Maintenance

To easily edit docs inside of a running eXist DB
Two step process: (1)add a data source; (2)add a connection
1.1) Go to Options -> Preferences -> Data Sources
1.2a) Add a new data source in the top panel (titled Data Sources)
1.2b) Type: eXist (add the following driver files from the WEB-INF directory of your eXist instance: exist.jar, ws-commons-util-1.0.2.jar, xmldb.jar, xmlrpc-client-3.1.3.jar, xmlrpc-common-3.1.3.jar)

2.1) Choose the just-created Data Source
2.2a) Add something like this to the XML DB URI field: xmldb:exist://localhost:8080/exist/xmlrpc
2.2b) Add login info to User and Password fields
2.2c) Provide an internal path to your collection (like "/db")

Use Window -> Show View -> Data Source Explorer to browse the db.

At the end of the day, NVivo froze while shutting down. This meant that none of the day's changes were written to disk, because apparently it stores them up and writes them at the end of the session. We found a .tmp file in docs and settings -- can't remember the exact path, but it was named like the actual data file -- and this turned out to be a complete copy of the altered data, with the exception that the dates of recent changes had not been recorded. Backed up the original day-old file as "...last known good", then copied the tmp file over to the original filename, and everything should be good to go, but when M comes in next, she should have a good look to make sure nothing else has been lost.

To access taporshare on the MacOS:
command-k to open the dialogue
URI - smb://taporshare.tapor.uvic.ca/<sharename>
Username - uvic\<netlinkId>
If you forget the "uvic\" in the username field the authentication will fail.

I had to find a file that had changed recently in order to track down a configuration file location.
The code is straightforward, but impossible to remember.

Run this:

find . -type f -printf '%TY-%Tm-%Td %TT %p\n' | sort | grep '2010-09-23 11:09'

and it will return something like this:
2010-09-23 11:09:24.6718347970 ./.cache/ubuntuone/log/syncdaemon.log
2010-09-23 11:09:43.0224589250 ./.cache/google-chrome/Media Cache/data_1

Greg and I spent a little time looking at options for an online booking system that Judy can use to handle booking of the lab workstations. We settled for the moment on MRBS, and open-source PHP/mySQL system which seems simple and easily configurable. We set it up and started testing it. It's intended to be used for room bookings, with rooms divided into areas, but since all the text on the pages comes from a language file we were able to customize it to handle computers in rooms instead of rooms in areas, very simply, just by editing the language file. The resulting booking calendar seems to be nicely printable, and the CSS is centrally configured via a PHP system which abstracts the settings into variables which are used to construct the stylesheet. We'll probably want to write our own stylesheet when we get comfortable with it, because it's not terribly pretty, but it's certainly usable out of the box.

Pros:

• Lovely clean code.
• Really well commented.
• Documentation is sufficient and clear.
• DB structure is very straightforward.
• UTF8 support.
• Good separation of concerns (page generation, CSS, GUI strings, etc.).

Cons

• HTML 4.01 (could be rewritten in XHTML, but would be tiresome and provide little benefit).
• Not so pretty (yet).

The Russian instructor brought some issues to our attention in Lab C, and they also proved to be the same in Lab B. The problem was initially confused by the fact that she was trying to access audio on her own site, which turns out to be partly down, so her audio files were not actually available. But when we started looking at other sites with audio, it quickly became obvious that there's something wrong. This is the issue:

On Firefox, the default media player for a wide range of material, including MP3s, is VLC. Unfortunately, VLC is broken on this build. If you try to load an MP3 file from a browser link, you get nothing (or sometimes you get a QuickTime logo with a question mark, for some reason). But nothing happens. If you try to start VLC manually from the Start menu, it fails with an error to the effect that it can't load its skin file. The skin file is there, but it won't load it, and it prompts you to choose another one. If you choose any of the available skin files, nothing happens -- the app just disappears.

On IE, I'm not sure what is configured as the default MP3 player, but you get the same behaviour: the QT logo with a question mark, and no audio.

For the instructor today, I showed her how to save a file to the desktop from a web link; once you do that with an MP3 file, it opens in Sanako, so that's fine.

There are probably two different ways to fix this, depending on your attachment to VLC. If VLC can be fixed, then great; but if not, then another player needs to be chosen as the default for all the media types currently assigned to VLC; the browser could either shell out to Sanako, or perhaps use QuickTime.

Also, Lab C station 20 is broken. It starts up, and it will let you log in, but once you log in, you just get a purple screen with a mouse cursor, and no desktop; after that it won't respond to anything.

If the link for the Lab 300 Client and Server admin tool gets trashed (hrmph), you can get to the GUI by running this command for the Server:
"C:\Program Files\Sanako\Shared Components\NetCommPlatform\RSrv.exe" /UI

and this one for the Client:
"C:\Program Files\Sanako\Shared Components\NetCommPlatform\RCLNT.EXE" /UI

For documentation:
Settings in Lab C look like this

This morning I followed the ELC instructor into the lab to make sure everything was working, and experienced the same problems as before: Starting the teacher program results in an RSRV error. This happens even after confirming that RSRV.exe and RSRVAny.exe are running. The only thing that fixes it is to turn the console off and back on again before starting the teacher program. This suggests it's something to do with the sequence of events; the sequence that works is to start RSRV, then power up the console, then start the teacher station.

The station is also lacking any obvious links to the teaching materials. I was able to navigate easily to them, but it would be hard for a teacher. In the past, we've put a link to the materials folder in the actual directory in which the teacher station always opens up its dialog box (which if I remember rightly is somewhere in its program folder). I'll do that if I get a chance today.

NumLock
A useful link from the Apple site:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304270 which shows the
mapping between Apple and PC keyboards/functions. Of note is the fact that
the "Clear" key on the Apple keyboard is numlock.
Registry settings for forcing numlock on when booting Windows

Open the registry and go to:
HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Keyboard

Change the value of InitialKeyboardIndicators to whichever state you wish...

0 - Indicators off
1 - Caps Lock on
2 - Num Lock on
3 - Caps Lock on and Num Lock on
4 - Scroll Lock on
5 - Caps Lock on and Scroll Lock on
6 - Num Lock on and Scroll Lock on
7 - Caps Lock on, Num Lock on, and Scroll Lock on

Close regedit. A reboot may be required.

An alternate solution is a VB script:
set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
WshShell.SendKeys "{NUMLOCK}"

Save file as "numlock.vbs" (in quotes to ensure that notepad doesnt automatically name it numlock.vbs.txt)

Then copy and paste the file (OR a shortcut to the file) numlock.vbs into C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start menu\Programs\Startup

This causes numlock to become enabled AFTER login (which is the only drawback, if you needed it on BEFORE the login window, for password purposes)

Mac keyboard shortcuts
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75459

To adjust the built-in Windows firewall, it is possible to construct a reg file and merge it remotely. An example of the reg file for setting up Zenworks:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SharedAccess\Parameters\FirewallPolicy\StandardProfile\GloballyOpenPorts\List]
"524:TCP"="524:TCP:*:Enabled:ZENworks Remote Mgmt"
"524:UDP"="524:UDP:*:Enabled:ZENworks Remote Mgmt"
"1761:TCP"="1761:TCP:*:Enabled:Zenworks Remote Control"
"1761:UDP"="1761:UDP:*:Enabled:Zenworks Remote Control"

A CLI app called netsh is available in Windows to do the config as well. Info here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/875357/
A clip from the page:

Using command-line support
Windows Firewall Netsh Helper was added to Windows XP in the Microsoft Advanced Networking Pack. This command-line helper previously applied to IPv6 Windows Firewall. With Windows XP Service Pack 2, the helper now includes support for configuring IPv4.

With Netsh Helper, you can now:
• Configure the default state of Windows Firewall. (Options include Off, On, and On with no exceptions.)
• Configure the ports that must be open.
• Configure the ports to enable global access or to restrict access to the local subnet.
• Set ports to be open on all interfaces or only on a specific interface.
• Configure the logging options.
• Configure the Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) handling options.
• Add or remove programs from the exceptions list.
These configuration options apply to both IPv4 Windows Firewall and IPv6 Windows Firewall except where specific functionality does not exist in the Windows Firewall version.
Gathering diagnostic data
Windows Firewall configuration and status information can be retrieved at the command line by using the Netsh.exe tool. This tool adds IPv4 firewall support to the following Netsh context:
netsh firewall
To use this context, type netsh firewall at a command prompt, and then use additional Netsh commands as needed. The following commands are useful for gathering firewall status and configuration information:
• Netsh firewall show state
• Netsh firewall show config

Compare the output from these commands with the output from the netstat –ano command to identify the programs that may have listening ports open and that do not have corresponding exceptions in the firewall configuration. Supported data gathering and configuration commands are listed in the following tables.

Note Settings can be modified only by an administrator.

Data Gathering
Command Description
show allowedprogram Displays the allowed programs.
show config Displays the detailed local configuration information.
show currentprofile Displays the current profile.
show icmpsetting Displays the ICMP settings.
show logging Displays the logging settings.
show opmode Displays the operational mode.
show portopening Displays the excepted ports.
show service Displays the services.
show state Displays the current state information.
show notifications Displays the current settings for notifications.

Configuration
Command Description
add allowedprogram Used to add excepted traffic by specifying the program's file name.
set allowedprogram Used to modify the settings of an existing allowed program.
delete allowedprogram Used to delete an existing allowed program.
set icmpsetting Used to specify allowed ICMP traffic.
set logging Used to specify logging options for Windows Firewall either globally or for a specific connection (interface).
set opmode Used to specify the operating mode of Windows Firewall either globally or for a specific connection (interface).
add portopening Used to add excepted traffic by specifying a TCP or UDP port.
set portopening Used to modify the settings of an existing open TCP or UDP port.
delete portopening Used to delete an existing open TCP or UDP port.
set service Used to enable or drop RPC and DCOM traffic, file and printer sharing, and UPnP traffic.
set notifications Used to specify whether notifications to the user when programs try to open ports are enabled.
reset Resets firewall configuration to default. This provides the same functionality as the Restore Defaults button in the Windows Firewall interface.