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Looking into ASP.Net MVC 4.0 Mobile Development - part 1

- by nikolaosk

In this post I will be looking how ASP.Net MVC 4.0 helps us to create web solutions that target mobile devices.We all experience the magic that is the World Wide Web through mobile devices. Millions of people around the world, use tablets and smartphones to view the contents of websites,e-shops and portals.ASP.Net MVC 4.0 includes a new mobile project template and the ability to render a different set of views for different types of devices.There is a new feature that is called browser overriding which allows us to control exactly what a user is going to see from your web application regardless of what type of device he is using.In order to follow along this post you must have Visual Studio 2012 and .Net Framework 4.5 installed in your machine.Download and install VS 2012 using this link.My machine runs on Windows 8 and Visual Studio 2012 works just fine.It will work fine in Windows 7 as well so do not worry if you do not have the latest Microsoft operating system.1) Launch VS 2012 and create a new Web Forms application by going to File - >New Project - > ASP.Net MVC 4 Web Application and then click OKHave a look at the picture below 2) From the available templates select Mobile Application and then click OK.Have a look at the picture below 3) When I run the application I get the mobile view of the page. I would like to show you what a typical ASP.Net MVC 4.0 application looks like. So I will create a new simple ASP.Net MVC 4.0 Web Application. When I run the application I get the normal page view.Have a look at the picture below.On the left is the mobile view and on the right the normal view. As you can see we have more or less the same content in our mobile application (log in,register) compared with the normal ASP.Net MVC 4.0 application but it is optimised for mobile devices. 4) Let me explain how and when the mobile view is selected and finally rendered.There is a feature in MVC 4.0 that is called Display Modes and with this feature the runtime will select a view.If we have 2 views e.g contact.mobile.cshtml and contact.cshtml in our application the Controller at some point will instruct the runtime to select and render a view named contact.The runtime will look at the browser making the request and will determine if it is a mobile browser or a desktop browser. So if there is a request from my IPhone Safari browser for a particular site, if there is a mobile view the MVC 4.0 will select it and render it. If there is not a mobile view, the normal view will be rendered.5) In the ASP.Net MVC 4.0 (Internet application) I created earlier (not the first project which was a mobile one) I can run it once more and see how it looks on the browser. If I want to view it with a mobile browser I must download one emulator like Opera Mobile.You can download Opera Mobile hereWhen I run the application I get the same view in both the desktop and the mobile browser. That was to be expected. Have a look at the picture below 6) Then I create another version of the _Layout.mobile.cshtml view in the Shared folder.I simply copy and paste the _Layout.cshtml into the same folder and then rename it to _Layout.mobile.cshtml and then just alter the contents of the _Layout.mobile.cshtml.When I run again the application I get a different view on the desktop browser and a different one on the Opera mobile browser.Have a look at the picture below ?he Controller will instruct the ASP.Net runtime to select and render a view named _Layout.mobile.cshtml when the request will come from a mobile browser.?he runtime knows that a browser is a mobile one through the ASP.Net browser capability provider. Hope it helps!!!

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Write, Read and Update Oracle CLOBs with PL/SQL

- by robertphyatt

Fun with CLOBS! If you are using Oracle, if you have to deal with text that is over 4000 bytes, you will probably find yourself dealing with CLOBs, which can go up to 4GB. They are pretty tricky, and it took me a long time to figure out these lessons learned. I hope they will help some down-trodden developer out there somehow. Here is my original code, which worked great on my Oracle Express Edition: (for all examples, the first one writes a new CLOB, the next one Updates an existing CLOB and the final one reads a CLOB back) CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE PRC_WR_CLOB ( p_document IN VARCHAR2, p_id OUT NUMBER) IS lob_loc CLOB; BEGIN INSERT INTO TBL_CLOBHOLDERDDOC (CLOBHOLDERDDOC) VALUES (empty_CLOB()) RETURNING CLOBHOLDERDDOC, CLOBHOLDERDDOCID INTO lob_loc, p_id; DBMS_LOB.WRITE(lob_loc, LENGTH(UTL_RAW.CAST_TO_RAW(p_document)), 1, UTL_RAW.CAST_TO_RAW(p_document)); END; / CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE PRC_UD_CLOB ( p_document IN VARCHAR2, p_id IN NUMBER) IS lob_loc CLOB; BEGIN SELECT CLOBHOLDERDDOC INTO lob_loc FROM TBL_CLOBHOLDERDDOC WHERE CLOBHOLDERDDOCID = p_id FOR UPDATE; DBMS_LOB.WRITE(lob_loc, LENGTH(UTL_RAW.CAST_TO_RAW(p_document)), 1, UTL_RAW.CAST_TO_RAW(p_document)); END; / CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE PRC_RD_CLOB ( p_id IN NUMBER, p_clob OUT VARCHAR2) IS lob_loc CLOB; BEGIN SELECT CLOBHOLDERDDOC INTO lob_loc FROM TBL_CLOBHOLDERDDOC WHERE CLOBHOLDERDDOCID = p_id; p_clob := UTL_RAW.CAST_TO_VARCHAR2(DBMS_LOB.SUBSTR(lob_loc, DBMS_LOB.GETLENGTH(lob_loc), 1)); END; / As you can see, I had originally been casting everything back and forth between RAW formats using the UTL_RAW.CAST_TO_VARCHAR2() and UTL_RAW.CAST_TO_RAW() functions all over the place, but it had the nasty side effect of working great on my Oracle express edition on my developer box, but having all the CLOBs above a certain size display garbage when read back on the Oracle test database server . So...I kept working at it and came up with the following, which ALSO worked on my Oracle Express Edition on my developer box: CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE PRC_WR_CLOB ( p_document IN VARCHAR2, p_id OUT NUMBER) IS lob_loc CLOB; BEGIN INSERT INTO TBL_CLOBHOLDERDOC (CLOBHOLDERDOC) VALUES (empty_CLOB()) RETURNING CLOBHOLDERDOC, CLOBHOLDERDOCID INTO lob_loc, p_id; DBMS_LOB.WRITE(lob_loc, LENGTH(p_document), 1, p_document); END; / CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE PRC_UD_CLOB ( p_document IN VARCHAR2, p_id IN NUMBER) IS lob_loc CLOB; BEGIN SELECT CLOBHOLDERDOC INTO lob_loc FROM TBL_CLOBHOLDERDOC WHERE CLOBHOLDERDOCID = p_id FOR UPDATE; DBMS_LOB.WRITE(lob_loc, LENGTH(p_document), 1, p_document); END; / CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE PRC_RD_CLOB ( p_id IN NUMBER, p_clob OUT VARCHAR2) IS lob_loc CLOB; BEGIN SELECT CLOBHOLDERDOC INTO lob_loc FROM TBL_CLOBHOLDERDOC WHERE CLOBHOLDERDOCID = p_id; p_clob := DBMS_LOB.SUBSTR(lob_loc, DBMS_LOB.GETLENGTH(lob_loc), 1); END; / Unfortunately, by changing my code to what you see above, even though it kept working on my Oracle express edition, everything over a certain size just started truncating after about 7950 characters on the test server! Here is what I came up with in the end, which is actually the simplest solution and this time worked on both my express edition and on the database server (note that only the read function was changed to fix the truncation issue, and that I had Oracle worry about converting the CLOB into a VARCHAR2 internally): CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE PRC_WR_CLOB ( p_document IN VARCHAR2, p_id OUT NUMBER) IS lob_loc CLOB; BEGIN INSERT INTO TBL_CLOBHOLDERDDOC (CLOBHOLDERDDOC) VALUES (empty_CLOB()) RETURNING CLOBHOLDERDDOC, CLOBHOLDERDDOCID INTO lob_loc, p_id; DBMS_LOB.WRITE(lob_loc, LENGTH(p_document), 1, p_document); END; / CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE PRC_UD_CLOB ( p_document IN VARCHAR2, p_id IN NUMBER) IS lob_loc CLOB; BEGIN SELECT CLOBHOLDERDDOC INTO lob_loc FROM TBL_CLOBHOLDERDDOC WHERE CLOBHOLDERDDOCID = p_id FOR UPDATE; DBMS_LOB.WRITE(lob_loc, LENGTH(p_document), 1, p_document); END; / CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE PRC_RD_CLOB ( p_id IN NUMBER, p_clob OUT VARCHAR2) IS BEGIN SELECT CLOBHOLDERDDOC INTO p_clob FROM TBL_CLOBHOLDERDDOC WHERE CLOBHOLDERDDOCID = p_id; END; / I hope that is useful to someone!

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Surface Review from Canadian Guy Who Didn’t Go To Build

- by D'Arcy Lussier

I didn’t go to Build last week, opted to stay home and go trick-or-treating with my daughters instead. I had many friends that did go however, and I was able to catch up with James Chambers last night to hear about the conference and play with his Surface RT and Nokia 920 WP8 devices. I’ve been using Windows 8 for a while now, so I’m not going to comment on OS features – lots of posts out there on that already. Let me instead comment on the hardware itself. Size and Weight The size of the tablet was awesome. The Windows 8 tablet I’m using to reference this against is the one from Build 2011 (Samsung model) we received as well as my iPad. The Surface RT was taller and slightly heavier than the iPad, but smaller and lighter than the Samsung Win 8 tablet. I still don’t prefer the default wide-screen format, but the Surface RT is much more usable even when holding it by the long edge than the Samsung. Build Quality No issues with the build quality, it seemed very solid. But…y’know, people have been going on about how the Surface RT materials are so much better than the plastic feeling models Samsung and others put out. I didn’t really notice *that* much difference in that regard with the Surface RT. Interesting feature I didn’t expect – the Windows button on the device is touch-sensitive, not a mechanical one. I didn’t try video or anything, so I can’t comment on the media experience. The kickstand is a great feature, and the way the Surface RT connects to the combo case/keyboard touchcover is very slick while being incredibly simple. What About That Touch Cover Keyboard? So first, kudos to Microsoft on the touch cover! This thing was insanely responsive (including the trackpad) and really delivered on the thinness I was expecting. With that said, and remember this is with very limited use, I would probably go with the Type Cover instead of the Touch Cover. The difference is buttons. The Touch Cover doesn’t actually have “buttons” on the keyboard – hence why its a “touch” cover. You tap on a key to type it. James tells me after a while you get used to it and you can type very fast. For me, I just prefer the tactile feeling of a button being pressed/depressed. But still – typing on the touch case worked very well. Would I Buy One? So after playing with it, did I cry out in envy and rage that I wasn’t able to get one of these machines? Did I curse my decision to collect Halloween candy with my kids instead of being at Build getting hardware? Well – no. Even with the keyboard, the Surface RT is not a business laptop replacement device. While Office does come included, you can’t install any other applications outside of Windows Store Apps. This might be limiting depending on what other applications you need to have available on your computer. Surface RT is a great personal computing device, as long as you’re not already invested in a competing ecosystem. I’ve heard people make statements that they’re going to replace all the iPads in their homes with Surface tablets. In my home, that’s not feasible – my wife and daughters have amassed quite a collection of games via iTunes. We also buy all our music via iTunes as well, so even with the XBox streaming music service now available we’re still tied quite tightly to iTunes. So who is the Surface RT for? In my mind, if you’re looking for a solid, compact device that provides basic business functionality (read: email) or if you have someone that needs a very simple to use computer for email, web browsing, etc., then Surface RT is a great option. For me, I’m waiting on the Samsung Ativ Smart PC Pro and am curious to see what changes the Surface Pro will come with.

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Add Windows 7’s AeroSnap Feature to Vista and XP

- by Asian Angel

Are you using Windows Vista or XP and want that Windows 7 AeroSnap goodness on your own system? Then join us as we look at AeroSnap for Windows Vista and XP. Note: Requires .NET Framework 2.0 or higher (link provided at bottom of article). Setup What exactly does AeroSnap do you might ask…here is a quote directly from the website: “AeroSnap is a simple but powerful application that allows you to resize, arrange or maximize your desktop windows with just drag’n'drop. Simply drag a window to a side of your desktop to snap it or drag it to the top to maximize. When you drag it back to the last position, the last window size will be restored.” As soon as you have finished installing AeroSnap and started it for the first time the only item that will be visible is the “System Tray Icon”. Before going any further you should take a moment to view and make any desired adjustments in the “Options”. Note: AeroSnap works with multiple monitors. You may want to have AeroSnap start with Windows each time but the really nice setting to enable here is the “Snap Preview”. If you are using AeroSnap on Vista and have Aero enabled this will really be nice. The second portion may be of interest for those who would like to enable the keyboard shortcut function. One point worth noting about this screen is that the highest number of pixels from the screen’s edge that you can set AeroSnap for is 20 pixels. AeroSnap in Action AeroSnap is extremely easy to use…just grab the top of an app window and drag it to the left, right, or top of your screen. Since we installed this on Windows Vista we made certain to enable the “Snap Preview” in the “Options”. We started off with dragging our Firefox 3.7 window towards the left…once we got close to the edge of the screen you can see that the left half of the screen temporarily “shaded over”. Note: The “Snap Preview” displays on the left and right movements but not the top movement. Releasing Firefox snapped it right into the “shaded over” part of the screen. The great thing about AeroSnap is that it is really easy to return the app window to it former size…all that you have to do is simply click on and grab the top portion of the app window. Moving Firefox towards the top of our screen and… It quickly snaps into filling the screen. One thing that we did notice is that the window did not “Maximize” as per the function for the button in the upper right corner. Dragging towards the right side now… And snap! Tucked in all nice and neat… You can minimize the app windows to the Taskbar and they will return to their previous “snap area” when “maximized” again. Conclusion If you have been wanting to add Windows 7’s AeroSnap goodness to your Vista and XP systems then you should definitely give this app a try. AeroSnap is very easy to set up and operate… Links Download AeroSnap for Windows Vista & XP Download the .NET Framework Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Using Windows 7 or Vista System RestoreRoundup: 16 Tweaks to Windows Vista Look & FeelSelect Files using Check Boxes in Windows VistaSpeed up Your Windows Vista Computer with ReadyBoostHow-To Geek Bounty: $103.24(Paid!) for Active Desktop for Vista TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 Add a Custom Title in IE using Spybot or Spyware Blaster When You Need to Hail a Taxi in NYC Live Map of Marine Traffic NoSquint Remembers Site Specific Zoom Levels (Firefox) New Firefox release 3.6.3 fixes 1 Critical bug Dark Side of the Moon (8-bit)

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Update Metadata and Cover Art in Windows Media Player 12

- by DigitalGeekery

If you use Windows Media Player 12 in Windows 7, you may notice some of your media is missing information when displayed in the library. Today we look at how to edit and update metadata and cover art in WMP 12. By default, Windows Media Player will pull metadata, such as the title, artist, album, and cover art from the Internet. If you did not accept that default option during setup, we’ll need to turn the feature on first. Select Tools > Options from the top Menu bar. On the Library tab, ensure that Retrieve additional information form the Internet is checked. Click OK. Editing Metadata Now we’re ready to update some files. Find a media file with incorrect details or cover art. Right-click on the title and select Find album info. This will bring up the Find album information window. Here you’ll see the existing information that Windows Media Player interpreted as correct on the left side. The results of WMP’s search for the media information are on the right. Click on Artists, Albums , or Tracks to scroll through the search results and try to find a match. You can also type in new keywords in the Search box and hit enter (or click the Search button) to perform a new search. If you find a correct match for your media file, click to select it and click Next. You’ll be prompted to confirm your selection, then click Finish. You should now see your media file displayed properly in Windows Media Player. Manually Entering Metadata If your search for the correct media information comes up empty, you can always manually enter the information yourself. On the Find album information window, click Edit under Existing Information. You can edit the existing information in the text boxes or the Genre dropdown box. There are a couple hidden text boxes below. Click next to Contributing Artist or Composer to enter that information. Choosing Your Own Cover Art If your media file doesn’t pull the proper cover art, or if you simply wish to find a different image, you can add your own. Search online for a suitable image. An ideal size would be around 300 x 300 pixels, give or take. Right-click on the image copy the image. You’ll need to switch to Expanded title (if you haven’t already) to paste the image. Paste your new image by right-clicking on the current image and select Paste album art. Note: If the image is not suitable size or type, the Paste album art option will not be available. Your new cover art will appear in Windows Media Player. Even though it is pulled from the Internet, cover art is cached on your computer and will still be available when you are disconnected from the Internet. Are you new to Windows Media Player? If so, check out our article on how to Manage your music with Windows Media Player. Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Make VLC Player Look like Windows Media Player 11Fixing When Windows Media Player Library Won’t Let You Add FilesMake VLC Player Look like Windows Media Player 10Add Images and Metadata to Windows 7 Media Center Movie LibraryMake VLC Player Look like Winamp 5 (Kinda) TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 Awe inspiring, inter-galactic theme (Win 7) Case Study – How to Optimize Popular Wordpress Sites Restore Hidden Updates in Windows 7 & Vista Iceland an Insurance Job? Find Downloads and Add-ins for Outlook Recycle !

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Make Your PC Look Like Windows Phone 7

- by Matthew Guay

Windows Phone 7 offers a unique and exciting UI that displays lots of information efficiently on the screen. And with a simple Rainmeter theme, you can have the same UI and content directly on your Windows 7 desktop. Turn your Desktop into a Windows Phone 7 lookalike To give your Windows 7 desktop a Windows Phone 7 makeover, first you need to have the free Rainmeter application installed. If you do not have it installed, download it from the link below and run the setup. Accept the license agreement, and install it with the default settings. By default Rainmeter will automatically run when you start your computer. If you do not want this, you can uncheck the box during the setup. Now, download the Omnimo UI theme for Rainmeter (link below). You will need to unzip the folder first. This theme uses the Segoe UI and the Segoe UI Light font, so Windows Vista users need to install the segoeuil.ttf font first, and XP users need to install both the segoeui.ttf and the segoeuil.ttf font first. Copy the appropriate fonts to C:\Windows\Fonts, or in Vista double-click on the font and select Install. Now, run the Rainmeter theme setup. Double-click on the Rainstaller.exe in the Omnimo folder. Click Express install to add the theme and skin to Rainmeter. Click Finish, and by default Rainmeter will open with your new theme. When the new theme opens the first time, you will be asked to read the readme, or simply go to the gallery. When you open the gallery, you can choose from a wide variety of tiles and gadgets to place on your desktop. You can also choose a different color scheme for your tiles. Once you’re done, click the X in the top right hand corner to close the Gallery. Welcome to your Windows Phone 7 desktop! Many of the gadgets are dynamic, and you can change the settings for most of them. The only thing missing is the transition animations that Windows Phone 7 shows when you launch an application. To make it look even more like Windows Phone 7, you can change your background to black. This makes the desktop theme really dramatic. And, if you want to add gadgets or change the color scheme, simply click on the + logo on the top. Windows Phone 7 Desktop Wallpapers If you’d prefer to simply change your background, My Microsoft Life has several very nice Windows Phone 7 wallpapers available for free. Click the link below to download these and other Microsoft-centric wallpapers. If you can’t wait to get the new Windows phone 7, this is a great way to start experiencing the beauty of the phone UI on your desktop. Links Download Rainmeter Download the Omnimo UI Rainmeter theme Download Windows Phone 7 inspired wallpapers Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Try out Windows Phone 7 on your PC todayTest All Features of Windows Phone 7 On Your PCHow-To Geek on Lifehacker: How to Make Windows Vista Less AnnoyingCreate a Shortcut or Hotkey to Mute the System Volume in WindowsMake Ubuntu Automatically Save Changes to Your Session TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 Norwegian Life If Web Browsers Were Modes of Transportation Google Translate (for animals) Roadkill’s Scan Port scans for open ports Out of 100 Tweeters Out of band Security Update for Internet Explorer

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ASP.NET Server-side comments

- by nmarun

I believe a good number of you know about Server-side commenting. This blog is just like a revival to refresh your memories. When you write comments in your .aspx/.ascx files, people usually write them as: 1:  To show that it actually makes a difference for using the server-side commenting technique, I’ve started a web application project and my default.aspx page looks like this: 1: <%@ Page Title="Home Page" Language="C#" MasterPageFile="~/Site.master" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeBehind="Default.aspx.cs" Inherits="ServerSideComment._Default" %> 2: <asp:Content ID="HeaderContent" runat="server" ContentPlaceHolderID="HeadContent"> 3: </asp:Content> 4: <asp:Content ID="BodyContent" runat="server" ContentPlaceHolderID="MainContent"> 5: <h2> 6:  7: Welcome to ASP.NET! 8: </h2> 9: <p> 10: To learn more about ASP.NET visit <a href="http://www.asp.net" title="ASP.NET Website">www.asp.net</a>. 11: </p> 12: <p> 13: You can also find <a href="http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=152368&clcid=0x409" 14: title="MSDN ASP.NET Docs">documentation on ASP.NET at MSDN</a>. 15: </p> 16: </asp:Content> See the comment in line 6 and when I run the app, I can do a view source on the browser which shows up as: 1: <h2> 2:  3: Welcome to ASP.NET! 4: </h2> Using Fiddler shows the page size as: Let’s change the comment style and use server-side commenting technique. 1: <h2> 2: <%-- This is a comment --%> 3: Welcome to ASP.NET! 4: </h2> Upon rendering, the view source looks like: 1: <h2> 2: 3: Welcome to ASP.NET! 4: </h2> Fiddler now shows the page size as: The difference is that client-side comments are ignored by the browser, but they are still sent down the pipe. With server-side comments, the compiler ignores everything inside this block. Visual Studio’s Text Editor toolbar also puts comments as server-side ones. If you want to give it a shot, go to your design page and press Ctrl+K, Ctrl+C on some selected text and you’ll see it commented in the server-side commenting style.

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Having Fun with Coding4Fun’s Windows Phone 7 Controls

- by mbcrump

I’m a big believer in having a hobby project as you can probably tell from the first sentence in my “personal webpage using Silverlight” article. One of my current hobby projects is to re-do my current WP7 application in the marketplace. I knew up front that I needed a “Loading” animation and a better “About” box. After starting to develop my own, I noticed a great set of WP7 controls by Coding4Fun and decided to use them in my new application. Before I go any further they are FREE and Open-Source. It is really simple to get started, just go to the CodePlex site and click the download button. After you have downloaded it then extract it to a Folder and you will have 4 DLL files. They are listed below: Now create a Windows Phone 7 Project and add references to the DLL’s by right clicking on the References folder and clicking “Add references”. After adding the references, we can get started. I needed a ProgressOverlay animation or “Loading Screen” while my RSS feed is downloading. Basically, you just need to add the following namespace to whatever page you want the control on: xmlns:Controls="clr-namespace:Coding4Fun.Phone.Controls;assembly=Coding4Fun.Phone.Controls" And then the code inside your Grid or wherever you want the Loading screen placed. <Controls:ProgressOverlay Name="progressOverlay" > <Controls:ProgressOverlay.Content> <TextBlock>Loading</TextBlock> </Controls:ProgressOverlay.Content> </Controls:ProgressOverlay> Bam, you now have a great looking loading screen. Of course inside the ProgressOverlay, you may want to add a Visibility property to turn it off after your data loads if you are using MVVM or similar pattern. Next up, I needed a nice clean “About Box” that looks good but is also functional. Meaning, if they click on my twitter name, web or email to launch the appropriate task. Again, this is only a few lines of code: var p = new AboutPrompt(); p.VersionNumber = "2.0"; p.Show("Michael Crump", "@mbcrump", "[email protected]", @"http://michaelcrump.net"); A nice clean “About” box with just a few lines of code! I’m all for code that I don’t have to write. It also comes with a pretty sweet InputPrompt for grabbing info from a user: The code for this is also very simple: InputPrompt input = new InputPrompt(); input.Completed += (s, e) => { MessageBox.Show(e.Result.ToString()); }; input.Title = "Input Box"; input.Message = "What does a \"Developer Large\" T-Shirt Mean? "; input.Show(); I also enjoyed the PhoneHelper that allows you to get data out of the WMAppManifest File very easy. So for example if I wanted the Version info from the WMAppManifest file. I could write one line and get it. PhoneHelper.GetAppAttribute("Version") Of course you would want to make sure you add the following using statement: using Coding4Fun.Phone.Controls.Data; You can’t have all these cool controls without a great set of Converters. The included BooleanToVisibility converter will convert a Boolean to and from a Visibility value. This is excellent when using something like a CheckBox to display a TextBox when its checked. See the example below: The code is below: <phone:PhoneApplicationPage.Resources> <Converters:BooleanToVisibilityConverter x:Key="BooleanToVisibilityConverter"/> </phone:PhoneApplicationPage.Resources> <CheckBox x:Name="checkBox"/> <TextBlock Text="Display Text" Visibility="{Binding ElementName=checkBox, Path=IsChecked, Converter={StaticResource BooleanToVisibilityConverter} }"/> That’s not all the goodies included. They also provide a RoundedButton, TimePicker and several other converters. The documentation is great and I would recommend you give them a shot if you need any of this functionality. Btw, thank Brian Peek for his awesome work on Coding4Fun! Subscribe to my feed

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Time to stop using “Execute Package Task”– a way to execute package in SSIS catalog taking advantage of the new project deployment model ,and the logging and reporting feature

- by Kevin Shyr

I set out to find a way to dynamically call package in SSIS 2012. The following are 2 excellent blogs I found; I used them heavily. The code below has some addition to parameter types and message types, but was made essentially derived entirely from the blogs. http://sqlblog.com/blogs/jamie_thomson/archive/2011/07/16/ssis-logging-in-denali.aspx http://www.ssistalk.com/2012/07/24/quick-tip-run-ssis-2012-packages-synchronously-and-other-execution-options/ The code: Every package will be called by a PackageController package. The packageController is initialized with some information on which package to run and what information to pass in. The following is the stored procedure called from the “Execute SQL Task”. Here is the highlight of the stored procedure It takes in packageName, project name, and folder name (folder in SSIS project deployment to SSIS catalog) The stored procedure sets the package variables of the upcoming package execution Execute package in SSIS Catalog Get the status of the execution. Also, if exists, get the error message’s message_id and store them in the management database. Return value to “Execute SQL Task” to manage failure properly CREATE PROCEDURE [AUDIT].[LaunchPackageExecutionInSSISCatalog] @PackageName NVARCHAR(255) , @ProjectFolder NVARCHAR(255) , @ProjectName NVARCHAR(255) , @AuditKey INT , @DisableNotification BIT , @PackageExecutionLogID INT AS BEGIN TRY DECLARE @execution_id BIGINT = 0; -- Create a package execution EXEC [SSISDB].[catalog].[create_execution] @package_name=@PackageName, @execution_id=@execution_id OUTPUT, @folder_name=@ProjectFolder, @project_name=@ProjectName, @use32bitruntime=False; UPDATE [AUDIT].[PackageInstanceExecutionLog] WITH(ROWLOCK) SET [SSISCatalogExecutionID] = @execution_id WHERE [PackageInstanceExecutionLogID] = @PackageExecutionLogID -- this is to set the execution synchronized so that I can check the result in the end EXEC [SSISDB].[catalog].[set_execution_parameter_value] @execution_id, @object_type=50, @parameter_name=N'SYNCHRONIZED', @parameter_value=1; -- true /******************************************************** ******************************************************** Section: setting parameters Source table: SSISDB.internal.object_parameters object_type list: 20: project level variables 30: package level variables 50: execution parameter ******************************************************** ********************************************************/ EXEC [SSISDB].[catalog].[set_execution_parameter_value] @execution_id, @object_type=30, @parameter_name=N'FromParent_AuditKey', @parameter_value=@AuditKey; -- true EXEC [SSISDB].[catalog].[set_execution_parameter_value] @execution_id, @object_type=30, @parameter_name=N'FromParent_DisableNotification', @parameter_value=@DisableNotification; -- true EXEC [SSISDB].[catalog].[set_execution_parameter_value] @execution_id, @object_type=30, @parameter_name=N'FromParent_PackageInstanceExecutionID', @parameter_value=@PackageExecutionLogID; -- true /******************************************************** ******************************************************** Section: setting variables END ******************************************************** ********************************************************/ /* This section is carried over from example code I don't see a reason to change them yet */ -- Set our package parameters EXEC [SSISDB].[catalog].[set_execution_parameter_value] @execution_id, @object_type=50, @parameter_name=N'DUMP_ON_EVENT', @parameter_value=1; -- true EXEC [SSISDB].[catalog].[set_execution_parameter_value] @execution_id, @object_type=50, @parameter_name=N'DUMP_EVENT_CODE', @parameter_value=N'0x80040E4D;0x80004005'; EXEC [SSISDB].[catalog].[set_execution_parameter_value] @execution_id, @object_type=50, @parameter_name=N'LOGGING_LEVEL', @parameter_value= 1; -- Basic EXEC [SSISDB].[catalog].[set_execution_parameter_value] @execution_id, @object_type=50, @parameter_name=N'DUMP_ON_ERROR', @parameter_value=1; -- true /******************************************************** ******************************************************** Section: EXECUTING ******************************************************** ********************************************************/ EXEC [SSISDB].[catalog].[start_execution] @execution_id; /******************************************************** ******************************************************** Section: EXECUTING END ******************************************************** ********************************************************/ /******************************************************** ******************************************************** Section: checking execution result Source table: [SSISDB].[catalog].[executions] status: 1: created 2: running 3: cancelled 4: failed 5: pending 6: ended unexpectedly 7: succeeded 8: stopping 9: completed ******************************************************** ********************************************************/ if EXISTS(SELECT TOP 1 1 FROM [SSISDB].[catalog].[executions] WITH(NOLOCK) WHERE [execution_id] = @execution_id AND [status] NOT IN (2, 7, 9)) BEGIN /******************************************************** ******************************************************** Section: logging error messages Source table: [SSISDB].[internal].[operation_messages] message type: 10: OnPreValidate 20: OnPostValidate 30: OnPreExecute 40: OnPostExecute 60: OnProgress 70: OnInformation 90: Diagnostic 110: OnWarning 120: OnError 130: Failure 140: DiagnosticEx 200: Custom events 400: OnPipeline message source type: 10: Messages logged by the entry APIs (e.g. T-SQL, CLR Stored procedures) 20: Messages logged by the external process used to run package (ISServerExec) 30: Messages logged by the package-level objects 40: Messages logged by tasks in the control flow 50: Messages logged by containers (For, ForEach, Sequence) in the control flow 60: Messages logged by the Data Flow Task ******************************************************** ********************************************************/ INSERT INTO AUDIT.PackageInstanceExecutionOperationErrorLink SELECT @PackageExecutionLogID ,[operation_message_id] FROM [SSISDB].[internal].[operation_messages] WITH(NOLOCK) WHERE operation_id = @execution_id AND message_type IN (120, 130) EXEC [AUDIT].[FailPackageInstanceExecution] @PackageExecutionLogID, 'SSISDB Internal operation_messages found' GOTO ReturnTrueAsErrorFlag /******************************************************** ******************************************************** Section: checking messages END ******************************************************** ********************************************************/ /* This part is not really working, so now using rowcount to pass status --DECLARE @PackageErrorMessage NVARCHAR(4000) --SET @PackageErrorMessage = @PackageName + 'failed with executionID: ' + CONVERT(VARCHAR(20), @execution_id) --RAISERROR (@PackageErrorMessage -- Message text. -- , 18 -- Severity, -- , 1 -- State, -- , N'check table AUDIT.PackageInstanceExecutionErrorMessages' -- First argument. -- ); */ END ELSE BEGIN GOTO ReturnFalseAsErrorFlagToSignalSuccess END /******************************************************** ******************************************************** Section: checking execution result END ******************************************************** ********************************************************/ END TRY BEGIN CATCH DECLARE @SSISCatalogCallError NVARCHAR(MAX) SELECT @SSISCatalogCallError = ERROR_MESSAGE() EXEC [AUDIT].[FailPackageInstanceExecution] @PackageExecutionLogID, @SSISCatalogCallError GOTO ReturnTrueAsErrorFlag END CATCH; /******************************************************** ******************************************************** Section: end result ******************************************************** ********************************************************/ ReturnTrueAsErrorFlag: SELECT CONVERT(BIT, 1) AS PackageExecutionErrorExists ReturnFalseAsErrorFlagToSignalSuccess: SELECT CONVERT(BIT, 0) AS PackageExecutionErrorExists GO

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SharePoint 2010 Hosting :: SharePoint 2010 Custom Web Template

- by mbridge

SharePoint 2010 offers some changes and additions to the SharePoint 2007 approach. Site definitions and publishing providers remain largely the same, but site templates created from the SharePoint UI or SharePoint Designer are now saved to a .WSP file, the same solution deployment packaging file format used for deploying custom SharePoint solutions. Site Templates saved to a .WSP solution file can be imported into Visual Studio for additional customization. Introducing the WebTemplate Feature Element The WebTemplate element, introduced in SharePoint 2010, allows site templates to be defined and deployed as a Feature as part of a solution package. A WebTemplate element feature can be used to deploy site templates in either a Farm or Sandbox solution - without modification. If deployed as a Farm feature and solution, site templates will appear in the site collection provisioning page in Central Administration and can be used to provision new site collections, or within a Site Collection to create sub-sites. If deployed as a Site feature and Sandbox solution, site templates will appear within the site collection to support creating a root site or sub-sites. Creating a new WebTemplate Feature in Visual Studio 2010 In addition to supporting the ability to save and import Site Templates created from the SharePoint UI into Visual Studio for customization, it can also be used to create new site templates from scratch. In the following sample we will walk through how to create a new WebTemplate solution based on a customized version of the out-of-box Blank Site. 1. Create a new Empty SharePoint Project in Visual Studio 2010. 2. Add a new Empty Element to the project. we like to create folders for each type of element in our solution, so in our sample, we have created a Web Templates folder, and then added the BLANKENT element. NOTE: The Elements folder MUST share the same name as the WebTemplate name property. 3. Open the empty Elements.xml and add the <WebTemplate /> element block. 4. Copy the default.aspx and ONET.XML files from the STS site definition location at 14\TEMPLATES\Site Templates\STS. We will customize the ONET.XML in the next section. Open the properties for each file and set the Deployment Type to ElementFile. This ensures the files are deployed with the Element when included in a Feature. 5. By default a new feature is added to the solution for you automatically when a new element is added to the solution. Rename and edit the feature as appropriate. Select Farm for the scope to deploy the WebTemplate to the entire farm, or Site for a sandboxed solution. Customize the ONET.XML At this point, you have a working WebTemplate solution that will deploy the identical site to the out-of-box Blank Site, however the ONET.XML supporting the STS site definition contains 3 configurations – essentially 3 separate site templates and can be simplified before customizing. In the following sample, we have trimmed the ONET.XML to the essentials for a single Site Template, and added references to the <SiteFeatures /> and <WebFeatures /> elements to include the SharePoint Standard and Enterprise features. We have left the top-level navigation bar, and the default page module intact, but removed all other extraneous markup.

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Make Your Mouse Pointers Left-hand Friendly

- by Matthew Guay

It’s a right-centric world, with everything from pencils to computer mice expecting you to be right-handed. Here’s how you can train your mouse and cursors in Windows 7 and Vista to respect your left-handedness. Using your Left Hand the Right Way It’s easy to switch your mouse to left-handed mode. Enter “mouse” in your Start menu search, and select the first entry. Check the “Switch primary and secondary buttons” box to make your mouse more left-hand friendly. Now your primary select button is your right button, and the secondary button (commonly referred to as right-click) is the left button. But, it can still be awkward to select items on screen with your left hand using the default cursors. MSDN has a free set of cursors designed for left-handed users, that can fix this problem for you. These cursors are exactly like the default Aero cursors in Windows 7 and Vista, except they are reversed to make them better for left-handed use. The cursors are available in 3 sizes: normal, large, and extra large. The normal ones are the same size as the default ones in Windows 7; feel free to choose the other sizes if you prefer them. Click each link to download all 6 cursors for your size (link below). Click “I Agree” after selecting the cursors to accept the license agreement and download them. Once you have all 6 cursors downloaded, select the Pointers tab in the Mouse Properties dialog. Click the cursor to change, and then click Browse to select the new cursor. Browse to the folder you downloaded your new cursors to, select the correct cursor, and click Open. Do this for each of the 6 cursors to be changed. Strangely, the Busy cursor (the spinning blue orb) is a static cursor, so you may not wish to change it. All the other ones look and act like their standard counterparts. Here’s the cursors to be changed, and their equivalents in the default cursors: Normal Select: aero_arrow_left.cur Help Select: aero_helpsel_left.cur Working in Background: aero_working_left.ani Busy: aero_busy_left.cur Handwriting: aero_pen_left.cur Link Select: aero_link_left.cur After changing all the cursors, click Save As… to save this mouse scheme so you can easily select it in the future. Finally click Ok to close the Mouse Properties dialog and accept the changes. Now your pointers will be easier to use left-handed! Conclusion Whether you’re right-handed or left-handed, you can enjoy the Aero cursors in Windows 7 or Vista in the way that works best for you. Unfortunately, many mice are still designed for right-handed people, but this trick will help you make the best out of your mouse. We included all of the 6 cursors for you in a zip file you can download Here. This will make it easier for you to get them all together without having to download them individually. Link Download Left-Handed Mouse Pointers from MSDN Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Prevent Themes From Modifying Icons and Cursors in Windows 7How To Personalize Windows 7 StarterShow Two Time Zones in Your Outlook 2007 CalendarMake Mouse Navigation Faster in WindowsWhy Doesn’t Tab Work for Drop-down Controls in Firefox on OS X? TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 Microsoft’s “How Do I ?” Videos Home Networks – How do they look like & the problems they cause Check Your IMAP Mail Offline In Thunderbird Follow Finder Finds You Twitter Users To Follow Combine MP3 Files Easily QuicklyCode Provides Cheatsheets & Other Programming Stuff

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How to Crop Pictures in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2010

- by DigitalGeekery

When you add pictures to your Office documents you might need to crop them to remove unwanted areas, or isolate a specific part. Today we’ll take a look at how to crop images in Office 2010. Note: We will show you examples in Word, but you can crop images in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. To insert a picture into your Office document, click the Picture button on the Insert tab. The Picture Tools format ribbon should now be active. If not, click on the image. New in Office 2010 is the ability to see the area of the photo that you are keeping in addition to what will be cropped out. On the Format tab, click Crop. Click and drag inward any of the four corners to crop from any one side. Notice you can still see the area to be cropped out is show in translucent gray. Press and hold the CTRL key while you drag a corner cropping handle inward to crop equally on all four sides. To crop equally on right and left or the top and bottom, press and hold down the CTRL key while you drag the center cropping handle on either side inward. You can further adjust the cropping area by clicking and dragging the picture behind the cropping area. To accept the current dimensions and crop the photo, press escape or click anywhere outside the cropping area. You can manually crop the image to exact dimensions. This can be done by right clicking on the image and entering the dimensions in the Width and Height boxes, or in the Size group on the Format tab. Crop to a Shape Select your photo and click Crop from the Size group on the Format tab. Select Crop to Shape and choose any of the available shapes. You photo will be cropped into that shape. Using Fit and Fill If you wish to crop a photo but fill the shape, select Fill. When you choose this option, some edges of the picture might not display but the original picture aspect ratio is maintained. If you wish to have all of the picture fit within a shape, choose Fit. The original picture aspect ratio will be maintained. Conclusion Users moving from previous versions of Microsoft Office are sure to appreciate the improved cropping abilities in Office 2010, especially the ability to see what will and won’t be kept when you crop a photo. Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Import Microsoft Access Data Into ExcelEmbed an Excel Worksheet Into PowerPoint or Word 2007Add Artistic Effects to Your Pictures in Office 2010Embed True Type Fonts in Word and PowerPoint 2007 DocumentsChange The Default Color Scheme In Office 2007 TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips Xobni Plus for Outlook All My Movies 5.9 CloudBerry Online Backup 1.5 for Windows Home Server Snagit 10 TimeToMeet is a Simple Online Meeting Planning Tool Easily Create More Bookmark Toolbars in Firefox Filevo is a Cool File Hosting & Sharing Site Get a free copy of WinUtilities Pro 2010 World Cup Schedule Boot Snooze – Reboot and then Standby or Hibernate

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Using the Katana Authentication handlers with NancyFx

- by cibrax

Once you write an OWIN Middleware service, it can be reused everywhere as long as OWIN is supported. In my last post, I discussed how you could write an Authentication Handler in Katana for Hawk (HMAC Authentication). Good news is NancyFx can be run as an OWIN handler, so you can use many of existing middleware services, including the ones that are ship with Katana. Running NancyFx as a OWIN handler is pretty straightforward, and discussed in detail as part of the NancyFx documentation here. After run the steps described there and you have the application working, only a few more steps are required to register the additional middleware services. The example bellow shows how the Startup class is modified to include Hawk authentication. public class Startup { public void Configuration(IAppBuilder app) { app.UseHawkAuthentication(new HawkAuthenticationOptions { Credentials = (id) => { return new HawkCredential { Id = "dh37fgj492je", Key = "werxhqb98rpaxn39848xrunpaw3489ruxnpa98w4rxn", Algorithm = "hmacsha256", User = "steve" }; } }); app.UseNancy(); } } .csharpcode, .csharpcode pre { font-size: small; color: black; font-family: consolas, "Courier New", courier, monospace; background-color: #ffffff; /*white-space: pre;*/ } .csharpcode pre { margin: 0em; } .csharpcode .rem { color: #008000; } .csharpcode .kwrd { color: #0000ff; } .csharpcode .str { color: #006080; } .csharpcode .op { color: #0000c0; } .csharpcode .preproc { color: #cc6633; } .csharpcode .asp { background-color: #ffff00; } .csharpcode .html { color: #800000; } .csharpcode .attr { color: #ff0000; } .csharpcode .alt { background-color: #f4f4f4; width: 100%; margin: 0em; } .csharpcode .lnum { color: #606060; } This code registers the Hawk Authentication Handler on top of the OWIN pipeline, so it will try to authenticate the calls before the request messages are passed over to NancyFx. The authentication handlers in Katana set the user principal in the OWIN environment using the key “server.User”. The following code shows how you can get that principal in a NancyFx module, public class HomeModule : NancyModule { public HomeModule() { Get["/"] = x => { var env = (IDictionary<string, object>)Context.Items[NancyOwinHost.RequestEnvironmentKey]; if (!env.ContainsKey("server.User") || env["server.User"] == null) { return HttpStatusCode.Unauthorized; } var identity = (ClaimsPrincipal)env["server.User"]; return "Hello " + identity.Identity.Name; }; } } .csharpcode, .csharpcode pre { font-size: small; color: black; font-family: consolas, "Courier New", courier, monospace; background-color: #ffffff; /*white-space: pre;*/ } .csharpcode pre { margin: 0em; } .csharpcode .rem { color: #008000; } .csharpcode .kwrd { color: #0000ff; } .csharpcode .str { color: #006080; } .csharpcode .op { color: #0000c0; } .csharpcode .preproc { color: #cc6633; } .csharpcode .asp { background-color: #ffff00; } .csharpcode .html { color: #800000; } .csharpcode .attr { color: #ff0000; } .csharpcode .alt { background-color: #f4f4f4; width: 100%; margin: 0em; } .csharpcode .lnum { color: #606060; } Thanks to OWIN, you don’t know any details of how these cross cutting concerns can be implemented in every possible web application framework.

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Footer not stretching 100% when horizontally scrolled

- by Dan

I have a footer which is set to 100% width, but if i size the window smaller so a horizontal scrollbar appears, using the scrollbar shows whitespace to the right of the footer ... its not spanned 100% of the page, just the viewport. <!doctype html> <html lang="en" class="no-js"> <head> <title>test</title> <meta charset="utf-8"> </head> <body> <div id="container" style="width:100%"> <div id="body" style="width:1200px;">  <h1>Main content area</h1> <p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh.</p> <p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh.</p> <p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh.</p>  </div> <div id="footer" style="width:100%; background-color:green;">  <p><b>FOOTER.</b> Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh.</p>  </div> </div> </body> </html> Size the browser so horizontal scrollbar appears, and then scroll and you will see the footer background just stops. Any ideas? Or is this site the wrong place for web site design/development .. I did have to read the site description but it still wasnt clear, nor was the meta-discussion? Apologies if its in the wrong place.

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WEB203 – Jump into Silverlight!… and Become Effective Immediately with Tim Huckaby, Fou

- by Robert Burger

Getting ready for the good stuff. Definitely wish there were more Silverlight and WCF RIA sessions, but this is a start. Was lucky to get a coveted power-enabled seat. Luckily, due to my trustily slow Verizon data card, I can get these notes out amidst a total Internet outage here. This is the second breakout session of the day, and is by far standing-room only. I stepped out before the session started to get a cool Diet COKE and wouldn’t have gotten back in if I didn’t already have a seat. Tim says this is an intro session and that he’s been begging for intro sessions at TechEd for years and that by looking at this audience, he thinks the demand is there. Admittedly, I didn’t know this was an intro session, or I might have gone elsewhere. But, it was the very first Silverlight session, so I had to be here. Tim says he will be providing a very good comprehensive reference application at the end of the presentation. He has just demoed it, and it is a full CRUD-based Sales Manager application based on… AdventureWorks! Session Agenda What it is / How to get started Declarative Programming Layout and Controls, Events and Commands Working with Data Adding Style to Your Application Silverlight… “WPF Light” Why is the download 4.2MB? Because the direct competitor is a 4.2MB download. There is no technical reason it is not the entire framework. It is purely to “be competitive”. Getting Started Get all of the following downloads from www.silverlight.net/getstarted Install VS2010 or Visual Web Developer Express 2010 Install Silverlight 4 Tools for VS2010 Install Expression Blend 4 Install the Silverlight 4 Toolkit Reference Application Features Uses MVVM pattern – a way to move data access code that would normally be inline within the UI and placing it in nice data access libraries Images loaded dynamically from the database, converting GIF to PNG because Silverlight does not support GIF. LINQ to SQL is the data access model WCF is the data provider and is using binary message encoding Declarative Programming XAML replaces code for UI representation Attributes control Layout and Style Event handlers wired-up in XAML Declarative Data Binding Layout Overview Content rendering flows inside of parent Fixed positioning (Canvas) is seldom used Panels are used to house content Margins and Padding over fixed size Panels StackPanel – Arranges child elements into a single line oriented horizontally or vertically Grid – A flexible grid are that consists of rows and columns Canvas – An are where positions are specifically fixed WrapPanel (in Toolkit) – Positions child elements in sequential position left to right and top to bottom. DockPanel (in Toolkit) – Positions child controls within a dockable area Positioning Horizontal and Vertical Alignment Margin – Separates an element from neighboring elements Padding – Enlarges the effective size of an element by a thickness Controls Overview Not all controls created equal Silverlight, as a subset of WPF, so many WPF controls do not exist in the core Siverlight release Silverlight Toolkit continues to add controls, but are released in different quality bands Plenty of good 3rd party controls to fill the gaps Windows Phone 7 is to have 95% of controls available in Silverlight Core and Toolkit. Events and Commands Standard .NET Events Routed Events Commands – based on the ICommand interface – logical action that can be invoked in several ways Adding Style to Your Application Resource Dictionaries – Contains a hash table of key/value pairs. Silverlight can only use Static Resources whereas WPF can also use Dynamic Resources Visual State Manager Silverlight 4 supports Implicit styles ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries combines many different file-based resources Downloads

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AutoFit in PowerPoint: Turn it OFF

- by Daniel Moth

Once a feature has shipped, it is very hard to eliminate it from the next release. If I was in charge of the PowerPoint product, I would not hesitate for a second to remove the dreadful AutoFit feature. Fortunately, AutoFit can be turned off on a slide-by-slide basis and, even better, globally: go to the PowerPoint "Options" and under "Proofing" find the "AutoCorrect Options…" button which brings up the dialog where you need to uncheck the last two checkboxes (see the screenshot to the right). AutoFit is the ability for the user to keep hitting the Enter key as they type more and more text into a slide and it magically still fits, by shrinking the space between the lines and then the text font size. It is the root of all slide evil. It encourages people to think of a slide as a Word document (which may be your goal, if you are presenting to execs in Microsoft, but that is a different story). AutoFit is the reason you fall asleep in presentations. AutoFit causes too much text to appear on a slide which by extension causes the following: When the slide appears, the text is so small so it is not readable by everyone in the audience. They dismiss the presenter as someone who does not care for them and then they stop paying attention. If the text is readable, but it is too much (hence the AutoFit feature kicked in when the slide was authored), the audience is busy reading the slide and not paying attention to the presenter. Humans can either listen well or read well at the same time, so when they are done reading they now feel that they missed whatever the speaker was saying. So they "switch off" for the rest of the slide until the next slide kicks in, which is the natural point for them to pick up paying attention again. Every slide ends up with different sized text. The less visual consistency between slides, the more your presentation feels unprofessional. You can do better than dismiss the (subconscious) negative effect a deck with inconsistent slides has on an audience. In contrast, the absence of AutoFit Leads to consistency among all slides in a deck with regards to amount of text and size of said text. Ensures the text is readable by everyone in the audience (presuming the PowerPoint template is designed for the room where the presentation is delivered). Encourages the presenter to create slides with the minimum necessary text to help the audience understand the basic structure, flow, and key points of the presentation. The "meat" of the presentation is delivered verbally by the presenter themselves, which is why they are in the room in the first place. Following on from the previous point, the audience can at a quick glance consume the text on the slide when it appears and then concentrate entirely on the presenter and what they have to say. You could argue that everything above has nothing to do with the AutoFit feature and all to do with the advice to keep slide content short. You would be right, but the on-by-default AutoFit feature is the one that stops most people from seeing and embracing that truth. In other words, the slides are the tool that aids the presenter in delivering their message, instead of the presenter being the tool that advances the slides which hold the message. To get there, embrace terse slides: the first step is to turn off this horrible feature (that was probably introduced due to the misuse of this tool within Microsoft). The next steps are described on my next post. Comments about this post welcome at the original blog.

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Create Custom Windows Key Keyboard Shortcuts in Windows

- by Asian Angel

Nearly everyone uses keyboard shortcuts of some sort on their Windows system but what if you could create new ones for your favorite apps or folders? You might just be amazed at how simple it can be with just a few clicks and no programming using WinKey. WinKey in Action During the installation process you will see this window that gives you a good basic idea of just what can be accomplished with this wonderful little app. As soon as the installation process has finished you will see the “Main App Window”. It provides a simple straightforward listing of all the keyboard shortcuts that it is currently managing. Note: WinKey will automatically add an entry to the “Startup Listing” in your “Start Menu” during installation. To see the regular built-in Windows keyboard shortcuts that it is managing click “Standard Shortcuts” to select it and then click on “Properties”. For those who are curious WinKey does have a “System Tray Icon” that can be disabled if desired. Now onto creating those new keyboard shortcuts… For our example we decided to create a keyboard shortcut for an app rather than a folder. To create a shortcut for an app click on the small “Paper Icon” as shown here. Once you have done that browse to the appropriate folder and select the exe file. The second step will be choosing which keyboard shortcut you would like to associate with that particular app. You can use the drop-down list to choose from a listing of available keyboard combinations. For our example we chose “Windows Key + A”. The final step is choosing the “Run Mode”. There are three options available in the drop-down list…choose the one that best suits your needs. Here is what our example looked like once finished. All that is left to do at this point is click “OK” to finish the process. And just like that your new keyboard shortcut is now listed in the “Main App Window”. Time to try out your new keyboard shortcut! One quick use of our new keyboard shortcut and Iron Browser opened right up. WinKey really does make creating new keyboard shortcuts as simple as possible. Conclusion If you have been wanting to create new keyboard shortcuts for your favorite apps and folders then it really does not get any simpler than with WinKey. This is definitely a recommended app for anyone who loves “get it done” software. Links Download WinKey at Softpedia Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Show Keyboard Shortcut Access Keys in Windows VistaCreate a Keyboard Shortcut to Access Hidden Desktop Icons and FilesKeyboard Ninja: 21 Keyboard Shortcut ArticlesAnother Desktop Cube for Windows XP/VistaHow-To Geek on Lifehacker: Control Your Computer with Shortcuts & Speed Up Vista Setup TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 Recycle ! Find That Elusive Icon with FindIcons Looking for Good Windows Media Player 12 Plug-ins? Find Out the Celebrity You Resemble With FaceDouble Whoa ! Use Printflush to Solve Printing Problems

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Customizing Spaces UI

- by vijaykumar.yenne

In most common scenarios we stumble up on use cases to customize the Web center spaces UI. Is the Spaces UI customizable? What is the extent to which we can customize? How do i customize it? These are some questions that developers/architects normally come across. Well to clear the air, OOTB spaces comes with some default "site templates" and it also gives a flexibility to create custom site templates suiting the organization needs. The site templates concept has been introduced in the latest PS1 release of webcenter and to customize/create the the new site template, we have to leverage the Extend Spaces Project available on OTN. You could download the the project from here. Also there is white paper available on what all can be customized/extended from spaces perspective listed here . There is a specific details outlined on how to create custom site template in the Customizing Site Template white paper. One of the things the white paper high lights is "While you can create new site templates and modify the sample site templates but you cannot modify either of the out-of-the-box site templates ie the default and maximized. So if my need is to either increase the size of header to fit in a bigger logo or introduce couple of extra links on the default/maximized lay out how do i achieve this? All you need to do is customize the OOTB shell (shell-config.xml). 1. Copy the shell config's available in the Source Files Directory of the extended spaces unzipped directory into the CustomSite Template Project ExtendWebCenterSpaces\CustomSiteTemplate\custom\oracle\webcenter\webcenterapp\metadata\shell 2. Modify the appropriate shell 3. Deploy the CustomSite Template as ADF Jar 4. ensure you have the profile dependency on the aboproject int he custom webcenter spaces project 5. Deploy the Spaces Extension on the Webcenter Spaces Instance. (Details in the first white paper). You should see the changes immediately. eg: In the default shell, i have changed the height from 30 to 60 to increase the header size height="60" This is what i get to see : If you have worked on the R1 release time frame, where you created a custom shell/chrome, how do we make them compatible and make it available in the Spaces PS1 instance? All you need to do is the following: 1. Copy the custom shell in to the shell directory of the custom site template project 2. Register the shell with WCSiteTemplates.xml available in the same project. Eg : Yo can add the below entry pagePath="/oracle/webcenter/webcenterapp/view/templates/MyShellTemplate.jspx" pageDefPath="/oracle/webcenter/webcenterapp/bindings/pageDefs/oracle_webcenter_webcenterapp_view_templates_WebCenterAppShellTemplatePageDef.xml" displayName="myShell" chromeLevel="myShell"/ Note : pagePath - Absolute path of the template JSPX file. This path must be unique. So you might have to do the following to get your custom chrome working absolutely fine with no problems at all: 1. Create a jspx page, say /custom/mysite/SiteTemplate.jspx 2. Include the the default jspx in the new site template like following SiteTemplate.jspx ------------------ 3. Add the newly created site template in the WCSiteTemplate.xml file like following - pagePath="/custom/mysite/SiteTemplate.jspx" pageDefPath="/oracle/webcenter/webcenterapp/bindings/pageDefs/oracle_webcenter_webcenterapp_view_templates_WebCenterAppShellTemplatePageDef.xml" displayName="myShell" chromeLevel="myShell"/

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Deploying a SharePoint 2007 theme using Features

- by Kelly Jones

I recently had a requirement to update the branding on an existing Windows SharePoint Services (WSS version 3.0) site. I needed to update the theme, along with the master page. An additional requirement is that my client likes to have all changes bundled up in SharePoint solutions. This makes it much easier to move code from dev to test to prod and more importantly, makes it easier to undo code migrations if any issues would arise (I agree with this approach). Updating the theme was easy enough. I created a new theme, along with a two new features. The first feature, scoped at the farm level, deploys the theme, adding it to the spthemes.xml file (in the 12 hive –> \Template\layouts\1033 folder). Here’s the method that I call from the feature activated event: private static void AddThemeToSpThemes(string id, string name, string description, string thumbnail, string preview, SPFeatureReceiverProperties properties) { XmlDocument spThemes = new XmlDocument(); //use GetGenericSetupPath to find the 12 hive folder string spThemesPath = SPUtility.GetGenericSetupPath(@"TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\1033\spThemes.xml"); //load the spthemes file into our xmldocument, since it is just xml spThemes.Load(spThemesPath); XmlNode root = spThemes.DocumentElement; //search the themes file to see if our theme is already added bool found = false; foreach (XmlNode node in root.ChildNodes) { foreach (XmlNode prop in node.ChildNodes) { if (prop.Name.Equals("TemplateID")) { if (prop.InnerText.Equals(id)) { found = true; break; } } } if (found) { break; } } if (!found) //theme not found, so add it { //This is what we need to add: // <Templates> // <TemplateID>ThemeName</TemplateID> // <DisplayName>Theme Display Name</DisplayName> // <Description>My theme description</Description> // <Thumbnail>images/mythemethumb.gif</Thumbnail> // <Preview>images/mythemepreview.gif</Preview> // </Templates> StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(); sb.Append("<Templates><TemplateID>"); sb.Append(id); sb.Append("</TemplateID><DisplayName>"); sb.Append(name); sb.Append("</DisplayName><Description>"); sb.Append(description); sb.Append("</Description><Thumbnail>"); sb.Append(thumbnail); sb.Append("</Thumbnail><Preview>"); sb.Append(preview); sb.Append("</Preview></Templates>"); root.CreateNavigator().AppendChild(sb.ToString()); spThemes.Save(spThemesPath); } } Just as important, is the code that removes the theme when the feature is deactivated: private static void RemoveThemeFromSpThemes(string id) { XmlDocument spThemes = new XmlDocument(); string spThemesPath = HostingEnvironment.MapPath("/_layouts/") + @"1033\spThemes.xml"; spThemes.Load(spThemesPath); XmlNode root = spThemes.DocumentElement; foreach (XmlNode node in root.ChildNodes) { foreach (XmlNode prop in node.ChildNodes) { if (prop.Name.Equals("TemplateID")) { if (prop.InnerText.Equals(id)) { root.RemoveChild(node); spThemes.Save(spThemesPath); break; } } } } } So, that takes care of deploying the theme. In order to apply the theme to the web, my activate feature method looks like this: public override void FeatureDeactivating(SPFeatureReceiverProperties properties) { using (SPWeb curweb = (SPWeb)properties.Feature.Parent) { curweb.ApplyTheme("myThemeName"); curweb.Update(); } } Deactivating is just as simple: public override void FeatureDeactivating(SPFeatureReceiverProperties properties) { using (SPWeb curweb = (SPWeb)properties.Feature.Parent) { curweb.ApplyTheme("none"); curweb.Update(); } } Ok, that’s the code necessary to deploy, apply, un-apply, and retract the theme. Also, the solution (WSP file) contains the actual theme files. SO, next is the master page, which I’ll cover in my next blog post.

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AutoFit in PowerPoint: Turn it OFF

- by Daniel Moth

Once a feature has shipped, it is very hard to eliminate it from the next release. If I was in charge of the PowerPoint product, I would not hesitate for a second to remove the dreadful AutoFit feature. Fortunately, AutoFit can be turned off on a slide-by-slide basis and, even better, globally: go to the PowerPoint "Options" and under "Proofing" find the "AutoCorrect Options…" button which brings up the dialog where you need to uncheck the last two checkboxes (see the screenshot to the right). AutoFit is the ability for the user to keep hitting the Enter key as they type more and more text into a slide and it magically still fits, by shrinking the space between the lines and then the text font size. It is the root of all slide evil. It encourages people to think of a slide as a Word document (which may be your goal, if you are presenting to execs in Microsoft, but that is a different story). AutoFit is the reason you fall asleep in presentations. AutoFit causes too much text to appear on a slide which by extension causes the following: When the slide appears, the text is so small so it is not readable by everyone in the audience. They dismiss the presenter as someone who does not care for them and then they stop paying attention. If the text is readable, but it is too much (hence the AutoFit feature kicked in when the slide was authored), the audience is busy reading the slide and not paying attention to the presenter. Humans can either listen well or read well at the same time, so when they are done reading they now feel that they missed whatever the speaker was saying. So they "switch off" for the rest of the slide until the next slide kicks in, which is the natural point for them to pick up paying attention again. Every slide ends up with different sized text. The less visual consistency between slides, the more your presentation feels unprofessional. You can do better than dismiss the (subconscious) negative effect a deck with inconsistent slides has on an audience. In contrast, the absence of AutoFit Leads to consistency among all slides in a deck with regards to amount of text and size of said text. Ensures the text is readable by everyone in the audience (presuming the PowerPoint template is designed for the room where the presentation is delivered). Encourages the presenter to create slides with the minimum necessary text to help the audience understand the basic structure, flow, and key points of the presentation. The "meat" of the presentation is delivered verbally by the presenter themselves, which is why they are in the room in the first place. Following on from the previous point, the audience can at a quick glance consume the text on the slide when it appears and then concentrate entirely on the presenter and what they have to say. You could argue that everything above has nothing to do with the AutoFit feature and all to do with the advice to keep slide content short. You would be right, but the on-by-default AutoFit feature is the one that stops most people from seeing and embracing that truth. In other words, the slides are the tool that aids the presenter in delivering their message, instead of the presenter being the tool that advances the slides which hold the message. To get there, embrace terse slides: the first step is to turn off this horrible feature (that was probably introduced due to the misuse of this tool within Microsoft). The next steps are described on my next post. Comments about this post welcome at the original blog.

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How to detect and configure an output with xrandr?

- by ysap

I have a DELL U2410 monitor connected to a Compaq 100B desktop equipped with an integrated AMD/ATI graphics card (AMD E-350). The installed O/S is Ubuntu 10.04 LTS. The computer is connected to the monitor via the DVI connection. The problem is that I cannot set the desktop resolution to the native 1920x1200. The maximum allowed resolution is 1600x1200. Doing some research I found about the xrandr utility. Unfortunately, when trying to use it I cannot configure it to the required resolution. First, it does not report the output name (which supposed to be DVI-0), saying default instead. Without it I cannot use the --fb option. The EDID utility seems to identify the monitor well. Here's the output from get-edid: # EDID version 1 revision 3 Section "Monitor" # Block type: 2:0 3:ff # Block type: 2:0 3:fc Identifier "DELL U2410" VendorName "DEL" ModelName "DELL U2410" # Block type: 2:0 3:ff # Block type: 2:0 3:fc # Block type: 2:0 3:fd HorizSync 30-81 VertRefresh 56-76 # Max dot clock (video bandwidth) 170 MHz # DPMS capabilities: Active off:yes Suspend:yes Standby:yes Mode "1920x1200" # vfreq 59.950Hz, hfreq 74.038kHz DotClock 154.000000 HTimings 1920 1968 2000 2080 VTimings 1200 1203 1209 1235 Flags "-HSync" "+VSync" EndMode # Block type: 2:0 3:ff # Block type: 2:0 3:fc # Block type: 2:0 3:fd EndSection but the xrandr -q command returns: Screen 0: minimum 640 x 400, current 1600 x 1200, maximum 1600 x 1200 default connected 1600x1200+0+0 0mm x 0mm 1600x1200 0.0* 1280x1024 0.0 1152x864 0.0 1024x768 0.0 800x600 0.0 640x480 0.0 720x400 0.0 When I try to set the resolution, I get: $ xrandr --fb 1920x1200 xrandr: screen cannot be larger than 1600x1200 (desired size 1920x1200) $ xrandr --output DVI-0 --auto warning: output DVI-0 not found; ignoring How can I set the screen resolution to 1920x1200? Why doesn't xrandr identify the DVI-0 output? Note that the same computer running Ubuntu version higher than 10.04 detects the correct resolution with no problems. On this machine I cannot upgrade due to some legacy hardware compatibility problems. Also, I don't see any optional screen drivers available in the Hardware Drivers dialog. ---- UPDATE: following the answer to this question, I got some advance. Now the required mode is listed in the xrandr -q list, but I can't switch to that mode. Using the Monitors applet (which now shows the new mode), I get the response that: The selected configuration for displays could not be applied. Could not set the configuration to CRTC 262. From the command line it looks like this: $ cvt 1920 1200 60 # 1920x1200 59.88 Hz (CVT 2.30MA) hsync: 74.56 kHz; pclk: 193.25 MHz Modeline "1920x1200_60.00" 193.25 1920 2056 2256 2592 1200 1203 1209 1245 -hsync +vsync $ xrandr --newmode "1920x1200_60.00" 193.25 1920 2056 2256 2592 1200 1203 1209 1245 -hsync +vsync $ xrandr -q Screen 0: minimum 640 x 400, current 1600 x 1200, maximum 1600 x 1200 default connected 1600x1200+0+0 0mm x 0mm 1600x1200 0.0* 1280x1024 0.0 1152x864 0.0 1024x768 0.0 800x600 0.0 640x480 0.0 720x400 0.0 1920x1200_60.00 (0x120) 193.0MHz h: width 1920 start 2056 end 2256 total 2592 skew 0 clock 74.5KHz v: height 1200 start 1203 end 1209 total 1245 clock 59.8Hz $ xrandr --addmode default 1920x1200_60.00 $ xrandr -q Screen 0: minimum 640 x 400, current 1600 x 1200, maximum 1600 x 1200 default connected 1600x1200+0+0 0mm x 0mm 1600x1200 0.0* 1280x1024 0.0 1152x864 0.0 1024x768 0.0 800x600 0.0 640x480 0.0 720x400 0.0 1920x1200_60.00 59.8 $ xrandr --output default --mode 1920x1200_60.00 xrandr: Configure crtc 0 failed Another piece of info (if it helps anyone): $ sudo lshw -c video *-display UNCLAIMED description: VGA compatible controller product: ATI Technologies Inc vendor: ATI Technologies Inc physical id: 1 bus info: pci@0000:00:01.0 version: 00 width: 32 bits clock: 33MHz capabilities: pm pciexpress msi bus_master cap_list configuration: latency=0 resources: memory:c0000000-cfffffff(prefetchable) ioport:f000(size=256) memory:feb00000-feb3ffff

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Autoscaling in a modern world…. Part 4

- by Steve Loethen

Now that I have the rules and services XML files in the cloud, it is time to sever the bounds of earth and live totally in the cloud. I have to host the Autoscaling object in Azure as well, point it to the rules, tell it the management certs and get out of the way. A couple of questions. Where to host? The most obvious place to me was a worker role. A simple, single purpose worker role, doing nothing but watching my app. Here are the steps I used. 1) Created a project. Separate project from my web site. I wanted to be able to run the web in the cloud and the autoscaler local for debugging purposes. Seemed like the easiest way. 2) Add the Wasabi block to the project. 3) Configure the settings. I used the same settings used for the console app. It points to the same web role, uses the same rules file. 4) Make sure the certification needed to manage the role is added to the cert store in the sky (“LocalMachine” and “My” are default locations). I ran the worker role in the local fabric. It worked. I then published to the cloud, and verified it worked again. Here is what my code looked like. public override bool OnStart() { Trace.WriteLine("Set Default Connection Limit", "Information"); // Set the maximum number of concurrent connections ServicePointManager.DefaultConnectionLimit = 12; Trace.WriteLine("Set up configuration change code", "Information"); // set up config CloudStorageAccount.SetConfigurationSettingPublisher((configName, configSetter) => configSetter(RoleEnvironment.GetConfigurationSettingValue(configName))); Trace.WriteLine("Get current diagnostic configuration", "Information"); // Get current diagnostic configuration DiagnosticMonitorConfiguration dmc = DiagnosticMonitor.GetDefaultInitialConfiguration(); Trace.WriteLine("Set Diagnostic Buffer Size", "Information"); // Set Diagnostic Buffer size dmc.Logs.BufferQuotaInMB = 4; Trace.WriteLine("Set log transfer period", "Information"); // Set log transfer period dmc.Logs.ScheduledTransferPeriod = TimeSpan.FromMinutes(1); Trace.WriteLine("Set log verbosity", "Information"); // Set log filter to verbose dmc.Logs.ScheduledTransferLogLevelFilter = LogLevel.Verbose; Trace.WriteLine("Start the diagnostic monitor", "Information"); // Start the diagnostic monitor DiagnosticMonitor.Start("Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Diagnostics.ConnectionString", dmc); Trace.WriteLine("Get the current Autoscaler from the EntLib Container", "Information"); // Get the current Autoscaler from the EntLib Container scaler = EnterpriseLibraryContainer.Current.GetInstance<Autoscaler>(); Trace.WriteLine("Start the autoscaler", "Information"); // Start the autoscaler scaler.Start(); Trace.WriteLine("call the base class OnStart", "Information"); // call the base class OnStart return base.OnStart(); } public override void OnStop() { Trace.WriteLine("Stop the Autoscaler", "Information"); // Stop the Autoscaler scaler.Stop(); } I did have to turn on some basic logging for wasabi, which will cover in the next post. This let me figure out that I hadn’t done the certificate step.

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Experience the iPad UI On Your PC

- by Matthew Guay

Want to test drive iPad without heading over to an Apple store? Here’s a way you can experience some of the iPad UI straight from your browser! The iPad is the latest gadget from Apple to wow the tech world, and people even waited in line all night to be one of the first to get their hands on one. Thanks to a simple JavaScript trick, however, you can get a feel for some of its new features without leaving your computer. This won’t let you try out everything on the iPad, but it will let you see how the new lists and pop-over menus work just like they do in the new apps. Test drive the iPad’s UI from your browser Normally, the Apple iPhone developer library online looks like a standard webpage. But, on the iPad, it looks and feels like a full-blown native iPad app. With a nifty JavaScript trick from boredzo.org you can use this same interface on your PC. Since the iPad uses the Safari browser, we ran this test in Safari for Windows. If you don’t already have it installed, you can download it from Apple (link below) and setup as normal. Now, open Safari and browse to Apple’s developer page at: http://www.developer.apple.com Now, enter the following in the address bar, and press Enter. javascript:localStorage.setItem('debugSawtooth', 'true') Finally, click this link to go to the iPhone OS documentation. http://developer.apple.com/iphone/library/iPad/ After a short delay, it should open in full iPad style! The left menu works just like the menus on the iPad, complete with transitions. It feels entirely like a native application, instead of a webpage. To scroll through text, click and pull up or down similar to the way you would use it on a touch screen. Some pages even include a pop-over menu like many of the new iPad apps use. Note that the page will be rendered for the size of your browser, and if you resize your window the page will not resize with it. Simply press F5 to reload the page, and it will resize to fit the new window size. If you resize your window to be tall and narrow, like the iPad in horizontal mode, the webpage will change and the left menu will disappear in lieu of a drop-down menu just like it would if you rotated the iPad. This works in Chrome as well, since it, like Safari, is based on Webkit. However, it didn’t seem to work in our test on Firefox or other browsers. We’ve previously covered how you can experience some of the iPhone’s UI with the online iPhone user guide. Check it out if you haven’t yet: View Mobile Websites in Windows with Safari 4 Developer Tools Conclusion Although this doesn’t let you really try out all of the iPad’s interface, it at least gives you a taste of how it works. It’s exciting to see how much functionality can be packed into webapps today. And don’t forget, How-to Geek is giving away an iPad to a random fan! Head over to our Facebook page and fan How-to Geek if you haven’t already done so. Win an iPad on the How-To Geek Facebook Fan Page Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Want an iPad? How-To Geek is Giving One Away!Why Wait? Amazing New Add-on Turns Your iPhone into an iPad! [Comic]The Complete List of iPad Tips, Tricks, and TutorialsShare Your Windows Vista Experience Index ScoreAnother Blog You Should Subscribe To TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 Awesome Lyrics Finder for Winamp & Windows Media Player Download Videos from Hulu Pixels invade Manhattan Convert PDF files to ePub to read on your iPad Hide Your Confidential Files Inside Images Get Wildlife Photography Tips at BBC’s PhotoMasterClasses

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Algorithm to Find the Aggregate Mass of "Granola Bar"-Like Structures?

- by Stuart Robbins

I'm a planetary science researcher and one project I'm working on is N-body simulations of Saturn's rings. The goal of this particular study is to watch as particles clump together under their own self-gravity and measure the aggregate mass of the clumps versus the mean velocity of all particles in the cell. We're trying to figure out if this can explain some observations made by the Cassini spacecraft during the Saturnian summer solstice when large structures were seen casting shadows on the nearly edge-on rings. Below is a screenshot of what any given timestep looks like. (Each particle is 2 m in diameter and the simulation cell itself is around 700 m across.) The code I'm using already spits out the mean velocity at every timestep. What I need to do is figure out a way to determine the mass of particles in the clumps and NOT the stray particles between them. I know every particle's position, mass, size, etc., but I don't know easily that, say, particles 30,000-40,000 along with 102,000-105,000 make up one strand that to the human eye is obvious. So, the algorithm I need to write would need to be a code with as few user-entered parameters as possible (for replicability and objectivity) that would go through all the particle positions, figure out what particles belong to clumps, and then calculate the mass. It would be great if it could do it for "each" clump/strand as opposed to everything over the cell, but I don't think I actually need it to separate them out. The only thing I was thinking of was doing some sort of N2 distance calculation where I'd calculate the distance between every particle and if, say, the closest 100 particles were within a certain distance, then that particle would be considered part of a cluster. But that seems pretty sloppy and I was hoping that you CS folks and programmers might know of a more elegant solution? Edited with My Solution: What I did was to take a sort of nearest-neighbor / cluster approach and do the quick-n-dirty N2 implementation first. So, take every particle, calculate distance to all other particles, and the threshold for in a cluster or not was whether there were N particles within d distance (two parameters that have to be set a priori, unfortunately, but as was said by some responses/comments, I wasn't going to get away with not having some of those). I then sped it up by not sorting distances but simply doing an order N search and increment a counter for the particles within d, and that sped stuff up by a factor of 6. Then I added a "stupid programmer's tree" (because I know next to nothing about tree codes). I divide up the simulation cell into a set number of grids (best results when grid size ˜7 d) where the main grid lines up with the cell, one grid is offset by half in x and y, and the other two are offset by 1/4 in ±x and ±y. The code then divides particles into the grids, then each particle N only has to have distances calculated to the other particles in that cell. Theoretically, if this were a real tree, I should get order N*log(N) as opposed to N2 speeds. I got somewhere between the two, where for a 50,000-particle sub-set I got a 17x increase in speed, and for a 150,000-particle cell, I got a 38x increase in speed. 12 seconds for the first, 53 seconds for the second, 460 seconds for a 500,000-particle cell. Those are comparable speeds to how long the code takes to run the simulation 1 timestep forward, so that's reasonable at this point. Oh -- and it's fully threaded, so it'll take as many processors as I can throw at it.

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Removing old kernel entries in Grub

- by To Do

I regularly delete old kernels leaving only the latest two entries using Synaptic. I'm using Precise. However in my Grub "previous Linux version" menu there are quite a few entries labelled 2.6.8. I cannot find these linux-images in Synaptic. dpkg -l | grep linux-image Gives: rc linux-image-3.0.0-17-generic 3.0.0-17.30 Linux kernel image for version 3.0.0 on x86/x86_64 ii linux-image-3.2.0-27-generic 3.2.0-27.43 Linux kernel image for version 3.2.0 on 32 bit x86 SMP ii linux-image-3.2.0-29-generic 3.2.0-29.46 Linux kernel image for version 3.2.0 on 32 bit x86 SMP ii linux-image-3.4.0-030400-generic 3.4.0-030400.201205210521 Linux kernel image for version 3.4.0 on 32 bit x86 SMP ii linux-image-generic 3.2.0.29.31 Generic Linux kernel image Sudo update-grub gives: Generating grub.cfg ... Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.4.0-030400-generic Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-3.4.0-030400-generic Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-29-generic Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-3.2.0-29-generic Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-27-generic Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-3.2.0-27-generic Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-11-generic Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.38-11-generic Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-10-generic Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.38-10-generic Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-8-generic Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.38-8-generic Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+.bin Found Windows Vista (loader) on /dev/sda1 sudo apt-get remove linux-image-2.6.8-8-generic gives: E: Unable to locate package linux-image-2.6.8-8-generic E: Couldn't find any package by regex 'linux-image-2.6.8-8-generic' My boot folder contains the following: abi-2.6.38-10-generic initrd.img-3.4.0-030400-generic abi-2.6.38-11-generic memtest86+.bin abi-2.6.38-8-generic memtest86+_multiboot.bin abi-3.2.0-27-generic System.map-2.6.38-10-generic abi-3.2.0-29-generic System.map-2.6.38-11-generic abi-3.4.0-030400-generic System.map-2.6.38-8-generic config-2.6.38-10-generic System.map-3.2.0-27-generic config-2.6.38-11-generic System.map-3.2.0-29-generic config-2.6.38-8-generic System.map-3.4.0-030400-generic config-3.2.0-27-generic vmcoreinfo-2.6.38-10-generic config-3.2.0-29-generic vmcoreinfo-2.6.38-11-generic config-3.4.0-030400-generic vmcoreinfo-2.6.38-8-generic extlinux vmlinuz-2.6.38-10-generic grub vmlinuz-2.6.38-11-generic initrd.img-2.6.38-10-generic vmlinuz-2.6.38-8-generic initrd.img-2.6.38-11-generic vmlinuz-3.2.0-27-generic initrd.img-2.6.38-8-generic vmlinuz-3.2.0-29-generic initrd.img-3.2.0-27-generic vmlinuz-3.4.0-030400-generic initrd.img-3.2.0-29-generic and ls -l /etc/grub.d yields: total 56 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 6715 Apr 17 20:16 00_header -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 5522 Oct 1 2011 05_debian_theme -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 7407 May 17 09:22 10_linux -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 6335 Apr 17 20:16 20_linux_xen -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1588 May 3 2011 20_memtest86+ -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 7603 Apr 17 20:16 30_os-prober -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 214 Oct 1 2011 40_custom -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 95 Oct 1 2011 41_custom -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 483 Oct 1 2011 README gdisk -l /dev/sda yields: Partition table scan: MBR: MBR only BSD: not present APM: not present GPT: not present *************************************************************** Found invalid GPT and valid MBR; converting MBR to GPT format. *************************************************************** Disk /dev/sda: 312581808 sectors, 149.1 GiB Logical sector size: 512 bytes Disk identifier (GUID): F832A498-05E1-4615-B5B1-757ACB4A757A Partition table holds up to 128 entries First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 312581774 Partitions will be aligned on 2048-sector boundaries Total free space is 4183661 sectors (2.0 GiB) Number Start (sector) End (sector) Size Code Name 1 2048 61442047 29.3 GiB 0700 Microsoft basic data 3 163842048 169986047 2.9 GiB 8200 Linux swap 4 169986048 312578047 68.0 GiB 0700 Microsoft basic data 5 61444096 159666175 46.8 GiB 8300 Linux filesystem Please help with removing the old and inexistent kernels from Grub.

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