Kubuntu 11.10: Mapping the Windows Key to Activate KMenu

This post is an explanation of how to map the Windows key on a Dell Studio 17 running Kubuntu 11.10 to open the KMenu. If you, or your programs, rely on the Windows key as a Meta key for certain functionality this will break that. This is your only warning.

This is taken from the Mepis docs that can be found at http://www.mepis.org/docs/en/index.php?title=Extra_keys. I wandered around the world for a long time before I stumbled onto this wiki and it laid everything out step-by-step. I am simply listing the same steps from the Mepis Extra Keys documentation modified for Kubuntu running on my Studio 17 notebook.

Help! I Can’t Send/Receive Email using Verizon DSL! (or Thunderbird is Go!)

I am now using Verizon DSL for my connectivity. Email did not work. Their on-line chat support was polite but useless. Their phone support was better, but couldn’t get me past creating a Verizon email account (which I could not do on my own using Linux as they have a Windows executable they wanted to run).

Pointless verbiage is below the solution. Things to bear in mind before starting:

• Verizon only supports ports where your password is sent in an unsecured fashion across the net (that would be ports 110 (outgoing) and 25 (incoming)). No SSL/TLS port support. At all. Don’t bother trying.
• All of your outgoing mail has to go through their server. Paying an ISP to do that for you? Too bad. Is the Verizon server secure? No.

Thanks, Verizon.

Here is what you need to do to get Thunderbird working with Verizon DSL:

Help! I Programmatically Created a Resource in my Project, but My Code Doesn’t Find It!

Let’s say that you wanted to test the existence of a file you programmatically created in your project. While there are a lot of situations where you might create an IResource on the fly, creating a file for use in a test is not a bad example.

The test code could look like this (TestUtilities is a convenience class that does things for me):

...
import org.junit.Assert;
...
    @Test
    public void testFileExistsTrue() throws IOException, CoreException {
        _project = TestUtilities.createProject("x"); //$NON-NLS-1$
        TestUtilities.createTemplateFileInProjectAt(_project, CustomSchemaSupport.SCHEMA_FOLDER_NAME, CustomSchemaSupport.FILENAME);

        boolean actual = _customSchemaSupport.fileExists(_project);

        try {
            Assert.assertTrue(actual);
        } finally {
            // always do this before returning
            _project.delete(true, null);
        }
    }

Writing an Eclipse Plug-in (Part 24): Common Navigator: Configuring the submenus (Presentation…again)

When we last left our erstwhile travelers (that would be all of you) they were surfing the quantum wave on their way to a future refactoring of their past to allow them to simultaneously feel proud of their work and embarrassed that they were following some guy who is making it all up as he goes along causing them to need refactoring in the first place.

Hey. Refactoring happens. All the time. Just ask evolution (only don’t mention the alligators).

What I will post about is adding behavior to our menu items. After having added 4 (count ‘em) new menu items it is time to make them actually do something. What should they do? Well, they are going to add elements into their respective XML files (and respectively) while looking like they are adding items into their respective category nodes in the navigator.

Writing an Eclipse Plug-in (Part 23): Common Navigator: Rewriting History

[I am now using Git for my source control using the EGit plug-in. Of course it is only partially working. One of my projects has fully committed and the others say they are in staging no matter how many times I tell EGit to Commit. Sigh.

Also, starting with this post I am also going to make the code in this convoluted journey available for download in each post as well as the Missing Zip Files page. It will always be available in the format of whatever Eclipse I happen to be using at the time (7/18/10: Eclipse 3.6 Helios Release) so don't blame me if you are using an older version and something doesn't work the way I describe it. If you follow me you walk the edge. Of course, in switching to EGit I have no idea where the code for Parts 21 and 22 have gone. I hate when that happens.

Don't forget to add your favorite plug-ins: in my case that means EGit, EclEmma, Eclipse-CS, and UMLet]

[Woo hoo! Eclipse 3.6 is finally released! I can't wait to be one of the first to download it! Hey! Where is everybody? Oh, it was released June 23? Really? I hate when I miss an opening party...by almost two months...but it was because I was busy...in Miami...meeting with Michael Westin...]

Well, long time no hear! Yes, I am trying to write these posts a little more often than I have been, but it is amazing how real life gets in the way…what with the cat coming in and out of the box and the squirrels distracting me to no end (don’t get me started on the platypus). I guess I may be stuck with only one post per month (maybe less).

I promise not to beat myself up over it.

Speaking of which: when I started this post the sun was out scorching everything, and I was doing everything I could to stay out of its path. After a failed attempt at getting back into running (you know, diet and exercise will help you live forever, unless you exercise wrong thereby screwing up your leg muscles making it almost impossible to walk), but after a successful attempt to eat better (salad and seafood, anyone?) it is time to pay attention to the things that keep us getting up in the morning and make life worth living (no, not sex, drugs, and rock and roll, though they help): Eclipse plug-ins.

I was going to write a post on genetic programming, but I suspect the cat hid my Koza book because it thought I was going to write a fitness function to force it to choose one state or another. I’ll do that on my next visit to Copenhagen.

What I will post about is, well, fixing the past. Usually, that is quite difficult, but we will make an exception and pretend that we can fix what we did, not because it was wrong, but because our needs have changed (that’s my story and I’m sticking to it).

Writing an Eclipse Plug-in: The Missing Zip Files

After only 22 Eclipse postings I have finally gotten around to creating the zip files for each of the posts where changes were actually made to the project. Bear in mind that the various zip files will not necessarily match up with the blog posts.

Here are the zip files:

Writing an Eclipse Plug-in (Part 22): Common Navigator: Adding submenus (Presentation)

[If anyone cares: I have upgraded to Eclipse 3.6 RC3]

Happy Memorial Day weekend, everyone (at least those in the United States)!

For those who have accepted that life is meaningless, short and painful: chow down at the grill! Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow you die!

For those who believe that life is meaningful, long and joyous: don’t overdo your carbs, remember that hot dogs have artificial colors and mystery meat, and grilling your food causes the formation of cancer causing agents due to carbonization. In other words, don’t eat, drink or be too merry because the odds are you won’t be dying tomorrow (or maybe you will).

But, hey! Enjoy the weekend!

Well, with that sense of merriment out of the way it is time to go back to the real reason we are here: finishing up the popup menu.