Fixing Python 2.6+ to run Python 3 code:

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
from __future__ import print_function
__doc__ = """XLS2DB by Cees Timmerman"""
changelog = """
2012-06-28 v1.0
"""
import glob, locale, os, re, sys, time
#from pyXLSX.xlsx import workbook  # no MergedCells support and fails at Unicode.
from win32com.client import Dispatch  # PyWin32 or ActivePython required. Excel, too.
#from win32com.client.gencache import EnsureDispatch as Dispatch  # Also makes constants available.
#import Image  # PIL to resize images.
import pymysql   # Note: Python 3 doesn't support old db protocol.

print(__doc__)
print(changelog.split("\n")[-2])
print()

if sys.version[:2] == '2.':
 #print("Python 2 sucks at Unicode; use Python 3 to run this.")
 #sys.exit(2)

 # Fix Python 2. We should be running in Python 3, though.
 original_print = print
 def print(*args, **kwargs):
  #original_print("args: " + str(args))
  #original_print("kwargs: " + str(kwargs))
  new_args = []
  for arg in args:
   try:
    new_args.append(arg.encode('ascii', errors='xmlcharrefreplace'))
   except:
    new_args.append(arg)
  original_print(*new_args, **kwargs)
 
 try:
  input = raw_input
  str = unicode
 except: pass

Filtering a table using jQuery:

$(document).ready(function(){
 $.extend($.expr[':'], {
  'containsi': function(elem, i, match, array){
   return (elem.textContent || elem.innerText || '').toLowerCase().indexOf((match[3] || "").toLowerCase()) >= 0
  }
 })
})
function CT_filterTable(table_id, column_nr, text) {
 table_id = "#"+table_id
 $(table_id+" tr").hide();
 $(table_id+" tr>td:nth-child("+column_nr+"):containsi('"+text.replace("'", "\\'")+"')").parent().show()
}

Installing Firefox and Flash player on Debian 6 (Squeeze)

Here's what i did after installing the 180 MB CD image in a virtual machine:

#apt-get update
#apt-get upgrade
[ If you don't have a graphical desktop yet, try Gnome's (1.6 GB, though!): ]
# apt-get install gdm gnome-core gnome-terminal
# nano /etc/apt/sources.list
[ Add these two for Firefox and Flash plugin: ]
deb http://packages.linuxmint.com debian import
deb http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/ squeeze main contrib non-free
# apt-get update
# apt-get remove iceweasel  [ This will install the dumbed-down Epiphany browser for some reason. ]
# apt-get install firefox
# apt-get install flashplugin-nonfree

Maybe i should try Iceweasel (3.6.15) again as apt-get somehow installed a South African locale of Firefox (12.0). :( I fixed that by installing this and setting general.useragent.locale to "en-US" in about:config and perhaps installing this and/or changing the desktop shortcut to use only "firefox" instead of the opt path and %u.

Install and use gconf-editor to change the Nautilus desktop visible icon settings.

Quick & easy navigation.

String sql = "select name, address, zip, city, country, phone, url"
+ " from retailer"
+ " where latitude is not null and longitude is not null"
+ " order by pow(lat-lat2, 2) + pow(2 * min(abs(lon-lon2), 360-abs(lon-lon2)), 2) asc limit 10";
stmt = con.prepareStatement(sql);
stmt.setDouble(1, Double.parseDouble(request.getParameter("lat")));
stmt.setDouble(2, Double.parseDouble(request.getParameter("lng")));

Honolulu to Los Angeles and San Fransisco in Python:

>>> lat, long = (21.3069444, -157.8583333)
>>> lat2, lon2 = (34.0522342, -118.2436849)
>>> pow(lat-lat2, 2) + pow(2 * min(abs(lon-lon2), 360-abs(lon-lon2)), 2)
33839.327855007934
>>> lat2, lon2 = (37.7749295, -122.4194155)
>>> pow(lat-lat2, 2) + pow(2 * min(abs(lon-lon2), 360-abs(lon-lon2)), 2)
30952.629658700374

2 * lon is ok for latitude 45 or -45, but 1/cos(radians(lat)) is better.

Hunting bugs

1. Get Sysinternals Suite.
2. Start Process Explorer and/or Process Monitor.
3. Go to Options, Configure Symbols...

DbgHelp.dll path (version 6.0 or later, not in system32; the version of DbgHelp that ships in Windows has reduced functionality from the other releases-- specifically, it lacks support for Symbol Server and Source Server.):
C:\Windows\system32\dbghelp.dll
C:\Program Files\Debugging Tools for Windows (x64)\dbghelp.dll

Symbols path(s):
SRV*I:\symbols*http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols;SRV*I:\symbols*http://symbols.mozilla.org/firefox

"I:\symbols" is the location of my symbols cache; yours may differ.

Making Redmine suck less

Problem: Issue importance and status are hard to see.

Solution: Install this theme and add a custom CSS rule to strike-through resolved issues. I might have a Facebook entry with more details, but can't find it.


Problem: Gantt charts should be sorted by start date instead of issue id.

Culprit: C:\Program Files\BitNami Redmine Stack\apps\redmine\lib\redmine\helpers\gantt.rb

Solution:

      # TODO: top level issues should be sorted by start date
      def gantt_issue_compare(x, y, issues)
        # Edit by Cees on 8mar12 by http://www.redmine.org/issues/7335
        [(x.root.start_date or x.start_date or Date.new()), x.root_id, (x.start_date or Date.new()), x.lft] <=> [(y.root.start_date or y.start_date or Date.new()), y.root_id, (y.start_date or Date.new()), y.lft]
        #if x.root_id == y.root_id
        #  x.lft <=> y.lft
        #else
        #  x.root_id <=> y.root_id
        #end
      end

Problem: I don't know how to restart Redmine.

Solution: Choose the applicable one here. If you use Windows and Bitnami with Redmine 1.1.2, save this text as "restart Redmine.bat" and run as Administrator:

net stop redmineMongrel1
net start redmineMongrel1
net stop redmineMongrel2
net start redmineMongrel2
pause

Resizing a vmdk disk image using Oracle VM VirtualBox 4

My work PC has a small disk, thus i made a 4 GB virtual machine. After getting an external harddrive, it turned out to be hard to resize. I spent too much time to find a solution there, so i'm noting all steps here:

First power off the VMs that use the vmdk.

>"C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\vboxmanage.exe" clonehd -format vdi "I:\VMs\X_dev\X-disk1.vmdk" "I:\VMs\X_dev\X-disk1.vdi"
0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%
Clone hard disk created in format 'vdi'. UUID: [...]

>"C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\vboxmanage.exe" modifyhd --resize 16000 "I:\VMs\X_dev\X-disk1.vdi"
0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%

Setting & getting web browser cookies

Details here.

Client-side JavaScript/ ECMAScript:

function createCookie(name, value, days){
  if (days){
    var date = new Date()
    date.setTime(date.getTime()+(days*24*60*60*1000))
    var expires = "; expires="+date.toGMTString()
  }
  else var expires = ""
  document.cookie = name+"="+encodeURIComponent(value)+expires+"; path=/"
}
createCookie("best_location", "/this folder; it's short + great!", 3650)

Server-side Java in JSP using Liferay:

<%@page import="com.liferay.portal.kernel.util.HtmlUtil" %>
<%@page import="java.net.URLDecoder" %>
<%
Cookie cookies[] = request.getCookies();
if (cookies != null){
  for (Cookie cookie : cookies){
    if (cookie.getName().equals("best_location")) out.print("Best location: " + HtmlUtil.escape(URLDecoder.decode(cookie.getValue())));
  }
}
%>

Submission vs Reason