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Jeroen W. Pluimers on .NET, C#, Delphi, databases, and personal interests

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Archive for June, 2014

Google NCR: access the Google homepage with “no country redirect”, then reset the language (via: Stack Overflow)

Posted by jpluimers on 2014/06/30

Though the question is still marked as “not a real question” (even after the edit by Michael Mrozek), the answers by User Mr. Smith – Stack Overflow and User FrustratedWithFormsDesigner – Stack Overflow are very valuable, as they describe NCR (no, not the National Cash Register company, but No Country Redirect).

The NCR url will force google.com to stay at the .com domain, not redirect the local country domain:

http://www.google.com/ncr

After that, none of the other Google URLs will auto-redirect to the country site any more: good thing!

Later I found a few other nice pages explaining NCR too (:

Another thing is that (if you did not yet know about NCR), you accidentally can end up with the wrong Google.com language. Resetting that is easy too as it answered at How can I force my browser to search Google in English? – Super User.

  1. Goto http://www.google.com/preferences#languages
  2. Reset the Google text language
  3. Reset the Google search results language

–jeroen

via: How to access the main Google homepage (no country redirect) – Stack Overflow.

Posted in Google, GoogleSearch, Power User | 2 Comments »

Changing the Windows Console Height/Width and screen buffer Height/Width

Posted by jpluimers on 2014/06/27

Console settings are kept in the registry.

The default settings are under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Console in the DWORD values ScreenBufferSize and WindowSize.

Examples:

  • buffer height/width 9999/120 is hex value 0x270f0078 in ScreenBufferSize (default 300 x 80 "ScreenBufferSize"=dword:012c0050").
  • Window height/width 69/120 is hex value 0x00500078 in WindowSize (default 25 x 80 "WindowSize"=dword:00190050).

Depending on the window title, settings specific window title (console window name) are in additional keys under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Console; each key has the name of the “console window name” with two twists:

  1. backslashes are replaced by underscores.
  2. your Windows directory is replaced with %SystemRoot%

So if your console window name is C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe, the key name is HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Console\%SystemRoot%_system32_cmd.exe Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Power User, Windows, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Server 2000, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Vista, Windows XP | Leave a Comment »

.NET/C#: open source Nikon SDK C# Wrapper project at SourceForge.net

Posted by jpluimers on 2014/06/26

Interesting: about a year and a half ago, the Nikon SDK C# wrapper project started ad sourceforge.

Basically, it allows you to integrate the operation of your Nikon DSLR into your .NET projects.

It has some very interesting features:

  • Control your Nikon DSLR via USB
  • Capture Jpeg and Raw images directly to system memory
  • Receive ‘Live View’ images
  • Record Video
  • Query and change camera settings (Exposure, Aperture, ISO, etc.)
  • And much more…

Downloads: Nikon SDK C# Wrapper – Browse Files at SourceForge.net.

–jeroen

via: Nikon SDK C# Wrapper | Free Security & Utilities software downloads at SourceForge.net.

Posted in .NET, .NET 2.0, .NET 3.0, .NET 3.5, .NET 4.0, .NET 4.5, C#, C# 2.0, C# 3.0, C# 4.0, C# 5.0, Development, Software Development | Leave a Comment »

“Textmate.app would like to access your contacts”

Posted by jpluimers on 2014/06/25

Both TextMat 1.5 and 2.0 will ask you this upon the first time use:

“Textmate.app would like to access your contacts”

According to their Troubleshooting / MountainLion browse — TextMate Wiki it is valid, but the way they phrase it any sensible user should answer “No way!”.

If you ever want to reverse a decision to such an addressbook question, the only way is to reset it for all the times you answered it:

Perform “tccutil reset addressbook” in a Terminal window as shown in the man page tccutil section 1.

What TextMat should have done instead is customize the text of the question in order to show the intent. This isn’t difficult, as explained on Red Sweater Blog – Can I Get Your Address? by Daniel Jalkut:

In the info.plist, edit the value of the NSContactsUsageDescription key, as suggested by a Tweet from Cabel Maxfield Sasser.

Daniel points to the documentation PDF, where it indeed is stated when you read it very carefully: the detailed text indicates it is for iOS only, but in fact it is there in Mac OS X 10.8 and up as well.

It is also inside the Information Property List Key Reference: Cocoa Keys: the key tells it it for iOS 6+ and OS X 10.8+, but browsing to NSContactsUsageDescription only indicates iOS 6.

–jeroen

via Twitter / voidspace: “Textmate.app would like to ….

Posted in Apple, Development, Mac, Mac OS X / OS X / MacOS, Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, MacBook, MacBook Retina, MacBook-Air, MacBook-Pro, OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, Power User, Software Development, xCode/Mac/iPad/iPhone/iOS/cocoa | 2 Comments »

tools for iPad as second screen, or show iPad screen on your computer

Posted by jpluimers on 2014/06/24

While Watching the CodeRage Mobile conference last week, I noticed Bruno Fierens showing his iPad on a PC.

I also thought about the other way around: show your PC or Mac on your iPad or using your iPad as a second (third?) monitor to your regular machine.

So here are some links to tools I want to look into further:

I’ve not done comparisons yet. These sites have compared some of the products though:

–jeroen

Posted in Apple, Hardware, iOS, iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Mac, Mac OS X / OS X / MacOS, Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, MacBook, MacBook Retina, MacBook-Air, MacBook-Pro, OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, Power User, Windows, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista, Windows XP | Leave a Comment »

Hiding email behind a 30x redirect.

Posted by jpluimers on 2014/06/24

Last week, I thanked Jaykul for helping me out on PowerShell.

But he taught me another thing that was new for me: on his site, he has hidden his email address behind a 302-redirect.

I didn’t even realize that was possible until I saw his site start my mail program without initially showing a mailto in the url. A quick check showed me he was using a 302-redirect: Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in *nix, Apache2, bash, Development, Linux, Power User, Scripting, Software Development, SuSE Linux, wget | Leave a Comment »

Delete specific cookies from Google Chrome on the current site (via: Super User)

Posted by jpluimers on 2014/06/23

Every once in a while, a site goes haywire on you and you need to delete one or more of their cookies to fix it.

There are multiple solutions to this, but I like the one below best because it only shows you the cookies involved with the site you are currently visiting:

On

  • Windows, press Ctrl+Shift-i.
  • OS X, press ⌥-⌘-i (which is option-command-i).
  • *nix, press Ctrl+Shift-j

Alternatively, open the Developer Tools pane from the Tools menu.

Open the Resources pane, and delete the cookies you want to delete.

Thanks akira!

–jeroen

via: Delete specific cookies from Google Chrome? – Super User.

Posted in Chrome, Google, Power User | Leave a Comment »

Mac OS X: Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection Client for Mac Search results – Microsoft Download Center

Posted by jpluimers on 2014/06/20

Just in case I need the youngest Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection Client for Mac, I should start at Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection Client for Mac Search results – Microsoft Download Center.

At the time of writing was the 2011 Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection Client for Mac 2.1.1 which – though it indicates it runs from Mac OS X 10.5.8 until 10.6.x – runs find on Leopard, Snow Leopard, Lion, Mountain Lion, not Tiger including Retina displays.

Do not go through Remote Desktop Connection Client for Mac | Office For Mac , as is a marketing page that makes it hard to find what you are looking for (but easy to to get you into Office for Mac).

–jeroen

Posted in Apple, Mac, Mac OS X / OS X / MacOS, Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, MacBook, MacBook Retina, MacBook-Air, MacBook-Pro, OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, Power User | Leave a Comment »

Windows consoles: a small list

Posted by jpluimers on 2014/06/19

Many people confuse a shell with a console.

They are distinct: the shell executes commands, and the console hooks up video and keyboard to them.

Some products (like Take Command Console, of which Noah Coad is a huge fan) combine the two.

Some shells you can use for Windows: Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Batch-Files, CommandLine, Development, PowerShell, PowerShell, Scripting, Software Development | Leave a Comment »

Windows shells: a bit of history

Posted by jpluimers on 2014/06/18

I’ve a long history in DOS/Windows 9x COMMAND.COM and Windows cmd.exe shell programming.

The switch to PowerShell is steep, but for me it is worth it: it has so much more functionality than cmd.exe, and taps right into the .NET ECO system.

If you look for something intermediate, you might want to consider TCC. Formerly TCC was known as 4NT, which has its roots in 4DOS (I totally loved 4DOS back when cmd wasn’t there yet).

A small overview: Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Batch-Files, CommandLine, Development, Power User, PowerShell, PowerShell, Scripting, Software Development, Windows | Leave a Comment »