foxpro.catalyst «

FoxPro workBLOGS and MORE… . . .

Finally I found some time to experiment on FoxTray. To give you a brief overview, this .ocx (or ActiveX control if you like it being called that way) allows you to place the icon of your lovely FoxPro application on the system tray along with a five popup item menu you can tinker with. This .ocx is created using Visual Basic (UGH… turns off the VB-lambastin’-mode) so it requires that MSVBVM60.dll file which is a VB support file. I have VB6 installed already on this computer so I don’t have problems regarding that part. The problem lies on that cryptic readme.txt that comes along with the FoxTray.zip file.

Instincts (and previous encounters with these OCX aliens) taught me to REGSVR32 FoxTray.ocx (which by the way won’t work if FoxTray.ocx is not located on drive C: – you can opt to transfer REGSVR32.exe which is located on C:\Windows\System to where your FoxTray.ocx is located) before anything else. (Of course after unzipping the .zip file)

Now after adding that FoxTrayCtl.cFoxTray ActiveX control inside the Tools.Options.Control tab, clicking the FormControlsToolBar.ViewClasses and dragging the OLE to the form, i arrived at the farthest point where instincts can cuddle me.

Good thing that cryptic readme.txt files have five links. Ironically, I ignored the first link in that list which contains the most relevant information about this control. I chose to open these links instead:

• Fox.wikis Win32 API shell notify icon
• Manipulate icons in the system tray with Visual Basic
• Use Icons with the Win 9x/Me Taskbar Notification Area
• SysTray.exe ActiveX Control Adds Icons to Status Area

… which are informative but are not helpful to what i was planning to do, that is to use the application i’m testing on with this ocx file. That was when Google.com comes in… pointing me to a link related to the first URL on that readme text file.

• Using FoxTray ActiveX control: System Tray Icon and menu attached to VFP form

It is a link from that News2News.com/VFP website which holds tons of Win32 API related reference materials (Yup i’ve blogged that before).

After transferring the code found in that page to a different TestFoxTray.prg and slicing them afterwards to include them into the dragged-and-dropped OLE control, the cute thing is now running and is ready for further customization, usage and abuse in connection with that IUMS project of mine.

Two more interesting and informative articles from Joel Spolsky:

The Joel Test: 12 Steps to Better Code
Things You Should Never Do, Part I

More informative software development-related articles can be found inside the Complete Archive Section of his site.

Having that ‘i-can’t-code/i’m-not-in-the-mood-to-do-programs’ syndrome lately..? Joel Spolsky talks about this in his Fire and Motion article he wrote a couple of years ago. Good and well written words, no matter how old, just don’t vanish… much more in this digital age.

Here’s a newer one that might help the graduating class of this year: Getting Your Resume Read. In our country, March is the time when [0001] graduates are shifting those tassles from left to right, [0010] students are slowly facing the ‘real world’, [0011] students began to cringe at the thought of losing their allowances and [0100] they are whole-heartedly ‘welcomed to the ranks of the unemployed’.

A compilation of new .NET Design Guidelines.

Well… aside from ThinkGEEK, there’s Engadget too for your gadget-related cravings. Don’t you just love those XML/RSS feeds?

We’re now in a box. Inside the box… i’m referring to the new template this site holds. This gives you a slight preview of the main site’s look (RichardBase.com 2004) which will be updated in the days to come. So tell me what you think.

This afternoon, QS and i were discussing tech/philo-related matters. Something about humans using their minds to create technologies that would make lesser use of their minds. Ironic… eh? More thoughts on that one later.

I have seen a lot of cool ‘mod’-ed cases before, but this BORG PC by far is the coolest. A little less cooler than Visual FoxPro though.

It is quite ironic that after spending hours fortifying one of my alternative webmail account against spam, i discovered that it attaches in the bottom part of the e-mail being sent the number one word i am trying to block.

Microsoft releases this whitepaper: Creating Tablet PC Applications with Microsoft Visual FoxPro.

So what if there’s water in Mars..? Will it make life on Earth easier..?

Hmm… it goes back to that old point that even we have landed on the moon, seen the farthest galaxies and conceptualized a space elevator, we humans are still unable to do the journey inwards, to know ourselves more… and explore the core essence of this planet.

Rest… and late night programming after this.

There are issues being raised with regards to using Visual Foxpro under Windows XP Service Pack 2. Check the link for more information regarding this matter. Ark… it’s around 4AM already. I need to dream.

I’m pushing my Internet Usage Monitoring System (IUMS) project into another level. I’m even giving it a codename. What used to be a simple stand-alone logger that tracks the usage and payments of students who use the internet cafe/laboratory in a certain school, will be upgraded to something that ‘partially’ follows the client/server principle. There will be a server application that tracks all the laboratory computers connected to the ‘net. This is where users are added, logged out, monitored, chopped and castrated. This is more or less 90% complete already but i still have to re-research the GRID part so that it would show different attributes (.forecolor/.backcolor/.fontstyle/.fontbold) for different user status (blue for active, red for timed-out, black for logged-out… something like that) at a given time. I’ve read somewhere that you can do it on individual columns but i still have to recheck if it can be done with individual rows.

Logic will find a way.

The client part is the tricky part. Sometimes i wish this was the old DOS days where you can invoke TSRs and don’t mind much if the user hits Alt-Ctrl-Delete, presses Alt-Tab or calls on the gods of destruction, just to show the tasks running in the memory. We’ll just hope that Miss BSOD would prefer to be at home in her couch watching smurf reruns.

Probably i’ll be using that FoxTray tool, which i still have to tinker further and modify if needed.

A modal message form that asks for random generated ACCESS NUMBER and PASSWORD will suppose to halt the user in case his one hour limit expires. The ACCESS NUMBER and the Encrypted(PASSWORD) will be stored on a database, automatically generated after an hour of usage… along with a STATUS field (Password Used/Active/Etc). I’m still thinking if the student’s ID NUMBER will be needed. Of course a time warning would probably be included just ten minutes before that one hour limit expires.

In my newsprint, which serves as a plotting device for various program conceptualization and planning, I have already formulated the RANDOM GENERATOR and ENCRYPTION algorithms… along with a TASK-TO-DO list for the month of March, which judging from that long list… would be quite a busy month for me.

You can find treasures in old movies sold in widescreen DVD formats.

I’m lucky to be dwelling/working in a place not far where humans allow you to ‘borrow’ DVDs for around P65 – P80 (that would be a little over a dollar) and won’t care if you’ll return them or not. You’ll only be asked to return if the disc is damaged. If you don’t like the movie, as long as there are no scratches in the disc and you have enough guts to be abusive… you can even ask for a replacement (I told you i was lucky). No questions asked. (Of course you’re three-digit IQ already knows what i’m referring here…)

Anyway… one of yesterday’s loot was K-PAX. And… it was good. Good enough that i did scribbled on my EditPad some of the dialogue in that movie.

ON REPRODUCTION

Doctor: K-Paxians have babies, right?
Prot: Oh, yes, much like on Earth, but unlike you humans, the reproductive process is quite unpleasant for us. It’s more like having your nuts in a vise except we feel it all over. And to make matters worse, the sensation is associated with something like your nausea, accompanied by a very bad smell. The moment of climax is like being kicked in the stomach, and then falling into a pool of mod droppings.
Doctor: Mod droppings?
Prot:A mod is a being much like your skunk, only far more potent.
Doctor: Uh, if it’s such a terrible experience, uh how do you reproduce?
Prot: As carefully as possible.

ON POLICIES

Doctor: What about societal structure? Government..?
Prot: No, there’s no need for one.
Doctor:You have no laws?
Prot: No laws. No lawyers. (Microsoft won’t exists on their planet)
Doctor:How do you know right from wrong?
Prot:Every being in the universe knows right from wrong, Mark.
Doctor:But what if someone did do something wrong– how would you punish them?
Prot:Let me tell you something Mark. You humans, most of you, subscribe to this policy of ‘an eye for an eye, a life for a life,’ which is known throughout the universe… for its stupidity. Even your Buddha and your Christ had quite a different vision, but nobody’s paid much attention to them, not even Buddhists or the Christians.
Prot:You humans, sometimes it’s hard to imagine how you’ve made it this far.

Do watch if you have some time. You can even watch it even if you’re coding and you’re DVD is playing in the background.

VERY HELPFUL database related tips, tricks and snippets from Ramani.

Utility to pack all tables in a directory
Utility to reindex all tables in a directory
Utility to rebuild CDX files
Extract structure of all DBFs in a project
Utility to copy DBFs from one DBC to another
Utility to setup the view captions in parent tables
How to extract duplicate records from a table

Guess what… Ken Levy’s blogging too. A short bio is included in that section.

If there’s one thing i miss these days that i usually do before… that would be teaching. The joys of teaching, its fulfillment and all, is something a soul can crave. Include the sudden rush of cruelty-enhanced neurons that calculates the possible permutations allowed for one to ‘torture’ and push computer science students not only to their limits but beyond their limits. It’s not about crossing the line this time… but moving the line (and the bars) that in a way limits learning. True learning.

Quite sad that one of my college buddy who happens to be the computer science dean of that school where i left, doesn’t share the same principles with me. I’m not saying though that my ‘style’ is correct… and it should be followed. It would be just fine i think, that in a pool of kind and lovin’/nurturing/spoon-feeding college teachers and professors, there is one or two that poses more challenge than what smiles and kindness can offer sans the commercialism that infests the educationaly system in our country today.

Good articles worth your time.

Why Good Ideas Fail
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way

Foxpro-warp: Craig Bernston and his FoxBlog.

It’s 2:43AM already and i’m still working on the new version of that richardbase.com website. I have done 90% of the template last friday and i was able to chop things, add tables and rollover images already tonight (post.replace[‘tonight’, ‘morning’]). I’ll be using iFrame this time to minimize an extensive vertical scrolling for the main section. It has been months since i have last touched Dreamweaver, PaintShop Pro and Adobe Photoshop… so i’m having quite a hard time familiarizing things once again. I can’t even find the SNAP TO GRID item earlier.

I tend to give importance to the details when i’m working on GFX-related matters. I would even scrap a two hour work and start from scratch if i’m not satisfied with it. I’ve done that earlier this evening when i am faced with the dilemma of optimizing the image size using JPEGs compressed by 15 or 30 percent over a GIF format which reduces the overall quality of the image.

I end up using a rollover image with both a not-so-compressed JPEG as the main image and a GIF file for the ‘roller’. I don’t want to sacrifice quality this time… and since i’m using an iFrame, the loading of most images will only occur once. All other loading of files and images will be inside that iFrame which is not that ‘heavy’.

Once the main portfolio site is done… expect the foxpro.catalyst website to emulate that interface too. Hmm… do you really think this site will hold this text only type of look that long?

Searching Microsoft’s Knowledge Base is a good start to find solutions to certain problems. But if you’re just looking for random VFP topics, you can view some KnowledgeBase articles by Garrett Fitzgerald and Mike Stewart.

There’s a good bunch of database-related white papers (and links) at PCMAG.com WhitePapers section.