Epigoon

Yet Another Mozilla Build Error

2006-07-20T01:26:00.000+02:00

Just to get it findable by google for the next hero who fails building Mozilla.

../coreconf/rules.mk:406: target `c' doesn't match the target pattern
../coreconf/rules.mk:407: warning: overriding commands for target `c'
../coreconf/rules.mk:366: warning: ignoring old commands for target `c'

is probably caused by a wrong make version. You need make 3.80.
thanks gavin

(added to developer FAQ wiki)

Javascript members constructor

2006-07-11T21:04:00.000+02:00

I know this may seem obvious but I forget it everytime. So this is a reminder for myself and others. It takes a while to track this if you don't know it.


function MyClass () {}
MyClass.prototype = {
    memberA : new Array();
}

function MyClass () {
    this.memberA = new Array();
}
MyClass.prototype = {
    memberA : null
}

It's not that the first (red) is bad, it's just probably not what you want. In the red case there is one static memberA shared on all instanses of MyClass. In the green case memberA is just a normal member for each created instance.

New minimeter beta

2006-05-12T21:53:00.000+02:00

Minimeter 1.0.6 beta fixes support for Belgian ISPs Telenet (xasse), adds Skynet volume pack support (byblo), adds Skynet French version (Stéphane), and the three main Czech ISPs (thanks to Pavel Franc): Karneval, Chello, and InternetExpres.
I can't test these additions properly so these will be in beta until I hear enough cheers.

Btw: the javascript ISP lib that is supporting this firefox extension is very easily usable in konfabulator, probably google gadgets... reason why a konimeter doesn't exist is because I just don't like those distracting toys. But I'm sure some people do :)

Link to minimeter beta. Post your feedback here.

Google Maps does rest of Europe?

2006-02-13T13:43:00.000+01:00

As you can see on the Google Maps (13/2/06) a small part of north Italy is now mapped. Does this mean de rest of Europe will soon be mapped?

Minimeter update

2006-01-02T20:37:00.000+01:00

SubZero fixed Türk Telekom, Bassman confirmed that Skynet ADSL works again and yours sincerely added Full ADSL (Belgium) to the list of providers supported by Minimeter 1.0.2

Here is the full list:

Geo browsing

2005-12-28T12:54:00.000+01:00

While playing with the longitudes and latitudes of the Talk Maps users I noticed that putting them in a KML file creates a fun toy. Google Earth can read this format and displays all online users in a 3D virtual earth together with all other placemarks. Earth has better data and streams images faster that Google Maps.
Try playing with the refresh interval.

Also notice that the links of the users appear as links in Google Earth and they are opened in an internal browser (yuck IE). So this is some kind of browsing by geographical position. Like.. "let's see what the guys from South Africa are thinking today..."

Update: In Google Earth: Add -> Network Link -> Location: "http://www.epigoon.com/maps/kml.php"

Geo status indicator

2005-12-09T09:33:00.000+01:00

The maps.epigoon.com service got extended with something especially nice for bloggers.
As you can see on the right of this post you can add a status indicator that not only shows your status but also your physical location. Don't Panic! It is ridiculously easy to add it to your blog. Tell something to the bot and he will give your the html (iframe) code.
Note: The location is linked to an id/number and not your gmail address, so your (email)address is not exposed. Hooray for privacy.

Update: already 2 nice blogs use the service -> etguler and talou

Google Talk Maps

2005-11-16T10:05:00.000+01:00

If you have a Google Talk account you can now point on Google Maps where you are. The Google Talk Map shows if you are available/busy and shows a customizable message which can contain a link to your blog, or your hometown site, webcam etc.

The only thing you have to do is :

Add map.bot@gmail.com to your friends.
Ask him anything and he will respond with a link the gives you access to a page where you can set your position (remember to zoom in and try hybrid mode).
Done.

In the response of the bot you can also find a link to an image that shows your current state. Especially cool for blogs.

Minimeter and Feedview on CVS

2005-11-16T09:48:00.000+01:00

The last few months people have been asking for certain improvements to Minimeter and Feedview. These requests end up in my mailbox, get read and replied with "cool". But that is where the life of those requests end.
This is mostly not because I'm lazy. There are multiple reasons like having a job, mozchat takes too much of my free time and I like to focus on one project at the time.
So everything is accessible at the Epigoon Mozdev project. If you have some good ideas and want to commit code just contact me.

Firefox 2.0 will include Feedview

2005-11-05T11:50:00.000+01:00

My tiny Firefox extension will be included in the main browser. Originally it would be part of Firefox 1.5, but because of the urge for perfection the Mozilla developers needed more time.
The new Feedview will include most features that people have been asking for. Like correct date handling, better html viewing, the rss icon will show Feedview instead of a livemark dialog...
I will keep the Feedview installer on the site up, but I will not update it anymore. Let's just hope Firefox 2.0 will be here soon.

JabberMaps for Servers

2005-10-21T11:52:00.000+02:00

My JabberMaps now has a big brother. Instead of a map of users Carl Tanner created a map that shows Jabber servers with their uptime. A great tool for people in search for a stable Jabber server in their neighbourhood. If this tool got here earlier I never had to go for jabber.google.com.

Ajax out of the box, XULRunner

2005-10-20T10:34:00.000+02:00

Before Ajax knew his name web developers had to fight javascript browser differences before they could even execute a request. Because Ajax is becoming a new user-standard (not a web standard) there are growing toolkits everywhere. It is nice that you don't have to write browser specific code again but the real challenge is connecting your clientside code and serverside in the most transparent way.
I'm still researching in this branch but I have used two libraries on two platforms already.

Ajax.NET
A very easy to use implementation for .NET written in C#. After you added a reference to your Ajax.dll you are almost done. Ajax.NET default has a list of very powerfull object converters which include Dataset, Datatable. The Dataset converter makes it almost a no-code operation to get your SQL query results on the clientside (ex: Tables[0].Rows[0].cust_name).
It makes use of annotations which allow all kinds of quick settings like access rights.

DWR
An open source Java implementation. DWR contains a HttpServlet that reads one xml document where you define creators (how to create an object) , converters (how to convert to JS) for your accessible objects. It also has a good set of default converters and provides an interface to write your own.
DWR has built-in support for Spring Beans wich makes your Ajax code very pluggable and lets you make use of the ApplicationContext (Database access...). With a simple ServletWrappingController your can add the servlet to your Spring configuration.

I am not sure if Ajax means XmlHttpRequest+Html or just the use of a quick responsive GUI that makes use of Http and Javascript. The last project I was involved in used Mozilla XUL and communicated with a DWR Java Servlet. Because my XUL application was written in Javascript it could make use of the automaticly generated DWR Interfaces. I added some Mozilla specific features (dynamic loading of interfaces, special exception handling...) which are not availble to insecure Html code and make XUL superiour.
This is a very powerfull combination of native GUI elements and the ease of use Http with Ajax as protocol. Ajax communicates in Javascript and Mozilla has the best Javascript implementation ever, this makes XULRunner/XUL a perfect thin client for any platform that supports Ajax (.NET, Java, Php, ...). Don't hesitate to try XULRunner.

Back on track

2005-10-14T09:01:00.000+02:00

My previous WordPress blog got hacked so I moved to a safer place: Blogspot.
When the blog was gone I realized how easy it was to communicate with the extension users .
I'm going to try to write a bit about my XUL adventures. I wrote a Html reviewing application on top of Xulrunner and now I am implementing a jabber client on the platform. The dark times of trying to understand the basics like XPCOM, XBL and other beasts are over. But I can imagine there are a lot of new developers that are struggling to get the lizard work for them.