PeopleSoft CACHE Analysis - Part 2

We are trying to understand the difference caching makes in PeopleSoft, to improve the page performance. We have analysed some of the SQLs that PeopleSoft executes when there is no caching by triggering an SQL trace and grabbing the SQLs executed by the application server. Let us continue this analysis of the remaining SQLs in this post. I have covered only the important SQLs executed and queries like selects on PSVERSION table of PeopleSoft, are skipped.

select PT_CTI_AGENTID, PT_CTI_QUEUE, PT_CTI_CONFIGID from PS_PT_CTI_AGENT A where OPRID = :1 AND EFFDT = (SELECT MAX(EFFDT) FROM PS_PT_CTI_AGENT B WHERE A.OPRID= B.OPRID AND EFFDT <= TO_DATE(TO_CHAR(SYSDATE,'YYYY-MM-DD'),'YYYY-MM-DD'))

select MCFUQAGENTID from PSMCFUQAGENTQ WHERE MCFUQAGENTID = :1

SELECT ALTCONTNUM, CONTFMT, VERSION, CONTSTYLE, DESCR, URL, COMPALG, AUXFLAGMASK, LASTUPDOPRID, TO_CHAR(LASTUPDDTTM,'YYYY-MM-DD-HH24.MI.SS."000000"') FROM PSCONTDEFN WHERE CONTNAME = :1 AND CONTTYPE = :2 ORDER BY ALTCONTNUM

=> style sheet specific queries

SELECT DESCR, ACTIONS, VERSION, SEARCHRECNAME, ADDSRCHRECNAME, SEARCHPNLNAME, LOADLOC, SAVELOC, DISABLESAVE, PRIMARYACTION, DFLTACTION, DFLTSRCHTYPE, DEFERPROC, EXPENTRYPROC, REQSECURESSL, INCLNAVIGATION, FORCESEARCH, ALLOWACTMODESEL, PNLNAVFLAGS, TBARBTNS, SHOWTBAR, ADDLINKMSGSET, ADDLINKMSGNUM, SRCHLINKMSGSET, SRCHLINKMSGNUM, SRCHTEXTMSGSET, SRCHTEXTMSGNUM, OBJECTOWNERID, TO_CHAR(LASTUPDDTTM,'YYYY-MM-DD-HH24.MI.SS."000000"'), LASTUPDOPRID, DESCRLONG FROM PSPNLGRPDEFN WHERE PNLGRPNAME = :1 AND MARKET = :2

==> search record details

SELECT PNLNAME, ITEMNAME, HIDDEN, ITEMLABEL, FOLDERTABLABEL, SUBITEMNUM FROM PSPNLGROUP WHERE PNLGRPNAME = :1 AND MARKET = :2 ORDER BY SUBITEMNUM

=> Actual labels associated with the page to be displayed

SELECT MENULABEL, MENUGROUP, GROUPORDER, MENUORDER, VERSION, INSTALLED, GROUPSEP, MENUSEP, MENUTYPE, OBJECTOWNERID, LASTUPDOPRID, TO_CHAR(LASTUPDDTTM,'YYYY-MM-DD-HH24.MI.SS."000000"'), DESCR, DESCRLONG FROM PSMENUDEFN WHERE MENUNAME = :1

SELECT BARNAME, ITEMNAME, BARLABEL, ITEMLABEL, MARKET, ITEMTYPE, PNLGRPNAME, SEARCHRECNAME, ITEMNUM, XFERCOUNT FROM PSMENUITEM WHERE MENUNAME = :1 ORDER BY ITEMNUM

=> Menu details and order retrieved here.

SELECT VERSION, FIELDCOUNT, RECTYPE, RECUSE, OPTTRIGFLAG, AUDITRECNAME, SETCNTRLFLD, RELLANGRECNAME, OPTDELRECNAME, PARENTRECNAME, QRYSECRECNAME, SQLTABLENAME, BUILDSEQNO, OBJECTOWNERID, TO_CHAR(LASTUPDDTTM,'YYYY-MM-DD-HH24.MI.SS."000000"'), LASTUPDOPRID, SYSTEMIDFIELDNAME, TIMESTAMPFIELDNAME, RECDESCR, AUXFLAGMASK, DESCRLONG FROM PSRECDEFN WHERE RECNAME = :1

==> Search record specific information is being retrieved in this step. In my case, the search record name that was passed is INSTALLATION

SELECT LANGUAGE_CD, RECDESCR, DESCRLONG FROM PSRECDEFNLANG WHERE RECNAME = :1

=> Related language record information is fetched from PSRECDEFNLANG table.

SELECT VERSION, A.FIELDNAME, FIELDTYPE, LENGTH, DECIMALPOS, FORMAT, FORMATLENGTH, IMAGE_FMT, FORMATFAMILY, DISPFMTNAME, DEFCNTRYYR,IMEMODE,KBLAYOUT,OBJECTOWNERID, DEFRECNAME, DEFFIELDNAME, CURCTLFIELDNAME, USEEDIT, USEEDIT2, EDITTABLE, DEFGUICONTROL, SETCNTRLFLD, LABEL_ID, TIMEZONEUSE, TIMEZONEFIELDNAME, CURRCTLUSE, RELTMDTFIELDNAME, TO_CHAR(B.LASTUPDDTTM,'YYYY-MM-DD-HH24.MI.SS."000000"'), B.LASTUPDOPRID, B.FIELDNUM, A.FLDNOTUSED, A.AUXFLAGMASK, B.RECNAME FROM PSDBFIELD A, PSRECFIELD B WHERE B.RECNAME = :1 AND A.FIELDNAME = B.FIELDNAME AND B.SUBRECORD = 'N' ORDER BY B.RECNAME, B.FIELDNUM

SELECT FIELDNUM, FIELDNAME, TO_CHAR(LASTUPDDTTM,'YYYY-MM-DD-HH24.MI.SS."000000"'), LASTUPDOPRID, RECNAME FROM PSRECFIELD WHERE RECNAME = :1 AND SUBRECORD = 'Y' ORDER BY RECNAME, FIELDNUM

SELECT FIELDNAME, LABEL_ID, LONGNAME, SHORTNAME, DEFAULT_LABEL FROM PSDBFLDLABL WHERE FIELDNAME IN (SELECT A.FIELDNAME FROM PSDBFIELD A, PSRECFIELD B WHERE B.RECNAME = :1 AND A.FIELDNAME = B.FIELDNAME) ORDER BY FIELDNAME, LABEL_ID

==> Information at search record field level, including field labels.

SELECT INDEXID, INDEXTYPE, UNIQUEFLAG, CLUSTERFLAG, ACTIVEFLAG, CUSTKEYORDER, IDXCOMMENTS, PLATFORM_SBS, PLATFORM_DB2, PLATFORM_ORA, PLATFORM_INF, PLATFORM_DBX, PLATFORM_ALB, PLATFORM_SYB, PLATFORM_MSS, PLATFORM_DB4, RECNAME FROM PSINDEXDEFN WHERE RECNAME = :1 ORDER BY RECNAME, INDEXTYPE, INDEXID

==> Index details for the search record.

SELECT PNLFLDID, FIELDTYPE, EDITSIZE, FIELDLEFT, FIELDTOP, FIELDRIGHT, FIELDBOTTOM, EDITLBLLEFT, EDITLBLTOP, EDITLBLRIGHT, EDITLBLBOTTOM, DSPLFORMAT, DSPLFILL, LBLTYPE, LBLLOC, LBLPADSIZE, LABEL_ID, LBLTEXT, FIELDUSE, FIELDUSETMP, DEFERPROC, OCCURSLEVEL, OCCURSCOUNT1, OCCURSCOUNT2, OCCURSCOUNT3, OCCURSOFFSET1, OCCURSOFFSET2, OCCURSOFFSET3, PNLFIELDNAME, RECNAME, FIELDNAME, SUBPNLNAME, ONVALUE, OFFVALUE, ASSOCFIELDNUM, FIELDSTYLE, LABELSTYLE, FIELDSIZETYPE, LABELSIZETYPE, PRCSNAME, PRCSTYPE, FORMATFAMILY, DISPFMTNAME, PROMPTFIELD, POPUPMENU, TREECTRLID, TREECTRLTYPE, MULTIRECTREE, NODECOUNT, GRDCOLUMNCOUNT, GRDSHOWCOLHDG, GRDSHOWROWHDG, GRDODDROWSTYLE, GRDEVENROWSTYLE, GRDACTIVETABSTYLE, GRDINACTIVETABSTYL, GRDNAVBARSTYLE, GRDLABELSTYLE, GRDLBLMSGSET, GRDLBLMSGNUM, GRDLBLALIGN, GRDACTTYPE, TABENABLE, PBDISPLAYTYPE, OPENNEWWINDOW, URLDYNAMIC, URL_ID, GOTOPORTALNAME, GOTONODENAME, GOTOMENUNAME, GOTOPNLGRPNAME, GOTOMKTNAME, GOTOPNLNAME, GOTOPNLACTION, SRCHBYPNLDATA, SCROLLACTION, TOOLACTION, CONTNAME, CONTNAMEOVER, CONTNAMEDISABLE, PTLBLIMGCOLLAPSE, PTLBLIMGEXPAND, SELINDICATORTYPE, PTADJHIDDENFIELDS, PTCOLLAPSEDATAAREA, PTDFLTVIEWEXPANDED, PTHIDEFIELDS, SHOWCOLHIDEROWS, PTLEBEXPANDFIELD, SHOWTABCNTLBTN, SECUREINVISIBLE, ENABLEASANCHOR, URLENCODEDBYAPP, USEDEFAULTLABEL, GRDALLOWCOLSORT, PNLNAME, FIELDNUM FROM PSPNLFIELD WHERE PNLNAME = :1 ORDER BY FIELDNUM

==> Page and Page field position information is retrieved here. Search record is bypassed in our case.

==> Record field information used in the page are retrieved now.

PeopleSoft CACHE and NO CACHE - Part 1

The power of the cache in PeopleSoft, enables the pages to load faster. But, to understand how this really creates a difference to PeopleSoft performance, let us try a simple SQL trace against a page that contains a single record / field and trace the activity on a page load.

We will try to grab a trace on the page load (i.e. after clicking on the link to the test page ). I'm trying to run a SQL trace with the following settings

SQL Trace Settings:-

SQL statements

SQL statement variables

SQL connect, disconnect, commit, rollback

SQL fetch

All other SQL API calls except SSBs

Set select buffer calls (SSBs)

Database-specific API calls

Results without cache

The size of the trace file is 577193 bytes. The number of SQLs executed by PeopleSoft is far far more than the number of SQLs in the trace file with it is done with cache. Some SQLs are given below

SELECT VERSION FROM PSVERSION WHERE OBJECTTYPENAME = 'SYS'

SELECT OBJECTTYPENAME, VERSION FROM PSVERSION

SELECT COUNT(*) FROM PSMSGNODEDEFN

SELECT MSGNODENAME FROM PSMSGNODEDEFN ORDER BY MSGNODENAME

SELECT PORTAL_OBJNAME, PORTAL_CNTPRV_NAM, PORTAL_URLTEXT FROM PSPRSMDEFN WHERE PORTAL_NAME = :1 AND PORTAL_REFTYPE = :2 AND PORTAL_URL_CHKSUM = :3

===> The value in PORTAL_URLTEXT is getting added to the URL ==> In my case it was c/CS_MNU_MSG.CS_CMP.GBL

SELECT VERSION FROM PSVERSION WHERE OBJECTTYPENAME = 'SYS'

SELECT TO_CHAR(LASTUPDDTTM,'YYYY-MM-DD-HH24.MI.SS."000000"'), LASTUPDOPRID, OBJECTOWNERID, VERSION, PORTAL_URL_CHKSUM, PORTAL_PRNTOBJNAME, PORTAL_SEQ_NUM, PORTAL_LABEL, PORTAL_CNTPRV_NAM, PORTAL_CREF_USGT, PORTAL_CREF_TMPT, PORTAL_CREF_STGT, PORTAL_CREF_URLT, DESCR254, PORTAL_PRODUCT, OPRID, TO_CHAR(PORTAL_EFFDT,'YYYY-MM-DD'), TO_CHAR(PORTAL_CREATION_DT,'YYYY-MM-DD'), TO_CHAR(PORTAL_EXPIRE_DT,'YYYY-MM-DD'), PORTAL_TEMPL_NAME, PORTAL_STG_NAME, PORTAL_ISPUBLIC, PORTAL_LINK_PORTAL, PORTAL_LINKOBJNAME, PORTAL_URI_SEG1, PORTAL_URI_SEG2, PORTAL_URI_SEG3, PORTAL_URI_SEG4, PORTAL_URLTEXT FROM PSPRSMDEFN WHERE PORTAL_NAME = :1 AND PORTAL_REFTYPE = :2 AND PORTAL_OBJNAME = :3

Some count SQLs running after this

SELECT COUNT(*) FROM PSPRSMATTR WHERE PORTAL_NAME = :1 AND PORTAL_REFTYPE = :2 AND PORTAL_OBJNAME = :3

SELECT COUNT(*) FROM PSPRSMSYSATTR WHERE PORTAL_NAME = :1 AND PORTAL_REFTYPE = :2 AND PORTAL_OBJNAME = :3

SELECT COUNT(*) FROM PSPRSMDEFNLANG WHERE PORTAL_NAME = :1 AND PORTAL_REFTYPE = :2 AND PORTAL_OBJNAME = :3

SELECT COUNT(*) FROM PSPRSMPERM WHERE PORTAL_NAME = :1 AND PORTAL_REFTYPE = :2 AND PORTAL_OBJNAME = :3

SELECT COUNT(*) FROM PSPRSMHPASGPGLT WHERE PORTAL_NAME = :1 AND PORTAL_REFTYPE = :2 AND PORTAL_OBJNAME = :3

SELECT COUNT(*) FROM PSPRSMSYNC WHERE PORTAL_NAME = :1 AND PORTAL_REFTYPE = :2 AND PORTAL_OBJNAME = :3

SELECT COUNT(*) FROM PSPRSMCTRBEXCL WHERE PORTAL_NAME = :1 AND PORTAL_REFTYPE = :2 AND PORTAL_OBJNAME = :3

SELECT COUNT(*) FROM PSPRSMWSRPCONS WHERE PORTAL_NAME = :1 AND PORTAL_REFTYPE = :2 AND PORTAL_OBJNAME = :3

SELECT COUNT(*) FROM PSPRSMWSRPPROD WHERE PORTAL_NAME = :1 AND PORTAL_REFTYPE = :2 AND PORTAL_OBJNAME = :3

--- Ends here.

SELECT PORTAL_PERMNAME, PORTAL_ISCASCADE, PORTAL_PERMTYPE FROM PSPRSMPERM WHERE PORTAL_NAME = :1 AND PORTAL_REFTYPE = :2 AND PORTAL_OBJNAME = :3 ORDER BY PORTAL_PERMNAME, PORTAL_PERMTYPE

==> permissions are obtained here.. In my case, it came as ALLPAGES , and permission type is "P"

SELECT COUNT(*) FROM PSPRSMDEFN WHERE ((PORTAL_LINK_PORTAL = :1 and PORTAL_NAME = :2) or PORTAL_LINK_PORTAL = :2) AND PORTAL_REFTYPE = :3 AND PORTAL_LINKOBJNAME = :4

Intermittent PSVERSION selects?

SELECT VERSION FROM PSVERSION WHERE OBJECTTYPENAME = 'SYS'

For the third bind input, DEFAULT_TEMPLATE is passed. The columns PORTAL_URI_SEG1, PORTAL_URI_SEG2, PORTAL_URI_SEG3, PORTAL_URI_SEG4 are interesting here. Together, they form a function to be invoked.

WEBLIB_PT_NAV. ISCRIPT1.FieldFormula < function name : IScript_PT_NAV_TPL_FRAME> The same set of COUNT SQLs followed by select on PSVERSION runs after this; the template name being DEFAULT_TEMPLATE.

I will stop this here and continue in my next post.

PeopleSoft PT_MCF_MAIL - %ObEmail_Delivered

Found an interesting question in a popular forum today, on PT_MCF_MAIL application package of PeopleSoft. An attempt to send an email with an invalid mail address was triggered, and the package returned success!.

So, I decided to do some test code on this by myself. Placed a small piece of code in the fieldchange event, that triggers an email. Before you try replicating this, make sure that you have configured the SMTP details in your application server configuration file [ psappsrv.cfg ]

The code is presented below

import PT_MCF_MAIL:*;
Local PT_MCF_MAIL:MCFOutboundEmail &outb_email = create PT_MCF_MAIL:MCFOutboundEmail();

&outb_email.Recipients = "Recipient List";
&outb_email.From = "";
&outb_email.BCC = "";
&outb_email.Subject = "Invalid Email";
&outb_email.ReplyTo = "";
&outb_email.ContentType = "text/html";
&result = &outb_email.Send();
WinMessage("Result -" | %ObEmail_Delivered, 0);

The ideal expectation here is an error / mail rejection, as the recipient list is invalid. But strangely, %ObEmail_Delivered returns a value of 1 indicating the email was successfully delivered.

I decided to set the "Logfence" property in the application server configuration file to 5, to see what happened inside the code. Here is a trace.

PSAPPSRV.15750 (2) [04/28/10 09:46:41 VP1@<IP> (IE 7.0; WINXP) ICPanel](4) (MCFSendMail): Inside EvalSendMCFEmail
PSPUBDSP_dflt.15793 (0) [04/28/10 09:46:42](4) Number of calls queued in PUBHQ_dflt is:0
PSAPPSRV.15750 (2) [04/28/10 09:46:42 VP1@<IP> (IE 7.0; WINXP) ICPanel](5) (MCFSendMail): Creating CMCFPart
PSAPPSRV.15750 (2) [04/28/10 09:46:42 VP1@<IP> (IE 7.0; WINXP) ICPanel](5) (MCFSendMail): Creating CMCFEmail
PSAPPSRV.15750 (2) [04/28/10 09:46:42 VP1@<IP> (IE 7.0; WINXP) ICPanel](5) (MCFSendMail): Creating CMCFOutboundEmail
PSAPPSRV.15750 (2) [04/28/10 09:46:43 VP1@<IP> (IE 7.0; WINXP) ICPanel](5) (MCFSendMail): Creating CSMTPSession
PSAPPSRV.15750 (2) [04/28/10 09:46:43 VP1@<IP> (IE 7.0; WINXP) ICPanel](5) (MCFSendMail): Inside CMCFOutboundEmail::Send
PSAPPSRV.15750 (2) [04/28/10 09:46:43 VP1@<IP> (IE 7.0; WINXP) ICPanel](5) (MCFSendMail): Inside CMCFOutboundEmail::ConvertToJavaObj
PSAPPSRV.15750 (2) [04/28/10 09:46:43 VP1@<IP> (IE 7.0; WINXP) ICPanel](5) (MCFSendMail): Creating Java equivalent of CSMTPSession
PSAPPSRV.15750 (2) [04/28/10 09:46:43 VP1@<IP> (IE 7.0; WINXP) ICPanel](5) (MCFSendMail): Inside CMCFEmail::ConvertToJavaObj
PSAPPSRV.15750 (2) [04/28/10 09:46:43 VP1@<IP> (IE 7.0; WINXP) ICPanel](5) (MCFSendMail): Inside CMCFPart::ConvertToJavaObj
PSAPPSRV.15750 (2) [04/28/10 09:46:43 VP1@<IP> (IE 7.0; WINXP) ICPanel](4) (MCFSendMail): Inside CMCFOutboundEmail::Send: Successful send with return value 1

It appears that it is not validated, but an email sending attempt has been made. Weird, but will keep dwelling on this to see what happened at the mail server.

PeopleSoft - Record Field Properties - Value

After being involved in PeopleSoft development for so many years, I got an interesting question from one of my friend. In PeopleSoft, what is the significance of the "Value" property for a field object. There are some special cases where we use the Value property and some cases where we do not.

Well, this is very basic but needs to be carefully understood. Enterprise PeopleTools Peoplebooks defines this property as the one that contains the current value of the field, converted to an appropriate PeopleCode data type. To really understand the difference between Record.Field and Record.Field.Value, let us do some case study here.

I have a basic page setup, which contains a text field and a submit button.

We are going to play around to understand this record field property of the Field Class. On the Test Button, the following PeopleCode is executed

TEST_REC.FIELD1.Value = "value123";
Error (TEST_REC.FIELD1);

Now, when Test Button is clicked, the value of Test Field is set to 'value123' and the following Error message pops out

---------------------------
Message from webpage
---------------------------
value123

The PeopleCode program executed an Error statement, which has produced this message.
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------

All as expected. Now, let us change it a little.

TEST_REC.FIELD1 = "value123";
Error (TEST_REC.FIELD1.Value);

Identical outputs. So, what exactly is the difference between Record.Field and Record.Field.Value?

The search record of my component is Installation. INSTALLATION is a PeopleSoft delivered record object. There are some special constraints when using this record in PeopleCode. As an example, when I tried this piece of code

If INSTALLATION.SAT.Value = "N" Then
Error (INSTALLATION.SAT.Value);
End-If;

But, PeopleSoft recommends not using .value for INSTALLATION or OPTIONS table, as per the rules given in PeopleBooks. Also, if you are referring the record field through a field object, .value is more appropriate.

Local Field &Fl = GetField(TEST_REC.FIELD1);
&Fl.Value = "123";

Anyway,you cannot assign the value '123' directly to the object here. Application designer would not allow such an activity. It would throw the following error

Assignment left hand side of type Field is not compatible with right hand side of type String. (2,47)

Also, if you try to 'Error' the object in the code using "Error (&Fl);" , you get a different run time error.

---------------------------
Message from webpage
---------------------------
Internal error. Unknown type for return value. (180,135)

The PeopleCode program executed an Error statement, which has produced this message.
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------

Note:

1) If the string contains spaces only, .Value would return an empty string. i.e. Len() would return 0.

2) If the string contains trailing spaces, then value simply ignores it.

3) If the field contains leading spaces, value ignores that as well.

Easter Egg:

When analysing this part, when I tried, Error (Len(TEST_REC.FIELD1.Value));, in PT8.46, PeopleSoft gave weird error messages when the string length is 1, 2 and 3.

Example:

1) Length: 1; Example: a

---------------------------
Message from webpage
---------------------------
1Out of available memory (180,1)

Out of available memory
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------

Cannot understand, how "Out of Available Memory" came from.

2) Length: 2; Example: ab

---------------------------
Message from webpage
---------------------------
2PeopleCode (180,2)

---------------------------
OK
---------------------------

From where does this came from? (PeopleCode)

3) Length: 3; example: abc

---------------------------
Message from webpage
---------------------------
3today (180,3)

---------------------------
OK
---------------------------

From where does this came from? (today)

Great Brain Teasers - Set 2

In the quest to present some of the greatest puzzles and Brain teasers of the past decade, here are five famous puzzles which are simple evergreen at all times. These puzzles are very good in the sense that they make you to think and arrive at a logic for finding the solution. I'm not providing the answers to these Brain Teasers as giving them here would make the puzzle open..I would like the reader to solve the logic puzzle by themselves and post the answer as a comment..So, here we go..

1) Brain Teaser #1

You have 35 pens, all with equal weight except one (greater or lesser) and you are provided with a balance. .What is the least number of measurements you have to take to find the odd man out?

2) Popular Riddle #1

Little hard to term this as a riddle. Anyway. A family as I know has several children. Each boy in this family has as many sisters as brothers but each girl has twice as many brothers as sisters. How many brothers and sisters are there?

3) Logic Puzzle #1

There are 45 teams contesting in a knockout tournament. If a team looses their match, they get knocked out. What is the least number of matches required between the teams, to decide the winner?

4) Logic puzzle #2

If a clock takes 5 seconds to strike 5, how long will the same clock take to strike 10?

5) Mathematical Teaser #1

You can use the digit 9 exactly thrice. Use any mathematical operation and the result should be 1. What are the possible options?

Adsense Ads not relevant - Blogger

I have been hearing this from my friends for quite some time till today. Here it goes:-

" I have been studying this for the past few weeks till now and the problem persists. My problem is,the Google Adsense Ads displayed on my blog post are not relevant to the content I have provided. I'm getting a poor CTR due to this and the ads don't really appeal to my audience.I did try using the Google Preview tool, and found that the targeting is poor across geographies. The ads are not relevant across all the geographies. I tried a lot of items given across multiple websites,

I Tried Section Targeting to the title of my blog post. Sometime has passed after that, but no clue..Unfortunately, in the blogger body I'm not able to selectively incorporate section targeting to specify any redundant elimination. Neither my blog title has enough keywords for Ads to be relevant"

I decided to do a R& D on this to see if this is really true. And the result is, it is not. Google Adsense is very good in understanding the content of your post and display ads that are relevant to your content. No big SEO techniques are required for this. A simple rule of thumb - quality content and focussed area of writing - this is the key to drive the ads that is relevant to your page.

To better explain this, I constructed some webpages in my blog site to see how Ads are displayed by the Adsense program.

1) The riddle test page for Ads

In order to see if I'm getting relevant ads that match my content, I wrote a riddle in my blog page sometime back. My natural expectation was that I would get some nice interesting Ads from Adsense to display Ads pertaining to puzzles or riddles. But, at least in my geography, I ended up getting Ads related to Juicy Mangoes and Tasty Butters!!. The Ads displayed were simply not targetted.

2) The second test, objective type questions

I did not give up. My close friend helped with a blog post, pertaining to objective type questions on physics. The expectation here was to get some Ads related to Physics tutorials or training, but Adsense went inside the post content to read the keywords on the questions and ended up with Ads related to TV transmitted and receivers..

If you look at these two case examples, they would clearly indicate one thing:-

The content is not focussed to the core topic and has few less introduction / title information, and hence the result was irrelevant Ads. I'm not sure if implementing section targetting could give a radical difference to these posts, especially with Blogger where there is not much freedom.

As a different test, I wrote a new puzzle in my blog today. This had a puzzle with but the content was focussed to the topic and ended up getting relevant Ads for this.

To summarize, tools like section targeting or other SEO techniques can supplement your writing. They are supplements and the backbone is indeed, your content and your writing. The more focussed the writing is , the well targeted the Ads would be. You will end up getting relevant Ads in your page and can soon find your CTR going up one day.

Give a try and post your opinion.

Great Brain Teaser Puzzle

Here are some famous brain teaser puzzles of all times. They make you think and time flies trying to solve and find an answer to them.Try your hand on these puzzles and if you can find a good solution to these questions, post them with suitable explanations. This would also benefit the entire reader community. These brain teasers are worth solving and give them a go!.Try this teaser and see how it goes

The puzzle goes like this:-

"I have three daughters", said Mali to her friend Mavi. "In order to help you to figure out there ages, you have to solve this little math problem and here are the rules that would help you in arriving at their ages", continued Mali.

a) The product of their ages is 36.

b) Sum of their ages is equal to the number of shops you see right across the street.

At this point, Mavi started making some calculations and after a minute, told back to Mali, that she cannot infer the ages as the information she has on hand is still insufficient..

hmm..Said Mali, I will give you one more clue. My oldest daughter is 5 feet tall.and the next clue would be..

Stop, said Mavi, I have found the answer to your question..Here you go, the ages of your daughters is ......

Nice puzzle, isn't it? Find out the logic behind this and crack it..

+2 Physics - Communication Systems - Part 4

Questions from 26-35 are provided in this blog post. We will aim to cover as may important questions as possible, which would help the candidates to prepare well from an examination perspective.

26) Look at the diagram below and identify the blocks numbered (1) and (2) in a Superheterodyne AM receiver.

a) Mixer and FM amplifier
b) Detector and Mixer
c) Detector and Oscillator
d) Mixer and Detector

27) A ------------- is a device that prevents a signal voltage from exceeding a certain peak value.

a) Oscillator
b) Mixer
c) Limiter
d) Amplifier

28) In a television system, usually, sound signals are ------------- while picture signals are ------------

a) Frequency modulated, Amplitude Modulated
b) Amplitude Modulated, Amplitude Modulated
c) Frequency Modulated, Frequency Modulated
d) Amplitude Modulated, Frequency Modulated

29) Vidicon television camera converts ----------

a) electrical energy to light energy
b) electrical energy to magnetic energy
c) light energy to electrical energy
d) magnetic energy to electrical energy

30) ------- is a principle where the resistance of target material decreases when exposed to light.

a) Photo elastic effect
b) Photonics
c) Photo Conductivity
d) Electrostatics

31) In India, frame repetition rate has been standardized at ---------- frames per second.

a) 25
b) 15
c) 30
d) 40

32) A ------------ is used to convert digital signals to analog signals capable of being transmitted over telephone lines.

a) Modulator
b) De-modulator
c) Modem
d) Television

33) The man made Satellite Sputnik, was launched in

a) 1947
b) 1957
c) 1953
d) 1943

34) In amplitude modulation, the band width is

(a) equal to the signal frequency
(b) twice the signal frequency
(c) thrice the signal frequency
(d) four times the signal frequency

35) In phase modulation

(a) only the phase of the carrier wave varies
(b) only the frequency of the carrier wave varies.
(c) both the phase and the frequency of the carrier wave varies.
(d) there is no change in the frequency and phase of the carrier wave

+2 Physics - Communication Systems - Part 3

We are covering objective type questions on Communication Systems chapter in this series of blog posts from an examination perspective. Questions from 19 - 25 are covered in this set.

19) The ability of an Antenna to concentrate the electromagetic waves in the most desired directions is its

a) focus
b) directivity
c) frequency
d) Power

20) A microphone converts

a) sound energy into electrical energy
b) electrical energy into sound energy
c) sound energy into electromagnetic energy
d) electromagnetic energy into electrical energy

21) Frequency modulated systems are usually operated at a frequency above

a) 40 MHz
b) 20 MHz
c) 30 MHz
d) 50 MHz

22) Look at the simple Radio receiver diagram below

What should come in the place of "?"

23) Simple radio receiver circuit has

a) poor sensitivity and good selectivity
b) good sensitivity and good selectivity
c) poor sensitivity and poor sensitivity
d) good sensitivity and poor selectivity

24) The ability to select a particular wanted signal only and rejecting the unwanted signals is ------------.

25) The ability to amplify the weak signals is ---------------

+2 Physics - Communication Systems - Part 2

Continuing our collection of objective type questions in +2 Physics, questions from 9 -18 are provided in this post, covering the Communication Systems chapter.

9) A ------------ radio wave is used to carry the audio signal.

10) The process of changing amplitude or frequency of the carrier wave in accordance with the intensity of the signal is ---------.

a) Modulation
b) Reception
c) Amplification
d) Demodulation

11) When the amplitude of high frequency carrier wave is changed in accordance with the intensity of the signal, the process is called ----------

a) frequency modulation
b) Pulse code modulation
c) Phase modulation
d) Amplitude Modulation

12) In amplitude modulation, which of the following is constant?

a) Amplitude
b) Frequency
c) Phase
d) Both Frequency and Phase.

13) Modulation factor is defined as the ratio of

a) Signal amplitude to Carrier amplitude
b) Carrier amplitude to Signal amplitude
c) Carrier amplitude to twice signal amplitude
d) twice signal amplitude to carrier amplitude

14) For effective modulation, the degree of modulation should never exceed

a) 1
b) 100%
c) 75%
d) 0%

15) The frequency of an FM transmitter without signal input is called -------

a) resting frequency
b) centre frequency
c) both (a) and (b)
d) cut off frequency

16) The total variation in frequency from the lowest to the highest is called --------

a) frequency swing
b) carrier swing
c) variational swing
d) Modulation swing.

17) The bandwidth used in phase modulation is ----------- than that of FM.

a) equal
b) greater
c) smaller
d) greater than or equal

18) A transmitting Antenna converts electrical signal to -----------

a) electromagnetic energy
b) Mechanical energy
c) Kinetic energy
d) Potential energy

+2 Physics - Communication Systems - Part 1

Here are some important one mark questions from communication systems chapter of the Physics syllabus. For the sake of thorough practice, the options to these questions are not provided for some of the questions. Since this chapter will be comprehensively covered, it would be good to know the answers to all these questions by practicing against the textbook.

1) In the year 1840, communications started with ------------.

a) Telephony
b) RADAR
c) Telegraphy
d) Semiconductors

2) Sky wave propagation is also known as -----------

a) Ground Wave Propagation
b) Space Wave Propagation
c) Ionospheric Propagation
d) Air Wave Propagation

3) Ground wave propagation occurs when the transmitting and receiving antennas are -------- to the ground.

a) close
b) far

4) Radio waves propagated through the ------ of the Earth are known as space waves.

a) Stratosphere
b) Ionosphere
c) Troposphere
d) Exosphere

5) Space wave propagation is particularly suitable for the waves with frequency

a) >30 MHz
b) >=30 MHz
c) 60 MHz
d) >=60 MHz

6) Look at the diagram below.

The items 1, 2 and 3 are respectively

a) Reflected wave, Ground, Direct Wave
b) Direct Wave, Reflected Wave, Ground
c) Ground, Direct Wave, Reflected Wave
d) Reflected Wave, Reflected Wave, Ground

7) In the skywave propagation, for a fixed frequency, the shortest distance between the point of transmission and the point of reception along the surface is known as

a) long distance
b) skip distance
c) cover area
d) fixed zone

8) The energy of a wave ---------- with frequency.

PeopleSoft Weblogic Server - Startup Problems

PeopleSoft Weblogic server in Solaris behaves strangely at times. The webserver will be taken down using StopPIA.sh and when you try starting the webserver with startPIA.sh, you will not be able to get to the sign on page.

If you look at the weblogic log file, PIA_weblogic.log, you can find the following exception being logged

####<Apr 23, 2010 2:40:18 PM EST> <Info> <Socket> <server> <PIA> <ListenThread.Default> <<WLS Kernel>> <> <BEA-000436> <Allocating 3 reader threads.>

####<Apr 23, 2010 2:40:18 PM EST> <Emergency> <WebLogicServer> <server> <PIA> <ListenThread.Default> <<WLS Kernel>> <> <BEA-000351> <Unable to create a server socket on Channel Default for port: 8200. java.net.BindException: Address already in use Perhaps another process is using port 8200.>

==> Here the server is just not starting up, because there is already a process that is using the port 8200. If we find the process and kill it, we should be able to bring the server back.

####<Apr 23, 2010 2:40:18 PM EST> <Emergency> <WebLogicServer> <server> <PIA> <SSLListenThread.Default> <<WLS Kernel>> <> <BEA-000351> <Unable to create a server socket on Channel Default for port: 8250. java.net.BindException: Address already in use Perhaps another process is using port 8250.>

####<Apr 23, 2010 2:40:18 PM EST> <Emergency> <Security> <server> <PIA> <main> <<WLS Kernel>> <> <BEA-090085> <Server failed to bind to the configured port. The port may already be used by another process.>

####<Apr 23, 2010 2:40:18 PM EST> <Emergency> <WebLogicServer> <server> <PIA> <main> <<WLS Kernel>> <> <BEA-000342> <Unable to initialize the server: Server failed to bind to the requested port. See preceeding log message for details.>

If you attempt to make another shut down at this stage, (though you wouldn't), you will get this message

Failed to connect to t3://<server>:8200: Destination unreachable; nested exception is:

java.net.SocketTimeoutException: Read timed out; No available router to destination

So, the objective for us would be to start the server and get into the PeopleSoft environment back. To find which process is currently using the port 8200, I used the following shell script:

#!/bin/ksh

# find the process that makes the weblogic server preoccupied

line='-------------------------------------------------------------------------'

pids=`/usr/bin/ps -ef | sed 1d | awk '{print $2}'`

# Prompt users or use 1st cmdline argument

if [ $# -eq 0 ]; then

read answer?"For which port do you need the PID: "

else

answer=$1

# Check all pids for this port, then list that process

for f in $pids

/usr/proc/bin/pfiles $f 2>/dev/null | /usr/xpg4/bin/grep -q "port: $answer"

if [ $? -eq 0 ] ; then

echo "$line\nPort: $answer is being used by PID: \c"

/usr/bin/ps -o pid -o args -p $f | sed 1d

done

exit 0

When this script is triggered with the port number specified, this script would list all the PIDs that are busy with the port to which the current server is trying to attach itself.

When all these processes are killed, try the StartPIA.sh again, and the server would be up and running.

####<Apr 23, 2010 2:49:32 PM EST> <Notice> <WebLogicServer> <server> <PIA> <main> <<WLS Kernel>> <> <BEA-000329> <Started WebLogic Admin Server "PIA" for domain "Domain" running in Production Mode>

####<Apr 23, 2010 2:49:32 PM EST> <Notice> <WebLogicServer> <server> <PIA> <ListenThread.Default> <<WLS Kernel>> <> <BEA-000355> <Thread "ListenThread.Default" listening on port 8200, ip address *.*>

PeopleCode Runtime Error - EvalDateConv

Starting from this post, we will try to grab some interesting errors thrown by the PeopleSoft application and understand the reason behind it. The first error code we will be analyzing as a part of this series is provided below:-

---------------------------

Message from webpage

---------------------------

Invalid parameter 1 for function EvalDateConv. (180,116) <Record>.<Field>.FieldChange PCPC:751 Statement:3

The specified parameter is not correct for the function. It may be the wrong type of parameter (string, number, record.field, etc) or an invalid value in this context.

Review the program for errors. If necessary, run a PeopleCode trace to determine the program that failed. Alternatively, for functions defined within PeopleCode, check the function declaration to verify that they are correct.

---------------------------

Reason:-

"EvalDateConv" does not appear to be a PeopleSoft function. But, this is internally invoked, when we invoke built in functions like YEAR. We get this error when a NULL or invalid value is passed to the YEAR function.

A simple way to simulate this error would be

Local number &Nm_ct = 2;

Error Year(&Nm_ct);

or even passing a NULL value to the YEAR function. Check and correct the YEAR function. That would resolve this issue.

Digg Widget for Blogger - VTD Extract XML

After I wrote the methodology to make an XSLT to extract the response from Digg, I got a request asking for a way to do this in VTD itself and return the response back to the calling module. So, before we dwell on using JQuery and creating a widget in Blogger for this, let us understand how to use VTD to process the response.

We have the following output returned from Digg

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="out.xsl"?>
<stories count="2" offset="0" timestamp="1271499463" total="29" version="1.0">
   <story link="http://www.oracle.com/applications/peoplesoft/tools_tech/ent/ptools/application-development.html" submit_date="1269423261" diggs="1" id="20131750" comments="0" href="http://digg.com/programming/PeopleTools_Application_Development_Applications_Oracle" status="upcoming" media="news">
       <description>Peoplesoft</description>
       <title>PeopleTools Application Development | Applications | Oracle</title>
       <user icon="" name="hari86av" profileviews="148" registered="1196363365"/>
       <topic name="Programming" short_name="programming"/>
       <container name="Technology" short_name="technology"/>
       <shorturl short_url="http://digg.com/d31MTBe" view_count="0"/>
   </story>
   <story link="http://www.aired.in/2009/10/peoplesoft-admin-interview-questions.html" submit_date="1262492162" diggs="1" id="18226229" comments="0" href="http://digg.com/programming/PeopleSoft_Administration_Interview_Questions_2" status="upcoming" media="news">
       <description>Help prepare for an Peoplesoft Administrator Interview</description>
       <title>PeopleSoft Administration Interview Questions</title>
       <user icon="" name="datalink4i" profileviews="307" registered="1160585515"/>
       <topic name="Programming" short_name="programming"/>
       <container name="Technology" short_name="technology"/>
       <shorturl short_url="http://digg.com/d31ETTR" view_count="25"/>
   </story>
</stories>

Instead of using XSLT, we will use VTD to grab the result here. VTDNav object would be used to navigate the "story" node and "title" node and a HTML can be constructed out of this as we desire. I would strongly suggest you to check the following link, that explains how to use VTD to get the response XML from Digg first. The navigation part of the code is provided below

import com.ximpleware.*;
import java.io.*;
public class SampVTD
{
public static void sendGetRequest(String endpoint, String requestParameters)
{
java.lang.String urlStr = endpoint;
Boolean bool=false;
VTDGen vg = new VTDGen();
urlStr += "?" + requestParameters;
vg.parseHttpUrl(urlStr,bool);
VTDNav vn = vg.getNav();
//Declare an autopilot object of VTD
AutoPilot ap = new AutoPilot(vn);
ap.selectElement("story"); => select story node using Autopilot object.
String Title="";
String link="";
try{
while(ap.iterate()){
       link=   vn.toString(vn.getAttrVal("link"));    => Get the hyperlink into a variable "link"
       if (vn.toElement(VTDNav.FIRST_CHILD, "title"))
               {
                  Title = vn.toString(vn.getText()); => Get the corresponding title tag into "Title" element
                  vn.toElement(VTDNav.PARENT);
               }
       System.out.println("<a href="+link+">"+Title+"</a>");    => The resulting HTML. We can push this into an array or use any approach for displaying in browser.
       }
}
catch (NavException e1){
         System.out.println(" Exception during navigation "+e1);
     }
}
public static void main(String args[])
   {
   String url="http://services.digg.com/1.0/endpoint";
   String parameters="method=search.stories&query=peoplesoft&topic=programming&count=3";
   sendGetRequest(url,parameters);
   }
}

This would give the same output as we saw in the XSLT example earlier. Note that we need to feed the parameters to the GET request dynamically.We are now ready to pick up a JQuery example for the same and see how we can integrate this with Blogger.

Tamil Nadu +2 physics - Important one mark questions - Set 18

+2 physics - Important one mark questions

Set -18

22. Isotones are atoms of different elements having same number of

(a) Electrons (b) Protons (c) Positrons (d) Neutrons

23. To locate brain tumor ---------- isotope is used

(a) CO⁶⁰ (b) Na²⁴ (c) Fe⁵⁹ (d) I¹³¹

24. The safe limit of receiving nuclear radiation is about ----------- per week

(a) 100R (b) 250mR (c) 600R (d) 250R

25. The half life period of N¹³ is 10.1 minute. Its life time is

(a) 5.05 minutes (b) 10.1/0.6931

26. An example for non-sinusoidal oscillator is

(a) Collpits (b) Crystal (c) Hartley (d) multi vibrator

27. For scanning a picture, the synchronizing pulses used are

(a) Line (b) Frame (c) blanking (d) all the above

28. since the input impedance of an ideal operational amplifier is infinite,

(a) Its input current is zero

(b) Its output resistance is high

(d) Its output voltage becomes independent of load resistance

29. Sky wave propagation is also known as ------------ propagation

(a) Troposphere (b) Stratosphere (c) Ionosphere (d) Photosphere

30. Printed documents to be transmitted by fax are converted into electrical signals by the process of

(a) Reflection (b) Scanning (c) Modulation (d) Light variation

Tamil Nadu +2 physics - Important one mark questions - Set 17

+2 physics - Important one mark questions

Set -17

15. The short wavelength limit of Lyman series is

(a) R (b) 1/R (c) 3/4 R (d) 4/3 R

16. In Millikan experiment, plates are connected to potential difference of

(a) 1000 v (b) 10000 v (c) 50000 v (d) 60000 v

17. Sommerfeld showed that the path of the electron is not a simple ellipse but a precessing ellipse called

(a) Loop (b) Parabola (c) rosette (d) toroid

18. In holography ----------- of the light waves are recorded on the film

(a) Only frequency (b) only amplitude

19. According to Bohr's postulate, which of the following quantities takes discrete values?

(a) Kinetic energy (b) Potential energy

20. A photon is

(a) Particle (b) Wave

21. The immediate application of de-Broglie's matter wave is the invention of

(a) An optical microscope (b) An electron microscope

Tamil Nadu +2 physics - Important one mark questions - Set 16

+2 physics - Important one mark questions

Set -16

8. Phosphor bronze wire is used for suspension in a moving coil galvanometer, because it has

(a) High conductivity (b) High resistivity

9. For transmission of audio and video signals, the required frequency range of radio wave is between

(a) 100 MHz to 1000MHz (b) 50 Hz to 100 KHz

10. In an ac circuit

(a) The average value of current is zero

(b) The average value of square of current is zero

(d) The rms current is √2 time of peak current

11. The mutual inductance between two coils when a current of 4A changing to 8A in 0.5s in one coil, induces an E.M.F of 50mv in the other coil is

(a) 6.25 H (b) 6.25mH (c) 1.232mH (d) 625 H

12. Newton's ring experiment confirm ----------- theory of light

(a) Corpuscular (b) electro magnetic (c) quantum (d) wave

13. Atomic spectrum should be

(a) Pure line spectrum (b) emission band spectrum

14. A light of wavelength 6000A° is incident normally on a grating 0.005 m wide with 2500 lines. Then the maximum order is

(a) 3 (b) 2 (c) 1 (d) 4

Tamil Nadu +2 physics - Important one mark questions - Set 15

Tamil Nadu +2 physics - Important one mark questions

Set - 15

1. Which one of the following is a scalar quantity?

(a) Dipole moment (b) Electric flux

2. The capacitance of a parallel plate capacitor increases from 5µF to 60µF when a dielectric is placed between the plates. The dielectric constant of the dielectric is

(a) 65 (b) 55 (c) 12 (d) 10

3. If two identical point charges separated by 3m experiences a force of 10N. Then the value of each charge is

(a) 10^-4c (b) 10⁴c (c) 1c (d) 10⁸c

4. If the dipole is placed in a non-uniform electric field, it experiences

(a) Torque only (b) Only force

5. If there is no colored ring at the end of a carbon resistor, then the tolerance is

(a) 1% (b) 2% (c) 5% (d) 20%

6. When two 2Ω resistances are in parallel, the effective resistance

(a) 2Ω (b) 4Ω (c) 1Ω (d) 0.5Ω

7. Kirchoff's first law is a consequence of conservation of

(a) Energy (b) Charges (c) Mass (d) momentum

Tamil Nadu +2 physics - Important one mark questions - Set 14

Tamil Nadu +2 Physics - Important one mark questions

Set - 14- Questions 22-28

22. The mass defect of a certain nucleus is found to be 0.05 amu. Its binding energy is

(a) 46.55ev (b) 46.55Mev (c) 4.655ev (d) 4.655Mev

23. Nuclear force arise due to a particle called

(a) Electron (b) Proton (c) Neutron (d) Meson

24. The half life of neutron is

(a) 13 s (b) 13 hour (c) 780 s (d) 780 minutes

25. The cosmic ray intensity is maximum at an altitude

(a) 10 km (b) 20 km (c) 40 km (d) 60 km

26. Forbidden energy gap for Germanium is

(a) 0.7ev (b) 1.1ev (c) 2ev (d) 10ev

27. In a transistor, the phase reversal between input and output voltage is

(a) 0 (b) 90° (c) 180° (d) 120°

28. In a common base circuit, if I_C=0.95mA and I_B=0.05mA then the value of α is

(a) 95 (b) 9.5 (c) 0.95 (d) 0.095

29. The principle involved in sky wave propagation is

(a) Reflection (b) refraction (c) polarization (d) interference

30. The distance travelled by radar transmission pulse in a µs

(a) 300 m (b) 3000 m (c) 600 m (d) 300 km

Tamil Nadu +2 physics - Important one mark questions- Set 13

Tamil Nadu +2 physics - Important one mark questions-Set 13 - Questions 15-21

15. In Newton rings experiment, the ratio between radii of 4^th and 9^th dark ring is

(a) 4:9 (b) 9:4 (c) 2:3 (d) 3:2

16. According to Rutherford atom model, the spectral line emitted by an atom is

(a) Line spectrum (b) Continuous spectrum

17. Moseley's law that led to the discovery of elements is/are

(a) Rhenium (b) Technetium (c) Hafnium (d) all the above

18. A Coolidge tube operates 12400 V. The maximum frequency of X- radiation emitted from Coolidge tube is

(a) 6×10¹⁸ Hz (b) 3×10¹⁸ Hz (c) 6×10⁸ Hz (d) 3×10⁸ Hz

19. The chromium ions doped in the ruby rod absorbs

(a) Red light (b) yellow light (c) green light (d) blue light

20. Stopping potential is independent of --------------- incident light

(a) Amplitude (b) intensity (c) frequency (d) all the above

21. If 1 g of a substance is fully converted into energy, then the energy produced is

(a) 9×10¹⁶ J (b) 9×10¹³ J (c) 9×10¹⁰ J (d) 9×10¹⁹ J

Share this Post

Share this Post

Share this Post

Share this Post

Share this Post

Share this Post

Share this Post

Share this Post

Share this Post

Share this Post

Share this Post

Share this Post

Share this Post

Share this Post

Share this Post

Share this Post

Share this Post

Share this Post

Share this Post

Share this Post

Share this Post

Labels

Search This Blog

Popular Posts