Matt Read, Notes?

Ephyboy, The Epiphany Tomboy Extension

2010-09-10T00:00:00-07:00

Back in the day when I used to use Firefox, I fell in love with the Tomfox extension. It allowed you to create a new Tomboy note using the currently selected text of the webpage you were browsing, using the title for the title of the note and referencing the url as the source. This was great for me to document all the code and Linux commands I’d find scattered around the net.

Eventually, though, I got tired of Firefox, especially it’s load times, and switched to Chromium. You guessed it, Chromium sucked too. So back to Epiphany I went, and with the 2.30 version it is really quite a nice little browser.

Epiphany extensions are now done with Seed, the GTK javascript bindings, making it really easy to write new extensions. Plus, it has almost a complete GTK implementation via GObject Introspection. So getting my tomboy note maker dohicky back was really not that hard – aside from the lack of documentation. And thus, Ephyboy is born; It’s really quite simple:

Download the tarball, or zip.
Install the extension.
Enable the extension (no restart required!).
Select some text to add in your note.
Hit CTRL+Shift+B; Or, add the Tomboy Note button to the toolbar and click the button.

The extension will then create your note and open your note in Tomboy for review and/or further editing.

There is one thing to note. The extension works by making a DBus call to Tomboy to create the note so you have to have Tomboy open and connected to the bus for this to work. Usually not a problem as I have Tomboy start on log in.

Add a Menu and Toolbar Item to Epiphany

2010-09-10T00:00:00-07:00

// create the tomboy icon
var f = new Gtk.IconFactory();
f.add('tomboy', new Gtk.IconSet.from_pixbuf(
      new GdkPixbuf.Pixbuf.from_file('icon.svg')
));
f.add_default();

// Create the action and group to add to menubar
var action = new Gtk.Action({
    name: 'TomboyNote',
    label: '_Tomboy Note',
    tooltip: 'Create a Tomboy note from selection',
    stock_id: 'tomboy'
});
action.signal.activate.connect(create_tomboy_note, window);
var group = new Gtk.ActionGroup({name: "TomboyNoteActionGroup"});
group.add_action(action);

var ui_manager = window.get_ui_manager();
ui_manager.insert_action_group(group, 0);
var merge_id = ui_manager.new_merge_id();
ui_manager.add_ui(merge_id, "/menubar/ToolsMenu", "TomboyNoteMenu",
                  "TomboyNote", Gtk.UIManagerItemType.MENUITEM, false);

// store everything so we can remove it on detach
window._tomboy_menu = {
    ui_manager: ui_manager,
    merge_id: merge_id,
    action: action,
    group: group
};

var model = Epiphany.EphyShell.get_default().get_toolbars_model(false);
model.set_name_flags("TomboyNote", 4); // EGG_TB_MODEL_NAME_KNOWN

Javascript Prototype Behaviour in PHP

2010-09-09T00:00:00-07:00

One of the “neat” things in Javascript is you are able to dynamically add or change methods of a class and automatically update every instance of that class. Some of the things I usually find useful are adding to the String class, like so:

String.prototype.htmlSpecialChars = function() {
    return this.replace(/\</g,'&#060;').replace(/\>/g,'&#062;');
}
String.prototype.trim = function() {
    return this.replace(/^\s+|\s+$/g, '');
}

Obviously we cannot do this in PHP, and why would we, right? However we can emulate this behaviour to a certain extent using my “neat” little Prototype class. With this Prototype class we can dynamically add properties and methods to any class, and they will be inherited by all instances of that class. Let’s look at the following “normal” PHP code.

<?php

class Person extends Prototype
{
    public $name;
    public $gender;

    public function gender()
    {
        printf("%s is %s\n", $this->name, $this->gender);
    }
}

$matt = new Person;
$matt->name = 'Matt';
$matt->gender = 'male';
$matt->gender();

// Matt is male

?>

Now, there is nothing magical or out-of-the-ordinary going on here. We just instantiate the Person class and setup some properties. Calling the gender() method outputs a nice little string for us.

However, you see that the Person class is actually a child of the Prototype class. This will allow us to do some of that “neat” Javascript stuff. Using Prototype, let us expand the Person class to add an $age property and an age() method to output a nice string. Like so:

<?php

Person::add_property('age');
Person::add_method('age', 'printf("%s is a %d year old %s\n", $this->name, $this->age, $this->gender);');

$matt->age = 28;
$matt->age();

// Matt is a 28 year old male

?>

Now all instances of Person inherit the $age property and age() method. So we can create a new Person, Susie, and this object will now have the age stuff.

<?php

$susie = new Person;
$susie->name = 'Susie';
$susie->gender = 'female';
$susie->age = 21;
$susie->age();

// Susie is a 21 year old female

?>

One limitation of the Prototype class though, is you cannot overload a current method. So the following code, that attempts to overload the gender() method, will not work.

<?php

Person::add_method('gender', 'printf("%s is a %d year old %s\n", $this->name, $this->age, $this->gender);');

$matt->gender();

// Matt is male

?>

There are also many, many, many other problems with this Prototype class. Some of which are:

The ‘$this’ keyword is reserved, so it actually does a string replace and uses ‘$self’ instead.
You cannot access/add new methods or properties statically (until PHP 5.3 with __callStatic()).
It uses create_function, so every “method” is actually defined in the global namespace.
Iteration does not work, although it could possibly be done with Iterator, Countable, et al.
You cannot reference static variables/methods in your add method.
You cannot share methods between classes.
And so on and so forth…

This class was just an experiment to see if it was at all possible to implement something like Javascript’s prototype behaviour in PHP with out using the Runkit PECL extension. I had no intention of actually making this usable in production, for many reasons; Although it was fun.

PHP Prototype Class

2010-09-08T00:00:00-07:00

<?php

class Prototype
{
    protected static $prototype_methods = array();
    protected static $prototype_properties = array();

    protected $prototype_obj_properties = array();

    public static function add_method()
    {
        $args = func_get_args();
        $method = array_shift( $args );
        $callback = str_replace( '$this', '$self', array_pop( $args ) );
        array_push( $args, '$self' );
        $args = implode( ',', $args);

        self::$prototype_methods[$method] = create_function( $args, $callback );
    }

    public static function add_property( $name )
    {
        self::$prototype_properties[] = $name;
    }

    public function __construct()
    {
        if ( self::$prototype_properties ) {
            $this->prototype_obj_properties = array_combine(
                self::$prototype_properties,
                array_fill( 0, count(self::$prototype_properties), null )
                );
        }
    }

    public function __call( $method, $args = array() )
    {
        if ( isset( self::$prototype_methods[$method] ) ) {
            array_push( $args, $this );
            return call_user_func_array( self::$prototype_methods[$method], $args );
        }
    }

    public function __get( $name )
    {
        if ( in_array( $name, self::$prototype_properties ) ) {
            return isset( $this->prototype_obj_properties[$name] ) ?
                   $this->prototype_obj_properties[$name] : null;
        }
        else {
            return null;
        }
    }

    public function __set( $name, $value )
    {
        if ( in_array( $name, self::$prototype_properties ) ) {
            return $this->prototype_obj_properties[$name] = $value;
        }
        else {
            return null;
        }
    }

    public function __isset( $name )
    {
        return isset( $this->prototype_obj_properties[$name] );
    }

    public function __unset( $name )
    {
        unset( $this->prototype_obj_properties[$name] );
    }
}


?>

Persistent Static Variables

2010-09-02T00:00:00-07:00

Wait, What? Yeah that’s what I thought too. Still no Idea what I’m talking about? Well, let’s take a look at the following code. Let’s call it “fred”.

<?php

class foo
{
    function bar( $b = 0 )
    {
        static $a = 0;
        if ( $b ) {
            $a = $b;
        }
         echo $a;
    }
}

$faz = new foo;
$faz->bar(3);
$baz = new foo;
$baz->bar();
foo::bar();
foo:bar(1);
$faz->bar();

?>

The code above, named “fred”, basically creates a static variable $a inside the function foo(). When you call foo(0) it outputs the value of $a. When you call foo('x') , where x can be anything, it updates the value of $a with 'x', and outputs the new result.

Now, what would expect “fred” to output? If your like me, then you are completely wrong. “fred” will actually output the following code.

<?php

/*
Actual Outputs:
$faz->bar(3);   ==> 3
$baz->bar();    ==> 3
foo::bar();     ==> 3
foo:bar(1);     ==> 1
$faz->bar();    ==> 1

Expected outputs:
$faz->bar(3);   ==> 3
$baz->bar();    ==> 0
foo::bar();     ==> 0
foo:bar(1);     ==> 1
$faz->bar();    ==> 3
*/

?>

Yes, that’s what I said at the start, “Persistent Static Variables Across Instances”. The static variable $a actually persists across the two instances of foo that “fred” created, and even into the static method call. This was completely unexpected, at least by me.

Why Playoff Hockey is Better Than Sex

2010-08-06T00:00:00-07:00

I always knew Hockey was important, just never realized how important; It’s better than sex!

It’s legal to play hockey professionally.
The puck is always hard.
Protective equipment is reusable and you don’t even have to wash it.
It lasts a full hour.
You know you’re finished when the buzzer sounds.
Your parents cheer when you score.
Periods only last 20 minutes.
You can count on it at least twice a week.
You can tell your friends about it afterwards.
A two-on-one or three-on-one is not uncommon.

Privacy Policy

2010-08-01T00:00:00-07:00

I promise not to disclose your private information to any third party except if required to do so by law, or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to comply with legal process, respond to claims, or to protect the rights, property or safety of Matt Read, Notes? users or the public. I take all reasonable care in handling your personal information to ensure its security both offline and online.

I reserve the right to amend this privacy policy without notice and without consultation.

Types of Information I Collect

You are free to browse Matt Read, Notes? without submitting any personal information at all. Your IP address (your current Internet address) is stored in the server logs at the time of your visit, as it is on all web sites. I do not collect any personal information (such as a name, address or e-mail address) when you visit the site unless you register to the site or provied the information when leaving a comment.

Postings Comments on Articles

It is important remember that when you provide personal information (e.g., last name, address, phone number) in a online posting that that information is visible to anyone, and may be used by someone in a manner unintended by you. For that reason, I discourage you from posting any personal information on this or any website in comments or otherwise.

Cookies

The software runing this site uses browser cookies to keep track of which messages you have read, and other information about your session. Cookies are small pieces of text that are stored on your hard drive between visits. These cookies do not collect, store or maintain any private, personally identifiable information. You do not have to accept these cookies to visit or use the site (although turning cookies off will impair the site’s functionality), and you can choose to refuse the cookies, delete the cookies from your hard drive or turn off cookies at any time by updating your user profile preferences.

Questions And Concerns

If you have any concerns or questions about any aspect of this policy, please feel free to contact me. Please use the Subject “Privacy Policy” or similar.

GnuPG Public Key

2010-08-01T00:00:00-07:00

I prefer to receive mail that is encrypted, or at the very least, digitally signed. You can learn more about crypto and email at The GNUPG website, or at the Red Hat GnuPG page.

Key id: 0676CEF9

-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (GNU/Linux)
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=x4lQ
-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

Copyright Information

2010-08-01T00:00:00-07:00

All written content of this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License, except for images. All images are copyright to their respective owners; namely me, Matt Read.

Accessibility Statement

2010-08-01T00:00:00-07:00

This is the official accessibility statement for Matt Read, Notes?. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact me.

Access keys

Most browsers support jumping to specific links by typing keys defined on the web site. On Windows, you can press ALT + an access key; on Macintosh, you can press Control + an access key. All pages on this site define the following access keys:

Access key 1 - Home page
Access key 2 - Skip to Main Content
Access key 3 - Archives
Access key 5 - Skip to Main Navigation
Access key 7 - Copyright Statement
Access key 9 - Privacy Policy
Access key 0 - Accessibility statement
Access key u - About Page
Access key s - Syndication Feed

Standards compliance

All pages on this site is WCAG AAA approved, complying wih all priority 1, 2, and 3 guidelines of the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Again, this is a judgement call; many guidelines are intentionally vague and can not be tested automatically. I have reviewed all the guidelines and believe that all these pages are in compliance.
All pages on this site are Section 508 approved, complying with all of the U.S. Federal Government Section 508 Guidelines. Again, a judgement call. I have reviewed all the guidelines and believe that all these pages are in compliance.
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All pages on this site use structured semantic markup. H1 tags are used for the site title, H2 tags are used for main titles, and H3 tags for subtitles. For example, on this page, JAWS users can skip to the next section within the accessibility statement by pressing ALT+INSERT+3.

Navigation aids

All pages have rel=previous, next, and home links to aid navigation in text-only browsers. Netscape 6 and Mozilla users can also take advantage of this feature by selecting the View menu, Show/Hide, Site Navigation Bar, Show Only As Needed (or Show Always).
The home page and all archive pages include a search box (access key 4). Advanced search options are currently unavailable.

Images

All content images used in this site include descriptive ALT attributes. Purely decorative graphics include null ALT attributes.
Complex images include LONGDESC attributes or inline descriptions to explain the significance of each image to non-visual readers.

Visual design

This site uses cascading style sheets for visual layout.
This site uses only relative font sizes, compatible with the user-specified “text size” option in visual browsers.
If your browser or browsing device does not support stylesheets at all, the content of each page is still readable.

Content Rating

This site is SafeSurf Rated as “Adult Supervision Recommended”. This rating is a judgement call on my part, and to the best of my knowledge is accurate and complies with the SafeSurf End User License Agreement.

About This, That, and Me

2010-08-01T00:00:00-07:00

I’m Matt Read, a 29 year old male from Ottawa, Canada. That’s the capital of Canada for all you who don’t know that already. I enjoy skateboarding, playing hockey and soccer, and working on my website.

My favourite TV show of all time is MacGyver, and Good Will Hunting is my favorite movie. I program in PHP, MySQL, Javascript, and Bash Scripting, and I love playing with Python. I’m a bit pedantic about producing semantic HTML (and no, valid does not mean semantic).

About This Site

This site is my personal website since June 2003. This site is powered by HTML. It contains my (almost) daily web log about my life and stuff I find on the Internet. For more information and help in browsing this site, visit the links below.

Contact Matt

You can contact me by any of the below mentioned ways. Feel free to email me, but please use my GnuPG Public Key. Also feel free to IM me at any time, I’m always on Google Talk.

Email: matt@mattread.com
Jabber/Google Talk: matt@mattread.com
AOL IM: MattRead67
Skype: MattRRead
IRC: #linuxoutlaws, #swhack, and #habari as nick BigJibby on the freenode network

Other Sites of Mine

I have a few sites scattered around the net. Here’s a short list.

Dropoid - An easy to use dropbox, with an upload limit of 42MB!
Drunken Monkey Labs - My coding and development playground.
Matt Read, Git - My GitHub repos.

Matt Read, Notes?

Ephyboy, The Epiphany Tomboy Extension

Add a Menu and Toolbar Item to Epiphany

Javascript Prototype Behaviour in PHP

PHP Prototype Class

Persistent Static Variables

Why Playoff Hockey is Better Than Sex

Privacy Policy

Types of Information I Collect

Postings Comments on Articles

Cookies

Questions And Concerns

GnuPG Public Key

Copyright Information

Accessibility Statement

Access keys

Standards compliance

Navigation aids

Links

Images

Visual design

Content Rating

About This, That, and Me

About This Site

Contact Matt

Other Sites of Mine