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Keeping up with .Net, continued

Etiketter: , , ,

After modeling my project in the UML modeling tool in Visual Studio 2010 Beta, I wanted to generate the code and get on with implementation. Strangely I couldn't find any way of generating the code in the studio. I got a bit irritated, as Microsoft always have done very well with the usability of their IDE's in the past. I tried the help, but couldn't find anything there either.

After searching the web I found a post on MSDN forums, it seems this feature isn't implemented yet and the post suggests it will be released in the RTM planned for March.

It's imperative that code generation from the model is implemented well. Regeneration of the plumbing must be implemented so that it won't overwrite implementation code. Handling of discrepancies between model and plumbing code must be well thought out, as there is always a chance that the model and the plumbing code will get out of sync if any one forgets to check in parts of code in the repository.

I regularly run in to the mess of model and plumbing code being out of sync in other tools and it's never a pleasant situation, so I have high hopes that the Visual Studio team pulls this off.



The wonders of virtual hardware

Etiketter: ,

So I get word that one of our integrations is failing, and after a short investigation it turns out that the database running in SQL Server 2005 has gone "in Recovery".

After browsing SQL forums via Google I found nothing good really, and the logs on the server didn't give me any real info since this happened so long time ago that the initial problem had gotten phased out of the log and replaced with never messages of failure. But a recurring message that kept coming up in the logs was that the server had lost contact with the disc.

I didn't find any good tip on how to proceed on the web, so I took a risk and just killed the processes, detached it and then re-attached it again. Luckily that made the trick.

But I feel a lot of the time that all the server virtualization isn't really paying off, it might cut down on cost, but the amount of added wait time we get due to performance is surely eating profit from the money cake.
And when the the virtualization starts breaking your databases, then it's time to take a step back and re-evaluate the strategy.




Smartphone

Etiketter: , ,

So I've been thinking about getting a smartphone, I've been a bit late to get on that bandwagon.

As I like coding more for mobile devices on the .NET platform more than the Java platform, I've been thinking looking at phones with Windows Mobile as OS. I would also be able to read documents on it if possible, I know the phone isn't designed for that, but a fairly large screen would enable at least some readability. So far I feel the HTC HD2 would be the best suited phone for my needs. It seems pretty cool with a big screen, fast processor and windows mobile 6.5 as OS. HTC has put a version of their own Sense interface on it, and so far that's gotten very good reviews.


But now Microsoft has said they'll release Windows Mobile 7 on Mobile World beeing held in Barcelona in February. So question is if it's time to wait until I can get my hands on a phone with Windows Mobile 7 instead? LG seems to be first out, saying they got a planned release for the first Win Mobile 7 phone in September.

But September is awfully far away.

I got several friends that got iPhones and I'm not really a big fan, but today I saw an app called iSamJackson that made me want to get one actually!



Ready, Get set, Boost!

Etiketter: , ,

Seems my old laptop is getting memory issues just running a browser and Visual Studio. I started modeling my planned new project, but some sluggishness occurred from the start. Seems 512MB memory isn't quite enough, so some page swapping to disc is going on. And the disc is an old 5400 rpm one so it's very slow.

At first I planned to try and get some more memory by turning off services that I wasn't in need off, but then I remembered about Ready Boost. Ready Boost is technology for using USB drives as a disc cache. It was introduced with Windows Vista, but I never had to use it since I only run Vista on my big stationary PC.

So I gladly ran off and got my USB stick, plugged it in and was greeted by the Auto Play window. The third option is the option for using the device with Ready Boost.

After selecting the option the system will check the USB device to see if it's fit for the task.


In my case, it seemed my USB memory wasn't up to the task, and I got the message that it could not be used for Ready Boost. There were however no explanation as to why.

There are certain requirements for the devices beeing used for Ready Boost, they are:
  • Minimum 250 MB capacity after formatting
  • Access time of 1 ms or less.
  • Capable of 2.5 MB/s read speeds for 4 KB random reads, and 1.75 MB/s write speeds for 512 KB random writes

Question is, what went wrong for me, and is there any way to find out what the problem was?

The answer is yes, the information is readily available in the Event Viewer. (Easiest way to get access is to it is to press windows+r then enter "eventvwr.msc")
In the Event Viewer go to Application and Services Logs choose Microsoft then Windows and then Ready Boost.

Here you are able to see what went wrong and why the device was deemed unfit for Ready Boost.

I found the message: The device (USB 2.0 Flash Disk) will not be used for a ReadyBoost cache because it has insufficient write performance: 1751 KB/sec.

That seems really close to 1.75 MB/s as is needed.
Luckily I have several USB memories of the same make at disposal, so I tried a few more, and the next one of them worked.

The system felt more responsive after a few minutes even though I was only doing research using a browser.

So now I am looking forward to testing out Visual Studio again, and see if I can get to continue my project without getting frustrated by a sluggish system.

For more info check out what Microsoft writes about ReadyBoost in Windows 7.