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• handling filename* parameters with spaces via RFC 5987 results in '+' in filenames

  - by Peter Friend

  I have some legacy code I am dealing with (so no I can't just use a URL with an encoded filename component) that allows a user to download a file from our website. Since our filenames are often in many different languages they are all stored as UTF-8. I wrote some code to handle the RFC5987 conversion to a proper filename* parameter. This works great until I have a filename with non-ascii characters and spaces. Per RFC, the space character is not part of attr_char so it gets encoded as %20. I have new versions of Chrome as well as Firefox and they are all converting to %20 to + on download. I have tried not encoding the space and putting the encoded filename in quotes and get the same result. I have sniffed the response coming from the server to verify that the servlet container wasn't mucking with my headers and they look correct to me. The RFC even has examples that contain %20. Am I missing something, or do all of these browsers have a bug related to this? Many thanks in advance. The code I use to encode the filename is below. Peter public static boolean bcsrch(final char[] chars, final char c) { final int len = chars.length; int base = 0; int last = len - 1; /* Last element in table */ int p; while (last >= base) { p = base + ((last - base) >> 1); if (c == chars[p]) return true; /* Key found */ else if (c < chars[p]) last = p - 1; else base = p + 1; } return false; /* Key not found */ } public static String rfc5987_encode(final String s) { final int len = s.length(); final StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(len << 1); final char[] digits = {'0','1','2','3','4','5','6','7','8','9','A','B','C','D','E','F'}; final char[] attr_char = {'!','#','$','&','\'','+','-','.','0','1','2','3','4','5','6','7','8','9','A','B','C','D','E','F','G','H','I','J','K','L','M','N','O','P','Q','R','S','T','U','V','W','X','Y','Z','^','_','a','b','c','d','e','f','g','h','i','j','k','l','m','n','o','p','q','r','s','t','u','v','w','x','y','z','|', '~'}; for (int i = 0; i < len; ++i) { final char c = s.charAt(i); if (bcsrch(attr_char, c)) sb.append(c); else { final char[] encoded = {'%', 0, 0}; encoded[1] = digits[0x0f & (c >>> 4)]; encoded[2] = digits[c & 0x0f]; sb.append(encoded); } } return sb.toString(); } Update Here is a screen shot of the download dialog I get for a file with Chinese characters with spaces as mentioned in my comment.

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• Plotting points so that they do not overlap if they have the same co-ordinates

  - by betamax

  Hi everyone, I have a function that takes longitude and latitude and converts it to x and y to be plotted. The conversion to X and Y is working fine and that is not what I have the problem with. I want to ensure that two points are not plotted in the same place. In one set of results there are about 30 on top of each other (because they have the same latitude and longitude), this number could be a lot larger. At the moment I am trying to achieve this by moving points to the left, right, top or bottom of the point to make a square. Once a square made up of points has been drawn, then moving to the next row on and drawing another square of points around the previous square. The code is Javascript but it is very generic so I guess it's slightly irrelevant. My code is as follows: var prevLong, prevLat, rand = 1, line = 1, spread = 8, i = 0; function plot_points(long, lat){ // CODE HERE TO CONVERT long and lat into x and y // System to not overlap the points if((prevLat == lat) && (prevLong == long)) { if(rand==1) { x += spread*line; } else if(rand==2) { x -= spread*line; } else if(rand==3) { y += spread*line; } else if(rand==4) { y -= spread*line; } else if(rand==5) { x += spread*line; y += spread*line; } else if(rand==6) { x -= spread*line; y -= spread*line; } else if(rand==7) { x += spread*line; y -= spread*line; } else if(rand==8) { x -= spread*line; y += spread*line; // x = double } else if(rand==9) { x += spread*line; y += spread; } else if(rand==10) { x += spread; y += spread*line; } else if(rand==11) { x -= spread*line; y -= spread; } else if(rand==12) { x -= spread; y -= spread*line; } else if(rand==13) { x += spread*line; y -= spread; } else if(rand==14) { x += spread; y -= spread*line; } else if(rand==15) { x += spread*line; y -= spread; } else if(rand==16) { x += spread; y -= spread*line; } else if(rand==17) { x -= spread*line; y += spread; } else if(rand==18) { x -= spread; y += spread*line; } else if(rand==19) { x -= spread*line; y += spread; } else if(rand==20) { x -= spread; y += spread*line; } if(rand == 20) {rand = 1; line++; } else { rand++; } i++ } else { line = 1; i = 0; } prevLat = latitude; prevLong = longitude; return [x,y]; } This is the output: It isn't working correctly and I don't even know if I am approaching the problem in a correct way at all. Has anyone had to do this before? What method would you suggest?

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• Java multiple class compositing and boiler plate reduction

  - by h2g2java

  We all know why Java does/should not have multiple inheritance. So this is not questioning about what has already been debated till-cows-come-home. This discusses what we would do when we wish to create a class that has the characteristics of two or more other classes. Probably, most of us would do this to "inherit" from three classes. For simplicity, I left out the constructor.: class Car extends Vehicle { final public Transport transport; final public Machine machine; } So that, Car class directly inherits methods and objects of Vehicle class, but would have to refer to transport and machine explicitly to refer to objects instantiated in Transport and Machine. Car car = new Car(); car.drive(); // from Vehicle car.transport.isAmphibious(); // from Transport car.machine.getCO2Footprint(); // from Machine I thought this was a good idea until when I encounter frameworks that require setter and getter methods. For example, the XML <Car amphibious='false' footPrint='1000' model='Fordstatic999'/> would look for the methods setAmphibious(..), setFootPrint(..) and setModel(..). Therefore, I have to project the methods from Transport and Machine classes class Car extends Vehicle { final public Transport transport; final public Machine machine; public void setAmphibious(boolean b){ this.transport.setAmphibious(b); } public void setFootPrint(String fp){ this.machine.setFootPrint(fp); } } This is OK, if there were just a few characteristics. Right now, I am trying to adapt all of SmartGWT into GWT UIBinder, especially those classes that are not a GWT widget. There are lots of characteristics to project. Wouldn't it be nice if there exists some form of annotation framework that is like this: class Car extends Vehicle @projects {Transport @projects{Machine @projects Guzzler}} { /* No need to explicitly instantiate Transport, Machine or Guzzler */ .... } Where, in case of common names of characteristics exist, the characteristics of Machine would take precedence Guzzler's, and Transport's would have precedence over Machine's, and Vehicle's would have precedence over Transport's. The annotation framework would then instantiate Transport, Machine and Guzzler as hidden members of Car and expand to break-out the protected/public characteristics, in the precedence dictated by the @project annotation sequence, into actual source code or into byte-code. Preferably into byte-code. So that the setFootPrint method is found in both Machine and Guzzler, only that of Machine's would be projected. Questions: Don't you think this is a good idea to have such a framework? Does such a framework already exist? Tell me where/what. Is there an eclipse plugin that does it? Is there a proposal or plan anywhere that you know about such an annotation framework? It would be wonderful too, if the annotation/plugin framework lets me specify that boolean, int, or whatever else needs to be converted from String and does the conversion/parsing for me too. Please advise, somebody. I hope wording of my question was clear enough. Thx. Edited: To avoid OO enthusiasts jumping to conclusion, I have renamed the title of this question.

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• Where do I start ?

  - by Panthe

  Brief History: Just graduated high school, learned a bit of python and C++, have no friends with any helpful computer knowledge at all. Out of anyone i met in my school years I was probably the biggest nerd, but no one really knew. I consider my self to have a vast amount of knowledge on computers and tech then the average person. built/fixed tons of computers, and ability to troubleshoot pretty much any problem I came across. Now that high school is over, Ive really been thinking about my career. Loving, living computers for the past 15 years of my life I decided to take my ability's and try to learn computer programming, why I didn't start earlier I don't know, seems to be big mistake on my part... Doing some research I concluded that Python was the first programming language I should learn, since it was high level and easier to understand then C++ and Java. I also knew that to become good at what I did I needed to know more then just 2 or 3 languages, which didn't seem like a big problem considering once I learned the way Python worked, mainly syntax changed, and the rest would come naturally. I watched a couple of youtube videos, downloaded some book pdf's and snooped around from some tutorials here and there to get the hang of what to do. A two solid weeks had passed of trying to understand the syntax, create small programs that used the basic functions and understanding how it worked, I think i have got the hang of it. It breaks down into what ive been dealing with all this time (although i kinda knew) is that, input,output, loops, functions and other things derived from 0's and 1's storing data and recalling it, ect. (A VERY BASIC IDEA). Ive been able to create small programs, Hangman, file storing, temperature conversion, Caeser Cipher decode/encoding, Fibonacci Sequence and more, which i can create and understand how each work. Being 2 weeks into this, I have learned alot. Nothing at all compared to what i should be learning in the years to come if i get a grip on what I'm doing. While doing these programs I wont stop untill I've done doing a practice problem on a book, which embarresing enough will take me a couple hour depending on the complexity of it. I absolutly will not put aside the challenge until its complete, WHICH CAN BE EXTREMELY DRAINING, ive tried most problems without cheating and reached success, which makes me feel extremely proud of my self after completing something after much trial and error. After all this I have met the demon, alogrithm's which seem to be key to effiecent code. I cant seem to rap my head around some of the computer codes people put out there using numbers, and sometimes even basic functions, I have been able to understand them after a while but i know there are alot more complex things to come, considering my self smart, functions that require complex codes, actually hurt my brain. NOTHING EVER IN LIFE HURT MY BRAIN....... not even math classes in highschool, trying to understand some of the stuff people put out there makes me feel like i have a mental disadvantage lol... i still walk forward though, crossing my fingers that the understanding will come with time. Sorry if is this is long i just wish someone takes all these things into consideration when answering my question. even through all these downsides im still pushing through and continuing to try and get good at this, i know reading these tutorials wont make me any good unless i can become creative and make my own, understand other peoples programs, so this leads me to the simple question i could have asked in the beginning..... WHERE IN THE WORLD DO I START ? Ive been trying to find out how to understand some of the open source projects, how i can work with experianced coders to learn from them and help them, but i dont think thats even possible by the way how far people's knowledge is compared to me, i have no freinds who i can learn from, can someone help me and guide me into the right direction.. i have a huge motivation to get good at coding, anything information would be extremely helpful

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• Adding to database with multiple text boxes

  - by kira423

  What I am trying to do with this script is allow users to update a url for their websites, and since each user isn't going to have the same amount of websites is is hard for me to just add $_POST['website'] for each of these. Here is the script <?php include("config.php"); include("header.php"); include("functions.php"); if(!isset($_SESSION['username']) && !isset($_SESSION['password'])){ header("Location: pubs.php"); } $getmember = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM `publishers` WHERE username = '".$_SESSION['username']."'"); $info = mysql_fetch_array($getmember); $getsites = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM `websites` WHERE publisher = '".$info['username']."'"); $postback = $_POST['website']; $webname = $_POST['webid']; if($_POST['submit']){ var_dump( $_POST['website'] ); $update = mysql_query("UPDATE `websites` SET `postback` = '$postback' WHERE name = '$webname'"); } print" <div id='center'> <span id='tools_lander'><a href='export.php'>Export Campaigns</a></span> <div id='calendar_holder'> <h3>Please define a postback for each of your websites below. The following variables should be used when creating your postback.<br /> cid = Campaign ID<br /> sid = Sub ID<br /> rate = Campaign Rate<br /> status = Status of Lead. 1 means payable 2 mean reversed<br /> A sample postback URL would be <br /> http://www.example.com/postback.php?cid=#cid&sid=#sid&rate=#rate&status=#status</h3> <table class='balances' align='center'> <form method='POST' action=''>"; while($website = mysql_fetch_array($getsites)){ print" <tr> <input type ='hidden' name='webid' value='".$website['id']."' /> <td style='font-weight:bold;'>".$website['name']."'s Postback:</td> <td><input type='text' style='width:400px;' name='website[]' value='".$website['postback']."' /></td> </tr>"; } print" <td style='float:right;position:relative;left:150px;'><input type='submit' name='submit' style='font-size:15px;height:30px;width:100px;' value='Submit' /></td> </form> </table> </div>"; include("footer.php"); ?> What I am attempting to do insert the what is inputted in the text boxes to their corresponding websites, and I cannot think of any other way to do it, and this obviously does not works and returns a notice stating Array to string conversion If there is a more logical way to do this please let me know.

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• How to convert image to bitmap code for bluetooth print in iphone

  - by John Patel

  I am interested to print image from iPhone programmatically using bluetooth printer device. In one of the sample code I have implemented code for Text print but in that sample I am not getting how to convert image into format, like unsigned char buffer3[796]={ 0x55 , 0x66 , 0x77 , 0x88 , 0x44 , 0x1B , 0x58 , 0x31 , 0x19, 0x20, 0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x80 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x01 ,0xC0 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x01 ,0x80 ,0x00 ,0x03 ,0x60 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x03 ,0xA0 ,0x00 ,0x07 ,0xB0 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x05 ,0x60 ,0x00 ,0x07 ,0xD8 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x05 ,0xA0 ,0x00 ,0x13 ,0xEC ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x04 ,0x20 ,0x00 ,0x29 ,0xF4 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x03 ,0xC0 ,0x00 ,0x64 ,0xF9 ,0x00 ,0x0F ,0xFF ,0x9C ,0x01 ,0xC0 ,0x19 ,0xFF ,0xC0 ,0x7F ,0xFC ,0x7F ,0xF9 ,0xC0 ,0x3D ,0xFF ,0xF1 ,0xFF ,0xE3 ,0xFF ,0xC0 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0xF2 ,0x73 ,0x80 ,0x0F ,0xFF ,0x9C ,0x01 ,0xC0 ,0x19 ,0xFF ,0xC0 ,0x7F ,0xFE ,0x7F ,0xFD ,0xE0 ,0x3D ,0xFF ,0xF1 ,0xFF ,0xE3 ,0xFF ,0xC0 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x79 ,0x26 ,0xC0 ,0x0F ,0xFF ,0xDC ,0x01 ,0xC0 ,0x19 ,0xFF ,0xC0 ,0x7F ,0xFE ,0xFF ,0xFD ,0xF0 ,0x7D ,0xFF ,0xFB ,0xFF ,0xF7 ,0xFF ,0xE0 ,0x00 ,0x03 ,0x3C ,0x8F ,0x60 ,0x0C ,0x01 ,0xDC ,0x01 ,0xC0 ,0x19 ,0x80 ,0x00 ,0x70 ,0x0E ,0xE0 ,0x1D ,0xF0 ,0x7D ,0x80 ,0x3B ,0x80 ,0x77 ,0x00 ,0xE0 ,0x00 ,0x04 ,0x9E ,0x8F ,0xB0 ,0x0E ,0x01 ,0xDC ,0x01 ,0xC0 ,0x19 ,0x80 ,0x00 ,0x70 ,0x0E ,0xE0 ,0x1D ,0xF8 ,0xFD ,0x80 ,0x33 ,0x80 ,0x77 ,0x00 ,0xE0 ,0x00 ,0x0E ,0x4F ,0x27 ,0xD8 ,0x0F ,0xFF ,0x9C ,0x01 ,0xC0 ,0x19 ,0xFF ,0xC0 ,0x7F ,0xFC ,0xE0 ,0x1D ,0xF9 ,0xFD ,0xFF ,0xF3 ,0x80 ,0x77 ,0x00 ,0xE0 ,0x00 ,0x0F ,0x26 ,0x53 ,0xC8 ,0x0F ,0xFF ,0x9C ,0x01 ,0xC0 ,0x19 ,0xFF ,0xC0 ,0x7F ,0xFC ,0xEF ,0xFD ,0xDD ,0xDD ,0xFF ,0xF3 ,0x80 ,0x77 ,0x00 ,0xE0 ,0x00 ,0x07 ,0x90 ,0xC9 ,0xF0 ,0x0F ,0xFF ,0xDC ,0x01 ,0xC0 ,0x19 ,0xFF ,0xC0 ,0x7F ,0xFE ,0xEF ,0xFD ,0xDF ,0x9D ,0xFF ,0xFB ,0x80 ,0x77 ,0x00 ,0xE0 ,0x00 ,0x03 ,0xC9 ,0xE4 ,0xE0 ,0x0C ,0x00 ,0xDC ,0x01 ,0xC0 ,0x19 ,0x80 ,0x00 ,0x70 ,0x06 ,0xE7 ,0xFD ,0xCF ,0x9D ,0x80 ,0x3B ,0x80 ,0x77 ,0x00 ,0xE0 ,0x00 ,0x01 ,0xF0 ,0xF2 ,0x40 ,0x0E ,0x01 ,0xDC ,0x00 ,0xC0 ,0x19 ,0x80 ,0x00 ,0x70 ,0x0E ,0xE0 ,0x1D ,0xCF ,0x1D ,0x80 ,0x3B ,0x80 ,0x77 ,0x00 ,0xE0 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0xE6 ,0x79 ,0x00 ,0x0F ,0xFF ,0xDF ,0xFC ,0xFF ,0xF9 ,0xFF ,0xC0 ,0x7F ,0xFE ,0xE0 ,0x1D ,0xC7 ,0x1D ,0xFF ,0xFB ,0xFF ,0xF7 ,0xFF ,0xE0 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x49 ,0x3D ,0x00 ,0x0F ,0xFF ,0x9F ,0xFC ,0xFF ,0xF9 ,0xFF ,0xC0 ,0x7F ,0xFE ,0xE0 ,0x1D ,0xC2 ,0x1D ,0xFF ,0xF1 ,0xFF ,0xE3 ,0xFF ,0xC0 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x1C ,0x9E ,0x00 ,0x0F ,0xFF ,0x1F ,0xFC ,0x7F ,0xE1 ,0xFF ,0xC0 ,0x7F ,0xFC ,0xE0 ,0x1D ,0xC0 ,0x1D ,0xFF ,0xE0 ,0xFF ,0xC1 ,0xFF ,0x80 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x1E ,0x4C ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x0F ,0x20 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x07 ,0x90 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x03 ,0xE0 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x01 ,0xC0 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x80 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 ,0x00 }; //[self addLabel:@"buffer3 is selected"]; [[session outputStream] write:(const uint8_t *)buffer3 maxLength:796];//send print package*/ This is sample code for Image print I am not able to print any other image because I am not having idea how to convert UIImage or NSData to the below mentioned Bit code. If any proper step by step method to do Image to bitmap conversion, then please let me know this.

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• Make interchangeable class types via pointer casting only, without having to allocate any new objects?

  - by HostileFork

  UPDATE: I do appreciate "don't want that, want this instead" suggestions. They are useful, especially when provided in context of the motivating scenario. Still...regardless of goodness/badness, I've become curious to find a hard-and-fast "yes that can be done legally in C++11" vs "no it is not possible to do something like that". I want to "alias" an object pointer as another type, for the sole purpose of adding some helper methods. The alias cannot add data members to the underlying class (in fact, the more I can prevent that from happening the better!) All aliases are equally applicable to any object of this type...it's just helpful if the type system can hint which alias is likely the most appropriate. There should be no information about any specific alias that is ever encoded in the underlying object. Hence, I feel like you should be able to "cheat" the type system and just let it be an annotation...checked at compile time, but ultimately irrelevant to the runtime casting. Something along these lines: Node<AccessorFoo>* fooPtr = Node<AccessorFoo>::createViaFactory(); Node<AccessorBar>* barPtr = reinterpret_cast< Node<AccessorBar>* >(fooPtr); Under the hood, the factory method is actually making a NodeBase class, and then using a similar reinterpret_cast to return it as a Node<AccessorFoo>*. The easy way to avoid this is to make these lightweight classes that wrap nodes and are passed around by value. Thus you don't need casting, just Accessor classes that take the node handle to wrap in their constructor: AccessorFoo foo (NodeBase::createViaFactory()); AccessorBar bar (foo.getNode()); But if I don't have to pay for all that, I don't want to. That would involve--for instance--making a special accessor type for each sort of wrapped pointer (AccessorFooShared, AccessorFooUnique, AccessorFooWeak, etc.) Having these typed pointers being aliased for one single pointer-based object identity is preferable, and provides a nice orthogonality. So back to that original question: Node<AccessorFoo>* fooPtr = Node<AccessorFoo>::createViaFactory(); Node<AccessorBar>* barPtr = reinterpret_cast< Node<AccessorBar>* >(fooPtr); Seems like there would be some way to do this that might be ugly but not "break the rules". According to ISO14882:2011(e) 5.2.10-7: An object pointer can be explicitly converted to an object pointer of a different type.70 When a prvalue v of type "pointer to T1" is converted to the type "pointer to cv T2", the result is static_cast(static_cast(v)) if both T1 and T2 are standard-layout types (3.9) and the alignment requirements of T2 are no stricter than those of T1, or if either type is void. Converting a prvalue of type "pointer to T1" to the type "pointer to T2" (where T1 and T2 are object types and where the alignment requirements of T2 are no stricter than those of T1) and back to its original type yields the original pointer value. The result of any other such pointer conversion is unspecified. Drilling into the definition of a "standard-layout class", we find: has no non-static data members of type non-standard-layout-class (or array of such types) or reference, and has no virtual functions (10.3) and no virtual base classes (10.1), and has the same access control (clause 11) for all non-static data members, and has no non-standard-layout base classes, and either has no non-static data member in the most-derived class and at most one base class with non-static data members, or has no base classes with non-static data members, and has no base classes of the same type as the first non-static data member. Sounds like working with something like this would tie my hands a bit with no virtual methods in the accessors or the node. Yet C++11 apparently has std::is_standard_layout to keep things checked. Can this be done safely? Appears to work in gcc-4.7, but I'd like to be sure I'm not invoking undefined behavior.

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• Defend PHP; convince me it isn't horrible

  - by Jason L

  I made a tongue-in-cheek comment in another question thread calling PHP a terrible language and it got down-voted like crazy. Apparently there are lots of people here who love PHP. So I'm genuinely curious. What am I missing? What makes PHP a good language? Here are my reasons for disliking it: PHP has inconsistent naming of built-in and library functions. Predictable naming patterns are important in any design. PHP has inconsistent parameter ordering of built-in functions, eg array_map vs. array_filter which is annoying in the simple cases and raises all sorts of unexpected behaviour or worse. The PHP developers constantly deprecate built-in functions and lower-level functionality. A good example is when they deprecated pass-by-reference for functions. This created a nightmare for anyone doing, say, function callbacks. A lack of consideration in redesign. The above deprecation eliminated the ability to, in many cases, provide default keyword values for functions. They fixed this in PHP 5, but they deprecated the pass-by-reference in PHP 4! Poor execution of name spaces (formerly no name spaces at all). Now that name spaces exist, what do we use as the dereference character? Backslash! The character used universally for escaping, even in PHP! Overly-broad implicit type conversion leads to bugs. I have no problem with implicit conversions of, say, float to integer or back again. But PHP (last I checked) will happily attempt to magically convert an array to an integer. Poor recursion performance. Recursion is a fundamentally important tool for writing in any language; it can make complex algorithms far simpler. Poor support is inexcusable. Functions are case insensitive. I have no idea what they were thinking on this one. A programming language is a way to specify behavior to both a computer and a reader of the code without ambiguity. Case insensitivity introduces much ambiguity. PHP encourages (practically requires) a coupling of processing with presentation. Yes, you can write PHP that doesn't do so, but it's actually easier to write code in the incorrect (from a sound design perspective) manner. PHP performance is abysmal without caching. Does anyone sell a commercial caching product for PHP? Oh, look, the designers of PHP do. Worst of all, PHP convinces people that designing web applications is easy. And it does indeed make much of the effort involved much easier. But the fact is, designing a web application that is both secure and efficient is a very difficult task. By convincing so many to take up programming, PHP has taught an entire subgroup of programmers bad habits and bad design. It's given them access to capabilities that they lack the understanding to use safely. This has led to PHP's reputation as being insecure. (However, I will readily admit that PHP is no more or less secure than any other web programming language.) What is it that I'm missing about PHP? I'm seeing an organically-grown, poorly-managed mess of a language that's spawning poor programmers. So convince me otherwise!

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• How do I learn algorithms?

  - by Panthe

  Brief History: Just graduated high school, learned a bit of python and C++, have no friends with any helpful computer knowledge at all. Out of anyone i met in my school years I was probably the biggest nerd, but no one really knew. I consider my self to have a vast amount of knowledge on computers and tech then the average person. built/fixed tons of computers, and ability to troubleshoot pretty much any problem I came across. Now that high school is over, Ive really been thinking about my career. Loving, living computers for the past 15 years of my life I decided to take my ability's and try to learn computer programming, why I didn't start earlier I don't know, seems to be big mistake on my part... Doing some research I concluded that Python was the first programming language I should learn, since it was high level and easier to understand then C++ and Java. I also knew that to become good at what I did I needed to know more then just 2 or 3 languages, which didn't seem like a big problem considering once I learned the way Python worked, mainly syntax changed, and the rest would come naturally. I watched a couple of youtube videos, downloaded some book pdf's and snooped around from some tutorials here and there to get the hang of what to do. A two solid weeks had passed of trying to understand the syntax, create small programs that used the basic functions and understanding how it worked, I think i have got the hang of it. It breaks down into what ive been dealing with all this time (although i kinda knew) is that, input,output, loops, functions and other things derived from 0's and 1's storing data and recalling it, ect. (A VERY BASIC IDEA). Ive been able to create small programs, Hangman, file storing, temperature conversion, Caeser Cipher decode/encoding, Fibonacci Sequence and more, which i can create and understand how each work. Being 2 weeks into this, I have learned alot. Nothing at all compared to what i should be lear ning in the years to come if i get a grip on what I'm doing. While doing these programs I wont stop untill I've done doing a practice problem on a book, which embarresing enough will take me a couple hour depending on the complexity of it. I absolutly will not put aside the challenge until its complete, WHICH CAN BE EXTREMELY DRAINING, ive tried most problems without cheating and reached success, which makes me feel extremely proud of my self after completing something after much trial and error. After all this I have met the demon, alogrithm's which seem to be key to effiecent code. I cant seem to rap my head around some of the computer codes people put out there using numbers, and sometimes even basic functions, I have been able to understand them after a while but i know there are alot more complex things to come, considering my self smart, functions that require complex codes, actually hurt my brain. NOTHING EVER IN LIFE HURT MY BRAIN....... not even math classes in highschool, trying to understand some of the stuff people put out there makes me feel like i have a mental disadvantage lol... i still walk forward though, crossing my fingers that the understanding will come with time. Sorry if is this is long i just wish someone takes all these things into consideration when answering my question. even through all these downsides im still pushing through and continuing to try and get good at this, i know reading these tutorials wont make me any good unless i can become creative and make my own, understand other peoples programs, so this leads me to the simple question i could have asked in the beginning..... WHERE IN THE WORLD DO I START ? Ive been trying to find out how to understand some of the open source projects, how i can work with experianced coders to learn from them and help them, but i dont think thats even possible by the way how far people's knowledge is compared to me, i have no freinds who i can learn from, can someone help me and guide me into the right direction.. i have a huge motivation to get good at coding, anything information would be extremely helpful

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• Effective optimization strategies on modern C++ compilers

  - by user168715

  I'm working on scientific code that is very performance-critical. An initial version of the code has been written and tested, and now, with profiler in hand, it's time to start shaving cycles from the hot spots. It's well-known that some optimizations, e.g. loop unrolling, are handled these days much more effectively by the compiler than by a programmer meddling by hand. Which techniques are still worthwhile? Obviously, I'll run everything I try through a profiler, but if there's conventional wisdom as to what tends to work and what doesn't, it would save me significant time. I know that optimization is very compiler- and architecture- dependent. I'm using Intel's C++ compiler targeting the Core 2 Duo, but I'm also interested in what works well for gcc, or for "any modern compiler." Here are some concrete ideas I'm considering: Is there any benefit to replacing STL containers/algorithms with hand-rolled ones? In particular, my program includes a very large priority queue (currently a std::priority_queue) whose manipulation is taking a lot of total time. Is this something worth looking into, or is the STL implementation already likely the fastest possible? Along similar lines, for std::vectors whose needed sizes are unknown but have a reasonably small upper bound, is it profitable to replace them with statically-allocated arrays? I've found that dynamic memory allocation is often a severe bottleneck, and that eliminating it can lead to significant speedups. As a consequence I'm interesting in the performance tradeoffs of returning large temporary data structures by value vs. returning by pointer vs. passing the result in by reference. Is there a way to reliably determine whether or not the compiler will use RVO for a given method (assuming the caller doesn't need to modify the result, of course)? How cache-aware do compilers tend to be? For example, is it worth looking into reordering nested loops? Given the scientific nature of the program, floating-point numbers are used everywhere. A significant bottleneck in my code used to be conversions from floating point to integers: the compiler would emit code to save the current rounding mode, change it, perform the conversion, then restore the old rounding mode --- even though nothing in the program ever changed the rounding mode! Disabling this behavior significantly sped up my code. Are there any similar floating-point-related gotchas I should be aware of? One consequence of C++ being compiled and linked separately is that the compiler is unable to do what would seem to be very simple optimizations, such as move method calls like strlen() out of the termination conditions of loop. Are there any optimization like this one that I should look out for because they can't be done by the compiler and must be done by hand? On the flip side, are there any techniques I should avoid because they are likely to interfere with the compiler's ability to automatically optimize code? Lastly, to nip certain kinds of answers in the bud: I understand that optimization has a cost in terms of complexity, reliability, and maintainability. For this particular application, increased performance is worth these costs. I understand that the best optimizations are often to improve the high-level algorithms, and this has already been done.

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• Arduino: Putting servos in my class causes them to rotate all the way to one side

  - by user2526712

  I am trying to create a new class that controls two servos. My code compiles just fine. However, when I run it, the servos just turn all the way to one direction. This seems to happen when I try instantiating the class (when in the constructor, I attach the servos in the class to pins). In My class's header file, I have [UPDATED] #ifndef ServoController_h #define ServoController_h #include "Arduino.h" #include <Servo.h> class ServoController { public: ServoController(int rotateServoPin, int elevateServoPin); void rotate(int degrees); void elevate(int degrees); private: Servo rotateServo; Servo elevateServo; int elevationAngle; int azimuthAngle; }; #endif Code so far for my Class: #include "Arduino.h" #include "ServoController.h" ServoController::ServoController(int rotateServoPin, int elevateServoPin) { azimuthAngle = 0; elevationAngle = 0; elevateServo.attach(elevateServoPin); rotateServo.attach(rotateServoPin); } void ServoController::rotate(int degrees) { //TO DO rotateServo.write(degrees); } void ServoController::elevate(int degrees) { //TO DO elevateServo.write(degrees); } And finally my arduino sketch so far is just: #include <ServoController.h> #include <Servo.h> ServoController sc(2 , 3); void setup() { } void loop() { } I'm pretty sure the circuit I am using is fine, since if I do not use my class, and just use the servo library directly in my arduino file, the servos move correctly. any ideas why this might happen? [UPDATE] I actually got this working. In my constructor, I have removed the lines to attach the servos to pins. Instead, I have added another method to my class which does the attachment. ServoController::ServoController(int rotateServoPin, int elevateServoPin) { azimuthAngle = 0; elevationAngle = 0; // elevateServo.attach(elevateServoPin); // rotateServo.attach(rotateServoPin); } void ServoController::attachPins(int rotateServoPin, int elevateServoPin) { azimuthAngle = 0; elevationAngle = 0; elevateServo.attach(elevateServoPin); rotateServo.attach(rotateServoPin); } I then call this in my sketch's setup() function: void setup() { sc.attachPins(2,3); } It seems like if I attach my servos outside of the setup() function, my problem occurs. [UPDATE July 27 9:13PM] Verified something with another test: I created a new sketch where I attached a servo before setup(): #include <Servo.h> Servo servo0; servo0.attach(2); void setup() { } void loop() // this function runs repeatedly after setup() finishes { servo0.write(90); delay(2000); servo0.write(135); delay(2000); servo0.write(45); delay(2000); } When I try to compile, Arduino throws an error: "testservotest:4: error: expected constructor, destructor, or type conversion before '.' token" So there was an error, but it was not thrown when the attach method was called from a class Thanks very much

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• Dynamic Type to do away with Reflection

  - by Rick Strahl

  The dynamic type in C# 4.0 is a welcome addition to the language. One thing I’ve been doing a lot with it is to remove explicit Reflection code that’s often necessary when you ‘dynamically’ need to walk and object hierarchy. In the past I’ve had a number of ReflectionUtils that used string based expressions to walk an object hierarchy. With the introduction of dynamic much of the ReflectionUtils code can be removed for cleaner code that runs considerably faster to boot. The old Way - Reflection Here’s a really contrived example, but assume for a second, you’d want to dynamically retrieve a Page.Request.Url.AbsoluteUrl based on a Page instance in an ASP.NET Web Page request. The strongly typed version looks like this: string path = Page.Request.Url.AbsolutePath; Now assume for a second that Page wasn’t available as a strongly typed instance and all you had was an object reference to start with and you couldn’t cast it (right I said this was contrived :-)) If you’re using raw Reflection code to retrieve this you’d end up writing 3 sets of Reflection calls using GetValue(). Here’s some internal code I use to retrieve Property values as part of ReflectionUtils: /// <summary> /// Retrieve a property value from an object dynamically. This is a simple version /// that uses Reflection calls directly. It doesn't support indexers. /// </summary> /// <param name="instance">Object to make the call on</param> /// <param name="property">Property to retrieve</param> /// <returns>Object - cast to proper type</returns> public static object GetProperty(object instance, string property) { return instance.GetType().GetProperty(property, ReflectionUtils.MemberAccess).GetValue(instance, null); } If you want more control over properties and support both fields and properties as well as array indexers a little more work is required: /// <summary> /// Parses Properties and Fields including Array and Collection references. /// Used internally for the 'Ex' Reflection methods. /// </summary> /// <param name="Parent"></param> /// <param name="Property"></param> /// <returns></returns> private static object GetPropertyInternal(object Parent, string Property) { if (Property == "this" || Property == "me") return Parent; object result = null; string pureProperty = Property; string indexes = null; bool isArrayOrCollection = false; // Deal with Array Property if (Property.IndexOf("[") > -1) { pureProperty = Property.Substring(0, Property.IndexOf("[")); indexes = Property.Substring(Property.IndexOf("[")); isArrayOrCollection = true; } // Get the member MemberInfo member = Parent.GetType().GetMember(pureProperty, ReflectionUtils.MemberAccess)[0]; if (member.MemberType == MemberTypes.Property) result = ((PropertyInfo)member).GetValue(Parent, null); else result = ((FieldInfo)member).GetValue(Parent); if (isArrayOrCollection) { indexes = indexes.Replace("[", string.Empty).Replace("]", string.Empty); if (result is Array) { int Index = -1; int.TryParse(indexes, out Index); result = CallMethod(result, "GetValue", Index); } else if (result is ICollection) { if (indexes.StartsWith("\"")) { // String Index indexes = indexes.Trim('\"'); result = CallMethod(result, "get_Item", indexes); } else { // assume numeric index int index = -1; int.TryParse(indexes, out index); result = CallMethod(result, "get_Item", index); } } } return result; } /// <summary> /// Returns a property or field value using a base object and sub members including . syntax. /// For example, you can access: oCustomer.oData.Company with (this,"oCustomer.oData.Company") /// This method also supports indexers in the Property value such as: /// Customer.DataSet.Tables["Customers"].Rows[0] /// </summary> /// <param name="Parent">Parent object to 'start' parsing from. Typically this will be the Page.</param> /// <param name="Property">The property to retrieve. Example: 'Customer.Entity.Company'</param> /// <returns></returns> public static object GetPropertyEx(object Parent, string Property) { Type type = Parent.GetType(); int at = Property.IndexOf("."); if (at < 0) { // Complex parse of the property return GetPropertyInternal(Parent, Property); } // Walk the . syntax - split into current object (Main) and further parsed objects (Subs) string main = Property.Substring(0, at); string subs = Property.Substring(at + 1); // Retrieve the next . section of the property object sub = GetPropertyInternal(Parent, main); // Now go parse the left over sections return GetPropertyEx(sub, subs); } As you can see there’s a fair bit of code involved into retrieving a property or field value reliably especially if you want to support array indexer syntax. This method is then used by a variety of routines to retrieve individual properties including one called GetPropertyEx() which can walk the dot syntax hierarchy easily. Anyway with ReflectionUtils I can  retrieve Page.Request.Url.AbsolutePath using code like this: string url = ReflectionUtils.GetPropertyEx(Page, "Request.Url.AbsolutePath") as string; This works fine, but is bulky to write and of course requires that I use my custom routines. It’s also quite slow as the code in GetPropertyEx does all sorts of string parsing to figure out which members to walk in the hierarchy. Enter dynamic – way easier! .NET 4.0’s dynamic type makes the above really easy. The following code is all that it takes: object objPage = Page; // force to object for contrivance :) dynamic page = objPage; // convert to dynamic from untyped object string scriptUrl = page.Request.Url.AbsolutePath; The dynamic type assignment in the first two lines turns the strongly typed Page object into a dynamic. The first assignment is just part of the contrived example to force the strongly typed Page reference into an untyped value to demonstrate the dynamic member access. The next line then just creates the dynamic type from the Page reference which allows you to access any public properties and methods easily. It also lets you access any child properties as dynamic types so when you look at Intellisense you’ll see something like this when typing Request.: In other words any dynamic value access on an object returns another dynamic object which is what allows the walking of the hierarchy chain. Note also that the result value doesn’t have to be explicitly cast as string in the code above – the compiler is perfectly happy without the cast in this case inferring the target type based on the type being assigned to. The dynamic conversion automatically handles the cast when making the final assignment which is nice making for natural syntnax that looks *exactly* like the fully typed syntax, but is completely dynamic. Note that you can also use indexers in the same natural syntax so the following also works on the dynamic page instance: string scriptUrl = page.Request.ServerVariables["SCRIPT_NAME"]; The dynamic type is going to make a lot of Reflection code go away as it’s simply so much nicer to be able to use natural syntax to write out code that previously required nasty Reflection syntax. Another interesting thing about the dynamic type is that it actually works considerably faster than Reflection. Check out the following methods that check performance: void Reflection() { Stopwatch stop = new Stopwatch(); stop.Start(); for (int i = 0; i < reps; i++) { // string url = ReflectionUtils.GetProperty(Page,"Title") as string;// "Request.Url.AbsolutePath") as string; string url = Page.GetType().GetProperty("Title", ReflectionUtils.MemberAccess).GetValue(Page, null) as string; } stop.Stop(); Response.Write("Reflection: " + stop.ElapsedMilliseconds.ToString()); } void Dynamic() { Stopwatch stop = new Stopwatch(); stop.Start(); dynamic page = Page; for (int i = 0; i < reps; i++) { string url = page.Title; //Request.Url.AbsolutePath; } stop.Stop(); Response.Write("Dynamic: " + stop.ElapsedMilliseconds.ToString()); } The dynamic code runs in 4-5 milliseconds while the Reflection code runs around 200+ milliseconds! There’s a bit of overhead in the first dynamic object call but subsequent calls are blazing fast and performance is actually much better than manual Reflection. Dynamic is definitely a huge win-win situation when you need dynamic access to objects at runtime.© Rick Strahl, West Wind Technologies, 2005-2010Posted in .NET  CSharp  

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• Aggregate SharePoint Event/Items into your Calendar view using Calendar Overlay

  - by eJugnoo

  One of the most common features I have seen in common use for SharePoint (prior to 2010) in Intranet environments for Team site is Calendar’s. Not only the Calendar list type, but also the ability to add a Calendar view to any list that has the desired columns to construct a Calendar – such as Start, End, Title etc. While this was all great for a single site/calendar, the problem of having to track numerous calendar’s remained. With introduction of Outlook 2007 bi-directional integration with SharePoint, and particularly the ability of Outlook to overlay calendar helped bridge the gap. Now one could connect to number of team sites, and setup Calendar overlays in Outlook using varying colours, to easily identify event source and yet benefit from the plotting of events on single Calendar view. This was all good, but each user in your Enterprise was supposed to setup in a “pull” fashion. This is good for flexibility, not so good when you need to “push” consistency and productivity (re-use). So, what was missing on SharePoint is the ability to have server-side overlay’s that everyone can see – in a single place, aggregating multiple sources. Until SharePoint 2010 arrived! Calendars Overlay in SharePoint 2010 There are Calendar lists and Calendar views. View can be created for almost all lists, as far as you have desired column’s in a list like Start, End, Title etc. to be able to describe and plot an item in a Calendar format. In SharePoint 2010, create a new Calendar list. Go to Calendar ribbon tab, and click Calendar Overlay. You get the screen with list of existing Overlay’s associated with current Calendar (list – in our case). Click on “New Calendar”… Notice the breadcrumb! You are adding Overlay to existing list (Team Calendar – in our case). You have choice of “pulling” Calendar info from an existing Calendar (list/view) in SharePoint or even from Exchange! Set standard info like a name, description and decide the colour you want for the items in aggregated Calendar overlay. Select the source site/list/view, anywhere in farm. When you select Exchange as source of Calendar, you get option to add OWA and Exchange Web Service url. I will cover details of connecting with Exchange in another post, and focus on Overlay’s with SharePoint for this one. Once you have added a new Calendar overlay to existing Calendar veiw, you get something like below for Day view, Week view, and Month view respectively Notice the Overlay colours: Now, if you decide to connect this Calendar to Outlook to sync the items, it will only sync items from main view, and not from Overlay source. So such Overlay of calendar’s is server-side aggregation only. That increases my curiosity, so I try adding the Calendar list view as a web-part on a new page. As you see, this instance of view didn’t include item from source that we had added to default Calendar view. This is – probably – due to the fact that this is a new web-part view for the page. If you want to add overlay to this one, you have to redo that from Ribbon. This also means, subject to purpose and context you get the flexibility to decide what overlay is suited. Also you can only add 10 Overlay’s to an existing view instance. Conclusion Calendar Overlay is clearly a very useful feature that fills a gap of not being able to aggregate information from multiple sources into a Calendar view within context of current items. Source of items can be existing SharePoint calendar views on any site, or even Exchange (via OWA/Exchange web services). List type for source doesn’t matter, it just need a Calendar view type available. You can have 10 overlays. Overlays are for the specific view only, and are server-side only – which means they do not get synced in Outlook. While you can drag-drop current list items, you cannot edit overlay items as they are read-only within scope of current Calendar view. You can of course click on source Overlay item to edit at the source. I’d like to hear, how you think Overlay’s will help you in your case, or how you are already using them... Enjoy SharePoint! --Sharad

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• How To Switch Back to Outlook 2007 After the 2010 Beta Ends

  - by Matthew Guay

  Are you switching back to Outlook 2007 after trying out Office 2010 beta?  Here’s how you can restore your Outlook data and keep everything working fine after the switch. Whenever you install a newer version of Outlook, it will convert your profile and data files to the latest format.  This makes them work the best in the newer version of Outlook, but may cause problems if you decide to revert to an older version.  If you installed Outlook 2010 beta, it automatically imported and converted your profile from Outlook 2007.  When the beta expires, you will either have to reinstall Office 2007 or purchase a copy of Office 2010. If you choose to reinstall Office 2007, you may notice an error message each time you open Outlook. Outlook will still work fine and all of your data will be saved, but this error message can get annoying.  Here’s how you can create a new profile, import all of your old data, and get rid of this error message. Banish the Error Message with a New Profile To get rid of this error message, we need to create a new Outlook profile.  First, make sure your Outlook data files are backed up.  Your messages, contacts, calendar, and more are stored in a .pst file in your appdata folder.  Enter the following in the address bar of an Explorer window to open your Outlook data folder, and replace username with your user name: C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook Copy the Outlook Personal Folders (.pst) files that contain your data. Its name is usually your email address, though it may have a different name.  If in doubt, select all of the Outlook Personal Folders files, copy them, and save them in another safe place (such as your Documents folder). Now, let’s remove your old profile.  Open Control Panel, and select Mail.  In Windows Vista or 7, simply enter “Mail” in the search box and select the first entry. Click the “Show Profiles…” button. Now, select your Outlook profile, and click Remove.  This will not delete your data files, but will remove them from Outlook. Press Yes to confirm that you wish to remove this profile. Open Outlook, and you will be asked to create a new profile.  Enter a name for your new profile, and press Ok. Now enter your email account information to setup Outlook as normal. Outlook will attempt to automatically configure your account settings.  This usually works for accounts with popular email systems, but if it fails to find your information you can enter it manually.  Press finish when everything’s done. Outlook will now go ahead and download messages from your email account.  In our test, we used a Gmail account that still had all of our old messages online.  Those files are backed up in our old Outlook data files, so we can save time and not download them.  Click the Send/Receive button on the bottom of the window, and select “Cancel Send/Receive”. Restore Your Old Outlook Data Let’s add our old Outlook file back to Outlook 2007.  Exit Outlook, and then go back to Control Panel, and select Mail as above.  This time, click the Data Files button. Click the Add button on the top left. Select “Office Outlook Personal Folders File (.pst)”, and click Ok. Now, select your old Outlook data file.  It should be in the folder that opens by default; if not, browse to the backup copy we saved earlier, and select it. Press Ok at the next dialog to accept the default settings. Now, select the data file we just imported, and click “Set as Default”. Now, all of your old messages, appointments, contacts, and everything else will be right in Outlook ready for you.  Click Ok, and then open Outlook to see the change. All of the data that was in Outlook 2010 is now ready to use in Outlook 2007.  You won’t have to wait to re-download all of your emails from the server since everything’s still here ready to be used.  And when you open Outlook, you won’t see any error messages, either! Conclusion Migrating your Outlook profile back to Outlook 2007 is fairly easy, and with these steps, you can avoid seeing an error message every time you open Outlook.  With all your data in tact, you’re ready to get back to work instead of getting frustrated with Outlook.  Many of us use webmail and keep all of our messages in the cloud, but even on broadband connections it can take a long time to download several gigabytes of emails. Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Opening Attachments in Outlook 2007 by KeyboardQuickly Create Appointments from Tasks with Outlook 2007’s To-Do BarFix For Outlook 2007 Constantly Asking for Password on VistaPin Microsoft Outlook to the Desktop BackgroundOur Look at the LinkedIn Social Connector for Outlook TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 Download Free MP3s from Amazon Awe inspiring, inter-galactic theme (Win 7) Case Study – How to Optimize Popular Wordpress Sites Restore Hidden Updates in Windows 7 & Vista Iceland an Insurance Job? Find Downloads and Add-ins for Outlook

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• Dec 5th Links: ASP.NET, ASP.NET MVC, jQuery, Silverlight, Visual Studio

  - by ScottGu

  Here is the latest in my link-listing series.  Also check out my VS 2010 and .NET 4 series for another on-going blog series I’m working on. [In addition to blogging, I am also now using Twitter for quick updates and to share links. Follow me at: twitter.com/scottgu] ASP.NET ASP.NET Code Samples Collection: J.D. Meier has a great post that provides a detailed round-up of ASP.NET code samples and tutorials from a wide variety of sources.  Lots of useful pointers. Slash your ASP.NET compile/load time without any hard work: Nice article that details a bunch of optimizations you can make to speed up ASP.NET project load and compile times. You might also want to read my previous blog post on this topic here. 10 Essential Tools for Building ASP.NET Websites: Great article by Stephen Walther on 10 great (and free) tools that enable you to more easily build great ASP.NET Websites.  Highly recommended reading. Optimize Images using the ASP.NET Sprite and Image Optimization Framework: A nice article by 4GuysFromRolla that discusses how to use the open-source ASP.NET Sprite and Image Optimization Framework (one of the tools recommended by Stephen in the previous article).  You can use this to significantly improve the load-time of your pages on the client. Formatting Dates, Times and Numbers in ASP.NET: Scott Mitchell has a great article that discusses formatting dates, times and numbers in ASP.NET.  A very useful link to bookmark.  Also check out James Michael’s DateTime is Packed with Goodies blog post for other DateTime tips. Examining ASP.NET’s Membership, Roles and Profile APIs (Part 18): Everything you could possibly want to known about ASP.NET’s built-in Membership, Roles and Profile APIs must surely be in this tutorial series. Part 18 covers how to store additional user info with Membership. ASP.NET with jQuery An Introduction to jQuery Templates: Stephen Walther has written an outstanding introduction and tutorial on the new jQuery Template plugin that the ASP.NET team has contributed to the jQuery project. Composition with jQuery Templates and jQuery Templates, Composite Rendering, and Remote Loading: Dave Ward has written two nice posts that talk about composition scenarios with jQuery Templates and some cool scenarios you can enable with them. Using jQuery and ASP.NET to Build a News Ticker: Scott Mitchell has a nice tutorial that demonstrates how to build a dynamically updated “news ticker” style UI with ASP.NET and jQuery. Checking All Checkboxes in a GridView using jQuery: Scott Mitchell has a nice post that covers how to use jQuery to enable a checkbox within a GridView’s header to automatically check/uncheck all checkboxes contained within rows of it. Using jQuery to POST Form Data to an ASP.NET AJAX Web Service: Rick Strahl has a nice post that discusses how to capture form variables and post them to an ASP.NET AJAX Web Service (.asmx). ASP.NET MVC ASP.NET MVC Diagnostics Using NuGet: Phil Haack has a nice post that demonstrates how to easily install a diagnostics page (using NuGet) that can help identify and diagnose common configuration issues within your apps. ASP.NET MVC 3 JsonValueProviderFactory: James Hughes has a nice post that discusses how to take advantage of the new JsonValueProviderFactory support built into ASP.NET MVC 3.  This makes it easy to post JSON payloads to MVC action methods. Practical jQuery Mobile with ASP.NET MVC: James Hughes has another nice post that discusses how to use the new jQuery Mobile library with ASP.NET MVC to build great mobile web applications. Credit Card Validator for ASP.NET MVC 3: Benjii Me has a nice post that demonstrates how to build a [CreditCard] validator attribute that can be used to easily validate credit card numbers are in the correct format with ASP.NET MVC. Silverlight Silverlight FireStarter Keynote and Sessions: A great blog post from John Papa that contains pointers and descriptions of all the great Silverlight content we published last week at the Silverlight FireStarter.  You can watch all of the talks online.  More details on my keynote and Silverlight 5 announcements can be found here. 31 Days of Windows Phone 7: 31 great tutorials on how to build Windows Phone 7 applications (using Silverlight).  Silverlight for Windows Phone Toolkit Update: David Anson has a nice post that discusses some of the additional controls provided with the Silverlight for Windows Phone Toolkit. Visual Studio JavaScript Editor Extensions: A nice (and free) Visual Studio plugin built by the web tools team that significantly improves the JavaScript intellisense support within Visual Studio. HTML5 Intellisense for Visual Studio: Gil has a blog post that discusses a new extension my team has posted to the Visual Studio Extension Gallery that adds HTML5 schema support to Visual Studio 2008 and 2010. Team Build + Web Deployment + Web Deploy + VS 2010 = Goodness: Visual blogs about how to enable a continuous deployment system with VS 2010, TFS 2010 and the Microsoft Web Deploy framework.  Visual Studio 2010 Emacs Emulation Extension and VIM Emulation Extension: Check out these two extensions if you are fond of Emacs and VIM key bindings and want to enable them within Visual Studio 2010. Hope this helps, Scott

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• Using Unity – Part 3

  - by nmarun

  The previous blog was about registering and invoking different types dynamically. In this one I’d like to show how Unity manages/disposes the instances – say hello to Lifetime Managers. When a type gets registered, either through the config file or when RegisterType method is explicitly called, the default behavior is that the container uses a transient lifetime manager. In other words, the unity container creates a new instance of the type when Resolve or ResolveAll method is called. Whereas, when you register an existing object using the RegisterInstance method, the container uses a container controlled lifetime manager - a singleton pattern. It does this by storing the reference of the object and that means so as long as the container is ‘alive’, your registered instance does not go out of scope and will be disposed only after the container either goes out of scope or when the code explicitly disposes the container. Let’s see how we can use these and test if something is a singleton or a transient instance. Continuing on the same solution used in the previous blogs, I have made the following changes: First is to add typeAlias elements for TransientLifetimeManager type: 1: <typeAlias alias="transient" type="Microsoft.Practices.Unity.TransientLifetimeManager, Microsoft.Practices.Unity"/> You then need to tell what type(s) you want to be transient by nature: 1: <type type="IProduct" mapTo="Product2"> 2: <lifetime type="transient" /> 3: </type> 4: <!--<type type="IProduct" mapTo="Product2" />--> The lifetime element’s type attribute matches with the alias attribute of the typeAlias element. Now since ‘transient’ is the default behavior, you can have a concise version of the same as line 4 shows. Also note that I’ve changed the mapTo attribute from ‘Product’ to ‘Product2’. I’ve done this to help understand the transient nature of the instance of the type Product2. By making this change, you are basically saying when a type of IProduct needs to be resolved, Unity should create an instance of Product2 by default. 1: public string WriteProductDetails() 2: { 3: return string.Format("Name: {0}<br/>Category: {1}<br/>Mfg Date: {2}<br/>Hash Code: {3}", 4: Name, Category, MfgDate.ToString("MM/dd/yyyy hh:mm:ss tt"), GetHashCode()); 5: } Again, the above change is purely for the purpose of making the example more clear to understand. The display will show the full date and also displays the hash code of the current instance. The GetHashCode() method returns an integer when an instance gets created – a new integer for every instance. When you run the application, you’ll see something like the below: Now when you click on the ‘Get Product2 Instance’ button, you’ll see that the Mfg Date (which is set in the constructor) and the Hash Code are different from the one created on page load. This proves to us that a new instance is created every single time. To make this a singleton, we need to add a type alias for the ContainerControlledLifetimeManager class and then change the type attribute of the lifetime element to singleton. 1: <typeAlias alias="singleton" type="Microsoft.Practices.Unity.ContainerControlledLifetimeManager, Microsoft.Practices.Unity"/> 2: ... 3: <type type="IProduct" mapTo="Product2"> 4: <lifetime type="singleton" /> 5: </type> Running the application now gets me the following output: Click on the button below and you’ll see that the Mfg Date and the Hash code remain unchanged => the unity container is storing the reference the first time it is created and then returns the same instance every time the type needs to be resolved. Digging more deeper into this, Unity provides more than the two lifetime managers. ExternallyControlledLifetimeManager – maintains a weak reference to type mappings and instances. Unity returns the same instance as long as the some code is holding a strong reference to this instance. For this, you need: 1: <typeAlias alias="external" type="Microsoft.Practices.Unity.ExternallyControlledLifetimeManager, Microsoft.Practices.Unity"/> 2: ... 3: <type type="IProduct" mapTo="Product2"> 4: <lifetime type="external" /> 5: </type> PerThreadLifetimeManager – Unity returns a unique instance of an object for each thread – so this effectively is a singleton behavior on a  per-thread basis. 1: <typeAlias alias="perThread" type="Microsoft.Practices.Unity.PerThreadLifetimeManager, Microsoft.Practices.Unity"/> 2: ... 3: <type type="IProduct" mapTo="Product2"> 4: <lifetime type="perThread" /> 5: </type> One thing to note about this is that if you use RegisterInstance method to register an existing object, this instance will be returned for every thread, making this a purely singleton behavior. Needless to say, this type of lifetime management is useful in multi-threaded applications (duh!!). I hope this blog provided some basics on lifetime management of objects resolved in Unity and in the next blog, I’ll talk about Injection. Please see the code used here.

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• C# 5 Async, Part 1: Simplifying Asynchrony – That for which we await

  - by Reed

  Today’s announcement at PDC of the future directions C# is taking excite me greatly.  The new Visual Studio Async CTP is amazing.  Asynchronous code – code which frustrates and demoralizes even the most advanced of developers, is taking a huge leap forward in terms of usability.  This is handled by building on the Task functionality in .NET 4, as well as the addition of two new keywords being added to the C# language: async and await. This core of the new asynchronous functionality is built upon three key features.  First is the Task functionality in .NET 4, and based on Task and Task<TResult>.  While Task was intended to be the primary means of asynchronous programming with .NET 4, the .NET Framework was still based mainly on the Asynchronous Pattern and the Event-based Asynchronous Pattern. The .NET Framework added functionality and guidance for wrapping existing APIs into a Task based API, but the framework itself didn’t really adopt Task or Task<TResult> in any meaningful way.  The CTP shows that, going forward, this is changing. One of the three key new features coming in C# is actually a .NET Framework feature.  Nearly every asynchronous API in the .NET Framework has been wrapped into a new, Task-based method calls.  In the CTP, this is done via as external assembly (AsyncCtpLibrary.dll) which uses Extension Methods to wrap the existing APIs.  However, going forward, this will be handled directly within the Framework.  This will have a unifying effect throughout the .NET Framework.  This is the first building block of the new features for asynchronous programming: Going forward, all asynchronous operations will work via a method that returns Task or Task<TResult> The second key feature is the new async contextual keyword being added to the language.  The async keyword is used to declare an asynchronous function, which is a method that either returns void, a Task, or a Task<T>. Inside the asynchronous function, there must be at least one await expression.  This is a new C# keyword (await) that is used to automatically take a series of statements and break it up to potentially use discontinuous evaluation.  This is done by using await on any expression that evaluates to a Task or Task<T>. For example, suppose we want to download a webpage as a string.  There is a new method added to WebClient: Task<string> WebClient.DownloadStringTaskAsync(Uri).  Since this returns a Task<string> we can use it within an asynchronous function.  Suppose, for example, that we wanted to do something similar to my asynchronous Task example – download a web page asynchronously and check to see if it supports XHTML 1.0, then report this into a TextBox.  This could be done like so: private async void button1_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) { string url = "http://reedcopsey.com"; string content = await new WebClient().DownloadStringTaskAsync(url); this.textBox1.Text = string.Format("Page {0} supports XHTML 1.0: {1}", url, content.Contains("XHTML 1.0")); } .csharpcode, .csharpcode pre { font-size: small; color: black; font-family: consolas, "Courier New", courier, monospace; background-color: #ffffff; /*white-space: pre;*/ } .csharpcode pre { margin: 0em; } .csharpcode .rem { color: #008000; } .csharpcode .kwrd { color: #0000ff; } .csharpcode .str { color: #006080; } .csharpcode .op { color: #0000c0; } .csharpcode .preproc { color: #cc6633; } .csharpcode .asp { background-color: #ffff00; } .csharpcode .html { color: #800000; } .csharpcode .attr { color: #ff0000; } .csharpcode .alt { background-color: #f4f4f4; width: 100%; margin: 0em; } .csharpcode .lnum { color: #606060; } Let’s walk through what’s happening here, step by step.  By adding the async contextual keyword to the method definition, we are able to use the await keyword on our WebClient.DownloadStringTaskAsync method call. When the user clicks this button, the new method (Task<string> WebClient.DownloadStringTaskAsync(string)) is called, which returns a Task<string>.  By adding the await keyword, the runtime will call this method that returns Task<string>, and execution will return to the caller at this point.  This means that our UI is not blocked while the webpage is downloaded.  Instead, the UI thread will “await” at this point, and let the WebClient do it’s thing asynchronously. When the WebClient finishes downloading the string, the user interface’s synchronization context will automatically be used to “pick up” where it left off, and the Task<string> returned from DownloadStringTaskAsync is automatically unwrapped and set into the content variable.  At this point, we can use that and set our text box content. There are a couple of key points here: Asynchronous functions are declared with the async keyword, and contain one or more await expressions In addition to the obvious benefits of shorter, simpler code – there are some subtle but tremendous benefits in this approach.  When the execution of this asynchronous function continues after the first await statement, the initial synchronization context is used to continue the execution of this function.  That means that we don’t have to explicitly marshal the call that sets textbox1.Text back to the UI thread – it’s handled automatically by the language and framework!  Exception handling around asynchronous method calls also just works. I’d recommend every C# developer take a look at the documentation on the new Asynchronous Programming for C# and Visual Basic page, download the Visual Studio Async CTP, and try it out.

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• Cannot install mysql-server (5.5.22) on clean ubuntu 12.04 LTS server

  - by Christian

  I have a clean minimal install of Ubuntu 12.04 LTS server 64-bit (just a root user and nothing alse installed). I tried to install the mysql-server with the following command: apt-get install mysql-server The installation aborts with the following error: The following NEW packages will be installed: libdbd-mysql-perl{a} libmysqlclient18{a} mysql-client mysql-client-5.5{a} mysql-client-core-5.5{a} mysql-common{a} mysql-server mysql-server-5.5{a} mysql-server-core-5.5{a} 0 packages upgraded, 9 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. Need to get 11.7 kB/26.2 MB of archives. After unpacking 94.5 MB will be used. Do you want to continue? [Y/n/?] y Get: 1 http://mirror.eu.oneandone.net/ubuntu/ubuntu/ precise/main mysql-client all 5.5.22-0ubuntu1 [11.7 kB] Fetched 11.7 kB in 0s (567 kB/s) Preconfiguring packages ... Selecting previously unselected package mysql-common. (Reading database ... 54008 files and directories currently installed.) Unpacking mysql-common (from .../mysql-common_5.5.22-0ubuntu1_all.deb) ... Selecting previously unselected package libmysqlclient18. Unpacking libmysqlclient18 (from .../libmysqlclient18_5.5.22-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb) ... Selecting previously unselected package libdbd-mysql-perl. Unpacking libdbd-mysql-perl (from .../libdbd-mysql-perl_4.020-1build2_amd64.deb) ... Selecting previously unselected package mysql-client-core-5.5. Unpacking mysql-client-core-5.5 (from .../mysql-client-core-5.5_5.5.22-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb) ... Selecting previously unselected package mysql-client-5.5. Unpacking mysql-client-5.5 (from .../mysql-client-5.5_5.5.22-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb) ... Selecting previously unselected package mysql-server-core-5.5. Unpacking mysql-server-core-5.5 (from .../mysql-server-core-5.5_5.5.22-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb) ... Processing triggers for man-db ... Setting up mysql-common (5.5.22-0ubuntu1) ... Selecting previously unselected package mysql-server-5.5. (Reading database ... 54189 files and directories currently installed.) Unpacking mysql-server-5.5 (from .../mysql-server-5.5_5.5.22-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb) ... Selecting previously unselected package mysql-client. Unpacking mysql-client (from .../mysql-client_5.5.22-0ubuntu1_all.deb) ... Selecting previously unselected package mysql-server. Unpacking mysql-server (from .../mysql-server_5.5.22-0ubuntu1_all.deb) ... Processing triggers for ureadahead ... Processing triggers for man-db ... Setting up libmysqlclient18 (5.5.22-0ubuntu1) ... Setting up libdbd-mysql-perl (4.020-1build2) ... Setting up mysql-client-core-5.5 (5.5.22-0ubuntu1) ... Setting up mysql-client-5.5 (5.5.22-0ubuntu1) ... Setting up mysql-server-core-5.5 (5.5.22-0ubuntu1) ... Setting up mysql-server-5.5 (5.5.22-0ubuntu1) ... 120502 10:17:41 [Note] Plugin 'FEDERATED' is disabled. 120502 10:17:41 InnoDB: The InnoDB memory heap is disabled 120502 10:17:41 InnoDB: Mutexes and rw_locks use GCC atomic builtins 120502 10:17:41 InnoDB: Compressed tables use zlib 1.2.3.4 120502 10:17:41 InnoDB: Initializing buffer pool, size = 128.0M 120502 10:17:41 InnoDB: Completed initialization of buffer pool 120502 10:17:41 InnoDB: highest supported file format is Barracuda. 120502 10:17:41 InnoDB: Waiting for the background threads to start 120502 10:17:42 InnoDB: 1.1.8 started; log sequence number 1595675 120502 10:17:42 InnoDB: Starting shutdown... 120502 10:17:42 InnoDB: Shutdown completed; log sequence number 1595675 start: Job failed to start invoke-rc.d: initscript mysql, action "start" failed. dpkg: error processing mysql-server-5.5 (--configure): subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1 No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already Setting up mysql-client (5.5.22-0ubuntu1) ... dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of mysql-server: mysql-server depends on mysql-server-5.5; however: Package mysql-server-5.5 is not configured yet. dpkg: error processing mysql-server (--configure): dependency problems - leaving unconfigured No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already Processing triggers for libc-bin ... ldconfig deferred processing now taking place Errors were encountered while processing: mysql-server-5.5 mysql-server E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1) A package failed to install. Trying to recover: Setting up mysql-server-5.5 (5.5.22-0ubuntu1) ... start: Job failed to start invoke-rc.d: initscript mysql, action "start" failed. dpkg: error processing mysql-server-5.5 (--configure): subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1 dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of mysql-server: mysql-server depends on mysql-server-5.5; however: Package mysql-server-5.5 is not configured yet. dpkg: error processing mysql-server (--configure): dependency problems - leaving unconfigured Errors were encountered while processing: mysql-server-5.5 mysql-server I am completely lost because I have tried everything on the web to solve my problem (clearning the install, reconfiguring with dpkg, manually editing the my.cnf). I also set up a new clean install but nothing helped. What am I doing wrong? New information: The file /var/log/upstart/mysql.log contains the following error after the installation: AppArmor parser error for /etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.mysqld in /etc/apparmor.d/tunables/global at line 17: Could not open 'tunables/proc'

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• Test Drive Windows 7 Online with Virtual Labs

  - by Matthew Guay

  Did you miss out on the Windows 7 public beta and want to try it out before you actually make the leap and upgrade? Maybe you want to learn how to deploy new features in a business environment. Here’s how you can test drive Windows 7 directly from your browser. Whether you manage 10,000 desktops or simply manage your own laptop, it’s usually best to test out a new OS before installing it.  If you’re upgrading from Windows XP you may find many things unfamiliar.  Microsoft has setup a special Windows 7 Test Drive website with resources to help IT professionals test and deploy Windows 7 in their workplaces.  This is a great resource to try out Windows 7 from the comfort of your browser, and look at some of the new features without even installing it. Please note that the online version is not nearly as responsive as a full standard install of Windows 7.  It also does not run the full Aero interface or desktop effects, and may refresh slowly depending on your Internet connection.  So don’t judge Windows 7’s performance based on this virtual lab, but use it as a way to learn more about Windows 7 without installing it. Getting Started To test drive Windows 7, visit Microsoft’s Windows 7 Test Drive website (link below).  You will need to run the Windows 7 Test Drive in Internet Explorer, as it requires Active X support.  We received this error when attempting to run the Test Drive in Firefox: Now, click the “Take a Test Drive” link on the bottom left of the page. This site includes several test drives to demonstrate different features of Windows 7 and its related ecosystem of products including Windows Server 2008 R2, some of which, including the XP Mode test drive, are not yet ready.  For this test, we selected the MED-V Test drive, as this includes Office 2007 and 2010 so you can test them in Windows 7 as well.  Simply select the test drive you want, and click “Try it now!”   If you haven’t run a Windows test drive before, you will be asked to install an ActiveX control.  Click the link to install. Click the yellow bar at the top of the page in Internet Explorer, and select to Install the add-on.  You may have to approve a UAC prompt to finish the install. Once this is finished, click the link on the bottom of the page to return to your test drive.  The test drive page should automatically refresh; if it doesn’t, click refresh to reload it. Now the test drive will load the components.   Once its fully loaded, click the link to launch Windows 7 in a new window. You may see a prompt warning that the server may have been impersonated.  Simply click Yes to proceed. The test lab will give you some getting started directions; click Close Window when you’re ready to try out Windows 7. Here’s the default desktop in the Windows 7 test drive.  You can use it just like a normal Windows computer, but do note that it may function slowly depending on your internet connection.   This test drive includes both Office 2007 and Office 2010 Tech Preview, so you can try out both in Windows 7 as well. You can try out the new Windows 7 applications such as the reworked Paint with the Ribbon interface from Office. Or you can even test the newest version of Media Center, though it will warn you that it may not function good with the down-scaled graphics in the test drive.   Most importantly, you can try out the new features in Windows 7, such as Jumplists and even Aero Snap.  Once again, these features will not function the quickest, but it does let you test them out. While working with the Virtual Lab, there are different tasks it walks you through. You can also download a copy of the lab manual in PDF format to help you navigate through the various objectives. The test drive system is running Microsoft Forefront Security, the enterprise security solution from which Microsoft Security Essentials has adapted components from. Conclusion These virtual labs are great for tech students, or those of you who want to get a first-hand trial of the new features. Also, if you’re not sure on how to deploy something and want to practice in a virtual environment, these labs are quite valuable.While these labs are geared toward IT professionals, it’s a good way for anyone to try out Windows 7 features from the comfort of your current computer. Test Drive Windows 7 Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Mount Multiple ISO Images Using Virtual CloneDriveHow To Delete a VHD in Windows 7Keyboard Shortcuts for VMware WorkstationMount an ISO image in Windows 7 or VistaHow To Turn a Physical Computer Into A Virtual Machine with Disk2vhd TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 If it were only this easy SyncToy syncs Files and Folders across Computers on a Network (or partitions on the same drive) Classic Cinema Online offers 100’s of OnDemand Movies OutSync will Sync Photos of your Friends on Facebook and Outlook Windows 7 Easter Theme YoWindoW, a real time weather screensaver

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• Computer Networks UNISA - Chap 12 &ndash; Networking Security

  - by MarkPearl

  After reading this section you should be able to Identify security risks in LANs and WANs and design security policies that minimize risks Explain how physical security contributes to network security Discuss hardware and design based security techniques Understand methods of encryption such as SSL and IPSec, that can secure data in storage and in transit Describe how popular authentication protocols such as RADIUS< TACACS,Kerberos, PAP, CHAP, and MS-CHAP function Use network operating system techniques to provide basic security Understand wireless security protocols such as WEP, WPA and 802.11i Security Audits Before spending time and money on network security, examine your networks security risks – rate and prioritize risks. Different organizations have different levels of network security requirements. Security Risks Not all security breaches result from a manipulation of network technology – there are human factors that can play a role as well. The following categories are areas of considerations… Risks associated with People Risks associated with Transmission and Hardware Risks associated with Protocols and Software Risks associated with Internet Access An effective security policy A security policy identifies your security goals, risks, levels of authority, designated security coordinator and team members, responsibilities for each team member, and responsibilities for each employee. In addition it specifies how to address security breaches. It should not state exactly which hardware, software, architecture, or protocols will be used to ensure security, nor how hardware or software will be installed and configured. A security policy must address an organizations specific risks. to understand your risks, you should conduct a security audit that identifies vulnerabilities and rates both the severity of each threat and its likelihood of occurring. Security Policy Content Security policy content should… Policies for each category of security Explain to users what they can and cannot do and how these measures protect the networks security Should define what confidential means to the organization Response Policy A security policy should provide for a planned response in the event of a security breach. The response policy should identify the members of a response team, all of whom should clearly understand the the security policy, risks, and measures in place. Some of the roles concerned could include… Dispatcher – the person on call who first notices the breach Manager – the person who coordinates the resources necessary to solve the problem Technical Support Specialist – the person who focuses on solving the problem Public relations specialist – the person who acts as the official spokesperson for the organization Physical Security An important element in network security is restricting physical access to its components. There are various techniques for this including locking doors, security people at access points etc. You should identify the following… Which rooms contain critical systems or data and must be secured Through what means might intruders gain access to these rooms How and to what extent are authorized personnel granted access to these rooms Are authentication methods such as ID cards easy to forge etc. Security in Network Design The optimal way to prevent external security breaches from affecting you LAN is not to connect your LAN to the outside world at all. The next best protection is to restrict access at every point where your LAN connects to the rest of the world. Router Access List – can be used to filter or decline access to a portion of a network for certain devices. Intrusion Detection and Prevention While denying someone access to a section of the network is good, it is better to be able to detect when an attempt has been made and notify security personnel. This can be done using IDS (intrusion detection system) software. One drawback of IDS software is it can detect false positives – i.e. an authorized person who has forgotten his password attempts to logon. Firewalls A firewall is a specialized device, or a computer installed with specialized software, that selectively filters or blocks traffic between networks. A firewall typically involves a combination of hardware and software and may reside between two interconnected private networks. The simplest form of a firewall is a packet filtering firewall, which is a router that examines the header of every packet of data it receives to determine whether that type of packet is authorized to continue to its destination or not. Firewalls can block traffic in and out of a LAN. NOS (Network Operating System) Security Regardless of the operating system, generally every network administrator can implement basic security by restricting what users are authorized to do on a network. Some of the restrictions include things related to Logons – place, time of day, total time logged in, etc Passwords – length, characters used, etc Encryption Encryption is the use of an algorithm to scramble data into a format that can be read only by reversing the algorithm. The purpose of encryption is to keep information private. Many forms of encryption exist and new ways of cracking encryption are continually being invented. The following are some categories of encryption… Key Encryption PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) SSH (Secure Shell) SCP (Secure CoPy) SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol) IPSec (Internet Protocol Security) For a detailed explanation on each section refer to pages 596 to 604 of textbook Authentication Protocols Authentication protocols are the rules that computers follow to accomplish authentication. Several types exist and the following are some of the common authentication protocols… RADIUS and TACACS PAP (Password Authentication Protocol) CHAP and MS-CHAP EAP (Extensible Authentication Protocol) 802.1x (EAPoL) Kerberos Wireless Network Security Wireless transmissions are particularly susceptible to eavesdropping. The following are two wireless network security protocols WEP WPA

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• CodePlex Daily Summary for Monday, April 12, 2010

  CodePlex Daily Summary for Monday, April 12, 2010New Projects3 Hour Game Design Contest: The 3 Hour Game Design Contest is a programming contest for making simple games in 3 hours. 3 hours may not seem like enough time to make a game, b...BI Monkey SSIS ETL Framework: The BI Monkey SSIS ETL Framework is an ETL Execution, Control and Logging system for ETL projects using SSIS. It is supported by a SQL Server metad...Blend Sample Data Helpers: Helper behavior classes to generate sample images and data from Internet sources such as Flickr images. Bold TCP for Delphi 7: Open Sourcing the Bold TCP for Delphi 7.cfThreadingTools: This library project contains classes and extensions which will allow easy handling of multi-threaded UI-accesses.CuBiX_SDL: CuBiX_SDL : CuBiX est un projet personnel.Draglets: Draglets makes it easier for editors and CMS-developers to move and reorder content at their web sites. It's developed in ASP.NET, C# with WCF and ...DSQLT - Dynamic SQL Templates: DSQLT - Dynamic SQL Templates Use Stored Procedures as templates for dynamic SQL statements. Substitute parameters @0-@9 with values like objectna...Edtter: Edtter is a sample web application built on ASP.NET MVC 2 Framework. (Japanese Version Only)Forms Based Authentication Management - SharePoint2007FBA: This is my own update to Stacy Draper's FBABasic project for Forms Based Authentication in MOSS 2007. In additon to managing your fba user's roles,...Height Map to 3D World at XNA: Height Map to 3D World is a XNA project that developed firstly by Eric Grossinger and secondly improved by Karadeniz Technical University Computer ...HouseFly: A simple contact and note taking applicationITM 495 - iPhone Web App: School ProjectKaufleute: This will be finished laterLR: this project is about connecting toPowerShell Integration Services: A set of tools aimed at Extract Transform and Load tasks. 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All ruby annotations are converted to XHTML 1.1 complex ruby annotation.Kooboo HTML form: Kooboo HTML Form Module for 2.1.0.0: Compatible with Kooboo cms 2.1.0.0 Upgrade to MVC 2Kooboo Menu: Kooboo CMS Menu for 2.1.0.0: Compatible with Kooboo cms 2.1.0.0 Upgrade to MVC 2Kooboo Meta: Kooboo Meta Module for 2.1.0.0: Compatible with Kooboo cms 2.1.0.0 Upgrade to MVC 2Kooboo PageMenu: Kooboo CMS PageMenu for 2.1.0.0: Compatible with Kooboo cms 2.1.0.0 Upgrade to MVC 2Kooboo Search: Kooboo CMS Search module for 2.1.0.0: Compatible with Kooboo cms 2.1.0.0 Upgrade to MVC 2Numina Application/Security Framework: Numina.Framework Core 50212: Added bulk import user page Added General settings page for updating Company Name, Theme, and API Key Add/Edit application calls Full URL to h...Rawr: Rawr 2.3.14: - Rawr3: Tons of fixes for Rawr3 compatability and UI. - Significant performance improvements all around. - More fixes and improvements to Wowhea...Rich Ajax empowered Web/Cloud Applications: 6.4 beta 2: The first fully featured version of Visual webGui offering web/cloud development tool that puts all ASP.NET Ajax limits behind with enhanced perfor...SharePoint User Management WebPart: User Management Web part 1.0: Most of the organization have one SharePoint Site which is configured with windows authenticated which is for internal employees having AD authenti...SkeinLibManaged: SkeinLibManaged 1.1.0.0 (Beta): This is the compiled DLL with XML documentation, so there should be plenty of context sensitive help and Intellisense. This is the Release version,...VCC: Latest build, v2.1.30411.0: Automatic drop of latest buildVFPX: Code References 1.1 Beta: Visit the Code References Info Page for complete information about this release.VisioAutomation: VisioAutomation 2.5.0: VisioAutomation 2.5.0- General cleanup/bugfixes - Many low-level changes the the VisioAutomation extension methods - these are far fewer now - This...Visual Studio DSite: English To Spanish Translator (Visual C++ 2008): A simple english to spanish translator made in visual c 2008, using the Google Translate API.WatchersNET CKEditor™ Provider for DotNetNuke: CKEditor Provider 1.10.00: Whats NewFile Browser: Inherits Folder Permissions from DotNetNuke Updated the Editor to Version 3.2.1 revision 5372 Added CkEditor jQuery Adap...Web/Cloud Applications Development Framework | Visual WebGui: 6.4 beta 2: The first fully featured version of Visual webGui offering web/cloud development tool that puts all ASP.NET Ajax limits behind with unique develope...WPF Data Virtualization: 1.0.0.0: First ReleaseYasbg: Yasbg Alpha: ReadmeYet Another Static Blog Generator is a command line utility that generates static html files for blogs. Currently, it is NOT feed enabled. I...異世界の新着動画: Ver. 10-04-12: ニコ生の仕様変更に対応 アンケート時間の設定追加Most Popular ProjectsWBFS ManagerRawrASP.NET Ajax LibraryMicrosoft SQL Server Product Samples: DatabaseAJAX Control ToolkitSilverlight ToolkitWindows Presentation Foundation (WPF)ASP.NETMicrosoft SQL Server Community & SamplesFacebook Developer ToolkitMost Active ProjectsRawrnopCommerce. Open Source online shop e-commerce solution.AutoPocopatterns & practices – Enterprise LibraryShweet: SharePoint 2010 Team Messaging built with PexFarseer Physics EngineNB_Store - Free DotNetNuke Ecommerce Catalog ModuleIonics Isapi Rewrite FilterBlogEngine.NETBeanProxy

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• 8 Mac System Features You Can Access in Recovery Mode

  - by Chris Hoffman

  A Mac’s Recovery Mode is for more than just reinstalling Mac OS X. You’ll find many other useful troubleshooting utilities here — you can use these even if your Mac can’t boot normally. To access Recovery Mode, restart your Mac and press and hold the Command + R keys during the boot-up process. This is one of several hidden startup options on a Mac. Reinstall Mac OS X Most people know Recovery Mode as the place you go to reinstall OS X on your Mac. Recovery Mode will download the OS X installer files from teh Intenret if you don’t have them locally, so they don’t take up space on your disk and you’ll never have to hunt for an opearign system disc. Better yet, it will download up-to-date installation files so you don’t have to spend hours installing operating system updates later. Microsoft could learn a lot from Apple here. Restore From a Time Machine Backup Instead of reinstalling OS X, you can choose to restore your Mac from a time machine backup. This is like restoring a system image on another operating system. You’ll need an external disk containing a backup image created on the current computer to do this. Browse the Web The Get Help Online link opens the Safari web browser to Apple’s documentation site. It’s not limited to Apple’s website, though — you can navigate to any website you like. This feature allows you to access and use a browser on your Mac even if it isn’t booting properly. It’s ideal for looking up troubleshooting information. Manage Your Disks The Disk Utility option opens the same Disk Utility you can access from within Mac OS X. It allows you to partition disks, format them, scan disks for problems, wipe drives, and set up drives in a RAID configuration. If you need to edit partitions from outside your operating system, you can just boot into the recovery environment — you don’t have to download a special partitioning tool and boot into it. Choose the Default Startup Disk Click the Apple menu on the bar at the top of your screen and select Startup Disk to access the Choose Startup Disk tool. Use this tool to choose your computer’s default startup disk and reboot into another operating system. For example, it’s useful if you have Windows installed alongside Mac OS X with Boot Camp. Add or Remove an EFI Firmware Password You can also add a firmware password to your Mac. This works like a BIOS password or UEFI password on a Windows or Linux PC. Click the Utilities menu on the bar at the top of your screen and select Firmware Password Utility to open this tool. Use the tool to turn on a firmware password, which will prevent your computer from starting up from a different hard disk, CD, DVD, or USB drive without the password you provide. This prevents people form booting up your Mac with an unauthorized operating system. If you’ve already enabled a firmware password, you can remove it from here. Use Network Tools to Troubleshoot Your Connection Select Utilities > Network Utility to open a network diagnostic tool. This utility provides a graphical way to view your network connection information. You can also use the netstat, ping, lookup, traceroute, whois, finger, and port scan utilities from here. These can be helpful to troubleshoot Internet connection problems. For example, the ping command can demonstrate whether you can communicate with a remote host and show you if you’re experiencing packet loss, while the traceroute command can show you where a connection is failing if you can’t connect to a remote server. Open a Terminal If you’d like to get your hands dirty, you can select Utilities > Terminal to open a terminal from here. This terminal allows you to do more advanced troubleshooting. Mac OS X uses the bash shell, just as typical Linux distributions do. Most people will just need to use the Reinstall Mac OS X option here, but there are many other tools you can benefit from. If the Recovery Mode files on your Mac are damaged or unavailable, your Mac will automatically download them from Apple so you can use the full recovery environment.

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• Pure Server-Side Filtering with RadGridView and WCF RIA Services

  Those of you who are familiar with WCF RIA Services know that the DomainDataSource control provides a FilterDescriptors collection that enables you to filter data returned by the query on the server. We have been using this DomainDataSource feature in our RIA Services with DomainDataSource online example for almost an year now. In the example, we are listening for RadGridViews Filtering event in order to intercept any filtering that is performed on the client and translate it to something that the DomainDataSource will understand, in this case a System.Windows.Data.FilterDescriptor being added or removed from its FilterDescriptors collection. Think of RadGridView.FilterDescriptors as client-side filtering and of DomainDataSource.FilterDescriptors as server-side filtering. We no longer need the client-side one. With the introduction of the Custom Filtering Controls feature many new possibilities have opened. With these custom controls we no longer need to do any filtering on the client. I have prepared a very small project that demonstrates how to filter solely on the server by using a custom filtering control. As I have already mentioned filtering on the server is done through the FilterDescriptors collection of the DomainDataSource control. This collection holds instances of type System.Windows.Data.FilterDescriptor. The FilterDescriptor has three important properties: PropertyPath: Specifies the name of the property that we want to filter on (the left operand). Operator: Specifies the type of comparison to use when filtering. An instance of FilterOperator Enumeration. Value: The value to compare with (the right operand). An instance of the Parameter Class. By adding filters, you can specify that only entities which meet the condition in the filter are loaded from the domain context. In case you are not familiar with these concepts you might find Brad Abrams blog interesting. Now, our requirements are to create some kind of UI that will manipulate the DomainDataSource.FilterDescriptors collection. When it comes to collections, my first choice of course would be RadGridView. If you are not familiar with the Custom Filtering Controls concept I would strongly recommend getting acquainted with my step-by-step tutorial Custom Filtering with RadGridView for Silverlight and checking the online example out. I have created a simple custom filtering control that contains a RadGridView and several buttons. This control is aware of the DomainDataSource instance, since it is operating on its FilterDescriptors collection. In fact, the RadGridView that is inside it is bound to this collection. In order to display filters that are relevant for the current column only, I have applied a filter to the grid. This filter is a Telerik.Windows.Data.FilterDescriptor and is used to filter the little grid inside the custom control. It should not be confused with the DomainDataSource.FilterDescriptors collection that RadGridView is actually bound to. These are the RIA filters. Additionally, I have added several other features. For example, if you have specified a DataFormatString on your original column, the Value column inside the custom control will pick it up and format the filter values accordingly. Also, I have transferred the data type of the column that you are filtering to the Value column of the custom control. This will help the little RadGridView determine what kind of editor to show up when you begin edit, for example a date picker for DateTime columns. Finally, I have added four buttons two of them can be used to add or remove filters and the other two will communicate the changes you have made to the server. Here is the full source code of the DomainDataSourceFilteringControl. The XAML: <UserControl x:Class="PureServerSideFiltering.DomainDataSourceFilteringControl"    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"     xmlns:telerikGrid="clr-namespace:Telerik.Windows.Controls;assembly=Telerik.Windows.Controls.GridView"     xmlns:telerik="clr-namespace:Telerik.Windows.Controls;assembly=Telerik.Windows.Controls"     Width="300">     <Border x:Name="LayoutRoot"             BorderThickness="1"             BorderBrush="#FF8A929E"             Padding="5"             Background="#FFDFE2E5">           <Grid>             <Grid.RowDefinitions>                 <RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>                 <RowDefinition Height="150"/>                 <RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>             </Grid.RowDefinitions>               <StackPanel Grid.Row="0"                         Margin="2"                         Orientation="Horizontal"                         HorizontalAlignment="Center">                 <telerik:RadButton Name="addFilterButton"                                   Click="OnAddFilterButtonClick"                                   Content="Add Filter"                                   Margin="2"                                   Width="96"/>                 <telerik:RadButton Name="removeFilterButton"                                   Click="OnRemoveFilterButtonClick"                                   Content="Remove Filter"                                   Margin="2"                                   Width="96"/>             </StackPanel>               <telerikGrid:RadGridView Name="filtersGrid"                                     Grid.Row="1"                                     Margin="2"                                     ItemsSource="{Binding FilterDescriptors}"                                     AddingNewDataItem="OnFilterGridAddingNewDataItem"                                     ColumnWidth="*"                                     ShowGroupPanel="False"                                     AutoGenerateColumns="False"                                     CanUserResizeColumns="False"                                     CanUserReorderColumns="False"                                     CanUserFreezeColumns="False"                                     RowIndicatorVisibility="Collapsed"                                     IsFilteringAllowed="False"                                     CanUserSortColumns="False">                 <telerikGrid:RadGridView.Columns>                     <telerikGrid:GridViewComboBoxColumn DataMemberBinding="{Binding Operator}"                                                         UniqueName="Operator"/>                     <telerikGrid:GridViewDataColumn Header="Value"                                                     DataMemberBinding="{Binding Value.Value}"                                                     UniqueName="Value"/>                 </telerikGrid:RadGridView.Columns>             </telerikGrid:RadGridView>               <StackPanel Grid.Row="2"                         Margin="2"                         Orientation="Horizontal"                         HorizontalAlignment="Center">                 <telerik:RadButton Name="filterButton"                                   Click="OnApplyFiltersButtonClick"                                   Content="Apply Filters"                                   Margin="2"                                   Width="96"/>                 <telerik:RadButton Name="clearButton"                                   Click="OnClearFiltersButtonClick"                                   Content="Clear Filters"                                   Margin="2"                                   Width="96"/>             </StackPanel>           </Grid>       </Border> </UserControl>   And the code-behind: using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Linq; using System.Net; using System.Windows; using System.Windows.Controls; using System.Windows.Documents; using System.Windows.Input; using System.Windows.Media; using System.Windows.Media.Animation; using System.Windows.Shapes; using Telerik.Windows.Controls.GridView; using System.Windows.Data; using Telerik.Windows.Controls; using Telerik.Windows.Data;   namespace PureServerSideFiltering {     /// <summary>     /// A custom filtering control capable of filtering purely server-side.     /// </summary>     public partial class DomainDataSourceFilteringControl : UserControl, IFilteringControl     {         // The main player here.         DomainDataSource domainDataSource;           // This is the name of the property that this column displays.         private string dataMemberName;           // This is the type of the property that this column displays.         private Type dataMemberType;           /// <summary>         /// Identifies the <see cref="IsActive"/> dependency property.         /// </summary>         /// <remarks>         /// The state of the filtering funnel (i.e. full or empty) is bound to this property.         /// </remarks>         public static readonly DependencyProperty IsActiveProperty =             DependencyProperty.Register(                 "IsActive",                 typeof(bool),                 typeof(DomainDataSourceFilteringControl),                 new PropertyMetadata(false));           /// <summary>         /// Gets or sets a value indicating whether the filtering is active.         /// </summary>         /// <remarks>         /// Set this to true if you want to lit-up the filtering funnel.         /// </remarks>         public bool IsActive         {             get { return (bool)GetValue(IsActiveProperty); }             set { SetValue(IsActiveProperty, value); }         }           /// <summary>         /// Gets or sets the domain data source.         /// We need this in order to work on its FilterDescriptors collection.         /// </summary>         /// <value>The domain data source.</value>         public DomainDataSource DomainDataSource         {             get { return this.domainDataSource; }             set { this.domainDataSource = value; }         }           public System.Windows.Data.FilterDescriptorCollection FilterDescriptors         {             get { return this.DomainDataSource.FilterDescriptors; }         }           public DomainDataSourceFilteringControl()         {             InitializeComponent();         }           public void Prepare(GridViewBoundColumnBase column)         {             this.LayoutRoot.DataContext = this;               if (this.DomainDataSource == null)             {                 // Sorry, but we need a DomainDataSource. Can't do anything without it.                 return;             }               // This is the name of the property that this column displays.             this.dataMemberName = column.GetDataMemberName();               // This is the type of the property that this column displays.             // We need this in order to see which FilterOperators to feed to the combo-box column.             this.dataMemberType = column.DataType;               // We will use our magic Type extension method to see which operators are applicable for             // this data type. You can go to the extension method body and see what it does.             ((GridViewComboBoxColumn)this.filtersGrid.Columns["Operator"]).ItemsSource                 = this.dataMemberType.ApplicableFilterOperators();               // This is very nice as well. We will tell the Value column its data type. In this way             // RadGridView will pick up the best editor according to the data type. For example,             // if the data type of the value is DateTime, you will be editing it with a DatePicker.             // Nice!             ((GridViewDataColumn)this.filtersGrid.Columns["Value"]).DataType = this.dataMemberType;               // Yet another nice feature. We will transfer the original DataFormatString (if any) to             // the Value column. In this way if you have specified a DataFormatString for the original             // column, you will see all filter values formatted accordingly.             ((GridViewDataColumn)this.filtersGrid.Columns["Value"]).DataFormatString = column.DataFormatString;               // This is important. Since our little filtersGrid will be bound to the entire collection             // of this.domainDataSource.FilterDescriptors, we need to set a Telerik filter on the             // grid so that it will display FilterDescriptor which are relevane to this column ONLY!             Telerik.Windows.Data.FilterDescriptor columnFilter = new Telerik.Windows.Data.FilterDescriptor("PropertyPath"                 , Telerik.Windows.Data.FilterOperator.IsEqualTo                 , this.dataMemberName);             this.filtersGrid.FilterDescriptors.Add(columnFilter);               // We want to listen for this in order to activate and de-activate the UI funnel.             this.filtersGrid.Items.CollectionChanged += this.OnFilterGridItemsCollectionChanged;         }           /// <summary>         // Since the DomainDataSource is a little bit picky about adding uninitialized FilterDescriptors         // to its collection, we will prepare each new instance with some default values and then         // the user can change them later. Go to the event handler to see how we do this.         /// </summary>         void OnFilterGridAddingNewDataItem(object sender, GridViewAddingNewEventArgs e)         {             // We need to initialize the new instance with some values and let the user go on from here.             System.Windows.Data.FilterDescriptor newFilter = new System.Windows.Data.FilterDescriptor();               // This is a must. It should know what member it is filtering on.             newFilter.PropertyPath = this.dataMemberName;               // Initialize it with one of the allowed operators.             // TypeExtensions.ApplicableFilterOperators method for more info.             newFilter.Operator = this.dataMemberType.ApplicableFilterOperators().First();               if (this.dataMemberType == typeof(DateTime))             {                 newFilter.Value.Value = DateTime.Now;             }             else if (this.dataMemberType == typeof(string))             {                 newFilter.Value.Value = "<enter text>";             }             else if (this.dataMemberType.IsValueType)             {                 // We need something non-null for all value types.                 newFilter.Value.Value = Activator.CreateInstance(this.dataMemberType);             }               // Let the user edit the new filter any way he/she likes.             e.NewObject = newFilter;         }           void OnFilterGridItemsCollectionChanged(object sender, System.Collections.Specialized.NotifyCollectionChangedEventArgs e)         {             // We are active only if we have any filters define. In this case the filtering funnel will lit-up.             this.IsActive = this.filtersGrid.Items.Count > 0;         }           private void OnApplyFiltersButtonClick(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)         {             if (this.DomainDataSource.IsLoadingData)             {                 return;             }               // Comment this if you want the popup to stay open after the button is clicked.             this.ClosePopup();               // Since this.domainDataSource.AutoLoad is false, this will take into             // account all filtering changes that the user has made since the last             // Load() and pull the new data to the client.             this.DomainDataSource.Load();         }           private void OnClearFiltersButtonClick(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)         {             if (this.DomainDataSource.IsLoadingData)             {                 return;             }               // We want to remove ONLY those filters from the DomainDataSource             // that this control is responsible for.             this.DomainDataSource.FilterDescriptors                 .Where(fd => fd.PropertyPath == this.dataMemberName) // Only "our" filters.                 .ToList()                 .ForEach(fd => this.DomainDataSource.FilterDescriptors.Remove(fd)); // Bye-bye!               // Comment this if you want the popup to stay open after the button is clicked.             this.ClosePopup();               // After we did our housekeeping, get the new data to the client.             this.DomainDataSource.Load();         }           private void OnAddFilterButtonClick(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)         {             if (this.DomainDataSource.IsLoadingData)             {                 return;             }               // Let the user enter his/or her requirements for a new filter.             this.filtersGrid.BeginInsert();             this.filtersGrid.UpdateLayout();         }           private void OnRemoveFilterButtonClick(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)         {             if (this.DomainDataSource.IsLoadingData)             {                 return;             }               // Find the currently selected filter and destroy it.             System.Windows.Data.FilterDescriptor filterToRemove = this.filtersGrid.SelectedItem as System.Windows.Data.FilterDescriptor;             if (filterToRemove != null                 && this.DomainDataSource.FilterDescriptors.Contains(filterToRemove))             {                 this.DomainDataSource.FilterDescriptors.Remove(filterToRemove);             }         }           private void ClosePopup()         {             System.Windows.Controls.Primitives.Popup popup = this.ParentOfType<System.Windows.Controls.Primitives.Popup>();             if (popup != null)             {                 popup.IsOpen = false;             }         }     } }   Finally, we need to tell RadGridViews Columns to use this custom control instead of the default one. Here is how to do it: using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Linq; using System.Net; using System.Windows; using System.Windows.Controls; using System.Windows.Documents; using System.Windows.Input; using System.Windows.Media; using System.Windows.Media.Animation; using System.Windows.Shapes; using System.Windows.Data; using Telerik.Windows.Data; using Telerik.Windows.Controls; using Telerik.Windows.Controls.GridView;   namespace PureServerSideFiltering {     public partial class MainPage : UserControl     {         public MainPage()         {             InitializeComponent();             this.grid.AutoGeneratingColumn += this.OnGridAutoGeneratingColumn;               // Uncomment this if you want the DomainDataSource to start pre-filtered.             // You will notice how our custom filtering controls will correctly read this information,             // populate their UI with the respective filters and lit-up the funnel to indicate that             // filtering is active. Go ahead and try it.             this.employeesDataSource.FilterDescriptors.Add(new System.Windows.Data.FilterDescriptor("Title", System.Windows.Data.FilterOperator.Contains, "Assistant"));             this.employeesDataSource.FilterDescriptors.Add(new System.Windows.Data.FilterDescriptor("HireDate", System.Windows.Data.FilterOperator.IsGreaterThan, new DateTime(1998, 12, 31)));             this.employeesDataSource.FilterDescriptors.Add(new System.Windows.Data.FilterDescriptor("HireDate", System.Windows.Data.FilterOperator.IsLessThanOrEqualTo, new DateTime(1999, 12, 31)));               this.employeesDataSource.Load();         }           /// <summary>         /// First of all, we will need to replace the default filtering control         /// of each column with out custom filtering control DomainDataSourceFilteringControl         /// </summary>         private void OnGridAutoGeneratingColumn(object sender, GridViewAutoGeneratingColumnEventArgs e)         {             GridViewBoundColumnBase dataColumn = e.Column as GridViewBoundColumnBase;             if (dataColumn != null)             {                 // We do not like ugly dates.                 if (dataColumn.DataType == typeof(DateTime))                 {                     dataColumn.DataFormatString = "{0:d}"; // Short date pattern.                       // Notice how this format will be later transferred to the Value column                     // of the grid that we have inside the DomainDataSourceFilteringControl.                 }                   // Replace the default filtering control with our.                 dataColumn.FilteringControl = new DomainDataSourceFilteringControl()                 {                     // Let the control know about the DDS, after all it will work directly on it.                     DomainDataSource = this.employeesDataSource                 };                   // Finally, lit-up the filtering funnel through the IsActive dependency property                 // in case there are some filters on the DDS that match our column member.                 string dataMemberName = dataColumn.GetDataMemberName();                 dataColumn.FilteringControl.IsActive =                     this.employeesDataSource.FilterDescriptors                     .Where(fd => fd.PropertyPath == dataMemberName)                     .Count() > 0;             }         }     } } The best part is that we are not only writing filters for the DomainDataSource we can read and load them. If the DomainDataSource has some pre-existing filters (like I have created in the code above), our control will read them and will populate its UI accordingly. Even the filtering funnel will light-up! Remember, the funnel is controlled by the IsActive property of our control. While this is just a basic implementation, the source code is absolutely yours and you can take it from here and extend it to match your specific business requirements. Below the main grid there is another debug grid. With its help you can monitor what filter descriptors are added and removed to the domain data source. Download Source Code. (You will have to have the AdventureWorks sample database installed on the default SQLExpress instance in order to run it.) Enjoy!Did you know that DotNetSlackers also publishes .net articles written by top known .net Authors? We already have over 80 articles in several categories including Silverlight. Take a look: here.

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• Feedback on "market manipulation", a peripheral game mechanic for a satirical MMO

  - by BerndBrot

  This question asks for feedback on a specific game-mechanic. Since there is not one right feedback on a game mechanic, I tried to provide enough context and guidelines to still make it possible for users to rate answers and to accept an answer as the best answer (following these criteria from Writer.SE's meta website). Please comment if you have any suggestions on how I could improve the question in that regard. So, let's begin with the game itself and some of its elements which are relevant for this question. Context I'm working on a satirical, text-based multiplayer adventure and role-playing game set in modern-day London. The game resolves around the concept of sin and features a myriad of (venomous) allusions to all the things that go wrong in this world. Players can choose between character classes like bullshit artist (consultant), bankster, lawyer, mobster, celebrity, politician, etc. In order to complete the game, the player has to live so sinfully with regard to any of the seven deadly sins that a demon is willing to offer them a contract of sponsorship. On their quest to live a sinful live, characters explore more and more locations of modern-day London (on a GoogleMap), fight "monsters" like insurance sales agents or Jehovah's Witnesses, and complete quests, like building a PowerPoint presentation out of marketing buzz words or keeping up a number of substance abuse effects in order to progress on the gluttony path. Battles are turn based with both combatants having a deck of cards, with which they try to make their enemy give in to temptations of all sorts. Tempted enemies sometimes become contacts (an item drop mechanic), which can be exploited for various benefits, depending on their area of influence (finance, underworld, bureaucracy, etc.), level of influence, and kind of sway that the player has over them (bribed, seduced, threatened, etc.) Once a contract has been exploited, the player loses that contact. Most actions require turns. Turns are limited, but refill each day. Criteria A number of peripheral game mechanics are supposed to represent real world abuses and mischief in a humorous way integrate real world data and events to strengthen the feeling of relevance of the game's humor with regard to real world problems add fun ways of interacting with other players add ways for players to express themselves through game-play Market manipulation is one such peripheral game mechanic and should fulfill all of these goals. Market manipulation This is my initial design of the mechanic: Players can enter the London Stock Exchange (LSE) (without paying a turn) LSE displays the stock prices of a number of companies in industries like weapons or tobacco as well as some derivatives based on wheat and corn. The stock prices are calculated based on the actual stock prices of these companies and derivatives (in real time) any market manipulations that were conducted by the players any market corrections of the system Players can buy and sell shares with cash, a resource in the game, at current in-game market value (without paying a turn). Players can manipulate the market, i.e. let the price of a share either rise or fall, by some amount, over a certain period of time. Manipulating the market requires 1 turn A contact in the financial sector (see above). The higher the level of influence of the contact, the stronger the effect of the manipulation on the stock price, and/or the shorter it takes for the manipulation to manifest itself. Market manipulation also adds a crime to the player's record. (There are a multitude of ways to take care of that, but it is still another "cost" of market manipulations.) The system continuously corrects market manipulations by letting the in-game prices converge towards their real world counterparts at a rate of 2% of the difference between the two per hour. Because of this market correction mechanism, pushing up prices (and screwing down prices) becomes increasingly difficult the higher (lower) the price already is. Whenever food prices reach a certain level, in-game stories are posted about hunger catastrophes happening somewhere far, far away (maybe with links to real world news stories). Whenever a player sells a certain number of shares with a sufficiently high margin, they are mentioned in that day's in-game financial news. Since the number of stock options is very limited, players will inevitably collide in their efforts to manipulate the market in their favor. Hopefully, it will also be a fun side-arena for guilds and covenants to fight each other. Question(s) What do you think of this mechanism given the criteria for peripheral game mechanics that I specified for my game? Do you have any ideas how the mechanic could be improved with regard to these criteria (or otherwise)? Could it be improved to allow for more expressive game-play, or involve an allusion to some other real world madness (like short selling, leveraging, or some other banking magic)? Are there any game-theoretic problems with this mechanic, like maybe certain dominant individual strategies that, collectively, lead to every player profiting and thus eliminating the idea of market manipulation PVP? Also, if you like (or dislike) this question, feel free to participate in the discussion on GDSE meta: "Should we be more lax with regard to SE's question/answer format to make game design questions possible?"

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• Updating the managed debugging API for .NET v4

  - by Brian Donahue

  In any successful investigation, the right tools play a big part in collecting evidence about the state of the "crime scene" as it was before the detectives arrived. Unfortunately for the Crash Scene Investigator, we don't have the budget to fly out to the customer's site, chalk the outline, and eat their doughnuts. We have to rely on the end-user to collect the evidence for us, which means giving them the fingerprint dust and the evidence baggies and leaving them to it. With that in mind, the Red Gate support team have been writing tools that can collect vital clues with a minimum of fuss. Years ago we would have asked for a memory dump, where we used to get the customer to run CDB.exe and produce dumps that we could analyze in-house, but those dumps were pretty unwieldy (500MB files) and the debugger often didn't dump exactly where we wanted, or made five or more dumps. What we wanted was just the minimum state information from the program at the time of failure, so we produced a managed debugger that captured every first and second-chance exception and logged the stack and a minimal amount of variables from the memory of the application, which could all be exported as XML. This caused less inconvenience to the end-user because it is much easier to send a 65KB XML file in an email than a 500MB file containing all of the application's memory. We don't need to have the entire victim shipped out to us when we just want to know what was under the fingernails. The thing that made creating a managed debugging tool possible was the MDbg Engine example written by Microsoft as part of the Debugging Tools for Windows distribution. Since the ICorDebug interface is a bit difficult to understand, they had kindly created some wrappers that provided an event-driven debugging model that was perfect for our needs, but .NET 4 applications under debugging started complaining that "The debugger's protocol is incompatible with the debuggee". The introduction of .NET Framework v4 had changed the managed debugging API significantly, however, without an update for the MDbg Engine code! After a few hours of research, I had finally worked out that most of the version 4 ICorDebug interface still works much the same way in "legacy" v2 mode and there was a relatively easy fix for the problem in that you can still get a reference to legacy ICorDebug by changing the way the interface is created. In .NET v2, the interface was acquired using the CreateDebuggingInterfaceFromVersion method in mscoree.dll. In v4, you must first create IClrMetaHost, enumerate the runtimes, get an ICLRRuntimeInfo interface to the .NET 4 runtime from that, and use the GetInterface method in mscoree.dll to return a "legacy" ICorDebug interface. The rest of the MDbg Engine will continue working the old way. Here is how I had changed the MDbg Engine code to support .NET v4: private void InitFromVersion(string debuggerVersion){if( debuggerVersion.StartsWith("v1") ){throw new ArgumentException( "Can't debug a version 1 CLR process (\"" + debuggerVersion + "\"). Run application in a version 2 CLR, or use a version 1 debugger instead." );} ICorDebug rawDebuggingAPI=null;if (debuggerVersion.StartsWith("v4")){Guid CLSID_MetaHost = new Guid("9280188D-0E8E-4867-B30C-7FA83884E8DE"); Guid IID_MetaHost = new Guid("D332DB9E-B9B3-4125-8207-A14884F53216"); ICLRMetaHost metahost = (ICLRMetaHost)NativeMethods.ClrCreateInterface(CLSID_MetaHost, IID_MetaHost); IEnumUnknown runtimes = metahost.EnumerateInstalledRuntimes(); ICLRRuntimeInfo runtime = GetRuntime(runtimes, debuggerVersion); //Defined in metahost.hGuid CLSID_CLRDebuggingLegacy = new Guid(0xDF8395B5, 0xA4BA, 0x450b, 0xA7, 0x7C, 0xA9, 0xA4, 0x77, 0x62, 0xC5, 0x20);Guid IID_ICorDebug = new Guid("3D6F5F61-7538-11D3-8D5B-00104B35E7EF"); Object res;runtime.GetInterface(ref CLSID_CLRDebuggingLegacy, ref IID_ICorDebug, out res); rawDebuggingAPI = (ICorDebug)res; }elserawDebuggingAPI = NativeMethods.CreateDebuggingInterfaceFromVersion((int)CorDebuggerVersion.Whidbey,debuggerVersion);if (rawDebuggingAPI != null)InitFromICorDebug(rawDebuggingAPI);elsethrow new ArgumentException("Support for debugging version " + debuggerVersion + " is not yet implemented");} The changes above will ensure that the debugger can support .NET Framework v2 and v4 applications with the same codebase, but we do compile two different applications: one targeting v2 and the other v4. As a footnote I need to add that some missing native methods and wrappers, along with the EnumerateRuntimes method code, came from the Mindbg project on Codeplex. Another change is that when using the MDbgEngine.CreateProcess to launch a process in the debugger, do not supply a null as the final argument. This does not work any more because GetCORVersion always returns "v2.0.50727" as the function has been deprecated in .NET v4. What's worse is that on a system with only .NET 4, the user will be prompted to download and install .NET v2! Not nice! This works much better: proc = m_Debugger.CreateProcess(ProcessName, ProcessArgs, DebugModeFlag.Default,String.Format("v{0}.{1}.{2}",System.Environment.Version.Major,System.Environment.Version.Minor,System.Environment.Version.Build)); Microsoft "unofficially" plan on updating the MDbg samples soon, but if you have an MDbg-based application, you can get it working right now by changing one method a bit and adding a few new interfaces (ICLRMetaHost, IEnumUnknown, and ICLRRuntimeInfo). The new, non-legacy implementation of MDbg Engine will add new, interesting features like dump-file support and by association I assume garbage-collection/managed object stats, so it will be well worth looking into if you want to extend the functionality of a managed debugger going forward.

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