Search Results

Search found 35354 results on 1415 pages for 'joe even'.

Page 671/1415 | < Previous Page | 667 668 669 670 671 672 673 674 675 676 677 678  | Next Page >

• Microsoft launches IE9 preview – No support for XP

  - by samsudeen

  Microsoft launched the developer preview version of Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) at MIX 10 web conference yesterday.This release is aimed getting the feedback from website designers , developers and other community to make IE9 development better from its previous versions. Microsoft will update the developer preview every eight weeks and the next update is expected on mid of march.So what is new and interesting  about IE9 Chakra Chakra (The new scripting engine of IE9) renders the Java script much faster compared to IE8 and other browsers thus improving the performance significantly.According to Microsoft Chakra renders the java script in background with a separate thread parallel to the main engine which is complete new way of rendering from the current browser technologies Standards Microsoft is desperate to make ( surprisingly!!!) IE9 compliance to  web standards by supporting the open standards such as Accelerated support for HTML5 video support for new web technologies such as CSS3 and SVG2. ACID3 Test IE9 scores (55/100) in its latest ACID3 test which is much better compared to the IE8 score (22/100) but not even  nearer to their rivals Chrome, Opera, and Safari which scores 100/100 in ACID3 testing I am little disappointed over not able to download the  developer preview on my XP machine. The early comments looks much positive for IE9.If you want to explore IE9,check the Microsoft Test drive site  at Microsoft IE9 Test-drive You can also download the IE9 developer preview at Download Preview Join us on Facebook to read all our stories right inside your Facebook news feed.

  Read the article

• Bug Triage

  In this blog post brain dump, I'll attempt to describe the process my team tries to follow when dealing with new bug reports (specifically, code defect reports). This is not official Microsoft policy, just the way we do things… if you do things differently and want to share, you can do so at the bottom in the comments (or on your blog).Feature Triage TeamA subset of the feature crew, the triage team (which has representations from the PM, Dev and QA disciplines), looks at all unassigned bugs at regular intervals. This can be weekly or daily (or other frequency) dependent on which part of the product cycle we are in and what the untriaged bug load looks like. They discuss each bug considering the evidence and make a decision of whether the bug goes from Not Yet Assigned to Assigned (plus the name of the DEV to fix this) or whether it goes from Active to Resolved (which means it gets assigned back to the requestor for closure or further debate if they were not present at the triage meeting). Close to critical milestones, the feature triage team needs to further justify bugs they take to additional higher-level triage teams.Bug Opened = Not Yet AssignedSomeone (typically an SDET from the QA team) creates the bug item (e.g. in TFS), ensuring they populate all the relevant fields including: Title, Description, Repro Steps (including the Actual Result at the end of the steps), attachments of code and/or screenshots, Build number that they observed the issue in, regression details if applicable, how it was found, if a test case exists or needs to be created etc. They also indicate their opinion on the Priority and Severity. The bug status is left as Not Yet Assigned."Issue" versus "Fix for issue"The solution to some bugs is easy to determine, e.g. "bug: the column name is misspelled". Obviously the fix is to correct the spelling – still, the triage team should be explicit and enter the correct spelling in the bug's Description. Note that a bad bug name here would be "bug: fix the spelling of the column" (it describes the solution, rather than the problem).Other solutions are trickier to establish, e.g. "bug: the column header is not accessible (can only be clicked on with the mouse, not reached via keyboard)". What is the correct solution here? The last thing to do is leave this undetermined and just assign it to a developer. The solution has to be entered in the description. Behind this type of a bug usually hides a spec defect or a new feature request.The person opening the bug should focus on describing the issue, rather than the solution. The person indicates what the fix is in their opinion by stating the Expected Result (immediately after stating the Actual Result). If they have a complex suggested solution, that should be split out in a separate part, but the triage team has the final say before assigning it. If the solution is lengthy/complicated to describe, the bug can be assigned to the PM. Note: the strict interpretation suggests that any bug with no clear, obvious solution is always a hole in the spec and should always go to the PM. This also ensures the spec gets updated.Not Yet Assigned - Not Yet Assigned (on someone else's plate)If the bug is observed in our feature, but the cause is actually another team, we change the Area Path (which is the way we identify teams in TFS) and leave it as Not Yet Assigned. The triage team may add more comments as appropriate including potentially changing the repro steps. In some cases, we may even resolve the bug in our area path and open a new bug in the area path of the other team.Even though there is no action on a dev on the team, the bug still needs to be tracked. One way of doing this is to implement some notification system that informs the team when the tracked bug changed status; another way is to occasionally run a global query (against all area paths) for bugs that have been opened by a member of the team and follow up with the current owners for stale bugs.Not Yet Assigned - ResolvedThis state transition can only be made by the Feature Triage Team.0. Sometimes the bug description is not clear and in that case it gets Resolved as More Information Needed, so the original requestor can provide it.After understanding what the bug item is about, the first decision is to determine whether it needs to go to a dev.1. If it is a known bug, it gets resolved as "Duplicate" and linked to the existing bug.2. If it is "By Design" it gets resolved as such, indicating that the triage team does not think this is a bug.3. If the bug does not repro on latest bits, it is resolved as "No Repro"4. The most painful: If it is decided that we cannot fix it for this release it gets resolved as "Postponed" or "Won't Fix". The former is typically due to resources and time constraints, while the latter is due to deciding that it is not important enough to consume our resources in any release (yes, not all bugs must be fixed!). For both cases, there are other factors that contribute to the decision such as: existence of a reasonable workaround, frequency we expect users to encounter the issue, dependencies on other team to offer a solution, whether it breaks a core scenario, whether it prohibits customer feedback on a major feature, is it a regression from a previous release, impact of the fix on other partner teams (e.g. User Education, User Experience, Localization/Globalization), whether this is the right fix, does the fix impact performance goals, and last but not least, severity of bug (e.g. loss of customer data, security threat, crash, hang). The bar for fixing a bug goes up as the release date approaches. The triage team becomes hardnosed about which bugs to take, while the developers are busy resolving assigned bugs thus everyone drives for Zero Bug Bounce (ZBB). ZBB is when you have 0 active bugs older than 48 hours.Not Yet Assigned - AssignedIf the bug is something we decide to fix in this release and the solution is known, then it is assigned to a DEV. This is either the developer that will do the work, or a Lead that can further assign it to one of his developer team based on a load balancing algorithm of their choosing.Sometimes, the triage team needs the dev to do some investigation work before deciding whether to take the fix; similarly, the checkin for the fix may be gated on code review by the triage team. In these cases, these instructions are provided in the comments section of the bug and when the developer is done they notify the triage team for final decision.Additionally, a Priority and Severity (from 0 to 4) has to be entered, e.g. a P0 means "drop anything you are doing and fix this now" whereas a P4 is something you get to after all P0,1,2,3 bugs are fixed.From a testing perspective, if the bug was found through ad-hoc testing or an external team, the decision is made whether test cases should be added to avoid future regressions. This is communicated to the QA team.Assigned - ResolvedWhen the developer receives the bug (they should be checking daily for new bugs on their plate looking at bugs in order of priority and from older to newer) they can send it back to triage if the information is not clear. Otherwise, they investigate the bug, setting the Sub Status to "Investigating"; if they cannot make progress, they set the Sub Status to "Blocked" and discuss this with triage or whoever else can help them get unblocked. Once they are unblocked, they set the Sub Status to "Working on Solution"; once they are code complete they send a code review request, setting the Sub Status to "Fix Available". After the iterative code review process is over and everyone is happy with the fix, the developer checks it in and changes the state of the bug from Active (and Assigned to them) to Resolved (and Assigned to someone else).The developer needs to ensure that when the status is changed to Resolved that it is assigned to a QA person. For example, maybe the PM opened the bug, but it should be a QA person that will verify the fix - the developer needs to manually change the assignee in that case. Typically the QA person will send an email to the original requestor notifying them that the fix is verified.Resolved - ??In all cases above, note that the final state was Resolved. What happens after that? The final step should be Closed. The bug is closed once the QA person verifying the fix is happy with it. If the person is not happy, then they change the state from Resolved to Active, thus sending it back to the developer. If the developer and QA person cannot reach agreement, then triage can be brought into it. An easy way to do that is change the status back to Not Yet Assigned with appropriate comments so the triage team can re-review.It is important to note that only QA can close a bug. That means that if the opener of the bug was a PM, when the bug gets resolved by the dev it may land on the PM's plate and after a quick review, the PM would re-assign to an SDET, which is the only role that can close bugs. One exception to this is if the person that filed the bug is external: in that case, we leave it Resolved and assigned to them and also send them a notification that they need to verify the fix. Another exception is if specialized developer knowledge is needed for verifying the bug fix (e.g. it was a refactoring suggestion bug typically not observable by the user) in which case it is fine to have a developer verify the fix, and ideally a different developer to the one that opened the bug.Other links on bug triageA quick search reveals that others have talked about this subject, e.g. here, here, here, here and here.Your take?If you have other best practices your team uses to deal with incoming bug reports, feel free to share in the comments below or on your blog. Comments about this post welcome at the original blog.

  Read the article

• Mapping UrlEncoded POST Values in ASP.NET Web API

  - by Rick Strahl

  If there's one thing that's a bit unexpected in ASP.NET Web API, it's the limited support for mapping url encoded POST data values to simple parameters of ApiController methods. When I first looked at this I thought I was doing something wrong, because it seems mighty odd that you can bind query string values to parameters by name, but can't bind POST values to parameters in the same way. To demonstrate here's a simple example. If you have a Web API method like this:[HttpGet] public HttpResponseMessage Authenticate(string username, string password) { …} and then hit with a URL like this: http://localhost:88/samples/authenticate?Username=ricks&Password=sekrit it works just fine. The query string values are mapped to the username and password parameters of our API method. But if you now change the method to work with [HttpPost] instead like this:[HttpPost] public HttpResponseMessage Authenticate(string username, string password) { …} and hit it with a POST HTTP Request like this: POST http://localhost:88/samples/authenticate HTTP/1.1 Host: localhost:88 Accept: text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,*/*;q=0.8 Content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded Content-Length: 30 Username=ricks&Password=sekrit you'll find that while the request works, it doesn't actually receive the two string parameters. The username and password parameters are null and so the method is definitely going to fail. When I mentioned this over Twitter a few days ago I got a lot of responses back of why I'd want to do this in the first place - after all HTML Form submissions are the domain of MVC and not WebAPI which is a valid point. However, the more common use case is using POST Variables with AJAX calls. The following is quite common for passing simple values:$.post(url,{ Username: "Rick", Password: "sekrit" },function(result) {…}); but alas that doesn't work. How ASP.NET Web API handles Content Bodies Web API supports parsing content data in a variety of ways, but it does not deal with multiple posted content values. In effect you can only post a single content value to a Web API Action method. That one parameter can be very complex and you can bind it in a variety of ways, but ultimately you're tied to a single POST content value in your parameter definition. While it's possible to support multiple parameters on a POST/PUT operation, only one parameter can be mapped to the actual content - the rest have to be mapped to route values or the query string. Web API treats the whole request body as one big chunk of data that is sent to a Media Type Formatter that's responsible for de-serializing the content into whatever value the method requires. The restriction comes from async nature of Web API where the request data is read only once inside of the formatter that retrieves and deserializes it. Because it's read once, checking for content (like individual POST variables) first is not possible. However, Web API does provide a couple of ways to access the form POST data: Model Binding - object property mapping to bind POST values FormDataCollection - collection of POST keys/values ModelBinding POST Values - Binding POST data to Object Properties The recommended way to handle POST values in Web API is to use Model Binding, which maps individual urlencoded POST values to properties of a model object provided as the parameter. Model binding requires a single object as input to be bound to the POST data, with each POST key that matches a property name (including nested properties like Address.Street) being mapped and updated including automatic type conversion of simple types. This is a very nice feature - and a familiar one from MVC - that makes it very easy to have model objects mapped directly from inbound data. The obvious drawback with Model Binding is that you need a model for it to work: You have to provide a strongly typed object that can receive the data and this object has to map the inbound data. To rewrite the example above to use ModelBinding I have to create a class maps the properties that I need as parameters:public class LoginData { public string Username { get; set; } public string Password { get; set; } } and then accept the data like this in the API method:[HttpPost] public HttpResponseMessage Authenticate(LoginData login) { string username = login.Username; string password = login.Password; … } This works fine mapping the POST values to the properties of the login object. As a side benefit of this method definition, the method now also allows posting of JSON or XML to the same endpoint. If I change my request to send JSON like this: POST http://localhost:88/samples/authenticate HTTP/1.1 Host: localhost:88 Accept: application/jsonContent-type: application/json Content-Length: 40 {"Username":"ricks","Password":"sekrit"} it works as well and transparently, courtesy of the nice Content Negotiation features of Web API. There's nothing wrong with using Model binding and in fact it's a common practice to use (view) model object for inputs coming back from the client and mapping them into these models. But it can be  kind of a hassle if you have AJAX applications with a ton of backend hits, especially if many methods are very atomic and focused and don't effectively require a model or view. Not always do you have to pass structured data, but sometimes there are just a couple of simple response values that need to be sent back. If all you need is to pass a couple operational parameters, creating a view model object just for parameter purposes seems like overkill. Maybe you can use the query string instead (if that makes sense), but if you can't then you can often end up with a plethora of 'message objects' that serve no further  purpose than to make Model Binding work. Note that you can accept multiple parameters with ModelBinding so the following would still work:[HttpPost] public HttpResponseMessage Authenticate(LoginData login, string loginDomain) but only the object will be bound to POST data. As long as loginDomain comes from the querystring or route data this will work. Collecting POST values with FormDataCollection Another more dynamic approach to handle POST values is to collect POST data into a FormDataCollection. FormDataCollection is a very basic key/value collection (like FormCollection in MVC and Request.Form in ASP.NET in general) and then read the values out individually by querying each. [HttpPost] public HttpResponseMessage Authenticate(FormDataCollection form) { var username = form.Get("Username"); var password = form.Get("Password"); …} The downside to this approach is that it's not strongly typed, you have to handle type conversions on non-string parameters, and it gets a bit more complicated to test such as setup as you have to seed a FormDataCollection with data. On the other hand it's flexible and easy to use and especially with string parameters is easy to deal with. It's also dynamic, so if the client sends you a variety of combinations of values on which you make operating decisions, this is much easier to work with than a strongly typed object that would have to account for all possible values up front. The downside is that the code looks old school and isn't as self-documenting as a parameter list or object parameter would be. Nevertheless it's totally functionality and a viable choice for collecting POST values. What about [FromBody]? Web API also has a [FromBody] attribute that can be assigned to parameters. If you have multiple parameters on a Web API method signature you can use [FromBody] to specify which one will be parsed from the POST content. Unfortunately it's not terribly useful as it only returns content in raw format and requires a totally non-standard format ("=content") to specify your content. For more info in how FromBody works and several related issues to how POST data is mapped, you can check out Mike Stalls post: How WebAPI does Parameter Binding Not really sure where the Web API team thought [FromBody] would really be a good fit other than a down and dirty way to send a full string buffer. Extending Web API to make multiple POST Vars work? Don't think so Clearly there's no native support for multiple POST variables being mapped to parameters, which is a bit of a bummer. I know in my own work on one project my customer actually found this to be a real sticking point in their AJAX backend work, and we ended up not using Web API and using MVC JSON features instead. That's kind of sad because Web API is supposed to be the proper solution for AJAX backends. With all of ASP.NET Web API's extensibility you'd think there would be some way to build this functionality on our own, but after spending a bit of time digging and asking some of the experts from the team and Web API community I didn't hear anything that even suggests that this is possible. From what I could find I'd say it's not possible primarily because Web API's Routing engine does not account for the POST variable mapping. This means [HttpPost] methods with url encoded POST buffers are not mapped to the parameters of the endpoint, and so the routes would never even trigger a request that could be intercepted. Once the routing doesn't work there's not much that can be done. If somebody has an idea how this could be accomplished I would love to hear about it. Do we really need multi-value POST mapping? I think that that POST value mapping is a feature that one would expect of any API tool to have. If you look at common APIs out there like Flicker and Google Maps etc. they all work with POST data. POST data is very prominent much more so than JSON inputs and so supporting as many options that enable would seem to be crucial. All that aside, Web API does provide very nice features with Model Binding that allows you to capture many POST variables easily enough, and logistically this will let you build whatever you need with POST data of all shapes as long as you map objects. But having to have an object for every operation that receives a data input is going to take its toll in heavy AJAX applications, with a lot of types created that do nothing more than act as parameter containers. I also think that POST variable mapping is an expected behavior and Web APIs non-support will likely result in many, many questions like this one: How do I bind a simple POST value in ASP.NET WebAPI RC? with no clear answer to this question. I hope for V.next of WebAPI Microsoft will consider this a feature that's worth adding. Related Articles Passing multiple POST parameters to Web API Controller Methods Mike Stall's post: How Web API does Parameter Binding Where does ASP.NET Web API Fit?© Rick Strahl, West Wind Technologies, 2005-2012Posted in Web Api   Tweet !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs"); (function() { var po = document.createElement('script'); po.type = 'text/javascript'; po.async = true; po.src = 'https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(po, s); })();

  Read the article

• SQLAuthority News – Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 – PowerPivot for Microsoft Excel 2010

  - by pinaldave

  Microsoft has really and truly created some buzz for PowerPivot. I have been asked to show the demo of Powerpivot in recent time even when I am doing relational database training. Attached is the few details where everyone can download PowerPivot and use the same. Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 – PowerPivot for Microsoft Excel 2010 – RTM Microsoft® PowerPivot for Microsoft® Excel 2010 provides ground-breaking technology, such as fast manipulation of large data sets (often millions of rows), streamlined integration of data, and the ability to effortlessly share your analysis through Microsoft® SharePoint 2010. Microsoft PowerPivot for Excel 2010 Samples Microsoft® PowerPivot for Microsoft® Excel 2010 provides ground-breaking technology, such as fast manipulation of large data sets (often millions of rows), streamlined integration of data, and the ability to effortlessly share your analysis through Microsoft® SharePoint 2010. Download examples of the types of reports you can create. Microsoft PowerPivot for Excel 2010 Data Analysis Expressions Sample version 1.0 Microsoft® PowerPivot for Microsoft® Excel 2010 provides ground-breaking technology, such as fast manipulation of large data sets (often millions of rows), streamlined integration of data, and the ability to effortlessly share your analysis through Microsoft® SharePoint 2010. Download this PowerPivot workbook to learn more about DAX calculations. Note: The brief description below the download link is taken from respective download page. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Documentation, SQL Download, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

  Read the article

• IASA Sessions on Social Networking Note Influence of Millennial Generation on Insurance Technology

  - by [email protected]

  Helen Pitts, senior product marketing manager for Oracle Insurance is blogging from the 2010 IASA Annual Conference and Business Show this week. Social networking continues to be a buzzword for many in the industry. Erin Esurance, the Geico Gecko and even Nationwide's "The World's Greatest Spokesperson in the World" all have a prominent presence in the social media world. Sessions at the 2010 IASA Annual Conference and Business Show this week in Grapevine, Texas, highlighted how the millennial generation's exploding use of social media is spurring more carriers to leverage tools like Facebook, LinkedIn and other social networks to engage prospect and customers. While panelists encouraged carriers to leverage social networking tools for marketing and communications, they expressed the need for caution and corporate governance when it comes to using the tools as a part of claims, underwriting, and human resources recruitment business practices, and interactions with producers. (A previous Oracle Insurance blog entry by my colleague Susan Keuer noted that social networking and its impact on the underwriting process was also a hot topic at the recent AHOU conference.) Speaking of the millennial generation, IASA announced a new scholarship program and awarded three scholarships during the association's conference this week. The IASA Insurance Industry Collegiate Scholarship Program awards $2,000 scholarships to students in their second or third year of college who are studying an insurance-related field at a four-year college or university. The IASA scholarship committee is co-chaired by Wendy Gibson, vice president of business development for Oracle Insurance. Gibson, a long time IASA volunteer, is completing her second term on IASA's volunteer management team as vice president of industry relations. Helen Pitts is senior product marketing manager for Oracle Insurance.

  Read the article

• Implementing Scrolling Background in LibGDX game

  - by Vishal Kumar

  I am making a game in LibGDX. After working for whole a day..I could not come out with a solution on Scrolling background. My Screen width n height is 960 x 540. I have a png image of 1024 x 540. I want to scroll the background in such a way that it contuosly goes back with camera x-- as per camera I tried many alternatives... drawing the image twice ..did a lot of calculations and many others.... but finally end up with this dirty code if(bg_x2 >= - Assets.bg.getRegionWidth()) { //calculated it to position bg .. camera was initially at 15 bg_x2 = (16 -4*camera.position.x); bg_x1=bg_x2+Assets.bg.getRegionWidth(); } else{ bg_x1 = (16 -4*camera.position.x)%224; // this 16 is not proper //I think there can be other ways bg_x2=bg_x1+Assets.bg.getRegionWidth(); } //drawing twice batch.draw(Assets.bg, bg_x2, bg_y); batch.draw(Assets.bg, bg_x1, bg_y); The Simple idea is SCROLLING BACKGROUND WITH SIZE SOMEWHAT MORE THAN SCREEN SIZE SO THAT IT LOOK SMOOTH. Even after a lot of search, i didn't find an online solution. Please help.

  Read the article

• SQLBeat Podcast – Episode 5 – Kevin Kline Talks With Me About SQL, Professional Development and Book Writin’

  - by SQLBeat

  I thought I would be a ball of intimated nerves when Kevin gladly agreed to speak with me on the podcast this past weekend.  After all, he is Kevin Kline of SQL in a Nutshell fame! As it turned out,  we had a comfortable and enlightening conversation on Apple MacBooks (is that what they are called?), our beginnings in the indistry, the Deep South, health care intiatives and 286′s. I almost pulled the plug when Kevin started down the Oracle path though, and for a moment he looked at me as if I was serious. As always on this podcast, it is all in good fun. The picture is of Kevin and I ( my shirt is mauve not pink by the way) at the after party for SQL Saturday 151 in Orlando, FL where he also did a Pre-Con to a sold out crowd of enthusiastic DBAs. I know they were enthusiastic even though I was not there because one of the attendees was a friend of mine who went on and on and on about the content, kind of like I am doing here.  So I will just stop that and let you proceed to listen. As always, I hope you enjoy and any feedback on this or future episodes is always welcome. Download the MP3

  Read the article

• Wired PS/2 Keyboard and Mouse do not work in 12.04 Live CD or after fresh 12.04 install - Foxconn D270S Atom Motherboard

  - by david krajewski

  My Wired PS/2 keyboard and mouse do not work in 12.04, either in a fresh install or from the Live CD. A USB keyboard and mouse will work. The PS/2 keyboard and mouse will work using the same hardware and a fresh 10.04 Ubuntu install or a fresh Windows 7 install. The motherboard is a Foxconn D270S Atom based motherboard. This problem is specific to this motherboard and Ubuntu 12.04. So far I've tried running in the fresh 12.04 install: sudo apt-get install sudo apt-get upgrade sudo apt-get dist-upgrade After the apt-get upgraded the first time, I now get to the point where there are 0 items to be upgraded. Rebooted and still no PS/2 keyboard/mouse. I've also tried adding the following lines to GRUB at boot time (the PS/2 keyboard works in GRUB) acpi=noirq acpi=off Neither setting made any difference. The motherboard is a Foxconn D270S Atom based motherboard. Even more interestingly, 12.04 recognizes the same PS/2 keyboard and mouse on a separate Gigabyte AM3+ based motherboard. I only have this problem on this particular motherboard with Ubuntu 12.04. Any help would be appreciated. I bought this low-power motherboard specifically for the task of running Ubuntu 12.04 for the next five years... Update... I dug out an old PS/2 mouse that does not use a PS/2 to USB adapter but is directly wired for PS/2. Still no PS/2 keyboard or mouse after reboot. Again, I only have this problem with this motherboard and 12.04 Ubuntu. Other motherboards work fine with 12.04 and this motherboard works fine with 10.04. Update 2... I installed the 12.04 Server version. The text-based installer recognized the keyboard without issue, but after the first boot into the installed OS, the PS/2 keyboard would no longer respond. I tried installing Gnome on the Server install and the PS/2 mouse and keyboard don't work in Gnome either. I Opened bug #995570 for this issue

  Read the article

• Entity Association Mapping with Code First Part 1 : Mapping Complex Types

  - by mortezam

  Last week the CTP5 build of the new Entity Framework Code First has been released by data team at Microsoft. Entity Framework Code-First provides a pretty powerful code-centric way to work with the databases. When it comes to associations, it brings ultimate flexibility. I’m a big fan of the EF Code First approach and am planning to explain association mapping with code first in a series of blog posts and this one is dedicated to Complex Types. If you are new to Code First approach, you can find a great walkthrough here. In order to build a solid foundation for our discussion, we will start by learning about some of the core concepts around the relationship mapping.   What is Mapping?Mapping is the act of determining how objects and their relationships are persisted in permanent data storage, in our case, relational databases. What is Relationship mapping?A mapping that describes how to persist a relationship (association, aggregation, or composition) between two or more objects. Types of RelationshipsThere are two categories of object relationships that we need to be concerned with when mapping associations. The first category is based on multiplicity and it includes three types: One-to-one relationships: This is a relationship where the maximums of each of its multiplicities is one. One-to-many relationships: Also known as a many-to-one relationship, this occurs when the maximum of one multiplicity is one and the other is greater than one. Many-to-many relationships: This is a relationship where the maximum of both multiplicities is greater than one. The second category is based on directionality and it contains two types: Uni-directional relationships: when an object knows about the object(s) it is related to but the other object(s) do not know of the original object. To put this in EF terminology, when a navigation property exists only on one of the association ends and not on the both. Bi-directional relationships: When the objects on both end of the relationship know of each other (i.e. a navigation property defined on both ends). How Object Relationships Are Implemented in POCO domain models?When the multiplicity is one (e.g. 0..1 or 1) the relationship is implemented by defining a navigation property that reference the other object (e.g. an Address property on User class). When the multiplicity is many (e.g. 0..*, 1..*) the relationship is implemented via an ICollection of the type of other object. How Relational Database Relationships Are Implemented? Relationships in relational databases are maintained through the use of Foreign Keys. A foreign key is a data attribute(s) that appears in one table and must be the primary key or other candidate key in another table. With a one-to-one relationship the foreign key needs to be implemented by one of the tables. To implement a one-to-many relationship we implement a foreign key from the “one table” to the “many table”. We could also choose to implement a one-to-many relationship via an associative table (aka Join table), effectively making it a many-to-many relationship. Introducing the ModelNow, let's review the model that we are going to use in order to implement Complex Type with Code First. It's a simple object model which consist of two classes: User and Address. Each user could have one billing address. The Address information of a User is modeled as a separate class as you can see in the UML model below: In object-modeling terms, this association is a kind of aggregation—a part-of relationship. Aggregation is a strong form of association; it has some additional semantics with regard to the lifecycle of objects. In this case, we have an even stronger form, composition, where the lifecycle of the part is fully dependent upon the lifecycle of the whole. Fine-grained domain models The motivation behind this design was to achieve Fine-grained domain models. In crude terms, fine-grained means “more classes than tables”. For example, a user may have both a billing address and a home address. In the database, you may have a single User table with the columns BillingStreet, BillingCity, and BillingPostalCode along with HomeStreet, HomeCity, and HomePostalCode. There are good reasons to use this somewhat denormalized relational model (performance, for one). In our object model, we can use the same approach, representing the two addresses as six string-valued properties of the User class. But it’s much better to model this using an Address class, where User has the BillingAddress and HomeAddress properties. This object model achieves improved cohesion and greater code reuse and is more understandable. Complex Types: Splitting a Table Across Multiple Types Back to our model, there is no difference between this composition and other weaker styles of association when it comes to the actual C# implementation. But in the context of ORM, there is a big difference: A composed class is often a candidate Complex Type. But C# has no concept of composition—a class or property can’t be marked as a composition. The only difference is the object identifier: a complex type has no individual identity (i.e. no AddressId defined on Address class) which make sense because when it comes to the database everything is going to be saved into one single table. How to implement a Complex Types with Code First Code First has a concept of Complex Type Discovery that works based on a set of Conventions. The convention is that if Code First discovers a class where a primary key cannot be inferred, and no primary key is registered through Data Annotations or the fluent API, then the type will be automatically registered as a complex type. Complex type detection also requires that the type does not have properties that reference entity types (i.e. all the properties must be scalar types) and is not referenced from a collection property on another type. Here is the implementation: public class User{    public int UserId { get; set; }    public string FirstName { get; set; }    public string LastName { get; set; }    public string Username { get; set; }    public Address Address { get; set; }} public class Address {     public string Street { get; set; }     public string City { get; set; }            public string PostalCode { get; set; }        }public class EntityMappingContext : DbContext {     public DbSet<User> Users { get; set; }        } With code first, this is all of the code we need to write to create a complex type, we do not need to configure any additional database schema mapping information through Data Annotations or the fluent API. Database SchemaThe mapping result for this object model is as follows: Limitations of this mappingThere are two important limitations to classes mapped as Complex Types: Shared references is not possible: The Address Complex Type doesn’t have its own database identity (primary key) and so can’t be referred to by any object other than the containing instance of User (e.g. a Shipping class that also needs to reference the same User Address). No elegant way to represent a null reference There is no elegant way to represent a null reference to an Address. When reading from database, EF Code First always initialize Address object even if values in all mapped columns of the complex type are null. This means that if you store a complex type object with all null property values, EF Code First returns a initialized complex type when the owning entity object is retrieved from the database. SummaryIn this post we learned about fine-grained domain models which complex type is just one example of it. Fine-grained is fully supported by EF Code First and is known as the most important requirement for a rich domain model. Complex type is usually the simplest way to represent one-to-one relationships and because the lifecycle is almost always dependent in such a case, it’s either an aggregation or a composition in UML. In the next posts we will revisit the same domain model and will learn about other ways to map a one-to-one association that does not have the limitations of the complex types. References ADO.NET team blog Mapping Objects to Relational Databases Java Persistence with Hibernate

  Read the article

• Flash player not loading in Firefox or Chromium

  - by Dan Heyse

  I am brand new to Linux so can you (try) to keep answers as simple as possible. A few days ago I did a fresh install of Ubuntu 11.10 on an old computer (just under 500mb of RAM) and once I had completed the install. I installed the restricted extras thingy. I then tried to load up a Flash video in Firefox but it failed: all it would show is a blank box where the video should have been. At this point I tried various different video sites (iplayer, Youtube, etc) and I even tried opening up a downloaded flash game in Firefox but still I was just getting a blank box where the flash content should have been. Next I tried doing a fresh install of Ubuntu 12.04 32bit, installing the restricted extras thingy again but it still just showed up the blank box. Finally I tried various different methods for getting it to work including: Trying a different browser~ same issue Trying different websites~ same issue Reinstalling the Flash plugin via the software center~ same issue Reinstalling the Flash plugin via the Adobe website~ same issue Installing Flash-aid (a plugin designed to solve any issues with flash)~ same issue Disabling the flash plugin for Firefox~ Flash was no longer detected so the websites told me that I needed to install the flash plugin to play the content Not really sure what else to try???

  Read the article

• Building an HTML5 App with ASP.NET

  - by Stephen Walther

  I’m teaching several JavaScript and ASP.NET workshops over the next couple of months (thanks everyone!) and I thought it would be useful for my students to have a really easy to use JavaScript reference. I wanted a simple interactive JavaScript reference and I could not find one so I decided to put together one of my own. I decided to use the latest features of JavaScript, HTML5 and jQuery such as local storage, offline manifests, and jQuery templates. What could be more appropriate than building a JavaScript Reference with JavaScript? You can try out the application by visiting: http://Superexpert.com/JavaScriptReference Because the app takes advantage of several advanced features of HTML5, it won’t work with Internet Explorer 6 (but really, you should stop using that browser). I have tested it with IE 8, Chrome 8, Firefox 3.6, and Safari 5. You can download the source for the JavaScript Reference application at the end of this article. Superexpert JavaScript Reference Let me provide you with a brief walkthrough of the app. When you first open the application, you see the following lookup screen: As you type the name of something from the JavaScript language, matching results are displayed: You can click the details link for any entry to view details for an entry in a modal dialog: Alternatively, you can click on any of the tabs -- Objects, Functions, Properties, Statements, Operators, Comments, or Directives -- to filter results by type of syntax. For example, you might want to see a list of all JavaScript built-in objects: You can login to the application to make modification to the application: After you login, you can add, update, or delete entries in the reference database: HTML5 Local Storage The application takes advantage of HTML5 local storage to store all of the reference entries on the local browser. IE 8, Chrome 8, Firefox 3.6, and Safari 5 all support local storage. When you open the application for the first time, all of the reference entries are transferred to the browser. The data is stored persistently. Even if you shutdown your computer and return to the application many days later, the data does not need to be transferred again. Whenever you open the application, the app checks with the server to see if any of the entries have been updated on the server. If there have been updates, then only the updates are transferred to the browser and the updates are merged with the existing entries in local storage. After the reference database has been transferred to your browser once, only changes are transferred in the future. You get two benefits from using local storage. First, the application loads very fast and works very fast after the data has been loaded once. The application does not query the server whenever you filter or view entries. All of the data is persisted in the browser. Second, you can browse the JavaScript reference even when you are not connected to the Internet (when you are on the proverbial airplane). The JavaScript Reference works as an offline application for browsers that support offline applications (unfortunately, not IE). When using Google Chrome, you can easily view the contents of local storage by selecting Tools, Developer Tools (CTRL-SHIFT I) and selecting Storage, Local Storage: The JavaScript Reference app stores two items in local storage: entriesLastUpdated and entries. HTML5 Offline App For browsers that support HTML5 offline applications – Chrome 8 and Firefox 3.6 but not Internet Explorer – you do not need to be connected to the Internet to use the JavaScript Reference. The JavaScript Reference can execute entirely on your machine just like any other desktop application. When you first open the application with Firefox, you are presented with the following warning: Notice the notification bar that asks whether you want to accept offline content. If you click the Allow button then all of the files (generated ASPX, images, CSS, JavaScript) needed for the JavaScript Reference will be stored on your local computer. Automatic Script Minification and Combination All of the custom JavaScript files are combined and minified automatically whenever the application is built with Visual Studio. All of the custom scripts are contained in a folder named App_Scripts: When you perform a build, the combine.js and combine.debug.js files are generated. The Combine.config file contains the list of files that should be combined (importantly, it specifies the order in which the files should be combined). Here’s the contents of the Combine.config file:   <?xml version="1.0"?> <combine> <scripts> <file path="compat.js" /> <file path="storage.js" /> <file path="serverData.js" /> <file path="entriesHelper.js" /> <file path="authentication.js" /> <file path="default.js" /> </scripts> </combine>   jQuery and jQuery UI The JavaScript Reference application takes heavy advantage of jQuery and jQuery UI. In particular, the application uses jQuery templates to format and display the reference entries. Each of the separate templates is stored in a separate ASP.NET user control in a folder named Templates: The contents of the user controls (and therefore the templates) are combined in the default.aspx page: <!-- Templates --> <user:EntryTemplate runat="server" /> <user:EntryDetailsTemplate runat="server" /> <user:BrowsersTemplate runat="server" /> <user:EditEntryTemplate runat="server" /> <user:EntryDetailsCloudTemplate runat="server" /> When the default.aspx page is requested, all of the templates are retrieved in a single page. WCF Data Services The JavaScript Reference application uses WCF Data Services to retrieve and modify database data. The application exposes a server-side WCF Data Service named EntryService.svc that supports querying, adding, updating, and deleting entries. jQuery Ajax calls are made against the WCF Data Service to perform the database operations from the browser. The OData protocol makes this easy. Authentication is handled on the server with a ChangeInterceptor. Only authenticated users are allowed to update the JavaScript Reference entry database. JavaScript Unit Tests In order to build the JavaScript Reference application, I depended on JavaScript unit tests. I needed the unit tests, in particular, to write the JavaScript merge functions which merge entry change sets from the server with existing entries in browser local storage. In order for unit tests to be useful, they need to run fast. I ran my unit tests after each build. For this reason, I did not want to run the unit tests within the context of a browser. Instead, I ran the unit tests using server-side JavaScript (the Microsoft Script Control). The source code that you can download at the end of this blog entry includes a project named JavaScriptReference.UnitTests that contains all of the JavaScripts unit tests. JavaScript Integration Tests Because not every feature of an application can be tested by unit tests, the JavaScript Reference application also includes integration tests. I wrote the integration tests using Selenium RC in combination with ASP.NET Unit Tests. The Selenium tests run against all of the target browsers for the JavaScript Reference application: IE 8, Chrome 8, Firefox 3.6, and Safari 5. For example, here is the Selenium test that checks whether authenticating with a valid user name and password correctly switches the application to Admin Mode: [TestMethod] [HostType("ASP.NET")] [UrlToTest("http://localhost:26303/JavaScriptReference")] [AspNetDevelopmentServerHost(@"C:\Users\Stephen\Documents\Repos\JavaScriptReference\JavaScriptReference\JavaScriptReference", "/JavaScriptReference")] public void TestValidLogin() { // Run test for each controller foreach (var controller in this.Controllers) { var selenium = controller.Value; var browserName = controller.Key; // Open reference page. selenium.Open("http://localhost:26303/JavaScriptReference/default.aspx"); // Click login button displays login form selenium.Click("btnLogin"); Assert.IsTrue(selenium.IsVisible("loginForm"), "Login form appears after clicking btnLogin"); // Enter user name and password selenium.Type("userName", "Admin"); selenium.Type("password", "secret"); selenium.Click("btnDoLogin"); // Should set adminMode == true selenium.WaitForCondition("selenium.browserbot.getCurrentWindow().adminMode==true", "30000"); } }   The results for running the Selenium tests appear in the Test Results window just like the unit tests: The Selenium tests take much longer to execute than the unit tests. However, they provide test coverage for actual browsers. Furthermore, if you are using Visual Studio ALM, you can run the tests automatically every night as part of your standard nightly build. You can view the Selenium tests by opening the JavaScriptReference.QATests project. Summary I plan to write more detailed blog entries about this application over the next week. I want to discuss each of the features – HTML5 local storage, HTML5 offline apps, jQuery templates, automatic script combining and minification, JavaScript unit tests, Selenium tests -- in more detail. You can download the source control for the JavaScript Reference Application by clicking the following link: Download You need Visual Studio 2010 and ASP.NET 4 to build the application. Before running the JavaScript unit tests, install the Microsoft Script Control. Before running the Selenium tests, start the Selenium server by running the StartSeleniumServer.bat file located in the JavaScriptReference.QATests project.

  Read the article

• What You Need to Know About Windows 8.1

  - by Chris Hoffman

  Windows 8.1 is available to everyone starting today, October 19. The latest version of Windows improves on Windows 8 in every way. It’s a big upgrade, whether you use the desktop or new touch-optimized interface. The latest version of Windows has been dubbed “an apology” by some — it’s definitely more at home on a desktop PC than Windows 8 was. However, it also offers a more fleshed out and mature tablet experience. How to Get Windows 8.1 For Windows 8 users, Windows 8.1 is completely free. It will be available as a download from the Windows Store — that’s the “Store” app in the Modern, tiled interface. Assuming upgrading to the final version will be just like upgrading to the preview version, you’ll likely see a “Get Windows 8.1″ pop-up that will take you to the Windows Store and guide you through the download process. You’ll also be able to download ISO images of Windows 8.1, so can perform a clean install to upgrade. On any new computer, you can just install Windows 8.1 without going through Windows 8. New computers will start to ship with Windows 8.1 and boxed copies of Windows 8 will be replaced by boxed copies of Windows 8.1. If you’re using Windows 7 or a previous version of Windows, the update won’t be free. Getting Windows 8.1 will cost you the same amount as a full copy of Windows 8 — $120 for the standard version. If you’re an average Windows 7 user, you’re likely better off waiting until you buy a new PC with Windows 8.1 included rather than spend this amount of money to upgrade. Improvements for Desktop Users Some have dubbed Windows 8.1 “an apology” from Microsoft, although you certainly won’t see Microsoft referring to it this way. Either way, Steven Sinofsky, who presided over Windows 8′s development, left the company shortly after Windows 8 was released. Coincidentally, Windows 8.1 contains many features that Steven Sinofsky and Microsoft refused to implement. Windows 8.1 offers the following big improvements for desktop users: Boot to Desktop: You can now log in directly to the desktop, skipping the tiled interface entirely. Disable Top-Left and Top-Right Hot Corners: The app switcher and charms bar won’t appear when you move your mouse to the top-left or top-right corners of the screen if you enable this option. No more intrusions into the desktop. The Start Button Returns: Windows 8.1 brings back an always-present Start button on the desktop taskbar, dramatically improving discoverability for new Windows 8 users and providing a bigger mouse target for remote desktops and virtual machines. Crucially, the Start menu isn’t back — clicking this button will open the full-screen Modern interface. Start menu replacements will continue to function on Windows 8.1, offering more traditional Start menus. Show All Apps By Default: Luckily, you can hide the Start screen and its tiles almost entirely. Windows 8.1 can be configured to show a full-screen list of all your installed apps when you click the Start button, with desktop apps prioritized. The only real difference is that the Start menu is now a full-screen interface. Shut Down or Restart From Start Button: You can now right-click the Start button to access Shut down, Restart, and other power options in just as many clicks as you could on Windows 7. Shared Start Screen and Desktop Backgrounds; Windows 8 limited you to just a few Steven Sinofsky-approved background images for your Start screen, but Windows 8.1 allows you to use your desktop background on the Start screen. This can make the transition between the Start screen and desktop much less jarring. The tiles or shortcuts appear to be floating above the desktop rather than off in their own separate universe. Unified Search: Unified search is back, so you can start typing and search your programs, settings, and files all at once — no more awkwardly clicking between different categories when trying to open a Control Panel screen or search for a file. These all add up to a big improvement when using Windows 8.1 on the desktop. Microsoft is being much more flexible — the Start menu is full screen, but Microsoft has relented on so many other things and you’d never have to see a tile if you didn’t want to. For more information, read our guide to optimizing Windows 8.1 for a desktop PC. These are just the improvements specifically for desktop users. Windows 8.1 includes other useful features for everyone, such as deep SkyDrive integration that allows you to store your files in the cloud without installing any additional sync programs. Improvements for Touch Users If you have a Windows 8 or Windows RT tablet or another touch-based device you use the interface formerly known as Metro on, you’ll see many other noticeable improvements. Windows 8′s new interface was half-baked when it launched, but it’s now much more capable and mature. App Updates: Windows 8′s included apps were extremely limited in many cases. For example, Internet Explorer 10 could only display ten tabs at a time and the Mail app was a barren experience devoid of features. In Windows 8.1, some apps — like Xbox Music — have been redesigned from scratch, Internet Explorer allows you to display a tab bar on-screen all the time, while apps like Mail have accumulated quite a few useful features. The Windows Store app has been entirely redesigned and is less awkward to browse. Snap Improvements: Windows 8′s Snap feature was a toy, allowing you to snap one app to a small sidebar at one side of your screen while another app consumed most of your screen. Windows 8.1 allows you to snap two apps side-by-side, seeing each app’s full interface at once. On larger displays, you can even snap three or four apps at once. Windows 8′s ability to use multiple apps at once on a tablet is compelling and unmatched by iPads and Android tablets. You can also snap two of the same apps side-by-side — to view two web pages at once, for example. More Comprehensive PC Settings: Windows 8.1 offers a more comprehensive PC settings app, allowing you to change most system settings in a touch-optimized interface. You shouldn’t have to use the desktop Control Panel on a tablet anymore — or at least not as often. Touch-Optimized File Browsing: Microsoft’s SkyDrive app allows you to browse files on your local PC, finally offering a built-in, touch-optimized way to manage files without using the desktop. Help & Tips: Windows 8.1 includes a Help+Tips app that will help guide new users through its new interface, something Microsoft stubbornly refused to add during development. There’s still no “Modern” version of Microsoft Office apps (aside from OneNote), so you’ll still have to head to use desktop Office apps on tablets. It’s not perfect, but the Modern interface doesn’t feel anywhere near as immature anymore. Read our in-depth look at the ways Microsoft’s Modern interface, formerly known as Metro, is improved in Windows 8.1 for more information. In summary, Windows 8.1 is what Windows 8 should have been. All of these improvements are on top of the many great desktop features, security improvements, and all-around battery life and performance optimizations that appeared in Windows 8. If you’re still using Windows 7 and are happy with it, there’s probably no reason to race out and buy a copy of Windows 8.1 at the rather high price of $120. But, if you’re using Windows 8, it’s a big upgrade no matter what you’re doing. If you buy a new PC and it comes with Windows 8.1, you’re getting a much more flexible and comfortable experience. If you’re holding off on buying a new computer because you don’t want Windows 8, give Windows 8.1 a try — yes, it’s different, but Microsoft has compromised on the desktop while making a lot of improvements to the new interface. You just might find that Windows 8.1 is now a worthwhile upgrade, even if you only want to use the desktop.     

  Read the article

• Please guide this self-taught Web Developer.

  - by ChickenPuke

  One of the major regrets in life is that I didn't do something with my introversion. I didn't manage to get past the first year of college because of that. I have chosen the path where there are no video games and other time sinks, all I have is the internet to quench my thirst of learning the ins and outs of the field of Web Developing/Designing. Though currently, I'm taking a Web Design Associate course at one of the best Computer Arts and this is the last month of the class. Even though I'm still a sapling, I love this field so much. So basically, At school I'm learning web design while at home I'm teaching myself web-developing. First thing first, returning to college seems impossible at the moment because of some financial problems. I'm pretty comfortable with CSS and HTML and I'm into PHP/MySQL at the moment. Could you please provide me a web-development Curriculum to follow. And do I need to learn about the theories behind? And I think I'm still young(I'm 18 at the time of writing). Is it a good thing or bad thing for choosing this path? I'm glad with my decision but in all honesty, I'm worrying about my future and employment because I'm an undergrad, coming from a country where companies are degree b!tches, it saddens me so. Thank you. (My questions are the bold parts. )

  Read the article

• SQL SERVER – Index Created on View not Used Often – Limitation of the View 12

  - by pinaldave

  I have previously written on the subject SQL SERVER – The Limitations of the Views – Eleven and more…. This was indeed a very popular series and I had received lots of feedback on that topic. Today we are going to discuss something very interesting as well. During my recent performance tuning seminar in Hyderabad, I presented on the subject of Views. During the seminar, one of the attendees asked a question: We create a table and create a View on the top of it. On the same view, if we create Index, when querying View, will that index be used? The answer is NOT Always! (There is only one specific condition when it will be used. We will write about that later in the next post). Let us see the test case for the same. In our script we will do following: USE tempdb GO IF EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sys.views WHERE OBJECT_ID = OBJECT_ID(N'[dbo].[SampleView]')) DROP VIEW [dbo].[SampleView] GO IF EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sys.objects WHERE OBJECT_ID = OBJECT_ID(N'[dbo].[mySampleTable]') AND TYPE IN (N'U')) DROP TABLE [dbo].[mySampleTable] GO -- Create SampleTable CREATE TABLE mySampleTable (ID1 INT, ID2 INT, SomeData VARCHAR(100)) INSERT INTO mySampleTable (ID1,ID2,SomeData) SELECT TOP 100000 ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY o1.name), ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY o2.name), o2.name FROM sys.all_objects o1 CROSS JOIN sys.all_objects o2 GO -- Create View CREATE VIEW SampleView WITH SCHEMABINDING AS SELECT ID1,ID2,SomeData FROM dbo.mySampleTable GO -- Create Index on View CREATE UNIQUE CLUSTERED INDEX [IX_ViewSample] ON [dbo].[SampleView] ( ID2 ASC ) GO -- Select from view SELECT ID1,ID2,SomeData FROM SampleView GO Let us check the execution plan for the last SELECT statement. You can see from the execution plan. That even though we are querying View and the View has index, it is not really using that index. In the next post, we will see the significance of this View and where it can be helpful. Meanwhile, I encourage you to read my View series: SQL SERVER – The Limitations of the Views – Eleven and more…. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Scripts, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQL Training, SQL View, T SQL, Technology

  Read the article

• Smithsonian Showcases Video Game History with The Art of Video Games [Video]

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  The Art of Video Games is the Smithsonian’s look at the history of video games; check out this video trailer to see what the exhibition is all about and hear from some notable folks. From the Smithsonian listing for the exhibition: The Art of Video Games is one of the first exhibitions to explore the forty-year evolution of video games as an artistic medium, with a focus on striking visual effects and the creative use of new technologies. It features some of the most influential artists and designers during five eras of game technology, from early pioneers to contemporary designers. The exhibition focuses on the interplay of graphics, technology and storytelling through some of the best games for twenty gaming systems ranging from the Atari VCS to the PlayStation 3. The exhibit will be at the Smithsonian until the end of September and will then begin touring the country. Hit up the link below for more information. The Art of Video Games Tour [via Neatorama] How To Properly Scan a Photograph (And Get An Even Better Image) The HTG Guide to Hiding Your Data in a TrueCrypt Hidden Volume Make Your Own Windows 8 Start Button with Zero Memory Usage

  Read the article

• What popular "best practices" are not always best, and why?

  - by SnOrfus

  "Best practices" are everywhere in our industry. A Google search on "coding best practices" turns up nearly 1.5 million results. The idea seems to bring comfort to many; just follow the instructions, and everything will turn out fine. When I read about a best practice - for example, I just read through several in Clean Code recently - I get nervous. Does this mean that I should always use this practice? Are there conditions attached? Are there situations where it might not be a good practice? How can I know for sure until I've learned more about the problem? Several of the practices mentioned in Clean Code did not sit right with me, but I'm honestly not sure if that's because they're potentially bad, or if that's just my personal bias talking. I do know that many prominent people in the tech industry seem to think that there are no best practices, so at least my nagging doubts place me in good company. The number of best practices I've read about are simply too numerous to list here or ask individual questions about, so I would like to phrase this as a general question: Which coding practices that are popularly labeled as "best practices" can be sub-optimal or even harmful under certain circumstances? What are those circumstances and why do they make the practice a poor one? I would prefer to hear about specific examples and experiences.

  Read the article

• How to Backup and Transfer Opera Settings, Profiles, and Browsing Sessions

  - by Lori Kaufman

  We’ve previously shown you how to backup Firefox profiles using an extension and third-party software and how to backup Google Chrome profiles. If you use Opera, there is a free tool that makes it easy to backup Opera profiles, settings, and even browsing sessions. Opera offers a sync service, called Opera Link, which allows you to sync your bookmarks, personal bar, history, Speed Dial, notes, and search engines with other computers. However, this service does not sync your current browsing sessions and passwords. We found a free tool, called Stu’s Opera Settings Import & Export tool, that allows you to export all your Opera settings, profiles, and browsing sessions to an archive and import it into Opera on the same or another computer. Stu’s Opera Settings Import & Export tool is portable and does not need to be installed. Simply download the .zip file using the link at the end of this article. Double-click the osie.exe file to run the program. 8 Deadly Commands You Should Never Run on Linux 14 Special Google Searches That Show Instant Answers How To Create a Customized Windows 7 Installation Disc With Integrated Updates

  Read the article

• Create my own database system

  - by Xananax

  Ok so before I get bashed: I know it's something huge for one person; I don't care if the end product can actually be used or not. I need to learn how databases work in order to use them more efficiently, and my way of learning is by doing. So I want to create my own database system. I am not referring to creating a pseudo-database that would use query to parse files; this would simply be a filesystem interface with a query language. I am talking about the actual structure of a database engine. And since what I have in mind is neither relational nor document-oriented (it's "node-oriented", if that even exists), I would need any resource to be as abstract and high-level as possible. So how would I go about creating that? What resources/tutorials/books can I read to understand? The language does not matter in the slightest. Ideally, the code would be pseudo-code to illustrate the concept, not tied to a particular language, but anything would do. I was not able to find anything on the matter on google (since I am so illiterate on the subject, maybe I am just not entering the right search). If such resources are not available, then I guess something about how to create a client would at least be a step in the right direction.

  Read the article

• How To Downgrade Firefox 5 To Firefox 4

  - by Gopinath

  Mozilla finally released Firefox 5 on it’s web site today but it’s been available unofficially through the FTP channels for the past couple of days. Even though there are not many new features in Firefox 5, many of us would like to install the latest version for being up to date with the cutting edge web browser. If you upgraded to Firefox 5 and found few of your favourite Firefox plugins are disabled as they are not compatible with the new version here is what you need to downgrade it to Firefox 4. Downgrading to Firefox 4 is simple, you just need to get the latest installer and run it. Here are detailed instructions: 1. Point your web browser to the FTP servers of Mozilla that hosts the latest version of Firefox 4. Here are the links to various various OS flavours of Firefox: Windows 32 Bit, Apple Mac, Linux – i686 or Linux – x86 64 Bit. 2.  Then navigate to the desired language (direct links for Firefox Windows UK & USA English versions) 3.  Download the setup file 4. Start downgrading by launching the installer. The installer will automatically downgrade Firefox 5 to Firefox 4. This article titled,How To Downgrade Firefox 5 To Firefox 4, was originally published at Tech Dreams. Grab our rss feed or fan us on Facebook to get updates from us.

  Read the article

• Box Selection and Multi-Line Editing with VS 2010

  - by ScottGu

  This is the twenty-second in a series of blog posts I’m doing on the VS 2010 and .NET 4 release. I’ve already covered some of the code editor improvements in the VS 2010 release.  In particular, I’ve blogged about the Code Intellisense Improvements, new Code Searching and Navigating Features, HTML, ASP.NET and JavaScript Snippet Support, and improved JavaScript Intellisense.  Today’s blog post covers a small, but nice, editor improvement with VS 2010 – the ability to use “Box Selection” when performing multi-line editing.  This can eliminate keystrokes and enables some slick editing scenarios. [In addition to blogging, I am also now using Twitter for quick updates and to share links. Follow me at: twitter.com/scottgu] Box Selection Box selection is a feature that has been in Visual Studio for awhile (although not many people knew about it).  It allows you to select a rectangular region of text within the code editor by holding down the Alt key while selecting the text region with the mouse.  With VS 2008 you could then copy or delete the selected text. VS 2010 now enables several more capabilities with box selection including: Text Insertion: Typing with box selection now allows you to insert new text into every selected line Paste/Replace: You can now paste the contents of one box selection into another and have the content flow correctly Zero-Length Boxes: You can now make a vertical selection zero characters wide to create a multi-line insert point for new or copied text These capabilities can be very useful in a variety of scenarios.  Some example scenarios: change access modifiers (private->public), adding comments to multiple lines, setting fields, or grouping multiple statements together. Great 3 Minute Box-Selection Video Demo Brittany Behrens from the Visual Studio Editor Team has an excellent 3 minute video that shows off a few cool VS 2010 multi-line code editing scenarios with box selection:   Watch it to learn a few ways you can use this new box selection capability to optimize your typing in VS 2010 even further: Hope this helps, Scott P.S. You can learn more about the VS Editor by following the Visual Studio Team Blog or by following @VSEditor on Twitter.

  Read the article

• How do I connect my NetXtreme BCM5755M Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express in y Dell latitude d630?

  - by Stanton.Sculpture

  Trying to get my 09:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5755M Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express (rev 02) working with my wifi. I just installed Raring Ringtail on this dell latitude D630 and I can't get it to connect without a wifi dongle. This is what I got when I typed sudo lshw -c network: *-network description: Ethernet interface product: NetXtreme BCM5755M Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express vendor: Broadcom Corporation physical id: 0 bus info: pci@0000:09:00.0 logical name: eth0 version: 02 serial: 00:21:70:98:04:32 capacity: 1Gbit/s width: 64 bits clock: 33MHz capabilities: pm vpd msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt 1000bt-fd autonegotiation configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=tg3 driverversion=3.128 firmware=5755m-v3.29 latency=0 link=no multicast=yes port=twisted pair resources: irq:44 memory:fe8f0000-fe8fffff *-network description: Wireless interface physical id: 2 bus info: usb@2:1 logical name: wlan0 serial: 7c:dd:90:11:a0:10 capabilities: ethernet physical wireless configuration: broadcast=yes driver=rt2800usb driverversion=3.8.0-31-generic firmware=0.29 ip=10.0.0.8 link=yes multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11bgn Also, when I go to additional drivers in the software and updates settings, no proprietary drivers show up. I've tried sudo apt-get install b43-fwcutter firmware-b43-installer because it worked on a bunch of old Dell laptops that I converted over before, but it didn't work on this one. Is this driver even compatible with wifi? Please help.

  Read the article

• AutoVue Integrates with Primavera P6

  - by celine.beck

  Oracle's Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management is an integrated project portfolio management (PPM) application that helps select the right strategic mix of projects, balance resource capacity, manage project risk and complete projects on time and within budget. AutoVue 19.3 and later versions (release 20.0) now integrate out of the box with the Web version of Oracle Primavera P6 release 7. The integration between the two products, which was announced during Oracle Open World 2009, provides project teams with ready access to any project documents directly from within the context of P6 in support for project scope definition and project planning and execution. You can learn more about the integration between AutoVue and Primavera P6 by: Listening to the Oracle Appcast entitled Enhance Primavera Project Document Collaboration with AutoVue Enterprise Visualization Watching an Oracle Webcast about how to improve project success with document visualization and collaboration Watching a recorded demo of the integrated solution Teams involved in complex projects like construction or plant shutdown activities are highly interdependent: the decisions of one affecting the actions of many others. This coupled with increasing project complexity, a vast array of players and heavy engineering and document-intensive workflows makes it more challenging to complete jobs on time and within budget. Organizations need complete visibility into project information, as well as robust project planning, risk analysis and resource balancing capabilities similar to those featured in Primavera P6 ; they also need to make sure that all project stakeholders, even those who neither understand engineering drawings nor are interested in engineering details that go beyond their specific needs, have ready access to technically advanced project information. This is exactly what the integration between AutoVue and Primavera delivers: ready access to any project information attached to Primavera projects, tasks or activities via AutoVue. There is no need for users to waste time searching for project-related documents or disrupting engineers for printouts, users have all the context they need to make sound decisions right from within Primavera P6 with a single click of a button. We are very excited about this new integration. If you are using Primavera and / or Primavera tied with AutoVue, we would be interested in getting your feedback on this integration! Please do not hesitate to post your comments / reactions on the blog!

  Read the article

• Fitting it together, database, reporting, applications in C#

  - by alvonellos

  Introduction Preamble I was hesitant to post this, since it's an application whose intricate details are defined elsewhere, and answers may not be helpful to others. Within the past few weeks (I was actually going to write a blog post about this after I finished) I've discovered that the barrier I'm encountering is one that's actually quite common for newer developers. This question is not so much about a specific thing as it is about piecing those things together. I've searched the internet far and wide, and found many tutorials on how to create applications that are kind of similar to what I'm looking for. I've also looked at hiring another, more experienced, developer to help me along, but all I've gotten are unqualified candidates that don't have the experience necessary and won't take care of the client or project like I will. I'd rather have the project never transpire than to release a solution that is half-baked. I've asked professors at my school, but they've not turned up answers to my question. I'm an experienced developer, and I've written many applications that are -- very abstractly -- close to what I'm doing, but my experiences from those applications aren't giving me enough leverage to solve this particular problem. I just hope that posting this article isn't a mistake for me to write. Project Description I have a project I'm working on for a client that is a rewrite of an application, originally written in Foxpro 2.6 by someone before me, that performs some analysis (which, sadly, I'm not allowed to disclose as per of my employment contract) on financial data. One day, after a long talk between the client and I -- where he intimately described his frustrations with all the bugs I've been hacking out of this code for 6 months now -- he told me to just rewrite it and gave me a month to write a good 1/8 of this 65k LOC Foxpro monstrosity. this 65k line of code foxpro monstrosity. It'll take me a good 3 - 6 months to rewrite this software (I know things the original programmer did not, like inheritance) going as I am right now, but I'm quickly discovering that I'm going to need to use databases. Prior to this contract I didn't even know about foxpro, and so I've had to learn foxpro on the fly, write procedures and make modifications to the database. I've actually come to like it, and this project would be rewritten in Foxpro if it were still a supported language, because over the past few months, I've come to like the features of Foxpro that make it so easy to develop data-driven applications. I once perfomed an experiment, comparing C# to Foxpro. What took me 45 minutes in C# took me two in Foxpro, and I knew C# prior to Foxpro. I was hoping to leverage the power of C#, but it intimidates me that in foxpro, you can have one line of code and be using a database. Prior to this, I have never written any serious database development from scratch. All the applications that I've written are in a different league. They are either completely data-naive or data-naive enough that I can get away with not using a database through serialization or by designing algorithms that work with the data in a manner that is stateless, so there is no need to worry about databases. I've come to realize, very quickly, that serialization and my efficacy with data structures has been my crutch all these years that's prevented me from adventuring into databases, and has consequently hindered my success in real-world programming. Sure, I've written some database stuff in Perl and Python, and I've done forms and worked with relational databases and tables, I'm a wizard in Access and Excel (seriously) and can do just about anything, but it just feels unnatural writing SQL code in another language... I don't mind writing SQL, and I don't It's that bridge between the database and the program code that drives me absolutely bonkers. I hope I'm not the only one to think this, but it bothers me that I have to create statements like the following string sSql = "SELECT * from tablename" When there's really no reason for that kind of unchecked language binding between two languages and two API's. Don't get my wrong, SQL is great, but I don't like the idea that, when executing commands on a SQL database, that one must intermix database and application software, and there's no database independence, which means that different versions of different databases can break code. This isn't very nice. The nicest thing about Foxpro is the cohesiveness between programming language and database. It's so easy, and Foxpro makes it easy, because the tool just fits the task. I can see why so many developers have created a career with this language, because it lowered the barrier of entry to data-driven applications that so many businesses need. It was wonderful. For my purposes today, with the demands and need for community support, extensibility, and language features, Foxpro isn't a solution that I feel would be the right tool for the job. I'm also worried about working too heavy with the database, because I've seen data-driven .NET applications have issues with database caches, running out of memory, and objects in the database not being collected. (Memory leaks) And OH the queries. Which one, how, and why? There are a plethora of different ways that a database can be setup, I think I counted 5 or 6 different kinds of database applications alone that I can chose from. That is a great mountain for me to climb when I don't even know where to begin when it comes to writing data-driven applications. The problem isn't that I don't know SQL or that I don't know C#. I know both and have worked with both extensively. It's making them work together that's the problem, and it's something I've never done in C# before. Reports The client likes paper. The data needs to be printed out in a format that is extensible, layered, and easy to use. I have never done reporting before, and so this is a bit of a problem. From the data source comes crystal reports, and so there's a dependency on the database, from what I understand. Code reuse A large part of the design decision that I've gone through so far is to break the task of writing a piece of this software into routines and modular DLL's and so forth such that much of the code can be reused. For example, when I setup this database, I want to be able to reuse the same database code over and over again. I also want to make sure that when the day comes that another developer is here, that he/she will be able to pick up just where I left off. The quicker I develop these applications, the better off I am. Tasks & Goals In my project, I need to write routines that apply algorithms and look for predefined patterns in financial data. Additionally, I need to simulate trading based on predefined algorithms and data. Then I need to prepare reports on that data. Additionally, I need to have a way to change the code base for this application quickly and effectively, without hacking together some band-aid solution for a problem that really needs a trauma ward. Special Considerations The solution must be fast, run quickly on existing hardware, and not be too much of a pain to maintain and write. I understand that anything I write I'm married to -- I'm responsible for the things that I write because my reputation and livelihood is dependent on it. Do I really need a database? What about performance? Performance was such a big issue that I hand wrote a data structure that is capable of performing 2 billion operations, using a total of 4 gigs of memory in under 1/4 of a second using the standard core two duo processor. I could not find a similar, pre-written data structure in C# to perform this task. What setup do I use in terms of database? What about reporting? I'd prefer to have PDF's generated, but I'd like to be able to visually sketch those reports and then just have a ReportFactory of some sort, that when I pass some variables in, it just does that data. About Me I'm a lone developer for a small business in this area. This is the first time I've done this and I've never had the breadth and depth of my knowledge tested. I'm incredibly frustrated with this project because I feel incredibly overwhelmed with the task at hand. I'm looking for that entry level point where I can draw a line and say "this is what I need to do" Conclusion I may have not been clear enough on my post. I'm still new to this whole thing, and I've been doing my best to contribute back to the community that I've leached so much knowledge from. I'd be glad to edit my post and add more information if possible. I'm looking for a big-picture solution or design process that helps me get off the ground in this world of data-driven applications, because I have a feeling that it's going to be concentric to my entire career as a programmer for some time. Specifically, if you didn't get it from the rest of the post (I may not have been clear enough) I really need some guidance as to where to go in terms of the design decisions for this project. Some things that'll be useful will be a pro/con list for the different kinds of database projects available in VS2010. I've tried, but generating that list has been as hard as solving the problem itself... If you could walk a developer writing a data-driven application for the first time in C#, how would you do that? Where would you point them to?

  Read the article

• SQL SERVER – Fastest Way to Restore the Database

  - by pinaldave

  A few days ago, I received following email: “Pinal, We are in an emergency situation. We have a large database of around 80+ GB and its backup is of 50+ GB in size. We need to restore this database ASAP and use it; however, restoring the database takes forever. Do you think a compressed backup would solve our problem? Any other ideas you got?” First of all, the asker has already answered his own question. Yes; I have seen that if you are using a compressed backup, it takes lesser time when you try to restore a database. I have previously blogged about the same subject. Here are the links to those blog posts: SQL SERVER – Data and Page Compressions – Data Storage and IO Improvement SQL SERVER – 2008 – Introduction to Row Compression SQL SERVER – 2008 – Introduction to New Feature of Backup Compression However, if your database is very large that it still takes a few minutes to restore the database even though you use any of the features listed above, then it will really take some time to restore the database. If there is urgency and there is no time you can spare for restoring the database, then you can use the wonderful tool developed by Idera called virtual database. This tool restores a certain database in just a few seconds so it will readily be available for usage. I have in depth written my experience with this tool in the article here SQL SERVER – Retrieve and Explore Database Backup without Restoring Database – Idera virtual database. Let me know your experience in this scenario. Have you ever needed your database backup restored very quickly, what did you do in that scenario. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: Pinal Dave, Readers Question, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Backup and Restore, SQL Performance, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

  Read the article

• Beware: Upgrade to ASP.NET MVC 2.0 with care if you use AntiForgeryToken

  - by James Crowley

  If you're thinking of upgrading to MVC 2.0, and you take advantage of the AntiForgeryToken support then be careful - you can easily kick out all active visitors after the upgrade until they restart their browser. Why's this?For the anti forgery validation to take place, ASP.NET MVC uses a session cookie called "__RequestVerificationToken_Lw__". This gets checked for and de-serialized on any page where there is an AntiForgeryToken() call. However, the format of this validation cookie has apparently changed between MVC 1.0 and MVC 2.0. What this means is that when you make to switch on your production server to MVC 2.0, suddenly all your visitors session cookies are invalid, resulting in calls to AntiForgeryToken() throwing exceptions (even on a standard GET request) when de-serializing it: [InvalidCastException: Unable to cast object of type 'System.Web.UI.Triplet' to type 'System.Object[]'.]   System.Web.Mvc.AntiForgeryDataSerializer.Deserialize(String serializedToken) +104[HttpAntiForgeryException (0x80004005): A required anti-forgery token was not supplied or was invalid.]   System.Web.Mvc.AntiForgeryDataSerializer.Deserialize(String serializedToken) +368   System.Web.Mvc.HtmlHelper.GetAntiForgeryTokenAndSetCookie(String salt, String domain, String path) +209   System.Web.Mvc.HtmlHelper.AntiForgeryToken(String salt, String domain, String path) +16   System.Web.Mvc.HtmlHelper.AntiForgeryToken() +10  <snip> So you've just kicked all your active users out of your site with exceptions until they think to restart their browser (to clear the session cookies). The only work around for now is to either write some code that wipes this cookie - or disable use of AntiForgeryToken() in your MVC 2.0 site until you're confident all session cookies will have expired. That in itself isn't very straightforward, given how frequently people tend to hibernate/standby their machines - the session cookie will only clear once the browser has been shut down and re-opened. Hope this helps someone out there!

  Read the article

< Previous Page | 667 668 669 670 671 672 673 674 675 676 677 678  | Next Page >