Ralf Schäftlein's Blog

Printing via SMB from Ubuntu 10.04 to Windows 7

ralf — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 11:24:38 +0000

I have successfully installed Ubuntu 10.04 Beta 1 on my Samsung NC10 with dual boot side by side to windows XP Home. The installation process is very smart and allow you to import settings like desktop background from the installed windows xp home. Printer configuration was a bit complicated. The first thing is to change the workgroup definition in

/etc/samba/smb.conf

workgroup = XYZ

Change XYZ to your windows 7 workgroup name. Next step is to uninstall the “Windows Live Sign-In Assistant” under windows 7 which is the main cause why the windows shares like the printers are not available from ubuntu. After that go to menu item System => administration => Printer. Click on add button and select from the list under network printer the last entry “windows printer via SAMBA”. When you now click on browse will be your workgroup and below your windows 7 pc with the printer shares be available.

Migrating a Hibernate Application from JPA 1.0 to 2.0

ralf — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:44:00 +0000

Spring 3.0.1 explicit supports the second release candidate of hibernate 3.5 aka 3.5-CR-2. Migration is very easy with maven:

old pom.xml (part) for hibernate 2.3 and jpa 1.0

		
		
			cglib
			cglib-nodep
			2.1_3
		
		
			org.hibernate
			hibernate-annotations
			3.2.0.ga
		
		
			org.hibernate
			hibernate
			3.2.6.ga
		
		
			javax.persistence
			persistence-api
			1.0

new pom.xml (part) for hibernate 3.5 and jpa 2.0

		
			org.hibernate
			hibernate-entitymanager
			3.5.0-CR-2
		
		
			org.hibernate.java-persistence
			jpa-api
			2.0-cr-1

Tomcat 6 Problems on Ubuntu 9.10

ralf — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:13:03 +0000

The default behavior of the tomcat6 server installed from the ubuntu repository is to forbid any read operation of System.getProperty(). I used tomcat6 as deployment target for the hudson builds on the same machine. AspectJ is used in a sample Spring 3 REST application. Tomcat6 logs (catalina-…log) shows the following exception

Caused by: java.security.AccessControlException: access denied (java.util.PropertyPermission org.aspectj.tracing.debug read)
        at java.security.AccessControlContext.checkPermission(AccessControlContext.java:323)
        at java.security.AccessController.checkPermission(AccessController.java:546)
        at java.lang.SecurityManager.checkPermission(SecurityManager.java:532)
        at java.lang.SecurityManager.checkPropertyAccess(SecurityManager.java:1285)
        at java.lang.System.getProperty(System.java:686)
        at org.aspectj.weaver.tools.TraceFactory.getBoolean(TraceFactory.java:34)
        at org.aspectj.weaver.tools.TraceFactory.(TraceFactory.java:21)
        ... 68 more

Updating aspectj in the maven pom to the latest version 1.6.8 doesn’t solve
the problem. The same war file works under windows with tomcat 6.0.24 without any problems. An Forum entry shows the right hint. Inside the init script
/etc/init.d/tomcat6 is default TOMCAT_SECURITY set to true, which forces the /etc/tomcat6/policy.d/* policies to be used in every web
application inside tomcat.

# Use the Java security manager? (yes/no)
TOMCAT6_SECURITY=yes

So the solution can be quick (set the TOMCAT_SECURITY property inside the init script to no) or a bit more complicated (set a new policy for your web application as new file inside the policy.d folder). The problem with the more complicated one is that you need to know every security relevant operation to write the policy file).

JUnit Tests for Spring 3 Rest Services

ralf — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:39:31 +0000

SpringSource has recently released 3.0.1 of their Spring Framework. Spring 3 extended the REST functionalities inside the Web MVC part of the Framework. Rest Service are defined as Controller and can be tested with the new Resttemplate. In this little sample project is Spring 3 combined with JUnit 4, Maven, Hibernate 3.2, Jetty, MySQL, JPA, JAXB and AspectJ. Additional tests was made with Poster as a Firefox Plugin to test REST bases Webservices. Jetty 6.1 is used as embedded container for the web application as backend for the seperated maven integration tests. Jetty can be started with mvn jetty:run for tests with Poster or will be started before the integration tests runs with mvn integration-test. The Project is configured via Maven pom.xml as seen later in this post. Via mvn eclipse:eclipse will the eclipse settings generated to use the project as WTP project. I used Maven 2.2.1 in combination with eclipse 3.5.2.. As backend infrastructure runs inside Ubuntu 9.1 Server a Bugzilla 3, Artifactory 2.2.1, Subversion 1.6 and a Hudson 1.348.

REST as representational state transferr has less protocol overhead as SOAP. It heavily depends on HTTP mechanism like PUT, GET, DELETE or POST method calls or HTTP accept header definition of the mime type like ‘text/xml’, ‘text/plain’ or ‘image/jpeg’ to define delivered and expected content. So you make a HTTP GET request with an accept header ‘image/jpeg’ with a url like http://myserver/restservice/1 in firefox to see their a picture of catalog item with id 1. A HTTP Post send data to the server as new data and a PUT override existing data. HTTP 1.1 defines a list of methods to use in your REST based Service.

The whole project is Java annotation driven and use JDK 1.6 but can easily switched to run with JDK 1.5 as well. Configuration is Spring based as IOC pattern and as annotations inside the Java classes. XML content is converted by JAXB Marshaller to use only domain objects inside your business logic. Persistence is defined as JPA annotations with Hibernate as implementation against a MySQL 5 database. The code was inspired by a blog from Solomon Duskis.

The Java Source files

The controller RestServiceController

package de.schaeftlein.dev.spring.rest.controller;

import java.util.List;

import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.stereotype.Controller;
import org.springframework.transaction.annotation.Transactional;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.PathVariable;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestBody;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestMapping;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestMethod;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.ResponseBody;

import de.schaeftlein.dev.spring.rest.dao.PersonDao;
import de.schaeftlein.dev.spring.rest.domain.People;
import de.schaeftlein.dev.spring.rest.domain.Person;

@Controller
@RequestMapping("/people")
public class RestServiceController
{
  @Autowired
  private PersonDao personDao;

  @RequestMapping(method = RequestMethod.GET)
  @Transactional(readOnly = true)
  @ResponseBody
  public People getAll() {
    List persons = personDao.getPeople();
    People people = new People(persons);
    return people;
  }

  @RequestMapping(value = "/person/{id}", method = RequestMethod.GET)
  @ResponseBody
  @Transactional(readOnly = true)
  public Person getPerson(@PathVariable("id") Long personId) {
    return personDao.getPerson(personId);
  }

  @RequestMapping(method = RequestMethod.POST)
  @Transactional(readOnly = false)
  @ResponseBody
  public Person savePerson(@RequestBody Person person) {
    personDao.savePerson(person);
    return person;
  }
}

The Interface for the DAO PersonDAO

package de.schaeftlein.dev.spring.rest.dao;

import java.util.List;

import de.schaeftlein.dev.spring.rest.domain.Person;

public interface PersonDao {

  public Person getPerson(Long personId);

  public void savePerson(Person person);

  public List getPeople();

  public Person getPersonByUsername(String username);

}

The DAO implementation PersonDAOHibernate

package de.schaeftlein.dev.spring.rest.dao.hibernate;

import java.util.List;

import org.hibernate.SessionFactory;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.dao.DataAccessException;
import org.springframework.orm.hibernate3.support.HibernateDaoSupport;
import org.springframework.stereotype.Repository;
import org.springframework.transaction.annotation.Propagation;
import org.springframework.transaction.annotation.Transactional;
import org.springframework.util.CollectionUtils;

import de.schaeftlein.dev.spring.rest.dao.PersonDao;
import de.schaeftlein.dev.spring.rest.domain.Person;

@Repository
@Transactional
@SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
public class PersonDaoHibernate extends HibernateDaoSupport implements
    PersonDao {

  @Autowired
  public void setupSessionFactory(SessionFactory sessionFactory) {
    this.setSessionFactory(sessionFactory);
  }

  public Person getPerson(Long personId) throws DataAccessException {
    return this.getHibernateTemplate().get(Person.class, personId);
  }

  @Transactional(readOnly = false, propagation = Propagation.REQUIRED)
  public void savePerson(Person person) throws DataAccessException {
    this.getHibernateTemplate().saveOrUpdate(person);
  }

  public List getPeople() throws DataAccessException {
    return this.getHibernateTemplate().find("select people from Person people");
  }

  public Person getPersonByUsername(String username) {
    List people = this.getHibernateTemplate().findByNamedParam(
        "select people from Person people "
            + "where people.username = :username", "username", username);
    Person person = getFirst(people);
    if (person != null)
      getHibernateTemplate().evict(person);
    return person;
  }

  private static  T getFirst(List list) {
    return CollectionUtils.isEmpty(list) ? null : list.get(0);
  }
}

The JAXB domain object People

package de.schaeftlein.dev.spring.rest.domain;

import java.io.Serializable;
import java.util.List;

import javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlRootElement;

@XmlRootElement
public class People implements Serializable {
  private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;

  private List person;

  public People() {
    // empty constructor required for JAXB
  }

  public People(List person) {
    this.person = person;
  }

  public List getPerson() {
    return person;
  }

  public void setPerson(List person) {
    this.person = person;
  }

}

The JAXB and JPA entity domain object Person

package de.schaeftlein.dev.spring.rest.domain;

import java.io.Serializable;

import javax.persistence.Entity;
import javax.persistence.GeneratedValue;
import javax.persistence.Id;
import javax.persistence.Version;
import javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlRootElement;

@Entity
@XmlRootElement
public class Person implements Serializable
{
  private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;

  @Id
  @GeneratedValue
  private Long id;
  private String firstName;
  private String lastName;
  private String username;
  private String password;
  private int roleLevel;

  @Version
  private Integer version;

  public Person()
  {

  }

  public Person(String firstName, String lastName, String username, String password, int roleLevel)
  {
    this.firstName = firstName;
    this.lastName = lastName;
    this.username = username;
    this.password = password;
    this.roleLevel = roleLevel;
  }

  public Long getId()
  {
    return id;
  }

  public void setId(Long id)
  {
    this.id = id;
  }

  public String getFirstName()
  {
    return firstName;
  }

  public void setFirstName(String firstName)
  {
    this.firstName = firstName;
  }

  public String getLastName()
  {
    return lastName;
  }

  public void setLastName(String lastName)
  {
    this.lastName = lastName;
  }

  public String getUsername()
  {
    return username;
  }

  public void setUsername(String username)
  {
    this.username = username;
  }

  public String getPassword()
  {
    return password;
  }

  public void setPassword(String password)
  {
    this.password = password;
  }

  public int getRoleLevel()
  {
    return roleLevel;
  }

  public void setRoleLevel(int roleLevel)
  {
    this.roleLevel = roleLevel;
  }

  public Integer getVersion()
  {
    return version == null ? 1 : version;
  }

  public void setVersion(Integer version)
  {
    this.version = version;
  }

  public enum RoleLevel {
    ADMIN(1), GUEST(2), PUBLIC(3);
    private final int level;

    RoleLevel(int value)
    {
      this.level = value;
    }

    public static RoleLevel getLevel(String roleName)
    {
      return RoleLevel.valueOf(roleName);
    }

    public int getLevel()
    {
      return this.level;
    }
  }

  @Override
  public boolean equals(Object obj)
  {
    if (obj == null)
    {
      return false;
    }
    else if (!(obj instanceof Person))
    {
      return false;
    }
    else
    {
      Person p = (Person) obj;
      if (p.getId().equals(getId()) && p.getUsername().equals(getUsername()) &&
          p.getVersion().equals(getVersion()) &&
          p.getLastName().equals(getLastName()) && p.getPassword().equals(getPassword())
          && p.getFirstName().equals(getFirstName()) && p.getRoleLevel() == getRoleLevel())
      {
        return true;
      }
    }
    return false;
  }

}

The DAO test PersonDAOTest

package de.schaeftlein.dev.spring.rest.dao;

import java.util.List;

import static junit.framework.Assert.*;

import org.junit.Test;
import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
import org.slf4j.Logger;
import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.test.context.ContextConfiguration;
import org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner;
import org.springframework.test.context.transaction.TransactionConfiguration;

import de.schaeftlein.dev.spring.rest.domain.Person;

@RunWith(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.class)
@ContextConfiguration(locations = { "classpath:spring-context.xml" })
@TransactionConfiguration(transactionManager = "transactionManager", defaultRollback = false)
public class PersonDaoTest {

  @Autowired
  PersonDao personDao;

  private Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(PersonDaoTest.class);

  @Test
  public void testPerson() {
    String username = "jane.doe";
    Person person = new Person("Jane", "Doe", username, "password",
        Person.RoleLevel.ADMIN.getLevel());
    person.setVersion(1);
    personDao.savePerson(person);

    final List people = personDao.getPeople();
    assertEquals(1, people.size());
    assertEquals(person,people.get(0));

    Long personId = person.getId();
    Person savedPerson = personDao.getPerson(personId);
    assertEquals(username,savedPerson.getUsername());
  }

  @Test
  public void testVersion() {
    Person solomon = new Person("John", "Doe", "john.doe", "mypass",
        Person.RoleLevel.ADMIN.getLevel());
    // version 0
    personDao.savePerson(solomon);

    Integer version = solomon.getVersion();
    log.info("old version:"+solomon.getVersion());

    solomon = personDao.getPersonByUsername("john.doe");
    solomon.setPassword("password1");
    // version 1
    personDao.savePerson(solomon);

    log.info("new version:"+solomon.getVersion());

    assertTrue(!(version.equals(solomon.getVersion())));
  }
}

The Rest test RestClientTest

package de.schaeftlein.dev.spring.rest.itest.controller;

import static junit.framework.Assert.assertEquals;
import static junit.framework.Assert.assertNotNull;
import static junit.framework.Assert.assertNull;
import static junit.framework.Assert.assertTrue;

import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.Map;

import org.junit.Test;
import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
import org.slf4j.Logger;
import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.test.context.ContextConfiguration;
import org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner;
import org.springframework.test.context.transaction.TransactionConfiguration;
import org.springframework.web.client.RestTemplate;

import de.schaeftlein.dev.spring.rest.domain.People;
import de.schaeftlein.dev.spring.rest.domain.Person;

@RunWith(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.class)
@ContextConfiguration(locations={"classpath:spring-context.xml"})
@TransactionConfiguration(transactionManager = "transactionManager", defaultRollback = false)
public class RestClientTest
{

  private static final String BASE_URL = "http://localhost:9090/spring3-rest-sample/people";

  private Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(RestClientTest.class);

  @Autowired
  private RestTemplate restTemplate;

  @Test
  public void saveAndGet() throws Exception{
    // save
    Person input = new Person("jane","doe","jane.doe","pw",Person.RoleLevel.ADMIN.getLevel());
    assertNull(input.getId());
    Person output = restTemplate.postForObject(BASE_URL, input, Person.class, new Object[]{});
    assertNotNull("no person",output);
    assertNotNull(output.getId());
    assertEquals(input.getUsername(), output.getUsername());
    log.info("Saved jane.doe with id "+output.getId());
    // get all
    People people = restTemplate.getForObject(BASE_URL, People.class,new Object[]{});
    assertNotNull("no people",people);
    assertNotNull("no persons in people",people.getPerson());
    assertTrue("empty persons in people",!people.getPerson().isEmpty());
    assertEquals("no one person in people",input.getUsername(),people.getPerson().get(0).getUsername());
    log.info("Peple size "+people.getPerson().size());
    // get id
    Map vars = Collections.singletonMap("id", output.getId()+"");
    Person idPerson = restTemplate.getForObject(BASE_URL+"/person/{id}", Person.class,vars);
    assertNotNull("no person",idPerson);
    assertNotNull(idPerson.getId());
    assertEquals(input.getUsername(), idPerson.getUsername());
    log.info("Get person by id <"+output.getId()+"> : "+idPerson.getUsername());
  }

}

The configuration files

The Spring annotation.xml

The JDBC settings jdbc.properties

jdbc.driverClassName=com.mysql.jdbc.Driver
jdbc.url=jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/test
jdbc.username=test
jdbc.password=test
jdbc.initialPoolSize=5
jdbc.maxPoolSize=100
jdbc.minPoolSize=5
jdbc.maxStatementsPerConnection=25
jdbc.maxStatements=50
jpa.databasePlatform=org.hibernate.dialect.MySQL5InnoDBDialect
jpa.showSql=true
jdbc.schema=test
jdbc.dataTypeFactory=org.dbunit.ext.mysql.MySqlDataTypeFactory
jdbc.autoCommitOnClose=true
jdbc.autoCommit=true
hibernate.release_mode=after_transaction
hibernate.hbm2ddl=create
hibernate.auto_close_session=true
hibernate.current_session_context_class=thread
hibernate.flush_before_completion=true

The JAXB marshalling.xml




  

  


        de.schaeftlein.dev.spring.rest.domain.Person
        de.schaeftlein.dev.spring.rest.domain.People

The AOP based transactionAdvices.xml

The spring-dispatcher.xml

The spring-context.xml



	
	
	

   

    

    

	

			${jdbc.driverClassName}
		

			${jdbc.url}
		

			${jdbc.username}
		

			${jdbc.password}
		

			${jdbc.autoCommitOnClose}
		

			${jdbc.initialPoolSize}
		

			${jdbc.maxPoolSize}
		

			${jdbc.minPoolSize}
		

			${jdbc.maxStatementsPerConnection}
		

			${jdbc.maxStatements}
		
	

	

	


${jdbc.url}
${jdbc.driverClassName}
${jdbc.username} 
${jdbc.password}
${jdbc.autoCommit}
${hibernate.release_mode}
${hibernate.hbm2ddl}
${hibernate.auto_close_session}
${hibernate.current_session_context_class}
false
false
javassist
${hibernate.flush_before_completion}

The web.xml





  spring3-rest-sample
  Spring 3 Rest sample

ide for testing JDK 7 features (Milestone 5: Build b76)

ralf — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:55:16 +0000

Sun has published milestone 5 (b76) of the upcoming Java JDK 7. JDK 7 release is currently scheduled for September 2010. My standard IDE is eclipse but the current production version 3.5 SR 1 support only Java up to JDK 6. I tried the new eclipse e4 1.0 milestone 2 (status: technical preview) which has JDK support up to JDK 7. You can define a JDK 7 as new JRE and create a new Java project with that JRE and compiler compliance level JDK 1.7. According to Joseph Darcy from SUN is a developer build of Netbeans available with support for JDK 7. I tested with code from CertPal which includes several features of JDK 7. Eclipse e4 still complain about compiler errors but the developer build of netbeans can compile and run the sample code. Check in netbeans under tools -> Java platform the availability of JDK 7 and create a new java project. Set in the java project under properties the source/binary format to jdk 1.7 (sources tab) and choose as java platform JDK 1.7 (libraries tab). On OpenJDK is a overview of the current implemented features of JDK 7 in the M5 version. Mark Reinhold from sun blogs as well about the new features. A more complete list of features which was formerly planned shows Alex Miller in his blog.

Spring 3.0 RC 2 and JSR-330 (Dependency Injection for Java)

ralf — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:03:59 +0000

SpringSource has published release candidate 2 of the upcoming 3.0 release of their Spring Framework. New Feature is the compliance with JSR-330 (“Dependency Injection for Java”). The JSR was developed together by Google (for their Guice Framework and SpringSource (for their Spring Framework) and is finally approved since 14.10.2009.

A little example shows how to develop services with interfaces and implementations without dependencies to Spring Framework or Google Guice:

The Maven pom.xml


	4.0.0
	de.schaeftlein.dev
	jsr330-sample
jar
	jsr330-sample
	0.0.1-SNAPSHOT
	Sample App with Spring 3.0 RC 2 and JSR330

Chrome OS 0.4.237 beta under vmware server 2.x

ralf — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:12:56 +0000

A beta version of Chrome OS is available as VMX/VMDK image for vmware or virtualbox and live cd. Chrome OS is a OpenSuSe based operating system around the Google Chrome browser.

Steps to test VM image of chrome os beta

Download VMDK image
Extract tar.gz File to standard folder of vmware
Start vmware server
Choose from “Virtual machine” menu “add Virtual machine to inventory”
Choose VMX file inside extracted image of chrome os
Upgrade Virtual machine to newest “hardware” by choosing link on right side from the vm summary page
Remove Network Connection from VM and Add new one with “Add Hardware” and type “Network Adapter” with “Nat” mode
Boot VM and cornfirm warning about IDE geometry and scsi controller
Click on “Make Goggle chrome default browser” and confirm dialog
Click on computer button (down left side) and click under status on network connection
Enter root password: root
confirm warning about network manager with ok
Choose under “Global Options” network setup method “traditional method with ifup”
Go to “Overview” tab and click on “edit” button below
click on “next” button
go back to “global options” and change back to “user controlled with networkmanager”
Reboot machine by clicking on computer and shutdown with type reboot
After reboot you can surf with google chrome without any problem

Convert VMWare 2.x Image to VirtualBox 3.x (seamless mode)

ralf — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 15:54:20 +0000

Windows 7 Home Premium has no XP Mode Feature like in Pro or Ultimate Edition to run an Windows XP virtual machine seamless. Home Premium can be upgraded by Anytime Upgrade within Windows to Professional or Ultimate (90$* or 140$*). You need at least Professional Version for XP Mode. So i looked for alternatives. Under Windows XP was VMWare server 2.x my first choice without seamless mode. Seamless Mode made VM windows be available in host OS as “normal” windows without the rest of the VM OS. One Alternative is VMWare Workstation 7 with seamless mode (176€*). Paralells has currently an beta version available with Coherence (seamless) feature. Virtualbox as open source alternative has seamless mode too. You need only to install the guest additions of virtualbox, reboot after installation and call from menu “seamless mode”.

So i give Virtualbox a try and installed the current 3.0.10 version under Windows 7. VirtualBox can work with VMware VMDK Hard disks out of the box.

Steps to convert from VMware to Virtualbox:

Start VMware image under VMware
Uninstall VMware Tools inside VM
Shutdown VM
Open DOS command shell in VM folder
set path variable to include VMWare server folder: set path=;%PATH%
convert splitted VM hard disk to single file: vmware-vdiskmanager -r source_multiples.vmdk -t 2 single_file.vmdk (use ” to surround file name if file name contains spaces)
copy new single_file.vmdk and single_file-flat.vmdk to \harddisks on host os with virtualbox
Start VirtualBox under host OS
Open in file menu “Virtual media manager”
Go to “Hard Disks” tab
Click on Add Button and choose single_file.vmdk
Close dialog with OK button
Click on “New” button to create a new VM
Click on “Next” button
Enter name for new VM and choose operation system including version (in my example Win_vista” as name, “Microsoft Windows” as OS and “Windows Vista” as version)
Set memory to a suitable value (on my machine i prefer 512MB for good enough performance)
On the next page choose “Use existing hard disk” and select from Drop down the old VMware hard disk image
Click on Finish
Open Settings of new VM to correct problems with different hard ware in VMware and VirtualBox
Go to System => Motherboard and “enable IO APIC”
a had an scsci lsi logic controller under VMware: Go to “Hard Disks” and “Enable Additional Controller” including selection of “SCSI (Lsilogic)”s
Start new VM
Install Virtualbox guest additions from vm window menu under “Devices”
reboot vm
Start for example a IE windows inside vm and call from “Machine” menu “seamless mode”

Currently that doesn’t seems to work with windows vista. Another VM in virtualbox with windows XP Professional works as expected in seamless mode.

Keep in mind that such a migration with Windows Vista as guest os needs another activation because of changed multiple hardware components.

Another possibility is to install the unofficial Virtual PC 6.1 for windows 7 from the knowledge base (32bit / 64bit). As described here you see in the windows 7 start menu the entries of the installed programs under the xp vm to start them directly in seamless mode. Comparing to the windows 7 XP mode their is the requirement for a separate windows xp license for a windows home or starter host os. Windows 7 professional or ultimate include such a license for a virtual windows xp on the same machine. Virtual PC needs a Virtualization hardware support like intel VT-X or AMD-V. The installation of Virtual PC fails if the processor and mainboard don’t fit to this requirement.

Startmenu entry of Virtual PC

Start installed Apps inside XP VM from Windows 7

Seamless started XP VM Application under Windows 7

*Price are only snapshots from the manufacturer websites without any guarantee and only provided to compare the possibilities.

ANT -version still shows 1.6.5 with installed version 1.7.x…

ralf — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:31:45 +0000

Upgrading ant was in the past no big deal. Just download the binary archive, extract it and adopt the ANT_HOME environment variable. ANT_HOME is set to the extracted folder and PATH contains a entry %ANT_HOME%\bin. So PATH does not need to change during an ant update. I’m recently updated from ANT 1.6.5 to 1.7.1. and was a bit suprised by the output of ant -version. It still shows 1.6.5 as version. I checked the environment variables but everything was fine. The problem is that ANT batch files look in different folders according to the manual. Prior to the ANT_HOME\lib folder will be the files in USER_HOME\.ant\lib be added to the classpath. This user home folder was on my machine still filled up with the jars from the 1.6.5 release. After deleting the contents show ant now the correct version. I understand the purpose of having additional libs available for own used tasks but the result behavior was annoying.

Get rid of annoying SHIFT-R and SHIFT-A hints on images

admin — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 19:48:37 +0000

Either Vodafone and T-Mobile use hidden picture compressions and remove alt text inside web pages when you surf with a UMTS stick. The traffic goes through a transparent proxy with that “feature”. Pictures inside browsers have less quality. Most annoying for me is that if you browse on geocaching.com for Geocaches on a map. You see normally the name of the cache if your mouse goes over the cache icon on the map. With a mobile internet connection you see a hint that “Shift-R improves quality of that picture and SHIFT-A improves the quality of all picture on that page”. A solution for this is a firefox plugin called: “Modify Headers“. Go to the extras menu and open “Modify Headers” entry. Enter a new rule and in the first field (Name) “Cache-Control” and in the second field “no-cache” (Value). Save the rule and enable them. Restart the browser. Now reopen with firefox a page with pictures. Quality as with normal internet connections and no more annoying hints to improve quality. In geocaching.com maps will now the name of the cache presented as expected.