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3926

General Software Discussion / Re: WYSIWYG html/xml creator

« Last post by Renegade on December 27, 2012, 10:29 PM »

There are lots of IDEs & editors out there. Free and commercial.

For JavaScript, Aptana ROCKS!

http://www.aptana.com/

However, for XML, you won't find a WYSIWYG editor. It's simply not possible unless you start bending the rules & definitions there. XML is for storing data in self-describing tags. Now, what are those definitions? Well, anyone can make up any kind of definition that they want. For example, here's a short snippet from a GDT file (it's an XML file I use for my own software):

Code: Text [Select]

1. <?xml version="1.0"?>
2. <RenegadeGDT>
3.   <Version Major="4" Minor="0" Build="0" />
4.   <Volume>12.1907994151115</Volume>
5.   <Pan>0</Pan>
6.   <Speed>0</Speed>
7.   <PitchShift>0</PitchShift>
8.   <CountIn OnOff="False">10</CountIn>
9.   <Gain>0</Gain>
10.   <ZoomDistance>100</ZoomDistance>
11.   <PadLoopZoom>0.6</PadLoopZoom>
12.   <SkipBack>-5</SkipBack>
13.   <SkipForward>5</SkipForward>
14.   <SpeedTrainerOn>False</SpeedTrainerOn>
15.   <SpeedTrainerIncrement>5</SpeedTrainerIncrement>
16.   <SpeedTrainerTimesToLoop>1</SpeedTrainerTimesToLoop>
17.   <SpeedTrainerStartSpeed>-50</SpeedTrainerStartSpeed>
18.   <SpeedTrainerEndSpeed>50</SpeedTrainerEndSpeed>
19.   <LoopItBaby>True</LoopItBaby>
20. ...
21.   <EQSettings Count="2">
22.     <EQSetting Name="Zero" Selected="True">
23.       <Band BandIndex="0" Bandwidth="0.3333333" Q="0" Center="18.35405" Gain="0.0" Channel="Left" />
24.       <Band BandIndex="0" Bandwidth="0.3333333" Q="0" Center="18.35405" Gain="0.0" Channel="Right" />
25.       <Band BandIndex="1" Bandwidth="0.3333333" Q="0" Center="23.12465" Gain="0.0" Channel="Left" />
26.       <Band BandIndex="1" Bandwidth="0.3333333" Q="0" Center="23.12465" Gain="0.0" Channel="Right" />
27. ...

I'm the one that wrote the spec there, but how should it be "displayed"? Well, there is no display for it unless I write up an XSLT, which is a processing directive for XML that can be used to output the XML in a more readable format, like HTML. (Which is what I meant by bending the rules above.)

Now, there are XML editors, but they're really just text-based, and not "visual" designers.

Not sure if any of that is useful for you or not.

I'll leave recommendations for specific HTML editors out there to someone else as the tools that I'd recommend probably are right for what you need.

3927

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Beet Box

« Last post by Renegade on December 27, 2012, 06:07 PM »

That's awesome!  

3928

Developer's Corner / Re: Some Programming Levity

« Last post by Renegade on December 27, 2012, 09:12 AM »

*giggle*

- in C/C++, you could do...

[Select]

double d = *((double*) "awesome");

Well, HELLO THERE, 9.53555e-307

-f0dder (December 27, 2012, 09:01 AM)

Ahhh... No matter how you cut it, the awesomeness of the double d ends up with 2 pointers~!

3929

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by Renegade on December 27, 2012, 08:47 AM »

^^ I hope I've not been offensive there. I try to keep my radical and extremist stuff in the Basement as much as possible.

3930

Developer's Corner / Some Programming Levity

« Last post by Renegade on December 27, 2012, 07:40 AM »

I was just doing a bit of programming, and typed:

Code: C# [Select]

1. double

Well, I thought, wouldn't that be a waste of code if I didn't do this:

Code: C# [Select]

1. double d

Unfortunately, I needed to get some actual work done, and couldn't do this:

Code: C# [Select]

1. double d = awesome;

3931

General Software Discussion / Re: Acronis Backup

« Last post by Renegade on December 27, 2012, 05:13 AM »

Renegade - AFAIK Acronis only deletes backups if u configure it that way - I still have my install backup from 9 months ago, and I do a daily backup and told Acronis to only keep 3 most recent copies. It works for me....

-CleverCat (December 25, 2012, 01:45 AM)

I configured it a long time ago, and don't remember what I set it to, but I KNOW that I'm a digital packrat, and there's not a hope in Hell that I'd configure it to ever delete anything. Ever.

The backups are in multiple files, and it had deleted some of the individual parts of the archive, which corrupted the whole thing for restoration purposes.

Anyways... I've got most of what I need installed again. Visual Studio is HORRIBLE to install, and took the best part of a day. Not including docs.

3932

Living Room / Re: Internet freedoms restrained - SOPA/PIPA/OPEN/ACTA/CETA/PrECISE-related updates

« Last post by Renegade on December 27, 2012, 05:06 AM »

Evidently, it is OK for movie corporations and the justice and other government authorities to pirate material, but not the proles.
What a hoot!

-IainB (December 27, 2012, 05:01 AM)

More of a snort as some animals are more equal than others.

3933

Living Room / Re: Be Careful What You Download - Or Go To Jail...

« Last post by Renegade on December 27, 2012, 01:20 AM »

http://www2.fbi.gov/...s/data/table_20.html

http://bjs.ojp.usdoj...ables/weaponstab.cfm

Left hand. Right hand. Huh?

BTW - Check Vermont and North Dakota in the first link (also Hawaii). They're doing something right. Then check California... Yikes...

3934

Living Room / Re: Flash Mob - Beethoven's 9th

« Last post by Renegade on December 26, 2012, 10:24 PM »

We've seen flash mobs dancing before, but this is just absolutely breathtaking....

Flash Mob – San Sabadell - Beethoven’s 9th

http://www.youtube.c...amp;feature=youtu.be

-Tinman57 (December 26, 2012, 06:24 PM)

BAD ASS!

On the 130th anniversary of the founding of Banco Sabadell we wanted to pay homage to our city by means of the campaign "Som Sabadell" (We are Sabadell) . This is the flashmob that we arranged as a final culmination with the participation of 100 people from the Vallès Symphony Orchestra, the Lieder, Amics de l'Òpera and Coral Belles Arts choirs.

Cynical comment

It's kind of disgusting to see it sponsored by a bank. Love the music, the orchestra was fantastic, but man... a bank? Seriously? And they picked that piece? Why not stay in character and play "Black Magic" or "Angel of Death"...

3935

N.A.N.Y. 2013 / Re: N.A.N.Y. 2013 Submission - RAT (Renegade Audio Transcoder)

« Last post by Renegade on December 26, 2012, 10:08 PM »

Bump. v0.2 now. Added in MKV and FLV support.

3936

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by Renegade on December 26, 2012, 08:55 PM »

An interesting variation of the famous "Last supper" of Leonardo da Vinci:
 (see attachment in previous post)

Note: that image may seem irreverent indeed, but don't feel hurted because of it. It was created in sport only, not to hurt anyone's feelings or to offend someone.

-Giampy (December 26, 2012, 06:56 PM)

You can't seriously expect that nobody will be offended!!! 

Cripes! Some of those women have far too much clothing on! How can one NOT be offended?
 

3937

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: OpalCalc 1.43

« Last post by Renegade on December 26, 2012, 07:30 AM »

Heads up people! There's a new version out! 1.57!

Here's the version history since 1.51:

Yellow/higher items are listed first and
considered more newsworthy for your attention.


 1.57     (23/12/2012)

• $, € and @ on certain keyboards work again over v1.55/1.56. Thanks to aberg from Neowin.net for pointing this out!

 1.56     (22/12/2012)

• A few semi-major tweaks over 1.55
• Potential bug fix on bootup over 1.55
• Since version 1.43, an annoying clock symbol is shown in some parts of the GUI during startup of OpalCalc. This is now fixed for 1.56 giving a smoother experience.
• You can now convert from seconds, or minutes/hours to the new special 'time' unit, overriding the "Default time unit" given in the "Options" window. An example is best apt to describe this one: 100 minutes as time (= 01:40:00). Or try: 1hour + 2minutes + 3seconds as time (= 01:02:03).

 1.55     (21/12/2012)
2012 Xmas edition: A long awaited update with tons of GUI tweaks and enhancements along with plenty of minor bug fixes.

 Thank you to everyone who's sent in feature/bug reports - we managed to give away around $50 to $100 in rewards. Not as much as I was 'hoping' for to be honest, but on the other hand, maybe it shows how far OpalCalc has come as not much needed fixing. We'll probably do something like it again soon - in the meantime, please send in any further bug reports, and we might pay you anyway.

• There were multiple occasions when a selection of text required a second click, causing frustration (at least subconciously). For example, copy, undo, redo, zoom in/out, copy/clear line, would 'disable' text selection, until you mouse-clicked again. Not any more.
• Spacing between operators has been overhauled. Firstly, spaces can be inserted between operators even if modulus or programmer syntax is enabled. Secondly, spaces can now also optionally be inserted between × and ÷ operators (as well as the old - and +). Thirdly, sums such as "4 + -3" or "test:-5" or "-5 '(beginning of line)" or "pow(3,-2)" won't now insert the unnecessary space before or after the '-' symbol. Fourthly, if quotes are used to comment the beginning or end of the line (; or : or '), then the minus and plus symbols won't now be used in those contexts.
• Functions using the parameter as the exponent now use proper operator precedence. An example would be: "f(n) = 3^n + 1". Calling f(2) now returns 10 instead of the faulty 27. Related errors were fixed too.
• F12 now removes the line altogether, rather than just clearing the line. I've found it surprisingly handy. If you want to just clear the line like before, Ctrl+X (without anything selected) will pretty much do the same.
• Live help has been improved. Most operators are supported (apart from + - / * ( ) to avoid info overload). It now also displays the unit assigned to a variable if there is one, and the unit type next to the unit (e.g.: "hour (time)" or "centimeter (length)").
• A new more professional installer! It's quicker, smarter and the size reduced from 650k to 500k too.
• For scientific notation, you can now use small 'e' as well as capital 'E'. Example: 4e3 = 4000.
• Hovering over the answer will show the answer in a tooltip (handy if the answer would otherwise go past the right edge of the window.
• Overhaul for the "Show all Q+A" window. The menu item: "Show all Q+A" is now called "Export worksheet...". In that window, you can now save/copy worksheets with a tab (and the new 'spaces' gap) separating the sums and answers. (The 'spaces' gap is useful in a reader with fixed-width fonts). Font colours have also been fixed if you try adjusting gap spacing or the gap format, where the colour scheme was something other than "Snow". Also fixed text colouring for new lines using the "Equals" gap format.
• Better unit handling and unit error detection. Firstly you can now have compound unit types AFTER the 'as' or 'in' keyword (e.g.: "5metres/second as miles/hour"). In regards to error handling, things are a lot 'safer'. For example, saying "10cm^2 + 5cm" or "3miles/hour as hour" will report a 'mixed types' warning next to the answer. Also, sums with the "as" or "in" specifier will now warn you if there are mismatched units. For example, "1000 cm + 1ft as watt" or "1000 cm + 1watt as cm" will add a warning.
• When active, currencies update daily now without throwing an unnecessary message box to alert the user.
• The number pad's dot or comma should act as a decimal separator now regardless of country or keyboard type.
• You can now use percentages inside function calls (e.g.: "pow(3,2+10%)")
• Functions can now use 'shorthand' notation by allowing (for example) variables next to numbers (i.e. "myfunc(n) = 5n").
• The .otxt filetype is (optionally) automatically associated with OpalCalc on install
• Searching is now case insensitive
• Alt+C doesn't now beep when you press it
• Other small bug fixes and tweaks

3938

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by Renegade on December 26, 2012, 05:38 AM »

3939

Living Room / Re: Internet freedoms restrained - SOPA/PIPA/OPEN/ACTA/CETA/PrECISE-related updates

« Last post by Renegade on December 25, 2012, 11:24 PM »

^^ Nice find Iain! It was an entertaining read!

3940

Living Room / Re: Merry Xmas to all DonationCoder folks

« Last post by Renegade on December 25, 2012, 09:14 AM »

Yay for Christmas!

Joy and peace to all!

In the spirit

3941

Living Room / Steve Jobs' Yacht Impounded?

« Last post by Renegade on December 25, 2012, 08:01 AM »

Yeah, you just need to read for yourself:

http://news.cnet.com...obs-yacht-impounded/

Well, whatever.

3942

General Software Discussion / Re: XYplorer ends Lifetime License

« Last post by Renegade on December 24, 2012, 10:23 AM »

This is an issue that I've been thinking about for more than a few years. I've been planning to post a blog post about it, so I'll hold off on comment until then. I've been planning this blog post for a few years...

3943

General Software Discussion / Re: Acronis Backup

« Last post by Renegade on December 24, 2012, 08:55 AM »

I had good experiences with Paragon so far.  Their free stuff is good enough most of the time. 
Acronis "Nonstop Backup" feature was a total failure on my wife's PC - it turned out be "No Backup"; no working backup anyhow.

-Lutz_ (December 24, 2012, 12:13 AM)

I have found the non-stop backup useful on a couple occasions for getting back files.

The only thing I use True Image for is to create a base image of new OS installs. I like to install windows, activate it and tweak it just the way I like it. Then I add a few essential utilities and image it. Now, I can have a fresh Windows install applied in only a matter of minutes.

-edbro (December 24, 2012, 08:07 AM)

Which is what I thought I did... But... Apparently Acronis deletes backups without asking... Not happy. I had a perfectly configured system... in a deleted backup. 

3944

Living Room / Re: Internet freedoms restrained - SOPA/PIPA/OPEN/ACTA/CETA/PrECISE-related updates

« Last post by Renegade on December 24, 2012, 05:50 AM »

^^ Ok. I'll bite. What's the catch? A new 10% tax on all Internet connections to make up for their septillions of losses?

3945

Living Room / Re: Video games Under Scrutiny AGAIN

« Last post by Renegade on December 23, 2012, 11:24 PM »

I don't see banning violent video games as any kind of a solution to any problem, whether or not they do lead to violent behaviour.

-Renegade (December 23, 2012, 10:35 PM)

Mostly just drive 'em underground, but never will stop 'em as long as a market exists.  The current drug and prostitution markets make a prime example.

-barney (December 23, 2012, 10:59 PM)

Exactly. Outlawing non-violent, consensual behaviour is counter-productive. Prohibition didn't work out, and the war on drugs is a failure of epic proportions.

3946

Living Room / Re: Video games Under Scrutiny AGAIN

« Last post by Renegade on December 23, 2012, 10:35 PM »

But... that's what they're trying to do, if they try to remove everything that could possibly be harmful b/c there are idiots out there...

-wraith808 (December 23, 2012, 10:11 PM)

To me, this represents the absolute greatest danger - the well-meaning idiot that actually believes that violently forcing/imposing their stupid ideas on others will somehow solve all the world's problems and magically protect all the other numbskulls from their own idiocy.

I'm all for offering a helping hand, but that's not what happens when some retard decides that now all FPS video games must be banned/criminalized, or insert any other dumb idea there. Any idea that must be "enforced" is probably a bad idea. I don't see banning violent video games as any kind of a solution to any problem, whether or not they do lead to violent behaviour.

3947

Living Room / Re: Video games Under Scrutiny AGAIN

« Last post by Renegade on December 23, 2012, 09:19 PM »

That's an exercise in futility.

-Renegade (December 23, 2012, 05:11 PM)

Quite right, they'll always create a better idiot.

-4wd (December 23, 2012, 07:29 PM)

Case in point - http://www.darwinawa...n/darwin2007-13.html

Absolutely spectacular Darwin Award, and totally NSFW.

Innovation knows no bounds in the consummate idiot.

3948

Living Room / Re: The Rant Thread!

« Last post by Renegade on December 23, 2012, 09:01 PM »

Damn!  This would be started when I don't have any rant(s) conveniently available  .

-barney (December 23, 2012, 08:57 PM)

That in itself is a topic to rant about~!

3949

Living Room / Re: Broadband Caps

« Last post by Renegade on December 23, 2012, 08:54 PM »

There seems to be a fundamental disconnect between ISP marketing divisions and the concept of being honest or not outright deceptive. Skipping the rant...  

3950

Living Room / Re: Facts about Facts?

« Last post by Renegade on December 23, 2012, 06:43 PM »

The solar power panels at $0.40 per watt look very good!