Evernote Openbook: Public NoteBook

Finding errors in the target/test-reports folder

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:26:52 GMT

Finding errors in the target/test-reports folder

When a Luntuild Maven Build fails with "There were failures", you can easily find the offending test by going to the work directory and target/test-reports

Then issue the commands:

grep 'Failures: ' * | grep -v 'Failures: 0' ; grep 'Errors: ' * | grep -v 'Errors: 0'

This will print all tests which had errors.

Happy fixing.

JaMon and Spring

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:17:04 GMT

So now let’s talk about how to monitor your interfaces. Simple AOP. Now let’s look how I attached it to the unit test without being intrusive to my existing codebase (this is also a way to monitor in production when code changes are a big no-no.

iceFixOrderRoutingMessageConsumer marketManager marketDAO

As you can see, I first import my existing applicationContext, rather than updating it to include this stuff. This allows me to run tests and change the targets without messing with the actual runtime code. I then create the JamonPerformanceMonitorInterceptor from the Spring package and attach it to my interfaces using the ever versitile BeanNameAutoProxyCreator.

Once the service has been running for as long as you want and you feel you have enough reps for a good sample size (remember your unit test is suspended on the breakpoint), simply release the breakpoint and go look at your pretty html report.

Java based Mail Server DevNull SMTP

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:19:08 GMT

Java based Mail Server DevNull SMTP

I found a simple Java based SMTP Server. DevNull SMTP is a dummy SMTP server that can be used for testing purposes. It helps you see all communication between a client and the server and is very useful if you are trying to find problems with your email server or a client that you wrote.

Tags: java

Standard diagnostic - Thunderbird

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:17:52 GMT

Standard diagnostic - Thunderbird

This article offers a step-by-step guide that users can follow if Thunderbird is no longer working properly and no other application is exhibiting strange behaviour.

Reboot the computer. If the problem persists, continue on.
Close Thunderbird (if open) using "File -> Exit" and make sure it is not running in the background. Do not skip this step.
If you have extensions or themes,
Important: Back up your profile before continuing so that your settings and personal data (such as mail and passwords) will not be lost. Then,

Sonar Workaround for Close Connection problem.

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:09:44 GMT

Sonar Workaround for Close Connection problem.

When you use Spring and Ibatis and SQLTemplates, you could have code in your project which looks somewhat like this:

Connection connection = DataSourceUtils.getConnection(getDataSource());

......

DataSourceUtils.releaseConnection(connection, getDataSource());

Sonar will report that you did not close the connection, while in fact, you did. You can not just add a "connection.close()" to the code because the whole point of calling "releaseConnection" is to have Spring handle all the smart stuff on committing, closing, and returning the connection to the pool if needed.

In our company, not closing the connection is a major blocking violation (and it should be). But in this case, there is no way to make the Jedi wave to Sonar, telling it that "this code will do just fine". So I added the following trick, albeit a bit dirty:

if (connection.isClosed()){
// releaseConnection handles connection closing

  // This code does nothing, and is only here to
   // keep Sonar from warning us that the connection
   // is not closed. Please note: Do not just close an
   // unclosed connection, Spring should handle connection
   // closing and returing to the pool.
   connection.close();
}

Use it to your advantage, but use this responsibly. If you see any problems in my solution, or if there is a better way to do this I'd be happy to hear about it.

(added to www.rolfje.com)

Save FLV files (like blip.tv and youtube) for local viewing

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 17:58:08 GMT

Does ne1 know a way to save flash video embedded in a web page to a movie file without using a utility like snapzpro? I would like to save the .swf directly, the files I am trying to save a called by a java applet.

If your talking about videos like youtube(.flv), then you can do this in safari. Go to Window/activity monitor in the menu bar. Look for the entry where the file size is in the MB range rather than KB. Double click it. This will download the file. You may have to add the .flv extension as well as install Perian on your machine. Its free and quite handy. Enjoy.
Google for Cosmopod or Tubesock. Both install into Safari and work well.
You could check out KeepVid at:http://keepvid.com/
It's just a bit of (free) javascript code -- you can put it on your bookmark bar and click on the link to download and save the video using a default file name -- you can rename it after it downloads.Note that there are several versions of similar javascript downloading code snippets from different folks -- this is just the one that I found first.

Java -Xmx Settings and PermGen Space

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 14:04:44 GMT

Java's -Xmx Heap Settings

Java has a couple of settings that help control how much memory it uses:

-Xmx sets the maximum memory heap size
-Xms sets the minimum memory heap size.

Keep -Xms Small

For a server with a 'small' amount of memory, then we recommend that -Xms is kept as small as possible. e.g. -Xmx 16m. Some customers set this higher, but that can lead to issues. e.g. the command that restarts tomcat runs a java process. That Java process picks up the same -Xms setting as the actual Tomcat process. So you will effectively be using two times -Xms when doing a restart. If you set -Xms too high, then you may run out of memory.

Don't Let -Xmx Be Too Low

When setting the -Xmx setting you should consider a few things... -Xmx has to be enough for you to run your app. If it is set too low then you may get Java OutOfMemory exceptions (even when there is sufficient spare memory on the server).

Figuring Out a Reasonable -Xmx

If you have 'spare' memory, then increasing the -Xmx setting is often a good idea. Just note that the more you allocate to Java the less will be available to your database server or other applications and less for Linux to cache your disk reads.

Whatever you do, you should ensure that the total of the -Xmx settings does not exceed the 'spare' memory on your server. You can figure your 'spare' memory by stopping your Java processes and starting up everything else that is normally running on your server. When you run free -m it will tell you how much memory you are using. If you subtract that value from your total memory and then subtract a bit more (for safety) that will be the maximum you should allocate with -Xmx. e.g. if you have 96MB 'spare' then you could allocate two -Xmx48m Java processes. Or one -Xmx96m process.

Tomcat -Xmx Settings

We put our -Xmx/-Xms settings for Tomcat in /usr/local/tomcat/bin/setenv.sh in the JAVA_OPTS variable. We find that -Xmx48 is sufficient to run a minimal Tomcat with the sample webapps installed.

Heads Up If You Have a Big/Complex App

Note that ...

iptables port redirecting

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 15:06:25 GMT

To redirect port 80 to port 8080 on a linux machine:
sudo iptables -A INPUT -i eth0 -p tcp --dport 80 -j ACCEPT
sudo iptables -A INPUT -i eth0 -p tcp --dport 8080 -j ACCEPT
sudo iptables -A PREROUTING -t nat -i eth0 -p tcp --dport 80 -j REDIRECT --to-port 8080

sudo iptables -A INPUT -i lo -p tcp --dport 80 -j ACCEPT
sudo iptables -A INPUT -i lo -p tcp --dport 8080 -j ACCEPT
sudo iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -i lo -p tcp --dport 80 -j REDIRECT --to-port 8080

Is temporary (reboot removes the route), and does not work for local webbrowsers (have to find out why).

e-Services architectuur open discussie

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 21:26:49 GMT

e-Services architectuur open discussie

e-Services is opgebouwd uit :

- 2x Applicatie server (Tomcat) met in iedere server 1 instantie van de applicatie

- 1x Backend database met daarin lokale data, en gerepliceerde data in aparte schema's

- Aantal externe landen die een e-Connector implementeren waaraan e-Services connect

- Verbinding met een externe mailserver

Technologie van e-Services is Java 1.4, Gebruikt frameworks en libraries als Spring, Ibatis, Tapestry 3, Velocity

e-Connectors zijn specifiek voor de backoffice

e-Services is niet zondermeer op te delen in meerdere systemen. Uitgangspunt van e-Services is een simpele, standalone applicatie die eenvoudig is te beheren, en meerdere landen kan bedienen, om daarmee de beheerskosten per land zo laag mogelijk te houden. Voor het aanbieden van meerdere kanalen kan worden nagedacht over een splitsing van de frontend en de servicelaag. Hierdoor zouden we een aparte webservice, aparte HTML frontend, aparte SMS frontend, aparte PDA frontend kunnen maken. De Servicelaag voorziet hier al deels in.

Contentbeheer wordt op dit moment gedaan in Excel files, en is relatief beperkt. Content beheer in applicaties is notoir lastig, omdat de contend nauw samenhangt met de geboden functies. Geboden functies zijn niet eenvoudig te veranderen, waardoor de mogelijkheden tot verandering van de content relatief beperkt blijft. We zouden onderzoek kunnen doen naar contentbeheer systemen i.c.m. web frameworks. Ervaring leert dat er weinig pasklare oplossingen beschikbaar zijn. Content management systemen voegen meestal een extra complexiteit toe in de vorm van o.a. een database, en toegangs management. Deze extra complexiteit moet worden afgewogen tegen de mate van verandering van de applicatie.

Performance eisen zijn wel ooit genoemd in eerdere SRS-en, maar in de praktijk wordt daar nu niet op getest. Performance eisen moeten testbaar opgesteld worden (10 trx per seconde is niet genoeg. Op welke machne, wat voor transacties, wat voor netwerk, bij hoeveel load, bij hoeveel par...

Wubi Ubuntu installer

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:16:35 GMT

http://wubi-installer.org/

Wubi is an officially supported Ubuntu installer for Windows users that can bring you to the Linux world with a single click. Wubi allows you to install and uninstall Ubuntu as any other Windows application, in a simple and safe way. Are you curious about Linux and Ubuntu? Trying them out has never been easier!

What is DevNull SMTP

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:56:36 GMT

What is DevNull SMTP

It is a dummy SMTP server that can be used for testing purposes. It helps you see all communication between a client and the server and is very useful if you are trying to find problems with your email server or a client that you wrote.

Devnull also is able to save any incomming message as "eml" file in a specified directory, so you can open the mail to see what it will look like in a mail client.

Set Linux Date and Time Instantly

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:09:48 GMT

Set Linux Date and Time Instantly

On the command prompt, as user root, issue the following command:

ntpdate -b pool.ntp.org

More info on

http://www.brennan.id.au/09-Network_Time_Protocol.html

Find SQL statement causing Oracle Database Lock:

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:27:22 GMT

Find SQL statement causing Oracle Database Lock:

-- Find SID for lock:
select
        s.username, s.status, s.sid, s.serial#,
        p.spid, s.machine, s.process, s.lockwait
from    v$session s, v$process p
where   s.lockwait is not null
and     s.paddr = p.addr;

-- Find statement for SID:
select
        sid, username, command, lockwait, status,
        osuser, sql_text
from v$session s, v$sqlarea q
where s.sql_hash_value = q.hash_value
and s.sql_address = q.address
and s.sid = 119;

Deploying SWT Applications on Mac OS X

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 09:14:18 GMT

Deploying SWT Applications on Mac OS X

Under Mac OS X, applications are stored in an application bundle, which is simply a directory containing the executable and any associated resources for an application. An application bundle has the extension .app and appears as a single file in the Finder.

These application bundles are usually distributed inside compressed disk images with the extension .dmg. Disk images are automatically mounted on download, presenting the user with the bundle icon so it can be dragged to their Applications folder. More information on application bundles and disk images can be found in the Software Distribution section of the Apple documentation.

Microsoft Captcha complaint

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 12:18:34 GMT

Microsoft Captcha complaint

Ok trying this again. Why would you invent a new CAPTCHA while there are so many good implementations of this? This captcha is way too convoluted, unusable by visualy or mentally impaired people, and takes up a huge amount of screen real estate.

The only thing missing is "Rubik" at the botton of this cube :-) . I wonder if this was "hallway usability tested" in a non-computer savvy office.

If this captcha is to be implemented widely by microsoft, I predict a quick hack, because OCR-ing this thing is probably not hard at all. Please see http://www.captcha.net/ for readily available, tried, tested and free solutions.

Comparing Oracle database layout

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 15:33:48 GMT

Comparing Oracle database layout

Select all tables, columns, and data types like so:

select table_name, column_name, data_type
from all_tab_columns
where owner = 'OWNER'
order by table_name, column_name, data_type;

Output this to seperate text files , and compare these files.

Fancier type output:

select table_name, column_name, data_type || '(' || DATA_LENGTH || ')'
from all_tab_columns
where owner = 'WILLOW2K'
and table_name like '%EU%'
and table_name like 'EC%'
order by table_name, column_name, data_type;

An ABC of geotagging photos on the Mac at bioneural.net

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 11:14:09 GMT

This article considers geotagging photos from a Mac perspective, looking at automatic and manual methods, and explaining terms such as data loggers, track points, waypoints, and routes. It lists OS X software options for connecting to data loggers, converting track log formats, geo-locating photos, and writing that data to EXIF for both raw and JPEG images. It also covers the importance of time synchronization, what you can do with geotagged photos, workflow, choosing a data logger and controlling it from your Mac.

Disable Caps Lock in Windows

Mon, 25 May 2009 09:38:21 GMT

Now you can disable your Caps Lock key in Windows... without any special software, and without having to pry the key off with a screwdriver. Read on to find out how. I also have a page on how to disable the Windows key.

Background

Accidentally hitting the Caps Lock key when typing up an email or coding can be maddening. Most people never use it anyway, so why not disable it? In Windows, you can by adding some keyboard scancode mapping information to your Windows registry. The complete details are at annoyances.org. To make it even easier, I decided to add some .REG files so you can disable your shift key yourself without needing to muck around with the registry.

Compatibility

This method of disabling the Caps Lock key works with all modern Windows variants: Windows 2000, Windows XP Pro & Home and Windows 2003. It will not work with older versions.

Warnings

These files are provided without warranty. Use them at your own risk.
These files will overwrite any keyboard mappings you currently have.
.REG files update your Windows registry. Incorrect changes to the registry may damage Windows or other installed software. Be sure you know what a given .REG file contains before merging it into the registry.
These files are unsupported, please do not contact me with questions on their use.

Installation / Files

The following files are .reg files. They modify the Windows registry directly. You should download them to your PC and then double-click them to add them to your registry. After saying YES to the message box, reboot your machine and enjoy freedom from Caps Lock annoyances.

Change Caps Lock into a SHIFT key: caps_lock_to_shift.reg
For the UNIX Folks: Change Caps Lock into a Control key: caps_lock_to_control.regSwap Caps Lock and the left Control key: swap_caps_lock_and_control.reg
Disable Caps Lock entirely: disable_caps_lock.reg
Disable Caps Lock and Both Windows keys: disable_caps_lock_and_both_windows_keys.reg
UNINSTALL: Change Caps Lock Back to Caps Lock: remove_scancode_mappings.reg (Removes all scancode mappings) *Th...

Running TOAD without the full Oracle client

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 14:03:39 GMT

Running TOAD without the full Oracle client

Download TOAD freeware

Download the Oracle instant client (this is only a zip file with the drivers)

Add the directory in which you unpacked the instant client to the PATH

Start up TOAD, it will auto-detect the instant client, which shows up in the "Connect using" dropbox

Create a tnsnames.ora file, according to the following format:

=
  (DESCRIPTION = Some description here
    (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = )(PORT = ))
    (CONNECT_DATA =
      (CONNECT_DATA = (SID = ))
    )

)

279 DAYS TO OVERNIGHT SUCCESS

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 11:46:48 GMT

279 DAYS TO OVERNIGHT SUCCESS

If you're new here, you may want to learn what this site is about. I encourage you to subscribe to my RSS feed or sign up for free email updates. Thanks for visiting!

Friends and readers, here is my second manifesto, 279 Days to Overnight Success.

It tells the story of this web site, but more importantly, it offers 11,000 words of free advice on how to create your own success with your own project. I offer this information freely, but please use it wisely.

DOWNLOAD THE MANIFESTO HERE

(Free PDF - be sure to update to the most recent version of Adobe Reader)

Setting Time on a Linux machine

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 10:19:07 GMT

Programs for working with time and date are:

clock - This is a soft link to hwclock.
date(1) - Print or set the system date and time.
hwclock(8) - Sets the hardware clock based on values entered on the command line.
setclock(8) - Sets the BIOS hardware clock based on the time and setup of the system clock.
timeconfig(8) - A program used to configure the system configuration file "/etc/sysconfig/clock" which includes the type of clock and timezone.

An Example:

While logged in as root do the following:

Type "date".
You should see some variation of"
"Wed Nov 24, 9:29:17 EST 1999"
To change the time type(as an example):
date -s 10:10
The system response will be:
"Wed Nov 24, 10:10:02 EST 1999"
Then if you want to set the hardware(BIOS) clock so the system will keep the time when it reboots type:
clock -w

OpenSSO informative blog

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 16:23:38 GMT

What a Difference Updated OpenSSO Federation Docs Make

I recently posted two updated docs from the OpenSSO Enterprise engineering team regarding the federation architecture and use cases. You can access these documents from tree or using the links below.

Generate GForge public/private keys:

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 12:56:32 GMT

Generate GForge public/private keys:

In CygWin:

$ ssh-keygen
Generating public/private rsa key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (/home/rohe/.ssh/id_rsa): privatekey.rsa
Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase):
Enter same passphrase again:
Your identification has been saved in privatekey.rsa.
Your public key has been saved in privatekey.rsa.pub.
The key fingerprint is:
ac:8c:64:3f:b2:28:b7:bd:31:1a:d9:8e:d2:17:03:96 rohe@pc618
The key's randomart image is:
+--[ RSA 2048]----+
|                 |
|                 |
|   .             |
| E    .         |
| . .o   S        |
|   =o+ .         |
| .o *o=          |
|o oB.= .         |
| +=o=.           |
+-----------------+

$ ls -al
-rw------- 1 rolf mkgroup-l-d 1675 Apr 6 13:48 privatekey.rsa
-rw-r--r-- 1 rolf mkgroup-l-d 392 Apr 6 13:48 privatekey.rsa.pub

$ cat privatekey.rsa.pub

ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAABIwAAAQEAvNabOOvytcioimSWkHTHI3Z6Tf7JlAayjc4kt3qYquvhe4y4GEqiLuPpsw51Sz7BVidSJRchBq9ZblO/6HGkjDnj6PoND
HcbKaFdcNif9t8xEj2JT4H1zoh5VW2qk2AGz2BOOsplWZriw0+h2H9Kb+TzDC02qyOItviHqUgILddV/8o3GXeZYA6J0eVCFfGNkT9w29LJBv+Z4QQoxQN2cp1uHfeY3D
Qo099akDl64U5zUrB3youNjNlBNxzpl+yCXSy/MlbO7s829lzokXBdIb5Lzk6WBr7WhgT1kTTrKBHd4Hdfyb3BPhnhNB9mzYaZUyUPBabqA2Ljn8mimGB62w== rolf@p
c618

Turn off ie8 renderimg

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 10:24:45 GMT

http://twitter.com/SuperDalgas/status/1374453226

"Don't like IE8 rendering, turn it off: - used by sites such as
MICROSOFT.COM"
- Geoff Dalgas (@SuperDalgas)

macosxhints.com - Add current iTunes track to a chosen playlist

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 16:28:59 GMT

Add current iTunes track to a chosen playlist
Mon, Aug 25 2003 at 9:33AM PDT • Submitted by seven5

Ok, this might not sound all that interesting, but it's all in how you use it! I wrote this very simple AppleScript to tell iTunes to add the song that was currently playing to a specific playlist. I called this playlist "Current Favs." I wanted to be able to add songs to this list whenever I wanted to on the fly. I'll give you the script, then tell you how it is really convenient.

-- Set myList to the name of the playlist to
-- which you wish to add the currently playing song.

set myList to "Current Favs"

property okflag : false

tell application "Finder"
if (get name of every process) contains "iTunes" then ¬
set okflag to true
end tell

if okflag then
tell application "iTunes"
    set currentList to playlist myList
    add (get location of current track) to currentList
end tell
end if

Once you've created the script, put it somewhere for safe keeping. I put all my referenced scripts under ~/Applescripts. Now the beauty of this script comes when you use a hot key application like iKey (Youpi Key) to set it to run with the press of a key. I already have F10 F11 and F12 set to prev track, pauseplay, next track respectively, so i set F9 to launch this applescript. Once you hit the key, its all transparent. You see nothing, and iTunes doesn't even gain focus. The track is instantly added to that playlist.

Next, I tell iTunes to use THAT playlist as one of the ones that is synced to my iPod. Now i have an instant key to add songs to my iPod. Whenever I hear a good song and think, 'MAN thats a good song!,' it gets bookmarked for later as well as instantly synced to my iPod once it's connected ... with nothing more than a button push.