Sarp's

Bypassing Ad Blocker Plus - ABP

2012-01-23T10:17:00.000-08:00

Ad Blocker (Plus) is one of the most popular ad blocker plug-in for browsers. As of this writing, there are 1m+ users in Google Chrome and 12m+ active users in Mozilla Firefox for ABP.

It disables ads and displays white/empty blocks instead of ad images/links and provides mostly an ad-free browsing. Nonetheless, technically this plug-in can access all the web pages that you are browsing and this is a huge security and privacy issue for users.

Anyway, if you trust and install this or similar plug-in onto your internet browser, here is how it blocks advertisements at Amazon.com.

Let's look at advertisements on the Amazon's homepage with ABP plug-in.

Amazon displays ads through multiple ad networks, here I am going to summarize an ad from doubleclick ad provider.

Inside an iframe tag, an advertisement is retrieved from doubleclick.net web site.

http://ad.doubleclick.net/adj/amzn.us.gw.atf;sz=300x250;bn=507846;u=119062f84df64729adb1ff5c8c2d2906;ord=0MQTWNV16PPQ8NV5G01S;s=i0;s=i1;s=i2;s=i3;s=i4;s=i6;s=i7;s=i8;s=i9;s=32;s=1009;s=863;s=833;s=67;s=m1;s=m4;s=u4;s=u5;s=u10;s=u17;z=3;tile=1?

ABP blocks doubleclick.net URL and ad cannot be fetched at all.

If an ad was fetched, an image from cloudfront.net web site will be displayed to the user.

Nonetheless, ABP blocks cloudfront.net URL as well and image cannot be shown.

If you just fetch this image from any other image provider network (e.g. ImageShack.com), ABP cannot block this ad.

In short, ABP filters advertisements from their URLs. Therefore, if a mediator server is plugged in between ad network and web site, advertisement can be served from a not blocked URL as in the following design.

Sprint in a Nutshell (in scrum)

2012-01-09T08:36:00.000-08:00

Here is the short description of our sprint that we used in our previous project.

Each "Release/Version" is a sprint in our project.
Each sprint takes 2 weeks (including weekends-14 days).
Each day everyone in the team will add his/her own stand-up note.(what she has done yesterday, what she is going to do today, and most importantly is there anything which causes problems and does not let him/her go forward.)
Last 2 days of each sprint are to complete unit tests, fix bugs and stabilize the release. During last 2 days of sprints no new functionality is added to the system. If a ticket is not completed with unit tests or is not reliable yet, it is moved to the next release but it is not included in the current release. We only work to stabilize the current release for these 2 days.

Happy coding...

Turkcell GPRS Settings (Android)

2012-01-05T14:17:00.000-08:00

First of all make sure data over mobile network is enabled.

Settings > Wireless & networks > Mobile networks > Data enabled = true

Make sure you set the following values. (case sensitive)

Settings > Wireless & networks > Mobile networks > Access Point Names > New APN
Name: Turkcell Internet
APN: internet
MCC: 286
MNC: 01
APN type: default

Once you save and switch back to home screen, 3G icon should appear at the top next to signal strength bars.

Scope of Script Tags

2011-12-25T19:56:00.000-08:00

Here is the simple test for you, assume that the following

<script type="text/javascript">
var a = 3;
</script>

<script type="text/javascript">
alert(a + 1);
</script>

What will be the result in the pop-up alert?

If you said browser will display an error like "a is not defined", you are wrong :) Browsers interpret all the script tags inside the page (also the imported .js files) in the same scope. Therefore, number a is a global variable and alert will display 4 in the pop-up.

Advertisement Feedback and Customization

2011-12-24T21:54:00.000-08:00

Recently giant web companies started to ask for feedback while displaying advertisements.

A few days ago, I saw a notification on my "Facebook home page", which is linked to a page that explains how Facebook advertisements work and how users can customize the advertisements to see. Display ads of Amazon has a similar future (Ad Feedback) for a long time and it is accessible from a link(Advertisement) below each advertisement. A few weeks ago, I noticed Ad Interest Manager Beta tool in Yahoo mail which can be accessed from a link(AdChoices) above the advertisement.

Each of these advertisement feedback solutions get feedback in different ways, but the main idea is the same "display better targeted advertisements". I am looking forward to see similar approaches from all other web companies in order not to see "new L'Oreal Mascara" ads as a single guy.

Eventually there will be a need to store these feedbacks into one place. Why should we enter the same feedback into each and every web site separately? Here are a few options come to my mind at the airport:

A simple XML file can be used to exchange the advertisement choices between multiple web sites.

a. This file can be exported and imported into multiple web sites.
b. This file is not stored in users' computer but on the cloud. The user can provide access to his ad settings for the web sites which display ads.

Web Browsers can handle this customization.

a. Amazon Silk knows the logged in user and can customize the advertisements while polling them.
b. Google Chrome can sync this information with user's Google account and customize the ads before displaying.

If you have a better idea to solve this problem. please share it in the comments and we can discuss.

The following screenshots are from the web sites, which gets feedback from users.

Amazon's way

Facebook's way

Yahoo's way

Flash and Silverlight based ads will become extinct by 2013

2011-12-24T15:31:00.000-08:00

Not so long ago, ~~Macromedia~~ Adobe Flash was a dream environment for web games and advertisers.

Nonetheless, when Steve Jobs mentioned that Apple (iOS) will never support Flash in their mobile devices, Flash community was shocked. Second shock came from Microsoft which mentioned that version 5 of Silverlight could be the final release of Silverlight. (http://www.theverge.com/2011/12/10/2625339/microsoft-silverlight-5-released-will-it-be-the-final-version)

As all of us know, the problem of both Flash and Silverlight is compatibility. Flash does not work on iOS, Silverlight does not support multiple versions of multiple browsers and future browser support is in doubt.

Compatibility, which is being able to serve as much device/user as possible, is a key element in advertisement. Have you seen any billboard which cannot be seen from 2011 Porsche 911 but can be seen from a 2011 Cadillac Escalade? (we assume Porsche driver is following the rules and drives around the speed limit :)

In 2012, compatibility = HTML5. All major browsers (not only desktop but also mobile, yes even IE :) are working on to improve HTML5 (new tags + JavaScript APIs) compatibly and JavaScript interpretation engines.

The good: HTML5 and JavaScript libraries are as strong as Flash or Silverlight .NET frameworks and promising future improvements.
The bad: Legacy applications written with Flash and Silverlight need to be rewritten in the near future.

Welcome 2012 and HTML5 !

New PhoneGap 1.3 December Release

2011-12-20T09:23:00.000-08:00

In this new version, PhoneGap provides all the functionalities, which it provides for Android and iOS, to the Windows Phone platform.

You can read the details from PhoneGap's web site. http://phonegap.com/2011/12/19/phonegap-1-3-released/

Here is the comparison chart for the functionalities available for each platform: (WP7 supports all)

Cannot Modify Adobe on Mac - ShellExtLoader

2011-12-14T11:33:00.000-08:00

If Adobe CS cannot modify your installation and tells that ShellExtLoader should be stopped, what you need to do is just Quit from the SugarSync.

After closing SugarSync, your installation/uninstallation should be able to continue.

Cannot Download App to Kindle Fire - The Amazon Appstore is not yet available in your region

2011-12-13T19:19:00.000-08:00

When you try to download Apps from your Kindle Fire, you may face with an error like this "The Amazon App store is not yet available in your region". Yes, even for the free of charge applications.

Basically this means that your billing address of your default credit card on your Amazon account is not in the US specifically the 48 contiguous states, Alaska, Hawaii, and the District of Columbia. Once you update your default credit card information on your 1-click payment account, you will be able to download the applications immediately.

Webmasters How to Bypass Ad-Blocking Plug-in?

2011-12-08T08:14:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I was surfing on the internet, and I realized that some of the display ads are displayed but some are rendered as a blank white space on the web page. Now I start to look for clean&efficient ways to bypass Ghostery and similar ad-blocking plug-ins on web browsers.

In couple of weeks, I will create an open-source project and start to share my solution(s) with you ...

New Healthcare Project Initial Design

2011-11-09T06:56:00.000-08:00

This is the first draft of our new healthcare project architecture. There will be millions of users (Output) and hundreds of service providers (Input).

Droid RAZR Available Tomorrow 8am

2011-10-26T20:38:00.000-07:00

Although Motorola releasing a new device and its pre-order starts tomorrow morning, it won't receive too much attention. As you know, Android community (including developers, us) is waiting for ice cream sandwich (4.0) and Galaxy Nexus which will be released in November.

I think Motorola RAZR release date should be postponed and it should be after Android 4.0 release. I am going to buy a new Android for sure but not Motorola RAZR, I don't mind how good the hardware is, as long as it has the old operating system (Android 2.3) it is useless for me.

But wait, Motorola will release update to Android 4.0! Ahh... Yes sure, we all know that they can do it but when? Second quarter of 2012?! I will wait two more weeks for Galaxy Nexus.

How to Enlarge Bash History Size

2011-10-25T09:25:00.000-07:00

I know everyone loves using previous commands that they enter to the bash terminal.

These previous commands are stored in a file (~/.bash_history) and we call them "history". Nonetheless, by default the size of history is 500, but I have lots of space and memory to handle a larger history file.

Here is how you can resize your history to 15000;

1. Open your .bashrc or .bash_profile which reside in your user(~) directory.
2. Add "export HISTSIZE=15000"
3. (Optional) If you are running very long commands and want to limit the size of history file as well add "export HISTFILESIZE=2000000". This is 2MB.
4. Save your profile file.
5. Either run "source .bashrc" or just close and reopen your bash terminal.

Now your bash terminal is like an elephant, it does not (literally) forget what she saw :)

This device is not registered as part of the iphone developer program.

2011-10-23T10:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I woke up with this error on my iPad !

This device is not registered as part of the iphone developer program.

Here are the steps that I have taken to fix this issue;

1. Download Xcode 4.2 (either for Lion or Snow Leopard)
2. Check Xcode>Window>Organizer to see you have an active(not expired) provisioning profile.
2.a. If you don't have an active provisioning profile create one.
3. Download iTunes 10.5.1b3 and try to restore your iPad.
4. iTunes will download the software update and automatically install it to your iPad.
5. Login from your iPad and your iOS 5 is activated.
6. Now you can deploy to your iOS 5 with your active(not expired) provisioning profile.

* I also deleted all the previous devices from my developer account and added the devices one by one, but I am not sure this is required or not for the above process.

Happy coding ...

Customize Linux bash shell prompt to look like Windows cmd style

2011-10-21T09:42:00.000-07:00

To be honest, I am fed up with typing "pwd" command to see where I am in Linux bash shell.

Luckily Linux provides a customization for the prompt of bash shell process.

On bash prompt just type

PS1="\w >"

And viola! Your prompt will change to current directory that you are in.

Watch out it is lower case "w" and don't forget the double quotation marks.

w = current working directory, the full path. e.g. "/usr/bin"

W = base name of current directory. e.g. "bin"

There are two profile files ".bash_profile" and ".bashrc" in which you can specify this change and the modification will be permanent on new bash processes. Just export the configuration in these files as the following and save;

export PS1="\w >"

It is very handy, I like it.

Variable Scope C# vs Javascript

2011-10-12T21:51:00.000-07:00

Importantly, variable scope definition of Javascript is so much different than C#'s.

Javascript uses function scope function(){} whereas C# uses block scope {}. Therefore in Javascript, once a variable is defined inside a function, interpreter automatically moves the declaration of variable to the top of the function.

Here is an example;

Javascript
function b(){

  {
  var a = 20;
  }

  // can access variable a
  a = 21;
}

C#
public void b(){
  {
  var a = 20;
  }

  // can NOT access variable a
  a = 21; // compile time error
}

This scope difference in Javascript may cause hard to catch(..ehem..) bugs and should be taken seriously.

Index was outside the bounds of the array. Visual Studio 11

2011-10-07T13:54:00.000-07:00

I installed the developer preview of Visual Studio Ultimate 11, unfortunately my previous web sites which were building successfully before the installation start to give index bound error as the following;

Error 1 Index was outside the bounds of the array.

Unfortunately this seems like a bug in Visual Studio 11 Developer Preview and sadly my original Visual Studio 2010 gives the same error right now.

I could not solve this issue yet but be aware you may face with the same problem when you install Visual Studio 11 Developer Preview if you are a web developer. (WebForms - Web Site)

Also removing Developer Preview made Visual Studio 2010 crashing when you want to open it. Hopefully a new bug fix will be released by Microsoft.

You can follow this thread from asp.net; http://forums.asp.net/t/1726983.aspx/1?Index+out+of+bounds+of+the+array+error

Printing multiple different documents at the same time

2011-10-07T08:44:00.000-07:00

One of my colleagues asked me how she can send print job for multiple documents at the same time.
For instance your printer is far away and you want the jobs wait until you get ready with what to print and go in one turn to pick the printed pile up.

First choose the printer that you would like to setup;

Then right click on the printer to see the current printing activity;

In the end choose offline mode to pile up printing jobs before sending them to the printer.

Once you are done with the list of documents that you want to print in one time, uncheck "Use Printer Offline" option.

That's it.

iOS5 iPhone Development with C#

2011-10-07T07:23:00.000-07:00

As a C# developer, I am glad to announce that Xamarin released a new version of MonoDevelop.
http://monodevelop.com/Download/What's_new_in_MonoDevelop_2.8

What I really like is the new MSBuild support.

I saw that a "Storyboard" support is added. I have not checked it yet, but seems promising.

When do I use kSOAP?

2011-10-03T22:54:00.000-07:00

(img src : http://nicolas-zozol.developpez.com/tutorial/java/rest-jsp-english/)

In my Code Project article, I explained how to use kSOAP library in Android for SOAP web services.

For a long time I have been using REST web services to feed my mobile applications. There are two library alternatives(that's what I used) to consume REST web service on Android: Apache HTTP Client and HttpURLConnection.

For the new devices(2.3 and higher), I use HttpURLConnection which is provided by Google and supports built-in compression via a simple attribute. Nonetheless, on the older versions of Android OS(2.2 and lower), Apache's solution is more stable than the HttpURLConnection.

Currently, I am developing my mobile applications using PhoneGap which facilitates with jQuery very well. Since I like using simple jQuery methods such as getJSON() and ajax() to invoke REST web services, I move my web service calls to jQuery methods. By this way, the calls become very similar to the ones on the web site of the same project.

For the small projects which run in all .NET environment(servers and clients all .NET) I still use SOAP style web services since it is very easy to write and consume on .NET environments.

Google+ API is Available(Read Only)

2011-09-19T08:08:00.000-07:00

Finally Google+ released an API for developers. Although it is read-only right now, somewhat useful. I think Google+ needs more push(more frequent releases) otherwise it will not be able to catch up facebook in short time.

Here the e-mail that I received from Google+;

Greetings developers,

Thank you for showing your interest in the Google+ platform on our developer interest form. We promised to let you know when we had more details to share. Well, that time has come...

Today, we’re launching the first of the Google+ APIs. This initial API release is focused on public data only — it lets you read information that people have shared publicly on Google+. Read our blog post for more details.

Also, we’re happy to introduce a new Google+ developers site. This will be the place to go for ourpolicies, terms, discussions with other developers, access to documentation, tools that make development on the Google+ platform easier and more fun, and of course, the place where announcements concerning new releases will be made.

We’re looking forward to seeing what you build with the API. Today is just the beginning, and your work will affect what comes next, so go ahead and get started.

Happy coding!

- The Google+ platform team

Script to Copy Specific SBML Models in SBW Test Suite

2011-09-15T12:09:00.000-07:00

Once you download the SBML models from SBW Test Suite, they come up in sub directories and it is not easy to feed them into other platforms. The following Powershell script copies specific SBML version of models in test suite into one directory.

#Copy all the matching SBML files according to $sbmlVersion under $dir into $copyDir.
$dir = 'C:\Users\sarp\Desktop\sbml-test-cases-2011-06-15\cases\semantic\'
$copyDir = 'C:\Users\sarp\Desktop\sbml-test-cases-2011-06-15\'
$sbmlVersion = '-sbml-l2v4.xml'
Get-ChildItem $dir | ForEach-Object{
$fileToCopy = ($dir + $_.name + '\*' + $sbmlVersion)
Copy-Item $fileToCopy $copyDir
}

Hudson Script to Auto Deploy

2011-09-06T21:38:00.000-07:00

Here is my Hudson script to clear the deploy directories, build the solution and copy the compiled files into deploy directory.

Reset IIS in order to free up directories from any ongoing memory access
iisreset

Delete inside of deploy directoriesrd /Q /S C:\inetpub\GuppyServer_deploy\
rd /Q /S C:\inetpub\GuppyWebSite_deploy\

Build the project solutionc:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\msbuild c:\Users\ad\.hudson\jobs\guppy\workspace\guppy\trunk\src\Guppy\Guppy.sln

Copy the compiled files back to deploy directory.xcopy /S C:\Users\ad\.hudson\jobs\guppy\workspace\guppy\trunk\src\Guppy\GuppyServer\* C:\inetpub\GuppyServer_deploy\
xcopy /S C:\Users\ad\.hudson\jobs\guppy\workspace\guppy\trunk\src\Guppy\WebSite\* C:\inetpub\GuppyWebSite_deploy\

Hudson runs this script after updating to the latest SVN repository.Happy coding.

6 Rules of Arnold

2011-09-06T21:30:00.000-07:00

Here are the six rules for the success;

1 - Trust yourself

2 - Break some rules

3 - Don't be afraid to fail

4 - Don't listen to nay sayers

5 - Work your butt off

6 - Give back

- Arnold Schwarzenegger

For the original speech; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuJ4hbkLiY0

Google's New Sign In Page UI Design

2011-08-29T14:15:00.000-07:00

Debug does not work in Silverlight project

2011-08-11T00:27:00.000-07:00

Even if you run the Silverlight project in debug mode from Visual Studio, debugger does not attach to the process of your browser. Why? Because I was using Firefox!

At least, Silverlight team could pop-up a notification window which says "you should use IE to debug your project". Come on, I lost 20 minutes for this.

Therefore, for the ones who cannot debug Silverlight projects, try to debug it with IE. (mine works with IE 9 and does not work with Firefox 3.6)

PathCase Systems Biology Model Composition Interface Video

2011-08-09T13:40:00.000-07:00

PathCaseSB System, currently being developed by a grant from NSF Biology, features PathCase
Systems Biology Workbench that links metabolic pathways with systems biology models. The aim of the PathCaseSB project is to build a framework and tools towards effective and efficient systems biology model development for multiscale mechanistic models of biological systems. Our approach is to integrate the model database with our metabolic network database PathCaseKEGG in order to build “one-shop” querying, visualization, simulation, and modeling capabilities.

Today, new tool which aids users to compose/merge two SBML models into one larger SBML model, is released for private beta.

Here is the sneak preview of PathCase Composition Interface:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p58yHeQfNmM

As noted on video description, please watch it in full-screen mode with 720p resolution setting.

Do Google' Lat and Long Calculations Change?

2011-08-03T22:17:00.000-07:00

I had a unit test which retrieves the latitude and longitude of a text based location search on Google Maps.

Here is the search text that I was using;
"Bakırcılar Sokak, 112, Istanbul, Türkiye"

Latitude was 41.0080396 a month ago but it is 41.0080401 right now.
Longitude was 28.8396493 a month ago but it is 28.8396494 right now.

It seems Google updates the accuracy of Google Maps algorithms, nice!

Does Netflix work on iOS 5 Beta 4?

2011-07-31T12:04:00.000-07:00

Yes, finally Netflix works on iOS 5 Beta 4!!

Two days ago I updated Netflix to a new version and boom it not works on iOS 5 now.

But in my opinion iOS 5 is still not ready for a release to public.

Here is the latest bug I faced with;
After my update to iOS 5 Beta 4, alarm clock on the phone did not work! I had to reset the alarm clock to make it working again, huh.

Does Admob Work?

2011-07-30T14:00:00.000-07:00

Here are some stats from my first ad on AdMob;

In less than one day
Impressions:16,161
Clicks: 182

After these 182 clicks, only 25 of people installed the application. It is not that bad but could be better.

Pisti for Android - Popular Turkish Card Game

2011-07-19T17:22:00.000-07:00

Pisti is a very easy to learn and fun to play card game. It take 5 minutes to learn the game and you can play it hours long without getting bored!

You can read the instructions from here. Basically, same numbered(regardless of card suit) card takes the cards on the table. If there was only one card and you played the same numbered card then it is called pisti! Also Jack(J) gets all the cards on the table. The idea is to collect as much card as possible.

Anyway, you can read the instruction from the link, what I am going to talk here is my application is published to Android Market today. I have written this application in 2008 and I couldn't find time to publish it. Yesterday, I sat for an hour or two and make this application ready to publish. Believe it or not, after three years I just changed less than 50 lines of code and application built with the latest SDK of Android, that's amazing! You can download the application from https://market.android.com/details?id=com.bilgiciftligi.andpishti&feature=search_result, it is free.

There are two modes; single player or multiple player. In single player you play against your phone and no internet connection is necessary. On multi-player mode, you can play with your Gmail contacts over Wi-Fi or 3G.

Here are a few screenshots:

Google+ App on iOS 5 Beta 3 Stream and Profile Do Not Work!

2011-07-19T15:44:00.000-07:00

Today, Google+ app for iPhone is released on iTunes and I downloaded it immediately.
Nonetheless, there is a compatibility issue with iOS 5!

You can download, and login with your account but once you want to see your Stream or Profile app crashes and returns to the home screen. However, you can see the Photos, Huddles and Circles.

Hopefully Google or Apple will fix this compatibility issue soon.

Link to download from iTunes; http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/google/id447119634?mt=8

Klout Developer API with JQuery

2011-07-16T18:18:00.000-07:00

Today I found time to take a look at Klout API for developers. For the ones, who do know what Klout is, I can summarize in two words: "Social Creditscore". If you are not satisfied, take a look at wiki.

The API is very straightforward and easier to use than Facebook's API to be honest. First you need to open up an account on Klout as a developer. Klout is using Mashery for the API support and statistics. Once you register to Klout, you can create multiple Application Keys for your applications which will invoke methods on Klout API. Make sure you have entered the web site address of your application correct. (http://ewenty.com worked for me)

After obtaining an Application Key, you can start invoking methods on the API via jQuery.ajax() calls. Since you are calling cross domain methods, make sure you specify callback parameter. Klout provides both XML and JSON formats for the returned results. (I use JSON)

That's it, your jQuery.ajax() call should return of the objects specified here: http://developer.klout.com/docs/read/Response_Formats

NOTE: Calls are free but there is a limit; you can make up to 10000 calls per days.

Happy coding...

New YouTube Controls

2011-07-13T20:35:00.000-07:00

Today YouTube applied its Google+ black to the controls on YouTube.

Here is how it looks like;

Personally, I like the black(dark) color and this theme change is good.

Best Laptop Keyboards for Programmers

2011-07-13T12:50:00.000-07:00

I don't know you guys but for me "keyboard" really matters! I am a touch typist but not a fast one. The following keyboards are great for touch typists of any type. If you are programming on a laptop so much and want to use standard End, Home, Delete keys, try SleekKeys(sleekkeys.com).

1. MacBook Pro - After 2009 (MAC)

This is a great keyboard, only missing keys are windows delete(Fn+delete) and Home/End for me.
On MacBook Pro your wrists can be cut because of the sharp edged design but on macbook air you can have a solid wrist rest. I don't want to comment on mouse since it is the best touchpad by far.

2. IBM Thinkpad (PC)

Keys are really soft and responsive. Home/End/Delete keys are placed in a great layout. I always used trackpoint as a mouse and it was seamless.(I also tried HP's trackpoint but there is much difference!)

3. Asus Eee 1000HE (Netbook)

Since netbooks are small in size, it is always a pain to type. I tried different brands of netbooks IBM, Toshiba, LG, but Asus is by far the best keyboard. Last week I used Samsung Chromebook and if you put that device into netbook category, its keyboard was competitive with Asus. Asus' touchpad is not the best but moderate.

If you like typing and want to type on a decent keyboard, check these devices before you decide your next baby.

Sandcastle Errors HHC6003

2011-07-07T12:03:00.000-07:00

While trying to run Sandcastle, I faced with two errors while building the documentation.

Errors on Sandcastle Help File Builder
HHC6003 : error : The file Itircl.dll has not been registered correctly.

HHC6003 : error : The file Itcc.dll has not been registered correctly.

For some reason on my Windows 7 system, these dll files were not registered. Then, I found these files(you can download as well) and copied them into my C:\Windows\System32 directory and register them via command prompt.

Run the following commands from Command Prompt
C:\Windows\system32>regsvr32 itircl.dll

C:\Windows\system32>regsvr32 itcc.dll

That's it, now I have my .chm for my project documentation.

First Chromebook Experience

2011-07-05T18:20:00.000-07:00

My chromebook(Samsung 5 Series) delivered to my apartment today, although the estimated date was 7th of July!

Then, I opened the box and following are the experience that I had;(+ positive, - negative)

Hardware:
+ Slim packaging and easy to open.
+ Device itself is very thin, look nice.
+ Edges of the device are well rounded and do not hurt your wrists.(e.g. MacBook Pro!)
+ Keyboard is better then many of the netbooks around and can compete with MacBook's keyboard.

- Device is heavier than I expect!
- Mousepad looks like MacBook Pro's mousepad but you cannot experience the seamless experience as in MacBook Pro.
- There are two plastic caps for a few of the ports but they feel cheap.

Software
+ Runs fast.
+ Looks very similar to the chrome browser on Windows.
+ Very sleek design and easy to find what you are looking for.

- Theme/style is a little outdated, and needs a better designer for sure.
- Pop-ups open as a new tab.

At the first start, it downloaded/installed the new updates and it took 30 minutes on my 3 Gbit/s connection.

Google+ API for Developers

2011-07-04T17:05:00.000-07:00

If you are like me and searching the API of Google's new social platform Google Plus before searching for an invite, I have one bad and one good news for you.

Bad news; there is no public API for Google+ yet and there is no estimated date for it as well!

Good news; there is a private mailing list for the developers who are planning to integrate Google+ to their projects. Use https://services.google.com/fb/forms/plusdevelopers/ link to sign up for up to date posts about Google+ API.

Sending Large Data with JSON

2011-07-01T19:42:00.000-07:00

On ASP.NET(v 4.0), there is default limit for JSON serialization and if you are exchanging large amount of data over JSON then you need to set the maximum length of JSON which can be sent/received before/after serialization.

Here is the easiest way to set JSON length for serialization code which you can use in web.config file. This example sets the max length to ~2MB.

<system.web.extensions>
<scripting>
<webServices>
<jsonSerialization maxJsonLength="2000000">
</jsonSerialization>
</webServices>
</scripting>
</system.web.extensions>

XPath Query with XmlNode.SelectSingleNode

2011-06-29T12:33:00.000-07:00

While trying to parse SBML biological models on my ASP.NET project, I faced with a strange behavior of Select method of XmlNode.

In SBML, users have to define a namespace for the SBML version and level. However, in general for the remaining of the RDF file which defines species, reactions, etc., users do not use any namespace and rely on default namespace.

Nonetheless, Select method of XmlNode needs a namespace to invoke a XPath query on RDF file. You need to define a namespace for your XmlDocument like the following;

XPathDocument x = new XPathDocument(new StringReader(xmldoc.OuterXml));
XPathNavigator foo = x.CreateNavigator();
foo.MoveToFollowing(XPathNodeType.Element);

// Add the namespace.
var NSDICT = foo.GetNamespacesInScope(XmlNamespaceScope.All);

var nsmgr = new XmlNamespaceManager(xmldoc.NameTable);
foreach (KeyValuePair pair in NSDICT)
{
if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(pair.Key))
{
nsmgr.AddNamespace("pcp", pair.Value); // Add PathCase prefix, if key is empty.
}
else
{
nsmgr.AddNamespace(pair.Key, pair.Value);
}
}

All in One JavaScript Reference

2011-06-26T17:20:00.000-07:00

While reading Stephen Walther's slides about HTML5, I come up with a Javascript reference document online and want to share it since I found it very helpful. Here you are ; http://samples.superexpert.com/JavaScriptReference/

Ewenty Passed First Round

2011-06-26T14:50:00.000-07:00

Ewenty project(http://ewenty.com) passed the first round of 2011 Idea Competition which is sponsored by Shaker LaunchHouse and the Nance College of Business Global Accelerated MBA program but stuck in the final round.

Chromebooks for Google IO Attendees Are Shipping!

2011-06-24T18:19:00.000-07:00

Update on 7-1-2011:
"Samsung Series 5 3G Chromebook (Arctic White)"
Previous estimated arrival date: August 03 2011 - August 10 2011
New estimated arrival date: July 07 2011

Update on 6-29-2011:
I received an e-mail from Amazon.com about the delivery date as the following;
We now have delivery date(s) for the order you placed on June 24 2011 (Order# xxx-yyyyy-zzzzzzz):

"Samsung Series 5 3G Chromebook (Arctic White)"
Estimated arrival date: August 03 2011 - August 10 2011

Go and redeem your Arctic White Samsung Chromebook Series 5 (3G).

You will get an Amazon coupon to enter from Google IO web site and order your free Chromebook from Amazon.

That's it! Right now it says, delivery date: unknown. I will update the post, when I have one :)

Note: If you codes to claim your chromebook and free 2 day shipping do not show up immediately, just wait a while, they will come to your page.(it took around 30 minutes for me)

Associate Producer at This Week in Startups

2011-06-23T13:57:00.000-07:00

Finally, I registered for the great show "This Week in Startups" of Jason and Tyler as an Associate Producer.

Hopefully, this will be a great experience for me and I am in the team now!

Things to Remember - 1

2011-06-16T20:19:00.000-07:00

From The Curious Case of Benjamin Button;

There is no time limit.
Start whenever you want...

You can change or stay the same.
There are no rules to this thing.
We can make the best or the worst of it.

I hope you make the best of it.
I hope you see things that startle you.
I hope you feel things you never felt before.
I hope you meet with people with a different point of view.
I hope you live a life you are proud of.

and if you find that you are not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again.

- Benjamin

Good Bye MonoTouch, Long Live Xamarin

2011-06-14T18:43:00.000-07:00

The dev team in MonoTouch switch to Xamarin project and Xamarin brings up its web site which announces Xamarin Studio will be ready in Summer!

I tried MonoTouch, but I still think Html+Javascript -> Native is a more permanent solution for mobile projects. Of course, I will try Xamarin Studio when it is released but until then, I will keep using Phonegap for my mobile projects.

Xcode 4 and Phonegap Problem

2011-06-11T19:43:00.000-07:00

I was using Phonegap with XCode 3 but when I try Phonegap(phonegap.0.9.5.1) on Xcode 4, my project compiles but does not work as expected just after installation.
ERROR: Start Page at 'www/index.html' was not found. message comes up.

You have to copy "www" directory and "index.html" by yourself into your project, should new versions always cause problem?

Anyways, here is a detailed explanation;
http://wiki.phonegap.com/w/page/39991939/Getting-Started-with-PhoneGap-iOS-using-Xcode-4-%28Template-Version%29

iOS 5 Beta Installation Problems

2011-06-09T16:25:00.000-07:00

As you all do, I installed new iOS 5 Beta to my iPhone and iPad.

Nonetheless, I realized that Pulse and Flipboard apps are removed after the upgrade. I don't know why but these are the only two apps which are no more on my devices. Anyway, I re-installed and re-configured them, everything works fine.

Besides that if you face with; iTunes server is not responding now, please try again later kind of a message at the start screen of your device make sure you registered your device id into your developer account. If you don't know the device id, look at /Users/sarp/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backups directory to find your device id.(use your user instead of "sarp")

Google Checkout Session Notes at Google IO

2011-06-08T19:40:00.000-07:00

Online payments; $300 billion in the US, $8 trillion in the world.

Shopping cart can be created with javascript.
There are Checkout API, Cart API, and Merchant Calculations API.

PROs:
Removes the need of SSL certificate requirement.
Custom shipping can be added in addition to google checkout shipping.
3 clicks to complete checkout.
4 minutes(can be set) to complete checkout.
Specific mobile interface for the checkout process.
Very easy to setup.
Separation between Donate(non profit) and Support(no need to be non profit) buttons.
Special charge back flow(devs do not need to care about that workflow)
Fraud protection.
Supports micro payments.

CONs:
US&UK only!
No split payment option.
No promotion code entry for mobile devices.
No inventory buffer.(when multiple people add same items into their carts and before/just after they complete the checkout one of the items is sold out.)
You have to sign up with your google account.

Upgraded to iOS 5 Beta

2011-06-07T19:50:00.000-07:00

Today, I upgrade to iOS 5 Beta in 30 minutes.

It is an easy and seamless procedure, here are the instructions on how to install iOS 5;

Download iOS 5 Beta firmware package(.ipsw) from developer.apple.com.(~700MB)
Launch iTunes (make sure iTunes is up-to-date)
Connect device to computer
Select your device in the list (e.g.: Filip’s iPhone)
Click the “summary” tab
Hold the Alt key (on Mac OS X) / the Shift key (on Windows) and hit “restore” (as shown in the screenshot below)
iTunes will show a dialog allowing you to select the IPSW file you want your device restored to
Select the IPSW firmware bundle you want to restore to and hit “choose”
In order to sync new iOS 5 Beta, install iTunes 10.5 Beta as well.(~70MB)
Once you install iOS 5 Beta, you can restore your apps and settings from your previous backup from iTunes 10.5 Beta.

That's it, all your previous apps are installed back to your new iOS.

Once you turn on your iPhone, a new welcome screen comes up and asks whether you want to setup iCloud. You can use your apple id to start using iCloud.

iOS 5 Videos Come Out

2011-06-07T09:21:00.001-07:00

I really like to see when iOS 5 applies the features which are already being used successfully on Android. By this way, most of the mobile users share a similar experience/interface.

Oracle Crosswalk

2011-06-06T19:49:00.000-07:00

On my San Francisco trip, I have seen this cute road sign in Oracle campus.
I wonder whether they put this road sign after Sun(Java) acquisition or before.

Google IO 2011 Experience

2011-05-17T09:27:00.000-07:00

I have been to Google IO first time this year and I really enjoyed the fun there.

Location of the conference is easy to find and very close to Market/Powell street which you can travel via multiple public transportation options.

I choose cable car to go to Moscone Center. Cable car is a little slow but as a tourist it is fun to travel with.

Registration is easy and fast(for 5k people), I spend 5-6 minutes to get my badge.

Once you register, thousands of people are gearing up (with Google T-shirts) and moving to breakfast.

After breakfast, everybody goes to keynote room and Vic announces a new tablet will be given to all attendees. With our new tablets, we attend multiple sessions all day long.

There is a party at the end of first day, and you can see&play with the new electronic toys from multiple teams(e.g. GM, MIT)

Second day, Vic announces new chromebook will be given to all attendees around June 15th. I like this announcement more than the previous one personally :)

Overall
Food: GREAT (breakfast:7/10, lunch:9/10, dinner:9/10)
Fun : GREAT (party and all day stuff are awesome)
Sessions: GOOD (generally great but a few of them are below my expectations)
Attendees: GREAT (wise and friendly)
Location: GREAT (plugs everywhere, great WiFi)

To be honest, conference is seamless and I cannot complain on something!
Strongly recommended !

Computer History Museum - Mountain View

2011-05-11T20:58:00.000-07:00

On my travel to California for Google IO, I visit Computer History Museum and I spend 2 great hours in there.

Time travel goes in this order; calculators, punch cards, hybrid(mechanical+electronic) computers, server computers, personal computers, game consoles, laptops, mobile or something like that :)
You can spend all day in there, each machine is a legend!

Here are a few photos from my visit, I strongly suggest you to visit this museum it is priceless.

Ewenty - How to create an event?

2011-04-28T09:51:00.000-07:00

Here is a short video which describes how you can create a website and iphone app for your event at ewenty.com

It is really fast, just in 90 seconds !

Ewenty - How to create an event? from sarp on Vimeo.

Qanca - Mobile Payments & Campaigns

2011-04-26T20:55:00.000-07:00

I am pleased to announce that our new project started the pilot program a few days ago !

More than a thousand transactions have been processed in a few days and still counting...

Here is the quick peek video before our public launch.

We are coming, follow us !

Golden Orange 2010 Mobile App

2011-04-24T01:08:00.001-07:00

Unable to display content. Adobe Flash is required.

PathCase Systems Biology Simulation Video

2011-04-24T01:05:00.000-07:00

PathCase Systems Biology web site provides an advance interface to simulate mathematical models from RoadRunner ODE solver.

Unable to display content. Adobe Flash is required.

Amazon Web Services Are Temporarily Down (EC2)

2011-04-21T11:26:00.000-07:00

Okay you move to the cloud but what if cloud temporarily stops?

At the time of this writing; applications like Reddit, Foursquare and Quora are completely down.

You can check the latest status of the servers from; http://status.aws.amazon.com/

Google Docs Service Unavailable

2011-04-14T22:32:00.000-07:00

Sad but true, even Google has to give service interruptions.
BTW, this is the first time that I see Google Docs are not working.

How to Decide on a MacBook Model?

2011-04-11T08:02:00.000-07:00

One of my friends ask for my recommendation on purchasing a new MacBook for his wife who will not use the laptop for heavy computations.

Here is my respond;

Luckily, there is a MacBook model for everyone !

If she is not going to write any code and does not care about upgrading the memory, I would suggest 11'', 13'' MacBook Air for portability.

If she wants faster performance, or she may use it for heavy work rather than just browsing the web, I would suggest 13' MacBook Pro.(i5 or i7)

If she wants to listen music on her MacBook Pro, then I would suggest 15'' which has speaker on each side of the laptop. But 15'' models are more expensive(faster processor) and larger/heavier than 13'' indeed.

For other needs 17'' could be an option but not good for you of course. If you are thinking to purchase a 17'', I would strongly recommend looking to iMacs.

Are you going to buy a used/second hand? If not generally, it is better to purchase the new device from Apple's web site or store with international warranty. They sometimes have special rebates on printers and your printer comes for free if you buy a MacBook Pro.

If you are planning to purchase over Amazon or eBay for used models, make sure you are purchasing the new model '11. Models in '10 look exactly the same but the specifications are lower than '11 models.

Introduction to Selenium HQ

2011-04-11T07:51:00.000-07:00

Last week I presented a short set of slides and made a demo on UI functional testing with Selenium HQ. You can find the whole documentation at http://seleniumhq.org/docs/

You can download the presentation slides from the following link;
https://www.sugarsync.com/pf/D784759_998313_644537

Try it once, I believe you will like it.

Invited to StartupBus

2011-03-21T09:00:00.000-07:00

Last week I have been invited to for Cleveland StartupBus.

The idea itself is great, building and launching a startup from Cleveland to Texas for SXSW.

There are a few problems;
1. You will become motion sick. It takes 2 days to arrive Texas and you will be moving all the time with 60mph.
2. Although the bus is not small and the seats are well placed, you will be in a moving box which has low ceiling :)

But other than that it is a great fun and experience.

Unfortunately, I could not be able to attend it because of other stuff.

Next time guys...

Xcode 4 and iOS SDK 4.3 Access Denied Download Problem

2011-03-19T08:59:00.000-07:00

If you are getting Access Denied error while trying to download new XCode, it means you need to accept the license agreement.(yes I do agree, why does not Apple just put a link to that page as "click here to see the agreement" rather than just saying Access Denied?)

Anyways, here is how you can read and sign the new agreement;
1. Go to "Member Center" on top right corner.
2. You will see a yellow line which says there is a new agreement you need to sign to access developer resources.(why does not this show up when I login? I do not know!?)
3. Read and sign new agreement.

You are done, go to Dev Centers->iOS. Click on Downloads and "Download XCode 4".

Happy coding...

Apple iPad 2 Launch Day at Legacy Village

2011-03-11T19:42:00.000-08:00

Yes, I was waiting in the line and yes it took me nearly two hours to purchase an iPad 2 but I think this is something you need to experience when you come to the US. Now I can check, "Waiting in the Apple line to purchase a product at the launch day." item from the list of things to do in the US.

I put a few photos from the line to make this moment everlasting.

At the time I joined the line.(5pm)

After 20 minutes. (5.22pm)

Now it is 5.45pm.

Around 6pm.

In case of a rain apple guys brought us dozens of umbrellas. Fortunately it did not rain or snow while waiting in the line, thanks Ohio.

Here is the line behind me around 6.20pm.

Around 6.45pm and yes I can see the entrence of Apple Store.

Finally I got my iPad 2 with this ticket!!

WriteMonkey 2.01 Does Not Work on VirtualBox (no sound)

2011-03-01T19:34:00.000-08:00

When I try to use WriteMonkey 2.01 on VirtualBox, I got an error like the following;

See the end of this message for details on invoking
just-in-time (JIT) debugging instead of this dialog box.

************** Exception Text **************
System.Exception: irrKlang device could not be created with the specified parameters.
at IrrKlang.ISoundEngine.createSoundEngine(SoundOutputDriver driver, SoundEngineOptionFlag options, String deviceID)
at IrrKlang.ISoundEngine..ctor()
at Sheet.Form1..ctor(String[] args, String writerName)
at Sheet.Splash.TimerTick(Object sender, EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Timer.OnTick(EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Timer.TimerNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)

Then I installed WriteMonkey 0.99, and it worked without any error messages.

Amazon Instant Video Service

2011-02-22T12:20:00.000-08:00

Yes, you heard it right Amazon started an instant video service like netflix or hulu.

You need to be "PAID" Amazon Prime member.(College students may have Amazon Prime status without paying annual membership fee of $79, those do not count)

Here is what they say;

You already receive these Amazon Prime benefits:

FREE Two-Day Shipping with no minimum order size
One-Day Shipping for $3.99/item

Upgrade to a paid Amazon Prime membership for $79/year to also get:

Unlimited, commercial-free, instant streaming of 5,000 movies and TV shows at no additional cost
For more information, visit our Help and FAQs.

Thanks for now I have Netflix and it works well. I will check back when Amazon has more titles than Netflix for instant play.

Disable Java Updates Problem

2011-02-22T07:31:00.000-08:00

For a few weeks whenever I restart my computer a Java Update popup comes up. This is very annoying as it bubbles up from tray icon "Java Update Available" or it asks me for administrative privileges before installing.

Then I click on the setting from tray icon and check what are the options. Believe it or not, there is no automatic update without asking me?! It will notify me either Before downloading or Before installing in an annoying way.

After these options I opt out the Check for Updates Automatically functionality. Guess what? When I restart my computer it is checked again!

Eventually I found the executable for this which is located here "C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre6\bin\javacpl.exe". Just right click on it and run as administrator. Switch to "Update" tab and uncheck Check for Updates Automatically checkbox. Yes now it does not bother me with popups, and I can update it whenever I want.

Failure of OpenId? Reply to Dare Obasanjo's Post

2011-02-16T18:44:00.000-08:00

The following is my comment to Dare's blog post.

In my opinion, there is need for a similar service to OpenID for the sites that you are using regularly(everyday).

1. use the same username/password for multiple sites
Using same username&password is the similar thing of having OpenID but gives you a pain of retyping your credentials to each web site.(sometimes it is not only login credentials but your address, phone, photo, etc.). If you change one of your passwords(or other information), you have to go and change your password in all of your registered sites.

2. use their browser's ability to remember their password (enabled by default)
First of all, I use multiple browsers, computers and sometimes people use my browser(computer) as well. If I clear the cash(forget passwords) of my browser or use another computer, I need to sign all the web sites again.

3. don't register for the new site
I do agree on this, there should be a trial sign up with your OpenID. Like a temporary id in which you can use to asses the web site's quality and usefulness. Similar to Facebook Connect, user should be able to limit the information site can use.

4. don't ever log in to the site
In most of the cases you need to login to a web site in order to do something.

5. log in once, click "remember me"
Remember me writes your information to cookies and cookies have a lifetime. In addition it has similar problems in 2.

6. click the back button on their browser and never come back to the site
Happens every now and then.

7. maintain a list of user IDs and passwords in an offline document
That may seem a good idea for now but in my opinion this is not a good way. Updating this document is crucial especially if you have 100s of username password pairs. I never want to talk about losing that document, which is possible as well.

What is bad of having only one password and username?
In my point of view only problem of OpenID idea is one point of failure. If you lose your password, you are in trouble since one can access all the web sites you have access to with your privileges. On the bright side, once you think someone has stolen your password, you just need to change it on the main web site and it will affect all other web sites. Moreover, there are security solutions for logins; such as sending a confirmation SMS(text) into your mobile phone.

In the light of what I have said, having one set of username and password pair and being able to use it in many web sites is convenient for me as long as the provider is reliable and give additional privacy option for each web site that you will use it in.

Why did OpenID fail?
One of the problem of OpenID was marketing and bad implementation in my opinion like Microsoft Passport. Google and Facebook are doing this concept in a better way and I am using their service for a while.

Google IO 2011 Gift Options

2011-02-15T05:29:00.000-08:00

UPDATE: Instructions to claim your Chromebook will be send next week to the e-mail that you registered with.

UPDATE: Google decided to give
Samsung Galaxy Tab(not released to public device ~1 month)
and
Chromebook(will be shipped on June 15)
to all the attendees !

The ones, who are lucky and be able to register for Google IO 2011, may start to think about what will be the gift or welcome kit for this year?

Why do I care? I am planning to buy a tablet in the beginning of March, what will I do with two identical tablets if they give away tablets this year!

In my opinion; strong possibility is a tablet give away but Google TV option is also slightly possible.
Most probably(and I hope), there will not be another Android phone gift with this year's event. We all have Android phones and already building on top of those.

What do you think? Which one you want to have? (may be Google can look at here to decide;)
(a) Any tablet which runs Honeycomb
(b) Any Google TV with its display
(c) Yet another Android phone
(d) Your choice(please) specify)
(F) I don't care about the gift

This is the old link for the gift registration Google IO 2010: http://www.google.com/events/io/2010/gift-form.html

If Google follow the naming convention of previous year, new gift registration link should look like: http://www.google.com/events/io/2011/gift-form.html

See you all at the conference...

Nokia and Microsoft Windows Phone 7 Partnership

2011-02-11T08:11:00.000-08:00

I really like the action that Elop took by dropping old Symbian and moving to a new OS but this is a little late shift. May be a better time could be during the increase of Androids or at the first release of WP7.

In a few months there will be tablet explosion from Androids and iPad 2 will be out there as well. Therefore it seems Nokia and WP7 will miss the recent tablet war. On the other hand, as Elop mentioned during the talk, they know that WP7 is not the best OS out there but they believe Nokia can add value to WP7 via adding unique(I hope) features. That's right, if Nokia and Microsoft can bring a really unique device like iPhone did in '07, this will be a game changer otherwise they will be just following Android and iPhone from a far distance.

Microsoft missed the iPhone(touch phones) and iPad(tablets) battles, I hope they are getting ready for a new era of devices with Nokia partnership.

What do you think?

create free polls | comment on this

Google IO 2011 Registration Sold Out in an Hour

2011-02-07T10:48:00.000-08:00

Yes you are right, the event tickets are sold out in an hour!

If you tried to register Google IO but could not register because of 503 errors, don't worry you can still register via specifying your registration id.

How to find your registration id?
Open up your browser's history and find the URL like the following;

https://www.google-io.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=reg.Conf&PK=****

**** specifies your registration id.

Try to browse that site and hopefully it will work. If not then you will wait for the next Google IO.

If you cleared the cash of your browser, may be you can start to wish there was a recycle bin for those...

Bear in mind, you need to receive 2 e-mails from Google IO;
One for Invoice and one for the Registration Confirmation. Once you received these, you are ready to book your flight!

GoDaddy Super Bowl Commercial 2011 and Discount on .CO

2011-02-06T08:16:00.000-08:00

Today is the day for Super Bowl Sunday and GoDaddy created new ads for this game.

A brand new GoDaddy.co girl will be announced in the commercial.

That is something cool but what I am interested in is the discounts on .CO addresses!

At the moment the price of a .CO domain name is $11.99, be quick and grab your .CO domain name.

I already purchased one sarp.co !

Hurry up and buy your discounted .CO from GoDaddy.com

Once you are at the link, click on "Super Bowl Ads" in order to get additional discount!
.COM and .CO are only $7.49 per year.

New Version of Growl is Out There Do You Want to Update Now?

2011-02-02T15:08:00.000-08:00

When I saw this popup on the upper right corner of my macbook, I started to think what date did I install this program? or what does this program do?

After a quick search I have found that Gmail Desktop alerts are using this 3rd party application. I have installed its 1.2.1 version which is around 6MB and hope that it will work better from now on.

I wish Growl added something about Google or Gmail into the text of the update notification.

2011 Cadillac CTS Coupe at Detroit Autoshow 2011

2011-01-31T20:21:00.000-08:00

I won't comment and let the photos speak themselves...

Audi 2011 Comes with Wi-Fi

2011-01-31T20:12:00.000-08:00

2011 Audis(as far as I see it is on A6, A8) will have built in Wi-Fi on them. This is great to use if you are at the back seat and does not want to bother with plugging in and out your 3G/4G dongle into your laptop!

By this way car itself becomes a Wi-Fi access point and itself is also connected to the internet.
You may worry about the security but who cares if you are going to an important event and you just want to see the event program from http://ewenty.com before arriving there to save some time.

Electric Cars at Detroit Autoshow '11

2011-01-31T20:03:00.000-08:00

Volkswagen(VW) blue-e-motion
Here is the photo where a cute VW Golf is being charged by electricity.

Volvo Electric Car Crash Test
Here is the front impact of Volvo's electric car concept.
The speed was 64km/h as far as I remember and it looks very good!

Activity Selection with Profits

2011-01-27T18:59:00.000-08:00

This is the source code of my previous course project "Activity Scheduling with Profits".

Project has been written in C# with ASP.NET.

Fully functional project demo is available from http://cs.sleekkeys.com

Source code of the main algorithm is put as "SchedulerModels.cs", the other supplementary files such as views, images, scripts, controllers are available from the web site.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;

namespace EECS.Models
{
public interface ISchedulerService
{
List GetJobsList(Guid deviceId, DateTime start, DateTime end);
void OrderJobsListByFinishTimes(ref List unorderedJobList);
void AttachNearestFinishingJobs(ref List nearestFinishingJobsNotAddedJobList);
int[] FindLargestProfitsWithScheduling(List orderedNearestFinishingJobsFilledJobList);
void GetJobsFromLargestProfitsList(int[] largestProfitScheduling, ref List orderedNearestFinishingJobsFilledJobList);

void SaveRating(Guid userId, Guid jobId, int rating);

void ApplyGreedyApproach(ref List jobs);
}

public class SchedulerModel
{
}

public class SchedulerService : ISchedulerService
{
DbDataContext db = new DbDataContext();

public List GetJobsList(Guid userId, DateTime start, DateTime end)
{
var jobs = (from j in db.Jobs
join r in db.Ratings.Where(x => x.UserId == userId) on j.Id equals r.JobId into r_j
from r in r_j.DefaultIfEmpty()
select new Job { Id = j.Id, Duration = j.Duration, Desc = j.Desc, Name = j.Name, StartTime = j.StartTime, Rating = r == null ? 0 : r.Rating1 }).ToList();

/*
* tmp array with size jobs.Count
* int noOfElementsInBetween = 0
* for i=0 to jobs.Count
* if(jobs[i].StartTime >= startDate && jobs[i].FinishTime >= endDate)
* tmp[noOfElementsInBetween] = jobs[i]
* noOfElementsInBetween ++
*
* result array with size noOfElementsInBetween
* for i=0 to noOfElementsInBetween
* result[i] = tmp[i]
*/
jobs = jobs.Where(x => x.StartTime >= start && x.FinishTime <= end).ToList(); return jobs; } public void OrderJobsListByFinishTimes(ref List jobs)
{
// takes O(n)
// order jobs by finish times(start+processing)
jobs = jobs.OrderBy(x => x.FinishTime).ToList();
}

public void AttachNearestFinishingJobs(ref List jobs)
{
// takes O(nlgn)
// compute H(i) for each element using binary search
int low, high, mid;
int best;
for (int i = 0; i < jobs.Count; i++) { best = 0; // Nearest finishing job found so far. low = 0; high = i - 1; while (low <= high) { mid = (high + low) / 2; if (jobs[mid].FinishTime > jobs[i].StartTime)
{
high = mid - 1;
}
else if (jobs[mid].FinishTime < jobs[i].StartTime) { best = mid + 1; low = mid + 1; } } jobs[i].NearestFinishingJob = best; } } public int[] FindLargestProfitsWithScheduling(List jobs)
{
// takes O(n)
// create an array A to hold the largest profit that we can get by scheduling activities from 1 to i+1.
int[] A = new int[jobs.Count + 1];
for (int i = 0; i < A.Length; i++) { A[i] = 0; } int max = 0; for (int i = 1; i < A.Length; i++) { max = jobs[i - 1].Rating + A[jobs[i - 1].NearestFinishingJob]; if (max < A[i - 1]) { max = A[i - 1]; } A[i] = max; } return A; } public void GetJobsFromLargestProfitsList(int[] A, ref List jobs)
{
for (int i = 0; i < jobs.Count; i++) jobs[i].IsInBestProfitSchedule = false; int j = jobs.Count; int moveTo = -1; while (j > 0)
{
if (moveTo != -1)
{
if (A[j] != moveTo)
{
j--;
continue;
}
else
{
moveTo = -1;
}
}

if (A[j] != A[j - 1])
{
jobs[j - 1].IsInBestProfitSchedule = true;
moveTo = A[j] - jobs[j - 1].Rating;
}
j--;
}
}

public void SaveRating(Guid userId, Guid jobId, int rating)
{
var prevRating = db.Ratings.Where(x => x.UserId == userId && x.JobId == jobId).SingleOrDefault();
if (prevRating == null)
{
db.Ratings.InsertOnSubmit(new Rating { Id = Guid.NewGuid(), JobId = jobId, UserId = userId, Rating1 = rating });
db.SubmitChanges();
}
else
{
prevRating.Rating1 = rating;
db.SubmitChanges();
}
}

public void ApplyGreedyApproach(ref List jobs)
{
jobs = jobs.OrderByDescending(x => (double)x.Rating / x.Duration).ToList();

// Order jobs according to pi/duration in decreasing order.
var remainingJobs = jobs.OrderByDescending(x => (double)x.Rating / x.Duration).ToList();

while (remainingJobs.Count > 0) // Try to use all the jobs
{
// Get the job which gives best profit proportional to duration and then get the next best job which is available after first job.
var selected = remainingJobs[0];

jobs.Where(x => x.Id == selected.Id).Single().IsInBestProfitSchedule = true;

// Remove jobs whose start time or finish time is in between of chosen jobs start and finish time.
remainingJobs = remainingJobs.Where(x => (x.FinishTime <= selected.StartTime && x.StartTime <= selected.StartTime) || (x.FinishTime >= selected.FinishTime && x.StartTime >= selected.FinishTime)).ToList();
}
}
}
}

JSim does not work with Symantec Antivirus

2011-01-25T07:44:00.000-08:00

Question from one of my non-technical colleagues;

I'm trying to use JSim 2011 January release but for some reason Symantec Antivrus is deleting one of the .dll library that JSim 2011 release needs to use. In another words, whenever I try to run JSim, Symantec does not allow me to do that because it thinks odesolver.dll is a trojan.

Here is the answer that solves his problem;

First try to disable active protection in Symantec Antivirus from the settings when you run JSim.
If it runs successfully, you should be able to add exception for the executable of JSim into Symantec Antivirus as JSim is a safe program.

Code Retreat Cleveland

2011-01-16T20:43:00.000-08:00

Finally, I have been to "code retreat" by Corey Haines at the boat!(here is the original site)

There were about 30-40 great developers in the boat all around Cleveland, OH.
The community was great also the event itself. During the event you are supposed to write code(with any programming language) for Conway's Game of Life. Corey recommends you to use TDD or TestFirst or any approach that you can learn something after each session(45min). At the beginning of each section you start building your code from scratch with a different pair programming partner.

It may sound boring/strange but I strongly suggest you attend at least once to see how different the experience is.

Pros;
- Meet with new great people
- Learn nice testing techniques
- Improve pair programming

Cons;
- Day long event, in the end you feel tired!

Delete SVN Directories in Project Powershell Script

2011-01-10T12:06:00.000-08:00

Here is the PowerShell script to delete all the SVN directories in your project.

ls -Force -Recurse -Filter .svn | rm -Force -Recurse

Use this code with your own risk, try it somewhere else first.

CodeMash 2011 Event Program

2011-01-09T18:21:00.000-08:00

Here is a great mobile event program application for CodeMash 2011 ...
It is both for web and mobile(iphone only for now) with unique capabilities.

Here is the address; http://ewenty.com/codemash

If you browse this URL from an iPhone, it shows up mobile interface in which you can easily navigate.
Whereas, if you browse this URL from a standard web browser, interface looks like a traditional web application.

What is different in this application?
1. There is a "Scheduler" tool in which you can create an automatic schedule for yourself via rating sessions. Scheduler automatically, finds overlapping sessions and brings you an appropriate schedule.
2. While giving ratings for the sessions, "Scheduler" displays recommended ratings for your non-rated sessions via using ratings given by other Codemashers.
3. You can easily share the session you like or attending via facebook or twitter with one click link.
4. Standard web interface provides online chat(like mIRC:) functionality for Codemashers. It can be useful during the conference for quick chats!

If you have any questions or suggestions or bug reports, please use info@ewenty.com .

Have fun during the CodeMash 2011 conference...

Which Windows 7 Tablet? HP Slate or Asus EEE Slate

2011-01-06T09:39:00.000-08:00

I am planning to buy a new tablet and I have seen HP Slate but lack of CPU power is a big problem for me. Therefore, I started to wait for the CES 2011 since 2011 will be the year of tablets right?

Here are links if you want to see the specifications by yourself;
For HP Slate: http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/13658_na/13658_na.html
For Asus EEE Slate: http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Slate-EP121-1A011M-12-1-Inch-Tablet/dp/B004HKIIF8

Anyway as far as I see Asus EEE Slate seems the best solution for me, why?

- Costs $200 more from HP Slate but has very powerful CPU in which I can even write my code.
- It comes with a Bluetooth keyboard in the box.
- Has two USB ports.
- 12.1'' screen in which you can see many things with 1280x800 resolution.
- 32 GB of storage is enough for me although 64GB version is available for $100.

Here are the cons for me;

- Does not have a 3G or 4G sim card slot.
- It is heavier(~2.5pounds) than HP Slate(~1.5pounds)
- 3 hours of battery life is not very promising(it is 5hrs in HP Slate) but I can buy an extra battery.

As a result I am waiting for the end of CES whether there will be another great tablet(which includes 3G/4G) announcement if not Asus EEE Slate seems good for me now.

Chrome OS with Verizon

2011-01-05T12:35:00.000-08:00

While watching Chrome OS demo on googlechrome channel in YouTube, I have seen that Chrome OS will work with Verizon for the data connectivity and here is the screenshot which may be informative for those who are interested.

Here are the things that I like;

100MB free data every month for two years
No contracts therefore no cancellation fees

How to unlock t-mobile android phone?

2010-12-31T09:03:00.000-08:00

This is an easy process and it takes around 24-48 hours to have your phone unlocked.

First, you need to call t-mobile and tell them that you have an Android phone and you want to unlock it. Be sure that your phone is with you since they will ask the IMEI number for the application. (*#06# is the code for the IMEI number)

Once you are done with the application on the phone, they say it will take 24-48 hours to process your request. While waiting that period be sure that your account meets the following criteria;
- Must be active for at least 60 days
- Must have a balance of at least $10.00 or have had a refill placed on the account within the last 30 days

If you qualify, then you will be able to use your phone overseas when you travel.

How to import google calendar from a calendar url link?

2010-12-30T19:02:00.000-08:00

Last night I found a useful calendar for me while surfing the net but at my first try I could not be able to import it into my google calendar.

Here is the link;(take it as a sample)

https://www.google.com/calendar/embed?mode=AGENDA&src=elodewenty32ddtj2ike1b02otkg4@group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America/New_York&gsessionid=OK

I tried to import calendar from the "URL" option in google calendar but it did not work.

Luckily, when I look into the URL, I find the "src" parameter which is an e-mail address! then I check the import options on the google calendar again and see that only import "from friend" option gets e-mail as input.

Then, I used that e-mail as it is my friend's e-mail address and it worked.

May be this is a weird way to import it but at least it worked for me!

LG Optimus T USB Driver Not Recognized

2010-12-13T12:13:00.000-08:00

When you plug in your Android phone into your Windows 7 system, it is not recognized.

But installing a driver is easy, just download the driver from http://www.lgforum.com/resources
and double click. Once the driver is installed successfully, your phone's interface will change and there will be a mount screen with "Turn On Mounting" button.

Touch mount button, windows explorer will recognize your phone as external storage. Once you are done, just touch on "Turn Off Mounting" button on your phone to complete any transaction.

PathCase Systems Biology Simulation Video

2010-11-15T20:15:00.000-08:00

PathCase is a web-based bioinformatics tool to store, query, simulate and visualize metabolic pathways.

They published a new video for their simulation interface for systems biology web site.

You can watch the video from here.

Code Faster - Developer Keyboard

2010-06-13T21:21:00.000-07:00

Today I want to announce a great tool for all developers!

SleekKeys - developer keyboard!

I have been using SleekKeys for 2 weeks and I am sure that I am coding faster on Visual Studio editor since then. Sorry Linux/Mac folks, this works only on Windows operating system.

How does SleekKeys work?
SleekKeys remaps Home, End, arrow keys, and even mouse events on to your standard keyboard layout.
By this way, you do not need to memorize or get used to the new location of your Delete key any more!
SleekKeys is activated when Caps Lock is on, and deactivated when Caps Lock is off.

Here are some mappings when Caps Lock is on:
U = Home
O = End
M = Delete
I,J,K,L = arrows
P = Backspace
E,S,D,F = mouse movement
W = mouse right click
R = mouse left click

That simple! You can download and try it for free from http://sleekkeys.com , no registration required!

I bet you will like it, if not just comment here:)

Windows 7 Save As Bug

2010-04-08T22:09:00.000-07:00

Last night I was trying to save two files with same name and then came up with a bug on Windows 7.
Bug on Windows 7? Yes, it is called a bug as far as I know.

If you delete the file within the save as pop up, you cannot save your file with the same name directly from the save as pop up, it thinks file still exists.

I attached a short recording of my experience, leave your comment if you think this is not a bug but a feature.

Free Online Storage SugarSync Referral Code

2010-04-04T12:29:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

I have been searching for a good and free online storage in order to backup my files. For a while ago, I was using xDrive from AOL but they shut down the web site!

Until then I start using SugarSync and I am very happy with it. It provides 5GB free online storage(whereas Dropbox gives only 2GB) and I can download/upload my files from my Google Android also. It works fast and flawless on Windows 7, Android, iPhone and Mac OS.

Just try by yourself, it is all free. If you sign up with the following link, you will receive extra 500MB for free additional to your 5GB! Click on the link below to sign up with SugarSync referral code: SugarSync

REFERRAL CODE IS THE BELOW ONE

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
https://www.sugarsync.com/referral?rf=ckzsvy0hcerna
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

REFERRAL CODE IS THE ABOVE ONE.

jQuery hide show Method Does Not Work in Chrome

2010-03-22T10:05:00.000-07:00

Yes, last week I have realized that hide() and show() methods are working perfectly on Firefox and IE but not on Chrome! The jQuery code does not give any error on Chrome but does not apply the action(hide or hide the div) either.
Until now I was using jQuery 1.3.2 and I saw that there is a newer version on their site 1.4.2 !
Then, I updated to the new version of the jQuery JavaScript library and same code started to work on Chrome also.

What do we get from this? Check new versions of libraries more often than not.

Integer Knapsack Problem C#

2010-03-18T20:58:00.000-07:00

Here is a quick and dirty C# implementation of integer knapsack problem, hope it helps to the ones who may need it. (tested with .NET 4.0)

4 sample types of items with their values and weights are given and the maximum capacity of the knapsack is given. Picking the fraction(1/4 of item 1) of item into knapsack is not allowed. In addition, since there is an unlimited amount of items for each type, you can pick more than one item with the same type.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;

namespace ConsoleApplication1
{
    ///

    /// Cite http://sacoskun.blogspot.com if you want to use the source code!!!
    /// Knapsack problem.
    ///

    class Program
    {
        static int[][] map;
        static List items;
        static int totalCap;
        struct Item
        {
            public int Id { get; set; }
            public int Value { get; set; }
            public int Weight { get; set; }
        }
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            totalCap = 10;
            items = new List();
            items.Add(new Item { Id = 0, Value = 3, Weight = 2 });
            items.Add(new Item { Id = 1, Value = 4, Weight = 3 });
            items.Add(new Item { Id = 2, Value = 8, Weight = 5 });
            items.Add(new Item { Id = 3, Value = 1, Weight = 1 });

            map = new int[items.Count][];
            foreach (var item in items)
            {
                map[item.Id] = new int[totalCap + 1];
            }
            FindMaxValue(totalCap);
            PrintMap();
            PrintItems();
        }

        static int FindMaxValue(int capacity)
        {
            if (capacity <= 0)
            {
                return 0;
            }
            else
            {
                int itemId = 0;
                int maxIfCapacityNodeHasItem = 0;
                int maxFromMap = -1;
                foreach (var item in items)
                {
                    if (capacity - item.Weight >= 0)
                    {
                        maxFromMap = MaxFromMap(capacity - item.Weight); // if there is precalculated value use ti.
                        int value = item.Value + ((maxFromMap==-1)?FindMaxValue(capacity - item.Weight):maxFromMap);
                        if (value > maxIfCapacityNodeHasItem)
                        {
                            itemId = item.Id;
                            maxIfCapacityNodeHasItem = value;
                        }
                    }
                }
                int maxIfCapacityNodeIsEmpty = MaxFromMap(capacity - 1);
                maxIfCapacityNodeIsEmpty = (maxIfCapacityNodeIsEmpty==-1)?FindMaxValue(capacity - 1):maxIfCapacityNodeIsEmpty;
                if (maxIfCapacityNodeHasItem >= maxIfCapacityNodeIsEmpty)
                {
                    map[itemId][capacity] = maxIfCapacityNodeHasItem;
                    return maxIfCapacityNodeHasItem;
                }
                else
                {
                    return maxIfCapacityNodeIsEmpty;
                }
            }
        }

        static int MaxFromMap(int capacity)
        {
            for (int i = 0; i < items.Count; i++)
            {
                if (map[i][capacity] > 0)
                {
                    return map[i][capacity];
                }
            }
            return -1;
        }

        static void PrintItems()
        {
            for (int c = 0; c <= totalCap; c++)
            {
                int remainingCapacity = c;
                Console.WriteLine("For capacity:" + c + " Maximum value can be achieved by:");
                while (remainingCapacity > 0)
                {
                    bool doesCapacityHaveItems = false;
                    for (int i = 0; i < items.Count; i++)
                    {
                        if (map[i][remainingCapacity] > 0)
                        {
                            Console.Write("[Item " + i + "]");
                            remainingCapacity -= items.Single(x => x.Id == i).Weight;
                            doesCapacityHaveItems = true;
                        }
                    }
                    if (doesCapacityHaveItems == false) break;
                }
                Console.WriteLine();
            }
        }

        static void PrintMap()
        {
            Console.Write("   ");

            for (int i = 0; i <= totalCap; i++)
            {
                Console.Write(i + " ");
            }
            Console.WriteLine();
            for (int i = 0; i < items.Count; i++)
            {
                Console.Write(items[i].Id + ": ");
                for (int j = 0; j <= totalCap; j++)
                {
                    Console.Write(map[i][j] + " ");
                }
                Console.WriteLine();
            }
        }
    }
}

Go to Definition in Visual Studio

2010-02-28T20:46:00.000-08:00

Alright Visual Studio 2010 is about to release(in RC) but as far as I see in order to go to the definition of a class(or variable) in code we still need to right click and select "Go to definition" link from the pop-up which is not developer friendly in my opinion.

For instance in Eclipse developer can jump to the definition of a class(or variable) via holding control key and clicking on the text with mouse. Which is possible in Visual Studio with an extension.(http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/4b286b9c-4dd5-416b-b143-e31d36dc622b)

What I suggest is making the middle button(scroll) click of mouse to jump to definition of a class(or variable) directly when your mouse pointer is over it. Please comment down if I am the only one who is using "Go to definition" link very often and fed up with right+left click combo.

ClientID in Request.Form

2010-02-17T18:40:00.000-08:00

Once you create a dynamic control in ASP.NET web page, it is sent to the user with different id and it is processed in the server with a different id.

Although the difference is very small, it makes difference.
For instance, when you create a textbox in code behind file and try to access its ClientID you will see something like the following;
(cAM is the ID of the control)

ctl00_ctl00_BodyStyle_MainContent_DisplayWindow_ctl00_ctl02_cAM

However, once you would like to catch the Request.Form properties, your textbox will be shown as;

ctl00$ctl00$BodyStyle$MainContent$DisplayWindow$ctl00$ctl02$cAM

Yes only the separators are different, you need to replace '_' with '$' if you would like to find your control in Request.Form keys.

public string ClientIdFormSearchable(string clientId)
{
return clientId.Replace('_', '$');
}

How to Delete Inside of Sub Folders / Directories?

2010-02-15T18:23:00.000-08:00

Today I write a very simple Powershell script in order to delete the contents of the sub directories of a directory.

#Parent directory that you will delete the contents of its sub directories
$dir = 'c:\Users\sarp\findthefashion\'

#Foreach sub directory delete all the contents.
Get-ChildItem $dir | ForEach-Object{
$dirToDel = ($dir + $_.name + '\*')
Remove-Item $dirToDel -Recurse
}

5 minutes of scripting saved my 20 minutes of handwork and then I was able to write this entry.

Creating a Simple Makefile

2010-02-08T09:06:00.000-08:00

If you are sharing a C/C++ code with someone else, it is better to provide them a how to compile your code. But sometimes it takes so long!

A Makefile helps you compiling programs and building executables, object code, libraries, etc. For this we should have a file called Makefile that includes rules showing how to compile the program. Then we just type "make" and the "make" utility compiles the program via rules stated in the the "Makefile" file.

Then, let's create a simple file named "Makefile" and let others to compile your code via just typing $>make to the console.

Here is the inside of Makefile:

# Specifies the files that are included in the build process.
# e.g. server.c and client.c

all: server client

# Specify how to compile server.c

server: server.c
gcc -Wall -g -lm -o server server.c

# Specify how to compile client.c

client: client.c
gcc -Wall -g -lm -o client client.c

# -g option is required for debugging
# -Wall causes all compiler warnings to be shown
# -lm links with math library in case you would like to use a math function

# Specify a clean command to clean your build code or any
# temporary data for fresh start.
# You should type "make clean" in order to remove the
# files specified above, such as the executable.

clean:
rm -fr client server *~ core*

Consuming .NET Web Services via kSOAP Library

2010-02-07T10:51:00.000-08:00

I have seen that many people having difficulties on consuming .NET web services via Android mobile devices.

I wrote an article on codeproject.com about this issue more than a year ago but many people do not know about it and still ask me.

Here is the original link for the article;

http://www.codeproject.com/KB/mobile/CallWebServiceFromkSOAP.aspx

Introduction

As many of you know web services are the great way to establish communication between distance and independant platforms.

It is straightforward to create .NET web services and easier to use them from any .NET Framework enabled system. Nevertheless, when the issue come to a non-.NET Frameworked system, some interoperability difficulties may appear. In order to enhance the interoperability of web services, the WS-I publishes profiles. The following article will be using RPC(Remote Procedure Call) messaging pattern of the widely used profile, SOAP(Simple Object Access Protocol) with .NET web services on the server side.

On the client side, Java enabled Android OS installed mobile device will be used. For Android OS we need a web service client library that is specially designed for constrained Java environments and kSOAP provides this facility for us in open source way!

Main purpose of the article is to demonstrate how to write a .NET web service that can communicate with an Android OS through kSOAP library.

Required Technologies

The versions of the softwares which are used during this article, are listed below;

SOAP v 1.1
kSOAP v 2.1.1 (patched with WSDL patch)
Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 SDK
Sun Microsystems Java Development Kit 1.6.0
Android SDK m5-rc15 for Linux-x86

(At the time of the article is written, all of these softwares were freely downloadable from internet.)

Using the code

Web Service Definition(in .NET)

The source code file of the web service is given below. The important thing is all the method names should be unique, even if the method signatures are different. SOAPAction values must be unique across the namespace.

(imports are not shown for brevity.)

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[WebService(Namespace = "http://tempuri.org/")]  public class Service : System.Web.Services.WebService  {      public Service(){}      [SoapRpcMethod(), WebMethod]      public int GetGivenInt(int i)      {          return i;      }      [SoapRpcMethod(), WebMethod]      public Event GetGivenEvent(Event evnt)      {          return evnt;      }       [SoapRpcMethod(), WebMethod]      public int[] GetGivenIntArray(int[] array)      {          return array;      }       [SoapRpcMethod(), WebMethod]      public DateTime GetGivenDate(DateTime date)      {          return date;      }       [SoapRpcMethod, WebMethod]       public Event[] GetOnGoingEvents()      {          Event[] arrayToReturn = new Event[100];          Event e ;          for(int i = 0; i < 100; i++)          {          e = new Event();          e.Name = "Event"+i;          e.StartDate = new DateTime(2008, 6, 12);          e.EndDate = new DateTime(2008, 6, 20);          e.SubscriptionStartDate = new DateTime(2008, 3, 12);          e.SubscriptionEndDate = new DateTime(2008, 4, 12);          arrayToReturn[i] = e;          }           return arrayToReturn;      }       // Custom defined inner class to represent complex type.     public class Event      {           // Generate properties for           // String Name,           // int Key,           // DateTime SubscriptionStartDate, SubscriptionEndDate, StartDate, EndDate       }

Client Side Complex Type Definitions(in Java)

(imports are not shown for brevity.)

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public abstract class BaseObject implements KvmSerializable {     public static final String NAMESPACE = "http://tempuri.org/encodedTypes";     public BaseObject() {         super();     } }  public class Event extends BaseObject {     public static Class EVENT_CLASS = new Event().getClass();         private String name;     private int key;     private Date subscriptionStartDate;     private Date subscriptionEndDate;     private Date startDate;     private Date endDate;      @Override     public Object getProperty(int index)     {         switch (index) {         case 0:             return name;         case 1:              return key;         case 2:             return subscriptionStartDate;         case 3:             return subscriptionEndDate;         case 4:             return startDate;         case 5:             return endDate;         default:             return null;         }     }      @Override     public int getPropertyCount() {         return 6;     }      @Override     public void getPropertyInfo(int index, Hashtable properties, PropertyInfo info) {         switch (index)         {         case 0:             info.type = PropertyInfo.STRING_CLASS;             info.name = "Name";             break;         case 1:             info.type = PropertyInfo.INTEGER_CLASS;             info.name = "Key";             break;         case 2:             info.type = MarshalDate.DATE_CLASS;             info.name = "SubscriptionStartDate";             break;         case 3:             info.type = MarshalDate.DATE_CLASS;             info.name = "SubscriptionEndDate";             break;         case 4:             info.type = MarshalDate.DATE_CLASS;             info.name = "StartDate";             break;         case 5:             info.type = MarshalDate.DATE_CLASS;             info.name = "EndDate";             break;         default:             break;         }     }      @Override     public void setProperty(int index, Object value) {         switch (index) {         case 0:             name = value.toString();              break;         case 1:              key = Integer.parseInt(value.toString());             break;         case 2:             subscriptionStartDate = (Date)value;             break;         case 3:             subscriptionEndDate = (Date)value;             break;         case 4:             startDate = (Date)value;             break;         case 5:             endDate = (Date)value;             break;         default:             break;         }     } // Getters and setters are omitted for brevity. }

Defining Web Service Properties from Client Side

Defining parameters for calling the SOAP RPC web service methods.

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    private static final String SOAP_ACTION = "http://tempuri.org/MethodName";     private static final String METHOD_NAME = "MethodName";     private static final String NAMESPACE = "http://tempuri.org/";         private static final String URL = "http://192.168.2.200/Service.asmx";

All of the data above can be retrieved from the web service definition(WSDL).
METHOD_NAME is the name of the method that we define in the web service.
NAMESPACE is the namespace of the web service, default is “http://tempuri.org/”, can be specific to your own organization.
SOAP_ACTION is the direct concatenation of NAMESPACE followed by METHOD_NAME.
URL is the location where the web service can be accessed from. If the connection will be through SSL, you need to specify it here.(e.g. https)

Set the Arguments to Pass

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            SoapObject request = new SoapObject(NAMESPACE, METHOD_NAME);

After defining our SoapObject, we can add the arguments that we are going to send to the web service method viaaddProperty() method.

If the web service method does not require any parameters, no need to add any property. If one or more parameters are required, the important thing while passing a parameter is the PropertyInfo's name and type should match with the original web service method's parameter names.

First example is GetGivenInt() web service method which gets a primitive int parameter and returns the same primitive integer value.

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            PropertyInfo pi = new PropertyInfo();              pi.setName("i");             pi.setValue(5);                         request.addProperty(pi);

Second example web service method is GetGivenDate() which gets a DateTime parameter and returns the same value. We need to add marshalling for the simple types that are not standardized in kSOAP, I will talk about it in the next part.

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            PropertyInfo pi = new PropertyInfo();             pi.setName("date");             pi.setValue(new Date(System.currentTimeMillis()));                         request.addProperty(pi);

Another example is a complex type, which is going to be sent as a parameter to the GetGivenEvent() web service method which returns the same Event object back. Since the type Event is complex, we set the type as the Eventclass.

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            PropertyInfo pi = new PropertyInfo();             pi.setName("evnt");             Event e = new Event();             e.setName("Antalya, Turkey");             e.setKey(1);             e.setEndDate(new Date(EndDate.timeMillis()));             e.setStartDate(new Date(StartDate.timeMillis()));             e.setSubscriptionEndDate(new Date(SubscriptionEndDate.timeMillis()));             e.setSubscriptionStartDate(new Date(SubscriptionStartDate.timeMillis()));             pi.setValue(e);             pi.setType(Event.EVENT_CLASS);             request.addProperty(pi);

Set Up the Envelope

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            SoapSerializationEnvelope envelope =                  new SoapSerializationEnvelope(SoapEnvelope.VER11);             envelope.dotNet = true;             envelope.setOutputSoapObject(request);

In this example SOAP version 1.1 is used but both version 1.1 and 1.2 are supported by the .NET Framework. The dotNet flag needs to be true for a .NET web service call from kSOAP2. In the end SoapObject instance “request” is assigned as the outbound message of the soap call to the envelope.

Add Necessary Marshals

Marshalling is even required for simple types if they are not defined by kSOAP library by default. The class that we are going to register for marshalling should implement the Marshal interface which has three important methods.

readInstance() method is required to parse the xml string to the simple type when a response is retreived. Here is the given example of MarsalDate class, stringToDate() method should be changed to your defined type parsing method.

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   public Object readInstance(XmlPullParser parser, String namespace, String name,                       PropertyInfo expected) throws IOException, XmlPullParserException {         return IsoDate.stringToDate(parser.nextText(), IsoDate.DATE_TIME);    }

writeInstance() method is required to parse simple type to xml string while sending a request. The given example is from MarsalDate class, for other types the parsing method should be implemented by yourself.

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   public void writeInstance(XmlSerializer writer, Object obj) throws IOException {        writer.text(IsoDate.dateToString((Date) obj, IsoDate.DATE_TIME));    }

register() method tells the envelope that all the xml elements suit this namespace and name will be marshalled by the given class.

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   public void register(SoapSerializationEnvelope cm) {        cm.addMapping(cm.xsd, "dateTime", MarshalDate.DATE_CLASS, this);    }

Before calling the web service appropriate marshals should be registered to the envelope, otherwise either request or respond will give parsing errors.

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            Marshal dateMarshal = new findthefashion.serialization.MarshalDate();             dateMarshal.register(envelope);

Add Necessary Mapping

Mapping is required for complex type object parsing. The idea is similar with marshalling but the complex type object should implement the KvmSerializable and its required methods for parsing. The mapping should be added before the web service call.

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            envelope.addMapping(BaseObject.NAMESPACE, "Event", new Event().getClass());

Invoke the Web Service Method

After setting the parameters, marshals and mappings we are ready for a call to the web service. StandardHttpTranport class is used for the call, but for the Android OS we changed some parts of the call for tracing that's why it is called AnroidHttpTransport. However, the main idea is the same. Providing the SOAP_ACTION, URL and the envelope to the call will be enough.

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            AndroidHttpTransport androidHttpTransport = new AndroidHttpTransport(URL);             androidHttpTransport.call(SOAP_ACTION, envelope);

Parse the Response

If the response in the envelope is not an array, after getting the response we can directly cast it to desired type.

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            int receivedInt = (Integer)envelope.getResponse();             Log.v(“FINDTHEFASHION”, receivedInt.toString());

Same rules apply for the complex and not defined simple types.

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            Date receivedDate = (Date)envelope.getResponse();             Event receivedEvent = (Event)envelope.getResponse();

If the response in envelope is an array of any type(complex or primitive), the casting should be done into a Vector at first. By using the power of generics, we can define a Vector which contains the desired type.

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            Vector receivedEvents = (Vector)envelope.getResponse();             if(receivedEvents != null)             {                 for(Event curEvent : receivedEvents)                 {                     Log.v(“FINDTHEFASHION”, curEvent.toString());                 }             }

Tracing Request & Response

The typical problem while creating a web service request call or getting a response is tracing the ongoing data. All the important data is moving between network interfaces and the exception that is thrown in the application may not be so helpful sometimes. Therefore, a packet sniffer application is required to trace all the steps and do not miss anything. Wireshark(formerly Ethereal) is one of the best network protocol analyzer which can help you on this issue. The Wireshark project is open source and binaries are freely available. I bet it will be your best friend while tracing.

CodeMash - Kalahari Resorts

2010-02-01T17:48:00.001-08:00

One of the conference rooms is shown above.

Kalahari was a great place for a conference but I still would like to tell my opinions.

Pros;

Renovated and clean conference rooms.
Delicious foods and deserts!
Kind and helpful staff.
No driving and parking problems

and here are the cons;

Internet speed is below acceptable! (If you want to do some work online, bring your 3G with you)
Some small conference rooms are full and some people have to listen the presentation while standing up at the back.

Enterence of Kalahari(a bit frozen:)

Driving License From Europe to the US

2010-01-21T06:17:00.000-08:00

If you are moving to the US from Europe, you will see some differences on traffic rules.

Here are the ones that I have noted from Ohio drivers' handbook;
You can download the a supplementary material from here.

Watch for School Buses

If a school bus is stopped on a street or road with fewer than four lanes,

all traffic in both directions must stop.

If a school bus is stopped on a street or road with four or more lanes,

only the traffic proceeding in the same direction as the bus must

stop.

The speed limit in a school zone is 20 mph.

Yield to;
The vehicle on your right if you both arrive at an intersection at the same time.(This is same with Europe.)
Vehicles that arrive before you at a four-way stop.(That's new for me)

Following Distance
It is not easy to convert mile to kilometers therefore keep the distance between the front car as "Follow the front car from at least 3 sec distance."

Also fines are doubled in all construction zones, be careful!

I encourage you to read the free handbook for drivers in Ohio from http://www.bmv.ohio.gov/

Happy driving...