NoDans Series on ModelGlue Reloaded Part 1 & 2

When I have to work on complex stuff,tackle a new project or learn a new technology, I usually create a Mind Map on a big piece of paper. I started looking for options on the Internet that I can use from anywhere and that can help me diagram fairly complex concepts. I found www.mindomo.com and I like it!! the fact that the application was created in FLEX is even better. Anyways, I've finished the series of 10 tutorials from Dan Wilson. I learned a lot of things related to ModelGlue and I decided to do the whole 10 exercises again and this time create my usual Mind Maps so I can absorb things in a graphical way. I'll start posting the different Parts and the related MindMap, hopefully this Maps will be a complement to anybody trying to learn ModelGLue and following Dan's tutorials. Here are the two first Parts of the series. If anybody has questions/comments about the Maps please let me know. Direct Link to Parts 1-2 (opens full Size) çB^]\..

Useful XML beautifier for ColdSpring and ModelGlue files

I'm following Dan Wilson's 8th entry on ModelGlue and after a while I noticed that some of my files, specially the ColdSpring.xml and ModelGlue.xml under the config folder were getting really big and ugly. I don't spend too much time trying to line up everything on the XML files, right now I'm trying to get through the series and start building my own small application. Anyhow, I saw that the XML files were getting messy, a little time on the Internet produced this great resource xml lint online converter. Simply navigate to the page, click on the Browse button, find the Coldspring or ModelGlue files that you are trying to beautify and voila!! You get a nicely formatted XML file for the viewing pleasure of human eyes. On the resulting page you can view the source and then copy/paste the whole thing back to your ColdSpring or ModelGlue files. As usual, BACKUP your files before doing this!! Even better put the files in favorite flavor of source control CVS/SVN and then try to make them pretty. çB^]\..

Giant steps on ModelGlue

It seems to me that I was over my head when I started looking at the Model-Glue Series from Ray Camden. I started looking for more information on the web and I found two great resources, Dan Wilson and Doug Boude. These two guys have great information on Model Glue. Right now I'm making giant steps on Model Glue thanks to the following Great video posting here, it explains a lot about the ModelGlue Framework and how things connect between Model, Views and Controllers. I recommend people trying to learn ModelGlue check the video. This series is just amazing, I had done the two initial parts and I liked them because they are easy to understand and the reading is simple but packed with a lot of information. I started following Posting #3 of the series and I was blown away by the reference to Rooibos Generator. Are you kidding me? I spent so much time doing the getters and setters before that now that I found this nifty app I don't know if I'll ever do it again. Great stuff, really great stuff. Once I get a good understanding of the whole thing and I'm done with the tutorials I'll have to create a small app from scratch and post here all the steps. çB^]\..

Coldfusion on Ubuntu 7.10

Update It seems I spoke too soon, and I Was too tired to think straight. I was able to follow the steps and have Coldfusion installed, however I can't setup Apache to listen to CFM requests. I've been trying to run the ./cf-connector.sh script and so far nothing happens, screen doesn't change and every time I try to open a .cfm page the server asks me if I want to download it.

wow, I've not been this excited about computers in a long time. 3:20AM and I'm still unable to go to sleep, even though I have to wake up early tomorrow (actually today, in a couple hours). Coldfusion was a little more tricky than the other ones. Most of the steps came from Installing ColdFusion 8 on Ubuntu Feisty Fawn. But the trick with the correct paths to all the files came from Installing ColdFusion 7 on Ubuntu Feisty Fawn
Add web server Configuration Apache
  1. What directory contains your Apache configuration file: /etc/apache2
  2. Where is the Apache program binary file?: /usr/sbin/apache2
  3. Where is the control file that you use to start and stop the Apache web server?: /etc/init.d/apache2
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Ubuntu LAMP

I have no idea why I was so afraid to start working with Ubuntu as my development box. I was hesitant to install a LAMP server so I can start playing with Joomla and Coldfusion.Boy was I wrong!! Ubuntu is beautiful, I have to admit that initially I liked it just because of the pretty colors and the idea of answering 'yeah I run a Linux system' when asked what kind of computer I use, but little by little I'm finding new cool things about this system. by the way the steps I used to install the LAMP are here : Ubuntu LAMP for Newbies I was up and running and testing a new Joomla installation in a matter of 20-30 minutes, if that. Next, setup a Coldfusion server. çB^]\..

Model Glue and the MasterJedi Series

For the last two days I've been following the Model Glue Series from Ray Camden as a way to get my feet wet. I like Ray's work overall and I think that if I had followed the series from the beginning it would've been much easier to follow. Sadly I'm stuck and trying to figure out somethings on part 7, it doesn't help that I'm using Model-Glue 2.0 Unity and the series is written for an earlier version without any ColdSpring. I decided that at some point I'll start a website explaining basic concepts related to Model-Glue and Coldfusion in general in a graphical way. I like to code as much as the next guy but to me a graphic or a diagram can save a lot of grief and also helps me understand the big picture of things instead of trying to create the whole thing bottom-up. ShowMeCF.com , graphicalCF.com? çB^]\..

I'm officially running Ubuntu 7.10

Having seen what Edubuntu can do on my kids computer and having experienced too many blue screens lately on my trusty but old laptop ( we got in 2001) I decided to wipe out Windows from the laptop and install Ubuntu. The whole thing took me less than 30 minutes and I was up and running with no problems. I know there are certain things that I still have to figure out, like downloading codecs to watch and listen to music. All in time I guess, now it's not a matter of having time to do it. I just forced myself to work with Ubuntu and find solutions to my little pet peeves. This will be definetely a great learning experience. I just now have to find a way to create a developer's box on the laptop. Shouldn't be too difficult I guess considering that I'm using Apache, MySQL and PHP for my latest projects. çB^]\..

New project on the way

I started working on both projects and first thing I needed was to setup my development environment. I started installing Apache, and then MySQL and PHP. For some reason things didn't work out. I got so frustrated that I went and decided that since this is a development box, there was no need for me to tune the different pieces individually. I remember using XAMPP years ago, so I decided to look for the same package or similar one. I found XAMPP and also WAMP (Windows, Apache, MySQL and PHP) . I decided to go with WAMP. Install was quick, easy and completely painless, if you are trying to get a development box up and running in no time, I'd advice you get WAMP. WAMP comes with PHPMyAdmin, however I decided to try some of the apps provided by MySQl, so I downloaded the MySQL GUI Tools. I have to say that is a pretty nice set of applications. Speaking of tools from MySQL, the one I'm interested in, that is in Beta is MySQL WorkBench, which will include the DBDesigner software for data modeling. I've been using DBDesigner as a stand alon application from Fabforce.net for the other project related to Joomla. I initially stumbled upon this while looking for the ERD of Joomla and I have to say that for a piece of software that comes free is a pretty good application. çB^]\..