FeedBurner FeedSmith

During the course of upgrading this site I was finally able to get the FeedBurner FeedSmith plug-in installed on this site. FeedBurner, for those unaware, is a service, both free and paid, that allows one to track the statistics of your syndicated feeds.

The process was really easy which makes me feel silly for not taking the time to do this earlier. Here is a quick tour, started by creating a FeedBurner account and creating a new feed (in this case my posts feed):

Once you have all your FeedBurner feeds created, switch back to your WordPress–>Options–>FeedBurner menu and enter the FeedBurner feeds created earlier. For example, I have set up both my posts and comments feeds to be analyzed by FeedBurner:

With both FeedBurner and WordPress setup, FeedBurner will start tracking usage statistics on your feeds easily viewable once logged into your FeedBurner account:

Even though the WordPress plugin only allows you to track your post and comment feeds, I like the fact that you can track multiple feeds within one FeedBurner account. The best part is that all this is transparent to the user with no interruption to their subscription(s)!

Tags: WordPress

Toolbar Toggle Swing Example

Started playing with Swing this last week and am finding it challenging and fun.

While learning the API, I came across a rather interesting problem where I needed to toggle a tool bar from being displayed in a window via a pop-up menu (regardless of whether it is embedded in the main window or dragged out in its own dialog window). For example:

One Window (where the main window and tool bar are one)

Two Windows (where the main window and tool bar are separated)

In my case, I needed to turn the tool bar on and off via a pop-up menu for both cases shown mentioned above. Here is a screen shot of the pop-up menu:

Turns out, this proved to be a rather difficult problem especially when the tool bar was popped out from the main window. My solution came about by adding a listener to my JCheckBoxMenuItem object:

…which would then call my showToolBar method:

Here is the full source code in case you want to run the example yourself:

• Toolbar Toggle Example Source Code (3 KB)

Simply download the zip file, extract the *.java file, compile, and execute. The only compilation error you should have is the package name when running locally.

I would be interested to know if the code I wrote (where I check for correct parentage before disposing the tool bar window) is sound or not. Perhaps there is a smarter way to tackle this problem? In my tests, it seems to work fine without any flaws.

Backward Chaining

I’d like to point out a new presence on the web: Backward Chaining. The site (cleverly named) is a Tumblelog of thoughts, ideas, discoveries, etc. by Brant Herbert.

Brant, for those who do not know him, is a talented and skilled software developer amongst other things that I have had the pleasure and honor of knowing for many years. Give his site a look and if you like it, subscribe.

Brant, welcome, its about time!

Eclipse User Library Generator 1.0.0

© Eclipse

For those Eclipse users out there that might be annoyed when having to create a custom user library sourced from multiple Java files in multiple sub-directories, I have developed a simple tool that will generate a user library file from a root directory. This takes the time and effort out of manually selecting files in each sub-directory. The User Library Generator generates a user library file by walking all sub-directories of the root directory, looking for files that have a “.jar” extension only.

You can download the the file here:

• Eclipse User Library Generator 1.0.0 (145 KB)

Documentation, complete with setup and usage, is included in the download.

Enjoy.

Manitou Springs Wine Festival

Kate and I attended the Manitou Springs Wine Festival to get a sampling of Colorado wines. It is one of those events that just keeps getting better the longer you stay.

We tasted a good portion of wines in attendance with many, unfortunately, being duds. That being said, we did find a few gems worth pointing out. Kate and I both recommend the following:

Wine

• Garfield Estates - The 2005 Vin de Glace ice wine was outstanding. My personal favorite.
• Concetta Cellars - The 2005 Cabernet Sauvignan was very good. We found ourselves attracted to this one a couple of times. Definitely, Kate’s personal favorite. I do not recommend the 2005 Syrah, though.
• Denver Wine - It was the Vinny No Neck that really stood out for us which is a Cabernet blend.
• Desert Moon Vineyards - The 2004 Altitude was an excellent Bordeaux blend especially with dark chocolate as they happened to have some around to go with the wine. Very tasty.

Food

• Aspen Leaf Gourmet - If you love jerk sauces then you really must try the Wine Jerk and the hotter Tear Jerk (Warning: it sneaks up and kicks you in the…).
• Sweet and Saucy - The Wiskey Caramel is their best which, unfortunately, is not listed on their web site for some odd reason.
• Minnie Beasley’s - A hand made toffey-like cookie. Try the almond!

Tags: Wine

Type O Negative: Dead Again

© Type O Negative: Dead Again

Track List

1. Dead Again
2. Tripping A Blind Man
3. The Profit Of Doom
4. September Sun
5. Halloween In Heaven
6. These Three Things
7. She Burned Me Down
8. Some Stupid Tomorrow
9. An Ode To Locksmiths
10. Hail And Farewell To Britain

Genre

Gothic/Metal

Description

I do not know of any better bands than Type O Negative when it comes to gothic music. The combination of keyboards (organs), heavy and low bass guitars, and Peter Steele’s low, vampiric, voice just makes it all work. That being said, this latest album release is mediocre compared to previously releases. The album meanders all over the place with long songs that probably should have been broken into separate pieces. The song “September Sun”, despite being one of my favorites, is a great example of a song unfocused. “Dead Again”, “Hail and Farewell to Britain” are songs worth checking out. “The Profit of Doom” is not bad either. All-in-all, this is an average release from a band that has done better.

I suggest you check out the album October Rust if you want to check out the best of what the band has to offer. Life is Killing Me is another great album that comes in second place to October Rust if you haven’t bought them already.

“Profit of Doom” Music Video

The following music will give you a taste of the band and their latest music: