Vamsi Pavan’s Place

Recently, I came across this scenario that when ever I open any word files which copy from different system, word getting crashed with error ‘Microsoft Word has encountered a problem and needs to close error’ . After a small search, I figured out that it is well known issue to the rest of world.

Checking Microsoft web site for the problem, it told me it was the normal.dot template that was corrupted, but how could the normal.dot template could be corrupted when it never had been open before? Then I realized the problem; Microsoft word was open when I ran the File and   Settings Transfer Wizard on the old computer, and because of that a temporary normal.dot got copied to the new computer.

that (picture above) temporary normal.dot file is created when word is open, and if you run the File and Settings Transfer wizard while it is open, it will get copied to the new computer, creating conflicts in the new computer with word.

The normal.not file can be found at your computer profile path at: C:\Documents and Settings\yourprofilename\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates if you are having the same issue I had, delete everything under the template folder.

Microsoft word will recreate the files automatically when you open it up. Remember that is not a good practice to have applications open when you run Files and Settings Transfer Wizard on computers to transfer data.

If you get this error while trying to create a foreign key, it can
be pretty frustrating. The error about not being able to create a .frm
file seems like it would be some kind of OS file permission error or
something but this is not the case. This error has been reported as a
bug on the MySQL developer list for ages, but it is actually just a
misleading error message.

In every case this is due to something about the relationship that
MySQL doesn’t like. Unfortunately it doesn’t specify what the exact
issue is. Here is a running list of causes that people have reported
for the dreaded errno 150. I’ve tried to put them in order based on the
frequency that I hear about a particular cause.

You may want to start by running the MySQL command “SHOW INNODB
STATUS” immediately after receiving the error. This command displays
log info and error details. (Thanks Jonathan for the tip)

Known Causes:

1. The two key fields type and/or size doesn’t match exactly. For
   example, if one is INT(10) the key field needs to be INT(10) as well
   and not INT(11) or TINYINT. You may want to confirm the field size
   using SHOW CREATE TABLE because Query Browser will sometimes visually
   show just INTEGER for both INT(10) and INT(11). You should also check
   that one is not SIGNED and the other is UNSIGNED. They both need to be
   exactly the same.
2. One of the key field that you are trying to reference does not have
   an index and/or is not a primary key. If one of the fields in the
   relationship is not a primary key, you must create an index for that
   field.
3. The foreign key name is a duplicate of an already existing key.
   Check that the name of your foreign key is unique within your database.
   Just add a few random characters to the end of your key name to test
   for this.
4. One or both of your tables is a MyISAM table. In order to use
   foreign keys, the tables must both be InnoDB. (Actually, if both tables
   are MyISAM then you won’t get an error message - it just won’t create
   the key.) In Query Browser, you can specify the table type.
5. You have specified a cascade ON DELETE SET NULL, but the relevant
   key field is set to NOT NULL.  You can fix this by either changing your
   cascade or setting the field to allow NULL values. (Thanks to Sammy and
   J Jammin)
6. Make sure that the Charset and Collate options are the same both at
   the table level as well as individual field level for the key columns.
7. You have a default value (ie default=0) on your foreign key column (Thanks to Omar for the tip)
8. One of the fields in the relationship is part of a combination
   (composite) key and does not have it’s own individual index. Even
   though the field has an index as part of the composite key, you must
   create a separate index for only that key field in order to use it in a
   constraint. (Thanks to Alex for this tip)
9. You have a syntax error in your ALTER statement or you have
   mistyped one of the field names in the relationship
10. The name of your foreign key exceeds the max length of 64 chars. 

The MySQL documentation includes a page explaining requirements for foreign keys.
Though they don’t specifically indicate it, these are all potential
causes of errno 150. If you still haven’t solved your problem you may
want to check there for deeper technical explanations.If you run into
this error and find that it’s caused by something else, please leave a
comment and I’ll add it to the list.

To Find detailed error message in Mysql

If you get for example:

ERROR 1005 at line 12: Can’t create table ‘./database/users.frm’ (errno: 150)

You can find out the real reason by executing bin/perror 150 in the MySQL directory.

This will give you a nice error message:

MySQL error: 150 = Foreign key constraint is incorrectly formed

Collected from here directly.

After my upgrade to hardy, firefox always starts with offline mode and it’s really hectic to keep change it back to online and refresh the each saved session tabs.

Also in parallel, I find my NM (network manager) applet showing status as not connected even though I connect by dhcp setting through dhcp-client.

After googling for some time, I understood that above too are inter-related. Firefox checks the nm status through d-bus and based on that it’ll change the mode while starting. Same is the case with pidgin, evolution and other internet based applications. So, issue lies with nm applet as it’s not showing the correct status even though I connect by dhcp config.

Finally, I figured out the fix for this.

I disabled roaming mode for wired connections from the Network manager and then enabled automatic configuration (DHCP) option. Now, everything started working. Firefox starts online mode now.

What a default config. Ubuntu release should have come by the proper default config atleast for very commonly used things like NM etc.

Also, I found that the issue not exists in earlier versions of firefox as well as NM. Also, by down-grading the kernel version fixed this. But, of all these, the above one is the easiest.

Similar exceptions are :

1. java.io.IOException: Io exception: Unexpected packet

10. java.sql.SQLException: Must be logged on to server

All these occur almost with same reason. It is caused when more than one thread is trying to make simultaneous use of the thin Oracle JDBC driver via the same Connection object.

To correct this problem we have to ensure that only one thread of execution was making use of the JDBC driver at a time through the same Connection OR upgrade to a later version of the driver.

Further investigation says, with JDBC driver version is 9.2.0.2.0 it is reproducible and 9.2.0.3.0 is free from this. Any ways, it is advisable to go with latest jdbc driver version i.e. 10.2.0.4 which can solve this issue.

Multi-thread programming needs this as quick note.

An interesting exception faced while parsing xml content. Also, on further analysis on this error caused below similar issues started to raise.

Another similar exception is:

java.io.UTFDataFormatException: Invalid byte 1 of 1-byte UTF-8 sequence

Here, I am trying to parse an xml string using byte array from the xml string, and give that array as input to xml reader stream. I have used java.lang.String.getBytes() for this.

Unfortunately, I got a chinese (other UTF-8) characters as a value of one node in the xml. Hence, I got up with the above error. Later, I found that getBytes() method supports only the western encoding, not UTF-8. So by using java.lang.String.getBytes("UTF-8") method, we solved the issue.

Good to note this in XML Programming .

When you are working with an MNC, it’s pretty common to have interactions with onsite team Vs offsite teams. Problems comes when your calender tool not properly convert the appointments between the time zones. These are the very common Time conversions used perticularly by professionals from Indian Sub Continent.

Time Zone                      Standard Time & Summer Time        Daylight Saving

India Standard Time (IST)                                       +5.5 hours

Eastern Standard Time (EST)(EDT)                          -5 hours                            -4 hours

Central Standard Time (CST)(CDT)                          -6 hours                            -5 hours

Mountain Standard Time (MST)(MDT)                       -7 hours                            -6 hours

Pacific Standard Time (PST)(PDT)                             -8 hours                            -7 hours

For example, to convert between IST and PST, from the above table you can easily figure out that the difference between those two time zones is 13.5 hours.

ie. Today 9 AM (IST) = Prev Day 7:30 PM (PST)

Simple rule is: PST is 13.5 hours behind IST.

So to catch a person in PST between 6AM to 6PM from IST is very difficult in day time . As it comes to next day 7:30PM to next next day 7:30AM from IST.

Hope it helps you. For more time zones http://www.souledout.org/nightsky/time/ut.html .

In my PL/SQL procedure I had to add a text including newline (\n in
java, ascii #10) in a text to be read by a java application. Tried with
the code

l_text := 'hello\nworld';

This did not work, the \n character behaves clearly different in PL/SQL than
in Java and only wrote ‘\n’, probably the same as writing a String in
Java using \\n. To add the newline character, I had to use chr(10),
that worked.

l_text := 'hello' || chr(10) || 'world';

I guess the same goes for newline-carriage return as well, in Java \n\r in PL/SQL writes char(10) || chr(13).

I’m not big fan of cricket game. Also, this is my first post to publish on cricket game. But where ever you go, you see very few people to get inspired. Such personalities need this piece of appreciation to let world know about him.

It all started on the night of 27 November 1993. India were playing
against WI in the finals of Hero Cup in Eden Gardens. I was just eight
years old then. After a small but entertaining partnership between
Sachin and Kapil, India had put a target of 226 for WI. After a solid
start they just tumbled and fell like dry leaves to the magic of a
bespectacled young man. Accurate and unerring, his deliveries one after
the other kept on asking questions to the WI batsmen who had no clue how
to play them. Soon they had given up and he had picked up 6 wickets for
12 runs. He takes the last six wickets in less than 5 overs; it is still
India’s best bowling performance in ODIs. Indian won Hero cup and he
became the Hero in my heart. The man, Anil Kumble, is my favourite
cricketer over the past 1 and 1/2 decade.

We are really lucky to be in a generation which is a golden era for spin
bowling. Three world class spinners, Kumble along with Murali and Warne,
ruled the cricketing world over the past 15 years. They had shown the
world that spinners can be match winners. Of the three Kumble is
distinct. He did not have the flair of Warne or guile of Murali but he
competed with them through out this period. He certainly is not a bug
spinner of the ball, but as he said the difference between the middle of
the bat and edge is just 1 inch. You need not be a big turner of the
ball to beat the edge. Even if you compare the records of Warne and
Kumble, Kumble had picked up 4.68 wickets per match when compared to
Warne’s 4.88 per match. He was the first bowler to reach 300 wickets in
ODIs among the three. And he had one test century that the other two did
not have. In fact he was the only one to score a century in 500+ wicket
club. People say Kumble has picked up lot of wickets on sub continent
where the pitches assist spinners. But one has to realize the fact that
even Warne picked up majority of his wickets against SA and England who
did not know that a cricket ball can spin. When Murali picked up
majority of his wickets against cricketing minnows like Zimbabwe and
Bangladesh, Kumble had major success against the world champions
Australia and Pakistan, who are the second best players of spin after
India. This is not to show that Kumble is more than Warne or Murali but
just to tell that he is not less. If warne is blessed and Murali has it
by birth, Kumble is the one who showed that hard work pays. He
simplified  the art of spin bowling just like an expert mathematician
does when solving complex problems.

I liked Kumble when I was not aware of the golden past of Indian spin,
the spin quartet. E.Prasanna once said that Kumble would not even get a
chance a play international cricket if he had played during their time.
Even then Kumble’s record was better than the spin quartet put together.
Four spinners put together averaged just above 4 per match compared to
Kumble’s 4.68. Having said that I should accept the fact that those four
spinners were really quality players. He also holds the record for
highest number of LBWs and Caught and Bowleds in Test cricket.
Incidentally his last two wickets in test cricket are LBW and Caught and
Bowled respectively.

Anil kumble is inarguably the greatest match winner for India. As
cricinfo has put it, No bowler in history won India more Test matches
than Anil Kumble, and there probably hasn’t been a harder trier either.
He has literally won many matches for India during the time when India
was considered unbeatable in their home soil under Azhar. People who
comment that Kumble’s record outside subcontinent is not that good have
to understand the fact that before Rahul Dravid had a golden run at
No.3, Indian batsmen seldom scored in test matches outside India. When
Indian batǪing started performing better outside India, Kumble’s record
outside India has also improved. 20+ wkts in Australia, despite being
treated as a backup for Harbhajan; he got a chance only after Bahajji
was inhured in that series, in 2003 is an example. His subtle variations
in pace, length combined with a clever use of crease earned him great
success. Though he is not a big turner of the ball, he has made the
batsmen dance on their toes with his deliveries. Though he does not know
how to spin a ball, he has made cricket records spin around his career.
In a brilliant though always downplayed career Kumble claimed virtually
every Indian record. After his shoulder injury in 2000, Kumble has
improved a lot as a bowler and added more varieties under his
repertoire. He is arguably the best bowler for flippers in his generation.

Inspite of all his achievements, he was always underrated. As an ad
agency once commented, Kumble is not an advertising material. There were
no huge celebrations when he broke Kapil’s record or picked up 10 wkts
in an   innings. But he has never complained. Even after announcing his
retirement he did not cry upon officials or fellow players. In his
career of 18 years, he was not summoned even once. As Tony Greig said,
If you ask anybody about Kumble, you will hear only good about him. Ask
Lara & Inzamam, who thwarted all spinners but Kumble, and they will
testify for his greatness. This tells a lot about his character and
ability. To conclude, India may produce another Dravid, Ganguly or
Laxman, but Kumble is once in a life time player. We may not see a
spinner creating records without spinning a ball.

– Most of this content was taken from a mail sent by my friend Anil who is deadly fan of Cricket and Kumble.

Now to put it in terms of Indian real estate bubble - here is the scenario -

1) IT professionals (or allied industries) started earning money in US$
(1500 US$ pm is a good pay in India). Note that this is Outsourced
money [platinum coins in Gold Coin economy]
2) Newly joined IT workers - start purchasing property (Bubble not
built yet) by taking reasonably priced Bank loans in Gold coins.
3) Builders build and sell houses and make some 10-15% standard profit
4) IT worker pays off the loan to bank - converting the .

- Enter the speculator/”investor” - whose purpose is to make profit in this demand supply system
In an ideal greedless economy, the builder would have been happy with
his/her profit of 15% and would continue the system. But looking at the
high demand for buying (as IT companies are hiring year after year),
and inflation the prices are cranked up and a hype is created saying
that only X number of units remain (although more are available).
Builder says his profit will increase, speculative buyers want to buy
cheap and sell off at a profit.

1) Fearing losing a good deal, many IT workers take loans (remember
as long as they are are not fired they can pay back the loan) and buy
houses at increasing prices.
2) Speculative buyers buy homes to sell them off at a profit - they say worst case they can rent it out
3) Banks report robust growth - and ease lending. Builder still needs
to deliver the house, so they also borrow money from same bank/ from
stock market - IPO and build for the consumer. - Builder is confident
that sale of the homes will get him his profit even after he pays off
the loan to bank.

The bubble grows by such speed that the land that once cost 10 pieces of gold will be priced at 10 pieces of platinum.

The net asset value of the land is in fact 10 coins + inflation -
the price the buyer must pay must be 10 coins + inflation adjustment +
builders profit + interest to the bank.

All this “Growth” keeps on inflating the bubble - the Workers and
builders lend money from the bank and pay each other. If the worker
thinks - hold on a second, why am I paying 10 platinum coins for a
house worth 10 gold coins then he should have avoided the deal after
all. But he followed the crowd and took a loan of 5 platinum coins.
(his payments/EMI now soar). Then alas the reality strikes. Demand
stops as the companies halt hiring or shrink pay packages - as the
platinum coins are drying up. If the worker has enough to bail
himself/herself out - its fine. (They still think their house is worth
10 platinum coins). If not - Houston we have a problem.

The land value will not appreciate beyond 10 platinum coins, as that
would mean no one would buy it in hard times. Workers with loans who
are laid off/ have lowered salaries are in deep trouble - their homes
value is come to a standstill/reduced and their loans ares still the
same.

This bubble has a bad story for any non platinum worker who was
earning in gold - and got a loan for 10 platinum coins. thinking that
his investment will yield enough to repay it.

Now what about the winners or losers in this game? Builders or
buyers if they default on their loans will lose property to the
bank/lender. If they do that - banks will collapse as they will have a
worthless 10 gold coin house for which they lent 10 platinum coins. (As
it happened in USA).

But in India the story is different -
For Workers/buyers there is a shame in not repaying your loan back so
the workers will have to toil their way to repay a loan - cutting down
on other expenses - slowing down other sectors. If they lose jobs and
cant get another one - they are screwed and so are the banks who will
repossess the houses.

Builders cannot start new projects and will unwind slowly hoping for
a revival - they will try to repay the loans if possible by cutting
down their margins. Builders who aren’t in a position to do this are
screwed and so are the banks who lent money to them.

So there will be deflation of the bubble than a bursting (US it
completely burst taking down the banks - who had invested this “asset
value” in other countries - hence destroying those countries as well).
In India I dont see a burst but a phussss. If jobs dry up n IT there is
no real growth possible. This is a classic case of torturing the hen
that lays golden eggs until it one day starts laying normal eggs. If
the bubble was exposed earlier (learning from the 1997 bubble), smart
people would not be in debt now. Those who are in debt are going to be
the biggest losers in this game.

Basically this is what happened in 1996-97 collapse - that time
there was a speculative bubble led by the Gulf money - this time it was
US money.