Data Drivn BLOG

new blog site for a friend

2009-09-09T15:32:00.001-07:00

I'm preparing a new site for our daycare provider Gabriela, check it at http://misamigoslogan.blogspot.com !

New Boules blog

2008-10-23T10:46:00.001-07:00

I've just started a blog about building my own Petanque Piste, come have a look!

http://mosaiclogan.blogspot.com/

My Life on the Plains

2007-08-08T18:22:00.001-07:00

I've been reading "My Life on the Plains" by General G.A. Custer. Fascinating book, even if one takes it with a grain of salt. Very interesting to read how they travelled and fought, especially to read about the relationship of Custer to the Indians. I think that the biggest thing that impressed me was that Custer had been Indian fighting for eight years before Little Big Horn. That's a long time and a lot of experience out on the plains. Looking forward to arriving in Nebraska this month.

Fixed my problems with googlevid bar in firefox

2007-08-04T08:11:00.000-07:00

Finally got to the bottom of my issues with the Google Video Bar. It had been working in IE but not firefox, and the error console was giving invalid character responses and pointing to the .js files from google.

Since some of the letters are in Arabic, I had been forced to save the HTML file as Unicode some time ago. That seems to be what caused my issue. After saving as UTF-8, the Arabic still works and now the google vid bar doesn't blow up either!

I'm in the midst of trying to embed some mp3s into the page, right now the plugin's are taking too long to load, I think I'll probably switch to a flash solution of some sort, at least that should speed up the plugin load.
http://kifkif.fft.googlepages.com/kif.htm

loading...

2007-07-21T11:00:00.000-07:00

http://kifkif.fft.googlepages.com/kif.htm
Spent a bit more time working on the loading of the page. All the big blocks of images are now stuck in a function that gets called on page load, and I have a "loading..." on the top left page. It's actually a number of layers of < div >'s that have different numbers of "..."'s in them. So it the page loads slowly you'll see loading... loading.... loading..... etc. Then at the end of the onLoad function, there's a blank < div > laid over the top of them. Works quite well.

I also added a statcounter and verfied the site in the google webmaster tool.

kifkif website

2007-07-16T00:30:00.000-07:00

Making good progress on the KifKif website for Karim. Still stuck to a single page with a bunch of hidden divs overlayed. I did this mostly so that once a video or mp3 starts playing, you can still click around within the webpage and not interupt the music. I think that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages and it works on IE and FireFox. Being a media website, I don't think that it needs to support every browser out there etc. I am leaning heavier and heavier towards browser side JavaScript, instead of Flash. Karim sent me a bunch of his texts and pictures and it's almost a finished site now. Check it out if you dare! KifKif.FFT

I've also been using Inline CSS instead of Tables for page layout and I love it. If you grew up with a Comodore64 placing pixels on the screen with coordinates, you'll love it. If you're not so good at math you might not. I've done a photopile that I happen to like quite well. It's got a bunch of photos overlapping and onmouseover they pop to the top and change the color of the border. It's a nice effect and I will use it on other sites in the future.

GoogleVideo Ajax Bar

2007-07-04T05:29:00.000-07:00

Having a bit more fun with the google video search bar, one of the google/apis. It's a pretty cool idea and pretty easy to add to a page (I have it on my home page hosted over at googlepages). I keep in a hidden div so that it only shows up when I want it to. Google's given the ability to scroll thru searches so it refreshes itself every so often and randomly uses one of the search terms that I've hard coded into it.

<div id="videoBar-player" style=position:absolute;padding:10;background-color:powderblue;right:1;top:240;> </div> <div id="videoBar-bar" style=position:absolute;padding:10;background-color:silver;left:10;top:560;;height:100;display:none;> Loading... </div> <div id=click1 onclick=show("feed","click1a") style=position:absolute;left:1;top:20;height:20;width:20;pointer;cursor:hand;><center>+</center></div> <div id=click1a onclick=less("feed","click1a") style=position:absolute;left:1;top:20;height:20;width:20;display:none;pointer;cursor:hand;background-color=powderblue;zIndex=100;><center>-</center></div> <div onclick=show("videoBar-bar","click2a") id=click2 style=position:absolute;left:1;top:50;height:20;width:20;pointer;cursor:hand;><center>+</center></div> <div onclick=less("videoBar-bar","click2a") id=click2a style=position:absolute;left:1;top:50;height:20;width:20;display:none;pointer;cursor:hand;background-color=powderblue;zIndex=100;><center>-</center></div> <form method="POST" action="http://desktoptv.sunrise.ch/" target="tv" valign=bottom style="padding: 0; background-position: bottom 50%"> <input type="hidden" name="user" value="abcjones"><input type="hidden" name="pass" value="abc123"> <input type="hidden" name="sublogin" value="Login"> <input type="image" src=blank.gif value="" name="submit" id="submit" align="center" valign=bottom style="padding: 0"> </form> <script src="http://www.google.com/uds/api?file=uds.js&v=1.0&source=uds-vbw&key=ABQIAAAAHINohvpZyP-ZJ4Z6C2OxrBQsHxAC5gVuGbupNYRf0eJpzo3MhxRmeu-9ByI18PPe5RQFSz6xPo5Csg" type="text/javascript"></script> <style type="text/css"> @import url("http://www.google.com/uds/css/gsearch.css"); </style>  <script type="text/javascript"> window._uds_vbw_donotrepair = true; </script> <script src="http://www.google.com/uds/solutions/videobar/gsvideobar.js?mode=new" type="text/javascript"></script> <style type="text/css"> @import url("http://www.google.com/uds/solutions/videobar/gsvideobar.css"); </style> <style type="text/css"> #videoBar-player .playerInnerBox_gsvb .player_gsvb { width : 320px; height : 260px; } </style> <script type="text/javascript"> function LoadVideoBar() { var videoBar; var options = { largeResultSet : true, horizontal : true, autoExecuteList : { cycleTime : GSvideoBar.CYCLE_TIME_SHORT, cycleMode : GSvideoBar.CYCLE_MODE_RANDOM, executeList : ["verona pooth", "christian ulmen", "tv total -tokio -us5", "feldbusch", "verona feldbusch", "extreme activity", "die toten hosen", "stefan raab -tokio -us5", "pooth" ] } } videoBar = new GSvideoBar(document.getElementById("videoBar-bar"), document.getElementById("videoBar-player"), options); } // arrange for this function to be called during body.onload // event processing GSearch.setOnLoadCallback(LoadVideoBar); </script>

KifffKifff website for Karim

2007-07-04T04:59:00.000-07:00

I spent some time finishing the Website I was making for Karim. I'm fairly happy with it actually and it's a bit "funky". I have posted a couple of videos of Karim's songs on google video and included them in a bar on the right side of the screen. It's all CSS-Inline style laid out with almost no tables. I used lots of onmouseover events, to bring pictures to the top and move things about a bit. It's very Javascript driven, as I was trying not to refresh the page (so that you could have video or music playing the whole time while surfing. It has some other nice little touches too.

KifKif hosted at GooglePages.

kifkif website

2007-06-25T07:59:00.000-07:00

I've been playing around with a website for Kif Kif (Karim's band). He's got a new album almost finished and it's brilliant. I don't have that much info from him (lyrics etc) so I cut and pasted some Rachid Taha stuff from the web. It's not brilliant, but sort of a sketch of what I might try to do.

kifkif

Might see how it looks to me tomorrow, sleep on it as they say.

Google Ajax Feed API emusic sidebar

2007-06-07T07:41:00.000-07:00

Finished up the e*Music google ajax feed api toolbar. Added some style, some mouseovers, and made it scroll thru 5 feeds. I'm quite happy with it and have added it to my homepage.

e*music sidebar

Google AJAX Feed API

2007-06-06T06:33:00.000-07:00

I've been messing about with the Google AJAX Feed API. It's interesting for servers where you don't have any scripting abilities (ie my googlepages server). The concept is that you can use a Browser side JavaScript call to Google's FeedReader (RSS Reader) from the broswer, then parse it and dump it in a div. They had a nice example with iTunes, so I decided to make a small bar with the e*music RSS feed (any page in e*music can be displayed as an RSS feed by changing the url to include RSS).

Test Page

and here is the Google Ajax Feed API Link

Interesting idea.

Editable Checklist Website

2007-06-05T01:34:00.000-07:00

OK, this is a first try posting some code from a very small website that I created. I was looking for a way to post install instructions (actually data update procedures) that were "editable" online. Since I've been messing about with XML and XSL lately, I thought it might be cool to drive it off of an XML file instead of a Database. I tried to keep it to a small number of files, I wound up with:

1. Default.asp - this is the main page (and only display page) but it's actually a frame for the 2 xsl pages (one to display and one to enable editing).

2. Lister.xml - this is where all the actual content for the site is kept.

3. Lister.xsl - this is the XSL that transforms the XML file that allows you to check boxes but not to edit the steps.

4. Listerall.asp - asp page that edits the XML file for steps and details from input given by the listeredit.xsl page.

5. Listeredit.xsl - XSL that transforms the XML file and gives input fields to edit the list and details. Should be hidden from most users.

6. Xmlutil.asp - the famous MS XML includes.

I'm still doing all my transforms server side because it makes me happy. Think everything in this site is ASP and VBScript. I had a stylesheet that creates blocks in neat patterns (that's why all the xtra divs are there), but wanted a gerneric version.

Here's the ASP from the default.asp page:6

Here's what the XML file currently looks like (lister.xml):

<xml><list><maintitler>Instructions for Install</maintitler><dater>29.05.2007 11:58:06</dater></list> <lister><titler>Do the Install from the CD</titler><detail>NPR Worldwide NEW FROM NPR WORLDWIDE: We now have an online survey available to help us learn more about our listeners and what they think of the services we provide. You can fill it out right on our website, and it will just take a few brief moments of your time. Please help us build a better NPR Worldwide for you. NPR Worldwide/NPR Berlin ONLINE SURVEY NPR is an internationally acclaimed producer and distributor of noncommercial news, talk, and entertainment radio programming. Read more about NPR. New! NPR FM 104.1 broadcasting in Berlin, Germany: Read more about NPR FM 104.1 View the station's program schedule. Listen and Read Online Please set a preferred player for NPR audio: Windows Media | Real | Help Listen to the Hourly Newscast Listen to a stream of NPR programming Browse archives by topic Browse archives by program Get NPR news via RSS </detail><num>1</num><ckr></ckr></lister><lister><titler>Copy the Directory to the Root</titler><detail>wow it works.</detail><num>2</num><ckr></ckr></lister><lister><titler>Login with Admin and Finish</titler><detail>This is ETN's test :-)</detail><num>3</num><ckr></ckr></lister></xml>

Here's the XSL that does the Transform for the main display (lister.xsl):

<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version="1.0"> <xsl:template match="xml"> <a href="default.asp?edit=edit">edit</a> <form action='listerck.asp' method='get' name='theform' id='theform' ><center><table width="600px" border="0" style="border-collapse:collapse;" cellpadding="0"> <tr><td></td></tr> <xsl:for-each select="list"> <h1><xsl:copy-of select="maintitler" /></h1> </xsl:for-each> <xsl:for-each select="lister"> <xsl:variable name="ck" select="ckr" /> <xsl:variable name="ti" select="titler" /> <xsl:variable name="nu" select="num" /> <tr bgcolor="white"> <td onMouseOver="this.bgColor = 'lightcyan'" onMouseOut="this.bgColor = 'white'"> <a onclick="toggle('{$nu}')"><xsl:attribute name="onmouseover">this.style.cursor='hand'</xsl:attribute>+</a> <xsl:if test="$ck='on'" > <input value='{$nu}' name='ck' type='checkbox' checked='checked' /> </xsl:if> <xsl:if test="$ck != 'on'" > <input value='{$nu}' name='ck' type='checkbox' /> </xsl:if> <xsl:copy-of select="titler" /> <div id='{$nu}' style='display:none;width:600px;background-color:lavender;'> <pre cols='75' wrap='hard' ><xsl:copy-of select="detail" /></pre> </div> </td> </tr> </xsl:for-each> </table> <input type='submit' value='Save Checks'/> </center></form> </xsl:template> </xsl:stylesheet>

This page edits the XML file (listerall.asp):

<%@ language = VBScript%> <% xmllocal = "J:\Inetpub\wwwroot\ssg\xml\ck\lister.xml" Sub unchecker() Dim xml, nodeList, node, deletenode Set xml = Server.CreateObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM") ' old parser xml.async = False if xml.load(xmllocal) then Set objRoot = xml.documentElement Set nodelist = objRoot.selectNodes("//lister") for each node in nodelist set objdone = node.parentnode.removechild(node) next xml.Save(xmllocal) end if set xml = nothing End Sub Sub AppXML(id) Dim xml, nodeList, node, deletenode Set xml = Server.CreateObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM") ' old parser 'set xml = Server.CreateObject("Msxml2.DomDocument.4.0") xml.async = False if xml.load(xmllocal) then Dim objPerson Dim objChild set root = xml.documentElement set objPerson = xml.CreateElement("lister") root.appendchild objperson Set objChild = xml.createElement("titler") objChild.Text = titler objPerson.appendChild objChild Set objChild = xml.createElement("detail") objChild.Text = detail objPerson.appendChild objChild Set objChild = xml.createElement("num") objChild.Text = i objPerson.appendChild objChild Set objChild = xml.createElement("ckr") objChild.Text = ck objPerson.appendChild objChild xml.Save(xmllocal) end if set xml = nothing End Sub Sub maintitler() Dim xml, nodeList, node, deletenode Set xml = Server.CreateObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM") ' old parser xml.async = False if xml.load(xmllocal) then Set objRoot = xml.documentElement Set nodelist = objRoot.selectNodes("//maintitler") for each node in nodelist set objdone = node.parentnode.removechild(node) next Set nodelist = objRoot.selectNodes("//dater") for each node in nodelist set objdone = node.parentnode.removechild(node) next Set node = objRoot.selectSingleNode("//list") set objPerson = xml.CreateElement("maintitler") objPerson.text = mt node.appendchild objperson set objPerson = xml.CreateElement("dater") objPerson.text = now() node.appendchild objperson xml.Save(xmllocal) end if set xml = nothing End Sub mt = request.form("maintitler") maintitler unchecker for i = 1 to request.form("titler").count titler = request.form("titler")(i) detail = request.form("detail")(i) ck = request.form("ck")(i) if titler <> "" then AppXML titler end if next response.redirect "default.asp" %>

This one edits the checkbox status (listerck.asp) :

This one displays in the default.asp and allows editing of the list (listeredit.xsl):

<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version="1.0"> <xsl:template match="xml"> <form action='listerall.asp' method='post'> <a href="default.asp">main</a> | <a onclick="toggle('help')"> <xsl:attribute name="onmouseover">this.style.cursor='hand'</xsl:attribute>?</a> <div id="help" style="display:none;style=z-index:1;position:absolute;top:1px;right:1px;background-color:white;"> <ul> <li> Add a new entry at the bottom. </li> <li> Add detail by clicking the '+'. </li> <li> Delete entry by leaving blank. </li> <li> <a onclick="toggle('help')"> <xsl:attribute name="onmouseover">this.style.cursor='hand'</xsl:attribute>close</a> </li> </ul> </div> <center><table width="600px" border="0" bordercolor="blue" bgcolor="white" style="border-collapse:collapse;" cellpadding="0"> <tr><td></td></tr> <xsl:for-each select="list"> <xsl:variable name="mt" select="maintitler" /> <h1>< input type='text' value='{$mt}' name='maintitler'/></h1> </xsl:for-each> <xsl:for-each select="lister"> <xsl:variable name="ck" select="ckr" /> <xsl:variable name="ti" select="titler" /> <xsl:variable name="nu" select="num" /> <tr bgcolor="white"> <td onMouseOver="this.bgColor = 'lightcyan'" onMouseOut="this.bgColor = 'white'"> <a onclick="toggle('{$nu}')"> <xsl:attribute name="onmouseover">this.style.cursor='hand'</xsl:attribute>+</a> <xsl:if test="$ck='on'" > < input value='on' name='ck' type='hidden' /> </xsl:if> <xsl:if test="$ck != 'on'" > < input value='' name='ck' type='hidden' /> </xsl:if> < input name='titler' type='text' size='100' value='{$ti}' /> <div id='{$nu}' style='display:none;width:600px;background-color:lavender;'> < textarea cols='75' rows='12' name='detail'><xsl:value-of select="detail" />< /textarea> </div> </td> </tr> </xsl:for-each> <tr bgcolor="white"> <td onMouseOver="this.bgColor = 'lightcyan'" onMouseOut="this.bgColor = 'white'"> <a onclick="toggle('new')">+</a> <input value='' name='ck' type='hidden' /> <input name='titler' size='100' type='text' /> <div id='new' style='display:none;width:600px;background-color:lavender;'> < textarea cols='75' rows='12' name='detail' wrap='hard'>< /textarea> </div></td></tr> </table> <input type='submit' /> </center> </form></xsl:template> </xsl:stylesheet>

And here's the (slightly messy) xmlutil.asp that I'm using as an include:

< html> <% function TransformXML( XML, XSL ) Dim objXML Dim objXSL Set objXML = GetXMLDoc(XML) Set objXSL = GetXMLDoc(XSL) TransformXML = objXML.transformNode(objXSL) End Function Function AddXMLNode( DOMXML, Parent, Name, Value ) Set AddXMLNode = AddXMLNodeEx ( DOMXML, Parent, Name, Value, "" ) End Function Function AddXMLNodeEx( DOMXML, Parent, Name, Value, Namespace ) Dim objNode Set objNode = DOMXML.createNode( 1, LCase(Name), Namespace) If Len(Value) <> 0 then objNode.text = Trim(Value) End If Parent.AppendChild objNode Set AddXMLNodeEx = objNode End Function Function RecordsetToXMLDoc( rs, NodeName, xname ) Dim objNodeCol, objNode, objXML, x Set objXML = Server.CreateObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM") Set objNodeCol = AddXMLNode( objXML, objXML, NodeName & "s", "" ) Do While rs.EOF = False Set objNode = AddXMLNode( objXML, objNodeCol, NodeName, "" ) For Each x in rs.Fields AddXMLNode objXML, objNode, x.Name, Trim(x.Value) Next rs.MoveNext Loop Set RecordsetToXMLDoc = objXML End Function Function GetXMLDoc( XML ) Dim objXML If IsObject(XML) Then set objXML = XML Else Set objXML = Server.CreateObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM") If InStr(XML,"<") > 0 Then 'This is a XML string because < is not valid in a filename objXML.LoadXML XML Else objXML.load(Server.MapPath(XML)) End If End If Set getXMLDoc = objXML End Function function xformXML(param1) xmlPath = "J:\Inetpub\wwwroot\ssg\\lister.xml" xslPath = "J:\Inetpub\ dim xml, xsl dim proc, XSLTemplate Set xml =Server.CreateObject("MSXML2.FreeThreadedDOMDocument.3.0") xml.async = False xml.load xmlPath Set xsl =Server.CreateObject("MSXML2.FreeThreadedDOMDocument.3.0") xsl.async = False xsl.load xslPath 'add parameters to the xsl Set XSLTemplate =Server.CreateObject("MSXML2.XSLTemplate.3.0") Set XSLTemplate.stylesheet = xsl Set proc = XSLTemplate.createProcessor 'set the source of the data proc.input = xml proc.addParameter "proj", param1 proc.Transform xformXML = proc.output 'clean up set xml = Nothing set xsl = Nothing set proc = Nothing set XSLTemplate = Nothing end function function xformer(xsl) xmlPath = "oot\ssg\xml\ck\lister.xml" xslPath = "ssg\xml\ck\" & xsl & ".xsl" dim proc, XSLTemplate Set xml =Server.CreateObject("MSXML2.FreeThreadedDOMDocument.3.0") xml.async = False xml.load xmlPath Set xsl =Server.CreateObject("MSXML2.FreeThreadedDOMDocument.3.0") xsl.async = False xsl.load xslPath Set XSLTemplate =Server.CreateObject("MSXML2.XSLTemplate.3.0") Set XSLTemplate.stylesheet = xsl Set proc = XSLTemplate.createProcessor 'set the source of the data proc.input = xml proc.Transform xformer = proc.output 'clean up set xml = Nothing set xsl = Nothing set proc = Nothing set XSLTemplate = Nothing end function

And this is my really really ugly German Hunting Lodge Style (created with the following CSS (thanks CSSZENGARDEN!)

html { margin: 0px; padding: 0px; min-width:800px; } body { font: 8pt/12pt Verdana, "Trebuchet MS", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; color: #000; margin: 0px; height:2200px; width:764px; } p { font: 10pt/18pt Verdana, "Trebuchet MS", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right; } h1 { font: 20pt Verdana, "Trebuchet MS", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; color: #000; letter-spacing: 1px; margin-bottom: 0px; } a:link { font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; color: saddlebrown; } a:visited { font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; color: saddlebrown; } a:hover, a:active { text-decoration: underline; color: saddlebrown; } #pager { position:absolute; top:0px; left:0px; botton:0px; right:0px; width:100%; height:100%; background-color:forestgreen; } #container { position:absolute; top:0px; width: 1000px; height:100%; background-color:darkgreen; } #left { position:absolute; z-index:1; top:30px; left:0px; direction:ltr; width: 100px; height: 100%; } #main { position: absolute; z-index:1; top:30px; left:150px; width: 700px; height: 100%; padding: 20px; background-color:white; } #box1 { position:absolute; z-index:100; top:200px; right:100px; direction:ltr; width: 100px; height: 100px; background-image: url("geweih.gif"); background-color:saddlebrown; border:5px solid black; } #box2 { position:absolute; z-index:90; top:260px; right:60px; direction:ltr; width: 100px; height: 100px; background-image: url("geweih.gif"); background-color=red; border:5px solid black; } #box3 { position:absolute; z-index:80; top:320px; right:100px; direction:ltr; width: 100px; height: 100px; background-image: url("geweih.gif"); background-color=orange; border:5px solid black; } #box4 { position:absolute; z-index:70; top:380px; right:60px; direction:ltr; width: 100px; height: 100px; background-image: url("geweih.gif"); background-color=yellow; border:5px solid black; } #boxa { position:absolute; z-index:100; top:10px; left:80px; direction:ltr; width: 500px; height: 45px; background-image: url(""); background-color=silver; border:5px solid black; }

And here's the whole thing rar'd up and ready to go:

AllPagesRar

Google-riffic

2007-06-05T01:18:00.000-07:00

Google Code

As usual google has tons of API's available, my only problem is always finding something useful to do with them! I have been using GooglePages quite a bit, ever since I started uploading pages (not editing them online). If it were easy to connect my GooglePages with something like GoogleBase, you could have a pretty powerful online application. It could be possible, and just not yet "clicked" with me. I'm still searching.

E*Music Free Tracks

2007-06-05T00:20:00.000-07:00

Emusic Free Tracks

If you're into "world music" or "alt-country music" and you haven't checked out e*music, well, you're missing out. I've been a subscriber for quite a couple of years, on and off and they still have the best deal, pound for pound (sterling, of course!), out there. Lately Cantos Music has been offering best of African Music samplers in the Free Tracks session. Currently a Best of Mali CD is in the free tracks section and well worth a listen.

As for the Alt-Country and Neo-Honky-Tonk, you'll just have to browse for yourself to believe it.