OS/Networking/Misc Apps

Installing Artcut (plotter/cutter software) without prompt to insert Graphics Disc

Tim Huffam — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 00:27:30 GMT

If you do a 'typical' install of Artcut, it will try to install the 'chinese graph files' - and therefore, when you run it for the first time (after the installation) it will prompt you to insert the Graphic Disc.

To avoid this, run the install and choose Custom install (instead of the default of 'Typical') then click Next, then uncheck the component 'chinese graph files' and continue with the installation.

HTH

Tim

How to fade image layers using Gimp gradient/blend tool

Tim Huffam — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 14:49:34 GMT

This post will explain how to do fading (fade out a layer) in Gimp.

Assuming you have an image open...

Add a new layer
Draw the part you want faded
Right click on the layer in the Layers panel/window and select 'Add Layer Mask', then click on Add on the Add Layer Mask dialog (making sure the default value of 'White (full opacity)' is selected).
Select the Blend/Gradient tool and set the Gradient to 'FG to GB(RGB)' .
On the layer click and drag a line where you want the gradient (fade) to start and finish. The first click is where it will be faded out and the second click is where it will start to fade.
Right click on the layer in the Layers panel/window and select 'Apply Layer Mask'.

That's it.

php mysql extension not loading/Quick Install of a WIMP stack (PHP, MySQL, PHPMyAdmin on Windows XP and IIS)

Tim Huffam — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 18:47:26 GMT

On a fresh php installation (on WinXP using IIS 5) the mysql extension did not load. This turned out to be because php could not find the libmysql.dll library - to resolve just put the php dir (eg "c:\xampp\php) and the ext dir (c:\xampp\php\ext) into the PATH environment variable (and restart iis).

To verify your php configuration, create a php file with the following content:
<?php
phpinfo();
?>
Save this as something like info.php into your web root dir and navigate to it with a browser eg http://localhost/info.php.

FYI - this is how I installed my own WIMP stack:

Instead of doing the usual individual custom installs of these components - this time I simply downloaded the xampp and unzipped it into a dir off c: drive (c:\xampp). This contains apache (which I won't use), mysql, php and phpmyadmin.
To setup php in IIS simply add an extension mapping (mapping .php to c:\xamp\php\php5isapi.dll) - in IIS admin right click on Default Web Site (or your other specific web site if on a windows server) and select Properties - click on Home Directory tab then click on 'Configuration...' - then click on Add and enter the details.
In IIS admin create a virual directory (eg pma) pointing to the phpmyadmin dir (C:\xampp\phpmyadmin)
Create an envirnment variable PHPRC and set it to your php path eg C:\xampp\php
Add the php (c:\xampp\php) and ext (c:\xampp\php\ext) paths to the PATH environment variable.
Run the xampp setup script: setup_xampp.bat
Restart IIS (iisreset).
I've also edited httpd.conf (under c:\xampp\apache\conf) to change apache to use port 81 - so I can still run apache and IIS side by side (IIS uses port 80 by default for).

That should do it.

To test start mysql (run the mysql_start.bat script in the xampp dir) and browse to: http://localhost/pma/index.php

HTH
Tim

How to change permissions on Vista Home so you can update your hosts file

Tim Huffam — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 03:38:05 GMT

Windows Vista Home edition has some funny quirks - and this one is a prime example...

When trying to update my hosts file I get permission denied. That's odd - so I check the permissions and sure enough Administrator group has write access - yet I am the only administror on the system. How's that for tricky - so I'm an admin with no admin rights - go figure. Then I tried deleting the file then readding it.... wow - delete worked but could not re-add.

It appears the only way around this little gem is to turn off user access control (not recommended - but there seems to be no other option as the security is fairly random and not what it used to be in earlier verisons of windows).

To do this go into Control Panel, select User Accounts then choose "Turn User Account Control On or Off" and turn it off (uncheck the checkbox then click OK) - you'll need to reboot for this to take effect.

Now you can change the files.

*** Just remember to undo the security by-pass - but turning back on the user access control (same as above - checking the checkbox). ***

**** Updated: As Joe suggests below - yes the correct way would be to start your editor by using right-click - 'Run as administrator'. However this still does not explain the bug with Vista's security model that does not allow an admin user to update the hosts file without turning off UAC.

HTH

Tim

Firefox 3 ignores cache control http headers - security risk for online apps!

Tim Huffam — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 20:17:40 GMT

If a user, using Firefox 3, signs out of a web site and does not close the browser, anyone else using that browser subsequently can view the content of pages loaded by the previous user (eg in an internet cafe, or any place where workstations are shared eg universities) - exposing private/confidential data.

This only affects HTTP post requests (not gets) and only Firefox version 3 - earlier versions (1.5, 2 etc), and IE, are not affected.

The main points are:

This is definately a bug: a violation of RFC 2616, section 14.9 that states "The Cache-Control general-header field is used to specify directives that MUST be obeyed by all caching mechanisms along the request/response chain".
Some companies who deem this a significant hole in their security have chosen to block requests from Firefox 3 (eg they deem it their responsibility to secure their customers private and confidential data to the best of their ability).
This bug has been registered with the Mozilla dev team, but currently (as of 26 Sept 2008) has a status of unconfirmed.

Scuttle import bookmarks not working

Tim Huffam — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 17:14:34 GMT

With a clean install of Scuttle I found that both the import bookmarks pages (importNetscape.php and import.php) do not work - instead the both display the source of the PHP files.

This is caused by both files not having the correct php declaration at the beginning of the file eg -both of these files first line was:

<?

However they should have been:

<?php

So just simply update these files.

HTH
Tim

Visual Studio (VS200) loosing it's source control bindings

Tim Huffam — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 16:08:41 GMT

VSTS2008 has, on occasion, lost it's source control settings - specifically, the bindings to TFS server for a given solution and it's projects.

This seems to be because the solution and project files are not being updated when you use the TFS Source Control Explorer to do a 'Get Latest' - a 'feature' of VS2008 which allows you to work disconnected/offline - however it seems to have an issue trying to reconnect itself.

To resolve we simply removed the local source directory and did a 'Get Specific Version - get latest'.

RickSW had a similar experience.

Tim

Dundas chart error databinding: Series data points do not support values of type "myclass", only values of these types can be used: Double, Decimal, Single, int, long, uint, ulong, String, DateTime, short, ushort.

Tim Huffam — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 13:23:59 GMT

The following error can occur when executing the .DataBind() method on a Dundas chart object within an ASP.Net page (.Net 3.0):

Series data points do not support values of type "myclass", only values of these types can be used: Double, Decimal, Single, int, long, uint, ulong, String, DateTime, short, ushort.

I had set the DataSource property to a generics List of myclass objects (List<myclass>).

It turns out that this error is caused by a mismatch between the type of objects within the list passed to DataSource and the series defined for the chart.

In my case I had create 4 series but the objects within the list only had 3. I'm guessing the same error would also occur if the property names of these objects to not match the series .ValueMembersY/ValueMemberX property settings.

HTH
Tim

MSBuild fails when building solutions with database projects

Tim Huffam — Tue, 27 May 2008 23:20:16 GMT

There is a known problem with MSBuild whereby it does not cater for database project types as these project types (database projects) are not buildable. This is only an issue when specifying a solution file (as the item to build) within the MSBuild script.

Because these are not buildable projects VS does not show them in the solution configuration manager. Unfortunately this means they cannot be manually configured not to build (as a work around to this problem).

When using solution files within MSBuild, it does not allow you to exclude specific projects. There are a few options to work around this - as mentioned in this article: http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=640825&SiteID=1

Another simple solution is to just remove the database project from the solution - and if you really want it still within the solution - just create another project of type class library and just reuse the original project's files. By using another project type (like class library) you can use the configuration manager to explicitly flag this project not to build (remember to update each configuration).

This issue affects TFS continuous integration builds.

Microsoft Word - cursor placed at top of page.

Tim Huffam — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 14:12:23 GMT

When creating a new document and in Print Layout, Word sometimes places the cursor right at the top of the page - not catering for the top margin.

I'm not sure why - can only presume this is a bug.

The workaround, to make it display the cursor where it should be (below the margin) seems to be to view the Header then hide the header:

Select menu item 'View' - 'Header and Footer' (this shows the header)
Do the same thing to hide it (Select menu item 'View' - 'Header and Footer').

That's it - the cursor should now be placed where it should be - so you can start typing text and see it in the correct position on the page.

HTH

Tim