AuTomate tHe bOX

AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate - AWS Introduction - Questions

noreply@blogger.com (Lalit Narnaulia) — Sat, 15 Apr 2017 09:10:00 +0000

All the Best !!!

AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate - Sample Questions

noreply@blogger.com (Lalit Narnaulia) — Fri, 14 Apr 2017 13:17:00 +0000

All the Best !!!

Java Telnet example : testing remote service state

noreply@blogger.com (Lalit Narnaulia) — Thu, 29 Dec 2016 08:42:00 +0000

In most of the cases in daily job, you must have get into some situation where you needed to telnet to a machine. Although telnet is not a secure way to access remote machine, but still it can be useful if all we want to know if the particular service port on particular machine is running or not(for example you want to check say on local ip address 192.168.110 on port 3389 the RDP service is running or not and there may be other cases)

Below, we will be showing up sample code in java which you can use the automate the process. This can also be used anywhere like if you are writing a service to report health of the multiple services, just a case.

import org.apache.commons.net.telnet.TelnetClient;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.net.ConnectException;

public class JavaTelnetExample {

    private static final String RDP_SERVER = "10.66.6.62.1";
    private static final int RDP_SERVER_PORT = 3389;
    private static final String HTTP_SERVER = "10.66.62.2";
    private static final int HTTP_SERVER_PORT = 80;
    // Similar to above you can test state for number of other services on number of other machines
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.println("Rdp service status on server ip : " + RDP_SERVER + " , port : " + RDP_SERVER_PORT + " = " + isServiceRunning(RDP_SERVER, RDP_SERVER_PORT));
        System.out.println("Ssh service status on server ip : " + HTTP_SERVER + " , port : " + HTTP_SERVER_PORT + " = " + isServiceRunning(HTTP_SERVER, HTTP_SERVER_PORT));

    }

    // If able to connect successfully, return true for service state else return false.        
    private static boolean isServiceRunning(String ip, int port) {
        try {
            TelnetClient telnetClient = new TelnetClient();
            telnetClient.connect(ip, port);
            return true;
        } catch (ConnectException e) {
            return false;
        } catch (IOException e) {
            return false;
        }
    }
}

Note:
To run this code, you can download the dependencies 'Apache Commons Net' from the https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/commons-net/commons-net depending upon build tool you are using maven/gradle or jar file

Feel free to leave comment if you get any issue or any suggestion.

2 Steps to restrict Jenkins access by IP address or Host Name

noreply@blogger.com (Lalit Narnaulia) — Sat, 18 Jun 2016 19:37:00 +0000

Steps to fresh jenkins installtion on on Apache Tomcat Server : http://www.automatethebox.com/2016/06/installing-jenkins-on-apache-tomcat.html

If Jenkins is installed on Tomcat Server

Add any of the below entry in the conf\context.xml file :

<Valve className="org.apache.catalina.valves.RemoteAddrValve" allow="127.0.0.1"/>
<Valve className="org.apache.catalina.valves.RemoteAddrValve" deny="127.0.0.1"/>
<Valve className="org.apache.catalina.valves.RemoteHostValve" allow="yahoo.com"/>
<Valve className="org.apache.catalina.valves.RemoteAddrValve" allow="127\.\d+\.\d+\.\d+|::1|0:0:0:0:0:0:0:1|202.43.25.244"/>

Restart the Tomcat Server

Now, when you try to access Jenkins url, you should get 403 error

If Jenkins is installed on Apache Server

Add all of the below entries in the conf\.htaccess file to allow access from ip '45.67.87.67' and '10.66.62.0/24' LAN only

Order Deny,Allow
Deny from all
Allow from 45.67.87.67
Allow from 10.66.62.0/24

Restart the Apache Server

Now, when you try to access Jenkins url, you should get 403 error

Installing Jenkins on Apache Tomcat Server

noreply@blogger.com (Lalit Narnaulia) — Sat, 18 Jun 2016 19:07:00 +0000

First of all if you have not installed the Apache Tomcat Server, We will be going to install it on Windows following the below steps :

Download the Apache Server from Url : http://www.apache.org/dyn/closer.cgi

Extract the Tomcat zip folder
Navigate to to 'conf' directory, path may be somewhat like '..\apache-tomcat-9.0.0.M8\conf' from where you have extracted the zip.
Open the Server.xml file and edit the PORT where you want the Tomcat to listen for the requests

Now start Command Prompt and go to '..\apache-tomcat-9.0.0.M8\bin' and call 'startup.bat'
Now start a browser and navigate to url '<your_system_ip:port_specified_in_step4>'. Example : 127.0.0.1:8080

You should see Tomcat Successfully installed page. Congratulation!

Now, we will be moving to next part of configuring Jenkins behind the Tomcat Server :

Download Jenkins.war file from https://jenkins.io/
Once downloaded, unzip and move the jenkins.war to directory '.\apache-tomcat-9.0.0.M8\webapps'
Restart the Tomcat. CTRL+C or call the .\apache-tomcat-9.0.0.M8\bin\shutdown.bat' and then start again.

Now when you navigate to 127.0.0.1/jenkins, you should see jenkins successfully installed.

Feel free to leave comments !!!

Connecting to MySql from java with Maven

noreply@blogger.com (Lalit Narnaulia) — Sun, 20 Mar 2016 15:25:00 +0000

In this example we will be creating a simple maven java project to connect to the local mysql instance, without actually installing any jdbc connector and setting it to classpath (maven will take care of this :))

1. Add MySQL connector maven dependency in the pom.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
         xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
         xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>

    <groupId>com.automatethebox</groupId>
    <artifactId>mysql-connect-maven</artifactId>
    <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>

    <dependencies>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>mysql</groupId>
            <artifactId>mysql-connector-java</artifactId>
            <version>5.1.38</version>
        </dependency>
    </dependencies>
</project>

2. Sample java source file: Connecting to local mysql instance and listing tables;

package com.automatethebox.mysql_connect_maven;

import java.sql.Connection;
import java.sql.DriverManager;
import java.sql.ResultSet;
import java.sql.SQLException;
import java.sql.Statement;

public class MySqlConnectionWithMaven {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        // Databases url (here 'information_schema' is database name)
        String databaseUrl = "jdbc:mysql://localhost/information_schema";
        String jdbcConnectorClass = "com.mysql.jdbc.Driver";
        String mysqlUser = "root";
        String myUserPass = "Admin@123";
        String query = "Select distinct(table_name) from INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES";

        try {
            Class.forName(jdbcConnectorClass);
            Connection connection = DriverManager.getConnection(databaseUrl, mysqlUser, myUserPass);
            Statement statement = connection.createStatement();
            ResultSet resultSet = statement.executeQuery(query);
            while (resultSet.next()) {
                String tableName = resultSet.getString(1);
                System.out.println("Table : " + tableName);
            }
            connection.close();
        } catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        } catch (SQLException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}

Disable Java JVM Default DNS Caching

noreply@blogger.com (Lalit Narnaulia) — Thu, 03 Mar 2016 18:31:00 +0000

You can disable the Java Virtual machine default DNS caching following any of the below methods
( By Default java 1.6 caches all the DNS queries ):

Method 1(Changes while staring up JVM)

Add -Dsun.net.inetaddr.ttl=0 while starting up the JVM.

Method 2(Changes in java config file)

Add/Edit the property networkaddress.cache.ttl=0 in %JRE%/lib/security/java.security file. Here JRE refers to Java Runtime Environment folder.

Method 3(Changes in your code)

Set the property in you java code as java.security.Security.setProperty("networkaddress.cache.ttl", "0" );

Solving Gradle DSL method not found : 'android()'

noreply@blogger.com (Lalit Narnaulia) — Sun, 20 Dec 2015 10:36:00 +0000

Getting "Gradle DSL method not found : 'android()" error, well then you are at right place to solve the things :)

Solution:

Open the project top level 'build.gradle' file
Remove the below configuration android() method


// Delete these lines from project top level 'build.gradle' file
android {
 compileSdkVersion 23
 buildToolsVersion '22.0.1'
}

Save the changes and re-compile

Configure Jenkins email notifications

noreply@blogger.com (Lalit Narnaulia) — Sun, 20 Dec 2015 08:37:00 +0000

In this tutorial we will discuss about setting up the email notification in your Jenkins environment from the start :

Part I: Configure the email notifications from Jenkins Management section.
Part II : Configure the email notification for the individual Jenkins job

Part I: Configure the email notifications from Jenkins Management section.

First you should be logged in to Jenkins interface as Administrators, so you should see 'Manage Jenkins' link on the left side options.
Click on the 'Manage Jenkins', to navigate to 'Manage Jenkins' page. 'Configure System' option should be available
Click on the 'Configure System' link, scroll down on 'Configure System' page, you should see the 'Email notifications' section.
Set the following settings in the 'Email notification' section [We are taking yahoo domain for example]

SMTP Server : smtp.mail.yahoo.com
Check 'Use SMTP Authentication'
Username : <email address to send emails> Example : test@yahoo.com
Password : <used email address password>
Check 'Use SSL'
SMTP Port : 465
Reply-To-Address : <email address to reply emails, can be same email or different>
Charset : UTF-8

Scroll up on the page and now set following settings in 'Locations' section

System admin e-mail address : <email address to send emails> Example : test@yahoo.com

Now to test your email configurations, Scroll down to 'Email Notification' section.

Check 'Test Configuration by sending test e-mail'
Test e-mail recipient : <recipient email address to test configuration> Example: youremail@yahoo.com
Click on "Test Configuration" button.

You should see message 'Email was successfully sent'. It yes, congrats you have successfully configured Jenkins email notifications :)
'Apply' and 'Save' the changes.

Part II : Configure the email notification for the individual Jenkins job

Navigate to configuration page of Jenkins job, for which you wants to send a email notification. For example we have a job 'test-email-notification'
Under 'Post Build Actions', click on 'Add post build action' and select 'Email Notification' option.
Now, when the 'Email notification' section visible. Provide the recipients email addresses and select other check box options per your requirement
Click on Apply and Save the changes.

Feel free to leave your comments in case of any issues in above steps... :)

Some helpful commands to build multi-module maven project tests

noreply@blogger.com (Lalit Narnaulia) — Sat, 12 Dec 2015 13:39:00 +0000

Build and execute tests from all the sub modules

mvn clean install

Build and execute tests from a specific sub module

mvn clean install -pl <module-name> -am

Build and execute a specific test from a specific sub module

mvn -DfailIfNoTests=false -Dtest=<test-class-name> clean install -pl <module-name> -am

mvn -DfailIfNoTests=false -Dtest=<test-class-name#test-method-name> clean install -pl <module-name> -am

An error occurred while resigning the app 'selendroid-test-app-0.15.0.apk'

noreply@blogger.com (Lalit Narnaulia) — Fri, 03 Apr 2015 19:15:00 +0000

An error occurred while resigning the app 'selendroid-test-app-0.15.0.apk'

If you got the same error message while trying to start the Selendoid server with your apk file, try the below to fix it :

Solution :

Check JAVA_HOME is set properly

Set System variable with name "JAVA_HOME" with value set to Java jdk like "C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.8.0_40\"

Check ANDROID_HOME is set properly

Set System variable with name "ANDROID_HOME" with value set to Android Sdk like "C:\Users\lalit\AppData\Local\Android\sdk\"

Still after setting the above variables correctly, if you see any error try to sign your app manually using below command

C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.8.0_40\bin> jarsigner.exe -sigalg MD5withRSA -digestalg SHA1 -signedjar < apk file path > -storepass android -keystore <keystore location> < apk file path > androiddebugkey

Example:

C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.8.0_40\bin > jarsigner.exe -sigalg MD5withRSA -digestalg SHA1 -signedjar C:\Users\lalit\Downloads\selendroid-test-app-0.15.0.apk -storepass android -keystore C:\Users\lalit\.android\debug.keystore C:\Users\lalit\Downloads\selendroid-test-app-0.15.0.apk androiddebugkey

If it fails and throws error like jarsigner: unable to open jar file

Solution :

Try to rename your *.apk file to *.zip
Open the zip file and verify its opened successfully, and if it does not then its currupt apk file :( and need to be changed :)

Automatic logon in windows XP/7/8/Windows Server

noreply@blogger.com (Lalit Narnaulia) — Fri, 20 Mar 2015 10:59:00 +0000

Open the Windows Registery editor from run.exe [ type regedit and ENTER ]
Navigate to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\winlogon"
Set or create the following keys (DWORD, String, String)

AutoAdminLogon = "1"
DefaultUserName = Your user name
DefaultPassword = Your password

Restart and now machine will be automatically logged in :)

The host supports Intel VT-x, but Intel VT-x is disabled

noreply@blogger.com (Lalit Narnaulia) — Thu, 22 Jan 2015 15:45:00 +0000

"The host supports Intel VT-x, but Intel VT-x is disabled" is thrown - on trying to start a virtual machine e.g using VMware Player; when the Virtual Technology(VT) is disabled from system BIOS Settings.

The host supports Intel VT-x, but Intel VT-x is disabled

Steps to fix this and run virtual machines successfully :-

Close all the application and restart the System.
Press F10 on system startup, to go to Bios Settings
Enable the Virtual Settings from Bios Settings > System Configuration
Save the Changes and Start the System.

Video link :

Now try to start your virtual machine :) it should start without any error now :)

Install and run Sqlmap on Windows

noreply@blogger.com (Lalit Narnaulia) — Sun, 18 Jan 2015 19:17:00 +0000

Sqlmap is the most popular tool for finding and exploiting the sql vulnerability on the web. It is written in python for cross platform, today i will show the simple steps to install it on the Windows environment ( i am doing it on windows 8.1 :D )

Download and install the Python interpreter from https://www.python.org/downloads/ on your System. Python 2.7.9 version should be fine.
Now download the Sqlmap zip file from http://sqlmap.org/

Unzip the sqlmap zip folder
Open the command prompt > navigate to sqlmap unzipped folder
Launch command "sqlmap.py"

Install Sqlmap on windows

Sqlmap is installed successfully and ready to roll and hack someone database :D ;)

Android Json tutorial : Saving custom class object as JSONObject and JSONArray on Parse

noreply@blogger.com (Lalit Narnaulia) — Sun, 11 Jan 2015 18:19:00 +0000

Android JSONObject and JSONArray allows you to save your custom class values on the Parse.com as a json string.
Suppose you would like to save your custom class values in a single Parse.com class column, you can just convert your class parameter values in JSONObject and then can save in a column on Parse.com.

Saving JSONObject on Parse

// Create a Parse object for the table under which you like to add your json object in a column.
ParseObject parseObject = new ParseObject("MainTable");

// Add your JSONObject
parseObject.put("myCustomClass",new JSONObject().put("key","value"));
// Tip : Here you can add all of your custom class variable as key value pair in JSONObject

// Save the Parse object
parseObject.saveInBackground();

Saving JSONArray on Parse [ If you like to save an array of custom class instances]

// Create a Parse object for the table under which you like to add your json object in a column.
ParseObject parseObject = new ParseObject("MainTable");

// Add your JSONArray
JSONArray jsonArray = new JSONArray("myCustomClassArray");
jsonArray.put(new JSONObject().put("key1","value1"));
jsonArray.put(new JSONObject().put("key2","value2"));
// Tip : Here you can add all of your custom class variable as key value pair in JSONObject

// Save the Parse object
parseObject.saveInBackground();

The working copy at XXX is too old (format XXX) to work with client version XXX (rXXX)’ (expects format XX). You need to upgrade the working copy first.

noreply@blogger.com (Lalit Narnaulia) — Mon, 05 Jan 2015 18:14:00 +0000

The working copy at XXX is too old (format XXX) to work with client version XXX (rXXX)’ (expects format XX). You need to upgrade the working copy first.

You are at right place for the solution, if you faced the error message like above while using svn client.

Reasons why this error occurs:

You have installed a newer version of svn client on your machine, and trying to add/commit some new files to svn server from you current working copy.

Easy fix 1:

Go to your svn checked project > right click > select 'upgrade the Working copy'

This will upgrade the working copy and now you should be able to add/commit file easily.

Easy Fix 2:

Still after applying the fix above, issue is not fixed :(. You can try below then:

Right click on the folder causing the issue.
If on right click it does not have any svn 'upgrade the working copy'
Then go under the folder delete the ".svn" folder completely
Add/commit the remaining files to svn :) it will no give any error :)

Thank you for reading :)

Mcafee - Internet Security antivirus extend trial period free trick

noreply@blogger.com (Lalit Narnaulia) — Sun, 04 Jan 2015 14:24:00 +0000

Like one of my previous blog post on extending a software trial period, here comes the same trick to get the McAfee - Internet Security antivirus free extended subscription just by changing system date and time.

McAfee trial period expired

Simple 2 step to extend the trial period and get free subscription :)

As you can see expired trial period screenshot on dated 04-01-2014. Change the System date to previous date say '01-01-2014' in our case.

Change system date to previous months or years

Close the McAfee and start again. and Bingooooo !!!! free subscription activated

McAfee free subscription activated.

Another year of free McAfee internet security subscription

Hands on hacking - Windows 8.1 Elevation of Privilege vulnerability

noreply@blogger.com (Lalit Narnaulia) — Sat, 03 Jan 2015 16:54:00 +0000

Windows-Elevation of Privilege vulnerability in ahcache.sys/NtApphelpCacheControl, reported by the Google project Zero team is now all over in news. So, i thought to try it on my Windows 8.1 and let's see if the provided exploit works or not, and how to verify it ;)

Below are the steps taken directly from the report, and we will be going to execute it one by one and see how it works

1) Put the AppCompatCache.exe and Testdll.dll on disk
2) Ensure that UAC is enabled, the current user is a split-token admin and the UAC setting is the default (no prompt for specific executables). 
3) Execute AppCompatCache from the command prompt with the command line "AppCompatCache.exe c:\windows\system32\ComputerDefaults.exe testdll.dll". 
4) If successful then the calculator should appear running as an administrator. If it doesn't work first time (and you get the ComputerDefaults program) re-run the exploit from 3, there seems to be a caching/timing issue sometimes on first run.

Let's Start the test

Download the exploit files from this link
As per the step #2 from report, make sure your currently logged in user is

split-user token and UAC setting is set to default [ (i)-You should be an administrator, (ii)- Right click on calc.exe and select run as Administrator - an UAC pop up should be displayed ]

Now navigate to downloaded folder poc\bin on command line and execute the below command:

AppCompatCache.exe c:\windows\system32\ComputerDefaults.exe testdll.dll

Now you should see calc.exe (calculator) running in elevated administrator mode and that's also without any asking for any UAC pop up confirmation from logged in user :\

Bypassing UAC using the exploit code (elevation of privilage)

You may wonder how to check if this is actually worked and calc.exe application is started in elevated mode, so here is how you can check :)

Open the Task Manager > Navigate to Details tab > Right click on columns > click on 'Select Columns' > tick the 'Elevated' column and click on OK

Adding elevated column in Task Manager process details tab
once the 'elevated' column is added, you can see our calc.exe application is started as Administrator.

checking a process Elevated status

Thank you :)

PS : If you like to go in the bug report detail you can check it here https://code.google.com/p/google-security-research/issues/detail?id=118

Running Selenium Webdriver tests on Internet Explorer browser

noreply@blogger.com (Lalit Narnaulia) — Sat, 03 Jan 2015 11:56:00 +0000

So finally added support to execute tests on Internet Explorer browser also in my github project https://github.com/lalit-k/selenium-java-tests.

3 Simple steps to add Internet Explorer support in Selenium Webdriver project:

Download the IEDriverServer.exe , you can download the latest version from http://selenium-release.storage.googleapis.com/index.html for your target operating system.[download url may change, you can google latest if it changes]
Extract the IEDriverServer.exe from the downloaded zip, and place in your project resources folder.

IEDriverServer.exe
Now, go to the Driver script where you are initializing the IEDriverServer and add the below code line to initialize the IEDriverServer.


System.setProperty("webdriver.ie.driver", <full system path of the IEDriverServer.exe. Example: c:\tests\resources\IEDriverServer.exe>);
WebDriver driver = new InternetExplorerDriver();

Tip : you can use the "System.getProperty("user.dir");" to get the current working directory and then append the path to IEDriverServer.exe

System.getProperty("user.dir")

You can also view the complete code changes for your reference at https://github.com/lalit-k/selenium-java-tests/commit/d1dc4cd3f878d64a4119fc0d6297df026a07cf5a

Running Selenium Webdriver tests on Google Chrome browser

noreply@blogger.com (Lalit Narnaulia) — Sat, 03 Jan 2015 08:28:00 +0000

Few months back i had added the support to execute tests on Google Chrome browser in my github project https://github.com/lalit-k/selenium-java-tests , so i thought to write it down how you can do the same if needed in your project.

3 Simple steps to add Google Chrome support in Selenium Webdriver project:

Download the ChromeDriver.exe , you can download the latest version from http://chromedriver.storage.googleapis.com/index.html for your target operating system.[download url may change, you can google latest if it changes]
Extract the chromedriver.exe from the downloaded zip, and place in your project resources folder.

Add Chromedriver.exe
Now, go to the Driver file where you are initializing the ChromeDriver and add the below code line to initialize the ChromeDriver.


System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", <full system path of the chromedriver.exe. Example: c:\tests\resources\chromedriver.exe>);
WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();

Tip : you can use the "System.getProperty("user.dir");" to get the current working directory and then append the path to chromedriver.exe

System.getProperty("user.dir")

You can also view the complete code changes for your reference at https://github.com/lalit-k/selenium-java-tests/commit/01cda755f72918a417b7b0cded1b2db4c387eb70

Add Facebook popup Like box on your blog

noreply@blogger.com (Lalit Narnaulia) — Fri, 02 Jan 2015 20:37:00 +0000

When you come first time on this blog you must have seen a Facebook Like pop up box. Well that is just a few lines of JavaScript code embedded in the blog template.

So, i thought it to share with you guys if you like to add on your blogs also :)

Facebook popup Like box

1. Open the your blog Layout Editor > Add a Widget > Select HTML/JavaScript widget.

Configure Html/JavaScript widget

2. Copy and paste the below code in the content section as shown in above image. [ Just change the page id to your own Facebook page/profile]


 <script src='http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.7.2/jquery.min.js' type='text/javascript'></script>

<style>

#fbox-background {

    display: none;

    background: rgba(0,0,0,0.8);

    width: 100%;

    height: 100%;

    position: fixed;

    top: 0;

    left: 0;

    z-index: 99999;

}



#fbox-close {

    width: 100%;

    height: 100%;

}



#fbox-display {

    background: #eaeaea;

    border: 5px solid #828282;

    width: 340px;

    height: 230px;

    position: absolute;

    top: 32%;

    left: 37%;

    -webkit-border-radius: 5px;

    -moz-border-radius: 5px;

    border-radius: 5px;

}



#fbox-button {

    float: right;

    cursor: pointer;

    position: absolute;

    right: 0px;

    top: 0px;

}



#fbox-button:before {

    content: "CLOSE";

    padding: 5px 8px;

    background: #828282;

    color: #eaeaea;

    font-weight: bold;

    font-size: 10px;

    font-family: Tahoma;

}



#fbox-link,#fbox-link a.visited,#fbox-link a,#fbox-link a:hover {

    color: #aaaaaa;

    font-size: 9px;

    text-decoration: none;

    text-align: center;

    padding: 5px;

}

</style>

<script type='text/javascript'>

//<![CDATA[

jQuery.cookie = function (key, value, options) {

// key and at least value given, set cookie...

if (arguments.length > 1 && String(value) !== "[object Object]") {

options = jQuery.extend({}, options);

if (value === null || value === undefined) {

options.expires = -1;

}

if (typeof options.expires === 'number') {

var days = options.expires, t = options.expires = new Date();

t.setDate(t.getDate() + days);

}

value = String(value);

return (document.cookie = [

encodeURIComponent(key), '=',

options.raw ? value : encodeURIComponent(value),

options.expires ? '; expires=' + options.expires.toUTCString() : '', // use expires attribute, max-age is not supported by IE

options.path ? '; path=' + options.path : '',

options.domain ? '; domain=' + options.domain : '',

options.secure ? '; secure' : ''

].join(''));

}

// key and possibly options given, get cookie...

options = value || {};

var result, decode = options.raw ? function (s) { return s; } : decodeURIComponent;

return (result = new RegExp('(?:^|; )' + encodeURIComponent(key) + '=([^;]*)').exec(document.cookie)) ? decode(result[1]) : null;

};

//]]>

</script>

<script type='text/javascript'>

jQuery(document).ready(function($){

if($.cookie('popup_facebook_box') != 'yes'){

$('#fbox-background').delay(5000).fadeIn('medium');

$('#fbox-button, #fbox-close').click(function(){

$('#fbox-background').stop().fadeOut('medium');

});

}

$.cookie('popup_facebook_box', 'yes', { path: '/', expires: 7 });

});

</script>

<div id='fbox-background'>

<div id='fbox-close'>

</div>

<div id='fbox-display'>

<div id='fbox-button'>

</div>

<iframe allowtransparency='true' frameborder='0' scrolling='no' src='//www.facebook.com/plugins/likebox.php?

href=https://www.facebook.com/automatethebox&width=402&height=255&colorscheme=light&show_faces=true&show_border=false&stream=false&header=false'

style='border: none; overflow: hidden; background: #fff; width: 339px; height: 200px;'></iframe>

<div id="fbox-link">Powered by <a style="padding-left: 0px;" href="http://automatethebox.blogspot.com" rel="nofollow">AutomateTheBox</a></div>
</div>
</div>

3. Save the Changes, and all Done :) ready to roll

ParseUser.logout() doesn't logs user out

noreply@blogger.com (Lalit Narnaulia) — Thu, 01 Jan 2015 20:07:00 +0000

Recently working on a android app integrated with Parse and Facebook, i observed the issue that just calling the ParseUser.logout() does not clear the authenticated user token and logs in the user again on clicking on 'Log in as Facebook' even if user have logged out from the Facebook app also.

goggled the solution, but found this is as Design :(

So, still if you like to invalidate the facebook authentication token on ParseUser.logout(), you can do by adding a few lines of code shown below.

#################Code Snippet#####################

// Logout already logged in user from your android app.

ParseUser.logout();

// Check if user is logged in Facebook android app or not. If not clear the token information explicitly.

com.facebook.Session facebookSession= com.facebook.Session.getActiveSession();
if (facebookSession== null) {
facebookSession= new com.facebook.Session(this);
com.facebook.Session.setActiveSession(facebookSession);
}
facebookSession.closeAndClearTokenInformation();

#################Code Snippet#####################

Now, when you click on 'Log in with Facebook', user will be taken to login screen and there you can then log in to your app as different user :)

Facebook Android Sdk : Serialize GraphUser object

noreply@blogger.com (Lalit Narnaulia) — Mon, 29 Dec 2014 16:31:00 +0000

If you check at the Facebook sdk GraphUser object documentation , it does not implements the java.io.Serializable as a result of which you can pass the GraphUser object through activities.

Though if you like to pass GraphUser to other activities, you can do it by saving GraphUser json string in a String instance and then pass it,

// Save GraphUser json information in String instance and pass to another activity using intent
List<GraphUser> selectedUsers = friendPickerFragment.getSelection();
List<GraphUser> selectedUsersJson = new ArrayList<String>();

for (GraphUser graphUser : selectedUsers) {

selectedUsersJson.add(graphUser.getInnerJSONObject().toString());

}

// Re-initialize the GraphUser from the saved graph user json from the intent

List<GraphUser> selectedUsers = new ArrayList<GraphUser>();

for (String graphUserJson : selectedUsersJson) {

selectedUsers .add(GraphObject.Factory.create(new JSONObject(graphUserJson),GraphUser.class));

}

Happy Serializing :)

Download Android SDK offline

noreply@blogger.com (Lalit Narnaulia) — Sat, 06 Dec 2014 06:34:00 +0000

Many of you interested in Android development or automation, must have downloaded Android SDK installer and have noticed once you install the SDK on your machine, you still need to download some more file using the Android SDK Manager like :

Android SDK Tools
Android Platform Tools
Android API's

In some case you may not have the fast internet connection/bandwidth to download this much stuff.( Same with me :D ). So, here is the solution i am sharing with you guys how you can download with stuff from an high internet connection machine and then cut and paste to your development machine :)

Navigate to the link https://dl-ssl.google.com/android/repository/repository-10.xml in browser. [ Note this is the last updated link at the time of writing this post.In future you will need to check the latest page by +1 increment to digit shown in url. Example next updated version should have 'respository-10.xml' in end ]
Search for the sdk-tools/platform-tools/other stuff in the page like:

For example to download the android sdk api 21,search for "android-21". You will see entry in xml like "android-21_r01.zip"
Copy the entry and append to url 'http://dl-ssl.google.com/android/repository/'
Your download url will be like http://dl-ssl.google.com/android/repository/android-21_r01.zip

[ Similarly you can download the other stuff zip files as mentioned in above steps ]

Once you have downloaded, you just copy the zip file to your development machine.Extract the files and place under <android-sdk-path>/<respective-folder-for-tools/other-stuff>.

You can check the placed files are correct,by opening the ANDROID SDK MANAGER and check the Status of downloaded tools is shown as 'INSTALLED'

:) :)

sdk tools/platform tools/API's download links for your reference [ latest as of post writing ]

Android SDK : http://dl-ssl.google.com/android/repository/android-21_r01.zip
Platform Tools : http://dl-ssl.google.com/android/repository/platform-tools_r21-windows.zip
Build Tools : http://dl-ssl.google.com/android/repository/build-tools_r21.1.1-windows.zip
Samples : http://dl-ssl.google.com/android/repository/samples-21_r03.zip
Docs : http://dl-ssl.google.com/android/repository/docs-21_r01.zip
Sources : http://dl-ssl.google.com/android/repository/sources-21_r01.zip

Leave your question in case of any issues :)

Adding Windows PowerShell Cmdlets

noreply@blogger.com (Lalit Narnaulia) — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 16:22:00 +0000

You may all have seen some error like below when running a command on Windows PowerShell. This usually occurs when the command PowerShell snap-in is not added.

The term 'Get-SPWebApplication' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program.

Solution: How to add the required snap-in if not already added from the PowerShell script itself.


# Example to add SharePoint Cmdlets [ SharePoint should be installed on machine ]

if ( (Get-PSSnapin -Name Microsoft.Sharepoint.Powershell -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) -eq $null )

{

    Add-PsSnapin Microsoft.Sharepoint.Powershell

    Write-Output "`n Snap-in Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell added."

}

else

{

    Write-Output "`n Snap-in Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell already added."

}


# Example to add SQL Cmdlets [ SQL management tools should be installed on machine ]

if ( (Get-PSSnapin -Name SqlServerCmdletSnapin100 -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) -eq $null )

{

    Add-PsSnapin SqlServerCmdletSnapin100

    Write-Output "`n Snap-in SqlServerCmdletSnapin100 added."

}

else

{

    Write-Output "`n Snap-in SqlServerCmdletSnapin100 already added."

}

if ( (Get-PSSnapin -Name SqlServerProviderSnapin100 -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) -eq $null )

{

    Add-PsSnapin SqlServerProviderSnapin100

    Write-Output "`n Snap-in SqlServerProviderSnapin100."

}

else

{

    Write-Output "`n Snap-in SqlServerProviderSnapin100 already added."

}