Blue Sky Workshop

Can't Login to Administration Console with NetBeans 7.1 and GlassFish 3.1.1

2012-01-26T16:32:00.000-07:00

Ok. This is really weird. This has happened on two different machines now.

Problem: You have just installed NetBeans 7.1 Java EE version on Windows 7 64 bit and you want to look at the Administration Console. You open a URL to localhost:4848. You are prompted for a user name and password. Nothing works.

For years the default login for GlassFish on NetBeans has been:
User: admin
Password: adminadmin

According to some of the documentation and various posts the password is now:

New Password: changeit
or
New Password:

So blank or changeit. Neither worked for me.

Workaround: I can confirm that the username is actually "admin". However, I cannot confirm what is going on with the passwords. This is what I did.

Go to the NetBeans Services Tab
Start GlassFish from the Services Tab
Launch the Administration Console by right clicking on the GlassFish server icon
You get the login screen. Nothing works.
Stop the GlassFish server
Restart the GlassFish server
Launch the Administration Console by right clicking on the GlassFish server icon
You are automatically logged into the console.

At this point to can go in and change the password and everything seems to work normally from then on.

Have you experienced the problem? If yes, please leave a comment. If other people are having this problem I need to file a bug. Thanks. Mike W.

Update 5:05pm: I am still experiencing the same issues. After further testing, I can only conclude that the AppServer only accepts passwords on the second or third restart.

Starting a Small Internet Business

2012-01-19T16:42:00.000-07:00

Found this on the net today:

goop.com: Starting a Small Business

This is Gwyneth Paltrow's site which normally focuses on other subjects. Today's post includes lots of good advice from a number of Net companies on starting a small Internet business. The original story I found about this post seemed to be a skeptical about the merits of the source. However, it looks like great information to me, so I'm sharing. :)

Big eBook News From Apple Tommorrow?

2012-01-18T09:02:00.001-07:00

According to this Ars Technica story, Apple is gonna announce some new eBook creation tool tomorrow. And GigaOm explains why eBooks are gonna be a big deal.

If the product is indeed announced, here is why that is a big deal. Right now there are very few eBook creation tools. Apple includes an ePub format tool with its Pages word processer, but that is the only eBook specific tool that I am aware of. Right now, most eBooks are just text, very plain like a paperback book. However, formats like ePub allow you to create much more interactive books closer to HTML pages than paperbacks. Thus, a tool for making these sort of book easier to write is gonna be a big deal. The paper book and text book industries are in for be changes methinks.

Collapse and Expand threads with Thunderbird

2012-01-09T12:07:00.000-07:00

Here is a quick Thunderbird tip. My inbox has been annoying me lately because I can't read collapsed threads. Did you know Thunderbird has keyboard shortcuts for expanding and collopasing threads? Me neither.

To expand all threads, click the astericks key (*). To collaps all threads hit the backslash key (\).

Java FX 2.0 Links (Updated)

2012-01-08T20:05:00.001-07:00

Here is an updated list of Java FX 2.0 Links. I will keep updating the list as I find new information.

Java FX 2.0 Links

JavaFX: API - javafx.com
JavaFX and CSS: CSS Reference Guide - Skinning with CSS Tutorial
JavaFX UI: UI Controls Tutorial - Layout Tutorial - Sizing and Aligning Nodes
FXML: Getting Started with FXML - Introduction of FXML
Blogs: FX Experience

Set the Menu/Application/Interface Font Size for Firefox or Thunderbird on Mac OS X

2012-01-04T08:58:00.000-07:00

Some of my Macs have a very high screen resolution. Therefore the font size of the menus for Firefox and Thunderbird seems a little small. It turns out you can actually adjust the size of the application fonts in Firefox or Thunderbird using CSS.

To change the default fonts, edit the userChrome-example.css file. The trick is to find this freaking file. For Thunderbird, the file does not exist and you must create it from scratch. Things are easier for Firefox.

First, here is the CSS code you need to add to userChrome-example.css to change the default font.

* { font-size: 11pt !important; }

This sets the default font size for the interface to 11pt. Next you will need to create the file in the appropriate directory for each application.

Thunderbird
For Thunderbird, first find the Profiles directory.
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Thunderbird/Profiles/someRandomeString

In this directory:

Create a chrome directory.
Create userChrome-example.css in the chrome directory include the CSS code shown above

Firefox
For Firefox, the chrome directory already exists and actually includes some sample CSS files.

Your profile can be found in:
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/someRandomeString

Change into the chrome directory and create the userChrome-example.css file as described above.

That is it. With this code, the default font size for menu and other application text should now be set to 11 pts.

For details on modifying specific parts of the interface, check out this page: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Pane_and_menu_fonts

Library Folder Missing in Lion

2012-01-03T15:29:00.001-07:00

I just noticed today that my Library folder was missing on Mac OS X Lion. The folder is located in /Users/YourUserNameHere/Library. The folder is still there, it just doesn't show up in finder. To unhide it, open a terminal window and type:

chflags nohidden ~/Library

You should now be able to see the folder in Finder again.

A more complete write up on the subject can be found on CNET:
CNET: Where did my Library go?

The Latest on Mozilla Firefox

2011-12-21T23:16:00.000-07:00

CNET has a nice write up on what's going on with the Mozilla foundation and Firefox.

CNET: Mozilla is more than just Firefox

Sometimes I think people forget the importance of open source software and affect on the growth of the Internet. I regularly use Firefox, Chrome, and Safari and still find Firefox the best of the bunch.

Apps are not the Future

2011-12-14T22:04:00.000-07:00

Dave Winer wrote some interesting posts in the last couple of days on the future of apps.

Apps are not the Future
Enough Already with the Apps

The gist of his posts are apps can't link like the web. Thus in the end, the web will win out. And, I have to agree. For all the hype about apps, I still spend the vast majority of my time in browsers. Being able to link and share is what gives the Internet its power.

However, I gotta say the Mac app store is super useful. Buy an app, and you can install it on all your Macs. It saves money, time, and hassle. But I think the best apps like Dropbox and Evernote complement the web, they aren't walled gardens.

How do I un-indent an HTML list with CSS?

2011-12-14T17:13:00.000-07:00

I was looking around for the answer to this question and could not find a short answer. Thus the post.

Question: How do I un-indent an HTML list with CSS?

Answer: Set the padding for the <ol> or <ul> tags to zero.
ul { padding:0; }

That's it!

JavaFX 2.0 Links

2011-12-13T20:43:00.001-07:00

Been working on JavaFX 2.0 and thought I should make a list of useful links.

GUI with Java Code

GUI with JavaFX FXML

WebOS Lives

2011-12-12T23:03:00.000-07:00

It looks like WebOS lives! It is going to be opened sourced by HP. However, tablets only, no more phones.

The Verge: WebOS Open Sourced

It will be nice to have another open source option. But since it is tablet only, you have to wonder if it will have the same kind of traction of iOS and Android.

Free Screen Sharing (VNC) Client on Mac OS X Lion/Snow Leopard

2011-12-07T17:42:00.001-07:00

Did you know that there is a free Screen Sharing app include on Mac OS X Lion and Snow Leopard? Obviously I didn't until a few days ago. You will find the Screen Sharing app in the following directory:

/System/Library/CoreServices

You can connect to any other Mac simply by launching the app and typing in the IP address of another Mac. Of course that Mac must have Screen Sharing turned on. I have also tried to connect to a RealVNC server on Windows 7 and that does not seem to work. I have not yet tested other VNC server. I will provide a more complete write up in another post.

MacLife January Highlights - Chips, Siri, and Rays

2011-12-06T14:16:00.001-07:00

Here are some of the highlights from this months MacLife magazine available on the web.

MacLife: The Future of ARM - A great story on where ARM is headed with their processes. More power, less electricity should make for some great devices.

MacLife: iPhone 4s Review - The scoop on what is new with the iPhone 4s.

MacLife: 10 Questions to Ask Siri - I like the fact that Siri has a sense of humor. I look forward to this sort of tech.

Ray Solar Charger - For $50, get your own Solar charger for your iPhone.

Image Panning Using JQuery

2011-12-05T06:30:00.000-07:00

For work I am looking into JQuery plugins for panning around or scrolling around images. Here is what I found.

JQuery Zoom and Pan - Hover over the thumbnail image and you are zoomed into a bigger version of the image which can be panned around. Looks promising but the plugin is not free, but at $4, it is not expensive either.

JQuery Pan/Zoom - a free option that requires a click. It looks promising as well.

JQuery Image Scroller - This has a nice design but only scrolls vertically.

JQuery panView - This appears to be an official plugin, but the JQuery plugin site seems to be down at the time of this writing. Anyway, I have not found a working demo of this.

Internet Explorer #2 Browser?

2011-12-01T23:18:00.001-07:00

According to a ReadWriteWeb story, Chrome has overtaken Firefox for the #2 spot in browsers worldwide:
ReadWriteWeb: Chrome tops Firefox as #2 Browser

But to me, the more important inference is that alternative browser like Firefox and Chrome, when combined, are at 60% compared to 40% for Internet Explorer. Also remember, that both Chrome and Safari use the same Webkit browser as the foundation for their products. Chrome plus Safari is approaching IE's share as well.

The more people using Chrome, Firefox, or Safari, the better. So if you haven't given one of them a try, any one of this is better than IE.

JavaFX apps will not run from a Browser on Windows 7 64 bit

2011-11-29T06:01:00.000-07:00

Problem: After installing Java 6 or Java 7 and the Java FX Runtime on Windows 7 64 bit, you can not launch JavaFX applications from your browser. Any attempt to launch an application results in a request from the browser to install Java. Which is silly because it is already installed. Or is it?

Solution: Most web browsers are actually 32 bit applications. Consequently, you must install the 32 bit version of the Java Runtime Edition (JRE) and the 32 bit version of the JavaFX runtime. The first will install the needed Java plugin for your browsers. The second makes JavaFX available for 32 bit apps. After the install, restart your browser and voila, everything should work fine.

JQuery Click Event Example

2011-11-28T09:00:00.001-07:00

Over the break I created a simple example of how to use the JQuery click event.
See the code here.

Cyber Monday

2011-11-28T08:40:00.001-07:00

Today is Cyber Monday and a bunch of online retailers are offering great deals. Here are some links to some of our partners.

Barnes and Nobles

Best Buy

Set Up Apache Web Server on OS X Lion

2011-11-23T22:25:00.001-07:00

This post documents the steps for setting up Apache on OS X Lion. Now the way I setup the server is a little different, but I will try to explain why.

Start Apache Web Server
1. Choose System Preferences in the Dock.
2. Under Internet and Wireles and choose Sharing.
3. Check Web Sharing.
Apache should start up. If it does not, see the Troubleshooting section.
Uncheck Web Sharing. This stops the Apache server. The server should be stopped so changes can be made to the directory structure.
Set up the Apache home directory.
The Apache home directory is located at /Library/WebServer/Documents. Of course you can set up your website and do your development there. However, if you perform an ls -l on the directory you will see the permissions set to 775 with user of root and a group of wheel. So effectively, you have no access to the directory. So you can either make files as root, or add yourself to the wheel group. Neither is very convenient, so this is the approach I take.
1. Switch to the root user: sudo bash
2. In your home directory, create a directory to hold your web pages (e.g., www). Note that the permissions will be set to 755 with a user of root and a group of staff. Since you are a member of the staff group by default, you have read and execute rights to the directory.
3. Add write permissions to the directory: chmod 755 www. Now this directory can be edited by both the web server and by you. Now we can have the web server point at this directory as its document directory.
4. Change to web server directory: cd /Library/WebServer
5. Rename the Documents directory: mv Documents Documents.bk
6. Link to the directory our created: ln -s ~/www Documents
7. Type exit to exit from your root shell.
Now enable PHP
1. Change to the configuration directory: cd /etc/apache2
2. Change the permissions so you can edit the configuration directory: chmod 744 httpd.conf
3. Uncomment this line: LoadModule php5_module libexec/apache2/libphp5.so
Restart the Web Server

This should setup the server to work with PHP and allows you to easily edit and manipulate files.

Troubleshooting Tips

Problem: Apache will not start after upgrading from OS X Snow Leopard to Lion

Solution: The first thing to do is find out what error messages are being generated by Apache when it starts. This can be found in the Console application found in the Applications > Utilities > Console. This should list the error messages generated. In my case, the errors were related to directives in the Apache configuration file located at /etc/apache2/httpd.conf. Just commenting out the specific lines indicated in the console solved the startup problems for me.

MacLife: Apple MD - Troubleshooting your Mac and iOS Apps

2011-11-21T18:59:00.000-07:00

This months issue of MacLife has a great series of stories on troubleshooting problems with your Mac, iPhone, and iPad.

Here are the best ones I could find:

I highly recommend a subscription.

Dolphin Browser for iPad and iPhone

2011-11-19T11:18:00.001-07:00

Thanks to this story by Ina Fried, I gave the Dolphin browser a try this week. It was a pleasant surprise to see how well this free browser works. It is especially useful on the iPhone with its gestures and tabbed interface. This features are golden on a device with such limited real estate.

Definitely worth a look. Check it out here.

Microsoft not Apple Killing Flash

2011-11-14T17:14:00.001-07:00

Harry McCracken at Technologizer makes a good point about who is really killing flash. A commenter on on this story by Erica Ogg points out that Microsoft will not support Flash in its Windows 8 metro browser (Internet Explorer 10).

A quick Google search confirmed this:

Microsoft revealed this week that Internet Explorer 10 Metro will not support browser based plug-ins.

“For the web to move forward and for consumers to get the most out of touch-first browsing, the Metro style browser in Windows 8 is as HTML5-only as possible, and plug-in free,” revealed Internet Explorer chief Dean Hachamovitch, in a blog post earlier this week. Microsoft is removing the ability to use plug-ins on the Metro style IE version of Windows 8 to improve security, reliability and battery life for end users. “Plug-ins were important early on in the web’s history,” admits Hachamovitch. “The web has come a long way since then with HTML5.”

Full Story Here

Although I do find it hard to believe there will be no plug-in or add on capability in Internet Explorer. It looks like Flash really is gonna be dead soon. The times are changing fast.

How do I update my iPhone/iPad to iOS 5 without Syncing?

2011-11-11T10:55:00.001-07:00

The 5.0.1 iOS update to fix some issues with battery life is out. Did you know you no longer have to sync with iTunes to do the update? Neither did I. In fact, it looks like the updates are just patches now (only 44meg). This is a huge improvement over having to download the entire OS image every time.

To update your device do the following:

Click Settings
Click General
Click Software Update

That's it. Your download should begin right away. It is probably a good idea to have your device plugged in while the update takes place.

Ding dong Flash is Dead?

2011-11-09T15:47:00.001-07:00

Well maybe not dead. But mortally wounded. Today Adobe announced the are no longer going to develop a Flash Player for mobile devices. Steve Shankland at CNET has the story.

Flash: Crippled but alive...for now

Although Steve Jobs is no longer with us, his will is done. He stated early on that Flash wasn't a good fit for mobile devices and Apple would focus on HTML5. As of today, Adobe agrees with him. But don't make too big a deal out of this, Adobe will still support mobile apps using their Air platform. In addition, the story points out that most of us are still using PCs rather than iPhones or iPads.

Finally, in the end, Adobe is a tools vendor. Whether their tools target Flash or HTML5, they make money either way.