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  • What's the best practice to do SOA exception handling?

    - by sun1991
    Here's some interesting debate going on between me and my colleague when coming to handle SOA exceptions: On one side, I support what Juval Lowy said in Programming WCF Services 3rd Edition: As stated at the beginning of this chapter, it is a common illusion that clients care about errors or have anything meaningful to do when they occur. Any attempt to bake such capabilities into the client creates an inordinate degree of coupling between the client and the object, raising serious design questions. How could the client possibly know more about the error than the service, unless it is tightly coupled to it? What if the error originated several layers below the service—should the client be coupled to those lowlevel layers? Should the client try the call again? How often and how frequently? Should the client inform the user of the error? Is there a user? By having all service exceptions be indistinguishable from one another, WCF decouples the client from the service. The less the client knows about what happened on the service side, the more decoupled the interaction will be. On the other side, here's what my colleague suggest: I believe it’s simply incorrect, as it does not align with best practices in building a service oriented architecture and it ignores the general idea that there are problems that users are able to recover from, such as not keying a value correctly. If we considered only systems exceptions, perhaps this idea holds, but systems exceptions are only part of the exception domain. User recoverable exceptions are the other part of the domain and are likely to happen on a regular basis. I believe the correct way to build a service oriented architecture is to map user recoverable situations to checked exceptions, then to marshall each checked exception back to the client as a unique exception that client application programmers are able to handle appropriately. Marshall all runtime exceptions back to the client as a system exception, along with the stack trace so that it is easy to troubleshoot the root cause. I'd like to know what you think about this? Thank you.

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  • Input/Output console window in XNA

    - by Will Bagley
    I am currently making a simple game in XNA but am at a point where testing various aspect gets a bit tricky, especially when you have to wait till you have 1000 score to see if your animation is playing correctly etc. Of course i could just edit the starting variable in the code before I launched but I have recently been interested in trying to implement a console style window which can print out values and take input to alter public variables during run-time. I am aware that VS has the immediate window which achieves a similar thing but i would prefer mine is an actual part of the game with the intention that the user may have limited access to it in the future. Some of the key things i have yet to find an answer to after looking around for a while are: how i would support free text entry how i would access variables during runtime how i would edit these variable I have also read about using a property grid from windows form aps (and partially reflection) which looked like it could simplify a lot of things but i am not sure how I would get that running inside my XNA game window or how i would get it to not look out of place (as the visual aspect of is seems to be aimed just for development time viewing). All in all I'm quite open to any suggestions on how to approach this task as currently I'm not sure where to start. Thanks in advance.

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  • design in agile process

    - by ying
    Recently I had an interview with dev team in a company. The team uses agile + TDD. The code exercise implements a video rental store which generates statement to calc total rental fee for each type of video (new release, children, etc) for a customer. The existing code use object like: Statement to generate statement and calc fee where big switch statement sits to use enum to determine how to calc rental fee customer holds a list of rentals movie base class and derived class for each type of movie (NEW, CHILDREN, ACTION, etc) The code originally doesn't compile as the owner was assumed to be hit by a bus. So here is what I did: outlined the improvement over object model to have better responsibility for each class. use strategy pattern to replace switch statement and weave them in config But the team says it's waste of time because there is no requirement for it and UAT test suite works and is the only guideline goes into architecture decision. The underlying story is just to get pricing feature out and not saying anything about how to do it. So the discussion is focused on why should time be spent on refactor the switch statement. In my understanding, agile methodology doesn't mean zero design upfront and such code smell should be avoided at the beginning. Also any unit/UAT test suite won't detect such code smell, otherwise sonar, findbugs won't exist. Here I want to ask: is there such a thing called agile design in the agile methodology? Just like agile documentation. how to define agile design upfront? how to know enough is enough? In my understanding, ballpark architecture and data contract among components should be defined before/when starting project, not the details. Am I right? anyone can explain what the team is really looking for in this kind of setup? is it design aspect or agile aspect? how to implement minimum viable product concept in the agile process in the real world project? Is it must that you feel embarrassed to be MVP?

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  • Can higher-order functions in FP be interpreted as some kind of dependency injection?

    - by Giorgio
    According to this article, in object-oriented programming / design dependency injection involves a dependent consumer, a declaration of a component's dependencies, defined as interface contracts, an injector that creates instances of classes that implement a given dependency interface on request. Let us now consider a higher-order function in a functional programming language, e.g. the Haskell function filter :: (a -> Bool) -> [a] -> [a] from Data.List. This function transforms a list into another list and, in order to perform its job, it uses (consumes) an external predicate function that must be provided by its caller, e.g. the expression filter (\x -> (mod x 2) == 0) [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10] selects all even numbers from the input list. But isn't this construction very similar to the pattern illustrated above, where the filter function is the dependent consumer, the signature (a -> Bool) of the function argument is the interface contract, the expression that uses the higher-order is the injector that, in this particular case, injects the implementation (\x -> (mod x 2) == 0) of the contract. More in general, can one relate higher-order functions and their usage pattern in functional programming to the dependency injection pattern in object-oriented languages? Or in the inverse direction, can dependency injection be compared to using some kind of higher-order function?

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  • Example of DOD design

    - by Jeffrey
    I can't seem to find a nice explanation of the Data Oriented Design for a generic zombie game (it's just an example, pretty common example). Could you make an example of the Data Oriented Design on creating a generic zombie class? Is the following good? Zombie list class: class ZombieList { GLuint vbo; // generic zombie vertex model std::vector<color>; // object default color std::vector<texture>; // objects textures std::vector<vector3D>; // objects positions public: unsigned int create(); // return object id void move(unsigned int objId, vector3D offset); void rotate(unsigned int objId, float angle); void setColor(unsigned int objId, color c); void setPosition(unsigned int objId, color c); void setTexture(unsigned int, unsigned int); ... void update(Player*); // move towards player, attack if near } Example: Player p; Zombielist zl; unsigned int first = zl.create(); zl.setPosition(first, vector3D(50, 50)); zl.setTexture(first, texture("zombie1.png")); ... while (running) { // main loop ... zl.update(&p); zl.draw(); // draw every zombie } Or would creating a generic World container that contains every action from bite(zombieId, playerId) to moveTo(playerId, vector) to createPlayer() to shoot(playerId, vector) to face(radians)/face(vector); and contains: std::vector<zombie> std::vector<player> ... std::vector<mapchunk> ... std::vector<vbobufferid> player_run_animation; ... be a good example? Whats the proper way to organize a game with DOD?

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  • What's a way to implement a flexible buff/debuff system?

    - by gkimsey
    Overview: Lots of games which RPG-like statistics allow for character "buffs", ranging from simple "Deal 25% extra damage" to more complicated things like "Deal 15 damage back to attackers when hit." The specifics of each type of buff aren't really relevant. I'm looking for a (presumably object-oriented) way to handle arbitrary buffs. Details: In my particular case, I have multiple characters in a turn-based battle environment, so I envisioned buffs being tied to events like "OnTurnStart", "OnReceiveDamage", etc. Perhaps each buff is a subclass of a main Buff abstract class, where only the relevant events are overloaded. Then each character could have a vector of buffs currently applied. Does this solution make sense? I can certainly see dozens of event types being necessary, it feels like making a new subclass for each buff is overkill, and it doesn't seem to allow for any buff "interactions". That is, if I wanted to implement a cap on damage boosts so that even if you had 10 different buffs which all give 25% extra damage, you only do 100% extra instead of 250% extra. And there's more complicated situations that ideally I could control. I'm sure everyone can come up with examples of how more sophisticated buffs can potentially interact with each other in a way that as a game developer I may not want. As a relatively inexperienced C++ programmer (I generally have used C in embedded systems), I feel like my solution is simplistic and probably doesn't take full advantage of the object-oriented language. Thoughts? Has anyone here designed a fairly robust buff system before?

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  • Disaster Recovery Example

    Previously, I use to work for a small internet company that sells dental plans online. Our primary focus concerning disaster prevention and recovery is on our corporate website and private intranet site. We had a multiphase disaster recovery plan that includes data redundancy, load balancing, and off-site monitoring. Data redundancy is a key aspect of our disaster recovery plan. The first phase of this is to replicate our data to multiple database servers and schedule daily backups of the databases that are stored off site. The next phase is the file replication of data amongst our web servers that are also backed up daily by our collocation. In addition to the files located on the server, files are also stored locally on development machines, and again backed up using version control software. Load balancing is another key aspect of our disaster recovery plan. Load balancing offers many benefits for our system, better performance, load distribution and increased availability. With our servers behind a load balancer our system has the ability to accept multiple requests simultaneously because the load is split between multiple servers. Plus if one server is slow or experiencing a failure the traffic is diverted amongst the other servers connected to the load balancer allowing the server to get back online. The final key to our disaster recovery plan is off-site monitoring that notifies all IT staff of any outages or errors on the main website encountered by the monitor. Messages are sent by email, voicemail, and SMS. According to Disasterrecovery.org, disaster recovery planning is the way companies successfully manage crises with minimal cost and effort and maximum speed compared to others that are forced to make decision out of desperation when disasters occur. In addition Sun Guard stated in 2009 that the first step in disaster recovery planning is to analyze company risks and factor in fixed costs for things like hardware, software, staffing and utilities, as well as indirect costs, such as floor space, power protection, physical and information security, and management. Also availability requirements need to be determined per application and system as well as the strategies for recovery.

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  • World Location issues with camera and particle

    - by Joe Weeks
    I have a bit of a strange question, I am adapting the existing code base including the tile engine as per the book: XNA 4.0 Game Development by example by Kurt Jaegers, particularly the aspect that I am working on is the part about the 2D platformer in the last couple of chapters. I am creating a platformer which has a scrolling screen (similar to an old school screen chase), I originally did not have any problems with this aspect as it is simply a case of updating the camera position on the X axis with game time, however I have since added a particle system to allow the players to fire weapons. This particle shot is updated via the world position, I have translated everything correctly in terms of the world position when the collisions are checked. The crux of the problem is that the collisions only work once the screen is static, whilst the camera is moving to follow the player, the collisions are offset and are hitting blocks that are no longer there. My collision for particles is as follows (There are two vertical and horizontal): protected override Vector2 horizontalCollisionTest(Vector2 moveAmount) { if (moveAmount.X == 0) return moveAmount; Rectangle afterMoveRect = CollisionRectangle; afterMoveRect.Offset((int)moveAmount.X, 0); Vector2 corner1, corner2; // new particle world alignment code. afterMoveRect = Camera.ScreenToWorld(afterMoveRect); // end. if (moveAmount.X < 0) { corner1 = new Vector2(afterMoveRect.Left, afterMoveRect.Top + 1); corner2 = new Vector2(afterMoveRect.Left, afterMoveRect.Bottom - 1); } else { corner1 = new Vector2(afterMoveRect.Right, afterMoveRect.Top + 1); corner2 = new Vector2(afterMoveRect.Right, afterMoveRect.Bottom - 1); } Vector2 mapCell1 = TileMap.GetCellByPixel(corner1); Vector2 mapCell2 = TileMap.GetCellByPixel(corner2); if (!TileMap.CellIsPassable(mapCell1) || !TileMap.CellIsPassable(mapCell2)) { moveAmount.X = 0; velocity.X = 0; } return moveAmount; } And the camera is pretty much the same as the one in the book... with this added (as an early test). public static void Update(GameTime gameTime) { position.X += 1; }

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  • Choosing an open source license such that maximum value is added to a startup

    - by echo-flow
    There are many companies that produce open source software products, and many business models that these companies can use. I'm particularly interested in companies like 280 North, the company behind Objective-J and Cappucino frameworks. My understanding of this organization's business model is that they: worked to develop a tool which added significant value to developers, released the tool under an open source license, built a community around the tool (which was helped by the project's open source licensing), created interesting demos illustrating the project's value All of these things added value to the project, and the company that owned it. Finally, 280 North was sold to Motorola. My question has to do with the role of software licensing in this particular business model. 280 North licensed their software projects under the LGPL, which gave them some proprietary control over how the project could be used. I believe that the LGPL is what's known as a "weak copyleft" license, meaning that the project can be linked to, without the linking code also being licensed under the LGPL; but software derived directly from the project would need to be licensed under the LGPL. For web-oriented libraries in particular, weak copyleft, or non-copyleft licensing seems to be quite common; I can't think of a single example of a popular or well-known web-oriented library that is licensed under the GPL (or AGPL). The question then, is, how much value would a weak copyleft license like the LGPL add to a software venture like 280 North, versus a non-copyleft license, such as the BSD license or the Apache Software License? I'd really appreciate any insight anyone can offer into this, but I'd be most interested in answers that can cite other companies as case studies or examples.

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  • Example: Cross Cutting Concerns of an Application

    A little while ago I was given an opportunity to design and implement a new system that sent data via an HTTP Post method and then processed the results that were returned so that they could be inserted in to a database. My system had eight core concerns that it needed to fulfill. Eight Core Concerns Database Access Data Entities Worker Result Processing Process Flow Manager Email/Notification Error Handling Logging Of these eight, five were actually cross cutting concerns. 5 Cross Cutting Concerns Database Access Data Entities Email/Notification Error Handling Logging These five cross cutting concerns were determined after I created an aspect oriented model to help identity the system components that could be factored out into separate components.  These separated components would then be included in the system so that they could be used by various other components.  These five components allow all of the other components to access the database, store data, send notifications, handle errors, and log all system events.  Thus, these components are used to share unique aspects to the system via their implementation. The use of Aspect oriented architecture greatly helped me define what components I needed to create and what each of those components could do.  It also showed how all of the other aspects depended on each other so that each component did not have to re-implement code that was already created in the existing system.

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  • Any empirical evidence on the efficacy of CMMI?

    - by mehaase
    I am wondering if there are any studies that examine the efficacy of software projects in CMMI-oriented organizations. For example, are CMMI organizations more likely to finish projects on time and/or on budget than non-CMMI organizations? Edit for clarification: CMMI stands for "Capability Maturity Model Integration". It's developed by the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie-Mellon University (SEI-CMU). It's not a certification, but there are various companies that will "appraise" your organization to various levels of CMMI, such as level 2 and level 3. (I believe CMMI level 1 is an animalistic, Hobbesian free-for-all that nobody aspires to. In other words, everybody is at least CMMI level 1, even if you've never heard of CMMI before.) I'm definitely not an expert, but I believe that an organization can be appraised for CMMI levels within different scopes of work: i.e. service delivery, software development, foobaring, etc. My question is focused on the software development appraisal: is an organization that has been appraised to CMMI Level X for software projects more likely to finish a software project on time and on budget than another organization that has not been appraised to CMMI Level X? However, in the absence of hard data about software-oriented CMMI, I'd be interested in the effect that CMMI appraisals have on other activities as well. I originally asked the question because I've seen various studies conducted on software (e.g. the essays in The Mythical Man Month refer to numerous empirical studies, as does McConnell's Code Complete), so I know that there are organizations performing empirical studies of software development.

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  • Designing a system with different business rules for different customers

    - by user1595846
    My company is rewriting our proprietary business application. The current architecture is poorly done and inflexible. It is coded more procedural oriented as opposed to object oriented. It has become difficult to maintain. Our system is a web application written in .Net Webforms. I am considering ASP.Net MVC for the rewrite. We intend to rewrite it with a good, solid architecture with the goal of maintainability and reusable classes for some of our other systems and services. We would also like the system to be customizable for different customers in the event that we market the system. I am considering redesigning the system based on the layered architecture (Presentation, Business, Data Access layers) described in the Microsoft Patterns and Practices Application Architecture Guide. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff650706.aspx Hopefully this isn't too open ended, but how would you recommend allowing for different business logic/rules for different customers? I'm aware of Windows Workflow Foundation, but from what I've read about it, it seems many business rules could be too complicated to handle there. Also, Can anyone point me to where I can download an example of a .net solution that is based on the Application Architecture Guide? I have already downloaded the Layered Architecture Solution Guidance and the Expense Sample on codeplex. I was looking for something a bit larger and more robust that I could step through the code and see how it works. If you feel there are better architectures to base our redesign on please feel free to share. I appreciate your help!

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  • SOA: Simplifying Cloud, Mobile, and On-premise Integration–Webcast October 24th 2013

    - by JuergenKress
    Proliferation of mobile devices, data explosion, and cloud enablement has caused a dramatic shift in IT. Organizations need to rethink their application infrastructures to accommodate increased processing speeds, heightened security and availability concerns for their applications, all while meeting lowered total cost of ownership. Traditional infrastructures may not be sufficient to accommodate the diversity and complexity of integrations in this new era. Many of today’s IT organizations rely on a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) backbone to keep their businesses running. SOA adoption and acceptance across industries have led to platform maturity at the application layer level. However, we are at the start of an era where there is a new modus operandi for organizations to thrive and deliver continuously on competitive differentiation. This change is a result of market globalization, explosion in the number of mobile devices, unparalleled growth in voluminous data and innovation that crosses organizational boundaries. Social, mobile, cloud are terms that are revolutionizing the way organizations operate. Oracle SOA Suite is a hot-pluggable software suite to build, deploy and manage Service-Oriented Architectures (SOA).Oracle SOA transforms complex application integration into agile and reusable service-based connectivity by mediating, routing, and managing interactions between services and applications in the enterprise and in the cloud. Oracle SOA Suite's hot-pluggable architecture helps businesses lower upfront costs by allowing maximum re-use of existing IT investments and assets. Join us on this webcast to find out how you can optimize the use of Oracle SOA Suite, simplifying integration, and what does the next generation of SOA has to offer to you. Agenda: What's new in Oracle SOA Simplifying integration Application Integration and SOA Cloud integration with SOA Mobile Integration leveraging Oracle SOA Suite Oracle Delivers on Next Generation SOA Customer Examples Summary and Q&A Webcast Thursday October 24th, 2013 10am CET (8am UTC / 11am EEST)Details at the Registration Page SOA & BPM Partner Community For regular information on Oracle SOA Suite become a member in the SOA & BPM Partner Community for registration please visit www.oracle.com/goto/emea/soa (OPN account required) If you need support with your account please contact the Oracle Partner Business Center. Blog Twitter LinkedIn Facebook Wiki Mix Forum Technorati Tags: cloud integration,mobile integration,training,webcast middeware,SOA Community,Oracle SOA,Oracle BPM,Community,OPN,Jürgen Kress

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  • How can I extend the desktop onto an external monitor/projector?

    - by hellocatfood
    I've plugged in a projector into my laptop and I'm attempting to extend the desktop onto it (so that I can run a full screen app on the projector and have the controls on my laptop). I'm able to mirror the screens effectively (it does this by default) but I can't extend it. When I untick "Mirror screens" and press apply it asks me to log out and then back in again but it goes back to mirroring the screens. I'm able to extend desktop on to my external monitor at home, just not this projector. Is there a manual way or other way to do this other that through Monitors setting? My computer model is Dell Studio 1555: Pentium Dual Core T4300(2.1GHz,800MHz,1MB), 4096MB 800MHz DDR2 Dual Channel, 512 MB ATI Mobility RADEON HD 4570 using the ATI proprietary driver. My screen resolution is 1366x768 (16:9) The projector that it wont connect properly is a Hitachi CPX3. That page specifies that it's especially designed for projectors that use 16:10 aspect ratio, but considering my external monitor at home uses 4:3 should the differences in aspect ratio matter or be causing this error?

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  • Workspace Issues on ubuntu 12.10

    - by JaySch
    I'm having the following problem with 12.10 Unity running on a Toshiba A505 16" display laptop using an external 24" Samsung LED monitor (resolution 1920 x 1080 (16:9). Also using the default 2 x 2 workspaces: After powering up the laptop, I Click the Workspace Switcher and the 4 images which represent Workspace 1, Workspace 2, Workspace 3, and Workspace 4 are visible but are in a very elongated, stretched out aspect ratio. Also, any desktop icons placed on the left side of the screen don't show up when I go to full view on any of the 4 workspaces. To resolve this issue, I open up the laptop lid until the video display switches from the external Samsung LED monitor to the internal laptop display, which renders the four workspaces perfectly. I then close the laptop lid and now the workspaces display the correct aspect view; both in the workspace switcher thumbnail view an in full view. I can now see the full desktop, including any desktop icons. Is there a way to configure my system so that Workspaces work properly when the laptop is connected to an external monitor without having to open and close my laptop? Thank you.

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  • A Better Way to Plan, Execute and Manage Enterprise Architecture

    - by JuergenKress
    IT Strategies from Oracle is an authorized library of guidelines and reference architectures that will help you better plan, execute, and manage your enterprise architecture and IT initiatives. The IT Strategies from Oracle library offers two types of best practice documents: practitioner guides containing pragmatic advice and approaches, and reference architectures containing the proven technology patterns to jumpstart your initiative. The IT Strategies from Oracle library can help you establish a reliable set of principles and standards to guide your use of Oracle technology. We will expand this library over time across all of Oracle's technologies. Today, you can access: Overview documents providing an introduction to all the resources available in the library and best practices maturity models Oracle Reference Architectures covering the application infrastructure foundation, management and monitoring, security, software engineering, service-oriented integration, service orientation, user interaction, engineered systems, and a master glossary. Enterprise Technology Strategies for Service-Oriented Architecture offering practitioner guides on creating a SOA roadmap, frameworks for governance, determining ROI, identifying services, software engineering, and white papers. Enterprise Technology Strategies for Event-Driven Architecture offering practitioner guides on creating an EDA roadmap and reference architectures on an EDA foundation and EDA infrastructure. Enterprise Technology Strategies for Business Process Management including practitioner guides on creating a BPM roadmap, business process engineering, governance, and reference architectures on a BPM foundation and BPM infrastructure. Enterprise Technology Strategies for Cloud Computing including reference architectures on a Cloud foundation and Cloud infrastructure. Enterprise Technology Strategies for Business Analytics includes a practitioner guide for creating a BA roadmap, and reference architectures for a BA foundation and BA infrastructure. Get the Oracle Enterprise Architecture content here. SOA & BPM Partner Community For regular information on Oracle SOA Suite become a member in the SOA & BPM Partner Community for registration please visit www.oracle.com/goto/emea/soa (OPN account required) If you need support with your account please contact the Oracle Partner Business Center. Blog Twitter LinkedIn Facebook Wiki Mix Forum Technorati Tags: Architecture,SOA Community,Oracle SOA,Oracle BPM,Community,OPN,Jürgen Kress

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  • Need help with workflow in Alfresco

    - by Scott Gartner
    Hello SO community, I haven't had any luck getting help in the Alfresco forums, and I'm hoping for more here. We are building an application based on Alfresco and jBPM and I have defined a workflow, but I have either defined it wrong or am missing something or there are bugs in Alfresco integration with jBPM and I need help figuring out which and fixing it. Here is the problem: I have an advanced workflow and I am trying to launch it from JavaScript. Here is the code I'm using to start the workflow: var nodeId = args.nodeid; var document = search.findNode("workspace://SpacesStore/" + nodeId); var workflowAction = actions.create("start-workflow"); workflowAction.parameters.workflowName = "jbpm$nmwf:MyWorkflow"; workflowAction.parameters["bpm:workflowDescription"] = "Please edit: " + document.name; workflowAction.parameters["bpm:assignees"] = [people.getPerson("admin"), people.getPerson("andyg")]; var futureDate = new Date(); futureDate.setDate(futureDate.getDate() + 7); workflowAction.parameters["bpm:workflowDueDate"] = futureDate; workflowAction.execute(document); This runs fine and e-mail sent from the start node's default transition fires just fine. However, when I go looking for the workflow in my task list it is not there, but it is in my completed task list. The default transition (the only transition) from the start node points at a task node which has four transitions. There are 8 tasks and 22 transitions in the workflow. When I use the workflow console to start the workflow and end the start task, it properly follows the default start node transition to the next task. The new task shows up in "show tasks" but does not show up in "show my tasks" (apparently because the task was marked completed for some reason, though it is not in the "end" node). The task is: task id: jbpm$111 , name: nmwf:submitInEditing , properties: 18 If I do "show transitions" it looks just as I would expect: path: jbpm$62-@ , node: In Editing , active: true task id: jbpm$111 , name: nmwf:submitInEditing, title: submitInEditing title , desc: submitInEditing description , properties: 18 transition id: Submit for Approval , title: Submit for Approval transition id: Request Copyediting Review , title: Request Copyediting Review transition id: Request Legal Review , title: Request Legal Review transition id: Request Review , title: Request Review I don't want to post the entire workflow as it's large, but here are the first two nodes: First the swimlanes: <swimlane name="initiator"></swimlane> <swimlane name="Content Providers"> <assignment actor-id="Content Providers"> <actor>#{bpm_assignees}</actor> </assignment> </swimlane> Now the nodes: <start-state name="start"> <task name="nmwf:submitTask" swimlane="initiator"/> <transition name="" to="In Editing"> <action> <runas>admin</runas> <script> /* Code to send e-mail that a new workflow was started. I get this e-mail. */ </script> </action> </transition> </start-state> <task-node name="In Editing"> <task name="nmwf:submitInEditing" swimlane="Content Providers" /> <!-- I put e-mail sending code in each of these transitions, but none are firing. --> <transition to="In Approval" name="Submit for Approval"></transition> <transition to="In Copyediting" name="Request Copyediting Review"></transition> <transition to="In Legal Review" name="Request Legal Review"></transition> <transition to="In Review" name="Request Review"></transition> </task-node> Here is the model for these two nodes: <type name="nmwf:submitTask"> <parent>bpm:startTask</parent> <mandatory-aspects> <aspect>bpm:assignees</aspect> </mandatory-aspects> </type> <type name="nmwf:submitInEditing"> <parent>bpm:workflowTask</parent> <mandatory-aspects> <aspect>bpm:assignees</aspect> </mandatory-aspects> </type> Here is a pseudo-log of running the workflow in the workflow console: :: deploy alfresco/extension/workflow/processdefinition.xml deployed definition id: jbpm$69 , name: jbpm$nmwf:MyWorkflow , title: nmwf:MyWorkflow , version: 28 :: var bpm:assignees* person admin,andyg set var {http://www.alfresco.org/model/bpm/1.0}assignees = [workspace://SpacesStore/73cf1b28-21aa-40ca-9dde-1cff492d0268, workspace://SpacesStore/03297e91-0b89-4db6-b764-5ada2d167424] :: var bpm:package package 1 set var {http://www.alfresco.org/model/bpm/1.0}package = workspace://SpacesStore/6e2bbbbd-b728-4403-be37-dfce55a83641 :: start bpm:assignees bpm:package started workflow id: jbpm$63 , def: nmwf:MyWorkflow path: jbpm$63-@ , node: start , active: true task id: jbpm$112 , name: nmwf:submitTask, title: submitTask title , desc: submitTask description , properties: 16 transition id: [default] , title: Task Done :: show transitions path: jbpm$63-@ , node: start , active: true task id: jbpm$112 , name: nmwf:submitTask, title: submitTask title , desc: submitTask description , properties: 17 transition id: [default] , title: Task Done :: end task jbpm$112 signal sent - path id: jbpm$63-@ path: jbpm$63-@ , node: In Editing , active: true task id: jbpm$113 , name: nmwf:submitInEditing, title: submitInEditing title , desc: submitInEditing description , properties: 17 transition id: Submit for Approval , title: Submit for Approval transition id: Request Copyediting Review , title: Request Copyediting Review transition id: Request Legal Review , title: Request Legal Review transition id: Request Review , title: Request Review :: show tasks task id: jbpm$113 , name: nmwf:submitInEditing , properties: 18 :: show my tasks admin: [there is no output here] I have been making the assumption that the bpm:assignees that I am setting before starting the workflow initially are getting passed to the first task node "In Editing". Clearly the assignees are on the task object and not on the workflow object. I added the assignees aspect to the start-state task so that it could hold them (after I had a problem; initially they were not there) and possibly they are still sitting there, but the start-state has ended before I even get control back from the web script (not that it would help if it wasn't ended, I need it to be in "In Editing" as the start-state is only used to log that the workflow was started). It has always confused me that the properties that I need to set on each task need to be requested before the task is entered (when you choose a transition you must provide the data for the next task before you can actually move to the next task as you have to validate that you have all of the required data first and then signal the transition). However, the code to start the workflow is asynchronous and therefore does not return either the started workflow or the current task (which in my case would be "In Editing"). So, either way you cannot set variables such as bpm:assignees and bpm:dueDate. I wonder if this is the problem with the user task list. I'm setting the assignees in the property list, but maybe those assignees are going to the start-state task and are not getting passed to the "In Editing" task? Note that this is my first jBPM workflow, so please don't assume I know what I'm doing. If you see something that looks off, it probably is and I just don't know it. Thanks in advance for any advice or help,

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  • How to label a cuboid?

    - by usha
    Hi this is how my 3dcuboid looks, I have attached the complete code. I want to label this cuboid using different names across sides, how is this possible using opengl on android? public class MyGLRenderer implements Renderer { Context context; Cuboid rect; private float mCubeRotation; // private static float angleCube = 0; // Rotational angle in degree for cube (NEW) // private static float speedCube = -1.5f; // Rotational speed for cube (NEW) public MyGLRenderer(Context context) { rect = new Cuboid(); this.context = context; } public void onDrawFrame(GL10 gl) { // TODO Auto-generated method stub gl.glClear(GL10.GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT | GL10.GL_DEPTH_BUFFER_BIT); gl.glLoadIdentity(); // Reset the model-view matrix gl.glTranslatef(0.2f, 0.0f, -8.0f); // Translate right and into the screen gl.glScalef(0.8f, 0.8f, 0.8f); // Scale down (NEW) gl.glRotatef(mCubeRotation, 1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f); // gl.glRotatef(angleCube, 1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f); // rotate about the axis (1,1,1) (NEW) rect.draw(gl); mCubeRotation -= 0.15f; //angleCube += speedCube; } public void onSurfaceChanged(GL10 gl, int width, int height) { // TODO Auto-generated method stub if (height == 0) height = 1; // To prevent divide by zero float aspect = (float)width / height; // Set the viewport (display area) to cover the entire window gl.glViewport(0, 0, width, height); // Setup perspective projection, with aspect ratio matches viewport gl.glMatrixMode(GL10.GL_PROJECTION); // Select projection matrix gl.glLoadIdentity(); // Reset projection matrix // Use perspective projection GLU.gluPerspective(gl, 45, aspect, 0.1f, 100.f); gl.glMatrixMode(GL10.GL_MODELVIEW); // Select model-view matrix gl.glLoadIdentity(); // Reset } public void onSurfaceCreated(GL10 gl, EGLConfig config) { // TODO Auto-generated method stub gl.glClearColor(0.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f); // Set color's clear-value to black gl.glClearDepthf(1.0f); // Set depth's clear-value to farthest gl.glEnable(GL10.GL_DEPTH_TEST); // Enables depth-buffer for hidden surface removal gl.glDepthFunc(GL10.GL_LEQUAL); // The type of depth testing to do gl.glHint(GL10.GL_PERSPECTIVE_CORRECTION_HINT, GL10.GL_NICEST); // nice perspective view gl.glShadeModel(GL10.GL_SMOOTH); // Enable smooth shading of color gl.glDisable(GL10.GL_DITHER); // Disable dithering for better performance }} public class Cuboid{ private FloatBuffer mVertexBuffer; private FloatBuffer mColorBuffer; private ByteBuffer mIndexBuffer; private float vertices[] = { //width,height,depth -2.5f, -1.0f, -1.0f, 1.0f, -1.0f, -1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f, -1.0f, -2.5f, 1.0f, -1.0f, -2.5f, -1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f, -1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f, -2.5f, 1.0f, 1.0f }; private float colors[] = { // R,G,B,A COLOR 0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f, 0.5f, 0.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f, 0.5f, 0.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f }; private byte indices[] = { // VERTEX 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7 REPRESENTATION FOR FACES 0, 4, 5, 0, 5, 1, 1, 5, 6, 1, 6, 2, 2, 6, 7, 2, 7, 3, 3, 7, 4, 3, 4, 0, 4, 7, 6, 4, 6, 5, 3, 0, 1, 3, 1, 2 }; public Cuboid() { ByteBuffer byteBuf = ByteBuffer.allocateDirect(vertices.length * 4); byteBuf.order(ByteOrder.nativeOrder()); mVertexBuffer = byteBuf.asFloatBuffer(); mVertexBuffer.put(vertices); mVertexBuffer.position(0); byteBuf = ByteBuffer.allocateDirect(colors.length * 4); byteBuf.order(ByteOrder.nativeOrder()); mColorBuffer = byteBuf.asFloatBuffer(); mColorBuffer.put(colors); mColorBuffer.position(0); mIndexBuffer = ByteBuffer.allocateDirect(indices.length); mIndexBuffer.put(indices); mIndexBuffer.position(0); } public void draw(GL10 gl) { gl.glFrontFace(GL10.GL_CW); gl.glVertexPointer(3, GL10.GL_FLOAT, 0, mVertexBuffer); gl.glColorPointer(4, GL10.GL_FLOAT, 0, mColorBuffer); gl.glEnableClientState(GL10.GL_VERTEX_ARRAY); gl.glEnableClientState(GL10.GL_COLOR_ARRAY); gl.glDrawElements(GL10.GL_TRIANGLES, 36, GL10.GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE, mIndexBuffer); gl.glDisableClientState(GL10.GL_VERTEX_ARRAY); gl.glDisableClientState(GL10.GL_COLOR_ARRAY); } } public class Draw3drect extends Activity { private GLSurfaceView glView; // Use GLSurfaceView // Call back when the activity is started, to initialize the view @Override protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) { super.onCreate(savedInstanceState); glView = new GLSurfaceView(this); // Allocate a GLSurfaceView glView.setRenderer(new MyGLRenderer(this)); // Use a custom renderer this.setContentView(glView); // This activity sets to GLSurfaceView } // Call back when the activity is going into the background @Override protected void onPause() { super.onPause(); glView.onPause(); } // Call back after onPause() @Override protected void onResume() { super.onResume(); glView.onResume(); } }

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  • how to label a cuboid using open gl?

    - by usha
    hi this is how my 3dcuboid looks ,i have attached complete code , i want to label this cuboid using different name across sides how is it possible using opengl in android...plz help me out public class MyGLRenderer implements Renderer { Context context; Cuboid rect; private float mCubeRotation; // private static float angleCube = 0; // Rotational angle in degree for cube (NEW) // private static float speedCube = -1.5f; // Rotational speed for cube (NEW) public MyGLRenderer(Context context) { rect = new Cuboid(); this.context = context; } public void onDrawFrame(GL10 gl) { // TODO Auto-generated method stub gl.glClear(GL10.GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT | GL10.GL_DEPTH_BUFFER_BIT); gl.glLoadIdentity(); // Reset the model-view matrix gl.glTranslatef(0.2f, 0.0f, -8.0f); // Translate right and into the screen gl.glScalef(0.8f, 0.8f, 0.8f); // Scale down (NEW) gl.glRotatef(mCubeRotation, 1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f); // gl.glRotatef(angleCube, 1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f); // rotate about the axis (1,1,1) (NEW) rect.draw(gl); mCubeRotation -= 0.15f; //angleCube += speedCube; } public void onSurfaceChanged(GL10 gl, int width, int height) { // TODO Auto-generated method stub if (height == 0) height = 1; // To prevent divide by zero float aspect = (float)width / height; // Set the viewport (display area) to cover the entire window gl.glViewport(0, 0, width, height); // Setup perspective projection, with aspect ratio matches viewport gl.glMatrixMode(GL10.GL_PROJECTION); // Select projection matrix gl.glLoadIdentity(); // Reset projection matrix // Use perspective projection GLU.gluPerspective(gl, 45, aspect, 0.1f, 100.f); gl.glMatrixMode(GL10.GL_MODELVIEW); // Select model-view matrix gl.glLoadIdentity(); // Reset } public void onSurfaceCreated(GL10 gl, EGLConfig config) { // TODO Auto-generated method stub gl.glClearColor(0.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f); // Set color's clear-value to black gl.glClearDepthf(1.0f); // Set depth's clear-value to farthest gl.glEnable(GL10.GL_DEPTH_TEST); // Enables depth-buffer for hidden surface removal gl.glDepthFunc(GL10.GL_LEQUAL); // The type of depth testing to do gl.glHint(GL10.GL_PERSPECTIVE_CORRECTION_HINT, GL10.GL_NICEST); // nice perspective view gl.glShadeModel(GL10.GL_SMOOTH); // Enable smooth shading of color gl.glDisable(GL10.GL_DITHER); // Disable dithering for better performance }} public class Cuboid{ private FloatBuffer mVertexBuffer; private FloatBuffer mColorBuffer; private ByteBuffer mIndexBuffer; private float vertices[] = { //width,height,depth -2.5f, -1.0f, -1.0f, 1.0f, -1.0f, -1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f, -1.0f, -2.5f, 1.0f, -1.0f, -2.5f, -1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f, -1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f, -2.5f, 1.0f, 1.0f }; private float colors[] = { // R,G,B,A COLOR 0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f, 0.5f, 0.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f, 0.5f, 0.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f }; private byte indices[] = { // VERTEX 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7 REPRESENTATION FOR FACES 0, 4, 5, 0, 5, 1, 1, 5, 6, 1, 6, 2, 2, 6, 7, 2, 7, 3, 3, 7, 4, 3, 4, 0, 4, 7, 6, 4, 6, 5, 3, 0, 1, 3, 1, 2 }; public Cuboid() { ByteBuffer byteBuf = ByteBuffer.allocateDirect(vertices.length * 4); byteBuf.order(ByteOrder.nativeOrder()); mVertexBuffer = byteBuf.asFloatBuffer(); mVertexBuffer.put(vertices); mVertexBuffer.position(0); byteBuf = ByteBuffer.allocateDirect(colors.length * 4); byteBuf.order(ByteOrder.nativeOrder()); mColorBuffer = byteBuf.asFloatBuffer(); mColorBuffer.put(colors); mColorBuffer.position(0); mIndexBuffer = ByteBuffer.allocateDirect(indices.length); mIndexBuffer.put(indices); mIndexBuffer.position(0); } public void draw(GL10 gl) { gl.glFrontFace(GL10.GL_CW); gl.glVertexPointer(3, GL10.GL_FLOAT, 0, mVertexBuffer); gl.glColorPointer(4, GL10.GL_FLOAT, 0, mColorBuffer); gl.glEnableClientState(GL10.GL_VERTEX_ARRAY); gl.glEnableClientState(GL10.GL_COLOR_ARRAY); gl.glDrawElements(GL10.GL_TRIANGLES, 36, GL10.GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE, mIndexBuffer); gl.glDisableClientState(GL10.GL_VERTEX_ARRAY); gl.glDisableClientState(GL10.GL_COLOR_ARRAY); } } public class Draw3drect extends Activity { private GLSurfaceView glView; // Use GLSurfaceView // Call back when the activity is started, to initialize the view @Override protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) { super.onCreate(savedInstanceState); glView = new GLSurfaceView(this); // Allocate a GLSurfaceView glView.setRenderer(new MyGLRenderer(this)); // Use a custom renderer this.setContentView(glView); // This activity sets to GLSurfaceView } // Call back when the activity is going into the background @Override protected void onPause() { super.onPause(); glView.onPause(); } // Call back after onPause() @Override protected void onResume() { super.onResume(); glView.onResume(); } }

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  • In 3D camera math, calculate what Z depth is pixel unity for a given FOV

    - by badweasel
    I am working in iOS and OpenGL ES 2.0. Through trial and error I've figured out a frustum to where at a specific z depth pixels drawn are 1 to 1 with my source textures. So 1 pixel in my texture is 1 pixel on the screen. For 2d games this is good. Of course it means that I also factor in things like the size of the quad and the size of the texture. For example if my sprite is a quad 32x32 pixels. The quad size is 3.2 units wide and tall. And the texcoords are 32 / the size of the texture wide and tall. Then the frustum is: matrixFrustum(-(float)backingWidth/frustumScale,(float)backingWidth/frustumScale, -(float)backingHeight/frustumScale, (float)backingHeight/frustumScale, 40, 1000, mProjection); Where frustumScale is 800 for a retina screen. Then at a distance of 800 from camera the sprite is pixel for pixel the same as photoshop. For 3d games sometimes I still want to be able to do this. But depending on the scene I sometimes need the FOV to be different things. I'm looking for a way to figure out what Z depth will achieve this same pixel unity for a given FOV. For this my mProjection is set using: matrixPerspective(cameraFOV, near, far, (float)backingWidth / (float)backingHeight, mProjection); With testing I found that at an FOV of 45.0 a Z of 38.5 is very close to pixel unity. And at an FOV of 30.0 a Z of 59.5 is about right. But how can I calculate a value that is spot on? Here's my matrixPerspecitve code: void matrixPerspective(float angle, float near, float far, float aspect, mat4 m) { //float size = near * tanf(angle / 360.0 * M_PI); float size = near * tanf(degreesToRadians(angle) / 2.0); float left = -size, right = size, bottom = -size / aspect, top = size / aspect; // Unused values in perspective formula. m[1] = m[2] = m[3] = m[4] = 0; m[6] = m[7] = m[12] = m[13] = m[15] = 0; // Perspective formula. m[0] = 2 * near / (right - left); m[5] = 2 * near / (top - bottom); m[8] = (right + left) / (right - left); m[9] = (top + bottom) / (top - bottom); m[10] = -(far + near) / (far - near); m[11] = -1; m[14] = -(2 * far * near) / (far - near); } And my mView is set using: lookAtMatrix(cameraPos, camLookAt, camUpVector, mView); * UPDATE * I'm going to leave this here in case anyone has a different solution, can explain how they do it, or why this works. This is what I figured out. In my system I use a 10th scale unit to pixels on non-retina displays and a 20th scale on retina displays. The iPhone is 640 pixels wide on retina and 320 pixels wide on non-retina (obsolete). So if I want something to be the full screen width I divide by 20 to get the OpenGL unit width. Then divide that by 2 to get the left and right unit position. Something 32 units wide centered on the screen goes from -16 to +16. Believe it or not I have an excel spreadsheet do all this math for me and output all the vertex data for my sprite sheet. It's an arbitrary thing I made up to do .1 units = 1 non-retina pixel or 2 retina pixels. I could have made it .01 units = 2 pixels and someday I might switch to that. But for now it's the other. So the width of the screen in units is 32.0, and that means the left most pixel is at -16.0 and the right most is at 16.0. After messing a bit I figured out that if I take the [0] value of an identity modelViewProjection matrix and multiply it by 16 I get the depth required to get 1:1 pixels. I don't know why. I don't know if the 16 is related to the screen size or just a lucky guess. But I did a test where I placed a sprite at that calculated depth and varied the FOV through all the valid values and the object stays steady on screen with 1:1 pixels. So now I'm just calculating the unityDepth that way. If someone gives me a better answer I'll checkmark it.

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  • Designing for the future

    - by Dennis Vroegop
    User interfaces and user experience design is a fast moving field. It’s something that changes pretty quick: what feels fresh today will look outdated tomorrow. I remember the day I first got a beta version of Windows 95 and I felt swept away by the user interface of the OS. It felt so modern! If I look back now, it feels old. Well, it should: the design is 17 years old which is an eternity in our field. Of course, this is not limited to UI. Same goes for many industries. I want you to think back of the cars that amazed you when you were in your teens (if you are in your teens then this may not apply to you). Didn’t they feel like part of the future? Didn’t you think that this was the ultimate in designs? And aren’t those designs hopelessly outdated today (again, depending on your age, it may just be me)? Let’s review the Win95 design: And let’s compare that to Windows 7: There are so many differences here, I wouldn’t even know where to start explaining them. The general feeling however is one of more usability: studies have shown Windows 7 is much easier to understand for new users than the older versions of Windows did. Of course, experienced Windows users didn’t like it: people are usually afraid of changes and like to stick to what they know. But for new users this was a huge improvement. And that is what UX design is all about: make a product easier to use, with less training required and make users feel more productive. Still, there are areas where this doesn’t hold up. There are plenty examples of designs from the past that are still fresh today. But if you look closely at them, you’ll notice some subtle differences. This differences are what keep the designs fresh. A good example is the signs you’ll find on the road. They haven’t changed much over the years (otherwise people wouldn’t recognize them anymore) but they have been changing gradually to reflect changes in traffic. The same goes for computer interfaces. With each new product or version of a product, the UI and UX is changed gradually. Every now and then however, a bigger change is needed. Just think about the introduction of the Ribbon in Microsoft Office 2007: the whole UI was redesigned. A lot of old users (not in age, but in times of using older versions) didn’t like it a bit, but new users or casual users seem to be more efficient using the product. Which, of course, is exactly the reason behind the changes. I believe that a big engine behind the changes in User Experience design has been the web. In the old days (i.e. before the explosion of the internet) user interface design in Windows applications was limited to choosing the margins between your battleship gray buttons. When the web came along, and especially the web 2.0 where the browsers started to act more and more as application platforms, designers stepped in and made a huge impact. In the browser, they could do whatever they wanted. In the beginning this was limited to the darn blink tag but gradually people really started to think about UX. Even more so: the design of the UI and the whole experience was taken away from the developers and put into the hands of people who knew what they were doing: UX designers. This caused some problems. Everyone who has done a web project in the early 2000’s must have had the same experience: the designers give you a set of Photoshop files and tell you to translate it to HTML. Which, of course, is very hard to do. However, with new tooling and new standards this became much easier. The latest version of HTML and CSS has taken the responsibility for the design away from the developers and placed them in the capable hands of the designers. And that’s where that responsibility belongs, after all, I don’t want a designer to muck around in my c# code just as much as he or she doesn’t want me to poke in the sites style definitions. This change in responsibilities resulted in good looking but more important: better thought out user interfaces in websites. And when websites became more and more interactive, people started to expect the same sort of look and feel from their desktop applications. But that didn’t really happen. Most business applications still have that battleship gray look and feel. Ok, they may use a different color but we’re not talking colors here but usability. Now, you may not be able to read the Dutch captions, but even if you did you wouldn’t understand what was going on. At least, not when you first see it. You have to scan the screen, read all the labels, see how they are related to the other elements on the screen and then figure out what they do. If you’re an experienced user of this application however, this might be a good thing: you know what to do and you get all the information you need in one single screen. But for most applications this isn’t the case. A lot of people only use their computer for a limited time a day (a weird concept for me, but it happens) and need it to get something done and then get on with their lives. For them, a user interface experience like the above isn’t working. (disclaimer: I just picked a screenshot, I am not saying this is bad software but it is an example of about 95% of the Windows applications out there). For the knowledge worker, this isn’t a problem. They use one or two systems and they know exactly what they need to do to achieve their goal. They don’t want any clutter on their screen that distracts them from their task, they just want to be as efficient as possible. When they know the systems they are very productive. The point is, how long does it take to become productive? And: could they be even more productive if the UX was better? Are there things missing that they don’t know about? Are there better ways to achieve what they want to achieve? Also: could a system be designed in such a way that it is not only much more easy to work with but also less tiring? in the example above you need to switch between the keyboard and mouse a lot, something that we now know can be very tiring. The goal of most applications (being client apps or websites on any kind of device) is to provide information. Information is data that when given to the right people, on the right time, in the right place and when it is correct adds value for that person (please, remember that definition: I still hear the statement “the information was wrong” which doesn’t make sense: data can be wrong, information cannot be). So if a system provides data, how can we make sure the chances of becoming information is as high as possible? A good example of a well thought-out system that attempts this is the Zune client. It is a very good application, and I think the UX is much better than it’s main competitor iTunes. Have a look at both: On the left you see the iTunes screenshot, on the right the Zune. As you notice, the Zune screen has more images but less chrome (chrome being visuals not part of the data you want to show, i.e. edges around buttons). The whole thing is text oriented or image oriented, where that text or image is part of the information you need. What is important is big, what’s less important is smaller. Yet, everything you need to know at that point is present and your attention is drawn immediately to what you’re trying to achieve: information about music. You can easily switch between the content on your machine and content on your Zune player but clicking on the image of the player. But if you didn’t know that, you’d find out soon enough: the whole UX is designed in such a way that it invites you to play around. So sooner or later (probably sooner) you’d click on that image and you would see what it does. In the iTunes version it’s harder to find: the discoverability is a lot lower. For inexperienced people the Zune player feels much more natural than the iTunes player, and they get up to speed a lot faster. How does this all work? Why is this UX better? The answer lies in a project from Microsoft with the codename (it seems to be becoming the official name though) “Metro”. Metro is a design language, based on certain principles. When they thought about UX they took a good long look around them and went out in search of metaphors. And they found them. The team noticed that signage in streets, airports, roads, buildings and so on are usually very clear and very precise. These signs give you the information you need and nothing more. It’s simple, clearly understood and fast to understand. A good example are airport signs. Airports can be intimidating places, especially for the non-experienced traveler. In the early 1990’s Amsterdam Airport Schiphol decided to redesign all the signage to make the traveller feel less disoriented. They developed a set of guidelines for signs and implemented those. Soon, most airports around the world adopted these ideas and you see variations of the Dutch signs everywhere on the globe. The signs are text-oriented. Yes, there are icons explaining what it all means for the people who can’t read or don’t understand the language, but the basic sign language is text. It’s clear, it’s high-contrast and it’s easy to understand. One look at the sign and you know where to go. The only thing I don’t like is the green sign pointing to the emergency exit, but since this is the default style for emergency exits I understand why they did this. If you look at the Zune UI again, you’ll notice the similarities. Text oriented, little or no icons, clear usage of fonts and all the information you need. This design language has a set of principles: Clean, light, open and fast Content, not chrome Soulful and alive These are just a couple of the principles, you can read the whole philosophy behind Metro for Windows Phone 7 here. These ideas seem to work. I love my Windows Phone 7. It’s easy to use, it’s clear, there’s no clutter that I do not need. It works for me. And I noticed it works for a lot of other people as well, especially people who aren’t as proficient with computers as I am. You see these ideas in a lot other places. Corning, a manufacturer of glass, has made a video of possible usages of their products. It’s their glimpse into the future. You’ll notice that a lot of the UI in the screens look a lot like what Microsoft is doing with Metro (not coincidentally Corning is the supplier for the Gorilla glass display surface on the new SUR40 device (or Surface v2.0 as a lot of people call it)). The idea behind this vision is that data should be available everywhere where you it. Systems should be available at all times and data is presented in a clear and light manner so that you can turn that data into information. You don’t need a lot of fancy animations that only distract from the data. You want the data and you want it fast. Have a look at this truly inspiring video that made: This is what I believe the future will look like. Of course, not everything is possible, or even desirable. But it is a nice way to think about the future . I feel very strongly about designing applications in such a way that they add value to the user. Designing applications that turn data into information. Applications that make the user feel happy to use them. So… when are you going to drop the battleship-gray designs? Tags van Technorati: surface,design,windows phone 7,wp7,metro

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  • Running SSIS packages from C#

    - by Piotr Rodak
    Most of the developers and DBAs know about two ways of deploying packages: You can deploy them to database server and run them using SQL Server Agent job or you can deploy the packages to file system and run them using dtexec.exe utility. Both approaches have their pros and cons. However I would like to show you that there is a third way (sort of) that is often overlooked, and it can give you capabilities the ‘traditional’ approaches can’t. I have been working for a few years with applications that run packages from host applications that are implemented in .NET. As you know, SSIS provides programming model that you can use to implement more flexible solutions. SSIS applications are usually thought to be batch oriented, with fairly rigid architecture and processing model, with fixed timeframes when the packages are executed to process data. It doesn’t to be the case, you don’t have to limit yourself to batch oriented architecture. I have very good experiences with service oriented architectures processing large amounts of data. These applications are more complex than what I would like to show here, but the principle stays the same: you can execute packages as a service, on ad-hoc basis. You can also implement and schedule various signals, HTTP calls, file drops, time schedules, Tibco messages and other to run the packages. You can implement event handler that will trigger execution of SSIS when a certain event occurs in StreamInsight stream. This post is just a small example of how you can use the API and other features to create a service that can run SSIS packages on demand. I thought it might be a good idea to implement a restful service that would listen to requests and execute appropriate actions. As it turns out, it is trivial in C#. The application is implemented as console application for the ease of debugging and running. In reality, you might want to implement the application as Windows service. To begin, you have to reference namespace System.ServiceModel.Web and then add a few lines of code: Uri baseAddress = new Uri("http://localhost:8011/");               WebServiceHost svcHost = new WebServiceHost(typeof(PackRunner), baseAddress);                           try             {                 svcHost.Open();                   Console.WriteLine("Service is running");                 Console.WriteLine("Press enter to stop the service.");                 Console.ReadLine();                   svcHost.Close();             }             catch (CommunicationException cex)             {                 Console.WriteLine("An exception occurred: {0}", cex.Message);                 svcHost.Abort();             } The interesting lines are 3, 7 and 13. In line 3 you create a WebServiceHost object. In line 7 you start listening on the defined URL and then in line 13 you shut down the service. As you have noticed, the WebServiceHost constructor is accepting type of an object (here: PackRunner) that will be instantiated as singleton and subsequently used to process the requests. This is the class where you put your logic, but to tell WebServiceHost how to use it, the class must implement an interface which declares methods to be used by the host. The interface itself must be ornamented with attribute ServiceContract. [ServiceContract]     public interface IPackRunner     {         [OperationContract]         [WebGet(UriTemplate = "runpack?package={name}")]         string RunPackage1(string name);           [OperationContract]         [WebGet(UriTemplate = "runpackwithparams?package={name}&rows={rows}")]         string RunPackage2(string name, int rows);     } Each method that is going to be used by WebServiceHost has to have attribute OperationContract, as well as WebGet or WebInvoke attribute. The detailed discussion of the available options is outside of scope of this post. I also recommend using more descriptive names to methods . Then, you have to provide the implementation of the interface: public class PackRunner : IPackRunner     {         ... There are two methods defined in this class. I think that since the full code is attached to the post, I will show only the more interesting method, the RunPackage2.   /// <summary> /// Runs package and sets some of its variables. /// </summary> /// <param name="name">Name of the package</param> /// <param name="rows">Number of rows to export</param> /// <returns></returns> public string RunPackage2(string name, int rows) {     try     {         string pkgLocation = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["PackagePath"];           pkgLocation = Path.Combine(pkgLocation, name.Replace("\"", ""));           Console.WriteLine();         Console.WriteLine("Calling package {0} with parameter {1}.", name, rows);                  Application app = new Application();         Package pkg = app.LoadPackage(pkgLocation, null);           pkg.Variables["User::ExportRows"].Value = rows;         DTSExecResult pkgResults = pkg.Execute();         Console.WriteLine();         Console.WriteLine(pkgResults.ToString());         if (pkgResults == DTSExecResult.Failure)         {             Console.WriteLine();             Console.WriteLine("Errors occured during execution of the package:");             foreach (DtsError er in pkg.Errors)                 Console.WriteLine("{0}: {1}", er.ErrorCode, er.Description);             Console.WriteLine();             return "Errors occured during execution. Contact your support.";         }                  Console.WriteLine();         Console.WriteLine();         return "OK";     }     catch (Exception ex)     {         Console.WriteLine(ex);         return ex.ToString();     } }   The method accepts package name and number of rows to export. The packages are deployed to the file system. The path to the packages is configured in the application configuration file. This way, you can implement multiple services on the same machine, provided you also configure the URL for each instance appropriately. To run a package, you have to reference Microsoft.SqlServer.Dts.Runtime namespace. This namespace is implemented in Microsoft.SQLServer.ManagedDTS.dll which in my case was installed in the folder “C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\100\SDK\Assemblies”. Once you have done it, you can create an instance of Microsoft.SqlServer.Dts.Runtime.Application as in line 18 in the above snippet. It may be a good idea to create the Application object in the constructor of the PackRunner class, to avoid necessity of recreating it each time the service is invoked. Then, in line 19 you see that an instance of Microsoft.SqlServer.Dts.Runtime.Package is created. The method LoadPackage in its simplest form just takes package file name as the first parameter. Before you run the package, you can set its variables to certain values. This is a great way of configuring your packages without all the hassle with dtsConfig files. In the above code sample, variable “User:ExportRows” is set to value of the parameter “rows” of the method. Eventually, you execute the package. The method doesn’t throw exceptions, you have to test the result of execution yourself. If the execution wasn’t successful, you can examine collection of errors exposed by the package. These are the familiar errors you often see during development and debugging of the package. I you run the package from the code, you have opportunity to persist them or log them using your favourite logging framework. The package itself is very simple; it connects to my AdventureWorks database and saves number of rows specified in variable “User::ExportRows” to a file. You should know that before you run the package, you can change its connection strings, logging, events and many more. I attach solution with the test service, as well as a project with two test packages. To test the service, you have to run it and wait for the message saying that the host is started. Then, just type (or copy and paste) the below command to your browser. http://localhost:8011/runpackwithparams?package=%22ExportEmployees.dtsx%22&rows=12 When everything works fine, and you modified the package to point to your AdventureWorks database, you should see "OK” wrapped in xml: I stopped the database service to simulate invalid connection string situation. The output of the request is different now: And the service console window shows more information: As you see, implementing service oriented ETL framework is not a very difficult task. You have ability to configure the packages before you run them, you can implement logging that is consistent with the rest of your system. In application I have worked with we also have resource monitoring and execution control. We don’t allow to run more than certain number of packages to run simultaneously. This ensures we don’t strain the server and we use memory and CPUs efficiently. The attached zip file contains two projects. One is the package runner. It has to be executed with administrative privileges as it registers HTTP namespace. The other project contains two simple packages. This is really a cool thing, you should check it out!

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  • OpenGL coordinates question

    - by Chonch
    Hey, I have a simple OpenGL drawing. When the user changes the window's size, I want the drawing to maintain it's aspect ration. I accomplished that by setting the glViewport to the maximum rectangle with the appropriate aspect ration whenever the reshape method is called. My problem is that I want to draw a square that will always remain in the top right corner of the window, no matter what the size or shape of the window is. Right now, that square moves around the screen whenever the window is reshaped. Can anyone please explain how to do this? Thank you,

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