Azlam's Blog

Eclipse J2ME IDE

2010-04-24T16:29:00.010+05:30

J2ME is still alive, with no major feature changes and updates, it is still running strong as the defacto platform for mobile development (just consider the huge number of feature phones that are still launched) and imagine ushering in some functionality through your J2ME apps and making it a smartphone. So we are still strong with J2ME.

Every time I start a new project in J2ME, I always think of using Eclipse as the IDE,(I like the code formatting, plugins and the ability to run anything :). I use it for any other Java project(non-J2ME)) however it becomes too tough to handle and switch back to Netbeans (mainly because of the inbuilt pre-processor support). But this time, there was no looking back, It was Eclipse all the way.

So here are the tools which you need to get everything right.

1. Eclipse Pulsar

Pulsar is the version of eclipse which has all the MTJ(Mobile Tools for Java) pre installed. It also has direct downloads to all your favourite SDK's. So this is the variant of eclipse which you should start with.

URL:http://www.eclipse.org/pulsar/

2. KEMUlator

The J2ME SDK's emulator is boring and damn hard to use, with their crap skins. KEMUlator should be the J2ME emulator of your choice if you are into graphically intensive apps (low-level UI). The features in this emulator are awesome, Just have a look at the below images to see what I mean.

However, KEmulator is no longer available free on the web. I have some old version with me. Drop me a mail and I can pass you that.

3. Antenna

It is always better if we could build the project outside the IDE, Netbeans uses Ant and MTJ has an option to export the build properties directly to Antenna Properties and cook up the mtj-build.xml. Now all you have to do is create a batch script call this xml file, kickstart the emulator point to the path where the JAR is created.
URL: antenna.sourceforge.net

PS: Please look into a file called mtj-build.properties, and add this parameters, wtk.midp.version=xxx and wtk.cldc.version=xxx. Replace xxx with whatever you require. Otherwise, it will build with defaut CLDC 1.0 and MIDP 1.0

4. Convert Eclipse into Perl/Whatever script you like

One of the reasons why we moved the building project outside the IDE, is to add support for our scripts and tools, (to build resources etc.) So if you are like me and the little perl scripts which hold your project together. Turn your eclipse into a perl IDE using this plugin.

5. GrepConsole

This is another worthy plugin; It converts all your logs with colors using the patterns you provide. Grab it from this URL and turn your console into something like this

Isnt it beautiful?

6. Create an External Tool Configuration

Create a new External Tool configuration and assign a shortcut key to it. Make this configuration to run the script which runs the perlscripts, the antenna-build and then the Emulator. Now you can completely bypass the MTJ build.

Happy? Now we have converted Eclipse into a proper J2ME development environment. Wait for the next blog, where I will give you some neat little tricks to get further more.

Avatar in Mauritius

2010-01-17T12:16:00.004+05:30

It's been quite long that I watched a Hollywood movie in a Cinema.It's mainly because in Mauritius you only get to see movies in French. However I couldn't desist watching this movie in big screen.

Watching a movie in a language you don't understand is an awesome experience, especially with the crowd. It was like everyone was laughing around a witty dialog, me and my friend were looking at each other :)

I still doesn't understand why Mauritian Cinemas cant put atleast one show in English every week; There are lot of expats in this country and they would love to watch the movies. I guess they seems not enterprising at all. In Hyderabad, we used to watch malayalam movies in bigscreen. They used to have the one show every saturday and it used to be sell out even for crap movies.

Don't get me started on why they aren't any 3D cinemas around here! I am certainly missing Hyderabad and Imax.

XKraftGL

2009-07-18T12:54:00.004+05:30

I will continue about J2ME quirks later.. it might be dead.. don't know! or i will migrate that to forums.nokia.com or later.

Another thing is here is the library for XNA which I have been working for sometime. It is a port of the SexyApp Framework by POPCAP. I have just finished the drawing part of the framework. Now need to add support for Board and Widgets or is it really necessary.

Click on the link for more details

XKraftGl

J2ME Quirks

2009-07-11T21:10:00.002+05:30

[For guys with J2ME know how only]
Part 1: IDE’s & Porting

Okay, J2ME/ JME might be the most under-evolved platform for Mobile Applications when compared to the latest platforms like Android, Iphone etc. But, the installed base of JME runtimes across various handsets and the new OVI store can be a boon for existing JAVA developers to quickly assemble applications.

However, there is lot of issues to decide before you start development. One of the main problems in JME is the porting involved (especially if you are considering UI with low level canvas/involves some level of manipulation with canvas). So the choice of IDE is crucial in that case. Let’s have look at the most popular solutions.

1. NetBeans with Mobility Pack
NetBeans remains the favourite choice for the level of support for porting with Java ME Plugin. It features a pre-processing solution which works almost well till the number of configurations/profiles exceed more than 5/6. Then switching between profiles will take you around 5-6 minutes, and it can be quite difficult to manage the code, as the code base grows. There are a couple of solutions for that, which I will discuss later.

2. Eclipse with Pulsar
Eclipse with the new Pulsar plugin, is lookin at the solving various issues with JME development. It is basically a wraparound over the old MTJ and doesn’t seems to be anywhere near polished as NetBeans. There is support for pre-processing but it affects the code-completion feature of the IDE and renders it use-less. Until they fix these issues, this is an out of the picture.

3.Your Favourite Text Editor
Text Editors still remain one of the favorite environments for developing J2ME applications. The main reason is when a large level of porting is involved and the various ways required to interacts with the many different SDKs available. So if you don’t require the features like code-completion but want a super fast working environment and you are pretty good in writing scripts for interacting with various tools like Pre-verifier, obfuscation , JARs etc. A good choice will be TextPad.

In the next edition we will talk about taming these IDE’s for a successful implementation.

Youtube Desktop Player is just online....First Shots!

2008-12-09T10:41:00.004+05:30

Youtube Desktop Player Beta

Do you watch your favourite tv series/movies on youtube and you want to watch it continuously, One of the problem with YouTube is it doesn’t allow more than 10 mins of a video file and the most of them would be split into 4 or more files. The problem starts if you are on a 256 KBps connection, your total viewing gets distracted, as u have to click on the second one after first one is finished and you have to wait till the clicked one gets buffered out.

Now let’s think about automating the process. How about searching for the video then add the items into the playlist, wait for some time, when a particular % of the movie clip is done, the tool automatically starts buffering the second clip and so on. And as you watch the first one, once it is done, the player switches you into the second clip and goes full screen…

So that’s what the following program which I created does.. You can search and add it to a playlist and let the player stream it and present it to you!

Watch the demo of the player in action

http://sites.google.com/site/youtubemovieplayer/playerbeta/Youtubeplayer.swf?attredirects=0

Download the player at

http://sites.google.com/site/youtubemovieplayer/playerbeta/LazyBoyPlayerSetup.rar

Dont forget to send bugs and Feedback!

Awaiting your responses!

Windows Vista Boot Issues!

2008-09-06T11:12:00.003+05:30

Working on a Dell Inspiron with 8600 GT can be scary sometimes. you know why there was some recent articles on how the 8600GT overheats on laptops and decreases the life if the laptop was switched on and off.

I dont remember the URL of the article. If i do i will post is later.

So one morning, when i pressed the power button , and the system didnt boot, i immediately thought OMG! my graphics card was blown away? F**k, what next!

Switched off, then logged on to the diagnostics of the laptop and found that, it was not an issue with graphics rather hard disk.. i began wondering why?

No matter what i tried, safe mode, it doesnt boot.

Now i am with a far greater problem, my harddrive crashed, all my data.. what next?

Then i got the idea. i began checking which driver was failing when you try with safe mode, i found that dskcrc.sys was failing. Maybe a driver problem?

Got my vista Cd, and tried a repair, it doesnt recognize that i have a hard drive with Vista, wait a minute, lets simply try repair.

It started working on an unknown operating system on the local hard disk and found out the issue. it was jus an error with system volume and it was just doing chkdisk and fixed it.

Wow! i removed the cd and tried booting, now something else is missing, got back to repair and now it recognized my os and did a repair and finally the system booted.

ok.. so what was the issue finally? i was running in high performance mode and removed the adapter and closed the lid (as i have removed the sleep option in high performance ), the pc was on till the battery went off. During this stage, windows wasn't able to properly shut down the pc and corrupted the hard disk.

If it was an xp machine, chkdsk will have automatically come and fixed the issue, now it is an ordeal in vista.

Much of Vista issues? somehow i still love it?

Google Chrome , V8 , Webkit

2008-09-03T23:51:00.004+05:30

It's been quite long i have blogged. I have moved to Mauritius and now working over there. I will updating some information about that shortly. Meanwhile I was trying to find out what's all this buzz with Google Chrome.

Google Chrome as it is based on WebKit rendered almost all sites, thanks to the big list of cache it crawlers have.

However it completely failed on my credit card company site www.tatacard.com, i do recommend somebody to figure out how to render websites like IE renders, that will certainly give an Edge!

Running Gmail like a first class application was certainly gr8 and i cant hardly beleive the speeds by which it ran the second time. I guess Gears API/V8 has something to do with that.. Dynamic code compilation anyone?

Will Android's Browser support Gears API as well?

More after further investigations..

Some Weekend Gaming!

2008-01-13T16:25:00.000+05:30

I am not good at writing game reviews... i especially seems to miss some point and talk about how beautifully it was presented. So i thought of usually avoid writing anything about it and rather leave it to those who are good at it.

However this weekend, i was playing a game , a full game at nearly 185 MB.(not that famous, its hard to find any review, so i thought of writing one) from SCS Software!

18 Wheels of Steel - American Long Haul

18 Wheels of Steel - American Long Haul is the most realistic trucking simulation to date. In addition to haulin' your own cargoes between 44 different cities, you have complete control over your own trucking business - you can buy trucks and trailers to expand you fleet, hire and fire drivers, and decide which contracts to take and which to leave. You can monitor and control your business as closely as you want - find out where your vehicles and drivers are and what they are doing, transport your vehicles between cities, or just leave your drivers to do their job and read a log of their activities in the company journal.

Some research into this game led to me the finding that it is nearly the 6th iteration of a 'budget' game about trucking. Well i was really thinking of one such game from my childhood. Where you can drive a truck and deliver goods. Well this game is gr8 for anyone who was waiting for such a game. For others it would be pretty boring! As each delivery will take upto 3-4 hours! and the game is pretty good simulation of a truck driving game.You also have to mind the various traffic signals, watch the cops, weigh your load and custom check and deliver the load;
The game also offers the mode to manage contracts and run your own trucking company. The presentation needs to be badly revised over there and there isn't much help to understand what each buttons will do! But once you try with it is really easier! You can update your trucks with lot of stuff like ABS, new Transmission sets and so on! You can also apply for a loan for doing the thing!

The graphics are pretty realistic, with cities being beautifully modeled and the expressways looking good. A mode like where you can get out of the truck would be interesting. The in built radio is repetitive and needs some improvement. There are features like dynamic weather; day-night change and so on! However what is missing is some random things like dynamic third-party accidents or diversions which would have been interesting and throwing out our fuel calculation and so on! ( I nearly missed that there is no way to calculate fuel required.. it is nearly in your mind and for good reason you have to worry abt it dude!).

Worth playing if you are interested in this kind of simulation .. else pretty boring. But it's definitely worth a try!

My Score : 8/10
http://www.americanlonghaul.com

Internet delivered by a Beam

2007-11-20T22:59:00.000+05:30

Beam keeps up the word!It's averaging 90 KBits/sec.

I have been using Beam Cable for my Internet access in Tollichowki,Hyderabad. Though there is Sify in the area; after so much bad publicity of the service and some quick research on the net.I decided to go ahead with Beam Cable Systems..My colleagues and
fellow bloggers have commented that their 'BEAM'connection averages at 90- 110 kbps(at whatever unlimited packages you take).So i decided to take the plunge only with the 96 KBits/sec plan. It costs you around Rs.400 and uses the so-called Bifi ( Beam's Take on Optical Backbone Network- Brodband Internet over Fiber).

I called up the customer care and it was prompt.By evening; as i requested they send the marketing guy for delivering me with plans and for conducting a feasibility study. There was already a hub installed adjacent to my building; so there was no issue of feasibility. The marketing guy didnt push me with any particular plans and just gave me a form and was very eager to collect the cheque.As my friend was also taking a connection; he offered a discount of 350 in the installation charges.(The installation charges are 850/- We got it for 500/-),if we took the two connections instantly.

It took around 2 days for our connection to be established.They just put the cable from the hub to my home and set the IP.As i was using Vista,their 24 Online Client wouldn't work and i had to login through HTTP. Hmm! The net is ready! The service engineers asked for a TIP, and i rejected it; after paying installation charges.. why the hell a TIP ( that too a tidy sum of 100).

As promised i am averaging around 10-11 KBytes/sec that is around 80-88 KBits/sec. Remember their plans are all in the UPTO series.For accesing the net, you have to install the 24Online Client;Sadly Beam doesnt provide with one for Vista.Instead they have made provisions for HTTP Login.Using the HTTP way of browsing is a headache. You always need to have the a browser window opened with one particular site logged in and in case of any disconnection (which happens when you are on BEAM); you have to manually reconnect. The speeds were also too slow.They have a promised a Vista client soon and i was wondering whether i really had to live with this stuff. After some googling,i found out 24 Online Client for Vista (btw it is a quite popular Internet Billing Software with ISP's in India). Though this piece is not an official release. It works just fine!

There is a slight glitch with my HUB,whenever the power grid is off,the hub also goes down. So you just cant access the internet during that time.Beam mentions that the hub have a backup of 3 hours...it simply doesn't exist!.

So now i am on my way downloading torrents!

Inspiron 1520 and Morse Codes

2007-11-14T14:03:00.000+05:30

I am worried about the Morse Codes(Audible Crack Sounds) that my laptop keep producing whenever you connect earphones/headphones to the headphone jack and not playing anything. It seems to be a pretty common problem with all the Dell Inspiron Series out there. I still wonder why none of the review websites mentioned this issue(Or i have missed some good review websites).

I enquired this to the Dell Installation Engineer; he first told me it might be a problem with headphones; after verification with another set and some frantic calls to some superiors, he confirmed that it was the sound from the hard disk (and it is quite common and he could hardly do anything about it. The next morning i was searching all over the net whether it was an issue with my system or is it really a common issue. Meanwhile i was doing couple of other things too.

Mail to Dell Support
I shot of a mail to the Dell Support Center stating the issue. I got an auto-reply mail stating you query will be looked soon. I did check for a chat session with their support staff; but all seems to be busy (chatting / surfing orkut .. who knows?).

Google Dell Inspiron 1520 + Earphones + Crack Sound
Wow! It is quite a common problem; lot of forums popped with even a forum running a poll on it; which for my bad luck shows 80% of the Dell Inspiron is affected. Some tell me that issue disappears in Windows XP/having an inline headphones/some utilities. They have did a worthwile study on it. It seems the Dell Engineers are to be blaimed; They have the Headphone Jack directly above the Core 2 Duo Processor and various modes by which the processor switches between it is causing the problems.

Some did mention using third party tools like RM Clock and setting it to Halt will solve the issue. I tried some and found the issue is partially solved; I havent tried with Windows XP till now.

Call From Dell Support
Dell Support is prompt. I got the call within an hour after i sent the mail. They confirmed it was quite a common problem and their engineers are working on that issue and we will be getting a bios update soon; which will solve the problem.

Conclusion
From my quick roundup, this is a motherboard design issue and one has to wait whether a bios update will solve the issue.
I was among the lucky guys where the crack is not that high; so i can live with it.

Forum's where you can read about it.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=141100

The one complaint I can think of is the headphone jack, which, for one reason or another, emits some annoying staticy noise when theres no music playing or sound going on. I think this has something to do with where the headphone jack is placed and where the CPU or HDD is because when I start an app or cause the CPU to do work the noise stops. When its quiet, its annoying as hell. After a while you don't notice it as much but it can be very disturbing. As long as theres enough noise you won't notice it though. But its still an issue. It is also worth noting that using bluetooth or wireless headphones will get rid of this problem, but those will set you back about 70 bucks.

http://www.epinions.com/content_401977151108

Yuppie.. My new Lappy!

2007-11-14T08:21:00.000+05:30

Hi it's been week i got my new Dell Inspiron 1520; There are lot of sites that cater to the technical side of things. I will just tell you the overall experience of acquiring a laptop from Dell India.

Ordering:
Ordering a Dell machine is easy. Log on to the Dell website; choose India and customize.It will be soon followed up by a call from a sales representative within 24 hours. It's a smooth process; Remember to ask for discounts from the representative. Dell have some great offers for students; and some seasonal discounts;And once you have confirmed; it is ready for payment;Check whether your state has VAT on computers; if it the prices will be up by around 4%.

Overall Experience : 5/5

Payment:

Dell India offers a lot of Payment Options. You can choose At Par Cheque, Demand Draft or Credit Card.There is an option to split between different cards if you don't have the limit in your Credit Card. However Dell Insists you to send the scanned copies of front and back of the card (with the CVV erased); and some authorization letters.Then you have to tell them the CVV Number through phone. This process is of something to worry; as security of the card is compromised, and you are passing the card details to the same Sales Rep. Though he assured that Dell is a big company and their purchases are 90% through credit card and so on; I think this process should be rectified.

Overall Experience : 3/5

Delivery:

Delivery was the most surprising; As per the Dell site,my delivery was stated to be 2 weeks from the date of confirmation of the order. However Dell was able to deliver the PC within a week. The carton weighed around 10 Kg's with the accessories; bags; manuals and other packing stuff; I think it's too big for a laptop; but considering Dell has manufactured it in Malaysia, i think it's essential for protection reasons.However carrying it was little difficult.

Overall Experience : 5/5

Installation:

Who have heard of an installation for a Pre-Loaded Vista Laptop. Well i haven't and i was to experience one. A Dell representative called me and scheduled the installation and asked me not to open the carton; I repeatedly asked them to skip the step and i will do that; because i was eager to see what was inside. However they didn't nudge and said it was part of the process. I couldn't wait and i opened the carton and i started using it. The next day the Installation engineer came and inspected the laptop. He was checking was there any damage caused to the laptop during shipping; The system is perfectly Ok!

Overall Experience : 4/5

And i forgot to mention my configuration.
Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, 2 GB RAM, 256 MB NVIDIA 8600 GT, 160 GB SATA at 61300/-.

Replies to Idiotic Questions

2007-08-27T16:51:00.000+05:30

Ranjith Abraham, our Head of the department wrote to me... Well some interesting thoughts in this regard.. keep it flowing

Here are my answers to your questions
1. Theoretically Yes.... but practically very difficult
2. Suppression will not last for long... It helps them for a short
duration and some important personal gains.
3. There is virtually no known human structure we see including
Democracy which only turns to deprive a section of society... one
through guns .. other through so called majority say...
4. Revolutions are nice to hear.... ultimately evolution swallows revolutions..
5. Leaders in a society come out as a result of money power, smartness
and shrewdness over hunger, ignorance & unrealistic dreams of the
majority..

One note on those questions & answers.... when I was your age maybe
(18-25)... these were the discussions I had with my friends....
later.... all these die off... we are too small to answer issues and
problems we see around us.... flow with the stream and try to make
oneself simple to the core.. that helps.

Misc. Idiotic Questions

2007-08-27T15:08:00.000+05:30

Well i have some idiotic questions.. Do try to answer it

Can a single leader change the destiny of a society?
Are politicians/ leaders always suppress people for their gains?
Or is this a bigger picture of the human society? Will people in power always deprive those underneath? Which means institutions like 'democracy' is just another form of it?
Can changes be brought only by a revolution? As societies in the past.. or is it like leaders bring revolution?
Is leaders a reflection of the society in general? My question in particular is a corrupt society produces more corrupt leaders? In the end, it is the people who support corruption?

I have posted it to some elite group of thinkers.. will post their reply soon

A myth called the Indian programmer

2007-08-27T15:05:00.000+05:30

Found this report in Times of India.. .. Well not as accurate as Surendar puts it

A myth called the Indian programmer

Do you know what an Indian software engineer does for a living? T Surendar finds uncomfortable answers

They are the poster boys of matrimonial classifieds. They are paid handsomely, perceived to be intelligent and travel abroad frequently. Single-handedly, they brought purpose to the otherwise sleepy city of Bangalore. Indian software engineers are today the face of a third-world rebellion. But what exactly do they do? That’s a disturbing question.
Last week, during the annual fair of the software industry’s apex body Nasscom, no one uttered a word about India’s programmers. The event, which brought together software professionals from around the world, used up all its 29 sessions to discuss prospects to improve the performance of software companies. Panels chose to debate extensively on subjects like managing innovation, business growth and multiple geographies. But there was nothing on programmers, who you would imagine are the driving force behind the success of the Indian software companies. Perhaps you imagined wrong. “It is an explosive truth that local software companies won’t accept. Most software professionals in India are not programmers, they are mere coders,” says a senior executive from a global consultancy firm, who has helped Nasscom in researching its industry reports.
In industry parlance, coders are akin to smart assembly line workers as opposed to programmers who are plant engineers. Programmers are the brains, the glorious visionaries who create things. Large software programmes that often run into billions of lines are designed and developed by a handful of programmers. Coders follow instructions to write, evaluate and test small components of the large programme. As a computer science student in IIT-Mumbai puts it — if programming requires a post graduate level of knowledge of complex algorithms and programming methods, coding requires only high school knowledge of the subject. Coding is also the grime job. It is repetitive and monotonous. Coders know that. They feel stuck in their jobs. They have fallen into the trap of the software hype and now realise that though their status is glorified in the society, intellectually, they are stranded. Companies do not offer them stock options anymore and their salaries are not growing at the spectacular rates at which they did a few years ago.
“There is nothing new to learn from the job I am doing in Pune. I could have done it with some training even after passing high school,” says a 25-year-old who joined Infosys after finishing his engineering course in Nagpur. A Microsoft analyst says, “Like our manufacturing industry, the Indian software industry is largely a process driven one. That should speak for the fact that we still don’t have a domestic software product like Yahoo or Google to use in our daily lives.”
IIT graduates have consciously shunned India’s best known companies like Infosys and TCS, though they offered very attractive salaries. Last year, from IIT-Powai, the top three Indian IT companies got just 10 students out of the 574 who passed out. The best computer science students prefer to join companies like Google and Trilogy. Krishna Prasad from the College of Engineering, Guindy, Chennai, who did not bite Infosys’ offer, says, “The entrance test to join TCS is a joke compared to the one in Trilogy. That speaks of what the Indian firms are looking for.”
A senior TCS executive, who requested anonymity, admitted that the perception of coders is changing even within the company. It is a gloomy outlook. He believes it has a lot to do with business dynamics. The executive, a programmer for two decades, says that in the late ’70s and early ’80s, software drew a motley set of professionals from all kinds of fields. In the mid-’90s, as onsite projects increased dramatically, software companies started picking all the engineers they could as the US authorities granted visas only to graduates who had four years of education after high school. “After Y2K, as American companies discovered India’s cheap software professionals, the demand for engineers shot up,” the executive says. Most of these engineers were coders. They were almost identical workers who sat long hours to write line after line of codes, or test a fraction of a programme. They did not complain because their pay and perks were good. Now, the demand for coding has diminished, and there is a churning.
Over the years, due to the improved communication networks and increased reliability of Indian firms, projects that required a worker to be at a client’s site, say in America, are dwindling in number. And with it the need for engineers who have four years of education after high school. Graduates from non-professional courses, companies know, can do the engineer’s job equally well. Also, over the years, as Indian companies have already coded for many common applications like banking, insurance and accounting, they have created libraries of code which they reuse.
Top software companies have now started recruiting science graduates who will be trained alongside engineers and deployed in the same projects. The CEO of India’s largest software company TCS, S Ramadorai, had earlier explained, “The core programming still requires technical skills. But, there are other jobs we found that can be done by graduates.” NIIT’s Arvind Thakur says, “We have always maintained that it is the aptitude and not qualifications that is vital for programming. In fact, there are cases where graduate programmers have done better than the ones from the engineering stream.”
Software engineers are increasingly getting dejected. Sachin Rao, one of the coders stuck in the routine of a job that does not excite him anymore, has been toying with the idea of moving out of Infosys but cannot find a different kind of “break”, given his coding experience. He sums up his plight by vaguely recollecting a story in which thousands of caterpillars keep climbing a wall, the height of which they don’t know. They clamber over each other, fall, start again, but keep climbing. They don’t know that they can eventually fly. Rao cannot remember how the story ends, but feels the coders of India today are like the caterpillars who plod their way through while there are more spectacular ways of reaching the various destinations of life.
TNN (A Times of India report).