Shameless plug for ToMarket Android App

OK, some of you know that I have an Android App in the Android Market called ToMarket. It is a convenient little shopping App that has a bit of a following. As I decide where to go next with it in it's evolution I have a new website called www.ToMarketWeb.com that will host web services and possibly an online version of the app. Chaeck the site out - log into the forum and say hello if you like.

SQL Order By using columns of Strings that may be numbers...

Had a column of type string that may be numbers that are entered by the user of an application. The user is allowed to sort, but using the standard "order by colname asc" can give this nasty list:

1
12
19
3
4
44
7
acorns
beer

Changing the command to read "order by cast(colname as signed) asc" makes the list much prettier:

1
3
4
7
12
19
44
acorns
beer

This syntax was using MySQL, but should port nicely elsewhere.

Command Completion at DOS Prompt

I always search for the trick to make your command prompt have auto completion when when you hit the tab key, so I am writing it down here for everyone to bask in the auto-complete glory...

1. Run regedit (start->run type regedit and hit enter)
2. Find HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor
3. Click the "Command Processor" item and in the right pane double click "CompletionChar"
4. In the value data textbox, enter 9 and press ok.
5. Close regedit and restart any command prompts you want to tab instead of type in.

Enjoy!

Have WSDL, need server

Today I had the need to create a proxy Web Service in place of one that was being developed. I had the WSDL file of the soon to be developed service, but wanted to stand up a service that would help me debug the client I was developing. Turns out it is as simple as running a command line command:

wsdl.exe /server

I'm running Visual Studio 2008 so the wsdl path was (which I had previously added to my path):

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\SDK\v2.0\Bin

After running the tool, I had a ready-made .cs file with the correct interface, which I then easily used to stub out some mock data for my client code.

Cyanogenmod v4.2.6 Released

So it looks like cyanogen released a new version of the Android including the r2 AOSP code. Some of the fixes include:

* Update to AOSP-1.6r2
* More art from Eclair
* BT OBEX FTP fixes
* Revert some recent kernel changes that caused instability
* All locales available again
* Many many more bugfixes

Doesn't look like he spent a whole lot of holiday time churning out anything terrific on this one - understandably. But we do wait for more 2.0 code inclusion despite the great Google Maps release last week.

Android Market is On Fire!

I have a couple of Android Market applications. One, ToMarket - a shopping list app, has been around for about 7 months. In the news lately there has been talk about the market not providing enough income for the big time application dev companies. I can tell you that with the release of the Droid and several other devices in the past weeks, the market is really taking a turn for the better. There has been a significant increase in downloads lately, there is no doubt about it.

It is only a matter of time - the Android Market will gain the user base to provide developers with the numbers to make a few bucks. With the ever increasing carrier and device lineup, developers should continue to look to android as a direct competitor to the iPhone juggernaut.

Finnish Rap - You will play this more than once...

Finnish group Ella Ja Aleksi BRINGING IT!



Oh, did I say they are 4? Nicely done, and pretty catchy!