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• C# in Depth, Third Edition by Jon Skeet, Manning Publications Co. Book Review

  - by Compudicted

  Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/Compudicted/archive/2013/10/24/c-in-depth-third-edition-by-jon-skeet-manning-publications.aspx I started reading this ebook on September 28, 2013, the same day it was sent my way by Manning Publications Co. for review while it still being fresh off the press. So 1st thing – thanks to Manning for this opportunity and a free copy of this must have on every C# developer’s desk book! Several hours ago I finished reading this book (well, except a for a large portion of its quite lengthy appendix). I jumped writing this review right away while still being full of emotions and impressions from reading it thoroughly and running code examples. Before I go any further I would like say that I used to program on various platforms using various languages starting with the Mainframe and ending on Windows, and I gradually shifted toward dealing with databases more than anything, however it happened with me to program in C# 1 a lot when it was first released and then some C# 2 with a big leap in between to C# 5. So my perception and experience reading this book may differ from yours. Also what I want to tell is somewhat funny that back then, knowing some Java and seeing C# 1 released, initially made me drawing a parallel that it is a copycat language, how wrong was I… Interestingly, Jon programs in Java full time, but how little it was mentioned in the book! So more on the book: Be informed, this is not a typical “Recipes”, “Cookbook” or any set of ready solutions, it is rather targeting mature, advanced developers who do not only know how to use a number of features, but are willing to understand how the language is operating “under the hood”. I must state immediately, at the same time I am glad the author did not go into the murky depths of the MSIL, so this is a very welcome decision on covering a modern language as C# for me, thank you Jon! Frankly, not all was that rosy regarding the tone and structure of the book, especially the the first half or so filled me with several negative and positive emotions overpowering each other. To expand more on that, some statements in the book appeared to be bias to me, or filled with pre-justice, it started to look like it had some PR-sole in it, but thankfully this was all gone toward the end of the 1st third of the book. Specifically, the mention on the C# language popularity, Java is the #1 language as per https://sites.google.com/site/pydatalog/pypl/PyPL-PopularitY-of-Programming-Language (many other sources put C at the top which I highly doubt), also many interesting functional languages as Clojure and Groovy appeared and gained huge traction which run on top of Java/JVM whereas C# does not enjoy such a situation. If we want to discuss the popularity in general and say how fast a developer can find a new job that pays well it would be indeed the very Java, C++ or PHP, never C#. Or that phrase on language preference as a personal issue? We choose where to work or we are chosen because of a technology used at a given software shop, not vice versa. The book though it technically very accurate with valid code, concise examples, but I wish the author would give more concrete, real-life examples on where each feature should be used, not how. Another point to realize before you get the book is that it is almost a live book which started to be written when even C# 3 wasn’t around so a lot of ground is covered (nearly half of the book) on the pre-C# 3 feature releases so if you already have a solid background in the previous releases and do not plan to upgrade, perhaps half of the book can be skipped, otherwise this book is surely highly recommended. Alas, for me it was a hard read, most of it. It was not boring (well, only may be two times), it was just hard to grasp some concepts, but do not get me wrong, it did made me pause, on several occasions, and made me read and re-read a page or two. At times I even wondered if I have any IQ at all (LOL). Be prepared to read A LOT on generics, not that they are widely used in the field (I happen to work as a consultant and went thru a lot of code at many places) I can tell my impression is the developers today in best case program using examples found at OpenStack.com. Also unlike the Java world where having the most recent version is nearly mandated by the OSS most companies on the Microsoft platform almost never tempted to upgrade the .Net version very soon and very often. As a side note, I was glad to see code recently that included a nullable variable (myvariable? notation) and this made me smile, besides, I recommended that person this book to expand her knowledge. The good things about this book is that Jon maintains an active forum, prepared code snippets and even a small program (Snippy) that is happy to run the sample code saving you from writing any plumbing code. A tad now on the C# language itself – it sure enjoyed a wonderful road toward perfection and a very high adoption, especially for ASP development. But to me all the recent features that made this statically typed language more dynamic look strange. Don’t we have F#? Which supposed to be the dynamic language? Why do we need to have a hybrid language? Now the developers live their lives in dualism of the static and dynamic variables! And LINQ to SQL, it is covered in depth, but wasn’t it supposed to be dropped? Also it seems that very little is being added, and at a slower pace, e.g. Roslyn will come in late 2014 perhaps, and will be probably the only main feature. Again, it is quite hard to read this book as various chapters, C# versions mentioned every so often only if I only could remember what was covered exactly where! So the fact it has so many jumps/links back and forth I recommend the ebook format to make the navigations easier to perform and I do recommend using software that allows bookmarking, also make sure you have access to plenty of coffee and pizza (hey, you probably know this joke – who a programmer is) ! In terms of closing, if you stuck at C# 1 or 2 level, it is time to embrace the power of C# 5! Finally, to compliment Manning, this book unlike from any other publisher so far, was the only one as well readable (put it formatted) on my tablet as in Adobe Reader on a laptop.

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• LLBLGen Pro v3.1 released!

  - by FransBouma

  Yesterday we released LLBLGen Pro v3.1! Version 3.1 comes with new features and enhancements, which I'll describe briefly below. v3.1 is a free upgrade for v3.x licensees. What's new / changed? Designer Extensible Import system. An extensible import system has been added to the designer to import project data from external sources. Importers are plug-ins which import project meta-data (like entity definitions, mappings and relational model data) from an external source into the loaded project. In v3.1, an importer plug-in for importing project elements from existing LLBLGen Pro v3.x project files has been included. You can use this importer to create source projects from which you import parts of models to build your actual project with. Model-only relationships. In v3.1, relationships of the type 1:1, m:1 and 1:n can be marked as model-only. A model-only relationship isn't required to have a backing foreign key constraint in the relational model data. They're ideal for projects which have to work with relational databases where changes can't always be made or some relationships can't be added to (e.g. the ones which are important for the entity model, but are not allowed to be added to the relational model for some reason). Custom field ordering. Although fields in an entity definition don't really have an ordering, it can be important for some situations to have the entity fields in a given order, e.g. when you use compound primary keys. Field ordering can be defined using a pop-up dialog which can be opened through various ways, e.g. inside the project explorer, model view and entity editor. It can also be set automatically during refreshes based on new settings. Command line relational model data refresher tool, CliRefresher.exe. The command line refresh tool shipped with v2.6 is now available for v3.1 as well Navigation enhancements in various designer elements. It's now easier to find elements like entities, typed views etc. in the project explorer from editors, to navigate to related entities in the project explorer by right clicking a relationship, navigate to the super-type in the project explorer when right-clicking an entity and navigate to the sub-type in the project explorer when right-clicking a sub-type node in the project explorer. Minor visual enhancements / tweaks LLBLGen Pro Runtime Framework Entity creation is now up to 30% faster and takes 5% less memory. Creating an entity object has been optimized further by tweaks inside the framework to make instantiating an entity object up to 30% faster. It now also takes up to 5% less memory than in v3.0 Prefetch Path node merging is now up to 20-25% faster. Setting entity references required the creation of a new relationship object. As this relationship object is always used internally it could be cached (as it's used for syncing only). This increases performance by 20-25% in the merging functionality. Entity fetches are now up to 20% faster. A large number of tweaks have been applied to make entity fetches up to 20% faster than in v3.0. Full WCF RIA support. It's now possible to use your LLBLGen Pro runtime framework powered domain layer in a WCF RIA application using the VS.NET tools for WCF RIA services. WCF RIA services is a Microsoft technology for .NET 4 and typically used within silverlight applications. SQL Server DQE compatibility level is now per instance. (Usable in Adapter). It's now possible to set the compatibility level of the SQL Server Dynamic Query Engine (DQE) per instance of the DQE instead of the global setting it was before. The global setting is still available and is used as the default value for the compatibility level per-instance. You can use this to switch between CE Desktop and normal SQL Server compatibility per DataAccessAdapter instance. Support for COUNT_BIG aggregate function (SQL Server specific). The aggregate function COUNT_BIG has been added to the list of available aggregate functions to be used in the framework. Minor changes / tweaks I'm especially pleased with the import system, as that makes working with entity models a lot easier. The import system lets you import from another LLBLGen Pro v3 project any entity definition, mapping and / or meta-data like table definitions. This way you can build repository projects where you store model fragments, e.g. the building blocks for a customer-order system, a user credential model etc., any model you can think of. In most projects, you'll recognize that some parts of your new model look familiar. In these cases it would have been easier if you would have been able to import these parts from projects you had pre-created. With LLBLGen Pro v3.1 you can. For example, say you have an Oracle schema called CRM which contains the bread 'n' butter customer-order-product kind of model. You create an entity model from that schema and save it in a project file. Now you start working on another project for another customer and you have to use SQL Server. You also start using model-first development, so develop the entity model from scratch as there's no existing database. As this customer also requires some CRM like entity model, you import the entities from your saved Oracle project into this new SQL Server targeting project. Because you don't work with Oracle this time, you don't import the relational meta-data, just the entities, their relationships and possibly their inheritance hierarchies, if any. As they're now entities in your project you can change them a bit to match the new customer's requirements. This can save you a lot of time, because you can re-use pre-fab model fragments for new projects. In the example above there are no tables yet (as you work model first) so using the forward mapping capabilities of LLBLGen Pro v3 creates the tables, PK constraints, Unique Constraints and FK constraints for you. This way you can build a nice repository of model fragments which you can re-use in new projects.

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• SQL SERVER – 5 Tips for Improving Your Data with expressor Studio

  - by pinaldave

  It’s no secret that bad data leads to bad decisions and poor results.  However, how do you prevent dirty data from taking up residency in your data store?  Some might argue that it’s the responsibility of the person sending you the data.  While that may be true, in practice that will rarely hold up.  It doesn’t matter how many times you ask, you will get the data however they decide to provide it. So now you have bad data.  What constitutes bad data?  There are quite a few valid answers, for example: Invalid date values Inappropriate characters Wrong data Values that exceed a pre-set threshold While it is certainly possible to write your own scripts and custom SQL to identify and deal with these data anomalies, that effort often takes too long and becomes difficult to maintain.  Instead, leveraging an ETL tool like expressor Studio makes the data cleansing process much easier and faster.  Below are some tips for leveraging expressor to get your data into tip-top shape. Tip 1:     Build reusable data objects with embedded cleansing rules One of the new features in expressor Studio 3.2 is the ability to define constraints at the metadata level.  Using expressor’s concept of Semantic Types, you can define reusable data objects that have embedded logic such as constraints for dealing with dirty data.  Once defined, they can be saved as a shared atomic type and then re-applied to other data attributes in other schemas. As you can see in the figure above, I’ve defined a constraint on zip code.  I can then save the constraint rules I defined for zip code as a shared atomic type called zip_type for example.   The next time I get a different data source with a schema that also contains a zip code field, I can simply apply the shared atomic type (shown below) and the previously defined constraints will be automatically applied. Tip 2:     Unlock the power of regular expressions in Semantic Types Another powerful feature introduced in expressor Studio 3.2 is the option to use regular expressions as a constraint.   A regular expression is used to identify patterns within data.   The patterns could be something as simple as a date format or something much more complex such as a street address.  For example, I could define that a valid IP address should be made up of 4 numbers, each 0 to 255, and separated by a period.  So 192.168.23.123 might be a valid IP address whereas 888.777.0.123 would not be.   How can I account for this using regular expressions? A very simple regular expression that would look for any 4 sets of 3 digits separated by a period would be:  ^[0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3}$ Alternatively, the following would be the exact check for truly valid IP addresses as we had defined above:  ^(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|1[0-9]{2}|[1-9]?[0-9])\.(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|1[0-9]{2}|[1-9]?[0-9])\.(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|1[0-9]{2}|[1-9]?[0-9])\.(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|1[0-9]{2}|[1-9]?[0-9])$ .  In expressor, we would enter this regular expression as a constraint like this: Here we select the corrective action to be ‘Escalate’, meaning that the expressor Dataflow operator will decide what to do.  Some of the options include rejecting the offending record, skipping it, or aborting the dataflow. Tip 3:     Email pattern expressions that might come in handy In the example schema that I am using, there’s a field for email.  Email addresses are often entered incorrectly because people are trying to avoid spam.  While there are a lot of different ways to define what constitutes a valid email address, a quick search online yields a couple of really useful regular expressions for validating email addresses: This one is short and sweet:  \b[A-Z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Z0-9.-]+\.[A-Z]{2,4}\b (Source: http://www.regular-expressions.info/) This one is more specific about which characters are allowed:  ^([a-zA-Z0-9_\-\.]+)@((\[[0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3}\.)|(([a-zA-Z0-9\-]+\.)+))([a-zA-Z]{2,4}|[0-9]{1,3})(\]?)$ (Source: http://regexlib.com/REDetails.aspx?regexp_id=26 ) Tip 4:     Reject “dirty data” for analysis or further processing Yet another feature introduced in expressor Studio 3.2 is the ability to reject records based on constraint violations.  To capture reject records on input, simply specify Reject Record in the Error Handling setting for the Read File operator.  Then attach a Write File operator to the reject port of the Read File operator as such: Next, in the Write File operator, you can configure the expressor operator in a similar way to the Read File.  The key difference would be that the schema needs to be derived from the upstream operator as shown below: Once configured, expressor will output rejected records to the file you specified.  In addition to the rejected records, expressor also captures some diagnostic information that will be helpful towards identifying why the record was rejected.  This makes diagnosing errors much easier! Tip 5:    Use a Filter or Transform after the initial cleansing to finish the job Sometimes you may want to predicate the data cleansing on a more complex set of conditions.  For example, I may only be interested in processing data containing males over the age of 25 in certain zip codes.  Using an expressor Filter operator, you can define the conditional logic which isolates the records of importance away from the others. Alternatively, the expressor Transform operator can be used to alter the input value via a user defined algorithm or transformation.  It also supports the use of conditional logic and data can be rejected based on constraint violations. However, the best tip I can leave you with is to not constrain your solution design approach – expressor operators can be combined in many different ways to achieve the desired results.  For example, in the expressor Dataflow below, I can post-process the reject data from the Filter which did not meet my pre-defined criteria and, if successful, Funnel it back into the flow so that it gets written to the target table. I continue to be impressed that expressor offers all this functionality as part of their FREE expressor Studio desktop ETL tool, which you can download from here.  Their Studio ETL tool is absolutely free and they are very open about saying that if you want to deploy their software on a dedicated Windows Server, you need to purchase their server software, whose pricing is posted on their website. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: Pinal Dave, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Scripts, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

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• Java FAQ: Tudo o que você precisa saber

  - by Bruno.Borges

  Com frequência recebo e-mails de clientes com dúvidas sobre "quando sairá a próxima versão do Java?", ou então "quando vai expirar o Java?" ou ainda "quais as mudanças da próxima versão?". Por isso resolvi escrever aqui um FAQ, respondendo estas dúvidas e muitas outras. Este post estará sempre atualizado, então se você possui alguma dúvida, envie para mim no Twitter @brunoborges. Qual a diferença entre o Oracle JDK e o OpenJDK?O projeto OpenJDK funciona como a implementação de referência Open Source do Java Standard Edition. Empresas como a Oracle, IBM, e Azul Systems suportam e investem no projeto OpenJDK para continuar evoluindo a plataforma Java. O Oracle JDK é baseado no OpenJDK, mas traz outras ferramentas como o Mission Control, e a máquina virtual traz algumas features avançadas como por exemplo o Flight Recorder. Até a versão 6, a Oracle oferecia duas máquinas virtuais: JRockit (BEA) e HotSpot (Sun). A partir da versão 7 a Oracle unificou as máquinas virtuais, e levou as features avançadas do JRockit para dentro da VM HotSpot. Leia também o OpenJDK FAQ. Onde posso obter binários beta Early Access do JDK 7, JDK 8, JDK 9 para testar?A partir do projeto OpenJDK, existe um projeto específico para cada versão do Java. Nestes projetos você pode encontrar binários beta Early Access, além do código-fonte. JDK 6 - http://jdk6.java.net/ JDK 7 - http://jdk7.java.net/ JDK 8 - http://jdk8.java.net/ JDK 9 - http://jdk9.java.net/ Quando acaba o suporte do Oracle Java SE 6, 7, 8? Somente produtos e versões com release oficial são suportados pela Oracle (exemplo: não há suporte para binários beta do JDK 7, JDK 8, ou JDK 9). Existem duas categorias de datas que o usuriário do Java deve estar ciente:  EOPU - End of Public UpdatesMomento em que a Oracle não mais disponibiliza publicamente atualizações Oracle SupportPolítica de suporte da Oracle para produtos, incluindo o Oracle Java SE O Oracle Java SE é um produto e portando os períodos de suporte são regidos pelo Oracle Lifetime Support Policy. Consulte este documento para datas atualizadas e específicas para cada versão do Java. O Oracle Java SE 6 já atingiu EOPU (End of Public Updates) e agora é mantido e atualizado somente para clientes através de contrato comercial de suporte. Para maiores informações, consulte a página sobre Oracle Java SE Support.  O mais importante aqui é você estar ciente sobre as datas de EOPU para as versões do Java SE da Oracle.Consulte a página do Oracle Java SE Support Roadmap e busque nesta página pela tabela com nome Java SE Public Updates. Nela você encontrará a data em que determinada versão do Java irá atingir EOPU. Como funciona o versionamento do Java?Em 2013, a Oracle divulgou um novo esquema de versionamento do Java para facilmente identificar quando é um release CPU e quando é um release LFR, e também para facilitar o planejamento e desenvolvimento de correções e features para futuras versões. CPU - Critical Patch UpdateAtualizações com correções de segurança. Versão será múltipla de 5, ou com soma de 1 para manter o número ímpar. Exemplos: 7u45, 7u51, 7u55. LFR - Limited Feature ReleaseAtualizações com correções de funcionalidade, melhorias de performance, e novos recursos. Versões de números pares múltiplos de 20, com final 0. Exemplos: 7u40, 7u60, 8u20. Qual a data da próxima atualização de segurança (CPU) do Java SE?Lançamentos do tipo CPU são controlados e pré-agendados pela Oracle e se aplicam a todos os produtos, inclusive o Oracle Java SE. Estes releases acontecem a cada 3 meses, sempre na Terça-feira mais próxima do dia 17 dos meses de Janeiro, Abril, Julho, e Outubro. Consulte a página Critical Patch Updates, Security Alerts and Third Party Bulleting para saber das próximas datas. Caso tenha interesse, você pode acompanhar através de recebimentos destes boletins diretamente no seu email. Veja como assinar o Boletim de Segurança da Oracle. Qual a data da próxima atualização de features (LFR) do Java SE?A Oracle reserva o direito de não divulgar estas datas, assim como o faz para todos os seus produtos. Entretanto é possível acompanhar o desenvolvimento da próxima versão pelos sites do projeto OpenJDK. A próxima versão do JDK 7 será o update 60 e binários beta Early Access já estão disponíveis para testes. A próxima versão doJDK 8 será o update 20 e binários beta Early Access já estão disponíveis para testes. Onde posso ver as mudanças e o que foi corrigido para a próxima versão do Java?A Oracle disponibiliza um changelog para cada binário beta Early Access divulgado no portal Java.net. JDK 7 update 60 changelogs JDK 8 update 20 changelogs Quando o Java da minha máquina (ou do meu usuário) vai expirar?Conheçendo o sistema de versionamento do Java e a periodicidade dos releases de CPU, o usuário pode determinar quando que um update do Java irá expirar. De todo modo, a cada novo update, a Oracle já informa quando que este update deverá expirar diretamente no release notes da versão. Por exemplo, no release notes da versão Oracle Java SE 7 update 55, está escrito na seção JRE Expiration Date o seguinte: The JRE expires whenever a new release with security vulnerability fixes becomes available. Critical patch updates, which contain security vulnerability fixes, are announced one year in advance on Critical Patch Updates, Security Alerts and Third Party Bulletin. This JRE (version 7u55) will expire with the release of the next critical patch update scheduled for July 15, 2014. For systems unable to reach the Oracle Servers, a secondary mechanism expires this JRE (version 7u55) on August 15, 2014. After either condition is met (new release becoming available or expiration date reached), the JRE will provide additional warnings and reminders to users to update to the newer version. For more information, see JRE Expiration Date.Ou seja, a versão 7u55 irá expirar com o lançamento do próximo release CPU, pré-agendado para o dia 15 de Julho de 2014. E caso o computador do usuário não possa se comunicar com o servidor da Oracle, esta versão irá expirar forçadamente no dia 15 de Agosto de 2014 (através de um mecanismo embutido na versão 7u55). O usuário não é obrigado a atualizar para versões LFR e portanto, mesmo com o release da versão 7u60, a versão atual 7u55 não irá expirar.Veja o release notes do Oracle Java SE 8 update 5. Encontrei um bug. Como posso reportar bugs ou problemas no Java SE, para a Oracle?Sempre que possível, faça testes com os binários beta antes da versão final ser lançada. Qualquer problema que você encontrar com estes binários beta, por favor descreva o problema através do fórum de Project Feebdack do JDK.Caso você encontre algum problema em uma versão final do Java, utilize o formulário de Bug Report. Importante: bugs reportados por estes sistemas não são considerados Suporte e portanto não há SLA de atendimento. A Oracle reserva o direito de manter o bug público ou privado, e também de informar ou não o usuário sobre o progresso da resolução do problema. Tenho uma dúvida que não foi respondida aqui. Como faço?Se você possui uma pergunta que não foi respondida aqui, envie para bruno.borges_at_oracle.com e caso ela seja pertinente, tentarei responder neste artigo. Para outras dúvidas, entre em contato pelo meu Twitter @brunoborges.

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• UppercuT &ndash; Custom Extensions Now With PowerShell and Ruby

  - by Robz / Fervent Coder

  Arguably, one of the most powerful features of UppercuT (UC) is the ability to extend any step of the build process with a pre, post, or replace hook. This customization is done in a separate location from the build so you can upgrade without wondering if you broke the build. There is a hook before each step of the build has run. There is a hook after. And back to power again, there is a replacement hook. If you don’t like what the step is doing and/or you want to replace it’s entire functionality, you just drop a custom replacement extension and UppercuT will perform the custom step instead. Up until recently all custom hooks had to be written in NAnt. Now they are a little sweeter because you no longer need to use NAnt to extend UC if you don’t want to. You can use PowerShell. Or Ruby.   Let that sink in for a moment. You don’t have to even need to interact with NAnt at all now. Extension Points On the wiki, all of the extension points are shown. The basic idea is that you would put whatever customization you are doing in a separate folder named build.custom. Each step Let’s take a look at all we can customize: The start point is default.build. It calls build.custom/default.pre.build if it exists, then it runs build/default.build (normal tasks) OR build.custom/default.replace.build if it exists, and finally build.custom/default.post.build if it exists. Every step below runs with the same extension points but changes on the file name it is looking for. NOTE: If you include default.replace.build, nothing else will run because everything is called from default.build.    * policyChecks.step    * versionBuilder.step NOTE: If you include build.custom/versionBuilder.replace.step, the items below will not run.      - svn.step, tfs.step, or git.step (the custom tasks for these need to go in build.custom/versioners)    * generateBuildInfo.step    * compile.step    * environmentBuilder.step    * analyze.step NOTE: If you include build.custom/analyze.replace.step, the items below will not run.      - test.step (the custom tasks for this need to go in build.custom/analyzers) NOTE: If you include build.custom/analyzers/test.replace.step, the items below will not run.        + mbunit2.step, gallio.step, or nunit.step (the custom tasks for these need to go in build.custom/analyzers)      - ncover.step (the custom tasks for this need to go in build.custom/analyzers)      - ndepend.step (the custom tasks for this need to go in build.custom/analyzers)      - moma.step (the custom tasks for this need to go in build.custom/analyzers)    * package.step NOTE: If you include build.custom/package.replace.step, the items below will not run.      - deploymentBuilder.step Customize UppercuT Builds With PowerShell UppercuT can now be extended with PowerShell (PS). To customize any extension point with PS, just add .ps1 to the end of the file name and write your custom tasks in PowerShell. If you are not signing your scripts you will need to change a setting in the UppercuT.config file. This does impose a security risk, because this allows PS to now run any PS script. This setting stays that way on ANY machine that runs the build until manually changed by someone. I’m not responsible if you mess up your machine or anyone else’s by doing this. You’ve been warned. Now that you are fully aware of any security holes you may open and are okay with that, let’s move on. Let’s create a file called default.replace.build.ps1 in the build.custom folder. Open that file in notepad and let’s add this to it: write-host "hello - I'm a custom task written in Powershell!" Now, let’s run build.bat. You could get some PSake action going here. I won’t dive into that in this post though. Customize UppercuT Builds With Ruby If you want to customize any extension point with Ruby, just add .rb to the end of the file name and write your custom tasks in Ruby.  Let’s write a custom ruby task for UC. If you were thinking it would be the same as the one we just wrote for PS, you’d be right! In the build.custom folder, lets create a file called default.replace.build.rb. Open that file in notepad and let’s put this in there: puts "I'm a custom ruby task!" Now, let’s run build.bat again. That’s chunky bacon. UppercuT and Albacore.NET Just for fun, I wanted to see if I could replace the compile.step with a Rake task. Not just any rake task, Albacore’s msbuild task. Albacore is a suite of rake tasks brought about by Derick Bailey to make building .NET with Rake easier. It has quite a bit of support with developers that are using Rake to build code. In my build.custom folder, I drop a compile.replace.step.rb. I also put in a separate file that will contain my Albacore rake task and I call that compile.rb. What are the contents of compile.replace.step.rb? rake = 'rake' arguments= '-f ' + Dir.pwd + '/../build.custom/compile.rb' #puts "Calling #{rake} " + arguments system("#{rake} " + arguments) Since the custom extensions call ruby, we have to shell back out and call rake. That’s what we are doing here. We also realize that ruby is called from the build folder, so we need to back out and dive into the build.custom folder to find the file that is technically next to us. What are the contents of compile.rb? require 'rubygems' require 'fileutils' require 'albacore' task :default => [:compile] puts "Using Ruby to compile UppercuT with Albacore Tasks" desc 'Compile the source' msbuild :compile do |msb| msb.properties = { :configuration => :Release, :outputpath => '../../build_output/UppercuT' } msb.targets [:clean, :build] msb.verbosity = "quiet" msb.path_to_command = 'c:/Windows/Microsoft.NET/Framework/v3.5/MSBuild.exe' msb.solution = '../uppercut.sln' end We are using the msbuild task here. We change the output path to the build_output/UppercuT folder. The output path has “../../” because this is based on every project. We could grab the current directory and then point the task specifically to a folder if we have projects that are at different levels. We want the verbosity to be quiet so we set that as well. So what kind of output do you get for this? Let’s run build.bat custom_tasks_replace:      [echo] Running custom tasks instead of normal tasks if C:\code\uppercut\build\..\build.custom\compile.replace.step exists.      [exec] (in C:/code/uppercut/build)      [exec] Using Ruby to compile UppercuT with Albacore Tasks      [exec] Microsoft (R) Build Engine Version 3.5.30729.4926      [exec] [Microsoft .NET Framework, Version 2.0.50727.4927]      [exec] Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation 2007. All rights reserved. If you think this is awesome, you’d be right!   With this knowledge you shall build.

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• My Thoughts On the Xbox 180

  - by Chris Gardner

  Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/freestylecoding/archive/2013/06/21/my-thoughts-on-the-xbox-180.aspx Everyone seems to be putting their 0.00237 cents into the wishing well over Microsoft's recent decision to reverse the DRM policy on the Xbox One. However, there have been a few issues that nobody has touched. As such, I have decided to dig 0.00237 cents out of my pocket. First, let me be clear about this point. I do not support the decision to reverse the DRM policy on the Xbox One. I wanted that point to be expressed first and unambiguously. I will say it again. I do not support the decision to reverse the DRM policy on the Xbox One. Now that I have that out of the way, let me go into my rationale. This decision removes most of the cool features that enticed me to pre-order the console. No, I didn't cancel my pre-order. There is still five months before the release of the console, and there is still a plethora of information that we, as consumers, do not have. With that, it should be noted that much of the talk in this post is speculation and rhetoric. I do not have any insider information that you do not possess. The persistent connection would have allowed the console to do many of the functions for which we have been begging. That demo where someone was playing Ryse, seamlessly accepted a multiplayer challenge in Killer Instinct, played the match (and a rematch,) and then jumped back into Ryse. That's gone, if you bought the game on disc. The new, DRM free system will require the disc in the system to play a game. That bullet point where one Xbox Live account could have up to 10 slave accounts so families could play together, no matter where they were located. That's gone as well. The promise of huge, expansive, dynamically changing worlds that was brought to us with the power of cloud computing. Well, "the people" didn't want there to be a forced, persistent connection. As such, developers can't rely on a connection and, as such, that feature is gone. This is akin to the removal of the hard drive on the Xbox 360. The list continues, but the enthusiast press has enumerated the list far better than I wish. All of this is because the Xbox team saw the HUGE success of Steam and decided to borrow a few ideas. Yes, Steam. The service that everyone hated for the first six months (for the same reasons the Xbox One is getting flack.) There was an initial growing pain. However, it is now lauded as the way games distribution should be handled. Unless you are Microsoft. I do find it curious that many of the features were originally announced for the PS4 during its unveiling. However, much of that was left strangely absent for Sony's E3 press conference. Instead, we received a single, static slide that basically said the exact opposite of Microsoft's plans. It is not farfetched to believe that slide came into existence during the approximately seven hours between the two media briefings. The thing that majorly annoys me over this whole kerfuffle is that the single thing that caused the call to arms is, really, not an issue. Microsoft never said they were going to block used sales. They said it was up to the publisher to make that decision. This would have allowed publishers to reclaim some of the costs of development in subsequent sales of the product. If you sell your game to GameStop for 7 USD, GameStop is going to sell it for 55 USD. That is 48 USD pure profit for them. Some publishers asked GameStop for a small cut. Was this a huge, money grubbing scheme? Well, yes, but the idea was that they have to handle server infrastructure for dormant accounts, etc. Of course, GameStop flatly refused, and the Online Pass was born. Fortunately, this trend didn’t last, and most publishers have stopped the practice. The ability to sell "licenses" has already begun to be challenged. Are you living in the EU? If so, companies must allow you to sell digital property. With this precedent in place, it's only a matter of time before other areas follow suit. If GameStop were smart, they should have immediately contacted every publisher out there to get the rights to become a clearing house for these licenses. Then, they keep their business model and could reduce their brick and mortar footprint. The digital landscape is changing. We need to not block this process. As Seth MacFarlane best said "Some issues are so important that you should drag people kicking and screaming." I believe this was said on an episode of Real Time with Bill Maher about the issue of Gay Marriages. Much like the original source, this is an issue that we need to drag people to the correct, progressive position. Microsoft, as a company, actually has the resources to weather the transition period. They have a great pool of first and second party developers that can leverage this new framework to prove the validity. Over time, the third party developers will get excited to use these tools. As an old C++ guy, I resisted C# for years. Now, I think it's one of the best languages I've ever used. I have a server room and a Co-Lo full of servers, so I originally didn't see the value in Azure. Now, I wish I could move every one of my projects into the cloud. I still LOVE getting physical packaging, which my music and games collection will proudly attest. However, I have started to see the value in pure digital, and have found ways to integrate this into the ways I consume those products. I can, honestly, understand how some parts of the population would be very apprehensive about this new landscape. There were valid arguments about people with no internet access. There are ways to combat these problems. These methods do not require us to throw the baby out with the bathwater. However, the number of people in the computer industry that I have seen cry foul is truly appalling. We are the forward looking people that help show how technology can improve people's lives. If we can't see the value of the brief pain involved with an exciting new ecosystem, than who will?

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• Vacations on Rodrigues 2014

  And now something completely different compared to the usual technical or community related articles here on this blog. Yes, this time I'm writing some lines on my (and my family's) activities during our long weekend stay on Rodrigues. So, please bear with me, it's eventually a bit more personal... Grab a soda, some popcorn and a cosy place to continue to read. var googleAlbumLink = "https://plus.google.com/photos/117698191428446859536/albums/6047895311458281985"; //optional----------------------- var mySlideWidth = 580; var mySlideHeight = 340; var mySlideDelay = 7000; //delay in milliseconds Special promotions during school holidays Originally, our children started to ask more frequently about going on the plane again. Obviously, after their aunty from Germany was around during May, they were really eager to travel again. So, we decided that it might be a great opportunity to book some vacations during their school holidays. And just in time the local hotels and hotel groups started to advertise their special promotions for citizens and residents. After collecting multiple brochures over several days, we got attracted by various hotel packages on Rodrigues - most interestingly the expenses for the stay and flight ticket were less compared to other resorts here on the main island. As we have been to Rodrigues already back in 2008, we followed up on this idea and got in touch with a couple travel agencies. Well, I have to report that you should be really careful about the promotions from some of them. We had a very negative experience with Shamal Travel Agency in Quatre Bornes regarding their adverts and the actual price levels and age definition for children. Please, stay away from them if you are interested in transparent cost and services. Anyway, after some arrangements with two other close families we managed to confirm our stay at the Cotton Bay Hotel in Rodrigues. Given the fact that we already stayed there, and the hotel has been renovated recently, and it is under new management all looked very promising and relaxed for our vacation. Counting the days... As we already booked in July our children were counting down the days. And it got more interesting as soon as they were on school holidays finally. Well, the day arrived and waking them up at 2:30 hrs wasn't a problem after all. Quite the opposite it was fascinating for us parents to watch them waiting for the transport and later on during the airport transfer. Despite the early hours both didn't fall asleep and it was all so exciting. We are taking the plane! Well organised by the Cotton Bay Hotel Honestly, it was a breeze and a smooth ride during our stay at the hotel. From the airport transfer, the cleanliness of our bungalow, the organisation of our day trips, and the SPA - all very well and enjoyable. The children had great fun, and although it was a bit too windy to plunge into the pool they had a lot of fun with other activities on the beach and at the Kid's Club. Oh, and we had our private petting zoo with cows, sheep and goats just close to the terrace. Some of us went to check out the SPA facilities and I have to admit that the services regarding Hammam and Sauna are better than at some other hotels in Mauritius. I don't know after how many months or years I was once again enjoying a very hot sauna. Little draw-back but nothing to worry about... There is no cold water or at least ice cubes to cool down the body, but hey there was a nice breeze coming over the hills. Some day trips to mention Based on a friend's recommendation we walked to a "restaurant" called Chez Solange & Robert. Hahaha, restaurant is widely stretched in this case, as we enjoyed a great BBQ with fresh lobster, whole fish, and pieces of chicken breast in an open cottage. Just some wooden structure covered with dried palm leaves on the roof - island feeling pure! The other day we went to the Giant Tortoise & Cave Reserve Francois Leguat to observe the giant Aldabra turtles and to visit the Grande Caverne. The biggest limestone cave on the island. Compared to our last visit this was a novelty after checking out the Caverne Partate. The formations of stalactites and stalagmites are very impressive and imaginative. Our guide had lots of funny terms and despite the low light conditions the kids had a great time wandering around on the narrow wooden paths and stairs. And last but not least, we decided to check out the Tyrodrig zip lines... Everyone was allowed to join the trip through the air, and our little ones stayed close to our field guides. But finally went on their own on the very last traversal. Puuuh, it was astounishing to glide over the valley, and for sure something to repeat next time. Impressions of our vacation on Rodrigues 2014   Next stay has been discussed already Oh yes, Rodrigues baby! We are going to come again! Tentative dates have been discussed already and now it's up to us to earn enough our next holiday on that wonderful remote piece of paradise. Eventually, a little bit longer than this time. We'll see...

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• In the Mobile and Tablet World, How Much is Too Much?

  - by andrewbrust

  The week of April 26th was a huge one in the world of mobile and tablet devices,  There were so many individual developments, announcements and solidifications of strategy, it’s almost impossible to believe they occurred in the same month, let alone the same week. Things started with Apple and Gizmodo having a Law and Order moment over the latter’s procurement of what appears to be the former’s 4th gen iPhone prototype.  We found out on the 26th that Gizmodo blogger Jason Chen’s apartment was raided by police and, honestly, that was a bit much. But Apple didn’t stop there.  They also published Steve Job’s critique of Adobe Flash and his explanation of Cupertino’s embargo of Flash on iPhones, iPods and iPads.  If you ask me, this too, was a bit much. Apple finished up the week by releasing the 3G version of its iPad product to the US market. I like (iLike?) my WiFi iPad.  The idea of getting a version of it that required a second 3G service monthly subscription, is, well, a bit  much. Microsoft was in the news too.  It killed a project it hadn’t even acknowledged the existence of: the Courier tablet.  That’s a bit much too.  If a tree falls in the woods, and Microsoft says they can’t hear it anyway, could they really have chopped it down? Maybe Microsoft Research should have licensed some of Courier’s technology from other parts of Microsoft.  Then maybe they could have kept the product alive.  Ask HTC: they’re going to be licensing technology from Microsoft because Redmond insists that Google’s Android operating system infringes on certain of their patents.  And since HTC now builds a number of handsets on Android, instead of being beholden, as they once were, to Windows Mobile, that means they can keep making their products.  Why does HTC have to pay the royalties, and not Google?  Maybe Microsoft decided that going after GOOG would have been a bit much, even for them. The agreement came not a moment to soon: HTC released their “Droid Incredible” (that name’s a bit much), an Android 2.1 handset with amazing hardware and HTC’s own Sense UI, on April 30th (this past Friday). This phone is very well-reviewed.  Maybe that’s why Google basically decided to beg off introducing a version of its Nexus One phone (also manufactured by HTC) on the Verizon Wireless network.  Google backing down?  That’s incredible, if not also a bit much. And that brings us to HP.  Which this week announced its acquisition of Palm and its webOS mobile phone touch-oriented operating system.  HP also killed its own Slate initiative.  Apparently HP realized that Windows 7, even with a proprietary HP touch UI added on top, is no match for the iPad.  I’m guessing they think webOS might work a bit better,  And I’m wondering if HP even wants to use webOS for phone handsets, beyond the Pre and Pixi.  Using it just for slate devices would be a bit extreme, but maybe not too much. Honestly, this was not Microsoft’s best week.  It killed a project and a close partner did likewise.  Then that same partner bought a competing OS product, while another partner released their new product that uses yet another competing OS platform. What did Microsoft actually produce this past week? An update to its Windows Phone 7 developer tools that actually works with the version of Visual Studio 2010 released on April 12th, and the version of Silverlight released three days later. That took three weeks to get synced up, and that’s a bit much too. But at least it happened. Windows Phone 7 is Microsoft’s best hope for a comeback in the SmartPhone market and to offer a credible touch-based tablet device.  This week, two of Microsoft’s slate initiatives died, and its only mobile phone victory was around its competitor’s operating system.  I hope the new platform gets Redmond out of the PC ghetto and into the classes of device that get people really excited today.  If it can’t, that would be a bit much; probably too much.  And, as the signs at the Lonestar Cafe in NYC used to say, too much ain’t enough.

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• Summit Time!

  - by Ajarn Mark Caldwell

  Boy, how time flies!  I can hardly believe that the 2011 PASS Summit is just one week away.  Maybe it snuck up on me because it’s a few weeks earlier than last year.  Whatever the cause, I am really looking forward to next week.  The PASS Summit is the largest SQL Server conference in the world and a fantastic networking opportunity thrown in for no additional charge.  Here are a few thoughts to help you maximize the week. Networking As Karen Lopez (blog | @DataChick) mentioned in her presentation for the Professional Development Virtual Chapter just a couple of weeks ago, “Don’t wait until you need a new job to start networking.”  You should always be working on your professional network.  Some people, especially technical-minded people, get confused by the term networking.  The first image that used to pop into my head was the image of some guy standing, awkwardly, off to the side of a cocktail party, trying to shmooze those around him.  That’s not what I’m talking about.  If you’re good at that sort of thing, and you can strike up a conversation with some stranger and learn all about them in 5 minutes, and walk away with your next business deal all but approved by the lawyers, then congratulations.  But if you’re not, and most of us are not, I have two suggestions for you.  First, register for Don Gabor’s 2-hour session on Tuesday at the Summit called Networking to Build Business Contacts.  Don is a master at small talk, and at teaching others, and in just those two short hours will help you with important tips about breaking the ice, remembering names, and smooth transitions into and out of conversations.  Then go put that great training to work right away at the Tuesday night Welcome Reception and meet some new people; which is really my second suggestion…just meet a few new people.  You see, “networking” is about meeting new people and being friendly without trying to “work it” to get something out of the relationship at this point.  In fact, Don will tell you that a better way to build the connection with someone is to look for some way that you can help them, not how they can help you. There are a ton of opportunities as long as you follow this one key point: Don’t stay in your hotel!  At the least, get out and go to the free events such as the Tuesday night Welcome Reception, the Wednesday night Exhibitor Reception, and the Thursday night Community Appreciation Party.  All three of these are perfect opportunities to meet other professionals with a similar job or interest as you, and you never know how that may help you out in the future.  Maybe you just meet someone to say HI to at breakfast the next day instead of eating alone.  Or maybe you cross paths several times throughout the Summit and compare notes on different sessions you attended.  And you just might make new friends that you look forward to seeing year after year at the Summit.  Who knows, it might even turn out that you have some specific experience that will help out that other person a few months’ from now when they run into the same challenge that you just overcame, or vice-versa.  But the point is, if you don’t get out and meet people, you’ll never have the chance for anything else to happen in the future. One more tip for shy attendees of the Summit…if you can’t bring yourself to strike up conversation with strangers at these events, then at the least, after you sit through a good session that helps you out, go up to the speaker and introduce yourself and thank them for taking the time and effort to put together their presentation.  Ideally, when you do this, tell them WHY it was beneficial to you (e.g. “Now I have a new idea of how to tackle a problem back at the office.”)  I know you think the speakers are all full of confidence and are always receiving a ton of accolades and applause, but you’re wrong.  Most of them will be very happy to hear first-hand that all the work they put into getting ready for their presentation is paying off for somebody. Training With over 170 technical sessions at the Summit, training is what it’s all about, and the training is fantastic!  Of course there are the big-name trainers like Paul Randall, Kimberly Tripp, Kalen Delaney, Itzik Ben-Gan and several others, but I am always impressed by the quality of the training put on by so many other “regular” members of the SQL Server community.  It is amazing how you don’t have to be a published author or otherwise recognized as an “expert” in an area in order to make a big impact on others just by sharing your personal experience and lessons learned.  I would rather hear the story of, and lessons learned from, “some guy or gal” who has actually been through an issue and came out the other side, than I would a trained professor who is speaking just from theory or an intellectual understanding of a topic. In addition to the three full days of regular sessions, there are also two days of pre-conference intensive training available.  There is an extra cost to this, but it is a fantastic opportunity.  Think about it…you’re already coming to this area for training, so why not extend your stay a little bit and get some in-depth training on a particular topic or two?  I did this for the first time last year.  I attended one day of extra training and it was well worth the time and money.  One of the best reasons for it is that I am extremely busy at home with my regular job and family, that it was hard to carve out the time to learn about the topic on my own.  It worked out so well last year that I am doubling up and doing two days or “pre-cons” this year. And then there are the DVDs.  I think these are another great option.  I used the online schedule builder to get ready and have an idea of which sessions I want to attend and when they are (much better than trying to figure this out at the last minute every day).  But the problem that I have run into (seems this happens every year) is that nearly every session block has two different sessions that I would like to attend.  And some of them have three!  ACK!  That won’t work!  What is a guy supposed to do?  Well, one option is to purchase the DVDs which are recordings of the audio and projected images from each session so you can continue to attend sessions long after the Summit is officially over.  Yes, many (possibly all) of these also get posted online and attendees can access those for no extra charge, but those are not necessarily all available as quickly as the DVD recording are, and the DVDs are often more convenient than downloading, especially if you want to share the training with someone who was not able to attend in person. Remember, I don’t make any money or get any other benefit if you buy the DVDs or from anything else that I have recommended here.  These are just my own thoughts, trying to help out based on my experiences from the 8 or so Summits I have attended.  There is nothing like the Summit.  It is an awesome experience, fantastic training, and a whole lot of fun which is just compounded if you’ll take advantage of the first part of this article and make some new friends along the way.

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• 3D Ball Physics Theory: collision response on ground and against walls?

  - by David

  I'm really struggling to get a strong grasp on how I should be handling collision response in a game engine I'm building around a 3D ball physics concept. Think Monkey Ball as an example of the type of gameplay. I am currently using sphere-to-sphere broad phase, then AABB to OBB testing (the final test I am using right now is one that checks if one of the 8 OBB points crosses the planes of the object it is testing against). This seems to work pretty well, and I am getting back: Plane that object is colliding against (with a point on the plane, the plane's normal, and the exact point of intersection. I've tried what feels like dozens of different high-level strategies for handling these collisions, without any real success. I think my biggest problem is understanding how to handle collisions against walls in the x-y axes (left/right, front/back), which I want to have elasticity, and the ground (z-axis) where I want an elastic reaction if the ball drops down, but then for it to eventually normalize and be kept "on the ground" (not go into the ground, but also not continue bouncing). Without kluging something together, I'm positive there is a good way to handle this, my theories just aren't getting me all the way there. For physics modeling and movement, I am trying to use a Euler based setup with each object maintaining a position (and destination position prior to collision detection), a velocity (which is added onto the position to determine the destination position), and an acceleration (which I use to store any player input being put on the ball, as well as gravity in the z coord). Starting from when I detect a collision, what is a good way to approach the response to get the expected behavior in all cases? Thanks in advance to anyone taking the time to assist... I am grateful for any pointers, and happy to post any additional info or code if it is useful. UPDATE Based on Steve H's and eBusiness' responses below, I have adapted my collision response to what makes a lot more sense now. It was close to right before, but I didn't have all the right pieces together at the right time! I have one problem left to solve, and that is what is causing the floor collision to hit every frame. Here's the collision response code I have now for the ball, then I'll describe the last bit I'm still struggling to understand. // if we are moving in the direction of the plane (against the normal)... if (m_velocity.dot(intersection.plane.normal) <= 0.0f) { float dampeningForce = 1.8f; // eventually create this value based on mass and acceleration // Calculate the projection velocity PVRTVec3 actingVelocity = m_velocity.project(intersection.plane.normal); m_velocity -= actingVelocity * dampeningForce; } // Clamp z-velocity to zero if we are within a certain threshold // -- NOTE: this was an experimental idea I had to solve the "jitter" bug I'll describe below float diff = 0.2f - abs(m_velocity.z); if (diff > 0.0f && diff <= 0.2f) { m_velocity.z = 0.0f; } // Take this object to its new destination position based on... // -- our pre-collision position + vector to the collision point + our new velocity after collision * time // -- remaining after the collision to finish the movement m_destPosition = m_position + intersection.diff + (m_velocity * intersection.tRemaining * GAMESTATE->dt); The above snippet is run after a collision is detected on the ball (collider) with a collidee (floor in this case). With a dampening force of 1.8f, the ball's reflected "upward" velocity will eventually be overcome by gravity, so the ball will essentially be stuck on the floor. THIS is the problem I have now... the collision code is running every frame (since the ball's z-velocity is constantly pushing it a collision with the floor below it). The ball is not technically stuck, I can move it around still, but the movement is really goofy because the velocity and position keep getting affected adversely by the above snippet. I was experimenting with an idea to clamp the z-velocity to zero if it was "close to zero", but this didn't do what I think... probably because the very next frame the ball gets a new gravity acceleration applied to its velocity regardless (which I think is good, right?). Collisions with walls are as they used to be and work very well. It's just this last bit of "stickiness" to deal with. The camera is constantly jittering up and down by extremely small fractions too when the ball is "at rest". I'll keep playing with it... I like puzzles like this, especially when I think I'm close. Any final ideas on what I could be doing wrong here? UPDATE 2 Good news - I discovered I should be subtracting the intersection.diff from the m_position (position prior to collision). The intersection.diff is my calculation of the difference in the vector of position to destPosition from the intersection point to the position. In this case, adding it was causing my ball to always go "up" just a little bit, causing the jitter. By subtracting it, and moving that clamper for the velocity.z when close to zero to being above the dot product (and changing the test from <= 0 to < 0), I now have the following: // Clamp z-velocity to zero if we are within a certain threshold float diff = 0.2f - abs(m_velocity.z); if (diff > 0.0f && diff <= 0.2f) { m_velocity.z = 0.0f; } // if we are moving in the direction of the plane (against the normal)... float dotprod = m_velocity.dot(intersection.plane.normal); if (dotprod < 0.0f) { float dampeningForce = 1.8f; // eventually create this value based on mass and acceleration? // Calculate the projection velocity PVRTVec3 actingVelocity = m_velocity.project(intersection.plane.normal); m_velocity -= actingVelocity * dampeningForce; } // Take this object to its new destination position based on... // -- our pre-collision position + vector to the collision point + our new velocity after collision * time // -- remaining after the collision to finish the movement m_destPosition = m_position - intersection.diff + (m_velocity * intersection.tRemaining * GAMESTATE->dt); UpdateWorldMatrix(m_destWorldMatrix, m_destOBB, m_destPosition, false); This is MUCH better. No jitter, and the ball now "rests" at the floor, while still bouncing off the floor and walls. The ONLY thing left is that the ball is now virtually "stuck". He can move but at a much slower rate, likely because the else of my dot product test is only letting the ball move at a rate multiplied against the tRemaining... I think this is a better solution than I had previously, but still somehow not the right idea. BTW, I'm trying to journal my progress through this problem for anyone else with a similar situation - hopefully it will serve as some help, as many similar posts have for me over the years.

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• Phones, Nokia, Microsoft and More

  - by Bill Evjen

  The phone revolution that is under way at the moment is insanely interesting and continuously full of buzz about directions, failures, and promises. The movement started with Apple completely reinventing what a smart phone was all about and now we have the followers. Though – don’t dismiss the followers, they are usually the ones that come out with the leap frog products when most of the world is thinking about jumping on. Remember the often used analogy – the USA invented the TV – but it was Japan that took it to the next level and now all TVs are from somewhere else other than the USA. Really there are two camps for the phones – the Cool Kids and other kids that no one wants to hang out with anymore. When it comes to cool – for some reason, the phone is an important part of that factor. Everyone wants to show their phone and its configuration (apps installed, etc) to their friends as a sign of (1) “I have money” and (2) I have smarts/tastes/style/etc when it comes to my applications that are on my phone. For those that don’t know – the Cool Kids include: Apple – this is quite obvious as everything Apple produces is in the cool camp. Just having an Apple product on your person means you can dance. Google – this is one of the more interesting releases as they have created something called Android (which in it’s own right is a major brand in itself). Microsoft – you might be saying “Really, Microsoft is cool?”. I would argue that they are indeed cool as it is now associated with XBOX 360, Kinect, and Windows 7. Gone are the days of Bob and that silly paperclip. Well – that’s it. There is nobody else I would stick in that camp. The other kids that weren’t picked for that dodgeball team include: Nokia Motorola Palm Blackberry and many many more The sad part of all this is that no matter what this second camp does now, it won’t be able to get out of this bucket easily. They will always be associated as yesterday’s technology and that association will drive the sales of the phone purchasers of the world. For those in that group, the only possible way out is to get invited to the cool club by one of the cool club members in the hope that their coolness somehow rubs off. To me, this is the move that Nokia is making. They are at this point where they have realized that they don’t have the full scope of the required end to end solution to make this all work. They have the plants to build the phones and the reach of the retailers that sell what they have. What they are missing is the proper operating system for the new world of multi-touch form factor phones. Even the companies that come up with some sort of new operating system for this type of new device, they are still associated with the yesterday and lack the developer community behind them to be the real wave of adoption that this market needs. Think about that – this is a major different between Nokia/Blackberry when you compare it to the likes of Apple, Google, and Microsoft. These three powerhouses having a very large and strong development community that will eagerly take on new initiatives using the skillsets that they have already cultivated over the years of already working with the company. This then results in a plethora of applications that are then placed on an app store of some kind. The developer gets a cut and then Apple/Google/Microsoft then get their cut. It is definitely a win-win. None of the other phone companies and wannabies can provide the same results. What Microsoft was missing was the major phone manufactures coming on board to create and push forward with the phones that are required to start the wave. This is where Nokia can come in and help Microsoft. They have the ability to promote the Windows Phone operating system on a new wave of phones. This does mean that Nokia will sell phones, but they lose out on the application store that they might have been thinking about making some money on as well as controlling the end to end solution. What is interesting is in questioning to oneself if Microsoft will purchase Nokia. It really depends upon how they want to compete and with whom Microsoft views as the major competitor. For instance, they can purchase Nokia and have their own hardware company and distribution network for phones – thereby taking on a model that is quite similar to Apple. On the other hand, they could just leave it up to the phone hardware companies such as Nokia and others to build and promote phones in a model that is similar to Google. Both ways have pluses and minuses. If they own the phone manufacturer, they really can put some thought into the design and technical specifications of the phone that is really designed to exactly how they want it. Microsoft has shown that they have this ability – especially with the XBOX initiative they have done over the years. Think about how good and powerful they have moved forward with XBOX – and I am not talking about just copying what others are doing, but coming up with leapfrog products that are steps ahead of everyone else. Though, if they didn’t do it themselves, they could then leave it up to the phone manufacturers to drive each other to build better and better phones that run the Microsoft OS – competition drives better products. We have seen this with the Android line of phones that are out there on the market. I have read a lot about Nokia investors really upset about the new Microsoft relationship – but really, this is a great thing. I for one am a fan of this relationship (I am also a Nokia stock holder btw). This will mean better days for Nokia.

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• PASS: SQLRally Thoughts

  - by Bill Graziano

  The PASS Board recently decided that we wouldn’t put another US-based SQLRally on the calendar until we had a chance to review the program. I wanted to provide some of my thinking around this. Keep in mind that this is the opinion of one Board member. The Board committed to complete two SQLRally events to determine if an event modeled between SQL Saturday and the Summit was viable. We’ve completed the two events and now it’s time to step back and review the program. This is my seventh year on the PASS Board. Over that time people have asked me why PASS does certain things. Many, many times my answer has been “Because that’s the way we did it last year”. And I am tired of giving that answer. We need to take a step back and review the US-based SQLRally before we schedule another one. It would be irresponsible for me as a Board member to commit resources to this without validating that what we’re doing makes sense for the organization and our members. I have no doubt that this was a great event for the attendees. We just need to validate it’s the best use of our resources. Please keep in mind that we haven’t cancelled the event. We’ve just said we need to review it before scheduling another one. My opinion is that some fairly serious changes are needed to the model before we consider it again – IF we do it again. I’ve come to that conclusion after speaking with the Dallas organizers, our HQ team, our Marketing team, other Board members (including one of the Orlando organizers), attendees in Orlando and Dallas and visiting other similar events. I should point out that their views aren’t unanimous on nearly any part of this event -- which is one of the reasons I want to take some time and think about this before continuing. I think it’s helpful to look at the original goals of what we were trying to accomplish. Andy Warren wrote these up in August of 2010. My summary of these goals and some thoughts on each one is below. Many of these thoughts revolve around the growth of SQL Saturdays. In the two years since that document was written these events have grown significantly. The largest SQL Saturdays are now over 500 people which mean they are nearly the same size as our recent SQLRally. Our goals included: Geographic diversity. We wanted an event in an area of the country that was away from any given Summit location. I think that’s still a valid goal. But we also have SQL Saturdays all over the country. What does SQLRally bring to this that SQLSaturday doesn’t? Speaker growth. One of the stated goals was to build a “farm club” for speakers. This gives us a way for speakers to work up to speaking at Summit by speaking in front of larger crowds. What does SQLRally bring to this that the larger SQL Saturdays aren’t providing? Pre-Conference speakers is one obvious answer here. Lower price. On a per-day basis, SQLRally is roughly 1/4th the price of the Summit. We wanted a way for people to experience something Summit-like at a lower price point. The challenge is that we are very budget constrained at that lower price point. International Event Model.  (I need to write more about this but I’m out of time.  I’ll cover it in the next installment.) There are a number of things I really like about SQLRally. I love the smaller conferences. They give me a chance to meet more people than at something the size of Summit. I like the two day format. That gives you two evenings to be at social events with people. Seeing someone a second day is a great way to build a bond with that person. That’s more difficult to do at a SQL Saturday. We also need to talk about the financial aspects of the event. Last year generated a small $17,000 profit on revenues of $200,000. Percentage-wise that’s reasonable but on an absolute basis it’s not a huge amount in our budget. We think this year will lose between $30,000 and $50,000 and take roughly 1,000 hours of HQ time. We don’t have detailed financials back yet but that’s our best guess at this point. Part of that was driven by using a convention center instead of a hotel. Until we get detailed financials back we won’t have the full picture around the financial impact. This event also takes time and mindshare from our Marketing team. This may sound like a small thing but please don’t underestimate it. Our original vision for this was something that would take very little time from our Marketing team and just a few mentions in the Connector. It turned out to need more than that. And all those mentions and emails take up space we could use to talk about other events and other programs. Last I wanted to talk about some of the things I’m thinking about. I don’t think it’s as simple as saying if we just fix “X” it all gets better. Is this that much better of an event than SQL Saturdays? What if we gave a few SQL Saturdays some extra resources? When SQL Saturdays were around 250 people that wasn’t as viable. With some of those events over 500 we need to reconsider this. We need to get back to a hotel venue. That will help with cost and networking. Is this the best use of the 1,000 HQ hours that we invested in the event? Is our price-point correct? I’m leaning toward raising our price closer to Summit on a per-day basis. I think this will let us put on a higher quality event and alleviate much of the budget pressure. Should growing speakers be a focus? Having top-line pre-conference speakers helps market the event. It will also have an impact on pricing and overall profit. We should also ask if it actually does grow speakers. How many of these people will eventually register for Summit? Attend chapters? Is SQLRally a driver into PASS or is it something that chapters, etc. drive people to? Should we have one paid day and one free instead of two paid days? This is a very interesting model that is used by SQLBits in the UK. This gives you the two day aspect as well as offering options for paid and free attendees. I’m very intrigued by this. Should we focus on a topic? Buried in the minutes is a discussion of whether PASS should have a Business Analytics conference separate from Summit. This is an interesting question to consider. Would making SQLRally be focused on a particular topic make it more attractive? Would that even be a SQLRally? Can PASS effectively manage the two events? (FYI - Probably not.) Would it help differentiate it from Summit and SQL Saturday? These are all questions that I think should be asked and answered before we do this event again. And we can’t do that if we don’t take time to have the discussion. I wanted to get this published before I take off for a few days of vacation. When I get back I’d like to write more about why the international events are different and talk about where we go from here.

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• JPA 2.1 Schema Generation (TOTD #187)

  - by arungupta

  This blog explained some of the key features of JPA 2.1 earlier. Since then Schema Generation has been added to JPA 2.1. This Tip Of The Day (TOTD) will provide more details about this new feature in JPA 2.1. Schema Generation refers to generation of database artifacts like tables, indexes, and constraints in a database schema. It may or may not involve generation of a proper database schema depending upon the credentials and authorization of the user. This helps in prototyping of your application where the required artifacts are generated either prior to application deployment or as part of EntityManagerFactory creation. This is also useful in environments that require provisioning database on demand, e.g. in a cloud. This feature will allow your JPA domain object model to be directly generated in a database. The generated schema may need to be tuned for actual production environment. This usecase is supported by allowing the schema generation to occur into DDL scripts which can then be further tuned by a DBA. The following set of properties in persistence.xml or specified during EntityManagerFactory creation controls the behaviour of schema generation. Property Name Purpose Values javax.persistence.schema-generation-action Controls action to be taken by persistence provider "none", "create", "drop-and-create", "drop" javax.persistence.schema-generation-target Controls whehter schema to be created in database, whether DDL scripts are to be created, or both "database", "scripts", "database-and-scripts" javax.persistence.ddl-create-script-target, javax.persistence.ddl-drop-script-target Controls target locations for writing of scripts. Writers are pre-configured for the persistence provider. Need to be specified only if scripts are to be generated. java.io.Writer (e.g. MyWriter.class) or URL strings javax.persistence.ddl-create-script-source, javax.persistence.ddl-drop-script-source Specifies locations from which DDL scripts are to be read. Readers are pre-configured for the persistence provider. java.io.Reader (e.g. MyReader.class) or URL strings javax.persistence.sql-load-script-source Specifies location of SQL bulk load script. java.io.Reader (e.g. MyReader.class) or URL string javax.persistence.schema-generation-connection JDBC connection to be used for schema generation javax.persistence.database-product-name, javax.persistence.database-major-version, javax.persistence.database-minor-version Needed if scripts are to be generated and no connection to target database. Values are those obtained from JDBC DatabaseMetaData. javax.persistence.create-database-schemas Whether Persistence Provider need to create schema in addition to creating database objects such as tables, sequences, constraints, etc. "true", "false" Section 11.2 in the JPA 2.1 specification defines the annotations used for schema generation process. For example, @Table, @Column, @CollectionTable, @JoinTable, @JoinColumn, are used to define the generated schema. Several layers of defaulting may be involved. For example, the table name is defaulted from entity name and entity name (which can be specified explicitly as well) is defaulted from the class name. However annotations may be used to override or customize the values. The following entity class: @Entity public class Employee {    @Id private int id;    private String name;     . . .     @ManyToOne     private Department dept; } is generated in the database with the following attributes: Maps to EMPLOYEE table in default schema "id" field is mapped to ID column as primary key "name" is mapped to NAME column with a default VARCHAR(255). The length of this field can be easily tuned using @Column. @ManyToOne is mapped to DEPT_ID foreign key column. Can be customized using JOIN_COLUMN. In addition to these properties, couple of new annotations are added to JPA 2.1: @Index - An index for the primary key is generated by default in a database. This new annotation will allow to define additional indexes, over a single or multiple columns, for a better performance. This is specified as part of @Table, @SecondaryTable, @CollectionTable, @JoinTable, and @TableGenerator. For example: @Table(indexes = {@Index(columnList="NAME"), @Index(columnList="DEPT_ID DESC")})@Entity public class Employee {    . . .} The generated table will have a default index on the primary key. In addition, two new indexes are defined on the NAME column (default ascending) and the foreign key that maps to the department in descending order. @ForeignKey - It is used to define foreign key constraint or to otherwise override or disable the persistence provider's default foreign key definition. Can be specified as part of JoinColumn(s), MapKeyJoinColumn(s), PrimaryKeyJoinColumn(s). For example: @Entity public class Employee {    @Id private int id;    private String name;    @ManyToOne    @JoinColumn(foreignKey=@ForeignKey(foreignKeyDefinition="FOREIGN KEY (MANAGER_ID) REFERENCES MANAGER"))    private Manager manager;     . . . } In this entity, the employee's manager is mapped by MANAGER_ID column in the MANAGER table. The value of foreignKeyDefinition would be a database specific string. A complete replay of Linda's talk at JavaOne 2012 can be seen here (click on CON4212_mp4_4212_001 in Media). These features will be available in GlassFish 4 promoted builds in the near future. JPA 2.1 will be delivered as part of Java EE 7. The different components in the Java EE 7 platform are tracked here. JPA 2.1 Expert Group has released Early Draft 2 of the specification. Section 9.4 and 11.2 provide all details about Schema Generation. The latest javadocs can be obtained from here. And the JPA EG would appreciate feedback.

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• Cisco ASA 5505 - L2TP over IPsec

  - by xraminx

  I have followed this document on cisco site to set up the L2TP over IPsec connection. When I try to establish a VPN to ASA 5505 from my Windows XP, after I click on "connect" button, the "Connecting ...." dialog box appears and after a while I get this error message: Error 800: Unable to establish VPN connection. The VPN server may be unreachable, or security parameters may not be configured properly for this connection. ASA version 7.2(4) ASDM version 5.2(4) Windows XP SP3 Windows XP and ASA 5505 are on the same LAN for test purposes. Edit 1: There are two VLANs defined on the cisco device (the standard setup on cisco ASA5505). - port 0 is on VLAN2, outside; - and ports 1 to 7 on VLAN1, inside. I run a cable from my linksys home router (10.50.10.1) to the cisco ASA5505 router on port 0 (outside). Port 0 have IP 192.168.1.1 used internally by cisco and I have also assigned the external IP 10.50.10.206 to port 0 (outside). I run a cable from Windows XP to Cisco router on port 1 (inside). Port 1 is assigned an IP from Cisco router 192.168.1.2. The Windows XP is also connected to my linksys home router via wireless (10.50.10.141). Edit 2: When I try to establish vpn, the Cisco device real time Log viewer shows 7 entries like this: Severity:5 Date:Sep 15 2009 Time: 14:51:29 SyslogID: 713904 Destination IP = 10.50.10.141, Decription: No crypto map bound to interface... dropping pkt Edit 3: This is the setup on the router right now. Result of the command: "show run" : Saved : ASA Version 7.2(4) ! hostname ciscoasa domain-name default.domain.invalid enable password HGFHGFGHFHGHGFHGF encrypted passwd NMMNMNMNMNMNMN encrypted names name 192.168.1.200 WebServer1 name 10.50.10.206 external-ip-address ! interface Vlan1 nameif inside security-level 100 ip address 192.168.1.1 255.255.255.0 ! interface Vlan2 nameif outside security-level 0 ip address external-ip-address 255.0.0.0 ! interface Vlan3 no nameif security-level 50 no ip address ! interface Ethernet0/0 switchport access vlan 2 ! interface Ethernet0/1 ! interface Ethernet0/2 ! interface Ethernet0/3 ! interface Ethernet0/4 ! interface Ethernet0/5 ! interface Ethernet0/6 ! interface Ethernet0/7 ! ftp mode passive dns server-group DefaultDNS domain-name default.domain.invalid object-group service l2tp udp port-object eq 1701 access-list outside_access_in remark Allow incoming tcp/http access-list outside_access_in extended permit tcp any host WebServer1 eq www access-list outside_access_in extended permit udp any any eq 1701 access-list inside_nat0_outbound extended permit ip any 192.168.1.208 255.255.255.240 access-list inside_cryptomap_1 extended permit ip interface outside interface inside pager lines 24 logging enable logging asdm informational mtu inside 1500 mtu outside 1500 ip local pool PPTP-VPN 192.168.1.210-192.168.1.220 mask 255.255.255.0 icmp unreachable rate-limit 1 burst-size 1 asdm image disk0:/asdm-524.bin no asdm history enable arp timeout 14400 global (outside) 1 interface nat (inside) 0 access-list inside_nat0_outbound nat (inside) 1 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 static (inside,outside) tcp interface www WebServer1 www netmask 255.255.255.255 access-group outside_access_in in interface outside timeout xlate 3:00:00 timeout conn 1:00:00 half-closed 0:10:00 udp 0:02:00 icmp 0:00:02 timeout sunrpc 0:10:00 h323 0:05:00 h225 1:00:00 mgcp 0:05:00 mgcp-pat 0:05:00 timeout sip 0:30:00 sip_media 0:02:00 sip-invite 0:03:00 sip-disconnect 0:02:00 timeout sip-provisional-media 0:02:00 uauth 0:05:00 absolute http server enable http 192.168.1.0 255.255.255.0 inside no snmp-server location no snmp-server contact snmp-server enable traps snmp authentication linkup linkdown coldstart crypto ipsec transform-set TRANS_ESP_3DES_SHA esp-3des esp-sha-hmac crypto ipsec transform-set TRANS_ESP_3DES_SHA mode transport crypto ipsec transform-set TRANS_ESP_3DES_MD5 esp-3des esp-md5-hmac crypto ipsec transform-set TRANS_ESP_3DES_MD5 mode transport crypto map outside_map 1 match address inside_cryptomap_1 crypto map outside_map 1 set transform-set TRANS_ESP_3DES_MD5 crypto map outside_map interface inside crypto isakmp enable outside crypto isakmp policy 10 authentication pre-share encryption 3des hash md5 group 2 lifetime 86400 telnet timeout 5 ssh timeout 5 console timeout 0 dhcpd auto_config outside ! dhcpd address 192.168.1.2-192.168.1.33 inside dhcpd enable inside ! group-policy DefaultRAGroup internal group-policy DefaultRAGroup attributes dns-server value 192.168.1.1 vpn-tunnel-protocol IPSec l2tp-ipsec username myusername password FGHFGHFHGFHGFGFHF nt-encrypted tunnel-group DefaultRAGroup general-attributes address-pool PPTP-VPN default-group-policy DefaultRAGroup tunnel-group DefaultRAGroup ipsec-attributes pre-shared-key * tunnel-group DefaultRAGroup ppp-attributes no authentication chap authentication ms-chap-v2 ! ! prompt hostname context Cryptochecksum:a9331e84064f27e6220a8667bf5076c1 : end

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• Upgrade Intel Xeon Prestonia to a 64-bit processor

  - by IDisposable

  In theory, could I upgrade a mPGA604-socket motherboard with a Prestonia processor to some Intel Xeon processor with 64-bit? I've got a Dell PowerEdge 1750 with dual 2.8GHz Xeon processors running my Windows Home Server machine. I want to upgrade to the upcoming Vail release, but it is 64-bit only. The processors are Prestonia-core, which is pre-64bit, but I was wondering if it was possible to swap in some pin-compatible later generation processor. According to wikipedia, the mPGA604-socket continues to be used for several later generations that do have same pinout. So, IN THEORY, could I swap in a 64-bit, like a Nocona-core?

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• Validating SSL clients using a list of authorised certificates instead of a Certificate Authority

  - by Gavin Brown

  Is it possible to configure Apache (or any other SSL-aware server) to only accept connections from clients presenting a certificate from a pre-defined list? These certificates may be signed by any CA (and may be self-signed). A while back I tried to get client certificate validation working in the EPP system of the domain registry I work for. The EPP protocol spec mandates use of "mutual strong client-server authentication". In practice, this means that both the client and the server must validate the certificate of the other peer in the session. We created a private certificate authority and asked registrars to submit CSRs, which we then signed. This seemed to us to be the simplest solution, but many of our registrars objected: they were used to obtaining a client certificate from a CA, and submitting that certificate to the registry. So we had to scrap the system. I have been trying to find a way of implementing this system in our server, which is based on the mod_epp module for Apache.

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• Performance problems when running Java desktop applications on Citrix Metaframe

  - by demetriusnunes

  We have a desktop Java application running within a Citrix Metaframe server farm and the performance, specially while starting up the app, is very unreliable. Sometimes it takes 15 seconds and sometimes it takes over a minute. It's really unpredicatable. Is there any way to optimize running Java desktop applications within Citrix Metaframe Terminal server sessions to a more reliable performance level? Are there any optimization directed specifically toward Java, such as pre-load JVMs or something like that? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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• CheckPoint Endpoint Security VPN client co-existing with Windows VPN

  - by Nils

  Hey guys, I work as a consultant for a firm with a Checkpoint firewall. I have downloaded and installed the Checkpoint Endpoint Security VPN client. During the installation, I answered no to any questions pertaining firewall etc. - I just wanted the VPN client itself. However, after the installation, I am no longer able to use any of my pre-existing Windows VPN client connections. It does not matter whether the Checkpoint UI is running or not - shutting down the client does not fix the problem. Uninstalling Checkpoint VPN on the other hand fixes the problem. Does anyone know if it is possible to have both VPN clients work while being installed simultaneously? I don't need them to stay connected simultaneously, just avoiding to install/uninstall the Checkpoint client every time I have to use it is perfectly good. Thanks!

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• Team Foundation Server Setup/Access

  - by Angel Brighteyes

  What I need: A TFS 2010 Setup that allows 2 application developers to access the TFS from remote locations. How it is setup: Server 2008 Standard 2g Ram 300g HD space SharePoint Server 2007, using SQL Server 2005 SQL Server 2008 Standard Team Foundation Server 2010 IIS 7 Sharepoint Bindings: TFS.DynAccount.Me:80; TFS:80 TFS Bindings: TFS.DynAccount.Me:8080; TFS:8080 Using DynDNS service to account for the dynamic ip address being used, this is a requirement for the moment until I can get a better isp package. Access using Local Accounts Server is not setup on a domain, or as a domain. Consequently I did not setup AD services. Problem: When logged into TFS using my credentials TFS\AdminUser through the DynDNS account TFS.DynAccount.Me I recieve the 'Red X of Death' on the Documents and Reports folder. When logged into the TFS through the local peer to peer network using the same credentials TFS\AdminUser I do not receive the 'Red X of Death' problem. Further Troubleshooting: When users 'Right Click' the 'TeamProject1' Click 'Show Project Portal' it tries to take them to http://TFS:8080 instead of http://TFS.DynAccount.Me:8080, which doing further research I am assuming that it is because team foundation server was setup with a local name of TFS instead of 'TFS.DynAccount.Me' as specified here in Visual Studio Magazines: The Red X of Death. Users can Access the Team Portal for SharePoint via http://TFS.DynAccount.Me/TeamCollection/TeamProject so it is not like we are dead in the water or anything. However, as most employees/staff are prone to do, they have expressed a great distaste for having to do it this way and just be patient until the current project is finished since we are under a very strict deadline. Is there a way to set this up differently, or change some settings someplace, reinstall it, point a CName record for our domain website to the DynAccount (e.g. TFS.OurDomain.com points to TFS.DynAccount.Me, which consequently does allow access to the http site without issues), or something. I really don't feel like after all the time and effort I have spent into, first the cost, second the bloody install, third learning SharePoint well enough, fourth the hours into days spent on this, fifth more troubleshooting, sixth employee headaches to just let it lay where it is at. I figure in my spare/off time I would keep trying to get this to work. So I really appreciate any help any one can give me. I know this is probably something really stupid simple that I will 'Face Palm' over, but at the moment the stress and frustration just has me beat. Thank you again, this community has always been a great help.

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• HTTP SSL VPN Client? (alternative to Cisco's AnyConnect VPN)

  - by Ian Boyd

  Is there any free HTTP SSL VPN clients around, one that can act as an alternative to Cisco's own HTTP SSL VPN client (called AnyConnect)? The Cisco AnyConnect client has acknowledged problems, with no forthcoming solutions. Which is why I'm hoping for an alternative. Note: I'm only talking about the HTTP SSL VPN Client, not the HTTP SSL VPN Server. (If it were up to me they wouldn't be using Cisco at all, but it's not up to me.) Note: OpenVPN is a client that talks to their servers once you sign up for their service. It's not a generic VPN client. Note: ShrewSoft VPN is a client that uses IPsec and pre-shared keys, and was a good replacement for Cisco's old client - but not the new AnyConnect SSL VPN client. Note: Windows 7's VPN client fails to negotiate when presented with an SSL VPN connection. Note: I am looking for Windows clients only.

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• Installing PHP extensions on Linux

  - by EmmyS

  Please bear with me; I'm a developer, not a server admin. My company wants to explore using Magento. They've handed me a pre-configured Linux server with apache and PHP installed, but when I try to run the Magento setup, it tells me that there are PHP extensions that need to be loaded. I can edit the php.ini file, but have no idea where to get the extensions or how to install them, and there's no one here who knows, either. Can anyone give me a hand? I need the PDO_MySQL, mcrypt, and GD extensions. I've searched and found sites that talk about downloading from the terminal and compiling code, but it's all way over my head. Is there an easy way to do this?

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• CgiModule and FastCgiModule in IIS7

  - by Hari

  My web server is IIS7 running on Windows 2008 Web edition. There are nearly 40 modules when checked pre-installed "Modules". It also having "CgiModule and FastCgiModules". All the websites installed on this server purely runs with ASP.NET technology. Can I remove these two modules to improve performance? Same way, my application uses "Forms Authentication" only. In such case can I delete "Windows Authentication and WindowsAuthenticationModule"?. Also please suggest if any other modules can be deleted to improve performance.

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• About the MSDN NOTIFYICONDATA's cbSize member

  - by KenC

  Hi, I am reading the NOTIFYICONDATA documentation in MSDN. It says the NOTIFYICONDATA structure has a cbSize member should be set to the size of the structure, but NOTIFYICONDATA structure's size has different size in every Shell32.dll, so you should get the Shell32.dll version before setting cbSize. The following quotes from MSDN: If it is version 5.0 or later, initialize the cbSize member as follows. nid.cbSize = sizeof(NOTIFYICONDATA); Setting cbSize to this value enables all the version 5.0 and 6.0 enhancements. For earlier versions, the size of the pre-6.0 structure is given by the NOTIFYICONDATA_V2_SIZE constant and the pre-5.0 structure is given by the NOTIFYICONDATA_V1_SIZE constant. Initialize the cbSize member as follows. nid.cbSize = NOTIFYICONDATA_V2_SIZE; Using this value for cbSize will allow your application to use NOTIFYICONDATA with earlier Shell32.dll versions, although without the version 6.0 enhancements. I found it a bit of vague, because 'sizeof(NOTIFYICONDATA)' has different value in Win98 (using Shell32.dll version 4.x), Win2K (version 5.0) and WinXP (version 6.0). How could it 'enable all version 5.0 and 6.0 enhancements'? So I looked for the definition of NOTIFYICONDATA_V1_SIZE (source code as below), I see: NOTIFYICONDATA_V1_SIZE is for Win 2K (doesn't include 2K) NOTIFYICONDATA_V2_SIZE is for Win XP NOTIFYICONDATA_V3_SIZE is for Vista (not sure if I am right) It's completely different from what MSDN says? and none for Win2K? So, I am totaly confused right now. How should I set the cbSize member according to Shell32.dll version? Could anybody help me... Thanks in advance. //= = = = = = = = ShellAPI.h = = = = = = = = typedef struct _NOTIFYICONDATAA { DWORD cbSize; HWND hWnd; UINT uID; UINT uFlags; UINT uCallbackMessage; HICON hIcon; #if (NTDDI_VERSION < NTDDI_WIN2K) CHAR szTip[64]; #endif #if (NTDDI_VERSION >= NTDDI_WIN2K) CHAR szTip[128]; DWORD dwState; DWORD dwStateMask; CHAR szInfo[256]; union { UINT uTimeout; UINT uVersion; // used with NIM_SETVERSION, values 0, 3 and 4 } DUMMYUNIONNAME; CHAR szInfoTitle[64]; DWORD dwInfoFlags; #endif #if (NTDDI_VERSION >= NTDDI_WINXP) GUID guidItem; #endif #if (NTDDI_VERSION >= NTDDI_VISTA) HICON hBalloonIcon; #endif } NOTIFYICONDATAA, *PNOTIFYICONDATAA; typedef struct _NOTIFYICONDATAW { DWORD cbSize; HWND hWnd; UINT uID; UINT uFlags; UINT uCallbackMessage; HICON hIcon; #if (NTDDI_VERSION < NTDDI_WIN2K) WCHAR szTip[64]; #endif #if (NTDDI_VERSION >= NTDDI_WIN2K) WCHAR szTip[128]; DWORD dwState; DWORD dwStateMask; WCHAR szInfo[256]; union { UINT uTimeout; UINT uVersion; // used with NIM_SETVERSION, values 0, 3 and 4 } DUMMYUNIONNAME; WCHAR szInfoTitle[64]; DWORD dwInfoFlags; #endif #if (NTDDI_VERSION >= NTDDI_WINXP) GUID guidItem; #endif #if (NTDDI_VERSION >= NTDDI_VISTA) HICON hBalloonIcon; #endif } NOTIFYICONDATAW, *PNOTIFYICONDATAW; #define NOTIFYICONDATAA_V1_SIZE FIELD_OFFSET(NOTIFYICONDATAA, szTip[64]) #define NOTIFYICONDATAW_V1_SIZE FIELD_OFFSET(NOTIFYICONDATAW, szTip[64]) #ifdef UNICODE #define NOTIFYICONDATA_V1_SIZE NOTIFYICONDATAW_V1_SIZE #else #define NOTIFYICONDATA_V1_SIZE NOTIFYICONDATAA_V1_SIZE #endif #define NOTIFYICONDATAA_V2_SIZE FIELD_OFFSET(NOTIFYICONDATAA, guidItem) #define NOTIFYICONDATAW_V2_SIZE FIELD_OFFSET(NOTIFYICONDATAW, guidItem) #ifdef UNICODE #define NOTIFYICONDATA_V2_SIZE NOTIFYICONDATAW_V2_SIZE #else #define NOTIFYICONDATA_V2_SIZE NOTIFYICONDATAA_V2_SIZE #endif #define NOTIFYICONDATAA_V3_SIZE FIELD_OFFSET(NOTIFYICONDATAA, hBalloonIcon) #define NOTIFYICONDATAW_V3_SIZE FIELD_OFFSET(NOTIFYICONDATAW, hBalloonIcon) #ifdef UNICODE #define NOTIFYICONDATA_V3_SIZE NOTIFYICONDATAW_V3_SIZE #else #define NOTIFYICONDATA_V3_SIZE NOTIFYICONDATAA_V3_SIZE #endif (Seems like the code doesn't look good on the web site, but it from ShellAPI.h, all the same)

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• OpenVPN on Ubuntu 11.10 - unable to redirect default gateway

  - by Vladimir Kadalashvili

  I'm trying to connect to connect to OpenVPN server from my Ubuntu 11.10 machine. I use the following command to do it (under root user): openvpn --config /home/vladimir/client.ovpn Everything seems to be OK, it connects normally without any warnings and errors, but when I try to browse the internet I see that I still use my own IP address, so VPN connection doesn't work. When I run openvpn command, it displays the following message among others: NOTE: unable to redirect default gateway -- Cannot read current default gateway from system I think it's the cause of this problem, but unfortunately I don't know how to fix it. Below is full output of openvpn command: Sat Jun 9 23:51:36 2012 OpenVPN 2.2.0 x86_64-linux-gnu [SSL] [LZO2] [EPOLL] [PKCS11] [eurephia] [MH] [PF_INET6] [IPv6 payload 20110424-2 (2.2RC2)] built on Jul 4 2011 Sat Jun 9 23:51:36 2012 NOTE: OpenVPN 2.1 requires '--script-security 2' or higher to call user-defined scripts or executables Sat Jun 9 23:51:36 2012 Control Channel Authentication: tls-auth using INLINE static key file Sat Jun 9 23:51:36 2012 Outgoing Control Channel Authentication: Using 160 bit message hash 'SHA1' for HMAC authentication Sat Jun 9 23:51:36 2012 Incoming Control Channel Authentication: Using 160 bit message hash 'SHA1' for HMAC authentication Sat Jun 9 23:51:36 2012 LZO compression initialized Sat Jun 9 23:51:36 2012 Control Channel MTU parms [ L:1542 D:166 EF:66 EB:0 ET:0 EL:0 ] Sat Jun 9 23:51:36 2012 Socket Buffers: R=[126976->200000] S=[126976->200000] Sat Jun 9 23:51:36 2012 Data Channel MTU parms [ L:1542 D:1450 EF:42 EB:135 ET:0 EL:0 AF:3/1 ] Sat Jun 9 23:51:36 2012 Local Options hash (VER=V4): '504e774e' Sat Jun 9 23:51:36 2012 Expected Remote Options hash (VER=V4): '14168603' Sat Jun 9 23:51:36 2012 UDPv4 link local: [undef] Sat Jun 9 23:51:36 2012 UDPv4 link remote: [AF_INET]94.229.78.130:1194 Sat Jun 9 23:51:37 2012 TLS: Initial packet from [AF_INET]94.229.78.130:1194, sid=13fd921b b42072ab Sat Jun 9 23:51:37 2012 VERIFY OK: depth=1, /CN=OpenVPN_CA Sat Jun 9 23:51:37 2012 VERIFY OK: nsCertType=SERVER Sat Jun 9 23:51:37 2012 VERIFY OK: depth=0, /CN=OpenVPN_Server Sat Jun 9 23:51:38 2012 Data Channel Encrypt: Cipher 'BF-CBC' initialized with 128 bit key Sat Jun 9 23:51:38 2012 Data Channel Encrypt: Using 160 bit message hash 'SHA1' for HMAC authentication Sat Jun 9 23:51:38 2012 Data Channel Decrypt: Cipher 'BF-CBC' initialized with 128 bit key Sat Jun 9 23:51:38 2012 Data Channel Decrypt: Using 160 bit message hash 'SHA1' for HMAC authentication Sat Jun 9 23:51:38 2012 Control Channel: TLSv1, cipher TLSv1/SSLv3 DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA, 1024 bit RSA Sat Jun 9 23:51:38 2012 [OpenVPN_Server] Peer Connection Initiated with [AF_INET]94.229.78.130:1194 Sat Jun 9 23:51:40 2012 SENT CONTROL [OpenVPN_Server]: 'PUSH_REQUEST' (status=1) Sat Jun 9 23:51:40 2012 PUSH: Received control message: 'PUSH_REPLY,explicit-exit-notify,topology subnet,route-delay 5 30,dhcp-pre-release,dhcp-renew,dhcp-release,route-metric 101,ping 5,ping-restart 40,redirect-gateway def1,redirect-gateway bypass-dhcp,redirect-gateway autolocal,route-gateway 5.5.0.1,dhcp-option DNS 8.8.8.8,dhcp-option DNS 8.8.4.4,register-dns,comp-lzo yes,ifconfig 5.5.117.43 255.255.0.0' Sat Jun 9 23:51:40 2012 Unrecognized option or missing parameter(s) in [PUSH-OPTIONS]:4: dhcp-pre-release (2.2.0) Sat Jun 9 23:51:40 2012 Unrecognized option or missing parameter(s) in [PUSH-OPTIONS]:5: dhcp-renew (2.2.0) Sat Jun 9 23:51:40 2012 Unrecognized option or missing parameter(s) in [PUSH-OPTIONS]:6: dhcp-release (2.2.0) Sat Jun 9 23:51:40 2012 Unrecognized option or missing parameter(s) in [PUSH-OPTIONS]:16: register-dns (2.2.0) Sat Jun 9 23:51:40 2012 OPTIONS IMPORT: timers and/or timeouts modified Sat Jun 9 23:51:40 2012 OPTIONS IMPORT: explicit notify parm(s) modified Sat Jun 9 23:51:40 2012 OPTIONS IMPORT: LZO parms modified Sat Jun 9 23:51:40 2012 OPTIONS IMPORT: --ifconfig/up options modified Sat Jun 9 23:51:40 2012 OPTIONS IMPORT: route options modified Sat Jun 9 23:51:40 2012 OPTIONS IMPORT: route-related options modified Sat Jun 9 23:51:40 2012 OPTIONS IMPORT: --ip-win32 and/or --dhcp-option options modified Sat Jun 9 23:51:40 2012 ROUTE: default_gateway=UNDEF Sat Jun 9 23:51:40 2012 TUN/TAP device tun0 opened Sat Jun 9 23:51:40 2012 TUN/TAP TX queue length set to 100 Sat Jun 9 23:51:40 2012 do_ifconfig, tt->ipv6=0, tt->did_ifconfig_ipv6_setup=0 Sat Jun 9 23:51:40 2012 /sbin/ifconfig tun0 5.5.117.43 netmask 255.255.0.0 mtu 1500 broadcast 5.5.255.255 Sat Jun 9 23:51:45 2012 NOTE: unable to redirect default gateway -- Cannot read current default gateway from system Sat Jun 9 23:51:45 2012 Initialization Sequence Completed Output of route command: Kernel IP routing table Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface default * 0.0.0.0 U 0 0 0 ppp0 5.5.0.0 * 255.255.0.0 U 0 0 0 tun0 link-local * 255.255.0.0 U 1000 0 0 wlan0 192.168.0.0 * 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 wlan0 stream-ts1.net. * 255.255.255.255 UH 0 0 0 ppp0 Output of ifconfig command: eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 6c:62:6d:44:0d:12 inet6 addr: fe80::6e62:6dff:fe44:d12/64 Scope:Link UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:54594 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:59897 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 RX bytes:44922107 (44.9 MB) TX bytes:8839969 (8.8 MB) Interrupt:41 Base address:0x8000 lo Link encap:Local Loopback inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0 inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1 RX packets:4561 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:4561 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 RX bytes:685425 (685.4 KB) TX bytes:685425 (685.4 KB) ppp0 Link encap:Point-to-Point Protocol inet addr:213.206.63.44 P-t-P:213.206.34.4 Mask:255.255.255.255 UP POINTOPOINT RUNNING NOARP MULTICAST MTU:1492 Metric:1 RX packets:53577 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:58892 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:3 RX bytes:43667387 (43.6 MB) TX bytes:7504776 (7.5 MB) tun0 Link encap:UNSPEC HWaddr 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00 inet addr:5.5.117.43 P-t-P:5.5.117.43 Mask:255.255.0.0 UP POINTOPOINT RUNNING NOARP MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:100 RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B) wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:27:19:f6:b5:cf inet addr:192.168.0.1 Bcast:0.0.0.0 Mask:255.255.255.0 inet6 addr: fe80::227:19ff:fef6:b5cf/64 Scope:Link UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:12079 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:11178 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 RX bytes:1483691 (1.4 MB) TX bytes:4307899 (4.3 MB) So my question is - how to make OpenVPN redirect default gateway? Thanks!

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• Copying Chinese Characters from PDF

  - by Kevin

  I am on a Windows 7 laptop, which I believe comes pre installed with all the language packs to my knowledge. I can see Chinese characters with no issues and normally can copy them fine. (From browser to Microsoft Office works great). I have many PDFs with chinese characters in them, whenever I try to copy them and paste them into another program such as a browser, Microsoft Office, ect I just get strange foreign characters such as: This is copying a line. It is in this order: Chinese characters, pinyin (chinese in roman letters), and then the Englis translation. ,ô t¯ing w?o shu¯o listen to me The pinyin is also getting messed up, as the tonal marks (accents) about each letter are moving to a space of their own. Any ideas on to how to fix this? Thank you very much!

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