.

N81 Keypad Cleanup!

2009-08-08T16:10:00.000-07:00

I got my Nokia N81 wet (only a bit though) and the keypad promptly went dysfunctional. I could attend calls by flipping the screen but was not able to get any keys to work. So I discharged it and let it dry for a couple of days and started working fine. But the problem started reoccurring when I accidentally let its charge drain completely.

I 'google'd the disassembly procedure and found this really great step by step disassembly guide.

http://www.formymobile.co.uk/n81disassembly.php

So I followed it, opened up my phone and found a a few strands of hair and dirt beneath the mini keypad I cleaned the area and Presto! the phone started working again So this might actually be a quick fix if you really aren't interested in buying a new phone or paying to service it.

*** Warning***

The LCD display's cover (in picture 6 in the link) is actually held together by an adhesive, so fixing it back can get real messy and it keeps following off... so it would possibly be a good idea to glue it back (not with perm glue unless you want to break it open the next time).

Some Java Programming Interview Questions

2009-07-23T15:53:00.001-07:00

I am going to add some Java programming questions that I have come across in interviews recently. I have tried to provide solutions but of course there might be better ways to do them...

Check if given string contains a valid FID number. If it is not valid, return "invalid". If it is valid, convert the string to one of two formats depending on the input valid of EntityType:

i) If the EntityType value is P (Personal), convert the string to "XXX-XX-XXXX" format.

ii) If the EntityType value is B (Business), convert the string to "XX-XXXXXXX" format.

You can assume the EntityType is set correctly to either P or B.

Valid input formats when EntityType = P are: 123-44-9876, 123449876, 123 44 9876

If the user inputs any other format than the above 3, the program should return Invalid entry. For example, 123-44 9876 is invalid.

Valid input formats when EntityType = B are: 98-1234567, 981234567, 98 1234567, 981-23-4567

Examples

222-44-9876 and EntityType=P -> 222-44-9876

222-44-9876 and EntityType=B -> 22-2449876

package com.programming.interview;

import java.util.regex.Matcher;

import java.util.regex.Pattern;

public class FIDChecker {

public static String checkFID(String strFID, String entityType ){

String returnFID = "INVALID FID/ENTITY TYPE";

entityType = ("P".equalsIgnoreCase(entityType)||"B".equalsIgnoreCase(entityType))? entityType:null;

if(null!=strFID && null!= entityType)

{

if (validateFID(strFID, entityType))

{

returnFID = reformatFID(strFID, entityType);

}

return returnFID;

}

private static boolean validateFID(String strFID, String entityType){

boolean isValidFID = false;

String validFormat1 = null;

String validFormat2 = null;

if ("P".equalsIgnoreCase(entityType))

{

validFormat1 = "\\d{3}-?\\d{2}-?\\d{4}";

validFormat2 = "\\d{3}\\s?\\d{2}\\s?\\d{4}";

}

else if ("B".equalsIgnoreCase(entityType))

{

validFormat1 = "\\d{2}-?\\d{7}";

validFormat2 = "\\d{2}\\s?\\d{7}";

}

Pattern matchingPattern1 = Pattern.compile(validFormat1);

Matcher patternMatcher1 = matchingPattern1.matcher(strFID);

Pattern matchingPattern2 = Pattern.compile(validFormat2);

Matcher patternMatcher2 = matchingPattern2.matcher(strFID);

if (patternMatcher1.matches() || patternMatcher2.matches())

{

isValidFID = true;

}

return isValidFID;

}

private static String reformatFID(String strFID, String entityType){

String plainFID = strFID.replaceAll("[-\\s]", "");

StringBuffer formattedFID = new StringBuffer();

if("P".equalsIgnoreCase(entityType))

{

formattedFID.append(plainFID.substring(0, 3));

formattedFID.append("-");

formattedFID.append(plainFID.substring(3, 5));

formattedFID.append("-");

formattedFID.append(plainFID.substring(5, 9));

}

else if ("B".equalsIgnoreCase(entityType))

{

formattedFID.append(plainFID.substring(0, 2));

formattedFID.append("-");

formattedFID.append(plainFID.substring(2, 9));

}

return formattedFID.toString();

}

Pencil...

2009-03-10T16:59:00.000-07:00

I going to start trying out 'Pencil' an open source animation software. I was looking at Adobe Flash CS software and was shocked at the prices.. Flash CS4 costs $999 :O. Pencil looks neat and impressive so far (interface has been done using Qt), will probably post an animation made with it shortly...

Pencil can be downloaded at http://www.pencil-animation.org/index.php?id=Download

Windows Vista Service Pack 1

2009-02-03T06:42:00.000-08:00

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 - seems to address the following issues that were frustrating me for quite some time.

i) Windows sidebar has not been working in my machuine for a long time. It would just crash at startup and also when I try opening it from the program menu. This has been corrected and seems to be working fine so far.
ii) McAfee antivirus 2009 was getting a 'MISP Shell Error (may not be the correct error description) when I tried to open the 'McAfee Security Center'. And the Registration Wizard kept erroring out (inspite of my efforts to try to runs using various XP compatibility settings), making my calls to customer care useless as they kept telling me everytime that they cannot help without product registration. This has also worked fine for me after the update.
iii) Yahoo messenger 9.x was also erroring on the programs start up. This issue also appears to have been rectified. I was using a patched up version of Ymess 8.x until now.

Thanks Microsoft!
For taking some to fix your bugs amist suing other smaller companies...

Day 56 - of Log Late n' Lite

2009-01-24T19:33:00.000-08:00

Err... it been a while since I started this dreary project. A lot has happened since then and I have not been able to work on this :(

I think it is time for me to call it quits and accept defeat. However last week I took a step towards it and installed JDK and the Netbeans IDE in my machine.

So I can console myself by saying ~ A single install for a man is a giant step for a lazy man.

Day One - of Log Late n' Lite

2008-12-13T00:07:00.001-08:00

I have been asked to develop asynchronous and lite logging for an application. Based on what I've googled so far, I am visualizing it using log4j + JMS (Active MQ or JBoss Messaging) .

I will be really glad if I could find an open source off-the-shelf asynchronous logging framework... huh

Tidbit

2005-09-28T03:54:00.000-07:00

The @ symbol has to be used in the xpath query if you need to access an attribute field of an element.

Eg. < employee id="19090" >
< name/ >
< age/ >
< /employee >

the xpath to select the 'id' in an XSLT wud be '< xsl:value-of select="/employee/@id/text()" > '

QD software

2005-08-06T04:35:00.000-07:00

There are many software availble in the internet (for free) for the Symbian OS. This is one good site where you can download lots of stuff http://mobango.com/.

This is a list of software thats got to be really useful for the QD

1. Ultramp3 mp3 player - Unlike the N-Gage the QD doesn't have a preinstalled mp3 player. ( as i mentioned the realone player in the CD didnt detect the mp3s in my MMC.)

2. Patch to store messages in MMC - If you are using your Blutooth dongle to transfer files between your PC and fone, you will need this software to move your message inbox to the MMC (so that you can transfer files greater than 4MB - fone memory).

3. File explorer - fexplorer111 . This software enables you to explore through the various drives in your fone like you do with the windows explorer. This can be real useful to move files from one drive to another and to delete unwanted files.

The rest are just stuff-for-fun and ARE real fun actually.

Another Tip :

How to change the wallpaper on the QD.

go to Settings->Device settings-> Standby mode->Wallpaper-> select yes here and select wallpaper from either from device memory or MMC.

The N-GAGE QD - tips n tricks

2005-08-05T04:30:00.000-07:00

The QD

Things u need to get (apart from the fone):

1.MMC Card- The fone comes with a device memory of just 4mb, so you might ( else u gonna say the fone sucks) want to get an MMC card (a techie name for a flash memory card). These cards are available in capacities from 128 MB to 1 GB.
*** This is one important point i wanted to discuss about. I was a bit jittery( or maybe the card didnt fit properly - please verify this ) when i tried to push my 1 GB MMC card (Manufacturer NCP) through the slot, and it got stuck !! I cudnt pull the card back :( .. I had to rush to a service guy who pulled it out with a foreceps and told me that i had broken the lock :( ... Implying, evrytime i need to pull my card out i have to use a foreceps ( of course i will repair the lock) , so guys be careful while inserting your card. The usual procedure is - when u press your card once it gets locked and when you do it again it jumps out like in Digital cameras.

2.A Card reader- This USB device is a must if u need to transfer files(mp3s,sis files,jpegs) from your PC to the QD. This is usually a multipurpose device and can read from many types of cards ( even from cameras).

Things u need not get:

1.The Bluetooth Dongle : U need not get a bluetooth dongle if you got a card reader.you can transfer all kinds of files using your card reader.( but since my card was stuck i got a bluetooth 'dongle' - wat a weird name)

Tip:

And the real one player provided by nokia ( on CD - you got to install it yourself) didnt recognize my mp3s on the card , so i removed it and installed ultramp3 and it works fine.

JAXB and Castor ( no Pollux :( here )

2005-08-02T22:23:00.000-07:00

JAXB and Castor are APIs that facilitate reading XML documents and mapping the content into java objects.

JAXB procedure

A schema definition document (.xsd) has to be made, which when ‘bind’ed to the API will create the java objects that need to be filled with the contents of the XML file.

It’s NOT possible to create your own classes, however you can modify the classes that the API generates by specifying options during binding.

Castor procedure

The java objects that need to be filled with the contents of the XML file, can be created by the user (this gives a lot flexibility when compared to JAXB), or they can be generated by the Sourcegenerator JAR.

The main difference is that this method does not need an XML schema definition. But we will need a mapping document for that purpose. The mapping document can also be generated using tools like org.exolab.castor.tools.MappingTool or 3rd party tools.

2005-07-25T09:33:00.000-07:00

Uploading a large XML file into an XMLType column

The XML File is read as a string and is loaded into the XMLType column. The setString() statement was used to load the string (XMLType data) into the SQL prepared statement. As the string that had to be loaded was large (bigger than 4kb accepted by setString()) the statement was in error.

However there was a procedure suggested by ORACLE, where the setObject() is used instead of setString(). In which case, a CLOB is pushed into the prepared statement.
1. The getCLOB() method writes the contents of the string into a CLOB using ‘write’ method of the ‘Writer’ class and returns the CLOB.

Code Snippet:

CLOB tempClob = null;
// Open the CLOB in readwrite mode to enable writing
tempClob.open(CLOB.MODE_READWRITE);

// Get the output stream to write
Writer tempClobWriter = tempClob.getCharacterOutputStream();

// Write the data into the temporary CLOB
tempClobWriter.write(xmlData);

// Flush and close the stream
tempClobWriter.flush();
tempClobWriter.close();

2. The CLOB is then loaded into the prepared statement using setObject().

Code Snippet:

PreparedStatement insertsql = Con.prepareStatement(

"INSERT INTO PO_XML_TAB2 VALUES(200,

XMLType(?))");

insertsql.setObject(1, clob);

References

Le Roi est mort; Vive le Roi

2005-06-24T01:48:00.000-07:00

I found maintaining a site that looked like absolutely junk html pages stolen from some old tutorial websites, was real tiresome. While recollecting the purpose that i had actually built the site for, i found it little different from the way a weblog functions. So i've switched sides... and if you want to have a look @ my old yucky site follow the link that says My Site.