Check-out these Awesome Cool NoviceNotes™ Resources!
The NoviceNotes™ web application, designed for browsing static content on a development server, AnnieDeBrowsa™ has received its first major update since being released.
Check out AnnieDeBrowsa, updated with alphanumeric sort of navigation links. With this update, what would have been a lengthy list of navigation items is now a concise sub-grouped list showing only top-level parent items, organized by first-character. The contents of the AnnieDeBrowsa installation is more easily located, amounting to a more effective quick-reference.
Important: Please note, the static content viewer, AnnieDeBrowsa may be used for purposes other than viewing html documentation. The content at the link is provided as an example, or proof-of-concept for potential use of AnnieDeBrowsa. ADB is in not associated with Subversion, and this example is not authorized by Subversion, or the people who publish Subversion documentation. The subversion manual was selected for this example, as it represents a considerably large list of HTML files, as a collection of resources which might be more easily managed using AnnieDeBrowsa for viewing, Server-Side.
Navigation links of AnnieDeBrowsa are now grouped, alphanumerically, into collapsing sub-lists. Each sub-list is grouped, based on the first character of each filename it contains. Each alphanumerically sorted group of files are kept hidden– collapsed– until revealed by the user, by clicking on that sub-group’s parent element.
Having only as many navigation items visible as there are sub-list items, as grouped, unique by first-character, results in a more manageable interface overall. With each sub-list indicated by the number or letter (or other character) corresponding to its alphanumeric placement, the user might find a desired file more quickly, scrolling through an overall smaller group of files.
The initial release of AnnieDeBrowsa displayed all navigational links at once. Depending upon the objects under the AnnieDeBrowsa installation container (i.e. the directory in which AnnieDeBrowsa is installed, and the files accompanying ADB under that directory), it was possible that ADB would display a very long list of items in the navigation panel.
I’ve posted a screen capture of my most recent attempt to contribute to the eradication of malware. As a software User– especially users of Freeware, and Open-Source software– it is a Civil Duty, as a Citizen of the Network, to participate in such activity.
A system could have any one type, or multiple variations of the same category of anti-something software installed at the same time. Historically, Users have been discouraged from installing more than one anti-virus application on a system, and I am confident the tradition holds true today. More recent variants in the security software market, such as those labeled simply as anti-spyware, do not necessarily urge the user ensure his or her system is not already protected by a similar application, as might be developed by another software engineer.
Typically, Anti-this and Anti-that software periodically scans the system. Anti-malware, anti-spyware, anti-virus, network security, or even performance-improvement software tend to scan the system in different ways, a varying degrees of depth. It’s important to pay close attention to such settings, and avoid tweaking the default presets– unless you do know what you’re doing. Although I’ve written this article around a screen-capture I took, for recording the simplicity in reporting a False Positive, I want to stress that this is not a typical scenario. Typically, I let the anti-malware remove anything and everything it detects as suspicious– unless I am certain the software detected comes from a reputable company, and even in such case, I would re-scan the suspect files with other anti-malware, to see if I received the same results.
It is important to report new threats to anti-virus companies, but it is also important to report False-Positive detections, as illustrated here. If which you believe is not a true threat, please discriminate, and consider sending a report back to the Developers of the Software reporting the detection. And thank You for participating!
I’m writing to announce the availability of my project AnnieDeBrowsa™, in the ActiveState Firefly repositories.
Check it out at Firefly project name AnnieDeBrowsa
A sub-component of AnnieDeBrowsa, WinPath offers perhaps the most obvious benefit an AnnieDebrowsa? installation. To access WinPath™, extract AnnieDeBrowsa™ to a directory of your choice (i.e. http://localhost/anniedebrowsa), and click the link to “path2url.phtml”.
Winpath is handy for navigating to a PHP file from a source without a native server-mapping function. Once AnnieDeBrowsa is available on your HTTP server, send a URL directly to your web browser, as in the following example [ see FIG 1 ] Let’s assume there exists a file on your HTTP server which you’d like to preview in your web browser. Perhaps the file is the very beginning of a new project, or a bit of JavaScript? embedded in a PHP-powered document that you whipped up for testing, such that previewing the results requires loading the file in the browser as a proper HTTP URL– but, you have no bookmark or “awesome” assistance.
Such a scenario is not uncommon– and it’s precisely what Winpath was developed to accommodate: observe the portion of the example URL, just after “?winpath=” (a URL-encoded variable assignment). There, information about the location of a system file is passed through HTTP_REQUEST to Winpath, by appending onto the URL itself, the full path to the desired file. The string assigned at ?winpath= is retrieved and processed into an HTTP URL, creating an HTML anchor which opens a window, with your new file loaded as you wanted– in one simple click. Note: Winpath is effective for Linux and Windows system paths (and other paths can be included with only minor tweaking, if you’re PHP savvy).
Why is this different than typing, for example, http:// localhost / path / to file / etc? Because, now you can send Winpath URL’s to your browser from virtually any text editor, from the command-line history, from “start > run” and “run” history, and even Windows Explorer (with minor adjustments in Folder Options), thereby alleviating the annoyance of tedium in repeatedly typing fresh URL’s directly into the browser. Thus, AnnieDeBrowsa™ makes it a cinch to preview new URL’s at any time, from virtually anywhere!
FIG. 1:
http://localhost/AnnieDebrowsa/index.php?winpath=/home/user/public_html/project/index.php
Depending upon the nature of the search I want to perform, I often use grep, a GNU Operating System application, common to the Linux operating system. grep is available for Windows, so I use it there when I can for its unique ability to scan file contents. Not only does grep provide a means of locating a desired string of text from a collection of files on the filesystem, it is also an exercise in the use of regular expressions, and Command Line syntax.
When executing grep, one has the option to use basic, extended, or Perl compatible Regular Expressions. As there are several options for executing a search, I often reference the --help option on the command line, or the included HTML help files. The following excerpt from section 5.5 of the Grep [for Windows] HTML help manual explains the difference between the default grep behaviour (basic regex), and that of egrep†
In basic regular expressions the metacharacters `?’, `+’, `{‘, `|’, `(‘, and `)’ lose their special meaning; (more…)