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• Best Practices - which domain types should be used to run applications

  - by jsavit

  This post is one of a series of "best practices" notes for Oracle VM Server for SPARC (formerly named Logical Domains) One question that frequently comes up is "which types of domain should I use to run applications?" There used to be a simple answer in most cases: "only run applications in guest domains", but enhancements to T-series servers, Oracle VM Server for SPARC and the advent of SPARC SuperCluster have made this question more interesting and worth qualifying differently. This article reviews the relevant concepts and provides suggestions on where to deploy applications in a logical domains environment. Review: division of labor and types of domain Oracle VM Server for SPARC offloads many functions from the hypervisor to domains (also called virtual machines). This is a modern alternative to using a "thick" hypervisor that provides all virtualization functions, as in traditional VM designs, This permits a simpler hypervisor design, which enhances reliability, and security. It also reduces single points of failure by assigning responsibilities to multiple system components, which further improves reliability and security. In this architecture, management and I/O functionality are provided within domains. Oracle VM Server for SPARC does this by defining the following types of domain, each with their own roles: Control domain - management control point for the server, used to configure domains and manage resources. It is the first domain to boot on a power-up, is an I/O domain, and is usually a service domain as well. I/O domain - has been assigned physical I/O devices: a PCIe root complex, a PCI device, or a SR-IOV (single-root I/O Virtualization) function. It has native performance and functionality for the devices it owns, unmediated by any virtualization layer. Service domain - provides virtual network and disk devices to guest domains. Guest domain - a domain whose devices are all virtual rather than physical: virtual network and disk devices provided by one or more service domains. In common practice, this is where applications are run. Typical deployment A service domain is generally also an I/O domain: otherwise it wouldn't have access to physical device "backends" to offer to its clients. Similarly, an I/O domain is also typically a service domain in order to leverage the available PCI busses. Control domains must be I/O domains, because they boot up first on the server and require physical I/O. It's typical for the control domain to also be a service domain too so it doesn't "waste" the I/O resources it uses. A simple configuration consists of a control domain, which is also the one I/O and service domain, and some number of guest domains using virtual I/O. In production, customers typically use multiple domains with I/O and service roles to eliminate single points of failure: guest domains have virtual disk and virtual devices provisioned from more than one service domain, so failure of a service domain or I/O path or device doesn't result in an application outage. This is also used for "rolling upgrades" in which service domains are upgraded one at a time while their guests continue to operate without disruption. (It should be noted that resiliency to I/O device failures can also be provided by the single control domain, using multi-path I/O) In this type of deployment, control, I/O, and service domains are used for virtualization infrastructure, while applications run in guest domains. Changing application deployment patterns The above model has been widely and successfully used, but more configuration options are available now. Servers got bigger than the original T2000 class machines with 2 I/O busses, so there is more I/O capacity that can be used for applications. Increased T-series server capacity made it attractive to run more vertical applications, such as databases, with higher resource requirements than the "light" applications originally seen. This made it attractive to run applications in I/O domains so they could get bare-metal native I/O performance. This is leveraged by the SPARC SuperCluster engineered system, announced a year ago at Oracle OpenWorld. In SPARC SuperCluster, I/O domains are used for high performance applications, with native I/O performance for disk and network and optimized access to the Infiniband fabric. Another technical enhancement is the introduction of Direct I/O (DIO) and Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV), which make it possible to give domains direct connections and native I/O performance for selected I/O devices. A domain with either a DIO or SR-IOV device is an I/O domain. In summary: not all I/O domains own PCI complexes, and there are increasingly more I/O domains that are not service domains. They use their I/O connectivity for performance for their own applications. However, there are some limitations and considerations: at this time, a domain using physical I/O cannot be live-migrated to another server. There is also a need to plan for security and introducing unneeded dependencies: if an I/O domain is also a service domain providing virtual I/O go guests, it has the ability to affect the correct operation of its client guest domains. This is even more relevant for the control domain. where the ldm has to be protected from unauthorized (or even mistaken) use that would affect other domains. As a general rule, running applications in the service domain or the control domain should be avoided. To recap: Guest domains with virtual I/O still provide the greatest operational flexibility, including features like live migration. I/O domains can be used for applications with high performance requirements. This is used to great effect in SPARC SuperCluster and in general T4 deployments. Direct I/O (DIO) and Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV) make this more attractive by giving direct I/O access to more domains. Service domains should in general not be used for applications, because compromised security in the domain, or an outage, can affect other domains that depend on it. This concern can be mitigated by providing guests' their virtual I/O from more than one service domain, so an interruption of service in the service domain does not cause an application outage. The control domain should in general not be used to run applications, for the same reason. SPARC SuperCluster use the control domain for applications, but it is an exception: it's not a general purpose environment; it's an engineered system with specifically configured applications and optimization for optimal performance. These are recommended "best practices" based on conversations with a number of Oracle architects. Keep in mind that "one size does not fit all", so you should evaluate these practices in the context of your own requirements. Summary Higher capacity T-series servers have made it more attractive to use them for applications with high resource requirements. New deployment models permit native I/O performance for demanding applications by running them in I/O domains with direct access to their devices. This is leveraged in SPARC SuperCluster, and can be leveraged in T-series servers to provision high-performance applications running in domains. Carefully planned, this can be used to provide higher performance for critical applications.

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• Tips for XNA WP7 Developers

  - by Michael B. McLaughlin

  There are several things any XNA developer should know/consider when coming to the Windows Phone 7 platform. This post assumes you are familiar with the XNA Framework and with the changes between XNA 3.1 and XNA 4.0. It’s not exhaustive; it’s simply a list of things I’ve gathered over time. I may come back and add to it over time, and I’m happy to add anything anyone else has experienced or learned as well. Display · The screen is either 800x480 or 480x800. · But you aren’t required to use only those resolutions. · The hardware scaler on the phone will scale up from 240x240. · One dimension will be capped at 800 and the other at 480; which depends on your code, but you cannot have, e.g., an 800x600 back buffer – that will be created as 800x480. · The hardware scaler will not normally change aspect ratio, though, so no unintended stretching. · Any dimension (width, height, or both) below 240 will be adjusted to 240 (without any aspect ratio adjustment such that, e.g. 200x240 will be treated as 240x240). · Dimensions below 240 will be honored in terms of calculating whether to use portrait or landscape. · If dimensions are exactly equal or if height is greater than width then game will be in portrait. · If width is greater than height, the game will be in landscape. · Landscape games will automatically flip if the user turns the phone 180°; no code required. · Default landscape is top = left. In other words a user holding a phone who starts a landscape game will see the first image presented so that the “top” of the screen is along the right edge of his/her phone, such that the natural behavior would be to turn the phone 90° so that the top of the phone will be held in the user’s left hand and the bottom would be held in the user’s right hand. · The status bar (where the clock, battery power, etc., are found) is hidden when the Game-derived class sets GraphicsDeviceManager.IsFullScreen = true. It is shown when IsFullScreen = false. The default value is false (i.e. the status bar is shown). · You should have a good reason for hiding the status bar. Users find it helpful to know what time it is, how much charge their battery has left, and whether or not their phone is in service range. This is especially true for casual games that you expect someone to play for a few minutes at a time, e.g. while waiting for some event to start, for a phone call to come in, or for a train, bus, or subway to arrive. · In portrait mode, the status bar occupies 32 pixels of space. This means that a game with a back buffer of 480x800 will be scaled down to occupy approximately 461x768 screen pixels. Setting the back buffer to 480x768 (or some resolution with the same 0.625 aspect ratio) will avoid this scaling. · In landscape mode, the status bar occupies 72 pixels of space. This means that a game with a back buffer of 800x480 will be scaled down to occupy approximately 728x437 screen pixels. Setting the back buffer to 728x480 (or some resolution with the same 1.51666667 aspect ratio) will avoid this scaling. Input · Touch input is scaled with screen size. · So if your back buffer is 600x360, a tap in the bottom right corner will come in as (599,359). You don’t need to do anything special to get this automatic scaling of touch behavior. · If you do not use full area of the screen, any touch input outside the area you use will still register as a touch input. For example, if you set a portrait resolution of 240x240, it would be scaled up to occupy a 480x480 area, centered in the screen. If you touch anywhere above this area, you will get a touch input of (X,0) where X is a number from 0 to 239 (in accordance with your 240 pixel wide back buffer). Any touch below this area will give a touch input of (X,239). · If you keep the status bar visible, touches within its area will not be passed to your game. · In general, a screen measurement is the diagonal. So a 3.5” screen is 3.5” long from the bottom right corner to the top left corner. With an aspect ratio of 0.6 (480/800 = 0.6), this means that a phone with a 3.5” screen is only approximately 1.8” wide by 3” tall. So there are approximately 267 pixels in an inch on a 3.5” screen. · Again, this time in metric! 3.5 inches is approximately 8.89 cm. So an 8.89 cm screen is 8.89 cm long from the bottom right corner to the top left corner. With an aspect ratio of 0.6, this means that a phone with an 8.89 cm screen is only approximately 4.57 cm wide by 7.62 cm tall. So there are approximately 105 pixels in a centimeter on an 8.89 cm screen. · Think about the size of your finger tip. If you do not have large hands, think about the size of the fingertip of someone with large hands. Consider that when you are sizing your touch input. Especially consider that when you are spacing two touch targets near one another. You need to judge it for yourself, but items that are next to each other and are each 100x100 should be fine when it comes to selecting items individually. Smaller targets than that are ok provided that you leave space between them. · You want your users to have a pleasant experience. Making touch controls too small or too close to one another will make them nervous about whether they will touch the right target. Take this into account when you plan out your game initially. If possible, do some quick size mockups on an actual phone using colored rectangles that you position and size where you plan to have your game controls. Adjust as necessary. · People do not have transparent hands! Nor are their hands the size of a mouse pointer icon. Consider leaving a dedicated space for input rather than forcing the user to cover up to one-third of the screen with a finger just to play the game. · Another benefit of designing your controls to use a dedicated area is that you’re less likely to have players moving their finger(s) so frantically that they accidentally hit the back button, start button, or search button (many phones have one or more of these on the screen itself – it’s easy to hit one by accident and really annoying if you hit, e.g., the search button and then quickly tap back only to find out that the game didn’t save your progress such that you just wasted all the time you spent playing). · People do not like doing somersaults in order to move something forward with accelerometer-based controls. Test your accelerometer-based controls extensively and get a lot of feedback. Very well-known games from noted publishers have created really bad accelerometer controls and been virtually unplayable as a result. Also be wary of exceptions and other possible failures that the documentation warns about. · When done properly, the accelerometer can add a nice touch to your game (see, e.g. ilomilo where the accelerometer was used to move the background; it added a nice touch without frustrating the user; I also think CarniVale does direct accelerometer controls very well). However, if done poorly, it will make your game an abomination unto the Marketplace. Days, weeks, perhaps even months of development time that you will never get back. I won’t name names; you can search the marketplace for games with terrible reviews and you’ll find them. Graphics · The maximum frame rate is 30 frames per second. This was set as a compromise between battery life and quality. · At least one model of phone is known to have a screen refresh rate that is between 59 and 60 hertz. Because of this, using a fixed time step with a target frame rate of 30 will cause a slight internal delay to build up as the framework is forced to wait slightly for the next refresh. Eventually the delay will get to the point where a draw is skipped in order to recover from the delay. (See Nick's comment below for clarification.) · To deal with that delay, you can either stay with a fixed time step and set the frame rate slightly lower or else you can go to a variable time step and make sure to adjust all of your update data (e.g. player movement distance) to take into account the elapsed time from the last update. A variable time step makes your update logic slightly more complicated but will avoid frame skips entirely. · Currently there are no custom shaders. This might change in the future (there is no hardware limitation preventing it; it simply wasn’t a feature that could be implemented in the time available before launch). · There are five built-in shaders. You can create a lot of nice effects with the built-in shaders. · There is more power on the CPU than there is on the GPU so things you might typically off-load to the GPU will instead make sense to do on the CPU side. · This is a phone. It is not a PC. It is not an Xbox 360. The emulator runs on a PC and uses the full power of your PC. It is very good for testing your code for bugs and doing early prototyping and layout. You should not use it to measure performance. Use actual phone hardware instead. · There are many phone models, each of which has slightly different performance levels for I/O, screen blitting, CPU performance, etc. Do not take your game right to the performance limit on your phone since for some other phones you might be crossing their limits and leaving players with a bad experience. Leave a cushion to account for hardware differences. · Smaller screened phones will have slightly more dots per inch (dpi). Larger screened phones will have slightly less. Either way, the dpi will be much higher than the typical 96 found on most computer screens. Make sure that whoever is doing art for your game takes this into account. · Screens are only required to have 16 bit color (65,536 colors). This is common among smart phones. Using gradients on a 16 bit display can produce an ugly artifact known as banding. Banding is when, rather than a smooth transition from one color to another, you instead see distinct lines. Be careful to avoid this when possible. Banding can be avoided through careful art creation. Its effects can be minimized and even unnoticeable when the texture in question is always moving. You should be careful not to rely on “looks good on my phone” since some phones do have 32-bit displays and thus you’ll find yourself wondering why you’re getting bad reviews that complain about the graphics. Avoid gradients; if you can’t, make sure they are 16-bit safe. Audio · Never rely on sounds as your sole signal to the player that something is happening in the game. They might have the sound off. They might be playing somewhere loud. Etc. · You have to provide controls to disable sound & music. These should be separate. · On at least one model of phone, the volume control API currently has no effect. Players can adjust sound with their hardware volume buttons, but in game selectors simply won’t work. As such, it may not be worth the effort of providing anything beyond on/off switches for sound and music. · MediaPlayer.GameHasControl will return true when a game is hooked up to a PC running Zune. When Zune is running, any attempts to do anything (beyond check GameHasControl) with MediaPlayer will cause an exception to be thrown. If this exception is thrown, catch it and disable music. Exceptions take time to propagate; you don’t want one popping up in every single run of your game’s Update method. · Remember that players can already be listening to music or using the FM radio. In this case GameHasControl will be false and you should handle this appropriately. You can, alternately, ask the player for permission to stop their current music and play your music instead, but the (current) requirement that you restore their music when done is very hard (if not impossible) to deal with. · You can still play sound effects even when the game doesn’t have control of the music, but don’t think this is a backdoor to playing music. Your game will fail certification if your “sound effect” seems to be more like music in scope and length.

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• The True Cost of a Solution

  - by D'Arcy Lussier

  I had a Twitter chat recently with someone suggesting Oracle and SQL Server were losing out to OSS (Open Source Software) in the enterprise due to their issues with scaling or being too generic (one size fits all). I challenged that a bit, as my experience with enterprise sized clients has been different – adverse to OSS but receptive to an established vendor. The response I got was: Found it easier to influence change by showing how X can’t solve our problems or X is extremely costly to scale. Money talks. I think this is definitely the right approach for anyone pitching an alternate or alien technology as part of a solution: identify the issue, identify the solution, then present pros and cons including a cost/benefit analysis. What can happen though is we get tunnel vision and don’t present a full view of the costs associated with a solution. An “Acura”te Example (I’m so clever…) This is my dream vehicle, a Crystal Black Pearl coloured Acura MDX with the SH-AWD package! We’re a family of 4 (5 if my daughters ever get their wish of adding a dog), and I’ve always wanted a luxury type of vehicle, so this is a perfect replacement in a few years when our Rav 4 has hit the 8 – 10 year mark. MSRP – $62,890 But as we all know, that’s not *really* the cost of the vehicle. There’s taxes and fees added on, there’s the extended warranty if I choose to purchase it, there’s the finance rate that needs to be factored in… MSRP –   $62,890 Taxes –      $7,546 Warranty - $2,500 SubTotal – $72,936 Finance Charge – $ 1094.04 Grand Total – $74,030 Well! Glad we did that exercise – we discovered an extra $11k added on to the MSRP! Well now we have our true price…or do we? Lifetime of the Vehicle I’m expecting to have this vehicle for 7 – 10 years. While the hard cost of the vehicle is known and dealt with, the costs to run and maintain the vehicle are on top of this. I did some research, and here’s what I’ve found: Fuel and Mileage Gas prices are high as it is for regular fuel, but getting into an MDX will require that I *only* purchase premium fuel, which comes at a premium price. I need to expect my bill at the pump to be higher. Comparing the MDX to my 2007 Rav4 also shows I’ll be gassing up more often. The Rav4 has a city MPG of 21, while the MDX plummets to 16! The MDX does have a bigger fuel tank though, so all in all the number of times I hit the pumps might even out. Still, I estimate I’ll be spending approximately $8000 – $10000 more on gas over a 10 year period than my current Rav4. Service Options Limited Although I have options with my Toyota here in Winnipeg (we have 4 Toyota dealerships), I do go to my original dealer for any service work. Still, I like the fact that I have options. However, there’s only one Acura dealership in all of Winnipeg! So if, for whatever reason, I’m not satisfied with the level of service I’m stuck. Non Warranty Service Work Also let’s not forget that there’s a bulk of work required every year that is *not* covered under warranty – oil changes, tire rotations, brake pads, etc. I expect I’ll need to get new tires at the 5 years mark as well, which can easily be $1200 – $1500 (I just paid $1000 for new tires for the Rav4 and we’re at the 5 year mark). Now these aren’t going to be *new* costs that I’m not used to from our existing vehicles, but they should still be factored in. I’d budget $500/year, or $5000 over the 10 years I’ll own the vehicle. Final Assessment So let’s re-assess the true cost of my dream MDX: MSRP                    $62,890 Taxes                       $7,546 Warranty                 $2,500 Finance Charge         $1094 Gas                        $10,000 Service Work            $5000 Grand Total           $89,030 So now I have a better idea of 10 year cost overall, and I’ve identified some concerns with local service availability. And there’s now much more to consider over the original $62,890 price tag. Tying This Back to Technology Solutions The process that we just went through is no different than what organizations do when considering implementing a new system, technology, or technology based solution, within their environments. It’s easy to tout the short term cost savings of particular product/platform/technology in a vacuum. But its when you consider the wider impact that the true cost comes into play. Let’s create a scenario: A company is not happy with its current data reporting suite. An employee suggests moving to an open source solution. The selling points are: - Because its open source its free - The organization would have access to the source code so they could alter it however they wished - It provided features not available with the current reporting suite At first this sounds great to the management and executive, but then they start asking some questions and uncover more information: - The OSS product is built on a technology not used anywhere within the organization - There are no vendors offering product support for the OSS product - The OSS product requires a specific server platform to operate on, one that’s not standard in the organization All of a sudden, the true cost of implementing this solution is starting to become clearer. The company might save money on licensing costs, but their training costs would increase significantly – developers would need to learn how to develop in the technology the OSS solution was built on, IT staff must learn how to set up and maintain a new server platform within their existing infrastructure, and if a problem was found there was no vendor to contact for support. The true cost of implementing a “free” OSS solution is actually spinning up a project to implement it within the organization – no small cost. And that’s just the short-term cost. Now the organization must ensure they maintain trained staff who can make changes to the OSS reporting solution and IT staff that will stay knowledgeable in the new server platform. If those skills are very niche, then higher labour costs could be incurred if those people are hard to find or if trained employees use that knowledge as leverage for higher pay. Maybe a vendor exists that will contract out support, but then there are those costs to consider as well. And let’s not forget end-user training – in our example, anyone that runs reports will need to be trained on how to use the new system. Here’s the Point We still tend to look at software in an “off the shelf” kind of way. It’s very easy to say “oh, this product is better than vendor x’s product – and its free because its OSS!” but the reality is that implementing any new technology within an organization has a cost regardless of the retail price of the product. Training, integration, support – these are real costs that impact an organization and span multiple departments. Whether you’re pitching an improved business process, a new system, or a new technology, you need to consider the bigger picture costs of implementation. What you define as success (in our example, having better reporting functionality) might not be what others define as success if implementing your solution causes them issues. A true enterprise solution needs to consider the entire enterprise.

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• Getting Started with jqChart for ASP.NET Web Forms

  - by jqChart

  Official Site | Samples | Download | Documentation | Forum | Twitter Introduction jqChart takes advantages of HTML5 Canvas to deliver high performance client-side charts and graphs across browsers (IE 6+, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Safari) and devices, including iOS and Android mobile devices. Some of the key features are: High performance rendering. Animaitons. Scrolling/Zoooming. Support for unlimited number of data series and data points. Support for unlimited number of chart axes. True DateTime Axis. Logarithmic and Reversed axis scale. Large set of chart types - Bar, Column, Pie, Line, Spline, Area, Scatter, Bubble, Radar, Polar. Financial Charts - Stock Chart and Candlestick Chart. The different chart types can be easily combined.  System Requirements Browser Support jqChart supports all major browsers: Internet Explorer - 6+ Firefox Google Chrome Opera Safari jQuery version support jQuery JavaScript framework is required. We recommend using the latest official stable version of the jQuery library. Visual Studio Support jqChart for ASP.NET does not require using Visual Studio. You can use your favourite code editor. Still, the product has been tested with several versions of Visual Studio .NET and you can find the list of supported versions below: Visual Studio 2008 Visual Studio 2010 Visual Studio 2012 ASP.NET Web Forms support Supported version - ASP.NET Web Forms 3.5, 4.0 and 4.5 Installation Download and unzip the contents of the archive to any convenient location. The package contains the following folders: [bin] - Contains the assembly DLLs of the product (JQChart.Web.dll) for WebForms 3.5, 4.0 and 4.5. This is the assembly that you can reference directly in your web project (or better yet, add it to your ToolBox and then drag & drop it from there). [js] - The javascript files of jqChart and jqRangeSlider (and the needed libraries). You need to include them in your ASPX page, in order to gain the client side functionality of the chart. The first file is "jquery-1.5.1.min.js" - this is the official jQuery library. jqChart is built upon jQuery library version 1.4.3. The second file you need is the "excanvas.js" javascript file. It is used from the versions of IE, which dosn't support canvas graphics. The third is the jqChart javascript code itself, located in "jquery.jqChart.min.js". The last one is the jqRangeSlider javascript, located in "jquery.jqRangeSlider.min.js". It is used when the chart zooming is enabled. [css] - Contains the Css files that the jqChart and the jqRangeSlider need. [samples] - Contains some examples that use the jqChart. For full list of samples plese visit - jqChart for ASP.NET Samples. [themes] - Contains the themes shipped with the products. It is used from the jqRangeSlider. Since jqRangeSlider supports jQuery UI Themeroller, any theme compatible with jQuery UI ThemeRoller will work for jqRangeSlider as well. You can download any additional themes directly from jQuery UI's ThemeRoller site available here: http://jqueryui.com/themeroller/ or reference them from Microsoft's / Google's CDN. <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen" href="http://ajax.aspnetcdn.com/ajax/jquery.ui/1.8.21/themes/smoothness/jquery-ui.css" /> The final result you will have in an ASPX page containing jqChart would be something similar to that (assuming you have copied the [js] to the Script folder and [css] to Content folder of your ASP.NET site respectively). <%@ Page Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeBehind="Default.aspx.cs" Inherits="samples_cs.Default" %> <%@ Register Assembly="JQChart.Web" Namespace="JQChart.Web.UI.WebControls" TagPrefix="jqChart" %> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html > <head runat="server"> <title>jqChart ASP.NET Sample</title> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="~/Content/jquery.jqChart.css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="~/Content/jquery.jqRangeSlider.css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="~/Content/themes/smoothness/jquery-ui-1.8.21.css" /> <script src="<% = ResolveUrl("~/Scripts/jquery-1.5.1.min.js") %>" type="text/javascript"></script> <script src="<% = ResolveUrl("~/Scripts/jquery.jqRangeSlider.min.js") %>" type="text/javascript"></script> <script src="<% = ResolveUrl("~/Scripts/jquery.jqChart.min.js") %>" type="text/javascript"></script> <!--[if IE]><script lang="javascript" type="text/javascript" src="<% = ResolveUrl("~/Scripts/excanvas.js") %>"></script><![endif]--> </head> <body> <form id="form1" runat="server"> <asp:ObjectDataSource ID="ObjectDataSource1" runat="server" SelectMethod="GetData" TypeName="SamplesBrowser.Models.ChartData"></asp:ObjectDataSource> <jqChart:Chart ID="Chart1" Width="500px" Height="300px" runat="server" DataSourceID="ObjectDataSource1"> <Title Text="Chart Title"></Title> <Animation Enabled="True" Duration="00:00:01" /> <Axes> <jqChart:CategoryAxis Location="Bottom" ZoomEnabled="true"> </jqChart:CategoryAxis> </Axes> <Series> <jqChart:ColumnSeries XValuesField="Label" YValuesField="Value1" Title="Column"> </jqChart:ColumnSeries> <jqChart:LineSeries XValuesField="Label" YValuesField="Value2" Title="Line"> </jqChart:LineSeries> </Series> </jqChart:Chart> </form> </body> </html>   Official Site | Samples | Download | Documentation | Forum | Twitter

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• Getting Started With Tailoring Business Processes

  - by Richard Bingham

  In this article, and for the sake of simplicity, we will use the term “On-Premise” to mean a deployment where you have design-time development access to the instance, including administration of the technology components, the applications filesystem, and the database. In reality this might be a local development instance that is then supported by a team who can deploy your customizations to the restricted production instance equivalents. Tools Overview Firstly let’s look at the Design-Time tools within JDeveloper for customizing and extending the artifacts of a Business Process. In essence this falls into two buckets; SOA Composite Editor for working with BPEL processes, and the BPM Studio. The SOA Composite Editor As a standard extension to JDeveloper, this graphical design tool should be familiar to anyone previously worked with Oracle SOA Server. With easy-to-use modeling capability, backed-up by full XML source-view (for read-only), it provides everything that is needed to implement the technical design. In simple terms, once deployed to the remote SOA Server the composite components (like Mediator) leverage the Event Delivery Network (EDN) for interaction with the application logic. If you are customizing an existing Fusion Applications BPEL process then be aware that it does support MDS-based customization layers just like Page Composer where different customizations are used based on the run-time context, like for a specific Product or Business Unit. This also makes them safe from patching and upgrades, although only a single active version of the composite is available at run-time. This is defined by a field on the composite record, available in Enterprise Manager. Obviously if you wish to fire different activities and tasks based on the user context then you can should include switches to fork the flows in your custom BPEL process. Figure 1 – A BPEL process in Composite Editor The following describes the simplified steps for making customizations to BPEL processes. This is the most common method of changing the business processes of Fusion Applications, as over 400 BPEL-based composite applications are provided out-of-the-box. Setup your local Fusion Applications JDeveloper environment. The SOA Composite Editor should be installed as part of the Fusion Applications extension. If there are problems you can also find it under the ‘Check for Updates’ help menu option. Since SOA Server is not part of the JDeveloper integrated WebLogic Server, setup a standalone WebLogic environment for deploying and testing. Obviously you might use a Fusion Applications development instance also. Package the existing standard Fusion Applications SOA Composite using Enterprise Manager and export it as a complete SOA Archive (SAR) file, resulting in a local .jar file. You may need to ask your system administrator for this. Import the exported SAR .jar file into JDeveloper using the File menu, under the option ‘SOA Archive into SOA Project’. In JDeveloper set the appropriate customization layer values, and then change from the default role to the Fusion Applications Customization Developer role. Make the customizations and save the application project. Finally redeploy the composite application, either to a direct Application Server connection, or as a fresh SAR (jar) file that can then be re-imported and deployed via Enterprise Manager. The Business Process Management (BPM) Suite In addition to the relatively low-level development environment associated with BPEL process creation, Oracle provides a suite of products that allow business process adjustments to be made without the need for some of the programming skills.  The aim is to abstract much of the technical implementation and to provide a Business Analyst tools for immediately implementing organization changes. Obviously there are some limitations on what they can do, however the BPM Suite functionality increases with each release and for the majority of the cases the tools remains as applicable as its developer-orientated sister. At the current time business processes must be explicitly coded to support just one of these use-cases, either BPEL for developer use or BPM for business analyst use. That said, they both run on the same SOA Server in much the same way. The components bundled in each SOA Composite Application can be verified by inspection through Enterprise Manager. Figure 2 – A BPM Process in JDeveloper BPM Suite. BPM processes are written in a standard notation (BPMN) and the modeling tools are very similar to that of BPEL. The steps to deploy a custom BPM process are also essentially much the same, since the BPM process is bundled into a SOA Composite just like a BPEL process. As such the SOA Composite Editor  actually has support for both artifacts and even allows use of them together, such as a calling a BPM process as a partnerlink from a BPEL process. For more details see the references below. Business Analyst Tooling In addition to using JDeveloper extensions for BPM development, there are run-time tools that Business Analysts can use to make adjustments, so that without high costs of an IT project the system can be tuned to match changes to the business operation. The first tool to consider is the BPM Composer, deployed with the middleware SOA Server and accessible online, and for Fusion Applications it is under the Business Process icon on the homepage of the Application Composer. Figure 3 – Business Process Composer showing a CRM process flow. The key difference between this and using JDeveloper is that the BPM Composer has a Business Catalog prepopulated with features and functions that can be used, mostly through registered WebServices. This means no coding or complex interface development is required, simply drag-drop-configure. The items in the business catalog are seeded by either Oracle (as a BPM Template) or added to by your own custom development. You cannot create or generate catalog content from BPM Composer directly. As per the screenshot you can see the Business Catalog content in the BPM Project browser region. In addition, other online tools for use by Business Analysts include the BPM Worklist application for editing business rules and approval management configuration, plus the SOA Composer which focuses on non-approval business rules and domain value maps. At the current time there are only a handful of BPM processes shipped with Fusion Applications HCM and CRM, including on-boarding workers and processing customer registrations.  This also means a limited number of associated BPM Templates provided out-of-the-box, therefore a limited Business Catalog. That said, BPM-based extension is a powerful capability to leverage and will most likely develop going forwards, especially for use in SaaS deployments where full design-time JDeveloper access is not available. Further Reading For BPEL – Fusion Applications Extensibility Guide – Section 12 For BPM – Fusion Applications Extensibility Guide – Section 7 The product-specific documentation and implementation guides for Fusion Applications Fusion Middleware Developers Guide for SOA Suite Modeling and Implementation Guide for Oracle Business Process Management User’s Guide for Oracle Business Process Composer Oracle University courses on BPM Suite and SOA Development

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• PASS Summit 2010 BI Workshop Feedbacks

  - by Davide Mauri

  As many other speakers already did, I’d like to share with the SQL Community the feedback of my PASS Summit 2010 Workshop. For those who were not there, my workshop was the “BI From A-Z” and the main objective of that workshop was to introduce people in the BI world not only from a technical point of view but insist a lot on the methodological and “engineered” approach. The will to put more engineering in the IT (and specially in the BI field) is something that has been growing stronger and stronger in me every day for of this last 5 years since is simply envy the fact that Airbus, Fincatieri, BMW (just to name a few) can create very complex machine “just” using putting people together and giving them some rules to follow (Of course this is an oversimplification but I think you get what I mean). The key point of engineering is that, after having defined the project blueprint, you have the possibility to give to a huge number of people, the rules to follow, the correct tools in order to implement the rules easily and semi-automatically and a way to measure the quality of the results. Could this be done in IT? Very big question, so my scope is now limited to BI. So that’s the main point of my workshop: and entry-level approach to BI (level was 200) in order to allow attendees to know the basics, to understand what tools they should use for which purpose and, above all, a set of rules and tools in order to make a BI solution scalable in terms of people working on it, while still maintaining a very good quality. All done not focusing only on the practice but explaining the theory behind to see how it can help *a lot* to build a correct solution despite the technology used to implement it. The idea is to reach a point where more then 70% of the work done to create a BI solution can be reused even if technologies changes. This is a very demanding challenge nowadays with the coming of Denali and its column-aligned storage and the shiny-new DAX language. As you may understand I was looking forward to get the feedback since you may have noticed that there’s a lot of “architectural” stuff in IT but really nothing on “engineering”. So how the session could be perceived by the attendees was really unknown to me. The feedback could also give a good indication if the need of more “engineering” is something I feel only by myself or if is something more broad. I’m very happy to be able to say that the overall score of 4.75 put my workshop in the TOP 20 session (on near 200 sessions)! Here’s the detailed evaluations: How would you rate the usefulness of the information presented in your day-to-day environment? 4.75 Answer:    # of Responses 3    1         4    12        5    42               How would you rate the Speaker's presentation skills? 4.80 Answer:    # of Responses 3 : 1         4 : 9         5 : 45               How would you rate the Speaker's knowledge of the subject? 4.95 Answer:    # of Responses 4 :  3         5 : 52               How would you rate the accuracy of the session title, description and experience level to the actual session? 4.75 Answer:    # of Responses 3 : 2         4 : 10         5 : 43               How would you rate the amount of time allocated to cover the topic/session? 4.44 Answer:    # of Responses 3 : 7         4 : 17        5 : 31               How would you rate the quality of the presentation materials? 4.62 Answer:    # of Responses 4 : 21        5 : 34 The comments where all very positive. Many of them asked for more time on the subject (or to shorten the very last topics). I’ll make treasure of these comments and will review the content accordingly. We’ll organize a two-day classes on this topic, where also more examples will be shown and some arguments will be explained more deeply. I’d just like to answer a comment that asks how much of what I shown is “universally applicable”. I can tell you that all of our BI project follow these rules and they’ve been applied to different markets (Insurance, Fashion, GDO) with different people and different teams and they allowed us to be “Adaptive” against the customer. The more the rules are well defined and the more there are tools that supports their implementations, the easier is to add new people to the project and to add or change solution features. Think of a car. How come that almost any mechanic can help you to fix a problem? Because they know what to expect. Because there a rules that allow them to identify the problem without having to discover each time how the car has been implemented build. And this is of course also true for car upgrades/improvements. Last but not least: thanks a lot to everyone for coming!

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• Creating PHP Forms with show/hide functionality [migrated]

  - by ronquiq

  I want to create two reports and submit the report data to database by using two functions defined in a class: Here I have two buttons: "Create ES" and "Create RP". Rightnow, my forms are working fine, I can insert data successfully, but the problem was when I click on submit after filling the form data, the content is hiding and displays the fist div content "cs_content" and again I need to onclick to submit again. Could anyone give a solution for this. Requirement : When I click on "Create CS", I should be able to fill the form and submit data successfully with a message within "cs_content" and any form input errors, the errors should display within "cs_content". When I click on "Create RP", I should be able to fill the form and submit data successfully with a message within "rp_content" and any form input errors, the errors should display within "rp_content". home.php <?php require 'classes/class.report.php'; $report = new Report($db); ?> <html> <head> <script src="js/jqueryv1.10.2.js"></script> <script> $ (document).ready(function () { //$("#cs_content").show(); $('#cs').click(function () { $('#cs_content').fadeIn('slow'); $('#rp_content').hide(); }); $('#rp').click(function () { $('#rp_content').fadeIn('slow'); $('#cs_content').hide(); }); }); </script> </head> <body> <div class="container2"> <div style="margin:0px 0px;padding:3px 217px;overflow:hidden;"> <div id="cs" style="float:left;margin:0px 0px;padding:7px;"><input type="button" value="CREATE CS"></div> <div id="rp" style="float:left;margin:0px 0px;padding:7px;"><input type="button" value="CREATE RP"></div><br> </div> <div id="cs_content"> <?php $report->create_cs_report(); ?> </div> <div id="rp_content" style="display:none;"> <?php $report->create_rp_report(); ?> </div> </div> </body> </html> class.report.php <?php class Report { private $db; public function __construct($database){ $this->db = $database; } public function create_cs_report() { if (isset($_POST['create_es_report'])) { $report_name = htmlentities($_POST['report_name']); $from_address = htmlentities($_POST['from_address']); $subject = htmlentities($_POST['subject']); $reply_to = htmlentities($_POST['reply_to']); if (empty($_POST['report_name']) || empty($_POST['from_address']) || empty($_POST['subject']) || empty($_POST['reply_to'])) { $errors[] = '<span class="error">All fields are required.</span>'; } else { if (isset($_POST['report_name']) && empty($_POST['report_name'])) { $errors[] = '<span class="error">Report Name is required</span>'; } else if (!ctype_alnum($_POST['report_name'])) { $errors[] = '<span class="error">Report Name: Whitespace is not allowed, only alphabets and numbers are required</span>'; } if (isset($_POST['from_address']) && empty($_POST['from_address'])) { $errors[] = '<span class="error">From address is required</span>'; } else if (filter_var($_POST['from_address'], FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL) === false) { $errors[] = '<span class="error">Please enter a valid From address</span>'; } if (isset($_POST['subject']) && empty($_POST['subject'])) { $errors[] = '<span class="error">Subject is required</span>'; } else if (!ctype_alnum($_POST['subject'])) { $errors[] = '<span class="error">Subject: Whitespace is not allowed, only alphabets and numbers are required</span>'; } if (isset($_POST['reply_to']) && empty($_POST['reply_to'])) { $errors[] = '<span class="error">Reply To is required</span>'; } else if (filter_var($_POST['reply_to'], FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL) === false) { $errors[] = '<span class="error">Please enter a valid Reply-To address</span>'; } } if (empty($errors) === true) { $query = $this->db->prepare("INSERT INTO report(report_name, from_address, subject, reply_to) VALUES (?, ?, ?, ?) "); $query->bindValue(1, $report_name); $query->bindValue(2, $from_address); $query->bindValue(3, $subject); $query->bindValue(4, $reply_to); try { $query->execute(); } catch(PDOException $e) { die($e->getMessage()); } header('Location:home.php?success'); exit(); } } if (isset($_GET['success']) && empty($_GET['success'])) { header('Location:home.php'); echo '<span class="error">Report is succesfully created</span>'; } ?> <form action="" method="POST" accept-charset="UTF-8"> <div style="font-weight:bold;padding:17px 80px;text-decoration:underline;">Section A</div> <table class="create_report"> <tr><td><label>Report Name</label><span style="color:#A60000">*</span></td> <td><input type="text" name="report_name" required placeholder="Name of the report" value="<?php if(isset($_POST["report_name"])) echo $report_name; ?>" size="30" maxlength="30"> </td></tr> <tr><td><label>From</label><span style="color:#A60000">*</span></td> <td><input type="text" name="from_address" required placeholder="From address" value="<?php if(isset($_POST["from_address"])) echo $from_address; ?>" size="30"> </td></tr> <tr><td><label>Subject</label><span style="color:#A60000">*</span></td> <td><input type="text" name="subject" required placeholder="Subject" value="<?php if(isset($_POST["subject"])) echo $subject; ?>" size="30"> </td></tr> <tr><td><label>Reply To</label><span style="color:#A60000">*</span></td> <td><input type="text" name="reply_to" required placeholder="Reply address" value="<?php if(isset($_POST["reply_to"])) echo $reply_to; ?>" size="30"> </td></tr> <tr><td><input type="submit" value="create report" style="background:#8AC007;color:#080808;padding:6px;" name="create_es_report"></td></tr> </table> </form> <?php //IF THERE ARE ERRORS, THEY WOULD BE DISPLAY HERE if (empty($errors) === false) { echo '<div>' . implode('</p><p>', $errors) . '</div>'; } } public function create_rp_report() { if (isset($_POST['create_rp_report'])) { $report_name = htmlentities($_POST['report_name']); $to_address = htmlentities($_POST['to_address']); $subject = htmlentities($_POST['subject']); $reply_to = htmlentities($_POST['reply_to']); if (empty($_POST['report_name']) || empty($_POST['to_address']) || empty($_POST['subject']) || empty($_POST['reply_to'])) { $errors[] = '<span class="error">All fields are required.</span>'; } else { if (isset($_POST['report_name']) && empty($_POST['report_name'])) { $errors[] = '<span class="error">Report Name is required</span>'; } else if (!ctype_alnum($_POST['report_name'])) { $errors[] = '<span class="error">Report Name: Whitespace is not allowed, only alphabets and numbers are required</span>'; } if (isset($_POST['to_address']) && empty($_POST['to_address'])) { $errors[] = '<span class="error">to address is required</span>'; } else if (filter_var($_POST['to_address'], FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL) === false) { $errors[] = '<span class="error">Please enter a valid to address</span>'; } if (isset($_POST['subject']) && empty($_POST['subject'])) { $errors[] = '<span class="error">Subject is required</span>'; } else if (!ctype_alnum($_POST['subject'])) { $errors[] = '<span class="error">Subject: Whitespace is not allowed, only alphabets and numbers are required</span>'; } if (isset($_POST['reply_to']) && empty($_POST['reply_to'])) { $errors[] = '<span class="error">Reply To is required</span>'; } else if (filter_var($_POST['reply_to'], FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL) === false) { $errors[] = '<span class="error">Please enter a valid Reply-To address</span>'; } } if (empty($errors) === true) { $query = $this->db->prepare("INSERT INTO report(report_name, to_address, subject, reply_to) VALUES (?, ?, ?, ?) "); $query->bindValue(1, $report_name); $query->bindValue(2, $to_address); $query->bindValue(3, $subject); $query->bindValue(4, $reply_to); try { $query->execute(); } catch(PDOException $e) { die($e->getMessage()); } header('Location:home.php?success'); exit(); } } if (isset($_GET['success']) && empty($_GET['success'])) { header('Location:home.php'); echo '<span class="error">Report is succesfully created</span>'; } ?> <form action="" method="POST" accept-charset="UTF-8"> <div style="font-weight:bold;padding:17px 80px;text-decoration:underline;">Section A</div> <table class="create_report"> <tr><td><label>Report Name</label><span style="color:#A60000">*</span></td> <td><input type="text" name="report_name" required placeholder="Name of the report" value="<?php if(isset($_POST["report_name"])) echo $report_name; ?>" size="30" maxlength="30"> </td></tr> <tr><td><label>to</label><span style="color:#A60000">*</span></td> <td><input type="text" name="to_address" required placeholder="to address" value="<?php if(isset($_POST["to_address"])) echo $to_address; ?>" size="30"> </td></tr> <tr><td><label>Subject</label><span style="color:#A60000">*</span></td> <td><input type="text" name="subject" required placeholder="Subject" value="<?php if(isset($_POST["subject"])) echo $subject; ?>" size="30"> </td></tr> <tr><td><label>Reply To</label><span style="color:#A60000">*</span></td> <td><input type="text" name="reply_to" required placeholder="Reply address" value="<?php if(isset($_POST["reply_to"])) echo $reply_to; ?>" size="30"> </td></tr> <tr><td><input type="submit" value="create report" style="background:#8AC007;color:#080808;padding:6px;" name="create_rp_report"></td></tr> </table> </form> <?php //IF THERE ARE ERRORS, THEY WOULD BE DISPLAY HERE if (empty($errors) === false) { echo '<div>' . implode('</p><p>', $errors) . '</div>'; } } }//Report CLASS ENDS

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• Box2D blocky map. Body, Fixtures a huge map and performance

  - by Solom

  Right now I'm still in the planning phase of a my very first game. I'm creating a "Minecraft"-like game in 2D that features blocks that can be destroyed as well as players moving around the map. For creating the map I chose a 2D-Array of Integers that represent the Block ID. For testing purposes I created a huge map (16348 * 256) and in my prototype that didn't use Box2D everything worked like a charm. I only rendered those blocks that where within the bounds of my camera and got 60 fps straight. The problem started when I decided to use an existing physics-solution rather than implementing my own one. What I had was basically simple hitboxes around the blocks and then I had to manually check if the player collided with any of those in his neighborhood. For more advanced physics as well as the collision detection I want to switch over to Box2D. The problem I have right now is ... how to go about the bodies? I mean, the blocks are of a static bodytype. They don't move on their own, they just are there to be collided with. But as far as I can see it, every block needs his own body with a rectangular fixture attached to it, so as to be destroyable. But for a huge map such as mine, this turns out to be a real performance bottle-neck. (In fact even a rather small map [compared to the other] of 1024*256 is unplayable.) I mean I create thousands of thousands of blocks. Even if I just render those that are in my immediate neighborhood there are hundreds of them and (at least with the debugRenderer) I drop to 1 fps really quickly (on my own "monster machine"). I thought about strategies like creating just one body, attaching multiple fixtures and only if a fixture got hit, separate it from the body, create a new one and destroy it, but this didn't turn out quite as successful as hoped. (In fact the core just dumps. Ah hello C! I really missed you :X) Here is the code: public class Box2DGameScreen implements Screen { private World world; private Box2DDebugRenderer debugRenderer; private OrthographicCamera camera; private final float TIMESTEP = 1 / 60f; // 1/60 of a second -> 1 frame per second private final int VELOCITYITERATIONS = 8; private final int POSITIONITERATIONS = 3; private Map map; private BodyDef blockBodyDef; private FixtureDef blockFixtureDef; private BodyDef groundDef; private Body ground; private PolygonShape rectangleShape; @Override public void show() { world = new World(new Vector2(0, -9.81f), true); debugRenderer = new Box2DDebugRenderer(); camera = new OrthographicCamera(); // Pixel:Meter = 16:1 // Body definition BodyDef ballDef = new BodyDef(); ballDef.type = BodyDef.BodyType.DynamicBody; ballDef.position.set(0, 1); // Fixture definition FixtureDef ballFixtureDef = new FixtureDef(); ballFixtureDef.shape = new CircleShape(); ballFixtureDef.shape.setRadius(.5f); // 0,5 meter ballFixtureDef.restitution = 0.75f; // between 0 (not jumping up at all) and 1 (jumping up the same amount as it fell down) ballFixtureDef.density = 2.5f; // kg / m² ballFixtureDef.friction = 0.25f; // between 0 (sliding like ice) and 1 (not sliding) // world.createBody(ballDef).createFixture(ballFixtureDef); groundDef = new BodyDef(); groundDef.type = BodyDef.BodyType.StaticBody; groundDef.position.set(0, 0); ground = world.createBody(groundDef); this.map = new Map(20, 20); rectangleShape = new PolygonShape(); // rectangleShape.setAsBox(1, 1); blockFixtureDef = new FixtureDef(); // blockFixtureDef.shape = rectangleShape; blockFixtureDef.restitution = 0.1f; blockFixtureDef.density = 10f; blockFixtureDef.friction = 0.9f; } @Override public void render(float delta) { Gdx.gl.glClearColor(1, 1, 1, 1); Gdx.gl.glClear(GL20.GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT); debugRenderer.render(world, camera.combined); drawMap(); world.step(TIMESTEP, VELOCITYITERATIONS, POSITIONITERATIONS); } private void drawMap() { for(int a = 0; a < map.getHeight(); a++) { /* if(camera.position.y - (camera.viewportHeight/2) > a) continue; if(camera.position.y - (camera.viewportHeight/2) < a) break; */ for(int b = 0; b < map.getWidth(); b++) { /* if(camera.position.x - (camera.viewportWidth/2) > b) continue; if(camera.position.x - (camera.viewportWidth/2) < b) break; */ /* blockBodyDef = new BodyDef(); blockBodyDef.type = BodyDef.BodyType.StaticBody; blockBodyDef.position.set(b, a); world.createBody(blockBodyDef).createFixture(blockFixtureDef); */ PolygonShape rectangleShape = new PolygonShape(); rectangleShape.setAsBox(1, 1, new Vector2(b, a), 0); blockFixtureDef.shape = rectangleShape; ground.createFixture(blockFixtureDef); rectangleShape.dispose(); } } } @Override public void resize(int width, int height) { camera.viewportWidth = width / 16; camera.viewportHeight = height / 16; camera.update(); } @Override public void hide() { dispose(); } @Override public void pause() { } @Override public void resume() { } @Override public void dispose() { world.dispose(); debugRenderer.dispose(); } } As you can see I'm facing multiple problems here. I'm not quite sure how to check for the bounds but also if the map is bigger than 24*24 like 1024*256 Java just crashes -.-. And with 24*24 I get like 9 fps. So I'm doing something really terrible here, it seems and I assume that there most be a (much more performant) way, even with Box2D's awesome physics. Any other ideas? Thanks in advance!

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• VNIC - New feature of AK8 - Working with VNICs

  - by Steve Tunstall

  One of the important new features of the AK8 code is the ability to use multiple IP addresses on the same physical network port. This feature is called VNICs, or Virtual NICs. This allows us to no longer "burn" a whole port in a cluster when one cluster peer owns a network port. Traditionally, we have had to leave Net0 empty on controller 2, because it was used for managing controller 1. Vise-versa for Net1 on Controller 1. Then, if you have data going over 10GigE ports, you probably only had half of your ports running at any given time, and the partner 10GigE port on the other controller just sat there, doing nothing, unless the first controller went down. What a waste. Those days are over.  I want to thank and give a big shout-out to our good partner, OnX Enterprise Solutions, for allowing me to come into their lab and play around with their 7320 to do this demo. They let me make a big mess of their lab for the day as I played around with VNICs. If you're looking for a partner who knows Oracle well and can also piece together a solution from multiple vendors to get you what you need, OnX is a good choice. If you would like to talk to your local OnX rep, you can contact Scott Gill at [email protected] and he can point you in the right direction for your area.  Here we go: Here is what your Datalinks window looks like BEFORE you upgrade to AK8. Here's what the same screen looks like after you upgrade. See the new box? So here is my current network setup. I have my 4 physical interfaces setup each with an IP address. If I ping them, no problems.  So I can ping 180, 181, 251, and 252. However, if I try to ping 240, it does not work, as the 240 address is not being used by any of these interfaces, right?Let's change that. Here, I'm going to make a new Datalink by clicking the Datalink "Plus sign" button. I will check the VNIC box and tell it to use igb2, even though another interface is already using it. Now, I will create a new Interface, and choose "v_dl2" for it's datalink. My new network screen looks like this. A few things to take note of here. First, when I click the "igb2" device, it only highlights dl2 and int2. It does not highlight v_dl2 or v_int2.I think it should, but OK, it looks like VNICs don't highlight when you click the device. Second, note how the underscore character in v_dl2 and v_int2 do not seem to show on this screen. You can see it plainly if you go in and edit them, but from here it looks like a space instead of an underscore. Just a cosmetic bug, but something to be aware of. Now, if I click the VNIC datalink "v_dl2", on the other hand, it DOES highlight the device it belongs to, as it should. Seen here: Note that it did not, however, highlight int2 with it, even though int2 is connected to igb2. That's because we clicked v_dl2, which int2 has nothing to do with. So I'm OK with that. So let's try pinging 240 now. Of course, it works great.  So I now make another VNIC, and call it v_dl3 using igb3, and v_int3 with an address of 241. I then setup three shares, using ports 251, 240, and 241.Remember that IP 251 and 240 both are using the same physical port of igb2, and IP 241 is using port igb3. Next, I copy a folder full of stuff over to all three shares at the same time. I have analytics going so I can see the traffic. My top chart is showing the logical interfaces, and the bottom chart is showing the physical ports.Sure enough, look at the igb2 and vnic1 interfaces. They equal the traffic going over the igb2 physical port on the second chart. VNIC2, on the other hand, gets igb3 all to itself. This would work the same way with 10Gig or Infiniband ports. You can now have multiple IP addresses and even completely different subnets sharing the same physical ports. You may need to make route table entries for that. This allows us to use all of the ports you paid for with no more waste.  Very, very cool.  One small "bug" I found when doing this. It's really not a bug, it was designed to do this when VNICs were not around. But now that we have NVIC capability, they should probably change this. I've alerted the engineering team about this and they're looking into it, so perhaps it will be fixed in a later code. Here it is. Remember when we made the new VNIC datalink, I specifically said to click on the "Plus Sign" button to create it? I don't always do that. I really like to use the drag-and-drop method to create my datalinks in the network screen.HOWEVER, if you were to do that for building a VNIC, it will mess you up a little. Watch this. Here, I'm dragging igb3 over to make a new datalink. igb3 is already being used by dl3, but I'm going to make this a VNIC, so who cares, right? Well, the ZFSSA does not KNOW you are going to make it a VNIC, now does it? So... it works as designed and REMOVES the igb3 device from the current dl3 datalink in the background. See how it's now missing? At the same time, the dl3 datalink choice is missing from my list of possible VNICs for me to choose from!!!! Hey!!! I wanted to pick dl3. Why isn't it on the list??? Well, it can't be on this list because dl3 no longer has a device associated with it. Bummer for you. When you click cancel, the device is still missing from dl3. The fix is easy. Just edit dl3 by clicking the pencil button, do absolutely nothing, and click "Apply". The device will magically come back. Now, make the VNIC datalink by clicking the "Plus Sign" button. Sure enough, once you check the VNIC box, dl3 is a valid choice. No problem.  That's it for now. Have fun with VNICs.

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• Combining Shared Secret and Certificates

  - by Michael Stephenson

  As discussed in the introduction article this walkthrough will explain how you can implement WCF security with the Windows Azure Service Bus to ensure that you can protect your endpoint in the cloud with a shared secret but also combine this with certificates so that you can identify the sender of the message.   Prerequisites As in the previous article before going into the walk through I want to explain a few assumptions about the scenario we are implementing but to keep the article shorter I am not going to walk through all of the steps in how to setup some of this. In the solution we have a simple console application which will represent the client application. There is also the services WCF application which contains the WCF service we will expose via the Windows Azure Service Bus. The WCF Service application in this example was hosted in IIS 7 on Windows 2008 R2 with AppFabric Server installed and configured to auto-start the WCF listening services. I am not going to go through significant detail around the IIS setup because it should not matter in relation to this article however if you want to understand more about how to configure WCF and IIS for such a scenario please refer to the following paper which goes into a lot of detail about how to configure this. The link is: http://tinyurl.com/8s5nwrz   Setting up the Certificates To keep the post and sample simple I am going to use the local computer store for all certificates but this bit is really just the same as setting up certificates for an example where you are using WCF without using Windows Azure Service Bus. In the sample I have included two batch files which you can use to create the sample certificates or remove them. Basically you will end up with: A certificate called PocServerCert in the personal store for the local computer which will be used by the WCF Service component A certificate called PocClientCert in the personal store for the local computer which will be used by the client application A root certificate in the Root store called PocRootCA with its associated revocation list which is the root from which the client and server certificates were created   For the sample Im just using development certificates like you would normally, and you can see exactly how these are configured and placed in the stores from the batch files in the solution using makecert and certmgr.   The Service Component To begin with let's look at the service component and how it can be configured to listen to the service bus using a shared secret but to also accept a username token from the client. In the sample the service component is called Acme.Azure.ServiceBus.Poc.Cert.Services. It has a single service which is the Visual Studio template for a WCF service when you add a new WCF Service Application so we have a service called Service1 with its Echo method. Nothing special so far!.... The next step is to look at the web.config file to see how we have configured the WCF service. In the services section of the WCF configuration you can see I have created my service and I have created a local endpoint which I simply used to do a little bit of diagnostics and to check it was working, but more importantly there is the Windows Azure endpoint which is using the ws2007HttpRelayBinding (note that this should also work just the same if your using netTcpRelayBinding). The key points to note on the above picture are the service behavior called MyServiceBehaviour and the service bus endpoints behavior called MyEndpointBehaviour. We will go into these in more detail later.   The Relay Binding The relay binding for the service has been configured to use the TransportWithMessageCredential security mode. This is the important bit where the transport security really relates to the interaction between the service and listening to the Azure Service Bus and the message credential is where we will use our certificate like we have specified in the message/clientCrentialType attribute. Note also that we have left the relayClientAuthenticationType set to RelayAccessToken. This means that authentication will be made against ACS for accessing the service bus and messages will not be accepted from any sender who has not been authenticated by ACS.   The Endpoint Behaviour In the below picture you can see the endpoint behavior which is configured to use the shared secret client credential for accessing the service bus and also for diagnostic purposes I have included the service registry element.     Hopefully if you are familiar with using Windows Azure Service Bus relay feature the above is very familiar to you and this is a very common setup for this section. There is nothing specific to the username token implementation here. The Service Behaviour Now we come to the bit with most of the certificate stuff in it. When you configure the service behavior I have included the serviceCredentials element and then setup to use the clientCertificate check and also specifying the serviceCertificate with information on how to find the servers certificate in the store.     I have also added a serviceAuthorization section where I will implement my own authorization component to perform additional security checks after the service has validated that the message was signed with a good certificate. I also have the same serviceSecurityAudit configuration to log access to my service. My Authorization Manager The below picture shows you implementation of my authorization manager. WCF will eventually hand off the message to my authorization component before it calls the service code. This is where I can perform some logic to check if the identity is allowed to access resources. In this case I am simple rejecting messages from anyone except the PocClientCertificate.     The Client Now let's take a look at the client side of this solution and how we can configure the client to authenticate against ACS but also send a certificate over to the service component so it can implement additional security checks on-premise. I have a console application and in the program class I want to use the proxy generated with Add Service Reference to send a message via the Azure Service Bus. You can see in my WCF client configuration below I have setup my details for the azure service bus url and am using the ws2007HttpRelayBinding.   Next is my configuration for the relay binding. You can see below I have configured security to use TransportWithMessageCredential so we will flow the token from a certificate with the message and also the RelayAccessToken relayClientAuthenticationType which means the component will validate against ACS before being allowed to access the relay endpoint to send a message.     After the binding we need to configure the endpoint behavior like in the below picture. This contains the normal transportClientEndpointBehaviour to setup the ACS shared secret configuration but we have also configured the clientCertificate to look for the PocClientCert.     Finally below we have the code of the client in the console application which will call the service bus. You can see that we have created our proxy and then made a normal call to a WCF in exactly the normal way but the configuration will jump in and ensure that a token is passed representing the client certificate.     Conclusion As you can see from the above walkthrough it is not too difficult to configure a service to use both a shared secret and certificate based token at the same time. This gives you the power and protection offered by the access control service in the cloud but also the ability to flow additional tokens to the on-premise component for additional security features to be implemented. Sample The sample used in this post is available at the following location: https://s3.amazonaws.com/CSCBlogSamples/Acme.Azure.ServiceBus.Poc.Cert.zip

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• Who could ask for more with LESS CSS? (Part 2 of 3&ndash;Setup)

  - by ToStringTheory

  Welcome to part two in my series covering the LESS CSS language.  In the first post, I covered the two major CSS precompiled languages - LESS and SASS to a small extent, iterating over some of the features that you could expect to find in them.  In this post, I will go a little further in depth into the setup and execution of using the LESS framework. Introduction It really doesn’t take too much to get LESS working in your project.  The basic workflow will be including the necessary translator in your project, defining bundles for the LESS files, add the necessary code to your layouts.cshtml file, and finally add in all your necessary styles to the LESS files!  Lets get started… New Project Just like all great experiments in Visual Studio, start up a File > New Project, and create a new MVC 4 Web Application.  The Base Package After you have the new project spun up, use the Nuget Package Manager to install the Bundle Transformer: LESS package. This will take care of installing the main translator that we will be using for LESS code (dotless which is another Nuget package), as well as the core framework for the Bundle Transformer library.  The installation will come up with some instructions in a readme file on how to modify your web.config to handle all your *.less requests through the Bundle Transformer, which passes the translating onto dotless. Where To Put These LESS Files?! This step isn’t really a requirement, however I find that I don’t like how ASP.Net MVC just has a content directory where they store CSS, content images, css images….  In my project, I went ahead and created a new directory just for styles – LESS files, CSS files, and images that are only referenced in LESS or CSS.  Ignore the MVC directory as this was my testbed for another project I was working on at the same time.  As you can see here, I have: A top level directory for images which contains only images used in a page A top level directory for scripts A top level directory for Styles A few directories for plugins I am using (Colrizr, JQueryUI, Farbtastic) Multiple *.less files for different functions (I’ll go over these in a minute) I find that this layout offers the best separation of content types.  Bring Out Your Bundles! The next thing that we need to do is add in the necessary code for the bundling of these LESS files.  Go ahead and open your BundleConfig.cs file, usually located in the /App_Start/ folder of the project.  As you will see in a minute, instead of using the method Microsoft does in the base MVC 4 project, I change things up a bit.  Define Constants The first thing I do is define constants for each of the virtual paths that will be used in the bundler: The main reason is that I hate magic strings in my program, so the fact that you first defined a virtual path in the BundleConfig file, and then used that path in the _Layout.cshtml file really irked me. Add Bundles to the BundleCollection Next, I am going to define the bundles for my styles in my AddStyleBundles method: That is all it takes to get all of my styles in play with LESS.  The CssTransformer and NullOrderer types come from the Bundle Transformer we grabbed earlier.  If we didn’t use that package, we would have to write our own function (not too hard, but why do it if it’s been done). I use the site.less file as my main hub for LESS - I will cover that more in the next section. Add Bundles To Layout.cshtml File With the constants in the BundleConfig file, instead of having to use the same magic string I defined for the bundle virtual path, I am able to do this: Notice here that besides the RenderSection magic strings (something I am working on in another side project), all of the bundles are now based on const strings.  If I need to change the virtual path, I only have to do it in one place.  Nifty! Get Started! We are now ready to roll!  As I said in the previous section, I use the site.less file as a central hub for my styles: As seen here, I have a reset.css file which is a simple CSS reset.  Next, I have created a file for managing all my color variables – colors.less: Here, you can see some of the standards I started to use, in this case for color variables.  I define all color variables with the @col prefix.  Currently, I am going for verbose variable names. The next file imported is my font.less file that defines the typeface information for the site: Simple enough.  A couple of imports for fonts from Google, and then declaring variables for use throughout LESS.  I also set up the heading sizes, margins, etc..  You can also see my current standardization for font declaration strings – @font. Next, I pull in a mixins.less file that I grabbed from the Twitter Bootstrap library that gives some useful parameterized mixins for use such as border-radius, gradient, box-shadow, etc… The common.less file is a file that just contains items that I will be defining that can be used across all my LESS files.  Kind of like my own mixins or font-helpers: Finally I have my layout.less file that contains all of my definitions for general site layout – width, main/sidebar widths, footer layout, etc: That’s it!  For the rest of my one off definitions/corrections, I am currently putting them into the site.less file beneath my original imports Note Probably my favorite side effect of using the LESS handler/translator while bundling is that it also does a CSS checkup when rendering…  See, when your web.config is set to debug, bundling will output the url to the direct less file, not the bundle, and the http handler intercepts the call, compiles the less, and returns the result.  If there is an error in your LESS code, the CSS file can be returned empty, or may have the error output as a comment on the first couple lines. If you have the web.config set to not debug, then if there is an error in your code, you will end up with the usual ASP.Net exception page (unless you catch the exception of course), with information regarding the failure of the conversion, such as brace mismatch, undefined variable, etc…  I find it nifty. Conclusion This is really just the beginning.  LESS is very powerful and exciting!  My next post will show an actual working example of why LESS is so powerful with its functions and variables…  At least I hope it will!  As for now, if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions on my current practice, I would love to hear them!  Feel free to drop a comment or shoot me an email using the contact page.  In the mean time, I plan on posting the final post in this series tomorrow or the day after, with my side project, as well as a whole base ASP.Net MVC4 templated project with LESS added in it so that you can check out the layout I have in this post.  Until next time…

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• Data Source Connection Pool Sizing

  - by Steve Felts

  Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} One of the most time-consuming procedures of a database application is establishing a connection. The connection pooling of the data source can be used to minimize this overhead.  That argues for using the data source instead of accessing the database driver directly. Configuring the size of the pool in the data source is somewhere between an art and science – this article will try to move it closer to science.  From the beginning, WLS data source has had an initial capacity and a maximum capacity configuration values.  When the system starts up and when it shrinks, initial capacity is used.  The pool can grow to maximum capacity.  Customers found that they might want to set the initial capacity to 0 (more on that later) but didn’t want the pool to shrink to 0.  In WLS 10.3.6, we added minimum capacity to specify the lower limit to which a pool will shrink.  If minimum capacity is not set, it defaults to the initial capacity for upward compatibility.   We also did some work on the shrinking in release 10.3.4 to reduce thrashing; the algorithm that used to shrink to the maximum of the currently used connections or the initial capacity (basically the unused connections were all released) was changed to shrink by half of the unused connections. The simple approach to sizing the pool is to set the initial/minimum capacity to the maximum capacity.  Doing this creates all connections at startup, avoiding creating connections on demand and the pool is stable.  However, there are a number of reasons not to take this simple approach. When WLS is booted, the deployment of the data source includes synchronously creating the connections.  The more connections that are configured in initial capacity, the longer the boot time for WLS (there have been several projects for parallel boot in WLS but none that are available).  Related to creating a lot of connections at boot time is the problem of logon storms (the database gets too much work at one time).   WLS has a solution for that by setting the login delay seconds on the pool but that also increases the boot time. There are a number of cases where it is desirable to set the initial capacity to 0.  By doing that, the overhead of creating connections is deferred out of the boot and the database doesn’t need to be available.  An application may not want WLS to automatically connect to the database until it is actually needed, such as for some code/warm failover configurations. There are a number of cases where minimum capacity should be less than maximum capacity.  Connections are generally expensive to keep around.  They cause state to be kept on both the client and the server, and the state on the backend may be heavy (for example, a process).  Depending on the vendor, connection usage may cost money.  If work load is not constant, then database connections can be freed up by shrinking the pool when connections are not in use.  When using Active GridLink, connections can be created as needed according to runtime load balancing (RLB) percentages instead of by connection load balancing (CLB) during data source deployment. Shrinking is an effective technique for clearing the pool when connections are not in use.  In addition to the obvious reason that there times where the workload is lighter,  there are some configurations where the database and/or firewall conspire to make long-unused or too-old connections no longer viable.  There are also some data source features where the connection has state and cannot be used again unless the state matches the request.  Examples of this are identity based pooling where the connection has a particular owner and XA affinity where the connection is associated with a particular RAC node.  At this point, WLS does not re-purpose (discard/replace) connections and shrinking is a way to get rid of the unused existing connection and get a new one with the correct state when needed. So far, the discussion has focused on the relationship of initial, minimum, and maximum capacity.  Computing the maximum size requires some knowledge about the application and the current number of simultaneously active users, web sessions, batch programs, or whatever access patterns are common.  The applications should be written to only reserve and close connections as needed but multiple statements, if needed, should be done in one reservation (don’t get/close more often than necessary).  This means that the size of the pool is likely to be significantly smaller then the number of users.   If possible, you can pick a size and see how it performs under simulated or real load.  There is a high-water mark statistic (ActiveConnectionsHighCount) that tracks the maximum connections concurrently used.  In general, you want the size to be big enough so that you never run out of connections but no bigger.   It will need to deal with spikes in usage, which is where shrinking after the spike is important.  Of course, the database capacity also has a big influence on the decision since it’s important not to overload the database machine.  Planning also needs to happen if you are running in a Multi-Data Source or Active GridLink configuration and expect that the remaining nodes will take over the connections when one of the nodes in the cluster goes down.  For XA affinity, additional headroom is also recommended.  In summary, setting initial and maximum capacity to be the same may be simple but there are many other factors that may be important in making the decision about sizing.

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• Silverlight 4 Twitter Client &ndash; Part 3

  - by Max

  Finally Silverlight 4 RC is released and also that Windows 7 Phone Series will rely heavily on Silverlight platform for apps platform. its a really good news for Silverlight developers and designers. More information on this here. You can use SL 4 RC with VS 2010. SL 4 RC does not come with VS 2010, you need to download it separately and install it. So for the next part, be ready with VS 2010 and SL4 RC, we will start using them and not With this momentum, let us go to the next part of our twitter client tutorial. This tutorial will cover setting your status in Twitter and also retrieving your 1) As everything in Silverlight is asynchronous, we need to have some visual representation showing that something is going on in the background. So what I did was to create a progress bar with indeterminate animation. The XAML is here below. <ProgressBar Maximum="100" Width="300" Height="50" Margin="20" Visibility="Collapsed" IsIndeterminate="True" Name="progressBar1" VerticalAlignment="Center" HorizontalAlignment="Center" /> 2) I will be toggling this progress bar to show the background work. So I thought of writing this small method, which I use to toggle the visibility of this progress bar. Just pass a bool to this method and this will toggle it based on its current visibility status. public void toggleProgressBar(bool Option){ if (Option) { if (progressBar1.Visibility == System.Windows.Visibility.Collapsed) progressBar1.Visibility = System.Windows.Visibility.Visible; } else { if (progressBar1.Visibility == System.Windows.Visibility.Visible) progressBar1.Visibility = System.Windows.Visibility.Collapsed; }} 3) Now let us create a grid to hold a textbox and a update button. The XAML will look like something below <Grid HorizontalAlignment="Center"> <Grid.RowDefinitions> <RowDefinition Height="50"></RowDefinition> </Grid.RowDefinitions> <Grid.ColumnDefinitions> <ColumnDefinition Width="400"></ColumnDefinition> <ColumnDefinition Width="200"></ColumnDefinition> </Grid.ColumnDefinitions> <TextBox Name="TwitterStatus" Width="380" Height="50"></TextBox> <Button Name="UpdateStatus" Content="Update" Grid.Row="1" Grid.Column="2" Width="200" Height="50" Click="UpdateStatus_Click"></Button></Grid> 4) The click handler for this update button will be again using the Web Client to post values. Posting values using Web Client. The code is: private void UpdateStatus_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e){ toggleProgressBar(true); string statusupdate = "status=" + TwitterStatus.Text; WebRequest.RegisterPrefix("https://", System.Net.Browser.WebRequestCreator.ClientHttp);  WebClient myService = new WebClient(); myService.AllowReadStreamBuffering = true; myService.UseDefaultCredentials = false; myService.Credentials = new NetworkCredential(GlobalVariable.getUserName(), GlobalVariable.getPassword());  myService.UploadStringCompleted += new UploadStringCompletedEventHandler(myService_UploadStringCompleted); myService.UploadStringAsync(new Uri("https://twitter.com/statuses/update.xml"), statusupdate);  this.Dispatcher.BeginInvoke(() => ClearTextBoxValue());} 5) In the above code, we have a event handler which will be fired on this request is completed – !! Remember SL is Asynch !! So in the myService_UploadStringCompleted, we will just toggle the progress bar and change some status text to say that its done. The code for this will be StatusMessage is just another textblock conveniently positioned in the page.  void myService_UploadStringCompleted(object sender, UploadStringCompletedEventArgs e){ if (e.Error != null) { StatusMessage.Text = "Status Update Failed: " + e.Error.Message.ToString(); } else { toggleProgressBar(false); TwitterCredentialsSubmit(); }} 6) Now let us look at fetching the friends updates of the logged in user and displaying it in a datagrid. So just define a data grid and set its autogenerate columns as true. 7) Let us first create a data structure for use with fetching the friends timeline. The code is something like below: namespace MaxTwitter.Classes{ public class Status { public Status() {} public string ID { get; set; } public string Text { get; set; } public string Source { get; set; } public string UserID { get; set; } public string UserName { get; set; } }} You can add as many fields as you want, for the list of fields, have a look at here. It will ask for your Twitter username and password, just provide them and this will display the xml file. Go through them pick and choose your desired fields and include in your Data Structure. 8) Now the web client request for this is similar to the one we saw in step 4. Just change the uri in the last but one step to https://twitter.com/statuses/friends_timeline.xml Be sure to change the event handler to something else and within that we will use XLINQ to fetch the required details for us. Now let us how this event handler fetches details. public void parseXML(string text){ XDocument xdoc; if(text.Length> 0) xdoc = XDocument.Parse(text); else xdoc = XDocument.Parse(@"I USED MY OWN LOCAL COPY OF XML FILE HERE FOR OFFLINE TESTING"); statusList = new List<Status>(); statusList = (from status in xdoc.Descendants("status") select new Status { ID = status.Element("id").Value, Text = status.Element("text").Value, Source = status.Element("source").Value, UserID = status.Element("user").Element("id").Value, UserName = status.Element("user").Element("screen_name").Value, }).ToList(); //MessageBox.Show(text); //this.Dispatcher.BeginInvoke(() => CallDatabindMethod(StatusCollection)); //MessageBox.Show(statusList.Count.ToString()); DataGridStatus.ItemsSource = statusList; StatusMessage.Text = "Datagrid refreshed."; toggleProgressBar(false);} in the event handler, we call this method with e.Result.ToString() Parsing XML files using LINQ is super cool, I love it.   I am stopping it here for  this post. Will post the completed files in next post, as I’ve worked on a few more features in this page and don’t want to confuse you. See you soon in my next post where will play with Twitter lists. Have a nice day! Technorati Tags: Silverlight,LINQ,XLINQ,Twitter API,Twitter,Network Credentials

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• CSS issue with elements spanning columns

  - by bigFoot

  Hi folks. Overview: I'm trying to create a relatively simple page layout detailed below and running into problems no matter how I try to approach it. Concept: - A standard-size-block layout. I'll quote unit widths: each content block is 240px square with 5px of margin around it. - A left column of fixed width of 1 unit (245px - 1 block + margin to left). No problems here. - A right column of variable width to fill the remaining space. No problems here either. - In the left column, a number of 1unit x 1unit blocks fixed down the column. Also some blank space at the top - again, not a problem. - In the right column: a number of free-floating blocks of standard unit-sizes which float around and fill the space given to them by the browser window. No problems here. - Lastly, a single element, 2 units wide, which sits half in the left column and half in the right column, and which the blocks in the right column still float around. Here be dragons. Please see here for a diagram: http://is.gd/bPUGI Problem: No matter how I approach this, it goes wrong. Below is code for my existing attempt at a solution. My current problem is that the 1x1 blocks on the right do not respect the 2x1 block, and as a result half of the 2x1 block is overwritten by a 1x1 block in the right-hand column. I'm aware that this is almost certainly an issue with position: absolute taking things out of flow. However, can't really find a way round that which doesn't just throw up another problem instead. Code: <html> <head> <title>wat</title> <style type="text/css"> body { background: #ccc; color: #000; padding: 0px 5px 5px 0px; margin: 0px; } #leftcol { width: 245px; margin-top: 490px; position: absolute; } #rightcol { left: 245px; position: absolute; } #bigblock { float: left; position: relative; margin-top: -240px; background: red; } .cblock { margin: 5px 0px 0px 5px; float: left; overflow: hidden; display: block; background: #fff; } .w1 { width: 240px; } .w2 { width: 485px; } .l1 { height: 240px; } </head> <body> <div class="cblock w2 l1" id="bigblock"> <h1>DRAGONS</h1> <p>Here be they</p> </div> <div id="leftcol"> <div class="cblock w1 l1"> <h1>Left 1</h1> <p>1x1 block</p> </div> </div> <div id="rightcol"> <div class="cblock w1 l1"> <h1>Right 1</h1> <p>1x1 block</p> </div> <div class="cblock w1 l1"> <h1>Right 2</h1> <p>1x1 block</p> </div> <div class="cblock w1 l1"> <h1>Right 3</h1> <p>1x1 block</p> </div> <div class="cblock w1 l1"> <h1>Right 4</h1> <p>1x1 block</p> </div> <div class="cblock w1 l1"> <h1>Right 5</h1> <p>1x1 block</p> </div> <div class="cblock w1 l1"> <h1>Right 6</h1> <p>1x1 block</p> </div> <div class="cblock w1 l1"> <h1>Right 7</h1> <p>1x1 block</p> </div> </div> </body> </html> Constraints: One final note that I need cross-browser compatibility, though I'm more than happy to enforce this with JS if necessary. That said, if a CSS-only solution exists, I'd be extremely happy. Thanks in advance!

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• How to export SSIS to Microsoft Excel without additional software?

  - by Dr. Zim

  This question is long winded because I have been updating the question over a very long time trying to get SSIS to properly export Excel data. I managed to solve this issue, although not correctly. Aside from someone providing a correct answer, the solution listed in this question is not terrible. The only answer I found was to create a single row named range wide enough for my columns. In the named range put sample data and hide it. SSIS appends the data and reads metadata from the single row (that is close enough for it to drop stuff in it). The data takes the format of the hidden single row. This allows headers, etc. WOW what a pain in the butt. It will take over 450 days of exports to recover the time lost. However, I still love SSIS and will continue to use it because it is still way better than Filemaker LOL. My next attempt will be doing the same thing in the report server. Original question notes: If you are in Sql Server Integrations Services designer and want to export data to an Excel file starting on something other than the first line, lets say the forth line, how do you specify this? I tried going in to the Excel Destination of the Data Flow, changed the AccessMode to OpenRowSet from Variable, then set the variable to "YPlatters$A4:I20000" This fails saying it cannot find the sheet. The sheet is called YPlatters. I thought you could specify (Sheet$)(Starting Cell):(Ending Cell)? Update Apparently in Excel you can select a set of cells and name them with the name box. This allows you to select the name instead of the sheet without the $ dollar sign. Oddly enough, whatever the range you specify, it appends the data to the next row after the range. Oddly, as you add data, it increases the named selection's row count. Another odd thing is the data takes the format of the last line of the range specified. My header rows are bold. If I specify a range that ends with the header row, the data appends to the row below, and makes all the entries bold. if you specify one row lower, it puts a blank line between the header row and the data, but the data is not bold. Another update No matter what I try, SSIS samples the "first row" of the file and sets the metadata according to what it finds. However, if you have sample data that has a value of zero but is formatted as the first row, it treats that column as text and inserts numeric values with a single quote in front ('123.34). I also tried headers that do not reflect the data types of the columns. I tried changing the metadata of the Excel destination, but it always changes it back when I run the project, then fails saying it will truncate data. If I tell it to ignore errors, it imports everything except that column. Several days of several hours a piece later... Another update I tried every combination. A mostly working example is to create the named range starting with the column headers. Format your column headers as you want the data to look as the data takes on this format. In my example, these exist from A4 to E4, which is my defined range. SSIS appends to the row after the defined range, so defining A4 to E68 appends the rows starting at A69. You define the Connection as having the first row contains the field names. It takes on the metadata of the header row, oddly, not the second row, and it guesses at the data type, not the formatted data type of the column, i.e., headers are text, so all my metadata is text. If your headers are bold, so is all of your data. I even tried making a sample data row without success... I don't think anyone actually uses Excel with the default MS SSIS export. If you could define the "insert range" (A5 to E5) with no header row and format those columns (currency, not bold, etc.) without it skipping a row in Excel, this would be very helpful. From what I gather, noone uses SSIS to export Excel without a third party connection manager. Any ideas on how to set this up properly so that data is formatted correctly, i.e., the metadata read from Excel is proper to the real data, and formatting inherits from the first row of data, not the headers in Excel? One last update (July 17, 2009) I got this to work very well. One thing I added to Excel was the IMEX=1 in the Excel connection string: "Excel 8.0;HDR=Yes;IMEX=1". This forces Excel (I think) to look at all rows to see what kind of data is in it. Generally, this does not drop information, say for instance if you have a zip code then about 9 rows down you have a zip+4, Excel without this blanks that field entirely without error. With IMEX=1, it recognizes that Zip is actually a character field instead of numeric. And of course, one more update (August 27, 2009) The IMEX=1 will succeed importing data with missing contents in the first 8 rows, but it will fail exporting data where no data exists. So, have it on your import connection string, but not your export Excel connection string. I have to say, after so much fiddling, it works pretty well.

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• Using Image Source with big images in WPF

  - by xyzzer

  I am working on an application that allows users to manipulate multiple images by using ItemsControl. I started running some tests and found that the app has problems displaying some big images - ie. it did not work with the high resolution (21600x10800), 20MB images from http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/BlueMarble/BlueMarble_monthlies.php, though it displays the 6200x6200, 60MB Hubble telescope image from http://zebu.uoregon.edu/hudf/hudf.jpg just fine. The original solution just specified an Image control with a Source property pointing at a file on a disk (through a binding). With the Blue Marble file - the image would just not show up. Now this could be just a bug hidden somewhere deep in the funky MVVM + XAML implementation - the visual tree displayed by Snoop goes like: Window/Border/AdornerDecorator/ContentPresenter/Grid/Canvas/UserControl/Border/ContentPresenter/Grid/Grid/Grid/Grid/Border/Grid/ContentPresenter/UserControl/UserControl/Border/ContentPresenter/Grid/Grid/Grid/Grid/Viewbox/ContainerVisual/UserControl/Border/ContentPresenter/Grid/Grid/ItemsControl/Border/ItemsPresenter/Canvas/ContentPresenter/Grid/Grid/ContentPresenter/Image... Now debug this! WPF can be crazy like that... Anyway, it turned out that if I create a simple WPF application - the images load just fine. I tried finding out the root cause, but I don't want to spend weeks on it. I figured the right thing to do might be to use a converter to scale the images down - this is what I have done: ImagePath = @"F:\Astronomical\world.200402.3x21600x10800.jpg"; TargetWidth = 2800; TargetHeight = 1866; and <Image> <Image.Source> <MultiBinding Converter="{StaticResource imageResizingConverter}"> <MultiBinding.Bindings> <Binding Path="ImagePath"/> <Binding RelativeSource="{RelativeSource Self}" /> <Binding Path="TargetWidth"/> <Binding Path="TargetHeight"/> </MultiBinding.Bindings> </MultiBinding> </Image.Source> </Image> and public class ImageResizingConverter : MarkupExtension, IMultiValueConverter { public Image TargetImage { get; set; } public string SourcePath { get; set; } public int DecodeWidth { get; set; } public int DecodeHeight { get; set; } public object Convert(object[] values, Type targetType, object parameter, CultureInfo culture) { this.SourcePath = values[0].ToString(); this.TargetImage = (Image)values[1]; this.DecodeWidth = (int)values[2]; this.DecodeHeight = (int)values[3]; return DecodeImage(); } private BitmapImage DecodeImage() { BitmapImage bi = new BitmapImage(); bi.BeginInit(); bi.DecodePixelWidth = (int)DecodeWidth; bi.DecodePixelHeight = (int)DecodeHeight; bi.UriSource = new Uri(SourcePath); bi.EndInit(); return bi; } public object[] ConvertBack(object value, Type[] targetTypes, object parameter, CultureInfo culture) { throw new Exception("The method or operation is not implemented."); } public override object ProvideValue(IServiceProvider serviceProvider) { return this; } } Now this works fine, except for one "little" problem. When you just specify a file path in Image.Source - the application actually uses less memory and works faster than if you use BitmapImage.DecodePixelWidth. Plus with Image.Source if you have multiple Image controls that point to the same image - they only use as much memory as if only one image was loaded. With the BitmapImage.DecodePixelWidth solution - each additional Image control uses more memory and each of them uses more than when just specifying Image.Source. Perhaps WPF somehow caches these images in compressed form while if you specify the decoded dimensions - it feels like you get an uncompressed image in memory, plus it takes 6 times the time (perhaps without it the scaling is done on the GPU?), plus it feels like the original high resolution image also gets loaded and takes up space. If I just scale the image down, save it to a temporary file and then use Image.Source to point at the file - it will probably work, but it will be pretty slow and it will require handling cleanup of the temporary file. If I could detect an image that does not get loaded properly - maybe I could only scale it down if I need to, but Image.ImageFailed never gets triggered. Maybe it has something to do with the video memory and this app just using more of it with the deep visual tree, opacity masks etc. Actual question: How can I load big images as quickly as Image.Source option does it, without using more memory for additional copies and additional memory for the scaled down image if I only need them at a certain resolution lower than original? Also, I don't want to keep them in memory if no Image control is using them anymore.

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• jqgrid sample using array data, what am I missing

  - by Dennis

  Hello. I'm new in jqgrid, I'm just trying thes example to work. I have a html file only, nothing more. When I ran this file, array data is not showing. What am I missing here? Thanks in advance. <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /> <title>jqGrid Demos</title> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen" href="lib/jquery-ui-1.7.1.custom.css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen" href="lib/ui.jqgrid.css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen" href="lib/ui.multiselect.css" /> <style type="text/css"> html, body { margin: 0; /* Remove body margin/padding */ padding: 0; overflow: hidden; /* Remove scroll bars on browser window */ font-size: 75%; } /*Splitter style */ #LeftPane { /* optional, initial splitbar position */ overflow: auto; } /* * Right-side element of the splitter. */ #RightPane { padding: 2px; overflow: auto; } .ui-tabs-nav li {position: relative;} .ui-tabs-selected a span {padding-right: 10px;} .ui-tabs-close {display: none;position: absolute;top: 3px;right: 0px;z-index: 800;width: 16px;height: 14px;font-size: 10px; font-style: normal;cursor: pointer;} .ui-tabs-selected .ui-tabs-close {display: block;} .ui-layout-west .ui-jqgrid tr.jqgrow td { border-bottom: 0px none;} .ui-datepicker {z-index:1200;} </style> <script src="lib/jquery-1.4.2.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <script src="lib/jquery-ui-1.7.2.custom.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <script src="lib/jquery.layout.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <script src="lib/grid.locale-en.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <script src="lib/jquery.jqGrid.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <script src="lib/jquery.tablednd.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <script src="lib/jquery.contextmenu.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <script src="lib/ui.multiselect.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> // We use a document ready jquery function. jQuery(document).ready(function(){ jQuery("#list").jqGrid({ datatype: "local", height: 250, colNames:['Inv No','Date', 'Client', 'Amount','Tax','Total', 'Notes'], colModel:[ {name:'id',index:'id', width:60, sorttype:"int"}, {name:'invdate',index:'invdate', width:90, sorttype:"date"}, {name:'name',index:'name', width:100}, {name:'amount',index:'amount', width:80, align:"right",sorttype:"float"}, {name:'tax',index:'tax', width:80, align:"right",sorttype:"float"}, {name:'total',index:'total', width:80,align:"right",sorttype:"float"}, {name:'note',index:'note', width:150, sortable:false} ], pager: '#pager', rowNum:10, rowList:[10,20,30], sortname: 'id', sortorder: 'desc', viewrecords: true, multiselect: true, imgpath: "lib/basic/images", caption: "Manipulating Array Data" }); }); var mydata = [ {id:"1",invdate:"2007-10-01",name:"test",note:"note",amount:"200.00",tax:"10.00",total:"210.00"}, {id:"2",invdate:"2007-10-02",name:"test2",note:"note2",amount:"300.00",tax:"20.00",total:"320.00"}, {id:"3",invdate:"2007-09-01",name:"test3",note:"note3",amount:"400.00",tax:"30.00",total:"430.00"}, {id:"4",invdate:"2007-10-04",name:"test",note:"note",amount:"200.00",tax:"10.00",total:"210.00"}, {id:"5",invdate:"2007-10-05",name:"test2",note:"note2",amount:"300.00",tax:"20.00",total:"320.00"}, {id:"6",invdate:"2007-09-06",name:"test3",note:"note3",amount:"400.00",tax:"30.00",total:"430.00"}, {id:"7",invdate:"2007-10-04",name:"test",note:"note",amount:"200.00",tax:"10.00",total:"210.00"}, {id:"8",invdate:"2007-10-03",name:"test2",note:"note2",amount:"300.00",tax:"20.00",total:"320.00"}, {id:"9",invdate:"2007-09-01",name:"test3",note:"note3",amount:"400.00",tax:"30.00",total:"430.00"} ]; for(var i=0;i<=mydata.length;i++) jQuery("#list").jqGrid('addRowData',i + 1, mydata1[i]); </script> </head> <body> <table id="list" class="scroll"></table> <div id="pager" class="scroll" style="text-align:center;"></div> </body>

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• ASPX ajax form post help

  - by StealthRT

  Hey all, i have this peice of code that allows a user to select a jpg image, resize it and uploads it to the server driectory. The problem being is that it reloads the aspx page when it saves the image. My question is-is there any way to do this same thing but with ajax so that it doesn't leave the page after submitting it? I've done this pleanty of times with classic asp pages but never with a aspx page. Here is the code for the ASPX page: <%@ Page Trace="False" Language="vb" aspcompat="false" debug="true" validateRequest="false"%> <%@ Import Namespace=System.Drawing %> <%@ Import Namespace=System.Drawing.Imaging %> <%@ Import Namespace=System.Drawing.Text %> <%@ Import Namespace=System %> <%@ Import Namespace=System.IO %> <%@ Import Namespace=System.Web %> <%@ Import Namespace=System.ServiceProcess %> <%@ Import Namespace=Microsoft.Data.Odbc %> <%@ Import Namespace=System.Data.Odbc %> <%@ Import Namespace=MySql.Data.MySqlClient %> <%@ Import Namespace=MySql.Data %> <%@ Import Namespace=System.Drawing.Drawing2D %> <%@ Import Namespace="System.Data" %> <%@ Import Namespace="System.Data.ADO" %> <%@ Import Namespace=ADODB %> <SCRIPT LANGUAGE="VBScript" runat="server"> const Lx = 200 const Ly = 60 const upload_dir = "/img/avatar/" const upload_original = "tmpAvatar" const upload_thumb = "thumb" const upload_max_size = 256 dim fileExt dim newWidth, newHeight as integer dim l2 dim fileFld as HTTPPostedFile Dim originalimg As System.Drawing.Image dim msg dim upload_ok as boolean </script> <% Dim theID, theEmail, maleOrFemale theID = Request.QueryString("ID") theEmail = Request.QueryString("eMail") maleOrFemale = Request.QueryString("MF") randomize() upload_ok = false if lcase(Request.ServerVariables("REQUEST_METHOD"))="post" then fileFld = request.files(0) if fileFld.ContentLength > upload_max_size * 1024 then msg = "Sorry, the image must be less than " & upload_max_size & "Kb" else try fileExt = System.IO.Path.GetExtension(fileFld.FileName).ToLower() if fileExt = ".jpg" then originalImg = System.Drawing.Image.FromStream(fileFld.InputStream) if originalImg.Height > Ly then newWidth = Ly * (originalImg.Width / originalImg.Height) newHeight = Ly end if Dim thumb As New Bitmap(newWidth, newHeight) Dim gr_dest As Graphics = Graphics.FromImage(thumb) dim sb = new SolidBrush(System.Drawing.Color.White) gr_dest.SmoothingMode = System.Drawing.Drawing2D.SmoothingMode.HighQuality gr_dest.CompositingQuality = System.Drawing.Drawing2D.CompositingQuality.HighQuality gr_dest.FillRectangle(sb, 0, 0, thumb.Width, thumb.Height) gr_dest.DrawImage(originalImg, 0, 0, thumb.Width, thumb.Height) try originalImg.save(Server.MapPath(upload_dir & upload_original & fileExt), originalImg.rawformat) thumb.save(Server.MapPath(upload_dir & theID & fileExt), originalImg.rawformat) msg = "Uploaded " & fileFld.FileName & " to " & Server.MapPath(upload_dir & upload_original & fileExt) upload_ok = true File.Delete(Server.MapPath(upload_dir & upload_original & fileExt)) catch msg = "Sorry, there was a problem saving your avatar. Please try again." end try if not thumb is nothing then thumb.Dispose() thumb = nothing end if else msg = "That image does not seem to be a JPG. Upload only JPG images." end if catch msg = "That image does not seem to be a JPG." end try end if if not originalImg is nothing then originalImg.Dispose() originalImg = nothing end if end if %><head> <meta http-equiv="pragma" content="no-cache" /> </head> <html> <script type="text/javascript" src="js/jquery-1.3.min.js"></script> <form enctype="multipart/form-data" method="post" runat="server" id="sendImg"> <input type="file" name="upload_file" id="upload_file" style="-moz-opacity: 0; opacity:0; filter: alpha(opacity=0); margin-top: 5px; float:left; cursor:pointer;" onChange="$('#sendImg').submit();" > <input type="submit" value="Upload" style="visibility:hidden; display:none;"> </form> </body> </html> Any help would be great! :o) David

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• Success function not being called when form is submitted. jQuery / validationEngine / PHP form proce

  - by Tom Hartman

  Hi, I've been trying to figure out why the following script's success function isn't running. Everything in my form works perfectly, and the form contents are being emailed correctly, but the success function isn't being called. If anyone could review my code and let me know why my success function isn't being called I would very much appreciate it! Here is the HTML form with notification divs, which are hidden via css: <div id="success" class="notification"> <p>Thank you! Your message has been sent.</p> </div> <div id="failure" class="notification"> <p>Sorry, your message could not be sent.</p> </div> <form id="contact-form" method="post" action="" class="jqtransform"> <label for="name">Name:</label> <input name="name" id="name" type="text" class="validate[required] input" /> <label for="company">Company:</label> <input name="company" id="company" type="text" class="input" /> <label for="phone">Phone:</label> <input name="phone" id="phone" type="text" class="input" /> <label for="email">Email:</label> <input name="email" id="email" type="text" class="validate[required,email] input" /> <div class="sep"></div> <label for="subject">Subject:</label> <input name="subject" id="subject" type="text" class="validate[required] input" /> <div class="clear"></div> <label for="message">Message:</label> <textarea name="message" id="message" class="validate[required]"></textarea> <div id="check-services"> <input type="checkbox" name="services[]" value="Contractor Recommendation" /> <div>Contractor Recommendation</div> <input type="checkbox" name="services[]" value="Proposal Review" /> <div>Proposal Review</div> <input type="checkbox" name="services[]" value="Existing Website Review" /> <div>Existing Website Review</div> <input type="checkbox" name="services[]" value="Work Evaluation" /> <div>Work Evaluation</div> <input type="checkbox" name="services[]" value="Layman Translation" /> <div>Layman Translation</div> <input type="checkbox" name="services[]" value="Project Management" /> <div>Project Management</div> </div> <div class="sep"></div> <input name="submit" id="submit" type="submit" class="button" value="Send" /> <input name="reset" id="reset" type="reset" class="button" value="Clear" onclick="$.validationEngine.closePrompt('.formError',true)" /> </form> Here is the javascript: // CONTACT FORM VALIDATION AND SUBMISSION $(document).ready(function(){ $('#contact-form').validationEngine({ ajaxSubmit: true, ajaxSubmitFile: 'lib/mail.php', scroll: false, success: function(){ $('#success').slideDown(); }, failure: function(){ $('#failure').slideDown(); $('.formError').animate({ marginTop: '+30px' }); } }); }); And here is my PHP mailer script: <?php $name = $_POST['name']; $company = $_POST['company']; $phone = $_POST['phone']; $email = $_POST['email']; $subject = $_POST['subject']; $message = $_POST['message']; $services = $_POST['services']; $to = '[email protected]'; $subject = 'THC - Contact'; $content .= "You received a message from ".$name.".\r\n\n"; if ($company): $content .= "They work for ".$company.".\r\n\n"; endif; $content .= "Here's the message:\r\n\n".$message."\r\n\n"; $content .= "And they are interested in the services below:\r\n\n"; $content .= implode("\r\n",$services); if ($phone): $content .= "\r\n\nYou can reach them at ".$phone."."; else: $content .= "\r\n\nNo phone number was provided."; endif; $headers = "From: ".$name."\r\n"; $headers .= "Reply-To: ".$email."\r\n"; if (mail($to,$subject,$content,$headers)): return true; else: return false; endif; ?>

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• java runtime 6 with socks v5 proxy - Possible?

  - by rwired

  I have written an application that (amongst other things) runs a local service in windows that acts as a SOCKS v5 proxy for Firefox. I'm in the debugging phase right now and have found certain websites that don't work correctly. For example the Java Applet for Picture Uploading on Facebook.com fails because is is unable to lookup domains. My app overrides a hidden FF config setting network.proxy.socks__remote__dns setting it to true. The whole purpose of the app is to allow access to websites when behind a firewall (e.g. if the user is in China), so this setting is essential to ensure domains are resolved remotely also (and not just HTTP requests). In the JRE6 settings (documented here) there isn't an equivalent setting, and since remote DNS resolution is a feature of SOCKS v5 and not v4 as the documentation seems to imply I'm worried that it's just not possible. How can I programmatically make sure the JRE uses a SOCKS v5 proxy for all requests (including DNS)? UPDATE: Steps to reproduce this problem: Make sure you are behind a firewall that blocks (or redirects) internet access including DNS Install PuTTY and add a dynamic SSH tunnel on some port number of your choice (e.g. 9870). Then login to a remote server that has full access to the internet Launch Firefox and you will not be able to browse the web In FF network settings set the SOCKS v5 proxy to localhost:9870 In FF go to about:config, change network.proxy.socks__remote__dns to true You will now be able to browse the web. Go to facebook.com, login, go to your profile and attempt to use the picture uploader java applet to add some pictures It will fail with a series of class not found errors looking similar to: load: class com.facebook.facebookphotouploader5.FacebookPhotoUploader5.class not found. I believe this is failing because the JRE is unable to resolve the domain that the class resides on. I'm basing this belief on the fact that the documentation (http://java.sun.com/javase/6/docs/technotes/guides/deployment/deployment-guide/properties.html) talks only about SOCKS v4 (which as far as I know does not support remote DNS). My deployment.properties file is located in %APPDATA%\Sun\Java\Deployment. I can confirm that modifications I make in the Java Control Panel get written into that file. If instead of "Use browser setting" the network settings for Java I override and attempt to use the SOCKS proxy settings manually, I still have the issue. There does not seem to be an easy way to force the JRE to do DNS remotely through the Proxy. UPDATE 2: Without the SOCKS proxy, from my local client www.facebook.com resolves to 203.161.230.171 upload.facebook.com resolves to 64.33.88.161 Neither host is reachable (because of the firewall) If I login to the remote server, I get: www.facebook.com 69.63.187.17 upload.facebook.com 69.63.178.32 Both these IPs change after a few minutes, as it seems Facebook uses round-robin DNS and other load-balancing. With the Proxy settings set in Firefox, I can navigate to www.facebook.com without any difficulty (since DNS is being resolved remotely on the Proxy). Whey I go to the page with the Java applet it fails with the stacktrace messages I've already reported. However if I edit Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts, adding the correct IP for upload.facebook.com I can get the applet to load and work correctly (restart of FF is sometimes necessary). This evidence seems to support my theory that the Java Runtime is not resolving DNS on the Proxy, but instead just routing traffic though it. My application is for mass-deployment, and needs to work with java applets on other sites (not just facebook). I really need a work-around for this problem. UPDATE 3 Stacktrace dump a requested by ZZ Coder: load: class com.facebook.facebookphotouploader5.FacebookPhotoUploader5.class not found. java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: com.facebook.facebookphotouploader5.FacebookPhotoUploader5.class at sun.plugin2.applet.Applet2ClassLoader.findClass(Unknown Source) at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(Unknown Source) at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(Unknown Source) at sun.plugin2.applet.Plugin2ClassLoader.loadCode(Unknown Source) at sun.plugin2.applet.Plugin2Manager.createApplet(Unknown Source) at sun.plugin2.applet.Plugin2Manager$AppletExecutionRunnable.run(Unknown Source) at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source) Caused by: java.net.SocketException: Connection reset at java.net.SocketInputStream.read(Unknown Source) at java.io.BufferedInputStream.fill(Unknown Source) at java.io.BufferedInputStream.read1(Unknown Source) at java.io.BufferedInputStream.read(Unknown Source) at sun.net.www.http.HttpClient.parseHTTPHeader(Unknown Source) at sun.net.www.http.HttpClient.parseHTTP(Unknown Source) at sun.net.www.http.HttpClient.parseHTTP(Unknown Source) at sun.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnection.getInputStream(Unknown Source) at java.net.HttpURLConnection.getResponseCode(Unknown Source) at sun.plugin2.applet.Applet2ClassLoader.getBytes(Unknown Source) at sun.plugin2.applet.Applet2ClassLoader.access$000(Unknown Source) at sun.plugin2.applet.Applet2ClassLoader$1.run(Unknown Source) at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method) ... 7 more Exception: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: com.facebook.facebookphotouploader5.FacebookPhotoUploader5.class Dumping class loader cache... Live entry: key=http://upload.facebook.com/controls/2008.10.10_v5.5.8/,FacebookPhotoUploader5.jar,FacebookPhotoUploader5.jar, refCount=1, threadGroup=sun.plugin2.applet.Applet2ThreadGroup[name=http://upload.facebook.com/controls/2008.10.10_v5.5.8/-threadGroup,maxpri=4] Done.

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• CSS Horizontal sub-menu

  - by Develman

  Hello, I am working on a horizontal CSS dropdown menu. It is still working nearly fine for IE 7, IE 8 , Firefox and Chrome. But I want to make the top <ul> to be on top level (e.g. z-index: 100). I want this because the top level <ul> has a graphical background and the dropdown is just styled with css and in the current way it is destroying the layout. HTML Code: <div id="mainMenu"> <ul> <li><a href="t1">TOP1<!--[if gt IE 6]><!--></a><!--<![endif]--> <!--[if lte IE 6]><table><tr><td><![endif]--> <ul> <li><a href="l1">LINK1</a></li> <li><a href="l2">LINK2</a></li> <li><a href="l3">LINK3</a></li> <li><a href="l4">LINK4</a></li> </ul> <!--[if lte IE 6]></td></tr></table></a><![endif]--> </li> <li class="center"><a href="t2">TOP2<!--[if gt IE 6]><!--></a><!--<![endif]--> <!--[if lte IE 6]><table><tr><td></td></tr></table></a><![endif]--></li> <li><a name="t3">TOP3<!--[if gt IE 6]><!--></a><!--<![endif]--> <!--[if lte IE 6]><table><tr><td><![endif]--> <ul class="last"> <li><a href="l5">LINK5</a></li> <li><a href="l6">LINK6</a></li> <li><a href="l7">LINK7</a></li> </ul> <!--[if lte IE 6]></td></tr></table></a><![endif]--> </li> </ul> </div> CSS Code /* style the outer div to give it width */ #mainMenu { position: absolute; margin-left: 6px; margin-top: 180px; } /* remove all the bullets, borders and padding from the default list styling */ #mainMenu ul { position: absolute; width: 494px; padding: 0; margin: 0; list-style-type: none; background: #FFF url(../images/mainMenu_bg.gif) no-repeat; } /* float the list to make it horizontal and a relative positon so that you can control the dropdown menu positon */ #mainMenu li { position: relative; float: left; padding-left: 5px; width: 160px; vertical-align: middle; text-align: left; } #mainMenu li.center { padding-left: 0px; text-align: center; } /* style the links for the top level */ #mainMenu a, #mainMenu a:visited { display: block; font: bold 12px/1em Helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: #FFF; text-decoration: none; height: 42px; line-height: 35px; } /* hide the sub levels and give them a positon absolute so that they take up no room */ #mainMenu ul ul { visibility: hidden; position: absolute; height: 0; top: 35px; left: -5px; width: 165px; } /* style the table so that it takes no part in the layout - required for IE to work */ #mainMenu table { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; } /* style the second level links */ #mainMenu ul ul a, #mainMenu ul ul a:visited { width: 165px; height: 20px; line-height: 19px; font: bold 10px Helvetica, arial, sans-serif; background: #EF7D0E; color: #FFF; text-align: left; padding: 6px 0 0 5px; border-top: 1px solid #C1650B; } #mainMenu ul ul.last a, #mainMenu ul ul.last a:visited { width: 162px; } /* style the top level hover */ #mainMenu a:hover, #mainMenu ul ul a:hover{ color: #FFF; text-decoration: underline; } #mainMenu :hover > a, #mainMenu ul ul :hover > a { color: #FFF; text-decoration: underline; } /* make the second level visible when hover on first level list OR link */ #mainMenu ul li:hover ul, #mainMenu ul a:hover ul{ visibility: visible; } I have still a problem with showing the table in IE 6 but my main problem here is to show the LINK1...6 under the TOP links. I have tried many settings with z-index but nothing worked here. I hope you can help me ;)

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• How do I update ItemTemplate after scrambling ObservableCollection(Of ObservableCollection(Of object

  - by user342195

  I am learning vb.net, wpf and xaml with the help of sites like this one. The project I am currently working on is a 4 x 4 slide puzzle. I cannot get the buttons in the grid to scramble to start a new game when calling a new game event. Any help will be greatly appreciated. If no answer is can be provide, a good resource to research would help as well. Thank you for your time. XAML: <Window x:Class="SlidePuzzle" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" Title="Slide Puzzle" Height="391" Width="300" Name="wdw_SlidePuzzle"> <Window.Resources> <DataTemplate x:Key="DataTemp_PuzzleButtons"> <Button Content="{Binding C}" Height="50" Width="50" Margin="2" Visibility="{Binding V}"/> </DataTemplate> <DataTemplate x:Key="DataTemplate_PuzzleBoard"> <ItemsControl ItemsSource="{Binding}" ItemTemplate="{DynamicResource DataTemp_PuzzleButtons}"> <ItemsControl.ItemsPanel> <ItemsPanelTemplate> <Canvas/> </ItemsPanelTemplate> </ItemsControl.ItemsPanel> <ItemsControl.ItemContainerStyle> <Style> <Setter Property="Canvas.Top" Value="{Binding Path=Y}" /> <Setter Property="Canvas.Left" Value="{Binding Path=X}" /> </Style> </ItemsControl.ItemContainerStyle> </ItemsControl> </DataTemplate> </Window.Resources> <DockPanel Name="dpanel_puzzle" LastChildFill="True"> <WrapPanel DockPanel.Dock="Bottom" Margin="5" HorizontalAlignment="Center"> <Button Name="bttnNewGame" Content="New Game" MinWidth="75" Margin="4" Click="NewGame_Click"></Button> <Button Name="bttnSolveGame" Content="Solve" MinWidth="75" Margin="4"></Button> <Button Name="bttnExitGame" Content="Exit" MinWidth="75" Margin="4" Click="ExitGame_Click"></Button> </WrapPanel> <WrapPanel DockPanel.Dock="Bottom" Margin="5" HorizontalAlignment="Center"> <Label>Score:</Label> <TextBox Name="tb_Name" Width="50"></TextBox> </WrapPanel> <StackPanel Name="SlidePuzzlePnl" HorizontalAlignment="Center" VerticalAlignment="Center" Height="206" Width="206" > <ItemsControl x:Name="lst" ItemTemplate="{DynamicResource DataTemplate_PuzzleBoard}"/> </StackPanel> </DockPanel> VB: Imports System.Collections.ObjectModel Class SlidePuzzle Dim puzzleColl As New ObservableCollection(Of ObservableCollection(Of SlidePuzzleBttn)) Dim puzzleArr(3, 3) As Integer Private Sub Window1_Loaded(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.RoutedEventArgs) Handles MyBase.Loaded For i As Integer = 0 To 3 puzzleColl.Add(New ObservableCollection(Of SlidePuzzleBttn)) For j As Integer = 0 To 3 puzzleArr(i, j) = (i * 4) + (j + 1) puzzleColl(i).Add(New SlidePuzzleBttn((i * 4) + (j + 1))) puzzleColl(i)(j).X = j * 52 puzzleColl(i)(j).Y = i * 52 Next Next lst.ItemsSource = puzzleColl End Sub Private Sub NewGame_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.RoutedEventArgs) Dim rnd As New Random Dim ri, rj As Integer Dim temp As Integer For i As Integer = 0 To 3 For j As Integer = 0 To 3 ri = rnd.Next(0, 3) rj = rnd.Next(0, 3) temp = puzzleArr(ri, rj) puzzleArr(ri, rj) = puzzleArr(i, j) puzzleArr(i, j) = temp puzzleColl(i)(j).X = j * 52 puzzleColl(i)(j).Y = i * 52 puzzleColl(i)(j).C = puzzleArr(i, j) Next Next End Sub End Class Public Class SlidePuzzleBttn Inherits DependencyObject Private _c As Integer Private _x As Integer Private _y As Integer Private _v As String Public Shared ReadOnly ContentProperty As DependencyProperty = DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached("_c", GetType(String), GetType(SlidePuzzleBttn), New UIPropertyMetadata("")) Public Sub New() _c = 0 _x = 0 _y = 0 _v = SetV(_c) End Sub Public Sub New(ByVal cVal As Integer) _c = cVal _x = 0 _y = 0 _v = SetV(cVal) End Sub Public Property C() As Integer Get Return _c End Get Set(ByVal value As Integer) _c = value End Set End Property Public Property X() As Integer Get Return _x End Get Set(ByVal value As Integer) _x = value End Set End Property Public Property Y() As Integer Get Return _y End Get Set(ByVal value As Integer) _y = value End Set End Property Public Property V() As String Get Return _v End Get Set(ByVal value As String) _v = value End Set End Property Private Function SetV(ByRef cVal As Integer) As String If cVal = 16 Then Return "Hidden" Else Return "Visible" End If End Function End Class

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• jQuery Toggle with Cookie

  - by Cameron

  I have the following toggle system, but I want it to remember what was open/closed using the jQuery cookie plugin. So for example if I open a toggle and then navigate away from the page, when I come back it should be still open. This is code I have so far, but it's becoming rather confusing, some help would be much appreciated thanks. jQuery.cookie = function (name, value, options) { if (typeof value != 'undefined') { options = options || {}; if (value === null) { value = ''; options = $.extend({}, options); options.expires = -1; } var expires = ''; if (options.expires && (typeof options.expires == 'number' || options.expires.toUTCString)) { var date; if (typeof options.expires == 'number') { date = new Date(); date.setTime(date.getTime() + (options.expires * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000)); } else { date = options.expires; } expires = '; expires=' + date.toUTCString(); } var path = options.path ? '; path=' + (options.path) : ''; var domain = options.domain ? '; domain=' + (options.domain) : ''; var secure = options.secure ? '; secure' : ''; document.cookie = [name, '=', encodeURIComponent(value), expires, path, domain, secure].join(''); } else { var cookieValue = null; if (document.cookie && document.cookie != '') { var cookies = document.cookie.split(';'); for (var i = 0; i < cookies.length; i++) { var cookie = jQuery.trim(cookies[i]); if (cookie.substring(0, name.length + 1) == (name + '=')) { cookieValue = decodeURIComponent(cookie.substring(name.length + 1)); break; } } } return cookieValue; } }; // var showTop = $.cookie('showTop'); if ($.cookie('showTop') == 'collapsed') { $(".toggle_container").hide(); $(".trigger").toggle(function () { $(this).addClass("active"); }, function () { $(this).removeClass("active"); }); $(".trigger").click(function () { $(this).next(".toggle_container").slideToggle("slow,"); }); } else { $(".toggle_container").show(); $(".trigger").toggle(function () { $(this).addClass("active"); }, function () { $(this).removeClass("active"); }); $(".trigger").click(function () { $(this).next(".toggle_container").slideToggle("slow,"); }); }; $(".trigger").click(function () { if ($(".toggle_container").is(":hidden")) { $(this).next(".toggle_container").slideToggle("slow,"); $.cookie('showTop', 'expanded'); } else { $(this).next(".toggle_container").slideToggle("slow,"); $.cookie('showTop', 'collapsed'); } return false; }); and this is a snippet of the HTML it works with: <li> <label for="small"><input type="checkbox" id="small" /> Small</label> <a class="trigger" href="#">Toggle</a> <div class="toggle_container"> <p class="funding"><strong>Funding</strong></p> <ul class="childs"> <li class="child"> <label for="fully-funded1"><input type="checkbox" id="fully-funded1" /> Fully Funded</label> <a class="trigger" href="#">Toggle</a> <div class="toggle_container"> <p class="days"><strong>Days</strong></p> <ul class="days clearfix"> <li><label for="1pre16">Pre 16</label> <input type="text" id="1pre16" /></li> <li><label for="2post16">Post 16</label> <input type="text" id="2post16" /></li> <li><label for="3teacher">Teacher</label> <input type="text" id="3teacher" /></li> </ul> </div> </li>

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• CheckBox ListView SelectedValues DependencyProperty Binding

  - by Ristogod

  I am writing a custom control that is a ListView that has a CheckBox on each item in the ListView to indicate that item is Selected. I was able to do so with the following XAML. <ListView x:Class="CheckedListViewSample.CheckBoxListView" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006" xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008" mc:Ignorable="d"> <ListView.Style> <Style TargetType="{x:Type ListView}"> <Setter Property="SelectionMode" Value="Multiple" /> <Style.Resources> <Style TargetType="ListViewItem"> <Setter Property="Template"> <Setter.Value> <ControlTemplate TargetType="ListViewItem"> <Border BorderThickness="{TemplateBinding Border.BorderThickness}" Padding="{TemplateBinding Control.Padding}" BorderBrush="{TemplateBinding Border.BorderBrush}" Background="{TemplateBinding Panel.Background}" SnapsToDevicePixels="True"> <CheckBox IsChecked="{Binding IsSelected, RelativeSource={RelativeSource FindAncestor, AncestorType={x:Type ListViewItem}}}"> <CheckBox.Content> <ContentPresenter Content="{TemplateBinding ContentControl.Content}" ContentTemplate="{TemplateBinding ContentControl.ContentTemplate}" HorizontalAlignment="{TemplateBinding Control.HorizontalContentAlignment}" VerticalAlignment="{TemplateBinding Control.VerticalContentAlignment}" SnapsToDevicePixels="{TemplateBinding UIElement.SnapsToDevicePixels}" /> </CheckBox.Content> </CheckBox> </Border> </ControlTemplate> </Setter.Value> </Setter> </Style> </Style.Resources> </Style> </ListView.Style> </ListView> I however am trying to attempt one more feature. The ListView has a SelectedItems DependencyProperty that returns a collection of the Items that are checked. However, I need to implement a SelectedValues DependencyProperty. I also am implementing a SelectedValuesPath DependencyProperty. By using the SelectedValuesPath, I indicate the path where the values are found for each selected item. So if my items have an ID property, I can specify using the SelectedValuesPath property "ID". The SelectedValues property would then return a collection of ID values. I have this working also using this code in the code-behind: using System.Windows; using System.Windows.Controls; using System.ComponentModel; using System.Collections; using System.Collections.Generic; namespace CheckedListViewSample { /// <summary> /// Interaction logic for CheckBoxListView.xaml /// </summary> public partial class CheckBoxListView : ListView { public static DependencyProperty SelectedValuesPathProperty = DependencyProperty.Register("SelectedValuesPath", typeof(string), typeof(CheckBoxListView), new PropertyMetadata(string.Empty, null)); public static DependencyProperty SelectedValuesProperty = DependencyProperty.Register("SelectedValues", typeof(IList), typeof(CheckBoxListView), new PropertyMetadata(new List<object>(), null)); [Category("Appearance")] [Localizability(LocalizationCategory.NeverLocalize)] [Bindable(true)] public string SelectedValuesPath { get { return ((string)(base.GetValue(CheckBoxListView.SelectedValuesPathProperty))); } set { base.SetValue(CheckBoxListView.SelectedValuesPathProperty, value); } } [Bindable(true)] [DesignerSerializationVisibility(DesignerSerializationVisibility.Hidden)] [Category("Appearance")] public IList SelectedValues { get { return ((IList)(base.GetValue(CheckBoxListView.SelectedValuesPathProperty))); } set { base.SetValue(CheckBoxListView.SelectedValuesPathProperty, value); } } public CheckBoxListView() : base() { InitializeComponent(); base.SelectionChanged += new SelectionChangedEventHandler(CheckBoxListView_SelectionChanged); } private void CheckBoxListView_SelectionChanged(object sender, SelectionChangedEventArgs e) { List<object> values = new List<object>(); foreach (var item in SelectedItems) { if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(SelectedValuesPath)) { values.Add(item); } else { try { values.Add(item.GetType().GetProperty(SelectedValuesPath).GetValue(item, null)); } catch { } } } base.SetValue(CheckBoxListView.SelectedValuesProperty, values); e.Handled = true; } } } My problem is that my binding only works one way right now. I'm having trouble trying to figure out how to implement my SelectedValues DependencyProperty so that I could Bind a Collection of values to it, and when the control is loaded, the CheckBoxes are checked with items that have values that correspond to the SelectedValues. I've considered using the PropertyChangedCallBack event, but can't quite figure out how I could write that to achieve my goal. I'm also unsure of how I find the correct ListViewItem to set it as Selected. And lastly, if I can find the ListViewItem and set it to be Selected, won't that fire my SelectionChanged event each time I set a ListViewItem to be Selected?

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• Fading in/Fade out text in IE

  - by tau

  I had a problem and whipped up a quick solution: fade-in and fade-out a series of quotations. My solution works just as I want it in every browser except any of the IEs. The only problem with the IEs is that the text does not fade in and fade out; the text simply pops into existence. I believe I've run into a similar problem before when trying to dynamically change the filter:alpha(opacity=xx) of an element. Any help is greatly appreciated! <html> <head> <style> .fadetext{ background:green; border:1px solid red; height:50px; width:500px; } .fadetext div{ background:yellow; } </style> <script type="text/javascript"> var CI_common = { C:function(cls,elm){ if(!elm) elm = document; if(document.getElementsByClassName){ return elm.getElementsByClassName(cls); }else{ var t = []; var o = elm.getElementsByTagName("*"); var r = new RegExp("(^|\\s)" + cls + "($|\\s)"); for(var i=0;i<o.length;i++){ if(o[i].className.match(r)) t.push(o[i]); } return t; } }, eventAdd:function(obj,evt,func){ if(obj.addEventListener){ obj.addEventListener(evt,func,false); }else if(obj.attachEvent){ obj["x" + evt + func] = func; obj[evt + func] = function(){ obj["x" + evt + func](window.event); } obj.attachEvent("on" + evt,obj[evt + func]); } } } var CI_fadetext = { init:function(){ var c = CI_common.C("fadetext"); // Simply a getElementsByClassName function for(var i=0;i<c.length;i++){ c[i].style.overflow = "hidden"; var kids = c[i].getElementsByTagName("div"); for(var j=0;j<kids.length;j++){ kids[j].style.display = "none"; kids[j].style.filter = "alpha(opacity=0)"; kids[j].style.opacity = "0"; (function(obj,index,len){ obj.fadetexttimeout = setTimeout(function(){ CI_fadetext.fade(obj,true); obj.fadeininterval = setInterval(function(){ CI_fadetext.fade(obj,true); },5000*len) },5000*index); setTimeout(function(){ CI_fadetext.fade(obj,false); obj.fadeoutinterval = setInterval(function(){ CI_fadetext.fade(obj,false); },5000*len) },5000*index+4400); })(kids[j],j,kids.length); } } }, fade:function(elm,dir){ function fade(start){ start = (dir ? start + 10 : start - 10); elm.style.filter = "alpha(opacity=" + start + ")"; elm.style.opacity = start/100; document.getElementById("output").innerHTML = elm.style.filter; if(start > 100 || start <0){ elm.style.display = (dir ? "" : "none"); elm.style.filter = "alpha(opacity=" + (dir ? 100 : 0) + ")"; elm.style.opacity = (dir ? 1 : 0); }else elm.fadetexttimeout = setTimeout(function(){fade(start);},50); } if(dir){ elm.style.display = ""; fade(0); }else fade(100); } } CI_common.eventAdd(window,"load",CI_fadetext.init); // Just a window.onload level 2 event listener </script> </head> <body> <div id="output"></div> <div class="fadetext"> <div>AAAA</div> <div>BBBB</div> <div>CCCC</div> <div>DDDD</div> <div>EEEE</div> </div> </body> </html>

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