Resolve namespaces in your XSL Stylesheets

If you're using XSL to transform or format your XML, it's important that you know how to handle XML Namespaces in your applications. You might find that your templates are producing unexpected results.

Secure the infrastructure housing your database

Make sure the Oracle host is in a locked room with limited access, redundant power, and fire protection systems. Don't just assume that this is the case. Check it out yourself or confirm it with the administrator responsible for that machine. Also take a look at the hardware strategy involving the database. Security isn't only about hackers; it's also about availability of the database. If you aren't using RAID or some other disk-mirroring solution, you should do so. Look at disaster recovery and determine what would happen if the Oracle host crashed and was offline for several days.

Define a reusable attributeGroup in your XML Schema

In XML Schema, you can set up an attribute group to share a common attribute set with any number of elements. For example, you might want to include id, creation date, and revision date attributes on all major elements in your data set.

Display multiple Outlook Windows at once (2000/2003/2007)

There may be times when you want to have multiple windows open in Outlook. Perhaps you want to have easy access to your email while you're viewing your Calendar. Well, it's easy to view multiple windows at once. For example, right-click on the Mail icon in the Navigation Pane (right-click on the Inbox icon in the Outlook Shortcuts Bar in 2000 and 2002), and then choose Open In New Window from the resulting shortcut menu. Outlook then opens another window, where you can display whatever you'd like, without closing what you previously had open.

Define element occurence options in Relax NG

To determine how often an element can occur, DTDs use symbols (e.g., *, +, ?) and XML Schemas use attributes (e.g., minOccurs, maxOccurs). Relax NG is more, well, straightforward.

Use Group Policy to set permissions for registry keys

You can use Group Policy to define access permissions and audit settings for individual registry keys, and you can also take or assign ownership of keys. Open the appropriate Group Policy Object (for example, the Default Domain Policy) in the GPO Editor and expand the Computer Configuration node, then Windows Settings, then Security Settings. Click on Registry. Note that the Registry setting is missing from the local computer GPO. By default, administrators and the system have full control permissions for all keys, users have read-only permission, and the creator/owner can assign ownership of the key.

Let DateDiff() determine if two dates are in the same month (VBScript 2.0)

To determine if two dates are in the same month, your first instinct may be to simply use the Month() function on each date, then compare the two resulting numbers. However, under these circumstances, the comparison would equate 1/1/2000 with 1/1/1999. Instead, the DateDiff() function provides one quick way to make this determination, like so:

Make a scrapbook of slides on your desktop (PowerPoint 2000/2002/2003)

If you have a few slides you refer to regularly from a given presentation, you can easily create a scrapbook of them on your desktop in three easy steps. First, simply select the slides you'd like to bring together from your presentation using the [Ctrl] key to choose them in your slide sorter pane. Next, drag them to your desktop. You'll notice a new file called Scrap is created which contains only the files you selected. You can rename the Scrap file if you wish, and now you can get to just the slides you need without having to open an entire presentation. This technique does not work in PowerPoint 2007.

Get a clear view of a bounding box that extends beyond the Photoshop canvas (CS2/CS3/CS4/CS5)

When you use Photoshop's Free Transform or Transform commands in the Edit menu, or the Transform Selection command in the Select menu, a bounding box is added to the target object. You can then resize or rotate the selection by dragging the handles on the bounding box. Sometimes, though, when you're in Standard Screen Mode this is easier said than done because the handles on the bounding box extend beyond the canvas area that fills your document window. When this happens, you can switch viewing modes to display anything in your document window that extends beyond the canvas. Just press F until Photoshop displays your image in one of the Full Screen modes.

Divide administrative responsibilities for best security

Regardless of how trustworthy your network administrator is, the best security practice is to divide administrative tasks and responsibilities between several people. This provides a system of checks and balances and avoids a situation in which one person has too much power. No one should use the built-in Administrator account to perform administrative tasks. Instead, each administrator should be given an account with administrative privileges. This allows you to track who made particular changes or accessed particular files or programs. In Windows domains, you can use role-based administration and the Delegation Of Control wizard to assign permissions for specific administrative tasks. You should establish an incident response team to handle security breaches that occur, instead of leaving this task to one person or to the network administrators.

Test out font sizes quickly (Word 2000/2002/2003/2004/2007)

When you need to change your font size, but you aren't sure what point size to change it to, use Word's handy Grow Font and Shrink Font tools. Select the text you want to adjust and press [Ctrl][Shift]> to grow the font or press [Ctrl][Shift]< to shrink the font. (On the Mac, use [command][shift]> and [command][shift]<.) The font size changes according to the increments listed in the Font Size dropdown list on the Formatting toolbar.

What's the difference between Fill and Opacity? (Photoshop CS2/CS3/CS4/CS5)

Have you ever wondered what the Fill option on the Layers panel is for? It seemingly does the same thing as the Opacity option just above it, which is to control a working layer's level of transparency, but there's a little more to it. When you set the Opacity value for a selected layer, the change applies to the entire layer. This means that any layer styles and the blending mode are also affected. When you set the Fill value, however, only painted pixels and vector shapes are affected.

Detect SQL and bind variables with extended auditing (10g)

Oracle introduced a useful auditing capability in Oracle 10g called extended auditing. With this feature enabled, Oracle writes all statement information to the audit row, including the text of the SQL statement and any bind variables used. This is a great help if you’re trying to diagnose a security breach or application problem. To configure extended auditing, set the AUDIT_TRAIL parameter to DB_EXTENDED.

How to get users to create more secure passwords

Strong passwords are the first line of defense against hack attacks, but how can you get users to create passwords that are complex and don't contain any dictionary words, without making the passwords so hard to remember that they end up writing them down? A random combination of letters and numbers (such as rjfoo3B7p2) is ideal, but hard to remember. A handy trick is to have users create password phrases or sentences that include numbers and then reduce them to abbreviations. In other words, I love my two cats, Susie and Fluffy, becomes Ilm2cS&F, which looks like a random group of characters but is much easier to remember.

Select objects hidden by other objects (PowerPoint 2000/2002/2003/2004/2007)

Very often we layer objects on top of each other for some effect, such as when setting up a custom animation of more than one item. However, it can be a challenge if you have to edit one of the hidden objects when you've already set overlapping objects in place. You may have tried to move these overlapping objects in the past, and struggled to pile things back in place the way they were before. When an object is obscured by other items on the slide, you can still select it by using the [Tab] key. Just press [Tab] repeatedly and PowerPoint will cycle through every object, including text boxes and hidden objects, on the slide.

Prevent pictures from becoming missing links (QuarkXPress)

If you’re like most designers, organization isn’t your forté. Fortunately, QuarkXPress has several features to help you manage all the files related to your document. However, there are still things you should avoid doing. Don’t rename picture files after you import them. Try not to move the original files of imported pictures; instead, keep them in one folder. Above all, don’t throw away any of the original picture files thinking that you don’t need them after you’ve imported them into QuarkXPress

Back up your login password to avoid losing it altogether

Microsoft Windows XP’s Forgotten Password Wizard allows you to create a password reset disk that you can use to recover your user account and personalized computer settings in the event you forget your login password. The procedure to do so differs depending on whether your computer is on a domain or in a workgroup, and whether it’s an administrator or limited account. For specific details on each procedure, search for the phrase password reset disk in the Help and Support Center. If you choose to create a password reset disk, make sure you keep it secure, as anyone with access to the disk can change the associated account’s password.

Simple shortcuts to help you edit DataGrid data (VB 2003)

You’re probably aware that you can use the [Esc] key to cancel an entry before leaving a cell and use the [Home] and [End] keys to move to the beginning or end of the current row. However, the DataGrid also supports several other shortcut keys that can help you during data entry. For example:

• You can jump to the first empty cell on the current row by pressing the [Ctrl] key plus one of the arrow keys.
• If you need to delete all the rows in the DataGrid, you can first quickly select them with [Ctrl]A.
• If you need to save a null value instead of an empty string, [Ctrl]0 (zero) enters a dbnull value into a cell when in edit mode.

Keep unnecessary files out of sight, but close at hand (Excel 2000/2002/2003/2004/2007)

When you're working with data from several workbooks, it's easy to get overwhelmed with extraneous windows in your Excel workspace. You probably need to view just a few files at a time, but you want to keep them all open so that they're readily available when you need them. Rather than close and reopen the files, which can be a tedious process, simply hide the ones that you don't immediately need. Hidden workbooks are also handy when you have a file contains macros or custom functions that you want to use with another file, but you don't want to expose users to the containing workbook.