Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2014 August 14

= August 14 =

Gmail App for Android
How do I change the order of messages in a conversation in the Gmail App for Android phones? The latest messages seem to appear at the bottom, meaning that in a long conversation of many emails, I have to scroll down. Slightly counter-intuitive..... KägeTorä - ( 影 虎 ) ( Chin Wag )  06:25, 14 August 2014 (UTC)
 * Well, if you've read the older messages, they should've been collapsed. If you haven't, shouldn't you read them in the order that they come in? DHN (talk) 05:50, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

Safety Video
Hi, in the late 1980s,I was involved with a safety video concerning the delivery of high risk chemicals. The product was acid based, and collected by myself in a chemical tanker from Hayes chemical plant in Manchester. I delivered the load to the Wardle Site, Gt Manchester.A safety procedure was executed for the benefit of safety within the requirements for North West Water. Every part of the whole programme was filmed at the time. I have never seen the video, but would now like a copy if this is possible. The Company I worked for at the time was Brennan Tankers of Leeds.217.43.89.77 (talk) 11:22, 14 August 2014 (UTC) Thanks in anticipation, Andrew G. Ross. 217.43.89.77 (talk) 11:22, 14 August 2014 (UTC)


 * I fixed your formatting, as it was not in it's own section 217.158.236.14 (talk) 11:41, 14 August 2014 (UTC)
 * Have you tried contacting the company? If they still exist, they may have a copy in their archives somewhere. I very much doubt it would be publicly available, if it is a company training video.  KägeTorä - ( 影 虎 )  ( Chin Wag )  17:24, 14 August 2014 (UTC)

Further custom XML serialisation question
After experimenting with the WCF service I'm supposed to develop a custom XML serialiser for, it has become apparent that the WCF service is actually constructing dynamic types for each WCF method, so that these custom types sort of "wrap up" all the method's parameters and its return values. After seeing an example, I wrote a custom  implementation and assigned it to all the methods. It only sees these dynamic custom "wrap up" types, not the individual parameters directly. So I ended up thinking, what if all that is necessary is to replace  with our own custom decimal class (call it  ) in these dynamically constructed "wrap up" types? But then I would to define how  is serialised and deserialised, and I don't know how to do that.

Let's have an illustrative example. Say we have a WCF method called, which returns this kind of custom "wrap up" type (I'm writing this as if it were defined statically in the source code and not dynamically constructed, there might be some omissions I've not thought of): [Serializable] public class getPersonResponse {  [DataMember] public string name; [DataMember] public Decimal balance; }

Let's then say it returns this kind of SOAP response body:  Joe Bloggs 0.123 

Now let's say our custom decimal class is defined like this (it's actually more complex, but that is beside the point): public class MyDecimal {  private int[] integerDigits; private int[] fractionDigits; // constructors and methods go here... } where  means the digits in the integer part, left to right, and likewise   means the digits in the fraction part, left to right.

Let's then modify the dynamically constructed "wrap up" class like so: [Serializable] public class getPersonResponse {  [DataMember] public string name; [DataMember] public MyDecimal balance; }

How do I wite the serialisation and deserialisation methods for  to have the exact same SOAP output? J I P &#124; Talk 17:53, 14 August 2014 (UTC)


 * I'm not quite sure what you are asking, but the DataContractSerializer already handles .Net Decimal objects. It would seem that using that as a base class would be a good start. How you serialize your MyDecimal objects is going to depend entirely on their design, but the ToString and Parse type methods in the Decimal class would be a start. --Mark viking (talk)
 * Perhaps my wording was a bit unclear or ambiguous. I'm not asking how to write the implementation for the serialisation and deserialisation for my  class. I already know that. I'm asking where to write them so that the WCF service knows to use them when it's trying to serialise and deserialise the   objects when it encounters them.  J I P  &#124; Talk 19:11, 14 August 2014 (UTC)

Computer game development
Hello all, I couldn't sleep last night because I had an idea for a World War 2 RTS computer game rolling around in my head -- my idea is to make it the ultimate in realism (something along the line of Sudden Strike/Blitzkrieg, but with even more realistic gameplay -- for example, with units running away when demoralized, tanks stopping when out of fuel, and U-boats having to surface to recharge their batteries, among other elements of realism). However, I'm not a computer programmer, so I don't know how to translate my detailed concept into C++ code -- and in any case, I know that this project is beyond the ability of any one person, no matter how skilled. I definitely want to make some money off of this project if it's successful, and I also would prefer to have at least some part in the development, to make sure that realism is not compromised without great need. How do I go about doing it? Thanks in advance! (Also cross-posted to Entertainment desk.) 24.5.122.13 (talk) 19:14, 14 August 2014 (UTC)
 * I'm sorry if this is going to sound like shooting your idea down but the first thing you have to realize is that it IS actually the execution that is the hard part, not the “idea”. Just about anyone can come up with a good idea for game or an app, making it into reality is the hard part. Almost everyone who gets into game development has to start at step 1, which is learn how to make a very basic game, if you’ve never even done that before, you probably have years of learning before you can even contribute to anything that resembles the kind of game you are talking about. The OTHER way to make your game into a reality is of course to fund it yourself and hire people to make it for you, in which case you have to be pretty rich and take a considerable financial risk if your game does not work. If all you have is an idea, you can pretty much rule out the possibility of having your game funded by a studio or investors. Thinking someone ELSE will take the financial risk for YOUR idea is extremely unlikely, imagine you are a wealthy investor who wants to invest in a game, why would you give money to someone who has no track record in the industry, has never even made a game before, doesn’t know the 1st thing about developing or marketing? Have a look at sites like kickstarter where people are pitching their ideas for a game, you will quickly see that it takes a LOT more than just an idea to successfully fund a game. Vespine (talk) 00:22, 15 August 2014 (UTC)
 * What about trying to sell the idea to an indie game developer? I happen to know one that specializes in RTS games. And BTW, it's not "just" an idea -- I've already planned out the gameplay and user interface in quite a bit of detail. 24.5.122.13 (talk) 00:50, 15 August 2014 (UTC)
 * Regardless of how much you have "fleshed it out", I doubt ideas are what indie game developers are short on. I doubt any developer is looking for "ideas", unless you have a truly amazing and unique "break through" idea you could sell, like Fez_(video_game), Braid_(video_game) or world of goo, which frankly, no offense, it doesn't sound like you do. Like I said, the "idea" is the easy part. About your only chance is to develop it yourself, which like I said, is a LONG road of learning and dedication. This is how games like Super Meat Boy and the already mentioned FEZ were made, and those people had borderline autistic dedication to their idea. I can recommend Indie game the movie for an insight to the kind of effort and dedication it takes to make a successful game. It's certainly not impossible, but if you think all it takes is a good idea and people will shower you with money and resources to make your vision into reality, it doesn't work like that. I'm by no means saying your idea dies right here and now, I'm just trying to give you a more realistic expectation of how difficult it will be. Really, check out the movie I suggested and look at all the kickstarter video game campaigns you can find, the successful ones and the unsuccessful ones, and you might get a better idea of the kind of effort involved. Vespine (talk) 01:51, 15 August 2014 (UTC)


 * Again, apologies for being a wet blanket...but I think that you'd prefer to hear realistic answers than bland platitudes.


 * I've been a computer game developer for many years - both as an "indie" developer, making my own games from start-to-finish - and working for the big guys. I strongly agree with the previous posts.   Ideas come relatively easily to developers.  We usually have fifty seemingly good ideas for every one we have time to turn into an actual game.  Just as you find your idea compelling, we find our ideas compelling too.   Do you think we're likely to take your compelling idea rather than one of our own?   Hell no!


 * It's actually even more extreme than that. Most game companies, most TV and movie houses (in fact, most tech companies of all kinds) have a policy of actively ignoring ideas sent to them from outside the company.  The fear is that they'll be working hard on some WWII title (for example) and someone like you will send them an idea "I think a super-realistic WWII game would be a good idea"...which is probably nothing compared to what they're already doing - but kinda similar.  Then, after millions of dollars of expenditure and 300 people have slaved over it over 70 hour weeks for three years or more and the game hits the shelves at WalMart - you'll pop up and say "Hey!  You stole my idea!  I want royalty payments!"   This is such a common occurrence that almost every movie or AAA game title that hits the streets has to fend off several lawsuits from people who claim their ideas were plagiarized.   It's so serious that at one game company I worked for, all unsolicited letters and emails would automatically be routed to an outside contractor who's job it was to check them to make 100% sure that no ideas from outside the company EVER reached the ears of our developers.  In the event of law suits, this would make it easy for us to prove that some idea, no matter how similar to what's in a published game, didn't come from outside the company.


 * So, sadly, if you want to see your game happen, you'll probably have to learn to build it yourself. But therein lies a problem.  Your idea is incredibly ambitious.  I wasn't exaggerating when I said 300 guys for 3 years...that's what it takes to write a game like that.  What even an expert in the field with 30 years of experience can take on is MUCH less than that - you'll be writing games like asteroid and pac-man clones for quite a while before you can move on to writing SuperMario types of games - and then more years before you'll get into anything that requires much realism.


 * For games of the depth that you're imagining, even the most experienced game designer is going to need a ton of help. The amount of 3D artwork alone would consume easily 100 to 200 man-years and require the very different talents of artists, animators, user interface designers, sound guys, programmers, AI scripters, lawyers, level designers, story authors, musicians, voice talents, motion capture actors, QA people, game testers and so forth.   Some games are so sophisticated these days, that no one person can possibly have all the skills needed to put one together, even over multiple lifetimes.


 * Bottom line is that I guess that your idea isn't ever going to happen.


 * BUT, if that's the kind of thing you think you'd be good at, then the answer is to get educated as a game designer (not a programmer, not an artist) - which entails learning a bunch of skills like story planning, difficulty arcs, scenario development - and there are college courses for that kind of thing (check out, for example, "FullSail" - http://www.fullsail.edu/ - a university-level course provider for prospective game developers).  Then you can try for a job with a company that makes games in the genre you have in mind - and after enough years of designing little parts of games, you'll eventually rise to the level in a big company when you can push ideas of your own - and the ponderous weight of a 300 man team will be behind you, turning every tiny detail of your plan into an actual playable game.  I've never done that - but I'm told it's quite a rush!   You'll eventually see it on the shelves at WalMart.


 * SteveBaker (talk) 15:19, 15 August 2014 (UTC)


 * Darn... so it's THAT much of a closed shop in the computer games industry, even worse than in publishing? So the bottom line is, if I'm to do this, I'll have to pretty much start my own studio, right?  If so, then I'll see if that's something I can do -- but if not, I'll keep the idea in the back of my mind (along with a whole bunch of other ideas for all kinds of stuff) until I can. 24.5.122.13 (talk) 05:41, 16 August 2014 (UTC)


 * It's not a "closed shop" - that's when the employer will only employ union members. There aren't any active unions present in the games business.  What it is, is a business where we don't generally employ unqualified staff...so if you want to get involved in creating game concepts and earn money doing it, you need to get a degree in doing that kind of thing.  That's not a "closed shop" - it's a "professional team".


 * You might think that you can just have a game idea and run with it - but it's not like that. Game designers treat the "coming up with an idea" as a science - there is a lot more to it than just "I think this would be neat".


 * But the cold, hard fact is that raw ideas simply aren't valuable, or in short supply in the industry. Every one of the employees at a typical game company has ideas popping up all the time.  We have hundreds of great ideas come up every year.  It's also true that you can't know in advance whether a particular idea will be fun to play or not - so there is absolutely no reason to pick an idea from outside the company rather than one generated internally.


 * Anyway, this question comes up all that time and the answer is always the same. The only certain way to get your idea turned into a game is to do it yourself.


 * SteveBaker (talk) 05:23, 17 August 2014 (UTC)

Using a Kobo Glo reader
When using this device to read a book, is there a way to know how far through the book you are? Such as, that you are 38% of the way through, or that you are in chapter 17 and there are 27 chapters in total?

Thanks, CBHA (talk) 20:27, 14 August 2014 (UTC)


 * Hmmm...the Kobo Glo has an incredibly stinky reputation! http://www.koboproblems.com lists many of them.  It seems that Kobo's customer support and documentation is beyond useless - so you're unlikely to get help there.  I suggest joining the www.koboproblems.com forums and posting your question there.   There seem to be a lot of other users there - I'd hope that one of them has the answer you need. SteveBaker (talk) 14:38, 15 August 2014 (UTC)
 * I wouldn't exactly trust that site. It's linking to a 3 4 year old post as if it represents something current, without even mentioning the post is 3 4 years old. (The fact that the site they linked to doesn't clearly list a year is little excuse. If the blog poster is going to link something as a big reveal they should at least read it a bit. And if they read the post they linked to, it should immediately occur to them that when it's talking about a non touch ereader as a new recently launched thing costing $149, it's probably not very recent, which a quick check of the comments will confirm.)
 * Also from what I can tell it has no forum, it's primarily a blog from one person with a small number of user comments. While there is one or two posts seemingly directed at helping people, most of the blog seems dedicated to telling people how bad the Kobo allegedly is. A far better place to seek help would be at which I can attest from personal experience is quite useful.
 * And while this is mostly OT, the people I know who've used a Kobo (Aura HD and Glo) are happy with them. Frankly, if the price and specs were the same, I'd take an equivalent Kobo over a Kindle any day. Each has its strength and weakness and idiosyncrasies but the extremely closed ecosystem for the Kindle is just too annoying even if it's little different to me since I'll just use Calibre either way. (Most other epaper ereaders seem either very expensive, largely abandoned by their manufacturer, only really available in the US and perhaps a small number of places in Europe, lack a frontlight, or a combination of these. So for me the choice is usually between these two manufacturers.)
 * Nil Einne (talk) 15:57, 15 August 2014 (UTC)
 * Is this a book you bought from Kobo? Or one you got elsewhere?
 * As with most ePub ereader developers (except possibly Apple), Kobo appears to be waiting on the Readium SDK for proper/general ePub3 support. In the mean time, they've added the NetFront's ACCESS ePub3 rendering engine. But because it's more limited (I think) and probably also because it doesn't support the Adobe ADEPT DRM, it's only generally enabled for ebooks you get from Kobo (who use their own DRM), frequently called kePubs in Kobo circles. They use the Adobe RMSDK rendering engine most others use for everything else. (See for more.)
 * This is important here because there are differences in the what is shown depending on which engine is used. I can't recall and don't have a Kobo with me to test at the current time, but I know this includes the stuff relating to pages etc. In fact there are even more detailed statistics for kePubs (but apparently not sideloaded kePubs).
 * BTW you can sideload DRM free books as kePub (with the earlier caveat that there may still be some differences in what is available even if the same renderer is used) by giving them the extension kepub.epub or by using management software like Calibre which can do this for you. (If you book isn't DRM free, you'll probably have to remove the DRM first. It's fairly easy but this isn't a good place to get help with that.) With appropriate plugins and stuff, the management tool can try and ensure the book will work properly with the kepub renderer and also make sure it's properly added to the library so I would suggest it. Personally, particularly if you're sideloading a lot of books, I recommend you use a good library management tool like Calibre no matter what your ereader. It makes things a lot simpler. (I've used it for both Kobos and Kindles and just general library management for phones.)
 * Nil Einne (talk) 15:57, 15 August 2014 (UTC)

Composing an email
When I copy paste text from some website into an email I am composing, it brings along the font size and colour. Can I stop that from happening? Anna Frodesiak (talk) 23:42, 14 August 2014 (UTC)
 * What OS and email client do you use? Some clients have a "erase formatting" button which you can click after pasting the text, that's what I normally use. Vespine (talk) 00:04, 15 August 2014 (UTC)
 * I first paste stuff into TextEdit, and then past it from TextEdit into the email. And when pasting stuff into TextEdit, I use "Paste and Match Style", which uses the default style (font, color, size) that I've set for TextEdit. I am using a Mac. Bus stop (talk) 00:09, 15 August 2014 (UTC)
 * Yahoo/Windows XP, and yes, I just found what you are referring to: "Switch to plain text" --> OK --> "Switch to Rich Text" and that does the trick. Thank you!! Anna Frodesiak (talk) 06:08, 15 August 2014 (UTC)
 * I make a habit of working in a text editor too, but for real shorty messages, I don't bother. Thank you also for the feedback. Anna Frodesiak (talk) 06:08, 15 August 2014 (UTC)
 * , what I do is wait until after my last copy-and-paste, then use Ctrl+A to select everything, then use the email client's font and color controls to change everything to a single font and color. Basically, it's three easy steps no matter how many copy-and-pastes need to be corrected—and it gives me a nice warm fuzzy that I didn't miss anything. I'm using Windows Live Mail, but this should work for any email client that allows you to set font and color. You might find another method easier, I don't know.  Mandruss &#124; talk  07:09, 15 August 2014 (UTC)
 * Good advice! My text editor (EditPad) seems to treat copy pastes well by making it the same as the rest of the text. I do like the whole text editor thing. We get a lot of power failures here, so working in edit mode anywhere is dicey. Many thanks. :) Anna Frodesiak (talk) 08:35, 15 August 2014 (UTC)
 * There should be an entry, either on the Edit Menu, or the Context Menu, to "Paste Without Formatting". CS Miller (talk) 10:26, 15 August 2014 (UTC)
 * ... which is sometimes called "Paste Special". You will get a menu of formatting options for the paste operation, one of which should be "plain text" or similar. Gandalf61 (talk) 14:15, 15 August 2014 (UTC)
 * Some apps (browsers in particular) let you use the ++ shortcut to paste without formatting. —Noiratsi (talk) 15:50, 15 August 2014 (UTC)
 * If I want to kill the formatting I open up the notepad, paste the text there (Ctrl-V), it kills all the formatting and do Ctrl-A then Ctrl-C to copy the text back to the clipboard. --AboutFace 22 (talk) 16:48, 15 August 2014 (UTC)