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  • How to setup a hyper-v domain with internet access

    - by fynnbob
    First off let me say that I'm not a network admin or server guy, I know very little about that stuff. What I'm trying to do is setup a virtualized domain using hyper-V. Here is the configuration: Physical Server: 4Mb RAM Windows Server 2008 R2 running Hyper-V Virtual Environment: One Domain Controller running Windows Server 2008 R2 One Client running Windows Server 2008 R2 I have been successful in setting up a virtual domain controller and adding a virtual client to that domain controller but I'm stuck at trying to give the virtual Environment Internet access. I can give the client VM Internet access if I remove them from the virtual domain but once I add them back to the virtual domain, Internet access is gone. I've read articles describing many different ways this can be done (using RRAS with NAT, using a wireless connection, etc...) but all of those articles only cover a small piece of the setup and also seem to be geared towards people who know there way around networking and servers which I don't. I'd like to know more but my thing is software development and I have my hands full trying to keep up with everything in that realm. I simply want to setup a virtual domain with Internet access for testing. Can anyone point me to any "for Dummy's" type information on how to setup this type of environment or can anyone provide this kind of step-by-step help. Any help would be very much appreciated.

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  • Why is only one wget command working in my crontab?

    - by afEkenholm
    I wish to fetch content from a PHP script on my server two times a day, altering a query variable lang to set what language we want, and save this content in two language specific files. This is my crontab: */15 * * * * ~root/apache.sh > /var/log/checkapache.log 10 0 * * * wget -O /path/to/file-sv.sql "http://mydomain.com/path/?lang=sv" 11 0 * * * wget -O /path/to/file-en.sql "http://mydomain.com/path/?lang=en" The problem is that only the first wget command line is being executed (or to be precise: the only file that is being written is /path/to/file-sv.sql). If I switch the second and the third row, /path/to/file-en.sql gets written instead. The first line always runs as expected, no matter where it is. I then tried using lynx -dump "http://mydomain.com/path/?lang=xx" > /path/to/file-xx.sql to no avail; still only the first lynx line executed successfully. Even mixing wget and lynx did not change this! Getting kinda desperate! Am I missing something? There are thousands of articles on crontab (combined with) wget or lynx, but all seems to cover basic setups and syntax. Does anyone got a clue of what I am doing wrong? Thanks, Alexander

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  • Is there a way to log commands that a user runs in Windows 7?

    - by camster342
    I manage a large enterprise environment, and while we try to advise users not to, there are inevitably users that need to have local admin access to their machines. The problem is that some of these users like to "fiddle" and sometimes screw up their machines in "wonderful" ways. Is there an easy way to log what a user does on a machine, specifically in the command prompt? Maybe there is 3rd party tools I could use to log this information? With Linux that I used to use in past ages, you could look at a users bash history file to see what commands they have run. While I realise that specific log could also be altered by the user if they wanted to cover their tracks, that is the sort of log I'm looking for. If there are other ways I can also log what other system configuration type changes they make as well (not necessarily command line based), that's also useful. I know about event/system logs and so on, but that doesn't necessarily catch all the information I need to figure out how the user has buggered their machine this time.

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  • Kindle (client) for Mac--text search or highlighting/notes?

    - by doug
    just so we're clear, i'm talking about the client/software version here--ie, that you install on your Mac or PC--not the device. The Kindle client was recently released for the Mac. I downloaded it and bought a couple of Kindle-edition books to view on this client. Astonishingly, two features i consider to be more or less essential to any ebook reader are missing in the Kindle client, either that, or i can't find them: (i) text searching; and (ii) highlighting text. First, does anyone know how to access the search feature? I'm aware of the "Go To" button at the top middle of the reader window--the options in that menu when you click the button are: "Cover", "Table of Contents", "Beginning" and "Location." "Location" requires that you type in an integer (but it doesn't correspond to page number--e.g., typing "167" brought me to the table of contents), not a search term. Second, there's a button on the upper right-hand corner of the window "Show Notes and Marks" yet i can't find any way to highlight text. The only kind of "note" or "mark" i have been able to record is to "bookmark" a page by clicking the "bookmark" button also at the top of the window.

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  • cheap gigabit switch for small business

    - by neoice
    my friend's business is currently borrowing my Adtran 1224R and is very happy with it. it's configured with a few VLANs to segment customers, internal traffic and public wifi. port 1 is a "trunk" port to the router, a chunky Linux box with iptables+NAT. they push a lot of traffic over the LAN (data backups) and really need gigabit. besides, I'd like my Adtran back :P my goal is to find a cheap(ish) switch that can function as a drop-in replacement. it looks like VLAN trunking is actually part of the 802.1q spec, so anything with VLAN support should cover the current trunk-to-router setup. it's nice to have both a web interface and SSH, but I can configure it either way if needed. things like the Netgear GS724T have caught my eye, but it seems like none of the hardware in the $300-500 range have really solid reviews. I'm concerned that "cheaper" hardware might not work for a network full of power users. does anyone have a recommendation for the Netgear GS724T or a switch that will meet my needs?

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  • SQL Server Replication Backup

    - by user18039
    Hi We have a new system that runs on SQL Server 2008 r2 64-bit. There is a primary on-line transactional processing (OLTP) database that accepts a high volume of updates from several thousand Point of Sale systems at stores around the country. In order to protect this vital function, I have decided to introduce a dedicated reporting database server - from which multiple users will run some pretty complex reports. I realise that there were a number of choices but I decided to use Transaction Replication as the mechanism for copying the data from the OLTP database to the new reporting database - one way replication. The solution has worked well in test. I'm now being asked what changes need to be made to the backup policy to cover the architectural changes. I have read pages such as MSDN:Strategies for Backing Up and Restoring Snapshot and Transactional Replication but I think these are overkill for my solution. In fact, my current thinking is that we simply need to continue making backups of the OLTP data and logs. If the Reporting db or any of the system replication (eg distribution) databases fail then it's no big deal - we can clear all down then re-create the replication. I realise that taking a complete snapshot of the OLTP would be time consuming (approx 5 hours) but I'd be more relaxed about this that trying to restore backups of the various data and log files in the correct sequence. My view is that the complex strategies set out in the MSDN article would only be the way to go for a more complex replication solution than I have, eg if there were multiple subscribers with 2-way replication. Would you agree? I'd be grateful for any advice. Many thanks, Rob.,

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  • Is it logical that file system acls would be corrupted in a way that adds permission for another user?

    - by wilbbe01
    I was having issues on a shared hosting provider with the host's web server instance not serving some files. I asked the companies support about the issue and they responded with the results of getfacl on my home directory, and added the necessary line to allow their web server to obtain the necessary permissions. All is working happily now, but I noticed a line in the getfacl that was for what appeared to be another username to which I had no relation. I asked them about this and their response was that it was likely some minor corruption and that I could remove the unwanted line with the setfacl -x option. I know I never added the user to my home directory, and I also find it weird that that could truly happen due to corruption. So now that it is fixed I'm a little bit weary of whether or not they were trying to cover up a problem they accidentally gave someone permissions to my account, or if this kind of thing can really be corrupted in that way. Especially when that user is a real user on the same server. Any thoughts? Thanks.

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  • How to set up a server without a hosting control panel

    - by A4J
    I have always used a control panel on my dedicated servers - from cPanel to Plesk to Virtualmin, and I am now considering ditching a CP altogether and manually editing config files. My requirements are fairly simple, I will host multiple sites on the server; some Apache with PHP & Mysql and some Passenger with Rails & Postgres. All will require email smtp/pop. FTP/Stats will not be required. Could someone please give me a quick run-down of what I would need to do - in terms of installing software and configuration? My server will come with a base install of CentOS 6.4 minimal. My thoughts so far: Install/update latest versions of MySQL & Postgres (are they 'safe' out of the box? Or do I need to do anything else like set up root passwords etc?) Install Apache & PHP (again, are the base installs good to go or do they require security tweaks?) Set up nameservers/hostnames/reverse DNS etc (Any guides on how to do this please?) Install Rubygems Install and configure Dovecot and Postfix (any tips on doing this? Or links to how-tos that cover it please?) Set up each website - any links to guides on how to do this? Install/configure firewall (or is the default install good to go?) Any other tips or advice would be greatly appreciated, as would links to guides or how-tos.

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  • How can I create a macro that acts on a relative reference rather than an absolute reference to cell A1?

    - by Bruce
    I have a master rent statement in an Excel 2007 (macro enabled) spreadsheet that shows all tenants in rows with columns formed by the months. Each tenant then has a separate rent statement sheet like the one below that pulls the data through from the master rent statement and all I do then is to copy the last 4 columns to the right and add them to the right, just renaming the month labelled as ‘rent due’ with the current month and then hiding the previous last 4 columns to the left so that the statement always shows the previous month's activity and the amount due for the current month: I used a macro to speed up the creation of these statements, but then found that in some cases the result was wrong and needed major correction because the macro use absolute references i.e. its starting position was relative to cell A1 whereas some of my rent worksheets commence from a different column and in some cases from a different column and a different row. I have tried recording the macro with 'Use relative references' but when trying to use the macro it only gets part way through its operation before it stops and the message appears: Run time error '1004' Application defined or object defined error with the option to End or Debug or go to Help and then I'm stuck as I don't know how to debug and work in VBA or understand what has gone wrong. I want to record a single macro that always remains relative to the last 'Total Due' column heading (in the sample, it’s cell FF3 but on another worksheet could be cell GA26) and thus enables me regardless of where on the worksheet the rent statement is placed to add through my recorded macro a further four columns with updated dates and a repositioned 'Total Due' summary (in the sample in cells FE23 and FF23). The contents of cells FE23 and FE22 are always the same number of rows from the 'Sample Rent Statement, Service Charge and Sub Total' rows. I've searched on the web and in the help files of Excel 2007 but have been totally stumped by this, so currently I have to re-record a quantity of macros each month to cover all of the permutations of the worksheets in my Excel rent workbook, which is starting to become pointless in terms of saving time. Does someone know a solution to this problem please?!

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  • Cheated!! Please help

    - by Rohit K
    I was experiencing some hard disk problem with my HP laptop. It showed at bootup as system diagnostics are run -- Smart Drive attribute failed. Also i repeatedly got a warning for imminent hard drive failure and thus to back up my data. So i gave my laptop to authorized HP service center for repair. They formatted my hard disk and installed a pirated copy of Win 7 Ultimate (i earlier had genuine Win 7 Home Premium running on my laptop) and they told me they cover out-of-warranty issues and even charged me for it. What's worse is that the hard drive problem is still present and all i am left with is an illegal copy of windows which i think also voids my warranty. What should i do? I mean i did purchase a genuine Windows with my laptop, so there must be some way to reinstall it even when i don't have a genuine copy now on my machine. Can't i get legit keys to reinstall Win 7 from Microsoft because i did pay for the software when i purchased my machine. And if that's not possible, how can i claim warranty and get my hard disk replaced by HP?

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  • How to turn a DSL wireless modem to a wifi hub

    - by my_question
    I used to use DSL for my home internet and used Qwest Q1000 wireless modem. Now I switched to cable and use wireless router to cover the home. One problem is I just bought a desktop and I like to put it in a place far away from the router. The desktop only has cable interface, it does not receive wifi. The obvious solution is I go buy that little USB dongle which can receive wifi and plug it to the desktop. But before doig that, I am wondering if somehow I can re-use the Q1000 modem. The modem has 4 LAN ports and it has wifi antenna. I tried connecting the desktop to Q1000's LAN port, the system shows wire connection is in place, but I cannot access internet. It seems to me Q1000's wifi function is to broadcast the wifi signal out instead of receiving signal. I went to the Q1000 configuration page by going to web page of "192.168.0.1", it is not clear how to set it up. I also wonder one thing, my home wifi is encrypted, so if I want to let Q1000 to join the wifi, I need to somehow type in the password, I am not sure how to do that either. Anyway, maybe this thing cannot be used in this fashion. If you have any suggestion, please shed some light. Thanks.

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  • Service Discovery in WCF 4.0 &ndash; Part 1

    - by Shaun
    When designing a service oriented architecture (SOA) system, there will be a lot of services with many service contracts, endpoints and behaviors. Besides the client calling the service, in a large distributed system a service may invoke other services. In this case, one service might need to know the endpoints it invokes. This might not be a problem in a small system. But when you have more than 10 services this might be a problem. For example in my current product, there are around 10 services, such as the user authentication service, UI integration service, location service, license service, device monitor service, event monitor service, schedule job service, accounting service, player management service, etc..   Benefit of Discovery Service Since almost all my services need to invoke at least one other service. This would be a difficult task to make sure all services endpoints are configured correctly in every service. And furthermore, it would be a nightmare when a service changed its endpoint at runtime. Hence, we need a discovery service to remove the dependency (configuration dependency). A discovery service plays as a service dictionary which stores the relationship between the contracts and the endpoints for every service. By using the discovery service, when service X wants to invoke service Y, it just need to ask the discovery service where is service Y, then the discovery service will return all proper endpoints of service Y, then service X can use the endpoint to send the request to service Y. And when some services changed their endpoint address, all need to do is to update its records in the discovery service then all others will know its new endpoint. In WCF 4.0 Discovery it supports both managed proxy discovery mode and ad-hoc discovery mode. In ad-hoc mode there is no standalone discovery service. When a client wanted to invoke a service, it will broadcast an message (normally in UDP protocol) to the entire network with the service match criteria. All services which enabled the discovery behavior will receive this message and only those matched services will send their endpoint back to the client. The managed proxy discovery service works as I described above. In this post I will only cover the managed proxy mode, where there’s a discovery service. For more information about the ad-hoc mode please refer to the MSDN.   Service Announcement and Probe The main functionality of discovery service should be return the proper endpoint addresses back to the service who is looking for. In most cases the consume service (as a client) will send the contract which it wanted to request to the discovery service. And then the discovery service will find the endpoint and respond. Sometimes the contract and endpoint are not enough. It also contains versioning, extensions attributes. This post I will only cover the case includes contract and endpoint. When a client (or sometimes a service who need to invoke another service) need to connect to a target service, it will firstly request the discovery service through the “Probe” method with the criteria. Basically the criteria contains the contract type name of the target service. Then the discovery service will search its endpoint repository by the criteria. The repository might be a database, a distributed cache or a flat XML file. If it matches, the discovery service will grab the endpoint information (it’s called discovery endpoint metadata in WCF) and send back. And this is called “Probe”. Finally the client received the discovery endpoint metadata and will use the endpoint to connect to the target service. Besides the probe, discovery service should take the responsible to know there is a new service available when it goes online, as well as stopped when it goes offline. This feature is named “Announcement”. When a service started and stopped, it will announce to the discovery service. So the basic functionality of a discovery service should includes: 1, An endpoint which receive the service online message, and add the service endpoint information in the discovery repository. 2, An endpoint which receive the service offline message, and remove the service endpoint information from the discovery repository. 3, An endpoint which receive the client probe message, and return the matches service endpoints, and return the discovery endpoint metadata. WCF 4.0 discovery service just covers all these features in it's infrastructure classes.   Discovery Service in WCF 4.0 WCF 4.0 introduced a new assembly named System.ServiceModel.Discovery which has all necessary classes and interfaces to build a WS-Discovery compliant discovery service. It supports ad-hoc and managed proxy modes. For the case mentioned in this post, what we need to build is a standalone discovery service, which is the managed proxy discovery service mode. To build a managed discovery service in WCF 4.0 just create a new class inherits from the abstract class System.ServiceModel.Discovery.DiscoveryProxy. This class implemented and abstracted the procedures of service announcement and probe. And it exposes 8 abstract methods where we can implement our own endpoint register, unregister and find logic. These 8 methods are asynchronized, which means all invokes to the discovery service are asynchronously, for better service capability and performance. 1, OnBeginOnlineAnnouncement, OnEndOnlineAnnouncement: Invoked when a service sent the online announcement message. We need to add the endpoint information to the repository in this method. 2, OnBeginOfflineAnnouncement, OnEndOfflineAnnouncement: Invoked when a service sent the offline announcement message. We need to remove the endpoint information from the repository in this method. 3, OnBeginFind, OnEndFind: Invoked when a client sent the probe message that want to find the service endpoint information. We need to look for the proper endpoints by matching the client’s criteria through the repository in this method. 4, OnBeginResolve, OnEndResolve: Invoked then a client sent the resolve message. Different from the find method, when using resolve method the discovery service will return the exactly one service endpoint metadata to the client. In our example we will NOT implement this method.   Let’s create our own discovery service, inherit the base System.ServiceModel.Discovery.DiscoveryProxy. We also need to specify the service behavior in this class. Since the build-in discovery service host class only support the singleton mode, we must set its instance context mode to single. 1: using System; 2: using System.Collections.Generic; 3: using System.Linq; 4: using System.Text; 5: using System.ServiceModel.Discovery; 6: using System.ServiceModel; 7:  8: namespace Phare.Service 9: { 10: [ServiceBehavior(InstanceContextMode = InstanceContextMode.Single, ConcurrencyMode = ConcurrencyMode.Multiple)] 11: public class ManagedProxyDiscoveryService : DiscoveryProxy 12: { 13: protected override IAsyncResult OnBeginFind(FindRequestContext findRequestContext, AsyncCallback callback, object state) 14: { 15: throw new NotImplementedException(); 16: } 17:  18: protected override IAsyncResult OnBeginOfflineAnnouncement(DiscoveryMessageSequence messageSequence, EndpointDiscoveryMetadata endpointDiscoveryMetadata, AsyncCallback callback, object state) 19: { 20: throw new NotImplementedException(); 21: } 22:  23: protected override IAsyncResult OnBeginOnlineAnnouncement(DiscoveryMessageSequence messageSequence, EndpointDiscoveryMetadata endpointDiscoveryMetadata, AsyncCallback callback, object state) 24: { 25: throw new NotImplementedException(); 26: } 27:  28: protected override IAsyncResult OnBeginResolve(ResolveCriteria resolveCriteria, AsyncCallback callback, object state) 29: { 30: throw new NotImplementedException(); 31: } 32:  33: protected override void OnEndFind(IAsyncResult result) 34: { 35: throw new NotImplementedException(); 36: } 37:  38: protected override void OnEndOfflineAnnouncement(IAsyncResult result) 39: { 40: throw new NotImplementedException(); 41: } 42:  43: protected override void OnEndOnlineAnnouncement(IAsyncResult result) 44: { 45: throw new NotImplementedException(); 46: } 47:  48: protected override EndpointDiscoveryMetadata OnEndResolve(IAsyncResult result) 49: { 50: throw new NotImplementedException(); 51: } 52: } 53: } Then let’s implement the online, offline and find methods one by one. WCF discovery service gives us full flexibility to implement the endpoint add, remove and find logic. For the demo purpose we will use an internal dictionary to store the services’ endpoint metadata. In the next post we will see how to serialize and store these information in database. Define a concurrent dictionary inside the service class since our it will be used in the multiple threads scenario. 1: [ServiceBehavior(InstanceContextMode = InstanceContextMode.Single, ConcurrencyMode = ConcurrencyMode.Multiple)] 2: public class ManagedProxyDiscoveryService : DiscoveryProxy 3: { 4: private ConcurrentDictionary<EndpointAddress, EndpointDiscoveryMetadata> _services; 5:  6: public ManagedProxyDiscoveryService() 7: { 8: _services = new ConcurrentDictionary<EndpointAddress, EndpointDiscoveryMetadata>(); 9: } 10: } Then we can simply implement the logic of service online and offline. 1: protected override IAsyncResult OnBeginOnlineAnnouncement(DiscoveryMessageSequence messageSequence, EndpointDiscoveryMetadata endpointDiscoveryMetadata, AsyncCallback callback, object state) 2: { 3: _services.AddOrUpdate(endpointDiscoveryMetadata.Address, endpointDiscoveryMetadata, (key, value) => endpointDiscoveryMetadata); 4: return new OnOnlineAnnouncementAsyncResult(callback, state); 5: } 6:  7: protected override void OnEndOnlineAnnouncement(IAsyncResult result) 8: { 9: OnOnlineAnnouncementAsyncResult.End(result); 10: } 11:  12: protected override IAsyncResult OnBeginOfflineAnnouncement(DiscoveryMessageSequence messageSequence, EndpointDiscoveryMetadata endpointDiscoveryMetadata, AsyncCallback callback, object state) 13: { 14: EndpointDiscoveryMetadata endpoint = null; 15: _services.TryRemove(endpointDiscoveryMetadata.Address, out endpoint); 16: return new OnOfflineAnnouncementAsyncResult(callback, state); 17: } 18:  19: protected override void OnEndOfflineAnnouncement(IAsyncResult result) 20: { 21: OnOfflineAnnouncementAsyncResult.End(result); 22: } Regards the find method, the parameter FindRequestContext.Criteria has a method named IsMatch, which can be use for us to evaluate which service metadata is satisfied with the criteria. So the implementation of find method would be like this. 1: protected override IAsyncResult OnBeginFind(FindRequestContext findRequestContext, AsyncCallback callback, object state) 2: { 3: _services.Where(s => findRequestContext.Criteria.IsMatch(s.Value)) 4: .Select(s => s.Value) 5: .All(meta => 6: { 7: findRequestContext.AddMatchingEndpoint(meta); 8: return true; 9: }); 10: return new OnFindAsyncResult(callback, state); 11: } 12:  13: protected override void OnEndFind(IAsyncResult result) 14: { 15: OnFindAsyncResult.End(result); 16: } As you can see, we checked all endpoints metadata in repository by invoking the IsMatch method. Then add all proper endpoints metadata into the parameter. Finally since all these methods are asynchronized we need some AsyncResult classes as well. Below are the base class and the inherited classes used in previous methods. 1: using System; 2: using System.Collections.Generic; 3: using System.Linq; 4: using System.Text; 5: using System.Threading; 6:  7: namespace Phare.Service 8: { 9: abstract internal class AsyncResult : IAsyncResult 10: { 11: AsyncCallback callback; 12: bool completedSynchronously; 13: bool endCalled; 14: Exception exception; 15: bool isCompleted; 16: ManualResetEvent manualResetEvent; 17: object state; 18: object thisLock; 19:  20: protected AsyncResult(AsyncCallback callback, object state) 21: { 22: this.callback = callback; 23: this.state = state; 24: this.thisLock = new object(); 25: } 26:  27: public object AsyncState 28: { 29: get 30: { 31: return state; 32: } 33: } 34:  35: public WaitHandle AsyncWaitHandle 36: { 37: get 38: { 39: if (manualResetEvent != null) 40: { 41: return manualResetEvent; 42: } 43: lock (ThisLock) 44: { 45: if (manualResetEvent == null) 46: { 47: manualResetEvent = new ManualResetEvent(isCompleted); 48: } 49: } 50: return manualResetEvent; 51: } 52: } 53:  54: public bool CompletedSynchronously 55: { 56: get 57: { 58: return completedSynchronously; 59: } 60: } 61:  62: public bool IsCompleted 63: { 64: get 65: { 66: return isCompleted; 67: } 68: } 69:  70: object ThisLock 71: { 72: get 73: { 74: return this.thisLock; 75: } 76: } 77:  78: protected static TAsyncResult End<TAsyncResult>(IAsyncResult result) 79: where TAsyncResult : AsyncResult 80: { 81: if (result == null) 82: { 83: throw new ArgumentNullException("result"); 84: } 85:  86: TAsyncResult asyncResult = result as TAsyncResult; 87:  88: if (asyncResult == null) 89: { 90: throw new ArgumentException("Invalid async result.", "result"); 91: } 92:  93: if (asyncResult.endCalled) 94: { 95: throw new InvalidOperationException("Async object already ended."); 96: } 97:  98: asyncResult.endCalled = true; 99:  100: if (!asyncResult.isCompleted) 101: { 102: asyncResult.AsyncWaitHandle.WaitOne(); 103: } 104:  105: if (asyncResult.manualResetEvent != null) 106: { 107: asyncResult.manualResetEvent.Close(); 108: } 109:  110: if (asyncResult.exception != null) 111: { 112: throw asyncResult.exception; 113: } 114:  115: return asyncResult; 116: } 117:  118: protected void Complete(bool completedSynchronously) 119: { 120: if (isCompleted) 121: { 122: throw new InvalidOperationException("This async result is already completed."); 123: } 124:  125: this.completedSynchronously = completedSynchronously; 126:  127: if (completedSynchronously) 128: { 129: this.isCompleted = true; 130: } 131: else 132: { 133: lock (ThisLock) 134: { 135: this.isCompleted = true; 136: if (this.manualResetEvent != null) 137: { 138: this.manualResetEvent.Set(); 139: } 140: } 141: } 142:  143: if (callback != null) 144: { 145: callback(this); 146: } 147: } 148:  149: protected void Complete(bool completedSynchronously, Exception exception) 150: { 151: this.exception = exception; 152: Complete(completedSynchronously); 153: } 154: } 155: } 1: using System; 2: using System.Collections.Generic; 3: using System.Linq; 4: using System.Text; 5: using System.ServiceModel.Discovery; 6: using Phare.Service; 7:  8: namespace Phare.Service 9: { 10: internal sealed class OnOnlineAnnouncementAsyncResult : AsyncResult 11: { 12: public OnOnlineAnnouncementAsyncResult(AsyncCallback callback, object state) 13: : base(callback, state) 14: { 15: this.Complete(true); 16: } 17:  18: public static void End(IAsyncResult result) 19: { 20: AsyncResult.End<OnOnlineAnnouncementAsyncResult>(result); 21: } 22:  23: } 24:  25: sealed class OnOfflineAnnouncementAsyncResult : AsyncResult 26: { 27: public OnOfflineAnnouncementAsyncResult(AsyncCallback callback, object state) 28: : base(callback, state) 29: { 30: this.Complete(true); 31: } 32:  33: public static void End(IAsyncResult result) 34: { 35: AsyncResult.End<OnOfflineAnnouncementAsyncResult>(result); 36: } 37: } 38:  39: sealed class OnFindAsyncResult : AsyncResult 40: { 41: public OnFindAsyncResult(AsyncCallback callback, object state) 42: : base(callback, state) 43: { 44: this.Complete(true); 45: } 46:  47: public static void End(IAsyncResult result) 48: { 49: AsyncResult.End<OnFindAsyncResult>(result); 50: } 51: } 52:  53: sealed class OnResolveAsyncResult : AsyncResult 54: { 55: EndpointDiscoveryMetadata matchingEndpoint; 56:  57: public OnResolveAsyncResult(EndpointDiscoveryMetadata matchingEndpoint, AsyncCallback callback, object state) 58: : base(callback, state) 59: { 60: this.matchingEndpoint = matchingEndpoint; 61: this.Complete(true); 62: } 63:  64: public static EndpointDiscoveryMetadata End(IAsyncResult result) 65: { 66: OnResolveAsyncResult thisPtr = AsyncResult.End<OnResolveAsyncResult>(result); 67: return thisPtr.matchingEndpoint; 68: } 69: } 70: } Now we have finished the discovery service. The next step is to host it. The discovery service is a standard WCF service. So we can use ServiceHost on a console application, windows service, or in IIS as usual. The following code is how to host the discovery service we had just created in a console application. 1: static void Main(string[] args) 2: { 3: using (var host = new ServiceHost(new ManagedProxyDiscoveryService())) 4: { 5: host.Opened += (sender, e) => 6: { 7: host.Description.Endpoints.All((ep) => 8: { 9: Console.WriteLine(ep.ListenUri); 10: return true; 11: }); 12: }; 13:  14: try 15: { 16: // retrieve the announcement, probe endpoint and binding from configuration 17: var announcementEndpointAddress = new EndpointAddress(ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["announcementEndpointAddress"]); 18: var probeEndpointAddress = new EndpointAddress(ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["probeEndpointAddress"]); 19: var binding = Activator.CreateInstance(Type.GetType(ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["bindingType"], true, true)) as Binding; 20: var announcementEndpoint = new AnnouncementEndpoint(binding, announcementEndpointAddress); 21: var probeEndpoint = new DiscoveryEndpoint(binding, probeEndpointAddress); 22: probeEndpoint.IsSystemEndpoint = false; 23: // append the service endpoint for announcement and probe 24: host.AddServiceEndpoint(announcementEndpoint); 25: host.AddServiceEndpoint(probeEndpoint); 26:  27: host.Open(); 28:  29: Console.WriteLine("Press any key to exit."); 30: Console.ReadKey(); 31: } 32: catch (Exception ex) 33: { 34: Console.WriteLine(ex.ToString()); 35: } 36: } 37:  38: Console.WriteLine("Done."); 39: Console.ReadKey(); 40: } What we need to notice is that, the discovery service needs two endpoints for announcement and probe. In this example I just retrieve them from the configuration file. I also specified the binding of these two endpoints in configuration file as well. 1: <?xml version="1.0"?> 2: <configuration> 3: <startup> 4: <supportedRuntime version="v4.0" sku=".NETFramework,Version=v4.0"/> 5: </startup> 6: <appSettings> 7: <add key="announcementEndpointAddress" value="net.tcp://localhost:10010/announcement"/> 8: <add key="probeEndpointAddress" value="net.tcp://localhost:10011/probe"/> 9: <add key="bindingType" value="System.ServiceModel.NetTcpBinding, System.ServiceModel, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089"/> 10: </appSettings> 11: </configuration> And this is the console screen when I ran my discovery service. As you can see there are two endpoints listening for announcement message and probe message.   Discoverable Service and Client Next, let’s create a WCF service that is discoverable, which means it can be found by the discovery service. To do so, we need to let the service send the online announcement message to the discovery service, as well as offline message before it shutdown. Just create a simple service which can make the incoming string to upper. The service contract and implementation would be like this. 1: [ServiceContract] 2: public interface IStringService 3: { 4: [OperationContract] 5: string ToUpper(string content); 6: } 1: public class StringService : IStringService 2: { 3: public string ToUpper(string content) 4: { 5: return content.ToUpper(); 6: } 7: } Then host this service in the console application. In order to make the discovery service easy to be tested the service address will be changed each time it’s started. 1: static void Main(string[] args) 2: { 3: var baseAddress = new Uri(string.Format("net.tcp://localhost:11001/stringservice/{0}/", Guid.NewGuid().ToString())); 4:  5: using (var host = new ServiceHost(typeof(StringService), baseAddress)) 6: { 7: host.Opened += (sender, e) => 8: { 9: Console.WriteLine("Service opened at {0}", host.Description.Endpoints.First().ListenUri); 10: }; 11:  12: host.AddServiceEndpoint(typeof(IStringService), new NetTcpBinding(), string.Empty); 13:  14: host.Open(); 15:  16: Console.WriteLine("Press any key to exit."); 17: Console.ReadKey(); 18: } 19: } Currently this service is NOT discoverable. We need to add a special service behavior so that it could send the online and offline message to the discovery service announcement endpoint when the host is opened and closed. WCF 4.0 introduced a service behavior named ServiceDiscoveryBehavior. When we specified the announcement endpoint address and appended it to the service behaviors this service will be discoverable. 1: var announcementAddress = new EndpointAddress(ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["announcementEndpointAddress"]); 2: var announcementBinding = Activator.CreateInstance(Type.GetType(ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["bindingType"], true, true)) as Binding; 3: var announcementEndpoint = new AnnouncementEndpoint(announcementBinding, announcementAddress); 4: var discoveryBehavior = new ServiceDiscoveryBehavior(); 5: discoveryBehavior.AnnouncementEndpoints.Add(announcementEndpoint); 6: host.Description.Behaviors.Add(discoveryBehavior); The ServiceDiscoveryBehavior utilizes the service extension and channel dispatcher to implement the online and offline announcement logic. In short, it injected the channel open and close procedure and send the online and offline message to the announcement endpoint.   On client side, when we have the discovery service, a client can invoke a service without knowing its endpoint. WCF discovery assembly provides a class named DiscoveryClient, which can be used to find the proper service endpoint by passing the criteria. In the code below I initialized the DiscoveryClient, specified the discovery service probe endpoint address. Then I created the find criteria by specifying the service contract I wanted to use and invoke the Find method. This will send the probe message to the discovery service and it will find the endpoints back to me. The discovery service will return all endpoints that matches the find criteria, which means in the result of the find method there might be more than one endpoints. In this example I just returned the first matched one back. In the next post I will show how to extend our discovery service to make it work like a service load balancer. 1: static EndpointAddress FindServiceEndpoint() 2: { 3: var probeEndpointAddress = new EndpointAddress(ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["probeEndpointAddress"]); 4: var probeBinding = Activator.CreateInstance(Type.GetType(ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["bindingType"], true, true)) as Binding; 5: var discoveryEndpoint = new DiscoveryEndpoint(probeBinding, probeEndpointAddress); 6:  7: EndpointAddress address = null; 8: FindResponse result = null; 9: using (var discoveryClient = new DiscoveryClient(discoveryEndpoint)) 10: { 11: result = discoveryClient.Find(new FindCriteria(typeof(IStringService))); 12: } 13:  14: if (result != null && result.Endpoints.Any()) 15: { 16: var endpointMetadata = result.Endpoints.First(); 17: address = endpointMetadata.Address; 18: } 19: return address; 20: } Once we probed the discovery service we will receive the endpoint. So in the client code we can created the channel factory from the endpoint and binding, and invoke to the service. When creating the client side channel factory we need to make sure that the client side binding should be the same as the service side. WCF discovery service can be used to find the endpoint for a service contract, but the binding is NOT included. This is because the binding was not in the WS-Discovery specification. In the next post I will demonstrate how to add the binding information into the discovery service. At that moment the client don’t need to create the binding by itself. Instead it will use the binding received from the discovery service. 1: static void Main(string[] args) 2: { 3: Console.WriteLine("Say something..."); 4: var content = Console.ReadLine(); 5: while (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(content)) 6: { 7: Console.WriteLine("Finding the service endpoint..."); 8: var address = FindServiceEndpoint(); 9: if (address == null) 10: { 11: Console.WriteLine("There is no endpoint matches the criteria."); 12: } 13: else 14: { 15: Console.WriteLine("Found the endpoint {0}", address.Uri); 16:  17: var factory = new ChannelFactory<IStringService>(new NetTcpBinding(), address); 18: factory.Opened += (sender, e) => 19: { 20: Console.WriteLine("Connecting to {0}.", factory.Endpoint.ListenUri); 21: }; 22: var proxy = factory.CreateChannel(); 23: using (proxy as IDisposable) 24: { 25: Console.WriteLine("ToUpper: {0} => {1}", content, proxy.ToUpper(content)); 26: } 27: } 28:  29: Console.WriteLine("Say something..."); 30: content = Console.ReadLine(); 31: } 32: } Similarly, the discovery service probe endpoint and binding were defined in the configuration file. 1: <?xml version="1.0"?> 2: <configuration> 3: <startup> 4: <supportedRuntime version="v4.0" sku=".NETFramework,Version=v4.0"/> 5: </startup> 6: <appSettings> 7: <add key="announcementEndpointAddress" value="net.tcp://localhost:10010/announcement"/> 8: <add key="probeEndpointAddress" value="net.tcp://localhost:10011/probe"/> 9: <add key="bindingType" value="System.ServiceModel.NetTcpBinding, System.ServiceModel, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089"/> 10: </appSettings> 11: </configuration> OK, now let’s have a test. Firstly start the discovery service, and then start our discoverable service. When it started it will announced to the discovery service and registered its endpoint into the repository, which is the local dictionary. And then start the client and type something. As you can see the client asked the discovery service for the endpoint and then establish the connection to the discoverable service. And more interesting, do NOT close the client console but terminate the discoverable service but press the enter key. This will make the service send the offline message to the discovery service. Then start the discoverable service again. Since we made it use a different address each time it started, currently it should be hosted on another address. If we enter something in the client we could see that it asked the discovery service and retrieve the new endpoint, and connect the the service.   Summary In this post I discussed the benefit of using the discovery service and the procedures of service announcement and probe. I also demonstrated how to leverage the WCF Discovery feature in WCF 4.0 to build a simple managed discovery service. For test purpose, in this example I used the in memory dictionary as the discovery endpoint metadata repository. And when finding I also just return the first matched endpoint back. I also hard coded the bindings between the discoverable service and the client. In next post I will show you how to solve the problem mentioned above, as well as some additional feature for production usage. You can download the code here.   Hope this helps, Shaun All documents and related graphics, codes are provided "AS IS" without warranty of any kind. Copyright © Shaun Ziyan Xu. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons License.

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  • An Introduction to jQuery Templates

    - by Stephen Walther
    The goal of this blog entry is to provide you with enough information to start working with jQuery Templates. jQuery Templates enable you to display and manipulate data in the browser. For example, you can use jQuery Templates to format and display a set of database records that you have retrieved with an Ajax call. jQuery Templates supports a number of powerful features such as template tags, template composition, and wrapped templates. I’ll concentrate on the features that I think that you will find most useful. In order to focus on the jQuery Templates feature itself, this blog entry is server technology agnostic. All the samples use HTML pages instead of ASP.NET pages. In a future blog entry, I’ll focus on using jQuery Templates with ASP.NET Web Forms and ASP.NET MVC (You can do some pretty powerful things when jQuery Templates are used on the client and ASP.NET is used on the server). Introduction to jQuery Templates The jQuery Templates plugin was developed by the Microsoft ASP.NET team in collaboration with the open-source jQuery team. While working at Microsoft, I wrote the original proposal for jQuery Templates, Dave Reed wrote the original code, and Boris Moore wrote the final code. The jQuery team – especially John Resig – was very involved in each step of the process. Both the jQuery community and ASP.NET communities were very active in providing feedback. jQuery Templates will be included in the jQuery core library (the jQuery.js library) when jQuery 1.5 is released. Until jQuery 1.5 is released, you can download the jQuery Templates plugin from the jQuery Source Code Repository or you can use jQuery Templates directly from the ASP.NET CDN. The documentation for jQuery Templates is already included with the official jQuery documentation at http://api.jQuery.com. The main entry for jQuery templates is located under the topic plugins/templates. A Basic Sample of jQuery Templates Let’s start with a really simple sample of using jQuery Templates. We’ll use the plugin to display a list of books stored in a JavaScript array. Here’s the complete code: <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html > <head> <title>Intro</title> <link href="0_Site.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> </head> <body> <div id="pageContent"> <h1>ASP.NET Bookstore</h1> <div id="bookContainer"></div> </div> <script id="bookTemplate" type="text/x-jQuery-tmpl"> <div> <img src="BookPictures/${picture}" alt="" /> <h2>${title}</h2> price: ${formatPrice(price)} </div> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://ajax.aspnetcdn.com/ajax/jQuery/jquery-1.4.4.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://ajax.aspnetcdn.com/ajax/jquery.templates/beta1/jquery.tmpl.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> // Create an array of books var books = [ { title: "ASP.NET 4 Unleashed", price: 37.79, picture: "AspNet4Unleashed.jpg" }, { title: "ASP.NET MVC Unleashed", price: 44.99, picture: "AspNetMvcUnleashed.jpg" }, { title: "ASP.NET Kick Start", price: 4.00, picture: "AspNetKickStart.jpg" }, { title: "ASP.NET MVC Unleashed iPhone", price: 44.99, picture: "AspNetMvcUnleashedIPhone.jpg" }, ]; // Render the books using the template $("#bookTemplate").tmpl(books).appendTo("#bookContainer"); function formatPrice(price) { return "$" + price.toFixed(2); } </script> </body> </html> When you open this page in a browser, a list of books is displayed: There are several things going on in this page which require explanation. First, notice that the page uses both the jQuery 1.4.4 and jQuery Templates libraries. Both libraries are retrieved from the ASP.NET CDN: <script type="text/javascript" src="http://ajax.aspnetcdn.com/ajax/jQuery/jquery-1.4.4.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://ajax.aspnetcdn.com/ajax/jquery.templates/beta1/jquery.tmpl.js"></script> You can use the ASP.NET CDN for free (even for production websites). You can learn more about the files included on the ASP.NET CDN by visiting the ASP.NET CDN documentation page. Second, you should notice that the actual template is included in a script tag with a special MIME type: <script id="bookTemplate" type="text/x-jQuery-tmpl"> <div> <img src="BookPictures/${picture}" alt="" /> <h2>${title}</h2> price: ${formatPrice(price)} </div> </script> This template is displayed for each of the books rendered by the template. The template displays a book picture, title, and price. Notice that the SCRIPT tag which wraps the template has a MIME type of text/x-jQuery-tmpl. Why is the template wrapped in a SCRIPT tag and why the strange MIME type? When a browser encounters a SCRIPT tag with an unknown MIME type, it ignores the content of the tag. This is the behavior that you want with a template. You don’t want a browser to attempt to parse the contents of a template because this might cause side effects. For example, the template above includes an <img> tag with a src attribute that points at “BookPictures/${picture}”. You don’t want the browser to attempt to load an image at the URL “BookPictures/${picture}”. Instead, you want to prevent the browser from processing the IMG tag until the ${picture} expression is replaced by with the actual name of an image by the jQuery Templates plugin. If you are not worried about browser side-effects then you can wrap a template inside any HTML tag that you please. For example, the following DIV tag would also work with the jQuery Templates plugin: <div id="bookTemplate" style="display:none"> <div> <h2>${title}</h2> price: ${formatPrice(price)} </div> </div> Notice that the DIV tag includes a style=”display:none” attribute to prevent the template from being displayed until the template is parsed by the jQuery Templates plugin. Third, notice that the expression ${…} is used to display the value of a JavaScript expression within a template. For example, the expression ${title} is used to display the value of the book title property. You can use any JavaScript function that you please within the ${…} expression. For example, in the template above, the book price is formatted with the help of the custom JavaScript formatPrice() function which is defined lower in the page. Fourth, and finally, the template is rendered with the help of the tmpl() method. The following statement selects the bookTemplate and renders an array of books using the bookTemplate. The results are appended to a DIV element named bookContainer by using the standard jQuery appendTo() method. $("#bookTemplate").tmpl(books).appendTo("#bookContainer"); Using Template Tags Within a template, you can use any of the following template tags. {{tmpl}} – Used for template composition. See the section below. {{wrap}} – Used for wrapped templates. See the section below. {{each}} – Used to iterate through a collection. {{if}} – Used to conditionally display template content. {{else}} – Used with {{if}} to conditionally display template content. {{html}} – Used to display the value of an HTML expression without encoding the value. Using ${…} or {{= }} performs HTML encoding automatically. {{= }}-- Used in exactly the same way as ${…}. {{! }} – Used for displaying comments. The contents of a {{!...}} tag are ignored. For example, imagine that you want to display a list of blog entries. Each blog entry could, possibly, have an associated list of categories. The following page illustrates how you can use the { if}} and {{each}} template tags to conditionally display categories for each blog entry:   <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <title>each</title> <link href="1_Site.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> </head> <body> <div id="blogPostContainer"></div> <script id="blogPostTemplate" type="text/x-jQuery-tmpl"> <h1>${postTitle}</h1> <p> ${postEntry} </p> {{if categories}} Categories: {{each categories}} <i>${$value}</i> {{/each}} {{else}} Uncategorized {{/if}} </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://ajax.aspnetcdn.com/ajax/jQuery/jquery-1.4.4.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://ajax.aspnetcdn.com/ajax/jquery.templates/beta1/jquery.tmpl.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> var blogPosts = [ { postTitle: "How to fix a sink plunger in 5 minutes", postEntry: "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Maecenas porttitor congue massa. Fusce posuere, magna sed pulvinar ultricies, purus lectus malesuada libero, sit amet commodo magna eros quis urna.", categories: ["HowTo", "Sinks", "Plumbing"] }, { postTitle: "How to remove a broken lightbulb", postEntry: "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Maecenas porttitor congue massa. Fusce posuere, magna sed pulvinar ultricies, purus lectus malesuada libero, sit amet commodo magna eros quis urna.", categories: ["HowTo", "Lightbulbs", "Electricity"] }, { postTitle: "New associate website", postEntry: "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Maecenas porttitor congue massa. Fusce posuere, magna sed pulvinar ultricies, purus lectus malesuada libero, sit amet commodo magna eros quis urna." } ]; // Render the blog posts $("#blogPostTemplate").tmpl(blogPosts).appendTo("#blogPostContainer"); </script> </body> </html> When this page is opened in a web browser, the following list of blog posts and categories is displayed: Notice that the first and second blog entries have associated categories but the third blog entry does not. The third blog entry is “Uncategorized”. The template used to render the blog entries and categories looks like this: <script id="blogPostTemplate" type="text/x-jQuery-tmpl"> <h1>${postTitle}</h1> <p> ${postEntry} </p> {{if categories}} Categories: {{each categories}} <i>${$value}</i> {{/each}} {{else}} Uncategorized {{/if}} </script> Notice the special expression $value used within the {{each}} template tag. You can use $value to display the value of the current template item. In this case, $value is used to display the value of each category in the collection of categories. Template Composition When building a fancy page, you might want to build a template out of multiple templates. In other words, you might want to take advantage of template composition. For example, imagine that you want to display a list of products. Some of the products are being sold at their normal price and some of the products are on sale. In that case, you might want to use two different templates for displaying a product: a productTemplate and a productOnSaleTemplate. The following page illustrates how you can use the {{tmpl}} tag to build a template from multiple templates:   <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <title>Composition</title> <link href="2_Site.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> </head> <body> <div id="pageContainer"> <h1>Products</h1> <div id="productListContainer"></div> <!-- Show list of products using composition --> <script id="productListTemplate" type="text/x-jQuery-tmpl"> <div> {{if onSale}} {{tmpl "#productOnSaleTemplate"}} {{else}} {{tmpl "#productTemplate"}} {{/if}} </div> </script> <!-- Show product --> <script id="productTemplate" type="text/x-jQuery-tmpl"> ${name} </script> <!-- Show product on sale --> <script id="productOnSaleTemplate" type="text/x-jQuery-tmpl"> <b>${name}</b> <img src="images/on_sale.png" alt="On Sale" /> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://ajax.aspnetcdn.com/ajax/jQuery/jquery-1.4.4.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://ajax.aspnetcdn.com/ajax/jquery.templates/beta1/jquery.tmpl.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> var products = [ { name: "Laptop", onSale: false }, { name: "Apples", onSale: true }, { name: "Comb", onSale: false } ]; $("#productListTemplate").tmpl(products).appendTo("#productListContainer"); </script> </div> </body> </html>   In the page above, the main template used to display the list of products looks like this: <script id="productListTemplate" type="text/x-jQuery-tmpl"> <div> {{if onSale}} {{tmpl "#productOnSaleTemplate"}} {{else}} {{tmpl "#productTemplate"}} {{/if}} </div> </script>   If a product is on sale then the product is displayed with the productOnSaleTemplate (which includes an on sale image): <script id="productOnSaleTemplate" type="text/x-jQuery-tmpl"> <b>${name}</b> <img src="images/on_sale.png" alt="On Sale" /> </script>   Otherwise, the product is displayed with the normal productTemplate (which does not include the on sale image): <script id="productTemplate" type="text/x-jQuery-tmpl"> ${name} </script>   You can pass a parameter to the {{tmpl}} tag. The parameter becomes the data passed to the template rendered by the {{tmpl}} tag. For example, in the previous section, we used the {{each}} template tag to display a list of categories for each blog entry like this: <script id="blogPostTemplate" type="text/x-jQuery-tmpl"> <h1>${postTitle}</h1> <p> ${postEntry} </p> {{if categories}} Categories: {{each categories}} <i>${$value}</i> {{/each}} {{else}} Uncategorized {{/if}} </script>   Another way to create this template is to use template composition like this: <script id="blogPostTemplate" type="text/x-jQuery-tmpl"> <h1>${postTitle}</h1> <p> ${postEntry} </p> {{if categories}} Categories: {{tmpl(categories) "#categoryTemplate"}} {{else}} Uncategorized {{/if}} </script> <script id="categoryTemplate" type="text/x-jQuery-tmpl"> <i>${$data}</i> &nbsp; </script>   Using the {{each}} tag or {{tmpl}} tag is largely a matter of personal preference. Wrapped Templates The {{wrap}} template tag enables you to take a chunk of HTML and transform the HTML into another chunk of HTML (think easy XSLT). When you use the {{wrap}} tag, you work with two templates. The first template contains the HTML being transformed and the second template includes the filter expressions for transforming the HTML. For example, you can use the {{wrap}} template tag to transform a chunk of HTML into an interactive tab strip: When you click any of the tabs, you see the corresponding content. This tab strip was created with the following page: <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <title>Wrapped Templates</title> <style type="text/css"> body { font-family: Arial; background-color:black; } .tabs div { display:inline-block; border-bottom: 1px solid black; padding:4px; background-color:gray; cursor:pointer; } .tabs div.tabState_true { background-color:white; border-bottom:1px solid white; } .tabBody { border-top:1px solid white; padding:10px; background-color:white; min-height:400px; width:400px; } </style> </head> <body> <div id="tabsView"></div> <script id="tabsContent" type="text/x-jquery-tmpl"> {{wrap "#tabsWrap"}} <h3>Tab 1</h3> <div> Content of tab 1. Lorem ipsum dolor <b>sit</b> amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Maecenas porttitor congue massa. Fusce posuere, magna sed pulvinar ultricies, purus lectus malesuada libero, sit amet commodo magna eros quis urna. </div> <h3>Tab 2</h3> <div> Content of tab 2. Lorem ipsum dolor <b>sit</b> amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Maecenas porttitor congue massa. Fusce posuere, magna sed pulvinar ultricies, purus lectus malesuada libero, sit amet commodo magna eros quis urna. </div> <h3>Tab 3</h3> <div> Content of tab 3. Lorem ipsum dolor <b>sit</b> amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Maecenas porttitor congue massa. Fusce posuere, magna sed pulvinar ultricies, purus lectus malesuada libero, sit amet commodo magna eros quis urna. </div> {{/wrap}} </script> <script id="tabsWrap" type="text/x-jquery-tmpl"> <div class="tabs"> {{each $item.html("h3", true)}} <div class="tabState_${$index === selectedTabIndex}"> ${$value} </div> {{/each}} </div> <div class="tabBody"> {{html $item.html("div")[selectedTabIndex]}} </div> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://ajax.aspnetcdn.com/ajax/jQuery/jquery-1.4.4.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://ajax.aspnetcdn.com/ajax/jquery.templates/beta1/jquery.tmpl.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> // Global for tracking selected tab var selectedTabIndex = 0; // Render the tab strip $("#tabsContent").tmpl().appendTo("#tabsView"); // When a tab is clicked, update the tab strip $("#tabsView") .delegate(".tabState_false", "click", function () { var templateItem = $.tmplItem(this); selectedTabIndex = $(this).index(); templateItem.update(); }); </script> </body> </html>   The “source” for the tab strip is contained in the following template: <script id="tabsContent" type="text/x-jquery-tmpl"> {{wrap "#tabsWrap"}} <h3>Tab 1</h3> <div> Content of tab 1. Lorem ipsum dolor <b>sit</b> amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Maecenas porttitor congue massa. Fusce posuere, magna sed pulvinar ultricies, purus lectus malesuada libero, sit amet commodo magna eros quis urna. </div> <h3>Tab 2</h3> <div> Content of tab 2. Lorem ipsum dolor <b>sit</b> amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Maecenas porttitor congue massa. Fusce posuere, magna sed pulvinar ultricies, purus lectus malesuada libero, sit amet commodo magna eros quis urna. </div> <h3>Tab 3</h3> <div> Content of tab 3. Lorem ipsum dolor <b>sit</b> amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Maecenas porttitor congue massa. Fusce posuere, magna sed pulvinar ultricies, purus lectus malesuada libero, sit amet commodo magna eros quis urna. </div> {{/wrap}} </script>   The tab strip is created with a list of H3 elements (which represent each tab) and DIV elements (which represent the body of each tab). Notice that the HTML content is wrapped in the {{wrap}} template tag. This template tag points at the following tabsWrap template: <script id="tabsWrap" type="text/x-jquery-tmpl"> <div class="tabs"> {{each $item.html("h3", true)}} <div class="tabState_${$index === selectedTabIndex}"> ${$value} </div> {{/each}} </div> <div class="tabBody"> {{html $item.html("div")[selectedTabIndex]}} </div> </script> The tabs DIV contains all of the tabs. The {{each}} template tag is used to loop through each of the H3 elements from the source template and render a DIV tag that represents a particular tab. The template item html() method is used to filter content from the “source” HTML template. The html() method accepts a jQuery selector for its first parameter. The tabs are retrieved from the source template by using an h3 filter. The second parameter passed to the html() method – the textOnly parameter -- causes the filter to return the inner text of each h3 element. You can learn more about the html() method at the jQuery website (see the section on $item.html()). The tabBody DIV renders the body of the selected tab. Notice that the {{html}} template tag is used to display the tab body so that HTML content in the body won’t be HTML encoded. The html() method is used, once again, to grab all of the DIV elements from the source HTML template. The selectedTabIndex global variable is used to display the contents of the selected tab. Remote Templates A common feature request for jQuery templates is support for remote templates. Developers want to be able to separate templates into different files. Adding support for remote templates requires only a few lines of extra code (Dave Ward has a nice blog entry on this). For example, the following page uses a remote template from a file named BookTemplate.htm: <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <title>Remote Templates</title> <link href="0_Site.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> </head> <body> <div id="pageContent"> <h1>ASP.NET Bookstore</h1> <div id="bookContainer"></div> </div> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://ajax.aspnetcdn.com/ajax/jQuery/jquery-1.4.4.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://ajax.aspnetcdn.com/ajax/jquery.templates/beta1/jquery.tmpl.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> // Create an array of books var books = [ { title: "ASP.NET 4 Unleashed", price: 37.79, picture: "AspNet4Unleashed.jpg" }, { title: "ASP.NET MVC Unleashed", price: 44.99, picture: "AspNetMvcUnleashed.jpg" }, { title: "ASP.NET Kick Start", price: 4.00, picture: "AspNetKickStart.jpg" }, { title: "ASP.NET MVC Unleashed iPhone", price: 44.99, picture: "AspNetMvcUnleashedIPhone.jpg" }, ]; // Get the remote template $.get("BookTemplate.htm", null, function (bookTemplate) { // Render the books using the remote template $.tmpl(bookTemplate, books).appendTo("#bookContainer"); }); function formatPrice(price) { return "$" + price.toFixed(2); } </script> </body> </html>   The remote template is retrieved (and rendered) with the following code: // Get the remote template $.get("BookTemplate.htm", null, function (bookTemplate) { // Render the books using the remote template $.tmpl(bookTemplate, books).appendTo("#bookContainer"); });   This code uses the standard jQuery $.get() method to get the BookTemplate.htm file from the server with an Ajax request. After the BookTemplate.htm file is successfully retrieved, the $.tmpl() method is used to render an array of books with the template. Here’s what the BookTemplate.htm file looks like: <div> <img src="BookPictures/${picture}" alt="" /> <h2>${title}</h2> price: ${formatPrice(price)} </div> Notice that the template in the BooksTemplate.htm file is not wrapped by a SCRIPT element. There is no need to wrap the template in this case because there is no possibility that the template will get interpreted before you want it to be interpreted. If you plan to use the bookTemplate multiple times – for example, you are paging or sorting the books -- then you should compile the template into a function and cache the compiled template function. For example, the following page can be used to page through a list of 100 products (using iPhone style More paging). <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <title>Template Caching</title> <link href="6_Site.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> </head> <body> <h1>Products</h1> <div id="productContainer"></div> <button id="more">More</button> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://ajax.aspnetcdn.com/ajax/jQuery/jquery-1.4.4.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://ajax.aspnetcdn.com/ajax/jquery.templates/beta1/jquery.tmpl.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> // Globals var pageIndex = 0; // Create an array of products var products = []; for (var i = 0; i < 100; i++) { products.push({ name: "Product " + (i + 1) }); } // Get the remote template $.get("ProductTemplate.htm", null, function (productTemplate) { // Compile and cache the template $.template("productTemplate", productTemplate); // Render the products renderProducts(0); }); $("#more").click(function () { pageIndex++; renderProducts(); }); function renderProducts() { // Get page of products var pageOfProducts = products.slice(pageIndex * 5, pageIndex * 5 + 5); // Used cached productTemplate to render products $.tmpl("productTemplate", pageOfProducts).appendTo("#productContainer"); } function formatPrice(price) { return "$" + price.toFixed(2); } </script> </body> </html>   The ProductTemplate is retrieved from an external file named ProductTemplate.htm. This template is retrieved only once. Furthermore, it is compiled and cached with the help of the $.template() method: // Get the remote template $.get("ProductTemplate.htm", null, function (productTemplate) { // Compile and cache the template $.template("productTemplate", productTemplate); // Render the products renderProducts(0); });   The $.template() method compiles the HTML representation of the template into a JavaScript function and caches the template function with the name productTemplate. The cached template can be used by calling the $.tmp() method. The productTemplate is used in the renderProducts() method: function renderProducts() { // Get page of products var pageOfProducts = products.slice(pageIndex * 5, pageIndex * 5 + 5); // Used cached productTemplate to render products $.tmpl("productTemplate", pageOfProducts).appendTo("#productContainer"); } In the code above, the first parameter passed to the $.tmpl() method is the name of a cached template. Working with Template Items In this final section, I want to devote some space to discussing Template Items. A new Template Item is created for each rendered instance of a template. For example, if you are displaying a list of 100 products with a template, then 100 Template Items are created. A Template Item has the following properties and methods: data – The data associated with the Template Instance. For example, a product. tmpl – The template associated with the Template Instance. parent – The parent template item if the template is nested. nodes – The HTML content of the template. calls – Used by {{wrap}} template tag. nest – Used by {{tmpl}} template tag. wrap – Used to imperatively enable wrapped templates. html – Used to filter content from a wrapped template. See the above section on wrapped templates. update – Used to re-render a template item. The last method – the update() method -- is especially interesting because it enables you to re-render a template item with new data or even a new template. For example, the following page displays a list of books. When you hover your mouse over any of the books, additional book details are displayed. In the following screenshot, details for ASP.NET Kick Start are displayed. <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <title>Template Item</title> <link href="0_Site.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> </head> <body> <div id="pageContent"> <h1>ASP.NET Bookstore</h1> <div id="bookContainer"></div> </div> <script id="bookTemplate" type="text/x-jQuery-tmpl"> <div class="bookItem"> <img src="BookPictures/${picture}" alt="" /> <h2>${title}</h2> price: ${formatPrice(price)} </div> </script> <script id="bookDetailsTemplate" type="text/x-jQuery-tmpl"> <div class="bookItem"> <img src="BookPictures/${picture}" alt="" /> <h2>${title}</h2> price: ${formatPrice(price)} <p> ${description} </p> </div> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://ajax.aspnetcdn.com/ajax/jQuery/jquery-1.4.4.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://ajax.aspnetcdn.com/ajax/jquery.templates/beta1/jquery.tmpl.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> // Create an array of books var books = [ { title: "ASP.NET 4 Unleashed", price: 37.79, picture: "AspNet4Unleashed.jpg", description: "The most comprehensive book on Microsoft’s new ASP.NET 4.. " }, { title: "ASP.NET MVC Unleashed", price: 44.99, picture: "AspNetMvcUnleashed.jpg", description: "Writing for professional programmers, Walther explains the crucial concepts that make the Model-View-Controller (MVC) development paradigm work…" }, { title: "ASP.NET Kick Start", price: 4.00, picture: "AspNetKickStart.jpg", description: "Visual Studio .NET is the premier development environment for creating .NET applications…." }, { title: "ASP.NET MVC Unleashed iPhone", price: 44.99, picture: "AspNetMvcUnleashedIPhone.jpg", description: "ASP.NET MVC Unleashed for the iPhone…" }, ]; // Render the books using the template $("#bookTemplate").tmpl(books).appendTo("#bookContainer"); // Get compiled details template var bookDetailsTemplate = $("#bookDetailsTemplate").template(); // Add hover handler $(".bookItem").mouseenter(function () { // Get template item associated with DIV var templateItem = $(this).tmplItem(); // Change template to compiled template templateItem.tmpl = bookDetailsTemplate; // Re-render template templateItem.update(); }); function formatPrice(price) { return "$" + price.toFixed(2); } </script> </body> </html>   There are two templates used to display a book: bookTemplate and bookDetailsTemplate. When you hover your mouse over a template item, the standard bookTemplate is swapped out for the bookDetailsTemplate. The bookDetailsTemplate displays a book description. The books are rendered with the bookTemplate with the following line of code: // Render the books using the template $("#bookTemplate").tmpl(books).appendTo("#bookContainer");   The following code is used to swap the bookTemplate and the bookDetailsTemplate to show details for a book: // Get compiled details template var bookDetailsTemplate = $("#bookDetailsTemplate").template(); // Add hover handler $(".bookItem").mouseenter(function () { // Get template item associated with DIV var templateItem = $(this).tmplItem(); // Change template to compiled template templateItem.tmpl = bookDetailsTemplate; // Re-render template templateItem.update(); });   When you hover your mouse over a DIV element rendered by the bookTemplate, the mouseenter handler executes. First, this handler retrieves the Template Item associated with the DIV element by calling the tmplItem() method. The tmplItem() method returns a Template Item. Next, a new template is assigned to the Template Item. Notice that a compiled version of the bookDetailsTemplate is assigned to the Template Item’s tmpl property. The template is compiled earlier in the code by calling the template() method. Finally, the Template Item update() method is called to re-render the Template Item with the bookDetailsTemplate instead of the original bookTemplate. Summary This is a long blog entry and I still have not managed to cover all of the features of jQuery Templates J However, I’ve tried to cover the most important features of jQuery Templates such as template composition, template wrapping, and template items. To learn more about jQuery Templates, I recommend that you look at the documentation for jQuery Templates at the official jQuery website. Another great way to learn more about jQuery Templates is to look at the (unminified) source code.

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  • SQL SERVER – What is Spatial Database? – Developing with SQL Server Spatial and Deep Dive into Spati

    - by pinaldave
    What is Spatial Database? A spatial database is a database that is optimized to store and query data related to objects in space, including points, lines and polygons. While typical databases can understand various numeric and character types of data, additional functionality needs to be added for databases to process spatial data types. (Source: Wikipedia) Today I will be talking about the same subject at Microsoft TechEd India. If you want to learn about how to spatial aspect of data and how to integrate them with SQL Server this is the perfect session for you. Spatial is very special concept of SQL Server and I really like how it is implemented in SQL Server. In general Performance Tuning and Query Optimization is something I always have enjoyed in my professional life. Index are my best friends and many time, by implementing and many time by removing I have improved the performance of the system. In this session, I will be talking about Index along with Spatial Data. As Spatial Database is very interesting concept, I will cover super short but very interesting 10 quick slides about this subject. I will make sure in very first 20 mins, you will understand following topics Introduction to Spatial Database One line definition Understanding Spatial Indexing Index Internals Query/Performance Tuning Query Hinting/Cost Analysis Spatial Index Catalog Views Performance Troubleshooting Finding Optimal Index using Spatial Index SP Common Errors Index Maintenance This slides decks will be followed by around 30 mins demo which will have story of geometry, geography, index internals and performance tuning. If you are interested in learning how GIS works and how SQL Server out of the box supports this wonderful tools, you will really like how the story is told. I am sure all people who attend the event will know how the Bangalore is positioned on the map of India. I will take example of Bangalore and Hyderabad and demonstrate how index can improve the performance. Well there are lots of story to tell in the session, and I will be opening this session with the beautiful script of Botticelli’s Birth of Venus created by Michael J. Swart. I will also demonstrate few real life scenario where I will be talking about Spatial Database and its usage. Do not miss this session. At the end of session there will be book awarded to best participant. My session details: Session 3: Developing with SQL Server Spatial and Deep Dive into Spatial Indexing Date: April 14, 2010 Time: 5:00pm-6:00pm Microsoft SQL Server 2008 delivers new spatial data types that enable you to consume, use, and extend location-based data through spatial-enabled applications. Attend this session to learn how to use spatial functionality in next version of SQL Server to build and optimize spatial queries. This session outlines the new geography data type to store geodetic spatial data and perform operations on it, use the new geometry data type to store planar spatial data and perform operations on it, take advantage of new spatial indexes for high performance queries, use the new spatial results tab to quickly and easily view spatial query results directly from within Management Studio, extend spatial data capabilities by building or integrating location-enabled applications through support for spatial standards and specifications and much more. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Index, SQL Optimization, SQL Performance, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLAuthority Author Visit, T SQL, Technology Tagged: Spatial Database

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  • Month in Geek: December 2010 Edition

    - by Asian Angel
    As 2010 draws to a close, we have gathered together another great batch of article goodness for your reading enjoyment. Here are our ten hottest articles for December. Note: Articles are listed as #10 through #1. The 50 Best How-To Geek Windows Articles of 2010 Even though we cover plenty of other topics, Windows has always been a primary focus around here, and we’ve got one of the largest collections of Windows-related how-to articles anywhere. Here’s the fifty best Windows articles that we wrote in 2010. Read the article Desktop Fun: Happy New Year Wallpaper Collection [Bonus Edition] As this year draws to a close, it is a time to reflect back on what we have done this year and to look forward to the new one. To help commemorate the event we have put together a bonus size edition of Happy New Year wallpapers for your desktops. Read the article LCD? LED? Plasma? The How-To Geek Guide to HDTV Technology With image technology progressing faster than ever, High-Def has become the standard, giving TV buyers more options at cheaper prices. But what’s different in all these confusing TVs, and what should you know before buying one? Read the article HTG Explains: Which Linux File System Should You Choose? File systems are one of the layers beneath your operating system that you don’t think about—unless you’re faced with the plethora of options in Linux. Here’s how to make an educated decision on which file system to use. Read the article Desktop Fun: Merry Christmas Fonts Christmas will soon be here and there are lots of cards, invitations, gift tags, photos, and more to prepare beforehand. To help you get ready we have gathered together a great collection of fun holiday fonts to help turn those ordinary looking holiday items into extraordinary looking ones. Read the article Microsoft Security Essentials 2.0 Kills Viruses Dead. Download It Now. Microsoft’s Security Essentials has been our favorite anti-malware application for a while—it’s free, unobtrusive, and it doesn’t slow your PC down, but now it’s even better with the new 2.0 release, which adds network filtering, heuristic protection, and more. Read the article 20 OS X Keyboard Shortcuts You Might Not Know Mastering the keyboard will not only increase your navigation speed but it can also help with wrist fatigue. Here are some lesser known OS X shortcuts to help you become a keyboard ninja. Read the article 20 Windows Keyboard Shortcuts You Might Not Know Mastering the keyboard will not only increase your navigation speed but it can also help with wrist fatigue. Here are some lesser known Windows shortcuts to help you become a keyboard ninja. Read the article The 50 Best Registry Hacks that Make Windows Better We’re big fans of hacking the Windows Registry around here, and we’ve got one of the biggest collections of registry hacks you’ll find. Don’t believe us? Here’s a list of the top 50 registry hacks that we’ve covered. Read the article The Complete List of iPad Tips, Tricks, and Tutorials The Apple iPad is an amazing tablet, and to help you get the most out of it, we’ve put together a comprehensive list of every tip, trick, and tutorial for you. Read on for more. Read the article Latest Features How-To Geek ETC The 20 Best How-To Geek Linux Articles of 2010 The 50 Best How-To Geek Windows Articles of 2010 The 20 Best How-To Geek Explainer Topics for 2010 How to Disable Caps Lock Key in Windows 7 or Vista How to Use the Avira Rescue CD to Clean Your Infected PC The Complete List of iPad Tips, Tricks, and Tutorials Tune Pop Enhances Android Music Notifications Another Busy Night in Gotham City Wallpaper Classic Super Mario Brothers Theme for Chrome and Iron Experimental Firefox Builds Put Tabs on the Title Bar (Available for Download) Android Trojan Found in the Wild Chaos, Panic, and Disorder Wallpaper

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  • SQLAuthority News – Professional Development and Community

    - by pinaldave
    I was recently invited by Hyderabad Techies to deliver a keynote for their 16-day online session called TECH THUNDERS. This event has been running from May 15 and will continue up to the end of the month May 30). There would be a total of 30 sessions. In every evening of those 16 day, there will be either one or two sessions from several noted industry experts. It is the same group which has received the Microsoft Community Impact Award as the Best User Group in India as for developers. I have never talked about Professional Development before. Even if this was my first time to do so, I still accepted the wonderful challenge for the sake of the thousands of audience who were expected to attend this online event. Time is of the essence; I had 15 minutes to deliver the keynote and open the event. The reason why I was nervous was because I had to cover precisely only 15 minutes- no more, no less. If I had an hour, I would have been very confident because I knew I could do a good job for sure. However, I still needed to open the event as great as it can be even if the time was short. I finally created a 6-slide small presentation. In reality, there were only two pages which had the main contents of my keynote, and the remaining slides were just wrappers and decors. You can download the complete slide deck from here. The image used in the slide deck is a curtsy of blog reader Roger Smith who sent it to me. The slide in which I spent a good amount of time is the slide which talks about Professional Development. The content of the slide is as follows: Today, Technology and You Keep your eyes, ears and senses open – Stay Active! You are not the first one who faced the problem – Search Online! Learn the web – Blogs, Forums and Friends! Trust the Technology, Not Print – Test Everything! Community and You! I had a very little time creating the slide deck as I was busy the whole day doing the Advanced SQL Server Training. I had put together these slides during the tea/coffee break of my session. Though it was just a six-bullet point, I had received quite a few emails right after keynote requesting me to talk more about this subject and share the details of my slide deck. I have talked with the event organizer and he will put the keynote online very soon. The subject of the talk is very simple; it revolves around the community. Time has changed, and Internet has come a long way from where it was many years ago. Now that we are all connected, help via the Internet and useful software is easily available around us. In fact, RSS, Newletters and few other technologies have progressed so much that the help through news is now being delivered to our door steps, instead of going out and seeking them. Sometimes, a simple search online solves a lot of problems of many developers. The community is now the first stop for any developer when he or she needs help or just wants to hang around and share some thoughts. I strongly suggest everybody to be a part of the Tech Community. Be it online, offline community or just a local user group, I strongly advise all of you to get involved. I am active in the Community, and I must say I recommend getting drawn into it. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: MVP, Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQL User Group, SQLAuthority News, T SQL, Technology Tagged: Community

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  • SQLAuthority News – Author Visit – SQL Server 2008 R2 Launch

    - by pinaldave
    June 11, 2010 was a wonderful day because I attended the very first SQL Server 2008 R2 Launch event held by Microsoft at Mumbai. I traveled to Mumbai from my home town, Ahmedabad. The event was located at one of the best hotels in Mumbai,”The Leela”. SQL Server R2 Launch was an evening event that had a few interesting talks. SQL PASS is associated with this event as one of the partners and its goal is to increase the awareness of the Community about SQL Server. I met many interesting people and had a great networking opportunity at the event. This event was kicked off with an awesome laser show and a “Welcome” video, which was followed by a Microsoft Executive session wherein there were several interesting demo. The very first demo was about Powerpivot. I knew beforehand that there will be Powerpivot demos because it is a very popular subject; however, I was really hoping to see other interesting demos from SQL Server 2008 R2. And believe me; I was happier to see the later demos. There were demos from SQL Server Utility Control Point, as well an integration of Bing Map with Reporting Servers. I really enjoyed the interactive and informative session by Shivaram Venkatesh. He had excellent presentation skills as well as ample technical knowledge to keep the audience attentive. I really liked his presentations skills wherein he did not read the whole slide deck; rather, he picked one point and using that point he told the story of the whole slide deck. I also enjoyed my conversation with Afaq Choonawala, who is one of the “gem guys” in Microsoft. I also want to acknowledge Ashwin Kini and Mohit Panchal for their excellent support to this event. Mumbai IT Pro is a user group which you can really count on for any kind of help. After excellent demos and a vibrant start of the event, all the audience was jazzed up. There were two vendors’ sessions right after the first session. Intel had 15 minutes to present; however, Intel’s representative, who had good knowledge of the subject, had nearly 30+ slides in his presentation, so he had to rush a bit to cover the whole slide deck. Intel presentations were followed up by another vendor presentation from NetApp. I have previously heard about this tool. After I saw the demo which did not work the first time the Net App presenter demonstrated it, I started to have a doubt on this product. I personally went to clarify my doubt to the demo booth after the presentation was over, but I realize the NetApp presenter or booth owner had absolutely a POOR KNOWLEDGE of SQL Server and even of their own NetApp product. The NetApp people tried to misguide us and when we argued, they started to say different things against what they said earlier. At one point in their presentation, they claimed their application does something very fast, which did not really happen in front of all the audience. They blamed SQL Server R2 DBCC CHECKDB command for their product’s failed demonstration. I know that NetApp has many great products; however, this one was not conveyed clearly and even created a negative impression to all of us. Well, let us not judge the potential, fun, education and enigma of the launch event through a small glitch. This event was jam-packed and extremely well-received by everybody who attended it. As what I said, average demos and good presentations by MS folks were really something to cheer about. Any launch event is considered as successful if it achieves its goal to excite users with its cutting edge technology; just like this event that left a very deep impression on me. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLAuthority Author Visit, SQLAuthority News, T SQL, Technology Tagged: PASS, SQLPASS

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  • Windows Presentation Foundation 4.5 Cookbook Review

    - by Ricardo Peres
    As promised, here’s my review of Windows Presentation Foundation 4.5 Cookbook, that Packt Publishing kindly made available to me. It is an introductory book, targeted at WPF newcomers or users with few experience, following the typical recipes or cookbook style. Like all Packt Publishing books on development, each recipe comes with sample code that is self-sufficient for understanding the concepts it tries to illustrate. It starts on chapter 1 by introducing the most important concepts, the XAML language itself, what can be declared in XAML and how to do it, what are dependency and attached properties as well as markup extensions and events, which should give readers a most required introduction to how WPF works and how to do basic stuff. It moves on to resources on chapter 2, which also makes since, since it’s such an important concept in WPF. Next, chapter 3, come the panels used for laying controls on the screen, all of the out of the box panels are described with typical use cases. Controls come next in chapter 4; the difference between elements and controls is introduced, as well as content controls, headered controls and items controls, and all standard controls are introduced. The book shows how to change the way they look by using templates. The next chapter, 5, talks about top level windows and the WPF application object: how to access startup arguments, how to set the main window, using standard dialogs and there’s even a sample on how to have a irregularly-shaped window. This is one of the most important concepts in WPF: data binding, which is the theme for the following chapter, 6. All common scenarios are introduced, the binding modes, directions, triggers, etc. It talks about the INotifyPropertyChanged interface and how to use it for notifying data binding subscribers of changes in data sources. Data templates and selectors are also covered, as are value converters and data triggers. Examples include master-detail and sorting, grouping and filtering collections and binding trees and grids. Last it covers validation rules and error templates. Chapter 7 talks about the current trend in WPF development, the Model View View-Model (MVVM) framework. This is a well known pattern for connecting things interface to actions, and it is explained competently. A typical implementation is presented which also presents the command pattern used throughout WPF. A complete application using MVVM is presented from start to finish, including typical features such as undo. Style and layout is covered on chapter 8. Why/how to use styles, applying them automatically,  using the many types of triggers to change styles automatically, using Expression Blend behaviors and templates are all covered. Next chapter, 9, is about graphics and animations programming. It explains how to create shapes, transform common UI elements, apply special effects and perform simple animations. The following chapter, 10, is about creating custom controls, either by deriving from UserControl or from an existing control or framework element class, applying custom templates for changing the way the control looks. One useful example is a custom layout panel that arranges its children along a circumference. The final chapter, 11, is about multi-threading programming and how one can integrate it with WPF. Includes how to invoke methods and properties on WPF classes from threads other than the main UI, using background tasks and timers and even using the new C# 5.0 asynchronous operations. It’s an interesting book, like I said, mostly for newcomers. It provides a competent introduction to WPF, with examples that cover the most common scenarios and also give directions to more complex ones. I recommend it to everyone wishing to learn WPF.

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  • Exploring packages in code

    In my previous post Searching for tasks with code you can see how to explore the control flow side of packages, drilling down through containers, task, and event handlers, but it didn’t cover the data flow. I recently saw a post on the MSDN forum asking how to edit an existing package programmatically, and the sticking point was how to find the the data flow and the components inside. This post builds on some of the previous code and shows how you can explore all objects inside a package. I took the sample Task Search application I’d written previously, and came up with a totally pointless little console application that just walks through the package and writes out the basic type and name of every object it finds, starting with the package itself e.g. Package – MyPackage . The sample package we used last time showed nested objects as well an event handler; a OnPreExecute event tucked away on the task SQL In FEL. The output of this sample tool would look like this: PackageObjects v1.0.0.0 (1.0.0.26627) Copyright (C) 2009 Konesans Ltd Processing File - Z:\Users\Darren Green\Documents\Visual Studio 2005\Projects\SSISTestProject\EventsAndContainersWithExe cSQLForSearch.dtsx Package - EventsAndContainersWithExecSQLForSearch For Loop - FOR Counter Loop Task - SQL In Counter Loop Sequence Container - SEQ For Each Loop Wrapper For Each Loop - FEL Simple Loop Task - SQL In FEL Task - SQL On Pre Execute for FEL SQL Task Sequence Container - SEQ Top Level Sequence Container - SEQ Nested Lvl 1 Sequence Container - SEQ Nested Lvl 2 Task - SQL In Nested Lvl 2 Task - SQL In Nested Lvl 1 #1 Task - SQL In Nested Lvl 1 #2 Connection Manager – LocalHost The code is very similar to what we had previously, but there are a couple of extra bits to deal with connections and to look more closely at a task and see if it is a Data Flow task. For connections your just examine the package's Connections collection as shown in the abridged snippets below. First you can see the call to the ProcessConnections method, followed by the method itself. // Load the package file Application application = new Application(); using (Package package = application.LoadPackage(filename, null)) { // Write out the package name Console.WriteLine("Package - {0}", package.Name); ... More ... // Look and the connections ProcessConnections(package.Connections); } private static void ProcessConnections(Connections connections) { foreach (ConnectionManager connectionManager in connections) { Console.WriteLine("Connection Manager - {0}", connectionManager.Name); } } What we didn’t see in the sample output above was anything to do with the Data Flow, but rest assured the code now handles it too. The following snippet shows how each task is examined to see if it is a Data Flow task, and if so we can then loop through all of the components inside the data flow. private static void ProcessTaskHost(TaskHost taskHost) { if (taskHost == null) { return; } Console.WriteLine("Task - {0}", taskHost.Name); // Check if the task is a Data Flow task MainPipe pipeline = taskHost.InnerObject as MainPipe; if (pipeline != null) { ProcessPipeline(pipeline); } } private static void ProcessPipeline(MainPipe pipeline) { foreach (IDTSComponentMetaData90 componentMetadata in pipeline.ComponentMetaDataCollection) { Console.WriteLine("Pipeline Component - {0}", componentMetadata.Name); // If you wish to make changes to the component then you should really use the managed wrapper. // CManagedComponentWrapper wrapper = componentMetadata.Instantiate(); // wrapper.SetComponentProperty("PropertyName", "Value"); } } Hopefully you can see how we get a reference to the Data Flow task, and then use the ComponentMetaDataCollection to find out what components we have inside the pipeline. If you wanted to know more about the component you could look at the ObjectType or ComponentClassID properties. After that it gets a bit harder and you should get a reference to the wrapper object as the comment suggest and start using the properties, just like you would in the create packages samples, see our Code Development category for some for these examples. Download Sample code project PackageObjects.zip (5KB)

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  • EVENT RECAP: Oracle Day & Product Fair - Ft. Lauderdale

    - by cwarticki
    Are you attending any of the Oracle Days and other Events? They are fantastic!  Keep track of the Oracle Events by following @OracleEvents on Twitter.  Also, stay in the know by subscribing to one of the several Oracle Newsletters. Those will also keep you posted of upcoming in-person and webcast events. From the Oracle Events website, simply navigate to your geography and refine your options to locate what interests you. You can also perform keyword searches. Today, I had the opportunity to participate in the Oracle Day & Product Fair in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida  Thanks to those who stopped by to ask your support questions and watched me demo My Oracle Support features and best practices. (Bob Stanoch, Sales Consulting Manager giving the 2nd keynote address on Exadata below) Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} It was a pleasant surprise to run into my former Oracle colleague Josh Tieso.  Josh (pictured right) is Sr. Oracle DBA at United Healthcare. He used to work for Oracle Support years ago but for the last 6 years at UHC. Josh is a member of the ERP DBA team, working with Exalogic, Oracle ERP R12, & RAC. Along the exhibit/vendor row, I met with Marco Gangano, National Sales Manager at Mythics. It was great getting to meet Marco and I look forward to working with his company with regards to Support Best Practices. In addition, Lissette Paez (left) was representing TAM Training.  TAM Training is an Oracle University, award-winning training partner.  They cover training across the scope of Oracle products with 7 facilities in the U.S.  Lissette and I have done a couple of these Oracle Days before.  It's great to see familiar faces.  A little while ago, I was down in this area to work with Citrix with an onsite session on Support Best Practices.  Pablo Leon and Alberto Gonzalez (right)came to chat with me over at the Support booth.  They wanted to know when I was giving my session.  Unfortunately, not this time guys. I'm on booth duty only. Keep in touch. Many thanks to our sponsors: BIAS, Cloudera, Intel and TekStream Solutions.Come attend one of the many Oracle Days & other events planned for you. -Chris WartickiGlobal Customer Management

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  • IntelliTrace As a Learning Tool for MVC2 in a VS2010 Project

    - by Sam Abraham
    IntelliTrace is a new feature in Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate Edition. I see this valuable tool as a “Program Execution Recorder” that captures information about events and calls taking place as soon as we hit the VS2010 play (Start Debugging) button or the F5 key. Many online resources already discuss IntelliTrace and the benefit it brings to both developers and testers alike so I see no value of just repeating this information.  In this brief blog entry, I would like to share with you how I will be using IntelliTrace in my upcoming talk at the Ft Lauderdale ArcSig .Net User Group Meeting on April 20th 2010 (check http://www.fladotnet.com for more information), as a learning tool to demonstrate the internals of the lifecycle of an MVC2 application.  I will also be providing some helpful links that cover IntelliTrace in more detail at the end of my article for reference. IntelliTrace is setup by default to only capture execution events. Microsoft did such a great job on optimizing its recording process that I haven’t even felt the slightest performance hit with IntelliTrace running as I was debugging my solutions and projects.  For my purposes here however, I needed to capture more information beyond execution events, so I turned on the option for capturing calls in addition to events as shown in Figures 1 and 2. Changing capture options will require us to stop our debugging session and start over for the new settings to take place. Figure 1 – Access IntelliTrace options via the Tools->Options menu items Figure 2 – Change IntelliTrace Options to capture call information as well as events Notice the warning with regards to potentially degrading performance when selecting to capture call information in addition to the default events-only setting. I have found this warning to be sure true. My subsequent tests showed slowness in page load times compared to rendering those same exact pages with the “event-only” option selected. Execution recording is auto-started along with the new debugging session of our project. At this point, we can simply interact with the application and continue executing normally until we decide to “playback” the code we have executed so far.  For code replay, first step is to “break” the current execution as show in Figure 3.   Figure 3 – Break to replay recording A few tries later, I found a good process to quickly find and demonstrate the MVC2 page lifecycle. First-off, we start with the event view as shown in Figure 4 until we find an interesting event that needs further studying.  Figure 4 – Going through IntelliTrace’s events and picking as specific entry of interest We now can, for instance, study how the highlighted HTTP GET request is being handled, by clicking on the “Calls View” for that particular event. Notice that IntelliTrace shows us all calls that took place in servicing that GET request. Double clicking on any call takes us to a more granular view of the call stack within that clicked call, up until getting to a specific line of code where we can do a line-by-line replay of the execution from that point onwards using F10 or F11 just like our typical good old VS2008 debugging helped us accomplish. Figure 5 – switching to call view on an event of interest Figure 6 – Double clicking on call shows a more granular view of the call stack. In conclusion, the introduction of IntelliTrace as a new addition to the VS developers’ tool arsenal enhances development and debugging experience and effectively tackles the “no-repro” problem. It will also hopefully enhance my audience’s experience listening to me speaking about  an MVC2 page lifecycle which I can now easily visually demonstrate, thereby improving the probability of keeping everybody awake a little longer. IntelliTrace References: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/ee336126.aspx http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd264944(VS.100).aspx

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  • SQLAuthority News – Windows Efficiency Tricks and Tips – Personal Technology Tip

    - by pinaldave
    This is the second post in my series about my favorite Technology Tips, and I wanted to focus on my favorite Microsoft product.  Choosing just one topic to cover was too hard, though.  There are so many interesting things I have to share that I am forced to turn this second installment into a five-part post.  My five favorite Windows tips and tricks. 1) You can open multiple applications using the task bar. With the new Windows 7 taskbar, you can start navigating with just one click.  For example, you can launch Word by clicking on the icon on your taskbar, and if you are using multiple different programs at the same time, you can simply click on the icon to return to Word.  However, what if you need to open another Word document, or begin a new one?  Clicking on the Word icon is just going to bring you back to your original program.  Just click on the Word icon again while holding down the shift key, and you’ll open up a new document. 2) Navigate the screen with the touch of a button – and not your mouse button. Yes, we live in a pampered age.  We have access to amazing technology, and it just gets better every year.  But have you ever found yourself wishing that right when you were in the middle of something, you didn’t have to interrupt your work flow be reaching for your mouse to navigate through the screen?  Yes, we have all been guilty of this pampered wish.  But Windows has delivered!  Now you can move your application window using your arrow keys. Lock the window to the left, right hand screen: Win+left Arrow and Win+right Arrow Maximize & minimize: Win+up arrow and Win+down arrow Minimize all items on screen: Win+M Return to your original folder, or browse through all open windows: Alt+up arrow, Alt+Left Arrow, or Alt+right arrow Close down or reopen all windows: win+home 3) Are you one of the few people who still uses Command Prompt? You know who you are, and you aren’t ashamed to still use this option that so many people have forgotten about it.  You can easily access it by holding down the shift key while RIGHT clicking on any folder. 4) Quickly select multiple files without using your mouse. We all know how to select multiple files or folders by Ctrl-clicking or Shift-clicking multiple items.  But all of us have tried this, and then accidentally released Ctrl, only to lose all our precious work.  Now there is a way to select only the files you want through a check box system.  First, go to Windows Explorer, click Organize, and then “Folder and Search Options.”  Go to the View tab, and under advanced settings, you can find a box that says “Use check boxes to select items.”  Once this has been selected, you will be able to hover your mouse over any file and a check box will appear.  This makes selecting multiple, random files quick and easy. 5) Make more out of remote access. If you work anywhere in the tech field, you are probably the go-to for computer help with friends and family, and you know the usefulness of remote access (ok, some of us use this extensively at work, as well, but we all have friends and family who rely on our skills!).  Often it is necessary to restart a computer, which is impossible in remote access as the computer will not show the shutdown menu.  To force the computer to do your wishes, we return to Command Prompt.  Open Command Prompt and type “shutdown /s” for shutdown, or “shutdown /r” for restart. I hope you will find above five tricks which I use in my daily use very important. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLAuthority News, T SQL, Technology Tagged: Personal Technology

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  • Ask the Readers: Backing Your Files Up – Local Storage versus the Cloud

    - by Asian Angel
    Backing up important files is something that all of us should do on a regular basis, but may not have given as much thought to as we should. This week we would like to know if you use local storage, cloud storage, or a combination of both to back your files up. Photo by camknows. For some people local storage media may be the most convenient and/or affordable way to back up their files. Having those files stored on media under your control can also provide a sense of security and peace of mind. But storing your files locally may also have drawbacks if something happens to your storage media. So how do you know whether the benefits outweigh the disadvantages or not? Here are some possible pros and cons that may affect your decision to use local storage to back up your files: Local Storage Pros You are in control of your data Your files are portable and can go with you when needed if using external or flash drives Files are accessible without an internet connection You can easily add more storage capacity as needed (additional drives, etc.) Cons You need to arrange room for your storage media (if you have multiple externals drives, etc.) Possible hardware failure No access to your files if you forget to bring your storage media with you or it is too bulky to bring along Theft and/or loss of home with all contents due to circumstances like fire If you are someone who is always on the go and needs to travel as lightly as possible, cloud storage may be the perfect way for you to back up and access your files. Perhaps your laptop has a hard-drive failure or gets stolen…unhappy events to be sure, but you will still have a copy of your files available. Perhaps a company wants to make sure their records, files, and other information are backed up off site in case of a major hardware or system failure…expensive and/or frustrating to fix if it happens, but once again there is a nice backup ready to go once things are fixed. As with local storage, here are some possible pros and cons that may influence your choice of cloud storage to back up your files: Cloud Storage Pros No need to carry around flash or bulky external drives All of your files are accessible wherever there is an internet connection No need to deal with local storage media (or its’ upkeep) Your files are still safe if your home is broken into or other unfortunate circumstances occur Cons Your files and data are not 100% under your control Possible hardware failure or loss of files on the part of your cloud storage provider (this could include a disgruntled employee wreaking havoc) No access to your files if you do not have an internet connection The cloud storage provider may eventually shutdown due to financial hardship or other unforeseen circumstances The possibility of your files and data being stolen by hackers due to a security breach on the part of your cloud storage provider You may also prefer to try and cover all of the possibilities by using both local and cloud storage to back up your files. If something happens to one, you always have the other to fall back on. Need access to those files at or away from home? As long as you have access to either your storage media or an internet connection, you are good to go. Maybe you are getting ready to choose a backup solution but are not sure which one would work better for you. Here is your chance to ask your fellow HTG readers which one they would recommend. Got a great backup solution already in place? Then be sure to share it with your fellow readers! How-To Geek Polls require Javascript. Please Click Here to View the Poll. Latest Features How-To Geek ETC The 20 Best How-To Geek Explainer Topics for 2010 How to Disable Caps Lock Key in Windows 7 or Vista How to Use the Avira Rescue CD to Clean Your Infected PC The Complete List of iPad Tips, Tricks, and Tutorials Is Your Desktop Printer More Expensive Than Printing Services? 20 OS X Keyboard Shortcuts You Might Not Know Winter Sunset by a Mountain Stream Wallpaper Add Sleek Style to Your Desktop with the Aston Martin Theme for Windows 7 Awesome WebGL Demo – Flight of the Navigator from Mozilla Sunrise on the Alien Desert Planet Wallpaper Add Falling Snow to Webpages with the Snowfall Extension for Opera [Browser Fun] Automatically Keep Up With the Latest Releases from Mozilla Labs in Firefox 4.0

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  • The dislikes of TDD

    - by andrewstopford
    I enjoy debates about TDD and Brian Harrys blog post is no exception. Brian sounds out what he likes and dislikes about TDD and it's the dislikes I'll focus on. The idea of having unit tests that cover virtually every line of code that I’ve written that I have to refactor every time I refactor my code makes me shudder.  Doing this way makes me take nearly twice as long as it would otherwise take and I don’t feel like I get sufficient benefits from it. Refactoring your tests to match your refactored code sounds like the tests are suffering. Too many hard dependencies with no SOLID concerns are a sure fire reason you would do this. Maybe at the start of a TDD cycle you would need to do this as your design evolves and you remove these dependencies but this should quickly be resolved as you refactor. If you find your self still doing it then stop and look back at your design. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of unit tests.  I just prefer to write them after the code has stopped shaking a bit.  In fact most of my early testing is “manual”.  Either I write a small UI on top of my service that allows me to plug in values and try it or write some quick API tests that I throw away as soon as I have validated them. The problem with this is that a UI can make assumptions on your code that then just unit test around and very quickly the design becomes bad and you technical debt sweeps in. If you want to blackbox test your code with a UI then do so after your TDD cycles not before. This is probably by biggest issue with a literal TDD interpretation.  TDD says you never write a line of code without a failing test to show you need it.  I find it leads developers down a dangerous path.  Without any help from a methodology, I have met way too many developers in my life that “back into a solution”.  By this, I mean they write something, it mostly works and they discover a new requirement so they tack it on, and another and another and when they are done, they’ve got a monstrosity of special cases each designed to handle one specific scenario.  There’s way more code than there should be and it’s way too complicated to understand. I believe in finding general solutions to problems from which all the special cases naturally derive rather than building a solution of special cases.  In my mind, to do this, you have to start by conceptualizing and coding the framework of the general algorithm.  For me, that’s a relatively monolithic exercise. TDD is an development pratice not a methodology, the danger is that the solution becomes a mass of different things that violate DRY. TDD won't solve these problems, only good communication and practices like pairing will help. Above all else an assumption that TDD replaces a methodology is a mistake, combine it with what ever works for your team\business but only good communication will help. A good naming scheme\structure for folders, files and tests can help you and your team isolate what tests are for what.

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  • How to use caching to increase render performance?

    - by Christian Ivicevic
    First of all I am going to cover the basic design of my 2d tile-based engine written with SDL in C++, then I will point out what I am up to and where I need some hints. Concept of my engine My engine uses the concept of GameScreens which are stored on a stack in the main game class. The main methods of a screen are usually LoadContent, Render, Update and InitMultithreading. (I use the last one because I am using v8 as a JavaScript bridge to the engine. The main game loop then renders the top screen on the stack (if there is one; otherwise, it exits the game) - actually it calls the render methods, but stores all items to be rendered in a list. After gathering all this information the methods like SDL_BlitSurface are called by my GameUIRenderer which draws the enqueued content and then draws some overlay. The code looks like this: while(Game is running) { Handle input if(Screens on stack == 0) exit Update timer etc. Clear the screen Peek the screen on the stack and collect information on what to render Actually render the enqueue screen stuff and some overlay etc. Flip the screen } The GameUIRenderer uses as hinted a std::vector<std::shared_ptr<ImageToRender>> to hold all necessary information described by this class: class ImageToRender { private: SDL_Surface* image; int x, y, w, h, xOffset, yOffset; }; This bunch of attributes is usually needed if I have a texture atlas with all tiles in one SDL_Surface and then the engine should crop one specific area and draw this to the screen. The GameUIRenderer::Render() method then just iterates over all elements and renders them something like this: std::for_each( this->m_vImageVector.begin(), this->m_vImageVector.end(), [this](std::shared_ptr<ImageToRender> pCurrentImage) { SDL_Rect rc = { pCurrentImage->x, pCurrentImage->y, 0, 0 }; // For the sake of simplicity ignore offsets... SDL_Rect srcRect = { 0, 0, pCurrentImage->w, pCurrentImage->h }; SDL_BlitSurface(pCurrentImage->pImage, &srcRect, g_pFramework->GetScreen(), &rc); } ); this->m_vImageVector.clear(); Current ideas which need to be reviewed The specified approach works really good and IMHO it is really has a good structure, however the performance could be definitely increased. I would like to know what do you suggest, how to implement efficient caching of surfaces etc so that there is no need to redraw the same scene over and over again? The map itself would be almost static, only when the player moves, we would need to move the map. Furthermore animated entities would either require updates of the whole map or updates of only the specific areas the entities are currently moving in. My first approaches were to include a flag IsTainted which should be used by the GameUIRenderer to decide whether to redraw everything or use cached version (or to not render anything so that we do not have to Clear the screen and let the last frame persist). However this seems to be quite messy if I have to manually handle in my Render method of the screen class if something has changed or not.

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