Outlining JavaScript in WebStorm
Pomodoro gadget update
V. 1.0.8: Added tooltips to buttons; improved button layout.V. 1.0.5: Added options to play sound (or not) when interval ends, and duration for sound.
Added version (1.0.4) and link to Settings dialog.
Improved Settings appearance.
Pomodoro desktop gadget
Pomodoro desktop gadget
UPDATE (10 June)Improved appearance.
UPDATE (9 June 2013)
Added a Settings dialog – you can set the time (in minutes) for the work, short break, and long break times.
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I wanted a simple Pomodoro timer for my Win 7 desktop.
The one I found in the Gadgets gallery was simple enough, but I didn’t like the way it was always running.
(The original author is Vitaly Sharovatov (sharovatov.ru) according to the xml, but I can’t find the original gadget anymore.)
I looked into how desktop gadgets are built, and discovered they can be as simple as .css/.html/.js files.
As an exercise in tinkering with html/js/css, I decided to add a ‘Stop’ button, and change the background colors for each state (work, short break, long break, and stop). I also changed the work time from 25 to 20 minutes. (The work time is set in the startWork function, the call to startCountBack() in pomodoro.js.)
Installation instructions: install.txt
Simple zip: CBPomodoro.zip
Self-extracting zip: CBPomodoro.exe
Source on BitBucket: https://charles_bates@bitbucket.org/charles_bates/pomodorodesktop.git
I’d appreciate hearing about any interesting changes you make…
A look at the modern security state
“Journeyman Pictures’ short documentary “Naked Citizens” is an absolutely terrifying and amazing must-see glimpse of the modern security state, and the ways in which it automatically ascribes guilt to people based on algorithmic inferences, and, having done so, conducts such far-reaching surveillance into its victims’ lives that the lack of anything incriminating is treated of proof of being a criminal mastermind … ”StackOverflow question
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/16580694/change-display-index-of-gridview-columnRepro’d a poster’s SL app, but can’t repro the bad behavior. This is with v. 2010.1.422.1030 of the Telerik controls.
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This is not good — with v. 2012.1.215.1050 of the controls, the bad behavior manifests:
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Google Drive vs SkyDrive
I have and use both services. I’d like to use one or the other, but each has some strengths and drawbacks the other doesn’t. Google’s strengths:- 2-step authentication
- With native Google Docs:
- Simultaneous editing
- Continuous saving
- Easy to restore previous versions
- Presence awareness (you know when others are viewing/editing the file)
- Integration with GMail
SkyDrive’s strengths:
- Integrates MS apps
- I like this particularly for OneNote notebooks
- Can edit off-line
- MS apps (Excel, Word) much stronger than Google Doc apps.
It usually comes down to how much I value off-line editing vs. contemporaneous editing for a particular task.
UPDATE: Windows Secrets article on Google Apps
Silverlight for “cross platform” apps
It seems Silverlight can’t really live up to its claims to be “cross platform”.
I have been working on an out-of-browser app to run on Windows and Mac. So far, several capabilities that I need don’t seem to be available on the Mac:
- file drag and drop
- ChildWindow
- Popup
For some reason, the native file pickers on both Mac and Windows don’t allow the user to select folders. Drag and drop was supposed to be the work-around for that, and works as expected on Windows.
Since drag and drop doesn’t work on Mac, a folder picker is the next strategy. Not having ChildWindow/Popup makes implementing a folder picker dialog much more difficult.
The most frustrating part of this is not being able to find concise documentation about what works on Mac and what doesn’t. It’s like Microsoft thought “silverlight for cross platform” sounded like a good idea, then lost interest part way through the implementation…
Sync any folder to SkyDrive
Here’s an interesting article about how to sync any folder to your SkyDrive, even if it is not in your local SkyDrive folder:
Sync Any Folder to Your SkyDrive Account
Reader replacement?
Since Google announced the relegation of Reader, I’ve been looking around for a replacement. So far, Feedly.com is leading the pack. "The Old Reader" might be useful, but it was too slow to use.
RSSOwl looked pretty good for a standalone product as far as organizing feeds.
VisualStateManager in SL 5
I’m working on a small OOB SL 5 app.
I have the main window with several UserControls; each UserControl is used in a different step of the app’s processing. I’m using VisualStates to control the visibility of the various UserControls.
This morning I discovered that one transition – SplashScreen –> Login – wasn’t working. It took a lot of poking around to discover the simple problem, and one of the aspects of xaml I really dislike: The use of string literals that can’t be shared as tokens between the xaml and the code-behind. I had misspelled the VisualState name in the VisualStateManager.GoToState() call.
I’d like to find a way to use a resource, or string constant, or token, or something, in the xaml and code-behind so the compiler would catch errors like misspelling “Login” instead of “LogIn”.