tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79369072303820371872024-02-18T23:48:51.965-08:00grtfercho çB^]\.."Did you guys see the size of that chicken? "
Young Guns (1988)grtferchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11672868605006613961noreply@blogger.comBlogger26125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7936907230382037187.post-35952969488290054202011-10-10T05:44:00.000-07:002011-10-10T05:44:36.730-07:00Export Mylyn to a different computerI've started working on a MacBook Pro and moved away from Windows thanks to the place where I work.<br />
Honestly I have to say that the change has not been without pains. Keyboard configurations and short cuts have been the biggest pains so far. I know that for the most part they map just fine, however there's always that one hot-key that messes you up and makes you go "AAARRGGHH".<br />
<br />
One of the things that I 100% cannot develop without is Mylyn, so as soon as I was able to install it in the Mac I was a happy dev. The issue I had is that I had a lot of tasks on the Windows computer that I wanted to have on the Mac. For a few of those I had uploaded the Context.zip file to the tracking system and I can easily recover my context of working files from there, however there were some notes and some local tasks that I didn't want to lose.<br />
<br />
Luckily Mylyn as awesome as it is has an Export feature. Before getting rid of the old PC I did an export of all the tasks and sent myself the file.<br />
I then did an import on the new installation and was able to see all previous tasks and context for those tasks.<br />
<br />grtferchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11672868605006613961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7936907230382037187.post-29381129131230101802011-05-23T17:51:00.000-07:002011-05-23T17:54:15.692-07:00WatirWatir
<ul><li>Stands for Web Application Testing In Ruby</li><li>Pronounced "water".</li><li>Is a testing framework similar to Selenium.</li><li>Uses OLE to interface with IE and take control of the session.</li></ul>grtferchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11672868605006613961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7936907230382037187.post-40195423288660365592011-05-18T07:36:00.000-07:002011-05-18T07:55:47.737-07:00CouchDB<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span">CouchDB</span>
</span></span><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; ">Document based DB specifically created for the web.</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; ">It is now an Apache project.</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; ">Uses a REST API and it returns data as JSON. <--very cool </span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; ">Written originally in C++ but it has moved now to Erlang.</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; ">Super scalable.</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; ">from <a href="http://couchdb.apache.org/">http://couchdb.apache.org/</a>
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; ">"CouchDB provides a RESTful JSON API than can be accessed from any environment that allows HTTP requests"</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; ">U</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; ">ses JavaScript as a query language</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; ">The Web based administration console/DB Manager is called 'Futon'. </span></li></ul>grtferchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11672868605006613961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7936907230382037187.post-36285030024980062102011-05-12T08:46:00.000-07:002011-05-18T07:43:01.030-07:00HadoopToday I start a small experiment of mine.
I'll randomly read a new tech world word that I didn't know before or that I just heard but never looked up.
<span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;">Hadoop
</span><ul><li>Named after an elephant toy, built using Java ( the software not the toy :) )
</li><li>An Apache project for working with huge/massive amounts of data.</li><li>Yahoo is one of the biggest contributors.</li><li>Uses a distributed architecture.</li><li>Inspired by Google File System and Google MapReduce. <- don't know what these are.</li></ul>grtferchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11672868605006613961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7936907230382037187.post-54414535808980190422008-08-26T09:33:00.000-07:002008-08-26T09:58:05.920-07:00Illudium generator gotcha!I know I haven't been writing for a while, however this is something really interesting that happened to us here at work and I figure it may help someone else out there.
We are using the well known <a href="http://cfcgenerator.riaforge.org/"><span class="header01">Illudium PU-36 Code Generator</span></a> from <a href="http://www.remotesynthesis.com/index.cfm">Brian Rinaldi</a>.
I use it for a project that connects to MSSQL and had no trouble generating the code, I even created my own template based on the "Prototype" provided with the generator. It creates nice clean code that we can start working on right away.
The problem we had was that we were getting "duplicate parameters" and "duplicate Properties" once we started using any Oracle database.
I started digging the code and learned a lot in the process, one thing I noticed is that on the <span style="font-style: italic;">adminAPIFacade.driverOrClassToType()</span> method Brian checks for the datasource's Driver and Class values and if it finds "oracle" then uses "oracle.cfc" to get metadata from the database.
If it finds "mssql" then it uses "mssql.cfc" to get the metadata from SQL Server.
If nothing is matched then it tries to use the new CF8 for metadata extraction, the component used for that is scorpio.cfc.
Well everything looked good there, logic look solid and things were working OK. The problem was on our side. I checked our datasources and every Oracle DSN is using "Other" as the driver.
This turns out to be a JDBC connection where the Driver Class is "macromedia.jdbc.MacromediaDriver" and the driver Name is "MacromediaDriver" nowhere in these values you will find the word "Oracle". That's why the <span style="font-style: italic;">adminAPIFacade.driverOrClassToType()</span> method was returning "Scorpio" all the time. Now I don't know why the CF8 tags are returning duplicate information on the metadata but I knew that I needed to find a way to tell the method to start using Oracle.cfc instead of scorpio.cfc.
I found the answer on the datasource.url value. Right now it reads
JDBC URL : jdbc:macromedia:<span style="font-weight: bold;">oracle</span>://[serverName]:1521;ServiceName=[ServiceName];AlternateServers=([ServerName2]:1521);LoadBalancing=true
So I added that to the method and now all generated code is coming the way is supposed to be.
Final method looks like this.
<cffunction name="driverOrClassToType" access="private" output="false" returntype="string">
<cfargument name="datasource" required="true" type="struct" />
<cfif ((arguments.datasource.driver eq "MSSQLServer") or (arguments.datasource.class contains "MSSQLServer") or (arguments.datasource.url contains "MSSQLServer"))>
<cfreturn "mssql" />
<cfelseif ((arguments.datasource.driver contains "mySQL") or (arguments.datasource.class contains "mySQL"))>
<cfreturn "mysql" />
<cfelseif ((arguments.datasource.driver contains "Oracle") or (arguments.datasource.class contains "Oracle")<span style="font-weight: bold;"> <span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">or (arguments.datasource.url contains "oracle"))</span></span>>
<cfreturn "oracle" />
<!--- if you are running cf8 we can try to leverage db metadata tags --->
<cfelseif listFirst(server.coldfusion.ProductVersion) gte 8 and arguments.datasource.driver neq "MSAccess"><!--- only access with unicode seems to work with dbinfo --->
<cfreturn "scorpio" />
<cfelse> <!--- not a supported type --->
<cfreturn "" />
</cfif>
</cffunction>
çB^]\..grtferchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11672868605006613961noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7936907230382037187.post-45715664908638536652007-12-02T17:20:00.000-08:002007-12-02T17:23:07.285-08:00I hate Windows VistaThat's it. I just hate it.
I don't have time or patience to find out where everything is. The File explorer is completely messed up.
I do not like it. Microsoft : "fix it " ..
Oh wait, you created this, never mind.grtferchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11672868605006613961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7936907230382037187.post-27415489604301383742007-12-02T12:14:00.000-08:002007-12-02T12:50:43.947-08:00Get Firefox FIRST!We'll I ended up buying a new laptop for work.I figured that I can use the old laptop for Ubuntu and this new one for Windows.Yes, maybe I could use one for both, however I'm pretty sure my old trusty laptop won't be able to handle two systems, no matter what I do to it.It is from 2001!!. <br/>So for now the old trusty is my Ubuntu play area and this new one is the one I'll be using for work from Bolivia. <br/><br/>It is a Toshiba Satellite L45-S7423, nothing fancy really. I don't do games or watch DVDs that much so I just went for the bare necessities. It has 1gb of RAM which I think would be good enough for the things I do. <br/><br/>Why a Toshiba? My sister got one a year ago, when my old trusty started failing on me, I borrowed hers for a while and I liked it. The price was also good. <br/><br/>One thing I don't like is that it comes with the over hyped Windows Vista, I'd rather have XP pro." No problem" said the 18 year old sales person at Circuit City we can downgrade it for you it will cost $350 though. <br/><br/>Anyway I feel weird using Vista, I don't like it. I don't need it. I think is too much make up for the system with nothing really beneficial for the work I do. <br/>First thing I did is install Firefox, I don't care if IE has tabs now. I cannot use IE outside work (they pay me to use it). I got my Firefox installed and the first thing I'm doing in it is write this post. <br/><br/>Next thing? get rid of all the trial garbage they install on these machines. That's one really cool think about Ubuntu, install it, power up, get to work, simple as that. <br/>After that Eclipse, and all the tools for development. <br/><br/>çB^]\..grtferchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11672868605006613961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7936907230382037187.post-2980698492903481012007-11-08T12:13:00.000-08:002007-11-08T12:21:18.296-08:00NoDans Series on ModelGlue Reloaded Part 5This was also a short entry.
The main purpose here is to change the free form text for the Contact Types to a Select box.
We do this by creating a MAP with ENTRIES in Coldspring.xml and then calling a method getContactTypes() on the ContactService bean.
Once we have the collection of values we set the variable "ContactTypes" for later use un the final view (frmContact.cfm).
<a href="http://www.mindomo.com/view?m=d9e9f4e270f7a4cc14117559b8d55224">Direct Link to MindMap of Part 5 (opens full Size)</a>
<embed pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer" src="http://www.mindomo.com/MindomoViewer.swf" flashvars="mapId=d9e9f4e270f7a4cc14117559b8d55224" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="400" width="100%"></embed>grtferchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11672868605006613961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7936907230382037187.post-3029003762466939812007-11-05T12:05:00.000-08:002007-11-05T12:23:02.431-08:00NoDans Series on ModelGlue Reloaded Part 4This was an easy and short one.
Part 4 deals with the validation of the form.
We have two main objectives here
<ol><li>Check the values provided against our validation rules</li><li>Display error messages if the values don't pass validation</li></ol><a href="http://www.mindomo.com/view?m=159681851fc247efa5e01488924aa9b0">Direct Link to MindMap of Part 4 (opens full Size)</a>
<embed pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer" src="http://www.mindomo.com/MindomoViewer.swf" flashvars="mapId=159681851fc247efa5e01488924aa9b0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="400px" width="100%"></embed>grtferchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11672868605006613961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7936907230382037187.post-61626420931633558972007-11-04T22:30:00.000-08:002007-11-05T12:22:42.644-08:00NoDans Series on ModelGlue Reloaded Part 3I'm finding Mindomo a bit of a pain to work with, there are some restrictions on the application that are starting to get me. However, I still think it is a good tool and has a lot of potential, not only that but I want to keep consistent with the MindMaps. I didn't want to recreate the first one I did and I didn't want to do this third part in some other system.
<br />I think I'll just finish the whole series using Mindomo and then look for other more interesting options.
<br />
<br />Anyhow, I went through part 3 of the series from Dan Wilson's blog and I broke all the information on 4 sections.
<br /><ol><li>Create the Bean that will hold data from the form.</li><li>Create the Form that will gather data on the front end.</li><li>Create the Action handler for the form once data is submitted.</li><li>Something I called ColdSpring Magic. Dan creates a Service and wires the whole thing using Coldspring and Model Glue.</li></ol>
<br />Dan uses a cool code generator called <a href="http://rooibos.maestropublishing.com/">ROOIBOS</a>.
<br />
<br />I tried to put as much detail as possible but you can only go so far with mindomo.
<br /><a href="http://www.mindomo.com/view?m=ed05a46d034e004645c4b6901d5d932b">Direct Link to mindmap of Part3 (opens full Size)</a>
<br /><embed pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer" src="http://www.mindomo.com/MindomoViewer.swf" flashvars="mapId=ed05a46d034e004645c4b6901d5d932b" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="400" width="100%"></embed>
<br />
Apparently Mindomo has a set width and height, therefore if you open all branches at the same time some text will get cut off. I recommend keeping (2) and (3) open and then when you are ready for (4) collapse (2).
<br/>-----------------------------
<br />I want to make something clear, I'm doing this to help me understand how a ModelGlue application works. I'm using <a href="http://www.nodans.com/">Dan Wilson's</a> series since it is easy to digest and covers all the basics. I don't claim to be an expert on ModelGlue, this is a compliment effort to what Dan Wilson has on his website. You still have to read the entries on Dan's blog but hopefully all the verbose will make more sense if you have a graphical way of connecting things.
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />If anybody has questions about the mindmap please let me know.
<br />çB^]\..grtferchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11672868605006613961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7936907230382037187.post-29443632358239125122007-10-31T07:18:00.001-07:002007-11-05T12:22:17.474-08:00NoDans Series on ModelGlue Reloaded Part 1 & 2When 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 <a href="http://www.mindomo.com">www.mindomo.com</a> 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.
<a href="http://www.mindomo.com/view?m=b114a0c465061a5911bd2f951f142f86">Direct Link to Parts 1-2 (opens full Size)</a>
<embed pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer" src="http://www.mindomo.com/MindomoViewer.swf" flashvars="mapId=b114a0c465061a5911bd2f951f142f86" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="400px" width="100%"></embed>
çB^]\..grtferchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11672868605006613961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7936907230382037187.post-33275403050515470912007-10-30T20:57:00.000-07:002007-11-05T12:21:38.001-08:00Useful XML beautifier for ColdSpring and ModelGlue filesI'm following <a href="http://www.nodans.com/index.cfm/2007/2/8/So-you-want-to-create-a-ModelGlueUnity-application--Part-8">Dan Wilson's 8th entry on ModelGlue</a> and after a while I noticed that some of my files, specially the ColdSpring.xml and ModelGlue.xml under the <span style="font-style: italic;">config </span>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 <a href="http://www.iconv.com/xmllint.htm"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#000066;">xml lint online converter</span></a><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">. </span></span>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.
<span style="font-weight: bold;">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^]\..
</span>grtferchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11672868605006613961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7936907230382037187.post-36639196047168266402007-10-29T19:57:00.000-07:002007-10-29T20:16:06.738-07:00Giant steps on ModelGlueIt seems to me that I was over my head when I <a href="http://grtfercho.blogspot.com/2007/10/model-glue-and-masterjedi-series.html">started looking at the Model-Glue Series from Ray Camden</a>.
I started looking for more information on the web and I found two great resources, <a href="http://www.nodans.com/">Dan Wilson</a> and <a href="http://www.dougboude.com/">Doug Boude</a>. These two guys have great information on Model Glue.
Right now I'm making giant steps on Model Glue thanks to the following
<ul><li><a href="http://www.dougboude.com/blog/1/2007/08/The-ModelGlue-Event-Lifecycle-in-Laymans-Terms.cfm">The ModelGlue Event Lifecycle in Laymans Terms (Doug Boude)</a></li><li><a href="http://www.dougboude.com/blog/1/2007/10/Yet-Another-ModelGlue-Quickstart.cfm">Yet Another ModelGlue QuickStart (Doug Boude) </a></li></ul>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.
<ul><li><a href="http://www.nodans.com/index.cfm/2007/1/19/So-you-want-to-create-a-ModelGlueUnity-application--Part-1-">So You want to create a ModelGlueUnity application (Dan Wilson)
</a></li></ul>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 <a href="http://rooibos.maestropublishing.com/">Rooibos Generator</a>. 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^]\..grtferchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11672868605006613961noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7936907230382037187.post-24318224809399718552007-10-27T00:18:00.000-07:002007-12-02T12:52:22.597-08:00Coldfusion on Ubuntu 7.10<span style="font-weight: bold;">Update</span>
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.
<br>
<hr>
<span style="font-size:100%;">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 </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://alan.daveline.com/blog/?p=56" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link: Installing ColdFusion 8 on Ubuntu Feisty Fawn">Installing ColdFusion 8 on Ubuntu Feisty Fawn.</a>
But the trick with the correct paths to all the files came from </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://www.compoundtheory.com/?action=displayPost&ID=233">Installing ColdFusion 7 on Ubuntu Feisty Fawn</a></span><span style="font-size:100%;">
</span>
<blockquote>Add web server Configuration Apache
<ol><li>What directory contains your Apache configuration file:
/etc/apache2</li><li>Where is the Apache program binary file?:
/usr/sbin/apache2</li><li>Where is the control file that you use to start and stop the Apache web server?:
/etc/init.d/apache2</li></ol></blockquote>
çB^]\..grtferchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11672868605006613961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7936907230382037187.post-5929625916246483172007-10-26T23:12:00.000-07:002007-10-26T23:19:57.754-07:00Ubuntu LAMPI 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 : <a href="http://www.howtoforge.com/ubuntu_lamp_for_newbies">Ubuntu LAMP for Newbies</a>
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^]\..grtferchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11672868605006613961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7936907230382037187.post-20777729847377571372007-10-26T20:36:00.001-07:002007-10-27T19:17:47.672-07:00Model Glue and the MasterJedi SeriesFor the last two days I've been following the <a href="http://www.coldfusionjedi.com/index.cfm/2006/3/13/Building-your-first-ModelGlue-application-part-1">Model Glue Series</a> 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^]\..grtferchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11672868605006613961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7936907230382037187.post-20441064694733133062007-10-21T18:27:00.000-07:002007-10-21T18:32:34.123-07:00I'm officially running Ubuntu 7.10Having 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^]\..grtferchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11672868605006613961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7936907230382037187.post-27884604358652849542007-10-21T15:05:00.000-07:002007-10-21T18:33:09.363-07:00New project on the wayI 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 <a href="http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html">XAMPP</a> years ago, so I decided to look for the same package or similar one. I found XAMPP and also <a href="http://www.wampserver.com/en/">WAMP </a>(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 <a href="http://www.fabforce.net/dbdesigner4/">DBDesigner </a>software for data modeling. I've been using <a href="http://www.fabforce.net/dbdesigner4/">DBDesigner </a>as a stand alon application from Fabforce.net for the other project related to Joomla. I initially stumbled upon this while looking for the <a href="http://www.torkiljohnsen.com/2006/04/30/joomla-15-database-schema/">ERD of Joomla</a> and I have to say that for a piece of software that comes free is a pretty good application.
çB^]\..grtferchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11672868605006613961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7936907230382037187.post-629254944574818902007-09-26T12:52:00.000-07:002007-09-26T12:55:22.853-07:00If I was a Simpson's CharacterI played with the Simpson's website a couple months ago and ended up with this character.
If I was living in Springfield I'd look like this.
<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWTlc8ojted0_LIdNgvC2OtFDRfBLkpGdJxmoSrsD7975Bat9b996pzxG3hyjL8h4rA3rvhm42S68f0b-43336WpVtUO7EQMioCaHVrvE19Xi6RGyEGG4FgS7_NjChrHbznjNTpVXbKlG5/s1600-h/Simpsons_avatar.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWTlc8ojted0_LIdNgvC2OtFDRfBLkpGdJxmoSrsD7975Bat9b996pzxG3hyjL8h4rA3rvhm42S68f0b-43336WpVtUO7EQMioCaHVrvE19Xi6RGyEGG4FgS7_NjChrHbznjNTpVXbKlG5/s320/Simpsons_avatar.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5114603755570285682" border="0" /></a>
<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTAa72eUIp1uy2yzIWtIMWy4AldYxbXVzVAsCCEf7RDiIo1EvEq4I2J_TV_Y0jbaGKPn3yKmbszeGXjHPdEJLKh0VzSiw-x02UFpf0BAUSt3NKNJlV1V6NVWBq6DPQwbnPw8k98VDm2WNl/s1600-h/Simpsons_avatar.jpg">
</a>grtferchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11672868605006613961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7936907230382037187.post-78842808996498479192007-09-20T20:16:00.000-07:002007-10-27T19:18:13.920-07:00That was a long snoozeHaven't entered anything for months, not that I didn't have anything to write about, just lack of time and too many things going on actually, one of them called Summer. It was a great summer, the kids enjoyed and so did we.
Back to business. I've contacted people in Bolivia to start ( finish actually) a couple projects to get my Bachelors degree.
I decided to finish things from college now that we've settled down, don't plan on having more kids and have a stable job.
The projects are related to things I work with on a daily basis.
One of them is an online game similar to Yahtzee created exclusively for my website <a href="http://www.llajta.com/">www.LLAJTA.com</a>. This will require <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">PHP</span>, MySQL and a good understanding of the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Joomla</span> framework. I've used the admin options of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Joomla</span> for over a year but never really got into messing with the code. This is my chance.
The second project is a hybrid <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">CRM</span> system/Project Management System for construction companies in Bolivia. This will require <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Coldfusion</span> 8.0 and MySQL. I'm excited about this one since I'll be playing with the new features <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Coldfusion</span> offers and at the same time I'll get my feet wet in the Model-Glue waters. For those who don't know, Model-Glue is a development framework for <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Coldfusion</span> apps.
Lots of things happening. I guess I'll be posting more often now that I have projects outside work.grtferchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11672868605006613961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7936907230382037187.post-61055828433326084462007-03-07T09:49:00.000-08:002007-03-07T10:23:19.829-08:00Two steps in the right directionFor a long time I've been trying to read more books in English other than those that have programming code or a technical subject. I remember reading quite a few books when I was in School in my junior and senior year back in Bolivia. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Agustin_High_School">Colegio San Agustin</a> Por Siempre!!
I remember enjoying reading those books, most of them were from Bolivian writers as well as some from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Garc%C3%ADa_M%C3%A1rquez">Gabriel Garcia Marquez</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Vargas_Llosa">Mario Vargas Llosa </a>. By the time my nephew left after the Xmas holidays I decided to start reading more, I didn't know where to start so I thought that trying to pick up a book that I always wanted to read but never had the chance was a good idea. So I grabed myself a copy of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four">1984</a> ( George Orwell) and started reading it and so far I find it quite interesting, if anything reading fiction is waking up my imagination and my passion for the written word.
Then a couple days ago I read "<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/04/AR2007030401058.html">Chasing the Rainbow of a Thousand Books</a>" from the WashingtonPost, I have to say that the article inspired me and at the same time brought memories from those years in high school.
That same day I went my son to the library to pick up "The Cat in the Hat", Bob the Builder(DVD) and "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Hundred_Years_of_Solitude">One hundred years of Solitude</a>" (Gabriel Garcia Marquez) .
I now find myself going to bed reading either <span style="font-weight: bold;">1984 </span>or <span style="font-weight: bold;">100 years</span>. Is something that didn't happen for a looooong time but now that I started I don't plan to stop after these two books.grtferchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11672868605006613961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7936907230382037187.post-67235500105381184622007-03-06T07:48:00.000-08:002007-03-06T07:54:15.124-08:00I'm a PLTB...Today while reading the <a href="http://fullasagoog.com/">FullAsaGoog </a>List I found a blog entry from <a href="http://www.succor.co.uk/index.cfm/2007/3/4/My-programmer-personality-is-DLSB">Nick Tong</a> talking about the type of programmer he is, according to the test presented here <a href="http://www.doolwind.com/index.php?page=11">Doolwind's Programmer Personality Test</a>.
I obviously had to take the test and my result says I'm a PLTB kind of programmer.
<blockquote> Your programmer personality type is:
<b><span style="font-size:180%;">PLTB</span></b>
<b>You're a <span style="font-size:180%;">P</span>lanner.</b>
You may be slow, but you'll usually find the best solution. If something's worth doing, it's worth doing right.
<b>You like coding at a <span style="font-size:180%;">L</span>ow level.</b>
You're from the old school of programming and believe that you should have an intimate relationship with the computer. You don't mind juggling registers around and spending hours getting a 5% performance increase in an algorithm.
<b>You work best in a <span style="font-size:180%;">T</span>eam.</b>
A good group is better than the sum of it's parts. The only thing better than a genius programmer is a cohesive group of genius programmers.
<b>You are a li<span style="font-size:180%;">B</span>eral programmer.</b>
Programming is a complex task and you should use white space and comments as freely as possible to help simplify the task. We're not writing on paper anymore so we can take up as much room as we need.</blockquote>grtferchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11672868605006613961noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7936907230382037187.post-91788622690661724282007-03-06T07:30:00.000-08:002007-03-06T07:47:04.979-08:00Linux is costing me $25.35 for nowI know it's been quite a long time since I don't write anything. Between preparing for my kids birthday party, cancelling due to snow and then resetting the house for a second birthday party we haven't had much time to sit in front of the computer.
That and the fact that I didn't have a monitor for the Linux PC because I returned the monitor to my parents to build the <a href="http://grtfercho.blogspot.com/2007/02/second-edubuntu-system-is-go.html">second Edubuntu box</a>.
Well I finally got a monitor from <a href="http://www.craigslist.com/">Craigslist.com</a> for $25 bucks. So far the whole computer has cost me, well $25 bucks.
I got the PC from work when they were getting rid of a few PIII, the keyboard and mouse I got from my own scrap box, where I keep everything computer related, from tiny screws to Hard drives, CDROMS and even a DVD Writer.
The initial network connection was, again, borrowed from my parents ;) . It was a <a href="http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c=L_Product_C2&childpagename=US%2FLayout&cid=1115416828445&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper">Linksys External USB wireless adapter</a>, now that I have returned all that I ran a cable from the main router in the house to the Linux box ( about 15 feet away).
The best part of all, the software cost me about 35 cents. I'm just taking into consideration the cost of the CD where I burned the Edubuntu Image.
Not bad, really not bad for a system that is great to play and work with.
I have decided to reinstall Edubuntu from scratch on the same box, this time I'll pay more attention to all steps and probably write about the whole thing. The first time was a great exploring experience, but this time I'd really like to know what goes on as part of the installation.
With some luck I'll be doing the third installation tonight.grtferchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11672868605006613961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7936907230382037187.post-2046984069455069462007-02-19T19:56:00.000-08:002007-02-21T11:28:17.927-08:00Second Edubuntu System is a go.I went to my parents' over the weekend. I wanted to install Edubuntu in their home PC an old Pentium III, 128MB and 500Mhz.
I figured that instead of throwing that one out I would just try to install Edubuntu in it, after all every time my kids go there they want to play with the computer as well.
My parents are not computer people by far. If anything they just check the news or the weather on the Internet.
I haven't figure out how to take snapshots of the whole installation process yet but I will post them here as soon as I can find out how to do it.
Installation was as the first time pretty easy, just select a few options and hit Enter. I hit a road block when trying to go through the step "Build LTSP chroot". The status bar just froze at 50% and nothing happened for a few minutes. Then I got a Screen showing all the steps of the installation and still showing the error message.
I decided to try again so I turned off the computer and started the whole thing one more time.
Same deal, when getting to the "Build LTSP chroot" step the whole process stopped at 50%. I started researching on the Internet what the LTSP was and how important was to have it on a stand alone PC not connected to a Linux server.
Turns out LTSP stands for "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_Terminal_Server_Project">Linux Terminal Server Project</a>". Basically is an add-on package to the core Linux system that allows for a thin-client connection.
From what I understand this is a way to run a network where the client has the bare minimum equipment and the heavy processing is done at the server. The Wikipedia article has a good explanation on this without going too technical.
This website <a href="http://flakey.info/hesfes05/">" <acronym title="Linux Terminal Server Project">LTSP</acronym>, down by the sea: a 20-terminal Linux <em>cybertent</em> for education"</a> provides a great example of the technology. Basically they connected a bunch of old laptops ( first generation Pentiums running at 120mhz) to a server and from there they have a running lab with access to the internet for everybody.
In any case, having found what the technology was I decided not to go through that step since the PC was not going to be connected to a server as a "dumb-terminal".I proceeded to select the next step on the list.
All applications got installed in little over 15 minutes and then Voila!! a new Edubuntu installation ready to play.
So, if you are installing a stand alone Edubuntu system and get an error on the "Build LTSP chroot" step, just select the next step on the list and everything will get installed as usual.
I figure that if I at some point need the LTSP package then I can probably install it later.
Good stuff.grtferchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11672868605006613961noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7936907230382037187.post-58920080424228767782007-02-15T07:28:00.000-08:002007-02-15T07:50:12.543-08:00Edubuntu is great !!I need to create a slideshow or a demo on how I did the installation, I've seen a couple examples on the web.
I figure they are using something like VMware inside a previously installed OS where <a href="http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp?CMP=KgoogleCStm">Camtasia </a>can be run and grab the screenshots. I cannot see how else they would be able to grab the screenshots from the installation process.
Something I like about this whole thing is that I'm learning new stuff and it's fun.
I listen to <a href="http://www.batanga.com/">Batanga</a> all the time, however under Linux there is no Windows Media Player. There are some other options out there but I need to learn a couple more things to make things actually work.
The thing is for now I cannot listen to music on the Edubuntu box but I see that as a challenge, I'll be posting information about some of the roadblocks I find with Linux.
Some of the things I take for granted under Window$ are not as easy to setup ( for the moment) in Linux.
I want to play poker also but the pokerroom.com website requires Java, guess what, for some reason that is not working either. I think that my first step in this whole trip is to actually start reading the documentation ;) .
<a href="https://help.ubuntu.com/6.10/pdf/ubuntu/C/desktopguide.pdf">https://help.ubuntu.com/6.10/pdf/ubuntu/C/desktopguide.pdf </a>
main site: <a href="https://help.ubuntu.com/">https://help.ubuntu.com/ </a>grtferchohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11672868605006613961noreply@blogger.com0