help.net

Aptana the new Javascript and CSS IDE

Writing Javascript code is tedious with Visual Studio. no Intellisense or really little, and when you mispell any method plus all the case sensitivity issues, you are wasting a lot of time there.

I just discovered a new kid in town called Aptana (Beta version at the moment) which is a very promising IDE for typing Javascript and CSS.

Aptana has some cool features like auto completion with a full glossary of DOM methods and properties but it also can understand libraries like Mochikit, Prototype, Dojo and more.

Download here

Open Source Web Designs

A lot of things are going open source nowadays even web designs!

Check OSWD, a site where you can pick 1688 free designs! Good site by the way.

Google next service for developers might be a SourceForge kind

Greg Stein builds suspense on the opening day of OSCON — the Open Source Convention.  His article, "A New Google Service" on the Google Code Blog says that he and his team have been working on a new service for the open source community, but refuses to give any details.
Knowing Google's involvement in open source It could make sense to see a service like Source Forge for the developers community. 
Maybe another clever way for Google to brand another big area like open source community.

Get an instant thumnbnail of any webpage

Wow! I can't believe I found this only now. Thank to MSN Search a specific URL return immediately a small vignette of your favourite webpage.

See this example on my pet project Scoilnet.ie (first education portal in Ireland!)

http://msnsearch.srv.girafa.com/srv/i?s=MSNSEARCH&r=http://www.scoilnet.ie

UPDATE: Note it workls only with sites referenced by MSN Search, so obviously not too much luck with every websites.

Should I quit this job ;-))

I am a big fan of the Daily WTF or as they called themselves the Curious Perversions in Information Technology. A great collection of "human" errors!

I think the WTF today is the cream of the cream! Mike Hartnagel has been unfortunated to accept a developer job in a company where one his first task was to create some overloading methods to simplify this monstruosity :-)

One advice, quit the job immediately!

/* adds up all the column values for a specific row from an excel file.
 * 20050823 - BSR - v1.0 - Adds only columns a to z.
 * 20050909 - BSR - v2.0 - Added support for adding columns aa to zz.
 */
public long addUpAllExcelColumns(
  int a,  int b,  int c,  int d,  int e,  int f,  int g,  int h,  
  int i,  int j,  int k,  int l,  int m,  int n,  int o,  int p,  
  int q,  int r,  int s,  int t,  int u,  int v,  int w,  int x,  
  int y,  int z,
  
  int aa, int ab, int ac, int ad, int ae, int af, int ag, int ah, 
  int ai, int aj, int ak, int al, int am, int an, int ao, int ap, 
  int aq, int ar, int _as, int at, int au, int av, int aw, int ax, 
  int ay, int az,

  int ba, int bb, int bc, int bd, int be, int bf, int bg, int bh, 
  int bi, int bj, int bk, int bl, int bm, int bn, int bo, int bp,
  int bq, int br, int bs, int bt, int bu, int bv, int bw, int bx, 
  int by, int bz,
  
  int ca, int cb, int cc, int cd, int ce, int cf, int cg, int ch,
  int ci, int cj, int ck, int cl, int cm, int cn, int co, int cp,
  int cq, int cr, int cs, int ct, int cu, int cv, int cw, int cx,
  int cy, int cz,
  
  int da, int db, int dc, int dd, int de, int df, int dg, int dh,
  int di, int dj, int dk, int dl, int dm, int dn, int _do, int dp,
  int dq, int dr, int ds, int dt, int du, int dv, int dw, int dx,
  int dy, int dz,

  /* Snip 100 lines */
  
  int ya, int yb, int yc, int yd, int ye, int yf, int yg, int yh,
  int yi, int yj, int yk, int yl, int ym, int yn, int yo, int yp,
  int yq, int yr, int ys, int yt, int yu, int yv, int yw, int yx,
  int yy, int yz,

  int za, int zb, int zc, int zd, int ze, int zf, int zg, int zh,
  int zi, int zj, int zk, int zl, int zm, int zn, int zo, int zp,
  int zq, int zr, int zs, int zt, int zu, int zv, int zw, int zx,
  int zy, int zz)
{
    return 
      a+b+c+d+e+f+g+h+i+j+k+l+m+n+o+p+q+r+s+t+u+v+w+x+y+z+
      aa+ab+ac+ad+ae+af+ag+ah+ai+aj+ak+al+am+an+ao+ap+aq+ar+_as+at+au+av+aw+ax+ay+az+
      ba+bb+bc+bd+be+bf+bg+bh+bi+bj+bk+bl+bm+bn+bo+bp+bq+br+bs+bt+bu+bv+bw+bx+by+bz+
      ca+cb+cc+cd+ce+cf+cg+ch+ci+cj+ck+cl+cm+cn+co+cp+cq+cr+cs+ct+cu+cv+cw+cx+cy+cz+
      da+db+dc+dd+de+df+dg+dh+di+dj+dk+dl+dm+dn+_do+dp+dq+dr+ds+dt+du+dv+dw+dx+dy+dz+
      /* Snip 20 lines */
      ya+yb+yc+yd+ye+yf+yg+yh+yi+yj+yk+yl+ym+yn+yo+yp+yq+yr+ys+yt+yu+yv+yw+yx+yy+yz+
      za+zb+zc+zd+ze+zf+zg+zh+zi+zj+zk+zl+zm+zn+zo+zp+zq+zr+zs+zt+zu+zv+zw+zx+zy+zz;
}

42 Recent AJAX Tutorials

ASP.Net file post direct to disk with upload file progress support

To follow my previous post on file upload issues, check also this excellent article on Code Project written by Travis Whidden

NeatUpload a nice and useful open source project

Still working on my images gallery project, I got stuck with an issue regarding multiple upload files to my database.

I did a bit of research on the subject, and the problem seems to be the fact that the upload basic methods in .Net 1.1 (and 2.0 I presume) store the bytes in memory. So if your files are big, you face a lot of hazardous timeout and memory issues.

So looking around, you have different solutions like AspUpload or KUpload+. Looking more for an open source solution I recommend NeatUpload developed by Dean Brettle (a new version 1.2.4 has just been released). What I like the most is the Ajax support for the upload progress bar. Great job!

Features

• Streams uploads directly to storage.  This conserves server memory, allows larger uploads, and helps prevent Denial of Service attacks.
• Integrates easily with existing applications.  Drag-and-drop the controls using the Visual Studios Web Forms Designer, or replace <HtmlInputFile> with <NeatUpload:InputFile> and add a <NeatUpload:ProgressBar> to your ASP.NET pages.  Then use the properties of InputFile to access the uploaded file and its original name.
• Supports both inline and popup progress bars.
• Falls back to using ASP.NET's HttpPostedFile if the NeatUpload HttpModule is not present.  This makes it easy to remove the HttpModule if for some reason it causes problems.
• Supports customization through styles, custom progress display pages, and custom UploadStorageProviders.
  
• Supports AJAX-style refreshless updates of the progress bar.
• Does not require JavaScript.
• Works under Mono's XSP/mod_mono and Microsoft's ASP.NET.
• Removes uploaded files when an error occurs.  This helps prevent disk space leakage.
  
• Licensed under the Lesser General Public License (LGPL), a business-friendly open source license.  See below for details.
  

Ajax Request toolbox

1. Simplify the interface to using XMLHttpRequest, making it more logical and consistent with what developers expect. No more worrying about the onreadystate handler or status codes!
2. Add timeout functionality for async requests, allowing extended functionality if Ajax calls take too long
3. Provide activity monitoring features, so developers can provide accurate "busy" indicators to users when Ajax requests are running in the background
4. Support multiple simultaneous requests which will not collide with each other without any additional work from the developer
5. Simplify form submissions, so submitting a form using Ajax is just a single function call. Form serialization, request headers, form targets and methods - they are all taken care of for you!

If you are looking for an easy way to break into Ajax programming without figuring out the details of how the requests work using XMLHttpRequest, this library will help you out.

Read more...

The Javascript Toolbox

This site is intended to be a repository of code and reusable libraries which address common needs that many web developers encounter. The code found here is based on standards but also tries to be backwards-compatible for browsers which don't support the standards. The information on the site emphasizes standards-compliance for best results, and best practices which should be followed. This is not a site containing snippets of code submitted by anonymous, unreliable coders. All code on the site is written by one person, in a consistent fashion, tested thoroughly, and used in practice by thousands of web sites around the world.

Read more...