas tab: The Function Arguments box for VLOOKUP appears.  We fill in the arguments (parameters) one by one, starting with the Lookup_value, which is, in this case, the sales total from cell B1.  We place the cursor in the Lookup_value field and then click once on cell B1: Next we need to specify to VLOOKUP what table to lookup this data in.  In this example, it’s the rate table, of course.  We place the cursor in the Table_array field, and then highlight the entire rate table – excluding the headings: Next we must specify which column in the table contains the information we want our formula to return to us.  In this case we want the commission rate, which is found in the second column in the table, so we therefore enter a 2 into the Col_index_num field: Finally we enter a value in the Range_lookup field. Important:  It is the use of this field that differentiates the two ways of using VLOOKUP.  To use VLOOKUP with a database, this final parameter, Range_lookup, must always be set to FALSE, but with this other use of VLOOKUP, we must either leave it blank or enter a value of TRUE.  When using VLOOKUP, it is vital that you make the correct choice for this final parameter. To be explicit, we will enter a value of true in the Range_lookup field.  It would also be fine to leave it blank, as this is the default value: We have completed all the parameters.  We now click the OK button, and Excel builds our VLOOKUP formula for us: If we experiment with a few different sales total amounts, we can satisfy ourselves that the formula is working. Conclusion In the “database” version of VLOOKUP, where the Range_lookup parameter is FALSE, the value passed in the first parameter (Lookup_value) must be present in the database.  In other words, we’re looking for an exact match. But in this other use of VLOOKUP, we are not necessarily looking for an exact match.  In this case, “near enough is good enough”.  But what do we mean by “near enough”?  Let’s use an example:  When searching for a commission rate on a sales total of $34,988, our VLOOKUP formula will return us a value of 30%, which is the correct answer.  Why did it choose the row in the table containing 30% ?  What, in fact, does “near enough” mean in this case?  Let’s be precise: When Range_lookup is set to TRUE (or omitted), VLOOKUP will look in column 1 and match the highest value that is not greater than the Lookup_value parameter. It’s also important to note that for this system to work, the table must be sorted in ascending order on column 1! If you would like to practice with VLOOKUP, the sample file illustrated in this article can be downloaded from here. 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• Operator of the week - Assert

  - by Fabiano Amorim

  Well my friends, I was wondering how to help you in a practical way to understand execution plans. So I think I'll talk about the Showplan Operators. Showplan Operators are used by the Query Optimizer (QO) to build the query plan in order to perform a specified operation. A query plan will consist of many physical operators. The Query Optimizer uses a simple language that represents each physical operation by an operator, and each operator is represented in the graphical execution plan by an icon. I'll try to talk about one operator every week, but so as to avoid having to continue to write about these operators for years, I'll mention only of those that are more common: The first being the Assert. The Assert is used to verify a certain condition, it validates a Constraint on every row to ensure that the condition was met. If, for example, our DDL includes a check constraint which specifies only two valid values for a column, the Assert will, for every row, validate the value passed to the column to ensure that input is consistent with the check constraint. Assert  and Check Constraints: Let's see where the SQL Server uses that information in practice. Take the following T-SQL: IF OBJECT_ID('Tab1') IS NOT NULL   DROP TABLE Tab1 GO CREATE TABLE Tab1(ID Integer, Gender CHAR(1))  GO  ALTER TABLE TAB1 ADD CONSTRAINT ck_Gender_M_F CHECK(Gender IN('M','F'))  GO INSERT INTO Tab1(ID, Gender) VALUES(1,'X') GO To the command above the SQL Server has generated the following execution plan: As we can see, the execution plan uses the Assert operator to check that the inserted value doesn't violate the Check Constraint. In this specific case, the Assert applies the rule, 'if the value is different to "F" and different to "M" than return 0 otherwise returns NULL'. The Assert operator is programmed to show an error if the returned value is not NULL; in other words, the returned value is not a "M" or "F". Assert checking Foreign Keys Now let's take a look at an example where the Assert is used to validate a foreign key constraint. Suppose we have this  query: ALTER TABLE Tab1 ADD ID_Genders INT GO  IF OBJECT_ID('Tab2') IS NOT NULL   DROP TABLE Tab2 GO CREATE TABLE Tab2(ID Integer PRIMARY KEY, Gender CHAR(1))  GO  INSERT INTO Tab2(ID, Gender) VALUES(1, 'F') INSERT INTO Tab2(ID, Gender) VALUES(2, 'M') INSERT INTO Tab2(ID, Gender) VALUES(3, 'N') GO  ALTER TABLE Tab1 ADD CONSTRAINT fk_Tab2 FOREIGN KEY (ID_Genders) REFERENCES Tab2(ID) GO  INSERT INTO Tab1(ID, ID_Genders, Gender) VALUES(1, 4, 'X') Let's look at the text execution plan to see what these Assert operators were doing. To see the text execution plan just execute SET SHOWPLAN_TEXT ON before run the insert command. |--Assert(WHERE:(CASE WHEN NOT [Pass1008] AND [Expr1007] IS NULL THEN (0) ELSE NULL END))      |--Nested Loops(Left Semi Join, PASSTHRU:([Tab1].[ID_Genders] IS NULL), OUTER REFERENCES:([Tab1].[ID_Genders]), DEFINE:([Expr1007] = [PROBE VALUE]))           |--Assert(WHERE:(CASE WHEN [Tab1].[Gender]<>'F' AND [Tab1].[Gender]<>'M' THEN (0) ELSE NULL END))           |    |--Clustered Index Insert(OBJECT:([Tab1].[PK]), SET:([Tab1].[ID] = RaiseIfNullInsert([@1]),[Tab1].[ID_Genders] = [@2],[Tab1].[Gender] = [Expr1003]), DEFINE:([Expr1003]=CONVERT_IMPLICIT(char(1),[@3],0)))           |--Clustered Index Seek(OBJECT:([Tab2].[PK]), SEEK:([Tab2].[ID]=[Tab1].[ID_Genders]) ORDERED FORWARD) Here we can see the Assert operator twice, first (looking down to up in the text plan and the right to left in the graphical plan) validating the Check Constraint. The same concept showed above is used, if the exit value is "0" than keep running the query, but if NULL is returned shows an exception. The second Assert is validating the result of the Tab1 and Tab2 join. It is interesting to see the "[Expr1007] IS NULL". To understand that you need to know what this Expr1007 is, look at the Probe Value (green text) in the text plan and you will see that it is the result of the join. If the value passed to the INSERT at the column ID_Gender exists in the table Tab2, then that probe will return the join value; otherwise it will return NULL. So the Assert is checking the value of the search at the Tab2; if the value that is passed to the INSERT is not found  then Assert will show one exception. If the value passed to the column ID_Genders is NULL than the SQL can't show a exception, in that case it returns "0" and keeps running the query. If you run the INSERT above, the SQL will show an exception because of the "X" value, but if you change the "X" to "F" and run again, it will show an exception because of the value "4". If you change the value "4" to NULL, 1, 2 or 3 the insert will be executed without any error. Assert checking a SubQuery: The Assert operator is also used to check one subquery. As we know, one scalar subquery can't validly return more than one value: Sometimes, however, a  mistake happens, and a subquery attempts to return more than one value . Here the Assert comes into play by validating the condition that a scalar subquery returns just one value. Take the following query: INSERT INTO Tab1(ID_TipoSexo, Sexo) VALUES((SELECT ID_TipoSexo FROM Tab1), 'F')    INSERT INTO Tab1(ID_TipoSexo, Sexo) VALUES((SELECT ID_TipoSexo FROM Tab1), 'F')    |--Assert(WHERE:(CASE WHEN NOT [Pass1016] AND [Expr1015] IS NULL THEN (0) ELSE NULL END))        |--Nested Loops(Left Semi Join, PASSTHRU:([tempdb].[dbo].[Tab1].[ID_TipoSexo] IS NULL), OUTER REFERENCES:([tempdb].[dbo].[Tab1].[ID_TipoSexo]), DEFINE:([Expr1015] = [PROBE VALUE]))              |--Assert(WHERE:([Expr1017]))             |    |--Compute Scalar(DEFINE:([Expr1017]=CASE WHEN [tempdb].[dbo].[Tab1].[Sexo]<>'F' AND [tempdb].[dbo].[Tab1].[Sexo]<>'M' THEN (0) ELSE NULL END))              |         |--Clustered Index Insert(OBJECT:([tempdb].[dbo].[Tab1].[PK__Tab1__3214EC277097A3C8]), SET:([tempdb].[dbo].[Tab1].[ID_TipoSexo] = [Expr1008],[tempdb].[dbo].[Tab1].[Sexo] = [Expr1009],[tempdb].[dbo].[Tab1].[ID] = [Expr1003]))              |              |--Top(TOP EXPRESSION:((1)))              |                   |--Compute Scalar(DEFINE:([Expr1008]=[Expr1014], [Expr1009]='F'))              |                        |--Nested Loops(Left Outer Join)              |                             |--Compute Scalar(DEFINE:([Expr1003]=getidentity((1856985942),(2),NULL)))              |                             |    |--Constant Scan              |                             |--Assert(WHERE:(CASE WHEN [Expr1013]>(1) THEN (0) ELSE NULL END))              |                                  |--Stream Aggregate(DEFINE:([Expr1013]=Count(*), [Expr1014]=ANY([tempdb].[dbo].[Tab1].[ID_TipoSexo])))             |                                       |--Clustered Index Scan(OBJECT:([tempdb].[dbo].[Tab1].[PK__Tab1__3214EC277097A3C8]))              |--Clustered Index Seek(OBJECT:([tempdb].[dbo].[Tab2].[PK__Tab2__3214EC27755C58E5]), SEEK:([tempdb].[dbo].[Tab2].[ID]=[tempdb].[dbo].[Tab1].[ID_TipoSexo]) ORDERED FORWARD)  You can see from this text showplan that SQL Server as generated a Stream Aggregate to count how many rows the SubQuery will return, This value is then passed to the Assert which then does its job by checking its validity. Is very interesting to see that  the Query Optimizer is smart enough be able to avoid using assert operators when they are not necessary. For instance: INSERT INTO Tab1(ID_TipoSexo, Sexo) VALUES((SELECT ID_TipoSexo FROM Tab1 WHERE ID = 1), 'F') INSERT INTO Tab1(ID_TipoSexo, Sexo) VALUES((SELECT TOP 1 ID_TipoSexo FROM Tab1), 'F')  For both these INSERTs, the Query Optimiser is smart enough to know that only one row will ever be returned, so there is no need to use the Assert. Well, that's all folks, I see you next week with more "Operators". Cheers, Fabiano

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• Visual Studio 2010 and javascript debugging in external javascript files (embedded and minified).

  - by OKB

  Hi, The asp.net web application I'm working on is written in asp.net 3.5, the web app solution is upgraded from VS 2008 (don't know if that matter). The solution had javascript in the aspx files before I moved the javascript to external files. Now what I have done is to set all the javascript files to be embedded resource (except the jquery.js file) and I want to minify them when building for release by using the MS Ajax Minifier. I want to use the minified javascript files when I'm in the RELEASE mode and when I'm in DEBUG mode I want to use the "normal" versions. My problem now is that I'm unable to debug the javascript code in debug mode. When I set a break point a javascript function, VS is not breaking at all when the function is executed. I have added this entry in my web.config: <system.web> <compilation defaultLanguage="c#" debug="true" /> </system.web> Here how I register the jquery in an aspx-file: <asp:ScriptManagerProxy ID="ScriptManagerProxy1" runat="server"> <Scripts> <asp:ScriptReference Path="~/Javascript/jquery.js"/> </Scripts> </asp:ScriptManagerProxy> External javascript registration in the code-behind: #if DEBUG [assembly: WebResource("braArkivWeb.Javascript.jquery.js", "text/javascript")] [assembly: WebResource(braArkivWeb.ArkivdelSearch.JavaScriptResource, "text/javascript")] #else [assembly: WebResource("braArkivWeb.Javascript.jquery.min.js", "text/javascript")] [assembly: WebResource(braArkivWeb.ArkivdelSearch.JavaScriptMinResource, "text/javascript")] #endif public partial class ArkivdelSearch : Page { public const string JavaScriptResource = "braArkivWeb.ArkivdelSearch.js"; public const string JavaScriptMinResource = "braArkivWeb.ArkivdelSearch.min.js"; protected void Page_Init(object sender, EventArgs e) { InitPageClientScript(); } private void InitPageClientScript() { #if DEBUG this.Page.ClientScript.RegisterClientScriptResource(typeof(ArkivdelSearch), "braArkivWeb.Javascript.jquery.js"); this.Page.ClientScript.RegisterClientScriptResource(typeof(ArkivdelSearch), JavaScriptResource); #else this.Page.ClientScript.RegisterClientScriptResource(typeof(ArkivdelSearch), "braArkivWeb.Javascript.jquery.min.js"); this.Page.ClientScript.RegisterClientScriptResource(typeof(ArkivdelSearch), JavaScriptMinResource); #endif StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(); Page.ClientScript.RegisterStartupScript(typeof(ArkivdelSearch), "initArkivdelSearch", sb.ToString(), true); } } In the project file I have added this code to minify the javascripts: <!-- Minify all JavaScript files that were embedded as resources --> <UsingTask TaskName="AjaxMin" AssemblyFile="$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\..\..\SharedLib\AjaxMinTask.dll" /> <PropertyGroup> <ResGenDependsOn> MinifyJavaScript; $(ResGenDependsOn) </ResGenDependsOn> </PropertyGroup> <Target Name="MinifyJavaScript" Condition=" '$(ConfigurationName)'=='Release' "> <Copy SourceFiles="@(EmbeddedResource)" DestinationFolder="$(IntermediateOutputPath)" Condition="'%(Extension)'=='.js'"> <Output TaskParameter="DestinationFiles" ItemName="EmbeddedJavaScriptResource" /> </Copy> <AjaxMin JsSourceFiles="@(EmbeddedJavaScriptResource)" JsSourceExtensionPattern="\.js$" JsTargetExtension=".js" /> <ItemGroup> <EmbeddedResource Remove="@(EmbeddedResource)" Condition="'%(Extension)'=='.js'" /> <EmbeddedResource Include="@(EmbeddedJavaScriptResource)" /> <FileWrites Include="@(EmbeddedJavaScriptResource)" /> </ItemGroup> </Target> Do you see what I'm doing wrong? Or what I'm missing in order to be able to debug my javascript code? Best Regards, OKB

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• C++ file input/output search

  - by Brian J

  Hi I took the following code from a program I'm writing to check a user generated string against a dictionary as well as other validation. My problem is that although my dictionary file is referenced correctly,the program gives the default "no dictionary found".I can't see clearly what I'm doing in error here,if anyone has any tips or pointers it would be appreciated, Thanks. //variables for checkWordInFile #define gC_FOUND 99 #define gC_NOT_FOUND -99 // static bool certifyThat(bool condition, const char* error) { if(!condition) printf("%s", error); return !condition; } //method to validate a user generated password following password guidelines. void validatePass() { FILE *fptr; char password[MAX+1]; int iChar,iUpper,iLower,iSymbol,iNumber,iTotal,iResult,iCount; //shows user password guidelines printf("\n\n\t\tPassword rules: "); printf("\n\n\t\t 1. Passwords must be at least 9 characters long and less than 15 characters. "); printf("\n\n\t\t 2. Passwords must have at least 2 numbers in them."); printf("\n\n\t\t 3. Passwords must have at least 2 uppercase letters and 2 lowercase letters in them."); printf("\n\n\t\t 4. Passwords must have at least 1 symbol in them (eg ?, $, £, %)."); printf("\n\n\t\t 5. Passwords may not have small, common words in them eg hat, pow or ate."); //gets user password input get_user_password: printf("\n\n\t\tEnter your password following password rules: "); scanf("%s", &password); iChar = countLetters(password,&iUpper,&iLower,&iSymbol,&iNumber,&iTotal); iUpper = countLetters(password,&iUpper,&iLower,&iSymbol,&iNumber,&iTotal); iLower =countLetters(password,&iUpper,&iLower,&iSymbol,&iNumber,&iTotal); iSymbol =countLetters(password,&iUpper,&iLower,&iSymbol,&iNumber,&iTotal); iNumber = countLetters(password,&iUpper,&iLower,&iSymbol,&iNumber,&iTotal); iTotal = countLetters(password,&iUpper,&iLower,&iSymbol,&iNumber,&iTotal); if(certifyThat(iUpper >= 2, "Not enough uppercase letters!!!\n") || certifyThat(iLower >= 2, "Not enough lowercase letters!!!\n") || certifyThat(iSymbol >= 1, "Not enough symbols!!!\n") || certifyThat(iNumber >= 2, "Not enough numbers!!!\n") || certifyThat(iTotal >= 9, "Not enough characters!!!\n") || certifyThat(iTotal <= 15, "Too many characters!!!\n")) goto get_user_password; iResult = checkWordInFile("dictionary.txt", password); if(certifyThat(iResult != gC_FOUND, "Password contains small common 3 letter word/s.")) goto get_user_password; iResult = checkWordInFile("passHistory.txt",password); if(certifyThat(iResult != gC_FOUND, "Password contains previously used password.")) goto get_user_password; printf("\n\n\n Your new password is verified "); printf(password); //writing password to passHistroy file. fptr = fopen("passHistory.txt", "w"); // create or open the file for( iCount = 0; iCount < 8; iCount++) { fprintf(fptr, "%s\n", password[iCount]); } fclose(fptr); printf("\n\n\n"); system("pause"); }//end validatePass method int checkWordInFile(char * fileName,char * theWord){ FILE * fptr; char fileString[MAX + 1]; int iFound = -99; //open the file fptr = fopen(fileName, "r"); if (fptr == NULL) { printf("\nNo dictionary file\n"); printf("\n\n\n"); system("pause"); return (0); // just exit the program } /* read the contents of the file */ while( fgets(fileString, MAX, fptr) ) { if( 0 == strcmp(theWord, fileString) ) { iFound = -99; } } fclose(fptr); return(0); }//end of checkwORDiNFile

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• ANDROID: inside Service class, executing a method for Toast (or Status Bar notification) from schedu

  - by Peter SHINe ???

  I am trying to execute a {public void} method in Service, from scheduled TimerTask which is periodically executing. This TimerTask periodically checks a condition. If it's true, it calls method via {className}.{methodName}; However, as Java requires, the method needs to be {pubic static} method, if I want to use {className} with {.dot} The problem is this method is for notification using Toast(Android pop-up notification) and Status Bar To use these notifications, one must use Context context = getApplicationContext(); But for this to work, the method must not have {static} modifier and resides in Service class. So, basically, I want background Service to evaluate condition from scheduled TimerTask, and execute a method in Service class. Can anyone help me what's the right way to use Service, invoking a method when certain condition is satisfied while looping evaluation? Here are the actually lines of codes: The TimerTask class (WatchClipboard.java) : public class WatchClipboard extends TimerTask { //DECLARATION private static GetDefinition getDefinition = new GetDefinition(); @Override public void run() { if (WordUp.clipboard.hasText()) { WordUp.newCopied = WordUp.clipboard.getText().toString().trim().toLowerCase(); if (!(WordUp.currentCopied.equals(WordUp.newCopied))) { WordUp.currentCopied = WordUp.newCopied; Log.v(WordUp.TAG, WordUp.currentCopied); getDefinition.apiCall_Wordnik(); FetchService.instantNotification(); //it requires this method to have {static} modifier, if I want call in this way. } } } } And the Service class (FetchService.java) : If I change the modifier to static, {Context} related problems occur public class FetchService extends Service { public static final String TAG = "WordUp"; //for Logcat filtering //DECLARATION private static Timer runningTimer; private static final boolean THIS_IS_DAEMON = true; private static WatchClipboard watchClipboard; private static final long DELAY = 0; private static final long PERIOD = 100; @Override public IBinder onBind(Intent arg0) { // TODO Auto-generated method stub return null; } @Override public void onCreate() { Log.v(WordUp.TAG, "FetchService.onCreate()"); super.onCreate(); //TESTING SERVICE RUNNING watchClipboard = new WatchClipboard(); runningTimer = new Timer("runningTimer", THIS_IS_DAEMON); runningTimer.schedule(watchClipboard, DELAY, PERIOD); } @Override public void onDestroy() { super.onDestroy(); runningTimer.cancel(); stopSelf(); Log.v(WordUp.TAG, "FetchService.onCreate().stopSelf()"); } public void instantNotification() { //If I change the modifier to static, {Context} related problems occur Context context = getApplicationContext(); // application Context //use Toast notification: Need to accept user interaction, and change the duration of show Toast toast = Toast.makeText(context, WordUp.newCopied+": "+WordUp.newDefinition, Toast.LENGTH_LONG); toast.show(); //use Status notification: need to automatically expand to show lines of definitions NotificationManager mNotificationManager = (NotificationManager) getSystemService(Context.NOTIFICATION_SERVICE); int icon = R.drawable.icon; // icon from resources CharSequence tickerText = WordUp.newCopied; // ticker-text long when = System.currentTimeMillis(); // notification time CharSequence contentTitle = WordUp.newCopied; //expanded message title CharSequence contentText = WordUp.newDefinition; //expanded message text Intent notificationIntent = new Intent(this, WordUp.class); PendingIntent contentIntent = PendingIntent.getActivity(this, 0, notificationIntent, 0); // the next two lines initialize the Notification, using the configurations above Notification notification = new Notification(icon, tickerText, when); notification.setLatestEventInfo(context, contentTitle, contentText, contentIntent); mNotificationManager.notify(WordUp.WORDUP_STATUS, notification); } }

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• Filtering data in LINQ with the help of where clause

  - by vik20000in

   LINQ has bought with itself a super power of querying Objects, Database, XML, SharePoint and nearly any other data structure. The power of LINQ lies in the fact that it is managed code that lets you write SQL type code to fetch data.  Whenever working with data we always need a way to filter out the data based on different condition. In this post we will look at some of the different ways in which we can filter data in LINQ with the help of where clause. Simple Filter for an array. Let’s say we have an array of number and we want to filter out data based on some condition. Below is an example int[] numbers = { 5, 4, 1, 3, 9, 8, 6, 7, 2, 0 }; var lowNums =                 from num in numbers                 where num < 5                 select num;   Filter based on one of the property in the class. With the help of LINQ we can also filer out data from a list based on value of some property. var soldOutProducts =                 from prod in products                 where prod.UnitsInStock == 0                 select prod; Filter based on Multiple of the property in the class. var expensiveInStockProducts =         from prod in products         where prod.UnitsInStock > 0 && prod.UnitPrice > 3.00M         select prod; Filter based on the index of the Item in the list.In the below example we can see that we are able to filter data based on the index of the item in the list. string[] digits = { "zero", "one", "two", "three", "four", "five", "six"}; var shortDigits = digits.Where((digit, index) => digit.Length < index); There are many other way in which we can filter out data in LINQ. In the above post I have tried and shown few ways using the LINQ. Vikram

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• How to create a Global Rule that stores a document’s folder path in a custom metadata field

  - by Nicolas Montoya

  Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} How to create a Global Rule that stores a document’s folder path in a custom metadata field Efficiency purists would argue that redundancy is not necessary. In real life, we are willing to pay a price for performance –i.e. to have information at our fingertips. We have run into customers opting to store a document folder path as a document metadata field. They have their reasons, half of the ECM community will agree with them, and the other half would raise an eye brow. In the end, they are getting creative to achieve their document management goals. The below steps outlines how to create a Global Rule that would store a document’s folder path in a custom metadata field: Create a Global Rule via Configuration Manager > Rules Tab > Add Then check “Is global rule with priority”. Then check “Use rule activation condition”. The go to “Edit” and check the actions for this Script Properties: Then click OK, and the following rule activation condition will appear: Then Goto to the Fields Tab and add a Rule Field: Select the target Custom Metadata Field and click Ok, then check the “Is derived field”, then “Edit”, then go to the Custom Tab in the Script Properties window and enter the below custom script: <$if #active.dCollectionPath$> <$dprDerivedValue=#active.dCollectionPath$> <$else$> <$dprDerivedValue=#active.xCollectionIDPath$> <$endif$> For more information on the dCollectionPath property, check Section 8.2 Folder Services from the Oracle® Fusion Middleware Services Reference Guide for Oracle Universal Content Management 11g Release 1 (11.1.1) http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E21043_01/doc.1111/e11011/c08_folders002.htm The above rule will keep the Custom Metadata Field updated with the Folder Path information when a document is checked in via the Content Server (CS) Web Interface or the Desktop Integration Suite (DIS).

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• Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) and things I were more intuitive

  - by pjohnson

  I've started using Windows Workflow Foundation, and so far ran into a few things that aren't incredibly obvious. Microsoft did a good job of providing a ton of samples, which is handy because you need them to get anywhere with WF. The docs are thin, so I've been bouncing between samples and downloadable labs to figure out how to implement various activities in a workflow. Code separation or not? You can create a workflow and activity in Visual Studio with or without code separation, i.e. just a .cs "Component" style object with a Designer.cs file, or a .xoml XML markup file with code behind (beside?) it. Absence any obvious advantage to one or the other, I used code separation for workflows and any complex custom activities, and without code separation for custom activities that just inherit from the Activity class and thus don't have anything special in the designer. So far, so good. Service - In the WF world, this is simply a class that talks to the workflow about things outside the workflow, not to be confused with how the term "service" is used in every other context I've seen in the Windows and .NET world, i.e. an executable that waits for events or requests from a client and services them (Windows service, web service, WCF service, etc.). ListenActivity - Such a great concept, yet so unintuitive. It seems you need at least two branches (EventDrivenActivity instances), one for your positive condition and one for a timeout. The positive condition has a HandleExternalEventActivity, and the timeout has a DelayActivity followed by however you want to handle the delay, e.g. a ThrowActivity. The timeout is simple enough; wiring up the HandleExternalEventActivity is where things get fun. You need to create a service (see above), and an interface for that service (this seems more complex than should be necessary--why not have activities just wire to a service directly?). And you need to create a custom EventArgs class that inherits from ExternalDataEventArgs--you can't create an ExternalDataEventArgs event handler directly, even if you don't need to add any more information to the event args, despite ExternalDataEventArgs not being marked as an abstract class, nor a compiler error nor warning nor any other indication that you're doing something wrong, until you run it and find that it always times out and get to check every place mentioned here to see why. Your interface and service need an event that consumes your custom EventArgs class, and a method to fire that event. You need to call that method from somewhere. Then you get to hope that you did everything just right, or that you can step through code in the debugger before your Delay timeout expires. Yes, it's as much fun as it sounds. TransactionScopeActivity - I had the bright idea of putting one in as a placeholder, then filling in the database updates later. That caused this error: The workflow hosting environment does not have a persistence service as required by an operation on the workflow instance "[GUID]". ...which is about as helpful as "Object reference not set to an instance of an object" and even more fun to debug. Google led me to this Microsoft Forums hit, and from there I figured out it didn't like that the activity had no children. Again, a Validator on TransactionScopeActivity would have pointed this out to me at design time, rather than handing me a nearly useless error at runtime. Easily enough, I disabled the activity and that fixed it. I still see huge potential in my work where WF could make things easier and more flexible, but there are some seriously rough edges at the moment. Maybe I'm just spoiled by how much easier and more intuitive development elsewhere in the .NET Framework is.

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• Do we still have a case against the goto statement? [closed]

  - by FredOverflow

  Possible Duplicate: Is it ever worthwhile using goto? In a recent article, Andrew Koenig writes: When asked why goto statements are harmful, most programmers will say something like "because they make programs hard to understand." Press harder, and you may well hear something like "I don't really know, but that's what I was taught." For that reason, I'd like to summarize Dijkstra's arguments. He then shows two program fragments, one without a goto and and one with a goto: if (n < 0) n = 0; Assuming that n is a variable of a built-in numeric type, we know that after this code, n is nonnegative. Suppose we rewrite this fragment: if (n >= 0) goto nonneg; n = 0; nonneg: ; In theory, this rewrite should have the same effect as the original. However, rewriting has changed something important: It has opened the possibility of transferring control to nonneg from anywhere else in the program. I emphasized the part that I don't agree with. Modern languages like C++ do not allow goto to transfer control arbitrarily. Here are two examples: You cannot jump to a label that is defined in a different function. You cannot jump over a variable initialization. Now consider composing your code of tiny functions that adhere to the single responsibility principle: int clamp_to_zero(int n) { if (n >= 0) goto n_is_not_negative: n = 0; n_is_not_negative: return n; } The classic argument against the goto statement is that control could have transferred from anywhere inside your program to the label n_is_not_negative, but this simply is not (and was never) true in C++. If you try it, you will get a compiler error, because labels are scoped. The rest of the program doesn't even see the name n_is_not_negative, so it's just not possible to jump there. This is a static guarantee! Now, I'm not saying that this version is better then the one without the goto, but to make the latter as expressive as the first one, we would at least have to insert a comment, or even better yet, an assertion: int clamp_to_zero(int n) { if (n < 0) n = 0; // n is not negative at this point assert(n >= 0); return n; } Note that you basically get the assertion for free in the goto version, because the condition n >= 0 is already written in line 1, and n = 0; satisfies the condition trivially. But that's just a random observation. It seems to me that "don't use gotos!" is one of those dogmas like "don't use multiple returns!" that stem from a time where the real problem were functions of hundreds or even thousand of lines of code. So, do we still have a case against the goto statement, other than that it is not particularly useful? I haven't written a goto in at least a decade, but it's not like I was running away in terror whenever I encountered one. 1 Ideally, I would like to see a strong and valid argument against gotos that still holds when you adhere to established programming principles for clean code like the SRP. "You can jump anywhere" is not (and has never been) a valid argument in C++, and somehow I don't like teaching stuff that is not true. 1: Also, I have never been able to resurrect even a single velociraptor, no matter how many gotos I tried :(

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• How to use correctly the comments in C/++

  - by Lucio

  I'm learning to program in C and in my stage, the best form to use correctly the comments is writing good comments from the beginning. As the comments are not just for that one understands better the code but others too, I want to know the views of all of you to reach a consensus. So what I want is that the most experienced users edit the following code as you please. (If it's unnecessary, delete it; If it's wrong, correct it; If needed, add more) Thus there'll be multiple answers with different syntax and the responses with the most votes will be taken as referring when commenting. The code to copy, paste and edit to your pleasure is: (And I remark again, just import the comments, not the code) /* This programs find 1 number in 1 file. The file is binary type and has integers in series. The number is integer type and it's entered from the keyboard. When finished the program, a poster will show the results: Saying if the number is in the file or not. */ #include <stdio.h> //FUNCTION 1 //Open file 'path' and closes it. void openf(char path[]) { int num; //Read from Keyboard a Number and it save it into 'num' var printf("Ready for read number.\n\nNumber --> "); fflush(stdin); scanf("%d",&num); //Open file 'path' in READ mode FILE *fvar; fvar=fopen(path,"rb"); //IF error happens when open file, exit of function if (fvar==NULL) { printf("ERROR while open file %s in read mode.",path); exit(1); } /*Verify the result of 'funct' function IF TRUE, 'num' it's in the file*/ if (funct(path,fvar,num)) printf("The number %d it is in the file %s.",num,path); else printf("The number %d it is not in the file %s.",num,path); fclose(fvar); } /*FUNCTION 2 It is a recursive function. Reads number by number until the file is empty or the number is found. Parameters received: 'path' -> Directory file 'fvar' -> Pointer file 'num' -> Number to compare */ int funct(char path[],FILE *fvar,int num) { int compare; //FALSE condition when the pointer reaches the end if (fread(&compare,sizeof(int),1,fvar)>0) /*TRUE condition when the number readed is iqual that 'num' ELSE will go to the function itself*/ if (compare!=num) funct(path,fvar,num); else return 1; else return 0; } int main(int argc, char **argv) { char path[30]="file.bin"; //Direction of the file to process openf(path); //Function with algorithm return 0; }

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• Method flags as arguments or as member variables?

  - by Martin

  I think the title "Method flags as arguments or as member variables?" may be suboptimal, but as I'm missing any better terminology atm., here goes: I'm currently trying to get my head around the problem of whether flags for a given class (private) method should be passed as function arguments or via member variable and/or whether there is some pattern or name that covers this aspect and/or whether this hints at some other design problems. By example (language could be C++, Java, C#, doesn't really matter IMHO): class Thingamajig { private ResultType DoInternalStuff(FlagType calcSelect) { ResultType res; for (... some loop condition ...) { ... if (calcSelect == typeA) { ... } else if (calcSelect == typeX) { ... } else if ... } ... return res; } private void InteralStuffInvoker(FlagType calcSelect) { ... DoInternalStuff(calcSelect); ... } public void DoThisStuff() { ... some code ... InternalStuffInvoker(typeA); ... some more code ... } public ResultType DoThatStuff() { ... some code ... ResultType x = DoInternalStuff(typeX); ... some more code ... further process x ... return x; } } What we see above is that the method InternalStuffInvoker takes an argument that is not used inside this function at all but is only forwarded to the other private method DoInternalStuff. (Where DoInternalStuffwill be used privately at other places in this class, e.g. in the DoThatStuff (public) method.) An alternative solution would be to add a member variable that carries this information: class Thingamajig { private ResultType DoInternalStuff() { ResultType res; for (... some loop condition ...) { ... if (m_calcSelect == typeA) { ... } ... } ... return res; } private void InteralStuffInvoker() { ... DoInternalStuff(); ... } public void DoThisStuff() { ... some code ... m_calcSelect = typeA; InternalStuffInvoker(); ... some more code ... } public ResultType DoThatStuff() { ... some code ... m_calcSelect = typeX; ResultType x = DoInternalStuff(); ... some more code ... further process x ... return x; } } Especially for deep call chains where the selector-flag for the inner method is selected outside, using a member variable can make the intermediate functions cleaner, as they don't need to carry a pass-through parameter. On the other hand, this member variable isn't really representing any object state (as it's neither set nor available outside), but is really a hidden additional argument for the "inner" private method. What are the pros and cons of each approach?

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• What are the disadvantages of self-encapsulation?

  - by Dave Jarvis

  Background Tony Hoare's billion dollar mistake was the invention of null. Subsequently, a lot of code has become riddled with null pointer exceptions (segfaults) when software developers try to use (dereference) uninitialized variables. In 1989, Wirfs-Brock and Wikerson wrote: Direct references to variables severely limit the ability of programmers to re?ne existing classes. The programming conventions described here structure the use of variables to promote reusable designs. We encourage users of all object-oriented languages to follow these conventions. Additionally, we strongly urge designers of object-oriented languages to consider the effects of unrestricted variable references on reusability. Problem A lot of software, especially in Java, but likely in C# and C++, often uses the following pattern: public class SomeClass { private String someAttribute; public SomeClass() { this.someAttribute = "Some Value"; } public void someMethod() { if( this.someAttribute.equals( "Some Value" ) ) { // do something... } } public void setAttribute( String s ) { this.someAttribute = s; } public String getAttribute() { return this.someAttribute; } } Sometimes a band-aid solution is used by checking for null throughout the code base: public void someMethod() { assert this.someAttribute != null; if( this.someAttribute.equals( "Some Value" ) ) { // do something... } } public void anotherMethod() { assert this.someAttribute != null; if( this.someAttribute.equals( "Some Default Value" ) ) { // do something... } } The band-aid does not always avoid the null pointer problem: a race condition exists. The race condition is mitigated using: public void anotherMethod() { String someAttribute = this.someAttribute; assert someAttribute != null; if( someAttribute.equals( "Some Default Value" ) ) { // do something... } } Yet that requires two statements (assignment to local copy and check for null) every time a class-scoped variable is used to ensure it is valid. Self-Encapsulation Ken Auer's Reusability Through Self-Encapsulation (Pattern Languages of Program Design, Addison Wesley, New York, pp. 505-516, 1994) advocated self-encapsulation combined with lazy initialization. The result, in Java, would resemble: public class SomeClass { private String someAttribute; public SomeClass() { setAttribute( "Some Value" ); } public void someMethod() { if( getAttribute().equals( "Some Value" ) ) { // do something... } } public void setAttribute( String s ) { this.someAttribute = s; } public String getAttribute() { String someAttribute = this.someAttribute; if( someAttribute == null ) { setAttribute( createDefaultValue() ); } return someAttribute; } protected String createDefaultValue() { return "Some Default Value"; } } All duplicate checks for null are superfluous: getAttribute() ensures the value is never null at a single location within the containing class. Efficiency arguments should be fairly moot -- modern compilers and virtual machines can inline the code when possible. As long as variables are never referenced directly, this also allows for proper application of the Open-Closed Principle. Question What are the disadvantages of self-encapsulation, if any? (Ideally, I would like to see references to studies that contrast the robustness of similarly complex systems that use and don't use self-encapsulation, as this strikes me as a fairly straightforward testable hypothesis.)

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• Controlling soft errors and false alarms in SSIS

  - by Jim Giercyk

  If you are like me, you dread the 3AM wake-up call.  I would say that the majority of the pages I get are false alarms.  The alerts that require action often require me to open an SSIS package, see where the trouble is and try to identify the offending data.  That can be very time-consuming and can take quite a chunk out of my beauty sleep.  For those reasons, I have developed a simple error handling scenario for SSIS which allows me to rest a little easier.  Let me first say, this is a high level discussion; getting into the nuts and bolts of creating each shape is outside the scope of this document, but if you have an average understanding of SSIS, you should have no problem following along. In the Data Flow above you can see that there is a caution triangle.  For the purpose of this discussion I am creating a truncation error to demonstrate the process, so this is to be expected.  The first thing we need to do is to redirect the error output.  Double-clicking on the Query shape presents us with the properties window for the input.  Simply set the columns that you want to redirect to Redirect Row in the dropdown box and hit Apply. Without going into a dissertation on error handling, I will just note that you can decide which errors you want to redirect on Error and on Truncation.  Therefore, to override this process for a column or condition, simply do not redirect that column or condition. The next thing we want to do is to add some information about the error; specifically, the name of the package which encountered the error and which step in the package wrote the record to the error table.  REMEMBER: If you redirect the error output, your package will not fail, so you will not know where the error record was created without some additional information.    I added 3 columns to my error record; Severity, Package Name and Step Name.  Severity is just a free-form column that you can use to note whether an error is fatal, whether the package is part of a test job and should be ignored, etc.  Package Name and Step Name are system variables. In my package I have created a truncation situation, where the firstname column is 50 characters in the input, but only 4 characters in the output.  Some records will pass without truncation, others will be sent to the error output.  However, the package will not fail. We can see that of the 14 input rows, 8 were redirected to the error table. This information can be used by another step or another scheduled process or triggered to determine whether an error should be sent.  It can also be used as a historical record of the errors that are encountered over time.  There are other system variables that might make more sense in your infrastructure, so try different things.  Date and time seem like something you would want in your output for example.  In summary, we have redirected the error output from an input, added derived columns with information about the errors, and inserted the information and the offending data into an error table.  The error table information can be used by another step or process to determine, based on the error information, what level alert must be sent.  This will eliminate false alarms, and give you a head start when a genuine error occurs.

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• SPTI problem with Mode Select

  - by Bob Murphy

  I'm running into a problem in which an attempt to do a "Mode Select" SCSI command using SPTI is returning an error status of 0x02 ("Check Condition"), and hope someone here might have some tips or suggestions. The code in question is intended to work with at a custom SCSI device. I wrote the original support for it using ASPI under WinXP, and am converting it to work with SPTI under 64-bit Windows 7. Here's the problematic code - and what's happening is, sptwb.spt.ScsiStatus is 2, which is a "Check Condition" error. Unfortunately, the device in question doesn't return useful information when you do a "Request Sense" after this problem occurs, so that's no help. void MSSModeSelect(const ModeSelectRequestPacket& inRequest, StatusResponsePacket& outResponse) { IPC_LOG("MSSModeSelect(): PathID=%d, TargetID=%d, LUN=%d", inRequest.m_Device.m_PathId, inRequest.m_Device.m_TargetId, inRequest.m_Device.m_Lun); int adapterIndex = inRequest.m_Device.m_PathId; HANDLE adapterHandle = prvOpenScsiAdapter(inRequest.m_Device.m_PathId); if (adapterHandle == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE) { outResponse.m_Status = eScsiAdapterErr; return; } SCSI_PASS_THROUGH_WITH_BUFFERS sptwb; memset(&sptwb, 0, sizeof(sptwb)); #define MODESELECT_BUF_SIZE 32 sptwb.spt.Length = sizeof(SCSI_PASS_THROUGH); sptwb.spt.PathId = inRequest.m_Device.m_PathId; sptwb.spt.TargetId = inRequest.m_Device.m_TargetId; sptwb.spt.Lun = inRequest.m_Device.m_Lun; sptwb.spt.CdbLength = CDB6GENERIC_LENGTH; sptwb.spt.SenseInfoLength = 0; sptwb.spt.DataIn = SCSI_IOCTL_DATA_IN; sptwb.spt.DataTransferLength = MODESELECT_BUF_SIZE; sptwb.spt.TimeOutValue = 2; sptwb.spt.DataBufferOffset = offsetof(SCSI_PASS_THROUGH_WITH_BUFFERS,ucDataBuf); sptwb.spt.Cdb[0] = SCSIOP_MODE_SELECT; sptwb.spt.Cdb[4] = MODESELECT_BUF_SIZE; DWORD length = offsetof(SCSI_PASS_THROUGH_WITH_BUFFERS,ucDataBuf) + sptwb.spt.DataTransferLength; memset(sptwb.ucDataBuf, 0, sizeof(sptwb.ucDataBuf)); sptwb.ucDataBuf[2] = 0x10; sptwb.ucDataBuf[16] = (BYTE)0x01; ULONG bytesReturned = 0; BOOL okay = DeviceIoControl(adapterHandle, IOCTL_SCSI_PASS_THROUGH, &sptwb, sizeof(SCSI_PASS_THROUGH), &sptwb, length, &bytesReturned, FALSE); DWORD gle = GetLastError(); IPC_LOG(" DeviceIoControl() %s", okay ? "worked" : "failed"); if (okay) { outResponse.m_Status = (sptwb.spt.ScsiStatus == 0) ? eOk : ePrinterStatusErr; } else { outResponse.m_Status = eScsiPermissionsErr; } CloseHandle(adapterHandle); } A few more remarks, for what it's worth: This is derived from some old ASPI code that does the "Mode Select" flawlessly. This routine opens \\.\SCSI<whatever> at the beginning, via prvOpenScsiAdapter(), and closes the handle at the end. All the other routines for dealing with the device do the same thing, including the routine to do "Reserve Unit". Is this a good idea under SPTI, or should the call to "Reserve Unit" leave the handle open, so this routine and others in the sequence can use the same handle? This uses the IOCTL_SCSI_PASS_THROUGH. Should "Mode Select" use IOCTL_SCSI_PASS_THROUGH_DIRECT instead? Thanks in advance - any help will be greatly appreciated.

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• Introduction to WebCenter Personalization: &ldquo;The Conductor&rdquo;

  - by Steve Pepper

  There are some new faces in the town of WebCenter with the latest 11g PS3 release.  A new component has introduced itself as "Oracle WebCenter Personalization", a.k.a WCP, to simplify delivery of a personalized experience and content to end users.  This posting reviews one of the primary components within WCP: "The Conductor". The Conductor: This ain't just an ordinary cloud... One of the founding principals behind WebCenter Personalization was to provide an open client-side API that remains independent of the technology invoking it, in addition to independence from the architecture running it.  The Conductor delivers this, and much, much more. The Conductor is the engine behind WebCenter Personalization that allows flow-based documents, called "Scenarios", to be managed and executed on the server-side through a well published and RESTful api.      The Conductor also supports an extensible model for custom provider integration that can be easily invoked within a Scenario to promote seamless integration with existing business assets. Introducing the Scenario Conductor Scenarios are declarative offline-authored documents using the custom Personalization JDeveloper bundle included with WebCenter.  A Scenario contains one (or more) statements that can: Create variables that are scoped to the current execution context Iterate over collections, or loop until a specific condition is met Execute one or more statements when a condition is met Invoke other scenarios that exist within the same namespace Invoke a data provider that integrates with custom applications Once a variable is assigned within the Scenario's execution context, it can be referenced anywhere within the same Scenario using the common Expression Language syntax used in J2EE web containers. Scenarios are then published and tested to the Integrated WebLogic Server domain, or published remotely to other domains running WebCenter Personalization. Various Client-side Models The Conductor server API is built upon RESTful services that support a wide variety of clients able to communicate over HTTP.  The Conductor supports the following client-side models: REST:  Popular browser-based languages can be used to manage and execute Conductor Scenarios.  There are other public methods to retrieve configured provider metadata that can be used by custom applications. The Conductor currently supports XML and JSON for it's API syntax. Java: WebCenter Personalization delivers a robust and light-weight java client with the popular Jersey framework as it's foundation.  It has never been easier to write a remote java client to manage remote RESTful services. Expression Language (EL): Allow the results of Scenario execution to control your user interface or embed personalized content using the session-scoped managed bean.  The EL client can also be used in straight JSP pages with minimal configuration. Extensible Provider Framework The Conductor supports a pluggable provider framework for integrating custom code with Scenario execution.  There are two types of providers supported by the Conductor: Function Provider: Function Providers are simple java annotated classes with static methods that are meant to be served as utilities.  Some common uses would include: object creation or instantiation, data transformation, and the like.  Function Providers can be invoked using the common EL syntax from variable assignments, conditions, and loops. For example:  ${myUtilityClass:doStuff(arg1,arg2))} If you are familiar with EL Functions, Function Providers are based on the same concept. Data Provider: Like Function Providers, Data Providers are annotated java classes, but they must adhere to a much more strict object model.  Data Providers have access to a wealth of Conductor services, such as: Access to namespace-scoped configuration API that can be managed by Oracle Enterprise Manager, Scenario execution context for expression resolution, and more.  Oracle ships with three out-of-the-box data providers that supports integration with: Standardized Content Servers(CMIS),  Federated Profile Properties through the Properties Service, and WebCenter Activity Graph. Useful References If you are looking to immediately get started writing your own application using WebCenter Personalization Services, you will find the following references helpful in getting you on your way: Personalizing WebCenter Applications Authoring Personalized Scenarios in JDeveloper Using Personalization APIs Externally Implementing and Calling Function Providers Implementing and Calling Data Providers

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• WF4 &ndash; Guess the number game!

  - by MarkPearl

  I posted yesterday how really good WF4 was looking. Today I thought I would show some real basics that I was able to figure out. This will be a simple example, I am going to make a flowchart workflow – which will prompt the user to guess the number until they guess the right number. Lets begin… Make a new project and make it a Workflow console Application. Then select the Workflow file and drag a FlowChart (2) to point 3. This will now show a green start circle in the designer form. We are going to work with primitives to start with. We are now going to drag a few objects onto the Workflow, We drag the WriteLine, Assign & Decision items onto the designer. Once they are dragged onto the designer we will want to link them up. The order that they are linked is critical since this will determine the order of the solution. In this case, we want the system to first ask “Guess a number”, then to wait for the user to input some code, and then to display “You got it” if they got it right, and “Try again” if they got it wrong. So we now link the arrows to the objects. This is done by moving the mouse pointer over the start objects and clicking on one of the toggles and then dragging it to the next object and releasing the button over one of the toggles. This will place an arrow from the source object to the target object. Okay… pretty simple stuff – now we just need these primitive objects to do stuff. Lets start with the WriteLine primitive. We place the text in inverted commas in the Text field. Because this field accepts any valid VB expression we could have put variables etc. in there if we wanted to. The next thing we want to do is allow the user to input a number. This brings up an interesting problem, if a user were to type in a number, there would need to be someway to declare a variable to hold that value for the life of the workflow. We can achieve this by declaring a variable. To declare a variable, move your cursor over the variables tab at the bottom of the workflow, and then type the name of the new variable in the “Create Variable” field and set it as shown in the image above. Now that we have a variable, we want to call the Console.Readline method and assign the inputted value from the Console to that variable. The code that cannot be seen is actually this – Convert.ToInt32(Console.ReadLine()) We now have a workflow that first prompts the user for a number, then allows the user to type in a number. We are almost done, we just need to make the system react to the value inputted. There are a few ways we could do this, I am going to use the Decision item. So select the Decision object on the designer and then view its properties (F4 for me), and in the condition field place a condition. For simplicity sake I have decided that if the user guesses 10, they will have guessed the number. This is now the completed workflow. Its really easy to understand and shows some really powerful principles for Business applications. You can run the application and see what it does. Imagine writing business solutions that do not worry about the exact flow of objects, but simply allows a business analyst or someone to configure the solution to work exactly as the business rules would dictate. And if the rules changed six months later all they would need to do is re-drag some of the flows. Now I do not know if WF4 will allow for this, but it feels like it is a step in the right direct.

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• MySQL Enterprise Backup 3.8.2 has been released!

  - by Hema Sridharan

  MySQL Enterprise Backup v3.8.2, a maintenance release of online MySQL backup tool, is now available for download from My Oracle Support  (MOS) website as our latest GA release.  It will also be available via the Oracle Software Delivery Cloud in approximately 1-2 weeks. A brief summary of the changes in MySQL Enterprise Backup version 3.8.2 is given below.   A. Functionality Added or Changed:  MySQL Enterprise Backup has a new --on-disk-full command line option. mysqlbackup could hang when the disk became full, rather than detecting the low space condition. mysqlbackup now monitors disk space when running backup commands, and users can now specify the action to take at a disk-full condition with the --on-disk-full option. For more details, refer this page MySQL Enterprise Backup has a new progress report feature, which periodically outputs short progress indicators on its  operations to user-selected destinations (for example, stdout, stderr, a file, or other choices). For more details on progress report options, refer here   B. Bugs Fixed: When --innodb-file-per-table=ON, if a table was renamed and backup-to-image was in progress, apply-log would fail when being run on the backup. (Bug #16903973)   MySQL Server failed to start after a backup was restored if  there had been online DDL transactions on partitioned tables during the time of backup. (Bug #16924499)   apply-log failed if ALTER TABLE ... REORGANIZE PARTITION was applied to partitioned InnoDB tables during backup. (Bug #16721824, Bug #16903951)  apply-incremental-backup might fail with an assertion error if  the InnoDB tables being backed up were created in Barracuda format and with their KEY_BLOCK_SIZE  values  different from the innodb_page_size . This fix ensures that different KEY_BLOCK_SIZE  values are handled properly during incremental backup and apply-incremental-backup operations.  If a table was renamed following a full backup, a subsequent incremental backup could copy the .frm file with the new name, but not the associated .ibd file with the new name. After a  restore, the InnoDB data dictionary could be in an  inconsistent state. This issue primarily occurred if the table  was not changed between the full backup and the subsequent  incremental backup. Bug #16262690)  After a full backup, if a table was renamed and modified,  apply-incremental-backup would crash when run on the backup directory. (Bug #16262609) The value of the binary log position in backup_variables.txt  could be different from the output displayed during the   backup-and-apply-log operation. (This issue did not occur if  the backup and apply-log steps were done separately.) (Bug  #16195529) When using the --only-innodb-with-frm option, MySQL Enterprise Backup tried to create temporary files at unintended locations in the file system, which might cause a failure when, for example, the user had no write privilege for those locations.   This fix makes sure the paths for the temporary files are  correct. (Bug #14787324)  A backup process might hang when it ran into an LSN mismatch between a data file  and the redo log. This fix makes sure the process does not hang and it displays an error message showing the  name of the problematic data file (Bug #14791645) Please post your questions / comments about Backup in forums. Thanks, MEB Team

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• Multiple Exception Handlers for one exception type

  - by danish

  I am using Enterprose Library 4.1. I have created a custom exception handler called CustomHandler. This is how the configuration section would look like: <exceptionHandling> <exceptionPolicies> <add name="Exception Policy"> <exceptionTypes> <add type="System.Exception, mscorlib, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" postHandlingAction="NotifyRethrow" name="Exception"> <exceptionHandlers> <add type="WindowsFormsApplication1.CustomHandler, WindowsFormsApplication1" name="Custom Handler" /> <add exceptionMessage="Some test mesage." exceptionMessageResourceName="" exceptionMessageResourceType="" replaceExceptionType="Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.ExceptionHandling.ExceptionHandlingException, Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.ExceptionHandling" type="Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.ExceptionHandling.ReplaceHandler, Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.ExceptionHandling" name="Replace Handler" /> </exceptionHandlers> </add> </exceptionTypes> </add> </exceptionPolicies> </exceptionHandling> There are two handlers for same exception type. What I want is that based on a certain condition one of the handlers should handle the exception. Any ideas how that can be done? Is there a way to call the other handler from inside the HandleException method of the custom handler based on some condition?

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• "OutputPath property is not set" error occurs only when calling MSBuild in CCNET

  - by LostInCCNET

  I've made an MSBuild project that simply does an msbuild task with our solution file as parameter. I've defined a BeforeBuild target where I set some properties, and a Build target that executes the msbuild task. I've confirmed that no errors occured when building the msbuild script in the command line console. However, when I use it in the msbuild task in my CCNET project, I keep getting the following error: C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\Microsoft.Common.targets (483,9): error: The OutputPath property is not set for project 'MyProject.msbuild'. Please check to make sure that you have specified a valid combination of Configuration and Platform for this project. Configuration='Debug' Platform='AnyCPU'. You may be seeing this message because you are trying to build a project without a solution file, and have specified a non-default Configuration or Platform that doesn't exist for this project. I checked the build log and it seems that the error occurs during _CheckForInvalidConfigurationAndPlatform. It wasn't even able to continue to my Build task! Since the script is only intended to build the solution under Debug/Release and AnyCPU as platform, I tried to add the following lines to my msbuild project: <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Debug|AnyCPU' "> <OutputPath>.\bin\Debug\</OutputPath> </PropertyGroup> <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Release|AnyCPU' "> <OutputPath>.\bin\Release\</OutputPath> </PropertyGroup> I could still build the project without errors in the command line, but CCNET is returning the same error mentioned above. I don't understand why CCNET keeps getting the error, and I don't know what else to try. Please help.

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• How to invoke the same msbuild target twice with different parameters from within msbuild project fi

  - by mark

  Dear ladies and sirs. I have the following piece of msbuild code: <PropertyGroup> <DirA>C:\DirA\</DirA> <DirB>C:\DirB\</DirB> </PropertyGroup> <Target Name="CopyToDirA" Condition="Exists('$(DirA)') AND '@(FilesToCopy)' != ''" Inputs="@(FilesToCopy)" Outputs="@(FilesToCopy -> '$(DirA)%(Filename)%(Extension)')"> <Copy SourceFiles="@(FilesToCopy)" DestinationFolder="$(DirA)" /> </Target> <Target Name="CopyToDirB" Condition="Exists('$(DirB)') AND '@(FilesToCopy)' != ''" Inputs="@(FilesToCopy)" Outputs="@(FilesToCopy -> '$(DirB)%(Filename)%(Extension)')"> <Copy SourceFiles="@(FilesToCopy)" DestinationFolder="$(DirB)" /> </Target> <Target Name="CopyFiles" DependsOnTargets="CopyToDirA;CopyToDirB"/> So invoking the target CopyFiles copies the relevant files to $(DirA) and $(DirB), provided they are not already there and up-to-date. But the targets CopyToDirA and CopyToDirB look identical except one copies to $(DirA) and the other - to $(DirB). Is it possible to unify them into one target first invoked with $(DirA) and then with $(DirB)? Thanks.

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• Hibernate criteria query to match against all child collection elements

  - by Andrew Harrison

  Hi, This question is very similar to link text but the responses were minimal to that question. I have a parent class with a Set of child entities. The child entities are just a wrapper for a string and live in a different table to the parent entity. I want to have a criteria query that returns the parent entities when all the members of the set of child entities return true to a condition. This condition is matching against one of a list of strings. Here's where I am: Criteria c = criteria(); Criteria ands = c.createCriteria("ands"); Disjunction dis = Restrictions.disjunction(); for (String value : values) { dis.add(Restrictions.like("value", "%" + value + "%")); } ands.add(dis); return list(c); "ands" is the set of entities with a "value" field that is a string. "criteria()" creates a criteria for the parent class. "list()" just calls criteria.list(); This is just matching against any of the elements, rather than all. Hope this makes sense. Any help much appreciated.

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• crystal reports : cannot determine the queries necessary to get data for this report

  - by phill

  I've recently come across the following error in one of my crystal reports following an accounting system update. Group #1: ? - A : This group section cannot be printed because its condition field is nonexistent or invalid. Format the section to choose another condition field. I've verified every database field being used to ensure it still exists for consistency and checked the formulas for that section. No dice. So to hopefully fix the problem, i remove the section using the Section expert. I run the same database checks. It then complains with the same error for Group #5. So i remove that as well. now I have a new and unusual error when i attempt to run 'Show Query'. the error is: "Cannot determine the queries necessary to get data for this report" I have tried to logon/logoff the database and verify database. No complaints until i try to run, show query. When I attempt to run the report, it also throws the same error. any ideas? Am I approaching this incorrectly? this is done in crystal reports 10. note: this report is run with the sql sa user to eliminate any permission issues.

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• Set focus on textbox in WPF from view model (C#) & wPF

  - by priyanka.sarkar

  I have a TextBox and a Button in my view. Now I am checking a condition upon button click and if the condition turns out to be false, displaying the message to the user, and then I have to set the cursor to the text box control. if (companyref == null) { Lipper.Nelson.AdminClient.Main.Views.ContactPanels.CompanyAssociation cs = new Lipper.Nelson.AdminClient.Main.Views.ContactPanels.CompanyAssociation(); MessageBox.Show("Company does not exist.", "Error", MessageBoxButton.OK, MessageBoxImage.Exclamation); cs.txtCompanyID.Focusable = true; System.Windows.Input.Keyboard.Focus(cs.txtCompanyID); } The above code is in the view model. The CompanyAssociation is the view name. But the cursor is not getting set in the TextBox. The xaml is as under <igEditors:XamTextEditor KeyDown="xamTextEditorAllowOnlyNumeric_KeyDown" Name="txtCompanyID" ValueChanged="txtCompanyID_ValueChanged" Text="{Binding Company.CompanyId, Mode=TwoWay, UpdateSourceTrigger=PropertyChanged}" Width="{Binding ActualWidth, ElementName=border}" Grid.Column="1" Grid.Row="0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Margin="0,5,0,0" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" IsEnabled="{Binding Path=IsEditable}" /> <Button Template="{StaticResource buttonTemp1}" Command="{Binding ContactCommand}" CommandParameter="searchCompany" Content="Search" Width="80" Grid.Column="2" Grid.Row="0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Margin="0" HorizontalAlignment="Left" IsEnabled="{Binding Path=IsEditable}" /> Please help

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• cookieless sessions with ajax

  - by thezver

  ok, i know you get sick from this subject. me too :( I've been developing a quite "big application" with PHP & kohana framework past 2 years, somewhat-successfully using my framework's authentication mechanism. but within this time, and as the app grown, many concerning state-preservation issues arisen. main problems are that cookie-driven sessions: can't be used for web-service access ( at least it's really not nice to do so.. ) in many cases problematic with mobile access don't allow multiple simultaneous apps on same browser ( can be resolved by hard trickery, but still.. ) requires many configurations and mess to work 100% right, and that's without the --browser issues ( disabled cookies, old browsers bugs & vulnerabilities etc ) many other session flaws stated in this old thread : http://lists.nyphp.org/pipermail/talk/2006-December/020358.html After a really long research, and without any good library/on-hand-solution to feet my needs, i came up with a custom solution to majority of those problems . Basically, i'ts about emulating sessions with ajax calls, with additional security/performance measures: state preserved by interchanging SID(+hash) with client on ajax calls. state data saved in memcache(or equivalent), indexed by SID security achieved by: appending unpredictible hash to SID egenerating hash on each request & validating it validating fingerprint of client on each request ( referrer,os,browser etc) (*)condition: ajax calls are not simultaneous, to prevent race-condition with session token. (hopefully Ext-Direct solves that for me) From the first glance that supposed to be not-less-secure than equivalent cookie-driven implementation, and at the same time it's simple, maintainable, and resolves all the cookies flaws.. But i'm really concerned because i often hear the rule "don't try to implement custom security solutions". I will really appreciate any serious feedback about my method, and any alternatives. also, any tip about how to preserve state on page-refresh without cookies would be great :) but thats small technical prob. Sorry if i overlooked some similar post.. there are billions of them about sessions . Big thanks in advance ( and for reading until here ! ).

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• Add a :filter param to the end of a url

  - by bob

  Hello, I am building an application that requires a search to go deeper than the initial level. I am using nested scopes to accomplish this and params in the URL For example, when a user searches for "handbag" it creates a query like the following. http://localhost:3000/junks?search=handbag&condition=&category=&main_submit=Go! I want to add a :filter param to the end of this url and reload the page with the new url. http://localhost:3000/junks?search=handbag&condition=&category=&main_submit=Go!&filter=lowest_price As shown above the &filter=lowest_price is added to the query. I have already written controller code to handle this and I know it works as long as the query is like the 2nd link above. my views code <div class = "filter_options"> <p> <strong>Filter by:</strong> <%= link_to_unless_current "Recent", :filter => 'recent' %> | <%= link_to_unless_current "Lowest Price", :filter => 'lowest_price' %> | <%= link_to_unless_current "Highest Price", :filter => 'highest_price' %> </p> </div> This is how I have it currently, which works if my URL does not have a search string attached to it. Unfortunately, this will go to a http://localhost:3000/junks?filter=lowest_price even if there is a search string. I would like to know how to create my links so that they add onto the search string shown in the 2nd code example. Additionally, if a search string with a filter is already present, it would only change that filter and resubmit the search string with the new filter. I hope I am being clear.

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