jforsythe.com - updates to my projects

Trying something different with Rollr

JRF — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 07:12:16 GMT

I made a few tweaks to Rollr on the plane trip home from TX. I removed the GameDice specific JavaScript dependencies from the homepage as well as the GameDice form itself.

I moved all of the GameDice logic and form into an AJAX style modal window which reduces some of the load time from the landing/home page. I kept getting some errors related to performance in my appspot python logs so I think this will help to keep the CPU cycles down as well as providing a framework I can use to create new random-number based games.

If you find that this new abstraction isn't working well for you, please let me know how to improve it. I do know about the issues with the contacts UI and *will* be making tweaks to the contacts and accounts pages in the next release.

Remember that this is a personal web blog. With that in mind, rest assured that its content does not reflect the position or opinion of my respective employers or academic institutions. However, it might represent the opinions of my cat.

Rollr Update 1.23

JRF — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 09:53:47 GMT

I wanted to make good on a few of the updates I promed to make in Rollr.

Rollr Screenshot

Today I added the ability to change your dice skins, and a few performance enhancements. Also, I didn't realized I had published the first version with all the Fireworks source PNG's and not the optimized PNG files. Whoops, that was only a 6 MB overhead. Should be even faster now folks. I blame the ultra-fast Google servers. I would have noticed the problem on a slower host.

Video of the first dice skins

Enjoy!

technorati: Google App Engine, application, rollr, dice, dungeonsanddragons, dnd, d20, chance, toy, game, games

Rollr - My first Google App Engine application is finished

JRF — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 22:34:45 GMT

I just finished with my first Google App Engine application. I call it Rollr and you can find it in the Google App Engine App Gallery.

If you experience anything interesting while using it, let me know. I am finding my understanding of the Google App Engine platform might need a tad bit more spit-for-polish before I start trusting my apps to run without problems.

Google App Engine Gallery listing for: Rollr

Over the next few days, I will write up a short summary about what I went through in order to make this application a reality. Today I am busy so I will just leave you with the link to the app and a small writeup of how this web app was born.

screenshot of Rollr on Google App Engine

I started Rollr on May 19th when I attended at the Google hack-a-thon in San Francisco. We were asked to think of something to work on if us attendees didn't want to work on the sample wiki application. This is what I thought of at that moment.

I worked slowly over the first two weeks after the hack-a-thon, setting up the framework for what would be a somewhat larger than I had first imagined 'chance engine' application (as I call it).

Also, after I attended the Google I/O conference, I had a better idea of how to proceed on some of the more difficulty Google data API integration challenges I was having. This gave me the "opportunity" to retrofit some of the original Python code to work better with those connections.

Lastly, I'd like to share my time costs for Rollr 1.0.

Reading Google App Engine docs: 5 hours (over the course of the project)
Python and Web interface: 30 hours
Python and Web bug fixes: 10 hours
Retrofitting my data models after I learned that the Google App Engine production environment isn't exactly the same as the dev environment: 5 hours
Graphic design: 2 hours

In total, i looks like I have spent nearly 40 hours working on this app. That sounds about right for a hobby app of this size. I hope you enjoy it!

technorati: Google App Engine, application, rollr, dice, dungeonsanddragons, dnd, d20, chance, toy, game, games

Next Chumby widget getting close

JRF — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:08:37 GMT

I know it has been a month or so since my last flash widget for the chumby, but this last one is a little more complicated. Here is a teaser pic.

technorati: chumby, widget, flash

Nothingr Widget

JRF — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 17:38:11 GMT

I know it doesn't look like much, but it has the potential to be bigger than it seems.

I present the Nothingr widget. It does nothing, or does it?

technorati: nothingr, chumby, widget

First batch of homebrew beer finished and named "Bitter Explosion 2008"

JRF — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 04:43:39 GMT

I decided to take out one of the bottles of beer that has been conditioning in the closet over the last week. A week before it is supposed to be done, I was taking a risk. As it turned out, it was a perfect bottle of beer. I never doubted it for a second (not).

I also completed the project by getting some help naming the beer (thanks Ashley) and it is now to be known as "Bitter Explosion 2008". As you might know, on day two the batch blew the lid off the fermenting bucket leading to a full night of washing clothes that had yeast, beer wort and hops all over. I will remember to take my clothes out of the closet at least until day 3 or 4 next time.

Because it fermented for a week with the hops, it also has a fair degree of bitterness to it. Just the right amount to get those salivary glands working.

Therefore I came up with a label and concept that embodied the event, printed them and Ashley stuck a few on. They are old 3 1/2 inch floppy disk labels. These are going to suck to wash off, but until I get some transparent semi-gloss peel off labels, they will have to work.

For everyone going on the ski trip next week, expect me to have a few of these in tow. If they survive the plane ride, they will definitely make you smile. I guarantee it.

technorati: homebrew, beer, Bitter Explosion

Custom video repository site

JRF — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 21:35:10 GMT

I just finished working on a video repository site. I will post more on it later, but if you want to see it in action, checkout http://video.viewmastr.com/.

The repository supports per-user disk quotas and will soon support a flash file uploader. I will release some of the source code soon as well.

Update to Dailio Chumby Widget v1.16d

JRF — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 07:34:20 GMT

Updated the Dailio.com Chumby image gallery widget to 1.16d.

Update v 1.16d :

* Added touch interactions

Touch the screen to access the following:

* Increment button
* Delete photo (from Chumby device only)
* Pause slideshow

The new version also:

* Will remember the last photo displayed and continue from that position in the next cycle
* Should load slightly faster than the previous version

technorati: dailio, chumby, image, gallery

Netflix widget update - no movies at home

JRF — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 21:21:17 GMT

An update to my Netflix Movies at Home widget.

There was a special RSS condition which would occur if you shipped all your movies back to Netflix at once. They would show as having received all your movies at the same time as having not shipped anything back to you. When this happens you have no movies at home according to your RSS feed.

I added a message now to handle this condition.

You have not movies at home.

technorati: Netflix, widget, movies, RSS, entertainment

New Chumby Widget : Dailio image viewer

JRF — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 00:57:02 GMT

Another new widget for the Chumby. This time in collaboration with another developer named Anthony Webb of dailio.com. He did all the back-end and web services work and I just built the display and config flash widgets. I love working with other good developers.

The idea behind this is to have a image gallery viewer that you can email photos to. It works a lot like the flickr functionality of the same type, but without the hassle of flickr.

technorati: chumby, hardware, widget, image, gallery