Masters Degree Final Project

Photo By The Wolf

As part of my Masters degree in Computer Science I have to do a final project.  I have decided to use the eclipse Rich Client Platform as the environment to develop/implement my project.  The idea is to polish my skills on the Rich Client Platform while doing something useful :-), so for the next 3 to 6 months I will be posting my progress and the tips/tricks I find useful when working with RCP.

Stay tuned.

Risks of Cloud Computing

Photo By schoschie

This is an interesting read, specially for those contemplating migrating to the cloud. 

The Hidden Risks of Cloud Computing

Creating Image Maps in Joomla

Photo By cocoate.com

Lately I've been working on some joomla sites for some friends and in one of the sites my friend wanted to add an imagemap. So I started researching what was the best way to go about doing this in a joomla site. I even posted a question in Stackoverflow. Well my search lead me here, it is a plugin for the default editor(TinyMCE) included in joomla that adds the ability to create and modify image maps in articles. After following the instructions on that page I still couldn't see the image map button on the TinyMCE toolbar. I found some installation instructions within the downloaded package and they didn't match the ones on the page, so I decided to give those a try, but there were some problems.

These are the instructions from the page referenced above:

1. copy files from plugin_tinymce{x}.zip to {yourjoomlainstance}/plugins/editors/tinymce/jscripts/tiny_mce/plugins/imgmap/
2. edit {yourjoomlainstance}/plugins/editors/tinymce.xml, after 'directionality' add lines:

<param name="imgmap" type="radio" default="1" label="Imagemap" description="Imagemap">

<option value="0">Hide</option>

<option value="1">Show</option>

</param>

3. edit {yourjoomlainstance}/plugins/editors/tinymce.php, after 'XHTMLxtras' add lines:

if ( $imgmap ) {

    $plugins[]      = 'imgmap';

    $buttons3[]     = 'imgmap';

    $elements[]     = 'img[usemap|class|src|border=0|alt|title|hspace|vspace|width|height|align|onmouseover|onmouseout|name],map[id|name],area[shape|alt|coords|href|target]';

}



4. go to Joomla admin/Plugin manager/Editor - TinyMCE 2.0/Advanced Parameters, and make sure Imagemap is set to Show.
5. go to article editor, click on any image, and notice the button highlighted on the toolbar, you are done:)

These are the instructions found within the downloaded package:

1. copy files to plugins/imgmap/



2. set up your instance in the tinyMCE.init method to use the plugin, like:
   plugins : "table,save,advhr,advimage,imgmap,...",



3. set up your instance to use the imgmap button, for example:
   theme_advanced_buttons3_add : "emotions,iespell,...,imgmap",



4. you might need to add:
   extended_valid_elements : "img[usemap|class|src|border=0|alt|title|hspace|vspace|width|height|align|onmouseover|onmouseout|name],map[id|name],area[shape|alt|coords|href|target]",

Ok so I had done the first step since I had already done the five ste.s. I never found the tinyMCE.init mentioned in the second step so I decided to skip the step. I didn't understand where I was supposed to make the change mentioned in the third step so I decided to skip it as well. The parameter mentioned in the fourth step took a while to figure out, but I finally found it by going to Plugin Manager-->Editor - TinyMCE and it is in the Plugin Parameters(below is a screenshot).


After doing this last step I finally got the image map button to show on my TinyMCE toolbar.


In conclusion, to get this to work I had to use a combination of both instructions. The actual instructions should be:

1. Copy files to plugins/imgmap/


2. Edit {yourjoomlainstance}/plugins/editors/tinymce.xml, after 'directionality' add lines:
   

<param name="imgmap" type="radio" default="1" label="Imagemap" description="Imagemap">

<option value="0">Hide</option>

<option value="1">Show</option>

</param>

3. Edit {yourjoomlainstance}/plugins/editors/tinymce.php, after 'XHTMLxtras' add lines:

if ( $imgmap ) {

    $plugins[]      = 'imgmap';

    $buttons3[]     = 'imgmap';

    $elements[]     = 'img[usemap|class|src|border=0|alt|title|hspace|vspace|width|height|align|onmouseover|onmouseout|name],map[id|name],area[shape|alt|coords|href|target]';

}


4. Add the following to the "Extended Valid Elements" parameter:
   img[usemap|class|src|border=0|alt|title|hspace|vspace|width|height|align|onmouseover|onmouseout|name],map[id|name],area[shape|alt|coords|href|target]

Notes Net Forums xPages Design Update

Photo By qisur

I was looking through the notes.net forums last night and it occurred to me that they badly need a design update. So I went to ideajam and searched to make sure that nobody had already created an idea about this, it turns out someone had, so I promoted the idea and I urge everyone that uses the forums to do the same. I'm a bit surprised as to why IBM hasn't already updated the design of the forums to the new xPages design, I mean it seems like the logical thing to do since it shows off the cool stuff you can do with the new version of domino. I mean what better way is there to show off xPages? The forums are used daily by hundreds of users yellowbleeders, newbies, and most importantly people that don't like notes/domino but are forced to work with it where they work. Who knows maybe these last people will start to like notes/domino a bit more once they see the new cool stuff that can be done with xPages.

Head over to ideajam and promote the idea if you haven't already--> Improve notes.net forums

Code That Makes You Say... Huh? #1

Photo By Andyrob


Most of the work I do at my current job is maintenance to existing applications within my team.  A while ago I found an interesting line of code within a lotusscript library.

TStamp = Evaluate("@Text(@Now)")

It seems the developer that did this doesn't know that there is a Now function in lotusscript. 

I have found this same line in most of the applications that I maintain and I've also seen it in applications that I don't maintain.  Worst of all most of these applications are used globally and this line is used to capture the date and write it to an audit trail.  What's wrong with this you ask?  Well you don't have a consistent audit trail, for example the date format in the UK is not the same as in the US. 

Two solutions to fix this would be:

1. Make the audit trail date field a multi value date field and use the Now function to append the date value to the field.  With this approach you can use the field properties to adjust the format for displaying the dates.  This allows you to display the dates in the users local format or choose a specific format.
   
2. Use the Format function in combination with the Now function to get the same date format everytime.  With this approach you ensure a consistent date format within the audit trail, but you loose the ability to display the dates in the users local format.
   

Have you found code that makes you say Huh in applications you maintain?


P.S. I've tried telling the developer that maintains the other applications to modify the code, but that's another story... 

You Can Help!!!

Photo By ViNull

This Saturday I'm going to be competing at the Tampa Bay Dragonboat Races as part of the Big Blue Dragons Team.  As part of the event we are asked to help with fund raising with the proceeds going to two great organizations: FACTors Breast Cancer Patient Support Program at Moffitt Cancer Center and the Florida Aquarium. 

So if you can please Make a Donation

If you make a donation remember to fill out our team name as Big Blue Dragons and my name as individual paddler Carlos Rivera.


If you live in the Tampa Bay area come watch the races behind the St Pete Times Forum --> Map

Better Lotus Notes DB Icons

Photo By Theresa Thompson

If you haven't done so, please head over to the Notes Design blog and ideajam and give your input.  We have been asking for application icons to allow more colors for as long as I can remember.  The application icon is the first thing the user sees and let's face it, 16 color icons does make the application look like legacy software.  So anyways just head over to ideajam and promote the ideas the more votes it has the more likely it will be done.

Allow Notes Database icon to have 24-bit (=16.7 million) colors
Allow .png and .svg image resources

Better Java Development with Domiclipse

I have been using Domiclipse for over 2 years now and it is a great tool when doing java development within Notes.  It's basically a set of plugins that allow you to import a notes application as a java project into eclipse and do development using all the great tools included in eclipse.  Then it lets you sync your changes back into your notes application with a click of a button.  Anyway, I decided to post a step-by-step tutorial of how to install Domiclipse into your existing copy of eclipse.

First we open up the eclipse environment and we click on the Help-->Software Updates... menu item.



Next we have to add the update site url for Domiclipse.  On the Software Update and Add-ons window click on the Available Software tab and then click on the Add Site... button on the right.



Next we add http://www.domiclipse.com/domiclipse/update.nsf as the location in the Add Site window and click on OK.



Once we have added the site to the Available Software, expand the site by clicking on the + on the left of the new site and this will fetch the available plugins from the Domiclipse site.  Next we want to expand the eclipse category and check the box next to the Domiclipse Java Feature.  The next thing to do is click the Install... button on the right and this will start the installation.



The next screen will ask you to confirm your choice, just click on the Next >



Next you will be asked to accept the license, here you will have to click on the I accept the terms of the license agreement radio button and then click on the Finish button.



After the installation finishes you will need to shutdown eclipse and open the properties for your eclipse shortcut.  Here you will have to edit the Start in: property to match your Notes program directory in my case it is C:\Notes



The final step would be to start up eclipse and verify that you have the Domiclipse icons on your toolbar.


Congratulations you have just installed Domiclipse into your eclipse environment.  Hope this helps some of you new that are new to java and eclipse.  Domino designer 8.5.1 is supposed to have most of the eclipse features, but Domiclipse will still be a great asset to those that don't upgrade right away, which I'm guessing is most of us.

IBM Preparing For More Layoffs and Offshoring

Photo By fireflythegreat

Well I just read the following IBM Preparing For US Layoffs in Services Unit and I'm pissed off and disgusted at how companies are using the "global recession" as an excuse to offshore more jobs.  I mean, don't they realize that maybe this is one of the factors causing this recession?  I don't think they understand that the biggest consumer of global products is the US middle class and they are killing that class.  Of course things are going to keep getting worst if companies keep taking jobs away from that middle class, obviously people are not going to have money to buy products. 

Another thing I've noticed is that some companies are using the "recession" as an excuse to lower employee salaries, but what I don't see happening is product costs going down.  Now doesn't this mean that at some point people are not going to afford buying these products?  And doesn't this mean less profit for these same companies?

I don't know but if companies want to keep making a profit, it is in their best interest to STOP OFFSHORING JOBS AND INSTEAD BRING THEM BACK TO THE US!!!

Now, don't get me wrong. I know this isn't the only thing causing this financial crisis, but it sure is one of the biggest problems.

What do you think?

Learning some PHP

Photo By CalEvans

During the last few weeks I decided to learn some PHP since I've had some requests to work with joomla.  For those that don't know joomla is a opensource CMS built on PHP.  Also PHP seems to be a big deal now a days, most of the jobs on freelance sites require you to know PHP and it doesn't hurt to know a bit about another technology.  So first thing I did was setup my dev environment.  I downloaded XAMPP which is an all in one Apache distribution containing MySQL, PHP and Perl.  Next since I'm a fan of eclipse I downloaded the eclipse PDT (PHP Development Tools Project).  After that I found this very helpful article of how to configure the eclipse PDT and XAMPP as to have a working development environment on my PC.  After having the development environment setup I searched for some PHP tutorials to go through and found w3schools.com had a very simple walkthrough of examples for PHP (PHP Tutorial).  In the end I got a very good feel of what can be done with PHP and I feel comfortable digging into some more advanced code.