My thoughts

jQuery: Attach events to elements added dynamically via AJAX

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 21:32:57 GMT

I was building a page where there’s an image slideshow that would cycle through the images every n-seconds inside a <div> element. Simple enough. Everything was working right until I started moving the HTML elements around and parsing them via AJAX response. In short, the images and its container were being injected into the page dynamically. What I was trying to accomplish was: add the images dynamically including its container <div>, then apply the setInterval() function routine so it can start the cycling process.

In most case scenarios such as elements performing CRUD (create, update, delete) operations, a link <a> can subscribe and automatically be assigned a handler on specific events in a dynamic fashion. For example, when you add a new record and a new row is appended that contains a link that does something when clicked on. You can attach a handler that will be invoked once it’s triggered by an event which in this case, a “click” event.

That can be accomplished easily via a delegate or live (pre jQuery 1.7):

$('a').live('click hover', function (){
   	// do stuff
});

This is cool for elements where a user initializes the interaction by means of “click” or “hover”. There’s edge cases where you just want stuff to happen right when the dynamic element has been added into the DOM. A really neat event that I came across with while searching was “DOMNodeInserted”, where it listens/subscribes when a new DOM node has been added within a certain context. This gets triggered anytime the DOM within the specific context changes, and is ready to be interacted with. See code below using delegate. The following code basically attaches a delegate on an element with an id of “main”, that has a child element that we’re going to attach the event to.

$('#main').delegate('#main-content', 'DOMNodeInserted', function () {
        var dynamicallyAdded = $('img'); // exists
        // do something with the new element
});

It might be best to do some checking if the element exists for safety measures unless you know for a fact that the element will be injected for sure. This event works behind the scene and is triggered automatically by DOM changes as opposed to being triggered via a user interaction. In jQuery 1.7, you can use $.on() instead of delegate or live (might be deprecated in the future release) and it will work the same.

$('#main-content').on('DOMNodeInserted', function () {

It took a while for me to figure this out because it’s one of those things that I don’t use often, but it’s a good starting point or reference for similar things that I might come across again at a later time. Hope this helps someone looking for a similar solution.

My journey into Rails

Sat, 08 Oct 2011 07:36:11 GMT

This is my first experience with Rails, and for the longest time, I've been avoiding learning it since the idea of having to use the terminal is something I'm unfamiliar with. Ruby itself as a language is way different compared to the C-style languages (C#, Java, etc.). They're almost on the opposite ends of the syntax spectrum. I also quickly discovered that majority of Rail developers are either using Mac or Linux with the minority being Windows users. Although Windows is supported, there's a bit of a hassle running it there according to the articles that I've read. I might go back and run it inside Windows again later since I have NetBeans already installed (a free IDE). So I finally forced myself to learn it and set up the environment the "proper way", which is through the Mac OSX.

The main reason why I wanted to learn Rails is perhaps to satisfy my inner curiosity on what the buzz on this web technology is about. Second is to challenge and force myself in a new territory that I've never been before. Knowing C#, PHP, Javascript, and VB-- I felt like I need to learn another language to see programming in a whole new light or perspective. Third, is to increase the extent of my knowledge regarding different programming languages. The day I stop learning another language or web technology, is the day that I have lost my passion towards web development. My goal since the past few years has been to learn a new language every year and I've committed myself to that. Mastery of each of these languages however is a different story since that requires a huge amount of persistence and pure dedication to each individual language.

All things aside, I'd like to start my journey with Rails by writing a post about setting up the environment for the first time.

Installation order (with exception of a few) and the steps I took to get Ruby on Rails properly running on Mac OSX. Rails 3 requires Ruby version 1.8.7.:

GIT installation (http://git-scm.com/). GIT is a version control utility.
RVM (Ruby Version Manager). (http://beginrescueend.com/rvm/install/) Since the RVM install requires you to get from a GitHub repository, the RVM files can be downloaded in conjunction with GIT. Installing RVM was the part that I ran trouble with so after running the install, a few steps will need to be performed as well so reading the installation guide thoroughly (which I carelessly bypassed) is the key. After installing RVM, everything else including Rails installation will run through it so everything should be pain-free from here on (at least for me anyways).
Install Ruby through RVM. The instruction is referred to in the RVM install page.
Install GemSets. This is required to avoid conflict between Rails 2 and 3 if you're running them both on the same machine. It wouldn't be a bad idea to do this step just to avoid any troubles. In this step also, I set 1.9.2 as my default GemSet using RVM. $ rvm --default use 1.9.2@rails3 (or whatever you named your set to be).
Install RubyGems. Ruby Gems is a package manager for Ruby projects. -- $ ruby setup.rb.
Install Rails. This part uses the RubyGems. -- $ gem install rails --version 3.0.1. To verify -- $ rails -v.
The final step is to create a working directory where the Rail projects will reside in. $ mkdir rails_proj. $ cd rails_proj. $ rails new myapp (this last step adds all the files that's required for a Rails site.
Run the local web server. $ rails server. The default port is running through http://localhost:3000 which then opens up the page shown below.

At this point, after a somewhat painful start, the installation process was a good learning start. I learned a few things from my mistake and hopefully won't repeat them again next time.

My take on cloud music services

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 00:49:46 GMT

I finally received my Spotify invitation today, a week after the company decided to open it’s services to U.S. users. There was tons of hype surrounding the services from people who have been using it from the European countries (or those who got in via proxies). While I wasn’t in the first batch of those who were invited to use the service, it wasn’t something I thought of as a big deal. Having access to Google music beta via an invitation, and a 30-day trial of MOG, what else can Spotify provide me that are not already in those two services? In addition to Pandora, Slacker radio and my iPod player—I got everything covered as far as music is concerned.

Having to choose between the different types of music services can be overwhelming, so let me go through and analyze a few popular music services that I’ve used and find out which one is the best option for you.

Google Music Beta (website)
If you have access to Google Music already, they offer a rich user interface that allows you to browse or manage your music collection on the web or smart phone device (only Androids are supported currently). The service is completely free but it only allows you to play music that you already own. You basically have to tell the desktop application on where your music resides in your local hard drive folder, and it will detect any addition that you make to it and upload it to the cloud automatically. You will have to install an application that runs in your system tray. The service is great if you own your own music collection and tired of having to manually sync your music to your mp3 or smart phone device every time you add a new music to your collection. I’ve uploaded approximately 20GB worth of data (4,500 MP3s) to their cloud and it appears like you’re limited to 20,000 files—which is already lot of music!

Pandora (website) and Slacker Radio (website)
I combined these since they’re almost identical in features set, except Pandora doesn’t offer radio stations. The goal of these two services (including last.fm), is to let you listen to a random music (new music discovery) based on the music genre or artist chosen. These services allows you listen on your mobile device and the web completely free, but with a few ad disruptions every few songs or so. You are also limited to certain amount of skips and limitation on how many hours you can listen per month (Pandora gives you 40 hours). Pandora is only $3/month and only gives you a randomized music with higher bit-rate on both desktop and mobile devices. Slacker on the other hand is $3.99 but offers you in addition to what Pandora offers, access to different radio stations. Slacker also offers a $9.99 premium plan which in addition to their basic plan, also gives you on-demand music listening similar to MOG (which I’ll be covering next).

MOG (website)
I’ve been using MOG services trial for almost 30 days now (about to expire any day now) and I’m pretty happy with it. Similar to Google Music, their online and mobile device’s user interface is very rich. The only problem that I have with them is their all-or-nothing service approach. It’s either you pay for their service or you wouldn’t be able to use them since they don’t have a free plan at the moment; hence the reason why they offer a 30-day trial. Their service excels at providing you access to millions of music on-demand and create a playlist. The currently provide two subscription models—$4.99 which allows you to use their service on your web browser only, and $9.99 which allows you to use their service on both your browser and your mobile device with ability to download the music for offline listening.

Spotify (website)
Their music service in my opinion is sort of like a hybrid between Google Music, and MOG except that they provide a free plan (granted that you have an access to their service). The basic premises is that, Spotify allows you to sync your own music and have access to on-demand music on the go. The free subscription only allows you to listen to both your collection as well as their on-demand music collection anywhere using a desktop app (with ads). The next plan is the “unlimited plan” for $4.99 which is similar to free but with no ads (and possible unlimited hours of listening—although I couldn’t find this information anywhere on their website). Last but not the least is their “premium plan” services for $9.99 which in addition to “unlimited plan” allows you to listen on your mobile device with offline listening mode. Spotify automatically scans your iTunes playlist and adds it to your Spotify playlist.

Amazon Cloud Drive (website)
Amazon’s service is the first one that I’ve tried out of the ones I’ve mentioned. Having a 5GB storage by default for free accounts, they allow you to upload your music through their desktop application and listen to them on both desktop and currently just Android devices. However, they also give you an option to upgrade your storage to 20GB for only $20/year. The cool thing about their service since they also have a storefront for selling MP3s is that, anything that you purchase doesn’t count towards your quota as far as storage is concern. The service is similar to Google Music’s version except for its limited storage, but offers you the ability to purchase music. I hear rumors that Google is also coming up with its own music storefront to compete with Apple and Amazon.

I’ve covered pretty much the more popular ones although there’s a few other ones out there with similar feature sets. Having a basic knowledge on what each music service offers should somewhat clear up any confusion for anyone looking for a music service. Each service has its own strength and weaknesses, and knowing which feature you’d like to have is a good starting point.

My training routine

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 16:53:36 GMT

I’ve been working out for over 8 years now (roughly around 2002 or 2003) ever since I was 22 and I’ve learned a lot from those years of training. My passion for training, intrinsically far exceeds the external benefits that it provides; although the results flow right back in which fuels my desire some more. Apart from the other posts that I’ve done in the past regarding the subject of training, my intention for this post is to highlight the things that I’ve learned and perhaps improve it by making incremental adjustments. I also have a list of things that have helped me in my workout efforts.

By nature, I’m what they call a “creature of habit” where my greatest strength has always been my consistency and I attribute all my success due to that very fact. I can pretty much stick to a routine or schedule and eat the same thing almost everyday. I do buy the same things in the grocery store every time and know exactly what to eat to maintain my current body fat. A little change might throw me off but I’ve learned to overcome such change both physically and mentally especially when traveling where protein sources might not be available. Even yet, there are those days when I can’t have my normal six meals per day. I learned to not stress about those days since really, I have no intention of being competitive.

Bodybuilding to me is a lifestyle choice and that includes being healthy, to combat aging, relieve stress, and to look great which builds confidence. When I started training however, my goals or intentions were different from what it is today. My focus back then was to bulk up and get my weight up in the 250s in which I got to about 245 pounds. I read as much as I can towards building mass, with sources of information widely available in the Internet forums, blogs, and articles on the web. I literally breathe and embraced the lifestyle. When I first started, I cancelled my gym memberships a few times (2001) mainly because I found it to be uninteresting and I didn’t have the willpower to keep going. Also among other reasons, I felt intimidation towards other people who were in shape, and the ones who were way stronger than me (often in the free-weights room). I see this as a downfall these days among people who are just getting started or trying to get in shape. The hardest part was overcoming the intimidation factor. I started slowly by using machines in the beginning and progressed towards free-weights exercises.

Through working out, I find serenity. Just like when people do yoga or meditational exercises routine, I use it as an outlet to release stress as well as isolate myself from the world. When I step in the gym, the inner beast gets unleashed and I become one with myself. I find that closing my eyes between sets (or while doing a set to focus on a targeted muscle group) helps me revives my energy and helps my mind deter from surrounding distractions. When I walk towards the water fountain, all I can think of is the next weight that I need to push or what can I do to improve my previous set.

Throughout the years, here are the things that allowed me to make the most out of my workouts. The list is not in any particular order of importance.

Focus on yourself.Learning to tune out your environment is absolutely the best thing that you can do to get your rhythm going. The rhythm is the driving force behind every workout since this creates momentum and the pump as they call it. Also cut the crap, meaning no phone conversions or chatting—just simply focus and get out.
Do proper warm up.I usually start out with a very light weight that I can do for 20 repetitions or more. This serves multiple purposes such as to loosen up your joints, get your muscle used to the motion, and to get those blood flowing.
Intensity.I feel like this separates a great workout from an OK workout. If your eyes are not burning with desire to improve, then the training is pretty much a waste of time. This might include varying your workout scheme such as two non-stop back-to-back sets, or having little rest in between sets. I find that intensity is vital in every workout, so finding that intensity wherever it is, is the key value.
Post-workout supplementation.One of the most important factor when working out is to replenish those nutrients and calories back in your system so it can grow and fully recover. I prefer whey protein for quick digestion and some type of carbohydrates such as rice cakes.
Consistency.Although I don’t write out my schedule anymore, I still keep a mental note of what days I need to workout. Having a schedule and learning to stick to it is what separates a dedicated person from the rest.
Listen to your body.Your strength level is not going to be the same so don’t be disappointed if you don’t lift the same amount of weights or have the same intensity on your next workout. A crappy workout is always better than a no-workout. As part of listening to your body, also pay attention to works for you whether your workout routine or the food intake. Everyone’s metabolism and genetic makeup is different, so one size doesn’t fit all.
80/20 rule.The 80% diet and 20% workout approximation is a number that I came up with (or maybe others has similar figures). Either way, what you eat is far greater than the amount of time that you spend in the gym. This means that your efforts whether you’re trying to lose weight, build muscle or maintain should be mostly focused on the diet, which to everyone is the hardest part. Anyone can workout for hours and not get the results that they want simply because they’re diet is not solid.
Concentrate on your form.Often times, I see people (even big guys) lift with bad form which is possibly the worse that you can do in terms of potential injury and perhaps productivity. If it works for you then it’s fine with me (although you’ll see me swing the weights too from time to time) as long as you know when to back off. Just don’t get to the point where you’re not working the targeted muscle group anymore or you’re about to break your back.
Conquer the fear.There is this motivational quote that I like and it goes like, “if you’re not scared then the weights is not heavy enough”. Learn how to push beyond your boundaries, and go above your pain threshold. Fear is what’s stopping you from lifting those 100 pounders that’s been staring at you all these years, and now is the time to make them your friend.
Have fun.While working out can induce stress on your body, there’s no reason that it can’t be fun. I like listening to music that’s fun, energizing, and I can sort of rap or sing to. There’s those little things that can give you happy thoughts while at at the same time giving you the pump that you need to keep going. I often hear people discouraged of working out due to the fact that they find it hard, or not enjoyable; and I really think it’s the other way around. My philosophy is that, if you’re not having fun while doing something then you shouldn’t be doing it. In the case of working out, you need to find a way to make it fun and enjoyable, otherwise you’ll find yourself discouraged.
Never give up.Whatever happens or whatever results may be, giving up should never be an option.
No excuses.There’s no reason why you can’t hit the gym whether your work schedule don’t allow you, or you have to attend a wedding; there’s always time, period. The problem is finding that time. Whether it’s 110 degrees or 30 degrees outside, there shouldn’t be reason not to go. You just need to dig deeper inside of you and find a reason on why you can’t skip a workout. You can’t make up for your workout by working out harder next time around.
Clear vision.Whether you’re starting a new project or just working out, you need to have some sort of vision or goal. This metrics is important as a measurement of your progress and in which it also carries a clear set of path of your undertaking. The questions that you need to ask yourself are, “what am I trying to achieve?” and additionally, “what actions do I need to take to get there?”. If you can pin point those things, then the journey towards realizing your goals becomes easier; whether in your work outs or other facets of your life.
Keep on learning. When I first started working out, I would ask people for advice on how to do certain things or I would watch others who I think knows what they’re doing. Working out is a constant learning experience and having the desire to keep wanting to learn more is essential towards constant improvement and breaking through those plateaus.

The list pretty much highlights the things that I know for a fact, time-and-time again that I’ve found invaluable and has helped me tremendously to stay on track with my workouts.

Website revamped!

Sun, 03 Jul 2011 18:16:17 GMT

I've been wanting to give my website a little face lift but never had a chance so finally this July 4th weekend, I had to finally create some time for it. As part of the new look, I switched from the DotNetBlogEngine to Orhard CMS making the entire website feel more connected. The primary reason why I switched to Orchard was because it uses SQL CE (compact edition) by default to store the data in the back end. Although you can use whatever data source you want, SQL CE allows you to copy the database as a file instead of being connected to a single store. It also gives you the option down the road to migrate it into a full pledged SQL Server but for the sake of portability, I like to treat my personal site as a single unit. The fact that I don't need a SQL Server to store my data means that I don't need a host that supports SQL Server.

Out of a few hundreds CMS out there, why did I go with Orchard? Simply for a few reasons other than the first one I stated prior. For one, I'd like to try a CMS product that I've never tried before (having used Wordpress, DotNetNuke and popular ones in the past). Learning a new product is a good thing to keep myself challenged. Another reason is the fact that it uses the MVC architecture as its base, which means that each component such as pages, blog, and others are modular-based. You can create a theme or build modules and easily instate/reinstate them as will.

Unfortunately, since all my old blog posts are stored in XML files, I didn't bother recovering them which might be a good or a bad thing. I'd really like to get a fresh look and content, so I'd rather start from scratch and keep the formatting consistent along with the new theme. The unfortunate part is, for SEO purposes-- those posts are gone forever.

I'm using Microsoft Web Matrix as my tool for this one which I don't mind even with the lack of intellisense feature. It installs and publishes the web application to any end point easily so it takes care of half the things that I needed accomplished.