GrokBlok

5 Quick Android Dev Tips

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 01:21:00 GMT

I’ve recently been doing some development with Google Android, and I must say that I’m really enjoying it. It really seems like there are a lot of untapped possibilities. I’m currently using Eclipse for development, and the official Android plugin for it. It’s the path of least resistance. Here’s a collection of 5 things that I’ve found helpful to get up and running.

Add The Android SDK To Your Path

The SDK is a minimal collection of tools and jar files. I normally keep all my various code in a directory directly under $HOME called /projects, I’ll refer to it as $PROJECTS from now on. I’m a total n00b when it comes to Java development, so I don’t know what other people do for these types of things, but I’ve added a folder to keep all things like the Android SDK called $PROJECTS/.java.

bash-3.2$ wget http://dl.google.com/android/android-sdk-mac_x86-0.9_beta.zip

Unzip this file and symlink it to @$PROJECTS/.java/android, you’ll see why in a minute. Please note that you’ll need a different file unless you’re using a Mac.

bash-3.2$ ln -s $PROJECTS/.java/android-sdk-mac_x86-0.9_beta $PROJECTS/.java/android

The final step is to add the SDK to your $PATH so you can access the command line goodies. If you remember, I symlink’d the current release of the Android SDK to $PROJECTS/.java/android. When the next version of Android is released I can simply download it and change the symlink and I won’t have to change my paths. This will make testing my software against various releases extremely simple. Your platform might be different, but on mine, I can change $PATH by editing $HOME/.profile. The actual files that you will need accessible from your path are at $PROJECTS/.java/android/tools, so that’s the value I’m adding to the end of my path.

export PATH=/opt/local/bin:/opt/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/mysql/bin::$HOME/.java/android/tools:$PATH

You should know be able to access any of the pre-bundled command line tools for the Android SDK in a simple and flexible manner.

Creating An SDCard For Your Emulator

There are times that you want to store some data or media that can act in the same way as an SDCard. The SDK has a tool that you can use called mksdcard which can be used to create an SDCard iso, which can then be mounted on the emulator. Creating one is simple. I recommend setting up a common folder for assets that you might want to use across your various projects. In my case, that would be at $PROJECTS/.java/shared. Here’s a listing of the switches for this tool:

MacPorts is trying to kill me

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 20:11:00 GMT

Yesterday I was trying to install Apache2 through MacPorts so I could get Phusion Passenger to run on my Macbook for local things. I am constantly having trouble with MacPorts failing to install things, it’s various reasons, although I’m sure I’m to blame for some of them; I think it work and act just like apt. :) I couldn’t get Apache installed and I’d tried various things. I was getting a little frustrated and flipping back and forth between the terminal and the browser. See if you can see my problem:

I type in my command to try to get Apache to install, but then stop at the last minute to read something in the browser.

bash-3.2$ sudo port install

After a few minutes, I come back to the terminal and figure out that I need to selfupdate MacPorts and that might help. I pick up where I left off…

bash-3.2$ sudo port install sudo port selfupdate

FAIL. If you can’t see it, basically, I just gave the command to MacPorts to install it’s own sudo program over the OS X one. The install failed because sometime during the install it switched to the MacPorts one. It complained about now being able to create the /opt/local/etc/sudoers file. I was stuck in limbo, not able to deactivate the port, not able to copy the sudoers file, nothing. sudo was broken.

Panic sets in. Let’s just say that I’ve tried several things, but there’s one easy way to fix it. You might have immediately come to this solution… but I didn’t, so congrats on your problem solving skills. Simply comment out the MacPorts paths from $PATH, open another terminal and you should be able to create the necessary file, add the paths back in and move on from there. At that point you can either deactivate the port or use it.

I’m not sure why MacPorts would have a port that couldn’t complete it’s own installation, but no long term damage. Hopefully, if this happens to someone else, they’ll be able to have this post point them in the right direction. Now I guess I can go back to betting Phusion Passenger installed. :)

Rut Roh Raggy, It's Ruxtape

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

I was a big fan of Muxtape, and I was extremely disappointed to once again see the RIAA shut them down, very reactionary. I loved the concept of being able to create your own playlist that you could distribute to people and have them listen. I didn’t care so much about other people’s mixes, preferring services like Pandora. I was very excited to see the concept resurrected by Opentape.

Opentape is really cool, but it’s written in PHP and I prefer Ruby. It’s a little early, but I wanted to announce that I’m working on an Opentape imposter called, ‘Ruxtape’. Why early? Because I haven’t exactly got a working flash player yet. :( I’m having a little trouble with the controls and such and so I’m hoping that before the next time I get a chance to work on it (maybe next week) somebody will have taken an interest and run with it. You can find the source on Github. Ruxtape Source

My goal is to have the same player control functionality that Opentape currently has and I’m trying to vendor all the gems and provide a Rack adapter so anyone running Passenger can just clone it and it’s up and running without any other dependencies. I am especially looking for people who understand Flash players and unobtrusive javascript.

Switchin' Up My Site

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 06:25:00 GMT

I’ve switched my blog from Mephisto to RadiantCMS. During the transition, I deleted some articles which weren’t really relevant anymore and I might have jacked up the feed. I primarily switched because I had to use Radiant for something at work and I really liked it, but I also wanted to completely redesign the style, and I’m very pleased with that. I’ve gone with a very minimalist approach, without images.

Switching to Radiant wasn’t the simplest things, and some stuff had to be done by hand, but I recommend it if you want something more than a blog, but less than an over-the-top CMS (which Radiant could be, but has a very simple interface). I know that I’ve lost some Google link juice because I’m not handling all the redirects, but it’s just not that important to me.

I’m working on getting the tags back, but I’ll probably ditch the categories for good. Comments are enabled for the moment. Look for a post later on about the perfect blog setup for Radiant. I want to use this URL as a means of experimentation of Radiant, XHTML, CSS, unobtrusive javascript techniques and anything else that I come across. We’ll see.

Fail Early, Fail Often

Tue, 13 May 2008 16:15:00 GMT

I was recently having a discussion with someone, and the topic was standing up while you’re working. I’ve recently been hearing a lot about it here and here. This person was mentioning that he had found a standing desk with a treadmill underneath. The proposed benefits are improved posture and increased attention span. I’m intrigued by the idea, but it’s something that I’d have to try out to find out if I like it. Unfortunately, my height (6’4”) purchasing something cheap or rigging up an existing table didn’t seem to be an option. I needed something ~48” high.

I remembered that I had a couple of nicely cut Medium Density Fiberboard pieces laying round that would be a great start. I also had 5 12’ 2×4s, a hand jigsaw, and a screw gun. Long story short, 2.5 hours and $0 later, I had something I could use. Is it great? No. Is it permanent? No. Is it something that I can use to evaluate whether I like to work this way or not without making a large investment? Absolutely. Fail early, fail often. Open Source carpentry.

Utili-Tool, A Camping Application

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:24:00 GMT

Something that I use everyday that I’ve just released for public use is the Braintree Tools Site, which is just a Camping application frontend to the Braintree APIs. It’s also a simple collection of tools that will help you figure out if your ‘hashing’ is correct and what response look like. It’s kinda like a sandbox, but you don’t need to go so far as to write your own script. You can just do it from the web.

There is certainly truth in the statement that the best tools are created by the people who actually use them. A major part of my job at Braintree is to ease the task of integration for our customers. I come into contact with people who are using everything from Ruby on Rails to customized PHP to Oracle Forms. The nice thing about our API is that it doesn’t matter. You’re simply making HTTP GETS/POSTS to interact with the Gateway. For me, customer support at it’s most basic is just typing a query string into a browser address bar and looking at the response.

Is This Customer Support?

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 21:20:00 GMT

I hate to be a dick about it, but I needed help installing an EV SSL certificate, so I went to the certifying authorities website and tried to find some articles or tutorials. No dice, poorly documented, inaccurate. They had a feature that let me “chat” realtime with one of their customer support folks. Perhaps I’m really missing something major, but I think this is absolutely terrible.

Malcolm: Hi!!

Malcolm: How can I assist you?

you: i'm trying to install an EV certificate on Apache

you: running Ubuntu

Malcolm: Ok.

you: i'm getting an error in IE7 only

Malcolm: can I have your order#

you: sure: #1234567

Malcolm: Please wait.

you: sure

Malcolm: I did installation check from our end, it seems that the root and intermediate certificates are not installed properly.

Malcolm: please install the root and intermediate certificates.

you: ok, there aren't _any_ instructions anywhere on how to do that

Malcolm: Please wait.

Malcolm: Please go through the below link.

Malcolm: https://support.nameprotected.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=264&nav=0,1,88

you: i've done all that

you: the site works with ssl in every browser BUT IE7

you: it has to do with EV portion

you: your documentation is woefully inadequate

Malcolm: Ok. Please send mail to support@nameprotected.com. We will solve your query.

you: I HAVE

Malcolm: Can I have your ticket number.

you: #987654321

Malcolm: Please wait.

you: what i'm saying is that your documents that i keep getting referred to are not clear

you: on how to install a EV certificate whether it be root or intermediate

Malcolm: Please wait.

Malcolm: could you please tell, at which place you are getting error

Malcolm: while installing the certificate.

you: I'm getting an error in IE7 when attempting to go to the page... it says that the certificate is not validly signed

you: no error in firefox or safari

you: to install the EV certificate, i downloaded the EV-Auto Enhancer for your website and used it as the SSLCertChainFile instead of the one you sent to, as directed by your site

you: for/from

Malcolm: Please go throgh the below link for evssl auto enhancer

Malcolm: https://support.nameprotected.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=1076&nav=0,1,82

you: perhaps you're not listening to me

you: I'VE ALREADY DONE THAT

you: please do not send another link to your documentation as it is completely incomplete

you: do you have a phone support center?

Malcolm: Phone Support will be available on Monday - Friday around 9am - 5pm GMT

Malcolm:

Malcolm: US + 1.555.1212

you: ok, so i've downloaded the file and have it set as the value for SSLCertificateChainFile

you: it's still not working

Malcolm: I have checked your domain in IE7

Malcolm: its working without any error

you: with a green bar?

Malcolm: Yes.

you: to indicate EV SSL?

Malcolm: Yes.

you: try again because i'm getting certificate error:navigation blocked

Malcolm: Please wait.

you: do i need to rename the file to what my original ca-bundle was called?

Malcolm: No.

Malcolm: Now am getting error.

you: k

Malcolm: the error because root and intermediate certificates are not installed properly

you: you already said that

you: then you sent me a link

Malcolm: Yes.

you: which was followed

you: then i get the error

you: which is the root which is the intermediate?

Malcolm: Send your query to support@nameprotectedcom. We will escalate to our next level support

Malcolm: ca bundle file

you: you're killing me

Malcolm: I apologize for the inconvenience caused. send mail to us. We will escalate to next level support and solve your query.

you: great!!!!! thanks for all your help!

Malcolm: Welcome!!

Am I completely missing it?

I've Joined Braintree Payment Solutions

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 16:35:00 GMT

It’s been a while since I’ve posted, and it’s also been a while since I changed jobs. I’m very pleased to announce that I now work for Braintree Payment Solutions. I’ve been putting all my energy into helping our CEO, Bryan Johnson make Braintree the place for discerning developers, and I think the combination of our support, technology, and services offered place us at the top of the industry. In short, it’s a credit card payment gateway, but it’s way more than that. Here’s the description from Braintree:

Braintree Payment Solutions is a leading provider of end-to-end electronic payment products and services. Braintree processes all forms of electronic payment transactions – credit, debit, electronic check, and electronic funds transfer. The company offers simplified PCI Compliance and credit card storage solutions, risk and fraud management, ecommerce solutions, and rate management. We’re changing the industry one customer at a time and would invite you to experience the difference.

Officially, my role is “Community Developer”, which sounds a bit ambiguous, but it’s actually a perfect title for what I’m going to be doing. I’m in charge of all things developer at Braintree, so I’m focused on Developing the Community and also Developing for the Community. In short, you can check out my work on the Braintree Community Developer Site which will include a blog, support forums, api docs, code examples, and all the information that you’ll need to easily integrate payment processing into your own applications.

The site is currently a little sparse on content, but we’re adding more everyday and I’m completely focused on making it the definitive place for information on credit card processing, payment gateways, and integration issues for developers in all communities. Initially, we’re focusing on Ruby on Rails developers, but we welcome developers from all languages and frameworks. If you have any suggestions or feedback, please contact me at developer@getbraintree.com.

Needless to say, I’m very excited to be a part of such a great company and I’m looking forward to helping people navigate through a very complicated industry.

Emacs Shell Ansi Colors

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 20:58:00 GMT

In a previous post I mentioned a funky character encoding issue with my Emacs Autotest output. I finally looked into the cause and came across the solution. I just needed to enable ansi-colors in my Emacs shell.

In your .emacs file, add the following:

;; Add color to a shell running in emacs 'M-x shell'
(autoload 'ansi-color-for-comint-mode-on "ansi-color" nil t)
(add-hook 'shell-mode-hook 'ansi-color-for-comint-mode-on)

Cheap and easy. Now, you’ll get all the cool ansi colors, like the kids.

Rails 2.0 + CRB

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 17:33:00 GMT

For those of you in the Columbus area, I’ll be speaking at the Columbus Ruby Brigade meeting this evening regarding Rails 2.0. This will be a high-level talk around some of the new things and some of the deprecated behaviours in everyone’s favorite web framework.