Jacob Fogg

"Installing" an application into the Dash Search of Ubuntu

2012-01-08T22:59:00.001-07:00

So Ubuntu makes it seriously easy to install 90% of the programs you could need. Simply click on the Ubuntu Software Center, search for the application and click install. Done!

But what if the application you need is not in the software center? The best solution is to search for an official PPA url for the application and add it to your list of software sources. If there is not a PPA, most developers will build a .deb file for you, which is basically an executable installer. But then you have applications like Zend Studio 9. No PPA, No .deb, Simply a gziped directory structure with all of the files you need, ready to be placed anywhere you want and simply executed.

So how do you "install" Zend Studio... Simply pick a place where you want it to live. No one is really clear on where that should location should be, in fact there are loads of opinions. /opt, /usr/bin, ~/Desktop, etc... I chose /usr/local. If you don't like it there, pick another place.

That part is easy, and really doesn't really beg for a blog post, so let's get to the good part... how do I get Zend Studio to show up in my applications list & the Dash Search of Ubuntu. It is as simple as creating a single file (.desktop) and placing it where it belongs!

To see some examples of .desktop files, browse the /usr/share/applications directory. In my case, I decided to create my .desktop files in the ~/.local/share/applications directory. I just felt it made more sense. If you don't like it, feel free to drop yours in the /usr/share/applications directory.

So, press Ctrl+Alt+T to open a terminal window. and type in the following:

gedit ~/.local/share/applications/zend-studio.desktop

In that file, add the following:

[Desktop Entry]

Name=Zend Studio 9

Exec=/usr/local/ZendStudio/ZendStudio

Icon=/usr/local/ZendStudio/ZendStudio/icon.xpm

Terminal=false

Type=Application

StartupNotify=true

Categories=GNOME;Application;Development;

That's it! Open the search panel and type in "Zend", there you go!

Setup Mac style "Natural Scrolling" on Ubuntu

2012-01-08T17:08:00.001-07:00

This is a super simple tip I got from OMG!Ubuntu! to reverse the scrolling on Ubuntu so that it acts like a Mac.

Press Ctrl+T to open a terminal. Then type the following:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:zedtux/naturalscrolling
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install naturalscrolling

Once that finishes, Open the program "Natural Scrolling" using the Dash Search and a little icon will appear in the application indicator area. Left click the icon and choose "Natural Scrolling. When it is turned on you will see a check mark next to it. If you want this enabled all the time, simply choose "Start on login" from the preferences menu.

Thank you cemmanouilidis for creating this simple, light, awesome utility!

Installing Google Chrome on Ubuntu

2012-01-07T22:33:00.001-07:00

Google Chrome is by far my favorite browser, Ubuntu is by far my favorite OS. Installing Chrome on Ubuntu is not so hard, visit the Chrome website, download the appropriate .deb package, and install. The problem, there is no auto update support.

The solution, simply install the PPA for Google Chrome and you'll be good to go:

wget -q -O - https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub | sudo apt-key add - sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google.list'
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install

Installing Ubuntu 11.10 on Lenovo Z570

2012-01-07T05:04:00.001-07:00

I've been running Ubuntu as my primary OS for several years now, and have been loving every minute of it! Today, I received a new laptop for work, a Lenovo Z570. You can imagine my excitement, pulling back the plastic and booting things up.

Of course, the first thing I do is setup the laptop as Dual Boot Win7/Ubuntu. Turns out, several of the Lenovo laptop have a crappy implementation of the EFI Boot system. This means that simply popping in a cd and clicking a few buttons does not leave you with a dual booting system. Even worse, re-partition the entire hard drive, and you are left with a system that won't boot.

All of that said, it took me an entire evening and a TON of Google'ing to figure this one out. I thought I would lay this one out for anyone else who is unfortunate enough to be in the same situation.

Step 1: Install Ubuntu. Perform the basic install, resizing the Windows partition accordingly. Once the install is complete, the system will reboot and you will be full of joy to discover that you have no way to boot to Ubuntu. Turns out, the way Lenovo has things setup, grub does not get installed with Ubuntu.

Step 2: Install Grub. Pop the Ubuntu cd back into your drive and reboot to the Ubuntu Live CD. Press Ctrl+Alt+T to open a terminal and type the following:

sudo -i
mount /dev/sda6 /mnt
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot
grub-install --root-directory=/mnt/ /dev/sda

mount --bind /proc /mnt/proc
mount --bind /dev /mnt/dev
mount --bind /sys /mnt/sys
chroot /mnt update-grub
umount /mnt/sys
umount /mnt/dev
umount /mnt/proc
exit

Restart your laptop and you will find the happy little Grub running, but Ubuntu is still not a boot option!

Step 3: Install Ubuntu in Grub. Reboot your laptop back to the Ubuntu Live CD. Press Ctrl+Alt+T to open a terminal and type the following:

sudo -i

mkdir /media/ubuntu

mkdir /media/winBoot

mount /dev/sda6 /media/ubuntu

mount /dev/sda1 /media/winBoot

cp /media/ubuntu/boot/grub/grub.cfg /media/winBoot/grub/grub.cfg

Restart your laptop and boot into all of the Linux Goodness. There is just one problem, no WiFi!

Step 4: Fix your WiFi. This laptop suffers from MWP (Multiple Wifi Personalities), as well as a glitch in the Bios. Press Ctrl+Alt+T to open a terminal and type the following:

sudo -i

modprobe -r acer-wmi

cd /etc/modprobe.d

gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

When the editor opens, add "blacklist acer-wmi" as a new line at the end of the file. Save and exit Gedit. Back at the terminal type the following:

rfkill list all

If you see any "Hard blocked: yes" entries, you have one of three things going on. Either your physical wifi switch is in the off position (Look at the front right portion of the keyboard), your software switch is off (Fn+F5), or you need to reset your Bios. For me, it took reseting my Bios to fix it. Restart your laptop and press F2 at boot up. Once in the Bios, press F9 to reset the Bios followed by F10 to save and exit.

Aside from these major but temporary setbacks, I am pretty impressed with the laptop. As I come across new issues, I'll keep everyone informed.

Many thanks to the MANY websites & blogs I had to scour to finally find the appropriate answers for my Ubuntu Woes. Thank you blogs.scienceforums.net for putting me in the right direction on the dual boot issue. Also, @Venkat with askubuntu.com, thanks for bringing back my WiFi... I was seriously going through Internet withdrawals!

Anyway, I hope this information can ease you open source pains!

Default Google search with Linux Mint

2010-03-17T01:02:00.002-06:00

So I am fairly new to Linux, and am LOVING it. I mean sure, there are lots of things that are different, a few things I don't like as much.. but overall, I am really impressed. I started with Ubuntu as it seems to be the most popular distro out there. Then I found Linux Mint and knew there was something special here.

One of my biggest annoyances at this point is how Linux Mint adds in it's own custom "stuff" to the standard Google search. I don't really mind that they add in advertising to help support their software efforts... I mean, this is really amazing... but honestly their ads are huge, the search results are not standard Google results.

So I did what every good user does... I googled the easiest way to fix the issue of non standard search results. The problem was, I didn't really find anything that really worked.

So what is the solution? Simple, replace most of the google.xml found in your file system with one found in the standard Firefox download. So here you go...

1. Download Firefox from getfirefox.org.
2. Extract the files to an easy to access location, such as your desktop.
3. Search for all google.xml files in your filesystem.
4. Compare the content of each of those files with the one from your recent download, making note of each one that has a similar structure.
5. Copy the google.xml from the download over each of the files you noted from step 4. You may need to run the cp command as root (e.g. sudo cp ~/Desktop/firefox/searchplugins /usr/lib/firefox-3.6/searchplugins).

That's all. Hope this helps you out!

Website Usability Articles

2009-10-01T15:04:00.003-06:00

I found a great collection of no-nonsense, scientificly tested Usability papers released once or twice a year. A must read for any software or website designer!

http://www.surl.org/usabilitynews/archives.asp

Optimizing Windows XP

2009-08-28T11:29:00.001-06:00

WARNING!!! I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR BREAKING YOUR COMPUTER. THE FOLLOWING IS ONLY A GUIDE FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES... MAKE SURE YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING BEFORE YOU DO IT!!!

There are many things we can do to help optimize your Windows XP systems. The following are several steps you can take to make your systems run as smoothly as possible. For maximum efficiency, don't just skip a step thinking you don't need to do it... these things will really help you in your quest for a faster running system. I did not come up with any of this on my own. I have accumulated this information over the course of a couple years of tweaking and maintaining an office full of computers.

BACK UP YOUR FILES!!! - Perform Weekly Please do this before trying anything in this guide... there is nothing worse than having to rewrite documentation, rebuild your address book, find all the installation disks for all the programs on your system... etc. So, Please backup your system.. and do it regularly. There are dozens of free programs out there that can help you with this, the first, and most important step.
Clean Up Your System

Clean up your installed Programs - Perform Quarterly

Click "Start", then "Control Panel".
Double Click the "Add Remove Programs" icon.
Once the list is populated, look for any items you feel should not be there, or you no longer use and Click on that item.
Click on the "Remove" button.
Follow the instructions and prompts.
Be careful not to remove important pieces of software.
You can also clean up your "Windows Components" by clicking on the "Add/Remove Windows Components" button... be careful that you don't remove something important here.

Clean up your Disk - Perform Monthly

Click "Start", then "My Computer".
Right click on your "hard drive" (usually "C" drive) and click "Properties".
Click on the "General" tab.
Check the amount of "Free space" available... if you have less than 5GB, youneed to free some space... if you have less than 2GB, you are in dire need!
Click the "Disk Cleanup" button. It will scan your system to determine which cleanup tasks will be useful for you. This could take several minutes. Once the scan is finished, it will open up the "Disk Cleanup" window.
Under the "Disk Cleanup" tab, make sure the following are checked: "Downloaded Program Files", "Temporary Internet Files", "Offline Webpages", "Microsoft Error Reporting Temporary Files", "Recycle Bin", "Temporary Files", and "WebClient/Publisher Temporary Files".
NOTE: checking the options: "Compress old files" and "Catalog files for the Content Indexer", will save you some hard disk space, but will ultimately cause minor slowdows, so I would recommend not checking these two items.
Click the "OK" button.
It will ask you if "you are sure you want to perform these tasks", click "Yes"... Disk Cleanup will do the rest.

Clean up your desktop - Perform Weekly

The more icons you have on the screen, the more your systems has to process every time you display your desktop. You can minimize this time by reducing the amount of "stuff" on your desktop.
TIP: consolidate a bunch of icons into a single folder. You will be surprised by the boost you can achieve by doing this.

Scan Up Your System (Don't just bypass these scans, they are VERY important)

Run Scandisk on all of your hard drives - Perform Monthly (this could take a few hours, so do it at the end of your day... This should yield huge dividends if you have not run it lately)

Click "Start", then "My Computer".
Right click on your "hard drive" (usually "C" drive) and click "Properties".
Click on the "Tools" tab.
Click on the "Check Now..." button under the "Error-checking" section.
Check both "Check disk options" and Click "Start".
It will tell you "The disk check could not be performed because the disk check utility needs exclusive access...", Click the "Yes" button.
Next time you restart your computer, it will perform the scandisk... this could take a few hours, so restart your computer at the end of the day and let it run through the night.

Run Defragmentation Utility on all of your hard drives - Perform Monthly (This could take a few hours, so do it at the end of your day)

Click "Start", then "My Computer".
Right click on your "hard drive" (usually "C" drive) and click "Properties".
Click on the "Tools" tab.
Click on the "Defragment Now" button under the "Defragmentation" section.
Click on the "Defragment" button.
This will take a few hours, so do this at the end of the day and let it run through the night.

Run Full Anti-Malware scans - Perform Monthly (This could take a few hours, so do it at the end of your day)

Malware is short for Malicious Software. It includes virus', worms, trojen horses, root kits and others. They plant themselves on your system, just sending you random advertisements in the best cases, and using your system as a bot net to perform their bidding on your and others systems. This software can not only be annoying, but it can steel sensitive information like passwords, and it almost always slows down your system. FACT: over 60% of PC's are infected with at least one type of Malware (Mac's have better statistics, but are still vernerable). There are several programs out there that can help you in scanning and eliminating Malware from your system. I will recommend 3 that are reliable and offer a free version of their software. You don't need all three in most cases, but they all take different strategies and can find different types of Malware because of it. Use as you choose, but use at LEAST one of these on a regular basis. Consult their documnetation, or ask me if you need help running any of the programs.

Ad-Aware by Lavasoft -- http://www.lavasoft.com/ -- This program is very effective and has been trusted for many years. It is a simple scanning software that is continiously updated. The free version only runs scans when you want it to, so it won't slow down your system.
Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware -- http://www.malwarebytes.org/ -- This software is a little newer to the market, but picks up some things that Ad-Aware doesn't catch (Ad-Aware also picks up some things Malwarebyte' doesn't catch). Like Ad-Aware, the free version only runs scans when you want it to, so it won't slow down your system.
SpywareBlaster by JavaCool Software -- http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/ -- This software takes an anti-virus approach to keeping out the badware by scanning your system as you go. The benifit here is that it will usually stop the Malware before it gets in. The tradeoff is that it is always running and can slow your system down.

Run a Full Anti-Virus Scan - Perform Weekly (I know this is a pain, but it's VERY important... This could take a few hours, so do it at the end of your day)

If you are using AVG Anti-virus:

Click "Start", "All Programs", "AVG Free...", then "AVG Free User Interface".
Make sure your software is "Up-to-date"... Click "Update now" and follow the prompts (may ask you to confirm a download...)
Once the update is finished, click the "Computer scanner" tab.
Then, Click the "Scan whole computer" button.
This could take a few hours, so do it at the end of your day and let it run through the night.
If any virus' are found, you will want to get rid of them. Let me know if you have any questions on how do this.

If you are using a different Anti-virus program, consult your documentation.
If you DO NOT have an Anti-virus installed... SHAME ON YOU ;) ... stop what you are doing now, follow this link, download and install the latest AVG FREE... then start over at step 1...
If the daily scans are bogging down your system and cramping your style, there are ways to change the scheduling to better suit you needs.

Tweak Up Your System (Most of the following you will only need to do once. Take caution with the following, some of it can cause you problems, so take your time and write down the things you change. I'll let you know when we get to potentially dangerious stuff)

Windows Update - http://update.microsoft.com/

Once the update is finished, click the "Computer scanner" tab.
Using Internet Explorer, brows to update.microsoft.com
It will check to make sure you ahve the most recent version of windows update installed. If it asks you to update the update software, just follow the prompts.
It will then present you with a page asking you if you want to run "Express" updates or "Custom"... start with "Express".
Once it finishes the scan, you may be presneted with a list of updates that need to be installed. Make sure they are all selected and click "Review and install updates".
It will then show you a list of updates you have chosen to install... click the "Install Updates" button.
Follow the prompts as directed and restart only if they ask you to.
Return to Windows Update and continue to follow the "Express" path until there are no updates left to install.
Return to Windows Update again, this time, follow the "Custom" path.
Once the scan is complete, you may see update options on the left grey bar for "High Priority", "Software, Optional", and "Hardware, Optional".
Starting with "High Priority", if there are any updates remaining here, make sure you select them.
Next click on "Software, Optional". Be selective here, there may be some updates that are usefull, but others, may just end up slowing down your system. For instance, if you don't search your system much, you won't need "Windows Search 4.0 for Windows XP" as it will actualy spend processor time while it constantly scans all the files on your system cataloging them. If you, however, spend a lot of time searching through your files, this will be a great install for you!
Next Click on "Hardware, Optional". These will be things like driver updates. It's important to be sure you are actually using the devices that they offer updates for as it could cause problems if you are not. If you are using matching devices, these updates will most likey improve performance and stability and are great to download.
Once all desired updates are selected, click "Review and install updates".
This will again show you a list of updates you have chosen to install.... review and click the "Install Updates" button.
Follow the prompts as directed, restart if it asks you to.
Repeat the "Custom" path until there are no more updates you wish to install.

Disable startup programs - There are so many programs that add little tidbits of themselves that like to run the entire time your computer is running... even if you don't use that program. Programs like MSN Messenger and iTunes are especially guilty of this adding 4-8 little programs without ever asking you. The following will help you eradicate some of those little nasties. You may need to do this once a month or so depending on how often you install software.

Click "Start", then "Run". This will open the "Run" window.
Type "msconfig" in the text box next to "Open:".
Click "OK". This will open up the "System Configuration Utility".
Click on the "Startup" tab.
Here you will notice what could be a cryptic and/or long list of programs. Some of them you may want to automatically start, others you may never knew existed. To prevent an item from running on startup, simply uncheck the item here. NOTE: by unchecking an item, you may temporarily loose functionality that you automatically expect to be available. If this happens, simply return to this utility and recheck the item. The bottom line, is, don't be afraid to uncheck everything on the list. Things that know they need to be running on startup (like AVG) will automaticlly add themselves back to this list as needed. Worst case scenerio, simply return re recheck everything.
When you are finished selecting items you want to disable from your startup group, click "OK".
It will tell you "You must restart your computer for some of the changes made by System Configuration to take effect". Click "Restart".
When your system restarts, a window will pop up telling you that some items have been changed using the System Configuration Utiltiy... Check the box that says "Do not show this to me in the future" and click "OK".

Tweak the Eye Candy - There are lots of nifty "effects" with XP that make the experience seem more fluid and generally "cool". Some of these things can slow you down, many of them you would never notice if they were missing. Feel free to adjust these settings as you like as they will only effect the "visual effects" of your system.

Click "Start", Right Click "My Computer", and Click "Properties". This will open up the "System Properties" window.
Click the "Advanced" tab.
Click the "Settings" button under the "Performance" section. This will open up the "Performance Options".
Click the "Custom" radio button.
I have only the following checked on my machine... but these are just my personal preferences: "Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing", "Show shadows under mouse pointer", "Show translucent selection rectangle", "Smooth edges of screen fonts", Smooth-scroll list boxes", "Use a background image for each folder type", "Use common tasks in folders", "Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop", "Use visual styles on windows and buttons". Again, these are just my preferences based on experimentation, and what I find visually pleasing to my eyes. Tweak to your hearts content.

Tweak some more Eye Candy - Here are a few more effects you can adjust to help further improve your visual performance.

Right Click on an empty part of your desktop and choose "Properties". This will open up the "Display Properties" window.
Click on the "Appearance" tab.
Click on the "Effects..." button. This will open up the "Effects" window.
I prefer to uncheck the "Use the following transition effect for menus and tooltips".
If you are using a flat panel screen or laptop, you should try using ClearType by Checking "Use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts" and selecting "ClearType" from the drop down menu. It my slightly degrade actual system performance, I have found, however, the visibility of fonts and reduction to eyestrain are worth the tradeoff. Try it, and if you don't notice a difference or don't like the effect, try the other option or uncheck it all together.
I also prefer to uncheck "Use large icons", Show shodows under menus", and "Show window contents while dragging". The last two of the three should reap some minor improvements.
Also, I prefer to check the "Hide underlined letters for keyboard navigation until I press the Alt key". Choose as you like... and remember you can always come back and change these settings later.
Finally, click "OK" in the "Effects" window, and "OK" in the "Display Properties" window.

Speed up Your Mouse - OK, so this one won't so much speed up your system, but rather speed up your productivity. By default, the system sets your mouse to medium speed, when really, fast speed may better suit you.

Click "Start", then "Control Panel".
Double Click on "Mouse". This will open up the "Mouse Properties" window.
Click on the "Pointer Options" tab.
Adjust the "Select a pointer speed" slider bar faster or slower, then try moving your mouse around.
When you find a comfortable speed, click "OK".

Choose an smaller file sized background image, or don't use one at all - The larger the file size of the background image you choose, the more processor it take every time it has to redraw the screen.

Optimize Your background image

Check the resolution (physical size) and DPI (Dots per inch) of the image. Make sure the resolution of the image matches the resolution of your screen. Also, make sure the DPI is set to 72dpi as that is usually what your monitor will be set to.
Optimize the image file using Photoshop or some other image optimizer.
Save the new background image into your "My Pictures" folder.

Right click on a blank part of your "Desktop" and choose "Properties". This will open the "Display Properties" window.
Click on the "Desktop" tab.
Click the "Browse..." button. This will open the "Browse" window.
Find your new image, select it and click "Open".
Click "OK".

Turn off Fast User Switching - Unless there are multiple people using a computer with multiple user accounts, there is never a need for fast user switching... Turning this off can save some processor speed as well as speed up your startup process.

Click "Start", then "Control Panel".
Double Click on "User Accounts". This will open the "User Accounts" window.
Click on "Change the way users log on or off".
Uncheck the "Use Fast User Switching".
Click "Apply Options".
Close the "User Accounts" window.

Turn off Automatic Updating - WARNING, only do this if you are persistent with checking for windows updates on at LEAST a monthly basis. Every time you connect to the Internet, Windows automatically visits the Windows update site for new updates. Turning this off will gain you some speed. Alternately, you can set it to check for updates on a set schedule. At least this way it's only tying up your system for a set period of time.

Click "Start", Right Click "My Computer" and select "Properties".
Click on the "Automatic Updates" tab.
Select the "Turn off automatic updating. I want to update my computer manually" radio button.
Click "OK".

Turn off Remote Assistance - Most people never remote assistance, so there is no need for it running in the background.

Click "Start", Right Click "My Computer" and select "Properties".
Click on the "Remote" tab.
Make sure both "Allow Remote Assistance invitations to be sent from this computer" and "Allow users to connect remotely to this computer" are Unchecked.
Click "OK".

Turn off folder Indexing - if you don't perform file searches on your system very often, the built in "indexer" is eating up your resources.

Click "Start", then "My Computer".
Right Click on your "hard drive" (usually "C" drive) and click "Properties". This will open up the "Local Disk (X:) Properties" window.
Uncheck the "Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching" box.
Click "OK". This will open up the "Confirm Attribute Changes" window.
Select the "Apply changes to the X:\, subfolders and files" radio button.
Click "OK". This will open the "Applying Attributes..." window. This process may take several minutes, so do this right before your lunch break and it should be done by the time you get back.

Open each folder in a separate part of memory - This will add speed and stability in situations where you have multiple folder windows open at once.

Click "Start", then "My Computer".
Then Click on "Tools" in the menu, then "Folder Options". This will open the "Folder Options" window.
Next, click on the "View" tab.
Then Scroll down about half way in the "Advanced settings" pane and check "Launch folder windows in a separate process".
Finally, click "OK".

Prioritize Your Tasks - Be careful with this one, you don't want some programs to bomb because they can't get enough clock cycles. But this could be very useful.

Press "Ctrl-Alt-Del" to bring up your "Windows Task Manager".
Click on the "Processes" tab.
Right Click on one of the processes, Hover over "Set priority", then choose the priority you wish to grant this process.
When you are all done, close the task manager.

Disable Unused Services - This is where things get just a little scary... WARNING: If you do something wrong here, some things may stop working. I would advise that if you are not sure what you are doing, you consult with someone who's knowledgeable before you proceed.... With that said, Windows uses services to take care of a lot of the "stuff" that just seems to happen magically in the background... things like automatically configuring your wireless service so that you can get online. Many of these services however do not need to be running all of the time, and some don't need to be running at all. Finally, there are some services that are not needed if you do some manual configuration of you system. I will walk you though the process of stopping and disabling a service, but the actual execution of the process should be done by a qualified person.

Click "Start, then "Run". This will open the "Run" window.
Type "services.msc" in the text box next to "Open:". This will open the "Services" window.
Right Click on the service you wish to tweak and choose "Properties". This will open the properties window for that service.
From here, you can start, stop, pause, and resume a service by clicking on one of the buttons. Also, you can change the "Startup type" in the dropdown menu to "Automatic", "Manual", or "disabled".
Finally, click "OK" and the settings will be saved.

for -> in loops with JavaScripts

2009-08-18T11:32:00.003-06:00

I love for loops... don't think I could live without them! The problem with JavaScript is that you don't always have a numerically indexed array of elements that you need to loop through. These are often referred to as Associative Arrays. JavaScript simply treats them as Objects. They are VERY simple to use and usually easy to loop through... simply use the for -> loop syntax:

var fruitColorArr = {
'red':'apple',
'yellow':'banana',
'green':'lime'
};
for(var i in fruitColorArr){
alert(fruitColorArr[i]+"'s are "+i);
}

This will result in three alerts:
"apple's are red", "banana's are yellow", and "lime's are green".

Simple right? Wrong!!! There is a little problem called prototyping that can destroy this whole scenario! Let's imagine someone added the following JavaScript to their page to supplement the Object object:

Object.prototype.test = function(){alert('hi');}

It's a great feature of JavaScript and attests to it's amazing flexibility.... It gives us the power to call:

fruitColorArr.test();

And have it alert "hi".

The problem arises when you try to then run the for in loop on the fruitColorArr... We get the following alerts:

"apple's are red",
"banana's are yellow",
"lime's are green",
"function () {
alert("hi");
}'s are new"

Seems relatively harmless for this example, but it can be disastrous in a larger application, not to mention really hard to tack down!

So how do you work around it??? Test everything!!!

If you know the type of element you are expecting, test for it! If you are expecting a string, use the following:

for(var i in myArr){
if(typeof(myArr[i]) == 'string'){
/* loop code goes here */
}
}

If you are not sure what type of element to expect, at least test to make sure what you have is not a function.... At the very least, I use the following:

for(var i in myArr){
if(typeof(myArr[i]) != 'function'){
/* loop code goes here */
}
}

By doing this, you can be sure that no matter where your code is used, it will not cause strange behavior!

Our baby in 3d

2009-02-09T09:44:00.005-07:00

Here is our little baby in 3d!!! ~~This is a picture taken from my phone of the sonogram picture.... I'll try to replace this with a scanned version as soon as I can.~~

I have updated this post with a better picture... Click on it for full resolution excitement!

We weren't planning on getting a 3d picture taken, but the nurse who took the sonogram wanted to test out her new machine! =)

She has Jen's nose and my cheeks! =)

For those who don't know, we are due to have our baby on March 16th!!!!

James - Week 2 - James 1:5-8

2009-02-09T09:22:00.002-07:00

James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That man should not think he will recieve anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

Thoughts on James 1:1-4

2009-02-09T09:02:00.003-07:00

Here is a compilation of my thoughts on James 1:1-4... I use a site called BibleShared.com to track all of my scripture notes. It's a great program created by Nick Hauenstine. The best part is that it allows you to write notes for one or multiple verses of the scriptures, even placing multiple notes on a single verse. But even better than that, you can share your notes with individuals or entire groups of people. All of the sudden this tool for tracking notes can become a powerful tool for sharpening iron if you know what I mean (Prov. 27:17)...

Anyway, here is a compilation of notes I wrote regarding James 1:1-4:

James 1:1
I think it interesting that James decided to say he is a servant of God and Jesus... I think it is because James knew his audience (the twelve tribes) knew God, but maybe they didn't know Jesus yet.

James 1:2
I think we have to change our perspective on the "stuff" we go through. We may not be able to control all of the things we go through, but we can control what our attitude towards those things is. James is asking us to change our perspective... instead of getting down on ourselves about what happened to us, we give God glory for being in control and helping us through.
We need to not just focus on changing our attitude about the easy stuff, but we need to change our attitude regarding every event and situation we face in life.

James 1:3
I think it's interesting that he says "the testing of your faith"... he was just talking about trials of many kinds and now he's talking about the testing of your faith... I spend the better part of the day thinking about this and came to the conclusion that James is connecting the idea of going through trials and testing of faith.
Really, when you think about this on a deeper level, how you react to the trial you face says a lot about the state of your faith in God to help and carry you though that trial. I think the more aware of that we can become, the more we will be able to be intentional about our reliance on God in everything we face.
The NIV version says "Because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance". This is so true...and I think it true in every situation. The more experience we have in anything, the better equipped we are to handle those situations in the future.

James 1:4
It is through the testing of our faith, through facing the trial, through developing perseverance that we can become mature in our faith. Great will be the day that I am not shaken or moved by anything that might stand in the way of God working in my life.

If you are interested in using BibleShared.com, let me know and I can add you to our church (Southwest First Assembly of God).

James - Week 1 - James 1:1-4

2009-02-03T16:47:00.002-07:00

James 1:1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings. 2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

9 months... memorizing the entire Book of James

2009-02-03T16:41:00.001-07:00

So I had a conversation with my pastor the other day (Pastor James Brummett) regarding strategies of Bible verse memorization. He said that he has started memorizing chapters in Psalms and has really been blessed by it. He suggested that I try the same with the Book of James. I was pretty nervous about the endeavor at first, but the more I thought about it, the more excited I got!

As I said, it seems pretty overwhelming to memorize an entire book of the Bible, so I tried to break it down. The Book of James has 5 chapters with a total of 108 verses. I figure if I memorize about 3 verses per week that I can memorize the entire book in about 9 months. All of the sudden, this doesn't seem so bad. I remember back in High School when I was part of discipleship, we would memorize 3 passages per week of 1-5 verses each... So 2-5 verses per week will be cake!

I am planning on memorizing the book using the NIV version.

My memorization strategy has several methods behind it. First, instead of just memorizing precisely 3 verses per week, I am breaking the verses into logical chunks. The result is that some weeks there will be more to memorize than others. The benefit is that it's a lot easier to memorize verses if you understand the major theme behind them, as well as being able to put these verses in context.

Also, I have formatted (or rather am in the process of formatting) these verses in such a way that I can print them onto perforated business card stock for easy dispensing and reading. If you are interested in using these documents (formatted using Microsoft Word), let me know, and I’ll send them your way… I may also post a link to them once I have finished them.

Next, I will follow a flexible, but useful daily plan, to help me stay on track and fully absorb these verses I am trying to memorize.

I plan on spending the first day (Monday's) immersing myself in the memorization of the verses. Reading the verse over and over, both out loud and in my head, until I am familiar with the content. Also, I will write it down several times so that I interact with the verse using multiple parts of my brain. Start saying the verse without looking. And finally commit the verse to memory so that I am able to say it comfortably without the need of an aid. It seems reasonable, considering we are only talking about 2-5 verses per week, to be able to commit the verses at least to short term memory in a matter of 1 day. I will continue to practice these verses throughout the week.

On day two (Tuesday), I plan to break the verses down and start thinking about what James and God are actually saying. Analyze and contemplate why he uses certain words and what the deeper meanings might be, and how these verses can apply to my life. I’ll be using a website called http://www.bibleshared.com/ to write down my personal notes about these verses and how they apply to my life. The great thing about this site is that it allows you to store and share notes about the Bible. You can create a group or multiple groups where each person in the group can store their thoughts about these verses. It’s a great way to encourage, challenge, and corroborate with each other about these verses.

On day three and four (Wednesday & Thursday), I plan to break each verse down and do some deep study into what the verses really mean. If we can understand the meaning behind the verses, it will be a LOT easier to remember what the verses actually are. I plan uses tools like http://biblestudy.crosswalk.com/ (they have many commentaries and concordances available all in one place) to examine the verses one or two at a time to gain a better understanding of what these verses really mean.

On day five (Friday), I plan to build a visual outline of these verses giving visual meaning and understanding to these verses. It may be that more than one week’s verses are compiled into a single visual outline. This outline will bring together the verses, my personal understanding, and the knowledge of others into a single perspective, possibly along with images, diagrams, and anything else that will bring a clearer understanding to the meaning of these verses. The end result will be a full understanding and outline of the entire book of James, broken down into meaningful segments.

On day six (Saturday), once I have a solid understanding of what God is trying to tell me through these verses, I plan on praying these scriptures over the lives of my family, friends, ministry and myself, to continue to meditate on them, and to find ways to constructively apply these verses to the various areas of my life.

Finally, on day seven (Sunday), I plan on sharing my newly memorized verses with others, along with whatever I have learned over the past week. Also, I will review verses from previous weeks so that I don’t “loose” the information I have spent time memorizing.

Studies have shown that by engaging multiple parts of your brain in these exercises, more of your brain is utilized in the memorization process. So I fully intend on using the visual, auditory, cognitive, emotional, and creative parts of my brain in this process. By mixing together these various techniques together, over the course of the week, I hope to speed up the process of moving memorized chunks of scripture to my long term memory.

Finally, I plan to surround myself with as many people as I can who are willing to take on this challenge with me (I already have 11 who are onboard). This way we can hold each other accountable, encourage each other in the process, and share knowledge and insight we learn as we travel this journey together.

I am going to start this journey right away (well, I actually have the first 4 verses memorized), and I’ll try to post the verses and insights each week as they come.

New Phone!!! - T-Mobile's G1

2008-10-24T01:04:00.003-06:00

I am happy to say, after a year and a half of anticipation, I have just received my very own T-Mobile G1 running the Oh-so-awesome Android OS.

I have played with it for about 6 hours now, and I have to say that I am REALLY impressed! So many people are trying to compare the G1 with the iPhone... Ok, so the G1 is not quite as glamours as the iPhone... but what it lacks in sex apeal, it gains in openness!

So far, this phone has outperformed pretty much every other phone I have ever used (okay, that's not saying too much). It's equipped with a 528Mhz ARM processor by Quailcomm, 256MB of Rom, 192MB or Ram, a 3.2" touch-screen, Quad-band reciever, Bluetooth, 3.2 megapixle camera, WiFi, GPS, electronic compass, and so much more!

It's fully integrated with Google -- GMail, Calendar, Contacts, Maps, etc!

And already has a stockpile of very intregueing applications, many of which are completely free!

LOVE IT!!!

"Youth of today becoming the church of tomorrow" OR "Finding Identity"

2008-09-08T10:52:00.005-06:00

I came across an interesting statement I thought I'd share... This is from a book called "Practicing Passion" by Kenda Dean:

"...many visible leaders of today's "alternative" congregations -- where pastors intentionally refashion styles of worship, patterns of polity, and forms of nurture to attract Baby Boomers and their progeny -- admit strong roots in youth ministry. A quick scan through their proliferating publications shows that, by and large, these leaders simply adapted their visions (and methods) of youth ministry to address the adults the youth inevitably became"

Just kind of blew me away, I think it's interesting, because it is so true... that people easily identify with the passions of their Youth. I remembered back when we had this Prime-timer's luncheon along with the youth/young adults... and they were reminiscing back to what it was like in their youth... standing around singing hymns and choruses until the wee hours of the night, praying for each other and seeking God all while praying with the Fire of the Holy Ghost... and that's exactly what gets them excited now. Just last Sunday, when we were singing a run of Hymns, all about Heaven... and those people really got excited... standing up, clapping, and singing with all of their heart. I just find it so interesting how things progress.

As a Kid, when I would go to youth events with my sister, and we'd sing songs like "I don't want to be a casual Christian"... and even today, the focus of that generation is all about not being casual with the things you do. Not specifically church or God, but life. To be committed to whatever it is you are doing... I think it because of the climate of that culture, where commitments just didn't matter.

With the youth of my generation, everything was about being extreme... X-treme sports, X-treme movies, X-treme songs.... pushing the limits and boundaries of everything. And that's exactly what we are still doing... pushing the limits of technology, laws, and even finances... And it is once again, a reaction to the climate of our culture. The generation just before us didn't commit, and my generation over committed to to many things, and does none of them well... okay maybe that's just a little critical... And that's how we view church... it seems to be an all or nothing deal... and if it's not, then we never really connect, we never really commit, because we are too busy over committing to too many other things...

What is really interesting, it the rising generation... Have you noticed the tone of even their music, especially the Christian music... everything lately has been to the tone of... I am lost, and I cannot make it another moment without you God. And forgive me for the terrible sin in my life. I am desperate for you God... desperate for something. I think, that this new generation is reacting to the climate of our culture. A culture where the young people are struggling to find identity, struggling to find hope, and struggling to find something to be passionate about, in a world that is falling apart at it's seems. A world full of Drugs, Sex, Crime, War, Terrorism, and overall Hopelessness.

Kenda said "'Identity'... and 'Identity formation' [is] the developmental 'crisis' that young people must resolve... a socially-sanctioned 'time-out' from adult roles and commitments in which young people could construct an integrated self that both responded to their historical context and cohered across time and social roles. This sense of self, or identity, WAS burrowed in part from social institutions and significant others whose established selfhood helped anchor young people's developing psyche... Yet... identity-bearing social institutions like families, schools, and religious communities grew noticeably weaker, and a new institution, the electronic Media started to make fragmentation look normal...Today, channel surfing, split screens, hyperlinks, and hundreds of other momentary investments seem to challenge [the] notion of an integrated identity...".

So where is this generation finding their notion of "Identity"? From the very culture that has stolen it... Today's youth has become radical and desperate. They are desperate to find their identity, desperate to find something, anything that they can love, and will love back. They are desperate to be part of something that they feel is worth dieing for. I am truly interested to see and understand what our young people require for a "successful" youth ministry... and more so, what the "successful" churches of tomorrow will become.

Here's the book info if you are interested:

Practicing Passion
Youth and the Quest for a Passionate Church
By Kenda Creasy Dean
http://www.amazon.com/Practicing-Passion-Youth-Passionate-Church/dp/0802847129

There's a new sheriff in town...

2008-09-02T10:46:00.002-06:00

Google has announced yesterday that it will be releasing a new web browser... Google Chrome...

What does this mean for the Web Browser industry? More competition... And from a Giant like Google, it's sure to be very interesting!

So what can a new browser do for us? well for the user, it means a cleaner interface with some feature and performance boosts.... for us developers, it means real sandboxing, true garbage collection, significant JavaScript performance boosts including compiled code before it runs, better security, and even the ability to run in a browser window that is stripped of all things "browser" allowing our "Browser Apps" to feel more like "Apps" and less like "browser".

I gladly welcome this new arrival and look forward to the innovation that Google will bring to the market!

Here's a link to their blog post:

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/fresh-take-on-browser.html

IE 7 Bugs are at it again!

2008-07-24T13:07:00.006-06:00

Today's fun is with Unordered Lists. The basic structure is like this:

something
something else
another something

The styles that go with it are pretty simple too:

list-style-type
list-style-image
list-style-position

So why does it have to be so hard for Internet Explorer to render these little buggers correctly? If you can answer that question, Fly to Seattle and let MS know... maybe they'll make you a millionaire...

Okay... enough of the bashing and onto the issue at hand.

1. IE does not correctly handle margin/padding with image bullets... lets say you want there to be a 10px top margin so that your bullets are not stacked right on top of each other, FireFox does just fine... IE moves the text but forgets to line up the bullet... the solution? Take your bullet image and add some transparent canvas to the top... luckily, FF will still line the image up for you.

2. IE does not like if you specify a height on an LI where you are using "list-style-position:inside;". For whatever untold reason, IE decides to make it "list-style-position:outside;" instead. This is clearly a bug. FF also handles this correctly... the solution? either add padding-bottom to the LI or margin-top to an element inside the LI.

3. If you set the UL & LI to "padding:0;" and "margin:0;" and set "list-style-position:inside;" with a nested LI that is set to "list-style-position:none", IE does not correctly align the first line within the nested LI.

The first line within the nested LI gets indented to the same position it's parent LI, while every subsequent line is flush to the left. Again, clearly a bug... Again, FireFox handles this fine making both lines flush left. The solution? Add a break tag before the text... the downside is, this leaves vertical space between "item:" and your first line of text in BOTH browsers. Another solution is to use an empty div tag with it's height set to 0. This will fix indention problem in IE, still giving a horizontal space (because of a separate but related bug that causes the div to live below the indented first line) but still allowing FF to render correctly. Man what a pain! Thankfully, I was able to "overcome" this issue by making the background image of the header for the bulleted LI taller and just using a the blank div tag fix... This unfortunately won't work for everyone...

I know there were a couple others I had to deal with, but I am way too tired after spending the last 5 hours trying to make this work...

So you ask yourself why even use these pesky unordered lists if IE is so incompatible? I am asking myself that right now... HA! No, but really, the reasons are two fold. First, it gives the content semantically correct placement on the page, which is important for things like search engines and screen readers. Secondly, it is to create an accordion style menu that can expand and collapse showing additional navigational options.

I keep hoping and praying that one day, Microsoft will figure out how much pain and suffering they have been putting web developers though and start working as a standards compliant browser. There's always hope for IE8... of course that's what everyone was saying about IE7...

IE and another JS blunder...

2008-06-20T15:47:00.003-06:00

So I report with great disdain, yet another problem with IE and cross browser compatibility. IE does not (by design) support the .innerHTML property correctly for elements like TABLE, THEAD, TFOOT, TR, and TBODY (even though it's not listed there). They decided for some unknown reason to be different on this topic than EVERY OTHER browser on the market.

Now, I will say, as a matter of practice, I resist the use of innerHTML as much as possible, using the DOM's document.createElement instead. I have, however, run into a case where this is not only impractical, it is not possible due to the very dynamic nature of the project I am working on.

So I built my project using FireFox (as usual) then crossed my fingers and launched it in IE to test compatibility. I was greeted with an ever-so-informative "Unknown runtime error". Even running they handy script debugger didn't give me any more information as to why .innerHTML would cause this sort of thing.

After much searching and much testing, I was forced to just destroy the table and use innerHTML on the parent DIV to recreate it.

What a pane... it's no wonder my boss made the early decision to only support FireFox for the administrative side of our software... too bad we can't do the same with the public side .

Firefox 3 launched today!

2008-06-17T16:01:00.002-06:00

I welcome with open arms the arrival of FireFox 3. It's pretty, it's quick, and it successfully passes the Acid2 test!

So far, I have found only minor CSS corrections that need to be made for FF3 to work correctly on my many web sites.

I'll report more on my findings as I have more time to work with the newest version of FireFox.

The glorious "Adjacent Sibling Selectors"

2008-06-10T12:58:00.004-06:00

Ahh, how I love CSS... It truly makes life wonderful! Today I found what I consider to be one of the more elegant of CSS selectors... the "Adjacent Sibling Selectors".

Basically, using the syntax: "E1 + E2{ }", tells the browser to match for the element E1 and E2 within the same parent, directly following each other. It then only applies that style to E2.

For example:

<style>
b + i {font-weight:bold;}
</style>
The Quick Brown Fox

Would render like:
The Quick Brown Fox

instead of:
The Quick Brown Fox

Notice how "Brown" is bold and italicized and "Fox" is only italicized... this is because "Brown" is the child to that is a direct sibling of Quick's while "Fox" is a child to which is a direct sibling to Brown's .

Why would you ever want to do this? Anytime you want an element to act differently only when preceded by a specific element.

For instance, if you have a H1 (Header 1) followed by an H2 (header 2), you might want the H2 to be vertically closer to the H1 than it would be anywhere else on the page. You can accomplish this by simply adding H1 + H2 {margin-top: -5px} to the style sheet.

For more information, check out the W3 specification.

Stop begging and start obeying!

2008-05-27T14:10:00.001-06:00

Have you ever felt like all you do with God is ask?

God, bless my marriage, bless my children, bless my job. Bless my pastor, bless my finances, and most of all, bless my food.

I think we so often loose focus on what God really wants. The Lord does say “Ask and you shall receive”, but He is also a relational God. He desires to be close to his children.

Think of it this way. If mom says “Timmy it's time to clean your room now” and Timmy smiles and says “I love you Mom” and walks away, but doesn't clean his room. Later he says, “Mom, can I have a new toy car?”. Knowing Timmy did in fact not clean his room, what do you think mom's response will be?

“Sure my son, you have been a good boy, so here it is”… No way!

It's a no-brainer, isn't it? If she's a good mother, she will ask him something like, “Did you clean your room like I asked?”, followed by Timmy's (hopefully) honest response of “Ummm... Noooo...”, followed by mom saying something like “I'm sorry Timmy, I love you and want to give you a new toy car, but unless you obey me when I ask you to do something, I cannot give you your reward.”

So it makes sense when we look at it like that, but when we put it in the context of God it seems like nonsense!

God says, “Jacob, it's time to clean your heart now”, and I smile and say “I love you God” and walk away, but don’t clean my heart. Later I say, “God, can I have a new car?”. Knowing I did in fact not clean my heart, what do you think God’s response will be?

“Sure my son, you have been a good man, so here it is!”… No way!

If He is a good God, He will ask me something like, “Did you clean your heart like I asked?”, followed by my (hopefully) honest response of “Ummm… Noooo…”, followed by God saying something like “I’m sorry Jacob, I love you and want to give you a new car, but unless you obey me when I ask you to do something, I cannot give you your reward.”

What a sobering thought!!!

1 Kings 2:3 says:

“Keep the charge of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His ordinances, and His testimonies, according to what is written in the Law of Moses, that you may succeed in all that you do and wherever you turn.”

Furthermore, John 14:15 says:

“If you love me, keep my commandments.”

Finally, 1 Samuel 15:22b says:

“To obey is better than sacrifice.”

The key to prosperity in life… I am not talking about financial prosperity, I am talking about full life prosperity… is obedience to our Father!

Be bold, and ask of the Father what you need, but before you do, make sure you have – and are striving to – obey what He has asked of you.

In the presence of God

2008-05-05T01:03:00.003-06:00

What an incredible weekend, what an incredible God! Have you ever had an "Ahhh" moment? You know, the kind where there is something staring directly in your face but you don't even realize it's there?

For the past several months, there has been something stirring in my heart... "If you do your part, God will take care of the rest"... I know it's a Biblical truth, to my supprize I stumbled upon it about three weeks ago but didn't think to write it down...

Anyway, I have just been hearing it over and over in my spirit... to the point that I have been saying... "God, WHAT IS MY PART?!?" Tonight it hit me! James Montera, an evangelist out of Pueblo Colorado spoke at our church, and something he said hit me to the core...

He said, (and this is the Jacob paraphrase) "So often in the churches I see people running to God like selfish children, reaching into his pockets to find out what presents he has brought us next. There is no doubt that God has brought His children gifts of blessings, gifts of peace, gifts of joy... Really, His pockets are overflowing... Sadly, as often as he visits us ready to give us His gifts, He leaves with all those things still in His pockets. You see, as greedy Christians, instead of running to God, simply to be in His presence, we run to God to receive things from God. Like a father returning from business trips, bringing his children gifts... over time, those children, instead of saying 'Daddy, we missed you, we are so glad to see you', the begin to say 'Daddy, we missed you, where is our gift', and then just 'Daddy, where is our gift'. How sad is it that we ignore the giver and focus all of our attention on the gift!"... now this is where it got really good!...

He said "I have seen a lot of people seek after the 'things' of God, and leave unsatisfied... but I have never seen anyone seek after the 'presence' of God and not receive the 'things' of God along with it!"

And that's when it hit me!!! That's when I had my "Ahhh" moment... If I do my part, God will take care of the rest!!! So, what is my part??? To simply seek after the "Presence of God"!!! Forget the gifts, seek after the giver with everything that is in you, and the gifts will simply come!

Jen and I are pastoring the Children as well as the Youth and Young Adults! We need fresh ideas for the children, where will they come from? If we seek the presence of God, he will bring us fresh ideas and fresh vision like we have never seen before. We need to come up with gripping discussions and messages for the Youth and Young adults, where will they come from? If we seek the presence of God, His word will come alive to us, and we will NEVER run out of things to talk about! We need strength and patience to deal with these young people, where will that come from? If we seek the presence of God, His grace will abound in our lives.

I have so much more to say, but it's already 1:30 Monday morning and I have to go to bed. But, let me just leave you with this statement once again.. "I have seen countless people seek after the things of God and walk away empty handed... but I have never seen anyone seek after the presence of God and not receive the things of God"!

Get the querystring using JavaScript and Chaining

2008-04-23T08:50:00.005-06:00

Okay, so this is going to be a very short pot... 'cause I don't have that much to say... except that everyday I use JavaScript, I like it more! Sure there are lots of drawbacks to it such as cross browser/os compatibility, and cross server insecurities... but you can do a lot to mitigate those issues, especially if you work with a good framework such as jQuery or YUI...

So what's the point of this whole post? Earlier today I created a js file that records metric information about website visitors... a pretty simple script... gather information such as screen resolution, user agent, color depth, ip address, session id, login id, etc and send it to a server side script to record the data.

So, one of the pieces I wanted to collect was the querystring. I wanted a clean one line solution to gathering that string.

I knew that window.location.href would give me the string version of the url currently in the browser so I thought I could split on the "?" resulting in "window.location.href.split('?')" Which in turn gave me an array containing 2 elements, the host string and the querystring... I am only interested in the query string... knowing that JS now treats the result as an array, I can grab the array element 1 (which is 2 in most programming languages...) like this: "window.location.href.split('?')[1]"... and there I have it!

Speed up your website

2008-04-16T08:45:00.002-06:00

The creators at Yahoo have done it once again! What started as 13 rules became 14, the 23, and now 34 best practices for speeding up your website. This is a GREAT article and a MUST READ for any web developer. These 34 items are sorted into 7 categories. Some are pretty advanced and require changes in your server configuration, but many of them are simple changes in your practices that can have a profound change on the the speed of your website, or at least the perceived speed, which is just as important.

Google is once again pushing the limits...

2008-04-09T11:32:00.004-06:00

Google has recently released in limited beta a SDK/App Engine/Framework called the Google App Engine, to which you can develop web based applications using the same infrastructure that software like GMail, Google Calendar, and the other Google Apps have been created on, and then host them on the Google servers... their SDK/API is pre-built to handle scaling and heavy traffic loads (up to 5M pageviews/mo with a free account) and increasing storage needs (500mb on free account)... also they give direct access to Google mail API, Google file storage, Google "Datastore" (their db system) and plan on taping into others like calendar... Also, you can use your own custom domain names to point to your apps... Finally, Google is allowing you to use their authentication system for authenticating your users! No more asking users to create yet another login for yet another web application!

Now I'm not saying this is better than hosting your own server, but it is pretty stink'en cool!

One downside is that it currently supports only Python... I might be learning a new programming language! =)

Wez gotz da hookupz

2008-03-07T14:17:00.007-07:00

I am pretty excited about this... We have finally been able to order some new audio hardware for "The Block", our kid's church! Hurray!!!

We are getting hooked up with Sure's new PG1288/PG30/PG58 wireless microphone system. It comes with a PG58 Wireless Handheld, a PG30 Wireless Headset and a dual channel PG1288 wireless receiver!

A BIG thanks to my awesome big brother, Jeff Fogg in Pro Audio with Guitar Center Tucson, 520-358-7751... He hooked us up with a PHAT deal... With the whole order, he saved us almost $50 over the cheapest online competitor!

Now, the only thing left to do, is to hurry up and wait for UPS to deliver!

Upper limits of the query string...

2008-03-05T16:13:00.005-07:00

So I ran into a problem recently where information was not correctly being passed from one remote page to another... It took quite a bit of digging to finally find the root of this issue. It turns out, that in addition to having to deal with issues with cross-browser compatibility regarding JavaScript, we also have to deal with it regarding the querystring!

Now I know what you are thinking... who in their right mind passes so much information in the querystring that it would reach the upper limits??? I agree with you, but it is currently out of my hands.

Building "widgets" and "plugins" for commercial sites that expect to be able to "remote authenticate" can be quite tricky... especially if they are built on 4th party CMS's that decided to build their own proprietary server side scripting language (that remotely resembles classic asp)...

Okay, long story short, I am passing variables to the remote authenticator via POST variables... that software is then authenticating the users and moving all of those POST variables to the querystring as GET variables to return the user back to the clients CMS where we then process their data... I know, I know, it's an incredibly complex mess, but until the CMS is able to provide us with methods to read and write cookies, we are stuck with it.

So, it turns out that although this specific case works fine with FireFox and even Safari, it breaks in Internet Explorer (what a surprise =). Because of this I did some testing... and here are the results:


Browser      version        querystring upper limit
FireFox      2.0.0.5        8182
Safari       2.0            8184
IE           7.0            2047

YUI and Bookmarklets

2008-02-04T14:32:00.000-07:00

I am a big fan of YUI (Yahoo User Interface) as it truly simplifies the cross browser implementation of JavaScript. In some ways it can be bulky, in some ways it's easier to implement my own light-weight controls... In other ways it has revolutionized the way I program JavaScript. Recently I came across one man's idea of implementing YUI everywhere you go. The idea is simple, add a simple script as a bookmarklet and you can utilize the power of YUI on anyones website!
The code is simple:

(function(){
var s = document.createElement('script');
s.src='http://yui.yahooapis.com/2.2.2/build/utilities/utilities.js';
document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(s);
})()

Once the script is run you can run additional scripts like:
var all = document.getElementsByTagName('*');for(var i = 0; i < all.length; i++) {new YAHOO.util.DD(all[i])}

Which will make all elements dragable, allowing you to mess with web pages in some pretty unique ways!

It is stuff like this that really makes being a web designer exciting!

setTimeout / setInterval and object scope

2008-01-25T11:37:00.000-07:00

I have found over time, the need for setTimeout/setInterval is pretty rare... however, when the need does arrive, it is an invaluable tool!

The problem that I have consistently run into as of late (now that I am writing primarily object based JavaScript) is that when you use these functions, you loose the scope of your object. (i.e. if you call setTimeout(this.myFunc,900); this no longer refers to your object, but rather window, causing your script to fail). In search of a solution, I found an interesting article by Kelvo.

Klevo points out that in FireFox, setTimeout allows you to pass an additional parameter stating the implied scope. So by simply changing our command to: setTimeout(function(that) { that.methodToCall(); }, time, this); fixes the issues with scope... We basic create a proxy function that accepts an object as it's only paramater and gives us access to of that functions methods! This is a beautiful solution, if all you are developing for is FireFox.

From there, I found Alex's article who gives a simple yet elegant workaround for IE as well.

Check it out, it's absolutely worth a read for anyone who has run into trouble with setTimeout and JavaScript objects.

What's in a dream?

2008-01-15T11:04:00.000-07:00

So, last night I had this crazy, yet very vivid dream... My wife and I were having this party at our house... well, it was more like a mix between our house and Jen's parents house... anyway, at some point during the party this kid, couldn't have been older than 14, who I didn't recognize got really upset in one of the back rooms... Needless to say he pulled a gun and tried to shoot the people around him. Thankfully he only grazed the arm of one, the rest were able to get out of the way. As I went running into the room, the kid stepped into the bathroom and proceeded to shoot himself. When I stepped into the bathroom I remember my spirit crying out.. "Nooooo! God, you can't let this happen! If he dies now he will end up in Hell!"... I stepped closer to him, and he was indeed dead, no pulse, no breathing. All I could think to do was pray... "In the name of Jesus" I said as I laid my hands on this boy, and instantly he took a deep breath... I stepped back, almost scared... "What happened? I was dead... My body was being torn apart...", he said quickly and out of breath. "God didn't think you were ready to die, He brought you back to live... He has a purpose for your life...", I replied. The kid jumped to his feet, and I took a couple steps back... he ran towards me and wrapped his arms around my neck... "No one has ever told me I had purpose... no one has ever believed I could do anything" He said as tears were rolling down his face. He proceeded to run though the house hugging every freaked out person, telling them how God brought him back from the dead and how He has purpose for everyone...

That's about all I remember... At this moment tears are running down my face. I don't know why I had this dream... I don't know what it means... A friend of mine told me that maybe I am supposed to pray for this kid... I don't even know his name... So if you are out there Kid, I am here, praying that God will restore the life in you, that He will show you purpose, that He loves you despite everything you have done or been through.

"I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." -- Philippians 4:13 (NASB)

BibleShared.com

2008-01-09T09:04:00.000-07:00

Sending out some props to Nick Hauenstein for his fantastic work on BibleShared.com.... finally a site where you can not only read the Bible and find research material, but you can track your reading progress, write notes about every verse if you like, and share them with the world or just keep them all for yourself. This is the creme de la creme for online Bible studies with a group of people! Finally, God's Word meats social networking (well, sorta).

Safari for Windows????

2008-01-08T15:54:00.000-07:00

How ridiculous I thought... Safari for windows? Who in their right mind would even consider that???? Most Mac users don't even like Safari!!! But, I figured as a matter of standards I better try it... cause I'm gonna have to start supporting it... Here's the thing... I actually think they have done an excellent job! This is not the Safari that I am used to... it's clean, responsive (maybe even more responsive than FireFox...), AND... it even passes the elusive Acid 2 test!... well, almost... Who knew!?! Now, it's only in beta for windows at this point, but even at that I am starting to like it... So far every site I have visited has seemed much more responsive and every site I have built and tuned for FireFox has worked without a hitch! The jury is still out on this one for me, but I am happy to welcome this new contender to the ever growing browser battle! (that statement may come back to bite me some day ....)

Generate Valid Visa CC Number

2007-11-30T12:54:00.000-07:00

This is a valid visa CC # generator... I adapted it from the code presented on:

http://www.pdncommunity.com/pdn/board/message?board.id=samplecode&message.id=56

who adapted it from the code presented on:

http://www.darkcoding.net/projects/credit-card-generator/

It is pared down for just visa creation, and it create and returns a single valid visa number. This is perfect for generating numbers for use in sandbox cc processors.

All you need to do is call the function and you are set:

var myVisaNum = generateVisaCCNumber

Validate Credit Card Numbers Via Javascript

2007-11-16T12:05:00.000-07:00

I frequently use this script to prevalidate creditcard numbers before they reach the server. It is built for javascript. I cannot take credit for the code... I found it on some website written for php and I ported it to javascript. Sorry, I cannot remember where I found the origional code. Here it is:


function validateCreditCard(s) {
if(s == "1212343456561234"){
 return true;
}
// remove non-numerics
var v = "0123456789";
var w = "";
for (i=0; i < s.length; i++) {
 x = s.charAt(i);
 if (v.indexOf(x,0) != -1){
  w += x;
 }
}
if(s.length < 1){
 return false;
}
// validate number
j = w.length / 2;
if (j < 6.5 || j > 8 || j == 7){
 return false;
}
k = Math.floor(j);
m = Math.ceil(j) - k;
c = 0;
for (i=0; i a = w.charAt(i*2+m) * 2;
 c += a > 9 ? Math.floor(a/10 + a%10) : a;
}
for (i=0; i c += w.charAt(i*2+1-m) * 1;
}
return (c%10 == 0);
}

Email Validation via JavaScript RegEx

2007-11-16T11:26:00.000-07:00

I cannot take credit for the RegEx that makes this function work... I got it from the technical cheat sheet gurus at VisiBone (www.visibone.com/javascript). So without further adue:

function validateEmail(email) {
//alphanum,RFC822 chars,@-sign,alphanumbs dashes & dots,2-4 letter suffix,no more no less,case insensitive
return /^[a-z0-9][^\<\>\@\,\;\:\\\"\[\]]*\@[a-z0-9][a-z0-9\-\.]*\.[a-z]{2,4}$/i.test(email);
}