Slapout Tech

Question about Android Market Graphics

2011-10-07T18:32:00.000-07:00

Google has just posted some "Android Market Featured-Image Guidelines". I've got a question about them. They say the featured image should be 1024x500 pixels. This image gets scaled down to 705x344 for the website version of the Android market and they say it will be scaled down smaller for handsets.

My question is, what is the 180x120 "Promotional Graphic" for?

RadioShack to the Rescue?

2011-10-06T17:43:00.001-07:00

The other day I bought a new SATA DVD-burner. As I installed it I noticed that I didn’t have any free SATA power connectors. I did, however, have some IDE power connections that weren’t being used so I started looking for an IDE to SATA power adapter. (“MOLEX to SATA power adapter.”)

My first thought was the local computer store. But they specialize in Macs and even if they did have it, it’d probably be expensive. So I checked Newegg.com. They had one for $6.00 ($4.00 + $2.00 shipping & handling.) But I really didn’t want to wait for it to be shipped. So I checked BestBuy.com. They had them, but not in local stores.

Then, for some reason, I was reminded of RadioShack. I checked their web site and to my surprise not only did they carry them, they were available in my local store! When I worked at “The Shack” a decade ago, they had begun de-emphasizing their parts business. They were pushing high profit things like cell phones and satellite dishes.

So I was pleasantly surprised when I was able to get an adapter from RadioShack for $5.50 – including taxes! They also seemed to have some other computer parts too. I actually want to go back and check it out. RadioShack may be able to get back some of the parts customers that they’ve lost. But I think their main problem is that most people wrote them off years ago because they didn’t seem to want our business. If they can advertise that they have these things in stock at local stores, they might be able to get us back.

Why I Shop Online Instead of Local Stores (Even When I Don't Want To)

2011-09-16T20:05:00.000-07:00

I recently had a need for a 6' HDMI to Micro HDMI Cable. I wanted to buy it locally. After checking the websites of several brick and mortar stores I discovered only a couple of them carried the cable. And they wanted $35 for it. That seemed a little steep, so I checked MonoPrice.com. Their price (including shipping) was $7. Now I would often prefer to get something locally -- and I'm even okay paying more to do so. But FIVE times as much?

Pull Quotes Without Closing Quote Marks

2011-06-20T16:36:00.000-07:00

Like most programmers, I’m not great at design. I try to improve my skills in this area by reading books and websites about design (like Smashing Magazine).

But there’s something I’ve been seeing on design websites that bothers me. It’s the way they do pull quotes. Typically they look something like this:

There’s a big opening quote mark to indicate it’s a quote – but no closing quote mark. Now I know its suppose to be stylish – but it really annoys me. When I write code there is always a symmetry. Every ( has a matching ), every { has a } – and every open quote has a close quote. I think my brain sees pull quotes like the one above and hollers out “syntax error.”

Programming History

2011-06-03T20:21:00.000-07:00

I’ve been reading a book about the development of early programming languages. I was surprised to learn how many features of modern languages where first developed in Algol (circa 1960).

It was also a little weird seeing a forerunner of C#’s using statement (“imports” in VB.NET) in Ada.

It’s eye-opening to realize that features you take for granite where new ideas at one point. They’ve been refined over the years to the state that we know them now.

My First Android App: Contact Caller

2011-05-28T18:17:00.000-07:00

I just realized that I hadn't blogged about my Android(tm) app. I found the process of dialing someone on my HTC Eris to be annoying -- it took too many steps. And I tried using the HTC Favorites widget, but I found that annoying too -- because I could only have one number per person on the favorites widget. (E.g. I could have a shortcut to my mom's cell phone, but not also one to her home phone). So I created my own dialer program.

It's called Contact Caller and it's very simple. You are given a list of all your contacts. Next to each contact are three icons: a home icon, a cell icon and a work icon. Pressing one of the icons will dial the corresponding number for that person. If you don't have a certain number for that contact, then the icon will appear faded out. If you have more than one number of that type for a contact then you will be asked which one you want to dial. In addition, if you long press on one of the cell icons, it will allow you to send that person a text message.

There's also a "Favorites" tab that shows the contacts you have added a star to in your phone's contact app.

Contact Caller is available now on the Android Market.

Pluggin Away!

2011-05-28T18:15:00.001-07:00

I'm currently having fun working on a .NET based plug-in system. It's not MEF based, though, because that seemed overkill for this project. I hope to be able to release something soon.

Don't forget the colon on ASP.NET MVC Html helpers!

2010-12-20T08:50:00.000-08:00

Note to self: On ASP.NET MVC 2, when using Html helpers, like Html.DropDownListFor, they don't work if you leave out the colon after the opening "crow's beak".

This won't work:

<% Html.DropDownListFor(model => model.Country, ViewData["Countries"] as SelectList) %>

This will:

<%: Html.DropDownListFor(model => model.Country, ViewData["Countries"] as SelectList) %>

Getting Business Intelligence projects in Visual Studio 2008

2010-07-01T08:06:00.000-07:00

Note to self:

To get SQL Server Reporting Services Business Intelligence projects installed into Visual Studio 2008: When you're installing SQL Server 2008 R2, select at least these items in the Feature list: Database Engine Services, Reporting Services and Business Intelligence Development Studio.

Windows 7 & External Hard Drives

2010-06-30T18:15:00.000-07:00

I recently built myself a new computer that's running Windows 7 64-bit edition. Most things worked fine with it -- until I plugged in my Western Digital Passport portable hard drive. I knew the drive was okay because it was working fine on my other Windows XP 32-bit machine. I finally figured out how to get it working. I'm not sure why, but it turns out that Windows wasn't assigning it a drive letter. To fix the problem I followed these step:

1) Plug in the drive
2) Open the start menu
3) Right click on "Computer"
4) Select "Manage"
5) Under "Storage" click on "Disk Management"
6) Find the external hard drive in the list at the bottom
7) Right click on it and select "Change Drive Letter and Path"
8) Click the Add button
9) Pick a drive letter and okay your way out

A tip on multithreading in PowerBuilder

2010-04-01T18:08:00.000-07:00

The way you do multithreading in PowerBuilder is to create an object that contains the code you want to run in another thread. You then create an instance of this object as a “shared object”. You also code another object – the “interface object” and pass the shared object a reference to it. You can then call functions on the shared object and have them run in the other thread. The shared object communicates back to the main thread via the interface object.

The other day I set up a program using a shared object. I had a shared object that was running some code asynchronously. When it was done, it called a function on the interface object and the interface object called a function in my window to let me know it was complete (by setting a variable). At one point I needed to wait until the shared object was done with its processing before I continued what I was doing in the main thread. I had it coded something like this:

Integer li_status

Li_status = wf_get_status()

Do while li_status = NOT_COMPLETE
Li_status = wf_get_status()
Loop

I couldn’t figure out why it never exited the loop. Then I added a yield:

Integer li_status

Li_status = wf_get_status()

Do while li_status = NOT_COMPLETE
Yield()
Li_status = wf_get_status()
Loop

That worked. But it wasn’t until later that it hit me why. The other thread was completing and calling back into my thread – but since I was stuck in a loop and not yielding – I wasn’t letting the code in my thread that set the status variable run.

Blogaway

2010-03-12T16:08:00.001-08:00

This post is a test of the Android app Blogaway.

It seems there are a lot more blogging apps for iPhone/iPod than for Android. Hopefully that will change soon.

Mobile blogging

2010-01-13T17:10:00.000-08:00

This is a test post to see if I can post from my iPod using BlogPress.

Mr. Wire

2009-06-19T21:54:00.000-07:00

You know, somewhere out there, there's probably a guy who works in technology and has the last name of "Wire". I wonder if he cringes every time someone talks about the 1394 standard and mentions "FireWire". :-)

Interesting But Useless Facts About StarTeam

2009-05-13T19:36:00.001-07:00

StarTeam uses the MD5 hash of a file as the filename in its vault. (Pretty clever if ya ask me.)

The top level folders in the vault all have a two letter name. These names correspond with the first two letters of the MD5 hash. Each folder also has a one letter folder inside it for each letter and number. These correspond to the third letter of the hash. StarTeam uses this scheme to determine where to place the file.

So, for example, if you had a file whose MD5 hash was 0D0909082EF668C63FCD4437B9C787F7 then StarTeam would put it in its vault in the folder: /0D/0

Of course, you shouldn’t go messing around with the files in the vault. You should let StarTeam manage them.

Netflix Manager for Windows Mobile -- First Impressions

2009-03-19T18:01:00.001-07:00

I downloaded the new Netflix Manager (or Mobile Mgr for Netflix as they call it) for Windows Mobile today. I've only used it a little, but here are my initial impressions.

After you log in you're presented with two options: "My Queue" & "Search". The former, of course, takes you to your DVD Queue. Here you can use the menu options to move items up and down the list or select it to see a synopsis. Several movies have a "See Preview" button that let you see the movie's trailer. Playback on this wasn't bad, but it was a little choppy on full-screen mode.

The other option on the main screen, "Search", does what you'd expect. It doesn't have the "search as you type" feature that the Netflix website has, but it's not that big of a deal. Once you find a movie you can use the menu to add it to your queue.

When you're in your DVD queue list, you can move between your other queues ("Instant Queue", "At Home", "Saved Queue" and "Saved Instant") by pressing left and right. Here is where I have my first (and so far only) major complaint. My wife and I have one Netflix account, but we each have our own queue. This app only lets you see the main account's queue and not any others you may have set up.

The one complaint aside, it seems pretty good for a 1.0 app.

How to programmatically check in and out from StarTeam using .NET

2009-02-12T20:54:00.000-08:00

Background

I recently had a need at my job to programmatically check out some files from a StarTeam repository, modify them and check them back in. Note that I don’t mean the regular use of a source code repository where you check things in and out from your IDE as you work on them. I’m talking about writing a program that checks the file out, modifies it and checks it back in.

I knew that StarTeam had an SDK that would allow programmatic access to files under source control and after looking around I found that it could be used with .Net. What I couldn’t find was anything telling exactly how to check files in and out via the .Net SDK. So after playing around with it a while I finally figured it out and decided to post this so that others wouldn’t have to go through the trouble I did.

What You'll Need

To access a StarTeam repository from .Net you need to download and install the StarTeam SDK for .Net. Currently you can find it on the Borland StarTeam Download page. (I also have the StarTeam Cross Platform Client installed on my machine. I don’t know if this is required as well, but I have a feeling that it probably is.)

In your .Net project you need to add references to Borland.StarTeam.dll and Borland.StarTeam.Core.dll. You should be able to find these files in your C:\Program Files\borland\StarTeam SDK Runtime for .NET 10.4\bin folder.

In your code, the first thing you need to do is create a Borland StarTeam Server object. This will be your interface to the StarTeam repository. When creating the object you pass it the name (or IP address) of your StarTeam server and the port number that it’s listening on:

Imports Borland

Dim ServerName As String = "STSRV"
Dim ServerPort As Integer = 49201

Dim STServer As StarTeam.Server
STServer = New StarTeam.Server(ServerName, ServerPort)

Note that you could change the “Imports Borland” at the top of your code to “Imports Borland.Starteam” to eliminate typing all the “StarTeam” prefixes. I’ve haven’t done that here because I think it makes it easier to see what is a StarTeam object and what is a regular .Net object.

Next you need to connect to the server:

STServer.Connect()

Now that you’re connected, you can log in with your StarTeam user id and password:

STServer.LogOn(userid, starpassword)

Now that you’ve logged onto the server, you have to pick which StarTeam project you want to work with. You can get a reference to a StarTeam Project object by passing the project’s name to the Server object’s projects method:

     Dim ProjectName As String = "Payroll"
   Dim STProject As StarTeam.Project
   STProject = STServer.Projects(ProjectName)

Next you need to get a reference to your root folder. If you’re like me, you can just use the Project’s default view’s root folder:

Dim STRootFolder As StarTeam.Folder
STRootFolder = STProject.DefaultView.RootFolder

Then you’re going to set your file folder. This is a StarTeam folder object that represents the folder (in StarTeam) that contains the file you are trying to check out. For instance, if the folder structure in your repository looked like this:

and you wanted to get a the file called Processed located under the Payable folder, you would want to set your file folder to “Reports\Payable.” (This is assuming your root folder gets set to Accounting.)

So you first create a StarTeam folder object. Then you use the StarTeamFinder to find your folder in StarTeam and set your object to point to it:

Dim MyFolderName As String = "Reports\Payable"
Dim STFileFolder As StarTeam.Folder
STFileFolder = StarTeam.StarTeamFinder.FindFolder(STRootFolder, MyFolderName)

Now we need to create a StarTeam file object to represent the file that we’re trying to check out. Then we’ll point it to the file by using the StarTeamFinder again. (The last parameter indicates whether or not the search should be case sensitive.)

Dim MyFileName As String = "Processed"
Dim STFile As StarTeam.File
STFile = StarTeam.StarTeamFinder.FindFile(STFileFolder, MyFileName, False)

Theoretically, we could now check out the file by coding STFile.Checkout(). This should check the file out to the StarTeam project’s working folder.

However, my task called for checking out the file to somewhere besides the StarTeam working folder. To do this, I had to use a CheckOutManager. You create these by using a method on the project’s default view

 Dim STCheckOutManager As StarTeam.CheckoutManager
STCheckOutManager = STProject.DefaultView.CreateCheckoutManager

I needed my file to be checked out with an exclusive lock (so no one else could check it out while I had it). So I set this option on the Checkoutmanager:

STCheckOutManager.Options.LockType = StarTeam.Item.LockType.EXCLUSIVE

Now, we need a (.Net) file object to represent where we want the file to be checked out to:

Dim MyFileIO As New System.IO.FileInfo("G:\temp\work\Processed")

Then –finally-- we actually give the command to check out the file:

STCheckOutManager.CheckoutTo(STFile, MyFileIO)

Check It In

Okay, now that we’ve got our file checked out and made our changes, it’s time to check it in. How do we do that? We’ll, you’ve probably guessed that we’re going to use a CheckInManager.

Dim STCheckInManager As StarTeam.CheckinManager
STCheckInManager = STProject.DefaultView.CreateCheckinManager
STCheckInManager.CheckinFrom(STFile, MyFileIO)

Assigning to a Change Request

My project required me to give the reason and a change request number for the check-in, so I had some more code to write. It involved finding the change request in StarTeam and setting some options on the CheckInManager. I created a function that takes the change request number you are looking for and returns a StarTeam Change Request object.

Private Function GetChangeRequest(ByVal STProject As StarTeam.Project, ByVal CRNumber As Integer) As StarTeam.ChangeRequest

First we have to have to declare a Borland StarTeam Type variable and set it to the type of object that we’re looking for – Change Requests.

Dim CRType As StarTeam.Type
CRType = STProject.DefaultView.Server.TypeForName(STProject.TypeNames.CHANGEREQUEST)

Next we need a Folder List Manager object. This object holds a collection of StarTeam folders. We set it to use our default view and to include everything by telling it to start at the root and include all subfolders. The -1 means include all subfolders

Dim Flm As StarTeam.FolderListManager
Flm = New StarTeam.FolderListManager(STProject.DefaultView
' The -1 means include all subfolders  
Flm.IncludeFolders(STProject.DefaultView.RootFolder, -1)

Now we will create an Item List Manager that will hold all the change request items that are found in the folders in the Folder List Manager. We pass it the type of items we are looking for and the Folder List Manager:

Dim Ilm As New StarTeam.ItemListManager(CRType, Flm)

Now that we have a collection of all the change requests, we can search through them and find the one that matches our number. (The value passed in through the CRNumber parameter.)

       For Each cr As StarTeam.ChangeRequest In Ilm.Items
        If cr.Number = CRNumber Then
            Return cr
        End If
    Next

    Return Nothing
End Function

We loop through and if we found the one we’re looking for we return it, otherwise we return null.

Using this function I could now tell the CheckInManager which change request to associate it with (change request number 212 in this case):

STCheckInManager.Options.ProcessItem = GetChangeRequest(STProject, 212)
STCheckInManager.Options.CheckinReason = "Reason goes here"
STCheckInManager.CheckinFrom(STFile, MyFileIO)

A Easier Way

Wow, that was a lot of work just to check a file in and out wasn’t it? For my project, I ended up wrapping all that up into an object to make it (a lot) easier. If you’re interested, I’ve made the object available at the bottom of the post. BE WARNED, it’s not really suitable for a production environment. Error handling is non-existent. Use at your own risk.

To use the object, first set a reference to the StarTeamLib.dll.

In your code, create an object of type StarTeamAccess:

Dim sta As New StarTeamLib.StarTeamAccess

Then set your properties:

// Server name & port
sta.STServerName = STSRV"
sta.STServerPort = 49201

// User id and password
sta.STUserID = "youruserid"
sta.STPassword = "yourpassword"

// Project name and folder
sta.STProjectName = "Payroll"
sta.STFolder = "Reports\Payable"

Now you can checkout your files:

//Finally checkout the file
sta.CheckOutFile("Processed", "c:\temp\checkouts")

Then, when you're done, you can check it in with:

//Checkin the file
sta.CheckOutFile("Processed", "c:\temp\checkouts")

Much easier, right?

Here's the dll: StarTeamLib.dll

Window Live Write Test Post

2008-12-03T16:35:00.001-08:00

This is a post to test out Window Live Writer.

This is bold.

Heading 3

item 1
item 2

blockquote here

Flying cars and washing machines hyperlink

Wow. It appears to have pulled in my theme settings. That's pretty cool.

Hmm. Check spelling. I like that.

insert	a
table	here

What is a tag provider?

NoteStack --- A note program for Windows Mobile Smartphones

2008-11-11T20:02:00.000-08:00

Several years ago I wanted a note program for my PDA, so I designed one but never built it. Then I got my Motorola Q phone and noticed that it didn't have a note program with it. I tried using a text editor, but it was a hassle to save each note to a different file. I just wanted to enter my note and move on. And I wanted an easy way to see my notes. So I decided to pull out my old design and code it up.

What makes it different from other note programs? I tried to make things as easy for the user as possible. The main idea is that you see a list of all your notes on one half of your screen and as you scroll thru them, the currently selected note appears on the other half. You use the Up and Down keys to scroll thru the notes. If the note contains more than half a screen's text, you can scroll thru it by using the left and right keys. You can easily browse your notes with just the directional pad.

The first line of text in your note becomes the title that you see in the list. This keeps you from having to explicitly enter a separate name for each note in a different field.

When you select "New Note" you are given a full screen text box to add it. When you press "Done" the note is automatically saved. To edit an existing note, just select it in the list and press the action button. When you are satisfied, just press "Done" and your update will be saved.

So in summary: No having to worry about saving the notes. No worries about finding them in a bunch of separate files. No hassles with naming the notes.

I thought it might be useful to someone besides me so I'm releasing it as freeware.

The usual disclaimers apply. Use at your own risk. I'm not responsible for any damage or problems this program may cause, etc.

Right now it only works on non-touchscreen Windows Mobile phones. And it requires the .Net Compact Framework version 2 or greater.

Download: NoteStack.cab

10 Years: A Quick Look Back

2008-10-10T23:22:00.000-07:00

Some people think I'm crazy for keeping old computer magazines. But despite the fact that things in the computing world move so fast, some things do stay the same. And sometimes it's fun to look back and see what has changed (and what hasn't).

Earlier today I ran across a copy of PC Pro from November 1998 -- ten years ago. The inside front cover is a Dell ad. Later there's a review of Lotus SmartSuite Millennium Edition. (Remember when 2000 was approaching and everyone was tacking "2000" or "millennium" to the end of their product names?) There's a large article on the recently released Windows 98 including a sidebar about multiple monitor support. Page 309 talks about Gigabit Ethernet. Further on there's an overview of KDE -- version 1. The "Leisure" section mentions a Star Wars game based on the upcoming Episode One movie. Mech Commander received 5 out of 6 stars. Towards the end there's also a Dilbert comic. (Wow, Dilbert’s been around a while.) The back cover is an ad for Kingston memory.

So, ten years ago we were talking about multiple monitors, Gigabit Ethernet and Linux. Doesn't sound much different than today, does it?

P.S. SmartSuite lives on as IBM's Lotus Symphony.

Flying cars and washing machines

2008-08-26T16:16:00.001-07:00

It's the 21st century. There are some technologies you'd think we would have by now. The one most people think about is flying cars. We don't have (readily available) flying cars. But I think that's probably for the best -- we can barely handle the non-flying kind.

But the technology I don't understand why we don't have is a machine that will wash clothes and then dry them. We've had cars for less than two hundred years. But we've been washing and drying clothes for millennia. It's a problem that affects almost everyone--poorest to richest.

You should simply be able to put in your dirty clothes in one machine, have them be washed and dried and then come out clean. It's a simple concept, so why don't we have them yet?

Remember When...

2008-06-27T11:36:00.000-07:00

Remember when...

...PDAs used regular batteries (AAs usually)?
...BASIC had line numbers?
...computer magazines published type-in programs?
...a box of floppy disks cost $20?
...Atari made computers?
...2400 baud was high speed?
...going online meant dialing up a local BBS?
...hard drives were an optional accessory?
...printer paper came with tractor feed holes?
...computers only ran one program at a time?

Handheld TVs next year

2008-02-13T06:07:00.000-08:00

They say that if you have an older TV you don't have to worry about the digital switchover coming next year. This is because you can just get a converter box.

But what about all the handheld TVs out there?

New Laptop

2007-12-26T09:38:00.000-08:00

My old Toshiba laptop was starting to wear out (it had been doing double duty ever since the motherboard went out on my desktop machine.) The screen hinges were wore out requiring a hand to hold the screen up or something to prop it on. And the CD/DVD drive had given out long ago. I need a computer for school work, so I started looking around. I happened to check one of the Black Friday websites looking to see if there were going to be any deals on the day after Thanksgiving. I ran into an ad for a pre-Thanksgiving special with a Dell for $399. After customizing it somewhat, my total was around $670 (with free shipping.) As an added bonus, I could get it was XP instead of Vista. (Although the upgrade from XP Home to XP Pro itself added $100.)

Code Complete, Completed

2007-11-15T08:17:00.000-08:00

I finished reading Code Complete a couple of weeks ago. It's a very good book for developers. You'd think a book that just seems to cover some basic stuff (like naming variables) would be boring or not very insightful. But it covers each topic so well and makes you see stuff you probably hadn't thought about. I'm already applying things I've learned to the code I write. (Like keeping variable declarations close to the area they're used. )

And it's not just about the small stuff either. It has chapters that cover programming tools, testing, collaboration and even personal character and the effects it has on your code.

Now, the only thing left on my Becoming a Better Developer list is to finish my Simple Shooter game. (I've still got two months before the self imposed deadline.)

Simple Shooter

2007-10-01T18:52:00.000-07:00

I've recently mentioned that in the next six months I wanted to write a simple game. This is what I have so far. Right now it's code named "Simple Shooter." It's currently being developed in C using the Allegro game programming library. The graphics are from Ari Feldman's SpriteLib GPL and the sound effects are from the freesound project.

Becoming a Better Developer, part 2

2007-08-20T08:11:00.000-07:00

Last month I posted about Justice Gray’s meme of Becoming a Better Developer. I posted what I was going to do in the next six months to become a better developer and challenged four of my friends to do the same. Here’s what they said:

Brian Whittington:

My goal is to “upgrade” my existing skills to take full advantage of the .Net 2.0 Framework. I’m still stuck in the 1.1 Framework mindset, at least to some degree (I’m still using datagrids!). Also, I want to begin using and researching SQL 2005 more so that I am more comfortable using it. I’ve been using SQL 2000 for so long it’s kind of my comfort blanket and I need to move on. Also also, I want to use better OOP techniques in my code. I’ll probably find some good books and go from there.

As for myself and where I am: I’m on chapter 23 (out of 35) of Code Complete. And I’m on the last chapter of Head First Object-Oriented Analysis and Design. My game is coming along as well (though it has been a few weeks since I worked on it.) It now has sound effects.

I just wanted to use a listbox

2007-08-10T09:31:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to use a listbox. How hard could that be? Harder than I thought:

I’ve recently decided to try my hand at writing programs for Windows Mobile Smartphones. I had an idea for a program and wanted to see if I could use the Compact Framework 2.0 and get it to work.

One of the main components of my program is a list. So, not surprisingly, I wanted to use a listbox. But it turns out that the version of the Compact Framework for Smartphones doesn’t have a listbox control.

So, I figured: “Oh well, I’ll just have to use a listview control set to List mode.”

(I first met listview controls in VB 6; didn’t like ‘em then and I’m still not too fond of ‘em now. I guess I never cared for the way they handle multicolumn lists – I found subitems to be a pain. But for this project I just needed a single column list.)

Now, in regular .Net a listbox control can hold objects -- as long as the objects implement a .ToString() method. The listbox uses this method to determine what to display in the list. This is exactly what I needed. Unfortunately, listview controls don’t just hold any arbitrary object. Instead they hold listviewitem objects.

So, I tried creating a new object that was derived from a listviewitem object. I planned on adding methods and properties to support my needs. I overrode the .ToString() method and found that listviewitems don’t use .ToString() to determine what text to display in the listview. Instead they have a .Text property. No, problem. I’ll just override the .Text property. Guess what? Listviewitem’s .Text property isn’t overridable!!!

Aaaarrrrrggggghhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!

Becoming A Better Developer

2007-07-12T06:59:00.000-07:00

I recently read a blog post by Justice Gray where he discussed what he plans to do to become a better software developer. His theory was that if he made his plans public, he would be more likely to follow thru with them.

He personally decided to read 27 software development books before October 2007. I don't see how he could possibly absorb everything by reading that fast. But the idea of another technique to become a better developer appealed to me. I consider myself a professional and am always trying to improve my skills. Unfortunately, since I'm not a popular tech blogger, there is no one to tag me. So I'm going to go ahead and tag myself :-)

Here are the things I'm going to do in the next six months to become a better developer:

#1) Read.

I'm currently reading Code Complete and Head First Object Oriented Analysis and Design.
I am committed to finishing them in the next six months.

#2) Write a simple game

I've always wanted to create games, but never got much past Pong. I'd always start on something and never finished it. This time I just started on a simple space shooting game and I'm going to see it through.

As for tagging, I'm picking:

Brian Whittington
Matt Dyar
Angela Free
Eric Sansom

You guys have to post to the internet what you're going to do in the next six months to become better developers. (If you don't have a blog or other place to post it, send it to me and I'll add it to the bottom of this post.)

Update: I've added a new post with the responses it've gotten back.

2007-03-14T11:14:00.000-07:00

My MythTV Journey, Part 11

Ok, I now have the beginnings of a working MythTV system. I can pause live TV and start it back. There are, however, still several things to be worked out:

Sound - Something's wrong with the sound output from the system. It sounds attenuated. I don't know if it's my sound cable or a setting in the system.

Cables - Some of my cables don't quite reach :-) I need to get some longer ones.

Can't change channels - I'm using a DirecTv satellite box so I can't change channels yet. I have to either configure the IR Blaster that came with the PVR150 or aquire a serial blaster cable. I hope to be able to just build the serial blaster cable.

Overscan - the picture on the TV is square but my TV isn't. It has sides that are curved out. I believe there is a setting in MythTv to adjust this.

Colors - the colors don't seem quite as bright when I run the signal thru the computer. I'll have to see if I can adjust them.

Program Guide - I'm using DirecTv which provides it's own guide. I'll have to see what others have done to get a guide that I can use with DirecTv.

Internet - The computer isn't hooked to the internet. I've got to figure out how to do that as well. (Would be nice if I had a cable modem or something, but the only thing available out here is dial-up.)

It's alive!

2007-03-14T09:32:00.000-07:00

My MythTV Journey, Part 10

I installed the PVR150 and put in the KnoppMyth CD. After installation, I put the batteries in the Haupauge remote, said a quick prayer and pointed it at the IR receiver. I pressed a button and the MythTv menu changed! It worked! Or at least the remote did. Then I selected "Watch Television". After a several second delay I saw The Disney Channel on my screen. Now for the moment of truth. I pressed pause. The image onscreen froze. I bar popped up showing how much time was being recorded. I hit pause again. The characters jumped back to life. It worked! I cheered! There were still some things to do to make it fully functional, but making it this far was a great event. (For me anyway.)

Circuit City to the Rescue!

2007-03-14T09:21:00.000-07:00

My MythTV Journey, Part 9

I had read on the MythTV wiki and the forums that ATI All-in-Wonder cards would not work with MythTV. So, I tried it anyway. Didn't work. :-)

Reading the forums I discovered that one of the most popular and not too expensive capture cards for MythTV is the Haupauge PVR150. However, it was also at the forums that I found a warning. It seems that around Christmas, Haupauge experienced a shortage of these cards. So, they began to put PVR1600 cards into the PVR150 boxes. Now, the PVR1600 is a better, more expensive card. I'm sure several people where happy to receive it, but it doesn't work with MythTV. I emailed Haupague and asked if there was any way to tell from looking at the box if it contained a PVR150 or a PVR1600. They should no, but that if I ended up with a PVR1600 they would glady swap it out for a PVR150.

I had been to my local Best Buy and noticed that they didn't carry the PVR150. I checked Circuit City's website. Not only did they carry it, but my "local" store had them in stock. After discussing it with my wife and getting the okay to spend the money, I took a chance and purchased one. Fortunately it was a real PVR150!

local=An hour's drive

Some Research

2007-03-14T09:07:00.000-07:00

My MythTV Journey, Part 8

Searching the previously mentioned forums, I discovered several things:

My processor and memory should be adequate
The GForce 5200 generally works well with MythTV
The old ATI All-in-Wonder card I had lying around wouldn't work in MythTV
My ATI Remote would work with MythTV.

A hard drive! A hard drive! My kingdom for a hard drive!

2007-03-14T09:02:00.000-07:00

My MythTV Journey, Part 7

Well, I had a machine, now I needed a hard drive. I don't want to use the one currently installed. The plan was to unhook the Ubuntu drive and use an older drive that I could format. I searched the house for a hard drive. I found a few, but either they already had data on them that I didn't want to lose, or they were too small. (I even found an 80 MB. That's right MB, not GB). Eventually, I noticed that their was on old, unconnected drive in the computer I wanted to put a drive into! It was 13 GB. Of course, that wouldn't be enough to record a lot of TV shows on, but it would be big enough to install MythTV and see if I could get it working.

By the way, here's a tip for ya:
If you want to play with alternate operating system, but don't want to mess up your Windows install (and aren't afraid of messing around inside your computer) get another hard drive. You can install Linux on the new drive. When you want to run Windows just hook the Windows drive up and unhook the Linux one. (Of course there are more elegant solutions, like using Grub, but this way is simpler if you're just getting your feet wet.)

KnoppMyth Forums

2007-03-14T08:59:00.000-07:00

My MythTV Journey, Part 6

I've found a forum where people discuss KnoppMyth here:

http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/

KnoppMyth or MythDora?

2007-03-14T08:52:00.000-07:00

My MythTV Journey, Part 5

In my research I discovered that there are basically three ways to install MythTV:

Install it yourself into your already working Linux distro
Use the KnoppMyth Live CD
Use the MythDora Live DVD

The last two options sound easier. (I'm not afraid of installing Linux; it's just that these Live CDs will install everything you need and help you get set up.)

MythDora apparently installs a complete installation of Fedora Core plus MythTV. KnoppMyth, however, seems to install a more minimal system focused on running MythTV. This was more what I was looking for, so I chose KnoppMyth.

The Search for Forums

2007-03-14T08:48:00.000-07:00

My MythTV Journey, Part 4

Anytime I start to play with something new, I try to find active forums were people are discusing the thing. For MythTV, I discovered http://www.mythtvtalk.com/forum

Forums can be a great place to talk with and get help from people who share your interest. But please remember a couple of things: 1) Be nice 2) The people in the forums are generally nice but they are probably tired of answering the same questions over and over. So before you ask something, use the forum's search feature to see anyone has already answered your question in the past.

Hardware

2007-03-14T08:44:00.000-07:00

My MythTV Journey, Part 3

Now that I knew what software I was going to use, I needed some hardware. I had recently been playing with Ubuntu on an older system and decided to see if it would work.

It has these specs:

AMD 950 MHz Duron
256 MB memory
GForce FX 5200
80 HD with Ubuntu and other Linux distros installed.

The plan was to reuse as much as I could and try to buy as few new parts as possible. I had an old ATI All-in-Wonder and an ATI Remote control lying around. I planned on working them in if I could.

And the winner is...

2007-03-13T11:25:00.000-07:00

My MythTV Journey, Part 2

I decided to research the available Media Center programs. On the Window's side, there is Media Portal which I had already played with. On the Linux side there is MythTV, GeeXboX , Freevo and some others.

I had planned to research each one, but the more I looked into MythTV, the more I liked it. I originally wasn't interested in its TiVo like features. Don’t get me wrong, I have a TiVo and absolutely love it. But I was just trying to view videos on my computer. I figured I could install MythTV and then add the TiVo features later. But the more I thought about it, they more I wanted those features too.

Plus, just glancing around MythTV seemed to have a lot of support in terms of websites and forums.

So, MythTV won without much of a fight.

And so it begins..

2007-03-13T11:14:00.000-07:00

My MythTV Journey, Part 1

It all started a while back when I decided that it would be nice if I could view some of the videos I had on my computer on my TV screen. My first attempt at this involved hooking up some wireless A/V sender/recievers I had lying around. This worked, but had a few problems. For one, my 2.4GHz phone interfered with the 2.4GHz A/V sender (even on different channels.) Another problem was that I would have to run back to the other room to start the video, which, of course, was a pain.

My next attempt was a little more successful. I placed my laptop next to the TV and hooked them together. Using Media Portal and my ATI Remote Control, I was able to watch computer videos on my TV. This worked, but it had quite a few problems:

It was a hassle to hookup all the wires (power cable, video cable, audio cable, usb adatper for remote, etc.) everytime I wanted to do it.
If I wanted to use my laptop, I had to unhook it.
Media Portal would sometimes slow down or lockup.
Couldn't play all the formats I wanted to.
Needed access to videos on desktop computer (w/ large hard drive). I could have fixed this by setting up a wireless network, but I never made it that far.
Took up space in entertainment center. (Space had to stay empty so I could ad and remove laptop.)
Pain to run Media Portal and them change settings on laptop to output to TV only.

My MythTV Journey

2007-03-13T11:08:00.000-07:00

I’m currently in the process of constructing a MythTV for my living room. I thought this would be a good topic to write about so I’ve created a series of posts to bring you up to date on my progress. These are based partly on notes, but mostly on my memory so the timeline may appear wrong at certain times.

Hello, world!

2007-03-13T07:14:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. This blog is my outlet to express my thoughts and opinions on computers and technology.

I’m not really doing this to try to gain readership—it is more to fulfill a need to express myself. I’m a 30-something year old computer programmer. And while I don’t claim to be the best coder in the world, I would like to think that I have enough experience to share some useful information.