Category: Tools

Batch Image Resize

I have been looking around for a method to resize multiple images in a single batch. There have been a number of downloadable tools and shell integration solutions, but I was hoping to find an online tool to do just that.

Not finding a solution that I liked, I decided to build one. Take a look at the Batch Image Resize tool and let me know what you think. There also a Facebook page for the tool.

Usage

  1. Upload the pictures you want to work with. The upload tool uses Uploadify to support mult-file uploads.
  2. Enter the desired maximum width and height
    • Images that are smaller than the specified dimensions are left unmodified.
  3. Clicking ‘Shrink my pictures’ generates a zip file with your resized images.

Privacy

All uploaded pictures are deleted within 5 minutes of inactivity.
Update
11/7/2011 – Scott Hanselman’s recent blog entry talks about a similar library for .NET

Visual Studio Keyboard Shortcuts

As Visual Studio has evolved as a product, so has the plethora of keyboard shortcuts that are available. Using these shortcuts make certain tasks much easier and quicker by not requiring you to remember the exact location in the often deep and convoluted menu and icon structure.

You can download your own keyboard shortcut guide here:http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=92CED922-D505-457A-8C9C-84036160639F&displaylang=en

Each binding refers to the Developer Settings option you choose when you open Visual Studio for the first time. The document also contains the instructions for changing your default setting.

Subversion Error Message on Windows 7/Windows 2008 Server

Some times when I am performing a Subversion task (update, commit, check out) I get an error message stating that files can’t be moved or deleted. A subsequent boot of my machine causes CHKDSK to run (this is what concerned me).

The error message looks like this:

Error: Can't move
Error: '[...]\.svntmpentries'
Error: to
Error: '[...]\.svnentries':
Error: The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable.

This is a known issue with Windows 7 and you can http://support.microsoft.com/kb/982927/en-us”>download a Hot Fix to fix it.

This issue is also addressed in Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008.

Here is a good post on the issue: http://serverfault.com/questions/72561/64-bit-tortoisesvn-on-windows-7-says-file-or-directory-is-corrupted-and-unreadab

Performance and Load Testing with WebLoad

Recently, I had to perform a load test on our new project. We are using WebLoad to test the performance at different levels of load to see how it holds up. While WebLoad offers its own set of analytics, I am also using perfmon to see how each tier is performing under the stress.

I originally planned on using WebLoad 8.4 for the performance testing but have decided to stick with version 8.1. The free license for 8.4 limits you to 10 virtual users (the load size) where as V8.1 does not have any limitation.

WebLoad 8.1 can be downloaded here.

Perfmon Counters

The following counters will give the most pertinent results.
ASP.NET

  • Requests Queued
  • Requests Current
  • Request Execution Time (lower is better)
  • Request Wait Time (lower is better)
  • Requests Rejected (lower is better, is best)

System

  • Context Switches / sec

Memory

  • Pages / sec
  • Available Bytes
  • Committed Bytes

Processor

  • % Processor Time
  • Active Server Pages
  • Request Wait Time
  • Requests Queued

Web Service

  • Current Connections
  • Bytes Send / sec
  • Connection Attempts / sec
  • Current Blocked Async I/O Requests
  • Current Blocked bandwidth bytes