Month: June 2024
Windows Server Datacenter: Azure Edition preview build 26212 now available in Azure
Windows Server Datacenter: Azure Edition preview build 26212 now available in Azure
Hello Windows Server Insiders!
We welcome you to try Windows Server 2025 Datacenter: Azure Edition preview build 26212 in both Desktop experience and Core version on the Microsoft Server Operating Systems Preview offer in Azure. Azure Edition is optimized for operation in the Azure environment. For additional information, see Preview: Windows Server VNext Datacenter (Azure Edition) for Azure Automanage on Microsoft Docs. For more information about this build, see Announcing Windows Server Preview Build 26212 – Microsoft Community Hub.
Windows Server Datacenter: Azure Edition preview build 26212 now available in Azure
Hello Windows Server Insiders!
We welcome you to try Windows Server 2025 Datacenter: Azure Edition preview build 26212 in both Desktop experience and Core version on the Microsoft Server Operating Systems Preview offer in Azure. Azure Edition is optimized for operation in the Azure environment. For additional information, see Preview: Windows Server VNext Datacenter (Azure Edition) for Azure Automanage on Microsoft Docs. For more information about this build, see Announcing Windows Server Preview Build 26212 – Microsoft Community Hub.
Read More
How do I Make my LLM Chatbot Better?
Earlier posts in this series:
Part 1: Is my Chatbot Ready for Production? – A 10,000 foot overview to LLMOps
Part 2: How do I Evaluate my LLM Chatbot? – A guide to different LLM chatbot evaluation techniques and how to implement them
Part 3: How do I Monitor my LLM Chatbot? – A guide to monitoring LLM chatbot security and performance
Feedback is a critical, often overlooked, component of the LLMOps lifecycle. User feedback is a great way to gauge application success and guide new features or enhancements on the roadmap. Although feedback can be captured in many ways, the ultimate goal is application improvement.
In the age of LLMs, feedback is more important than ever. The probabilistic nature of LLMs is a paradigm shift away from standard ML models, where results are deterministic. Although there are robust evaluation methods, there is still no substitute for human analysis. Once an application is live, you can “crowdsource” this human analysis by soliciting feedback – both positive and negative – from users.
Types of feedback can be classified into two categories:
Direct Feedback: Soliciting feedback directly from users
Indirect Feedback: Analysis of user behavior and interactions
Both are valuable and provide different flavors of insight into your application. Together, they provide a complete picture of application success.
Direct Feedback
Direct user feedback is the most straightforward method, but it has some limitations and biases. Methods of getting direct feedback from a user include surveys, reviews, in-application prompts/pop-ups, or support tickets, among others.
Sample Direct Feedback High Level Architecture
With all these methods of direct feedback intake, we are left with a lot of messy and unstructured text data… a perfect problem for an LLM to solve. After aggregating all user feedback, you can use an LLM to summarize and categorize feedback so that the team quickly knows which application area(s) to focus on.
Keep in mind, direct feedback sometimes comes with challenges like selection bias and small sample sizes. Often, the most likely users to reply to a survey or write a review are users that are not satisfied – which skews feedback in a negative direction. When users are satisfied, they are less likely to reply to provide feedback – which limits sample size.
Indirect Feedback
Indirect feedback involves analyzing user behavior and application interaction to infer how users feel about the application. This flavor is less straightforward than direct feedback and takes more investment to implement, but it is not as susceptible to some of the biases or skews in the resulting data.
Remember our data collection process from our monitoring system in part 3? We can use collected production data and the same evaluation framework from part 2 to assess how well our app is actually performing in Production. If scores are different in Production than they were during testing the test dataset should be adjusted to better match actual user behavior.
A key metric to infer response effectiveness based on user behavior is edit distance between user prompts, which can indicate how much users are tweaking their inputs to get desired responses. The smaller the edit distance between prompts, the more likely a user is dissatisfied with a response and repeating the same or a similar question.
Example of Edit Distance. Source: Wikipedia
Other metrics to consider include tracking the average time between a user’s prompt and the LLM’s response, as well as the average time users take to write their prompts, which are valuable details on how the application is being used. User retention metrics, such as daily or weekly active usage, are also crucial indicators of long-term user engagement and overall application success.
Put it All Together
Let’s look at the whole picture: A complete monitoring system collects data on user interactions and performance and a feedback system collects data on user interactions. These datasets are analyzed and used to drive changes to improve the system. Finally, the changes are tested and validated before being deployed to production and repeating the process.
This sample repository is a good reference to get started on implementation.
Both direct and indirect feedback provide unique and complementary insights that are essential for comprehensive understanding and app improvement. Direct feedback offers immediate user opinions, while indirect feedback reveals user behavior patterns. Together, they enable developers to address issues, optimize performance, and ultimately drive application success.
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
IDC Guest Blog: How micro-credentials can optimize skills in the organization
There’s no question about it: People are the make-or-break element of a high-performing IT organization. To stay competitive, organizations must ensure that they have the right people with the right skills in the right positions. But with accelerating tech advancements, doing so has never been tougher.
IDC data reveals that IT skills shortages are widening in both scope and severity. According to 811 IT leaders responding to the IDC 2024 IT Skills Survey (January 2024), organizations are experiencing a wide range of negative impacts relating to a dearth of enterprise skills. Nearly two-thirds (62%) of IT leaders tell IDC that a lack of skills has resulted in missed revenue growth objectives. More than 60% say that it has led to quality problems and a loss of customer satisfaction overall.
As a result, IDC now predicts that by 2026, more than 90% of organizations worldwide will feel similar pain, amounting to some $5.5 trillion in losses caused by product delays, stalled digital transformation journeys, impaired competitiveness, missed revenue goals, and product quality issues.
To maintain competitiveness, organizations everywhere must improve IT training. They must go beyond just putting more modern IT training platforms and learning systems in place, however. Rather, they must invest in instilling and promoting a culture of learning within the organization — one that values ongoing, continuous learning and rewards the accomplishments of learners. Vendor- and technology-based credentials have long been core to organizational training efforts, and for good reason: They provide organizations with a way to ascertain important technical skills. And full-vendor credentials still matter, of course. But IDC data shows growing excitement about badges and micro-credentials as a means of verifying more specific scenario- or project-based skills.
When less is more
Without a doubt, vendor certifications remain a critical tool for hiring new professionals and upskilling existing ones. IDC data reveals that they can enhance career mobility, engagement, and salary. In fact, according to IDC’s 2024 Full and Micro Credential Survey (March 2024), some 70% of IT leaders say that certifications are important when hiring, regardless of how experienced candidates are in their careers. But organizations these days also find specific scenario- or project-based micro-credentials to be increasingly appealing as a complement to full-fledged vendor credentials.
To this point, more than 60% of organization leaders tell IDC that they use micro-credentials to test and validate specific skills related to real-world technical scenarios. They say that it also helps them to prepare themselves and their employees for in-demand job roles (55%) and to fulfill upskilling and reskilling needs (53%).
Q. What are the main factors driving the consideration of the use of micro-credentials?
Source: IDC 2024 Digital Skilling Survey, March 2024
Moving forward
As the IT skills shortage continues to expand and worsen, IDC predicts that global IT leaders will face increasing pressure to get the right people with the right skills into the right roles. Adding to the pressure is the rapidly growing demand for AI skills. According to IDC’s Future Enterprise and Resiliency Survey, 58% of CEOs worldwide are deeply concerned about their ability to deliver on planned AI initiatives over the next 12 months.
A full-featured IT training program that lets organizations and employees hone the skills they have makes all the difference. Credentials, whether full or project based, are a key part of any thoughtful IT training and continuous skilling initiative. Full credentials and micro-credentials together allow organizations to determine where skill gaps lie and create a plan of action to skill up employees on the technologies and projects on which they rely.
Organizations should focus on involving key stakeholders across departments to get their buy-in and partner with established credentialing organizations to add credibility. They should design clear career pathways that show how reskilling with micro-credentials and certifications can align with company goals and lead to faster promotions. They should foster a culture of continuous learning to keep skills current as well as update the program with industry trends and emerging technologies to maintain its relevance. Finally, they should regularly assess the program’s effectiveness in closing the skills gap and adjust as necessary.
Investing in continuing education for your employees just makes plain sense. IDC’s research has long shown that companies that invest in training are better able to retain their best, most talented employees.
For more information, read IDC InfoBrief, Skilling Up! Leveraging Full and Micro-Credentials for Optimal Skilling Solutions
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
Determine the maximum height and maximum width of the cross-sectional section from the stl file
I have a 3D scan file in stl format. I want to determine the maximum height and maximum width of 9 cross-sections at positions 10, 20,…90mm from the starting point. I have attached a sample file.
Who knows please help me. I sincerely thank youI have a 3D scan file in stl format. I want to determine the maximum height and maximum width of 9 cross-sections at positions 10, 20,…90mm from the starting point. I have attached a sample file.
Who knows please help me. I sincerely thank you I have a 3D scan file in stl format. I want to determine the maximum height and maximum width of 9 cross-sections at positions 10, 20,…90mm from the starting point. I have attached a sample file.
Who knows please help me. I sincerely thank you cross-sections, stl file MATLAB Answers — New Questions
Hiding the drag points on a Matlab images.roi.Circle, and other ways of using ROIs as selection masks
Hello All,
TLDR at bottom
This question applies more broadly to the new Matlab images.roi objects, but I realized that the ROI’s are ideally set up to create selection bit-masks in an image. I can throw some arbitrary graphic into a figure, put an ROI below it, and use the ROI interface to determine when I mouse-over and click on that region. Depending on my needs I could also make my inset area draggable and stretchable depending on how I link in my ROI’s callbacks for movingROI and roiMoved. If I wanted to rebuild Myst in Matlab, this is how I would do it.
However, the sticky wicket is that you cannot as far as I can tell make an invisible ROI; the current format insists on drawing a border, and for some ROI objects it forces the appearence of drag points. Here is an example:
I = imread(‘cameraman.tif’);
imshow(I);
ax = gca;
circ = images.roi.Circle(ax,’Position’,[114 60],’Radius’,30);
Ok, so I have a nice circle ROI centered on the camerman’s head. I can make the center invisible via
set(circ,’FaceAlpha’,0)
However, both the border and the drag points are still visible: I cannot find a property or method to disable them!
Well, I can always set the circle to be invisible
set(circ,’visible’,’off’);
BUT this not only makes the circle visibly vanish, but also means that all of the interactions it came with are not accessible; I can only translate/etc the ROI programattically, not through the UI. Thus it makes a really poor selection mask.
I hoped that another option would be to limit us to translation:
set(circ,’InteractionsAllowed’,’translate’);
Thus, the drag points are no longer necessary…but they are still visible!
Ok, so I do know that it is possible to hide the drag markers, using
set(circ,’InteractionsAllowed’,’none’);
BUT, again this makes my ROI useless, as I cannot interact with it in any way.
I thought I had a genius moment, and added a listener that would only enable interactions when the ROI was selected:
addlistener(circ, ‘ROIClicked’, @(s,evtData) selectListener(s,evtData));
function selectListener(s,evtData)
selectedPart = evtData.SelectedPart
prevselected = evtData.PreviousSelected
if selectedPart && ~prevselected
set(circ,’InteractionsAllowed’,’Translation’);
else
set(circ,’InteractionsAllowed’,’none’);
end
Once again…failure. I cannot select an ROI with no interactions allowed; the istener is never called. I have to allow translations, stretching, or both.
This causes other potential issues, if I want to programattically draw an ROI and have some callback when selected but not allow moving the ROI, I have to lock the ROI in place using the movingROI callback rather than simply disabling the two movements; there should be a "no movement, but allow selection" setting, but I digress.
One kludge does let me at least get rid of the hideous drag buttons, but still leaves the outline (and is just plain dumb):
msk = images.roi.Freehand(ax,’Position’,circ.Vertices,’Waypoints’,false(size(circ.Vertices,1),1),’FaceAlpha’,0,’LineWidth’,.1);
delete(circ);
———————————————-
TLDR – I want to create an invisible but still interactable ROI using the images.roi toolbox. This requires hiding the outline and the drag points. I cannot do this and retain interactability. Is there a workaround?
Cheers,
-Dan
———————————————
P.S. I really dislike p-code. I understand the reason for it, but not being able to change simple properties and behaviors (such as making the drag points invisible) and not being able to figure out why is infuriating.Hello All,
TLDR at bottom
This question applies more broadly to the new Matlab images.roi objects, but I realized that the ROI’s are ideally set up to create selection bit-masks in an image. I can throw some arbitrary graphic into a figure, put an ROI below it, and use the ROI interface to determine when I mouse-over and click on that region. Depending on my needs I could also make my inset area draggable and stretchable depending on how I link in my ROI’s callbacks for movingROI and roiMoved. If I wanted to rebuild Myst in Matlab, this is how I would do it.
However, the sticky wicket is that you cannot as far as I can tell make an invisible ROI; the current format insists on drawing a border, and for some ROI objects it forces the appearence of drag points. Here is an example:
I = imread(‘cameraman.tif’);
imshow(I);
ax = gca;
circ = images.roi.Circle(ax,’Position’,[114 60],’Radius’,30);
Ok, so I have a nice circle ROI centered on the camerman’s head. I can make the center invisible via
set(circ,’FaceAlpha’,0)
However, both the border and the drag points are still visible: I cannot find a property or method to disable them!
Well, I can always set the circle to be invisible
set(circ,’visible’,’off’);
BUT this not only makes the circle visibly vanish, but also means that all of the interactions it came with are not accessible; I can only translate/etc the ROI programattically, not through the UI. Thus it makes a really poor selection mask.
I hoped that another option would be to limit us to translation:
set(circ,’InteractionsAllowed’,’translate’);
Thus, the drag points are no longer necessary…but they are still visible!
Ok, so I do know that it is possible to hide the drag markers, using
set(circ,’InteractionsAllowed’,’none’);
BUT, again this makes my ROI useless, as I cannot interact with it in any way.
I thought I had a genius moment, and added a listener that would only enable interactions when the ROI was selected:
addlistener(circ, ‘ROIClicked’, @(s,evtData) selectListener(s,evtData));
function selectListener(s,evtData)
selectedPart = evtData.SelectedPart
prevselected = evtData.PreviousSelected
if selectedPart && ~prevselected
set(circ,’InteractionsAllowed’,’Translation’);
else
set(circ,’InteractionsAllowed’,’none’);
end
Once again…failure. I cannot select an ROI with no interactions allowed; the istener is never called. I have to allow translations, stretching, or both.
This causes other potential issues, if I want to programattically draw an ROI and have some callback when selected but not allow moving the ROI, I have to lock the ROI in place using the movingROI callback rather than simply disabling the two movements; there should be a "no movement, but allow selection" setting, but I digress.
One kludge does let me at least get rid of the hideous drag buttons, but still leaves the outline (and is just plain dumb):
msk = images.roi.Freehand(ax,’Position’,circ.Vertices,’Waypoints’,false(size(circ.Vertices,1),1),’FaceAlpha’,0,’LineWidth’,.1);
delete(circ);
———————————————-
TLDR – I want to create an invisible but still interactable ROI using the images.roi toolbox. This requires hiding the outline and the drag points. I cannot do this and retain interactability. Is there a workaround?
Cheers,
-Dan
———————————————
P.S. I really dislike p-code. I understand the reason for it, but not being able to change simple properties and behaviors (such as making the drag points invisible) and not being able to figure out why is infuriating. Hello All,
TLDR at bottom
This question applies more broadly to the new Matlab images.roi objects, but I realized that the ROI’s are ideally set up to create selection bit-masks in an image. I can throw some arbitrary graphic into a figure, put an ROI below it, and use the ROI interface to determine when I mouse-over and click on that region. Depending on my needs I could also make my inset area draggable and stretchable depending on how I link in my ROI’s callbacks for movingROI and roiMoved. If I wanted to rebuild Myst in Matlab, this is how I would do it.
However, the sticky wicket is that you cannot as far as I can tell make an invisible ROI; the current format insists on drawing a border, and for some ROI objects it forces the appearence of drag points. Here is an example:
I = imread(‘cameraman.tif’);
imshow(I);
ax = gca;
circ = images.roi.Circle(ax,’Position’,[114 60],’Radius’,30);
Ok, so I have a nice circle ROI centered on the camerman’s head. I can make the center invisible via
set(circ,’FaceAlpha’,0)
However, both the border and the drag points are still visible: I cannot find a property or method to disable them!
Well, I can always set the circle to be invisible
set(circ,’visible’,’off’);
BUT this not only makes the circle visibly vanish, but also means that all of the interactions it came with are not accessible; I can only translate/etc the ROI programattically, not through the UI. Thus it makes a really poor selection mask.
I hoped that another option would be to limit us to translation:
set(circ,’InteractionsAllowed’,’translate’);
Thus, the drag points are no longer necessary…but they are still visible!
Ok, so I do know that it is possible to hide the drag markers, using
set(circ,’InteractionsAllowed’,’none’);
BUT, again this makes my ROI useless, as I cannot interact with it in any way.
I thought I had a genius moment, and added a listener that would only enable interactions when the ROI was selected:
addlistener(circ, ‘ROIClicked’, @(s,evtData) selectListener(s,evtData));
function selectListener(s,evtData)
selectedPart = evtData.SelectedPart
prevselected = evtData.PreviousSelected
if selectedPart && ~prevselected
set(circ,’InteractionsAllowed’,’Translation’);
else
set(circ,’InteractionsAllowed’,’none’);
end
Once again…failure. I cannot select an ROI with no interactions allowed; the istener is never called. I have to allow translations, stretching, or both.
This causes other potential issues, if I want to programattically draw an ROI and have some callback when selected but not allow moving the ROI, I have to lock the ROI in place using the movingROI callback rather than simply disabling the two movements; there should be a "no movement, but allow selection" setting, but I digress.
One kludge does let me at least get rid of the hideous drag buttons, but still leaves the outline (and is just plain dumb):
msk = images.roi.Freehand(ax,’Position’,circ.Vertices,’Waypoints’,false(size(circ.Vertices,1),1),’FaceAlpha’,0,’LineWidth’,.1);
delete(circ);
———————————————-
TLDR – I want to create an invisible but still interactable ROI using the images.roi toolbox. This requires hiding the outline and the drag points. I cannot do this and retain interactability. Is there a workaround?
Cheers,
-Dan
———————————————
P.S. I really dislike p-code. I understand the reason for it, but not being able to change simple properties and behaviors (such as making the drag points invisible) and not being able to figure out why is infuriating. image processing, rois, uix, p-code, images.roi.circle, get that drag point off my circle! MATLAB Answers — New Questions
Problems with sortrows function
I am trying to sort a two dimensional matrix Coord consisting of (x,y) pairs of coordinates (of size n x 2) in lexicographical order, with respect to x and then y. I used the command
[Coord_Lex,ix]=sortrows(Coord,[1,2]);
This should sort x coordinates in ascending order and within each set of matrix rows with the same x coordinate the y coordinates in ascending order. But in some cases it does not work correctly. For example, a part of the answer that I am getting is
1.2250 0.2067
1.2250 0.1722
1.2250 0.1378
1.2250 0.1033
1.2250 0.0689
1.2250 0.0344
1.2250 -0.2933
1.2250 -0.3278
1.2250 -0.3622
1.2250 -0.3967
1.2250 -0.4311
i.e., the y coordinaes are not sorted correctly. I checked the values of x coordinates in the incorrect part for the round-off error polution and the difference between them always gives 0.I am trying to sort a two dimensional matrix Coord consisting of (x,y) pairs of coordinates (of size n x 2) in lexicographical order, with respect to x and then y. I used the command
[Coord_Lex,ix]=sortrows(Coord,[1,2]);
This should sort x coordinates in ascending order and within each set of matrix rows with the same x coordinate the y coordinates in ascending order. But in some cases it does not work correctly. For example, a part of the answer that I am getting is
1.2250 0.2067
1.2250 0.1722
1.2250 0.1378
1.2250 0.1033
1.2250 0.0689
1.2250 0.0344
1.2250 -0.2933
1.2250 -0.3278
1.2250 -0.3622
1.2250 -0.3967
1.2250 -0.4311
i.e., the y coordinaes are not sorted correctly. I checked the values of x coordinates in the incorrect part for the round-off error polution and the difference between them always gives 0. I am trying to sort a two dimensional matrix Coord consisting of (x,y) pairs of coordinates (of size n x 2) in lexicographical order, with respect to x and then y. I used the command
[Coord_Lex,ix]=sortrows(Coord,[1,2]);
This should sort x coordinates in ascending order and within each set of matrix rows with the same x coordinate the y coordinates in ascending order. But in some cases it does not work correctly. For example, a part of the answer that I am getting is
1.2250 0.2067
1.2250 0.1722
1.2250 0.1378
1.2250 0.1033
1.2250 0.0689
1.2250 0.0344
1.2250 -0.2933
1.2250 -0.3278
1.2250 -0.3622
1.2250 -0.3967
1.2250 -0.4311
i.e., the y coordinaes are not sorted correctly. I checked the values of x coordinates in the incorrect part for the round-off error polution and the difference between them always gives 0. sortrows MATLAB Answers — New Questions
How to edit axis on a pivot graph
Hello Everyone,
I will admit that I have spent a considerable amount of time on the issue that I will describe below with any success.
I try to built an pivot graph. On x-axis I have time and dates. When I expand the timeline my x-axis is a mess. Please see the picture below.
Ideally, I would like to create a graph with only the dates which I want on the graph and without the time. For example the second graph is exactly what I need. Any idea how to edit my axis?
Hello Everyone, I will admit that I have spent a considerable amount of time on the issue that I will describe below with any success. I try to built an pivot graph. On x-axis I have time and dates. When I expand the timeline my x-axis is a mess. Please see the picture below. Ideally, I would like to create a graph with only the dates which I want on the graph and without the time. For example the second graph is exactly what I need. Any idea how to edit my axis? Read More
ADO access to Azure SQL
I have a pipeline in ADO that uses Microsoft hosted agent. The pipeline invokes a sql command that is a simple query against a database in Azure SQL server. I have a private endpoint set up in Azure SQL (under Networking). The subnet, from which one of its IPs is assigned to this private endpoint, has a network security group. In that network security group, I have one inbound rule and two outbound rules. The inbound rule has AzureCloud (as service tag) as source and Sql.EastUS (as service tag) as destination (since my Azure SQL is set in East US region). The target port is ‘1433’ and protocol is ‘TCP’. The two outbound rules are as follows:
first outbound rule – Sql.EastUS as source and AzureCloud as destination. Target port is ‘8080’ and protocol is ‘Any’.
second outbound rule – Sql.EastUS as source and AzureCloud as destination. Target port is ‘443’ and protocol is ‘TCP’.
When pipeline runs, it has succeeded only a couple of times but most of the times it fails with the following error:
Invoke-Sqlcmd : Cannot open server ‘……’ requested by the login. Client with IP address ‘20.57.74.195’
is not allowed to access the server. To enable access, use the Azure Management Portal or run sp_set_firewall_rule on the master database to create a firewall rule for this IP address or address range. It may take up to five minutes for this change to take effect.
Every time it fails, I have found out that the client IP address (which is different for every time it fails) is always an address that it belongs to AzureCloud in one of the regions of United States. My thought is that the rules mentioned above should cover for all these IPs that belong to Azure Cloud.
Please advise.
Thank You
Gent
I have a pipeline in ADO that uses Microsoft hosted agent. The pipeline invokes a sql command that is a simple query against a database in Azure SQL server. I have a private endpoint set up in Azure SQL (under Networking). The subnet, from which one of its IPs is assigned to this private endpoint, has a network security group. In that network security group, I have one inbound rule and two outbound rules. The inbound rule has AzureCloud (as service tag) as source and Sql.EastUS (as service tag) as destination (since my Azure SQL is set in East US region). The target port is ‘1433’ and protocol is ‘TCP’. The two outbound rules are as follows:first outbound rule – Sql.EastUS as source and AzureCloud as destination. Target port is ‘8080’ and protocol is ‘Any’.second outbound rule – Sql.EastUS as source and AzureCloud as destination. Target port is ‘443’ and protocol is ‘TCP’.When pipeline runs, it has succeeded only a couple of times but most of the times it fails with the following error:Invoke-Sqlcmd : Cannot open server ‘……’ requested by the login. Client with IP address ‘20.57.74.195’is not allowed to access the server. To enable access, use the Azure Management Portal or run sp_set_firewall_rule on the master database to create a firewall rule for this IP address or address range. It may take up to five minutes for this change to take effect. Every time it fails, I have found out that the client IP address (which is different for every time it fails) is always an address that it belongs to AzureCloud in one of the regions of United States. My thought is that the rules mentioned above should cover for all these IPs that belong to Azure Cloud. Please advise. Thank YouGent Read More
Excel 365 insert comments show up reverse order (Oldest at top, Newest at bottom)
Hoping anyone can help.
Sometimes our team collaboration causes a single cell to have ~100-200 replies.
I can’t understand why Excel made is so that old comments show up first and new ones, way way way at the bottom.
Does anyone know if there is any way to reverse this?
Thank you!
Hoping anyone can help.Sometimes our team collaboration causes a single cell to have ~100-200 replies.I can’t understand why Excel made is so that old comments show up first and new ones, way way way at the bottom.Does anyone know if there is any way to reverse this?Thank you! Read More
Select applications where COpilot M 365 is enabled
HI
Is it possible for a 365 admin to select-unselect M 365 apps where the Copilot button is displayed ? For instance having Copiloit activated only in Teams & Outlook.
IMHO answer is NO, but I would like to get a confirmation from experts.
Thanks in advance.
HIIs it possible for a 365 admin to select-unselect M 365 apps where the Copilot button is displayed ? For instance having Copiloit activated only in Teams & Outlook.IMHO answer is NO, but I would like to get a confirmation from experts.Thanks in advance. Read More
Consolidating Multiple Related Company Email Databases
If I have multiple subsidiaries with respective employee email [address] accounts at each subsidiary, am I able, at the parent company level, to consolidate and have access to a consolidated database of email addresses for all subsidiaries?
If I have multiple subsidiaries with respective employee email [address] accounts at each subsidiary, am I able, at the parent company level, to consolidate and have access to a consolidated database of email addresses for all subsidiaries? Read More
Unable to initialize ExchangeService instance
I am trying to write a program that checks for changes in a mailbox’s calendar every time it runs and updates a database. My problem begins at the very top of the assignment when I initialize the ExchangeService instance and any function I try to run on it returns
The request failed. The remote server returned an error: (401) .
I initialized it like this:
private static void initExchangeService()
{
m_ExchangeService = new ExchangeService();
m_ExchangeService.UseDefaultCredentials = true;
m_ExchangeService.KeepAlive = true;
string domain = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings[“Domain”];
m_ExchangeService.Credentials = new System.Net.NetworkCredential(CREATOR_MAIL, CREATOR_PASSWORD, domain);
m_ExchangeService.ImpersonatedUserId = new ImpersonatedUserId(ConnectingIdType.SmtpAddress, CREATOR_MAIL);
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(EXCHANGE_URL))
{
m_ExchangeService.AutodiscoverUrl(CREATOR_MAIL);
}
else
{
m_ExchangeService.Url = new Uri(EXCHANGE_URL);
}
writeToLog($”Initialized exchange service for {CREATOR_MAIL}”, MESSAGE);
}
The mailbox I am trying to access has 2-step authentication disabled and I worked with the system admin to ensure on our end that I have the permissions I need to run this but any address I try (even non real ones) returns the same error.
I’d love some help figuring out what the problem is.
I am trying to write a program that checks for changes in a mailbox’s calendar every time it runs and updates a database. My problem begins at the very top of the assignment when I initialize the ExchangeService instance and any function I try to run on it returns The request failed. The remote server returned an error: (401) . I initialized it like this: private static void initExchangeService()
{
m_ExchangeService = new ExchangeService();
m_ExchangeService.UseDefaultCredentials = true;
m_ExchangeService.KeepAlive = true;
string domain = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings[“Domain”];
m_ExchangeService.Credentials = new System.Net.NetworkCredential(CREATOR_MAIL, CREATOR_PASSWORD, domain);
m_ExchangeService.ImpersonatedUserId = new ImpersonatedUserId(ConnectingIdType.SmtpAddress, CREATOR_MAIL);
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(EXCHANGE_URL))
{
m_ExchangeService.AutodiscoverUrl(CREATOR_MAIL);
}
else
{
m_ExchangeService.Url = new Uri(EXCHANGE_URL);
}
writeToLog($”Initialized exchange service for {CREATOR_MAIL}”, MESSAGE);
} The mailbox I am trying to access has 2-step authentication disabled and I worked with the system admin to ensure on our end that I have the permissions I need to run this but any address I try (even non real ones) returns the same error. I’d love some help figuring out what the problem is. Read More
Refresh power query without opening file
Good afternoon,
I would like to update my power query without having to be in the file to trigger the refresh. I have excel workbooks that live inside share point. I would like the power query to refresh when a new row of data is added to the source data. The file where the power query will live will not be opened everyday. I would like this process to occur in the background without having to open the file. Please let me know if you have a solution.
Good afternoon,I would like to update my power query without having to be in the file to trigger the refresh. I have excel workbooks that live inside share point. I would like the power query to refresh when a new row of data is added to the source data. The file where the power query will live will not be opened everyday. I would like this process to occur in the background without having to open the file. Please let me know if you have a solution. Read More
After change of list title Power Automate does not recognize it through environment variable
Dear ladies and gentlemen,
I have created a list in SharePoint Online only with Latin characters, because I would like to have a nice URL like this: “Abkuerzungen”.
Then I have changed this list title to “Abkürzungen”.
When I use the SharePoint Object “When element has been created or changed” in German it is “Wenn ein Element erstellt oder geändert wird” and select directly this list with the changed name everything works fine.
But when I try to use the changed name of this list through an environment variable I receive the error 404 “List not found”.
I have reproduced this behavior with more lists.
I would say it is a bug.
Thank you
Ladislav Stupak
Dear ladies and gentlemen, I have created a list in SharePoint Online only with Latin characters, because I would like to have a nice URL like this: “Abkuerzungen”. Then I have changed this list title to “Abkürzungen”. When I use the SharePoint Object “When element has been created or changed” in German it is “Wenn ein Element erstellt oder geändert wird” and select directly this list with the changed name everything works fine.But when I try to use the changed name of this list through an environment variable I receive the error 404 “List not found”. I have reproduced this behavior with more lists. I would say it is a bug. Thank youLadislav Stupak Read More
Announcing UNISTR and || operator in Azure SQL Database – preview
We are excited to announce that the UNISTR intrinsic function and ANSI SQL concatenation operator (||) are now available in public preview in Azure SQL Database. The UNISTR function allows you to escape Unicode characters, making it easier to work with international text. The ANSI SQL concatenation operator (||) provides a simple and intuitive way to combine characters or binary strings. These new features will enhance your ability to manipulate and work with text data.
What is UNISTR function?
The UNISTR function takes a text literal or an expression of characters and Unicode values, that resolves to character data and returns it as a UTF-8 or UTF-16 encoded string. This function allows you to use Unicode codepoint escape sequences with other characters in the string. The escape sequence for a Unicode character can be specified in the form of xxxx or +xxxxxx, where xxxx is a valid UTF-16 codepoint value, and xxxxxx is a valid Unicode codepoint value. This is especially useful for inserting data into NCHAR columns.
The syntax of the UNISTR function is as follows:
UNISTR ( ‘character_expression’ [ , ‘unicode_escape_character’ ] )
The data type of character_expression could be char, nchar, varchar, or nvarchar. For char and varchar data types, the collation should be a valid UTF-8 collation only.
A single character representing a user-defined Unicode escape sequence. If not supplied, the default value is .
Examples
Example #1:
For example, the following query returns the Unicode character for the specified value:
— All the queries below will produce the same output.
SELECT UNISTR(N’Hello D83DDE00′);
SELECT UNISTR(N’048ello +01F603′);
SELECT UNISTR(N’04806506C06C06F +01F603′);
Results:
——————————-
Hello
Example #2:
In this example, the UNISTR function is used with a user-defined escape character ($) and a VARCHAR data type with UTF-8 collation.
SELECT UNISTR (‘I $2665 Azure SQL.’ COLLATE Latin1_General_100_CI_AS_KS_SC_UTF8, ‘$’);
Results:
——————————-
I ♥ Azure SQL.
The legacy collations with code page can be identified using the query below:
SELECT DISTINCT p.language, p.codepage
FROM sys.fn_helpcollations() AS c CROSS APPLY (VALUES(LEFT(c.name, CHARINDEX(‘_’, c.name)-1), COLLATIONPROPERTY(c.name, ‘codepage’))) AS p(language, codepage)
WHERE p.codepage NOT IN (0 /* Unicode Only collation */, 65001 /* UTF-8 code page */);
The legacy collations with code page can be identified using the query below:
SELECT DISTINCT p.language, p.codepage
FROM sys.fn_helpcollations() AS c CROSS APPLY (VALUES(LEFT(c.name, CHARINDEX(‘_’, c.name)-1), COLLATIONPROPERTY(c.name, ‘codepage’))) AS p(language, codepage)
WHERE p.codepage NOT IN (0 /* Unicode Only collation */, 65001 /* UTF-8 code page */);
What is ANSI SQL concatenation operator (||)?
The ANSI SQL concatenation operator (||) concatenates two or more characters or binary strings, columns, or a combination of strings and column names into one expression. The || operator does not honor the SET CONCAT_NULL_YIELDS_NULL option and always behaves as if the ANSI SQL behavior is enabled. This operator will work with character strings or binary data of any supported SQL Server collation. The || operator supports compound assignment ||= similar to +=. If the operands are of incompatible collation, then an error will be thrown. The collation behavior is identical to the CONCAT function of character string data.
The syntax of the string concatenation operator is as follows:
expression || expression
The expression is a character or binary expression. Both expressions must be of the same data type, or one expression must be able to be implicitly converted to the data type of the other expression. If one operand is of binary type, then an unsupported operand type error will be thrown.
Examples
Example #1:
For example, the following query concatenates two strings and returns the result:
SELECT ‘Hello ‘ || ‘ World!’;
Results:
——————————-
Hello World!
Example #2:
In this example, multiple character strings are concatenated. If at least one input is a character string, non-character strings will be implicitly converted to character strings.
SELECT ‘Josè’ || ‘ Doe’ AS full_name,
‘Order-‘ || CAST(1001 AS VARCHAR) || ‘~TS~’ || current_timestamp || ‘~’ || NEWID() AS order_details,
‘Item-‘ || NULL AS item_desc;
Results:
——————————-
full_name order_details item_desc
Josè Doe Order-1001~TS~Jun 1 2024 6:25AM~442A4706-0002-48EC-84FC-8AF27XXXX NULL
Example #3:
In the example below, concatenating two or more binary strings and also compounding with T-SQL assignment operator.
DECLARE @v1 VARBINARY(10) = 0x1a;
SET @v1 ||= 0x2b;
SELECT @v1 as V1, 0x|| 0x4E as B1, CAST(NEWID() AS VARBINARY) || 0xa5 as B2
Results:
——————————-
V1 B1 B2
0x1A2B 0x4E 0xAE8C602E951AC245ADE767A23C834704A5
Example #4:
As shown in the example below, using the || operator with only non-character types or combining binary data with other types is not supported.
SELECT 1|| 2;
SELECT 1|| ‘a’ || 0x4e;
Above queries will fail with error messages as below –
The data types int and int are incompatible in the concat operator.
The data types varchar and varbinary are incompatible in the concat operator.
Conclusion
In this blog post, we have introduced the UNISTR function and ANSI SQL concatenation operator (||) in Azure SQL Database. The UNISTR function allows you to escape Unicode characters, making it easier to work with international text. ANSI SQL concatenation operator (||) provides a simple and intuitive way to combine characters or binary data. These new features will enhance your ability to manipulate and work with text data efficiently.
We hope you will explore these enhancements, apply them in your projects, and share your feedback with us to help us continue improving. Thank you!
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
Muhstik Malware Targets Message Queuing Services Applications
Aqua Nautilus discovered a new campaign of Muhstik malware targeting message queuing services applications, specifically the Apache RocketMQ platform. Our investigation revealed that the attackers downloaded the known malware Muhstik onto the compromised instances by exploiting a known vulnerability in the platform. In this blog, we will explore how the attackers exploit the existing vulnerability in RocketMQ, examine how the Muhstik malware affects the compromised instances, and analyze the number of RocketMQ instances worldwide vulnerable to this type of attack.
Aqua Nautilus discovered a new campaign of Muhstik malware targeting message queuing services applications, specifically the Apache RocketMQ platform. Our investigation revealed that the attackers downloaded the known malware Muhstik onto the compromised instances by exploiting a known vulnerability in the platform. In this blog, we will explore how the attackers exploit the existing vulnerability in RocketMQ, examine how the Muhstik malware affects the compromised instances, and analyze the number of RocketMQ instances worldwide vulnerable to this type of attack. Read More
Using patternCustom to plot antenna Radiation Pattern in one figure
I’m using MATALAB R2020A with the Antenna toolbox to generate 2-D Plots of the measured Radiation Pattern (power in dBi) of an antenna, saved in an excel file. I wish to plot the Z-X Plane, and Z-Y Plane slice of the RP, but can’t seem to understand how to combine the "right side" and "left side" pattern to create one plot. As I understand it has to do with using the polarpattern class, but I cant seem to use it correctly. It would also be great to know how to fix the legend, and add a plot title.
clearvars; %clear all worskspace variables
close all; %Close all figures
%% ——Get data from excel sheet———
% %Get Anttena Powerb(dBi) data 13x17array
% filename=’RawAntennaData.xlsx’;
% H = table2array(readtable(filename,’Sheet’,’Horizontal’,’Range’,’B2:R14′));%
% %Get Theta (Elevation) and Phi (Azimuth) data, respectively a 13×1 and 1×17 array
% El= table2array(readtable(filename,’Sheet’,’Sheet1′,’Range’,’A2:A14′));%Elevation, "Vertical" Angle from 0 to pi
% Az = table2array(readtable(filename,’Sheet’,’Sheet1′,’Range’,’B1:R1′));%Azismuth, "Horizontal" angle -pi to pi
%% — Get data for Helix type antenna Radiation pattern—-
h = helix;
[H,Az,El] = pattern(h,2e9);
theta = El;
phi = Az’;
MagE = H’;
%% 3-D Plot of Antenna Radiation pattern
figure;
patternCustom(MAgE, theta, phi);% 3D plot in Polar cordinates
%% —– 2-D Plot of Z-X Plane (Theta) Cut with phi/Azimuth=90, in Polar coordinates ——-
figure; % Plot Z-X RP data points (for Y=0, phi=0°) at +X axis (right side)
A= patternCustom(MagE, theta, phi,’CoordinateSystem’,’polar’,’Slice’,’phi’,’SliceValue’,0);
%p = polarpattern(‘gco’);
%P = polarpattern(p,’TitleTop’,’Polar Pattern of Monopole’);
hold on
%figure; % Plot Z-X RP data points (for Y=0, phi=180°) at -X axis (left side)
B=patternCustom(MagE, theta, phi,’CoordinateSystem’,’polar’,’Slice’,’phi’,’SliceValue’,180);
hold off
legend(‘A’, ‘B’);I’m using MATALAB R2020A with the Antenna toolbox to generate 2-D Plots of the measured Radiation Pattern (power in dBi) of an antenna, saved in an excel file. I wish to plot the Z-X Plane, and Z-Y Plane slice of the RP, but can’t seem to understand how to combine the "right side" and "left side" pattern to create one plot. As I understand it has to do with using the polarpattern class, but I cant seem to use it correctly. It would also be great to know how to fix the legend, and add a plot title.
clearvars; %clear all worskspace variables
close all; %Close all figures
%% ——Get data from excel sheet———
% %Get Anttena Powerb(dBi) data 13x17array
% filename=’RawAntennaData.xlsx’;
% H = table2array(readtable(filename,’Sheet’,’Horizontal’,’Range’,’B2:R14′));%
% %Get Theta (Elevation) and Phi (Azimuth) data, respectively a 13×1 and 1×17 array
% El= table2array(readtable(filename,’Sheet’,’Sheet1′,’Range’,’A2:A14′));%Elevation, "Vertical" Angle from 0 to pi
% Az = table2array(readtable(filename,’Sheet’,’Sheet1′,’Range’,’B1:R1′));%Azismuth, "Horizontal" angle -pi to pi
%% — Get data for Helix type antenna Radiation pattern—-
h = helix;
[H,Az,El] = pattern(h,2e9);
theta = El;
phi = Az’;
MagE = H’;
%% 3-D Plot of Antenna Radiation pattern
figure;
patternCustom(MAgE, theta, phi);% 3D plot in Polar cordinates
%% —– 2-D Plot of Z-X Plane (Theta) Cut with phi/Azimuth=90, in Polar coordinates ——-
figure; % Plot Z-X RP data points (for Y=0, phi=0°) at +X axis (right side)
A= patternCustom(MagE, theta, phi,’CoordinateSystem’,’polar’,’Slice’,’phi’,’SliceValue’,0);
%p = polarpattern(‘gco’);
%P = polarpattern(p,’TitleTop’,’Polar Pattern of Monopole’);
hold on
%figure; % Plot Z-X RP data points (for Y=0, phi=180°) at -X axis (left side)
B=patternCustom(MagE, theta, phi,’CoordinateSystem’,’polar’,’Slice’,’phi’,’SliceValue’,180);
hold off
legend(‘A’, ‘B’); I’m using MATALAB R2020A with the Antenna toolbox to generate 2-D Plots of the measured Radiation Pattern (power in dBi) of an antenna, saved in an excel file. I wish to plot the Z-X Plane, and Z-Y Plane slice of the RP, but can’t seem to understand how to combine the "right side" and "left side" pattern to create one plot. As I understand it has to do with using the polarpattern class, but I cant seem to use it correctly. It would also be great to know how to fix the legend, and add a plot title.
clearvars; %clear all worskspace variables
close all; %Close all figures
%% ——Get data from excel sheet———
% %Get Anttena Powerb(dBi) data 13x17array
% filename=’RawAntennaData.xlsx’;
% H = table2array(readtable(filename,’Sheet’,’Horizontal’,’Range’,’B2:R14′));%
% %Get Theta (Elevation) and Phi (Azimuth) data, respectively a 13×1 and 1×17 array
% El= table2array(readtable(filename,’Sheet’,’Sheet1′,’Range’,’A2:A14′));%Elevation, "Vertical" Angle from 0 to pi
% Az = table2array(readtable(filename,’Sheet’,’Sheet1′,’Range’,’B1:R1′));%Azismuth, "Horizontal" angle -pi to pi
%% — Get data for Helix type antenna Radiation pattern—-
h = helix;
[H,Az,El] = pattern(h,2e9);
theta = El;
phi = Az’;
MagE = H’;
%% 3-D Plot of Antenna Radiation pattern
figure;
patternCustom(MAgE, theta, phi);% 3D plot in Polar cordinates
%% —– 2-D Plot of Z-X Plane (Theta) Cut with phi/Azimuth=90, in Polar coordinates ——-
figure; % Plot Z-X RP data points (for Y=0, phi=0°) at +X axis (right side)
A= patternCustom(MagE, theta, phi,’CoordinateSystem’,’polar’,’Slice’,’phi’,’SliceValue’,0);
%p = polarpattern(‘gco’);
%P = polarpattern(p,’TitleTop’,’Polar Pattern of Monopole’);
hold on
%figure; % Plot Z-X RP data points (for Y=0, phi=180°) at -X axis (left side)
B=patternCustom(MagE, theta, phi,’CoordinateSystem’,’polar’,’Slice’,’phi’,’SliceValue’,180);
hold off
legend(‘A’, ‘B’); patterncustom, antenna toolbox, polarpattern class, 2d polar plots MATLAB Answers — New Questions
Adams, Simulink, and Reinforcement Learning
Build a model using Adams and combine it with MATLAB’s Simulink for reinforcement learning. However, at the beginning of each training round, the Adams model always continues the previous state. How to make the model start from the initial state in each round?Build a model using Adams and combine it with MATLAB’s Simulink for reinforcement learning. However, at the beginning of each training round, the Adams model always continues the previous state. How to make the model start from the initial state in each round? Build a model using Adams and combine it with MATLAB’s Simulink for reinforcement learning. However, at the beginning of each training round, the Adams model always continues the previous state. How to make the model start from the initial state in each round? adams, simulink, reinforcement learning MATLAB Answers — New Questions
Creating a grid on an image at an angle with a specific spacing
Hey All
The summary is it all. Basically I have an image and a code that draws two "axes" lines a red and blue line. I basically want to form a grid using lines parellel to those in order to find their intersects and plot other circles where they intersect.
I have provided an image for clarification!Hey All
The summary is it all. Basically I have an image and a code that draws two "axes" lines a red and blue line. I basically want to form a grid using lines parellel to those in order to find their intersects and plot other circles where they intersect.
I have provided an image for clarification! Hey All
The summary is it all. Basically I have an image and a code that draws two "axes" lines a red and blue line. I basically want to form a grid using lines parellel to those in order to find their intersects and plot other circles where they intersect.
I have provided an image for clarification! image analysis, image processing, image analyst MATLAB Answers — New Questions
unable to reactivate windows due to windows insider programme
i am unable to reactivate my windows after i had to replace my motherboard with a like for like motherboard but because i was part of the windows insider programme its not allowing me to transfer my activated windows which is bound to my email address i spoke to microsoft and the said it could be fixed from their end by tec support but they have directed me here and told me to somehow remove the windows insider programme from my windows account so they can transfer my activated windows i dont understand how im ment to do that as i dont have access to all windows features and cannot transfer windows because it was a version of windows insider and my current windows which is the same install does not have access to any of the insider features im very frustrated because i was originally told that this could be fixed at microsofts end and that they should be able to transfer my windows activation to my pc but they have now directed me here because they said i needed to remove insider first.
i am unable to reactivate my windows after i had to replace my motherboard with a like for like motherboard but because i was part of the windows insider programme its not allowing me to transfer my activated windows which is bound to my email address i spoke to microsoft and the said it could be fixed from their end by tec support but they have directed me here and told me to somehow remove the windows insider programme from my windows account so they can transfer my activated windows i dont understand how im ment to do that as i dont have access to all windows features and cannot transfer windows because it was a version of windows insider and my current windows which is the same install does not have access to any of the insider features im very frustrated because i was originally told that this could be fixed at microsofts end and that they should be able to transfer my windows activation to my pc but they have now directed me here because they said i needed to remove insider first. Read More
