Author: Chris Owens

wget or curl on Windows

Hey everyone,

Just a quick post on a Window’s equivalent to wget/curl.

To start, you’ll need to open PowerShell (run > powershell.exe). To retrieve the page, you’ll just need to enter the following one liner:

(new-object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadFile('http://www.whatibroke.com','C:my_output_file.txt')

The page contents will be stored in the output file provided as the second parameter to DownloadFile. To view it, just open the file in a text editor.

If you’d rather something with a GUI, winwget has been recommended on SuperUser.

Australian Tax File Number Generator (TFN)

Updated Tool Available

There’s now an easier to access version of this tool available at the following link: Australian Tax File Number (TFN) Generator

Along with a few other widgets that have been added more recently:

Original Post

Sample Australian Tax File Numbers/Test Australian Tax File Numbers:

865414088 459599230 125486619
656077298 796801997 754601340
243494429 953615761 551953801
946489031 996506823 615315318
412042562 907974668 565051603

I came across an old VB Script used to generate random TFNs for testing. I’ve just done up a quick JavaScript bookmarklet to replace it. Just drag the button on the page below to your bookmarks bar and you’ll be able to generate random TFNs.

Get the generator: TFN Generator

A bookmarklet to generate random TFNs
A bookmarklet to generate random TFNs

For info on how it all works, checkout the Wikipedia page: Australian Tax File Number

UPDATE:
If you’re using IE, right click on the link and press add to favourites. Once you’ve added it, click the link in your favourites sidebar. The generator will appear in the top right hand corner of the page.

Let me know if you have any trouble. If you’d like to a custom or corporate copy please contact me.

Recording AJAX Requests with Google Analytics

Hey everyone,

I’ve just finished setting this up on an AJAX-heavy site I’m working on. It’s all pretty easy to setup, copy the following code and use it to replace your standard analytics code:

This:

	(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){
	(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),
	m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)
	})(window,document,'script','//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga');
	ga('create', 'UA-xxxxxxxx-x', 'xxxx.com');
	ga('send', 'pageview');

Becomes this:

  var _gaq = _gaq || [];
  _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-XXXXXXXX-X']);
  _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);

  (function() {
    var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true;
    ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js';
    var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);
  })();

And the last step is to add this JavaScript whereever your ajax request is being made, for instance: _gaq.push([‘_trackPageview’, ‘/contents/get_content_by_id/’ + id]);

        //Prepare ajax
	$.ajax({
		mtehod: 'GET',
		url: '/contents/get_content_by_id/' + id,
		dataType: 'JSON',
		success: function(data){

			//Handle response
			handle_ajax_response(data);

			//Push view to analytics
			_gaq.push(['_trackPageview', '/contents/get_content_by_id/' + id]);
		},
		error: function(){

			//Remove loader and display error
			remove_loader(target_selector, null);
		}
	})

Just add the line commented Push view to analytics and you’re done. To test it, I just used to the real-time analytics – it shows up straight away. If you run into any trouble the docs are pretty decent: https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/gajs/

How to Customise ShareThis Settings – ShareThis

Hey everyone,

I’ve just added ShareThis to a website I’m currently working on. It’s basically a generator for all your typical social network plugins (Facebook Like, Twitter Share, Google+ etc). The main advantage I’ve found with using it is the detailed analytics.

While I haven’t had any major issues, there were a few customisations I had to make:

Change Title in ShareThis
Changing the title is pretty easy, simply use the st_title attribute:

Change/Set the URL that is Shared
I needed to set this when generating content via ajax to ensure that the correct URL was shared. Again, it’s pretty straight forward – just use the st_url attribute.

Re-initialising ShareThis buttons when using ajax
A follow on from the last issue is that ShareThis buttons will need to be reinitialised if additional content is generated via ajax:

//Re-initialise ShareThis
if (stButtons){
     stButtons.locateElements();
}

There’s a bit more info here, via this StackOverflow post:

Missing Partial (JSON Response) – Ruby on Rails

Hey everyone,

I’ve just added pagination (Kaminari) to make an infinite scroll list a little easier to use. Unfortunately, I ran into the following error – had me stumped for a while:

Missing partial /contents/content_list_item with {:locale=>[:en], :formats=>[:json], :handlers=>[:erb, :builder, :coffee]}. Searched in:  * "/home/chris/funny/app/views"  * "/home/chris/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p327/gems/kaminari-0.14.1/app/views"

The solution was fairly simple, but adding a few things at once had me looking at it the wrong way. Because I was using the same nested partials for an HTML response as my JSON one, the file extensions weren’t what rails was expecting. To get around this, all I needed to do was fully qualify the partial filenames. For instance:

#The original
 '/contents/content_list_item', :locals => { :@content_item =>  content} %>

#Became this
 '/contents/content_list_item.html.erb', :locals => { :@content_item => content} %>

Stop a Link from Going Anywhere – CSS/JavaScript

Hey everyone,

Another quick one – how to stop a link from doing anything. I’ve just come across a need to use a link that acts as a button. A slight UI issue with this is that clicking a hyperlink will with an href value of ‘#’ will push scroll to the top of the page.

There are a couple of ways to go about fixing this. Note the href value in the following:

<a href='javascript:void(0)' class='btn_show_reply' data-comment_id="">Reply

The second option is probably already familiar to anyone using ajax forms, simply have your function return false:

<a href='javascript:void(0)' onClick='myFunction()' id='my_awesome_link' data-comment_id="">Reply


function myFunction(){

   //Do some awesome stuff
   // ...

   //Return false to prevent link from affecting anything
   return false;
}

The third option is simply a jQuery-ish rehash of number 2:



/* Does some awesome stuff while preventing the calling link from directing the user */
$('#my_awesome_link').click(function(e) {

   //Do some awesome stuff and then prevent the link from directing user
   e.preventDefault();
});

Disable Word-Wrap – Sublime Text

Hey everyone,

This one is pretty obvious, but just in case anyone is having trouble finding it:

- View > Word Wrap

If you want to alter the default settings, the following seems to work:

  • Preferences
  • Settings – User
  • Add the following and then save:
{
	"word_wrap": "false"
}

Once unchecked any overflow simply results in a horizontal scroll bar.

ORA-28000: the account is locked – PeopleSoft

Hey everyone,

Just a small PeopleSoft issue I ran into while running an SQR:

(SQR 5528) ORACLE OCISessionBegin(RDBMS) error 28000 in cursor 0:
   ORA-28000: the account is locked
(SQR 4701) Cannot logon to the database.

SQR for PeopleSoft: Program Aborting.

For some reason the sysadm account had been locked, thankfully there’s a fairly easy fix:

ALTER USER sysadm ACCOUNT UNLOCK;

If you don’t have access you may need to get a DBA to run it.

Coinroll.it Betting Bot – Martingale System

Hey everyone,

I received an odd request for a script the other day – a bot for an bitcoin gambling website. The request was for a simple JavaScript bookmarklet that would execute the martingale betting system autonomously.

The code I ended up with as follows:

javascript: /* MANUAL CONFIGURATION - Initialisation Only */ var reset_to = 0.00001; /* Amount to reset to */ /* Initialise bot */ initialise_bookmarklet(); var previous_bet = null; var bot_running = false; create_message('Bot initialised, hit run to start...'); /* Runs the bot */ function run_bot(){ /* Check to see whether bot needs to be run/stopped */ if(bot_running == true){ /* Create vars */ var bet_amount = $("#betamount").val(); var parent_id = $('#bets .item:first').attr('id'); var result = $('#bets .item:first-child .lucky'); /* Check if result is same as previous */ if(result == null || result.length == 0){ create_message('No bets on screen... waiting for next run.'); } else if(parent_id != previous_bet){ /* Set previous bet to current bet */ previous_bet = parent_id; /* Check the current bet amount */ if(bet_amount >= $('#max_bet').data('max_bet') || bet_amount > $('#account-balance').text()){ /* Reset bet amount */ $('#betamount').val(reset_to); create_message('MAXXED OUT'); } /* Check if first item is a win */ if($(result).hasClass('win')){ /* Adjust bet amount to reset amount and roll */ $('#betamount').val(reset_to); roll(); } else if($(result).hasClass('lose')){ /* Double amount and roll again */ setDouble(); roll(); } else{ create_message('Unknown status, not a win or loss... wait for next run...'); } } else if ($('#betbutton').hasClass('pressed') == false){ create_message('Assumed 503, press again...'); roll(); } else{ create_message('Previous bet is still there, wait ' + $('#bot_timeout').val() + 'ms...'); } /* Schedule next run */ setTimeout(function(){ run_bot(); }, $('#bot_timeout').val()); } else if(bot_running == false){ /* Update status to prevent bot running again */ create_message('Bot stopped...'); } else{ /* Error occurred */ create_message('Error: Unknown status.'); create_message('Bot stopped...'); } } /* Run when button clicked */ function bot_status_change(button){ /* Check whether to start or stop bot */ if(bot_running == false){ /* Run bot and display message */ create_message('Running bot...'); $(button).text('Pause'); bot_running = true; run_bot(); } else if(bot_running == true){ /* Update status to prevent bot running again */ create_message('Stopping bot...'); bot_running = false; $(button).text('Run'); } else{ /* Error occurred */ create_message('Error: Unknown status.'); create_message($(button).text('Run')); bot_running = false; } } /* Creates a message */ function create_message(message){ console.log(message); $('#status_div').prepend(message + '
'); } /* Sets the max bet */ function set_max_bet(){ /* Retrieve max bet */ var txt_max_value = parseFloat($.trim($('#max_bet').val())); /* Check if new bet is not a number */ if(isNaN(txt_max_value) == false){ /* Set max bet and display to user */ $('#max_bet').data('max_bet', txt_max_value); create_message('New Max Bet: ' + txt_max_value + ""); } else{ create_message('
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'); create_message('Max bet is not a number, not updated.'); create_message('Current Max Bet: ' + max_bet); create_message('!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
'); } } /* Displays button to start bot etc */ function initialise_bookmarklet(){ /* Create vars */ var controls; var div_styles = "max-width:250px; width:250px;position: fixed; top: 10px; left: 10px; text-align: left; background-color: rgba(238, 238, 238, 0.84); padding: 10px; border: 1px solid rgba(116, 116, 116, 0.46); border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 3px 3px 3px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2); color: #333;"; var status_div = "
"; /* Set controls */ controls = "
" + /* Wrapper start */ "Timeout: 
" + "Run
 
" + /* Timeout button */ "Max Bet: 
" + "Set" + /* Max Bet */ " 
 
 Timeout: How many milliseconds the bot should wait between each bet. 
 
 Max Bet: The bot will revert to the reset amount if the bet exceeds this value (eg. 0.041) 
" + "
"; /* Close wrapper */ /* Append status div */ controls += status_div; /* Add button to body */ $('body').append(controls); }

To add the bookmarklet, simply create a bookmark using the code above as the url. Go to CoinRoll, enter a bet and a starting value of 0.0001. Finally, click the bookmark icon, choose your max bet and hit start.

Martingale Bot for CoinRoll.it
Martingale Bot for CoinRoll.it

Note that this is just a quick script and has a lot of potential to be optimised. I should also mention that this is not an exploit, just a bot. The martingale system is still gambling and if you play long enough you WILL lose.

Warning: S3::putObject(): RequestTimeTooSkewed – CarrierWave (Ruby on Rails)

Hey everyone,

Another issue I came across while working with CarrierWave. After rebooting a VM Amazon started too complain “request time too skewed”:

Warning: S3::putObject(): RequestTimeTooSkewed The difference between the request time and the current time is to large. in x on line 14

This one is another simple fix, just make sure your system time is correct. I’d been using a VM and it had run forward by a few hours. Setting it back manually resolved the error.