Currently I am working on a bigger project where Extjs has an important role. Up to now I had no experience with it charts capabilities. From an earlier work experience I knew Fusion Charts, but I was looking for something “for free”, so my eye fell on Google Charts.

No working right away

My usual search on internet led to this contribution on the Extjs website. So I started the effort to make it work in the latest Extjs release 3.2.

After creating a test environment, where I downloaded the extension from the website I was hoping that it would work immediately, but it didn’t. The demo on this link, is using Extjs release 2.2.

Respect the DOM please

I will keep this story short, but a small argument I have for all who put their effort on maintaining a framework like Extjs, or any other framework. It would be also nice if any modifications to the DOM in relation to the core of a product is well documented, in a kind of history matrix.

It would be great if modifications to objects and functions leave the DOM manipulations more intact in relation with the prior release. I think that many bugs can be addressed to this DOM manipulations. It makes versions also not downwards compatible. This time the pain was just one (1) word that made the difference between working and frustration.

The right type.type

Reason why it was not functioning was a modification in the DOM outcome for Ext.StoreMgr and the function fields.get(). The user extension for Google Charts misinterpreted the column information send to the Google API.

In de original javascript ext.ux.gvisualizationpanel.js (line 23) you can find:

tbl.addColumn(convert[f.type], c.label || c, id);

tbl.addColumn(convert[f.type.type], c.label || c, id);

Links

• Demo version Extjs 3.2 : Demo
• Demo version Extjs 2.2: Demo
• Download of the Extension (3.2): Download
• Download of the Extension (2.2): Download
• Extjs Framework website: http://www.extjs.com
• Google Charts API documentation: Documentation (Engels)

Credits

Aaron Conran (twitter)

Dictionaries

At the bottom of this post you will find some links with the required dictionaries for English, German and Dutch. Download the required one and unzip it on your desktop or some other temporary folder.

Now copy the unzipped files into folder: C:\Program Files\Windows Live\Writer\Dictionaries.

Restart Windows Live Writer and you will have the following dictionaries:

You can check this with menu: Extra, Options, Spelling (or in the language in which you have installed Live writer).

That’s all folks!!!

Links

• Dictionaries (English, Dutch and German) 
• Dictionaries (English)
• Dictionaries (Dutch)
• Dictionaries (German)  
• Download link Live Writer: download

For an application we are developing at the moment for our company, I needed an integrated player for youtube movies. Condition was however, that it could run in an Extjs version 3.2 panel (or window). I started to look on internet (where else?), for I thought that this certainly must have tried once. I was a bit surprised that there’s no standard widget for this in Extjs. Read how easy it is to use in your own applications. I will stick as much as possible to the integration, skipping explanations on why it is working, for we want to see movies, don’t we?

Why this update?

I have updated this article because version 3.2 of Extjs is official and the developer of this Youtube extension Thorsten Suckow-Homberg updated the player and resolved some bugs. Thanks goes to him for this.

Google applications

The player uses the Google API for Youtube (Youtube API’s and Tools). A lot of documentation is available at the Google site, on how to use this API. Don’t worry, I won’t bother you with that. I will explain now how you can include the player successfully into your own applications.

The files and also the demo are based on the original extension of Thorsten Suckow-Homberg, so we grant him all the credits he deserves (Extjs Ext.ux.YoutubePlayer). Thanks again for the last modifications.

I have to say that player just works fine, but possibly can do much more, because all the possibilities of the API have not been explored yet. I am open for any useful suggestions.

Install

The supplied demo is starting a player in an Ext.Window, but you can also assign the player to a panel. Please let me know, if you would like to see me write a post on this.

Location of the Ext files

Make sure that downloaded code in the right relation with extjs (ext-3.2 in the sample shown). The core files of Extjs are not part of downloads (I have included a link to the Extjs download pages).

• Make sure that both extensions (ux) are also in the proper relation to your index.php or whatever file you are using to declare these files. I have called the directory “extensions”, but it can also be called “ux”, as long as the system can find it back at runtime.
• The with the demo delivered index.php plays a movie of the fantastic band Gentle Giant in an Ext.Window. You can modify this to your own purpose.
• Attention please: all files mentioned are in lowercase. This is because I experienced problems after transferring the files to the webserver of my provider. Some files were not recognized at runtime, when camel-case was used in the file names.

Demo

A working demo is available at demo. This demo is running with Extjs 3.2.0. You can read a post on this matter here:: Post about small bugs in version 3.2.

Downloads

• Extjs core version 3.2.0: Link to download (3.2.0)
• Youtube player for version 3.2 (excluding extjs core file and the required modified ext-all-debug.js !!: download

Next time more CodeIgniter

In a next post I will write about how you can cooperate CodeIgniter with ExtJS in addressing the Youtube API and use the results in a “view” visualized by an ExtJS application.

The reason for this post is an email I got from a site called Myhammer in Germany (find the URL yourself, no help from here). Read why I think  IT creativity and effort is not taken serious anymore.

A beggar’s banquet

Now let’s look at first one, a PHP job for an estimate of 500 Euro.

Translated: we are looking for someone for our project that knows PHP and .NET to create an application for the intake of sport bets in internet. We are looking for a long cooperation. The price is per month. Who has to bring the materials? The one that accepts the project assignment.

Blame

I don’t blame the ones who are asking for someone here. But my goodness, everyone’s job skills are protected in Germany (where I have my business), but what about IT skills. So the guy next door who also knows how to PHP can also apply here. That’s fine, as long he is paying taxes too and is not working for a few bucks per hour and two tickets to the cinema. We have people calling us, if we can do a website for 150 Euro. Companies decide on price, that’s fine. But stop comparing IT deliveries like they are packs of butter from a supermarket. You never let your house done like that.

Protection

I am a liberal business man. I have my own IT company. We definitely need competition to even keep us sharp, but I don’t like it at all that I have to compete with schoolboys and other people who own a laptop and don’t earn a living from it, but do it for fun.

“Cheapi”stan

I am offering myself as a lawyer (Anwalt). I haven’t learned for this, I know about some law, but I don’t make a regular living from it (I am in IT, but see it as hobby). I think by presenting myself like that I am in trouble soon, for it is illegal. Or I would like to renovate my office and I hire a couple of people from “Cheapi”stan. I think after day one I have the authorities already on my doorstep (informed by the union, perhaps), asking what’s happening here, because none of the carpenters look German. Ok, I have understanding for this and it is supposed to be like that to some extent, but than please help me to keep my yard also free from IT-yunkies and low-budget programming amateurs. I really hope that all people find their hapiness, but going into a global price war on development is in my belief not bringing this closer.

To the makers of hidemyip (Americans by the way, from California) I would say. You sunshine boys made great software, a real party, pitty that the light went out already after 3 days.

Hide my IP or rather fake my location

The solution is very simple, but there is a lot of fuzz about it on different kind of websites. The solution I found is not free, but for $ 29,95 I watch the Olympics now in the Dutch language (and HD).

The program I downloaded from Hide My IP. You can try it for a month (don’t know what happens if you de-install it and re-install it, if the month re-news again). So I tried it, next to some other software for the “secret hide my ip” business.

Does it work?

Oh yes, it works. It works very well indeed. After the installation you are asked if you want to unlock, buy or try the software. Well, first try it I would say.

Although I have hidden the real IP numbers, this sample shows pretty good what can be expected. In this case, my Germany IP would be masked by a Dutch (fake, but real IP). Now were there in the beginning some situations where it didn’t hide.

Don’t hide with your browsers open. And don’t install more than one versions and de-install none. Install as clean as you can.

Torrent

Why not get one with a torrent and save me the money. Well, if you like to have your PC infected, then please go ahead and do so. Most of the torrents I have found regarding this kind of software, were full of spyware, viruses and other sick stuff. Save yourself the effort.

Premium Service

The maker of the software also offers a premium service where you can include MSN, Skype and Outlook to become a real James Bond on the internet, but my only purpose is to fake my geography and that can also be done with the standard version. The premium version has an annual (very expensive) fee and the standard version is a one time price. The makers could be a little bit more specific though, about their conditions.

No premium service and still going Dutch?

When you switch of the premium service, which can be switched on when first installed, the “desired location” is de-activated. Then it’s going to be a bit retrying, because you have to refresh the IP address until it selects one from the desired country (don’t expect to find an IP-address from China here). I think that is a big BOOO  to the makers, for this is one of the big advantages why you buy this software.

Legal

Is it legal? I really don’t know. I think it’s legal to hide your IP, but it  gets tricky at the moment you are doing stuff with it that was not legal from the start. Is it legal to watch the Olympics in this way? Well, I think that Pierre de Coubertin didn’t start these games to let commerce rule over it. Skating is holy for the Dutch, something they want to do a lot for to see the winners.

IT in Romania

It still is highly underestimated when something has it’s origin from Romania. This is however in many cases very unjust. Especially when we talk about ICT developments. Romania has some very good universities (Iasi, Cluj Napoca, Timisoara and Bucureşti) and in the town called in Iaşi (pronounce  i-jasj) in the far north-east of the country, originates currently a real Balkan silicon valley. The software I found is a very positive signal from this highly underestimated country.

RVX Manager is a standard, open and flexible ERP solution with de capacity to adjust to the used business processes. It is free-of-charge, so much cheaper is hardly impossible. RVX Manager contains standard business processes like:

• stock management
• finance and control
• human resource management
• asset management

The adapted standard business model fits for every regular commercial company. It is however possible to modify the model to more complex situations. According to the makers of RVX Manager, it is designed as an open system, but can be extended with plug-ins, special fields, documents, functions, reports and custom made software modules. De company itself offers their services to support more complex implementations.

Technique of the software

RVX Manager is developed with freeware technology like PHP and MySQL and is executed with the use of a  web browser (no doubt). The customer/user can keep the costs low. For those who love a nice frontend, the software is offering a lot . You definitely recognize the capabilities as they are offered within the ExtJS framework.

Useful Links

• www.rvxmanager.com
• www.extjs.com

For an Excel document I had to add a trademark to a text in Superscript. This spreadsheet however was multilanguage and the style of a superscript (TM) is not translated/converted in a formula. But with a bit of Google I have found the solution. Here is how I did it.

The trademark in a formula

="Portable PowrDipper"&CHAR(153)&" & Sprayer"&CHAR(153)

leads to: Portable PowrDipper^TM & Sprayer^TM

So when you put this in let’s say cell A1 and in cell A2 you put =A1, then in A2 the special characters are nicely converted.

More special characters

Euro € 0128
Ellipsis … 0133
Dagger † 0134
Double Dagger ‡ 0135
Bullet • 0149
Trademark ™ 0153
Cents ¢ 0162
Pounds £ 0163
Yen ¥ 0165
Copyright © 0169
Registered ® 0174
Plus/Minus ± 0177
Paragraph ¶ 0182
Degree ° 0176

Just add the number behind the character in your Excel formula.

Useful links

http://www.cpearson.com/excel/chars.htm

What exactly is a “page ear”? Well that are those nice page flips, mostly on the right top of a web page. They are there to invite you to click on it, for getting some more “hidden” information (shown with some animation). As a sample I have used the “donkey-ears”  from http://www.webpicasso.de/blog/pageear-free-peel-away-ad/. It’s free-of-charge as long as you keep the copyright in the javascript.

Personally I am allergic for software that looks nice in a demo, but in your situation just don’t works. Even worse is when the manual also useless is. So I know, I create some expectation here. I will explain how my “ear” works (related to our website http://www.rjb-europe.com).

In the initial file delivered throught the webpicasso stie were a few small errors. Well in our example they are out (watch the cow). Whenever it should not work, please let me know, then I will try to help. But be careful, it’s for Joomla, not for WordPress.

The module

• Download the file (zip file at the end of this article) place this on your desktop (temporarily).
• Go to the Joomla backend (administrator) and find the menu for install/de-install.
• Install the files you put on your desktop.
• Go to the Module Manager and activate the module.

Now comes the triggy part:

• Open with an editor (for example the free of charge and great PSPAD) the index.php file from the template  (in: /templates/yourtemplate-here/). So not the index.php of the Joomla installation.
• Add the following lines (everything after <body>) :

<body>  <div class="pageear">
<jdoc:include type="modules" name="<span style="background-color: yellow;">advert1</span>" />
</div>

• As you can see I have used zone "advert1" (this is a zone available in my template, but I have not uesed for something else)
• Save your index.php to the place where it came from on your webserver
• In the module mod_pageear you open: pageear.js (/modules/mod_pageear/). In this file you should edit untill you see the following:

var SiteRoot = '/modules/mod_pageear/';

// URL zum kleinen Bild / URL to small image

var pagearSmallImg = SiteRoot+’ear.jpg‘;

// URL zu pageear_s.swf / URL to small pageear swf

var pagearSmallSwf = SiteRoot+’pageear_s.swf’;

// URL zum großen Bild / URL to big image

var pagearBigImg = SiteRoot+’peal.jpg‘;

// URL zu pageear_b.swf / URL to big pageear swf

var pagearBigSwf = SiteRoot+’pageear_b.swf’;

Small explanation

the variable SiteRoot (respect the character casting of small and big characters) tells the system where the module resources (pictures and flash) can be found. I have replaced the names of the images in our example by: ear.jpg (the ear) and peal.jpg (the peal down).

the images

So the images are:

• ear.jpg = the ear = 100×100 pixels
• peal.jpg = peal down = 500×500 pixels (save the cow peal.jpg from www.rjb-europe.com and you can see what you can spend on your own design)

de Module download file

download: the Joomla Page Ear Module

My other blog is www.djeedjee.com and that is completely in the Dutch (Nederlandse) language. The blog is about all that is interesting about developing for the web, mainly web applications, based on frameworks like jQuery, CodeIgniter and ExtJS.

As a challenge to see if I can reach a bigger audience (for I want to learn also something myself) I have decided to also blog in English. This blog will not be a one-to-one translation of the Dutch blog, but also have it’s own thing once in a while. In next few days, I will add quickly more content and hopefully together with the readers produce something nice.