Michael Rice

Node.js - Windows 7 Install - CXX Error

2011-01-03T20:24:00.000-08:00

While attempting to install Node.js on a Windows 7 box for development I came upon this error using the install directions at https://github.com/ry/node/wiki/Building-node.js-on-Cygwin-(Windows):
"wscript:173 error: could not configure a cxx compile"

Steps to fix:
"exit" cygwin
Run As Administration: C:\cygwin\bin\ash.exe
$ /bin/rebaseall -v

exit ash.
Reopen cygwin.
cd node
./configure

That should fix it.

Javascript Frameworks and more...

2010-12-27T19:20:00.000-08:00

I'm currently working on some new "web applications", that is traditional desktop type programs that are delivered through a browser, and need a space to store my research. Thus, the Interwebs will get to take advantage of my research. This will be an ongoing post...

You'll notice most of this will be client-side focused and jQuery based. Sorry, that's the way it is. I'm not so concerned with the server-side because if I do this right, it will be server agnostic. Although, I'll probably implement in C# or PHP.

jQuery

jQuery UI

jQuery Mobile

Application Frameworks

JavascriptMVC
Claypool
CorMVC
Write-ups
http://javascriptly.com/2009/12/coremvc-an-jquery-based-mvc-framework/
Example:
http://www.bennadel.com/resources/presentations/jquery2/demo/#/contacts
JQApp - doesn't appear finished, or released.

Images

http://deepliquid.com/content/Jcrop.html
Lazy Loading - http://www.appelsiini.net/projects/lazyload - Is this still active?

Color Picker

http://eyecon.ro/colorpicker/

Charts

http://www.filamentgroup.com/lab/update_to_jquery_visualize_accessible_charts_with_html5_from_designing_with

XDebug Loading - Windows, ZWAMP

2010-09-02T20:23:00.000-07:00

This one's a quickie.

I'm currently developing some code in PHP 5.3 on my local Windows 7 64-bit box using ZWamp and Postgres. I was trying to get XDebug running and couldn't get it to load properly

Well, it's all about semantics.

You have to load with "zend_extension". It will not load completely/correctly with "extension". You will get "XDEBUG NOT LOAD AS ZEND EXTENSION".
zend_extension does not take into account "extension_dir". You must use the full path to XDebug.
zend_extension does not give any warnings when the extension does not load using zend_extension... At least it doesn't crash the starting of Apache like an incorrect extension path.
DO NOT USE "zend_extension_ts". This was deprecated as of PHP5.3.

So, how did I get it to work with ZWamp?

zend_extension = "/.sys/php/ext/php_xdebug-2.1.0-5.3-vc9.dll"

X Redirecting to Myspace - Continued

2010-08-24T23:34:00.000-07:00

So it seems we have narrowed down the problem...

Cisco Linksys Router, specifically the WRT-160N model. It appears there is a bug in this routers recursive DNS implementation in firmware and Linksys refused to acknowledge this.

Solution (this appears to fix it):

Configure your local computer to use DNS servers INSTEAD of getting them through DHCP (when the router gives your computer networking information).

Google and OpenDNS both provide Public DNS servers.

Good luck! Let me know in the comments if you are having this problem with other routers.

SSIS Slow - Ole DB Data Flow Optimazation

2009-12-03T10:23:00.001-08:00

Do you build SSIS (SQL Server Integration Services) Packages?

Are you constantly running into Visual Studio acting sluggish or giving you "Microsoft Visual Studio is Busy"?

In my case, I use views a lot when I'm querying my source data (for reasons of maintainability). When you use views in an OLE DB Source, anytime you change the scope of what you are working on, e.g. jumping back to the control flow and then back into the Data Flow, Visual Studio rebuilds its meta-data and does validation checks to see if source or destination attributes have changed.

Resolution

Set AccessMode to "SQL Command"

And set SqlCommand to a Select query of your view.

Example:

SELECT * FROM v_MyView

Why does this work?

"...it calls OpenRowset in the validation phase to retrieve column metadata, and later in the execution phase to read out the data.

Testing has shown that using a SELECT statement can be at least an order of magnitude faster, because the adapter issues the specified command directly through the provider and fetches the data using sp_prepare without executing the command, avoiding the extra roundtrip and a possibly inappropriate cached query plan."

If you have any questions... Just ask, I'll be happy to assist where I can.

Facebook Redirects to Myspace

2009-11-18T17:51:00.001-08:00

My wife just came across this interesting issue.

When she goes to http://www.facebook.com/ it redirects to a Myspace.com user's Samuel Garcia (SR388) profile.

Quickest resolution
For Vista and above:
is to go to your start menu -> All Programs -> Accessories. Right click on Command Prompt and click "Run as Administrator". Approve the escalation.

Copy and past the following command


ipconfig /flushdns

You should get...

Windows IP Configuration

Successfully flushed the DNS Resolver Cache.

Next clear your browsers cookie and cache... and maybe restart your browser for kicks.

I hope that helps.

FYI: I'm trying to track down why this is happening. I believe it has to do with a recently discovered DNS exploit. I'll continue to look into it.

In the mean time, if you could please reply to this post with your Internet provider and general location, city/state I would be much obliged so I can attempt to develop a pattern.

Thanks!
Mike

Joomla Tips and Tricks- #1

2009-03-03T16:52:00.001-08:00

How to change / set the Joomla template programmatically from within a Joomla 1.5 component.


   function my_method() {
      global $mainframe;
      $mainframe->setTemplate = "my-template-name";
   }

Bam... "That was easy!"

Crystal Reports ActiveX Designer (0x80043AE3) Invalid TLV record.

2009-02-07T22:23:00.001-08:00

If you get a "Crystal Reports ActiveX Designer (0x80043AE3) Invalid TLV record." error.

Uninstall all versions of Crystal Reports and reinstall the version you intend to use. This is indicative of a Crystal Reports COM object mismatch, e.g. Trying to run a Crystal 9 report through the Crystal 8 COM.

That is all..

Postini & Cpanel & Exim - Not deliverying Quarantined email

2008-11-08T12:42:00.000-08:00

If you are using Postini as a spam filter before hitting your CPanel SMTP server (which I highly recommend!), here are a couple tidbits to get it working properly.

Be sure to uncheck "Always accept mail locally even if the primary mx does not point to this server. " under the "Edit MX Entry" on a domain in WHM (WebHost Manager).
Under the "Exim Configuration Editor" in WHM, go to "Access Lists", the to "Whitelist: Trusted Mail Hosts/Ip Blocks (bypass all smtp time checks except recipient verification)".
Make sure this box is checked. Now click "EDIT". Put this into your Trusted Mail Hosts (Whitelist).
```
64.18.0.0/20
207.126.144.0/20
```

Click "Save" on the "Trusted Mail Hosts" screen, and "Save" on the "Exim Configuration Editor".

Those two things should definitely help get your Postini install going

This to watch out for when setting up Sharepoint 2007

2008-06-09T07:17:00.001-07:00

This is a WIP and will be continuously update (as I remember).

Turn off virus filtering on Sharepoint directories, otherwise random errors will popup.

Autocomplete, Jayrock, JQuery, ASP.net...

2008-04-21T17:01:00.000-07:00

***WARNING: Not a beginner article, but not an advanced one either. Start at your own risk, I will do my best to answer questions via comments.***

What?
I have put together an autocomplete using an ASP.net ashx (handler) webservice with Jayrock and JQuery. So I'm sure you are wondering what the big deal is... Well, first off, Jayrock uses JSON-RPC and its own proxy to tunnel the Asynchronous request to the webservice and this caused some problems with most of the JQuery autocompletes I tried.

Why?
Well, for two reasons. One, it was a pain to finally get it to work (although now it seems trivial and I would like the search engines to pick this up to help others, if there are others) and two, because I set a goal of doing one good post per day (man this is a huge goal!).

How?

First create a new ASP Handler *.ashx, I called mine Lookup.ashx.
Next, you need to download: JQuery, Jayrock (**Make sure to get the Lastest builds**). Add the Jayrock DLL's as References to your Project.
Below is my Function for Wildcard searching (FYI: I put this into another class **NOTE** This returns a datatable, no db schema is proved, so you will have to figure this out) and my Lookup.ashx is below that.


Public Function GetUser(ByVal Search As String) As DataTable
Dim strQuery As String

Dim dt As New DataTable
Dim words() As String = Split(Search, " ")

strQuery = "SELECT LTRIM(RTRIM(First_Name)) + ' ' + LTRIM(RTRIM(Last_Name)) AS FullName, LTRIM(RTRIM(ISNULL(Login, ''))) As UserID, LTRIM(RTRIM(ISNULL(Job_Title, ''))) As Job " _
& " FROM Media.dbo.Employee e " _
& " WHERE 1 = 1 AND Login IS NOT NULL AND Login <> ''"

Dim tempStr As String
Dim i As Integer

For i = 0 To UBound(words)
tempStr = " AND ((e.First_Name LIKE '%" & words(i) & "%') OR (e.Last_Name LIKE '%" & words(i) & "%') OR (e.Login LIKE '%" & words(i) & "%'))"

If Len(words(i)) > 0 Then
strQuery += tempStr
End If
Next


Dim myConn As New System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection(ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings("ConnectionString").ToString)
Dim myCmd As New System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand(strQuery, myConn)

Try
myConn.Open()
Dim myReader As System.Data.SqlClient.SqlDataReader
myReader = myCmd.ExecuteReader
dt.Load(myReader)
Finally
myConn.Close()
End Try

Return dt
End Function

Here's the Lookup.ashx

<%@ WebHandler Language="VB" Class="Lookup" %>

Imports System
Imports System.Web
Imports Jayrock.Json
Imports Jayrock.JsonRpc
Imports Jayrock.JsonRpc.Web

Public Class Lookup
Inherits JsonRpcHandler

_
Public Function Lookup(ByVal q As String) As Collection
Dim Users As New Collection()
Dim myRequest As New RequestClass()

Dim User As New UserEmployee

Dim dr As DataRow
Dim dt As DataTable

dt = myRequest.GetUser(q)

For Each dr In dt.Rows
User.FullName = dr("FullName")
User.UserID = dr("UserID")
User.Job = dr("Job")
Users.Add(New UserEmployee(User))
Next

dt.Dispose()

Return Users
End Function

End Class

Public Class UserEmployee
Public FullName As String
Public UserID As String
Public Job As String

Public Sub New()

End Sub

Public Sub New(ByVal User As UserEmployee)
Me.FullName = User.FullName
Me.UserID = User.UserID
Me.Job = User.Job
End Sub
End Class

Next create a standard ASP.net page *.aspx

In the <head> section of your aspx page, add:

<style type="text/css">
.suggestionsBox {
position: relative;
left: 30px;
margin: 10px 0px 0px 0px;
width: 200px;
background-color: #212427;
-moz-border-radius: 7px;
-webkit-border-radius: 7px;
border: 2px solid #000;
color: #fff;
}

.suggestionList {
margin: 0px;
padding: 0px;
}

.suggestionList li {
margin: 0px 0px 3px 0px;
padding: 3px;
cursor: pointer;
}

.suggestionList li:hover {
background-color: #659CD8;
}
</style>

<script type="text/javascript" src="Lookup.ashx?proxy"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="js/json.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="js/jquery-1.2.3.js"></script>

<script type="text/javascript">
function jQueryChannel() {
this.rpc = function(call) {
if (!call.callback)
throw new Error('Synchronous calls not supported.');
$.ajax({
type: "POST",
url: call.url,
data: JSON.stringify(call.request),
beforeSend: function(xhr) {
xhr.setRequestHeader("X-JSON-RPC", call.request.method);
},
success: function(s) {
call.callback(JSON.eval(s));
}
});
}
}

function suggest(inputString) {
if(inputString.length > 3) {
var lookup = new Lookup();  //Instantiates new Jayrock Proxy from *.ashx?proxy
lookup.channel = new jQueryChannel(); // Overrides default Jayrock Proxy Channel

lookup.Lookup(inputString, function(data) {
//$('#test').html("Length: " + data.result.length + " Test" + dump(data.result));
var results = data.result;

if (results.length > 0) {
var html = "";

//html += "<ul>";
for(var i = 0; i < results.length; i++) {
html += "<li onclick=\"fill('" + results[i].userID + "');\">" + results[i].fullName + "<br />(" + results[i].job + ") " + "<br />" + results[i].userID + "</li>";
}
//html += "</ul>";

$('#autoSuggestionsList').html(html);
$('#suggestions').show();
}
});
} else { // Hide the suggestion box.
$('#suggestions').hide();
}
} // lookup

function fill(value) {
$("#ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder1_txtUserID").val(value);
setTimeout("$('#suggestions').hide();", 200);
}
</script>

In the body of your aspx page, add a textbox and then modify it as shown below.

<div>
<label>
<b>UserID:</b>
<asp:TextBox ID="txtUserID" runat="server"></asp:TextBox><span style="font-size: 16pt">
<asp:Label ID="lblUserID" runat="server" Font-Size="12pt"></asp:Label>
</span>
</label>
<div class="suggestionsBox" id="suggestions" style="display: none;">
<img src="images/autocomplete_upArrow.png" style="position: relative; top: -12px; left: 30px" alt="upArrow" />
<div class="suggestionList" id="autoSuggestionsList"></div>
</div>
</div>

In your code behind (*.aspx.vb) add to the Page_Load function:

txtUserID.Attributes.Add("onkeyup", "suggest(this.value);")
txtUserID.Attributes.Add("onblur", "fill();")

This adds 'onkeyup="suggest(this.value);" onblur="fill();"' to your ASP.net Textbox

Now, unless I missed something, you should have a working fast, simple, autocomplete using JQuery (awesome Javascript framework, Jayrock (easy to build JSON webservices with), and JSON (lightweight).

To be fair, I must give credit, where credit is due...

Thanks go to the creators of JQuery, Atif Aziz (the creator of Jayrock) and his response on Google Groups for JayRock and JQuery as well as
Jamie at http://nodstrum.com/2007/09/19/autocompleter/ who's autocomplete I bastardized.

Sex, Drugs, and... Computers?

2008-04-20T12:29:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my new blog.

I am Michael Rice - President, Eferi and Chief Architect (Applications)
My background is in enterprise business application architecture (data structures and user interfaces) and consulting.

Corporate Consulting Gigs:
Zillow, Consumer Affairs, and a few others off the grid

Specialties: Real Estate, Finance, Health care. What do they have in common? On the business end, not much, in the I.T. sector, more than you would think, e.g. transaction processing, interfaces (XML, etc.), and bad user interfaces. :-)

Personal:
I live in Johnson City, TN. with my wife, brand new baby (born March 25th, 2008) and dachshund. Great air, great people, and great lakes!

This blog:
My goal for this blog is to provide examples, dialog, and comments on the direction of enterprise architecture... as well as other interests of mine.

I hope you enjoy the ride, I hope to make it a long one.