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  • SOAP Web Service method naming conventions

    - by dbguy
    Consider a Web Service (e.g. SOAP-based) that has an operation which accepts a bulk of data from the client. From the server's point of view it is receiving data, but from the client's point of view it's sending data. How should that operation be named? The options are ImportData ExportData / SendData Is there a de facto standard for naming these things? How do web services usually name these? Thank you for your opinions.

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  • How to export pdf page as a image using pdfsharp .net library ?

    - by vi.su.
    How to export a pdf page as an image using pdfsharp .net library, for pixel level manipulation ? for example, something like, System.Drawing.BitMap.GetPixel() I am trying to find out empty area (all white, or of any colour) inside a pdf document, to write some graphics / image. 09, June 2010: I have tried this, but it is not working. why the following code is not working as expected ? Bitmap.GetPixel always returns 0. // // PdfSharp.Pdf.PdfDocument // PdfSharp.Pdf.PdfPage // PdfSharp.Drawing.XGraphics // System.Drawing.Bitmap // string srcPDF = @"C:\hcr\test\tmp\file1.pdf"; PdfDocument pdfd = PdfReader.Open(srcPDF); XGraphics xgfx = XGraphics.FromPdfPage(pdfd.Pages[0]); Bitmap b = new Bitmap((int) pdfp.Width.Point, (int) pdfp.Height.Point, xgfx.Graphics); int rgb = b.GetPixel(0, 0).ToArgb();

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  • How to use WINAPI from newer SDK but still using the old SDK in WindowsMobile.

    - by afriza
    Specifically, I want to use Point-to-point Message Queue but because I am still using legacy codes in eVC++ 4 and it only support until PocketPC 2003SE SDK, I cannot find CreateMsgQueue and friends in the headers (the port to newer VisualStudio is still in progess) I am using the Message Queue to do IPC with apps developed with WM-6.5-DTK (VS2005). Update: I am using the following code (taken from msgqueue.h) to store function pointers and load CoreDLL.dll using GetProcAddress() and LoadLibrary() respectively. HANDLE /*WINAPI*/ (*CreateMsgQueue)(LPCWSTR lpName, LPMSGQUEUEOPTIONS lpOptions); HANDLE /*WINAPI*/ (*OpenMsgQueue)(HANDLE hSrcProc, HANDLE hMsgQ , LPMSGQUEUEOPTIONS lpOptions); BOOL /*WINAPI*/ (*ReadMsgQueue)(HANDLE hMsgQ, /*__out_bcount(cbBufferSize)*/ LPVOID lpBuffer, DWORD cbBufferSize, LPDWORD lpNumberOfBytesRead, DWORD dwTimeout, DWORD *pdwFlags); BOOL /*WINAPI*/ (*WriteMsgQueue)(HANDLE hMsgQ, LPVOID lpBuffer, DWORD cbDataSize, DWORD dwTimeout, DWORD dwFlags); BOOL /*WINAPI*/ (*GetMsgQueueInfo)(HANDLE hMsgQ, LPMSGQUEUEINFO lpInfo); BOOL /*WINAPI*/ (*CloseMsgQueue)(HANDLE hMsgQ); Is the above code alright since I need to comment out WINAPI and __out_bcount(cbBufferSize) in order for them to compile.

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  • C# WebBrowser Control System.AccessViolationException

    - by Aaron Smith
    I have a program that uses the built in webbrowser control. At some point during the usage of this, I'm not sure at what point, but it appears to be random, I get the following error: System.AccessViolationException FullText = System.AccessViolationException: Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt. at System.Windows.Forms.UnsafeNativeMethods.DispatchMessageW(MSG& msg) at System.Windows.Forms.Application.ComponentManager.System.Windows.Forms.UnsafeNativeMethods.IMsoComponentManager.FPushMessageLoop(Int32 dwComponentID, Int32 reason, Int32 pvLoopData) at System.Windows.Forms.Application.ThreadContext.RunMessageLoopInner(Int32 reason, ApplicationContext context) at System.Windows.Forms.Application.ThreadContext.RunMessageLoop(Int32 reason, ApplicationContext context) at System.Windows.Forms.Application.Run(Form mainForm) Does anyone have any clues as to why I would get this and how to prevent it?

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  • Pathfinding Algorithm For Pacman

    - by user280454
    Hi, I wanted to implement the game Pacman. For the AI, I was thinking of using the A* algorithm, having seen it on numerous forums. However, I implemented the Breadth First Search for some simple pathfinding (going from point a to point b with certain obstacles in between) and found it gave the optimum path always. I guess it might be because in a game like pacman which uses simple pathfinding, there is no notion of costs in the graph. So, will it be OK if I use BFS instead of A* for pathfinding in Pacman?

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  • Cocoa structs and NSMutableArray

    - by Circle
    I have an NSMutableArray that I'm trying to store and access some structs. How do I do this? 'addObject' gives me an error saying "Incompatible type for argument 1 of addObject". Here is an example ('in' is a NSFileHandle, 'array' is the NSMutableArray): //Write points for(int i=0; i<5; i++) { struct Point p; buff = [in readDataOfLength:1]; [buff getBytes:&(p.x) length:sizeof(p.x)]; [array addObject:p]; } //Read points for(int i=0; i<5; i++) { struct Point p = [array objectAtIndex:i]; NSLog(@"%i", p.x); }

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  • Textbox OnTextChanged and Button Click Event Not Firing

    - by goodwince
    I have textboxes being generated by a repeater that use OnTextChanged with autopostback enabled so that I can know when when the values change. This all works perfect. The problem starts when I try to click on any buttons on the page. The loss of focus triggers the event for the OnTextChanged; however, the event for my buttons never get fired. I checked this in the debugger and while debugging if I put a break-point in the page_load it will call both; however, without the break-point it still only calls the OnTextChanged event. I found this post on JavaScript. If my problem is also JavaScript related, why does the clicking of the button fire in debug mode? Thanks.

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  • How do i specify wcf behaviorExtension class type without the assembly version number?

    - by Mr Bell
    I have a web app that uses a WCF service that utilizes a behaviorExtension like so: <behaviorExtensions> <add name="clientCredentialsExtension" type="Simon.Web.Giftcard.WCFSecurity.ClientCredentialsExtensionElement, Simon.Web.Giftcard, Version=1.0.3736.20411, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null"/> </behaviorExtensions> The problem is this web app's version changes with every compile (i think) and thus invalidating this entry. How can I avoid having to change the version number every time I compile this? Can I specify the extension in code somewhere?

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  • Visual C# 2010 MSVCR100.dll missing when opening a project...tried EVERYTHING!

    - by dlopeztt
    I installed Visual C# 2010 Beta 2 and I get this error every time I open a project: 'This application has failed to start because MSVCR100.dll was not found. Reinstalling the application may fix the problem' I uninstalled every VC runtime, .NET framework, C# on this computer. Then reinstalled Visual C# 2010 and the install went smoothly. Then I ran Microsoft Update. Still the same problem when I open a project. The project was created with VC# 2008. I'm running Windows 7 64-bit. Any idea how to fix this? I could only find people with the same problem while trying to Uninstall VS2010 and use a previous version.

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  • C# resize all elements in form when resizing form

    - by vale4674
    NOTE: I can't put more than one hyperlink so i deleted letter "h" on begining of every link I have this image as the background of the form: ttp://img811.imageshack.us/img811/3347/31886905.jpg So my form looks like this: ttp://img823.imageshack.us/i/cisto.jpg/ When i resize it it looks like this: ttp://img820.imageshack.us/i/cistoumanjeno.jpg/ Now what I need to do is to put listeners on every rextangle like on the picture: ttp://img810.imageshack.us/img810/238/18887457.jpg I made transparent panels and put them on form to match the rectangles on the image (on image, panels are green so you can see where they are): ttp://img809.imageshack.us/i/paneli.jpg/ but when I resize the form it turns like this: ttp://img810.imageshack.us/i/paneliumanjeno.jpg/ anchor and dock properties don't work because they rely on parent container and here rectangles are on background image. QUESTION: I would like to do something like "relative-resize and position". Is that posible? So when I resize form, all the panels fits the rectangles on image.

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  • C# System.Threading.Timer and its state object

    - by Captain NedD
    I am writing a C# program that uses System.Threading.Timer to timeout on a UDP socket ReceiveAsync call. My program polls a remote device, sending a UDP packet and expecting one in return. I use the timer in one shot mode calling Timer.Change every time I want a new timeout period. For every occurance of a timeout I'd like the timeout handler to have a different piece of information. If I change the object I pass to the Timer on creation it doesn't seem to change when the handler executes. Is the only way to do this to destroy the timer and create a new one? Thanks,

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  • user disallowed geolocation - notify user second time

    - by Dror
    When trying to get geolocation on iPhone the first time - I declined. Every other time I want to get the location (before another reload of the page) I get no response (no error and no success): navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition( function (location) { ig_location.lat = location.coords.latitude; ig_location.lng = location.coords.longitude; alert('got it!'); }, function(PositionError) { alert('failed!' + PositionError.message); } ); Is there a way to notify the user every time I fail to get the location? (I do not need to use watchPosition...)

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  • MSSQL EXPRESS 2008 Stored Procedure execution time spikes periodically

    - by user156241
    I have a big stored procedure on a MSSQL 2008 Express SP2 database that gets run about every 200 ms. Normal execution time is about 50ms. What I am seeing is large inconsistencies in this run time. It will execute for while, say 50-100 times at 40-60ms which is expected, then seemingly at random the same stored procedure will take way longer, say 900ms or 1.5 seconds to run. Sometimes more than one call of the same procedure in a row will take longer too. It appears that something is causing sql server to slow down dramatically every minute or so, but I can't figure out what. There is no timing pattern between the occurences. I have the same setup on two different computers, one of which is a clean XP Pro load with no virus checking and nothing installed except SQL server. Also, The recovery options for all the databases are set to "Simple".

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  • UITableView insertRowsAtIndexPaths out of order

    - by bschlenk
    I currently have a UISegmentedControl set to add/remove table view cells when its value changes. Removing cells works perfectly, however when I insert cells they're in reverse order every other time. NSArray *addindexes = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:[NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:2 inSection:0], [NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:3 inSection:0], [NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:4 inSection:0], nil]; NSArray *removeindexes = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:[NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:2 inSection:0], [NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:3 inSection:0], [NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:4 inSection:0], nil]; [self.tableView beginUpdates]; switch (switchType.selectedSegmentIndex) { case 0: [self.tableView insertRowsAtIndexPaths:addindexes withRowAnimation:UITableViewRowAnimationTop]; break; case 1: [self.tableView deleteRowsAtIndexPaths:removeindexes withRowAnimation:UITableViewRowAnimationTop]; break; default: break; } [self.tableView endUpdates];} For example, every other time I add/remove cells they're in reverse order. (4, 3, 2 instead of 2, 3, 4) 1) Remove cells- add cells- correct order 2) Remove cells- add cells- incorrect order 3) Remove cells- add cells- correct order

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  • Different Azure blob streams when using .Net client vs. REST interface

    - by knightpfhor
    I have encountered an unusual difference in the way that the .Net client for Azure and the direct REST API bring back streams of binary data. If I use the CloundBlob.DownloadToStream() vs. getting the response stream from the HTTP response, I get streams with the same length, but different content. Specifically the REST response seems to 0 out a series of bytes. I've discovered this issue because I'm trying to use the byte range feature for blobs which is currently not supported in the .Net client (if I'm wrong on this point and someone can point at where I can do this it might make the rest of this question irrelevant). If I upload a binary representation of the first 2k unicode characters with this code: Public Sub WriteFoo() Dim Blob As CloudBlob Dim Stream1 As MemoryStream Dim Container As CloudBlobContainer Dim Builder As StringBuilder Dim NextCharacter As String Dim Formatter As BinaryFormatter Container = CloudStorageAccount.DevelopmentStorageAccount.CreateCloudBlobClient.GetContainerReference("testcontainer") Container.CreateIfNotExist() Blob = Container.GetBlobReference("Foo") Stream1 = New MemoryStream() Builder = New Text.StringBuilder() For Index As Integer = 1 To 2000 Select Case Index Case Is <= 9 NextCharacter = ChrW(9) Case Is <= 31 NextCharacter = Environment.NewLine Case 127 NextCharacter = Environment.NewLine Case Else NextCharacter = ChrW(Index) End Select Builder.Append(NextCharacter) Next Formatter = New BinaryFormatter() Formatter.Serialize(Stream1, Builder.ToString()) Stream1.Position = 0 Blob.UploadFromStream(Stream1) End Sub Then try to access it with the following code: Public Sub ReadFoo() Dim Blob As CloudBlob Dim Request As System.Net.HttpWebRequest Dim Response As System.Net.WebResponse Dim ResponseSize As Integer Dim ResponseBuffer As Byte() Dim ResponseStream As Stream Dim Stream1 As MemoryStream Dim Stream2 As MemoryStream Dim Container As CloudBlobContainer Dim Byte1 As Integer Dim Byte2 As Integer Container = CloudStorageAccount.DevelopmentStorageAccount.CreateCloudBlobClient.GetContainerReference("testcontainer") Container.CreateIfNotExist() Blob = Container.GetBlobReference("Foo") Stream1 = New MemoryStream() Stream2 = New MemoryStream() Blob.DownloadToStream(Stream1) Request = DirectCast(System.Net.WebRequest.Create(Blob.Uri), System.Net.HttpWebRequest) Request.Headers.Add("x-ms-version", "2009-09-19") Request.Headers.Add("x-ms-range", String.Format("bytes={0}-{1}", 0, Integer.MaxValue)) Blob.Container.ServiceClient.Credentials.SignRequest(Request) Response = Request.GetResponse() ResponseStream = Response.GetResponseStream() ResponseSize = CInt(Response.ContentLength) ReDim ResponseBuffer(ResponseSize - 1) ResponseStream.Read(ResponseBuffer, 0, ResponseSize) Stream2.Write(ResponseBuffer, 0, ResponseSize) Stream1.Position = 0 Stream2.Position = 0 If Stream1.Length <> Stream2.Length Then System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(String.Format("Streams a different length. 1: {0}. 2: {1}", Stream1.Length, Stream2.Length)) Else While Stream1.Position < Stream1.Length Byte1 = Stream1.ReadByte() Byte2 = Stream2.ReadByte() If Byte1 <> Byte2 Then System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(String.Format("Streams differ at position {0}, 1: {1}. 2: {2}", Stream1.Position - 1, Byte1, Byte2)) End If End While End If End Sub Past all certain point all of the data in Stream2 (the data I've retrieved from the REST api) ends up being 0. To make matters even more confusing, when I reverse the order that I put the characters in the string e.g. For Index As Integer = 2000 To 1 rather than For Index As Integer = 1To 2000 it all works OK. Any help is much appreciated. My computer is sick of me swearing at it.

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  • WPF drop shadow

    - by Petezah
    Currently I'm making something in WPF that has a border that contains a grid and other controls. The problem I'm facing is that whenever I set the Border.Effect property to a drop shadow effect every control contained in the border now has a drop shadow. Is there a way to set the shadow just to the border and not every control contained in the border? Here is a short example of my code: <Grid> <Border Margin="68,67,60,67" BorderBrush="Black" BorderThickness="1" CornerRadius="10"> <Border.Effect> <DropShadowEffect/> </Border.Effect> <Rectangle Fill="White" Stroke="Black" Margin="37,89,118,98" /> </Border> </Grid>

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  • Best DataMining Database

    - by Eric
    I am an ocasional Python programer who only have worked so far with MYSQL or SQLITE databases. I am the computer person for everything in a small compamy and I have been started a new project where I think it is about time to try new databases. Sales departament makes a CSV dump every week and I need to make a small scripting application that allow people form other departaments mixing the information, mostly linking the records. I have all this solved, my problem is the speed, I am using just plain text files for all this and unsurprisingly it is very slow. I thought about using mysql, but then I need installing mysql in every desktop, sqlite is easier, but it is very slow. I do not need a full relational database, just some way of play with big amounts of data in a decent time. Many thanks!

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  • Facebook Connect login button not rendering

    - by tloflin
    I'm trying to implement a Facebook Connect Single Sign-on site. I originally just had a Connect button (<fb:login-button>), which the user had to click every time they wanted to sign in. I now have the auto login and logout features working. That is, my site will detect a logged-in Facebook account and automatically authenticate them if it can find a match to one of my site's user accounts, and automatically deauthenticate if the Facebook session is lost. I also have a manual logout button that will log the user out of both my site and Facebook. All of those are working correctly, but now my original Connect button is intermittently not being rendered correctly. It just shows up as the plain XHTML (ie., it looks like plain text--not a button--and is unclickable), and no XFBML is applied. Here is the basic code: On every page: <body> {...} <script src="http://static.ak.connect.facebook.com/js/api_lib/v0.4/FeatureLoader.js.php" type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript> FB.init('APIKey', '/xd_receiver.htm'); var isAuth; // isAuth determines if the user is authenticated on my site // it should be true on the logout page, false on the login page FB.ensureInit(function(){ var session = FB.Facebook.apiClient.get_session(); if (session && !isAuth) { PageMethods.FacebookLogin(session.uid, session.session_key, FBLogin, FBLoginFail); // This is an AJAX call that authenticates the user on my site. } else if(!session && isFBAuth) { PageMethods.FacebookLogout(FBLogout, FBLogoutFail); // This is an AJAX call that deauthenticates the user on my site. } // the callback functions do nothing at the moment }); </script> {...} </body> On the login page: (this page is not visible to logged in users) <body> {...} <script src="http://static.ak.connect.facebook.com/js/api_lib/v0.4/FeatureLoader.js.php" type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript> FB.init('APIKey', '/xd_receiver.htm'); {...} // auto-auth code as on every page </script> <!-- This is the button that fails to render --> <fb:login-button v="2" onlogin="UserSignedIntoFB();" size="large" autologoutlink="true"><fb:intl>Login With Your Facebook Account</fb:intl></fb:login-button> <script type="text/javascript"> function UserSignedIntoFB() { {...} // posts back to the server which authenticates the user on my site & redirects } </script> {...} </body> On the logout page: (this page is not visible to logged out users) <body> {...} <script src="http://static.ak.connect.facebook.com/js/api_lib/v0.4/FeatureLoader.js.php" type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript> FB.init('APIKey', '/xd_receiver.htm'); {...} // auto-auth code as on every page </script> <script type="text/javascript"> function FBLoggedOut() { {...} // posts back to the server which deauthenticates the user on my site & redirects to login } function Logout() { if (FB.Facebook.apiClient.get_session()) { FB.Connect.logout(FBLoggedOut); // logs out of Facebook if it's a Facebook account return false; } else { return true; // posts back if it's a non-Facebook account & redirects to login } } </script> <a onclick="return Logout();" href="postback_url">Sign Out</a> {...} </body> Some things I've already looked at: The automatic login and logout are working great. I can log in and out of Facebook on another tab and my site will notice the session changes and update accordingly. The logout seems to be working fine: when clicked, it deauthenticates the user and logs them out of Facebook, as intended. The issue seems to usually happen after a Facebook user is logged out, but it happens somewhat intermittently; it might happen before they ever login, and it goes away after a few minutes/refreshes. Some cookies are left over after the login/logout process, but deleting them does not fix the issue. Restarting the browser does not fix the issue. The user is definitely logged out of Facebook and my site when the problem occurs. I've checked for Facebook sessions and site authentication. All external script calls are being served up correctly. I have a suspicion that there's something else I need to be doing upon logout (like clearing session or cookies), but according to everything I've read about Facebook Connect, all I need to do is call the logout function (and deauthenticate on my server-side). I'm really at a loss; does anybody have any ideas what could be wrong?

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  • Error when using TransformToAncestor: "The specified Visual is not an ancestor of this Visual."

    - by Brian Sullivan
    I'm trying to get the offset of a control relative to the top of its window, but I'm running into trouble when using the TransformToAncestor method of the control. Note: this code is in a value converter which will convert from a control to its relative Y position in relation to the window. public object Convert(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, CultureInfo culture) { var ctrl = (Control) value; var win = Window.GetWindow(ctrl); var transform = ctrl.TransformToAncestor(win); // Exception thrown here. var pt = transform.Transform(new Point(0, 0)); return pt.Y; } The call to Window.GetWindow works just fine, and returns the correct window object inside which the control resides. Am I misunderstanding what WPF thinks of as an "ancestor"? I would think that given the result of GetWindow, that window would be an ancestor of the control. Are there certain nesting patters that would cause the line of ancestry to be cut off at a certain point?

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  • Was Joel right about XML being slow?

    - by Will
    A long time ago Joel explained how various every-day coding things were slow, and this led to XML as a data store being slow: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000319.html Are those every-day coding things - strcat and malloc - still slow in a std::string and dlmalloc world? What else has changed in modern processors and mainstream frameworks? And is XML still slow? You can't find an RDBMS that doesn't claim some kind of native XML support these days; haven't they got it faster - a single pass to index it for example - yet?

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  • Howto bind a RoutedCommand in a child?

    - by Wouter
    I am having trouble binding a Command that is generated up the UI tree to a control. The following example illustrates my point, the CommandBinding in Grid does not act on the InputBindings in Window. Maybe I do not understand the point of commands, but I would like to have a nice solution for child controls to act on user input on the Window (any control on the Window). <Window x:Class="SilverFit.Menu.Wpf.WpfWindow" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"> <Window.InputBindings> <KeyBinding Command="Close" Key="Escape"/> <MouseBinding Command="Close" MouseAction="RightClick" /> </Window.InputBindings> <Grid Name="grid"> <Grid.CommandBindings> <CommandBinding Command="Close" Executed="Close"/> </Grid.CommandBindings> </Grid> </Window>

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  • Ruby daemons and frequency

    - by mplacona
    Hi, I've written this ruby daemon, and was wondering if somebody could have a look at it, and tell me if the approach I've taken is correct. #!/usr/bin/env ruby require 'logger' # You might want to change this ENV["RAILS_ENV"] ||= "production" require File.dirname(__FILE__) + "/../../config/environment" $running = true Signal.trap("TERM") do $running = false end service = Post.new('http://feed.com/feeds') logger = Logger.new('reader.log') while($running) do # Log my calls logger.info "Run at #{Time.now}" service.update_from_feed_continuously # only run it every 5 minutes or so sleep 300 end I feel like this last loop is not quite the right thing to do, and can be memory intensive, but I'm not sure. Also, the 5 minutes seem to never happen exactly every 5 minutes, and I'll see variations of 4-6 minutes. thanks in advance

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  • Browser Detection and Zend MVC

    - by Vincent
    I have a PHP application using Zend MVC framework. The entry point for every request to the application is in /public/index.php. I have a Browser class that has functions to check if the user's browser is compatible with application or not. My dilemma is, index.php is executed for every controller call. So there are chances that this file gets executed multiple times within the same page and hence redirection becomes an issue. What's the best way to solve the looping issue? Thanks

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  • NRF Online Merchandising Workshop: Where Online Retailers Are Focusing for Holiday and Beyond

    - by Rose Spicer-Oracle
    0 0 1 1204 6863 Oracle Corporation 57 16 8051 14.0 Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} Last month we attended the NRF Online Merchandising Workshop in LA, and it was a great opportunity to catch up with our customers, meet new retailers, and hear some great presentations from VF Corporation, Zazzle, Julep Beauty, Backcountry, eBags and more. The one-on-one conversations with Merchants and the keynote presentations carry the same themes across companies of all sizes and across verticals. With only 125 days left (and counting) until Black Friday, these conversations provided some great insight in to what’s top of mind for retailers during the most stressful time of their year, and a sneak peek in to what they will deliver this holiday season.  Some of the most popular topics were: When to start promoting for holiday: seems like a funny conversation to have in July, but a number of retailers said they already had their holiday shopping gift guides live on their site, and it was attracting a significant portion of their onsite traffic. When it comes to timing, most retailers were questioning when to begin their holiday promotions -- carefully balancing when to release pricing and specials, and knowing that customers are holding out for last-minute deals and price drops. Many retailers noted the frustrations around transparent pricing by Amazon and a few other mega-retailers last year, publishing their “lowest prices of the season” as early as October – ensuring shoppers that those prices were the best they could get all season long. Many retailers felt their hands were forced to drop prices. Others kept their set pricing with negative customer reaction, causing some to miss their holiday goals. The pressure is on, and most retailers identified November 1 as their target start date for the holiday promotions blitz. Some are even waiting for the big guys to release their “lowest prices of the season” guides and will then follow suit.      Attribution is tough – and a huge focus: understanding the path to conversion is a tough nut to crack, especially in the new omnichannel world where consumers use multiple touchpoints to make a single purchase, and internal management wants to know hard data. This has lead many retailers to invest in attribution; carefully tracking their online marketing efforts to determine what gets “credit” for the sale, instead of giving credit to the “last click.” Retailers noted that it is very difficult to determine the numbers when online and offline worlds collide – like when a shopper uses digital channels for research and then makes a purchase in a store. As one of the presenters from The North Face mentioned in her keynote, a key to enabling better customer service and satisfaction when it comes to converged online and offline sales is training the in-store staff, and creating a culture where it eventually “doesn’t matter what group gets the credit” if they all add to the sale. No doubt, the area of attribution will be a big area of retail investment in the coming years.      How to plan for the converged world: planning to ensure inventory gets where it needs to be was another concern. In conversations with retailers, we advised them to analyze customer patterns: where shoppers purchase items, where the items were sourced from and even where items are returned. This analysis is very valuable in determining inventory plans. From there, retailers can more accurately plan and allocate inventory to support both the online and offline customer behavior. As we head into the holiday season, the need for accurate enterprise-wide inventory visibility, and providing that information to associates, is even more critical to the brand-wide customer experience.       Improving the search / navigation / usability of the site(s): Aside from some of the big ideas and standard holiday pricing pressure, most conversations we had centered around continuing to improve the basics of the site. Reinvesting in search and navigation came up time and time again (FitForCommerce blogged about what a big topic it was at the event as well). Obviously getting shoppers on their path quickly and allowing them to find what they need fast is critical, but it was definitely interesting to hear just how much effort is still going in to honing the search and navigation experience. Adding new elements to search and navigation like typeahed, inventive navigation refinements, and new navigation categories like gift guides, specialized boutiques and flash sales were top of mind, in addition to searchandising and making search-driven product recommendations. (Oracle can help!)       Reducing cart abandonment: always a hot topic that is top of mind for every online retailer. Getting shoppers to the cart is often less then half the battle; getting them to click “buy” and complete the transaction is much more difficult. While retailers carefully study the checkout process and where shoppers tend to bounce, they know that how they design their checkout page is critical. We’re all online shoppers in our personal lives and we know how frustrating it can be when total prices are not transparent (i.e. shipping, processing, taxes is not included until the very last possible screen before clicking that buy button). Online retailers are struggling with where in the checkout process to surface the total price to be charged to reduce cart abandonment, while not showing the total figure too early in the process that it keeps shoppers from getting to checkout altogether. Recent research shows that providing total pricing prior to the checkout process dramatically reduces cart abandonment – as it serves as a filter to those shopping within a specific price band. Much of the cart abandonment discussion leads us to…       The free shipping / free returns question: it’s no secret that because of Amazon and programs like Prime, consumers expect free shipping, much to the chagrin of the smaller retailer. The reality is that if you’re not a mega-retailer, shipping is an expensive part of doing business that doesn’t allow most retailers to keep their prices low and offer free shipping. This has many retailers venturing out on the “free returns” path, especially in apparel. A number of retailers we spoke with are testing a flat rate shipping fee with free returns to see if they can crack the price threshold where shoppers are willing to pay for shipping with an added service. But, free shipping remains king.      Social ads and retargeting: they are working, but do they turn off consumers? That’s the big question. Every retailer we spoke with during a roundtable on the topic said that social ads and retargeting (where that pair of boots you’re been eyeing on a site magically follows you around the Internet) work and are meeting campaign goals. The larger question many retailers are asking is if this type of tactic is turning off a large number of shoppers, even if these campaigns are meeting their early goals. Retailers also mentioned that Facebook ads are working very well for them, especially when it comes to new customer acquisition, serving as a complimentary a channel to SEO when it comes to engaging new customers. While there are always new things to experiment with in retail, standard challenges are top of mind as retailers scramble to get ready for holiday. It will undoubtedly be another record-breaking online shopping season, but as retailers get more and more advanced with each Black Friday, expect some exciting things. This excitement needs to be backed by sound solutions and optimized operations. Then again, consumers are expecting more than ever, so I don’t doubt that retailers are already thinking about the possibilities of holiday 2015… and beyond. Customers who read this article, also found value in the following stories: Personalization for Retail: http://blogs.oracle.com/retail/entry/personalization_for_retailShop Direct User Experience Focus Drives Sales:https://blogs.oracle.com/retail/entry/shop_direct_user_experience_focusMaking Waves: Australian Online Retailer SurfStitch: https://blogs.oracle.com/oracleretail/entry/surf_stitchWhat’s new in Oracle Commerce v11.1 for RetailWhat the Content+Commerce Equation is Missing

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