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No need for temporary variable (Javascript)

2012-02-17T07:29:00.007+01:00

Assume you have a function, and that function has a param (called 'config' herein) which may be a string or an object. Inside your function, you check for the type and if it's a string, you want to make this strings value a property of your object.

My first, fast approach was this one:

var url = config;

config = {};

config.videoLink = url;

My second approach looked like this:

var url = config;

config = {videoLink: url};

I thought about what's happening in those statements and realized that the temporary variable 'url' is not needed, because javascript is executing the assignement from right to left, means I can override 'config' with an object that keeps the original value of config as a property. See this third & final approach:

config = {videoHash: config};

So Javascript builds the object, assigns the value of config (string) to videoHash and assigns this object to config, which now is a object as desired.

xfce4-screenshooter 1.7.9 - Segmentation Fault on startup

2012-02-01T18:53:00.001+01:00

When starting xfce4-screenshooter, there's an segmentation fault message and it (of course) doesn't start up. The solution is pretty simple:

touch ~/.config/xfce4/xfce4-screenshooter

Source: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/slackware-14/where-to-get-xfce4-8-goodies-etc-885538/#post4382696

wicd-gtk / wicd-client (tray) not starting, glib.GError: Unable to connect to server

2012-01-21T23:35:00.001+01:00

Start wicd-client with '-n' - disable notifications and everything is fine. See source below if you want to use notifiations:

Source: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=108666

Headphonejack not working on x121 w. Slackware 13.37 - Kernel 2.6.37-6

2012-01-13T22:05:00.000+01:00

Use alsaconf to create config file. Edit the created config file /etc/modprobe.d/sound.conf , add the following line:

options snd-hda-intel model=thinkpad

Save and either reload modules or reboot.

Keycodes & X

2012-01-09T22:19:00.001+01:00

Cool tutorial on keycodes and how they are noticed by the kernel (& passed to X). http://fail2fail.com/archives/2-Hardware-Tasten-unter-Linux-unabhaengig-von-Desktop-Umgebung-nutzen.html

Building latest Chromium on Slackware

2012-01-02T07:55:00.004+01:00

Nice Slackbuild on Github, frequently updated:
https://github.com/yucatan/chromium

Edit: Don't forget to replace make with make -j2 in file chromium.SlackBuild on a dualcore system to use both cores. :)

pm-tools - dig deeper

2012-01-01T18:52:00.001+01:00

Nice howto, even if it's for gentoo:

http://www.gentoo.de/doc/de/power-management-guide.xml

Install xfce4-power-manager Slackware 13.37 - shows no Battery status

2011-12-28T11:28:00.000+01:00

http://goodies.xfce.org/projects/applications/xfce4-power-manager needs upower (http://slackbuilds.org/repository/13.37/system/upower/) - install upower, restart power-manager and battery state is fine.

setTimeout() && setInterval() scope problem solver

2011-12-21T10:54:00.000+01:00

This is so handy from time to time:

setInterval(
    function () {
        var myVar = document.getElementById("givenID");
        setTimeout(
            function() {
                // myVar is available because the inner closure 
                // gets the outer closures scope
                myVar.innerHTML = "Junk";
        },2000);
    }, 10000);

Source: Stackoverflow

Sencha Touch 1.1 - Adding a record and removing it doesn't work

2011-12-20T10:26:00.008+01:00

I did the following and it worked well:

Add an entry - reload the app - delete that entry

I did the following and it didn't work:

Add an entry - delete that entry

Why?

I started to debug both cases paralelly. In both cases I found the new record in the object that is used to determine what has to be done, but for some strange reason in the case of adding and directly deleting that entry Sencha Touch doesn't find the entry.

What I did is really simple: After running the store.remove(record) method I check if there's a record in the store.removed property. If not, I add that record manually. You can as well fully remove the store.remove(record) method call and write the record directly into the property. It's up to you.

After you did that you just need to call store.destroy() to remove the record.

Sencha Touch 1.1 - CRUD actions & callbacks via REST proxy

2011-12-20T09:18:00.003+01:00

CRUD actions
Methods without value param (update, destroy):
store.update({
callback: function(answer, object, success) {
if (success) { ... }
}
});

store.destroy({
callback: function(answer, object, success) {
if (success) { ... }
}
});

Methods with value param (create, load):
store.create(values, {
callback: function(answer, object, success) {
if (success) { ... }
}
});

store.load({
callback: function(answer, object, success) {
if (success) { ... }
}
});

CRUD action executes only once?
If you can run some of these functions once and after that no XHR is made, it may be because you encountered this bug: Bug @ Sencha Forum

I solved this bug by setting store.snapshot to false, so the function that engages the XHR is no longer looking for changes in the snapshot but in the store object.

Enable cups

2011-12-11T16:15:00.004+01:00

chmod +x /etc/rc.d/rc.cups
/etc/rc.d/rc.cups start

Source: alien slackbook

Slackware local shutdown script (to wipe out /tmp etc.)

2011-12-11T15:38:00.000+01:00

Doesn't exist, but according to rc.local it's ok to create & use it :)

/etc/rc.d/rc.local_shutdown

Chrome 15 from Slackbuild.org

2011-12-11T15:16:00.002+01:00

Install libevent:
http://slackbuilds.org/repository/13.37/libraries/libevent/

then chromium:
http://slackbuilds.org/repository/13.37/network/chromium/

Customize XFCE4 Menu

2011-12-11T12:08:00.001+01:00

http://wiki.xfce.org/howto/customize-menu

Desktop files are located here: /usr/local/share/applications | /usr/share/applications/

List only symbolic links in current directory

2011-12-11T11:48:00.012+01:00

find . -type l -exec ls -la {} \;

Got to say that here: find with -exec param is sooooo mighty!

Copy files recursively without keeping directory structure (Linux)

2011-12-07T11:43:00.004+01:00

We had to copy many files that were located in a very complex directory structure. The following snippet searches the current directory and its subdirectories for *.xml files & executes the cp command on every file it finds (the braces {} represent the file):

find -type -f -iname '*.xml' -exec cp {} /target/dir/for/all/xmls/ \;

The target dir now contains all *.xml files without directories.

All Methods from a Javascript Object

2011-12-07T08:18:00.000+01:00

I wrote that little helper because webdeveloper toolbar didn't show all methods to me. Maybe it's useful for you too.

https://gist.github.com/1441816

console.log & debug flag?

2011-12-01T14:34:00.003+01:00

Instead of checking the DEBUG flag everytime you need a debug info, like this:

if (DEBUG) {
console.log("my debug output");
}

you can just check the DEBUG flag once and disable the console.log function, like this:

if (DEBUG === false) {
console = {
log: function() {}
};
}

This enables you to simply call:

console.log("my debug output")

in your application. If DEBUG is true, you'll get your output. If DEBUG is false, console.log() will be called but is an empty function and thus will produce no output / error.

Automated slackware package creation from given sourcefile

2011-11-19T22:18:00.004+01:00

Slackware packages are a great (the only good way) to keep track of the installed software on (and to cleanly remove installed software from) your slackware machine.

Most packages that you can find in the www (slackbuilds.org, http://packages.slackware.it, ...) are outdated. You know that: Looking at slackbuilds.org for a tool, then looking at the version number and see that there's a source on the builders homepage that's x major and y minor releases further.

I, personally, hate to install 'old' software. I want the newest. So I have to built from source - make, ./configure --flags, make install to a DESTDIR, cp docs, change rights and makepkg at the end.

This sucks. To learn a bit about writing shellscripts I started to write a shellscript that does the job (yes, I know about pkgbuild). Currently it's able to:

remove old sources
remove old package
extract the source package (tar.gz / tar.bz2)
copy a given layout file (supported by apache httpd for instance)
make install to DESTDIR
create documentation directory
copy documentation files (like README, INSTALL, AUTHORS...)
chown root.root DESTDIR
build package with makepkg
echo build time

And here is what I plan to add:

remove sources after successful build
remove installation from DESTDIR after successful build
automatically search SRCDIR for documentation and copy it
really important: create slack_desc for created package
really important: output last 5 rows if build fails
really important: check for $DESTDIR support
make it much cleaner
less params

Yesterday I built the whole xfce4 from source in approx 15 minutes. Added install.sh to installpkg the packages in the right order and et voilà - installed xfce4 in 30 seconds. :-)

NOTE: I don't make any warranties that my script will work for you or won't fuck up your machine.

So if you want to give it a try, look here: https://gist.github.com/1379368

NOTE: I don't make any warranties that my script will work for you or won't fuck up your machine.

Change keyboard layout in Slackware 13.37

2011-11-19T21:33:00.000+01:00

/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/90-keyboard-layout.conf

Signs that you are a bad programmer (Bad Programmers)

2011-11-07T09:30:00.002+01:00

Quite interesting article: http://badprogrammer.infogami.com/

Measuring compile time to check overclocking of cpu

2011-10-02T09:42:00.000+02:00

Step 1:
Use standard cpu clock and a source of medium size:
time -p ./configure && make
and note down time next to 'real'.

Step2:
Remove sources, extract again, overclock cpu and run

time -p ./configure && make

again. Compare the value next to 'real' with the noted down value.

Asus S.H.E. for Ubuntu (Jupiter)

2011-09-27T21:11:00.000+02:00

'overclock' Asus netbook cpu in Ubuntu via Jupiter: http://www.webupd8.org/2010/07/jupiter-ubuntu-ppa-hardware-and-power.html

Styling Browser Validation Messages

2011-08-30T08:16:00.000+02:00

With HTML5 there came the great power of using the browsers built-in validation methods for <input> fields. Some days ago I heared a co-worker arguing that it's not possible to style the error messages generated by the browser. It's just wrong. You can style them, they are using pseudo classes and, of course, every browser uses different pseudo classes:

Firefox: https://developer.mozilla.org/en/CSS/%3ainvalid
Chrome [Webkit]: http://trac.webkit.org/browser/trunk/Source/WebCore/css/html.css (search for 'bubble' there)

Sadly, if you want to use it today, you have to implement a fallback for IE.

Coding Backwards

2011-08-25T07:53:00.000+02:00

Now this is a really cool idea how to get a gerneral idea of the design you really need (and this is NOT the design that comes to your mind FIRST):

"I decided that I’d [...] write out a script using the yet unwritten API. I’d reverse-engineer a good design by pretending I’d already written one!"

"A better design quickly appeared when I forced myself to preemptively eat my own dogfood. Instead of shoehorning use-cases into a class structure I’d already designed, I coded backwards and the opposite happened: a design evolved from daydreaming about an API that I’d like using."

SOURCE: http://jameso.be/2011/08/19/coding-backwards.html

For all your opacity needs

2011-07-25T08:15:00.000+02:00

in this order:

opacity: .5; // for all other browsers
-ms-filter:"progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.Alpha(Opacity=50)"; // for IE8
filter: alpha(opacity=50); // for IE5-7

JS Module Pattern

2011-07-23T13:20:00.003+02:00

var someModule = (function(){
//private attributes

  var privateVar = 5;



  //private methods

  var privateMethod = function(){

  return 'Private Test';

  };



  return {

    //public attributes

    publicVar: 10,

    //public methods

    publicMethod: function(){

      return ' Followed By Public Test ';

    },



    //let's access the private members

    getData: function(){

      return privateMethod() + this.publicMethod() + privateVar;

    }

  }

})(); //the parens here cause the anonymous function to execute and return

        

someModule.getData();

SOURCE: http://addyosmani.com/resources/essentialjsdesignpatterns/book/

Nyromodal Wiki Startpage is defective, use this older version instead

2011-07-19T09:55:00.001+02:00

http://bit.ly/qUra4h

Nyromodal strips / removes script tag on ajax / xhr load

2011-07-19T09:40:00.000+02:00

Got me some time to get 'round this, here's the solution:

"If you need to use an external JavaScript content, you could add the attribute rel="forceLoad" to the script tag and nyroModal will load it during the opening modal."

"If you want to use a script which need the content to be visible (many jQuery UI script for instance) you could add the setting rev="shown" to the inline or external script tag to execute it juste before the endShowContent callback."

Source: http://bit.ly/oJ8AeD

Writing a Chrome Extension - HTML + JS

2011-07-18T20:46:00.001+02:00

http://geeknizer.com/google-chrome-4-extensions-how-to-create-twitter-client-download-tutorial/

"WindowsUpdate_80070570" "WindowsUpdate_80073712" Errors

2011-07-14T19:47:00.000+02:00

Fixed the above stated problem for me. EDIT: It also fixed a problem where the Service Pack couldn't be installed!

net stop wuauserv

net stop bits

net stop cryptsvc

ren %systemroot%\System32\Catroot2 Catroot2.old

net start cryptsvc

ren %systemroot%\SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old

regsvr32 wuapi.dll

regsvr32 wuaueng.dll

regsvr32 wucltux.dll

regsvr32 wups2.dll

regsvr32 wups.dll

regsvr32 wuwebv.dll

net start bits

net start wuauserv

net start Eventlog

exit

Reboot and try update again.

SOURCE: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_other-windows_update/windowsupdate80070570-windowsupdate80073712-errors/8a1ff2d4-0c96-495c-b22a-759f9b66f2e6

On event.preventDefault() error messages in IE 8 (9? 7? 6?)

2011-07-08T09:51:00.000+02:00

If checking for event.preventDefault() you get error messages in IE.

A better way is to check for the existence of event.returnValue (which is IEs preventDefault()) and if it doesn't exist you know that you're not on IE.

if (event.returnValue) {
// this is IE
event.returnValue = false;
} else {
// this is Chrome, Firefox, Safari etc.
event.preventDefault();
}

JPG to DIV

2011-06-19T17:01:00.000+02:00

Spent some minutes doing this after a co-worker of mine had this idea. Here's the PHP-Script:

<!doctype html>

<html>

<head>

div {position: absolute;width: 1px; height: 1px;}

</style>

</head>

<body>

<?php

$imagePath = 'path/to/picture/and/picname.jpg';

$img = imagecreatefromjpeg($imagePath);

$heightWidth = getimagesize($imagePath);

$imgH = --$heightWidth[1];

$imgW = --$heightWidth[0];

for ($xc=0; $xc<=$imgH; $xc++) {

for ($yc=0; $yc<=$imgW; $yc++) {

$color_index = imagecolorat($img, $yc, $xc);

$color_tran = imagecolorsforindex($img, $color_index);

echo '<div style="background:rgb('.$color_tran['red'].','.$color_tran['green'].','.$color_tran['blue'].');top:'.$xc.'px;left:'.$yc.'px;"></div>';

}

</body>

</html>

Using this one with a picture with more than 160.000 pixel will produce a html-file with a size of more than 10 Megabyte. The Script runs trough in less than a second, rendering the divs in the browser is what makes it unuseable, but it works well to around 200.000 pixel.

Optimization ideas:

float instead of absolute (have no idea if that speeds up or slows down)
reduce the markup as much as possible
if the pixel next to the last rendered pixel hast the same color, the element could be extended, insted of placing a new element
some more, too lazy to write them down now...

Javascript OOP Cheatsheet

2011-06-15T14:34:00.001+02:00

Imagemagick Ubuntu Install & Batch

2011-06-10T19:51:00.000+02:00

sudo apt-get install imagemagick

convert -resize 25% -quality 80% *.jpg

Installing php-unit via PEAR on Ubuntu 11.04 Natty

2011-06-10T19:31:00.000+02:00

sudo apt-get install apache2
sudo apt-get install php5
sudo apt-get install php5-curl

enable curl.so in php5.ini

sudo apt-get install php-pear
sudo pear channel-discover pear.phpunit.de
sudo pear channel-discover components.ez.no
sudo pear channel-discover pear.symfony-project.com
sudo pear update-channels
sudo pear upgrade
sudo pear install phpunit/PHPUnit

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart