A head Scratcher

I have an interesting problem that has so far been unsolveable. On my Dual G5 the OS has lost the ability to save files to the last folder used. Instead every save, for every app seems to go to the documents folder. This happens on Word, Photoshop, etc. It is a pain. It does not happen on my G4 laptop, whihc functions correctly. I can find no way to change this, and have tried some of the obvious things, like trashing finder prefs and repairing permissions.
I am STUMPED. Thanks for any help

Hi, I've never experienced this particular problem, but I would in this instance try re-installing (or updating if you need to) the OS from your system disks. Whenever I've had strange things begin to happen like this, after trying the usual suspects, I've found a complete system re-install usually works. It's a pain to do, but if it solves your problem...
Good Luck.

Similar Messages

Head Scratcher - Default Field Values

have an issue that is truly a head scratcher and I could use a little help.
I created a number of fields - client name, client email, account manager etc. Most are just Unicode a couple are integer and one is a date. For two of them Client Name and Account Manager which I'm going have a lookup attached I enter a default value. Choose Client and Choose Account Manager.
For two of the fields (client name and account manager) I created lookups with a list of clients and the other with a list of account managers.
I then created a new group added all of the custom fields. For the two fields I want lookups on I select them in the group window and attach the lookups that I've previously created. I continue with where the group appears, attach it to a set etc and then save changes.
So everything is perfect I can see the group within the set but for the two lookups I don't have a default value just a blank pull down window. What's the deal. Is there a syntax I'm missing for entering the default value for the field? Do I also need to enter the default value in the lookup so they match?

actually the issue was with putting the default value in the lookup. That worked. I get what your saying though, however its really six of one half dozen of another. I created the fields first so editing the field in the lookup pulldown I didn't actually have the correct lookup values.
By creating the field and then lookup and then linking them up in the group it worked just fine. But after I read your post I created the lookup first and then attached it while creating a field and didn't attach it while creating the group and got the same result.

Spry Collapsible Panel - Head Scratcher

Hello Spry Guru's,
Perhaps an easy question for you, but it has me scratching my
head:
When first displayed,
My Cary website's
CollapsiblePanel up-arrow does not display correctly. After you
open and close the panel it will display correctly.
Also when I edit my template, and then preview, all works
correctly, but previewing the pages based on that template have the
same error described above
.CollapsiblePanelTab h6 {
margin: 0;
font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 1em;
background-image: url(../Images/down-arrow.gif);
background-repeat: no-repeat;
background-position: right 50%;
padding-top: 2px;
padding-right: 18px;
padding-bottom: 4px;
padding-left: 2px;
.CollapsiblePanelOpen .CollapsiblePanelTab h6 {
background-image: url(../Images/up-arrow.gif);
background-repeat: no-repeat;
background-position: right 50%;
}

I am sorry, I tried in FF, IE7/8 and Chrome and they all look the same.

SDO_UTIL.TO_CLOB odd head scratcher

Hi folks,
I'll try to submit this to support but thought I should log it here in case anyone is interested.
Using Oracle 11.2.0.3.
I am still occasionally poking at the uber SDO_GEOMETRY issue (see Re: upgrading to uber SDO_GEOMETRY, looking for comments Anyhow one of the deal breakers has been the hassles to move geometries back and forth between uber-installed instances and regular instances. With datapump off the table, its kind of a bummer. Anyhow, I noticed that for reasons I cannot explain (any takers?) the following works to move SDO_GEOMETRY across a database link between uber and regular instances:
INSERT INTO local_table (shape)
SELECT
SDO_UTIL.FROM_CLOB(SDO_UTIL.TO_CLOB(a.shape))
FROM
remote_table@remote_instance a;I don't really understand why that works. But it does. Obviously over-sized geometries will fail if you try to move them to a regular instance. Performance is not too bad overall considering the deserialization and serialization taking place. I have not looked into what is occurring on what instance.
The only problem I found is a weird bug I think with the SDO_UTIL.FROM_CLOB for geometries with crazy precision.
SELECT
SDO_UTIL.TO_CLOB(SDO_GEOMETRY(2001,8265,NULL,SDO_ELEM_INFO_ARRAY(1,1,1),SDO_ORDINATE_ARRAY(-106.496121500000000992258719634264707565,43.01151182000000261496097664348781108856)))
FROM DUAL;When I plug the results into FROM_CLOB, I get
ORA-06502: PL/SQL: numeric or value error
ORA-06512: at "MDSYS.SDO_UTIL", line 3152
SELECT
SDO_UTIL.FROM_CLOB('2001||8265||NULL|NULL|NULL||1|1|1||-106.496121500000000992258719634264707565|43.01151182000000261496097664348781108856||')
FROM DUAL;Some kind of odd math bug I think. If I knock off 12 digits, then it works fine.
Cheers,
Paul

Paul,
As you know full well no one can measure the earth to the precision of the numbers of your 8265 SRIDed SDO_GEOMETRY.
Interestingly, the longitude in the example can't be represented in an Oracle NUMBER without loss of "precision" as can be seen following:
SELECT length('496121500000000992258719634264707565') as longPrecLength
FROM DUAL;
-- Results
LONGPRECLENGTH
36
-- The max precision for this longitude is 35.....
SELECT cast(-106.496121500000000992258719634264707565 as number(38,35)) as longitude
FROM DUAL;
-- Result
LONGITUDE
-106.49612150000000099225871963426470757
-- Trying to define 36 decimal digits throws an error
SELECT cast(-106.496121500000000992258719634264707565 as number(38,36)) as longitude
FROM DUAL;
-- Result
QL Error: ORA-01438: value larger than specified precision allowed for this column
01438. 00000 - "value larger than specified precision allowed for this column"
*Cause: When inserting or updating records, a numeric value was entered
that exceeded the precision defined for the column.
-- Try binary_double
SELECT cast(-106.496121500000000992258719634264707565 as binary_double) as longitude
FROM DUAL;
-- Results
LONGITUDE
-106.4961215I have no idea what 1/10^36 decimal degrees of longitude or latitude is in meters but it ain't measurable via any GPS/Surveying method I know! Perhaps CERN can help!
Thanks for the reference to my new article. It has been sitting on my computer hard disk now for well over 6 months. I often wonder how many people actually read my articles (just like I wonder if anyone uses GeoRaptor)!
To be honest, when I first started using Oracle SDO_GEOMETRY I met end users who constantly asked why the number of decimal digits was greater than they expected. So, 10+ years ago I wrote a coordinate rounding function. (Perception management?) I never thought about the saving of space (most say it doesn't matter today due to large, cheap, fast disks, and fast networks) nor about performance aspects. I think my article points the way forward for others to investigate and, I hope, share* their results and experiences.
regards
Simon

Head scratcher - startup problem

I've run into a problem that has me baffled. When the system starts up, I get the light grey screen with the apple, the next box that show Mac OS X loading, then it goes blue, then my desktop picture (one of the images supplied by Apple)loads, but shifted down and to the left about two inches. The only other thing I see besides the blue to the top and right of the desktop picture is a tiny corner of white in the upper right corner with the spotlight symbol. I don't get any of the rest of the menu bar at the top, nor any desktop icons, though I do get a cursor.
I have started up from the OS 10.4 install disk and run disk permissions repair and disk repair. The first instance of disk repair found a couple of issues it called "illegal name" but repaired them. I ran Repair disk permissions again, then Disk repair and it found nothing the second time. I have also started up from the system Hardware Test CD and run the Quick and Extended tests and it reported nothing wrong. I have a Diskwarrior 3.01 Disk and I startred to try it, but it reported that there were problems it could not fix, so would not try. Now I know this isn't the latest version of DW, so it may not be the right tool to use with a system running OS 10.4.x. I have reset the PRAM also. Nothing I have tried so far has made any difference. When started up from the Install disk and I run the Startup Disk utility, it lists the internal hard drive and OS. At this point - this is what I know.
The person using the system was wrangling with fonts in Font Reserve, Quark 6.1 and InDesign CS2, so decided to restart the system to get a fresh slate. When it came back - it came up with the scenario I described above.
I hope someone has some direction for me, as I'm really not sure what to try next. Everything I know is based on being able to at least start up.
FYI, the hard drive has only the system, applications, and fonts on it, so is nearly empty. All project files are stored on a server via ethernet. This system was rebuilt from the ground up about a month ago and has been working great, up until today.
G4 Dual 1 GHz, Mac OS 10.4.5, 1.5 GB RAM

Hi, WileEC. Welcome to the Discussions.
Thanks for the reply. Answers in each section.
1. You wrote: " I have a Diskwarrior
3.01 Disk and I startred to try it, but it reported
that there were problems it could not fix, so would
not try. "You need DiskWarrior 3.0.3 for
Tiger. Earlier versions are not compatible with
Tiger volumes.
I was pretty sure this was the case, so will have to invest in the current updated CD.
2. Have you tried a different display? Checked the
display connections? Perhaps the issue is the
display or the cable connecting it, not Mac OS X.
I have tried a different display and while the desktop picture isn't offset, as with the original display, all other elements are acting the same. In addition, I've noticed that if the cursor is any where on the screen, but the upper right corner (over the spotlight icon) it is the arrow; if in the small white area in the corner, the cursor is a beachball.
3. Perhaps an incompatible Startup or Login Item. See
my "
Troubleshooting Startup and Login Items" FAQ for
steps that might help you with this problem.
I'll have to check this out, but not sure how to do so, without being able to startup first. I'll check the link out to see if it can shed some light.
I have also tested the PRAM battery and it's above 3.6V, so I think it's fine.
Dual 1 Ghz PM G4, 1.5 GB RAM, Mac OS 10.4.5

Head scratcher--new HD, macbook won't boot on battery power

I needed a larger hard drive because the orig 60gb was getting full. replaced with a seagate 250gb. now, macbook will no longer boot on battery power. works fine if plugged in. if unplugged while running, macbook goes dead. battery is fully charged.
a puzzlement. any ideas, brain trust?
...joe

What is the model number of the HDD you bought?
Next, make sure you have the battery in all the way and that the HDD is securely installed. Then try a PRAM and SMC reset by shutting down, unplugging the magsafe, taking out the battery, and holding down the power button for at least five seconds. Next, put everything back and hold down commmand-option-p-r at startup until it chimes twice then let go.
If none of that works put in the old HDD and see what happens.

Head Scratcher: PMG5 boots off of OEM disc, not off of HD

Here's a stumper:
Out of Warranty PM G5 1.6ghz machine, came into shop,
for MLB replacement ( wasn't putting out video, although vid card tested fine.)
Replaced MLB, made sure to reseat all items, and booted off of diagnostic disc
to set Thermal Calibration ( for Processors) and to make sure everything was ok.
Everything passed muster, and then rebooted machine to boot off internal HD.
The PowerMac boots up, but never gets pass Grey Apple screen, and instead
wheel (gear) spins and then stops, and fans run.
Rebooted machine off of Diagnostic disc, passes muster again.
Rebooted off of Tiger 10.4 OEM disc, boots fine no issues.
So I erase the HD, and reinstall Tiger, goes smooth,
Machine reboots, same thing: will not go pas Grey Apple Screen.
Verbose mode says that the stopping point is:
NVDANV30HAL LOADED AND REGISTERED.
nothing beyond that....
anyone with any ideas?

Scrap the hard drive. Even installing Tiger doesn't test for weak sectors, even if you were to zero the drive that isn't a guarantee. TechTool Pro is pretty good at media scan but it does not attempt to map out bad/weak sectors.
If the directory and/or journal is 'shot' (corrupt / damaged) AND you forced it to create new partition tables (not just erase the user volume), then I'd say it has suffered enough and dead and needs to be replaced.

Here's a good head scratcher . . .

I have a pair of half-sphere iMacs on my desk. I can connect with our local wifi with one of them, with good to excellent strength.
The other either cannot connect or when it does, it is a very weak signal. I have exchanged airport cards to no avail; I have totally isolated one from the other and still no improvement. No matter how I change the variables, it is always the same. Even IF I COMPLETELY SHUT DOWN THE STRONG COMPUTER, the signal to the other is too weak to be used.
I have them connected with a ethernet lan, going through a netgear router. Is there a set of settings in the sharing folder(s) that will allow computer A to use Computer B's connection? `Cause when I try to make the sharing work, the weak guy is still the weak guy.

On "strong" iMac, open System Preferences->Sharing and enable Internet sharing from AirPort to Ethernet.
Configure the "weak" iMac to use Ethernet and DHCP to get an IP address.
To have complete internet access you will need to either disable the firewall on the "strong" iMac or modify the firewall so that it allows connections on the Ethernet side.

THis Wireless Issue is a Head Scratcher

As some know, I bought 2 Macbooks in Dec '06 and was experiencing all sorts of wireless issues early on. Dropped connections, SLOW transfer speeds while networked to my Imac, etc.
At some point Netgear released new firmware for the 824, and all seemed right in the wireless world for at least 2 months.
No issues with OS updates or airport updates, it seemed.
Al of a sudden last week, I went back to the extremely slow speed when networked from the macbook (wireless) to the iMac G4 800 (wired) and nothing so far will fix it.
The wireless transfer happens in 500K packets and a 4 meg file takes 4 minutes to transfer. Yet if I plug in the ethernet cable to the macbook - it works as it should.
What I can't figure out is what happened to make this annoying issue return out of the blue.
I am also back to slow page loads via Safari and page hangs.
Of course I have rebooted the router -
I can't figure out why for at least 2 months everything worked perfectly after months of sub par wireless performance and then back to **** - with everything back to sub par except not dropping connection anymore.
Thoughts?

I think the first thing I'd check for is if some source of interference returned after a few months of absence. I have a 2.4 GHz cordless phone that will nuke my 2.4 GHz WiFi connections - but only sometimes - when the phone happens to pick a channel that coincides with my WiFi. It could well be that a phone in your neighbor's house gets on your channel, and if the the phone doesn't experience any trouble may sit on your WiFi channel for a long time. In my case, my Panasonic phone bothers the WiFi, but the WiFi never bothers the phone.
The other thing you might want to look for is how many IP packets are being discarded by your Mac's network interface. You can do that my opening a terminal window and doing "netstat -s | more" The -s option gets you a rather extensive list of Ethernet statistics. What you want to look for is anything related to retransmitted packets. If you are experiencing more than a 1% IP packet loss, Ethernet performance can degrade rather ungracefully. (Note, I'm talking about layer 3 and above IP packets). It isn't unusual for 15-20% frame loss at layer 2 in the WiFi connecdtion.
There are a lot of variables here, and it is difficult to give you an answer that would be a one-step magic pill. There could be several problems at once. The best test would be: does one computer have lousy web page load times over WiFi, but the other computer has quick web access.
If both computers are having problems loading web pages, then there is something wrong with the router and/or WiFi interference. If just one computer has poor performance, then you need to look at the software on that computer.
Best wishes for finding it.
Bill

Yet another head scratching limitation with the iPhone

I just recently 'upgraded' to the iPhone 4 (from Android) and I am beginning to see that the iPhone/Apple is really not as forward thinking and innovative as I once thought.
For instance, today I learned that it is 'impossible' to transfer files to/from the iPhone (e.g. cannot use the iPhone as a USB data drive). Although some programs do allow transferring of specific files (e.g. audio recorder), however, those limited data transfers are only allowed through iTunes! Are you kidding me?
Well, this poses a dilemma for those who are not allowed to install iTunes in a corporate environment due to IT policy. I also find it ridiculous that, not too long ago, iTunes was required to charge the Apple device? I guess Apple does believe in small incremental evolutionary steps forward after all.
So, what this means is that I must jail break my iPhone just to access a basic feature that every other non-iPhone already has! Unfortunately, Apple insists on playing a cat/mouse game with jail breakers. I believe I need to await the next iOS in order to fix bugs with v4.1 but by doing so I can't jail break. Or I just put up with the bugs and jail break in order to make my iPhone usable in my work environment.

I changed to the iPhone because my HTC Magic was locked in on AOS 2.1 and I was never going to see Corp. Google Apps syncing, hidden SSID WiFi access, and of course the many apps that iPhone has (e.g. fully operational Skype, ZipCar, etc.).
But the grass is not always greener. The iPhone has a whole list of omitted productive and useful features that Android had...and even my 4 year old Windows Mobile phone had. It makes me wonder, Does Apple live in a vacuum?
a multimedia device, not a better phone,
It is a great multimedia device! No complaints about that! But it would not take much for the iPhone to also be a great business tool and phone. Unfortunately, that which would make it great all around will require jail breaking!
and proper notifications managements is a bummer.
Notifications???? Where are any notifications (besides the pop ups in the locked screen)?
I keep hearing these 'bings' coming from my iPhone but I have no idea what is causing them. On the Android, it is a simple matter of sliding down a window and viewing a historical list of notifications from every participating app. The phone can be set to provide continuous audible and/or visual notification until this notification list is cleared. The fact that the iPhone doesn't have anything like this is baffling to say the least.

AppleScript speed difference between 10.4 & 10.5

This post is related to a question I posed in March 2009 (https://discussions.apple.com/message/9226100) regarding the speed difference between AppleScript text handling in OS X 10.5 compared with 10.4.11.
I have recently written a script to search through a text file which is an xml file exported from WorkGroup Manager. The file, which is approximately 1.8 MB, contains all the user names on the school server (just over 1720 of them), their settings and any other information we have added. After adapting some script ideas (using text delimiters and offsets) which I found on the internet to assist with counting the number of users and searching through the information of each one, one at a time, I have a script which works far in excess of my expectations in terms of speed when run under OS X 10.4, but runs slower than molasses in winter under 10.5.
The script counts the number of accounts, extracts each user's log-in name and also their actual name (which we have entered under a 'general info' or 'comments' field - I can't remember exactly where, but it is stored in the file), makes up a complete list of all account names (with the actual name, if present) and also makes up a subset of this information into a separate list which contains only the log-in names of those whose actual name has not yet been recorded on the server, then saves both lists to separate text files.
My original attempts, using some rather clumsy text searching and comparison techniques, took about 1-2 minutes to go through the whole procedure. After some internet searching, head-scratching and a bit more more work, the finished script, when run on my G5 under OS X 10.4.11, takes less than 3 seconds to do all I have described above, including the writing to text files. To say I was pleased would be an understatement!
Because the school/work environment, where the script would be run, is all OS X 10.5 or higher, I thought I should test it out under at least OS X 10.5. The script was developed on my DP 2.5GHz G5 with 8GB RAM running OS X 10.4.11. Using a fresh, clean installation of 10.5 I ran the script and was extremely disappointed. After letting it run for more than 20 minutes and still not finishing, I force quit AppleScript and reduced the number of accounts in the file. 40 accounts took 3 seconds, 60 accounts took 6 seconds, 80 took 11 seconds, 100 took 19 seconds and 120 took 27 seconds. I eventually let the script run right through - total time taken to process 1720 users was 65 minutes, compared to 3 seconds under 10.4.11!
Given that it was tested on the same Mac, with the same amount of RAM, using the same script and the same original text file, the only variable left (that I can think of) is the change of OS version - 10.4.11 vs 10.5.
As was pointed out to me in my previous post, AppleScript in OS X 10.5 handles all text as Unicode and has a greater overhead in processing time as a result. I have implemented the various bits of advice offered by respondents to my original post and changed the way I handled lists, etc. Obviously, if the script works so speedily under 10.4.11, I must have done something right in terms of code optimization/efficiency. It's when that exact same script is run under OS X 10.5 that it slows down incredibly. I even tried it on a 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo iMac running 10.5.8 - it still took 40 minutes and Activity Monitor showed CPU usage by Script Editor constantly above 80% (often well above 90%). Saving the script as an application made no difference in the time taken.
Does anybody have any knowledge about what makes AppleScript Unicode-only text handling so slow? In this case, it is 1300 times slower! Is there any way of coercing/restricting the text handling/parsing to ASCII? If I really have to, I will set up a humble eMac at school with 10.4 on it just to handle large text files quickly with AppleScript, but I would prefer to be able to do it on the normal work Macs which have 10.5 or later on them. As mentioned, under 10.4.11 the script processes the 1.8MB text file with 1720 users and writes results to two files - all within 3 seconds, so I'm not really looking for coding suggestions unless they are directly related to what has changed in AppleScript under OS X 10.5. Without sounding too smug, the script works properly and speedily (at least in 10.4). I really would like to learn about the changes in AppleScript in OS X 10.5 and how to cope with or work around those changes.

Hi,
text 3 thru 14 in largeText
character 3 thru 14 in largeText
text 3 in largeText
character 3 in largeText
These lines will be slow on Leopard
Getting some text in a variable that contains more than 60000 characters will be slower on Leopard,
but I don't know why it's slower
Here a test script.
script o
    property t_text : ""
end script
set a to "abcdefghij"
set tResult to ""
repeat with i from 1 to 3
    set o's t_text to a
    repeat (item i of {17, 15, 14}) times
        set o's t_text to o's t_text & o's t_text -- add characters in the variable
    end repeat
    set StartTime to current date
    -- test
    repeat 20 times
        set b to text 3 thru 14 in o's t_text -- get a text in the variable
    end repeat
    -- end test
    set EndTime to current date
    set TimeTaken to EndTime - StartTime
    set tResult to tResult & " Getting text in the variable which contains " & length of o's t_text & ", (20 times) = " & TimeTaken & " seconds." & return
end repeat
tResult
Here the result on my old G5, 2 x 1.8 GHZ
Getting text in the variable which contains 1310720 characters, (20 times) = 50 seconds.
Getting text in the variable which contains   327680 characters, (20 times) = 12 seconds.
Getting text in the variable which contains   163840 characters, (20 times) =   6 seconds.
The result on the same machine on Tiger is always less of one second.
Also, I try with 20 millions characters on Tiger, the result : getting text in the variable which contains 20971520 characters, (20 times) = 0 seconds.
The solution ( text item in a list)
Here the script
script o
    property my_List : {}
end script
set OldDelims to text item delimiters
set RecordDelimiter to "::::::::::::::"
set LengthOfRecordDelimiter to length of RecordDelimiter
set o's my_List to findAll(read (choose file), RecordDelimiter)
on findAll(str, findString)
    set Oldtid to text item delimiters
    try
        set text item delimiters to findString
        if str does not contain findString then return {"Nothing found"}
        set t to str's text items
        set text item delimiters to Oldtid
        return t
    on error eMsg number eNum
        set text item delimiters to Oldtid
        error "Can't findAll: " & eMsg number eNum
    end try
end findAll
set NumberOfrecords to (count o's my_List)
display dialog "There are " & NumberOfrecords & " accounts."
set StartTime to current date
set text item delimiters to ":"
set FullUserList to {}
set ListOfUnnamedUsers to {}
-- first user needs to be done separately as it is not preceded by RecordDelimiter
set EndOfHeader to "Standard:URL"
set LengthOfEndOfHeader to length of EndOfHeader
set EndOfHeaderOffset to the offset of EndOfHeader in (item 1 of o's my_List)
set OffsetToApply to EndOfHeaderOffset
set TextBeingChecked to text (OffsetToApply + LengthOfEndOfHeader + 1) thru -1 of (item 1 of o's my_List)
tell TextBeingChecked to set {UserName, NameForInfo} to {text item 1, text item 7}
if NameForInfo = "" then set end of ListOfUnnamedUsers to UserName & return
set end of FullUserList to (UserName & tab & NameForInfo & return)
-- now do all the others
repeat with CounterG from 2 to (NumberOfrecords - 1)
    set TextBeingChecked to item CounterG of o's my_List
    tell TextBeingChecked to set {UserName, NameForInfo} to {text item 1, text item 7}
    if NameForInfo = "" then set end of ListOfUnnamedUsers to UserName & return
    set end of FullUserList to (UserName & tab & NameForInfo & return)
end repeat
set o's my_List to {}
set text item delimiters to OldDelims
-- write results to file
-- 1). full user list
set TargetFile1 to (path to desktop folder as string) & "FullUserList1.txt"
try
    open for access file TargetFile1 with write permission
on error
    close access file TargetFile1
    open for access file TargetFile1 with write permission
end try
set EndTime to current date
beep
set InfoToBeWrittenToFile to FullUserList as text
write InfoToBeWrittenToFile to file TargetFile1
close access file TargetFile1
-- 2). list of users without NameForInfo
set TargetFile2 to (path to desktop folder as string) & "UnnamedUsersList1.txt"
try
    open for access file TargetFile2 with write permission
on error
    close access file TargetFile2
    open for access file TargetFile2 with write permission
end try
set InfoToBeWrittenToFile to ListOfUnnamedUsers as text
write InfoToBeWrittenToFile to file TargetFile2
close access file TargetFile2
beep 3
set TimeTaken to EndTime - StartTime
set TimePerAccount to TimeTaken / NumberOfrecords
display dialog (NumberOfrecords & " accounts took " & TimeTaken & " seconds." & return & return & "That equals " & TimePerAccount & " seconds per account.") as string

How do I associate my iPhone (all my iDevices) with a new computer?

This question has been asked, but my situation is a bit different. I have a 4 year old MacBook Pro. My iPhone (4S), iPod Touch (4th gen), and iPad 3 are all associated with this computer. I just bought a new Mac Mini and want to associate these three devices with the Mini and "abandon" the MBP (even though I will still be using it for other things).
I have already transferred ALL the content (Music, Podcasts, iTunes U, Movies, etc.) in my MBP's iTunes library onto my Mac Mini's iTunes library. They are essentially mirror copies of each other. I also subscribe to iTunes Match. So ALL my music is accessible via the Cloud. I have already turned on iTunes Match with the Mini and downloaded all the songs in my library to the Mini except a small number that I hardly ever play. I left them in the Cloud.
Now, my semi-ignorant intuition says I should be able to create a backup of each iDevice "to my MBP" (not to iCloud) and then copy the backup and transfer it to my Mac Mini. (How I do this I am not sure. Transfer the backups to an external hard drive and then to my Mac Mini?) Where are these backups on my MBP anyway?
Then I thought I could connect my iDevices to my Mac Mini and "Restore from Backup" (The backup that I transfered from my MBP). This way my iDevice would come out of this whole process looking just like it was before...more or less. All my apps would be in the folders I created for them, e-mail accounts would be preserved, etc.
Or is there something even better...faster. I mean, the two libraries are exactly the same. It would be nice if I could just associate the iDevices with the new computer and not have to restore at all.
OK, I throw myself at the mercy of the court. I don't dare touch these devices until I am sure I won't totally jank them all up.

I'm Back.
With Big Al's help and some trial and error I have succeeded in transferring "ownership" of my 3 iDevices over to my new Mac Mini. However, as I expected, some "Poop Happened." However, it was not because of bad advice from the Big Boy.
Here is a summary for those attempting this in the future.
1. I THOUGHT I did a complete recreation of my MBP's iTunes library on my Mac Mini. Really. I did. I used Home Sharing between my MBP and my Mac Mini to import "everything" from the MBP's iTunes library to the Mac Mini. In almost every respect, that method worked beautifully. Highly recommended. What I had forgot is there was one glitch. It was with a collection of podcasts of Steve Jobs being interviewed by the folks from All Things Digital. I believe there are 6 video podcasts and one .pdf in the series. For some reason, there was a problem when I tried to import that particular podcast collection to my Mac Mini. So, I just bagged the import and went to the iTunes store and download the podcasts and .pdf, fresh and new, from the store. So, strictly speaking, my Mac Mini Library wasn't EXACTLY the same as my MBP's.
2. I then connected my iPod Touch 4G to my Mac MIni to start the process of coverting ownership of that iDevice to the Mini. Unfortunately, when I was done, there was a problem. It was that podcast series. When I went to set up wireless syncing of the iPod Touch I noticed that BOTH my MBP and my Mac Mini were listed under Wireless syncing! The MBP had podcasts under its name. The Mini had all other types of iTunes media under its name. I didn't even know this was possible. But, I knew this was not good. In fact, my iPod Touch would still try to connect with my MBP when I open iTunes on the MBP. It would also connect to my Mac Mini. This is not suppose to happen!
3. So, after some head scratching and messing around, with no luck at resolving the situation, I decided to restore the iPod Touch FROM BACKUP (while my iPod Touch was connected to my Mac Mini...of course). I first made a full backup of the iPod Touch to my computer then fired away and let the process run its course.
4. SUCCESS! The iPod Touch no longer had and remnants of its former life with the MBP. Under Wireless Syncing only the Mac Mini now appeared. I performed the procedure with my iPhone 4S and iPad 3 connected to my Mac Mini. Totally successful also. By that point it was 2:00 AM and time to go to bed.
5. I don't know if Big Al's advice would have worked if I had not messed with the podcast section of my iTunes library. But, I suspect it probably would have. So, my advice is...if you are going to do this, try at all costs to not change a thing when you recreate your iTunes library on your new machine. Even if it's just a new copy of the same media.
BTW, the restoring wasn't a total waste of time. I had accumulated about 7 GB of "other" data on my iPad. For those of you who are up on this issue, it can be a real problem as it robs your iDevice of its precious, limited memory. After restoring from backup the "other" data on my iPad had dropped to about 1 GB. I actually wasn't surprised that this happened as this is one of several workarounds folks have developed to deal with what appears to be a problem iOS 6 has with the management of "other" data.
Bring on iOS 7!
Oh! I forgot. One more piece of feedback. Big Al's link also helped me get my iDevices to appear under "Devices" in the left column of the iTunes screen. In my case, the suggestion from his link that worked was to shut down and restart my computer.

CR Server 2008 / Using openDocument interface with a no-logon wrapper

Hi, all!
I had a problem with the openDocument.jsp interface and a no-logon wrapper which took me quite a while to figure out. I'm now posting these results here in the hopes that someone else will find them useful. Of course, if anyone has input how to improve the solution, it's also welcome!
The system on which this was developed and tested was a vanilla Crystal Reports Server 2008 installation on Tomcat / MySQL / Windows Server 2003.
The problem was that calls to openDocument interface left sessions open and this quickly led to the situation where all the concurrent access licenses (CALs) were used. It seemed nondeterministic when a session was released; it could have been minutes or hours.
The solution: write a HTTP session timeout listener which logoffs the CRS-backend session. (The code below has still some dubug output enabled.)
package fi.niscayah.util;
import com.crystaldecisions.sdk.framework.IEnterpriseSession;
import javax.servlet.http.*;
import java.util.Date;
import java.util.Enumeration;
import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
public class KillSession implements HttpSessionListener
    public void sessionCreated(HttpSessionEvent event)
        debug("sessionCreated()", event);
    public void sessionDestroyed(HttpSessionEvent event)
        HttpSession session = event.getSession();
        try {
            java.util.Enumeration name = session.getAttributeNames();
            while (name.hasMoreElements()) {
                String attributeName = (String)name.nextElement();
                Object attribute = session.getAttribute(attributeName);
                if((attribute != null) && (attribute instanceof IEnterpriseSession)) {
                    debug(" attribute : " + attributeName);
                    debug(" type      : " + attribute.getClass().getName());
                    IEnterpriseSession ies = (IEnterpriseSession)attribute;
                    ies.logoff();
            debug("sessionDestroyed()", event);
        } catch (Exception ex) {
            debug("sessionDestroyed() exception");
    private void debug(String msg)
        SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("HH:mm:ss");
        String timestamp = sdf.format(new Date());
        System.err.println("[KillSession] [" + timestamp + "] " + msg);
    private void debug(String msg, HttpSessionEvent event)
        HttpSession session = event.getSession();
        String id = session.getId();
        String context = session.getServletContext().getServletContextName();
        debug("[" + context + "] [" + id + "] " + msg);
(If you want to test the above code, create a .jar package out of it and put it in webapps/OpenDocument/WEB-INF/lib.)
Next we need to register our listener. I noticed that the openDocument-webapp's web.xml-file already contained a listener definition that claimed to expire enterprise sessions on HTTP timeout. I never saw such results; I tested it by registering my own listener, which only outputted debug information, and then when ever a session timeout happened, I checked the amount of licenses in use via the CMC - it never dropped predictably.
So, comment out the SessionCleanupListener and add KillSession.

<listener>
    <listener-class>fi.niscayah.util.KillSession</listener-class>
</listener>



After the above, change the HTTP session timeout to something more suitable. If you're creating really big reports, one minute might be too little. Also notice, that the value is an approximation. The timeout event might happen just as one minute has passed, but usually it takes more.
<session-config>
    <session-timeout>1</session-timeout>
</session-config>
Now we're good to go and test the openDocument interface. The result should be that every time a HTTP session timeouts, an enterprise session (which was initialized via the openDocument call) is logged off.
Next the no-logon wrapper.
I found a lot of examples for logging in automatically, but every one of them exhibited a strange behavior (at least when used in conjunction with the openDocument interface) where the session count was increased by two. A lot of head scratching later, the solution below was devised.
<%@ page language="java"
    import = "com.crystaldecisions.sdk.framework.CrystalEnterprise,
              com.crystaldecisions.sdk.framework.IEnterpriseSession,
              com.crystaldecisions.sdk.framework.ISessionMgr,
              com.crystaldecisions.sdk.exception.SDKException"
%>
<%
ISessionMgr sessionManager = CrystalEnterprise.getSessionMgr();
IEnterpriseSession entSession = sessionManager.logon("Guest", "", "<server>:6400", "secEnterprise");
String entToken = entSession.getLogonTokenMgr().createWCAToken("", 1, 1);
// So that this can be logged off when the session timeouts
HttpSession httpSession = request.getSession();
httpSession.setAttribute("nologon_SESSION", entSession);
String query = request.getQueryString();
String redirectURL = "http://<server>:8080/OpenDocument/opendoc/openDocument.jsp?" +
    query + "&token=" + entToken;
response.sendRedirect(redirectURL);
%>
You can put the above .jsp-file where you like, but I dropped it in webapps/openDocument, since it's no use by itself.
The use of nologon.jsp is simple: use it as you would openDocument.jsp.
And there you have it. A word of warning though, if you're not sure what you're doing, I wouldn't recommend trying these things out. And you certainly shouldn't deploy these on a production environment.
As said before, any input is welcome!

I'll comment on the BusinessObjects Enterprise logon tokens that you may generate via the Enterprise SDK.
DefaultToken - this is used for failover - i.e., if the original EnterpriseSession object is destroyed without having logoff() method invoked, the failover can be used to re-connect to Enterprise without redo-ing authentication. This token is immediately invalidated with EnterpriseSession.logoff().
CreateLogonToken - token represents an EnterpriseSession independent of the original EnterpriseSession that generates it. So you should generated the CreateLogonToken and log off the EnterpriseSession before using the token, or you'll have two licenses being used.
CreateWCAToken - the Web Component Adapter token - this token is tied to the EnterpriseSession used to create it. If this EnterpriseSession is invalidated, the WCA token can no longer be used. Since this is essentially re-use of the original EnterpriseSession, license count is not increased with its use.
So in your application, you're generating the WCA Token, and using the Session Listener to explicitly log off the originating EnterpriseSession. The SessionCleanupListener is for cleaning up sessions created within InfoView on Web Application Server Session timeout.
Sincerely,
Ted Ueda

Using Actionscript to generate a grid

Hello all.
I am working on a Flash project and have a problem that has
turned out to be a real head scratcher for me. I need to create a
Flash form that will generate a floorplan grid based upon width and
length values entered by the user. I have successfully completed
part of the task and I am able to generate a grid based upon the
width and length entered by the user.
Here is my problem: When the Width and Length "units" are
entered as feet, I need to generate a grid that displays 1 grid
square for every 5 feet of length or width entered, (the scale is 1
square grid = 5 ft so if you entered a 50 ft building length or
width the "length or width" side of the grid would be 10 grid units
in length). Then, if the user re-enters new values for the width
and height and clicks "draw floorplan"
again
the grid needs to regenerate
again
at the proper size. Currently my sample generates 1 grid for
every foot of length or width entered and will not regenerate
properly.
Below is a link to a sample of where I am so far as well as
the Actionscript I am using to control the sample file.
Can anyone provide some pointers on how to generate the grid
with one grid representing 5ft and how to regenerate the grid once
new values are input and the "draw floorplan" button is clicked
again? (Also, ultimately I need to then send the form data as
email.)
Any help is very much appreciated!
Bitjammer
Link to sample:
http://216.197.127.249/grid/grid_sample_1.html
(Try entering 10 width and 10 length then click draw floor
plan)
Here is my actionscript code so far:
my_button.addEventListener("onPress",gridf);
my_button.onPress=function(){if(Number(widthTF.text)>1&&Number(heightTF.text)>1){gridF(Num ber(widthTF.text),Number(heightTF.text))
function gridF(h,w){
initX = 0;
initY = 0;
counter = 0;
for (var i = 1; i<=h; i++) {
for (var j = 1; j<=w; j++) {
counter++;
grid_container.attachMovie("cellMC", "cell"+counter,
counter);
grid_container["cell"+counter]._x = initX;
grid_container["cell"+counter]._y = initY;
initX += 15;
initY += 15;
initX = 0;
(For clarification: the width input variable is widthTF and
height input varible is heightTF.)

Thanks for taking time to answer my post, kglad.
Yes. I believe I understand. I could create another button
and call it "Reset Grid" and call this function, however what I am
hoping for is to have the grid redraw simply by the user entering
new values for the width and height and then clicking "draw
floorplan" again.
Currently the first line of code is:
my_button.addEventListener("onPress",gridf); Should not the grid
redraw each time and then parse the new values in the width and
height fields? I am sure I am just dense but my grid is not
clearing each time the "draw " button is clicked.
You can see this happen on the sample link below. After
entering say 20 width and 20 height values and clicking "draw"
button, the grid is created perfectly. Then if, say new values of
10 width and 10 height are entered and "draw" button is clicked,
the grid does not redraw correctly using these new values.
Sample link:
http://216.197.127.249/grid/grid_sample_1.html
Could the problem be that the gridf function should happen as
the first function in the script before the new values are parsed
again? Should a: grid_container.removeMovieClip(); execute before
anything else is executed each time the "draw" button is clicked?

Applying an adjustment layer / or adjustment TO a layer in a grayscale image is NOT happening!

I'm a long time user of Photoshop, but must admit to being stumped here. I have a very high resolution scanned image from a B&W antique engraving, and I'm trying to "open up" some of the lines to bring out the details in the engraved image while keeping the image as close to the "line art" B&W of the original as possible.
I have the image now "cleaned up," having taken out the yellow color casts, etc., and have a grayscale 8-Bit image in the Photoshop file.
I've discovered that I can use an adjustment TO the layer itself, or an adjustment layer on the layer in the grayscale image to take away some of the density and "open up" the line art a little, so it has better details by effectively "choking" the dark lines back to make them less thick and dense.
Here's the thing, though:
When I tried making the adjustments via image > adjustments > levels DIRECTLY ON the layer (instead of using and adjustment layer to achieve this), every time I hit the OK button to accept the adjustments I've made that way, the dialog box closes and the layer seems to revert to looking just the same as it did BEFORE I opened the dialog box to adjust the layer!
When I try making the adjustments by using an adjustment LAYER, and I try to save the Photoshop image as a TIFF file, I find that when I open the saved TIFF image, the layer adjustment I'm seeing in the source Photoshop file has NOT been applied, and the image in the saved TIFF file looks just as dense as the original, unadjusted image in the Photoshop file!
What am I doing wrong here? I want to be able to save out that adjusted image as a TIFF file to use in designs, but I cannot seem to save it as a TIFF that actually CONTAINS or reflects these adjustments after having MADE the adjustments!
Whazzup?!!

Well, I took the layered TIFF file you gave to me and opened it in Photoshop, reviewed the adjustment layer in there and its effect -- thanks: you get what I was trying to do -- and then saved it out as a flat TIFF image, and when I reopened it, voila! it looked like the adjustment had indeed been applied. So this IS a real head-scratcher indeed.
I've now tried going back to my source file and doing the same thing. One thing that I notice is that when I do the Save As of the TIFF with the adjustment layer in it (OR the PSD file, for that matter), when I go to Save YOUR file, the Layer Compression Options are grayed out, but when I go to Save MY file, the Layer Compression Options are active. I've tried now saving both with RLE layer compression AND As a Copy ("discard layers and save a copy"), and neither works.
I noticed, too, that your file had the layer below the adjustment layer still as a "Background," instead of a named layer, so I went back and applied an adjustment layer to a copy of my TIFF file, leaving the image in its layer as a Background layer, and still this did not work.
The only other difference I saw between your TIFF file and mine, is that mine contained transparency, as I've silhouetted away a portion of the image to isolate the central image of the scanned engraving. But even when transparency is not a factor (i.e. I go back and start with a flattened, nontransparent image layer of my TIFF file with a single Background Layer, and I apply the adjustment layer to that, I get the compression options grayed out on Save, and STILL the saved TIFF image I get out of it has "reverted" to the unadjusted appearance.

A head Scratcher

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for