Passing multiple parameters from AppleScript to Node.js Server

Most previous solutions to moving data from AppleScript to a server on the same machine involve MAMP/PHP and passing the parameters via a GET or POST to the URL. It works, but it is slow and awkward. I have found another solution. The concept is to use Applescript to put all of the parameters into a single JSON string, and put the string on the system clipboard. Then open the URL. If your server is set up with node.js with express.js framework, you can retrieve the JSON data, and pass all the parameters to the jade node template engine. With very little code, you can use the data for display, encryption, messaging, or storage in SQL. Tricks to help make this happen: Enclose the JSON elements (both the keys and the values) in tildes instead of quotes before passing to clipboard. (Also clean out all the illegal characters like newlines. I like having them at the other end, so I substitute triple-dashes for every newline and change it back on the other end.) In node.js, FIRST, replace the tildes with double quotes, and change the newline placeholders to \n. THEN use json = JSON.parse(jsonstr); to turn it from a JSON string to a JSON object. THEN use res.render(‘Jadefilename’, json); in the routes/index.js file. Inside the jade template, the jsons value can be called simply with #{key} To pass multiple jsons at once, use res.render('Jadefilename', {item1:json1, item2:json2}; etc, and inside jade the values correspond to #{item1.key} An important afterthought: these passed json objects received by jade are available in the regular jade template but INACCESSIBLE inside javascript functions nested in jade. The correction to this problem is add the following one line to the top of your nested javascript function to make the json object into a local variable: var local_json =!{JSON.stringify(imported_json)}; Now you can call the values from local_json, instead of imported_json, (item1 in the example above) inside the javascript that is nested inside the jade template. While on the subject of node.js, here is a refresher on how to get started with express. first time: install node from nodejs.org then “sudo npm install” the following: -g express generator -g nodemon mysql crypto-js copy-paste returning - check install, versions: node -v npm -v express -V (yes that one is capitalized) nodemon -v And here is what you really need to know: create an express project: express projectname-version start application with nodemon: cd projectname-version nodemon bin/www start application with debug: DEBUG=my-application ./bin/www IDE: Sublime Text 2, Terminal, Safari, Applescript Editor, Remote Desktop Connection

Setting up Java Eclipse IDE on Windows 7 and JRE

After installing and uninstalling both Eclipse and JRE (Java runtime environment) several times on a Windows 7 64-bit machine, I finally have a sequence I can recommend. In my case, I had to have my testing environment in eclipse be compatible with the runtime environment on a Windows Server 2008 R2 without access to the JRE on that machine. This meant it had to be JRE 1.6 and 32 bit. (Even though the default installation on the Windows 7 machine was JRE 1.7 and 64 bit). 1. Uninstall all the implementations of java from the control panel uninstall utility. 2. You can't uninstall the Eclipse IDE, you can just delete it. 3. Install the JRE (1.6.0.6) and verify it is working by going to the program file (x86) folder and/or the windows\syswow64 folder (these are where 32-bit programs reside on 64-bit machines) and from the command line java -version. You can also verify it's installed by going into control panel ->java->java->Application runtime settings->view. 4. Install the IDE but be sure to download the 32-bit version. I downloaded it to a mac, put it in dropbox, let it sync for about 20 minutes on the target machine, and then copied the whole folder (after renaming it eclipse_32_bit) from dropbox to desktop on Windows 7. You can still have eclipse_64_bit on the same machine, in another folder. 5. Launch the IDE, select a default workspace folder, open the workbench, and immediately go to Window->Preferences->Java->Installed JREs->Execution Evironments. 6. Click on JavaSE-1.6 and here is where the magic is. In the compatible JREs pane the freshly installed jre1.6.0.06 is there, and not only that (it is there for other execution environments) it says "perfect match". 7. Click the compatible jre1.6.0.06 checkbox. This should give you the correct JRE for testing your application within Eclipse.

Eclipse ADT (Build v22.2.1 for Mac OS) Pointers

When you create a new app from scratch (file->new->Android Application Project) and select the defaults, it automatically opens the java file (from the src folder) for editing, and the main xml file (from the res->layout folder) for editing. The xml file has two panes, text and graphical layout. Start with the graphical layout to drag and drop objects like fields and buttons onto your UI. Then edit the xml text and the java file to handle events with the objects. The YouTube tutorials on this, called "Android: project 1(v1)", up to (v6), by "Lecture Snippets" are very efficient and provide simple java code for this. The YouTube tutorial "Android Basic SQLite Database" by "profgustin" gives some basic SQLite code, which I have enhanced below to interact with a field from Lecture Snippets. The main thing not to forget is: although SQLite is "built-in" to the Android Developer Tools SDK, the new app cannot use the classes until they are imported in the java code AND attached to the build path. I found that typing SQLiteDatabase in the java code, and either hovering over it or double clicking on it brought up a dialog box that allowed me to both make the import statement in the code, and add the android.jar file as a Source Attachment in the Java Build Path (this is otherwise found by right-clicking the project file in the navigator pane-> Properties->Java Build Class->Android. I use the Cursor class to manipulate SQL data, so I also had to import android.database.Cursor; as well. I think import android.database.*; may also work. package com.example.foo2; import android.os.Bundle; import android.app.Activity; import android.database.Cursor; import android.database.sqlite.SQLiteDatabase; import android.view.*; import android.widget.*; public class MainActivity extends Activity { Button btn1; EditText etxt1; @Override protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) { super.onCreate(savedInstanceState); setContentView(R.layout.activity_main); SQLiteDatabase db = openOrCreateDatabase("MyDB", MODE_PRIVATE, null); db.execSQL("CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS MyTable (field1 VARCHAR, field2 VARCHAR, field3 VARCHAR);"); db.execSQL("INSERT INTO MyTable VALUES('red','green','blue');"); Cursor c = db.rawQuery("SELECT field1 FROM MyTable", null); c.moveToFirst(); final String MyString = c.getString(c.getColumnIndex("field1")); db.close(); btn1=(Button)findViewById(R.id.button1); etxt1=(EditText)findViewById(R.id.editText1); btn1.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() { @Override public void onClick(View v) { etxt1.setText(MyString); } }); }