Mumbo Jumbo

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2010-07-13T02:42:00.000+05:30

Check Internet Connectivity

2010-07-08T00:00:00.000+05:30

How to check is your PC/ Server is connected to the internet.... there are more than one ways to do that - using wininet.dll, calling for DNS resolution, pinging a internet server, calling a web page and checking for response status and as I wanted to be sure that client is able to reach my server so put them all together.

First bit is thanks to Rydal.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Runtime;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.Text;
using System.Security;

namepsace TestCode {
public sealed class NetworkHandler {
        /// 
        /// Private constructor to prevent compiler from generating one
        /// since this class only holds static methods and properties
        /// 

        NetworkHandler() { }
        /// 
        /// SafeNativeMethods Class that holds save native methods 
        /// while suppressing unmanaged code security
        /// 

        [SuppressUnmanagedCodeSecurityAttribute]
        internal static class SafeNativeMethods {
            // Extern Library
            // UnManaged code - be careful.
            [DllImport("wininet.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
            [return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
            private extern static bool InternetGetConnectedState(out int Description, int ReservedValue);
            /// 
            /// Determines if there is an active connection on this computer
            /// 

            /// 
            public static bool HasActiveConnection() {
                int desc;
                return InternetGetConnectedState(out desc, 0);
            }
        }
    }
}

and the function to check the connectivity

 
#region checkConnectivity
public bool CheckInternetConnection() {
	bool isInternetOn = false;
	isInternetOn = NetworkHandler.SafeNativeMethods.HasActiveConnection();
	if(isInternetOn) {
		try {
			IPHostEntry obj = Dns.GetHostEntry(strServer);
			isInternetOn = true;
		} catch {
			isInternetOn = false; // host not reachable. 
		}
	}
	if(isInternetOn) {
		try {
			HttpWebRequest reqFP = (HttpWebRequest) HttpWebRequest.Create(strServer);
			HttpWebResponse rspFP = (HttpWebResponse) reqFP.GetResponse();
			if(HttpStatusCode.OK == rspFP.StatusCode) {
				// HTTP = 200 - Internet connection available, server online
				rspFP.Close();
				isInternetOn = true;
			} else {
				// Other status - Server or connection not available
				rspFP.Close();
				isInternetOn = false; // host not reachable. 
			}
		} catch(WebException) {
			// Exception - connection not available
			isInternetOn = false; // host not reachable. 
		}
	}
	return isInternetOn;
}
#endregion

Multithreaded Singleton in C#

2010-07-02T00:35:00.000+05:30

Many a times you run into scenario where only one instance of a class should be created in your application. If you need to know more about Singleton pattern, this article "Singleton pattern" provides good reading. There are quite a few ways to implement this (singleton) but after doing some search on the net found this one to be best for my case.

public sealed class DBHelper {

	private static volatile DBHelper instance;
	private static object syncRoot = new Object();
	private DBHelper() { }

	public static DBHelper Instance {
		get {
			if (instance == null) {
				lock (syncRoot) {
					if (instance == null)
						instance = new DBHelper();
				}
			}
			return instance;
		}
	}

	//more code.....
}

For more information check out Implementing Singleton in C#

This implementation allows only a single thread to enter the critical area, which the lock block identifies, when no instance of Singleton has yet been created. This ensures that only one instance is created and only when the instance is needed. Also, the variable is declared to be volatile to ensure that assignment to the instance variable completes before the instance variable can be accessed. Lastly, this approach uses a syncRoot instance to lock on, rather than locking on the type itself, to avoid deadlocks. This double-check locking approach solves the thread concurrency problems while avoiding an exclusive lock in every call to the Instance property method. It also allows you to delay instantiation until the object is first accessed. In practice, an application rarely requires this type of implementation. In most cases, the static initialization approach is sufficient.

Get Unix Time/ POSIX Time in c#

2010-06-29T23:09:00.000+05:30

Recently needed to convert the time into Unix format in C#. Since the Unix time format is basically a count of the seconds passed since 1/1/1970 (Unix epoch), this can be easily done using the DateTime object.


int unixTime = (int) (DateTime.UtcNow - new DateTime(1970, 1, 1)).TotalSeconds;

If you are trying to convert some other DateTime value to POSIX time, make sure that it is first converted to UTC.

Error creating Virtual Port in 64bit Vista/ Windows 7 GPSGate

2010-06-29T23:00:00.000+05:30

If you getting error 1275 while creating virtual port for GPSGate in Vista/ Windows 7 64 bit, here is the fix from their forums..

If you use 64-bit Vista or Windows 7 please follow those steps.
(If you are unsure, simply install GpsGate normally first, if Virtual ports does not work - follow those steps)

1. Install GpsGate for Windows 2.6 build 340 (or later)
http://franson.com/gpsgate/download.asp

2. After installation copy the file
C:\Program Files (x86)\Franson\GpsGate 2.0\x64\bizVSerialNT.sys
to C:\Windows\System32\Drivers

3. Exit GpsGate (if running)

4. Run GpsGate as Administrator once. (Right click on the GpsGate icon in the Start Menu and select "Run as administrator")

Now the 64-bit driver is installed. You can exit GpsGate and run it as a normal user.

http://forum.gpsgate.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=8252.

Please note that this will work only for build 2.6.340 or higher only and that you will need to run GPSGate as administrator in step 4 while adding the port.

Casting int or string to Enum

2010-06-29T20:41:00.000+05:30

Quick note to myself :D

From a string:


MyEnum foo = (MyEnum) Enum.Parse(typeof(MyEnum), yourString);

From an int:


MyEnum foo = (MyEnum) yourInt;

Windows 7 - "New txt file" missing from right click menu

2010-06-28T21:34:00.000+05:30

Few days back realized that somehow I managed to loose the "New txt file" option in the context menu 8O . To fix this

1. Download the fix file given below. (Use Right-click – Save as option in your browser to download the file.)

2. Unzip the file and extract the .reg file to your desktop or My documents folder.

3. Right-click the REG file and choose Merge or just double click the file. You can also open the Registry Editor and then use the Import option from the File menu to merge the contents of the registry file. Please remember that you need to be an administrator to be able to modify your registry and also the statutory warning that playing with registry may render your OS useless so use at your own risk :D.

windows7-txtfile-fix

You cannot debug this SWF because it does not contain ActionScript

2010-06-19T00:48:00.000+05:30

Upgrading from Flash CS4 to CS5 ran into great wall of china again 8O .. really man.. I know web is full of posts from people running into this problem then why the hell can't Adobe just make the error message a little less misleading :roll: ... most common reason for this is the code behind is so big that the compiler is running out of memory while compiling the movie.

In case of CS4, the solution can be found here while for CS5, it is slightly different.

WIN:

1. Quit Flash
2. In a text editor, open the jvm.ini file from the following location:

2.1. Windows XP: System Hard Disk\Documents and Settings\<user>\Local Settings\Application Data\Adobe\Flash CS5\<language>\Configuration\ActionScript 3.0\jvm.ini
2.2. Windows Vista or Windows7: System Hard Disk\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Adobe\Flash CS5\<language>\Configuration\ActionScript 3.0\jvm.ini

(You might need to turn on "show hidden files")
3. Change -Xmx128m to -Xmx256m and save the file. This line specifies the amount of heap space the core ActionScript 3.0 compiler should allocate for compiling.
4. Relaunch Flash and compile
5. If that doesn't work, try changing the value to 512m

MAC:
1. Quit Flash
2. In a text editor, open the jvm.ini file from the following location:
/Users/<user>/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Flash CS5/<language>/Configuration/ActionScript 3.0/jvm.ini
3. Change -Xmx128m to -Xmx256m and save the file. This line specifies the amount of heap space the core ActionScript 3.0 compiler should allocate for compiling.
4. Relaunch Flash and compile
5. If that doesn't work, try changing the value to 512m

Of course, you may encounter this same error due to some other reason as well like not including a UI component in the library which us being used in the project.

Font Embedding in Flash CS5

2010-06-19T00:19:00.000+05:30

Flash CS5 introduces a new way of emebdding fonts and unfortunately it breaks the older way of embedding fonts :( . The older way of embedding fonts which can be found here , does not work anymore for Flash IDE projects though that will still work for pure AS3 projects. I was using this method only in my project but as soon as I upgraded to flash CS5, text disappeared in my compiled movie. Googling pointed me to these two:

Characters missing from text in Flash CS4 file when opened in Flash CS5

Flash CS5 font embedding – it’s totally different…

To summarize, add a font to your project/ FLA file, click on Text ==> Font Embedding, and add the font-family you are using in your project. Say you want to "Myriad Pro" to your project, add the family and style you wish you use in your project as shown in the image below.

[caption id="attachment_75" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Fig. 1"][/caption]

You will need to add all the styles you want to use in your project individually. If you plan to use the font in dynamically created objects, then you need to export it for AS3 as well. Click on the "ActionScript" tab and provide the class name for the selected style.

[caption id="attachment_76" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Fig. 2"][/caption]

My project is all in AS3, so I also needed to register the fonts and for that the syntax is same as before.

Font.registerFont(FONT_MYRIAD_PRO);
Font.registerFont(FONT_MYRIAD_PRO_I);
Font.registerFont(FONT_MYRIAD_PRO_SB);
Font.registerFont(FONT_MYRIAD_PRO_SB_I);
Font.registerFont(FONT_MYRIAD_PRO_B);
Font.registerFont(FONT_HELVETICA_NEUE);

Second change when compared to the earlier method is that while earlier one had to use the font name set in the code used to emb the font, now we use the standard name of the font.

If you are using TextFormat, it will be like :

mouseoverTF = new TextFormat();
mouseoverTF.align = TextFormatAlign.LEFT;
mouseoverTF.font = "Myriad Pro";
mouseoverTF.bold = true;
mouseoverTF.color = 0xFFFFFF;
mouseoverTF.size = 13;

and if you are using StyleSheet, then

var _defStyle:String = " .btext { font-family: Myriad Pro; font-size: 13;font-weight: bold; color: #333333; }";

Embedding font family in AS3

2010-02-10T02:18:00.000+05:30

While trying to embed font in AS3 ran into problem. I was trying to embed MyriadPro font into my AS3 application and got error "exception during transcoding: Font for alias 'MyriadPro' with plain weight and style was not found at: file" and like always Googling provided the solution.

This was what i was using

[Embed(source = "../../../assets/fonts/MyriadPro-Regular.otf", fontName = "_MyriadPro", mimeType = "application/x-font")]
public static var FONT_MYRIAD_PRO:Class;

[Embed(source = "../../../assets/fonts/MyriadPro-Bold.otf", fontName = "_MyriadPro", mimeType = "application/x-font")]
public static var FONT_MYRIAD_PRO_B:Class;

The correct method is add the weight and/ or style property.

[Embed(source = "../../../assets/fonts/MyriadPro-Regular.otf", fontName = "_MyriadPro",fontWeight="normal",  mimeType = "application/x-font")]
public static var FONT_MYRIAD_PRO:Class;

[Embed(source = "../../../assets/fonts/MyriadPro-Bold.otf", fontName = "_MyriadPro", fontWeight="bold", mimeType = "application/x-font")]
public static var FONT_MYRIAD_PRO_B:Class;

Same way if you want to embed italics version of the font, you will have to add "fontStyle='italics'" to the code.

How to make sure your emails dont land in SPAM folder

2010-01-19T21:21:00.000+05:30

One of the biggest problems with our clients is to ensure that the legitimate emails they send out to their users/ customers do not end up in the SPAM folder. To ensure that as a website administrator you need to follow the bext practices guidelines provided by Yahoo and Google.

http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=81126

http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/mail/postmaster/basics/basics-55.html;_ylt=Ahc6x60yB8n8JzvfVztu4QsIJHdG

First is the SPF record - to create SPF record for your domain you can use any of these tools:

http://wizard.easyspf.com/

http://old.openspf.org/wizard.html

http://www.mailradar.com/spf/

Second is to use DKIM. To create the DNS records for DKIM and/ or keys you can use following online wiards:

http://www.port25.com/support/support_dkwz.php

http://www.dnswatch.info/dkim/create-dns-record

Now hope that your domain registrar provides ability to add text records for the domain :)

Once you have added these records, you can check for them at

http://www.dnswatch.info/

http://dkimcore.org/c/keycheck

Of course you will need a mail server which supports DKIM. One such open source and free email server for windows which we use for almost all our clients is hMailServer. Has very active community and stable product with lot of advanced features.

URL file-access is disabled in the server configuration

2010-01-19T19:16:00.000+05:30

One of my PHP app used to send out SMS alerts using HTTP based SMS Gateway. Everything was working fine till last week when the SMS stopped coming. On running a stand alone PHP page using the same function to send SMS as the page in the application, got this error -

"Warning: fopen(): URL file-access is disabled in the server configuration"

Googling the error told me that allow_url_fopen is disable in the server configuration.. now though I agree that it is good to secure the server but doing it without informing your hosting customers is not a good practice.. anyways the workaround was found with due thanks to Luiz Miguel Axcar in the user comments sections on http://php.net/manual/en/function.fopen.php

To quote him:

If you are getting message "Warning: fopen(): URL file-access is disabled in the server configuration", you can use function below to get the content from a local or remote file.

Function uses CURL lib, follow the link to get help: http://www.php.net/curl
< ?php
/*
* @return string
* @param string $url
* @desc Return string content from a remote file
* @author Luiz Miguel Axcar (email removed)
*/

function get_content($url)
{
$ch = curl_init();

curl_setopt ($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $url);
curl_setopt ($ch, CURLOPT_HEADER, 0);

ob_start();

curl_exec ($ch);
curl_close ($ch);
$string = ob_get_contents();

ob_end_clean();

return $string;
}

#usage:
$content = get_content ("http://www.php.net");
var_dump ($content);
?>

PHP 5.3 and MySQL timeouts

2010-01-19T17:53:00.000+05:30

On my dev machine, WinXP SP3, I had PHP 5.2 configured with IIS 5.1 and MySQL 5. Recently upgraded to PHP 5.3 and whooops.. most of my applications stop working.. :? first the ISAPI was discontinued so I had to go the FastCGI way but for some reason I just could not make it work. The browser will just offer me to download/ save the file. As I was in a hurry I thought $#@*& IIS, lets try Apache. Installed and configured Apache with PHP and the phpinfo page works fine but pages with MySQL connection will still not load... after wasting sometime trying to figure out what was wrong, went to the doorstep of all knowing Google.. and found this

http://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=45150

Though in the post the user mentions that he faced this problem only in Vista not for XP but may be some recent update/ patch has introduced same feature/ bug in XP as well, as the moment I change the host value in connection strings from "localhost" to "127.0.0.1" the applications were working fine.

If your pages with MySQL connection are also timing out, check the host value and if they have localhost set as the value, "127.0.0.1" should be used instead of "localhost".

P.S. - am still lost why IIS wont work with PHP.. i even tried the IIS-Aid package and same results..

Mime Type

2010-01-01T23:10:00.000+05:30

Many a times I need to lookup the correct Mime type so for reference purpose, below is a list:

Mime Types By File Extension

Extension	Type/sub-type
	application/octet-stream
323	text/h323
acx	application/internet-property-stream
ai	application/postscript
aif	audio/x-aiff
aifc	audio/x-aiff
aiff	audio/x-aiff
air	application/vnd.adobe.air-application-installer-package+zip
asf	video/x-ms-asf
asr	video/x-ms-asf
asx	video/x-ms-asf
au	audio/basic
avi	video/x-msvideo
axs	application/olescript
bas	text/plain
bcpio	application/x-bcpio
bin	application/octet-stream
bmp	image/bmp
c	text/plain
cat	application/vnd.ms-pkiseccat
cdf	application/x-cdf
cer	application/x-x509-ca-cert
class	application/octet-stream
clp	application/x-msclip
cmx	image/x-cmx
cod	image/cis-cod
cpio	application/x-cpio
crd	application/x-mscardfile
crl	application/pkix-crl
crt	application/x-x509-ca-cert
csh	application/x-csh
css	text/css
dcr	application/x-director
der	application/x-x509-ca-cert
dir	application/x-director
dll	application/x-msdownload
dms	application/octet-stream
doc	application/msword
dot	application/msword
dvi	application/x-dvi
dxr	application/x-director
eps	application/postscript
etx	text/x-setext
evy	application/envoy
exe	application/octet-stream
fif	application/fractals
flr	x-world/x-vrml
flv	video/x-flv
gif	image/gif
gtar	application/x-gtar
gz	application/x-gzip
h	text/plain
hdf	application/x-hdf
hlp	application/winhlp
hqx	application/mac-binhex40
hta	application/hta
htc	text/x-component
htm	text/html
html	text/html
htt	text/webviewhtml
ico	image/x-icon
ief	image/ief
iii	application/x-iphone
ins	application/x-internet-signup
isp	application/x-internet-signup
jfif	image/pipeg
jpe	image/jpeg
jpeg	image/jpeg
jpg	image/jpeg
js	application/x-javascript
latex	application/x-latex
lha	application/octet-stream
lsf	video/x-la-asf
lsx	video/x-la-asf
lzh	application/octet-stream
m13	application/x-msmediaview
m14	application/x-msmediaview
m3u	audio/x-mpegurl
man	application/x-troff-man
mdb	application/x-msaccess
me	application/x-troff-me
mht	message/rfc822
mhtml	message/rfc822
mid	audio/mid
mny	application/x-msmoney
mov	video/quicktime
movie	video/x-sgi-movie
mp2	video/mpeg
mp3	audio/mpeg
mp3	audio/mpeg
mp4 (audio)	audio/mp4
mp4 (vidoe)	video/mp4
mpe	video/mpeg
mpeg	video/mpeg
mpg	video/mpeg
mpp	application/vnd.ms-project
mpv2	video/mpeg
ms	application/x-troff-ms
mvb	application/x-msmediaview
nws	message/rfc822
oda	application/oda
p10	application/pkcs10
p12	application/x-pkcs12
p7b	application/x-pkcs7-certificates
p7c	application/x-pkcs7-mime
p7m	application/x-pkcs7-mime
p7r	application/x-pkcs7-certreqresp
p7s	application/x-pkcs7-signature
pbm	image/x-portable-bitmap
pdf	application/pdf
pfx	application/x-pkcs12
pgm	image/x-portable-graymap
pko	application/ynd.ms-pkipko
pma	application/x-perfmon
pmc	application/x-perfmon
pml	application/x-perfmon
pmr	application/x-perfmon
pmw	application/x-perfmon
pnm	image/x-portable-anymap
pot,	application/vnd.ms-powerpoint
ppm	image/x-portable-pixmap
pps	application/vnd.ms-powerpoint
ppt	application/vnd.ms-powerpoint
prf	application/pics-rules
ps	application/postscript
pub	application/x-mspublisher
qt	video/quicktime
ra	audio/x-pn-realaudio
ram	audio/x-pn-realaudio
ras	image/x-cmu-raster
rgb	image/x-rgb
rmi	audio/mid
roff	application/x-troff
rtf	application/rtf
rtx	text/richtext
scd	application/x-msschedule
sct	text/scriptlet
setpay	application/set-payment-initiation
setreg	application/set-registration-initiation
sh	application/x-sh
shar	application/x-shar
sit	application/x-stuffit
snd	audio/basic
spc	application/x-pkcs7-certificates
spl	application/futuresplash
src	application/x-wais-source
sst	application/vnd.ms-pkicertstore
stl	application/vnd.ms-pkistl
stm	text/html
svg	image/svg+xml
sv4cpio	application/x-sv4cpio
sv4crc	application/x-sv4crc
swf	application/x-shockwave-flash
t	application/x-troff
tar	application/x-tar
tcl	application/x-tcl
tex	application/x-tex
texi	application/x-texinfo
texinfo	application/x-texinfo
tgz	application/x-compressed
tif	image/tiff
tiff	image/tiff
tr	application/x-troff
trm	application/x-msterminal
tsv	text/tab-separated-values
txt	text/plain
uls	text/iuls
ustar	application/x-ustar
vcf	text/x-vcard
vrml	x-world/x-vrml
wav	audio/x-wav
wcm	application/vnd.ms-works
wdb	application/vnd.ms-works
wks	application/vnd.ms-works
wmf	application/x-msmetafile
wps	application/vnd.ms-works
wri	application/x-mswrite
wrl	x-world/x-vrml
wrz	x-world/x-vrml
xaf	x-world/x-vrml
xbm	image/x-xbitmap
xla	application/vnd.ms-excel
xlc	application/vnd.ms-excel
xlm	application/vnd.ms-excel
xls	application/vnd.ms-excel
xlt	application/vnd.ms-excel
xlw	application/vnd.ms-excel
xof	x-world/x-vrml
xpm	image/x-xpixmap
xwd	image/x-xwindowdump
z	application/x-compress
zip	application/zip

5005: Unknown error optimizing byte code

2009-11-17T02:50:00.000+05:30

Recently while working with a large AIR project i ran into this problem. Every now and then all of a sudden, I will start getting this error while compiling the project :
"5005: Unknown error optimizing byte code"

Now as if MS was not enough with their cryptic messages everytime there was a problem with Windows, Adobe also came up with this gem of concept :x .

While googling it, came across this thread 5005: Unknown error optimizing byte code on Negush Blog and even though it did help to some extent but the fact that my project was AIR based and this workaround only worked while testing project. When I tried to publish the project, AIR will throw error about the environment variable set for this workaround.

I was also running into another issue which was that in the Edit=>Preferences=>ActionScript=> Action Script 3 settings tab, I was seeing multiple entries of the './src/" in the "Source Path" section. It seemed that everytime I opened the project, a new entry for this item was being added to that section. As I was in a hurry, instead of looking for the cause et all, I just decided to search for these entries in the registry and found them in the following section


[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adobe\Flash 10\ActionsInspector]

While looking at it I also saw a parameter "JVM Max Heap Size" and I wondered if it was same as what was being done by setting that extra environment variable "JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS" and changed this to "100" (hexa) or "256" (decimal). Removed that environment variable from the system and it has been more than 2 months now and I have not encountered the "5005: Unknown error optimizing byte code" error even once.

As it does involved tinkering with the registry file, please take a backup of the registry section before changing the values so that you can restore if required. Another good thing I found here was that here are stored all the path values for Source Folder, Library, external library, the panel for Adobe has designed as dumb as possible - you can resize it to be bigger, and if you have multiple entries there, scrolling is just pain.. :?.. and I personally found it easier to edit/ update these values in the registry than doing it using the preferences pane.

A typical backup will look like this..


Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adobe\Flash 10\ActionsInspector]
"Package Paths"=".;$(LocalData)/Classes"
"AS3 Package Paths"="./src/;$(AppConfig)/Component Source/ActionScript 3.0/User Interface;C:/MyInstalls/Adobe/FlexBuilder3/sdks/3.4.0/frameworks/projects/framework/src;C:/MyInstalls/Adobe/FlexBuilder3/sdks/3.4.0/frameworks/projects/rpc/src;C:/MyInstalls/Adobe/FlexBuilder3/sdks/3.4.0/frameworks/projects/utilities/src"
"AS3 Library Paths"="C:/MyInstalls/Adobe/FlexBuilder3/sdks/3.4.0/frameworks/libs/flex.swc;C:/MyInstalls/Adobe/FlexBuilder3/sdks/3.4.0/frameworks/libs/framework.swc;C:/MyInstalls/Adobe/FlexBuilder3/sdks/3.4.0/frameworks/libs/rpc.swc;C:/MyInstalls/Adobe/FlexBuilder3/sdks/3.4.0/frameworks/libs/utilities.swc"
"AS3 External Library Paths"="C:/MyInstalls/Adobe/AIR1.5SDK/frameworks/libs/air/servicemonitor.swc"
"Flex SDK Path"="C:/MyInstalls/Adobe/FlexBuilder3/sdks/3.4.0"
"Classpath State"=dword:00000001
"JVM Max Heap Size"=dword:00000100

In case any of you has found a better solution the Error 5005 or the multiple entries for the src folder.. please do let me know...

Develop in JDK1.5, deploy on 1.4 :-)

2009-03-20T19:22:00.000+05:30

You must be wondering why the hell would I want to do that and why not just develop in 1.4? Well, for one, may be you want to use the new features of JDK1.5 but some of the customer for some reason still stuck with JDK1.4 or like in my case, due to some stupidity on our client's part that he bought license to an older version of the application server (yes, it was Websphere) which does not support 1.5 and rest of the stupidity on our part that we just assumed that the application server will be supporting 1.5.

We kept on developing the application and giving demos to the client on our server and when it came to deployment only then we realized that we are in one big soup. And as always Google to the rescue, which helped me find an open source solution Retroweaver which operates by transforming Java class files compiled by a 1.5 compiler into version 1.4 class files which can then be run on any 1.4 virtual machine.

For more details follow the link. Hope this helps

Problem Installing Windows CE 6 Platform Builder SP1

2009-01-28T14:01:00.000+05:30

While installing Windows CE 6 Platform Builder, I ran into a problem. When I tried to install the SP1, it gave an error saying that I need to have CS 2005, VS 2005 SP1 and Windows CE6 installed. This seemed kind of funny as I had already all three installed. Googling led me to a thread where someone mentioned that installing Windows CE 6, breaks something in the VS 2005 SP1 and reinstalling SP1 should fix it. Tried that and after an agonizing 30 minutes, when I ran the PB SP1 again, no more error message.

Reset MySql root password

2009-01-13T22:11:00.000+05:30

Well, it had been quite sometime since I used MySql and then for some demo I had to. But, the problem was that I had forgotten the password and googling for help told me that I am not the only stupid in this universe . Well here is the solution to the problem:

Stop your MySql service.

Open and command window.

cd to the MySql bin directory (if the MySql bin is not added to your path).

Now run this command
mysqld-nt.exe --skip-grant-tables &

Now open another command window and if required again cd to the MySql bin window and run this command
mysql -u root mysql

In MySQL command line prompt run the following commands:
UPDATE user SET password=PASSWORD("password1234") WHERE user="root";
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Yippe... the root password is reset to "password1234" and MySQL will now
know the privileges and you'll be able to login with your new password.

Of course this set of instruction is for Windows and MySQL 5. For Linux, I guess (am not sure, so please look around in the mysql bin directory for correct file name), the command in step 4 will change to "mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables &" (based of googled results). Rest I believe should be same. In case someone I missed something or you have instruction for other OS/ mysql versions, let me know, will be happy to update it.

Center align site layout using CSS

2009-01-13T21:11:00.000+05:30

Recently I began creating 100% CSS layouts, and faced a lot of problems in getting the content to be centered in both IE and FF. After lot of googling, the final working css is :


body {
text-align:center;
} 

div#content{
text-align:left;
width:748px; 
margin:0 auto;
}

Change "content" for the name of the enclosing div around the page content.

LiveCycle Form Designer quits on opening a dynamic form

2009-01-13T20:56:00.000+05:30

A weird solution to a weird problem. My LiveCycle Designer was working fine and then all of a sudden, it started quitting the moment a dynamic form was opened. The error message was standard application crash one saying

"Adobe LiveCycle Designer ES has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience."

Googling led to the Adobe forums and there found this solution - Delete the folder "Designer" residing in your User folder "Appplication Data\Adobe". Usually that should be "C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR USER NAME\Application Data\Adobe". Just delete the folder names "Designer" and when you start the LiveCycle Designer, it will be created again and this time there should be no problem opening a form. Apparently this may also be caused if you have SQL 2008 installed on your system. If thats is the problem in your case, follw this link

http://www.adobe.com/go/kb407823

Tomato Basil Risotto

2009-01-13T20:23:00.001+05:30

Ingredients:

8 cup chicken broth
1/8 tsp. saffron threads
1/4 cup Olive oil
4 tbsp. butter (preferably unsalted)
1/4 cup chopped onion
3 cup choopped plum tomatoes
2 cup Arborio rice
1/4 cup. chopped fresh basil
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup white wine
1/2 tsp. (or to taste) pepper (preferably freshly ground)
Salt to taste

Directions:

In a medium saucepan, bring th stock to a simmer and crumble in the saffron threads. Maintain simmer over low heat.

In a large thick base saucepan, heat the oil and 2 tbsp. butter over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until the onion is translucent, about 2 minutes. Add the rice and stir for about 2 minutes until coated with oil. Add tomato and cook for another 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the wine and cook, stirring, until it evaporates.

Add 1/2 cup of the stock and cook, stirring constantly, until the rice has absorbed most of the liquid. Gradually add stock, 1/2 c. at a time, cook, stirring constantly, until the rice is almost tender but still slightly crunchy, about 20-25 minutes.

Add the cheese and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring and adding stock as necessary, 1/4 cup at a time, until the rice is tender but still firm with a creamy sauce, about 5-6 minutes longer. Stir in remaining 2 tbsp. butter, chopped basil, and remaining ingredients. Serve hot.

How to remove Bonjour Service

2008-09-03T00:10:00.000+05:30

Dont you hate it when are installing some software and later on you find out that it installed something else too without even asking. Way to go Adobe .. grrrrrrrrrr...

Recently I installed Adobe CS3 and a few days later while looking at my service panel, i see a strnage service named "##Id_String2.6844F930_1628_4223_B5CC_5BB94B879762##". Wondering what it is, I looked at its properties and see that it is Bonjour service given a cryptic name. Googling it told me that CS3 uses it for the CUE server. Its objective is to provide zero-configuration connectivity between Version Cue server and the suite’s other applications.

One, I did not like the cryptic name, and two, I did not even install Cue server and why the hell did the installer install this unnecessary service into my ststem. You may also find this service installed on your computer if you have installed Safari or iTunes. Anyways, I find it a totally useless service, so here is how to rename/ remove it.

If you are using Version Cue, you can correct the service name just by running two commands in a command window (Start -> Run -> cmd):

"%PROGRAMFILES%\Bonjour\mDNSResponder.exe" -remove
"%PROGRAMFILES%\Bonjour\mDNSResponder.exe" -install

If your program file folder path is different, please update the path accordingly. The commands are to be run with the quotes as there is space in the path to the file. If you do not have space in the path to Bonjour directory, you can omit the quotes in the command. If you are running Windows Vista, ensure that the command window is opened as Adminsitrator, else these command will not work at all.

Now you will have correct name for the service in the services panel.

In case you do not have Cue server installed like me and wish to remove this service from your system, here is how to do that.

First stop the service if it is running. Now open the command window (Start -> Run -> cmd) and run this command:

"%PROGRAMFILES%\Bonjour\mDNSResponder.exe" -remove

Restart your computer and if everything seems to be working fine browse to the "%PROGRAMFILES%\" and delete the "Bonjour" folder. You are advised to delete the Bonjor folder after restart as if there are any problems becuase of removing this service you can re-install it. And just in case you have deleted it and for some reason you want to reinstall it, you can download it from http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/bonjourforwindows.html and install it again. Personally I have never felt the need to.

Tomcat does not start as service

2008-09-03T00:01:00.000+05:30

You have installed JDK latest version, and now you installed Tomcat, configfured to run as service but when you try and start it, it fails. Looking into the logs you see an error like his :

[2008-08-06 22:24:50] [info] Procrun (2.0.4.0) started
[2008-08-06 22:24:50] [info] Running Service...
[2008-08-06 22:24:50] [info] Starting service...
[2008-08-06 22:24:50] [174 javajni.c] [error] The specified module could not be found.
[2008-08-06 22:24:50] [994 prunsrv.c] [error] Failed creating java %JAVA_HOME%\jre1.6\bin\client\jvm.dll
[2008-08-06 22:24:50] [1269 prunsrv.c] [error] ServiceStart returned 1
[2008-08-06 22:24:50] [info] Run service finished.
[2008-08-06 22:24:50] [info] Procrun finished.
Tomcat startup eerrro as service

And that typo "eerrro" is not my doing , it is tomcat only throwing this garbage into the log.

Most of the times, this is caused because of missing "msvcr71.dll". You can get it from http://www.dll-files.com/dllindex/dll-files.shtml?msvcr71

Copy it into your system directory, usually C:\windows\system32 and ensure that file has execute permission set. Tomcat should be able to run as service now.

Getting rid of the "This page contains both secure and nonsecure items" warning?

2008-09-02T22:52:00.000+05:30

Sometimes while you are visiting a secure site, you may see your IE show this warning message "This page contains both secure and nonsecure items. Do you want to display the nonsecure items?"

As a user this is not only inconvenient but some may find it a bit scary as well.

As a developer you must ensure that your users do not get any such warning, there are few things you must keep in mind. Most of the time such warnings are generated as result of including a non secure content like an image or stylesheet in the secure page with absolute URL which is using standard http protocol to get the content.

say "http://www.example.com" has an image "image.jpg" included in the page. The secure site, "https://www.example.com" is using the same image but the image source attribute is set as "http://www.example.com/image.jpg". here is your problem content. Copy the logo to the secure site and load it from there. All you need to do here is use "https://www.example.com/image.jpg" as the image source attribute and the user will no longer get the warning message about mixed content.

Sometimes this warning is also generated because of IFRAME tags in your page. If you have an IFRAME in your page, ensure that its source attribute is set. If there is no source attribute set for the IFRAME, or set to null, user will be displayed this warning message. When you set the src, make sure it points to a real file.

If you are unable to find the culprit content, try debugging it in Firefox, using the Web Developer extension or Firebug. These extensions allows you to look at detailed information including the paths of various objects/ contents in the page.

Online Virus Scan Services

2008-07-27T22:53:00.000+05:30

So one of your friends sent you a link to some software he thinks worth checking out. Now you are wondering, if the website you are downloading from can be truested or not. What if the file is infected with a virus, may be flu or may be more serious kinds? Well I dont know what is driving these web sites, but I am thankful for their existance. If you have a file from a source you do not trust, you can upload the file and check it for any known virus/ trojans. too bad, they dont check for flu virus , I could have used that service not so long ago.

Anyways here they are

http://scanner.virus.org/

http://www.virscan.org/

http://virusscan.jotti.org/

http://www.virustotal.com/

http://www.viruschief.com/

No order here, all these websites use multiple scan engines to check the file, none requires any kind of registration.