Jade's weblog

It appears you can include ! and ? in proc names in Tcl. So you can do nice Ruby-like proc names, such as

valid?
proc_with_side_effect!

Interesting.

Looking for an exceptional senior developer. Must like having a dream job.

Very useful.

It looks like there is a bug in the configuration script for tDOM 0.8.0 that is revealed by bash 3.1, included with Fedora Core 5.

Fun.

Okay, let's see:

cd
mkdir bash3
cd /usr/local/src
wget http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/bash/bash-3.0.tar.gz
tar xzf bash-3.0.tar.gz
cd bash-3.0
./configure --prefix=/home/jade/bash3
make install

Wow, wasn't that fun.

Now use /home/jade/bash3/bin/bash instead of the normal bash and it should work.

It didn't.

Open source icons

Upgrade notes:

Got errors in the upgrade on my staging server, so rebuild the database and did every stinking upgrade script manually. I should note that I do appreciate the work that these developers do, and many of these folks are very good programmers. But I did want to post where the problems occured, and who would be responsible for fixing them.

• acs-content-repository (author davis@xarg.net) -- harmless because it recreates these foreign key constraints.
  psql -f upgrade-5.2.0d2-5.2.0d3.sql
  psql:upgrade-5.2.0d2-5.2.0d3.sql:4: ERROR: constraint "cr_folder_type_map_fldr_fk" does not exist
  ALTER TABLE
  psql:upgrade-5.2.0d2-5.2.0d3.sql:9: ERROR: constraint "cr_folder_type_map_typ_fk" does not exist
  ALTER TABLE

• acs-content-repository (author timoh or daveb)
  psql -f upgrade-5.2.0a1-5.2.0a2.sql
  psql:upgrade-5.2.0a1-5.2.0a2.sql:221: ERROR: cannot drop view download_archive_descsi because other objects depend on it
  HINT: Use DROP ... CASCADE to drop the dependent objects too.

  I tried changing the text from create view to create or replace
  view in case that would help. I have no idea if it will.

• acs-content-repository (author daveb)
  psql -f upgrade-5.2.1d1-5.2.1d2.sql
  psql:upgrade-5.2.1d1-5.2.1d2.sql:930: ERROR: cannot drop view download_archive_descsi because other objects depend on it
  HINT: Use DROP ... CASCADE to drop the dependent objects too.

• news-aggregator (this package never worked for me anyway, so I dropped it using their drop scripts and rebuilt it. There was a typo in one of the drop scripts.) It seems like this might actually be functional now... cool.

An excellent reference.

I wrote an exercise reminder program, which emails you when you have't worked out in a couple of days. I also placed it on my home page, so that I feel the public pressure to work out.

Anyone is free to sign up. It's free, and I plan to add in a public shame page, which will show how long it's been since you last worked out.

Helpful.

I'm flagging this for reading. A PDF version is available.

We'll need to update some OpenACS packages to support this.

Dossy turned me on the fact that you can easily log the amount of time each request takes in Aolserver.

I've commited this to oacs-5-1, so it will start appearing in OpenACS soon.

I believe I can use this in conjuction with Analog to produce reports on the amount of time each request takes...

This morning, I received an email from a monitoring service that let me know that one of the sites I am responsible for was not responding.

The message on the server's main page said that the database was down.

So I log into the server, take down Aolserver, and attempt to restart Postgres:

svc -d /service/servername

www:~# /etc/init.d/postgresql restart
Stopping PostgreSQL database server: postmaster/usr/lib/postgresql/bin/pg_ctl: kill: (30083) - No such process
pg_ctl: postmaster does not shut down
.
Starting PostgreSQL database server: postmaster ((null) already running.).

www:~# su - postgres
postgres@www:~$ pg_ctl stop
waiting for postmaster to shut down...2005-01-17 10:26:12 [1548] LOG:  received smart shutdown request
.2005-01-17 10:26:12 [1590] LOG:  shutting down
..2005-01-17 10:26:15 [1590] LOG:  database system is shut down
done
postmaster successfully shut down
postgres@www:~$ exit
logout
www:~# /etc/init.d/postgresql start

Apparently, you can add in photos to lars-blogger via Flikr.

Index: edit-this-page/templates/article-index.tcl
===================================================================
RCS file: /var/cvs/ibr/packages/edit-this-page/templates/article-index.tcl,v
retrieving revision 1.1.1.1
retrieving revision 1.2
diff -u -r1.1.1.1 -r1.2
--- edit-this-page/templates/article-index.tcl  6 May 2004 23:59:35 -0000       1.1.1.1
+++ edit-this-page/templates/article-index.tcl  8 Apr 2004 18:46:24 -0000       1.2
@@ -20,3 +20,9 @@
 
 etp::get_page_attributes
 etp::get_content_items
+
+# customization as per 
+# http://www.thecodemill.biz/publications/blog/one-entry?entry_id=9879
+# to allow includes, etc.
+eval [template::adp_compile -string $pa(content)]
+set pa(content) ${__adp_output}

Documents how to set up a production server with Arch.

How to turn on statistics command on Postgres

If you get an error like this:

/usr/local/aolserver/bin/nsd: error while loading shared libraries: libnsd.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

Try ldd:

/usr/local/aolserver/bin# ldd nsd
        libnsd.so => not found
        libnsthread.so => not found
        libtcl8.4.so.0 => /usr/lib/libtcl8.4.so.0 (0x40018000)
        libdl.so.2 => /lib/libdl.so.2 (0x400ba000)
        libpthread.so.0 => /lib/libpthread.so.0 (0x400bd000)
        libm.so.6 => /lib/libm.so.6 (0x400d1000)
        libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x400f2000)
        /lib/ld-linux.so.2 => /lib/ld-linux.so.2 (0x40000000)

It looks like the libraries are not being found.

Try this:

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:/usr/local/aolserver/lib

Vinod's entry fixes it here:

http://openacs.org/forums/message-view?message_id=161815

You may need to edit your /usr/local/aolserver/nsd-postgres file to include Aolserver's lib directories.

Good to file away for later. This was written by Joel.

When people register on an OpenACS site, you can give them the option to join a mailing list:

Index: user-new.tcl
===================================================================
RCS file: /var/cvs/safe4all/packages/acs-subsite/lib/user-new.tcl,v
retrieving revision 1.1.1.2
diff -u -r1.1.1.2 user-new.tcl
--- user-new.tcl        22 Jun 2004 21:06:53 -0000      1.1.1.2
+++ user-new.tcl        5 Oct 2004 17:41:39 -0000
@@ -39,6 +39,20 @@

ad_form -name register -export {next_url user_id return_url} -form [auth::get_r
egistration_form_elements]

+# safe4all.org extention
+
+set checked_p [list checked ""]
+
+ad_form -extend -name register -form {
+    {join_announce_p:text(checkbox),optional
+        {label "Receive weekly news?"}
+        {help_text "You can opt out at any point, and we do not give out your email address."}
+        {options {{"" "on"}}}
+        {html $checked_p}
+    }
+}
+
+
if { [exists_and_not_null rel_group_id] } {
    ad_form -extend -name register -form {
        {rel_group_id:integer(hidden),optional}
@@ -81,6 +95,21 @@
                                      -secret_question $secret_question \
                                      -secret_answer $secret_answer]

+        # safe4all.org
+
+        if {[string equal $creation_info(creation_status) "ok"]} {
+            if {[string is true $join_announce_p]} {
+                ns_sendmail \
+                    "safe-announce-subscribe@mail.safe4all.org"; \
+                    $email \
+                    "join safe-announce mailing list" \
+                    "I would like to join the SAFE-announce mailing list. Infor\
mation on subscribing and unsubscribing are available at http://www.safe4all.or\
g/forums/forum-view?forum%5fid=13394"
+
+            }
+        }
+
        if { [string equal $creation_info(creation_status) "ok"] && [exists_and
_not_null rel_group_id] } {
            group::add_member \
                -group_id $rel_group_id \

.

[15:10] > what could I have done in my config.tcl file?
[15:10]  *csari* change this line: set hostname                  [ns_info hostname]
[15:10]  *csari* to 'set hostname www.usbakery.com'
[15:10] > ahhh, that makes sense!

Interesting to look at for comparison to the developmental practices of OpenACS. We're getting closer to a vision of something like this, but we're not quite there yet. Matthew's new AMS package allows us to have the plumbing for this sort of thing -- it really finishes some of the form problems OpenACS never resolved. Exciting stuff.

Randy posted a useful tip for ad_form validation

.

Good article on logging and analyzing queries in Postgres, thanks to Jeff.

The link doesn't actually go to the after-mount callback, but it shows how it's added into the .info file.

.

perl -pi -e "s/^\\connect olduser$/\\connect newuser/" filename

Thanks, Dave, Dossy, and Til.

To load in the database dump:

psql -f filename dbusername

I updated my easy virtual hosting document. I finally fixed the most major problem I was having with it.

Ad_form has a facility for allowing you to pull in new values from the database while the form is being edited. This is a really cool feature if you know how to use it.

Basically, all you have to do is:

In the definition of your form, put in an html section

    {pm_task_id:integer(select),optional
        {section "Task"}
        {label "Subject"}
        {options {$task_options}}
        {html 
        {onChange "document.log_entry_form.__refreshing_p.value='1';
submit()"}
        }
        {value $pm_task_id}
    }
} 

In this case, the form is called log_entry_form. When you submit the form, it will show the form again, this time with the value for pm_task_id and the rest of the form set. I then have a section of my form that says:

if {[info exists pm_task_id]} {

extend the form here

}

This can allow you to do things like sub-categories with ad_form.

When you have code in a /lib directory, and you want it to be called by any package, you need to make sure any links you return are relative to the package the /lib resides in. Let's say it's in package-A/lib and it's being called from package-B/www/myfile.tcl

Look a lars-blogger/www/blog.adp for a good example of how to deal with this.

[11:16] <bartt> You use a TAGS file for that.
[11:16] <bartt> Are you familiar w/ M-. ?
[11:16] > No, not really.
[11:17] <bartt> OK, let me publish some scripts I use to create TAGS files for OpenACS.
[11:17]         jadeforrest cheers :)
[11:17] <bartt> TAGS files are one of the best things about Emacs and VIM
[11:17] <SchemaThings> tks bartt!
[11:17] <SchemaThings> totally
[11:18] <SchemaThings> the toolmaster 9000
[11:18]         bartt setting up a ~/bin GNU Arch achive

[11:19] > I can't believe I was living without oacs.el before :)
[11:44] <bartt> OK, for those with tla, you can get otags & otags-site using:
[11:45] <bartt> tla get -A bart-arch@thecodemill.biz--2004 bin--main--0 bin
[11:45] <bartt> Do this in your ~ and then add ~/bin to your PATH.
[11:45]         bartt making a tar file of this archive.

[11:47] <bartt> You can download the tar file from: http://www.thecodemill.biz/repository/otags.tgz
[11:47] <bartt> Extract in ~ (creates ./bin)
[11:48] <bartt> Then run otags-site <path to your OpenACS server root>
[11:48] <bartt> E.g. otags-site /web/openacs-4
[11:48] <bartt> This will create 2 files in each package directory: TAGS and TAGS-TCL
[11:49] <bartt> Plus a master set of TAGS and TAGS-TCL files in server root.
[11:49] hazmat [~hazmat@pool-68-162-33-2.nwrk.east.verizon.net] has joined #openacs
[11:51] <bartt> TAGS contains tags of all TCL procedure definitions, XQL query definitions and all SQL package bodies.
[11:52] <bartt> TAGS-TCL contains tags of all TCL procedure definitions and XQL query definitions but not the SQL package bodies.
[11:52] <bartt> otags-site calls otags
[11:52] <bartt> otags is configured to index Oracle XQL files.
[11:53] <bartt> Change the regexp in otags to index PostgreSQL XQL files instead.
[11:53] <bartt> Re-running otags-site will update the TAGS and TAGS-TCL files.
[11:53] <bartt> To use these files press M-. in Emacs
[11:54] <bartt> Upon first use Emacs will ask for a TAGS file.
[11:54] <bartt> If you want to search the entire site you point it to the master TAGS file. E.g. /web/openacs-4/TAGS
[11:55] <bartt> If you want to limit your search to a single package point it to the package TAGS file. E.g. /web/openacs-4/packages/acs-tcl/TAGS
[11:55] <bartt> If you want to limit your search to on the TCL and XQL files of a single package point it to the package TAGS-TCL file. E.g. /web/openacs-4/packages/acs-tcl/TAGS-TCL
[11:55] <bartt> Let me know if you have any questions.
[11:57] <bartt> You can switch TAGS files in an Emacs session w/ M-x tags-reset-tags-table
[11:57] > Is this documented anywhere, or should I copy and paste from this session so I don't forget?
[11:57] <bartt> I haven't documented this. Most of it is documented in Emacs though.
[11:58]         bartt Reminds himself to write another article

[11:59] <bartt> C-h i
[11:59] <bartt> m emacs
[11:59] <bartt> m tags
[11:59] <bartt> Will get you to the tags documentation in Emacs
[11:59] <SchemaThings> tags is a standard feature of either editor if you can tag the body of stuff you're working with
[12:00] <SchemaThings> so the bartt tag generator is the custom code / technique here
[12:00] <dirkgomez> lars uses them in a very interesting way
[12:00] <SchemaThings> how so?
[12:01] <bartt> Also very useful: M-x tag-search and M-x tags-query-replace
[12:01] <bartt> Followed by M-,

Jeff pointed out I can say:

ad_url

instead of...

parameter::get_from_package_key -package_key acs-kernel -parameter SystemURL

Thanks, Jeff!

Woohoo! :)

I posted a script I used.

Richard Hamilton called my project-manager package for OpenACS, a work of art! Wow, thanks, Richard!

I think it still needs a lot of work!

Interesting proc.

In OpenACS, if you have context and the mime_type, you can get the HTML to display as follows:

set richtext_list [list $description $mime_type]

set description [template::util::richtext::get_property html_value $richtext_list]

I've noticed a pattern recently in people who don't seem very well socialized:

* they don't ask questions about the person they're talking with.

They either talk about themselves, or they don't talk much at all.