Hippy's Programming Blog

CLOSED

2009-04-04T13:39:00.003Z

This blog is now closed and only remains for historical purposes.

For the latest updates to Colour To HTML and my other ramblings go to http://www.matthewhipkin.co.uk

I'm also on Twitter at http://twitter.com/hippy2094

Hard disk failure!

2009-01-04T16:58:00.002Z

Oh no, I've lost everything! All of the source code for all my programs! I've desperately scoured my archives and have thankfully found Colour To HTML, L33TSig and the SourceKeep backend code.

There are lessons to be learnt here: make backups!!!

Colour To HTML Feature/bug requests

2008-10-14T10:28:00.000Z

Don't forget to get any feature requests for 5.3 in to me as soon as possible!

I have just about finished my list of bugs, although the Vista/Aero workaround will still be required.

If you have any bugs to report or features to request, use this form to contact me.

Possible fix for Colour To HTML under Vista

2008-09-29T15:40:00.004Z

I have had more reports of a black screen when attempting to use the eye dropper tool. I do not have Vista myself to test this on, however after some research I believe that this issue could be resolved by disabling Windows Aero.

For help on doing this, visit http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/disable-aero-on-windows-vista/

If this fixes the problem, please let me know.

Advanced Dir To HTML rising from the abyss!

2008-05-16T13:00:00.004Z

Yes, that's right. I have resurrected Advanced Dir To HTML and oh my what a load of code to refamiliarise myself with!

Hopefully, I will learn a lesson and start putting comments in my code.. or maybe not.

Anyway, the project itself seems in good health and seems almost there! The FTP code that was in there was based around the Internet Component Suite which I no longer use; this will have to be recoded for Indy.

I actually found a dubious file named todo.txt - very handy and here is what it contains:

frmAddDefaultIcon
frmEditDefaultIcon
File extension on saving iconset
Error checking
Saving & Loading default icons in project file (need to make it so it ignores them and uses icons from the current set if set in config)
Load file from CLI
Copy large files (need to test)
Check all menu items work!
Save iconset: Default unknown icon
Configuration menu
Recurse subdirectories?
FTP
Add file -> known types comes up as unknown even though icon is correct

Lots of little things, but all equally important.

KCSSBars published on RubyForge

2008-05-15T15:44:00.002Z

I have published KCSSBars on RubyForge. Hopefully this will get me some feedback to my coding style and I may discover some funky things along the way!

Check out it's project page at http://rubyforge.org/projects/kcssbars/

WNotes gets some TLC

2008-04-30T10:47:00.003Z

I have been fiddling with WNotes, the first version seems to have had a fair few downloads. But to be honest it looks awful!

The functionality of the first version seems fine but the notes are damn fugly! This is due to the Windows API calls I am using to remove the titlebar and retain the ability to drag the notes around the screen. Some of you may remember version 4 of Colour To HTML, it was a heavily themed main window using images for the segmented titlebar consisting of the program title and the minimise and close buttons as seperate images. Those same buttons have made a reappearance for the development stage and already it is looking a lot prettier. As you can see from the screenshot the horrible thick border has gone.

The chances of the current images staying is slim, I would like something that fits in with the sticky notes sort of theme. If there are any graphical people out there who have ideas for the titlebar image(s) feel free to give me a shout.

L33TSig daemon

2008-03-31T10:44:00.002Z

Version 2.0.4 beta of the L33TSig Linux daemon is available for download from the L33TSig homepage.

Whilst this is not a final release it fixes some of the issues experienced in earlier versions of the daemon.

L33TSig Linux meets Ruby

2008-02-27T16:30:00.003Z

The L33TSig Linux clients will be produced using Ruby. As mentioned in previous blog entries Ruby has nice KDE support which I feel will really benefit the GUI client. I have also stumbled upon ncurses-ruby which provides Ruby with ncurses support making a pretty CLI client possible.

The daemon will still be produced using FreePascal and distributed as an executable binary.

Colour To HTML 5.3 in development!

2008-02-04T11:12:00.000Z

I have started work on Colour To HTML version 5.3. The bug mentioned here has already been fixed.

I would still like you to send me your ideas for scrollbar themes to be included in the next release, you can do so via the Contact page or my Forums.

KCSSBars first release

2008-01-27T11:35:00.000Z

I have released version 0.1 of KCSSBars. This is my first Ruby application so please be kind!

You can download it here.

This is a Linux application and requires Ruby with Korundum and KDE to run.

KDE Annoyance

2008-01-26T18:11:00.000Z

I have discovered a slight annoyance in KDE whilst developing KCSSBars. Take a look at these screenshots, you'll notice that on one of them the scrollbars match the selected colours whereas on the other it doesn't.

The screenshot on the left is using the KDE Classic widget set, the one on the right is using Plastik. It seems that to use this little program properly users will have to temporarily change their widget set to one of the classic ones to see the full effects of the CSS.

Forum

2008-01-25T15:08:00.000Z

I have re-instated forums on my main website for a trial period. With the previous problems I have had with E-mail and my hosting provider I am a little uncertain whether you will get your activation E-mail when you sign up.

Register for free at http://www.matthewhipkin.co.uk/forum

Easy peasy

2008-01-22T10:05:00.000Z

Ruby is turning out to be a very easy to use language, I'm finding it a lot easier jumping in with a GUI app than I did C++! The only thing I have to watch out for is syntax, some of the Ruby syntax is somewhat odd.

I'm sure I am not conforming to KDE standards at the moment, but when I first started Windows development I didn't conform either (and I probably still don't!).

New year, new language

2007-12-30T12:33:00.000Z

With all these wierd and wonderful languages flying around I have decided it's time I learnt one. Ruby seems to be rather popular at the moment, and has very nice KDE compatibility for making GUI apps so I have decided to go with this.

For my first Ruby-based project I am taking the CSS Scrollbar Colour generator dialog from Colour To HTML and making it a stand alone app for Linux.

The KDE compatibility is very handy, as I can design my GUI in QT Designer and then use a command line app called rbuic which converts it to Ruby code for me. All I have to do then is write the code for the buttons!
Hopefully this new app will be released early in the new year.

Colour To HTML 5.2 bug

2007-12-05T14:02:00.000Z

A bug has been found in Colour To HTML 5.2, it would seem that when you enter a colour code into the edit box and press return, the colour controls are not changed to match that colour.

Colour To HTML scrollbar themes

2007-11-17T15:33:00.000Z

Have you used the new scrollbar colour generator in Colour To HTML? Made a scheme you're proud of? Send it to me and allow me to share it with the world! In the next version of Colour To HTML I am planning on adding some preset colour schemes to the scrollbar generator and I am looking to you, the users, for inspiration!

Currently, the easiest way to get them to me is using the Contact page on my main website - the mail form does actually work now!

C'mon, hurry up!

2007-10-25T11:39:00.001Z

Both CNET and Nonags are taking what seems a very long time to update their listings for Colour To HTML!

CNET has an ETA of the 19th October, yet today is the 25th!

Colour To HTML 5.2 released!

2007-10-05T14:20:00.000Z

I have finally released version 5.2 of Colour To HTML!

Here is a list of the main changes:

Added all new CSS Scrollbar Colour Generator dialog
Fixed '$rg is not a valid integer' bug
Fixed HTTP bugs
The HTML text gradient generator is back! It has been updated to use CSS and the tag instead of the tag
Added the option to export the history list as HTML
Improved Vista support (still experimental though)
Option added to minimise to tray

You can download Colour To HTML from my main website here.

Colour To HTML 5.2 enters testing phase

2007-09-28T14:44:00.000Z

Colour To HTML version 5.2 has now entered it's testing phase. If you would like to test out this version please contact me and I will point you in the direction of a download.

Colour To HTML gets new feature

2007-09-27T13:02:00.001Z

Today I dusted off the code for Colour To HTML version 5.2 and continued to fix the bugs found from 5.1 when I had an idea for a new feature to add: a CSS Scrollbar Colour Generator!

I eventually intend to implement an import feature which will read your existing CSS and load it into this dialog. I am also pondering having preset schemes, so if you have any scrollbar colour schemes you like to use please feel free to contact me and I will add them to the program if I add the schemes feature.

Colour To HTML has a new home

2007-09-03T10:29:00.000Z

Inline with the rest of the project websites, the Colour To HTML website has now been removed and all future downloads and updates will take place from my main website. Unfortunetly the old host has been lost and the update checker on previous versions will no longer work.

All quiet

2007-08-23T10:17:00.000Z

It would seem I have lost my mojo (again)! All I seem to do with my free time now is play World of Warcraft, I'm not working on any of my projects at all - I don't even have Linux installed anywhere, and that for me is something major. Delphi isn't installed on my PC, I only have a PHP editor on my test server PC.

I need some new ideas I think, something to grab my interest - answers on a postcard please!

No more TGA Convert

2007-07-05T09:48:00.000Z

The latest large patch for World of Warcraft has changed it's screenshot functionality so that it now saves Jpeg images instead of TGA, this has made the need for TGA Convert somewhat defunct.

As a result I do not plan to release anymore updates.

L33TSig 2.0.6 released to testers

2007-06-19T09:48:00.000Z

L33TSig 2.0.6 has been released to Beta Testers of the L33TSig team. This version hopefully completely gets rid of the I/O Error 103 which has been present for way too long!

Tricky business

2007-06-17T08:50:00.000Z

The next L33TSig Linux daemon is now in testing, this version no longer uses the Indy components for it's HTTP connectivity but instead uses the native FreePascal sockets unit. Along with other rewrites this version is by far more stable than the previous release.

As for the KDE client I am writing, well that's fun! It just goes to show what things I take for granted in Delphi & Lazarus. So far it will read the config file and set the GUI to the correct values - still a long way to go before it does anything useful!

L33TSig Linux to become partially open source

2007-05-22T10:35:00.000Z

I am currently rewriting L33TSig Linux, however this time around the actual graphical client will be open source. The daemon, which is also having a complete rewrite, will remain closed source as it contains security procedures for parts of L33TSig that aren't publically available.

My hope is that other Linux developers will be persuaded to write their own clients that link into the daemon. You can of course write you own client including the part which communicates with the L33TSig server by following the instructions at http://wiki.l33tsig.net/L33TSig_API; an API for the daemon will be available as soon as it is complete!

The new L33TSig Linux graphical client will be written in C++ via KDevelop and the sourcecode will be publically available. I am hoping to perhaps distribute RPMs and DEB files too.

One year of Prog Blog!

2007-05-15T09:19:00.000Z

It was one year ago this month I created Hippy's Prog Blog!

Whilst I started out strong with posts [and coding] they seem to have fizzled out a bit.

So many unfinished projects: Advanced Dir To HTML, IRCLink, SourceKeep, L33TSig 2 - perhaps one day I'll get round doing them!

Blast from the past: WinUASG

2007-04-10T23:19:00.000Z

I have been browsing through my old programming stuff and I stumbled across an old Delphi 4 project I wrote called WinUASG. The UASG stands for User Agent Stats Generator - creating stats for browsers and operating systems from Apache log files.

I also found another (prettier looking) stats generator which went further than WinUASG by creating actual graphs and half-read the referrers from Apache logs.

L33TSig Linux

2007-04-07T10:43:00.000Z

I think it's about time L33TSig Linux had some serious work done on it. The GUI is mainly fine but the daemon is causing problems and the CLI version is just pap!

I plan on looking into proper forking and using a pid file to increase stability and hopefully remove the awful bug of when the daemon is started from an SSH shell, you can't logout correctly (well not in my experience anyway).

I have also recently updated my version of Lazarus to the latest version in the hope of improving stability.

Colour To HTML (Linux) dropped

2007-03-29T12:33:00.000Z

I have decided not to bother with Colour To HTML for Linux - the one and only release is pretty poor and both KDE and Gnome have their own built-in colour pickers which have HTML support.

Don't worry though - the Windows version is still alive and kicking with a release expected in the next couple of months!

Spam glorious spam!

2007-03-27T15:38:00.000Z

Recently, this blog has been spammed quite heavily, therefore I have disabled commenting.

Resting

2007-02-15T12:10:00.000Z

I have taken a rest from my development projects for the moment. I do expect to have CoderCastle, YARR 1.0 and Colour To HTML 5.2 all released by early spring time though.

For now though, here is an example of how the exported history list from Colour To HTML will look:

New Project in development

2007-01-22T09:46:00.000Z

I am currently in the process of creating a new project, this one, called Yet Another RSS Reader is exactly what it say's! It sits on the desktop similar to how the notes on WNotes do.

Features include:

Customisable display
Multiple feeds
Transparency

Currently it is not compatible with ATOM feeds, however I am working on this.

Sites removed

2007-01-15T09:46:00.000Z

As part of the merging process the websites for Advanced Dir To HTML, IRCLink & SourceKeep have now been taken down.

Hippy's Prog Blog will be next to go in the next month or so, followed by the Colour To HTML website by the end of the year.

New site ready

2007-01-12T21:00:00.000Z

My new website is now ready, the Advanced Dir To HTML, IRCLink and SourceKeep websites will be the first to go. This blog will follow and finally the Colour To HTML website will be the last to be shut down.

So from now on please visit http://www.matthewhipkin.co.uk for all programs and blogs.

L33TSig 2 current status

2007-01-11T09:54:00.000Z

Here is how L33TSig 2 currently stands:

Most reported bugs have been fixed
Currently creating a new Options dialog to accomodate some of the suggestions made by the L33TSig beta testers

L33TSig 2 will not be generally available until it has been thoroughly tested by the L33TSig beta testers.

To merge or not to merge

2007-01-04T12:03:00.000Z

I am currently pondering whether to merge all of my websites back into one big site.

On one hand it will make life easier to find my stuff including all of my programs & blogs, but on the other hand it will outdate a lot of links!

Also from a statistical point of view it will make my life easier in discovering if anyone actually reads my blogs!

If I do merge, do I copy all old posts over too? This blog has over 50 entries, my main blog on Yahoo has over 100 - that's going to take some work! It would also mean having to update Colour To HTML on all the download sites, aswell as the program itself as the version checker currently checks using the current Colour To HTML website. Smaller (rather dead!) projects like IRCLink, Advanced Dir To HTML and new projects like SourceKeep won't be an issue as their traffic is minimal.

Preparing for Vista

2006-12-21T12:59:00.000Z

Next year Microsoft release their latest version of Windows: Vista. I downloaded RC1 from them a month or two ago and have begun testing my software on it.

Colour To HTML is 99% compatible, and the only issues arise with any forms which use the Internet Explorer embedded control. This include the Help system and the Release Notes on the About dialog - both of which are easily fixed.

SourceKeep and Advanced Dir To HTML seem to run with no problems at all.

I am yet to test WNotes and IRCLink.

The Colour To HTML fixes I will more than likely include in the 5.2 release, this release will also see an end to 9x/ME support.

Colour To HTML feature requests

2006-12-12T10:23:00.000Z

I have had several people ask for the following features in Colour To HTML:

Minimise to tray
The return of the HTML text gradient generator
Export history list as HTML and/or CSS

I will begin development of Colour To HTML 5.2 early next year so keep your eyes peeled!

Also if you have an idea of something you would like to see in Colour To HTML feel free to let me know.

Help! I've forgotten how to use my own program!

2006-12-08T14:42:00.000Z

As odd as it may sound, it is true!

I have colours stored in Colour To HTML's history which I am reusing, however I keep forgetting to send it to the main colour box before copying to clipboard!

Therefore, a new menu item will be added to the popup menu on the history list to copy the selected colour directly to the keyboard.

WNotes 1.0 released!

2006-12-03T20:21:00.000Z

I have released version 1 of WNotes. This is the new sticky notes application I mentioned in a previous post.

Visit http://www.matthewhipkin.co.uk/wnotes.php for more information and a download link.

As always, please contact me with any feedback you have - this is a new program will plenty of scope for improvement so feel free!

A new small project

2006-12-02T21:48:00.000Z

I have started writing a new project. This Windows-based application is a simply sticky notes system.

I have already made good progress with it, really all I need to do is make it load & save the note contents.

L33TSig Linux (CLI) gets a makeover

2006-11-23T12:08:00.000Z

After lots of blood, sweat and swearing, I am getting to know ncurses in an attempt to make a nice looking command line client for L33TSig.

So far, I have managed to create a decent looking TUI.

My highly advanced TODO system

2006-11-20T20:49:00.000Z

Take a look at my advanced TODO system!

L33TSig 2 for Windows

2006-11-17T21:15:00.000Z

Work on the L33TSig client for Windows (version 2) is now well under way. It is supporting a plugin system very similar to that on the Linux client with a few changes to make it more Windows friendly.

I will post more about L33TSig 2 when it is in release stage.

CoderCastle little bits

2006-11-07T20:33:00.000Z

I have the following little bits to do on CoderCastle:

Page titles
Date formats
Avatar filenames
Forum signatures

Blogs:

Front page shows last 10 regardless of month
Spacing between entries

Articles:

Images for category titles?

CoderCastle release scheduled

2006-11-07T12:08:00.000Z

CoderCastle is due to be released on the 9th November 2006.

This will be a BETA release and I will be taking bug reports and feature requests.

SourceKeep prepares for Alpha

2006-11-03T13:35:00.000Z

I am preparing for an Alpha release of the SourceKeep clients.

The backend will not available and any testing you want to do will have to be done via a server provided by myself. Once the Alpha is out contact me requesting a username and password and I shall set those up for you.

CoderCastle nears completion

2006-11-02T20:20:00.000Z

I am very near the end of coding CoderCastle. ALL of the main functionality is now done, it's just a couple of little bits, like the account info page and a couple of pages need adding to the Forums.

I am hoping to have CoderCastle up and running by the 9th November, if I am successful that means it only took me a month to write the whole thing from scratch! Which isn't bad going if you ask me.

All coding halted until friday

2006-10-26T21:03:00.000Z

OK I'm a couple of days late writing this but since the 24th all coding has stopped. This is because as I posted previously I installed Vista and I had also tried out Fedora Core 6.

Tomorrow I will be getting a lovely new hard disk so it is pointless me setting up the system with Apache, PHP, MySQL, Delphi, Lazarus, etc just to format again tomorrow.

CoderCastle coding should resume Saturday at the latest.

Testing in Vista

2006-10-24T21:40:00.000Z

Today, as Fedora Core 6 was finally released and I formatted my PC, I thought I'd give Windows Vista a go too. I'm not sure if my ISP will be happy though Vista RC1 is 2.2Gb and Fedora Core 6 is 3.3 and I have downloaded both of them in one day! Well almost, FC6 has 57 minutes left.

So far I have test Colour To HTML 5.1 and SourceKeep 0.15 and they are both working fine.

Windows Vista RC1 can be downloaded, for free from http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/default.mspx however it will expire 31st May 2007.

Fedore Core 6 can be downloaded from a mirror found at http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mirrors

CoderCastle TODO list

2006-10-20T10:51:00.000Z

Homepage

Projects

Download counter

Site Administration

Link management (add, edit, delete)
Site news

Site Feeds
Error checking!!
Visual/Navigation tweaks

Last changed 06/11/2006

Colour To HTML 5.1 issues

2006-10-20T07:15:00.000Z

I have found a couple of issues with Colour To HTML 5.1:

When it attempts to check for updates with no internet connection a Socket Error pops up
The text colour for the Preview area is not being changed

If anyone finds anymore issues, please let me know.

Will Fedora Core 6 ever get here?

2006-10-16T21:43:00.000Z

When I first stumbled upon the fact Fedora Core 6 was near release on the 11th October I thought "Hooray! My computer needs a format anyway."

Then, it was put back to the 17th, and today I have just checked the schedule and it's now set for the 19th.

They do like to tease us!

-EDIT (18th October)- It now say's the 24th October!!

Current priorities

2006-10-10T11:29:00.000Z

Here is the current order in which I intend to work on my projects:

CoderCastle website
SourceKeep backend
SourceKeep clients (Linux and Windows)
L33TSig (Windows)
IRCLink (Linux)
Advanced Dir To HTML (Windows)
IRCLink (Windows)
Advanced Dir To HTML (Linux)

Obviously this is subject to change, but let's see how I go.

CoderCastle.com in production

2006-10-09T21:23:00.000Z

I have finally gotten around to working on CoderCastle! CoderCastle is user-contributed website which will contain resources for programmers advanced and beginner. I'm hoping the production time for this website won't be a long time.

Click the image for a sneaky preview.

Colour To HTML 5.1 released!

2006-10-08T15:47:00.000Z

Colour To HTML 5.1 has been relased.

See my previous post Colour To HTML 5.1 in development for more information on the changes.

You can, as ever, download Colour To HTML from the website at http://colourtohtml.codercastle.com

Colour To HTML passes the 21,000 mark

2006-10-08T08:36:00.000Z

Colour To HTML 5.0 has passed the 21,000 downloads mark!

Let's hope with the up and coming release of version 5.1 that number will boost up a lot more!

SourceKeep Administration

2006-10-07T21:30:00.000Z

For the moment, the User/Project administration parts of SourceKeep will be web-based. This is because it is easier until I have written a way to limit the requests the client makes for populating the forms.

Colour To HTML 5.1 in development

2006-10-03T09:19:00.000Z

Colour To HTML 5.1 is now in development! I have add a couple of suggestions which I am going to add, they are:

Give output in CSS format [i.e rgb(255,125,77)]
Make the zoom window from the colour picker draggable around the screen

I am also adding a zoom slider to that window so you can choose the zoom percentage - this will be between 100% and 400%.

SourceKeep client administration menus

2006-10-03T09:02:00.000Z

Whoops! Something I had completely overlooked and not put in my ToDo list: the admin options, how are you meant to add users, delete projects and other admin related stuff if you don't have any administration options in the menu?

Server considerations with SourceKeep

2006-10-02T22:23:00.000Z

After battling for hours with Windows 2000 and Apache 1.3 tonight I have discovered that the SourceKeep backend requires a certain configuration option set in PHP:

magic_quotes_gpc = Off

Whether this is just when using PHP on Windows I am unsure, I will have to test the same version under Linux.

SourceKeep Windows client

2006-09-29T13:10:00.000Z

I have rewritten the Windows client in Delphi as it seemed very buggy using Lazarus/Free Pascal. This is very odd as it's the same code as I am using for the Linux client which is fine.

Luckily there wasn't too much work involved as the lfm and dfm files are pretty much compatible. Once I have solved a TSynEdit/Delphi 2005 the Windows client will be at the same stage as the Linux client.

Windows 3

2006-09-14T14:49:00.000Z

I was hunting through some old CDs and found Delphi 4 Professional. Also on this disc was Delphi 1 16-bit. So I thought I'd install and have a play.

And here, is what Colour To HTML and L33TSig would look like if they were available for Windows 3.
(Click for larger images).

L33TSig Windows version 2

2006-09-03T13:51:00.000Z

I have started work on L33TSig Windows Client version 2 and completely redesigned the UI. This new version will be a multi-form application.

Colour To HTML: the perfect colour picker?

2006-09-03T09:40:00.000Z

Yesterday, I sat down to work on Colour To HTML. However, the only known bug is that of the help browser. For the first time I have not received any bug or issue reports. Does this make Colour To HTML the perfect colour picker?

If you use Colour To HTML, and would like to see a particular feature added, please feel free to let me know. Either post a reply to this blog entry or use the contact form on my main website.

New mini project

2006-08-31T12:59:00.000Z

I have recently been playing with QEMU, an x86 emulator. It is basically a virtual machine and it is open source. The only issue is it's all command line options. So I have decided to write a very simple front-end for QEMU.

Here's a screenshot of QEMU in action, I will post a concept screenshot of the front-end application soon.

L33TSig Windows

2006-08-27T15:06:00.000Z

Fr3d, the original author of L33TSig has asked me to do a Windows version. I am going for a completely different look from the original and my Linux version.

CNET losing the plot?

2006-08-17T11:17:00.000Z

For some strange reason the download stats for Colour To HTML on download.com are once again around 20,000. Not quite sure what's going on there, but nevermind, atleast it's back to what it should be!

Colour To HTML

2006-08-06T10:17:00.000Z

Download.com seem to have reset the download counter for Colour To HTML, it was over 20,000 now it's at ~800. The swines!

Colour To HTML - Free Software Downloads and Software Reviews - Download.com

SourceKeep Linux client

2006-08-05T12:44:00.000Z

The SourceKeep Linux client just needs all the finishing touches added. This isn't as easy as it sounds, as these finishing touches include all of the error checking plus the support for external viewer apps.

Who knows, if I can drag myself away from Big Brother and San Andreas then it just may be done by the end of August!

L33TSig Linux

2006-07-24T10:21:00.000Z

The L33TSig Linux plugin system is just about done. All I have to do is tidy it up by adding in error detection and hey presto! I have written test plugins for PHP, Perl, Pascal and C/C++ - all of which work perfectly. I have also written a real plugin which adds my CPU temperature to the signature.

Next up I'm going to write a weather plugin!

L33TSig Linux to get plugin capabilities

2006-07-23T13:04:00.000Z

L33TSig Linux will get support for plugins. I have decided to this because it makes more sense for the use of plugins than for me to hard code all of the different ways certains things work. For example CPU temperature: on my machine I use the file /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/THRM/temperature to retrieve my temperature however on different boards this could be stored in a different file.

The plugin system will be very simple and basically the main L33TSig application will retrieve a line of text output from the plugin to stdout. The best thing is, there will be no particular scripting language required, users will be able to write their plugins which ever language they want. Aslong as it outputs a single line to stdout the program will pick it up and add it to the signature.

Projects, work, weather and real life

2006-07-22T11:03:00.000Z

It would seem I haven't posted here in almost a month. That also means I have not worked on any of projects in a month too! Is it because of the 40°C heat? Is it because of a Big Brother addiction? Is it because of having some real life paid work to do? Or is it just because real life commitments are stopping me from sitting here at my computer churning out projects?

The simple answer is: I don't know! IRCLink and Advanced Dir To HTML are long overdue, SourceKeep is getting that way too. And I was planning an update for Colour To HTML but as of yet I have had no feedback on what needs updating other than 1 bug I found myself.

I'm due to go on holiday in August, perhaps once I've had a break and relaxed a bit I will be more willing to get something done - I guess only time will tell.

SourceKeep paths

2006-06-27T21:01:00.000Z

I have just about finished the paths in SourceKeep. Now, when you add a file, you choose which path you want to store the files in. All I have to do is create those paths when the files are downloaded.

SourceKeep write access

2006-06-25T19:49:00.000Z

The write access for projects on SourceKeep is now functional! The means that your important work won't get overwritten by someone who shouldn't have access.
I do still have to make it so users with access cannot upload a file whilst it is "out" by someone else, but that is a nice simple thing to do.

SourceKeep website almost online

2006-06-23T19:18:00.000Z

The SourceKeep website is just about ready to go. I have uploaded all the pages however there are some pages without content.

For now, SourceKeep will be located at http://sourcekeep.sourceforge.net

All systems go!

2006-06-22T22:15:00.000Z

I have finally reinstalled all the bits and bobs after formatting, so normal service is now resumed! Hopefully I will have news of SourceKeep in the next few days.

Normal service will be resumed shortly

2006-06-19T09:01:00.000Z

This weekend I formatted my entire PC, I will have to reinstall everything before continuing any work - bah!

Current SourceKeep to do list

2006-06-16T12:15:00.000Z

Here is the current to do list for SourceKeep:

GUI needs to read user write permissions
Add more file types into the internal file viewer
Finish external viewers support
Project administration
General administration
Decide whether to compress files stored in database
Various scripts for backing up the database (?)
Web-based front-end

Work starts on SourceKeep website

2006-06-16T12:13:00.000Z

I have started working on the SourceKeep website, where the website is going to be hosted I don't know yet, obviously there is the SourceForge webspace, but I don't have too much freedom there.

Code highlighting abandonded

2006-06-16T11:26:00.000Z

I have temporarily abandonded the idea of having highlighted source code for the web-based file viewer which will be part of the SourceKeep project.

For once, it's Linux giving me problems, not Windows! The components I am using (SynEdit) use calls which require a widgetset installed, which, isn't a problem on Windows because the GUI is always there even on servers. Even though the application doesn't actually create a GUI Linux still requires a graphical environment to be active.

I have found one or two PHP-based code highlighters but I have spent way too much time on this problem so the importance has gone down the list.

Whoops!

2006-06-12T23:52:00.000Z

Whoops! I have just realised I have not even begun to add file path support to SourceKeep. It would be pretty poor if you couldn't keep your images in a seperate directory in the archive!

SourceKeep, SourceForge, too much source!

2006-06-12T19:42:00.000Z

I have now setup SourceKeep on SourceForge. Hopefully I'll be good and keep the project page up to date. You can see for yourself at http://sourceforge.net/projects/sourcekeep/

SourceKeep user permissions

2006-06-12T10:29:00.000Z

I have almost finished adding in user permissions to SourceKeep. All I have to do now is making the client take notice of the Write permissions - this shouldn't take too long.

Check it!

2006-06-05T21:35:00.000Z

Checking files in and out is just about done on SourceKeep now. I still need to make some changes to the GUI to fully accomodate this new piece of code but that's not a problem.

The todo list on SourceKeep is gradually getting smaller. As far as my original plan goes, it is 100% functional; but as many things it has changed. I would say now the functionality is about 85%.

Rusty rusty!

2006-06-04T22:31:00.000Z

Oooo my MySQL is somewhat rusty! It's taking me a good few attempts to get the query right for retrieving the most recent files on SourceKeep.

SourceKeep gets version control

2006-06-03T11:11:00.000Z

The version control for SourceKeep is just about done! It still needs to have read/write permissions added and the checking in/out business but it is certainly starting to take shape.

I may be in a position soon to release an alpha version so stay tuned!

Oh no!

2006-06-02T11:41:00.000Z

I have just loaded the Konquest which comes with Fedora Core 5, and it has been updated! It now has computer players too - that could be fun to put into my web version!

Konquest Online will get finished

2006-06-01T10:29:00.000Z

I have decided it is time to resurrect Konquest Online. I haven't touched it in 2 years since I first started the project, but now I plan on getting it done in the next couple of months!

http://konquestonline.homelinux.org

SourceKeep prepares to meet version control

2006-05-30T20:35:00.000Z

The time has come to add version control to SourceKeep!

I'm not sure exactly how it's going to work at the moment, but as usual I shall make it up as I go along! :D

L33TSig Linux BETA available

2006-05-30T10:41:00.000Z

A BETA version of L33TSig Linux is now available. This is a GUI version and requires GTK+ version 2.

It has been tested on Fedora Core 5, Ubuntu 5.1, Debian 3.1 and Slackware 10.

You can download it from the L33Tsig website (registration required).

Here's L33TSig in action:

My new prog blog!

2006-05-30T10:33:00.000Z

Welcome to my new programming blog.

This blog will provide information regarding all of my programming projects.

At the moment this includes:

Advanced Dir To HTML
Colour To HTML
IRCLink
L33TSig Linux
SourceKeep

Hopefully this blog will give you some kind of insight into how I work aswell as keeping you up to date with the status of these projects.