Thursday, May 05, 2005

got this from the jaredean blog... Main Page - FreeMind - free mind mapping software... just exactly what i need to visualize an itch i need to scratch...

the problem with open source is the itch in question constitutes of gargantuan monstrosity and as an individual you only have pin sized wooden scratcher? in hand... :))
after relentless qwerty pushing, i managed to fix this Spring Framework :: View topic - weird xsl form behavior on 1.2-RC2...

the culprit is the getStylesheetSource() of the AbstractXsltView class... it gets stuck to the first xslt you call... so the template used to cache xslt for performace reasons will repeatedly call the same pre compiled stylesheet even if you are calling a different xslt file...

if you dig spring xsl, this
spring.jar will save you from cursing the console...

but be warned i havent tried it with other application servers aside from resin, so this problem might be resin specific as i am using resin's xslt classes for the transformation (e.g. jaxp javax.xml.transform.TransformeryFactory is set to com.caucho.xsl.XSL)... you can use other jaxp compatible implementation like xalan if needed...

yes, i am being punished for sticking to xslt for the view component...

now, back to the acegi thingy...
*sigh*... seems am the only one trying to use springs mvc xsl view... Spring Framework :: View topic - weird xsl form behavior on 1.2-RC2

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

jim paredes' blog Writing On Air... truly inspiring...
since my goal is to be able to run the webapp to other application servers aside from resin, container managed authentication and authorization doesnt fit the bill. now am looking at acegi so that it would inflict less pain when switching applications servers. i found a nice intro to acegi in this article -> Javalobby - Java J2EE Programming Forums - Securing Your Java Applications - Acegi Security Style...
previously i was using this format for loading my spring context files:

String configFiles[] = {"/applicationContext-orm.xml", "/applicationContext-manager.xml",
"/applicationContext-wrapper.xml"};

these require that you copy the context files to your webapps WEB-INF/ directory.


but if you want to carry it around your jar for convenience you can also use the classpath syntax:

String configFiles[] = {"classpath:applicationContext-orm.xml", "classpath:applicationContext-manager.xml",
"classpath:applicationContext-wrapper.xml"};

this is relative to your jar's classpath.

Monday, May 02, 2005

of weekends and kung fu movies:

had a nice long weekend... family time as usual. rented a couple of kung-fu inspired movies like kung fu hustle, crouching tiger hidden dragon and house of flying daggers. kung fu hustle was a good one, its like watching those popular dragon ball z fight sequences done by live actors. crouching tiger was a bit boring, house of flying daggers was much much better.


of java and the spring frameworK:

also finally managed to port some apps to spring mvc. to those using xsl as your view component, stay away from version 1.2 for the meantime. it has a bug that causes the improper view to appear.

the nice thing about this framework is there's a tendency for the developer think about modular code. for example: i use to have methods goes something like getTransactionsByDateInXML in the service layer. this is neatly separated in spring mvc via a separate object doing the DOMification.

of blogging:

read that there will be an ongoing blog summit. varying topics to be discussed seems to be fun. way back memory lane the early form of blogging was thru publishing .plan's or creating just static pages full of todo's and random notes for the day. then it was migrated to personal online journals. i think the blog summit should also emphasize on the idea that blogs are personal. a lot of blogs started that way. you don't care about traffic, and even content. you write what you want to write. if people stumbled on your blog and say it sucks, tell them its YOUR blog and you can write whatever you wanted to write. nobody should care if 90% of your entries goes like "nothing happend today, so i have nothing to blog".

but then, if your aim is to be a blog star, then by all means, study the medium. create mind-boggling, thought-provoking, etc etc content. but if its not your aim, just do it, write it, its all about freedom. but then, it only applies to you, think twice when what you write is not about yourself.


of cs teachers and profs:

sometimes i cant fathom why students complain that their teachers arent relatively linus torvald's like material. and most specially if its students of top notch universities. compared to what i have gone thru, studying cs in the province (where resourcefullness is a must to be able to keep up with the times), i think those kids are very lucky. man, look at how they write, their english writing skills are to die for. i think they are still much, much fortunate compared to the majority of the student population who has to go thru sub-standard colleges. they have the resources and facilities. i think the main problem is the lack of SELF-MOTIVATION. the ability recognize these challenges as opportunities. in reality, their diploma stating what school they graduated is already considered an ace. so heck, why dont they just ride thru it and just spend their energy on honing their skillsets thru PRACTICE. indeed, more often than not, we see students who thinks you can learn everything by reading, or, pray tell, spoon feeding. for short, happy enough they know how it works in theory, only to curse the console later in life. also, there seems to be lack of of focus on learning the fundamental problem solving skills nowadays. indeed, we have a lot of people wandering around who knows the syntax well enough, but seems to have great difficulty when, and where to use them.

*sigh* spur of the moment blogging. my apologies if its crap. its my blog... whatever....
here's my rather normal, conservative look:
my long rumored naked pic:


courtesy of planearium...