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• Template class + virtual function = must implement?

  - by sold

  This code: template <typename T> struct A { T t; void DoSomething() { t.SomeFunction(); } }; struct B { }; A<B> a; is easily compiled without any complaints, as long as I never call a.DoSomething(). However, if I define DoSomething as a virtual function, I will get a compile error saying that B doesn't declare SomeFunction. I can somewhat see why it happens (DoSomething should now have an entry in the vtable), but I can't help feeling that it's not really obligated. Plus it sucks. Is there any way to overcome this? EDIT 2: Okay. I hope this time it makes sence: Let's say I am doing intrusive ref count, so all entities must inherit from base class Object. How can I suuport primitive types too? I can define: template <typename T> class Primitive : public Object { T value; public: Primitive(const T &value=T()); operator T() const; Primitive<T> &operator =(const T &value); Primitive<T> &operator +=(const T &value); Primitive<T> &operator %=(const T &value); // And so on... }; so I can use Primitive<int>, Primitive<char>... But how about Primitive<float>? It seems like a problem, because floats don't have a %= operator. But actually, it isn't, since I'll never call operator %= on Primitive<float>. That's one of the deliberate features of templates. If, for some reason, I would define operator %= as virtual. Or, if i'll pre-export Primitive<float> from a dll to avoid link errors, the compiler will complain even if I never call operator %= on a Primitive<float>. If it would just have fill in a dummy value for operator %= in Primitive<float>'s vtable (that raises an exception?), everything would have been fine.

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• Best way to have common class shared by both C++ and Ruby?

  - by shuttle87

  I am currently working on a project where a team of us are designing a game, all of us are proficient in ruby and some (but not all) of us are proficient in c++. Initially we made the backend in ruby but we ported it to c++ for more speed. The c++ port of the backend has exactly the same features and algorithms as the original ruby code. However we still have a bunch of code in ruby that does useful things but we want it to now get the data from the c++ classes. Our first thought was that we could save some of the data structures in something like XML or redis and call that, but some of the developers don't like that idea. We don't need anything particularly complex data structures to be passed between the different parts of the code, just tuples, strings and ints. Is there any way of integrating the ruby code so that it can call the c++ stuff natively? Will we need to embed code? Will we have to make a ruby extension? If so are there any good resources/tutorials you could suggest? For example say we have this code in the c++ backend: class The_game{ private: bool printinfo; //print the player diagnostic info at the beginning if true int numplayers; std::vector<Player*> players; string current_action; int action_is_on; // the index of the player in the players array that the action is now on //more code here public: Table(std::vector<Player *> in_players, std::vector<Statistics *> player_stats ,const int in_numplayers); ~Table(); void play_game(); History actions_history; }; class History{ private: int action_sequence_number; std::vector<Action*> hand_actions; public: void print_history(); void add_action(Action* the_action_to_be_added); int get_action_sequence_number(){ return action_sequence_number;} bool history_actions_are_equal(); int last_action_size(int street,int number_of_actions_ago); History(); ~History(); }; Is there any way to natively call something in the actions_history via The_game object in ruby? (The objects in the original ruby code all had the same names and functionality) By this I mean: class MyRubyClass def method1(arg1) puts arg1 self.f() # ... but still available puts cpp_method.the_current_game.actions_history.get_action_sequence_number() end # Constructor: def initialize(arg) puts "In constructor with arg #{arg}" #get the c++ object here and call it cpp_method end end Is this possible? Any advice or suggestions are appreciated.

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• How to add a title attribute to every option of an ASP.NET DropDownList

  - by zuallauz

  I'm working on an older ASP.NET project (not MVC I don't think) and one of the features they require is to view a description of an item when they hover over that item in a dropdown list. This can be simply done with HTML using the following code and making use of title text: <select> <option value="1" title="Option 1 Desc">Option 1</option> <option value="2" title="Option 2 Desc">Option 2</option> <option value="3" title="Option 3 Desc">Option 3</option> </select> Ok so how do I do this using ASP.NET DropDownList control? I have the following code: <asp:DropDownList ID="DropDownListLocation" runat="server" AutoPostBack="true" OnSelectedIndexChanged="DropDownListLocation_OnSelectedIndexChanged" CssClass="editorFieldServerControl" ClientIDMode="Static"></asp:DropDownList> And in the 'code behind' page: private void PopulateFacilityDropdown(List<FacilityAvailableByLocation> facilities, int? selectedID) { DropDownListFacility.DataSource = facilities; DropDownListFacility.DataTextField = "FacilityName"; DropDownListFacility.DataValueField = "FacilityID"; DropDownListFacility.DataBind(); DropDownListFacility.Items.Insert(0, new System.Web.UI.WebControls.ListItem("", "")); if (selectedID.HasValue && selectedID.Value > 0) DropDownListFacility.SelectedIndex = facilities.FindIndex(b => b.FacilityID == selectedID.Value); else DropDownListFacility.SelectedIndex = 0; } } Basically each facility in the list of facilities there has properties for an ID, Name, Description that I can get out. I just want to be able to put a title attribute on each <option> that gets rendered and put the description into it. Either that or be able to add a custom attribute like 'data-description' to each <option> tag then I can add the title into each option tag myself using a bit of jQuery which is easy enough. I miss the days where you could just loop through a list and output the custom dropdown code manually. Any ideas? Many thanks

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• Searching a Better Solution with Delegates

  - by spagetticode

  Hey All, I am a newbie in C# and curious about the better solution of my case. I have a method which gets the DataTable as a parameter and creates a List with MyClass's variables and returns it. public static List<Campaigns> GetCampaignsList(DataTable DataTable) { List<Campaigns> ListCampaigns = new List<Campaigns>(); foreach (DataRow row in DataTable.Rows) { Campaigns Campaign = new Campaigns(); Campaign.CampaignID = Convert.ToInt32(row["CampaignID"]); Campaign.CustomerID = Convert.ToInt32(row["CustomerID"]); Campaign.ClientID = Convert.ToInt32(row["ClientID"]); Campaign.Title = row["Title"].ToString(); Campaign.Subject = row["Subject"].ToString(); Campaign.FromName = row["FromName"].ToString(); Campaign.FromEmail = row["FromEmail"].ToString(); Campaign.ReplyEmail = row["ReplyEmail"].ToString(); Campaign.AddDate = Convert.ToDateTime(row["AddDate"]); Campaign.UniqueRecipients = Convert.ToInt32(row["UniqueRecipients"]); Campaign.ClientReportVisible = Convert.ToBoolean(row["ClientReportVisible"]); Campaign.Status = Convert.ToInt16(row["Status"]); ListCampaigns.Add(Campaign); } return ListCampaigns; } And one of my another DataTable method gets the DataTable from the database with given parameters. Here is the method. public static DataTable GetNewCampaigns() { DataTable dtCampaigns = new DataTable(); Campaigns Campaigns = new Campaigns(); dtCampaigns = Campaigns.SelectStatus(0); return dtCampaigns; } But the problem is that, this GetNewCampaigns method doesnt take parameters but other methods can take parameters. For example when I try to select a campaign with a CampaignID, I have to send CampaignID as parameter. These all Database methods do take return type as DataTable but different number of parameters. public static DataTable GetCampaignDetails(int CampaignID) { DataTable dtCampaigns = new DataTable(); Campaigns Campaigns = new Campaigns(); dtCampaigns = Campaigns.Select(CampaignID); return dtCampaigns; } At the end, I want to pass a Delegate to my first GetCampaignList Method as parameter which will decide which Database method to invoke. I dont want to pass DataTable as parameter as it is newbie programming. Could you pls help me learn some more advance features. I searched over it and got to Func< delegate but could not come up with a solution.

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• Efficiently fetching and storing tweets from a few hundred twitter profiles?

  - by MSpreij

  The site I'm working on needs to fetch the tweets from 150-300 people, store them locally, and then list them on the front page. The profiles sit in groups. The pages will be showing the last 20 tweets (or 21-40, etc) by date, group of profiles, single profile, search, or "subject" (which is sort of a different group.. I think..) a live, context-aware tag cloud (based on the last 300 tweets of the current search, group of profiles, or single profile shown) various statistics (group stuffs, most active, etc) which depend on the type of page shown. We're expecting a fair bit of traffic. The last, similar site peaked at nearly 40K visits per day, and ran intro trouble before I started caching pages as static files, and disabling some features (some, accidently..). This was caused mostly by the fact that a page load would also fetch the last x tweets from the 3-6 profiles which had not been updated the longest.. With this new site I can fortunately use cron to fetch tweets, so that helps. I'll also be denormalizing the db a little so it needs less joins, optimize it for faster selects instead of size. Now, main question: how do I figure out which profiles to check for new tweets in an efficient manner? Some people will be tweeting more often than others, some will tweet in bursts (this happens a lot). I want to keep the front page of the site as "current" as possible. If it comes to, say, 300 profiles, and I check 5 every minute, some tweets will only appear an hour after the fact. I can check more often (up to 20K) but want to optimize this as much as possible, both to not hit the rate limit and to not run out of resources on the local server (it hit mysql's connection limit with that other site). Question 2: since cron only "runs" once a minute, I figure I have to check multiple profiles each minute - as stated, at least 5, possibly more. To try and spread it out over that minute I could have it sleep a few seconds between batches or even single profiles. But then if it takes longer than 60 seconds altogether, the script will run into itself. Is this a problem? If so, how can I avoid that? Question 3: any other tips? Readmes? URLs?

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• SFTP not supported error with PHP & cURL

  - by Bad Programmer

  I followed the advice from this Stack Overflow question thread, but I keep hitting a snag. I am receiving the following error message: Unsupported protocol: sftp Here is my code: $ch = curl_init(); if(!$ch) { $error = curl_error($ch); die("cURL session could not be initiated. ERROR: $error.""); } $fp = fopen($docname, 'r'); if(!$fp) { $error = curl_error($ch); die("$docname could not be read."); } curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, "sftp://$user_name:$user_pass@$server:22/$docname"); curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_UPLOAD, 1); curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_PROTOCOLS, CURLPROTO_SFTP); curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_INFILE, $fp); curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_INFILESIZE, filesize($docname)); //this is where I get the failure $exec = curl_exec ($ch); if(!$exec) { $error = curl_error($ch); die("File $docname could not be uploaded. ERROR: $error."); } curl_close ($ch); I used the curl_version() function to see my curl information, and found that sftp doesn't seem to be in the array of supported protocols: [version_number] => 462597 [age] => 2 [features] => 1597 [ssl_version_number] => 0 [version] => 7.15.5 [host] => x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu [ssl_version] => OpenSSL/0.9.8b [libz_version] => 1.2.3 [protocols] => Array ( [0] => tftp [1] => ftp [2] => telnet [3] => dict [4] => ldap [5] => http [6] => file [7] => https [8] => ftps ) Is this a matter of my version of cURL being outdated, or is the SFTP protocol simply not supported at all? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

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• Why is the page still caching even after the no-cache headers have been sent?

  - by Matthew Grasinger

  I've done a ton of research on this and have asked many people with help and still no success. Here are the details... I'm involved in developing a website that pulls data from various data files, combines them in a temp .csv file, and then is graphed using a popular graphing library: dygraphs. The bulk of the website is written in PHP. The parameters that determine the data that is graphed are stored in the users session, the .csv is named after the users session and available for download, and then the .csv file is written in a script that passes it to the dygraphs object. And we've found, even with the no-cache headers sent: header("Cache-Control: no-cache, must-revalidate"); header("Expires: Sat, 26 Jul 1997 05:00:00 GMT"); Many users experience in the middle of a session, (if enough different graphs are generated) the page displaying an older, static rendering of the page (data they had graphed earlier in the session) as if it were cached and loaded instead of getting a new request. It only gets weirder though: I've checked using developer tools in both Firefox and Chrome and both browsers are receiving the no-cache headers just fine; Even when the problem occurs if you view the page source, the source is the correct content (a table/legend is also dynamically created using php, the source shows the correct table, but what is rendered is older content); the page begins to render correctly until the graph is about to be display, and then shows the older content; the older content displays as if it were a completely static overlay--the cached graph does not have the same dynamic features (roll over data point display, zoom and pan, etc.) And it is as if the correct page were somewhere beneath it (the download button for the csv file moves depending on how large the table is. The older, static page does nothing if you click the download .csv button, but if you can manage to find the one in the page beneath it you can click and still download the .csv. The data in the .csv is correct) It is one of the strangest things I've seen in development thus far. Some other relevant facts are that all the problems I've personally experience occurred while I was using Chrome. Non of these symptoms have been reported by Firefox users. IE users have had the same problems (IE users are forced to use chrome frame). I'm at my wits end at this point. We've sent the php headers; we've tried setting the cache profile for php on IIS as "DisableCache" (or whatever); we've tried sending a random query string to the results page; we've tried all the appropriate meta tags--all with no success.

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• Remotely Schedule and Stream Recorded TV in Windows 7 Media Center

  - by DigitalGeekery

  Have you ever been away from home and suddenly realized you forgot to record your favorite program? Now Windows 7 Media Center, users can schedule recordings remotely from their phones or mobile devices with Remote Potato. How it Works Remote Potato installs server software on the host computer running Windows 7 Media Center. Once the software is installed, we’ll need to do some port forwarding on the router and setup an optional dynamic DNS address. When setup is completed, we will access the application through a web based interface. Silverlight is required for Streaming recorded TV, but scheduling recordings can be done through an HTML interface. Installing Remote Potato Download and install Remote Potato on the Media Center PC. (See download link below) If you plan to stream any Recorded TV, you’ll also want to install the streaming pack located on the same page. It isn’t required to stream all shows, only shows that require the AC3 audio codec. Click Yes to allow Remote Potato to add rules to the Windows Firewall for remote access. You’ll likely need to accept a few UAC prompts. When notified that the rules were added, click OK. Remote Potato will then prompt you to allow administrator privileges to reserve a URL for it’s web server. Click Yes. Remote Potato server will start. Click on the configuration button at the right to to reveal the settings tabs.   One the General tab, you’ll have the option to run Remote Potato on startup and minimized in the System Tray. If you’re running Media Center on a dedicated HTPC, you’ll probably want to enable both startup options. Forwarding Ports on Your Router You’ll need to forward a couple ports on your router. By default, these will be ports 9080 and 9081. In this example we’re using a Linksys WRT54GL router, however, the steps for port forwarding will vary from router to router. On the Linksys configuration page, click on the Applications & Gaming Tab, and then the Port Range Forward tab. Under Application, type in a name of your choosing. In both the Start and End boxes, type the port number 9080. Enter the local IP address of your Media Center computer in the IP address column. Click the check box under Enable. Repeat the process on the next line, but this time use port 9081. When finished, click the Save Settings button. Note: It’s highly recommended that you configure the home computer running Media Center & Remote Potato with a static IP address.   Find your IP Address You’ll need to find the IP address assigned to your router from your ISP. There are many ways to do this but a quick and easy way is to visit a site like checkip.dyndns.org (link available below) The current external IP address of your router will be displayed in the browser.   Dynamic DNS This is an optional step, but  it’s highly recommended. Many routers, such as the Linksys WRT54GL we are using, support Dynamic DNS (DDNS). What Dynamic DNS allows you to do is affiliate your home router’s external IP address to a domain name. Every time your home router is assigned a a new IP address by your ISP, the domain name is updated to point to your new IP address. Remote Potato’s user interface is accessed over the Internet is by connecting to your router’s IP address followed by a colon and the port number. (Ex: XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX:9080) Instead of constantly having to look up and remember an IP address, you can use DDNS along with a 3rd party provider like DynDNS.com, to sign up for a free domain name and configure it to be updated each time your router is assigned a new IP address. Go to the DynDNS.com website (See link at the end of the article) and sign up for a free Domain name. You’ll need to register and confirm by email.   Once you’ve signed in and selected your domain name click Activate Services. You’ll get a confirmation message that your domain name has been activated.    On the Linksys WRT54GL click on the Setup tab an then DDNS. Select DynDNS.org, or TZO.com if you prefer to use their service, from the drop down list.   With DynDNS, you’ll need to fill in your username and password you signed up with at the DynDNS website and the hostname you chose. Note: You can connect over your local network with the IP Address of the computer running Remote Potato followed by a colon and the port number. Ex: 192.168.1.2:9080 Logging in Remote Potato and Recording a Show Once you connect, you’ll see the start page. To view the TV listings, click on TV Guide. You’ll then see your guide listings. There are a few ways to navigate the listings. At the top left, you can click on any of the preset time buttons to jump to  the listings at that time of the day.  Click on the arrows to the right and left of the day and date at the top center to proceed to the previous or next day. Or, jump to a specific day with the date and date buttons at the top right.   To setup a recording, click on a program.   You can choose to record the individual show or the entire series by clicking on Record Show or Record Series.   Remote Potato on Mobile Devices Perhaps the coolest feature of Remote Potato is the ability to schedule recording from your phone or mobile device. Note: For any devices or computers without Silverlight, you will be prompted to view the HTML page. Select Browse Listings. Select your program to record. In the Program Details, select Record Show to record the single episode or Record Series to record all instances of the series. You will then see a red dot on the program listing to indicate that the show is scheduled for recording.   Streaming Recorded TV Click on Recorded TV from the home screen to access your previously recorded TV programs. Click on the selection you wish to stream. Click on Play. If you receive this error message, you’ll need to install the streaming pack for Remote Potato. This is found on the same download page as installation files. (See link below) The Begin from slider allows you to start playback from the start (by default) or a different time of the program by moving the slider. The Quality (bitrate) setting  allows you to choose the quality of the playback. We found the video quality on the Normal setting to be pretty lousy, and Low was just pointless. High was the best overall viewing experience as it provided smooth quality video playback. We experienced significant stuttering during playback using the Ultra High setting.   Click Start when you are ready to begin. When playback begins you’ll see a slider at the top right.   Move the slider left or right to increase or decrease the size of the video. There’s also a button to switch to full screen.   Media Center users who travel frequently or are always on the go will likely find Remote Potato to be a blessing. Since being released earlier this year, updates for Remote Potato have come fast and furious. The latest beta release includes support for streaming music and photos. If you like those nice network TV logos, check out our article on adding TV channel logos to Windows Media Center. Downloads and Links Download Remote Potato and Streaming Pack Find your IP address Sign Up for a Domain Name at DynDNS.com Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Schedule Updates for Windows Media CenterUsing Netflix Watchnow in Windows Vista Media Center (Gmedia)Add a Sleep Timer to Windows 7 Media CenterStartup Customizations for Media Center in Windows 7Enable Media Streaming in Windows Home Server to Windows Media Player TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 FoxClocks adds World Times in your Statusbar (Firefox) Have Fun Editing Photo Editing with Citrify Outlook Connector Upgrade Error Gadfly is a cool Twitter/Silverlight app Enable DreamScene in Windows 7 Microsoft’s “How Do I ?” Videos

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• Mauritius Software Craftsmanship Community

  There we go! I finally managed to push myself forward and pick up an old, actually too old, idea since I ever arrived here in Mauritius more than six years ago. I'm talking about a community for all kind of ICT connected people. In the past (back in Germany), I used to be involved in various community activities. For example, I was part of the Microsoft Community Leader/Influencer Program (CLIP) in Germany due to an FAQ on Visual FoxPro, actually Active FoxPro Pages (AFP) to be more precise. Then in 2003/2004 I addressed the responsible person of the dFPUG user group in Speyer in order to assist him in organising monthly user group meetings. Well, he handed over management completely, and attended our meetings regularly. Why did it take you so long? Well, I don't want to bother you with the details but short version is that I was too busy on either job (building up new companies) or private life (got married and we have two lovely children, eh 'monsters') or even both. But now is the time where I was starting to look for new fields given the fact that I gained some spare time. My businesses are up and running, the kids are in school, and I am finally in a position where I can commit myself again to community activities. And I love to do that! Why a new user group? Good question... And 'easy' to answer. Since back in 2007 I did my usual research, eh Google searches, to see whether there existing user groups in Mauritius and in which field of interest. And yes, there are! If I recall this correctly, then there are communities for PHP, Drupal, Python (just recently), Oracle, and Linux (which used to be even two). But... either they do not exist anymore, they are dormant, or there is only a low heart-beat, frankly speaking. And yes, I went to meetings of the Linux User Group Meta (Mauritius) back in 2010/2011 and just recently. I really like the setup and the way the LUGM is organised. It's just that I have a slightly different point of view on how a user group or community should organise itself and how to approach future members. Don't get me wrong, I'm not criticizing others doing a very good job, I'm only saying that I'd like to do it differently. The last meeting of the LUGM was awesome; read my feedback about it. Ok, so what's up with 'Mauritius Software Craftsmanship Community' or short: MSCC? As I've already written in my article on 'Communities - The importance of exchange and discussion' I think it is essential in a world of IT to stay 'connected' with a good number of other people in the same field. There is so much dynamic and every day's news that it is almost impossible to keep on track with all of them. The MSCC is going to provide a common platform to exchange experience and share knowledge between each other. You might be a newbie and want to know what to expect working as a software developer, or as a database administrator, or maybe as an IT systems administrator, or you're an experienced geek that loves to share your ideas or solutions that you implemented to solve a specific problem, or you're the business (or HR) guy that is looking for 'fresh' blood to enforce your existing team. Or... you're just interested and you'd like to communicate with like-minded people. Meetup of 26.06.2013 @ L'arabica: Of course there are laptops around. Free WiFi, power outlet, coffee, code and Linux in one go. The MSCC is technology-agnostic and spans an umbrella over any kind of technology. Simply because you can't ignore other technologies anymore in a connected IT world as we have. A front-end developer for iOS applications should have the chance to connect with a Python back-end coder and eventually with a DBA for MySQL or PostgreSQL and exchange their experience. Furthermore, I'm a huge fan of cross-platform development, and it is very pleasant to have pure Web developers - with all that HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript and JS libraries stuff - and passionate C# or Java coders at the same table. This diversity of knowledge can assist and boost your personal situation. And last but not least, there are projects and open positions 'flying' around... People might like to hear others opinion about an employer or get new impulses on how to tackle down an issue at their workspace, etc. This is about community. And that's how I see the MSCC in general - free of any limitations be it by programming language or technology. Having the chance to exchange experience and to discuss certain aspects of technology saves you time and money, and it's a pleasure to enjoy. Compared to dusty books and remote online resources. It's human! Organising meetups (meetings, get-together, gatherings - you name it!) As of writing this article, the MSCC is currently meeting every Wednesday for the weekly 'Code & Coffee' session at various locations (suggestions are welcome!) in Mauritius. This might change in the future eventually but especially at the beginning I think it is very important to create awareness in the Mauritian IT world. Yes, we are here! Come and join us! ;-) The MSCC's main online presence is located at Meetup.com because it allows me to handle the organisation of events and meeting appointments very easily, and any member can have a look who else is involved so that an exchange of contacts is given at any time. In combination with the other entities (G+ Communities, FB Pages or in Groups) I advertise and manage all future activities here: Mauritius Software Craftsmanship Community This is a community for those who care and are proud of what they do. For those developers, regardless how experienced they are, who want to improve and master their craft. This is a community for those who believe that being average is just not good enough. I know, there are not many 'craftsmen' yet but it's a start... Let's see how it looks like by the end of the year. There are free smartphone apps for Android and iOS from Meetup.com that allow you to keep track of meetings and to stay informed on latest updates. And last but not least, there is a Trello workspace to collect and share ideas and provide downloads of slides, etc. Trello is also available as free smartphone app. Sharing is caring! As mentioned, the #MSCC is present in various social media networks in order to cover as many people as possible here in Mauritius. Following is an overview of the current networks: Twitter - Latest updates and quickies Google+ - Community channel Facebook - Community Page LinkedIn - Community Group Trello - Collaboration workspace to share and develop ideas Hopefully, this covers the majority of computer-related people in Mauritius. Please spread the word about the #MSCC between your colleagues, your friends and other interested 'geeks'. Your future looks bright Running and participating in a user group or any kind of community usually provides quite a number of advantages for anyone. On the one side it is very joyful for me to organise appointments and get in touch with people that might be interested to present a little demo of their projects or their recent problems they had to tackle down, and on the other side there are lots of companies that have various support programs or sponsorships especially tailored for user groups. At the moment, I already have a couple of gimmicks that I would like to hand out in small contests or raffles during one of the upcoming meetings, and as said, companies provide all kind of goodies, books free of charge, or sometimes even licenses for communities. Meeting other software developers or IT guys also opens up your point of view on the local market and there might be interesting projects or job offers available, too. A community like the Mauritius Software Craftsmanship Community is great for freelancers, self-employed, students and of course employees. Meetings will be organised on a regular basis, and I'm open to all kind of suggestions from you. Please leave a comment here in blog or join the conversations in the above mentioned social networks. Let's get this community up and running, my fellow Mauritians! Recent updates The MSCC is now officially participating in the O'Reilly UK User Group programm and we are allowed to request review or recension copies of recent titles. Additionally, we have a discount code for any books or ebooks that you might like to order on shop.oreilly.com. More applications for user group sponsorship programms are pending and I'm looking forward to a couple of announcement very soon. And... we need some kind of 'corporate identity' - Over at the MSCC website there is a call for action (or better said a contest with prizes) to create a unique design for the MSCC. This would include a decent colour palette, a logo, graphical banners for Meetup, Google+, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. and of course badges for our craftsmen to add to their personal blogs and websites. Please spread the word and contribute. Thanks!

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• Visual Studio 2013 Static Code Analysis in depth: What? When and How?

  - by Hosam Kamel

  In this post I'll illustrate in details the following points What is static code analysis? When to use? Supported platforms Supported Visual Studio versions How to use Run Code Analysis Manually Run Code Analysis Automatically Run Code Analysis while check-in source code to TFS version control (TFSVC) Run Code Analysis as part of Team Build Understand the Code Analysis results & learn how to fix them Create your custom rule set Q & A References What is static Rule analysis? Static Code Analysis feature of Visual Studio performs static code analysis on code to help developers identify potential design, globalization, interoperability, performance, security, and a lot of other categories of potential problems according to Microsoft's rules that mainly targets best practices in writing code, and there is a large set of those rules included with Visual Studio grouped into different categorized targeting specific coding issues like security, design, Interoperability, globalizations and others. Static here means analyzing the source code without executing it and this type of analysis can be performed through automated tools (like Visual Studio 2013 Code Analysis Tool) or manually through Code Review which already supported in Visual Studio 2012 and 2013 (check Using Code Review to Improve Quality video on Channel9) There is also Dynamic analysis which performed on executing programs using software testing techniques such as Code Coverage for example. When to use? Running Code analysis tool at regular intervals during your development process can enhance the quality of your software, examines your code for a set of common defects and violations is always a good programming practice. Adding that Code analysis can also find defects in your code that are difficult to discover through testing allowing you to achieve first level quality gate for you application during development phase before you release it to the testing team. Supported platforms .NET Framework, native (C and C++) Database applications. Support Visual Studio versions All version of Visual Studio starting Visual Studio 2013 (except Visual Studio Test Professional) check Feature comparisons Create and modify a custom rule set required Visual Studio Premium or Ultimate. How to use? Code Analysis can be run manually at any time from within the Visual Studio IDE, or even setup to automatically run as part of a Team Build or check-in policy for Team Foundation Server. Run Code Analysis Manually To run code analysis manually on a project, on the Analyze menu, click Run Code Analysis on your project or simply right click on the project name on the Solution Explorer choose Run Code Analysis from the context menu Run Code Analysis Automatically To run code analysis each time that you build a project, you select Enable Code Analysis on Build on the project's Property Page Run Code Analysis while check-in source code to TFS version control (TFSVC) Team Foundation Version Control (TFVC) provides a way for organizations to enforce practices that lead to better code and more efficient group development through Check-in policies which are rules that are set at the team project level and enforced on developer computers before code is allowed to be checked in. (This is available only if you're using Team Foundation Server) Require permissions on Team Foundation Server: you must have the Edit project-level information permission set to Allow typically your account must be part of Project Administrators, Project Collection Administrators, for more information about Team Foundation permissions check http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms252587(v=vs.120).aspx In Team Explorer, right-click the team project name, point to Team Project Settings, and then click Source Control. In the Source Control dialog box, select the Check-in Policy tab. Click Add to create a new check-in policy. Double-click the existing Code Analysis item in the Policy Type list to change the policy. Check or Uncheck the policy option based on the configurations you need to perform as illustrated below: Enforce check-in to only contain files that are part of current solution: code analysis can run only on files specified in solution and project configuration files. This policy guarantees that all code that is part of a solution is analyzed. Enforce C/C++ Code Analysis (/analyze): Requires that all C or C++ projects be built with the /analyze compiler option to run code analysis before they can be checked in. Enforce Code Analysis for Managed Code: Requires that all managed projects run code analysis and build before they can be checked in. Check Code analysis rule set reference on MSDN What is Rule Set? Rule Set is a group of code analysis rules like the example below where Microsoft.Design is the rule set name where "Do not declare static members on generic types" is the code analysis rule Once you configured the Analysis rule the policy will be enabled for all the team member in this project whenever a team member check-in any source code to the TFSVC the policy section will highlight the Code Analysis policy as below TFS is a very extensible platform so you can simply implement your own custom Code Analysis Check-in policy, check this link for more details http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd492668.aspx but you have to be aware also about compatibility between different TFS versions check http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb907157.aspx Run Code Analysis as part of Team Build With Team Foundation Build (TFBuild), you can create and manage build processes that automatically compile and test your applications, and perform other important functions. Code Analysis can be enabled in the Build Definition file by selecting the correct value for the build process parameter "Perform Code Analysis" Once configure, Kick-off your build definition to queue a new build, Code Analysis will run as part of build workflow and you will be able to see code analysis warning as part of build report Understand the Code Analysis results & learn how to fix them Now after you went through Code Analysis configurations and the different ways of running it, we will go through the Code Analysis result how to understand them and how to resolve them. Code Analysis window in Visual Studio will show all the analysis results based on the rule sets you configured in the project file properties, let's dig deep into what each result item contains: 1 Check ID The unique identifier for the rule. CheckId and Category are used for in-source suppression of a warning.       2 Title The title of warning message       3 Description A description of the problem or suggested fix 4 File Name File name and the line of code number which violate the code analysis rule set 5 Category The code analysis category for this error 6 Warning /Error Depend on how you configure it in the rule set the default is Warning level 7 Action Copy: copy the warning information to the clipboard Create Work Item: If you're connected to Team Foundation Server you can create a work item most probably you may create a Task or Bug and assign it for a developer to fix certain code analysis warning Suppress Message: There are times when you might decide not to fix a code analysis warning. You might decide that resolving the warning requires too much recoding in relation to the probability that the issue will arise in any real-world implementation of your code. Or you might believe that the analysis that is used in the warning is inappropriate for the particular context. You can suppress individual warnings so that they no longer appear in the Code Analysis window. Two options available: In Source inserts a SuppressMessage attribute in the source file above the method that generated the warning. This makes the suppression more discoverable. In Suppression File adds a SuppressMessage attribute to the GlobalSuppressions.cs file of the project. This can make the management of suppressions easier. Note that the SuppressMessage attribute added to GlobalSuppression.cs also targets the method that generated the warning. It does not suppress the warning globally.       Visual Studio makes it very easy to fix Code analysis warning, all you have to do is clicking on the Check Id hyperlink if you are not aware how to fix the warring and you'll be directed to MSDN online or local copy based on the configuration you did while installing Visual Studio and you will find all the information about the warring including how to fix it. Create a Custom Code Analysis Rule Set The Microsoft standard rule sets provide groups of rules that are organized by function and depth. For example, the Microsoft Basic Design Guidelines Rules and the Microsoft Extended Design Guidelines Rules contain rules that focus on usability and maintainability issues, with added emphasis on naming rules in the Extended rule set, you can create and modify a custom rule set to meet specific project needs associated with code analysis. To create a custom rule set, you open one or more standard rule sets in the rule set editor. Create and modify a custom rule set required Visual Studio Premium or Ultimate. You can check How to: Create a Custom Rule Set on MSDN for more details http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd264974.aspx Q & A Visual Studio static code analysis vs. FxCop vs. StyleCpp http://www.excella.com/blog/stylecop-vs-fxcop-difference-between-code-analysis-tools/ Code Analysis for SharePoint Apps and SPDisposeCheck? This post lists some of the rule set you can run specifically for SharePoint applications and how to integrate SPDisposeCheck as well. Code Analysis for SQL Server Database Projects? This post illustrate how to run static code analysis on T-SQL through SSDT ReSharper 8 vs. Visual Studio 2013? This document lists some of the features that are provided by ReSharper 8 but are missing or not as fully implemented in Visual Studio 2013. References A Few Billion Lines of Code Later: Using Static Analysis to Find Bugs in the Real World http://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2010/2/69354-a-few-billion-lines-of-code-later/fulltext What is New in Code Analysis for Visual Studio 2013 http://blogs.msdn.com/b/visualstudioalm/archive/2013/07/03/what-is-new-in-code-analysis-for-visual-studio-2013.aspx Analyze the code quality of Windows Store apps using Visual Studio static code analysis http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/hh441471.aspx [Hands-on-lab] Using Code Analysis with Visual Studio 2012 to Improve Code Quality http://download.microsoft.com/download/A/9/2/A9253B14-5F23-4BC8-9C7E-F5199DB5F831/Using%20Code%20Analysis%20with%20Visual%20Studio%202012%20to%20Improve%20Code%20Quality.docx Originally posted at "Hosam Kamel| Developer & Platform Evangelist" http://blogs.msdn.com/hkamel

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• Turn Photos and Home Videos into Movies with Windows Live Movie Maker

  - by DigitalGeekery

  Are you looking for an easy way to take your digital photos and videos and turn them into a movie or slideshow? Today we’ll take a detailed look at how to do use Windows Live Movie Maker. Installation Windows Live Movie Maker comes bundled as part of the Windows Live Essentials suite (link below). However, you don’t have to install any of the programs you may not want. Take notice of the You’re almost done screen. Before clicking Continue, be sure to uncheck the boxes to set your search provider and homepage. Adding Pictures and Videos Open Windows Live Movie Maker. You can add videos or photos by simply dragging and dropping them onto the storyboard area. You can also click on the storyboard area or on the Add videos and photos button on the Home tab to browse for videos and photos. Windows Live Movie Maker supports most video, image, and audio file types. Select your files and add click Open to add them to Windows Live Movie Maker. By default WLMM doesn’t allow you to add files from network locations…so check out our article on how to add network support to Windows Live MovieMaker if the files you want to add are on a network drive. Layout All of your added clips will appear in the storyboard area on the right, while the currently selected clip will appear in the preview window on the left. You can adjust the size of the two areas by clicking and dragging the dividing line in the middle.    Make the clips on the storyboard bigger or smaller by clicking on the thumbnail size icon. The slider at the lower right adjusts the zoom time scale.   Previewing your Movie At any time, you can playback your movie and preview how it will look in the Preview window by clicking the space bar, or by pushing the play button under the preview window. You can also manually move the preview bar slider across the storyboard to view the clips as the video progresses. Adjusting Clips on the Storyboard You can click and drag clips on the storyboard to change the order in which the photos and videos appear.   Adding Music Nothing brings a movie to life quite like music. Selecting Add music will add your music to the beginning of the movie. Select Add music at the current point to include it in the movie to the current location of your preview bar slider, then browse for your music clip. WLMM supports many common audio files such as WAV, MP3, M4A, WMA, AIFF, and ASF. The music clip will appear above the video / photos clips on the storyboard.   You can change the location of music clips by clicking and dragging them to a different location on the storyboard. Add Titles, Captions, and Credits To add a Title screen to your movie, click the Title button on the Home tab. Type your title directly into the text box on the preview screen. The title will be placed at the location of the preview slider on the storyboard. However, you can change the location by clicking and dragging title to other areas of the storyboard. On the Format tab, there are a handful of text settings. You can change the font, color, size, alignment,  and transparency. The Adjust group allows you to change the background color, edit the text, and set the length of time the Title will appear in the movie.   The Effects group on the Format tab allows you to select an effect for your title screen. By hovering your cursor over each option, you will get a live preview of how each effect will appear in the preview window. Click to apply any of the effects. For captions, select where you want your caption to appear with the preview slider on the storyboard, then click the captions button on the Home tab. Just like the title, you type your caption directly into the text box on the preview screen, and you can make any adjustments by using the Font and Paragraph, Adjust, and Effects groups above. Credits are done the same as titles and captions, except they are automatically placed at the end of the movie.   Transitions Go to the Animation tab on the ribbon to apply transitions. Select a clip from the storyboard and hover over one of the transition to see it in the preview window. Click on the transition to apply it to the clip. You can apply transitions separately to clips or hold down Ctrl button while clicking to select multiple clips to which to apply the same transition. Pan and zoom effects are also located on the Animations tab, but can be applied to photos only. Like transition, you can apply them individually to a clip or hold down Ctrl button while clicking to select multiple clips to which to apply the same pan and zoom effect. Once applied, you can adjust the duration of the transitions and pan and zoom effects. You can also click the dropdown for additional transitions or effects. Visual Effects Similar to Pan and Zoom and Transitions, you can apply a variety of Visual Effects to individual or multiple clips. Editing Video and Music Note: This does not actually edit the original video you imported into your Windows Live Movie Maker project, only how it appears in your WLMM project. There are some very basic editing tools located on the Home tab. The Rotate left and Rotate right button will adjust any clip that may be oriented incorrectly. The Fit to music button will automatically adjust the duration of the photos (if you have any in your project) to fit the length of the music in your movie. Audio mix allows you to change the volume level   You can also do some slightly more advanced editing from the Edit tab. Select the video clip on the storyboard and click the Trim tool to edit or remove portions of a video clip. Next, click and drag the sliders in the preview windows to select the are you wish to keep. For example, the area outside the sliders is the area trimmed from the movie. The area inside is the section that is kept in the movie. You can also adjust the Start and End points manually on the ribbon.   When you are finished, click Save trim. You can also split your video clips. Move the preview slider to the location in the video clip where you’d like to split it, and select Split. Your video will be split into separate sections. Now you can apply different effects or move them to different locations on the storyboard. Editing Music Clips Select the music clip on the storyboard and then the Options tab on the ribbon. You can adjust the music volume by moving the slider right and left.   You can also choose to have your music clip fade in or out at the beginning and end of your movie. From the Fade in and Fade out dropdowns, select None, Slow, Medium, or Fast. To adjust the sound of your audio clips, click on the Edit tab, select the Video volume button, and adjust the slider. Move it all the way to the left to mute any background noise in your video clips.   AutoMovie As you have seen, Windows Live Movie Maker allows you to add effects, transitions, titles, and more. If you don’t want to do any of that stuff yourself, AutoMovie will automatically add title, credits, cross fade transitions between items, pan and zoom effects to photos, and fit your project to the music. Just select the AutoMovie button on the Home tab. You can go from zero to movie in literally a couple minutes.   Uploading to YouTube You can share your video on YouTube directly from Windows Live Movie Maker. Click on the YouTube icon in the Sharing group on the Home tab. You’ll be prompted for your YouTube username and password. Fill in the details about your movie and click Publish. The movie will be converted to WMV before being uploaded to YouTube. As soon as the YouTube conversion is complete, you’re new movie is live and ready to be viewed. Saving your Movie as a Video File Select the icon at the top left, then select Save movie. As you hover your mouse over each of the options, you will see the output display size, aspect ratio, and estimated file size per minute of video. All of these settings will output your movie as a WMV file. (Unfortunately, the only option is to save a movie as a WMV file.) The only difference is how they are encoded based on preset common settings. The Burn to DVD option also outputs a WMV file, but then opens Windows DVD Maker and walks you through the process of creating and burning a DVD.   If you choose the Burn to DVD option, close this window when the WMV file conversion is complete and the Windows DVD Maker will prompt you to begin. When your movie is finished, it’s time to relax and enjoy.   Conclusion Windows Live Movie Maker makes it easy for the average person to quickly churn out nice looking movies and slideshows from there own pictures and videos. However, long time users of previous editions (formerly called Windows Movie Maker) will likely be disappointed by some features missing in Windows Live Movie Maker that existed in earlier editions. Looking for details on burning your new project to DVD, check out our article on how to create and author DVDs with Windows DVD Maker. Download Windows Live Movie Maker Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Family Fun: Share Photos with Photo Gallery and Windows Live SpacesCreate and Author DVDs in Windows 7Rotate a Video 90 degrees with VLC or Windows Live Movie MakerInstall Windows Live Essentials In Windows 7How to Make/Edit a movie with Windows Movie Maker in Windows Vista TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips CloudBerry Online Backup 1.5 for Windows Home Server Snagit 10 VMware Workstation 7 Acronis Online Backup Windows Firewall with Advanced Security – How To Guides Sculptris 1.0, 3D Drawing app AceStock, a Tiny Desktop Quote Monitor Gmail Button Addon (Firefox) Hyperwords addon (Firefox) Backup Outlook 2010

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• Issue 15: Oracle PartnerNetwork Exchange @ Oracle OpenWorld

  - by rituchhibber

       ORACLE FOCUS Oracle PartnerNetwork Exchange@ ORACLE OpenWorld Sylvie MichouSenior DirectorPartner Marketing & Communications and Strategic Programs RESOURCES -- Oracle OpenWorld 2012 Oracle PartnerNetwork Exchange @ OpenWorld Oracle PartnerNetwork Exchange @ OpenWorld Registration Oracle PartnerNetwork Exchange SpecializationTest Fest Oracle OpenWorld Schedule Builder Oracle OpenWorld Promotional Toolkit for Partners Oracle Partner Events Oracle Partner Webcasts Oracle EMEA Partner News SUBSCRIBE FEEDBACK PREVIOUS ISSUES If you are attending our forthcoming Oracle OpenWorld 2012 conference in San Francisco from 30 September to 4 October, you will discover a new dedicated programme of keynotes and sessions tailored especially for you, our valued partners. Oracle PartnerNetwork Exchange @ OpenWorld has been created to enhance the opportunities for you to learn from and network with Oracle executives and experts. The programme also provides more informal opportunities than ever throughout the week to meet up with the people who are most important to your business: customers, prospects, colleagues and the Oracle EMEA Alliances & Channels management team. Oracle remains fully focused on building the industry's most admired partner ecosystem—which today spans over 25,000 partners. This new OPN Exchange programme offers an exciting change of pace for partners throughout the conference. Now it will be possible to enjoy a fully-integrated, partner-dedicated session schedule throughout the week, as well as key social events such as the Sunday night Welcome Reception, networking lunches from Monday to Thursday at the Howard Street Tent, and a fantastic closing event on the last Thursday afternoon. In addition to the regular Oracle OpenWorld conference schedule, if you have registered for the Oracle PartnerNetwork Exchange @ OpenWorld programme, you will be invited to attend a much anticipated global partner keynote presentation, plus more than 40 conference sessions aimed squarely at what's most important to you, as partners. Prominent topics for discussion will include: Oracle technologies and roadmaps and how they fit with partners' business plans; business development; regional distinctions in business practices; and much more. Each session will provide plenty of food for thought ahead of the numerous networking opportunities throughout the week, encouraging the knowledge exchange with Oracle executives, customers, prospects, and colleagues that will make this conference of even greater value for you. At Oracle we always work closely with our partners to deliver solution offerings that improve business value, simplify the IT experience and drive innovation and efficiencies for joint customers. The most important element of our new OPN Exchange is content that helps you get more from technology investments, more from your peer-to-peer connections, and more from your interactions with customers. To this end we've created some partner-specific tools which can be used by OPN members ahead of the conference itself. Crucially, a comprehensive Content Catalog already lists and organises details of every OPN Exchange session, speaker, exhibitor, demonstration and related materials. This Content Catalog can be used by all our partners to identify interesting content that you can add to your own personalised Oracle OpenWorld Schedule Builder, allowing more effective planning and pre-enrolment for vital sessions. There are numerous highlights that you will definitely want to include in those personal schedules. On Sunday morning, 30 September we will start the week with partner dedicated OPN Exchange sessions, following our Global Partner Keynote at 13:00 with Judson Althoff, SVP, Worldwide Alliances & Channels and Embedded Sales and senior executives, giving insight into Oracle's partner vision, strategy, and resources—all designed to help build and strengthen market opportunities for you. This will be followed by a number of OPN Exchange general sessions, the Oracle OpenWorld Opening Keynote with Larry Ellison, CEO, Oracle and concluded with the OPN Exchange AfterDark Welcome Reception, starting at 19:30 at the Metreon. From Monday 1 to Thursday 4 October, you can attend the OPN Exchange sessions that are most relevant to your business today and over the coming year. Oracle's top product and sales leaders will be on hand to discuss Oracle's strategic direction in 40+ targeted and in-depth sessions focussing on critical success factors to develop your business. Oracle's dedication to innovation, specialization, enablement and engineering provides Oracle partners with a huge opportunity to create new services and solutions, differentiate themselves and deliver extreme value to joint customers across the globe. Oracle will even be helping over 1000 partners to earn OPN Specialization certification during the Oracle OpenWorld OPN Exchange Test Fest, which will be providing all the study materials and exams required to drive Specialization for free at the conference. You simply need to check the list of current certification tracks available, and make sure you pre-register to reserve a seat in one of the ten sessions being offered free to OPN Exchange registered attendees. And finally, let's not forget those all-important networking opportunities, which can so often provide partners with valuable long-term alliances as well as exciting new business leads. The Oracle PartnerNetwork Lounge, located at Moscone South, exhibition hall, room 100 is the place where partners can meet formally or informally with colleagues, customers, prospects, and other industry professionals. OPN Specialized partners with OPN Exchange passes can also visit the OPN Video Blogging room to record and share ideas, and at the OPN Information Station you will find consultants available to answer your questions. "For the first time ever we will have a full partner conference within OpenWorld. OPN Exchange @ OpenWorld will kick-off on the first Sunday and run the entire week. We'll have over 40 sessions throughout that time and partners will hear from our top development executives, with special sessions dedicated to partnering throughout. It's going to be a phenomenal event, and we look forward to seeing our partners there." Judson Althoff, SVP, Oracle Worldwide Alliances & Channels and Embedded Sales So if you haven't done so already, please register for Oracle PartnerNetwork Exchange @ OpenWorld today or add OPN Exchange to your existing registration for just $100 through My Account. And if you have any further questions regarding partner activities at Oracle OpenWorld, please don't hesitate to contact the Oracle PartnerNetwork team at [email protected] will be on hand to share the very latest information about: Oracle's SPARC Superclusters: the latest Engineered Systems from Oracle, delivering radically improved performance, faster deployment and greatly reduced operational costs for mixed database and enterprise application consolidation Oracle's SPARC T4 servers: with the newly developed T4 processor and Oracle Solaris providing up to five times the single threaded performance and better overall system throughput for expanded application versatility Oracle Database Appliance: a new way to take advantage of the world's most popular database, Oracle Database 11g, in a single, easy-to-deploy and manage system. It's a complete package engineered to deliver simple, reliable and affordable database services to small and medium size businesses and departmental systems. All hardware and software components are supported together and offer customers unique pay-as-you-grow software licensing to quickly scale from two to 24 processor cores without incurring the costs and downtime usually associated with hardware upgrades Oracle Exalogic: the world's only integrated cloud machine, featuring server hardware and middleware software engineered together for maximum performance with minimum set-up and operational cost Oracle Exadata Database Machine: the only database machine that provides extreme performance for both data warehousing and online transaction processing (OLTP) applications, making it the ideal platform for consolidating onto grids or private clouds. It is a complete package of servers, storage, networking and software that is massively scalable, secure and redundant Oracle Sun ZFS Storage Appliances: providing enterprise-class NAS performance, price-performance, manageability and TCO by combining third-generation software with high-performance controllers, flash-based caches and disks Oracle Pillar Axiom Quality-of-Service: confidently consolidate storage for multiple applications into a single datacentre storage solution Oracle Solaris 11: delivering secure enterprise cloud deployments with the ability to run hundreds of virtual application with no overhead and co-engineered with other Oracle software products to provide the highest levels of security, manageability and performance Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c: Oracle's integrated enterprise IT management product, providing the industry's only complete, integrated and business-driven enterprise cloud management solution Oracle VM 3.0: the latest release of Oracle's server virtualisation and management solution, helping to move datacentres beyond server consolidation to improve application deployment and management. Register today and ensure your place at the Extreme Performance Tour! Extreme Performance Tour events are free to attend, but places are limited. To make sure that you don't miss out, please visit Oracle's Extreme Performance Tour website, select the city that you'd be interest in attending an event in, and then click on the 'Register Now' button for that city to secure your interest. Each individual city page also contains more in-depth information about your local event, including logistics, agenda and maybe even a preview of VIP guest speakers. -- Oracle OpenWorld 2010 Whether you attended Oracle OpenWorld 2009 or not, don't forget to save the date now for Oracle OpenWorld 2010. The event will be held a little earlier next year, from 19th-23rd September, so please don't miss out. With thousands of sessions and hundreds of exhibits and demos already lined up, there's no better place to learn how to optimise your existing systems, get an inside line on upcoming technology breakthroughs, and meet with your partner peers, Oracle strategists and even the developers responsible for the products and services that help you get better results for your end customers. Register Now for Oracle OpenWorld 2010! Perhaps you are interested in learning more about Oracle OpenWorld 2010, but don't wish to register at this time? Great! Please just enter your contact information here and we will contact you at a later date. How to Exhibit at Oracle OpenWorld 2010 Sponsorship Opportunities at Oracle OpenWorld 2010 Advertising Opportunities at Oracle OpenWorld 2010 -- Back to the welcome page

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• Create and Consume WCF service using Visual Studio 2010

  - by sreejukg

  In this article I am going to demonstrate how to create a WCF service, that can be hosted inside IIS and a windows application that consume the WCF service. To support service oriented architecture, Microsoft developed the programming model named Windows Communication Foundation (WCF). ASMX was the prior version from Microsoft, was completely based on XML and .Net framework continues to support ASMX web services in future versions also. While ASMX web services was the first step towards the service oriented architecture, Microsoft has made a big step forward by introducing WCF. An overview of planning for WCF can be found from this link http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff649584.aspx . The following are the important differences between WCF and ASMX from an asp.net developer point of view. 1. ASMX web services are easy to write, configure and consume 2. ASMX web services are only hosted in IIS 3. ASMX web services can only use http 4. WCF, can be hosted inside IIS, windows service, console application, WAS(Windows Process Activation Service) etc 5. WCF can be used with HTTP, TCP/IP, MSMQ and other protocols. The detailed difference between ASMX web service and WCF can be found here. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc304771.aspx Though WCF is a bigger step for future, Visual Studio makes it simpler to create, publish and consume the WCF service. In this demonstration, I am going to create a service named SayHello that accepts 2 parameters such as name and language code. The service will return a hello to user name that corresponds to the language. So the proposed service usage is as follows. Caller: SayHello(“Sreeju”, “en”) -> return value -> Hello Sreeju Caller: SayHello(“???”, “ar”) -> return value -> ????? ??? Caller: SayHello(“Sreeju”, “es”) - > return value -> Hola Sreeju Note: calling an automated translation service is not the intention of this article. If you are interested, you can find bing translator API and can use in your application. http://www.microsofttranslator.com/dev/ So Let us start First I am going to create a Service Application that offer the SayHello Service. Open Visual Studio 2010, Go to File -> New Project, from your preferred language from the templates section select WCF, select WCF service application as the project type, give the project a name(I named it as HelloService), click ok so that visual studio will create the project for you. In this demonstration, I have used C# as the programming language. Visual studio will create the necessary files for you to start with. By default it will create a service with name Service1.svc and there will be an interface named IService.cs. The screenshot for the project in solution explorer is as follows Since I want to demonstrate how to create new service, I deleted Service1.Svc and IService1.cs files from the project by right click the file and select delete. Now in the project there is no service available, I am going to create one. From the solution explorer, right click the project, select Add -> New Item Add new item dialog will appear to you. Select WCF service from the list, give the name as HelloService.svc, and click on the Add button. Now Visual studio will create 2 files with name IHelloService.cs and HelloService.svc. These files are basically the service definition (IHelloService.cs) and the service implementation (HelloService.svc). Let us examine the IHelloService interface. The code state that IHelloService is the service definition and it provides an operation/method (similar to web method in ASMX web services) named DoWork(). Any WCF service will have a definition file as an Interface that defines the service. Let us see what is inside HelloService.svc The code illustrated is implementing the interface IHelloService. The code is self-explanatory; the HelloService class needs to implement all the methods defined in the Service Definition. Let me do the service as I require. Open IHelloService.cs in visual studio, and delete the DoWork() method and add a definition for SayHello(), do not forget to add OperationContract attribute to the method. The modified IHelloService.cs will look as follows Now implement the SayHello method in the HelloService.svc.cs file. Here I wrote the code for SayHello method as follows. I am done with the service. Now you can build and run the service by clicking f5 (or selecting start debugging from the debug menu). Visual studio will host the service in give you a client to test it. The screenshot is as follows. In the left pane, it shows the services available in the server and in right side you can invoke the service. To test the service sayHello, double click on it from the above window. It will ask you to enter the parameters and click on the invoke button. See a sample output below. Now I have done with the service. The next step is to write a service client. Creating a consumer application involves 2 steps. One generating the class and configuration file corresponds to the service. Create a project that utilizes the generated class and configuration file. First I am going to generate the class and configuration file. There is a great tool available with Visual Studio named svcutil.exe, this tool will create the necessary class and configuration files for you. Read the documentation for the svcutil.exe here http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa347733.aspx . Open Visual studio command prompt, you can find it under Start Menu -> All Programs -> Visual Studio 2010 -> Visual Studio Tools -> Visual Studio command prompt Make sure the service is in running state in visual studio. Note the url for the service(from the running window, you can right click and choose copy address). Now from the command prompt, enter the svcutil.exe command as follows. I have mentioned the url and the /d switch – for the directory to store the output files(In this case d:\temp). If you are using windows drive(in my case it is c: ) , make sure you open the command prompt with run as administrator option, otherwise you will get permission error(Only in windows 7 or windows vista). The tool has created 2 files, HelloService.cs and output.config. Now the next step is to create a new project and use the created files and consume the service. Let us do that now. I am going to add a console application to the current solution. Right click solution name in the solution explorer, right click, Add-> New Project Under Visual C#, select console application, give the project a name, I named it TestService Now navigate to d:\temp where I generated the files with the svcutil.exe. Rename output.config to app.config. Next step is to add both files (d:\temp\helloservice.cs and app.config) to the files. In the solution explorer, right click the project, Add -> Add existing item, browse to the d:\temp folder, select the 2 files as mentioned before, click on the add button. Now you need to add a reference to the System.ServiceModel to the project. From solution explorer, right click the references under testservice project, select Add reference. In the Add reference dialog, select the .Net tab, select System.ServiceModel, and click ok Now open program.cs by double clicking on it and add the code to consume the web service to the main method. The modified file looks as follows Right click the testservice project and set as startup project. Click f5 to run the project. See the sample output as follows Publishing WCF service under IIS is similar to publishing ASP.Net application. Publish the application to a folder using Visual studio publishing feature, create a virtual directory and create it as an application. Don’t forget to set the application pool to use ASP.Net version 4. One last thing you need to check is the app.config file you have added to the solution. See the element client under ServiceModel element. There is an endpoint element with address attribute that points to the published service URL. If you permanently host the service under IIS, you can simply change the address parameter to the corresponding one and your application will consume the service. You have seen how easily you can build/consume WCF service. If you need the solution in zipped format, please post your email below.

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• Java Logger API

  - by Koppar

  This is a more like a tip rather than technical write up and serves as a quick intro for newbies. The logger API helps to diagnose application level or JDK level issues at runtime. There are 7 levels which decide the detailing in logging (SEVERE, WARNING, INFO, CONFIG, FINE, FINER, FINEST). Its best to start with highest level and as we narrow down, use more detailed logging for a specific area. SEVERE is the highest and FINEST is the lowest. This may not make sense until we understand some jargon. The Logger class provides the ability to stream messages to an output stream in a format that can be controlled by the user. What this translates to is, I can create a logger with this simple invocation and use it add debug messages in my class: import java.util.logging.*; private static final Logger focusLog = Logger.getLogger("java.awt.focus.KeyboardFocusManager"); if (focusLog.isLoggable(Level.FINEST)) { focusLog.log(Level.FINEST, "Calling peer setCurrentFocusOwner}); LogManager acts like a book keeper and all the getLogger calls are forwarded to LogManager. The LogManager itself is a singleton class object which gets statically initialized on JVM start up. More on this later. If there is no existing logger with the given name, a new one is created. If there is one (and not yet GC’ed), then the existing Logger object is returned. By default, a root logger is created on JVM start up. All anonymous loggers are made as the children of the root logger. Named loggers have the hierarchy as per their name resolutions. Eg: java.awt.focus is the parent logger for java.awt.focus.KeyboardFocusManager etc. Before logging any message, the logger checks for the log level specified. If null is specified, the log level of the parent logger will be set. However, if the log level is off, no log messages would be written, irrespective of the parent’s log level. All the messages that are posted to the Logger are handled as a LogRecord object.i.e. FocusLog.log would create a new LogRecord object with the log level and message as its data members). The level of logging and thread number are also tracked. LogRecord is passed on to all the registered Handlers. Handler is basically a means to output the messages. The output may be redirected to either a log file or console or a network logging service. The Handler classes use the LogManager properties to set filters and formatters. During initialization or JVM start up, LogManager looks for logging.properties file in jre/lib and sets the properties if the file is provided. An alternate location for properties file can also be specified by setting java.util.logging.config.file system property. This can be set in Java Control Panel ? Java ? Runtime parameters as -Djava.util.logging.config.file = <mylogfile> or passed as a command line parameter java -Djava.util.logging.config.file = C:/Sunita/myLog The redirection of logging depends on what is specified rather registered as a handler with JVM in the properties file. java.util.logging.ConsoleHandler sends the output to system.err and java.util.logging.FileHandler sends the output to file. File name of the log file can also be specified. If you prefer XML format output, in the configuration file, set java.util.logging.FileHandler.formatter = java.util.logging.XMLFormatter and if you prefer simple text, set set java.util.logging.FileHandler.formatter =java.util.logging.SimpleFormatter Below is the default logging Configuration file: ############################################################ # Default Logging Configuration File # You can use a different file by specifying a filename # with the java.util.logging.config.file system property. # For example java -Djava.util.logging.config.file=myfile ############################################################ ############################################################ # Global properties ############################################################ # "handlers" specifies a comma separated list of log Handler # classes. These handlers will be installed during VM startup. # Note that these classes must be on the system classpath. # By default we only configure a ConsoleHandler, which will only # show messages at the INFO and above levels. handlers= java.util.logging.ConsoleHandler # To also add the FileHandler, use the following line instead. #handlers= java.util.logging.FileHandler, java.util.logging.ConsoleHandler # Default global logging level. # This specifies which kinds of events are logged across # all loggers. For any given facility this global level # can be overriden by a facility specific level # Note that the ConsoleHandler also has a separate level # setting to limit messages printed to the console. .level= INFO ############################################################ # Handler specific properties. # Describes specific configuration info for Handlers. ############################################################ # default file output is in user's home directory. java.util.logging.FileHandler.pattern = %h/java%u.log java.util.logging.FileHandler.limit = 50000 java.util.logging.FileHandler.count = 1 java.util.logging.FileHandler.formatter = java.util.logging.XMLFormatter # Limit the message that are printed on the console to INFO and above. java.util.logging.ConsoleHandler.level = INFO java.util.logging.ConsoleHandler.formatter = java.util.logging.SimpleFormatter ############################################################ # Facility specific properties. # Provides extra control for each logger. ############################################################ # For example, set the com.xyz.foo logger to only log SEVERE # messages: com.xyz.foo.level = SEVERE Since I primarily use this method to track focus issues, here is how I get detailed awt focus related logging. Just set the logger name to java.awt.focus.level=FINEST and change the default log level to FINEST. Below is a basic sample program. The sample programs are from http://www2.cs.uic.edu/~sloan/CLASSES/java/ and have been modified to illustrate the logging API. By changing the .level property in the logging.properties file, one can control the output written to the logs. To play around with the example, try changing the levels in the logging.properties file and notice the difference in messages going to the log file. Example --------KeyboardReader.java------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- import java.io.*; import java.util.*; import java.util.logging.*; public class KeyboardReader { private static final Logger mylog = Logger.getLogger("samples.input"); public static void main (String[] args) throws java.io.IOException { String s1; String s2; double num1, num2, product; // set up the buffered reader to read from the keyboard BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader (new InputStreamReader (System.in)); System.out.println ("Enter a line of input"); s1 = br.readLine(); if (mylog.isLoggable(Level.SEVERE)) { mylog.log (Level.SEVERE,"The line entered is " + s1); } if (mylog.isLoggable(Level.INFO)) { mylog.log (Level.INFO,"The line has " + s1.length() + " characters"); } if (mylog.isLoggable(Level.FINE)) { mylog.log (Level.FINE,"Breaking the line into tokens we get:"); } int numTokens = 0; StringTokenizer st = new StringTokenizer (s1); while (st.hasMoreTokens()) { s2 = st.nextToken(); numTokens++; if (mylog.isLoggable(Level.FINEST)) { mylog.log (Level.FINEST, " Token " + numTokens + " is: " + s2); } } } } ----------MyFileReader.java---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- import java.io.*; import java.util.*; import java.util.logging.*; public class MyFileReader extends KeyboardReader { private static final Logger mylog = Logger.getLogger("samples.input.file"); public static void main (String[] args) throws java.io.IOException { String s1; String s2; // set up the buffered reader to read from the keyboard BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader (new FileReader ("MyFileReader.txt")); s1 = br.readLine(); if (mylog.isLoggable(Level.SEVERE)) { mylog.log (Level.SEVERE,"ATTN The line is " + s1); } if (mylog.isLoggable(Level.INFO)) { mylog.log (Level.INFO, "The line has " + s1.length() + " characters"); } if (mylog.isLoggable(Level.FINE)) { mylog.log (Level.FINE,"Breaking the line into tokens we get:"); } int numTokens = 0; StringTokenizer st = new StringTokenizer (s1); while (st.hasMoreTokens()) { s2 = st.nextToken(); numTokens++; if (mylog.isLoggable(Level.FINEST)) { mylog.log (Level.FINEST,"Breaking the line into tokens we get:"); mylog.log (Level.FINEST," Token " + numTokens + " is: " + s2); } } //end of while } // end of main } // end of class ----------MyFileReader.txt------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ My first logging example -------logging.properties------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- handlers= java.util.logging.ConsoleHandler, java.util.logging.FileHandler .level= FINEST java.util.logging.FileHandler.pattern = java%u.log java.util.logging.FileHandler.limit = 50000 java.util.logging.FileHandler.count = 1 java.util.logging.FileHandler.formatter = java.util.logging.SimpleFormatter java.util.logging.ConsoleHandler.level = FINEST java.util.logging.ConsoleHandler.formatter = java.util.logging.SimpleFormatter java.awt.focus.level=ALL ------Output log------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- May 21, 2012 11:44:55 AM MyFileReader main SEVERE: ATTN The line is My first logging example May 21, 2012 11:44:55 AM MyFileReader main INFO: The line has 24 characters May 21, 2012 11:44:55 AM MyFileReader main FINE: Breaking the line into tokens we get: May 21, 2012 11:44:55 AM MyFileReader main FINEST: Breaking the line into tokens we get: May 21, 2012 11:44:55 AM MyFileReader main FINEST: Token 1 is: My May 21, 2012 11:44:55 AM MyFileReader main FINEST: Breaking the line into tokens we get: May 21, 2012 11:44:55 AM MyFileReader main FINEST: Token 2 is: first May 21, 2012 11:44:55 AM MyFileReader main FINEST: Breaking the line into tokens we get: May 21, 2012 11:44:55 AM MyFileReader main FINEST: Token 3 is: logging May 21, 2012 11:44:55 AM MyFileReader main FINEST: Breaking the line into tokens we get: May 21, 2012 11:44:55 AM MyFileReader main FINEST: Token 4 is: example Invocation command: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jdk1.6.0_29\bin\java.exe" -Djava.util.logging.config.file=logging.properties MyFileReader References Further technical details are available here: http://docs.oracle.com/javase/1.4.2/docs/guide/util/logging/overview.html#1.0 http://docs.oracle.com/javase/1.4.2/docs/api/java/util/logging/package-summary.html http://www2.cs.uic.edu/~sloan/CLASSES/java/

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• A Nondeterministic Engine written in VB.NET 2010

  - by neil chen

  When I'm reading SICP (Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs) recently, I'm very interested in the concept of an "Nondeterministic Algorithm". According to wikipedia:  In computer science, a nondeterministic algorithm is an algorithm with one or more choice points where multiple different continuations are possible, without any specification of which one will be taken. For example, here is an puzzle came from the SICP: Baker, Cooper, Fletcher, Miller, and Smith live on different floors of an apartment housethat contains only five floors. Baker does not live on the top floor. Cooper does not live onthe bottom floor. Fletcher does not live on either the top or the bottom floor. Miller lives ona higher floor than does Cooper. Smith does not live on a floor adjacent to Fletcher's.Fletcher does not live on a floor adjacent to Cooper's. Where does everyone live? After reading this I decided to build a simple nondeterministic calculation engine with .NET. The rough idea is that we can use an iterator to track each set of possible values of the parameters, and then we implement some logic inside the engine to automate the statemachine, so that we can try one combination of the values, then test it, and then move to the next. We also used a backtracking algorithm to go back when we are running out of choices at some point. Following is the core code of the engine itself: Code highlighting produced by Actipro CodeHighlighter (freeware)http://www.CodeHighlighter.com/--Public Class NonDeterministicEngine Private _paramDict As New List(Of Tuple(Of String, IEnumerator)) 'Private _predicateDict As New List(Of Tuple(Of Func(Of Object, Boolean), IEnumerable(Of String))) Private _predicateDict As New List(Of Tuple(Of Object, IList(Of String))) Public Sub AddParam(ByVal name As String, ByVal values As IEnumerable) _paramDict.Add(New Tuple(Of String, IEnumerator)(name, values.GetEnumerator())) End Sub Public Sub AddRequire(ByVal predicate As Func(Of Object, Boolean), ByVal paramNames As IList(Of String)) CheckParamCount(1, paramNames) _predicateDict.Add(New Tuple(Of Object, IList(Of String))(predicate, paramNames)) End Sub Public Sub AddRequire(ByVal predicate As Func(Of Object, Object, Boolean), ByVal paramNames As IList(Of String)) CheckParamCount(2, paramNames) _predicateDict.Add(New Tuple(Of Object, IList(Of String))(predicate, paramNames)) End Sub Public Sub AddRequire(ByVal predicate As Func(Of Object, Object, Object, Boolean), ByVal paramNames As IList(Of String)) CheckParamCount(3, paramNames) _predicateDict.Add(New Tuple(Of Object, IList(Of String))(predicate, paramNames)) End Sub Public Sub AddRequire(ByVal predicate As Func(Of Object, Object, Object, Object, Boolean), ByVal paramNames As IList(Of String)) CheckParamCount(4, paramNames) _predicateDict.Add(New Tuple(Of Object, IList(Of String))(predicate, paramNames)) End Sub Public Sub AddRequire(ByVal predicate As Func(Of Object, Object, Object, Object, Object, Boolean), ByVal paramNames As IList(Of String)) CheckParamCount(5, paramNames) _predicateDict.Add(New Tuple(Of Object, IList(Of String))(predicate, paramNames)) End Sub Public Sub AddRequire(ByVal predicate As Func(Of Object, Object, Object, Object, Object, Object, Boolean), ByVal paramNames As IList(Of String)) CheckParamCount(6, paramNames) _predicateDict.Add(New Tuple(Of Object, IList(Of String))(predicate, paramNames)) End Sub Public Sub AddRequire(ByVal predicate As Func(Of Object, Object, Object, Object, Object, Object, Object, Boolean), ByVal paramNames As IList(Of String)) CheckParamCount(7, paramNames) _predicateDict.Add(New Tuple(Of Object, IList(Of String))(predicate, paramNames)) End Sub Public Sub AddRequire(ByVal predicate As Func(Of Object, Object, Object, Object, Object, Object, Object, Object, Boolean), ByVal paramNames As IList(Of String)) CheckParamCount(8, paramNames) _predicateDict.Add(New Tuple(Of Object, IList(Of String))(predicate, paramNames)) End Sub Sub CheckParamCount(ByVal count As Integer, ByVal paramNames As IList(Of String)) If paramNames.Count <> count Then Throw New Exception("Parameter count does not match.") End If End Sub Public Property IterationOver As Boolean Private _firstTime As Boolean = True Public ReadOnly Property Current As Dictionary(Of String, Object) Get If IterationOver Then Return Nothing Else Dim _nextResult = New Dictionary(Of String, Object) For Each item In _paramDict Dim iter = item.Item2 _nextResult.Add(item.Item1, iter.Current) Next Return _nextResult End If End Get End Property Function MoveNext() As Boolean If IterationOver Then Return False End If If _firstTime Then For Each item In _paramDict Dim iter = item.Item2 iter.MoveNext() Next _firstTime = False Return True Else Dim canMoveNext = False Dim iterIndex = _paramDict.Count - 1 canMoveNext = _paramDict(iterIndex).Item2.MoveNext If canMoveNext Then Return True End If Do While Not canMoveNext iterIndex = iterIndex - 1 If iterIndex = -1 Then Return False IterationOver = True End If canMoveNext = _paramDict(iterIndex).Item2.MoveNext If canMoveNext Then For i = iterIndex + 1 To _paramDict.Count - 1 Dim iter = _paramDict(i).Item2 iter.Reset() iter.MoveNext() Next Return True End If Loop End If End Function Function GetNextResult() As Dictionary(Of String, Object) While MoveNext() Dim result = Current If Satisfy(result) Then Return result End If End While Return Nothing End Function Function Satisfy(ByVal result As Dictionary(Of String, Object)) As Boolean For Each item In _predicateDict Dim pred = item.Item1 Select Case item.Item2.Count Case 1 Dim p1 = DirectCast(pred, Func(Of Object, Boolean)) Dim v1 = result(item.Item2(0)) If Not p1(v1) Then Return False End If Case 2 Dim p2 = DirectCast(pred, Func(Of Object, Object, Boolean)) Dim v1 = result(item.Item2(0)) Dim v2 = result(item.Item2(1)) If Not p2(v1, v2) Then Return False End If Case 3 Dim p3 = DirectCast(pred, Func(Of Object, Object, Object, Boolean)) Dim v1 = result(item.Item2(0)) Dim v2 = result(item.Item2(1)) Dim v3 = result(item.Item2(2)) If Not p3(v1, v2, v3) Then Return False End If Case 4 Dim p4 = DirectCast(pred, Func(Of Object, Object, Object, Object, Boolean)) Dim v1 = result(item.Item2(0)) Dim v2 = result(item.Item2(1)) Dim v3 = result(item.Item2(2)) Dim v4 = result(item.Item2(3)) If Not p4(v1, v2, v3, v4) Then Return False End If Case 5 Dim p5 = DirectCast(pred, Func(Of Object, Object, Object, Object, Object, Boolean)) Dim v1 = result(item.Item2(0)) Dim v2 = result(item.Item2(1)) Dim v3 = result(item.Item2(2)) Dim v4 = result(item.Item2(3)) Dim v5 = result(item.Item2(4)) If Not p5(v1, v2, v3, v4, v5) Then Return False End If Case 6 Dim p6 = DirectCast(pred, Func(Of Object, Object, Object, Object, Object, Object, Boolean)) Dim v1 = result(item.Item2(0)) Dim v2 = result(item.Item2(1)) Dim v3 = result(item.Item2(2)) Dim v4 = result(item.Item2(3)) Dim v5 = result(item.Item2(4)) Dim v6 = result(item.Item2(5)) If Not p6(v1, v2, v3, v4, v5, v6) Then Return False End If Case 7 Dim p7 = DirectCast(pred, Func(Of Object, Object, Object, Object, Object, Object, Object, Boolean)) Dim v1 = result(item.Item2(0)) Dim v2 = result(item.Item2(1)) Dim v3 = result(item.Item2(2)) Dim v4 = result(item.Item2(3)) Dim v5 = result(item.Item2(4)) Dim v6 = result(item.Item2(5)) Dim v7 = result(item.Item2(6)) If Not p7(v1, v2, v3, v4, v5, v6, v7) Then Return False End If Case 8 Dim p8 = DirectCast(pred, Func(Of Object, Object, Object, Object, Object, Object, Object, Object, Boolean)) Dim v1 = result(item.Item2(0)) Dim v2 = result(item.Item2(1)) Dim v3 = result(item.Item2(2)) Dim v4 = result(item.Item2(3)) Dim v5 = result(item.Item2(4)) Dim v6 = result(item.Item2(5)) Dim v7 = result(item.Item2(6)) Dim v8 = result(item.Item2(7)) If Not p8(v1, v2, v3, v4, v5, v6, v7, v8) Then Return False End If Case Else Throw New NotSupportedException End Select Next Return True End FunctionEnd Class    And now we can use the engine to solve the problem we mentioned above:   Code highlighting produced by Actipro CodeHighlighter (freeware)http://www.CodeHighlighter.com/--Sub Test2() Dim engine = New NonDeterministicEngine() engine.AddParam("baker", {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}) engine.AddParam("cooper", {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}) engine.AddParam("fletcher", {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}) engine.AddParam("miller", {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}) engine.AddParam("smith", {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}) engine.AddRequire(Function(baker) As Boolean Return baker <> 5 End Function, {"baker"}) engine.AddRequire(Function(cooper) As Boolean Return cooper <> 1 End Function, {"cooper"}) engine.AddRequire(Function(fletcher) As Boolean Return fletcher <> 1 And fletcher <> 5 End Function, {"fletcher"}) engine.AddRequire(Function(miller, cooper) As Boolean 'Return miller = cooper + 1 Return miller > cooper End Function, {"miller", "cooper"}) engine.AddRequire(Function(smith, fletcher) As Boolean Return smith <> fletcher + 1 And smith <> fletcher - 1 End Function, {"smith", "fletcher"}) engine.AddRequire(Function(fletcher, cooper) As Boolean Return fletcher <> cooper + 1 And fletcher <> cooper - 1 End Function, {"fletcher", "cooper"}) engine.AddRequire(Function(a, b, c, d, e) As Boolean Return a <> b And a <> c And a <> d And a <> e And b <> c And b <> d And b <> e And c <> d And c <> e And d <> e End Function, {"baker", "cooper", "fletcher", "miller", "smith"}) Dim result = engine.GetNextResult() While Not result Is Nothing Console.WriteLine(String.Format("baker: {0}, cooper: {1}, fletcher: {2}, miller: {3}, smith: {4}", result("baker"), result("cooper"), result("fletcher"), result("miller"), result("smith"))) result = engine.GetNextResult() End While Console.WriteLine("Calculation ended.")End Sub   Also, this engine can solve the classic 8 queens puzzle and find out all 92 results for me.   Code highlighting produced by Actipro CodeHighlighter (freeware)http://www.CodeHighlighter.com/--Sub Test3() ' The 8-Queens problem. Dim engine = New NonDeterministicEngine() ' Let's assume that a - h represents the queens in row 1 to 8, then we just need to find out the column number for each of them. engine.AddParam("a", {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8}) engine.AddParam("b", {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8}) engine.AddParam("c", {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8}) engine.AddParam("d", {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8}) engine.AddParam("e", {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8}) engine.AddParam("f", {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8}) engine.AddParam("g", {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8}) engine.AddParam("h", {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8}) Dim NotInTheSameDiagonalLine = Function(cols As IList) As Boolean For i = 0 To cols.Count - 2 For j = i + 1 To cols.Count - 1 If j - i = Math.Abs(cols(j) - cols(i)) Then Return False End If Next Next Return True End Function engine.AddRequire(Function(a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h) As Boolean Return a <> b AndAlso a <> c AndAlso a <> d AndAlso a <> e AndAlso a <> f AndAlso a <> g AndAlso a <> h AndAlso b <> c AndAlso b <> d AndAlso b <> e AndAlso b <> f AndAlso b <> g AndAlso b <> h AndAlso c <> d AndAlso c <> e AndAlso c <> f AndAlso c <> g AndAlso c <> h AndAlso d <> e AndAlso d <> f AndAlso d <> g AndAlso d <> h AndAlso e <> f AndAlso e <> g AndAlso e <> h AndAlso f <> g AndAlso f <> h AndAlso g <> h AndAlso NotInTheSameDiagonalLine({a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h}) End Function, {"a", "b", "c", "d", "e", "f", "g", "h"}) Dim result = engine.GetNextResult() While Not result Is Nothing Console.WriteLine("(1,{0}), (2,{1}), (3,{2}), (4,{3}), (5,{4}), (6,{5}), (7,{6}), (8,{7})", result("a"), result("b"), result("c"), result("d"), result("e"), result("f"), result("g"), result("h")) result = engine.GetNextResult() End While Console.WriteLine("Calculation ended.")End Sub (Chinese version of the post: http://www.cnblogs.com/RChen/archive/2010/05/17/1737587.html) Cheers,  

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• Error in running script [closed]

  - by SWEngineer

  I'm trying to run heathusf_v1.1.0.tar.gz found here I installed tcsh to make build_heathusf work. But, when I run ./build_heathusf, I get the following (I'm running that on a Fedora Linux system from Terminal): $ ./build_heathusf Compiling programs to build a library of image processing functions. convexpolyscan.c: In function ‘cdelete’: convexpolyscan.c:346:5: warning: incompatible implicit declaration of built-in function ‘bcopy’ [enabled by default] myalloc.c: In function ‘mycalloc’: myalloc.c:68:16: error: invalid storage class for function ‘store_link’ myalloc.c: In function ‘mymalloc’: myalloc.c:101:16: error: invalid storage class for function ‘store_link’ myalloc.c: In function ‘myfree’: myalloc.c:129:27: error: invalid storage class for function ‘find_link’ myalloc.c:131:12: warning: assignment makes pointer from integer without a cast [enabled by default] myalloc.c: At top level: myalloc.c:150:13: warning: conflicting types for ‘store_link’ [enabled by default] myalloc.c:150:13: error: static declaration of ‘store_link’ follows non-static declaration myalloc.c:91:4: note: previous implicit declaration of ‘store_link’ was here myalloc.c:164:24: error: conflicting types for ‘find_link’ myalloc.c:131:14: note: previous implicit declaration of ‘find_link’ was here Building the mammogram resizing program. gcc -O2 -I. -I../common mkimage.o -o mkimage -L../common -lmammo -lm ../common/libmammo.a(aggregate.o): In function `aggregate': aggregate.c:(.text+0x7fa): undefined reference to `mycalloc' aggregate.c:(.text+0x81c): undefined reference to `mycalloc' aggregate.c:(.text+0x868): undefined reference to `mycalloc' ../common/libmammo.a(aggregate.o): In function `aggregate_median': aggregate.c:(.text+0xbc5): undefined reference to `mymalloc' aggregate.c:(.text+0xbfb): undefined reference to `mycalloc' aggregate.c:(.text+0xc3c): undefined reference to `mycalloc' ../common/libmammo.a(aggregate.o): In function `aggregate': aggregate.c:(.text+0x9b5): undefined reference to `myfree' ../common/libmammo.a(aggregate.o): In function `aggregate_median': aggregate.c:(.text+0xd85): undefined reference to `myfree' ../common/libmammo.a(optical_density.o): In function `linear_optical_density': optical_density.c:(.text+0x29e): undefined reference to `mymalloc' optical_density.c:(.text+0x342): undefined reference to `mycalloc' optical_density.c:(.text+0x383): undefined reference to `mycalloc' ../common/libmammo.a(optical_density.o): In function `log10_optical_density': optical_density.c:(.text+0x693): undefined reference to `mymalloc' optical_density.c:(.text+0x74f): undefined reference to `mycalloc' optical_density.c:(.text+0x790): undefined reference to `mycalloc' ../common/libmammo.a(optical_density.o): In function `map_with_ushort_lut': optical_density.c:(.text+0xb2e): undefined reference to `mymalloc' optical_density.c:(.text+0xb87): undefined reference to `mycalloc' optical_density.c:(.text+0xbc6): undefined reference to `mycalloc' ../common/libmammo.a(optical_density.o): In function `linear_optical_density': optical_density.c:(.text+0x4d9): undefined reference to `myfree' ../common/libmammo.a(optical_density.o): In function `log10_optical_density': optical_density.c:(.text+0x8f1): undefined reference to `myfree' ../common/libmammo.a(optical_density.o): In function `map_with_ushort_lut': optical_density.c:(.text+0xd0d): undefined reference to `myfree' ../common/libmammo.a(virtual_image.o): In function `deallocate_cached_image': virtual_image.c:(.text+0x3dc6): undefined reference to `myfree' virtual_image.c:(.text+0x3dd7): undefined reference to `myfree' ../common/libmammo.a(virtual_image.o):virtual_image.c:(.text+0x3de5): more undefined references to `myfree' follow ../common/libmammo.a(virtual_image.o): In function `allocate_cached_image': virtual_image.c:(.text+0x4233): undefined reference to `mycalloc' virtual_image.c:(.text+0x4253): undefined reference to `mymalloc' virtual_image.c:(.text+0x4275): undefined reference to `mycalloc' virtual_image.c:(.text+0x42e7): undefined reference to `mycalloc' virtual_image.c:(.text+0x44f9): undefined reference to `mycalloc' virtual_image.c:(.text+0x47a9): undefined reference to `mycalloc' virtual_image.c:(.text+0x4a45): undefined reference to `mycalloc' virtual_image.c:(.text+0x4af4): undefined reference to `myfree' collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status make: *** [mkimage] Error 1 Building the breast segmentation program. gcc -O2 -I. -I../common breastsegment.o segment.o -o breastsegment -L../common -lmammo -lm breastsegment.o: In function `render_segmentation_sketch': breastsegment.c:(.text+0x43): undefined reference to `mycalloc' breastsegment.c:(.text+0x58): undefined reference to `mycalloc' breastsegment.c:(.text+0x12f): undefined reference to `mycalloc' breastsegment.c:(.text+0x1b9): undefined reference to `myfree' breastsegment.c:(.text+0x1c6): undefined reference to `myfree' breastsegment.c:(.text+0x1e1): undefined reference to `myfree' segment.o: In function `find_center': segment.c:(.text+0x53): undefined reference to `mycalloc' segment.c:(.text+0x71): undefined reference to `mycalloc' segment.c:(.text+0x387): undefined reference to `myfree' segment.o: In function `bordercode': segment.c:(.text+0x4ac): undefined reference to `mycalloc' segment.c:(.text+0x546): undefined reference to `mycalloc' segment.c:(.text+0x651): undefined reference to `mycalloc' segment.c:(.text+0x691): undefined reference to `myfree' segment.o: In function `estimate_tissue_image': segment.c:(.text+0x10d4): undefined reference to `mycalloc' segment.c:(.text+0x14da): undefined reference to `mycalloc' segment.c:(.text+0x1698): undefined reference to `mycalloc' segment.c:(.text+0x1834): undefined reference to `mycalloc' segment.c:(.text+0x1850): undefined reference to `mycalloc' segment.o:segment.c:(.text+0x186a): more undefined references to `mycalloc' follow segment.o: In function `estimate_tissue_image': segment.c:(.text+0x1bbc): undefined reference to `myfree' segment.c:(.text+0x1c4a): undefined reference to `mycalloc' segment.c:(.text+0x1c7c): undefined reference to `mycalloc' segment.c:(.text+0x1d8e): undefined reference to `myfree' segment.c:(.text+0x1d9b): undefined reference to `myfree' segment.c:(.text+0x1da8): undefined reference to `myfree' segment.c:(.text+0x1dba): undefined reference to `myfree' segment.c:(.text+0x1dc9): undefined reference to `myfree' segment.o:segment.c:(.text+0x1dd8): more undefined references to `myfree' follow segment.o: In function `estimate_tissue_image': segment.c:(.text+0x20bf): undefined reference to `mycalloc' segment.o: In function `segment_breast': segment.c:(.text+0x24cd): undefined reference to `mycalloc' segment.o: In function `find_center': segment.c:(.text+0x3a4): undefined reference to `myfree' segment.o: In function `bordercode': segment.c:(.text+0x6ac): undefined reference to `myfree' ../common/libmammo.a(aggregate.o): In function `aggregate': aggregate.c:(.text+0x7fa): undefined reference to `mycalloc' aggregate.c:(.text+0x81c): undefined reference to `mycalloc' aggregate.c:(.text+0x868): undefined reference to `mycalloc' ../common/libmammo.a(aggregate.o): In function `aggregate_median': aggregate.c:(.text+0xbc5): undefined reference to `mymalloc' aggregate.c:(.text+0xbfb): undefined reference to `mycalloc' aggregate.c:(.text+0xc3c): undefined reference to `mycalloc' ../common/libmammo.a(aggregate.o): In function `aggregate': aggregate.c:(.text+0x9b5): undefined reference to `myfree' ../common/libmammo.a(aggregate.o): In function `aggregate_median': aggregate.c:(.text+0xd85): undefined reference to `myfree' ../common/libmammo.a(cc_label.o): In function `cc_label': cc_label.c:(.text+0x20c): undefined reference to `mycalloc' cc_label.c:(.text+0x6c2): undefined reference to `mycalloc' cc_label.c:(.text+0xbaa): undefined reference to `myfree' ../common/libmammo.a(cc_label.o): In function `cc_label_0bkgd': cc_label.c:(.text+0xe17): undefined reference to `mycalloc' cc_label.c:(.text+0x12d7): undefined reference to `mycalloc' cc_label.c:(.text+0x17e7): undefined reference to `myfree' ../common/libmammo.a(cc_label.o): In function `cc_relabel_by_intensity': cc_label.c:(.text+0x18c5): undefined reference to `mycalloc' ../common/libmammo.a(cc_label.o): In function `cc_label_4connect': cc_label.c:(.text+0x1cf0): undefined reference to `mycalloc' cc_label.c:(.text+0x2195): undefined reference to `mycalloc' cc_label.c:(.text+0x26a4): undefined reference to `myfree' ../common/libmammo.a(cc_label.o): In function `cc_relabel_by_intensity': cc_label.c:(.text+0x1b06): undefined reference to `myfree' ../common/libmammo.a(convexpolyscan.o): In function `polyscan_coords': convexpolyscan.c:(.text+0x6f0): undefined reference to `mycalloc' convexpolyscan.c:(.text+0x75f): undefined reference to `mycalloc' convexpolyscan.c:(.text+0x7ab): undefined reference to `myfree' convexpolyscan.c:(.text+0x7b8): undefined reference to `myfree' ../common/libmammo.a(convexpolyscan.o): In function `polyscan_poly_cacheim': convexpolyscan.c:(.text+0x805): undefined reference to `mycalloc' convexpolyscan.c:(.text+0x894): undefined reference to `myfree' ../common/libmammo.a(mikesfileio.o): In function `read_segmentation_file': mikesfileio.c:(.text+0x1e9): undefined reference to `mycalloc' mikesfileio.c:(.text+0x205): undefined reference to `mycalloc' ../common/libmammo.a(optical_density.o): In function `linear_optical_density': optical_density.c:(.text+0x29e): undefined reference to `mymalloc' optical_density.c:(.text+0x342): undefined reference to `mycalloc' optical_density.c:(.text+0x383): undefined reference to `mycalloc' ../common/libmammo.a(optical_density.o): In function `log10_optical_density': optical_density.c:(.text+0x693): undefined reference to `mymalloc' optical_density.c:(.text+0x74f): undefined reference to `mycalloc' optical_density.c:(.text+0x790): undefined reference to `mycalloc' ../common/libmammo.a(optical_density.o): In function `map_with_ushort_lut': optical_density.c:(.text+0xb2e): undefined reference to `mymalloc' optical_density.c:(.text+0xb87): undefined reference to `mycalloc' optical_density.c:(.text+0xbc6): undefined reference to `mycalloc' ../common/libmammo.a(optical_density.o): In function `linear_optical_density': optical_density.c:(.text+0x4d9): undefined reference to `myfree' ../common/libmammo.a(optical_density.o): In function `log10_optical_density': optical_density.c:(.text+0x8f1): undefined reference to `myfree' ../common/libmammo.a(optical_density.o): In function `map_with_ushort_lut': optical_density.c:(.text+0xd0d): undefined reference to `myfree' ../common/libmammo.a(virtual_image.o): In function `deallocate_cached_image': virtual_image.c:(.text+0x3dc6): undefined reference to `myfree' virtual_image.c:(.text+0x3dd7): undefined reference to `myfree' ../common/libmammo.a(virtual_image.o):virtual_image.c:(.text+0x3de5): more undefined references to `myfree' follow ../common/libmammo.a(virtual_image.o): In function `allocate_cached_image': virtual_image.c:(.text+0x4233): undefined reference to `mycalloc' virtual_image.c:(.text+0x4253): undefined reference to `mymalloc' virtual_image.c:(.text+0x4275): undefined reference to `mycalloc' virtual_image.c:(.text+0x42e7): undefined reference to `mycalloc' virtual_image.c:(.text+0x44f9): undefined reference to `mycalloc' virtual_image.c:(.text+0x47a9): undefined reference to `mycalloc' virtual_image.c:(.text+0x4a45): undefined reference to `mycalloc' virtual_image.c:(.text+0x4af4): undefined reference to `myfree' collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status make: *** [breastsegment] Error 1 Building the mass feature generation program. gcc -O2 -I. -I../common afumfeature.o -o afumfeature -L../common -lmammo -lm afumfeature.o: In function `afum_process': afumfeature.c:(.text+0xd80): undefined reference to `mycalloc' afumfeature.c:(.text+0xd9c): undefined reference to `mycalloc' afumfeature.c:(.text+0xe80): undefined reference to `mycalloc' afumfeature.c:(.text+0x11f8): undefined reference to `myfree' afumfeature.c:(.text+0x1207): undefined reference to `myfree' afumfeature.c:(.text+0x1214): undefined reference to `myfree' ../common/libmammo.a(aggregate.o): In function `aggregate': aggregate.c:(.text+0x7fa): undefined reference to `mycalloc' aggregate.c:(.text+0x81c): undefined reference to `mycalloc' aggregate.c:(.text+0x868): undefined reference to `mycalloc' ../common/libmammo.a(aggregate.o): In function `aggregate_median': aggregate.c:(.text+0xbc5): undefined reference to `mymalloc' aggregate.c:(.text+0xbfb): undefined reference to `mycalloc' aggregate.c:(.text+0xc3c): undefined reference to `mycalloc' ../common/libmammo.a(aggregate.o): In function `aggregate': aggregate.c:(.text+0x9b5): undefined reference to `myfree' ../common/libmammo.a(aggregate.o): In function `aggregate_median': aggregate.c:(.text+0xd85): undefined reference to `myfree' ../common/libmammo.a(convexpolyscan.o): In function `polyscan_coords': convexpolyscan.c:(.text+0x6f0): undefined reference to `mycalloc' convexpolyscan.c:(.text+0x75f): undefined reference to `mycalloc' convexpolyscan.c:(.text+0x7ab): undefined reference to `myfree' convexpolyscan.c:(.text+0x7b8): undefined reference to `myfree' ../common/libmammo.a(convexpolyscan.o): In function `polyscan_poly_cacheim': convexpolyscan.c:(.text+0x805): undefined reference to `mycalloc' convexpolyscan.c:(.text+0x894): undefined reference to `myfree' ../common/libmammo.a(mikesfileio.o): In function `read_segmentation_file': mikesfileio.c:(.text+0x1e9): undefined reference to `mycalloc' mikesfileio.c:(.text+0x205): undefined reference to `mycalloc' ../common/libmammo.a(optical_density.o): In function `linear_optical_density': optical_density.c:(.text+0x29e): undefined reference to `mymalloc' optical_density.c:(.text+0x342): undefined reference to `mycalloc' optical_density.c:(.text+0x383): undefined reference to `mycalloc' ../common/libmammo.a(optical_density.o): In function `log10_optical_density': optical_density.c:(.text+0x693): undefined reference to `mymalloc' optical_density.c:(.text+0x74f): undefined reference to `mycalloc' optical_density.c:(.text+0x790): undefined reference to `mycalloc' ../common/libmammo.a(optical_density.o): In function `map_with_ushort_lut': optical_density.c:(.text+0xb2e): undefined reference to `mymalloc' optical_density.c:(.text+0xb87): undefined reference to `mycalloc' optical_density.c:(.text+0xbc6): undefined reference to `mycalloc' ../common/libmammo.a(optical_density.o): In function `linear_optical_density': optical_density.c:(.text+0x4d9): undefined reference to `myfree' ../common/libmammo.a(optical_density.o): In function `log10_optical_density': optical_density.c:(.text+0x8f1): undefined reference to `myfree' ../common/libmammo.a(optical_density.o): In function `map_with_ushort_lut': optical_density.c:(.text+0xd0d): undefined reference to `myfree' ../common/libmammo.a(virtual_image.o): In function `deallocate_cached_image': virtual_image.c:(.text+0x3dc6): undefined reference to `myfree' virtual_image.c:(.text+0x3dd7): undefined reference to `myfree' ../common/libmammo.a(virtual_image.o):virtual_image.c:(.text+0x3de5): more undefined references to `myfree' follow ../common/libmammo.a(virtual_image.o): In function `allocate_cached_image': virtual_image.c:(.text+0x4233): undefined reference to `mycalloc' virtual_image.c:(.text+0x4253): undefined reference to `mymalloc' virtual_image.c:(.text+0x4275): undefined reference to `mycalloc' virtual_image.c:(.text+0x42e7): undefined reference to `mycalloc' virtual_image.c:(.text+0x44f9): undefined reference to `mycalloc' virtual_image.c:(.text+0x47a9): undefined reference to `mycalloc' virtual_image.c:(.text+0x4a45): undefined reference to `mycalloc' virtual_image.c:(.text+0x4af4): undefined reference to `myfree' collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status make: *** [afumfeature] Error 1 Building the mass detection program. make: Nothing to be done for `all'. Building the performance evaluation program. gcc -O2 -I. -I../common DDSMeval.o polyscan.o -o DDSMeval -L../common -lmammo -lm ../common/libmammo.a(mikesfileio.o): In function `read_segmentation_file': mikesfileio.c:(.text+0x1e9): undefined reference to `mycalloc' mikesfileio.c:(.text+0x205): undefined reference to `mycalloc' collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status make: *** [DDSMeval] Error 1 Building the template creation program. gcc -O2 -I. -I../common mktemplate.o polyscan.o -o mktemplate -L../common -lmammo -lm Building the drawimage program. gcc -O2 -I. -I../common drawimage.o -o drawimage -L../common -lmammo -lm ../common/libmammo.a(mikesfileio.o): In function `read_segmentation_file': mikesfileio.c:(.text+0x1e9): undefined reference to `mycalloc' mikesfileio.c:(.text+0x205): undefined reference to `mycalloc' collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status make: *** [drawimage] Error 1 Building the compression/decompression program jpeg. gcc -O2 -DSYSV -DNOTRUNCATE -c lexer.c lexer.c:41:1: error: initializer element is not constant lexer.c:41:1: error: (near initialization for ‘yyin’) lexer.c:41:1: error: initializer element is not constant lexer.c:41:1: error: (near initialization for ‘yyout’) lexer.c: In function ‘initparser’: lexer.c:387:21: warning: incompatible implicit declaration of built-in function ‘strlen’ [enabled by default] lexer.c: In function ‘MakeLink’: lexer.c:443:16: warning: incompatible implicit declaration of built-in function ‘malloc’ [enabled by default] lexer.c:447:7: warning: incompatible implicit declaration of built-in function ‘exit’ [enabled by default] lexer.c:452:7: warning: incompatible implicit declaration of built-in function ‘exit’ [enabled by default] lexer.c:455:34: warning: incompatible implicit declaration of built-in function ‘calloc’ [enabled by default] lexer.c:458:7: warning: incompatible implicit declaration of built-in function ‘exit’ [enabled by default] lexer.c:460:3: warning: incompatible implicit declaration of built-in function ‘strcpy’ [enabled by default] lexer.c: In function ‘getstr’: lexer.c:548:26: warning: incompatible implicit declaration of built-in function ‘malloc’ [enabled by default] lexer.c:552:4: warning: incompatible implicit declaration of built-in function ‘exit’ [enabled by default] lexer.c:557:21: warning: incompatible implicit declaration of built-in function ‘calloc’ [enabled by default] lexer.c:557:28: warning: incompatible implicit declaration of built-in function ‘strlen’ [enabled by default] lexer.c:561:7: warning: incompatible implicit declaration of built-in function ‘exit’ [enabled by default] lexer.c: In function ‘parser’: lexer.c:794:21: warning: incompatible implicit declaration of built-in function ‘calloc’ [enabled by default] lexer.c:798:8: warning: incompatible implicit declaration of built-in function ‘exit’ [enabled by default] lexer.c:1074:21: warning: incompatible implicit declaration of built-in function ‘calloc’ [enabled by default] lexer.c:1078:8: warning: incompatible implicit declaration of built-in function ‘exit’ [enabled by default] lexer.c:1116:21: warning: incompatible implicit declaration of built-in function ‘calloc’ [enabled by default] lexer.c:1120:8: warning: incompatible implicit declaration of built-in function ‘exit’ [enabled by default] lexer.c:1154:25: warning: incompatible implicit declaration of built-in function ‘calloc’ [enabled by default] lexer.c:1158:5: warning: incompatible implicit declaration of built-in function ‘exit’ [enabled by default] lexer.c:1190:5: warning: incompatible implicit declaration of built-in function ‘exit’ [enabled by default] lexer.c:1247:25: warning: incompatible implicit declaration of built-in function ‘calloc’ [enabled by default] lexer.c:1251:5: warning: incompatible implicit declaration of built-in function ‘exit’ [enabled by default] lexer.c:1283:5: warning: incompatible implicit declaration of built-in function ‘exit’ [enabled by default] lexer.c: In function ‘yylook’: lexer.c:1867:9: warning: cast from pointer to integer of different size [-Wpointer-to-int-cast] lexer.c:1867:20: warning: cast from pointer to integer of different size [-Wpointer-to-int-cast] lexer.c:1877:12: warning: cast from pointer to integer of different size [-Wpointer-to-int-cast] lexer.c:1877:23: warning: cast from pointer to integer of different size [-Wpointer-to-int-cast] make: *** [lexer.o] Error 1

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• Customize the Windows Media Center Start Menu with Media Center Studio

  - by DigitalGeekery

  Do you ever wish you could change the WMC start menu? Maybe move some of the tiles and strips around to different locations, add new ones, or eliminate some altogether? Today we look at how to do it using Media Center Studio. Download and install Media Center Studio. (Download link below) You’ll also want to make sure you have Windows Media Center closed before running Media Center Studio. Many of the actions cannot be performed with Media Center open. Once installed, you can open Media Center Studio from the Windows Start Menu. When you first open Media Center Studio you’ll be on the Themes tab. Click on the Start Menu tab. It should be noted that Media Center Studio is a Beta application, and it did crash on us a few times, so it’s a good idea to save your work frequently. You can save your changes by selecting Save on the Home tab, or by clicking the small disk icon at the top left. We also found that that trying to launch Media Center from the Start Media Center button on the application ribbon typically didn’t work. Opening Windows Media Center from the Windows Start Menu is preferred.   When you’re on the Start Menu tab you will see the Windows Media Center menu strips and tiles. Click the arrows located at the right, left, top, and bottom of the screen to scroll through the various menu strips.   Hiding and Removing Tiles and Menu Strips. If there is an entire menu strip that you never use and would like to remove from Media Center, simply uncheck the box to the left of the the title above that menu strip. If you’d like to hide individual tiles, uncheck the box next to the name of the individual tile. Renaming Tiles and Strips To rename a tile or menu strip, click on the small notepad icon next to the title. Note: If you do not see a small notepad icon next to the title, then the title is not editable. This applies to many of the “Promo” tiles. The title will turn into a text input box so that you can edit the name. Click away from the text box when finished. Here we will change the title of the default Movie strip to “Flicks.” Change the Default Tile and Menu Strip The Default menu strip is the strip that is highlighted, or on focus, when you open Media Center.   To change the default strip, simply click once on another strip to highlight it, and then save your work. In our example, I’m going to make our newly renamed “Flicks” strip the default.   Each menu strip has a default tile. This is the tile that is active, or on focus, when you select the menu strip. To change the default tile on a strip, click once on the tile. You will see it outlined in light blue. Now just simply save your changes. In our example below, we’ve changed the default tile on the TV strip to “guide.”   Moving Tiles and Menu Strips You can move an entire Menu Strip up or down on the screen. When you hover your mouse over the a menu strip, you will see up and down arrows appear to the right and left of the title. Click on the arrows to move the strip up or down.   You will see the menu strip appear in it’s new position.   To move a tile to a new menu strip, click and drag the tile you’d like to move. When you begin to drag the tile, green plus (+) signs will appear in between the tiles. Drag and drop the tile onto to any of these green plus signs to move it to that location. When you’ve dragged the tile over an acceptable position, you’ll see the  red “Move” label next to your cursor turn to a blue “Move to” label. Now you can drop the tile into position. You’ll see the tile located in it’s new position.   Adding a New Custom Menu Strip Click on the Start Menu tab and then select the Menu Strip button.   You will see a new Custom Menu strip appear on your Start Menu with the default name of Custom menu. You can change the name by clicking on the notepad icon just as we did earlier. For our example, we’ll change the name of the new strip to Add-ins. To add a new tile, click on Entry Points at the lower left of the application window. This will reveal all of your available Entry Points that can be added to the Media Center Menu. You should see the built-in Media Center Games and any Media Center Plug-ins you have added to your system. You can then drag and drop any of the Entry Points onto any of the Menu Strips. Below we’ve added Media Browser to our custom Add-ins menu strip. You can also add additional applications to launch directly from Media Center. Click on the Application button on the Start Menu tab. Note: Many applications may not work with your remote, but with keyboard and mouse only.    Type in a title which will appear under the tile in Media Center, and then type the path to the application. In our example, we will add Internet Explorer 8. Note: Be sure to add the actual path to the application and not just a link on the desktop. Click any of the check boxes to select any options under Required Capabilities. You can also browse to choose an image if you don’t care for the image that appears automatically.   Next, you can select keyboard strokes to press to exit the application and return to Media Center. Click the green plus (+) button. When prompted, press a key you’ll use to close the program. Repeat the process if you’d also like to select a keystroke to kill the program.   You’ll see your button programs listed below. When you’re finished, save your work and close out of Media Center Studio.   Now your new program entry point will appear in the Entry Points section. Drag the icon to the desired position on the Start Menu and save again before exiting Media Center Studio. When you open Media Center you will see your new application on the start menu. Click the tile to open the application just as you would any other tile. The application will open and minimize Media Center. When you press the key you choose to close the program, Windows Media Center will automatically be restored. Note: You can also exit the application through normal methods by clicking the red “X” or File > Exit. Conclusion Media Center Studio is a Beta application which the developer freely admits still has some bugs. Despite it’s flaws Media Center Studio is a powerful tool, and when it comes to customizing your Media Center start menu, it’s pretty much the only game in town. It works with both Vista and Windows 7, and according to the developer, has not been officially tested with extenders. Media Center Studio can also be used to add custom themes to Windows 7 Media Center and we’ll be covering that in a future article. Looking for more ways to customize your Media Center experience? Be sure to check out our earlier posts on Media Browser, as well as how to add Hulu, Boxee, and weather conditions your Windows 7 Media Center. Download Media Center Studio Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Using Netflix Watchnow in Windows Vista Media Center (Gmedia)How To Rip a Music CD in Windows 7 Media CenterSchedule Updates for Windows Media CenterStartup Customizations for Media Center in Windows 7Automatically Start Windows 7 Media Center in Live TV Mode TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips Acronis Online Backup DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows Video Toolbox is a Superb Online Video Editor Fun with 47 charts and graphs Tomorrow is Mother’s Day Check the Average Speed of YouTube Videos You’ve Watched OutlookStatView Scans and Displays General Usage Statistics How to Add Exceptions to the Windows Firewall

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• C# Neural Networks with Encog

  - by JoshReuben

  Neural Networks ·       I recently read a book Introduction to Neural Networks for C# , by Jeff Heaton. http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Neural-Networks-C-2nd/dp/1604390093/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1296821004&sr=8-2-spell. Not the 1st ANN book I've perused, but a nice revision.   ·       Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) are a mechanism of machine learning – see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_neural_network , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Machine_learning ·       Problems Not Suited to a Neural Network Solution- Programs that are easily written out as flowcharts consisting of well-defined steps, program logic that is unlikely to change, problems in which you must know exactly how the solution was derived. ·       Problems Suited to a Neural Network – pattern recognition, classification, series prediction, and data mining. Pattern recognition - network attempts to determine if the input data matches a pattern that it has been trained to recognize. Classification - take input samples and classify them into fuzzy groups. ·       As far as machine learning approaches go, I thing SVMs are superior (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Support_vector_machine ) - a neural network has certain disadvantages in comparison: an ANN can be overtrained, different training sets can produce non-deterministic weights and it is not possible to discern the underlying decision function of an ANN from its weight matrix – they are black box. ·       In this post, I'm not going to go into internals (believe me I know them). An autoassociative network (e.g. a Hopfield network) will echo back a pattern if it is recognized. ·       Under the hood, there is very little maths. In a nutshell - Some simple matrix operations occur during training: the input array is processed (normalized into bipolar values of 1, -1) - transposed from input column vector into a row vector, these are subject to matrix multiplication and then subtraction of the identity matrix to get a contribution matrix. The dot product is taken against the weight matrix to yield a boolean match result. For backpropogation training, a derivative function is required. In learning, hill climbing mechanisms such as Genetic Algorithms and Simulated Annealing are used to escape local minima. For unsupervised training, such as found in Self Organizing Maps used for OCR, Hebbs rule is applied. ·       The purpose of this post is not to mire you in technical and conceptual details, but to show you how to leverage neural networks via an abstraction API - Encog   Encog ·       Encog is a neural network API ·       Links to Encog: http://www.encog.org , http://www.heatonresearch.com/encog, http://www.heatonresearch.com/forum ·       Encog requires .Net 3.5 or higher – there is also a Silverlight version. Third-Party Libraries – log4net and nunit. ·       Encog supports feedforward, recurrent, self-organizing maps, radial basis function and Hopfield neural networks. ·       Encog neural networks, and related data, can be stored in .EG XML files. ·       Encog Workbench allows you to edit, train and visualize neural networks. The Encog Workbench can generate code. Synapses and layers ·       the primary building blocks - Almost every neural network will have, at a minimum, an input and output layer. In some cases, the same layer will function as both input and output layer. ·       To adapt a problem to a neural network, you must determine how to feed the problem into the input layer of a neural network, and receive the solution through the output layer of a neural network. ·       The Input Layer - For each input neuron, one double value is stored. An array is passed as input to a layer. Encog uses the interface INeuralData to hold these arrays. The class BasicNeuralData implements the INeuralData interface. Once the neural network processes the input, an INeuralData based class will be returned from the neural network's output layer. ·       convert a double array into an INeuralData object : INeuralData data = new BasicNeuralData(= new double[10]); ·       the Output Layer- The neural network outputs an array of doubles, wraped in a class based on the INeuralData interface. ·        The real power of a neural network comes from its pattern recognition capabilities. The neural network should be able to produce the desired output even if the input has been slightly distorted. ·       Hidden Layers– optional. between the input and output layers. very much a “black box”. If the structure of the hidden layer is too simple it may not learn the problem. If the structure is too complex, it will learn the problem but will be very slow to train and execute. Some neural networks have no hidden layers. The input layer may be directly connected to the output layer. Further, some neural networks have only a single layer. A single layer neural network has the single layer self-connected. ·       connections, called synapses, contain individual weight matrixes. These values are changed as the neural network learns. Constructing a Neural Network ·       the XOR operator is a frequent “first example” -the “Hello World” application for neural networks. ·       The XOR Operator- only returns true when both inputs differ. 0 XOR 0 = 0 1 XOR 0 = 1 0 XOR 1 = 1 1 XOR 1 = 0 ·       Structuring a Neural Network for XOR  - two inputs to the XOR operator and one output. ·       input: 0.0,0.0 1.0,0.0 0.0,1.0 1.0,1.0 ·       Expected output: 0.0 1.0 1.0 0.0 ·       A Perceptron - a simple feedforward neural network to learn the XOR operator. ·       Because the XOR operator has two inputs and one output, the neural network will follow suit. Additionally, the neural network will have a single hidden layer, with two neurons to help process the data. The choice for 2 neurons in the hidden layer is arbitrary, and often comes down to trial and error. ·       Neuron Diagram for the XOR Network ·       ·       The Encog workbench displays neural networks on a layer-by-layer basis. ·       Encog Layer Diagram for the XOR Network:   ·       Create a BasicNetwork - Three layers are added to this network. the FinalizeStructure method must be called to inform the network that no more layers are to be added. The call to Reset randomizes the weights in the connections between these layers. var network = new BasicNetwork(); network.AddLayer(new BasicLayer(2)); network.AddLayer(new BasicLayer(2)); network.AddLayer(new BasicLayer(1)); network.Structure.FinalizeStructure(); network.Reset(); ·       Neural networks frequently start with a random weight matrix. This provides a starting point for the training methods. These random values will be tested and refined into an acceptable solution. However, sometimes the initial random values are too far off. Sometimes it may be necessary to reset the weights again, if training is ineffective. These weights make up the long-term memory of the neural network. Additionally, some layers have threshold values that also contribute to the long-term memory of the neural network. Some neural networks also contain context layers, which give the neural network a short-term memory as well. The neural network learns by modifying these weight and threshold values. ·       Now that the neural network has been created, it must be trained. Training a Neural Network ·       construct a INeuralDataSet object - contains the input array and the expected output array (of corresponding range). Even though there is only one output value, we must still use a two-dimensional array to represent the output. public static double[][] XOR_INPUT ={ new double[2] { 0.0, 0.0 }, new double[2] { 1.0, 0.0 }, new double[2] { 0.0, 1.0 }, new double[2] { 1.0, 1.0 } };   public static double[][] XOR_IDEAL = { new double[1] { 0.0 }, new double[1] { 1.0 }, new double[1] { 1.0 }, new double[1] { 0.0 } };   INeuralDataSet trainingSet = new BasicNeuralDataSet(XOR_INPUT, XOR_IDEAL); ·       Training is the process where the neural network's weights are adjusted to better produce the expected output. Training will continue for many iterations, until the error rate of the network is below an acceptable level. Encog supports many different types of training. Resilient Propagation (RPROP) - general-purpose training algorithm. All training classes implement the ITrain interface. The RPROP algorithm is implemented by the ResilientPropagation class. Training the neural network involves calling the Iteration method on the ITrain class until the error is below a specific value. The code loops through as many iterations, or epochs, as it takes to get the error rate for the neural network to be below 1%. Once the neural network has been trained, it is ready for use. ITrain train = new ResilientPropagation(network, trainingSet);   for (int epoch=0; epoch < 10000; epoch++) { train.Iteration(); Debug.Print("Epoch #" + epoch + " Error:" + train.Error); if (train.Error > 0.01) break; } Executing a Neural Network ·       Call the Compute method on the BasicNetwork class. Console.WriteLine("Neural Network Results:"); foreach (INeuralDataPair pair in trainingSet) { INeuralData output = network.Compute(pair.Input); Console.WriteLine(pair.Input[0] + "," + pair.Input[1] + ", actual=" + output[0] + ",ideal=" + pair.Ideal[0]); } ·       The Compute method accepts an INeuralData class and also returns a INeuralData object. Neural Network Results: 0.0,0.0, actual=0.002782538818034049,ideal=0.0 1.0,0.0, actual=0.9903741937121177,ideal=1.0 0.0,1.0, actual=0.9836807956566187,ideal=1.0 1.0,1.0, actual=0.0011646072586172778,ideal=0.0 ·       the network has not been trained to give the exact results. This is normal. Because the network was trained to 1% error, each of the results will also be within generally 1% of the expected value.

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• Mr Flibble: As Seen Through a Lens, Darkly

  - by Phil Factor

  One of the rewarding things about getting involved with Simple-Talk has been in meeting and working with some pretty daunting talents. I’d like to say that Dom Reed’s talents are at the end of the visible spectrum, but then there is Richard, who pops up on national radio occasionally, presenting intellectual programs, Andrew, master of the ukulele, with his pioneering local history work, and Tony with marathon running and his past as a university lecturer. However, Dom, who is Red Gate’s head of creative design and who did the preliminary design work for Simple-Talk, has taken the art photography to an extreme that was impossible before Photoshop. He’s not the first person to take a photograph of himself every day for two years, but he is definitely the first to weave the results into a frightening narrative that veers from comedy to pathos, using all the arts of Photoshop to create a fictional character, Mr Flibble.   Have a look at some of the Flickr pages. Uncle Spike The B-Men – Woolverine The 2011 BoyZ iN Sink reunion tour turned out to be their last Error 404 – Flibble not found Mr Flibble is not a normal type of alter-ego. We generally prefer to choose bronze age warriors of impossibly magnificent physique and stamina; superheroes who bestride the world, scorning the forces of evil and anarchy in a series noble and righteous quests. Not so Dom, whose Mr Flibble is vulnerable, and laid low by an addiction to toxic substances. His work has gained an international cult following and is used as course material by several courses in photography. Although his work was for a while ignored by the more conventional world of ‘art’ photography they became famous through the internet. His photos have received well over a million views on Flickr. It was definitely time to turn this work into a book, because the whole sequence of images has its maximum effect when seen in sequence. He has a Kickstarter project page, one of the first following the recent UK launch of the crowdfunding platform. The publication of the book should be a major event and the £45 I shall divvy up will be one of the securest investments I shall ever make. The local news in Cambridge picked up on the project and I can quote from the report by the excellent Cabume website , the source of Tech news from the ‘Cambridge cluster’ Put really simply Mr Flibble likes to dress up and take pictures of himself. One of the benefits of a split personality, however is that Mr Flibble is supported in his endeavour by Reed’s top notch photography skills, supreme mastery of Photoshop and unflinching dedication to the cause. The duo have collaborated to take a picture every day for the past 730-plus days. It is not a big surprise that neither Mr Flibble nor Reed watches any TV: In addition to his full-time role at Cambridge software house,Red Gate Software as head of creativity and the two to five hours a day he spends taking the Mr Flibble shots, Reed also helps organise the . And now Reed is using Kickstarter to see if the world is ready for a Mr Flibble coffee table book. Judging by the early response it is. At the time of writing, just a few days after it went live, ‘I Drink Lead Paint: An absurd photography book by Mr Flibble’ had raised £1,545 of the £10,000 target it needs to raise by the Friday 30 November deadline from 37 backers. Following the standard Kickstarter template, Reed is offering a series of rewards based on the amount pledged, ranging from a Mr Flibble desktop wallpaper for pledges of £5 or more to a signed copy of the book for pledges of £45 or more, right up to a starring role in the book for £1,500. Mr Flibble is unquestionably one of the more deranged Kickstarter hopefuls, but don’t think for a second that he doesn’t have a firm grasp on the challenges he faces on the road to immortalisation on 150 gsm stock. Under the section ‘risks and challenges’ on his Kickstarter page his statement begins: “An angry horde of telepathic iguanas discover the world’s last remaining stock of vintage lead paint and hold me to ransom. Gosh how I love to guzzle lead paint. Anyway… faced with such brazen bravado, I cower at the thought of taking on their combined might and die a sad and lonely Flibble deprived of my one and only true liquid love.” At which point, Reed manages to wrestle away the keyboard, giving him the opportunity to present slightly more cogent analysis of the obstacles the project must still overcome. We asked Reed a few questions about Mr Flibble’s Kickstarter adventure and felt that his responses were worth publishing in full: Firstly, how did you manage it – holding down a full time job and also conceiving and executing these ideas on a daily basis? I employed a small team of ferocious gerbils to feed me ideas on a daily basis. Whilst most of their ideas were incomprehensibly rubbish and usually revolved around food, just occasionally they’d give me an idea like my B-Men series. As a backup plan though, I found that the best way to generate ideas was to actually start taking photos. If I were to stand in front of the camera, pull a silly face, place a vegetable on my head or something else equally stupid, the resulting photo of that would typically spark an idea when I came to look at it. Sitting around idly trying to think of an idea was doomed to result in no ideas. I admit that I really struggled with time. I’m proud that I never missed a day, but it was definitely hard when you were late from work, tired or doing something socially on the same day. I don’t watch TV, which I guess really helps, because I’d frequently be spending 2-5 hours taking and processing the photos every day. Are there any overlaps between software development and creative thinking? Software is an inherently creative business and the speed that it moves ensures you always have to find solutions to new things. Everyone in the team needs to be a problem solver. Has it helped me specifically with my photography? Probably. Working within teams that continually need to figure out new stuff keeps the brain feisty I suppose, and I guess I’m continually exposed to a lot of possible sources of inspiration. How specifically will this Kickstarter project allow you to test the commercial appeal of your work and do you plan to get the book into shops? It’s taken a while to be confident saying it, but I know that people like the work that I do. I’ve had well over a million views of my pictures, many humbling comments and I know I’ve garnered some loyal fans out there who anticipate my next photo. For me, this Kickstarter is about seeing if there’s worth to my work beyond just making people smile. In an online world where there’s an abundance of freely available content, can you hope to receive anything from what you do, or would people just move onto the next piece of content if you happen to ask for some support? A book has been the single-most requested thing that people have asked me to produce and it’s something that I feel would showcase my work well. It’s just hard to convince people in the publishing industry just now to take any kind of risk – they’ve been hit hard. If I can show that people would like my work enough to buy a book, then it sends a pretty clear picture that publishers might hear, or it gives me the confidence enough to invest in myself a bit more – hard to do when you’re riddled with self-doubt! I’d love to see my work in the shops, yes. I could see it being the thing that someone flips through idly as they’re Christmas shopping and recognizing that it’d be just the perfect gift for their difficult to buy for friend or relative. That said, working in the software industry means I’m clearly aware of how I could use technology to distribute my work, but I can’t deny that there’s something very appealing to having a physical thing to hold in your hands. If the project is successful is there a chance that it could become a full-time job? At the moment that seems like a distant dream, as should this be successful, there are many more steps I’d need to take to reach any kind of business viability. Kickstarter seems exactly that – a way for people to help kick start me into something that could take off. If people like my work and want me to succeed with it, then taking a look at my Kickstarter page (and hopefully pledging a bit of support) would make my elbows blush considerably. So there is is. An opportunity to open the wallet just a bit to ensure that one of the more unusual talents sees the light in the format it deserves.  

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• top tweets WebLogic Partner Community – October 2012

  - by JuergenKress

  Send your tweets @wlscommunity #WebLogicCommunity and follow us at http://twitter.com/wlscommunity WebLogic Community?@wlscommunity Real World Java EE Patterns by Adam Bien http://wp.me/p1LMIb-mp Markus Eisele?@myfear #JavaOne Content Available for Free https://blogs.oracle.com/java/entry/javaone_content_available_for_free … /via @java Adam Bien?@AdamBien Thought that 1h screencast is way too long to be popular. I was wrong. Lightweight Java EE is doing very well: http://www.adam-bien.com/roller/abien/entry/lightweight_java_ee_screencast … OracleBlogs?@OracleBlogs COLLABORATE 13 Call for Papers http://ow.ly/2szPuZ Oracle WebLogic?@OracleWebLogic New Blog Post: Data Source Security Part 1 http://ow.ly/2szFbv Markus Eisele?@myfear My Three Days at #JavaOne 2012 http://yakovfain.com/2012/10/04/my-three-days-at-javaone-2012/ … < nice writeup ;) Adam Bien?@AdamBien JavaOne 2012 Announcements And Surprises: NetBeans 7.3+ comes with HTML 5, JavaScript, CSS 3 support. JavaScript... http://bit.ly/Uy14eD Andrejus Baranovskis?@andrejusb OOW'12: Oracle ADF Implementations Around the Globe: Best Practices http://fb.me/1IVg6gzU0 gschmutz?@gschmutz Just published a blog with a wrap-up of my presentations at OOW 2012. https://guidoschmutz.wordpress.com/2012/10/07/my-presentations-at-oracle-open-world-2012/ … #oow2012 #trivadis Andrejus Baranovskis?@andrejusb OOW'12: Oracle Business Process Management/Oracle ADF Integration Best Practices http://fb.me/1GY3nz1lb WebLogic Community?@wlscommunity ExaLogic 2.01 ppt & training & Installation check-list & tips & Web tier roadmap http://wp.me/p1LMIb-mh Adam Bien?@AdamBien JavaOne 2012, First Feedback and The Strange Thing: NetBeans day was surprising well attended. A big room was fu... http://bit.ly/PwWwx8 OracleSupport_WLS?@weblogicsupport Free registration for our next webcast on setting up and using a #weblogic #cluster http://pub.vitrue.com/xWV8 WebLogic Community?@wlscommunity UKOUG Application Server & Middleware SIG Meeting http://wp.me/p1LMIb-mC Ronald Luttikhuizen?@rluttikhuizen Discussing future plans for Oracle Middleware Infrastructure Group with @simon_haslam @Jphjulstad and Rene van Wijk #oow @wlscommunity JAX London?@jaxlondon Be part of #JAXLondon- only 11 days to go! Still need a ticket? http://buff.ly/TUPKmL WebLogic Community?@wlscommunity ExaLogic X3-2 launched at OOW 2012 http://wp.me/p1LMIb-mM WebLogic Community?@wlscommunity @OracleEvents Dear Oracle Team thanks for promoting the WebLogic bootcamp, new schedules are online https://blogs.oracle.com/emeapartnerweblogic/resource/weblogic12c.htm … #weblogiccommunity OracleBlogs?@OracleBlogs Partner Webcast Introducing Oracle Business Activity Monitoring - 18 October 2012 http://ow.ly/2svzyz AMIS, Oracle & Java?@AMIS_Services Grant posted a nice little video on youtube about the #ADF EMG activities during Oracle Open World. http://youtu.be/qZhtBqnK-Zc GlassFish?@glassfish ADF Essentials - Available for free and certified on GlassFish!: If you are an Oracle customer, you are probably... http://bit.ly/UCtVwY OracleBlogs?@OracleBlogs WebLogic 12 hands-on bootcamps for partnersnew dates & locations http://ow.ly/2smOfs Pieter Kranenburg?@pskranenburg I'm EXA and I know IT! How about you? Go to http://bit.ly/OnSlDd and find out! (you might win an #iphone5 ;-) #OOW please RT Andrejus Baranovskis?@andrejusb Enabling WebLogic Administrator Group Inside Custom ADF Application http://fb.me/2d5SCeJ2g Michel Schildmeijer?@MNEMONIC01 I'm EXA and I know IT! How about you? Go to http://bit.ly/OnSlDd (you might win an #iphone5 ;-) #oow OracleSupport_WLS?@weblogicsupport Step-by-step instructions on how to configure mail Alerts in #OEM 11g for #WebLogic Servers up/down status http://pub.vitrue.com/KpZq Jeff West?@jeffreyawest Answer: Deliver JMS message to a single node in a Weblogic Cluster with a Distributed Topic http://stackoverflow.com/a/12396492/697114?stw=2 … Java?@java Bucharest Java User Group: Launched and Growing! #JUG http://ow.ly/dDnbN OracleSupport_WLS?@weblogicsupport Don't shoot the messenger! #Java source code analyzer @ http://pub.vitrue.com/Cy2J JAX London?@jaxlondon .@BrianGoetz gives in depth session on the details of how #Lambda expressions are implemented in the #Java language at #JAXLondon" ADF Community DE?@ADFCommunityDE Webcast ADFNewsSession: ADF as a basis of Fusion Apps - the biggest ADF project ever. Sep 14, 8:30 AM CET. Dial in https://blogs.oracle.com/jdevotnharvest/entry/adf_partner_community_news_session … OracleBlogs?@OracleBlogs WebLogic & Coherence & Cloud presentations for customer meetings http://ow.ly/1mqwrC Pieter Kranenburg?@pskranenburg Seminar: Oracle WebLogic 12c at Qualogy. You are invited! http://bit.ly/Ps9LDF Oracle WebLogic?@OracleWebLogic New Blog Post: Oracle OpenWorld Update -- General Session: Oracle Fusion Middleware Strategies Driving Business Inno... http://ow.ly/2stylf Oracle Cloud Zone?@OracleCloudZone New partner programs for Oracle Cloud Solutions http://bit.ly/PrVq5O #cloud #oow Lucas Jellema?@lucasjellema The strategy on Java - JEE, SE, ME, FX: http://technology.amis.nl/2012/10/02/javaone-2012-strategy-and-technical-keynote/ … #javaone #oow_amis WebLogic Community?@wlscommunity Send your #WebLogicCommunity #oow pictures and blog posts @wlscommunity or http://www.facebook.com/weblogiccommunity … Enjoy OOW ;-) WebLogic Community?@wlscommunity Become an WebLogic 12c expert, attend our partner bootcampshttps://blogs.oracle.com/emeapartnerweblogic/resource/weblogic12c.htm … #WebLogicCommunity #opn AMIS, Oracle & Java?@AMIS_Services Volgende #oracle #ADF training bij @AMIS_SERVICES is van 12 tot 16 november. Meer info of aanmelden? http://www.amis.nl/Trainingen/oracle-adf-11g-applicatieontwikkeling/ … Devoxx?@Devoxx ALL the Devoxx 2011 talks are now freely available on Parleys @ http://www.parleys.com/#st=4&id=102998 Pls RT! Adam Bien?@AdamBien Use the coupon code "PLUMA" and you will get 20% off for "Real World Java EE Patterns": http://realworldpatterns.com Lucas Jellema?@lucasjellema Very good summary of the #JavaOne Technical Keynote last night: http://java.dzone.com/articles/javaone-2012-javaone-technical … Arun Gupta?@arungupta Blogged: JavaOne 2012 Keynote and GlassFish Party Pictures: Some pictures from the keynote ... And som... http://bit.ly/ViH0ue Lucas Jellema?@lucasjellema Most recent promoted build for GassFish 4.0 (EE7) has WebSocket support: to play with: http://dlc.sun.com.edgesuite.net/glassfish/4.0/promoted/ … #javaone michael palmeter?@michaelpalmeter If you haven't seen the 5-minute Exalogic demo, you need to (do it now!) - http://lnkd.in/GRqy3x Lonneke Dikmans?@lonnekedikmans VENNSTER BLOG: Running EclipseLink DBWS 2.4.0 on GlassFish 3.1.2 http://blog.vennster.nl/2012/09/running-eclipselink-dbws-240-on.html?spref=tw … WebLogic Community?@wlscommunity WebLogic Partner Community Newsletter September 2012 http://wp.me/p1LMIb-mf WebLogic Community?@wlscommunity again again again&hellip;. it is Oracle Open World 2012 http://wp.me/p1LMIb-m6 Markus Eisele?@myfear #WebLogic and #JavaEE Roadmap and Strategy Session at OOW http://ow.ly/2slZEY /via @OracleWebLogic Adam Bien?@AdamBien An Article About Java EE Connector Architectures 1.6 (JCA 1.6): The free Java Magazine article: Java EE Connect... http://bit.ly/St6sxq Lucas Jellema?@lucasjellema ADF Essentials - free to develop and to deploy (I said: free!) - http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/developer-tools/adf/overview/adfessentials-1719844.html … AMIS, Oracle & Java?@AMIS_Services Blog by Lucas Jellema: "Develop and Deploy ADF applications – free of charge using the new ADF Essentials" http://bit.ly/StAhxY Andrejus Baranovskis?@andrejusb ADF Essentials - Quick Technical Review http://fb.me/2hKCXyF43 OracleBlogs?@OracleBlogs GlassFish Extension for Oracle JDeveloper http://ow.ly/2slIO8 Retweetet von WebLogic Community Oracle Eclipse?@OEPE New Tutorial: Using ADF Faces and ADF Controller with Oracle Enterprise Pack for Eclipse. #OEPE http://pub.vitrue.com/QoUg Simon Haslam?@simon_haslam As of the last day or two there's a new Java Products Media Pack on http://edelivery.oracle.com (rather than it being in FMW pack) WebLogic Community?@wlscommunity top tweets WebLogic Partner Community &ndash; September 2012 http://wp.me/p1LMIb-m2 Adam Bien?@AdamBien I was interviewed by OTN: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/articles/java/jaxawards-1843595.html …See you at JavaOne! Oracle WebLogic?@OracleWebLogic DevOps Basics for #WebLogic: Track Down High CPU Thread with ps, top and the new JDK7 jcmd tool. Great blog @frankmuz. http://ow.ly/dOBM4 Simon Haslam?@simon_haslam Looking for "oak style"(!) advanced content but you're a middleware specialist? See #ukoug2012 #middlewaresunday http://2012.ukoug.org/default.asp?p=9355 … Julien Ponge ?@jponge Just finished Java EE 6 + AngularJS samples for my upcoming middleware lectures. Code at https://github.com/jponge/todoapp-javaee6-angularjs … and https://github.com/jponge/todoapp-bosswatch … Markus Eisele?@myfear #Oracle #WebLogic is now totally #FREE for #Developer - more than just OTN license to develop the 1st prototype! http://bit.ly/SWltsR Markus Eisele?@myfear #WebSockets on #WebLogic Server http://ow.ly/1mv4QP by @wlsteve < need to give this a testdrive ;) OracleEnterpriseMgr?@oracle_em EM Blog : Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control 12c Release 2 (12.1.0.2) is Available Now ! #em12c http://pub.vitrue.com/mk7o OracleBlogs?@OracleBlogs ADF training material now on the iPad http://ow.ly/1mqz1Q GlassFish?@glassfish GlassFish grows by 50% in Software Stack Market Share Report for August 2012 by @Jelastic http://awe.sm/o4ZAp WebLogic Partner Community For regular information become a member in the WebLogic Partner Community please visit: http://www.oracle.com/partners/goto/wls-emea ( OPN account required). If you need support with your account please contact the Oracle Partner Business Center. Blog Twitter LinkedIn Mix Forum Wiki Technorati Tags: twitter,WebLogic,WebLogic Community,Oracle,OPN,Jürgen Kress

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• NRF Online Merchandising Workshop: Where Online Retailers Are Focusing for Holiday and Beyond

  - by Rose Spicer-Oracle

  0 0 1 1204 6863 Oracle Corporation 57 16 8051 14.0 Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE /* 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-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:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} Last month we attended the NRF Online Merchandising Workshop in LA, and it was a great opportunity to catch up with our customers, meet new retailers, and hear some great presentations from VF Corporation, Zazzle, Julep Beauty, Backcountry, eBags and more. The one-on-one conversations with Merchants and the keynote presentations carry the same themes across companies of all sizes and across verticals. With only 125 days left (and counting) until Black Friday, these conversations provided some great insight in to what’s top of mind for retailers during the most stressful time of their year, and a sneak peek in to what they will deliver this holiday season.  Some of the most popular topics were: When to start promoting for holiday: seems like a funny conversation to have in July, but a number of retailers said they already had their holiday shopping gift guides live on their site, and it was attracting a significant portion of their onsite traffic. When it comes to timing, most retailers were questioning when to begin their holiday promotions -- carefully balancing when to release pricing and specials, and knowing that customers are holding out for last-minute deals and price drops. Many retailers noted the frustrations around transparent pricing by Amazon and a few other mega-retailers last year, publishing their “lowest prices of the season” as early as October – ensuring shoppers that those prices were the best they could get all season long. Many retailers felt their hands were forced to drop prices. Others kept their set pricing with negative customer reaction, causing some to miss their holiday goals. The pressure is on, and most retailers identified November 1 as their target start date for the holiday promotions blitz. Some are even waiting for the big guys to release their “lowest prices of the season” guides and will then follow suit.      Attribution is tough – and a huge focus: understanding the path to conversion is a tough nut to crack, especially in the new omnichannel world where consumers use multiple touchpoints to make a single purchase, and internal management wants to know hard data. This has lead many retailers to invest in attribution; carefully tracking their online marketing efforts to determine what gets “credit” for the sale, instead of giving credit to the “last click.” Retailers noted that it is very difficult to determine the numbers when online and offline worlds collide – like when a shopper uses digital channels for research and then makes a purchase in a store. As one of the presenters from The North Face mentioned in her keynote, a key to enabling better customer service and satisfaction when it comes to converged online and offline sales is training the in-store staff, and creating a culture where it eventually “doesn’t matter what group gets the credit” if they all add to the sale. No doubt, the area of attribution will be a big area of retail investment in the coming years.      How to plan for the converged world: planning to ensure inventory gets where it needs to be was another concern. In conversations with retailers, we advised them to analyze customer patterns: where shoppers purchase items, where the items were sourced from and even where items are returned. This analysis is very valuable in determining inventory plans. From there, retailers can more accurately plan and allocate inventory to support both the online and offline customer behavior. As we head into the holiday season, the need for accurate enterprise-wide inventory visibility, and providing that information to associates, is even more critical to the brand-wide customer experience.       Improving the search / navigation / usability of the site(s): Aside from some of the big ideas and standard holiday pricing pressure, most conversations we had centered around continuing to improve the basics of the site. Reinvesting in search and navigation came up time and time again (FitForCommerce blogged about what a big topic it was at the event as well). Obviously getting shoppers on their path quickly and allowing them to find what they need fast is critical, but it was definitely interesting to hear just how much effort is still going in to honing the search and navigation experience. Adding new elements to search and navigation like typeahed, inventive navigation refinements, and new navigation categories like gift guides, specialized boutiques and flash sales were top of mind, in addition to searchandising and making search-driven product recommendations. (Oracle can help!)       Reducing cart abandonment: always a hot topic that is top of mind for every online retailer. Getting shoppers to the cart is often less then half the battle; getting them to click “buy” and complete the transaction is much more difficult. While retailers carefully study the checkout process and where shoppers tend to bounce, they know that how they design their checkout page is critical. We’re all online shoppers in our personal lives and we know how frustrating it can be when total prices are not transparent (i.e. shipping, processing, taxes is not included until the very last possible screen before clicking that buy button). Online retailers are struggling with where in the checkout process to surface the total price to be charged to reduce cart abandonment, while not showing the total figure too early in the process that it keeps shoppers from getting to checkout altogether. Recent research shows that providing total pricing prior to the checkout process dramatically reduces cart abandonment – as it serves as a filter to those shopping within a specific price band. Much of the cart abandonment discussion leads us to…       The free shipping / free returns question: it’s no secret that because of Amazon and programs like Prime, consumers expect free shipping, much to the chagrin of the smaller retailer. The reality is that if you’re not a mega-retailer, shipping is an expensive part of doing business that doesn’t allow most retailers to keep their prices low and offer free shipping. This has many retailers venturing out on the “free returns” path, especially in apparel. A number of retailers we spoke with are testing a flat rate shipping fee with free returns to see if they can crack the price threshold where shoppers are willing to pay for shipping with an added service. But, free shipping remains king.      Social ads and retargeting: they are working, but do they turn off consumers? That’s the big question. Every retailer we spoke with during a roundtable on the topic said that social ads and retargeting (where that pair of boots you’re been eyeing on a site magically follows you around the Internet) work and are meeting campaign goals. The larger question many retailers are asking is if this type of tactic is turning off a large number of shoppers, even if these campaigns are meeting their early goals. Retailers also mentioned that Facebook ads are working very well for them, especially when it comes to new customer acquisition, serving as a complimentary a channel to SEO when it comes to engaging new customers. While there are always new things to experiment with in retail, standard challenges are top of mind as retailers scramble to get ready for holiday. It will undoubtedly be another record-breaking online shopping season, but as retailers get more and more advanced with each Black Friday, expect some exciting things. This excitement needs to be backed by sound solutions and optimized operations. Then again, consumers are expecting more than ever, so I don’t doubt that retailers are already thinking about the possibilities of holiday 2015… and beyond. Customers who read this article, also found value in the following stories: Personalization for Retail: http://blogs.oracle.com/retail/entry/personalization_for_retailShop Direct User Experience Focus Drives Sales:https://blogs.oracle.com/retail/entry/shop_direct_user_experience_focusMaking Waves: Australian Online Retailer SurfStitch: https://blogs.oracle.com/oracleretail/entry/surf_stitchWhat’s new in Oracle Commerce v11.1 for RetailWhat the Content+Commerce Equation is Missing

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• Native packaging for JavaFX

  - by igor

  JavaFX 2.2 adds new packaging option for JavaFX applications, allowing you to package your application as a "native bundle". This gives your users a way to install and run your application without any external dependencies on a system JRE or FX SDK. I'd like to give you an overview of what is it, motivation behind it, and finally explain how to get started with it. Screenshots may give you some idea of user experience but first hand experience is always the best. Before we go into all of the boring details, here are few different flavors of Ensemble for you to try: exe, msi, dmg, rpm installers and zip of linux bundle for non-rpm aware systems. Alternatively, check out native packages for JFXtras 2. Whats wrong with existing deployment options? JavaFX 2 applications are easy to distribute as a standalone application or as an application deployed on the web (embedded in the web page or as link to launch application from the webpage). JavaFX packaging tools, such as ant tasks and javafxpackager utility, simplify the creation of deployment packages even further. Why add new deployment options? JavaFX applications have implicit dependency on the availability of Java and JavaFX runtimes, and while existing deployment methods provide a means to validate the system requirements are met -- and even guide user to perform required installation/upgrades -- they do not fully address all of the important scenarios. In particular, here are few examples: the user may not have admin permissions to install new system software if the application was certified to run in the specific environment (fixed version of Java and JavaFX) then it may be hard to ensure user has this environment due to an autoupdate of the system version of Java/JavaFX (to ensure they are secure). Potentially, other apps may have a requirement for a different JRE or FX version that your app is incompatible with. your distribution channel may disallow dependencies on external frameworks (e.g. Mac AppStore) What is a "native package" for JavaFX application? In short it is  A Wrapper for your JavaFX application that makes is into a platform-specific application bundle Each Bundle is self-contained and includes your application code and resources (same set as need to launch standalone application from jar) Java and JavaFX runtimes (private copies to be used by this application only) native application launcher  metadata (icons, etc.) No separate installation is needed for Java and JavaFX runtimes Can be distributed as .zip or packaged as platform-specific installer No application changes, the same jar app binaries can be deployed as a native bundle, double-clickable jar, applet, or web start app What is good about it: Easy deployment of your application on fresh systems, without admin permissions when using .zip or a user-level installer No-hassle compatibility.  Your application is using a private copy of Java and JavaFX. The developer (you!) controls when these are updated. Easily package your application for Mac AppStore (or Windows, or...) Process name of running application is named after your application (and not just java.exe)  Easily deploy your application using enterprise deployment tools (e.g. deploy as MSI) Support is built in into JDK 7u6 (that includes JavaFX 2.2) Is it a silver bullet for the deployment that other deployment options will be deprecated? No.  There are no plans to deprecate other deployment options supported by JavaFX, each approach addresses different needs. Deciding whether native packaging is a best way to deploy your application depends on your requirements. A few caveats to consider: "Download and run" user experienceUnlike web deployment, the user experience is not about "launch app from web". It is more of "download, install and run" process, and the user may need to go through additional steps to get application launched - e.g. accepting a browser security dialog or finding and launching the application installer from "downloads" folder. Larger download sizeIn general size of bundled application will be noticeably higher than size of unbundled app as a private copy of the JRE and JavaFX are included.  We're working to reduce the size through compression and customizable "trimming", but it will always be substantially larger than than an app that depends on a "system JRE". Bundle per target platformBundle formats are platform specific. Currently a native bundle can only be produced for the same system you are building on.  That is, if you want to deliver native app bundles on Windows, Linux and Mac you will have to build your project on all three platforms. Application updates are the responsibility of developerWeb deployed Java applications automatically download application updates from the web as soon as they are available. The Java Autoupdate mechanism takes care of updating the Java and JavaFX runtimes to latest secure version several times every year. There is no built in support for this in for bundled applications. It is possible to use 3rd party libraries (like Sparkle on Mac) to add autoupdate support at application level.  In a future version of JavaFX we may include built-in support for autoupdate (add yourself as watcher for RT-22211 if you are interested in this) Getting started with native bundles First, you need to get the latest JDK 7u6 beta build (build 14 or later is recommended). On Windows/Mac/Linux it comes with JavaFX 2.2 SDK as part of JDK installation and contains JavaFX packaging tools, including: bin/javafxpackagerCommand line utility to produce JavaFX packages. lib/ant-javafx.jar Set of ant tasks to produce JavaFX packages (most recommended way to deploy apps) For general information on how to use them refer to the Deploying JavaFX Application guide. Once you know how use these tools to package your JavaFX application for other deployment methods there are only a few minor tweaks necessary to produce native bundles: make sure java is used from JDK7u6 bundle you have installed adjust your PATH settings if needed  if you are using ant tasks add "nativeBundles=all" attribute to fx:deploy task if you are using javafxpackager pass "-native" option to deploy command or if you are using makeall command then it will try build native packages by default result bundles will be in the "bundles" folder next to other deployment artifacts Note that building some types of native packages (e.g. .exe or .msi) may require additional free 3rd party software to be installed and available on PATH. As of JDK 7u6 build 14 you could build following types of packages: Windows bundle image EXE Inno Setup 5 or later is required Result exe will perform user level installation (no admin permissions are required) At least one shortcut will be created (menu or desktop) Application will be launched at the end of install MSI WiX 3.0 or later is required Result MSI will perform user level installation (no admin permissions are required) At least one shortcut will be created (menu or desktop)  MacOS bundle image dmg (drag and drop) installer Linux bundle image rpm rpmbuild is required shortcut will be added to the programs menu If you are using Netbeans for producing the deployment packages then you will need to add custom build step to the build.xml to execute the fx:deploy task with native bundles enabled. Here is what we do for BrickBreaker sample: <target name="-post-jfx-deploy"> <fx:deploy width="${javafx.run.width}" height="${javafx.run.height}" nativeBundles="all" outdir="${basedir}/${dist.dir}" outfile="${application.title}"> <fx:application name="${application.title}" mainClass="${javafx.main.class}"> <fx:resources> <fx:fileset dir="${basedir}/${dist.dir}" includes="BrickBreaker.jar"/> </fx:resources> <info title="${application.title}" vendor="${application.vendor}"/> </fx:application> </fx:deploy> </target> This is pretty much regular use of fx:deploy task, the only special thing here is nativeBundles="all". Perhaps the easiest way to try building native bundles is to download the latest JavaFX samples bundle and build Ensemble, BrickBreaker or SwingInterop. Please give it a try and share your experience. We need your feedback! BTW, do not hesitate to file bugs and feature requests to JavaFX bug database! Wait! How can i ... This entry is not a comprehensive guide into native bundles, and we plan to post on this topic more. However, I am sure that once you play with native bundles you will have a lot of questions. We may not have all the answers, but please do not hesitate to ask! Knowing all of the questions is the first step to finding all of the answers.

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• The Internet of Things & Commerce: Part 2 -- Interview with Brian Celenza, Commerce Innovation Strategist

  - by Katrina Gosek, Director | Commerce Product Strategy-Oracle

  Internet of Things & Commerce Series: Part 2 (of 3) Welcome back to the second installation of my three part series on the Internet of Things & Commerce. A few weeks ago, I wrote “The Next 7,000 Days” about how we’ve become embedded in a digital architecture in the last 7,000 days since the birth of the internet – an architecture that everyday ties the massive expanse of the internet evermore closely with our physical lives. This blog series explores how this new blend of virtual and material will change how we shop and how businesses sell. Now enjoy reading my interview with Brian Celenza, one of the chief strategists in our Oracle Commerce innovation group. He comments on the past, present, and future of the how the growing Internet of Things relates and will relate to the buying and selling of goods on and offline. -------------------------------------------- QUESTION: You probably have one of the coolest jobs on our team, Brian – and frankly, one of the coolest jobs in our industry. As part of the innovation team for Oracle Commerce, you’re regularly working on bold features and groundbreaking commerce-focused experiences for our vision demos. As you look back over the past couple of years, what is the biggest trend (or trends) you’ve seen in digital commerce that started to bring us closer to this idea of what people are calling an “Internet of Things”? Brian: Well as you look back over the last couple of years, the speed at which change in our industry has moved looks like one of those blurred movement photos – you know the ones where the landscape blurs because the observer is moving so quickly your eye focus can’t keep up. But one thing that is absolutely clear is that the biggest catalyst for that speed of change – especially over the last three years – has been mobile. Mobile technology changed everything. Over the last three years the entire thought process of how to sell on (and offline) has shifted because of mobile technology advances. Particularly for eCommerce professionals who have started to move past the notion of “channels” for selling goods to this notion of “Mobile First”… then the Web site. Or more accurately, that everything – smartphones, web, store, tablet – is just one channel or has to act like one singular access point to the same product catalog, information and content. The most innovative eCommerce professionals realized some time ago that it’s not ideal to build an eCommerce Web site and then build everything on top of or off of it. Rather, they want to build an eCommerce API and then integrate it will all other systems. To accomplish this, they are leveraging all the latest mobile technologies or possibilities mobile technology has opened up: 4G and LTE, GPS, bluetooth, touch screens, apps, html5… How has this all started to come together for shopping experiences on and offline? Well to give you a personal example, I remember visiting an Apple store a few years ago and being amazed that I didn’t have to wait in line because a store associate knew everything about me from my ID – right there on the sales floor – and could check me out anywhere. Then just a few months later (when like any good addict) I went back to get the latest and greatest new gadget, I felt like I was stealing it because I could check myself out with my smartphone. I didn’t even need to see a sales associate OR go to a cash register. Amazing. And since then, all sort sorts of companies across all different types of industries – from food service to apparel –  are starting to see mobile payments in the billions of dollars now thanks not only to the convenience factor but to smart loyalty rewards programs as well. These are just some really simple current examples that come to mind. So many different things have happened in the last couple of years, it’s hard to really absorb all of the quickly – because as soon as you do, everything changes again! Just like that blurry speed photo image. For eCommerce, however, this type of new environment underscores the importance of building an eCommerce API – a platform that has services you can tap in to and build on as the landscape changes at a fever pitch. It’s a mobile first perspective. A web service perspective – particularly if you are thinking of how to engage customers across digital and physical spaces. —— QUESTION: Thanks for bringing us into the present – some really great examples you gave there to put things into perspective. So what do you see as the biggest trend right now around the “Internet of Things” – and what’s coming next few years? Brian: Honestly, even sitting where I am in the innovation group – it’s hard to look out even 12 months because, well, I don’t even think we’ve fully caught up with what is possible now. But I can definitely say that in the last 12 months and in the coming 12 months, in the technology and eCommerce world it’s all about iBeacons. iBeacons are awesome tools we have right now to tie together physical and digital shopping experiences. They know exactly where you are as a shopper and can communicate that to businesses. Currently there seem to be two camps of thought around iBeacons. First, many people are thinking of them like an “indoor GPS”, which to be fair they literally are. The use case this first camp envisions for iBeacons is primarily for advertising and marketing. So they use iBeacons to push location-based promotions to customers if they are close to a store or in a store. You may have seen these types of mobile promotions start to pop up occasionally on your smart phone as you pass by a store you’ve bought from in the past. That’s the work of iBeacons. But in my humble opinion, these promotions probably come too early in the customer journey and although they may be well timed and work to “convert” in some cases, I imagine in most they are just eroding customer trust because they are kind of a “one-size-fits-all” solution rather than one that is taking into account what exactly the customer might be looking for in that particular moment. Maybe they just want more information and a promotion is way too soon for that type of customer. The second camp is more in line with where my thinking falls. In this case, businesses take a more sensitive approach with iBeacons to customers’ needs. Instead of throwing out a “one-size-fits-all” to any passer by with iBeacons, the use case is more around looking at the physical proximity of a customer as an opportunity to provide a service: show expert reviews on a product they may be looking at in a particular aisle of a store, offer the opportunity to compare prices (and then offer a promotion), signal an in-store associate if a customer has been in the store for more than 10 minutes in one place. These are all less intrusive more value-driven uses of iBeacons. And they are more about building customer trust through service. To take this example a bit further into the future realm of “Big Data” and “Internet of Things” businesses could actually use the Oracle Commerce Platform and iBeacons to “silently” track customer movement w/in the store to provide higher quality service. And this doesn’t have to be creepy or intrusive. Simply if a customer has been in a particular department or aisle for more than a 5 or 10 minutes, an in-store associate could come over an offer some assistance already knowing customer preferences from their online profile and maybe even seeing the items in a shopping cart they started at home. None of this has to be revealed to the customer, but it certainly could boost the level of service an in-store sales associate could provide. Or, in another futuristic example, stores could use the digital footprint of the physical store transmitted by iBeacons to generate heat maps of the store that could be tracked over time. Imagine how much you could find out about which parts of the store are more busy during certain parts of the day or seasons. This could completely revolutionize how physical merchandising is deployed or where certain high value / new items are placed. And / or this use of iBeacons could also help businesses figure out if customers are getting held up in certain parts of the store during busy days like Black Friday. If long lines are causing customers to bounce from a physical store and leave those holiday gifts behind, maybe having employees with mobile check as an option could remove the cash register bottleneck. But going to back to my original statement, it’s all still very early in the story for iBeacons. The hardware manufacturers are still very new and there is still not one clear standard.  Honestly, it all goes back to building and maintaining an extensible and flexible platform for anywhere engagement. What you’re building today should allow you to rapidly take advantage of whatever unimaginable use cases wait around the corner. ------------------------------------------------------ I hope you enjoyed the brief interview with Brian. It’s really awesome to have such smart and innovation-minded individuals on our Oracle Commerce innovation team. Please join me again in a few weeks for Part 3 of this series where I interview one of the product managers on our team about how the blending of digital and in-store selling in influencing our product development and vision.

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• Optimizing Solaris 11 SHA-1 on Intel Processors

  - by danx

  SHA-1 is a "hash" or "digest" operation that produces a 160 bit (20 byte) checksum value on arbitrary data, such as a file. It is intended to uniquely identify text and to verify it hasn't been modified. Max Locktyukhin and others at Intel have improved the performance of the SHA-1 digest algorithm using multiple techniques. This code has been incorporated into Solaris 11 and is available in the Solaris Crypto Framework via the libmd(3LIB), the industry-standard libpkcs11(3LIB) library, and Solaris kernel module sha1. The optimized code is used automatically on systems with a x86 CPU supporting SSSE3 (Intel Supplemental SSSE3). Intel microprocessor architectures that support SSSE3 include Nehalem, Westmere, Sandy Bridge microprocessor families. Further optimizations are available for microprocessors that support AVX (such as Sandy Bridge). Although SHA-1 is considered obsolete because of weaknesses found in the SHA-1 algorithm—NIST recommends using at least SHA-256, SHA-1 is still widely used and will be with us for awhile more. Collisions (the same SHA-1 result for two different inputs) can be found with moderate effort. SHA-1 is used heavily though in SSL/TLS, for example. And SHA-1 is stronger than the older MD5 digest algorithm, another digest option defined in SSL/TLS. Optimizations Review SHA-1 operates by reading an arbitrary amount of data. The data is read in 512 bit (64 byte) blocks (the last block is padded in a specific way to ensure it's a full 64 bytes). Each 64 byte block has 80 "rounds" of calculations (consisting of a mixture of "ROTATE-LEFT", "AND", and "XOR") applied to the block. Each round produces a 32-bit intermediate result, called W[i]. Here's what each round operates: The first 16 rounds, rounds 0 to 15, read the 512 bit block 32 bits at-a-time. These 32 bits is used as input to the round. The remaining rounds, rounds 16 to 79, use the results from the previous rounds as input. Specifically for round i it XORs the results of rounds i-3, i-8, i-14, and i-16 and rotates the result left 1 bit. The remaining calculations for the round is a series of AND, XOR, and ROTATE-LEFT operators on the 32-bit input and some constants. The 32-bit result is saved as W[i] for round i. The 32-bit result of the final round, W[79], is the SHA-1 checksum. Optimization: Vectorization The first 16 rounds can be vectorized (computed in parallel) because they don't depend on the output of a previous round. As for the remaining rounds, because of step 2 above, computing round i depends on the results of round i-3, W[i-3], one can vectorize 3 rounds at-a-time. Max Locktyukhin found through simple factoring, explained in detail in his article referenced below, that the dependencies of round i on the results of rounds i-3, i-8, i-14, and i-16 can be replaced instead with dependencies on the results of rounds i-6, i-16, i-28, and i-32. That is, instead of initializing intermediate result W[i] with: W[i] = (W[i-3] XOR W[i-8] XOR W[i-14] XOR W[i-16]) ROTATE-LEFT 1 Initialize W[i] as follows: W[i] = (W[i-6] XOR W[i-16] XOR W[i-28] XOR W[i-32]) ROTATE-LEFT 2 That means that 6 rounds could be vectorized at once, with no additional calculations, instead of just 3! This optimization is independent of Intel or any other microprocessor architecture, although the microprocessor has to support vectorization to use it, and exploits one of the weaknesses of SHA-1. Optimization: SSSE3 Intel SSSE3 makes use of 16 %xmm registers, each 128 bits wide. The 4 32-bit inputs to a round, W[i-6], W[i-16], W[i-28], W[i-32], all fit in one %xmm register. The following code snippet, from Max Locktyukhin's article, converted to ATT assembly syntax, computes 4 rounds in parallel with just a dozen or so SSSE3 instructions: movdqa W_minus_04, W_TMP pxor W_minus_28, W // W equals W[i-32:i-29] before XOR // W = W[i-32:i-29] ^ W[i-28:i-25] palignr $8, W_minus_08, W_TMP // W_TMP = W[i-6:i-3], combined from // W[i-4:i-1] and W[i-8:i-5] vectors pxor W_minus_16, W // W = (W[i-32:i-29] ^ W[i-28:i-25]) ^ W[i-16:i-13] pxor W_TMP, W // W = (W[i-32:i-29] ^ W[i-28:i-25] ^ W[i-16:i-13]) ^ W[i-6:i-3]) movdqa W, W_TMP // 4 dwords in W are rotated left by 2 psrld $30, W // rotate left by 2 W = (W >> 30) | (W << 2) pslld $2, W_TMP por W, W_TMP movdqa W_TMP, W // four new W values W[i:i+3] are now calculated paddd (K_XMM), W_TMP // adding 4 current round's values of K movdqa W_TMP, (WK(i)) // storing for downstream GPR instructions to read A window of the 32 previous results, W[i-1] to W[i-32] is saved in memory on the stack. This is best illustrated with a chart. Without vectorization, computing the rounds is like this (each "R" represents 1 round of SHA-1 computation): RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR With vectorization, 4 rounds can be computed in parallel: RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR Optimization: AVX The new "Sandy Bridge" microprocessor architecture, which supports AVX, allows another interesting optimization. SSSE3 instructions have two operands, a input and an output. AVX allows three operands, two inputs and an output. In many cases two SSSE3 instructions can be combined into one AVX instruction. The difference is best illustrated with an example. Consider these two instructions from the snippet above: pxor W_minus_16, W // W = (W[i-32:i-29] ^ W[i-28:i-25]) ^ W[i-16:i-13] pxor W_TMP, W // W = (W[i-32:i-29] ^ W[i-28:i-25] ^ W[i-16:i-13]) ^ W[i-6:i-3]) With AVX they can be combined in one instruction: vpxor W_minus_16, W, W_TMP // W = (W[i-32:i-29] ^ W[i-28:i-25] ^ W[i-16:i-13]) ^ W[i-6:i-3]) This optimization is also in Solaris, although Sandy Bridge-based systems aren't widely available yet. As an exercise for the reader, AVX also has 256-bit media registers, %ymm0 - %ymm15 (a superset of 128-bit %xmm0 - %xmm15). Can %ymm registers be used to parallelize the code even more? Optimization: Solaris-specific In addition to using the Intel code described above, I performed other minor optimizations to the Solaris SHA-1 code: Increased the digest(1) and mac(1) command's buffer size from 4K to 64K, as previously done for decrypt(1) and encrypt(1). This size is well suited for ZFS file systems, but helps for other file systems as well. Optimized encode functions, which byte swap the input and output data, to copy/byte-swap 4 or 8 bytes at-a-time instead of 1 byte-at-a-time. Enhanced the Solaris mdb(1) and kmdb(1) debuggers to display all 16 %xmm and %ymm registers (mdb "$x" command). Previously they only displayed the first 8 that are available in 32-bit mode. Can't optimize if you can't debug :-). Changed the SHA-1 code to allow processing in "chunks" greater than 2 Gigabytes (64-bits) Performance I measured performance on a Sun Ultra 27 (which has a Nehalem-class Xeon 5500 Intel W3570 microprocessor @3.2GHz). Turbo mode is disabled for consistent performance measurement. Graphs are better than words and numbers, so here they are: The first graph shows the Solaris digest(1) command before and after the optimizations discussed here, contained in libmd(3LIB). I ran the digest command on a half GByte file in swapfs (/tmp) and execution time decreased from 1.35 seconds to 0.98 seconds. The second graph shows the the results of an internal microbenchmark that uses the Solaris libpkcs11(3LIB) library. The operations are on a 128 byte buffer with 10,000 iterations. The results show operations increased from 320,000 to 416,000 operations per second. Finally the third graph shows the results of an internal kernel microbenchmark that uses the Solaris /kernel/crypto/amd64/sha1 module. The operations are on a 64Kbyte buffer with 100 iterations. third graph shows the results of an internal kernel microbenchmark that uses the Solaris /kernel/crypto/amd64/sha1 module. The operations are on a 64Kbyte buffer with 100 iterations. The results show for 1 kernel thread, operations increased from 410 to 600 MBytes/second. For 8 kernel threads, operations increase from 1540 to 1940 MBytes/second. Availability This code is in Solaris 11 FCS. It is available in the 64-bit libmd(3LIB) library for 64-bit programs and is in the Solaris kernel. You must be running hardware that supports Intel's SSSE3 instructions (for example, Intel Nehalem, Westmere, or Sandy Bridge microprocessor architectures). The easiest way to determine if SSSE3 is available is with the isainfo(1) command. For example, nehalem $ isainfo -v $ isainfo -v 64-bit amd64 applications sse4.2 sse4.1 ssse3 popcnt tscp ahf cx16 sse3 sse2 sse fxsr mmx cmov amd_sysc cx8 tsc fpu 32-bit i386 applications sse4.2 sse4.1 ssse3 popcnt tscp ahf cx16 sse3 sse2 sse fxsr mmx cmov sep cx8 tsc fpu If the output also shows "avx", the Solaris executes the even-more optimized 3-operand AVX instructions for SHA-1 mentioned above: sandybridge $ isainfo -v 64-bit amd64 applications avx xsave pclmulqdq aes sse4.2 sse4.1 ssse3 popcnt tscp ahf cx16 sse3 sse2 sse fxsr mmx cmov amd_sysc cx8 tsc fpu 32-bit i386 applications avx xsave pclmulqdq aes sse4.2 sse4.1 ssse3 popcnt tscp ahf cx16 sse3 sse2 sse fxsr mmx cmov sep cx8 tsc fpu No special configuration or setup is needed to take advantage of this code. Solaris libraries and kernel automatically determine if it's running on SSSE3 or AVX-capable machines and execute the correctly-tuned code for that microprocessor. Summary The Solaris 11 Crypto Framework, via the sha1 kernel module and libmd(3LIB) and libpkcs11(3LIB) libraries, incorporated a useful SHA-1 optimization from Intel for SSSE3-capable microprocessors. As with other Solaris optimizations, they come automatically "under the hood" with the current Solaris release. References "Improving the Performance of the Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA-1)" by Max Locktyukhin (Intel, March 2010). The source for these SHA-1 optimizations used in Solaris "SHA-1", Wikipedia Good overview of SHA-1 FIPS 180-1 SHA-1 standard (FIPS, 1995) NIST Comments on Cryptanalytic Attacks on SHA-1 (2005, revised 2006)

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• Scripting with the Sun ZFS Storage 7000 Appliance

  - by Geoff Ongley

  The Sun ZFS Storage 7000 appliance has a user friendly and easy to understand graphical web based interface we call the "BUI" or "Browser User Interface".This interface is very useful for many tasks, but in some cases a script (or workflow) may be more appropriate, such as:Repetitive tasksTasks which work on (or obtain information about) a large number of shares or usersTasks which are triggered by an alert threshold (workflows)Tasks where you want a only very basic input, but a consistent output (workflows)The appliance scripting language is based on ECMAscript 3 (close to javascript). I'm not going to cover ECMAscript 3 in great depth (I'm far from an expert here), but I would like to show you some neat things you can do with the appliance, to get you started based on what I have found from my own playing around.I'm making the assumption you have some sort of programming background, and understand variables, arrays, functions to some extent - but of course if something is not clear, please let me know so I can fix it up or clarify it.Variable Declarations and ArraysVariablesECMAScript is a dynamically and weakly typed language. If you don't know what that means, google is your friend - but at a high level it means we can just declare variables with no specific type and on the fly.For example, I can declare a variable and use it straight away in the middle of my code, for example:projects=list();Which makes projects an array of values that are returned from the list(); function (which is usable in most contexts). With this kind of variable, I can do things like:projects.length (this property on array tells you how many objects are in it, good for for loops etc). Alternatively, I could say:projects=3;and now projects is just a simple number.Should we declare variables like this so loosely? In my opinion, the answer is no - I feel it is a better practice to declare variables you are going to use, before you use them - and given them an initial value. You can do so as follows:var myVariable=0;To demonstrate the ability to just randomly assign and change the type of variables, you can create a simple script at the cli as follows (bold for input):fishy10:> script("." to run)> run("cd /");("." to run)> run ("shares");("." to run)> var projects;("." to run)> projects=list();("." to run)> printf("Number of projects is: %d\n",projects.length);("." to run)> projects=152;("." to run)> printf("Value of the projects variable as an integer is now: %d\n",projects);("." to run)> .Number of projects is: 7Value of the projects variable as an integer is now: 152You can also confirm this behaviour by checking the typeof variable we are dealing with:fishy10:> script("." to run)> run("cd /");("." to run)> run ("shares");("." to run)> var projects;("." to run)> projects=list();("." to run)> printf("var projects is of type %s\n",typeof(projects));("." to run)> projects=152;("." to run)> printf("var projects is of type %s\n",typeof(projects));("." to run)> .var projects is of type objectvar projects is of type numberArraysSo you likely noticed that we have already touched on arrays, as the list(); (in the shares context) stored an array into the 'projects' variable.But what if you want to declare your own array? Easy! This is very similar to Java and other languages, we just instantiate a brand new "Array" object using the keyword new:var myArray = new Array();will create an array called "myArray".A quick example:fishy10:> script("." to run)> testArray = new Array();("." to run)> testArray[0]="This";("." to run)> testArray[1]="is";("." to run)> testArray[2]="just";("." to run)> testArray[3]="a";("." to run)> testArray[4]="test";("." to run)> for (i=0; i < testArray.length; i++)("." to run)> {("." to run)>    printf("Array element %d is %s\n",i,testArray[i]);("." to run)> }("." to run)> .Array element 0 is ThisArray element 1 is isArray element 2 is justArray element 3 is aArray element 4 is testWorking With LoopsFor LoopFor loops are very similar to those you will see in C, java and several other languages. One of the key differences here is, as you were made aware earlier, we can be a bit more sloppy with our variable declarations.The general way you would likely use a for loop is as follows:for (variable; test-case; modifier for variable){}For example, you may wish to declare a variable i as 0; and a MAX_ITERATIONS variable to determine how many times this loop should repeat:var i=0;var MAX_ITERATIONS=10;And then, use this variable to be tested against some case existing (has i reached MAX_ITERATIONS? - if not, increment i using i++);for (i=0; i < MAX_ITERATIONS; i++){ // some work to do}So lets run something like this on the appliance:fishy10:> script("." to run)> var i=0;("." to run)> var MAX_ITERATIONS=10;("." to run)> for (i=0; i < MAX_ITERATIONS; i++)("." to run)> {("." to run)>    printf("The number is %d\n",i);("." to run)> }("." to run)> .The number is 0The number is 1The number is 2The number is 3The number is 4The number is 5The number is 6The number is 7The number is 8The number is 9While LoopWhile loops again are very similar to other languages, we loop "while" a condition is met. For example:fishy10:> script("." to run)> var isTen=false;("." to run)> var counter=0;("." to run)> while(isTen==false)("." to run)> {("." to run)>    if (counter==10) ("." to run)>    { ("." to run)>            isTen=true;   ("." to run)>    } ("." to run)>    printf("Counter is %d\n",counter);("." to run)>    counter++;    ("." to run)> }("." to run)> printf("Loop has ended and Counter is %d\n",counter);("." to run)> .Counter is 0Counter is 1Counter is 2Counter is 3Counter is 4Counter is 5Counter is 6Counter is 7Counter is 8Counter is 9Counter is 10Loop has ended and Counter is 11So what do we notice here? Something has actually gone wrong - counter will technically be 11 once the loop completes... Why is this?Well, if we have a loop like this, where the 'while' condition that will end the loop may be set based on some other condition(s) existing (such as the counter has reached 10) - we must ensure that we  terminate this iteration of the loop when the condition is met - otherwise the rest of the code will be followed which may not be desirable. In other words, like in other languages, we will only ever check the loop condition once we are ready to perform the next iteration, so any other code after we set "isTen" to be true, will still be executed as we can see it was above.We can avoid this by adding a break into our loop once we know we have set the condition - this will stop the rest of the logic being processed in this iteration (and as such, counter will not be incremented). So lets try that again:fishy10:> script("." to run)> var isTen=false;("." to run)> var counter=0;("." to run)> while(isTen==false)("." to run)> {("." to run)>    if (counter==10) ("." to run)>    { ("." to run)>            isTen=true;   ("." to run)>            break;("." to run)>    } ("." to run)>    printf("Counter is %d\n",counter);("." to run)>    counter++;    ("." to run)> }("." to run)> printf("Loop has ended and Counter is %d\n", counter);("." to run)> .Counter is 0Counter is 1Counter is 2Counter is 3Counter is 4Counter is 5Counter is 6Counter is 7Counter is 8Counter is 9Loop has ended and Counter is 10Much better!Methods to Obtain and Manipulate DataGet MethodThe get method allows you to get simple properties from an object, for example a quota from a user. The syntax is fairly simple:var myVariable=get('property');An example of where you may wish to use this, is when you are getting a bunch of information about a user (such as quota information when in a shares context):var users=list();for(k=0; k < users.length; k++){     user=users[k];     run('select ' + user);     var username=get('name');     var usage=get('usage');     var quota=get('quota');...Which you can then use to your advantage - to print or manipulate infomation (you could change a user's information with a set method, based on the information returned from the get method). The set method is explained next.Set MethodThe set method can be used in a simple manner, similar to get. The syntax for set is:set('property','value'); // where value is a string, if it was a number, you don't need quotesFor example, we could set the quota on a share as follows (first observing the initial value):fishy10:shares default/test-geoff> script("." to run)> var currentQuota=get('quota');("." to run)> printf("Current Quota is: %s\n",currentQuota);("." to run)> set('quota','30G');("." to run)> run('commit');("." to run)> currentQuota=get('quota');("." to run)> printf("Current Quota is: %s\n",currentQuota);("." to run)> .Current Quota is: 0Current Quota is: 32212254720This shows us using both the get and set methods as can be used in scripts, of course when only setting an individual share, the above is overkill - it would be much easier to set it manually at the cli using 'set quota=3G' and then 'commit'.List MethodThe list method can be very powerful, especially in more complex scripts which iterate over large amounts of data and manipulate it if so desired. The general way you will use list is as follows:var myVar=list();Which will make "myVar" an array, containing all the objects in the relevant context (this could be a list of users, shares, projects, etc). You can then gather or manipulate data very easily.We could list all the shares and mountpoints in a given project for example:fishy10:shares another-project> script("." to run)> var shares=list();("." to run)> for (i=0; i < shares.length; i++)("." to run)> {("." to run)>    run('select ' + shares[i]);("." to run)>    var mountpoint=get('mountpoint');("." to run)>    printf("Share %s discovered, has mountpoint %s\n",shares[i],mountpoint);("." to run)>    run('done');("." to run)> }("." to run)> .Share and-another discovered, has mountpoint /export/another-project/and-anotherShare another-share discovered, has mountpoint /export/another-project/another-shareShare bob discovered, has mountpoint /export/another-projectShare more-shares-for-all discovered, has mountpoint /export/another-project/more-shares-for-allShare yep discovered, has mountpoint /export/another-project/yepWriting More Complex and Re-Usable CodeFunctionsThe best way to be able to write more complex code is to use functions to split up repeatable or reusable sections of your code. This also makes your more complex code easier to read and understand for other programmers.We write functions as follows:function functionName(variable1,variable2,...,variableN){}For example, we could have a function that takes a project name as input, and lists shares for that project (assuming we're already in the 'project' context - context is important!):function getShares(proj){        run('select ' + proj);        shares=list();        printf("Project: %s\n", proj);        for(j=0; j < shares.length; j++)        {                printf("Discovered share: %s\n",shares[i]);        }        run('done'); // exit selected project}Commenting your CodeLike any other language, a large part of making it readable and understandable is to comment it. You can use the same comment style as in C and Java amongst other languages.In other words, sngle line comments use://at the beginning of the comment.Multi line comments use:/*at the beginning, and:*/ at the end.For example, here we will use both:fishy10:> script("." to run)> // This is a test comment("." to run)> printf("doing some work...\n");("." to run)> /* This is a multi-line("." to run)> comment which I will span across("." to run)> three lines in total */("." to run)> printf("doing some more work...\n");("." to run)> .doing some work...doing some more work...Your comments do not have to be on their own, they can begin (particularly with single line comments this is handy) at the end of a statement, for examplevar projects=list(); // The variable projects is an array containing all projects on the system.Try and Catch StatementsYou may be used to using try and catch statements in other languages, and they can (and should) be utilised in your code to catch expected or unexpected error conditions, that you do NOT wish to stop your code from executing (if you do not catch these errors, your script will exit!):try{  // do some work}catch(err) // Catch any error that could occur{ // do something here under the error condition}For example, you may wish to only execute some code if a context can be reached. If you can't perform certain actions under certain circumstances, that may be perfectly acceptable.For example if you want to test a condition that only makes sense when looking at a SMB/NFS share, but does not make sense when you hit an iscsi or FC LUN, you don't want to stop all processing of other shares you may not have covered yet.For example we may wish to obtain quota information on all shares for all users on a share (but this makes no sense for a LUN):function getShareQuota(shar) // Get quota for each user of this share{        run('select ' + shar);        printf("  SHARE: %s\n", shar);        try        {                run('users');                printf("    %20s        %11s    %11s    %3s\n","Username","Usage(G)","Quota(G)","Quota(%)");                printf("    %20s        %11s    %11s    %4s\n","--------","--------","--------","----");                                users=list();                for(k=0; k < users.length; k++)                {                        user=users[k];                        getUserQuota(user);                }                run('done'); // exit user context        }        catch(err)        {                printf("    SKIPPING %s - This is NOT a NFS or CIFs share, not looking for users\n", shar);        }        run('done'); // done with this share}Running Scripts Remotely over SSHAs you have likely noticed, writing and running scripts for all but the simplest jobs directly on the appliance is not going to be a lot of fun.There's a couple of choices on what you can do here:Create scripts on a remote system and run them over sshCreate scripts, wrapping them in workflow code, so they are stored on the appliance and can be triggered under certain circumstances (like a threshold being reached)We'll cover the first one here, and then cover workflows later on (as these are for the most part just scripts with some wrapper information around them).Creating a SSH Public/Private SSH Key PairLog on to your handy Solaris box (You wouldn't be using any other OS, right? :P) and use ssh-keygen to create a pair of ssh keys. I'm storing this separate to my normal key:[geoff@lightning ~] ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 1024Generating public/private rsa key pair.Enter file in which to save the key (/export/home/geoff/.ssh/id_rsa): /export/home/geoff/.ssh/nas_key_rsaEnter passphrase (empty for no passphrase): Enter same passphrase again: Your identification has been saved in /export/home/geoff/.ssh/nas_key_rsa.Your public key has been saved in /export/home/geoff/.ssh/nas_key_rsa.pub.The key fingerprint is:7f:3d:53:f0:2a:5e:8b:2d:94:2a:55:77:66:5c:9b:14 geoff@lightningInstalling the Public Key on the ApplianceOn your Solaris host, observe the public key:[geoff@lightning ~] cat .ssh/nas_key_rsa.pub ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAABIwAAAIEAvYfK3RIaAYmMHBOvyhKM41NaSmcgUMC3igPN5gUKJQvSnYmjuWG6CBr1CkF5UcDji7v19jG3qAD5lAMFn+L0CxgRr8TNaAU+hA4/tpAGkjm+dKYSyJgEdMIURweyyfUFXoerweR8AWW5xlovGKEWZTAfvJX9Zqvh8oMQ5UJLUUc= geoff@lightningNow, copy and paste everything after "ssh-rsa" and before "user@hostname" - in this case, geoff@lightning. That is, this bit:AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAABIwAAAIEAvYfK3RIaAYmMHBOvyhKM41NaSmcgUMC3igPN5gUKJQvSnYmjuWG6CBr1CkF5UcDji7v19jG3qAD5lAMFn+L0CxgRr8TNaAU+hA4/tpAGkjm+dKYSyJgEdMIURweyyfUFXoerweR8AWW5xlovGKEWZTAfvJX9Zqvh8oMQ5UJLUUc=Logon to your appliance and get into the preferences -> keys area for this user (root):[geoff@lightning ~] ssh [email protected]: Last login: Mon Dec  6 17:13:28 2010 from 192.168.0.2fishy10:> configuration usersfishy10:configuration users> select rootfishy10:configuration users root> preferences fishy10:configuration users root preferences> keysOR do it all in one hit:fishy10:> configuration users select root preferences keysNow, we create a new public key that will be accepted for this user and set the type to RSA:fishy10:configuration users root preferences keys> createfishy10:configuration users root preferences key (uncommitted)> set type=RSASet the key itself using the string copied previously (between ssh-rsa and user@host), and set the key ensuring you put double quotes around it (eg. set key="<key>"):fishy10:configuration users root preferences key (uncommitted)> set key="AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAABIwAAAIEAvYfK3RIaAYmMHBOvyhKM41NaSmcgUMC3igPN5gUKJQvSnYmjuWG6CBr1CkF5UcDji7v19jG3qAD5lAMFn+L0CxgRr8TNaAU+hA4/tpAGkjm+dKYSyJgEdMIURweyyfUFXoerweR8AWW5xlovGKEWZTAfvJX9Zqvh8oMQ5UJLUUc="Now set the comment for this key (do not use spaces):fishy10:configuration users root preferences key (uncommitted)> set comment="LightningRSAKey" Commit the new key:fishy10:configuration users root preferences key (uncommitted)> commitVerify the key is there:fishy10:configuration users root preferences keys> lsKeys:NAME     MODIFIED              TYPE   COMMENT                                  key-000  2010-10-25 20:56:42   RSA    cycloneRSAKey                           key-001  2010-12-6 17:44:53    RSA    LightningRSAKey                         As you can see, we now have my new key, and a previous key I have created on this appliance.Running your Script over SSH from a Remote SystemHere I have created a basic test script, and saved it as test.ecma3:[geoff@lightning ~] cat test.ecma3 script// This is a test script, By Geoff Ongley 2010.printf("Testing script remotely over ssh\n");.Now, we can run this script remotely with our keyless login:[geoff@lightning ~] ssh -i .ssh/nas_key_rsa root@fishy10 < test.ecma3Pseudo-terminal will not be allocated because stdin is not a terminal.Testing script remotely over sshPutting it Together - An Example Completed Quota Gathering ScriptSo now we have a lot of the basics to creating a script, let us do something useful, like, find out how much every user is using, on every share on the system (you will recognise some of the code from my previous examples): script/************************************** Quick and Dirty Quota Check script ** Written By Geoff Ongley            ** 25 October 2010                    **************************************/function getUserQuota(usr){        run('select ' + usr);        var username=get('name');        var usage=get('usage');        var quota=get('quota');        var usage_g=usage / 1073741824; // convert bytes to gigabytes        var quota_g=quota / 1073741824; // as above        var quota_percent=0        if (quota > 0)        {                quota_percent=(usage / quota)*(100/1);        }        printf("    %20s        %8.2f           %8.2f           %d%%\n",username,usage_g,quota_g,quota_percent);        run('done'); // done with this selected user}function getShareQuota(shar){        //printf("DEBUG: selecting share %s\n", shar);        run('select ' + shar);        printf("  SHARE: %s\n", shar);        try        {                run('users');                printf("    %20s        %11s    %11s    %3s\n","Username","Usage(G)","Quota(G)","Quota(%)");                printf("    %20s        %11s    %11s    %4s\n","--------","--------","--------","--------");                                users=list();                for(k=0; k < users.length; k++)                {                        user=users[k];                        getUserQuota(user);                }                run('done'); // exit user context        }        catch(err)        {                printf("    SKIPPING %s - This is NOT a NFS or CIFs share, not looking for users\n", shar);        }        run('done'); // done with this share}function getShares(proj){        //printf("DEBUG: selecting project %s\n",proj);        run('select ' + proj);        shares=list();        printf("Project: %s\n", proj);        for(j=0; j < shares.length; j++)        {                share=shares[j];                getShareQuota(share);        }        run('done'); // exit selected project}function getProjects(){        run('cd /');        run('shares');        projects=list();                for (i=0; i < projects.length; i++)        {                var project=projects[i];                getShares(project);        }        run('done'); // exit context for all projects}getProjects();.Which can be run as follows, and will print information like this:[geoff@lightning ~/FISHWORKS_SCRIPTS] ssh -i ~/.ssh/nas_key_rsa root@fishy10 < get_quota_utilisation.ecma3Pseudo-terminal will not be allocated because stdin is not a terminal.Project: another-project  SHARE: and-another                Username           Usage(G)       Quota(G)    Quota(%)                --------           --------       --------    --------                  nobody            0.00            0.00        0%                 geoffro            0.05            0.00        0%                   Billy            0.10            0.00        0%                    root            0.00            0.00        0%            testing-user            0.05            0.00        0%  SHARE: another-share                Username           Usage(G)       Quota(G)    Quota(%)                --------           --------       --------    --------                    root            0.00            0.00        0%                  nobody            0.00            0.00        0%                 geoffro            0.05            0.49        9%            testing-user            0.05            0.02        249%                   Billy            0.10            0.29        33%  SHARE: bob                Username           Usage(G)       Quota(G)    Quota(%)                --------           --------       --------    --------                  nobody            0.00            0.00        0%                    root            0.00            0.00        0%  SHARE: more-shares-for-all                Username           Usage(G)       Quota(G)    Quota(%)                --------           --------       --------    --------                   Billy            0.10            0.00        0%            testing-user            0.05            0.00        0%                  nobody            0.00            0.00        0%                    root            0.00            0.00        0%                 geoffro            0.05            0.00        0%  SHARE: yep                Username           Usage(G)       Quota(G)    Quota(%)                --------           --------       --------    --------                    root            0.00            0.00        0%                  nobody            0.00            0.00        0%                   Billy            0.10            0.01        999%            testing-user            0.05            0.49        9%                 geoffro            0.05            0.00        0%Project: default  SHARE: Test-LUN    SKIPPING Test-LUN - This is NOT a NFS or CIFs share, not looking for users  SHARE: test-geoff                Username           Usage(G)       Quota(G)    Quota(%)                --------           --------       --------    --------                 geoffro            0.05            0.00        0%                    root            3.18           10.00        31%                    uucp            0.00            0.00        0%                  nobody            0.59            0.49        119%^CKilled by signal 2.Creating a WorkflowWorkflows are scripts that we store on the appliance, and can have the script execute either on request (even from the BUI), or on an event such as a threshold being met.Workflow BasicsA workflow allows you to create a simple process that can be executed either via the BUI interface interactively, or by an alert being raised (for some threshold being reached, for example).The basics parameters you will have to set for your "workflow object" (notice you're creating a variable, that embodies ECMAScript) are as follows (parameters is optional):name: A name for this workflowdescription: A Description for the workflowparameters: A set of input parameters (useful when you need user input to execute the workflow)execute: The code, the script itself to execute, which will be function (parameters)With parameters, you can specify things like this (slightly modified sample taken from the System Administration Guide):          ...parameters:        variableParam1:         {                             label: 'Name of Share',                             type: 'String'                  },                  variableParam2                  {                             label: 'Share Size',                             type: 'size'                  },execute: ....};  Note the commas separating the sections of name, parameters, execute, and so on. This is important!Also - there is plenty of properties you can set on the parameters for your workflow, these are described in the Sun ZFS Storage System Administration Guide.Creating a Basic Workflow from a Basic ScriptTo make a basic script into a basic workflow, you need to wrap the following around your script to create a 'workflow' object:var workflow = {name: 'Get User Quotas',description: 'Displays Quota Utilisation for each user on each share',execute: function() {// (basic script goes here, minus the "script" at the beginning, and "." at the end)}};However, it appears (at least in my experience to date) that the workflow object may only be happy with one function in the execute parameter - either that or I'm doing something wrong. As far as I can tell, after execute: you should only have a basic one function context like so:execute: function(){}To deal with this, and to give an example similar to our script earlier, I have created another simple quota check, to show the same basic functionality, but in a workflow format:var workflow = {name: 'Get User Quotas',description: 'Displays Quota Utilisation for each user on each share',execute: function () {        run('cd /');        run('shares');        projects=list();                for (i=0; i < projects.length; i++)        {                run('select ' + projects[i]);                shares=list('filesystem');                printf("Project: %s\n", projects[i]);                for(j=0; j < shares.length; j++)                {                        run('select ' +shares[j]);                        try                        {                                run('users');                                printf("  SHARE: %s\n", shares[j]);                                printf("    %20s        %11s    %11s    %3s\n","Username","Usage(G)","Quota(G)","Quota(%)");                                printf("    %20s        %11s    %11s    %4s\n","--------","--------","--------","-------");                                users=list();                                for(k=0; k < users.length; k++)                                {                                        run('select ' + users[k]);                                        username=get('name');                                        usage=get('usage');                                        quota=get('quota');                                        usage_g=usage / 1073741824; // convert bytes to gigabytes                                        quota_g=quota / 1073741824; // as above                                        quota_percent=0                                        if (quota > 0)                                        {                                                quota_percent=(usage / quota)*(100/1);                                        }                                        printf("    %20s        %8.2f   %8.2f   %d%%\n",username,usage_g,quota_g,quota_percent);                                        run('done');                                }                                run('done'); // exit user context                        }                        catch(err)                        {                        //      printf("    %s is a LUN, Not looking for users\n", shares[j]);                        }                        run('done'); // exit selected share context                }                run('done'); // exit project context        }        }};SummaryThe Sun ZFS Storage 7000 Appliance offers lots of different and interesting features to Sun/Oracle customers, including the world renowned Analytics. Hopefully the above will help you to think of new creative things you could be doing by taking advantage of one of the other neat features, the internal scripting engine!Some references are below to help you continue learning more, I'll update this post as I do the same! Enjoy...More information on ECMAScript 3A complete reference to ECMAScript 3 which will help you learn more of the details you may be interested in, can be found here:http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/files/ECMA-ST-ARCH/ECMA-262,%203rd%20edition,%20December%201999.pdfMore Information on Administering the Sun ZFS Storage 7000The Sun ZFS Storage 7000 System Administration guide can be a useful reference point, and can be found here:http://wikis.sun.com/download/attachments/186238602/2010_Q3_2_ADMIN.pdf

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