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  • Using screen to monitor non-interactive scripts (or some other solution)

    - by Michael
    I have some autonomous scripts that run commands on remote machines over ssh. These scripts rely on getting stdout, stderr, and the return code of each command run. I want to be able to monitor the progress of the scripts on each target machine so that I can see if something has hung and possibly intervene if necessary. My initial idea was to have the scripts run commands in a screen session, so that the person monitoring could simply attach to the session with screen -x. However, it was hard to do that from a script since screen is an interactive program. I can send a command to the screen session with screen -S session -X stuff "command^M", but then I don't get the output and return code that I need back. My second idea was to put script /path/to/log in ~/.bash_profile and log the entire session to a file. Then the monitoring person could simply tail the log file. However, this doesn't provide the interactivity that I was looking for. Any ideas on how to solve this problem?

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  • How to stop Vista from auto changing video resolution?

    - by bialix
    I have new Acer Aspire Revo R3600 computer with Vista pre-installed. The computer has NVidia video adapter. While connecting 17" LCD monitor (LG L1742S) via VGA cable it works fine, and I can change the resolution of the display from max 1920*1024 down to some other value, and after reboot the settings are restored correctly. But when I'm connecting bigger full HD 1920*1080 display (LG E2250) via VGA cable then every boot I have the same problem: I see boot progress window, then I see MS logo, then I see welcome screen then I start to see desktop and suddenly monitor switch off and show me the message about unsupported frequency of input signal As I understand Vista tries to auto-change resolution and sets wrong parameters. I've tried to boot into safe mode and into low-resolution mode, every time I have the same problem: Vista boot-up and suddenly monitor stops working. I've tried to connect this monitor to notebook with Windows XP and has no problem to work with this display on its native resolution. How can I disable this display resolution auto-changer in Vista? Or maybe there is another workaround?

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  • Efficient mirroring of directories using hardlinks

    - by zoqaeski
    I'm backing up my music collection on to a number of NTFS-formatted external hard-drives; however, as I store my main collection in FLAC and have my library on my laptop as MP3s to save space, I want to be able to back up both sets, because mass conversion between formats is time-consuming. The "music" directory can contain any format; the "mp3s" directory contains only MP3s converted from files in the "music" directory. The music collection on the laptop contains only MP3s, but they come from both sources. When I backup my laptop's library to the "mp3s" directory, I want to only copy across MP3 files that don't exist in the "music" directory; those that do should be hard-linked to the "music" directory. All directories have an identical hierarchy, sorted by artist, album, date, discnumber if applicable, etc, and I use a tagging editor to ensure consistency across all these locations. I'm also using a Linux computer, but keeping the music collections on NTFS-formatted partitions so that they are readable by both Linux and Windows. At the moment, I use the following command to perform the backups, but this is time-consuming due to the expensive nature of finding hard links. rsync -avu --progress --relative --ignore-existing --link-dest=../music/ **/*.mp3 /media/ntfspocket/mp3s Is there a way to perform this backup more efficiently, taking advantage of the directory hierarchy?

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  • Unexpected behaviour in a Lotus Notes programmable table

    - by Mark B
    I'm designing a workflow database in Lotus Notes 6.0.3 (soon upgrading to 8.5), and my OS is Windows XP. I have recently tried converting a tabbed table into a programmable one. This was so that I could control which tab was displayed to the user when it was opened, so that they were presented with the most appropriate one for that document's progress through the workflow. That part of it works! One of the tabs features a radio button that controls visibility of the next tab, and a pair of cascading dialogue boxes. One contains the static list "Person":"Team", and the other has a formula based on the first: view:=@If(PeerReview = "Team"; "GroupNames"; "GroupMembers"); @Unique(@DbColumn(""; ""; view; 1)) The dialogue boxes have the property "Refresh fields on keyword change" selected. The behaviour that I wasn't expecting is this. If the radio button is set to "Yes" and a value is selected in one of the dialogue boxes, the table opens the next tab. If the radio button is set to "No" and a value is selected in one of the dialogue boxes, the entire table is hidden. I can duplicate the latter by switching off the "Refresh fields on keyword change" property on the dialogue boxes and instead pressing F9 after selecting a value. I have no idea why the former occurs, though. The table is called "RFCInfo", and I have a field on the form called "$RFCInfo" which is editable, hidden from all users who aren't me and initially set by a Postopen script, which I can post if necessary - it's essentially a Select Case statement that looks at a particular item value and returns the name of the table row relating to that value. Can anyone offer any pointers?

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  • File exists but is unreadable by PHP

    - by Aron
    More than once I have ran into this issue: I have a cache file that is automatically generated by PHP. It contains some generated PHP code. However for some reason the file cannot be read and parsed by PHP. These are the symptoms: File actually exists on file system. Using Terminal you can navigate to the file, view its contents (which are fully intact), etcetc. PHP file_exists() will report that the file exists...which is correct since it does :) Then I include() the file. But when actually parsing the file, PHP will just consider it an empty file. No fatal error, just no PHP code actually executed. Again, its as if the file was completely empty (which I assure you, it is not)... It is not a permissions issue. Permissions are set as needed. Workaround: open the file in Terminal via 'nano' or some other text editor and just save it to the disk again. After that (despite no changes to the content) PHP will run it just fine... As a clarification, I'd like to add that this happens rarely, but frequently enough to be a problem. And even when it does, there are hundreds of other similar files on the same system that work without a problem... If this were an issue affecting only my own scripts, I would consider that there must be a bug in the way I generate the PHP code. But no, the issue has occurred more than once when deploying to a server (usually from Beanstalk repository via FTP). The issue has been present on various servers, Debian and Ubuntu running Zend Community Server. Any ideas? One that crossed my mind was opcode cache-ing (part of Zend Server CE)...could it be that an empty version of the file is cached if it is requested while the write operation is still in progress?

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  • Windows Broken after Deletion of HP_TOOLS partition

    - by beanland
    When I decided to install Ubuntu on my laptop as a dual-boot, I recognized that Windows 7 was using four separate partitions. I (yes, this was stupid) thought the HP_TOOLS partition was probably one I could get rid of, so I deleted it and installed Ubuntu side-by-side Windows using the installation wizard, but now Windows won't progress past the loading screen without the computer automatically restarting. I've had to use Ubuntu exclusively since then. I'm not sure how I can recover it. All of my files seem to still be there--I can mount the other partition and see them, use them, etc--but Windows 7 won't boot. I really have no idea what to do or what to try, or even if I'm at a salvageable point. here's a screenshot of GParted: This makes me suspicious that it wasn't necessarily the removal of my HP_TOOLS partition but the "unknown" status of that 992.50 KiB partition there, sda1. I'm assuming that's the recovery one? How can I get Windows bootable again? I'm sorry, but I'm so unfamiliar with this sort of thing I'm not quite sure where to start.

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  • Noob with git repository on Windows Storage Server 2008?

    - by HibbyHoo
    I have a Western Digital Sentinel at home running Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials. I have several git repositories on it for my own personal projects, and have no problem pushing and pulling over my local network. I want to be able to access those repos remotely from anywhere. I am able to log in and remotely access folders and files on it, but I cannot clone repos using the same address. It hangs for a REALLY long time before finally failing with an error: git.exe clone --progress -v "https://myIpAddressHere/Remote/fs/files.aspx?path=%5C%5Cmydevicename%5Cmyreposfolder%5Cmyrepo.git" "D:\repo" Cloning into 'D:\repo'... error: Failed connect to myIpAddress:443; No error while accessing https://myIpAddress/Remote/fs/files.aspx?path=%5C%5Cmydevicename%5Cmyreposfolder%5Cmyrepo.git/info/refs fatal: HTTP request failed git did not exit cleanly (exit code 128) I'm not too privy to networking or web development, and I have only a rudimentary understanding of how to use git (with TortoiseGit). I'm having a hard time finding search results for this specific problem and a hard time interpreting generic tutorials for the general scope of this problem. TortoiseGit version: 1.7.13.0. git version: 1.7.10.mysysgit.1.

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  • Windows 7 delayed file delete

    - by GregoryM
    I'm stuck with a pretty rare problem that happens on Windows 7 OS only. Every time I'm deleting the file with *.exe extension through explorer, the file doesn't get deleted immediately. I'm forced to wait for around one-two minutes before the system will delete the file. The main problem is that I cannot develop in such situation, because every time I build my solution, the old executable gets 'deleted', but is still there. So the new one cannot be created by Visual Studio. This problem breaks the Steam update progress and a few other installers functionality too. Fresh installed Win7 doesn't have this kind of trouble, so I guess this must be some bad registry entries or some services. Browsing the internet for solutions I found only this: http://www.sevenforums.com/software/72091-several-minute-delay-when-deleting-any-exe-file.html. But the solution the author found is not working (change the userName :)). Is there any ideas how to find what causes this to happen? BTW: when I place the file into Trash bin, no delay occurs. When I delete file with Total Commander - no delay too. Tech details: Windows 7 x64 Ultimate.

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  • How can I recover my data from a damaged hard drive?

    - by krk
    a few days ago when I was working on windows my laptop was beaten on the side where the hard drive is located. As a result, it was damaged and I couldn't access the windows partition. I had to boot the linux one, which is working without any trouble. I have 2 partition formatted with ntfs, the one with windows on it, and the other one intended to store data. I mounted the windows partition from ubuntu and I could see all my files. But when I tried to mount the data partition it was impossible. It threw me an error, it couldn't recognize ntfs partition. I try to copy the damaged disk into an external hard drive using the command: dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdb conv=noerror,sync The progress stopped at 60%. I was still unable to mount the data partition. Now I'm trying to backup my files using an utility called Photorec. The problem is that it is recovering my files in a disorderly way, it is all mixed up and I need my original directory structure, it will become an endless task to organize the files as they were before. Is there any way I can get my partition back?

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  • Windows 7 delayed file delete

    - by GregoryM
    I'm stuck with a pretty rare problem that happens on Windows 7 OS only. Every time I'm deleting the file with *.exe extension through explorer, the file doesn't get deleted immediately. I'm forced to wait for around one-two minutes before the system will delete the file. The main problem is that I cannot develop in such situation, because every time I build my solution, the old executable gets 'deleted', but is still there. So the new one cannot be created by Visual Studio. This problem breaks the Steam update progress and a few other installers functionality too. Fresh installed Win7 doesn't have this kind of trouble, so I guess this must be some bad registry entries or some services. Browsing the internet for solutions I found only this: http://www.sevenforums.com/software/72091-several-minute-delay-when-deleting-any-exe-file.html. But the solution the author found is not working (change the userName :)). Is there any ideas how to find what causes this to happen? BTW: when I place the file into Trash bin, no delay occurs. When I delete file with Total Commander - no delay too. Tech details: Windows 7 x64 Ultimate. UPD: maybe some shadow copying or system restore services (though I have the system restore turned off) block the files? Can't even guess...

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  • Efficient mirroring of directories using hard links [closed]

    - by zoqaeski
    I'm backing up my music collection on to a number of NTFS-formatted external hard-drives; however, as I store my main collection in FLAC and have my library on my laptop as MP3s to save space, I want to be able to back up both sets, because mass conversion between formats is time-consuming. The "music" directory can contain any format; the "mp3s" directory contains only MP3s converted from files in the "music" directory. The music collection on the laptop contains only MP3s, but they come from both sources. When I backup my laptop's library to the "mp3s" directory, I want to only copy across MP3 files that don't exist in the "music" directory; those that do should be hard-linked to the "music" directory. All directories have an identical hierarchy, sorted by artist, album, date, discnumber if applicable, etc, and I use a tagging editor to ensure consistency across all these locations. I'm also using a Linux computer, but keeping the music collections on NTFS-formatted partitions so that they are readable by both Linux and Windows. At the moment, I use the following command to perform the backups, but this is time-consuming due to the expensive nature of finding hard links. rsync -avu --progress --relative --ignore-existing --link-dest=../music/ **/*.mp3 /media/ntfspocket/mp3s Is there a way to perform this backup more efficiently, taking advantage of the directory hierarchy?

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  • Windows 7 VM log on lockout

    - by AKa
    My Windows 7 XP Mode virtual machine has just locked me out of password log on. Two years of use and it never required I use a password on wake up, I never asked for that. Suddenly yesterday, password required! I located password and used it successfully a couple of times, but now even that is not good enough! Perhaps (unfairly) because I tried to get to the bottom of the new phenomenon and removed the password from the user accounts? Permissions are still set to ok for all users. I have been all the way through the settings I can access with the VM file hibernated, and have deleted the previously saved log on info, which always previously worked automatically as charged. Now when I attempt to log on it asks me for credentials, seems like progress, but when I offer them, and check the "remember my credentials" box, I still get the splash screen "The system could not log you on. [reminder about caps...]" !! Round and round. Back up and restore point versions of the VM toss me back into the same log on loop. There are no other machines on any network, I am the administrator and sole user. It must be specifically about the log on, a speck of dust corruption ... is there a way around this? I tried creating a new VM but the black inner box gets stuck at one point requesting I insert a boot disc. Thanks for input, AKa

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  • How to ensure local file is up-to-date or ahead (dropbox sync) before truecrypt auto-mount it?

    - by user620965
    There are a lot tutorials out there that states that dropbox build-in encryption is not secure enought. That tutorials recommands to sync a truecrypt container file to have all files in it securely encrypted. This setup is know to be limited. You can NOT have that truecrypt container file mounted on the same time on more than one location - if you have inserted changes to the contents of the container in more then one location at a time then this setup produces a conflict on the container file in the dropbox system - resulting in one container file for each location. In my case that issue is not relevant - i do not use my data on more than one location at a time. I want to use the auto-mount feature of truecrypt on startup of windows 7 to have a zero configuration environment - and start working right away. But i want to ensure that the local truecrypt container file is up-to-date before truecrypt mounts it automatically - imagine you updated the contents of the container on your primary location and your secondary location was off for a long time. In that case it can take "a long time" till dropbox sync is complete (e.g. depending on your internet connection and the size of the container file). There is a option in truecrypt that ensures that truecrypt do not update the timestamp of the container file - which speeds up the sync, because dropbox client is doing a differential sync then instead of a time consuming full-sync. That is an improvement to that setup, but this do not fix my issue. The question is how to make the auto-mount function wait for the container file to be up-to-date (updated by dropbox)? In contrast: if the file was changed local, but remote file (in the dropbox cloud system) is still old (not jet updated by the sync process / or process is progress), should not make truecrypt to wait for the sync. Suggestions?

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  • xml to xsl transformation

    - by amirin
    Hi, I have a requirement to extract the uniquie values from the different nodes of the given xml using xsl transformation. XML FILE:- var IPClaimCausesNice = ""; function changeIPClaimCause(){ if(CommJob.client.policy.Insurance.Coverages.Coverage[0].Claim.IPClaimCause == "Diagnosis") { IPClaimCausesNice = "diagnosis" } if(CommJob.client.policy.Insurance.Coverages.Coverage[0].Claim.IPClaimCause == "Illness") { IPClaimCausesNice = "illness" } if(CommJob.client.policy.Insurance.Coverages.Coverage[0].Claim.IPClaimCause == "Accident") { IPClaimCausesNice = "accident" } return IPClaimCausesNice; } <section id="1903879316" name="Logos"> <fraglink id="605609862" resid="1235000151"> <argvalue name="CommJob"> <var name="CommJob" type="Th_1235001170_CommJob" /> </argvalue> </fraglink> </section> <section id="13483397" name="Address Block"> <fraglink id="563800610" resid="986000123"> <argvalue name="PersonInformation"> <var name="AddresseePersonInformation" type="Th_1235000929_PersonInformation" /> </argvalue> </fraglink> </section> <section id="1093480468" name="Details"> <fraglink id="460316501" resid="1195000163"> <argvalue name="currentDateTime"> <var name="getSystemVariables.getCurrentDate" type="date" /> </argvalue> <argvalue name="CommJob"> <var name="CommJob" type="Th_1235000929_CommJob" /> </argvalue> <argvalue name="ShowDOB" /> <argvalue name="ShowYourRef" /> <argvalue name="YourRefLabel" /> </fraglink> <fraglink id="1026044336" resid="1235000070"> <argvalue name="brandKey"> <var name="CommJob.commJobDetails.brandingKey" type="string" /> </argvalue> <argvalue name="brandSponsor"> <var name="CommJob.client.policy.policyDetails.brandSponsor" type="string" /> </argvalue> </fraglink> </section> <section id="2092948772" name="Important info"> <frag id="1180564368" name="frag" no-match="error" type="text"> <edition id="1178777425" name="Any" withdrawn="False"> <edition-content> <p style="bodyTableHeader" align="left" xml:space="preserve">Important information</p> <p style="body" xml:space="preserve">In accordance with the terms and conditions of your policy, your claim has been classified as a <iif><expression><script language="JavaScript">CommJob.client.policy.Insurance.Coverages.Coverage[0].Claim.IPClaimCause == "Diagnosis" || CommJob.client.policy.Insurance.Coverages.Coverage[0].Claim.IPClaimCause == "Ill health"</script><description>the IPClaimCause of the CommJob's client policy insurances Insurance Coverages IPCover Claim equals "Diagnosis" or the IPClaimCause of the CommJob's client policy insurances Insurance Coverages IPCover Claim equals "Ill health"sicknessCommJob.client.policy.Insurance.Coverages.Coverage[0].Claim.IPClaimCause == "Accident"the IPClaimCause of the CommJob's client policy insurances Insurance Coverages IPCover Claim equals "Accident"accident. Please assist us Please quote your policy and claim numbers / when returning your forms. Your claim has been received Your Thank you for sending your Initial Claim Form which we received on . We are sorry to hear of your recent . Our assessmentThe attending doctor’s statement indicates you are claiming benefits as a result of , CommJob.client.policy.Insurance.Coverages.Coverage[0].Claim.IPClaimCause == "Diagnosis"the IPClaimCause of the CommJob's client policy Insurance Coverages first Coverage Claim equals "Diagnosis"which was diagnosedCommJob.client.policy.Insurance.Coverages.Coverage[0].Claim.IPClaimCause == "Accident"the IPClaimCause of the CommJob's client policy Insurance Coverages first Coverage Claim equals "Accident"which first occuredCommJob.client.policy.Insurance.Coverages.Coverage[0].Claim.IPClaimCause == "Ill health"the IPClaimCause of the CommJob's client policy Insurance Coverages first Coverage Claim equals "Ill health"with symptoms commencing on . We note you ceased all work on and consulted your doctor IsNotMissing(CommJob.placeHolders.date.date5)the date5 of the CommJob's placeHolders date is not missingon this day also regarding your condition. Further information is required We’ve enclosed the following forms. Please complete these and return them to us so that we can continue assessing your claim. Progress claim form Attached questionnaire Authority to the Health Insurance Commission Medical authority <<other/ free format>> <<other/ free format>> Please be advised we’ve CommJob.placeHolders._boolean.boolean1 == truethe CommJob's placeHolders boolean is boolean1also requested the following information: Medical report from Dr Medicare history report from the Health Insurance Commission <<other/ free format>> <<other/ free format>> As your claim forms have been submitted months after you ceased work, our ability to properly assess your claim may have been prejudiced. In order to complete our assessment of your claim, the following information is required within 30 days of this letter: Reason for late lodgement of claim. Reason(s) you ceased work on (eg redundancy or due to medical condition). Name and contact details of all doctors and specialists you have consulted since you ceased work. Copies of any medical, radiology, pathology or other reports in your possession. Details of all treatment you have received since you ceased work. Whether you returned to work (paid or unpaid) in either a full-time or part-time capacity. If so, please provide the dates you worked, hours you worked, duties you performed and any income you received. Financial information for any other related entities (if applicable). If you are unable to supply the above information, please contact us by WriteText(FormatDateTime(DateAdd(getSystemVariables.getCurrentDate,"day",30),"dd MMMM yyyy")). To help in the ongoing assessment of your claim, you are required to be under the regular care and attendance of a medical practitioner. We’ve enclosed a Progress Claim Form which needs to be completed and returned to us by . False False False CC: Different nodes to pick the values:- 1. 2.path form 5. Values to be picked form the xml node and display in HTML is like CommJob.client.policy.Insurance.Coverages.Coverage[0].Claim.IPClaimCause CommJob.commJobDetails.stockType CommJob.commJobDetails.targetClient.targetClientName CommJob.client.policy.policyDetails.policyStatus CommJob.client.policy.policyDetails.productType CommJob.commJobDetails.targetClient.targetClientName ........etc can any one help me to provide the solution. This xsl transformation doesn't pick correctly only the values <xsl:template match="@*"/> Any help on this will great.

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  • Not able to get data from Json completely

    - by Abhinav Raja
    i am getting JSON data from http://abinet.org/?json=1 and displaying the titles in a ListView. the code is working fine but the problem is, it is skipping few titles in my ListView and one title is being repeated. You can see the json data from url given above by copy paste it in JSON editor online http://www.jsoneditoronline.org/ i want titles in the "posts" array to be displayed in ListView, however it is being displayed like this: if you see the JSON data from the link above, its missing like 3 titles (they should come between the first and second title) and 5th title is being repeated. Dont know why this is happening. What minor adjustments i need to do? Please help me. this is my code : public class MainActivity extends Activity { // URL to get contacts JSON private static String url = "http://abinet.org/?json=1"; // JSON Node names private static final String TAG_POSTS = "posts"; static final String TAG_TITLE = "title"; private ProgressDialog pDialog; JSONArray contacts = null; TextView img_url; ArrayList<HashMap<String, Object>> contactList; ListView lv; LazyAdapter adapter; @Override public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) { super.onCreate(savedInstanceState); setContentView(R.layout.activity_main); lv = (ListView) findViewById(R.id.newslist); contactList = new ArrayList<HashMap<String, Object>>(); new GetContacts().execute(); } private class GetContacts extends AsyncTask<Void, Void, Void> { protected void onPreExecute() { super.onPreExecute(); // Showing progress dialog pDialog = new ProgressDialog(MainActivity.this); pDialog.setMessage("Please wait..."); pDialog.setCancelable(false); pDialog.show(); } protected Void doInBackground(Void... arg0) { // Making a request to url and getting response JSONParser jParser = new JSONParser(); // Getting JSON from URL JSONObject jsonObj = jParser.getJSONFromUrl(url); // if (jsonStr != null) { try { // Getting JSON Array node contacts = jsonObj.getJSONArray(TAG_POSTS); // looping through All Contacts for (int i = 0; i < contacts.length(); i++) { // JSONObject c = contacts.getJSONObject(i); JSONObject posts = contacts.getJSONObject(i); String title = posts.getString(TAG_TITLE).replace("&#8217;", "'"); JSONArray attachment = posts.getJSONArray("attachments"); for (int j = 0; j< attachment.length(); j++){ JSONObject obj = attachment.getJSONObject(j); JSONObject image = obj.getJSONObject("images"); JSONObject image_small = image.getJSONObject("thumbnail"); String imgurl = image_small.getString("url"); HashMap<String, Object> contact = new HashMap<String, Object>(); contact.put("image_url", imgurl); contact.put(TAG_TITLE, title); contactList.add(contact); } } } catch (JSONException e) { e.printStackTrace(); } return null; } @Override protected void onPostExecute(Void result) { super.onPostExecute(result); // Dismiss the progress dialog if (pDialog.isShowing()) pDialog.dismiss(); adapter=new LazyAdapter(MainActivity.this, contactList); lv.setAdapter(adapter); } } } this is my JsonParser class (although its not required): public JSONParser() { } public JSONObject getJSONFromUrl(String url) { // Making HTTP request try { // defaultHttpClient DefaultHttpClient httpClient = new DefaultHttpClient(); HttpPost httpPost = new HttpPost(url); HttpResponse httpResponse = httpClient.execute(httpPost); HttpEntity httpEntity = httpResponse.getEntity(); is = httpEntity.getContent(); } catch (UnsupportedEncodingException e) { e.printStackTrace(); } catch (ClientProtocolException e) { e.printStackTrace(); } catch (IOException e) { e.printStackTrace(); } try { BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader( is, "iso-8859-1"), 8); StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(); String line = null; while ((line = reader.readLine()) != null) { sb.append(line + "n"); } is.close(); json = sb.toString(); } catch (Exception e) { Log.e("Buffer Error", "Error converting result " + e.toString()); } // try parse the string to a JSON object try { jObj = new JSONObject(json); } catch (JSONException e) { Log.e("JSON Parser", "Error parsing data " + e.toString()); } // return JSON String return jObj; } } and this is adapter class: public class LazyAdapter extends BaseAdapter { private Activity activity; private ArrayList<HashMap<String, Object>> data; private static LayoutInflater inflater=null; public LazyAdapter(Activity a,ArrayList<HashMap<String, Object>> d) { activity = a; data=d; inflater = (LayoutInflater)activity.getSystemService(Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE); } public int getCount() { return data.size(); } public Object getItem(int position) { return position; } public long getItemId(int position) { return position; } public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) { View vi=convertView; if(convertView==null) vi = inflater.inflate(R.layout.third_row, null); TextView title = (TextView)vi.findViewById(R.id.headline3); // title SmartImageView iv = (SmartImageView) vi.findViewById(R.id.imageicon); HashMap<String, Object> song = new HashMap<String, Object>(); song = data.get(position); // Setting all values in listview title.setText((CharSequence) song.get(MainActivity.TAG_TITLE)); iv.setImageUrl((String) song.get("image_url")); thumb_image); return vi; } } Please help me. I am stuck at this for more than a week now. I think there is just something to be changed in my MainActivity class.

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  • Where should I put zoomIn in my MapActivity?

    - by Johny
    I'm writing an Android app, and I'd like to zoomIn as soon as the map has been loaded. I get the following error: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: width and height must be > 0 This MapActivity - width and height must be > 0 question suggests the problem is the zoomIn() method is in the onCreate() method. But I get same error when I put it in the onResume() method. I've been searching for hours and I can't find anything about it at http://developer.android.com or anywhere else... Also I can't find a way to get the time point the map has been loaded. A "MapLoadedListener" or something like that... EDIT Here is my code: public class AMap extends MapActivity{ private final String LOG_TAG = this.getClass().getSimpleName(); private Context mContext; private Chronometer timer; private TextView tvCountdown; private RelativeLayout rl; private MapView mapView; private MapController mapController; private List<Overlay> mapOverlays; private PlayersOverlay playersOverlay; private Drawable drawable; private Builder endDialog; private ContextThemeWrapper ctw; private Handler mHandler = new Handler(); private Player player = new Player(); private StartTask startTask; private EndTask endTask; private MyDBAdapter mdba; private Cursor playersCursor; private UpdateBroadcastReceiver r; @Override public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) { super.onCreate(savedInstanceState); setContentView(R.layout.map_view); mContext = AMap.this; // set map mapView = (MapView) findViewById(R.id.mapview); mapView.setBuiltInZoomControls(true); mapView.setFocusable(true); // find the relative layout rl = (RelativeLayout) findViewById(R.id.rl); // set the chronometer timer = (Chronometer) findViewById(R.id.tv_timer); timer.setBackgroundColor(Color.DKGRAY); // set the countdown textview tvCountdown = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.tv_countdown); // Open DB connection and get players Cursor mdba = new MyDBAdapter(mContext); mdba.open(); playersCursor = mdba.getGame(); // Get this player's id and location Intent starter = this.getIntent(); player.setId(starter.getIntExtra("id", 0)); player.setLatitude(starter.getDoubleExtra("lat", 0)); player.setLongitude(starter.getDoubleExtra("lon", 0)); // Set this player's location as map's center GeoPoint geoPoint = new GeoPoint((int) (player.getLatitude()*1E6), (int) (player.getLongitude()*1E6)); mapController = mapView.getController(); mapController.setCenter(geoPoint); mapController.setZoom(15); Log.d(LOG_TAG, "My playersCursor has "+playersCursor.getCount()+" rows"); // drawable is needed but not used drawable = this.getResources().getDrawable(R.drawable.ic_launcher); // set PlayersOverlay (locations and statuses) playersOverlay = new PlayersOverlay(player.getId(), playersCursor, drawable, this); mapOverlays = mapView.getOverlays(); mapOverlays.add(playersOverlay); mHandler.postDelayed(mUpdateTimeTask, 100); } private Runnable mUpdateTimeTask = new Runnable() { public void run() { int h = mapView.getLayoutParams().height; int w = mapView.getLayoutParams().width; Log.d(LOG_TAG, "w = "+w+" , h = "+h); mHandler.postAtTime(this, System.currentTimeMillis() + 1000); } }; @Override public void onAttachedToWindow(){ Log.d(LOG_TAG, "Attached to Window"); int h = mapView.getLayoutParams().height; int w = mapView.getLayoutParams().width; Log.d(LOG_TAG, " Attached to window: w = "+w+" , h = "+h); //mapController.zoomInFixing(screenPoint.x, screenPoint.y); } public void onWindowFocusChanged(boolean hasFocus){ Log.d(LOG_TAG, "Focus changed to: "+hasFocus); int h = mapView.getLayoutParams().height; int w = mapView.getLayoutParams().width; Log.d(LOG_TAG, " Window focus changed: w = "+w+" , h = "+h); //mapController.zoomInFixing(screenPoint.x, screenPoint.y); } @Override protected void onStart(){ super.onStart(); // Create and register the broadcast receiver for messages from service IntentFilter filter = new IntentFilter(AppConstants.iGAME_UPDATE); r = new UpdateBroadcastReceiver(); registerReceiver(r, filter); // Create the dialog for end of game ctw = new ContextThemeWrapper(mContext, android.R.style.Theme_Translucent_NoTitleBar_Fullscreen); endDialog = new AlertDialog.Builder(ctw); endDialog.setMessage("End of Game"); endDialog.setCancelable(false); endDialog.setNeutralButton("OK", new OnClickListener(){ @Override public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int which) { Intent highScores = new Intent(AMap.this, HighScores.class); startActivity(highScores); playersCursor.close(); finish(); } }); } @Override protected void onStop() { if(!playersCursor.isClosed()) playersCursor.close(); unregisterReceiver(r); mdba.close(); super.onStop(); } @Override protected boolean isRouteDisplayed() { return false; } // Receives signal from NetworkService that DB has been updated public class UpdateBroadcastReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver { boolean startSignal, update, endSignal; @Override public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) { endSignal = intent.getBooleanExtra("endSignal", false); if(endSignal){ Log.d(LOG_TAG, "Game Update BroadcastReceiver received End Signal"); endTask = new EndTask(); endTask.execute(); return; } update = intent.getBooleanExtra("update", false); if(update){ Log.d(LOG_TAG, "Game Update BroadcastReceiver received game update"); playersCursor.requery(); mapView.invalidate(); return; } startSignal = intent.getBooleanExtra("startSignal", false); if(startSignal){ Log.d(LOG_TAG, "Game Update BroadcastReceiver received Start Signal"); startTask = new StartTask(); startTask.execute(); return; } } } class StartTask extends AsyncTask<Void,Integer,Void>{ private final ToneGenerator tg = new ToneGenerator(AudioManager.STREAM_NOTIFICATION, 100); private final long DELAY = 1200; @Override protected Void doInBackground(Void... params) { int i = 3; while(i>=0){ publishProgress(i); try { Thread.sleep(DELAY); } catch (InterruptedException e) { e.printStackTrace(); } i--; } return null; } @Override protected void onProgressUpdate(Integer... progress){ tg.startTone(ToneGenerator.TONE_PROP_PROMPT); tvCountdown.setText(""+progress[0]); } @Override protected void onPostExecute(Void result) { rl.removeView(tvCountdown); timer.setBase(SystemClock.elapsedRealtime()); timer.start(); //enable screen touches playersOverlay.setGameStarted(true); } } class EndTask extends AsyncTask<Void,Void,Void>{ @Override protected void onPreExecute(){ //disable screen touches playersOverlay.setEndOfGame(true); timer.stop(); } @Override protected Void doInBackground(Void... params) { return null; } @Override protected void onPostExecute(Void result) { try{ endDialog.show(); }catch(Exception e){ Toast.makeText(mContext, "End of game", Toast.LENGTH_LONG); Intent highScores = new Intent(AMap.this, HighScores.class); startActivity(highScores); playersCursor.close(); finish(); } mHandler.removeCallbacks(mUpdateTimeTask); } } }

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  • Android App Crashes On Second Run

    - by user1091286
    My app runs fine on first run. On the Menu I added two choices options and quit. options which set up a new intent who goes to a PreferenceActivity and quit which simply call: "android.os.Process.killProcess(android.os.Process.myPid());" On the second time I run my app (after I quit from inside the emulator) it crashes.. Ideas? the menu is called by the foolowing code: @Override public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) { getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.menu , menu); return true; } - @Override public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) { // Set up a new intent between the updater service and the main screen Intent options = new Intent(this, OptionsScreenActivity.class); // Switch case on the options switch (item.getItemId()) { case R.id.options: startActivity(options); return true; case R.id.quit: android.os.Process.killProcess(android.os.Process.myPid()); return true; default: return false; } Code for SeekBarPreference: package com.testapp.logic; import com.testapp.R; import android.content.Context; import android.content.res.TypedArray; import android.preference.Preference; import android.util.AttributeSet; import android.util.Log; import android.view.LayoutInflater; import android.view.View; import android.view.ViewGroup; import android.view.ViewParent; import android.widget.RelativeLayout; import android.widget.SeekBar; import android.widget.SeekBar.OnSeekBarChangeListener; import android.widget.TextView; public class SeekBarPreference extends Preference implements OnSeekBarChangeListener { private final String TAG = getClass().getName(); private static final String ANDROIDNS="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"; private static final String PREFS="com.testapp.logic"; private static final int DEFAULT_VALUE = 5; private int mMaxValue = 100; private int mMinValue = 1; private int mInterval = 1; private int mCurrentValue; private String mUnitsLeft = ""; private String mUnitsRight = ""; private SeekBar mSeekBar; private TextView mStatusText; public SeekBarPreference(Context context, AttributeSet attrs) { super(context, attrs); initPreference(context, attrs); } public SeekBarPreference(Context context, AttributeSet attrs, int defStyle) { super(context, attrs, defStyle); initPreference(context, attrs); } private void initPreference(Context context, AttributeSet attrs) { setValuesFromXml(attrs); mSeekBar = new SeekBar(context, attrs); mSeekBar.setMax(mMaxValue - mMinValue); mSeekBar.setOnSeekBarChangeListener(this); } private void setValuesFromXml(AttributeSet attrs) { mMaxValue = attrs.getAttributeIntValue(ANDROIDNS, "max", 100); mMinValue = attrs.getAttributeIntValue(PREFS, "min", 0); mUnitsLeft = getAttributeStringValue(attrs, PREFS, "unitsLeft", ""); String units = getAttributeStringValue(attrs, PREFS, "units", ""); mUnitsRight = getAttributeStringValue(attrs, PREFS, "unitsRight", units); try { String newInterval = attrs.getAttributeValue(PREFS, "interval"); if(newInterval != null) mInterval = Integer.parseInt(newInterval); } catch(Exception e) { Log.e(TAG, "Invalid interval value", e); } } private String getAttributeStringValue(AttributeSet attrs, String namespace, String name, String defaultValue) { String value = attrs.getAttributeValue(namespace, name); if(value == null) value = defaultValue; return value; } @Override protected View onCreateView(ViewGroup parent){ RelativeLayout layout = null; try { LayoutInflater mInflater = (LayoutInflater) getContext().getSystemService(Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE); layout = (RelativeLayout)mInflater.inflate(R.layout.seek_bar_preference, parent, false); } catch(Exception e) { Log.e(TAG, "Error creating seek bar preference", e); } return layout; } @Override public void onBindView(View view) { super.onBindView(view); try { // move our seekbar to the new view we've been given ViewParent oldContainer = mSeekBar.getParent(); ViewGroup newContainer = (ViewGroup) view.findViewById(R.id.seekBarPrefBarContainer); if (oldContainer != newContainer) { // remove the seekbar from the old view if (oldContainer != null) { ((ViewGroup) oldContainer).removeView(mSeekBar); } // remove the existing seekbar (there may not be one) and add ours newContainer.removeAllViews(); newContainer.addView(mSeekBar, ViewGroup.LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT, ViewGroup.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT); } } catch(Exception ex) { Log.e(TAG, "Error binding view: " + ex.toString()); } updateView(view); } /** * Update a SeekBarPreference view with our current state * @param view */ protected void updateView(View view) { try { RelativeLayout layout = (RelativeLayout)view; mStatusText = (TextView)layout.findViewById(R.id.seekBarPrefValue); mStatusText.setText(String.valueOf(mCurrentValue)); mStatusText.setMinimumWidth(30); mSeekBar.setProgress(mCurrentValue - mMinValue); TextView unitsRight = (TextView)layout.findViewById(R.id.seekBarPrefUnitsRight); unitsRight.setText(mUnitsRight); TextView unitsLeft = (TextView)layout.findViewById(R.id.seekBarPrefUnitsLeft); unitsLeft.setText(mUnitsLeft); } catch(Exception e) { Log.e(TAG, "Error updating seek bar preference", e); } } public void onProgressChanged(SeekBar seekBar, int progress, boolean fromUser) { int newValue = progress + mMinValue; if(newValue > mMaxValue) newValue = mMaxValue; else if(newValue < mMinValue) newValue = mMinValue; else if(mInterval != 1 && newValue % mInterval != 0) newValue = Math.round(((float)newValue)/mInterval)*mInterval; // change rejected, revert to the previous value if(!callChangeListener(newValue)){ seekBar.setProgress(mCurrentValue - mMinValue); return; } // change accepted, store it mCurrentValue = newValue; mStatusText.setText(String.valueOf(newValue)); persistInt(newValue); } public void onStartTrackingTouch(SeekBar seekBar) {} public void onStopTrackingTouch(SeekBar seekBar) { notifyChanged(); } @Override protected Object onGetDefaultValue(TypedArray ta, int index){ int defaultValue = ta.getInt(index, DEFAULT_VALUE); return defaultValue; } @Override protected void onSetInitialValue(boolean restoreValue, Object defaultValue) { if(restoreValue) { mCurrentValue = getPersistedInt(mCurrentValue); } else { int temp = 0; try { temp = (Integer)defaultValue; } catch(Exception ex) { Log.e(TAG, "Invalid default value: " + defaultValue.toString()); } persistInt(temp); mCurrentValue = temp; } } } Logcat: E/AndroidRuntime( 4525): FATAL EXCEPTION: main E/AndroidRuntime( 4525): java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to instantiate activity ComponentInfo{com.ui.testapp/com.logic.testapp.SeekBarPreferen ce}: java.lang.InstantiationException: can't instantiate class com.logic.testapp.SeekBarPreference; no empty constructor E/AndroidRuntime( 4525): at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:1879) E/AndroidRuntime( 4525): at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:1980) E/AndroidRuntime( 4525): at android.app.ActivityThread.access$600(ActivityThread.java:122) E/AndroidRuntime( 4525): at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1146) E/AndroidRuntime( 4525): at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99) E/AndroidRuntime( 4525): at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:137) E/AndroidRuntime( 4525): at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:4340) E/AndroidRuntime( 4525): at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method) E/AndroidRuntime( 4525): at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:511) E/AndroidRuntime( 4525): at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:784) E/AndroidRuntime( 4525): at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:551) E/AndroidRuntime( 4525): at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method) E/AndroidRuntime( 4525): Caused by: java.lang.InstantiationException: can't instantiate class com.logic.testapp.SeekBarPreference; no empty construc tor E/AndroidRuntime( 4525): at java.lang.Class.newInstanceImpl(Native Method) E/AndroidRuntime( 4525): at java.lang.Class.newInstance(Class.java:1319) E/AndroidRuntime( 4525): at android.app.Instrumentation.newActivity(Instrumentation.java:1023) E/AndroidRuntime( 4525): at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:1870) E/AndroidRuntime( 4525): ... 11 more W/ActivityManager( 84): Force finishing activity com.ui.testapp/com.logic.testapp.SeekBarPreference W/ActivityManager( 84): Force finishing activity com.ui.testapp/.MainScreen I/WindowManager( 84): createSurface Window{41a90320 paused=false}: DRAW NOW PENDING W/ActivityManager( 84): Activity pause timeout for ActivityRecord{4104a848 com.ui.testapp/com.logic.testapp.SeekBarPreference} W/NetworkManagementSocketTagger( 84): setKernelCountSet(10021, 1) failed with errno -2 I/WindowManager( 84): createSurface Window{412bcc10 com.android.launcher/com.android.launcher2.Launcher paused=false}: DRAW NOW PENDING W/NetworkManagementSocketTagger( 84): setKernelCountSet(10045, 0) failed with errno -2 I/Process ( 4525): Sending signal. PID: 4525 SIG: 9 I/ActivityManager( 84): Process com.ui.testapp (pid 4525) has died. I/WindowManager( 84): WIN DEATH: Window{41a6c9c0 com.ui.testapp/com.ui.testapp.MainScreen paused=true}

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  • Part 2&ndash;Load Testing In The Cloud

    - by Tarun Arora
    Welcome to Part 2, In Part 1 we discussed the advantages of creating a Test Rig in the cloud, the Azure edge and the Test Rig Topology we want to get to. In Part 2, Let’s start by understanding the components of Azure we’ll be making use of followed by manually putting them together to create the test rig, so… let’s get down dirty start setting up the Test Rig.  What Components of Azure will I be using for building the Test Rig in the Cloud? To run the Test Agents we’ll make use of Windows Azure Compute and to enable communication between Test Controller and Test Agents we’ll make use of Windows Azure Connect.  Azure Connect The Test Controller is on premise and the Test Agents are in the cloud (How will they talk?). To enable communication between the two, we’ll make use of Windows Azure Connect. With Windows Azure Connect, you can use a simple user interface to configure IPsec protected connections between computers or virtual machines (VMs) in your organization’s network, and roles running in Windows Azure. With this you can now join Windows Azure role instances to your domain, so that you can use your existing methods for domain authentication, name resolution, or other domain-wide maintenance actions. For more details refer to an overview of Windows Azure connect. A very useful video explaining everything you wanted to know about Windows Azure connect.  Azure Compute Windows Azure compute provides developers a platform to host and manage applications in Microsoft’s data centres across the globe. A Windows Azure application is built from one or more components called ‘roles.’ Roles come in three different types: Web role, Worker role, and Virtual Machine (VM) role, we’ll be using the Worker role to set up the Test Agents. A very nice blog post discussing the difference between the 3 role types. Developers are free to use the .NET framework or other software that runs on Windows with the Worker role or Web role. Developers can also create applications using languages such as PHP and Java. More on Windows Azure Compute. Each Windows Azure compute instance represents a virtual server... Virtual Machine Size CPU Cores Memory Cost Per Hour Extra Small Shared 768 MB $0.04 Small 1 1.75 GB $0.12 Medium 2 3.50 GB $0.24 Large 4 7.00 GB $0.48 Extra Large 8 14.00 GB $0.96   You might want to review the Windows Azure Pricing FAQ. Let’s Get Started building the Test Rig… Configuration Machine Role Comments VM – 1 Domain Controller for Playpit.com On Premise VM – 2 TFS, Test Controller On Premise VM – 3 Test Agent Cloud   In this blog post I would assume that you have the domain, Team Foundation Server and Test Controller Installed and set up already. If not, please refer to the TFS 2010 Installation Guide and this walkthrough on MSDN to set up your Test Controller. You can also download a preconfigured TFS 2010 VM from Brian Keller's blog, Brian also has some great hands on Labs on TFS 2010 that you may want to explore. I. Lets start building VM – 3: The Test Agent Download the Windows Azure SDK and Tools Open Visual Studio and create a new Windows Azure Project using the Cloud Template                   Choose the Worker Role for reasons explained in the earlier post         The WorkerRole.cs implements the Run() and OnStart() methods, no code changes required. You should be able to compile the project and run it in the compute emulator (The compute emulator should have been installed as part of the Windows Azure Toolkit) on your local machine.                   We will only be making changes to WindowsAzureProject, open ServiceDefinition.csdef. Ensure that the vmsize is small (remember the cost chart above). Import the “Connect” module. I am importing the Connect module because I need to join the Worker role VM to the Playpit domain. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <ServiceDefinition name="WindowsAzureProject2" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ServiceHosting/2008/10/ServiceDefinition"> <WorkerRole name="WorkerRole1" vmsize="Small"> <Imports> <Import moduleName="Diagnostics" /> <Import moduleName="Connect"/> </Imports> </WorkerRole> </ServiceDefinition> Go to the ServiceConfiguration.Cloud.cscfg and note that settings with key ‘Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.%%%%’ have been added to the configuration file. This is because you decided to import the connect module. See the config below. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <ServiceConfiguration serviceName="WindowsAzureProject2" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ServiceHosting/2008/10/ServiceConfiguration" osFamily="1" osVersion="*"> <Role name="WorkerRole1"> <Instances count="1" /> <ConfigurationSettings> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Diagnostics.ConnectionString" value="UseDevelopmentStorage=true" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.ActivationToken" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Refresh" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.WaitForConnectivity" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Upgrade" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.EnableDomainJoin" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainFQDN" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainControllerFQDN" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainAccountName" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainPassword" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainOU" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Administrators" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainSiteName" value="" /> </ConfigurationSettings> </Role> </ServiceConfiguration>             Let’s go step by step and understand all the highlighted parameters and where you can find the values for them.       osFamily – By default this is set to 1 (Windows Server 2008 SP2). Change this to 2 if you want the Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system. The Advantage of using osFamily = “2” is that you get Powershell 2.0 rather than Powershell 1.0. In Powershell 2.0 you could simply use “powershell -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted ./myscript.ps1” and it will work while in Powershell 1.0 you will have to change the registry key by including the following in your command file “reg add HKLM\Software\Microsoft\PowerShell\1\ShellIds\Microsoft.PowerShell /v ExecutionPolicy /d Unrestricted /f” before you can execute any power shell. The other reason you might want to move to os2 is if you wanted IIS 7.5.       Activation Token – To enable communication between the on premise machine and the Windows Azure Worker role VM both need to have the same token. Log on to Windows Azure Management Portal, click on Connect, click on Get Activation Token, this should give you the activation token, copy the activation token to the clipboard and paste it in the configuration file. Note – Later in the blog I’ll be showing you how to install connect on the on premise machine.                       EnableDomainJoin – Set the value to true, ofcourse we want to join the on windows azure worker role VM to the domain.       DomainFQDN, DomainControllerFQDN, DomainAccountName, DomainPassword, DomainOU, Administrators – This information is specific to your domain. I have extracted this information from the ‘service manager’ and ‘Active Directory Users and Computers’. Also, i created a new Domain-OU namely ‘CloudInstances’ so all my cloud instances joined to my domain show up here, this is optional. You can encrypt the DomainPassword – refer to the instructions here. Or hold fire, I’ll be covering that when i come to certificates and encryption in the coming section.       Now once you have filled all this information up, the configuration file should look something like below, <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <ServiceConfiguration serviceName="WindowsAzureProject2" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ServiceHosting/2008/10/ServiceConfiguration" osFamily="2" osVersion="*"> <Role name="WorkerRole1"> <Instances count="1" /> <ConfigurationSettings> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Diagnostics.ConnectionString" value="UseDevelopmentStorage=true" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.ActivationToken" value="45f55fea-f194-4fbc-b36e-25604faac784" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Refresh" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.WaitForConnectivity" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Upgrade" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.EnableDomainJoin" value="true" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainFQDN" value="play.pit.com" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainControllerFQDN" value="WIN-KUDQMQFGQOL.play.pit.com" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainAccountName" value="playpit\Administrator" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainPassword" value="************************" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainOU" value="OU=CloudInstances, DC=Play, DC=Pit, DC=com" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Administrators" value="Playpit\Administrator" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainSiteName" value="" /> </ConfigurationSettings> </Role> </ServiceConfiguration> Next we will be enabling the Remote Desktop module in to the ServiceDefinition.csdef, we could make changes manually or allow a beautiful wizard to help us make changes. I prefer the second option. So right click on the Windows Azure project and choose Publish       Now once you get the publish wizard, if you haven’t already you would be asked to import your Windows Azure subscription, this is simply the Msdn subscription activation key xml. Once you have done click Next to go to the Settings page and check ‘Enable Remote Desktop for all roles’.       As soon as you do that you get another pop up asking you the details for the user that you would be logging in with (make sure you enter a reasonable expiry date, you do not want the user account to expire today). Notice the more information tag at the bottom, click that to get access to the certificate section. See screen shot below.       From the drop down select the option to create a new certificate        In the pop up window enter the friendly name for your certificate. In my case I entered ‘WAC – Test Rig’ and click ok. This will create a new certificate for you. Click on the view button to see the certificate details. Do you see the Thumbprint, this is the value that will go in the config file (very important). Now click on the Copy to File button to copy the certificate, we will need to import the certificate to the windows Azure Management portal later. So, make sure you save it a safe location.                                Click Finish and enter details of the user you would like to create with permissions for remote desktop access, once you have entered the details on the ‘Remote desktop configuration’ screen click on Ok. From the Publish Windows Azure Wizard screen press Cancel. Cancel because we don’t want to publish the role just yet and Yes because we want to save all the changes in the config file.       Now if you go to the ServiceDefinition.csdef file you will see that the RemoteAccess and RemoteForwarder roles have been imported for you. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <ServiceDefinition name="WindowsAzureProject2" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ServiceHosting/2008/10/ServiceDefinition"> <WorkerRole name="WorkerRole1" vmsize="Small"> <Imports> <Import moduleName="Diagnostics" /> <Import moduleName="Connect" /> <Import moduleName="RemoteAccess" /> <Import moduleName="RemoteForwarder" /> </Imports> </WorkerRole> </ServiceDefinition> Now go to the ServiceConfiguration.Cloud.cscfg file and you see a whole bunch for setting “Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.RemoteAccess.%%%” values added for you. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <ServiceConfiguration serviceName="WindowsAzureProject2" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ServiceHosting/2008/10/ServiceConfiguration" osFamily="2" osVersion="*"> <Role name="WorkerRole1"> <Instances count="1" /> <ConfigurationSettings> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Diagnostics.ConnectionString" value="UseDevelopmentStorage=true" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.ActivationToken" value="45f55fea-f194-4fbc-b36e-25604faac784" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Refresh" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.WaitForConnectivity" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Upgrade" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.EnableDomainJoin" value="true" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainFQDN" value="play.pit.com" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainControllerFQDN" value="WIN-KUDQMQFGQOL.play.pit.com" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainAccountName" value="playpit\Administrator" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainPassword" value="************************" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainOU" value="OU=CloudInstances, DC=Play, DC=Pit, DC=com" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.Administrators" value="Playpit\Administrator" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Connect.DomainSiteName" value="" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.RemoteAccess.Enabled" value="true" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.RemoteAccess.AccountUsername" value="Administrator" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.RemoteAccess.AccountEncryptedPassword" value="MIIBnQYJKoZIhvcNAQcDoIIBjjCCAYoCAQAxggFOMIIBSgIBADAyMB4xHDAaBgNVBAMME1dpbmRvd 3MgQXp1cmUgVG9vbHMCEGa+B46voeO5T305N7TSG9QwDQYJKoZIhvcNAQEBBQAEggEABg4ol5Xol66Ip6QKLbAPWdmD4ae ADZ7aKj6fg4D+ATr0DXBllZHG5Umwf+84Sj2nsPeCyrg3ZDQuxrfhSbdnJwuChKV6ukXdGjX0hlowJu/4dfH4jTJC7sBWS AKaEFU7CxvqYEAL1Hf9VPL5fW6HZVmq1z+qmm4ecGKSTOJ20Fptb463wcXgR8CWGa+1w9xqJ7UmmfGeGeCHQ4QGW0IDSBU6ccg vzF2ug8/FY60K1vrWaCYOhKkxD3YBs8U9X/kOB0yQm2Git0d5tFlIPCBT2AC57bgsAYncXfHvPesI0qs7VZyghk8LVa9g5IqaM Cp6cQ7rmY/dLsKBMkDcdBHuCTAzBgkqhkiG9w0BBwEwFAYIKoZIhvcNAwcECDRVifSXbA43gBApNrp40L1VTVZ1iGag+3O1" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.RemoteAccess.AccountExpiration" value="2012-11-27T23:59:59.0000000+00:00" /> <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.RemoteForwarder.Enabled" value="true" /> </ConfigurationSettings> <Certificates> <Certificate name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.RemoteAccess.PasswordEncryption" thumbprint="AA23016CF0BDFC344400B5B82706B608B92E4217" thumbprintAlgorithm="sha1" /> </Certificates> </Role> </ServiceConfiguration>          Okay let’s look at them one at a time,       Enabled - Yes, we would like to enable Remote Access.       AccountUserName – This is the user name you entered while you were on the publish windows azure role screen, as detailed above.       AccountEncrytedPassword – Try and decode that, the certificate is used to encrypt the password you specified for the user account. Remember earlier i said, either use the instructions or wait and i’ll be showing you encryption, now the user account i am using for rdp has the same password as my domain password, so i can simply copy the value of the AccountEncryptedPassword to the DomainPassword as well.       AccountExpiration – This is the expiration as you specified in the wizard earlier, make sure your account does not expire today.       Remote Forwarder – Check out the documentation, below is how I understand it, -- One role in an application that implements a remote desktop connection must import the RemoteForwarder module. The two modules work together to enable the remote desktop connections to role instances. -- If you have multiple roles defined in the service model, it does not matter which role you add the RemoteForwarder module to, but you must add it to only one of the role definitions.       Certificate – Remember the certificate thumbprint from the wizard, the on premise machine and windows azure role machine that need to speak to each other must have the same thumbprint. More on that when we install Windows Azure connect Endpoints on the on premise machine. As i said earlier, in this blog post, I’ll be showing you the manual process so i won’t be scripting any star up tasks to install the test agent or register the test agent with the TFS Server. I’ll be showing you all this cool stuff in the next blog post, that’s because it’s important to understand the manual side of it, it becomes easier for you to troubleshoot in case something fails. Having said that, the changes we have made are sufficient to spin up the Windows Azure Worker Role aka Test Agent VM, have it connected with the play.pit.com domain and have remote access enabled on it. Before we deploy the Test Agent VM we need to set up Windows Azure Connect on the TFS Server. II. Windows Azure Connect: Setting up Connect on VM – 2 i.e. TFS & Test Controller Glad you made it so far, now to enable communication between the on premise TFS/Test Controller and Azure-ed Test Agent we need to enable communication. We have set up the Azure connect module in the Test Agent configuration, now the connect end points need to be enabled on the on premise machines, let’s have a look at how we can do this. Log on to VM – 2 running the TFS Server and Test Controller Log on to the Windows Azure Management Portal and click on Virtual Network Click on Virtual Network, if you already have a subscription you should see the below screen shot, if not, you would be asked to complete the subscription first        Click on Install Local Endpoints from the top left on the panel and you get a url appended with a token id in it, remember the token i showed you earlier, in theory the token you get here should match the token you added to the Test Agent config file.        Copy the url to the clip board and paste it in IE explorer (important, the installation at present only works out of IE and you need to have cookies enabled in order to complete the installation). As stated in the pop up, you can NOT download and run the software later, you need to run it as is, since it contains a token. Once the installation completes you should see the Windows Azure connect icon in the system tray.                         Right click the Azure Connect icon, choose Diagnostics and refer to this link for diagnostic detail terminology. NOTE – Unfortunately I could not see the Windows Azure connect icon in the system tray, a bit of binging with Google revealed that the azure connect icon is only shown when the ‘Windows Azure Connect Endpoint’ Service is started. So go to services.msc and make sure that the service is started, if not start it, unfortunately again, the service did not start for me on a manual start and i realised that one of the dependant services was disabled, you can look at the service dependencies and start them and then start windows azure connect. Bottom line, you need to start Windows Azure connect service before you can proceed. Please refer here on MSDN for more on Troubleshooting Windows Azure connect. (Follow the next step as well)   Now go back to the Windows Azure Management Portal and from Groups and Roles create a new group, lets call it ‘Test Rig’. Make sure you add the VM – 2 (the TFS Server VM where you just installed the endpoint).       Now if you go back to the Azure Connect icon in the system tray and click ‘Refresh Policy’ you will notice that the disconnected status of the icon should change to ready for connection. III. Importing Certificate in to Windows Azure Management Portal But before that you need to import the certificate you created in Step I in to the Windows Azure Management Portal. Log on to the Windows Azure Management Portal and click on ‘Hosted Services, Storage Accounts & CDN’ and then ‘Management Certificates’ followed by Add Certificates as shown in the screen shot below        Browse to the location where you saved the certificate earlier, remember… Refer to Step I in case you forgot.        Now you should be able to see the imported certificate here, make sure the thumbprint of the certificate matches the one you inserted in the config files        IV. Publish Windows Azure Worker Role aka Test Agent Having completed I, II and III, you are ready to publish the Test Agent VM – 3 to the cloud. Go to Visual Studio and right click the Windows Azure project and select Publish. Verify the infomration in the wizard, from the advanced settings tab, you can also enabled capture of intellitrace or profiling information.         Click Next and Click Publish! From the view menu bar select the Windows Azure Activity Log window.       Now you should be able to see the deployment progress in real time.             In the Windows Azure Management Portal, you should also be able to see the progress of creation of a new Worker Role.       Once the deployment is complete you should be able to RDP (go to run prompt type mstsc and in the pop up the machine name) in to the Test Agent Worker Role VM from the Playpit network using the domain admin user account. In case you are unable to log in to the Test Agent using the domain admin user account it means the process of joining the Test Agent to the domain has failed! But the good news is, because you imported the connect module, you can connect to the Test Agent machine using Windows Azure Management Portal and troubleshoot the reason for failure, you will be able to log in with the user name and password you specified in the config file for the keys ‘RemoteAccess.AccountUsername, RemoteAccess.EncryptedPassword (just that enter the password unencrypted)’, fix it or manually join the machine to the domain. Once you have managed to Join the Test Agent VM to the Domain move to the next step.      So, log in to the Test Agent Worker Role VM with the Playpit Domain Administrator and verify that you can log in, the machine is connected to the domain and the connect service is successfully running. If yes, give your self a pat on the back, you are 80% mission accomplished!         Go to the Windows Azure Management Portal and click on Virtual Network, click on Groups and Roles and click on Test Rig, click Edit Group, the edit the Test Rig group you created earlier. In the Connect to section, click on Add to select the worker role you have just deployed. Also, check the ‘Allow connections between endpoints in the group’ with this you will enable to communication between test controller and test agents and test agents/test agents. Click Save.      Now, you are ready to deploy the Test Agent software on the Worker Role Test Agent VM and configure it to work with the Test Controller. V. Configuring VM – 3: Installing Test Agent and Associating Test Agent to Controller Log in to the Worker Role Test Agent VM that you have just successfully deployed, make sure you log in with the domain administrator account. Download the All Agents software from MSDN, ‘en_visual_studio_agents_2010_x86_x64_dvd_509679.iso’, extract the iso and navigate to where you have extracted the iso. In my case, i have extracted the iso to “C:\Resources\Temp\VsAgentSetup”. Open the Test Agent folder and double click on setup.exe. Once you have installed the Test Agent you should reach the configuration window. If you face any issues installing TFS Test Agent on the VM, refer to the walkthrough on MSDN.       Once you have successfully installed the Test Agent software you will need to configure the test agent. Right click the test agent configuration tool and run as a different user. i.e. an Administrator. This is really to run the configuration wizard with elevated privileges (you might have UAC block something's otherwise).        In the run options, you can select ‘service’ you do not need to run the agent as interactive un less you are running coded UI tests. I have specified the domain administrator to connect to the TFS Test Controller. In real life, i would never do that, i would create a separate test user service account for this purpose. But for the blog post, we are using the most powerful user so that any policies or restrictions don’t block you.        Click the Apply Settings button and you should be all green! If not, the summary usually gives helpful error messages that you can resolve and proceed. As per my experience, you may run in to either a permission or a firewall blocking communication issue.        And now the moment of truth! Go to VM –2 open up Visual Studio and from the Test Menu select Manage Test Controller       Mission Accomplished! You should be able to see the Test Agent that you have just configured here,         VI. Creating and Running Load Tests on your brand new Azure-ed Test Rig I have various blog posts on Performance Testing with Visual Studio Ultimate, you can follow the links and videos below, Blog Posts: - Part 1 – Performance Testing using Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate - Part 2 – Performance Testing using Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate - Part 3 – Performance Testing using Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate Videos: - Test Tools Configuration & Settings in Visual Studio - Why & How to Record Web Performance Tests in Visual Studio Ultimate - Goal Driven Load Testing using Visual Studio Ultimate Now that you have created your load tests, there is one last change you need to make before you can run the tests on your Azure Test Rig, create a new Test settings file, and change the Test Execution method to ‘Remote Execution’ and select the test controller you have configured the Worker Role Test Agent against in our case VM – 2 So, go on, fire off a test run and see the results of the test being executed on the Azur-ed Test Rig. Review and What’s next? A quick recap of the benefits of running the Test Rig in the cloud and what i will be covering in the next blog post AND I would love to hear your feedback! Advantages Utilizing the power of Azure compute to run a heavy virtual user load. Benefiting from the Azure flexibility, destroy Test Agents when not in use, takes < 25 minutes to spin up a new Test Agent. Most important test Network Latency, (network latency and speed of connection are two different things – usually network latency is very hard to test), by placing the Test Agents in Microsoft Data centres around the globe, one can actually test the lag in transferring the bytes not because of a slow connection but because the page has been requested from the other side of the globe. Next Steps The process of spinning up the Test Agents in windows Azure is not 100% automated. I am working on the Worker process and power shell scripts to make the role deployment, unattended install of test agent software and registration of the test agent to the test controller automated. In the next blog post I will show you how to make the complete process unattended and automated. Remember to subscribe to http://feeds.feedburner.com/TarunArora. Hope you enjoyed this post, I would love to hear your feedback! If you have any recommendations on things that I should consider or any questions or feedback, feel free to leave a comment. See you in Part III.   Share this post : CodeProject

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  • Some VS 2010 RC Updates (including patches for Intellisense and Web Designer fixes)

    - by ScottGu
    [In addition to blogging, I am also now using Twitter for quick updates and to share links. Follow me at: twitter.com/scottgu] We are continuing to make progress on shipping Visual Studio 2010.  I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who has downloaded and tried out the VS 2010 Release Candidate, and especially to those who have sent us feedback or reported issues with it. This data has been invaluable in helping us find and fix remaining bugs before we ship the final release. Last month I blogged about a patch we released for the VS 2010 RC that fixed a bad intellisense crash issue.  This past week we released two additional patches that you can download and apply to the VS 2010 RC to immediately fix two other common issues we’ve seen people run into: Patch that fixes crashes with Tooltip invocation and when hovering over identifiers The Visual Studio team recently released a second patch that fixes some crashes we’ve seen when tooltips are displayed – most commonly when hovering over an identifier to view a QuickInfo tooltip. You can learn more about this issue from this blog post, and download and apply the patch here. Patch that fixes issues with the Web Forms designer not correctly adding controls to the auto-generated designer files The Visual Web Developer team recently released a patch that fixes issues where web controls are not correctly added to the .designer.cs file associated with the .aspx file – which means they can’t be programmed against in the code-behind file.  This issue is most commonly described as “controls are not being recognized in the code-behind” or “editing existing .aspx files regenerates the .aspx.designer.(vb or cs) file and controls are now missing” or “I can’t embed controls within the Ajax Control Toolkit TabContainer or the <asp:createuserwizard> control”. You can learn more about the issue here, and download the patch that fixes it here. Common Cause of Intellisense and IDE sluggishness on Windows XP, Vista, Win Server 2003/2008 systems Over the last few months we’ve occasionally seen reports of people seeing tremendous slowness when typing and using intellisense within VS 2010 despite running on decent machines.  It took us awhile to track down the cause – but we have found that the common culprit seems to be that these machines don’t have the latest versions of the UIA (Windows Automation) component installed. UIA 3 ships with Windows 7, and is a recommended Windows Update patch on XP and Vista (which is why we didn’t see the problem in our tests – since our machines are patched with all recommended updates).  Many systems (especially on XP) don’t automatically install recommended updates, though, and are running with older versions of UIA. This can cause significant performance slow-downs within the VS 2010 editor when large lists are displayed (for example: with intellisense). If you are running on Windows XP, Vista, or Windows Server 2003 or 2008 and are seeing any performance issues with the editor or IDE, please install the free UIA 3 update that can be downloaded from this page.  If you scroll down the page you’ll find direct links to versions for each OS. Note that we are making improvements to the final release of VS 2010 so that we don’t have big perf issues when UIA 3 isn’t installed – and we are also adding a message within the IDE that will warn you if you don’t have UIA 3 installed and accessibility is activated. Improved Text Rendering with WPF 4 and VS 2010 We recently made some nice changes to WPF 4 which improve the text clarity and text crispness over what was in the VS 2010/.NET 4 Release Candidate.  In particular these changes improve scenarios where you have a dark background with light text. You can learn more about these improvements in this WPF Team blog post.  These changes will be in the final release of VS 2010 and .NET 4. Hope this helps, Scott

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  • A basic T4 template for generating Model Metadata in ASP.NET MVC2

    - by rajbk
    I have been learning about T4 templates recently by looking at the awesome ADO.NET POCO entity generator. By using the POCO entity generator template as a base, I created a T4 template which generates metadata classes for a given Entity Data Model. This speeds coding by reducing the amount of typing required when creating view specific model and its metadata. To use this template, Download the template provided at the bottom. Set two values in the template file. The first one should point to the EDM you wish to generate metadata for. The second is used to suffix the namespace and classes that get generated. string inputFile = @"Northwind.edmx"; string suffix = "AutoMetadata"; Add the template to your MVC 2 Visual Studio 2010 project. Once you add it, a number of classes will get added to your project based on the number of entities you have.    One of these classes is shown below. Note that the DisplayName, Required and StringLength attributes have been added by the t4 template. //------------------------------------------------------------------------------ // <auto-generated> // This code was generated from a template. // // Changes to this file may cause incorrect behavior and will be lost if // the code is regenerated. // </auto-generated> //------------------------------------------------------------------------------   using System; using System.ComponentModel; using System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations;   namespace NorthwindSales.ModelsAutoMetadata { public partial class CustomerAutoMetadata { [DisplayName("Customer ID")] [Required] [StringLength(5)] public string CustomerID { get; set; } [DisplayName("Company Name")] [Required] [StringLength(40)] public string CompanyName { get; set; } [DisplayName("Contact Name")] [StringLength(30)] public string ContactName { get; set; } [DisplayName("Contact Title")] [StringLength(30)] public string ContactTitle { get; set; } [DisplayName("Address")] [StringLength(60)] public string Address { get; set; } [DisplayName("City")] [StringLength(15)] public string City { get; set; } [DisplayName("Region")] [StringLength(15)] public string Region { get; set; } [DisplayName("Postal Code")] [StringLength(10)] public string PostalCode { get; set; } [DisplayName("Country")] [StringLength(15)] public string Country { get; set; } [DisplayName("Phone")] [StringLength(24)] public string Phone { get; set; } [DisplayName("Fax")] [StringLength(24)] public string Fax { get; set; } } } The gen’d class can be used from your project by creating a partial class with the entity name and setting the MetadataType attribute.namespace MyProject.Models{ [MetadataType(typeof(CustomerAutoMetadata))] public partial class Customer { }} You can also copy the code in the metadata class generated and create your own ViewModel class. Note that the template is super basic  and does not take into account complex properties. I have tested it with the Northwind database. This is a work in progress. Feel free to modify the template to suite your requirements. Standard disclaimer follows: Use At Your Own Risk, Works on my machine running VS 2010 RTM/ASP.NET MVC 2 AutoMetaData.zip Mr. Incredible: Of course I have a secret identity. I don't know a single superhero who doesn't. Who wants the pressure of being super all the time?

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  • DESIGNING FOR WIN PHONE 7

    Designing applications for the Win Phone 7 is very similar to designing for print. In my opinion, it feels like a cross between a tri-fold brochure and a poster. I based my prototype designs on Microsofts Metro style guide, with typography as the main focus and stunning imagery for support. Its nice to have fixed factors regulating the design, making it a fun and fresh design experience. Microsoft provides a UI Design Guidelines document that outlines layout sizes, background image size, recommended typefaces and spacing. You know what you are designing for and you know how it will look and act on the win phone 7 platform. Although applications are not required to strictly adhere to the Metro style guide I feel it makes the best use of the panorama view  and navigation. With strong examples of this UI concept in place like their Zune-like music + videos hub, I found it fairly easy to put together a few quick app mockups (see below). In addition to design guidelines, using a ready built design templates, or a win phone 7 specific panorama control like the one by Clarity Consulting will make the process of bringing your designs to life much more efficient. Likes, Dislikes, and Challenges I think the idea of the hub is completely intuitive. This concept clearly breaks down info into more manageable pieces, and greatly helps with organization when designing for the phone. I like the chromeless appearance, allowing the core functionality of the application to take precedence over gradients, textures, bevels, drop shadows, and the complicated animations you see on the web. Although I understand the Win Phone 7 guidelines are a work in progress, I found a few contradictions. I also noticed that certain design specifications did not translate well to the phone emulator . If you use their guidelines as suggested best practices and not as fixed definitions you will have more success. Multi-directional vs Linear The main challenge I had was stepping away from familiar navigational examples seen in other mobile phones. I had to keep reminding myself that the content to the right and to the left of what I was working on didnt necessarily have to have a direct link to one another. I started thinking multi-directional as opposed to linear. Win phone 7 vs IPhone The Metro styling of the Win Phone 7 is similar to the Zune HD and the Windows Media Center UI and offers a different interface paradigm than the IPhone. When navigating an application it feels like you are panning a long seamless page of information in contrast to the multiple panels of an IPhone. I think there is less of an opportunity to overdesign your application, which happens often with IPhone applications. While both interfaces are simple and sleek, win phone 7 really gets down to the basics. IPhone sets a high standard for designing for touch, designing for win phone 7 could improve on that user experience with a consistent and strategic use of white space and staying away from a menu and icon heavy UI. Design Examples for Win Phone 7 Applications Here are some concepts for both generic and brand specific applications for Win Phone 7: View Full Album Resources to get you going with your own Win Phone 7 design: Helpful design templates for Win Phone 7  http://www.shazaml.com/archives/windows-phone-7-ui-templates Here is the interaction design guide for Win Phone 7 http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9713252 Windows has a project template for Blend 4 and Visual Studio 2010 RC1 http://developer.windowsphone.com/ Clarity Consulting developed a panorama control for Win Phone 7 http://blogs.claritycon.com/blogs/design/archive/2010/03/30/building-the-elusive-windows-phone-panorama-control.aspxDid you know that DotNetSlackers also publishes .net articles written by top known .net Authors? We already have over 80 articles in several categories including Silverlight. Take a look: here.

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  • DESIGNING FOR WIN PHONE 7

    Designing applications for the Win Phone 7 is very similar to designing for print. In my opinion, it feels like a cross between a tri-fold brochure and a poster. I based my prototype designs on Microsofts Metro style guide, with typography as the main focus and stunning imagery for support. Its nice to have fixed factors regulating the design, making it a fun and fresh design experience. Microsoft provides a UI Design Guidelines document that outlines layout sizes, background image size, recommended typefaces and spacing. You know what you are designing for and you know how it will look and act on the win phone 7 platform. Although applications are not required to strictly adhere to the Metro style guide I feel it makes the best use of the panorama view  and navigation. With strong examples of this UI concept in place like their Zune-like music + videos hub, I found it fairly easy to put together a few quick app mockups (see below). In addition to design guidelines, using a ready built design templates, or a win phone 7 specific panorama control like the one by Clarity Consulting will make the process of bringing your designs to life much more efficient. Likes, Dislikes, and Challenges I think the idea of the hub is completely intuitive. This concept clearly breaks down info into more manageable pieces, and greatly helps with organization when designing for the phone. I like the chromeless appearance, allowing the core functionality of the application to take precedence over gradients, textures, bevels, drop shadows, and the complicated animations you see on the web. Although I understand the Win Phone 7 guidelines are a work in progress, I found a few contradictions. I also noticed that certain design specifications did not translate well to the phone emulator . If you use their guidelines as suggested best practices and not as fixed definitions you will have more success. Multi-directional vs Linear The main challenge I had was stepping away from familiar navigational examples seen in other mobile phones. I had to keep reminding myself that the content to the right and to the left of what I was working on didnt necessarily have to have a direct link to one another. I started thinking multi-directional as opposed to linear. Win phone 7 vs IPhone The Metro styling of the Win Phone 7 is similar to the Zune HD and the Windows Media Center UI and offers a different interface paradigm than the IPhone. When navigating an application it feels like you are panning a long seamless page of information in contrast to the multiple panels of an IPhone. I think there is less of an opportunity to overdesign your application, which happens often with IPhone applications. While both interfaces are simple and sleek, win phone 7 really gets down to the basics. IPhone sets a high standard for designing for touch, designing for win phone 7 could improve on that user experience with a consistent and strategic use of white space and staying away from a menu and icon heavy UI. Design Examples for Win Phone 7 Applications Here are some concepts for both generic and brand specific applications for Win Phone 7: View Full Album Resources to get you going with your own Win Phone 7 design: Helpful design templates for Win Phone 7  http://www.shazaml.com/archives/windows-phone-7-ui-templates Here is the interaction design guide for Win Phone 7 http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9713252 Windows has a project template for Blend 4 and Visual Studio 2010 RC1 http://developer.windowsphone.com/ Clarity Consulting developed a panorama control for Win Phone 7 http://blogs.claritycon.com/blogs/design/archive/2010/03/30/building-the-elusive-windows-phone-panorama-control.aspxDid you know that DotNetSlackers also publishes .net articles written by top known .net Authors? We already have over 80 articles in several categories including Silverlight. Take a look: here.

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  • Silverlight Cream for January 30, 2011 -- #1037

    - by Dave Campbell
    In this Issue: Ollie Riches, Colin Eberhardt, Andrej Tozon, Arik Poznanski, Deborah Kurata(-2-), Jay Kimble, Yochay Kiriaty, Peter Kuhn, Mike Ormond, WindowsPhoneGeek(-2-), and Matthias Shapiro. Above the Fold: Silverlight: "Missing Chart Legend" Deborah Kurata WP7: "XNA for Silverlight developers: Part 2 - Text rendering" Peter Kuhn Shoutouts: Timmy Kokke has a post up discussing What’s new in the Expression Design January 2011 preview? From SilverlightCream.com: WP7Contrib: Thread safe ObservableCollection<T> Ollie Riches, one of the two originators of WP7Contrib, has a post up on the WP7C ObservableCollection... what and why. Windows Phone 7 DeferredLoadContentControl Colin Eberhardt's latest is one we should all take notice of... a content control that defers rendering to provide a better user experience... source code is available as are some good external links Andrej Tozon on Hey weigh! WP7 application SilverlightShow interviews WP7 Dev Andrej Tozon and gets his take on his app, challenges, tips, and the future of WP7. A ProgressBar With Text For Windows Phone 7 Arik Poznanski demonstrates putting text up on the progress bar to let your users know what you're up to... and it looks great in the screenshots. Charting in a Silverlight Application using MVVM Deborah Kurata is checking out the Charting control this time around... using the charting control from the toolbox in the MVVM app she built in the last post... C# and VB code as always. Missing Chart Legend Deborah Kurata's latest in the world of Charting and MVVM involves using a custom theme and having your chart legend disappear... never fear, she's gonna tell you how to fix that! Silverlight/WP7 tip: Detecting when in VS Design Mode Jay Kimble has a post up that not only resolves a question you may need answered during development (are you in VS design Mode), but it also helps resolve a class of problem that Jay explains. Windows Phone GPS Emulator Yochay Kiriaty points out that while part of the issues of building a GPS-driven app for WP7 is getting your head around the tools, the next hurdle is testing... and that's what he's really discussing... "Windows Phone GPS Emulator" ... if you're playing with the GPS, you'll want this. XNA for Silverlight developers: Part 2 - Text rendering Peter Kuhn's latest tutorial in his XNA series for Silverlight developers is up at SilverlightShow... in this tutorial, Peter discusses text... it's a vastly different game displaying text in XNA as compared to Silverlight ... check it out and see. OData and Windows Phone 7 Mike Ormond starts you off using OData on your WP7 by showing where to download the libraries, and not stopping until he has an app running that reads an OData feed, plus he plans on continuing the quest in future posts. WP7 ProgressOverlay control in depth: features and customization WindowsPhoneGeek has a couple new posts up. The first one is an in-depth look at the ProgressOverlay control in the Codeing4fun Toolkit... pretty cool to be able to put your logo or app logo up. On Testing Windows Phone 7 Applications – Part II: Dealing with the WP7 Application Model WindowsPhoneGeek also has 5 more WP7 testing tips... and these are a little more technical than the first set, and includes some good external links. Topics include: Tombstoning, Usability, Navigation, Capabilities, and Memory consumption. Fun Theme-Friendly Windows Phone Icon Matthias Shapiro explains how to have your WP7 icon change based on the theme your user has chosen... great examples, and XAML included Stay in the 'Light! Twitter SilverlightNews | Twitter WynApse | WynApse.com | Tagged Posts | SilverlightCream Join me @ SilverlightCream | Phoenix Silverlight User Group Technorati Tags: Silverlight    Silverlight 3    Silverlight 4    Windows Phone MIX10

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  • Friday Fun: The Search For Wondla

    - by Asian Angel
    The best day of the week is finally here again, so it is time to have some fun while waiting to go home for the weekend. The game we have for you today takes you far into humanity’s future where you journey with Eva Nine in her quest to find other humans. Note: Today’s game comes with a double bonus! First, there is a sequel game that you can move on to once you have completed the first one. Second, there are three wallpapers available in multiple sizes for those who enjoy the characters and artwork presented in the game (see below). The Search For Wondla The object of the game is to find the differences between two similar looking images based on artwork from The Search For Wondla by Tony DiTerlizzi. Are you ready to join Eva Nine in her quest to find other humans in the future? Note: There is a version available for those who would like to play The Search For Wondla on their iPads! The first game has 28 levels of difference finding goodness for you to work through. Each level will list the minimum number of differences that you need to find to progress to the next level. If you need a hint along the way just click on the Shake or Reveal options at the bottom of the game play window. Get a level completed quickly enough and you get bonus points! There will also be differences in the images for individual levels each time you play the game, so have fun! Note: The second game has 12 levels to complete. To give you a good feel for the game we have covered the first six levels here and provided seven clues for each level (you are only required to find a minimum of five). Eva Nine viewing the holographic outdoor projections in the main hub of her living quarters… Eva Nine is in a grumpy mood as Muthr visits her at bedtime… Eva Nine in her secret hideaway visiting old “childhood friends” as she contemplates her recent survival test failure. Eva Nine viewing the entire set of floor plans for the underground sanctuary where she was born and has been growing up. Eva Nine’s escape to the surface as the underground sanctuary is attacked by the bounty hunter creature Besteel. Eva Nine on the surface for the first time in her young life. Will she be successful in her quest? There is only one way to find out! Play The Search For Wondla Part 1 Play The Search For Wondla Part 2 Bonus Content If you have enjoyed this game you can learn more about the book and download the three wallpapers shown here by visiting the link below! Note: The wallpapers come in the following sizes: 1024*768, 1280*800, 1280*1024, 1440*900, iPhone, iPhone4, and iPad (click on the Extras link at the bottom of the page). Visit the Search For Wondla Homepage Do you enjoy playing difference finding games? Then you will definitely want to have a look at another wonderful game that we have covered here: Friday Fun: Isis Latest Features How-To Geek ETC The How-To Geek Guide to Learning Photoshop, Part 8: Filters Get the Complete Android Guide eBook for Only 99 Cents [Update: Expired] Improve Digital Photography by Calibrating Your Monitor The How-To Geek Guide to Learning Photoshop, Part 7: Design and Typography How to Choose What to Back Up on Your Linux Home Server How To Harmonize Your Dual-Boot Setup for Windows and Ubuntu Hang in There Scrat! – Ice Age Wallpaper How Do You Know When You’ve Passed Geek and Headed to Nerd? On The Tip – A Lamborghini Theme for Chrome and Iron What if Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner were Human? [Video] Peaceful Winter Cabin Wallpaper Store Tabs for Later Viewing in Opera with Tab Vault

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  • Upgrade Office 2003 to 2010 on XP or Run them Side by Side

    - by Mysticgeek
    If you’re still running XP, currently have Office 2003 installed on your machine, and skipped Office 2007, you might want to upgrade to Office 2010. In this guide we will show you the upgrade process or how to run them side by side. In this example we are upgrading from Office 2003 Standard to Office Professional Plus 2010 RTM (Final) on XP Professional. System Requirements To run Office 2010 on your XP machine you have to make sure you have Service Pack 3 and Microsoft Silverlight installed (links below). Or you can just install them through Windows Update. Recommended Hardware 1GHZ CPU or higher 512 MB of RAM or higher 1024×768 Resolution or higher DirectX 9.0c compatible graphics card with 64 MB of memory or higher Installing Office 2010 Simply kick off the Office Professional Plus 2010 installation. Enter in your product key… Agree to the EULA…   Select the Customize button… Setup will detect Office 2003 and allow you to remove all applications, keep them, or select only the ones you want to keep. In this example we’re going to remove Excel and PowerPoint, and keep Outlook and Word 2003. Next, click the Installation Options tab and select Office programs you want to install. Since we’re keeping Outlook 2003 and don’t want to use Outlook 2010, we’re making sure not to install Outlook 2010. However, we want to run Word 2003 and 2010 on the same machine. After you’ve made your selections click the Upgrade button. The installation begins and you’re shown the progress. The amount of time it takes to install will vary between systems. Installation is complete and you can close out of the installer. Now when you go into the Start menu under Microsoft Office, you’ll see both versions of the Office apps available. Here is a shot of Word 2003 and 2010 running together on our XP machine.   Conclusion If you’re moving from Office 2003 to 2010, this allows you to install both versions side by side. It gives you a chance to learn 2010 features, and still work in the familiar 2003 environment when you need to get things done quickly. If you’re having problems installing Office 2010 make sure to check out our article on how to fix problems upgrading Office 2010 beta to RTM (Final) release. Also, if you were using Office 2007 and are currently using the 2010 beta, we have a guide on how to switch back to Office 2007 after the 2010 beta ends. Links XP Service Pack 3 Microsoft Silverlight Details on Office 2010 System Requirements Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Add Word/Excel 97-2003 Documents Back to the "New" Context Menu After Installing Office 2007Make Word 2007 Always Save in Word 2003 FormatMake Excel 2007 Always Save in Excel 2003 FormatRemove Office 2010 Beta and Reinstall Office 2007How to Find Office 2003 Commands in Office 2010 TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips VMware Workstation 7 Acronis Online Backup DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Enable or Disable the Task Manager Using TaskMgrED Explorer++ is a Worthy Windows Explorer Alternative Error Goblin Explains Windows Error Codes Twelve must-have Google Chrome plugins Cool Looking Skins for Windows Media Player 12 Move the Mouse Pointer With Your Face Movement Using eViacam

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