BRYANCHEN.COM

Introducing Bespin from Dion Almaer on Vimeo.

I saw this video and I can’t wait to start trying it out. I especially liked their ideas on how collaboration and file visualisation should be… Believe it or not, I drew up a little plan about it back in 2003, but like all my plans (haha), it never came to fruition. Thankfully these guys share the same ideas and put in the effort to create Bespin.

Computer Theory & Java Programming (Bryan Chen, May 2008)
Hardcopy (Printed): SGD18.00
Softcopy (PDF download): SGD11.00
E-mail me at bryanchen dot com to order.
Here is a sample.

It’s finally complete, and stable enough for me to dare to release it.

Binary (RC2): http://www.bryanchen.com/caragen/caragen-rc2.zip
Source (RC2): http://www.bryanchen.com/caragen/caragen-rc2-src.zip
*If you download the sources, you’d probably need the referenced DLLS as well. They are inside the binary zip, or you may download them separately here.

Requirements:
.NET 2.0 Framework
Castle ActiveRecord Framework (http://www.castleproject.org)

Features:
Currently supports Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL Server (others will come as the need arises)
Primary key attributes (native type only for now)
Typed properties
Template based

This application has been tested by myself, and may not work properly on everyone’s computer. If you do encounter a bug, please let me know by posting a comment on this post. I started work on this purely because I enjoy using Castle’s ActiveRecord framework, but needed a faster way to generate my classes. Thus, I provide no warranty for this software. If you use this software, I’d like to know! Leave a comment so I know how many (or few) people are using it, then I’ll know if I should improve it further.

Note: I’ve been having loads of problems with SPAM in WordPress. As such, I may miss your comments or leave them by mistake in the spam queue. If there is a big enough community for this tool, I’d set up a website for it where we can all contribute and develop it further.

Thanks a lot!

I got myself involved in WMI a few years ago. Back then, I used the traditional, scripting method to query the WMI classes to obtain the values of their properties. Yesterday, I decided (purely out of boredom) to develop a tool, using only managed .NET code, that would be flexible enough to let anyone impersonate and connect to any computer running the WMI service, and perform any query that WMI supported.

Well, here it is!

http://www.project.sg/repository/public/wmi-agent.zip

Unzip, run the .exe, and type help at the $ prompt for instructions.

References:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa394554.aspx

I’ve been working on a massive project for a client, and found my application having to connect to more and more subsystems as the days went by. Each subsystem, of course, had their own interfaces. Some could be updated through web services; others, like SAP, accepted flat-files. Due to manpower constraints, we couldn’t be on site all the time to develop and integrate our application with theirs’. All we could do was to ask for web service specifications, SAP specifications, etc. We did all our development in-house, testing as thoroughly as we could. We realised that we needed the application to behave one way when we were testing in-house, and a completely different way when the application was installed in the client’s office. This led us to add isXXXXXServiceConnected = true/false settings in our application config. In this case, we were using ASP.NET, so it was in Web.config. When we were doing testing back at our office, we’d set these values to false. When we were at the client’s office and had access to all their subsystems, we turned those same settings on. This had an unexpected benefit: We could selectively test individual components so isolate errors which would significantly speed up troubleshooting.

For complex systems, it is extremely useful to be able to turn on and off various parts of your application. In .NET, make use of the App.config or Web.config files to store these settings. For example:

<appSettings>
  <add key=”isSapConnected” value=”false”/>
</appSettings>

And then from your code (C#), you can easily access this by using:

System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["isSapConnected"];

That’s all there is to it!

ClinicWare, an enterprise-level clinical institution management system, is in need of PHP developers! If you’re comfortable with PHP5, and want to join an open source project that has enormous potential, e-mail bryan@clinicware.net

While ClinicWare is starting out as an open source initiative, there are plans to branch off into a fully-hosted, fully-supported, commercially-viable product.

Besides PHP developers, we are also looking for people who are graphic or web designers, software security consultants, and various other skillsets. If you feel you can contribute to this project in any way, please e-mail bryan@clinicware.net

Thanks a load!

This project has been replaced with Caragen:
http://www.bryanchen.com/2007/07/18/caragen-tool-the-castle-active-record-autonomous-generator-tool/

–

http://my.project.sg/ActiveRecord/ARGenerator.php

I’m using the ActiveRecord framework provided by the Castle Project in a couple of projects for clients, and I’ve found that the monotonous and mundane task of creating AR classes is something that could be accomplished programmatically. I did check out the now defunct (indefinitely?) monorail generator, but it severely lacks an intuitive and functional interface. So, I created my own AR class generator!

Currently generates C# code for SQL Server 2005, but if there’s a demand or when I decide to (whichever is sooner), I’ll extend it to support more database types.

In time to come, I’ll add more and more features till it’s mature enough to create even the most sophisticated relationship mappings. For now, however, you can try it out and if you have a feature you’d like to see added, or just some comments on it, let me know by emailing me[at]bryanchen[dot]com.

I’ve got a project idea in mind, and have the necessary technical resources to follow through on it, but I need your help!! If you’re good in ASP.NET or Javascript or if you are a hardcore HTML/DHTML coder or a super cool graphics designer, I need you!!

I am starting a project that would undoubtedly help many many people out there. What I’m really lacking are talented minds such as yourself. If you can put in 8 hours a day to help me, that’d be good. If you can volunteer only 2 hours a day, that’s great too! What I need is commitment, and a desire for success.

Ahhh! I have finally seen the light.. I therefore (with the knowledge that I’ll be slammed for this by many) proclaim that .NET is the future of programming. With respect to that, I would like to add that NHibernate is the way to go if you’re developing enterprise level applications, or even moderately complex apps that require frequent access to the database. It vastly simplifies and promotes the true OO paradigm of programming.

References:

• http://www.google.com/codesearch
• http://trends.newsforge.com/trends/06/10/06/1351217.shtml?tid=138&tid=140

Google’s Code Search is a tool designed to help developers search through code for re-usable components. In my opinion, such a tool will not take off for at least the next 2-3 years, unless there are major breakthroughs in algorithms for searching through such code. I say this because code structure is very unlike regular documents and hyperlink structures. However, it’s still worth a shot if you’re really stuck and looking for a quick solution. There are other code search engines like Koders, that have been around for some time now, yet even they have had trouble attaining critical mass. While Koders may have a prettier layout, Google’s Code Search returns results extemely quickly, which may be a plus for time-strapped programmers looking for a way out of their problems. It’ll be interesting to see how this area of search develops in the next few years.