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• Why is my socket closing?

  - by Tommy3244

  Ok, so I am making a multiplayer game. I am working out the kinks in the server/client connectivity system. I can't seam to work out this error. Mainly, my server code does the following: Accepts Client Using SocketServer Module CLIENT -- SERVER sends Login byte (1 byte) + login username and password (200 bytes) SERVER request for 1 byte by struct.calcsize('b') CLIENT has exception on read SERVER recieves byte from CLIENT and sends CLIENT a struct packed byte with the value of 4 SERVER has exception on send So, it is the client excepting. The client exception is: socket.error: (10054, 'Connection reset by peer') And the server error is this: error: (9, 'Bad file descriptor')

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• How to scramble string C#?

  - by a_Elnajjar

  I write the code to scramble word I am create simple game jumble string jumble = theWord; int length = jumble.Count(); for (int i = 0; i < length; ++i) { int index1 = (rand.Next() % length); int index2 = (rand.Next() % length); char temp =jumble[index1]; jumble = jumble.Replace(jumble[index1], jumble[index2]); jumble = jumble.Replace(jumble[index1], temp); }

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• Can I un-assign (clear) all fields of an instance?

  - by Roman

  Is there a simple way to clear all fields of an instance from a an instance? I mean, I would like to remove all values assigned to the fields of an instance. ADDED From the main thread I start a window and another thread which controls state of the window (the last thread, for example, display certain panels for a certain period of time). I have a class which contains state of the window (on which stage the user is, which buttons he already clicked). In the end, user may want to start the whole process from the beginning (it is a game). So, I decided. So, if everything is executed from the beginning, I would like to have all parameter to be clean (fresh, unassigned). ADDED The main thread, creates the new object which is executed in a new thread (and the old thread is finished). So, I cannot create a new object from the old thread. I just have a loop in the second thread.

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• Oddly placed CSS

  - by user3682473

  I want my news content to be completely centered (including image and text), but instead, it's oddly placed to the right like this: http://prntscr.com/3o7tjc I tried most ways to fix it and i can't find it... um.. here is the HTML part: <div id="mainContentContainer"> <div id="mainContent"> <div class="postTitle"> test </div> <div class="posterInfo"> <img width="40%" class="profilePic" src="/site/uploads/avatars/f3780c97491dd9f62f0dd7b1b8bb090a0b9e87d0.png"> <p>Posted by: <a class="postedBy" href="#">test</a></p> </div> <div class="postContent"> <div class="postImageContainer" align="center"> <img class="postImage" src="../uploads/img/test"> </div> <div class="post"> <p>test</p> </div> Comments have been disabled for this post.</div> </div> <div id="sidebar"> Welcome, Admin<br><a href="logout.php">Logout</a><br></div> </div> </div> annnd, here is CSS. body { margin: 0px; background-color: #6C9DDF; background-image:url("/assets/img/background.png"); background-repeat: no-repeat; } .hq { position:relative; top:40px; width:1300px; height:100%; left:1%; } #logo { position:absolute; width:40%; height:30%; right:30%; z-index: 100; } #homebtn, #playbtn, #newsbtn, #helpbtn { background: url(/assets/img/menubtns.png) no-repeat; } #homebtn { background-image: url("/assets/img/home.png"); background-repeat:no-repeat; background-size: 75%; width: 204px; height: 184px; position: absolute; top: 318px; left: 353px; } #homebtn:hover { background-image: url("/assets/img/home-rollover.png"); } #playbtn { background-image: url("/assets/img/play.png"); background-repeat:no-repeat; background-size: 100%; width: 200px; height: 230px; position: absolute; top: 240px; left: 480px; } #playbtn:hover { background-image: url("/assets/img/play-rollover.png"); } #newsbtn { background-image: url("/assets/img/news.png"); background-repeat:no-repeat; background-size: 100%; width: 290px; height: 290px; position: absolute; top: 210px; left: 650px; } #newsbtn:hover { background-image: url("/assets/img/news-rollover.png"); } #helpbtn { background-image: url("/assets/img/help.png"); background-repeat:no-repeat; background-size: 100%; width: 330px; height: 380px; position: absolute; top: 180px; left: 930px; } #helpbtn:hover { background-image: url("/assets/img/help-rollover.png"); } #mainContentContainer { border-radius: 30px 30px 30px 30px; -moz-border-radius: 30px 30px 30px 30px; -webkit-border-radius: 30px 30px 30px 30px; border: 8px solid #000000; background-color: #FFE12F; position: relative; width: 1200px; top: 60px; left: 8%; padding: 50px; overflow: hidden; height: 100%; position: relative } #mainContent { position: relative; border-radius: 30px 30px 30px 30px; -moz-border-radius: 30px 30px 30px 30px; -webkit-border-radius: 30px 30px 30px 30px; border: 0px solid #000000; background-color: #ffffff; height: 100%; padding: 20px; float: left; width: 900px; } #sidebar { position: relative; border-radius: 30px 30px 30px 30px; -moz-border-radius: 30px 30px 30px 30px; -webkit-border-radius: 30px 30px 30px 30px; border: 0px solid #000000; background-color: #ffffff; height: 100%; padding: 20px; float: right; width: 200px; } .postTitle { font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold; color: #515151; text-align: center; } .text { text-align: center; } .title { text-decoration: none; color: #515151; } .title:visited { text-decoration: none; color: #515151; } .title:hover { text-decoration: underline; } .postedBy { text-decoration: none; } .posterInfo { float: left; padding: 5px; } .postContent { overflow: hidden; } .postImageContainer { padding: 5px; } .postImage { width: 100%; position:relative; } .profilePic { border-radius: 30px 30px 30px 30px; -moz-border-radius: 30px 30px 30px 30px; -webkit-border-radius: 30px 30px 30px 30px; border: 0px solid #000000; } .registerFormWrapper { float: left; width: 50%; } .commentFormContainer { margin-top: 45px; } .commentContent { border-radius: 30px; overflow: auto; resize: none; padding: 10px; outline: none; } .commentBTN { background: url("../img/comment.png"); width: 269px; height: 260px; border: none; position: relative; top: -50px; cursor: pointer; text-indent: -999px; } .commentBTN:hover { background: url("../img/commentHover.png"); } .ToonName { font-weight: bold; font-size: 20px; } .ToonNameInput { border-radius: 30px; padding: 5px; outline: none; } .commentBTNS { outline: none; } .commentFormInputContainer { width: 60%; float: left; } .registerInput { border-radius: 30px; padding: 5px; outline: none; } .loginInput { border-radius: 30px; padding: 5px; outline: none; } .inputLabel { display: inline-block; float: left; width: 200px; font-size: 20px; font-weight: bold; } I tried changing most possible combinations, and it didnt work exactly... Here is the fiddle - http://jsfiddle.net/2EYYC/

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• NSMutableArray with NSDictionary to Labels without the surrounding brackets

  - by bigubosu

  I'm making a scoreboard for my game. And when I do a NSLog of the data it comes out as this: { name = TTY; score = "3.366347"; } So my question is how do I remove this brackets and also just grab the name (TTY) and score (3.36 without the quotations) and place them in variable for me to put into labels. Currently I can place them in labels but they have the lingering curly braces "{" and "}". Any hints would be helpful as I'm happy to search further I just don't know the vocab to search for it. thanks

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• c# FormatException was unhandled

  - by poco

  I'm parsing chat from a game and i get this string "?68 00 00 37 00 45 00 00" recipe = recipe.Replace("?", ""); string[] rElements = new string[8]; rElements = recipe.Split(' '); int num = int.Parse(rElements[0]); I get a Format exception on that last line that i don't understand. It says that input string is not in the right format. I have checked the debugger and the first element says it is "68". Anyone have any clue what is happening?

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• I need something to automate web browser tasks in its own virtual enviorment (Chrome)

  - by user1745926

  Ever since i started learning java i wanted to create a way to automate a few actions on a couple websites, For example, topline is a website that replaces all your ads with its own ads and pays you a bit of money for it, i want to emulate the act of just surfing the web, then start emulating specific tasks like clicking certain buttons or playing flash games (Actually playing the game by using image recognition) and this has to be written in java as i want to run this on a raspberry pi. any help is appreciated, is there a class that i can use? any help is appreciated!

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• Is it me or is pygame.key.get_pressed() not working?

  - by user1321527

  okay, so I am making a basic space-ship game. I can't get rotation to work because it scrambles the bitmap, but that's for another question.Should I even use a gif? any other filetype suggestions? back to the actual point here, so: k = pygame.key.get_pressed() yeah, self explanatory. this doesn't work, as it returns each key as pressed. so, somewhere else: d = k[pygame.K_d] and another line: print d and another: if d: So, k returns as each key on the keyboard pressed. d returns 0 indefinitely, whether or not d is pressed. d is always 0. the statement about d therefore is never true. Why is this happening?

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• MySQL – Learning MySQL Online in 6 Hours – MySQL Fundamentals in 320 Minutes

  - by Pinal Dave

  MySQL is one of the most popular database language and I have been recently working with it a lot. Data have no barrier and every database have their own place. I have been working with MySQL for quite a while and just like SQL Server, I often find lots of people asking me if I have a tutorial which can teach them MySQL from the beginning. Here is the good news, I have written two different courses on MySQL Fundamentals, which is available online. The reason for writing two different courses was to keep the learning simple. Both of the courses are absolutely connected with other but designed if you watch either of the course independently you can watch them and learn without dependencies. However, if you ask me, I will suggest that you watch MySQL Fundamentals Part 1 course following with MySQL Fundamentals Part 2 course. Let us quickly explore outline of MySQL courses. MySQL Fundamental – 1 (157 minutes) MySQL is a popular choice of database for use in web applications, and is a central component of the widely used LAMP open source web application software stack. This course covers the fundamentals of MySQL, including how to install MySQL as well as written basic data retrieval and data modification queries. Introduction (duration 00:02:12) Installations and GUI Tools (duration 00:13:51) Fundamentals of RDBMS and Database Designs (duration 00:16:13) Introduction MYSQL Workbench (duration 00:31:51) Data Retrieval Techniques (duration 01:11:13) Data Modification Techniques (duration 00:20:41) Summary and Resources (duration 00:01:31) MySQL Fundamental – 2 (163 minutes) MySQL is a popular choice of database for use in web applications, and is a central component of the widely used LAMP open source web application software stack. In this course, which is part 2 of the Fundamentals of MySQL series, we explore more advanced topics such as stored procedures & user-defined functions, subqueries & joins, views and events & triggers. Introduction (duration 00:02:09) Joins, Unions and Subqueries (duration 01:03:56) MySQL Functions (duration 00:36:55) MySQL Views (duration 00:19:19) Stored Procedures and Stored Functions (duration 00:25:23) Triggers and Events (duration 00:13:41) Summary and Resources (duration 00:02:18) Note if you click on the link above and you do not see the play button to watch the course, you will have to login to the system and watch the course. I would like to throw a challenge to you – Can you watch both of the courses in a single day? If yes, once you are done watching the course on your Pluralsight Profile Page (here is my profile http://pluralsight.com/training/users/pinal-dave) you will get following badges. If you have already watched MySQL Fundamental Part 1, you can qualify by just watching MySQL Fundamental Part 2. Just send me the link to your profile and I will publish your name on this blog. For the first five people who send me email at Pinal at sqlauthority.com; I might have something cool as a giveaway as well. Watch the teaser of MySQL course. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)  Filed under: MySQL, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

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• Set the Windows Explorer Startup Folder in Windows 7

  - by Mysticgeek

  When you open Windows Explorer from the Taskbar in Windows 7, it defaults to the Libraries view. Today we take a look at changing the target path to allow you to customize which location opens by default. When you click on the Windows Explorer icon on the Windows 7 Taskbar, it’s set to open to the Libraries view by default. You might not use the Libraries feature, or want to set it to a different location that is more commonly used. Set Windows Explorer Startup Location To change the default startup location for the Windows Explorer Taskbar icon, if you have no Explorer screens open, hold down the Shift key, right-click the Explorer icon, and select Properties. Or if you have Windows open, right-click on the Explorer icon to bring up the Jumplist, then right-click on Windows Explorer and select Properties. Windows Explorer Properties opens up and you’ll want to click on the Shortcut tab so we can change the Target.   A common place you might want it to default to is your Documents folder. So to do that we need to enter the following into the Target field. %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /n,::{450D8FBA-AD25-11D0-98A8-0800361B1103}   Now when you open Windows Explorer from the Taskbar it defaults to My Documents… If you use the Start Menu to access Windows Explorer, open the Start Menu and go to All Programs \ Accessories and right-click on Windows Explorer then select Properties. Change the target path to where you want it to go. In this example we want Windows Explorer to open up to My Computer so we entered the following in the Target field. %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /E,::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D} When click on the Explorer icon in the Start Menu it defaults to My Computer… You can set it to open to various locations. For instance if you wanted to mess with someone at work, you could enter the following and Explorer will always open to the Recycle Bin. %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /E,::{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E} Conclusion Here we showed you a couple of commonly used locations that you might want Windows Explorer to open to instead of Libraries. You can set it to other locations if you know the GUID (Globally Unique Identifiers) for the object or location you want it to default to. For more on using GUIDs check out The Geek’s article on how to enable the secret “How-To Geek” mode in Windows 7. Actually it’s just a play on the so-called “God Mode” for Windows, but there is some good information, and a list of some locations you might want to have Windows Explorer open to. Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Make Explorer Show Window Titles in Windows VistaDisable Explorer Breadcrumbs in Windows VistaStill Useful in Vista: Startup Control PanelStop an Application from Running at Startup in Windows VistaHotkey for Creating New Folder in Windows Explorer 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 VMware Workstation 7 Acronis Online Backup DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Twelve must-have Google Chrome plugins Cool Looking Skins for Windows Media Player 12 Move the Mouse Pointer With Your Face Movement Using eViacam Boot Windows Faster With Boot Performance Diagnostics Create Ringtones For Your Android Phone With RingDroid Enhance Your Laptop’s Battery Life With These Tips

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• Using DEBUG Mode in Oracle SQL Developer to Log SQL

  - by thatjeffsmith

  Curious how we’re getting the data you see in SQL Developer when you click on something? While many of the dialogs provide a ‘SQL’ panel that shows you the SQL ABOUT to be generated, I’d rather see the SQL AS it’s executed. True, you could set a TRACE or fire up a Monitor Sessions report, but both of those solutions leave me hungry for more. Did you know that SQL Developer has a ‘debug’ mode? It slows the tool down a bit and spits out a lot of information you don’t care about, but it ALSO shows you ALL the SQL that is sent to the database, as you click around the tool! See ALL the SQL that SQL Developer sends to the database on your behalf Enable DEBUG Mode When you see the splash screen as SQL Developer fires up, frantically hit Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, SELECT, Start. Wait, wrong game. No, all you need to do is go to your SQL Developer directory and navigate down to the ‘bin’ directory. In that directory, find the ‘sqldeveloper.conf’ file. Install Directory - sqldeveloper - bin - sqldeveloper.conf Open it with a text editor. Find this line IncludeConfFile sqldeveloper-nondebug.conf And replace it with this line IncludeConfFile sqldeveloper-debug.conf Save the file. Start up SQL Developer. Observe the Logging Page – Log Panel for the SQL There’s going to be more than just SQL here. You’ll actually see a LOT of other information. If you’re having general problems with the tool and you want to see the nitty-gritty of what’s going on, then this is a good place to satisfy your curiosity and might help us diagnose your issue if you post to the forums or open a ticket with My Oracle Support. You’ll find ‘INFO’ entries that look a little something like this - This is the query used to populate your Tables list in the connection tree. You can double-click on the sql text and get a pop-up window that’s much easier to read. See all that typing we’re saving you? I don’t recommend running in DEBUG mode all the time. Capturing this information and displaying it is more expensive than not doing so. And it provides a lot of information you don’t normally need to see. But when you DO want to know what’s going on and why, this is an excellent way of getting that information. When you’re ready to go back to ‘normal’ mode, just close SQL Developer, go back to your .conf file, and add the ‘nondebug’ bit back.

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• Enhance GIMP’s Image Editing Power with Gimp Paint Studio

  - by Asian Angel

  Does your GIMP installation need a little super-charging? Using Gimp Paint Studio you can add a wonderful set of brushes, tools, and more to GIMP and take your work up to the next level. For our example we chose to install the beta version of Gimp Paint Studio on Ubuntu 10.10. Once you download the .zip file and unzip it, all that you need to do is manually transfer the contents shown here to the appropriate GIMP folders on your system. You can see the location of the destination folders here on our system… Note: Make certain to make a back-up copy of the “sessionrc and toolrc files” before you transfer Gimp Paint Studio into your installation (in case you would like to or need to revert back to the originals later). When you finish transferring the files start GIMP up and get ready to have fun. And if your experience is like ours then you should see a noticeable difference in window size and arrangement from the default settings. Here are some samples of the exceptional artwork done by Ramon Miranda and Mozart Couto using Gimp Paint Studio. Really impressive! Artwork by Ramon Miranda & Mozart Couto. Watch the introduction video and see Gimp Paint Studio in action. Download Gimp Paint Studio for Linux, Windows, and Mac [Gimp Paint Studio Homepage] *Keep in mind that there are stable and beta releases available, so choose the version that you are most comfortable with using. View the Installation Guides for Gimp Paint Studio *Page contains wonderful “video and written” versions for adding/installing Gimp Paint Studio to your system. Gimp Paint Studio Video Tutorials Library Visit the Gimp Paint Studio Gallery Latest Features How-To Geek ETC Should You Delete Windows 7 Service Pack Backup Files to Save Space? What Can Super Mario Teach Us About Graphics Technology? Windows 7 Service Pack 1 is Released: But Should You Install It? How To Make Hundreds of Complex Photo Edits in Seconds With Photoshop Actions How to Enable User-Specific Wireless Networks in Windows 7 How to Use Google Chrome as Your Default PDF Reader (the Easy Way) Enhance GIMP’s Image Editing Power with Gimp Paint Studio Reclaim Vertical UI Space by Moving Your Tabs to the Side in Firefox Wind and Water: Puzzle Battles – An Awesome Game for Linux and Windows How Star Wars Changed the World [Infographic] Tabs Visual Manager Adds Thumbnailed Tab Switching to Chrome Daisies and Rye Swaying in the Summer Wind Wallpaper

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• Ask the Readers: Do You Use the Command Line?

  - by Asian Angel

  Most people have heard of it but not everyone is familiar or comfortable with how to use this bastion of geekdom. This week we would like to know if you use the command line or not. The command line…the bastion of ultimate geekery in many peoples’ eyes. You often hear people referring to doing things using the command line, so there must be something to it, right? For some people using the command line is the best, most efficient, and easiest way to do things on their systems. These are the people that many of us wish we were like. Next you have those who are proficient at using the command line but do not rely on it for everything they do on their systems. Then there are people who know how to perform some tasks or hacks using the command line but may not be as comfortable or knowledgeable as they wish to be using it. Moving on you find those who are interested in learning how to use the command line and just need a small push to get started.  Perhaps you feel too intimidated to learn it and just need the right opportunity to come along. And maybe you do not care one way or the other so long as you get done what you want to do on your system. Or you may prefer to simply use a graphical interface since that is quicker and easier for you (along with being familiar). You can find the whole range of people when it comes to using the command line… This week we would like to know if you use the command line or not. What command line category do you fit into? Power user? Casual usage? Totally lost? Let us know in the comments! How-To Geek Polls require Javascript. Please Click Here to View the Poll. Latest Features How-To Geek ETC The How-To Geek Holiday Gift Guide (Geeky Stuff We Like) LCD? LED? Plasma? The How-To Geek Guide to HDTV Technology The How-To Geek Guide to Learning Photoshop, Part 8: Filters Improve Digital Photography by Calibrating Your Monitor Our Favorite Tech: What We’re Thankful For at How-To Geek The How-To Geek Guide to Learning Photoshop, Part 7: Design and Typography Fun and Colorful Firefox Theme for Windows 7 Happy Snow Bears Theme for Chrome and Iron [Holiday] Download Full Command and Conquer: Tiberian Sun Game for Free Scorched Cometary Planet Wallpaper Quick Fix: Add the RSS Button Back to the Firefox Awesome Bar Dropbox Desktop Client 1.0.0 RC for Windows, Linux, and Mac Released

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• Windows Phone 7 Prototype 001: Speech Recognition on WP7

  At some point in the future it will be awesome when you can just tell your computer what to do and it does it - without typing to help those of us with a blistering 11 WPM hunk and peck technique. Siri, a mobile digital assistant using speech recognition was voted best tech at SXSW. I dont know about that one. Although, I'm sure it will get better when Apple rebuilds it and  bundles on iPhone 5. So how would you do that on WP7? There have been some videos floating around showing Bing with some voice control so obviously the phone has speech recognition. So what options are there: System.Speech? Not included in WP7/SL Nuance software like Siri? No WP7/SL version yet. Invoking the SAPI dlls on the phone? No automation factory in WP7 SL. Web services using System.Speech and mic on the phone? YES! The last one was my least favorite but that works for now. I built a quick sample app to show how to do text-to-speech and speech recognition on WP7.   @eklimczak will not be happy with the developer designed UI. In this sample there is web service with provides access to the system.speech APIs in .NET. Basically its just passing around byte arrays. On the phone its using the XNA audio frameworks to play the text-to-speech stream and to record using the microphone. The code is pretty simple and you can download from the link at the end of this post. The only things to note are adjusting the WCF config to handle larger byte uploads and the Microphone API is a little weird with that 1 second buffer. It would be nice if you could just to mic.start and mic.end which would return an array of bytes instead of managing your own stream inside the buffer ready callback. Couple of downsides to this approach: Recoding from the phone has some static. Could be my code or the my mic is bad / not calibrated right. Having to make web service calls instead of local access is not ideal (Microsoft, please add an API for the SAPI dlls) Although in the context of an app like Siri its not so bad since you need to do web service lookups to get data back Speech recognition quality really depends on either a) a limited grammar set like that pizza grammar in the sample or b) training the recognizer. For the latter it would be annoying to have users train the system. Using the System.Speech stuff youd have to have a profile for each user. So until Microsoft adds some speech client APIs on the phone or Nuance releases a wp7 product, this is a decent workaround. In the future Id like to build something similar to Siri. I shall call it Iris in homage. Im a big fan of mobile speech apps because frankly its just not safe to Google while driving. Since some of my designer co-workers have been posting UI sketches for WP7, Id like to start posting some code prototypes for things I try out on the phone. That will probably last 2 weeks, but for the moment I have like 10 posts in the queue. Sample Code 100% guaranteed to work on my emulatorDid you know that DotNetSlackers also publishes .net articles written by top known .net Authors? We already have over 80 articles in several categories including Silverlight. Take a look: here.

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• Desktop Fun: Merry Christmas Fonts

  - by Asian Angel

  Christmas will soon be here and there are lots of cards, invitations, gift tags, photos, and more to prepare beforehand. To help you get ready we have gathered together a great collection of fun holiday fonts to help turn those ordinary looking holiday items into extraordinary looking ones. Note: To manage the fonts on your Windows 7, Vista, & XP systems see our article here. Oldchristmas Download Holly Download Christmas Flakes *includes two font types Download Frosty Download Kingthings Christmas Download Candy Time Download BodieMF Holly Download Snowfall Download Snowflake Letters Download Hultog Snowdrift Download AlphaShapes Xmas Trees Download Christmas Tree Download PF Wreath Download Snowy Caps Download PF Snowman *includes three font types Note: Shown in all capital letters here. Download BJF Holly Bells Download Christbaumkugeln Download Xmas Lights Download XmasDings *includes 62 individual characters Note: This group represents A – Z in all capital letters. Note: This group represents A – Z in all lower case letters. Note: This group represents the numbers 0 – 9. Download WWFlakes *includes 62 individual characters Note: This group represents A – Z in all capital letters. Note: This group represents A – Z in all lower case letters. Note: This group represents the numbers 0 – 9. Download For Christmas Card creating fun and a great way to use your new fonts see our MS Word Christmas Card project series here. Design and Print Your Own Christmas Cards in MS Word, Part 1 Design and Print Your Own Christmas Cards in MS Word, Part 2: How to Print Want more great ways to customize your computer? Then be certain to look through our Desktop Fun section. Latest Features How-To Geek ETC The How-To Geek Holiday Gift Guide (Geeky Stuff We Like) LCD? LED? Plasma? The How-To Geek Guide to HDTV Technology The How-To Geek Guide to Learning Photoshop, Part 8: Filters Improve Digital Photography by Calibrating Your Monitor Our Favorite Tech: What We’re Thankful For at How-To Geek The How-To Geek Guide to Learning Photoshop, Part 7: Design and Typography Happy Snow Bears Theme for Chrome and Iron [Holiday] Download Full Command and Conquer: Tiberian Sun Game for Free Scorched Cometary Planet Wallpaper Quick Fix: Add the RSS Button Back to the Firefox Awesome Bar Dropbox Desktop Client 1.0.0 RC for Windows, Linux, and Mac Released Hang in There Scrat! – Ice Age Wallpaper

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• Start Learning Ruby with IronRuby – Setting up the Environment

  - by kazimanzurrashid

  Recently I have decided to learn Ruby and for last few days I am playing with IronRuby. Learning a new thing is always been a fun and when it comes to adorable language like Ruby it becomes more entertaining. Like any other language, first we have to create the development environment. In order to run IronRuby we have to download the binaries form the IronRuby CodePlex project. IronRuby supports both .NET 2.0 and .NET 4, but .NET 4 is the recommended version, you can download either the installation or the zip file. If you download the zip file make sure you added the bin directory in the environment path variable. Once you are done, open up the command prompt and type : ir –v It should print message like: IronRuby 1.0.0.0 on .NET 4.0.30319.1 The ir is 32bit version of IronRuby, if you want to use 64bit you can try ir64. Next, we have to find a editor where we can write our Ruby code as there is currently no integration story of IronRuby with Visual Studio like its twin Iron Python. Among the free IDEs only SharpDevelop has the IronRuby support but it does not have auto complete or debugging built into it, only thing that it supports is the syntax highlighting, so using a text editor which has the same features is nothing different comparing to it. To play with the IronRuby we will be using Notepad++, which can be downloaded from its sourceforge download page. The Notepad++ does have a nice syntax highlighting support : I am using the Vibrant Ink with some little modification. The next thing we have to do is configure the Notepad++ that we can run the Ruby script in IronRuby inside the Notepad++. Lets create a batch(.bat) file in the IronRuby bin directory, which will have the following content: @echo off  cls call ir %1 pause This will make sure that the console will be paused once we run the script. Now click Run->Run in the Notepad++, it will bring up the run dialog and put the following command in the textbox: riir.bat "$(FULL_CURRENT_PATH)" Click the save which will bring another dialog. Type Iron Ruby and assign the shortcut to ctrl + f5 (Same as Visual Studio Start without Debugging) and click ok. Once you are done you will find the IronRuby in the Run menu. Now press ctrl + f5, we will find the ruby script running in the IronRuby. Now there are one last thing that we would like to add which is poor man’s context sensitive help. First, download the ruby language help file from the Ruby Installer site and extract into a directory. Next we will have to install the Language Help Plug-in of Notepad++, click Plugins->Plugin Manger –>Show Plugin Manager and scroll down until you find the plug-in the list, now check the plug-in and click install. Once it is installed it will prompt you to restart the Notepad++, click yes. When the Notepad++ restarts, click the Plugins –> Language Help –> Options –> add and enter the following details and click ok: The chm file location can be different depending upon where you extracted it. Now when you put your in any of ruby keyword and press ctrl + f1 it will take you to the help topic of that keyword. For example, when my caret is in the each of the following code and I press ctrl + f1, it will take me to the each api doc of Array. def loop_demo (1..10).each{ |n| puts n} end loop_demo That’s it for today. Happy Ruby coding.

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• Surface Review from Canadian Guy Who Didn&rsquo;t Go To Build

  - by D'Arcy Lussier

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

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• Desktop Fun: Triple Monitor Wallpaper Collection Series 1

  - by Asian Angel

  Triple monitor setups provide spacious amounts of screen real-estate but can be extremely frustrating to find good wallpapers for. Today we present the first in a series of wallpaper collections to help decorate your triple monitor setup with lots of wallpaper goodness. Note: Click on the picture to see the full-size image—these wallpapers vary in size so you may need to crop, stretch, or place them on a colored background in order to best match them to your screen’s resolution. Special Note: The screen resolution sizes available for each of these wallpapers has been included to help you match them up to your individual settings as easily as possible. All images shown here are thumbnail screenshots of the largest size available for download. Available in the following resolutions: 3840*1024, 4096*1024, 4320*900, 4800*1200, 5040*1050, and 5760*1200. Available in the following resolutions: 4800*1200. Available in the following resolutions: 3840*960, 3840*1024, 4096*1024, 4320*900, and 4800*1200. Available in the following resolutions: 3840*960, 3840*1024, 4096*1024, 4320*900, and 4800*1200. Available in the following resolutions: 3840*960, 3840*1024, 4096*1024, 4320*900, 4800*1200, 5040*1050, and 5760*1200. Available in the following resolutions: 3840*960, 3840*1024, 4096*1024, 4320*900, and 4800*1200. Available in the following resolutions: 3840*960, 3840*1024, 4096*1024, 4320*900, 4800*1200, and 5040*1050. Available in the following resolutions: 3840*960, 3840*1024, 4096*1024, 4320*900, 4800*1200, and 5040*1050. Available in the following resolutions: 3840*960, 3840*1024, 4096*1024, 4320*900, and 4800*1200. Available in the following resolutions: 3840*960, 3840*1024, 4096*1024, 4320*900, 4800*1200, and 5040*1050. Available in the following resolutions: 3840*960, 3840*1024, 4096*1024, 4800*1200, and 5040*1050. Available in the following resolutions: 3840*960, 3840*1024, 4096*1024, 4320*900, 4800*1200, 5040*1050, 5760*1200, and 7680*1600. Available in the following resolutions: 3840*960, 3840*1024, 4096*1024, 4320*900, 4800*1200, 5040*1050, and 5760*1200. Available in the following resolutions: 5760*1200. Available in the following resolutions: 5760*1200. More Triple Monitor Goodness Beautiful 3 Screen Multi-Monitor Space Wallpaper Span the same wallpaper across multiple monitors or use a different wallpaper for each. Dual Monitors: Use a Different Wallpaper on Each Desktop in Windows 7, Vista or XP For more wallpapers be certain to see our great collections in the Desktop Fun section. Latest Features How-To Geek ETC How to Upgrade Windows 7 Easily (And Understand Whether You Should) The How-To Geek Guide to Audio Editing: Basic Noise Removal Install a Wii Game Loader for Easy Backups and Fast Load Times The Best of CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in 2011 The Worst of CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in 2011 HTG Projects: How to Create Your Own Custom Papercraft Toy Firefox 4.0 Beta 9 Available for Download – Get Your Copy Now The Frustrations of a Computer Literate Watching a Newbie Use a Computer [Humorous Video] Season0nPass Jailbreaks Current Gen Apple TVs IBM’s Jeopardy Playing Computer Watson Shows The Pros How It’s Done [Video] Tranquil Juice Drop Abstract Wallpaper Pulse Is a Sleek Newsreader for iOS and Android Devices

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• Application Demos in UPK

  - by [email protected]

  Over the years, User Productivity Kit has expanded to include solutions to many project challenges. As of UPK 3.6.1, solutions are provided for pre and post application go-live learning, application testing, system documentation, presentation output, and more. New in UPK 3.6.1 are additional features that can be used effectively for application demo purposes. This can come in handy when you need to do a demo but don't want to show or can't show the live application. Maybe you're doing a presentation for a group of project stakeholders and want to focus on the business workflow implemented by the application rather than the mechanics of using it. Or possibly, you need to show the application but you're disconnected from any network preventing you from running the live application. In any of these cases, a presentation aid that represents the live application is what's needed. Previous versions of the UPK topic player would allow you to do this but would always show those UPK user interface elements that help a user learn the application. When you're presenting the narrative live, the UPK bubbles can be a distraction. UPK 3.6.1 provides some new features that allow you to control whether the bubbles display. There are two ways to hide bubbles in a topic. The first is a topic property that allows you to control bubbles across the entire topic. There are 3 settings for the Show Bubbles topic property. The default setting is Use frame settings which allows you to control whether bubbles display on a frame by frame basis. When you choose Always, the bubbles will always display regardless of the frame setting. The final choice is Never. Choosing Never will hide every bubble in your topic with one setting change. As with Always, choosing Never will ignore the frame setting. The second way to control the bubbles is at the frame level. First ensure that the topic's Show Bubbles property is set to Use frame settings. Navigate to the frame on which you want to turn off the bubble and click the Display bubble for this frame button to turn off the bubble. When you play the topic, the bubble will no longer be displayed. Depending on your needs, you might also use another longstanding UPK feature that allows you to control whether the action area displays on a frame. Just click the Action area on/off button to toggle its display. I've found the frame properties to be useful beyond creating presentation aids. When creating "See It!" only topics for more advanced users, I may hide the bubbles on some of the more straightforward frames. For example, if I have a form where one needs to fill out an address, I may display the first bubble in the sequence and explain what the subsequent steps are doing. I then hide bubbles on the remaining frames which are the more mechanical steps of entering the address. We'd like to hear your thoughts on this new UPK feature. Use the comments below to tell us how you've used it. John Zaums Senior Director, Product Development Oracle User Productivity Kit

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• SQL SERVER – Attach mdf file without ldf file in Database

  - by pinaldave

  Background Story: One of my friends recently called up and asked me if I had spare time to look at his database and give him a performance tuning advice. Because I had some free time to help him out, I said yes. I asked him to send me the details of his database structure and sample data. He said that since his database is in a very early stage and is small as of the moment, so he told me that he would like me to have a complete database. My response to him was “Sure! In that case, take a backup of the database and send it to me. I will restore it into my computer and play with it.” He did send me his database; however, his method made me write this quick note here. Instead of taking a full backup of the database and sending it to me, he sent me only the .mdf (primary database file). In fact, I asked for a complete backup (I wanted to review file groups, files, as well as few other details).  Upon calling my friend,  I found that he was not available. Now,  he left me with only a .mdf file. As I had some extra time, I decided to checkout his database structure and get back to him regarding the full backup, whenever I can get in touch with him again. Technical Talk: If the database is shutdown gracefully and there was no abrupt shutdown (power outrages, pulling plugs to machines, machine crashes or any other reasons), it is possible (there’s no guarantee) to attach .mdf file only to the server. Please note that there can be many more reasons for a database that is not getting attached or restored. In my case, the database had a clean shutdown and there were no complex issues. I was able to recreate a transaction log file and attached the received .mdf file. There are multiple ways of doing this. I am listing all of them here. Before using any of them, please consult the Domain Expert in your company or industry. Also, never attempt this on live/production server without the presence of a Disaster Recovery expert. USE [master] GO -- Method 1: I use this method EXEC sp_attach_single_file_db @dbname='TestDb', @physname=N'C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\DATA\TestDb.mdf' GO -- Method 2: CREATE DATABASE TestDb ON (FILENAME = N'C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\DATA\TestDb.mdf') FOR ATTACH_REBUILD_LOG GO Method 2: If one or more log files are missing, they are recreated again. There is one more method which I am demonstrating here but I have not used myself before. According to Book Online, it will work only if there is one log file that is missing. If there are more than one log files involved, all of them are required to undergo the same procedure. -- Method 3: CREATE DATABASE TestDb ON ( FILENAME = N'C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\DATA\TestDb.mdf') FOR ATTACH GO Please read the Book Online in depth and consult DR experts before working on the production server. In my case, the above syntax just worked fine as the database was clean when it was detached. Feel free to write your opinions and experiences for it will help the IT community to learn more from your suggestions and skills. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: Pinal Dave, Readers Question, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Backup and Restore, SQL Data Storage, SQL Query, SQL Scripts, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

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• SQL SERVER – Reducing CXPACKET Wait Stats for High Transactional Database

  - by pinaldave

  While engaging in a performance tuning consultation for a client, a situation occurred where they were facing a lot of CXPACKET Waits Stats. The client asked me if I could help them reduce this huge number of wait stats. I usually receive this kind of request from other client as well, but the important thing to understand is whether this question has any merits or benefits, or not. Before we continue the resolution, let us understand what CXPACKET Wait Stats are. The official definition suggests that CXPACKET Wait Stats occurs when trying to synchronize the query processor exchange iterator. You may consider lowering the degree of parallelism if a conflict concerning this wait type develops into a problem. (from BOL) In simpler words, when a parallel operation is created for SQL Query, there are multiple threads for a single query. Each query deals with a different set of the data (or rows). Due to some reasons, one or more of the threads lag behind, creating the CXPACKET Wait Stat. Threads which came first have to wait for the slower thread to finish. The Wait by a specific completed thread is called CXPACKET Wait Stat. Note that CXPACKET Wait is done by completed thread and not the one which are unfinished. “Note that not all the CXPACKET wait types are bad. You might experience a case when it totally makes sense. There might also be cases when this is also unavoidable. If you remove this particular wait type for any query, then that query may run slower because the parallel operations are disabled for the query.” Now let us see what the best practices to reduce the CXPACKET Wait Stats are. The suggestions, with which you will find that if you search online through the browser, would play a major role as and might be asked about their jobs In addition, might tell you that you should set ‘maximum degree of parallelism’ to 1. I do agree with these suggestions, too; however, I think this is not the final resolutions. As soon as you set your entire query to run on single CPU, you will get a very bad performance from the queries which are actually performing okay when using parallelism. The best suggestion to this is that you set ‘the maximum degree of parallelism’ to a lower number or 1 (be very careful with this – it can create more problems) but tune the queries which can be benefited from multiple CPU’s. You can use query hint OPTION (MAXDOP 0) to run the server to use parallelism. Here is the two-quick script which helps to resolve these issues: Change MAXDOP at Server Level EXEC sys.sp_configure N'max degree of parallelism', N'1' GO RECONFIGURE WITH OVERRIDE GO Run Query with all the CPU (using parallelism) USE AdventureWorks GO SELECT * FROM Sales.SalesOrderDetail ORDER BY ProductID OPTION (MAXDOP 0) GO Below is the blog post which will help you to find all the parallel query in your server. SQL SERVER – Find Queries using Parallelism from Cached Plan Please note running Queries in single CPU may worsen your performance and it is not recommended at all. Infect this can be very bad advise. I strongly suggest that you identify the queries which are offending and tune them instead of following any other suggestions. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Optimization, SQL Performance, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQL White Papers, SQLAuthority News, T SQL, Technology

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• Replacing “if”s with your own number system

  - by Michael Williamson

  During our second code retreat at Red Gate, the restriction for one of the sessions was disallowing the use of if statements. That includes other constructs that have the same effect, such as switch statements or loops that will only be executed zero or one times. The idea is to encourage use of polymorphism instead, and see just how far it can be used to get rid of “if”s. The main place where people struggled to get rid of numbers from their implementation of Conway’s Game of Life was the piece of code that decides whether a cell is live or dead in the next generation. For instance, for a cell that’s currently live, the code might look something like this: if (numberOfNeighbours == 2 || numberOfNeighbours == 3) { return CellState.LIVE; } else { return CellState.DEAD; } The problem is that we need to change behaviour depending on the number of neighbours each cell has, but polymorphism only allows us to switch behaviour based on the type of a value. It follows that the solution is to make different numbers have different types: public interface IConwayNumber { IConwayNumber Increment(); CellState LiveCellNextGeneration(); } public class Zero : IConwayNumber { public IConwayNumber Increment() { return new One(); } public CellState LiveCellNextGeneration() { return CellState.DEAD; } } public class One : IConwayNumber { public IConwayNumber Increment() { return new Two(); } public CellState LiveCellNextGeneration() { return CellState.LIVE; } } public class Two : IConwayNumber { public IConwayNumber Increment() { return new ThreeOrMore(); } public CellState LiveCellNextGeneration() { return CellState.LIVE; } } public class ThreeOrMore : IConwayNumber { public IConwayNumber Increment() { return this; } public CellState LiveCellNextGeneration() { return CellState.DEAD; } } In the code that counts the number of neighbours, we use our new number system by starting with Zero and incrementing when we find a neighbour. To choose the next state of the cell, rather than inspecting the number of neighbours, we ask the number of neighbours for the next state directly: return numberOfNeighbours.LiveCellNextGeneration(); And now we have no “if”s! If C# had double-dispatch, or if we used the visitor pattern, we could move the logic for choosing the next cell out of the number classes, which might feel a bit more natural. I suspect that reimplementing the natural numbers is still going to feel about the same amount of crazy though.

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• Wine is no longer able to initialize OpenGL

  - by nebukadnezzar

  Since a while, wine is no longer able to initialize OpenGL on my 64bit Linux. This is by no means a unique problem to me- Lots of people with nvidia cards running 64bit linux seem to have this problem with wine on oneiric: http://forum.winehq.org/viewtopic.php?p=66856&sid=9d6e5ad628ee6fb6e5ef04577275daed http://forum.pinguyos.com/Thread-Wine-OpenGl-Problem https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=137696 And while some launchpad bug reports say one should use this workaround: LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib32/nvidia-current/libGL.so.1 wine <app> It unfortunately does not solve the problem at all for me; That is, if i'd run CS:S, the game will run just fine for a while, but will abort after some time, including a range of GLSL-related errors. Here the startup errors from simply running steam: + wine steam.exe fixme:process:GetLogicalProcessorInformation ((nil),0x33e488): stub [.. snip ...] fixme:dwmapi:DwmSetWindowAttribute (0x1009a, 3, 0x33d384, 4) stub fixme:dwmapi:DwmSetWindowAttribute (0x1009a, 4, 0x33d374, 4) stub err:wgl:is_extension_supported No OpenGL extensions found, check if your OpenGL setup is correct! err:wgl:is_extension_supported No OpenGL extensions found, check if your OpenGL setup is correct! err:wgl:is_extension_supported No OpenGL extensions found, check if your OpenGL setup is correct! [... this error is being reported a few dozen times, so snip again ...] err:wgl:is_extension_supported No OpenGL extensions found, check if your OpenGL setup is correct! err:wgl:is_extension_supported No OpenGL extensions found, check if your OpenGL setup is correct! err:wgl:is_extension_supported No OpenGL extensions found, check if your OpenGL setup is correct! err:wgl:is_extension_supported No OpenGL extensions found, check if your OpenGL setup is correct! fixme:iphlpapi:NotifyAddrChange (Handle 0x47cdba8, overlapped 0x45dba80): stub fixme:winsock:WSALookupServiceBeginW (0x47cdbc8 0x00000ff0 0x47cdbc4) Stub! [... snip ...] Here are the errors reported while running, and after running (because the log is huge-ish, it's pasted elsewhere): http://paste.ubuntu.com/901925/ Now, 32bit OpenGL works just fine; The 32bit executables of Nexuiz, for example, work just fine. That being said, I'm suspecting that this is a problem of wine itself. I've already manually built the git version of wine, to no avail. So what's going on? Is something broken? How do I check (correctly) whether something is broken? How do I solve this?

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• What is Agile Modeling and why do I need it?

  What is Agile Modeling and why do I need it? Agile Modeling is an add-on to existing agile methodologies like Extreme programming (XP) and Rational Unified Process (RUP). Agile Modeling enables developers to develop a customized software development process that actually meets their current development needs and is flexible enough to adjust in the future. According to Scott Ambler, Agile Modeling consists of five core values that enable this methodology to be effective and light weight Agile Modeling Core Values: Communication Simplicity Feedback Courage Humility Communication is a key component to any successful project. Open communication between stakeholder and the development team is essential when developing new applications or maintaining legacy systems. Agile models promote communication amongst software development teams and stakeholders. Furthermore, Agile Models provide a common understanding of an application for members of a software development team allowing them to have a universal common point of reference. The use of simplicity in Agile Models enables the exploration of new ideas and concepts through the use of basic diagrams instead of investing the time in writing tens or hundreds of lines of code. Feedback in regards to application development is essential. Feedback allows a development team to confirm that the development path is on track. Agile Models allow for quick feedback from shareholders because minimal to no technical expertise is required to understand basic models. Courage is important because you need to make important decisions and be able to change direction by either discarding or refactoring your work when some of your decisions prove inadequate, according to Scott Ambler. As a member of a development team, we must admit that we do not know everything even though some of us think we do. This is where humility comes in to play. Everyone is a knowledge expert in their own specific domain. If you need help with your finances then you would consult an accountant. If you have a problem or are in need of help with a topic why would someone not consult with a subject expert? An effective approach is to assume that everyone involved with your project has equal value and therefore should be treated with respect. Agile Model Characteristics: Purposeful Understandable Sufficiently Accurate Sufficiently Consistent Sufficiently Detailed Provide Positive Value Simple as Possible Just Fulfill Basic Requirements According to Scott Ambler, Agile models are the most effective possible because the time that is invested in the model is just enough effort to complete the job. Furthermore, if a model isn’t good enough yet then additional effort can be invested to get more value out of the model. However if a model is good enough, for the current needs, or surpass the current needs, then any additional work done on the model would be a waste. It is important to remember that good enough is in the eye of the beholder, so this can be tough. In order for Agile Models to work effectively Active Stakeholder need to participation in the modeling process. Finally it is also very important to model with others, this allows for additionally input ensuring that all the shareholders needs are reflected in the models. How can Agile Models be incorporated in to our projects? Agile Models can be incorporated in to our project during the requirement gathering and design phases. As requirements are gathered the models should be updated to incorporate the new project details as they are defined and updated. Additionally, the Agile Models created during the requirement phase can be the bases for the models created during the design phase.  It is important to only add to the model when the changes fit within the agile model characteristics and they do not over complicate the design.

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• Challenge 19 – An Explanation of a Query

  - by Dave Ballantyne

  I have received a number of requests for an explanation of my winning query of TSQL Challenge 19. This involved traversing a hierarchy of employees and rolling a count of orders from subordinates up to superiors. The first concept I shall address is the hierarchyId , which is constructed within the CTE called cteTree.   cteTree is a recursive cte that will expand the parent-child hierarchy of the personnel in the table @emp.  One useful feature with a recursive cte is that data can be ‘passed’ from the parent to the child data.  The hierarchyId column is similar to the hierarchyId data type that was introduced in SQL Server 2008 and represents the position of the person within the organisation. Let us start with a simplistic example Albert manages Bob and Eddie.  Bob manages Carl and Dave. The hierarchyId will represent each person’s position in this relationship in a single field.  In this simple example we could append the userID together into a varchar field as detailed below. This will enable us to select a branch of the tree by filtering using Where hierarchyId  ‘1,2%’ to select Bob and all his subordinates.  Naturally, this is not comprehensive enough to provide a full solution, but as opposed to concatenating the Id’s together into a varchar datatyped column, we can apply the same theory to a varbinary.  By CASTing the ID’s into a datatype of varbinary(4) ,4 is used as 4 bytes of data are used to store an integer and building a hierarchyId  from those.  For example: The important point to bear in mind for later in the query is that the binary data generated is 'byte order comparable'. ie We can ORDER a dataset with it and the resulting data, will be in the order required. Now, would probably be a good time to download the example file and, after the cte ‘cteTree’, uncomment the line ‘select * from cteTree’.  Mark this and all prior code and execute.  This will show you how this theory directly relates to the actual challenge data.  The only deviation from the above, is that instead of using the ID of an employee, I have used the row_number() ranking function to order each level by LastName,Firstname.  This enables me to order by the HierarchyId in the final result set so that the result set is in the required order. Your output should be something like the below.  Notice also the ‘Level’ Column that contains the depth that the employee is within the tree.  I would encourage you to ‘play’ with the query, change the order in the row_number() or the length of the cast in the hierarchyId to see how that effects the outcome.  The next cte, ‘cteTreeWithOrderCount’, is a join between cteTree and the @ord table, and COUNT’s the number of orders per employee.  A LEFT JOIN is employed here to account for the occasion where an employee has made no sales.   Executing a ‘Select * from cteTreeWithOrderCount’ will return the result set as below.  The order here is unimportant as this is only a staging point of the data and only the final result set in a cte chain needs an Order by clause, unless TOP is utilised. cteExplode joins the above result set to the tally table (Nums) for Level Occurances.  So, if level is 2 then 2 rows are required.  This is done to expand the dataset, to create a new column (PathInc), which is the (n+1) integers contained within the heirarchyid.  For example, with the data for Robert King as given above, the below 3 rows will be returned. From this you can see that the pathinc column now contains the values for Andrew Fuller and Steven Buchanan who are Robert King’s superiors within the tree.    Finally cteSumUp, sums the orders for each person and their subordinates using the PathInc generated above, and the final select does the final simple mathematics and filters to restrict the result set to only the ‘original’ row per employee.

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