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Silverlight Cream for May 19, 2010 -- #865

- by Dave Campbell

In this Issue: Michael Washington, Mike Snow(-2-), Justin Angel(-2-), Jeremy Likness, and David Kelley. Shoutout: Erik Mork and crew have their latest up: Silverlight Week – Silverlight Android? From SilverlightCream.com: Simple Silverlight 4 Example Using oData and RX Extensions Michael Washington has a follow-on tutorial up on ViewModel, Rx, and lashed up to OData... good detailed tutorial with external links for more information. Silverlight Tip of the Day #21 – Animation Easing Mike Snow has a couple new tips up -- this first one is about easing... great diagrams to help visualize and a cool demo application to boot. Silverlight Tip of the Day #22 – Data Validation Mike Snow's second tip (#22) is about validation and again he has a great demo app on the post. Windows Phone 7 - Emulator Automation Justin Angel has a WP7 post up about Automating the emulator... and in the process, loading the emulator from something other than VS2010... lots of good information. TFS2010 WP7 Continuous Integration Justin Angel hinted at continuous integration for WP7 in the last post, and he pays off with this one... even without all the bits installed on the build server. Making the ScrollViewer Talk in Silverlight 4 Jeremy Likness tried to respond to a user query about knowing when a user scrolled to the bottom of a ScrollViewer... Jeremy resolved it by listening to the right property. MEF (Microsoft Extensibility Framework) made simple (ish) David Kelley is discussing MEF and using a real-world example while doing so. Good discussion and code available in his code browser app... check thecomments. 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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Oracle Enterprise Data Quality: Ever Integration-ready

- by Mala Narasimharajan

It is closing in on a year now since Oracle’s acquisition of Datanomic, and the addition of Oracle Enterprise Data Quality (EDQ) to the Oracle software family. The big move has caused some big shifts in emphasis and some very encouraging excitement from the field. To give an illustration, combined with a shameless promotion of how EDQ can help to give quick insights into your data, I did a quick Phrase Profile of the subject field of emails to the Global EDQ mailing list since it was set up last September. The results revealed a very clear theme: Integration, Integration, Integration! As well as the important Siebel and Oracle Data Integrator (ODI) integrations, we have been asked about integration with a huge variety of Oracle applications, including EBS, Peoplesoft, CRM on Demand, Fusion, DRM, Endeca, RightNow, and more - and we have not stood still! While it would not have been possible to develop specific pre-integrations with all of the above within a year, we have developed a package of feature-rich out-of-the-box web services and batch processes that can be plugged into any application or middleware technology with ease. And with Siebel, they work out of the box. Oracle Enterprise Data Quality version 9.0.4 includes the Customer Data Services (CDS) pack – a ready set of standard processes with standard interfaces, to provide integrated: Address verification and cleansing Individual matching Organization matching The services can are suitable for either Batch or Real-Time processing, and are enabled for international data, with simple configuration options driving the set of locale-specific dictionaries that are used. For example, large dictionaries are provided to support international name transcription and variant matching, including highly specialized handling for Arabic, Japanese, Chinese and Korean data. In total across all locales, CDS includes well over a million dictionary entries. Excerpt from EDQ’s CDS Individual Name Standardization Dictionary CDS has been developed to replace the OEM of Informatica Identity Resolution (IIR) for attached Data Quality on the Oracle price list, but does this in a way that creates a ‘best of both worlds’ situation for customers, who can harness not only the out-of-the-box functionality of pre-packaged matching and standardization services, but also the flexibility of OEDQ if they want to customize the interfaces or the process logic, without having to learn more than one product. From a competitive point of view, we believe this stands us in good stead against our key competitors, including Informatica, who have separate ‘Identity Resolution’ and general DQ products, and IBM, who provide limited out-of-the-box capabilities (with a steep learning curve) in both their QualityStage data quality and Initiate matching products. Here is a brief guide to the main services provided in the pack: Address Verification and Standardization EDQ’s CDS Address Cleaning Process The Address Verification and Standardization service uses EDQ Address Verification (an OEM of Loqate software) to verify and clean addresses in either real-time or batch. The Address Verification processor is wrapped in an EDQ process – this adds significant capabilities over calling the underlying Address Verification API directly, specifically: Country-specific thresholds to determine when to accept the verification result (and therefore to change the input address) based on the confidence level of the API Optimization of address verification by pre-standardizing data where required Formatting of output addresses into the input address fields normally used by applications Adding descriptions of the address verification and geocoding return codes The process can then be used to provide real-time and batch address cleansing in any application; such as a simple web page calling address cleaning and geocoding as part of a check on individual data. Duplicate Prevention Unlike Informatica Identity Resolution (IIR), EDQ uses stateless services for duplicate prevention to avoid issues caused by complex replication and synchronization of large volume customer data. When a record is added or updated in an application, the EDQ Cluster Key Generation service is called, and returns a number of key values. These are used to select other records (‘candidates’) that may match in the application data (which has been pre-seeded with keys using the same service). The ‘driving record’ (the new or updated record) is then presented along with all selected candidates to the EDQ Matching Service, which decides which of the candidates are a good match with the driving record, and scores them according to the strength of match. In this model, complex multi-locale EDQ techniques can be used to generate the keys and ensure that the right balance between performance and matching effectiveness is maintained, while ensuring that the application retains control of data integrity and transactional commits. The process is explained below: EDQ Duplicate Prevention Architecture Note that where the integration is with a hub, there may be an additional call to the Cluster Key Generation service if the master record has changed due to merges with other records (and therefore needs to have new key values generated before commit). Batch Matching In order to allow customers to use different match rules in batch to real-time, separate matching templates are provided for batch matching. For example, some customers want to minimize intervention in key user flows (such as adding new customers) in front end applications, but to conduct a more exhaustive match on a regular basis in the back office. The batch matching jobs are also used when migrating data between systems, and in this case normally a more precise (and automated) type of matching is required, in order to minimize the review work performed by Data Stewards. In batch matching, data is captured into EDQ using its standard interfaces, and records are standardized, clustered and matched in an EDQ job before matches are written out. As with all EDQ jobs, batch matching may be called from Oracle Data Integrator (ODI) if required. When working with Siebel CRM (or master data in Siebel UCM), Siebel’s Data Quality Manager is used to instigate batch jobs, and a shared staging database is used to write records for matching and to consume match results. The CDS batch matching processes automatically adjust to Siebel’s ‘Full Match’ (match all records against each other) and ‘Incremental Match’ (match a subset of records against all of their selected candidates) modes. The Future The Customer Data Services Pack is an important part of the Oracle strategy for EDQ, offering a clear path to making Data Quality Assurance an integral part of enterprise applications, and providing a strong value proposition for adopting EDQ. We are planning various additions and improvements, including: An out-of-the-box Data Quality Dashboard Even more comprehensive international data handling Address search (suggesting multiple results) Integrated address matching The EDQ Customer Data Services Pack is part of the Enterprise Data Quality Media Pack, available for download at http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/oedq/downloads/index.html.

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John Hitchcock of Pace Describes the Oracle Agile PLM Customer Experience

John Hitchcock, Senior Manager of Configuration Management at Pace (formerly 2Wire, Inc.), sat down for an interview during Oracle's Innovation Summit with Kerrie Foy, Manager of PLM Product Marketing at Oracle. Learn why his organization upgraded to the latest version of Agile and expanded the footprint to achieve impressive savings and productivity gains across the global, networked product value-chain.

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John Hitchcock of Pace Describes the Oracle Agile PLM Customer Experience

John Hitchcock, Senior Manager of Configuration Management at Pace (formerly 2Wire, Inc.), sat down for an interview during Oracle's Innovation Summit with Kerrie Foy, Manager of PLM Product Marketing at Oracle. Learn why his organization upgraded to the latest version of Agile and expanded the footprint to achieve impressive savings and productivity gains across the global, networked product value-chain.

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John Hitchcock of Pace Describes the Oracle Agile PLM Customer Experience

John Hitchcock, Senior Manager of Configuration Management at Pace (formerly 2Wire, Inc.), sat down for an interview during Oracle's Innovation Summit with Kerrie Foy, Manager of PLM Product Marketing at Oracle. Learn why his organization upgraded to the latest version of Agile and expanded the footprint to achieve impressive savings and productivity gains across the global, networked product value-chain.

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John Hitchcock of Pace Describes the Oracle Agile PLM Customer Experience

John Hitchcock, Senior Manager of Configuration Management at Pace (formerly 2Wire, Inc.), sat down for an interview during Oracle's Innovation Summit with Kerrie Foy, Manager of PLM Product Marketing at Oracle. Learn why his organization upgraded to the latest version of Agile and expanded the footprint to achieve impressive savings and productivity gains across the global, networked product value-chain.

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Silverlight Cream for April 07, 2010 -- #833

- by Dave Campbell

In this Issue: Alan Mendelevich, Siyamand Ayubi, Rudi Grobler(-2-), Josh Smith, VinitYadav, and Dave Campbell. Shoutouts: Jordan Knight has a demo up of a project he did for DigiGirlz: DigiGirlz, Deep Zoom and Azure, hopefully we'll get source later :) Jeremy Likness has a must-read post on his Ten Reasons to use the Managed Extensibility Framework I put this on another post earlier, but if you want some desktop bling for WP7, Ozymandias has some: I Love Windows Phone Wallpaper If you're not going to be in 'Vegas next week, Tim Heuer reminds us there's an alternative: Watch the Silverlight 4 Launch event and LIVE QA with ScottGu and others From SilverlightCream.com: Ghost Lines in Silverlight Alan Mendelevich reports an issue when drawing lines with odd coordinate values. He originated it in Silverlight 3, but it is there in SL4RC as well... check it out and leave him a comment. A Framework to Animate WPF and Silverlight Pages Similar to the PowerPoint Slides Siyamand Ayubi has an interesting post up on animating WPF or Silverlight pages to make them progress in the manner of a PPT slideshow. And it can also make phone calls… Rudi Grobler has a list of 'tasks' you can do with WP7 such as PhoneCallTask or EmailComposeTask ... looks like this should be plasticized :) Using the GPS, Accelerometer & Vibration Controller Rudi Grobler is also investigating how to use the GPS, Accelerometer, and Vibration in WP7 with a bunch of external links to back it up. Assembly-level initialization at design time Josh Smith has a solution to the problem of initializing design-time data in Blend (did you know that was an issue?) ... the solution is great and so is the running commentary between Josh and Karl Shifflett in the comments! ySurf : A Yahoo Messenger Clone built in Silverlight VinitYadav built a Yahoo Messenger app in Silverlight and has detailed out all the ugly bits for us on the post, plus made everything available. Your First Silverlight Application Dave Campbell's first post at DZone cracking open a beginner's series on Silverlight. If you're expecting something heavy-duty, skip this. If you're wanting to learn Silverlight and haven't jumped in yet, give it a try. 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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Call Webservices…Maybe!?

- by MOSSLover

So I have been doing preliminary work for my iOS talk for a while, but did not get into the meat of the project until recently. One day I envision my talk uploading pictures from a camera on an iPhone or iPad into SharePoint and telling people how I did it. As you know with my Silverlight talk and any new technology, building new talks with new technologies always ends up with some pain points that you must jump over just to grab data. So step 1 always starts out with how do we even access a webservice using the new technology. I started out watching every single SPC video available on oAuth and Rest Webservices in SharePoint 2013. I also sent an email to Eric Shupps about some REST and 2013 examples. The videos further confused me, because all the videos were on SharePoint hosted apps (provider and autohosted). I did not want to create a SharePoint hosted app, but instead a mobile app outside of the SharePoint context altogether. Nick Swan sent me his code and it was great for a starting point on how the JSON calls would look like on iOS, but I was still missing a piece. Nick does a great job on showing how to use the REST/JSON calls in a non-MS tech, however his presentation uses the SharePoint context and can grab the SPAppToken. At this point I had to ask the question how do you grab the SAML token outside of SharePoint 2013 in iOS using Objective-C? After reading all the MSDN documentation, some documentation on Restkit and Objective-C/oAuth calls, and some SharePoint 2013 blog post my head was swimming. I was dreaming about REST and iOS in SharePoint 2013. SAML tokens were taunting me. I was nowhere near understanding 2013. I started talking to my friend, Pedro Jimenez, who is also playing with Objective-C and went to SPC. He found me a couple good MSDN posts with REST/JSON calls that basically showed the accessToken was all I needed (at this point I was still thinking iOS needed to be a provider hosted app which is wrong). So then again I had to ask the SAML token question…How do you get a SAML token outside of SharePoint without the TokenHelper class? So then I started talking to people and thinking why do I need to completely avoid TokenHelper…The solution in concept is basically create a webservice in Azure wrapped into a Provider Hosted App in SharePoint. Wictor Wilen created a helper webservice in the following blog post: http://www.wictorwilen.se/Post/How-to-do-active-authentication-to-Office-365-and-SharePoint-Online.aspx. So now I have to basically stand up the webservice, the SharePoint app wrapper, and then use Restkit to call the first webservice to grab the token and then the second webservice to pass in the token and grab some SharePoint data. What this means is that you can no longer just pass credentials into SharePoint webservices and get data back. You have to pass in a SAML token with every single webservice call to SharePoint. The theory is that this token is associated with the permissions the app can handle (read, write, whatever). It seems like a ton of pain and a lot of work, but this is step 1 in my crusade to pull some piece of data into iOS from SharePoint and show people how to do it themselves. In the upcoming months hopefully I can get halfway to my end goal. Technorati Tags: SharePoint 2013,REST,oAuth,Objective-C,iOS

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WebCenter Implementation Specialist Exam Preparation Webcasts: WebCenter Content And WebCenter Portal

- by swalker

Oracle PartnerNetwork would like to invite you to Refresh Courses for WebCenter Content and WebCenter Portal, to help partners to prepare for the WebCenter Implementation Specialist EXAMS. This is a 3 hours intensive refresher partner-only training session, providing attendees with an overview of WebCenter Content and WebCenter Portal functions and related topics. After the refresher part you will be able to take the relevant Implementation Specialist EXAM depending on your personal focus. NOTE: This is only suitable for experienced WebCenter Content or WebCenter Portal practitioners Who should attend? Partner Consultants who want to become an Oracle WebCenter Content or a WebCenter Portal Certified Implementation Specialist or both, that will help them to differentiate themselves in front of customers and support their Companies to become Specialized. Webcast Details: Date Topic Speaker Web Call Details Intercall Details December 14th WebCenter Content Refresh Course Markus Neubauer, Silbury WebCenter Content Specialized Partner Join Webcast Dial-in numbers: CC/SP: 1579222/9221 Time: 12:00 -15:00 CET Break around 13:30 Conference ID/Key: 9249533/1412 Date Topic Speaker Web Call Details Intercall Details January 10th WebCenter Portal Refresh Course Yannick Ongena, InfoMentum WebCenter Portal Specialized Partner Join Webcast Dial-in numbers: CC/SP: 1579222/9221 Time: 12:00 -15:00 CET Break around 13:30 Conference ID/Key: 9249375/1001 Date Topic Speaker Web Call Details Intercall Details February 22nd WebCenter Content Refresh Course Markus Neubauer, Silbury WebCenter Content Specialized Partner Join Webcast Dial-in numbers: CC/SP: 1579222/9221 Time: 12:00 -15:00 CET Break around 13:30 Conference ID/Key: 9249541/2202 Date Topic Speaker Web Call Details Intercall Details March 13th WebCenter Portal Refresh Course Yannick Ongena, InfoMentum WebCenter Portal Specialized Partner Join Webcast Dial-in numbers: CC/SP: 1579222/9221 Time: 12:00 -15:00 CET Break around 13:30 Conference ID/Key: 9249549/1303 Local dial-in numbers can be found here . Next Steps: After the Webcast you will receive the Training material and FREE Vouchers to book and take the: Oracle ECM 11g Certified Implementation Specialist EXAM Oracle WebCenter 11g Essentials EXAM Booking with Voucher can be done on www.pearsonvue.com. Note: FREE Vouchers will be send after attending the webcast.

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Java Spotlight Episode 57: Live From #Devoxx - Ben Evans and Martijn Verburg of the London JUG with Yara Senger of SouJava

- by Roger Brinkley

Tweet Live from Devoxx 11, an interview with Ben Evans and Martijn Verburg from the London JUG along with Yara Senger from the SouJava JUG on the JCP Executive Committee Elections, JSR 248, and Adopt-a-JSR program. Both the London JUG and SouJava JUG are JCP Standard Edition Executive Committee Members. Joining us this week on the Java All Star Developer Panel are Geertjan Wielenga, Principal Product Manger in Oracle Developer Tools; Stephen Chin, Java Champion and Java FX expert; and Antonio Goncalves, Paris JUG leader. Right-click or Control-click to download this MP3 file. You can also subscribe to the Java Spotlight Podcast Feed to get the latest podcast automatically. If you use iTunes you can open iTunes and subscribe with this link: Java Spotlight Podcast in iTunes. Show Notes News Netbeans 7.1 JDK 7 upgrade tools Netbeans First Patch Program OpenJFX approved as an OpenJDK project Devoxx France April 18-20, 2012 Events Nov 22-25, OTN Developer Days in the Nordics Nov 22-23, Goto Conference, Prague Dec 6-8, Java One Brazil, Sao Paulo Feature interview Ben Evans has lived in "Interesting Times" in technology - he was the lead performance testing engineer for the Google IPO, worked on the initial UK trials of 3G networks with BT, built award-winning websites for some of Hollywood's biggest hits of the 90s, rearchitected and reimagined technology helping some of the most vulnerable people in the UK and has worked on everything from some of the UKs very first ecommerce sites, through to multi-billion dollar currency trading systems. He helps to run the London Java Community, and represents the JUG on the Java SE/EE Executive Committee. His first book "The Well-Grounded Java Developer" (with Martijn Verburg) has just been published by Manning. Martijn Verburg (aka 'the Diabolical Developer') herds Cats in the Java/open source communities and is constantly humbled by the creative power to be found there. Currently he resides in London where he co-leads the London JUG (a JCP EC member), runs a couple of open source projects & drinks too much beer at his local pub. You can find him online moderating at the Javaranch or discussing (ranting?) subjects on the Prgorammers Stack Exchange site. Most recently he's become a regular speaker at conferences on Java, open source and software development and has recently wrapped up his first Manning title - "The Well-Grounded Java Developer" with his co-author Ben Evans. Yara Senger is the partner and director of teacher education and Globalcode, graduated from the University of Sao Paulo, Sao Carlos, has significant experience in Brazil and abroad in developing solutions to critical Java. She is the co-creator of Java programs Academy and Academy of Web Developer, accumulating over 1000 hours in the classroom teaching Java. She currently serves as the President of Sou Java. In this interview Ben, Martijn, and Yara talk about the JCP Executive Committee Elections, JSR 348, and the Adopt-a-JSR program. Mail Bag What's Cool Show Transcripts Transcript for this show is available here when available.

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Page Speed and it’s affect on your business

- by ihaynes

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/ihaynes/archive/2014/05/29/page-speed-and-itrsquos-affect-on-your-business.aspxPage speed was an important issue 10 years ago, when we all had slow modems, but became less so with the advent of fast broadband connections that even seemed to make Ajax unnecessary. Then along came the mobile internet and we’re back to a world where page speed and asset optimisation are critical again. If you doubt this an article on SitePoint discussing ’Page Speed and Business Metrics’ may change your mind. http://www.sitepoint.com/page-speed-business-metrics/ Here are some of the figures it quotes: Walmart – saw a 2% increase in conversions for every second of improvement in page load time. Put another way, accumulated growth of revenues went up 1% for every 100 milliseconds of load time improvement. Yahoo – for every 400 milliseconds of improvement, the site traffic increased by 9%. The bottom line is that if people have to wait more than a few seconds for a page to fully render, particularly on a mobile device, they’ll probably go elsewhere. Ignore this at your peril. For two previous posts on the subject see: Page Weight: 10 easy fixes Xat.com Image Optimiser – Useful for RWD/Mobile

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Virtual Box - How to open a .VDI Virtual Machine

- by [email protected]

How to open a .VDI Virtual MachineSometimes someone share with us one Virtual machine with extension .VDI, after that we can wonder how and what with?Well the answer is... It is a VirtualBox - Virtual Machine. If you have not downloaded it you can do this easily just follow this post.http://listeningoracle.blogspot.com/2010/04/que-es-virtualbox.htmlor http://oracleoforacle.wordpress.com/2010/04/14/ques-es-virtualbox/Ok, Now with VirtualBox Installed open it and proceed with the following:1. Open the Virtual File Manager. 2. Click on Actions ? Add and select the .VDI file Click "Ok"3. Now we can register the new Virtual Machine - Click New, and Click Next4. Write down a Name for the virtual Machine a proceed to select a Operating System and Version. (In this case it is a Linux (Oracle Enterprise Linux or RedHat)Click Next5. Select the memory amount base for the Virtual Machine (Minimal 1280 for our case) - Click Next6. Select the Disk 11GR2_OEL5_32GB.vdi it was added in the virtual media manager in the step 2. Dont forget let selected Boot hard Disk (Primary Master) . Given it is the only disk assigned to the virtual machine.Click Next7. Click Finish8. This step is important. Once you have click on the settings Button.9. On General option click the advanced settings. Here you must change the default directory to save your Snapshots; my recommendation set it to the same directory where the .Vdi file is. Otherwise you can have the same Virtual Machine and its snapshots in different paths.10. Now Click on System, and proceed to assign the correct memory (If you did not before) Note: Enable "Enable IO APIC" if you are planning to assign more than one CPU to the Virtual Machine.Define the processors for the Virtual machine. If you processor is dual core choose 211. Select the video memory amount you want to assign to the Virtual Machine 12. Associated more storage disk to the Virtual machine, if you have more VDI files. (Not our case)The disk must be selected as IDE Primary Master. 13. Well you can verify the other options, but with these changes you will be able to start the VM.Note: Sometime the VM owner may share some instructions, if so follow his instructions.14. Finally Start the Virtual Machine (Click > Start)

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An end to the static …

- by Dave Oliver

Last October I learnt my company wanted to put together a new blog/social networking policy. I decided that out of respect for my employer I wouldn’t blog until this was sorted out. This was perhaps was an easy decision to make as I was separating from my ex-wife at the time and frankly needed the time to concentrate on other things. So now the company has a brand new policy and I’m back into the dating game I thought I would blow off the cobwebs and get back to what I enjoy doing. First and foremost SQL Server 2008 R2 is almost here and to mark that fact I will be in London on Thursday at the Microsoft UK Tech-Day’s event. The subjects I most want to see are … Power Pivot – this is such an exciting technology! I’ve been a fan of Qlikview for years so it will be good to see how it compares SQL Azure – Cloud Computing is big right now, so it will be interesting to see what the RTM product can do. I have afew ideas for its use and will be interesting to see if SQL Azure is the right product … more on this in the next few weeks. Master Data Services – This is one of those technologies that Microsoft hasn’t been making much noise about … and frankly should have because it is a game changer. Hmmm, queue future “What is … ?” post StreamInsight – An exciting events technology, again another “What is … ?” post is around the corner on that. So, you thought that SQL Server 2008 R2 was just a release to make sure the years between SQL Server 2008 and SQL Server 2010 weren’t so long? I am however disappointed that Clustering across Subnets didn’t make it and not sure if Control Points made it but all will be revealed later on this week. Till then I will have to wait! Technorati Tags: Microsoft,Techdays,SQL Server 2008 R2

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Restful Services, oData, and Rest Sharp

- by jkrebsbach

After a great presentation by Jason Sheehan at MDC about RestSharp, I decided to implement it. RestSharp is a .Net framework for consuming restful data sources via either Json or XML. My first step was to put together a Restful data source for RestSharp to consume. Staying entirely withing .Net, I decided to use Microsoft's oData implementation, built on System.Data.Services.DataServices. Natively, these support Json, or atom+pub xml. (XML with a few bells and whistles added on) There are three main steps for creating an oData data source: 1) override CreateDSPMetaData This is where the metadata data is returned. The meta data defines the structure of the data to return. The structure contains the relationships between data objects, along with what properties the objects expose. The meta data can and should be somehow cached so that the structure is not rebuild with every data request. 2) override CreateDataSource The context contains the data the data source will publish. This method is the conduit which will populate the metadata objects to be returned to the requestor. 3) implement static InitializeService At this point we can set up security, along with setting up properties of the web service (versioning, etc) Here is a web service which publishes stock prices for various Products (stocks) in various Categories. namespace RestService { public class RestServiceImpl : DSPDataService<DSPContext> { private static DSPContext _context; private static DSPMetadata _metadata; /// <summary> /// Populate traversable data source /// </summary> /// <returns></returns> protected override DSPContext CreateDataSource() { if (_context == null) { _context = new DSPContext(); Category utilities = new Category(0); utilities.Name = "Electric"; Category financials = new Category(1); financials.Name = "Financial"; IList products = _context.GetResourceSetEntities("Products"); Product electric = new Product(0, utilities); electric.Name = "ABC Electric"; electric.Description = "Electric Utility"; electric.Price = 3.5; products.Add(electric); Product water = new Product(1, utilities); water.Name = "XYZ Water"; water.Description = "Water Utility"; water.Price = 2.4; products.Add(water); Product banks = new Product(2, financials); banks.Name = "FatCat Bank"; banks.Description = "A bank that's almost too big"; banks.Price = 19.9; // This will never get to the client products.Add(banks); IList categories = _context.GetResourceSetEntities("Categories"); categories.Add(utilities); categories.Add(financials); utilities.Products.Add(electric); utilities.Products.Add(electric); financials.Products.Add(banks); } return _context; } /// <summary> /// Setup rules describing published data structure - relationships between data, /// key field, other searchable fields, etc. /// </summary> /// <returns></returns> protected override DSPMetadata CreateDSPMetadata() { if (_metadata == null) { _metadata = new DSPMetadata("DemoService", "DataServiceProviderDemo"); // Define entity type product ResourceType product = _metadata.AddEntityType(typeof(Product), "Product"); _metadata.AddKeyProperty(product, "ProductID"); // Only add properties we wish to share with end users _metadata.AddPrimitiveProperty(product, "Name"); _metadata.AddPrimitiveProperty(product, "Description"); EntityPropertyMappingAttribute att = new EntityPropertyMappingAttribute("Name", SyndicationItemProperty.Title, SyndicationTextContentKind.Plaintext, true); product.AddEntityPropertyMappingAttribute(att); att = new EntityPropertyMappingAttribute("Description", SyndicationItemProperty.Summary, SyndicationTextContentKind.Plaintext, true); product.AddEntityPropertyMappingAttribute(att); // Define products as a set of product entities ResourceSet products = _metadata.AddResourceSet("Products", product); // Define entity type category ResourceType category = _metadata.AddEntityType(typeof(Category), "Category"); _metadata.AddKeyProperty(category, "CategoryID"); _metadata.AddPrimitiveProperty(category, "Name"); _metadata.AddPrimitiveProperty(category, "Description"); // Define categories as a set of category entities ResourceSet categories = _metadata.AddResourceSet("Categories", category); att = new EntityPropertyMappingAttribute("Name", SyndicationItemProperty.Title, SyndicationTextContentKind.Plaintext, true); category.AddEntityPropertyMappingAttribute(att); att = new EntityPropertyMappingAttribute("Description", SyndicationItemProperty.Summary, SyndicationTextContentKind.Plaintext, true); category.AddEntityPropertyMappingAttribute(att); // A product has a category, a category has products _metadata.AddResourceReferenceProperty(product, "Category", categories); _metadata.AddResourceSetReferenceProperty(category, "Products", products); } return _metadata; } /// <summary> /// Based on the requesting user, can set up permissions to Read, Write, etc. /// </summary> /// <param name="config"></param> public static void InitializeService(DataServiceConfiguration config) { config.SetEntitySetAccessRule("*", EntitySetRights.All); config.DataServiceBehavior.MaxProtocolVersion = DataServiceProtocolVersion.V2; config.DataServiceBehavior.AcceptProjectionRequests = true; } } } The objects prefixed with DSP come from the samples on the oData site: http://www.odata.org/developers The products and categories objects are POCO business objects with no special modifiers. Three main options are available for defining the MetaData of data sources in .Net: 1) Generate Entity Data model (Potentially directly from SQL Server database). This requires the least amount of manual interaction, and uses the edmx WYSIWYG editor to generate a data model. This can be directly tied to the SQL Server database and generated from the database if you want a data access layer tightly coupled with your database. 2) Object model decorations. If you already have a POCO data layer, you can decorate your objects with properties to statically inform the compiler how the objects are related. The disadvantage is there are now tags strewn about your business layer that need to be updated as the business rules change. 3) Programmatically construct metadata object. This is the object illustrated above in CreateDSPMetaData. This puts all relationship information into one central programmatic location. Here business rules are constructed when the DSPMetaData response object is returned. Once you have your service up and running, RestSharp is designed for XML / Json, along with the native Microsoft library. There are currently some differences between how Jason made RestSharp expect XML with how atom+pub works, so I found better results currently with the Json implementation - modifying the RestSharp XML parser to make an atom+pub parser is fairly trivial though, so use what implementation works best for you. I put together a sample console app which calls the RestSvcImpl.svc service defined above (and assumes it to be running on port 2000). I used both RestSharp as a client, and also the default Microsoft oData client tools. namespace RestConsole { class Program { private static DataServiceContext _ctx; private enum DemoType { Xml, Json } static void Main(string[] args) { // Microsoft implementation _ctx = new DataServiceContext(new System.Uri("http://localhost:2000/RestServiceImpl.svc")); var msProducts = RunQuery<Product>("Products").ToList(); var msCategory = RunQuery<Category>("/Products(0)/Category").AsEnumerable().Single(); var msFilteredProducts = RunQuery<Product>("/Products?$filter=length(Name) ge 4").ToList(); // RestSharp implementation DemoType demoType = DemoType.Json; var client = new RestClient("http://localhost:2000/RestServiceImpl.svc"); client.ClearHandlers(); // Remove all available handlers // Set up handler depending on what situation dictates if (demoType == DemoType.Json) client.AddHandler("application/json", new RestSharp.Deserializers.JsonDeserializer()); else if (demoType == DemoType.Xml) { client.AddHandler("application/atom+xml", new RestSharp.Deserializers.XmlDeserializer()); } var request = new RestRequest(); if (demoType == DemoType.Json) request.RootElement = "d"; // service root element for json else if (demoType == DemoType.Xml) { request.XmlNamespace = "http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"; } // Return all products request.Resource = "/Products?$orderby=Name"; RestResponse<List<Product>> productsResp = client.Execute<List<Product>>(request); List<Product> products = productsResp.Data; // Find category for product with ProductID = 1 request.Resource = string.Format("/Products(1)/Category"); RestResponse<Category> categoryResp = client.Execute<Category>(request); Category category = categoryResp.Data; // Specialized queries request.Resource = string.Format("/Products?$filter=ProductID eq {0}", 1); RestResponse<Product> productResp = client.Execute<Product>(request); Product product = productResp.Data; request.Resource = string.Format("/Products?$filter=Name eq '{0}'", "XYZ Water"); productResp = client.Execute<Product>(request); product = productResp.Data; } private static IEnumerable<TElement> RunQuery<TElement>(string queryUri) { try { return _ctx.Execute<TElement>(new Uri(queryUri, UriKind.Relative)); } catch (Exception ex) { throw ex; } } } } Feel free to step through the code a few times and to attach a debugger to the service as well to see how and where the context and metadata objects are constructed and returned. Pay special attention to the response object being returned by the oData service - There are several properties of the RestRequest that can be used to help troubleshoot when the structure of the response is not exactly what would be expected.

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Five Point Partners Reviews Oracle Utilities Mobile Workforce Management 2.0

- by caroline.yu

Oracle recently provided Five Point Partners, Research and Analysis Division's Warren B. Causey and Bart Thielbar a one-hour briefing of Oracle Utilities Mobile Workforce Management 2.0. Based on that briefing, Warren and Bart provided an evaluation of the new software. The review notes that this is the first major rewrite of a mobile system. Oracle Utilities has made numerous updates in structure, architecture and functionality to the software that should well-position Oracle Utilities Mobile Workforce Management 2.0 for the current utility market. Additionally, the reviewers noted that one of the most significant improvements in the new version of Oracle Utilities Mobile Workforce Management is that it has moved to the same Java technical stack of other Oracle Utilities products. Utilities can deploy the software in multiple environments including Linux, Unix and Windows. This will simplify integration with existing Oracle products, as well as with other systems, thus potentially lowering cost of installation and ownership for utilities. Overall, Warren and Bart note that Oracle Utilities now has an impressive, state-of-the-art mobile workforce management system that utilities can readily deploy in a bundle with other Oracle solutions, or use as a stand-alone system with relatively easy integration to other utility systems. They state that Oracle Utilities Mobile Workforce Management 2.0 should significantly strengthen Oracle's competitive position in the mobile workforce management solution space. To take a look at the full review, click here.

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Selling Solutions, Not Products

- by David Dorf

When I think about next-generation retailers, the names that come to mind are Apple, Whole Foods, Lulu Lemon, and IKEA. They may not be the biggest retailers, but they are certainly growing fast. Success is never defined by just one dimension, and these retailers execute well across many dimensions, but the one that stands out for me is customer experience. These stores feel...approachable...part of the community...local. Customers are not intimidated to ask questions, and staff seem to go out of their way to help. What's makes these retailers stand out in the industry? These retailers aren't selling products -- they're selling solutions. Think about that. You think you're going to the Apple store to buy a phone, but you're actually buying a communications solution that handles much, much more. If you carry an iPhone, your life has changed. The way you do things is different. The impacts go much beyond a simple phone. Solutions start with a problem, which is why these retailers greet customers with "what brought you in today," or "can I answer any questions for you?" Good retailers establish a relationship, even if it lasts only a few minutes. You don't walk into Whole Foods looking for cans of soup. You are looking for meals: healthy snacks, interesting lunches, exotic dinners. Its a learning experience where you might discover solutions to problems you didn't know you had. Mention what foods you like, and you'll get a list of similar items you had not considered. I didn't know I needed a closet organizer until I visited an IKEA and learned about all the options. They were able to customize the solution to meet my needs, and now I'm much more organized. One of the differences between selling products and selling solutions is training. Visit any of these retailers' sites and you'll see a long list of in-store events for the benefit of customers. You can buy exercise clothing from Lulu Lemon, and also learn new yoga techniques, meet like-minded people, and branch off to other fitness regimes via their ambassadors. You can visit the Geek Bar at Apple, eat lunch at IKEA, and learn to cook at Whole Foods. These retailers are making an investment in a relationship with their customers. They are showing loyalty to their customers before asking for it back. In the long-run, this strategic approach will outlive any scan-and-bag mentality.

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Oracle University Begins Beta Testing For New "Oracle Application Express Developer Certified Expert

- by Paul Sorensen

Oracle University has begun beta testing for the new Oracle Application Express Developer Certified Expert certification, which requires passing one exam - "Oracle Application Express 3.2: Developing Web Applications" exam (#1Z1-450).In this video, Marcie Young of Oracle Server Technologies takes you on a quick preview of what is on the exam, how to prepare, and what to expect: The "Oracle Application Express: Developing Web Applications" training course teaches many of of the key concepts that are tested in the exam. This course is not a requirement to take the exam, however it is highly recommended.Additionally, Marcie refers to several helpful resources that are highly recommended while preparing, including the Oracle Application Express hosted instance at apex.oracle.com and Oracle Application Express product page on OTN.You can take the "Oracle Application Express 3.2: Developing Web Applications" exam now for only $50 USD while it is in beta. Beta exams are an excellent way to directly provide your input into the final version of the certification exam as well as be one of the very first certified in the track. Furthermore - passing the beta counts for full final exam credit. Note that beta testing is offered for a limited time only.Register now at pearsonvue.com/oracle to take the exam at a Pearson VUE testing center nearest you.QUICK LINKSRegister For Exam: Pearson VUE About Certification Track: Oracle Application Express Developer Certified ExpertAbout Certification Exam: Oracle Application Express 3.2: Developing Web Applications (1Z1-450)Introductory Training (Recommended): "Oracle Application Express: Developing Web Applications"Advanced Training (Suggested): "Oracle Application Express: Advanced Workshop"Oracle Application Express Hosted Instance: apex.oracle.comOracle Application Express Product Page: on OTNLearn More: Oracle Certification Beta Exams

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Windows Azure Evolution – Caching (Preview)

- by Shaun

Caching is a popular topic when we are building a high performance and high scalable system not only on top of the cloud platform but the on-premise environment as well. On March 2011 the Windows Azure AppFabric Caching had been production launched. It provides an in-memory, distributed caching service over the cloud. And now, in this June 2012 update, the cache team announce a grand new caching solution on Windows Azure, which is called Windows Azure Caching (Preview). And the original Windows Azure AppFabric Caching was renamed to Windows Azure Shared Caching. What’s Caching (Preview) If you had been using the Shared Caching you should know that it is constructed by a bunch of cache servers. And when you want to use you should firstly create a cache account from the developer portal and specify the size you want to use, which means how much memory you can use to store your data that wanted to be cached. Then you can add, get and remove them through your code through the cache URL. The Shared Caching is a multi-tenancy system which host all cached items across all users. So you don’t know which server your data was located. This caching mode works well and can take most of the cases. But it has some problems. The first one is the performance. Since the Shared Caching is a multi-tenancy system, which means all cache operations should go through the Shared Caching gateway and then routed to the server which have the data your are looking for. Even though there are some caches in the Shared Caching system it also takes time from your cloud services to the cache service. Secondary, the Shared Caching service works as a block box to the developer. The only thing we know is my cache endpoint, and that’s all. Someone may satisfied since they don’t want to care about anything underlying. But if you need to know more and want more control that’s impossible in the Shared Caching. The last problem would be the price and cost-efficiency. You pay the bill based on how much cache you requested per month. But when we host a web role or worker role, it seldom consumes all of the memory and CPU in the virtual machine (service instance). If using Shared Caching we have to pay for the cache service while waste of some of our memory and CPU locally. Since the issues above Microsoft offered a new caching mode over to us, which is the Caching (Preview). Instead of having a separated cache service, the Caching (Preview) leverage the memory and CPU in our cloud services (web role and worker role) as the cache clusters. Hence the Caching (Preview) runs on the virtual machines which hosted or near our cloud applications. Without any gateway and routing, since it located in the same data center and same racks, it provides really high performance than the Shared Caching. The Caching (Preview) works side-by-side to our application, initialized and worked as a Windows Service running in the virtual machines invoked by the startup tasks from our roles, we could get more information and control to them. And since the Caching (Preview) utilizes the memory and CPU from our existing cloud services, so it’s free. What we need to pay is the original computing price. And the resource on each machines could be used more efficiently. Enable Caching (Preview) It’s very simple to enable the Caching (Preview) in a cloud service. Let’s create a new windows azure cloud project from Visual Studio and added an ASP.NET Web Role. Then open the role setting and select the Caching page. This is where we enable and configure the Caching (Preview) on a role. To enable the Caching (Preview) just open the “Enable Caching (Preview Release)” check box. And then we need to specify which mode of the caching clusters we want to use. There are two kinds of caching mode, co-located and dedicate. The co-located mode means we use the memory in the instances we run our cloud services (web role or worker role). By using this mode we must specify how many percentage of the memory will be used as the cache. The default value is 30%. So make sure it will not affect the role business execution. The dedicate mode will use all memory in the virtual machine as the cache. In fact it will reserve some for operation system, azure hosting etc.. But it will try to use as much as the available memory to be the cache. As you can see, the Caching (Preview) was defined based on roles, which means all instances of this role will apply the same setting and play as a whole cache pool, and you can consume it by specifying the name of the role, which I will demonstrate later. And in a windows azure project we can have more than one role have the Caching (Preview) enabled. Then we will have more caches. For example, let’s say I have a web role and worker role. The web role I specified 30% co-located caching and the worker role I specified dedicated caching. If I have 3 instances of my web role and 2 instances of my worker role, then I will have two caches. As the figure above, cache 1 was contributed by three web role instances while cache 2 was contributed by 2 worker role instances. Then we can add items into cache 1 and retrieve it from web role code and worker role code. But the items stored in cache 1 cannot be retrieved from cache 2 since they are isolated. Back to our Visual Studio we specify 30% of co-located cache and use the local storage emulator to store the cache cluster runtime status. Then at the bottom we can specify the named caches. Now we just use the default one. Now we had enabled the Caching (Preview) in our web role settings. Next, let’s have a look on how to consume our cache. Consume Caching (Preview) The Caching (Preview) can only be consumed by the roles in the same cloud services. As I mentioned earlier, a cache contributed by web role can be connected from a worker role if they are in the same cloud service. But you cannot consume a Caching (Preview) from other cloud services. This is different from the Shared Caching. The Shared Caching is opened to all services if it has the connection URL and authentication token. To consume the Caching (Preview) we need to add some references into our project as well as some configuration in the Web.config. NuGet makes our life easy. Right click on our web role project and select “Manage NuGet packages”, and then search the package named “WindowsAzure.Caching”. In the package list install the “Windows Azure Caching Preview”. It will download all necessary references from the NuGet repository and update our Web.config as well. Open the Web.config of our web role and find the “dataCacheClients” node. Under this node we can specify the cache clients we are going to use. For each cache client it will use the role name to identity and find the cache. Since we only have this web role with the Caching (Preview) enabled so I pasted the current role name in the configuration. Then, in the default page I will add some code to show how to use the cache. I will have a textbox on the page where user can input his or her name, then press a button to generate the email address for him/her. And in backend code I will check if this name had been added in cache. If yes I will return the email back immediately. Otherwise, I will sleep the tread for 2 seconds to simulate the latency, then add it into cache and return back to the page. 1: protected void btnGenerate_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) 2: { 3: // check if name is specified 4: var name = txtName.Text; 5: if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(name)) 6: { 7: lblResult.Text = "Error. Please specify name."; 8: return; 9: } 10: 11: bool cached; 12: var sw = new Stopwatch(); 13: sw.Start(); 14: 15: // create the cache factory and cache 16: var factory = new DataCacheFactory(); 17: var cache = factory.GetDefaultCache(); 18: 19: // check if the name specified is in cache 20: var email = cache.Get(name) as string; 21: if (email != null) 22: { 23: cached = true; 24: sw.Stop(); 25: } 26: else 27: { 28: cached = false; 29: // simulate the letancy 30: Thread.Sleep(2000); 31: email = string.Format("{0}@igt.com", name); 32: // add to cache 33: cache.Add(name, email); 34: } 35: 36: sw.Stop(); 37: lblResult.Text = string.Format( 38: "Cached = {0}. Duration: {1}s. {2} => {3}", 39: cached, sw.Elapsed.TotalSeconds.ToString("0.00"), name, email); 40: } The Caching (Preview) can be used on the local emulator so we just F5. The first time I entered my name it will take about 2 seconds to get the email back to me since it was not in the cache. But if we re-enter my name it will be back at once from the cache. Since the Caching (Preview) is distributed across all instances of the role, so we can scaling-out it by scaling-out our web role. Just use 2 instances and tweak some code to show the current instance ID in the page, and have another try. Then we can see the cache can be retrieved even though it was added by another instance. Consume Caching (Preview) Across Roles As I mentioned, the Caching (Preview) can be consumed by all other roles within the same cloud service. For example, let’s add another web role in our cloud solution and add the same code in its default page. In the Web.config we add the cache client to one enabled in the last role, by specifying its role name here. Then we start the solution locally and go to web role 1, specify the name and let it generate the email to us. Since there’s no cache for this name so it will take about 2 seconds but will save the email into cache. And then we go to web role 2 and specify the same name. Then you can see it retrieve the email saved by the web role 1 and returned back very quickly. Finally then we can upload our application to Windows Azure and test again. Make sure you had changed the cache cluster status storage account to the real azure account. More Awesome Features As a in-memory distributed caching solution, the Caching (Preview) has some fancy features I would like to highlight here. The first one is the high availability support. This is the first time I have heard that a distributed cache support high availability. In the distributed cache world if a cache cluster was failed, the data it stored will be lost. This behavior was introduced by Memcached and is followed by almost all distributed cache productions. But Caching (Preview) provides high availability, which means you can specify if the named cache will be backup automatically. If yes then the data belongs to this named cache will be replicated on another role instance of this role. Then if one of the instance was failed the data can be retrieved from its backup instance. To enable the backup just open the Caching page in Visual Studio. In the named cache you want to enable backup, change the Backup Copies value from 0 to 1. The value of Backup Copies only for 0 and 1. “0” means no backup and no high availability while “1” means enabled high availability with backup the data into another instance. But by using the high availability feature there are something we need to make sure. Firstly the high availability does NOT means the data in cache will never be lost for any kind of failure. For example, if we have a role with cache enabled that has 10 instances, and 9 of them was failed, then most of the cached data will be lost since the primary and backup instance may failed together. But normally is will not be happened since MS guarantees that it will use the instance in the different fault domain for backup cache. Another one is that, enabling the backup means you store two copies of your data. For example if you think 100MB memory is OK for cache, but you need at least 200MB if you enabled backup. Besides the high availability, the Caching (Preview) support more features introduced in Windows Server AppFabric Caching than the Windows Azure Shared Caching. It supports local cache with notification. It also support absolute and slide window expiration types as well. And the Caching (Preview) also support the Memcached protocol as well. This means if you have an application based on Memcached, you can use Caching (Preview) without any code changes. What you need to do is to change the configuration of how you connect to the cache. Similar as the Windows Azure Shared Caching, MS also offers the out-of-box ASP.NET session provider and output cache provide on top of the Caching (Preview). Summary Caching is very important component when we building a cloud-based application. In the June 2012 update MS provides a new cache solution named Caching (Preview). Different from the existing Windows Azure Shared Caching, Caching (Preview) runs the cache cluster within the role instances we have deployed to the cloud. It gives more control, more performance and more cost-effect. So now we have two caching solutions in Windows Azure, the Shared Caching and Caching (Preview). If you need a central cache service which can be used by many cloud services and web sites, then you have to use the Shared Caching. But if you only need a fast, near distributed cache, then you’d better use Caching (Preview). Hope this helps, Shaun All documents and related graphics, codes are provided "AS IS" without warranty of any kind. Copyright © Shaun Ziyan Xu. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons License.

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So No TECH job so far.

- by Ratman21

O I found some temp work for the US Census and I have managed to keep the house (so far) but, it looks like I/we are going to have to do a short sale and the temp job will be ending soon. On top of that it looks like the unemployment fund for me is drying up. I will have about one month left after the Census job is done. I am now down to Appling for work at the KFC. This is type a work I started with, before I was a tech geek and really I didn’t think I would be doing this kind of work in my later years but, I have a wife and kid. So I got to suck it up and do it. Oh and here is my new resume…go ahead I know you want to tare it up. I really don’t care any more. Scott L. Newman 45219 Dutton Way, Callahan, FL32011 H: (904)879-4880 C: (352)356-0945 E: [email protected] Web: http://beingscottnewman.webs.com/ ______ OBJECTIVE To obtain a Network or Technical support position KEYWORD SUMMARY CompTIA A+, Network+, and Security+ Certified., Network Operation, Technical Support, Client/Vendor Relations, Networking/Administration, Cisco Routers/Switches, Helpdesk, Microsoft Office Suite, Website Design/Dev./Management, Frame Relay, ISDN, Windows NT/98/XP, Visio, Inventory Management, CICS, Programming, COBOL IV, Assembler, RPG QUALIFICATIONS SUMMARY Twenty years’ experience in computer operations, technical support, and technical writing. Also have two and half years’ experience in internet / intranet operations. PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE October 2009 – Present* Volunteer Web site and PC technician – Part time True Faith Christian Fellowship Church – Callahan, FL, Project: Create and maintain web site for Church to give it a worldwide exposure Aug 2008 – September 2009:* Volunteer Church sound and video technician – Part time Thomas Creek Baptist Church – Callahan, FL *Note Jobs were for the learning and/or keeping updated on skills, while looking for a tech job and training for new skills. February 2005 to October 2008: Client Server Dev/Analyst I, Fidelity National Information Services, Jacksonville, FL (FNIS acquired Certegy in 2005 and out of 20 personal, was one of three kept on.) August 2003 to February 2005: Senior NetOps Operator, Certegy, St.Pete, Fl. (August 2003, Certegy terminated contract with EDS and out of 40 personal, was one of six kept on.) Projects: Creation and update of listing and placement for all raised floor equipment at St.Pete site. Listing was made up of, floor plan of the raised floor and equipment racks diagrams showing the placement of all devices using Visio. This was cross-referenced with an inventory excel document showing what dept was responsible for each device. Sole creator of Network operation and Server Operation procedures guide (NetOps Guide). Expertise: Resolving circuit and/or router issues or assist circuit carrier in resolving issue from the company Network Operation Center (NOC). As well as resolving application problems or assist application support in resolution of it. July 1999 to August 2003: Senior NetOps Operator,EDS (Certegy Account), St.Pete, FL Same expertise and on going projects as listed above for FNIS/Certegy. (Equifax outsourced the NetOps dept. to EDS in 1999) January 1991 to July 1999: NetOps/Tandem Operator, Equifax, St.Pete & Tampa, FL Same as all of the above for FNIS/Certegy/EDS except for circuit and router issues EDUCATION ? New Horizons Computer Learning Center, Jacksonville, Florida - CompTIA A+, Security+, and Network+ Certified. Currently working on CCNA Certification 07/30/10 ? Mott Community College, Flint, Michigan – Associates Degree - Data Processing and General Education ? Currently studying Japanese

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Expression Studio 4 - without SketchFlow…

- by mbcrump

is kinda like an explosion with no “Ka-Boom”… I was excited to hear the news yesterday at Microsoft Teched that Expression Studio 4 had officially launched. MSDN subscribers could log in and download the full release. So, I logged into my MSDN account and started downloading Expression Studio 4 Premium thinking that I was only minutes away from trying out SketchFlow 4. To my dismay, I launched Blend 4 and noticed it did not say SketchFlow on the splash screen. So, I went to New Project and the template was not available. After some digging around on the net, I learned my premium MSDN subscription did not include SketchFlow and I would need to purchase the Ultimate Edition. Below is a excerpt directly from Microsoft: Q: What products are included in the Microsoft Expression Studio 4 Ultimate? A: Expression Studio 4 Ultimate is comprised of 4 products, Expression Web 4, Microsoft Expression Blend® 4 + SketchFlow, Expression Encoder 4 Pro and Expression Design 4. Expression Blend 4 includes SketchFlow in Expression Studio 4 Ultimate product only. Q: What products are included in the Microsoft Expression Studio 4 Premium? A: Expression Studio 4 Premium is comprised of 4 products, Expression Web 4, Microsoft Expression Blend 4, Expression Encoder 4 and Expression Design 4. Expression Studio 4 Premium is not available for retail purchase. Q: What products are included in the Microsoft Expression Studio 4 Web Professional? A: Expression Studio 4 Web Professional is comprised of 3 products, Expression Web 4, Expression Encoder 4 and Expression Design 4. As you can see, we got screwed on this deal and plenty of people are complaining: Kiran Says: 6.07.2010 at 5:07 PM No SketchFlow for Expression Studio 4 Premium? What a bumper for Microsoft Partners!! Martin Says: 6.07.2010 at 6:18 PM Why does Expression Professional Subscription not include upgrades and new releases of Expression Studio. Good question hey. I bought my subscription 5 days ago thinking I would get what i purchased but no Expression upgrades or new releases for me, what a waste of money. I think I am not the only long term user of this software that feels disgruntled. Sorry john just had to tell someone. shaggygi Says: 6.07.2010 at 7:31 PM SketchFlow NOT included in Studio 4? WTF! I repeat.... WT...Freaking.... F! This is totally unacceptable. My development team purchased VS 2010 Premium w/ MSDN with the impression by Adam Kinney, Scott Guthrie, etc. that this would be included in the Premium package or some sort of free upgrade. I understand this is a Marketing thing, but come on! I believe, at very least, this should have been explained in detail before this release. John Papa... as a rep to give feedback to the team... Please please and please.... tell powers-at-be to fix this problem. Sorry for the rant. Besides this issue, I believe it is a very good product:) Thanks Vaclav Elias Says: 6.08.2010 at 4:30 AM Well, I am also not happy that SketchFlow is only for the chosen ones :-) It is very nice product. Actually, kind of foundation for web development so they could really support any MSDN subscribers.. :-( I am hoping that Microsoft will make this right for all of us with MSDN premier subscriptions. In the meantime, you can check out the 5 day training series available here.

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Finding the problem on a partially succeeded build

- by Martin Hinshelwood

Now that I have the Build failing because of a genuine bug and not just because of a test framework failure, lets see if we can trace through to finding why the first test in our new application failed. Lets look at the build and see if we can see why there is a red cross on it. First, lets open that build list. On Team Explorer Expand your Team Project Collection | Team Project and then Builds. Double click the offending build. Figure: Opening the Build list is a key way to see what the current state of your software is. Figure: A test is failing, but we can now view the Test Results to find the problem Figure: You can quite clearly see that the test has failed with “The device is not ready”. To me the “The Device is not ready” smacks of a System.IO exception, but it passed on my local computer, so why not on the build server? Its a FaultException so it is most likely coming from the Service and not the client, so lets take a look at the client method that the test is calling: bool IProfileService.SaveDefaultProjectFile(string strComputerName) { ProjectFile file = new ProjectFile() { ProjectFileName = strComputerName + "_" + System.DateTime.Now.ToString("yyyyMMddhhmmsss") + ".xml", ConnectionString = "persist security info=False; pooling=False; data source=(local); application name=SSW.SQLDeploy.vshost.exe; integrated security=SSPI; initial catalog=SSWSQLDeployNorthwindSample", DateCreated = System.DateTime.Now, DateUpdated = System.DateTime.Now, FolderPath = @"C:\Program Files\SSW SQL Deploy\SampleData\", IsComplete=false, Version = "1.3", NewDatabase = true, TimeOut = 5, TurnOnMSDE = false, Mode="AutomaticMode" }; string strFolderPath = "D:\\"; //LocalSettings.ProjectFileBasePath; string strFileName = strFolderPath + file.ProjectFileName; try { using (FileStream fs = new FileStream(strFileName, FileMode.Create)) { DataContractSerializer serializer = new DataContractSerializer(typeof(ProjectFile)); using (XmlDictionaryWriter writer = XmlDictionaryWriter.CreateTextWriter(fs)) { serializer.WriteObject(writer, file); } } } catch (Exception ex) { //TODO: Log the exception throw ex; return false; } return true; } Figure: You can see on lines 9 and 18 that there are calls being made to specific folders and disks. What is wrong with this code? What assumptions mistakes could the developer have made to make this look OK: That every install would be to “C:\Program Files\SSW SQL Deploy” That every computer would have a “D:\\” That checking in code at 6pm because the had to go home was a good idea. lets solve each of these problems: We are in a web service… lets store data within the web root. So we can call “Server.MapPath(“~/App_Data/SSW SQL Deploy\SampleData”) instead. Never reference an explicit path. If you need some storage for your application use IsolatedStorage. Shelve your code instead. What else could have been done? Code review before check-in – The developer should have shelved their code and asked another dev to look at it. Use Defensive programming – Make sure that any code that has the possibility of failing has checks. Any more options? Let me know and I will add them. What do we do? The correct things to do is to add a Bug to the backlog, but as this is probably going to be fixed in sprint, I will add it directly to the sprint backlog. Right click on the failing test Select “Create Work Item | Bug” Figure: Create an associated bug to add to the backlog. Set the values for the Bug making sure that it goes into the right sprint and Area. Make your steps to reproduce as explicit as possible, but “See test” is valid under these circumstances. Figure: Add it to the correct Area and set the Iteration to the Area name or the Sprint if you think it will be fixed in Sprint and make sure you bring it up at the next Scrum Meeting. Note: make sure you leave the “Assigned To” field blank as in Scrum team members sign up for work, you do not give it to them. The developer who broke the test will most likely either sign up for the bug, or say that they are stuck and need help. Note: Visual Studio has taken care of associating the failing test with the Bug. Save… Technorati Tags: WCF,MSTest,MSBuild,Team Build 2010,Team Test 2010,Team Build,Team Test

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Chris Brook-Carter at the Oracle Retail Week Awards VIP Reception

- by user801960

The Oracle VIP Reception at the Oracle Retail Week Awards last week saw retail luminaries from around the UK and Europe gather to have a drink and celebrate the successes of retail in the last year. Guests included Lord Harris of Peckham, Tesco's Philip Clarke, Vanessa Gold from Ann Summers, former Retail Week editor Tim Danaher, Richard Pennycook from Morrisons and Ian Cheshire from Kingfisher Group. The new Retail Week editor-in-chief, Chris Brook-Carter, attended and took the time to speak to the guests about the value of the Oracle Retail Week Awards to the industry and to thank Oracle for its dedication to supporting the industry. Chris said: "I'd like to say a real heartfelt thanks to our partner this evening: Oracle. I had the privilege of being at the judging day and I got to meet Sarah and the team and I was struck by not only the passion that they have for the whole awards system and everything that means in terms of rewarding excellence within the retail industry but also their commitment to retail in general, and it's that sort of relationship that marks out retail as such a fantastic sector to be involved in." Chris's speech can be watched in full below:

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Week 16: Integrate This - Introducing Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g

- by sandra.haan

Spring in New York City is a wonderful time of year, but if you're out walking around in Central Park it means you missed the most exciting thing happening in the city today -Oracle's announcement of the launch of Enterprise Manager 11g at the Guggenheim. You can catch-up on what you missed here and listen in as Judson talks about the partner opportunity with Enterprise Manager 11g: Learn how Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g can help you drive agility and efficiency through its unique, integrated IT management capabilities and check out the Enterprise Manager Knowledge Zone to get engaged with OPN. Learn more and get the full scoop from today's press release. Until the next time, The OPN Communications Team

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BizTalk host throttling – Singleton pattern and High database size

- by S.E.R.

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/SERivas/archive/2013/06/30/biztalk-host-throttling-ndash-singleton-pattern-and-high-database-size.aspxI have worked for some days around the singleton pattern (for those unfamiliar with it, read this post by Victor Fehlberg) and have come across a few very interesting posts, among which one dealt with performance issues (here, also by Victor Fehlberg). Simply put: if you have an orchestration which implements the singleton pattern, then performances will continuously decrease as the orchestration receives and consumes messages, and that behavior is more obvious when the orchestration never ends (ie : it keeps looping and never terminates or completes). As I experienced the same kind of problem (actually I was alerted by SCOM, which told me that the host was being throttled because of High database size), I thought it would be a good idea to dig a little bit a see what happens deep inside BizTalk and thus understand the reasons for this behavior. NOTE: in this article, I will focus on this High database size throttling condition. I will try and work on the other conditions in some not too distant future… Test conditions The singleton orchestration For the purpose of this study, I have created the following orchestration, which is a very basic implementation of a singleton that piles up incoming messages, then does something else when a certain timeout has been reached without receiving another message: Throttling settings I have two distinct hosts : one that hosts the receive port (basic FILE port) : Ports_ReceiveHostone that hosts the orchestration : ProcessingHost In order to emphasize the throttling mechanism, I have modified the throttling settings for each of these hosts are as follows (all other parameters are set to the default value): [Throttling thresholds] Message count in database: 500 (default value : 50000) Evolution of performance counters when submitting messages Since we are investigating the High database size throttling condition, here are the performance counter that we should take a look at (all of them are in the BizTalk:Message Agent performance object): Database sizeHigh database sizeMessage delivery throttling stateMessage publishing throttling stateMessage delivery delay (ms)Message publishing delay (ms)Message delivery throttling state durationMessage publishing throttling state duration (If you are not used to Perfmon, I strongly recommend that you start using it right now: it is a wonderful tool that allows you to open the hood and see what is going on inside BizTalk – and other systems) Database size It is quite obvious that we will start by watching the database size and high database size counters, just to see when the first reaches the configured threshold (500) and when the second rings the alarm. NOTE : During this test I submitted 600 messages, one message at a time every 10ms to see the evolution of the counters we have previously selected. It might not show very well on this screenshot, but here is what happened: From 15:46:50 to 15:47:50, the database size for the Ports_ReceiveHost host (blue line) kept growing until it reached a maximum of 504.At 15:47:50, the high database size alert fires At first I was surprised by this result: why is it the database size of the receiving host that keeps growing since it is the processing host that piles up messages? Actually, it makes total sense. This counter measures the size of the database queue that is being filled by the host, not consumed. Therefore, the high database size alert is raised on the host that fills the queue: Ports_ReceiveHost. More information is available on the Public MPWiki page. Now, looking at the Message publishing throttling state for the receiving host (green line), we can see that a throttling condition has been reached at 15:47:50: We can also see that the Message publishing delay(ms) (blue line) has begun growing slowly from this point. All of this explains why performances keep decreasing when a singleton keeps processing new messages: the database size grows and when it has exceeded the Message count in database threshold, the host is throttled and the publishing delay keeps increasing. Digging further So, what happens to the database queue then? Is it flushed some day or does it keep growing and growing indefinitely? The real question being: will the host be throttled forever because of this singleton? To answer this question, I set the Message count in database threshold to 20 (this value is very low in order not to wait for too long, otherwise I certainly would have fallen asleep in front of my screen) and I submitted 30 messages. The test was started at 18:26. At 18:56 (ie : exactly 30min later) the throttling was stopped and the database size was divided by 2. 30 min later again, the database size had dropped to almost zero: I guess I’ll have to find some documentation and do some more testing before I sort this out! My guess is that some maintenance job is at work here, though I cannot tell which one Digging even further If we take a look at the Message delivery throttling state counter for the processing host, we can see that this host was also throttled during the submission of the 600 documents: The value for the counter was 1, meaning that Message delivery incoming rate for the host instance exceeds the Message delivery outgoing rate * the specified Rate overdrive factor (percent) value. We will see this another day… :) A last word Let’s end this article with a warning: DO NOT CHANGE THE THROTTLING SETTINGS LIGHTLY! The temptation can be great to just bypass throttling by setting very high values for each parameter (or zero in some cases, which simply disables throttling). Nevertheless, always keep in mind that this mechanism is here for a very good reason: prevent your BizTalk infrastructure from exploding!! So whatever you do with those settings, do a lot of testing and benchmarking!

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Where Next for Google Translate? And What of Information Quality?

- by ultan o'broin

Fascinating article in the UK Guardian newspaper called Can Google break the computer language barrier? In it, Andreas Zollman, who works on Google Translate, comments that the quality of Google Translate's output relative to the amount of data required to create that output is clearly now falling foul of the law of diminishing returns. He says: "Each doubling of the amount of translated data input led to about a 0.5% improvement in the quality of the output," he suggests, but the doublings are not infinite. "We are now at this limit where there isn't that much more data in the world that we can use," he admits. "So now it is much more important again to add on different approaches and rules-based models." The Translation Guy has a further discussion on this, called Google Translate is Finished. He says: "And there aren't that many doublings left, if any. I can't say how much text Google has assimilated into their machine translation databases, but it's been reported that they have scanned about 11% of all printed content ever published. So double that, and double it again, and once more, shoveling all that into the translation hopper, and pretty soon you get the sum of all human knowledge, which means a whopping 1.5% improvement in the quality of the engines when everything has been analyzed. That's what we've got to look forward to, at best, since Google spiders regularly surf the Web, which in its vastness dwarfs all previously published content. So to all intents and purposes, the statistical machine translation tools of Google are done. Outstanding job, Googlers. Thanks." Surprisingly, all this analysis hasn't raised that much comment from the fans of machine translation, or its detractors either for that matter. Perhaps, it's the season of goodwill? What is clear to me, however, of course is that Google Translate isn't really finished (in any sense of the word). I am sure Google will investigate and come up with new rule-based translation models to enhance what they have already and that will also scale effectively where others didn't. So too, will they harness human input, which really is the way to go to train MT in the quality direction. But that aside, what does it say about the quality of the data that is being used for statistical machine translation in the first place? From the Guardian article it's clear that a huge humanly translated corpus drove the gains for Google Translate and now what's left is the dregs of badly translated and poorly created source materials that just can't deliver quality translations. There's a message about information quality there, surely. In the enterprise applications space, where we have some control over content this whole debate reinforces the relationship between information quality at source and translation efficiency, regardless of the technology used to do the translation. But as more automation comes to the fore, that information quality is even more critical if you want anything approaching a scalable solution. This is important for user experience professionals. Issues like user generated content translation, multilingual personalization, and scalable language quality are central to a superior global UX; it's a competitive issue we cannot ignore.

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