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• Healthcare and Distributed Data Don't Mix

  - by [email protected]

  How many times have you heard the story?  Hard disk goes missing, USB thumb drive goes missing, laptop goes missing...Not a week goes by that we don't hear about our data going missing...  Healthcare data is a big one, but we hear about credit card data, pricing info, corporate intellectual property...  When I have spoken at Security and IT conferences part of my message is "Why do you give your users data to lose in the first place?"  I don't suggest they can't have access to it...in fact I work for the company that provides the premiere data security and desktop solutions that DO provide access.  Access isn't the issue.  'Keeping the data' is the issue.We are all human - we all make mistakes... I fault no one for having their car stolen or that they dropped a USB thumb drive. (well, except the thieves - I can certainly find some fault there)  Where I find fault is in policy (or lack thereof sometimes) that allows users to carry around private, and important, data with them.  Mr. Director of IT - It is your fault, not theirs.  Ms. CSO - Look in the mirror.It isn't like one can't find a network to access the data from.  You are on a network right now.  How many Wireless ones (wifi, mifi, cellular...) are there around you, right now?  Allowing employees to remove data from the confines of (wait for it... ) THE DATA CENTER is just plain indefensible when it isn't required.  The argument that the laptop had a password and the hard disk was encrypted is ridiculous.  An encrypted drive tells thieves that before they sell the stolen unit for $75, they should crack the encryption and ascertain what the REAL value of the laptop is... credit card info, Identity info, pricing lists, banking transactions... a veritable treasure trove of info people give away on an 'encrypted disk'.What started this latest rant on lack of data control was an article in Government Health IT that was forwarded to me by Denny Olson, an Oracle Principal Sales Consultant in Minnesota.  The full article is here, but the point was that a couple laptops went missing in a couple different cases, and.. well... no one knows where the data is, and yes - they were loaded with patient info.  What were you thinking?Obviously you can't steal data form a Sun Ray appliance... since it has no data, nor any storage to keep the data on, and Secure Global Desktop allows access from Macs, Linux and Windows client devices...  but in all cases, there is no keeping the data unless you explicitly allow for it in your policy.   Since you can get at the data securely from any network, why would you want to take personal responsibility for it?  Both Sun Rays and Secure Global Desktop are widely used in Healthcare... but clearly not widely enough.We need to do a better job of getting the message out -  Healthcare (or insert your business type here) and distributed data don't mix. Then add Hot Desking and 'follow me printing' and you have something that Clinicians (and CSOs) love.Thanks for putting up my blood pressure, Denny.

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• Windows Azure Recipe: Mobile Computing

  - by Clint Edmonson

  A while back, mashups were all the rage. The idea was to compose solutions that provided aggregation and integration across applications and services to make information more available, useful, and personal. Mashups ushered in the era of Web 2.0 in all it’s socially connected goodness. They taught us that to be successful, we needed to add web service APIs to our web applications. Web and client based mashups met with great success and have evolved even further with the introduction of the internet connected smartphone. Nothing is more available, useful, or personal than our smartphones. The current generation of cloud connected mobile computing mashups allow our mobilized workforces to receive, process, and react to information from disparate sources faster than ever before. Drivers Integration Reach Time to market Solution Here’s a sketch of a prototypical mobile computing solution using Windows Azure: Ingredients Web Role – with the phone running a dedicated client application, the web role is responsible for serving up backend web services that implement the solution’s core connected functionality. Database – used to store core operational and workflow data for the solution’s web services. Access Control – this service is used to authenticate and manage users identity, roles, and groups, possibly in conjunction with 3rd identity providers such as Windows LiveID, Google, Yahoo!, and Facebook. Worker Role – this role is used to handle the orchestration of long-running, complex, asynchronous operations. While much of the integration and interaction with other services can be handled directly by the mobile client application, it’s possible that the backend may need to integrate with 3rd party services as well. Offloading this work to a worker role better distributes computing resources and keeps the web roles focused on direct client interaction. Queues – these provide reliable, persistent messaging between applications and processes. They are an absolute necessity once asynchronous processing is involved. Queues facilitate the flow of distributed events and allow a solution to send push notifications back to mobile devices at appropriate times. Training & Resources These links point to online Windows Azure training labs and resources where you can learn more about the individual ingredients described above. (Note: The entire Windows Azure Training Kit can also be downloaded for offline use.) Windows Azure (16 labs) Windows Azure is an internet-scale cloud computing and services platform hosted in Microsoft data centers, which provides an operating system and a set of developer services which can be used individually or together. It gives developers the choice to build web applications; applications running on connected devices, PCs, or servers; or hybrid solutions offering the best of both worlds. New or enhanced applications can be built using existing skills with the Visual Studio development environment and the .NET Framework. With its standards-based and interoperable approach, the services platform supports multiple internet protocols, including HTTP, REST, SOAP, and plain XML SQL Azure (7 labs) Microsoft SQL Azure delivers on the Microsoft Data Platform vision of extending the SQL Server capabilities to the cloud as web-based services, enabling you to store structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data. Windows Azure Services (9 labs) As applications collaborate across organizational boundaries, ensuring secure transactions across disparate security domains is crucial but difficult to implement. Windows Azure Services provides hosted authentication and access control using powerful, secure, standards-based infrastructure. Windows Azure Toolkit for Windows Phone The Windows Azure Toolkit for Windows Phone is designed to make it easier for you to build mobile applications that leverage cloud services running in Windows Azure. The toolkit includes Visual Studio project templates for Windows Phone and Windows Azure, class libraries optimized for use on the phone, sample applications, and documentation Windows Azure Toolkit for iOS The Windows Azure Toolkit for iOS is a toolkit for developers to make it easy to access Windows Azure storage services from native iOS applications. The toolkit can be used for both iPhone and iPad applications, developed using Objective-C and XCode. Windows Azure Toolkit for Android The Windows Azure Toolkit for Android is a toolkit for developers to make it easy to work with Windows Azure from native Android applications. The toolkit can be used for native Android applications developed using Eclipse and the Android SDK. See my Windows Azure Resource Guide for more guidance on how to get started, including links web portals, training kits, samples, and blogs related to Windows Azure.

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• Surviving MATLAB and R as a Hardcore Programmer

  - by dsimcha

  I love programming in languages that seem geared towards hardcore programmers. (My favorites are Python and D.) MATLAB is geared towards engineers and R is geared towards statisticians, and it seems like these languages were designed by people who aren't hardcore programmers and don't think like hardcore programmers. I always find them somewhat awkward to use, and to some extent I can't put my finger on why. Here are some issues I have managed to identify: (Both): The extreme emphasis on vectors and matrices to the extent that there are no true primitives. (Both): The difficulty of basic string manipulation. (Both): Lack of or awkwardness in support for basic data structures like hash tables and "real", i.e. type-parametric and nestable, arrays. (Both): They're really, really slow even by interpreted language standards, unless you bend over backwards to vectorize your code. (Both): They seem to not be designed to interact with the outside world. For example, both are fairly bulky programs that take a while to launch and seem to not be designed to make simple text filter programs easy to write. Furthermore, the lack of good string processing makes file I/O in anything but very standard forms near impossible. (Both): Object orientation seems to have a very bolted-on feel. Yes, you can do it, but it doesn't feel much more idiomatic than OO in C. (Both): No obvious, simple way to get a reference type. No pointers or class references. For example, I have no idea how you roll your own linked list in either of these languages. (MATLAB): You can't put multiple top level functions in a single file, encouraging very long functions and cut-and-paste coding. (MATLAB): Integers apparently don't exist as a first class type. (R): The basic builtin data structures seem way too high level and poorly documented, and never seem to do quite what I expect given my experience with similar but lower level data structures. (R): The documentation is spread all over the place and virtually impossible to browse or search. Even D, which is often knocked for bad documentation and is still fairly alpha-ish, is substantially better as far as I can tell. (R): At least as far as I'm aware, there's no good IDE for it. Again, even D, a fairly alpha-ish language with a small community, does better. In general, I also feel like MATLAB and R could be easily replaced by plain old libraries in more general-purpose langauges, if sufficiently comprehensive libraries existed. This is especially true in newer general purpose languages that include lots of features for library writers. Why do R and MATLAB seem so weird to me? Are there any other major issues that you've noticed that may make these languages come off as strange to hardcore programmers? When their use is necessary, what are some good survival tips? Edit: I'm seeing one issue from some of the answers I've gotten. I have a strong personal preference, when I analyze data, to have one script that incorporates the whole pipeline. This implies that a general purpose language needs to be used. I hate having to write a script to "clean up" the data and spit it out, then another to read it back in a completely different environment, etc. I find the friction of using MATLAB/R for some of my work and a completely different language with a completely different address space and way of thinking for the rest to be a huge source of friction. Furthermore, I know there are glue layers that exist, but they always seem to be horribly complicated and a source of friction.

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• SEO non-English domain name advice

  - by Dominykas Mostauskis

  I'm starting a website, that is meant for a non-English region, using an alphabet that is a bit different than that of English. Current plan is as follows. The website name, and the domain name, will be in the local language (not English); however, domain name will be spelled in the English alphabet, while the website's title will be the same word(s), but spelled properly with accents. E.g.: 'www.litterat.fr' and 'Littérat'. Does the difference between domain name and website name character use influence the site's SEO? Is it better, SEO-wise, to choose a name that can be spelled the same way in the English alphabet? From my experience, when searching online, invariably, the English alphabet is used, no matter the language, so people will still be searching 'litterat' (without accents and such). Edit: To sum up: Things have been said about IDN (Internationalized domain name). To make it simple, they are second-level domain names that contain language specific characters (LSP)(e.g. www.café.fr). Here you can check what top-level domains support what LSPs. Check initall's answer for more info on using LSPs in paths and queries. To answer my question about how and if search engines relate keywords spelled with and without language specific characters: Google can potentially tell that series and séries is the same keyword. However, (most relevant for words that are spelled differently across languages and have different meanings, like séries), for Google to make the connection (or lack thereof) between e and é, it has to deduce two things: Language that you are searching in. Language of your query. You can specify it manually through Advanced search or it guesses it, sometimes. I presume it can guess it wrong too. The more keywords specific to this language you use the higher Google's chance to guess the language. Language of the crawled document, against which the ASCII version of the word will be compared (in this example – series). Again, check initall's answer for how to help Google in understanding what language your document is in. Once it has that it can tell whether or not these two spellings should be treated as the same keyword. Google has to understand that even though you're not using french (in this example) specific characters, you're searching in French. The reason why I used the french word séries in this example, is that it demonstrates this very well. You have it in French and you have it in English without the accent. So if your search query is ambiguous like our series, unless Google has something more to go on, it will presume that there's no correlation between your search and séries in French documents. If you augment your query to series romantiques (try it), Google will understand that you're searching in French and among your results you'll see séries as well. But this does not always work, you should test it out with your keywords first. For example, if you search series francaises, it will associate francaises with françaises, but it will not associate series with séries. It depends on the words. Note: worth stressing that this problem is very relevant to words that, written in plain ASCII, might have some other meanings in other languages, it is less relevant to words that can be, by a distinct margin, just some one language. Tip: I've noticed that sometimes even if my non-accented search query doesn't get associated with the properly spelled word in a document (especially if it's the title or an important keyword in the doc), it still comes up. I followed the link, did a Ctrl-F search for my non-accented search query and found nothing, then checked the meta-tags in the source and you had the page's title in both accented and non-accented forms. So if you have meta-tags that can be spelled with language specific characters and without, put in both. Footnote: I hope this helps. If you have anything to add or correct, go ahead.

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• What is the SharePoint Action Framework and Why do I need it ?

  - by SAF

  For those out there that are a little curious as to whether SAF is any use to your organisation, please read this FAQ.  What is SAF ? SAF is free to use. SAF is the "SharePoint Action Framework", it was built by myself and Hugo (plus a few others along the way). SAF is written entirely in C# code available from : http://saf.codeplex.com.   SAF is a way to automate SharePoint configuration changes. An Action is a command/class/task/script written in C# that performs a unit of execution against SharePoint such as "CreateWeb"  or "AddLookupColumn". A SAF Macro is collection of one or more Actions. SAF Macro can be run from Msbuild, a Feature, StsAdm or common plain old .Net code. Parameters can be passed to a Macro at run-time from a variety of sources such as "Environment Variable", "*.config", "Msbuild Properties", Feature Properties, command line args, .net code. SAF emits lots of trace statements at run-time, these can be viewed using "DebugView". One Action can pass parameters to another Action. Parameters can be set using Expression Syntax such as "DateTime.Now".  You should consider SAF is you suffer from one of the following symptoms... "Our developers write lots of code to deploy changes at release time - it's always rushed" "I don't want my developers shelling out to Powershell or Stsadm from a Feature". "We have loads of Console applications now, I have lost track of where they are, or what they do" "We seem to be writing similar scripts against SharePoint in lots of ways, testing is hard". "My scripts often have lots of errors - they are done at the last minute". "When something goes wrong - I have no idea what went wrong or how to solve it". "Our Features get stuck and bomb out half way through - there no way to roll them back". "We have tons of Features now - I can't keep track". "We deploy Features to run one-off tasks" "We have a library of reusable scripts, but, we can only run it in one way, sometimes we want to run it from MSbuild and a Feature". "I want to automate the deployment of changes to our development environment". "I would like to run a housekeeping task on a scheduled basis"   So I like the sound of SAF - what's the problems ?  Realistically, there are few things that need to be considered: Someone on your team will need to spend a day or 2 understanding SAF and deciding exactly how you want to use it. I would suggest a Tech Lead, SysAdm or SP Architect will need to download it, try out the examples, look through the unit tests. Ask us questions. Although, SAF can be downloaded and set to go in a few minutes, you will still need to address issues such as - "Do you want to execute your Macros in MsBuild or from a Feature ?" You will need to decide who is going to do your deployments - is it each developer to themself, or do you require a dedicated Build Manager ? As most environments (Dev, QA, Live etc) require different settings (e.g. Urls, Database names, accounts etc), you will more than likely want to define these and set a properties file up for each environment. (These can then be injected into Saf at run-time). There may be no Action to solve your particular problem. If this is the case, suggest it to us - we can try and write it, or write it yourself. It's very easy to write a new Action - we have an approach to easily unit test it, document it and author it. For example, I wrote one to deploy  a WSP in 2 hours the other day. Alternatively, Saf can also call Stsadm commands and Powershell scripts.   Anyway, I do hope this helps! If you still need help, or a quick start, we can also offer consultancy around SAF. If you want to know more give us a call or drop an email to [email protected]

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• Windows Azure Recipe: Social Web / Big Media

  - by Clint Edmonson

  With the rise of social media there’s been an explosion of special interest media web sites on the web. From athletics to board games to funny animal behaviors, you can bet there’s a group of people somewhere on the web talking about it. Social media sites allow us to interact, share experiences, and bond with like minded enthusiasts around the globe. And through the power of software, we can follow trends in these unique domains in real time. Drivers Reach Scalability Media hosting Global distribution Solution Here’s a sketch of how a social media application might be built out on Windows Azure: Ingredients Traffic Manager (optional) – can be used to provide hosting and load balancing across different instances and/or data centers. Perfect if the solution needs to be delivered to different cultures or regions around the world. Access Control – this service is essential to managing user identity. It’s backed by a full blown implementation of Active Directory and allows the definition and management of users, groups, and roles. A pre-built ASP.NET membership provider is included in the training kit to leverage this capability but it’s also flexible enough to be combined with external Identity providers including Windows LiveID, Google, Yahoo!, and Facebook. The provider model has extensibility points to hook into other identity providers as well. Web Role – hosts the core of the web application and presents a central social hub users. Database – used to store core operational, functional, and workflow data for the solution’s web services. Caching (optional) – as a web site traffic grows caching can be leveraged to keep frequently used read-only, user specific, and application resource data in a high-speed distributed in-memory for faster response times and ultimately higher scalability without spinning up more web and worker roles. It includes a token based security model that works alongside the Access Control service. Tables (optional) – for semi-structured data streams that don’t need relational integrity such as conversations, comments, or activity streams, tables provide a faster and more flexible way to store this kind of historical data. Blobs (optional) – users may be creating or uploading large volumes of heterogeneous data such as documents or rich media. Blob storage provides a scalable, resilient way to store terabytes of user data. The storage facilities can also integrate with the Access Control service to ensure users’ data is delivered securely. Content Delivery Network (CDN) (optional) – for sites that service users around the globe, the CDN is an extension to blob storage that, when enabled, will automatically cache frequently accessed blobs and static site content at edge data centers around the world. The data can be delivered statically or streamed in the case of rich media content. Training These links point to online Windows Azure training labs and resources where you can learn more about the individual ingredients described above. (Note: The entire Windows Azure Training Kit can also be downloaded for offline use.) Windows Azure (16 labs) Windows Azure is an internet-scale cloud computing and services platform hosted in Microsoft data centers, which provides an operating system and a set of developer services which can be used individually or together. It gives developers the choice to build web applications; applications running on connected devices, PCs, or servers; or hybrid solutions offering the best of both worlds. New or enhanced applications can be built using existing skills with the Visual Studio development environment and the .NET Framework. With its standards-based and interoperable approach, the services platform supports multiple internet protocols, including HTTP, REST, SOAP, and plain XML SQL Azure (7 labs) Microsoft SQL Azure delivers on the Microsoft Data Platform vision of extending the SQL Server capabilities to the cloud as web-based services, enabling you to store structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data. Windows Azure Services (9 labs) As applications collaborate across organizational boundaries, ensuring secure transactions across disparate security domains is crucial but difficult to implement. Windows Azure Services provides hosted authentication and access control using powerful, secure, standards-based infrastructure. See my Windows Azure Resource Guide for more guidance on how to get started, including links web portals, training kits, samples, and blogs related to Windows Azure.

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• DISA Cross Domain Enterprise Solutions on the NetBeans Platform

  - by Geertjan

  Bray 2.0 is a tool based on the NetBeans Platform that assists in creating valid Data Flow Configuration (DFC) files. The DFC Specification was developed to provide a standardized way for defining, validating, and approving data flows for use on cross-domain guarding solutions. A DFC document specifies key entities such as security domains, guards that facilitate data between security domains, data flows that describe how data travels between security domains, filters that transform and validate the data and more. Related info: http://www.disa.mil/Services/Information-Assurance/Cross-Domain-Solutions The Bray product is in development at Fulcrum IT (http://www.fulcrumco.com). The DFC Specification and Bray were developed in support of the US Department of Defense. Bray 2.0 marks the first release of Bray on the NetBeans Platform and utilizes a number of features that are core to the NetBeans Platform: Modular plugability. Bray consumers can integrate their own tools, file types, and more into the product with relative ease. Robust UI. The NetBeans Platform intuitive UI makes it easy to access and manipulate multiple aspects of a DFC. Explorer. The Explorer is a key component that makes the DFC XML easy to traverse, edit, and find errors. Context-sensitive help. JavaHelp can be readily integrated for the product as well as all the UI within. Editors. Any external file can be added to a DFC. Users can register their own editors or use the provided NetBeans editors to edit files. Printing. The NetBeans Platform Print API makes it easy to determine what should be printed and how.   A screenshot: Bray 2.0 provides a lot of key features in developing valid, robust DFC files:  XML validation. A DFC can be validated against the DFC schema specification. DFC Check List. An interactive, minimal guide for creating a complete DFC. Summary Window. The Summary Window functions like the Navigator in NetBeans IDE. The current "item of interest" is checked against various business rules and provides the ability to quickly find and fix errors. Change Log. Bray audits every change to a DFC and places them in a change log for users to peruse. Comments. Users can optionally add comments for other users to see. Digital signatures. DFC files can be digitally signed. A signature history and signature validation is provided in Bray. Pluggable security schemes. Bray ships with plain text and IC-ISM security schemes. If needed, users can integrate additional ones.  ...and more to come! New features for Bray are constantly in development including use of the NetBeans Visual Library, language support, and more. More screenshots:

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• Unity GUI not in build, but works fine in editor

  - by Darren

  I have: GUITexture attached to an object A script that has GUIStyles created for the Textfield and Buttons that are created in OnGUI(). This script is attached to the same object in number 1 3 GUIText objects each separate from the above. A script that enables the GUITexture and the script in number 1 and 2 respectively This is how it is supposed to work: When I cross the finish line, number 4 script enables number 1 GUITexture component and number 2 script component. The script component uses one of number 3's GUIText objects to show you your best lap time, and also makes a GUI.Textfield for name entry and 2 GUI.Buttons for "Submit" and "Skip". If you hit "Submit" the script will submit the time. No matter which button you press, The remaining 2 GUIText objects from number 3 will show you the top 10 best times. For some reason, when I run it in editor, everything works 100%, but when I'm in different kinds of builds, the results vary. When I am in a webplayer, The GUITexture and the textfield and buttons appear, but the textfield and buttons are plain and have no evidence of GUIStyles. When I click one of the buttons, the score gets submitted but I do not get the fastest times showing. When I am in a standalone build, the GUITexture shows up, but nothing else does. If I remove the GUIStyle parameter of the GUI.Textfield and GUI.Button, they show up. Why am I getting these variations and how can I fix it? Code below: void Start () { Names.text = ""; Times.text = ""; YourBestTime.text = "Your Best Lap: " + bestTime + "\nEnter your name:"; //StartCoroutine(GetTimes("Test")); } void Update() { if (!ShowButtons && !GettingTimes) { StartCoroutine(GetTimes()); GettingTimes = true; } } IEnumerator GetTimes () { Debug.Log("Getting times"); YourBestTime.text = "Loading Best Lap Times"; WWW times_get = new WWW(GetTimesUrl); yield return times_get; WWW names_get = new WWW(GetNamesUrl); yield return names_get; if(times_get.error != null || names_get.error != null) { print("There was an error retrieiving the data: " + names_get.error + times_get.error); } else { Times.text = times_get.text; Names.text = names_get.text; YourBestTime.text = "Your Best Lap: " + bestTime; } } IEnumerator PostLapTime (string Name, string LapTime) { string hash= MD5.Md5Sum(Name + LapTime + secretKey); string bestTime_url = SubmitTimeUrl + "&Name=" + WWW.EscapeURL(Name) + "&LapTime=" + LapTime + "&hash=" + hash; Debug.Log (bestTime_url); // Post the URL to the site and create a download object to get the result. WWW hs_post = new WWW(bestTime_url); //label = "Submitting..."; yield return hs_post; // Wait until the download is done if (hs_post.error != null) { print("There was an error posting the lap time: " + hs_post.error); //label = "Error: " + hs_post.error; //show = false; } else { Debug.Log("Posted: " + hs_post.text); ShowButtons = false; PostingTime = false; } } void OnGUI() { if (ShowButtons) { //makes text box nameString = GUI.TextField( new Rect((Screen.width/2)-111, (Screen.height/2)-130, 222, 25), nameString, 20, TextboxStyle); if (GUI.Button( new Rect( (Screen.width/2-74.0f), (Screen.height/2)- 90, 64, 32), "Submit", ButtonStyle)) { //SUBMIT TIME if (nameString == "") { nameString = "Player"; } if (!PostingTime) { StartCoroutine(PostLapTime(nameString, bestTime)); PostingTime = true; } } else if (GUI.Button( new Rect( (Screen.width/2+10.0f), (Screen.height/2)- 90, 64, 32), "Skip", ButtonStyle)) { ShowButtons = false; } } } }

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• Windows Azure Recipe: Consumer Portal

  - by Clint Edmonson

  Nearly every company on the internet has a web presence. Many are merely using theirs for informational purposes. More sophisticated portals allow customers to register their contact information and provide some level of interaction or customer support. But as our understanding of how consumers use the web increases, the more progressive companies are taking advantage of social web and rich media delivery to connect at a deeper level with the consumers of their goods and services. Drivers Cost reduction Scalability Global distribution Time to market Solution Here’s a sketch of how a Windows Azure Consumer Portal might be built out: Ingredients Web Role – this will host the core of the solution. Each web role is a virtual machine hosting an application written in ASP.NET (or optionally php, or node.js). The number of web roles can be scaled up or down as needed to handle peak and non-peak traffic loads. Database – every modern web application needs to store data. SQL Azure databases look and act exactly like their on-premise siblings but are fault tolerant and have data redundancy built in. Access Control (optional) – if identity needs to be tracked within the solution, the access control service combined with the Windows Identity Foundation framework provides out-of-the-box support for several social media platforms including Windows LiveID, Google, Yahoo!, Facebook. It also has a provider model to allow integration with other platforms as well. Caching (optional) – for sites with high traffic with lots of read-only data and lists, the distributed in-memory caching service can be used to cache and serve up static data at higher scale and speed than direct database requests. It can also be used to manage user session state. Blob Storage (optional) – for sites that serve up unstructured data such as documents, video, audio, device drivers, and more. The data is highly available and stored redundantly across data centers. Each entry in blob storage is provided with it’s own unique URL for direct access by the browser. Content Delivery Network (CDN) (optional) – for sites that service users around the globe, the CDN is an extension to blob storage that, when enabled, will automatically cache frequently accessed blobs and static site content at edge data centers around the world. The data can be delivered statically or streamed in the case of rich media content. Training Labs These links point to online Windows Azure training labs where you can learn more about the individual ingredients described above. (Note: The entire Windows Azure Training Kit can also be downloaded for offline use.) Windows Azure (16 labs) Windows Azure is an internet-scale cloud computing and services platform hosted in Microsoft data centers, which provides an operating system and a set of developer services which can be used individually or together. It gives developers the choice to build web applications; applications running on connected devices, PCs, or servers; or hybrid solutions offering the best of both worlds. New or enhanced applications can be built using existing skills with the Visual Studio development environment and the .NET Framework. With its standards-based and interoperable approach, the services platform supports multiple internet protocols, including HTTP, REST, SOAP, and plain XML SQL Azure (7 labs) Microsoft SQL Azure delivers on the Microsoft Data Platform vision of extending the SQL Server capabilities to the cloud as web-based services, enabling you to store structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data. Windows Azure Services (9 labs) As applications collaborate across organizational boundaries, ensuring secure transactions across disparate security domains is crucial but difficult to implement. Windows Azure Services provides hosted authentication and access control using powerful, secure, standards-based infrastructure. See my Windows Azure Resource Guide for more guidance on how to get started, including links web portals, training kits, samples, and blogs related to Windows Azure.

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• Running a WebLogic Portal (WLP) 10.3.4 Domain as a Windows Service

  - by user647124

  To start a WLP server as a Windows service it is simplest to make your own script based on the provided standard script located at WL_HOME\server\bin\installSvc.cmd. The standard script works fine for a plain WLS domain, but lacks some classpath and options necessary for WLP.Start by making a copy of the installSvc.cmd script and naming it something specific to your domain.Next, just under SETLOCAL you will find where WL_HOME is defined. Here you will add the definitions you would normally add in a script that later calls installSvc.cmd (as per the standard documentation). set DOMAIN_NAME=gnma_test_domainset USERDOMAIN_HOME=D:\my_test_domainset SERVER_NAME=AdminServerset WLS_USER=weblogicset WLS_PW=gnmaAdmin01set PRODUCTION_MODE=trueset MEM_ARGS=-Xms512m –Xmx512mset MW_HOME=C:\Oracle\Middleware Note: I had heard of people using this approach who had issues with the length of the command line. This may be due to their use of the default domain path. In the example above, I use a shorter path.At this point, edit the DOMAIN_HOME\bin\startWebLogic.cmd and set it to echo both the classpath and the options. Then start the domain and capture the output of those echoes, then shut the domain back down. Now REM out the existing CLASSPATH definition, then use the outputs you captured earlier to set the CLASSPATH and JAVA_OPTIONS like this: REM set CLASSPATH=%WEBLOGIC_CLASSPATH%;%CLASSPATH%; C:\Oracle\Middleware\wlportal_10.3\portal\lib\security\wsrp-security-providers.jarset CLASSPATH=%MW_HOME%\patch_wls1034\profiles\default\sys_manifest_classpath\weblogic_patch.jar;%MW_HOME%\patch_wlp1034\profiles\default\sys_manifest_classpath\weblogic_patch.jar;%MW_HOME%\patch_oepe1111\profiles\default\sys_manifest_classpath\weblogic_patch.jar;%MW_HOME%\patch_ocm1033\profiles\default\sys_manifest_classpath\weblogic_patch.jar;%MW_HOME%\JROCKI~1.1-3\lib\tools.jar;%WL_HOME%\server\lib\weblogic_sp.jar;%WL_HOME%\server\lib\weblogic.jar;%MW_HOME%\modules\features\weblogic.server.modules_10.3.4.0.jar;%WL_HOME%\server\lib\webservices.jar;%MW_HOME%\modules\ORGAPA~1.1/lib/ant-all.jar;%MW_HOME%\modules\NETSFA~1.0_1/lib/ant-contrib.jar;%WL_HOME%\common\derby\lib\derbyclient.jar;%WL_HOME%\server\lib\xqrl.jar;%WL_HOME%\server\lib\xquery.jar;%WL_HOME%\server\lib\binxml.jarset JAVA_OPTIONS= -Xverify:none -ea -da:com.bea... -da:javelin... -da:weblogic... -ea:com.bea.wli... -ea:com.bea.broker... -ea:com.bea.sbconsole... -Dplatform.home=%WL_HOME% -Dwls.home=%WL_HOME%\server -Dweblogic.home=%WL_HOME%\server -Dweblogic.wsee.bind.suppressDeployErrorMessage=true -Dweblogic.wsee.skip.async.response=true -Dweblogic.management.discover=true -Dwlw.iterativeDev=true -Dwlw.testConsole=true -Dwlw.logErrorsToConsole=true -Dweblogic.ext.dirs=%MW_HOME%\patch_wls1034\profiles\default\sysext_manifest_classpath;%MW_HOME%\patch_wlp1034\profiles\default\sysext_manifest_classpath;%MW_HOME%\patch_oepe1111\profiles\default\sysext_manifest_classpath;%MW_HOME%\patch_ocm1033\profiles\default\sysext_manifest_classpath;%MW_HOME%\wlportal_10.3\p13n\lib\system;%MW_HOME%\wlportal_10.3\light-portal\lib\system;%MW_HOME%\wlportal_10.3\portal\lib\system;%MW_HOME%\wlportal_10.3\info-mgmt\lib\system;%MW_HOME%\wlportal_10.3\analytics\lib\system;%MW_HOME%\wlportal_10.3\apps\lib\system;%MW_HOME%\wlportal_10.3\info-mgmt\deprecated\lib\system;%MW_HOME%\wlportal_10.3\content-mgmt\lib\system -Dweblogic.alternateTypesDirectory=%MW_HOME%\wlportal_10.3\portal\lib\securityAnd that's it. Looks really simple, but it took me quite some time to gather all the necessary pieces in order to make it work. Hopefully you find this before you went through half as much research.The example here uses a domain with only the Admin server and no managed servers. For a variety of reasons I only want the Admin server to be run as a service. The standard documentation along with the example above should allow you to expand this to include managed servers should you feel the need.

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• Going by the eBook

  - by Tony Davis

  The book and magazine publishing world is rapidly going digital, and the industry is faced with making drastic changes to their ways of doing business. The sudden take-up of digital readers by the book-buying public has surprised even the most technological-savvy of the industry. Printed books just aren't selling like they did. In contrast, eBooks are doing well. The ePub file format is the standard around which all publishers are converging. ePub is a standard for formatting book content, so that it can be reflowed for various devices, with their widely differing screen-sizes, and can be read offline. If you unzip an ePub file, you'll find familiar formats such as XML, XHTML and CSS. This is both a blessing and a curse. Whilst it is good to be able to use familiar technologies that have been developed to a level of considerable sophistication, it doesn't get us all the way to producing a viable publication. XHTML is a page-description language, not a book-description language, as we soon found out during our initial experiments, when trying to specify headers, footers, indexes and chaptering. As a result, it is difficult to predict how any particular eBook application will decide to render a book. There isn't even a consensus as to how the cover image is specified. All of this is awkward for the publisher. Each book must be created and revised in a form from which can be generated a whole range of 'printed media', from print books, to Mobi for kindles, ePub for most Tablets and SmartPhones, HTML for excerpted chapters on websites, and a plethora of other formats for other eBook readers, each with its own idiosyncrasies. In theory, if we can get our content into a clean, semantic XML form, such as DOCBOOKS, we can, from there, after every revision, perform a series of relatively simple XSLT transformations to output anything from a HTML article, to an ePub file for reading on an iPad, to an ICML file (an XML-based file format supported by the InDesign tool), ready for print publication. As always, however, the task looks bigger the closer you get to the detail. On the way to the utopian world of an XML-based book format that encompasses all the diverse requirements of the different publication media, ePub looks like a reasonable format to adopt. Its forthcoming support for HTML 5 and CSS 3, with ePub 3.0, means that features, such as widow-and-orphan controls, multi-column flow and multi-media graphics can be incorporated into eBooks. This starts to make it possible to build an "app-like" experience into the eBook and to free publishers to think of putting context before container; to think of what content is required, be it graphical, textual or audio, from the point of view of the user, rather than what's possible in a given, traditional book "Container". In the meantime, there is a gap between what publishers require and what current technology can provide and, of course building this app-like experience is far from plain sailing. Real portability between devices is still a big challenge, and achieving the sort of wizardry seen in the likes of Theodore Grey's "Elements" eBook will require some serious device-specific programming skills. Cheers, Tony.

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• Azure Web Sites FTP credentials

  - by Bertrand Le Roy

  A quick tip for all you new enthusiastic users of the amazing new Azure. I struggled for a few minutes finding this, so I thought I’d share. The Azure dashboard doesn’t seem to give easy access to your FTP credentials, and they are not the login and password you use everywhere else. What Azure does give you though is a Publish Profile that you can download: This is a plain XML file that should look something like this: <publishData> <publishProfile profileName="nameofyoursite - Web Deploy" publishMethod="MSDeploy" publishUrl="waws-prod-blu-001.publish.azurewebsites.windows.net:443" msdeploySite="nameofyoursite" userName="$NameOfYourSite" userPWD="sOmeCrYPTicL00kIngStr1nG" destinationAppUrl="http://nameofyoursite.azurewebsites.net" SQLServerDBConnectionString="" mySQLDBConnectionString="" hostingProviderForumLink="" controlPanelLink="http://windows.azure.com"> <databases/> </publishProfile> <publishProfile profileName="nameofyoursite - FTP" publishMethod="FTP" publishUrl="ftp://waws-prod-blu-001.ftp.azurewebsites.windows.net/site/wwwroot" ftpPassiveMode="True" userName="nameofyoursite\$nameofyoursite" userPWD="sOmeCrYPTicL00kIngStr1nG" destinationAppUrl="http://nameofyoursite.azurewebsites.net" SQLServerDBConnectionString="" mySQLDBConnectionString="" hostingProviderForumLink="" controlPanelLink="http://windows.azure.com"> <databases/> </publishProfile> </publishData> .csharpcode, .csharpcode pre { font-size: small; color: black; font-family: consolas, "Courier New", courier, monospace; background-color: #ffffff; /*white-space: pre;*/ } .csharpcode pre { margin: 0em; } .csharpcode .rem { color: #008000; } .csharpcode .kwrd { color: #0000ff; } .csharpcode .str { color: #006080; } .csharpcode .op { color: #0000c0; } .csharpcode .preproc { color: #cc6633; } .csharpcode .asp { background-color: #ffff00; } .csharpcode .html { color: #800000; } .csharpcode .attr { color: #ff0000; } .csharpcode .alt { background-color: #f4f4f4; width: 100%; margin: 0em; } .csharpcode .lnum { color: #606060; } I’ve highlighted the FTP server name, user name and password. This is what you need to use in Filezilla or whatever you use to access your site remotely. Notice how the password looks encrypted. Well, it’s not really encrypted in fact. This is your password in clear text. It’s just crypto-random gibberish, which is the best kind of password. UPDATE: About 2 minutes after I posted that, David Ebbo mentioned to me on Twitter that if you've configured publishing credentials (for Git typically) those will work too. Don't forget to include the full user name though, which should be of the form nameofthesite\username. The password is the one you defined. That’s it. Enjoy.

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• Where Have All the Ugly Forms Gone? Users and ADF Took Care Of It

  - by ultan o'broin

  Sometimes I hear that our application demos are a bit too "cutsey" and that we never talk about with any user roles that have lots of data entry as a requirement. Some (no names) consider those old clunker forms, with the myriad rows of fields, to be super-productive for data clerks. We do have such roles covered in Oracle Fusion Applications for sure. But consider what is really the issue here: productivity. Check out how the Oracle Fusion Financials Applications User Experience team went about designing for productivity when receiving and entering invoice data, for example. See how Fusion Financials caters so well for input and control of data? Central to all this is knowing the users and how they work: what tasks do they need to perform, and when. Read more about Fusion Financials productivity in the white paper, Get It Done Fast, Get It Done Right: The Oracle Fusion Financials User Experience. Now and then, I see forms that weren't designed for end user activity at all. Instead, they were designed by developers or by the IT department around the database schema. Forms with literally dozens of fields on the same page, sometimes. Forms that give the impression there was only task involved, when there may have been several. At times, completing one of these huge forms accurately became so tedious that, under pressure, it made more sense for the user to complete it quickly as possible and then let somebody else check it for accuracy and fill in the gaps from data emailed along in spreadsheet form. Data accuracy is critical in our business. Not good. Not efficient. Not productive. So here are a few basics on forms design for data entry-type user roles. A great place for developers to start exploring what is possible with forms layout is the Rich Client User Experience (RCUX) guidance on Form Layout, using ADF components. User-Centered Forms Design Considerations The starting point--something you must always keep in mind with your own design--is design for the end user. Find a representative end user, and keep that user engaged throughout the design, deployment, and test process. Consider these points in user testing those forms: Are there automated or technical solutions to entering the data that avoid manual input in the first place? For example, imports, uploads, OCR, whatever. Some day we will be able to tell Siri to do it, but leave that for now. Design your form to reflect the task involved (i.e., the business process) and not the database schema. On the form, group like fields together, logically. Eliminate duplicate data entry or prepopulate from previous data entry. Allow users to complete fields in the order they wish (i.e., no interdependency). Allow for tabbing between fields (keyboard is faster than mouse), so know how the browser supports this (see that RCUX guideline). Allow for final validation at the page level not at field-level entry. Way better for heads-down users. For example, ADF messages allow you to see a list of all validation errors on a page on a final submit or navigation action and to easily navigate to the point of error. Better still, be error tolerant. Allow users to enter data in formats they comfortable with. Bind any relevant user preference setting to the input format allowed (for example, the locale date format). Explore what data entry conversion can do for you automatically too (see the ADF converter demos, convenience patterns can also be written). Only ask for data input when it's needed. Get rid of, or hide optional fields. Cut down on the number of mandatory fields, and mark them clearly (use a *). Clearly label the fields in plain language. I am sure you may have a few more tips on forms design for data entry users. Remember the user before finding the comments.

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• Construction Paper, Legos, and Architectural Modeling

  I can remember as a kid playing with construction paper and Legos to explore my imagination. Through my exploration I was able to build airplanes, footballs, guns, and more, out of paper. Additionally I could create entire cities, robots, or anything else I could image out of Legos.  These toys, I now realize were in fact tools that gave me an opportunity to explore my ideas in the physical world through the use of modeling.  My imagination was allowed to run wild as I, unknowingly at the time, made design decisions that directly affected the models I was building from the raw materials.  To prove my point further, I can remember building a paper airplane that seemed to go nowhere when I tried to throw it. So I decided to attach a paper clip to the plane before I decided to throw it the next time to test my concept that by adding more weight to the plane that it would fly better and for longer distances. The paper airplane allowed me to model my design decision through the use of creating an artifact in that I created a paper airplane that was carrying extra weight through the incorporation of the paper clip in to the design. Also, I remember using Legos to build all sorts of creations, and these creations became artifacts of my imagination. As I further and further defined my Lego creations through the process of playing I was able to create elaborate artifacts of my imagination. These artifacts represented design decision I had made in the evolution of my creation through my child like design process. In some form or fashion the artifacts I created as a kid are very similar to the artifacts that I create when I model a software architectural concept or a software design in that the process of making decisions is directly translated in to a tangible model in the form of an architectural model. Architectural models have been defined as artifacts that depict design decisions of a system’s architecture.  The act of creating architectural models is the act of architectural modeling. Furthermore, architectural modeling is the process of creating a physical model based architectural concepts and documenting these design decisions. In the process of creating models, the standard notation used is Architectural modeling notation. This notation is the primary method of capturing the essence of design decisions regarding architecture.  Modeling notations can vary based on the need and intent of a project; typically they range from natural language to a diagram based notation. Currently, Unified Markup Language (UML) is the industry standard in terms of architectural modeling notation  because allows for architectures to be defined through a series of boxes, lines, arrows and other basic symbols that encapsulate design designs in to virtual components, connectors, configurations and interfaces.  Furthermore UML allows for additional break down of models through the use of natural language as to explain each section of the model in plain English. One of the major factors in architectural modeling is to define what is to be modeled. As a basic rule of thumb, I tend to model architecture based on the complexity of systems or sub sub-systems of architecture. Another key factor is the level of detail that is actually needed for a model. For example if I am modeling a system for a CEO to view then the low level details will be omitted. In comparison, if I was modeling a system for another engineer to actually implement I would include as much detailed information as I could to help the engineer implement my design.

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• Viewport / Camera Calculation in 2D Game

  - by Dave

  we have a 2D game with some sprites and tiles and some kind of camera/viewport, that "moves" around the scene. so far so good, if we wouldn't had some special behaviour for your camera/viewport translation. normally you could stick the camera to your player figure and center it, resulting in a very cheap, undergraduate, translation equation, like : vec_translation -/+= speed (depending in what keys are pressed. WASD as default.) buuuuuuuuuut, we want our player figure be able to actually reach the bounds, when the viewport/camera has reached a maximum translation. we came up with the following solution (only keys a and d are the shown here, the rest is just adaption of calculation or maybe YOUR super-cool and elegant solution :) ): if(keys[A]) { playerX -= speed; if(playerScreenX <= width / 2 && tx < 0) { playerScreenX = width / 2; tx += speed; } else if(playerScreenX <= width / 2 && (tx) >= 0) { playerScreenX -= speed; tx = 0; if(playerScreenX < 0) playerScreenX = 0; } else if(playerScreenX >= width / 2 && (tx) < 0) { playerScreenX -= speed; } } if(keys[D]) { playerX += speed; if(playerScreenX >= width / 2 && (-tx + width) < sceneWidth) { playerScreenX = width / 2; tx -= speed; } if(playerScreenX >= width / 2 && (-tx + width) >= sceneWidth) { playerScreenX += speed; tx = -(sceneWidth - width); if(playerScreenX >= width - player.width) playerScreenX = width - player.width; } if(playerScreenX <= width / 2 && (-tx + width) < sceneWidth) { playerScreenX += speed; } } i think the code is rather self explaining: keys is a flag container for currently active keys, playerX/-Y is the position of the player according to world origin, tx/ty are the translation components vital to background / npc / item offset calculation, playerOnScreenX/-Y is the actual position of the player figure (sprite) on screen and width/height are the dimensions of the camera/viewport. this all looks quite nice and works well, but there is a very small and nasty calculation error, which in turn sums up to some visible effect. let's consider following piece of code: if(playerScreenX <= width / 2 && tx < 0) { playerScreenX = width / 2; tx += speed; } it can be translated into plain english as : if the x position of your player figure on screen is less or equal the half of your display / camera / viewport size AND there is enough space left LEFT of your viewport/camera then set players x position on screen to width half, increase translation (because we subtract the translation from something we want to move). easy, right?! doing this will create a small delta between playerX and playerScreenX. after so much talking, my question appears now here at the bottom of this document: how do I stick the calculation of my player-on-screen to the actual position of the player AND having a viewport that is not always centered aroung the players figure? here is a small test-case in processing: http://pastebin.com/bFaTauaa thank you for reading until now and thank you in advance for probably answering my question.

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• Profiling Startup Of VS2012 &ndash; dotTrace Profiler

  - by Alois Kraus

  Jetbrains which is famous for the Resharper tool has also a profiler in its portfolio. I downloaded dotTrace 5.2 Professional (569€+VAT) to check how far I can profile the startup of VS2012. The most interesting startup option is “.NET Process”. With that you can profile the next started .NET process which is very useful if you want to profile an application which is not started by you.     I did select Tracing as and Wall time to get similar options across all profilers. For some reason the attach option did not work with .NET 4.5 on my home machine. But I am sure that it did work with .NET 4.0 some time ago. Since we are profiling devenv.exe we can also select “Standalone Application” and start it from the profiler. The startup time of VS does increase about a factor 3 but that is ok. You get mainly three windows to work with. The first one shows the threads where you can drill down thread wise where most time is spent. I The next window is the call tree which does merge all threads together in a similar view. The last and most useful view in my opinion is the Plain List window which is nearly the same as the Method Grid in Ants Profiler. But this time we do get when I enable the Show system functions checkbox not a 150 but 19407 methods to choose from! I really tried with Ants Profiler to find something about out how VS does work but look how much we were missing! When I double click on a method I do get in the lower pane the called methods and their respective timings. This is something really useful and I can nicely drill down to the most important stuff. The measured time seems to be Wall Clock time which is a good thing to see where my time is really spent. You can also use Sampling as profiling method but this does give you much less information. Except for getting a first idea where to look first this profiling mode is not very useful to understand how you system does interact.   The options have a good list of presets to hide by default many method and gray them out to concentrate on your code. It does not filter anything out if you enable Show system functions. By default methods from these assemblies are hidden or if the checkbox is checked grayed out. All in all JetBrains has made a nice profiler which does show great detail and it has nice drill down capabilities. The only thing is that I do not trust its measured timings. I did fall several times into the trap with this one to optimize at places which were already fast but the profiler did show high times in these methods. After measuring with Tracing I was certain that the measured times were greatly exaggerated. Especially when IO is involved it seems to have a hard time to subtract its own overhead. What I did miss most was the possibility to profile not only the next started process but to be able to select a process by name and perhaps a count to profile the next n processes of this name. Next: YourKit

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• SharePoint Content and Site Editing Tips

  - by Bil Simser

  A few content management and site editing tips for power users on this bacon flavoured unicorn morning. The theme here is keep it clean!Write "friendly" email addressesRemember it's human beings reading your content. So seeing something like "If you have questions please send an email to [email protected]" breaks up the readiblity. Instead just do the simple steps of writing the content in plain English and going back, highlighting the name and insert a link (note: you might have to prefix the link with mailto:[email protected]). It makes for a friendlier looking page and hides the ugliness that are sometimes in email addresses.Use friendly column and list namesThis is a big pet peeve of mine. When you first create a column or list with spaces the internal name is changed. The display name might be "My Amazing List of Animals with Large Testicles" but the internal (and link) name becomes "My_x00x20_Amazing_x00x20_List_x00x20_of_x00x20_Animals_x00x20_with_x00x20_Large_x00x20_Testicles". What's worse is if you create a publishing page named "This Website is Fueled By a Dolphin's Spleen". Not only is it incorrect grammar, but the apostrophe wreaks havoc on both the internal name for the list (with lots of crazy hex codes) as well as the hyperlink (where everything is uuencoded). Instead create the list with a distinct and compact name then go back and change it to whatever you want. The end result is a better formed name that you can both script and access in code easier.Keep your Views CleanWhen you add a column to a list or create a new list the default is to add it to the default view. Do everyone a favour and don't check this box! The default view of a list should be something similar to the Title field and nothing else. Keep it clean. If you want to set a defalt view that's different, go back and create one with all the fields and filtering and sorting columns you want and set it as default. It's a good idea to keep the original AllItems.aspx (note the lack of space in the filename!) easy and unfiltered. It's also a good idea to keep your column count down in views. Don't let every column be added by default and don't add every column just because you can. Create separate views for distinct responsibilities and try to keep the number of columns down to a single screen to prevent horizontal scrolling.Simple NavigationThe Quick Launch is a great tool for navigating around your site but don't use the default of adding all lists to it. Uncheck that box and keep navigation simple. Create custom groupings that make sense so if you don't have a site with "Documents and Lists" but "Reports and Notices" makes more sense then do it. Also hide internal lists from the Quick Launch. For example, if most users don't need to see all the lookup tables you might have on a site don't show them. You can use audience filtering on the Quick Launch if you want to hide admin items from non-admin users so consider that as an option.Enjoy!

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• Profiling Startup Of VS2012 &ndash; JustTrace Profiler

  - by Alois Kraus

  JustTrace is made by Telerik which is mainly known for its collection of UI controls. The current version (2012.3.1127.0) does include a performance and memory profiler which does cost 614€ and is currently with a special offer for 306€ on sale. It does include one year of free upgrades. The uneven € numbers are calculated from the 799€ and 50% dicsount price. The UI is already in Metro style and simple to use. Multi process, attach, method recording filter are not supported. It looks like JustTrace is like Ants a Just My Code profiler. For stuff where you do not have the pdbs or you want to dig deeper into the BCL code you will not get far. After getting the profile data you get in the All Methods grid a plain list with hit count and own time. The method list for all methods is also suspiciously short which is a clear sign that you will not get far during the analysis of foreign code. But at least there is also a memory profiler included. For this I have to choose in the first window for Profiling Type “Memory Profiler” to check the memory consumption of VS.  There are some interesting number to see but I do really miss from YourKit the thread stack window. How am I supposed to get a clue when much memory is allocated and the CPU consumption is high in which places I should look? The Snapshot summary gives a rough overview which is ok for a first impression. Next is Assemblies? This gives you a list of all loaded assemblies. Not terribly useful.   The By Type view gives you exactly what it is supposed to do. You have to keep in mind that this list is filtered by the types you did check in the Assemblies list. The By Type instance list does only show types from assemblies which do not originate from Microsoft. By default mscorlib and System are not checked. That is the reason why for the first time my By Type window looked like The idea behind this feature is to show only your instances because you are ultimately responsible for the overall memory consumption. I am not sure if I do like this feature because by default it does hide too much. I do want to see at least how many strings and arrays are allocated. A simple namespace filter would also do it in my opinion. Now you can examine all string instances and look who in the object graph does keep a reference on them. That is nice but YourKit has the big plus that you can also look into the string contents.  I am also not sure how in the graph cycles are visualized and what will happen if you have thousands of objects referencing you. That's pretty much it about JustTrace. It can help the average developer to pinpoint performance and memory issues by just looking at his own code and instances. Showing them more will not help them because the sheer amount of information will overwhelm them. And you need to have a pretty good understanding how the GC and the CLR does work. When you have a performance issue at a customer machine it is sometimes very helpful to be able a bring a profiler onto the machine (no pdbs, …) and to get a full snapshot of all processes which are in the problematic use case involved. For these more advanced use cased JustTrace is certainly the wrong tool. Next: SpeedTrace

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• Too complex/too many objects?

  - by Mike Fairhurst

  I know that this will be a difficult question to answer without context, but hopefully there are at least some good guidelines to share on this. The questions are at the bottom if you want to skip the details. Most are about OOP in general. Begin context. I am a jr dev on a PHP application, and in general the devs I work with consider themselves to use many more OO concepts than most PHP devs. Still, in my research on clean code I have read about so many ways of using OO features to make code flexible, powerful, expressive, testable, etc. that is just plain not in use here. The current strongly OO API that I've proposed is being called too complex, even though it is trivial to implement. The problem I'm solving is that our permission checks are done via a message object (my API, they wanted to use arrays of constants) and the message object does not hold the validation object accountable for checking all provided data. Metaphorically, if your perm containing 'allowable' and 'rare but disallowed' is sent into a validator, the validator may not know to look for 'rare but disallowed', but approve 'allowable', which will actually approve the whole perm check. We have like 11 validators, too many to easily track at such minute detail. So I proposed an AtomicPermission class. To fix the previous example, the perm would instead contain two atomic permissions, one wrapping 'allowable' and the other wrapping 'rare but disallowed'. Where previously the validator would say 'the check is OK because it contains allowable,' now it would instead say '"allowable" is ok', at which point the check ends...and the check fails, because 'rare but disallowed' was not specifically okay-ed. The implementation is just 4 trivial objects, and rewriting a 10 line function into a 15 line function. abstract class PermissionAtom { public function allow(); // maybe deny() as well public function wasAllowed(); } class PermissionField extends PermissionAtom { public function getName(); public function getValue(); } class PermissionIdentifier extends PermissionAtom { public function getIdentifier(); } class PermissionAction extends PermissionAtom { public function getType(); } They say that this is 'not going to get us anything important' and it is 'too complex' and 'will be difficult for new developers to pick up.' I respectfully disagree, and there I end my context to begin the broader questions. So the question is about my OOP, are there any guidelines I should know: is this too complicated/too much OOP? Not that I expect to get more than 'it depends, I'd have to see if...' when is OO abstraction too much? when is OO abstraction too little? how can I determine when I am overthinking a problem vs fixing one? how can I determine when I am adding bad code to a bad project? how can I pitch these APIs? I feel the other devs would just rather say 'its too complicated' than ask 'can you explain it?' whenever I suggest a new class.

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• ASP.NET MVC returning ContentResult using Ajax form - how to preserve whitespace?

  - by Ben

  In my application users can enter commands that are executed on the server. The results are added to a session object. I then stuff the session object into ViewData and add it to a textarea. When done with a standard HTML form whitespace is preserved. However, when I swap this out for an ajax form (Ajax.BeginForm) and return the result as ContentResult, the whitespace is removed. Controller Action: [HttpPost] public ActionResult Execute(string submitButton, string command) { if (submitButton == "Clear") { this.CurrentConsole = string.Empty; } if (submitButton == "Execute" && !string.IsNullOrEmpty(command)) { var script = new PSScript() { Name = "Ad hoc script", CommandText = command }; this.CurrentConsole += _scriptService.ExecuteScript(script); } if (Request.IsAjaxRequest()) { return Content(this.CurrentConsole, "text/plain"); } return RedirectToAction("Index"); } View: <fieldset> <legend>Shell</legend> <%=Html.TextArea("console", ViewData["console"].ToString(), new {@class = "console", @readonly = "readonly"})%> <% using (Ajax.BeginForm("Execute", new AjaxOptions { UpdateTargetId = "console", OnBegin = "console_begin", OnComplete = "console_complete"})) { %> <input type="text" id="command" name="command" class="commandtext" /> <input type="submit" value="Execute" class="runbutton" name="submitButton" /> <input type="submit" value="Clear" class="runbutton" name="submitButton" /> <%} %> </fieldset> How can I ensure that whitespace is preserved? When I inspect the response in FireBug it looks like the whitespace is transmitted, so can only assume it has something to do with the way in which the javascript handles the response data.

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• JavaMail: Could not connect to SMPT server.

  - by javacode

  Hi The following code causes an error. Please help me understand what's wrong. import javax.mail.*; import javax.mail.internet.*; import java.util.*; public class SendMail { public static void main(String [] args)throws MessagingException { SendMail sm=new SendMail(); sm.postMail(new String[]{"[email protected]"},"hi","hello","[email protected]"); } public void postMail( String recipients[ ], String subject, String message , String from) throws MessagingException { boolean debug = false; //Set the host smtp address Properties props = new Properties(); props.put("mail.smtp.host", "webmail.emailmyname.com"); // create some properties and get the default Session Session session = Session.getDefaultInstance(props, null); session.setDebug(debug); // create a message Message msg = new MimeMessage(session); // set the from and to address InternetAddress addressFrom = new InternetAddress(from); msg.setFrom(addressFrom); InternetAddress[] addressTo = new InternetAddress[recipients.length]; for (int i = 0; i < recipients.length; i++) { addressTo[i] = new InternetAddress(recipients[i]); } msg.setRecipients(Message.RecipientType.TO, addressTo); // Optional : You can also set your custom headers in the Email if you Want msg.addHeader("MyHeaderName", "myHeaderValue"); // Setting the Subject and Content Type msg.setSubject(subject); msg.setContent(message, "text/plain"); Transport.send(msg); } } Exception: Exception in thread "main" javax.mail.MessagingException: Could not connect to SMTP host: webmail.emailmyname.com, port: 25, response: 421 at com.sun.mail.smtp.SMTPTransport.openServer(SMTPTransport.java:1694) at com.sun.mail.smtp.SMTPTransport.protocolConnect(SMTPTransport.java:525) at javax.mail.Service.connect(Service.java:291) at javax.mail.Service.connect(Service.java:172) at javax.mail.Service.connect(Service.java:121) at javax.mail.Transport.send0(Transport.java:190) at javax.mail.Transport.send(Transport.java:120) at SendMail.postMail(SendMail.java:45) at SendMail.main(SendMail.java:9)

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• Xdebug configuration with PHP fastcgi and eclipse?

  - by mac

  I have been using eclipse-pdt in conjunction with xdebug and apache without problems, for over one year. Things worked flawlessly and I could do all the interactive debugging I wanted from within eclipse (using my own machine as a server). Now I switched from apache to nginx (and therefore PHP runs now not as an Apache service but as fast-cgi) and I can't find a way to configure eclipse to work nicely with xdebug. I am neither sure if the problem is with xdebug or with eclipse (or both) to be sure. In the eclipse configuration I already changed the reference to the PHP configuration file to /etc/php5/cli/php.ini. Attempts with php.ini version 1 With the following php.ini file zend_extension=/usr/lib/php5/20060613/xdebug.so I see that xdebug is working (for example if I do a var_dump() I get the xdebug version of it, not the plain PHP one) I can't have the interactive debugging from eclipse: the browser opens up and loads the page completely with the typical URL containing ...?XDEBUG_SESSION_START=ECLIPSE_DBGP&KEY=..., but the program execution does not stop at breakpoints In the bottom-right corner of eclipse I see a suspicious message: *"Launching =put_the_name_of_my_project_here=: 57%"* that alternates with the "refreshing workspace" one. Attempts with php.ini version 2 If I use this other version of the file (which is what it worked until I switched to nginx): zend_extension=/usr/lib/php5/20060613/xdebug.so xdebug.remote_enable=On xdebug.remote_autostart=On xdebug.remote_handler=dbgp xdebug.remote_host=localhost xdebug.remote_port=9000 xdebug.remote_mode=req I can't access any page of my sites at all. Any help or suggestion appreciated, thank you in advance for your time! PS: Additional data on my machine: - OS: GNU/Linux - Ubuntu 9.10 64 bit. - PHP: 5.2.10-2ubuntu6.3 with Suhosin-Patch 0.9.7; Zend Engine v2.2.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2009 Zend Technologies with Xdebug v2.0.4 - Eclipse: see screenshot.

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• Sending formatted Lotus Notes rich text email from Excel VBA

  - by Lunatik

  I have little Lotus Script or Notes/Domino knowledge but I have a procedure, copied from somewhere a long time ago, that allows me to email through Notes from VBA. I normally only use this for internal notifications where the formatting hasn't really mattered. I now want to use this to send external emails to a client, and corporate types would rather the email complied with our style guide (a sans-serif typeface basically). I was about to tell them that the code only works with plain text, but then I noticed that the routine does reference some sort of CREATERICHTEXTITEM object. Does this mean I could apply some sort of formatting to the body text string after it has been passed to the mail routine? As well as upholding our precious brand values, this would be quite handy to me for highlighting certain passages in the email. I've had a dig about the 'net to see if this code could be adapted, but being unfamiliar with Notes' object model, and the fact that online Notes resources seem to mirror the application's own obtuseness, meant I didn't get very far. The code: Sub sendEmail(EmailSubject As String, EMailSendTo As String, EMailBody As String, MailServer as String) Dim objNotesSession As Object Dim objNotesMailFile As Object Dim objNotesDocument As Object Dim objNotesField As Object Dim sendmail As Boolean 'added for integration into reporting tool Dim dbString As String dbString = "mail\" & Application.UserName & ".nsf" On Error GoTo SendMailError 'Establish Connection to Notes Set objNotesSession = CreateObject("Notes.NotesSession") On Error Resume Next 'Establish Connection to Mail File Set objNotesMailFile = objNotesSession.GETDATABASE(MailServer, dbString) 'Open Mail objNotesMailFile.OPENMAIL On Error GoTo 0 'Create New Memo Set objNotesDocument = objNotesMailFile.createdocument Dim oWorkSpace As Object, oUIdoc As Object Set oWorkSpace = CreateObject("Notes.NotesUIWorkspace") Set oUIdoc = oWorkSpace.CurrentDocument 'Create 'Subject Field' Set objNotesField = objNotesDocument.APPENDITEMVALUE("Subject", EmailSubject) 'Create 'Send To' Field Set objNotesField = objNotesDocument.APPENDITEMVALUE("SendTo", EMailSendTo) 'Create 'Copy To' Field Set objNotesField = objNotesDocument.APPENDITEMVALUE("CopyTo", EMailCCTo) 'Create 'Blind Copy To' Field Set objNotesField = objNotesDocument.APPENDITEMVALUE("BlindCopyTo", EMailBCCTo) 'Create 'Body' of memo Set objNotesField = objNotesDocument.CREATERICHTEXTITEM("Body") With objNotesField .APPENDTEXT emailBody .ADDNEWLINE 1 End With 'Send the e-mail Call objNotesDocument.Save(True, False, False) objNotesDocument.SaveMessageOnSend = True 'objNotesDocument.Save objNotesDocument.Send (0) 'Release storage Set objNotesSession = Nothing Set objNotesMailFile = Nothing Set objNotesDocument = Nothing Set objNotesField = Nothing 'Set return code sendmail = True Exit Sub SendMailError: Dim Msg Msg = "Error # " & Str(Err.Number) & " was generated by " _ & Err.Source & Chr(13) & Err.Description MsgBox Msg, , "Error", Err.HelpFile, Err.HelpContext sendmail = False End Sub

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• Opening email attachments in Android

  - by zehrer

  I try to open a specific email attachment type with my activity, the attachment itself is a plain text windows style ini file with the extension *.os. In the email this file is attached as "application/octet-stream". I tried the following intent-filter to catch the attachment with my activity: <intent-filter> <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW"/> <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT"/> <category android:name="android.intent.category.BROWSABLE"/> <data android:scheme="http" android:host="*" android:pathPattern=".*\\.os"/> <data android:scheme="https" android:host="*" android:pathPattern=".*\\.os"/> <data android:scheme="content" android:host="*" android:pathPattern=".*\\.os"/> <data android:scheme="file" android:host="*" android:pathPattern=".*\\.os"/> </intent-filter> The Email app is fetching the attachment but is then telling me "The attachment cannot be displayed". What can I do? How can I debug this?

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• asp.net ajax control toolkit combobox displays incorectly when in fieldset with style of position:re

  - by Jon P

  I currently have an Instance of the ASP.net ajax control toolkit combo box residing in a field set with a style of position:releative applied. The control also sits in a very plain table (please no comments about using tables for lay-out, I know it is evil and try to avoid it). There are two problems with the display of the list: The list does not sit flush with the text box. In I.E. 7 (which is the majority of my target audience, intranet where IE7 is the company standard) the list display about 10px below the fieldset, which is what the bottom margin of the fieldset is set to. In FF 2.0 the list sits sinificantly lower and off-set to the right. Below the filed set there is more content in a div, also with a style of position:relative applied. The list from the combo box displays behind the content of this div, which is obviouly an issue. Removing position:releative from the fieldset resolves the display issue of the combo box, but results in other unwanted display side effects. My interim workaround is to specifically restyle this fieldset without the position:absolute style, but I'm hoping for a better solution. Thanks

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