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  • Unable to use stored procs in a generic repository for the entity framework. (ASP.NET MVC 2)

    - by Matt
    Hi, I have a generic repository that uses the entity framework to manipulate the database. The original code is credited to Morshed Anwar's post on CodeProject. I've taken his code and modified is slightly to fit my needs. Unfortunately I'm unable to call an Imported Function because the function is only recognized for my specific instance of the entity framework public class Repository<E, C> : IRepository<E, C>, IDisposable where E : EntityObject where C : ObjectContext { private readonly C _ctx; public ObjectResult<MyObject> CallFunction() { // This does not work because "CallSomeImportedFunction" only works on // My object. I also cannot cast it (TrackItDBEntities)_ctx.CallSomeImportedFunction(); // Not really sure why though... but either way that kind of ruins the genericness off it. return _ctx.CallSomeImportedFunction(); } } Anyone know how I can make this work with the repository I already have? Or does anyone know a generic way of calling stored procedures with entity framework? Thanks, Matt

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  • Php index page utitlizing an idea for a superswitch...

    - by Matt
    I dont know if this is a great idea...or a crap one. But I was thinking I may use one page to display all my pages using includes. Here is what my index.php would look like...on the functions include there is a function called "superSwitch" which will determine what requested page will be included....for instance if I do a get ?a=a it will goto the function superSwitch(a) superSwitch will take it and associate it with (login.php) then respond with such... here is the code for the index.php...please let me know if this makes sense and might work, or should I just stick to long blocks of code (which is why I am trying this because I hate long pages full of code...) of course as you can tell it is not actually including anything yet...the print is for debugging purposes. :) Thanks, Matt <?php //includes Functions include_once('inc/func.inc.php'); //set superget variable $superget = @$_GET['a']; //check if superget is set or null if (!$superget) { echo "Nothing Requested :)"; } else { //sanitizes the superget request $supergetr = supergetSanitize($superget) //uses the result "good" or "nogood" to determine what happens if ( $supergetr == "good" ) { //pulls superSwitch value of the request $ssresult = superSwitch($superget); print_r ($ssresult); } //if the sanitize is nogood else { //the superSwitch is instructed to respond with a 404 page $superget = "404" $ssresult = superSwitch($superget); print_r ($ssresult); } } ?>

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  • Resolve php "deadlock"

    - by Matt
    Hey all, I'm currently running into a situation that I guess would be called deadlock. I'm implementing a message service that calls various object methods.. it's quite similar to observer pattern.. Here's whats going on: Dispatcher.php Dispatcher.php <? class Dispatcher { ... public function message($name, $method) { // Find the object based on the name $object = $this->findObjectByName($name); // Slight psuedocode.. for ease of example if($this->not_initialized($object)) $object = new $object(); // This is where it locks up. } return $object->$method(); ... } class A { function __construct() { $Dispatcher->message("B", "getName"); } public function getName() { return "Class A"; } } class B { function __construct() { // Assume $Dispatcher is the classes $Dispatcher->message("A", "getName"); } public function getName() { return "Class B"; } } ?> It locks up when neither object is initialized. It just goes back and forth from message each other and no one can be initialized. Any help would be immensely helpful.. Thanks! Matt Mueller

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  • Should a connect method return a value?

    - by Matt S
    I was looking at some code I've inherited and I couldn't decided if I like a bit of code. Basically, there is a method that looks like the following: bool Connect(connection parameters){...} It returns true if it connects successfully, false otherwise. I've written code like that in the past, but now, when I see this method I don't like it for a number of reasons. Its easy to write code that just ignores the returned value, or not realize it returns a value. There is no way to return an error message. Checking the return of the method doesn't really look nice: if (!Connect(...)){....} I could rewrite code to throw an exception when it doesn't successfully connect, but I don't consider that an exceptional situation. Instead I'm thinking of refactoring the code as follows: void Connect(Connection Parameters, out bool successful, out string errorMessage){...} I like that other developers have to provide the success and error strings so they know the method has error conditions and I can know return a message Anyone have any thoughts on the matter? Thanks -Matt

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  • Resolve php endless recursion issue

    - by Matt
    Hey all, I'm currently running into an endless recursion situation. I'm implementing a message service that calls various object methods.. it's quite similar to observer pattern.. Here's whats going on: Dispatcher.php class Dispatcher { ... public function message($name, $method) { // Find the object based on the name $object = $this->findObjectByName($name); // Slight psuedocode.. for ease of example if($this->not_initialized($object)) $object = new $object(); // This is where it locks up. } return $object->$method(); ... } class A { function __construct() { $Dispatcher->message("B", "getName"); } public function getName() { return "Class A"; } } class B { function __construct() { // Assume $Dispatcher is the classes $Dispatcher->message("A", "getName"); } public function getName() { return "Class B"; } } It locks up when neither object is initialized. It just goes back and forth from message each other and no one can be initialized. I'm looking for some kind of queue implementation that will make messages wait for each other.. One where the return values still get set. I'm looking to have as little boilerplate code in class A and class B as possible Any help would be immensely helpful.. Thanks! Matt Mueller

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  • Modularizing web applications

    - by Matt
    Hey all, I was wondering how big companies tend to modularize components on their page. Facebook is a good example: There's a team working on Search that has its own CSS, javascript, html, etc.. There's a team working on the news feed that has its own CSS, javascript, html, etc... ... And the list goes on They cannot all be aware of what everyone is naming their div tags and whatnot, so what's the controller(?) doing to hook all these components in on the final page?? Note: This doesn't just apply to facebook - any company that has separate teams working on separate components has some logic that helps them out. EDIT: Thanks all for the responses, unfortunately I still haven't really found what I'm looking for - when you check out the source code (granted its minified), the divs have UIDs, my guess is that there is a compilation process that runs through and makes each of the components unique, renaming divs and css rules.. any ideas? EDIT 2: Thanks all for contributing your thoughts - the bounty went to the highest upvoted answer. The question was designed to be vague- I think it led to a really interesting discussion. As I improve my build process, I will contribute my own thoughts and experiences. Thanks all! Matt Mueller

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  • Getting all objects with a certain element inside a collection of strings with criteria API.

    - by Jens Jansson
    Hey. I'm trying to build a Hibernate Criteria query to find entities that have a specific element inside a collection. We can take as an example a Book -object that looks like this: public class Book { private Long id; private String title; private Set<String> authors = new HashSet<String>(); } The entity is mapped like this: <class name="Book" table="Book"> <id name="id" column="BOOK_ID"> <generator class="native"/> </id> <property name="title"/> <set name="authors" table="Book_Authors"> <key column="BOOK_ID"/> <element type="string" column="AUTHORS"/> </set> </class> Now I would like to find out which books are written by Matt. With pure SQL I can do a query like this: String author = "Matt"; String query = "SELECT * FROM Book " + "WHERE BOOK_ID IN " + "(SELECT BOOK_ID FROM Book_Authors " + "WHERE authors = :author )"; List<Book> result = session.createSQLQuery(query) .addEntity(Book.class) .setParameter("author", author) .list(); This works all good and well, and I get out all books that Matt has been a part of writing. The project I work in, however, uses the Criteria API instead of raw SQL, and I haven't found a way to express the same query in that form. I've taken a look on the Restrictions API and the closest I've found is Restions.in(propertyName, collection) but that works the other way around (one value in object, many values to match against). Any ideas?

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  • Professional WordPress Business Themes

    - by Matt
    Every now and then JustSkins.com receives quote requests for WordPress design for business websites. Most companies now keep up to date with a blog on their corporate website, that showcases their day to day activities & progresses.  Getting such professional wordpress driven website designed from the scratch costs you a lot. If you have decided to make WordPress the CMS for your business website, there are some Professional WordPress themes you can take a look at. We have created this list to help you save some time to do all the trying and the testing. Optimize by WooThemes Last year one of the most popular Business theme by WooThemes was the Coffee Break theme, Optimize is further adaptation of the same. It is simple, sleek design with great functionality. The customizable front page lets you showcase your work or product etc. Demo | Price: $70, Developer Price: $150 | DOWNLOAD WooThemes is also offering their whole Business theme pack for a very very reasonable fee, If you like multiple designs from them you can get this big deal for only $125 Onyx , Impacto by Simple Themes Simple Themes has been making very crisp & beautiful WordPress Themes & are also very reasonably priced. If their themes solve your purpose $39 membership for 3 months is a good deal.  If you are looking to create quick website, landing page or micro site their templates are best. Demo | Price: $39 for 3 Months Membership Rejuvenate by Templatic One of the most beautiful Premium WordPress Theme, Available in 4 elegant color schemes. This theme can be used for your Beauty, Spa and Studio Business. Demo | Price: $65  | DOWNLOAD Templatic has created great professional business templates, such as Gourmet, Real Estate, Job Board, Automobile & lots More. You can also get a Best Value Offer in $299 for all of Templatic Themes. TheProfessional by ElegantThemes Elegant Themes is known to provide very beautiful & straightforward designs. The professional wordpress theme is a simple, crisp & concise Theme you can use to create a business website. The 3 short blurbs on the homepage are simple, which can be used to point them to your major offerings and the prominent slider indicates a clear call to action. There are 52 themes to choose from & Elegant Themes is giving a great offer at such a small yearly fee. Demo | Price: $39 Yearly Membership  | DOWNLOAD Elegant Themes has a cluster of 52 magnificent themes, and all you have to do is pay $39 to win access to all of them. Join today! Some of the Professional designs that I like for a business website are SimplePress and Corporation. Extatic by Chimera Themes The theme includes plenty of great features including custom feature tour pages, portfolio sections, static feature areas, pricing table page, 20+ shortcodes, multiple page/post options, unlimited custom sidebars which can be assigned to posts/pages, advanced theme style editor and options page and much more. Its a must buy Demo | Price: $37 | DOWNLOAD Corporate by Clover Themes Simple Theme for a small business. Corporate is an clean, powerful and feature-rich corporate theme with dynamic and energy design. Demo | Price: $69.95 | DOWNLOAD Bizco by Themify Bizco is a very professional template for wordpress targeted at corporate and product based businesses. This theme is simple yet highly functional and is suitable for showcasing features of your service or product. With the custom page template you can change the display of your pages and posts easily with our visual custom panel. Demo | Price: $70  |DOWNLOAD Devision by Themetrust Devision is a small business wordpress theme that can be used to make a business website within a few minutes. It makes it very easy to showcase and highlight your services or product on the homepage. Demo | Price: Euro 39 | DOWNLOAD BizPress by WPZoom A professional business WordPress theme from WPZoom suitable for companies, organizations, product showcases or other business websites. The theme comes with 4 colour options, featured products / services slider on the homepage, drop down menus, theme options page etc. Demo | Price: $ 69 | DOWNLOAD Clean Classy Corporate by ThemeFuse A very impressive WordPress business theme, that can be used in multiple ways. It is suitable for many kinds, like web products, services, hosting etc etc. Clean Classy Corporate WordPress Theme has a clean crisp look and is professional in appeal. Demo | Price: $49  | DOWNLOAD Insdustry by ThemeJam A powerful Business WordPress Template along with lots of options, colors, and customizable features. This is one for almost any kind of blogger, corporate, or organization. Lots of features, gives it the kind of scalability you might need to create any kind of website. Demo | Price: $ 59 | DOWNLOAD AppPress by ChimeraThemes This professional business WordPress theme includes 5 different colour schemes, advanced theme options page, multiple homepage sliders, custom widgets and page templates. The theme also includes a range of other unique features such as custom title, live style editor to modify colours, font styles, sizes etc, and 20+ shortcodes for creating pricing tables, content columns, boxes, buttons and others. Demo | Price: $ 37 | DOWNLOAD Why WordPress Professional Template? You can modify them, these usually come with a lot of fancy features that enable you to create the website as per your usability & choice. In some cases the  Premium WordPress business themes can be accessed through a subscription service. Premium Vs Free WordPress Themes There are very good Free WordPress themes out there that you can use to modify and code further or create what you want, but this possible when you are technically able. On the contrary Premium WordPress business themes offers great features & can save you a lot of time and money. It varies from business to business, some like to keep their website simple while most want to keep cool nifty features and abilities to scale it differently for various sections, products or categories. All this & more is possible with a Professional Business theme that is suitable/close to your needs.

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  • HTML5 Semantics - H1 or H2 for ARTICLE titles in a SECTION

    - by Matt
    It's my understanding (based from this chapter of Dive into HTML5: http://goo.gl/9zliD) that it can be considered semantically appropriate to use H1 tags in multiple areas of the page, as a method of setting the most important title for that particular content. If I'm using this methodology, and I have a SECTION which I've assigned an H1 of 'Articles', should I use H1 or H2 to define the titles for ARTICLEs in that SECTION? This is a bit confusing to me as the article titles are the most important heading for their ARTICLE, but are also 'children' of the SECTION's title. Example code: <section class="article-list"> <header> <h1>Articles</h1> </header> <article> <header> <h2>Article Title</h2> <time datetime="201-02-01">Today</time> </header> <p>Article text...</p> </article> <article> <header> <h2>Article Title</h2> <time datetime="2011-01-31">Yesterday</time> </header> <p>Article text...</p> </article> <article> <header> <h2>Article Title</h2> <time datetime="2011-01-30">The Day Before Yesterday</time> </header> <p>Article text...</p> </article> </section>

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  • Best WordPress Video Themes for a Video Blog

    - by Matt
    WordPress has made blogging so easy & fun, there are plenty of video blog themes that you can pick from. However there is always rarity in quality. We at JustSkins have gathered some high quality, tested, tried video themes list. We tried to find some WordPress themes for vloggers, we knew all along that there are very few yet some of them are just brilliant premium wordpress themes. More on that later, let’s find out some themes which you can install on your vlog right now. On Demand 2.0 A fully featured video WordPress premium theme from Press75. Includes  theme options panel for personal customization and content management options, post thumbnails, drop down navigation menu, custom widgets and lots more. Demo | Price: $75 | DOWNLOAD VideoZoom An outstanding premium WordPress video theme from WPZoom featuring standard video integration plus additionally it lets you play any video from all the popular video websites. VideoZoom theme also includes a featured video slider on the homepage, multiple post layout options, theme options panel, WordPress 3.0 menus, backgrounds etc. Demo | Price Single: $69, Developer: $149 | DOWNLOAD Vidley Press75′s easy to use premium WordPress video theme. This theme is full of great features, it can be a perfect choice if you intend to make it a portal someday..it is scalable to shape like a news portal or portfolios. The Theme is widget ready. It has ability to place Featured Content and Featured Category section on homepage. The drop down menus on this theme are nifty! Demo | Price $75 |  DOWNLOAD Live A video premium WordPress theme designed for streaming video, and live event broadcasting. You can embed live video broadcasts from third party services like Ustream etc, and features a prominent timer counting down to the next broadcast, rotating bumper images, Facebook and twitter integration for viewer interaction, theme admin options panel and more make this theme one of its kind. Demo | Price: $99, Support License: $149| DOWNLOAD Groovy Video Woo Themes is pioneer in making beautiful wordpress themes,  One such theme that is built by keeping the video blogger in mind. The Groovy Theme is very colourful video blog premium WordPress theme. Creating video posts is quick and easy with just a copy / paste of the video’s embed code. The theme enables automatic video resizing, plenty of widgets. Also allows you to pick color of your choice. Price: Single Use $70, Developer Price : $150 | DOWNLOAD Video Flick Another exciting Video blogging theme by Press75 is the Video Flick theme. Video Flick is compatible with any video service that provides embed code, or if you want to host your own videos, Video Flick is also compatible with FLV (Flash Video) and Quicktime formats. This theme allows you to either keep standard Blog and/or have Video posts. You can pick a light or dark color option. Demo | Price : $75 | DOWNLOAD Woo Tube An excellent video premium WordPress theme from Woothemes, the WooTube theme is a very easy video blog platform, as it comes with  automatic video resizing, a completely widgetised sidebar and 7 different colour schemes to choose from. The theme  has the ability to be used as a normal blog or a gallery. A very wise choice! Price: Single Use $70, Developer Price : $150 | DOWNLOAD eVid Theme One of the nicest WordPress theme designed specifically for the video bloggers. Simple to integrate videos from video hosts such as Youtube, Vimeo, Veoh, MetaCafe etc. Demo | Price: $19 | DOWNLOAD Tubular A video premium WordPress theme from StudioPress which can also be used as a used a simple website or a blog. The theme is also available in a light color version. Demo | Price: $59.95 | DOWNLOAD Video Elements 2.0 Another beautiful video premium WordPress theme from Press75. Video Elements 2.0 has been re-designed to include the features you need to easily run and maintain a video blog on WordPress. Demo | Price: $75 | DOWNLOAD TV Elements 3.0 The theme includes a featured video carousel on the homepage which can display any number of videos, a featured category section which displays up to 12 channels, creates automatic thumbnails and a lots more… Demo | Price: $75 | DOWNLOAD Wave A beautiful premium video wordpress theme, Flexible & Super cool looking. The Design has very earthy feel to it. The theme has featured video area & latest listing on the homepage. All in all a simple design no fancy features. Demo | Price: $35 | Download

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  • The HTG Guide to Using a Bluetooth Keyboard with Your Android Device

    - by Matt Klein
    Android devices aren’t usually associated with physical keyboards. But, since Google is now bundling their QuickOffice app with the newly-released Kit-Kat, it appears inevitable that at least some Android tablets (particularly 10-inch models) will take on more productivity roles. In recent years, physical keyboards have been rendered obsolete by swipe style input methods such as Swype and Google Keyboard. Physical keyboards tend to make phones thick and plump, and that won’t fly today when thin (and even flexible and curved) is in vogue. So, you’ll be hard-pressed to find smartphone manufacturers launching new models with physical keyboards, thus rendering sliders to a past chapter in mobile phone evolution. It makes sense to ditch the clunky keyboard phone in favor of a lighter, thinner model. You’re going to carry around in your pocket or purse all day, why have that extra bulk and weight? That said, there is sound logic behind pairing tablets with keyboards. Microsoft continues to plod forward with its Surface models, and while critics continue to lavish praise on the iPad, its functionality is obviously enhanced and extended when you add a physical keyboard. Apple even has an entire page devoted specifically to iPad-compatible keyboards. But an Android tablet and a keyboard? Does such a thing even exist? They do actually. There are docking keyboards and keyboard/case combinations, there’s the Asus Transformer family, Logitech markets a Windows 8 keyboard that speaks “Android”, and these are just to name a few. So we know that keyboard products that are designed to work with Android exist, but what about an everyday Bluetooth keyboard you might use with Windows or OS X? How-To Geek wanted look at how viable it is to use such a keyboard with Android. We conducted some research and examined some lists of Android keyboard shortcuts. Most of what we found was long outdated. Many of the shortcuts don’t even apply anymore, while others just didn’t work. Regardless, after a little experimentation and a dash of customization, it turns out using a keyboard with Android is kind of fun, and who knows, maybe it will catch on. Setting things up Setting up a Bluetooth keyboard with Android is very easy. First, you’ll need a Bluetooth keyboard and of course an Android device, preferably running version 4.1 (Jelly Bean) or higher. For our test, we paired a second-generation Google Nexus 7 running Android 4.3 with a Samsung Series 7 keyboard. In Android, enable Bluetooth if it isn’t already on. We’d like to note that if you don’t normally use Bluetooth accessories and peripherals with your Android device (or any device really), it’s best practice to leave Bluetooth off because, like GPS, it drains the device’s battery more quickly. To enable Bluetooth, simply go to “Settings” -> “Bluetooth” and tap the slider button to “On”. To set up the keyboard, make sure it is on and then tap “Bluetooth” in the Android settings. On the resulting screen, your Android device should automatically search for and hopefully find your keyboard. If you don’t get it right the first time, simply turn the keyboard on again and then tap “Search for Devices” to try again. If it still doesn’t work, make sure you have fresh batteries and the keyboard isn’t paired to another device. If it is, you will need to unpair it before it will work with your Android device (consult your keyboard manufacturer’s documentation or Google if you don’t know how to do this). When Android finds your keyboard, select it under “Available Devices” … … and you should be prompted to type in a code: If successful, you will see that device is now “Connected” and you’re ready to go. If you want to test things out, try pressing the “Windows” key (“Apple” or “Command”) + ESC, and you will be whisked to your Home screen. So, what can you do? Traditional Mac and Windows users know there’s usually a keyboard shortcut for just about everything (and if there isn’t, there’s all kinds of ways to remap keys to do a variety of commands, tasks, and functions). So where does Android fall in terms of baked-in keyboard commands? There answer to that is kind of enough, but not too much. There are definitely established combos you can use to get around, but they aren’t clear and there doesn’t appear to be any one authority on what they are. Still, there is enough keyboard functionality in Android to make it a viable option, if only for those times when you need to get something done (long e-mail or important document) and an on-screen keyboard simply won’t do. It’s important to remember that Android is, and likely always will be a touch-first interface. That said, it does make some concessions to physical keyboards. In other words, you can get around Android fairly well without having to lift your hands off the keys, but you will still have to tap the screen regularly, unless you add a mouse. For example, you can wake your device by tapping a key rather than pressing its power button. However, if your device is slide or pattern-locked, then you’ll have to use the touchscreen to unlock it – a password or PIN however, works seamlessly with a keyboard – other things like widgets and app controls and features, have to be tapped. You get the idea. Keyboard shortcuts and navigation As we said, baked-in keyboard shortcut combos aren’t necessarily abundant nor apparent. The one thing you can always do is search. Any time you want to Google something, start typing from the Home screen and the search screen will automatically open and begin displaying results. Other than that, here is what we were able to figure out: ESC = go back CTRL + ESC = menu CTRL + ALT + DEL = restart (no questions asked) ALT + SPACE = search page (say “OK Google” to voice search) ALT + TAB (ALT + SHIFT + TAB) = switch tasks Also, if you have designated volume function keys, those will probably work too. There’s also some dedicated app shortcuts like calculator, Gmail, and a few others: CMD + A = calculator CMD + C = contacts CMD + E = e-mail CMD + G = Gmail CMD + L = Calendar CMD + P = Play Music CMD + Y = YouTube Overall, it’s not a long comprehensive list and there’s no dedicated keyboard combos for the full array of Google’s products. Granted, it’s hard to imagine getting a lot of mileage out of a keyboard with Maps but with something like Keep, you could type out long, detailed lists on your tablet, and then view them on your smartphone when you go out shopping. You can also use the arrow keys to navigate your Home screen over shortcuts and open the app drawer. When something on the screen is selected, it will be highlighted in blue. Press “Enter” to open your selection. Additionally, if an app has its own set of shortcuts, e.g. Gmail has quite a few unique shortcuts to it, as does Chrome, some – though not many – will work in Android (not for YouTube though). Also, many “universal” shortcuts such as Copy (CTRL + C), Cut (CTRL + X), Paste (CTRL + V), and Select All (CTRL + A) work where needed – such as in instant messaging, e-mail, social media apps, etc. Creating custom application shortcuts What about custom shortcuts? When we were researching this article, we were under the impression that it was possible to assign keyboard combinations to specific apps, such as you could do on older Android versions such as Gingerbread. This no long seems to be the case and nowhere in “Settings” could we find a way to assign hotkey combos to any of our favorite, oft-used apps or functions. If you do want custom keyboard shortcuts, what can you do? Luckily, there’s an app on Google Play that allows you to, among other things, create custom app shortcuts. It is called External Keyboard Helper (EKH) and while there is a free demo version, the pay version is only a few bucks. We decided to give EKH a whirl and through a little experimentation and finally reading the developer’s how-to, we found we could map custom keyboard combos to just about anything. To do this, first open the application and you’ll see the main app screen. Don’t worry about choosing a custom layout or anything like that, you want to go straight to the “Advanced settings”: In the “Advanced settings” select “Application shortcuts” to continue: You can have up to 16 custom application shortcuts. We are going to create a custom shortcut to the Facebook app. We choose “A0”, and from the resulting list, Facebook. You can do this for any number of apps, services, and settings. As you can now see, the Facebook app has now been linked to application-zero (A0): Go back to the “Advanced settings” and choose “Customize keyboard mappings”: You will be prompted to create a custom keyboard layout so we choose “Custom 1”: When you choose to create a custom layout, you can do a great many more things with your keyboard. For example, many keyboards have predefined function (Fn) keys, which you can map to your tablet’s brightness controls, toggle WiFi on/off, and much more. A word of advice, the application automatically remaps certain keys when you create a custom layout. This might mess up some existing keyboard combos. If you simply want to add some functionality to your keyboard, you can go ahead and delete EKH’s default changes and start your custom layout from scratch. To create a new combo, select “Add new key mapping”: For our new shortcut, we are going to assign the Facebook app to open when we key in “ALT + F”. To do this, we press the “F” key while in the “Scancode” field and we see it returns a value of “33”. If we wanted to use a different key, we can press “Change” and scan another key’s numerical value. We now want to assign the “ALT” key to application “A0”, previously designated as the Facebook app. In the “AltGr” field, we enter “A0” and then “Save” our custom combo. And now we see our new application shortcut. Now, as long as we’re using our custom layout, every time we press “ALT + F”, the Facebook app will launch: External Keyboard Helper extends far beyond simple application shortcuts and if you are looking for deeper keyboard customization options, you should definitely check it out. Among other things, EKH also supports dozens of languages, allows you to quickly switch between layouts using a key or combo, add up to 16 custom text shortcuts, and much more! It can be had on Google Play for $2.53 for the full version, but you can try the demo version for free. More extensive documentation on how to use the app is also available. Android? Keyboard? Sure, why not? Unlike traditional desktop operating systems, you don’t need a physical keyboard and mouse to use a mobile operating system. You can buy an iPad or Nexus 10 or Galaxy Note, and never need another accessory or peripheral – they work as intended right out of the box. It’s even possible you can write the next great American novel on one these devices, though that might require a lot of practice and patience. That said, using a keyboard with Android is kind of fun. It’s not revelatory but it does elevate the experience. You don’t even need to add customizations (though they are nice) because there are enough existing keyboard shortcuts in Android to make it usable. Plus, when it comes to inputting text such as in an editor or terminal application, we fully advocate big, physical keyboards. Bottom line, if you’re looking for a way to enhance your Android tablet, give a keyboard a chance. Do you use your Android device for productivity? Is a physical keyboard an important part of your setup? Do you have any shortcuts that we missed? Sound off in the comments and let us know what you think.     

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  • Need help with PHP web app bootstrapping error potentially related to Zend [migrated]

    - by Matt Shepherd
    I am trying to get a program called OpenFISMA running on an Ubuntu AMI in AWS. The app is not really coded on the Ubuntu platform, but I am in my comfort zone there, and have tried both CentOS and OpenSUSE (both are sort of "native" for the app) for getting it working with the same or worse results. So, why not just get it working on Ubuntu? Anyway, the app is found here: www.openfisma.org and an install guide is found here: https://openfisma.atlassian.net/wiki/display/030100/Installation+Guide The install guide kind of sucks. It doesn't list dependencies in any coherent way or provide much of any detail (does not even mention Zend once on the entire page) so I've done a lot of work to divine the information I do have. This page provided some dependency inf (though again, Zend is not mentioned once): https://openfisma.atlassian.net/wiki/display/PUBLIC/RPM+Management#RPMManagement-BasicOverviewofRPMPackages Anyway, I got all the way through the install (so far as I could reconstruct it). I am going to the login page for the first time, and there should be some sort of bootstrapping occurring when I load the page. (I am not a programmer so I have no idea what it is doing there.) Anyway, I get a message on the web page that says: "An exception occurred while bootstrapping the application." So, then I go look in /var/www/data/logs/php.log and find this message: [22-Oct-2013 17:29:18 UTC] PHP Fatal error: Uncaught exception 'Zend_Exception' with message 'No entry is registered for key 'Zend_Log'' in /var/www/library/Zend/Registry.php:147 Stack trace: #0 /var/www/public/index.php(188): Zend_Registry::get('Zend_Log') #1 {main} thrown in /var/www/library/Zend/Registry.php on line 147 This occurs every time I load the page. I gather there is an issue related to registering the Zend_Log variable in the Zend registry, but other than that I really have no idea what to do about it. Am I missing a package that it needs, or is this app not coded to register the variables properly? I have no clue. Any help is greatly appreciated. The application file referenced in the log message (index.php) is included below. <?php /** * Copyright (c) 2008 Endeavor Systems, Inc. * * This file is part of OpenFISMA. * * OpenFISMA is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public * License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later * version. * * OpenFISMA is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied * warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more * details. * * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with OpenFISMA. If not, see * {@link http://www.gnu.org/licenses/}. */ try { defined('APPLICATION_PATH') || define( 'APPLICATION_PATH', realpath(dirname(__FILE__) . '/../application') ); // Define application environment defined('APPLICATION_ENV') || define( 'APPLICATION_ENV', (getenv('APPLICATION_ENV') ? getenv('APPLICATION_ENV') : 'production') ); set_include_path( APPLICATION_PATH . '/../library/Symfony/Components' . PATH_SEPARATOR . APPLICATION_PATH . '/../library' . PATH_SEPARATOR . get_include_path() ); require_once 'Fisma.php'; require_once 'Zend/Application.php'; $application = new Zend_Application( APPLICATION_ENV, APPLICATION_PATH . '/config/application.ini' ); Fisma::setAppConfig($application->getOptions()); Fisma::initialize(Fisma::RUN_MODE_WEB_APP); $application->bootstrap()->run(); } catch (Zend_Config_Exception $zce) { // A zend config exception indicates that the application may not be installed properly echo '<h1>The application is not installed correctly</h1>'; $zceMsg = $zce->getMessage(); if (stristr($zceMsg, 'parse_ini_file') !== false) { if (stristr($zceMsg, 'application.ini') !== false) { if (stristr($zceMsg, 'No such file or directory') !== false) { echo 'The ' . APPLICATION_PATH . '/config/application.ini file is missing.'; } elseif (stristr($zceMsg, 'Permission denied') !== false) { echo 'The ' . APPLICATION_PATH . '/config/application.ini file does not have the ' . 'appropriate permissions set for the application to read it.'; } else { echo 'An ini-parsing error has occured in ' . APPLICATION_PATH . '/config/application.ini ' . '<br/>Please check this file and make sure everything is setup correctly.'; } } else if (stristr($zceMsg, 'database.ini') !== false) { if (stristr($zceMsg, 'No such file or directory') !== false) { echo 'The ' . APPLICATION_PATH . '/config/database.ini file is missing.<br/>'; echo 'If you find a database.ini.template file in the config directory, edit this file ' . 'appropriately and rename it to database.ini'; } elseif (stristr($zceMsg, 'Permission denied') !== false) { echo 'The ' . APPLICATION_PATH . '/config/database.ini file does not have the appropriate ' . 'permissions set for the application to read it.'; } else { echo 'An ini-parsing error has occured in ' . APPLICATION_PATH . '/config/database.ini ' . '<br/>Please check this file and make sure everything is setup correctly.'; } } else { echo 'An ini-parsing error has occured. <br/>Please check all configuration files and make sure ' . 'everything is setup correctly'; } } elseif (stristr($zceMsg, 'syntax error') !== false) { if (stristr($zceMsg, 'application.ini') !== false) { echo 'There is a syntax error in ' . APPLICATION_PATH . '/config/application.ini ' . '<br/>Please check this file and make sure everything is setup correctly.'; } elseif (stristr($zceMsg, 'database.ini') !== false) { echo 'There is a syntax error in ' . APPLICATION_PATH . '/config/database.ini ' . '<br/>Please check this file and make sure everything is setup correctly.'; } else { echo 'A syntax error has been reached. <br/>Please check all configuration files and make sure ' . 'everything is setup correctly.'; } } else { // Then the exception message says nothing about parse_ini_file nor 'syntax error' echo 'Please check all configuration files, and ensure all settings are valid.'; } echo '<br/>For more information and help on installing OpenFISMA, please refer to the ' . '<a target="_blank" href="http://manual.openfisma.org/display/ADMIN/Installation">' . 'Installation Guide</a>'; } catch (Doctrine_Manager_Exception $dme) { echo '<h1>An exception occurred while bootstrapping the application.</h1>'; // Does database.ini have valid settings? Or is it the same content as database.ini.template? $databaseIniFail = false; $iniData = file(APPLICATION_PATH . '/config/database.ini'); $iniData = str_replace(chr(10), '', $iniData); if (in_array('db.adapter = ##DB_ADAPTER##', $iniData)) { $databaseIniFail = true; } if (in_array('db.host = ##DB_HOST##', $iniData)) { $databaseIniFail = true; } if (in_array('db.port = ##DB_PORT##', $iniData)) { $databaseIniFail = true; } if (in_array('db.username = ##DB_USER##', $iniData)) { $databaseIniFail = true; } if (in_array('db.password = ##DB_PASS##', $iniData)) { $databaseIniFail = true; } if (in_array('db.schema = ##DB_NAME##', $iniData)) { $databaseIniFail = true; } if ($databaseIniFail) { echo 'You have not applied the settings in ' . APPLICATION_PATH . '/config/database.ini appropriately. ' . 'Please review the contents of this file and try again.'; } else { if (Fisma::debug()) { echo '<p>' . get_class($dme) . '</p><p>' . $dme->getMessage() . '</p><p>' . "<p><pre>Stack Trace:\n" . $dme->getTraceAsString() . '</pre></p>'; } else { $logString = get_class($dme) . "\n" . $dme->getMessage() . "\nStack Trace:\n" . $dme->getTraceAsString() . "\n"; Zend_Registry::get('Zend_Log')->err($logString); } } } catch (Exception $exception) { // If a bootstrap exception occurs, that indicates a serious problem, such as a syntax error. // We won't be able to do anything except display an error. echo '<h1>An exception occurred while bootstrapping the application.</h1>'; if (Fisma::debug()) { echo '<p>' . get_class($exception) . '</p><p>' . $exception->getMessage() . '</p><p>' . "<p><pre>Stack Trace:\n" . $exception->getTraceAsString() . '</pre></p>'; } else { $logString = get_class($exception) . "\n" . $exception->getMessage() . "\nStack Trace:\n" . $exception->getTraceAsString() . "\n"; Zend_Registry::get('Zend_Log')->err($logString); } }

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  • [GEEK SCHOOL] Network Security 1: Securing User Accounts and Passwords in Windows

    - by Matt Klein
    This How-To Geek School class is intended for people who want to learn more about security when using Windows operating systems. You will learn many principles that will help you have a more secure computing experience and will get the chance to use all the important security tools and features that are bundled with Windows. Obviously, we will share everything you need to know about using them effectively. In this first lesson, we will talk about password security; the different ways of logging into Windows and how secure they are. In the proceeding lesson, we will explain where Windows stores all the user names and passwords you enter while working in this operating systems, how safe they are, and how to manage this data. Moving on in the series, we will talk about User Account Control, its role in improving the security of your system, and how to use Windows Defender in order to protect your system from malware. Then, we will talk about the Windows Firewall, how to use it in order to manage the apps that get access to the network and the Internet, and how to create your own filtering rules. After that, we will discuss the SmartScreen Filter – a security feature that gets more and more attention from Microsoft and is now widely used in its Windows 8.x operating systems. Moving on, we will discuss ways to keep your software and apps up-to-date, why this is important and which tools you can use to automate this process as much as possible. Last but not least, we will discuss the Action Center and its role in keeping you informed about what’s going on with your system and share several tips and tricks about how to stay safe when using your computer and the Internet. Let’s get started by discussing everyone’s favorite subject: passwords. The Types of Passwords Found in Windows In Windows 7, you have only local user accounts, which may or may not have a password. For example, you can easily set a blank password for any user account, even if that one is an administrator. The only exception to this rule are business networks where domain policies force all user accounts to use a non-blank password. In Windows 8.x, you have both local accounts and Microsoft accounts. If you would like to learn more about them, don’t hesitate to read the lesson on User Accounts, Groups, Permissions & Their Role in Sharing, in our Windows Networking series. Microsoft accounts are obliged to use a non-blank password due to the fact that a Microsoft account gives you access to Microsoft services. Using a blank password would mean exposing yourself to lots of problems. Local accounts in Windows 8.1 however, can use a blank password. On top of traditional passwords, any user account can create and use a 4-digit PIN or a picture password. These concepts were introduced by Microsoft to speed up the sign in process for the Windows 8.x operating system. However, they do not replace the use of a traditional password and can be used only in conjunction with a traditional user account password. Another type of password that you encounter in Windows operating systems is the Homegroup password. In a typical home network, users can use the Homegroup to easily share resources. A Homegroup can be joined by a Windows device only by using the Homegroup password. If you would like to learn more about the Homegroup and how to use it for network sharing, don’t hesitate to read our Windows Networking series. What to Keep in Mind When Creating Passwords, PINs and Picture Passwords When creating passwords, a PIN, or a picture password for your user account, we would like you keep in mind the following recommendations: Do not use blank passwords, even on the desktop computers in your home. You never know who may gain unwanted access to them. Also, malware can run more easily as administrator because you do not have a password. Trading your security for convenience when logging in is never a good idea. When creating a password, make it at least eight characters long. Make sure that it includes a random mix of upper and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols. Ideally, it should not be related in any way to your name, username, or company name. Make sure that your passwords do not include complete words from any dictionary. Dictionaries are the first thing crackers use to hack passwords. Do not use the same password for more than one account. All of your passwords should be unique and you should use a system like LastPass, KeePass, Roboform or something similar to keep track of them. When creating a PIN use four different digits to make things slightly harder to crack. When creating a picture password, pick a photo that has at least 10 “points of interests”. Points of interests are areas that serve as a landmark for your gestures. Use a random mixture of gesture types and sequence and make sure that you do not repeat the same gesture twice. Be aware that smudges on the screen could potentially reveal your gestures to others. The Security of Your Password vs. the PIN and the Picture Password Any kind of password can be cracked with enough effort and the appropriate tools. There is no such thing as a completely secure password. However, passwords created using only a few security principles are much harder to crack than others. If you respect the recommendations shared in the previous section of this lesson, you will end up having reasonably secure passwords. Out of all the log in methods in Windows 8.x, the PIN is the easiest to brute force because PINs are restricted to four digits and there are only 10,000 possible unique combinations available. The picture password is more secure than the PIN because it provides many more opportunities for creating unique combinations of gestures. Microsoft have compared the two login options from a security perspective in this post: Signing in with a picture password. In order to discourage brute force attacks against picture passwords and PINs, Windows defaults to your traditional text password after five failed attempts. The PIN and the picture password function only as alternative login methods to Windows 8.x. Therefore, if someone cracks them, he or she doesn’t have access to your user account password. However, that person can use all the apps installed on your Windows 8.x device, access your files, data, and so on. How to Create a PIN in Windows 8.x If you log in to a Windows 8.x device with a user account that has a non-blank password, then you can create a 4-digit PIN for it, to use it as a complementary login method. In order to create one, you need to go to “PC Settings”. If you don’t know how, then press Windows + C on your keyboard or flick from the right edge of the screen, on a touch-enabled device, then press “Settings”. The Settings charm is now open. Click or tap the link that says “Change PC settings”, on the bottom of the charm. In PC settings, go to Accounts and then to “Sign-in options”. Here you will find all the necessary options for changing your existing password, creating a PIN, or a picture password. To create a PIN, press the “Add” button in the PIN section. The “Create a PIN” wizard is started and you are asked to enter the password of your user account. Type it and press “OK”. Now you are asked to enter a 4-digit pin in the “Enter PIN” and “Confirm PIN” fields. The PIN has been created and you can now use it to log in to Windows. How to Create a Picture Password in Windows 8.x If you log in to a Windows 8.x device with a user account that has a non-blank password, then you can also create a picture password and use it as a complementary login method. In order to create one, you need to go to “PC settings”. In PC Settings, go to Accounts and then to “Sign-in options”. Here you will find all the necessary options for changing your existing password, creating a PIN, or a picture password. To create a picture password, press the “Add” button in the “Picture password” section. The “Create a picture password” wizard is started and you are asked to enter the password of your user account. You are shown a guide on how the picture password works. Take a few seconds to watch it and learn the gestures that can be used for your picture password. You will learn that you can create a combination of circles, straight lines, and taps. When ready, press “Choose picture”. Browse your Windows 8.x device and select the picture you want to use for your password and press “Open”. Now you can drag the picture to position it the way you want. When you like how the picture is positioned, press “Use this picture” on the left. If you are not happy with the picture, press “Choose new picture” and select a new one, as shown during the previous step. After you have confirmed that you want to use this picture, you are asked to set up your gestures for the picture password. Draw three gestures on the picture, any combination you wish. Please remember that you can use only three gestures: circles, straight lines, and taps. Once you have drawn those three gestures, you are asked to confirm. Draw the same gestures one more time. If everything goes well, you are informed that you have created your picture password and that you can use it the next time you sign in to Windows. If you don’t confirm the gestures correctly, you will be asked to try again, until you draw the same gestures twice. To close the picture password wizard, press “Finish”. Where Does Windows Store Your Passwords? Are They Safe? All the passwords that you enter in Windows and save for future use are stored in the Credential Manager. This tool is a vault with the usernames and passwords that you use to log on to your computer, to other computers on the network, to apps from the Windows Store, or to websites using Internet Explorer. By storing these credentials, Windows can automatically log you the next time you access the same app, network share, or website. Everything that is stored in the Credential Manager is encrypted for your protection.

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  • How can I learn to effectively write Pythonic code?

    - by Matt Fenwick
    I'm tired of getting downvoted and/or semi-rude comments on my Python answers, saying things like "this isn't Pythonic" or "that's not the Python way of doing things". To clarify, I'm not tired of getting corrected and downvoted, and I'm not tired of being wrong: I'm tired of feeling like there's a whole field of Python that I know nothing about, and seems to be implicit knowledge of experienced Python programmers. Doing a google search for "Pythonic" reveals a wide range of interpretations. The wikipedia page says: A common neologism in the Python community is pythonic, which can have a wide range of meanings related to program style. To say that code is pythonic is to say that it uses Python idioms well, that it is natural or shows fluency in the language. Likewise, to say of an interface or language feature that it is pythonic is to say that it works well with Python idioms, that its use meshes well with the rest of the language. It also discusses the term "unpythonic": In contrast, a mark of unpythonic code is that it attempts to write C++ (or Lisp, Perl, or Java) code in Python—that is, provides a rough transcription rather than an idiomatic translation of forms from another language. The concept of pythonicity is tightly bound to Python's minimalist philosophy of readability and avoiding the "there's more than one way to do it" approach. Unreadable code or incomprehensible idioms are unpythonic. I suspect one way to learn the Pythonic way is just to program in Python a whole bunch. But I bet I could write a bunch of crap and not improve that much without some guidance, whereas a good resource might speed up the learning process significantly. PEP 8 might be exactly what I'm looking for, or maybe not. I'm not sure; on the one hand it covers a lot of ground, but on the other hand, I feel like it's more suited as a reference for knowledgeable programmers than a tutorial for fresh 'uns. How do I get my foot in the Pythonic/Python way of doing things door?

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  • Dealing with a fundamental design flaw when you're new to the project

    - by Matt Phillips
    I've just started working on an open source project with around 30 developers in it. I'm working on fixing some of the bugs as a way to get into the "loop" and become a regular committer to the project. The problem is I think I've uncovered a fundamental design flaw that's causing one of the bugs I'm working on. But I feel like if I blast this on the mailing list I'm going to come off as arrogant, and some of the discussions I've had about the issue are butting heads with some of the people. How should I go about this?

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  • How do you install a USB CD Rom drive?

    - by Matt Allen
    Hello, I recently purchased a USB CD ROM drive, but I don't know how to get it to work with my computer which runs Ubuntu 10.04. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00303H908/ref=oss_product When I issue the lsusb command, it shows up as: Bus 002 Device 016: ID 05e3:0701 Genesys Logic, Inc. USB 2.0 IDE Adapter The computer doesn't recognize it automatically. How can I get this drive to show up as an actual drive on my computer? If this particular drive can't handle Linux, can you recommended one which can and provide a link to it so I can purchase it? Thanks! Update: I was asked by Scaine to run a command and report back with the output: joe@joe-laptop:~$ tail -f /var/log/kern.log Dec 29 12:51:35 joe-laptop kernel: [103190.551437] sr 7:0:0:0: [sr1] Add. Sense: Illegal mode for this track Dec 29 12:51:35 joe-laptop kernel: [103190.551446] sr 7:0:0:0: [sr1] CDB: Read(10): 28 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 02 00 Dec 29 12:51:35 joe-laptop kernel: [103190.551463] end_request: I/O error, dev sr1, sector 0 Dec 29 12:51:35 joe-laptop kernel: [103190.877542] sr 7:0:0:0: [sr1] Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE Dec 29 12:51:35 joe-laptop kernel: [103190.877551] sr 7:0:0:0: [sr1] Sense Key : Illegal Request [current] Dec 29 12:51:35 joe-laptop kernel: [103190.877559] Info fld=0x0, ILI Dec 29 12:51:35 joe-laptop kernel: [103190.877562] sr 7:0:0:0: [sr1] Add. Sense: Illegal mode for this track Dec 29 12:51:35 joe-laptop kernel: [103190.877572] sr 7:0:0:0: [sr1] CDB: Read(10): 28 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 02 00 Dec 29 12:51:35 joe-laptop kernel: [103190.877588] end_request: I/O error, dev sr1, sector 0 Dec 29 13:08:46 joe-laptop kernel: [104221.558911] usb 2-2.2: USB disconnect, address 16 Then when I plugged the drive back into the computer, I got: Dec 29 13:10:29 joe-laptop kernel: [104324.668320] usb 2-2.2: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 17 Dec 29 13:10:29 joe-laptop kernel: [104324.761702] usb 2-2.2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice Dec 29 13:10:29 joe-laptop kernel: [104324.762700] scsi8 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices Dec 29 13:10:29 joe-laptop kernel: [104324.762935] usb-storage: device found at 17 Dec 29 13:10:29 joe-laptop kernel: [104324.762938] usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning Dec 29 13:10:34 joe-laptop kernel: [104329.760521] usb-storage: device scan complete Dec 29 13:10:34 joe-laptop kernel: [104329.761344] scsi 8:0:0:0: CD-ROM TEAC CD-224E 1.7A PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS Dec 29 13:10:34 joe-laptop kernel: [104329.767425] sr1: scsi3-mmc drive: 24x/24x cd/rw xa/form2 cdda tray Dec 29 13:10:34 joe-laptop kernel: [104329.767612] sr 8:0:0:0: Attached scsi CD-ROM sr1 Dec 29 13:10:34 joe-laptop kernel: [104329.767720] sr 8:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 5 Dec 29 13:10:34 joe-laptop kernel: [104330.141060] sr 8:0:0:0: [sr1] Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE Dec 29 13:10:34 joe-laptop kernel: [104330.141069] sr 8:0:0:0: [sr1] Sense Key : Illegal Request [current] Dec 29 13:10:34 joe-laptop kernel: [104330.141077] Info fld=0x0, ILI Dec 29 13:10:34 joe-laptop kernel: [104330.141081] sr 8:0:0:0: [sr1] Add. Sense: Illegal mode for this track Dec 29 13:10:34 joe-laptop kernel: [104330.141090] sr 8:0:0:0: [sr1] CDB: Read(10): 28 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 02 00 Dec 29 13:10:34 joe-laptop kernel: [104330.141106] end_request: I/O error, dev sr1, sector 0 Dec 29 13:10:34 joe-laptop kernel: [104330.141113] __ratelimit: 18 callbacks suppressed There was more output than this (the number of lines started growing after the drive was plugged back in, and kept growing), but this is the first few lines.

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  • What makes a Software Craftsman?

    - by Liam McLennan
    At the end of my visit to 8th Light Justin Martin was kind enough to give me a ride to the train station; for my train back to O’Hare. Just before he left he asked me an interesting question which I then posted to twitter: Liam McLennan: . @JustinMartinM asked what I think is the most important attributes of craftsmen. I said, "desire to learn and humility". What's yours? 6:25 AM Apr 17th via TweetDeck several people replied with excellent contributions: Alex Hung: @liammclennan I think kaizen sums up craftmanship pretty well, which is almost same as yours Steve Bohlen: @alexhung @liammclennan those are both all about saying "knowing what you don't know and not being afraid to go learn it" (and I agree!) Matt Roman: @liammclennan @JustinMartinM a tempered compulsion for constant improvement, and an awareness of what needs improving. Justin Martin: @mattroman @liammclennan a faculty for asking challenging questions, and a persistence to battle through difficult obstacles barring growth I thought this was an interesting conversation, and I would love to see other people contribute their opinions. My observation is that Alex, Steve, Matt and I seem to have essentially the same answer in different words. It is also interesting to note (as Alex pointed out) that these definitions are very similar to Alt.NET and the lean concept of kaizen.

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  • Initial Review - Mastering Unreal Technology I: Introduction to Level Design with Unreal Engine 3

    - by Matt Christian
    Recently I purchased 3 large volumes on using the Unreal 3 Engine to create levels and custom games.  This past weekend I cracked the spine of the first and started reading.  Here are my early impressions (I'm ~250 pages into it, with appendices it's about 900). Pros Interestingly, the book starts with an overview of the Unreal engines leading up to Unreal 3 (including Gears of War) and follows with some discussion on planning a mod and what goes into the game development process.  This is nice for an intro to the book and is much preferred rather than a simple chapter detailing what is on the included CD, how to install and setup UnrealEd, etc...  While the chapter on Unreal history and planning can be considered 'fluff', it's much less 'fluffy' than most books provide. I need to mention one thing here that is pretty crucial in the way I'm going to continue reviewing this book.  Most technical books like this are used as a shelf reference; as a thick volume you use for looking up techniques every now and again.  Even so, I prefer reading from cover to cover, including chapters I may already be knowledgable on (I'm sure this is typical for most people).  If there was a chapter on installing UnrealEd (the previously mentioned 'fluff'), I would probably force myself to read it, even though I've installed the game and engine multiple times on different systems. Chapter 3 is where we really get to the introduction piece of UnrealEd, creating your first basic level.  This large chapter details creating two small rooms, adding static meshes, adding lighting, creating and adding particle emitters, creating a door that animates with Unreal Matinee and Kismet, static meshes with physics, and other little additions to make your level look less beginner.  This really is a chapter that overviews the entire rest of the book, as each chapter following details the creation and intermediate usages of Static Meshes, Materials, Lighting, etc... One other very nice part to this book is the way the tutorials are setup.  Each tutorial builds off the previous and all are step-by-step.  If you haven't completed one yet, you can find all the starting files on the CD that comes with the book. Cons While the description of the overview chapter (Chapter 3) is fresh in your mind, let me start the cons by saying this chapter is setup extremely confusing for the noob.  At one point, you end up creating a door mesh and setting it up as a InteropMesh so that it is ready to be animated, only to switch to particles and spend a good portion of time working on a different piece of the level.  Yes, this is actually how I develop my levels (jumping back and forth), though it's very odd for a book to jump out of sequence. The next item might be a positive or a negative depending on your skill level with UnrealEd.  Most of the introduction to the editor layout is found in one of the Appendices instead of before Chapter 3.  For new readers, this might lead to confusion as Appendix A would typically be read between Chapter 2 and 3.  However, this is a positive for those with some experience in UnrealEd as they don't have to force themselves through a 'learn every editor button' chapter.  I'm listing this in the Cons section as the book is 'Introduction to...' and is probably going to be directed toward a lot of very beginner developers. Finally, there's a lack of general description to a lot of the underlying engine and what each piece in UnrealEd is or does.  Sometimes you'll be performing Tutorial after Tutorial with barely a paragraph in between describing ANY of what you've just done.  Tutorial 1.1 Step 6 says to press Button X, so you do.  But why?  This is in part a problem with the structure of the tutorials rather than the content of the book.  Since the tutorials are so focused on a step-by-step (or procedural) description of a process, you learn the process and not why you're doing that.  For example, you might learn how to size a material to a surface, but will only learn what buttons to press and not what each one does. This becomes extremely apparent in the chapter on Static Meshes as most of the chapter is spent in 3D Studio Max.  Since there are books on 3DSM and modelling, the book really only tells you the steps and says to go grab a book on modelling if you're really interested in 3DSM.  Again, I've learned the process to develop my own meshes in 3DSM, but I don't know the why behind the steps. Conclusion So far the book is very good though I would have a hard time recommending it to a complete beginner.  I would suggest anyone looking at this book (obviously including the other 2, more advanced volumes) to pick up a copy of UDK or Unreal 3 (available online or via download services such as Steam) and watch some online tutorials and play with it first.  You'll find plenty of online videos available that were created by the authors and may suit as a better introduction to the editor.

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  • Retro Video Game Collection

    - by Matt Christian
    Recently I've decided, in true nerd fashion, to collect either comic books or video games.  Considering I'm much more versed in the technological arts and not in ACTUAL art, I thought collecting old video games would be an interesting venture.  After all, I am a self-described compulsive shopper (my bank statement at the end of the month has a purchase every few days).  (Don't worry, I'm not in debt and still pay my bills on time!) I went to a local video game store in Stevens Point called Gaming Generations which is a neat little shop with loads of old games for great prices.  For example, any NES cartridge on the shelf (not behind glass) is, at most, $4.99 with the cheaper ones around $1.99.  During my first round at GG, I picked up the following: NES: - Fester's Quest - Adventures of Link (Zelda 2, grey cart) - Little Nemo - Total Recall - The Goonies 2 PSX: - Galerians N64: - Mission: Impossible - Hybrid Heaven I was a little cautious, would I even like collecting old games?  As soon as I popped a few of those games in I knew right away the answer was an astounding YES!  Not only is it fun to bring back memories of all these old games, but searching for them in stores is also a blast and saying 'I have that one, I need the second one.' After finding such joy in buying these games, I decided to go search through 4-5 stores in Wausau for old games as well.  While the prices were a bit higher and selection smaller, the search was still fun.  I found the following: NES: - Maniac Mansion - T&C Surf - Chip N Dale: Rescue Rangers - TMNT (the first one) - Mission: Impossible N64: - Turok - Turok 2 Genesis: - Sonic the Hedgehog Dreamcast: - Shenmue And I found a Gamegear for $5!  Now I just need to find games for it... Tonight I will go on one more small expedition into the used, once again stopping at GG and another second hand store to see if I can find any items for my collection.

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  • In-Application Support Made Easier

    - by matt.hicks
    With the availability of Oracle UPK 3.6.1 and Enablement Service Pack 1 for Oracle UPK 3.6.1 (Oracle Support login required for both), there are quite a few changes for content admins to absorb. In addition to the support added for dozens of application releases, patches and new target applications, we've also added features to make implementing and using In-Application Support even easier. First, the old Help Menu Integration Guides have been updated and combined into a single In-Application Support Guide. If you integrate UPK content for user assistance, or if you're interested in doing so, read the new guide! It covers all the integration steps, including a section on the new In-Application Support Configuration Utility. If you've integrated content in multiple languages, or if you've ever had to make configuration changes for UPK Help Integration, then you know how cumbersome it was to manually edit javascript files. No longer! The Player now includes a configuration utility that provides a web browser interface for setting all In-Application Support options. From the main screen, you see a list of applications covered by the published content. Clicking on an application name takes you to the edit configuration screen where you can set all Player options for that application. No more digging through the Player folders to find the right javascript file to edit. No complicated javascript syntax to make changes. And with Enablement Service Pack 1 we've added a new feature we're calling the Tabbed Gateway. The Tabbed Gateway is a top-level navigation bar for Help Integration. And all tabs, links, and text are controlled with the Configuration Utility... I think the Tabbed Gateway is a really cool and exciting feature for content launch. I can't wait to hear how your ideas for how to use it for your content. Let me know in comments or email!

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  • html/css vs CMS

    - by Matt
    I am currently a CS student and an aspiring programmer/web developer. I am wondering whether it is worth taking the time to master html and css to make websites when these CMS services/wysiwyg editors (wordpress, squarespace) seem to be becoming more and more functional. Does anyone think these publishing services might eventually make the need to design websites from raw code unnecessary? If not, please explain why. If designing a website eventually becomes as simple as using Photoshop I would much rather invest my time in programming languages.

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  • 24+ Coda Alternatives for Windows and Linux

    - by Matt
    Coda plays an important role in designing layout on Mac. There are numerous coda alternatives for windows and Linux too. It is not possible to describe each and everyone so some of the coda alternatives, which work on both windows and Linux platforms, are discussed below. EditPlus $35.00 Good thing about EditPlus is that it highlights URLs and email addresses, activating them when you ‘crtl + double-click’. It also has a built in browser for previewing HTML, and FTP and SFTP support. Also supports Macros and RegEx find and replace. UltraEdit $49.99 It is another good coda alternative for windows and Linux. It is the best suited editor for text, HTML and HEX. It also plays an advanced PHP, Perl, Java and JavaScript editor for programmers. It supports disk-based 64-bit or standard file handling on 32-bit Windows platforms or window 2000 and later versions. HippoEdit $39.95 HippoEDIT has the best autocomplete it gives pop a ‘tooltip’ above your cursor as you type, suggesting words you’ve already typed. It does syntax highlighting for over 2 dozen language. Sublime Text $59.00 Sublime Text awesome ‘zoomed out’ view of the file lets you focus on the area you want. It lets you open a local file when you right-click on its link, and there are a few automation features, so this would make a solid choice of a text editor. Textpad $24.70 TextPad is simple editor with nifty features such as column select, drag-and-drop text between files, and hyperlink support. It also supports large files. Aptana Free Aptana Studio is one of the best editors working on both windows and Linux. It is a complete web development setting that has a nice blend of powerful authoring tools with a collection of online hosting and collaboration services. It is quite helpful as it support for PHP, CSS, FTP, and more. SciTE Free It is a SCIntilla based Text Editor. It has gradually developed as a generally useful editor. It provides for building and running programs. It is best to be used for jobs with simple configurations. SciTE is currently available for Intel Win32 and Linux compatible operating systems with GTK+. It has been run on Windows XP and on Fedora 8 and Ubuntu 7.10 with GTK+ 2.12 E Text Editor $34.96 E Text Editor is a new text editor for Windows, which also works on Linux as well. It has powerful editing features and also some unique abilities. It makes text manipulation quite fast and easy, and makes user focus on his writing as it automatically does all the manual work. It can be extend it in any language. It supports Text Mate bundles, thus allows the user to tap into a huge and active community. Editra Free Editra is an upcoming editor, with some fantastic features such as user profiles, auto-completion, session saving, and syntax highlighing for 60+ languages. Plugins can extend the feature set, offering an integrated python console, FTP client, file browser, and calculator, among others. PSPad Free PSPad is a good Template for writing CSS, as it an internal web browser, and a macro recorder to the table. It also supports hex editing, and some degree of code compiling. JEdit Free It is a mature programmer’s text editor and has taken a good deal of time to be developed as it is today. It is better than many costlier development tools due to its features and simplicity of use. It has been released as free software with full source code, provided under the terms of the GPL 2.0. Which also adds to its attractiveness. NEdit Free It is a multi-purpose text editor for the X Window System, which also works on Linux. It combines a standard, easy to use, graphical user interface with the full functionality and stability required by users who edit text for long period a day. It also provides for thorough support for development in various languages. It also facilitates the use of text processors, and other tools at the same time. It can be used productively by anyone who needs to edit text. It is quite a user-friendly tool. Its salient features include syntax highlighting with built in pattern, auto indent, tab emulation, block indentation adjustment etc. As of version 5.1, NEdit may be freely distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License. MadEdit Free Mad Edit is an Open-Source and Cross-Platform Text/Hex Editor. It is written in C++ and wxWidgets. MadEdit can edit files in Text/Column/Hex modes. It also supports many useful functions, such as Syntax Highlighting, Word Wrap, Encoding for UTF8/16/32,and others. It also supports word count, which makes it quite a useful text editor for both windows and Linux. It has been recently modified on 10/09/2010. KompoZer Free Kompozer is a complete web authoring system that has a combination of web file management and easy-to-use WYSIWYG web page editing. KompoZer has been designed to be completely and extensively easy to use. It is thus an ideal tool for non-technical computer users who want to create an attractive, professional-looking web site without knowing HTML or web coding. It is based on the NVU source code. Vim Free Vim or “Vi IMproved” is an advanced text editor. Its salient features are syntax highlighting, word completion and it also has a huge amount of contributed content. Vim has several “modes” on offer for editing, which adds to the efficiency in editing. Thus it becomes a non-user-friendly application but it is also strength for its users. The normal mode binds alphanumeric keys to task-oriented commands. The visual mode highlights text. More tools for search & replace, defining functions, etc. are offered through command line mode. Vim comes with complete help. NotePad ++ Free One of the the best free text editor for Windows out there; with support for simple things—like syntax highlighting and folding—all the way up to FTP, Notepad++ should tick most of the boxes Notepad2 Free Notepad2 is also based on the Scintilla editing engine, but it’s much simpler than Notepad++. It bills itself as being fast, light-weight, and Notepad-like. Crimson Editor Free Crimson Editor has the ability to edit remote files, using a built-in FTP client; there’s also a spell checker. TotalEdit Free TotalEdit allows file comparison, RegEx search and replace, and has multiple options for file backup / versioning. For cleanup, it offers (X)HTML and XML customizable formatting, and a spell checker. In-Type Free ConTEXT Free SourceEdit Free SourceEdit includes features such as clipboard history, syntax highlighting and autocompletion for a decent set of languages. A hex editor and FTP client. RJ TextED Free RJ TextED supports integration with TopStyle Lite. Provides HTML validation and formatting. It includes an FTP client, a file browser, and a code browser, as well as a character map and support for email. GEDIT Free It is one of the best coda alternatives for windows and Linux. It has syntax highlighting and is best suitable for programming. It has many attractive features such as full support for UTF-8, undo/redo, and clipboard support, search and replace, configurable syntax highlighting for various languages and many more supportive features. It is extensible with plug ins. Other important coda alternatives for windows and Linux are Redcar, Bluefish Editor, NVU, Ruby Mine, Slick Edit, Geany, Editra, txt2html and CSSED. There are many more. Its up to user to decide which one suits best to his requirements. Related posts:10 Useful Text Editor For Developer Applications to Install & Run Windows on Linux Open Source WYSIWYG Text Editors

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  • Free Windows Azure event next Monday in London (29th March)

    - by Eric Nelson
    I just heard that we still have spaces for this event happening next week (29th March 2010). Whilst the event is designed for start-ups, I’m sure nobody would notice if you snuck in :-) Just keep it to yourself ;-) Register using invitation code: 79F2AB. Hope to see you there. The agenda is looking pretty swish: 09:00 – 09:30 Registration 09:30 - 10:15 Keynote  ‘I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now....’– John Taysom, Active Seed Investor 10:15 - 10:45   The Microsoft Vision for Cloud Computing – Steve Clayton, Director Software + Services, EMEA 10:45 - 11:00   Break 11:00 - 12:30 “Windows Azure in Real World” – hear from startups that have built their business around the Azure platform, moderated by Alistair Beagley, Azure UK Developer and Platform Lead 12:30 - 13:15 Lunch and networking  13:15 - 14:15  Breakout Tracks, moderated by our Azure Experts 1. Windows Azure Technical Overview - David Gristwood, Application Architect, Microsoft 2. SQL Azure Technical Overview – Eric Nelson, Application Architect, Microsoft 3. Commercial insight into Windows Azure and what this means for BizSpark Start-ups - Simon Karn, Commercial Lead, UK Windows Azure Incubation Team, Microsoft 14:15 - 14:30 Session change over 14:30 - 15:30   Breakout Tracks, moderated by our Azure Experts 1. SQL Azure Technical Overview (repeat) - Eric Nelson, Application Architect, Microsoft 2. Deep dive into Windows Azure – Neil Kidd, Architect, Microsoft Technology Centre 3. Lessons Learnt - Windows Azure in the Real World interactive session – Two customers hosted by Matt Deacon, Enterprise Architect, Microsoft 15:30 - 16:00 Break & Session change over 16:00 - 17:00 Breakout Tracks, moderated by our Azure Experts 1. PHP / Ruby on Azure Simon Davies, Architect, UK Windows Azure Incubation Team, Microsoft 2. Commercial insight into Windows Azure and what this means for BizSpark Start-ups (repeat) - Simon Karn, Commercial Lead, UK Windows Azure Incubation Team, Microsoft 3. Lessons Learnt - Windows Azure in the Real World interactive session #2 Two customers hosted by Matt Deacon, Enterprise Architect, Microsoft 17:00 - 18:00 Pitches and Judging 18:15 Wrap-up and close 18:15 - 20:00 Drinks & Networking

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  • More Retro Games

    - by Matt Christian
    Last week I made 2 stops to my local game stores and spent a load of cash on a bunch of new retro games for my collection.  Here are the recent additions: NES - Mega Man 2 - The Adventures of Bayou Billy - Ducktales - Metal Gear - Super Mario Bros / Duck Hunt - Firestorm - Dragon's Lair - Bartman Meets Radioactive Man N64 - Superman 64 - Zelda: Ocarina of Time (in original box, box is in poor condition) Atari - Superman - Adventure - Donkey Kong - Raiders of the Lost Ark Dreamcast - Memory card with view screen - Space Channel 5 Genesis (all in case) - Jurassic Park - Sonic Spinball - Sonic the Hegehog 3 (missing manual) - Spiderman (also called Spiderman vs. The Kingpin) GameGear - Bart vs The Space Mutants Quite a large haul given it was all purchased in 2 days.  Although, Metal Gear I got for a great deal and almost considered buying their other copy simply to resale for more though I decided against it to let another lucky soul find it.  I may need to run over there again because I think they had TMNT 2 (NES) for around $6 and it usually sells for more than that.  I could have sworn I grabbed it and bought it but my receipt tells me differently. I also found my copy of Super Mario 3 and added that to my collection.  Unfortunately one of the corners of the label has begun to peel up pretty badly which sucks although it's still a good item for the collection. In other retro news, this weekend was Easter and while at my grandparents the cousins wanted to play on their NES which was not working.  Me being the retro NES nerd I am, grabbed a screw driver, some Windex, a few toothpicks, and a few cotton swabs and had it up and running under an hour (that includes eating dinner!).  The NES holds the games tighter, has a better connection, and works almost instantly.  I should do THAT for a living!

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