MORGB Blog: 2011

Well done is better than well said. - Benjamin Franklin #quotes
When you're wrestling a gorilla, you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is. #quotes
There is nothing more ugly than the code you wrote last year. #lessonsivelearned
Posting anonymously almost never works when you sign your name in the post content. #lessonsivelearned

Today's Useful Stuff

So twitter is lame about tracking/searching historical tweets. That means I'll be posting future useful stuff here. Here is the list of twitter links that are not yet here to catch up:

10 More Stubborn Food Myths That Just Won't Die, Debunked by Science - http://t.co/gOvjW9ad

Tantrum Tamer: New Ways Parents Can Stop Bad Behavior - http://t.co/pQvN6yXH

Keep sensitive info out of your chat logs & email - http://t.co/mIR9epAb

Hands-on with GarageBand for iPhone: 8-track studio in your pocket - http://t.co/OZU7LXyK

The power of big free data - http://t.co/DYdCnURU

Over 21,000 sign http://t.co/vCZfvmk6 petition seeking "vapid response," cookies - http://t.co/6SvKbUk8

Troy Hunt: Aye, pirates be the reason IE6 just won't die - http://t.co/swMHRhti

BASIC Computer Games (also recoded for Small Basic) - http://t.co/gDXKHxnA

Don't Call Yourself A Programmer - http://t.co/G4pKEbks

Microsoft's vision of everyday future tech (video) http://t.co/4W3PP2MW

When passwords attack: the problem with aggressive password policies - http://t.co/SA06BIik

Life in a Day crowdsourced documentary hits YouTube - http://t.co/A3O2YlpW

European wars, famine, and plagues driven by changing climate - http://t.co/YYJXc9Sh

When did the giant impact that formed the Moon take place? - http://t.co/dBEfuKVu

Massive 15-year study finds no link between cell phones, cancer - http://t.co/UET2nxtj

"Living fossil" has been populating the coast of Africa - http://t.co/Ra2BCFvY

Mad -- or Just Angry? - Inside Higher Ed: http://t.co/iQEBlKVW

22 miles straight up in 90 seconds - http://t.co/xXrc0vo0

Why Do Some People Learn Faster? - http://t.co/kGrOCe5j

Facebook Is Tracking Your Every Move on the Web; Here's How to Stop It - http://t.co/siOZfoy0

Unwatchable: dial R for rape. How much does your handset really cost? - http://t.co/O9HgxWun

Syma S107/S107G R/C Helicopter - http://t.co/cSWYuXVL

Do users change their settings? - http://t.co/sSMctkpa

Trying Linux for Windows Users – A visual tutorial - http://t.co/WIYkwVJE

Tricky Programming Concepts Aren't - http://t.co/A5sanCro (contains inappropriate language, beware)

Tinkering - Inside Higher Ed - http://t.co/vinU3KDs

The Art of Automation (using a Lego robot) - http://t.co/hoHCLODu

Orbit the Earth in One Minute Via Fascinating ISS Time-Lapse Video - http://t.co/2INc3d2l

Thoughts on 'Pinched' - Inside Higher Ed - http://t.co/iMPa7Lze

Announcing increased moderation of trolls in discussion threads - http://t.co/d1JDQe1P

Pulaski Academy scores 29 points before opponent touches football - Scorecasting - SI.com - http://t.co/F2e546RK

Web service aims for farm-fresh produce at big-box prices - http://t.co/61WyGL0

Is Windows vulnerable to attack by stolen digital certificates? http://t.co/a1fG9ko

Easy Facebook Scripting in Python - http://t.co/OmbLr17

Can't resist that marshmallow? Self-control doesn't get easier with age - http://t.co/LrQEZWo

Why Time Goes Faster as You Get Older | Psychology Today - http://t.co/Re8B1I4

Ten Things Everyone Should Know About Time - http://t.co/0q7NV8o

Finding Sleep - http://t.co/V9k3WXn

Status Anxiety - Inside Higher Ed: http://t.co/lvYm87y

The Frequency of War - http://t.co/sc2igDV

When computers talk to each other, conversationally - http://t.co/fHD9PYH

Selfish Tech - http://t.co/YjOyrXw

Academic Earth: Online courses from the world's top scholars - http://t.co/tu2VfNB

Can you tell a real Facebook e-mail from a phishing attempt? - http://t.co/yAY4Obh

Raspberry Pi: A $25 ultra-low-cost computer that can run Quake 3 - http://t.co/GCUQR2t

HP TouchPad: Everything you want to know - http://t.co/ESFW3T8

Password Policies are Getting Out of Control - http://t.co/ZUzVAZK

We Didn't Have Zeros (Dilbert) - http://t.co/ODf3saT

Mindset List, Class of 1915 - http://t.co/MriEpsW

The Mindset List, Class of 2015 - http://t.co/dwl2sUF

Bats navigate with visual map, additional unknown cues - http://t.co/fDQvyFk

Mother Nature as Engineer: 9 Design Tricks Borrowed From Biology - http://t.co/fIO1xkH

How To Remove Yourself from People Search Websites - http://t.co/1cxsej4

Can we believe our eyes? (Unicode character hacking) - http://t.co/ZjaRIkA

Scripting Languages: PHP, Perl, Python, Ruby - a side-by-side reference sheet - http://t.co/HVgt22d

How to put your logo in a QR code - http://t.co/rN0pyig

On the front line of the riots with the police - Telegraph - http://t.co/KDalfaj

'The Edupunks Guide' Offers DIY Path to a Credential - http://t.co/MwmPMkp

One day in the robot house - http://t.co/y0E6JBJ

Password Strength (xkcd) - http://t.co/EOyBWYH

Am I Under a Shady RAT Attack? - http://t.co/dNOg7zw

Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity (TED Video) - http://t.co/RwvdqOa

Confessions of an Edu-Traitor - http://t.co/C9fyS3E

Basic Animatronics Tutorial: PIC Based Servo Eyebrows - http://t.co/8G2KsVH

How to Make a Wi Fi Booster Using Only a Beer Can - http://t.co/zGLZqxa

Build your own gadget with Microsoft's Lego for adults - http://t.co/0w4wAOl

Top 20 Highly Useful Google APIs For Developers And Designers - http://t.co/stYdgw1

Programmable, Wrist Watch / Computer - http://t.co/iX8haNI Aug 04, 2011

Your New Campus Guide: A Small Patterned Square That Talks to Your Smartphone - http://t.co/RPLl4mQ

10 habits of highly organized people - http://t.co/z8G8YjH

Black Hat: 10 can't-miss hacks and presentations - http://t.co/XyaV50o

Dead British gamer's father warns of blood clot risks - http://t.co/xtHcyIX

Tablets are for people who hate computers - http://t.co/n6GHK9h

'War texting' lets hackers unlock car doors via SMS - http://t.co/9zfFBYM

10 Apps for Web Developers on an iPad | Think Vitamin - http://t.co/xWyOQpn

The 10 Best Investments in the Event of U.S. Default or Downgrade - http://t.co/wDDIDsf

How to build your own quadcopter, step by step - http://t.co/iqIMEJu

Apps vs the Web » Matt Legend Gemmell - http://t.co/Alwqt2y

Expert hacks car system, says problems reach to SCADA systems - http://t.co/hvVMgyv

If I Could Get Away With It... - http://t.co/zGqhOsQ (Empirical evidence v. folk wisdom)

Best USB microphones for high-quality Skype audio - http://t.co/fMk1oUN

The 3 Most Common Uses of Irony (The Oatmeal) - http://t.co/6auoRUA

YouTube film 'Life in a Day' coming to theaters - http://t.co/f7sgfuA

The @-symbol, part 1 of 2 - http://t.co/6ov85Hi

Time Travel Impossible, Say Scientists - http://t.co/BqChfaz

The Principles of Good Programming - http://t.co/PpaV8nx

20 Database Design Best Practices - http://t.co/LCx5ZKH

How to survive an iPhone liquid submersion (hint: it's not rice) - http://t.co/0PkSKMr

All About Accelerometers - http://t.co/QBfY8ul

Unleash the Power of Open Source R, the World's Most Sophisticated Data Analysis Software - http://t.co/iIVuOUW

I hate computers, but I love what you can do with them - http://t.co/pP5cnRS

Dunning-Kruger effect (how people tend to incorrectly assess their own competence) - http://t.co/LBGN8gD

Dual-boot your Nook Color with Android using a micro-SD card, $35 - http://t.co/KCjHdVV

Does Not Compute: 10 PC Myths from Movies and Television - http://t.co/bbdTOZs

More Coffee, Less MRSA Risk... But Why? http://t.co/fIPndjM

The Singularity is Far: A Neuroscientist's View - Boing Boing - http://t.co/aXh6tae

First Demonstration of Time Cloaking - http://t.co/JDntLF8

What Ails Us (Baumol's cost disease) - http://t.co/Gub2CGS

Ask the Administrator: How to Spot Bloat? - Inside Higher Ed: http://t.co/Zw5tDBI

Why McAfee is still at the top of my Not Recommended list - http://t.co/XfPo9Ka

HackNotifier (check to see if your email is included in recent hacktivity) http://t.co/GM7E4oq

How to find out if your personal info has been leaked in a security breach - http://t.co/HwvBEZE

Spammers' new favorite delivery model: Your compromised email account - http://t.co/25JlWwk

Web proxy add-on Cocoon goes free - http://t.co/c5ghc01

View all your tweets on one page with All My Tweets - http://t.co/1EKSndf

Turn your iPad into a laptop with the KeyCase iPad Folio Deluxe - http://t.co/pBgHVkv

CoPilot Live launches next generation iOS clients with launch special pricing - http://t.co/6DCJA1k

DHS: Imported Consumer Tech Contains Hidden Hacker Attack Tools - http://t.co/TDVYJWh

How to Build Your Own Pulsed Laser Pistol - http://t.co/cUxJOCY

Let me google that for you - http://t.co/iE7H4H5

Letter Frequencies and Keyboard Layouts - http://t.co/Yx6D3V2

Why Google+ Business Profiles Will Trump Facebook Pages - http://t.co/3PwKWKF

Stay safe online: 5 secrets every PC (and Mac) owner should know http://t.co/8FeGAuY

Kevin Mitnick shows how easy it is to hack a phone - http://t.co/LGiU0XE

User Testing in the Wild: Joe's First Computer Encounter - http://t.co/VrJBPnd

Archive your tweets with Twapper Keeper - http://t.co/wNA8JfQ

My Summer at an Indian Call Center (fascinating) - http://t.co/NU23zzx

Royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, transferable licenses - http://t.co/kZCAJuw

Maintain Security / Anonymity on the Internet - http://t.co/Mj7WwnI

Researchers cast doubt on cell phone cancer risk http://t.co/T18aQbt

Email Charter - http://t.co/44iZMG4

Time (programming, not the magazine) - http://t.co/o1M44dE

Physicist: Programs run the universe http://t.co/SuZ8PB7

10 Ways to Archive Your Tweets - http://t.co/K0R3taf(see RSS, python scripts)

Is there anyway to extract our tweets? - http://t.co/4hMkRtH

Back Up your Twitterings! - http://t.co/yZaIyQR

Using Google Spreadsheets to extract Twitter data - http://t.co/DdJUGJ3

Tech Organizational Charts - http://t.co/aq3ptin

Developers: just a few lines of JavaScript connects your site to Hotmail, Messenger, and SkyDrive http://t.co/qKgKJzY

Peek inside a hand-cranked Civil War submarine - http://t.co/j6I6n5u

Google's Swiffy makes Flash files HTML5 friendly - http://t.co/Gplf7nz

The First World Problems Rap - http://t.co/tteeAzW

Tor (prevent internet surveillance) - http://t.co/rWKP3g5

Another freelance website - http://t.co/nWvTf2a

How to Check If LulzSec Leaked Your Password One Last Time - http://t.co/JOJfZ7J

LulzSec disbands: Final cache includes AT&T internal data and 750,000 user accounts http://t.co/hs5odGd

Toddlers get difference between faulty hardware, operator error http://t.co/Ubf5doa

City dwellers more sensitive to social stress than country folk - http://t.co/7TY8WPv

How Hitler Could Have Won - http://t.co/WX3yA1R

The Sun Is the Best Optometrist - http://t.co/hnMT9ch

Trojans, viruses, worms: How does malware get on PCs and Macs? - http://t.co/2u2gW9A

Why humans (and other primates) lend a helping hand - http://t.co/TDlmM8k

Passpack Blog » Why Masked Passwords Are a Serious Security Hole - http://t.co/zd2d0wr

Google releases Chrome-based Web security scrutinizer - http://t.co/s1y0wnl

IBM and the Holocaust - http://t.co/dPckDHn

Man politely robs bank for $1, lands free healthcare in prison http://t.co/5d7iZkw

Supercomputers Challenge Human Brain - http://t.co/i3wfhFa

10 Ways To Access Blocked WebSites - http://t.co/ZwOWxTV

Virtual currency: Bits and bob http://t.co/mTiIHCc

Decide.com: For gadget buyers, timing is everything - http://t.co/PWxzAXC

LulzSec Email Check (Gizmodo) - http://t.co/5huHz0L

LulzSec Leaked Email Widget - http://t.co/dwuscSU

LulzSec leaks 62,000 emails and passwords, also targets CIA http://t.co/iEs9XXW

Make money online, part 1: Introduction to Google AdSense http://t.co/1qCM7o8

5 Tips About Time Management - http://t.co/9OTjm8N

GPU Password Cracking – Bruteforceing a Windows Password Using a Graphic Card: http://t.co/SgqHOBA

'You Look Great' and Other Lies - http://t.co/mSBSJpn

Is the cryptocurrency Bitcoin a good idea? - http://t.co/bxfT754

Lulz Security (LulzSec) Releases - http://t.co/5IjYVQE

Asciiflow - Ascii Flow Diagram Tool - http://t.co/0EqkZKK

xkcd: Security - http://t.co/KwbIw9v #Comics

Digging Into Data, Day 2: Making Tools and Using Them - http://t.co/CImYzLx

How to become a proficient Python programmer - http://t.co/YcHD05b

Free WebMatrix e-book - http://t.co/CN9Aw9R

ZionEyez 'spy glasses' - http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/zioneyez-spy-glasses/13277

Console2 - A Better Windows Command Prompt - http://t.co/4oui5OH

Nook Touch Rooting Directions Posted - http://t.co/4DQC5c8

Risk, probability, and how our brains are easily misled - http://bit.ly/jmAU8p

TKP Tips: Making a SmallBasic runnable flash drive - http://bit.ly/ltKwHj

What is World IPv6 Day and why it matters - http://www.zdnet.com/blog/networking/what-is-world-ipv6-day-and-why-it-matters/1148

A brief Sony password analysis - http://www.troyhunt.com/2011/06/brief-sony-password-analysis.html

Java tutorial for beginners - Introduction - http://www.freejavaguide.com/corejava.htm

So You Want To Teach Your Kids To Program? - http://bit.ly/kTJKym

Free for All: National Academies Press Puts All 4,000 Books Online at No Charge - http://bit.ly/jsw1t9

Microsoft ships free malware cleaner that boots from CD or USB - http://zd.net/lQBqCm

The Usability of Passwords - http://www.baekdal.com/tips/password-security-usability

GPU password cracking made easy - http://hackaday.com/2011/06/01/gpu-password-cracking-made-easy/

What Makes A Great Programmer? - http://thinkvitamin.com/code/what-makes-a-great-programmer/

Raising Graduation Rates, and Questions - http://bit.ly/lI1H6z

Top Colleges, Largely for the Elite - http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/25/business/economy/25leonhardt.html

Killer tips for mastering Google Chrome - http://download.cnet.com/8301-2007_4-20066881-12.html

EAP Resiliency Project - http://www.dop.wa.gov/more/EAPResiliencyProject/Pages/default.aspx

Four Ways to Make Your Battery Last Longer - http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/23/four-ways-to-make-your-battery-last-longer/

Test IE6, IE7, IE8, IE9, and IE10 in Windows 7 - http://cybernetnews.com/test-ie5-ie6-ie7-ie8-ie9-ie10-windows-7/

Beyond simple rooting: Turning the Nook Color into a complete tablet - http://zd.net/kwcvoG

How to hack the $250 Nook Color into a full Android tablet - http://tek.io/fVH6H5

Five easy steps to become an innovation-killer - http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/five-easy-steps-to-become-an-innovation-killer/49347

Resign Patterns - http://fuzz-box.blogspot.com/2011/05/resign-patterns.html (the 'Simpleton' says it all)

Amazon Mechanical Turk - https://www.mturk.com/mturk/welcome

Turks of the world, unite! - http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2011/05/repetitive_tasks

Hands-Off Training: Google's Self-Driving Car Holds Tantalizing Promise, but Major Roadblocks Remain - http://bit.ly/isCyV8

Introduction to Robotics - http://academicearth.org/courses/introduction-to-robotics

A Thorough Examination of "Disabling the Back Button.", Part 2 - http://bit.ly/k2fuLc (see javascript method)

Dance Mat Typing - http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/

Windows debugging made easy - http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/052011-windows-debugging-made.html

Microsoft Press Free Ebooks - http://blogs.msdn.com/b/microsoft_press/archive/2011/03/03/ebooks-list-of-our-free-books.aspx

Radiolab - http://www.radiolab.org/

Gossip changes the way we see the world - http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2011/05/gossip-affects-the-way-we-see-the-world.ars

WolframAlpha - http://www.wolframalpha.com/

Virgin Mobile offers $20/month for 500 MB of data, or 1 GB if you refill at Walmart - http://zd.net/mdOC4X

Macrium Reflect (disk imaging s/w) - http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp

DriveImage XML - http://www.runtime.org/driveimage-xml.htm

CloneZilla (disk imaging s/w) - http://clonezilla.org/

Password Validation - http://popstrip.com/password-validation/

The Chilling Story of Genius in a Land of Chronic Unemployment - http://tcrn.ch/ilzOSb

Python for Fun - http://openbookproject.net/py4fun/

The Myth of the Three Laws of Robotics – Why We Can't Control Intelligence - http://bit.ly/l8nrWK

Einstein for Everyone - http://www.pitt.edu/~jdnorton/teaching/HPS_0410/chapters/index.html

Tiny $25 Computer for Kids Who Want to Learn Real Computing - http://ti.me/iMQtL3

$99 CMU robot is computer science learning tool - http://cnet.co/iOZE0p

Self-assembling rafts: how fire ants survive floods - http://bit.ly/jCAzL5

The Unwritten Laws of Engineering - http://memagazine.asme.org/Articles/2010/October/Unwritten_Laws.cfm

You are NOT a Software Engineer! - http://chrisaitchison.com/2011/05/03/you-are-not-a-software-engineer

Telnet - SMTP Commands (sending mail using telnet) - http://www.yuki-onna.co.uk/email/smtp.html

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Create Java Scriptlets for Jasper Reports (part 2)

In part 1, we addressed the basics of creating Java scriptlets. Now, we'll look at a specific example that updates a database based on report content. In this example, we're using the underlying Jasperserver database and writing back to it.

Let's look at the Java code first:

import java.sql.*;
import net.sf.jasperreports.engine.JRDefaultScriptlet;
import net.sf.jasperreports.engine.JRScriptletException;

We're combining both the default Jasper scriptlet method and java.sql.* for the database update.

public class UpdateQrtzTriggers extends JRDefaultScriptlet {}

This is the overall class.

There are two objects within the overall class:

public void afterDetailEval() throws JRScriptletException

and

public String updateDB(Connection con, String trigger_names) throws SQLException

For the database update, we pass in the connection and a list of triggers to include in the update.

After processing every report row (afterDetailEval), we collect the value of a field within the report and append it to a master list:

String trigger_name_list = (String)this.getVariableValue("TriggerNames");

String trigger_name_field = (String)this.getFieldValue("trigger_name");

if (trigger_name_list != null) //if trigger name list already contains values, treat as append

{

if (trigger_name_list.indexOf(trigger_name_field) == -1) //only append value if trigger name is not already in list

{

this.setVariableValue("TriggerNames", trigger_name_list + ",'" + trigger_name_field +"'");

}

else

{

this.setVariableValue("TriggerNames", "'" + trigger_name_field +"'");

}

In the summary section of the report, we call the database update specifically as follows:

$P{REPORT_SCRIPTLET}.updateDB($P{REPORT_CONNECTION},$V{TriggerNames})

This gives updateDB its parameters. It then does this with them:

try

{

if (con.isReadOnly() == true) //make sure update can proceed

{

con.setReadOnly(false);

}

String sql_1 = "UPDATE qrtz_triggers q SET next_fire_time = next_fire_time-(next_fire_time-(UNIX_TIMESTAMP()*1000))+(DATE_FORMAT(FROM_UNIXTIME(next_fire_time/1000),'%i')*60000)+2000 WHERE q.trigger_name IN (";

String sql_final = sql_1 + trigger_names + ");"; //include list of triggers to update and closing parenthesis

Statement s = con.createStatement();

s.executeUpdate(sql_final);

if (con.getAutoCommit() == false) //if autocommit is not set, commit manually

{

con.commit();

}

return "Update Succeeded";

}

catch (SQLException e)

{

return e.toString();

}

This sets the trigger for a scheduled report to a time in the immediate future - thus re-running a scheduled report whose execution time has already passed.

Have fun!

Create Java Scriptlets for Jasper Reports (part 1)

This post is aimed at report developers who use iReport and/or Jasperserver and would like to create Java scriptlets to enhance report functionality. Part 1 will discuss the basics of creating the Java code and .jar file. Part 2 will discuss the specifics of creating a scriptlet that will write back to the database.

Step 1: Learn Java

If you already know Java, great! If you're familiar with programming, something like this tutorial will probably be enough to get you started.

Step 2: Code

There are two different methods (not mutually exclusive) for creating scriptlets. One is to piggyback on the default scriptlet class provided by Jaspersoft. The methods within this class correspond to events within report processing, and they will run automatically with the report you attach the scriptlet to.

The second strategy is to create your own methods using any existing Java functionality (part 2 covers java.sql.*). You have to call these specifically from the report if you want them to run.

Either way you go, you need to do the following:

Create your .java code file. The file name must match your class name (so FileName.java must contain public class FileName ...)
Include the external classes you need in your file. For example:

import net.sf.jasperreports.engine.JRDefaultScriptlet;
import net.sf.jasperreports.engine.JRScriptletException;

Create your program.

Step 3: Compile

Jasperserver comes with a compiler (located in <Jasper Home>\java\bin), so it's easiest just to use that. It's even easier if you add this to your system path variable so you can call javac from anywhere. If you want to use the standard JDK, that is fine, but there will be problems if you try to run the report on a server with a prior version of java from what you developed in.

To use Jasperserver-specific classes (as in the example above) you need to include the Jasper Reports library when you run javac. For example:

javac -classpath "C:\Program Files\jasperserver-ce-3.7.1\apache-tomcat\webapps\jasperserver\WEB-INF\lib\jasperreports-3.7.1.1.jar" FileName.java

Step 4: Create the JAR

Once you have compiled your code successfully, you can create the jar file with a simple command:

jar cvf JarFileName.jar FileName.java FileName.class

Step 5: Add Scriptlet to Report

First, add your jar file to the iReport classpath (Tools>Options>Classpath>Add JAR).

Once you've done this, just go to your (iReport) report inspector, right-click 'Scriptlets' and 'Add Scriptlet'. If you are only extending the default jasper scriptlet class, that's all you have to do - just compile your report and run it.

If you want to call your own method(s) within the report, you'll need to change the scriptlet class in your report properties to match your scriptlet rather than the default. You can then call the method from a text field using something like this:

$P{REPORT_SCRIPTLET}.YourMethod()

Once you are ready to run this from Jasperserver, you'll need to upload the jar file as a resource when you create the report.

That's it! In part 2, we'll look at a specific scriptlet that uses all of this to write back to the database based on information contained within the report.