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Tue, 23 Dec 2008

My miniatures gallery

Added the Slithe Queen and the Tsathogua figures to my painted figures gallery. They both came out pretty nice.

my gallery is here

Jay Sprenkle

Tue, 18 Nov 2008

An xscreensaver hack: bingrid

I originally wrote the first version of this back in the 1980's. Since I'm currently unemployed I have time to revisit it. It's based on the munch screensaver already in the xscreensaver distribution. Written in 1999 version C only. It was almost painful to write in that style again. I've gotten spoiled by modern tools.

It looks much better when you see it moving.

Can anyone test this and see if it runs on any other linux except my Ubuntu 8.04 64 bit?

The binary and source is here: here.

To install:

• Put the binary where your current screensavers live (probably /usr/lib/xscreensaver/)
• copy any existing screensaver definition in your screensavers definition directory ( probably /usr/share/applications/screensavers/ ) and edit it to reference bingrid instead of whatever it already points to.
• Select bingrid from your regular screensaver selection.

  Jay Sprenkle

  
  
  posted at: 16:10 | path: | permanent link to this entry

  Fri, 14 Nov 2008

  An example program using jQuery: The chinese puzzle
  

  I think the official name for this puzzle is the 'Chinese Puzzle' though I always called it the 'fifteen' puzzle. Rearrange the pieces so the numbers are in sequential order to win.

  This was created as an experiment to see just how small a program could be made using jQuery. I highly recommend it for your web site programming needs.

  The game is here: here

  Jay Sprenkle

  
  
  posted at: 10:21 | path: | permanent link to this entry

  Thu, 07 Aug 2008

  My miniatures gallery
  

  After I created a shell script using netpbm to generate web image galleries I went looking for a program to edit the comment tags in the image files. I stumbled on another gentleman's review of image management systems for linux. Of course I found just the perfect program, which generates web albums too.

  I replaced my gallery here with one from gThumb.

  Jay Sprenkle

  
  
  posted at: 20:20 | path: | permanent link to this entry

  Wed, 06 Aug 2008

  My miniatures gallery
  

  I created a shell script using netpbm to generate web image galleries. I've built a gallery of my painted miniatures. I'll post the shell script shortly after I've had time to clean it up.

  You can see the gallery here

  Jay Sprenkle

  
  
  posted at: 23:28 | path: | permanent link to this entry

  Sat, 21 Jun 2008

  A google maps mashup for the Turbine's MMORPG "Asheron's Call"
  

  I created a page that combines google maps and google search to help find information about the world of Dereth. It shows maps of the world with overlaid markers showing the positions of various categories of content. Towns, bind stones, life stones, etc.

  The local search function turns out to be worthless for this purpose. Google geo-locates things in our world, not Dereth ;)

  You can play with it here

  Jay Sprenkle

  
  
  posted at: 13:47 | path: | permanent link to this entry

  Sat, 23 Feb 2008

  Delta: A shell script command line utility for processing log files
  

  For security every web master knows you need to review your log files. A lot of us use automation to make this task possible. You need to regularly review the content of your logs. So how do you efficiently do this?

  You could use a specialty program designed for that one task. Or, if you're like me you'd rather make your own. I wanted a program to extract new content but be generic enough it could be used as a tool for other tasks. I built 'delta'.

  It's simple in operation. You give it the name of a file and it outputs the content of that file that hasn't been previously seen before. The first time you use it you get the complete content of the file. It records how much of the file was processed. The second time it starts where it left off at and outputs any content appended to the file since the last run. Delta records the file position of the end of the file. On subsequent runs it reads content after the previous position.

  The C++ source for the program link. It should compile fine under Linux/Unix/OSX etc.

  A compiled version for windows link

  Some examples showing usage:

  • EMail new web server log entries to yourself: delta /var/log/apache/error.log |sendmail me@myserver.com
  • Search new web server log entries for worm attacks: delta /var/log/apache/access.log |grep dll |sendmail me@myserver.com

  If you find the program useful an email or a contribution would be a fine gesture.

  Jay Sprenkle

  
  
  posted at: 09:55 | path: | permanent link to this entry

  Wed, 12 Dec 2007

  Using STL for_each to build delimited lists
  

  If you're new to using STL some of the coolness might not be immediately obvious.
  Here's an example of using a function object (called a 'functor') to build a delimited list.
  
  Here's the scenario: You've got an arbitrary list of items in an STL container class.
  You need a string form of the list. So you might think you need to write a loop and deal with inserting
  the separator character correctly if there are only zero, or one, elements in the list.
  
  STL provides a template called 'for_each' that will call a function for each of the
  elements of the list. At first glance that doesn't seem to be very helpful in this scenario.
  
  Using a function class instead of a standard C style function lets you do some real magic.
  You can do it with one line of code and a class. Here's an example:
  
        // build a list of elements
        std::vector elements;
        elements.push_back( std::string("one") );
        elements.push_back( std::string("two") );
        elements.push_back( std::string("three") );
        elements.push_back( std::string("four") );
        // convert to a pretty comma delimited list
        std::string mylist = "MyList: ";
        // build a list in one line of code!
        for_each( elements.begin(), elements.end(), ListBuilder( &mylist, std::string(",") ) );
  
  If you're familiar with SQL here's another example:
  
        std::string sql = "INSERT INTO MyTable(";
        for_each( args.begin(), args.end(), ListBuilder( &sql, std::string(",") ) );
        sql += ")";
  
  Here's the magic class that does all the work:
  
  //---------------------------------------------------------------------------
  // helper class to build delimited lists
  //---------------------------------------------------------------------------
  class ListBuilder
     {
     public:
        ListBuilder( std::string* List, const std::string Separator ) : List(List), S(Separator)
           {
           };
        std::string* List;
        std::string D;
        std::string S;
  
        void operator()( std::string& elem )
           {
              *List += D + elem;
              D = S;
           }
     };
  
  
  Here's how the code works:
  
  In place of the function there's a class instantiation:
        for_each( elements.begin(), elements.end(), ListBuilder( &mylist, std::string(",") ) );
  
  Before the for_each code is executed the program instantiates a ListBuilder class object:
     ListBuilder( &mylist, std::string(",") )
  
  Passed to the constructor of the object is the address of the list ("&mylist") and a string that is used
  for the separator. Here's the constructor declaration:
     ListBuilder( std::string* List, const std::string Separator ) : List(List), S(Separator)
  
  The List address is stored in the class variable "List" by the initializer ( "List(List)" ).
  The Separator string is stored in the class variable "S" by the initializer ( "S(Separator)" ).
  
  As the for_each template iterates through the list it calls the parenthesis operator of the ListBuilder
  class and passes each object in the list as a parameter. Here's the operator declaration:
     void operator()( std::string& elem )
  
  In the operator method it appends the separator and the element to the list:
              *List += D + elem;
  The class variable D is the empty string on the first call to this method.
  It was NOT initialized by the class constructor.
  For the first element it's just appended to the list with no delimiter.
  It then sets the delimiter to the separator character:
              D = S;
  
  If the for_each template calls the operator more than once the separator is inserted
  between the previous elements and the next one:
              *List += D + elem;
              
  In this example:
        // build a list of elements
        std::vector elements;
        elements.push_back( std::string("one") );
        elements.push_back( std::string("two") );
        elements.push_back( std::string("three") );
        elements.push_back( std::string("four") );
        // convert to a pretty comma delimited list
        std::string mylist = "MyList: ";
        // build a list in one line of code!
        for_each( elements.begin(), elements.end(), ListBuilder( &mylist, std::string(",") ) );
              
  On the first call:
     List is "one"
  On the second call:
     List is "one,two"
  On the third call:
     List is "one,two,three"   
  etc.
  
  I hope this tutorial has been of use to you. Function classes can be a big help when using
  STL algorithms. Writing functors works for the other STL algorithms but the class operator each algorithm
  template uses may differ. If you look through the documentation for the algorithm it should mention
  which operator that template uses.
  
  Jay Sprenkle
  

  
  
  posted at: 15:41 | path: | permanent link to this entry

  Mon, 26 Nov 2007

  PagedGeometry v1.0 - High speed forest rendering
  

  An add-on to the OGRE Graphics Engine, which provides highly optimized methods for rendering massive amounts of small meshes covering a possibly infinite area. This is especially well suited for dense forests and outdoor scenes, with millions of trees, bushes, grass, rocks, etc., etc.

  here

  This rocks!

  
  
  posted at: 21:08 | path: | permanent link to this entry

  Sat, 03 Nov 2007

  Die roller for the Nokia PDA (or any browser)
  

  I wanted to create a program to roll dice for my PDA. I was looking for useful things to do with it when I run RPG games. I investigated how difficult it would be to develop a native binary for the Nokia and the ARM processor and it occurred to me there was an easier way. A javascript browser would work just fine. That eliminates the need for a specialized development environment.

  Javascript was interesting to learn and a lot of fun with the exception of having to put in hacks for just about every different version of browser.

  I've finished the die roller application for the browser. It runs as a web page in both Firefox and Internet Exploder so you don't actually have to install anything. You can see it in action with your browser here

  You can download the page and all the images here

  Unzip, Copy it to your PDA, bookmark it, and you're all set.

  The only bug I saw with the nokia's browser was that it wouldn't close the pull down menus after you add or remove dice. If you hit the refresh button it will reset the menus. It stores the dice you choose via a browser cookie.
  
  posted at: 19:28 | path: | permanent link to this entry

  Tue, 30 Oct 2007

  Decoder Ring Theatre
  If you like noir detective stories in old style radio show format you'll probably like Black Jack Justice from Decoder Ring Theatre. Drop by and give a listen!
  
  posted at: 21:46 | path: | permanent link to this entry

  Sat, 20 Oct 2007

  Support the author
  If you've found anything useful here please consider supporting the author. Paypal donations are gladly accepted. If you shop on Amazon you can support me through their associates program. If you purchase I get a small referral fee from Amazon. It won't cost you anything except ten extra seconds going to amazon using the link below: Shop on Amazon.com I get credit if you navigate there from this link. Thanks!
  
  posted at: 10:53 | path: | permanent link to this entry

  Fri, 12 Oct 2007

  Photoshop script to add a grid of guides
  This script creates a grid of guides every 100 units in the currently open document. It's a text file so you can edit the ‘100? and change it to whatever value suits you with any text editor. Save this File to your photoshop/presets/scripts directory. When you start photoshop goto the “File” menu, then “Scripts”, then choose “Guide Grid”. It will create the guides over the current image.
  
  posted at: 23:00 | path: | permanent link to this entry

  Wed, 10 Oct 2007

  How to eliminate picture spam using Thunderbird
  

  If you’re using the Mozilla Thunderbird EMail client you can use mail filters to eliminate all the dangerous picture spam. I created a mail rule to delete anything with an image in it, that is from someone I don’t know. Here are step by step instructions:

  Goto the menu, hit ‘Tools’, ‘Message Filters’, then the ‘New’ button. Select the option ‘Match all of the following’ On the first line:

  1. In the first box choose ‘Body’.
  2. In the second box choose ‘contains’
  3. In the third box enter ‘Content-Type: image/gif’

  This catches the embedded images. Hit the ‘+’ button next to the first line to get a second line. On the second line:

  1. In the first box choose ‘From’.
  2. In the second box choose ‘isn’t in my address book’
  3. In the third box choose ‘Personal Address Book’

  If you’re in any mailing lists that send pictures you’ll have to do one more step: Hit the ‘+’ button next to the first line to get a third line. On the third line:

  1. In the first box choose ‘Reply-to’.
  2. In the second box choose ‘doesn’t contain’
  3. In the third box enter the email address of the mailing list

  At the bottom of the window choose the option ‘Delete this message’. (alternately you can move it to the trash folder, then you have the option of looking in the trash folder if you want to make sure the messages are really spam). Set the check box to ‘match all of the following’.

  Hit the ‘ok’ button and you’re done. Don’t forget that this email rule only applies to the account you had selected when you created it. If you have more than one you’ll have to do it for that account too. Hey Moz-dev! How about an option to copy and paste rules????

  Have a good one :)
  
  posted at: 18:26 | path: | permanent link to this entry

  Tue, 09 Oct 2007

  Started a blog!
  I've installed the blosxom blog software on the system to make updating the site simpler. I used the nice calendar plugin as well to provide an index to older posts. They're both written in Perl.
  
  posted at: 21:03 | path: | permanent link to this entry