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  • zeroing out memory

    - by robUK
    Hello, gcc 4.4.4 c89 I am just wondering what most c programmers do when they want to zero out memory. For example I have a buffer of 1024 bytes. Sometimes I do this: char buffer[1024] = {0}; Which will zero all bytes. However, should I declare like this and use memset? char buffer[1024]; . . memset(buffer, 0, sizeof(buffer); Is there any real reason you have to zero the memory? What is the worst that can happen by not doing it? Many thanks for any suggestions,

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  • HMTL5 Anti Aliasing Browser Disable

    - by Tappa Tappa
    I am forced to consider writing a library to handle the fundamental basics of drawing lines, thick lines, circles, squares etc. of an HTML5 canvas because I can't disable a feature embedded in the browser rendering of the core canvas algorithms. Am I forced to build the HTML5 Canvas rendering process from the ground up? If I am, who's in with me to do this? Who wants to change the world? Imagine a simple drawing application written in HTML5... you draw a shape... a closed shape like a rudimentary circle, free hand, more like an onion than a circle (well, that's what mine would look like!)... then imagine selecting a paint bucket icon and clicking inside that shape you drew and expecting it to be filled with a color of your choice. Imagine your surprise as you selected "Paint Bucket" and clicked in the middle of your shape and it filled your shape with color... BUT, not quite... HANG ON... this isn't right!!! On the inside of the edge of the shape you drew is a blur between the background color and your fill color and the edge color... the fill seems to be flawed. You wanted a straight forward "Paint Bucket" / "Fill"... you wanted to draw a shape and then fill it with a color... no fuss.... fill the whole damned inside of your shape with the color you choose. Your web browser has decided that when you draw the lines to define your shape they will be anti-aliased. If you draw a black line for your shape... well, the browser will draw grey pixels along the edges, in places... to make it look like a "better" line. Yeah, a "better" line that **s up the paint / flood fill process. How much does is cost to pay off the browser developers to expose a property to disable their anti-aliasing rendering? Disabling would save milliseconds for their rendering engine, surely! Bah, I really don't want to have to build my own canvas rendering engine using Bresenham line rendering algorithm... WHAT CAN BE DONE... HOW CAN THIS BE CHANGED!!!??? Do I need to start a petition aimed at the WC3???? Will you include your name if you are interested??? UPDATED function DrawLine(objContext, FromX, FromY, ToX, ToY) { var dx = Math.abs(ToX - FromX); var dy = Math.abs(ToY - FromY); var sx = (FromX < ToX) ? 1 : -1; var sy = (FromY < ToY) ? 1 : -1; var err = dx - dy; var CurX, CurY; CurX = FromX; CurY = FromY; while (true) { objContext.fillRect(CurX, CurY, objContext.lineWidth, objContext.lineWidth); if ((CurX == ToX) && (CurY == ToY)) break; var e2 = 2 * err; if (e2 > -dy) { err -= dy; CurX += sx; } if (e2 < dx) { err += dx; CurY += sy; } } }

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  • Display continious dates in Pivot Chart

    - by Douglas
    I have a set of data in a pivot table with date times and events. I've made a pivot chart with this data, and grouped the data by day and year, then display a count of events for each day. So, my horizontal axis goes from 19 March 2007 to 11 May 2010, and my vertical axis is numeric, going from zero to 140. For some days, I have zero events. These days don't seem to be shown on the horizontal axis, so 2008 is narrower than 2009. How do I display a count of zero for days with no events? I'd like my horizontal axis to be continuous, so that it does not miss any days, and every month ends up taking up the same amount of horizontal space. (This question is similar to the unanswered question here, but I'd rather not generate a table of all the days in the last x number of years just to get a smooth plot!)

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  • Understanding Visitor Pattern

    - by Nezreli
    I have a hierarchy of classes that represents GUI controls. Something like this: Control-ContainerControl-Form I have to implement a series of algoritms that work with objects doing various stuff and I'm thinking that Visitor pattern would be the cleanest solution. Let take for example an algorithm which creates a Xml representaion of a hierarchy of objects. Using 'classic' approach I would do this: public abstract class Control { public virtual XmlElement ToXML(XmlDocument document) { XmlElement xml = document.CreateElement(this.GetType().Name); // Create element, fill it with attributes declared with control return xml; } } public abstract class ContainerControl : Control { public override XmlElement ToXML(XmlDocument document) { XmlElement xml = base.ToXML(document); // Use forech to fill XmlElement with child XmlElements return xml; } } public class Form : ContainerControl { public override XmlElement ToXML(XmlDocument document) { XmlElement xml = base.ToXML(document); // Fill remaining elements declared in Form class return xml; } } But I'm not sure how to do this with visitor pattern. This is the basic implementation: public class ToXmlVisitor : IVisitor { public void Visit(Form form) { } } Since even the abstract classes help with implementation I'm not sure how to do that properly in ToXmlVisitor. Perhaps there is a better solution to this problem. The reason that I'm considering Visitor pattern is that some algorithms will need references not available in project where the classes are implemented and there is a number of different algorithms so I'm avoiding large classes. Any thoughts are welcome.

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  • How to simulate pressure with particles?

    - by BeachRunnerJoe
    I'm trying to simulate pressure with a collection of spherical particles in a Unity game I'm building. A couple notes about the problem: The goal is to fill a constantly changing 2d space/void with small, frictionless spheres. The game is trying to simulate the ever-growing pressure of more objects being shoved into this space. The level itself is constantly scrolling from left to right, meaning if the space's dimensions are not changed by the user it will automatically get smaller (the leftmost part of the space will continually scroll off-screen). I'm wondering what some approaches are that I can take to tackling these problems... Knowing when to detect when there is space to fill and then add spheres to the space. Removing spheres from the space when it is shrinking. Strategies to simulate pressure on the spheres such that they "explode outwards" when more space is created. The current approach I am contemplating is using a constantly moving wall, that is off screen and moves with the screen, as this image illustrates: . This moving wall will push and trap the spheres into the space. As for adding new spheres, I was going to have either (1) spheres replicate themselves upon detecting free space, OR (2) spawn them at the left side of the space (where the wall is) - pushing the rest of the spheres to fill the space. I foresee problems with idea #1 because this likely wouldn't really create/simulate pressure; idea #2 seems more promising, but raises the question of how to provide a location for these new sphere particles to spawn (and the ramifications of spawning them when there IS no space). Thanks so much in advance for your wisdom!

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  • RasterizerState set to null after calling DrawText in Nuclex

    - by ProgrammerAtWork
    I have the following code in XNA: // class members Text t1; Text t2; Text t3; // init // Debugfont is size 24 vectorfont t1 = MM.DebugFont24.Fill("hello"); t1 = MM.DebugFont24.Extrude("hello"); t2 = MM.DebugFont24.Fill("hello"); t2 = MM.DebugFont24.Extrude("hello"); t3 = MM.DebugFont24.Fill("hello"); t3 = MM.DebugFont24.Extrude("hello"); // Draw TextBatch test = new TextBatch(MM.GD); test.DrawText(t1, Color.Red); test.DrawText(t2, Color.Red); test.DrawText(t3, Color.Red); test.End(); //After the second call to the TextBatch, RasterizerState of the GraphicsDevice is set to null //But I don't get any runtime errors or any indication of that something is wrong. Is this supposed to happen? Or am I doing something wrong? I've discovered that this happened because culling was set to None when I was rendering textures

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  • How to access SVG elements with Javascript

    - by gargantaun
    I'm messing around with SVG and I was hoping I could create SVG files in Illustrator and access elements with Javascript. Here's the SVG file Illustrator kicks out (It also seems to add a load of junk to the beginning of the file that I've removed) <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <!DOCTYPE svg PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD SVG 1.1//EN" "http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/1.1/DTD/svg11.dtd"> <svg version="1.1" id="Layer_1" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" x="0px" y="0px" width="276.843px" height="233.242px" viewBox="0 0 276.843 233.242" enable-background="new 0 0 276.843 233.242" xml:space="preserve"> <path id="delta" fill="#231F20" d="M34.074,86.094L0,185.354l44.444,38.519l80.741-0.74l29.63-25.186l-26.667-37.037 c0,0-34.815-5.926-37.778-6.667s-13.333-28.889-13.333-28.889l7.407-18.519l31.111-2.963l5.926-21.481l-12.593-38.519l-43.704-5.185 L34.074,86.094z"/> <path id="cargo" fill="#DFB800" d="M68.148,32.761l43.704,4.445l14.815,42.963l-7.407,26.667l-33.333,2.963l-4.444,14.074 l54.074-1.481l22.222,36.296l25.926-3.704l25.926-54.074c0,0-19.259-47.408-21.481-47.408s-31.852-0.741-31.852-0.741 l-19.259-39.259L92.593,8.316L68.148,32.761z"/> <polygon id="beta" fill="#35FF1F" points="86.722,128.316 134.593,124.613 158.296,163.872 190.889,155.724 214.593,100.909 194.593,52.02 227.186,49.057 246.444,92.02 238.297,140.909 216.074,172.761 197.556,188.316 179.778,169.798 164.963,174.983 163.481,197.946 156.815,197.946 134.593,159.428 94.593,151.279 "/> <path class="monkey" id="alpha" fill="#FD00FF" d="M96.315,4.354l42.963,5.185l18.519,42.222l71.852-8.148l20.74,46.667l-5.926,52.593 l-24.444,34.074l-25.185,15.555l-14.074-19.259l-8.889,2.964l-1.481,22.222l-14.074,2.963l-25.186,22.963l-74.074,4.444 l101.481,4.444c0,0,96.297-17.777,109.63-71.852S282.24,53.983,250.389,20.65S96.315,4.354,96.315,4.354z"/> </svg> As you can probably see, each element has an ID, and I was hoping to be able to access individual elements with Javascript so I could change the Fill attribute and respond to events such as click. The HTML is bog basic <!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <title>SVG Illustrator Test</title> </head> <body> <object data="alpha.svg" type="image/svg+xml" id="alphasvg" width="100%" height="100%"></object> </body> </html> I guess this is two questions really. a) Is it possible to do it this way, as opposed to using something like Raphael or jQuery SVG. b) If it is possible, what's the technique?

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  • Inline-SVG not rendering when generated by JS

    - by Lucas Gasenzer
    I want to implement some visual statistics into a jQuery mobile page. If I embed the folowing snippet it will show me the same results as if I would embed it from a separate *.svg-file. <svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" height="115" width="100%"> <rect x="0%" y="0" fill="#8cc63f" width="19.2%" height="100" /> <text x="10%" y="115" font-family="helvetica, sans-serif" font-size="10" style="text-anchor:middle;">A</text> <text x="10%" y="15" font-family="helvetica, sans-serif" font-size="10" style="text-anchor:middle;">100</text> <rect x="20.2%" y="50" fill="#8cc63f" width="19.2%" height="50" /> <text x="30.2%" y="115" font-family="helvetica, sans-serif" font-size="10" style="text-anchor:middle;">B</text> <text x="30.2%" y="65" font-family="helvetica, sans-serif" font-size="10" style="text-anchor:middle;">50</text> <rect x="40.4%" y="90" fill="#8cc63f" width="19.2%" height="10" /> <text x="50.4%" y="115" font-family="helvetica, sans-serif" font-size="10" style="text-anchor:middle;">C</text> <text x="50.4%" y="85" font-family="helvetica, sans-serif" font-size="10" style="text-anchor:middle;">10</text> <rect x="60.6%" y="78" fill="#8cc63f" width="19.2%" height="22" /> <text x="70.6%" y="115" font-family="helvetica, sans-serif" font-size="10" style="text-anchor:middle;">D</text> <text x="70.6%" y="73" font-family="helvetica, sans-serif" font-size="10" style="text-anchor:middle;">22</text> <rect x="80.8%" y="40" fill="#8cc63f" width="19.2%" height="60" /> <text x="90.8%" y="115" font-family="helvetica, sans-serif" font-size="10" style="text-anchor:middle;">E</text> <text x="90.8%" y="55" font-family="helvetica, sans-serif" font-size="10" style="text-anchor:middle;">60</text> Now because these statistics obviously change for each site I generate code like the one above using JavaScript. The HTML-Source-Code looks the same but the SVG will not be showing. Instead it looks like this: A 100 B 50 C 10 D 22 E60 so really just a line of text Am I missing something? Thank you for your help!

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  • How to draw a filled envelop like a cone on OpenGL (using GLUT)?

    - by ashishsony
    Hi, I am relatively new to OpenGL programming...currently involved in a project that uses freeglut for opengl rendering... I need to draw an envelop looking like a cone (2D) that has to be filled with some color and some transparency applied. Is the freeglut toolkit equipped with such an inbuilt functionality to draw filled geometries(or some trick)?? or is there some other api that has an inbuilt support for filled up geometries.. Thanks. Best Regards. Edit1: just to clarify the 2D cone thing... the envelop is the graphical interpretation of the coverage area of an aircraft during interception(of an enemy aircraft)...that resembles a sector of a circle..i should have mentioned sector instead.. and glutSolidCone doesnot help me as i want to draw a filled sector of a circle...which i have already done...what remains to do is to fill it with some color... how to fill geometries with color in opengl?? Thanks. Edit2: Ok thanks for replying...all the answers posted to this questions can work for my problem in a way.. But i would definitely would want to know a way how to fill a geometry with some color. Say if i want to draw an envelop which is a parabola...in that case there would be no default glut function to actually draw a filled parabola(or is there any??).. So to generalise this question...how to draw a custom geometry in some solid color?? Thanks. Edit3: The answer that mstrobl posted works for GL_TRIANGLES but for such a code: glBegin(GL_LINE_STRIP); glColor3f(0.0, 0.0, 1.0); glVertex3f(0.0, 0.0, 0.0); glColor3f(0.0, 0.0, 1.0); glVertex3f(200.0, 0.0, 0.0); glColor3f(0.0, 0.0, 1.0); glVertex3f(200.0, 200.0, 0.0); glColor3f(0.0, 0.0, 1.0); glVertex3f(0.0, 200.0, 0.0); glColor3f(0.0, 0.0, 1.0); glVertex3f(0.0, 0.0, 0.0); glEnd(); which draws a square...only a wired square is drawn...i need to fill it with blue color. anyway to do it? if i put some drawing commands for a closed curve..like a pie..and i need to fill it with a color is there a way to make it possible... i dont know how its possible for GL_TRIANGLES... but how to do it for any closed curve?? Thanks.

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  • Fixing Robocopy for SQL Server Jobs

    - by Most Valuable Yak (Rob Volk)
    Robocopy is one of, if not the, best life-saving/greatest-thing-since-sliced-bread command line utilities ever to come from Microsoft.  If you're not using it already, what are you waiting for? Of course, being a Microsoft product, it's not exactly perfect. ;)  Specifically, it sets the ERRORLEVEL to a non-zero value even if the copy is successful.  This causes a problem in SQL Server job steps, since non-zero ERRORLEVELs report as failed. You can work around this by having your SQL job go to the next step on failure, but then you can't determine if there was a genuine error.  Plus you still see annoying red X's in your job history.  One way I've found to avoid this is to use a batch file that runs Robocopy, and I add some commands after it (in red): robocopy d:\backups \\BackupServer\BackupFolder *.bak rem suppress successful robocopy exit statuses, only report genuine errors (bitmask 16 and 8 settings)set/A errlev="%ERRORLEVEL% & 24" rem exit batch file with errorlevel so SQL job can succeed or fail appropriatelyexit/B %errlev% (The REM statements are simply comments and don't need to be included in the batch file) The SET command lets you use expressions when you use the /A switch.  So I set an environment variable "errlev" to a bitwise AND with the ERRORLEVEL value. Robocopy's exit codes use a bitmap/bitmask to specify its exit status.  The bits for 1, 2, and 4 do not indicate any kind of failure, but 8 and 16 do.  So by adding 16 + 8 to get 24, and doing a bitwise AND, I suppress any of the other bits that might be set, and allow either or both of the error bits to pass. The next step is to use the EXIT command with the /B switch to set a new ERRORLEVEL value, using the "errlev" variable.  This will now return zero (unless Robocopy had real errors) and allow your SQL job step to report success. This technique should also work for other command-line utilities.  The only issues I've found is that it requires the commands to be part of a batch file, so if you use Robocopy directly in your SQL job step you'd need to place it in a batch.  If you also have multiple Robocopy calls, you'll need to place the SET/A command ONLY after the last one.  You'd therefore lose any errors from previous calls, unless you use multiple "errlev" variables and AND them together. (I'll leave this as an exercise for the reader) The SET/A syntax also permits other kinds of expressions to be calculated.  You can get a full list by running "SET /?" on a command prompt.

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  • Replacing “if”s with your own number system

    - by Michael Williamson
    During our second code retreat at Red Gate, the restriction for one of the sessions was disallowing the use of if statements. That includes other constructs that have the same effect, such as switch statements or loops that will only be executed zero or one times. The idea is to encourage use of polymorphism instead, and see just how far it can be used to get rid of “if”s. The main place where people struggled to get rid of numbers from their implementation of Conway’s Game of Life was the piece of code that decides whether a cell is live or dead in the next generation. For instance, for a cell that’s currently live, the code might look something like this: if (numberOfNeighbours == 2 || numberOfNeighbours == 3) { return CellState.LIVE; } else { return CellState.DEAD; } The problem is that we need to change behaviour depending on the number of neighbours each cell has, but polymorphism only allows us to switch behaviour based on the type of a value. It follows that the solution is to make different numbers have different types: public interface IConwayNumber { IConwayNumber Increment(); CellState LiveCellNextGeneration(); } public class Zero : IConwayNumber { public IConwayNumber Increment() { return new One(); } public CellState LiveCellNextGeneration() { return CellState.DEAD; } } public class One : IConwayNumber { public IConwayNumber Increment() { return new Two(); } public CellState LiveCellNextGeneration() { return CellState.LIVE; } } public class Two : IConwayNumber { public IConwayNumber Increment() { return new ThreeOrMore(); } public CellState LiveCellNextGeneration() { return CellState.LIVE; } } public class ThreeOrMore : IConwayNumber { public IConwayNumber Increment() { return this; } public CellState LiveCellNextGeneration() { return CellState.DEAD; } } In the code that counts the number of neighbours, we use our new number system by starting with Zero and incrementing when we find a neighbour. To choose the next state of the cell, rather than inspecting the number of neighbours, we ask the number of neighbours for the next state directly: return numberOfNeighbours.LiveCellNextGeneration(); And now we have no “if”s! If C# had double-dispatch, or if we used the visitor pattern, we could move the logic for choosing the next cell out of the number classes, which might feel a bit more natural. I suspect that reimplementing the natural numbers is still going to feel about the same amount of crazy though.

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  • What Every Developer Should Know About MSI Components

    - by Alois Kraus
    Hopefully nothing. But if you have to do more than simple XCopy deployment and you need to support updates, upgrades and perhaps side by side scenarios there is no way around MSI. You can create Msi files with a Visual Studio Setup project which is severely limited or you can use the Windows Installer Toolset. I cannot talk about WIX with my German colleagues because WIX has a very special meaning. It is funny to always use the long name when I talk about deployment possibilities. Alternatively you can buy commercial tools which help you to author Msi files but I am not sure how good they are. Given enough pain with existing solutions you can also learn the MSI Apis and create your own packaging solution. If I were you I would use either a commercial visual tool when you do easy deployments or use the free Windows Installer Toolset. Once you know the WIX schema you can create well formed wix xml files easily with any editor. Then you can “compile” from the wxs files your Msi package. Recently I had the “pleasure” to get my hands dirty with C++ (again) and the MSI technology. Installation is a complex topic but after several month of digging into arcane MSI issues I can safely say that there should exist an easier way to install and update files as today. I am not alone with this statement as John Robbins (creator of the cool tool Paraffin) states: “.. It's a brittle and scary API in Windows …”. To help other people struggling with installation issues I present you the advice I (and others) found useful and what will happen if you ignore this advice. What is a MSI file? A MSI file is basically a database with tables which reference each other to control how your un/installation should work. The basic idea is that you declare via these tables what you want to install and MSI controls the how to get your stuff onto or off your machine. Your “stuff” consists usually of files, registry keys, shortcuts and environment variables. Therefore the most important tables are File, Registry, Environment and Shortcut table which define what will be un/installed. The key to master MSI is that every resource (file, registry key ,…) is associated with a MSI component. The actual payload consists of compressed files in the CAB format which can either be embedded into the MSI file or reside beside the MSI file or in a subdirectory below it. To examine MSI files you need Orca a free MSI editor provided by MS. There is also another free editor called Super Orca which does support diffs between MSI and it does not lock the MSI files. But since Orca comes with a shell extension I tend to use only Orca because it is so easy to right click on a MSI file and open it with this tool. How Do I Install It? Double click it. This does work for fresh installations as well as major upgrades. Updates need to be installed via the command line via msiexec /i <msi> REINSTALL=ALL REINSTALLMODE=vomus   This tells the installer to reinstall all already installed features (new features will NOT be installed). The reinstallmode letters do force an overwrite of the old cached package in the %WINDIR%\Installer folder. All files, shortcuts and registry keys are redeployed if they are missing or need to be replaced with a newer version. When things did go really wrong and you want to overwrite everything unconditionally use REINSTALLMODE=vamus. How To Enable MSI Logs? You can download a MSI from Microsoft which installs some registry keys to enable full MSI logging. The log files can be found in your %TEMP% folder and are called MSIxxxx.log. Alternatively you can add to your msiexec command line the option msiexec …. /l*vx <LogFileName> Personally I find it rather strange that * does not mean full logging. To really get all logs I need to add v and x which is documented in the msiexec help but I still find this behavior unintuitive. What are MSI components? The whole MSI logic is bound to the concept of MSI components. Nearly every msi table has a Component column which binds an installable resource to a component. Below are the screenshots of the FeatureComponents and Component table of an example MSI. The Feature table defines basically the feature hierarchy.  To find out what belongs to a feature you need to look at the FeatureComponents table where for each feature the components are listed which will be installed when a feature is installed. The MSI components are defined in the  Component table. This table has as first column the component name and as second column the component id which is a GUID. All resources you want to install belong to a MSI component. Therefore nearly all MSI tables have a Component_ column which contains the component name. If you look e.g. a the File table you see that every file belongs to a component which is true for all other tables which install resources. The component table is the glue between all other tables which contain the resources you want to install. So far so easy. Why is MSI then so complex? Most MSI problems arise from the fact that you did violate a MSI component rule in one or the other way. When you install a feature the reference count for all components belonging to this feature will increase by one. If your component is installed by more than one feature it will get a higher refcount. When you uninstall a feature its refcount will drop by one. Interesting things happen if the component reference count reaches zero: Then all associated resources will be deleted. That looks like a reasonable thing and it is. What it makes complex are the strange component rules you have to follow. Below are some important component rules from the Tao of the Windows Installer … Rule 16: Follow Component Rules Components are a very important part of the Installer technology. They are the means whereby the Installer manages the resources that make up your application. The SDK provides the following guidelines for creating components in your package: Never create two components that install a resource under the same name and target location. If a resource must be duplicated in multiple components, change its name or target location in each component. This rule should be applied across applications, products, product versions, and companies. Two components must not have the same key path file. This is a consequence of the previous rule. The key path value points to a particular file or folder belonging to the component that the installer uses to detect the component. If two components had the same key path file, the installer would be unable to distinguish which component is installed. Two components however may share a key path folder. Do not create a version of a component that is incompatible with all previous versions of the component. This rule should be applied across applications, products, product versions, and companies. Do not create components containing resources that will need to be installed into more than one directory on the user’s system. The installer installs all of the resources in a component into the same directory. It is not possible to install some resources into subdirectories. Do not include more than one COM server per component. If a component contains a COM server, this must be the key path for the component. Do not specify more than one file per component as a target for the Start menu or a Desktop shortcut. … And these rules do not even talk about component ids, update packages and upgrades which you need to understand as well. Lets suppose you install two MSIs (MSI1 and MSI2) which have the same ComponentId but different component names. Both do install the same file. What will happen when you uninstall MSI2?   Hm the file should stay there. But the component names are different. Yes and yes. But MSI uses not use the component name as key for the refcount. Instead the ComponentId column of the Component table which contains a GUID is used as identifier under which the refcount is stored. The components Comp1 and Comp2 are identical from the MSI perspective. After the installation of both MSIs the Component with the Id {100000….} has a refcount of two. After uninstallation of one MSI there is still a refcount of one which drops to zero just as expected when we uninstall the last msi. Then the file which was the same for both MSIs is deleted. You should remember that MSI keeps a refcount across MSIs for components with the same component id. MSI does manage components not the resources you did install. The resources associated with a component are then and only then deleted when the refcount of the component reaches zero.   The dependencies between features, components and resources can be described as relations. m,k are numbers >= 1, n can be 0. Inside a MSI the following relations are valid Feature    1  –> n Components Component    1 –> m Features Component      1  –>  k Resources These relations express that one feature can install several components and features can share components between them. Every (meaningful) component will install at least one resource which means that its name (primary key to stay in database speak) does occur in some other table in the Component column as value which installs some resource. Lets make it clear with an example. We want to install with the feature MainFeature some files a registry key and a shortcut. We can then create components Comp1..3 which are referenced by the resources defined in the corresponding tables.   Feature Component Registry File Shortcuts MainFeature Comp1 RegistryKey1     MainFeature Comp2   File.txt   MainFeature Comp3   File2.txt Shortcut to File2.txt   It is illegal that the same resource is part of more than one component since this would break the refcount mechanism. Lets illustrate this:            Feature ComponentId Resource Reference Count Feature1 {1000-…} File1.txt 1 Feature2 {2000-….} File1.txt 1 The installation part works well but what happens when you uninstall Feature2? Component {20000…} gets a refcount of zero where MSI deletes all resources belonging to this component. In this case File1.txt will be deleted. But Feature1 still has another component {10000…} with a refcount of one which means that the file was deleted too early. You just have ruined your installation. To fix it you then need to click on the Repair button under Add/Remove Programs to let MSI reinstall any missing registry keys, files or shortcuts. The vigilant reader might has noticed that there is more in the Component table. Beside its name and GUID it has also an installation directory, attributes and a KeyPath. The KeyPath is a reference to a file or registry key which is used to detect if the component is already installed. This becomes important when you repair or uninstall a component. To find out if the component is already installed MSI checks if the registry key or file referenced by the KeyPath property does exist. When it does not exist it assumes that it was either already uninstalled (can lead to problems during uninstall) or that it is already installed and all is fine. Why is this detail so important? Lets put all files into one component. The KeyPath should be then one of the files of your component to check if it was installed or not. When your installation becomes corrupt because a file was deleted you cannot repair it with the Repair button under Add/Remove Programs because MSI checks the component integrity via the Resource referenced by its KeyPath. As long as you did not delete the KeyPath file MSI thinks all resources with your component are installed and never executes any repair action. You get even more trouble when you try to remove files during an upgrade (you cannot remove files during an update) from your super component which contains all files. The only way out and therefore best practice is to assign for every resource you want to install an extra component. This ensures painless updatability and repairs and you have much less effort to remove specific files during an upgrade. In effect you get this best practice relation Feature 1  –> n Components Component   1  –>  1 Resources MSI Component Rules Rule 1 – One component per resource Every resource you want to install (file, registry key, value, environment value, shortcut, directory, …) must get its own component which does never change between versions as long as the install location is the same. Penalty If you add more than one resources to a component you will break the repair capability of MSI because the KeyPath is used to check if the component needs repair. MSI ComponentId Files MSI 1.0 {1000} File1-5 MSI 2.0 {2000} File2-5 You want to remove File1 in version 2.0 of your MSI. Since you want to keep the other files you create a new component and add them there. MSI will delete all files if the component refcount of {1000} drops to zero. The files you want to keep are added to the new component {2000}. Ok that does work if your upgrade does uninstall the old MSI first. This will cause the refcount of all previously installed components to reach zero which means that all files present in version 1.0 are deleted. But there is a faster way to perform your upgrade by first installing your new MSI and then remove the old one.  If you choose this upgrade path then you will loose File1-5 after your upgrade and not only File1 as intended by your new component design.   Rule 2 – Only add, never remove resources from a component If you did follow rule 1 you will not need Rule 2. You can add in a patch more resources to one component. That is ok. But you can never remove anything from it. There are tricky ways around that but I do not want to encourage bad component design. Penalty Lets assume you have 2 MSI files which install under the same component one file   MSI1 MSI2 {1000} - ComponentId {1000} – ComponentId File1.txt File2.txt   When you install and uninstall both MSIs you will end up with an installation where either File1 or File2 will be left. Why? It seems that MSI does not store the resources associated with each component in its internal database. Instead Windows will simply query the MSI that is currently uninstalled for all resources belonging to this component. Since it will find only one file and not two it will only uninstall one file. That is the main reason why you never can remove resources from a component!   Rule 3 Never Remove A Component From an Update MSI. This is the same as if you change the GUID of a component by accident for your new update package. The resulting update package will not contain all components from the previously installed package. Penalty When you remove a component from a feature MSI will set the feature state during update to Advertised and log a warning message into its log file when you did enable MSI logging. SELMGR: ComponentId '{2DCEA1BA-3E27-E222-484C-D0D66AEA4F62}' is registered to feature 'xxxxxxx, but is not present in the Component table.  Removal of components from a feature is not supported! MSI (c) (24:44) [07:53:13:436]: SELMGR: Removal of a component from a feature is not supported Advertised means that MSI treats all components of this feature as not installed. As a consequence during uninstall nothing will be removed since it is not installed! This is not only bad because uninstall does no longer work but this feature will also not get the required patches. All other features which have followed component versioning rules for update packages will be updated but the one faulty feature will not. This results in very hard to find bugs why an update was only partially successful. Things got better with Windows Installer 4.5 but you cannot rely on that nobody will use an older installer. It is a good idea to add to your update msiexec call MSIENFORCEUPGRADECOMPONENTRULES=1 which will abort the installation if you did violate this rule.

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  • XNA Screen Manager problem with transitions

    - by NexAddo
    I'm having issues using the game statemanagement example in the game I am developing. I have no issues with my first three screens transitioning between one another. I have a main menu screen, a splash screen and a high score screen that cycle: mainMenuScreen->splashScreen->highScoreScreen->mainMenuScreen The screens change every 15 seconds. Transition times public MainMenuScreen() { TransitionOnTime = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(0.5); TransitionOffTime = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(0.0); currentCreditAmount = Global.CurrentCredits; } public SplashScreen() { TransitionOnTime = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(0.5); TransitionOffTime = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(0.5); } public HighScoreScreen() { TransitionOnTime = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(0.5); TransitionOffTime = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(0.5); } public GamePlayScreen() { TransitionOnTime = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(0.5); TransitionOffTime = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(0.5); } When a user inserts credits they can play the game after pressing start mainMenuScreen->splashScreen->highScoreScreen->(loops forever) || || || ===========Credits In============= || Start || \/ LoadingScreen || Start || \/ GamePlayScreen During each of these transitions, between screens, the same code is used, which exits(removes) all current active screens and respects transitions, then adds the new screen to the screen manager: foreach (GameScreen screen in ScreenManager.GetScreens()) screen.ExitScreen(); //AddScreen takes a new screen to manage and the controlling player ScreenManager.AddScreen(new NameOfScreenHere(), null); Each screen is removed from the ScreenManager with ExitScreen() and using this function, each screen transition is respected. The problem I am having is with my gamePlayScreen. When the current game is finished and the transition is complete for the gamePlayScreen, it should be removed and the next screens should be added to the ScreenManager. GamePlayScreen Code Snippet private void FinishCurrentGame() { AudioManager.StopSounds(); this.UnloadContent(); if (Global.SaveDevice.IsReady) Stats.Save(); if (HighScoreScreen.IsInHighscores(timeLimit)) { foreach (GameScreen screen in ScreenManager.GetScreens()) screen.ExitScreen(); Global.TimeRemaining = timeLimit; ScreenManager.AddScreen(new BackgroundScreen(), null); ScreenManager.AddScreen(new MessageBoxScreen("Enter your Initials", true), null); } else { foreach (GameScreen screen in ScreenManager.GetScreens()) screen.ExitScreen(); ScreenManager.AddScreen(new BackgroundScreen(), null); ScreenManager.AddScreen(new MainMenuScreen(), null); } } The problem is that when isExiting is set to true by screen.ExitScreen() for the gamePlayScreen, the transition never completes the transition and removes the screen from the ScreenManager. Every other screen that I use the same technique to add and remove each screen fully transitions On/Off and is removed at the appropriate time from the ScreenManager, but noy my GamePlayScreen. Has anyone that has used the GameStateManagement example experienced this issue or can someone see the mistake I am making? EDIT This is what I tracked down. When the game is done, I call foreach (GameScreen screen in ScreenManager.GetScreens()) screen.ExitScreen(); to start the transition off process for the gameplay screen. At this point there is only 1 screen on the ScreenManager stack. The gamePlay screen gets isExiting set to true and starts to transition off. Right after the above call to ExitScreen() I add a background screen and menu screen to the screenManager: ScreenManager.AddScreen(new background(), null); ScreenManager.AddScreen(new Menu(), null); The count of the ScreenManager is now 3. What I noticed while stepping through the updates for GameScreen and ScreenManager, the gameplay screen never gets to the point where the transistion process finishes so the ScreenManager can remove it from the stack. This anomaly does not happen to any of my other screens when I switch between them. Screen Manager Code #region File Description //----------------------------------------------------------------------------- // ScreenManager.cs // // Microsoft XNA Community Game Platform // Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. //----------------------------------------------------------------------------- #endregion #define DEMO #region Using Statements using System; using System.Diagnostics; using System.Collections.Generic; using Microsoft.Xna.Framework; using Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Content; using Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Graphics; using PerformanceUtility.GameDebugTools; #endregion namespace GameStateManagement { /// <summary> /// The screen manager is a component which manages one or more GameScreen /// instances. It maintains a stack of screens, calls their Update and Draw /// methods at the appropriate times, and automatically routes input to the /// topmost active screen. /// </summary> public class ScreenManager : DrawableGameComponent { #region Fields List<GameScreen> screens = new List<GameScreen>(); List<GameScreen> screensToUpdate = new List<GameScreen>(); InputState input = new InputState(); SpriteBatch spriteBatch; SpriteFont font; Texture2D blankTexture; bool isInitialized; bool getOut; bool traceEnabled; #if DEBUG DebugSystem debugSystem; Stopwatch stopwatch = new Stopwatch(); bool debugTextEnabled; #endif #endregion #region Properties /// <summary> /// A default SpriteBatch shared by all the screens. This saves /// each screen having to bother creating their own local instance. /// </summary> public SpriteBatch SpriteBatch { get { return spriteBatch; } } /// <summary> /// A default font shared by all the screens. This saves /// each screen having to bother loading their own local copy. /// </summary> public SpriteFont Font { get { return font; } } public Rectangle ScreenRectangle { get { return new Rectangle(0, 0, GraphicsDevice.Viewport.Width, GraphicsDevice.Viewport.Height); } } /// <summary> /// If true, the manager prints out a list of all the screens /// each time it is updated. This can be useful for making sure /// everything is being added and removed at the right times. /// </summary> public bool TraceEnabled { get { return traceEnabled; } set { traceEnabled = value; } } #if DEBUG public bool DebugTextEnabled { get { return debugTextEnabled; } set { debugTextEnabled = value; } } public DebugSystem DebugSystem { get { return debugSystem; } } #endif #endregion #region Initialization /// <summary> /// Constructs a new screen manager component. /// </summary> public ScreenManager(Game game) : base(game) { // we must set EnabledGestures before we can query for them, but // we don't assume the game wants to read them. //TouchPanel.EnabledGestures = GestureType.None; } /// <summary> /// Initializes the screen manager component. /// </summary> public override void Initialize() { base.Initialize(); #if DEBUG debugSystem = DebugSystem.Initialize(Game, "Fonts/MenuFont"); #endif isInitialized = true; } /// <summary> /// Load your graphics content. /// </summary> protected override void LoadContent() { // Load content belonging to the screen manager. ContentManager content = Game.Content; spriteBatch = new SpriteBatch(GraphicsDevice); font = content.Load<SpriteFont>(@"Fonts\menufont"); blankTexture = content.Load<Texture2D>(@"Textures\Backgrounds\blank"); // Tell each of the screens to load their content. foreach (GameScreen screen in screens) { screen.LoadContent(); } } /// <summary> /// Unload your graphics content. /// </summary> protected override void UnloadContent() { // Tell each of the screens to unload their content. foreach (GameScreen screen in screens) { screen.UnloadContent(); } } #endregion #region Update and Draw /// <summary> /// Allows each screen to run logic. /// </summary> public override void Update(GameTime gameTime) { #if DEBUG debugSystem.TimeRuler.StartFrame(); debugSystem.TimeRuler.BeginMark("Update", Color.Blue); if (debugTextEnabled && getOut == false) { debugSystem.FpsCounter.Visible = true; debugSystem.TimeRuler.Visible = true; debugSystem.TimeRuler.ShowLog = true; getOut = true; } else if (debugTextEnabled == false) { getOut = false; debugSystem.FpsCounter.Visible = false; debugSystem.TimeRuler.Visible = false; debugSystem.TimeRuler.ShowLog = false; } #endif // Read the keyboard and gamepad. input.Update(); // Make a copy of the master screen list, to avoid confusion if // the process of updating one screen adds or removes others. screensToUpdate.Clear(); foreach (GameScreen screen in screens) screensToUpdate.Add(screen); bool otherScreenHasFocus = !Game.IsActive; bool coveredByOtherScreen = false; // Loop as long as there are screens waiting to be updated. while (screensToUpdate.Count > 0) { // Pop the topmost screen off the waiting list. GameScreen screen = screensToUpdate[screensToUpdate.Count - 1]; screensToUpdate.RemoveAt(screensToUpdate.Count - 1); // Update the screen. screen.Update(gameTime, otherScreenHasFocus, coveredByOtherScreen); if (screen.ScreenState == ScreenState.TransitionOn || screen.ScreenState == ScreenState.Active) { // If this is the first active screen we came across, // give it a chance to handle input. if (!otherScreenHasFocus) { screen.HandleInput(input); otherScreenHasFocus = true; } // If this is an active non-popup, inform any subsequent // screens that they are covered by it. if (!screen.IsPopup) coveredByOtherScreen = true; } } // Print debug trace? if (traceEnabled) TraceScreens(); #if DEBUG debugSystem.TimeRuler.EndMark("Update"); #endif } /// <summary> /// Prints a list of all the screens, for debugging. /// </summary> void TraceScreens() { List<string> screenNames = new List<string>(); foreach (GameScreen screen in screens) screenNames.Add(screen.GetType().Name); Debug.WriteLine(string.Join(", ", screenNames.ToArray())); } /// <summary> /// Tells each screen to draw itself. /// </summary> public override void Draw(GameTime gameTime) { #if DEBUG debugSystem.TimeRuler.StartFrame(); debugSystem.TimeRuler.BeginMark("Draw", Color.Yellow); #endif foreach (GameScreen screen in screens) { if (screen.ScreenState == ScreenState.Hidden) continue; screen.Draw(gameTime); } #if DEBUG debugSystem.TimeRuler.EndMark("Draw"); #endif #if DEMO SpriteBatch.Begin(); SpriteBatch.DrawString(font, "DEMO - NOT FOR RESALE", new Vector2(20, 80), Color.White); SpriteBatch.End(); #endif } #endregion #region Public Methods /// <summary> /// Adds a new screen to the screen manager. /// </summary> public void AddScreen(GameScreen screen, PlayerIndex? controllingPlayer) { screen.ControllingPlayer = controllingPlayer; screen.ScreenManager = this; screen.IsExiting = false; // If we have a graphics device, tell the screen to load content. if (isInitialized) { screen.LoadContent(); } screens.Add(screen); } /// <summary> /// Removes a screen from the screen manager. You should normally /// use GameScreen.ExitScreen instead of calling this directly, so /// the screen can gradually transition off rather than just being /// instantly removed. /// </summary> public void RemoveScreen(GameScreen screen) { // If we have a graphics device, tell the screen to unload content. if (isInitialized) { screen.UnloadContent(); } screens.Remove(screen); screensToUpdate.Remove(screen); } /// <summary> /// Expose an array holding all the screens. We return a copy rather /// than the real master list, because screens should only ever be added /// or removed using the AddScreen and RemoveScreen methods. /// </summary> public GameScreen[] GetScreens() { return screens.ToArray(); } /// <summary> /// Helper draws a translucent black fullscreen sprite, used for fading /// screens in and out, and for darkening the background behind popups. /// </summary> public void FadeBackBufferToBlack(float alpha) { Viewport viewport = GraphicsDevice.Viewport; spriteBatch.Begin(); spriteBatch.Draw(blankTexture, new Rectangle(0, 0, viewport.Width, viewport.Height), Color.Black * alpha); spriteBatch.End(); } #endregion } } Game Screen Parent of GamePlayScreen #region File Description //----------------------------------------------------------------------------- // GameScreen.cs // // Microsoft XNA Community Game Platform // Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. //----------------------------------------------------------------------------- #endregion #region Using Statements using System; using Microsoft.Xna.Framework; using Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Input; //using Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Input.Touch; using System.IO; #endregion namespace GameStateManagement { /// <summary> /// Enum describes the screen transition state. /// </summary> public enum ScreenState { TransitionOn, Active, TransitionOff, Hidden, } /// <summary> /// A screen is a single layer that has update and draw logic, and which /// can be combined with other layers to build up a complex menu system. /// For instance the main menu, the options menu, the "are you sure you /// want to quit" message box, and the main game itself are all implemented /// as screens. /// </summary> public abstract class GameScreen { #region Properties /// <summary> /// Normally when one screen is brought up over the top of another, /// the first screen will transition off to make room for the new /// one. This property indicates whether the screen is only a small /// popup, in which case screens underneath it do not need to bother /// transitioning off. /// </summary> public bool IsPopup { get { return isPopup; } protected set { isPopup = value; } } bool isPopup = false; /// <summary> /// Indicates how long the screen takes to /// transition on when it is activated. /// </summary> public TimeSpan TransitionOnTime { get { return transitionOnTime; } protected set { transitionOnTime = value; } } TimeSpan transitionOnTime = TimeSpan.Zero; /// <summary> /// Indicates how long the screen takes to /// transition off when it is deactivated. /// </summary> public TimeSpan TransitionOffTime { get { return transitionOffTime; } protected set { transitionOffTime = value; } } TimeSpan transitionOffTime = TimeSpan.Zero; /// <summary> /// Gets the current position of the screen transition, ranging /// from zero (fully active, no transition) to one (transitioned /// fully off to nothing). /// </summary> public float TransitionPosition { get { return transitionPosition; } protected set { transitionPosition = value; } } float transitionPosition = 1; /// <summary> /// Gets the current alpha of the screen transition, ranging /// from 1 (fully active, no transition) to 0 (transitioned /// fully off to nothing). /// </summary> public float TransitionAlpha { get { return 1f - TransitionPosition; } } /// <summary> /// Gets the current screen transition state. /// </summary> public ScreenState ScreenState { get { return screenState; } protected set { screenState = value; } } ScreenState screenState = ScreenState.TransitionOn; /// <summary> /// There are two possible reasons why a screen might be transitioning /// off. It could be temporarily going away to make room for another /// screen that is on top of it, or it could be going away for good. /// This property indicates whether the screen is exiting for real: /// if set, the screen will automatically remove itself as soon as the /// transition finishes. /// </summary> public bool IsExiting { get { return isExiting; } protected internal set { isExiting = value; } } bool isExiting = false; /// <summary> /// Checks whether this screen is active and can respond to user input. /// </summary> public bool IsActive { get { return !otherScreenHasFocus && (screenState == ScreenState.TransitionOn || screenState == ScreenState.Active); } } bool otherScreenHasFocus; /// <summary> /// Gets the manager that this screen belongs to. /// </summary> public ScreenManager ScreenManager { get { return screenManager; } internal set { screenManager = value; } } ScreenManager screenManager; public KeyboardState KeyboardState { get {return Keyboard.GetState();} } /// <summary> /// Gets the index of the player who is currently controlling this screen, /// or null if it is accepting input from any player. This is used to lock /// the game to a specific player profile. The main menu responds to input /// from any connected gamepad, but whichever player makes a selection from /// this menu is given control over all subsequent screens, so other gamepads /// are inactive until the controlling player returns to the main menu. /// </summary> public PlayerIndex? ControllingPlayer { get { return controllingPlayer; } internal set { controllingPlayer = value; } } PlayerIndex? controllingPlayer; /// <summary> /// Gets whether or not this screen is serializable. If this is true, /// the screen will be recorded into the screen manager's state and /// its Serialize and Deserialize methods will be called as appropriate. /// If this is false, the screen will be ignored during serialization. /// By default, all screens are assumed to be serializable. /// </summary> public bool IsSerializable { get { return isSerializable; } protected set { isSerializable = value; } } bool isSerializable = true; #endregion #region Initialization /// <summary> /// Load graphics content for the screen. /// </summary> public virtual void LoadContent() { } /// <summary> /// Unload content for the screen. /// </summary> public virtual void UnloadContent() { } #endregion #region Update and Draw /// <summary> /// Allows the screen to run logic, such as updating the transition position. /// Unlike HandleInput, this method is called regardless of whether the screen /// is active, hidden, or in the middle of a transition. /// </summary> public virtual void Update(GameTime gameTime, bool otherScreenHasFocus, bool coveredByOtherScreen) { this.otherScreenHasFocus = otherScreenHasFocus; if (isExiting) { // If the screen is going away to die, it should transition off. screenState = ScreenState.TransitionOff; if (!UpdateTransition(gameTime, transitionOffTime, 1)) { // When the transition finishes, remove the screen. ScreenManager.RemoveScreen(this); } } else if (coveredByOtherScreen) { // If the screen is covered by another, it should transition off. if (UpdateTransition(gameTime, transitionOffTime, 1)) { // Still busy transitioning. screenState = ScreenState.TransitionOff; } else { // Transition finished! screenState = ScreenState.Hidden; } } else { // Otherwise the screen should transition on and become active. if (UpdateTransition(gameTime, transitionOnTime, -1)) { // Still busy transitioning. screenState = ScreenState.TransitionOn; } else { // Transition finished! screenState = ScreenState.Active; } } } /// <summary> /// Helper for updating the screen transition position. /// </summary> bool UpdateTransition(GameTime gameTime, TimeSpan time, int direction) { // How much should we move by? float transitionDelta; if (time == TimeSpan.Zero) transitionDelta = 1; else transitionDelta = (float)(gameTime.ElapsedGameTime.TotalMilliseconds / time.TotalMilliseconds); // Update the transition position. transitionPosition += transitionDelta * direction; // Did we reach the end of the transition? if (((direction < 0) && (transitionPosition <= 0)) || ((direction > 0) && (transitionPosition >= 1))) { transitionPosition = MathHelper.Clamp(transitionPosition, 0, 1); return false; } // Otherwise we are still busy transitioning. return true; } /// <summary> /// Allows the screen to handle user input. Unlike Update, this method /// is only called when the screen is active, and not when some other /// screen has taken the focus. /// </summary> public virtual void HandleInput(InputState input) { } public KeyboardState currentKeyState; public KeyboardState lastKeyState; public bool IsKeyHit(Keys key) { if (currentKeyState.IsKeyDown(key) && lastKeyState.IsKeyUp(key)) return true; return false; } /// <summary> /// This is called when the screen should draw itself. /// </summary> public virtual void Draw(GameTime gameTime) { } #endregion #region Public Methods /// <summary> /// Tells the screen to serialize its state into the given stream. /// </summary> public virtual void Serialize(Stream stream) { } /// <summary> /// Tells the screen to deserialize its state from the given stream. /// </summary> public virtual void Deserialize(Stream stream) { } /// <summary> /// Tells the screen to go away. Unlike ScreenManager.RemoveScreen, which /// instantly kills the screen, this method respects the transition timings /// and will give the screen a chance to gradually transition off. /// </summary> public void ExitScreen() { if (TransitionOffTime == TimeSpan.Zero) { // If the screen has a zero transition time, remove it immediately. ScreenManager.RemoveScreen(this); } else { // Otherwise flag that it should transition off and then exit. isExiting = true; } } #endregion #region Helper Methods /// <summary> /// A helper method which loads assets using the screen manager's /// associated game content loader. /// </summary> /// <typeparam name="T">Type of asset.</typeparam> /// <param name="assetName">Asset name, relative to the loader root /// directory, and not including the .xnb extension.</param> /// <returns></returns> public T Load<T>(string assetName) { return ScreenManager.Game.Content.Load<T>(assetName); } #endregion } }

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  • Undocumented Gmail Search Operator Ferrets Out Large Email Attachments

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    If you’re looking for a way to quickly find large email attachments in your Gmail account, this undocumented search operator makes it simple to zero in on the hulking attachments hiding out in your inbox. To use the search operator simply plug in “size:” and some value to narrow your search to only emails that size or larger. In the screenshot above we searched for “size:20000000″ to search for files roughly 20MB or larger (if you want to be extremely precise, a true 20MB search would be “size:20971520″). If you’re looking to clean up your Gmail account this is a nearly zero-effort way to find the biggest space hogs–in our case, we found an email packed with massive PDF files from a 5 year old project that we were more than happy to purge. Finding Large Attachments in Google Mail/Gmail [via gHacks] 6 Ways Windows 8 Is More Secure Than Windows 7 HTG Explains: Why It’s Good That Your Computer’s RAM Is Full 10 Awesome Improvements For Desktop Users in Windows 8

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  • SQL SERVER – SSMS: Database Consistency History Report

    - by Pinal Dave
    Doctor and Database The last place I like to visit is always a hospital. With the monsoon season starting, intermittent rains, it has become sort of a routine to get a cycle of fever every other year (seriously I hate it). So when I visit my doctor, it is always interesting in the way he quizzes me. The routine question of – “How many days have you had this?”, “Is there any pattern?”, “Did you drench in rain?”, “Do you have any other symptom?” and so on. The idea here is that the doctor wants to find any anomaly or a pattern that will guide him to a viral or bacterial type. Most of the time they get it based on experience and sometimes after a battery of tests. So if there is consistent behavior to your problem, there is always a solution out. SQL Server has its way to find if the server data / files are in consistent state using the DBCC commands. Back to SQL Server In real life, Database consistency check is one of the critical operations a DBA generally doesn’t give much priority. Many readers of my blogs have asked many times, how do we know if the database is consistent? How do I read output of DBCC CHECKDB and find if everything is right or not? My common answer to all of them is – look at the bottom of checkdb (or checktable) output and look for below line. CHECKDB found 0 allocation errors and 0 consistency errors in database ‘DatabaseName’. Above is a “good sign” because we are seeing zero allocation and zero consistency error. If you are seeing non-zero errors then there is some problem with the database. Sample output is shown as below: CHECKDB found 0 allocation errors and 2 consistency errors in database ‘DatabaseName’. repair_allow_data_loss is the minimum repair level for the errors found by DBCC CHECKDB (DatabaseName). If we see non-zero error then most of the time (not always) we get repair options depending on the level of corruption. There is risk involved with above option (repair_allow_data_loss), that is – we would lose the data. Sometimes the option would be repair_rebuild which is little safer. Though these options are available, it is important to find the root cause to the problem. In standard report, there is a report which can show the history of checkdb executed for the selected database. Since this is a database level report, we need to right click on database, click Reports, click Standard Reports and then choose “Database Consistency History” report. The information in this report is picked from default trace. If default trace is disabled or there is no checkdb run or information is not there in default trace (because it’s rolled over), we would get report like below. As we can see report says it very clearly: Currently, no execution history of CHECKDB is available or default trace is not enabled. To demonstrate, I have caused corruption in one of the database and did below steps. Run CheckDB so that errors are reported. Fix the corruption by losing the data using repair option Run CheckDB again to check if corruption is cleared. After that I have launched the report and below is what we would see. If you are lazy like me and don’t want to run the report manually for each database then below query would be handy to provide same report for all database. This query is runs behind the scenes by the report. All I have done is remove the filter for database name (at the last – highlighted). DECLARE @curr_tracefilename VARCHAR(500); DECLARE @base_tracefilename VARCHAR(500); DECLARE @indx INT; SELECT @curr_tracefilename = path FROM sys.traces WHERE is_default = 1; SET @curr_tracefilename = REVERSE(@curr_tracefilename); SELECT @indx  = PATINDEX('%\%', @curr_tracefilename) ; SET @curr_tracefilename = REVERSE(@curr_tracefilename); SET @base_tracefilename = LEFT( @curr_tracefilename,LEN(@curr_tracefilename) - @indx) + '\log.trc'; SELECT  SUBSTRING(CONVERT(NVARCHAR(MAX),TEXTData),36, PATINDEX('%executed%',TEXTData)-36) AS command ,       LoginName ,       StartTime ,       CONVERT(INT,SUBSTRING(CONVERT(NVARCHAR(MAX),TEXTData),PATINDEX('%found%',TEXTData) +6,PATINDEX('%errors %',TEXTData)-PATINDEX('%found%',TEXTData)-6)) AS errors ,       CONVERT(INT,SUBSTRING(CONVERT(NVARCHAR(MAX),TEXTData),PATINDEX('%repaired%',TEXTData) +9,PATINDEX('%errors.%',TEXTData)-PATINDEX('%repaired%',TEXTData)-9)) repaired ,       SUBSTRING(CONVERT(NVARCHAR(MAX),TEXTData),PATINDEX('%time:%',TEXTData)+6,PATINDEX('%hours%',TEXTData)-PATINDEX('%time:%',TEXTData)-6)+':'+SUBSTRING(CONVERT(NVARCHAR(MAX),TEXTData),PATINDEX('%hours%',TEXTData) +6,PATINDEX('%minutes%',TEXTData)-PATINDEX('%hours%',TEXTData)-6)+':'+SUBSTRING(CONVERT(NVARCHAR(MAX),TEXTData),PATINDEX('%minutes%',TEXTData) +8,PATINDEX('%seconds.%',TEXTData)-PATINDEX('%minutes%',TEXTData)-8) AS time FROM::fn_trace_gettable( @base_tracefilename, DEFAULT) WHERE EventClass = 22 AND SUBSTRING(TEXTData,36,12) = 'DBCC CHECKDB' -- AND DatabaseName = @DatabaseName; Don’t get worried about the logic above. All it is doing is reading the trace files, parsing below entry and getting out information for underlined words. DBCC CHECKDB (CorruptedDatabase) executed by sa found 2 errors and repaired 0 errors. Elapsed time: 0 hours 0 minutes 0 seconds.  Internal database snapshot has split point LSN = 00000029:00000030:0001 and first LSN = 00000029:00000020:0001. Hopefully now onwards you would run checkdb and understand the importance of it. As responsible DBAs I am sure you are already doing it, let me know how often do you actually run them on you production environment? Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)Filed under: PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Server Management Studio, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL Tagged: SQL Reports

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  • SQL SERVER – Free Online Training on .net and SQL

    - by pinaldave
    I around 10 Free Online Training Codes available of .NET and SQL Training from Pluralsight. I am willing to give it to someone who wants learn technology this weekend. You just have to go to my Facebook page and leave a comment explaining in one line – what course will you learn during weekend. I will send all this codes to 10 winners whom I will randomly select using Facebook. Meanwhile do you know how can you generate Zero without using any numbers in T-SQL. My friend Madhivanan has done that and I find it very interesting.Run following T-SQL code – ‘SELECT $’. He has written many other tricks how to generate zero also on his blog. On another note – I have published my answer for question about SELECT * vs SELECT COUNT(*) here. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: About Me, Best Practices, Pinal Dave, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

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  • Contracting rate for Android development

    - by Robottinosino
    I am a developer, maybe I have a project to work on, not sure how much to "charge" for my work.... Help me find the price? Looking for an contracting rate interval, expressed in EUR, to offer for an Android development gig. Location: Europe, off-site (telecommuting) Environment: Android + HTTP back-end Length of project: 1 month Rate currency: EUR Rate measure: daily or hourly Other skills required: UI design, basic J2EE, web services Client profile: medium business (100+ employees) Previous published apps: 1, on G-Play Design work: partially already done, data flow is established, data models to be built Required graphics/multimedia elements: provided by the client Source control: remove over SSH Team size: one person in development, others (unknown) for marketing, copy, etc. Risk factor: medium Client reputation: modest but established Potential for continued work: absent (for now) Internationalisation/localisation: no Native code (C/C++,...): none, only Android SDK, pure Java Working culture: (based on initial discussion) - high pressure Other projects in the pipe: zero Opportunity to learn from the project or build new skills: 5% Negotiating experience: good Cost of accessories: (licenses, device to debug on) zero If I need to be more precise, please just say how and I will be.

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  • Want to Patch your Red Hat Linux Kernel Without Rebooting?

    - by Lenz Grimmer
    Patched Tube by Morten Liebach (CC BY 2.0) Are you running Red Hat Enterprise Linux? Take back your weekend and say goodbye to lengthy maintenance windows for kernel updates! With Ksplice, you can install kernel updates while the system is running. Stay secure and compliant without the hassle. To give you a taste of one of the many features that are included in Oracle Linux Premier Support, we now offer a free 30-day Ksplice trial for RHEL systems. Give it a try and bring your Linux kernel up to date without rebooting (not even once to install it)! For more information on this exciting technology, read Wim's OTN article on using Oracle Ksplice to update Oracle Linux systems without rebooting. Watch Waseem Daher (one of the Ksplice founders) telling you more about Ksplice zero downtime updates in this screencast "Zero Downtime OS Updates with Ksplice" - Lenz

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  • Restricting joystick within a radius of center

    - by Phil
    I'm using Unity3d iOs and am using the example joysticks that came with one of the packages. It works fine but the area the joystick moves in is a rectangle which is unintuitive for my type of game. I can figure out how to see if the distance between the center and the current point is too far but I can't figure out how to constrain it to a certain distance without interrupting the finger tracking. Here's the relevant code: using UnityEngine; using System.Collections; public class Boundary { public Vector2 min = Vector2.zero; public Vector2 max = Vector2.zero; } public class Joystick : MonoBehaviour{ static private Joystick[] joysticks; // A static collection of all joysticks static private bool enumeratedJoysticks=false; static private float tapTimeDelta = 0.3f; // Time allowed between taps public bool touchPad; // Is this a TouchPad? public Rect touchZone; public Vector2 deadZone = Vector2.zero; // Control when position is output public bool normalize = false; // Normalize output after the dead-zone? public Vector2 position; // [-1, 1] in x,y public int tapCount; // Current tap count private int lastFingerId = -1; // Finger last used for this joystick private float tapTimeWindow; // How much time there is left for a tap to occur private Vector2 fingerDownPos; private float fingerDownTime; private float firstDeltaTime = 0.5f; private GUITexture gui; // Joystick graphic private Rect defaultRect; // Default position / extents of the joystick graphic private Boundary guiBoundary = new Boundary(); // Boundary for joystick graphic public Vector2 guiTouchOffset; // Offset to apply to touch input private Vector2 guiCenter; // Center of joystick private Vector3 tmpv3; private Rect tmprect; private Color tmpclr; public float allowedDistance; public enum JoystickType { movement, rotation } public JoystickType joystickType; public void Start() { // Cache this component at startup instead of looking up every frame gui = (GUITexture) GetComponent( typeof(GUITexture) ); // Store the default rect for the gui, so we can snap back to it defaultRect = gui.pixelInset; if ( touchPad ) { // If a texture has been assigned, then use the rect ferom the gui as our touchZone if ( gui.texture ) touchZone = gui.pixelInset; } else { // This is an offset for touch input to match with the top left // corner of the GUI guiTouchOffset.x = defaultRect.width * 0.5f; guiTouchOffset.y = defaultRect.height * 0.5f; // Cache the center of the GUI, since it doesn't change guiCenter.x = defaultRect.x + guiTouchOffset.x; guiCenter.y = defaultRect.y + guiTouchOffset.y; // Let's build the GUI boundary, so we can clamp joystick movement guiBoundary.min.x = defaultRect.x - guiTouchOffset.x; guiBoundary.max.x = defaultRect.x + guiTouchOffset.x; guiBoundary.min.y = defaultRect.y - guiTouchOffset.y; guiBoundary.max.y = defaultRect.y + guiTouchOffset.y; } } public void Disable() { gameObject.active = false; enumeratedJoysticks = false; } public void ResetJoystick() { if (joystickType != JoystickType.rotation) { //Don't do anything if turret mode // Release the finger control and set the joystick back to the default position gui.pixelInset = defaultRect; lastFingerId = -1; position = Vector2.zero; fingerDownPos = Vector2.zero; if ( touchPad ){ tmpclr = gui.color; tmpclr.a = 0.025f; gui.color = tmpclr; } } else { //gui.pixelInset = defaultRect; lastFingerId = -1; position = position; fingerDownPos = fingerDownPos; if ( touchPad ){ tmpclr = gui.color; tmpclr.a = 0.025f; gui.color = tmpclr; } } } public bool IsFingerDown() { return (lastFingerId != -1); } public void LatchedFinger( int fingerId ) { // If another joystick has latched this finger, then we must release it if ( lastFingerId == fingerId ) ResetJoystick(); } public void Update() { if ( !enumeratedJoysticks ) { // Collect all joysticks in the game, so we can relay finger latching messages joysticks = (Joystick[]) FindObjectsOfType( typeof(Joystick) ); enumeratedJoysticks = true; } //CHeck if distance is over the allowed amount //Get centerPosition //Get current position //Get distance //If over, don't allow int count = iPhoneInput.touchCount; // Adjust the tap time window while it still available if ( tapTimeWindow > 0 ) tapTimeWindow -= Time.deltaTime; else tapCount = 0; if ( count == 0 ) ResetJoystick(); else { for(int i = 0;i < count; i++) { iPhoneTouch touch = iPhoneInput.GetTouch(i); Vector2 guiTouchPos = touch.position - guiTouchOffset; bool shouldLatchFinger = false; if ( touchPad ) { if ( touchZone.Contains( touch.position ) ) shouldLatchFinger = true; } else if ( gui.HitTest( touch.position ) ) { shouldLatchFinger = true; } // Latch the finger if this is a new touch if ( shouldLatchFinger && ( lastFingerId == -1 || lastFingerId != touch.fingerId ) ) { if ( touchPad ) { tmpclr = gui.color; tmpclr.a = 0.15f; gui.color = tmpclr; lastFingerId = touch.fingerId; fingerDownPos = touch.position; fingerDownTime = Time.time; } lastFingerId = touch.fingerId; // Accumulate taps if it is within the time window if ( tapTimeWindow > 0 ) { tapCount++; print("tap" + tapCount.ToString()); } else { tapCount = 1; print("tap" + tapCount.ToString()); //Tell gameobject that player has tapped turret joystick if (joystickType == JoystickType.rotation) { //TODO: Call! } tapTimeWindow = tapTimeDelta; } // Tell other joysticks we've latched this finger foreach ( Joystick j in joysticks ) { if ( j != this ) j.LatchedFinger( touch.fingerId ); } } if ( lastFingerId == touch.fingerId ) { // Override the tap count with what the iPhone SDK reports if it is greater // This is a workaround, since the iPhone SDK does not currently track taps // for multiple touches if ( touch.tapCount > tapCount ) tapCount = touch.tapCount; if ( touchPad ) { // For a touchpad, let's just set the position directly based on distance from initial touchdown position.x = Mathf.Clamp( ( touch.position.x - fingerDownPos.x ) / ( touchZone.width / 2 ), -1, 1 ); position.y = Mathf.Clamp( ( touch.position.y - fingerDownPos.y ) / ( touchZone.height / 2 ), -1, 1 ); } else { // Change the location of the joystick graphic to match where the touch is tmprect = gui.pixelInset; tmprect.x = Mathf.Clamp( guiTouchPos.x, guiBoundary.min.x, guiBoundary.max.x ); tmprect.y = Mathf.Clamp( guiTouchPos.y, guiBoundary.min.y, guiBoundary.max.y ); //Check distance float distance = Vector2.Distance(new Vector2(defaultRect.x, defaultRect.y), new Vector2(tmprect.x, tmprect.y)); float angle = Vector2.Angle(new Vector2(defaultRect.x, defaultRect.y), new Vector2(tmprect.x, tmprect.y)); if (distance < allowedDistance) { //Ok gui.pixelInset = tmprect; } else { //This is where I don't know what to do... } } if ( touch.phase == iPhoneTouchPhase.Ended || touch.phase == iPhoneTouchPhase.Canceled ) ResetJoystick(); } } } if ( !touchPad ) { // Get a value between -1 and 1 based on the joystick graphic location position.x = ( gui.pixelInset.x + guiTouchOffset.x - guiCenter.x ) / guiTouchOffset.x; position.y = ( gui.pixelInset.y + guiTouchOffset.y - guiCenter.y ) / guiTouchOffset.y; } // Adjust for dead zone float absoluteX = Mathf.Abs( position.x ); float absoluteY = Mathf.Abs( position.y ); if ( absoluteX < deadZone.x ) { // Report the joystick as being at the center if it is within the dead zone position.x = 0; } else if ( normalize ) { // Rescale the output after taking the dead zone into account position.x = Mathf.Sign( position.x ) * ( absoluteX - deadZone.x ) / ( 1 - deadZone.x ); } if ( absoluteY < deadZone.y ) { // Report the joystick as being at the center if it is within the dead zone position.y = 0; } else if ( normalize ) { // Rescale the output after taking the dead zone into account position.y = Mathf.Sign( position.y ) * ( absoluteY - deadZone.y ) / ( 1 - deadZone.y ); } } } So the later portion of the code handles the updated position of the joystick thumb. This is where I'd like it to track the finger position in a direction it still is allowed to move (like if the finger is too far up and slightly to the +X I'd like to make sure the joystick is as close in X and Y as allowed within the radius) Thanks for reading!

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  • The Calmest IT Guy in the World

    - by Markus Weber
    Unplanned outages and downtime still result not only in major productivity losses, but also major financial losses. Along the same lines, if zero planned downtime and zero data loss are key to your IT environment and your business requirements, planning for those becomes very important, all while balancing between performance, high availability, and cost. Oracle Database High Availability technologies will help you achieve these mission-critical goals, and are reflected in Oracle's best practices offerings of the Maximum Availability Architecture, or MAA. We created three neat, short videos showcasing some typical use cases, and highlighting three important components (amongst many more) of MAA: Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) Oracle Active Data Guard Oracle Flashback Technologies Make sure to watch those videos here, and learn about challenges, and solutions, around High Availability database environments from a recent Independent Oracle Users Group (IOUG) survey. 

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  • Card deck and sparse matrix interview questions

    - by MrDatabase
    I just had a technical phone screen w/ a start-up. Here's the technical questions I was asked ... and my answers. What do think of these answers? Feel free to post better answers :-) Question 1: how would you represent a standard 52 card deck in (basically any language)? How would you shuffle the deck? Answer: use an array containing a "Card" struct or class. Each instance of card has some unique identifier... either it's position in the array or a unique integer member variable in the range [0, 51]. Shuffle the cards by traversing the array once from index zero to index 51. Randomly swap ith card with "another card" (I didn't remember how this shuffle algorithm works exactly). Watch out for using the same probability for each card... that's a gotcha in this algorithm. I mentioned the algorithm is from Programming Pearls. Question 2: how to represent a large sparse matrix? the matrix can be very large... like 1000x1000... but only a relatively small number (~20) of the entries are non-zero. Answer: condense the array into a list of the non-zero entries. for a given entry (i,j) in the array... "map" (i,j) to a single integer k... then use k as a key into a dictionary or hashtable. For the 1000x1000 sparse array map (i,j) to k using something like f(i, j) = i + j * 1001. 1001 is just one plus the maximum of all i and j. I didn't recall exactly how this mapping worked... but the interviewer got the idea (I think). Are these good answers? I'm wondering because after I finished the second question the interviewer said the dreaded "well that's all the questions I have for now." Cheers!

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  • viable part-time career in IT/programming?

    - by Rider
    Hi, I'd like to ask for some career advice from you people. Is there a viable job/career that can be done in programming/IT for the long term? Right now, I am thinking about website (PHP?) developer path. My background: I have a degree in computer science and have been a programmer/system analyst for almost 10 years. Lately I took a big break from programming and studied for a B.arch. degree (yes architecture), only to discover that architecture offers zero (0) jobs where I'm from, for 3 years already (and no, I am not going to move and the grass in not greener in other places). I have never been particularly interested in programming, in fact I was bored by it. But I was always quite good at both programming and system analysis, and very valued by practically all my employers. On the other hand, I have never been valued or offered a good job in any other field (although I can do many things, like design, architecture, translations, documentation, teaching, etc etc.) I guess the human component has been always more important for me in programming jobs - I value all the good people I worked with, but not projects. However, I have about zero skills or desire to be a project manager. I also have close to zero skills for selling myself. I like it best when I can do "my thing", have my niche, have an ownership of some project. Right now my career perspective is to do part time programming and to part time teach yoga. I have already started the yoga teaching part. Do you think that part time programming is viable? And what niche works best for that? I have considered web development, QA, or software development in a company like I did before. However, my fear is that when you do programming part-time, you get the most boring coding work, only to see your colleagues move to more interesting projects and up their respective career ladders. I also fear that part-timers are not especially needed either. And, since I don't share much enthusiasm at programming, I'd rather not be around young programmers boiling with geeky enthusiasm about coding, but rather QA mindset with people from different backgrounds and life paths might work better for me. Thanks for any advice, --Rider

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  • Are nullable types preferable to magic numbers?

    - by Matt H
    I have been having a little bit of a debate with a coworker lately. We are specifically using C#, but this could apply to any language with nullable types. Say for example you have a value that represents a maximum. However, this maximum value is optional. I argue that a nullable number would be preferable. My coworker favors the use of zero, citing precedent. Granted, things like network sockets have often used zero to represent an unlimited timeout. If I were to write code dealing with sockets today, I would personally use a nullable value, since I feel it would better represent the fact that there is NO timeout. Which representation is better? Both require a condition checking for the value meaning "none", but I believe that a nullable type conveys the intent a little bit better.

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  • PageRank is the Best Indicator of Competition Strength For a Keyword in SEO - New Verifiable Theory

    The major argument against PageRank in SEO is that pages with zero PageRank can be in the top positions even for highly competitive keywords. However, we are left with requiring an explanation as to why "PageRank is Google's view of the importance of this page." It becomes apparent that either Google is misleading us or we have all been misinterpreting Google's statement. From extensive evaluation of the top Google search engine results pages for hundreds of keywords, the author observed that those high positioned web pages with PageRanks of zero have a home page with higher PageRanks, usually three or more.

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  • Throwing exception from a property when my object state is invalid

    - by Rumi P.
    Microsoft guidelines say: "Avoid throwing exceptions from property getters", and I normally follow that. But my application uses Linq2SQL, and there is the case where my object can be in invalid state because somebody or something wrote nonsense into the database. Consider this toy example: [Table(Name="Rectangle")] public class Rectangle { [Column(Name="ID", IsPrimaryKey = true, IsDbGenerated = true)] public int ID {get; set;} [Column(Name="firstSide")] public double firstSide {get; set;} [Column(Name="secondSide")] public double secondSide {get; set;} public double sideRatio { get { return firstSide/secondSide; } } } Here, I could write code which ensures that my application never writes a Rectangle with a zero-length side into the database. But no matter how bulletproof I make my own code, somebody could open the database with a different application and create an invalid Rectangle, especially one with a 0 for secondSide. (For this example, please forget that it is possible to design the database in a way such that writing a side length of zero into the rectangle table is impossible; my domain model is very complex and there are constraints on model state which cannot be expressed in a relational database). So, the solution I am gravitating to is to change the getter to: get { if(firstSide > 0 && secondSide > 0) return firstSide/secondSide; else throw new System.InvalidOperationException("All rectangle sides should have a positive length"); } The reasoning behind not throwing exceptions from properties is that programmers should be able to use them without having to make precautions about catching and handling them them. But in this case, I think that it is OK to continue to use this property without such precautions: if the exception is thrown because my application wrote a non-zero rectangle side into the database, then this is a serious bug. It cannot and shouldn't be handled in the application, but there should be code which prevents it. It is good that the exception is visibly thrown, because that way the bug is caught. if the exception is thrown because a different application changed the data in the database, then handling it is outside of the scope of my application. So I can't do anything about it if I catch it. Is this a good enough reasoning to get over the "avoid" part of the guideline and throw the exception? Or should I turn it into a method after all? Note that in the real code, the properties which can have an invalid state feel less like the result of a calculation, so they are "natural" properties, not methods.

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