Posted by jpluimers on 2009/09/21
Since bandwitdth for a lot of users can still be an issue*, it pays off to make your web-pages as light-weight as possible.
When using JavaScript and/or CSS in your sites, you can compress them to save bandwidth.
A good compressor for this is the YUI Compressor, which can compress both JavaScript and CSS.
* Bandwidth can be an issue for instance for people having only GPRS, EDGE or UMTS/3G access, or countries where DSL and cable are not abundant.
Posted in CSS, Development, Software Development, Web Development | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2009/09/18
Some things to check when clipboard sharing for Remote Desktop (RDP/MSTSC) or VMware is broken. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Fusion, Power User, Remote Desktop Protocol/MSTSC/Terminal Services, View, VMware, VMware Workstation, Windows, Windows 7, Windows Server 2000, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Vista, Windows XP | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2009/09/18
Somehow, CodeCentral managed to not only delete my uploaded CodeRage 4 session materials (the videos are fine!), but also newer uploads with other submissions.
Since I’m in crush mode to get the BASTA! and DelphiLive 2009 Germany sessions done, and all Embarcadero sites having to do with their membership server perform like a dead horse, I have temporary moved the downloads, and corrected my earlier post on the downloads.
I have notified Embarcadero of the problems, so I’m pretty sure they are being addressed on their side as well.
Edit 20090919: Embarcadero indicated that between 20090913 and 20090914 there has been a database restore on CodeCentral. Some entries therefore have been permanently lost.
When I get back from the conferences, and CodeCentral is more responsive, I’ll retry uploading it there, and correct the posts.
In the mean time, be sure not to save shortcuts to the current locations, as they are bound to change.
The are the new download locations can all be found in my xs4all temporary CodeRage 4 2009 download folder.
This is the full list of my CodeRage 4 sessions and places where you can download everything: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in .NET, ASCII, CodeRage, CommandLine, Conferences, CP437/OEM 437/PC-8, Database Development, Debugging, Delphi, Development, Encoding, Event, Firebird, InterBase, ISO-8859, ISO8859, Prism, Software Development, SQL Server, Unicode, UTF-8, UTF8, Windows-1252 | 1 Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2009/09/16
SQL Server triggers can operate on multiple records at once.
So it is important to not only to make your triggers work properly, but also make them work performantly.
Given a table like the Users table below, which in the future is likely to be extended with fields like Initials, MaidenName, Suffix, Prefix, etc.
The client has choosen not to make the FullName calculated, but update it using a trigger.
CREATE TABLE [dbo].[Users]( [UserId] [int] IDENTITY(1,1) NOT NULL, [FullName] [nvarchar](100) NULL, [FirstName] [nvarchar](50) NULL, [LastName] [nvarchar](100) NULL ) ON [PRIMARY]
A trigger that updates the FullName field is only needed for Insert and Update statements.
It needs to update the FullName for all the records in that statement, but not for any other records.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Database Development, Development, SQL Server | 2 Comments »
Posted by jpluimers on 2009/09/14
http://it-republik.de/dotnet/basta/The class presented in this article is part of my “.NET Gems – Small Pieces of Code that make your Day” session that will be presented at the BASTA! conference next week in Mainz, Germany.
It is going to be a fun conference, with lots of (internationally) renowned speakers (like Oliver Sturm, Ingo Rammer, Stephen Forte, Neil Ford and Dino Esposito).
Well worth attending!
OK. Let’s show the gems, and assume you are writing a method that is not allowed to let exceptions leave it’s implementation.
This is a common case, for instance you develop COM Servers, Windows Services and to a lesser extent Web Services.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in .NET, BASTA!, C#, C# 2.0, Development, Event, Software Development, Visual Studio and tools | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2009/09/13
Embarcadero has made available the replays of the CodeRage 4 sessions.
You can find them in the CodeRage 4 sessions overview.
In order to download them from that overview, NOTE: To access this session replay, you must be logged into EDN. you can login or sign-up (which is free).
To make it easier to find all the relevant downloads, below is an overview of my sessions and their links.
Let me know what you use it for, I’m always interested!
Update 20090918: changed the download locations because CodeCentral messed up.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in .NET, ASCII, C#, C# 2.0, CodeRage, CommandLine, Conferences, CP437/OEM 437/PC-8, Database Development, Debugging, Delphi, Development, Encoding, Event, Firebird, InterBase, ISO-8859, ISO8859, Java, Prism, Software Development, Unicode, UTF-8, UTF8, Visual Studio and tools, XML, XML/XSD, XSD | 4 Comments »
Posted by jpluimers on 2009/09/11
Not only can you watch the video and download the CodeRage 4 session on materials on Using Unicode and Other Encodings in your Programs, but below you can also find the chat transcripts below.
(9/11/2009 9:09:19 AM) The topic is: Session Room 2 – “Using Unicode and Other Encodings in your Programs” by Jeroen Pluimers
(5:52:14 PM) Christine_Ellis has set the topic to: Session Room 2 – “Using Unicode and Other Encodings in your Programs” by Jeroen Pluimers
(9/11/2009 9:12:47 AM) Jeroen_Pluimers: I got a bunch of 406 error messages in the jibber chat client, so I was afraid it lost the connection :-)
(9/11/2009 9:15:45 AM) Jim_Ferguson: Jeroen, Have you been getting a bunch of internal errors when you get fancy with generics?
(9/11/2009 9:15:53 AM) Borland: BTW, DavidI, excellent internet radio choice of KPIG. Very good Blues.
(9/11/2009 9:36:43 AM) Mandy_Walker: http://etncaweb04.embarcadero.com/resources/technical_papers/Delphi-and-Unicode_Marco-Cantu.pdf
(9/11/2009 9:39:14 AM) Jim_Ferguson: Strings are getting fatter on the back end.
(9/11/2009 9:40:39 AM) Mandy_Walker: Sorry, for incorrect link from slide. Better http://etnaweb04.embarcadero.com/resources/technical_papers/
(9/11/2009 9:49:20 AM) Jim_Ferguson: TBYtes and pChar arent equivalt. TBytes is a dynamic array. Shouln’t be pByte instead of TBytes?
(9/11/2009 9:53:05 AM) Jim_Ferguson: Sounds like Intel needs to build Unicode into the processor. There is a lot of out board thinking when it comes to characters now.
(9/11/2009 9:57:19 AM) Mandy_Walker: http://it-republik.de/konferenzen/delphi_live/material/DelpiLive09_Cantu_Unicode.pdf
(9/11/2009 9:58:26 AM) Borland: Thanks Joroen, this was packed with great information sources.
(9/11/2009 9:59:09 AM) Jeroen_Pluimers: http://en.wordpress.com/tag/coderage/
(9/11/2009 9:59:17 AM) Jeroen_Pluimers: https://wiert.wordpress.com/2009/09/09/coderage-4-session-materials-available-for-download/
(9/11/2009 9:59:24 AM) Mandy_Walker: Thx, Jeroen
(9/11/2009 10:00:47 AM) Erwin_Mouthaan: Bedankt Jeroen. Leuke presentatie!
(9/11/2009 10:01:04 AM) jthurman: Jeroen is a marching band guy?
(9/11/2009 10:01:05 AM) M_L: Thanks!
(9/11/2009 10:01:21 AM) Jeroen_Pluimers: http://www.wmc.nl
(9/11/2009 10:01:22 AM) Giel: Bedankt Jeroen!
(9/11/2009 10:01:32 AM) Robert_D_Smith: I played snare and bass drum, Jeroen
(9/11/2009 10:01:40 AM) jthurman: Jeroen: I teach high school marching band in the USA. We should talk sometime.
(9/11/2009 10:02:05 AM) Jeroen_Pluimers: write me an email: jeroen@pluimers.com
(9/11/2009 10:02:09 AM) jthurman: Will do
(9/11/2009 10:02:45 AM) Robert_Evans: Thanks Jeroen. Great stuff!
(9/11/2009 10:03:11 AM) Jeroen_Pluimers: you are welcome; let me know when you have questions or run into things that I might be able to help with
(9/11/2009 10:04:48 AM) Jeroen_Pluimers: talking about migration projects: we have done quite a few for clients; so if you need help with that as well, drop me an email
(9/11/2009 10:05:46 AM) Christine_Ellis has set the topic to: Session Room 2 – “New Features in the RAD Studio IDE” by Mark Duncan & Darren Kosinski
–jeroen
Posted in .NET, C#, CommandLine, Delphi, Development, Encoding, ISO-8859, ISO8859, Prism, Software Development, Unicode, UTF-8, UTF8, XML, XML/XSD, XSD | 1 Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2009/09/11
Not only can you download CodeRage 4 session on materials on Reliable Communication between Applications with Delphi and ActiveMQ, but below you can also find the chat transcripts below.
(9/11/2009 8:13:51 AM) The topic is: Session Room 2 – “Reliable Communication between Applications with Delphi and ActiveMQ” by Jeroen Pluimers
(5:38:29 PM) Christine_Ellis [christinellis@chat.codegear.com/jwchat] entered the room.
(5:38:37 PM) Christine_Ellis left the room.
(5:38:46 PM) Robert_Evans [resevans@chat.codegear.com/jwchat] entered the room.
(5:46:29 PM) davidi: johnhofland asked: Do you have any expirience when the queue system (server) fails? We have an application where speed is less relevant then then the message has to be delivered. Are messages saved when bringing up again?. Answer: The Messaging system keeps it in the queue. when the recipient or server come up – the message gets delivered. That’s tbe beuty of the architecture.
(5:47:34 PM) Jeroen_Pluimers: https://wiert.wordpress.com/2009/09/09/coderage-4-session-materials-available-for-download/
(5:48:47 PM) Jeroen_Pluimers: http://en.wordpress.com/tag/coderage/
(5:52:14 PM) The topic is: Session Room 2 – “Using Unicode and Other Encodings in your Programs” by Jeroen Pluimers
(9/11/2009 8:13:51 AM) Christine_Ellis has set the topic to: Session Room 2 – “Reliable Communication between Applications with Delphi and ActiveMQ” by Jeroen Pluimers
(9/11/2009 8:24:45 AM) Jeroen_Pluimers: hi everyone; jibber lost the connection, just like the web interface over the last couple of days.
(9/11/2009 8:25:11 AM) Jeroen_Pluimers: hopefully it stays alive for the next two sessions though.
(9/11/2009 8:25:49 AM) Nicole_Boivin: Sorry David. Wrong room. The comment was meant for Room 1. I am currently multi-tasking to the extreme: phone call, both sessions and an app for my phone info. In general I am impatient person. I insist that the apps I build launch under 2 seconds and I start to hammer them that fast. The clients are usually impressed.
(9/11/2009 8:28:20 AM) davidi: yes – don’t auto-create forms and load them dynamically. Delphi client apps can come up fast :)
(5:15:34 PM) b_fisher left the room.
(5:15:51 PM) Jeroen_Pluimers: If you have questions; please queue them up so I can start looking at them.
(5:15:58 PM) b_fisher [rcf2@chat.codegear.com/jwchat] entered the room.
(5:16:41 PM) Nicole_Boivin: So right David. Also proper management of resources, using in-memory databases such as TClientDataSet, fast components such as TVirtualTreeview, so on. Anyway at this point I am not only commenting in the wrong room but well beyond the time window for Michael Swindell’s presentation. I look forward to the downloads as my day job keeps interfering with my session attention. Cheers
(5:22:54 PM) Thomas_Grubb: Jeroen, I missed the very beginning. You are using the ActiveMQ to build one big distributed application or one application for a system of applications
(5:22:58 PM) Thomas_Grubb: ?
(5:24:19 PM) Jeroen_Pluimers: We use ActiveMQ to be able to switch the middleware from a Delphi+Firebase one (running on Windows) to a Java + Firebird one (running on Windows) or Java + DB/2 one (running on AS/400)
(5:25:13 PM) Jeroen_Pluimers: the really cool thing is that clients do not need to know anything about the servers (or maybe I should say ‘senders’ to clients and ‘receivers’ to servers)
(5:25:39 PM) Jeroen_Pluimers: so you can switch on the fly, or even (if you keep everything stateless) have a server farm or fall back scenario
(5:27:37 PM) Thomas_Grubb: Was there ever a concern with your project about being tied to one middleware? For many years, I worked for NASA’s GMSEC (now open source), which is a multi-language message oriented abstraction API that supports multiple middleware (Tibco SmartSockets, GSFC Message Bus, and I believe IBM WebSphere and ActiveMQ as of this month), e.g., write to the C/C++/Java/Perl API and it can work with any of those middleware, allowing them to be swapped out. (I wrote a Delphi API to GMSEC, but it was dropped because no customers were requesting it :-( )
(5:29:06 PM) Jeroen_Pluimers: Since ActiveMQ is well known, has been stable for a long time, and runs on many platforms, it was never a question to switch to other types of middleware.
(5:29:49 PM) Thomas_Grubb: The reason GMSEC existed is because middleware kept coming and going too fast for our customers (NASA likes to think long term). At one time, GMSEC has supported ICS’ Message Bus, Elvin, and a few others.
(5:30:21 PM) Thomas_Grubb: How is the speed of ActiveMQ with Delphi?
(5:30:34 PM) Jeroen_Pluimers: This whole project is a proof of concept, so no ‘really long term’ things yet.
(5:31:33 PM) Jeroen_Pluimers: If you keep your connection open, it is really quickly. Within a VM you can have round trips (client sends request so server; server sends response back to client on a different queue) in milliseconds
(5:31:54 PM) Jeroen_Pluimers: this includes the XML serialization/deserialization
(5:32:15 PM) Thomas_Grubb: Message Oriented Middleware are extremely cool and definitely the way to go for a large distributed system of applications (like a satellite control center)
(5:32:28 PM) Jeroen_Pluimers: it is!
(5:33:18 PM) Thomas_Grubb: The reason I asked about the Delphi overhead is because I mis-wrote the Delphi wrapper for GMSEC and it doubled the time (but was 10x easier to use)! :-)
(5:34:01 PM) Jeroen_Pluimers: Oops :-)
(5:34:44 PM) Carlos_Adolfo_Garcia_Anaya [dolfuz@chat.codegear.com/jwchat] entered the room.
(5:36:19 PM) Carlos_Adolfo_Garcia_Anaya: I can’t enter to the conferecnes, is there any problem now?
(5:36:37 PM) Thomas_Grubb: Of course, since the comm time was the real concern it only became a problem when hundreds of messages started coming in per second
(5:36:40 PM) Jeroen_Pluimers: @Carlos: Live Meeting is up and running fine here
(5:36:52 PM) Carlos_Adolfo_Garcia_Anaya: :( thanks jeroen
(5:37:35 PM) Jeroen_Pluimers: @Thomas: so your Delphi stuff was server as well as client?
(5:38:26 PM) Robert_Evans [resevans@chat.codegear.com/jwchat] entered the room.
(5:38:53 PM) Erwin_Mouthaan [mouthaane@chat.codegear.com/jwchat] entered the room.
(5:39:46 PM) davidi left the room.
(5:40:31 PM) davidi [davidi@chat.codegear.com/jwchat] entered the room.
(5:47:23 PM) Borland [jajackson@chat.codegear.com/jwchat] entered the room.
(5:47:29 PM) Thomas_Grubb: Thanks for your presentation. It’s great to see Delphi being used with MOMs!
(5:47:35 PM) Thomas_Grubb: About your question, the Delphi/GMSEC stuff was concerned with the client. The middleware provided the server code and was hidden from the clients. (In the context of your project if I understand it correctly, the Firebird app would be considered another client)
(5:47:40 PM) Jeroen_Pluimers: https://wiert.wordpress.com/2009/09/09/coderage-4-session-materials-available-for-download/
(5:47:41 PM) Neville_Cook [neville+cook@chat.codegear.com/jwchat] entered the room.
(5:47:48 PM) Thomas_Grubb: Got to go now… Good luck with your other presentations
(5:47:55 PM) Jeroen_Pluimers: Bye Thomas!
(5:48:03 PM) Thomas_Grubb left the room.
(5:48:43 PM) Jeroen_Pluimers: http://en.wordpress.com/tag/coderage/
(5:50:15 PM) Neville_Cook left the room.
(5:52:14 PM) Christine_Ellis has set the topic to: Session Room 2 – “Using Unicode and Other Encodings in your Programs” by Jeroen Pluimers
–jeroen
Posted in Component Development, Database Development, Debugging, Delphi, Development, Encoding, Firebird, Java, Software Development, Unicode, XML, XML/XSD, XSD | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2009/09/10
Every now and then I need the ASP.NET RegularExpressionValidator control to validate some user input on a web-page using .NET Regular Expressions (which are very similar to regular expressions used in other languages and frameworks).
Somehow, I have lost loads of time because many of the hits on Google show up high in the results, but do not actually help that much.
So I decided to put up a bunch of links to pages that I think are relevant, or helped me much.
This list is not definitive: please comment when you have links to better information!
Note: this list is current at the instant of the latest edit timestamp: tools might have improved (or disappeared) since then.
Opnions are mine; if you do not agree: please convince me why.
Posted in .NET, ASP.NET, Development, Encoding, JavaScript/ECMAScript, LISP, RegEx, Scripting, Software Development, Unicode, Web Development | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2009/09/09
Not only can you download CodeRage 4 session on materials on Practical XML in Delphi, but below you can also find the chat transcripts below.
Note the times are a bit odd: when the chat window refreshes, it sometimes uses the PST time zone, but new posts are using the local time zone.
Hence the sudden jump from 9 AM to almost 6 PM.
| Q: | thomasgrubb asked: “Is there an implementation for XMLDocument (for Delphi Win32) that is file-mapped, e.g., the whole doc is not loaded into memory?” |
| A: | Not that Jeroen is aware of. |
| Q: | thomasgrubb asked: “Is there an implementation for XMLDocument (for Delphi Win32) that is file-mapped, e.g., the whole doc is not loaded into memory?” |
| A: | Not that Jeroen is aware of. Send Jeroen an email and he will blog about other solutions. |
| Q: | thomasgrubb asked: “For Embarcadero Technologies: Are you going to develop a better option for validating XML on the Win32 side in the future?” |
| A: | David I – replied – I will forward this to R&D and Product management |
| Q: | devtux asked: “are you using any XML test generator? Please, suggest one if yes” |
| A: | XMLSpy |
| Q: | richz asked: “I’ve been trying for weeks to find out how to have the Win32 Delphi IDE generate code to serialize/de-serialize my class properties to an XML file. Is there anything in the IDE to do that?” |
| A: | From Delphi 2010 on – you can use DBX support for JSON! |
–jeroen
Posted in .NET, CodeRage, CommandLine, Conferences, Database Development, Debugging, Delphi, Development, Encoding, Event, ISO-8859, ISO8859, Prism, Software Development, Source Code Management, TFS (Team Foundation System), UTF-8, UTF8, Visual Studio and tools, XML, XML/XSD, XSD | Leave a Comment »
The Wiert Corner - irregular stream of stuff 