Amazing Battery

The article on mymobile.co.in talks about the an amazing battery with a life of 20,0000 hrs. Everyone should purchase it. Please note that it's not sold seperately, but embedded inside a projector. Thank's Mr. Danish Khan for reveling the details about this battery.

SVN-JIRA Pre-Commit Hook

Earlier I had posted a VBScript  version of the same integration Hook. This time I have come up with the PHP version. I know there is already a plugin available for JIRA, which does exactly the same thing. However that plugin needs to be installed on both the svn server and the JIRA server. It adds new methods to the JIRA web service.

The PHP version and the VBScript version which I presented earlier tends to be much more simpler, in that both of these hooks needs to be installed on svn server only and configuring them is a matter of changing one file, the hook script it-self. Here is the PHP code of the Hook script.

Linux Installation

Simply create a file named "pre-commit" in "hooks" directory of your svn repository and paste the following code in it. Change the values for following constants.

If you have multiple svn repositories then you will have to copy this file into those many directories.

• JIRA_SERVER - This is the address of the JIRA web service. You need to change the IP address and port.
• SVN_USER - The id of the JIRA user. This user must have the read access to all projects defined in JIRA and have corresponding svn repository for which the control needs to be enforced.
• SVN_PASSWORD - The password for the JIRA user.
• SVNLOOK_PATH - The full path to the "svnlook" executable.

After saving do not forget to change the permissions of the file. (chmod 755 pre-commit).

Pre-requisites

• Subversion 1.4.6 or higher.
• PHP 5.2.6 or higher.
  • PHP soap extension.
• JIRA 3.x
  • JIRA rpc plugin enabled.

Source Code

  1: #!/usr/bin/php
  2: <?php
  3: //------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  4: // A php schell script to authorize commit only if it is accompanied by a log
  5: // message in <code>^([A-Z]*)\-(\d*)\s?\-\s?(.*)</code> format and that the issue
  6: // id present in the log message is valid issue (Open, In Progress or Re-Opened)
  7: // in JIRA and is assigned to the committer.
  8: //
  9: // e.g. ABC-1345 - Changed the implementation of login metod.
 10: //
 11: // AUTHOR : Prasad P. Khandekar
 12: // CREATED: August 22, 2008
 13: // VERSION: 1.0
 14: //------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 15: define("JIRA_SERVER", "http://<JIRA HOST>:<PORT>/JIRA/rpc/soap/jirasoapservice-v2?wsdl");
 16: define("SVN_USER", "ENTER JIRA USER");
 17: define("SVN_PASS", "ENTER PASSOWRD");
 18: define("SVNLOOK_PATH", "/usr/bin/svnlook");
 19: define("LOGMSG_REGX", "/^([A-Z]*)\-(\d*)\s?\-\s?(.*)/");
 20: 
 21: if ($argc < 3)
 22:     trigger_error("Insufficient command line arguments!", E_USER_ERROR);
 23: 
 24: $repoPath = $argv[1];
 25: $txnId = $argv[2];
 26: 
 27: $cmd = SVNLOOK_PATH . " info -r " . $txnId . " " . $repoPath;
 28: //$cmd = SVNLOOK_PATH . " info -t " .$txnId . " " . $repoPath;
 29: 
 30: $result = runCommand($cmd);
 31: if (!is_array($result))
 32:     trigger_error("Unable to retrieve commit info for commit transaction " .
 33:                     $txnId . " repository " . $repoPath, E_USER_ERROR);
 34: if (count($result) < 4)
 35:     trigger_error("Log message not supplied for commit transaction " . $txnId .
 36:                     " repository " . $repoPath, E_USER_ERROR);
 37: 
 38: $author = $result[0];
 39: $line = NULL;
 40: $issueId = NULL;
 41: $matches = NULL;
 42: for ($cntr = 3; $cntr < count($result); $cntr++)
 43: {
 44:     if (is_array($matches))
 45:         unset($matches);
 46: 
 47:     $line = $result[$cntr];
 48:     if (preg_match(LOGMSG_REGX, $line, $matches))
 49:     {
 50:         $issueId = $matches[1] . "-" . $matches[2];
 51:         break 1;
 52:     }
 53: }
 54: if (!isset($issueId) || is_null($issueId))
 55:     trigger_error("Unable to retrieve JIRA issue id for commit transaction " .
 56:                    $txnId, E_USER_ERROR);
 57: 
 58: if (!acceptCommit($author, $issueId))
 59:     trigger_error($author . " is not allowed to commit against issue (" .
 60:                     $issueId . ")!", E_USER_ERROR);
 61: else
 62:     exit(0);
 63: 
 64: //------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 65: // HELPER Functions
 66: //------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 67: /**
 68:  * Function acceptCommit calls the JIRA web service and checks following conditions
 69:  * 1. The Issue id represents a valid JIRA issue with one of the following status
 70:  *     1. Open
 71:  *     2. In Progress
 72:  *     3. Re-Opened
 73:  * 2. The issue is assigned to the committer.
 74:  *
 75:  * If both of these conditions are met then the commit is allowed.
 76:  * @param string - the user id of the committer.
 77:  * @param string - The JIRA issue id used in the commit log message.

 78: 
 79:  * @return boolean
 80:  */
 81: function acceptCommit($pAuthor, $pIssueId)
 82: {
 83:     $client = new SoapClient(JIRA_SERVER);
 84:     $authId = $client->login(SVN_USER, SVN_PASS);
 85:     if (is_soap_fault($authId))
 86:         trigger_error("JIRA Authentication failed!", E_USER_ERROR);
 87: 
 88:     $issue = $client->getIssue($authId, $pIssueId);
 89:     if (is_soap_fault($issue))
 90:         trigger_error("Usnable to retrieve details for issue " . $issueId,
 91:                         E_USER_ERROR);
 92: 
 93:     $status = intval($issue->status);
 94:     $author = $issue->assignee;
 95:     if (($status == 1 || $status == 3 || $status == 5) &&
 96:             strcasecmp($author, $pAuthor))
 97:         return true;
 98: 
 99:     return false;
100: }
101: 
102: /**
103:  * Function runCommand is used to launch a external program and capture it's
104:  * output.
105:  * @param string The shell command to be launched.
106:  * @param boolean A flag which allows running shell commands which do not return
107:  * anything.
108:  * @return array
109:  */
110: function runCommand($cmd, $mayReturnNothing = false)
111: {
112:     $output = array ();
113:     $err = false;
114: 
115:     $c = quoteCommand($cmd);
116: 
117:     $descriptorspec = array (0 => array('pipe', 'r'),
118:                             1 => array('pipe', 'w'),
119:                             2 => array('pipe', 'w'));
120: 
121:     $resource = proc_open($c, $descriptorspec, $pipes);
122:     $error = "";
123: 
124:     if (!is_resource($resource))
125:         trigger_error("BADCMD : " . $cmd, E_USER_ERROR);
126: 
127:     $handle = $pipes[1];
128:     $firstline = true;
129:  while (!feof($handle))
130:  {
131:         $line = trim(fgets($handle));
132:         if ($firstline && empty($line) && !$mayReturnNothing)
133:         {
134:             $err = true;
135:         }
136: 
137:         $firstline = false;
138:         if (!empty($line))
139:             $output[] = $line;
140:     }
141: 
142:     while (!feof($pipes[2]))
143:     {
144:         $error .= fgets($pipes[2]);
145:     }
146: 
147:     $error = trim($error);
148: 
149:     fclose($pipes[0]);
150:     fclose($pipes[1]);
151:     fclose($pipes[2]);
152: 
153:     proc_close($resource);
154: 
155:  if (!$err)
156:         return $output;
157:  else
158:         trigger_error($error, E_USER_ERROR);
159: }
160: 
161: /**
162:  * On windows you are required to enclose the command in double quotes to
163:  * avoid the problems that may occure due to long file or path names.
164:  * @param string The command to be enclosed in quotes.
165:  * @return string
166: 
167:  */
168: function quoteCommand($cmd)
169: {
170:     $osName = strtoupper(php_uname('s'));
171:     // On Windows machines, the whole line needs quotes round it so that it's
172:     // passed to cmd.exe correctly
173:     if (stripos($osName, "WINDOWS") !== false)
174:         $cmd = "\"$cmd\"";
175: 
176:     return $cmd;
177: }
178: ?>
179: 

SVN Administration

Subversion (aka SVN) is a nice and robust source code control software. Only drawback it has that it does not boasts a GUI to do the administration. Until recently, like others, I was also doing subversion administration using simple text editor like notepad. Then I found a nice little project developed by Mr. M. Verkerk called SVNManager. This little web application developed in PHP provides all the necessary administration options, right from repository creation to repository ACL maintenance.

The user interface of this application though is very unattractive. So I decided to revamp the user interface of this little application. To my surprise changing it did not took much efforts, even though I never programmed in PHP before, thanks to the way author has written it and the underlying framework (PRADO). Here are few Screens of the modified application. Have a look and post your comments. I will try to post the modified code in a few weeks.

The truth behind Rise In Prices of Food

Recently there was a news which started a big debate in INDIA. The news was blaming Indian's and or Chinese for increase in the price of food all over the world as these people have consuming more and more food. Today I received an email from my colleague which shades some light on why the food prices are increasing. Go through it to decide whom to be blamed really.

	Country	Cost Of Food per Week ($)	Comments
	Germany	500.07	Family of 2 adults & 2 teenagers.
	United States	341.98	Family of 2 adults & 2 teenagers.
	Japan	317.25	Family of 2 adults & 2 teenagers.
	Italy	260.11	Family of 2 adults & 3 kids
	Mexico	189.09	Family of 2 adults & 3 kids
	Poland	151.27	Family of 4 adults & 1 teenager
	Egypt	68.53	Family of 7 adults & 5 kids
	Ecuador	31.55	Family of 4 adults & 5 teenagers
	Bhutan	5.03	Family of 7 adults & 6 kids
	Chad	1.23	Family of 3 adults & 3 kids

SVN pre-commit hook in VBScript

Subversion’s hook scripts provide a powerful and flexible way to associate actions with repository events. For example, the pre-commit hook allows you to check and possibly abort a transaction before it actually gets committed. This entry describes how to write such a hook in VBScript® language and test whether the committer has supplied a commit message and that the message contains a valid issue id. The issue tracking system used for integration is JIRA®.

Creating Hook Script

When you install Subversion it also installs sample hook scripts. These sample scripts are located in REPOS_PATH\hooks directory. For example, the pre-commit template is in PATH_TO_REPOS/hooks/pre-commit.tmpl. These templates contain instructions on what the hook script does and what parameters it can expect.

Tip
The hook file must be an executable. Windows uses file extensions to determine whether or not a program is executable, so you would need to supply a program whose basename is the name of the hook, and whose extension is one of the special extensions recognized by Windows for executable programs, such as .exe or .com for programs, and .bat for batch files.

The pre-commit Hook

The pre-commit hook gives you an opportunity to catch the transaction just before it becomes a revision. Typically, this hook is used to protect against commits that are disallowed due to content or location (for example, your organisation might require that all commits to a certain branch include a ticket number from the bug tracker, or that the incoming log message is non-empty). Subversion passes this hook two parameters:

1. The path to the root of the repository
2. The transaction identifier

The pre-commit can fail the transaction by printing an informative message to standard error and returning non-zero value. A return code of zero allows the transaction to complete successfully.

The Hook Script

The hook script described here enforces following rules.

1. Non empty commit message.
2. Commit message must begin with an Issue Id followed by a space and hyphen
3. The Issue id specified must be a valid issue in Issue System(JIRA)
4. The Issue must have been assigned to the committer

<package>
<job id="hPreCommit">
<reference object="WScript.Shell"/>
<reference object="Microsoft.XMLHTTP"/>
<reference object="Scripting.Dictionary"/>
<script language="VBScript">
'*******************************************************************************
'* NAME       : pre-commit.vbs
'* AUTHOR     : Prasad P. Khandekar
'* CREATED ON : April 09, 2008 16:02
'* COPYRIGHT  : © 2008, Prasad P. Khandekar
'* PURPOSE    : Script to check whether the commit is accompanied by a commit
'*              message and that the message contains the valid open JIRA issue
'*              id. The script is passed two parameters namely
'*
'*              [1] REPOS-PATH   (the path to this repository)
'*              [2] TXN-NAME     (the name of the txn about to be committed)
'*******************************************************************************
Option Explicit
Public Const vbSpace = " "
Public Const SVNLOOK_PATH = "<PATH TO SVNLOOK.EXE FILE>"
Public Const JIRA_USER = "<JIR_AUSER>"
Public Const JIRA_PASS = "<JIRA_PASSOWRD>"
Public Const JIRA_HOST = "<JIRA_HOSTNAME_OR_IP>"
Public Const JIRA_ENDPOINT = "http://JIRA_HOSTNAME_OR_IP/JIRA/rpc/soap/jirasoapservice-v2?wsdl"

Private retVal
Private strRepoPath
Private strRevision
Private colArgs
Public wshShell

Set wshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Set colArgs = WScript.Arguments
If (colArgs.Count < 2) Then
    wshShell.LogEvent 4, "Repository path and txn name are missing!"
    WScript.StdErr.WriteLine("Repository path and commit transaction id are missing!")
    Set colArgs = Nothing
    Set wshShell = Nothing
    WScript.Quit(1)
End If

strRepoPath = colArgs(0)
strRevision = colArgs(1)
Set colArgs = Nothing

wshShell.LogEvent 4, "Repository : " & strRepoPath & ", Revision : " & strRevision
retVal = doMain(strRepoPath, strRevision)
WScript.Quit(retVal)

Function doMain(strPath, strRev)
    Dim strLog, strAuthor, strJiraId
    Dim intPos
    Dim char

    strLog = runCMD(SVNLOOK_PATH & " log " & strPath & " --transaction " & strRev)
    strAuthor = runCMD(SVNLOOK_PATH & " author " & strPath & " --transaction " & strRev)
    If (IsNull(strAuthor) Or IsEmpty(strAuthor)) Then
        wshShell.LogEvent 4, "Unable to find author of the commit transaction [" & _
                            strRev & "] in repository '" & strPath & "'!"
        WScript.StdErr.WriteLine("Unable to find author of the commit transaction [" & _
                                    strRev & "] in repository '" & strPath & "'!")
        doMain = 2
        Exit Function
    End If

    If (IsNull(strLog) Or IsEmpty(strLog)) Then
        wshShell.LogEvent 4, "Commit message not specified for commit transaction [" & _
                                strRev & "] in repository '" & strPath & "'!"
        WScript.StdErr.WriteLine("Commit message not specified for commit transaction [" & _
                                    strRev & "] in repository '" & strPath & "'!")
        doMain = 3
        Exit Function
    End If

    strJiraId = ""
    For intPos = 1 To Len(strLog)
        char = Mid(strLog, intPos, 1)
        If (char = vbSpace) Then Exit For
        strJiraId = strJiraId & char
    Next

    If (IsNull(strJiraId) Or IsEmpty(strJiraId)) Then
        wshShell.LogEvent 4, "Jira Issue id is not specifed in commit message!"
        WScript.StdErr.WriteLine("Jira Issue id is not specifed in commit message!")
        doMain = 4
        Exit Function
    End If

    If (checkJIRA(strJiraId, strAuthor)) Then
        doMain = 0
    Else
        wshShell.LogEvent 4, "Issue with Id '" & strJiraId & "' does not exists or is not open!"
        doMain = 5
    End If
End Function

Function runCMD(strRunCmd)
    Dim strOut
    Dim objExec

    wshShell.LogEvent 4, "Running Command : " & strRunCmd
    Set objExec = wshShell.Exec(strRunCmd)

    Do While objExec.Status = 0
        WScript.Sleep 100
    Loop

    strOut = objExec.StdOut.ReadAll()
    Set objExec = Nothing
    wshShell.LogEvent 4, "Output of run command : " & strOut
    strOut = Trim(strOut)
    If (Len(strOut) = 0) Then
        runCMD = Empty
    Else
        runCMD = strOut
    End If
End Function

Function checkJIRA(strId, strAuthor)
    Dim ws
    Dim strTok

    Set ws = new WebService
    ws.Url = JIRA_ENDPOINT

    strTok = doLogin(ws)
    If (IsNull(strTok) Or IsEmpty(strTok)) Then
        wshShell.LogEvent 4, "Unable to login to JIRA!"
        WScript.StdErr.WriteLine("Unable to login to JIRA!")
        checkJIRA = False
    Else
        ws.Parameters.Clear
        checkJIRA = getIssue(ws, strTok, strId, strAuthor)
        doLogout ws, strTok
    End If
    Set ws = Nothing
End Function

Function doLogin(ws)
    Dim xmlDoc
    Dim domNode

    ' Login and get the token.
    ws.Method = "login"
    ws.Parameters.Add "in0", JIRA_USER
    ws.Parameters.Add "in1", JIRA_PASS
    ws.execute
    Set xmlDoc = ws.Response
    Set domNode = xmlDoc.selectSingleNode("/soapenv:Envelope/soapenv:Body/ns1:loginResponse/loginReturn")
    If Not (domNode Is Nothing) Then
        doLogin = domNode.text
        Set domNode = Nothing
    End If
    Set xmlDoc = Nothing
End Function

Sub doLogout(ws, strTok)
    ws.Method = "logout"
    ws.Parameters.Add "in0", strTok
    ws.execute
End Sub

Function getIssue(ws, strTok, strId, strAuthor)
    Dim domNode
    Dim child
    Dim xmlDoc
    Dim buff

    ws.Method = "getIssue"
    ws.Parameters.Add "in0", strTok
    ws.Parameters.Add "in1", strId
    ws.execute

    Set xmlDoc = ws.Response
    Set domNode = xmlDoc.selectSingleNode("/soapenv:Envelope/soapenv:Body/ns1:getIssueResponse")
    If Not (domNode Is Nothing) Then
        Set domNode = xmlDoc.selectSingleNode("/soapenv:Envelope/soapenv:Body/multiRef[@id='id0']/assignee")
        If (domNode.text = strAuthor) Then
            getIssue = True
        Else
            WScript.StdErr.WriteLine("Issue " & strId & " is not assigned to " & strAuthor)
            getIssue = False
        End If
    Else
        buff = ""
        Set domNode = xmlDoc.selectSingleNode("/soapenv:Envelope/soapenv:Body/soapenv:Fault")
        For Each child In domNode.childNodes
            If (child.baseName = "faultcode") Then
                buff = buff & child.text & " - "
            ElseIf (child.baseName = "faultstring") Then
                buff = buff & child.text
            End If
        Next
        WScript.StdErr.WriteLine(buff)
        getIssue = False
    End If
    Set domNode = Nothing
    Set xmlDoc = Nothing
End Function


Class WebService
    Private m_strUrl
    Private m_strMethod
    Private m_xmlResponse
    Private m_objParams

    Public Property Get Url
        Url = m_strUrl
    End Property

    Public Property Let Url(strUrl)
        m_strUrl = strUrl
    End Property

    Public Property Get Method
        Method = m_strMethod
    End Property

    Public Property Let Method(strMethod)
        m_strMethod = strMethod
    End Property

    Public Property Get Response
        Set Response = m_xmlResponse
    End Property

    Public Property Get Parameters
        Set Parameters = m_objParams
    End Property

    Public Function execute()
        Dim xmlhttp

        Set xmlhttp = CreateObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP")
        xmlhttp.open "POST", m_strUrl & "/" & m_strMethod, False
        xmlhttp.setRequestHeader "Content-Type", "text/xml; charset=utf-8"
        xmlhttp.setRequestHeader "SOAPAction", m_strUrl & "/" & m_strMethod
        xmlhttp.send m_objParams.toString(m_strUrl, m_strMethod)
        Set m_xmlResponse = xmlhttp.responseXML
        Set xmlhttp = Nothing
    End Function

    Private Sub Class_Initialize()
        Set m_objParams = New wsParameters
    End Sub

    Private Sub Class_Terminate()
        Set m_objParams = Nothing
    End Sub
End Class

Class wsParameters
    Private m_colParams

    Public Function toString(strUrl, strMethod)
        Dim param
        Dim buffer

        buffer = "<?xml version=""1.0"" encoding=""utf-8""?>" & _
                "<soap:Envelope xmlns:xsi=""http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance""" & _
                "    xmlns:xsd=""http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema""" & _
                "    xmlns:soap=""http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/"">" & _
                "    <soap:Body>" & _
                "        <" & strMethod & " xmlns=""" & strMethod & """>"
        For Each param In m_colParams.Items
            buffer = buffer & param.toString
        Next
        buffer = buffer & "</" & strMethod & "></soap:Body></soap:Envelope>"
        toString = buffer
    End Function

    Public Sub Clear
        Set m_colParams = Nothing
        Set m_colParams = CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary")
    End Sub

    Public Sub Add(pKey, pValue)
        Dim param

        Set param = New wsParameter
        param.Key = pKey
        param.Value = pValue
        m_colParams.Add m_colParams.count + 1, param

        Set param = Nothing
    End Sub

    Public Function Item(nKey)
        Set Item = m_colParams.Item(nKey)
    End Function

    Public Function ExistsXKey(pKey)
        Dim param

        For Each param In m_colParams.Items
            If param.Key = pKey Then
                ExistsXKeyword = True
                Exit For
            End If
        Next
    End Function

    Public Sub Remove(nKey)
        m_colParams.Remove(nKey)
    End Sub

    Public Function Count()
        Count = m_colParams.count
    End Function

    Private Sub Class_Initialize()
        Set m_colParams = CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary")
    End Sub

    Private Sub Class_Terminate()
        Set m_colParams = Nothing
    End Sub
End Class

Class wsParameter
    Private m_strKey
    Private m_strValue

    Public Property Get Key
        Key = m_strKey
    End Property

    Public Property Let Key(strKey)
        m_strKey = strKey
    End Property

    Public Property Get Value
        Value = m_strValue
    End Property

    Public Property Let Value(strVal)
        m_strValue = strVal
    End Property

    Public Function toString()
        toString = "<" & m_strKey & ">" & m_strValue & "</" & m_strKey & ">"
    End Function
End Class
</script>
</job>
</package>

JIRA® Integration

The integration with JIRA is done via web service using SOAP messages. This ofcourse requires that the xmlrpc plugin be enabled on JIRA server. The script makes use of MSXML.HTTP object to invoke the JIRA web service. The commit log message and the committer are found using the svnlook.exe program which comes with Subversion software. The web service invokation is done by class named WebService which is actually a adapatation of code published at CDYNE Wiki. (The code found on this site is good enough to make an POST request but fails to invoke a SOAP enabled web service.) The code calls following methods in JIRA web service.

1. login - This method must be called to ensure that we get an authentication token. The token returned by this method is required in subsequent calls. This method takes following two parameters and upon successful logon returns the authentication token.
   1. in0 - The user name
   2. in1 - The plain text user password
2. getIssue - This method is used to retrieve the issue details given it's id. This method takes following two parameters and returns issue details if the requesting user has view permissions and the issue with the supplied id exists.
   1. in0 - The authentication token
   2. in1 - The issue id
3. logout - The method is used to logout the user. This method takes only one parameter namely the authentication token.

The actual error is conveyed back to the user by writing the error text on StdErr. This allows the committer to see why his/her commit is denied.

pre-commit.bat

As mentioned earlier the Subversion server is capable of calling the executable scripts only. Since the pre-commit hook is written in VBScript we need a driving script. So here is the driving script.

@ECHO OFF
SETLOCAL
SET PATH=C:\Windows;C:\Windows\system32;D:\SCC\SVN146\bin;
cscript.exe //NoLogo H:\SVNRepo\docman\hooks\pre-commit.wsf %1 %2
IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO fail

:success
EXIT 0

:fail
EXIT 1

Maven local repository synchronization

We extensively use maven for building our software. The reason behind it is the fact that maven manages inter project dependencies very effectively and efficiently. Another reason is the Repositories in maven, this helps individuals to grab the third party dependent jars from a single place and then use them in their favorite IDE. However very often you will find that local repository that maven maintains (usually under <user.home>/.m2/repository folder) is not in sync with the remote repository. I tried to find out a solution for this problem which lead me to two projects being developed and maintained by codehaus.

1. MaveIde
2. Maven Integration for Eclipse

However none of them was particularly useful. They are still under development and buggy. What I found then was a simple solution in the from of ant task. Again this solution is itself available from Maven at http://maven.apache.org/download.html. Here is a small ant script snippet which demonstrate the usage of these ant task(s) to synchronize your local repository.

<target name="pomcheck">
    <echo message="Runnint POM check."/>
    <dependencies verbose="true"
        settingsfile="${user.home}/.m2/settings.xml"
        filesetId="maven-ant-tasks.dependency.fileset"
        profiles="default, MavenCentral">
        <dependency groupid="product" artifactid="core"
            version="1.5.5.1"/>
        <remoterepository id="maven_global"
            url="http://maven.company.com/mavenrepo/global"/>
        <remoterepository id="maven_released"
            url="http://maven.company.com/mavenrepo/released"/>
        <remoterepository id="maven-snaps"
            url="http://maven.company.com/mavenrepo/snapshots"/>
        <remoterepository id="MavenCentral"
            url="http://repo1.maven.org/maven2"/>
    </dependencies>
</target>

That's it folks. Tomorrow we will dive into details of the above ant scripts. I will show you how to configure eclipse to run this script and meaning of each of the tag.

Getting rid of XWork

Yesterday was a busy day for me and my colleague babu. We were in process of removing xWork dependency from our project. As advised by xWork the obvious choice was to use spring framework. Initially we thought that it will require lot of code change and the way our application loads various sub components. However it was a very sweet experience and migration really happened smoothly. We did not have to write lot of code.

What I really liked about spring was ease of configuration/setup and support for singletons and independent instances (prototype). I haven't had a chance to try our more complex scenarios but I am sure that spring won't let me down.

Second exercise that I carried out was with another colleague Parag. This time it was removing dependency on concurrency jar and using built in package from JDK 5. This change was really simple we just had to change the imports and in one case the different queue implementation. Although we were unable to get rid of runtime dependency on concurrency.jar as the jgroups project has not yet shifted to JDK's concurrency package.

I analyzed the jgroups source code and found out that around 53 classes needs a change. The most significant out of this is the change related to “Sync” interface. I guess for JDK 5.0 they will have to use “Lock” interface.

At this stage I am really tempted to undertake this change and be a part of jgroups supporter team.

Blog Clients Frustration

Today's day is really a frustating day for me. Except for Windows Live Writer I found none of the following mentioned blog clients are working with blogger.com. I think all of them are using old blogger API.

1. w.blogger
2. Windows live writer
3. BlogDesk
4. Qumana blog editor
5. SharpMT
6. BottomLine
7. Bleezer
8. Zoundry
9. Post2Blog Express
10. Semagic
11. PostXing
12. dotPost

    One more strange from blogger.com was noticed with IE 7 browser. Navigating to my site was always prompting the Save file dialog. FireFox shows the page as expected.

Oh I forgot to talk about web based blog editor from blogger. It's also not that great and seems to be buggy too.