Topics

101

Developer's Corner / Looking for webservice to convert svn repo to zip

« on: January 25, 2008, 11:41 AM »

I am at work and cannot run an svn client. Unfortunately there is no web frontend available to download a zipped copy of the code. Do you know of any web service that will create a zip file or tar ball when given a subversion URL?

[update] I was able to get what I needed by using Window's Network Neighborhood. I just entered the URL to the repo, which is on a WebDAV server, and downloaded the whole directory.

102

Developer's Corner / Looking for tool to identify windows controls on windows forms

« on: January 25, 2008, 10:04 AM »

I am currently using Au3Info that comes with AutoIt. It almost does what I need. It will identify the control I have my mouse over, but it doesn't seem to pick the proper control. For example, I am looking to grab some text, but when I am over the text it is giving me information that appears to be for the parent control. I am thinking that if I could run a program that gives me a full tree view of all the controls in a form, it would give me what I need.

I assume there are tools for AHK. Any that you like.

I know that Visual Studio has a utility to view windows messages, does it have one to find controls?

103

General Software Discussion / I Want To Index Every File On My LAN.

« on: January 20, 2008, 09:25 PM »

I know there are various threads about desktop search applications here on DC, but I want to not be tied down to just one computer. I want to find an open source application that will spider my entire LAN (mostly via SMB, but also HTTP and FTP if possible) and index every file. I want it to grab meta data and use plugins to index the contents of every file. I want thumbnails of image files. I want it to go into compressed archives. I want want to search it all via a web frontend. I want to be able to click on the search results and have either my preferred web browser, FTP client, or (Windows) file manager open to the file.

The first place I am going to look is to see if Google has something like this that is free/opensource. I have found many of the bits and pieces for such an application at the Apache Software Foundation, but it would all need to be glued together.

[update] I just found IBM OmniFind Yahoo! Edition. It looks like it just might do what I want. I am reading through the website right now.

[update 2] Microsoft has countered this with Search Server 2008 Express.

104

Post New Requests Here / IDEA: MD5 Utility For Packaging Updates

« on: January 17, 2008, 08:30 AM »

I will build this, because I need it. But I don't want to reinvent the wheel if somebody has already created what I need.

I need to take two directories, one "before" and one "after". I then need to generate a list of filenames of the files that have changed. That listing needs to be exported in a file that I could use with a compression utility (ZIP) to create an self-extracting file with only the changed files in it.

I have tried several tools but nothing does what I need without a lot of massaging of the data. Before I write scripts to automate this, I wanted to check with the community first.

thanx

105

Developer's Corner / Article Convinces Me To Move To vi(m)

« on: January 08, 2008, 09:57 AM »

Today one of the python blogs I read posted about an article they thought was the "Best Vim Article Ever". It has convinced me to (as often as possible) use vim for the next three months and see if it sticks.

106

General Software Discussion / It looks like Amazon.com is testing out the software/digital downloads arena.

« on: January 07, 2008, 07:20 PM »

You can now purchase TurboTax from Amazon.com and download your software from Amazon.

107

Developer's Corner / Oooooooooooooooooooooooooo Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

« on: January 07, 2008, 01:01 PM »

Half my morning has been going down the rabbit hole that is Coding Horror + Links + Comments + ...

108

Living Room / Smilie Charades

« on: January 05, 2008, 08:38 PM »

This may be an original idea? It was sparked by three posts by codeTRUCKER.

Example:

Proper Noun
One Word

answer

Tinjaw

It's not a very good example, but I am interested to see what you folks can come up with.

109

DC Website Help and Extras / SMF Plugin for Ignore Thread?

« on: January 05, 2008, 04:55 PM »

There is already the "Notify" feature to follow a thread. What I would like is a "Ignore" thread so I can filter out threads that I am not interested in. I would prefer they don't show up when I "Show unread posts since last visit" after I have marked them as "Ignore".

110

Living Room / Wanted: Electronic/Searchable Holy Books

« on: January 05, 2008, 02:21 PM »

I have openly discussed my Atheism here on DonationCoder. I see this as no different than somebody talking about how they are a Jew, Muslim, or Christian. It is just part of who I am and by telling you this, you can better filter my subjective bias from anything I say.

With that addressed up front, I have a serious/legitimate question...

What are your recommendations for the "best" digital holy books? And by best, I mean in terms of academic research.

I am interested in religious books in the same manner as I am interested in the classics of philosophy. I have a BA in Political Science from University of Chicago, with a focus on political philosophy and international relations (mostly the USSR - Class of '89 and the Cold War loomed).

I understand there are many electronic version of holy books, but I have not done the research to find out which ones are best **for the purposes of scholarly study** (i.e. I am not interested in being converted). I would love to have tonnes of footnotes and references available. I would love for a version that contained the texts of all the major religions and would let me compare things like references to the same historical event, compare timelines, etc. If there were footnotes/references to secular texts that cover the same item would be icing on the cake.

I understand that getting ASCII versions of these books is easy, but I am willing to pay for software that has  features like those I have mentioned above. The whole "Digital Media Experience" ^TM is what I want.

If you would feel uncomfortable posting publicly to this thread, I would keep any personal messages on this matter strictly confidential.

---
oops! forgot to add: This doesn't count!

111

General Software Discussion / Is Vista Creating Duplicate Files of Everything?

« on: January 04, 2008, 01:11 PM »

A friend of mine called me today with a question about Vista. He is installing MS Office and his anti-virus software and he claims that everything is taking up twice the space it does on his XP computer. I told him it sounded just like Microsoft, in its infinite wisdom, felt it was a security enhancement to shadow all of the files "for enhanced security". Can anybody verify that my guess is correct?

112

N.A.N.Y. 2008 / Click2LogIt

« on: December 29, 2007, 11:19 PM »

Click2LogIt is a way to keep track when events occur. It runs as a tray icon and clicking on the tray icon will log the date & time to a log file. Along with the datetime stamp a user-definable notation is made.

The impetus for this program was a coding snack idea posted by 222fbj.




Download Click2LogIt.
[Updated]

• April 7, 2008 - v. 0.0.1.11

113

Living Room / Yet Another Ploy For Tinjaw (and collaborators) To Up His (their) Post Count(s)

« on: December 27, 2007, 12:27 PM »

I am on my lunch break at work. They don't allow IRC here, so I can't pop in for a quick hello. So I have an alternate plan. Since this is my first post in this thread, app103 has to reply to this with a quote. Then everybody who see this has to reply with a short play on my nick "hello metalmouth", "hey there tinny", "'sup? thinjaw". Then I reply back with something equally witty. Mouser says hi and then disappears for the rest of the thread. scancode shoots me a URL for some mobile skin he is lusting over at the moment. Then Josh posts "I HATE YOU MOUSER". Ken is just on his way out so he then replies "Hi/Bye Tinjaw". The nout of the blue app comes back with an interesting story about her daughter. This is when I ask where Deozaan is and ask how he is doing on his TGB projects. Etc.

So, we must hurry. My lunch break will be over in 40 minutes.

App! Tag! You're it.

114

General Software Discussion / Recommendations Destroying Storage Media??

« on: December 23, 2007, 12:01 PM »

I am moving in the next few days. I am throwing away everything I can bare to throw away so I need no move it. This will include several Compact Flash, USB memory sticks, and hard drives. I will be physically destroying all of them, but I still want to wipe them first. I was looking at Eraser. Has anybody used it? There is plenty of freeware and open source programs of this type, so I don't want to pay for anything. What do you recomment?

115

Living Room / Top 10 Rejected SIMS Team Mottos

« on: December 21, 2007, 01:32 PM »

I asked our own Ralf Maximus for a top 10 list I could post at my workplace. Ralf delivered the goods. I only tweaked it a little bit.

To provide you with context, I work on a six-man team that helps the US Army keep cost down by using off the shelf games to train Army officers.

Top 10 Rejected SIMS Team Mottos

10. "Does this MOD make me look fat?"
9. "You sunk my battleship!"
8. "It takes a real man to die bravely in combat.  It takes a team of six to teach him not to do that."
7. “Answering Your Stupid Questions: With Science!"
6. "We Don't Care What You Think, Halo 3 is a Valid Training Tool."
5. “We’re not in Mom’s basement anymore!”
4. "Since you asked, yes: w00t is an official DoD acronym"
3. “We are unstoppable.  Unless power to the server room fails."
2. "Simulated combat is for the weak and timid!"  (Translated from the original Klingon)
1. "Smell that, soldier?  Napalm.  The simulated smell of victory." (If you can’t smell it please make sure the “Smell” option is checked. If it is, please reboot.)

116

Developer's Corner / RFI: Win32 API or WMI means of manipulating multiple video displays/monitors.

« on: December 17, 2007, 12:28 PM »

Help me Obi-Wan KenCody!

Here is what I want to automate...


It just so happens that I was looking for a way to do this today via AutoIt (or something similar) and was in the middle of researching it, when one coworker walked up to another coworker at the desk next to mine and asked if he knew of a way to do the same thing I was researching. So, If you help me, you will be helping two more via proxy. 

Here is the simple scenario:
I have a laptop. Sometimes I am only using my laptop's build in display. Other times I have an external monitor connected and I want to "Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor." so I can use both displays. I am getting tired of having to do this manually. And then manually again to reverse things.

I have found some info on MSDN, but it is only for getting/setting display resolutions. I can't track down the API or WMI calls that are behind the Display Properties dialog. At this point I may have to employ a Windows API spy program unless I can find some documentation.

Have any of you gurus come across this info in your travels?

117

General Software Discussion / Tongue in Cheek Review of Windows XP

« on: December 17, 2007, 07:31 AM »

I have finally decided to take the plunge. Last night I upgraded my Vista desktop machine to Windows XP, and this afternoon I will be doing the same to my laptop.

Review: Windows XP at Coding Sanity

118

Developer's Corner / Excellent Article: Specialized Degrees vs. Computer Science Degrees

« on: December 11, 2007, 01:18 PM »

When choosing between these two types of programs, students should consider their own learning styles and preferences, future and short-term goals, cost, and greater academic plan. Both academic routes can get you a job in the game industry, but what you'll have to do to get there will vary

I think the article does a good job of pointing out the ups and downs of both options. And as the quote above demonstrates, they aren't promoting one over the other. It is a balanced piece asking the readers to choose themselves based on their own preferences.

119

General Software Discussion / Is it time to move beyond Cygwin/X?

« on: December 09, 2007, 07:44 PM »

Cygwin/X hasn't been updated since January 2004. It looks to be dead. What are you folks using these days to connect to an X session from a WinXP box to a *nix box?

120

General Software Discussion / Looking for Norton Ghost Image Repair Tool

« on: December 09, 2007, 10:45 AM »

I have just copied 20 CDs worth of .GHO files on to my hard drive. These are all parts in a backup of a hard drive from 2002 using Norton Ghost. When I attempt to use Ghost Explorer it asks me to insert CD 19. All the files are already on the hard drive and it appears the files form cd 19 are corrupted. Is there a tool to repair the ghost image or salvage what I can from the rest of the backup?

121

Developer's Corner / Look For Premade Gallery Scripts/Generator

« on: December 02, 2007, 04:32 PM »

I am aware of the usual tools to generate thumbnail galleries from images. I am also aware of various LightBox scripts. What I cannot find is a way to do what New Egg does. I have taken some screencams using Jing to demonstrate what I am looking for.

This first video show the portion of a New Egg page that has the functionality I want.

[attachimg=#1][/attachimg]

When you click on the image, it brings you to a larger gallery.

[attachimg=#2][/attachimg]

122

DC Website Help and Extras / Donation Coder Seals

« on: December 02, 2007, 11:10 AM »

I like the idea of forum badges. I'd also like to have Donation Coder Seals. Larger images we can use on web pages like other awards banners. I'd like to see them for things like programming contests. I want to post them on pages like my HowLong2It webpage.

I am thinking something like a Cody coin. The US Army has a tradition of handing out coins for stuff like this.

This is crappy, but gets my idea across.


p.s. Seal courtesy of Official Seal Generator.

123

GOE 2007 Challenge Downloads / HowLong2It - GOE Challenge 2007 Entry

« on: December 01, 2007, 11:14 PM »

Here is my entry - HowLong2It

HowLong2It is a way to keep track of how many days since some date in the past and how many days until some date in the future. The applications is always only a click away. Click on the tray icon and the status window will popup to show you the dates/tasks you are tracking.



I have setup a webpage for it. It is based of an idea from spankymcgee.

This is an odd entry, because I built it, and everything related to it (the web page etc.) in about a total of less than 24 man hours. I hadn't planned on entering this contest, but Friday I decided to see what I could do using AutoIt in the time remaining. I will be doing a heck of a lot of work on this over the next few days to weeks. Right now all that is there is the executable file. There is no installation necessary. There is no documentation at this point, so it will be the first thing I do starting... now.

124

Living Room / Forum Angst

« on: November 27, 2007, 01:58 PM »

Since my shrink has the day off, I think I will vent here. 

My mind is at odds with itself yet again. About a year ago I weened myself from almost all feeds/forums. Why? I spent so much time reading forums & feeds that I never got anything done. But, here I am once again and I can't move because I am covered with cruft from my list of forums & feeds. It all starts off with adding "just one more" to my list because they have one good article/post/story and I think that adding it to my list will teach me something new and useful - and most of them do. The problem arises when I hit, what I call the "Cliché Level", when various sayings start to mock me, like, spending so much time sharpening my saw that I never chop any wood, and , those who can do, while those who can't talk about it in forums. It is to the point where I think this could be considered a limiting personality disorder. 

How do you folks deal with finding that fine balance between learning and doing? The problem with "too much doing" is that you don't learn about newer, or just plain better, ways of doing things. The other extreme (and extremes are never a good idea) is to just isolate myself in a virtual read only mode where I just do and while doing I read when I get stuck or want to try something new, but the source of this new knowledge is just focused articles and books instead of forums & feeds.

Ugh! What am I to do?

125

Developer's Corner / Dilbert On Agile Programming

« on: November 27, 2007, 09:34 AM »

Sorry, have to link. Can't post it directly.

http://www.dilbert.c...ilbert-20071126.html