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drop down and post data to data base

- by DAFFODIL

This is a form which retrieves data from db and displays them in table. At the beginning of each row there will be a check box. If there are 10 rows fetched, I ii check 5 rows and insert them in to diff db but here when, I click drop down box data is getting in to db automatically,bcoz I use onchange event. Any alternative to prevent this to happen. Data should be inserted only when, I click submit button. Any help will be appreciated <?php $con = mysql_connect("localhost","root",""); if (!$con) { die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error()); } mysql_select_db("form1", $con); error_reporting(E_ALL ^ E_NOTICE); $nam=$_REQUEST['select1']; $row=mysql_query("select * from inv where name='$nam'"); while($row1=mysql_fetch_array($row)) { $Name=$row1['Name']; $Address =$row1['Address']; $City=$row1['City']; $Pincode=$row1['Pincode']; $No=$row1['No']; $Date=$row1['Date']; $DCNo=$row1['DCNo']; $DcDate=$row1['DcDate']; $YourOrderNo=$row1['YourOrderNo']; $OrderDate=$row1['OrderDate']; $VendorCode=$row1['VendorCode']; $SNo=$row1['SNo']; $descofgoods=$row1['descofgoods']; $Qty=$row1['Qty']; $Rate=$row1['Rate']; $Amount=$row1['Amount']; } ?> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" /> <title>Untitled Document</title> <script type="text/javascript"> function ram(id) { var q=document.getElementById('qty_'+id).value; var r=document.getElementById('rate_'+id).value; document.getElementById('amt_'+id).value=q*r; } </script> </head> <body> <form id="form1" name="form1" method="post" action=""> <table width="1315" border="0"> <script type="text/javascript"> function g() { form1.submit(); } </script> <tr> <th>Name</th> <th align="left"><select name="select1" onchange="g();"> <option value="" selected="selected">select</option> <?php $row=mysql_query("select Name from inv "); while($row1=mysql_fetch_array($row)) { ?> <option value="<?php echo $row1['Name'];?>"><?php echo $row1['Name'];?></option> <?php } ?> </select></th> </tr> <tr> <th>Address</th> <th align="left"><textarea name="Address"><?php echo $Address;?></textarea></th> </tr> <tr> <th>City</th> <th align="left"><input type="text" name="City" value='<?php echo $City;?>' /></th> </tr> <tr> <th>Pincode</th> <th align="left"><input type="text" name="Pincode" value='<?php echo $Pincode;?>'></th> </tr> <tr> <th>No</th> <th align="left"><input type="text" name="No2" value='<?php echo $No;?>' readonly="" /></th> </tr> <tr> <th>Date</th> <th align="left"><input type="text" name="Date" value='<?php echo $Date;?>' /></th> </tr> <tr> <th>DCNo</th> <th align="left"><input type="text" name="DCNo" value='<?php echo $DCNo;?>' readonly="" /></th> </tr> <tr> <th>DcDate:</th> <th align="left"><input type="text" name="DcDate" value='<?php echo $DcDate;?>' /></th> </tr> <tr> <th>YourOrderNo</th> <th align="left"><input type="text" name="YourOrderNo" value='<?php echo $YourOrderNo;?>' readonly="" /></th> </tr> <tr> <th>OrderDate</th> <th align="left"><input type="text" name="OrderDate" value='<?php echo $OrderDate;?>' /></th> </tr> <tr> <th width="80">VendorCode</th> <th width="1225" align="left"><input type="text" name="VendorCode" value='<?php echo $VendorCode;?>' readonly="" /></th> </tr> </table> <table width="1313" border="0"> <tr> <td width="44"> </td> <td width="71">SNO</td> <td width="527">DESCRIPTION</td> <td width="214">QUANTITY</td> <td width="214">RATE/UNIT</td> <td width="217">AMOUNT</td> </tr> <?php $i=1; $row=mysql_query("select * from inv where Name='$nam'"); while($row1=mysql_fetch_array($row)) { $SNo=$row1['SNo']; $descofgoods=$row1['descofgoods']; $Qty=$row1['Qty']; $Rate=$row1['Rate']; $Amount=$row1['Amount']; ?> <tr> <td><input type="checkbox" name="checkbox" value="checkbox" checked="checked"/></td> <td><input type="text" name="No[<?php echo $i?>]" value='<?php echo $SNo;?>' readonly=""/></td> <td><input type="text" name="descofgoods[<?php echo $i?>]" value='<?php echo $descofgoods;?>' /></td> <td><input type="text" name="qty[<?php echo $i?>]" maxlength="50000000" id="qty_<?PHP echo($i) ?>"/></td> <td><input type="text" name="Rate[<?php echo $i?>]" value='<?php echo $Rate;?>' id="rate_<?PHP echo($i) ?>" onclick="ram('<?PHP echo($i) ?>')";></td> <td><input type="text" name="Amount[<?php echo $i?>]" id="amt_<?PHP echo($i) ?>"/></td> </tr> <?php $i++;} ?> <tr> <td><input type="submit" value="submit" header("location:values to be brought for print page.php");/></td> </tr> </table> <label></label> </form> </body> </html> <?php /*error_reporting(E_ALL ^ E_NOTICE); $con = mysql_connect("localhost","root",""); if (!$con) { die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error()); } mysql_select_db("form1", $con); /*if(checked=checkbox) { mysql_query="INSERT INTO invo (Name, Address, City, Pincode, No, Date, DCNo, DcDate, YourOrderNo, OrderDate, VendorCode, SNo, descofgoods, Qty, Rate, Amount) VALUES ('$_POST[Name]','$_POST[Address]','$_POST[City]','$_POST[Pincode]','$_POST[No]','$_POST[Date]','$_POST[DCNo]','$_POST[DcDate]','$_POST[YourOrderNo]','$_POST[OrderDate]','$_POST[VendorCode]','$_POST[SNo]','$_POST[descofgoods]','$_POST[qty]','$_POST[Rate]','$_POST[Amount]')"; } else { header("location:values to be brought for print page.php"); }*/ header("ins.php"); ?>

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Segmentation fault in my C program

- by user233542

I don't understand why this would give me a seg fault. Any ideas? This is the function that returns the signal to stop the program (plus the other function that is called within this): double bisect(double A0,double A1,double Sol[N],double tol,double c) { double Amid,shot; while (A1-A0 > tol) { Amid = 0.5*(A0+A1); shot = shoot(Sol, Amid, c); if (shot==2.*Pi) { return Amid; } if (shot > 2.*Pi){ A1 = Amid; } else if (shot < 2.*Pi){ A0 = Amid; } } return 0.5*(A1+A0); } double shoot(double Sol[N],double A,double c) { int i,j; /*Initial Conditions*/ for (i=0;i<buff;i++) { Sol[i] = 0.; } for (i=buff+l;i<N;i++) { Sol[i] = 2.*Pi; } Sol[buff]= 0; Sol[buff+1]= A*exp(sqrt(1+3*c)*dx); for (i=buff+2;i<buff+l;i++) { Sol[i] = (dx*dx)*( sin(Sol[i-1]) + c*sin(3.*(Sol[i-1])) ) - Sol[i-2] + 2.*Sol[i-1]; } return Sol[i-1]; } The values buff, l, N are defined using a #define statement. l = 401, buff = 50, N = 2000 Here is the full code: #include <stdio.h> #include <stdlib.h> #include <math.h> #define w 10 /*characteristic width of a soliton*/ #define dx 0.05 /*distance between lattice sites*/ #define s (2*w)/dx /*size of soliton shape*/ #define l (int)(s+1) /*array length for soliton*/ #define N (int)2000 /*length of field array--lattice sites*/ #define Pi (double)4*atan(1) #define buff (int)50 double shoot(double Sol[N],double A,double c); double bisect(double A0,double A1,double Sol[N],double tol,double c); void super_pos(double antiSol[N],double Sol[N],double phi[][N]); void vel_ver(double phi[][N],double v,double c,int tsteps,double dt); int main(int argc, char **argv) { double c,Sol[N],antiSol[N],A,A0,A1,tol,v,dt; int tsteps,i; FILE *fp1,*fp2,*fp3; fp1 = fopen("soliton.dat","w"); fp2 = fopen("final-phi.dat","w"); fp3 = fopen("energy.dat","w"); printf("Please input the number of time steps:"); scanf("%d",&tsteps); printf("Also, enter the time step size:"); scanf("%lf",&dt); do{ printf("Please input the parameter c in the interval [-1/3,1]:"); scanf("%lf",&c);} while(c < (-1./3.) || c > 1.); printf("Please input the inital speed of eiter soliton:"); scanf("%lf",&v); double phi[tsteps+1][N]; tol = 0.0000001; A0 = 0.; A1 = 2.*Pi; A = bisect(A0,A1,Sol,tol,c); shoot(Sol,A,c); for (i=0;i<N;i++) { fprintf(fp1,"%d\t",i); fprintf(fp1,"%lf\n",Sol[i]); } fclose(fp1); super_pos(antiSol,Sol,phi); /*vel_ver(phi,v,c,tsteps,dt); for (i=0;i<N;i++){ fprintf(fp2,"%d\t",i); fprintf(fp2,"%lf\n",phi[tsteps][i]); }*/ } double shoot(double Sol[N],double A,double c) { int i,j; /*Initial Conditions*/ for (i=0;i<buff;i++) { Sol[i] = 0.; } for (i=buff+l;i<N;i++) { Sol[i] = 2.*Pi; } Sol[buff]= 0; Sol[buff+1]= A*exp(sqrt(1+3*c)*dx); for (i=buff+2;i<buff+l;i++) { Sol[i] = (dx*dx)*( sin(Sol[i-1]) + c*sin(3.*(Sol[i-1])) ) - Sol[i-2] + 2.*Sol[i-1]; } return Sol[i-1]; } double bisect(double A0,double A1,double Sol[N],double tol,double c) { double Amid,shot; while (A1-A0 > tol) { Amid = 0.5*(A0+A1); shot = shoot(Sol, Amid, c); if (shot==2.*Pi) { return Amid; } if (shot > 2.*Pi){ A1 = Amid; } else if (shot < 2.*Pi){ A0 = Amid; } } return 0.5*(A1+A0); } void super_pos(double antiSol[N],double Sol[N],double phi[][N]) { int i; /*for (i=0;i<N;i++) { phi[i]=0; } for (i=buffer+s;i<1950-s;i++) { phi[i]=2*Pi; }*/ for (i=0;i<N;i++) { antiSol[i] = Sol[N-i]; } /*for (i=0;i<s+1;i++) { phi[buffer+j] = Sol[j]; phi[1549+j] = antiSol[j]; }*/ for (i=0;i<N;i++) { phi[0][i] = antiSol[i] + Sol[i] - 2.*Pi; } } /* This funciton will set the 2nd input array to the derivative at the time t, for all points x in the lattice */ void deriv2(double phi[][N],double DphiDx2[][N],int t) { //double SolDer2[s+1]; int x; for (x=0;x<N;x++) { DphiDx2[t][x] = (phi[buff+x+1][t] + phi[buff+x-1][t] - 2.*phi[x][t])/(dx*dx); } /*for (i=0;i<N;i++) { ptr[i] = &SolDer2[i]; }*/ //return DphiDx2[x]; } void vel_ver(double phi[][N],double v,double c,int tsteps,double dt) { int t,x; double d1,d2,dp,DphiDx1[tsteps+1][N],DphiDx2[tsteps+1][N],dpdt[tsteps+1][N],p[tsteps+1][N]; for (t=0;t<tsteps;t++){ if (t==0){ for (x=0;x<N;x++){//inital conditions deriv2(phi,DphiDx2,t); dpdt[t][x] = DphiDx2[t][x] - sin(phi[t][x]) - sin(3.*phi[t][x]); DphiDx1[t][x] = (phi[t][x+1] - phi[t][x])/dx; p[t][x] = -v*DphiDx1[t][x]; } } for (x=0;x<N;x++){//velocity-verlet phi[t+1][x] = phi[t][x] + dt*p[t][x] + (dt*dt/2)*dpdt[t][x]; p[t+1][x] = p[t][x] + (dt/2)*dpdt[t][x]; deriv2(phi,DphiDx2,t+1); dpdt[t][x] = DphiDx2[t][x] - sin(phi[t+1][x]) - sin(3.*phi[t+1][x]); p[t+1][x] += (dt/2)*dpdt[t+1][x]; } } } So, this really isn't due to my overwriting the end of the Sol array. I've commented out both functions that I suspected of causing the problem (bisect or shoot) and inserted a print function. Two things happen. When I have code like below: double A,Pi,B,c; c=0; Pi = 4.*atan(1.); A = Pi; B = 1./4.; printf("%lf",B); B = shoot(Sol,A,c); printf("%lf",B); I get a segfault from the function, shoot. However, if I take away the shoot function so that I have: double A,Pi,B,c; c=0; Pi = 4.*atan(1.); A = Pi; B = 1./4.; printf("%lf",B); it gives me a segfault at the printf... Why!?

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I need help on my C++ assignment using Microsoft Visual C++

- by krayzwytie

Ok, so I don't want you to do my homework for me, but I'm a little lost with this final assignment and need all the help I can get. Learning about programming is tough enough, but doing it online is next to impossible for me... Now, to get to the program, I am going to paste what I have so far. This includes mostly //comments and what I have written so far. If you can help me figure out where all the errors are and how to complete the assignment, I will really appreciate it. Like I said, I don't want you to do my homework for me (it's my final), but any constructive criticism is welcome. This is my final assignment for this class and it is due tomorrow (Sunday before midnight, Arizona time). This is the assignment: Examine the following situation: Your company, Datamax, Inc., is in the process of automating its payroll systems. Your manager has asked you to create a program that calculates overtime pay for all employees. Your program must take into account the employee’s salary, total hours worked, and hours worked more than 40 in a week, and then provide an output that is useful and easily understood by company management. Compile your program utilizing the following background information and the code outline in Appendix D (included in the code section). Submit your project as an attachment including the code and the output. Company Background: Three employees: Mark, John, and Mary The end user needs to be prompted for three specific pieces of input—name, hours worked, and hourly wage. Calculate overtime if input is greater than 40 hours per week. Provide six test plans to verify the logic within the program. Plan 1 must display the proper information for employee #1 with overtime pay. Plan 2 must display the proper information for employee #1 with no overtime pay. Plans 3-6 are duplicates of plan 1 and 2 but for the other employees. Program Requirements: Define a base class to use for the entire program. The class holds the function calls and the variables related to the overtime pay calculations. Define one object per employee. Note there will be three employees. Your program must take the objects created and implement calculations based on total salaries, total hours, and the total number of overtime hours. See the Employee Summary Data section of the sample output. Logic Steps to Complete Your Program: Define your base class. Define your objects from your base class. Prompt for user input, updating your object classes for all three users. Implement your overtime pay calculations. Display overtime or regular time pay calculations. See the sample output below. Implement object calculations by summarizing your employee objects and display the summary information in the example below. And this is the code: // Final_Project.cpp : Defines the entry point for the console application. // #include "stdafx.h" #include <iostream> #include <string> #include <iomanip> using namespace std; // //CLASS DECLARATION SECTION // class CEmployee { public: void ImplementCalculations(string EmployeeName, double hours, double wage); void DisplayEmployInformation(void); void Addsomethingup (CEmployee, CEmployee, CEmployee); string EmployeeName ; int hours ; int overtime_hours ; int iTotal_hours ; int iTotal_OvertimeHours ; float wage ; float basepay ; float overtime_pay ; float overtime_extra ; float iTotal_salaries ; float iIndividualSalary ; }; int main() { system("cls"); cout << "Welcome to the Employee Pay Center"; /* Use this section to define your objects. You will have one object per employee. You have only three employees. The format is your class name and your object name. */ std::cout << "Please enter Employee's Name: "; std::cin >> EmployeeName; std::cout << "Please enter Total Hours for (EmployeeName): "; std::cin >> hours; std::cout << "Please enter Base Pay for(EmployeeName): "; std::cin >> basepay; /* Here you will prompt for the first employee’s information. Prompt the employee name, hours worked, and the hourly wage. For each piece of information, you will update the appropriate class member defined above. Example of Prompts Enter the employee name = Enter the hours worked = Enter his or her hourly wage = */ /* Here you will prompt for the second employee’s information. Prompt the employee name, hours worked, and the hourly wage. For each piece of information, you will update the appropriate class member defined above. Enter the employee name = Enter the hours worked = Enter his or her hourly wage = */ /* Here you will prompt for the third employee’s information. Prompt the employee name, hours worked, and the hourly wage. For each piece of information, you will update the appropriate class member defined above. Enter the employee name = Enter the hours worked = Enter his or her hourly wage = */ /* Here you will implement a function call to implement the employ calcuations for each object defined above. You will do this for each of the three employees or objects. The format for this step is the following: [(object name.function name(objectname.name, objectname.hours, objectname.wage)] ; */ /* This section you will send all three objects to a function that will add up the the following information: - Total Employee Salaries - Total Employee Hours - Total Overtime Hours The format for this function is the following: - Define a new object. - Implement function call [objectname.functionname(object name 1, object name 2, object name 3)] /* } //End of Main Function void CEmployee::ImplementCalculations (string EmployeeName, double hours, double wage){ //Initialize overtime variables overtime_hours=0; overtime_pay=0; overtime_extra=0; if (hours > 40) { /* This section is for the basic calculations for calculating overtime pay. - base pay = 40 hours times the hourly wage - overtime hours = hours worked – 40 - overtime pay = hourly wage * 1.5 - overtime extra pay over 40 = overtime hours * overtime pay - salary = overtime money over 40 hours + your base pay */ /* Implement function call to output the employee information. Function is defined below. */ } // if (hours > 40) else { /* Here you are going to calculate the hours less than 40 hours. - Your base pay is = your hours worked times your wage - Salary = your base pay */ /* Implement function call to output the employee information. Function is defined below. */ } // End of the else } //End of Primary Function void CEmployee::DisplayEmployInformation(); { // This function displays all the employee output information. /* This is your cout statements to display the employee information: Employee Name ............. = Base Pay .................. = Hours in Overtime ......... = Overtime Pay Amount........ = Total Pay ................. = */ } // END OF Display Employee Information void CEmployee::Addsomethingup (CEmployee Employ1, CEmployee Employ2) { // Adds two objects of class Employee passed as // function arguments and saves them as the calling object's data member values. /* Add the total hours for objects 1, 2, and 3. Add the salaries for each object. Add the total overtime hours. */ /* Then display the information below. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %%%% EMPLOYEE SUMMARY DATA%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %%%% Total Employee Salaries ..... = 576.43 %%%% Total Employee Hours ........ = 108 %%%% Total Overtime Hours......... = 5 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% */ } // End of function

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Drupal Ctools Form Wizard in a Block

- by Iamjon

Hi everyone I created a custom module that has a Ctools multi step form. It's basically a copy of http://www.nicklewis.org/using-chaos-tools-form-wizard-build-multistep-forms-drupal-6. The form works. I can see it if I got to the url i made for it. For the life of me I can't get the multistep form to show up in a block. Any clues? /** * Implementation of hook_block() * */ function mycrazymodule_block($op='list', $delta=0, $edit=array()) { switch ($op) { case 'list': $blocks[0]['info'] = t('SFT Getting Started'); $blocks[1]['info'] = t('SFT Contact US'); $blocks[2]['info'] = t('SFT News Letter'); return $blocks; case 'view': switch ($delta){ case '0': $block['subject'] = t('SFT Getting Started Subject'); $block['content'] = mycrazymodule_wizard(); break; case '1': $block['subject'] = t('SFT Contact US Subject'); $block['content'] = t('SFT Contact US content'); break; case '2': $block['subject'] = t('SFT News Letter Subject'); $block['content'] = t('SFT News Letter cONTENT'); break; } return $block; } } /** * Implementation of hook_menu(). */ function mycrazymodule_menu() { $items['hellocowboy'] = array( 'title' = 'Two Step Form', 'page callback' = 'mycrazymodule_wizard', 'access arguments' = array('access content') ); return $items; } /** * menu callback for the multistep form * step is whatever arg one is -- and will refer to the keys listed in * $form_info['order'], and $form_info['forms'] arrays */ function mycrazymodule_wizard() { $step = arg(1); // required includes for wizard $form_state = array(); ctools_include('wizard'); ctools_include('object-cache'); // The array that will hold the two forms and their options $form_info = array( 'id' = 'getting_started', 'path' = "hellocowboy/%step", 'show trail' = FALSE, 'show back' = FALSE, 'show cancel' = false, 'show return' =false, 'next text' = 'Submit', 'next callback' = 'getting_started_add_subtask_next', 'finish callback' = 'getting_started_add_subtask_finish', 'return callback' = 'getting_started_add_subtask_finish', 'order' = array( 'basic' = t('Step 1: Basic Info'), 'lecture' = t('Step 2: Choose Lecture'), ), 'forms' = array( 'basic' = array( 'form id' = 'basic_info_form' ), 'lecture' = array( 'form id' = 'choose_lecture_form' ), ), ); $form_state = array( 'cache name' = NULL, ); // no matter the step, you will load your values from the callback page $getstart = getting_started_get_page_cache(NULL); if (!$getstart) { // set form to first step -- we have no data $step = current(array_keys($form_info['order'])); $getstart = new stdClass(); //create cache ctools_object_cache_set('getting_started', $form_state['cache name'], $getstart); //print_r($getstart); } //THIS IS WHERE WILL STORE ALL FORM DATA $form_state['getting_started_obj'] = $getstart; // and this is the witchcraft that makes it work $output = ctools_wizard_multistep_form($form_info, $step, $form_state); return $output; } function basic_info_form(&$form, &$form_state){ $getstart = &$form_state['getting_started_obj']; $form['firstname'] = array( '#weight' = '0', '#type' = 'textfield', '#title' = t('firstname'), '#size' = 60, '#maxlength' = 255, '#required' = TRUE, ); $form['lastname'] = array( '#weight' = '1', '#type' = 'textfield', '#title' = t('lastname'), '#required' = TRUE, '#size' = 60, '#maxlength' = 255, ); $form['phone'] = array( '#weight' = '2', '#type' = 'textfield', '#title' = t('phone'), '#required' = TRUE, '#size' = 60, '#maxlength' = 255, ); $form['email'] = array( '#weight' = '3', '#type' = 'textfield', '#title' = t('email'), '#required' = TRUE, '#size' = 60, '#maxlength' = 255, ); $form['newsletter'] = array( '#weight' = '4', '#type' = 'checkbox', '#title' = t('I would like to receive the newsletter'), '#required' = TRUE, '#return_value' = 1, '#default_value' = 1, ); $form_state['no buttons'] = TRUE; } function basic_info_form_validate(&$form, &$form_state){ $email = $form_state['values']['email']; $phone = $form_state['values']['phone']; if(valid_email_address($email) != TRUE){ form_set_error('Dude you have an error', t('Where is your email?')); } //if (strlen($phone) 0 && !ereg('^[0-9]{1,3}-[0-9]{3}-[0-9]{3,4}-[0-9]{3,4}$', $phone)) { //form_set_error('Dude the phone', t('Phone number must be in format xxx-xxx-nnnn-nnnn.')); //} } function basic_info_form_submit(&$form, &$form_state){ //Grab the variables $firstname =check_plain ($form_state['values']['firstname']); $lastname = check_plain ($form_state['values']['lastname']); $email = check_plain ($form_state['values']['email']); $phone = check_plain ($form_state['values']['phone']); $newsletter = $form_state['values']['newsletter']; //Send the form and Grab the lead id $leadid = send_first_form($lastname, $firstname, $email,$phone, $newsletter); //Put into form $form_state['getting_started_obj']-firstname = $firstname; $form_state['getting_started_obj']-lastname = $lastname; $form_state['getting_started_obj']-email = $email; $form_state['getting_started_obj']-phone = $phone; $form_state['getting_started_obj']-newsletter = $newsletter; $form_state['getting_started_obj']-leadid = $leadid; } function choose_lecture_form(&$form, &$form_state){ $one = 'event 1' $two = 'event 2' $three = 'event 3' $getstart = &$form_state['getting_started_obj']; $form['lecture'] = array( '#weight' = '5', '#default_value' = 'two', '#options' = array( 'one' = $one, 'two' = $two, 'three' = $three, ), '#type' = 'radios', '#title' = t('Select Workshop'), '#required' = TRUE, ); $form['attendees'] = array( '#weight' = '6', '#default_value' = 'one', '#options' = array( 'one' = t('I will be arriving alone'), 'two' =t('I will be arriving with a guest'), ), '#type' = 'radios', '#title' = t('Attendees'), '#required' = TRUE, ); $form_state['no buttons'] = TRUE; } /** * Same idea as previous steps submit * */ function choose_lecture_form_submit(&$form, &$form_state) { $workshop = $form_state['values']['lecture']; $leadid = $form_state['getting_started_obj']-leadid; $attendees = $form_state['values']['attendees']; $form_state['getting_started_obj']-lecture = $workshop; $form_state['getting_started_obj']-attendees = $attendees; send_second_form($workshop, $attendees, $leadid); } /*----PART 3 CTOOLS CALLBACKS -- these usually don't have to be very unique ---------------------- */ /** * Callback generated when the add page process is finished. * this is where you'd normally save. */ function getting_started_add_subtask_finish(&$form_state) { dpm($form_state); $getstart = &$form_state['getting_started_obj']; drupal_set_message('mycrazymodule '.$getstart-name.' successfully deployed' ); //Get id // Clear the cache ctools_object_cache_clear('getting_started', $form_state['cache name']); $form_state['redirect'] = 'hellocowboy'; } /** * Callback for the proceed step * */ function getting_started_add_subtask_next(&$form_state) { dpm($form_state); $getstart = &$form_state['getting_started_obj']; $cache = ctools_object_cache_set('getting_started', $form_state['cache name'], $getstart); } /*----PART 4 CTOOLS FORM STORAGE HANDLERS -- these usually don't have to be very unique ---------------------- */ /** * Remove an item from the object cache. */ function getting_started_clear_page_cache($name) { ctools_object_cache_clear('getting_started', $name); } /** * Get the cached changes to a given task handler. */ function getting_started_get_page_cache($name) { $cache = ctools_object_cache_get('getting_started', $name); return $cache; } //Salesforce Functions function send_first_form($lastname, $firstname,$email,$phone, $newsletter){ $send = array("LastName" = $lastname , "FirstName" = $firstname, "Email" = $email ,"Phone" = $phone , "Newsletter__c" =$newsletter ); $sf = salesforce_api_connect(); $response = $sf-client-create(array($send), 'Lead'); dpm($response); return $response-id; } function send_second_form($workshop, $attendees, $leadid){ $send = array("Id" = $leadid , "Number_Of_Pepole__c" = "2" ); $sf = salesforce_api_connect(); $response = $sf-client-update(array($send), 'Lead'); dpm($response, 'the final response'); return $response-id; }

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How to get nested chain of objects in Linq and MVC2 application?

- by Anders Svensson

I am getting all confused about how to solve this problem in Linq. I have a working solution, but the code to do it is way too complicated and circular I think: I have a timesheet application in MVC 2. I want to query the database that has the following tables (simplified): Project Task TimeSegment The relationships are as follows: A project can have many tasks and a task can have many timesegments. I need to be able to query this in different ways. An example is this: A View is a report that will show a list of projects in a table. Each project's tasks will be listed followed by a Sum of the number of hours worked on that task. The timesegment object is what holds the hours. Here's the View: <%@ Page Title="" Language="C#" MasterPageFile="~/Views/Shared/Report.Master" Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewPage<Tidrapportering.ViewModels.MonthlyReportViewModel>" %> <asp:Content ID="Content1" ContentPlaceHolderID="TitleContent" runat="server"> Månadsrapport </asp:Content> <asp:Content ID="Content2" ContentPlaceHolderID="MainContent" runat="server"> <h1> Månadsrapport</h1> <div style="margin-top: 20px;"> <span style="font-weight: bold">Kund: </span> <%: Model.Customer.CustomerName %> </div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px"> <span style="font-weight: bold">Period: </span> <%: Model.StartDate %> - <%: Model.EndDate %> </div> <div style="margin-bottom: 20px"> <span style="font-weight: bold">Underlag för: </span> <%: Model.Employee %> </div> <table class="mainTable"> <tr> <th style="width: 25%"> Projekt </th> <th> Specifikation </th> </tr> <% foreach (var project in Model.Projects) { %> <tr> <td style="vertical-align: top; padding-top: 10pt; width: 25%"> <%:project.ProjectName %> </td> <td> <table class="detailsTable"> <tr> <th> Aktivitet </th> <th> Timmar </th> <th> Ex moms </th> </tr> <% foreach (var task in project.CurrentTasks) {%> <tr class="taskrow"> <td class="task" style="width: 40%"> <%: task.TaskName %> </td> <td style="width: 30%"> <%: task.TaskHours.ToString()%> </td> <td style="width: 30%"> <%: String.Format("{0:C}", task.Cost)%> </td> </tr> <% } %> </table> </td> </tr> <% } %> </table> <table class="summaryTable"> <tr> <td style="width: 25%"> </td> <td> <table style="width: 100%"> <tr> <td style="width: 40%"> Totalt: </td> <td style="width: 30%"> <%: Model.TotalHours.ToString() %> </td> <td style="width: 30%"> <%: String.Format("{0:C}", Model.TotalCost)%> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> <div class="price"> <table> <tr> <td>Moms: </td> <td style="padding-left: 15px;"> <%: String.Format("{0:C}", Model.VAT)%> </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Att betala: </td> <td style="padding-left: 15px;"> <%: String.Format("{0:C}", Model.TotalCostAndVAT)%> </td> </tr> </table> </div> </asp:Content> Here's the action method: [HttpPost] public ActionResult MonthlyReports(FormCollection collection) { MonthlyReportViewModel vm = new MonthlyReportViewModel(); vm.StartDate = collection["StartDate"]; vm.EndDate = collection["EndDate"]; int customerId = Int32.Parse(collection["Customers"]); List<TimeSegment> allTimeSegments = GetTimeSegments(customerId, vm.StartDate, vm.EndDate); vm.Projects = GetProjects(allTimeSegments); vm.Employee = "Alla"; vm.Customer = _repository.GetCustomer(customerId); vm.TotalCost = vm.Projects.SelectMany(project => project.CurrentTasks).Sum(task => task.Cost); //Corresponds to above foreach vm.TotalHours = vm.Projects.SelectMany(project => project.CurrentTasks).Sum(task => task.TaskHours); vm.TotalCostAndVAT = vm.TotalCost * 1.25; vm.VAT = vm.TotalCost * 0.25; return View("MonthlyReport", vm); } And the "helper" methods: public List<TimeSegment> GetTimeSegments(int customerId, string startdate, string enddate) { var timeSegments = _repository.TimeSegments .Where(timeSegment => timeSegment.Customer.CustomerId == customerId) .Where(timeSegment => timeSegment.DateObject.Date >= DateTime.Parse(startdate) && timeSegment.DateObject.Date <= DateTime.Parse(enddate)); return timeSegments.ToList(); } public List<Project> GetProjects(List<TimeSegment> timeSegments) { var projectGroups = from timeSegment in timeSegments group timeSegment by timeSegment.Task into g group g by g.Key.Project into pg select new { Project = pg.Key, Tasks = pg.Key.Tasks }; List<Project> projectList = new List<Project>(); foreach (var group in projectGroups) { Project p = group.Project; foreach (var task in p.Tasks) { task.CurrentTimeSegments = timeSegments.Where(ts => ts.TaskId == task.TaskId).ToList(); p.CurrentTasks.Add(task); } projectList.Add(p); } return projectList; } Again, as I mentioned, this works, but of course is really complex and I get confused myself just looking at it even now that I'm coding it. I sense there must be a much easier way to achieve what I want. Basically you can tell from the View what I want to achieve: I want to get a collection of projects. Each project should have it's associated collection of tasks. And each task should have it's associated collection of timesegments for the specified date period. Note that the projects and tasks selected must also only be the projects and tasks that have the timesegments for this period. I don't want all projects and tasks that have no timesegments within this period. It seems the group by Linq query beginning the GetProjects() method sort of achieves this (if extended to have the conditions for date and so on), but I can't return this and pass it to the view, because it is an anonymous object. I also tried creating a specific type in such a query, but couldn't wrap my head around that either... I hope there is something I'm missing and there is some easier way to achieve this, because I need to be able to do several other different queries as well eventually. I also don't really like the way I solved it with the "CurrentTimeSegments" properties and so on. These properties don't really exist on the model objects in the first place, I added them in partial classes to have somewhere to put the filtered results for each part of the nested object chain... Any ideas?

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questions regarding the use of A* with the 15-square puzzle

- by Cheeso

I'm trying to build an A* solver for a 15-square puzzle. The goal is to re-arrange the tiles so that they appear in their natural positions. You can only slide one tile at a time. Each possible state of the puzzle is a node in the search graph. For the h(x) function, I am using an aggregate sum, across all tiles, of the tile's dislocation from the goal state. In the above image, the 5 is at location 0,0, and it belongs at location 1,0, therefore it contributes 1 to the h(x) function. The next tile is the 11, located at 0,1, and belongs at 2,2, therefore it contributes 3 to h(x). And so on. EDIT: I now understand this is what they call "Manhattan distance", or "taxicab distance". I have been using a step count for g(x). In my implementation, for any node in the state graph, g is just +1 from the prior node's g. To find successive nodes, I just examine where I can possibly move the "hole" in the puzzle. There are 3 neighbors for the puzzle state (aka node) that is displayed: the hole can move north, west, or east. My A* search sometimes converges to a solution in 20s, sometimes 180s, and sometimes doesn't converge at all (waited 10 mins or more). I think h is reasonable. I'm wondering if I've modeled g properly. In other words, is it possible that my A* function is reaching a node in the graph via a path that is not the shortest path? Maybe have I not waited long enough? Maybe 10 minutes is not long enough? For a fully random arrangement, (assuming no parity problems), What is the average number of permutations an A* solution will examine? (please show the math) I'm going to look for logic errors in my code, but in the meantime, Any tips? (ps: it's done in Javascript). Also, no, this isn't CompSci homework. It's just a personal exploration thing. I'm just trying to learn Javascript. EDIT: I've found that the run-time is highly depend upon the heuristic. I saw the 10x factor applied to the heuristic from the article someone mentioned, and it made me wonder - why 10x? Why linear? Because this is done in javascript, I could modify the code to dynamically update an html table with the node currently being considered. This allowd me to peek at the algorithm as it was progressing. With a regular taxicab distance heuristic, I watched as it failed to converge. There were 5's and 12's in the top row, and they kept hanging around. I'd see 1,2,3,4 creep into the top row, but then they'd drop out, and other numbers would move up there. What I was hoping to see was 1,2,3,4 sort of creeping up to the top, and then staying there. I thought to myself - this is not the way I solve this personally. Doing this manually, I solve the top row, then the 2ne row, then the 3rd and 4th rows sort of concurrently. So I tweaked the h(x) function to more heavily weight the higher rows and the "lefter" columns. The result was that the A* converged much more quickly. It now runs in 3 minutes instead of "indefinitely". With the "peek" I talked about, I can see the smaller numbers creep up to the higher rows and stay there. Not only does this seem like the right thing, it runs much faster. I'm in the process of trying a bunch of variations. It seems pretty clear that A* runtime is very sensitive to the heuristic. Currently the best heuristic I've found uses the summation of dislocation * ((4-i) + (4-j)) where i and j are the row and column, and dislocation is the taxicab distance. One interesting part of the result I got: with a particular heuristic I find a path very quickly, but it is obviously not the shortest path. I think this is because I am weighting the heuristic. In one case I got a path of 178 steps in 10s. My own manual effort produce a solution in 87 moves. (much more than 10s). More investigation warranted. So the result is I am seeing it converge must faster, and the path is definitely not the shortest. I have to think about this more. Code: var stop = false; function Astar(start, goal, callback) { // start and goal are nodes in the graph, represented by // an array of 16 ints. The goal is: [1,2,3,...14,15,0] // Zero represents the hole. // callback is a method to call when finished. This runs a long time, // therefore we need to use setTimeout() to break it up, to avoid // the browser warning like "Stop running this script?" // g is the actual distance traveled from initial node to current node. // h is the heuristic estimate of distance from current to goal. stop = false; start.g = start.dontgo = 0; // calcHeuristic inserts an .h member into the array calcHeuristicDistance(start); // start the stack with one element var closed = []; // set of nodes already evaluated. var open = [ start ]; // set of nodes to evaluate (start with initial node) var iteration = function() { if (open.length==0) { // no more nodes. Fail. callback(null); return; } var current = open.shift(); // get highest priority node // update the browser with a table representation of the // node being evaluated $("#solution").html(stateToString(current)); // check solution returns true if current == goal if (checkSolution(current,goal)) { // reconstructPath just records the position of the hole // through each node var path= reconstructPath(start,current); callback(path); return; } closed.push(current); // get the set of neighbors. This is 3 or fewer nodes. // (nextStates is optimized to NOT turn directly back on itself) var neighbors = nextStates(current, goal); for (var i=0; i<neighbors.length; i++) { var n = neighbors[i]; // skip this one if we've already visited it if (closed.containsNode(n)) continue; // .g, .h, and .previous get assigned implicitly when // calculating neighbors. n.g is nothing more than // current.g+1 ; // add to the open list if (!open.containsNode(n)) { // slot into the list, in priority order (minimum f first) open.priorityPush(n); n.previous = current; } } if (stop) { callback(null); return; } setTimeout(iteration, 1); }; // kick off the first iteration iteration(); return null; }

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Delphi: EInvalidOp in neural network class (TD-lambda)

- by user89818

I have the following draft for a neural network class. This neural network should learn with TD-lambda. It is started by calling the getRating() function. But unfortunately, there is an EInvalidOp (invalid floading point operation) error after about 1000 iterations in the following lines: neuronsHidden[j] := neuronsHidden[j]+neuronsInput[t][i]*weightsInput[i][j]; // input -> hidden weightsHidden[j][k] := weightsHidden[j][k]+LEARNING_RATE_HIDDEN*tdError[k]*eligibilityTraceOutput[j][k]; // adjust hidden->output weights according to TD-lambda Why is this error? I can't find the mistake in my code :( Can you help me? Thank you very much in advance! unit uNeuronalesNetz; interface uses Windows, Messages, SysUtils, Variants, Classes, Graphics, Controls, Forms, Dialogs, ExtCtrls, StdCtrls, Grids, Menus, Math; const NEURONS_INPUT = 43; // number of neurons in the input layer NEURONS_HIDDEN = 60; // number of neurons in the hidden layer NEURONS_OUTPUT = 1; // number of neurons in the output layer NEURONS_TOTAL = NEURONS_INPUT+NEURONS_HIDDEN+NEURONS_OUTPUT; // total number of neurons in the network MAX_TIMESTEPS = 42; // maximum number of timesteps possible (after 42 moves: board is full) LEARNING_RATE_INPUT = 0.25; // in ideal case: decrease gradually in course of training LEARNING_RATE_HIDDEN = 0.15; // in ideal case: decrease gradually in course of training GAMMA = 0.9; LAMBDA = 0.7; // decay parameter for eligibility traces type TFeatureVector = Array[1..43] of SmallInt; // definition of the array type TFeatureVector TArtificialNeuralNetwork = class // definition of the class TArtificialNeuralNetwork private // GENERAL SETTINGS START learningMode: Boolean; // does the network learn and change its weights? // GENERAL SETTINGS END // NETWORK CONFIGURATION START neuronsInput: Array[1..MAX_TIMESTEPS] of Array[1..NEURONS_INPUT] of Extended; // array of all input neurons (their values) for every timestep neuronsHidden: Array[1..NEURONS_HIDDEN] of Extended; // array of all hidden neurons (their values) neuronsOutput: Array[1..NEURONS_OUTPUT] of Extended; // array of output neurons (their values) weightsInput: Array[1..NEURONS_INPUT] of Array[1..NEURONS_HIDDEN] of Extended; // array of weights: input->hidden weightsHidden: Array[1..NEURONS_HIDDEN] of Array[1..NEURONS_OUTPUT] of Extended; // array of weights: hidden->output // NETWORK CONFIGURATION END // LEARNING SETTINGS START outputBefore: Array[1..NEURONS_OUTPUT] of Extended; // the network's output value in the last timestep (the one before) eligibilityTraceHidden: Array[1..NEURONS_INPUT] of Array[1..NEURONS_HIDDEN] of Array[1..NEURONS_OUTPUT] of Extended; // array of eligibility traces: hidden layer eligibilityTraceOutput: Array[1..NEURONS_TOTAL] of Array[1..NEURONS_TOTAL] of Extended; // array of eligibility traces: output layer reward: Array[1..MAX_TIMESTEPS] of Array[1..NEURONS_OUTPUT] of Extended; // the reward value for all output neurons in every timestep tdError: Array[1..NEURONS_OUTPUT] of Extended; // the network's error value for every single output neuron t: Byte; // current timestep cyclesTrained: Integer; // number of cycles trained so far (learning rates could be decreased accordingly) last50errors: Array[1..50] of Extended; // LEARNING SETTINGS END public constructor Create; // create the network object and do the initialization procedure UpdateEligibilityTraces; // update the eligibility traces for the hidden and output layer procedure tdLearning; // learning algorithm: adjust the network's weights procedure ForwardPropagation; // propagate the input values through the network to the output layer function getRating(state: TFeatureVector; explorative: Boolean): Extended; // get the rating for a given state (feature vector) function HyperbolicTangent(x: Extended): Extended; // calculate the hyperbolic tangent [-1;1] procedure StartNewCycle; // start a new cycle with everything set to default except for the weights procedure setLearningMode(activated: Boolean=TRUE); // switch the learning mode on/off procedure setInputs(state: TFeatureVector); // transfer the given feature vector to the input layer (set input neurons' values) procedure setReward(currentReward: SmallInt); // set the reward for the current timestep (with learning then or without) procedure nextTimeStep; // increase timestep t function getCyclesTrained(): Integer; // get the number of cycles trained so far procedure Visualize(imgHidden: Pointer); // visualize the neural network's hidden layer end; implementation procedure TArtificialNeuralNetwork.UpdateEligibilityTraces; var i, j, k: Integer; begin // how worthy is a weight to be adjusted? for j := 1 to NEURONS_HIDDEN do begin for k := 1 to NEURONS_OUTPUT do begin eligibilityTraceOutput[j][k] := LAMBDA*eligibilityTraceOutput[j][k]+(neuronsOutput[k]*(1-neuronsOutput[k]))*neuronsHidden[j]; for i := 1 to NEURONS_INPUT do begin eligibilityTraceHidden[i][j][k] := LAMBDA*eligibilityTraceHidden[i][j][k]+(neuronsOutput[k]*(1-neuronsOutput[k]))*weightsHidden[j][k]*neuronsHidden[j]*(1-neuronsHidden[j])*neuronsInput[t][i]; end; end; end; end; procedure TArtificialNeuralNetwork.setReward; VAR i: Integer; begin for i := 1 to NEURONS_OUTPUT do begin // +1 = player A wins // 0 = draw // -1 = player B wins reward[t][i] := currentReward; end; end; procedure TArtificialNeuralNetwork.tdLearning; var i, j, k: Integer; begin if learningMode then begin for k := 1 to NEURONS_OUTPUT do begin if reward[t][k] = 0 then begin tdError[k] := GAMMA*neuronsOutput[k]-outputBefore[k]; // network's error value when reward is 0 end else begin tdError[k] := reward[t][k]-outputBefore[k]; // network's error value in the final state (reward received) end; for j := 1 to NEURONS_HIDDEN do begin weightsHidden[j][k] := weightsHidden[j][k]+LEARNING_RATE_HIDDEN*tdError[k]*eligibilityTraceOutput[j][k]; // adjust hidden->output weights according to TD-lambda for i := 1 to NEURONS_INPUT do begin weightsInput[i][j] := weightsInput[i][j]+LEARNING_RATE_INPUT*tdError[k]*eligibilityTraceHidden[i][j][k]; // adjust input->hidden weights according to TD-lambda end; end; end; end; end; procedure TArtificialNeuralNetwork.ForwardPropagation; var i, j, k: Integer; begin for j := 1 to NEURONS_HIDDEN do begin neuronsHidden[j] := 0; for i := 1 to NEURONS_INPUT do begin neuronsHidden[j] := neuronsHidden[j]+neuronsInput[t][i]*weightsInput[i][j]; // input -> hidden end; neuronsHidden[j] := HyperbolicTangent(neuronsHidden[j]); // activation of hidden neuron j end; for k := 1 to NEURONS_OUTPUT do begin neuronsOutput[k] := 0; for j := 1 to NEURONS_HIDDEN do begin neuronsOutput[k] := neuronsOutput[k]+neuronsHidden[j]*weightsHidden[j][k]; // hidden -> output end; neuronsOutput[k] := HyperbolicTangent(neuronsOutput[k]); // activation of output neuron k end; end; procedure TArtificialNeuralNetwork.setLearningMode; begin learningMode := activated; end; constructor TArtificialNeuralNetwork.Create; var i, j, k: Integer; begin inherited Create; Randomize; // initialize random numbers generator learningMode := TRUE; cyclesTrained := -2; // only set to -2 because it will be increased twice in the beginning StartNewCycle; for j := 1 to NEURONS_HIDDEN do begin for k := 1 to NEURONS_OUTPUT do begin weightsHidden[j][k] := abs(Random-0.5); // initialize weights: 0 <= random < 0.5 end; for i := 1 to NEURONS_INPUT do begin weightsInput[i][j] := abs(Random-0.5); // initialize weights: 0 <= random < 0.5 end; end; for i := 1 to 50 do begin last50errors[i] := 0; end; end; procedure TArtificialNeuralNetwork.nextTimeStep; begin t := t+1; end; procedure TArtificialNeuralNetwork.StartNewCycle; var i, j, k, m: Integer; begin t := 1; // start in timestep 1 cyclesTrained := cyclesTrained+1; // increase the number of cycles trained so far for j := 1 to NEURONS_HIDDEN do begin neuronsHidden[j] := 0; for k := 1 to NEURONS_OUTPUT do begin eligibilityTraceOutput[j][k] := 0; outputBefore[k] := 0; neuronsOutput[k] := 0; for m := 1 to MAX_TIMESTEPS do begin reward[m][k] := 0; end; end; for i := 1 to NEURONS_INPUT do begin for k := 1 to NEURONS_OUTPUT do begin eligibilityTraceHidden[i][j][k] := 0; end; end; end; end; function TArtificialNeuralNetwork.getCyclesTrained; begin result := cyclesTrained; end; procedure TArtificialNeuralNetwork.setInputs; var k: Integer; begin for k := 1 to NEURONS_INPUT do begin neuronsInput[t][k] := state[k]; end; end; function TArtificialNeuralNetwork.getRating; begin setInputs(state); ForwardPropagation; result := neuronsOutput[1]; if not explorative then begin tdLearning; // adjust the weights according to TD-lambda ForwardPropagation; // calculate the network's output again outputBefore[1] := neuronsOutput[1]; // set outputBefore which will then be used in the next timestep UpdateEligibilityTraces; // update the eligibility traces for the next timestep nextTimeStep; // go to the next timestep end; end; function TArtificialNeuralNetwork.HyperbolicTangent; begin if x > 5500 then // prevent overflow result := 1 else result := (Exp(2*x)-1)/(Exp(2*x)+1); end; end.

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NetBeans Development 7 - Windows 7 64-bit … JNI native calls ... a how to guide

- by CirrusFlyer

I provide this for you to hopefully save you some time and pain. As part of my expereince in getting to know NB Development v7 on my Windows 64-bit workstation I found another frustrating adventure in trying to get the JNI (Java Native Interface) abilities up and working in my project. As such, I am including a brief summary of steps required (as all the documentation I found was completely incorrect for these versions of Windows and NetBeans on how to do JNI). It took a couple of days of experimentation and reviewing every webpage I could find that included these technologies as keyword searches. Yuk!! Not fun. To begin, as NetBeans Development is "all about modules" if you are reading this you probably have a need for one, or more, of your modules to perform JNI calls. Most of what is available on this site or the Internet in general (not to mention the help file in NB7) is either completely wrong for these versions, or so sparse as to be essentially unuseful to anyone other than a JNI expert. Here is what you are looking for ... the "cut to the chase" - "how to guide" to get a JNI call up and working on your NB7 / Windows 64-bit box. 1) From within your NetBeans Module (not the host appliation) declair your native method(s) and make sure you can compile the Java source without errors. Example: package org.mycompanyname.nativelogic; public class NativeInterfaceTest { static { try { if (System.getProperty( "os.arch" ).toLowerCase().equals( "amd64" ) ) System.loadLibrary( <64-bit_folder_name_on_file_system>/<file_name.dll> ); else System.loadLibrary( <32-bit_folder_name_on_file_system>/<file_name.dll> ); } catch (SecurityException se) {} catch (UnsatisfieldLinkError ule) {} catch (NullPointerException npe) {} } public NativeInterfaceTest() {} native String echoString(String s); } Take notice to the fact that we only load the Assembly once (as it's in a static block), because othersise you will throw exceptions if attempting to load it again. Also take note of our single (in this example) native method titled "echoString". This is the method that our C / C++ application is going to implement, then via the majic of JNI we'll call from our Java code. 2) If using a 64-bit version of Windows (which we are here) we need to open a 64-bit Visual Studio Command Prompt (versus the standard 32-bit version), and execute the "vcvarsall" BAT file, along with an "amd64" command line argument, to set the environment up for 64-bit tools. Example: <path_to_Microsoft_Visual_Studio_10.0>/VC/vcvarsall.bat amd64 Take note that you can use any version of the C / C++ compiler from Microsoft you wish. I happen to have Visual Studio 2005, 2008, and 2010 installed on my box so I chose to use "v10.0" but any that support 64-bit development will work fine. The other important aspect here is the "amd64" param. 3) In the Command Prompt change drives \ directories on your computer so that you are at the root of the fully qualified Class location on the file system that contains your native method declairation. Example: The fully qualified class name for my natively declair method is "org.mycompanyname.nativelogic.NativeInterfaceTest". As we successfully compiled our Java in Step 1 above, we should find it contained in our NetBeans Module something similar to the following: "/build/classes/org/mycompanyname/nativelogic/NativeInterfaceTest.class" We need to make sure our Command Prompt sets, as the current directly, "/build/classes" because of our next step. 4) In this step we'll create our C / C++ Header file that contains the JNI required statments. Type the following in the Command Prompt: javah -jni org.mycompanyname.nativelogic.NativeInterfaceTest and hit enter. If you receive any kind of error that states this is an unrecognized command that simply means your Windows computer does not know the PATH to that command (it's in your /bin folder). Either run the command from there, or include the fully qualified path name when invoking this application, or set your computer's PATH environmental variable to include that path in its search. This should produce a file called "org_mycompanyname_nativelogic_NativeInterfaceTest.h" ... a C Header file. I'd make a copy of this in case you need a backup later. 5) Edit the NativeInterfaceTest.h header file and include an implementation for the echoString() method. Example: JNIEXPORT jstring JNICALL Java_org_mycompanyname_nativelogic_NativeInterfaceTest_echoString (JNIEnv *env, jobject jobj, jstring js) { return((*env)->NewStringUTF(env, "My JNI is up and working after lots of research")); } Notice how you can't simply return a normal Java String (because you're in C at the moment). You have to tell the passed in JVM variable to create a Java String for you that will be returned back. Check out the following Oracle web page for other data types and how to create them for JNI purposes. 6) Close and Save your changes to the Header file. Now that you've added an implementation to the Header change the file extention from ".h" to ".c" as it's now a C source code file that properly implements the JNI required interface. Example: NativeInterfaceTest.c 7) We need to compile the newly created source code file and Link it too. From within the Command Prompt type the following: cl /I"path_to_my_jdks_include_folder" /I"path_to_my_jdks_include_win32_folder" /D:AMD64=1 /LD NativeInterfaceTest.c /FeNativeInterfaceTest.dll /link /machine:x64 Example: cl /I"D:/Program Files/Java/jdk1.6.0_21/include" /I"D:/Program Files/java/jdk1.6.0_21/include/win32" /D:AMD64=1 /LD NativeInterfaceTest.c /FeNativeInterfaceTest.dll /link /machine:x64 Notice the quotes around the paths to the 'include" and 'include/win32' folders is required because I have spaces in my folder names ... 'Program Files'. You can include them if you have no spaces without problems, but they are mandatory if you have spaces when using a command prompt. This will generate serveral files, but it's the DLL we're interested in. This is what the System.loadLirbary() java method is looking for. 8) Congratuations! You're at the last step. Simply take the DLL Assembly and paste it at the following location: <path_of_NetBeansProjects_folder>/<project_name>/<module_name>/build/cluster/modules/lib/x64 Note that you'll probably have to create the "lib" and "x64" folders. Example: C:\Users\<user_name>\Documents\NetBeansProjects\<application_name>\<module_name>\build\cluster\modules\lib\x64\NativeInterfaceTest.dll Java code ... notice how we don't inlude the ".dll" file extension in the loadLibrary() call? System.loadLibrary( "/x64/NativeInterfaceTest" ); Now, in your Java code you can create a NativeInterfaceTest object and call the echoString() method and it will return the String value you typed in the NativeInterfaceTest.c source code file. Hopefully this will save you the brain damage I endured trying to figure all this out on my own. Good luck and happy coding!

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Zen and the Art of File and Folder Organization

- by Mark Virtue

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

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An Introduction to ASP.NET Web API

- by Rick Strahl

Microsoft recently released ASP.NET MVC 4.0 and .NET 4.5 and along with it, the brand spanking new ASP.NET Web API. Web API is an exciting new addition to the ASP.NET stack that provides a new, well-designed HTTP framework for creating REST and AJAX APIs (API is Microsoft’s new jargon for a service, in case you’re wondering). Although Web API ships and installs with ASP.NET MVC 4, you can use Web API functionality in any ASP.NET project, including WebForms, WebPages and MVC or just a Web API by itself. And you can also self-host Web API in your own applications from Console, Desktop or Service applications. If you're interested in a high level overview on what ASP.NET Web API is and how it fits into the ASP.NET stack you can check out my previous post: Where does ASP.NET Web API fit? In the following article, I'll focus on a practical, by example introduction to ASP.NET Web API. All the code discussed in this article is available in GitHub: https://github.com/RickStrahl/AspNetWebApiArticle [republished from my Code Magazine Article and updated for RTM release of ASP.NET Web API] Getting Started To start I’ll create a new empty ASP.NET application to demonstrate that Web API can work with any kind of ASP.NET project. Although you can create a new project based on the ASP.NET MVC/Web API template to quickly get up and running, I’ll take you through the manual setup process, because one common use case is to add Web API functionality to an existing ASP.NET application. This process describes the steps needed to hook up Web API to any ASP.NET 4.0 application. Start by creating an ASP.NET Empty Project. Then create a new folder in the project called Controllers. Add a Web API Controller Class Once you have any kind of ASP.NET project open, you can add a Web API Controller class to it. Web API Controllers are very similar to MVC Controller classes, but they work in any kind of project. Add a new item to this folder by using the Add New Item option in Visual Studio and choose Web API Controller Class, as shown in Figure 1. Figure 1: This is how you create a new Controller Class in Visual Studio Make sure that the name of the controller class includes Controller at the end of it, which is required in order for Web API routing to find it. Here, the name for the class is AlbumApiController. For this example, I’ll use a Music Album model to demonstrate basic behavior of Web API. The model consists of albums and related songs where an album has properties like Name, Artist and YearReleased and a list of songs with a SongName and SongLength as well as an AlbumId that links it to the album. You can find the code for the model (and the rest of these samples) on Github. To add the file manually, create a new folder called Model, and add a new class Album.cs and copy the code into it. There’s a static AlbumData class with a static CreateSampleAlbumData() method that creates a short list of albums on a static .Current that I’ll use for the examples. Before we look at what goes into the controller class though, let’s hook up routing so we can access this new controller. Hooking up Routing in Global.asax To start, I need to perform the one required configuration task in order for Web API to work: I need to configure routing to the controller. Like MVC, Web API uses routing to provide clean, extension-less URLs to controller methods. Using an extension method to ASP.NET’s static RouteTable class, you can use the MapHttpRoute() (in the System.Web.Http namespace) method to hook-up the routing during Application_Start in global.asax.cs shown in Listing 1.using System; using System.Web.Routing; using System.Web.Http; namespace AspNetWebApi { public class Global : System.Web.HttpApplication { protected void Application_Start(object sender, EventArgs e) { RouteTable.Routes.MapHttpRoute( name: "AlbumVerbs", routeTemplate: "albums/{title}", defaults: new { symbol = RouteParameter.Optional, controller="AlbumApi" } ); } } } This route configures Web API to direct URLs that start with an albums folder to the AlbumApiController class. Routing in ASP.NET is used to create extensionless URLs and allows you to map segments of the URL to specific Route Value parameters. A route parameter, with a name inside curly brackets like {name}, is mapped to parameters on the controller methods. Route parameters can be optional, and there are two special route parameters – controller and action – that determine the controller to call and the method to activate respectively. HTTP Verb Routing Routing in Web API can route requests by HTTP Verb in addition to standard {controller},{action} routing. For the first examples, I use HTTP Verb routing, as shown Listing 1. Notice that the route I’ve defined does not include an {action} route value or action value in the defaults. Rather, Web API can use the HTTP Verb in this route to determine the method to call the controller, and a GET request maps to any method that starts with Get. So methods called Get() or GetAlbums() are matched by a GET request and a POST request maps to a Post() or PostAlbum(). Web API matches a method by name and parameter signature to match a route, query string or POST values. In lieu of the method name, the [HttpGet,HttpPost,HttpPut,HttpDelete, etc] attributes can also be used to designate the accepted verbs explicitly if you don’t want to follow the verb naming conventions. Although HTTP Verb routing is a good practice for REST style resource APIs, it’s not required and you can still use more traditional routes with an explicit {action} route parameter. When {action} is supplied, the HTTP verb routing is ignored. I’ll talk more about alternate routes later. When you’re finished with initial creation of files, your project should look like Figure 2. Figure 2: The initial project has the new API Controller Album model Creating a small Album Model Now it’s time to create some controller methods to serve data. For these examples, I’ll use a very simple Album and Songs model to play with, as shown in Listing 2. public class Song { public string AlbumId { get; set; } [Required, StringLength(80)] public string SongName { get; set; } [StringLength(5)] public string SongLength { get; set; } } public class Album { public string Id { get; set; } [Required, StringLength(80)] public string AlbumName { get; set; } [StringLength(80)] public string Artist { get; set; } public int YearReleased { get; set; } public DateTime Entered { get; set; } [StringLength(150)] public string AlbumImageUrl { get; set; } [StringLength(200)] public string AmazonUrl { get; set; } public virtual List<Song> Songs { get; set; } public Album() { Songs = new List<Song>(); Entered = DateTime.Now; // Poor man's unique Id off GUID hash Id = Guid.NewGuid().GetHashCode().ToString("x"); } public void AddSong(string songName, string songLength = null) { this.Songs.Add(new Song() { AlbumId = this.Id, SongName = songName, SongLength = songLength }); } } Once the model has been created, I also added an AlbumData class that generates some static data in memory that is loaded onto a static .Current member. The signature of this class looks like this and that's what I'll access to retrieve the base data:public static class AlbumData { // sample data - static list public static List<Album> Current = CreateSampleAlbumData(); /// <summary> /// Create some sample data /// </summary> /// <returns></returns> public static List<Album> CreateSampleAlbumData() { … }} You can check out the full code for the data generation online. Creating an AlbumApiController Web API shares many concepts of ASP.NET MVC, and the implementation of your API logic is done by implementing a subclass of the System.Web.Http.ApiController class. Each public method in the implemented controller is a potential endpoint for the HTTP API, as long as a matching route can be found to invoke it. The class name you create should end in Controller, which is how Web API matches the controller route value to figure out which class to invoke. Inside the controller you can implement methods that take standard .NET input parameters and return .NET values as results. Web API’s binding tries to match POST data, route values, form values or query string values to your parameters. Because the controller is configured for HTTP Verb based routing (no {action} parameter in the route), any methods that start with Getxxxx() are called by an HTTP GET operation. You can have multiple methods that match each HTTP Verb as long as the parameter signatures are different and can be matched by Web API. In Listing 3, I create an AlbumApiController with two methods to retrieve a list of albums and a single album by its title .public class AlbumApiController : ApiController { public IEnumerable<Album> GetAlbums() { var albums = AlbumData.Current.OrderBy(alb => alb.Artist); return albums; } public Album GetAlbum(string title) { var album = AlbumData.Current .SingleOrDefault(alb => alb.AlbumName.Contains(title)); return album; }} To access the first two requests, you can use the following URLs in your browser: http://localhost/aspnetWebApi/albumshttp://localhost/aspnetWebApi/albums/Dirty%20Deeds Note that you’re not specifying the actions of GetAlbum or GetAlbums in these URLs. Instead Web API’s routing uses HTTP GET verb to route to these methods that start with Getxxx() with the first mapping to the parameterless GetAlbums() method and the latter to the GetAlbum(title) method that receives the title parameter mapped as optional in the route. Content Negotiation When you access any of the URLs above from a browser, you get either an XML or JSON result returned back. The album list result for Chrome 17 and Internet Explorer 9 is shown Figure 3. Figure 3: Web API responses can vary depending on the browser used, demonstrating Content Negotiation in action as these two browsers send different HTTP Accept headers. Notice that the results are not the same: Chrome returns an XML response and IE9 returns a JSON response. Whoa, what’s going on here? Shouldn’t we see the same result in both browsers? Actually, no. Web API determines what type of content to return based on Accept headers. HTTP clients, like browsers, use Accept headers to specify what kind of content they’d like to see returned. Browsers generally ask for HTML first, followed by a few additional content types. Chrome (and most other major browsers) ask for: Accept: text/html, application/xhtml+xml,application/xml; q=0.9,*/*;q=0.8 IE9 asks for: Accept: text/html, application/xhtml+xml, */* Note that Chrome’s Accept header includes application/xml, which Web API finds in its list of supported media types and returns an XML response. IE9 does not include an Accept header type that works on Web API by default, and so it returns the default format, which is JSON. This is an important and very useful feature that was missing from any previous Microsoft REST tools: Web API automatically switches output formats based on HTTP Accept headers. Nowhere in the server code above do you have to explicitly specify the output format. Rather, Web API determines what format the client is requesting based on the Accept headers and automatically returns the result based on the available formatters. This means that a single method can handle both XML and JSON results.. Using this simple approach makes it very easy to create a single controller method that can return JSON, XML, ATOM or even OData feeds by providing the appropriate Accept header from the client. By default you don’t have to worry about the output format in your code. Note that you can still specify an explicit output format if you choose, either globally by overriding the installed formatters, or individually by returning a lower level HttpResponseMessage instance and setting the formatter explicitly. More on that in a minute. Along the same lines, any content sent to the server via POST/PUT is parsed by Web API based on the HTTP Content-type of the data sent. The same formats allowed for output are also allowed on input. Again, you don’t have to do anything in your code – Web API automatically performs the deserialization from the content. Accessing Web API JSON Data with jQuery A very common scenario for Web API endpoints is to retrieve data for AJAX calls from the Web browser. Because JSON is the default format for Web API, it’s easy to access data from the server using jQuery and its getJSON() method. This example receives the albums array from GetAlbums() and databinds it into the page using knockout.js.$.getJSON("albums/", function (albums) { // make knockout template visible $(".album").show(); // create view object and attach array var view = { albums: albums }; ko.applyBindings(view); }); Figure 4 shows this and the next example’s HTML output. You can check out the complete HTML and script code at http://goo.gl/Ix33C (.html) and http://goo.gl/tETlg (.js). Figu Figure 4: The Album Display sample uses JSON data loaded from Web API. The result from the getJSON() call is a JavaScript object of the server result, which comes back as a JavaScript array. In the code, I use knockout.js to bind this array into the UI, which as you can see, requires very little code, instead using knockout’s data-bind attributes to bind server data to the UI. Of course, this is just one way to use the data – it’s entirely up to you to decide what to do with the data in your client code. Along the same lines, I can retrieve a single album to display when the user clicks on an album. The response returns the album information and a child array with all the songs. The code to do this is very similar to the last example where we pulled the albums array:$(".albumlink").live("click", function () { var id = $(this).data("id"); // title $.getJSON("albums/" + id, function (album) { ko.applyBindings(album, $("#divAlbumDialog")[0]); $("#divAlbumDialog").show(); }); }); Here the URL looks like this: /albums/Dirty%20Deeds, where the title is the ID captured from the clicked element’s data ID attribute. Explicitly Overriding Output Format When Web API automatically converts output using content negotiation, it does so by matching Accept header media types to the GlobalConfiguration.Configuration.Formatters and the SupportedMediaTypes of each individual formatter. You can add and remove formatters to globally affect what formats are available and it’s easy to create and plug in custom formatters.The example project includes a JSONP formatter that can be plugged in to provide JSONP support for requests that have a callback= querystring parameter. Adding, removing or replacing formatters is a global option you can use to manipulate content. It’s beyond the scope of this introduction to show how it works, but you can review the sample code or check out my blog entry on the subject (http://goo.gl/UAzaR). If automatic processing is not desirable in a particular Controller method, you can override the response output explicitly by returning an HttpResponseMessage instance. HttpResponseMessage is similar to ActionResult in ASP.NET MVC in that it’s a common way to return an abstract result message that contains content. HttpResponseMessage s parsed by the Web API framework using standard interfaces to retrieve the response data, status code, headers and so on[MS2] . Web API turns every response – including those Controller methods that return static results – into HttpResponseMessage instances. Explicitly returning an HttpResponseMessage instance gives you full control over the output and lets you mostly bypass WebAPI’s post-processing of the HTTP response on your behalf. HttpResponseMessage allows you to customize the response in great detail. Web API’s attention to detail in the HTTP spec really shows; many HTTP options are exposed as properties and enumerations with detailed IntelliSense comments. Even if you’re new to building REST-based interfaces, the API guides you in the right direction for returning valid responses and response codes. For example, assume that I always want to return JSON from the GetAlbums() controller method and ignore the default media type content negotiation. To do this, I can adjust the output format and headers as shown in Listing 4.public HttpResponseMessage GetAlbums() { var albums = AlbumData.Current.OrderBy(alb => alb.Artist); // Create a new HttpResponse with Json Formatter explicitly var resp = new HttpResponseMessage(HttpStatusCode.OK); resp.Content = new ObjectContent<IEnumerable<Album>>( albums, new JsonMediaTypeFormatter()); // Get Default Formatter based on Content Negotiation //var resp = Request.CreateResponse<IEnumerable<Album>>(HttpStatusCode.OK, albums); resp.Headers.ConnectionClose = true; resp.Headers.CacheControl = new CacheControlHeaderValue(); resp.Headers.CacheControl.Public = true; return resp; } This example returns the same IEnumerable<Album> value, but it wraps the response into an HttpResponseMessage so you can control the entire HTTP message result including the headers, formatter and status code. In Listing 4, I explicitly specify the formatter using the JsonMediaTypeFormatter to always force the content to JSON. If you prefer to use the default content negotiation with HttpResponseMessage results, you can create the Response instance using the Request.CreateResponse method:var resp = Request.CreateResponse<IEnumerable<Album>>(HttpStatusCode.OK, albums); This provides you an HttpResponse object that's pre-configured with the default formatter based on Content Negotiation. Once you have an HttpResponse object you can easily control most HTTP aspects on this object. What's sweet here is that there are many more detailed properties on HttpResponse than the core ASP.NET Response object, with most options being explicitly configurable with enumerations that make it easy to pick the right headers and response codes from a list of valid codes. It makes HTTP features available much more discoverable even for non-hardcore REST/HTTP geeks. Non-Serialized Results The output returned doesn’t have to be a serialized value but can also be raw data, like strings, binary data or streams. You can use the HttpResponseMessage.Content object to set a number of common Content classes. Listing 5 shows how to return a binary image using the ByteArrayContent class from a Controller method. [HttpGet] public HttpResponseMessage AlbumArt(string title) { var album = AlbumData.Current.FirstOrDefault(abl => abl.AlbumName.StartsWith(title)); if (album == null) { var resp = Request.CreateResponse<ApiMessageError>( HttpStatusCode.NotFound, new ApiMessageError("Album not found")); return resp; } // kinda silly - we would normally serve this directly // but hey - it's a demo. var http = new WebClient(); var imageData = http.DownloadData(album.AlbumImageUrl); // create response and return var result = new HttpResponseMessage(HttpStatusCode.OK); result.Content = new ByteArrayContent(imageData); result.Content.Headers.ContentType = new MediaTypeHeaderValue("image/jpeg"); return result; } The image retrieval from Amazon is contrived, but it shows how to return binary data using ByteArrayContent. It also demonstrates that you can easily return multiple types of content from a single controller method, which is actually quite common. If an error occurs - such as a resource can’t be found or a validation error – you can return an error response to the client that’s very specific to the error. In GetAlbumArt(), if the album can’t be found, we want to return a 404 Not Found status (and realistically no error, as it’s an image). Note that if you are not using HTTP Verb-based routing or not accessing a method that starts with Get/Post etc., you have to specify one or more HTTP Verb attributes on the method explicitly. Here, I used the [HttpGet] attribute to serve the image. Another option to handle the error could be to return a fixed placeholder image if no album could be matched or the album doesn’t have an image. When returning an error code, you can also return a strongly typed response to the client. For example, you can set the 404 status code and also return a custom error object (ApiMessageError is a class I defined) like this:return Request.CreateResponse<ApiMessageError>( HttpStatusCode.NotFound, new ApiMessageError("Album not found") ); If the album can be found, the image will be returned. The image is downloaded into a byte[] array, and then assigned to the result’s Content property. I created a new ByteArrayContent instance and assigned the image’s bytes and the content type so that it displays properly in the browser. There are other content classes available: StringContent, StreamContent, ByteArrayContent, MultipartContent, and ObjectContent are at your disposal to return just about any kind of content. You can create your own Content classes if you frequently return custom types and handle the default formatter assignments that should be used to send the data out . Although HttpResponseMessage results require more code than returning a plain .NET value from a method, it allows much more control over the actual HTTP processing than automatic processing. It also makes it much easier to test your controller methods as you get a response object that you can check for specific status codes and output messages rather than just a result value. Routing Again Ok, let’s get back to the image example. Using the original routing we have setup using HTTP Verb routing there's no good way to serve the image. In order to return my album art image I’d like to use a URL like this: http://localhost/aspnetWebApi/albums/Dirty%20Deeds/image In order to create a URL like this, I have to create a new Controller because my earlier routes pointed to the AlbumApiController using HTTP Verb routing. HTTP Verb based routing is great for representing a single set of resources such as albums. You can map operations like add, delete, update and read easily using HTTP Verbs. But you cannot mix action based routing into a an HTTP Verb routing controller - you can only map HTTP Verbs and each method has to be unique based on parameter signature. You can't have multiple GET operations to methods with the same signature. So GetImage(string id) and GetAlbum(string title) are in conflict in an HTTP GET routing scenario. In fact, I was unable to make the above Image URL work with any combination of HTTP Verb plus Custom routing using the single Albums controller. There are number of ways around this, but all involve additional controllers. Personally, I think it’s easier to use explicit Action routing and then add custom routes if you need to simplify your URLs further. So in order to accommodate some of the other examples, I created another controller – AlbumRpcApiController – to handle all requests that are explicitly routed via actions (/albums/rpc/AlbumArt) or are custom routed with explicit routes defined in the HttpConfiguration. I added the AlbumArt() method to this new AlbumRpcApiController class. For the image URL to work with the new AlbumRpcApiController, you need a custom route placed before the default route from Listing 1.RouteTable.Routes.MapHttpRoute( name: "AlbumRpcApiAction", routeTemplate: "albums/rpc/{action}/{title}", defaults: new { title = RouteParameter.Optional, controller = "AlbumRpcApi", action = "GetAblums" } ); Now I can use either of the following URLs to access the image: Custom route: (/albums/rpc/{title}/image)http://localhost/aspnetWebApi/albums/PowerAge/image Action route: (/albums/rpc/action/{title})http://localhost/aspnetWebAPI/albums/rpc/albumart/PowerAge Sending Data to the Server To send data to the server and add a new album, you can use an HTTP POST operation. Since I’m using HTTP Verb-based routing in the original AlbumApiController, I can implement a method called PostAlbum()to accept a new album from the client. Listing 6 shows the Web API code to add a new album.public HttpResponseMessage PostAlbum(Album album) { if (!this.ModelState.IsValid) { // my custom error class var error = new ApiMessageError() { message = "Model is invalid" }; // add errors into our client error model for client foreach (var prop in ModelState.Values) { var modelError = prop.Errors.FirstOrDefault(); if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(modelError.ErrorMessage)) error.errors.Add(modelError.ErrorMessage); else error.errors.Add(modelError.Exception.Message); } return Request.CreateResponse<ApiMessageError>(HttpStatusCode.Conflict, error); } // update song id which isn't provided foreach (var song in album.Songs) song.AlbumId = album.Id; // see if album exists already var matchedAlbum = AlbumData.Current .SingleOrDefault(alb => alb.Id == album.Id || alb.AlbumName == album.AlbumName); if (matchedAlbum == null) AlbumData.Current.Add(album); else matchedAlbum = album; // return a string to show that the value got here var resp = Request.CreateResponse(HttpStatusCode.OK, string.Empty); resp.Content = new StringContent(album.AlbumName + " " + album.Entered.ToString(), Encoding.UTF8, "text/plain"); return resp; } The PostAlbum() method receives an album parameter, which is automatically deserialized from the POST buffer the client sent. The data passed from the client can be either XML or JSON. Web API automatically figures out what format it needs to deserialize based on the content type and binds the content to the album object. Web API uses model binding to bind the request content to the parameter(s) of controller methods. Like MVC you can check the model by looking at ModelState.IsValid. If it’s not valid, you can run through the ModelState.Values collection and check each binding for errors. Here I collect the error messages into a string array that gets passed back to the client via the result ApiErrorMessage object. When a binding error occurs, you’ll want to return an HTTP error response and it’s best to do that with an HttpResponseMessage result. In Listing 6, I used a custom error class that holds a message and an array of detailed error messages for each binding error. I used this object as the content to return to the client along with my Conflict HTTP Status Code response. If binding succeeds, the example returns a string with the name and date entered to demonstrate that you captured the data. Normally, a method like this should return a Boolean or no response at all (HttpStatusCode.NoConent). The sample uses a simple static list to hold albums, so once you’ve added the album using the Post operation, you can hit the /albums/ URL to see that the new album was added. The client jQuery code to call the POST operation from the client with jQuery is shown in Listing 7. var id = new Date().getTime().toString(); var album = { "Id": id, "AlbumName": "Power Age", "Artist": "AC/DC", "YearReleased": 1977, "Entered": "2002-03-11T18:24:43.5580794-10:00", "AlbumImageUrl": http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/…, "AmazonUrl": http://www.amazon.com/…, "Songs": [ { "SongName": "Rock 'n Roll Damnation", "SongLength": 3.12}, { "SongName": "Downpayment Blues", "SongLength": 4.22 }, { "SongName": "Riff Raff", "SongLength": 2.42 } ] } $.ajax( { url: "albums/", type: "POST", contentType: "application/json", data: JSON.stringify(album), processData: false, beforeSend: function (xhr) { // not required since JSON is default output xhr.setRequestHeader("Accept", "application/json"); }, success: function (result) { // reload list of albums page.loadAlbums(); }, error: function (xhr, status, p3, p4) { var err = "Error"; if (xhr.responseText && xhr.responseText[0] == "{") err = JSON.parse(xhr.responseText).message; alert(err); } }); The code in Listing 7 creates an album object in JavaScript to match the structure of the .NET Album class. This object is passed to the $.ajax() function to send to the server as POST. The data is turned into JSON and the content type set to application/json so that the server knows what to convert when deserializing in the Album instance. The jQuery code hooks up success and failure events. Success returns the result data, which is a string that’s echoed back with an alert box. If an error occurs, jQuery returns the XHR instance and status code. You can check the XHR to see if a JSON object is embedded and if it is, you can extract it by de-serializing it and accessing the .message property. REST standards suggest that updates to existing resources should use PUT operations. REST standards aside, I’m not a big fan of separating out inserts and updates so I tend to have a single method that handles both. But if you want to follow REST suggestions, you can create a PUT method that handles updates by forwarding the PUT operation to the POST method:public HttpResponseMessage PutAlbum(Album album) { return PostAlbum(album); } To make the corresponding $.ajax() call, all you have to change from Listing 7 is the type: from POST to PUT. Model Binding with UrlEncoded POST Variables In the example in Listing 7 I used JSON objects to post a serialized object to a server method that accepted an strongly typed object with the same structure, which is a common way to send data to the server. However, Web API supports a number of different ways that data can be received by server methods. For example, another common way is to use plain UrlEncoded POST values to send to the server. Web API supports Model Binding that works similar (but not the same) as MVC's model binding where POST variables are mapped to properties of object parameters of the target method. This is actually quite common for AJAX calls that want to avoid serialization and the potential requirement of a JSON parser on older browsers. For example, using jQUery you might use the $.post() method to send a new album to the server (albeit one without songs) using code like the following:$.post("albums/",{AlbumName: "Dirty Deeds", YearReleased: 1976 … },albumPostCallback); Although the code looks very similar to the client code we used before passing JSON, here the data passed is URL encoded values (AlbumName=Dirty+Deeds&YearReleased=1976 etc.). Web API then takes this POST data and maps each of the POST values to the properties of the Album object in the method's parameter. Although the client code is different the server can both handle the JSON object, or the UrlEncoded POST values. Dynamic Access to POST Data There are also a few options available to dynamically access POST data, if you know what type of data you're dealing with. If you have POST UrlEncoded values, you can dynamically using a FormsDataCollection:[HttpPost] public string PostAlbum(FormDataCollection form) { return string.Format("{0} - released {1}", form.Get("AlbumName"),form.Get("RearReleased")); } The FormDataCollection is a very simple object, that essentially provides the same functionality as Request.Form[] in ASP.NET. Request.Form[] still works if you're running hosted in an ASP.NET application. However as a general rule, while ASP.NET's functionality is always available when running Web API hosted inside of an ASP.NET application, using the built in classes specific to Web API makes it possible to run Web API applications in a self hosted environment outside of ASP.NET. If your client is sending JSON to your server, and you don't want to map the JSON to a strongly typed object because you only want to retrieve a few simple values, you can also accept a JObject parameter in your API methods:[HttpPost] public string PostAlbum(JObject jsonData) { dynamic json = jsonData; JObject jalbum = json.Album; JObject juser = json.User; string token = json.UserToken; var album = jalbum.ToObject<Album>(); var user = juser.ToObject<User>(); return String.Format("{0} {1} {2}", album.AlbumName, user.Name, token); } There quite a few options available to you to receive data with Web API, which gives you more choices for the right tool for the job. Unfortunately one shortcoming of Web API is that POST data is always mapped to a single parameter. This means you can't pass multiple POST parameters to methods that receive POST data. It's possible to accept multiple parameters, but only one can map to the POST content - the others have to come from the query string or route values. I have a couple of Blog POSTs that explain what works and what doesn't here: Passing multiple POST parameters to Web API Controller Methods Mapping UrlEncoded POST Values in ASP.NET Web API Handling Delete Operations Finally, to round out the server API code of the album example we've been discussin, here’s the DELETE verb controller method that allows removal of an album by its title:public HttpResponseMessage DeleteAlbum(string title) { var matchedAlbum = AlbumData.Current.Where(alb => alb.AlbumName == title) .SingleOrDefault(); if (matchedAlbum == null) return new HttpResponseMessage(HttpStatusCode.NotFound); AlbumData.Current.Remove(matchedAlbum); return new HttpResponseMessage(HttpStatusCode.NoContent); } To call this action method using jQuery, you can use:$(".removeimage").live("click", function () { var $el = $(this).parent(".album"); var txt = $el.find("a").text(); $.ajax({ url: "albums/" + encodeURIComponent(txt), type: "Delete", success: function (result) { $el.fadeOut().remove(); }, error: jqError }); } Note the use of the DELETE verb in the $.ajax() call, which routes to DeleteAlbum on the server. DELETE is a non-content operation, so you supply a resource ID (the title) via route value or the querystring. Routing Conflicts In all requests with the exception of the AlbumArt image example shown so far, I used HTTP Verb routing that I set up in Listing 1. HTTP Verb Routing is a recommendation that is in line with typical REST access to HTTP resources. However, it takes quite a bit of effort to create REST-compliant API implementations based only on HTTP Verb routing only. You saw one example that didn’t really fit – the return of an image where I created a custom route albums/{title}/image that required creation of a second controller and a custom route to work. HTTP Verb routing to a controller does not mix with custom or action routing to the same controller because of the limited mapping of HTTP verbs imposed by HTTP Verb routing. To understand some of the problems with verb routing, let’s look at another example. Let’s say you create a GetSortableAlbums() method like this and add it to the original AlbumApiController accessed via HTTP Verb routing:[HttpGet] public IQueryable<Album> SortableAlbums() { var albums = AlbumData.Current; // generally should be done only on actual queryable results (EF etc.) // Done here because we're running with a static list but otherwise might be slow return albums.AsQueryable(); } If you compile this code and try to now access the /albums/ link, you get an error: Multiple Actions were found that match the request. HTTP Verb routing only allows access to one GET operation per parameter/route value match. If more than one method exists with the same parameter signature, it doesn’t work. As I mentioned earlier for the image display, the only solution to get this method to work is to throw it into another controller. Because I already set up the AlbumRpcApiController I can add the method there. First, I should rename the method to SortableAlbums() so I’m not using a Get prefix for the method. This also makes the action parameter look cleaner in the URL - it looks less like a method and more like a noun. I can then create a new route that handles direct-action mapping:RouteTable.Routes.MapHttpRoute( name: "AlbumRpcApiAction", routeTemplate: "albums/rpc/{action}/{title}", defaults: new { title = RouteParameter.Optional, controller = "AlbumRpcApi", action = "GetAblums" } ); As I am explicitly adding a route segment – rpc – into the route template, I can now reference explicit methods in the Web API controller using URLs like this: http://localhost/AspNetWebApi/rpc/SortableAlbums Error Handling I’ve already done some minimal error handling in the examples. For example in Listing 6, I detected some known-error scenarios like model validation failing or a resource not being found and returning an appropriate HttpResponseMessage result. But what happens if your code just blows up or causes an exception? If you have a controller method, like this:[HttpGet] public void ThrowException() { throw new UnauthorizedAccessException("Unauthorized Access Sucka"); } You can call it with this: http://localhost/AspNetWebApi/albums/rpc/ThrowException The default exception handling displays a 500-status response with the serialized exception on the local computer only. When you connect from a remote computer, Web API throws back a 500 HTTP Error with no data returned (IIS then adds its HTML error page). The behavior is configurable in the GlobalConfiguration:GlobalConfiguration .Configuration .IncludeErrorDetailPolicy = IncludeErrorDetailPolicy.Never; If you want more control over your error responses sent from code, you can throw explicit error responses yourself using HttpResponseException. When you throw an HttpResponseException the response parameter is used to generate the output for the Controller action. [HttpGet] public void ThrowError() { var resp = Request.CreateResponse<ApiMessageError>( HttpStatusCode.BadRequest, new ApiMessageError("Your code stinks!")); throw new HttpResponseException(resp); } Throwing an HttpResponseException stops the processing of the controller method and immediately returns the response you passed to the exception. Unlike other Exceptions fired inside of WebAPI, HttpResponseException bypasses the Exception Filters installed and instead just outputs the response you provide. In this case, the serialized ApiMessageError result string is returned in the default serialization format – XML or JSON. You can pass any content to HttpResponseMessage, which includes creating your own exception objects and consistently returning error messages to the client. Here’s a small helper method on the controller that you might use to send exception info back to the client consistently:private void ThrowSafeException(string message, HttpStatusCode statusCode = HttpStatusCode.BadRequest) { var errResponse = Request.CreateResponse<ApiMessageError>(statusCode, new ApiMessageError() { message = message }); throw new HttpResponseException(errResponse); } You can then use it to output any captured errors from code:[HttpGet] public void ThrowErrorSafe() { try { List<string> list = null; list.Add("Rick"); } catch (Exception ex) { ThrowSafeException(ex.Message); } } Exception Filters Another more global solution is to create an Exception Filter. Filters in Web API provide the ability to pre- and post-process controller method operations. An exception filter looks at all exceptions fired and then optionally creates an HttpResponseMessage result. Listing 8 shows an example of a basic Exception filter implementation.public class UnhandledExceptionFilter : ExceptionFilterAttribute { public override void OnException(HttpActionExecutedContext context) { HttpStatusCode status = HttpStatusCode.InternalServerError; var exType = context.Exception.GetType(); if (exType == typeof(UnauthorizedAccessException)) status = HttpStatusCode.Unauthorized; else if (exType == typeof(ArgumentException)) status = HttpStatusCode.NotFound; var apiError = new ApiMessageError() { message = context.Exception.Message }; // create a new response and attach our ApiError object // which now gets returned on ANY exception result var errorResponse = context.Request.CreateResponse<ApiMessageError>(status, apiError); context.Response = errorResponse; base.OnException(context); } } Exception Filter Attributes can be assigned to an ApiController class like this:[UnhandledExceptionFilter] public class AlbumRpcApiController : ApiController or you can globally assign it to all controllers by adding it to the HTTP Configuration's Filters collection:GlobalConfiguration.Configuration.Filters.Add(new UnhandledExceptionFilter()); The latter is a great way to get global error trapping so that all errors (short of hard IIS errors and explicit HttpResponseException errors) return a valid error response that includes error information in the form of a known-error object. Using a filter like this allows you to throw an exception as you normally would and have your filter create a response in the appropriate output format that the client expects. For example, an AJAX application can on failure expect to see a JSON error result that corresponds to the real error that occurred rather than a 500 error along with HTML error page that IIS throws up. You can even create some custom exceptions so you can differentiate your own exceptions from unhandled system exceptions - you often don't want to display error information from 'unknown' exceptions as they may contain sensitive system information or info that's not generally useful to users of your application/site. This is just one example of how ASP.NET Web API is configurable and extensible. Exception filters are just one example of how you can plug-in into the Web API request flow to modify output. Many more hooks exist and I’ll take a closer look at extensibility in Part 2 of this article in the future. Summary Web API is a big improvement over previous Microsoft REST and AJAX toolkits. The key features to its usefulness are its ease of use with simple controller based logic, familiar MVC-style routing, low configuration impact, extensibility at all levels and tight attention to exposing and making HTTP semantics easily discoverable and easy to use. Although none of the concepts used in Web API are new or radical, Web API combines the best of previous platforms into a single framework that’s highly functional, easy to work with, and extensible to boot. I think that Microsoft has hit a home run with Web API. Related Resources Where does ASP.NET Web API fit? Sample Source Code on GitHub Passing multiple POST parameters to Web API Controller Methods Mapping UrlEncoded POST Values in ASP.NET Web API Creating a JSONP Formatter for ASP.NET Web API Removing the XML Formatter from ASP.NET Web API Applications© Rick Strahl, West Wind Technologies, 2005-2012Posted in Web Api Tweet !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs"); (function() { var po = document.createElement('script'); po.type = 'text/javascript'; po.async = true; po.src = 'https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(po, s); })();

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Tip/Trick: Fix Common SEO Problems Using the URL Rewrite Extension

- by ScottGu

Search engine optimization (SEO) is important for any publically facing web-site. A large % of traffic to sites now comes directly from search engines, and improving your site’s search relevancy will lead to more users visiting your site from search engine queries. This can directly or indirectly increase the money you make through your site. This blog post covers how you can use the free Microsoft URL Rewrite Extension to fix a bunch of common SEO problems that your site might have. It takes less than 15 minutes (and no code changes) to apply 4 simple URL Rewrite rules to your site, and in doing so cause search engines to drive more visitors and traffic to your site. The techniques below work equally well with both ASP.NET Web Forms and ASP.NET MVC based sites. They also works with all versions of ASP.NET (and even work with non-ASP.NET content). [In addition to blogging, I am also now using Twitter for quick updates and to share links. Follow me at: twitter.com/scottgu] Measuring the SEO of your website with the Microsoft SEO Toolkit A few months ago I blogged about the free SEO Toolkit that we’ve shipped. This useful tool enables you to automatically crawl/scan your site for SEO correctness, and it then flags any SEO issues it finds. I highly recommend downloading and using the tool against any public site you work on. It makes it easy to spot SEO issues you might have in your site, and pinpoint ways to optimize it further. Below is a simple example of a report I ran against one of my sites (www.scottgu.com) prior to applying the URL Rewrite rules I’ll cover later in this blog post: Search Relevancy and URL Splitting Two of the important things that search engines evaluate when assessing your site’s “search relevancy” are: How many other sites link to your content. Search engines assume that if a lot of people around the web are linking to your content, then it is likely useful and so weight it higher in relevancy. The uniqueness of the content it finds on your site. If search engines find that the content is duplicated in multiple places around the Internet (or on multiple URLs on your site) then it is likely to drop the relevancy of the content. One of the things you want to be very careful to avoid when building public facing sites is to not allow different URLs to retrieve the same content within your site. Doing so will hurt with both of the situations above. In particular, allowing external sites to link to the same content with multiple URLs will cause your link-count and page-ranking to be split up across those different URLs (and so give you a smaller page rank than what it would otherwise be if it was just one URL). Not allowing external sites to link to you in different ways sounds easy in theory – but you might wonder what exactly this means in practice and how you avoid it. 4 Really Common SEO Problems Your Sites Might Have Below are 4 really common scenarios that can cause your site to inadvertently expose multiple URLs for the same content. When this happens external sites linking to yours will end up splitting their page links across multiple URLs - and as a result cause you to have a lower page ranking with search engines than you deserve. SEO Problem #1: Default Document IIS (and other web servers) supports the concept of a “default document”. This allows you to avoid having to explicitly specify the page you want to serve at either the root of the web-site/application, or within a sub-directory. This is convenient – but means that by default this content is available via two different publically exposed URLs (which is bad). For example: http://scottgu.com/ http://scottgu.com/default.aspx SEO Problem #2: Different URL Casings Web developers often don’t realize URLs are case sensitive to search engines on the web. This means that search engines will treat the following links as two completely different URLs: http://scottgu.com/Albums.aspx http://scottgu.com/albums.aspx SEO Problem #3: Trailing Slashes Consider the below two URLs – they might look the same at first, but they are subtly different. The trailing slash creates yet another situation that causes search engines to treat the URLs as different and so split search rankings: http://scottgu.com http://scottgu.com/ SEO Problem #4: Canonical Host Names Sometimes sites support scenarios where they support a web-site with both a leading “www” hostname prefix as well as just the hostname itself. This causes search engines to treat the URLs as different and split search rankling: http://scottgu.com/albums.aspx/ http://www.scottgu.com/albums.aspx/ How to Easily Fix these SEO Problems in 10 minutes (or less) using IIS Rewrite If you haven’t been careful when coding your sites, chances are you are suffering from one (or more) of the above SEO problems. Addressing these issues will improve your search engine relevancy ranking and drive more traffic to your site. The “good news” is that fixing the above 4 issues is really easy using the URL Rewrite Extension. This is a completely free Microsoft extension available for IIS 7.x (on Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 7 and Windows Vista). The great thing about using the IIS Rewrite extension is that it allows you to fix the above problems *without* having to change any code within your applications. You can easily install the URL Rewrite Extension in under 3 minutes using the Microsoft Web Platform Installer (a free tool we ship that automates setting up web servers and development machines). Just click the green “Install Now” button on the URL Rewrite Spotlight page to install it on your Windows Server 2008, Windows 7 or Windows Vista machine: Once installed you’ll find that a new “URL Rewrite” icon is available within the IIS 7 Admin Tool: Double-clicking the icon will open up the URL Rewrite admin panel – which will display the list of URL Rewrite rules configured for a particular application or site: Notice that our rewrite rule list above is currently empty (which is the default when you first install the extension). We can click the “Add Rule…” link button in the top-right of the panel to add and enable new URL Rewriting logic for our site. Scenario 1: Handling Default Document Scenarios One of the SEO problems I discussed earlier in this post was the scenario where the “default document” feature of IIS causes you to inadvertently expose two URLs for the same content on your site. For example: http://scottgu.com/ http://scottgu.com/default.aspx We can fix this by adding a new IIS Rewrite rule that automatically redirects anyone who navigates to the second URL to instead go to the first one. We will setup the HTTP redirect to be a “permanent redirect” – which will indicate to search engines that they should follow the redirect and use the new URL they are redirected to as the identifier of the content they retrieve. Let’s look at how we can create such a rule. We’ll begin by clicking the “Add Rule” link in the screenshot above. This will cause the below dialog to display: We’ll select the “Blank Rule” template within the “Inbound rules” section to create a new custom URL Rewriting rule. This will display an empty pane like below: Don’t worry – setting up the above rule is easy. The following 4 steps explain how to do so: Step 1: Name the Rule Our first step will be to name the rule we are creating. Naming it with a descriptive name will make it easier to find and understand later. Let’s name this rule our “Default Document URL Rewrite” rule: Step 2: Setup the Regular Expression that Matches this Rule Our second step will be to specify a regular expression filter that will cause this rule to execute when an incoming URL matches the regex pattern. Don’t worry if you aren’t good with regular expressions - I suck at them too. The trick is to know someone who is good at them or copy/paste them from a web-site. Below we are going to specify the following regular expression as our pattern rule: (.*?)/?Default\.aspx$ This pattern will match any URL string that ends with Default.aspx. The "(.*?)" matches any preceding character zero or more times. The "/?" part says to match the slash symbol zero or one times. The "$" symbol at the end will ensure that the pattern will only match strings that end with Default.aspx. Combining all these regex elements allows this rule to work not only for the root of your web site (e.g. http://scottgu.com/default.aspx) but also for any application or subdirectory within the site (e.g. http://scottgu.com/photos/default.aspx. Because the “ignore case” checkbox is selected it will match both “Default.aspx” as well as “default.aspx” within the URL. One nice feature built-into the rule editor is a “Test pattern” button that you can click to bring up a dialog that allows you to test out a few URLs with the rule you are configuring: Above I've added a “products/default.aspx” URL and clicked the “Test” button. This will give me immediate feedback on whether the rule will execute for it. Step 3: Setup a Permanent Redirect Action We’ll then setup an action to occur when our regular expression pattern matches the incoming URL: In the dialog above I’ve changed the “Action Type” drop down to be a “Redirect” action. The “Redirect Type” will be a HTTP 301 Permanent redirect – which means search engines will follow it. I’ve also set the “Redirect URL” property to be: {R:1}/ This indicates that we want to redirect the web client requesting the original URL to a new URL that has the originally requested URL path - minus the "Default.aspx" in it. For example, requests for http://scottgu.com/default.aspx will be redirected to http://scottgu.com/, and requests for http://scottgu.com/photos/default.aspx will be redirected to http://scottgu.com/photos/ The "{R:N}" regex construct, where N >= 0, is called a back-reference and N is the back-reference index. In the case of our pattern "(.*?)/?Default\.aspx$", if the input URL is "products/Default.aspx" then {R:0} will contain "products/Default.aspx" and {R:1} will contain "products". We are going to use this {R:1}/ value to be the URL we redirect users to. Step 4: Apply and Save the Rule Our final step is to click the “Apply” button in the top right hand of the IIS admin tool – which will cause the tool to persist the URL Rewrite rule into our application’s root web.config file (under a <system.webServer/rewrite> configuration section): <configuration> <system.webServer> <rewrite> <rules> <rule name="Default Document" stopProcessing="true"> <match url="(.*?)/?Default\.aspx$" /> <action type="Redirect" url="{R:1}/" /> </rule> </rules> </rewrite> </system.webServer> </configuration> Because IIS 7.x and ASP.NET share the same web.config files, you can actually just copy/paste the above code into your web.config files using Visual Studio and skip the need to run the admin tool entirely. This also makes adding/deploying URL Rewrite rules with your ASP.NET applications really easy. Step 5: Try the Rule Out Now that we’ve saved the rule, let’s try it out on our site. Try the following two URLs on my site: http://scottgu.com/ http://scottgu.com/default.aspx Notice that the second URL automatically redirects to the first one. Because it is a permanent redirect, search engines will follow the URL and should update the page ranking of http://scottgu.com to include links to http://scottgu.com/default.aspx as well. Scenario 2: Different URL Casing Another common SEO problem I discussed earlier in this post is that URLs are case sensitive to search engines on the web. This means that search engines will treat the following links as two completely different URLs: http://scottgu.com/Albums.aspx http://scottgu.com/albums.aspx We can fix this by adding a new IIS Rewrite rule that automatically redirects anyone who navigates to the first URL to instead go to the second (all lower-case) one. Like before, we will setup the HTTP redirect to be a “permanent redirect” – which will indicate to search engines that they should follow the redirect and use the new URL they are redirected to as the identifier of the content they retrieve. To create such a rule we’ll click the “Add Rule” link in the URL Rewrite admin tool again. This will cause the “Add Rule” dialog to appear again: Unlike the previous scenario (where we created a “Blank Rule”), with this scenario we can take advantage of a built-in “Enforce lowercase URLs” rule template. When we click the “ok” button we’ll see the following dialog which asks us if we want to create a rule that enforces the use of lowercase letters in URLs: When we click the “Yes” button we’ll get a pre-written rule that automatically performs a permanent redirect if an incoming URL has upper-case characters in it – and automatically send users to a lower-case version of the URL: We can click the “Apply” button to use this rule “as-is” and have it apply to all incoming URLs to our site. Because my www.scottgu.com site uses ASP.NET Web Forms, I’m going to make one small change to the rule we generated above – which is to add a condition that will ensure that URLs to ASP.NET’s built-in “WebResource.axd” handler are excluded from our case-sensitivity URL Rewrite logic. URLs to the WebResource.axd handler will only come from server-controls emitted from my pages – and will never be linked to from external sites. While my site will continue to function fine if we redirect these URLs to automatically be lower-case – doing so isn’t necessary and will add an extra HTTP redirect to many of my pages. The good news is that adding a condition that prevents my URL Rewriting rule from happening with certain URLs is easy. We simply need to expand the “Conditions” section of the form above We can then click the “Add” button to add a condition clause. This will bring up the “Add Condition” dialog: Above I’ve entered {URL} as the Condition input – and said that this rule should only execute if the URL does not match a regex pattern which contains the string “WebResource.axd”. This will ensure that WebResource.axd URLs to my site will be allowed to execute just fine without having the URL be re-written to be all lower-case. Note: If you have static resources (like references to .jpg, .css, and .js files) within your site that currently use upper-case characters you’ll probably want to add additional condition filter clauses so that URLs to them also don’t get redirected to be lower-case (just add rules for patterns like .jpg, .gif, .js, etc). Your site will continue to work fine if these URLs get redirected to be lower case (meaning the site won’t break) – but it will cause an extra HTTP redirect to happen on your site for URLs that don’t need to be redirected for SEO reasons. So setting up a condition clause makes sense to add. When I click the “ok” button above and apply our lower-case rewriting rule the admin tool will save the following additional rule to our web.config file: <configuration> <system.webServer> <rewrite> <rules> <rule name="Default Document" stopProcessing="true"> <match url="(.*?)/?Default\.aspx$" /> <action type="Redirect" url="{R:1}/" /> </rule> <rule name="Lower Case URLs" stopProcessing="true"> <match url="[A-Z]" ignoreCase="false" /> <conditions logicalGrouping="MatchAll" trackAllCaptures="false"> <add input="{URL}" pattern="WebResource.axd" negate="true" /> </conditions> <action type="Redirect" url="{ToLower:{URL}}" /> </rule> </rules> </rewrite> </system.webServer> </configuration> Try the Rule Out Now that we’ve saved the rule, let’s try it out on our site. Try the following two URLs on my site: http://scottgu.com/Albums.aspx http://scottgu.com/albums.aspx Notice that the first URL (which has a capital “A”) automatically does a redirect to a lower-case version of the URL. Scenario 3: Trailing Slashes Another common SEO problem I discussed earlier in this post is the scenario of trailing slashes within URLs. The trailing slash creates yet another situation that causes search engines to treat the URLs as different and so split search rankings: http://scottgu.com http://scottgu.com/ We can fix this by adding a new IIS Rewrite rule that automatically redirects anyone who navigates to the first URL (that does not have a trailing slash) to instead go to the second one that does. Like before, we will setup the HTTP redirect to be a “permanent redirect” – which will indicate to search engines that they should follow the redirect and use the new URL they are redirected to as the identifier of the content they retrieve. To create such a rule we’ll click the “Add Rule” link in the URL Rewrite admin tool again. This will cause the “Add Rule” dialog to appear again: The URL Rewrite admin tool has a built-in “Append or remove the trailing slash symbol” rule template. When we select it and click the “ok” button we’ll see the following dialog which asks us if we want to create a rule that automatically redirects users to a URL with a trailing slash if one isn’t present: Like within our previous lower-casing rewrite rule we’ll add one additional condition clause that will exclude WebResource.axd URLs from being processed by this rule. This will avoid an unnecessary redirect for happening for those URLs. When we click the “OK” button we’ll get a pre-written rule that automatically performs a permanent redirect if the URL doesn’t have a trailing slash – and if the URL is not processed by either a directory or a file. This will save the following additional rule to our web.config file: <configuration> <system.webServer> <rewrite> <rules> <rule name="Default Document" stopProcessing="true"> <match url="(.*?)/?Default\.aspx$" /> <action type="Redirect" url="{R:1}/" /> </rule> <rule name="Lower Case URLs" stopProcessing="true"> <match url="[A-Z]" ignoreCase="false" /> <conditions logicalGrouping="MatchAll" trackAllCaptures="false"> <add input="{URL}" pattern="WebResource.axd" negate="true" /> </conditions> <action type="Redirect" url="{ToLower:{URL}}" /> </rule> <rule name="Trailing Slash" stopProcessing="true"> <match url="(.*[^/])$" /> <conditions logicalGrouping="MatchAll" trackAllCaptures="false"> <add input="{REQUEST_FILENAME}" matchType="IsDirectory" negate="true" /> <add input="{REQUEST_FILENAME}" matchType="IsFile" negate="true" /> <add input="{URL}" pattern="WebResource.axd" negate="true" /> </conditions> <action type="Redirect" url="{R:1}/" /> </rule> </rules> </rewrite> </system.webServer> </configuration> Try the Rule Out Now that we’ve saved the rule, let’s try it out on our site. Try the following two URLs on my site: http://scottgu.com http://scottgu.com/ Notice that the first URL (which has no trailing slash) automatically does a redirect to a URL with the trailing slash. Because it is a permanent redirect, search engines will follow the URL and update the page ranking. Scenario 4: Canonical Host Names The final SEO problem I discussed earlier are scenarios where a site works with both a leading “www” hostname prefix as well as just the hostname itself. This causes search engines to treat the URLs as different and split search rankling: http://www.scottgu.com/albums.aspx http://scottgu.com/albums.aspx We can fix this by adding a new IIS Rewrite rule that automatically redirects anyone who navigates to the first URL (that has a www prefix) to instead go to the second URL. Like before, we will setup the HTTP redirect to be a “permanent redirect” – which will indicate to search engines that they should follow the redirect and use the new URL they are redirected to as the identifier of the content they retrieve. To create such a rule we’ll click the “Add Rule” link in the URL Rewrite admin tool again. This will cause the “Add Rule” dialog to appear again: The URL Rewrite admin tool has a built-in “Canonical domain name” rule template. When we select it and click the “ok” button we’ll see the following dialog which asks us if we want to create a redirect rule that automatically redirects users to a primary host name URL: Above I’m entering the primary URL address I want to expose to the web: scottgu.com. When we click the “OK” button we’ll get a pre-written rule that automatically performs a permanent redirect if the URL has another leading domain name prefix. This will save the following additional rule to our web.config file: <configuration> <system.webServer> <rewrite> <rules> <rule name="Cannonical Hostname"> <match url="(.*)" /> <conditions logicalGrouping="MatchAll" trackAllCaptures="false"> <add input="{HTTP_HOST}" pattern="^scottgu\.com$" negate="true" /> </conditions> <action type="Redirect" url="http://scottgu.com/{R:1}" /> </rule> <rule name="Default Document" stopProcessing="true"> <match url="(.*?)/?Default\.aspx$" /> <action type="Redirect" url="{R:1}/" /> </rule> <rule name="Lower Case URLs" stopProcessing="true"> <match url="[A-Z]" ignoreCase="false" /> <conditions logicalGrouping="MatchAll" trackAllCaptures="false"> <add input="{URL}" pattern="WebResource.axd" negate="true" /> </conditions> <action type="Redirect" url="{ToLower:{URL}}" /> </rule> <rule name="Trailing Slash" stopProcessing="true"> <match url="(.*[^/])$" /> <conditions logicalGrouping="MatchAll" trackAllCaptures="false"> <add input="{REQUEST_FILENAME}" matchType="IsDirectory" negate="true" /> <add input="{REQUEST_FILENAME}" matchType="IsFile" negate="true" /> <add input="{URL}" pattern="WebResource.axd" negate="true" /> </conditions> <action type="Redirect" url="{R:1}/" /> </rule> </rules> </rewrite> </system.webServer> </configuration> Try the Rule Out Now that we’ve saved the rule, let’s try it out on our site. Try the following two URLs on my site: http://www.scottgu.com/albums.aspx http://scottgu.com/albums.aspx Notice that the first URL (which has the “www” prefix) now automatically does a redirect to the second URL which does not have the www prefix. Because it is a permanent redirect, search engines will follow the URL and update the page ranking. 4 Simple Rules for Improved SEO The above 4 rules are pretty easy to setup and should take less than 15 minutes to configure on existing sites you already have. The beauty of using a solution like the URL Rewrite Extension is that you can take advantage of it without having to change code within your web-site – and without having to break any existing links already pointing at your site. Users who follow existing links will be automatically redirected to the new URLs you wish to publish. And search engines will start to give your site a higher search relevancy ranking – which will list your site higher in search results and drive more traffic to it. Customizing your URL Rewriting rules further is easy to-do either by editing the web.config file directly, or alternatively, just double click the URL Rewrite icon within the IIS 7.x admin tool and it will list all the active rules for your web-site or application: Clicking any of the rules above will open the rules editor back up and allow you to tweak/customize/save them further. Summary Measuring and improving SEO is something every developer building a public-facing web-site needs to think about and focus on. If you haven’t already, download and use the SEO Toolkit to analyze the SEO of your sites today. New URL Routing features in ASP.NET MVC and ASP.NET Web Forms 4 make it much easier to build applications that have more control over the URLs that are published. Tools like the URL Rewrite Extension that I’ve talked about in this blog post make it much easier to improve the URLs that are published from sites you already have built today – without requiring you to change a lot of code. The URL Rewrite Extension provides a bunch of additional great capabilities – far beyond just SEO - as well. I’ll be covering these additional capabilities more in future blog posts. Hope this helps, Scott

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iTunes 9.0.2 hangs on launch on Mac OS X 10.6.2

- by dlamblin

My iTunes 9.0.2 hangs on launch in OS X 10.6.2. This doesn't happen all the time, only if I've been running for a while. Then it will recur until I restart. Similarly Safari 4.0.4 will hang in the flash player plugin when about to play a video. If I restart both these problems go away until later. Based on this crash dump I am suspecting Audio Hijack Pro. I will try to install a newer version of the driver involved, but so far I haven't had much luck. I have uninstalled the Flash Plugin (10.0.r42 and r32) but clearly I want it in the long run. This is iTunes' crash report. Date/Time: 2009-12-14 19:56:02 -0500 OS Version: 10.6.2 (Build 10C540) Architecture: x86_64 Report Version: 6 Command: iTunes Path: /Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunes Version: 9.0.2 (9.0.2) Build Version: 2 Project Name: iTunes Source Version: 9022501 Parent: launchd [120] PID: 16878 Event: hang Duration: 3.55s (sampling started after 2 seconds) Steps: 16 (100ms sampling interval) Pageins: 5 Pageouts: 0 Process: iTunes [16878] Path: /Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunes UID: 501 Thread 8f96000 User stack: 16 ??? (in iTunes + 6633) [0x29e9] 16 ??? (in iTunes + 6843) [0x2abb] 16 ??? (in iTunes + 11734) [0x3dd6] 16 ??? (in iTunes + 44960) [0xbfa0] 16 ??? (in iTunes + 45327) [0xc10f] 16 ??? (in iTunes + 2295196) [0x23159c] 16 ??? (in iTunes + 103620) [0x1a4c4] 16 ??? (in iTunes + 105607) [0x1ac87] 16 ??? (in iTunes + 106442) [0x1afca] 16 OpenAComponent + 433 (in CarbonCore) [0x972e9dd0] 16 CallComponentOpen + 43 (in CarbonCore) [0x972ebae7] 16 CallComponentDispatch + 29 (in CarbonCore) [0x972ebb06] 16 DefaultOutputAUEntry + 319 (in CoreAudio) [0x70031117] 16 AUGenericOutputEntry + 15273 (in CoreAudio) [0x7000e960] 16 AUGenericOutputEntry + 13096 (in CoreAudio) [0x7000e0df] 16 AUGenericOutputEntry + 9628 (in CoreAudio) [0x7000d353] 16 ??? [0xe0c16d] 16 ??? [0xe0fdf8] 16 ??? [0xe0e1e7] 16 ahs_hermes_CoreAudio_init + 32 (in Instant Hijack Server) [0x13fc7e9] 16 semaphore_wait_signal_trap + 10 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x9798e922] Kernel stack: 16 semaphore_wait_continue + 0 [0x22a0a5] Thread 9b9eb7c User stack: 16 thread_start + 34 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x979bbe42] 16 _pthread_start + 345 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x979bbfbd] 16 ??? (in iTunes + 4011870) [0x3d475e] 16 CFRunLoopRun + 84 (in CoreFoundation) [0x993497a4] 16 CFRunLoopRunSpecific + 452 (in CoreFoundation) [0x99343864] 16 __CFRunLoopRun + 2079 (in CoreFoundation) [0x9934477f] 16 mach_msg_trap + 10 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x9798e8da] Kernel stack: 16 ipc_mqueue_receive_continue + 0 [0x210aa3] Thread 9bc8b7c User stack: 16 start_wqthread + 30 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x979b4336] 16 _pthread_wqthread + 390 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x979b44f1] 16 _dispatch_worker_thread2 + 234 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x979b4a68] 16 _dispatch_queue_invoke + 163 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x979b4cc3] 16 kevent + 10 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x979b50ea] Kernel stack: 16 kevent + 97 [0x471745] Binary Images: 0x1000 - 0xbecfea com.apple.iTunes 9.0.2 (9.0.2) <1F665956-0131-39AF-F334-E29E510D42DA> /Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunes 0x13f6000 - 0x1402ff7 com.rogueamoeba.audio_hijack_server.hermes 2.2.2 (2.2.2) <9B29AE7F-6951-E63F-616A-482B62179A5C> /usr/local/hermes/modules/Instant Hijack Server.hermesmodule/Contents/MacOS/Instant Hijack Server 0x70000000 - 0x700cbffb com.apple.audio.units.Components 1.6.1 (1.6.1) <600769A2-479A-CA6E-A214-C8766F7CBD0F> /System/Library/Components/CoreAudio.component/Contents/MacOS/CoreAudio 0x97284000 - 0x975a3fe7 com.apple.CoreServices.CarbonCore 861.2 (861.2) <A9077470-3786-09F2-E0C7-F082B7F97838> /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/CarbonCore.framework/Versions/A/CarbonCore 0x9798e000 - 0x97b32feb libSystem.B.dylib ??? (???) <D45B91B2-2B4C-AAC0-8096-1FC48B7E9672> /usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib 0x99308000 - 0x9947ffef com.apple.CoreFoundation 6.6.1 (550.13) <AE9FC6F7-F0B2-DE58-759E-7DB89C021A46> /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreFoundation.framework/Versions/A/CoreFoundation Process: AirPort Base Station Agent [142] Path: /System/Library/CoreServices/AirPort Base Station Agent.app/Contents/MacOS/AirPort Base Station Agent UID: 501 Thread 8b1d3d4 DispatchQueue 1 User stack: 16 ??? (in AirPort Base Station Agent + 5344) [0x1000014e0] 16 ??? (in AirPort Base Station Agent + 70666) [0x10001140a] 16 CFRunLoopRun + 70 (in CoreFoundation) [0x7fff86e859b6] 16 CFRunLoopRunSpecific + 575 (in CoreFoundation) [0x7fff86e85c2f] 16 __CFRunLoopRun + 1698 (in CoreFoundation) [0x7fff86e867a2] 16 mach_msg_trap + 10 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff8786ce3a] Kernel stack: 16 ipc_mqueue_receive_continue + 0 [0x210aa3] Thread 8b80000 DispatchQueue 2 User stack: 16 start_wqthread + 13 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff87886a55] 16 _pthread_wqthread + 353 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff87886bb8] 16 _dispatch_worker_thread2 + 244 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff87887286] 16 _dispatch_queue_invoke + 185 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff8788775c] 16 kevent + 10 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff87885bba] Kernel stack: 16 kevent + 97 [0x471745] Thread 6e3c7a8 User stack: 16 start_wqthread + 13 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff87886a55] 16 __workq_kernreturn + 10 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff878869da] Kernel stack: 16 workqueue_thread_yielded + 562 [0x4cb6ae] Thread 8b0f3d4 User stack: 16 thread_start + 13 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff878a5e41] 16 _pthread_start + 331 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff878a5f8e] 16 select$DARWIN_EXTSN + 10 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff878b09e2] Kernel stack: 16 sleep + 52 [0x487f93] Thread 8bcb000 User stack: 16 thread_start + 13 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff878a5e41] 16 _pthread_start + 331 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff878a5f8e] 16 ??? (in AirPort Base Station Agent + 71314) [0x100011692] 16 ??? (in AirPort Base Station Agent + 13712) [0x100003590] 16 ??? (in AirPort Base Station Agent + 71484) [0x10001173c] 16 __semwait_signal + 10 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff878a79ee] Kernel stack: 16 semaphore_wait_continue + 0 [0x22a0a5] Binary Images: 0x100000000 - 0x100016fff com.apple.AirPortBaseStationAgent 1.5.4 (154.2) <73DF13C1-AF86-EC2C-9056-8D1946E607CF> /System/Library/CoreServices/AirPort Base Station Agent.app/Contents/MacOS/AirPort Base Station Agent 0x7fff86e3b000 - 0x7fff86faeff7 com.apple.CoreFoundation 6.6.1 (550.13) <1E952BD9-37C6-16BE-B2F0-CD92A6283D37> /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreFoundation.framework/Versions/A/CoreFoundation 0x7fff8786c000 - 0x7fff87a2aff7 libSystem.B.dylib ??? (???) <526DD3E5-2A8B-4512-ED97-01B832369959> /usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib Process: AppleSpell [3041] Path: /System/Library/Services/AppleSpell.service/Contents/MacOS/AppleSpell UID: 501 Thread 999a000 DispatchQueue 1 User stack: 16 ??? (in AppleSpell + 5852) [0x1000016dc] 16 ??? (in AppleSpell + 6508) [0x10000196c] 16 -[NSSpellServer run] + 72 (in Foundation) [0x7fff81d3b796] 16 CFRunLoopRun + 70 (in CoreFoundation) [0x7fff86e859b6] 16 CFRunLoopRunSpecific + 575 (in CoreFoundation) [0x7fff86e85c2f] 16 __CFRunLoopRun + 1698 (in CoreFoundation) [0x7fff86e867a2] 16 mach_msg_trap + 10 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff8786ce3a] Kernel stack: 16 ipc_mqueue_receive_continue + 0 [0x210aa3] Thread 8a9e7a8 DispatchQueue 2 User stack: 16 start_wqthread + 13 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff87886a55] 16 _pthread_wqthread + 353 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff87886bb8] 16 _dispatch_worker_thread2 + 244 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff87887286] 16 _dispatch_queue_invoke + 185 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff8788775c] 16 kevent + 10 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff87885bba] Kernel stack: 16 kevent + 97 [0x471745] Binary Images: 0x100000000 - 0x1000a9fef com.apple.AppleSpell 1.6.1 (61.1) <6DE57CC1-77A0-BC06-45E7-E1EACEBE1A88> /System/Library/Services/AppleSpell.service/Contents/MacOS/AppleSpell 0x7fff81cbc000 - 0x7fff81f3dfe7 com.apple.Foundation 6.6.1 (751.14) <767349DB-C486-70E8-7970-F13DB4CDAF37> /System/Library/Frameworks/Foundation.framework/Versions/C/Foundation 0x7fff86e3b000 - 0x7fff86faeff7 com.apple.CoreFoundation 6.6.1 (550.13) <1E952BD9-37C6-16BE-B2F0-CD92A6283D37> /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreFoundation.framework/Versions/A/CoreFoundation 0x7fff8786c000 - 0x7fff87a2aff7 libSystem.B.dylib ??? (???) <526DD3E5-2A8B-4512-ED97-01B832369959> /usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib Process: autofsd [52] Path: /usr/libexec/autofsd UID: 0 Thread 79933d4 DispatchQueue 1 User stack: 16 ??? (in autofsd + 5340) [0x1000014dc] 16 ??? (in autofsd + 6461) [0x10000193d] 16 CFRunLoopRun + 70 (in CoreFoundation) [0x7fff86e859b6] 16 CFRunLoopRunSpecific + 575 (in CoreFoundation) [0x7fff86e85c2f] 16 __CFRunLoopRun + 1698 (in CoreFoundation) [0x7fff86e867a2] 16 mach_msg_trap + 10 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff8786ce3a] Kernel stack: 16 ipc_mqueue_receive_continue + 0 [0x210aa3] Thread 75997a8 DispatchQueue 2 User stack: 16 start_wqthread + 13 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff87886a55] 16 _pthread_wqthread + 353 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff87886bb8] 16 _dispatch_worker_thread2 + 244 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff87887286] 16 _dispatch_queue_invoke + 185 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff8788775c] 16 kevent + 10 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff87885bba] Kernel stack: 16 kevent + 97 [0x471745] Binary Images: 0x100000000 - 0x100001ff7 autofsd ??? (???) <29276FAC-AEA8-1520-5329-C75F9D453D6C> /usr/libexec/autofsd 0x7fff86e3b000 - 0x7fff86faeff7 com.apple.CoreFoundation 6.6.1 (550.13) <1E952BD9-37C6-16BE-B2F0-CD92A6283D37> /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreFoundation.framework/Versions/A/CoreFoundation 0x7fff8786c000 - 0x7fff87a2aff7 libSystem.B.dylib ??? (???) <526DD3E5-2A8B-4512-ED97-01B832369959> /usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib Process: blued [51] Path: /usr/sbin/blued UID: 0 Thread 7993000 DispatchQueue 1 User stack: 16 ??? (in blued + 5016) [0x100001398] 16 ??? (in blued + 152265) [0x1000252c9] 16 -[NSRunLoop(NSRunLoop) run] + 77 (in Foundation) [0x7fff81d07903] 16 -[NSRunLoop(NSRunLoop) runMode:beforeDate:] + 270 (in Foundation) [0x7fff81d07a24] 16 CFRunLoopRunSpecific + 575 (in CoreFoundation) [0x7fff86e85c2f] 16 __CFRunLoopRun + 1698 (in CoreFoundation) [0x7fff86e867a2] 16 mach_msg_trap + 10 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff8786ce3a] Kernel stack: 16 ipc_mqueue_receive_continue + 0 [0x210aa3] Thread 70db000 DispatchQueue 2 User stack: 16 start_wqthread + 13 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff87886a55] 16 _pthread_wqthread + 353 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff87886bb8] 16 _dispatch_worker_thread2 + 244 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff87887286] 16 _dispatch_queue_invoke + 185 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff8788775c] 16 kevent + 10 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff87885bba] Kernel stack: 16 kevent + 97 [0x471745] Thread 84d2000 User stack: 16 thread_start + 13 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff878a5e41] 16 _pthread_start + 331 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff878a5f8e] 16 select$DARWIN_EXTSN + 10 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff878b09e2] Kernel stack: 16 sleep + 52 [0x487f93] Binary Images: 0x100000000 - 0x100044fff blued ??? (???) <ECD752C9-F98E-3052-26BF-DC748281C992> /usr/sbin/blued 0x7fff81cbc000 - 0x7fff81f3dfe7 com.apple.Foundation 6.6.1 (751.14) <767349DB-C486-70E8-7970-F13DB4CDAF37> /System/Library/Frameworks/Foundation.framework/Versions/C/Foundation 0x7fff86e3b000 - 0x7fff86faeff7 com.apple.CoreFoundation 6.6.1 (550.13) <1E952BD9-37C6-16BE-B2F0-CD92A6283D37> /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreFoundation.framework/Versions/A/CoreFoundation 0x7fff8786c000 - 0x7fff87a2aff7 libSystem.B.dylib ??? (???) <526DD3E5-2A8B-4512-ED97-01B832369959> /usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib Process: check_afp [84504] Path: /System/Library/Filesystems/AppleShare/check_afp.app/Contents/MacOS/check_afp UID: 0 Thread 1140f000 DispatchQueue 1 User stack: 16 ??? (in check_afp + 5596) [0x1000015dc] 16 ??? (in check_afp + 12976) [0x1000032b0] 16 ??? (in check_afp + 6664) [0x100001a08] 16 ??? (in check_afp + 6520) [0x100001978] 16 CFRunLoopRun + 70 (in CoreFoundation) [0x7fff86e859b6] 16 CFRunLoopRunSpecific + 575 (in CoreFoundation) [0x7fff86e85c2f] 16 __CFRunLoopRun + 1698 (in CoreFoundation) [0x7fff86e867a2] 16 mach_msg_trap + 10 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff8786ce3a] Kernel stack: 16 ipc_mqueue_receive_continue + 0 [0x210aa3] Thread 13ad8b7c DispatchQueue 2 User stack: 16 start_wqthread + 13 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff87886a55] 16 _pthread_wqthread + 353 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff87886bb8] 16 _dispatch_worker_thread2 + 244 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff87887286] 16 _dispatch_queue_invoke + 185 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff8788775c] 16 kevent + 10 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff87885bba] Kernel stack: 16 kevent + 97 [0x471745] Thread 13ad6b7c User stack: 16 thread_start + 13 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff878a5e41] 16 _pthread_start + 331 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff878a5f8e] 16 ??? (in check_afp + 13071) [0x10000330f] 16 mach_msg_server_once + 285 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff878b2417] 16 mach_msg_trap + 10 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff8786ce3a] Kernel stack: 16 ipc_mqueue_receive_continue + 0 [0x210aa3] Thread 13ad87a8 User stack: 16 thread_start + 13 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff878a5e41] 16 _pthread_start + 331 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff878a5f8e] 16 select$DARWIN_EXTSN + 10 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff878b09e2] Kernel stack: 16 sleep + 52 [0x487f93] Binary Images: 0x100000000 - 0x100004ff7 com.apple.check_afp 2.0 (2.0) <EE865A7B-8CDC-7649-58E1-6FE2B43F7A73> /System/Library/Filesystems/AppleShare/check_afp.app/Contents/MacOS/check_afp 0x7fff86e3b000 - 0x7fff86faeff7 com.apple.CoreFoundation 6.6.1 (550.13) <1E952BD9-37C6-16BE-B2F0-CD92A6283D37> /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreFoundation.framework/Versions/A/CoreFoundation 0x7fff8786c000 - 0x7fff87a2aff7 libSystem.B.dylib ??? (???) <526DD3E5-2A8B-4512-ED97-01B832369959> /usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib Process: configd [14] Path: /usr/libexec/configd UID: 0 Thread 704a3d4 DispatchQueue 1 User stack: 16 start + 52 (in configd) [0x100001488] 16 main + 2051 (in configd) [0x100001c9e] 16 server_loop + 72 (in configd) [0x1000024f4] 16 CFRunLoopRunSpecific + 575 (in CoreFoundation) [0x7fff86e85c2f] 16 __CFRunLoopRun + 1698 (in CoreFoundation) [0x7fff86e867a2] 16 mach_msg_trap + 10 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff8786ce3a] Kernel stack: 16 ipc_mqueue_receive_continue + 0 [0x210aa3] Thread 6e70000 DispatchQueue 2 User stack: 16 start_wqthread + 13 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff87886a55] 16 _pthread_wqthread + 353 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff87886bb8] 16 _dispatch_worker_thread2 + 244 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff87887286] 16 _dispatch_queue_invoke + 185 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff8788775c] 16 kevent + 10 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff87885bba] Kernel stack: 16 kevent + 97 [0x471745] Thread 74a7b7c User stack: 16 thread_start + 13 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff878a5e41] 16 _pthread_start + 331 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff878a5f8e] 16 plugin_exec + 1440 (in configd) [0x100003c5b] 16 CFRunLoopRun + 70 (in CoreFoundation) [0x7fff86e859b6] 16 CFRunLoopRunSpecific + 575 (in CoreFoundation) [0x7fff86e85c2f] 16 __CFRunLoopRun + 1698 (in CoreFoundation) [0x7fff86e867a2] 16 mach_msg_trap + 10 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff8786ce3a] Kernel stack: 16 ipc_mqueue_receive_continue + 0 [0x210aa3] Thread 7560000 User stack: 16 thread_start + 13 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff878a5e41] 16 _pthread_start + 331 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff878a5f8e] 16 _io_pm_force_active_settings + 2266 (in PowerManagement) [0x10050f968] 16 CFRunLoopRun + 70 (in CoreFoundation) [0x7fff86e859b6] 16 CFRunLoopRunSpecific + 575 (in CoreFoundation) [0x7fff86e85c2f] 16 __CFRunLoopRun + 1698 (in CoreFoundation) [0x7fff86e867a2] 16 mach_msg_trap + 10 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff8786ce3a] Kernel stack: 16 ipc_mqueue_receive_continue + 0 [0x210aa3] Thread 75817a8 User stack: 16 thread_start + 13 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff878a5e41] 16 _pthread_start + 331 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff878a5f8e] 16 select$DARWIN_EXTSN + 10 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff878b09e2] Kernel stack: 16 sleep + 52 [0x487f93] Thread 8b1db7c User stack: 16 start_wqthread + 13 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff87886a55] 16 __workq_kernreturn + 10 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff878869da] Kernel stack: 16 workqueue_thread_yielded + 562 [0x4cb6ae] Binary Images: 0x100000000 - 0x100026ff7 configd ??? (???) <58C02CBA-5556-4CDC-2763-814C4C7175DE> /usr/libexec/configd 0x10050c000 - 0x10051dfff com.apple.SystemConfiguration.PowerManagement 160.0.0 (160.0.0) <0AC3D2ED-919E-29C7-9EEF-629FBDDA6159> /System/Library/SystemConfiguration/PowerManagement.bundle/Contents/MacOS/PowerManagement 0x7fff86e3b000 - 0x7fff86faeff7 com.apple.CoreFoundation 6.6.1 (550.13) <1E952BD9-37C6-16BE-B2F0-CD92A6283D37> /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreFoundation.framework/Versions/A/CoreFoundation 0x7fff8786c000 - 0x7fff87a2aff7 libSystem.B.dylib ??? (???) <526DD3E5-2A8B-4512-ED97-01B832369959> /usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib Process: coreaudiod [114] Path: /usr/sbin/coreaudiod UID: 202 Thread 83b93d4 DispatchQueue 1 User stack: 16 ??? (in coreaudiod + 3252) [0x100000cb4] 16 ??? (in coreaudiod + 26505) [0x100006789] 16 CFRunLoopRunSpecific + 575 (in CoreFoundation) [0x7fff86e85c2f] 16 __CFRunLoopRun + 1698 (in CoreFoundation) [0x7fff86e867a2] 16 mach_msg_trap + 10 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff8786ce3a] Kernel stack: 16 ipc_mqueue_receive_continue + 0 [0x210aa3] Thread 847e3d4 DispatchQueue 2 User stack: 16 start_wqthread + 13 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff87886a55] 16 _pthread_wqthread + 353 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff87886bb8] 16 _dispatch_worker_thread2 + 244 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff87887286] 16 _dispatch_queue_invoke + 185 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff8788775c] 16 kevent + 10 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff87885bba] Kernel stack: 16 kevent + 97 [0x471745] Thread 854c000 User stack: 3 start_wqthread + 13 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff87886a55] 3 __workq_kernreturn + 10 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff878869da] Kernel stack: 3 workqueue_thread_yielded + 562 [0x4cb6ae] Binary Images: 0x100000000 - 0x10001ffef coreaudiod ??? (???) <A060D20F-A6A7-A3AE-84EC-11D7D7DDEBC6> /usr/sbin/coreaudiod 0x7fff86e3b000 - 0x7fff86faeff7 com.apple.CoreFoundation 6.6.1 (550.13) <1E952BD9-37C6-16BE-B2F0-CD92A6283D37> /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreFoundation.framework/Versions/A/CoreFoundation 0x7fff8786c000 - 0x7fff87a2aff7 libSystem.B.dylib ??? (???) <526DD3E5-2A8B-4512-ED97-01B832369959> /usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib Process: coreservicesd [66] Path: /System/Library/CoreServices/coreservicesd UID: 0 Thread 7994000 DispatchQueue 1 User stack: 16 ??? (in coreservicesd + 3756) [0x100000eac] 16 _CoreServicesServerMain + 522 (in CarbonCore) [0x7fff8327a972] 16 CFRunLoopRun + 70 (in CoreFoundation) [0x7fff86e859b6] 16 CFRunLoopRunSpecific + 575 (in CoreFoundation) [0x7fff86e85c2f] 16 __CFRunLoopRun + 1698 (in CoreFoundation) [0x7fff86e867a2] 16 mach_msg_trap + 10 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff8786ce3a] Kernel stack: 16 ipc_mqueue_receive_continue + 0 [0x210aa3] Thread 76227a8 User stack: 16 thread_start + 13 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff878a5e41] 16 _pthread_start + 331 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff878a5f8e] 16 read + 10 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff87877426] Kernel stack: 16 lo64_unix_scall + 77 [0x29e3fd] 16 unix_syscall64 + 617 [0x4ee947] 16 read_nocancel + 158 [0x496add] 16 write + 312 [0x49634d] 16 get_pathbuff + 3054 [0x3023db] 16 tsleep + 105 [0x4881ce] 16 wakeup + 786 [0x487da7] 16 thread_block + 33 [0x226fb5] 16 thread_block_reason + 331 [0x226f27] 16 thread_dispatch + 1950 [0x226c88] 16 machine_switch_context + 753 [0x2a5a37] Thread 7622b7c User stack: 16 thread_start + 13 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff878a5e41] 16 _pthread_start + 331 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff878a5f8e] 16 fmodWatchConsumer + 347 (in CarbonCore) [0x7fff8322f23f] 16 __semwait_signal + 10 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff878a79ee] Kernel stack: 16 semaphore_wait_continue + 0 [0x22a0a5] Thread 79913d4 User stack: 16 start_wqthread + 13 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff87886a55] 16 _pthread_wqthread + 353 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff87886bb8] 16 _dispatch_worker_thread2 + 244 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff87887286] 16 _dispatch_queue_invoke + 185 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff8788775c] 16 kevent + 10 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff87885bba] Kernel stack: 16 kevent + 97 [0x471745] Thread 84d2b7c User stack: 16 start_wqthread + 13 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff87886a55] 16 __workq_kernreturn + 10 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff878869da] Kernel stack: 16 workqueue_thread_yielded + 562 [0x4cb6ae] Thread 9b643d4 User stack: 15 start_wqthread + 13 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff87886a55] 15 __workq_kernreturn + 10 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff878869da] Kernel stack: 16 workqueue_thread_yielded + 562 [0x4cb6ae] Binary Images: 0x100000000 - 0x100000fff coreservicesd ??? (???) <D804E55B-4376-998C-AA25-2ADBFDD24414> /System/Library/CoreServices/coreservicesd 0x7fff831cb000 - 0x7fff834fdfef com.apple.CoreServices.CarbonCore 861.2 (861.2) <39F3B259-AC2A-792B-ECFE-4F3E72F2D1A5> /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/CarbonCore.framework/Versions/A/CarbonCore 0x7fff86e3b000 - 0x7fff86faeff7 com.apple.CoreFoundation 6.6.1 (550.13) <1E952BD9-37C6-16BE-B2F0-CD92A6283D37> /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreFoundation.framework/Versions/A/CoreFoundation 0x7fff8786c000 - 0x7fff87a2aff7 libSystem.B.dylib ??? (???) <526DD3E5-2A8B-4512-ED97-01B832369959> /usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib Process: cron [31] Path: /usr/sbin/cron UID: 0 Thread 75acb7c DispatchQueue 1 User stack: 16 ??? (in cron + 2872) [0x100000b38] 16 ??? (in cron + 3991) [0x100000f97] 16 sleep + 61 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff878f5090] 16 __semwait_signal + 10 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff878a79ee] Kernel stack: 16 semaphore_wait_continue + 0 [0x22a0a5] Binary Images: 0x100000000 - 0x100006fff cron ??? (???) <3C5DCC7E-B6E8-1318-8E00-AB721270BFD4> /usr/sbin/cron 0x7fff8786c000 - 0x7fff87a2aff7 libSystem.B.dylib ??? (???) <526DD3E5-2A8B-4512-ED97-01B832369959> /usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib Process: cvmsServ [104] Path: /System/Library/Frameworks/OpenGL.framework/Versions/A/Libraries/cvmsServ UID: 0 Thread 761f3d4 DispatchQueue 1 User stack: 16 ??? (in cvmsServ + 4100) [0x100001004] 16 ??? (in cvmsServ + 23081) [0x100005a29] 16 mach_msg_server + 597 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff878ea1c8] 16 mach_msg_trap + 10 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff8786ce3a] Kernel stack: 16 ipc_mqueue_receive_continue + 0 [0x210aa3] Binary Images: 0x100000000 - 0x100008fff cvmsServ ??? (???) <6200AD80-4159-5656-8736-B72B7388C461> /System/Library/Frameworks/OpenGL.framework/Versions/A/Libraries/cvmsServ 0x7fff8786c000 - 0x7fff87a2aff7 libSystem.B.dylib ??? (???) <526DD3E5-2A8B-4512-ED97-01B832369959> /usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib Process: DirectoryService [11] Path: /usr/sbin/DirectoryService UID: 0 Thread 70db7a8 DispatchQueue 1 User stack: 16 start + 52 (in DirectoryService) [0x10000da74] 16 main + 3086 (in DirectoryService) [0x10000e68a] 16 CFRunLoopRun + 70 (in CoreFoundation) [0x7fff86e859b6] 16 CFRunLoopRunSpecific + 575 (in CoreFoundation) [0x7fff86e85c2f] 16 __CFRunLoopRun + 1698 (in CoreFoundation) [0x7fff86e867a2] 16 mach_msg_trap + 10 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff8786ce3a] Kernel stack: 16 ipc_mqueue_receive_continue + 0 [0x210aa3] Thread <multiple> DispatchQueue 6 User stack: 17 start_wqthread + 13 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff87886a55] 17 _pthread_wqthread + 353 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff87886bb8] 16 _dispatch_worker_thread2 + 231 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff87887279] 16 _dispatch_call_block_and_release + 15 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff878a8ce8] 16 syscall + 10 (in libSystem.B.dylib) [0x7fff878a92da] 1 _disp

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TCP RST Reset Every 5 Minutes on Windows 2003 sp2

- by Dan

Hey, Recently I had a web developer come to me and ask why he was receiving connection errors in his app that was accessing a sql database. So, I went through my normal trouble shooting steps to isolate or reproduce the issue. I discovered that if I connected to the database using Query Analyzer and let the connection idle for 5 minutes it would disconnect. Meaning... I would no longer be able to refresh my tables or any other object/node within the object browser in Query Analyzer. I would have to right click on the instance and refresh for it to re-establish the connection. Next I went to wireshark and ran a capture on the client pc's nic card. Sure enough it was receiving a TCP RST reset every 5 min if the connection idled longer than 5 min. I also ran a capture on the SQL Server and noticed the TCP RST reset command as well. Attached below is the capture from the client Machine. If someone could please assist... That would be great. -I checked all settings within SQL Server 2000 against another server and they all seem to be the same. -Issue does not occur if I connect to any other SQL server 2000 server. -Issue does not occur if connecting to SQL on the server itself... so only over the network. -I consulted with network team and this is the response back: There are no firewalls or proxies in between SQL Server and your desktop. The traffic flows like this: Desktop-Access Switch-Distro Switch-Core Switch-Datacenter Switch-SQL Server None of the switches have security ACL’s configured on them. Also they stated that NAT was not turned on. -Issue does not occur with SQL server Enterprise Manager. -Ran SQL Profiler at the same time and did not see anything out of the ordinary during the RST I HAVE SEARCHED HIGH AND LOW ON GOOGLE FOR A RESOLUTION FOR THIS ISSUE. NO LUCK! My questions are: What could be causing this? Wrong Sequence number? setting in a router or switch the network team may have over looked? Setting within Windows? Setting within SQL Server 2000 that I have over looked? Better way to utilize Wireshark to find more answers? RST is about 10 from the bottom. No. Time Source Destination Protocol Info 258 24.390708 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP 14488 > 2226 [SYN] Seq=0 Len=0 MSS=1260 259 24.401679 x.x.x.10 x.x.x.99 TCP 2226 > 14488 [SYN, ACK] Seq=0 Ack=1 Win=64240 Len=0 MSS=1460 260 24.401729 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP 14488 > 2226 [ACK] Seq=1 Ack=1 Win=65535 [TCP CHECKSUM INCORRECT] Len=0 261 24.402212 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP 14488 > 2226 [PSH, ACK] Seq=1 Ack=1 Win=65535 [TCP CHECKSUM INCORRECT] Len=42 262 24.413335 x.x.x.10 x.x.x.99 TCP 2226 > 14488 [PSH, ACK] Seq=1 Ack=43 Win=64198 Len=37 285 24.466512 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP 14488 > 2226 [ACK] Seq=43 Ack=38 Win=65498 [TCP CHECKSUM INCORRECT] Len=1260 286 24.466536 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP 14488 > 2226 [PSH, ACK] Seq=1303 Ack=38 Win=65498 [TCP CHECKSUM INCORRECT] Len=437 289 24.478168 x.x.x.10 x.x.x.99 TCP 2226 > 14488 [ACK] Seq=38 Ack=1740 Win=64240 Len=0 290 24.480078 x.x.x.10 x.x.x.99 TCP 2226 > 14488 [PSH, ACK] Seq=38 Ack=1740 Win=64240 Len=385 293 24.493629 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP 14488 > 2226 [PSH, ACK] Seq=1740 Ack=423 Win=65113 [TCP CHECKSUM INCORRECT] Len=60 294 24.504637 x.x.x.10 x.x.x.99 TCP 2226 > 14488 [PSH, ACK] Seq=423 Ack=1800 Win=64180 Len=17 295 24.533197 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP 14488 > 2226 [PSH, ACK] Seq=1800 Ack=440 Win=65096 [TCP CHECKSUM INCORRECT] Len=44 296 24.544098 x.x.x.10 x.x.x.99 TCP 2226 > 14488 [PSH, ACK] Seq=440 Ack=1844 Win=64136 Len=17 297 24.544524 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP 14488 > 2226 [PSH, ACK] Seq=1844 Ack=457 Win=65079 [TCP CHECKSUM INCORRECT] Len=58 298 24.558033 x.x.x.10 x.x.x.99 TCP 2226 > 14488 [PSH, ACK] Seq=457 Ack=1902 Win=64078 Len=31 299 24.558493 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP 14488 > 2226 [PSH, ACK] Seq=1902 Ack=488 Win=65048 [TCP CHECKSUM INCORRECT] Len=92 300 24.569984 x.x.x.10 x.x.x.99 TCP 2226 > 14488 [PSH, ACK] Seq=488 Ack=1994 Win=63986 Len=70 301 24.577395 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP 14488 > 2226 [PSH, ACK] Seq=1994 Ack=558 Win=64978 [TCP CHECKSUM INCORRECT] Len=448 303 24.589834 x.x.x.10 x.x.x.99 TCP 2226 > 14488 [PSH, ACK] Seq=558 Ack=2442 Win=63538 Len=64 304 24.590122 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP 14488 > 2226 [FIN, ACK] Seq=2442 Ack=622 Win=64914 [TCP CHECKSUM INCORRECT] Len=0 305 24.601094 x.x.x.10 x.x.x.99 TCP 2226 > 14488 [ACK] Seq=622 Ack=2443 Win=63538 Len=0 306 24.601659 x.x.x.10 x.x.x.99 TCP 2226 > 14488 [FIN, ACK] Seq=622 Ack=2443 Win=63538 Len=0 307 24.601686 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP 14488 > 2226 [ACK] Seq=2443 Ack=623 Win=64914 [TCP CHECKSUM INCORRECT] Len=0 321 25.839371 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP 14492 > 2226 [SYN] Seq=0 Len=0 MSS=1260 322 25.850291 x.x.x.10 x.x.x.99 TCP 2226 > 14492 [SYN, ACK] Seq=0 Ack=1 Win=64240 Len=0 MSS=1460 323 25.850321 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP 14492 > 2226 [ACK] Seq=1 Ack=1 Win=65535 [TCP CHECKSUM INCORRECT] Len=0 324 25.850660 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP 14492 > 2226 [PSH, ACK] Seq=1 Ack=1 Win=65535 [TCP CHECKSUM INCORRECT] Len=42 325 25.861573 x.x.x.10 x.x.x.99 TCP 2226 > 14492 [PSH, ACK] Seq=1 Ack=43 Win=64198 Len=37 326 25.863103 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP 14492 > 2226 [ACK] Seq=43 Ack=38 Win=65498 [TCP CHECKSUM INCORRECT] Len=1260 327 25.863130 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP 14492 > 2226 [PSH, ACK] Seq=1303 Ack=38 Win=65498 [TCP CHECKSUM INCORRECT] Len=463 328 25.874417 x.x.x.10 x.x.x.99 TCP 2226 > 14492 [ACK] Seq=38 Ack=1766 Win=64240 Len=0 329 25.876315 x.x.x.10 x.x.x.99 TCP 2226 > 14492 [PSH, ACK] Seq=38 Ack=1766 Win=64240 Len=385 330 25.876905 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP 14492 > 2226 [PSH, ACK] Seq=1766 Ack=423 Win=65113 [TCP CHECKSUM INCORRECT] Len=60 331 25.887773 x.x.x.10 x.x.x.99 TCP 2226 > 14492 [PSH, ACK] Seq=423 Ack=1826 Win=64180 Len=17 332 25.888299 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP 14492 > 2226 [PSH, ACK] Seq=1826 Ack=440 Win=65096 [TCP CHECKSUM INCORRECT] Len=44 333 25.899169 x.x.x.10 x.x.x.99 TCP 2226 > 14492 [PSH, ACK] Seq=440 Ack=1870 Win=64136 Len=17 334 25.899574 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP 14492 > 2226 [PSH, ACK] Seq=1870 Ack=457 Win=65079 [TCP CHECKSUM INCORRECT] Len=58 335 25.910618 x.x.x.10 x.x.x.99 TCP 2226 > 14492 [PSH, ACK] Seq=457 Ack=1928 Win=64078 Len=31 336 25.911051 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP 14492 > 2226 [PSH, ACK] Seq=1928 Ack=488 Win=65048 [TCP CHECKSUM INCORRECT] Len=92 337 25.922068 x.x.x.10 x.x.x.99 TCP 2226 > 14492 [PSH, ACK] Seq=488 Ack=2020 Win=63986 Len=70 338 25.922500 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP 14492 > 2226 [PSH, ACK] Seq=2020 Ack=558 Win=64978 [TCP CHECKSUM INCORRECT] Len=34 339 25.933621 x.x.x.10 x.x.x.99 TCP 2226 > 14492 [PSH, ACK] Seq=558 Ack=2054 Win=63952 Len=29 340 25.941165 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP 14492 > 2226 [PSH, ACK] Seq=2054 Ack=587 Win=64949 [TCP CHECKSUM INCORRECT] Len=54 341 25.952164 x.x.x.10 x.x.x.99 TCP 2226 > 14492 [PSH, ACK] Seq=587 Ack=2108 Win=63898 Len=17 342 25.952993 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP 14492 > 2226 [PSH, ACK] Seq=2108 Ack=604 Win=64932 [TCP CHECKSUM INCORRECT] Len=72 343 25.963889 x.x.x.10 x.x.x.99 TCP 2226 > 14492 [PSH, ACK] Seq=604 Ack=2180 Win=63826 Len=17 344 25.964366 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP 14492 > 2226 [PSH, ACK] Seq=2180 Ack=621 Win=64915 [TCP CHECKSUM INCORRECT] Len=52 345 25.975253 x.x.x.10 x.x.x.99 TCP 2226 > 14492 [PSH, ACK] Seq=621 Ack=2232 Win=63774 Len=17 346 25.975590 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP 14492 > 2226 [PSH, ACK] Seq=2232 Ack=638 Win=64898 [TCP CHECKSUM INCORRECT] Len=32 347 25.986588 x.x.x.10 x.x.x.99 TCP 2226 > 14492 [PSH, ACK] Seq=638 Ack=2264 Win=63742 Len=167 348 25.987262 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP 14492 > 2226 [PSH, ACK] Seq=2264 Ack=805 Win=64731 [TCP CHECKSUM INCORRECT] Len=512 349 25.998464 x.x.x.10 x.x.x.99 TCP 2226 > 14492 [PSH, ACK] Seq=805 Ack=2776 Win=63230 Len=89 350 25.998861 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP 14492 > 2226 [PSH, ACK] Seq=2776 Ack=894 Win=64642 [TCP CHECKSUM INCORRECT] Len=46 351 26.009849 x.x.x.10 x.x.x.99 TCP 2226 > 14492 [PSH, ACK] Seq=894 Ack=2822 Win=63184 Len=17 352 26.010175 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP 14492 > 2226 [PSH, ACK] Seq=2822 Ack=911 Win=64625 [TCP CHECKSUM INCORRECT] Len=80 353 26.021220 x.x.x.10 x.x.x.99 TCP 2226 > 14492 [PSH, ACK] Seq=911 Ack=2902 Win=63104 Len=33 354 26.022613 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP 14492 > 2226 [PSH, ACK] Seq=2902 Ack=944 Win=64592 [TCP CHECKSUM INCORRECT] Len=498 355 26.034018 x.x.x.10 x.x.x.99 TCP 2226 > 14492 [PSH, ACK] Seq=944 Ack=3400 Win=64240 Len=89 356 26.046501 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP 14493 > 2226 [SYN] Seq=0 Len=0 MSS=1260 357 26.057323 x.x.x.10 x.x.x.99 TCP 2226 > 14493 [SYN, ACK] Seq=0 Ack=1 Win=64240 Len=0 MSS=1460 358 26.057355 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP 14493 > 2226 [ACK] Seq=1 Ack=1 Win=65535 [TCP CHECKSUM INCORRECT] Len=0 359 26.057661 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP 14493 > 2226 [PSH, ACK] Seq=1 Ack=1 Win=65535 [TCP CHECKSUM INCORRECT] Len=42 361 26.068606 x.x.x.10 x.x.x.99 TCP 2226 > 14493 [PSH, ACK] Seq=1 Ack=43 Win=64198 Len=37 362 26.070087 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP 14493 > 2226 [ACK] Seq=43 Ack=38 Win=65498 [TCP CHECKSUM INCORRECT] Len=1260 363 26.070113 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP 14493 > 2226 [PSH, ACK] Seq=1303 Ack=38 Win=65498 [TCP CHECKSUM INCORRECT] Len=485 364 26.081336 x.x.x.10 x.x.x.99 TCP 2226 > 14493 [ACK] Seq=38 Ack=1788 Win=64240 Len=0 365 26.083330 x.x.x.10 x.x.x.99 TCP 2226 > 14493 [PSH, ACK] Seq=38 Ack=1788 Win=64240 Len=385 366 26.083943 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP 14493 > 2226 [PSH, ACK] Seq=1788 Ack=423 Win=65113 [TCP CHECKSUM INCORRECT] Len=46 368 26.094921 x.x.x.10 x.x.x.99 TCP 2226 > 14493 [PSH, ACK] Seq=423 Ack=1834 Win=64194 Len=17 369 26.095317 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP 14493 > 2226 [PSH, ACK] Seq=1834 Ack=440 Win=65096 [TCP CHECKSUM INCORRECT] Len=48 370 26.107553 x.x.x.10 x.x.x.99 TCP 2226 > 14493 [PSH, ACK] Seq=440 Ack=1882 Win=64146 Len=877 371 26.241285 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP 14492 > 2226 [ACK] Seq=3400 Ack=1033 Win=64503 [TCP CHECKSUM INCORRECT] Len=0 372 26.241307 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP 14493 > 2226 [ACK] Seq=1882 Ack=1317 Win=65535 [TCP CHECKSUM INCORRECT] Len=0 653 55.913838 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP [TCP Keep-Alive] 14492 > 2226 [ACK] Seq=3399 Ack=1033 Win=64503 Len=1 654 55.924547 x.x.x.10 x.x.x.99 TCP [TCP Keep-Alive ACK] 2226 > 14492 [ACK] Seq=1033 Ack=3400 Win=64240 Len=0 910 85.887176 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP [TCP Keep-Alive] 14492 > 2226 [ACK] Seq=3399 Ack=1033 Win=64503 Len=1 911 85.898010 x.x.x.10 x.x.x.99 TCP [TCP Keep-Alive ACK] 2226 > 14492 [ACK] Seq=1033 Ack=3400 Win=64240 Len=0 1155 115.859520 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP [TCP Keep-Alive] 14492 2226 [ACK] Seq=3399 Ack=1033 Win=64503 Len=1 1156 115.870285 x.x.x.10 x.x.x.99 TCP [TCP Keep-Alive ACK] 2226 14492 [ACK] Seq=1033 Ack=3400 Win=64240 Len=0 1395 145.934403 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP [TCP Keep-Alive] 14492 2226 [ACK] Seq=3399 Ack=1033 Win=64503 Len=1 1396 145.945938 x.x.x.10 x.x.x.99 TCP [TCP Keep-Alive ACK] 2226 14492 [ACK] Seq=1033 Ack=3400 Win=64240 Len=0 1649 175.906767 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP [TCP Keep-Alive] 14492 2226 [ACK] Seq=3399 Ack=1033 Win=64503 Len=1 1650 175.917741 x.x.x.10 x.x.x.99 TCP [TCP Keep-Alive ACK] 2226 14492 [ACK] Seq=1033 Ack=3400 Win=64240 Len=0 1887 205.881080 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP [TCP Keep-Alive] 14492 2226 [ACK] Seq=3399 Ack=1033 Win=64503 Len=1 1888 205.891818 x.x.x.10 x.x.x.99 TCP [TCP Keep-Alive ACK] 2226 14492 [ACK] Seq=1033 Ack=3400 Win=64240 Len=0 2112 235.854408 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP [TCP Keep-Alive] 14492 2226 [ACK] Seq=3399 Ack=1033 Win=64503 Len=1 2113 235.865482 x.x.x.10 x.x.x.99 TCP [TCP Keep-Alive ACK] 2226 14492 [ACK] Seq=1033 Ack=3400 Win=64240 Len=0 2398 265.928342 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP [TCP Keep-Alive] 14492 2226 [ACK] Seq=3399 Ack=1033 Win=64503 Len=1 2399 265.939242 x.x.x.10 x.x.x.99 TCP [TCP Keep-Alive ACK] 2226 14492 [ACK] Seq=1033 Ack=3400 Win=64240 Len=0 2671 295.900714 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP [TCP Keep-Alive] 14492 2226 [ACK] Seq=3399 Ack=1033 Win=64503 Len=1 2672 295.911590 x.x.x.10 x.x.x.99 TCP [TCP Keep-Alive ACK] 2226 14492 [ACK] Seq=1033 Ack=3400 Win=64240 Len=0 2880 315.705029 x.x.x.10 x.x.x.99 TCP 2226 14493 [RST] Seq=1317 Len=0 2973 325.975607 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP [TCP Keep-Alive] 14492 2226 [ACK] Seq=3399 Ack=1033 Win=64503 Len=1 2974 325.986337 x.x.x.10 x.x.x.99 TCP [TCP Keep-Alive ACK] 2226 14492 [ACK] Seq=1033 Ack=3400 Win=64240 Len=0 2975 326.154327 x.x.x.10 x.x.x.99 TCP [TCP Keep-Alive] 2226 14492 [ACK] Seq=1032 Ack=3400 Win=64240 Len=1 2976 326.154350 x.x.x.99 x.x.x.10 TCP [TCP Keep-Alive ACK] 14492 2226 [ACK] Seq=3400 Ack=1033 Win=64503 [TCP CHECKSUM INCORRECT] Len=0

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Windows CE Chat Transcript (March 30, 2010)

- by Bruce Eitman

For those of you who missed the chat today, here is the raw transcript. By raw, I mean that I copied and pasted the discussion without any edits. This is divided into two parts, the top part is the answers from the Microsoft Experts and the bottom part is the questions from the audience. Answers from Microsoft: Karel Danihelka [MS] (Expert)[2010-3-30 12:2]: Hi everyone, my name is Karel Danihelka and I am developer in partner response team. Sing Wee [MS] (Expert)[2010-3-30 12:2]: Hi, I'm Sing Wee, part of the CoreOS/BSP Test Team. GLanger_MS (Expert)[2010-3-30 12:2]: Hi, I'm Glen Langer, program manager on the Core Team. Karel Danihelka [MS] (Expert)[2010-3-30 12:3]: Q: I need to implement hardware timers on my windows CE 6.0 device to trigger events at microsecond intervals. Where should i start? A: Until you are using CPU with GHz frequency your only chance is use interrupt handler and implement all funcionality there. But it will be really tricky and may reduce system performance. If period will be near to millisecond timeframe you can use normal thread wait for event pattern. Karel Danihelka [MS] (Expert)[2010-3-30 12:5]: Q: I want to partition my NAND Flash device. One partition to use for hive ragistry and the other for the apps and data. The only way to do it is programmatically or setting some registry values ? A: It need to be set in registry - generally you need mark this partition as boot partition. Karel Danihelka [MS] (Expert)[2010-3-30 12:7]: Q: My CPU is Intel celeron M processor 1Ghz. A: In this case you can try use normal approach - in interrupt handler return SYSINTR and start thread in device driver which will spin thread waiting on event attached to this SYSINTR. Karel Danihelka [MS] (Expert)[2010-3-30 12:7]: Q: If i need to implement it using interrupt handlers, What are all the files that I should look at? A: Good quesiton - I would recommend documentation and there was BSP development book to download for free. mikehall_ms (Moderator)[2010-3-30 12:8]: Q: Hi guys, what's the formal way to report bugs back to the core team / product team? The mechanism of calling the support phone number every time is really onerous and time-consuming. Is there another mechanism? A: Using product support is the formal way to report bugs/issues - Product support can then create an issue that can be tracked. Karel Danihelka [MS] (Expert)[2010-3-30 12:9]: Q: But the operation for creating the partitions ? A: This is tricky - if you will make it autopartition & autoformat it will be created by filesystem. But generally it depends on your boot loader. mikehall_ms (Moderator)[2010-3-30 12:10]: Q: Is Windows Phone 7 related to Windows CE? If so, can you tell me what version of Windows CE is the basis? Is it in fact the new version of Windows Mobile? A: At MIX 2010 Charlie Kindel presented a session that described some of the core technologies that make up Windows Phone 7 Series, including the underlying operating system (Windows CE) and the new ISV programming model based on Silverlight and .NET - check out the Mix Online Videos to get more information. davbo-msft (Moderator)[2010-3-30 12:10]: Q: Is Windows Phone 7 related to Windows CE? If so, can you tell me what version of Windows CE is the basis? Is it in fact the new version of Windows Mobile? A: This forum is to discussed released products in the industry. Windows Mobile & Windows CE are based on the same Windows CE Kernel/system. Windows CE is focused on deliverying the OS for embedded customers in the market where Windows Mobile is focused on deliverying compelling Windows Phone platform. davbo-msft (Moderator)[2010-3-30 12:11]: Q: Is Windows Phone 7 related to Windows CE? If so, can you tell me what version of Windows CE is the basis? Is it in fact the new version of Windows Mobile? A: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_CE Wikipedia gives a good breakdown of the version history. Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[2010-3-30 12:13]: Q: I created a OS design with KITL and kernel debugger enabled. But I am unable to connect to the target for debugging. I am getting the following error when i try to connect with the device. PB Debugger Cannot initialize the Kernel Debugger. PB Debugger Debugger could not initialize connection. PB Debugger The Kernel Debugger is waiting to connect with target. PB Debugger The Kernel Debugger has been disconnected successfully. A: One possibility is that a rogue cesvchost.exe has co-opted the debugger. I am assuming this is CE 6.0? Can you try exiting visual studio and manually killing the cesvchost.exe process from the Task Manager? davbo-msft (Moderator)[2010-3-30 12:14]: Q: Hi guys, what's the formal way to report bugs back to the core team / product team? The mechanism of calling the support phone number every time is really onerous and time-consuming. Is there another mechanism? A: For info on contacting Microsoft support refer to the support page on the Embedded website: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsembedded/dd897633.aspx Sing Wee [MS] (Expert)[2010-3-30 12:16]: Q: Do u mean ISR/IST implementation? How can i register an interrupt? What kind of interrupt should i register? A: A good introduction to interrupts in WinCE 6.0 can be found here (aside from the documentation on MSDN): http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/c/f/9cffaa58-4000-48d6-a4b2-5fed9e4e6410/Chapter%206%20-%20Developing%20Device%20Drivers.pdf mikehall_ms (Moderator)[2010-3-30 12:16]: Q: What will be different in Windows Compact 7 from CE 6.0? A: Unfortunately we cannot discuss unreleased products on this chat - keep an eye on the Windows Embedded web site and blogs to keep up to date with product announcements. Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[2010-3-30 12:16]: Q: I am using CE 6.0. There is no cesvchost process running in my system. A: What operating system are you using? Karel Danihelka [MS] (Expert)[2010-3-30 12:16]: Q: So...I have to modify file system code to create 2 partition at system startup ?!! I haven't understood.... A: You don't need to modify code, there are registry settings to achive this (look to documentation). But you may need to create partition table in boot loader. Unfortunatelly there isn't simple way how to do it. davbo-msft (Moderator)[2010-3-30 12:18]: Q: I would like to get a handle to a Silverlight screen section, is that possiable? A: Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R3 includes Sliverlight for Windows Embedded. Refer to New Features overview on the embedded web site. http://www.microsoft.com/windowsembedded/en-us/products/windowsce/default.mspx. Silverlight - The power of Silverlight brought to Windows Embedded CE to create rich applications and user interfaces is new part of Windows CE Embedded. mikehall_ms (Moderator)[2010-3-30 12:20]: Q: The link for developing device drivers is not working. can u please check that? A: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms923714.aspx davbo-msft (Moderator)[2010-3-30 12:20]: Q: I would like to get a handle to a Silverlight screen section, is that possiable? A: Sorry misunderstood the question I thought you were asking if embedded CE could handle Silverlight. Please repost so that the question goes back into the active queue because once answered no way to put the status back to open. Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[2010-3-30 12:21]: Q: sorry! Windows XP SP3 A: Can you try exiting VS2005 and confirming cesvchost.exe is not running, then renaming C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\CoreCon\1.0 to 1.0_backup, then restarting VS2005? Sing Wee [MS] (Expert)[2010-3-30 12:24]: Q: Can I have the book's name please? A: I believe the downloadable version is related to the last link I sent. If you go to the following website, I believe you can download the whole thing: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsembedded/ce/cc294468.aspx davbo-msft (Moderator)[2010-3-30 12:24]: Q: If one has an image on a Silverlight page, it seems to be cached. How would one refresh that cache after changing the underlying image? A: change the URI of the image or use a writeable bitmap if they want to manually toggle the pixels Sing Wee [MS] (Expert)[2010-3-30 12:25]: A: Whoops, hit [ENTER] too early. On the right side, you'll see there an "Exam Preparation Kit" link that can be downloaded in several different languages. Sing Wee [MS] (Expert)[2010-3-30 12:25]: Q: Can I have the book's name please? A: Whoops, hit [ENTER] too early. On the right side, you'll see there an "Exam Preparation Kit" link that can be downloaded in several different languages. Karel Danihelka [MS] (Expert)[2010-3-30 12:26]: Q: I have a NAND Flash on my target device. On this flash I have the hive registry and an application.I have observed that when the NAND flash is fully, the system startup time is longer....is there a degradation of NAND use that influences the startup time ? Why ? A: Yes - on boot flash abstraction library (old one) read metadata from all sectors to rebuild physical - logical mapping table. davbo-msft (Moderator)[2010-3-30 12:27]: Q: I would like to get a handle to a Silverlight screen section, is that possiable? A: Need addition info on this question. Can you provide more details on what you are trying to do in Silverlight? davbo-msft (Moderator)[2010-3-30 12:27]: Q: If one has an image on a Silverlight page, it seems to be cached. How would one refresh that cache after changing the underlying image? A: Additonal Info: if you want to manually touch the pixels use WriteableBitmap if you want to use the underlying HWND then use IXRVisualHost::GetHWND() davbo-msft (Moderator)[2010-3-30 12:28]: Q: Writable bitmap, is there an example of the syntax? A: if you want to manually touch the pixels use WriteableBitmap if you want to use the underlying HWND then use IXRVisualHost::GetHWND() davbo-msft (Moderator)[2010-3-30 12:29]: Q: I would like to get a handle to a Silverlight screen section, is that possiable? A: Can I get more information about this question about what you are trying to accomplish in Silverlight? davbo-msft (Moderator)[2010-3-30 12:31]: Q: IXRVisualHost::GetHWND() exactly what I needed Thanks, A: Your welcome Sing Wee [MS] (Expert)[2010-3-30 12:31]: Q: ok. thanks for the book's link A: No problem. Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[2010-3-30 12:32]: Q: Typically for SoC devices you name your hardware specific libraries in the form "SOCDIRNAME_LIBNAME". In our platform "OMAP35XX_TPS659XX_TI_V1" if you do this we cause the catalog parser to die... For example if we have a library "Musbfn_OMAP35XX_TPS659XX_TI_V1.dll" entering this in the catalogs pbcxml file in a <module> section causes the XML parser to fail with : Error 3 The 'urn:Microsoft.PlatformBuilder/Catalog:Module' element is invalid - The value '012345678901234567890123456789.dll' is invalid according to its datatype 'urn:Microsoft.PlatformBuilder/Catalog:CatalogFileName' - The actual length is greater than the MaxLength value. A: There are a couple workarounds I can think of. I believe the Module element is only used when doing SYSGEN parsing to make sure dependent SYSGENs are present when the item is selected, so I believe it is optional to the catalog. The other obvious workaround is to shorten the soc name. I realize neither of these solutions is ideal. This is not something we anticipated when we tested CE6.0, sorry. Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[2010-3-30 12:33]: Q: I am getting this error only when I select the KdStub as the debugger in Target device connectivity. A: Right, but KdStub is the debugger that you should use. Have you tried the steps I suggested? Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[2010-3-30 12:36]: Q: If I select Active KTIL, My OS doesn't boots. It says "loading NK.EXE at 0x<xxxxx> location" after that nothing comes in the debug log. A: Can you look at the serial debug output and see what is happening there? Often it can give you a clue to the KITL driver malfunctioning. Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[2010-3-30 12:38]: Q: I have tried that and I am getting the same error. A: I am assuming you have a device created in Target -> Connectivity Options in Platform Builder. What are the Kernel download / Kernel transport for your device? Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[2010-3-30 12:40]: Q: KITL: *** Device Name CEPC56059 *** WARN: KITL will run in polling mode VBridge:: built on [Jul 10 2009] time [10:20:14] VBridgeInit()...TX = [16384] bytes -- Rx = [16384] bytes Tx buffer [0xA1B84860] to [0xA1B88860]. Rx buffer [0xA1B88880] to [0xA1B8C880]. VBridge:: NK add MAC: [0-60-65-2-DA-FB] Connecting to Desktop KITL: Connected host IP: 1 Port: 1086 .. this is the output of the serial debug A: This looks reasonable and does not give clues as to why boot would halt at that point. If you capture a network trace or turn on KITL debug zones via dpCurSettings in kitl.dll, do you see KITL active after this? Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[2010-3-30 12:41]: Q: Both is happening via Ethernet. A: Only thing I have left to suggest is a Platform Builder installation Repair, then. Karel Danihelka [MS] (Expert)[2010-3-30 12:42]: Q: Hi, I saw that the ATADISK is quite generic and des not have any optimizations. Do you have any advice to consider while tryin to improve the performance of it? A: If I remember correctly sample code has support for some specific hardware controllers (little obsolete now). This should be good start point (if you will not decide take existing driver as sample and write you own). Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[2010-3-30 12:44]: Q: I didn't do that. I have to try. A: I think that's the next valid step. You need to figure out whether KITL is hanging or the device - use instrumented serial debug messages and network trace to determine this. Sing Wee [MS] (Expert)[2010-3-30 12:46]: Q: KITL: *** Device Name CEPC56059 *** WARN: KITL will run in polling mode VBridge:: built on [Jul 10 2009] time [10:20:14] VBridgeInit()...TX = [16384] bytes -- Rx = [16384] bytes Tx buffer [0xA1B84860] to [0xA1B88860]. Rx buffer [0xA1B88880] to [0xA1B8C880]. VBridge:: NK add MAC: [0-60-65-2-DA-FB] Connecting to Desktop KITL: Connected host IP: 1 Port: 1086 .. this is the output of the serial debug A: Neo, have you by any chance tried looking into your firewall to see if it might be blocking traffic on any particular ports? Wireshark/netmon might be able to help you here if that's the issue. davbo-msft (Moderator)[2010-3-30 12:48]: Q: I lost spell check, how can i get it back A: Hello - can you give additional details about your question? Is this related to a Windows CE Embedded application? masatos_MSFT (Expert)[2010-3-30 12:51]: Q: When attempting to run the CETK cellcore tests the documentation states the pre-requisites include "stinger.ini", "ltk.ini" but windows CE doesn't provide these or document what they fully need to contain. Implicitly you also need "datatrans.xml" which isn't supplied. If you get around this error and steal these from Windows Mobile instead, when you try and run the CETK tests you get a data abort in radiometricsdll.dll. How should we invoke the cellcore parts of CETK? A: Hi Pev, what version of Windows CE and CETK are you using? I do not have the expertise to answer this question, but can find somebody who can. Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[2010-3-30 12:52]: Q: I don't see a kitlcore.dll in my OS. is my debug image fails to load because of that? A: kitl.dll should be all that's needed, kitlcore.lib is linked into that. Travis Hobrla [MS] (Expert)[2010-3-30 12:55]: Q: I've got a platform (not developed by myself) where I2C bus support has to be provided through the OAL as the kernel needs to talk to devices such as the power management IC and gas gauge so a 'proper' I2C driver hanging off device manager isn't possible. This happens to be a polled driver, so obviously it hits the system hard when either under lots of traffic or an error condition occurs and the driver constantly polls. I originally thought that there was no straightforward way to make such code interrupt driven in the kernel (as it's a cludge) but I realised that that's exactly what ETHDBG drivers do. Is there any reason why I shouldn't have a go at implementing a similar mechanism for our kernel resident I2C driver? If not, are there any obvious pitfalls - I've not seen any other BSP's do this in the past... A: You can make a 'proper' driver that calls down into the OAL to do the actual I2C transactions. Alternatively you can build an interrupt-based version in the OAL where you handle everything in the ISR. There is nothing wrong with that so long as the rest of your drivers and app threads can handle longer times with interrupts off while you are servicing I2C interrupts. Sing Wee [MS] (Expert)[2010-3-30 12:55]: Q: I am having trouble with my mouse, I have the microsoft wireless mobile mouse 3000, when I push the scroll button I am suppose to have autoscroll instead it shows other web pages,Can you help me out tell me what to do!!! A: Sorry, this current chat is about Windows Embedded Compact. Hope you're able to find an answer to your question elsewhere. davbo-msft (Moderator)[2010-3-30 12:56]: Q: Is the Silverlight Animation "Spline" a BezierSpline? A: Spline - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee501495.aspx<BR< a>> masatos_MSFT (Expert)[2010-3-30 12:57]: Thanks for the info Pev. I will follow up with the CETK experts here and get back to you. davbo-msft (Moderator)[2010-3-30 12:59]: Q: Spline- bad link A: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee501495.aspx davbo-msft (Moderator)[2010-3-30 13:0]: Q: Sorry, got to tirm the ">" A: No Worries http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee501495.aspx davbo-msft (Moderator)[2010-3-30 13:0]: Hello everyone, we are just about out of time. Thank you for joining us for our Windows Embedded CE 6.0 chat today! <http://www.Microsoft.com/Embedded>; A special thank you to the product group members for coming out. The transcript of today’s chat will be posted online as soon as possible, to <http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/chats>;. We’ll see you again for another chat next month. Please check <http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/chats>; for the list of upcoming chats. If you still have unanswered questions, let me suggest that you post them on one of our newsgroups on <http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsembedded/ce/default.aspx> -Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R3 Now Available! <http://msdn.microsoft.com/windowsembedded/ce/dd630616.aspx>; davbo-msft (Moderator)[2010-3-30 13:1]: Q: hi everybody. I would like to know if there is something know about a bug in RTC API (VOIP), especially when using SIP. According the to the analysis with application verifyier there is a heap link in rtcdllmedia.dll. All of the unreleased chunks seem to have a size of 6560 bytes. A: I will follow up with the Networking Team for a response. davbo-msft (Moderator)[2010-3-30 13:1]: Q: Hi, we've problems with debugging of applications (= breakpoints in Platform Builder will be ignored) over KITL on Windows CE 5.0, if the PDB files are large (over 60MB). Are there any limitations to size of the PDB files? A: I will follow up with the tools team for a response and post with the transcript. Sing Wee [MS] (Expert)[2010-3-30 13:1]: Q: I am unable to use the target control in my development environment. any ideas? A: Make sure you have SYSGEN_SHELL=1 set in your build environment. davbo-msft (Moderator)[2010-3-30 13:3]: Q: what are the main differences between Object Store and RAM disk ? They are both in RAM...are there performance differences ? access differences ? A: I will follow up with the Core Team and get a response posted with the transcript to MSDN The Questions [2010-3-30 12:57]: Thanks for the info Pev. I will follow up with the CETK experts here and get back to you. [2010-3-30 12:59]: [2010-3-30 13:0]: [2010-3-30 13:0]: Hello everyone, we are just about out of time. Thank you for joining us for our Windows Embedded CE 6.0 chat today! <http://www.Microsoft.com/Embedded>; A special thank you to the product group members for coming out. The transcript of today’s chat will be posted online as soon as possible, to <http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/chats>;. We’ll see you again for another chat next month. Please check <http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/chats>; for the list of upcoming chats. If you still have unanswered questions, let me suggest that you post them on one of our newsgroups on <http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsembedded/ce/default.aspx> -Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R3 Now Available! <http://msdn.microsoft.com/windowsembedded/ce/dd630616.aspx>; [2010-3-30 13:1]: [2010-3-30 13:1]: [2010-3-30 13:1]: [2010-3-30 13:3]: neo (Guest)[2010-3-30 11:37]: Hi all KellyG (Guest)[2010-3-30 11:37]: Hi KellyG (Guest)[2010-3-30 11:37]: I have a question unrelated to windows Ce embedded, can you please help me?? neo (Guest)[2010-3-30 11:38]: I need to implement hardware timers on my windows CE 6.0 device to trigger events at microsecond intervals! c neo (Guest)[2010-3-30 11:38]: yes. post it. May be i cud give a try KellyG (Guest)[2010-3-30 11:38]: My Product key listed on my tower is not the product key I need for microsoft office, but that is the only product key listed. neo (Guest)[2010-3-30 11:39]: I hope this is a chat for windows embedded. please post ur queries in office forums KellyG (Guest)[2010-3-30 11:39]: it is but i could not find a forum for office neo (Guest)[2010-3-30 11:40]: I think moderators will help u out. @ davbo-msft: can u help this guy? neo (Guest)[2010-3-30 11:41]: Q: I need to implement hardware timers on my windows CE 6.0 device to trigger events at microsecond intervals. Where should i start? davbo-msft (Moderator)[2010-3-30 11:50]: Our chat today covers the topic of Windows Embedded CE! 1. This chat will last for one hour. During this hour, our Experts will respond to as many questions as they can. Please understand that there may be some questions we cannot respond to due to lack of information or because the information is not yet public. 2. We encourage you to submit questions for our Experts. To do so, type your questions in the send box, select the “ask the Experts” box and click SEND. Questions sent directly to the Guest Chat room will not be answered by the Experts, but we encourage other community members to assist. 3. We ask that you stay on topic for the duration of the chat. This helps the Guests and Experts follow the conversation more easily. We invite you to ask off topic questions after this chat is over, but not during. 4. Please abide by the Chat Code of Conduct. Chat code of conduct: <http://msdn.microsoft.com/chats/chatroom.aspx?ctl=hlp#Conduct>; Pev (Guest)[2010-3-30 11:54]: Evening! davbo-msft (Moderator)[2010-3-30 11:54]: Hello everyone this is Dave Boyce - I worked in the Multimedia area for Windows CE. neo (Guest)[2010-3-30 11:55]: hello dave neo (Guest)[2010-3-30 11:55]: The chat code of conduct link is not working! Pev (Guest)[2010-3-30 11:56]: Best be polite just in case then ;-) neo (Guest)[2010-3-30 11:56]: davbo-msft (Moderator)[2010-3-30 11:57]: I'll check out the issue w/ the link paolopat (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:0]: Hello davbo-msft (Moderator)[2010-3-30 12:0]: We are pleased to welcome our Experts for today’s chat. I will have them introduce themselves now. Chat will begin in a couple of minutes. <http://www.Microsoft.com/Embedded>; paolopat (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:3]: Hello Experts ! neo (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:3]: Welcome all! paolopat (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:3]: Q: I want to partition my NAND Flash device. One partition to use for hive ragistry and the other for the apps and data. The only way to do it is programmatically or setting some registry values ? neo (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:3]: Q: I need to implement hardware timers on my windows CE 6.0 device to trigger events at microsecond intervals. Where should i start? neo (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:5]: Q: My CPU is Intel celeron M processor 1Ghz. Pev (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:5]: neo: if your silicon has multiple general purpose timers, pick one that's not in use for the system timer / profiler and set it up to trigger irqs for your purpose. You can't guarantee hard realtime type responses though... GarySwalling (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:5]: Q: Is Windows Phone 7 related to Windows CE? If so, can you tell me what version of Windows CE is the basis? Is it in fact the new version of Windows Mobile? Pev (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:6]: Q: Hi guys, what's the formal way to report bugs back to the core team / product team? The mechanism of calling the support phone number every time is really onerous and time-consuming. Is there another mechanism? paolopat (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:6]: Q: But the operation for creating the partitions ? neo (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:6]: Q: If i need to implement it using interrupt handlers, What are all the files that I should look at? GPM (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:6]: Q: I would like to get a handle to a Silverlight screen section, is that possiable? Jhony (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:7]: Q: I created a OS design with KITL and kernel debugger enabled. But I am unable to connect to the target for debugging. I am getting the following error when i try to connect with the device. PB Debugger Cannot initialize the Kernel Debugger. PB Debugger Debugger could not initialize connection. PB Debugger The Kernel Debugger is waiting to connect with target. PB Debugger The Kernel Debugger has been disconnected successfully. Charles (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:7]: What will be different in Windows Compact 7 from CE 6.0? neo (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:8]: Can I have the book's name please? kiefs_dev (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:8]: Q: hi everybody. I would like to know if there is something know about a bug in RTC API (VOIP), especially when using SIP. According the to the analysis with application verifyier there is a heap link in rtcdllmedia.dll. All of the unreleased chunks seem to have a size of 6560 bytes. paolopat (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:10]: Q: So...I have to modify file system code to create 2 partition at system startup ?!! I haven't understood.... neo (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:10]: Q: Do u mean ISR/IST implementation? How can i register an interrupt? What kind of interrupt should i register? neo (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:11]: Q: Can I have the book's name please? Charles (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:11]: Q: What will be different in Windows Compact 7 from CE 6.0? PaulT (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:11]: neo: I'd say that you really need the docs for YOUR BSP, not generic documents for BSPs in general. Each BSP may be architected differently. If you're using the CEPC BSP, then the documentation that comes with Platform Builder is a reasonable place to look. GPM (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:11]: Q: If one has an image on a Silverlight page, it seems to be cached. How would one refresh that cache after changing the underlying image? Elektrobit (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:12]: Q: Hi, we've problems with debugging of applications (= breakpoints in Platform Builder will be ignored) over KITL on Windows CE 5.0, if the PDB files are large (over 60MB). Are there any limitations to size of the PDB files? Jhony (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:15]: Q: I am using CE 6.0. There is no cesvchost process running in my system. alexquisi (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:15]: Q: Hi, I saw that the ATADISK is quite generic and des not have any optimizations. Do you have any advice to consider while tryin to improve the performance of it? Jhony (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:17]: Windows XP service pack 1 Jhony (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:17]: Q: sorry! Windows XP SP3 neo (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:19]: Q: The link for developing device drivers is not working. can u please check that? paolopat (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:20]: Q: I have a NAND Flash on my target device. On this flash I have the hive registry and an application.I have observed that when the NAND flash is fully, the system startup time is longer....is there a degradation of NAND use that influences the startup time ? Why ? Pev (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:20]: Q: When attempting to run the CETK cellcore tests the documentation states the pre-requisites include "stinger.ini", "ltk.ini" but windows CE doesn't provide these or document what they fully need to contain. Implicitly you also need "datatrans.xml" which isn't supplied. If you get around this error and steal these from Windows Mobile instead, when you try and run the CETK tests you get a data abort in radiometricsdll.dll. How should we invoke the cellcore parts of CETK? Pev (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:21]: Hi all, Pev (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:21]: oops Pev (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:21]: :-D Pev (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:24]: Typically for SoC devices you name your hardware specific libraries in the form "SOCDIRNAME_LIBNAME". In our platform "OMAP35XX_TPS659XX_TI_V1" if you do this we cause the catalog parser to die... For example if we have a library "Musbfn_OMAP35XX_TPS659XX_TI_V1.dll" entering this in the catalogs pbcxml file in a <module> section causes the XML parser to fail with : Pev (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:25]: Q: Error 3 The 'urn:Microsoft.PlatformBuilder/Catalog:Module' element is invalid - The value '012345678901234567890123456789.dll' is invalid according to its datatype 'urn:Microsoft.PlatformBuilder/Catalog:CatalogFileName' - The actual length is greater than the MaxLength value. GPM (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:25]: Q: Writable bitmap, is there an example of the syntax? Pev (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:25]: Q: Typically for SoC devices you name your hardware specific libraries in the form "SOCDIRNAME_LIBNAME". In our platform "OMAP35XX_TPS659XX_TI_V1" if you do this we cause the catalog parser to die... For example if we have a library "Musbfn_OMAP35XX_TPS659XX_TI_V1.dll" entering this in the catalogs pbcxml file in a <module> section causes the XML parser to fail with : Error 3 The 'urn:Microsoft.PlatformBuilder/Catalog:Module' element is invalid - The value '012345678901234567890123456789.dll' is invalid according to its datatype 'urn:Microsoft.PlatformBuilder/Catalog:CatalogFileName' - The actual length is greater than the MaxLength value. Pev (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:25]: sorry, messed up submission there! GPM (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:26]: Q: I would like to get a handle to a Silverlight screen section, is that possiable? GPM (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:28]: Q: IXRVisualHost::GetHWND() exactly what I needed Thanks, PaulT (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:29]: GPM: You don't have to keep submitting the questions. The chat experts have an application that they're using to follow the chat and all Ask the Experts questions are logged. Jhony (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:29]: Q: I am getting this error only when I select the KdStub as the debugger in Target device connectivity. neo (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:30]: Q: ok. thanks for the book's link Pev (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:31]: Hm, did those two I submitted get picked up by anyone? neo (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:33]: Q: If I select Active KTIL, My OS doesn't boots. It says "loading NK.EXE at 0x<xxxxx> location" after that nothing comes in the debug log. PaulT (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:34]: Pev: PaulT (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:35]: Pev: I'm sure they did. The guys who are actually on the chat may not be experts in that part of things. That's usually the explanation when you don't get an answer in 10 minutes or so. Pev (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:36]: Ah, fair enough Susie (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:36]: My Outlook Express incoming mail is corrput. No ONE has been able to fix the problem, Dell or Norton. I have dial up I'm in a rural area Jhony (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:37]: Q: I have tried that and I am getting the same error. Pev (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:37]: Susie : Use Thunderbird instead :-D PaulT (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:37]: Susie: Sorry, but this chat is not about Windows, but Embedded (like what runs on a phone). Your best chance is to find a local expert or talk to your ISP. paolopat (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:37]: Q: what are the main differences between Object Store and RAM disk ? They are both in RAM...are there performance differences ? access differences ? Susie (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:38]: My computer knowlege is very limited, what is Thunderbird? Pev (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:38]: A different email client :-D neo (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:39]: Q: KITL: *** Device Name CEPC56059 *** WARN: KITL will run in polling mode VBridge:: built on [Jul 10 2009] time [10:20:14] VBridgeInit()...TX = [16384] bytes -- Rx = [16384] bytes Tx buffer [0xA1B84860] to [0xA1B88860]. Rx buffer [0xA1B88880] to [0xA1B8C880]. VBridge:: NK add MAC: [0-60-65-2-DA-FB] Connecting to Desktop KITL: Connected host IP: 1 Port: 1086 .. this is the output of the serial debug Susie (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:39]: Do I need to uninstall Outlook Express youngboyzie (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:39]: I need to start battery calibration for my new battery for my dell inspiron 1525 laptop and should be able to reach the BIOS screen by hitting f2 but this isnt working... help? Pev (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:39]: Nah, you can run it instead - you'll still need help from your ISP to configure it I expect Jhony (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:39]: Q: Both is happening via Ethernet. PaulT (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:40]: youngboyzie: You're off-topic. This is not a general chat for Windows and certainly not for Dell. You'll have to ask Dell how to get to setup; it's their machine. bill (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:41]: I lost spell check, how can i get et back neo (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:42]: Q: I didn't do that. I have to try. Jhony (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:43]: Q: Ok. I will do it then. bill (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:43]: Q: I lost spell check, how can i get it back PaulT (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:44]: bill: This isn't a general Windows chat. There are some Web forums that you might try. GarySwalling (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:45]: Q: Thanks, I found the Phone 7 presentation at http://live.visitmix.com/MIX10/Sessions/CL13 GPM (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:45]: Q: Is the Silverlight Animation "Spline" a BezierSpline? neo (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:46]: Q: ok. I'll do it. thanks Pev (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:46]: Whowever was asking about KITL connection : I've had this loads in the past. I think I started debugging last time by using wireshark to see what was happening on the network then setting up the OAL_ETHER and OAL_FUNC and OAL_VERBOSE as well as OAL_KITL flags to see what was actually happening in the driver.... Pev (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:47]: I'd generally make sure that you're testing though a 10baseT hub (instead of anything faster) and forcing Active KITL in polled mode too... neo (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:48]: Q: I disabled the firewall in my PC. Pev (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:50]: Q: I've got a platform (not developed by myself) where I2C bus support has to be provided through the OAL as the kernel needs to talk to devices such as the power management IC and gas gauge so a 'proper' I2C driver hanging off device manager isn't possible. This happens to be a polled driver, so obviously it hits the system hard when either under lots of traffic or an error condition occurs and the driver constantly polls. I originally thought that there was no straightforward way to make such code interrupt driven in the kernel (as it's a cludge) but I realised that that's exactly what ETHDBG drivers do. Is there any reason why I shouldn't have a go at implementing a similar mechanism for our kernel resident I2C driver? If not, are there any obvious pitfalls - I've not seen any other BSP's do this in the past... neo (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:51]: Q: I don't see a kitlcore.dll in my OS. is my debug image fails to load because of that? Pev (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:52]: Q: Hi masatos, I'm using Windows Embedded CE 6.0 with R3 and patched to feb 2010's QFE's (with it's associated CETK version) this is a machine with only CE 6.0 on (no conflicts with earlier CE or WM...) neo (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:54]: ok. Got it neo (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:54]: Q: ok. Got it Roundman (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:55]: Q: I am having trouble with my mouse, I have the microsoft wireless mobile mouse 3000, when I push the scroll button I am suppose to have autoscroll instead it shows other web pages,Can you help me out tell me what to do!!! Pev (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:55]: Hey neo, debugging kitl issues is really frustrating but dont lose heart :-) neo (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:55]: @ pev : u fixed the problem of KITL after that? neo (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:56]: I am getting the same error again and again. I even cleaned my environment and tried in a fresh PC. But didn't succeed yet Pev (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:56]: Well, eventually - my experiences probably won't help you as different platforms have different reasons for doing that neo (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:56]: I think so PaulT (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:58]: neo: Have you searched the old messages in microsoft.public.windowsce.platbuilder? It seems to me that there was a packet size situation where it was possible to have problems with KITL connections based on a setting on the PC. Google Groups, groups.google.com, Advanced Groups Search will allow you to search a single newsgroup or a set of newsgroups easily. GPM (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:58]: Q: Spline- bad link PaulT (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:58]: GPM: without the > at the end does it work? It seems to for me... neo (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:58]: But some times if i try to connect to the device again. The Image information is seen in the serial debug. what does that mean?Download BIN file information: ----------------------------------------------------- [0]: Base Address=0x220000 Length=0x18DAADC Received a broadcast message !CheckUDP: Not UDP (proto = 0x00000001) after this i am getting the old errors. PB debugger cannot initialize ... GPM (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:59]: Q: Sorry, got to tirm the ">" neo (Guest)[2010-3-30 12:59]: ok paul. I ll look into that. davbo-msft (Moderator)[2010-3-30 13:0]: Hello everyone, we are just about out of time. Thank you for joining us for our Windows Embedded CE 6.0 chat today! <http://www.Microsoft.com/Embedded>; A special thank you to the product group members for coming out. The transcript of today’s chat will be posted online as soon as possible, to <http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/chats>;. We’ll see you again for another chat next month. Please check <http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/chats>; for the list of upcoming chats. If you still have unanswered questions, let me suggest that you post them on one of our newsgroups on <http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsembedded/ce/default.aspx> -Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R3 Now Available! <http://msdn.microsoft.com/windowsembedded/ce/dd630616.aspx>; neo (Guest)[2010-3-30 13:1]: Q: I am unable to use the target control in my development environment. any ideas? Pev (Guest)[2010-3-30 13:1]: Sure, if KITL isn't connected target control won't work as it runs over kitl... neo (Guest)[2010-3-30 13:1]: ok .thanks pev neo (Guest)[2010-3-30 13:2]: yes. sysgen_shell is set to 1 neo (Guest)[2010-3-30 13:2]: Q: yes. sysgen_shell is set to 1 Marcelovk (Guest)[2010-3-30 13:2]: Q: Is there any way to extract the default command lines of the tests in CETK? I want to have it running unconnected from the desktop. Copyright © 2010 – Bruce Eitman All Rights Reserved

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Table sorting & pagination with jQuery and Razor in ASP.NET MVC

- by hajan

Introduction jQuery enjoys living inside pages which are built on top of ASP.NET MVC Framework. The ASP.NET MVC is a place where things are organized very well and it is quite hard to make them dirty, especially because the pattern enforces you on purity (you can still make it dirty if you want so ;) ). We all know how easy is to build a HTML table with a header row, footer row and table rows showing some data. With ASP.NET MVC we can do this pretty easy, but, the result will be pure HTML table which only shows data, but does not includes sorting, pagination or some other advanced features that we were used to have in the ASP.NET WebForms GridView. Ok, there is the WebGrid MVC Helper, but what if we want to make something from pure table in our own clean style? In one of my recent projects, I’ve been using the jQuery tablesorter and tablesorter.pager plugins that go along. You don’t need to know jQuery to make this work… You need to know little CSS to create nice design for your table, but of course you can use mine from the demo… So, what you will see in this blog is how to attach this plugin to your pure html table and a div for pagination and make your table with advanced sorting and pagination features. Demo Project Resources The resources I’m using for this demo project are shown in the following solution explorer window print screen: Content/images – folder that contains all the up/down arrow images, pagination buttons etc. You can freely replace them with your own, but keep the names the same if you don’t want to change anything in the CSS we will built later. Content/Site.css – The main css theme, where we will add the theme for our table too Controllers/HomeController.cs – The controller I’m using for this project Models/Person.cs – For this demo, I’m using Person.cs class Scripts – jquery-1.4.4.min.js, jquery.tablesorter.js, jquery.tablesorter.pager.js – required script to make the magic happens Views/Home/Index.cshtml – Index view (razor view engine) the other items are not important for the demo. ASP.NET MVC 1. Model In this demo I use only one Person class which defines Person entity with several properties. You can use your own model, maybe one which will access data from database or any other resource. Person.cs public class Person { public string Name { get; set; } public string Surname { get; set; } public string Email { get; set; } public int? Phone { get; set; } public DateTime? DateAdded { get; set; } public int? Age { get; set; } public Person(string name, string surname, string email, int? phone, DateTime? dateadded, int? age) { Name = name; Surname = surname; Email = email; Phone = phone; DateAdded = dateadded; Age = age; } } 2. View In our example, we have only one Index.chtml page where Razor View engine is used. Razor view engine is my favorite for ASP.NET MVC because it’s very intuitive, fluid and keeps your code clean. 3. Controller Since this is simple example with one page, we use one HomeController.cs where we have two methods, one of ActionResult type (Index) and another GetPeople() used to create and return list of people. HomeController.cs public class HomeController : Controller { // // GET: /Home/ public ActionResult Index() { ViewBag.People = GetPeople(); return View(); } public List<Person> GetPeople() { List<Person> listPeople = new List<Person>(); listPeople.Add(new Person("Hajan", "Selmani", "[email protected]", 070070070,DateTime.Now, 25)); listPeople.Add(new Person("Straight", "Dean", "[email protected]", 123456789, DateTime.Now.AddDays(-5), 35)); listPeople.Add(new Person("Karsen", "Livia", "[email protected]", 46874651, DateTime.Now.AddDays(-2), 31)); listPeople.Add(new Person("Ringer", "Anne", "[email protected]", null, DateTime.Now, null)); listPeople.Add(new Person("O'Leary", "Michael", "[email protected]", 32424344, DateTime.Now, 44)); listPeople.Add(new Person("Gringlesby", "Anne", "[email protected]", null, DateTime.Now.AddDays(-9), 18)); listPeople.Add(new Person("Locksley", "Stearns", "[email protected]", 2135345, DateTime.Now, null)); listPeople.Add(new Person("DeFrance", "Michel", "[email protected]", 235325352, DateTime.Now.AddDays(-18), null)); listPeople.Add(new Person("White", "Johnson", null, null, DateTime.Now.AddDays(-22), 55)); listPeople.Add(new Person("Panteley", "Sylvia", null, 23233223, DateTime.Now.AddDays(-1), 32)); listPeople.Add(new Person("Blotchet-Halls", "Reginald", null, 323243423, DateTime.Now, 26)); listPeople.Add(new Person("Merr", "South", "[email protected]", 3232442, DateTime.Now.AddDays(-5), 85)); listPeople.Add(new Person("MacFeather", "Stearns", "[email protected]", null, DateTime.Now, null)); return listPeople; } } TABLE CSS/HTML DESIGN Now, lets start with the implementation. First of all, lets create the table structure and the main CSS. 1. HTML Structure @{ Layout = null; } <!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <title>ASP.NET & jQuery</title>  </head> <body> <div> <table class="tablesorter"> <thead> <tr> <th> value </th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td>value</td> </tr> </tbody> <tfoot> <tr> <th> value </th> </tr> </tfoot> </table> <div id="pager"> </div> </div> </body> </html> So, this is the main structure you need to create for each of your tables where you want to apply the functionality we will create. Of course the scripts are referenced once ;). As you see, our table has class tablesorter and also we have a div with id pager. In the next steps we will use both these to create the needed functionalities. The complete Index.cshtml coded to get the data from controller and display in the page is: <body> <div> <table class="tablesorter"> <thead> <tr> <th>Name</th> <th>Surname</th> <th>Email</th> <th>Phone</th> <th>Date Added</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> @{ foreach (var p in ViewBag.People) { <tr> <td>@p.Name</td> <td>@p.Surname</td> <td>@p.Email</td> <td>@p.Phone</td> <td>@p.DateAdded</td> </tr> } } </tbody> <tfoot> <tr> <th>Name</th> <th>Surname</th> <th>Email</th> <th>Phone</th> <th>Date Added</th> </tr> </tfoot> </table> <div id="pager" style="position: none;"> <form> <img src="@Url.Content("~/Content/images/first.png")" class="first" /> <img src="@Url.Content("~/Content/images/prev.png")" class="prev" /> <input type="text" class="pagedisplay" /> <img src="@Url.Content("~/Content/images/next.png")" class="next" /> <img src="@Url.Content("~/Content/images/last.png")" class="last" /> <select class="pagesize"> <option selected="selected" value="5">5</option> <option value="10">10</option> <option value="20">20</option> <option value="30">30</option> <option value="40">40</option> </select> </form> </div> </div> </body> So, mainly the structure is the same. I have added @Razor code to create table with data retrieved from the ViewBag.People which has been filled with data in the home controller. 2. CSS Design The CSS code I’ve created is: /* DEMO TABLE */ body { font-size: 75%; font-family: Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Sans-Serif; color: #232323; background-color: #fff; } table { border-spacing:0; border:1px solid gray;} table.tablesorter thead tr .header { background-image: url(images/bg.png); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-position: center right; cursor: pointer; } table.tablesorter tbody td { color: #3D3D3D; padding: 4px; background-color: #FFF; vertical-align: top; } table.tablesorter tbody tr.odd td { background-color:#F0F0F6; } table.tablesorter thead tr .headerSortUp { background-image: url(images/asc.png); } table.tablesorter thead tr .headerSortDown { background-image: url(images/desc.png); } table th { width:150px; border:1px outset gray; background-color:#3C78B5; color:White; cursor:pointer; } table thead th:hover { background-color:Yellow; color:Black;} table td { width:150px; border:1px solid gray;} PAGINATION AND SORTING Now, when everything is ready and we have the data, lets make pagination and sorting functionalities 1. jQuery Scripts referencing <link href="@Url.Content("~/Content/Site.css")" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> <script src="@Url.Content("~/Scripts/jquery-1.4.4.min.js")" type="text/javascript"></script> <script src="@Url.Content("~/Scripts/jquery.tablesorter.js")" type="text/javascript"></script> <script src="@Url.Content("~/Scripts/jquery.tablesorter.pager.js")" type="text/javascript"></script> 2. jQuery Sorting and Pagination script <script type="text/javascript"> $(function () { $("table.tablesorter").tablesorter({ widthFixed: true, sortList: [[0, 0]] }) .tablesorterPager({ container: $("#pager"), size: $(".pagesize option:selected").val() }); }); </script> So, with only two lines of code, I’m using both tablesorter and tablesorterPager plugins, giving some options to both these. Options added: tablesorter - widthFixed: true – gives fixed width of the columns tablesorter - sortList[[0,0]] – An array of instructions for per-column sorting and direction in the format: [[columnIndex, sortDirection], ... ] where columnIndex is a zero-based index for your columns left-to-right and sortDirection is 0 for Ascending and 1 for Descending. A valid argument that sorts ascending first by column 1 and then column 2 looks like: [[0,0],[1,0]] (source: http://tablesorter.com/docs/) tablesorterPager – container: $(“#pager”) – tells the pager container, the div with id pager in our case. tablesorterPager – size: the default size of each page, where I get the default value selected, so if you put selected to any other of the options in your select list, you will have this number of rows as default per page for the table too. END RESULTS 1. Table once the page is loaded (default results per page is 5 and is automatically sorted by 1st column as sortList is specified) 2. Sorted by Phone Descending 3. Changed pagination to 10 items per page 4. Sorted by Phone and Name (use SHIFT to sort on multiple columns) 5. Sorted by Date Added 6. Page 3, 5 items per page ADDITIONAL ENHANCEMENTS We can do additional enhancements to the table. We can make search for each column. I will cover this in one of my next blogs. Stay tuned. DEMO PROJECT You can download demo project source code from HERE.CONCLUSION Once you finish with the demo, run your page and open the source code. You will be amazed of the purity of your code.Working with pagination in client side can be very useful. One of the benefits is performance, but if you have thousands of rows in your tables, you will get opposite result when talking about performance. Hence, sometimes it is nice idea to make pagination on back-end. So, the compromise between both approaches would be best to combine both of them. I use at most up to 500 rows on client-side and once the user reach the last page, we can trigger ajax postback which can get the next 500 rows using server-side pagination of the same data. I would like to recommend the following blog post http://weblogs.asp.net/gunnarpeipman/archive/2010/09/14/returning-paged-results-from-repositories-using-pagedresult-lt-t-gt.aspx, which will help you understand how to return page results from repository. I hope this was helpful post for you. Wait for my next posts ;). Please do let me know your feedback. Best Regards, Hajan

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Automating Solaris 11 Zones Installation Using The Automated Install Server

- by Orgad Kimchi

Introduction How to use the Oracle Solaris 11 Automated install server in order to automate the Solaris 11 Zones installation. In this document I will demonstrate how to setup the Automated Install server in order to provide hands off installation process for the Global Zone and two Non Global Zones located on the same system. Architecture layout: Figure 1. Architecture layout Prerequisite Setup the Automated install server (AI) using the following instructions “How to Set Up Automated Installation Services for Oracle Solaris 11” The first step in this setup will be creating two Solaris 11 Zones configuration files. Step 1: Create the Solaris 11 Zones configuration files The Solaris Zones configuration files should be in the format of the zonecfg export command. # zonecfg -z zone1 export > /var/tmp/zone1# cat /var/tmp/zone1 create -b set brand=solaris set zonepath=/rpool/zones/zone1 set autoboot=true set ip-type=exclusive add anet set linkname=net0 set lower-link=auto set configure-allowed-address=true set link-protection=mac-nospoof set mac-address=random end Create a backup copy of this file under a different name, for example, zone2. # cp /var/tmp/zone1 /var/tmp/zone2 Modify the second configuration file with the zone2 configuration information You should change the zonepath for example: set zonepath=/rpool/zones/zone2 Step2: Copy and share the Zones configuration files Create the NFS directory for the Zones configuration files # mkdir /export/zone_config Share the directory for the Zones configuration file # share –o ro /export/zone_config Copy the Zones configuration files into the NFS shared directory # cp /var/tmp/zone1 /var/tmp/zone2 /export/zone_config Verify that the NFS share has been created using the following command # share export_zone_config /export/zone_config nfs sec=sys,ro Step 3: Add the Global Zone as client to the Install Service Use the installadm create-client command to associate client (Global Zone) with the install service To find the MAC address of a system, use the dladm command as described in the dladm(1M) man page. The following command adds the client (Global Zone) with MAC address 0:14:4f:2:a:19 to the s11x86service install service. # installadm create-client -e “0:14:4f:2:a:19" -n s11x86service You can verify the client creation using the following command # installadm list –c Service Name Client Address Arch Image Path ------------ -------------- ---- ---------- s11x86service 00:14:4F:02:0A:19 i386 /export/auto_install/s11x86service We can see the client install service name (s11x86service), MAC address (00:14:4F:02:0A:19 and Architecture (i386). Step 4: Global Zone manifest setup First, get a list of the installation services and the manifests associated with them: # installadm list -m Service Name Manifest Status ------------ -------- ------ default-i386 orig_default Default s11x86service orig_default Default Then probe the s11x86service and the default manifest associated with it. The -m switch reflects the name of the manifest associated with a service. Since we want to capture that output into a file, we redirect the output of the command as follows: # installadm export -n s11x86service -m orig_default > /var/tmp/orig_default.xml Create a backup copy of this file under a different name, for example, orig-default2.xml, and edit the copy. # cp /var/tmp/orig_default.xml /var/tmp/orig_default2.xml Use the configuration element in the AI manifest for the client system to specify non-global zones. Use the name attribute of the configuration element to specify the name of the zone. Use the source attribute to specify the location of the config file for the zone.The source location can be any http:// or file:// location that the client can access during installation. The following sample AI manifest specifies two Non-Global Zones: zone1 and zone2 You should replace the server_ip with the ip address of the NFS server. <!DOCTYPE auto_install SYSTEM "file:///usr/share/install/ai.dtd.1"> <auto_install> <ai_instance> <target> <logical> <zpool name="rpool" is_root="true"> <filesystem name="export" mountpoint="/export"/> <filesystem name="export/home"/> <be name="solaris"/> </zpool> </logical> </target> <software type="IPS"> <source> <publisher name="solaris"> <origin name="http://pkg.oracle.com/solaris/release"/> </publisher> </source> <software_data action="install"> <name>pkg:/entire@latest</name> <name>pkg:/group/system/solaris-large-server</name> </software_data> </software> <configuration type="zone" name="zone1" source="file:///net/server_ip/export/zone_config/zone1"/> <configuration type="zone" name="zone2" source="file:///net/server_ip/export/zone_config/zone2"/> </ai_instance> </auto_install> The following example adds the /var/tmp/orig_default2.xml AI manifest to the s11x86service install service # installadm create-manifest -n s11x86service -f /var/tmp/orig_default2.xml -m gzmanifest You can verify the manifest creation using the following command # installadm list -n s11x86service -m Service/Manifest Name Status Criteria --------------------- ------ -------- s11x86service orig_default Default None gzmanifest Inactive None We can see from the command output that the new manifest named gzmanifest has been created and associated with the s11x86service install service. Step 5: Non Global Zone manifest setup The AI manifest for non-global zone installation is similar to the AI manifest for installing the global zone. If you do not provide a custom AI manifest for a non-global zone, the default AI manifest for Zones is used The default AI manifest for Zones is available at /usr/share/auto_install/manifest/zone_default.xml. In this example we should use the default AI manifest for zones The following sample default AI manifest for zones # cat /usr/share/auto_install/manifest/zone_default.xml <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>  <!DOCTYPE auto_install SYSTEM "file:///usr/share/install/ai.dtd.1"> <auto_install> <ai_instance name="zone_default"> <target> <logical> <zpool name="rpool">  <filesystem name="export" mountpoint="/export"/> <filesystem name="export/home"/> <be name="solaris"> <options> <option name="compression" value="on"/> </options> </be> </zpool> </logical> </target> <software type="IPS"> <destination> <image>  <facet set="false">facet.locale.*</facet> <facet set="true">facet.locale.de</facet> <facet set="true">facet.locale.de_DE</facet> <facet set="true">facet.locale.en</facet> <facet set="true">facet.locale.en_US</facet> <facet set="true">facet.locale.es</facet> <facet set="true">facet.locale.es_ES</facet> <facet set="true">facet.locale.fr</facet> <facet set="true">facet.locale.fr_FR</facet> <facet set="true">facet.locale.it</facet> <facet set="true">facet.locale.it_IT</facet> <facet set="true">facet.locale.ja</facet> <facet set="true">facet.locale.ja_*</facet> <facet set="true">facet.locale.ko</facet> <facet set="true">facet.locale.ko_*</facet> <facet set="true">facet.locale.pt</facet> <facet set="true">facet.locale.pt_BR</facet> <facet set="true">facet.locale.zh</facet> <facet set="true">facet.locale.zh_CN</facet> <facet set="true">facet.locale.zh_TW</facet> </image> </destination> <software_data action="install"> <name>pkg:/group/system/solaris-small-server</name> </software_data> </software> </ai_instance> </auto_install> (optional) We can customize the default AI manifest for Zones Create a backup copy of this file under a different name, for example, zone_default2.xml and edit the copy # cp /usr/share/auto_install/manifest/zone_default.xml /var/tmp/zone_default2.xml Edit the copy (/var/tmp/zone_default2.xml) The following example adds the /var/tmp/zone_default2.xml AI manifest to the s11x86service install service and specifies that zone1 and zone2 should use this manifest. # installadm create-manifest -n s11x86service -f /var/tmp/zone_default2.xml -m zones_manifest -c zonename="zone1 zone2" Note: Do not use the following elements or attributes in a non-global zone AI manifest: The auto_reboot attribute of the ai_instance element The http_proxy attribute of the ai_instance element The disk child element of the target element The noswap attribute of the logical element The nodump attribute of the logical element The configuration element Step 6: Global Zone profile setup We are going to create a global zone configuration profile which includes the host information for example: host name, ip address name services etc… # sysconfig create-profile –o /var/tmp/gz_profile.xml You need to provide the host information for example: Default router Root password DNS information The output should eventually disappear and be replaced by the initial screen of the System Configuration Tool (see Figure 2), where you can do the final configuration. Figure 2. Profile creation menu You can validate the profile using the following command # installadm validate -n s11x86service –P /var/tmp/gz_profile.xml Validating static profile gz_profile.xml... Passed Next, instantiate a profile with the install service. In our case, use the following syntax for doing this # installadm create-profile -n s11x86service -f /var/tmp/gz_profile.xml -p gz_profile You can verify profile creation using the following command # installadm list –n s11x86service -p Service/Profile Name Criteria -------------------- -------- s11x86service gz_profile None We can see that the gz_profie has been created and associated with the s11x86service Install service. Step 7: Setup the Solaris Zones configuration profiles The step should be similar to the Global zone profile creation on step 6 # sysconfig create-profile –o /var/tmp/zone1_profile.xml # sysconfig create-profile –o /var/tmp/zone2_profile.xml You can validate the profiles using the following command # installadm validate -n s11x86service -P /var/tmp/zone1_profile.xml Validating static profile zone1_profile.xml... Passed # installadm validate -n s11x86service -P /var/tmp/zone2_profile.xml Validating static profile zone2_profile.xml... Passed Next, associate the profiles with the install service The following example adds the zone1_profile.xml configuration profile to the s11x86service install service and specifies that zone1 should use this profile. # installadm create-profile -n s11x86service -f /var/tmp/zone1_profile.xml -p zone1_profile -c zonename=zone1 The following example adds the zone2_profile.xml configuration profile to the s11x86service install service and specifies that zone2 should use this profile. # installadm create-profile -n s11x86service -f /var/tmp/zone2_profile.xml -p zone2_profile -c zonename=zone2 You can verify the profiles creation using the following command # installadm list -n s11x86service -p Service/Profile Name Criteria -------------------- -------- s11x86service zone1_profile zonename = zone1 zone2_profile zonename = zone2 gz_profile None We can see that we have three profiles in the s11x86service install service Global Zone gz_profile zone1 zone1_profile zone2 zone2_profile. Step 8: Global Zone setup Associate the global zone client with the manifest and the profile that we create in the previous steps The following example adds the manifest and profile to the client (global zone), where: gzmanifest is the name of the manifest. gz_profile is the name of the configuration profile. mac="0:14:4f:2:a:19" is the client (global zone) mac address s11x86service is the install service name. # installadm set-criteria -m gzmanifest –p gz_profile -c mac="0:14:4f:2:a:19" -n s11x86service You can verify the manifest and profile association using the following command # installadm list -n s11x86service -p -m Service/Manifest Name Status Criteria --------------------- ------ -------- s11x86service gzmanifest mac = 00:14:4F:02:0A:19 orig_default Default None Service/Profile Name Criteria -------------------- -------- s11x86service gz_profile mac = 00:14:4F:02:0A:19 zone2_profile zonename = zone2 zone1_profile zonename = zone1 Step 9: Provision the host with the Non-Global Zones The next step is to boot the client system off the network and provision it using the Automated Install service that we just set up. First, boot the client system. Figure 3 shows the network boot attempt (when done on an x86 system): Figure 3. Network Boot Then you will be prompted by a GRUB menu, with a timer, as shown in Figure 4. The default selection (the "Text Installer and command line" option) is highlighted. Press the down arrow to highlight the second option labeled Automated Install, and then press Enter. The reason we need to do this is because we want to prevent a system from being automatically re-installed if it were to be booted from the network accidentally. Figure 4. GRUB Menu What follows is the continuation of a networked boot from the Automated Install server,. The client downloads a mini-root (a small set of files in which to successfully run the installer), identifies the location of the Automated Install manifest on the network, retrieves that manifest, and then processes it to identify the address of the IPS repository from which to obtain the desired software payload. Non-Global Zones are installed and configured on the first reboot after the Global Zone is installed. You can list all the Solaris Zones status using the following command # zoneadm list -civ Once the Zones are in running state you can login into the Zone using the following command # zlogin –z zone1 Troubleshooting Automated Installations If an installation to a client system failed, you can find the client log at /system/volatile/install_log. NOTE: Zones are not installed if any of the following errors occurs: A zone config file is not syntactically correct. A collision exists among zone names, zone paths, or delegated ZFS datasets in the set of zones to be installed Required datasets are not configured in the global zone. For more troubleshooting information see “Installing Oracle Solaris 11 Systems” Conclusion This paper demonstrated the benefits of using the Automated Install server to simplify the Non Global Zones setup, including the creation and configuration of the global zone manifest and the Solaris Zones profiles.

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Garbled text in Screen [closed]

- by Prabin Dahal

The graphical Interface in my system is garbled with some text. At the beginning I thought it was due to java and tomcat that I installed. But after removing java and tomcat, it is still the same. I am using ubuntu server and i have installed xfce desktop environment with oboard softkey I have added my dmesg output to this message. What is the problem here. I am not able to figure it out. Thank you for your help. Prabin [ 0.390936] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbfs [ 0.391006] usbcore: registered new interface driver hub [ 0.391147] usbcore: registered new device driver usb [ 0.391580] PCI: Using ACPI for IRQ routing [ 0.400509] PCI: pci_cache_line_size set to 64 bytes [ 0.400669] reserve RAM buffer: 000000000009ec00 - 000000000009ffff [ 0.400681] reserve RAM buffer: 000000007f597000 - 000000007fffffff [ 0.400699] reserve RAM buffer: 000000007f6f0000 - 000000007fffffff [ 0.401135] NetLabel: Initializing [ 0.401155] NetLabel: domain hash size = 128 [ 0.401168] NetLabel: protocols = UNLABELED CIPSOv4 [ 0.401212] NetLabel: unlabeled traffic allowed by default [ 0.401466] HPET: 3 timers in total, 0 timers will be used for per-cpu timer [ 0.401494] hpet0: at MMIO 0xfed00000, IRQs 2, 8, 0 [ 0.401520] hpet0: 3 comparators, 64-bit 14.318180 MHz counter [ 0.408228] Switching to clocksource hpet [ 0.434341] AppArmor: AppArmor Filesystem Enabled [ 0.434447] pnp: PnP ACPI init [ 0.434531] ACPI: bus type pnp registered [ 0.434784] pnp 00:00: [bus 00-ff] [ 0.434794] pnp 00:00: [io 0x0cf8-0x0cff] [ 0.434804] pnp 00:00: [io 0x0000-0x0cf7 window] [ 0.434813] pnp 00:00: [io 0x0d00-0xffff window] [ 0.434822] pnp 00:00: [mem 0x000a0000-0x000bffff window] [ 0.434831] pnp 00:00: [mem 0x00000000 window] [ 0.434840] pnp 00:00: [mem 0x80000000-0xffffffff window] [ 0.435018] pnp 00:00: Plug and Play ACPI device, IDs PNP0a08 PNP0a03 (active) [ 0.435526] pnp 00:01: [mem 0xe0000000-0xefffffff] [ 0.435537] pnp 00:01: [mem 0x7f700000-0x7f7fffff] [ 0.435545] pnp 00:01: [mem 0x7f800000-0x7fffffff] [ 0.435554] pnp 00:01: [mem 0xfee00000-0xfeefffff] [ 0.435727] system 00:01: [mem 0xe0000000-0xefffffff] has been reserved [ 0.435754] system 00:01: [mem 0x7f700000-0x7f7fffff] has been reserved [ 0.435775] system 00:01: [mem 0x7f800000-0x7fffffff] has been reserved [ 0.435796] system 00:01: [mem 0xfee00000-0xfeefffff] has been reserved [ 0.435818] system 00:01: Plug and Play ACPI device, IDs PNP0c01 (active) [ 0.436233] pnp 00:02: [io 0x0000-0xffffffffffffffff disabled] [ 0.436245] pnp 00:02: [io 0x0000-0xffffffffffffffff disabled] [ 0.436414] system 00:02: Plug and Play ACPI device, IDs PNP0c02 (active) [ 0.436512] pnp 00:03: [io 0x0060] [ 0.436521] pnp 00:03: [io 0x0064] [ 0.436548] pnp 00:03: [irq 1] [ 0.436682] pnp 00:03: Plug and Play ACPI device, IDs PNP0303 PNP030b (active) [ 0.436825] pnp 00:04: [irq 12] [ 0.436958] pnp 00:04: Plug and Play ACPI device, IDs PNP0f03 PNP0f13 (active) [ 0.437835] pnp 00:05: [io 0x03f8-0x03ff] [ 0.437861] pnp 00:05: [irq 4] [ 0.437870] pnp 00:05: [dma 0 disabled] [ 0.438142] pnp 00:05: Plug and Play ACPI device, IDs PNP0501 (active) [ 0.439014] pnp 00:06: [io 0x02f8-0x02ff] [ 0.439036] pnp 00:06: [irq 3] [ 0.439045] pnp 00:06: [dma 0 disabled] [ 0.439297] pnp 00:06: Plug and Play ACPI device, IDs PNP0501 (active) [ 0.439346] pnp 00:07: [io 0x0000-0x000f] [ 0.439355] pnp 00:07: [io 0x0081-0x0083] [ 0.439363] pnp 00:07: [io 0x0087] [ 0.439371] pnp 00:07: [io 0x0089-0x008b] [ 0.439380] pnp 00:07: [io 0x008f] [ 0.439388] pnp 00:07: [io 0x00c0-0x00df] [ 0.439563] system 00:07: Plug and Play ACPI device, IDs PNP0c01 (active) [ 0.439617] pnp 00:08: [io 0x0070-0x0077] [ 0.439639] pnp 00:08: [irq 8] [ 0.439751] pnp 00:08: Plug and Play ACPI device, IDs PNP0b00 (active) [ 0.439788] pnp 00:09: [io 0x0061] [ 0.439893] pnp 00:09: Plug and Play ACPI device, IDs PNP0800 (active) [ 0.439977] pnp 00:0a: [io 0x0010-0x001f] [ 0.439986] pnp 00:0a: [io 0x0022-0x003f] [ 0.439994] pnp 00:0a: [io 0x0044-0x005f] [ 0.440055] pnp 00:0a: [io 0x0063] [ 0.440063] pnp 00:0a: [io 0x0065] [ 0.440071] pnp 00:0a: [io 0x0067-0x006f] [ 0.440079] pnp 00:0a: [io 0x0072-0x007f] [ 0.440086] pnp 00:0a: [io 0x0080] [ 0.440094] pnp 00:0a: [io 0x0084-0x0086] [ 0.440102] pnp 00:0a: [io 0x0088] [ 0.440109] pnp 00:0a: [io 0x008c-0x008e] [ 0.440117] pnp 00:0a: [io 0x0090-0x009f] [ 0.440125] pnp 00:0a: [io 0x00a2-0x00bf] [ 0.440133] pnp 00:0a: [io 0x00e0-0x00ef] [ 0.440141] pnp 00:0a: [io 0x04d0-0x04d1] [ 0.440150] pnp 00:0a: [io 0x0000-0xffffffffffffffff disabled] [ 0.440160] pnp 00:0a: [io 0x0000-0xffffffffffffffff disabled] [ 0.440168] pnp 00:0a: [io 0x03f4] [ 0.440175] pnp 00:0a: [io 0x03f5] [ 0.440183] pnp 00:0a: [io 0x0374] [ 0.440190] pnp 00:0a: [io 0x0375] [ 0.440405] system 00:0a: [io 0x04d0-0x04d1] has been reserved [ 0.440432] system 00:0a: [io 0x03f4] has been reserved [ 0.440451] system 00:0a: [io 0x03f5] has been reserved [ 0.440469] system 00:0a: [io 0x0374] has been reserved [ 0.440488] system 00:0a: [io 0x0375] has been reserved [ 0.440508] system 00:0a: Plug and Play ACPI device, IDs PNP0c02 (active) [ 0.440550] pnp 00:0b: [io 0x00f0-0x00ff] [ 0.440572] pnp 00:0b: [irq 13] [ 0.440691] pnp 00:0b: Plug and Play ACPI device, IDs PNP0c04 (active) [ 0.440770] pnp 00:0c: [io 0x0810] [ 0.440779] pnp 00:0c: [io 0x0800-0x080f] [ 0.440787] pnp 00:0c: [io 0xffff] [ 0.440947] system 00:0c: [io 0x0810] has been reserved [ 0.440970] system 00:0c: [io 0x0800-0x080f] has been reserved [ 0.440989] system 00:0c: [io 0xffff] has been reserved [ 0.441010] system 00:0c: Plug and Play ACPI device, IDs PNP0c02 (active) [ 0.441620] pnp 00:0d: [io 0x0900-0x097f] [ 0.441630] pnp 00:0d: [io 0x09c0-0x09ff] [ 0.441639] pnp 00:0d: [io 0x0400-0x043f] [ 0.441647] pnp 00:0d: [io 0x0480-0x04bf] [ 0.441656] pnp 00:0d: [mem 0xfec00000-0xfec85fff] [ 0.441664] pnp 00:0d: [mem 0xfed1c000-0xfed1ffff] [ 0.441673] pnp 00:0d: [mem 0x000c0000-0x000dffff] [ 0.441689] pnp 00:0d: [mem 0x000e0000-0x000effff] [ 0.441697] pnp 00:0d: [mem 0x000f0000-0x000fffff] [ 0.441706] pnp 00:0d: [mem 0xff800000-0xffffffff] [ 0.441911] system 00:0d: [io 0x0900-0x097f] has been reserved [ 0.441935] system 00:0d: [io 0x09c0-0x09ff] has been reserved [ 0.441955] system 00:0d: [io 0x0400-0x043f] has been reserved [ 0.441975] system 00:0d: [io 0x0480-0x04bf] has been reserved [ 0.441997] system 00:0d: [mem 0xfec00000-0xfec85fff] could not be reserved [ 0.442019] system 00:0d: [mem 0xfed1c000-0xfed1ffff] has been reserved [ 0.442040] system 00:0d: [mem 0x000c0000-0x000dffff] could not be reserved [ 0.442061] system 00:0d: [mem 0x000e0000-0x000effff] could not be reserved [ 0.442082] system 00:0d: [mem 0x000f0000-0x000fffff] could not be reserved [ 0.442103] system 00:0d: [mem 0xff800000-0xffffffff] has been reserved [ 0.442126] system 00:0d: Plug and Play ACPI device, IDs PNP0c01 (active) [ 0.442308] pnp 00:0e: [mem 0xfed00000-0xfed003ff] [ 0.442454] pnp 00:0e: Plug and Play ACPI device, IDs PNP0103 (active) [ 0.442569] pnp 00:0f: [mem 0x7f6f0000-0x7f6fffff] [ 0.442762] system 00:0f: [mem 0x7f6f0000-0x7f6fffff] has been reserved [ 0.442788] system 00:0f: Plug and Play ACPI device, IDs PNP0c01 (active) [ 0.443360] pnp: PnP ACPI: found 16 devices [ 0.443378] ACPI: ACPI bus type pnp unregistered [ 0.443395] PnPBIOS: Disabled by ACPI PNP [ 0.486106] PCI: max bus depth: 3 pci_try_num: 4 [ 0.486189] pci 0000:00:1c.0: PCI bridge to [bus 01-01] [ 0.486217] pci 0000:00:1c.0: bridge window [io 0xe000-0xefff] [ 0.486241] pci 0000:00:1c.0: bridge window [mem 0xd0100000-0xd01fffff] [ 0.486266] pci 0000:00:1c.0: bridge window [mem 0xff700000-0xff7fffff pref] [ 0.486298] pci 0000:03:01.0: PCI bridge to [bus 04-04] [ 0.486319] pci 0000:03:01.0: bridge window [io 0xd000-0xdfff] [ 0.486348] pci 0000:03:01.0: bridge window [mem 0xd0000000-0xd00fffff] [ 0.486374] pci 0000:03:01.0: bridge window [mem 0xff600000-0xff6fffff 64bit pref] [ 0.486406] pci 0000:03:02.0: PCI bridge to [bus 05-05] [ 0.486444] pci 0000:03:03.0: PCI bridge to [bus 06-06] [ 0.486479] pci 0000:02:00.0: PCI bridge to [bus 03-06] [ 0.486499] pci 0000:02:00.0: bridge window [io 0xd000-0xdfff] [ 0.486522] pci 0000:02:00.0: bridge window [mem 0xd0000000-0xd00fffff] [ 0.486545] pci 0000:02:00.0: bridge window [mem 0xff600000-0xff6fffff 64bit pref] [ 0.486575] pci 0000:00:1c.1: PCI bridge to [bus 02-06] [ 0.486593] pci 0000:00:1c.1: bridge window [io 0xd000-0xdfff] [ 0.486615] pci 0000:00:1c.1: bridge window [mem 0xd0000000-0xd00fffff] [ 0.486637] pci 0000:00:1c.1: bridge window [mem 0xff600000-0xff6fffff pref] [ 0.486710] pci 0000:00:1c.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16 [ 0.486735] pci 0000:00:1c.0: setting latency timer to 64 [ 0.486774] pci 0000:00:1c.1: PCI INT B -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17 [ 0.486796] pci 0000:00:1c.1: setting latency timer to 64 [ 0.486817] pci 0000:02:00.0: setting latency timer to 64 [ 0.486836] pci 0000:03:01.0: setting latency timer to 64 [ 0.486858] pci 0000:03:02.0: setting latency timer to 64 [ 0.486880] pci 0000:03:03.0: setting latency timer to 64 [ 0.486893] pci_bus 0000:00: resource 4 [io 0x0000-0x0cf7] [ 0.486902] pci_bus 0000:00: resource 5 [io 0x0d00-0xffff] [ 0.486912] pci_bus 0000:00: resource 6 [mem 0x000a0000-0x000bffff] [ 0.486922] pci_bus 0000:00: resource 7 [mem 0x80000000-0xffffffff] [ 0.486932] pci_bus 0000:01: resource 0 [io 0xe000-0xefff] [ 0.486941] pci_bus 0000:01: resource 1 [mem 0xd0100000-0xd01fffff] [ 0.486951] pci_bus 0000:01: resource 2 [mem 0xff700000-0xff7fffff pref] [ 0.486961] pci_bus 0000:02: resource 0 [io 0xd000-0xdfff] [ 0.486970] pci_bus 0000:02: resource 1 [mem 0xd0000000-0xd00fffff] [ 0.486980] pci_bus 0000:02: resource 2 [mem 0xff600000-0xff6fffff pref] [ 0.486989] pci_bus 0000:03: resource 0 [io 0xd000-0xdfff] [ 0.486998] pci_bus 0000:03: resource 1 [mem 0xd0000000-0xd00fffff] [ 0.487008] pci_bus 0000:03: resource 2 [mem 0xff600000-0xff6fffff 64bit pref] [ 0.487018] pci_bus 0000:04: resource 0 [io 0xd000-0xdfff] [ 0.487028] pci_bus 0000:04: resource 1 [mem 0xd0000000-0xd00fffff] [ 0.487038] pci_bus 0000:04: resource 2 [mem 0xff600000-0xff6fffff 64bit pref] [ 0.487177] NET: Registered protocol family 2 [ 0.487405] IP route cache hash table entries: 32768 (order: 5, 131072 bytes) [ 0.488397] TCP established hash table entries: 131072 (order: 8, 1048576 bytes) [ 0.489792] TCP bind hash table entries: 65536 (order: 7, 524288 bytes) [ 0.490493] TCP: Hash tables configured (established 131072 bind 65536) [ 0.490525] TCP reno registered [ 0.490551] UDP hash table entries: 512 (order: 2, 16384 bytes) [ 0.490590] UDP-Lite hash table entries: 512 (order: 2, 16384 bytes) [ 0.490898] NET: Registered protocol family 1 [ 0.490970] pci 0000:00:02.0: Boot video device [ 0.491052] pci 0000:00:1d.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 20 (level, low) -> IRQ 20 [ 0.491092] pci 0000:00:1d.0: PCI INT A disabled [ 0.491134] pci 0000:00:1d.1: PCI INT B -> GSI 21 (level, low) -> IRQ 21 [ 0.491174] pci 0000:00:1d.1: PCI INT B disabled [ 0.491220] pci 0000:00:1d.2: PCI INT C -> GSI 22 (level, low) -> IRQ 22 [ 0.491259] pci 0000:00:1d.2: PCI INT C disabled [ 0.491307] pci 0000:00:1d.7: PCI INT D -> GSI 23 (level, low) -> IRQ 23 [ 0.864431] Freeing initrd memory: 13820k freed [ 2.088042] pci 0000:00:1d.7: EHCI: BIOS handoff failed (BIOS bug?) 01010001 [ 2.088207] pci 0000:00:1d.7: PCI INT D disabled [ 2.088267] PCI: CLS 64 bytes, default 64 [ 2.089248] audit: initializing netlink socket (disabled) [ 2.089287] type=2000 audit(1349363630.084:1): initialized [ 2.144783] highmem bounce pool size: 64 pages [ 2.144808] HugeTLB registered 2 MB page size, pre-allocated 0 pages [ 2.160057] VFS: Disk quotas dquot_6.5.2 [ 2.160232] Dquot-cache hash table entries: 1024 (order 0, 4096 bytes) [ 2.161716] fuse init (API version 7.17) [ 2.161995] msgmni has been set to 1713 [ 2.162925] Block layer SCSI generic (bsg) driver version 0.4 loaded (major 253) [ 2.163008] io scheduler noop registered [ 2.163023] io scheduler deadline registered [ 2.163048] io scheduler cfq registered (default) [ 2.163339] pcieport 0000:00:1c.0: setting latency timer to 64 [ 2.163530] pcieport 0000:00:1c.1: setting latency timer to 64 [ 2.163706] pcieport 0000:02:00.0: setting latency timer to 64 [ 2.163873] pcieport 0000:03:01.0: setting latency timer to 64 [ 2.163964] pcieport 0000:03:01.0: irq 40 for MSI/MSI-X [ 2.164193] pcieport 0000:03:02.0: setting latency timer to 64 [ 2.164272] pcieport 0000:03:02.0: irq 41 for MSI/MSI-X [ 2.164453] pcieport 0000:03:03.0: setting latency timer to 64 [ 2.164531] pcieport 0000:03:03.0: irq 42 for MSI/MSI-X [ 2.164783] pcieport 0000:00:1c.0: Signaling PME through PCIe PME interrupt [ 2.164801] pci 0000:01:00.0: Signaling PME through PCIe PME interrupt [ 2.164816] pcie_pme 0000:00:1c.0:pcie01: service driver pcie_pme loaded [ 2.164853] pcieport 0000:00:1c.1: Signaling PME through PCIe PME interrupt [ 2.164867] pcieport 0000:02:00.0: Signaling PME through PCIe PME interrupt [ 2.164880] pcieport 0000:03:01.0: Signaling PME through PCIe PME interrupt [ 2.164892] pci 0000:04:00.0: Signaling PME through PCIe PME interrupt [ 2.164904] pcieport 0000:03:02.0: Signaling PME through PCIe PME interrupt [ 2.164917] pcieport 0000:03:03.0: Signaling PME through PCIe PME interrupt [ 2.164932] pcie_pme 0000:00:1c.1:pcie01: service driver pcie_pme loaded [ 2.164988] pci_hotplug: PCI Hot Plug PCI Core version: 0.5 [ 2.165115] pciehp 0000:00:1c.0:pcie04: HPC vendor_id 8086 device_id 8110 ss_vid 8086 ss_did 8119 [ 2.165177] pciehp 0000:00:1c.0:pcie04: service driver pciehp loaded [ 2.165199] pciehp 0000:00:1c.1:pcie04: HPC vendor_id 8086 device_id 8112 ss_vid 8086 ss_did 8119 [ 2.165260] pciehp 0000:00:1c.1:pcie04: service driver pciehp loaded [ 2.165290] pciehp: PCI Express Hot Plug Controller Driver version: 0.4 [ 2.165488] intel_idle: MWAIT substates: 0x3020220 [ 2.165508] intel_idle: v0.4 model 0x1C [ 2.165513] intel_idle: lapic_timer_reliable_states 0x2 [ 2.165519] Marking TSC unstable due to TSC halts in idle states deeper than C2 [ 2.165779] input: Lid Switch as /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/device:00/PNP0C0D:00/input/input0 [ 2.165855] ACPI: Lid Switch [LID] [ 2.165983] input: Power Button as /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/device:00/PNP0C0C:00/input/input1 [ 2.166005] ACPI: Power Button [PWRB] [ 2.173811] thermal LNXTHERM:00: registered as thermal_zone0 [ 2.173829] ACPI: Thermal Zone [TZ00] (48 C) [ 2.174004] thermal LNXTHERM:01: registered as thermal_zone1 [ 2.174018] ACPI: Thermal Zone [TZ01] (34 C) [ 2.174194] thermal LNXTHERM:02: registered as thermal_zone2 [ 2.174207] ACPI: Thermal Zone [TZ02] (34 C) [ 2.174378] thermal LNXTHERM:03: registered as thermal_zone3 [ 2.174392] ACPI: Thermal Zone [TZ03] (34 C) [ 2.174503] ERST: Table is not found! [ 2.174513] GHES: HEST is not enabled! [ 2.174601] isapnp: Scanning for PnP cards... [ 2.176175] Serial: 8250/16550 driver, 32 ports, IRQ sharing enabled [ 2.196702] serial8250: ttyS0 at I/O 0x3f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A [ 2.292409] serial8250: ttyS1 at I/O 0x2f8 (irq = 3) is a 16550A [ 2.528909] isapnp: No Plug & Play device found [ 2.588733] 00:05: ttyS0 at I/O 0x3f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A [ 2.624523] 00:06: ttyS1 at I/O 0x2f8 (irq = 3) is a 16550A [ 2.640702] Linux agpgart interface v0.103 [ 2.645138] brd: module loaded [ 2.647452] loop: module loaded [ 2.648149] pata_acpi 0000:00:1f.1: setting latency timer to 64 [ 2.649238] Fixed MDIO Bus: probed [ 2.649315] tun: Universal TUN/TAP device driver, 1.6 [ 2.649327] tun: (C) 1999-2004 Max Krasnyansky <[email protected]> [ 2.649524] PPP generic driver version 2.4.2 [ 2.649824] ehci_hcd: USB 2.0 'Enhanced' Host Controller (EHCI) Driver [ 2.649884] ehci_hcd 0000:00:1d.7: PCI INT D -> GSI 23 (level, low) -> IRQ 23 [ 2.649937] ehci_hcd 0000:00:1d.7: setting latency timer to 64 [ 2.649946] ehci_hcd 0000:00:1d.7: EHCI Host Controller [ 2.650082] ehci_hcd 0000:00:1d.7: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1 [ 2.650148] ehci_hcd 0000:00:1d.7: debug port 1 [ 2.654045] ehci_hcd 0000:00:1d.7: cache line size of 64 is not supported [ 2.654093] ehci_hcd 0000:00:1d.7: irq 23, io mem 0xd02c4000 [ 2.668035] ehci_hcd 0000:00:1d.7: USB 2.0 started, EHCI 1.00 [ 2.668392] hub 1-0:1.0: USB hub found [ 2.668413] hub 1-0:1.0: 8 ports detected [ 2.668618] ohci_hcd: USB 1.1 'Open' Host Controller (OHCI) Driver [ 2.668666] uhci_hcd: USB Universal Host Controller Interface driver [ 2.668726] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 20 (level, low) -> IRQ 20 [ 2.668751] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.0: setting latency timer to 64 [ 2.668759] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.0: UHCI Host Controller [ 2.668910] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.0: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 2 [ 2.668981] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.0: irq 20, io base 0x0000f040 [ 2.669335] hub 2-0:1.0: USB hub found [ 2.669355] hub 2-0:1.0: 2 ports detected [ 2.669508] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.1: PCI INT B -> GSI 21 (level, low) -> IRQ 21 [ 2.669531] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.1: setting latency timer to 64 [ 2.669538] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.1: UHCI Host Controller [ 2.669675] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.1: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 3 [ 2.669739] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.1: irq 21, io base 0x0000f020 [ 2.670099] hub 3-0:1.0: USB hub found [ 2.670118] hub 3-0:1.0: 2 ports detected [ 2.670271] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.2: PCI INT C -> GSI 22 (level, low) -> IRQ 22 [ 2.670295] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.2: setting latency timer to 64 [ 2.670302] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.2: UHCI Host Controller [ 2.670435] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.2: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 4 [ 2.670502] uhci_hcd 0000:00:1d.2: irq 22, io base 0x0000f000 [ 2.670869] hub 4-0:1.0: USB hub found [ 2.670888] hub 4-0:1.0: 2 ports detected [ 2.671186] usbcore: registered new interface driver libusual [ 2.671332] i8042: PNP: PS/2 Controller [PNP0303:PS2K,PNP0f03:PS2M] at 0x60,0x64 irq 1,12 [ 2.673408] serio: i8042 KBD port at 0x60,0x64 irq 1 [ 2.673437] serio: i8042 AUX port at 0x60,0x64 irq 12 [ 2.673844] mousedev: PS/2 mouse device common for all mice [ 2.674272] rtc_cmos 00:08: RTC can wake from S4 [ 2.674482] rtc_cmos 00:08: rtc core: registered rtc_cmos as rtc0 [ 2.674529] rtc0: alarms up to one year, y3k, 242 bytes nvram, hpet irqs [ 2.674691] device-mapper: uevent: version 1.0.3 [ 2.674903] device-mapper: ioctl: 4.22.0-ioctl (2011-10-19) initialised: [email protected] [ 2.675024] EISA: Probing bus 0 at eisa.0 [ 2.675037] EISA: Cannot allocate resource for mainboard [ 2.675050] Cannot allocate resource for EISA slot 1 [ 2.675061] Cannot allocate resource for EISA slot 2 [ 2.675072] Cannot allocate resource for EISA slot 3 [ 2.675083] Cannot allocate resource for EISA slot 4 [ 2.675094] Cannot allocate resource for EISA slot 5 [ 2.675105] Cannot allocate resource for EISA slot 6 [ 2.675116] Cannot allocate resource for EISA slot 7 [ 2.675127] Cannot allocate resource for EISA slot 8 [ 2.675137] EISA: Detected 0 cards. [ 2.675161] cpufreq-nforce2: No nForce2 chipset. [ 2.675401] cpuidle: using governor ladder [ 2.675786] cpuidle: using governor menu [ 2.675797] EFI Variables Facility v0.08 2004-May-17 [ 2.676429] TCP cubic registered [ 2.676751] NET: Registered protocol family 10 [ 2.678031] NET: Registered protocol family 17 [ 2.678052] Registering the dns_resolver key type [ 2.678107] Using IPI No-Shortcut mode [ 2.678515] PM: Hibernation image not present or could not be loaded. [ 2.678543] registered taskstats version 1 [ 2.701145] Magic number: 0:84:234 [ 2.701312] rtc_cmos 00:08: setting system clock to 2012-10-04 15:13:51 UTC (1349363631) [ 2.702280] BIOS EDD facility v0.16 2004-Jun-25, 0 devices found [ 2.702294] EDD information not available. [ 2.702858] Freeing unused kernel memory: 740k freed [ 2.703630] Write protecting the kernel text: 5816k [ 2.703692] Write protecting the kernel read-only data: 2376k [ 2.703706] NX-protecting the kernel data: 4424k [ 2.751226] udevd[84]: starting version 175 [ 2.980162] usb 1-1: new high-speed USB device number 2 using ehci_hcd [ 3.001394] r8169 Gigabit Ethernet driver 2.3LK-NAPI loaded [ 3.001474] r8169 0000:01:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16 [ 3.001554] r8169 0000:01:00.0: setting latency timer to 64 [ 3.001654] r8169 0000:01:00.0: irq 43 for MSI/MSI-X [ 3.004220] r8169 0000:01:00.0: eth0: RTL8168c/8111c at 0xf8416000, 00:18:92:03:10:46, XID 1c4000c0 IRQ 43 [ 3.004254] r8169 0000:01:00.0: eth0: jumbo features [frames: 6128 bytes, tx checksumming: ko] [ 3.004347] r8169 Gigabit Ethernet driver 2.3LK-NAPI loaded [ 3.005085] r8169 0000:04:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 18 (level, low) -> IRQ 18 [ 3.005182] r8169 0000:04:00.0: setting latency timer to 64 [ 3.005292] r8169 0000:04:00.0: irq 44 for MSI/MSI-X [ 3.007187] r8169 0000:04:00.0: eth1: RTL8168c/8111c at 0xf8418000, 00:18:92:03:10:47, XID 1c4000c0 IRQ 44 [ 3.007224] r8169 0000:04:00.0: eth1: jumbo features [frames: 6128 bytes, tx checksumming: ko] [ 3.034417] pata_sch 0000:00:1f.1: version 0.2 [ 3.034518] pata_sch 0000:00:1f.1: setting latency timer to 64 [ 3.036698] scsi0 : pata_sch [ 3.039842] scsi1 : pata_sch [ 3.040913] ata1: PATA max UDMA/100 cmd 0x1f0 ctl 0x3f6 bmdma 0xf060 irq 14 [ 3.040940] ata2: PATA max UDMA/100 cmd 0x170 ctl 0x376 bmdma 0xf068 irq 15 [ 3.131850] Initializing USB Mass Storage driver... [ 3.136405] scsi2 : usb-storage 1-1:1.0 [ 3.136642] usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage [ 3.136656] USB Mass Storage support registered. [ 3.524465] usb 3-1: new low-speed USB device number 2 using uhci_hcd [ 3.968144] usb 3-2: new full-speed USB device number 3 using uhci_hcd [ 4.137903] scsi 2:0:0:0: Direct-Access TS TS4GUFM-H 1100 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS [ 4.140067] sd 2:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0 [ 4.140590] sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] 8028160 512-byte logical blocks: (4.11 GB/3.82 GiB) [ 4.141597] sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off [ 4.141618] sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 43 00 00 00 [ 4.142974] sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] No Caching mode page present [ 4.143000] sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through [ 4.145837] sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] No Caching mode page present [ 4.145858] sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through [ 4.147931] sda: sda1 sda2 < sda5 > [ 4.150972] sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] No Caching mode page present [ 4.151001] sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through [ 4.151023] sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI disk [ 4.249168] input: HID 046a:004b as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.1/usb3/3-1/3-1:1.0/input/input2 [ 4.249579] generic-usb 0003:046A:004B.0001: input,hidraw0: USB HID v1.11 Keyboard [HID 046a:004b] on usb-0000:00:1d.1-1/input0 [ 4.287805] input: HID 046a:004b as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.1/usb3/3-1/3-1:1.1/input/input3 [ 4.289235] generic-usb 0003:046A:004B.0002: input,hidraw1: USB HID v1.11 Mouse [HID 046a:004b] on usb-0000:00:1d.1-1/input1 [ 4.297604] input: EloTouchSystems,Inc Elo TouchSystems 2216 AccuTouch\xffffffc2\xffffffae\xffffffae USB Touchmonitor Interface as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.1/usb3/3-2/3-2:1.0/input/input4 [ 4.298913] generic-usb 0003:04E7:0050.0003: input,hidraw2: USB HID v1.00 Pointer [EloTouchSystems,Inc Elo TouchSystems 2216 AccuTouch\xffffffc2\xffffffae\xffffffae USB Touchmonitor Interface] on usb-0000:00:1d.1-2/input0 [ 4.299878] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbhid [ 4.299925] usbhid: USB HID core driver [ 4.352639] EXT4-fs (sda1): INFO: recovery required on readonly filesystem [ 4.352661] EXT4-fs (sda1): write access will be enabled during recovery [ 8.519257] EXT4-fs (sda1): recovery complete [ 8.564389] EXT4-fs (sda1): mounted filesystem with ordered data mode. Opts: (null) [ 14.280922] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready [ 14.280944] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth1: link is not ready [ 14.310368] udevd[308]: starting version 175 [ 14.353873] Adding 1045500k swap on /dev/sda5. Priority:-1 extents:1 across:1045500k [ 14.428718] lp: driver loaded but no devices found [ 14.521667] EXT4-fs (sda1): re-mounted. Opts: errors=remount-ro [ 15.073459] [drm] Initialized drm 1.1.0 20060810 [ 15.097073] psb_gfx: module is from the staging directory, the quality is unknown, you have been warned. [ 15.180630] gma500 0000:00:02.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16 [ 15.180648] gma500 0000:00:02.0: setting latency timer to 64 [ 15.182117] Stolen memory information [ 15.182127] base in RAM: 0x7f800000 [ 15.182134] size: 7932K, calculated by (GTT RAM base) - (Stolen base), seems wrong [ 15.182143] the correct size should be: 8M(dvmt mode=3) [ 15.234889] Set up 1983 stolen pages starting at 0x7f800000, GTT offset 0K [ 15.235126] [drm] SGX core id = 0x01130000 [ 15.235135] [drm] SGX core rev major = 0x01, minor = 0x02 [ 15.235143] [drm] SGX core rev maintenance = 0x01, designer = 0x00 [ 15.268796] [Firmware Bug]: ACPI: No _BQC method, cannot determine initial brightness [ 15.269888] acpi device:04: registered as cooling_device2 [ 15.270568] acpi device:05: registered as cooling_device3 [ 15.270947] input: Video Bus as /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/device:00/PNP0A08:00/LNXVIDEO:00/input/input5 [ 15.271238] ACPI: Video Device [GFX0] (multi-head: yes rom: no post: no) [ 15.271424] [drm] Supports vblank timestamp caching Rev 1 (10.10.2010). [ 15.271434] [drm] No driver support for vblank timestamp query. [ 15.374694] type=1400 audit(1349363644.167:2): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_load" name="/sbin/dhclient" pid=435 comm="apparmor_parser" [ 15.385518] type=1400 audit(1349363644.179:3): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_load" name="/usr/lib/NetworkManager/nm-dhcp-client.action" pid=435 comm="apparmor_parser" [ 15.386369] type=1400 audit(1349363644.179:4): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_load" name="/usr/lib/connman/scripts/dhclient-script" pid=435 comm="apparmor_parser" [ 15.677514] r8169 0000:01:00.0: eth0: link down [ 15.694828] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready [ 16.537490] gma500 0000:00:02.0: allocated 800x480 fb [ 16.558066] fbcon: psbfb (fb0) is primary device [ 16.747122] gma500 0000:00:02.0: BL bug: Reg 00000000 save 00000000 [ 16.775550] Console: switching to colour frame buffer device 100x30 [ 16.781804] fb0: psbfb frame buffer device [ 16.781812] drm: registered panic notifier [ 16.870168] [drm] Initialized gma500 1.0.0 2011-06-06 for 0000:00:02.0 on minor 0 [ 16.871166] snd_hda_intel 0000:00:1b.0: power state changed by ACPI to D0 [ 16.871186] snd_hda_intel 0000:00:1b.0: power state changed by ACPI to D0 [ 16.871207] snd_hda_intel 0000:00:1b.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16 [ 16.871284] snd_hda_intel 0000:00:1b.0: setting latency timer to 64 [ 29.338953] r8169 0000:01:00.0: eth0: link up [ 29.339471] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth0: link becomes ready [ 31.427223] init: failsafe main process (675) killed by TERM signal [ 31.522411] type=1400 audit(1349363660.316:5): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_replace" name="/sbin/dhclient" pid=889 comm="apparmor_parser" [ 31.523956] type=1400 audit(1349363660.316:6): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_replace" name="/usr/lib/NetworkManager/nm-dhcp-client.action" pid=889 comm="apparmor_parser" [ 31.524882] type=1400 audit(1349363660.320:7): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_replace" name="/usr/lib/connman/scripts/dhclient-script" pid=889 comm="apparmor_parser" [ 31.525940] type=1400 audit(1349363660.320:8): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_load" name="/usr/sbin/tcpdump" pid=891 comm="apparmor_parser" [ 34.526445] postgres (1003): /proc/1003/oom_adj is deprecated, please use /proc/1003/oom_score_adj instead. [ 40.144048] eth0: no IPv6 routers present

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DirectX works for 64-bit but not 32-bit

- by dtbarne

I'm trying to play a game (Civilization 5) which was previously working but no longer. I believe I've narrowed it down to a DirectX issue because I get an error running dxdiag.exe in 32 bit mode. My goal (at least I believe) is to get Direct3D Acceleration "Enabled" in dxdiag (as it is in 64 bit dxdiag). A very similar issue is here: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-gaming/direct3d-acceleration-is-not-available-in-windows/4c345e6e-dc68-e011-8dfc-68b599b31bf5?page=1 The proposed answer, which looks very promising, doesn't seem to work for me. Like other users in that thread, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Direct3D\Drivers does not have a SoftwareOnly key to change. I even tried manually adding it as a string and dword, to no avail. I have a NVIDIA GeForce GT 525M, and before you ask, yes I've tried updating (also uninstalling, reinstalling) my drivers. I've also tried doing the same with DirectX (and Civilization 5 for that matter). Been debugging for some 4+ hours now after a full day of work and I've run out of ideas. I'm hoping somebody knows the solution here! :) Here's what I see when I open dxdiag: DxDiag has detected that there mgiht have been a problem accessing Direct3D the last time this program was used. Would you like to bypass Direct3D this time? No - Crash Yes - Works, but in Display tab: DirectDraw Acceleration: Disabled Direct3D Acceleration: Not Available AGP Texture Acceleration: Not Available If I click "Run 64-bit DxDiag", all three are "Enabled". I should also note that I've tried the following steps as Microsoft suggests, but I'm not able to do so as the "Change Settings" button is disabled. Some programs run very slowly—or not at all—unless Microsoft DirectDraw or Direct3D hardware acceleration is turned on. To determine this, click the Display tab, and then under DirectX Features, check to see whether DirectDraw, Direct3D, and AGP Texture Acceleration appear as Enabled. If not, try turning on hardware acceleration. Click to open Screen Resolution. Click Advanced settings. Click the Troubleshoot tab, and then click Change settings. If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation. Move the Hardware Acceleration slider to Full. Full dxdiag dump: ------------------ System Information ------------------ Time of this report: 11/8/2012, 23:13:24 Machine name: DTBARNE Operating System: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1 (7601.win7sp1_gdr.120830-0333) Language: English (Regional Setting: English) System Manufacturer: Dell Inc. System Model: Dell System XPS L502X BIOS: Default System BIOS Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2450M CPU @ 2.50GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.5GHz Memory: 8192MB RAM Available OS Memory: 8086MB RAM Page File: 2466MB used, 13704MB available Windows Dir: C:\Windows DirectX Version: DirectX 11 DX Setup Parameters: Not found User DPI Setting: Using System DPI System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent) DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled DxDiag Version: 6.01.7601.17514 32bit Unicode DxDiag Previously: Crashed in Direct3D (stage 2). Re-running DxDiag with "dontskip" command line parameter or choosing not to bypass information gathering when prompted might result in DxDiag successfully obtaining this information ------------ DxDiag Notes ------------ Display Tab 1: No problems found. Sound Tab 1: No problems found. Sound Tab 2: No problems found. Input Tab: No problems found. -------------------- DirectX Debug Levels -------------------- Direct3D: 0/4 (retail) DirectDraw: 0/4 (retail) DirectInput: 0/5 (retail) DirectMusic: 0/5 (retail) DirectPlay: 0/9 (retail) DirectSound: 0/5 (retail) DirectShow: 0/6 (retail) --------------- Display Devices --------------- Card name: Intel(R) HD Graphics 3000 Manufacturer: Chip type: DAC type: Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_0126&SUBSYS_04B61028&REV_09 Display Memory: Dedicated Memory: n/a Shared Memory: n/a Current Mode: 1920 x 1080 (32 bit) (60Hz) Monitor Name: Generic PnP Monitor Monitor Model: Monitor Id: Native Mode: Output Type: Driver Name: Driver File Version: () Driver Version: DDI Version: Driver Model: WDDM 1.1 Driver Attributes: Final Retail Driver Date/Size: , 0 bytes WHQL Logo'd: n/a WHQL Date Stamp: n/a Device Identifier: Vendor ID: Device ID: SubSys ID: Revision ID: Driver Strong Name: oem11.inf:IntelGfx.NTamd64.6.0:iSNBM0:8.15.10.2696:pci\ven_8086&dev_0126&subsys_04b61028 Rank Of Driver: 00E60001 Video Accel: Deinterlace Caps: n/a D3D9 Overlay: DXVA-HD: DDraw Status: Disabled D3D Status: Not Available AGP Status: Not Available ------------- Sound Devices ------------- Description: Speakers (High Definition Audio Device) Default Sound Playback: Yes Default Voice Playback: Yes Hardware ID: HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_10EC&DEV_0665&SUBSYS_102804B6&REV_1000 Manufacturer ID: 1 Product ID: 65535 Type: WDM Driver Name: HdAudio.sys Driver Version: 6.01.7601.17514 (English) Driver Attributes: Final Retail WHQL Logo'd: Yes Date and Size: 11/20/2010 22:23:47, 350208 bytes Other Files: Driver Provider: Microsoft HW Accel Level: Basic Cap Flags: 0xF1F Min/Max Sample Rate: 100, 200000 Static/Strm HW Mix Bufs: 1, 0 Static/Strm HW 3D Bufs: 0, 0 HW Memory: 0 Voice Management: No EAX(tm) 2.0 Listen/Src: No, No I3DL2(tm) Listen/Src: No, No Sensaura(tm) ZoomFX(tm): No Description: Digital Audio (S/PDIF) (High Definition Audio Device) Default Sound Playback: No Default Voice Playback: No Hardware ID: HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_10EC&DEV_0665&SUBSYS_102804B6&REV_1000 Manufacturer ID: 1 Product ID: 65535 Type: WDM Driver Name: HdAudio.sys Driver Version: 6.01.7601.17514 (English) Driver Attributes: Final Retail WHQL Logo'd: Yes Date and Size: 11/20/2010 22:23:47, 350208 bytes Other Files: Driver Provider: Microsoft HW Accel Level: Basic Cap Flags: 0xF1F Min/Max Sample Rate: 100, 200000 Static/Strm HW Mix Bufs: 1, 0 Static/Strm HW 3D Bufs: 0, 0 HW Memory: 0 Voice Management: No EAX(tm) 2.0 Listen/Src: No, No I3DL2(tm) Listen/Src: No, No Sensaura(tm) ZoomFX(tm): No --------------------- Sound Capture Devices --------------------- Description: Microphone (High Definition Audio Device) Default Sound Capture: Yes Default Voice Capture: Yes Driver Name: HdAudio.sys Driver Version: 6.01.7601.17514 (English) Driver Attributes: Final Retail Date and Size: 11/20/2010 22:23:47, 350208 bytes Cap Flags: 0x1 Format Flags: 0xFFFFF ------------------- DirectInput Devices ------------------- Device Name: Mouse Attached: 1 Controller ID: n/a Vendor/Product ID: n/a FF Driver: n/a Device Name: Keyboard Attached: 1 Controller ID: n/a Vendor/Product ID: n/a FF Driver: n/a Poll w/ Interrupt: No ----------- USB Devices ----------- + USB Root Hub | Vendor/Product ID: 0x8086, 0x1C26 | Matching Device ID: usb\root_hub20 | Service: usbhub | +-+ Generic USB Hub | | Vendor/Product ID: 0x8087, 0x0024 | | Location: Port_#0001.Hub_#0002 | | Matching Device ID: usb\class_09 | | Service: usbhub ---------------- Gameport Devices ---------------- ------------ PS/2 Devices ------------ + Standard PS/2 Keyboard | Matching Device ID: *pnp0303 | Service: i8042prt | + Terminal Server Keyboard Driver | Matching Device ID: root\rdp_kbd | Upper Filters: kbdclass | Service: TermDD | + Synaptics PS/2 Port TouchPad | Matching Device ID: *dll04b6 | Upper Filters: SynTP | Service: i8042prt | + Terminal Server Mouse Driver | Matching Device ID: root\rdp_mou | Upper Filters: mouclass | Service: TermDD ------------------------ Disk & DVD/CD-ROM Drives ------------------------ Drive: C: Free Space: 26.2 GB Total Space: 122.0 GB File System: NTFS Model: M4-CT128M4SSD2 ATA Device Drive: D: Model: Optiarc DVDRWBD BC-5540H ATA Device Driver: c:\windows\system32\drivers\cdrom.sys, 6.01.7601.17514 (English), , 0 bytes -------------- System Devices -------------- Name: High Definition Audio Controller Device ID: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1C20&SUBSYS_04B61028&REV_05\3&11583659&0&D8 Driver: n/a Name: PCI standard host CPU bridge Device ID: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_0104&SUBSYS_04B61028&REV_09\3&11583659&0&00 Driver: n/a Name: PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge Device ID: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1C1A&SUBSYS_04B61028&REV_B5\3&11583659&0&E5 Driver: n/a Name: PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge Device ID: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_0101&SUBSYS_20108086&REV_09\3&11583659&0&08 Driver: n/a Name: PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge Device ID: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1C18&SUBSYS_04B61028&REV_B5\3&11583659&0&E4 Driver: n/a Name: Intel(R) Centrino(R) Advanced-N 6230 Device ID: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_0091&SUBSYS_52218086&REV_34\4&2634DE8D&0&00E1 Driver: n/a Name: PCI standard ISA bridge Device ID: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1C4B&SUBSYS_04B61028&REV_05\3&11583659&0&F8 Driver: n/a Name: PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge Device ID: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1C16&SUBSYS_04B61028&REV_B5\3&11583659&0&E3 Driver: n/a Name: Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller Device ID: PCI\VEN_10EC&DEV_8168&SUBSYS_04B61028&REV_06\4&109EAB2F&0&00E5 Driver: n/a Name: Intel(R) Management Engine Interface Device ID: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1C3A&SUBSYS_04B61028&REV_04\3&11583659&0&B0 Driver: n/a Name: PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge Device ID: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1C12&SUBSYS_04B61028&REV_B5\3&11583659&0&E1 Driver: n/a Name: NVIDIA GeForce GT 525M Device ID: PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0DF5&SUBSYS_04B61028&REV_A1\4&4DCA75F&0&0008 Driver: n/a Name: Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller Device ID: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1C2D&SUBSYS_04B61028&REV_05\3&11583659&0&D0 Driver: n/a Name: PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge Device ID: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1C10&SUBSYS_04B61028&REV_B5\3&11583659&0&E0 Driver: n/a Name: Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller Device ID: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1C26&SUBSYS_04B61028&REV_05\3&11583659&0&E8 Driver: n/a Name: Standard AHCI 1.0 Serial ATA Controller Device ID: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1C03&SUBSYS_04B61028&REV_05\3&11583659&0&FA Driver: n/a Name: SM Bus Controller Device ID: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1C22&SUBSYS_04B61028&REV_05\3&11583659&0&FB Driver: n/a Name: Intel(R) HD Graphics 3000 Device ID: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_0126&SUBSYS_04B61028&REV_09\3&11583659&0&10 Driver: n/a Name: Renesas Electronics USB 3.0 Host Controller Device ID: PCI\VEN_1033&DEV_0194&SUBSYS_04B61028&REV_04\4&3494AC3A&0&00E3 Driver: n/a ------------------ DirectShow Filters ------------------ DirectShow Filters: WMAudio Decoder DMO,0x00800800,1,1,WMADMOD.DLL,6.01.7601.17514 WMAPro over S/PDIF DMO,0x00600800,1,1,WMADMOD.DLL,6.01.7601.17514 WMSpeech Decoder DMO,0x00600800,1,1,WMSPDMOD.DLL,6.01.7601.17514 MP3 Decoder DMO,0x00600800,1,1,mp3dmod.dll,6.01.7600.16385 Mpeg4s Decoder DMO,0x00800001,1,1,mp4sdecd.dll,6.01.7600.16385 WMV Screen decoder DMO,0x00600800,1,1,wmvsdecd.dll,6.01.7601.17514 WMVideo Decoder DMO,0x00800001,1,1,wmvdecod.dll,6.01.7601.17514 Mpeg43 Decoder DMO,0x00800001,1,1,mp43decd.dll,6.01.7600.16385 Mpeg4 Decoder DMO,0x00800001,1,1,mpg4decd.dll,6.01.7600.16385 DV Muxer,0x00400000,0,0,qdv.dll,6.06.7601.17514 Color Space Converter,0x00400001,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713 WM ASF Reader,0x00400000,0,0,qasf.dll,12.00.7601.17514 Screen Capture filter,0x00200000,0,1,wmpsrcwp.dll,12.00.7601.17514 AVI Splitter,0x00600000,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713 VGA 16 Color Ditherer,0x00400000,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713 SBE2MediaTypeProfile,0x00200000,0,0,sbe.dll,6.06.7601.17528 Microsoft DTV-DVD Video Decoder,0x005fffff,2,4,msmpeg2vdec.dll,6.01.7140.0000 AC3 Parser Filter,0x00600000,1,1,mpg2splt.ax,6.06.7601.17528 StreamBufferSink,0x00200000,0,0,sbe.dll,6.06.7601.17528 MJPEG Decompressor,0x00600000,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713 MPEG-I Stream Splitter,0x00600000,1,2,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713 SAMI (CC) Parser,0x00400000,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713 VBI Codec,0x00600000,1,4,VBICodec.ax,6.06.7601.17514 MPEG-2 Splitter,0x005fffff,1,0,mpg2splt.ax,6.06.7601.17528 Closed Captions Analysis Filter,0x00200000,2,5,cca.dll,6.06.7601.17514 SBE2FileScan,0x00200000,0,0,sbe.dll,6.06.7601.17528 Microsoft MPEG-2 Video Encoder,0x00200000,1,1,msmpeg2enc.dll,6.01.7601.17514 Internal Script Command Renderer,0x00800001,1,0,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713 MPEG Audio Decoder,0x03680001,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713 DV Splitter,0x00600000,1,2,qdv.dll,6.06.7601.17514 Video Mixing Renderer 9,0x00200000,1,0,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713 Microsoft MPEG-2 Encoder,0x00200000,2,1,msmpeg2enc.dll,6.01.7601.17514 ACM Wrapper,0x00600000,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713 Video Renderer,0x00800001,1,0,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713 MPEG-2 Video Stream Analyzer,0x00200000,0,0,sbe.dll,6.06.7601.17528 Line 21 Decoder,0x00600000,1,1,qdvd.dll,6.06.7601.17835 Video Port Manager,0x00600000,2,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713 Video Renderer,0x00400000,1,0,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713 VPS Decoder,0x00200000,0,0,WSTPager.ax,6.06.7601.17514 WM ASF Writer,0x00400000,0,0,qasf.dll,12.00.7601.17514 VBI Surface Allocator,0x00600000,1,1,vbisurf.ax,6.01.7601.17514 File writer,0x00200000,1,0,qcap.dll,6.06.7601.17514 iTV Data Sink,0x00600000,1,0,itvdata.dll,6.06.7601.17514 iTV Data Capture filter,0x00600000,1,1,itvdata.dll,6.06.7601.17514 DVD Navigator,0x00200000,0,3,qdvd.dll,6.06.7601.17835 Overlay Mixer2,0x00200000,1,1,qdvd.dll,6.06.7601.17835 AVI Draw,0x00600064,9,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713 RDP DShow Redirection Filter,0xffffffff,1,0,DShowRdpFilter.dll, Microsoft MPEG-2 Audio Encoder,0x00200000,1,1,msmpeg2enc.dll,6.01.7601.17514 WST Pager,0x00200000,1,1,WSTPager.ax,6.06.7601.17514 MPEG-2 Demultiplexer,0x00600000,1,1,mpg2splt.ax,6.06.7601.17528 DV Video Decoder,0x00800000,1,1,qdv.dll,6.06.7601.17514 SampleGrabber,0x00200000,1,1,qedit.dll,6.06.7601.17514 Null Renderer,0x00200000,1,0,qedit.dll,6.06.7601.17514 MPEG-2 Sections and Tables,0x005fffff,1,0,Mpeg2Data.ax,6.06.7601.17514 Microsoft AC3 Encoder,0x00200000,1,1,msac3enc.dll,6.01.7601.17514 StreamBufferSource,0x00200000,0,0,sbe.dll,6.06.7601.17528 Smart Tee,0x00200000,1,2,qcap.dll,6.06.7601.17514 Overlay Mixer,0x00200000,0,0,qdvd.dll,6.06.7601.17835 AVI Decompressor,0x00600000,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713 AVI/WAV File Source,0x00400000,0,2,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713 Wave Parser,0x00400000,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713 MIDI Parser,0x00400000,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713 Multi-file Parser,0x00400000,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713 File stream renderer,0x00400000,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713 Microsoft DTV-DVD Audio Decoder,0x005fffff,1,1,msmpeg2adec.dll,6.01.7140.0000 StreamBufferSink2,0x00200000,0,0,sbe.dll,6.06.7601.17528 AVI Mux,0x00200000,1,0,qcap.dll,6.06.7601.17514 Line 21 Decoder 2,0x00600002,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713 File Source (Async.),0x00400000,0,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713 File Source (URL),0x00400000,0,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713 Infinite Pin Tee Filter,0x00200000,1,1,qcap.dll,6.06.7601.17514 Enhanced Video Renderer,0x00200000,1,0,evr.dll,6.01.7601.17514 BDA MPEG2 Transport Information Filter,0x00200000,2,0,psisrndr.ax,6.06.7601.17669 MPEG Video Decoder,0x40000001,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713 WDM Streaming Tee/Splitter Devices: Tee/Sink-to-Sink Converter,0x00200000,1,1,ksproxy.ax,6.01.7601.17514 Video Compressors: WMVideo8 Encoder DMO,0x00600800,1,1,wmvxencd.dll,6.01.7600.16385 WMVideo9 Encoder DMO,0x00600800,1,1,wmvencod.dll,6.01.7600.16385 MSScreen 9 encoder DMO,0x00600800,1,1,wmvsencd.dll,6.01.7600.16385 DV Video Encoder,0x00200000,0,0,qdv.dll,6.06.7601.17514 MJPEG Compressor,0x00200000,0,0,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713 Cinepak Codec by Radius,0x00200000,1,1,qcap.dll,6.06.7601.17514 Intel IYUV codec,0x00200000,1,1,qcap.dll,6.06.7601.17514 Intel IYUV codec,0x00200000,1,1,qcap.dll,6.06.7601.17514 Microsoft RLE,0x00200000,1,1,qcap.dll,6.06.7601.17514 Microsoft Video 1,0x00200000,1,1,qcap.dll,6.06.7601.17514 Audio Compressors: WM Speech Encoder DMO,0x00600800,1,1,WMSPDMOE.DLL,6.01.7600.16385 WMAudio Encoder DMO,0x00600800,1,1,WMADMOE.DLL,6.01.7600.16385 IMA ADPCM,0x00200000,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713 PCM,0x00200000,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713 Microsoft ADPCM,0x00200000,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713 GSM 6.10,0x00200000,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713 CCITT A-Law,0x00200000,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713 CCITT u-Law,0x00200000,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713 MPEG Layer-3,0x00200000,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713 Audio Capture Sources: Microphone (High Definition Aud,0x00200000,0,0,qcap.dll,6.06.7601.17514 PBDA CP Filters: PBDA DTFilter,0x00600000,1,1,CPFilters.dll,6.06.7601.17528 PBDA ETFilter,0x00200000,0,0,CPFilters.dll,6.06.7601.17528 PBDA PTFilter,0x00200000,0,0,CPFilters.dll,6.06.7601.17528 Midi Renderers: Default MidiOut Device,0x00800000,1,0,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713 Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth,0x00200000,1,0,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713 WDM Streaming Capture Devices: HD Audio Microphone 2,0x00200000,1,1,ksproxy.ax,6.01.7601.17514 Integrated Webcam,0x00200000,1,2,ksproxy.ax,6.01.7601.17514 WDM Streaming Rendering Devices: HD Audio Headphone/Speakers,0x00200000,1,1,ksproxy.ax,6.01.7601.17514 HD Audio SPDIF out,0x00200000,1,1,ksproxy.ax,6.01.7601.17514 BDA Network Providers: Microsoft ATSC Network Provider,0x00200000,0,1,MSDvbNP.ax,6.06.7601.17514 Microsoft DVBC Network Provider,0x00200000,0,1,MSDvbNP.ax,6.06.7601.17514 Microsoft DVBS Network Provider,0x00200000,0,1,MSDvbNP.ax,6.06.7601.17514 Microsoft DVBT Network Provider,0x00200000,0,1,MSDvbNP.ax,6.06.7601.17514 Microsoft Network Provider,0x00200000,0,1,MSNP.ax,6.06.7601.17514 Video Capture Sources: Integrated Webcam,0x00200000,1,2,ksproxy.ax,6.01.7601.17514 Multi-Instance Capable VBI Codecs: VBI Codec,0x00600000,1,4,VBICodec.ax,6.06.7601.17514 BDA Transport Information Renderers: BDA MPEG2 Transport Information Filter,0x00600000,2,0,psisrndr.ax,6.06.7601.17669 MPEG-2 Sections and Tables,0x00600000,1,0,Mpeg2Data.ax,6.06.7601.17514 BDA CP/CA Filters: Decrypt/Tag,0x00600000,1,1,EncDec.dll,6.06.7601.17708 Encrypt/Tag,0x00200000,0,0,EncDec.dll,6.06.7601.17708 PTFilter,0x00200000,0,0,EncDec.dll,6.06.7601.17708 XDS Codec,0x00200000,0,0,EncDec.dll,6.06.7601.17708 WDM Streaming Communication Transforms: Tee/Sink-to-Sink Converter,0x00200000,1,1,ksproxy.ax,6.01.7601.17514 Audio Renderers: Speakers (High Definition Audio,0x00200000,1,0,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713 Default DirectSound Device,0x00800000,1,0,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713 Default WaveOut Device,0x00200000,1,0,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713 Digital Audio (S/PDIF) (High De,0x00200000,1,0,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713 DirectSound: Digital Audio (S/PDIF) (High Definition Audio Device),0x00200000,1,0,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713 DirectSound: Speakers (High Definition Audio Device),0x00200000,1,0,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713 --------------- EVR Power Information --------------- Current Setting: {651288E5-A7ED-4076-A96B-6CC62D848FE1} (Balanced) Quality Flags: 2576 Enabled: Force throttling Allow half deinterlace Allow scaling Decode Power Usage: 100 Balanced Flags: 1424 Enabled: Force throttling Allow batching Force half deinterlace Force scaling Decode Power Usage: 50 PowerFlags: 1424 Enabled: Force throttling Allow batching Force half deinterlace Force scaling Decode Power Usage: 0

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Part 2–Load Testing In The Cloud

- by Tarun Arora

Welcome to Part 2, In Part 1 we discussed the advantages of creating a Test Rig in the cloud, the Azure edge and the Test Rig Topology we want to get to. In Part 2, Let’s start by understanding the components of Azure we’ll be making use of followed by manually putting them together to create the test rig, so… let’s get down dirty start setting up the Test Rig. What Components of Azure will I be using for building the Test Rig in the Cloud? To run the Test Agents we’ll make use of Windows Azure Compute and to enable communication between Test Controller and Test Agents we’ll make use of Windows Azure Connect. Azure Connect The Test Controller is on premise and the Test Agents are in the cloud (How will they talk?). To enable communication between the two, we’ll make use of Windows Azure Connect. With Windows Azure Connect, you can use a simple user interface to configure IPsec protected connections between computers or virtual machines (VMs) in your organization’s network, and roles running in Windows Azure. With this you can now join Windows Azure role instances to your domain, so that you can use your existing methods for domain authentication, name resolution, or other domain-wide maintenance actions. For more details refer to an overview of Windows Azure connect. A very useful video explaining everything you wanted to know about Windows Azure connect. Azure Compute Windows Azure compute provides developers a platform to host and manage applications in Microsoft’s data centres across the globe. A Windows Azure application is built from one or more components called ‘roles.’ Roles come in three different types: Web role, Worker role, and Virtual Machine (VM) role, we’ll be using the Worker role to set up the Test Agents. A very nice blog post discussing the difference between the 3 role types. Developers are free to use the .NET framework or other software that runs on Windows with the Worker role or Web role. Developers can also create applications using languages such as PHP and Java. More on Windows Azure Compute. Each Windows Azure compute instance represents a virtual server... Virtual Machine Size CPU Cores Memory Cost Per Hour Extra Small Shared 768 MB $0.04 Small 1 1.75 GB $0.12 Medium 2 3.50 GB $0.24 Large 4 7.00 GB $0.48 Extra Large 8 14.00 GB $0.96 You might want to review the Windows Azure Pricing FAQ. Let’s Get Started building the Test Rig… Configuration Machine Role Comments VM – 1 Domain Controller for Playpit.com On Premise VM – 2 TFS, Test Controller On Premise VM – 3 Test Agent Cloud In this blog post I would assume that you have the domain, Team Foundation Server and Test Controller Installed and set up already. If not, please refer to the TFS 2010 Installation Guide and this walkthrough on MSDN to set up your Test Controller. You can also download a preconfigured TFS 2010 VM from Brian Keller's blog, Brian also has some great hands on Labs on TFS 2010 that you may want to explore. I. Lets start building VM – 3: The Test Agent Download the Windows Azure SDK and Tools Open Visual Studio and create a new Windows Azure Project using the Cloud Template Choose the Worker Role for reasons explained in the earlier post The WorkerRole.cs implements the Run() and OnStart() methods, no code changes required. You should be able to compile the project and run it in the compute emulator (The compute emulator should have been installed as part of the Windows Azure Toolkit) on your local machine. We will only be making changes to WindowsAzureProject, open ServiceDefinition.csdef. Ensure that the vmsize is small (remember the cost chart above). Import the “Connect” module. I am importing the Connect module because I need to join the Worker role VM to the Playpit domain. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <ServiceDefinition name="WindowsAzureProject2" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ServiceHosting/2008/10/ServiceDefinition"> <WorkerRole name="WorkerRole1" vmsize="Small"> <Imports> <Import moduleName="Diagnostics" /> <Import moduleName="Connect"/> </Imports> </WorkerRole> </ServiceDefinition> Go to the ServiceConfiguration.Cloud.cscfg and note that settings with key ‘Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.%%%%’ have been added to the configuration file. This is because you decided to import the connect module. See the config below. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <ServiceConfiguration serviceName="WindowsAzureProject2" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ServiceHosting/2008/10/ServiceConfiguration" osFamily="1" osVersion="*"> <Role name="WorkerRole1"> <Instances count="1" /> <ConfigurationSettings> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Diagnostics.ConnectionString" value="UseDevelopmentStorage=true" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.ActivationToken" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Refresh" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.WaitForConnectivity" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Upgrade" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.EnableDomainJoin" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainFQDN" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainControllerFQDN" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainAccountName" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainPassword" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainOU" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Administrators" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainSiteName" value="" /> </ConfigurationSettings> </Role> </ServiceConfiguration> Let’s go step by step and understand all the highlighted parameters and where you can find the values for them. osFamily – By default this is set to 1 (Windows Server 2008 SP2). Change this to 2 if you want the Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system. The Advantage of using osFamily = “2” is that you get Powershell 2.0 rather than Powershell 1.0. In Powershell 2.0 you could simply use “powershell -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted ./myscript.ps1” and it will work while in Powershell 1.0 you will have to change the registry key by including the following in your command file “reg add HKLM\Software\Microsoft\PowerShell\1\ShellIds\Microsoft.PowerShell /v ExecutionPolicy /d Unrestricted /f” before you can execute any power shell. The other reason you might want to move to os2 is if you wanted IIS 7.5. Activation Token – To enable communication between the on premise machine and the Windows Azure Worker role VM both need to have the same token. Log on to Windows Azure Management Portal, click on Connect, click on Get Activation Token, this should give you the activation token, copy the activation token to the clipboard and paste it in the configuration file. Note – Later in the blog I’ll be showing you how to install connect on the on premise machine. EnableDomainJoin – Set the value to true, ofcourse we want to join the on windows azure worker role VM to the domain. DomainFQDN, DomainControllerFQDN, DomainAccountName, DomainPassword, DomainOU, Administrators – This information is specific to your domain. I have extracted this information from the ‘service manager’ and ‘Active Directory Users and Computers’. Also, i created a new Domain-OU namely ‘CloudInstances’ so all my cloud instances joined to my domain show up here, this is optional. You can encrypt the DomainPassword – refer to the instructions here. Or hold fire, I’ll be covering that when i come to certificates and encryption in the coming section. Now once you have filled all this information up, the configuration file should look something like below, <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <ServiceConfiguration serviceName="WindowsAzureProject2" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ServiceHosting/2008/10/ServiceConfiguration" osFamily="2" osVersion="*"> <Role name="WorkerRole1"> <Instances count="1" /> <ConfigurationSettings> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Diagnostics.ConnectionString" value="UseDevelopmentStorage=true" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.ActivationToken" value="45f55fea-f194-4fbc-b36e-25604faac784" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Refresh" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.WaitForConnectivity" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Upgrade" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.EnableDomainJoin" value="true" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainFQDN" value="play.pit.com" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainControllerFQDN" value="WIN-KUDQMQFGQOL.play.pit.com" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainAccountName" value="playpit\Administrator" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainPassword" value="************************" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainOU" value="OU=CloudInstances, DC=Play, DC=Pit, DC=com" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Administrators" value="Playpit\Administrator" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainSiteName" value="" /> </ConfigurationSettings> </Role> </ServiceConfiguration> Next we will be enabling the Remote Desktop module in to the ServiceDefinition.csdef, we could make changes manually or allow a beautiful wizard to help us make changes. I prefer the second option. So right click on the Windows Azure project and choose Publish Now once you get the publish wizard, if you haven’t already you would be asked to import your Windows Azure subscription, this is simply the Msdn subscription activation key xml. Once you have done click Next to go to the Settings page and check ‘Enable Remote Desktop for all roles’. As soon as you do that you get another pop up asking you the details for the user that you would be logging in with (make sure you enter a reasonable expiry date, you do not want the user account to expire today). Notice the more information tag at the bottom, click that to get access to the certificate section. See screen shot below. From the drop down select the option to create a new certificate In the pop up window enter the friendly name for your certificate. In my case I entered ‘WAC – Test Rig’ and click ok. This will create a new certificate for you. Click on the view button to see the certificate details. Do you see the Thumbprint, this is the value that will go in the config file (very important). Now click on the Copy to File button to copy the certificate, we will need to import the certificate to the windows Azure Management portal later. So, make sure you save it a safe location. Click Finish and enter details of the user you would like to create with permissions for remote desktop access, once you have entered the details on the ‘Remote desktop configuration’ screen click on Ok. From the Publish Windows Azure Wizard screen press Cancel. Cancel because we don’t want to publish the role just yet and Yes because we want to save all the changes in the config file. Now if you go to the ServiceDefinition.csdef file you will see that the RemoteAccess and RemoteForwarder roles have been imported for you. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <ServiceDefinition name="WindowsAzureProject2" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ServiceHosting/2008/10/ServiceDefinition"> <WorkerRole name="WorkerRole1" vmsize="Small"> <Imports> <Import moduleName="Diagnostics" /> <Import moduleName="Connect" /> <Import moduleName="RemoteAccess" /> <Import moduleName="RemoteForwarder" /> </Imports> </WorkerRole> </ServiceDefinition> Now go to the ServiceConfiguration.Cloud.cscfg file and you see a whole bunch for setting “Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.RemoteAccess.%%%” values added for you. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <ServiceConfiguration serviceName="WindowsAzureProject2" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ServiceHosting/2008/10/ServiceConfiguration" osFamily="2" osVersion="*"> <Role name="WorkerRole1"> <Instances count="1" /> <ConfigurationSettings> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Diagnostics.ConnectionString" value="UseDevelopmentStorage=true" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.ActivationToken" value="45f55fea-f194-4fbc-b36e-25604faac784" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Refresh" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.WaitForConnectivity" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Upgrade" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.EnableDomainJoin" value="true" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainFQDN" value="play.pit.com" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainControllerFQDN" value="WIN-KUDQMQFGQOL.play.pit.com" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainAccountName" value="playpit\Administrator" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainPassword" value="************************" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainOU" value="OU=CloudInstances, DC=Play, DC=Pit, DC=com" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Administrators" value="Playpit\Administrator" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainSiteName" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.RemoteAccess.Enabled" value="true" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.RemoteAccess.AccountUsername" value="Administrator" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.RemoteAccess.AccountEncryptedPassword" value="MIIBnQYJKoZIhvcNAQcDoIIBjjCCAYoCAQAxggFOMIIBSgIBADAyMB4xHDAaBgNVBAMME1dpbmRvd 3MgQXp1cmUgVG9vbHMCEGa+B46voeO5T305N7TSG9QwDQYJKoZIhvcNAQEBBQAEggEABg4ol5Xol66Ip6QKLbAPWdmD4ae ADZ7aKj6fg4D+ATr0DXBllZHG5Umwf+84Sj2nsPeCyrg3ZDQuxrfhSbdnJwuChKV6ukXdGjX0hlowJu/4dfH4jTJC7sBWS AKaEFU7CxvqYEAL1Hf9VPL5fW6HZVmq1z+qmm4ecGKSTOJ20Fptb463wcXgR8CWGa+1w9xqJ7UmmfGeGeCHQ4QGW0IDSBU6ccg vzF2ug8/FY60K1vrWaCYOhKkxD3YBs8U9X/kOB0yQm2Git0d5tFlIPCBT2AC57bgsAYncXfHvPesI0qs7VZyghk8LVa9g5IqaM Cp6cQ7rmY/dLsKBMkDcdBHuCTAzBgkqhkiG9w0BBwEwFAYIKoZIhvcNAwcECDRVifSXbA43gBApNrp40L1VTVZ1iGag+3O1" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.RemoteAccess.AccountExpiration" value="2012-11-27T23:59:59.0000000+00:00" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.RemoteForwarder.Enabled" value="true" /> </ConfigurationSettings> <Certificates> <Certificate name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.RemoteAccess.PasswordEncryption" thumbprint="AA23016CF0BDFC344400B5B82706B608B92E4217" thumbprintAlgorithm="sha1" /> </Certificates> </Role> </ServiceConfiguration> Okay let’s look at them one at a time, Enabled - Yes, we would like to enable Remote Access. AccountUserName – This is the user name you entered while you were on the publish windows azure role screen, as detailed above. AccountEncrytedPassword – Try and decode that, the certificate is used to encrypt the password you specified for the user account. Remember earlier i said, either use the instructions or wait and i’ll be showing you encryption, now the user account i am using for rdp has the same password as my domain password, so i can simply copy the value of the AccountEncryptedPassword to the DomainPassword as well. AccountExpiration – This is the expiration as you specified in the wizard earlier, make sure your account does not expire today. Remote Forwarder – Check out the documentation, below is how I understand it, -- One role in an application that implements a remote desktop connection must import the RemoteForwarder module. The two modules work together to enable the remote desktop connections to role instances. -- If you have multiple roles defined in the service model, it does not matter which role you add the RemoteForwarder module to, but you must add it to only one of the role definitions. Certificate – Remember the certificate thumbprint from the wizard, the on premise machine and windows azure role machine that need to speak to each other must have the same thumbprint. More on that when we install Windows Azure connect Endpoints on the on premise machine. As i said earlier, in this blog post, I’ll be showing you the manual process so i won’t be scripting any star up tasks to install the test agent or register the test agent with the TFS Server. I’ll be showing you all this cool stuff in the next blog post, that’s because it’s important to understand the manual side of it, it becomes easier for you to troubleshoot in case something fails. Having said that, the changes we have made are sufficient to spin up the Windows Azure Worker Role aka Test Agent VM, have it connected with the play.pit.com domain and have remote access enabled on it. Before we deploy the Test Agent VM we need to set up Windows Azure Connect on the TFS Server. II. Windows Azure Connect: Setting up Connect on VM – 2 i.e. TFS & Test Controller Glad you made it so far, now to enable communication between the on premise TFS/Test Controller and Azure-ed Test Agent we need to enable communication. We have set up the Azure connect module in the Test Agent configuration, now the connect end points need to be enabled on the on premise machines, let’s have a look at how we can do this. Log on to VM – 2 running the TFS Server and Test Controller Log on to the Windows Azure Management Portal and click on Virtual Network Click on Virtual Network, if you already have a subscription you should see the below screen shot, if not, you would be asked to complete the subscription first Click on Install Local Endpoints from the top left on the panel and you get a url appended with a token id in it, remember the token i showed you earlier, in theory the token you get here should match the token you added to the Test Agent config file. Copy the url to the clip board and paste it in IE explorer (important, the installation at present only works out of IE and you need to have cookies enabled in order to complete the installation). As stated in the pop up, you can NOT download and run the software later, you need to run it as is, since it contains a token. Once the installation completes you should see the Windows Azure connect icon in the system tray. Right click the Azure Connect icon, choose Diagnostics and refer to this link for diagnostic detail terminology. NOTE – Unfortunately I could not see the Windows Azure connect icon in the system tray, a bit of binging with Google revealed that the azure connect icon is only shown when the ‘Windows Azure Connect Endpoint’ Service is started. So go to services.msc and make sure that the service is started, if not start it, unfortunately again, the service did not start for me on a manual start and i realised that one of the dependant services was disabled, you can look at the service dependencies and start them and then start windows azure connect. Bottom line, you need to start Windows Azure connect service before you can proceed. Please refer here on MSDN for more on Troubleshooting Windows Azure connect. (Follow the next step as well) Now go back to the Windows Azure Management Portal and from Groups and Roles create a new group, lets call it ‘Test Rig’. Make sure you add the VM – 2 (the TFS Server VM where you just installed the endpoint). Now if you go back to the Azure Connect icon in the system tray and click ‘Refresh Policy’ you will notice that the disconnected status of the icon should change to ready for connection. III. Importing Certificate in to Windows Azure Management Portal But before that you need to import the certificate you created in Step I in to the Windows Azure Management Portal. Log on to the Windows Azure Management Portal and click on ‘Hosted Services, Storage Accounts & CDN’ and then ‘Management Certificates’ followed by Add Certificates as shown in the screen shot below Browse to the location where you saved the certificate earlier, remember… Refer to Step I in case you forgot. Now you should be able to see the imported certificate here, make sure the thumbprint of the certificate matches the one you inserted in the config files IV. Publish Windows Azure Worker Role aka Test Agent Having completed I, II and III, you are ready to publish the Test Agent VM – 3 to the cloud. Go to Visual Studio and right click the Windows Azure project and select Publish. Verify the infomration in the wizard, from the advanced settings tab, you can also enabled capture of intellitrace or profiling information. Click Next and Click Publish! From the view menu bar select the Windows Azure Activity Log window. Now you should be able to see the deployment progress in real time. In the Windows Azure Management Portal, you should also be able to see the progress of creation of a new Worker Role. Once the deployment is complete you should be able to RDP (go to run prompt type mstsc and in the pop up the machine name) in to the Test Agent Worker Role VM from the Playpit network using the domain admin user account. In case you are unable to log in to the Test Agent using the domain admin user account it means the process of joining the Test Agent to the domain has failed! But the good news is, because you imported the connect module, you can connect to the Test Agent machine using Windows Azure Management Portal and troubleshoot the reason for failure, you will be able to log in with the user name and password you specified in the config file for the keys ‘RemoteAccess.AccountUsername, RemoteAccess.EncryptedPassword (just that enter the password unencrypted)’, fix it or manually join the machine to the domain. Once you have managed to Join the Test Agent VM to the Domain move to the next step. So, log in to the Test Agent Worker Role VM with the Playpit Domain Administrator and verify that you can log in, the machine is connected to the domain and the connect service is successfully running. If yes, give your self a pat on the back, you are 80% mission accomplished! Go to the Windows Azure Management Portal and click on Virtual Network, click on Groups and Roles and click on Test Rig, click Edit Group, the edit the Test Rig group you created earlier. In the Connect to section, click on Add to select the worker role you have just deployed. Also, check the ‘Allow connections between endpoints in the group’ with this you will enable to communication between test controller and test agents and test agents/test agents. Click Save. Now, you are ready to deploy the Test Agent software on the Worker Role Test Agent VM and configure it to work with the Test Controller. V. Configuring VM – 3: Installing Test Agent and Associating Test Agent to Controller Log in to the Worker Role Test Agent VM that you have just successfully deployed, make sure you log in with the domain administrator account. Download the All Agents software from MSDN, ‘en_visual_studio_agents_2010_x86_x64_dvd_509679.iso’, extract the iso and navigate to where you have extracted the iso. In my case, i have extracted the iso to “C:\Resources\Temp\VsAgentSetup”. Open the Test Agent folder and double click on setup.exe. Once you have installed the Test Agent you should reach the configuration window. If you face any issues installing TFS Test Agent on the VM, refer to the walkthrough on MSDN. Once you have successfully installed the Test Agent software you will need to configure the test agent. Right click the test agent configuration tool and run as a different user. i.e. an Administrator. This is really to run the configuration wizard with elevated privileges (you might have UAC block something's otherwise). In the run options, you can select ‘service’ you do not need to run the agent as interactive un less you are running coded UI tests. I have specified the domain administrator to connect to the TFS Test Controller. In real life, i would never do that, i would create a separate test user service account for this purpose. But for the blog post, we are using the most powerful user so that any policies or restrictions don’t block you. Click the Apply Settings button and you should be all green! If not, the summary usually gives helpful error messages that you can resolve and proceed. As per my experience, you may run in to either a permission or a firewall blocking communication issue. And now the moment of truth! Go to VM –2 open up Visual Studio and from the Test Menu select Manage Test Controller Mission Accomplished! You should be able to see the Test Agent that you have just configured here, VI. Creating and Running Load Tests on your brand new Azure-ed Test Rig I have various blog posts on Performance Testing with Visual Studio Ultimate, you can follow the links and videos below, Blog Posts: - Part 1 – Performance Testing using Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate - Part 2 – Performance Testing using Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate - Part 3 – Performance Testing using Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate Videos: - Test Tools Configuration & Settings in Visual Studio - Why & How to Record Web Performance Tests in Visual Studio Ultimate - Goal Driven Load Testing using Visual Studio Ultimate Now that you have created your load tests, there is one last change you need to make before you can run the tests on your Azure Test Rig, create a new Test settings file, and change the Test Execution method to ‘Remote Execution’ and select the test controller you have configured the Worker Role Test Agent against in our case VM – 2 So, go on, fire off a test run and see the results of the test being executed on the Azur-ed Test Rig. Review and What’s next? A quick recap of the benefits of running the Test Rig in the cloud and what i will be covering in the next blog post AND I would love to hear your feedback! Advantages Utilizing the power of Azure compute to run a heavy virtual user load. Benefiting from the Azure flexibility, destroy Test Agents when not in use, takes < 25 minutes to spin up a new Test Agent. Most important test Network Latency, (network latency and speed of connection are two different things – usually network latency is very hard to test), by placing the Test Agents in Microsoft Data centres around the globe, one can actually test the lag in transferring the bytes not because of a slow connection but because the page has been requested from the other side of the globe. Next Steps The process of spinning up the Test Agents in windows Azure is not 100% automated. I am working on the Worker process and power shell scripts to make the role deployment, unattended install of test agent software and registration of the test agent to the test controller automated. In the next blog post I will show you how to make the complete process unattended and automated. Remember to subscribe to http://feeds.feedburner.com/TarunArora. Hope you enjoyed this post, I would love to hear your feedback! If you have any recommendations on things that I should consider or any questions or feedback, feel free to leave a comment. See you in Part III. Share this post : CodeProject

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JBoss 7.1.1 + Spring 3.1 + JPA 2 (Hibernate 3.6.8) > Cannot parse beans.xml

- by Mashrur

Trying to deploy a JSF 2 app with Spring 3.1 + JPA 2 (Hibernte 3.6.8) into JBoss 7.1.1 AS. The app was working fine on tomcat 7. Now, I have already added and changed some configurations. Added jboss-deployment-structure.xml <jboss-deployment-structure xmlns="urn:jboss:deployment-structure:1.1"> <deployment> <exclusions> <module name="org.apache.log4j" /> <module name="javax.faces.api" slot="main"/> <module name="com.sun.jsf-impl" slot="main"/> <module name="org.hibernate"/> <module name="org.javassist" /> <module name="javaee.api" /> <module name="org.hibernate.validator" /> <module name="org.jboss.as.web" /> <module name="org.jboss.logging" /> <module name="javax.persistence.api" /> <module name="org.jboss.interceptor" /> </exclusions> </deployment> </jboss-deployment-structure> 2. Inside web.xml added these lines: <persistence-unit-ref> <persistence-unit-ref-name>persistence/persistenceUnit</persistence-unit-ref-name> <persistence-unit-name>persistenceUnit</persistence-unit-name> </persistence-unit-ref> 3. Inside applicationContext.xml, changed bean definition for entityManagerFactory by adding this property <property name="persistenceXmlLocation" value="classpath*:META-INF/persistence.xml"/> Now, do I still need to do something more than these which is obvious to you? Because, while I am trying to deploy it from eclipse indigo SR2, getting this 14:10:32,046 INFO [org.jboss.modules] JBoss Modules version 1.1.1.GA 14:10:33,054 INFO [org.jboss.msc] JBoss MSC version 1.0.2.GA 14:10:33,200 INFO [org.jboss.as] JBAS015899: JBoss AS 7.1.1.Final "Brontes" starting 14:10:36,375 INFO [org.xnio] XNIO Version 3.0.3.GA 14:10:36,384 INFO [org.jboss.as.server] JBAS015888: Creating http management service using socket-binding (management-http) 14:10:36,432 INFO [org.xnio.nio] XNIO NIO Implementation Version 3.0.3.GA 14:10:36,462 INFO [org.jboss.remoting] JBoss Remoting version 3.2.3.GA 14:10:36,587 INFO [org.jboss.as.logging] JBAS011502: Removing bootstrap log handlers 14:10:36,714 INFO [org.jboss.as.security] (ServerService Thread Pool -- 44) JBAS013101: Activating Security Subsystem 14:10:36,735 INFO [org.jboss.as.naming] (MSC service thread 1-2) JBAS011802: Starting Naming Service 14:10:37,043 INFO [org.jboss.as.mail.extension] (MSC service thread 1-6) JBAS015400: Bound mail session [java:jboss/mail/Default] 14:10:37,208 INFO [org.jboss.as.connector] (MSC service thread 1-7) JBAS010408: Starting JCA Subsystem (JBoss IronJacamar 1.0.9.Final) 14:10:37,295 INFO [org.jboss.as.security] (MSC service thread 1-7) JBAS013100: Current PicketBox version=4.0.7.Final 14:10:37,740 INFO [org.jboss.as.connector.subsystems.datasources] (ServerService Thread Pool -- 27) JBAS010403: Deploying JDBC-compliant driver class org.h2.Driver (version 1.3) 14:10:38,792 INFO [org.jboss.ws.common.management.AbstractServerConfig] (MSC service thread 1-3) JBoss Web Services - Stack CXF Server 4.0.2.GA 14:10:38,833 INFO [org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Protocol] (MSC service thread 1-2) Starting Coyote HTTP/1.1 on http-localhost-127.0.0.1-8080 14:10:39,534 INFO [org.jboss.as.server.deployment.scanner] (MSC service thread 1-1) JBAS015012: Started FileSystemDeploymentService for directory F:\work\softwares\Application Servers\JBoss\jboss-as-7.1.1.Final\jboss-as-7.1.1.Final\standalone\deployments 14:10:39,618 INFO [org.jboss.as.remoting] (MSC service thread 1-3) JBAS017100: Listening on localhost/127.0.0.1:4447 14:10:39,623 INFO [org.jboss.as.remoting] (MSC service thread 1-2) JBAS017100: Listening on /127.0.0.1:9999 14:10:39,698 INFO [org.jboss.as.server.deployment.scanner] (DeploymentScanner-threads - 1) JBAS015014: Re-attempting failed deployment treasury.war 14:10:39,706 INFO [org.jboss.as.server.deployment.scanner] (DeploymentScanner-threads - 1) JBAS015003: Found com.misl.treasury.ui.war in deployment directory. To trigger deployment create a file called com.misl.treasury.ui.war.dodeploy 14:10:40,105 INFO [org.jboss.as.connector.subsystems.datasources] (MSC service thread 1-2) JBAS010400: Bound data source [java:jboss/datasources/ExampleDS] 14:10:40,399 INFO [org.jboss.as.server.deployment] (MSC service thread 1-1) JBAS015876: Starting deployment of "com.misl.treasury.ui.war" 14:10:40,405 INFO [org.jboss.as.server.deployment] (MSC service thread 1-7) JBAS015876: Starting deployment of "treasury.war" 14:10:55,283 WARN [org.jboss.as.server.deployment] (MSC service thread 1-7) JBAS015893: Encountered invalid class name 'com.sun.faces.vendor.Tomcat6InjectionProvider:org.apache.catalina.util.DefaultAnnotationProcessor' for service type 'com.sun.faces.spi.injectionprovider' 14:10:55,289 WARN [org.jboss.as.server.deployment] (MSC service thread 1-7) JBAS015893: Encountered invalid class name 'com.sun.faces.vendor.Jetty6InjectionProvider:org.mortbay.jetty.plus.annotation.InjectionCollection' for service type 'com.sun.faces.spi.injectionprovider' 14:10:55,428 INFO [org.jboss.as.jpa] (MSC service thread 1-7) JBAS011401: Read persistence.xml for persistenceUnit 14:10:55,843 WARN [org.jboss.as.server.deployment] (MSC service thread 1-4) JBAS015893: Encountered invalid class name 'com.sun.faces.vendor.Tomcat6InjectionProvider:org.apache.catalina.util.DefaultAnnotationProcessor' for service type 'com.sun.faces.spi.injectionprovider' 14:10:55,849 WARN [org.jboss.as.server.deployment] (MSC service thread 1-4) JBAS015893: Encountered invalid class name 'com.sun.faces.vendor.Jetty6InjectionProvider:org.mortbay.jetty.plus.annotation.InjectionCollection' for service type 'com.sun.faces.spi.injectionprovider' 14:10:56,010 ERROR [org.jboss.msc.service.fail] (MSC service thread 1-2) MSC00001: Failed to start service jboss.deployment.unit."com.misl.treasury.ui.war".POST_MODULE: org.jboss.msc.service.StartException in service jboss.deployment.unit."com.misl.treasury.ui.war".POST_MODULE: Failed to process phase POST_MODULE of deployment "com.misl.treasury.ui.war" at org.jboss.as.server.deployment.DeploymentUnitPhaseService.start(DeploymentUnitPhaseService.java:119) [jboss-as-server-7.1.1.Final.jar:7.1.1.Final] at org.jboss.msc.service.ServiceControllerImpl$StartTask.startService(ServiceControllerImpl.java:1811) [jboss-msc-1.0.2.GA.jar:1.0.2.GA] at org.jboss.msc.service.ServiceControllerImpl$StartTask.run(ServiceControllerImpl.java:1746) [jboss-msc-1.0.2.GA.jar:1.0.2.GA] at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.runTask(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:886) [rt.jar:1.6.0_23] at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:908) [rt.jar:1.6.0_23] at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:662) [rt.jar:1.6.0_23] Caused by: java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: javax/servlet/ServletOutputStream at java.lang.Class.getDeclaredConstructors0(Native Method) [rt.jar:1.6.0_23] at java.lang.Class.privateGetDeclaredConstructors(Class.java:2389) [rt.jar:1.6.0_23] at java.lang.Class.getConstructor0(Class.java:2699) [rt.jar:1.6.0_23] at java.lang.Class.getConstructor(Class.java:1657) [rt.jar:1.6.0_23] at org.jboss.as.web.deployment.jsf.JsfManagedBeanProcessor.deploy(JsfManagedBeanProcessor.java:108) at org.jboss.as.server.deployment.DeploymentUnitPhaseService.start(DeploymentUnitPhaseService.java:113) [jboss-as-server-7.1.1.Final.jar:7.1.1.Final] ... 5 more Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: javax.servlet.ServletOutputStream from [Module "deployment.com.misl.treasury.ui.war:main" from Service Module Loader] at org.jboss.modules.ModuleClassLoader.findClass(ModuleClassLoader.java:190) at org.jboss.modules.ConcurrentClassLoader.performLoadClassUnchecked(ConcurrentClassLoader.java:468) at org.jboss.modules.ConcurrentClassLoader.performLoadClassChecked(ConcurrentClassLoader.java:456) at org.jboss.modules.ConcurrentClassLoader.performLoadClassChecked(ConcurrentClassLoader.java:423) at org.jboss.modules.ConcurrentClassLoader.performLoadClass(ConcurrentClassLoader.java:398) at org.jboss.modules.ConcurrentClassLoader.loadClass(ConcurrentClassLoader.java:120) ... 11 more 14:10:56,628 ERROR [org.jboss.msc.service.fail] (MSC service thread 1-4) MSC00001: Failed to start service jboss.deployment.unit."treasury.war".PARSE: org.jboss.msc.service.StartException in service jboss.deployment.unit."treasury.war".PARSE: Failed to process phase PARSE of deployment "treasury.war" at org.jboss.as.server.deployment.DeploymentUnitPhaseService.start(DeploymentUnitPhaseService.java:119) [jboss-as-server-7.1.1.Final.jar:7.1.1.Final] at org.jboss.msc.service.ServiceControllerImpl$StartTask.startService(ServiceControllerImpl.java:1811) [jboss-msc-1.0.2.GA.jar:1.0.2.GA] at org.jboss.msc.service.ServiceControllerImpl$StartTask.run(ServiceControllerImpl.java:1746) [jboss-msc-1.0.2.GA.jar:1.0.2.GA] at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.runTask(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:886) [rt.jar:1.6.0_23] at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:908) [rt.jar:1.6.0_23] at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:662) [rt.jar:1.6.0_23] Caused by: org.jboss.as.server.deployment.DeploymentUnitProcessingException: SAXException parsing vfs:/F:/work/softwares/Application Servers/JBoss/jboss-as-7.1.1.Final/jboss-as-7.1.1.Final/bin/content/treasury.war/WEB-INF/beans.xml at org.jboss.as.weld.deployment.BeansXmlParser.parse(BeansXmlParser.java:100) at org.jboss.as.weld.deployment.processors.BeansXmlProcessor.parseBeansXml(BeansXmlProcessor.java:133) at org.jboss.as.weld.deployment.processors.BeansXmlProcessor.deploy(BeansXmlProcessor.java:97) at org.jboss.as.server.deployment.DeploymentUnitPhaseService.start(DeploymentUnitPhaseService.java:113) [jboss-as-server-7.1.1.Final.jar:7.1.1.Final] ... 5 more Caused by: org.xml.sax.SAXParseException: Premature end of file. at org.apache.xerces.util.ErrorHandlerWrapper.createSAXParseException(ErrorHandlerWrapper.java:196) at org.apache.xerces.util.ErrorHandlerWrapper.fatalError(ErrorHandlerWrapper.java:175) at org.apache.xerces.impl.XMLErrorReporter.reportError(XMLErrorReporter.java:394) at org.apache.xerces.impl.XMLErrorReporter.reportError(XMLErrorReporter.java:322) at org.apache.xerces.impl.XMLErrorReporter.reportError(XMLErrorReporter.java:281) at org.apache.xerces.impl.XMLScanner.reportFatalError(XMLScanner.java:1459) at org.apache.xerces.impl.XMLDocumentScannerImpl$PrologDispatcher.dispatch(XMLDocumentScannerImpl.java:903) at org.apache.xerces.impl.XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl.scanDocument(XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl.java:324) at org.apache.xerces.parsers.XML11Configuration.parse(XML11Configuration.java:845) at org.apache.xerces.parsers.XML11Configuration.parse(XML11Configuration.java:768) at org.apache.xerces.parsers.XMLParser.parse(XMLParser.java:108) at org.apache.xerces.parsers.AbstractSAXParser.parse(AbstractSAXParser.java:1196) at org.apache.xerces.jaxp.SAXParserImpl$JAXPSAXParser.parse(SAXParserImpl.java:555) at org.apache.xerces.jaxp.SAXParserImpl.parse(SAXParserImpl.java:289) at org.jboss.as.weld.deployment.BeansXmlParser.parse(BeansXmlParser.java:94) ... 8 more 14:10:56,670 INFO [org.jboss.as] (MSC service thread 1-1) JBAS015951: Admin console listening on http://127.0.0.1:9990 14:10:56,672 ERROR [org.jboss.as] (MSC service thread 1-1) JBAS015875: JBoss AS 7.1.1.Final "Brontes" started (with errors) in 25527ms - Started 143 of 222 services (2 services failed or missing dependencies, 76 services are passive or on-demand) 14:10:56,671 INFO [org.jboss.as.server] (DeploymentScanner-threads - 2) JBAS015871: Deploy of deployment "treasury.war" was rolled back with no failure message 14:10:56,679 INFO [org.jboss.as.server] (DeploymentScanner-threads - 2) JBAS015870: Deploy of deployment "com.misl.treasury.ui.war" was rolled back with failure message {"JBAS014671: Failed services" => {"jboss.deployment.unit.\"com.misl.treasury.ui.war\".POST_MODULE" => "org.jboss.msc.service.StartException in service jboss.deployment.unit.\"com.misl.treasury.ui.war\".POST_MODULE: Failed to process phase POST_MODULE of deployment \"com.misl.treasury.ui.war\""}} 14:10:56,851 INFO [org.jboss.as.server.deployment] (MSC service thread 1-8) JBAS015877: Stopped deployment com.misl.treasury.ui.war in 172ms 14:10:57,068 INFO [org.jboss.as.server.deployment] (MSC service thread 1-7) JBAS015877: Stopped deployment treasury.war in 395ms 14:10:57,070 INFO [org.jboss.as.controller] (DeploymentScanner-threads - 2) JBAS014774: Service status report JBAS014777: Services which failed to start: service jboss.deployment.unit."treasury.war".PARSE: org.jboss.msc.service.StartException in service jboss.deployment.unit."treasury.war".PARSE: Failed to process phase PARSE of deployment "treasury.war" service jboss.deployment.unit."com.misl.treasury.ui.war".POST_MODULE: org.jboss.msc.service.StartException in service jboss.deployment.unit."com.misl.treasury.ui.war".POST_MODULE: Failed to process phase POST_MODULE of deployment "com.misl.treasury.ui.war" 14:10:57,079 ERROR [org.jboss.as.server.deployment.scanner] (DeploymentScanner-threads - 1) {"JBAS014653: Composite operation failed and was rolled back. Steps that failed:" => {"Operation step-2" => {"JBAS014671: Failed services" => {"jboss.deployment.unit.\"com.misl.treasury.ui.war\".POST_MODULE" => "org.jboss.msc.service.StartException in service jboss.deployment.unit.\"com.misl.treasury.ui.war\".POST_MODULE: Failed to process phase POST_MODULE of deployment \"com.misl.treasury.ui.war\""}}}} 14:10:57,087 ERROR [org.jboss.as.server.deployment.scanner] (DeploymentScanner-threads - 1) JBAS014654: Composite operation was rolled back And by the way, JBOSS_HOME\modules\javax\api\main folder only contains a module.xml, no jars. Tried to add jboss-servlet-api_3.0_spec-1.0.0.Final.jar file in that directory and updated module.xml too. But, it shows a very long trail of stacktraces :) I have even removed beans.xml. No change. I have never tried JBoss before. Any help would be highly appreciated.

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Data Modeling: Logical Modeling Exercise

- by swisscheese

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

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Need help with fixing Genetic Algorithm that's not evolving correctly

- by EnderMB

I am working on a maze solving application that uses a Genetic Algorithm to evolve a set of genes (within Individuals) to evolve a Population of Individuals that power an Agent through a maze. The majority of the code used appears to be working fine but when the code runs it's not selecting the best Individual's to be in the new Population correctly. When I run the application it outputs the following: Total Fitness: 380.0 - Best Fitness: 11.0 Total Fitness: 406.0 - Best Fitness: 15.0 Total Fitness: 344.0 - Best Fitness: 12.0 Total Fitness: 373.0 - Best Fitness: 11.0 Total Fitness: 415.0 - Best Fitness: 12.0 Total Fitness: 359.0 - Best Fitness: 11.0 Total Fitness: 436.0 - Best Fitness: 13.0 Total Fitness: 390.0 - Best Fitness: 12.0 Total Fitness: 379.0 - Best Fitness: 15.0 Total Fitness: 370.0 - Best Fitness: 11.0 Total Fitness: 361.0 - Best Fitness: 11.0 Total Fitness: 413.0 - Best Fitness: 16.0 As you can clearly see the fitnesses are not improving and neither are the best fitnesses. The main code responsible for this problem is here, and I believe the problem to be within the main method, most likely where the selection methods are called: package GeneticAlgorithm; import GeneticAlgorithm.Individual.Action; import Robot.Robot.Direction; import Maze.Maze; import Robot.Robot; import java.util.ArrayList; import java.util.Random; public class RunGA { protected static ArrayList tmp1, tmp2 = new ArrayList(); // Implementation of Elitism protected static int ELITISM_K = 5; // Population size protected static int POPULATION_SIZE = 50 + ELITISM_K; // Max number of Iterations protected static int MAX_ITERATIONS = 200; // Probability of Mutation protected static double MUTATION_PROB = 0.05; // Probability of Crossover protected static double CROSSOVER_PROB = 0.7; // Instantiate Random object private static Random rand = new Random(); // Instantiate Population of Individuals private Individual[] startPopulation; // Total Fitness of Population private double totalFitness; Robot robot = new Robot(); Maze maze; public void setElitism(int result) { ELITISM_K = result; } public void setPopSize(int result) { POPULATION_SIZE = result + ELITISM_K; } public void setMaxIt(int result) { MAX_ITERATIONS = result; } public void setMutProb(double result) { MUTATION_PROB = result; } public void setCrossoverProb(double result) { CROSSOVER_PROB = result; } /** * Constructor for Population */ public RunGA(Maze maze) { // Create a population of population plus elitism startPopulation = new Individual[POPULATION_SIZE]; // For every individual in population fill with x genes from 0 to 1 for (int i = 0; i < POPULATION_SIZE; i++) { startPopulation[i] = new Individual(); startPopulation[i].randGenes(); } // Evaluate the current population's fitness this.evaluate(maze, startPopulation); } /** * Set Population * @param newPop */ public void setPopulation(Individual[] newPop) { System.arraycopy(newPop, 0, this.startPopulation, 0, POPULATION_SIZE); } /** * Get Population * @return */ public Individual[] getPopulation() { return this.startPopulation; } /** * Evaluate fitness * @return */ public double evaluate(Maze maze, Individual[] newPop) { this.totalFitness = 0.0; ArrayList<Double> fitnesses = new ArrayList<Double>(); for (int i = 0; i < POPULATION_SIZE; i++) { maze = new Maze(8, 8); maze.fillMaze(); fitnesses.add(startPopulation[i].evaluate(maze, newPop)); //this.totalFitness += startPopulation[i].evaluate(maze, newPop); } //totalFitness = (Math.round(totalFitness / POPULATION_SIZE)); StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(); for(Double tmp : fitnesses) { sb.append(tmp + ", "); totalFitness += tmp; } // Progress of each Individual //System.out.println(sb.toString()); return this.totalFitness; } /** * Roulette Wheel Selection * @return */ public Individual rouletteWheelSelection() { // Calculate sum of all chromosome fitnesses in population - sum S. double randNum = rand.nextDouble() * this.totalFitness; int i; for (i = 0; i < POPULATION_SIZE && randNum > 0; ++i) { randNum -= startPopulation[i].getFitnessValue(); } return startPopulation[i-1]; } /** * Tournament Selection * @return */ public Individual tournamentSelection() { double randNum = rand.nextDouble() * this.totalFitness; // Get random number of population (add 1 to stop nullpointerexception) int k = rand.nextInt(POPULATION_SIZE) + 1; int i; for (i = 1; i < POPULATION_SIZE && i < k && randNum > 0; ++i) { randNum -= startPopulation[i].getFitnessValue(); } return startPopulation[i-1]; } /** * Finds the best individual * @return */ public Individual findBestIndividual() { int idxMax = 0; double currentMax = 0.0; double currentMin = 1.0; double currentVal; for (int idx = 0; idx < POPULATION_SIZE; ++idx) { currentVal = startPopulation[idx].getFitnessValue(); if (currentMax < currentMin) { currentMax = currentMin = currentVal; idxMax = idx; } if (currentVal > currentMax) { currentMax = currentVal; idxMax = idx; } } // Double check to see if this has the right one //System.out.println(startPopulation[idxMax].getFitnessValue()); // Maximisation return startPopulation[idxMax]; } /** * One Point Crossover * @param firstPerson * @param secondPerson * @return */ public static Individual[] onePointCrossover(Individual firstPerson, Individual secondPerson) { Individual[] newPerson = new Individual[2]; newPerson[0] = new Individual(); newPerson[1] = new Individual(); int size = Individual.SIZE; int randPoint = rand.nextInt(size); int i; for (i = 0; i < randPoint; ++i) { newPerson[0].setGene(i, firstPerson.getGene(i)); newPerson[1].setGene(i, secondPerson.getGene(i)); } for (; i < Individual.SIZE; ++i) { newPerson[0].setGene(i, secondPerson.getGene(i)); newPerson[1].setGene(i, firstPerson.getGene(i)); } return newPerson; } /** * Uniform Crossover * @param firstPerson * @param secondPerson * @return */ public static Individual[] uniformCrossover(Individual firstPerson, Individual secondPerson) { Individual[] newPerson = new Individual[2]; newPerson[0] = new Individual(); newPerson[1] = new Individual(); for(int i = 0; i < Individual.SIZE; ++i) { double r = rand.nextDouble(); if (r > 0.5) { newPerson[0].setGene(i, firstPerson.getGene(i)); newPerson[1].setGene(i, secondPerson.getGene(i)); } else { newPerson[0].setGene(i, secondPerson.getGene(i)); newPerson[1].setGene(i, firstPerson.getGene(i)); } } return newPerson; } public double getTotalFitness() { return totalFitness; } public static void main(String[] args) { // Initialise Environment Maze maze = new Maze(8, 8); maze.fillMaze(); // Instantiate Population //Population pop = new Population(); RunGA pop = new RunGA(maze); // Instantiate Individuals for Population Individual[] newPop = new Individual[POPULATION_SIZE]; // Instantiate two individuals to use for selection Individual[] people = new Individual[2]; Action action = null; Direction direction = null; String result = ""; /*result += "Total Fitness: " + pop.getTotalFitness() + " - Best Fitness: " + pop.findBestIndividual().getFitnessValue();*/ // Print Current Population System.out.println("Total Fitness: " + pop.getTotalFitness() + " - Best Fitness: " + pop.findBestIndividual().getFitnessValue()); // Instantiate counter for selection int count; for (int i = 0; i < MAX_ITERATIONS; i++) { count = 0; // Elitism for (int j = 0; j < ELITISM_K; ++j) { // This one has the best fitness newPop[count] = pop.findBestIndividual(); count++; } // Build New Population (Population size = Steps (28)) while (count < POPULATION_SIZE) { // Roulette Wheel Selection people[0] = pop.rouletteWheelSelection(); people[1] = pop.rouletteWheelSelection(); // Tournament Selection //people[0] = pop.tournamentSelection(); //people[1] = pop.tournamentSelection(); // Crossover if (rand.nextDouble() < CROSSOVER_PROB) { // One Point Crossover //people = onePointCrossover(people[0], people[1]); // Uniform Crossover people = uniformCrossover(people[0], people[1]); } // Mutation if (rand.nextDouble() < MUTATION_PROB) { people[0].mutate(); } if (rand.nextDouble() < MUTATION_PROB) { people[1].mutate(); } // Add to New Population newPop[count] = people[0]; newPop[count+1] = people[1]; count += 2; } // Make new population the current population pop.setPopulation(newPop); // Re-evaluate the current population //pop.evaluate(); pop.evaluate(maze, newPop); // Print results to screen System.out.println("Total Fitness: " + pop.totalFitness + " - Best Fitness: " + pop.findBestIndividual().getFitnessValue()); //result += "\nTotal Fitness: " + pop.totalFitness + " - Best Fitness: " + pop.findBestIndividual().getFitnessValue(); } // Best Individual Individual bestIndiv = pop.findBestIndividual(); //return result; } } I have uploaded the full project to RapidShare if you require the extra files, although if needed I can add the code to them here. This problem has been depressing me for days now and if you guys can help me I will forever be in your debt.

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php security holes POCs

- by Flavius

Hi Please provide examples for all of these: XSS, CSRF, SQL injection with both the source code and the attack steps for each. Other attack vectors are welcome. The most complete answer gets a accepted. The configuration is a fairly standard one, as of PHP 5.3.2, core settings: allow_call_time_pass_reference => Off => Off allow_url_fopen => On => On allow_url_include => Off => Off always_populate_raw_post_data => Off => Off arg_separator.input => & => & arg_separator.output => & => & asp_tags => Off => Off auto_append_file => no value => no value auto_globals_jit => On => On auto_prepend_file => no value => no value browscap => no value => no value default_charset => no value => no value default_mimetype => text/html => text/html define_syslog_variables => Off => Off disable_classes => no value => no value disable_functions => no value => no value display_errors => STDOUT => STDOUT display_startup_errors => On => On doc_root => no value => no value docref_ext => no value => no value docref_root => no value => no value enable_dl => Off => Off error_append_string => no value => no value error_log => syslog => syslog error_prepend_string => no value => no value error_reporting => 32767 => 32767 exit_on_timeout => Off => Off expose_php => On => On extension_dir => /usr/lib/php/modules/ => /usr/lib/php/modules/ file_uploads => On => On highlight.bg => <font style="color: #FFFFFF">#FFFFFF</font> => <font style="color: #FFFFFF">#FFFFFF</font> highlight.comment => <font style="color: #FF8000">#FF8000</font> => <font style="color: #FF8000">#FF8000</font> highlight.default => <font style="color: #0000BB">#0000BB</font> => <font style="color: #0000BB">#0000BB</font> highlight.html => <font style="color: #000000">#000000</font> => <font style="color: #000000">#000000</font> highlight.keyword => <font style="color: #007700">#007700</font> => <font style="color: #007700">#007700</font> highlight.string => <font style="color: #DD0000">#DD0000</font> => <font style="color: #DD0000">#DD0000</font> html_errors => Off => Off ignore_repeated_errors => Off => Off ignore_repeated_source => Off => Off ignore_user_abort => Off => Off implicit_flush => On => On include_path => .:/usr/share/pear => .:/usr/share/pear log_errors => On => On log_errors_max_len => 1024 => 1024 magic_quotes_gpc => Off => Off magic_quotes_runtime => Off => Off magic_quotes_sybase => Off => Off mail.add_x_header => On => On mail.force_extra_parameters => no value => no value mail.log => no value => no value max_execution_time => 0 => 0 max_file_uploads => 20 => 20 max_input_nesting_level => 64 => 64 max_input_time => -1 => -1 memory_limit => 128M => 128M open_basedir => no value => no value output_buffering => 0 => 0 output_handler => no value => no value post_max_size => 8M => 8M precision => 14 => 14 realpath_cache_size => 16K => 16K realpath_cache_ttl => 120 => 120 register_argc_argv => On => On register_globals => Off => Off register_long_arrays => Off => Off report_memleaks => On => On report_zend_debug => Off => Off request_order => GP => GP safe_mode => Off => Off safe_mode_exec_dir => no value => no value safe_mode_gid => Off => Off safe_mode_include_dir => no value => no value sendmail_from => no value => no value sendmail_path => /usr/sbin/sendmail -t -i => /usr/sbin/sendmail -t -i serialize_precision => 100 => 100 short_open_tag => Off => Off SMTP => localhost => localhost smtp_port => 25 => 25 sql.safe_mode => Off => Off track_errors => Off => Off unserialize_callback_func => no value => no value upload_max_filesize => 2M => 2M upload_tmp_dir => no value => no value user_dir => no value => no value user_ini.cache_ttl => 300 => 300 user_ini.filename => .user.ini => .user.ini variables_order => GPCS => GPCS xmlrpc_error_number => 0 => 0 xmlrpc_errors => Off => Off y2k_compliance => On => On zend.enable_gc => On => On

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How do I send automated e-mails from Drupal using Messaging and Notifications?

- by Adrian

I am working on a Notifications plugin, and after starting to write my notes down about how to do this, decided to just post them here. Please feel free to come make modifications and changes. Eventually I hope to post this on the Drupal handbook as well. Thanks. --Adrian Sending automated e-mails from Drupal using Messaging and Notifications To implement a notifications plugin, you must implement the following functions: Use hook_messaging, hook_token_list and hook_token_values to create the messages that will be sent. Use hook_notifications to create the subscription types Add code to fire events (eg in hook_nodeapi) Add all UI elements to allow users to subscribe/unsubscribe Understanding Messaging The Messaging module is used to compose messages that can be delivered using various formats, such as simple mail, HTML mail, Twitter updates, etc. These formats are called "send methods." The backend details do not concern us here; what is important are the following concepts: TOKENS: tokens are provided by the "tokens" module. They allow you to write keywords in square brackets, [like-this], that can be replaced by any arbitrary value. Note: the token groups you create must match the keys you add to the $events-objects[$key] array. MESSAGE KEYS: A key is a part of a message, such as the greetings line. Keys can be different for each send method. For example, a plaintext mail's greeting might be "Hi, [user]," while an HTML greeing might be "Hi, [user]," and Twitter's might just be "[user-firstname]: ". Keys can have any arbitrary name. Keys are very simple and only have a machine-readable name and a user-readable description, the latter of which is only seen by admins. MESSAGE GROUPS: A group is a bunch of keys that often, but not always, might be used together to make up a complete message. For example, a generic group might include keys for a greeting, body, closing and footer. Groups can also be "subclassed" by selecting a "fallback" group that will supply any keys that are missing. Groups are also associated with modules; I'm not sure what these are used for. Understanding Notifications The Notifications module revolves around the following concepts: SUBSCRIPTIONS: Notifications plugins may define one or more types of subscriptions. For example, notifications_content defines subscriptions for: Threads (users are notified whenever a node or its comments change) Content types (users are notified whenever a node of a certain type is created or is changed) Users (users are notified whenever another user is changed) Subscriptions refer to both the user who's subscribed, how often they wish to be notified, the send method (for Messaging) and what's being subscribed to. This last part is defined in two steps. Firstly, a plugin defines several "subscription fields" (through a hook_notifications op of the same name), and secondly, "subscription types" (also an op) defines which fields apply to each type of subscription. For example, notifications_content defines the fields "nid," "author" and "type," and the subscriptions "thread" (nid), "nodetype" (type), "author" (author) and "typeauthor" (type and author), the latter referring to something like "any STORY by JOE." Fields are used to link events to subscriptions; an event must match all fields of a subscription (for all normal subscriptions) to be delivered to the recipient. The $subscriptions object is defined in subsequent sections. Notifications prefers that you don't create these objects yourself, preferring you to call the notifications_get_link() function to create a link that users may click on, but you can also use notifications_save_subscription and notifications_delete_subscription to do it yourself. EVENTS: An event is something that users may be notified about. Plugins create the $event object then call notifications_event($event). This either sends out notifications immediately, queues them to send out later, or both. Events include the type of thing that's changed (eg 'node', 'user'), the ID of the thing that's changed (eg $node-nid, $user-uid) and what's happened to it (eg 'create'). These are, respectively, $event-type, $event-oid (object ID) and $event-action. Warning: notifications_content_nodeapi also adds a $event-node field, referring to the node itself and not just $event-oid = $node-nid. This is not used anywhere in the core notifications module; however, when the $event is passed back to the 'query' op (see below), we assume the node is still present. Events do not refer to the user they will be referred to; instead, Notifications makes the connection between subscriptions and events, using the subscriptions' fields. MATCHING EVENTS TO SUBSCRIPTIONS: An event matches a subscription if it has the same type as the event (eg "node") and if the event matches all the correct fields. This second step is determined by the "query" hook op, which is called with the $event object as a parameter. The query op is responsible for giving Notifications a value for all the fields defined by the plugin. For example, notifications_content defines the 'nid', 'type' and 'author' fields, so its query op looks like this (ignore the case where $event_or_user = 'user' for now): $event_or_user = $arg0; $event_type = $arg1; $event_or_object = $arg2; if ($event_or_user == 'event' && $event_type == 'node' && ($node = $event_or_object->node) || $event_or_user == 'user' && $event_type == 'node' && ($node = $event_or_object)) { $query[]['fields'] = array( 'nid' => $node->nid, 'type' => $node->type, 'author' => $node->uid, ); return $query; After extracting the $node from the $event, we set $query[]['fields'] to a dictionary defining, for this event, all the fields defined by the module. As you can tell from the presence of the $query object, there's way more you can do with this op, but they are not covered here. DIGESTING AND DEDUPING: Understanding the relationship between Messaging and Notifications Usually, the name of a message group doesn't matter, but when being used with Notifications, the names must follow very strict patterns. Firstly, they must start with the name "notifications," and then are followed by either "event" or "digest," depending on whether the message group is being used to represent either a single event or a group of events. For 'events,' the third part of the name is the "type," which we get from Notification's $event-type (eg: notifications_content uses 'node'). The last part of the name is the operation being performed, which comes from Notification's $event-action. For example: notifications-event-node-comment might refer to the message group used when someone comments on a node notifications-event-user-update to a user who's updated their profile Hyphens cannot appear anywhere other than to separate the parts of these words. For 'digest' messages, the third and fourth part of the name come from hook_notification's "event types" callback, specifically this line: $types[] = array( 'type' => 'node', 'action' => 'insert', ... 'digest' => array('node', 'type'), ); $types[] = array( 'type' => 'node', 'action' => 'update', ... 'digest' => array('node', 'nid'), ); In this case, the first event type (node insertion) will be digested with the notifications-digest-node-type message template providing the header and footer, likely saying something like "the following [type] was created." The second event type (node update) will be digested with the notifications-digest-node-nid message template. Data Structure and Callback Reference $event The $event object has the following members: $event-type: The type of event. Must match the type in hook_notification::"event types". {notifications_event} $event-action: The action the event describes. Most events are sorted by [$event-type][$event-action]. {notifications_event}. $event-object[$object_type]: All objects relevant to the event. For example, $event-object['node'] might be the node that the event describes. $object_type can come from the 'event types' hook (see below). The main purpose appears to be to be passed to token_replace_multiple as the second parameter. $event-object[$event-type] is assumed to exist in the short digest processing functions, but this doesn't appear to be used anywhere. Not saved in the database; loaded by hook_notifications::"event load" $event-oid: apparently unused. The id of the primary object relevant to this event (eg the node's nid). $event-module: apparently unused $event-params[$key]: Mainly a place for plugins to save random data. The main module will serialize the contents of this array but does not use it in any way. However, notifications_ui appears to do something weird with it, possibly by using subscriptions' fields as keys into this array. I'm not sure why though. hook_notifications op 'subscription types': returns an array of subscription types provided by the plugin, in the form $key = array(...) with the following members: event_type: this subscription can only match events whose $event-type has this value. Stored in the database as notifications.event_type for every individual subscription. Apparently, this can be overiden in code but I wouldn't try it (see notifications_save_subscription). fields: an unkeyed array of fields that must be matched by an event (in addition to the event_type) for it to match this subscription. Each element of this array must be a key of the array returned by op 'subscription fields' which in turn must be used by op 'query' to actually perform the matching. title: user-readable title for their subscriptions page (eg the 'type' column in user/%uid/notifications/subscriptions) description: a user-readable description. page callback: used to add a supplementary page at user/%uid/notifications/blah. This and the following are used by notifications_ui as a part of hook_menu_alter. Appears to be partially deprecated. user page: user/%uid/notifications/blah. op 'event types': returns an array of event types, with each event type being an array with the following members: type: this will match $event-type action: this will match $event-action digest: an array with two ordered (non-keyed) elements, "type" and "field." 'type' is used as an index into $event-objects. 'field' is also used to group events like so: $event-objects[$type]-$field. For example, 'field' might be 'nid' - if the object is a node, the digest lines will be grouped by node ID. Finally, both are used to find the correct Messaging template; see discussion above. description: used on the admin "Notifications-Events" page name: unused, use Messaging instead line: deprecated, use Messaging instead Other Stuff This is an example of the main query that inserts an event into the queue: INSERT INTO {notifications_queue} (uid, destination, sid, module, eid, send_interval, send_method, cron, created, conditions) SELECT DISTINCT s.uid, s.destination, s.sid, s.module, %d, // event ID s.send_interval, s.send_method, s.cron, %d, // time of the event s.conditions FROM {notifications} s INNER JOIN {notifications_fields} f ON s.sid = f.sid WHERE (s.status = 1) AND (s.event_type = '%s') // subscription type AND (s.send_interval >= 0) AND (s.uid <> %d) AND ( (f.field = '%s' AND f.intval IN (%d)) // everything from 'query' op OR (f.field = '%s' AND f.intval = %d) OR (f.field = '%s' AND f.value = '%s') OR (f.field = '%s' AND f.intval = %d)) GROUP BY s.uid, s.destination, s.sid, s.module, s.send_interval, s.send_method, s.cron, s.conditions HAVING s.conditions = count(f.sid)

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Followup: Python 2.6, 3 abstract base class misunderstanding

- by Aaron

I asked a question at Python 2.6, 3 abstract base class misunderstanding. My problem was that python abstract base classes didn't work quite the way I expected them to. There was some discussion in the comments about why I would want to use ABCs at all, and Alex Martelli provided an excellent answer on why my use didn't work and how to accomplish what I wanted. Here I'd like to address why one might want to use ABCs, and show my test code implementation based on Alex's answer. tl;dr: Code after the 16th paragraph. In the discussion on the original post, statements were made along the lines that you don't need ABCs in Python, and that ABCs don't do anything and are therefore not real classes; they're merely interface definitions. An abstract base class is just a tool in your tool box. It's a design tool that's been around for many years, and a programming tool that is explicitly available in many programming languages. It can be implemented manually in languages that don't provide it. An ABC is always a real class, even when it doesn't do anything but define an interface, because specifying the interface is what an ABC does. If that was all an ABC could do, that would be enough reason to have it in your toolbox, but in Python and some other languages they can do more. The basic reason to use an ABC is when you have a number of classes that all do the same thing (have the same interface) but do it differently, and you want to guarantee that that complete interface is implemented in all objects. A user of your classes can rely on the interface being completely implemented in all classes. You can maintain this guarantee manually. Over time you may succeed. Or you might forget something. Before Python had ABCs you could guarantee it semi-manually, by throwing NotImplementedError in all the base class's interface methods; you must implement these methods in derived classes. This is only a partial solution, because you can still instantiate such a base class. A more complete solution is to use ABCs as provided in Python 2.6 and above. Template methods and other wrinkles and patterns are ideas whose implementation can be made easier with full-citizen ABCs. Another idea in the comments was that Python doesn't need ABCs (understood as a class that only defines an interface) because it has multiple inheritance. The implied reference there seems to be Java and its single inheritance. In Java you "get around" single inheritance by inheriting from one or more interfaces. Java uses the word "interface" in two ways. A "Java interface" is a class with method signatures but no implementations. The methods are the interface's "interface" in the more general, non-Java sense of the word. Yes, Python has multiple inheritance, so you don't need Java-like "interfaces" (ABCs) merely to provide sets of interface methods to a class. But that's not the only reason in software development to use ABCs. Most generally, you use an ABC to specify an interface (set of methods) that will likely be implemented differently in different derived classes, yet that all derived classes must have. Additionally, there may be no sensible default implementation for the base class to provide. Finally, even an ABC with almost no interface is still useful. We use something like it when we have multiple except clauses for a try. Many exceptions have exactly the same interface, with only two differences: the exception's string value, and the actual class of the exception. In many exception clauses we use nothing about the exception except its class to decide what to do; catching one type of exception we do one thing, and another except clause catching a different exception does another thing. According to the exception module's doc page, BaseException is not intended to be derived by any user defined exceptions. If ABCs had been a first class Python concept from the beginning, it's easy to imagine BaseException being specified as an ABC. But enough of that. Here's some 2.6 code that demonstrates how to use ABCs, and how to specify a list-like ABC. Examples are run in ipython, which I like much better than the python shell for day to day work; I only wish it was available for python3. Your basic 2.6 ABC: from abc import ABCMeta, abstractmethod class Super(): __metaclass__ = ABCMeta @abstractmethod def method1(self): pass Test it (in ipython, python shell would be similar): In [2]: a = Super() --------------------------------------------------------------------------- TypeError Traceback (most recent call last) /home/aaron/projects/test/<ipython console> in <module>() TypeError: Can't instantiate abstract class Super with abstract methods method1 Notice the end of the last line, where the TypeError exception tells us that method1 has not been implemented ("abstract methods method1"). That was the method designated as @abstractmethod in the preceding code. Create a subclass that inherits Super, implement method1 in the subclass and you're done. My problem, which caused me to ask the original question, was how to specify an ABC that itself defines a list interface. My naive solution was to make an ABC as above, and in the inheritance parentheses say (list). My assumption was that the class would still be abstract (can't instantiate it), and would be a list. That was wrong; inheriting from list made the class concrete, despite the abstract bits in the class definition. Alex suggested inheriting from collections.MutableSequence, which is abstract (and so doesn't make the class concrete) and list-like. I used collections.Sequence, which is also abstract but has a shorter interface and so was quicker to implement. First, Super derived from Sequence, with nothing extra: from abc import abstractmethod from collections import Sequence class Super(Sequence): pass Test it: In [6]: a = Super() --------------------------------------------------------------------------- TypeError Traceback (most recent call last) /home/aaron/projects/test/<ipython console> in <module>() TypeError: Can't instantiate abstract class Super with abstract methods __getitem__, __len__ We can't instantiate it. A list-like full-citizen ABC; yea! Again, notice in the last line that TypeError tells us why we can't instantiate it: __getitem__ and __len__ are abstract methods. They come from collections.Sequence. But, I want a bunch of subclasses that all act like immutable lists (which collections.Sequence essentially is), and that have their own implementations of my added interface methods. In particular, I don't want to implement my own list code, Python already did that for me. So first, let's implement the missing Sequence methods, in terms of Python's list type, so that all subclasses act as lists (Sequences). First let's see the signatures of the missing abstract methods: In [12]: help(Sequence.__getitem__) Help on method __getitem__ in module _abcoll: __getitem__(self, index) unbound _abcoll.Sequence method (END) In [14]: help(Sequence.__len__) Help on method __len__ in module _abcoll: __len__(self) unbound _abcoll.Sequence method (END) __getitem__ takes an index, and __len__ takes nothing. And the implementation (so far) is: from abc import abstractmethod from collections import Sequence class Super(Sequence): # Gives us a list member for ABC methods to use. def __init__(self): self._list = [] # Abstract method in Sequence, implemented in terms of list. def __getitem__(self, index): return self._list.__getitem__(index) # Abstract method in Sequence, implemented in terms of list. def __len__(self): return self._list.__len__() # Not required. Makes printing behave like a list. def __repr__(self): return self._list.__repr__() Test it: In [34]: a = Super() In [35]: a Out[35]: [] In [36]: print a [] In [37]: len(a) Out[37]: 0 In [38]: a[0] --------------------------------------------------------------------------- IndexError Traceback (most recent call last) /home/aaron/projects/test/<ipython console> in <module>() /home/aaron/projects/test/test.py in __getitem__(self, index) 10 # Abstract method in Sequence, implemented in terms of list. 11 def __getitem__(self, index): ---> 12 return self._list.__getitem__(index) 13 14 # Abstract method in Sequence, implemented in terms of list. IndexError: list index out of range Just like a list. It's not abstract (for the moment) because we implemented both of Sequence's abstract methods. Now I want to add my bit of interface, which will be abstract in Super and therefore required to implement in any subclasses. And we'll cut to the chase and add subclasses that inherit from our ABC Super. from abc import abstractmethod from collections import Sequence class Super(Sequence): # Gives us a list member for ABC methods to use. def __init__(self): self._list = [] # Abstract method in Sequence, implemented in terms of list. def __getitem__(self, index): return self._list.__getitem__(index) # Abstract method in Sequence, implemented in terms of list. def __len__(self): return self._list.__len__() # Not required. Makes printing behave like a list. def __repr__(self): return self._list.__repr__() @abstractmethod def method1(): pass class Sub0(Super): pass class Sub1(Super): def __init__(self): self._list = [1, 2, 3] def method1(self): return [x**2 for x in self._list] def method2(self): return [x/2.0 for x in self._list] class Sub2(Super): def __init__(self): self._list = [10, 20, 30, 40] def method1(self): return [x+2 for x in self._list] We've added a new abstract method to Super, method1. This makes Super abstract again. A new class Sub0 which inherits from Super but does not implement method1, so it's also an ABC. Two new classes Sub1 and Sub2, which both inherit from Super. They both implement method1 from Super, so they're not abstract. Both implementations of method1 are different. Sub1 and Sub2 also both initialize themselves differently; in real life they might initialize themselves wildly differently. So you have two subclasses which both "is a" Super (they both implement Super's required interface) although their implementations are different. Also remember that Super, although an ABC, provides four non-abstract methods. So Super provides two things to subclasses: an implementation of collections.Sequence, and an additional abstract interface (the one abstract method) that subclasses must implement. Also, class Sub1 implements an additional method, method2, which is not part of Super's interface. Sub1 "is a" Super, but it also has additional capabilities. Test it: In [52]: a = Super() --------------------------------------------------------------------------- TypeError Traceback (most recent call last) /home/aaron/projects/test/<ipython console> in <module>() TypeError: Can't instantiate abstract class Super with abstract methods method1 In [53]: a = Sub0() --------------------------------------------------------------------------- TypeError Traceback (most recent call last) /home/aaron/projects/test/<ipython console> in <module>() TypeError: Can't instantiate abstract class Sub0 with abstract methods method1 In [54]: a = Sub1() In [55]: a Out[55]: [1, 2, 3] In [56]: b = Sub2() In [57]: b Out[57]: [10, 20, 30, 40] In [58]: print a, b [1, 2, 3] [10, 20, 30, 40] In [59]: a, b Out[59]: ([1, 2, 3], [10, 20, 30, 40]) In [60]: a.method1() Out[60]: [1, 4, 9] In [61]: b.method1() Out[61]: [12, 22, 32, 42] In [62]: a.method2() Out[62]: [0.5, 1.0, 1.5] [63]: a[:2] Out[63]: [1, 2] In [64]: a[0] = 5 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- TypeError Traceback (most recent call last) /home/aaron/projects/test/<ipython console> in <module>() TypeError: 'Sub1' object does not support item assignment Super and Sub0 are abstract and can't be instantiated (lines 52 and 53). Sub1 and Sub2 are concrete and have an immutable Sequence interface (54 through 59). Sub1 and Sub2 are instantiated differently, and their method1 implementations are different (60, 61). Sub1 includes an additional method2, beyond what's required by Super (62). Any concrete Super acts like a list/Sequence (63). A collections.Sequence is immutable (64). Finally, a wart: In [65]: a._list Out[65]: [1, 2, 3] In [66]: a._list = [] In [67]: a Out[67]: [] Super._list is spelled with a single underscore. Double underscore would have protected it from this last bit, but would have broken the implementation of methods in subclasses. Not sure why; I think because double underscore is private, and private means private. So ultimately this whole scheme relies on a gentleman's agreement not to reach in and muck with Super._list directly, as in line 65 above. Would love to know if there's a safer way to do that.

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