Archive for the ‘.NET’ Category.

Retrosheet reader

OK, so you just got back from the Ohio LinuxFest 2009  (meh, not exactly a hoppin’ place this year, I was kind of disappointed), and you have your event files converted over to CSV files after you generated the BEVENT batch files per last weekend’s post.

Now, you would like to read in that data and start looking through it for anything useful. Well this weekend’s post will help you with the reading in part, and you can take it from there if you would like.

Here is the C# console code. I have put all of the CSV files, ROS (roster) files, and the TEAM???? file into a folder on my C: drive called baseball_data, if your folder is different then just change the constant defined in the code below:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.IO;
using System.Linq;
 
namespace RetrosheetReader
{
 
    class Team
    {
        int year;
        string city;
        string nickname;
        string abbreviation;
        string league;
 
        public Team(int y, string[] a)
        {
            year = y;
            abbreviation = a[0];
            league = a[1];
            city = a[2];
            nickname = a[3];
        }
    }
 
    class Player
    {
        int year;
        string team;
        string playerID;
        string firstName;
        string lastName;
        string bats;
        string throws;
        string position;
 
        public Player(int y, string[] a)
        {
            year = y;
            playerID = a[0];
            lastName = a[1];
            firstName = a[2];
            bats = a[3];
            throws = a[4];
            team = a[5];
            position = a[6];
        }
    }
 
    class Event
    {
        string gameID;
        string visitingTeam;
        int inning;
        string battingTeam;
        int outs;
        int balls;
        int strikes;
        // yeah, there is still some work left here to do
        // maybe next time
 
        public Event(string[] a)
        {
            gameID = a[0];
            visitingTeam = a[1];
            inning = Convert.ToInt32(a[2]);
            battingTeam = a[3];
            outs = Convert.ToInt32(a[4]);
            balls = Convert.ToInt32(a[5]);
            strikes = Convert.ToInt32(a[6]);
        }
    }
 
    class Program
    {
        const string DATA = "c:\\baseball_data\\";
 
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            List teamList = new List();
            List playerList = new List();
            List eventList = new List();
 
            string s;
            string[] splitLine;
            int y;
 
            Console.WriteLine("Retrosheet Reader");
            Console.WriteLine();
 
            List tfs = Directory.GetFiles(DATA, "team*").ToList();
            foreach (string tf in tfs)
            {
                y = Convert.ToInt32(Path.GetFileName(tf).Substring(4));
                StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(tf);
                while ((s = sr.ReadLine()) != null)
                {
                    splitLine = s.Split(',');
                    if (splitLine.Count() == 4)
                    {
                        teamList.Add(new Team(y, splitLine));
                    }
                }
            }
 
            List rfs = Directory.GetFiles(DATA, "*.ros").ToList();
            foreach (string rf in rfs)
            {
                y = Convert.ToInt32(Path.GetFileName(rf).Substring(3).Split('.')[0]);
                StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(rf);
                while ((s = sr.ReadLine()) != null)
                {
                    splitLine = s.Split(',');
                    if (splitLine.Count() == 7)
                    {
                        playerList.Add(new Player(y, splitLine));
                    }
                }
            }
 
            List efs = Directory.GetFiles(DATA, "*.csv").ToList();
            foreach (string ef in efs)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("Reading events in " + ef);
                StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(ef);
                while ((s = sr.ReadLine()) != null)
                {
                    splitLine = s.Split(',');
                    if (splitLine.Count() == 97)
                    {
                        eventList.Add(new Event(splitLine));
                    }
                }
            }
 
            Console.WriteLine("Number of teams: " + teamList.Count().ToString());
            Console.WriteLine("Number of players: " + playerList.Count().ToString());
            Console.WriteLine("Number of events: " + eventList.Count().ToString());
 
            Console.WriteLine();
            Console.Write("Strike any key to end...");
            Console.ReadKey();
        }
    }
}

I have an idea as to the first thing that I am going to look for in the Retrosheet data, so tune in next weekend and I will (hopefully) have some interesting insights.

Monty Hall meets Monte Carlo

In honor of CBS canceling The Guiding Light after 72 years, and replacing it with a new incantation of Let’s Make A Deal, I decided to apply a little brute force computing to The Monty Hall problem.

Here is the VB.NET code to run the simulations. I decided to only apply a few different Monty Hall behaviors and a few different player behaviors, but it should be enough to drive home the paradox.

Module Module1
 
    Sub Main()
 
        Dim i, j, ctr As Integer
        Dim doorSwitch As String = "?"
        Dim smartMonty As String = "?"
        Dim prizeDoor(3) As Boolean
        Dim rand As Random = New Random()
        Dim doorMontyOpens As Integer
        Dim doorYouOpen As Integer
        Dim carsWon As Integer = 0
 
        Console.WriteLine("The Monty Hall Problem")
        Console.Write("How many times to run the simulation? ")
        ctr = Val(Console.ReadLine())
        If ctr < 1 Then End
 
        Console.Write("Are you going to switch doors? [Y/N/M] ")
        While Not "YNM".Contains(doorSwitch)
            doorSwitch = Console.ReadKey.KeyChar.ToString.ToUpper
        End While
        Console.WriteLine()
 
        Console.Write("Does Monty know where the car is? [Y/N/M] ")
        While Not "YNM".Contains(smartMonty)
            smartMonty = Console.ReadKey.KeyChar.ToString.ToUpper
        End While
        Console.WriteLine()
 
        For i = 1 To ctr
 
            ' set up the prize doors
            For j = 1 To 3
                prizeDoor(j) = False
            Next
            prizeDoor(rand.Next(1, 4)) = True
 
            Console.Write(i.ToString() + " (")
            For j = 1 To 3
                Console.Write(If(prizeDoor(j), "$", j.ToString))
            Next
            Console.Write(") -- ")
 
            ' Monty shows you a door
            If smartMonty = "Y" Or (smartMonty = "M" And _
                                    rand.NextDouble > 0.5) Then
                doorMontyOpens = If(prizeDoor(2), 3, 2)
            Else
                doorMontyOpens = rand.Next(2, 4)
                If prizeDoor(doorMontyOpens) Then
                    carsWon = carsWon + 1
                    Console.WriteLine("Monty revealed the car!!!!!")
                    Continue For
                End If
            End If
            Console.Write("Monty reveals a goat behind door #" + _
                          doorMontyOpens.ToString + " -- ")
 
            ' pick a door to open
            If doorSwitch = "Y" Or (doorSwitch = "M" And _
                                  rand.NextDouble > 0.5) Then
                doorYouOpen = If(doorMontyOpens = 2, 3, 2)
                Console.Write("You switched to door #" + _
                              doorYouOpen.ToString + " -- ")
            Else
                doorYouOpen = 1
                Console.Write("You stayed with door #1 -- ")
            End If
 
            ' did we win?
            If prizeDoor(doorYouOpen) Then
                Console.WriteLine("You won the car!!!!!")
                carsWon = carsWon + 1
            Else
                Console.WriteLine("You won the goat.")
            End If
 
        Next
 
        Console.WriteLine(" ")
        Console.WriteLine("You won the car " + carsWon.ToString + _
                          " times out of " + ctr.ToString)
        Console.WriteLine("Winning percentage: " + (carsWon * _
                            100.0 / ctr).ToString("##0.0"))
        Console.WriteLine(" ")
        Console.WriteLine("Strike any key to end...")
        Console.ReadKey()
 
    End Sub
 
End Module

Now if CBS ever decides to cancel The Young And The Restless, we are going to have a real problem on our hands.

Retrosheet.org play-by-play baseball data

I have thought for a long time that Retrosheet.org was a pretty neat web site with the potential for a ton of baseball information.

They have loads of stats on their site, but it can be hard to get at sometimes.  As a result, I thought I might do some coding against their data just for fun. (I am doing this mainly because I am bored, because the Steelers are not on TV here in Ohio today, and because cable does not carry the NFL Sunday Ticket.)

The first task is to take their event data files and get them into a format that can be easily read and parsed. There are zip files on the Retrosheet web site to download entire seasons worth of event data, just go to retrosheet.org, hover over Data downloads, and select Play-by-play files.

However, once you look at these event files, you discover that they may need a little interpreting to get them into a nicer format for study. Luckily, Tom Tippett, David Nichols, and David W. Smith wrote a DOS application that does this, you just need to run this BEVENT.EXE file on each of the event files.

And of course, I couldn’t simply do that, I had to write a VB.NET console application to create a batch file do automate this.

Imports System.IO
 
Module Module1
 
    Sub Main()
 
        Console.WriteLine("BEvent Helper")
        Console.Write("Enter the directory of your event files: ")
        Dim d As String = Console.ReadLine()
 
        If d.Trim = "" Or Not Directory.Exists(d) Then GoTo App_end
        If Right(d, 1) <> "\" Then d = d + "\"
 
        Dim eventFilenames As List(Of String)
        eventFilenames = Directory.GetFiles(d, "*.ev?").ToList
 
        Dim s, cmd As String
        Dim sw As StreamWriter = New StreamWriter(d + "BEventHelper.bat")
        For Each f In eventFilenames
            s = Path.GetFileName(f)
            cmd = "bevent.exe -f 0-96 -y " + Left(s, 4) + " " + s + " > " + s + ".csv"
            sw.WriteLine(cmd)
        Next
        sw.WriteLine("pause")
        sw.Close()
 
App_end:
        Console.WriteLine("Press any key to end application...")
        Console.ReadKey()
 
    End Sub
 
End Module

So what you do is download a season zip file (such as the 2008 Major League season), unzip the files into a directory, download the bevent.zip file from the Software tools page, unzip it and place the BEVENT.EXE file into the directory with all the event files, run the console application and enter the directory name at the prompt, and when it is all said and done, you have a BEventHelper.bat file in the directory. Once this file is run, you will end up with CSV files that correspond to the event files.

In the next episode, I will begin to read in the data and crank out some preliminary statistics.

Disclaimer: The information used here was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by Retrosheet. Interested parties may contact Retrosheet at “www.retrosheet.org”.

My first foray into Code Golf

So I am poking around on Stack Overflow, trying to figure out a way for someone as stupid as me to actually move my reputation up, when I stumble on this post…

Code Golf: Duplicate Character Removal in String

This seemed simple enough, so here is my VB.NET console application code:

Module Module1
 
    Sub Main()
 
        Dim s As String = "nbHHkRvrXbvkn"
        Console.WriteLine("The original string is: " + s)
        For Each c In s : s = IIf(s.LastIndexOf(c) <> s.IndexOf(c), s.Replace(CStr(c), Nothing), s) : Next
        Console.WriteLine("The modified string is: " + s)
        Console.ReadKey()
 
    End Sub
 
End Module

The line that does all the work is 98 characters, including the spaces that the IDE automagically puts in there for me.

Anyone have any ideas on how to improve it in VB.NET?

Some more Monte Carlo experimentation

Disclaimer: I do not in any way, shape, or form condone gambling. This posting is for entertainment purposes only.

I saw this roulette story on The Daily WTF, and thought that it merited some good ole fashioned brute force computing:

Knocking Me Off The Perch

So here is the VB.NET console application code:

Module Module1
 
    Dim rand As Random
 
    Dim tableResults() As List(Of String)
    Dim theWheel() As String = {"G00", "B2", "R14", "B35", "R23", _
                                "B4", "R16", "B33", "R21", "B6", _
                                "R18", "B31", "R19", "B8", "R12", _
                                "B29", "R25", "B10", "R27", _
                                "G0", "R1", "B13", "R36", "B24", _
                                "R3", "B15", "R34", "B22", "R5", _
                                "B17", "R32", "B20", "R7", "B11", _
                                "R30", "B26", "R9", "B28"}
    Dim wheelCount As Integer
    Dim tableBetAmount() As Integer
    Dim tableBetColor() As String
    Dim tableLostLastTime() As String
 
    Dim tables, stake, bet, matches, goal, attempts As Integer
    Dim cancelBetAfterAWin As String
 
    Function GetASpin() As String
 
        Return theWheel(rand.Next(0, wheelCount))
 
    End Function
 
    Function GetABet(Optional ByVal bigBet As Boolean = False) As Integer
 
        Dim theBet As Integer
 
        If bigBet Then
            theBet = bet * 1.5
        Else
            theBet = bet
        End If
 
        If theBet > stake Then theBet = stake
 
        stake = stake - theBet
 
        Return theBet
 
    End Function
 
    Sub Main()
 
        Dim i, j As Integer
        Dim s As String
 
        rand = New Random
 
        Console.WriteLine("The Perch")
 
        Console.Write("How many tables to watch? (4) ")
        tables = Val(Console.ReadLine)
        If tables = 0 Then tables = 4
        ReDim tableResults(tables)
        ReDim tableBetAmount(tables)
        ReDim tableBetColor(tables)
        ReDim tableLostLastTime(tables)
 
        Dim stakeSave As Integer
 
        Console.Write("How many money to start with? (10) ")
        stakeSave = Val(Console.ReadLine)
        If stakeSave = 0 Then stakeSave = 10
 
        Console.Write("How many money to bet? (10) ")
        bet = Val(Console.ReadLine)
        If bet = 0 Then bet = 10
 
        Console.Write("How many times to hit a color before betting? (4) ")
        matches = Val(Console.ReadLine)
        If matches = 0 Then matches = 4
 
        Console.Write("What is your goal amount? (400) ")
        goal = Val(Console.ReadLine)
        If goal = 0 Then goal = 400
 
        Console.Write("How many times to run the simulation? (1000) ")
        attempts = Val(Console.ReadLine)
        If attempts = 0 Then attempts = 1000
 
        Console.Write("Cancel your bet after a win? (Y) ")
        s = Console.ReadLine.ToUpper.Trim
        If s = "" Then s = "Y"
        cancelBetAfterAWin = (s = "Y")
 
        Dim madeGoal As Integer = 0
 
        wheelCount = theWheel.Count
 
        Dim currAttempt As Integer
        Dim ctr As Integer
        Dim theSpin As String
        Dim spinsSeen As Integer
        Dim result As String
        For currAttempt = 1 To attempts
            ' initialize the table arrays
            stake = stakeSave
            For i = 0 To tables - 1
                tableResults(i) = New List(Of String)
                tableBetAmount(i) = 0
                tableLostLastTime(i) = ""
            Next
            ' initialize the lists
            For j = 1 To matches
                s = String.Format("{0,5}", j.ToString)
                For i = 0 To tables - 1
                    theSpin = GetASpin()
                    tableResults(i).Add(theSpin)
                    s = s + String.Format("{0,5}{1,-5}", "", theSpin)
                Next
                s = s + String.Format("{0,5}", stake.ToString)
                Console.WriteLine(s)
            Next
            spinsSeen = matches
            ' loop
            While (stake > 0 And stake < goal)
                ' place your bets
                For i = 0 To tables - 1
                    If tableLostLastTime(i) <> "" Then
                        ' see if this is the 1st time losing
                        If tableBetAmount(i) = bet Then
                            ' we lost last time out, automatically bet 1.5x
                            tableBetAmount(i) = GetABet(True)
                            tableBetColor(i) = tableLostLastTime(i)
                        Else
                            ' this is the 2nd time losing in a row, so stop betting
                            tableBetAmount(i) = 0
                            tableBetColor(i) = ""
                            tableLostLastTime(i) = ""
                        End If
                    Else
                        ' check to see if the colors match up
                        ctr = 0
                        For Each r In tableResults(i)
                            If Left(r, 1) = "B" Then ctr = ctr + 1
                        Next
                        If ctr = matches Then
                            ' it's coming up black, bet on red
                            tableBetAmount(i) = GetABet()
                            tableBetColor(i) = "R"
                            tableLostLastTime(i) = ""
                        End If
                        ctr = 0
                        For Each r In tableResults(i)
                            If Left(r, 1) = "R" Then ctr = ctr + 1
                        Next
                        If ctr = matches Then
                            ' it's coming up red, bet on black
                            tableBetAmount(i) = GetABet()
                            tableBetColor(i) = "B"
                            tableLostLastTime(i) = ""
                        End If
                    End If
                Next
                ' now spin for each of the tables
                spinsSeen = spinsSeen + 1
                s = String.Format("{0,5}", spinsSeen.ToString)
                For i = 0 To tables - 1
                    ' pop off the oldest spin for each table
                    tableResults(i).RemoveAt(0)
                    ' get a new spin for each table
                    theSpin = GetASpin()
                    tableResults(i).Add(theSpin)
                    If tableBetAmount(i) = 0 Then
                        s = s + String.Format("{0,5}{1,-5}", "", theSpin)
                    Else
                        s = s + String.Format("{0,5}{1,-5}", _
                                              tableBetAmount(i).ToString + _
                                              tableBetColor(i) + ">", theSpin)
                    End If
                    ' check for bets
                    If tableBetColor(i) <> "" Then
                        If Left(tableBetColor(i), 1) = Left(theSpin, 1) Then
                            ' winner
                            stake = stake + tableBetAmount(i) * 2
                            tableLostLastTime(i) = ""
                            If cancelBetAfterAWin Then
                                tableBetAmount(i) = 0
                                tableBetColor(i) = ""
                            End If
                        Else
                            tableLostLastTime(i) = tableBetColor(i)
                        End If
                    End If
                Next
                s = s + String.Format("{0,5}", stake.ToString)
                Console.WriteLine(s)
            End While
            If stake = 0 Then
                result = "Busted"
            Else
                madeGoal = madeGoal + 1
                result = "Won $" + stake.ToString
            End If
            Console.WriteLine("Spins seen: " + spinsSeen.ToString + _
                              "; Result: " + result)
        Next
 
        Console.WriteLine()
        Console.WriteLine("Total simulations: " + attempts.ToString)
        Console.WriteLine("Number of times goal was made: " + madeGoal.ToString)
 
        Console.WriteLine()
        Console.WriteLine("Strike any key to end the program")
        Console.ReadKey()
 
    End Sub
 
End Module

I kind of stumbled into something interesting here. I thought I had coded the application with the rules as described in the posting on The Daily WTF, but the results that I was seeing seemed out of whack to me.  I was running 1,000 simulations and coming up with about 300 times successfully reaching the goal. After I put in the code that breaks down the wheel, bet, and stake status on a spin-by-spin basis, I noticed that I was not cancelling the bet after a win. After fixing it up by adding the code to return to the perch after a winning bet (see the section above with the comment winner), all of a sudden the number of times reaching the goal went from 300 per thousand to 0 to 5 per thousand.

So that you can try it for yourself, I put in an option to control this parameter. From the results, it would appear that if you want to play this way, you should let the bets ride. (But notice that if your bets are riding and you get the required number red or black spins in a row, the bet that is riding could switch colors.)

Brute force solution to a birthday riddle

At one point a long time ago, one of my college professors asked our class how many people it would take to put in a room before the probability that two of the people had the same birthday was greater than or equal to 50 percent, took guesses from a few of us students, and then told us the answer was 12. Coming from a professor, this had to be true.

That answer has not sat well with me lo these many years since my drinking days, so sitting here with nothing else to do, I decided to try a little Monte Carlo problem solving.

Here is my VS 2008 C# console application code:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
 
namespace Birthdays
{
    class Program
    {
        static int numberOfRuns;
        static int[] numberOfPeople;
        static List<int> birthdays;
        static Random rand;
 
        static int GetABirthday()
        {
            int b;
            int maxDays = (rand.Next(1, 5) == 1) ? 367 : 366;
 
            b = rand.Next(1, maxDays);
 
            return b;
        }
 
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            rand = new Random();
 
            Console.WriteLine("Birthdays application");
 
            Console.Write("How many times would you like to run a birthday search? ");
            string s = Console.ReadLine();
            numberOfRuns = Convert.ToInt32(s);
 
            numberOfPeople = new int[367];
            for (int i = 0; i < 367; i++)
            {
                numberOfPeople[i] = 0;
            }
 
            Boolean leaveLoop;
            int b;
            int leapDayMatches = 0;
            int leapDayBirthdays = 0;
            int totalBirthdays = 0;
            for (int i = 1; i <= numberOfRuns; i++)
            {
                birthdays = new List<int>();
                leaveLoop = false;
                while (!leaveLoop)
                {
                    b = GetABirthday();
                    totalBirthdays++;
                    if (b == 366)
                    {
                        leapDayBirthdays++;
                    }
                    if (birthdays.Contains(b))
                    {
                        numberOfPeople[birthdays.Count() + 1]++;
                        leaveLoop = true;
                        if (b == 366)
                        {
                            leapDayMatches++;
                        }
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        birthdays.Add(b);
                    }
                }
            }
 
            Console.WriteLine();
            Console.WriteLine("Breakdown of number of people required:");
            int ctr = 0;
            for (int i = 2; i <= 366; i++)
            {
                if (numberOfPeople[i] != 0)
                {
                    ctr += numberOfPeople[i];
                    Console.WriteLine(string.Format("{0} people: {1} ({2:P})", i, 
                                        numberOfPeople[i], ctr * 1.0 / numberOfRuns));
                }
            }
            Console.WriteLine(string.Format("Total birthdays generated: {0}", 
                                                totalBirthdays));
            Console.WriteLine(string.Format("Leap day birthdays: {0}", 
                                                leapDayBirthdays));
            Console.WriteLine(string.Format("Leap day matches: {0}", 
                                                leapDayMatches));
            Console.WriteLine();
            Console.WriteLine("Strike any key to end the program");
            Console.ReadKey();
        }
    }
}

The answer yielded by the above code is 23, as any meaningful sample size plugged into the program above will demonstrate.

Of course, we did not have the internet back then, but now a quick Google search yields plenty of discussion of the theory and math behind the puzzle. If you are interested, click this link.

Sentinel.v3.5Client error in ClickOnce app install

We have had bad experiences in the past deploying desktop applications based on the .Net Framework version 3.5, largely due to the huge payload required on the end user’s system to run our relatively simple application.

When SP1 of Visual Studio 2008 was announced to have an option to trim down the bits to be downloaded, we were naturally excited to put it into place on our newest product. In a VB.NET application, this option is called “Client-only Framework subset”, it is on the Advanced Compiler Settings window shown by clicking Advance Compile Options… on the Compile tab of My Project, and in a C#.NET application, the Client-only Framework subset check box is right under Target Framework on the Application tab shown by right clicking on the project file and selecting Properties.

Excited until, of course, we tried for the very first time to run the ClickOnce installer for our product on a clean Windows XP SP3 virtual machine and received the following error:

Unable to install or run the application. The application requires that
assembly Sentinel.v3.5Client Version 3.5.0.0 be installed in the Global
Assembly Cache (GAC) first.

I did some quick investigating and found that, for the most part, the suggested solution was to turn off the client only subset option. Bugger!

This did not sit well with me, so I did a little more digging. I did not think that there were any kind of items added to the code that would require namespaces not included in the client only framework, so I went through all of the property pages for the project.

On the Publish tab, I clicked on Preqrequisites, and noticed that my application was including prerequisites for Windows Installer 3.1, .NET Framework 3.5, and SQL Server Compact 3.5. On a lark, I turned off the prerequisite for .NET Framework 3.5 and turned on the prerequisite for .NET Framework 3.5 SP1, built the ClickOnce installer, and voila! It is now working like a champ.

Subversion operations on Visual Studio 2008 solution take forever

Well, not literally, just a very very long time.

Our Subversion source repository has grown to be quite sizable over the past couple of years. We have always used TortoiseSVN and VisualSVN to tame this beast, and it has usually not let us down.

However, a while back, something bad happened to a VS 2008 solution in the repository. When launching the solution, the refresh of the version control status indicators next to the files in the solution take a very long time to appear and/or refresh, and any kind of operation done on the solution file (such as update, repo browser, etc.) goes back to the root of the whole repository instead of working with the folder where the solution file lives.

Strangely enough, operations done on any of the components inside of the solution does the right thing. In other words, if I update a project in the solution from Visual Studio, it works lightning fast.

I finally got tired of wasting 2 to 10 minutes per operation on the solution and studied this problem by comparing this malfunctioning solution with one that appears to do what you would expect it to. One thing I noticed right away was that the speedy project contained the following lines at the bottom of the solution file (opened in your favorite text editor, of course):

    GlobalSection(ExtensibilityGlobals) = postSolution
        VisualSVNWorkingCopyRoot =
    EndGlobalSection
    GlobalSection(SubversionScc) = preSolution
        Svn-Managed = True
        Manager = AnkhSVN - Subversion Support for Visual Studio
    EndGlobalSection

I added these lines to the bottom of my sluggish solution file and re-opened it, and I now predict explosive advances in my productivity. Or at least more time for tweeting.

Now all I need to do is figure out how to remove these disabled “DSL Tools”, “Text Transformation”, “Workflow”, and “ANTS 4″ menu items from my VS 2008. Anyone have any ideas? (EDIT: John Boker has found the solution, see the comments.)

EDIT, PART DEUX: I tried this fix on a different existing Visual Studio project on 9/23/2009, and of course it didn’t work. I studied the problem a bit more, and found that if I added the GlobalSection(SubversionSCC) section that I have already inserted into the code block above, it did the trick for me. (Even though I am not actually using AnkhSVN, I am using TortoiseSVN, so I am guessing the Manager line is not important. However, I have left it in there for completeness.)

NetCFSvcUtil and Windows 7

So I have, for the most part, got the new development machine all set up and running pretty well. But ah, there is always a fly in the ointment…

I have a Windows Mobile client application that talks to a WCF service to move data back and forth. I have been using a batch file that I created that ran the NetCFSvcUtil.exe program included in the Power Toys for .NET Compact Framework 3.5. This tool reads information from the provided URL of the web service and creates C# or VB.NET source files that can be included in your project.

And of course, this utility program does not work on my shiny new Windows 7 RC machine, it gives the following error:

Attempting to download metadata from 'http://www.site.net/Service.svc'
using WS-Metadata Exchange or DISCO.
Error: An error occurred in the tool.
Error: Error in the application.

Some searching for this problem yielded the following posts:

NetCFSvcUtil.exe and Windows 7

Ambiguous error message from NetCFSvcUtil.exe

These links appear to indicate that the NetCFSvcUtil does not work on Windows 7 and there is no workaround just yet. And now I have a nice shiny new VirtualBox Windows XP image that contains installs of the .NET Compact Framework 3.5 with the Power Toys, and a copy of my old batch files, along with a shared folder that I can grab the files when I need them. Thanks Microsoft!

However, it appears that Microsoft does not have the market cornered on “D’oh!” backwards compatibility moments. It appears that some users have had some issues with the load times of Firefox 3.5, and believe it or not, removing the cookies and temporary internet files associated with IE can actually help. I will give you a couple of links to look at while you ponder this interesting nugget.

The Firefox 3.5 fiasco

Firefox 3.5 slow to start troubleshooting & info

I guess you could say that Mozilla is a big believer in the More Randomer theory.

When 5.95 does not equal 5.95

People like nicely formatted numbers on their reports and web pages. For example, if I needed to display the results of a division where the dividend is 1 and the divisor is 3, typically I would display that as 0.3 (the number formatted to 1 decimal place) instead of 0.3333333.

So imagine my surprise when I had a single detail line in my report where a value is shown as 6.0, but in the total line right below it (which utilizes the same data since there is only the one detail line), the same value is displayed as 5.9.

We finally tracked the problem down to a conversion between a float to a double. It appears that the .NET runtime is not able to take a float value of 5.95 and convert it exactly to a double of 5.95, the conversion sets the double to 5.94999980926514. As a result, when this value was sent into the string formatting function, the value would round down instead of rounding up. Keep in mind that the divisions actually come out right, whether they are floats or doubles. As I stepped through the code, all looked well since the float variable was calculating as 5.95 (119 divided by 20), but this was of course before the conversion and formatting.

As I think about it, I was pretty lucky to find this little glitch, as it will only manifest itself when for certain dividends when the divisor is a multiple of 20. (The 1 decimal place round off error happens at multiples of 0.05, or 1 / 20.) Feeling interested, I decided to do a little experimentation. I am married and over the hill, what else am I going to do on a Friday night?

I set up a .NET C# console application to test out the divisions, conversions, and string formatting, and reporting on when the formatted string of the double varies from the formatted string of the float converted to a double. The divisor would loop from 20 to 1000 by 20, and the dividend would loop from 1 to 1000. The final results were:

Divisions tested: 50000
Divisions failed: 916
Failure percentage: 1.83 %

As expected, the divisor of 20 shows the most variations, and dropped off to only 4 variations with a divisor of 1000 (at 350, 450, 650, and 950).

The moral of the story is when it comes to floats, just say no. We went into the code and removed all the float variables and casts and changed them all to doubles.