marcelpetrick

proCreator version 0.1 is ready!

Written by marcelpetrick on October 22, 2017

url: https://github.com/marcelpetrick/proCreator

Clone, build (preferrably with QtCreator 4.x and Qt 5.9), run. A short howto in the readme describes how to use it.
After applying some restructuring, I got rid of some classes, simplified the code for reading the directory-content and for filtering. Kudos to the Qt-library!*

* Three slogans I like to stick to:
– Keep it simple (and stupid).
– Don’t re-invent the wheel.
– Functionality first.

Addendum: the proCreator was used now to revive two projects for which only source-code, but no “make-files” (pro, qbs, mpc, cmake ..) existed. It did its job 🙂

Certify yourself!

Written by marcelpetrick on October 22, 2017

Ok, I am in the situation that I have a university-degree in computer science, gained some years of experience as professional software-designer for desktop applications, speak English fluently (because of daily conversation with my wife) and also dug into several different aspects of IT (raspberry, system configuration, build systems and deployment, software architecture, Android, ..) out of pure interest.
BUT: I can’t prove that. Ok, the degree – yes. But else?*

Therefore I attended this year already several seminars dealing with project management, Lasten-/Pflichtenheft, work ethics, 3d printing, ..
In November a full-week seminar will introduce me to Python.
In December I will do the Cambridge B2-level-certificate (officially called: First Certificate in English), for what I attend courses after work.
And 2018 will offer even more opportunities …
So stay tuned. I will improve!

Hopefully also with writing enthusiastically articles which don’t sound so bad when proofread 😉

*: ok, yes, some mini-projects on github prove that software is part of my daily life. Even after closing hours, but still

proCreator: another helper for legacy Qt-projects

Written by marcelpetrick on October 21, 2017

Ok, today at work I ran into the problem that for a Qt-project we have the code, the binaries and an awkward buildsystem (mpc). But I don’t want to process first the mpc and then fire up Visual Studio and wait for hours until the whole solution has been build. I want to use QtCreator! <3 So, there was never a real pro-file. The project consists of about ten classes, some forms and one ressource-file. Not much, possible to tinker it manually into a self-generated pro-file. Which can be processed then by QtCreator or qmake. (Hint "ls -X" is helpful for sorting by filetype.) But: why not delegate this to a small tool? First I thought about bash, then ... "maybe something better, like Python" ... and then ... why not Qt itself? So, please have a look at https://github.com/marcelpetrick/proCreator, which is half-way done. Outputting works. Just input-grabbing has to be implemented. Should be ready by sunday 🙂

Will keep you updated.

Speed up the Lotus Notes-start

Written by marcelpetrick on September 25, 2017

Given the following (annoying) behavior: when you start Lotus Notes 8.5, you ALWAYS have to enter the password. There is no way around this. Research and discussion with colleagues showed that no one knows a way.

Idea: automate this!
(In detail what needs to be done: start Lotus Notes with the current parameters; wait until the logon-window appears; enter the password; press manually the Enter-Button in the input-mask, because just sending the Enter-key creates another issue).

So, I used the AutoIt-recorder (just in earlier versions available, so refer to this stack overflow-post how to download), recorded my user-actions (instead of specifying it myself command-by-command); compiled it to a x86-exe, and pinned a link to the Windows taskbar (as replacement for the Lotus Notes-starter).

Done 🙂

Win: check for which mode the executeable was built

Written by marcelpetrick on September 24, 2017

Ok, in the past I used some more sophisticated tools to check the signature of the executables for Windows, but ..
Fire up notepad.exe; load the exe which shall be checked; search for “PE”.
If the visible characters depict a d(agger) and cross (“d†”), then x64 (more correct: x86_64).
Else if a big L (“L”), then x86.

Qt: find the sender (aka: invoking signal) for a slot

Written by marcelpetrick on August 27, 2017

Sometimes several signals lead to one single slot. Without any parameter. So you are stuck and can’t find out who was the ‘caller’.
But wait, there is a nasty hack to find it for those which are direct connections.

#include <QtCore/QMetaObject>
#include <QtCore/QMetaMethod>

[..]

{ //todom just for testing
	QMetaMethod const metaMethod = sender()->metaObject()->method(senderSignalIndex());
	qDebug() << "invoking caller: name and signature:" << metaMethod.name() << "|" << metaMethod.methodSignature();
}

#include <QtCore/QMetaObject>

#include <QtCore/QMetaMethod>

[..]

{ //todom just for testing

QMetaMethod const metaMethod = sender()->metaObject()->method(senderSignalIndex());

qDebug() << "invoking caller: name and signature:" << metaMethod.name() << "|" << metaMethod.methodSignature();

}

The moment you login the first time remotely via app to your Redmine <3

Written by marcelpetrick on August 7, 2017

aka: Accessing Redmine outside your local network via Android-app.

I set up port-forwarding via the router. Dynamic name is set via the Synology NAS.
So the url to use is: http://metrik.myds.me:5002/redmine

And after testing 5 (in words: FIVE!) apps with really mixed results, I choose:
Redmine Mobile app made Easy

Redmine on Raspberry Pi 3

Written by marcelpetrick on August 6, 2017

There was the need to write down in a structured way all the ongoing (private) projects. Keeping track, assign them to the members of my family, etc ..
From former working experience I knew OTRS, Redmine and JIRA. All with their respective benefits and drawbacks. (tl;dr .. I prefer Redmine.)

Hardware: RPi3; 32 GByte SD-card; keyboard; mouse, 1920×1080-monitor; power-cable
Software: running Raspbian; then follow this tutorial

Since this does NOT yield success, add those steps:

1. Contents of /etc/apache2/sites-available/redmine.conf

DocumentRoot /var/www/
PassengerDefaultUser www-data

<Location /redmine>
RailsEnv production
RackBaseURI /redmine
Options -MultiViews
</Location>

2. Disable the apache2 default site:

$ sudo a2dissite 000-default

1. Contents of /etc/apache2/sites-available/redmine.conf

DocumentRoot /var/www/

PassengerDefaultUser www-data

RailsEnv production

RackBaseURI /redmine

Options -MultiViews

</Location>

2. Disable the apache2 default site:

$ sudo a2dissite 000-default

Et voila: working version. Go on, create accounts, roles, projects and tickets 🙂

Enforce HDMI with 1920×1080 on Raspberry Pi 3 and Raspbian

Written by marcelpetrick on August 6, 2017

Ok, we have a brand new RPi, an SD-card with the latest Raspbian, some brand new monitor with HDMI-input only.
Everything is set up, the power plugged in, one LED shines, another one, then “no signal” on the monitor.
0. SSH-access not possible due to the fact that because of those botnet-takeovers of RPi in the past the default access was disabled for fresh images.
1. Wifi with VNC also impossible, because how to set the Wifi-credentials if you can’t see something?
2. VGA not possible due to hardware-limitations.
Great 🙂 I love when soft-/hardware does not work out of the box :’)

After a while of tinkering I remembered that I had to enforce the HDMI-ouput on the first RPi (the one for the catcam).
Can be set inside /boot/config.txt (leafpad is the current default editor on Raspbian).

# For more options and information see
# http://rpf.io/configtxt
# Some settings may impact device functionality. See link above for details

# uncomment if you get no picture on HDMI for a default "safe" mode
#hdmi_safe=1

# uncomment this if your display has a black border of unused pixels visible
# and your display can output without overscan
disable_overscan=1

# uncomment the following to adjust overscan. Use positive numbers if console
# goes off screen, and negative if there is too much border
#overscan_left=16
#overscan_right=16
#overscan_top=16
#overscan_bottom=16

# uncomment to force a console size. By default it will be display's size minus
# overscan.
#framebuffer_width=1280
#framebuffer_height=720
framebuffer_width=1920
framebuffer_height=1080

# uncomment if hdmi display is not detected and composite is being output
hdmi_force_hotplug=1

# uncomment to force a specific HDMI mode (this will force VGA)
hdmi_group=2
hdmi_mode=82

# uncomment to force a HDMI mode rather than DVI. This can make audio work in
# DMT (computer monitor) modes
#hdmi_drive=2

# uncomment to increase signal to HDMI, if you have interference, blanking, or
# no display
#config_hdmi_boost=4

# uncomment for composite PAL
#sdtv_mode=2

#uncomment to overclock the arm. 700 MHz is the default.
#arm_freq=800

# Uncomment some or all of these to enable the optional hardware interfaces
#dtparam=i2c_arm=on
#dtparam=i2s=on
#dtparam=spi=on

# Uncomment this to enable the lirc-rpi module
#dtoverlay=lirc-rpi

# Additional overlays and parameters are documented /boot/overlays/README

# Enable audio (loads snd_bcm2835)
dtparam=audio=on

# additional shit by me
start_x=0
gpu_mem=128

# For more options and information see

# http://rpf.io/configtxt

# Some settings may impact device functionality. See link above for details

# uncomment if you get no picture on HDMI for a default "safe" mode

#hdmi_safe=1

# uncomment this if your display has a black border of unused pixels visible

# and your display can output without overscan

disable_overscan=1

# uncomment the following to adjust overscan. Use positive numbers if console

# goes off screen, and negative if there is too much border

#overscan_left=16

#overscan_right=16

#overscan_top=16

#overscan_bottom=16

# uncomment to force a console size. By default it will be display's size minus

# overscan.

#framebuffer_width=1280

#framebuffer_height=720

framebuffer_width=1920

framebuffer_height=1080

# uncomment if hdmi display is not detected and composite is being output

hdmi_force_hotplug=1

# uncomment to force a specific HDMI mode (this will force VGA)

hdmi_group=2

hdmi_mode=82

# uncomment to force a HDMI mode rather than DVI. This can make audio work in

# DMT (computer monitor) modes

#hdmi_drive=2

# uncomment to increase signal to HDMI, if you have interference, blanking, or

# no display

#config_hdmi_boost=4

# uncomment for composite PAL

#sdtv_mode=2

#uncomment to overclock the arm. 700 MHz is the default.

#arm_freq=800

# Uncomment some or all of these to enable the optional hardware interfaces

#dtparam=i2c_arm=on

#dtparam=i2s=on

#dtparam=spi=on

# Uncomment this to enable the lirc-rpi module

#dtoverlay=lirc-rpi

# Additional overlays and parameters are documented /boot/overlays/README

# Enable audio (loads snd_bcm2835)

dtparam=audio=on

# additional shit by me

start_x=0

gpu_mem=128

Automate the boring stuff ..

Written by marcelpetrick on August 3, 2017

.. with Python: that’s the title of an interesting book.
But I used (again) AutoIt to automate the task to enter every day my working hours via the company’s choice “SAP-portal”. Which is slow. Really, really slow. Delays of 6 seconds for requesting a certain tab via browser are not uncommon.
Code is available via: https://github.com/marcelpetrick/SAP_AutoIt

The most interesting part for me was to play around with the “image search”-capability of AuoIt. Looks like someone added this feature from AuotHotkey as custom DLL. You can let your script check a certain screen-area for a specific bitmap and if found, then move the cursor there. It helps to make the scripts more “smart” and independent from fixed screen-coordinates. I have some other uses in mind, but time will show 😉
I know that the current state of the code is quite ‘spaghetti’, but … first a solution, then refine. Also the way how to define the input-data has to be improved.