&rence::blog()

Fedora 13 64Bit and Skype

2010-08-17T14:46:00.001+08:00

Wondering how to make skype work with your fresh installation of fedora 64bit? Here's how:

First, you must install rpmfusion.org's repository. You can find the howto here:

Next, you need to run the following commands:

sudo yum install libXv.i686 \
libXScrnSaver.i686 \
qt-4.6.3-8.fc13.i686 \
qt-x11-4.6.3-8.fc13.i686

Afterwhich, you can now go to and download Skype.

After downloading, install it:

rpm -ivh skype-2.1.0.81-fc10.i586.rpm

And then run skype from your menu.

The Great Fedora Switch

2010-08-16T23:07:00.001+08:00

Moved from Ubuntu 10.04 to Fedora Core 13. Reason: all my LPI Manuals uses CentOS as main distribution, as I can't use that on my laptop, I used Fedora instead.

So far, everything had been working fine. I edited

/etc/usb_modeswitch.conf

and placed the following lines to the file

/etc/udev/rules.d/15-huawei.conf

to enable my Globe Tattoo:

# My Tattoo!!!

SUBSYSTEM=="usb", SYSFS{idVendor}=="12d1",

SYSFS{idProduct}=="1446",

RUN+="/usr/bin/usb_modeswitch -c /etc/usb_modeswitch.conf"

Nothing could have been simpler. Also, my sister brought the PS2 from home to my place so I could play the whole time it's here.

Ubuntu Linux + Nokia 5800 XM = 3G Internet Connection

2010-03-02T04:10:00.000+08:00

I'm pretty sure that this had already been done before, I am just putting it here so I will remember it later ;)

Okay...

Step 1.Make your bluetooth device discoverable (just for a few seconds, at least)

Step 2.run this command:

% hcitool scan

Find the line that looks like

C0:XX:XX:XX:XX:00 Renz phone

That previous command gives you the bdaddr (Bluetooth Device Address) of your phone. I placed Xs in there (just to secure the phone, yours would actually be HEX Digits.=)

Step 3.Find out your device's DUN (Dial Up Networking) channel by running:

% sdptool search DUN C0:XX:XX:XX:XX:00

You may come up with the following:

Inquiring ...
Searching for DUN on C0:XX:XX:XX:XX:00 ...
Service Name: Dial-Up Networking
Service RecHandle: 0x10012
Service Class ID List:
  "Dialup Networking" (0x1103)
Protocol Descriptor List:
  "L2CAP" (0x0100)
  "RFCOMM" (0x0003)
    Channel: 22
Language Base Attr List:
  code_ISO639: 0x454e
  encoding:    0x6a
  base_offset: 0x100
Profile Descriptor List:
  "Dialup Networking" (0x1103)
    Version: 0x0100

From here, we can infer that our Dialup Networking Service is @ channel 22

Step 4.Bind your rfcomm0 to this channel:

% rfcomm bind 0 C0:XX:XX:XX:XX:00 22

We basically tell rfcomm to bind to rfcomm0 using our bdaddr(C0:XX:XX:XX:XX:00) to channel 22.

Step 5.Configure your wvdial by editing /etc/wvdial.conf and putting in:

[Dialer Defaults]
phone=*99#
Modem=/dev/rfcomm0
Username=putyourusernameanythingwilldo
Password=putanythingheresmartdoesnotcare
New PPPD=yes
Stupid Mode=yes
Init1=ATZ
Init2=ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 & C1 &D2+FCLASS=0
baud=460800

Step 6.Run wvdial:

% wvdial

Be careful not to press ctrl-c while wvdial is running or else, you will get disconnected.

That's it! Have fun!

29 November 2009

2009-11-20T04:18:00.000+08:00

The day started out fine. Woke up at about 8AM and then went back to bed. Woke up again at 9:30 then fixed myself. At about 10:30, I started for the office. It'll be a few more days later before we can migrate to the new office as I heard that there are lots of things to fix before it can be considered to be work-able. Also, the Internet connection for the place hadn't been put to place yet.

I goofed around (meaning worked) for a couple of hours then lunch came. We decided to take rice gruel (goto) with egg and fried tofu instead of the normal lunch. Man, I missed eating goto, I promise to make one for me and my wife at least every two weeks.

After office, Kelly and I went somewhere to talk to a client about building a content management system from scratch. I really think that CMSs should be customized for each client and avoid run-of-the-mill CMSs since you can only customize then as much as you can.

For this CMS, I will probably be using CodeIgniter PHP Framework and MySQL Database Server.

I just finished (albeit, lacking one functionality: the comments section) working on the database schema for the basic CMS. I just hope that my team mates would approve of the schema. If not, it's back to the drawing board for me. Not that I complain :D

As of this writing, I am about 78% complete on the Vicidial Report Generation Tool that I have been working for the past two months already.

SHA256 encryption and all the stuff....

2009-10-05T21:27:00.004+08:00

What have I been doing?

I'm no security expert, but I have just implemented (read: copy and pasted code) sha256 encryption to my kcauth codeigniter plugin/module combo ( I don't like codeigniter, really don't know why...)

I'm still thinking if I will be using codeigniter's session or create my own. The former seems to be fine, but since I have no time to scrutinize the code, I cannot really rely on it. The latter would eventually be done, not at the moment since I don't have the time to create one from scratch (yet)

I have also created a HTTP GET middleware to read from a remote eventum source. Hopefully, this will scale as the middleware would be used by an application that's already a memory hog (without proper caching since it is in the development phase still, of course).

Still need to create memcache plugin for that codeigniter thingie. Also, I will need to find an easy payment gateway for the rf service that we are cooking up.

System.exit(0);

Ubuntu and AMP

2009-09-06T17:25:00.005+08:00

Here are simple steps to get AMP (Apache, MySQL and PHP) running in Ubuntu.

1.) sudo aptitude install apache-mpm-prefork php5-mysql mysql-server -y

If you need phpmyadmin:

1.) sudo aptitude install phpmyadmin -y
2.) cd /etc/apache2/sites-available
3.) ln -s /etc/phpmyadmin/apache2.conf phpymadmin
4.) a2ensite phpymadmin
5.) /etc/init.d/apache2 reload

you can now go to : http://localhost/phpmyadmin

Subversion + SSH on ports other than 22

2009-08-17T01:37:00.002+08:00

What you need:

putty (not the putty.exe but the whole installer as you need pageant, plink and puttygen :D)
subversion

Step 1: Install PUTTY
Step 2: Install subversion
Step 3: Create a profile for your server (indicate port, user, etc.) using putty (be sure not to overwrite Default Profile) (i.e. profile name is MyServer)
Step 4: using puttygen, create a private key and a public key
Step 5: copy the public key ( in the puttygen window ) to the .ssh/authorized_keys (located in your home directory) on your server
Step 6: load your private key using pageant
Step 7: the url for your repository will be svn+ssh://MyServer/path/to/your/repository

You're Done!

PHP5 RRD Module in Ubuntu/Debian Lenny missing!

2009-06-20T01:47:00.004+08:00

Today, I started reading about using RRDTool in replacement for the flash-based reports that I was using for a pet project. What stunned me later was to finding out that php bindings for this nifty little tool is absent in my toolkit!

I am here now to tell you how I did it, well, sort of, :D

1.) be sure to download http://oss.oetiker.ch/rrdtool/pub/contrib/php_rrdtool.tar.gz
2.) apt-get (or I use aptitude in ubuntu) install librrd-dev php5-dev
3.) extract php_rrdtool.tar.gz (tar zxvf php_rrdtool.tar.gz
4.) enter the directory created by extraction then run phpize
5.) run ./configure then make to compile the module
6.) inside the created modules directory lies two files: rrdtool.so and rrdtool.la. copy both files to your extension_dir (which you can find out if you open the php.ini that is being called by your apache web server) I saved mine in /usr/lib/php5/20060613+lfs which is the default for debian lenny
7.) add this line:
extension=rrdtool.so
in any of your php.ini file (in debian lenny's or ubuntu's case, you can create a new .ini file in /etc/php5/apache2/conf.d and put that line in there )
8.) restart your apache webserver
9.) create a phpinfo(); file and see if these lines exists:
rrdtool
rrdtool Version 1.2.x extension
rrdtool support enabled

10.) you're done!

Symfony EDITOR :D

2009-05-24T16:14:00.003+08:00

I come to realize that I can never leave without VIM. I've been hooked to it till kingdom come and I can never switch to any editor anymore. Most specially now that I have found this. Presenting (drum rolls). The VIM symfony plugin.

I would not give away the details. The thing is, I have been looking for this in almost all the editors that I have used so far. And for me, finding this thing off of the internet is a great surprise.

It does nothing more than take you to the template file of the current action that you are editing. For me this is a big thing as I don't have to leave vi just to go back and forth between the action and the template. It automatically opens it. If only komodo has this feature :D

I think that's all for now, have to get back to coding :D

http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=2128

Renz Out

Upgraded to Jaunty Jackalope

2009-04-24T23:33:00.002+08:00

Wow! I just installed Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope and was really amazed on how fast the thing booted up.

Also, the install experience was really really nice. I just went through 7 steps and after a restart, here I am.

Try it now. It's very stable, so far so good, considering that I already "hacked" the system compiling things that I have had in the last linux that I used.

Peace!

Adding gmail SMTP to symfony 1.0

2009-03-12T22:14:00.002+08:00

PHPMailer is already included in symfony, so why add one yourself?

The thing is, I never get PHPMailer that is bundled with symfony to work with my gmail account so I decided to find something that can be done.

1.) Create a file myMailer.class.php inside your lib directory (either in apps/app_name/lib or in your root lib directory)
2.) Put these codes in there:


class myMailer {    

public function __construct($username, $password, $user_alias) {
    $this->from = $username;
    $this->password = $password;
   $this->user_alias = $user_alias;  
} 

public function send($to, $subject, $body) { 

$eol = "\r\n"; 
$host = 'gmail-smtp.l.google.com'; 
$port = 465; $fname = $this->user_alias; 
$data  = 'Date: ' . date ( 'r', time () ) . $eol; 
$data .= 'From: "' . $this->from . $eol; 
$data .= 'Subject: ' . $subject . $eol; 
$data .= 'To: "' . $to . '" <' . $to . '>' . 
$eol; $data .= 'X-Priority: 1 (High)' . $eol;  
// you can comment this one out if you want a normal email. 
$data .= 'X-Mailer: ' . $eol; 
$data .= 'MIME-Version: 1.0' . $eol; 
$data .= 'Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"' . $eol;
$data .= 'Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit' . $eol . $eol; 
$data .= $body . $eol; 

$has_error = false; 
if ( ( $smtp = fsockopen ( 'ssl://' . $host, $port, $errno, $errstr, 5 ) ) ) {    
    fputs ( $smtp, 'HELO ' . $host . $eol );    
    if ( ! $this->test_return ( $smtp, $error ) )    {      $
        has_error = true;    
    }    
    sleep(2);    
    fputs ( $smtp, 'AUTH LOGIN' . $eol );    
    if ( ! $this->test_return ( $smtp, $error ) )    {      
        $has_error = true;    
    }    
    sleep(2);    
    fputs ( $smtp, base64_encode ( $this->from ) . $eol );    
    if ( ! $this->test_return ( $smtp, $error ) )    {      
        $has_error = true;   
    }    
    sleep(2);    
    fputs ( $smtp, base64_encode ( $this->password ) . $eol );    
    if ( ! $this->test_return ( $smtp, $error ) )    {
          $has_error = true;    
    }    
    sleep(2);    
    fputs ( $smtp, 'MAIL From: <' . $this->from . '>' . $eol );    
    if ( ! $this->test_return ( $smtp, $error ) )    {
          $has_error = true;    
    }    sleep(2);    
    fputs ( $smtp, 'RCPT To: <' . $to . '>' . $eol );    
    if ( ! $this->test_return ( $smtp, $error ) )    {
          $has_error = true;    
    }    
    sleep(2);    
    fputs ( $smtp, 'DATA' . $eol );    
    if ( ! $this->test_return ( $smtp, $error ) )    {
          $has_error = true;    
    }    
    sleep(2);    
    fputs ( $smtp, $data . $eol . '.' . $eol );    
    if ( ! $this->test_return ( $smtp, $error ) )    {
          $has_error = true;    
    }    
    sleep(2);    
    fputs ( $smtp, 'QUIT' . $eol );    
    if ( ! $this->test_return ( $smtp, $error ) )    {
          $has_error = true;    
    }    
    fclose ( $smtp ); 
    }
    return !$has_error;  
}    

function test_return ( $res, &$error ) {
    $out = fread ( $res, 1 );    
    $len = socket_get_status ( $res );    
    if ( $len > 0 )    {        
        $out .= fread ( $res, $len['unread_bytes'] );    
    }    
    
    //echo $out;    
    if ( preg_match ( "/^5/", $out ) )    {
           $error = $out;        
           return false;    
    }    
    return true; 
    }
    
}

3.) In your controller, you can now use it this way:

$mail = myMailer(“username@gmail.com”, “thisshouldbeaveryhardpassword!@#$!@#$!@#$”, “From Me!”);
if($mail->send(“spam_victim@somewhere.com”, “This Is Spam”, “<div style=’font-size:300px’>GET THIS</div>”)) echo “Mail Sent!”;
else echo “Mail is not sent!”;

And you’re done!

Sending HTTP Posts through JAVA

2009-03-08T03:35:00.001+08:00

I found this truly helpful tip :D

http://www.javaworld.com/javatips/jw-javatip34.html?page=1

From the site:

    URL              url;
    URLConnection   urlConn;
    DataOutputStream    printout;
    DataInputStream     input;
    // URL of CGI-Bin script.
    url = new URL (getCodeBase().toString() + "env.tcgi");
    // URL connection channel.
    urlConn = url.openConnection();
    // Let the run-time system (RTS) know that we want input.
    urlConn.setDoInput (true);
    // Let the RTS know that we want to do output.
    urlConn.setDoOutput (true);
    // No caching, we want the real thing.
    urlConn.setUseCaches (false);
    // Specify the content type.
    urlConn.setRequestProperty
    ("Content-Type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded");
    // Send POST output.
    printout = new DataOutputStream (urlConn.getOutputStream ());
    String content =
    "name=" + URLEncoder.encode ("Buford Early") +
    "&email=" + URLEncoder.encode ("buford@known-space.com");
    printout.writeBytes (content);
    printout.flush ();
    printout.close ();
    // Get response data.
    input = new DataInputStream (urlConn.getInputStream ());
    String str;
    while (null != ((str = input.readLine())))
    {
    System.out.println (str);
    textArea.appendText (str + "\n");
    }
    input.close ();

Thanks to the person who posted this :D

Signing Jar Files

2009-02-11T14:05:00.000+08:00

Compared to most Java programmers, I can still call myself a newbie.

I just learned how to sign java jars to be able to maximize the potential of applets.

1.) First of all you need to create your keystore. A keystore file (usually named .keystore in your home directory) contains your private and public keys. .keystore is stored in a binary jks format (Java Key Store) similar to PKCS #12 containing both public and private keys, protected by a passphrase. The first four signature bytes of a Sun .keystore file in hex are FEEDFEED. ( http://mindprod.com/jgloss/keystore.html)

    To create your keystore, you need the keytool which you can get with most java jdk. At the command line, you type something:

    keytool –genkey –alias alias_to_be_used

    you need to specify alias_to_be_used as this will be the alias that you will be using for the jarsigner command later.

2.) You can save your .keystore file if you are going to transfer to other machines or reformat the machine that you are going to be using. You just have to remember to put it at your home directory.

3.) You can now create your jar file. After which you can issue the command:

    jarsigner –storepass yourpassword –keypass yourpassword jarfile.jar alias_to_be_used

     you have to specify yourpassword for both the storepass and keypass as they could be different passwords (as you will be prompted in the keytool to be able to do so). Also don’t forget to change jarfile.jar for the filename of your jarfile and alias_to_be_used for the alias you supplied to keytool.

4.) That’s it you have a jar signed file.

Enough for now, back to work...

Now: Java

2009-02-03T01:11:00.002+08:00

Hi,

It's been a while since I posted here and a lot of things happened already. Tonight, I will be posting of a different thing as I have been re-learning JAVA. Yes, the old programming paradigm that I once rubbed off my shoulder was once again at the doorsteps, knocking at ME to learn about it.

Now that JAVA is OpenSource, I am still a bit skeptic about what can be done with it.

There must be a reason why I am now shifting most of my time to JAVA and not with Python,PHP and C++ which is what I commonly use.

Just to keep you hanging and of course, not to spoil the company's plan, I would not discuss the details of what I have been doing the last 2 months. I have a month more of development for this so I'm going to keep my fingers shut until it is the time to divulge the great secret.

After which, I will be blogging about the pain, the hardships and all the fuzz that happened before, during and after development.

Thanks for reading.

Installing APACHE 2.2, PHP 5.2 and MySQL on Windows XP that works

2009-01-14T09:19:00.000+08:00

1.) Get apache 2.2 from http://httpd.apache.org I prefer that you download the one with ssl
2.) Next, get PHP from http://ph.php.net/get/php-5.2.8-Win32.zip/from/a/mirror. I am downloading PHP 5.2.8.8 windows binaries in ZIP file not the installer
3.) Next get mysql from http://dev.mysql.com/downloads I got mysql 5.1 community edition essentials
4.) wait for them to finish
5.) Install apache normally first. I installed mine on C:\apache you can use the default
6.) Next install MySQL you would want to configure the root password
7.) extract PHP somewhere, I did mine in C:\PHP
8.) add this to httpd.conf that is in C:\apache\conf:

LoadModule php5_module "c:/php/php5apache2_2.dll"
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php

PHPIniDir "C:/php"

9.) restart apache
10.) create this as index.php in your C:\apache\htdocs folder:

phpinfo();
?>

11.) open a browser and point to: http://localhost/index.php
12.) in the line: Loaded Configuration File you will find that there is none loaded so in your c:\php directory rename php.ini-recommended to php.ini. open the file and uncomment the line extension=php_mysql.dll it's around line 681. also, don't forget to change the extension_dir around line 542 to read :

extension_dir="C:/php/ext"

13.) restart apache again
14.) check again http://localhost/index.php as you can see, mysql is not included in there.
15.) to enable mysql in php:
I. copy the file libmysql.dll from the directory where you install mysql usually in C:\Program Files\MySQL
to C:\php
II. you need to put mysql's bin path to the PATH environment variable the same with C:\php
III. at this point you need to restart
IV. check again at http://localhost/index.php and you should see mysql already there
16.) Edit again c:\apache\conf\httpd.conf the line:
DirectoryIndex index.html
should now read:
DirectoryIndex index.php index.html

17.) Restart apache and now you are done!

Science Centrum is back!

2008-11-10T16:23:00.003+08:00

It's nice to hear that our beloved Philippine Science Centrum can once again be experienced by everyone! Yes. The Science Centrum that we grew up with, enjoyed and the one that sparked our CURIOSITIES is relived, albeit in another place. You can check the link ( http://www.science-centrum.ph/ ) and it would be much better if you can experience it for yourself!

The Philippine Science Centrum, now in Marikina Riverside, will be opened to public on November 22, 2008. I will be there, my wife will be there, hopefully, I can see all of you there also!

We really are winners of cosmic lottery...

Recovering lost network connection on VMWARE Image

2008-11-06T01:08:00.002+08:00

I found this really helpful! Thanks to the author. VMWare is cool! (http://www.vmware.com). Qemu is cool too! (http://www.qemu.com)

A good "basic" security site, albeit old

2008-10-14T00:25:00.000+08:00

This is a good, albeit old, security site for those who want to learn more about how to create security policies in their workplace. I am putting it here just in case ;)

Trying out GNUDialer

2008-10-05T12:35:00.002+08:00

Ok

It's my first time to try and make GnuDialer work. So far, I have been unsuccessful. But I'm not losing hope. I know that it may be easier for me to try using Vicidial but we are planning to create a contact center solution that will be based on open source software. The software will be free but the cost will be setting it up and configuring all the workstations and the servers.

I will try again today and will paste here the steps that I have done to make it work.

See you...

Patching / Editing Symfony 1.0.10 for PostgreSQL's Multiple Schema

2008-09-17T01:36:00.003+08:00

I will just post here what had been posted at a different forum, I can't remember where. But this patch had been useful to me to add functionality of PostgreSQL's Schema to be seen and used inside symfony.

symfonyMultipleSchemasPatch-1.0.10.patch

Automated psql from the command line

2008-09-08T09:20:00.003+08:00

So I will not forget how to do this.

To run my script in postgres without logging in:

I set the environment variables $PGHOST $PGUSER $PGPASSWORD $PGDATABASE

then run the postgresql script : psql $PGDATABASE -f sql_script.

Trying out TurboGears

2008-07-10T01:54:00.001+08:00

There are web frameworks and there are web frameworks. I had been using several in PHP:
Symfony (http://www.symfony-project.com)
CodeIgniter ( http://www.codeigniter.com)
CakePHP (http://www.cakephp.org)

And I have been exposed to these in python:
Turbogears (http://www.turbogears.com)
Django (http://www.djangoproject.com)
Pylons (http://www.pylonshq.com)

Currently, though, I involved myself in developing in Turbogears. As easy as it may seem, the problem with
This framework is the ORM is too simple. I don’t know I think it came to me when I think about using symfony project
that made refactoring to the model possible. Tried google-ing “Model Refactoring in Turbogears” but search almost
always comes irrelevant to what I was looking for.

Sincerely, there is no point in using ORMs if the logic of trimming extra data from your model still resides in the
controller. What happens, is, SQLAlchemy mainly becomes a database abstraction rather than an ORM. ( I see, hence mapper????)

I wish other developers would see it my way.

I am not against Turbogears. I like it. I love the way it handles things. I recently learned how to break down controller parts. The thing is
I am not used to using ORMs as database abstraction mechanisms. Might as well go with ADODB ;) ( hmmm at least I don’t have to code
SQL by hand) But that’s just IT! Naked Objects come to view. Every body is going down the way of minimalism. But just how far minimal
should one get? It doesn’t make sense anymore sometimes. People can really be difficult when it comes to decisions like this.

As for now, I will leave all my database queries in the controller, pass them to the view instead of doing the queries in the model, with the controller
being agnostic to what the model contains (WHICH SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE BETTER WAY).

And as far as I am concerned, both languages ARE FAST. It’s just up to the programmer just HOW FAST the software would be.

Good Morning.

Keep the tradition of knowledge sharing alive.

Excited

2008-06-28T10:57:00.004+08:00

I am getting worked up with the new project that is coming. I think that this project should be worked from scratch to be able to dictate the flow of the processes involved. I will not divulge any information yet. You have to see this blog every now and then to be able to track what is happening.

Clue: (1) This project involves packages.

Don't wish us luck as it never really helps anyway, not REALLY.

Over and out.

Running Firefox 2 and 3 Simultaneously

2008-06-26T14:09:00.005+08:00

Woot! Firefox 3 is out and it ain't beta.

Here's a neat way to run firefox 2 (if you haven't upgraded yet) and firefox 3 together:

1.) Install your new firefox in a different location, say C:\Firefox3
2.) Copy the file to, say, firefox3.exe and create a shortcut for that
3.) Modify the shortcut to your firefox 2 to read "firefox.exe" -no-remote
4.) Do the same thing for your firefox3.exe
5.) Create a new profile for both ( you have to add -ProfileManager to the shortcuts to access the profile manageer, duh!)
6.) Add the name of your profile to the two modified shortcuts
(i.e. C:\Firefox3\Firefox3.exe -no-remote -P Firefox3Profile AND C:\Firefox2\Firefox2.exe -no-remote -P Firefox2Profile)
7.) Shortcuts!!!

The thing is, you have to create the profiles so plugins from one firefox installation, does not appear to the other.

The only problem is, you have to reinstall all your plugins to the NEW firefox

Almost Done

2008-05-19T01:09:00.004+08:00

Whew!

Have I got a hectic week or have I got a hectic week, and all of this painstaking work nearly comes to an end. I am really happy with all the modifications I have done to Joomla! 1.0.15.

The funny thing is, I am not able to document them all. But, I will be able to document it after. See, I found this link http://www.assembla.com. It made my work easier. It has (1) SVN + Trac (2) Wiki (3) Collaboration [though I don't have to collaborate with anyone].

You should try this site out.

Renz Out!

Labor day

2008-05-03T09:24:00.002+08:00

Wow I'm back. For the past 2 days, I haven't been in front of the computer. I took a holiday from all the work-related things since that's what Labor Day is all about isn't it?

Anyway, back to documenting what I have done so far.

Here is the problem. In Joomla!, I want each page to be unique. I want it to load a different style (if I wanted to, of course).

The solution I came up with is to use the variable pageclass_sfx.

1.) I modified the file content.html.php from the com_content component of Joomla!. I took away all the instances where this variable is being added to some elements of the pages.

2.) Since it is all taken away from the pages, what I did is to put it as global variable. Why would I do this? Because I want to get this variable from the front-end side. and there is no other way of doing so.

3.) Since pageclass_sfx is part of the global scape, what I did was call separate stylesheets for the page for each pageclass_sfx value. I did this to the default template only. It's easier to do this from the default template than the assigned, but it is not impossible.

I don't know if there are other cleaner, more elegant ways to do this. However, for the sake of the site that I am doing now, I need this "modification" to be able to control everything.

Through this hack, I am able to create different "patterns" for the pages that need them and use the default template for the ones that don't need them.

Last week: Printer Drivers

I was able to make 2 out of the 3 non-working printers into working ones. All they needed was update in the printer definitions. It took me about 2 - 3 hours doing them. One was a HP Laser 1600 (Colored LaserJet Printer !!!), the other was a FujiXerox DocumentCenter 550i. (Trademarks for these printers are owned by their owner, not mine)

New Project

I am starting on a new project that computes Water Billing and Rentals. I will be using the CodeIgniter Framework. It will be easier that way. I already created a Library that will make it behave like symfony's view system. Although it's a little bit more complicated since in this view system, I can declare what the output will be (basically, it's glued to XML+XHTML 1.0 Strict). I will be uploading the library in a couple of days, once I tested that it's perfectly working and all that I needed is there.

Another Joomla! wishlist

2008-04-30T21:46:00.002+08:00

I am about to create another Joomla! hack. What I would like to have is to create a way to specify a template for each page that I am about to create.

An idea came to me to extend (yet again) joomla com_content component to include (at the backside) a way to "insert" another field, specifically a template field that will load the specific template or the default template if there is none specified.

Good luck for me on this "hack"

Joomla 1.0 :: Hack : styling individiual menu items

2008-04-22T22:36:00.002+08:00

Yet again, a Joomla 1.0 Hack:

In file : joomlainstallation/modules/mod_mainmenu.php:

at around line 132, I added these:

$menu_class_add = preg_replace("/[^A-Za-z0-9]+/", "_", strtolower($mitem->name));
$txt = '<a href="'. $mitem->link .'" class="'. $menuclass . "-" . $menu_class_add .'" '. $id .'>'. $mitem->name .'</a>';

This will make your menu items' class be specific to what they contain. For example, your link's display reads: Link To Some Content. what will happen is that the class would read : somclass-link_to_some_content. From thereon, it is easier to specifically target this link as if it has an ID. It is up to you now if you have to modify your css.

Or you could add the $menu_class_add as an ID for the anchor, which, I haven't tried yet.

Joomla 1.0 :: Conditional mosMainBody()

2008-04-22T22:23:00.006+08:00

After some research, I have found a way to "properly" call mosMainBody() in Joomla! 1.0.

In this code:

<?php if(!eregi( "no items", $GLOBALS['_MOS_OPTION']['buffer'] )) {mosMainBody();}?>

I am checking if "no items" occurs in the $GLOBALS['_MOS_OPTION']['buffer'] variable where the main body resides. If you check the function declaration for mosMainBody in $joomlainstallation/includes/frontend.php file, you can see that this function echoes the variable above. I could hack this one (yet again) to test before display. But I need a fast way of doing things. This may not be the cleanest way to do it, but hey, it works for me.

!!! I modified the code to reflect other languages as well.... This is the new code:

<?php if(!eregi( _EMPTY_BLOG, $GLOBALS['_MOS_OPTION']['buffer'] ) AND !mb_eregi( _EMPTY_BLOG, $GLOBALS['_MOS_OPTION']['buffer'] ) ) {mosMainBody();}?>

Got new email addresses!

2008-04-02T01:22:00.002+08:00

Just got 2 new email addresses.

renz_salmingobreakaway at atheistabreakaway dot netbreakaway - email address says it all. Don't have to expound about it, well not yet at least, except that you have to take out some parts to be able to send email to that address. If you really are a person, then recognizing the pattern would not be that too difficult for you (winking smiley here).

renzsalmingo2008takeaway at gmailtakeaway dot comtakeaway - now why would I want a second gmail account? the first one I created was too formal, too "me" -ish. I guess this one would be not. I still open the old ones that I have though.

Anyway, have to continue working now. It's already wayyyy past your bedtime. Go get some sleep.

Gallery Joomla Component....

2008-04-02T00:59:00.000+08:00

I am now creating yet another gallery component for joomla.

Unlike most galleries, this one will have built in scoring system where you can schedule when the voting will begin and then keep track of the votes. I did not use Joomla!'s internal poll system since it has some limitations that I cannot breach (as of now).

I hope to be done by Friday this week so I can upload a copy here.

Milestone...

2007-08-29T23:56:00.000+08:00

MEMORY LEAK

I can't believe that I am now married to the most understanding, most caring and most loving woman in the planet. I really am very happy to be with her, and now committing my life to her. I love you be.

Now that I am married, there are a lot of things that I want to change in my life. First would be my attitude towards work. I will be more diligent, more hardworking than ever before. I will be refraining from overuse of tobacco (one stick per day na lang). And the best of all, I will be more patient, more kind and more loving to her. Of all the rest, the latter will be the one thing I would work on as I had promised her when we took our vows last August 28.

I chills me to the bone that now and till I die, there would be one person that will be with me and that is my be - Salvacion Torres.

She is now here with me, and wherever I go, she wants to be there every minute, every hour of my life. WOW!

Maybe I will post her pic here after I finished all the software that I am working on right now.

Good day blog! its 00:08 on my computer's watch.

I am really tired but I cannot sleep until this two modules are through. So, I hope with a cup of coffee and some inspiration, I will finish this two modules today. Ahhhhhh..... then I can go to sleep

Signing out - but just this once...

Driver Making

2007-07-22T12:50:00.000+08:00

Memory Leak

I was finally able to configure (correctly) the rt73 usb device on a 2.4 kernel running on an athlon64 machine in 64bit mode.

I will now try to install a 32 bit operating system and try to perform the same act.

RANTS
No rants. Just RELAX....

Check out the other blog though....

Mozilla Firefox Extensions

2007-07-14T15:22:00.000+08:00

I am currently working on a mozilla - iax - xmpp combination to work as a front-end for a BPO.

I managed to get the libraries from the following sites

for the mozilla-iax : http://moziax.mozdev.org
and for the xmpp: dev.hyperstruct.net/xmpp4moz

I think I have to rework everything on the front-end using base materials because I have not succeeded in combining the two entities.

Will give update tomorrow.

may the source be with you

Hectic Hectic Hectic Days

2007-07-10T18:28:00.000+08:00

Hectic may not be enough to describe the amount of work I am logged to do compared to the amount of time that I have.

MEMORY LEAK

There's a lot of things to do, and yet so little time to do them. Darn these tight schedules. Yes, they could be sometimes a pain, but think in the positive side, at least it keeps you alive. At the very least, it gives you reason not to be thinking of killing yourself for the next 24 hours. Seriously though, the amount of work we do most of the times tells us also the amount of time that we spent doing practically nothing.

I just got a copy of Charles Darwin's Origin of the Species. It was a birthday gift from my soon-to-be wife. I really appreciate the book, every piece of it.

What do you know, it's my birthday today! Happy Birthday to me. Thanks to all who greeted me.

Tomorrow, will blog about the problem I'm having connecting jabber(xmpp4moz) / moziax / top dialer

Hopefully, I will be able to resolve the issue early in the morning. Still have to configure vvvvvvvvv in the afternoon.

***'s **** module still need fixing and I am up to my neck with that module...

Still, programming is the way for me. System Administration is not yet my cup of tea. I still want to be able to see something sometimes.

UPTIME

No rants....

/sbin/shutdown -r now

I'm Alive...

2007-03-29T11:46:00.000+08:00

Memory Leak

Wow! its been ages since I was here. My last edit I think was when I was in Bohol.

What have changed?

1.) I have been to japan (will post pics soon)
2.) I learned a programming language (python)
3.) I learned a new PHP Framework (Symfony)
4.) I bought a nintendo DS and last but not list
5.) I found my wife-to be.

Yes, you read me right. We are now engaged to be wed on the 25th of December this year (unless something really really really important comes up)

There are still lots of things that I want to talk about but that would need more time. I am doing this on my lunch break ;)

RANTS

No rants.

LAST WORDS
I'm Alive...

Talk with a secular humanist :)

2005-08-08T17:27:00.000+08:00

Unadulterated... please don't mind

jimspeiser: I am from Phoenix. Oh, please don't mind the photo.
arkanedaemon7: its alright
arkanedaemon7: :))
arkanedaemon7: that's in arizona right?
arkanedaemon7: Have you ever seen the movie "The God Who Wasn't There"
jimspeiser: that's more like it. No, I haven't.
arkanedaemon7: nice
arkanedaemon7: ok ... did it even make it to the theaters there?
jimspeiser: OK, Brian Fleming, 2005....um...
arkanedaemon7: because I am sooooo intrigued about the movie
jimspeiser: Looks like a documentary.
jimspeiser: Starring Richard Dawkins, no less!
arkanedaemon7: oh yeah!!
arkanedaemon7: it will never make it to this part of the world though...
arkanedaemon7: being an atheist in the philippines is really tough!
jimspeiser: Looks like it was just released in NYC a couple of months ago.
jimspeiser: Gets a VERY high rating on the IMDB, 8.5
arkanedaemon7: nice
jimspeiser: Do you not get "skeptical" movies in the Phillipines?
arkanedaemon7: no we don't!
jimspeiser: Is it official censorship, or there's so few atheists there?
arkanedaemon7: they are censored without questions asked
arkanedaemon7: we have an atheist group the site is http://www.philippineatheists.org
arkanedaemon7: we are just a few bunch because most atheist pinoys are afraid to come out of the open
arkanedaemon7: I was almost disowned by my mother when I revealed my beliefs to her
jimspeiser: "pinoys"? Forgive me, I am a typical stupid American who knows very little about your country.
arkanedaemon7: pinoys are slang for Filipinos
arkanedaemon7: hehehehe
jimspeiser: OK, I thought so.
jimspeiser: Roman Catholic is the dominant religion there, yes?
arkanedaemon7: Yes
arkanedaemon7: and even if they said otherwise, they have great political influence
jimspeiser: As they do worldwide.
jimspeiser: But is it very fundamentalist? Do most people believe in Adam & Eve, for instance?
arkanedaemon7: yes
arkanedaemon7: most cathylick schools here still does not approve to teach evolution
arkanedaemon7: only some parts of it
jimspeiser: "only some parts of it" - like that's possible.
jimspeiser: Like being "sort of pregnant."
arkanedaemon7: :))
jimspeiser: Is there a fight between your science teachers and your clerics, as there is here?
arkanedaemon7: no
jimspeiser: So they still teach real science in public schools? (You do have public schools?_
arkanedaemon7: in public schools they teach some science
arkanedaemon7: some kind of science where God Exists
arkanedaemon7: hmmm....
jimspeiser: In this country, there is a huge battle coming between religion and secular forces.
arkanedaemon7: I really hope we are bold enough to try that...
jimspeiser: The one thing we have going for us is the wall between church and state. Do you have any such protection in your laws?
arkanedaemon7: like the one that Marci Hamilton discussed in her book?
jimspeiser: Sorry, I don't know that one.
arkanedaemon7: the book God vs. the Gavel
arkanedaemon7: yeah we have such walls because the constitution is "bible-based"
arkanedaemon7: or should I say "bible-biased"...
jimspeiser: So your constitution mentions God and/or the Bible?
arkanedaemon7: yeah in the preable you can see this phrase "aided my the divine providence"
arkanedaemon7: we even have bishops represented in the creation of the constitution of 1987
jimspeiser: OK. Well, that sounds more like the Generic Deist God, like in our Declaration of Independence.
jimspeiser: "Nature, and Nature's God"
jimspeiser: Are you in College there?
arkanedaemon7: I finished some college
jimspeiser: Do you have a secular humanist movement there?
arkanedaemon7: i don't think we have it here
jimspeiser: Are you familiar with the term?
arkanedaemon7: yeah
arkanedaemon7: of course
jimspeiser: OK. Good. I think secular humanism has a greater chance of success than pure atheism, because it has something positive to offer.
arkanedaemon7: well our group is more into positive atheism
jimspeiser: How do they define that?
jimspeiser: :-/
arkanedaemon7: http://www.positiveatheism.org
jimspeiser: OK, "discussing the history of atheism promotes liberty, peace of mind," etc....
arkanedaemon7: yeah...
jimspeiser: Sounds pretty good, but that "A" word scares people off.
arkanedaemon7: most specially here where people thinks of Atheists as demon-worshippers
arkanedaemon7: :))
arkanedaemon7: how naive
jimspeiser: Exactly. But when it comes to movements, perception is everything.
arkanedaemon7: how is that?
jimspeiser: You can laugh at the fact that they think of you as demon-worshippers, but how do you overcome that? How many people are "closet" atheists who might join you group, but don't want to be seen as social outcasts?
jimspeiser: That is why I like to call myself a "secular humanist." It says that I am doing something positive, without retreating into religion.
jimspeiser: And it doesn't have the negative connotation of atheist.
arkanedaemon7: as for me, I just say to myself that they are just brainwashed and they do not know the real thing. Our group simply tells people what atheism really is and being branded as demon-worshipper does not affect me because i do not believe in demons too
arkanedaemon7: some friends really think its "cool" that way...
arkanedaemon7: :)
jimspeiser: There are two kinds of atheist groups in this country...
jimspeiser: The first kind is sort of a "safe haven" for atheists to just sit around and grumble about religion, but they are resigned to being "second-class citizens" forever....
arkanedaemon7: :)
jimspeiser: The second kind is more activist, and beleives that the atheist position should be put forth more publicly, and the public should be educated on religious issues.
arkanedaemon7: we only have the first kind
jimspeiser: That's what I'm getting at.
jimspeiser: I think if you started a secular humanist movement, it might be more successful. (Not that it's real successful in this country, but I think its a better "blueprint" for success.)
arkanedaemon7: ok...
jimspeiser: Here's a link to check out... http://humaniststudies.org/index.html
arkanedaemon7: ok ... i will take your suggestions in the highest priority
jimspeiser: Thank you! I think you will see that Atheism tells people what you don't believe, whereas secular humanism tells people what you DO believe.
arkanedaemon7: can i save this conversation so that I can talk about this to the guys...
jimspeiser: Absolutely.
arkanedaemon7: :)
jimspeiser: Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with "Positive Atheism," in fact, that's really what secular humanism is, it's just that "A" word. In this country, an atheist ranks just above a child-molester.
arkanedaemon7: ok
jimspeiser: Hope I've been of help/
arkanedaemon7: yeah you've been a lot of help
arkanedaemon7: I should be the one thanking you :)
jimspeiser: No problem. Glad to have the opportunity.

Welcome to my BlogSPOT

2005-07-28T17:52:00.000+08:00

There comes a time when people need to go out and tell the whole world what they want to. So now, I tell them "It's my time".