Blogger is BACK

Yay! My Page entitled "web2py Cheat Sheet" was back in my drafts just now. Big thanks, Blogger Folks. Love and peace, Joe

NOT TRUE YET - Blogger Buzz: Blogger is back

The Blogger Folks say: Blogger Buzz: Blogger is back My new Page [NOT a Post but a Page] entitled something like "web2py Cheatsheet" is still missing. As far as I am concerned "Blogger is [not yet] back". I sure hope you Blogger Folks restore it. Thanks for the help in advance. Joe

Make the Eclipse JUnit Test Suite wizard work for JUnit-4

Background.
I recently got back into Java being inspired by the growth of the Android platform and Java's close link to it. I needed a refresher tutorial on Java and Eclipse and found "Eclipse and Java for Total Beginners" which after getting over my pride and reviewing the first couple of lessons is just what I needed. This very well thought out and produced tutorial also gives an excellent introduction to "Test Driven Development". Another benefit.

The Problem.
The tutorial is based based on JUnit-3. I installed the more up-to-date JUnit-4 and the Eclipse "JUnit Test Suite" wizard BLEW UP! :..)... I googled "eclipse JUnit 4 Test Suite wizard problem" and concluded that it seems to be well known, so I thought I'd publish my work-around here.

The Work-Around. 
The specific variable names in the work-around are based on the tutorial code. You can see what the tutorial recommended by going to Lesson- 8 at about 10min:50sec. Here is the work-around:

-in Package Explorer View TotalBeginner/test rclick org.totalbeginner.tutorial
    new.other.Java.JUnit.JUnitTestSuite
        wizard dialog comes up
            -next, press Finish to select default of (BookTest, PersonTest)
                creates a new class AllTests
-*** wizard will say ***:  
    Warning: No test classes selected
    *** because i use JUnit-4 Wizard needs JUnit-3 ***
    -click Finish anyway
-Fix wizard generated code
    1. delete everything from the wizard code 
        EXCEPT the package definition in this case:
            package org.totalbeginner.tutorial;
    2. put in something like the following code 
        2.1 here's the code:
            @RunWith(Suite.class)
            @Suite.SuiteClasses(value={BookTest.class, PersonTest.class})
            public class AllTests {}
        2.2 Change/Add to the example "BookTest.class" & "PersonTest.class" items,
            appropriate items for your situation. 
        2.3 use eclipse quickfix to create appropriate import statements
            -click in error code marked with red squiggly underline
            -ctl-1 for quick fix
            -select suggestion that generates the appropriate import
            -continue until no more errors 
            -for this example 2 imports were generated:
                import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
                import org.junit.runners.Suite;

Real World Tkinter GUI

Here is a real world Tkinter GUI that I made for a command line application that translates between MIDI files and Text files. The code follows the screen shot.

# -*- coding: ISO-8859-1 -*-
import sys

if not('.' in sys.path): sys.path.append('.')
import midi24txt 

from Tkinter import *
from tkFileDialog import *

# thinking in tkinter http://www.ferg.org/thinking_in_tkinter/all_programs.html

class TheGui:
    def __init__(self, parent):
        #------- frmSetup ----------#
        self.frmSetup = Frame(parent, bd=5)
        self.frmSetup.pack()
        
        self.inChoices = ('Text', 'Midi')
        self.varRadio = IntVar()
        
        self.r1 = Radiobutton(self.frmSetup, text="Convert Text INPUT into Midi OUTPUT",
            variable=self.varRadio, value=0, command=self.selRadio)
        self.r1.pack(anchor=W)

        self.r2 = Radiobutton(self.frmSetup, text="Convert Midi INPUT into Text OUTPUT", 
            variable=self.varRadio, value=1, command=self.selRadio)
        self.r2.pack(anchor=W)
        #------- frmSetup ----------#

        sep = Frame(parent, width=1, bd=5, bg='black')
        sep.pack(fill=X, expand=1)
         
        #------- frmIn ----------#
        # http://effbot.org/tkinterbook/tkinter-widget-styling.htm
        self.frmIn = Frame(parent, bd=5)         
        self.frmIn.pack()

        self.lblIn = Label(self.frmIn, text='Text Input File Path', width=20)
        self.lblIn.pack(side=LEFT) 

        self.inFilePath = StringVar() # http://effbot.org/tkinterbook/entry.htm
        self.entIn = Entry(self.frmIn, width=20, textvariable=self.inFilePath)
        self.entIn.pack(side=LEFT)
        

        self.btnIn = Button(self.frmIn, text='Browse', command=self.btnInBrowseClick)
        self.btnIn.pack(side=LEFT) 
        #------- frmIn ----------#
        
        
        #------- frmOut ----------#
        self.frmOut = Frame(parent, bd=5)
        self.frmOut.pack()

        self.lblOut = Label(self.frmOut, text='Midi Output File Path', width=20)
        self.lblOut.pack(side=LEFT) 

        self.outFilePath = StringVar()
        self.entOut = Entry(self.frmOut, width=20, textvariable=self.outFilePath)
        self.entOut.pack(side=LEFT) 

        self.btnOut = Button(self.frmOut, text='Browse', command=self.btnOutBrowseClick)
        self.btnOut.pack(side=LEFT) 
        #------- frmOut ----------#
        
        sep = Frame(parent, width=1, bd=5, bg='black')
        sep.pack(fill=X, expand=1)
        
        #------- frmButtons ----------#
        self.frmOut = Frame(parent, bd=5)
        self.frmOut.pack()
        
        self.btnConvert = Button(self.frmOut, 
            text='Convert', command=self.btnConvertClick)
        self.btnConvert.pack() 
  
    #------- handle commands ----------#
    def selRadio(self):
        self.lblIn.config(text = self.inChoices[self.varRadio.get()] 
            + ' Input File Path')
        self.lblOut.config(text = self.inChoices[(self.varRadio.get()+1)%2] 
            + ' Output File Path')
        print str(self.varRadio.get())
   
    def btnInBrowseClick(self):             
        rFilepath = askopenfilename(defaultextension='*', 
            initialdir='.', initialfile='', parent=self.frmIn, title='select a file') 
        self.inFilePath.set(rFilepath)
        print self.entIn.get()
    
    def btnOutBrowseClick(self):  
        rFilepath = asksaveasfilename(defaultextension='*', 
            initialdir='.', initialfile='', parent=self.frmIn, title='select a file') 
        self.outFilePath.set(rFilepath)
        print self.entOut.get()
    
    def btnConvertClick(self):  
        if self.varRadio.get() == 0:
            inputTextFilePath = str(self.inFilePath.get())
            outputMidiFilePath = str(self.outFilePath.get())
            print 'midi 4 txt', inputTextFilePath, outputMidiFilePath
            midi24txt.mid4txt(inputTextFilePath, outputMidiFilePath)
        else:      
            inputMidiFilePath = str(self.inFilePath.get())
            outputTextFilePath = str(self.outFilePath.get())            
            print 'midi 2 txt', inputMidiFilePath, outputTextFilePath
            midi24txt.mid2txt(inputMidiFilePath, outputTextFilePath)
 
  
root = Tk()
root.title("Convert between Midi and Text Files")
#http://infohost.nmt.edu/tcc/help/pubs/tkinter/std-attrs.html#geometry
#http://infohost.nmt.edu/tcc/help/pubs/tkinter/toplevel.html
root.geometry("350x200+10+10")
gui = TheGui(root)
root.mainloop()

Making my web2py site use a default_application other than welcome on WebFaction.

Here are the steps on webfaction.

1. $ cd ~/your_path_to_web2py/web2py
2. $ cp routes.example.py routes.py #there is no routes.py at first
3. [edit routes.py as follows
       line was: default_application = 'init'    # ordinarily set in base routes.py
       line now: default_application = 'other'   # ordinarily set in base routes.py
4. $ cd ../apache2/bin
5. $ ./restart

Fixing my "my web2py is unable to create a new application on WebFaction" problem.

Please go here to read a full discussion of the problem. Here is a summary of the steps i took to fix this problem.

1. Made sure that memory capacity is not a problem.
1. SSHed into my WebFaction account.
2. $ ps -u user -o pid,rss,command
   output is: PID, Total memory in bytes, full path of process.
3. I saw that i was over my memory limit.
4. Upgraded to get more memory.
5. Tested to see if that worked. IT DID NOT.
2. I read this thread.
1. Made sure that the web2py directory contained a directory named "deposit".
2. It did.
3. Re-tested - NO GOOD.
3. Opened a WebFaction Ticket.
1. WebFaction Support suggested that I "...try running the web2py daemon script manually ("python2.5 web2py[.py]") to initialize those systems".
2. Decided i would do that.
4. Ran web2py from the SSH command line to initialize it.
1. $ cd ~/path_to_troubled_web2py_instance/web2py/
2. $ python2.5 web2py.py
   Up came web2py saying:
   ****************
   web2py Enterprise Web Framework
   Created by Massimo Di Pierro, Copyright 2007-2011
   Version 1.92.1 (2011-02-16 15:04:40)
   Database drivers available: SQLite3, pymysql, PostgreSQL
   Starting hardcron...
   choose a password:
   please visit:
    http://127.0.0.1:8000/
   use "kill -SIGTERM 6744" to shutdown the web2py server
   ****************
3. I let it run for a couple of minutes to initialize.
4. $ kill -SIGTERM 6744  # The number 6744 varies. Use the number mentioned by web2py.
5. Re-tested by by using IE8 to https login to the associated web2py admin from my windows XP desktop. SUCCESS. I was able to create the "home" app.  

Concatenating web2py HTML Helpers

Say you want to produce something like this list of links dynamically, into an HTML page, from a web2py controller:

mobyJoe.me

NOAA Weather
Google Mobile
Twitter Mobile
  

 

Here is what you would put into your controller to concatenate (append) HTML Helpers:

def index():
    page_info = DIV(
                A('NOAA Weather', _href='http://mobile.weather.gov/'), BR(),
                A('Google Mobile', _href='http://m.google.com/'), BR(),
                A('Twitter Mobile', _href='http://mobile.twitter.com/')
                )
    return dict(page_info=page_info)

 

Here is what would go into your associated view:

{{extend 'layout.html'}}

{{=page_info}}

 

Here's the reason. Lot's of HTML helpers are derived from the DIV helper. According to the web2py epydocs at line 523, DIV

"Behaves like a dictionary regarding updating of attributes. 
Behaves like a list regarding inserting/appending components."