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• Add "My Dropbox" to Your Windows 7 Start Menu

  - by The Geek

  Over here at How-To Geek, we’re huge fans of Dropbox, the amazingly fast online file sync utility, but we’d be even happier if we could natively add it to the Windows 7 Start Menu, where it belongs. And today, that’s what we’ll do. Yep, that’s right. You can add it to the Start Menu… using a silly hack to the Libraries feature and renaming the Recorded TV library to a different name. It’s not a perfect solution, but you can access your Dropbox folder this way and it just seems to belong there. First things first, head into the Customize Start Menu panel by right-clicking on the start menu and using Properties, then make sure that Recorded TV is set to “Display as a link”. Next, right-click on Recorded TV, choose Rename, and then change it to something else like My Dropbox.   Now you’ll want to right-click on that button again, and choose Properties, where you’ll see the Library locations in the list… the general idea is that you want to remove Recorded TV, and then add your Dropbox folder. Oh, and you’ll probably want to make sure to set “Optimize this library for” to “General Items”. At this point, you can just click on My Dropbox, and you’ll see, well, Your Dropbox! (no surprise there). Yeah, I know, it’s totally a hack. But it’s a very useful one! Also, if you aren’t already using Dropbox, you should really check it out—2 GB for free, accessible via the web from anywhere, and you can sync to multiple desktops. Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Use the Windows Key for the "Start" Menu in Ubuntu LinuxAccess Your Dropbox Files in Google ChromeSpeed up Windows Vista Start Menu Search By Limiting ResultsPin Any Folder to the Vista Start Menu the Easy WayEnable "Pin to Start Menu" for Folders in Windows Vista / XP TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 Classic Cinema Online offers 100’s of OnDemand Movies OutSync will Sync Photos of your Friends on Facebook and Outlook Windows 7 Easter Theme YoWindoW, a real time weather screensaver Optimize your computer the Microsoft way Stormpulse provides slick, real time weather data

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• Silverlight Cream for May 05, 2010 -- #856

  - by Dave Campbell

  In this Issue: Jeremy Alles(-2-), Kunal Chowdhury, anand iyer, Yochay Kiriaty(-2-, -3-), Max Paulousky, David Kelley, smartyP, Tim Heuer, and Dan Wahlin. Shoutout: Tim Heuer provides links for all the Ways to give feedback on Silverlight From SilverlightCream.com: [WP7] Bug when using NavigationService in Windows Phone 7 Jeremy Alles has blogged about a bug he found using the Navigation service in WP7. He gives the steps to reproduce and a couple possible workarounds. [WP7] Using the camera in the emulator Jeremy Alles is also digging into the camera functionality in the emulator. He has code demonstrating launching a camera task, and a list of other tasks available. Silverlight Tutorials Chapter 3: Introduction to Panels Kunal Chowdhury has Chapter 3 of his Silverlight 4 Tutorial series up and he's talking about Panels this time out. Push Notifications in Windows Phone 7 developer tools CTP April Refresh anand iyer is discussing the Push Notifications, only from a code perspective. Good information and good additional links to follow. Windows Phone Application Life Cycle Yochay Kiriaty talks with Tudor Toma and Jaime Rodriguez about the WP7 application lifecycle on Channel 9. Understanding Microsoft Push Notifications for Windows Phones Yochay Kiriaty has a 2-part post up on WP7 Push Notifications. The first part is explaining what Push Notifications are and why we need them... as a developer and as an end user viewing Toast or Tile notifications. Understanding How Microsoft Push Notification Works – Part 2 In the 2nd part of his Push Notification series, Yochay Kiriaty discusses how the Push Notification works under the covers. To Remember: Deployment of Silverlight Applications With Wcf Ria Services Max Paulousky has a post up for reference on what to look into when you get "Load Operation Failed" in WCF RIA services. Launching a URL from an OOB Silverlight Application David Kelley has a quick post up on launching URLs from an OOB app. If you haven't tried it, you may be surprised as he was at first. Creating a Windows Phone 7 XNA Game in Landscape Orientation smartyP is looking at recreating a landscape WP7 game in XNA and is detailing some of the issues he's been dealing with, and is also sharing a project file. New Silverlight 4 Themes available–get the raw bits Tim Heuer provided 'raw' versions of 3 new themes. Read his post to see exactly what he means by 'raw' ... they're definitely good looking, and are going to get a lot of play. Handling WCF Service Paths in Silverlight 4 – Relative Path Support Dan Wahlin shares his technique for avoiding the pain involved with ServiceReferences.ClientConfig by using Silverlight 4 relative path support. Stay in the 'Light! Twitter SilverlightNews | Twitter WynApse | WynApse.com | Tagged Posts | SilverlightCream Join me @ SilverlightCream | Phoenix Silverlight User Group Technorati Tags: Silverlight    Silverlight 3    Silverlight 4    Windows Phone MIX10

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• 2D Barcode Addendum

  - by Tim Dexter

  Having finally got my external drive back(long story) today from Oklahoma (thank you so much Sammy) Im back with a full compliment of Oracle and blogging tools at my disposal. I have missed JDeveloper this past week, which I have found, I immensely prefer over Eclipse (let the flaming commence :0) I use Zoundry Raven for writing articles and its not installed locally but on my external drove, so I have been soldiering on with the blog server's pain in the backside UI for writing. Now I have my favority editor back and things are calming down workwise, I will start to get the Excel template posts out. Today thou, a note about 2D barcode support or more specifically any barcode that needs some data manipulation before the barcode font is applied. I wrote about these fonts a long time back and laid out the java class you would need to write if you had an algorithm from the font manufacturer to use. I missed out a valuable point and James at Luminex fell into the trap. He was wanting to use the datamatrix font from IDAutomation but and had built the java class to be called from the RTF template but it was not encoding or at least did not appear to be. New debugging feature to the rescue. Kan over at the bipconsultng blog documented the feature a while back. Just adding <?xdo-debug-level:'STATEMENT'?> to my test template generated all the debug files in my c:\temp directory. No messing with files, just a simple command ... at last! Kan has documented the feature here. With the log in hand I spotted a java error stack referencing a missing code128a method, huh? Looking at James' class he had the following snippet: ENCODERS.put("code128a",mUtility.getClass().getMethod("code128a",clazz)); ENCODERS.put("code128b",mUtility.getClass().getMethod("code128b", clazz)); ENCODERS.put("code128c",mUtility.getClass().getMethod("code128c", clazz)); ENCODERS.put("pdf417",mUtility.getClass().getMethod("pdf417", clazz)); ENCODERS.put("datamatrix",mUtility.getClass().getMethod("datamatrix", clazz)); His class did not include the other code128 and pdf147 methods and BIP was expecting them. An easy fix, just comment them out, rebuild and deploy and the encoding started working. If you are hitting similar problems, check that class and ensure all of the referenced methods are available, if not, delete or get commenting. James now has purdy labels popping out that his hard ware can read, sweet!

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• Initial Look: Storing SQL Compact Data on a Windows Phone 7 Series

  - by Nikita Polyakov

  Ok, the title is misleading – I’ll admit it, but there is a way to store your data in Windows Phone 7 Series. Windows Phone 7 Silverlight solutions have what is called Isolated Storage. [XNA has content storage as well] At this time there is no port of SQL Compact engine for Silverlight Isolated Storage. There is no wind of such intention. [That was a question way before WP7 was even rumored to have Silverlight.] There a few options: 1. Microsoft recommends you “simply” use client-server or cloud approach here. But this is not an option for Offline. 2. Use the new Offline/CacheMode with Sync Framework as shown in the Building Offline Web Apps Using Microsoft Sync Framework MIX10 presentation see 19:10 for Silverlight portion [go to 22:10 mark to see the app]. 3. Use XlmSerializer to dumb your objects to a XML file into the Isolated Storage. Good for small data. 4. Experiment with C#SQLite for Silverlight that has been shown to work in WP7 emulator, read more. 5. Roll your own file format and read/write from it. Think good ol’ CSV. Good for when you want 1million row table ;)   Is Microsoft aware of this possible limitation? Yes. What are they doing about it? I don’t know. See #1 and #2 above as the official guidance for now. What should you do about it? Don’t be too quick to dismiss WP7 because you think you’ll “need” SQL Compact. As lot of us will be playing with these possible solutions, I will be sure to update you on further discoveries. Remember that the tools [even the emulator] released at MIX are CTP grade and might not have all the features. Stay up to date: Watch the @wp7dev account if you are on Twitter. And watch the Windows Phone Dev Website and Blog. More information and detail is sure to come about WP7 Dev, as Windows Phone is planned to launch “Holidays” 2010. [For example Office will be discussed in June from the latest news, June is TechEd 2010 timeframe btw]

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• Working with Visual Studio Web Development Server and IE6 in XP Mode on Windows 7

  - by Igor Milovanovic

  (Brian Reiter from  thoughtful computing has described this setup in this StackOverflow thread. The credit for the idea is entirely his, I have just extended it with some step by step descriptions and added some links and screenhots.)   If you are forced  to still support Internet Explorer 6, you can setup following combination on your machine to make the development for it less painful. A common problem if you are developing on Windows 7 is that you can’t install IE6 on your machine. (Not that you want that anyway). So you will probably end up working locally with IE8 and FF, and test your IE6 compatibility on a separate machine. This can get quite annoying, because you will have to maintain two different development environments, not have all the tools available, etc.   You can help yourself by installing IE6 in a Windows 7 XP Mode, which is basically just an Windows XP running in a virtual machine.   [1] Windows XP Mode installation   After you have installed and configured your XP mode (remember the security settings like Windows Update and antivirus software), you can add the shortcut to the IE6 in the virtual machine to the “all users” start menu. This shortcut will be replicated to your windows 7 XP mode start menu, and you will be able to seamlessly start your IE 6 as a normal window on your Windows 7 desktop.   [2] Configure IE6 for the Windows 7 installation   If you configure your XP – Mode to use (Shared Networking)  NAT, you can now use IE6 to browse the sites in the internet. (add proxy settings to IE6 if necessary)                       The problem now is that you can’t connect to the webdev server which is running on your local machine. This is because web development server is crippled to allow only local connections for security reasons.   In order to trick webdev in believing that the requests are coming from local machine itself you can use a light weight proxy like privoxy on your host (windows 7) machine and configure the IE6 running in the virtual host.   The first step is to make the host machine (running windows 7) reachable from the virtual machine (running XP). In order to do that, you can install the loopback adapter, and configure it to use an IP which is routable from the virtual machine. In example screenshot (192.168.1.66).   [3] How to install loopback adapter in Windows 7   After installation you can assign a static IP which is routable from the virtual machine (in example 192.168.1.66)                     The next step is to configure privoxy to listen on that IP address (using some not used port, in example, the default port 8118)   Change following line in config.txt:   # #      Suppose you are running Privoxy on an IPv6-capable machine and #      you want it to listen on the IPv6 address of the loopback device: # #        listen-address [::1]:8118 # # listen-address  192.168.1.66:8118   The last step is to configure the IE6 to use Privoxy which is running on your Windows 7 host machine as proxy for all addresses (including localhost)                             And now you can use your Windows7 XP Mode IE6 to connect to your Visual Studio’s webdev web server.                         [4] http://stackoverflow.com/questions/683151/connect-remotely-to-webdev-webserver-exe

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• Who Are the BI Users in Your Neighborhood?

  - by Brian Dayton

  Forrester's Boris Evelson recently wrote a blog titled "Who are the BI Personas?" that I enjoyed for a number of reasons. It's a quick read, easy to grasp and (refreshingly) focuses on the users of technology VS the technology. As Evelson admits, he meant to keep the reference chart at a high-level because there are too many different permutations and additional sub-categories to make such a chart useful. For me, I wouldn't head into the technical permutations but more the contextual use of BI and the issues that users experience.  My thoughts brought up more questions than answers such as: Context: -          HOW: With the exception of the "Power User" persona--likely some sort of business or operations analyst? -          WHEN: Are they using the information to make real-time decisions on the front lines (a customer service manager or shipping/logistics VP) or are they using this information for cumulative analysis and business planning? Or both? -          WHERE: What areas of the business are more or less likely to rely on BI across an organization? Human Resources, Operations, Facilities, Finance--- and why are some more prone to use data-driven analysis than others? Issues: -          DELAYS & DRAG ON IT?: One of the persona characteristics Evelson calls out is a reliance on IT. Every persona except for the "Power User" has a heavy reliance on IT for support. What business issues or delays does that cause to users? What is the drag on IT resources who could potentially be creating instead of reporting? -          HOW MANY CLICKS: If BI is being used within the context of a transaction (sales manager looking for upsell opportunities as an example) is that person getting the information within the context of that action or transaction? Or are they minimizing screens, logging into another application or reporting tool, running queries, etc.?   Who are the BI Users in your neighborhood or line of business? Do Evelson's personas resonate--and do the tools that he calls out (he refers to it as "BI Style") resonate with what your personas have or need? Finally, I'm very interested if BI use is viewed as  a bolt-on...or an integrated part of your daily enterprise processes?

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• Add Artistic Effects to Your Pictures in Office 2010

  - by DigitalGeekery

  Do you ever wish you could add cool effects to images in your Office document pictures, but don’t have access to a graphics editor? Today we take a look at the Artistic Effects featire which is a new feature in Office 2010. Note: We will show you examples in Excel, but the Artistic Effect are available in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. To insert a picture into your Office document, click the Picture button on the Insert tab. Once you import your picture, the Picture Tools format ribbon should be active. If not, click on the image.     In the Adjust group, click on Artistic Effects. You will see a selection of effects previews images in the dropdown list. Hover your cursor over the effects to use Live Preview to see what your picture will look like if that effect is applied.   When you find an effect you like, just click to apply it to the image. There are also some additional Artistic Effect Options. Each effect will have a it’s own set of available options that can be adjusted by moving the sliders left or right. If you find you want to undo an effect after it has been applied, simply select the None option from the previews under Artistic Effects. Conclusion Artistic Effects provides a really easy way to add professional looking effects to images in Office 2010 without the need to access graphics editing software. Check out some of our other Office 2010 articles like how to use advanced font ligatures, add video from the web to PowerPoint 2010, and preview before you paste in Office 2010. Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Add Effects To Your Pictures in Word 2007Center Pictures and Other Objects in Office 2007 & 2010Tools to Help Post Content On Your WordPress BlogAdd Classic Polaroid Look to Your Digital picturesGive Your Desktop Artistic Flair with FotoSketcher TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips CloudBerry Online Backup 1.5 for Windows Home Server Snagit 10 VMware Workstation 7 Acronis Online Backup The iPod Revolution Ultimate Boot CD can help when disaster strikes Windows Firewall with Advanced Security – How To Guides Sculptris 1.0, 3D Drawing app AceStock, a Tiny Desktop Quote Monitor Gmail Button Addon (Firefox)

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• Silverlight Cream for May 06, 2010 -- #857

  - by Dave Campbell

  In this Issue: Alan Beasley, Josh Twist, Mike Snow(-2-, -3-), John Papa(-2-), David Kelley, and David Anson(-2-). Shoutout: John Papa posted a question: Do You Want be on Silverlight TV? From SilverlightCream.com: ListBox Styling (Part 3 - Additional Templates) in Expression Blend & Silverlight Alan Beasley has part 3 of his ListBox styling tutorial in Expression Blend up... another great tutorial and all the code. Securing Your Silverlight Applications Josh Twist has a nice long post up on Securing your Silverlight apps... definitions, services, various forms of authentication. Silverlight Tip of the Day #13 – Silverlight Mobile Development Mike Snow has Tip of the Day #13 up and is discussing creating Silverlight apps for WP7. Silverlight Tip of the Day #14 – Dynamically Loading a Control from a DLL on a Server Mike Snow's Tip #14 is step-by-step instructions for loading a UserControl from a DLL. Silverlight Tip of the Day #15 – Setting Default Browse in Visual Studio Mike Snow's Tip #15 is actually a Visual Studio tip -- how to set what browser your Silverlight app will launch in. Silverlight TV 24: eBay’s Silverlight 4 Simple Lister Application Here we are with Silverlight TV Thursday again! ... John Papa is interviewing Dave Wolf talking about the eBay Simple Lister app. Digitally Signing a XAP Silverlight John Papa has a post up about Digitally signing a Silverlight XAP. He actually is posting an excerpt from the Silverlight 4 Whitepaper he posted... and he has a link to the Whitepaper so we can all read the whole thing too! Hacking Silverlight Code Browser David Kelley has a very cool code browser up to keep track of all the snippets he uses... and we can too... this is a tremendous resource... thanks David! Simple workarounds for a visual problem when toggling a ContextMenu MenuItem's IsEnabled property directly David Anson dug into a ContextMenu problem reported by a couple readers and found a way to duplicate the problem plus a workaround while you're waiting for the next Toolkit drop. Upgraded my Windows Phone 7 Charting example to go with the April Developer Tools Refresh David Anson also has a post up describing his path from the previous WP7 code to the current upgrading his charting code. Stay in the 'Light! Twitter SilverlightNews | Twitter WynApse | WynApse.com | Tagged Posts | SilverlightCream Join me @ SilverlightCream | Phoenix Silverlight User Group Technorati Tags: Silverlight    Silverlight 3    Silverlight 4    Windows Phone MIX10

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• Future of Active FoxPro Pages - secured

  Finally some official news about Active FoxPro Pages, aka AFP. The German company BvL Bürosysteme Vertriebs GmbH bought all rights of Active FoxPro Pages from the insolvency stock. Being a former customer and intensive user of AFP since version 2.0 BvL has own interest in the continuation of AFP on current and future web servers. Together with their partners Christof Wollenhaupt (Foxpert Software Development & Consulting) and Jochen Kirstätter (IOS Indian Ocean Software Ltd) BvL will continue with development, support and marketing of AFP in the upcoming weeks. There will be an updated version of AFP, the relaunch of the website, re-enabling of activation server, re-establishment of support channel, and much more... Personally, I am relieved that this superb product made its way out of the dust of the past years. And of course, to be involved (again) in the development and support of Active FoxPro Pages gives me a big smile. Rest assured that there will be more articles on AFP soon! Here is the original announcement of 27th September 2010 from the online forum of German FoxPro Usergroup (dFPUG) - section Active FoxPro Pages: Liebe AFP Anwender, liebe FoxPro Gemeinde, nach den Insolvenzen der ProLib Software GmbH und der ProLib Tools GmbH gab es einige Verunsicherung über die Zukunft der Active FoxPro Pages. Wir können euch nun mitteilen, dass eine für alle Beteiligten positive Lösung gefunden wurde. Wir, die BvL Bürosysteme Vertriebs GmbH aus Berlin, haben sämtliche Rechte an der AFP aus der Insolvenzmasse vom Insolvenzverwalter abgekauft. Bereits 1987 wurde die BvL Bürosysteme Vertriebs GmbH gegründet und hat sich seit dem erfolgreich im Markt bewährt. Wir gehören auch schon seit Foxpro2.0 zur Foxpro-Gemeinde und auch mit der AFP2.0 haben wir unseren Einstieg in die AFP-Gemeinde vollzogen. Wir wollen die AFP nicht in irgendeine Schublade packen, sondern unser Ziel ist es, die AFP weiterzuentwickeln, speziell auch auf die kommenden Serverversionen. Unter der Homepage www.active-foxpro-pages.de wird es demnächst einen neuen Auftritt geben. An den Preisen soll sich nichts groß verändern, das Handbuch soll anständig aufgelegt werden und selbstverständlich soll der Support und die Weiterentwicklung eine große Aufmerksamkeit bekommen. Mit Christof Wollenhaupt und Jochen Kirstätter haben wir zwei Partner an Bord, die sich um den Support und die Weiterentwicklung kümmern werden. Christof Wollenhaupt wird maßgeblich und federführend an der Weiterentwicklung beteiligt sein. Über Christof Wollenhaupt können auch ab sofort Lizenzen gekauft werden, Christof Wollenhaupt ist für den Online-Vertrieb zuständig, der gerade aufgebaut wird. Sollte ein AFP Server aktiviert werden müssen, können sich alle bisherigen Lizenzinhaber auch direkt an Christof Wollenhaupt wenden. In den nächsten Wochen werden wir die AFP wieder auf Touren bringen. Eine aktuelle Version, eine neue Webseite, der Aktivierungsserver, ein Überblick über das leicht geänderte Lizensierungsmodell, und vieles mehr ist gerade in Arbeit. Die Zukunft und die Weiterentwicklung der AFP sind jetzt gesichert! Mit freundlichen Grüßen Ralph-Norman von Loesch Source: http://forum.dfpug.de/bodyframe.afp?msgid=728069

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• Setting up Visual Studio 2010 to step into Microsoft .NET Source Code

  - by rajbk

  Using the Microsoft Symbol Server to obtain symbol debugging information is now much easier in VS 2010. Microsoft gives you access to their internet symbol server that contains symbol files for most of the .NET framework including the recently announced availability of MVC 2 Symbols.  SETUP In VS 2010 RTM, go to Tools –> Options –> Debugging –> General. Check “Enable .NET Framework source stepping” We get the following dialog box   This automatically disables “Enable My Code”   Go to Debugging –> Symbols and Check “Microsoft Symbol Servers”. You can selectively exclude modules if you want to.   You will get a warning dialog like so: Hitting OK will start the download process   The setup is complete. You are now ready to start debugging! DEBUGGING Add a break point to your application and run the application in debug mode (F5 shortcut for me). Go to your call stack when you hit the break point. Right click on a frame that is grayed out. Select “Load Symbols from” “Microsoft Symbol Servers”. VS will begin a one time download of that assembly. This assembly will be cached locally so you don’t have to wait for the download the next time you debug the app.   We get a one time license agreement dialog box You might see an error like the one below regarding different encoding (hopefully will be fixed).    Assemblies for which the symbols have been loaded are no longer grayed out. Double clicking on any entry in the call stack should now directly take you to the source code for that assembly. AFAIK, not all symbols are available on the MS symbol server. In cases like that you will see a tab like the one below and be given the option to “Show Disassembly”. Enjoy! Newsreel Announcer: Humiliated, Muntz vows a return to Paradise Falls and promises to capture the beast alive! Charles Muntz: [speaking to a large audience outside in the newsreel] I promise to capture the beast alive, and I will not come back until I do!

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• What have my fellow Delphi programmers done to make Eclipse/Java more like Delphi?

  - by Robert Oschler

  I am a veteran Delphi programmer working on my first real Android app. I am using Eclipse and Java as my development environment. The thing I miss the most of course is Delphi's VCL components and the associated IDE tools for design-time editing and code creation. Fortunately I am finding Eclipse to be one hell of an IDE with it's lush context sensitive help, deep auto-complete and code wizard facilities, and other niceties. This is a huge double treat since it is free. However, here is an example of something in the Eclipse/Java environment that will give a Delphi programmer pause. I will use the simple case of adding an "on-click" code stub for an OK button. DELPHI Drop button on a form Double-click button on form and fill in the code that will fire when the button is clicked ECLIPSE Drop button on layout in the graphical XML file editor Add the View.OnClickListener interface to the containing class's "implements" list if not there already. (Command+1 on Macs, Ctrl + 1 on PCs I believe). Use Eclipse to automatically add the code stub for unimplemented methods needed to support the View.OnClickListener interface, thus creating the event handler function stub. Find the stub and fill it in. However, if you have more than one possible click event source then you will need to inspect the View parameter to see which View element triggered the OnClick() event, thus requiring a case statement to handle multiple click event sources. NOTE: I am relatively new to Eclipse/Java so if there is a much easier way of doing this please let me know. Now that work flow isn't all that terrible, but again, that's just the simplest of use cases. Ratchet up the amount of extra work and thinking for a more complex component (aka widget) and the large number of properties/events it might have. It won't be long before you miss dearly the Delphi intelligent property editor and other designers. Eclipse tries to cover this ground by having an extensive list of properties in the menu that pops up when you right-click over a component/widget in the XML graphical layout editor. That's a huge and welcome assist but it's just not even close to the convenience of the Delphi IDE. Let me be very clear. I absolutely am not ranting nor do I want to start a Delphi vs. Java ideology discussion. Android/Eclipse/Java is what it is and there is a lot that impresses me. What I want to know is what other Delphi programmers that made the switch to the Eclipse/Java IDE have done to make things more Delphi like, and not just to make component/widget event code creation easier but any programming task. For example: Clever tips/tricks Eclipse plugins you found other ideas? Any great blog posts or web resources on the topic are appreciated too. -- roschler

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• SQL SERVER – SSMS 2012 Reset Keyboard Shortcuts to Default

  - by pinaldave

  As a technologist, I love my laptop very much and I do not lend it to anyone as I am usually worried that my settings would be messed up when I get it back from its borrower. Honestly, I love how I have set up my laptop and I enjoy the settings and programs I have placed on my computer. If someone changes things there – it will surely be annoying for me. Recently at one of the conferences I was attending in, a small accident happened – one of the speaker’s hard drives failed. The owner immediately panicked due to this and had no clue what to do. I suggested that he may not be able to show the demos but can still show a few things with the product. He accepted my suggestion and finished the presentation. Good thing everybody looked satisfied. Little did I know that a small accident was waiting for me later that day. When I opened my SQL Server Denali, all my shortcuts were totally out of order. When I hit F5, instead of executing query, it was opening up some debugging screen for me. I was very much annoyed so I decided to surf the Internet for me to know how I could reset it to SQL Server 2012 default shortcut. There were so many different advices which further confused me. After reading 4-5 different methods, I used the following method to reset my SQL Server 2012 keyboard shortcuts: Go to SSMS > Tools >> Import and Export Settings… As I wanted to reset all the settings I selected the “Reset all settings” option, but you can select other options as per your need. I suggest you save your current Settings; however, in my case, I did not like the current option so I just decided to overwrite my settings. Here I have two options –  I can either set my shortcut to SQL Server 2012 settings or Visual Studio 2010. I went ahead with the SQL Server 2012 option. Success! Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: Pinal Dave, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Server Management Studio, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

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• Development processes, the use of version control, and unit-testing

  - by ct01

  Preface I've worked at quite a few "flat" organizations in my time. Most of the version control policy/process has been "only commit after it's been tested". We were constantly committing at each place to "trunk" (cvs/svn). The same was true with unit-testing - it's always been a "we need to do this" mentality but it never really materializes in a substantive form b/c there is no institutional knowledge base to do it - no mentorship. Version Control The emphasis for version control management at one place was a very strict protocol for commit messages (format & content). The other places let employees just do "whatever". The branching, tagging, committing, rolling back, and merging aspect of things was always ill defined and almost never used. This sort of seems to leave the version control system in the position of being a fancy file-storage mechanism with a meta-data component that never really gets accessed/utilized. (The same was true for unit testing and committing code to the source tree) Unit tests It seems there's a prevailing "we must/should do this" mentality in most places I've worked. As a policy or standard operating procedure it never gets implemented because there seems to be a very ill-defined understanding about what that means, what is going to be tested, and how to do it. Summary It seems most places I've been to think version control and unit testing is "important" b/c the trendy trade journals say it is but, if there's very little mentorship to use these tools or any real business policies, then the full power of version control/unit testing is never really expressed. So grunts, like myself, never really have a complete understanding of the point beyond that "it's a good thing" and "we should do it". Question I was wondering if there are blogs, books, white-papers, or online journals about what one could call the business process or "standard operating procedures" or uses cases for version control and unit testing? I want to know more than the trade journals tell me and get serious about doing these things. PS: @Henrik Hansen had a great comment about the lack of definition for the question. I'm not interested in a specific unit-testing/versioning product or methodology (like, XP) - my interest is more about work-flow at the individual team/developer level than evangelism. This is more-or-less a by product of the management situation I've operated under more than a lack of reading software engineering books or magazines about development processes. A lot of what I've seen/read is more marketing oriented material than any specifically enumerated description of "well, this is how our shop operates".

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• Play a New Random Game Each Day in Chrome

  - by Asian Angel

  Being able to unwind for a few moments each day can make the time pass so much better and help you feel refreshed. If your favorite method for relaxing is playing a quick game, then join us as we take a look at the Random Games from MyGiochi.net extension for Google Chrome. Random Games from MyGiochi.net in Action The really great thing about this extension is that each day you can have a new random game to play. If you love variety this is definitely going to be a perfect match for you. We got “Power Golf” as our random game of the day. Here is a look at things once we got started…this one can be a lot of fun to play. Time to move on to the third hole now… What if you want something different from the game available on any given day? In the upper right corner you will find links for “game categories” that you can look through (clicking on the links will open a new tab). Since the links are in Italian you might need to experiment a little bit to find the category that you want to browse through. We chose the “Games for Girls Category”. With Chrome’s new built in “Translation Bar” you can easily switch the page over to the language of your choice. Note: Translation Bar available in Dev Channel releases. Ready to choose a fun game to play! You really can have a lot of fun with the games available at My Giochi. With our “game of the day” we had a second option for other games to try. More games equals more fun! Conclusion If playing online games is your favorite way to relax then the MyGiochi.net extension will make a great addition to your browser. Have fun with all of those new games each day! Links Download the Random Games from MyGiochi.net extension (Google Chrome Extensions) Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Geek Fun: Play Alien Arena the Free FPS GamePlay Avalanche!! in Google ChromeFriday Fun: Get Your Mario OnFriday Fun: Play Bubble QuodFriday Fun: 13 Days in Hell TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 PCmover Professional How to Browse Privately in Firefox Kill Processes Quickly with Process Assassin Need to Come Up with a Good Name? Try Wordoid StockFox puts a Lightweight Stock Ticker in your Statusbar Explore Google Public Data Visually The Ultimate Excel Cheatsheet

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• Issues with timed out downloads via TomCat?

  - by Ira Baxter

  We get, in our opinion, a lot of failed download attempts and want to understand why. We offer downloads via an email link (typical): http://www.semanticdesigns.com/deliverEval/<productname> This is processed by Tomcat on Linux via a jsp file, with the following code: response.addHeader( "Content-Disposition", "attachment; filename=" + fileTail ); response.addHeader( "Content-Type", "application/x-msdos-program" ); byte[] buf = new byte[8192]; int read; try { java.io.FileInputStream input = new java.io.FileInputStream( filename ); java.io.OutputStream o = response.getOutputStream(); while( ( read = input.read( buf, 0, 8192 ) ) != -1 ){ o.write( buf, 0, read ); } o.flush(); } catch( Exception e ){ util.fatalError( request.getRequestURI(), "Error sending file '" + filename + "' to client", e ); throw e; } We get a lot of reported errors (about 50% error rate): URI --- /deliverEval/download.jsp Code Message: Error sending file '/home/sd/ShippingMasters/DMS/Domains/C/GCC3/Tools/TestCoverage/SD_C~GCC3_TestCoverage.1.6.12.exe' to client Stack Trace ----------- null at org.apache.coyote.tomcat5.OutputBuffer.realWriteBytes(byte[], int, int) (Unknown Source) at org.apache.tomcat.util.buf.ByteChunk.append(byte[], int, int) (Unknown Source) at org.apache.coyote.tomcat5.OutputBuffer.writeBytes(byte[], int, int) (Unknown Source) at org.apache.coyote.tomcat5.OutputBuffer.write(byte[], int, int) (Unknown Source) at org.apache.coyote.tomcat5.CoyoteOutputStream.write(byte[], int, int) (Unknown Source) at org.apache.jsp.deliverEval.download_jsp._jspService(javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest, javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse) (Unknown Source) at org.apache.jasper.runtime.HttpJspBase.service(javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest, javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse) (Unknown Source) at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(javax.servlet.ServletRequest, javax.servlet.ServletResponse) (Unknown Source) at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServletWrapper.service(javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest, javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse, boolean) (Unknown Source) at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet.serviceJspFile(javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest, javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse, java.lang.String, java.lang.Throwable, boolean) (Unknown Source) at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet.service(javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest, javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse) (Unknown Source) at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(javax.servlet.ServletRequest, javax.servlet.ServletResponse) (Unknown Source) at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(javax.servlet.ServletRequest, javax.servlet.ServletResponse) (Unknown Source) at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(javax.servlet.ServletRequest, javax.servlet.ServletResponse) (Unknown Source) at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(org.apache.catalina.Request, org.apache.catalina.Response, org.apache.catalina.ValveContext) (Unknown Source) We don't understand why this rate should be so high. Is there any way to get more information about the cause of the error? It is useful to know that these are pretty big documents, 3-50 megabytes. They reside on the Linux server so reading them is just a local disk read, and is unlikely to be a contributor to the problem. But sheer size might be an issue for the recipients browser? Is this kind of error rate typical for downloads? My personal experience downloading other's documents suggests no; our internal attempts show this to be very reliable, but we're operating on our internal network for such experiments so we're missing the complexity of the intervening internet.

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• Make Chrome’s New Tab Page More Useful and Artistic

  - by Asian Angel

  Are you tired of the default New Tab Page in Google Chrome and want something more useful and artistic? Then join us as we look at the Incredible StartPage extension. Before Here is the default “New Tab Page” in our Chrome Browser…it looks rather plain and boring. How about something better? Incredible StartPage in Action This is what our “New Tab Page” looked like after installing the extension. As you can see there is a “Note Section”, “Closed Tabs Section”, “All Bookmarks Section”, and a “Bookmarks Toolbar (links only) Section”. Note: Clicking on links in Incredible StartPage will open them in the current tab. If you want you can easily modify how Incredible StartPage looks using the “Options” in the upper right corner. After only a couple of minutes our “New Tab Page” was looking nice…new background color, image, and altered note. A very useful feature of the “Note Section” is that you can add your notes to an e-mail by clicking on the “Post to Gmail Link” just below the note. Note: Special “Chrome Pages” (i.e. Extensions) will not open from the “Closed Tabs Section”. When you click on “Post to Gmail” a new tab will be opened with your notes pre-pasted into the main letter body. All that is left for you to do is select the appropriate e-mail address(es) and to make any desired modifications to the “Subject & Letter”. Going back to the “New Tab Page” you can trade bookmarks back and forth between the “All Bookmarks Section” and the “Bookmarks Toolbar Section”. Simply drag-and-drop as desired…but keep in mind that any changes made here will also be reflected in your “Bookmarks Toolbar & Other Bookmarks”. There is our bookmark freshly traded over to the “Bookmarks Toolbar Section”…looking very nice. Conclusion If you are tired of the default “New Tab Page” in Google Chrome then the Incredible StartPage extension will make for a refreshing change. Links Download the Incredible StartPage extension (Google Chrome Extensions) Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Turn Chrome’s New Tab Page into a Google Tasks PageAccess Google Chrome’s Special Pages the Easy WayReplace Google Chrome’s New Tab Page with Speed DialRegistry Hack to Set Internet Explorer Start PageMake iGoogle Your Startup Page in Microsoft Outlook TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 PCmover Professional Get Better Windows Search With UltraSearch Scan News With NY Times Article Skimmer SpeedyFox Claims to Speed up your Firefox Beware Hover Kitties Test Drive Mobile Phones Online With TryPhone Ben & Jerry’s Free Cone Day, 3/23/10

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• View HTML Tags and Webpage Combined in Firefox

  - by Asian Angel

  Do you want an easier way to see a webpage’s html tags without viewing the source code in a separate window? Now you can view the webpage and tags combined in the same window using the X-Ray extension for Firefox. Before Usually if you want to see the source code behind a webpage you have to view it in a separate window. If you are only interested in a specific section then you have to search through the entire set of code just to find what you are looking for. After The X-Ray extension will let you see the document’s tags (including class and ID names) “side by side” with the webpage in the same tab. You can use either the context menu or the tools menu to access the X-Ray command. Here is the same webpage section shown in the first screenshot above. It may look a little odd at first until you get used to seeing both together. Note: You can return the webpage to its’ normal view by either clicking on the X-Ray command again or refreshing the page. The code for part of the sidebar on the same webpage… Followed by one of the sets of links at the end. Looking at another example suppose you are interested in how part of the main feed is set up. Being able to see how a particular element is set up directly in the webpage is certainly better than searching through the entire page of code. Conclusion If you design webpages and want an easy way to see how someone else’s website is coded then you may want to give this extension a try. Links Download the X-Ray extension (Mozilla Add-ons) Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips View Webpage Source Code in Tabs in FirefoxCreate Pre-Formatted Links in FirefoxRemove Webpage Formatting or View the HTML Code When Copying in FirefoxInsert Special Characters & Coding in Online Forms in FirefoxCombine the Address Bar and Progress Bar Together in Firefox TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips HippoRemote Pro 2.2 Xobni Plus for Outlook All My Movies 5.9 CloudBerry Online Backup 1.5 for Windows Home Server Convert BMP, TIFF, PCX to Vector files with RasterVect Free Identify Fonts using WhatFontis.com Windows 7’s WordPad is Actually Good Greate Image Viewing and Management with Zoner Photo Studio Free Windows Media Player Plus! – Cool WMP Enhancer Get Your Team’s World Cup Schedule In Google Calendar

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• July, the 31 Days of SQL Server DMO’s – Day 25 (sys.dm_db_missing_index_details)

  - by Tamarick Hill

  The sys.dm_db_missing_index_details Dynamic Management View is used to return information about missing indexes on your SQL Server instances. These indexes are ones that the optimizer has identified as indexes it would like to use but did not have. You may also see these same indexes indicated in other tools such as query execution plans or the Database tuning advisor. Let’s execute this DMV so we can review the information it provides us. I do not have any missing index information for my AdventureWorks2012 database, but for the purposes of illustrating the result set of this DMV, I will present the results from my msdb database. SELECT * FROM sys.dm_db_missing_index_details The first column presented is the index_handle which uniquely identifies a particular missing index. The next two columns represent the database_id and the object_id for the particular table in question. Next is the ‘equality_columns’ column which gives you a list of columns (comma separated) that would be beneficial to the optimizer for equality operations. By equality operation I mean for any queries that would use a filter or join condition such as WHERE A = B. The next column, ‘inequality_columns’, gives you a comma separated list of columns that would be beneficial to the optimizer for inequality operations. An inequality operation is anything other than A = B. For example, “WHERE A != B”, “WHERE A > B”, “WHERE A < B”, and “WHERE A <> B” would all qualify as inequality. Next is the ‘included_columns’ column which list all columns that would be beneficial to the optimizer for purposes of providing a covering index and preventing key/bookmark lookups. Lastly is the ‘statement’ column which lists the name of the table where the index is missing. This DMV can help you identify potential indexes that could be added to improve the performance of your system. However, I will advise you not to just take the output of this DMV and create an index for everything you see. Everything listed here should be analyzed and then tested on a Development or Test system before implementing into a Production environment. For more information on this DMV, please see the below Books Online link: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms345434.aspx Follow me on Twitter @PrimeTimeDBA

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• SQL SERVER – Sharing your ETL Resources Across Applications with Ease

  - by pinaldave

  Frequently an organization will find that the same resources are used in multiple ETL applications, for example, the same database, general purpose processing logic, or file system locations.  Creating an easy way to reuse these resources across multiple applications would increase efficiency and reduce errors.  Moreover, not every ETL developer has the same skill set, and it is likely that one developer will be more adept at writing code while another is more comfortable configuring database connections.  Real productivity gains will come when these developers are able to work independently while still making their work available to others assigned to the same project.  These are the benefits of a centralized version control system. Of course, most version control systems could be used to store and serve files, but the real need is to store and serve entire ETL applications so that each developer’s ongoing work can immediately benefit from another developer’s completed work.  In other words, the version control system needs to be tightly integrated with the tools used to develop the ETL application. The following screen shot shows such a tool. Desktop ETL tool that tightly integrates with a central version control system Developers can checkout or commit entire projects or just a single artifact.  Each artifact may be managed independently so if you need to go back to an earlier version of one artifact, changes you may have made to other artifacts are not lost.  By being tightly integrated into the graphical environment used to create and edit the project artifacts, it is extremely easy and straight-forward to move your files to and from the version control system and there is no dependency on another vendor’s version control system.  The built in version control system is optimized for managing the artifacts of ETL applications. It is equally important that the version control system supports all of the actions one typically performs such as rollbacks, locking and unlocking of files, and the ability to resolve conflicts.  Note that this particular ETL tool also has the capability to switch back and forth between multiple version control systems. It also needs to be easy to determine the status of an artifact.  Not just that it has been committed or modified, but when and by whom.  Generally you must query the version control system for this information, but having it displayed within the development environment is more desirable. Who’s ETL tool works in this fashion?  Last month I mentioned the data integration solution offered by expressor software.  The version control features I described in this post are all available in their just released expressor 3.1 Standard Edition through the integration of their expressor Studio development environment with a centralized metadata repository and version control system. You can download their Studio application, which is free, or evaluate the full Standard Edition on your own hardware.  It may be worth your time. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: Pinal Dave, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

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• Change default language settings in Visual Studio 2012

  - by sreejukg

  The first thing you need to do after the installation of Visual Studio 2012 is to choose the IDE preferences. Once you select your preferred collection of settings, the IDE will always choose dialogs and other options according to your selection. Nowadays developer’s needs to work with different programming environments and due to this, developers might need to reset the default settings. In this article, I am going to demonstrate how you can change the default settings in Visual Studio 2012. For the purpose of this demonstration, I have installed Visual Studio 2012 and selected C++ as my default environment settings. So now when I go to file -> new project, it will give me C++ templates by default as follows. If you want to select another language, you need to expand Other Languages section and select C# or VB. Now I am going to change these default settings. I am going to change the default language preference to C#. In Visual Studio 2012, go to tools menu and select Import and Export Settings. Here you have 3 options; one is to export the current settings so that the settings are saved for future use. Also you can import previously saved settings. The last option available is to reset it to default. It is a good Idea to export your settings and import it as you need in later stages. To reset the settings to default select the Reset option and click next. Now Visual Studio will ask you to whether you would like to save the settings, which can be used in future to restore. Select any one option and click next. For the purpose of this demo, I have selected not to save the settings. Click Next button to continue. Now Visual Studio will bring you the similar dialog that appears just after installation to select your IDE settings. Select the required settings from the available list and click Finish button. Click Finish once you are done. If everything OK, you will see the success message as below. Now go to file -> new Project, you will see the selected language appear by default. I selected C# in the previous step and the new project dialog appears as follows. Changing IDE settings in Visual Studio 2012 is very easy and straight forward.

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• Remove the Lock Icon from a Folder in Windows 7

  - by Trevor Bekolay

  If you’ve been playing around with folder sharing or security options, then you might have ended up with an unsightly lock icon on a folder. We’ll show you how to get rid of that icon without over-sharing it. The lock icon in Windows 7 indicates that the file or folder can only be accessed by you, and not any other user on your computer. If this is desired, then the lock icon is a good way to ensure that those settings are in place. If this isn’t your intention, then it’s an eyesore. To remove the lock icon, we have to change the security settings on the folder to allow the Users group to, at the very least, read from the folder. Right-click on the folder with the lock icon and select Properties. Switch to the Security tab, and then press the Edit… button. A list of groups and users that have access to the folder appears. Missing from the list will be the “Users” group. Click the Add… button. The next window is a bit confusing, but all you need to do is enter “Users” into the text field near the bottom of the window. Click the Check Names button. “Users” will change to the location of the Users group on your particular computer. In our case, this is PHOENIX\Users (PHOENIX is the name of our test machine). Click OK. The Users group should now appear in the list of Groups and Users with access to the folder. You can modify the specific permissions that the Users group has if you’d like – at the minimum, it must have Read access. Click OK. Keep clicking OK until you’re back at the Explorer window. You should now see that the lock icon is gone from your folder! It may be a small aesthetic nuance, but having that one folder stick out in a group of other folders is needlessly distracting. Fortunately, the fix is quick and easy, and does not compromise the security of the folder! Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips What is this "My Sharing Folders" Icon in My Computer and How Do I Remove It?Lock The Screen While in Full-Screen Mode in Windows Media PlayerHave Windows Notify You When You Accidentally Hit the Caps Lock KeyWhy Did Windows Vista’s Music Folder Icon Turn Yellow?Create Shutdown / Restart / Lock Icons in Windows 7 or Vista TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips Acronis Online Backup DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows Check these Awesome Chrome Add-ons iFixit Offers Gadget Repair Manuals Online Vista style sidebar for Windows 7 Create Nice Charts With These Web Based Tools Track Daily Goals With 42Goals Video Toolbox is a Superb Online Video Editor

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• Scrum and Team Consolidation

  - by John K. Hines

  I’m still working my way through one of the more painful team consolidations of my career.  One thing that’s made it hard was my assumption that the use of Agile methods and Scrum would make everything easy.  Take three teams, make all work visible, track it, and presto: An efficient, functioning software development team. What I’ve come to realize is that the primary benefit of Scrum is that Scrum brings teams closer to their customers.  Frequent meetings, short iterations, and phased deployments are all meant to keep the customer in the loop.  It’s true that as teams become proficient with Scrum they tend to become more efficient.  But I don’t think it’s true that Scrum automatically helps people work together. Instead, Scrum can point out when teams aren’t good at working together.   And it really illustrates when teams, especially teams in sustaining mode, are reacting to their customers instead of innovating with them.  At the moment we’ve inherited a huge backlog of tools, processes, and personalities.  It’s up to us to sort them all out.  Unfortunately, after 7 &frac12; months we’re still sorting. What I’d recommend for any blended team is to look at your current product lifecycles and work on a single lifecycle for all work.  If you can’t objectively come up with one process, that’s a good indication that the new team might not be a good fit for being a single unit (which happens all the time in bigger companies).  Go ahead & self-organize into sub-teams.  Then repeat the process. If you can come up with a single process, tackle each piece and standardize all of them.  Do this as soon as possible, as it can be uncomfortable.  Standardize your requirements gathering and tracking, your exploration and technical analysis, your project planning, development standards, validation and sustaining processes.  Standardize all of it.  Make this your top priority, get it out of the way, and get back to work. Lastly, managers of blended teams should realize what I’m suggesting is a disruptive process.  But you’ve just reorganized the team is already disrupted.   Don’t pull the bandage off slowly and force the team through a prolonged transition phase, lowering their productivity over the long term.  You can role model leadership to your team and drive a true consolidation.  Destroy roadblocks, reassure those on your team who are afraid of change, and push forward to create something efficient and beautiful.  Then use Scrum to reengage your customers in a way that they’ll love. Technorati tags: Scrum Scrum Process

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• Friday Fun: Games that Look Like Productivity Apps

  - by Mysticgeek

  We’ve been showing you fun flash games to play during company time on a Friday afternoon. Hopefully while playing them, you haven’t received a “talking to”. Today we show you some cool games to play that look like productivity apps, so the boss will be none the wiser. The website cantyouseeimbusy.com has developed some very neat little games that look like productivity apps like Word and Excel. These apps look exactly like some project you would be working on, but are really neat little games. Here we take a look at three cool ones on the site called Breakdown, Leadership, and Cost Cutter. Leadership Leadership is a cool game that looks like something you would be working in Excel and is a spin off of the classic game Moon Lander. You navigate your ship through a variety of challenging line graphs. Breakdown This one is a knock off of the classic game Break Out. Use your mouse to scroll the racket at the bottom and bounce the ball off of the text in the document. Press the space bar to pause the game and the elements will disappear…good for when the boss comes around. Cost Cutter This one is a puzzle game where it looks like your working on some bar charts in Excel. You need to click combinations of two or more blocks that are the same color. Again, hit the spacebar and the game elements will disappear. If you’re looking for a way to goof off with some simple games without the boss knowing, these will definitely do the trick. Another cool game along these lines is Excit! which we covered previously. Play Cost Cutter, Breakdown, and Leadership at cantyouseeimbusy.com Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Friday Fun: Get Your Mario OnFriday Fun: Bricks Breaking & Cube CrashFriday Fun: Fancy Pants AdventuresFriday Fun: GemCraft is a Totally Addictive Tower Defense GameFriday Fun: Five More Time Wasting Online Games TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 PCmover Professional Download Microsoft Office Help tab The Growth of Citibank Quickly Switch between Tabs in IE Windows Media Player 12: Tweak Video & Sound with Playback Enhancements Own a cell phone, or does a cell phone own you? Make your Joomla & Drupal Sites Mobile with OSMOBI

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• AIIM, Oracle and Keste - Talking Social Business in LA

  - by Brian Dirking

  We had a great event today in Los Angeles - AIIM, Oracle and Keste presented on how organizations are making social business work. Atle Skjekkeland of AIIM presented How Social Business Is Driving Innovation. Atle talked about a number of fascinating points, such as how answers to questions come from unexpected sources. Atle cited the fact that 38% of organizations get half or more of answers from unexpected sources, which speaks to the wisdom of the crowds and how people are benefiting from open communications tools to get answers to their questions. He also had a number of hilarious examples of companies that don't get it. If Comcast were to go to YouTube and search Comcast, they would see the number one hit after their paid ad is a video of one of their technicians asleep on a customer's couch. Seems when he called the office for support he was put on hold so long he fell asleep. Dan O'Leary and Atle Skjekkeland After Atle's presentation I presented on Solving the Innovation Challenge with Oracle WebCenter. Atle had talked about McKinsey's research titled The Rise Of The Networked Enterprise: Web 2.0 Finds Its Payday. I brought in some new McKinsey research that built on that article. The new article is How Social Technologies Are Extending The Organization. A survey of 4,200 Global Executives brought three conclusions for the future: Boundaries among employees, vendors and customers will blur Employee teams will self-organize Data-driven decisions will rise These three items were themes that repeated through the day as we went through examples of what customers are doing today.  Next up was Vince Casarez of Keste. Vince was scheduled to profile one customer, but in an incredible 3 for 1 deal, Vince profiled Alcatel-Lucent, Qualcomm, and NetApp. Each of these implementations had content consolidation elements, as well as user engagement requirements that Keste was able to address with Oracle WebCenter. Vince Casarez of Keste And we had a couple of good tweets worth reprinting here. danieloleary Daniel O'Leary Learning about user engagement and social platforms from @bdirking #AIIM LA and @oracle event pic.twitter.com/1aNcLEUs danieloleary Daniel O'Leary Users want to be able to share data and activity streams, work at organizations that embrace social via @bdirking skjekkeland Atle Skjekkeland RT @danieloleary: Learning about user engagement and social platforms from @bdirking #AIIM LA and @oracle event pic.twitter.com/EWRYpvJa danieloleary Daniel O'Leary Thanks again to @bdirking for an amazing event in LA today, really impressed with the completeness of web center JimLundy Jim Lundy @ @danieloleary @bdirking yes, it is looking good - Web Center shadrachwhite Shadrach White @ @bdirking @heybenito I heard the #AIIM event in LA was a hit We had some great conversations through they day, many thanks to everyone who joined in. We look forward to continuing the conversation - thanks again to everyone who attended!

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• Executable Resumes

  - by Liam McLennan

  Over the past twelve months I have been thinking a lot about executable specifications. Long considered the holy grail of agile software development, executable specifications means expressing a program’s functionality in a way that is both readable by the customer and computer verifiable in an automatic, repeatable way. With the current generation of BDD and ATDD tools executable specifications seem finally within the reach of a significant percentage of the development community. Lately, and partly as a result of my craftsmanship tour, I have decided that soon I am going to have to get a job (gasp!). As Dave Hoover describes in Apprenticeship Patters, “you … have mentors and kindred spirits that you meet with periodically, [but] when it comes to developing software, you work alone.” The time may have come where the only way for me to feel satisfied and enriched by my work is to seek out a work environment where I can work with people smarter and more knowledgeable than myself. Having been on both sides of the interview desk many times I know how difficult and unreliable the process can be. Therefore, I am proposing the idea of executable resumes. As a journeyman programmer looking for a fruitful work environment I plan to write an application that demonstrates my understanding of the state of the art. Potential employers can download, view and execute my executable resume and judge wether my aesthetic sensibility matches their own. The concept of the executable resume is based upon the following assertion: A line of code answers a thousand interview questions Asking people about their experiences and skills is not a direct way of assessing their value to your organisation. Often it simple assesses their ability to mislead an interviewer. An executable resume demonstrates: The highest quality code that the person is able to produce. That the person is sufficiently motivated to produce something of value in their own time. That the person loves their craft. The idea of publishing a program to demonstrate a developer’s skills comes from Rob Conery, who suggested that each developer should build their own blog engine since it is the public representation of their level of mastery. Rob said: Luke had to build his own lightsaber – geeks should have to build their own blogs. And that should be their resume. In honour of Rob’s inspiration I plan to build a blog engine as my executable resume. While it is true that the world does not need another blog engine it is as good a project as any, it is a well understood domain, and I have not found an existing blog engine that I like. Executable resumes fit well with the software craftsmanship metaphor. It is not difficult to imagine that under the guild system master craftsmen may have accepted journeymen based on the quality of the work they had produced in the past. We now understand that when it comes to the functionality of an application that code is the final arbiter. Why not apply the same rule to hiring?

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