Sneak peek #1
I have an ever so slight break in my schedule where I find I have an hour or two of free time on hand and as the saying goes, idle hands make great websites… er… or something like that.
Anyhow, I have got something completely awesome in the works, a little some-some for me, a little self love. So I thought I would start a little easter egg hunt (since that’s probably around the time I’ll finish, LOL), and give you a little piece of the puzzle every week or so, depending on what I get done in that time.
So here is the first little nugget for you. It’s not much yet, but let me tell it’s part of a bigger, cooler whole.
Configuring TextMate SQL to play with MAMP
I want to preface this by saying that I might be totally ass backwards in doing this but I had a need and I answered it. So before you try what I am about to tell you, be warned, if this totally obliterates your computer, project, or anything at all… it’s not my fault!
Ok, here is my needs, part 1; I run MAMP on my system to develop web projects locally. I use MAMP because it has more up to date versions of Apache, PHP and MySQL and I can update any of those on the fly at any time. It’s great that OS X has all of this pre installed (save for the MySQL), but it just isn’t very fast and I’ve always felt that by banging on the these system services I can potentially harm my system as a whole. With MAMP, I can bang on the innards of it’s services all I want and only worry about breaking that which resides in the MAMP folder.
My needs, part 2; I am a heavy, heavy TextMate user and as it happens, TextMate is a brilliant SQL editor which allows for complex queries to be written in a comfortable editor (as opposed to the very linear Terminal.app) and executed in a sexy little browser. The problem with is that TextMate presumes you will compile your MySQL server in the standard location and configuration (/usr/local/mysql/), where as MAMP puts it all in it’s own folder located in the Applications folder (/Applications/MAMP/tmp/mysql/).
What I have found is that TextMate want’s to access the socket (mysql.sock) in the /tmp/ folder (buried in the /private/ folder on the hard drive), but I know the MAMP socket is located at /Applications/MAMP/tmp/mysql/. So I thought I would try making an alias of this socket in the /tmp/ folder for TextMate to find. And it worked.
WARNING: IF THE TERMINAL SCARES YOU THEN LOOK NO FURTHER
First, open terminal, then type in the following line to create the link (this is based on the assumption that you already have a /tmp/ folder which you should):
sudo ln -s /Applications/MAMP/tmp/mysql/mysql.sock /tmp/mysql.sock
Next, you want to change the owner:
sudo chown _mysql /tmp/mysql.sock
And lastly the permissions:
sudo chmod 777 /tmp/mysql.sock
Now from the SQL bundle preferences in TextMate, add your server and database info (assuming you have already created a database). Remember that by default, MAMP MySQL administration is set to user: root, password: root (yikes, you might want to change that). It would look something like this:
That’s it! Now you can freely execute SQL queries from TextMate using your MAMP MySQL engine.
Mac OS X 10.5.2 is here!
Hurray!
I hope this solves all the issues I had with 10.5.1. By this list, it looks promising.
Originally posted on http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=307109
What’s included?
This update delivers several improvements for both PowerPC- and Intel-based Macs (as well as improvements provided in the Mac OS X 10.5.1 [update][31].)
Active Directory
- Addresses issues which could hinder or prevent binding Mac OS X 10.5.x clients to Active Directory domains.
AirPort
- Improves connection reliability and stability
- Includes 802.1X improvements.
- Resolves certain kernel panics.
Back to my Mac
- Adds support for more third-party routers, as detailed in [this article][32].
Dashboard
- Improves performance of certain Apple Dashboard widgets (such as Dictionary).
- Addresses an issue in which Dashboard widgets may no longer be accessible after switching to or from an account that has Parental Controls enabled.
Dock
- Updates Stacks with a List view option, a Folder view option, and an updated background for Grid view.
Desktop
- Addresses legibility issues with the menu bar with an option to turn off transparency in Desktop & Screen Saver preferences.
- Adjusts menus to be slightly-less translucent overall.
iCal
- Improves iCal so that it accurately reflects responses to recurring meetings.
- Addresses an issue in which a meeting may remain on the calendar after being cancelled.
- Addresses stability issues related to .Mac syncing of iCal calendars.
- Resolves an intermittent issue in which editing an event with attendees would cause the event to shrink and not register that the event was updated.
iChat
- Addresses an issue with simultaneously-logged in accounts in which iChat sounds generated from one account might be heard in another account.
- Fixes an issue in which iChat idle time is affected by Time Machine backups.
- Improves connectivity when running iChat behind a router that doesn’t preserve ports.
- Enables logged chats from previous versions of iChat to open faster and more reliably.
- Addresses an issue with text chats in which users may be unable to receive messages from the sender.
- Addresses an issue that may prevent rejoining an AIM chat room without reopening iChat.
- Addresses video chat compatibility issues with AIM 6 and third-party routers.
- Fixes an issue with case-sensitivity of AIM handles.
iSync
- Adds support for Samsung D600E and D900i phones.
Finder
- Addresses an issue in which Finder could unexpectedly quit when displaying folder contents in Column view.
- Addresses an issue in which Finder could unexpectedly quit when accessing Users and Groups in a Get Info pane.
- Resolves an issue that prevented setting permissions on a folder alias.
- Resolves an issue in which the Eject command could write to a disc in the optical drive.
- Fixes an issue in which the scroll bar might disappear when deleting a file within a folder that includes files that are out of view.
- Fixes an issue in the Sharing & Permissions section of Get Info windows, in which the gear icon appears to be gray/disabled after authentication.
- Addresses an issue in which the Show Icon Preview preference might not be not saved when turning it off.
- Fixes an issue that could occur when trying to print an image from the Finder.
- Addresses an issue with Message menu’s Mark > As Read choice.
- Fixes an issue in which duplicate On My Mac folders may appear in the sidebar after upgrading to Leopard.
- Improves the accuracy of the Data Detectors feature.
- Resolves an issue with scrolling through a Note that is displayed using the split view in the message window.
- Fixes an issue with deleting messages located in the Drafts folder.
- Fixes an issue in which dragging the icon in the Safari URL field into a Mail message creates an attachment instead of a link.
- Addresses an issue found when opening a item in the Notes folder that is not a Note.
- Fixes an issue that may prevent RSS feeds from being delivered in Mail.
- Resolves an issue in which a selected message could “flash” from blue to gray when in Organize by Thread mode.
- Fixes an issue with scrolling between multiple To Dos in an email message.
- Fixes an issue in which the body of email messages with certain MIME structures may not be displayed.
- Improves performance with America Online (AOL) account-based messages in Mail.
- Addresses issues with some ISPs during automatic set-up in Mail.
- Addresses an issue in which Mail might not send mail on some networks to some SMTP servers.
- Mail now automatically disables the (unsupported) third-party plugin GrowlMail version 1.1.2 or earlier to avoid issues.
- Adds an option to view large icons in the Mailbox list.
Networking
- Addresses a hanging issue that may occur when connecting to an AFP network volume.
Parental Controls
- Improves stability when opening the Parental Controls System Preferences pane.
- Fixes an issue that may prevent changes to the email address for permission requests.
- Addresses an issue with printer administration for a guest account enabled with Parental Controls.
- Addresses an issue with setting printer administration privileges from another Mac on the local network.
- Fixes an issue that could prevent certain applications from being allowed.
- Addresses accuracy issues with the web content filter.
Preview
- Improves stability when scrolling through a PDF document.
- Fixes an issue that prevents tabbing within a PDF document after clicking on the PDF.
- Improves the Mail Document feature so that email attachments are more reliably created from Print Preview.
Printing
- Addresses an issue in which remote printers may be deleted when the computer is put to sleep.
- Improves printing performance when using some Microsoft Office applications.
- Resolves an issue with some printing options, such as landscape orientation, number of copies, two-sided printing, and so forth that may not have functioned with some printers shared by Microsoft Windows.
- Adds support for certain printers connected to the USB port of an AirPort Extreme or AirPort Express base station.
- Resolves a stalling issue that could occur when installing certain Canon printing software from a disc.
RAW Image
- Adds RAW image support for several cameras, as detailed in [this article][33].
Safari
- Addresses issues with Safari reliably resolving certain domains.
Login and Setup Assistant
- Addresses an issue in which Setup Assistant could unexpectedly appear each time Mac OS X 10.5 starts up.
- Improves stability and performance during log in.
System
- Improves the accuracy of the grammar checker.
- The computer will now shut down if an automatic disk repair does not succeed during startup.
Time Machine
- Adds a menu bar option for accessing Time Machine features (the menu extra can be enabled in Time Machine preferences).
- Improves backup reliability when computer name contains slash or non-ASCII characters.
- Fixes an issue in which the backup disk displayed in the Finder may be out of sync with the disk chosen for Time Machine.
- Addresses issues in which some external drives are not recognized by Time Machine.
- The status menu now appears by default.
Other
- Improves general stability when running third-party applications.
- Addresses an issue in which the incorrect search results may be displayed for certain Automator Find/Filter actions.
- Addresses an issue with the Latvian and Russian keyboard layouts.
- Addresses an issue in which the backlight could turn off before Energy Saver’s backlight setting.
I'm still alive
It’s been a while hasn’t it? I’ve just come off from making a run of RapidWeaver themes for THEME WEAVER; THEME 007, THEME 008, THEME 009 and THEME 010, all of which I am extremely proud of (but THEME 010 is my favourite). I’ve also been busy updating my own edGy, viEw and 2hadow (not quite ready yet).
So what’s kept me busy in my… erm… off time? I have a few things on the go. Namely RapidWeaved.com which has turned out well. It’s the RapidWeaver showcase site that lets anyone with a RapidWeaver site to show off their stuff. It’s kind of a throwback to the old RapidWeaver showcase that was once on their site but in recent time, have opted to hand select only the very finest examples (in their opinion) to post instead.
And it’s that very project that has really spun the old cogs in my noodle. That site is a database right? Why then am I treating it like a blog when it should be handled by some sort of content management system with a database and some back-end programing to control it all? Well… because I don’t know a lick of SQL and can only struggle through enough PHP to parse a few RSS feeds. So I figured enough is enough, I’ve been wanting to learn some back-end web programming and I have now set off to do it. I am currently making my through the SitePoint book Build You Own Database Driven Website using PHP and MySQL by Kevin Yank. I am riveted. No really, I love this sort of reading.
So what about Objective-C then? You might recall that I wanted to give Chris a hand in the whole RapidWeaver plugin market and I did read the book, Programming in Objective-C, but then I saw the support involved through Chris’s eyes. Honestly, it’s not the sort of thing that a guy with a full fledged theme store like mine should get into. Don’t get me wrong, I want to some day. And Chris has definitely shown my that it’s a worth while endeavor, but it’s the sort of thing where I would have to sell my theme store before I got knee deep into plugins. I am not ready for that.
Who knows though, if all goes well with the PHP and MySQL, there are certainly a lot of things I could see making for RapidWeaver that have been missing for some time.
Finder needs the fire rekindled
Apple really missed the mark with the Leopard version of Finder. I don’t need more places and things in my sidebar to get confused with. What I need are tabs. Who really looks at there system and folder structure in such a linear fashion? And with multiple Finder windows virtually indistinguishable from one another, who really wants to drag files from one window to the next?
Tabs are todays solution to many peoples daily folder grind. To move effortlessly from one location to another, to drag files tab to tab with the certainty the Finder won’t slip and slide into other folders as you hover over them with file-in-hand, to not fill your entire desktop real estate with little, grey, nondescript windows.
Finder is arguably the backbone of the OS. Sure it’s not sexy to hone something as dismal as a file browser and then blow your horn about it, but by perfecting the Finder with each new OS X Apple stands to have something to really talk about. Not everybody is going to do backups a la Time Machine, not everybody is going to get Spotlight, and most people only have one computer at home and will certainly never need to share that on the LAN or otherwise. But there is one indisputable fact of all Mac OS X users, new or old; they will all need to browse files on there computer and so much of their experience doing so is what will determine, for them, whether Mac OS X is a good operating system or not.
I make a plea to you Apple, don’t treat Finder like your 9 to 5 underwear. Make Finder your sexy lingerie that you are just dying to show off. Finder hasn’t had any significant advances since OS X came to be. It’s time she got a facelift, tummy tuck and some new lipstick.
Web Search with Quicksilver: how-to
I’m always on the hunt for quick way to go from here to there. One thing I especially dislike is redundancy, repetition, extraneous steps, movements and keystrokes. That’s why I love Quicksilver. Every day I am able to tap the wonder app for more and more time saving tricks.
One aspect of my job in web design and theme design is having to look up web sites and online resources constantly. So here are a three tricks I’ve dug up, which was not easy since Quicksilver documentation is few and far between.
1. Select, Grab and Search
- For this one you need to set a few obscure and not so well documented features.
- First of you’ll need to activate the “Services Menu Module” in Quicksilver > Plug-ins > All Plug-ins > System. This allows for the “Search With Google – A service of Safari.app” action,
- Next you need to add some extra function to Quicksilver by “Enabling advanced features”,
- Another useful setting will be “Pull selection from front application instead of Finder” from Quicksilver > Preferences > Extras,
- For Path Finder users, you’ll also need to enable the Path Finder module (Quicksilver > Plug-ins > All Plug-ins > Applications) and then make Path Finder you default file browser (Quicksilver > Preferences > Handlers > File System Browser > Path Finder).
- relaunch Quicksilver.
- Once you’ve managed this much, you only need to:
- select any text from anywhere text is selectable,
- invoke Quicksilver (^space for most),
- press “⌘g”,
- tab to the action panel,
- type “sw” (which should result in “Search With Google” or will after one or two uses) and hit return.
- You’re selected text now turns up as a google query in Safari.
2. Select and search
- To take the above idea one step farther (and this comes courtesy of one commenter on my last Quicksilver post), we can make a trigger that invokes Quicksilver, grabs the selection in the command window and tabs over to the action window all in one hot-key:
- first you need to enable the “Command With Selection” trigger in Quicksilver > Triggers > Quicksilver,
- select the trigger and tap the “i” button and the bottom of the window
- edit the hot key and enter “⌘esc” (or a hot-key of your choice)
- Now you can selecting anything selectable, tap “⌘esc” and immediately type “sw” to bring up “Search With Google” and press return and… well you know what happens.
- Incidentally, this hot-key can be used to grab a selection to be modified in any manner; select an image, “⌘esc”, type “ow” (Open With), tab, type “pr” (Preview.app). Or select a URL, “⌘esc”, hit return to open that URL, and so on… here are some other examples.
3. Type and search
- What if you could just type from anywhere and have Google look it up for you? Well here is a cool trigger for doing just that. If you haven’t done so already:
- activate the Web Search Module (Quicksilver > Plug-ins > All Plug-ins > Web)
- activate the “Web Searches (from docs.blacktree.com)” catalog (Quicksilver > Catalog > Modules)
- Hit the refresh button at the bottom of that window
- Create a web search trigger:
- invoke Quicksilver and type “ws”, it should yield “Web Search” (if not, arrow over and down until you see it). The default service is “http://www.google.com/search?q=***” and this is the one you want,
- tab to the action panel, it should default to “Search For…” but if not type “sf”,
- tab to the target or 3rd panel and enter some text,
- now tap “⌘’” to bring up Quicksilver > Triggers
- click the “+” button at the bottom of the window
- your command, action and target should already be propagated but there will be text in the target panel. Get rid of that text by selecting it and typing “⌘x”
- click “save”
- then select the “i” button near the bottom and edit the hot-key by entering “⌘2″ (my personal preference because of the relationship to the @ symbol).
- To use this trigger, simply tap “⌘2″ from anywhere, in any app and Quicksilver will prompt you with a text field. Type your query in and press return. Safari will pop up and serve the google results for the term you just typed into Quicksilver.
I hope this little how-to was useful to you. Bookmark it, Digg it or do whatever it takes to keep track of this permalink because you never know when you’ll need it.