text/x-component	htc

and restart Apache. That did the trick.

Darn you, IE!

I can't believe how much fun it is to mindmap with the Cintiq 12WX tablet and the free Inkscape vector-drawing program. The Cintiq's integrated display means I can just draw on my mindmap, like the way people do on Tablet PCs. I can zoom in and out by sliding a finger along the touch strip. I can move around by pressing a button on the stylus and then moving in the direction I want. I can quickly switch to pencil mode, switch to selection mode, or delete items with a button press. And Inkscape gives me an infinite canvas to work with…

About the only thing that could make this even better would be for me to use a real mindmapping program that can hide and show outline notes–and index my handwriting, too. Oh, and it would need to run on Linux.

In the meantime, I'm going to have some fun. =D

Technorati Tags: cintiq

Anyway, that's enough time spent on mouse issues–one hour today, one hour yesterday! Pfft. I'll try it again later.

I hope it will arrive in time for the four-day weekend we've got coming up. I'd love to use it to sketch my presentations, and W- will certainly enjoy using it to retouch photos.

I like this feeling. I knew I'd be in the market for some kind of drawing thing, so I started saving a few months ago. After I gave my Nintendo DS to my mom, I needed another drawing tool, and it was nice to know what I wanted AND know that I could freely get it.

More sketches to come!

Technorati Tags: cintiq, drawing, wacom

Jerome Gotangco is my new hero. He organized everything (including getting a banner printed with the BarCampManila logo) less than two weeks after I e-mailed him saying that it would be fantastic to have a geek get-together on the 21st and could he please Make It Happen… Wow!

Highlights for me:

• Mario Carreon's "Maritess and her first computer" sketch. Dual-core aquarium indeed!
• Calen Legaspi and his 7… no… 6… no… 2 lessons from starting a software company! (Nobody expects the Calen Exposition!)
• JM Ibanez and git-svn - gotta check that out

What would make this even better?

• More of a networking session after the talks - maybe limit it to 5 or 10 talks
• Longer slots for demos (no Powerpoint allowed for those!)
• Better sound system (they're already working on this)
• Table for laptops
• Presenter remote

Catch the replay! I'm looking forward to hearing about the next one. I'm probably going to be in Canada, but that's what streaming is for… =)

Technorati Tags: barcamp, barcampmanila, philippines

I actually had fun writing it. I do miss hacking on Drupal code, though.

So here's my current hierarchy of things I enjoy doing for work, going from most enjoyable to least enjoyable:

• Connecting with people, brainstorming, giving presentations about things I'm passionate about, learning, writing about what I'm learning - love love love!
• Helping people learn about tools they're going to love
• Developing on open source platforms with terrific user communities (hello, Drupal, Emacs!)
• Writing documentation (not so much)
• Dealing with paperwork and fiddly things I can't automate
• Making front-ends
• Dealing with cross-browser issues and other things that force me to use Microsoft Windows (not a happy kitty!)

This reminds me of a point I've been wanting to think about for a while. =)

When people look at the way new generations or new hires immerse themselves in learning, they often think that they themselves could never do that, could never find the time to try out and learn all these different things.

If you've ever told yourself that or heard someone say that, I'd like to help you remember what it was like to be on the other side of the fence, and I'd like to remind my future self what it's like to be here.

Yes, being new means I have no bad habits to unlearn. That's part of it. But it's also true that I don't have as many good habits as you do, or even "good enough" habits that can get me through. That's one of the things that drives me to go out there and experiment. Because I don't have a "good" way of dealing with so many things, I need to try lots of different ways and see which ways work for me.

In other areas, where I've found things that work for me, I stick with them and get deeper and deeper into them. Someday, my mind might have been so shaped by the tools I've used that I won't see any need or potential beyond them, and it might be someone else's turn to explore even further.

I think that the trick, then, is to keep "breaking" things, keep stepping out of my comfort zone, so that I always feel the urge to learn something. For example, even though I've used Emacs for years, I'm always pushing it to do something new, and I'm always tinkering with other editors and other systems to see if I can steal any good ideas.

Helping other people also stops me from becoming complacent, becoming too comfortable with my current toolkit. When I'm helping people brainstorm, answering their questions, customizing systems to fit their needs, I learn more about them, the system, and myself. I learn in the process of teaching.

I'm not going to adopt every single thing that comes along, especially when I've already got something that works out quite well. (Look at how old my text editor is!) That's okay. That kind of exploration will naturally fit other people. What I can do, though, is:

• expand the breadth and depth of my tools so that I'm not just replacing interchangeable parts, but exploring new territory
• keep exploring the depths and the interconnections between different tools
• help people with as many tools as I can, especially if that takes me outside my toolkit
• borrow ideas from other tools

That's how I plan to mix being both new and experienced. =)

How do you keep yourself new?

Sub ReplaceDingbats(optional doc)
	oDocument = IIf(IsMissing(doc), ThisComponent, doc)
	oSearchDesc = oDocument.createSearchDescriptor
	for i = 1 to 9
		oSearchDesc.searchString = "(;; )?\(" + i + "\)"
		oSearchDesc.searchRegularExpression = true
		mFound = oDocument.findFirst(oSearchDesc)
		do while not isNull(mFound)
			mFound.string = chr(&HF08B + i)
			mFound.CharFontName = "Wingdings"
			mFound = oDocument.findNext(mFound.End, oSearchDesc)
		loop
	next i
End Sub

It's a macro for OpenOffice.org - replaces the widgets I use in formatting the book chapter…

I'm so envious! Time to get working on that book…

Link from minor emacs wizardry

You'd think that I'd know this lesson by now. The last time I had a majorly stressful deployment was when I created a registration system for my university's alternative class program. It was working all very well and good, and then–I don't know, was it a feature request or a last-minute bug–I needed to modify it while everything was running in production. I remember getting into that heightened alertness that I used to feel during programming competitions, when I could feel the time pressure but I could also feel myself actively calming down and focusing on what I needed to do, muttering the mantra "don't panic, don't panic, don't panic" as I tried to make small changes that wouldn't break anything currently running.

Today, I'm not going to do that, and I hope to keep avoiding the stress. Today, if I spot any defects I want to close, I'll work on it on my local system, commit the code, and wait until we close this phase before updating the server. =)

The apprentice's road is long and full of lessons… =)

• Use source code control. No, seriously. Use it. Religiously. It's going to save you someday. CVS is popular. Subversion is also easy to set up. It's a must when you're working with other people, but even if you're on your own, it's really handy to be able to go back to previous versions or to check your changes.
• Get to know your integrated development environment (IDE). For example, I use Eclipse + PHP Development Toolkit (PDT) + Xdebug, and the keyboard shortcuts save me so much time and make it easier for me to think about my code instead of thinking about editing my code. F3 to jump to a function definition, Ctrl-Shift-R to open a file by typing part of the filename, Ctrl-space to complete text… I've also gotten XDebug integration to work, so I can step through code and examine variables without putting var_dump everywhere. Know your tools.
• Add the XDebug extension to your PHP installation. Even if you don't get XDebug integrated with Eclipse, you'll like the new and improved var_dump and other debugging functions. I've heard good things about Zend Debugger, too.
• Put your entire Drupal directory into your project in the IDE, not just your site-specific code. You can even check your entire Drupal directory into your source code control repository. This makes it easier to look up functions in Drupal core, not just your sites/all/modules directory. You _could_ version-control just your site-specific code (profiles/, sites/, etc.), but set-up becomes a little more complicated.
• Use an installation profile to manage your configuration. Experiment with things using the administration interface, then create/update an installation profile that sets up a brand-new Drupal installation. This will save you lots of time and head-scratching when you need to reproduce your setup.
• Make starting from scratch easier, and do it often. I have a Makefile that drops my database and recreates it, resets my settings.php, and even opens up a Firefox browser that uses my installation profile to set everything up from scratch. Drupal 5: Copy your settings.php to settings-default.php or something like that before you install your system, then copy settings-default.php over settings.php when you want to refresh your setup. Drupal 6: Delete settings.php when you want to refresh your setup.

• Use multiple profiles. You can start completely independent Firefox processes by using profiles. For example, you could have your default profile with all the bells and whistles, and a test profile with just FireBug. You can log in as different users, too. Use this command to start a new Firefox process: firefox -ProfileManager -no-remote
• Install and use FireBug. Best web development extension ever. I use this to examine the document object model, debug my CSS rules, experiment with my CSS and HTML on the fly, and monitor the network requests.
• Set up quick searches for drupal.org and php.net. You can define quick searches by creating bookmarks that use keywords and %s placeholders in Location:. Example: Do a quick Google-search of Drupal.org by adding a bookmark with Location: http://google.com/search?q=inurl:drupal.org+%s and Keyword: gd (short for Google Drupal). To use your new quick search, type Ctrl-L or Alt-D to get to the address bar, then type gd keywords. Set up ways to search php.net and drupal.org/project, too. =)

• Simplify switching between your computer and your remote server. If you've set up your local system for virtual hosts and you have a remote server for testing, you'll want to be able to switch between testing locally and testing remotely. Set up your local system to respond to all the domain names for the site (ex: example.com, foo.example.com, bar.example.com) and a local subdomain (ex: local.example.com). Set up your remote server to respond to all the domain names for the site (example.com, foo.example.com, bar.example.com) and a remote subdomain (ex: test.example.com). Then set up your /etc/hosts (c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts on Microsoft Windows) to look like this:

  127.0.0.1 localhost local.example.com
  remote.server.ip.address test.example.com
  
  127.0.0.1 example.com foo.example.com bar.example.com
  #remote.server.ip.address example.com foo.example.com bar.example.com
  

  local.example.com will always resolve to your computer, test.example.com will always resolve to the other computer, and everything else depends on which line is active. # comments out a line. When you want to switch to testing on the remote server, add # to the beginning of the line for 127.0.0.1 example.com… and remove # from the line for your remote server. If you want to automate this even further, write a script that swaps different /etc/hosts files around.

Technorati Tags: development, drupal, eclipse, ide, xdebug

• Toronto Reference Library
• Royal Ontario Museum
• Active Surplus
• Linux Caffe
• Ontario Science Centre

Gino Ledesma (one of my friends from university) is in Toronto for some training, so I spent the afternoon showing him some of my favorite geek places. =) He was blown away by the size of the Toronto Reference Library (and I showed him Robarts Library, too - no stacks access, though =( ). We enjoyed walking through the Royal Ontario Museum (particularly the Philippine section with, err, basket-like cellphone holders). Guidebooks wouldn't have told him about Active Surplus or the Linux Caffe. =) And I might go with him to the science centre next weekend. (I love the place!) Ah, geeks hanging out…

Technorati Tags: Robarts Library, Royal Ontario Museum, toronto, Toronto Reference Library

Here's the code I added to the end of the profilename_profile_final() function:

    // Add the following to the end of settings.php
    $file = fopen("sites/default/settings.php", "a");
    if ($file) {
      fputs($file, "\$cookie_domain = '.transitions2.org';\n");
      fputs($file, "require_once './sites/all/modules/domain/domain_conf/settings_domain_conf.inc';\n");
      fputs($file, "require_once './sites/all/modules/domain/domain_prefix/settings_domain_prefix.inc';\n");
      fclose($file);
    } else {
      drupal_set_message("Can't add domain-related lines to sites/default/settings.php");
    }

When you're developing a site in Drupal, it's a good idea to make sure that you can reproduce your setup on a different system. One way to do that is to periodically do a fresh install of Drupal with your modifications, and see if everything still works.

For example, on my system, I have an installation profile that enables and sets up Drupal the way I want. I also have a script that deletes and recreates the database, then restores the default settings.php. To refresh my system, all I have to do is type "make clean", then open my Drupal site in the browser. After I specify the installation profile for my project and the database connection details, Drupal sets everything else up. Because I use installation profiles and source code control (svn on this project), I can commit my changes, update the copy on the test server, and easily reproduce my system there. Using installation profiles saves me the time that I would've spent setting up and configuring all the modules (and in the right order!), and this practice can help you too.

1. Make a copy of sites/all/default/settings.php before you configure your system, or get the settings.php from a clean (never-installed) Drupal directory. I like putting this copy in sites/all/default/settings_default.php.
2. Create an installation profile for your system. The easiest way is to use the install_profile_wizard module to generate a base installation profile, then modify it as needed. Put this profile somewhere in your profiles directory.
3. Create a Makefile, shell script, or batch command that drops the database you're using, recreates the database (granting any permissions necessary), and copies sites/all/default/settings_default.php to /sites/all/default/settings.php

Then, when you're developing code, you can just call your Makefile/script/batch command to start from a (relatively clean) database.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Following Susan Schreitmueller's advice in the 28-hour Workday presentation she gave, I started replying in subject lines and using [EOM, NRN] to indicate the end of the message and that no response is necessary.

Not everyone's familiar with this convention, so I always included a short explanation in the body of the message. After a number of these EOM/NRN messages, I created an AutoHotkey macro to save me a few keystrokes. I set up !eomnrn to expand to "EOM - end of message, NRN - no response needed", and I used that in the body of the message.

I thought it still took too many keystrokes and mouse clicks to reply to a message, add my note to the subject line, add "[EOM, NRN]" to the end of the line, and type in the explanation in the body of the message. In fifteen minutes, I whipped up this little LotusScript agent that prompts you for a response, puts it in the subject line with an explanation, and sends the message off.

In Lotus Notes, use Create - Agent to create an agent called something like "1. EOM - NRN". Edit the agent and put this in the Initialize sub.

	Dim workspace As New NotesUIWorkspace
	Dim session As New NotesSession
	Dim db As NotesDatabase
	Dim collection As NotesDocumentCollection
	Dim memo As NotesDocument
	Dim reply As NotesDocument
	Set db = session.CurrentDatabase
	Set collection = db.UnprocessedDocuments
	Set memo = collection.getFirstDocument()
	While Not(memo Is Nothing)
		Set reply = memo.CreateReplyMessage( False )
		response = Inputbox("Response to " + memo.Subject(0))
		If (response <> "") Then
			reply.Subject = response + " re: " + memo.Subject(0) + " [EOM, NRN]"
			reply.Body = "EOM - end of message, NRN - no response necessary"
			reply.IsSavedMessageOnSend = True
			reply.Send(False)
		End If
		Set memo = collection.GetNextDocument(memo)
	Wend

Then you can select the message(s) you want to whiz through, type Alt-A 1 to call the action, and reply quickly. You can also call it while viewing a message, which is probably a safer place to start.

Enjoy!

default_mail_env = maildir:%h/Maildir

[general]
accounts = Gmail
maxsyncaccounts = 1

[Account Gmail]
localrepository = Local
remoterepository = Remote

[Repository Local]
type = IMAP
remotehost = localhost
port = 143
remoteuser = your_local_username

[Repository Remote]
type = IMAP
remotehost = imap.gmail.com
remoteuser = your_username@gmail.com
remotepass = your_gmail_password
ssl = yes
maxconnections = 1
realdelete = no
folderfilter = lambda foldername: foldername in ['INBOX']

(setq gnus-select-method
      '(nnimap "Mail"
	       (nnimap-address "localhost")
	       (nnimap-stream network)
	       (nnimap-authenticator login)))

(setq user-mail-address "youremail@example.com")
(setq gnus-ignored-from-addresses "youruser")

Hope that helps. Have fun!

Technorati Tags: dovecot, emacs, gnus, imap, mail, offlineimap

On Technorati: funny, geek

!!

They are *uber*cool. Another thing I really, really, really, really like. Whenever I need to set up a blog for someone else, the very first thing I do is download the latest version of Wordpress, unpack it, and set it up. I like it a lot.

So here's what's going to happen. I am going to make the logos for Orange & Bronze and Wordpress.org as large as I can. I don't mind potentially wasting space. It'll be a *fantastic* story.

I'll blog more from BarCamp tomorrow, and I'll post my D*I*Y tutorial on Sunday. =) Or today, if I feel particularly diligent...

Anyway. Wordpress.org. They are totally, totally cool.

On Technorati: advertising, marketing, crazy, idea, barcampearthtoronto, barcamp, laptop, geek, business, entrepreneurship

Props to Gabriel Mansour for helping me work things out!

See also my previous blog entries:

• Networking for Geeks: Advertise with your laptop!
• Whoa, onto something cool here: advertising on the back of my laptop

Other people's blog entries:

• http://www.stoweboyd.com/message/2006/08/sacha_chua_does.html
• http://racoma.com.ph/archives/problogger-idea-renting-ad-space-on-laptop-lids/
• http://www.blaptops.com/articles/advertising-on-laptop-lids/

Reserve ad space now!

On Technorati: advertising, marketing, crazy, idea, barcampearthtoronto, barcamp, laptop, geek, business, entrepreneurship