in Pyrogression

A Mini Blog powered by Django

2008-11-28T22:53:00.004+09:00

I've created a new mini blog service using django.

Honjala Living Log
http://www.honjala.net/

Programming with PowerShell

2008-05-22T00:30:00.005+09:00

Introduction
I'm in a project to program PowerShell to control ActiveDirectory and ExchangeServer2007.
It was my first time to use PowerShell, and I had a lot of trouble to find help about
writing PowerShell scripts. So, for my next time, and for people who's looking for more
information, I would write down what I learned during this project.

About PowerShell
PowerShell is a name of Microsofts' new Shell Environment and its' Script language.
It has the same purpose with DOS, but it is made much more powerful and easy to script.
You can use it as a shell or use it as a language to create scripts to manage Windows,
ActiveDirectory(using ADSI), ExchangeServers(using Exchange Snapin). It is based on
.NET Framework technology, so you can call the whole class library to create more
advanced programs.

There is more detail about PowerShell here.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms714674(VS.85).aspx

Getting Started

You can get one for Windows XP here.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=30125A46-B97C-4704-AA10-605E809D5933

After downloading and installing, you will be able to use PowerShell like your Command Prompt. The basic commands are same with DOS. You can move around with "cd" command, and see inside your current directory using "dir" or "ls".
There are many other dos commands you can use. These commands are not the real commands in PowerShell. They are defined as aliases to a real PowerShell command, to let you use some commands more easily. Execute "get-alias" to see all the aliases and PowerShell commands related to them. The "real" PowerShell commands are called "Cmdlets", and their name are defined like "'Verb'-'Noun'". "get-alias" that I used above, is one of those Cmdlets too.

You can check the Cmdlet list, by executing "get-command".

You can page the list by piping the command to an alias "more".
> get-command | more

For more command information, use the "get-help" Cmdlet.
> get-help | more
> get-help | more

You can use options for more and full information.
> get-help -detailed | more
> get-help -full | more

I think this would be enough to find and use Cmdlets to control PowerShell.

Creating a PowerShell Script
It is not so difficult to read PowerShell commands from a script file and execute it.

First, create a file with ".ps1" extension. like, "helloworld.ps1".
c:\ps\helloworld.ps1


write-host "helloworld!"

Next, call your script in powershell.
> cd c:\ps
> .\helloworld.ps1

The script will be executed, and you'll see a message output.
> helloworld!

Started using Vim-BloggerBeta Plugin to Post Entries

2008-04-30T01:25:00.001+09:00

The Geek Wannabe: Vim-BloggerBeta Plugin Release
http://djcraven5.blogspot.com/2006/12/vim-bloggerbeta-plugin-release.html

I found and started using a plugin to post entries to Blogger.
It is great that I can use my favorite editor to post blogs.

Test post from vim plugin

2008-04-29T21:45:00.001+09:00

This is a test post from vim plugin.

Next step

2008-04-19T23:46:00.004+09:00

I was satisfied to just create some web applications so far, and didn't pay attention to call people to my application. Now I stop creating new applications, and will update my existing application to call many people.

Snippet Sharing Service

2008-04-17T00:16:00.004+09:00

I am now working in a personal snippet service project.

HachinosSnippets (Japanese version only for now)

I wanted a useful tool to save some code snippets that I wrote, and thought it would be nice if I can find many snippets that other people wrote in one place.
An idea to share snippets is not so new, and there are some snippet sharing services already movind in the world, but I wanted to create something to learn more about django.

I finished coding the first version, so next I will add some new functions like RSS feeds.

Twitting

2008-04-15T01:58:00.003+09:00

What I believe is that, I should not stop and keep going to achieve something.

So, for learning English, maybe I should keep twitting on this blog like people do in Twitter.

Yes, I must keep writing (at least when I'm at home).

Charlotte's Web

2008-04-14T22:42:00.004+09:00

To increase my vocabulary, I decided to read books written in English.
The first book is "Charlotte's Web".
I have read it before, when I was in elementary school, and remembered about it when I saw a TV commercial of the movie.

I read about half of the story, and I realized that my English level is still at elementary level. The English level of this book exactly matched my English level. It was a good choise to start with this book.

Cherry blossoms

2008-04-13T23:40:00.006+09:00

This is a photo in a small park near my home.
We can enjoy these flowers for only about 2 weeks, so everybody goes out for a party under the cherry tree on weekends.

Many small tools and something to gather them

2008-04-13T12:31:00.002+09:00

Services and tools should be simple and small to use it easily and speedy.
But it will be difficult to manage too many tools.
So, we will need something to gather these tools in one place.

SNS Service for learning English

2008-04-13T10:16:00.006+09:00

To improve my English language level, I started using "iKnow", a SNS service for learning English with friends.

iKnow (Japanese site)

For the moment, there are 8 courses called "Channel", and you can choose a Channel according to your purpose, such as "Basic", "For Business", "For studying abroad".
In each Channel, you can learn popular words and phrases, using easy-to-use flash tools.

The most interesting function for me, is the one called "Dictation".
This is a function to train translation from Japanese to English, using popular phrases. I think it would help me writing more beautiful and correct sentences in this blog.

Supper of one day

2008-04-13T01:34:00.006+09:00

Introducing some Japanese food may interest you.
So, I will like to introduce some of my lunch and suppers in my blog.

The photo in the right is a set of Sashimi.
Tuna(maguro), yellowtail(hamachi), shrimp, sea urchin(uni), cuttlefish(ika) is included in the set.
This set is for about 3 or 4 people. It is a kind of appetizer.

Using Django besides Web Applications

2008-04-12T22:45:00.003+09:00

I read an article about using Django in command-linse scripts.

It is about using the Django model APIs and settings in ex-web python scripts.
By using this method, we can use the same API in batch scripts with heavy proccesses, like parsing huge XML files, and converting movie file types.

SQLObjects was the only choicse for me before reading this article, so I am happy to know about this method.

Using the new Django Paginator with page links

2008-04-12T22:02:00.006+09:00

I have made a Customized Page class for the new Django Paginator.
It shows page links with "prev", "next" buttons.

utils.py


import string
from django.core.paginator import Page, InvalidPage

class BetterPage(Page):
   def __init__(self, page, link_template):
       self.link_template = link_template
       Page.__init__(self, page.object_list, page.number, page.paginator)

   def previous_link(self):
       if self.has_previous():
           tpl = string.Template(self.link_template)
           return tpl.safe_substitute({"page": self.number - 1})
       else:
           return None

   def next_link(self):
       if self.has_next():
           tpl = string.Template(self.link_template)
           return tpl.safe_substitute({"page": self.number + 1})
       else:
           return None

   def make_page_links(self, start, end):
       tpl = string.Template(self.link_template)
       return [(p+1, tpl.safe_substitute({"page": p + 1}), (p+1 == self.number)) for p in range(start, end)]

   def page_links(self):
       return self.make_page_links(0, self.paginator.num_pages)

   def windowed_page_links(self, window_size=5):
       links = []
       if self.paginator.num_pages <= window_size:             links = [self.page_links()]         elif self.number - window_size/2 <= 3:             links = [self.make_page_links(0, window_size), self.make_page_links(self.paginator.num_pages-2, self.paginator.num_pages)]         elif self.number + window_size/2 > self.paginator.num_pages - 2:
           links = [self.make_page_links(0, 2), self.make_page_links(self.paginator.num_pages-window_size, self.paginator.num_pages)]
       else:
           links = [self.make_page_links(0, 2),
                   self.make_page_links(self.number-window_size/2-1, self.number+window_size/2-1),
                   self.make_page_links(self.paginator.num_pages-2, self.paginator.num_pages)]
       return links

Starting an English blog

2008-04-12T19:05:00.004+09:00

From today, I decided to write a English blog for English study.
My sentences might be strange for a while, but I won't stop and
will just hope it gets better as I continue studying and writing.

I am a programmer working in Osaka, Japan.
I mainly use Python, Actionscript and Java.

So I think almost all of my articles will be about programming.