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Install Eclipse 3.4 with the Force.com IDE

At this time, Eclipse is at 3.5 (Galileo). However, the Force.com IDE still only works with Eclipse 3.4 (Ganymede). That’s more than just annoying – trying to code for the Force.com platform using their web interface is not a pleasant experience, to say the least.

To install Eclipse 3.4, grab the appropriate download from http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/packages/eclipse-classic-34/ganymeder. Keep in mind, it’s big, approximately 150MB.

Once downloaded, extract it. In my case, I unzipped it to my own $HOME/bin directory, as I didn’t want to mess with the system installation of Eclipse 3.5. This will create an eclipse subdirectory containing an eclipse binary.

As I’m only going to be using this version of Eclipse for working with Force.com, I renamed the unzipped directory and created an alias for convenience.

david@continuity:~/bin$ ls
eclipse
david@continuity:~/bin$ mv eclipse eclipse-3.4

I added my alias to $HOME/.bashrc:

alias force.com=$HOME/bin/eclipse-3.4/eclipse

If you wanted to go even further, you could create a launcher in your applications menu or on your toolbar or desktop. However, I’m not that in love with Force.com (or even Eclipse)…

Next, launch Eclipse and follow the installation instructions for the Force.com IDE at http://wiki.developerforce.com/index.php/Force.com_IDE_Installation_for_Eclipse_3.4.x. There’s no point in me repeating those instructions – they’re comprehensive and easy to follow.

Enjoy.

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By david – February 12, 2010

Quick hack to test the Cubetree API

I’ve been working on integrating Cubetree with Force.com. I’m not a web developer but, if forced to, I can manage. However, working in and debugging using the Force.com environment is a pain in the proverbial, regardless of background.

So, to get testing done in a more timely manner, I’ve had to resort to quick hacks at the command line to test the Cubetree API, verify their message format, etc:

david@continuity:~$ curl -d "login=MyUsername&password=MyPassword" -D headers https://www.cubetree.com/api/v1/login && curl -s -b headers https://www.cubetree.com/api/v1/feed | python -c "
import sys
for item in eval(sys.stdin.read()): print 'Creator: %s\nAction: %s\n' % (item['creator-name'], item['action'])
"

. . .

Creator: David Taylor
Action: has to keep reminding himself: Although a Cubetree integration would be much easier with Ruby/Python/C#/etc (any common language, really), Force.com can make other tasks much easier 

Creator: David Taylor
Action: got the custom setting code to work in Force.com ... it required knowing about an undocumented variable, SetupOwnerId ... go on, try Googling it and see for yourself  :-) 

. . .

All in the name of good, clean fun.

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By david – February 10, 2010

Dovecot: “Ambiguous mail location setting…”

My ever-present ongoing project with etherknet.com is to develop a virtual hosting platform. One part of that uses dovecot as the LDA, backed by LDAP (which contains all the virtual-hosted sites, including people, roles, DNS, etc). Today I added my wife’s new domain to my server, then I began to see the following error messages in /var/log/mail.err:

dovecot: IMAP(nerida [AT] mygreenme.com.au): Ambiguous mail location setting, don't know what to do with it: /var/spool/vmail/mygreenme.com.au/nerida/ (try prefixing it with mbox: or maildir:)
dovecot: IMAP(nerida [AT] mygreenme.com.au): Mail storage creation failed with mail_location: /var/spool/vmail/mygreenme.com.au/nerida/

Curiously, this has never occurred before, even though I provide virtual hosting services for other domains in the same manner.

Not to worry…

The fix requires finding the dovecot query that produces the mail= value and prefixing it with the desired mail format. I prefer maildir:. So, in my case, that involved editing /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf and changing from:

  userdb static {
    args = uid=vmail gid=vmail home=/var/spool/vmail/%d/%n/ mail=/var/spool/vmail/%d/%n/
  }

to:

  userdb static {
    args = uid=vmail gid=vmail home=/var/spool/vmail/%d/%n/ mail=maildir:/var/spool/vmail/%d/%n/
  }

Simple.

Oh, also, in the logs above I changed the “@” symbols to ” [AT] ” … my wife would never let me live it down if I primed her new mail account with spam.

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By david – February 9, 2010

Internet tethering with Ubuntu 9.10 and the iPhone

To get internet tethering working between Ubuntu 9.10 and your iPhone you need to use the blueman project. The blueman project uses the BlueZ API to simplify integration with bluetooth devices. It is not part of the standard Ubuntu 9.10 repositories.

The Blueman Project

To get started, you will need to add the repository for the blueman project. As root:

root@continuity:~# add-apt-repository ppa:blueman/ppa
root@continuity:~# apt-get update
. . .
root@continuity:~# apt-get install blueman
. . .

After it is installed, you may need to start/restart the bluetooth service.

root@continuity:~# restart bluetooth

Enable Bluetooth

If, like me, you’re using GNOME, you can find the new Bluetooth Manager in your menu under System -> Preferences. Start the Bluetooth Manager. Its icon should appear in your task bar. Left-click on the icon to open the Bluetooth Manager interface. At this point, make sure you have enabled bluetooth on your computer (typically a switch or button on your laptop… or even a USB dongle for your desktop).

Enable bluetooth on your iPhone. Go into the Settings application, press the General button, then press the Bluetooth button. Press the Bluetooth switch to turn it on. The interface should now say Now Discoverable.

While you are searching for your iPhone and pairing with your iPhone, you need to make sure your iPhone remains on and unlocked and in the Bluetooth screen. Your iPhone is only discoverable while in this screen.

Pairing

Back to the Bluetooth Manager interface on your computer. Press the Search button. A list of visible bluetooth devices should appear (if there is more than one visible bluetooth device in the vicinity) and one of them should be your iPhone. Your iPhone will be identified by the name you have given it using iTunes (in my case David’s iPhone) or by the default name, iPhone.

If you see multiple iPhones you will need to select the one that has a matching bluetooth MAC address for your iPhone. To determine your iPhone’s bluetooth MAC address, go into the Settings application on your iPhone, press the General button, press the About button, then scroll down to the Bluetooth value. Your iPhone will be listed in the Bluetooth Manager interface with this address as a sub-heading. Take a note of this and make sure you go back to the Bluetooth screen so that your iPhone is discoverable again.

Back to the Bluetooth Manager. Select your iPhone. Click on the plus icon to register it.

For the next step, you will need to select a 4 digit passcode to use to authenticate your computer to your iPhone. Click on the keys icon. A dialog box will appear. Type in your chosen 4 digit passcode and click on OK. Your iPhone should now prompt you for a passcode. Enter the same 4 digit passcode. Your computer and iPhone are now paired.

Enable Tethering

Enable internet tethering on your iPhone. In the Settings application, back in the General settings, press the Network button. Press the Internet Tethering switch to turn it on.

Back to the Bluetooth Manager on your computer. Right-click on your iPhone and click on Connect To: Network Access Point. After a short while, a new network connection should be announced in your task bar. In the Bluetooth Manager, select your iPhone and click on the star icon to indicate that you trust this device.

Finished

From now on, as long as bluetooth is enabled on both your computer and iPhone and internet tethering is also enabled, you will be able to right-click on the bluetooth icon in your task bar and connect to the internet via your iPhone.

While you’re not using Bluetooth and Internet tethering, I highly recommend you disable them on your iPhone and laptop to conserve battery power.

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By david – January 28, 2010

Install Thunderbird 3 (beta) with Lightning 1 (beta) in Ubuntu 9.10

At the time of writing, Lightning is at version 1.0b1rc1 (sounds stable, doesn’t it…). It only works with the beta release of Thunderbird 3 (aka Shredder), which is currently at version 3.0.2. I hear you ask: “Why would you want to use these two stable-sounding pieces of software together?” In my case, it’s because I need to deal with meeting invites sent by Microsoft Outlook users, but I want to continue using Mozilla Thunderbird. NB: it does not provide a solution for integrating with a Microsoft Exchange calendar.

So, to get started…

As root add the Mozilla Ubuntu daily build repository:

root@continuity:~# add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-mozilla-daily/ppa
Executing: gpg --ignore-time-conflict --no-options --no-default-keyring --secret-keyring /etc/apt/secring.gpg --trustdb-name /etc/apt/trustdb.gpg --keyring /etc/apt/trusted.gpg --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv B34505EA326FEAEA07E3618DEF4186FE247510BE
gpg: requesting key 247510BE from hkp server keyserver.ubuntu.com
gpg: key 247510BE: "Launchpad PPA for Ubuntu Mozilla Daily Build Team" not changed
gpg: Total number processed: 1
gpg:              unchanged: 1
root@continuity:~#

Update the repository:

root@continuity:~# apt-get update

If you get a warning about a duplicate entry, just repeat the update command, it’ll clear up.

Install Thunderbird 3.0 (not 3.1, which does not currently work with the release of the Lightning plugin):

root@continuity:~# apt-get install thunderbird-3.0

If you use GNOME as your desktop, I recommend also installing the GNOME support package:

root@continuity:~# apt-get thunderbird-3.0-gnome-support

Now that you have Thunderbird 3, fire it up. In the menu, go to Tools -> Add-ons and keep that window handy.

If you’re running a 32 bit version of Ubuntu, this next bit will be easy for you…

In your browser window, go to the Mozilla Lightning project page. Under Download Now click on Linux x86. Press the whopping great big Download Now button and save the file.

If, however, you’re running a 64 bit version (like me), this next bit is annoying… but still easy…

Use your browser to download http://releases.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/calendar/lightning/releases/1.0b1rc1/contrib/linux-x86_64/lightning.xpi or do the following in a terminal:

david@continuity:~$ wget http://releases.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/calendar/lightning/releases/1.0b1rc1/contrib/linux-x86_64/lightning.xpi

Now that you have the file, return to the Add-ons window that you opened earlier, click on the Extensions icon at the top, click on Install..., navigate to the lightning.xpi file that you downloaded, click OK, wait a few seconds, click Install Now.

Once that’s installed, the last thing that you need to do is click on Restart Shredder.

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By david – January 27, 2010