May
30

Labs: Twitter Add-on (extension) for Google Chrome, new version – new post.

So after a not of attention after my first release of the Twitter Add-on for Google Chrome I decided to rewrite the whole thing today.

This has resulted in some dramatic changes and improvements. But I’ve also got some things I would like to investigate further to improve the extension further.

Why doesn’t the extension (toolstrip) catch backspace key press but it does catches a normal key press like an enter key press or a simple letter?

Furthermore I’m considering letting an “enter” key press in the input field call the TwitterMe() function instead of letting the button (id=”submitMe”) doing so.

If you got some thoughts on this please comment this post.

Now for the changes and improvements of the new version of the extension. As Aaron suggested in my last post as a comment to the first and earlier version I let the Twitter-icon be a controller for toggling the visibility of the input and button. This works quite well after I decided to use jQuery as the JavaScript framework in this extension. I would have liked to expand the extension in the height but I couldn’t get Chrome to “dynamically” change the height of the toolstrip, only the width. I think the below quote should be rewritten if it’s only possible “dynamically” change the height of the toolstrip.

The toolbar automatically detects how much space a toolstrip needs and reflows. So you can resize your toolstrip dynamically if you need a little more room temporarily. - http://dev.chromium.org/developers/design-documents/extensions/toolstrips

Aaron also asked why I didn’t use a XHR call to the (brilliant) Twitter API instead of using the server-layer and that me research the possibilities of such a solution. After some investigation it’s now working fantastic.

Furthermore I decided to kick out the username and password fields since they were ruining the flow of extension. Your username and password is now to be entered in the “twitter-interface.html” which now also is XHTML Strict 1.0 valid (if that matters anyway).

Underneath I’ll include the download link to the new version as well as some new screenshots. Have fun and comment please! :-)

Download link: http://e-x-e.dk/labs/chrome-twitter/twitter-addon_v_0_2.zip

screen0screen1

Did you enjoy this post? Have a look at the post before, in this post there are some more information about installing the add-on (extension): http://www.e-x-e.dk/2009/05/29/labs-twitter-add-on-extension-for-google-chrome/.

May
29

Labs: Twitter Add-on (extension) for Google Chrome

Did you like this post, take a look at the new post and the new version of the add-on (extension): http://www.e-x-e.dk/2009/05/30/labs-twitter-add-on-extension-for-google-chrome-new-version-new-post/.

So, today I saw some article about the Google Chrome add-ons (extensions as they also call them). And since I’m a Chrome user myself I decided to play along by creating a small basic extension for Chrome.

I went along and created a small extension which would update a persons status on Twitter (and possibly also Facebook - through the Twitter application). It works in a really simple fashion using a client-part and a server-part. I had to do so since Google Chrome doesn’t support native cURL yet. So this is how it works:

Client-part: A simple form containing the status, username and password which is posting to a php file (post.php).

Server-part: The server-part consists of the post.php and the twitterAPI.php. The post.php handels the post from the client and calls the function (in twitterAPI.php) which does a cURL post to the Twitter API. The function returns a fresh form ready to update the status after entering the new status and the password (username has been passed on after the return). The twitterAPI.php is a modified edition of the original work of Antonio Lupetti (http://woork.blogspot.com/2007/10/twitter-send-message-from-php-page.html)

For testing I just used the commandline option by editing the shortcut:
Target:
    "path_to_the_chrome.exe" --enable-extensions --load-extension="The_path_to_the_addon_folder"

    fx.
    "C:\Users\Thomas Stig Jacobsen\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" --enable-extensions --load-extension="C:\Users\Thomas Stig Jacobsen\Documents\Chrome addons\twitter"
Start in:
    "path_to_your_chrome_application_folder"

    fx.
    "C:\Users\Thomas Stig Jacobsen\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\Application"

I’m allowing anyone to use my server as the server-part (there is no kind of logging, I’m using the files that you can download underneath).

All the files can be found here:

http://e-x-e.dk/labs/chrome-twitter/twitter-addon.zip

Screenshot:

Click here for a greater view!

May
25

How to ruin the rythm of night/day inside the body

The last few days I’ve been in a city called Horsens to work. As a programmer and a night hawk my mate Martin and I have been working the late hours.

This has resulted in sleeping until 13 every day. So, is that healty or not? Properly not at all. But eventhough why is it programmers and youngsters tend to be that active in the late hours? We have been a lot more effecient working in the late hours than working in the day hours.

Maybe it’s because there is no external things to distract you, or is it just some foolish excuse to be up late and sleep long into the next day?

May
25

Kunsten at falde ind i musikken

Jeg har kaldt dette blogindlæg for “Kunsten at falde ind i musikken” af den grund, at når jeg hører musik, om det så er jazz, pop, rock eller klassisk så kan jeg ikke undgå at “falde ind i musikken”.

Det er et “state-of-mind” som kan ændre ens humør og livsanskuelse på de få minutter som et nummer varer. Det er derfor fantastisk at kunne tage musik i ørene, lade sig falde ned i det store hav af følelse, toner, finesser og beats og derefter være “frisk”. Frisk på den måde at dine tanker er renset og du er atter opfyldt til randen med livsglæde. Det er et kick som ikke kan sammenlignes med noget som helst.

Derfor er det mit håb at flere vil lade sig falde ind i musikken, få renset deres sind og få det overskud som betyder at de kan give et smil eller en hjælpende hånd som giver menneskene i deres nærvær en god dag.

Så næste gang du skal høre noget musik så vælg noget dejligt musik uden vrede og skrig. Vælg noget som musik som gør dig glad eller får dig på tanker som betyder noget specielt for dig. Luk derefter ørene op og i på en og samme tid. Luk musikkens fortryllende toner ind og luk omverdenens larm ude af dit sind. Når musikken så er lukket ind og er det eneste som fylder dit sind kan du endelig nyde et nummer som f.eks. “Dreaming With A Broken Heart” af John Mayer. Lad ikke noget forstyrre dig og giv dig god til at nyde musikken.

Jeg kan garantere dig en bedre dag, jeg stopper nu denne post for nu vil jeg tillade mig at “falde ind i musikken”…

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