Random Small Problems & Solutions

NautilusSVN, a TortoiseSVN replacement

2008-11-09T18:25:00.000-08:00

NautilusSVN is a perfect nautilus integration script is for those who just migrating from windows to ubuntu and fall in love with TortoiseSVN client.
Written in python, this stuff is equipped with folder emblems, which showing synchronization status of your folders, just like TortoiseSVN.

How to install
Ubuntu : Open synaptic, search "nautilussvn" and install that package and its dependencies
Other debian system : Look for the author page here, download the .deb file and install

Screenshots:

BIRT automatic odd even rows highlighting using pre-defined style

2008-11-09T06:44:00.000-08:00

specifying highlight rule for table-detail-cell

Highlighting odd-even rows in BIRT table can be done easily by adding modulus rule (row.__rownum %2 Equal to 0) to our highlights property on table detail row. Select your table detail row, navigate to highlight property and then add the rule with respective formatting that that you want, and all is done.

But what if you want use standardized odd-even rows hihglighting accross your all of your table reports? The easiest way is to utilize the predefined table style which are table-header, table-detail and table-detail-cell. Those style will be automatically referred by all table in your report, meaning you only need to this once.

Modified version of the top selling products sample report

Below is a sample file in doc format (wordpress doesnt allow .rptdesign file) based on the TopSellingProducts.rptdesign example (you can find the unmodified version here). I modified the table there to use incorporate styles whith highlighting rule in it. Open the content in open office or microsoft word editor, copy the content to a new xml file, save the xml file to TopSellingProducts.rptdesign and then open the file in eclipse editor. Good luck!

topsellingproducts

How to convert a webpage to image

2008-11-09T06:41:00.000-08:00

If you are trying to capture an html page, and not just the visible portion of it, you can try a tool named url2bmp. You can download the software here. To use the software you simply need to type the url into the address bar, specify the output format, size and location to save the picture and it’s done. This tool can be used to grab page via the command line, which is very good if you want to grab something unattended and scheduled (e.g: regularly capture a page daily at specific time).

Unfortunately, this tool is build specifically for windows OS. And if your need is as simple as to capture a page that you’re currently visiting, there’s a better alternative. If you have a firefox browser you can add a plugin named screengrab to your firefox, which allowed you to capture any page that you’re visiting. You can grab the whole webpage, the visible portion of it, or specific region of the webpage. Read more on its own page here.

My top 5 firefox plugins

2008-11-09T06:39:00.000-08:00

I think one of the reasons why firefox is so popular and gain significant share in browser market is the extensive support from various plugins. These plugins benefit anybody with specific need other than merely viewing a webpage.

As for me there are couple of firefox plugins that is most useful in my daily browsing routine i.e:

Scrapbook, to capture page and save them to your local computer. Next time you need to see the pages, you do not need to visit the page again. Sure a more powerful replacement for a mere “bookmark”
Screengrab. Sometimes you need to capture webpages as an image. Especially when you want to put them on your documents. This tool is a super solution.
Flashblock. Most of flash animations on websites is just there for decorative purpose. And sometimes they can be very annoying, especially when you have a slow internet speed. This plugin is very effective against those flash stuffs, cos you have the ultimate control which flash worth seeing.
Adblock. I think everyone will agree to this one. Using adblock, you can live free from almost any kind of advertisement :).
Foxyproxy. Well this one is only suitable for those who has their computers connected to various network at the same time, each with its own gateway or proxy server. You can choose to use specific proxy for certain site (url pattern) and foxyproxy will automagically use the right proxy for those site.

[SOLVED] Upgrading hardy to intrepid using update-manager, no release upgrade button

2008-11-09T05:20:00.000-08:00

Two days ago i was tryin to upgrade my ubuntu box from hardy to intrepid using update manager. First, I try to follow the instruction that i found here. But my update-manager didn’t show any upgrade button. Then I try to upgrade all of my packages, hoping the button will miraculously show up afterwards. But still, after the package upgrade is finished, the release upgrade button is still not there.

After some googling, i’ve found that calling update manager from command line using “update-manager -d” solves the problem. Thanks to the guy who write this trick here.