A Unicode Normalization Case

Found this page is useful when you have to deal of stripping accents in Latin characters.

Also this is another class lib.

System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x800A03EC): Microsoft Office Excel cannot access the file

On some versions of Windows Server, you might see this error when trying to access office file. And from here, the solution is extremely easy (and weird).

1. Create directory "C:\Windows\SysWOW64\config\systemprofile\Desktop " (for 64 bit Windows) or "C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\Desktop " (for 32 bit Windows)

# for 64 bit Windows

    New-item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path "C:\Windows\SysWOW64\config\systemprofile\Desktop"

# for 32 bit Windows

    New-item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path "C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\Desktop"

1. Set Full control permissions for directory Desktop (for example in Win7 & IIS 7 & DefaultAppPool set permissions for user
   "IIS AppPool\DefaultAppPool")

When .gitignore is not working (git status is showing files to be ignored)

The issue:
# git status keep showing files that already been added to .gitignore

.gitignore
    test.txt

The Story:
# git check-ignore -v test.txt doesn't return anything
# ==> which means .gitignore is not working
# This answer suggests that maybe it caused by encoding issue thus git cannot handle the .gitignore correctly.
# Open .gitnore using Notepad++, Verify the encoder, and go to menu Encoding, Convert to UTF-8-BOM.
# git status, TA-DA!

Run unit tests in parallel

https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/vstsqualitytools/2009/12/01/executing-unit-tests-in-parallel-on-a-multi-cpucore-machine/

quick review:
# Create test settings file is not exists
# Open in XML Editor
# add parallelTestCount attribute in Execution
attribute not specified = 1 CPU/Core used (default) 
0 = Auto configure: We will use as many tests as we can based on your CPU and core count 
n = The number n of tests to run in parallel to use (if you do not want to use all of your CPU/cores)

80% of your company's culture will be defined by its core leaders.

A very good one


http://firstround.com/review/80-of-Your-Culture-is-Your-Founder/

80% of your company's culture will be defined by its core leaders.

And this is how Mark Zuckerberg defined himself and the "one of us" as well.

• A very high IQ
• Strong sense of purpose
• Relentless focus on success
• Aggressive and competitive
• High quality bar, bordering on perfectionism
• Likes changing and disrupting things
• New ideas on how to do things better
• High integrity
• Surrounds themselves with good people
• Cares about building real value over perceived value

Support GB2312 and GBK in Sublime Text 3

It's annoying that Sublime doesn't support GB2312 and GBK by default. A solution is to install package ConvertToUTF8 using Package Control.

Very easy:

1. Make sure install Package Control follow by this instruction: https://packagecontrol.io/installation

2. Install package ConvertToUTF8 follow by instruction at here: https://github.com/seanliang/ConvertToUTF8

3. It's done!

Powershell behind NTLM proxy

Followed scripts set Powershell's proxy credentials as current default credentials (as in Internet Explorer).

$browser = New-Object System.Net.WebClient
$browser.Proxy.Credentials =[System.Net.CredentialCache]::DefaultNetworkCredentials

For more details, read here.

Error of Update-Help

PS F:\> update-help
update-help : Failed to update Help for the module(s) 'AppBackgroundTask, AppLocker, Appx, AssignedAccess, BitLocker,
BitsTransfer, BranchCache, CimCmdlets, Defender, DirectAccessClientComponents, Dism, DnsClient,
EventTracingManagement, HgsClient, Hyper-V, International, iSCSI, ISE, Kds, Microsoft.PowerShell.Archive,
Microsoft.PowerShell.Core, Microsoft.PowerShell.Diagnostics, Microsoft.PowerShell.Host,
Microsoft.PowerShell.Management, Microsoft.PowerShell.ODataUtils, Microsoft.PowerShell.Security,
Microsoft.PowerShell.Utility, Microsoft.WSMan.Management, MMAgent, MsDtc, NetAdapter, NetConnection,
NetEventPacketCapture, NetLbfo, NetNat, NetQos, NetSecurity, NetSwitchTeam, NetTCPIP, NetWNV,
NetworkConnectivityStatus, NetworkSwitchManager, NetworkTransition, PackageManagement, PcsvDevice, PKI, PnpDevice,
PowerShellGet, PrintManagement, PSDesiredStateConfiguration, PSReadline, PSScheduledJob, PSWorkflow,
PSWorkflowUtility, ScheduledTasks, SecureBoot, SmbShare, SmbWitness, StartLayout, Storage, TLS, TroubleshootingPack,
TrustedPlatformModule, VpnClient, Wdac, WindowsDeveloperLicense, WindowsErrorReporting, WindowsSearch, WindowsUpdate'
with UI culture(s) {en-US} : Unable to connect to Help content. The server on which Help content is stored might not
be available. Verify that the server is available, or wait until the server is back online, and then try the command
again.
At line:1 char:1
+ update-help

+ ~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (:) [Update-Help], Exception
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : UnableToConnect,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.UpdateHelpCommand

Some resources about PMI-ACP certification

Found this list in an old email. This was how I prepared and passed PMI-ACP three years ago. So can't grantee all of these are still available now. Feel free to comment if you found issue or have new resources to add!

# the book 
This is the book I mentioned about PMI-ACP test, $69. It also on Amazon, but at higher price ($99). 
http://store.rmcproject.com/Detail.bok?no=360

along with the book, this website also provide a combo, with some tests. I didn't try them, so don't know whether they're good or not. 
http://store.rmcproject.com/Detail.bok?no=373

# online course 
I also bought this online course, to get 21 PDUs, which is a must-have for the test. I bought 90 days access ($179.99), but actually 30 days($99) is already enough if you have enough time in those 30 days. They have same things, just different access time. The course comes with some video training (from those you'll get 21PDUs), and 3 free tests, which has bad design and some answers are even wrong. 

http://www.simplilearn.com/online-courses/1095/pmi-acp-certification-exam-online-training-courses-and-free-tests

Some other resources: 

# A very good study guide. it's FREE. MUST-HAVE. 
http://www.bostonagiletraining.com/pmi-acp_study_guide.html

# A wiki for Agile. This is a good reference for the test and daily work. 
http://www.agilebok.org

# Also online exams. I didn't buy this. But seems their free exams is better than Simplilearn. 
http://www.agileexams.com/register-now/?wlfrom=%2Fpractice-exams%2F

# Mike Cohn's book Agile Estimating and Planning. This will let you understand most knowledge of the test. 
http://www.amazon.com/Agile-Estimating-Planning-Mike-Cohn/dp/0131479415/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1360807365&sr=1-1&keywords=agile+planning+and+estimation+by+mike+cohn

# some documents I collected: 
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19821771/PMI-ACP.rar

Show Volume icon in Windows 10

This may seem silly, but it did take me about 5 minutes researching online and play with new control panels in Windows 10. And Here's my steps to show Volume icon in task bar. Hope this post will save some time for others.

1. From Start, go to Settings
2. Choose Systems, and then Notification & actions
3. Click "Turn system icons on or off"
   
   
   
4. Turn "Volume" option on

Find & Replace with Regular Expression in Sublime Text 3

With Regular Expression, Find & Replace in Sublime Text 3 is much easier.

${1}, ${2}, etc. can be used to keep previous matched result when replacing.

For example, below snapshot finds all numbers followed by minus, and move the minus to left side.

Adding Notepad++ to the context menu of the Windows file manager

It's easy to add Notepad++ to context menu, so you can use it anytime!

Quick Notes:

1. Go to Notepad++'s folder 
2. Run command
   

   regsvr32 /s /i NppShell*.dll  
   
   //find your NppShell*.dll and put full name here
3. You should see followed window
   
   

See original post.