Ryan's Random Ramblings

Enhance your browsing experience using Bookmarklets

2012-02-20T13:35:00.000+02:00

A bookmarklet is a a term used to refer to an unobtrusive snippet of JavaScript code, which is saved as a traditional bookmark in a web-browser. A bookmarklet is designed to provide enhanced one-click functionality to a browser or webpage. For example, it could count the number of words on a page, extract data such as images/text/hyperlinks, remove page redirects, query a search engine with the highlighted text, etc.

If you have a bit of JavaScript knowhow, it can be quite rewarding to code your own bookmarklets.

Below, I will show you how to add a bookmarklet that will enable you to rename your browser tabs.

Rename Tab Bookmarklet

Step 1: Create the bookmarklet by simply highlighting the below code snippet, and dragging it to your bookmark bar.

javascript:(function()%7bvar t=document.title;var n=prompt('Enter a new title for this tab',t);if (n != '' && n != t) document.title=n%7d)()

Note: If you’re using IE, you might struggle to create the bookmarklet via the drag-and-drop method if it is not presented as a link (surrounded by <a></a> tags). You could jimmy the system by bookmarking the actual webpage as per normal (e.g. [Ctrl-D]), and then proceed to edit the bookmark, and change the URL to the code snippet (see below screenshot).

Step 2: You’re done! Whenever you’d like to rename a browser tab, simply click the bookmarklet just like you would a normal bookmark.

Reflection on Renaming Tabs

I find this bookmarklet very useful for when I have multiple tabs open in my browser, all of which have the same favicon. Using the renamed tabs to specify short yet familiar abbreviations, decreased the cognitive effort required to bounce between the tabs I wanted to switch to.

FAQ: Why not use browser plugins to achieve the same outcome?

Sure, it is possible to install browser plugins (addons/extensions) e.g. *this* that can provide the same functionality as bookmarklets, but there are several drawbacks to this approach:

The more extensions you install and have constantly running in your browser, the more taxing it is on your system’s resources.
With a browser extension, you are at the mercy of the developer’s (potentially malicious) implementation. By contrast, bookmarklets are simple snippets of code, that you can easily examine and debug yourself. If there is an error in the bookmarklet, the worst thing that can go wrong is a JavaScript error message.
Unlike browser extensions, bookmarklets are cross-browser compatible (assuming JavaScript is enabled).

Show me some bookmarklets!

Google ‘bookmarklets’ to get tons of great results and get you started.

Sharing is Caring

If you find any particular bookmarklet that you’d like to share, perhaps add it as a comment to this blog post! =)

Saving documents directly to SharePoint, and adding folder locations to Favorites

2012-02-17T11:46:00.000+02:00

Want to save and upload a document directly to SharePoint? Here’s a handy guide on how to do that, coupled with a cool tip on saving file paths to your ‘Favorites’!

Step 1: In an MS Office document, select File –> ‘Save & Send’.

Step 2: Select ‘Save to SharePoint’, then take ‘Browse for a location’.

Step 3 (once off): In the popup, copy-paste the link to your SharePoint into the address of the ‘Save As’ file dialog, and hit Enter to goto that location.

Step 4: Browse to the location where you would like to save the file.

Step 5 (optional, yet recommended): Right click on ‘Favorites’ (top left) and save the current location to your Windows Explorer ‘Favorites’ so that you won’t need to repeat steps 3-5 ever again (in future, you can just pick the SharePoint location from your favorites).

Step 6: Once in the desired folder location, click Save (to upload) your document.

Step 7: Profit!

Customisable Activity Monitor SQL query

2012-02-10T12:53:00.000+02:00

Are you a frequent user of the SQL Server Management Studio Activity Monitor? Have you ever wanted more control over what useful information you get out of the Activity Monitor, or are do you become frustrated with having to filter processes dropdowns each time it is opened?

Below is a customised SQL script that I use to pull the information I need. Take it as is, or customise it further to suit your specific needs such as by adding/removing columns in the SELECT statement, and modifying the WHERE clause (e.g. add a filter on database name, such as GBS, or remove the filter on is_user_process, etc).

For more information and examples, read up on active user connections and internal tasks on MSDN.

Enjoy!

SELECT

[SESSION ID] = s.session_id,

[USER Process] = CONVERT(CHAR(1), s.is_user_process),

[PROGRAM NAME] = s.program_name,

[LOGIN] = s.login_name,

[DATABASE] = ISNULL(DB_NAME(p.dbid), N''),

[Task STATE] = ISNULL(t.task_state, N''),

[Command] = ISNULL(r.command, N''),

[QUERY] = st.text, --this is the query being executed

[APPLICATION] = ISNULL(s.program_name, N''),

[Wait TIME (ms)] = ISNULL(w.wait_duration_ms, 0),

[Wait TYPE] = ISNULL(w.wait_type, N''),

[Wait Resource] = ISNULL(w.resource_description, N''),

[Blocked BY] = ISNULL(CONVERT (VARCHAR, w.blocking_session_id), ''),

[Head Blocker] =

CASE

--session has an active request, is blocked, but is blocking others

--or session is idle but has an open tran and is blocking others

WHEN r2.session_id IS NOT NULL

AND (r.blocking_session_id = 0 OR r.session_id IS NULL)

THEN '1'

--session is either not blocking someone, or is blocking someone

--but is blocked by another party

ELSE ''

END,

[Total CPU (ms)] = s.cpu_time,

[Total Physical I/O (MB)] = (s.reads + s.writes) * 8 / 1024,

[Memory USE (KB)] = s.memory_usage * 8192 / 1024,

[OPEN Transactions] = ISNULL(r.open_transaction_count,0),

[LOGIN TIME] = s.login_time,

[LAST Request START TIME] = s.last_request_start_time,

[HOST Name] = ISNULL(s.host_name, N''),

[Net Address] = ISNULL(c.client_net_address, N''),

[Execution Context ID] = ISNULL(t.exec_context_id, 0),

[Request ID] = ISNULL(r.request_id, 0),

[Workload GROUP] = ISNULL(g.name, N'')

FROM sys.dm_exec_sessions s LEFT OUTER JOIN sys.dm_exec_connections c ON

(s.session_id = c.session_id)

LEFT OUTER JOIN sys.dm_exec_requests r ON (s.session_id = r.session_id)

LEFT OUTER JOIN sys.dm_os_tasks t ON (r.session_id = t.session_id ANDr.request_id = t.request_id)

LEFT OUTER JOIN

(

--In some cases (e.g. parallel queries, also waiting for a worker),

--one thread can be flagged as waiting for several different threads.

--This will cause that thread to show up in multiple rows

--in our grid, which we don't want.

--Use ROW_NUMBER to select the longest wait for each thread,

--and use it as representative of the other wait relationships this thread is involved in.

SELECT *, ROW_NUMBER() OVER (PARTITION BY waiting_task_address ORDER BYwait_duration_ms DESC)AS row_num

FROM sys.dm_os_waiting_tasks

) w ON (t.task_address = w.waiting_task_address) AND w.row_num = 1

LEFT OUTER JOIN sys.dm_exec_requests r2 ON (s.session_id =r2.blocking_session_id)

LEFT OUTER JOIN sys.dm_resource_governor_workload_groups g ON (g.group_id =s.group_id)

LEFT OUTER JOIN sys.sysprocesses p ON (s.session_id = p.spid)

CROSS APPLY sys.dm_exec_sql_text(r.sql_handle) st

WHERE

--Customise this WHERE filter, as applicable for what you need.

s.is_user_process = 1

AND t.task_state IS NOT NULL

--AND DB_NAME(p.dbid) = 'GBS'

ORDER BY s.session_id;

Easing the pain of password management

2012-02-08T12:47:00.000+02:00

Cloud-based password management

There are pros/cons to storing your sensitive information in the cloud. The most useful pro is the ability to synchronise and access your data across multiple platforms and devices. The most obvious con however, is that you’re entrusting your sensitive data in the hands of a 3rd party, which is potentially accessible (if hacked) by any member of the public for malicious intent such as identity theft. Scary stuff.
LastPass

Fortunately however, reputable online solutions such as LastPass (which I will continue to shamelessly market below), use local encryption, with locally created one-way salted hashes, to provide one with the best of both worlds: Complete security, whilst still providing online accessibility and syncing capabilities.

With LastPass, all encryption and decryption is performed locally on your device, which means even if someone gained access to your password database, it would be useless to them without your ‘master’ password. Provided you use a strong, non-dictionary master password, and exercise a bit of common sense with regards to safeguarding your data and PC’s/devices, your security and privacy should be ensured.
LastPass

LastPass is an any-browser/OS/device password manager that will make your web browsing easier and more secure. It is simply, the “Last Password You’ll Have to Remember!”.

Key LastPass features include:

Single master password (your LastPass master password is the only password you’ll ever need).
One click login (easily log into your websites seamlessly with a single click of your mouse button).
Synchronise across browsers (your data is securely synchronized across all devices giving you access to it anywhere at anytime).
Multi-platform (LastPass is available on Windows, Mac, Linux, and supports all major browsers including IE, Firefox, Safari, Chrome, and Opera. Mobile platforms are also supported, including iPhone/iPad, Symbian, Android, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry and HP webOS).
Automatic form filling (set up multiple 'profiles' and automatically fill your personal information into web forms accurately and safely).
Store secure notes (your LastPass vault isn't limited to only securely storing usernames and passwords - ANY confidential text data can be placed in your vault for safe keeping).
Generate secure passwords (generate hack-proof passwords with a single click, knowing that you'll never have to remember them or type them in ever again).
Universal access to Online Vault (access and manage your data at home, work, or at an Internet Cafe online at LastPass.com).
Backup and Restore (an encrypted backup copy of your data is stored in your account at Lastpass.com. Securely and seamlessly restore your passwords if you change computers).
Import data (easily import existing passwords from existing browsers and password managers such as KeePass).
Safe and Secure (using 256-bit AES encryption and exclusive encrypt/decrypt on the local device. For more information, see ‘Technology –> How we do it’).

Download

Official site: https://lastpass.com/ . Head for the download tab.

If you’re using Windows, I recommend the ‘LastPass Universal Windows Installer’, which will install browser extensions for IE, Firefox and Chrome. It also allows you to easily create a LastPass account and import your existing passwords.

Screenshots: https://lastpass.com/features_screenshots.php

Alternative password utilities

Whenever I suggest a software product to someone, I like to provide them with alternatives. Some cloud-based options include:

RoboForm – Official site at http://www.roboform.com/ (similar product, with not as many features. Not free).
Passpack – Official site at http://passpack.com/en/home/ (geared towards sharing passwords in a work environment).

There are a few reputable alternatives available that don’t require or even support online storage and synchronisation via a web-service. I’ve listed a few below. For the hyper-paranoid, these options will allow you to safely store and manage your passwords and sensitive data within a local environment, without it ever touching an online server. Note, not all are cross platform, not all are free:

KeePass - Official site at http://keepass.info/
1Password - Official site at https://agilebits.com/onepassword
Keeper – Official site at https://www.callpod.com/keeper
LastPass Portable, or LastPass Pocket– Official site at https://lastpass.com/misc_download.php

Tilt: a WebGL-based 3D visualisation of a Webpage

2012-01-26T15:04:00.000+02:00

Tilt is a fun new Firefox extension focused on creating a 3D visualization of a webpage, drawn using WebGL. Since the DOM is essentially a tree-like representation of a document, this tool layers each node based on the nesting in the tree, creating stacks of elements, each having a corresponding depth and being textured according to the webpage rendering. Uses include solving nesting problems, analyse the bounds of each node, and real-time editing of CSS/styles. It also cognitively helps to understand the parent-child relationship between nodes in a webpage, their positioning and how the layout is influenced.

Various information besides the actual contents will be displayed on request, regarding each node’s type, class, id, and other attributes if available. The rendering is dynamic, in-browser, using WebGL and GLSL shaders.

Tilt also offers the possibility of inspecting the HTML, CSS, and attributes of each node in the DOM tree, refreshes its contents if the webpage has been modified with other tools such as Firebug, and exporting the webpage to a 3D mesh or a screenshot.

When you first start Tilt on a webpage, it builds an internal representation of the DOM. At the lowest layer, the BODY is the base of the document upon which descendants are layered. At each successive level, another platform is built.

Layers could be built from DIVs, ULs or any containing node with children. Elements with absolute position or floats are displayed hovering above the page based on their z-index. Higher z-indexes produce higher levels of floats. Items with negative indices will be underneath the main level. This allows someone to easily see obscured elements on a webpage.

Controls for manipulating the display are a "globe" styled virtual trackball which lets a person manipulate rotation through X and Y axes. Another set of arrows allows a user to pan around the space. A slider adjusts the zoom level for moving in and out. Another slider lets a person adjust the height of the levels against their ancestors, making the platforms taller or shorter and floats higher or lower against the page.

Clicking anywhere on the visualization highlights a colour-coded rectangle surrounding the corresponding node. Double click shows up the source preview for that node. Tilt also tries to show the most relevant information when needed (one is most likely to inspect the attributes of an input, button or image element, for example, but can easily switch between HTML, CSS and attributes view at any time).

Installation

Install Tilt as an extension to Firefox. To start Tilt, hit Control+Shift+M (or Command+Shift+M if you're on Mac OS, or go to Web Developer -> Tilt, available in the Firefox application menu (or the Tools menu on Mac OS). You can change this hotkey from the Options menu inside Tilt. Close the visualisation at any time with the Esc key.

For compatibility, this add-on will require WebGL capabilities. Go to http://get.webgl.org/ to check availability and troubleshoot any issues.

Future

Tilt has become an active Developer Tools project, and an ongoing effort is being made to integrate it with other existing tools like Style Inspector and Style Editor. As the 3D view of a webpage has proven to be useful for debugging, this main functionality will gradually become part of Firefox in future releases, and has already been natively included in Firefox v11 and greater as part of the Developer Tools –> Inspector.

Sources

https://wiki.mozilla.org/Tilt_Project_Page
https://github.com/victorporof/Tilt/
http://blog.mozilla.com/tilt/
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tilt/

Pimp-my-Messenger

2011-09-13T11:18:00.000+02:00

1. Intro

A multiprotocol instant messaging (IM) application is client software composed of an IM application which connects to multiple IM networks. Popular networks supported by a multiprotocol IM client can include: AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ, XMPP (including Google Talk, Gizmo5, and other XMPP-based networks), Windows Live Messenger (previously known as MSN Messenger), QQ, Yahoo! Messenger, MXit, Skype, IRC as well as specialized networks such as Novell GroupWise , Microsoft Lync and Zephyr. Modern clients also support integration with social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter.

The main benefits that multiprotocol clients can provide, are summarised as follows:

A single consolidated contact list of all your IM contacts from differing protocols (e.g. MSN, Google Talk).

Running a single IM client application, instead of several native client applications, can lead to a saving in performance (esp. memory usage).

Creation of ‘meta-contacts’. This feature allows you to merge multiple contacts (including those across differing IM protocols) into one contact.

Shared (or separate per protocol) status messages and presence. Update your status once and have it automatically applied to all your IM protocols. Includes the ability to save frequently used status messages.

Various other beneficial features and functionality that 3rd party clients can provide such as email notifications and social networking updates.

2. Recommended Multiprotocol clients

Over the years, I’ve used several different multiprotocol IM clients and can highly recommend either of the following desktop clients that I’ve settled on at some stage: Trillian, Digsby or Pidgin. In the sections that follow, I’ve provided Wikipedia links for each, (which conveniently provide a succinct summary of each client) as well as the official site link, which can be used to download the application as well as any supported plugins.

2.1. Trillian

Trillian is a proprietary multiprotocol instant messaging application for Windows, Mac OS X, Android, iOS, BlackBerry OS, and the Web, created by Cerulean Studios. It can connect to multiple IM services, as well as social networks and email services, such as POP3, IMAP, Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail.

Links: Summary; Official Site.

Personal thoughts: Trillian boasts a powerfully featured, yet clean and minimalistic interface, which is easily customizable and themed. I love the (optional) tiled contact list view, which contributes to the undoubtedly great eye-candy. Trillian v5 is currently my preferred IM client of choice for the office and at home.

2.2. Digsby

Digsby is a freeware proprietary multiprotocol instant messaging Windows application developed by dotSyntax, LLC. Digsby is written in Python and uses wxPython as its widget toolkit and WebKit for rendering. It supports most mainstream IM services. Secondly, Digsby supports e-mail notifications via POP, IMAP and webmail like AOL, Yahoo! and Hotmail - including the ability to mark messages as read, as spam or delete them from the client itself. Finally, Digsby also supports alerts and newsfeeds from various social networks.

Links: Summary; Official Site.

Personal thoughts: Digsby is a great, easy-to-use client that supports synchronisation of your chat client settings to the cloud. This means that your Digsby settings (including contact list customisations) at your work PC can be synced to your home PC or laptop. Remember to disable the distributed computing function after installation, as well as uncheck the optional advertisements in the settings screen. Unfortunately, active Digsby development has (very evidently) slowed after being acquired by Tagged earlier this year.

2.3. Pidgin

Pidgin (formerly named Gaim) is a multi-platform instant messaging client, based on a library named libpurple, that runs on Windows or UNIX/Linux. Libpurple has support for many commonly used instant messaging protocols, allowing the user to log into various different services from one application. Both Pidgin and libpurple are free software, released under the terms of the GNU General Public License.

Links: Summary; Official Site.

Personal thoughts: If you prefer to have complete control and flexibility over the customization of functionality and addition/removal of features, then Pidgin is definitely for you. Tons of plugins to further enhance functionality from the base-install are available. A couple of niggles I have against Pidgin is that the interface and look-and-feel has become quite dated, and that your protocol passwords are stored in plaintext.

3. Enhance your Windows Live Messenger

For those that prefer to stick with the tried and trusted Windows Live Messenger (WLM) (aka MSN), there are a few add-ins I can recommend*.

3.1. A-Patch for Windows Live Messenger

A-Patch is a tool to visually customize WLM/MSN. I found the most useful feature was to remove the advertisements from the contact list window as well as the conversation windows. The app also allowed further streamlining of the contact list and file menus, by removing unnecessary or undesired options or features.

Link: Official Site.

3.2. Msg Plus Live

Messenger Plus! provides a large list of various additions to manage your contacts and conversations. The most useful I found was tabbed conversation windows and enhanced history/log viewer. Messenger Plus! also provides its own scripting environment to developers who want to add their own features to WLM. Hundreds of existing scripts are available for free download in the 'Downloads –> Plugins’ section of the website.

Link: Official Site.

3.3. Other WLM tips and tricks

Follow this link to find out how to hide groups/favourites/tabs, remove the image advertisement and disable all messenger animations, without the need to install any 3rd party add-in.

*Disclaimer: Patching Windows Live/MSN Messenger infringes Microsoft's Terms of Use. Downloading and installing any of the above software is of your own choice and I assume no responsibility whatsoever for its use, and make no guarantees, expressed or implied, about its quality, reliability, or any other characteristic.

Status bar Progress for Internet Explorer 9

2011-04-05T11:04:00.000+02:00

One of the first oddities I noticed after installing IE9 at work, was that the ‘progress bar’ was missing:

Initially I thought it was simply due to the status bar being hidden (now hidden by default in IE9), however it turns out that Microsoft have removed the 'loading’ progress bar. Whilst the status bar is easily turned on, the progress bar functionality has been completely removed. This frustrated me, as many applications rely on the progress bar to assure the user that the system is indeed still ‘busy’ (e.g. while generating a large report, performing a page filter search, etc) – a simple, yet fundamental usability feedback component [1], [2], [3].

A quick workaround to determine if the page is still loading, is to unhide the status bar (see below), then hover your mouse cursor over the status bar. The 'busy' cursor will appear: Fortunately, a simple solution exists to restore the progress bar feature.

Step 1: Unhide the status bar.

Step 2: Download and install a free 3rd party IE9 plugin to restore progress bar functionality. Plugin download link: http://sourceforge.net/projects/classicshell/files/latest/download

Step 3: Install ClassicShell, specifying only "Classic IE9" in the custom setup options. Note, after install, you will need to enable the "ClassicIE9BHO Class" add-on in IE9 "Manage Add-ons", and then close/reopen IE9 before the plugin will be activated.

Step 4 (optional): Experiment with customising advanced settings, for the title bar, and status bar. Enjoy!

Source: http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/features.html#ie9

Changing default IE timeout values

2011-03-16T10:57:00.000+02:00

Intro:

The following post describes how to change Internet Explorer (IE) timeout values, via Windows registry changes.

IE has a default timeout limit for the server to return data. By default, the timeout for IE 7/8 is set to 60 minutes. If one needed to generate a large report that would take longer to complete than 60 minutes, IE does not wait endlessly for the server to return data. Instead, after 60 minutes, IE would return a timeout, (while unfortunately the backend server would continue to process the report).

A known ‘quick’ workaround for this problem is to use Google Chrome to generate these large reports. If however, you are restricted to using IE, or in case you forget to switch browsers before generating a large report, the following registry tweaks will allow you to circumvent the problem described above. Caveat: If either the client browser (IE) or the Web server has a lower server ‘timeout’ value, that value will be the limiting factor. For example, if the client has a 1 hour timeout, but the Web server has a 30 minute timeout, the maximum timeout is 30 minutes.

Please note: Before making any registry tweaks, you should always backup your registry, especially if you are not comfortable or familiar with making such changes.

How to change the IE timeout limit:

1. ReceiveTimeout

Start Registry Editor (Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK).
Locate the following subkey:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings
In this subkey, add a ReceiveTimeout DWORD entry that has the appropriate timeout value in milliseconds.

For example, if you want the timeout duration to be 2 hours, set the value of the ReceiveTimeout entry to 7200000 (2*60*60*1000).
Restart the computer.

Note This setting becomes the new global timeout which applies to both IE and any WinINet application.

For further information, see: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/181050

Additional IE timeout settings:

(for advanced users and special cases only)

2. KeepAlive and ServerInfo

When IE establishes a persistent HTTP connection with a Web server (by using Connection: Keep-Alive headers), IE reuses the same TCP/IP socket that was used to receive the initial request until the socket is idle for one minute. After the connection is idle for one minute, IE resets the connection. A new TCP/IP socket is used to receive additional requests. You may want to change the HTTP KeepAliveTimeout value in IE.

By default, IE has a KeepAliveTimeout value of one minute and an additional limiting factor (ServerInfoTimeout) of two minutes. Either setting can cause IE to reset the socket. You may have to increase the default timeout value for persistent HTTP connections in IE if you are using a Web program that must communicate with IE over the same TCP/IP socket after one idle minute.

Note: You don’t need to change this value to overcome the problem described in the introduction. For further information, including the registry tweaks required to change this setting, see: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=813827

3. DNSCache

In earlier versions of IE (3.x), DNS host entries are cached for 24 hours by default. In some cases, this might be too long. During this period, some host entries stop working because of change in the IP address of the remote server that was initially resolved.

IE 4.x and later versions modify how DNS host entries are cached by decreasing the default timeout value to 30 minutes. In some cases, this new timeout setting is too short. If your environment has a number of clients that are connecting and are all performing DNS lookups every 30 minutes, you may experience an unwanted increase in network traffic. To modify this behaviour, you can modify the DnsCacheTimeout value.

Note: You don’t need to change this value to overcome the problem described in the introduction. For further information, including the registry tweaks required to change this setting, see: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=263558.

Ryan's Recommended ...

2011-03-01T23:59:00.000+02:00

Check out my:

I update each of these lists from time-to-time, so check back regularly!