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Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Script# Links

GWT with C# = Script#?


Nikhil Kothari's Weblog : Script#

Greg reminded me yesterday of Google Web Toolkit (GWT). And that's exactly what I was working on, even had the html page open. The point is to have all the active content happen on the client side as I don't have processing capability on the server side for my personal site. And, I just thought that JavaScript is mature enough for something like that.
So, here's the link to Script#. I'm going to play with it today.
It's a tool that compiles C# code into JavaScript. Applications can be created that run in a web browser. The data is available online - pictures, rss feeds, xml files...

Sunday, April 27, 2008

webHTTPBehavior

Finally found what I was missing all this time in regards to WCF services. It is not basicHTTPBehavior but webHTTPBehavior. :)
Yesterday I succeeded to invoke a WCF service from the browser and pass some parameters, too. The output is pure XML, without any additional crap. I really, really like it. I'm becoming such a fan of SOA.

Btw, since I'm using this blog as a reference, let me add that, in addition to using webHTTPBehavior, there is the [WebGet] element that needs to be added to methods exposed through this endpoint. This is for using GET method. Another element goes for POST and others. But that doesn't matter at this point.

Friday, April 25, 2008

Australia Blog

I'm currently posting all the personal messages to Australia blog (http://alenaustralia.blogspot.com) as I see this phase as a temporary thing. This blog will be my diary to remind me of the time spent in Melbourne, Australia.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Using Dropbox for WebSite

I'm a bit bored having to upload a page to my web site every time I make a change. I'm using the web site as a collection of links I want to be available everywhere instead of using bookmarks in a browser. Now, every time I add a link I have to go to Googlepages and upload the page.
Dropbox has an interesting concept of having Public folder, which is shared and available to the public. Since I keep my web site pages in my Dropbox space I simply moved the site(s) to the Public folder and now they are available online as soon as I make a change. The changed files get uploaded in the background. Makes it so much simpler. I'm going to update the links on googlepages so that I keep the domain name and the pages will redirect to pages in my Dropbox.

A link to the index page is here.

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Dropbox Process (On/Off)

A good thing with DropBox is that it can be turned off. If I share feeds from NewsFox and don't want the updates to constantly propagate to the site, I can turn off DropBox and restart it later when I'm done with feed reading. At that point it should synchronize all the changes in one set. This should be visible in Revisions as one update.
DropBox is running as a user process, not a service. So it's easy to turn off and on. This is neither good nor bad thing, just something to have in mind. If the machine crashes or someone turns it off, it will not automatically sync.
But, that's alright, as the files are available on the site. Bringing the computer into operational state should refresh the files and everything should be alright.

Exactly what I wanted - Sync Solution

I'm starting to like the Dropbox service. This is exactly what I wanted... If I change a file on my laptop at home I want it synchronize in the background to an online storage so it's available from anywhere. And, when I get to work, I want the file downloaded and waiting to be used.
There has to be a central repository and that is best to be kept online. With the availability of internet access nowadays, this should be very feasible. If you have to be offline, the file can be kept on whatever device you have. Once back to civilization, the file will be synchronized again.

Dropbox - Home - Secure backup, sync and sharing made easy.

I also love the services that transfer only the changed parts of a file. That's somehow cool and exactly how it should be done. This probably won't work for encrypted files but that's alright. Security can be done in another way, encrypting the whole partition or creating a virtual encrypted disk with TrueCrypt.
So, even though I don't like reorganizing my files to fit into DropBox current limit of sharing only one folder at a certain place (My Dropbox) I'm willing to do that over time. I can set the offline sync to reorganize files for me. There will be more sync pairs but that's alright. Excluding certain files/folders in one set and including them in another, so that they sync to a different place, will not be such a problem.
I still have not decided whether to use SyncToy or continue using Unison. Unison is better at the moment as it has direct file-copy sync and sync via network, where it uses rsync to transfer only the changed parts. At the same time it is not actively developed while SyncToy is. This means that SyncToy might get all these features sometimes in the future.
Thinking of it... I might start using SyncToy more *after* it gets these features. :D Still undecided. Unison only synchronizes while SyncToy has Echo option, which I prefer sometimes, since I use certain folder pairs for backup not synchronization.

Friday, April 18, 2008

Text Flow across Columns in Word

The strait and narrow: using columns

I need to have a text flowing across columns in a Word table. Here's a text that explains several ways to do it.

Dropbox

Dropbox - Home - Secure backup, sync and sharing made easy.

A new and well praised service. I got an invitation for beta so I installed it on two computers. It is simple and unobtrusive. What I don't like currently (but that's the next thing for developers, according to their list of tasks) is that it installs a folder in My Documents and only synchronizes that folder. I don't want to rearrange files and folders that I want synchronized/backed up now that I already have backups/syncs arranged with SyncToy and an external hard drive.
If another solution (VPN) works out, then I'll probably use Unison again. It is effective over the network as it uses rsync and it's easy to start the server via telnet. That's quite the solution I like.

Thursday, April 03, 2008

Toshiba A215 - Vista - Freeze Fix

So far, it appears that the previously mentioned fix worked! I use sleep and hibernate functions and the laptop has not frozen yet. Great!

Power Option - Try This Solution



Screen goes blank with Vista + ATI Radeon - microsoft.public.windows.vista.hardware_devices | Google Groups
"If you are running VISTA, try going to
the Power Options, advanced options, processor power management, and
change the value of the minimum processor state to 100%."

Toshiba A215 / Vista Ultimate Freezes



Screen goes blank with Vista + ATI Radeon - microsoft.public.windows.vista.hardware_devices | Google Groups

There's a discussion in this newsgroup about the issue I'm having with Toshiba A215 and Vista Ultimate. Will try the power setting and see how it goes.
I believe the laptop freezes (with blank screen) only if I put it to sleep/hibernate and wake up later. If I perform shutdown and a new boot it behaves properly.