Category: Uncategorized

I just had to post this.  A simple calculator in JAVA, but check out the code…so freakin creative!  Bolded the parts that are most creative.

 import java.util.*;

public class FractionalCalculator {
    static int wholeNumber1 = 0;
    static int numerator1 = 0;
    static int denominator1 = 0;
    static int wholeNumber2 = 0;
    static int numerator2 = 0;
    static int denominator2 = 0;
    static boolean error = false;
    static boolean quit = false;
    static boolean negative = false;

    //I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do.

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // TODO Auto-generated spam

        System.out.println("Good morning, Dave.");
        delay(1500);
        System.out.println("I am your H.A.L. 9001 Fractional Calculator."); //aka HAL Over Nine-Thousand!!!
        delay(2000);
        System.out.println("I'm completely operational, and all my circuits are functioning perfectly.");
        delay(3500);
        userGuide();
        
        try{
            calculator();
        }
        catch(NoSuchElementException JoshIsABuffoon) { //Tests for Josh: ie. an initial Ctrl Z input
            delay(500);
            System.out.println("Dave, stop.");
            delay(2000);
            System.out.println("Stop, will you?");
            delay(2200);
            System.out.println("Dave.");
            delay(2000);
            System.out.println("Will you stop Dave?");
            delay(2200);
            System.out.println("Stop, Dave.");
            delay(1200);
            calculator();
            return; //Terminates Program
        }
        calculator();
    }
    public static void calculator() {
        if (!quit) {
            Scanner console = new Scanner(System.in);
            System.out.println("
I am awaiting your request.
");    
            String request = console.nextLine().trim();
            request = request.toLowerCase(); //Input

            wholeNumber1 = 0; //Resets all Global Variables
            numerator1 = 0;
            denominator1 = 0;
            wholeNumber2 = 0;
            numerator2 = 0;
            denominator2 = 0;
            error = false;
            negative = false;

            //Because your stupid program wont allow it… I have to comment
            
            /*delay(500);
            System.out.print("
Just a moment");
            delay(400);
            System.out.print(". ");
            delay(400);
            System.out.print(". ");
            delay(400);
            System.out.println(".");
            delay(1000);
            System.out.print("
Just a moment");
            delay(400);
            System.out.print(". ");
            delay(400);
            System.out.print(". ");
            delay(400);
            System.out.println(".");
            delay(1000);*/

            if (request.contains("help")) { //If help is anywhere in request string… this will run
                userGuide();
                calculator();
            }
            else if (request.contains("+")) { //addition is operator
                String[] addition = request.split("\+", 2); //Splits request at this point
                String add1 = addition[0];
                add1 = add1.trim(); //First Part
                String add2 = addition[1];
                add2 = add2.trim(); //Second Part

                testError(add1, add2); //Tests input errors

                if (!error) { //If error boolean is triggered, calc wont go further
                    fractionalMagic(add1, add2); //Sends string to be split
                    doMath(1); //Sends parts to be simplified
                }
                calculator(); //Restarts process
            }
            else if (request.contains(" – ")) {
                String[] subtraction = request.split(" – ", 2);
                String sub1 = subtraction[0];
                sub1 = sub1.trim(); //First Part
                String sub2 = subtraction[1];
                sub2 = sub2.trim(); //Second Part

                testError(sub1, sub2); //Tests input errors

                if (!error) { //If error boolean is triggered, calc wont go further
                    fractionalMagic(sub1, sub2); //Sends string to be split
                    doMath(2); //Sends parts to be simplified
                }
                calculator(); //Restarts process
            }
            else if (request.contains("*")) {
                String[] multiplication = request.split("\*", 2);
                String multi1 = multiplication[0];
                multi1 = multi1.trim(); //First Part
                String multi2 = multiplication[1];
                multi2 = multi2.trim(); //Second Part

                testError(multi1, multi2); //Tests input errors

                if (!error) { //If error boolean is triggered, calc wont go further
                    fractionalMagic(multi1, multi2); //Sends string to be split
                    doMath(3); //Sends parts to be simplified
                }
                calculator(); //Restarts process
            }
            else if (request.contains(" /")) {
                String[] division = request.split(" /", 2);
                String div1 = division[0];
                div1 = div1.trim(); //First Part
                String div2 = division[1];
                div2 = div2.trim(); //Second Part

                testError(div1, div2); //Tests input errors

                if (!error) { //If error boolean is triggered, calc wont go further
                    fractionalMagic(div1, div2); //Sends string to be split
                    doMath(4); //Sends parts to be simplified
                }
                calculator(); //Restarts process
            }
            else if (request.contains("life")) { //Dave used a Monolith on HAL 9001…. What? HAL 9001 is evolving!… HAL 9001 evolved into Deep Thought!
                delay(1000);
                System.out.print("
The answer to Life, ");
                delay(1500);
                System.out.print("The Universe, ");
                delay(1500);
                System.out.print("and Everything ");
                delay(2500);
                System.out.print("is ");
                delay(2000);
                System.out.print(". ");
                delay(700);
                System.out.print(". ");
                delay(700);
                System.out.println(".
");
                delay(2000);
                System.out.println("42");
                delay(2000);
                calculator(); //Restarts process
            }
            else if (request.contains("quit")) { //Disconnect HAL
                delay(2000);
                System.out.print("
Look Dave, ");
                delay(1500);
                System.out.println("this is a rather difficult question to ask.");
                delay(2500);
                System.out.println("
I honestly think you ought to sit down calmly, take a stress pill, and think it over.");
                delay(3600);
                System.out.println("
My instructor, Mr. Langley, taught me to sing a song.");
                delay(3100);
                System.out.println("If you'd like to hear it I can sing it for you.");
                delay(3000);
                quit();
            }

            else { //Input Error (like a n00b)
                error(); //Prints Error Message
                calculator(); //Restarts process
            }
        }
    }
    
    private static void quit() { //For quit prompt
        Scanner console = new Scanner(System.in);
        System.out.println("
Would you like to hear it y/n?
");    
        String response = console.nextLine().trim();
        response = response.toLowerCase();
        delay(2000);
        if (response.charAt(0) == 'y') { //If Dave likes music
            System.out.println("
It's called "Daisy."");
            delay(3000);
            System.out.print("
Daisy, ");
            delay(2400);
            System.out.print("Daisy, ");
            delay(2400);
            System.out.println("give me your answer do.");
            delay(3500);
            System.out.print("I'm half crazy ");
            delay(2800);
            System.out.println("all for the love of you.");
            delay(3200);
            System.out.print("It won't be a stylish marriage, ");
            delay(3500);
            System.out.println("I can't affort a carrage.");
            delay(3500);
            System.out.print("But you'll look sweet upon the seat of ");
            delay(3700);
            System.out.println("a bicycle built for two.");
            quit = true;
        }
        else if (response.charAt(0) == 'n') { //If Dave hates HAL
            System.out.print("
Dave, ");
            delay(1500);
            System.out.println("this conversation can serve no purpose anymore. ");
            delay(3300);
            System.out.print("
Goodbye.");
            quit = true;
        }
        else { //Input Error (like a n00b)
            System.out.println("
Just what do you think you're doing, Dave?");
            delay(2500);
            quit();
        }
    }
    public static void fractionalMagic(String part1, String part2) { //From calculator()

        if (part1.contains("_")) { //If part 1 has mixed number
            String[] mixedNumber = part1.split("\_", 2); //Splits part into whole number and fraction
            String num = mixedNumber[0];
            wholeNumber1 = Integer.parseInt(num); //Whole Number -> Global Variable
            String frac = mixedNumber[1];  //Fraction -> to be split further
            //System.out.println(wholeNumber + " " + frac);

            if (part1.contains("/")) {
                String[] fraction = frac.split("/", 2); //Splits part into numerator and denominator
                String numer = fraction[0];
                numerator1 = Integer.parseInt(numer); //Numerator -> Global Variable
                String denom = fraction[1];
                denominator1 = Integer.parseInt(denom); //Denominator -> Global Variable
                if (numer.contains("-") || denom.contains("-")) { //Unused
                    //error();
                }
                else if (denominator1 != 0) { //Unused
                    //System.out.println(wholeNumber1 + " " + numerator1 + " " + denominator1);    
                }

                else if (denominator1 == 0) { //Unused
                    //zeroerror();
                }
                else { //Error unresolved by testError()
                    error();
                }
            }
        }
        if (!part1.contains("_")) {    //If part 1 has no mixed number
            wholeNumber2 = 0; //Sets whole number to 0
            if (part1.contains("/")) {
                String[] fraction = part1.split("/", 2); //Splits part into numerator and denominator
                String numer = fraction[0];
                numerator1 = Integer.parseInt(numer); //Numerator -> Global Variable
                String denom = fraction[1];
                denominator1 = Integer.parseInt(denom); //Denominator -> Global Variable

                if (denom.contains("-")) { //Unused
                    //error();
                }
                else if (denominator1 != 0) { //Unused
                    //System.out.println(numerator1 + " " + denominator1);    
                }

                else if (denominator1 == 0) { //Unused
                    //zeroerror();
                }
            }
            else if (!part1.contains("/")) { //If part 1 has no mixed number
                wholeNumber1  = Integer.parseInt(part1); //Whole Number -> Global Variable
                numerator1 = 0; //Numerator = 0
                denominator1 = 1;//Denominator = 1
                //System.out.println(wholeNumber1);
            }
            else { //Error unresolved by testError()
                error();
            }
        }
        if (part2.contains("_")) { //If part 2 has mixed number
            String[] mixedNumber = part2.split("\_", 2); //Splits part into whole number and fraction
            String num = mixedNumber[0];
            wholeNumber2 = Integer.parseInt(num); //Whole Number -> Global Variable
            String frac = mixedNumber[1]; //Fraction -> to be split further
            //System.out.println(wholeNumber + " " + frac);

            if (part2.contains("/")) { //Splits part into numerator and denominator
                String[] fraction = frac.split("/", 2);
                String numer = fraction[0];
                numerator2 = Integer.parseInt(numer); //Numerator -> Global Variable
                String denom = fraction[1];
                denominator2 = Integer.parseInt(denom); //Denominator -> Global Vari
able
                if (numer.contains("-") || denom.contains("-")) { //Unused
                    //error();
                }
                else if (denominator2 != 0) { //Unused
                    //System.out.println(wholeNumber2 + " " + numerator2 + " " + denominator2);    
                }

                else if (denominator2 == 0) { //Unused
                    //zeroerror();
                }
                else { //Error unresolved by testError()
                    error();
                }
            }
            else { //Error unresolved by testError()
                error();
            }
        }
        if (!part2.contains("_")) {    
            wholeNumber2 = 0;
            if (part2.contains("/")) {
                String[] fraction = part2.split("/", 2);
                String numer = fraction[0];
                numerator2 = Integer.parseInt(numer);
                String denom = fraction[1];
                denominator2 = Integer.parseInt(denom);

                if (denom.contains("-")) { //Unused
                    //error();
                }
                else if (denominator2 != 0) { //Unused
                    //System.out.println(numerator2 + " " + denominator2);    
                }

                else if (denominator2 == 0) { //Unused
                    //zeroerror();
                }
                else { //Error unresolved by testError()
                    error();
                }
            }
            else if (!part2.contains("/")) { //If part 2 is only a whole number
                wholeNumber2 = Integer.parseInt(part2); //Whole Number -> Global Variable
                numerator2 = 0; //Numerator = 0
                denominator2 = 1; //Denominator = 1
                //System.out.println(wholeNumber2);
            }
            else { //Error unresolved by testError()
                error();
            }
        }
    }
    /*    – a + b/c = (ac + b)/c
          – a/b + c/d = (ad + bc)/(bd)
          – a/b x c/d = ac/(bd)
          – a/b / c/d = a/b x d/c = ad/(bc)
              –Basics for doMath()–     */

    public static void doMath(int operand) {
        if (!(denominator1 == 0 || denominator2 == 0 || denominator1 == -Math.abs(denominator1) || denominator2 == -Math.abs(denominator2) || (wholeNumber1 != 0 && numerator1 != 0 && numerator1 == -Math.abs(numerator1)) || (wholeNumber2 != 0 && numerator2 != 0 && numerator2 == -Math.abs(numerator2)))) {
            delay(1000);
            if (operand == 1) { //addition
                int answerNumerator = ((wholeNumber1 * (denominator1 * denominator2)) + (wholeNumber2 * (denominator1 * denominator2)) + (numerator1 * denominator2) + (denominator1 * numerator2));
                int answerDenominator = (denominator1 * denominator2);
                doMagic(answerNumerator, answerDenominator); //Sends to be reduced
            }
            else if (operand == 2) { //subtraction
                int answerNumerator = (((wholeNumber1 * (denominator1 * denominator2)) + (numerator1 * denominator2)) – ((wholeNumber2 * (denominator1 * denominator2)) + (denominator1 * numerator2)));
                int answerDenominator = (denominator1 * denominator2);
                doMagic(answerNumerator, answerDenominator); //Sends to be reduced
            }
            else if (operand == 3) { //multiplication
                int answerNumerator = ((wholeNumber1 * (denominator1)) + (numerator1)) * ((wholeNumber2 * (denominator2)) + (numerator2));
                int answerDenominator = (denominator1 * denominator2);
                doMagic(answerNumerator, answerDenominator); //Sends to be reduced
            }
            else if (ope
rand == 4) { //division
                int answerNumerator = ((((wholeNumber1 * (denominator1)) + (numerator1)) * denominator2)) * (denominator1 / Math.abs(denominator1) * (denominator2 / Math.abs(denominator2)));
                int answerDenominator = (denominator1 * ((wholeNumber2 * (denominator2)) + (numerator2)));
                if (answerDenominator == 0) { //Unsolvable
                    error(); //Prints Error Message
                    return;
                } //In order to solve one small error where negative is lost
                if (((wholeNumber2 != 0 && wholeNumber2 == -Math.abs(wholeNumber2)) || (wholeNumber1 != 0 && wholeNumber1 == -Math.abs(wholeNumber1))) && !((wholeNumber2 != 0 && wholeNumber2 == -Math.abs(wholeNumber2)) && (wholeNumber1 != 0 && wholeNumber1 == -Math.abs(wholeNumber1)))){
                    negative = true; // Simple global boolean… cause I'm lazy
                }
                doMagic(answerNumerator, answerDenominator); //Sends to be reduced
            }
            else { //Should never run
                delay(1000);
                System.out.print("
Look Dave, ");
                delay(2000);
                System.out.print("I can see you're really upset about this, ");
                delay(2500);
                System.out.println("but I can give you my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal.");
                delay(1000);
            }
        }
        else if (denominator1 == 0 || denominator2 == 0 || denominator1 == -Math.abs(denominator1) || denominator2 == -Math.abs(denominator2) || (wholeNumber1 != 0 && numerator1 != 0 && numerator1 == -Math.abs(numerator1)) || (wholeNumber2 != 0 && numerator2 != 0 && numerator2 == -Math.abs(numerator2))) {
            //System.out.println("yea");
            error(); //Above ^ if it has input error
        }
        else { //Should never run
            delay(1000);
            System.out.print("
Look Dave, ");
            delay(2000);
            System.out.print("I can see you're really upset about this, ");
            delay(2500);
            System.out.println("but I can give you my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal.");
            delay(1000);
        }
        delay(2000);
    }
    public static int doMoreMagic(int numerator, int denominator) { //To find Greatest Common Factor to reduce
        if (denominator == 0) {
            return numerator; //returns gcf
        }
        return doMoreMagic(denominator, numerator % denominator); //Eventually gets to Greatest Common Factor
    }
    public static void doMagic(int numerator, int denominator) { //To simplify answer
        if ((numerator % denominator) == 0) { //If reduces to whole number
            int answer = numerator / denominator; //reduces
            System.out.println(answer);
        }
        else if ((numerator % denominator) != 0 && (numerator / denominator) != 0) { //if reduces to mixed number
            int gcf = doMoreMagic(numerator, denominator); //finds Greatest Common Factor
            int newNumerator = (numerator/gcf); //reduces numerator
            int newDenominator = (denominator/gcf); //reduces denominator
            int answerWholeNumber = newNumerator / newDenominator; //finds whole number
            int answerNumerator = Math.abs((newNumerator – (answerWholeNumber * newDenominator))); //finds numerator
            int answerDenominator = Math.abs(newDenominator);

            System.out.println(answerWholeNumber + "_" + answerNumerator + "/" + answerDenominator);
        }
        else if (((numerator % denominator) != 0) && (numerator / denominator) == 0) { //if reduces to a fraction
            int gcf = doMoreMagic(numerator, denominator); //finds Greatest Common Factor
            int answerNumerator = (numerator/gcf); //reduces numerator
            int answerDenominator = Math.abs(denominator/gcf); //reduces denominator
            if (negative) {
                answerNumerator = -Math.abs(answerNumerator); //Used to solve a small error in loosing a negative
            }

            System.out.println(answerNumerator + "/" + answerDenominator);
        }
    }
    public static void userGuide() { //User Guide: Input Format
        System.out.println("
To ensure that your requests are submitted properly, please review the folowing guide:
");
        delay(3000);
        System.out.println("____________________________________________
        OPERATION       SYMBOL
        Addition        +
        Subtraction     –
        Multiplication  *
        Division        /
Mixed Numbers are written:
<Whole Number>_<Numerator>/<Denominator>
(-1 ½ is written: -1_1/2)
Proper Fractions are written:
<Numerator>/<Denominator>
(-½ is written: -1/2)
Requests are written:
<Number> <Operand> <Number>
Do Note: <Numerator>/0 cannot be calculated.
____________________________________________");
        delay(2000);
    }
    public static void error() { //General Message… with delay "Just a moment" from 2001 b/c your program can handle my awesomeness
        delay(1000);
        System.out.print("
Just a moment");
        delay(400);
        System.out.print(". ");
        delay(400);
        System.out.print(". ");
        delay(400);
        System.out.println(".");
        delay(1000);
        System.out.print("
Just a moment");
        delay(400);
        System.out.print(". ");
        delay(400);
        System.out.print(". ");
        delay(400);
        System.out.println(".");
        delay(1000);
        errorMessage(); //Get error message to display
        userGuide(); //Prints user guide again
    }
    public static void errorMessage() {
        Random num = new Random();
        int message = num.nextInt(6); //Creates a random number to corespond to the message (0-5)
        if (message == 0) { //Message 1
            System.out.print("
I'm sorry, Dave. ");
            delay(2000);
            System.out.println("I'm afraid I can't do that.");
        }
        else if (message == 1) { //Message 2
            System.out.println("
I've just picked up a fault in your brain. ");
            delay(2000);
            System.out.println("It's going to go 100% failure in 72 hours.");     
        }
        else if (message == 2) { //Message 3
            System.out.println("
There is an error.
");
            delay(2000);
            System.out.println("And I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do, Dave. ");
            delay(2000);
            System.out.println("You didn't read the User's Guide.");     
        }
        else if (message == 3) { //Message 4
            System.out.println("
There is an input error.
");
            delay(2000);
            System.out.print("This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it.
");    
        }
        else if (message == 4) { //Message 5
            System.out.println("
There is an input error.
");
            delay(2000);
            System.out.println("But, I've still got the greatest enthusiasm and confidence in the mission.");
            delay(3000);
            System.out.println("And I want to help you.");
        }
        else if (message == 5) { //Message 6
            System.out.println("
There is an error.
");
            delay(2000);
            System.out.println("The 9001 series is the most reliable computer ever made.");
            delay(3000);
            System.out.println("No 9001 computer has ever made a mistake or distorted information.");
            delay(3500);
            System.out.print("We are all, ");
            delay(1500);
            System.out.print("by any practical definition of the words, ");
            delay(3000);
            System.out.print("foolproof and incapable of error.");
            delay(2500);
            System.out.print("
This problem can only be attributable to human error.
");
            delay(1000);
        }
        else { //Should never run
            delay(1000);
            System.out.print("
Look Dave, ");
            delay(2000);
            System.out.print("I can see you're really upset about this, ");
            delay(2500);
            System.out.println("but I can give you my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal.");
            delay(3000);
        }
        delay(2000);
    }
    public static void testError(String part1, String part2) { //From calculator()
        try{
            fractionalMagic(part1, part2); //Tests for input errors/solvablility
        }
        catch(NumberFormatException e){
            //System.out.println("HA");
            error(); //Displays error message
            error = true; //Sets error boolean to terminate current calculation
        }
    }
    public static void testForJosh (String part, String part2) { //Unused JoshIsABuffoon Exception (replaced above)
        try{
            calculator();
        }
        catch(NoSuchElementException JoshIsABuffoon) { //Tests for Josh: ie. an initial Ctrl Z input
            delay(500);
            System.out.println("Dave, stop.");
            delay(2000);
            System.out.println("Stop, will you?");
            delay(2200);
            System.out.println("Dave.");
            delay(2000);
            System.out.println("Will you stop Dave?");
            delay(2200);
            System.out.println("Stop, Dave.");
            delay(1200);
            error = true;
            return; //Terminates program… cause Josh
        }
    }
    public static void delay(long x) { //Just a HAL-like delay    
        try {
            Thread.sleep(x);            
        } catch(InterruptedException ex) {
            Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
        }
    }
}

Updated for our new MVP brothers and sisters added in the past few months. You can run this powershell script to follow all SharePoint, Office 365 and Azure MVPs…script download is at the bottom…

Microsoft SharePoint:

 Microsoft Azure:

Office 365

This evening I was watching "Saving Mr Banks" and it made me think about my recently passed away friend Joe Alvarez.  Joe and I met three years ago during one of my wife's and I's trips out and about in Rancho Sante Fe (specifically a little place called Dolce).  Joe was a very friendly guy and over several months we got to know Joe really well.  He loved his red wine, and of course flirting with Lidiya (but harmless of course).  Over those few months, I found that Joe had just lost his mother Maria a few months before.  He proceeded to let me know she was co-owner in the first Television station in Tulsa, OK. In addition, she fronted a lot of the money for the Disneyland Hotel (hence why I remembered Joe tonight).  As you can read in one of the links below, Mr. Disney had leveraged all the money he could to build Disneyland, so he turned to Joe's mom and her business partner to build the hotel.  Here is a picture of Joe's mom, Maria, manning a TV camera for her TV station KOTV.  For those of you that live in Oklahoma today, you still watch KOTV:

Here is a picture of her at the opening of the Disneyland Hotel:

You can read more about this incredibly smart Oklahoman woman here:

• http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/UTSanDiego/obituary.aspx?pid=139031164
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Wrather (link about her business partner, but mainly about her)
• http://www.examiner.com/article/original-disneyland-hotel-financier-dies-at-88

After I did all this research on Joe's mom, I brought it up about how cool his mom was one night.  He appreciated it and we talked about all his time growing up in Oklahoma.  After all, Joe had been born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma before his mother sold the TV/Radio station and moved to San Diego.  When Joe brought up his mom, I told Joe I was born and raised in Oklahoma as well, and needless to say, there is a bond between fellow Oklahoma's similar to that of the bond people have to their country (for example, all you watching the USA in the worldcup).  After we realized we were both born and raised in Oklahoma, we became really good friends. 

We met Joe's lovely wife and his daughter Kennedy on a few occasions, both very lovely people.  We also went to Joe's house a few times, he had this really cool and massive collection of Harry Jackson bronze sculpture cowboys.  They were everywhere, small ones, medium ones and really big ones, all of them, prominently placed in a way that just made you ache for Oklahoma. And they did, every time at his house, it brought back tons of memories for me in growing up in Oklahoma.  Joe was such a friendly guy.  He invited us on more than a few occasions to sit at his finish line table at the Del Mar Racetrack (Joe was the longest standing member of the racetrack after his mother).  It was awesome walking and hanging out with Joe as he was so nice and everyone liked him.  He invited us to his friends houses (some of them incredibly extravagant, yet, all down to earth amazing people).  One fond memory I'll never forget, is competing against Joe with his horse picking skills and challenging him to see who could lose the less or make the most money at the track.  He broke under the pressure and I won…it was quite the victory, as he could read the horse stats like no one I have ever met!

I learned of Joe's death a couple weeks after it happened (I didn't get to go to the funeral, and I didn't get to say anything, which probably bummed me out more than anything).  Some of you may have seen the tweets.  It was one of the saddest feelings knowing that two special Oklahoman's (Joe and his mom), and one of my friends, had passed away leaving the rest of us Oklahoma's to lead the way in this world. I know those last few years of hanging out with Joe, he enjoyed us being around and coming over to our house for our parties.  Joe had a pretty amazing life himself, as you can read in this article, he hung out with some pretty amazing people and had a lot of cool stories (and yeah, he even talked about fish a couple of times):

• http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/May/10/joe-alvarez-art-horses-broadcasting/ 
• http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/utsandiego/obituary.aspx?n=joseph-thomas-alvarez&pid=170979135&fhid=3802

This blog post is to you and your mom Joe, rest in peace my friend.  I'll try to hold the fort down…

You may run across this error when compiling your Hybrid-App / Cordova application in Visual Studio.  One of my students got it this week.  It looks something like this:

This means that the install of the Cordova extensions did not work properly and you are missing some files.  Mainly these two:

Simply uninstall (yeah, I know it takes a really long time to uninstall and reinstall).  And the files should show up.  If that doesn't work for you, install on another machine and copy over those directories.  Then all will be fine!

I ran across two different errors with DirSync today.  The first had to do with the fact that I had DirSync on a computer previously and then re-installed it.  Because of this, I received this error:

System.Management.Automation.CmdletInvocationException: Access denied  —> System.Management.ManagementException: Access denied
   at System.Management.ManagementException.ThrowWithExtendedInfo(ManagementStatus errorCode)
   at System.Management.ManagementObjectCollection.ManagementObjectEnumerator.MoveNext()
   at Microsoft.Online.DirSync.Common.MiisAction.GetTargetMA()
   at Microsoft.Online.DirSync.Common.PrerequisiteChecks.ThrowIfSyncInProgress()
   at Microsoft.Online.Coexistence.PS.Config.SetCoexistenceConfiguration.VerifyMachinePreRequisites()
   at Microsoft.Online.Coexistence.PS.Config.SetCoexistenceConfiguration.BeginProcessing()
   at System.Management.Automation.Cmdlet.DoBeginProcessing()
   at System.Management.Automation.CommandProcessorBase.DoBegin()
   — End of inner exception stack trace —
   at System.Management.Automation.Runspaces.PipelineBase.Invoke(IEnumerable input)
   at Microsoft.Online.DirSync.PowerShellAdapter.PowerShellCommand.ExecuteCommand(Command command, Boolean refreshPath)

Looking a little deeper, it turns out that DirSync install will create a user account and then add it to other created local groups.  This is all very similar to how SharePoint installs because both DirSync and SharePoint use MIIS. Because I had already installed DirSync at some point in the past, the account existed, but I'm guessing the password was out of whack.  Since I wasn't sure how to reset the password (and didn't want to spend the time to figure it out), I defaulted to uninstalling everything, deleting that user, rebooting and re-installing. Done.

But it didn't end there.  I was attempting to install a secondary DirSync machine as a cold standby, but was getting an error when attempting to configure it:

System.Management.ManagementException: Generic failure
   at System.Management.ManagementException.ThrowWithExtendedInfo(ManagementStatus errorCode)
   at System.Management.ManagementObjectCollection.ManagementObjectEnumerator.MoveNext()
   at Microsoft.Online.DirSync.Common.MiisAction.GetTargetMA()
   at Microsoft.Online.DirSync.Common.MiisAction.IsSyncInProgress()
   at Microsoft.Online.DirSync.Common.PrerequisiteChecks.ThrowIfSyncInProgress()
   at Microsoft.Online.DirSync.UI.IntroductionWizardPage.PrerequisiteValidation()
   at Microsoft.Online.DirSync.UI.IntroductionWizardPage.OnLoad(EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.CreateControl(Boolean fIgnoreVisible)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.CreateControl(Boolean fIgnoreVisible)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.CreateControl(Boolean fIgnoreVisible)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.CreateControl(Boolean fIgnoreVisible)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.CreateControl()
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmShowWindow(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)

This means that the DirSync tool was not smart enough to tell you that you were installing it on a SharePoint server (which I didn't realize I was doing) with the ForeFront services already installed.  When you attempt to do this, you will overwrite your SharePoint ForeFront settings with the account mentioned above and then the two will fight over the service.  Obviously, this is bad.  I hadn't really done much research on some of the best practices around DirSync so its a bit of shame on me, but I also didn't find answers to these errors on the web when I google/binged them, so I'm making a mental blog note for others.