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CodePlex Daily Summary for Thursday, March 29, 2012

CodePlex Daily Summary for Thursday, March 29, 2012Popular ReleasesWouter's SharePoint Demo Land: Custom Views and Forms: Samples showing how to provision custom lists. Custom view rendering with code, XSLT, XSLT + code. Custom forms with database lookups.YouTube API Class & Server Control for ASP.NET 4.0: Binary dll Files with Demo: . You can find binary dll files under :- Demo\bin\ folder Demo url :- http://demo.svinn.com/YouTube/Default.aspx 1 GB Hosting + Free Domain => http://ghosting.in/ .callisto: callisto 2.0.23: Patched Script static class and peak user count bug fix.Circuit Diagram: Circuit Diagram 2.0 Alpha 3: New in this release: Added components: Microcontroller Demultiplexer Flip & rotate components Open XML files from older versions of Circuit Diagram Text formatting for components New CDDX syntax Other fixesUmbraco CMS: Umbraco 5.1 CMS (Beta): Beta build for testing - please report issues at issues.umbraco.org (Latest uploaded: 5.1.0.123) What's new in 5.1? The full list of changes is on our http://progress.umbraco.org task tracking page. It shows items complete for 5.1, and 5.1 includes items for 5.0.1 and 5.0.2 listed there too. Here's two headline acts: Members5.1 adds support for backoffice editing of Members. We support the pairing up of our content type system in Hive with regular ASP.NET Membership providers (we ship a def...51Degrees.mobi - Mobile Device Detection and Redirection: 2.1.2.11: One Click Install from NuGet Changes to Version 2.1.2.11Code Changes 1. The project is now licenced under the Mozilla Public Licence 2. 2. User interface control and associated data access layer classes have been added to aid developers integrating 51Degrees.mobi into wider projects such as content management systems or web hosting management solutions. Use the following in a web form or user control to access these new UI components. <%@ Register Assembly="FiftyOne.Foundation" Namespace="...JSON Toolkit: JSON Toolkit 3.1: slight performance improvement (5% - 10%) new JsonException classPicturethrill: Version 2.3.28.0: Straightforward image selection. New clean UI look. Super stable. Simplified user experience.Indent Guides for Visual Studio: Indent Guides v12 (beta 2): Note This beta is likely to be less stable than the previous one. If you have severe troubles using this version, please report them with as much detail as possible (especially other extensions/addins that you may have) and downgrade to the last stable release. Version History Changed since v12 (beta 1): new options dialog with Quick Set selections for behavior restructured settings storage (should be more reliable) asynchronous background document analysis glow effect now appears in p...SQL Monitor - managing sql server performance: SQL Monitor 4.2 alpha 16: 1. finally fixed problem with logic fault checking for temporary table name... I really mean finally ...ScintillaNET: ScintillaNET 2.5: A slew of bug-fixes with a few new features sprinkled in. This release also upgrades the SciLexer and SciLexer64 DLLs to version 3.0.4. The official stuff: Issue # Title 32402 32402 27137 27137 31548 31548 30179 30179 24932 24932 29701 29701 31238 31238 26875 26875 30052 30052 Mugen MVVM Toolkit: Mugen MVVM Toolkit ver 1.1: Added Design mode support.Multiwfn: Multiwfn 2.3.2: Multiwfn 2.3.2Harness: Harness 2.0.2: change to .NET Framework Client Profile bug fix the download dialog auto answer. bug fix setFocus command. add "SendKeys" command. remove "closeAll" command. minor bugs fixed.BugNET Issue Tracker: BugNET 0.9.161: Below is a list of fixes in this release. Bug BGN-2092 - Link in Email "visit your profile" not functional BGN-2083 - Manager of bugnet can not edit project when it is not public BGN-2080 - clicking on a link in the project summary causes error (0.9.152.0) BGN-2070 - Missing Functionality On Feed.aspx BGN-2069 - Calendar View does not work BGN-2068 - Time tracking totals not ok BGN-2067 - Issues List Page Size Bug: Index was out of range. Must be non-negative and less than the si...YAF.NET (aka Yet Another Forum.NET): v1.9.6.1 RTW: v1.9.6.1 FINAL is .NET v4.0 ONLY v1.9.6.1 has: Performance Improvements .NET v4.0 improvements Improved FaceBook Integration KNOWN ISSUES WITH THIS RELEASE: ON INSTALL PLEASE DON'T CHECK "Upgrade BBCode Extensions...". More complete change list and discussion here: http://forum.yetanotherforum.net/yaf_postst14201_v1-9-6-1-RTW-Dated--3-26-2012.aspxmenu4web: menu4web 0.0.3: menu4web 0.0.3ArcGIS Editor for OpenStreetMap: ArcGIS Editor for OSM 2.0 Final: This release installs both the ArcGIS Editor for OSM Server Component and/or ArcGIS Editor for OSM Desktop components. The Desktop tools allow you to download data from the OpenStreetMap servers and store it locally in a geodatabase. You can then use the familiar editing environment of ArcGIS Desktop to create, modify, or delete data. Once you are done editing, you can post back the edit changes to OSM to make them available to all OSM users. The Server Component allows you to quickly create...Craig's Utility Library: Craig's Utility Library 3.1: This update adds about 60 new extension methods, a couple of new classes, and a number of fixes including: Additions Added DateSpan class Added GenericDelimited class Random additions Added static thread friendly version of Random.Next called ThreadSafeNext. AOP Manager additions Added Destroy function to AOPManager (clears out all data so system can be recreated. Really only useful for testing...) ORM additions Added PagedCommand and PageCount functions to ObjectBaseClass (same as M...DotSpatial: DotSpatial 1.1: This is a Minor Release. See the changes in the issue tracker. Minimal -- includes DotSpatial core and essential extensions Extended -- includes debugging symbols and additional extensions Just want to run the software? End user (non-programmer) version available branded as MapWindow Want to add your own feature? Develop a plugin, using the template and contribute to the extension feed (you can also write extensions that you distribute in other ways). Components are available as NuGet pa...New ProjectsAeroFichierAchats: Program that reworks excel files into PDFArepa: A lightweight non-invasive tool that helps you to implement Behavior Driven Development (BDD) on .NET projects. Arepa produces guidelines of using BDD on your current tests, and customisable and portable test reports integrating XML Documentation Comments. It's developed in C# using Scrum and BDD.Azure User Management Console - AUMC: Azure User Management Console - AUMC is a User Graphic Interface (GUI) that manages the users and logins of an Azure SQL database. The tool is simply converting your action into T-SQL commands and execute them on the Azure SQL Database. BaseProject: BaseProjectCraftBukkit Updater: I don't activly monitor the status of CraftBukkit's updates, but I want to stay on top of the updated versions. This will track the last version in cache then check for updates. Upon update there should be an option to download automaticly to location XYZ or to send an email/sms.Dan Dot Com: Dan's SandboxEjemplos Windows 8 Javascript: Este proyecto pretende recoger todos los ejemplos de aplicaciones metro para Windows 8 en JavaScript que vaya desarrollando para fines didácticos. Todas las colaboraciones son bienvenidas.EntityFramework Generic Patterns: EntityFramework Generic PatternsEpFamvir: EpFamvir is a Visual C++ software framework that supports data-intensive distributed applications under a GPL3.0 license. It enables applications to work with thousands of nodes and petabytes of data. Famvir was inspired by Apache Hadoop, Google's MapReduce, and Google FS.etdc/etp: ???????????????? ???????? ??????? etest.ru. IndieCiv: IndieCiv - An independent look at how a new game could be made using fan-made graphics from Civ3. You can visit the discussion at www.civfanatics.com http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=421582Libro SQL Server 2012: Databases and examples for my Italian book on "SQL Server 2012"Linq2Rest: Parses OData system query parameters to create a LINQ query that can be used to filter a model set. Also exposes a LINQ provider for web services supporting the OData query parameters. Use extension method Filter (in Linq2Rest namespace) on any IEnumerable source.LittleUmph: It's a little library to help you to alleviate some of the mundane stuff during your development. It has some nifty stuff like a neat database wrapper, conversion utilities, string functions and vast of other mini helpers to improve the efficiency and consistency of your code.LonghornRPG: LonghornRPGMemberManager: Keep track of membersMSU Student Teaching DataBase: A C# application to manage student placements for MSU.MvcContrib4: This is the MvcContrib project to support MVC 4MYFIRSTDEMOPROJECT: Introduction to CSharpOrchard Page Title Override: This Orchard CMS module allows a user to manage the Page Title. You can now have the Site Name show up last in the Page Title or hide the Site Name completely from the Page Title. The module also contains a Content Part allowing a Page Title to be separate from content title.phoenixtree: .net linux sql php python html javascript c exampleProject Explorer for Notepad++: This project mainly aims at providing a functional rich project explorer experience on notepad++. Features include Folder based file browsing, searching, filtering and more.Projeto Exemplo FPU: Projeto Exemplo FPUPureCalendar: simple web calendarrails study: rails studySafe IM: a safe IM software use AES,SHA,RSA.Contain a server and a clientScoreboard: Scoreboard is a simple sports and/or activities scoreboard which can be used for a variety of purposes It was developed for use with a 1024x768 projector and features home and away scores, countdown clock, even a buzzer. It's developed in VB.net.SharePoint System dates and editor fields updater: The SPChangeDate is a utility used to modify some of the system fields in a SharePoint 2010 document library using a datagridview (Excel Like). It allows the modification of the following SharePoint fields: 1. Created 2. Modified 3. Modified By 4. Created By Shi Ji Xiang CRM 2012: Shi Ji XiangSIGECAR: SIGECARStable Dependencies Principle Checker for nDepend: Small console app for parsing nDepend output files and find assemblies that breaks the Stable Dependencies PrincipleStudentsPointManager: StudentsPointManagertclh123test: 4testThai Sign Language Translator: Thai Sign Language Translator with Kinect Sensor.The House FM / My Praise FM Desktop App: An App to play Christian radio on the desktop of windows Vista and Windows 7 computersTradeSea: Uni ProjectVisual Dependency Tracer: This tool will help you understand how an excel formula is derived/calculated. It provides a visual representation (tree) of the formula, including the precendents and dependents.VK Video Player: Video player for russian social network vk.comXrmSvcToolkit: XrmSvcToolkit is a small JavaScript library that helps you access Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 web service interfaces (SOAP and REST).

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CodePlex Daily Summary for Friday, March 30, 2012

CodePlex Daily Summary for Friday, March 30, 2012Popular ReleasesSIPSorcery: SIPSorcery Softphone v1.0.0: The SIPSorcery softphone is a demo (note the "demo") application to prototype using .Net as a suitable runtime environment for a SIP softphone application requiring deterministic audio sampling and playback, it's not. And also to prototype placing calls via Google Voice's XMPP gateway, this works well.ScriptIDE: Release 4.4: ...Media Companion: MC 3.434b Release: General This release should be the last beta for 3.4xx. If there are no major problems, by the end of the week it will upgraded to 3.500 Stable! The latest mc_com.exe should be included too! TV Bug fix - crash when using XBMC scraper for TV episodes. Bug fix - episode count update when adding new episodes. Bug fix - crash when actors name was missing. Enhanced TV scrape progress text. Enhancements made to missing episodes display. Movies Bug fix - hide "Play Trailer" when multisaev...Better Explorer: Better Explorer 2.0.0.831 Alpha: - A new release with: - many bugfixes - changed icon - added code for more failsafe registry usage on x64 systems - not needed regfix anymore - added ribbon shortcut keys - Other fixes Note: If you have problems opening system libraries, a suggestion was given to copy all of these libraries and then delete the originals. Thanks to Gaugamela for that! (see discussion here: 349015 ) Note2: I was upload again the setup due to missing file!XAML Dialect Comparer Tool: Beta 1: This is a first beta version of this tool (as shown at DevConncetions in Vegas, March 2012). Community participation and suggestions are appreciated.LINQ Extensions Library: 1.0.2.7: Append and Prepend extensions (1.0.2.7) IndexOf extensions (1.0.2.7) New Align/Match extensions (1.0.2.6) Ready to use stable code with comprehensive unit tests and samples New Pivot extensions New Filter ExtensionsStartrinity.com Silverlight realtime multiple face and feature points detector: Version 1.2: *Added public methods to start and stop capturing *Added public access to captured snapshot. Applications can crop faces out of snapshot imageMonoGame - Write Once, Play Everywhere: MonoGame 2.5: The MonoGame team are pleased to announce that MonoGame v2.5 has been released. This release contains important bug fixes, implements optimisations and adds key features. MonoGame now has the capability to use OpenGLES 2.0 on Android and iOS devices, meaning it now supports custom shaders across mobile and desktop platforms. Also included in this release are native orientation animations on iOS devices and better Orientation support for Android. There have also been a lot of bug fixes since t...callisto: callisto 2.0.23: Patched Script static class and peak user count bug fix.Circuit Diagram: Circuit Diagram 2.0 Alpha 3: New in this release: Added components: Microcontroller Demultiplexer Flip & rotate components Open XML files from older versions of Circuit Diagram Text formatting for components New CDDX syntax Other fixesUmbraco CMS: Umbraco 5.1 CMS (Beta): Beta build for testing - please report issues at issues.umbraco.org (Latest uploaded: 5.1.0.123) What's new in 5.1? The full list of changes is on our http://progress.umbraco.org task tracking page. It shows items complete for 5.1, and 5.1 includes items for 5.0.1 and 5.0.2 listed there too. Here's two headline acts: Members5.1 adds support for backoffice editing of Members. We support the pairing up of our content type system in Hive with regular ASP.NET Membership providers (we ship a def...51Degrees.mobi - Mobile Device Detection and Redirection: 2.1.2.11: One Click Install from NuGet Changes to Version 2.1.2.11Code Changes 1. The project is now licenced under the Mozilla Public Licence 2. 2. User interface control and associated data access layer classes have been added to aid developers integrating 51Degrees.mobi into wider projects such as content management systems or web hosting management solutions. Use the following in a web form or user control to access these new UI components. <%@ Register Assembly="FiftyOne.Foundation" Namespace="...JSON Toolkit: JSON Toolkit 3.1: slight performance improvement (5% - 10%) new JsonException classPicturethrill: Version 2.3.28.0: Straightforward image selection. New clean UI look. Super stable. Simplified user experience.SQL Monitor - managing sql server performance: SQL Monitor 4.2 alpha 16: 1. finally fixed problem with logic fault checking for temporary table name... I really mean finally ...ScintillaNET: ScintillaNET 2.5: A slew of bug-fixes with a few new features sprinkled in. This release also upgrades the SciLexer and SciLexer64 DLLs to version 3.0.4. The official stuff: Issue # Title 32402 32402 27137 27137 31548 31548 30179 30179 24932 24932 29701 29701 31238 31238 26875 26875 30052 30052 Harness: Harness 2.0.2: change to .NET Framework Client Profile bug fix the download dialog auto answer. bug fix setFocus command. add "SendKeys" command. remove "closeAll" command. minor bugs fixed.BugNET Issue Tracker: BugNET 0.9.161: Below is a list of fixes in this release. Bug BGN-2092 - Link in Email "visit your profile" not functional BGN-2083 - Manager of bugnet can not edit project when it is not public BGN-2080 - clicking on a link in the project summary causes error (0.9.152.0) BGN-2070 - Missing Functionality On Feed.aspx BGN-2069 - Calendar View does not work BGN-2068 - Time tracking totals not ok BGN-2067 - Issues List Page Size Bug: Index was out of range. Must be non-negative and less than the si...YAF.NET (aka Yet Another Forum.NET): v1.9.6.1 RTW: v1.9.6.1 FINAL is .NET v4.0 ONLY v1.9.6.1 has: Performance Improvements .NET v4.0 improvements Improved FaceBook Integration KNOWN ISSUES WITH THIS RELEASE: ON INSTALL PLEASE DON'T CHECK "Upgrade BBCode Extensions...". More complete change list and discussion here: http://forum.yetanotherforum.net/yaf_postst14201_v1-9-6-1-RTW-Dated--3-26-2012.aspxCraig's Utility Library: Craig's Utility Library 3.1: This update adds about 60 new extension methods, a couple of new classes, and a number of fixes including: Additions Added DateSpan class Added GenericDelimited class Random additions Added static thread friendly version of Random.Next called ThreadSafeNext. AOP Manager additions Added Destroy function to AOPManager (clears out all data so system can be recreated. Really only useful for testing...) ORM additions Added PagedCommand and PageCount functions to ObjectBaseClass (same as M...New ProjectsBig-Tuto DirectX Site du Zéro: Dépôt de code source pour le big tuto DirectX du site du ZéroBlob Drop: Azure Blob Drop watches a local file folder (or several) and passes on any file changes (creates, updates, deletes) to a blob container in Windows Azure Storage account. Just "dump" files into a folder (such as content for a web site) and they will get uploaded to the cloud.C++ AMP Algorithms Library: C++ AMP Algorithms Library is a library of Parallel Patterns that C++ AMP developers can freely use in their own projects.C++ AMP BLAS Library: C++ AMP BLAS Library is a library of Basic Linear Algebra Subroutines that C++ AMP developers can freely use in their own projects.C++ AMP RNG Library: C++ AMP RNG Library is a library of Random Number Generators that C++ AMP developers can freely use in their own projects.cphobby: This is a project to high performance computing on WindowsCSharp Tesseract OCR GUI UTB Spring 2012: n/aecho test project: echo test projectFacebook Connection Manager: Facebook Application written in Asp.Net. Monitors the list of contacts (for its users), revealing when they or someone they know has lost a contact (e.g. deleted their profile or linkage). Works by storing all the auth tickets, extending them, and using them to regularly poll the facebook API.Fast Excel Spreadsheet Writer: The Fast Excel Spreadsheet Writer makes it easier for developers to write 2007 / 2010 Excel spreadsheets containing large sets of raw data. It can write hundreds of thousands of records in seconds. It is developed in C# and uses the Packaging namespace and Xml writers. fieldGames: Demonstrates wp7 gps featuresfucksmzdm: fuck smzdm projectGeo.LibraryManage: Geo.LibraryManageGraph my Code: Silverlight graph control and tools to visualize .net assembly in human readable way.Iron Server: Control Your PC IUBookStore: Build an online system the supports the process of renting and purchasing books from HCMC International University's Post-graduation Centerkage: how to make a kageLCDSmartie dll to display MediaPortal status: MP.dll allows the display of MediaPortal data on an LCDSmartie driven display. Uses WifiConnect and MPExtended to gain access to the MediaPortal data. Written in C.MaxiService: Controle Integrado de Serviço e ManutençãoNetduinoBot: This project is to have fun and learn more about .Net The plan is to improve a simple netduino based robot (2 powered wheels using stepper engines and a support wheel) Next steps: Adding BT communication Adding interactive driving Adding distance measurement Adding routingNovaUmbracoDemo: This is a demo site for Nova in Umbraco business domain.Orchard Members Only: This is a simple module to protect anonymous users from accessing specified content To utilize the feature, simply add the Members Only content part to any content type to make that content type available to authenticated users only.POC's project around web and azure related development: POC's project around web and azure related developmentPractice: nonepromising: asp.net mvc jqueryeasyui rbac asp.net mvc jqueryeasyui rbac asp.net mvc jqueryeasyui rbac asp.net mvc jqueryeasyui rbac asp.net mvc jqueryeasyui rbac asp.net mvc jqueryeasyui rbac asp.net mvc jqueryeasyui rbac asp.net mvc jqueryeasyui rbac asp.net mvc jqueryeasyui rbac asp.net mvRRPandora for RideRunner: RRPandora is a Pandora plugin for RideRunner front end. Play your pandora stations, create new ones, and love/hate your tracks all from within your car PC front end of choice. Discusion on RRPandora project can be found here: http://www.mp3car.com/rr-plugins/150505-so-have-you-guys-ever-heard-of-this-new-thing-called-pandora.htmlSharepoint & CRM Toolkit: Reusable components and tools to speed up Sharepoint and Dynamics CRM development, e.g. Site Definitions, Web Parts, Event Handlers, Workflows, Management Tools for sharepoint and Plugin, workflow, custom reports for MS CRM. Sharepoint QuotaCheck Webpart: A Sharepoint webpart wich shows a progressbar with the current percent usage from the maximum quota. Also shows the warning, max quota and the current usage in MB. Change color if the warning quota is reached.Silverlight MultiSelectComboBox: A multi-select combobox for Silverlight (hope this gets included in the toolkit at some time)Simple OWL.Api: Simple OWL.Api is a .Net OWL Api wrapper library.Taxi Please!: This is the Taxi Please! windows phone application.testtom03292012hg02: testtom03292012hg02testtom03292012tfs01: testtom03292012tfs01theBrent StartPage: A simple personal start page portalVirtualization Automation via Powershell: Scratch Project to enable Virtualization Automation via PowershellXAML Dialect Comparer Tool: This tool allows for comparison of different XAML dialects and utilized framework namespaces. Want to know if your Silverlight project will translate well to Windows 8 Metro? And whether your Metro assets can be reused in your Windows Phone app? And how about that WPF app? This helpful tool provides some interesting metrics. Note that it only compares types/classes and all their members. It makes no comparison of behavior differences between classes and members of identical names.

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CodePlex Daily Summary for Friday, January 28, 2011

CodePlex Daily Summary for Friday, January 28, 2011Popular ReleasesVFPX: VFP2C32 2.0.0.8 Release Candidate: This release includes several bugfixes, new functions and finally a CHM help file for the complete library.EnhSim: EnhSim 2.3.3 ALPHA: 2.3.3 ALPHAThis release supports WoW patch 4.06 at level 85 To use this release, you must have the Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable Package installed. This can be downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=A7B7A05E-6DE6-4D3A-A423-37BF0912DB84 To use the GUI you must have the .NET 4.0 Framework installed. This can be downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=9cfb2d51-5ff4-4491-b0e5-b386f32c0992 - Added back in a p...DB>doc for Microsoft SQL Server: 1.0.0.0: Initial release Supported output HTML WikiPlex markup Raw XML Supported objects Tables Primary Keys Foreign Keys ViewsmojoPortal: 2.3.6.1: see release notes on mojoportal.com http://www.mojoportal.com/mojoportal-2361-released.aspx Note that we have separate deployment packages for .NET 3.5 and .NET 4.0 The deployment package downloads on this page are pre-compiled and ready for production deployment, they contain no C# source code. To download the source code see the Source Code Tab I recommend getting the latest source code using TortoiseHG, you can get the source code corresponding to this release here.Office Web.UI: Alpha preview: This is the first alpha release. Very exciting moment... This download is just the demo application : "Contoso backoffice Web App". No source included for the moment, just the app, for testing purposes and for feedbacks !! This package includes a set of official MS Office icons (143 png 16x16 and 132 png 32x32) to really make a great app ! Please rate and give feedback ThanksParallel Programming with Microsoft Visual C++: Drop 6 - Chapters 4 and 5: This is Drop 6. It includes: Drafts of the Preface, Introduction, Chapters 2-7, Appendix B & C and the glossary Sample code for chapters 2-7 and Appendix A & B. The new material we'd like feedback on is: Chapter 4 - Parallel Aggregation Chapter 5 - Futures The source code requires Visual Studio 2010 in order to run. There is a known bug in the A-Dash sample when the user attempts to cancel a parallel calculation. We are working to fix this.Catel - WPF and Silverlight MVVM library: 1.1: (+) Styles can now be changed dynamically, see Examples application for a how-to (+) ViewModelBase class now have a constructor that allows services injection (+) ViewModelBase services can now be configured by IoC (via Microsoft.Unity) (+) All ViewModelBase services now have a unit test implementation (+) Added IProcessService to run processes from a viewmodel with directly using the process class (which makes it easier to unit test view models) (*) If the HasErrors property of DataObjec...NodeXL: Network Overview, Discovery and Exploration for Excel: NodeXL Excel Template, version 1.0.1.160: The NodeXL Excel template displays a network graph using edge and vertex lists stored in an Excel 2007 or Excel 2010 workbook. What's NewThis release improves NodeXL's Twitter and Pajek features. See the Complete NodeXL Release History for details. Installation StepsFollow these steps to install and use the template: Download the Zip file. Unzip it into any folder. Use WinZip or a similar program, or just right-click the Zip file in Windows Explorer and select "Extract All." Close Ex...Kooboo CMS: Kooboo CMS 3.0 CTP: Files in this downloadkooboo_CMS.zip: The kooboo application files Content_DBProvider.zip: Additional content database implementation of MSSQL, RavenDB and SQLCE. Default is XML based database. To use them, copy the related dlls into web root bin folder and remove old content provider dlls. Content provider has the name like "Kooboo.CMS.Content.Persistence.SQLServer.dll" View_Engines.zip: Supports of Razor, webform and NVelocity view engine. Copy the dlls into web root bin folder to enable...UOB & ME: UOB ME 2.6: UOB ME 2.6????: ???? V1.0: ???? V1.0 ??Password Generator: 2.2: Parallel password generation Password strength calculation ( Same method used by Microsoft here : https://www.microsoft.com/protect/fraud/passwords/checker.aspx ) Minor code refactoringVisual Studio 2010 Architecture Tooling Guidance: Spanish - Architecture Guidance: Francisco Fagas http://geeks.ms/blogs/ffagas, Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP), localized the Visual Studio 2010 Quick Reference Guidance for the Spanish communities, based on http://vsarchitectureguide.codeplex.com/releases/view/47828. Release Notes The guidance is available in a xps-only (default) or complete package. The complete package contains the files in xps, pdf and Office 2007 formats. 2011-01-24 Publish version 1.0 of the Spanish localized bits.ASP.NET MVC Project Awesome, jQuery Ajax helpers (controls): 1.6.2: A rich set of helpers (controls) that you can use to build highly responsive and interactive Ajax-enabled Web applications. These helpers include Autocomplete, AjaxDropdown, Lookup, Confirm Dialog, Popup Form, Popup and Pager the html generation has been optimized, the html page size is much smaller nowFacebook Graph Toolkit: Facebook Graph Toolkit 0.6: new Facebook Graph objects: Application, Page, Post, Comment Improved Intellisense documentation new Graph Api connections: albums, photos, posts, feed, home, friends JSON Toolkit upgraded to version 0.9 (beta release) with bug fixes and new features bug fixed: error when handling empty JSON arrays bug fixed: error when handling JSON array with square or large brackets in the message bug fixed: error when handling JSON obejcts with double quotation in the message bug fixed: erro...Microsoft All-In-One Code Framework: Visual Studio 2008 Code Samples 2011-01-23: Code samples for Visual Studio 2008MVVM Light Toolkit: MVVM Light Toolkit V3 SP1 (3): Instructions for installation: http://www.galasoft.ch/mvvm/installing/manually/ Includes the hotfix templates for Windows Phone 7 development. This is only relevant if you didn't already install the hotfix described at http://blog.galasoft.ch/archive/2010/07/22/mvvm-light-hotfix-for-windows-phone-7-developer-tools-beta.aspx.Community Forums NNTP bridge: Community Forums NNTP Bridge V42: Release of the Community Forums NNTP Bridge to access the social and anwsers MS forums with a single, open source NNTP bridge. This release has added some features / bugfixes: Bugfix: Decoding of Subject now also supports multi-line subjects (occurs only if you have very long subjects with non-ASCII characters)Minecraft Tools: Minecraft Topographical Survey 1.3: MTS requires version 4 of the .NET Framework - you must download it from Microsoft if you have not previously installed it. This version of MTS adds automatic block list updates, so MTS will recognize blocks added in game updates properly rather than drawing them in bright pink. New in this version of MTS: Support for all new blocks added since the Halloween update Auto-update of blockcolors.xml to support future game updates A splash screen that shows while the program searches for upd...StyleCop for ReSharper: StyleCop for ReSharper 5.1.14996.000: New Features: ============= This release is just compiled against the latest release of JetBrains ReSharper 5.1.1766.4 Previous release: A considerable amount of work has gone into this release: Huge focus on performance around the violation scanning subsystem: - caching added to reduce IO operations around reading and merging of settings files - caching added to reduce creation of expensive objects Users should notice condsiderable perf boost and a decrease in memory usage. Bug Fixes...New ProjectsAgilErp: AgilErp is a .NET OpenSource ERP - System developed in C# using WPF, WCF ,Entity Framework, MS-SQL-Server and MVVM. Angel Eye: 3d Game for the new generation AWWWE Browser: AWWWE Browser. (Pronounced "awe".) Aural World Wide Web Everywhere. 1) An aural browser. It talks and listens to you and you talk and listen to it. 2) A VUI for normal HTML web sites. It lets regular web sites talk and listen to you while you talk and listen to them.BitLocker Wrapper Library: The BDE Wrapper library allows .NET Developers to quickly use the WMI BitLocker provider without having to learn the complex methods and operation of the WMI classes.CRM8000: CRM8000????????????????DSM Hub for WP7: Implements a light version of the DSM tools for WP7. Currently, most of the effort is on the audio station.File Downloader: This application checks a Gmail account regularly for mail containing URLs. Once a URL is found, its content is downloaded and sent as a reply message with the file as an attachment. Intended usage: - Download IEEE articles as PDF when you're not in a authenticated network.Folder Space Quota: This component return Quotas Disk Space used for each folders and subfolders in a given directory. Results are returned with a graphic percent bar. Another Tab give access to this directory tree, indicating the size of each file and allows previewing them in a "LightBox" window. IDK: Every other month, IDK asks people to come up with awesome ideas for new programs and webpages. After the end of the month, IDKs developers have another month to create one of the top rated websites or applications. Got a great idea for a new app? Let IDK build it for you.Interop 2: Microformats for Azure Cloud with OData-InterfacejSPoint - JavaScript Library for SharePoint: JavaScript for SharePoint (jSPoint) is a library that help SharePoint developers to create rich,dynamic, & powerfull pages for SharePoint sites.MVVM T4: T4 Templates for generating view models, and views for WPF, Silverlight, Windows Phone using T4 Toolbox and MVVM LightNumericUpDown Control for WPF: A basic NumericUpDown Control for WPF that mirrors all the most used functions of the WinForms NumericUpDown Control and looks similar to itOData for IQToolkit: OData for IQToolkit, converts OData expressions into a usable expressions for IQToolkit providers.PLATO: PALTO is micro plate processing pipeline and supports enzymes and metabolites. PLATO was developed at INRA-Bordeaux and is an evolution of the EnzymeLaborTool developed at the Max-Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology.Purdue CS 490: Model-based testing of ADO.NET: Five students from Purdue University will develop model-based tests for an aspect of ADO.NET during the Spring 2011 semester. We'll be using C# and Spec Explorer, among other tools.Replace in multiple Office 2010 documents: This program replaces a text string in multiple office 2010 documents (Word, Excel, PowerPoint). It is developed in VB.NET and new code for additional products is welcome. SearchEngine: A Website Search Engine and Crawler.Set Custom Currency Symbol: This utility enables you to set/register custom currency symbols for the .NET FrameworkSimple C# Email Templates: A really simple, really easy to use class for sending email templates. Reads any file from disk (think ".txt" or ".html") and matches custom tokens with the values you supply, in both the message body and the subject line. Supports multiple CC and BCC addresses.SimpleBasicAuthentication: SimpleBasicAuthentication makes it easier for developers to build a website with basic authentication using the credentials from just a text file. You'll no longer have to create new users on the system just to let them log in to the website or service. It's developed in C# 4.0.SpecsFor - Yet Another BDD Framework For .NET: SpecsFor is another Behavior-Driven Development framework that focuses on ease of use for *developers* by minimizing testing friction. Square: Custom SharePoint MyProfile PageSynchrolist workflow: Sharepoint workflow whitch perform automatic synchronisation between two lists in the same collection. Usefull for automatic translation.TFS Aggregator: This server side plugin for TFS 2010 enables dynamic calculation of field values in TFS. (For example: Dev work + Test Work = Total Work) Supports same work item and parent-child links. Also has support for aggregating string values (ie Children are Done so the parent is Done)Tinchant: My nice projectZebra_Image, a lightweight image manipulation library written in PHP: This is a compact (one-file only), lightweight, object-oriented image manipulation library written in and for PHP, that provides methods for performing several types of image manipulation operations. It doesn’t require any external libraries other than the GD2 extension.Zebra_Pagination, a generic pagination class written in PHP: A generic pagination class that automatically generates navigation links given the total number of items and the number of items per page.Zebra_Session, a wrapper for PHP’s default session handler, using MySQL: Zebra_Session is a PHP class that acts as a wrapper for PHP’s default session handling functions but instead of storing session data in flat files it stores them in a MySQL database, thus providing both better security and better performance.

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Testing Entity Framework applications, pt. 3: NDbUnit

- by Thomas Weller

This is the third of a three part series that deals with the issue of faking test data in the context of a legacy app that was built with Microsoft's Entity Framework (EF) on top of an MS SQL Server database – a scenario that can be found very often. Please read the first part for a description of the sample application, a discussion of some general aspects of unit testing in a database context, and of some more specific aspects of the here discussed EF/MSSQL combination. Lately, I wondered how you would ‘mock’ the data layer of a legacy application, when this data layer is made up of an MS Entity Framework (EF) model in combination with a MS SQL Server database. Originally, this question came up in the context of how you could enable higher-level integration tests (automated UI tests, to be exact) for a legacy application that uses this EF/MSSQL combo as its data store mechanism – a not so uncommon scenario. The question sparked my interest, and I decided to dive into it somewhat deeper. What I've found out is, in short, that it's not very easy and straightforward to do it – but it can be done. The two strategies that are best suited to fit the bill involve using either the (commercial) Typemock Isolator tool or the (free) NDbUnit framework. The use of Typemock was discussed in the previous post, this post now will present the NDbUnit approach... NDbUnit is an Apache 2.0-licensed open-source project, and like so many other Nxxx tools and frameworks, it is basically a C#/.NET port of the corresponding Java version (DbUnit namely). In short, it helps you in flexibly managing the state of a database in that it lets you easily perform basic operations (like e.g. Insert, Delete, Refresh, DeleteAll) against your database and, most notably, lets you feed it with data from external xml files. Let's have a look at how things can be done with the help of this framework. Preparing the test data Compared to Typemock, using NDbUnit implies a totally different approach to meet our testing needs. So the here described testing scenario requires an instance of an SQL Server database in operation, and it also means that the Entity Framework model that sits on top of this database is completely unaffected. First things first: For its interactions with the database, NDbUnit relies on a .NET Dataset xsd file. See Step 1 of their Quick Start Guide for a description of how to create one. With this prerequisite in place then, the test fixture's setup code could look something like this: [TestFixture, TestsOn(typeof(PersonRepository))] [Metadata("NDbUnit Quickstart URL", "http://code.google.com/p/ndbunit/wiki/QuickStartGuide")] [Description("Uses the NDbUnit library to provide test data to a local database.")] public class PersonRepositoryFixture { #region Constants private const string XmlSchema = @"..\..\TestData\School.xsd"; #endregion // Constants #region Fields private SchoolEntities _schoolContext; private PersonRepository _personRepository; private INDbUnitTest _database; #endregion // Fields #region Setup/TearDown [FixtureSetUp] public void FixtureSetUp() { var connectionString = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["School_Test"].ConnectionString; _database = new SqlDbUnitTest(connectionString); _database.ReadXmlSchema(XmlSchema); var entityConnectionStringBuilder = new EntityConnectionStringBuilder { Metadata = "res://*/School.csdl|res://*/School.ssdl|res://*/School.msl", Provider = "System.Data.SqlClient", ProviderConnectionString = connectionString }; _schoolContext = new SchoolEntities(entityConnectionStringBuilder.ConnectionString); _personRepository = new PersonRepository(this._schoolContext); } [FixtureTearDown] public void FixtureTearDown() { _database.PerformDbOperation(DbOperationFlag.DeleteAll); _schoolContext.Dispose(); } ... As you can see, there is slightly more fixture setup code involved if your tests are using NDbUnit to provide the test data: Because we're dealing with a physical database instance here, we first need to pick up the test-specific connection string from the test assemblies' App.config, then initialize an NDbUnit helper object with this connection along with the provided xsd file, and also set up the SchoolEntities and the PersonRepository instances accordingly. The _database field (an instance of the INdUnitTest interface) will be our single access point to the underlying database: We use it to perform all the required operations against the data store. To have a flexible mechanism to easily insert data into the database, we can write a helper method like this: private void InsertTestData(params string[] dataFileNames) { _database.PerformDbOperation(DbOperationFlag.DeleteAll); if (dataFileNames == null) { return; } try { foreach (string fileName in dataFileNames) { if (!File.Exists(fileName)) { throw new FileNotFoundException(Path.GetFullPath(fileName)); } _database.ReadXml(fileName); _database.PerformDbOperation(DbOperationFlag.InsertIdentity); } } catch { _database.PerformDbOperation(DbOperationFlag.DeleteAll); throw; } } This lets us easily insert test data from xml files, in any number and in a controlled order (which is important because we eventually must fulfill referential constraints, or we must account for some other stuff that imposes a specific ordering on data insertion). Again, as with Typemock, I won't go into API details here. - Unfortunately, there isn't too much documentation for NDbUnit anyway, other than the already mentioned Quick Start Guide (and the source code itself, of course) - a not so uncommon problem with smaller Open Source Projects. Last not least, we need to provide the required test data in xml form. A snippet for data from the People table might look like this, for example: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?> <School xmlns="http://tempuri.org/School.xsd"> <Person> <PersonID>1</PersonID> <LastName>Abercrombie</LastName> <FirstName>Kim</FirstName> <HireDate>1995-03-11T00:00:00</HireDate> </Person> <Person> <PersonID>2</PersonID> <LastName>Barzdukas</LastName> <FirstName>Gytis</FirstName> <EnrollmentDate>2005-09-01T00:00:00</EnrollmentDate> </Person> <Person> ... You can also have data from various tables in one single xml file, if that's appropriate for you (but beware of the already mentioned ordering issues). It's true that your test assembly may end up with dozens of such xml files, each containing quite a big amount of text data. But because the files are of very low complexity, and with the help of a little bit of Copy/Paste and Excel magic, this appears to be well manageable. Executing some basic tests Here are some of the possible tests that can be written with the above preparations in place: private const string People = @"..\..\TestData\School.People.xml"; ... [Test, MultipleAsserts, TestsOn("PersonRepository.GetNameList")] public void GetNameList_ListOrdering_ReturnsTheExpectedFullNames() { InsertTestData(People); List<string> names = _personRepository.GetNameList(NameOrdering.List); Assert.Count(34, names); Assert.AreEqual("Abercrombie, Kim", names.First()); Assert.AreEqual("Zheng, Roger", names.Last()); } [Test, MultipleAsserts, TestsOn("PersonRepository.GetNameList")] [DependsOn("RemovePerson_CalledOnce_DecreasesCountByOne")] public void GetNameList_NormalOrdering_ReturnsTheExpectedFullNames() { InsertTestData(People); List<string> names = _personRepository.GetNameList(NameOrdering.Normal); Assert.Count(34, names); Assert.AreEqual("Alexandra Walker", names.First()); Assert.AreEqual("Yan Li", names.Last()); } [Test, TestsOn("PersonRepository.AddPerson")] public void AddPerson_CalledOnce_IncreasesCountByOne() { InsertTestData(People); int count = _personRepository.Count; _personRepository.AddPerson(new Person { FirstName = "Thomas", LastName = "Weller" }); Assert.AreEqual(count + 1, _personRepository.Count); } [Test, TestsOn("PersonRepository.RemovePerson")] public void RemovePerson_CalledOnce_DecreasesCountByOne() { InsertTestData(People); int count = _personRepository.Count; _personRepository.RemovePerson(new Person { PersonID = 33 }); Assert.AreEqual(count - 1, _personRepository.Count); } Not much difference here compared to the corresponding Typemock versions, except that we had to do a bit more preparational work (and also it was harder to get the required knowledge). But this picture changes quite dramatically if we look at some more demanding test cases: Ok, and what if things are becoming somewhat more complex? Tests like the above ones represent the 'easy' scenarios. They may account for the biggest portion of real-world use cases of the application, and they are important to make sure that it is generally sound. But usually, all these nasty little bugs originate from the more complex parts of our code, or they occur when something goes wrong. So, for a testing strategy to be of real practical use, it is especially important to see how easy or difficult it is to mimick a scenario which represents a more complex or exceptional case. The following test, for example, deals with the case that there is some sort of invalid input from the caller: [Test, MultipleAsserts, TestsOn("PersonRepository.GetCourseMembers")] [Row(null, typeof(ArgumentNullException))] [Row("", typeof(ArgumentException))] [Row("NotExistingCourse", typeof(ArgumentException))] public void GetCourseMembers_WithGivenVariousInvalidValues_Throws(string courseTitle, Type expectedInnerExceptionType) { var exception = Assert.Throws<RepositoryException>(() => _personRepository.GetCourseMembers(courseTitle)); Assert.IsInstanceOfType(expectedInnerExceptionType, exception.InnerException); } Apparently, this test doesn't need an 'Arrange' part at all (see here for the same test with the Typemock tool). It acts just like any other client code, and all the required business logic comes from the database itself. This doesn't always necessarily mean that there is less complexity, but only that the complexity happens in a different part of your test resources (in the xml files namely, where you sometimes have to spend a lot of effort for carefully preparing the required test data). Another example, which relies on an underlying 1-n relationship, might be this: [Test, MultipleAsserts, TestsOn("PersonRepository.GetCourseMembers")] public void GetCourseMembers_WhenGivenAnExistingCourse_ReturnsListOfStudents() { InsertTestData(People, Course, Department, StudentGrade); List<Person> persons = _personRepository.GetCourseMembers("Macroeconomics"); Assert.Count(4, persons); Assert.ForAll( persons, @p => new[] { 10, 11, 12, 14 }.Contains(@p.PersonID), "Person has none of the expected IDs."); } If you compare this test to its corresponding Typemock version, you immediately see that the test itself is much simpler, easier to read, and thus much more intention-revealing. The complexity here lies hidden behind the call to the InsertTestData() helper method and the content of the used xml files with the test data. And also note that you might have to provide additional data which are not even directly relevant to your test, but are required only to fulfill some integrity needs of the underlying database. Conclusion The first thing to notice when comparing the NDbUnit approach to its Typemock counterpart obviously deals with performance: Of course, NDbUnit is much slower than Typemock. Technically, it doesn't even make sense to compare the two tools. But practically, it may well play a role and could or could not be an issue, depending on how much tests you have of this kind, how often you run them, and what role they play in your development cycle. Also, because the dataset from the required xsd file must fully match the database schema (even in parts that otherwise wouldn't be relevant to you), it can be quite cumbersome to be in a team where different people are working with the database in parallel. My personal experience is – as already said in the first part – that Typemock gives you a better development experience in a 'dynamic' scenario (when you're working in some kind of TDD-style, you're oftentimes executing the tests from your dev box, and your database schema changes frequently), whereas the NDbUnit approach is a good and solid solution in more 'static' development scenarios (when you need to execute the tests less frequently or only on a separate build server, and/or the underlying database schema can be kept relatively stable), for example some variations of higher-level integration or User-Acceptance tests. But in any case, opening Entity Framework based applications for testing requires a fair amount of resources, planning, and preparational work – it's definitely not the kind of stuff that you would call 'easy to test'. Hopefully, future versions of EF will take testing concerns into account. Otherwise, I don't see too much of a future for the framework in the long run, even though it's quite popular at the moment... The sample solution A sample solution (VS 2010) with the code from this article series is available via my Bitbucket account from here (Bitbucket is a hosting site for Mercurial repositories. The repositories may also be accessed with the Git and Subversion SCMs - consult the documentation for details. In addition, it is possible to download the solution simply as a zipped archive – via the 'get source' button on the very right.). The solution contains some more tests against the PersonRepository class, which are not shown here. Also, it contains database scripts to create and fill the School sample database. To compile and run, the solution expects the Gallio/MbUnit framework to be installed (which is free and can be downloaded from here), the NDbUnit framework (which is also free and can be downloaded from here), and the Typemock Isolator tool (a fully functional 30day-trial is available here). Moreover, you will need an instance of the Microsoft SQL Server DBMS, and you will have to adapt the connection strings in the test projects App.config files accordingly.

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CodePlex Daily Summary for Tuesday, January 25, 2011

CodePlex Daily Summary for Tuesday, January 25, 2011Popular ReleasesKooboo CMS: Kooboo CMS 3.0 CTP: Files in this downloadkooboo_CMS.zip: The kooboo application files Content_DBProvider.zip: Additional content database implementation of MSSQL, RavenDB and SQLCE. Default is XML based database. To use them, copy the related dlls into web root bin folder and remove old content provider dlls. Content provider has the name like "Kooboo.CMS.Content.Persistence.SQLServer.dll" View_Engines.zip: Supports of Razor, webform and NVelocity view engine. Copy the dlls into web root bin folder to enable...UOB & ME: UOB ME 2.6: UOB ME 2.6????: ???? V1.0: ???? V1.0 ??Developer Guidance - Onboarding Windows Phone 7: Fuel Tracker Source: Release NotesThis project is almost complete. We'll be making small updates to the code and documentation over the next week or so. We look forward to your feedback. This documentation and accompanying sample application will get you started creating a complete application for Windows Phone 7. You will learn about common developer issues in the context of a simple fuel-tracking application named Fuel Tracker. Some of the tasks that you will learn include the following: Creating a UI that...Password Generator: 2.2: Parallel password generation Password strength calculation ( Same method used by Microsoft here : https://www.microsoft.com/protect/fraud/passwords/checker.aspx ) Minor code refactoringASP.NET MVC Project Awesome, jQuery Ajax helpers (controls): 1.6.2: A rich set of helpers (controls) that you can use to build highly responsive and interactive Ajax-enabled Web applications. These helpers include Autocomplete, AjaxDropdown, Lookup, Confirm Dialog, Popup Form, Popup and Pager the html generation has been optimized, the html page size is much smaller nowFacebook Graph Toolkit: Facebook Graph Toolkit 0.6: new Facebook Graph objects: Application, Page, Post, Comment Improved Intellisense documentation new Graph Api connections: albums, photos, posts, feed, home, friends JSON Toolkit upgraded to version 0.9 (beta release) with bug fixes and new features bug fixed: error when handling empty JSON arrays bug fixed: error when handling JSON array with square or large brackets in the message bug fixed: error when handling JSON obejcts with double quotation in the message bug fixed: erro...Microsoft All-In-One Code Framework: Visual Studio 2008 Code Samples 2011-01-23: Code samples for Visual Studio 2008BloodSim: BloodSim - 1.4.0.0: This version requires an update for WControls.dll. - Removed option to use Old Rune Strike - Fixed an issue that was causing Ratings to not properly update when running Progressive simulations - Ability data is now loaded from an XML file in the BloodSim directory that is user editable. This data will be reloaded each time a fresh simulation is run. - Added toggle for showing Graph window. When unchecked, output data will instead be saved to a text file in the BloodSim directory based on the...MVVM Light Toolkit: MVVM Light Toolkit V3 SP1 (3): Instructions for installation: http://www.galasoft.ch/mvvm/installing/manually/ Includes the hotfix templates for Windows Phone 7 development. This is only relevant if you didn't already install the hotfix described at http://blog.galasoft.ch/archive/2010/07/22/mvvm-light-hotfix-for-windows-phone-7-developer-tools-beta.aspx.Community Forums NNTP bridge: Community Forums NNTP Bridge V42: Release of the Community Forums NNTP Bridge to access the social and anwsers MS forums with a single, open source NNTP bridge. This release has added some features / bugfixes: Bugfix: Decoding of Subject now also supports multi-line subjects (occurs only if you have very long subjects with non-ASCII characters)Minecraft Tools: Minecraft Topographical Survey 1.3: MTS requires version 4 of the .NET Framework - you must download it from Microsoft if you have not previously installed it. This version of MTS adds automatic block list updates, so MTS will recognize blocks added in game updates properly rather than drawing them in bright pink. New in this version of MTS: Support for all new blocks added since the Halloween update Auto-update of blockcolors.xml to support future game updates A splash screen that shows while the program searches for upd...StyleCop for ReSharper: StyleCop for ReSharper 5.1.14996.000: New Features: ============= This release is just compiled against the latest release of JetBrains ReSharper 5.1.1766.4 Previous release: A considerable amount of work has gone into this release: Huge focus on performance around the violation scanning subsystem: - caching added to reduce IO operations around reading and merging of settings files - caching added to reduce creation of expensive objects Users should notice condsiderable perf boost and a decrease in memory usage. Bug Fixes...jQuery ASP.Net MVC Controls: Version 1.2.0.0: jqGrid 3.8 support jquery 1.4 support New and exciting features Many bugfixes Complete separation from the jquery, & jqgrid codeMediaScout: MediaScout 3.0 Preview 4: Update ReleaseCoding4Fun Tools: Coding4Fun.Phone.Toolkit v1: Coding4Fun.Phone.Toolkit v1MFCMAPI: January 2011 Release: Build: 6.0.0.1024 Full release notes at SGriffin's blog. If you just want to run the tool, get the executable. If you want to debug it, get the symbol file and the source. The 64 bit build will only work on a machine with Outlook 2010 64 bit installed. All other machines should use the 32 bit build, regardless of the operating system. Facebook BadgeAutoLoL: AutoLoL v1.5.4: Added champion: Renekton Removed automatic file association Fix: The recent files combobox didn't always open a file when an item was selected Fix: Removing a recently opened file caused an errorDotNetNuke® Community Edition: 05.06.01: Major Highlights Fixed issue to remove preCondition checks when upgrading to .Net 4.0 Fixed issue where some valid domains were failing email validation checks. Fixed issue where editing Host menu page settings assigns the page to a Portal. Fixed issue which caused XHTML validation problems in 5.6.0 Fixed issue where an aspx page in any subfolder was inaccessible. Fixed issue where Config.Touch method signature had an unintentional breaking change in 5.6.0 Fixed issue which caused...iTracker Asp.Net Starter Kit: Version 3.0.0: This is the inital release of the version 3.0.0 Visual Studio 2010 (.Net 4.0) remake of the ITracker application. I connsider this a working, stable application but since there are still some features missing to make it "complete" I'm leaving it listed as a "beta" release. I am hoping to make it feature complete for v3.1.0 but anything is possible.New Projectsarchicop: Make your .NET Code Clean with ArchiCop! ArchiCop is a Visual Studio tool to manage complex .NET code and achieve high Code Quality. It's very simple to use. With ArchiCop you can validate references, project properties and group your projects in layers.Blitzkrieg Board Game (1965): I'm currently working on making Blitzkrieg using .NET 4 and WPF (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/4168/blitzkrieg). The goal of this project is to make the game extremely mod-able, by allowing the end-user to change the sprites, game object types, map cell types, and more.Candy: Candy is modern gene-fishing platform which enables Biologists to find candidate genes with ease. Candy is implemented in C# and uses Silverlight to deliver a rich user experience.CMScreator: Content Management System CreatorDecoratorSharp: DecoratorSharp is a Decorator from python.Dorm (beta) - .Net ORM: It’s a light-weight ORM framework for .Net. The idea is to provide all the productivity of an ORM tool without abstracting entirely the database, therefore giving the developer a finer degree of control on data manipulation.DxStudyPro: DirectX Study ProFRCRobotCode: Lightsabers FRC robot code.grouptalk: grouptalkHeejooShop: Heejoo ShopIC Colorful: The aim of this project is to implement an algorithm allowing color-blind people to distinguish colors that they fail to distinguish in regular circumstances. This project is implemented as a DirectShow filter, thus could be used as a video codec as well as live video stream traItzben: Universally useful XAML behaviors, styles, and value converters. Developed in C# for WPF, Silverlight, and WP7.JSON Toolkit: JSON Toolkit is a .NET library written in C# used to handle JSON objects, convert string to JSON objects and obtainn values from them.Materials Data Centre: This project is to create aa materials data centre; a repository for experimental data. See www.materialsdatacentre.com It is built on Microsoft SharePoint with functionality exposed through Web Services.OpenCLI: OpenCLI brings a linux style CLI written in .NET. It acts as a portal from linux style commands, to their commands on the windows system. It is useful to Sysadmins, who wish to deny their uses to the power of Command Prompt, yet want them to be able to user a CLI.Pinguim Cook .Net - Automação de Restaurantes: Em CriaçãoPixination: Pixination is a tiny color picker to get any color from the screen. You will have a collection of color patterns to work with. Developed on C# with Framework 2.0Project Acolythe: Project Acolythe is the codename for a new Open Source RPG. Based upon different ideas from currently available RPGs the Game will have an incredible depth in gameplay. The Team behind is currently a bit small, so if you are interessted to help us out, leave a note ;)Propono: Blogging application based on ASP.NET MVCSharePoint 2010 Excel Export Feature: This feature can be used to export SharePoint lists to Excel Files (.xslx). You can upload templates for the excel export.SilverlightMedia JavaScript Library: A JavaScript library making it quick and easy to work with any web-based media player built with Silverlight. You can take control of any Silverlight media player using pure JavaScript. This facilitates useful scenarios e.g. creating HTML controls, displaying player status, etc.Soluciones: El project contiene herramientas de marketing para todo tipo de tama~o de empresas. Estaba basada en el standard definido por el mercado mismo. Estare publicando las descripcion del project en mas detalle.Soluciones Integrales: El projecto ve la necesidad de poder dar soporte al area de Marketing La finalidad de este proyecto es la implementacion de herramientas de marketing para que las empresas puedan ser mas eficientes al momento de procesar tareas de marketing. Les permitira: - enviar correos masivos - actualizacion de websites a distancia - ingreso de nuevos clientes a dasedatosSparkle Engine: Sparkle engine is a library for various types of effects. Currently I'm working on creating some basic text effects. Storyline Toolbox: Storyline Toolbox 2 is a web platform helping visualize the Storyline method. Version 1 of the Storyline Toolbox was developed in Perl by Linpro (now Redpill) in 2003. This project aims to providy a better user experience for students and teachers using the Storyline Toolbox.TFS Workbench Plugins: This project is dedicated to extending the functionality of the greatest Scrum tool, TFS Workbench.Tireguit Nmon Analyzer: An AIX and linux Nmon Analyzer; It uses SQL Compact 3.5 and C#. For more information on Nmon please visit http://nmon.sourceforge.net/pmwiki.php.uglifycs: Uglify.JS (https://github.com/mishoo/UglifyJS) and jsBeautifier (http://jsbeautifier.org) wrapped using JavaScript.NET (http://javascriptnet.codeplex.com) for use in .NET projects.usea: my study projectWindows Phone Cryptographic Storage: A C# library for easily storing and protecting data with a password on Windows Phone. The data is encrypted and authenticated with keys derived from a user provided password. Yahoo! Decoder: Yahoo! Decoder helps you read Yahoo! messenger chat archives offline with full support of smilies and links.????: “????”?????????????????????WinForm????，??C#????。?????????，????（2??），????！

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Office 2010: It’s not just DOC(X) and XLS(X)

- by andrewbrust

Office 2010 has released to manufacturing. The bits have left the (product team’s) building. Will you upgrade? This version of Office is officially numbered 14, a designation that correlates with the various releases, through the years, of Microsoft Word. There were six major versions of Word for DOS, during whose release cycles came three 16-bit Windows versions. Then, starting with Word 95 and counting through Word 2007, there have been six more versions – all for the 32-bit Windows platform. Skip version 13 to ward off folksy bad luck (and, perhaps, the bugs that could come with it) and that brings us to version 14, which includes implementations for both 32- and 64-bit Windows platforms. We’ve come a long way baby. Or have we? As it does every three years or so, debate will now start to rage on over whether we need a “14th” version the PC platform’s standard word processor, or a “13th” version of the spreadsheet. If you accept the premise of that question, then you may be on a slippery slope toward answering it in the negative. Thing is, that premise is valid for certain customers and not others. The Microsoft Office product has morphed from one that offered core word processing, spreadsheet, presentation and email functionality to a suite of applications that provides unique, new value-added features, and even whole applications, in the context of those core services. The core apps thus grow in mission: Excel is a BI tool. Word is a collaborative editorial system for the production of publications. PowerPoint is a media production platform for for live presentations and, increasingly, for delivering more effective presentations online. Outlook is a time and task management system. Access is a rich client front-end for data-driven self-service SharePoint applications. OneNote helps you capture ideas, corral random thoughts in a semi-structured way, and then tie them back to other, more rigidly structured, Office documents. Google Docs and other cloud productivity platforms like Zoho don’t really do these things. And there is a growing chorus of voices who say that they shouldn’t, because those ancillary capabilities are over-engineered, over-produced and “under-necessary.” They might say Microsoft is layering on superfluous capabilities to avoid admitting that Office’s core capabilities, the ones people really need, have become commoditized. It’s hard to take sides in that argument, because different people, and the different companies that employ them, have different needs. For my own needs, it all comes down to three basic questions: will the new version of Office save me time, will it make the mundane parts of my job easier, and will it augment my services to customers? I need my time back. I need to spend more of it with my family, and more of it focusing on my own core capabilities rather than the administrative tasks around them. And I also need my customers to be able to get more value out of the services I provide. Help me triage my inbox, help me get proposals done more quickly and make them easier to read. Let me get my presentations done faster, make them more effective and make it easier for me to reuse materials from other presentations. And, since I’m in the BI and data business, help me and my customers manage data and analytics more easily, both on the desktop and online. Those are my criteria. And, with those in mind, Office 2010 is looking like a worthwhile upgrade. Perhaps it’s not earth-shattering, but it offers a combination of incremental improvements and a few new major capabilities that I think are quite compelling. I provide a brief roundup of them here. It’s admittedly arbitrary and not comprehensive, but I think it tells the Office 2010 story effectively. Across the Suite More than any other, this release of Office aims to give collaboration a real workout. In certain apps, for the first time, documents can be opened simultaneously by multiple users, with colleagues’ changes appearing in near real-time. Web-browser-based versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote will be available to extend collaboration to contributors who are off the corporate network. The ribbon user interface is now more pervasive (for example, it appears in OneNote and in Outlook’s main window). It’s also customizable, allowing users to add, easily, buttons and options of their choosing, into new tabs, or into new groups within existing tabs. Microsoft has also taken the File menu (which was the “Office Button” menu in the 2007 release) and made it into a full-screen “Backstage” view where document-wide operations, like saving, printing and online publishing are performed. And because, more and more, heavily formatted content is cut and pasted between documents and applications, Office 2010 makes it easier to manage the retention or jettisoning of that formatting right as the paste operation is performed. That’s much nicer than stripping it off, or adding it back, afterwards. And, speaking of pasting, a number of Office apps now make it especially easy to insert screenshots within their documents. I know that’s useful to me, because I often document or critique applications and need to show them in action. For the vast majority of users, I expect that this feature will be more useful for capturing snapshots of Web pages, but we’ll have to see whether this feature becomes popular. Excel At first glance, Excel 2010 looks and acts nearly identically to the 2007 version. But additional glances are necessary. It’s important to understand that lots of people in the working world use Excel as more of a database, analytics and mathematical modeling tool than merely as a spreadsheet. And it’s also important to understand that Excel wasn’t designed to handle such workloads past a certain scale. That all changes with this release. The first reason things change is that Excel has been tuned for performance. It’s been optimized for multi-threaded operation; previously lengthy processes have been shortened, especially for large data sets; more rows and columns are allowed and, for the first time, Excel (and the rest of Office) is available in a 64-bit version. For Excel, this means users can take advantage of more than the 2GB of memory that the 32-bit version is limited to. On the analysis side, Excel 2010 adds Sparklines (tiny charts that fit into a single cell and can therefore be presented down an entire column or across a row) and Slicers (a more user-friendly filter mechanism for PivotTables and charts, which visually indicates what the filtered state of a given data member is). But most important, Excel 2010 supports the new PowerPIvot add-in which brings true self-service BI to Office. PowerPivot allows users to import data from almost anywhere, model it, and then analyze it. Rather than forcing users to build “spreadmarts” or use corporate-built data warehouses, PowerPivot models function as true columnar, in-memory OLAP cubes that can accommodate millions of rows of data and deliver fast drill-down performance. And speaking of OLAP, Excel 2010 now supports an important Analysis Services OLAP feature called write-back. Write-back is especially useful in financial forecasting scenarios for which Excel is the natural home. Support for write-back is long overdue, but I’m still glad it’s there, because I had almost given up on it. PowerPoint This version of PowerPoint marks its progression from a presentation tool to a video and photo editing and production tool. Whether or not it’s successful in this pursuit, and if offering this is even a sensible goal, is another question. Regardless, the new capabilities are kind of interesting. A greatly enhanced set of slide transitions with 3D effects; in-product photo and video editing; accommodation of embedded videos from services such as YouTube; and the ability to save a presentation as a video each lay testimony to PowerPoint’s transformation into a media tool and away from a pure presentation tool. These capabilities also recognize the importance of the Web as both a source for materials and a channel for disseminating PowerPoint output. Congruent with that is PowerPoint’s new ability to broadcast a slide presentation, using a quickly-generated public URL, without involving the hassle or expense of a Web meeting service like GoToMeeting or Microsoft’s own LiveMeeting. Slides presented through this broadcast feature retain full color fidelity and transitions and animations are preserved as well. Outlook Microsoft’s ubiquitous email/calendar/contact/task management tool gains long overdue speed improvements, especially against POP3 email accounts. Outlook 2010 also supports multiple Exchange accounts, rather than just one; tighter integration with OneNote; and a new Social Connector providing integration with, and presence information from, online social network services like LinkedIn and Facebook (not to mention Windows Live). A revamped conversation view now includes messages that are part of a given thread regardless of which folder they may be stored in. I don’t know yet how well the Social Connector will work or whether it will keep Outlook relevant to those who live on Facebook and LinkedIn. But among the other features, there’s very little not to like. OneNote To me, OneNote is the part of Office that just keeps getting better. There is one major caveat to this, which I’ll cover in a moment, but let’s first catalog what new stuff OneNote 2010 brings. The best part of OneNote, is the way each of its versions have managed hierarchy: Notebooks have sections, sections have pages, pages have sub pages, multiple notes can be contained in either, and each note supports infinite levels of indentation. None of that is new to 2010, but the new version does make creation of pages and subpages easier and also makes simple work out of promoting and demoting pages from sub page to full page status. And relationships between pages are quite easy to create now: much like a Wiki, simply typing a page’s name in double-square-brackets (“[[…]]”) creates a link to it. OneNote is also great at integrating content outside of its notebooks. With a new Dock to Desktop feature, OneNote becomes aware of what window is displayed in the rest of the screen and, if it’s an Office document or a Web page, links the notes you’re typing, at the time, to it. A single click from your notes later on will bring that same document or Web page back on-screen. Embedding content from Web pages and elsewhere is also easier. Using OneNote’s Windows Key+S combination to grab part of the screen now allows you to specify the destination of that bitmap instead of automatically creating a new note in the Unfiled Notes area. Using the Send to OneNote buttons in Internet Explorer and Outlook result in the same choice. Collaboration gets better too. Real-time multi-author editing is better accommodated and determining author lineage of particular changes is easily carried out. My one pet peeve with OneNote is the difficulty using it when I’m not one a Windows PC. OneNote’s main competitor, Evernote, while I believe inferior in terms of features, has client versions for PC, Mac, Windows Mobile, Android, iPhone, iPad and Web browsers. Since I have an Android phone and an iPad, I am practically forced to use it. However, the OneNote Web app should help here, as should a forthcoming version of OneNote for Windows Phone 7. In the mean time, it turns out that using OneNote’s Email Page ribbon button lets you move a OneNote page easily into EverNote (since every EverNote account gets a unique email address for adding notes) and that Evernote’s Email function combined with Outlook’s Send to OneNote button (in the Move group of the ribbon’s Home tab) can achieve the reverse. Access To me, the big change in Access 2007 was its tight integration with SharePoint lists. Access 2010 and SharePoint 2010 continue this integration with the introduction of SharePoint’s Access Services. Much as Excel Services provides a SharePoint-hosted experience for viewing (and now editing) Excel spreadsheet, PivotTable and chart content, Access Services allows for SharePoint browser-hosted editing of Access data within the forms that are built in the Access client itself. To me this makes all kinds of sense. Although it does beg the question of where to draw the line between Access, InfoPath, SharePoint list maintenance and SharePoint 2010’s new Business Connectivity Services. Each of these tools provide overlapping data entry and data maintenance functionality. But if you do prefer Access, then you’ll like things like templates and application parts that make it easier to get off the blank page. These features help you quickly get tables, forms and reports built out. To make things look nice, Access even gets its own version of Excel’s Conditional Formatting feature, letting you add data bars and data-driven text formatting. Word As I said at the beginning of this post, upgrades to Office are about much more than enhancing the suite’s flagship word processing application. So are there any enhancements in Word worth mentioning? I think so. The most important one has to be the collaboration features. Essentially, when a user opens a Word document that is in a SharePoint document library (or Windows Live SkyDrive folder), rather than the whole document being locked, Word has the ability to observe more granular locks on the individual paragraphs being edited. Word also shows you who’s editing what and its Save function morphs into a sync feature that both saves your changes and loads those made by anyone editing the document concurrently. There’s also a new navigation pane that lets you manage sections in your document in much the same way as you manage slides in a PowerPoint deck. Using the navigation pane, you can reorder sections, insert new ones, or promote and demote sections in the outline hierarchy. Not earth shattering, but nice. Other Apps and Summarized Findings What about InfoPath, Publisher, Visio and Project? I haven’t looked at them yet. And for this post, I think that’s fine. While those apps (and, arguably, Access) cater to specific tasks, I think the apps we’ve looked at in this post service the general purpose needs of most users. And the theme in those 2010 apps is clear: collaboration is key, the Web and productivity are indivisible, and making data and analytics into a self-service amenity is the way to go. But perhaps most of all, features are still important, as long as they get you through your day faster, rather than adding complexity for its own sake. I would argue that this is true for just about every product Microsoft makes: users want utility, not complexity.

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Backing up my data causes my server to crash using Symantec Backup Exec 12, or How I Came to Loathe

- by Kyle Noland

I have a Dell PowerEdge 2850 running Windows Server 2003. It is the primary file server for one of my clients. I have another server also running Windows Server 2003 that acts as the core media server for Symantec Backup Exec 12. I recently upgraded from Backup Exec 11d to 12. This upgrade was necessary because we also just upgraded from Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2007. After the upgrade I had to push-install the new version 12 Backup Exec Remote Agents to each of the servers I am backing up (about 6 total). 5 of my servers are doing just fine, faithfully completing backups every night. My file server routinely crashes. Observations: When the server crashes, it does not blue screen, it just locks up completely. Even the mouse is unresponsive. If you leave the server locked up long enough, it will eventually reboot itself and hang on the Windows splash screen. There is absolutely zero useful Event Viewer evidence of a problem. The logs go from routine logging to an Unexplained Shutdown Event the next morning when I have to hard reset the server to get it to boot. 90% of the time the server does not boot cleanly, it hangs on the Windows splash screen. I don't have any light to shed here. When the server hangs all I can do is hard reset it and try again. Even after a successful boot and chkdsk /r operation, if you reboot the machine, you have a 90% chance it won't back up again cleanly. The back story: This server started crashing during nightly backups about a month ago. I tried everything I could think of to troubleshoot the problem and eventually had to give up because I could not keep coming to the office at 4 AM to try to get the server back online. One Friday I got lucky and the server stayed up for its entire full backup. I took this opportunity to restore the full backup to a temporary server I set up and switched all my users to the temporary. Then I reloaded the ailing file server. I kept all my users on the temporary file server for about 3 weeks. I installed the same Backup Exec Remote Agent and Trend Micro A/V client on the temporary server that I was using on the regular file server. During this time, I had absolutely no problems backing up the temporary server. I tested the reloaded file server extensively. I rebooted the server once an hour every day for 3 weeks trying to make it fail. It never did. I felt confident that the reload was the answer to my problems. I moved all of the data from the temporary server back to the regular server. I got 3 nightly backups out of it before it locked up again and started the familiar failure to boot cleanly behavior. This weekend I decided to monitor the file server through the entire backup job. I RDPd into the file server and also into the server running Backup Exec. On the file server I opened the Task Manager so I could view the processes and watch CPU and memory usage. Everything was running smoothly for about 60GB worth of backup. Then I noticed that the byte count of the backup job in Backup Exec had stopped progressing. I looked back over at my RDP session into the file server, and I was getting real time updates about CPU and memory usage still - both nearly 0%, which is unusual. Backups usually hover around 40% usage for the duration of the backup job. Let me reiterate this point: The screen was refreshing and I was getting real time Task Manager updates - until I clicked on the Start menu. The screen went black and the server locked up. In truth, I think the server had already locked up, the video card just hadn't figured it out yet. I went back into my bag of trick: driving to the office and hard reseting the server over and over again when it hangs up at the Windows splash screen. I did this for 2 hours without getting a successful boot. I started panicking because I did not have a decent backup to use to get everything back onto the working temporary file server. Once I exhausted everything I knew to do, I took a deep breath, booted to the Windows Server 2003 CD and performed a repair installation of Windows. The server came back up fine, with all of my data intact. I can now reboot the server at will and it will come back up cleanly. The problem is that I'm afraid as soon as I try to back that data up again I will back at square one. So let me sum things up: Here is what I've done so far to troubleshoot this server: Deleted and recreated the RAID 5 sets. Initialized the drives. Reloaded the server with a fresh Server 2003 install. Confirmed with Dell that I have installed the latest, Dell approved BIOS and NIC drivers. Uninstalled / reinstalled the Backup Exec Remote Agent. Uninstalled the Trend Micro A/V client. Configured the server not to reboot itself after a blue screen so I can see any stop error. I used to think the server was blue screening, but since I enabled this setting I now know that the server just completely locks up. Run chkdsk /r from the Windows Recovery Console. Several errors were found and corrected, but did not help my problem. Help confirm or deny the following assumptions: There are two problems at work here. Why the server is locking up in the first place, and why the server won't boot cleanly after a lockup. This is ultimately a software problem. The server works fine and can be rebooted cleanly all day long - until the first lockup - following a fresh OS load or even a Repair installation. This is not a problem with Backup Exec in general. All of my other servers back up just fine. For the record, all of the other servers run Server 2003, and some of them house more data than the file server in question here. Any help is appreciated. The irony is almost too much to bear. Backing up my data is what is jeopardizing it.

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Backing up my data causes my server to crash using Symantec Backup Exec 12, or How I Came to Loathe Irony

- by Kyle Noland

I have a Dell PowerEdge 2850 running Windows Server 2003. It is the primary file server for one of my clients. I have another server also running Windows Server 2003 that acts as the core media server for Symantec Backup Exec 12. I recently upgraded from Backup Exec 11d to 12. This upgrade was necessary because we also just upgraded from Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2007. After the upgrade I had to push-install the new version 12 Backup Exec Remote Agents to each of the servers I am backing up (about 6 total). 5 of my servers are doing just fine, faithfully completing backups every night. My file server routinely crashes. Observations: When the server crashes, it does not blue screen, it just locks up completely. Even the mouse is unresponsive. If you leave the server locked up long enough, it will eventually reboot itself and hang on the Windows splash screen. There is absolutely zero useful Event Viewer evidence of a problem. The logs go from routine logging to an Unexplained Shutdown Event the next morning when I have to hard reset the server to get it to boot. 90% of the time the server does not boot cleanly, it hangs on the Windows splash screen. I don't have any light to shed here. When the server hangs all I can do is hard reset it and try again. Even after a successful boot and chkdsk /r operation, if you reboot the machine, you have a 90% chance it won't back up again cleanly. The back story: This server started crashing during nightly backups about a month ago. I tried everything I could think of to troubleshoot the problem and eventually had to give up because I could not keep coming to the office at 4 AM to try to get the server back online. One Friday I got lucky and the server stayed up for its entire full backup. I took this opportunity to restore the full backup to a temporary server I set up and switched all my users to the temporary. Then I reloaded the ailing file server. I kept all my users on the temporary file server for about 3 weeks. I installed the same Backup Exec Remote Agent and Trend Micro A/V client on the temporary server that I was using on the regular file server. During this time, I had absolutely no problems backing up the temporary server. I tested the reloaded file server extensively. I rebooted the server once an hour every day for 3 weeks trying to make it fail. It never did. I felt confident that the reload was the answer to my problems. I moved all of the data from the temporary server back to the regular server. I got 3 nightly backups out of it before it locked up again and started the familiar failure to boot cleanly behavior. This weekend I decided to monitor the file server through the entire backup job. I RDPd into the file server and also into the server running Backup Exec. On the file server I opened the Task Manager so I could view the processes and watch CPU and memory usage. Everything was running smoothly for about 60GB worth of backup. Then I noticed that the byte count of the backup job in Backup Exec had stopped progressing. I looked back over at my RDP session into the file server, and I was getting real time updates about CPU and memory usage still - both nearly 0%, which is unusual. Backups usually hover around 40% usage for the duration of the backup job. Let me reiterate this point: The screen was refreshing and I was getting real time Task Manager updates - until I clicked on the Start menu. The screen went black and the server locked up. In truth, I think the server had already locked up, the video card just hadn't figured it out yet. I went back into my bag of trick: driving to the office and hard reseting the server over and over again when it hangs up at the Windows splash screen. I did this for 2 hours without getting a successful boot. I started panicking because I did not have a decent backup to use to get everything back onto the working temporary file server. Once I exhausted everything I knew to do, I took a deep breath, booted to the Windows Server 2003 CD and performed a repair installation of Windows. The server came back up fine, with all of my data intact. I can now reboot the server at will and it will come back up cleanly. The problem is that I'm afraid as soon as I try to back that data up again I will back at square one. So let me sum things up: Here is what I've done so far to troubleshoot this server: Deleted and recreated the RAID 5 sets. Initialized the drives. Reloaded the server with a fresh Server 2003 install. Confirmed with Dell that I have installed the latest, Dell approved BIOS and NIC drivers. Uninstalled / reinstalled the Backup Exec Remote Agent. Uninstalled the Trend Micro A/V client. Configured the server not to reboot itself after a blue screen so I can see any stop error. I used to think the server was blue screening, but since I enabled this setting I now know that the server just completely locks up. Run chkdsk /r from the Windows Recovery Console. Several errors were found and corrected, but did not help my problem. Help confirm or deny the following assumptions: There are two problems at work here. Why the server is locking up in the first place, and why the server won't boot cleanly after a lockup. This is ultimately a software problem. The server works fine and can be rebooted cleanly all day long - until the first lockup - following a fresh OS load or even a Repair installation. This is not a problem with Backup Exec in general. All of my other servers back up just fine. For the record, all of the other servers run Server 2003, and some of them house more data than the file server in question here. Any help is appreciated. The irony is almost too much to bear. Backing up my data is what is jeopardizing it.

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java runtime 6 with socks v5 proxy - Possible?

- by rwired

I have written an application that (amongst other things) runs a local service in windows that acts as a SOCKS v5 proxy for Firefox. I'm in the debugging phase right now and have found certain websites that don't work correctly. For example the Java Applet for Picture Uploading on Facebook.com fails because is is unable to lookup domains. My app overrides a hidden FF config setting network.proxy.socks__remote__dns setting it to true. The whole purpose of the app is to allow access to websites when behind a firewall (e.g. if the user is in China), so this setting is essential to ensure domains are resolved remotely also (and not just HTTP requests). In the JRE6 settings (documented here) there isn't an equivalent setting, and since remote DNS resolution is a feature of SOCKS v5 and not v4 as the documentation seems to imply I'm worried that it's just not possible. How can I programmatically make sure the JRE uses a SOCKS v5 proxy for all requests (including DNS)? UPDATE: Steps to reproduce this problem: Make sure you are behind a firewall that blocks (or redirects) internet access including DNS Install PuTTY and add a dynamic SSH tunnel on some port number of your choice (e.g. 9870). Then login to a remote server that has full access to the internet Launch Firefox and you will not be able to browse the web In FF network settings set the SOCKS v5 proxy to localhost:9870 In FF go to about:config, change network.proxy.socks__remote__dns to true You will now be able to browse the web. Go to facebook.com, login, go to your profile and attempt to use the picture uploader java applet to add some pictures It will fail with a series of class not found errors looking similar to: load: class com.facebook.facebookphotouploader5.FacebookPhotoUploader5.class not found. I believe this is failing because the JRE is unable to resolve the domain that the class resides on. I'm basing this belief on the fact that the documentation (http://java.sun.com/javase/6/docs/technotes/guides/deployment/deployment-guide/properties.html) talks only about SOCKS v4 (which as far as I know does not support remote DNS). My deployment.properties file is located in %APPDATA%\Sun\Java\Deployment. I can confirm that modifications I make in the Java Control Panel get written into that file. If instead of "Use browser setting" the network settings for Java I override and attempt to use the SOCKS proxy settings manually, I still have the issue. There does not seem to be an easy way to force the JRE to do DNS remotely through the Proxy. UPDATE 2: Without the SOCKS proxy, from my local client www.facebook.com resolves to 203.161.230.171 upload.facebook.com resolves to 64.33.88.161 Neither host is reachable (because of the firewall) If I login to the remote server, I get: www.facebook.com 69.63.187.17 upload.facebook.com 69.63.178.32 Both these IPs change after a few minutes, as it seems Facebook uses round-robin DNS and other load-balancing. With the Proxy settings set in Firefox, I can navigate to www.facebook.com without any difficulty (since DNS is being resolved remotely on the Proxy). Whey I go to the page with the Java applet it fails with the stacktrace messages I've already reported. However if I edit Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts, adding the correct IP for upload.facebook.com I can get the applet to load and work correctly (restart of FF is sometimes necessary). This evidence seems to support my theory that the Java Runtime is not resolving DNS on the Proxy, but instead just routing traffic though it. My application is for mass-deployment, and needs to work with java applets on other sites (not just facebook). I really need a work-around for this problem. UPDATE 3 Stacktrace dump a requested by ZZ Coder: load: class com.facebook.facebookphotouploader5.FacebookPhotoUploader5.class not found. java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: com.facebook.facebookphotouploader5.FacebookPhotoUploader5.class at sun.plugin2.applet.Applet2ClassLoader.findClass(Unknown Source) at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(Unknown Source) at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(Unknown Source) at sun.plugin2.applet.Plugin2ClassLoader.loadCode(Unknown Source) at sun.plugin2.applet.Plugin2Manager.createApplet(Unknown Source) at sun.plugin2.applet.Plugin2Manager$AppletExecutionRunnable.run(Unknown Source) at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source) Caused by: java.net.SocketException: Connection reset at java.net.SocketInputStream.read(Unknown Source) at java.io.BufferedInputStream.fill(Unknown Source) at java.io.BufferedInputStream.read1(Unknown Source) at java.io.BufferedInputStream.read(Unknown Source) at sun.net.www.http.HttpClient.parseHTTPHeader(Unknown Source) at sun.net.www.http.HttpClient.parseHTTP(Unknown Source) at sun.net.www.http.HttpClient.parseHTTP(Unknown Source) at sun.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnection.getInputStream(Unknown Source) at java.net.HttpURLConnection.getResponseCode(Unknown Source) at sun.plugin2.applet.Applet2ClassLoader.getBytes(Unknown Source) at sun.plugin2.applet.Applet2ClassLoader.access$000(Unknown Source) at sun.plugin2.applet.Applet2ClassLoader$1.run(Unknown Source) at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method) ... 7 more Exception: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: com.facebook.facebookphotouploader5.FacebookPhotoUploader5.class Dumping class loader cache... Live entry: key=http://upload.facebook.com/controls/2008.10.10_v5.5.8/,FacebookPhotoUploader5.jar,FacebookPhotoUploader5.jar, refCount=1, threadGroup=sun.plugin2.applet.Applet2ThreadGroup[name=http://upload.facebook.com/controls/2008.10.10_v5.5.8/-threadGroup,maxpri=4] Done.

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Fast block placement algorithm, advice needed?

- by James Morris

I need to emulate the window placement strategy of the Fluxbox window manager. As a rough guide, visualize randomly sized windows filling up the screen one at a time, where the rough size of each results in an average of 80 windows on screen without any window overlapping another. It is important to note that windows will close and the space that closed windows previously occupied becomes available once more for the placement of new windows. The window placement strategy has three binary options: Windows build horizontal rows or vertical columns (potentially) Windows are placed from left to right or right to left Windows are placed from top to bottom or bottom to top Why is the algorithm a problem? It needs to operate to the deadlines of a real time thread in an audio application. At this moment I am only concerned with getting a fast algorithm, don't concern yourself over the implications of real time threads and all the hurdles in programming that that brings. So far I have two choices which I have built loose prototypes for: 1) A port of the Fluxbox placement algorithm into my code. The problem with this is, the client (my program) gets kicked out of the audio server (JACK) when I try placing the worst case scenario of 256 blocks using the algorithm. This algorithm performs over 14000 full (linear) scans of the list of blocks already placed when placing the 256th window. 2) My alternative approach. Only partially implemented, this approach uses a data structure for each area of rectangular free unused space (the list of windows can be entirely separate, and is not required for testing of this algorithm). The data structure acts as a node in a doubly linked list (with sorted insertion), as well as containing the coordinates of the top-left corner, and the width and height. Furthermore, each block data structure also contains four links which connect to each immediately adjacent (touching) block on each of the four sides. IMPORTANT RULE: Each block may only touch with one block per side. The problem with this approach is, it's very complex. I have implemented the straightforward cases where 1) space is removed from one corner of a block, 2) splitting neighbouring blocks so that the IMPORTANT RULE is adhered to. The less straightforward case, where the space to be removed can only be found within a column or row of boxes, is only partially implemented - if one of the blocks to be removed is an exact fit for width (ie column) or height (ie row) then problems occur. And don't even mention the fact this only checks columns one box wide, and rows one box tall. I've implemented this algorithm in C - the language I am using for this project (I've not used C++ for a few years and am uncomfortable using it after having focused all my attention to C development, it's a hobby). The implementation is 700+ lines of code (including plenty of blank lines, brace lines, comments etc). The implementation only works for the horizontal-rows + left-right + top-bottom placement strategy. So I've either got to add some way of making this +700 lines of code work for the other 7 placement strategy options, or I'm going to have to duplicate those +700 lines of code for the other seven options. Neither of these is attractive, the first, because the existing code is complex enough, the second, because of bloat. The algorithm is not even at a stage where I can use it in the real time worst case scenario, because of missing functionality, so I still don't know if it actually performs better or worse than the first approach. What else is there? I've skimmed over and discounted: Bin Packing algorithms: their emphasis on optimal fit does not match the requirements of this algorithm. Recursive Bisection Placement algorithms: sounds promising, but these are for circuit design. Their emphasis is optimal wire length. Both of these, especially the latter, all elements to be placed/packs are known before the algorithm begins. I need an algorithm which works accumulatively with what it is given to do when it is told to do it. What are your thoughts on this? How would you approach it? What other algorithms should I look at? Or even what concepts should I research seeing as I've not studied computer science/software engineering? Please ask questions in comments if further information is needed. [edit] If it makes any difference, the units for the coordinates will not be pixels. The units are unimportant, but the grid where windows/blocks/whatever can be placed will be 127 x 127 units.

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log4j.xml configuration with <rollingPolicy> and <triggeringPolicy>

- by Mike Smith

I try to configure log4j.xml in such a way that file will be rolled upon file size, and the rolled file's name will be i.e: "C:/temp/test/test_log4j-%d{yyyy-MM-dd-HH_mm_ss}.log" I followed this discussion: http://web.archiveorange.com/archive/v/NUYyjJipzkDOS3reRiMz Finally it worked for me only when I add: try { Thread.sleep(1); } catch (InterruptedException e) { e.printStackTrace(); } to the method: public boolean isTriggeringEvent(Appender appender, LoggingEvent event, String filename, long fileLength) which make it works. The question is if there is a better way to make it work? since this method call many times and slow my program. Here is the code: package com.mypack.rolling; import org.apache.log4j.rolling.RollingPolicy; import org.apache.log4j.rolling.RolloverDescription; import org.apache.log4j.rolling.TimeBasedRollingPolicy; /** * Same as org.apache.log4j.rolling.TimeBasedRollingPolicy but acts only as * RollingPolicy and NOT as TriggeringPolicy. * * This allows us to combine this class with a size-based triggering policy * (decision to roll based on size, name of rolled files based on time) * */ public class CustomTimeBasedRollingPolicy implements RollingPolicy { TimeBasedRollingPolicy timeBasedRollingPolicy = new TimeBasedRollingPolicy(); /** * Set file name pattern. * @param fnp file name pattern. */ public void setFileNamePattern(String fnp) { timeBasedRollingPolicy.setFileNamePattern(fnp); } /* public void setActiveFileName(String fnp) { timeBasedRollingPolicy.setActiveFileName(fnp); }*/ /** * Get file name pattern. * @return file name pattern. */ public String getFileNamePattern() { return timeBasedRollingPolicy.getFileNamePattern(); } public RolloverDescription initialize(String file, boolean append) throws SecurityException { return timeBasedRollingPolicy.initialize(file, append); } public RolloverDescription rollover(String activeFile) throws SecurityException { return timeBasedRollingPolicy.rollover(activeFile); } public void activateOptions() { timeBasedRollingPolicy.activateOptions(); } } package com.mypack.rolling; import org.apache.log4j.helpers.OptionConverter; import org.apache.log4j.Appender; import org.apache.log4j.rolling.TriggeringPolicy; import org.apache.log4j.spi.LoggingEvent; import org.apache.log4j.spi.OptionHandler; /** * Copy of org.apache.log4j.rolling.SizeBasedTriggeringPolicy but able to accept * a human-friendly value for maximumFileSize, eg. "10MB" * * Note that sub-classing SizeBasedTriggeringPolicy is not possible because that * class is final */ public class CustomSizeBasedTriggeringPolicy implements TriggeringPolicy, OptionHandler { /** * Rollover threshold size in bytes. */ private long maximumFileSize = 10 * 1024 * 1024; // let 10 MB the default max size /** * Set the maximum size that the output file is allowed to reach before * being rolled over to backup files. * * <p> * In configuration files, the <b>MaxFileSize</b> option takes an long * integer in the range 0 - 2^63. You can specify the value with the * suffixes "KB", "MB" or "GB" so that the integer is interpreted being * expressed respectively in kilobytes, megabytes or gigabytes. For example, * the value "10KB" will be interpreted as 10240. * * @param value * the maximum size that the output file is allowed to reach */ public void setMaxFileSize(String value) { maximumFileSize = OptionConverter.toFileSize(value, maximumFileSize + 1); } public long getMaximumFileSize() { return maximumFileSize; } public void setMaximumFileSize(long maximumFileSize) { this.maximumFileSize = maximumFileSize; } public void activateOptions() { } public boolean isTriggeringEvent(Appender appender, LoggingEvent event, String filename, long fileLength) { try { Thread.sleep(1); } catch (InterruptedException e) { e.printStackTrace(); } boolean result = (fileLength >= maximumFileSize); return result; } } and the log4j.xml: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?> <!DOCTYPE log4j:configuration SYSTEM "log4j.dtd"> <log4j:configuration xmlns:log4j="http://jakarta.apache.org/log4j/" debug="true"> <appender name="console" class="org.apache.log4j.ConsoleAppender"> <param name="Target" value="System.out" /> <layout class="org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout"> <param name="ConversionPattern" value="%d [%t] %-5p %c -> %m%n" /> </layout> </appender> <appender name="FILE" class="org.apache.log4j.rolling.RollingFileAppender"> <param name="file" value="C:/temp/test/test_log4j.log" /> <rollingPolicy class="com.mypack.rolling.CustomTimeBasedRollingPolicy"> <param name="fileNamePattern" value="C:/temp/test/test_log4j-%d{yyyy-MM-dd-HH_mm_ss}.log" /> </rollingPolicy> <triggeringPolicy class="com.mypack.rolling.CustomSizeBasedTriggeringPolicy"> <param name="MaxFileSize" value="200KB" /> </triggeringPolicy> <layout class="org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout"> <param name="ConversionPattern" value="%d [%t] %-5p %c -> %m%n" /> </layout> </appender> <logger name="com.mypack.myrun" additivity="false"> <level value="debug" /> <appender-ref ref="FILE" /> </logger> <root> <priority value="debug" /> <appender-ref ref="console" /> </root> </log4j:configuration>

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Help required in adding new methods, properties into existing classes dynamically

- by Bepenfriends

Hi All, I am not sure whether it is possible to achieve this kind of implementation in Dot Net. Below are the information Currently we are on an application which is done in COM+, ASP, XSL, XML technologies. It is a multi tier architecture application in which COM+ acts as the BAL. The execution steps for any CRUD operation will be defined using a seperate UI which uses XML to store the information. BAL reads the XML and understands the execution steps which are defined and executes corresponding methods in DLL. Much like EDM we have our custom model (using XML) which determines which property of object is searchable, retrievable etc. Based on this information BAL constructs queries and calls procedures to get the data. In the current application both BAL and DAL are heavily customizable without doing any code change. the results will be transmitted to presentation layer in XML format which constructs the UI based on the data recieved. Now I am creating a migration project which deals with employee information. It is also going to follow the N Tier architecture in which the presentation layer communicates with BAL which connects to DAL to return the Data. Here is the problem, In our existing version we are handling every information as XML in its native form (no converstion of object etc), but in the migration project, Team is really interested in utilizing the OOP model of development where every information which is sent from BAL need to be converted to objects of its respective types (example employeeCollection, Address Collection etc). If we have the static number of data returned from BAL we can have a class which contains those nodes as properties and we can access the same. But in our case the data returned from our BAL need to be customized. How can we handle the customization in presentation layer which is converting the result to an Object. Below is an example of the XML returned <employees> <employee> <firstName>Employee 1 First Name</firstName> <lastName>Employee 1 Last Name</lastName> <addresses> <address> <addressType>1</addressType> <StreetName>Street name1</StreetName> <RegionName>Region name</RegionName> <address> <address> <addressType>2</addressType> <StreetName>Street name2</StreetName> <RegionName>Region name</RegionName> <address> <address> <addressType>3</addressType> <StreetName>Street name3</StreetName> <RegionName>Region name</RegionName> <address> <addresses> </employee> <employee> <firstName>Employee 2 First Name</firstName> <lastName>Employee 2 Last Name</lastName> <addresses> <address> <addressType>1</addressType> <StreetName>Street name1</StreetName> <RegionName>Region name</RegionName> <address> <address> <addressType>2</addressType> <StreetName>Street name2</StreetName> <RegionName>Region name</RegionName> <address> <addresses> </employee> </employees> If these are the only columns then i can write a class which is like public class Address{ public int AddressType {get;set;}; public string StreetName {get;set;}; public string RegionName {get;set;}; } public class Employee{ public string FirstName {get; set;} public string LastName {get; set;} public string AddressCollection {get; set;} } public class EmployeeCollection : List<Employee>{ public bool Add (Employee Data){ .... } } public class AddressCollection : List<Address>{ public bool Add (Address Data){ .... } } This class will be provided to customers and consultants as DLLs. We will not provide the source code for the same. Now when the consultants or customers does customization(example adding country to address and adding passport information object with employee object) they must be able to access those properties in these classes, but without source code they will not be able to do those modifications.which makes the application useless. Is there is any way to acomplish this in DotNet. I thought of using Anonymous classes but, the problem with Anonymous classes are we can not have methods in it. I am not sure how can i fit the collection objects (which will be inturn an anonymous class) Not sure about datagrid / user control binding etc. I also thought of using CODEDom to create classes runtime but not sure about the meory, performance issues. also the classes must be created only once and must use the same till there is another change. Kindly help me out in this problem. Any kind of help meterial/ cryptic code/ links will be helpful.

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Fastest way to move records from a oracle DB into MS sql server after processing

- by user347748

Hi.. Ok this is the scenario...I have a table in Oracle that acts like a queue... A VB.net program reads the queue and calls a stored proc in MS SQL Server that processes and then inserts the message into another SQL server table and then deletes the record from the oracle table. We use a datareader to read the records from Oracle and then call the stored proc for each of the records. The program seems to be a little slow. The stored procedure itself isnt slow. The SP by itself when called in a loop can process about 2000 records in 20 seconds. BUt when called from the .Net program, the execution time is about 5 records per second. I have seen that most of the time consumed is in calling the stored procedure and waiting for it to return. Is there a better way of doing this? Here is a snippet of the actual code Function StartDataXfer() As Boolean Dim status As Boolean = False Try SqlConn.Open() OraConn.Open() c.ErrorLog(Now.ToString & "--Going to Get the messages from oracle", 1) If GetMsgsFromOracle() Then c.ErrorLog(Now.ToString & "--Got messages from oracle", 1) If ProcessMessages() Then c.ErrorLog(Now.ToString & "--Finished Processing all messages in the queue", 0) status = True Else c.ErrorLog(Now.ToString & "--Failed to Process all messages in the queue", 0) status = False End If Else status = True End If StartDataXfer = status Catch ex As Exception Finally SqlConn.Close() OraConn.Close() End Try End Function Private Function GetMsgsFromOracle() As Boolean Try OraDataAdapter = New OleDb.OleDbDataAdapter OraDataTable = New System.Data.DataTable OraSelCmd = New OleDb.OleDbCommand GetMsgsFromOracle = False With OraSelCmd .CommandType = CommandType.Text .Connection = OraConn .CommandText = GetMsgSql End With OraDataAdapter.SelectCommand = OraSelCmd OraDataAdapter.Fill(OraDataTable) If OraDataTable.Rows.Count > 0 Then GetMsgsFromOracle = True End If Catch ex As Exception GetMsgsFromOracle = False End Try End Function Private Function ProcessMessages() As Boolean Try ProcessMessages = False PrepareSQLInsert() PrepOraDel() i = 0 Dim Method As Integer Dim OraDataRow As DataRow c.ErrorLog(Now.ToString & "--Going to call message sending procedure", 2) For Each OraDataRow In OraDataTable.Rows With OraDataRow Method = GetMethod(.Item(0)) SQLInsCmd.Parameters("RelLifeTime").Value = c.RelLifetime SQLInsCmd.Parameters("Param1").Value = Nothing SQLInsCmd.Parameters("ID").Value = GenerateTransactionID() ' Nothing SQLInsCmd.Parameters("UID").Value = Nothing SQLInsCmd.Parameters("Param").Value = Nothing SQLInsCmd.Parameters("Credit").Value = 0 SQLInsCmd.ExecuteNonQuery() 'check the return value If SQLInsCmd.Parameters("ReturnValue").Value = 1 And SQLInsCmd.Parameters("OutPutParam").Value = 0 Then 'success 'delete the input record from the source table once it is logged c.ErrorLog(Now.ToString & "--Moved record successfully", 2) OraDataAdapter.DeleteCommand.Parameters("P(0)").Value = OraDataRow.Item(6) OraDataAdapter.DeleteCommand.ExecuteNonQuery() c.ErrorLog(Now.ToString & "--Deleted record successfully", 2) OraDataAdapter.Update(OraDataTable) c.ErrorLog(Now.ToString & "--Committed record successfully", 2) i = i + 1 Else 'failure c.ErrorLog(Now.ToString & "--Failed to exec: " & c.DestIns & "Status: " & SQLInsCmd.Parameters("OutPutParam").Value & " and TrackId: " & SQLInsCmd.Parameters("TrackID").Value.ToString, 0) End If If File.Exists("stop.txt") Then c.ErrorLog(Now.ToString & "--Stop File Found", 1) 'ProcessMessages = True 'Exit Function Exit For End If End With Next OraDataAdapter.Update(OraDataTable) c.ErrorLog(Now.ToString & "--Updated Oracle Table", 1) c.ErrorLog(Now.ToString & "--Moved " & i & " records from Oracle to SQL Table", 1) ProcessMessages = True Catch ex As Exception ProcessMessages = False c.ErrorLog(Now.ToString & "--MoveMsgsToSQL: " & ex.Message, 0) Finally OraDataTable.Clear() OraDataTable.Dispose() OraDataAdapter.Dispose() OraDelCmd.Dispose() OraDelCmd = Nothing OraSelCmd = Nothing OraDataTable = Nothing OraDataAdapter = Nothing End Try End Function Public Function GenerateTransactionID() As Int64 Dim SeqNo As Int64 Dim qry As String Dim SqlTransCmd As New OleDb.OleDbCommand qry = " select seqno from StoreSeqNo" SqlTransCmd.CommandType = CommandType.Text SqlTransCmd.Connection = SqlConn SqlTransCmd.CommandText = qry SeqNo = SqlTransCmd.ExecuteScalar If SeqNo > 2147483647 Then qry = "update StoreSeqNo set seqno=1" SqlTransCmd.CommandText = qry SqlTransCmd.ExecuteNonQuery() GenerateTransactionID = 1 Else qry = "update StoreSeqNo set seqno=" & SeqNo + 1 SqlTransCmd.CommandText = qry SqlTransCmd.ExecuteNonQuery() GenerateTransactionID = SeqNo End If End Function Private Function PrepareSQLInsert() As Boolean 'function to prepare the insert statement for the insert into the SQL stmt using 'the sql procedure SMSProcessAndDispatch Try Dim dr As DataRow SQLInsCmd = New OleDb.OleDbCommand With SQLInsCmd .CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure .Connection = SqlConn .CommandText = SQLInsProc .Parameters.Add("ReturnValue", OleDb.OleDbType.Integer) .Parameters("ReturnValue").Direction = ParameterDirection.ReturnValue .Parameters.Add("OutPutParam", OleDb.OleDbType.Integer) .Parameters("OutPutParam").Direction = ParameterDirection.Output .Parameters.Add("TrackID", OleDb.OleDbType.VarChar, 70) .Parameters.Add("RelLifeTime", OleDb.OleDbType.TinyInt) .Parameters("RelLifeTime").Direction = ParameterDirection.Input .Parameters.Add("Param1", OleDb.OleDbType.VarChar, 160) .Parameters("Param1").Direction = ParameterDirection.Input .Parameters.Add("TransID", OleDb.OleDbType.VarChar, 70) .Parameters("TransID").Direction = ParameterDirection.Input .Parameters.Add("UID", OleDb.OleDbType.VarChar, 20) .Parameters("UID").Direction = ParameterDirection.Input .Parameters.Add("Param", OleDb.OleDbType.VarChar, 160) .Parameters("Param").Direction = ParameterDirection.Input .Parameters.Add("CheckCredit", OleDb.OleDbType.Integer) .Parameters("CheckCredit").Direction = ParameterDirection.Input .Prepare() End With Catch ex As Exception c.ErrorLog(Now.ToString & "--PrepareSQLInsert: " & ex.Message) End Try End Function Private Function PrepOraDel() As Boolean OraDelCmd = New OleDb.OleDbCommand Try PrepOraDel = False With OraDelCmd .CommandType = CommandType.Text .Connection = OraConn .CommandText = DelSrcSQL .Parameters.Add("P(0)", OleDb.OleDbType.VarChar, 160) 'RowID .Parameters("P(0)").Direction = ParameterDirection.Input .Prepare() End With OraDataAdapter.DeleteCommand = OraDelCmd PrepOraDel = True Catch ex As Exception PrepOraDel = False End Try End Function WHat i would like to know is, if there is anyway to speed up this program? Any ideas/suggestions would be highly appreciated... Regardss, Chetan

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Fastest way to move records from an Oracle database into SQL Server

- by user347748

Ok this is the scenario... I have a table in Oracle that acts like a queue... A VB.net program reads the queue and calls a stored proc in SQL Server that processes and then inserts the message into another SQL Server table and then deletes the record from the oracle table. We use a DataReader to read the records from Oracle and then call the stored proc for each of the records. The program seems to be a little slow. The stored procedure itself isn't slow. The SP by itself when called in a loop can process about 2000 records in 20 seconds. But when called from the .Net program, the execution time is about 5 records per second. I have seen that most of the time consumed is in calling the stored procedure and waiting for it to return. Is there a better way of doing this? Here is a snippet of the actual code Function StartDataXfer() As Boolean Dim status As Boolean = False Try SqlConn.Open() OraConn.Open() c.ErrorLog(Now.ToString & "--Going to Get the messages from oracle", 1) If GetMsgsFromOracle() Then c.ErrorLog(Now.ToString & "--Got messages from oracle", 1) If ProcessMessages() Then c.ErrorLog(Now.ToString & "--Finished Processing all messages in the queue", 0) status = True Else c.ErrorLog(Now.ToString & "--Failed to Process all messages in the queue", 0) status = False End If Else status = True End If StartDataXfer = status Catch ex As Exception Finally SqlConn.Close() OraConn.Close() End Try End Function Private Function GetMsgsFromOracle() As Boolean Try OraDataAdapter = New OleDb.OleDbDataAdapter OraDataTable = New System.Data.DataTable OraSelCmd = New OleDb.OleDbCommand GetMsgsFromOracle = False With OraSelCmd .CommandType = CommandType.Text .Connection = OraConn .CommandText = GetMsgSql End With OraDataAdapter.SelectCommand = OraSelCmd OraDataAdapter.Fill(OraDataTable) If OraDataTable.Rows.Count > 0 Then GetMsgsFromOracle = True End If Catch ex As Exception GetMsgsFromOracle = False End Try End Function Private Function ProcessMessages() As Boolean Try ProcessMessages = False PrepareSQLInsert() PrepOraDel() i = 0 Dim Method As Integer Dim OraDataRow As DataRow c.ErrorLog(Now.ToString & "--Going to call message sending procedure", 2) For Each OraDataRow In OraDataTable.Rows With OraDataRow Method = GetMethod(.Item(0)) SQLInsCmd.Parameters("RelLifeTime").Value = c.RelLifetime SQLInsCmd.Parameters("Param1").Value = Nothing SQLInsCmd.Parameters("ID").Value = GenerateTransactionID() ' Nothing SQLInsCmd.Parameters("UID").Value = Nothing SQLInsCmd.Parameters("Param").Value = Nothing SQLInsCmd.Parameters("Credit").Value = 0 SQLInsCmd.ExecuteNonQuery() 'check the return value If SQLInsCmd.Parameters("ReturnValue").Value = 1 And SQLInsCmd.Parameters("OutPutParam").Value = 0 Then 'success 'delete the input record from the source table once it is logged c.ErrorLog(Now.ToString & "--Moved record successfully", 2) OraDataAdapter.DeleteCommand.Parameters("P(0)").Value = OraDataRow.Item(6) OraDataAdapter.DeleteCommand.ExecuteNonQuery() c.ErrorLog(Now.ToString & "--Deleted record successfully", 2) OraDataAdapter.Update(OraDataTable) c.ErrorLog(Now.ToString & "--Committed record successfully", 2) i = i + 1 Else 'failure c.ErrorLog(Now.ToString & "--Failed to exec: " & c.DestIns & "Status: " & SQLInsCmd.Parameters("OutPutParam").Value & " and TrackId: " & SQLInsCmd.Parameters("TrackID").Value.ToString, 0) End If If File.Exists("stop.txt") Then c.ErrorLog(Now.ToString & "--Stop File Found", 1) 'ProcessMessages = True 'Exit Function Exit For End If End With Next OraDataAdapter.Update(OraDataTable) c.ErrorLog(Now.ToString & "--Updated Oracle Table", 1) c.ErrorLog(Now.ToString & "--Moved " & i & " records from Oracle to SQL Table", 1) ProcessMessages = True Catch ex As Exception ProcessMessages = False c.ErrorLog(Now.ToString & "--MoveMsgsToSQL: " & ex.Message, 0) Finally OraDataTable.Clear() OraDataTable.Dispose() OraDataAdapter.Dispose() OraDelCmd.Dispose() OraDelCmd = Nothing OraSelCmd = Nothing OraDataTable = Nothing OraDataAdapter = Nothing End Try End Function Public Function GenerateTransactionID() As Int64 Dim SeqNo As Int64 Dim qry As String Dim SqlTransCmd As New OleDb.OleDbCommand qry = " select seqno from StoreSeqNo" SqlTransCmd.CommandType = CommandType.Text SqlTransCmd.Connection = SqlConn SqlTransCmd.CommandText = qry SeqNo = SqlTransCmd.ExecuteScalar If SeqNo > 2147483647 Then qry = "update StoreSeqNo set seqno=1" SqlTransCmd.CommandText = qry SqlTransCmd.ExecuteNonQuery() GenerateTransactionID = 1 Else qry = "update StoreSeqNo set seqno=" & SeqNo + 1 SqlTransCmd.CommandText = qry SqlTransCmd.ExecuteNonQuery() GenerateTransactionID = SeqNo End If End Function Private Function PrepareSQLInsert() As Boolean 'function to prepare the insert statement for the insert into the SQL stmt using 'the sql procedure SMSProcessAndDispatch Try Dim dr As DataRow SQLInsCmd = New OleDb.OleDbCommand With SQLInsCmd .CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure .Connection = SqlConn .CommandText = SQLInsProc .Parameters.Add("ReturnValue", OleDb.OleDbType.Integer) .Parameters("ReturnValue").Direction = ParameterDirection.ReturnValue .Parameters.Add("OutPutParam", OleDb.OleDbType.Integer) .Parameters("OutPutParam").Direction = ParameterDirection.Output .Parameters.Add("TrackID", OleDb.OleDbType.VarChar, 70) .Parameters.Add("RelLifeTime", OleDb.OleDbType.TinyInt) .Parameters("RelLifeTime").Direction = ParameterDirection.Input .Parameters.Add("Param1", OleDb.OleDbType.VarChar, 160) .Parameters("Param1").Direction = ParameterDirection.Input .Parameters.Add("TransID", OleDb.OleDbType.VarChar, 70) .Parameters("TransID").Direction = ParameterDirection.Input .Parameters.Add("UID", OleDb.OleDbType.VarChar, 20) .Parameters("UID").Direction = ParameterDirection.Input .Parameters.Add("Param", OleDb.OleDbType.VarChar, 160) .Parameters("Param").Direction = ParameterDirection.Input .Parameters.Add("CheckCredit", OleDb.OleDbType.Integer) .Parameters("CheckCredit").Direction = ParameterDirection.Input .Prepare() End With Catch ex As Exception c.ErrorLog(Now.ToString & "--PrepareSQLInsert: " & ex.Message) End Try End Function Private Function PrepOraDel() As Boolean OraDelCmd = New OleDb.OleDbCommand Try PrepOraDel = False With OraDelCmd .CommandType = CommandType.Text .Connection = OraConn .CommandText = DelSrcSQL .Parameters.Add("P(0)", OleDb.OleDbType.VarChar, 160) 'RowID .Parameters("P(0)").Direction = ParameterDirection.Input .Prepare() End With OraDataAdapter.DeleteCommand = OraDelCmd PrepOraDel = True Catch ex As Exception PrepOraDel = False End Try End Function WHat i would like to know is, if there is anyway to speed up this program? Any ideas/suggestions would be highly appreciated... Regardss, Chetan

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Using FiddlerCore to capture HTTP Requests with .NET

- by Rick Strahl

Over the last few weeks I’ve been working on my Web load testing utility West Wind WebSurge. One of the key components of a load testing tool is the ability to capture URLs effectively so that you can play them back later under load. One of the options in WebSurge for capturing URLs is to use its built-in capture tool which acts as an HTTP proxy to capture any HTTP and HTTPS traffic from most Windows HTTP clients, including Web Browsers as well as standalone Windows applications and services. To make this happen, I used Eric Lawrence’s awesome FiddlerCore library, which provides most of the functionality of his desktop Fiddler application, all rolled into an easy to use library that you can plug into your own applications. FiddlerCore makes it almost too easy to capture HTTP content! For WebSurge I needed to capture all HTTP traffic in order to capture the full HTTP request – URL, headers and any content posted by the client. The result of what I ended up creating is this semi-generic capture form: In this post I’m going to demonstrate how easy it is to use FiddlerCore to build this HTTP Capture Form. If you want to jump right in here are the links to get Telerik’s Fiddler Core and the code for the demo provided here. FiddlerCore Download FiddlerCore on NuGet Show me the Code (WebSurge Integration code from GitHub) Download the WinForms Sample Form West Wind Web Surge (example implementation in live app) Note that FiddlerCore is bound by a license for commercial usage – see license.txt in the FiddlerCore distribution for details. Integrating FiddlerCore FiddlerCore is a library that simply plugs into your application. You can download it from the Telerik site and manually add the assemblies to your project, or you can simply install the NuGet package via: PM> Install-Package FiddlerCore The library consists of the FiddlerCore.dll as well as a couple of support libraries (CertMaker.dll and BCMakeCert.dll) that are used for installing SSL certificates. I’ll have more on SSL captures and certificate installation later in this post. But first let’s see how easy it is to use FiddlerCore to capture HTTP content by looking at how to build the above capture form. Capturing HTTP Content Once the library is installed it’s super easy to hook up Fiddler functionality. Fiddler includes a number of static class methods on the FiddlerApplication object that can be called to hook up callback events as well as actual start monitoring HTTP URLs. In the following code directly lifted from WebSurge, I configure a few filter options on Form level object, from the user inputs shown on the form by assigning it to a capture options object. In the live application these settings are persisted configuration values, but in the demo they are one time values initialized and set on the form. Once these options are set, I hook up the AfterSessionComplete event to capture every URL that passes through the proxy after the request is completed and start up the Proxy service:void Start() { if (tbIgnoreResources.Checked) CaptureConfiguration.IgnoreResources = true; else CaptureConfiguration.IgnoreResources = false; string strProcId = txtProcessId.Text; if (strProcId.Contains('-')) strProcId = strProcId.Substring(strProcId.IndexOf('-') + 1).Trim(); strProcId = strProcId.Trim(); int procId = 0; if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(strProcId)) { if (!int.TryParse(strProcId, out procId)) procId = 0; } CaptureConfiguration.ProcessId = procId; CaptureConfiguration.CaptureDomain = txtCaptureDomain.Text; FiddlerApplication.AfterSessionComplete += FiddlerApplication_AfterSessionComplete; FiddlerApplication.Startup(8888, true, true, true); } The key lines for FiddlerCore are just the last two lines of code that include the event hookup code as well as the Startup() method call. Here I only hook up to the AfterSessionComplete event but there are a number of other events that hook various stages of the HTTP request cycle you can also hook into. Other events include BeforeRequest, BeforeResponse, RequestHeadersAvailable, ResponseHeadersAvailable and so on. In my case I want to capture the request data and I actually have several options to capture this data. AfterSessionComplete is the last event that fires in the request sequence and it’s the most common choice to capture all request and response data. I could have used several other events, but AfterSessionComplete is one place where you can look both at the request and response data, so this will be the most common place to hook into if you’re capturing content. The implementation of AfterSessionComplete is responsible for capturing all HTTP request headers and it looks something like this:private void FiddlerApplication_AfterSessionComplete(Session sess) { // Ignore HTTPS connect requests if (sess.RequestMethod == "CONNECT") return; if (CaptureConfiguration.ProcessId > 0) { if (sess.LocalProcessID != 0 && sess.LocalProcessID != CaptureConfiguration.ProcessId) return; } if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(CaptureConfiguration.CaptureDomain)) { if (sess.hostname.ToLower() != CaptureConfiguration.CaptureDomain.Trim().ToLower()) return; } if (CaptureConfiguration.IgnoreResources) { string url = sess.fullUrl.ToLower(); var extensions = CaptureConfiguration.ExtensionFilterExclusions; foreach (var ext in extensions) { if (url.Contains(ext)) return; } var filters = CaptureConfiguration.UrlFilterExclusions; foreach (var urlFilter in filters) { if (url.Contains(urlFilter)) return; } } if (sess == null || sess.oRequest == null || sess.oRequest.headers == null) return; string headers = sess.oRequest.headers.ToString(); var reqBody = sess.GetRequestBodyAsString(); // if you wanted to capture the response //string respHeaders = session.oResponse.headers.ToString(); //var respBody = session.GetResponseBodyAsString(); // replace the HTTP line to inject full URL string firstLine = sess.RequestMethod + " " + sess.fullUrl + " " + sess.oRequest.headers.HTTPVersion; int at = headers.IndexOf("\r\n"); if (at < 0) return; headers = firstLine + "\r\n" + headers.Substring(at + 1); string output = headers + "\r\n" + (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(reqBody) ? reqBody + "\r\n" : string.Empty) + Separator + "\r\n\r\n"; BeginInvoke(new Action<string>((text) => { txtCapture.AppendText(text); UpdateButtonStatus(); }), output); } The code starts by filtering out some requests based on the CaptureOptions I set before the capture is started. These options/filters are applied when requests actually come in. This is very useful to help narrow down the requests that are captured for playback based on options the user picked. I find it useful to limit requests to a certain domain for captures, as well as filtering out some request types like static resources – images, css, scripts etc. This is of course optional, but I think it’s a common scenario and WebSurge makes good use of this feature. AfterSessionComplete like other FiddlerCore events, provides a Session object parameter which contains all the request and response details. There are oRequest and oResponse objects to hold their respective data. In my case I’m interested in the raw request headers and body only, as you can see in the commented code you can also retrieve the response headers and body. Here the code captures the request headers and body and simply appends the output to the textbox on the screen. Note that the Fiddler events are asynchronous, so in order to display the content in the UI they have to be marshaled back the UI thread with BeginInvoke, which here simply takes the generated headers and appends it to the existing textbox test on the form. As each request is processed, the headers are captured and appended to the bottom of the textbox resulting in a Session HTTP capture in the format that Web Surge internally supports, which is basically raw request headers with a customized 1st HTTP Header line that includes the full URL rather than a server relative URL. When the capture is done the user can either copy the raw HTTP session to the clipboard, or directly save it to file. This raw capture format is the same format WebSurge and also Fiddler use to import/export request data. While this code is application specific, it demonstrates the kind of logic that you can easily apply to the request capture process, which is one of the reasonsof why FiddlerCore is so powerful. You get to choose what content you want to look up as part of your own application logic and you can then decide how to capture or use that data as part of your application. The actual captured data in this case is only a string. The user can edit the data by hand or in the the case of WebSurge, save it to disk and automatically open the captured session as a new load test. Stopping the FiddlerCore Proxy Finally to stop capturing requests you simply disconnect the event handler and call the FiddlerApplication.ShutDown() method:void Stop() { FiddlerApplication.AfterSessionComplete -= FiddlerApplication_AfterSessionComplete; if (FiddlerApplication.IsStarted()) FiddlerApplication.Shutdown(); } As you can see, adding HTTP capture functionality to an application is very straight forward. FiddlerCore offers tons of features I’m not even touching on here – I suspect basic captures are the most common scenario, but a lot of different things can be done with FiddlerCore’s simple API interface. Sky’s the limit! The source code for this sample capture form (WinForms) is provided as part of this article. Adding Fiddler Certificates with FiddlerCore One of the sticking points in West Wind WebSurge has been that if you wanted to capture HTTPS/SSL traffic, you needed to have the full version of Fiddler and have HTTPS decryption enabled. Essentially you had to use Fiddler to configure HTTPS decryption and the associated installation of the Fiddler local client certificate that is used for local decryption of incoming SSL traffic. While this works just fine, requiring to have Fiddler installed and then using a separate application to configure the SSL functionality isn’t ideal. Fortunately FiddlerCore actually includes the tools to register the Fiddler Certificate directly using FiddlerCore. Why does Fiddler need a Certificate in the first Place? Fiddler and FiddlerCore are essentially HTTP proxies which means they inject themselves into the HTTP conversation by re-routing HTTP traffic to a special HTTP port (8888 by default for Fiddler) and then forward the HTTP data to the original client. Fiddler injects itself as the system proxy in using the WinInet Windows settings which are the same settings that Internet Explorer uses and that are configured in the Windows and Internet Explorer Internet Settings dialog. Most HTTP clients running on Windows pick up and apply these system level Proxy settings before establishing new HTTP connections and that’s why most clients automatically work once Fiddler – or FiddlerCore/WebSurge are running. For plain HTTP requests this just works – Fiddler intercepts the HTTP requests on the proxy port and then forwards them to the original port (80 for HTTP and 443 for SSL typically but it could be any port). For SSL however, this is not quite as simple – Fiddler can easily act as an HTTPS/SSL client to capture inbound requests from the server, but when it forwards the request to the client it has to also act as an SSL server and provide a certificate that the client trusts. This won’t be the original certificate from the remote site, but rather a custom local certificate that effectively simulates an SSL connection between the proxy and the client. If there is no custom certificate configured for Fiddler the SSL request fails with a certificate validation error. The key for this to work is that a custom certificate has to be installed that the HTTPS client trusts on the local machine. For a much more detailed description of the process you can check out Eric Lawrence’s blog post on Certificates. If you’re using the desktop version of Fiddler you can install a local certificate into the Windows certificate store. Fiddler proper does this from the Options menu: This operation does several things: It installs the Fiddler Root Certificate It sets trust to this Root Certificate A new client certificate is generated for each HTTPS site monitored Certificate Installation with FiddlerCore You can also provide this same functionality using FiddlerCore which includes a CertMaker class. Using CertMaker is straight forward to use and it provides an easy way to create some simple helpers that can install and uninstall a Fiddler Root certificate:public static bool InstallCertificate() { if (!CertMaker.rootCertExists()) { if (!CertMaker.createRootCert()) return false; if (!CertMaker.trustRootCert()) return false; } return true; } public static bool UninstallCertificate() { if (CertMaker.rootCertExists()) { if (!CertMaker.removeFiddlerGeneratedCerts(true)) return false; } return true; } InstallCertificate() works by first checking whether the root certificate is already installed and if it isn’t goes ahead and creates a new one. The process of creating the certificate is a two step process – first the actual certificate is created and then it’s moved into the certificate store to become trusted. I’m not sure why you’d ever split these operations up since a cert created without trust isn’t going to be of much value, but there are two distinct steps. When you trigger the trustRootCert() method, a message box will pop up on the desktop that lets you know that you’re about to trust a local private certificate. This is a security feature to ensure that you really want to trust the Fiddler root since you are essentially installing a man in the middle certificate. It’s quite safe to use this generated root certificate, because it’s been specifically generated for your machine and thus is not usable from external sources, the only way to use this certificate in a trusted way is from the local machine. IOW, unless somebody has physical access to your machine, there’s no useful way to hijack this certificate and use it for nefarious purposes (see Eric’s post for more details). Once the Root certificate has been installed, FiddlerCore/Fiddler create new certificates for each site that is connected to with HTTPS. You can end up with quite a few temporary certificates in your certificate store. To uninstall you can either use Fiddler and simply uncheck the Decrypt HTTPS traffic option followed by the remove Fiddler certificates button, or you can use FiddlerCore’s CertMaker.removeFiddlerGeneratedCerts() which removes the root cert and any of the intermediary certificates Fiddler created. Keep in mind that when you uninstall you uninstall the certificate for both FiddlerCore and Fiddler, so use UninstallCertificate() with care and realize that you might affect the Fiddler application’s operation by doing so as well. When to check for an installed Certificate Note that the check to see if the root certificate exists is pretty fast, while the actual process of installing the certificate is a relatively slow operation that even on a fast machine takes a few seconds. Further the trust operation pops up a message box so you probably don’t want to install the certificate repeatedly. Since the check for the root certificate is fast, you can easily put a call to InstallCertificate() in any capture startup code – in which case the certificate installation only triggers when a certificate is in fact not installed. Personally I like to make certificate installation explicit – just like Fiddler does, so in WebSurge I use a small drop down option on the menu to install or uninstall the SSL certificate: This code calls the InstallCertificate and UnInstallCertificate functions respectively – the experience with this is similar to what you get in Fiddler with the extra dialog box popping up to prompt confirmation for installation of the root certificate. Once the cert is installed you can then capture SSL requests. There’s a gotcha however… Gotcha: FiddlerCore Certificates don’t stick by Default When I originally tried to use the Fiddler certificate installation I ran into an odd problem. I was able to install the certificate and immediately after installation was able to capture HTTPS requests. Then I would exit the application and come back in and try the same HTTPS capture again and it would fail due to a missing certificate. CertMaker.rootCertExists() would return false after every restart and if re-installed the certificate a new certificate would get added to the certificate store resulting in a bunch of duplicated root certificates with different keys. What the heck? CertMaker and BcMakeCert create non-sticky CertificatesI turns out that FiddlerCore by default uses different components from what the full version of Fiddler uses. Fiddler uses a Windows utility called MakeCert.exe to create the Fiddler Root certificate. FiddlerCore however installs the CertMaker.dll and BCMakeCert.dll assemblies, which use a different crypto library (Bouncy Castle) for certificate creation than MakeCert.exe which uses the Windows Crypto API. The assemblies provide support for non-windows operation for Fiddler under Mono, as well as support for some non-Windows certificate platforms like iOS and Android for decryption. The bottom line is that the FiddlerCore provided bouncy castle assemblies are not sticky by default as the certificates created with them are not cached as they are in Fiddler proper. To get certificates to ‘stick’ you have to explicitly cache the certificates in Fiddler’s internal preferences. A cache aware version of InstallCertificate looks something like this:public static bool InstallCertificate() { if (!CertMaker.rootCertExists()) { if (!CertMaker.createRootCert()) return false; if (!CertMaker.trustRootCert()) return false; App.Configuration.UrlCapture.Cert = FiddlerApplication.Prefs.GetStringPref("fiddler.certmaker.bc.cert", null); App.Configuration.UrlCapture.Key = FiddlerApplication.Prefs.GetStringPref("fiddler.certmaker.bc.key", null); } return true; } public static bool UninstallCertificate() { if (CertMaker.rootCertExists()) { if (!CertMaker.removeFiddlerGeneratedCerts(true)) return false; } App.Configuration.UrlCapture.Cert = null; App.Configuration.UrlCapture.Key = null; return true; } In this code I store the Fiddler cert and private key in an application configuration settings that’s stored with the application settings (App.Configuration.UrlCapture object). These settings automatically persist when WebSurge is shut down. The values are read out of Fiddler’s internal preferences store which is set after a new certificate has been created. Likewise I clear out the configuration settings when the certificate is uninstalled. In order for these setting to be used you have to also load the configuration settings into the Fiddler preferences *before* a call to rootCertExists() is made. I do this in the capture form’s constructor:public FiddlerCapture(StressTestForm form) { InitializeComponent(); CaptureConfiguration = App.Configuration.UrlCapture; MainForm = form; if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(App.Configuration.UrlCapture.Cert)) { FiddlerApplication.Prefs.SetStringPref("fiddler.certmaker.bc.key", App.Configuration.UrlCapture.Key); FiddlerApplication.Prefs.SetStringPref("fiddler.certmaker.bc.cert", App.Configuration.UrlCapture.Cert); }} This is kind of a drag to do and not documented anywhere that I could find, so hopefully this will save you some grief if you want to work with the stock certificate logic that installs with FiddlerCore. MakeCert provides sticky Certificates and the same functionality as Fiddler But there’s actually an easier way. If you want to skip the above Fiddler preference configuration code in your application you can choose to distribute MakeCert.exe instead of certmaker.dll and bcmakecert.dll. When you use MakeCert.exe, the certificates settings are stored in Windows so they are available without any custom configuration inside of your application. It’s easier to integrate and as long as you run on Windows and you don’t need to support iOS or Android devices is simply easier to deal with. To integrate into your project, you can remove the reference to CertMaker.dll (and the BcMakeCert.dll assembly) from your project. Instead copy MakeCert.exe into your output folder. To make sure MakeCert.exe gets pushed out, include MakeCert.exe in your project and set the Build Action to None, and Copy to Output Directory to Copy if newer. Note that the CertMaker.dll reference in the project has been removed and on disk the files for Certmaker.dll, as well as the BCMakeCert.dll files on disk. Keep in mind that these DLLs are resources of the FiddlerCore NuGet package, so updating the package may end up pushing those files back into your project. Once MakeCert.exe is distributed FiddlerCore checks for it first before using the assemblies so as long as MakeCert.exe exists it’ll be used for certificate creation (at least on Windows). Summary FiddlerCore is a pretty sweet tool, and it’s absolutely awesome that we get to plug in most of the functionality of Fiddler right into our own applications. A few years back I tried to build this sort of functionality myself for an app and ended up giving up because it’s a big job to get HTTP right – especially if you need to support SSL. FiddlerCore now provides that functionality as a turnkey solution that can be plugged into your own apps easily. The only downside is FiddlerCore’s documentation for more advanced features like certificate installation which is pretty sketchy. While for the most part FiddlerCore’s feature set is easy to work with without any documentation, advanced features are often not intuitive to gleam by just using Intellisense or the FiddlerCore help file reference (which is not terribly useful). While Eric Lawrence is very responsive on his forum and on Twitter, there simply isn’t much useful documentation on Fiddler/FiddlerCore available online. If you run into trouble the forum is probably the first place to look and then ask a question if you can’t find the answer. The best documentation you can find is Eric’s Fiddler Book which covers a ton of functionality of Fiddler and FiddlerCore. The book is a great reference to Fiddler’s feature set as well as providing great insights into the HTTP protocol. The second half of the book that gets into the innards of HTTP is an excellent read for anybody who wants to know more about some of the more arcane aspects and special behaviors of HTTP – it’s well worth the read. While the book has tons of information in a very readable format, it’s unfortunately not a great reference as it’s hard to find things in the book and because it’s not available online you can’t electronically search for the great content in it. But it’s hard to complain about any of this given the obvious effort and love that’s gone into this awesome product for all of these years. A mighty big thanks to Eric Lawrence for having created this useful tool that so many of us use all the time, and also to Telerik for picking up Fiddler/FiddlerCore and providing Eric the resources to support and improve this wonderful tool full time and keeping it free for all. Kudos! Resources FiddlerCore Download FiddlerCore NuGet Fiddler Capture Sample Form Fiddler Capture Form in West Wind WebSurge (GitHub) Eric Lawrence’s Fiddler Book© Rick Strahl, West Wind Technologies, 2005-2014Posted in .NET HTTP 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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Integrating HTML into Silverlight Applications

- by dwahlin

Looking for a way to display HTML content within a Silverlight application? If you haven’t tried doing that before it can be challenging at first until you know a few tricks of the trade. Being able to display HTML is especially handy when you’re required to display RSS feeds (with embedded HTML), SQL Server Reporting Services reports, PDF files (not actually HTML – but the techniques discussed will work), or other HTML content. In this post I'll discuss three options for displaying HTML content in Silverlight applications and describe how my company is using these techniques in client applications. Displaying HTML Overlays If you need to display HTML over a Silverlight application (such as an RSS feed containing HTML data in it) you’ll need to set the Silverlight control’s windowless parameter to true. This can be done using the object tag as shown next: <object data="data:application/x-silverlight-2," type="application/x-silverlight-2" width="100%" height="100%"> <param name="source" value="ClientBin/HTMLAndSilverlight.xap"/> <param name="onError" value="onSilverlightError" /> <param name="background" value="white" /> <param name="minRuntimeVersion" value="4.0.50401.0" /> <param name="autoUpgrade" value="true" /> <param name="windowless" value="true" /> <a href="http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=149156&v=4.0.50401.0" style="text-decoration:none"> <img src="http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=161376" alt="Get Microsoft Silverlight" style="border-style:none"/> </a> </object> By setting the control to “windowless” you can overlay HTML objects by using absolute positioning and other CSS techniques. Keep in mind that on Windows machines the windowless setting can result in a performance hit when complex animations or HD video are running since the plug-in content is displayed directly by the browser window. It goes without saying that you should only set windowless to true when you really need the functionality it offers. For example, if I want to display my blog’s RSS content on top of a Silverlight application I could set windowless to true and create a user control that grabbed the content and output it using a DataList control: <style type="text/css"> a {text-decoration:none;font-weight:bold;font-size:14pt;} </style> <div style="margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px;margin-right:5px;"> <asp:DataList ID="RSSDataList" runat="server" DataSourceID="RSSDataSource"> <ItemTemplate> <a href='<%# XPath("link") %>'><%# XPath("title") %></a> <br /> <%# XPath("description") %> <br /> </ItemTemplate> </asp:DataList> <asp:XmlDataSource ID="RSSDataSource" DataFile="http://weblogs.asp.net/dwahlin/rss.aspx" XPath="rss/channel/item" CacheDuration="60" runat="server" /> </div> The user control can then be placed in the page hosting the Silverlight control as shown below. This example adds a Close button, additional content to display in the overlay window and the HTML generated from the user control. <div id="RSSDiv"> <div style="background-color:#484848;border:1px solid black;height:35px;width:100%;"> <img alt="Close Button" align="right" src="Images/Close.png" onclick="HideOverlay();" style="cursor:pointer;" /> </div> <div style="overflow:auto;width:800px;height:565px;"> <div style="float:left;width:100px;height:103px;margin-left:10px;margin-top:5px;"> <img src="http://weblogs.asp.net/blogs/dwahlin/dan2008.jpg" style="border:1px solid Gray" /> </div> <div style="float:left;width:300px;height:103px;margin-top:5px;"> <a href="http://weblogs.asp.net/dwahlin" style="margin-left:10px;font-size:20pt;">Dan Wahlin's Blog</a> </div> <br /><br /><br /> <div style="clear:both;margin-top:20px;"> <uc:BlogRoller ID="BlogRoller" runat="server" /> </div> </div> </div> Of course, we wouldn’t want the RSS HTML content to be shown until requested. Once it’s requested the absolute position of where it should show above the Silverlight control can be set using standard CSS styles. The following ID selector named #RSSDiv handles hiding the overlay div shown above and determines where it will be display on the screen. #RSSDiv { background-color:White; position:absolute; top:100px; left:300px; width:800px; height:600px; border:1px solid black; display:none; } Now that the HTML content to display above the Silverlight control is set, how can we show it as a user clicks a HyperlinkButton or other control in the application? Fortunately, Silverlight provides an excellent HTML bridge that allows direct access to content hosted within a page. The following code shows two JavaScript functions that can be called from Siverlight to handle showing or hiding HTML overlay content. The two functions rely on jQuery (http://www.jQuery.com) to make it easy to select HTML objects and manipulate their properties: function ShowOverlay() { rssDiv.css('display', 'block'); } function HideOverlay() { rssDiv.css('display', 'none'); } Calling the ShowOverlay function is as simple as adding the following code into the Silverlight application within a button’s Click event handler: private void OverlayHyperlinkButton_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) { HtmlPage.Window.Invoke("ShowOverlay"); } The result of setting the Silverlight control’s windowless parameter to true and showing the HTML overlay content is shown in the following screenshot: Thinking Outside the Box to Show HTML Content Setting the windowless parameter to true may not be a viable option for some Silverlight applications or you may simply want to go about showing HTML content a different way. The next technique I’ll show takes advantage of simple HTML, CSS and JavaScript code to handle showing HTML content while a Silverlight application is running in the browser. Keep in mind that with Silverlight’s HTML bridge feature you can always pop-up HTML content in a new browser window using code similar to the following: System.Windows.Browser.HtmlPage.Window.Navigate( new Uri("http://silverlight.net"), "_blank"); For this example I’ll demonstrate how to hide the Silverlight application while maximizing a container div containing the HTML content to show. This allows HTML content to take up the full screen area of the browser without having to set windowless to true and when done right can make the user feel like they never left the Silverlight application. The following HTML shows several div elements that are used to display HTML within the same browser window as the Silverlight application: <div id="JobPlanDiv"> <div style="vertical-align:middle"> <img alt="Close Button" align="right" src="Images/Close.png" onclick="HideJobPlanIFrame();" style="cursor:pointer;" /> </div> <div id="JobPlan_IFrame_Container" style="height:95%;width:100%;margin-top:37px;"></div> </div> The JobPlanDiv element acts as a container for two other divs that handle showing a close button and hosting an iframe that will be added dynamically at runtime. JobPlanDiv isn’t visible when the Silverlight application loads due to the following ID selector added into the page: #JobPlanDiv { position:absolute; background-color:#484848; overflow:hidden; left:0; top:0; height:100%; width:100%; display:none; } When the HTML content needs to be shown or hidden the JavaScript functions shown next can be used: var jobPlanIFrameID = 'JobPlan_IFrame'; var slHost = null; var jobPlanContainer = null; var jobPlanIFrameContainer = null; var rssDiv = null; $(document).ready(function () { slHost = $('#silverlightControlHost'); jobPlanContainer = $('#JobPlanDiv'); jobPlanIFrameContainer = $('#JobPlan_IFrame_Container'); rssDiv = $('#RSSDiv'); }); function ShowJobPlanIFrame(url) { jobPlanContainer.css('display', 'block'); $('<iframe id="' + jobPlanIFrameID + '" src="' + url + '" style="height:100%;width:100%;" />') .appendTo(jobPlanIFrameContainer); slHost.css('width', '0%'); } function HideJobPlanIFrame() { jobPlanContainer.css('display', 'none'); $('#' + jobPlanIFrameID).remove(); slHost.css('width', '100%'); } ShowJobPlanIFrame() handles showing the JobPlanDiv div and adding an iframe into it dynamically. Once JobPlanDiv is shown, the Silverlight control host has its width set to a value of 0% to allow the control to stay alive while making it invisible to the user. I found that this technique works better across multiple browsers as opposed to manipulating the Silverlight control host div’s display or visibility properties. Now that you’ve seen the code to handle showing and hiding the HTML content area, let’s switch focus to the Silverlight application. As a user clicks on a link such as “View Report” the ShowJobPlanIFrame() JavaScript function needs to be called. The following code handles that task: private void ReportHyperlinkButton_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) { ShowBrowser(_BaseUrl + "/Report.aspx"); } public void ShowBrowser(string url) { HtmlPage.Window.Invoke("ShowJobPlanIFrame", url); } Any URL can be passed into the ShowBrowser() method which handles invoking the JavaScript function. This includes standard web pages or even PDF files. We’ve used this technique frequently with our SmartPrint control (http://www.smartwebcontrols.com) which converts Silverlight screens into PDF documents and displays them. Here’s an example of the content generated: Silverlight 4’s WebBrowser Control Both techniques shown to this point work well when Silverlight is running in-browser but not so well when it’s running out-of-browser since there’s no host page that you can access using the HTML bridge. Fortunately, Silverlight 4 provides a WebBrowser control that can be used to perform the same functionality quite easily. We’re currently using it in client applications to display PDF documents, SSRS reports and standard HTML content. Using the WebBrowser control simplifies the application quite a bit since no JavaScript is required if the application only runs out-of-browser. Here’s a simple example of defining the WebBrowser control in XAML. I typically define it in MainPage.xaml when a Silverlight Navigation template is used to create the project so that I can re-use the functionality across multiple screens. <Grid x:Name="WebBrowserGrid" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" VerticalAlignment="Stretch" Visibility="Collapsed"> <StackPanel HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" VerticalAlignment="Stretch"> <Border Background="#484848" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" Height="40"> <Image x:Name="WebBrowserImage" Width="100" Height="33" Cursor="Hand" HorizontalAlignment="Right" Source="/HTMLAndSilverlight;component/Assets/Images/Close.png" MouseLeftButtonDown="WebBrowserImage_MouseLeftButtonDown" /> </Border> <WebBrowser x:Name="JobPlanReportWebBrowser" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" VerticalAlignment="Stretch" /> </StackPanel> </Grid> Looking through the XAML you can see that a close image is defined along with the WebBrowser control. Because the URL that the WebBrowser should navigate to isn’t known at design time no value is assigned to the control’s Source property. If the XAML shown above is left “as is” you’ll find that any HTML content assigned to the WebBrowser doesn’t display properly. This is due to no height or width being set on the control. To handle this issue the following code is added into the XAML’s code-behind file to dynamically determine the height and width of the page and assign it to the WebBrowser. This is done by handling the SizeChanged event. void MainPage_SizeChanged(object sender, SizeChangedEventArgs e) { WebBrowserGrid.Height = JobPlanReportWebBrowser.Height = ActualHeight; WebBrowserGrid.Width = JobPlanReportWebBrowser.Width = ActualWidth; } When the user wants to view HTML content they click a button which executes the code shown in next: public void ShowBrowser(string url) { if (Application.Current.IsRunningOutOfBrowser) { JobPlanReportWebBrowser.NavigateToString("<html><body><iframe src='" + url + "' style='width:100%;height:97%;' /></body></html>"); WebBrowserGrid.Visibility = Visibility.Visible; } else { HtmlPage.Window.Invoke("ShowJobPlanIFrame", url); } } private void WebBrowserImage_MouseLeftButtonDown(object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e) { WebBrowserGrid.Visibility = Visibility.Collapsed; } Looking through the code you’ll see that it checks to see if the Silverlight application is running out-of-browser and then either displays the WebBrowser control or runs the JavaScript function discussed earlier. Although the WebBrowser control’s Source property could be assigned the URI of the page to navigate to, by assigning HTML content using the NavigateToString() method and adding an iframe, content can be shown from any site including cross-domain sites. This is especially handy when you need to grab a page from a reporting site that’s in a different domain than the Silverlight application. Here’s an example of viewing PDF file inside of an out-of-browser application. The first image shows the application running out-of-browser before the user clicks a PDF HyperlinkButton. The second image shows the PDF being displayed. While there are certainly other techniques that can be used, the ones shown here have worked well for us in different applications and provide the ability to display HTML content in-browser or out-of-browser. Feel free to add a comment if you have another tip or trick you like to use when working with HTML content in Silverlight applications. Download Code Sample For more information about onsite, online and video training, mentoring and consulting solutions for .NET, SharePoint or Silverlight please visit http://www.thewahlingroup.com.

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Rendering ASP.NET Script References into the Html Header

- by Rick Strahl

One thing that I’ve come to appreciate in control development in ASP.NET that use JavaScript is the ability to have more control over script and script include placement than ASP.NET provides natively. Specifically in ASP.NET you can use either the ClientScriptManager or ScriptManager to embed scripts and script references into pages via code. This works reasonably well, but the script references that get generated are generated into the HTML body and there’s very little operational control for placement of scripts. If you have multiple controls or several of the same control that need to place the same scripts onto the page it’s not difficult to end up with scripts that render in the wrong order and stop working correctly. This is especially critical if you load script libraries with dependencies either via resources or even if you are rendering referenced to CDN resources. Natively ASP.NET provides a host of methods that help embedding scripts into the page via either Page.ClientScript or the ASP.NET ScriptManager control (both with slightly different syntax): RegisterClientScriptBlock Renders a script block at the top of the HTML body and should be used for embedding callable functions/classes. RegisterStartupScript Renders a script block just prior to the </form> tag and should be used to for embedding code that should execute when the page is first loaded. Not recommended – use jQuery.ready() or equivalent load time routines. RegisterClientScriptInclude Embeds a reference to a script from a url into the page. RegisterClientScriptResource Embeds a reference to a Script from a resource file generating a long resource file string All 4 of these methods render their <script> tags into the HTML body. The script blocks give you a little bit of control by having a ‘top’ and ‘bottom’ of the document location which gives you some flexibility over script placement and precedence. Script includes and resource url unfortunately do not even get that much control – references are simply rendered into the page in the order of declaration. The ASP.NET ScriptManager control facilitates this task a little bit with the abililty to specify scripts in code and the ability to programmatically check what scripts have already been registered, but it doesn’t provide any more control over the script rendering process itself. Further the ScriptManager is a bear to deal with generically because generic code has to always check and see if it is actually present. Some time ago I posted a ClientScriptProxy class that helps with managing the latter process of sending script references either to ClientScript or ScriptManager if it’s available. Since I last posted about this there have been a number of improvements in this API, one of which is the ability to control placement of scripts and script includes in the page which I think is rather important and a missing feature in the ASP.NET native functionality. Handling ScriptRenderModes One of the big enhancements that I’ve come to rely on is the ability of the various script rendering functions described above to support rendering in multiple locations: /// <summary> /// Determines how scripts are included into the page /// </summary> public enum ScriptRenderModes { /// <summary> /// Inherits the setting from the control or from the ClientScript.DefaultScriptRenderMode /// </summary> Inherit, /// Renders the script include at the location of the control /// </summary> Inline, /// <summary> /// Renders the script include into the bottom of the header of the page /// </summary> Header, /// <summary> /// Renders the script include into the top of the header of the page /// </summary> HeaderTop, /// <summary> /// Uses ClientScript or ScriptManager to embed the script include to /// provide standard ASP.NET style rendering in the HTML body. /// </summary> Script, /// <summary> /// Renders script at the bottom of the page before the last Page.Controls /// literal control. Note this may result in unexpected behavior /// if /body and /html are not the last thing in the markup page. /// </summary> BottomOfPage } This enum is then applied to the various Register functions to allow more control over where scripts actually show up. Why is this useful? For me I often render scripts out of control resources and these scripts often include things like a JavaScript Library (jquery) and a few plug-ins. The order in which these can be loaded is critical so that jQuery.js always loads before any plug-in for example. Typically I end up with a general script layout like this: Core Libraries- HeaderTop Plug-ins: Header ScriptBlocks: Header or Script depending on other dependencies There’s also an option to render scripts and CSS at the very bottom of the page before the last Page control on the page which can be useful for speeding up page load when lots of scripts are loaded. The API syntax of the ClientScriptProxy methods is closely compatible with ScriptManager’s using static methods and control references to gain access to the page and embedding scripts. For example, to render some script into the current page in the header: // Create script block in header ClientScriptProxy.Current.RegisterClientScriptBlock(this, typeof(ControlResources), "hello_function", "function helloWorld() { alert('hello'); }", true, ScriptRenderModes.Header); // Same again - shouldn't be rendered because it's the same id ClientScriptProxy.Current.RegisterClientScriptBlock(this, typeof(ControlResources), "hello_function", "function helloWorld() { alert('hello'); }", true, ScriptRenderModes.Header); // Create a second script block in header ClientScriptProxy.Current.RegisterClientScriptBlock(this, typeof(ControlResources), "hello_function2", "function helloWorld2() { alert('hello2'); }", true, ScriptRenderModes.Header); // This just calls ClientScript and renders into bottom of document ClientScriptProxy.Current.RegisterStartupScript(this,typeof(ControlResources), "call_hello", "helloWorld();helloWorld2();", true); which generates: <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" > <head><title> </title> <script type="text/javascript"> function helloWorld() { alert('hello'); } </script> <script type="text/javascript"> function helloWorld2() { alert('hello2'); } </script> </head> <body> … <script type="text/javascript"> //<![CDATA[ helloWorld();helloWorld2();//]]> </script> </form> </body> </html> Note that the scripts are generated into the header rather than the body except for the last script block which is the call to RegisterStartupScript. In general I wouldn’t recommend using RegisterStartupScript – ever. It’s a much better practice to use a script base load event to handle ‘startup’ code that should fire when the page first loads. So instead of the code above I’d actually recommend doing: ClientScriptProxy.Current.RegisterClientScriptBlock(this, typeof(ControlResources), "call_hello", "$().ready( function() { alert('hello2'); });", true, ScriptRenderModes.Header); assuming you’re using jQuery on the page. For script includes from a Url the following demonstrates how to embed scripts into the header. This example injects a jQuery and jQuery.UI script reference from the Google CDN then checks each with a script block to ensure that it has loaded and if not loads it from a server local location: // load jquery from CDN ClientScriptProxy.Current.RegisterClientScriptInclude(this, typeof(ControlResources), "http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.3.2/jquery.min.js", ScriptRenderModes.HeaderTop); // check if jquery loaded - if it didn't we're not online string scriptCheck = @"if (typeof jQuery != 'object') document.write(unescape(""%3Cscript src='{0}' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E""));"; string jQueryUrl = ClientScriptProxy.Current.GetWebResourceUrl(this, typeof(ControlResources), ControlResources.JQUERY_SCRIPT_RESOURCE); ClientScriptProxy.Current.RegisterClientScriptBlock(this, typeof(ControlResources), "jquery_register", string.Format(scriptCheck,jQueryUrl),true, ScriptRenderModes.HeaderTop); // Load jquery-ui from cdn ClientScriptProxy.Current.RegisterClientScriptInclude(this, typeof(ControlResources), "http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jqueryui/1.7.2/jquery-ui.min.js", ScriptRenderModes.Header); // check if we need to load from local string jQueryUiUrl = ResolveUrl("~/scripts/jquery-ui-custom.min.js"); ClientScriptProxy.Current.RegisterClientScriptBlock(this, typeof(ControlResources), "jqueryui_register", string.Format(scriptCheck, jQueryUiUrl), true, ScriptRenderModes.Header); // Create script block in header ClientScriptProxy.Current.RegisterClientScriptBlock(this, typeof(ControlResources), "hello_function", "$().ready( function() { alert('hello'); });", true, ScriptRenderModes.Header); which in turn generates this HTML: <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" > <head> <script src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.3.2/jquery.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> if (typeof jQuery != 'object') document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='/WestWindWebToolkitWeb/WebResource.axd?d=DIykvYhJ_oXCr-TA_dr35i4AayJoV1mgnQAQGPaZsoPM2LCdvoD3cIsRRitHKlKJfV5K_jQvylK7tsqO3lQIFw2&t=633979863959332352' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); </script> <title> </title> <script src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jqueryui/1.7.2/jquery-ui.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> if (typeof jQuery != 'object') document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='/WestWindWebToolkitWeb/scripts/jquery-ui-custom.min.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); </script> <script type="text/javascript"> $().ready(function() { alert('hello'); }); </script> </head> <body> …</body> </html> As you can see there’s a bit more control in this process as you can inject both script includes and script blocks into the document at the top or bottom of the header, plus if necessary at the usual body locations. This is quite useful especially if you create custom server controls that interoperate with script and have certain dependencies. The above is a good example of a useful switchable routine where you can switch where scripts load from by default – the above pulls from Google CDN but a configuration switch may automatically switch to pull from the local development copies if your doing development for example. How does it work? As mentioned the ClientScriptProxy object mimicks many of the ScriptManager script related methods and so provides close API compatibility with it although it contains many additional overloads that enhance functionality. It does however work against ScriptManager if it’s available on the page, or Page.ClientScript if it’s not so it provides a single unified frontend to script access. There are however many overloads of the original SM methods like the above to provide additional functionality. The implementation of script header rendering is pretty straight forward – as long as a server header (ie. it has to have runat=”server” set) is available. Otherwise these routines fall back to using the default document level insertions of ScriptManager/ClientScript. Given that there is a server header it’s relatively easy to generate the script tags and code and append them to the header either at the top or bottom. I suspect Microsoft didn’t provide header rendering functionality precisely because a runat=”server” header is not required by ASP.NET so behavior would be slightly unpredictable. That’s not really a problem for a custom implementation however. Here’s the RegisterClientScriptBlock implementation that takes a ScriptRenderModes parameter to allow header rendering: /// <summary> /// Renders client script block with the option of rendering the script block in /// the Html header /// /// For this to work Header must be defined as runat="server" /// </summary> /// <param name="control">any control that instance typically page</param> /// <param name="type">Type that identifies this rendering</param> /// <param name="key">unique script block id</param> /// <param name="script">The script code to render</param> /// <param name="addScriptTags">Ignored for header rendering used for all other insertions</param> /// <param name="renderMode">Where the block is rendered</param> public void RegisterClientScriptBlock(Control control, Type type, string key, string script, bool addScriptTags, ScriptRenderModes renderMode) { if (renderMode == ScriptRenderModes.Inherit) renderMode = DefaultScriptRenderMode; if (control.Page.Header == null || renderMode != ScriptRenderModes.HeaderTop && renderMode != ScriptRenderModes.Header && renderMode != ScriptRenderModes.BottomOfPage) { RegisterClientScriptBlock(control, type, key, script, addScriptTags); return; } // No dupes - ref script include only once const string identifier = "scriptblock_"; if (HttpContext.Current.Items.Contains(identifier + key)) return; HttpContext.Current.Items.Add(identifier + key, string.Empty); StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(); // Embed in header sb.AppendLine("\r\n<script type=\"text/javascript\">"); sb.AppendLine(script); sb.AppendLine("</script>"); int? index = HttpContext.Current.Items["__ScriptResourceIndex"] as int?; if (index == null) index = 0; if (renderMode == ScriptRenderModes.HeaderTop) { control.Page.Header.Controls.AddAt(index.Value, new LiteralControl(sb.ToString())); index++; } else if(renderMode == ScriptRenderModes.Header) control.Page.Header.Controls.Add(new LiteralControl(sb.ToString())); else if (renderMode == ScriptRenderModes.BottomOfPage) control.Page.Controls.AddAt(control.Page.Controls.Count-1,new LiteralControl(sb.ToString())); HttpContext.Current.Items["__ScriptResourceIndex"] = index; } Note that the routine has to keep track of items inserted by id so that if the same item is added again with the same key it won’t generate two script entries. Additionally the code has to keep track of how many insertions have been made at the top of the document so that entries are added in the proper order. The RegisterScriptInclude method is similar but there’s some additional logic in here to deal with script file references and ClientScriptProxy’s (optional) custom resource handler that provides script compression /// <summary> /// Registers a client script reference into the page with the option to specify /// the script location in the page /// </summary> /// <param name="control">Any control instance - typically page</param> /// <param name="type">Type that acts as qualifier (uniqueness)</param> /// <param name="url">the Url to the script resource</param> /// <param name="ScriptRenderModes">Determines where the script is rendered</param> public void RegisterClientScriptInclude(Control control, Type type, string url, ScriptRenderModes renderMode) { const string STR_ScriptResourceIndex = "__ScriptResourceIndex"; if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(url)) return; if (renderMode == ScriptRenderModes.Inherit) renderMode = DefaultScriptRenderMode; // Extract just the script filename string fileId = null; // Check resource IDs and try to match to mapped file resources // Used to allow scripts not to be loaded more than once whether // embedded manually (script tag) or via resources with ClientScriptProxy if (url.Contains(".axd?r=")) { string res = HttpUtility.UrlDecode( StringUtils.ExtractString(url, "?r=", "&", false, true) ); foreach (ScriptResourceAlias item in ScriptResourceAliases) { if (item.Resource == res) { fileId = item.Alias + ".js"; break; } } if (fileId == null) fileId = url.ToLower(); } else fileId = Path.GetFileName(url).ToLower(); // No dupes - ref script include only once const string identifier = "script_"; if (HttpContext.Current.Items.Contains( identifier + fileId ) ) return; HttpContext.Current.Items.Add(identifier + fileId, string.Empty); // just use script manager or ClientScriptManager if (control.Page.Header == null || renderMode == ScriptRenderModes.Script || renderMode == ScriptRenderModes.Inline) { RegisterClientScriptInclude(control, type,url, url); return; } // Retrieve script index in header int? index = HttpContext.Current.Items[STR_ScriptResourceIndex] as int?; if (index == null) index = 0; StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(256); url = WebUtils.ResolveUrl(url); // Embed in header sb.AppendLine("\r\n<script src=\"" + url + "\" type=\"text/javascript\"></script>"); if (renderMode == ScriptRenderModes.HeaderTop) { control.Page.Header.Controls.AddAt(index.Value, new LiteralControl(sb.ToString())); index++; } else if (renderMode == ScriptRenderModes.Header) control.Page.Header.Controls.Add(new LiteralControl(sb.ToString())); else if (renderMode == ScriptRenderModes.BottomOfPage) control.Page.Controls.AddAt(control.Page.Controls.Count-1, new LiteralControl(sb.ToString())); HttpContext.Current.Items[STR_ScriptResourceIndex] = index; } There’s a little more code here that deals with cleaning up the passed in Url and also some custom handling of script resources that run through the ScriptCompressionModule – any script resources loaded in this fashion are automatically cached based on the resource id. Raw urls extract just the filename from the URL and cache based on that. All of this to avoid doubling up of scripts if called multiple times by multiple instances of the same control for example or several controls that all load the same resources/includes. Finally RegisterClientScriptResource utilizes the previous method to wrap the WebResourceUrl as well as some custom functionality for the resource compression module: /// <summary> /// Returns a WebResource or ScriptResource URL for script resources that are to be /// embedded as script includes. /// </summary> /// <param name="control">Any control</param> /// <param name="type">A type in assembly where resources are located</param> /// <param name="resourceName">Name of the resource to load</param> /// <param name="renderMode">Determines where in the document the link is rendered</param> public void RegisterClientScriptResource(Control control, Type type, string resourceName, ScriptRenderModes renderMode) { string resourceUrl = GetClientScriptResourceUrl(control, type, resourceName); RegisterClientScriptInclude(control, type, resourceUrl, renderMode); } /// <summary> /// Works like GetWebResourceUrl but can be used with javascript resources /// to allow using of resource compression (if the module is loaded). /// </summary> /// <param name="control"></param> /// <param name="type"></param> /// <param name="resourceName"></param> /// <returns></returns> public string GetClientScriptResourceUrl(Control control, Type type, string resourceName) { #if IncludeScriptCompressionModuleSupport // If wwScriptCompression Module through Web.config is loaded use it to compress // script resources by using wcSC.axd Url the module intercepts if (ScriptCompressionModule.ScriptCompressionModuleActive) { string url = "~/wwSC.axd?r=" + HttpUtility.UrlEncode(resourceName); if (type.Assembly != GetType().Assembly) url += "&t=" + HttpUtility.UrlEncode(type.FullName); return WebUtils.ResolveUrl(url); } #endif return control.Page.ClientScript.GetWebResourceUrl(type, resourceName); } This code merely retrieves the resource URL and then simply calls back to RegisterClientScriptInclude with the URL to be embedded which means there’s nothing specific to deal with other than the custom compression module logic which is nice and easy. What else is there in ClientScriptProxy? ClientscriptProxy also provides a few other useful services beyond what I’ve already covered here: Transparent ScriptManager and ClientScript calls ClientScriptProxy includes a host of routines that help figure out whether a script manager is available or not and all functions in this class call the appropriate object – ScriptManager or ClientScript – that is available in the current page to ensure that scripts get embedded into pages properly. This is especially useful for control development where controls have no control over the scripting environment in place on the page. RegisterCssLink and RegisterCssResource Much like the script embedding functions these two methods allow embedding of CSS links. CSS links are appended to the header or to a form declared with runat=”server”. LoadControlScript Is a high level resource loading routine that can be used to easily switch between different script linking modes. It supports loading from a WebResource, a url or not loading anything at all. This is very useful if you build controls that deal with specification of resource urls/ids in a standard way. Check out the full Code You can check out the full code to the ClientScriptProxyClass here: ClientScriptProxy.cs ClientScriptProxy Documentation (class reference) Note that the ClientScriptProxy has a few dependencies in the West Wind Web Toolkit of which it is part of. ControlResources holds a few standard constants and script resource links and the ScriptCompressionModule which is referenced in a few of the script inclusion methods. There’s also another useful ScriptContainer companion control to the ClientScriptProxy that allows scripts to be placed onto the page’s markup including the ability to specify the script location and script minification options. You can find all the dependencies in the West Wind Web Toolkit repository: West Wind Web Toolkit Repository West Wind Web Toolkit Home Page© Rick Strahl, West Wind Technologies, 2005-2010Posted in ASP.NET JavaScript

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Tips on Migrating from AquaLogic .NET Accelerator to WebCenter WSRP Producer for .NET

- by user647124

This year I embarked on a journey to migrate a group of ASP.NET web applications developed to integrate with WebLogic Portal 9.2 via the AquaLogic® Interaction .NET Application Accelerator 1.0 to instead use the Oracle WebCenter WSRP Producer for .NET and integrated with WebLogic Portal 10.3.4. It has been a very winding path and this blog entry is intended to share both the lessons learned and relevant approaches that led to those learnings. Like most journeys of discovery, it was not a direct path, and there are notes to let you know when it is practical to skip a section if you are in a hurry to get from here to there. For the Curious From the perspective of necessity, this section would be better at the end. If it were there, though, it would probably be read by far fewer people, including those that are actually interested in these types of sections. Those in a hurry may skip past and be none the worst for it in dealing with the hands-on bits of performing a migration from .NET Accelerator to WSRP Producer. For others who want to talk about why they did what they did after they did it, or just want to know for themselves, enjoy. A Brief (and edited) History of the WSRP for .NET Technologies (as Relevant to the this Post) Note: This section is for those who are curious about why the migration path is not as simple as many other Oracle technologies. You can skip this section in its entirety and still be just as competent in performing a migration as if you had read it. The currently deployed architecture that was to be migrated and upgraded achieved initial integration between .NET and J2EE over the WSRP protocol through the use of The AquaLogic Interaction .NET Application Accelerator. The .NET Accelerator allowed the applications that were written in ASP.NET and deployed on a Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) to interact with a WebLogic Portal application deployed on a WebLogic (J2EE application) Server (both version 9.2, the state of the art at the time of its creation). At the time this architectural decision for the application was made, both the AquaLogic and WebLogic brands were owned by BEA Systems. The AquaLogic brand included products acquired by BEA through the acquisition of Plumtree, whose flagship product was a portal platform available in both J2EE and .NET versions. As part of this dual technology support an adaptor was created to facilitate the use of WSRP as a communication protocol where customers wished to integrate components from both versions of the Plumtree portal. The adapter evolved over several product generations to include a broad array of both standard and proprietary WSRP integration capabilities. Later, BEA Systems was acquired by Oracle. Over the course of several years Oracle has acquired a large number of portal applications and has taken the strategic direction to migrate users of these myriad (and formerly competitive) products to the Oracle WebCenter technology stack. As part of Oracle’s strategic technology roadmap, older portal products are being schedule for end of life, including the portal products that were part of the BEA acquisition. The .NET Accelerator has been modified over a very long period of time with features driven by users of that product and developed under three different vendors (each a direct competitor in the same solution space prior to merger). The Oracle WebCenter WSRP Producer for .NET was introduced much more recently with the key objective to specifically address the needs of the WebCenter customers developing solutions accessible through both J2EE and .NET platforms utilizing the WSRP specifications. The Oracle Product Development Team also provides these insights on the drivers for developing the WSRP Producer: ***************************************** Support for ASP.NET AJAX. Controls using the ASP.NET AJAX script manager do not function properly in the Application Accelerator for .NET. Support 2 way SSL in WLP. This was not possible with the proxy/bridge set up in the existing Application Accelerator for .NET. Allow developers to code portlets (Web Parts) using the .NET framework rather than a proprietary framework. Developers had to use the Application Accelerator for .NET plug-ins to Visual Studio to manage preferences and profile data. This is now replaced with the .NET Framework Personalization (for preferences) and Profile providers. The WSRP Producer for .NET was created as a new way of developing .NET portlets. It was never designed to be an upgrade path for the Application Accelerator for .NET. .NET developers would create new .NET portlets with the WSRP Producer for .NET and leave any existing .NET portlets running in the Application Accelerator for .NET. ***************************************** The advantage to creating a new solution for WSRP is a product that is far easier for Oracle to maintain and support which in turn improves quality, reliability and maintainability for their customers. No changes to J2EE applications consuming the WSRP portlets previously rendered by the.NET Accelerator is required to migrate from the Aqualogic WSRP solution. For some customers using the .NET Accelerator the challenge is adapting their current .NET applications to work with the WSRP Producer (or any other WSRP adapter as they are proprietary by nature). Part of this adaptation is the need to deploy the .NET applications as a child to the WSRP producer web application as root. Differences between .NET Accelerator and WSRP Producer Note: This section is for those who are curious about why the migration is not as pluggable as something such as changing security providers in WebLogic Server. You can skip this section in its entirety and still be just as competent in performing a migration as if you had read it. The basic terminology used to describe the participating applications in a WSRP environment are the same when applied to either the .NET Accelerator or the WSRP Producer: Producer and Consumer. In both cases the .NET application serves as what is referred to as a WSRP environment as the Producer. The difference lies in how the two adapters create the WSRP translation of the .NET application. The .NET Accelerator, as the name implies, is meant to serve as a quick way of adding WSRP capability to a .NET application. As such, at a high level, the .NET Accelerator behaves as a proxy for requests between the .NET application and the WSRP Consumer. A WSRP request is sent from the consumer to the .NET Accelerator, the.NET Accelerator transforms this request into an ASP.NET request, receives the response, then transforms the response into a WSRP response. The .NET Accelerator is deployed as a stand-alone application on IIS. The WSRP Producer is deployed as a parent application on IIS and all ASP.NET modules that will be made available over WSRP are deployed as children of the WSRP Producer application. In this manner, the WSRP Producer acts more as a Request Filter than a proxy in the WSRP transactions between Producer and Consumer. Highly Recommended Enabling Logging Note: You can skip this section now, but you will most likely want to come back to it later, so why not just read it now? Logging is very helpful in tracking down the causes of any anomalies during testing of migrated portlets. To enable the WSRP Producer logging, update the Application_Start method in the Global.asax.cs for your .NET application by adding log4net.Config.XmlConfigurator.Configure(); IIS logs will usually (in a standard configuration) be in a sub folder under C:\WINDOWS\system32\LogFiles\W3SVC. WSRP Producer logs will be found at C:\Oracle\Middleware\WSRPProducerForDotNet\wsrpdefault\Logs\WSRPProducer.log InputTrace.webinfo and OutputTrace.webinfo are located under C:\Oracle\Middleware\WSRPProducerForDotNet\wsrpdefault and can be useful in debugging issues related to markup transformations. Things You Must Do Merge Web.Config Note: If you have been skipping all the sections that you can, now is the time to stop and pay attention J Because the existing .NET application will become a sub-application to the WSRP Producer, you will want to merge required settings from the existing Web.Config to the one in the WSRP Producer. Use the WSRP Producer Master Page The Master Page installed for the WSRP Producer provides common, hiddenform fields and JavaScripts to facilitate portlet instance management and display configuration when the child page is being rendered over WSRP. You add the Master Page by including it in the <@ Page declaration with MasterPageFile="~/portlets/Resources/MasterPages/WSRP.Master" . You then replace: <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" > <HTML> <HEAD> With <asp:Content ID="ContentHead1" ContentPlaceHolderID="wsrphead" Runat="Server"> And </HEAD> <body> <form id="theForm" method="post" runat="server"> With </asp:Content> <asp:Content ID="ContentBody1" ContentPlaceHolderID="Main" Runat="Server"> And finally </form> </body> </HTML> With </asp:Content> In the event you already use Master Pages, adapt your existing Master Pages to be sub masters. See Nested ASP.NET Master Pages for a detailed reference of how to do this. It Happened to Me, It Might Happen to You…Or Not Watch for Use of Session or Request in OnInit In the event the .NET application being modified has pages developed to assume the user has been authenticated in an earlier page request there may be direct or indirect references in the OnInit method to request or session objects that may not have been created yet. This will vary from application to application, so the recommended approach is to test first. If there is an issue with a page running as a WSRP portlet then check for potential references in the OnInit method (including references by methods called within OnInit) to session or request objects. If there are, the simplest solution is to create a new method and then call that method once the necessary object(s) is fully available. I find doing this at the start of the Page_Load method to be the simplest solution. Case Sensitivity .NET languages are not case sensitive, but Java is. This means it is possible to have many variations of SRC= and src= or .JPG and .jpg. The preferred solution is to make these mark up instances all lower case in your .NET application. This will allow the default Rewriter rules in wsrp-producer.xml to work as is. If this is not practical, then make duplicates of any rules where an issue is occurring due to upper or mixed case usage in the .NET application markup and match the case in use with the duplicate rule. For example: <RewriterRule> <LookFor>(href=\"([^\"]+)</LookFor> <ChangeToAbsolute>true</ChangeToAbsolute> <ApplyTo>.axd,.css</ApplyTo> <MakeResource>true</MakeResource> </RewriterRule> May need to be duplicated as: <RewriterRule> <LookFor>(HREF=\"([^\"]+)</LookFor> <ChangeToAbsolute>true</ChangeToAbsolute> <ApplyTo>.axd,.css</ApplyTo> <MakeResource>true</MakeResource> </RewriterRule> While it is possible to write a regular expression that will handle mixed case usage, it would be long and strenous to test and maintain, so the recommendation is to use duplicate rules. Is it Still Relative? Some .NET applications base relative paths with a fixed root location. With the introduction of the WSRP Producer, the root has moved up one level. References to ~/ will need to be updated to ~/portlets and many ../ paths will need another ../ in front. I Can See You But I Can’t Find You This issue was first discovered while debugging modules with code that referenced the form on a page from the code-behind by name and/or id. The initial error presented itself as run-time error that was difficult to interpret over WSRP but seemed clear when run as straight ASP.NET as it indicated that the object with the form name did not exist. Since the form name was no longer valid after implementing the WSRP Master Page, the likely fix seemed to simply update the references in the code. However, as the WSRP Master Page is external to the code, a compile time error resulted: Error 155 The name 'form1' does not exist in the current context C:\Oracle\Middleware\WSRPProducerForDotNet\wsrpdefault\portlets\legacywebsite\module\Screens \Reporting.aspx.cs 51 52 legacywebsite.module Much hair-pulling research later it was discovered that it was the use of the FindControl method causing the issue. FindControl doesn’t work quite as expected once a Master Page has been introduced as the controls become embedded in controls, require a recursion to find them that is not part of the FindControl method. In code where the page form is referenced by name, there are two steps to the solution. First, the form needs to be referenced in code generically with Page.Form. For example, this: ToggleControl ctrl = new ToggleControl(frmManualEntry, FunctionLibrary.ParseArrayLst(userObj.Roles)); Becomes this: ToggleControl ctrl = new ToggleControl(Page.Form, FunctionLibrary.ParseArrayLst(userObj.Roles)); Generally the form id is referenced in most ASP.NET applications as a path to a control on the form. To reach the control once a MasterPage has been added requires an additional method to recurse through the controls collections within the form and find the control ID. The following method (found at Rick Strahl's Web Log) corrects this very nicely: public static Control FindControlRecursive(Control Root, string Id) { if (Root.ID == Id) return Root; foreach (Control Ctl in Root.Controls) { Control FoundCtl = FindControlRecursive(Ctl, Id); if (FoundCtl != null) return FoundCtl; } return null; } Where the form name is not referenced, simply using the FindControlRecursive method in place of FindControl will be all that is necessary. Following the second part of the example referenced earlier, the method called with Page.Form changes its value extraction code block from this: Label lblErrMsg = (Label)frmRef.FindControl("lblBRMsg" To this: Label lblErrMsg = (Label) FunctionLibrary.FindControlRecursive(frmRef, "lblBRMsg" The Master That Won’t Step Aside In most migrations it is preferable to make as few changes as possible. In one case I ran across an existing Master Page that would not function as a sub-Master Page. While it would probably have been educational to trace down why, the expedient process of updating it to take the place of the WSRP Master Page is the route I took. The changes are highlighted below: … <asp:ContentPlaceHolder ID="wsrphead" runat="server"></asp:ContentPlaceHolder> </head> <body leftMargin="0" topMargin="0"> <form id="TheForm" runat="server"> <input type="hidden" name="key" id="key" value="" /> <input type="hidden" name="formactionurl" id="formactionurl" value="" /> <input type="hidden" name="handle" id="handle" value="" /> <asp:ScriptManager ID="ScriptManager1" runat="server" EnablePartialRendering="true" > </asp:ScriptManager> This approach did not work for all existing Master Pages, but fortunately all of the other existing Master Pages I have run across worked fine as a sub-Master to the WSRP Master Page. Moving On In Enterprise Portals, even after you get everything working, the work is not finished. Next you need to get it where everyone will work with it. Migration Planning Providing that the server where IIS is running is adequately sized, it is possible to run both the .NET Accelerator and the WSRP Producer on the same server during the upgrade process. The upgrade can be performed incrementally, i.e., one portlet at a time, if server administration processes support it. Those processes would include the ability to manage a second producer in the consuming portal and to change over individual portlet instances from one provider to the other. If processes or requirements demand that all portlets be cut over at the same time, it needs to be determined if this cut over should include a new producer, updating all of the portlets in the consumer, or if the WSRP Producer portlet configuration must maintain the naming conventions used by the .NET Accelerator and simply change the WSRP end point configured in the consumer. In some enterprises it may even be necessary to maintain the same WSDL end point, at which point the IIS configuration will be where the updates occur. The downside to such a requirement is that it makes rolling back very difficult, should the need arise. Location, Location, Location Not everyone wants the web application to have the descriptively obvious wsrpdefault location, or needs to create a second WSRP site on the same server. The instructions below are from the product team and, while targeted towards making a second site, will work for creating a site with a different name and then remove the old site. You can also change just the name in IIS. Manually Creating a WSRP Producer Site Instructions (NOTE: all executables used are the same ones used by the installer and “wsrpdev” will be the name of the new instance): 1. Copy C:\Oracle\Middleware\WSRPProducerForDotNet\wsrpdefault to C:\Oracle\Middleware\WSRPProducerForDotNet\wsrpdev. 2. Bring up a command window as an administrator 3. Run C:\Oracle\Middleware\WSRPProducerForDotNet\uninstall_resources\IISAppAccelSiteCreator.exe install WSRPProducers wsrpdev "C:\Oracle\Middleware\WSRPProducerForDotNet\wsrpdev" 8678 2.0.50727 4. Run C:\Oracle\Middleware\WSRPProducerForDotNet\uninstall_resources\PermManage.exe add FileSystem C:\Oracle\Middleware\WSRPProducerForDotNet\wsrpdev "NETWORK SERVICE" 3 1 5. Run C:\Oracle\Middleware\WSRPProducerForDotNet\uninstall_resources\PermManage.exe add FileSystem C:\Oracle\Middleware\WSRPProducerForDotNet\wsrpdev EVERYONE 1 1 6. Open up C:\Oracle\Middleware\WSRPProducerForDotNet\wsdl\1.0\WSRPService.wsdl and replace wsrpdefault with wsrpdev 7. Open up C:\Oracle\Middleware\WSRPProducerForDotNet\wsdl\2.0\WSRPService.wsdl and replace wsrpdefault with wsrpdev Tests: 1. Bring up a browser on the host itself and go to http://localhost:8678/wsrpdev/wsdl/1.0/WSRPService.wsdl and make sure that the URLs in the XML returned include the wsrpdev changes you made in step 6. 2. Bring up a browser on the host itself and see if the default sample comes up: http://localhost:8678/wsrpdev/portlets/ASPNET_AJAX_sample/default.aspx 3. Register the producer in WLP and test the portlet. Changing the Port used by WSRP Producer The pre-configured port for the WSRP Producer is 8678. You can change this port by updating both the IIS configuration and C:\Oracle\Middleware\WSRPProducerForDotNet\[WSRP_APP_NAME]\wsdl\1.0\WSRPService.wsdl. Do You Need to Migrate? Oracle Premier Support ended in November of 2010 for AquaLogic Interaction .NET Application Accelerator 1.x and Extended Support ends in November 2012 (see http://www.oracle.com/us/support/lifetime-support/lifetime-support-software-342730.html for other related dates). This means that integration with products released after November of 2010 is not supported. If having such support is the policy within your enterprise, you do indeed need to migrate. If changes in your enterprise cause your current solution with the .NET Accelerator to no longer function properly, you may need to migrate. Migration is a choice, and if the goals of your enterprise are to take full advantage of newer technologies then migration is certainly one activity you should be planning for.

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Syncing Data with a Server using Silverlight and HTTP Polling Duplex

- by dwahlin

Many applications have the need to stay in-sync with data provided by a service. Although web applications typically rely on standard polling techniques to check if data has changed, Silverlight provides several interesting options for keeping an application in-sync that rely on server “push” technologies. A few years back I wrote several blog posts covering different “push” technologies available in Silverlight that rely on sockets or HTTP Polling Duplex. We recently had a project that looked like it could benefit from pushing data from a server to one or more clients so I thought I’d revisit the subject and provide some updates to the original code posted. If you’ve worked with AJAX before in Web applications then you know that until browsers fully support web sockets or other duplex (bi-directional communication) technologies that it’s difficult to keep applications in-sync with a server without relying on polling. The problem with polling is that you have to check for changes on the server on a timed-basis which can often be wasteful and take up unnecessary resources. With server “push” technologies, data can be pushed from the server to the client as it changes. Once the data is received, the client can update the user interface as appropriate. Using “push” technologies allows the client to listen for changes from the data but stay 100% focused on client activities as opposed to worrying about polling and asking the server if anything has changed. Silverlight provides several options for pushing data from a server to a client including sockets, TCP bindings and HTTP Polling Duplex. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses as far as performance and setup work with HTTP Polling Duplex arguably being the easiest to setup and get going. In this article I’ll demonstrate how HTTP Polling Duplex can be used in Silverlight 4 applications to push data and show how you can create a WCF server that provides an HTTP Polling Duplex binding that a Silverlight client can consume. What is HTTP Polling Duplex? Technologies that allow data to be pushed from a server to a client rely on duplex functionality. Duplex (or bi-directional) communication allows data to be passed in both directions. A client can call a service and the server can call the client. HTTP Polling Duplex (as its name implies) allows a server to communicate with a client without forcing the client to constantly poll the server. It has the benefit of being able to run on port 80 making setup a breeze compared to the other options which require specific ports to be used and cross-domain policy files to be exposed on port 943 (as with sockets and TCP bindings). Having said that, if you’re looking for the best speed possible then sockets and TCP bindings are the way to go. But, they’re not the only game in town when it comes to duplex communication. The first time I heard about HTTP Polling Duplex (initially available in Silverlight 2) I wasn’t exactly sure how it was any better than standard polling used in AJAX applications. I read the Silverlight SDK, looked at various resources and generally found the following definition unhelpful as far as understanding the actual benefits that HTTP Polling Duplex provided: "The Silverlight client periodically polls the service on the network layer, and checks for any new messages that the service wants to send on the callback channel. The service queues all messages sent on the client callback channel and delivers them to the client when the client polls the service." Although the previous definition explained the overall process, it sounded as if standard polling was used. Fortunately, Microsoft’s Scott Guthrie provided me with a more clear definition several years back that explains the benefits provided by HTTP Polling Duplex quite well (used with his permission): "The [HTTP Polling Duplex] duplex support does use polling in the background to implement notifications – although the way it does it is different than manual polling. It initiates a network request, and then the request is effectively “put to sleep” waiting for the server to respond (it doesn’t come back immediately). The server then keeps the connection open but not active until it has something to send back (or the connection times out after 90 seconds – at which point the duplex client will connect again and wait). This way you are avoiding hitting the server repeatedly – but still get an immediate response when there is data to send." After hearing Scott’s definition the light bulb went on and it all made sense. A client makes a request to a server to check for changes, but instead of the request returning immediately, it parks itself on the server and waits for data. It’s kind of like waiting to pick up a pizza at the store. Instead of calling the store over and over to check the status, you sit in the store and wait until the pizza (the request data) is ready. Once it’s ready you take it back home (to the client). This technique provides a lot of efficiency gains over standard polling techniques even though it does use some polling of its own as a request is initially made from a client to a server. So how do you implement HTTP Polling Duplex in your Silverlight applications? Let’s take a look at the process by starting with the server. Creating an HTTP Polling Duplex WCF Service Creating a WCF service that exposes an HTTP Polling Duplex binding is straightforward as far as coding goes. Add some one way operations into an interface, create a client callback interface and you’re ready to go. The most challenging part comes into play when configuring the service to properly support the necessary binding and that’s more of a cut and paste operation once you know the configuration code to use. To create an HTTP Polling Duplex service you’ll need to expose server-side and client-side interfaces and reference the System.ServiceModel.PollingDuplex assembly (located at C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Silverlight\v4.0\Libraries\Server on my machine) in the server project. For the demo application I upgraded a basketball simulation service to support the latest polling duplex assemblies. The service simulates a simple basketball game using a Game class and pushes information about the game such as score, fouls, shots and more to the client as the game changes over time. Before jumping too far into the game push service, it’s important to discuss two interfaces used by the service to communicate in a bi-directional manner. The first is called IGameStreamService and defines the methods/operations that the client can call on the server (see Listing 1). The second is IGameStreamClient which defines the callback methods that a server can use to communicate with a client (see Listing 2). [ServiceContract(Namespace = "Silverlight", CallbackContract = typeof(IGameStreamClient))] public interface IGameStreamService { [OperationContract(IsOneWay = true)] void GetTeamData(); } Listing 1. The IGameStreamService interface defines server operations that can be called on the server. [ServiceContract] public interface IGameStreamClient { [OperationContract(IsOneWay = true)] void ReceiveTeamData(List<Team> teamData); [OperationContract(IsOneWay = true, AsyncPattern=true)] IAsyncResult BeginReceiveGameData(GameData gameData, AsyncCallback callback, object state); void EndReceiveGameData(IAsyncResult result); } Listing 2. The IGameStreamClient interfaces defines client operations that a server can call. The IGameStreamService interface is decorated with the standard ServiceContract attribute but also contains a value for the CallbackContract property. This property is used to define the interface that the client will expose (IGameStreamClient in this example) and use to receive data pushed from the service. Notice that each OperationContract attribute in both interfaces sets the IsOneWay property to true. This means that the operation can be called and passed data as appropriate, however, no data will be passed back. Instead, data will be pushed back to the client as it’s available. Looking through the IGameStreamService interface you can see that the client can request team data whereas the IGameStreamClient interface allows team and game data to be received by the client. One interesting point about the IGameStreamClient interface is the inclusion of the AsyncPattern property on the BeginReceiveGameData operation. I initially created this operation as a standard one way operation and it worked most of the time. However, as I disconnected clients and reconnected new ones game data wasn’t being passed properly. After researching the problem more I realized that because the service could take up to 7 seconds to return game data, things were getting hung up. By setting the AsyncPattern property to true on the BeginReceivedGameData operation and providing a corresponding EndReceiveGameData operation I was able to get around this problem and get everything running properly. I’ll provide more details on the implementation of these two methods later in this post. Once the interfaces were created I moved on to the game service class. The first order of business was to create a class that implemented the IGameStreamService interface. Since the service can be used by multiple clients wanting game data I added the ServiceBehavior attribute to the class definition so that I could set its InstanceContextMode to InstanceContextMode.Single (in effect creating a Singleton service object). Listing 3 shows the game service class as well as its fields and constructor. [ServiceBehavior(ConcurrencyMode = ConcurrencyMode.Multiple, InstanceContextMode = InstanceContextMode.Single)] public class GameStreamService : IGameStreamService { object _Key = new object(); Game _Game = null; Timer _Timer = null; Random _Random = null; Dictionary<string, IGameStreamClient> _ClientCallbacks = new Dictionary<string, IGameStreamClient>(); static AsyncCallback _ReceiveGameDataCompleted = new AsyncCallback(ReceiveGameDataCompleted); public GameStreamService() { _Game = new Game(); _Timer = new Timer { Enabled = false, Interval = 2000, AutoReset = true }; _Timer.Elapsed += new ElapsedEventHandler(_Timer_Elapsed); _Timer.Start(); _Random = new Random(); }} Listing 3. The GameStreamService implements the IGameStreamService interface which defines a callback contract that allows the service class to push data back to the client. By implementing the IGameStreamService interface, GameStreamService must supply a GetTeamData() method which is responsible for supplying information about the teams that are playing as well as individual players. GetTeamData() also acts as a client subscription method that tracks clients wanting to receive game data. Listing 4 shows the GetTeamData() method. public void GetTeamData() { //Get client callback channel var context = OperationContext.Current; var sessionID = context.SessionId; var currClient = context.GetCallbackChannel<IGameStreamClient>(); context.Channel.Faulted += Disconnect; context.Channel.Closed += Disconnect; IGameStreamClient client; if (!_ClientCallbacks.TryGetValue(sessionID, out client)) { lock (_Key) { _ClientCallbacks[sessionID] = currClient; } } currClient.ReceiveTeamData(_Game.GetTeamData()); //Start timer which when fired sends updated score information to client if (!_Timer.Enabled) { _Timer.Enabled = true; } } Listing 4. The GetTeamData() method subscribes a given client to the game service and returns. The key the line of code in the GetTeamData() method is the call to GetCallbackChannel<IGameStreamClient>(). This method is responsible for accessing the calling client’s callback channel. The callback channel is defined by the IGameStreamClient interface shown earlier in Listing 2 and used by the server to communicate with the client. Before passing team data back to the client, GetTeamData() grabs the client’s session ID and checks if it already exists in the _ClientCallbacks dictionary object used to track clients wanting callbacks from the server. If the client doesn’t exist it adds it into the collection. It then pushes team data from the Game class back to the client by calling ReceiveTeamData(). Since the service simulates a basketball game, a timer is then started if it’s not already enabled which is then used to randomly send data to the client. When the timer fires, game data is pushed down to the client. Listing 5 shows the _Timer_Elapsed() method that is called when the timer fires as well as the SendGameData() method used to send data to the client. void _Timer_Elapsed(object sender, ElapsedEventArgs e) { int interval = _Random.Next(3000, 7000); lock (_Key) { _Timer.Interval = interval; _Timer.Enabled = false; } SendGameData(_Game.GetGameData()); } private void SendGameData(GameData gameData) { var cbs = _ClientCallbacks.Where(cb => ((IContextChannel)cb.Value).State == CommunicationState.Opened); for (int i = 0; i < cbs.Count(); i++) { var cb = cbs.ElementAt(i).Value; try { cb.BeginReceiveGameData(gameData, _ReceiveGameDataCompleted, cb); } catch (TimeoutException texp) { //Log timeout error } catch (CommunicationException cexp) { //Log communication error } } lock (_Key) _Timer.Enabled = true; } private static void ReceiveGameDataCompleted(IAsyncResult result) { try { ((IGameStreamClient)(result.AsyncState)).EndReceiveGameData(result); } catch (CommunicationException) { // empty } catch (TimeoutException) { // empty } } LIsting 5. _Timer_Elapsed is used to simulate time in a basketball game. When _Timer_Elapsed() fires the SendGameData() method is called which iterates through the clients wanting to be notified of changes. As each client is identified, their respective BeginReceiveGameData() method is called which ultimately pushes game data down to the client. Recall that this method was defined in the client callback interface named IGameStreamClient shown earlier in Listing 2. Notice that BeginReceiveGameData() accepts _ReceiveGameDataCompleted as its second parameter (an AsyncCallback delegate defined in the service class) and passes the client callback as the third parameter. The initial version of the sample application had a standard ReceiveGameData() method in the client callback interface. However, sometimes the client callbacks would work properly and sometimes they wouldn’t which was a little baffling at first glance. After some investigation I realized that I needed to implement an asynchronous pattern for client callbacks to work properly since 3 – 7 second delays are occurring as a result of the timer. Once I added the BeginReceiveGameData() and ReceiveGameDataCompleted() methods everything worked properly since each call was handled in an asynchronous manner. The final task that had to be completed to get the server working properly with HTTP Polling Duplex was adding configuration code into web.config. In the interest of brevity I won’t post all of the code here since the sample application includes everything you need. However, Listing 6 shows the key configuration code to handle creating a custom binding named pollingDuplexBinding and associate it with the service’s endpoint. <bindings> <customBinding> <binding name="pollingDuplexBinding"> <binaryMessageEncoding /> <pollingDuplex maxPendingSessions="2147483647" maxPendingMessagesPerSession="2147483647" inactivityTimeout="02:00:00" serverPollTimeout="00:05:00"/> <httpTransport /> </binding> </customBinding> </bindings> <services> <service name="GameService.GameStreamService" behaviorConfiguration="GameStreamServiceBehavior"> <endpoint address="" binding="customBinding" bindingConfiguration="pollingDuplexBinding" contract="GameService.IGameStreamService"/> <endpoint address="mex" binding="mexHttpBinding" contract="IMetadataExchange" /> </service> </services> Listing 6. Configuring an HTTP Polling Duplex binding in web.config and associating an endpoint with it. Calling the Service and Receiving “Pushed” Data Calling the service and handling data that is pushed from the server is a simple and straightforward process in Silverlight. Since the service is configured with a MEX endpoint and exposes a WSDL file, you can right-click on the Silverlight project and select the standard Add Service Reference item. After the web service proxy is created you may notice that the ServiceReferences.ClientConfig file only contains an empty configuration element instead of the normal configuration elements created when creating a standard WCF proxy. You can certainly update the file if you want to read from it at runtime but for the sample application I fed the service URI directly to the service proxy as shown next: var address = new EndpointAddress("http://localhost.:5661/GameStreamService.svc"); var binding = new PollingDuplexHttpBinding(); _Proxy = new GameStreamServiceClient(binding, address); _Proxy.ReceiveTeamDataReceived += _Proxy_ReceiveTeamDataReceived; _Proxy.ReceiveGameDataReceived += _Proxy_ReceiveGameDataReceived; _Proxy.GetTeamDataAsync(); This code creates the proxy and passes the endpoint address and binding to use to its constructor. It then wires the different receive events to callback methods and calls GetTeamDataAsync(). Calling GetTeamDataAsync() causes the server to store the client in the server-side dictionary collection mentioned earlier so that it can receive data that is pushed. As the server-side timer fires and game data is pushed to the client, the user interface is updated as shown in Listing 7. Listing 8 shows the _Proxy_ReceiveGameDataReceived() method responsible for handling the data and calling UpdateGameData() to process it. Listing 7. The Silverlight interface. Game data is pushed from the server to the client using HTTP Polling Duplex. void _Proxy_ReceiveGameDataReceived(object sender, ReceiveGameDataReceivedEventArgs e) { UpdateGameData(e.gameData); } private void UpdateGameData(GameData gameData) { //Update Score this.tbTeam1Score.Text = gameData.Team1Score.ToString(); this.tbTeam2Score.Text = gameData.Team2Score.ToString(); //Update ball visibility if (gameData.Action != ActionsEnum.Foul) { if (tbTeam1.Text == gameData.TeamOnOffense) { AnimateBall(this.BB1, this.BB2); } else //Team 2 { AnimateBall(this.BB2, this.BB1); } } if (this.lbActions.Items.Count > 9) this.lbActions.Items.Clear(); this.lbActions.Items.Add(gameData.LastAction); if (this.lbActions.Visibility == Visibility.Collapsed) this.lbActions.Visibility = Visibility.Visible; } private void AnimateBall(Image onBall, Image offBall) { this.FadeIn.Stop(); Storyboard.SetTarget(this.FadeInAnimation, onBall); Storyboard.SetTarget(this.FadeOutAnimation, offBall); this.FadeIn.Begin(); } Listing 8. As the server pushes game data, the client’s _Proxy_ReceiveGameDataReceived() method is called to process the data. In a real-life application I’d go with a ViewModel class to handle retrieving team data, setup data bindings and handle data that is pushed from the server. However, for the sample application I wanted to focus on HTTP Polling Duplex and keep things as simple as possible. Summary Silverlight supports three options when duplex communication is required in an application including TCP bindins, sockets and HTTP Polling Duplex. In this post you’ve seen how HTTP Polling Duplex interfaces can be created and implemented on the server as well as how they can be consumed by a Silverlight client. HTTP Polling Duplex provides a nice way to “push” data from a server while still allowing the data to flow over port 80 or another port of your choice. Sample Application Download

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Why is iTunes starting and stopping play randomly, and how do I stop it?

- by Chris R

Since yesterday morning my copy of iTunes has been starting and stopping randomly. If iTunes is not running, then it opens and sometimes begins playing, other times sits idle. Eventually, after a random interval it will begin playing a song, and then stop, and so on... Needless to say, it's driving me mad. (Mac OSX, 10.6.3, on a new-ish (< 1 year old) 24" iMac) I've made five changes to my system that may or may not be connected to this: My office phone was replaced with a Linksys IP Phone, which necessitated a change to my networking; where previously my Mac was connected directly to the office network port, now it is connected through the phone. My network connection now uses auto link detection in lieu of forcing 100Mbit I unpaired my bluetooth headset. I removed the USB audio device associated with another headset. I upgraded to Safari 5. I don't use it as a primary browser, but it's often open to run web apps that I'm developing. All of these things happened in pretty close proximity to each other, so one or more of them may be the culprit. One other thing that may or may not be related; for some reason my built-in microphone is no longer picking up audio. It seems like this might be connected to the iTunes issue, because it happened around the same time. In terms of things that I've tried in order to solve this, I'm at a bit of a loss. I followed the instructions at http://developer.apple.com/mac/library/technotes/tn2004/tn2124.html#SECLAUNCHDLOGGING to enable detailed launchd logging to see if I could track down which process was asking iTunes to open (when it's not already open) but I wasn't able to make heads or tails of the output. I'm not even sure if I'm looking in the right place, to be honest; it actually acts like something is activating the application with AppleScript, but I have no processes running that are doing that, as far as I know. I'm running a few apps that have iTunes integration: Adium, iChat with Chax, Quicksilver. None of these have been changed lately, so I consider them low risks of causing this, but it's not impossible. Moreover, I'm not using any of those features intentionally. This is a snippet of launchd debug logging from around the time it just launched: 10-06-09 9:14:29 AM com.apple.launchd[1] Dispatching kevent... 10-06-09 9:14:29 AM com.apple.launchd[1] KEVENT[0]: udata = 0x10002b230 data = 0x30 ident = 5 filter = EVFILT_READ flags = EV_ADD|EV_RECEIPT fflags = 0x0 10-06-09 9:14:29 AM com.apple.launchd[1] Dispatching kevent... 10-06-09 9:14:29 AM com.apple.launchd[1] KEVENT[0]: udata = 0x100802000 data = 0x0 ident = 26 filter = EVFILT_PROC flags = EV_ADD|EV_RECEIPT|EV_CLEAR fflags = NOTE_FORK 10-06-09 9:14:29 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.coreservicesd[26]) Dispatching kevent callback. 10-06-09 9:14:29 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.coreservicesd[26]) EVFILT_PROC event for job: 10-06-09 9:14:29 AM com.apple.launchd[1] KEVENT[0]: udata = 0x1004076f0 data = 0x0 ident = 26 filter = EVFILT_PROC flags = EV_ADD|EV_RECEIPT|EV_CLEAR fflags = NOTE_FORK 10-06-09 9:14:29 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.coreservicesd[26]) fork()ed 10-06-09 9:14:29 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (0x100401720.anonymous.lssave) Conceived 10-06-09 9:14:29 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (0x100401720.anonymous.lssave[22197]) Created PID 22197 anonymously by PPID 26 10-06-09 9:14:29 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (0x100401720.anonymous.lssave[22197]) Looking up per user launchd for UID: 0 10-06-09 9:14:29 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (0x100401720.anonymous.lssave[22197]) Per user launchd job found for UID: 505 10-06-09 9:14:29 AM com.apple.launchd[1] System: Looking up service com.apple.system.notification_center 10-06-09 9:14:29 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.launchd.peruser.505[143]) Mach service lookup: com.apple.system.notification_center 10-06-09 9:14:29 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (0x100401720.anonymous.lssave[22197]) Looking up per user launchd for UID: 0 10-06-09 9:14:29 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (0x100401720.anonymous.lssave[22197]) Per user launchd job found for UID: 505 10-06-09 9:14:29 AM com.apple.launchd[1] System: Looking up service com.apple.system.DirectoryService.libinfo_v1 10-06-09 9:14:29 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.launchd.peruser.505[143]) Mach service lookup: com.apple.system.DirectoryService.libinfo_v1 10-06-09 9:14:29 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (0x100401720.anonymous.lssave[22197]) Looking up per user launchd for UID: 0 10-06-09 9:14:29 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (0x100401720.anonymous.lssave[22197]) Per user launchd job found for UID: 505 10-06-09 9:14:29 AM com.apple.launchd[1] System: Looking up service com.apple.system.DirectoryService.membership_v1 10-06-09 9:14:29 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.launchd.peruser.505[143]) Mach service lookup: com.apple.system.DirectoryService.membership_v1 10-06-09 9:14:29 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (0x100401720.anonymous.lssave[22197]) Looking up per user launchd for UID: 0 10-06-09 9:14:29 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (0x100401720.anonymous.lssave[22197]) Per user launchd job found for UID: 505 10-06-09 9:14:29 AM com.apple.launchd[1] System: Looking up service com.apple.CoreServices.coreservicesd 10-06-09 9:14:29 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.launchd.peruser.505[143]) Mach service lookup: com.apple.CoreServices.coreservicesd 10-06-09 9:14:29 AM com.apple.launchd[1] Dispatching kevent... 10-06-09 9:14:29 AM com.apple.launchd[1] KEVENT[0]: udata = 0x100802000 data = 0x0 ident = 22197 filter = EVFILT_PROC flags = EV_ADD|EV_RECEIPT|EV_CLEAR fflags = NOTE_EXIT 10-06-09 9:14:29 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (0x100401720.anonymous.lssave[22197]) Dispatching kevent callback. 10-06-09 9:14:29 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (0x100401720.anonymous.lssave[22197]) EVFILT_PROC event for job: 10-06-09 9:14:29 AM com.apple.launchd[1] KEVENT[0]: udata = 0x100401720 data = 0x0 ident = 22197 filter = EVFILT_PROC flags = EV_ADD|EV_RECEIPT|EV_CLEAR fflags = NOTE_EXIT 10-06-09 9:14:29 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (0x100401720.anonymous.lssave[22197]) Reaping 10-06-09 9:14:29 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (0x100401720.anonymous.lssave) Total rusage: utime 0.000000 stime 0.000000 maxrss 0 ixrss 0 idrss 0 isrss 0 minflt 0 majflt 0 nswap 0 inblock 0 oublock 0 msgsnd 0 msgrcv 0 nsignals 0 nvcsw 0 nivcsw 0 10-06-09 9:14:29 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (0x100401720.anonymous.lssave) Removed 10-06-09 9:14:30 AM com.apple.launchd[1] Dispatching kevent... 10-06-09 9:14:30 AM com.apple.launchd[1] KEVENT[0]: udata = 0x100802000 data = 0x0 ident = 22197 filter = EVFILT_PROC flags = EV_ADD|EV_RECEIPT|EV_CLEAR|EV_EOF|EV_ONESHOT fflags = NOTE_REAP 10-06-09 9:14:32 AM com.apple.launchd[1] Dispatching kevent... 10-06-09 9:14:32 AM com.apple.launchd[1] KEVENT[0]: udata = 0x10002b230 data = 0x30 ident = 5 filter = EVFILT_READ flags = EV_ADD|EV_RECEIPT fflags = 0x0 10-06-09 9:14:33 AM com.apple.launchd[1] Dispatching kevent... 10-06-09 9:14:33 AM com.apple.launchd[1] KEVENT[0]: udata = 0x100802000 data = 0x0 ident = 143 filter = EVFILT_PROC flags = EV_ADD|EV_RECEIPT|EV_CLEAR fflags = NOTE_FORK 10-06-09 9:14:33 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.launchd.peruser.505[143]) Dispatching kevent callback. 10-06-09 9:14:33 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.launchd.peruser.505[143]) EVFILT_PROC event for job: 10-06-09 9:14:33 AM com.apple.launchd[1] KEVENT[0]: udata = 0x10041e9a0 data = 0x0 ident = 143 filter = EVFILT_PROC flags = EV_ADD|EV_RECEIPT|EV_CLEAR fflags = NOTE_FORK 10-06-09 9:14:33 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.launchd.peruser.505[143]) fork()ed 10-06-09 9:14:33 AM com.apple.launchd[1] System: Looking up service com.apple.distributed_notifications.2 10-06-09 9:14:33 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.launchd.peruser.505[143]) Mach service lookup: com.apple.distributed_notifications.2 10-06-09 9:14:33 AM com.apple.launchd[1] System: Looking up service com.apple.system.notification_center 10-06-09 9:14:33 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.launchd.peruser.505[143]) Mach service lookup: com.apple.system.notification_center 10-06-09 9:14:33 AM com.apple.launchd[1] System: Looking up service com.apple.system.DirectoryService.libinfo_v1 10-06-09 9:14:33 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.launchd.peruser.505[143]) Mach service lookup: com.apple.system.DirectoryService.libinfo_v1 10-06-09 9:14:33 AM com.apple.launchd[1] System: Looking up service com.apple.system.DirectoryService.membership_v1 10-06-09 9:14:33 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.launchd.peruser.505[143]) Mach service lookup: com.apple.system.DirectoryService.membership_v1 10-06-09 9:14:33 AM com.apple.launchd[1] System: Looking up service com.apple.CoreServices.coreservicesd 10-06-09 9:14:33 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.launchd.peruser.505[143]) Mach service lookup: com.apple.CoreServices.coreservicesd 10-06-09 9:14:33 AM com.apple.launchd[1] System: Looking up service com.apple.SystemConfiguration.configd 10-06-09 9:14:33 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.launchd.peruser.505[143]) Mach service lookup: com.apple.SystemConfiguration.configd 10-06-09 9:14:33 AM com.apple.launchd[1] System: Looking up service com.apple.audio.coreaudiod 10-06-09 9:14:33 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.launchd.peruser.505[143]) Mach service lookup: com.apple.audio.coreaudiod 10-06-09 9:14:34 AM com.apple.launchd[1] System: Looking up service com.apple.system.logger 10-06-09 9:14:34 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.launchd.peruser.505[143]) Mach service lookup: com.apple.system.logger 10-06-09 9:14:35 AM com.apple.launchd[1] Dispatching kevent... 10-06-09 9:14:35 AM com.apple.launchd[1] KEVENT[0]: udata = 0x10002b230 data = 0x30 ident = 5 filter = EVFILT_READ flags = EV_ADD|EV_RECEIPT fflags = 0x0 10-06-09 9:14:35 AM com.apple.launchd[1] System: Looking up service com.apple.DiskArbitration.diskarbitrationd 10-06-09 9:14:35 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.launchd.peruser.505[143]) Mach service lookup: com.apple.DiskArbitration.diskarbitrationd 10-06-09 9:14:35 AM com.apple.launchd[1] System: Looking up service com.apple.system.logger 10-06-09 9:14:35 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.launchd.peruser.505[143]) Mach service lookup: com.apple.system.logger 10-06-09 9:14:36 AM com.apple.launchd[1] System: Looking up service com.apple.FSEvents 10-06-09 9:14:36 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.launchd.peruser.505[143]) Mach service lookup: com.apple.FSEvents 10-06-09 9:14:36 AM com.apple.launchd[1] System: Looking up service com.apple.SystemConfiguration.configd 10-06-09 9:14:36 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.launchd.peruser.505[143]) Mach service lookup: com.apple.SystemConfiguration.configd 10-06-09 9:14:38 AM com.apple.launchd[1] Dispatching kevent... 10-06-09 9:14:38 AM com.apple.launchd[1] KEVENT[0]: udata = 0x10002b230 data = 0x30 ident = 5 filter = EVFILT_READ flags = EV_ADD|EV_RECEIPT fflags = 0x0 10-06-09 9:14:39 AM com.apple.launchd[1] Dispatching kevent... 10-06-09 9:14:39 AM com.apple.launchd[1] KEVENT[0]: udata = 0x100802000 data = 0x0 ident = 26 filter = EVFILT_PROC flags = EV_ADD|EV_RECEIPT|EV_CLEAR fflags = NOTE_FORK 10-06-09 9:14:39 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.coreservicesd[26]) Dispatching kevent callback. 10-06-09 9:14:39 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.coreservicesd[26]) EVFILT_PROC event for job: 10-06-09 9:14:39 AM com.apple.launchd[1] KEVENT[0]: udata = 0x1004076f0 data = 0x0 ident = 26 filter = EVFILT_PROC flags = EV_ADD|EV_RECEIPT|EV_CLEAR fflags = NOTE_FORK 10-06-09 9:14:39 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.coreservicesd[26]) fork()ed 10-06-09 9:14:39 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (0x100401720.anonymous.lssave) Conceived 10-06-09 9:14:39 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (0x100401720.anonymous.lssave[22211]) Created PID 22211 anonymously by PPID 26 10-06-09 9:14:39 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (0x100401720.anonymous.lssave[22211]) Looking up per user launchd for UID: 0 10-06-09 9:14:39 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (0x100401720.anonymous.lssave[22211]) Per user launchd job found for UID: 505 10-06-09 9:14:39 AM com.apple.launchd[1] System: Looking up service com.apple.system.notification_center 10-06-09 9:14:39 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.launchd.peruser.505[143]) Mach service lookup: com.apple.system.notification_center 10-06-09 9:14:39 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (0x100401720.anonymous.lssave[22211]) Looking up per user launchd for UID: 0 10-06-09 9:14:39 AM com.apple.launchd[1] (0x100401720.anonymous.lssave[22211]) Per user launchd job found for UID: 505 10-06-09 9:14:39 AM com.apple.launchd[1] System: Looking up service com.apple.system.DirectoryService.libinfo_v1

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How to use Ninject with XNA?

- by Rosarch

I'm having difficulty integrating Ninject with XNA. static class Program { /** * The main entry point for the application. */ static void Main(string[] args) { IKernel kernel = new StandardKernel(NinjectModuleManager.GetModules()); CachedContentLoader content = kernel.Get<CachedContentLoader>(); // stack overflow here MasterEngine game = kernel.Get<MasterEngine>(); game.Run(); } } // constructor for the game public MasterEngine(IKernel kernel) : base(kernel) { this.inputReader = kernel.Get<IInputReader>(); graphicsDeviceManager = kernel.Get<GraphicsDeviceManager>(); Components.Add(kernel.Get<GamerServicesComponent>()); // Tell the loader to look for all files relative to the "Content" directory. Assets = kernel.Get<CachedContentLoader>(); //Sets dimensions of the game window graphicsDeviceManager.PreferredBackBufferWidth = 800; graphicsDeviceManager.PreferredBackBufferHeight = 600; graphicsDeviceManager.ApplyChanges(); IsMouseVisible = false; } Ninject.cs: using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Linq; using System.Text; using Ninject.Modules; using HWAlphaRelease.Controller; using Microsoft.Xna.Framework; using Nuclex.DependencyInjection.Demo.Scaffolding; using Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Content; using Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Graphics; namespace HWAlphaRelease { public static class NinjectModuleManager { public static NinjectModule[] GetModules() { return new NinjectModule[1] { new GameModule() }; } /// <summary>Dependency injection rules for the main game instance</summary> public class GameModule : NinjectModule { #region class ServiceProviderAdapter /// <summary>Delegates to the game's built-in service provider</summary> /// <remarks> /// <para> /// When a class' constructor requires an IServiceProvider, the dependency /// injector cannot just construct a new one and wouldn't know that it has /// to create an instance of the Game class (or take it from the existing /// Game instance). /// </para> /// <para> /// The solution, then, is this small adapter that takes a Game instance /// and acts as if it was a freely constructable IServiceProvider implementation /// while in reality, it delegates all lookups to the Game's service container. /// </para> /// </remarks> private class ServiceProviderAdapter : IServiceProvider { /// <summary>Initializes a new service provider adapter for the game</summary> /// <param name="game">Game the service provider will be taken from</param> public ServiceProviderAdapter(Game game) { this.gameServices = game.Services; } /// <summary>Retrieves a service from the game service container</summary> /// <param name="serviceType">Type of the service that will be retrieved</param> /// <returns>The service that has been requested</returns> public object GetService(Type serviceType) { return this.gameServices; } /// <summary>Game services container of the Game instance</summary> private GameServiceContainer gameServices; } #endregion // class ServiceProviderAdapter #region class ContentManagerAdapter /// <summary>Delegates to the game's built-in ContentManager</summary> /// <remarks> /// This provides shared access to the game's ContentManager. A dependency /// injected class only needs to require the ISharedContentService in its /// constructor and the dependency injector will automatically resolve it /// to this adapter, which delegates to the Game's built-in content manager. /// </remarks> private class ContentManagerAdapter : ISharedContentService { /// <summary>Initializes a new shared content manager adapter</summary> /// <param name="game">Game the content manager will be taken from</param> public ContentManagerAdapter(Game game) { this.contentManager = game.Content; } /// <summary>Loads or accesses shared game content</summary> /// <typeparam name="AssetType">Type of the asset to be loaded or accessed</typeparam> /// <param name="assetName">Path and name of the requested asset</param> /// <returns>The requested asset from the the shared game content store</returns> public AssetType Load<AssetType>(string assetName) { return this.contentManager.Load<AssetType>(assetName); } /// <summary>The content manager this instance delegates to</summary> private ContentManager contentManager; } #endregion // class ContentManagerAdapter /// <summary>Initializes the dependency configuration</summary> public override void Load() { // Allows access to the game class for any components with a dependency // on the 'Game' or 'DependencyInjectionGame' classes. Bind<MasterEngine>().ToSelf().InSingletonScope(); Bind<NinjectGame>().To<MasterEngine>().InSingletonScope(); Bind<Game>().To<MasterEngine>().InSingletonScope(); // Let the dependency injector construct a graphics device manager for // all components depending on the IGraphicsDeviceService and // IGraphicsDeviceManager interfaces Bind<GraphicsDeviceManager>().ToSelf().InSingletonScope(); Bind<IGraphicsDeviceService>().To<GraphicsDeviceManager>().InSingletonScope(); Bind<IGraphicsDeviceManager>().To<GraphicsDeviceManager>().InSingletonScope(); // Some clever adapters that hand out the Game's IServiceProvider and allow // access to its built-in ContentManager Bind<IServiceProvider>().To<ServiceProviderAdapter>().InSingletonScope(); Bind<ISharedContentService>().To<ContentManagerAdapter>().InSingletonScope(); Bind<IInputReader>().To<UserInputReader>().InSingletonScope().WithConstructorArgument("keyMapping", Constants.DEFAULT_KEY_MAPPING); Bind<CachedContentLoader>().ToSelf().InSingletonScope().WithConstructorArgument("rootDir", "Content"); } } } } NinjectGame.cs /// <summary>Base class for Games making use of Ninject</summary> public class NinjectGame : Game { /// <summary>Initializes a new Ninject game instance</summary> /// <param name="kernel">Kernel the game has been created by</param> public NinjectGame(IKernel kernel) { Type ownType = this.GetType(); if(ownType != typeof(Game)) { kernel.Bind<NinjectGame>().To<MasterEngine>().InSingletonScope(); } kernel.Bind<Game>().To<NinjectGame>().InSingletonScope(); } } } // namespace Nuclex.DependencyInjection.Demo.Scaffolding When I try to get the CachedContentLoader, I get a stack overflow exception. I'm basing this off of this tutorial, but I really have no idea what I'm doing. Help?

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Why does fprintf start printing out of order or not at all?

- by Steve Melvin

This code should take an integer, create pipes, spawn two children, wait until they are dead, and start all over again. However, around the third time around the loop I lose my prompt to enter a number and it no longer prints the number I've entered. Any ideas? #include <stdio.h> #include <stdlib.h> #include <unistd.h> #include <errno.h> #define WRITE 1 #define READ 0 int main (int argc, const char * argv[]) { //Pipe file-descriptor array unsigned int isChildA = 0; int pipeA[2]; int pipeB[2]; int num = 0; while(1){ fprintf(stderr,"Enter an integer: "); scanf("%i", &num); if(num == 0){ fprintf(stderr,"You entered zero, exiting...\n"); exit(0); } //Open Pipes if(pipe(pipeA) < 0){ fprintf(stderr,"Could not create pipe A.\n"); exit(1); } if(pipe(pipeB) < 0){ fprintf(stderr,"Could not create pipe B.\n"); exit(1); } fprintf(stderr,"Value read: %i \n", num); fprintf(stderr,"Parent PID: %i\n", getpid()); pid_t procID = fork(); switch (procID) { case -1: fprintf(stderr,"Fork error, quitting...\n"); exit(1); break; case 0: isChildA = 1; break; default: procID = fork(); if (procID<0) { fprintf(stderr,"Fork error, quitting...\n"); exit(1); } else if(procID == 0){ isChildA = 0; } else { write(pipeA[WRITE], &num, sizeof(int)); close(pipeA[WRITE]); close(pipeA[READ]); close(pipeB[WRITE]); close(pipeB[READ]); pid_t pid; while (pid = waitpid(-1, NULL, 0)) { if (errno == ECHILD) { break; } } } break; } if (procID == 0) { //We're a child, do kid-stuff. ssize_t bytesRead = 0; int response; while (1) { while (bytesRead == 0) { bytesRead = read((isChildA?pipeA[READ]:pipeB[READ]), &response, sizeof(int)); } if (response < 2) { //Kill other child and self fprintf(stderr, "Terminating PROCID: %i\n", getpid()); write((isChildA?pipeB[WRITE]:pipeA[WRITE]), &response, sizeof(int)); close(pipeA[WRITE]); close(pipeA[READ]); close(pipeB[WRITE]); close(pipeB[READ]); return 0; } else if(!(response%2)){ //Even response/=2; fprintf(stderr,"PROCID: %i, VALUE: %i\n", getpid(), response); write((isChildA?pipeB[WRITE]:pipeA[WRITE]), &response, sizeof(int)); bytesRead = 0; } else { //Odd response*=3; response++; fprintf(stderr,"PROCID: %i, VALUE: %i\n", getpid(), response); write((isChildA?pipeB[WRITE]:pipeA[WRITE]), &response, sizeof(int)); bytesRead = 0; } } } } return 0; } This is the output I am getting... bash-3.00$ ./proj2 Enter an integer: 101 Value read: 101 Parent PID: 9379 PROCID: 9380, VALUE: 304 PROCID: 9381, VALUE: 152 PROCID: 9380, VALUE: 76 PROCID: 9381, VALUE: 38 PROCID: 9380, VALUE: 19 PROCID: 9381, VALUE: 58 PROCID: 9380, VALUE: 29 PROCID: 9381, VALUE: 88 PROCID: 9380, VALUE: 44 PROCID: 9381, VALUE: 22 PROCID: 9380, VALUE: 11 PROCID: 9381, VALUE: 34 PROCID: 9380, VALUE: 17 PROCID: 9381, VALUE: 52 PROCID: 9380, VALUE: 26 PROCID: 9381, VALUE: 13 PROCID: 9380, VALUE: 40 PROCID: 9381, VALUE: 20 PROCID: 9380, VALUE: 10 PROCID: 9381, VALUE: 5 PROCID: 9380, VALUE: 16 PROCID: 9381, VALUE: 8 PROCID: 9380, VALUE: 4 PROCID: 9381, VALUE: 2 PROCID: 9380, VALUE: 1 Terminating PROCID: 9381 Terminating PROCID: 9380 Enter an integer: 102 Value read: 102 Parent PID: 9379 PROCID: 9386, VALUE: 51 PROCID: 9387, VALUE: 154 PROCID: 9386, VALUE: 77 PROCID: 9387, VALUE: 232 PROCID: 9386, VALUE: 116 PROCID: 9387, VALUE: 58 PROCID: 9386, VALUE: 29 PROCID: 9387, VALUE: 88 PROCID: 9386, VALUE: 44 PROCID: 9387, VALUE: 22 PROCID: 9386, VALUE: 11 PROCID: 9387, VALUE: 34 PROCID: 9386, VALUE: 17 PROCID: 9387, VALUE: 52 PROCID: 9386, VALUE: 26 PROCID: 9387, VALUE: 13 PROCID: 9386, VALUE: 40 PROCID: 9387, VALUE: 20 PROCID: 9386, VALUE: 10 PROCID: 9387, VALUE: 5 PROCID: 9386, VALUE: 16 PROCID: 9387, VALUE: 8 PROCID: 9386, VALUE: 4 PROCID: 9387, VALUE: 2 PROCID: 9386, VALUE: 1 Terminating PROCID: 9387 Terminating PROCID: 9386 Enter an integer: 104 Value read: 104 Parent PID: 9379 Enter an integer: PROCID: 9388, VALUE: 52 PROCID: 9389, VALUE: 26 PROCID: 9388, VALUE: 13 PROCID: 9389, VALUE: 40 PROCID: 9388, VALUE: 20 PROCID: 9389, VALUE: 10 PROCID: 9388, VALUE: 5 PROCID: 9389, VALUE: 16 PROCID: 9388, VALUE: 8 PROCID: 9389, VALUE: 4 PROCID: 9388, VALUE: 2 PROCID: 9389, VALUE: 1 Terminating PROCID: 9388 Terminating PROCID: 9389 105 Value read: 105 Parent PID: 9379 Enter an integer: PROCID: 9395, VALUE: 316 PROCID: 9396, VALUE: 158 PROCID: 9395, VALUE: 79 PROCID: 9396, VALUE: 238 PROCID: 9395, VALUE: 119 PROCID: 9396, VALUE: 358 PROCID: 9395, VALUE: 179 PROCID: 9396, VALUE: 538 PROCID: 9395, VALUE: 269 PROCID: 9396, VALUE: 808 PROCID: 9395, VALUE: 404 PROCID: 9396, VALUE: 202 PROCID: 9395, VALUE: 101 PROCID: 9396, VALUE: 304 PROCID: 9395, VALUE: 152 PROCID: 9396, VALUE: 76 PROCID: 9395, VALUE: 38 PROCID: 9396, VALUE: 19 PROCID: 9395, VALUE: 58 PROCID: 9396, VALUE: 29 PROCID: 9395, VALUE: 88 PROCID: 9396, VALUE: 44 PROCID: 9395, VALUE: 22 PROCID: 9396, VALUE: 11 PROCID: 9395, VALUE: 34 PROCID: 9396, VALUE: 17 PROCID: 9395, VALUE: 52 PROCID: 9396, VALUE: 26 PROCID: 9395, VALUE: 13 PROCID: 9396, VALUE: 40 PROCID: 9395, VALUE: 20 PROCID: 9396, VALUE: 10 PROCID: 9395, VALUE: 5 PROCID: 9396, VALUE: 16 PROCID: 9395, VALUE: 8 PROCID: 9396, VALUE: 4 PROCID: 9395, VALUE: 2 PROCID: 9396, VALUE: 1 Terminating PROCID: 9395 Terminating PROCID: 9396 105 Value read: 105 Parent PID: 9379 Enter an integer: PROCID: 9397, VALUE: 316 PROCID: 9398, VALUE: 158 PROCID: 9397, VALUE: 79 PROCID: 9398, VALUE: 238 PROCID: 9397, VALUE: 119 PROCID: 9398, VALUE: 358 PROCID: 9397, VALUE: 179 PROCID: 9398, VALUE: 538 PROCID: 9397, VALUE: 269 PROCID: 9398, VALUE: 808 PROCID: 9397, VALUE: 404 PROCID: 9398, VALUE: 202 PROCID: 9397, VALUE: 101 PROCID: 9398, VALUE: 304 PROCID: 9397, VALUE: 152 PROCID: 9398, VALUE: 76 PROCID: 9397, VALUE: 38 PROCID: 9398, VALUE: 19 PROCID: 9397, VALUE: 58 PROCID: 9398, VALUE: 29 PROCID: 9397, VALUE: 88 PROCID: 9398, VALUE: 44 PROCID: 9397, VALUE: 22 PROCID: 9398, VALUE: 11 PROCID: 9397, VALUE: 34 PROCID: 9398, VALUE: 17 PROCID: 9397, VALUE: 52 PROCID: 9398, VALUE: 26 PROCID: 9397, VALUE: 13 PROCID: 9398, VALUE: 40 PROCID: 9397, VALUE: 20 PROCID: 9398, VALUE: 10 PROCID: 9397, VALUE: 5 PROCID: 9398, VALUE: 16 PROCID: 9397, VALUE: 8 PROCID: 9398, VALUE: 4 PROCID: 9397, VALUE: 2 PROCID: 9398, VALUE: 1 Terminating PROCID: 9397 Terminating PROCID: 9398 106 Value read: 106 Parent PID: 9379 Enter an integer: PROCID: 9399, VALUE: 53 PROCID: 9400, VALUE: 160 PROCID: 9399, VALUE: 80 PROCID: 9400, VALUE: 40 PROCID: 9399, VALUE: 20 PROCID: 9400, VALUE: 10 PROCID: 9399, VALUE: 5 PROCID: 9400, VALUE: 16 PROCID: 9399, VALUE: 8 PROCID: 9400, VALUE: 4 PROCID: 9399, VALUE: 2 PROCID: 9400, VALUE: 1 Terminating PROCID: 9399 Terminating PROCID: 9400 ^C Another thing that's strange, when ran from within XCode it behaves normally. However, when ran from bash on Solaris or OSX it acts up.

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Communicating between C# application and Android app via bluetooth

- by Akki

The android application acts as a server in this case. I have a main activity which creates a Thread to handle serverSocket and a different thread to handle the socket connection. I am using a uuid common to C# and android. I am using 32feet bluetooth library for C#. The errors i am facing are 1) My logcat shows this debug log Error while doing socket.connect()1 java.io.IOException: File descriptor in bad state Message: File descriptor in bad state Localized Message: File descriptor in bad state Received : Testing Connection Count of Thread is : 1 2) When i try to send something via C# app the second time, this exception is thrown: A first chance exception of type 'System.InvalidOperationException' occurred in System.dll System.InvalidOperationException: BeginConnect cannot be called while another asynchronous operation is in progress on the same Socket. at System.Net.Sockets.Socket.DoBeginConnect(EndPoint endPointSnapshot, SocketAddress socketAddress, LazyAsyncResult asyncResult) at System.Net.Sockets.Socket.BeginConnect(EndPoint remoteEP, AsyncCallback callback, Object state) at InTheHand.Net.Bluetooth.Msft.SocketBluetoothClient.BeginConnect(BluetoothEndPoint remoteEP, AsyncCallback requestCallback, Object state) at InTheHand.Net.Sockets.BluetoothClient.BeginConnect(BluetoothEndPoint remoteEP, AsyncCallback requestCallback, Object state) at InTheHand.Net.Sockets.BluetoothClient.BeginConnect(BluetoothAddress address, Guid service, AsyncCallback requestCallback, Object state) at BTSyncClient.Form1.connect() in c:\users\----\documents\visual studio 2010\Projects\TestClient\TestClient\Form1.cs:line 154 I only know android application programming and i designed the C# by learning bit and pieces. FYI, My android phone is galaxy s with ICS running on it.Please point out my mistakes.. Source codes : C# Code using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.ComponentModel; using System.Data; using System.Drawing; using System.Linq; using System.Text; using System.Windows.Forms; using System.Threading; using System.Net.Sockets; using InTheHand.Net.Bluetooth; using InTheHand.Windows.Forms; using InTheHand.Net.Sockets; using InTheHand.Net; namespace BTSyncClient { public partial class Form1 : Form { BluetoothClient myself; BluetoothDeviceInfo bTServerDevice; private Guid uuid = Guid.Parse("00001101-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB"); bool isConnected; public Form1() { InitializeComponent(); if (BluetoothRadio.IsSupported) { myself = new BluetoothClient(); } } private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e) { } private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) { connect(); } private void Form1_FormClosing(object sender, FormClosingEventArgs e) { try { myself.GetStream().Close(); myself.Dispose(); } catch (Exception ex) { Console.Out.WriteLine(ex); } } private void button2_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) { SelectBluetoothDeviceDialog dialog = new SelectBluetoothDeviceDialog(); DialogResult result = dialog.ShowDialog(this); if(result.Equals(DialogResult.OK)){ bTServerDevice = dialog.SelectedDevice; } } private void callback(IAsyncResult ar) { String msg = (String)ar.AsyncState; if (ar.IsCompleted) { isConnected = myself.Connected; if (myself.Connected) { UTF8Encoding encoder = new UTF8Encoding(); NetworkStream stream = myself.GetStream(); if (!stream.CanWrite) { MessageBox.Show("Stream is not Writable"); } System.IO.StreamWriter mywriter = new System.IO.StreamWriter(stream, Encoding.UTF8); mywriter.WriteLine(msg); mywriter.Flush(); } else MessageBox.Show("Damn thing isnt connected"); } } private void connect() { try { if (bTServerDevice != null) { myself.BeginConnect(bTServerDevice.DeviceAddress, uuid, new AsyncCallback(callback) , message.Text); } } catch (Exception e) { Console.Out.WriteLine(e); } } } } Server Thread import java.io.IOException; import java.util.UUID; import android.bluetooth.BluetoothAdapter; import android.bluetooth.BluetoothServerSocket; import android.bluetooth.BluetoothSocket; import android.util.Log; public class ServerSocketThread extends Thread { private static final String TAG = "TestApp"; private BluetoothAdapter btAdapter; private BluetoothServerSocket serverSocket; private boolean stopMe; private static final UUID uuid = UUID.fromString("00001101-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB"); //private static final UUID uuid = UUID.fromString("6e58c9d5-b0b6-4009-ad9b-fd9481aef9b3"); private static final String SERVICE_NAME = "TestService"; public ServerSocketThread() { stopMe = false; btAdapter = BluetoothAdapter.getDefaultAdapter(); try { serverSocket = btAdapter.listenUsingRfcommWithServiceRecord(SERVICE_NAME, uuid); } catch (IOException e) { Log.d(TAG,e.toString()); } } public void signalStop(){ stopMe = true; } public void run(){ Log.d(TAG,"In ServerThread"); BluetoothSocket socket = null; while(!stopMe){ try { socket = serverSocket.accept(); } catch (IOException e) { break; } if(socket != null){ AcceptThread newClientConnection = new AcceptThread(socket); newClientConnection.start(); } } Log.d(TAG,"Server Thread now dead"); } // Will cancel the listening socket and cause the thread to finish public void cancel(){ try { serverSocket.close(); } catch (IOException e) { } } } Accept Thread import java.io.IOException; import java.io.InputStream; import java.util.Scanner; import android.bluetooth.BluetoothSocket; import android.util.Log; public class AcceptThread extends Thread { private BluetoothSocket socket; private String TAG = "TestApp"; static int count = 0; public AcceptThread(BluetoothSocket Socket) { socket = Socket; } volatile boolean isError; String output; String error; public void run() { Log.d(TAG, "AcceptThread Started"); isError = false; try { socket.connect(); } catch (IOException e) { Log.d(TAG,"Error while doing socket.connect()"+ ++count); Log.d(TAG, e.toString()); Log.d(TAG,"Message: "+e.getLocalizedMessage()); Log.d(TAG,"Localized Message: "+e.getMessage()); isError = true; } InputStream in = null; try { in = socket.getInputStream(); } catch (IOException e) { Log.d(TAG,"Error while doing socket.getInputStream()"); Log.d(TAG, e.toString()); Log.d(TAG,"Message: "+e.getLocalizedMessage()); Log.d(TAG,"Localized Message: "+e.getMessage()); isError = true; } Scanner istream = new Scanner(in); if (istream.hasNextLine()) { Log.d(TAG, "Received : "+istream.nextLine()); Log.d(TAG,"Count of Thread is : " + count); } istream.close(); try { in.close(); } catch (IOException e) { Log.d(TAG,"Error while doing in.close()"); Log.d(TAG, e.toString()); Log.d(TAG,"Message: "+e.getLocalizedMessage()); Log.d(TAG,"Localized Message: "+e.getMessage()); isError = true; } try { socket.close(); } catch (IOException e) { Log.d(TAG,"Error while doing socket.close()"); Log.d(TAG, e.toString()); Log.d(TAG,"Message: "+e.getLocalizedMessage()); Log.d(TAG,"Localized Message: "+e.getMessage()); isError = true; } } }

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Numpy zero rank array indexing/broadcasting

- by Lemming

I'm trying to write a function that supports broadcasting and is fast at the same time. However, numpy's zero-rank arrays are causing trouble as usual. I couldn't find anything useful on google, or by searching here. So, I'm asking you. How should I implement broadcasting efficiently and handle zero-rank arrays at the same time? This whole post became larger than anticipated, sorry. Details: To clarify what I'm talking about I'll give a simple example: Say I want to implement a Heaviside step-function. I.e. a function that acts on the real axis, which is 0 on the negative side, 1 on the positive side, and from case to case either 0, 0.5, or 1 at the point 0. Implementation Masking The most efficient way I found so far is the following. It uses boolean arrays as masks to assign the correct values to the corresponding slots in the output vector. from numpy import * def step_mask(x, limit=+1): """Heaviside step-function. y = 0 if x < 0 y = 1 if x > 0 See below for x == 0. Arguments: x Evaluate the function at these points. limit Which limit at x == 0? limit > 0: y = 1 limit == 0: y = 0.5 limit < 0: y = 0 Return: The values corresponding to x. """ b = broadcast(x, limit) out = zeros(b.shape) out[x>0] = 1 mask = (limit > 0) & (x == 0) out[mask] = 1 mask = (limit == 0) & (x == 0) out[mask] = 0.5 mask = (limit < 0) & (x == 0) out[mask] = 0 return out List Comprehension The following-the-numpy-docs way is to use a list comprehension on the flat iterator of the broadcast object. However, list comprehensions become absolutely unreadable for such complicated functions. def step_comprehension(x, limit=+1): b = broadcast(x, limit) out = empty(b.shape) out.flat = [ ( 1 if x_ > 0 else ( 0 if x_ < 0 else ( 1 if l_ > 0 else ( 0.5 if l_ ==0 else ( 0 ))))) for x_, l_ in b ] return out For Loop And finally, the most naive way is a for loop. It's probably the most readable option. However, Python for-loops are anything but fast. And hence, a really bad idea in numerics. def step_for(x, limit=+1): b = broadcast(x, limit) out = empty(b.shape) for i, (x_, l_) in enumerate(b): if x_ > 0: out[i] = 1 elif x_ < 0: out[i] = 0 elif l_ > 0: out[i] = 1 elif l_ < 0: out[i] = 0 else: out[i] = 0.5 return out Test First of all a brief test to see if the output is correct. >>> x = array([-1, -0.1, 0, 0.1, 1]) >>> step_mask(x, +1) array([ 0., 0., 1., 1., 1.]) >>> step_mask(x, 0) array([ 0. , 0. , 0.5, 1. , 1. ]) >>> step_mask(x, -1) array([ 0., 0., 0., 1., 1.]) It is correct, and the other two functions give the same output. Performance How about efficiency? These are the timings: In [45]: xl = linspace(-2, 2, 500001) In [46]: %timeit step_mask(xl) 10 loops, best of 3: 19.5 ms per loop In [47]: %timeit step_comprehension(xl) 1 loops, best of 3: 1.17 s per loop In [48]: %timeit step_for(xl) 1 loops, best of 3: 1.15 s per loop The masked version performs best as expected. However, I'm surprised that the comprehension is on the same level as the for loop. Zero Rank Arrays But, 0-rank arrays pose a problem. Sometimes you want to use a function scalar input. And preferably not have to worry about wrapping all scalars in at least 1-D arrays. >>> step_mask(1) Traceback (most recent call last): File "<ipython-input-50-91c06aa4487b>", line 1, in <module> step_mask(1) File "script.py", line 22, in step_mask out[x>0] = 1 IndexError: 0-d arrays can't be indexed. >>> step_for(1) Traceback (most recent call last): File "<ipython-input-51-4e0de4fcb197>", line 1, in <module> step_for(1) File "script.py", line 55, in step_for out[i] = 1 IndexError: 0-d arrays can't be indexed. >>> step_comprehension(1) array(1.0) Only the list comprehension can handle 0-rank arrays. The other two versions would need special case handling for 0-rank arrays. Numpy gets a bit messy when you want to use the same code for arrays and scalars. However, I really like to have functions that work on as arbitrary input as possible. Who knows which parameters I'll want to iterate over at some point. Question: What is the best way to implement a function as the one above? Is there a way to avoid if scalar then like special cases? I'm not looking for a built-in Heaviside. It's just a simplified example. In my code the above pattern appears in many places to make parameter iteration as simple as possible without littering the client code with for loops or comprehensions. Furthermore, I'm aware of Cython, or weave & Co., or implementation directly in C. However, the performance of the masked version above is sufficient for the moment. And for the moment I would like to keep things as simple as possible.

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Building applications with WPF, MVVM and Prism(aka CAG)

- by skjagini

In this article I am going to walk through an application using WPF and Prism (aka composite application guidance, CAG) which simulates engaging a taxi (cab). The rules are simple, the app would have3 screens A login screen to authenticate the user An information screen. A screen to engage the cab and roam around and calculating the total fare Metered Rate of Fare The meter is required to be engaged when a cab is occupied by anyone $3.00 upon entry $0.35 for each additional unit The unit fare is: one-fifth of a mile, when the cab is traveling at 6 miles an hour or more; or 60 seconds when not in motion or traveling at less than 12 miles per hour. Night surcharge of $.50 after 8:00 PM & before 6:00 AM Peak hour Weekday Surcharge of $1.00 Monday - Friday after 4:00 PM & before 8:00 PM New York State Tax Surcharge of $.50 per ride. Example: Friday (2010-10-08) 5:30pm Start at Lexington Ave & E 57th St End at Irving Pl & E 15th St Start = $3.00 Travels 2 miles at less than 6 mph for 15 minutes = $3.50 Travels at more than 12 mph for 5 minutes = $1.75 Peak hour Weekday Surcharge = $1.00 (ride started at 5:30 pm) New York State Tax Surcharge = $0.50 Before we dive into the app, I would like to give brief description about the framework. If you want to jump on to the source code, scroll all the way to the end of the post. MVVM MVVM pattern is in no way related to the usage of PRISM in your application and should be considered if you are using WPF irrespective of PRISM or not. Lets say you are not familiar with MVVM, your typical UI would involve adding some UI controls like text boxes, a button, double clicking on the button, generating event handler, calling a method from business layer and updating the user interface, it works most of the time for developing small scale applications. The problem with this approach is that there is some amount of code specific to business logic wrapped in UI specific code which is hard to unit test it, mock it and MVVM helps to solve the exact problem. MVVM stands for Model(M) – View(V) – ViewModel(VM), based on the interactions with in the three parties it should be called VVMM, MVVM sounds more like MVC (Model-View-Controller) so the name. Why it should be called VVMM: View – View Model - Model WPF allows to create user interfaces using XAML and MVVM takes it to the next level by allowing complete separation of user interface and business logic. In WPF each view will have a property, DataContext when set to an instance of a class (which happens to be your view model) provides the data the view is interested in, i.e., view interacts with view model and at the same time view model interacts with view through DataContext. Sujith, if view and view model are interacting directly with each other how does MVVM is helping me separation of concerns? Well, the catch is DataContext is of type Object, since it is of type object view doesn’t know exact type of view model allowing views and views models to be loosely coupled. View models aggregate data from models (data access layer, services, etc) and make it available for views through properties, methods etc, i.e., View Models interact with Models. PRISM Prism is provided by Microsoft Patterns and Practices team and it can be downloaded from codeplex for source code, samples and documentation on msdn. The name composite implies, to compose user interface from different modules (views) without direct dependencies on each other, again allowing loosely coupled development. Well Sujith, I can already do that with user controls, why shall I learn another framework? That’s correct, you can decouple using user controls, but you still have to manage some amount of coupling, like how to do you communicate between the controls, how do you subscribe/unsubscribe, loading/unloading views dynamically. Prism is not a replacement for user controls, provides the following features which greatly help in designing the composite applications. Dependency Injection (DI)/ Inversion of Control (IoC) Modules Regions Event Aggregator Commands Simply put, MVVM helps building a single view and Prism helps building an application using the views There are other open source alternatives to Prism, like MVVMLight, Cinch, take a look at them as well. Lets dig into the source code. 1. Solution The solution is made of the following projects Framework: Holds the common functionality in building applications using WPF and Prism TaxiClient: Start up project, boot strapping and app styling TaxiCommon: Helps with the business logic TaxiModules: Holds the meat of the application with views and view models TaxiTests: To test the application 2. DI / IoC Dependency Injection (DI) as the name implies refers to injecting dependencies and Inversion of Control (IoC) means the calling code has no direct control on the dependencies, opposite of normal way of programming where dependencies are passed by caller, i.e inversion; aside from some differences in terminology the concept is same in both the cases. The idea behind DI/IoC pattern is to reduce the amount of direct coupling between different components of the application, the higher the dependency the more tightly coupled the application resulting in code which is hard to modify, unit test and mock. Initializing Dependency Injection through BootStrapper TaxiClient is the starting project of the solution and App (App.xaml) is the starting class that gets called when you run the application. From the App’s OnStartup method we will invoke BootStrapper. namespace TaxiClient { /// <summary> /// Interaction logic for App.xaml /// </summary> public partial class App : Application { protected override void OnStartup(StartupEventArgs e) { base.OnStartup(e); (new BootStrapper()).Run(); } } } BootStrapper is your contact point for initializing the application including dependency injection, creating Shell and other frameworks. We are going to use Unity for DI and there are lot of open source DI frameworks like Spring.Net, StructureMap etc with different feature set and you can choose a framework based on your preferences. Note that Prism comes with in built support for Unity, for example we are deriving from UnityBootStrapper in our case and for any other DI framework you have to extend the Prism appropriately namespace TaxiClient { public class BootStrapper: UnityBootstrapper { protected override IModuleCatalog CreateModuleCatalog() { return new ConfigurationModuleCatalog(); } protected override DependencyObject CreateShell() { Framework.FrameworkBootStrapper.Run(Container, Application.Current.Dispatcher); Shell shell = new Shell(); shell.ResizeMode = ResizeMode.NoResize; shell.Show(); return shell; } } } Lets take a look into FrameworkBootStrapper to check out how to register with unity container. namespace Framework { public class FrameworkBootStrapper { public static void Run(IUnityContainer container, Dispatcher dispatcher) { UIDispatcher uiDispatcher = new UIDispatcher(dispatcher); container.RegisterInstance<IDispatcherService>(uiDispatcher); container.RegisterType<IInjectSingleViewService, InjectSingleViewService>( new ContainerControlledLifetimeManager()); . . . } } } In the above code we are registering two components with unity container. You shall observe that we are following two different approaches, RegisterInstance and RegisterType. With RegisterInstance we are registering an existing instance and the same instance will be returned for every request made for IDispatcherService and with RegisterType we are requesting unity container to create an instance for us when required, i.e., when I request for an instance for IInjectSingleViewService, unity will create/return an instance of InjectSingleViewService class and with RegisterType we can configure the life time of the instance being created. With ContaienrControllerLifetimeManager, the unity container caches the instance and reuses for any subsequent requests, without recreating a new instance. Lets take a look into FareViewModel.cs and it’s constructor. The constructor takes one parameter IEventAggregator and if you try to find all references in your solution for IEventAggregator, you will not find a single location where an instance of EventAggregator is passed directly to the constructor. The compiler still finds an instance and works fine because Prism is already configured when used with Unity container to return an instance of EventAggregator when requested for IEventAggregator and in this particular case it is called constructor injection. public class FareViewModel:ObservableBase, IDataErrorInfo { ... private IEventAggregator _eventAggregator; public FareViewModel(IEventAggregator eventAggregator) { _eventAggregator = eventAggregator; InitializePropertyNames(); InitializeModel(); PropertyChanged += OnPropertyChanged; } ... 3. Shell Shells are very similar in operation to Master Pages in asp.net or MDI in Windows Forms. And shells contain regions which display the views, you can have as many regions as you wish in a given view. You can also nest regions. i.e, one region can load a view which in itself may contain other regions. We have to create a shell at the start of the application and are doing it by overriding CreateShell method from BootStrapper From the following Shell.xaml you shall notice that we have two content controls with Region names as ‘MenuRegion’ and ‘MainRegion’. The idea here is that you can inject any user controls into the regions dynamically, i.e., a Menu User Control for MenuRegion and based on the user action you can load appropriate view into MainRegion. <Window x:Class="TaxiClient.Shell" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" xmlns:Regions="clr-namespace:Microsoft.Practices.Prism.Regions;assembly=Microsoft.Practices.Prism" Title="Taxi" Height="370" Width="800"> <Grid Margin="2"> <ContentControl Regions:RegionManager.RegionName="MenuRegion" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" VerticalAlignment="Stretch" HorizontalContentAlignment="Stretch" VerticalContentAlignment="Stretch" /> <ContentControl Grid.Row="1" Regions:RegionManager.RegionName="MainRegion" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" VerticalAlignment="Stretch" HorizontalContentAlignment="Stretch" VerticalContentAlignment="Stretch" />  </Grid> </Window> 4. Modules Prism provides the ability to build composite applications and modules play an important role in it. For example if you are building a Mortgage Loan Processor application with 3 components, i.e. customer’s credit history, existing mortgages, new home/loan information; and consider that the customer’s credit history component involves gathering data about his/her address, background information, job details etc. The idea here using Prism modules is to separate the implementation of these 3 components into their own visual studio projects allowing to build components with no dependency on each other and independently. If we need to add another component to the application, the component can be developed by in house team or some other team in the organization by starting with a new Visual Studio project and adding to the solution at the run time with very little knowledge about the application. Prism modules are defined by implementing the IModule interface and each visual studio project to be considered as a module should implement the IModule interface. From the BootStrapper.cs you shall observe that we are overriding the method by returning a ConfiguratingModuleCatalog which returns the modules that are registered for the application using the app.config file and you can also add module using code. Lets take a look into configuration file. <?xml version="1.0"?> <configuration> <configSections> <section name="modules" type="Microsoft.Practices.Prism.Modularity.ModulesConfigurationSection, Microsoft.Practices.Prism"/> </configSections> <modules> <module assemblyFile="TaxiModules.dll" moduleType="TaxiModules.ModuleInitializer, TaxiModules" moduleName="TaxiModules"/> </modules> </configuration> Here we are adding TaxiModules project to our solution and TaxiModules.ModuleInitializer implements IModule interface 5. Module Mapper With Prism modules you can dynamically add or remove modules from the regions, apart from that Prism also provides API to control adding/removing the views from a region within the same module. Taxi Information Screen: Engage the Taxi Screen: The sample application has two screens, ‘Taxi Information’ and ‘Engage the Taxi’ and they both reside in same module, TaxiModules. ‘Engage the Taxi’ is again made of two user controls, FareView on the left and TotalView on the right. We have created a Shell with two regions, MenuRegion and MainRegion with menu loaded into MenuRegion. We can create a wrapper user control called EngageTheTaxi made of FareView and TotalView and load either TaxiInfo or EngageTheTaxi into MainRegion based on the user action. Though it will work it tightly binds the user controls and for every combination of user controls, we need to create a dummy wrapper control to contain them. Instead we can apply the principles we learned so far from Shell/regions and introduce another template (LeftAndRightRegionView.xaml) made of two regions Region1 (left) and Region2 (right) and load FareView and TotalView dynamically. To help with loading of the views dynamically I have introduce an helper an interface, IInjectSingleViewService, idea suggested by Mike Taulty, a must read blog for .Net developers. using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.ComponentModel; namespace Framework.PresentationUtility.Navigation { public interface IInjectSingleViewService : INotifyPropertyChanged { IEnumerable<CommandViewDefinition> Commands { get; } IEnumerable<ModuleViewDefinition> Modules { get; } void RegisterViewForRegion(string commandName, string viewName, string regionName, Type viewType); void ClearViewFromRegion(string viewName, string regionName); void RegisterModule(string moduleName, IList<ModuleMapper> moduleMappers); } } The Interface declares three methods to work with views: RegisterViewForRegion: Registers a view with a particular region. You can register multiple views and their regions under one command. When this particular command is invoked all the views registered under it will be loaded into their regions. ClearViewFromRegion: To unload a specific view from a region. RegisterModule: The idea is when a command is invoked you can load the UI with set of controls in their default position and based on the user interaction, you can load different contols in to different regions on the fly. And it is supported ModuleViewDefinition and ModuleMappers as shown below. namespace Framework.PresentationUtility.Navigation { public class ModuleViewDefinition { public string ModuleName { get; set; } public IList<ModuleMapper> ModuleMappers; public ICommand Command { get; set; } } public class ModuleMapper { public string ViewName { get; set; } public string RegionName { get; set; } public Type ViewType { get; set; } } } 6. Event Aggregator Prism event aggregator enables messaging between components as in Observable pattern, Notifier notifies the Observer which receives notification it is interested in. When it comes to Observable pattern, Observer has to unsubscribes for notifications when it no longer interested in notifications, which allows the Notifier to remove the Observer’s reference from it’s local cache. Though .Net has managed garbage collection it cannot remove inactive the instances referenced by an active instance resulting in memory leak, keeping the Observers in memory as long as Notifier stays in memory. Developers have to be very careful to unsubscribe when necessary and it often gets overlooked, to overcome these problems Prism Event Aggregator uses weak references to cache the reference (Observer in this case) and releases the reference (memory) once the instance goes out of scope. Using event aggregator is very simple, declare a generic type of CompositePresenationEvent by inheriting from it. using Microsoft.Practices.Prism.Events; using TaxiCommon.BAO; namespace TaxiCommon.CompositeEvents { public class TaxiOnMoveEvent:CompositePresentationEvent<TaxiOnMove> { } } TaxiOnMove.cs includes the properties which we want to exchange between the parties, FareView and TotalView. using System; namespace TaxiCommon.BAO { public class TaxiOnMove { public TimeSpan MinutesAtTweleveMPH { get; set; } public double MilesAtSixMPH { get; set; } } } Lets take a look into FareViewodel (Notifier) and how it raises the event. Here we are raising the event by getting the event through GetEvent<..>() and publishing it with the payload private void OnAddMinutes(object obj) { TaxiOnMove payload = new TaxiOnMove(); if(MilesAtSixMPH != null) payload.MilesAtSixMPH = MilesAtSixMPH.Value; if(MinutesAtTweleveMPH != null) payload.MinutesAtTweleveMPH = new TimeSpan(0,0,MinutesAtTweleveMPH.Value,0); _eventAggregator.GetEvent<TaxiOnMoveEvent>().Publish(payload); ResetMinutesAndMiles(); } And TotalViewModel(Observer) subscribes to notifications by getting the event through GetEvent<..>() namespace TaxiModules.ViewModels { public class TotalViewModel:ObservableBase { .... private IEventAggregator _eventAggregator; public TotalViewModel(IEventAggregator eventAggregator) { _eventAggregator = eventAggregator; ... } private void SubscribeToEvents() { _eventAggregator.GetEvent<TaxiStartedEvent>() .Subscribe(OnTaxiStarted, ThreadOption.UIThread,false,(filter) => true); _eventAggregator.GetEvent<TaxiOnMoveEvent>() .Subscribe(OnTaxiMove, ThreadOption.UIThread, false, (filter) => true); _eventAggregator.GetEvent<TaxiResetEvent>() .Subscribe(OnTaxiReset, ThreadOption.UIThread, false, (filter) => true); } ... private void OnTaxiMove(TaxiOnMove taxiOnMove) { OnMoveFare fare = new OnMoveFare(taxiOnMove); Fares.Add(fare); SetTotalFare(new []{fare}); } .... 7. MVVM through example In this section we are going to look into MVVM implementation through example. I have all the modules declared in a single project, TaxiModules, again it is not necessary to have them into one project. Once the user logs into the application, will be greeted with the ‘Engage the Taxi’ screen which is made of two user controls, FareView.xaml and TotalView.Xaml. As you can see from the solution explorer, each of them have their own code behind files and ViewModel classes, FareViewMode.cs, TotalViewModel.cs Lets take a look in to the FareView and how it interacts with FareViewModel using MVVM implementation. FareView.xaml acts as a view and FareViewMode.cs is it’s view model. The FareView code behind class namespace TaxiModules.Views { /// <summary> /// Interaction logic for FareView.xaml /// </summary> public partial class FareView : UserControl { public FareView(FareViewModel viewModel) { InitializeComponent(); this.Loaded += (s, e) => { this.DataContext = viewModel; }; } } } The FareView is bound to FareViewModel through the data context and you shall observe that DataContext is of type Object, i.e. the FareView doesn’t really know the type of ViewModel (FareViewModel). This helps separation of View and ViewModel as View and ViewModel are independent of each other, you can bind FareView to FareViewModel2 as well and the application compiles just fine. Lets take a look into FareView xaml file <UserControl x:Class="TaxiModules.Views.FareView" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" xmlns:Toolkit="clr-namespace:Microsoft.Windows.Controls;assembly=WPFToolkit" xmlns:Commands="clr-namespace:Microsoft.Practices.Prism.Commands;assembly=Microsoft.Practices.Prism"> <Grid Margin="10" > .... <Border Style="{DynamicResource innerBorder}" Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="0" Grid.RowSpan="11" Grid.ColumnSpan="2" Panel.ZIndex="1"/> <Label Grid.Row="0" Content="Engage the Taxi" Style="{DynamicResource innerHeader}"/> <Label Grid.Row="1" Content="Select the State"/> <ComboBox Grid.Row="1" Grid.Column="1" ItemsSource="{Binding States}" Height="auto"> <ComboBox.ItemTemplate> <DataTemplate> <TextBlock Text="{Binding Name}"/> </DataTemplate> </ComboBox.ItemTemplate> <ComboBox.SelectedItem> <Binding Path="SelectedState" Mode="TwoWay"/> </ComboBox.SelectedItem> </ComboBox> <Label Grid.Row="2" Content="Select the Date of Entry"/> <Toolkit:DatePicker Grid.Row="2" Grid.Column="1" SelectedDate="{Binding DateOfEntry, ValidatesOnDataErrors=true}" /> <Label Grid.Row="3" Content="Enter time 24hr format"/> <TextBox Grid.Row="3" Grid.Column="1" Text="{Binding TimeOfEntry, TargetNullValue=''}"/> <Button Grid.Row="4" Grid.Column="1" Content="Start the Meter" Commands:Click.Command="{Binding StartMeterCommand}" /> <Label Grid.Row="5" Content="Run the Taxi" Style="{DynamicResource innerHeader}"/> <Label Grid.Row="6" Content="Number of Miles <@6mph"/> <TextBox Grid.Row="6" Grid.Column="1" Text="{Binding MilesAtSixMPH, TargetNullValue='', ValidatesOnDataErrors=true}"/> <Label Grid.Row="7" Content="Number of Minutes @12mph"/> <TextBox Grid.Row="7" Grid.Column="1" Text="{Binding MinutesAtTweleveMPH, TargetNullValue=''}"/> <Button Grid.Row="8" Grid.Column="1" Content="Add Minutes and Miles " Commands:Click.Command="{Binding AddMinutesCommand}"/> <Label Grid.Row="9" Content="Other Operations" Style="{DynamicResource innerHeader}"/> <Button Grid.Row="10" Grid.Column="1" Content="Reset the Meter" Commands:Click.Command="{Binding ResetCommand}"/> </Grid> </UserControl> The highlighted code from the above code shows data binding, for example ComboBox which displays list of states has it’s ItemsSource bound to States property, with DataTemplate bound to Name and SelectedItem to SelectedState. You might be wondering what are all these properties and how it is able to bind to them. The answer lies in data context, i.e., when you bound a control, WPF looks for data context on the root object (Grid in this case) and if it can’t find data context it will look into root’s root, i.e. FareView UserControl and it is bound to FareViewModel. Each of those properties have be declared on the ViewModel for the View to bind correctly. To put simply, View is bound to ViewModel through data context of type object and every control that is bound on the View actually binds to the public property on the ViewModel. Lets look into the ViewModel code (the following code is not an exact copy of FareViewMode.cs, pasted relevant code for this section) namespace TaxiModules.ViewModels { public class FareViewModel:ObservableBase, IDataErrorInfo { public List<USState> States { get { return USStates.StateList; } } public USState SelectedState { get { return _selectedState; } set { _selectedState = value; RaisePropertyChanged(_selectedStatePropertyName); } } public DateTime? DateOfEntry { get { return _dateOfEntry; } set { _dateOfEntry = value; RaisePropertyChanged(_dateOfEntryPropertyName); } } public TimeSpan? TimeOfEntry { get { return _timeOfEntry; } set { _timeOfEntry = value; RaisePropertyChanged(_timeOfEntryPropertyName); } } public double? MilesAtSixMPH { get { return _milesAtSixMPH; } set { _milesAtSixMPH = value; RaisePropertyChanged(_distanceAtSixMPHPropertyName); } } public int? MinutesAtTweleveMPH { get { return _minutesAtTweleveMPH; } set { _minutesAtTweleveMPH = value; RaisePropertyChanged(_minutesAtTweleveMPHPropertyName); } } public ICommand StartMeterCommand { get { if(_startMeterCommand == null) { _startMeterCommand = new DelegateCommand<object>(OnStartMeter, CanStartMeter); } return _startMeterCommand; } } public ICommand AddMinutesCommand { get { if(_addMinutesCommand == null) { _addMinutesCommand = new DelegateCommand<object>(OnAddMinutes, CanAddMinutes); } return _addMinutesCommand; } } public ICommand ResetCommand { get { if(_resetCommand == null) { _resetCommand = new DelegateCommand<object>(OnResetCommand); } return _resetCommand; } } } private void OnStartMeter(object obj) { _eventAggregator.GetEvent<TaxiStartedEvent>().Publish( new TaxiStarted() { EngagedOn = DateOfEntry.Value.Date + TimeOfEntry.Value, EngagedState = SelectedState.Value }); _isMeterStarted = true; OnPropertyChanged(this,null); } And views communicate user actions like button clicks, tree view item selections, etc using commands. When user clicks on ‘Start the Meter’ button it invokes the method StartMeterCommand, which calls the method OnStartMeter which publishes the event to TotalViewModel using event aggregator and TaxiStartedEvent. namespace TaxiModules.ViewModels { public class TotalViewModel:ObservableBase { ... private IEventAggregator _eventAggregator; public TotalViewModel(IEventAggregator eventAggregator) { _eventAggregator = eventAggregator; InitializePropertyNames(); InitializeModel(); SubscribeToEvents(); } public decimal? TotalFare { get { return _totalFare; } set { _totalFare = value; RaisePropertyChanged(_totalFarePropertyName); } } .... private void SubscribeToEvents() { _eventAggregator.GetEvent<TaxiStartedEvent>().Subscribe(OnTaxiStarted, ThreadOption.UIThread,false,(filter) => true); _eventAggregator.GetEvent<TaxiOnMoveEvent>().Subscribe(OnTaxiMove, ThreadOption.UIThread, false, (filter) => true); _eventAggregator.GetEvent<TaxiResetEvent>().Subscribe(OnTaxiReset, ThreadOption.UIThread, false, (filter) => true); } private void OnTaxiStarted(TaxiStarted taxiStarted) { Fares.Add(new EntryFare()); Fares.Add(new StateTaxFare(taxiStarted)); Fares.Add(new NightSurchargeFare(taxiStarted)); Fares.Add(new PeakHourWeekdayFare(taxiStarted)); SetTotalFare(Fares); } private void SetTotalFare(IEnumerable<IFare> fares) { TotalFare = (_totalFare ?? 0) + TaxiFareHelper.GetTotalFare(fares); } .... } } TotalViewModel subscribes to events, TaxiStartedEvent and rest. When TaxiStartedEvent gets invoked it calls the OnTaxiStarted method which sets the total fare which includes entry fee, state tax, nightly surcharge, peak hour weekday fare. Note that TotalViewModel derives from ObservableBase which implements the method RaisePropertyChanged which we are invoking in Set of TotalFare property, i.e, once we update the TotalFare property it raises an the event that allows the TotalFare text box to fetch the new value through the data context. ViewModel is communicating with View through data context and it has no knowledge about View, helping in loose coupling of ViewModel and View. I have attached the source code (.Net 4.0, Prism 4.0, VS 2010) , download and play with it and don’t forget to leave your comments.

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