I love log4j

Logging is a very useful thing. Without this most of our java softwares are like black boxes.
The major problems we face is setting up the log4j. Also trying to decipher the cryptic clues is annoying, like say log4j WARNING No appenders could be found. Who has time to fix these issues..
Well it pays of well if you fix it as I said u cant fix a software problem without seeing what is happening inside. It will be like the movie HAPPENING(Should have been what is happening) ...


A few tricks to get the log4j setup:
Passing VM arguments
-Dlog4j.configuration=file:C:/development/projects/webapp/target/classes/log4j.properties

-Dlog4j.debug=true .....Excellent option to know what is happening inside log4j.


commonly used log4j.properties is below:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
log4j.rootLogger=debug, stdout, R

log4j.appender.stdout=org.apache.log4j.ConsoleAppender
log4j.appender.stdout.layout=org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout

# Pattern to output the caller's file name and line number.
log4j.appender.stdout.layout.ConversionPattern=%5p [%t] (%F:%L) - %m%n

log4j.appender.R=org.apache.log4j.RollingFileAppender
log4j.appender.R.File=example.log

log4j.appender.R.MaxFileSize=100KB
# Keep one backup file
log4j.appender.R.MaxBackupIndex=1

log4j.appender.R.layout=org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout
log4j.appender.R.layout.ConversionPattern=%p %t %c - %m%n
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

More log  to come here...

Ref: http://logging.apache.org/log4j/1.2/manual.html

Print request object using JSTL

        
<p>Headers</p>   
<c:forEach var="hdr" items="${header}">                           
<table bgcolor="lightgreen">
    <tbody>
        <tr>
            <td>
                <c:out value="${hdr.key}">
                </c:out>
            </td>
            <td> 
            <c:out value="${hdr.value}">
            </c:out>
            </td>
        </tr>
    </tbody>
</table>
</c:forEach>
        
        
<p>Attributes:</p>

        
        
<c:forEach var="attr" items="${pageContext.request.attributeNames}">                         
<table bgcolor="lightgreen">
    <tbody>
        <tr>
            <td>
                <c:out value="${attr}"> </c:out>
            </td>
        </tr>
    </tbody>
</table>
</c:forEach>
        
        
<p>Parameters</p>

        
        
<c:forEach var="pmtr" items="${pageContext.request.parameterMap}">                          
<table bgcolor="lightgreen">
    <tbody>
        <tr>
            <td>
                <c:out value="${pmtr.key}"> </c:out>
            </td>
            <td> 
            <c:out value="${pmtr.value}">
            </c:out>
            </td>
        </tr>
    </tbody>
</table>
</c:forEach>

Working with microsoft DLL,ODBC connection and IIS for a java developer

DLL's are dynamic link library. They are like .jar files in java.
Normally the error we get in dll's are due to dependency on other dll's. Tools like dependency walker and dll explorer come for the rescue.

To register a dll use(like loading jars to JVM)

regsvr32 [DLL path]

also
rundll32 [dll path]

IIS

• IIS is web server provided by microsoft.
• For the IIS we need to configure the components.
• For this, go to control panel-- admin tools --computer mgmt --component services -- computer--my computer -- COM+ applications -- new application --Add users and imports ...Thats it the IIS will pick it up...

To unit test a package in the dll create a x.vb file with the below code:
set testobj = nothing
set testobj = createobject("IMPORT.Job")

msgbox "PR: " & testobj.PathRemoved("C:\development\miscellaneous\COM\testmdb")

if(testobj.DeleteFile ("C:\development\miscellaneous\COM\test.mdb"))Then
msgbox "Deleted your file!"
End if


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oracle connection through microsoft:
update \oracle\product\10.2.0\client_1\NETWORK\ADMIN\tnsnames.ora
Go to control panel-- datasourc(ODBC) connections --add new connection in first tab.Select database name and auth details.Do a test connection. Thats it

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I need to set a number of environment variables via a bat file currently I m executing as below.
The user environment variables are updated but I want to set the system ones, what do I have to do.
Also when I try to add paths to the path variable I get an error
@echo on
setx IT_CONFIG_DOMAINS_DIR=C:\Program Files\IONA\etc\domains

setx IT_DOMAIN_NAME=BankWorld
setx IT_LICENSE_FILE=C:\Program Files\IONA\etc\Orbix_licenses.txt
setx IT_PRODUCT_DIR=C:\Program Files\IONA
setx PATH=%PATH%;C:\Program Files\IONA\bin;C:\Program Files\IONA\asp\6.3\bin
pause
:end
pause

How about using the -m switch?
setx IT_CONFIG_DOMAINS_DIR=C:\Program Files\IONA\etc\domains -m
setx path "%path%;c:\new directory"

Using Cygwin

Where is my windows drive? Ans: inside cygdrive<br />bash$ cd C:/Windows<br />bash$ pwd<br />/cygdrive/c/Windows</pre><br /><b>IIS<br />Changing the default port:<br /></b><table class="list ol"><tbody><tr><td class="number"><small><small></small></small></td></tr><tr><td class="number"><small><small></small></small></td></tr></tbody></table><small><small>Microsoft Internet Information Services versions 4.0 to 6.0</small></small><script type="text/javascript">loadTOCNode(2, 'moreinformation');</script><table class="list ol"><tbody><tr><td class="number"><small><small>1.</small></small></td><td class="text"><small><small>Open Internet Service Manager or Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.</small></small></td></tr><tr><td class="number"><small><small>2.</small></small></td><td class="text"><small><small>If necessary, expand the Web server that you want, and then expand <b>Web Sites</b>.</small></small></td></tr><tr><td class="number"><small><small>3.</small></small></td><td class="text"><small><small>Right-click the Web site that you want to change.</small></small></td></tr><tr><td class="number"><small><small>4.</small></small></td><td class="text"><small><small>Click <b>Properties</b>.</small></small></td></tr><tr><td class="number"><small><small>5.</small></small></td><td class="text"><small><small>Click the <b>Web Site</b> tab.</small></small></td></tr><tr><td class="number"><small><small>6.</small></small></td><td class="text"><small><small>Change the TCP Port Number in the <b>TCP Port</b> edit box (or click <b>Advanced</b> for multiple Port settings).</small></small></td></tr><tr><td class="number"><small><small>7.</small></small></td><td class="text"><small><small>Click <b>OK</b> to save the changes.</small></small></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Ref:<br /></div><small>Environment variable excellent reference : http://www.wilsonmar.com/1envvars.htm<br />IIS port change ref: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/149605<br /><br />IE browser issues<br />Having made a web application live, the user logoff action doesn't actually log off in IE. It works fine on firefox.. So the problem is obviously with the browser. Crap the microsoft IE doesn't handle caching well inspite of setting the pragma in the head tag. You need to put it in the bottom of the page as well.<br />Put the following in top and bottom under html tag<br /><pre><br /><head><br />   <meta http-equiv="cache-control" content="max-age=0, must-revalidate, no-cache, no-store, private"><br />   <meta http-equiv="expires" content="-1"><br />   <meta http-equiv="pragma" content="no-cache"><br /></head><br />

Here is the fix.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/222064/

http://www.vbaccelerator.com/insprob.htm

linux mysql setup quick start

To summarize ,

3306 default port of mysql

Login as root.

Start the database: /etc/rc.d/init.d/mysqld start

Databases located in: /var/lib/mysql/
Default config file installed by RPM: /etc/my.cnf

The first task is to assign a password:

[prompt]$ mysqladmin -u root password 'new-password'

Create a database: (Creates directory /var/lib/mysql/bedrock)

[prompt]$ mysqladmin -h localhost -u root -ppassword create bedrock
(or use SQL command: CREATE DATABASE bedrock;)

Add tables, data, etc: Connect to database and issue the following SQL commands:

[prompt]$ mysql -h localhost -u root -ppassword
...
mysql> use bedrock; - Define database to connect to. Refers to directory path: /var/lib/mysql/bedrock
mysql> create table employee (Name char(20),Dept char(20),jobTitle char(20));
mysql> DESCRIBE employee; Shutting down the database:

[prompt]$ mysqladmin -u root -ppassword shutdown - PREFERRED
OR
[prompt]$ /etc/rc.d/init.d/mysqld stop
OR
[prompt]$ service mysqld stoplt;/b> mysqladmin -h localhost -u root -ppassword create bedrock

Ref: http://www.yolinux.com/TUTORIALS/LinuxTutorialMySQL.html

Maven - an expert .

Basics
set MAVEN_HOME
mvn install
mvn clean install
mvn package -Dmaven.test.skip=true
mvn surefire-report:report mvnrepository.com
It downloads the repository  to c:\Documents and Settings\[USER]\.m2\repository

Intermediate
Setting up maven based projects into eclipse
Eclipse needs to find the Maven-downloaded jars for compilation.
Under Preferences > Java > Build Path > Classpath Variable M2_REPO should be set to ..\.m2\repository
Run mvn eclipse:clean                 --- dletes .class and .project files
mvn eclipse:eclipse     --- creates .class and .project files using pom.xml (recursively)
Thats it.

Advanced
Steps to create an archetype project:

Use below to create a sample archetype meta project.
/>mvn archetype:create -DgroupId=[com.biomedcentral] -DartifactId=[archetype-spring-jar] -DarchetypeArtifactId=maven-archetype-archetype

Update the archetype [archetype-spring-jar]\src\main\resources\META-INF\maven\archetype.xml
Keep all the relevant resource in the [archetype-spring-jar]\src\main\resources\archetype-resources\... and update the archetype with its reference.

Install the archetype project itself:
/>mvn install

Now time to use this project generator:
mvn archetype:create  -DarchetypeGroupId= -DarchetypeArtifactId= -DarchetypeVersion= -DgroupId= -DartifactId=


This is amazing...From an existing architecture u can clone yours ...

A sample command using above for spring hibernate is below:
#mvn archetype:generate -DarchetypeGroupId=com.webtide -DarchetypeArtifactId=maven-archetype-SpringJpa -DarchetypeVersion=1.0 -DgroupId=c
om.my.package -DartifactId=ImageLibraryCategoryManager

mvn org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-archetype-plugin:1.0-alpha-7:create -DgroupId=com.my -DartifactId=springmvc-hibernate-app -DarchetypeArtifactId=appfuse-basic-spring -DarchetypeGroupId=org.appfuse.archetypes

A bit on Maven Plugins:
  1. maven-dependency-plugin : http://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-dependency-plugin/
      Very useful for copying dependency jars for a standalone app,etc.

Reference:
http://mevenide.codehaus.org/ -- plugin for eclipse
http://maven.apache.org/guides/mini/guide-attached-tests.html

http://www.webtide.com/resources.jsp --samples
For springmvc-hibernate archetypes use http://docs.codehaus.org/display/MAVENUSER/Archetypes+List

http://maven.apache.org/guides/mini/guide-creating-archetypes.html

Debug maven : http://tech.puredanger.com/2009/02/25/maven-tips/

Useful developer tools , Fire fox plugins and tweaks

Useful developer tools:
Smart Draw 7 -- for drawing good quality diagrams. Loads of templates to quickly do the task(free).
Jude -- Very easy UML developer tool(free).
JProfiler -- To profile java application(10 day licence free).
Profiler4j  -- Opensource profiler for java
wink - A good screen capture/presentation tool . Can convert to compressed swf, etc. http://www.debugmode.com/wink/
freemind - a opensource mind mapping tool.
currports - for getting the port information on windows.
BareTail - A linux tail for windows
Archiva -
Surround SCM
Test Track ProBug tracker. Better use free JIRA bug tracker instead.
Mingle - highly recommended for agile process management. But pricy!
Sonar - Code report and monitoring app.
PuTTY Connection Manager - My favourite. Manage multiple putty consoles in this tab based connection manager. Also the windows can be arranged and split up..excellent!!
DownThemAll - Good when you want to download large sized files on firefox
Capistrano - automating remote tasks. Works only for linux
Crucible - Code review tool remotely.
Confluence- collaboration software. (news, etc)
Perfect Macro Recorder (http://www.perfectiontools.com/) for automation

Best firefox plugins for developers:
LightShot-- Nice screenshot add-on. 
Firebug -- Best of the breed, javascript debugging, DOM explorer
LiveHttpHeaders -- shows request header
UrlParams -- shows get and post params
iMacros -- macro to automate work.
tamperData - to check post/get request in browsers..my fav!
Secure Login - To auto fill login submission.
web developer - html, css, xhtml compliance, table border...good tool for html development
 bugmenot- to auto login site with dummy password
autopager - reduce clicks while searching

Others:
ImgLikeOpera  -- save bandwidth
ScribeFire -- Quickest way to blog from firefox.                        Type about:config in browser url

Then search and update the property

display.history.numbertoshow (default is 10)

Restart browser. This should list more blogs
GSpace  --virtual file system
del.ico.us -- online tagging (book marks)
Autocomplete Manager 2.0
                                 
Firefox AutoFill  address bar 
As you type a web site address into Firefox's location bar, by default
a dropdown with suggestions based on your history expands, and you can
use the down arrow key to select one. For more aggressive URL
auto-completion, head on into Firefox's about:config area and set the browser.urlbar.autoFill

For more check  http://lifehacker.com/software/firefox-tip/enable-firefox-address-bar-autocompletion-313533.php

 value to true.
Firefox Memory Optimization (Ref http://nicusor.com/internet/firefox-memory-optimization/ )

Open Firefox browser, go to address bar, type about:config and hit enter
You’ll see a page full with text under 4 columns: Preference Name, Status, Type, Value
Right-click anywhere on that page and select New -> Boolean
You’ll get prompted to enter a Preference Name - enter this: config.trim_on_minimize and hit enter
You’ll be prompted for a value - select True and hit enter
That’s it - close Firefox and open it again!
Now, whenever you minimize your Firefox, the amount of memory used will be reduced to approximately 20%. Minimize Firefox and see what happens
Enable network.http.proxy.pipelining to true
Enable network.http.piplelining to true
Enable network.http.pipelining.max... to 30 from 4
create integer nglayout.initialpaint.delay and set value to 0

Ref:
http://c4lpt.co.uk/Top100Tools/

Firefox plugin development :
http://www.gmacker.com/web/content/tutorial/firefox/firefoxtutorial.htm

http://www.captain.at/howto-firefox-toolbar-tutorial.php



http://www.slideshare.net/skeevs/mozilla-firefox-extension-development/



Tools for firefox plugin development
extension developer extension https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/7434/
spket ide

XUL booster

Windows XP performance tuning:
Right click my computer-- properties -- advanced -- performance -- Select adjust for best performance.Appy.
click start -- run -- msconfig -- startup -- disable all ( note do selective disable if u want to have some programs in task bar).
Go to start -- all programs -- accessories -- system tools -- disk clean up. This will clean up all crap.


Powered by ScribeFire.

Software tools

The list of software plugins/tools useful throughout a projects SDLC.

More links
http://weierophinney.net/matthew/archives/101-Using-Windows-XP.html

<br /><br />

Movies To watch

This is the list of movies from Shubhajit to watch out for-

• The art of negative thinking
• the pursuit of happiness
• Once you are born
• We shall overcome
• For more sun
• Blind flyers
• The best of youth
• The edge of heaven
• Little miss sunshine
• An inconvenient truth
• Happy Feet

Thanks :)

Code Generator

Tiny drops of water makes a mighty ocean. So here is my first few drops ;) I just started off with a project in source forge. Though its life cycle is going at a snail's pace, i hope to get it done sometime. The project link is http://sourceforge.net/projects/lifegen/ Here is the plan for this simple code generator for web application development(used freemind software for planning this).

More to come soon....

Cobertura- junit coverage tool

 First, you need to add a task definition to the build.xml file. This top-level taskdef element specifies that the  cobertura.jar file is in the current working directory: 
  
<taskdef classpath="cobertura.jar" resource="tasks.properties" />

For eclipse IDE, you need to add the cobertura.jar, junit.jar in the
global path of Ant through Eclipse--} preferences--} Ant --} Global entry.
  
 Next, you need a cobertura-instrument task that adds the logging code to the already compiled class files. The todir attribute instructs where to put the instrumented classes. The fileset child element specifies which .class files to instrument: 
  
<target name="instrument">

 <cobertura-instrument todir="target/instrumented-classes">
   <fileset dir="target/classes">
     <include name="**/*.class"/>
   </fileset>
 </cobertura-instrument>
</target>
  
 You run the tests with the same type of Ant task that normally runs the test suite. The only differences are that the instrumented classes need to appear in the classpath before the original classes, and you need to add the Cobertura JAR file to the classpath: 
  
<target name="cover-test" depends="instrument">
 <mkdir dir="${testreportdir}" />
 <junit dir="./" failureproperty="test.failure" printSummary="yes"
        fork="true" haltonerror="true">
   <formatter type="plain" usefile="false"/>
   <!-- Normally you can create this task by copying your existing JUnit
        target, changing its name, and adding these next two lines.
        You may need to change the locations to point to wherever
        you've put the cobertura.jar file and the instrumented classes. -->
   <classpath location="cobertura.jar"/>

   <classpath location="target/instrumented-classes"/>
   <classpath>
     <fileset dir="${libdir}">
       <include name="*.jar" />
     </fileset>
     <pathelement path="${testclassesdir}" />

     <pathelement path="${classesdir}" />
   </classpath>
   <batchtest todir="${testreportdir}">
     <fileset dir="src/java/test">
       <include name="**/*Test.java" />
       <include name="org/jaxen/javabean/*Test.java" />

     </fileset>
   </batchtest>
 </junit>
</target>>
  
The Jaxen project uses JUnit as its test framework, but Cobertura is framework agnostic. It works equally well with TestNG, Artima SuiteRunner, HTTPUnit, or the home-brewed system you cooked up in your basement.
 
 Finally, the cobertura-report task generates the HTML files you saw at the beginning of the article:   
  
<target name="coverage-report" depends="cover-test">
<cobertura-report srcdir="src/java/main" destdir="cobertura"/>
</target>
  
The srcdir attribute specifies where the original .java  source code files reside. The destdir attribute names the directory where Cobertura should place the output HTML.
  
 Once you've added similar tasks to your own Ant build file, you generate a coverage report by typing: 
  
% ant instrument
% ant cover-test
% ant coverage-report

Internationalization utility

This uses jericho HTML parses.
This utility is just to extract static text out of a HTML/JSP and put in the property file. The static text is replaced with [spring:message key="xyz /].

Just provide input and output folders and all the i18n message are extracted to srcFolder\messages_en_US.properties file and JSP/HTML are updated.

Code is below:
/**
*
*/
package parser.htmlParser;

import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
import java.io.FileWriter;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.Iterator;
import java.util.LinkedHashMap;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Map;
import java.util.Set;

import org.apache.commons.lang.StringUtils;

import au.id.jericho.lib.html.Element;
import au.id.jericho.lib.html.OutputDocument;
import au.id.jericho.lib.html.Segment;
import au.id.jericho.lib.html.Source;
import au.id.jericho.lib.html.TextExtractor;

/**
* @author Sandeep.Maloth
*
*/
public class JerichoInternationalizer {
final static String SRC_DIR_NAME = "D:\\ProjectRelated\\evaluation\\liferay4.3.2\\webapps\\cmpWeb2\\WEB-INF\\jsp";

final static String DSTN_DIR_NAME = "D:\\ProjectRelated\\evaluation\\liferay4.3.2\\webapps\\cmpWeb2\\WEB-INF\\jsp\\TEMP";

final static String FILE_NAME = "articledisplay_view.jsp";

static Map messageKeyValueHolder = new LinkedHashMap();

static Map messageValueKeyHolder = new LinkedHashMap();

static Map elementsToReplace = new LinkedHashMap();

static int counter = 1;

/**
* @param args
* @throws IOException
* @throws Exception
*/
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception, IOException {
doProcess(SRC_DIR_NAME, DSTN_DIR_NAME );
storeMessages(SRC_DIR_NAME);
System.out.println(messageKeyValueHolder);
System.out.println(messageValueKeyHolder);

}

private static void doProcess(String srcDirName, String dstnDirName) throws IOException, FileNotFoundException, Exception {
File dir = new File(srcDirName);
String files[] = dir.list();

for (int i = 0; i < files.length; i++) {
String fileName = files[i];
final File fileObject = new File(srcDirName, fileName);
if (fileObject.isDirectory()) {
String tempSrcDir = srcDirName + "\\" + fileName;
final String tempDstnDirName = dstnDirName + "\\"+fileName;
doProcess(tempSrcDir, tempDstnDirName);
} else {
if (!(fileName.toUpperCase().endsWith("JSP") || fileName.toUpperCase().endsWith("HTML"))) {
System.out.println("Skipping " + fileName);
continue;
}

System.out.println("Parsing .... " + fileName);

Source source = new Source(new FileInputStream(fileObject));

source.fullSequentialParse();
final List childElements = source.getChildElements();
extractMessages(childElements, source, fileName);

// The extracted messages will be in elementsToReplace and need
// to be replaced in the source
Set entrySet = elementsToReplace.entrySet();
OutputDocument outputDocument = new OutputDocument(source);
for (Iterator iter = entrySet.iterator(); iter.hasNext();) {
Map.Entry entry = (Map.Entry) iter.next();
Segment content = (Segment) entry.getKey();
String value = (String) entry.getValue();

outputDocument.replace(content, value);

}

final File dstnDir = new File(dstnDirName);
if (!dstnDir.exists()) {
dstnDir.mkdirs();
}
final File tempFile = new File(dstnDirName, fileName);
FileWriter fileWriter = new FileWriter(tempFile);
outputDocument.writeTo(fileWriter);
fileWriter.close();

elementsToReplace.clear();
System.out.println();
}
}
}

private static void storeMessages(String dstnDirName) throws FileNotFoundException, IOException {
Set msgsEntrySet = messageKeyValueHolder.entrySet();
FileWriter fileWriter = null;
StringBuffer sbuf = new StringBuffer();
for (Iterator iter = msgsEntrySet.iterator(); iter.hasNext();) {
final Object object = iter.next();
System.out.println(object);
Map.Entry entry = (Map.Entry) object;
String key = (String) entry.getKey();
String value = (String) entry.getValue();
sbuf.append(key).append("=").append(value).append("\r\n");
}
try {
fileWriter = new FileWriter(new File(dstnDirName + "\\messages_en_US.properties"));
fileWriter.write(sbuf.toString());
} finally {
if (fileWriter != null)
fileWriter.close();
}
}

private static void extractMessages(List childElements, Source source, String fileName) throws Exception {

for (Iterator iter = childElements.iterator(); iter.hasNext();) {
Element element = (Element) iter.next();

final List childElements2 = element.getChildElements();

if (childElements2 != null && childElements2.size() > 0) {
extractMessages(childElements2, source, fileName);
} else {
final TextExtractor textExtractor = element.getTextExtractor();

String txt = textExtractor.toString();
String key = "";
if (txt != null) {
txt = txt.trim();

if (txt.length() > 0 && !StringUtils.isNumeric(txt)) {
System.out.println(txt);
String ctrString = "";
if (counter < 10) {
ctrString = "0000" + counter;
} else if (counter < 100) {
ctrString = "000" + counter;
} else if (counter < 1000) {
ctrString = "00" + counter;
}else if(counter<10000){
ctrString = "0" + counter;
}

if (!messageValueKeyHolder.containsKey(txt)) {
key = "MESG" + ctrString;
messageKeyValueHolder.put(key, txt);
messageValueKeyHolder.put(txt, key);
elementsToReplace.put(element.getContent(), "<spring:message code=\"" + key + "\"></spring:message>");

counter++;
} else {
key = (String) messageValueKeyHolder.get(txt);
elementsToReplace.put(element.getContent(), "<spring:message code=\"" + key + "\"></spring:message>");

}
}
}
}
}
}

}

internationalization support in spring -usage

Spring Internationalization web MVC

1. Add two properties files in /WEB-INF/classes: 1) messages_zh_CN.properties Chinese message file. 2) messages_en_US.properties English message file.

2. Add bean in action-servlet.xml: [bean id="localeResolver" class="org.springframework.web.servlet.i18n.AcceptHeaderLocaleResolver"/]

Spring will set UI language locale and message according to the client-side browser locale configuration.

3. JSP files

1. [fmt:message key="key1"/]

2. Error message [spring:bind path="account.password"] [input type="password" name="${status.expression}" value="${status.value}"/] [span class="fieldError"]${status.errorMessage}[/span] [/spring:bind]

3. button [input type="submit" class="button" name="prev" value="[fmt:message key="prev"/]" /]

Spring Internationalization for portlet MVC

1. Add two properties files in /WEB-INF/classes:

1) messages_zh_CN.properties -Chinese message file.

The Java properties files are created using a native encoding or in UTF-8. This must be converted to an ascii format for Java. This is done as part of the extraction process on the translation website but if you have a manually created file in UTF-8 that needs to be encoded, then use the native2ascii command that comes with with Java JDK.

Call native2ascii to ascii encoding, specifying the original file has UTF-8 encoding:

Eg: native2ascii.exe -encoding UTF-8 chinese_zh.txt ApplicationResource_zh_CN.properties

2) messages_en_US.properties -English message file.

2. Update applicationContext.xml file as below:

/WEB-INF/classes/messages " style="position: absolute; margin-left: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; width: 451.5pt; height: 96pt; z-index: 1;" o:allowoverlap="f"> Spring will set UI language locale and message according to the client-side browser locale configuration.For guest user liferay creates a cookie called GUEST_LANGUAGE_ID with the language based on the browser configured locale.

3. Replace the static text in JSP files with

[spring:message code=”key1”/] where key1 is the key available in message_xx.properties file

Note :The Java properties files are created using a native encoding or in UTF-8. This must be converted to an ascii format for Java. This is done as part of the extraction process on the translation website but if you have a manually created file in UTF-8 that needs to be encoded, then use the native2ascii command that comes with with Java JDK. Call native2ascii to ascii encoding, specifying the original file has UTF-8 encoding:

native2ascii.exe -encoding UTF-8 chinese_zh.txt ApplicationResource_zh_CN.properties Ref: http://wiki.lamsfoundation.org/display/lams/LAMS+i18n

The below JSP is Useful to troubleshoot locale related issues:

[%

//java.util.Locale locale = (java.util.Locale)request.getSession().getAttribute

("org.apache.struts.action.LOCALE");

Locale locale = renderRequest.getLocale();

String language = locale.getLanguage();

String country = locale.getCountry();

out.println(language +" "+country);

// Remember, messagesis the fully qualified name of a bundle in the classpath

// e.g. WEB-INF/classes/messages_*.properties

ResourceBundle res = ResourceBundle.getBundle("messages", new java.util.Locale(language, country));

java.util.Enumeration en=res.getKeys();

while(en.hasMoreElements())

{

out.println(en.nextElement());

}

out.print(res.getString("key1"));

%]

Linux ssh autologin with putty

html">

ssh autologin with putty

This article shows how to do it when

connecting from a windows machine using putty to a linux box.

1. download PuTTYgen and start it.

2. at the bottom of the window, select SSH2 RSA

3. click generate and start moving your mouse over the blank part of
the window until the bar is filled and it shows some more options.

4. change the key comment to something meaningful like the name of your computer or you

5. save the private key (and if you want for later use, save the public
key too, but we don’t need this one for our auto login)

6. copy the public key from the textarea at the top of the window and
paste it into the ~/.ssh/authorized_keys file on your server you want
to logon in the home directory of the user you want to logon as. if
this file doesn’t exist yet, create it. (you may again want to
save the copy/pasted key to a text file on your computer in case you
have some more servers you want to auto-logon, so you can always open
it and copy/paste it from that file)

7. start putty and load your server settings

8. go to Connection–>Data and enter the username you want to
login as in the up most field “Auto-Login username”

9. go to Connection–>SSH–>Auth and choose the newly
reated private key file you saved before in the last field
“Private key file for authentication” by hitting the browse
button.

10. go back to Session and save all these settings.

now your’re done. from now on you will automatically be logged in when you open a session to that server

somem more tutorials for this and other os’s can be found here: http://wellsi.com/sme/ssh/ssh.html

More here for linux as well http://wiki.dreamhost.com/index.php/SSH#Passwordless_Login

Spyware trojan and virus removal tools

Hijackthis is one of the best. More here : http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/programs.php

PHP and Related

http://www.dbforums.com/t1044828.html

I just installed Apache/PHP5/MySQL on my Windows PC with XP Home OS. I followed the Tut Installing PHP under Windows  by Matthew Phillips Referred to in the Post: Easy to understand Apache/PHP/MySQL install on XP box

This worked OK aside from a couple obvious differences. I had the most troube getting MySQL configured with PHP and had to do some searching to find the answer. Here is what I had to do to get it working.

In the Apache httpd.conf File at 'C:\Program Files\Apache Group\Apache2\conf\httpd.conf' You have to add these lines for PHP5

LoadModule php5_module php5apache2.dll
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php

In addition to installing MySQL etc. I had to do this to get MySQL to work:

1. Make sure that you have a valid php.ini in your windows directory.
OR (Per the tut the 'php.ini' can be installed in the 'C:\Program Files\Apache Group\Apache2' folder. This works fine.)
2. copy libmysql.dll to the system32 directory (php_mysql.dll would not load without doing this)
3. set the extension_dir in php.ini to the ext directory of your PHP installation directory (like e.g. extension_dir=C:\php5\ext)
4. enable the MySQL extension in php.ini by uncommenting the line extension=php_mysql.dll
5. Restart Apache Server

Check this link for latest php host
http://www.0php.com/free_PHP_hosting.php

Useful open source apps:

Online exam - TCExam (sourceforge project) perfect for online exam .(http://www.tecnick.com/public/code/cp_dpage.php?aiocp_dp=tcexam)
Fixes: Remember to add the user right (with groups , date format is yyyy-mm-dd)
Install the application through the application.
project management http://itprojectguide.org/

Drupal - an excellent content mgmt system.
Joomla - similar to Drupal
Imageflow - image gallery showcase.

Tomcat enabling security using Catalina.policy

Add the -security option in the startup script of catalina

For debugging security information have below setting in catalina
CATALINA_OPTS=" -Djava.security.debug=acess,failure"

The catalina.policy file should be present under $tomcat/conf/

Change the catalina.policy as required by checking the debug information

To check acess failures use the below:
grep -v "access allow" /usr/local/sso/logs/catalina.out |more

Note: -v is used to invert the search pattern.

or use
grep -v "access allow" /usr/local/sso/logs/catalina.out |egrep "domain|denied" |more

Pega PRPC

Pega is a collection of rules linked to a business process

Pega = Rules Engine + Business Process

It is smart as it is built for changes and has all the capabalities required in a SDLC(s/w development life cycle). Here is a few:

- An inbuilt Versioning system.Excellent feature to manage releases. Never seen such good feature in my career in other products.
- An inbuilt clipboard and tracing tool for debugging. Rule inspector for debugging HTML on the fly. What else do you want with zero developer configuration.
- Inbuilt security system. Imagine building security in J2ee world , it is really a pain.
- A interface to view/design/manage the work flow from any corner of the world. Just have a browser and you are done. You setup the server environment once. No need to setup any other environment  for individual developer. 
- Object oriented.
- Java Based and inbuilt internationalization support
- Can include new java libraries easily (Rule-utility)...
- Smart product for smart people.
-  Excellent external service integration
- It solves most of the repeatedly occuring problems in a J2ee webapp development and hence a sure winner. Most problems are captured as rules which can be changed easily.
- Rule testing capability like Junit in java.

What it lacks in V4.2(correct if i am wrong)
- Sucks lot of Memory. Maybe deu to the rules stored in memory.
- Customizing the user interface layout takes a hell lot of time and effort. Also depends on the skillset of the developer.
- Didn't find a worthy information of handling back button in a work flow. Going back from one flow to another is not possible.
- How do we support AJAX? Portlets , etc? Is it there in V5 ?
- Hard Core *Coder* will not like it as it is not as flexible and tunable. :)
-Bigger learning curve of rules. But with it's feature its worth.
- Not open sourced :-).  If it get's opensourced no other product can beat it.

[update]
Useful links 
Forum for pega
Question and answer

Developer notes 1 


More to come here
TODO:
-How to develop pega app from scratch quickly
-Best Practices
-Essential rules what a pega developer should know.

[updates]

Another developer blog on its experiences:

http://claforet.wordpress.com/2010/06/26/getting-started-with-pega-development/

Hibernate second level cache

Second level cache(2LC) of hibernate boosts the performance of websites.
One needs to be careful to handle the cache refresh.
By default hibernate 3 comes with EHcache for session level
cache(primary cache).
EhCache can also be used for secondary level cache.


Setup of 2LC using EHcache:

1. Setup the session factory with the below details:
hibernate.cache.provider_class as org.hibernate.cache.EhCacheProvider
hibernate.cache.use_query_cache as true

Optionally cache statistics can be enabled by using below

   hibernate.generate_statistics as true
   hibernate.cache.use_structured_entries as true


2. In the hbm files just under the class element put the below:
   cache region="com.xmp.web2.model.Article" usage="read-only"

   --in the above, the region is used to identify as cache key.

3. For query cache, set the Query as cacheable programatically.

   Query queryObj = session.createQuery(query);
   queryObj.setCacheable(true);

   -- This will cache all the query result, thus reducing DB hits.

4. To refresh a query programatically, do the below:
   --  sessionFactory.evict(Article.class, id);    //this will remove from the cache the article object instance with the primary key id. Note that the id is serializable and the type should be the same as defined in hbm.

5. To optionally print the statistics, enable statistic monitoring as told in step 1 and use the below:

static void printCacheStatistics(String regionName) {
 Statistics statistics = sessionFactory.getStatistics();
 SecondLevelCacheStatistics secondLevelCacheStatistics = statistics.getSecondLevelCacheStatistics(regionName);             
 System.out.println("2nd level CACHE Statistics :"+secondLevelCacheStatistics.toString());
}

To check cache statistics use the JSP as below:
<%@ page language="java" import="org.springframework.web.context.*,org.springframework.web.context.support.*,org.hibernate.*,org.hibernate.stat.*"%>

<%
String cacheRegion="com.xmp.web2.model.Article";

WebApplicationContext ctx =
 WebApplicationContextUtils.getRequiredWebApplicationContext(
  this.getServletContext());
SessionFactory sessionFactory = (SessionFactory) ctx.getBean("sessionFactory");
out.print(sessionFactory);
Statistics statistics = sessionFactory.getStatistics();
SecondLevelCacheStatistics secondLevelCacheStatistics = statistics.getSecondLevelCacheStatistics(cacheRegion);
out.print("<br/>");
out.println("Query cache hit count :"+statistics.getQueryCacheHitCount());
out.print("<br/>");
out.print("<br/>");
out.println("2nd level CACHE Statistics :" + secondLevelCacheStatistics.toString());

%>

Reference:
http://doc.javanb.com/hibernate-reference-3-2-4-ga-en/performance.html
http://www.hibernate.org/hib_docs/v3/reference/en/html/performance.html#performance-cache

An excellent write-up on 2ndLC http://tech.puredanger.com/2009/07/10/hibernate-query-cache/

All about UK Visa.

HSMP is a 2 step process as of now.I applied for HSMP visa through a consultant y-axis in Bangalore, India.
They provided good service for getting step 1done(HSMP acceptance). The second part(Entry clearance)
was hopeless service by y-axis. I feel like chewing that consultant who processed it.

They are very keen about proof's (original documents) which has to be genuine and no scope for any errors.

Eg: Say you have your salary credited through cheques, then in the bank statement
you wont have the mention that your XYZ company paid you the salary. So you need
to get a letter for the same from bank or company stating you got the salary from
XYZ company. As long as you prove yourself with the documents the chances of
rejection is very low. Also all your salary slips should be attested by the
corresponding authority.

H1 vs HSMP:

• The chances of getting visa depends on your documentation which serves as the proof of you skills. Not entirely on luck like in H1.
  

• It is not like H1 visa (phaltu lottery system and only done once a year ). HSMP's points calculator is best and you can calculate before hand if you are eligible for it or not. Also you can apply any time of the year as long as you have your documents right. UK guys are smart at applying rules i guess.
  

As I said before, it is a 2 step process-

1. Get HSMP acceptance from UK consulate by sending your documents, 400 pounds and details to UK. It took me 3 weeks for getting the HSMP accepted. Actually gathering all the documents for proof of salary, bank stmts, medium of instruction letter etc. took me 1 month. On a whole you should get this first part done in 2-3 months.

2. Once u get HSMP acceptance from UK office, apply for Entry clearance in chennai or
mumbai. I applied through local VFS in bangalore(VFS sent it to chennai).Paid Rs.17,000
at VFS office fee for EC. It is already 3 weeks since I applied. Yet to get a response. HSMP
visa Entry clearance application status can be checked from here

I have got the first part done(got HSMP acceptance letter), the second one is also done. 
Overall the entire process took me 6 months as of now.  I could have saved some 2 months had I got all the documents ready. By and large 
4-6 months.

Right now I am in UK. More to blog soon.

UK HSMP visa useful Links:

1. hsmphelp.blogspot.com/
2. Check the blog ec-hsmp.blogspot.com HSMP blog .On the right you can find various useful section's. This blog is one of the best. No need to go to visa consultant and shell out so much fortune.
3. http://www.workpermit.com/uk/hsmp_calculator.htm --> HSMP point calculator. This may change in first quarter of 2008. Watch out.
4. Job assistance in Uk 00 44 114 207 6020 -Aman http://www.vertex-solutions.co.uk/technical-recruitment/immigrationservices.asp Tel (UK): 08456 448 441
   

http://forums.gumtree.com/about2685-25.html

1. Direct Dial: (+44) 144 222 1320
   
2. Buy tickets for UK to/from india at
   
1. http://www.ticketstoindia.co.uk/result_new.aspx
3. For currency, time, phone number conversion check
   
1. http://www.timeanddate.com
   

FAQ
What is the cheap and best place to stay in london. What is the price of apartments?
   Eastham is cheap with lot of asians but not so safe. For a bachelor it will cost around 300 pounds for  a shared acco of 3 people.
   Around 450 for 2 people. Thats a rough estimate...Depends on the owner.
 
How much cash should one carry for travel and job search?
 Around 300 pounds for flight + travel.. You might spend 600 pounds a month overall staying here.
If u r traveling for job search you will need some more like 100 pounds more.
So that might cost you 2- 3 lak rs for 2-3 months to come here and stay ,search a job.... Its ur best try and luck how 
soon u get the job.

Suggest some possible ways to get a job by seating here in india?
Sitting in India and trying a job is not a good idea. Chances are i can say only 10%. If u want to get work form India , chances are u end up with an Indian company who has UK requirement.... Also many consultants here dont call indian numbers. You need to prepare yourself with finances so that u survive in UK for atleast 2-3 months without a job(that might cost you 2- 3 lak rs).

LinuxPerformance Tuning(apache,tomcat,linux) and related

Web profiling
-- HTTPAnalyzer --
-- YSlow --CSS,Javascript report , time/size measurement for individual component is good.
-- FireBug -- Net performance, for a quick analysis.
--Open STA
Tomcat profiling
-- JProfiler
-- Hot spots ,JDBC queries(J2ee components), object instance count are useful.

--Database connection pooling with optimal values.
Connection leakage in DBCP can be easily detected by settin logAbandoned=true in resource configuration (server.xml). This is a very nice feature and throws up the exact location of the code which is not closing the connection. These connection issues normally come up during load testing.Also the jndi resource configuration for DBCP should have ideal settings. The one used for our project is below:

[GlobalNamingResources]
[Resource
name="jdbc/cmpPubPool"
auth="Container"
type="javax.sql.DataSource"
driverClassName="oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver"
url="jdbc:oracle:oci:@[TNSNAME]"
removeAbandoned="true"
logAbandoned="true"
maxActive="2"
maxIdle="2"
initialSize="2"
maxWait="-1"
username="[USER_NAME]"
password="[USER_PASSWORD]"
validationQuery=”select 1 from dual” /]
[/GlobalNamingResources]


JVM Tuning
Modify the heap size in JAVA_OPTS.


Apache tuning
prefork or worker module can be used.
prefork is non thread based.
Worker module is multi threaded and may yield a better performance.

Linux
--$top -- to check CPU status

top

Top has probably hundreds of keys to do whatever you want. A few are most useful for me.

The > key sorts by the next column (%MEM) instead of the default (%CPU). < sorts by the previous column.

Hit c
to toggle the display of command line arguments. Useful for me when I
have a lot of processes that otherwise just show up as “java”

Typing A
brings up the alternate display, showing processes sorted by different
fields with different columns. One section shows a nice memory-centric
view, for example.
Hitting z turns on colors. Z brings you to a color selection screen where you can pick colors you want. B turns on bold for some fields.
Hit W to save all your configuration changes to ~/.toprc where it will be loaded next time.
Type k allows you to kill a process without exiting top.

-- kill -3 <TOMCAT_PID> will log the threads running/inactive details useful for troubleshooting performance issues.
On windows use CTRL +Break.

Hardware
-Linux memory size can be checked using
cat /proc/meminfo --Gives RAM size
free -m -- Gives RAM size in MB (-k for kb)
df -H -- Human readable format of hard disk size


Useful links
http://jha.rajeev.googlepages.com/web2push

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