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  • Correct method to search for AD user by email address from .NET

    - by BrianLy
    I'm having some issues with code that is intended to find a user in Active Directory by searching on their email address. I have tried 2 methods but I'm sometimes finding that the FindOne() method will not return any results on some occasions. If I look up the user in the GAL in Outlook I see the SMTP email address listed. My end goal is to confirm that the user exists in AD. I only have the email address as search criteria, so no way to use first or last name. Method 1: Using mail property: DirectorySearcher search = new DirectorySearcher(entry); search.Filter = "(mail=" + email + ")"; search.PropertiesToLoad.Add("mail"); SearchResult result = search.FindOne(); Method 2: proxyAddresses property: DirectorySearcher search = new DirectorySearcher(entry); search.Filter = "(proxyAddresses=SMTP:" + email + ")"; // I've also tried with =smtp: search.PropertiesToLoad.Add("mail"); SearchResult result = search.FindOne(); I've tried changing the case of the email address input but it still does not return a result. Is there a problem here with case sensitivity? If so, what is the best way to resolve it?

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  • highlight page selected in pagination?

    - by Mahmoud
    Hey There i have a php page, that shows all products that are stored on the database, so everything in fine, but my problem is that i am trying to highlight or give a color when a selected number is clicked, example, let say i all my product are showing and there are 2 pages, so when the user clicks on next the next fade and number 2 is colored yellow this well help the user to on which page he is below is my php code <?php echo"<a style:'color:#FFF;font-style:normal;'> "; include "im/config.php"; include('im/ps_pagination.php'); $result = ("Select * from product "); $pager = new PS_Pagination($conn, $result, 5, 6, "product=product"); $rs = $pager->paginate(); echo"<div id='image_container'>"; echo $pager->renderFullNav(); echo "<br /><br />\n"; while($row = mysql_fetch_array($rs)){ echo" <div class='virtualpage hidepiece'><a href='gal/".$row['pro_image']."' rel='lightbox[roadtrip]' title='".$row['pro_name']." : ".$row['pro_mini_des']."' style='color:#000'><img src='thumb/".$row['pro_thumb']."' /> </a></div>"; } echo"</div>"; echo "<br /><br />\n"; echo $pager->renderFullNav(); echo"</a>"; ?> Thank everyone

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  • Control layout using graphviz twopi

    - by vy32
    I am trying to draw a graph showing search prefixes using twopi. I have a simple input file and am getting this output: (full image) Here is the input file: digraph search { // ordering=out; // color=blue; // rank=same; // overlap=scale; rankdir=LR; root=root; ranksep=1.25; overlap=true; "root"; a [color=none,fontsize=12]; b [color=none,fontsize=12]; c [color=none,fontsize=12]; d [color=none,fontsize=12]; e [color=none,fontsize=12]; f [color=none,fontsize=12]; #g [color=none,fontsize=12]; h [color=none,fontsize=12]; i [color=none,fontsize=12]; j [color=none,fontsize=12]; k [color=none,fontsize=12]; l [color=none,fontsize=12]; m [color=none,fontsize=12]; n [color=none,fontsize=12]; o [color=none,fontsize=12]; p [color=none,fontsize=12]; q [color=none,fontsize=12]; r [color=none,fontsize=12]; s [color=none,fontsize=12]; t [color=none,fontsize=12]; u [color=none,fontsize=12]; v [color=none,fontsize=12]; w [color=none,fontsize=12]; x [color=none,fontsize=12]; y [color=none,fontsize=12]; #ga [color=none,fontsize=12]; gb [color=none,fontsize=12]; gc [color=none,fontsize=12]; gd [color=none,fontsize=12]; ge [color=none,fontsize=12]; gf [color=none,fontsize=12]; gg [color=none,fontsize=12]; gh [color=none,fontsize=12]; gi [color=none,fontsize=12]; gj [color=none,fontsize=12]; gk [color=none,fontsize=12]; gl [color=none,fontsize=12]; gm [color=none,fontsize=12]; gn [color=none,fontsize=12]; go [color=none,fontsize=12]; gp [color=none,fontsize=12]; gq [color=none,fontsize=12]; gr [color=none,fontsize=12]; gs [color=none,fontsize=12]; gt [color=none,fontsize=12]; gu [color=none,fontsize=12]; gv [color=none,fontsize=12]; gw [color=none,fontsize=12]; gx [color=none,fontsize=12]; gy [color=none,fontsize=12]; gaa [color=none,fontsize=12]; gab [color=none,fontsize=12]; gac [color=none,fontsize=12]; gad [color=none,fontsize=12]; gae [color=none,fontsize=12]; gaf [color=none,fontsize=12]; gag [color=none,fontsize=12]; gah [color=none,fontsize=12]; gai [color=none,fontsize=12]; gaj [color=none,fontsize=12]; gak [color=none,fontsize=12]; gal [color=none,fontsize=12]; gam [color=none,fontsize=12]; gan [color=none,fontsize=12]; gao [color=none,fontsize=12]; gap [color=none,fontsize=12]; gaq [color=none,fontsize=12]; #gaz [color=none,fontsize=12]; gas [color=none,fontsize=12]; gat [color=none,fontsize=12]; gau [color=none,fontsize=12]; gav [color=none,fontsize=12]; gaw [color=none,fontsize=12]; gax [color=none,fontsize=12]; gay [color=none,fontsize=12]; gaza [color=none,fontsize=12]; gazb [color=none,fontsize=12]; gazc [color=none,fontsize=12]; gazd [color=none,fontsize=12]; gaze [color=none,fontsize=12]; #gazf [color=none,fontsize=12]; gazg [color=none,fontsize=12]; gazh [color=none,fontsize=12]; gazi [color=none,fontsize=12]; gazj [color=none,fontsize=12]; gazk [color=none,fontsize=12]; gazl [color=none,fontsize=12]; gazm [color=none,fontsize=12]; gazn [color=none,fontsize=12]; gazo [color=none,fontsize=12]; gazp [color=none,fontsize=12]; gazq [color=none,fontsize=12]; gazr [color=none,fontsize=12]; gazs [color=none,fontsize=12]; gazt [color=none,fontsize=12]; gazu [color=none,fontsize=12]; gazv [color=none,fontsize=12]; gazw [color=none,fontsize=12]; gazx [color=none,fontsize=12]; gazy [color=none,fontsize=12]; root -> a [minlen=2]; root -> b [minlen=2]; root -> c [minlen=2]; root -> d [minlen=2]; root -> e [minlen=2]; root -> f [minlen=2]; root -> g [minlen=2]; root -> h [minlen=2]; root -> i [minlen=2]; root -> j [minlen=2]; root -> k [minlen=2]; root -> l [minlen=2]; root -> m [minlen=2]; root -> n [minlen=2]; root -> o [minlen=2]; root -> p [minlen=2]; root -> q [minlen=2]; root -> r [minlen=2]; root -> s [minlen=20]; root -> t [minlen=2]; root -> u [minlen=2]; root -> v [minlen=2]; root -> w [minlen=2]; root -> x [minlen=2]; root -> y [minlen=2]; root -> 0 [minlen=2]; root -> 1 [minlen=2]; root -> 2 [minlen=2]; root -> 3 [minlen=2]; root -> 4 [minlen=2]; root -> 5 [minlen=2]; root -> 6 [minlen=2]; root -> 7 [minlen=2]; root -> 8 [minlen=2]; root -> 9 [minlen=2]; root -> "." [minlen=2]; g -> ga ; g -> gb ; g -> gc ; g -> gd ; g -> ge ; g -> gf ; g -> gg ; g -> gh ; g -> gi ; g -> gj ; g -> gk ; g -> gl ; g -> gm ; g -> gn ; g -> go ; g -> gp ; g -> gq ; g -> gr ; g -> gs ; g -> gt ; g -> gu ; g -> gv ; g -> gw ; g -> gx ; g -> gy ; ga -> gaa ; ga -> gab ; ga -> gac ; ga -> gad ; ga -> gae ; ga -> gaf ; ga -> gag ; ga -> gah ; ga -> gai ; ga -> gaj ; ga -> gak ; ga -> gal ; ga -> gam ; ga -> gan ; ga -> gao ; ga -> gap ; ga -> gaq ; ga -> gaz ; ga -> gas ; ga -> gat ; ga -> gau ; ga -> gav ; ga -> gaw ; ga -> gax ; ga -> gay ; gaz -> gaza ; gaz -> gazb ; gaz -> gazc ; gaz -> gazd ; gaz -> gaze ; gaz -> gazf ; gaz -> gazg ; gaz -> gazh ; gaz -> gazi ; gaz -> gazj ; gaz -> gazk ; gaz -> gazl ; gaz -> gazm ; gaz -> gazn ; gaz -> gazo ; gaz -> gazp ; gaz -> gazq ; gaz -> gazr ; gaz -> gazs ; gaz -> gazt ; gaz -> gazu ; gaz -> gazv ; gaz -> gazw ; gaz -> gazx ; gaz -> gazy ; gazo -> "Blue Tuesday" ; "Blue Tuesday" [ fontsize=10]; // Layout engines: circo dot fdp neato nop nop1 nop2 osage patchwork sfdp twopi } This output is generated with: twopi -os1.png -Tpng s1.dot I'm posting here because the printout is pretty dreadful. All of the nodes hung of "gaz" are overlapping; I've tried specifying nodesep and it is simply ignored. I would like to see the lines from root to the single letters further apart, but again, I can't control that. This seems to be a bug in twopi. The documentation says it should clearly follow these directives, but it doesn't seem to. My questions: Is there any way to make twopi behave? Failing that, is there a better layout engine to use? Thanks.

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  • how to disable the lightbox to close after clicking on a submit button?

    - by Mahmoud
    Hey there i have a lightbox that contains a button images where once the user/visitor clicks on that images its adds the item into cart. what i am trying to do is that once the button is clicked it adds the item without close the ifram is it possible i am using http://www.huddletogether.com/projects/lightbox2/ the cart that i used is http://conceptlogic.com/jcart/ code used: echo"<div class='virtualpage hidepiece'><a href='gal/".$row['pro_image']."' rel='lightbox[roadtrip]' title='&lt;form class=&quot;jcart&quot; method=&quot;post&quot;&gt; &lt;input type=&quot;hidden&quot; name=&quot;id&quot; value=&quot;".$row['pro_num']."&quot; /&gt; &lt;input type=&quot;hidden&quot; name=&quot;name&quot; value=&quot;".$row['pro_name']."&quot; /&gt; &lt;input type=&quot;hidden&quot; name=&quot;price&quot; value=&quot;".$row['pro_price']."&quot; /&gt; &lt;input type=&quot;hidden&quot;name=&quot;qty&quot; size = &quot;1&quot; value=&quot;1&quot; /&gt; <br /> &lt;input type=&quot;image&quot; value=&quot;Submit&quot; name=&quot;addto&quot; src = &quot;images/add.png&quot; /&gt; &lt;/form&gt; ".$row['pro_name']." : ".$row['pro_mini_des']."' style='color:#000'><img title = ' ' src='thumb/".$row['pro_thumb']."' /> </a></div> ";

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  • Exchange 2010 OWA - a few questions about using multiple mailboxes

    - by Alexey Smolik
    We have an Exchange 2010 SP2 deployment and we need that our users could access multiple mailboxes in OWA. The problem is that a user (eg John Smith) needs to access not just somebody else's (eg Tom Anderson) mailboxes, but his OWN mailboxes, e.g. in different domains: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], etc. Of course it is preferable for the user to work with all of his mailboxes from a single window. Such mailboxes can be added as multiple Exchange accounts in Outlook, that works almost fine. But in OWA, there are problems: 1) In the left pane - as I've learned - we can open only Inbox folders from other mailboxes. No way to view all folders like in Outlook? 2) With Send-As permissions set, when trying to send a message from another address, that message is saved in the Sent Items folder of the mailbox that is opened in OWA, and not in the mailbox the message is sent from. The same thing with the trash can. Is there a way to fix that? Also, this problem exists in desktop Outlook when mailboxes are added automatically via the Auto Mapping feature, so that we need to turn it off and add the accounts manually. Is there a simpler workaround? 3) Okay, suppose we only open Inbox folders in the left pane. The problem is that the mailbox names shown there are formed from Display Name attributes. But those names are all identical! All the mailboxes are owned by John Smith, so they should be all named John Smith - so that letter recepient sees "John Smith" in the "from" field, no matter what mailbox it is sent from. Also, the user knows what's his name - no need to tell him. He wants to know what mailbox he works with. So we need a way to either: a) customize OWA to show mailbox email address instead of user Display Name, or b) make Exchange use another attribute to put in the "from" field when sending letters 4) Okay, we can switch between mailboxes using "Open Other Mailbox" in the upper-right corner menu. But: a) To select a mailbox we need to enter its name (or first letters). It there a way to show a list of links to mailboxes the user has full access to? Eg in the page header... b) If we start entering the first letters, we see a popup list with possible mailboxes to be opened. But there are all mailboxes (apparently from GAL), not only mailboxes the user has permission to open! How to filter that popup list? c) The same problem as in (3) with mailbox naming. We can see the opened mailbox email address ONLY in the page URL, which is insufficient for many users. In the left pane we see "John Smith" which is useless. 5) Each mailbox is tied with a separate user in AD. If one has several mailboxes, we need to have additional dummy AD accounts, create additional OUs to store them, etc. That's not very nice, is there any standartized, optimal way to build such a structure? We would really appreciate any answers or additional info for any of these questions. Thank you in advance.

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  • Exchange Server 2007 Setup

    - by AlamedaDad
    Hi, I'm working on a upgrade to Exchange 2007 and I wanted to get some advise on hardware choices. We currently have an Exchange 2003 STD server with 400 users split between 6 AD Sites, that is housed on a single server. We need to move to a redundant, fault tolerant system to support our users. I'm planning on installing 2 Dell 1950 servers with W2k8-std to act as CAS and Hub servers, with NLB to allow abstraction of the actual server name to the users. There won't be an edge system since we have a Barracuda box already that will handle in/out spam/virus filtering. Backend I'm planning on 2 mailbox servers which will be Dell 2950s with 16GB RAM, 2 either dual-core or quad-core CPUs and 6 300GB SAS drives in some RAID config. These systems will be clustered using W2k8 Ent clustering and running CCR in Exchange. My questions are as follows: Is 16GB enough RAM for serving that many mailboxes along with the windows clustering and ccr? I'm trying to figure out disk layouts and I'm unsure of whether to use all local disk or some local and some SAN, via an OpenFiler iSCSI server. The SAN would be a Dell 2850 with 6 - 300GB SCSI drives and a PERC controller to slice as I want, with 8GB RAM. Option 1: 2 drives, RAID 1 - OS 2 drives, RAID 1 - Logs 2 drives, RAID 1 - Mail stores Option 2: 2 drives, RAID 1 - OS and logs 4 drives, RAID 5 - Mail Stores and scratch space for eseutil. Option 3: 2 drives, RAID 1 - OS 2 drives, RAID 1 - Logs 2 drives, RAID 0 - scratch space ~300GB iSCSI volume for mail stores Option 4: 2 drives, RAID 1 - OS 4 drives, RAID 5 - scratch space ~300GB iSCSI volume for mail stores ~300GB iSCSI volume for logs I have 2 sockets for CPUs and need to chose between dual and quad cores. The dual core have faster clocks but less cache and I'm thinking older architecture. Am I better off with more cores and cache while sacraficing clock speed? I am planning on adding the new E2K7 cluster to the E2K3 server and then move each mailbox over, all at once, then remove the old server. This seems more complicated than simply getting rid of the 2003 server and then adding the 2007 cluster and restoring the mailboxes using PowerControls or exmerge. The migration option lets me do this on my time, where a cutover means it all needs to work at once. If I go with the cutover method, how can I prebuild the servers and add them to the domain right after removing the 2003 server, or can't I? I think the answer is no and the migration is my only real option if I want to prebuild. I need to also migrate about 30GB of Public Folders. Is there anything special about this, other than specifying in the E2K7 install that I want older Outlook clients and PF's setup? I guess I could even keep the E2K3 server to host just the PFs? Lastly, if I have a mix of Outlook 200, 2003 and 2007 what do I need to do to make sure they all have access to the GAL and OAB? At time of cutover, we'll be at like 90% 2007, but we will have some older stuff around. My plan is to use Outlook Anywhere on laptops that are used outside the physical network. Are there any gotchas involved in that? I'm even thinking about using is for all Outlook clients, does anyone do that? The reason I'm considering it is that our WAN is really VPN tunnels over internet connections, so not a fully messhed, stable WAN. Thank you all very much for the assistance in advance and I look forward to discussion of these points! Regards...Michael

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  • SharePoint – The Most Important Feature

    - by Bil Simser
    Watching twitter and doing a search for SharePoint and you see a lot (almost one every few minutes) of tweets about the top 10 new features in SharePoint. What answer do you get when you ask the question, “What’s the most important feature in SharePoint?”. Chances are the answer will vary. Some will say it’s the collaboration aspect, others might say it’s the new ribbon interface, multi-item editing, external content types, faceted search, large list support, document versioning, Silverlight, etc. The list goes on. However I think most people might be missing the most important feature that’s sitting right under their noses all this time. The most important feature of SharePoint? It’s called User Empowerment. Huh? What? Is that something I find in the Site Actions menu? Nope. It’s something that’s always been there in SharePoint, you just need to get the word out and support it. How many times have you had a team ask you for a team site (assuming you had SharePoint up and running). Or to create them a contact list. Or how long have you employed that guy in the corner who’s been copying and pasting content from Corporate Communications into the web from a Word document. Let’s stop the insanity. It doesn’t have to be this way. SharePoint’s strongest feature isn’t anything you can find in the Site Settings screen or Central Admin. It’s all about empowering your users and letting them take control of their content. After all, SharePoint really is a bunch of tools to allow users to collaborate on content isn’t it? So why are you stepping in as IT and helping the user every moment along the way. It’s like having to ask users to fill out a help desk ticket or call up the Windows team to create a folder on their desktop or rearrange their Start menu. This isn’t something IT should be spending their time doing nor is it something the users should be burdened with having to wait until their friendly neighborhood tech-guy (or gal) shows up to help them sort the icons on their desktop. SharePoint IS all about empowerment. Site owners can create whatever lists and libraries they need for their team, and if the template isn’t there they can always turn to my friend and yours, the Custom List. From that can spew forth approval tracking systems, new hire checklists, and server inventory. You’re only limited by your imagination and needs. Users should be able to create new sites as they need. Want a blog to let everyone know what your team is up to? Go create one, here’s how. What’s a blog you ask? Here’s what it is and why you would use one. SharePoint is the shift in the balance of power and you need, and an IT group, let go of certain responsibilities and let your users run with the tools. A power user who knows how to create sites and what features are available to them can help a team go from the forming stage to the storming stage overnight. Again, this all hinges on you as an IT organization and what you can and empower your users with as far as features go. Running with tools is great if you know how to use them, running with scissors not recommended unless you enjoy trips to the hospital. With Great Power comes Great Responsibility so don’t go out on Monday and send out a memo to the organization saying “This Bil guy says you peeps can do anything so here it is, knock yourself out” (for one, they’ll have *no* idea who this Bil guy is). This advice comes with the task of getting your users ready for empowerment. Whether it’s through some kind of internal training sessions, in-house documentation; videos; blog posts; on how to accomplish things in SharePoint, or full blown one-on-one sit downs with teams or individuals to help them through their problems. The work is up to you. Helping them along also should be part of your governance (you do have one don’t you?). Just because you have InfoPath client deployed with your Office suite, doesn’t mean users should just start publishing forms all over your SharePoint farm. There should be some governance behind that in what you’ll support and what is possible. The other caveat to all this is that SharePoint is not everything for everyone. It can’t cook you breakfast and impregnate your cat or solve world hunger. It also isn’t suited for every IT solution out there. It’s a horrible source control system (even though some people try to use it as such) and really can’t do financials worth a darn. Again, governance is key here and part of that governance and your responsibility in setting up and unleashing SharePoint into your organization is to provide users guidance on what should be in SharePoint and (more importantly) what should not be in SharePoint. There are boundaries you have to set where you don’t want your end users going as they might be treading into trouble. Again, this is up to you to set these constraints and help users understand why these pylons are there. If someone understands why they can’t do something they might have a better understanding and respect for those that put them there in the first place. Of course you’ll always have the power-users who want to go skiing down dead mans curve so this doesn’t work for everyone, but you can catch the majority of the newbs who don’t wander aimlessly off the beaten path. At the end of the day when all things are going swimmingly your end users should be empowered to solve the needs they have on a day to day basis and not having to keep bugging the IT department to help them create a view to show only approved documents. I wouldn’t go as far as business users building out full blown solutions and handing the keys to SharePoint Designer or (worse) Visual Studio to power-users might not be a path you want to go down but you also don’t have to lock up the SharePoint system in a tight box where users can’t use what’s there. So stop focusing on the shiny things in SharePoint and maybe consider making a shift to what’s really important. Making your day job easier and letting users get the most our of your technology investment.

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  • Summit Time!

    - by Ajarn Mark Caldwell
    Boy, how time flies!  I can hardly believe that the 2011 PASS Summit is just one week away.  Maybe it snuck up on me because it’s a few weeks earlier than last year.  Whatever the cause, I am really looking forward to next week.  The PASS Summit is the largest SQL Server conference in the world and a fantastic networking opportunity thrown in for no additional charge.  Here are a few thoughts to help you maximize the week. Networking As Karen Lopez (blog | @DataChick) mentioned in her presentation for the Professional Development Virtual Chapter just a couple of weeks ago, “Don’t wait until you need a new job to start networking.”  You should always be working on your professional network.  Some people, especially technical-minded people, get confused by the term networking.  The first image that used to pop into my head was the image of some guy standing, awkwardly, off to the side of a cocktail party, trying to shmooze those around him.  That’s not what I’m talking about.  If you’re good at that sort of thing, and you can strike up a conversation with some stranger and learn all about them in 5 minutes, and walk away with your next business deal all but approved by the lawyers, then congratulations.  But if you’re not, and most of us are not, I have two suggestions for you.  First, register for Don Gabor’s 2-hour session on Tuesday at the Summit called Networking to Build Business Contacts.  Don is a master at small talk, and at teaching others, and in just those two short hours will help you with important tips about breaking the ice, remembering names, and smooth transitions into and out of conversations.  Then go put that great training to work right away at the Tuesday night Welcome Reception and meet some new people; which is really my second suggestion…just meet a few new people.  You see, “networking” is about meeting new people and being friendly without trying to “work it” to get something out of the relationship at this point.  In fact, Don will tell you that a better way to build the connection with someone is to look for some way that you can help them, not how they can help you. There are a ton of opportunities as long as you follow this one key point: Don’t stay in your hotel!  At the least, get out and go to the free events such as the Tuesday night Welcome Reception, the Wednesday night Exhibitor Reception, and the Thursday night Community Appreciation Party.  All three of these are perfect opportunities to meet other professionals with a similar job or interest as you, and you never know how that may help you out in the future.  Maybe you just meet someone to say HI to at breakfast the next day instead of eating alone.  Or maybe you cross paths several times throughout the Summit and compare notes on different sessions you attended.  And you just might make new friends that you look forward to seeing year after year at the Summit.  Who knows, it might even turn out that you have some specific experience that will help out that other person a few months’ from now when they run into the same challenge that you just overcame, or vice-versa.  But the point is, if you don’t get out and meet people, you’ll never have the chance for anything else to happen in the future. One more tip for shy attendees of the Summit…if you can’t bring yourself to strike up conversation with strangers at these events, then at the least, after you sit through a good session that helps you out, go up to the speaker and introduce yourself and thank them for taking the time and effort to put together their presentation.  Ideally, when you do this, tell them WHY it was beneficial to you (e.g. “Now I have a new idea of how to tackle a problem back at the office.”)  I know you think the speakers are all full of confidence and are always receiving a ton of accolades and applause, but you’re wrong.  Most of them will be very happy to hear first-hand that all the work they put into getting ready for their presentation is paying off for somebody. Training With over 170 technical sessions at the Summit, training is what it’s all about, and the training is fantastic!  Of course there are the big-name trainers like Paul Randall, Kimberly Tripp, Kalen Delaney, Itzik Ben-Gan and several others, but I am always impressed by the quality of the training put on by so many other “regular” members of the SQL Server community.  It is amazing how you don’t have to be a published author or otherwise recognized as an “expert” in an area in order to make a big impact on others just by sharing your personal experience and lessons learned.  I would rather hear the story of, and lessons learned from, “some guy or gal” who has actually been through an issue and came out the other side, than I would a trained professor who is speaking just from theory or an intellectual understanding of a topic. In addition to the three full days of regular sessions, there are also two days of pre-conference intensive training available.  There is an extra cost to this, but it is a fantastic opportunity.  Think about it…you’re already coming to this area for training, so why not extend your stay a little bit and get some in-depth training on a particular topic or two?  I did this for the first time last year.  I attended one day of extra training and it was well worth the time and money.  One of the best reasons for it is that I am extremely busy at home with my regular job and family, that it was hard to carve out the time to learn about the topic on my own.  It worked out so well last year that I am doubling up and doing two days or “pre-cons” this year. And then there are the DVDs.  I think these are another great option.  I used the online schedule builder to get ready and have an idea of which sessions I want to attend and when they are (much better than trying to figure this out at the last minute every day).  But the problem that I have run into (seems this happens every year) is that nearly every session block has two different sessions that I would like to attend.  And some of them have three!  ACK!  That won’t work!  What is a guy supposed to do?  Well, one option is to purchase the DVDs which are recordings of the audio and projected images from each session so you can continue to attend sessions long after the Summit is officially over.  Yes, many (possibly all) of these also get posted online and attendees can access those for no extra charge, but those are not necessarily all available as quickly as the DVD recording are, and the DVDs are often more convenient than downloading, especially if you want to share the training with someone who was not able to attend in person. Remember, I don’t make any money or get any other benefit if you buy the DVDs or from anything else that I have recommended here.  These are just my own thoughts, trying to help out based on my experiences from the 8 or so Summits I have attended.  There is nothing like the Summit.  It is an awesome experience, fantastic training, and a whole lot of fun which is just compounded if you’ll take advantage of the first part of this article and make some new friends along the way.

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  • How I Record Screencasts

    - by Daniel Moth
    I get this asked a lot so here is my brain dump on the topic. What A screencast is just a demo that you present to yourself while recording the screen. As such, my advice for clearing your screen for demo purposes and setting up Visual Studio still applies here (adjusting for the fact I wrote those blog posts when I was running Vista and VS2008, not Windows 8 and VS2012). To see examples of screencasts, watch any of my screencasts on channel9. Why If you are a technical presenter, think of when you get best reactions from a developer audience in your sessions: when you are doing demos, of course. Imagine if you could package those alone and share them with folks to watch over and over? If you have ever gone through a tutorial trying to recreate steps to explore a feature, think how much more helpful it would be if you could watch a video and follow along. Think of how many folks you "touch" with a conference presentation, and how many more you can reach with an online shorter recording of the demo. If you invest so much of your time for the first type of activity, isn't the second type of activity also worth an investment? Fact: If you are able to record a screencast of a demo, you will be much better prepared to deliver it in person. In fact lately I will force myself to make a screencast of any demo I need to present live at an upcoming event. It is also a great backup - if for whatever reason something fails (software, network, etc) during an attempt of a live demo, you can just play the recorded video for the live audience. There are other reasons (e.g. internal sharing of the latest implemented feature) but the context above is the one within which I create most of my screencasts. Software & Hardware I use Camtasia from Tech Smith, version 7.1.1. Microsoft has a variety of options for capturing the screen to video, but I have been using this software for so long now that I have not invested time to explore alternatives… I also use whatever cheapo headset is near me, but sometimes I get some complaints from some folks about the audio so now I try to remember to use "the good headset". I do not use a web camera as I am not a huge fan of PIP. Preparation First you have to know your technology and demo. Once you think you know it, write down the outline and major steps of the demo. Keep it short 5-20 minutes max. I break that rule sometimes but try not to. The longer the video is the more chances that people will not have the patience to sit through it and the larger the download wmv file ends up being. Run your demo a few times, timing yourself each time to ensure that you have the planned timing correct, but also to make sure that you are comfortable with what you are going to demo. Unlike with a live audience, there is no live reaction/feedback to steer you, so it can be a bit unnerving at first. It can also lead you to babble too much, so try extra hard to be succinct when demoing/screencasting on your own. TIP: Before recording, hide your desktop/taskbar clock if it is showing. Recording To record you start the Camtasia Recorder tool Configure the settings thought the menus Capture menu to choose custom size or full screen. I try to use full screen and remember to lower the resolution of your screen to as low as possible, e.g. 1024x768 or 1360x768 or something like that. From the Tools -> Options dialog you can choose to record audio and the volume level. Effects menu I typically leave untouched but you should explore and experiment to your liking, e.g. how the mouse pointer is captured, and whether there should be a delay for the recording when you start it. Once you've configured these settings, typically you just launch this tool and hit the F9 key to start recording. TIP: As you record, if you ever start to "lose your way" hit F9 again to pause recording, regroup your thoughts and flow, and then hit F9 again to resume. Finally, hit F10 to stop recording. At that point the video starts playing for you in the recorder. This is where you can preview the video to see that you are happy with it before saving. If you are happy, hit the Save As menu to choose where you want to save the video.     TIP: If you've really lost your way to the extent where you'll need to do some editing, hit F10 to stop recording, save the video and then record some more - you'll be able to stitch the videos together later and this will make it easier for you to delete the parts where you messed up. TIP: Before you commit to recording the whole demo, every time you should record 5 seconds and preview them to ensure that you are capturing the screen the way you want to and that your audio is still correctly configured and at the right level. Trust me, you do not want to be recording 15 minutes only to find out that you messed up on the configuration somewhere. Editing To edit the video you launch another Camtasia app, the Camtasia Studio. File->New Project. File->Save Project and choose location. File->Import Media and choose the video(s) you saved earlier. These adds them to the area at the top/middle but not at the timeline at the bottom. Right click on the video and choose Add to timeline. It will prompt you for the Editing dimensions and I always choose Recording Dimensions. Do whatever edits you want to do for this video, then add the next video if you have one to stitch and repeat. In terms of edits there are many options. The simplest is to do nothing, which is the option I did when I first starting doing these in 2006. Nowadays, I typically cut out pieces that I don't like and also lower/mute the audio in other areas and also speed up the video in some areas. A full tutorial on how to do this is beyond the scope of this blog post, but your starting point is to select portions on the timeline and then open the Edit menu at the very top (tip: the context menu doesn't have all options). You can spend hours editing a recording, so don’t lose track of time! When you are done editing, save again, and you are now ready to Produce. Producing Production is specific to where you will publish. I've only ever published on channel9, so for that I do the following File -> Produce and share. This opens a wizard dialog In the dropdown choose Custom production settings Hit Next and then choose WMV Hit Next and keep the default of Camtasia Studio Best Quality and File Size (recommended) Hit Next and choose Editing dimensions video size Hit Next, hit Options and you get a dialog. Enter a Title for the project tab and then on the author tab enter the Creator and Homepage. Hit OK Hit Next. Hit Next again. Enter a video file name in the Production name textbox and then hit Finish. Now do other stuff while you wait for the video to be produced and you hear it playing. After the video is produced watch it to ensure it was produced correctly (e.g. sometimes you get mouse issues) and then you are ready for publishing it. Publishing Follow the instructions of the place where you are going to publish. If you are MSFT internal and want to choose channel9 then contact those folks so they can share their instructions (if you don't know who they are ping me and I'll connect you but they are easy to find in the GAL). For me this involves using a tool to point to the video, choosing a file name (again), choosing an image from the video to display when it is not playing, choosing what output formats I want, and then later on a webpage adding tags, adding a description, and adding a title. That’s all folks, have fun! Comments about this post by Daniel Moth welcome at the original blog.

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  • Our winners- and some BBQ for everyone

    - by Steve Tunstall
    Congrats to our two winners for the first two comments on my last entry. Steve from Australia and John Lemon. Steve won since he was the first person over the International Date Line to see the post I made so late after a workday on Friday. So not only does he get to live in a country with the 2nd most beautiful women in the world, but now he gets some cool Oracle Swag, too. (Yes, I live on the beach in southern California, so you can guess where 1st place is for that other contest…Now if Steve happens to live in Manly, we may actually have a tie going…) OK, ok, for everyone else, you can be winners, too. How you ask? I will make you the envy of every guy and gal in your neighborhood or campsite. What follows is the way to smoke the best ribs you or anyone you know have ever tasted. Follow my instructions and give it a try. People at your party/cookout/campsite will tell you that they’re the best ribs they’ve ever had, and I will let you take all the credit. Yes, I fully realize this post is going to be longer than any post I’ve done yet. But let’s get serious here. Smoking meat is much more important, agreed? J In all honesty, this is a repeat of another blog I did, so I’m just copying and pasting. Step 1. Get some ribs. I actually really like Costco’s pack. They have both St. Louis and Baby Back. (They are the same ribs, but cut in half down the sides. St. Louis style is the ‘front’ of the ribs closest to the stomach, and ‘Baby back’ is the part of the ribs where is connects to the backbone). I like them both, so here you see I got one pack of each. About 4 racks to a pack. So these two packs for $25 each will feed about 16-20 of my guests. So around 3 bucks a person is a pretty good deal for the best ribs you’ll ever have. Step 2. Prep the ribs the night before you’re going to smoke. You need to trim them to fit your smoker racks, and also take off the membrane and add your rub. Then cover and set in fridge overnight. Here’s how to take off the membrane, which will not break down with heat and smoke like the rest of the meat, so must be removed. Use a butter knife to work in a ways between the membrane and the white bone. Just enough to make room for your finger. Try really hard not to poke through the membrane, you want to keep it whole. See how my gloved fingers can now start to lift up and pull off the membrane? This is what you are trying to do. It’s awesome when the whole thing can come off at once. This one is going great, maybe the best one I’ve ever done. Sometime, it falls apart and doesn't come off in one nice piece. I hate when that happens. Now, add your rub and pat it down once into the meat with your other hand. My rub is not secret. I got it from my mentor, a BBQ competitive chef who is currently ranked #1 in California and #3 in the nation on the BBQ circuit. He does full-day classes in southern California if anyone is interested in taking his class. Go to www.slapyodaddybbq.com to check him out. I tweaked his run recipe a tad and made my own. It’s one part Lawry’s, one part sugar, one part Montreal Steak Seasoning, one part garlic powder, one-half part red chili powder, one-half part paprika, and then 1/20th part cayenne. You can adjust that last ingredient, or leave it out. Real cheap stuff you can get at Costco. This lets you make enough rub to last about a year or two. Don’t make it all at once, make a shaker’s worth and use it up before you make more. Place it all in a bowl, mix well, and then add to a shaker like you see here. You can get a shaker with medium sized holes on it at any restaurant supply store or Smart & Final. The kind you see at pizza places for their red pepper flakes works best. Now cover and place in fridge overnight. Step 3. The next day. Ok, I’m ready to go. Get your stuff together. You will need your smoker, some good foil, a can of peach nectar, a bottle of Agave syrup, and a package of brown sugar. You will need this stuff later. I also use a clean spray bottle, and apple juice. Step 4. Make your fire, or turn on your electric smoker. In this example I’m using my portable charcoal smoker. I got this for only $40. I then modified it to be useful. Once modified, these guys actually work very well. Trust me, your food DOES NOT KNOW how expensive your smoker is. Someone who tells you that you need to spend a bunch of money on a smoker is an idiot. I also have an electric smoker that stays in my backyard. It’s cleaner and larger so I can smoke more food. But this little $40 one works great for going camping. Here is what my fire-bowl looks like. I leave a space in the middle open, and place cold charcoal and wood chucks in a circle going outwards. This makes it so when I dump the hot coals down the middle, they will slowly burn outwards, hitting different wood chucks at different times, allowing me to go 4-5 hours without having to even touch my fire. For ribs, I use apple and pecan wood. Pecan works for anything. Apple or any fruit wood is excellent for pork. So now I make my hot charcoal with a chimney only about half-full. I found a great use for that side-burner on my grill that I never use. It makes a fantastic chimney starter. You never use fluids of any kind, nor ever use that stupid charcoal that has lighter fluid built into it. Never, ever, ever. Step 5. Smoke. Add your ribs in the racks and stack them up in your smoker. I have a digital thermometer on a probe that I use to keep track of the temp in the smoker. I just lay the probe on the top rack and shut the lid. This cheap guy is a little harder to maintain the right temperature of around 225 F, so I do have to keep my eye on it more than my electric one or a more expensive charcoal one with the cool gadgets that regulate your temp for you. Every hour, spray apple juice all over your ribs using that spray bottle. After about 3 hours, you should have a very good crust (called the Bark) on your ribs. Once you have the Bark where you want it, carefully remove your ribs and place them in a tray. We are now ready for a very important part to make the flavor. Get a large piece of foil and place one rib section on it. Splash some of the peach nectar on it, and then a drizzle of the Agave syrup. Then, use your gloved hand to pack on some brown sugar. Do this on BOTH sides, and then completely wrap it up TIGHT in the foil. Do this for each rib section, and then place all the wrapped sections back into the smoker for another 4 to 6 hours. This is where the meat will get tender and flavorful. The first three hours is only to make the smoke bark. You don’t need smoke anymore, since the ribs are wrapped, you only need to keep the heat around 225 for the next 4-6 hours. Obviously you don’t spray anymore. Just time and slow heat. Be patient. It’s actually really hard to overdo it. You can let them go longer, and all that will happen is they will get even MORE tender!!! If you take them out too soon, they will be tough. How do you know? Take out one package (use long tongs) and open it up. If you grab a bone with your tongs and it just falls apart and breaks away from the rest of the meat, you are done!!! Enjoy!!! Step 6. Eat. It pulls apart like this when it’s done. By the way, smoking tri-tip is way easier. Just rub it with the same rub, and put in your smoker for about 2.5 hours at 250 F. That’s it. Low-maintenance. It comes out like this, with a fantastic smoke ring and amazing flavor. Thanks, and I will put up another good tip, about the ZFSSA, around the end of November. Steve 

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