Stavros Amanatidis

Does Firefox suck?

2009-05-20T14:53:00.010+02:00

I am(was actually) a great fan of Firefox..
From a user's perspective Firefox rocks!
* there are countless add-ons
* it's faster than IE
* it's competing IE (and no one likes Microsoft)
* it had tabs before IE
* it's customizable

But, from a software developer's perspective, Firefox sucks!
* there are much lesser events that IE!
for example, OnPropertyChange, which is triggered as soon as the element is being changed (and not after the change). Lovely event, missing from Firefox.
* there are some events that are partially supported!!
for example, OnKeyPress is supported for input fields, but NOT for tables. According to some people, it's not usable since it's not editable.. However, when you are creating a table that uses navigation arrows, you need this feature to capture the arrow keystrokes.

It seems that Firefox is trying to limit the freedom of the developer either because it will make Firefox slower or because they have decided that some functionality shouldn't be available to developers...

Of course there are solutions, but they are workarounds that shouldn't be needed..

Skiing period has started!!

2009-01-29T23:24:00.004+01:00

I want to make clear that I am still a beginner in snowboarding..

Tomorrow I am going snowboarding again and I hope I can shot a better video :)
(where I will hopefully go faster!)

by the way, I am not spending my free time on programming anymore, but on socializing.. however, I guess that I will get back to ruby and java soon..

History is rewritten!

2008-11-26T18:12:00.004+01:00

Ha, you thought that the famous quote
"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work"
is from Thomas Edison????

No no no no!
According to OffRadio, it was Albert Einstein who said it!!!

Off-radio is a great internet radio station from Greece.
So, I think they should stick to playing perfect music...
And if someone is not sure about something, he should ask!
Or do a small research :)

Anyways, I hope that soon I will have my first working example of Ruby On Rails system!! It's coming really really slowly, because I have been through major changes in my life!! Such as, following danish lessons :)

Status Update

2008-05-06T12:42:00.002+02:00

I just saw my last post and I realized that the two solutions that I had found to keep me occupied and away from my problems, were not very effective..

1. I played World Of Warcraft for about 10-12 hours.. The monthly card was just a waste of money.

2. I worked with www.samanat.com only for 10-12 hours.. The monthly payment at the webhotel was not worth it..

However, I am very happy this period. Loads of plans and traveling and having fun!

Soon I will start working again at www.samanat.com, which is not working because it's without webhotel now :(
I will start (hopefully soon) with a demo of what one can do with ruby on rails..

Oh, and I am looking for summer sports! I am planning to learn windsurfing :)

Getting away with it all messed up..

2008-02-21T14:18:00.006+01:00

A lot of things are going really bad in my life those days..
Some people can argue that there are always more that can go wrong, but for the time being, I am not happy..

I am sad, confused, disappointed, nervous, angry, anxious, and the list goes on..

To avoid thinking of everything that makes me feel bad and all the adjectives above, I did 2 things.

1. I bought www.samanat.com and I am thinking of what to upload and how my personal website should look like.. Now I just put an "under construction" page..

2. and more efficient solution: I started World Of Warcraft again..

James - Getting Away With It (All Messed Up)

Concerts in Vienna

2007-12-19T19:54:00.001+01:00

Two weeks ago I went to Vienna for a weekend break. Since I have been living in Scandinavia for the last 3 years, I am used to planning my trips in advance. This doesn't imply that I am following my plans, but that's another story.. The story here is about booking online tickets for a concert in Vienna's Opera.

AVOID http://www.viennaconcerts.com
This website looks nice and serious and comes first at google's results if you search for "concerts in vienna".. However, there are some small details that noone ever reads in the terms and conditions.

I booked a ticket for "The Magic Flute" and I paid 43€. I was going to get the ticket from the box office, just before the start of the performance..
It was only when I got the ticket in my hands that I realized that I paid 13.30€ more than the price of the ticket!

The price of the ticket was 29.70€!!!
Believe it or not, I had to pay 45% more than the original price!

Then I read the terms and conditions and I could see that
"Opera / Musical Prices
...
The net difference between prices listed at www.viennaconcerts.com and the face value of the opera tickets is generally 25%. For some ticket categories, due to high demand, the difference might be higher than 25% but not higher than 34 EUR / ticket. Very few performances and/or ticket categories where this difference is higher than 34 EUR / ticket are clearly marked as "incl. special purchase fee"."

Yeah.. Thanks.. I am happy I didn't pay double price..

Just avoid ViennaConcerts website..

How to create a SQL script that executes other SQL scripts

2007-07-09T12:03:00.000+02:00

Yesterday I was facing the following problem..
I have several sql scripts that I want to call from a single sql script.
I am using SQL Server 2005.
I have found two ways of doing it. The first one is by directly calling the scripts one by one, and the second is by calling all the scripts in a folder.

First of all, you need to set your server to accept 'xp_cmdshell' commands.
This is done by the following code

USE MainDB

GO
EXEC sp_configure 'show advanced options', 1
GO
RECONFIGURE WITH OVERRIDE
GO
EXEC sp_configure 'xp_cmdshell', 1
GO
RECONFIGURE WITH OVERRIDE
GO
EXEC sp_configure 'show advanced options', 0
GO

Now, let's assume that you have a folder at D:\Test, which has 3 files,
Test1.sql
Test2.sql
Test3.sql

The first way, which is the easiest way to execute this files by a sql script is by the following

USE MainDB

EXEC master..XP_CMDShell 'osql -E -i D:\Test\test1.sql'
EXEC master..XP_CMDShell 'osql -E -i D:\Test\test2.sql'
EXEC master..XP_CMDShell 'osql -E -i D:\Test\test3.sql'

If you want to run all the scripts in a folder, then you can use the following script

USE MainDB

CREATE TABLE ##SQLFiles ( SQLFileName VARCHAR(2000))
GO

INSERT INTO ##SQLFiles
EXECUTE master.dbo.xp_cmdshell 'dir /b "D:\Test\*.sql"'
GO

DECLARE cFiles CURSOR LOCAL FOR
   SELECT DISTINCT [SQLFileName]
   FROM ##SQLFiles
   WHERE [SQLFileName] IS NOT NULL AND
         [SQLFileName] != 'NULL'
   ORDER BY [SQLFileName]

DECLARE @vFileName            VARCHAR(200)
DECLARE @vSQLStmt             VARCHAR(4000)

OPEN cFiles

FETCH NEXT FROM cFiles INTO @vFileName
WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN
   SET @vSQLStmt = 'master.dbo.xp_cmdshell ''osql -E -i "D:\Test\' + @vFileName + '"'''
   EXECUTE (@vSQLStmt)

   FETCH NEXT FROM cFiles INTO @vFileName
END

CLOSE cFiles
DEALLOCATE cFiles
GO

DROP TABLE ##SQLFiles
GO

This code will work if you don't need a username and password to connect to your database.. If your configuration is more complicated, you will have to add some more parameters to the osql. Read more here

Graduated!

2007-07-02T11:41:00.001+02:00

Finally, I graduated..
I am not sure if I am happy for that.
Lately I have been planning to travel with Erasmus program to Australia! Since, I have graduated, I don't have this option anymore :(

But, anyway, it's good when things that are supposed to be done, are finally done!

Now, let's study something else..
Psychology and Law seem to be the main competitors..

News

2007-06-26T14:03:00.000+02:00

It's been a long time, so I will just post the headlines of my news.

No news about the flash project.. Still not sure if I passed/graduated or not.
I have applied for a position as Teaching Assistant again from September.. It was fun :)
I am considering some new projects for the summer.. Mainly websites..
Still working at the bar of my kollegium on Thursdays and Saturdays.
Still working at EasyTime International
I start to like running medium distances (5km).. Competition is the best motivation!
I, finally, applied for a visa to US and A. I have booked an appointment and on the 13th of July, I will go to the US embassy to try my luck..

I will come back with something more interesting soon.. I hope :)

Flash project news..

2007-05-22T10:17:00.000+02:00

"The Multi Media Lab is being used for other purposes the next few days blah blah blah blah ...your deadline for handing in is prolonged.
The deadline for handing in your written reports in Multimedia Production for the Internet is Thursday 24 May 15.00"

This means that I have one more day!!
I might finish it after all!!

I guess that tonight I will upload my Arkanoid on the web just for fun..
Tomorrow I will have to start optimizing and writting the report..

My Arkanoid will for sure be better than this and worse than this. At least my initial version. Maybe in the future I will enhance it, but now I don't have time..

Flash Project

2007-05-21T11:52:00.001+02:00

I will not write much, because I am too busy..

I am planning to implement an Arkanoid (BreakOut for the nerds out there).
I started yesterday by creating an engine (partly from the web and partly mine). I am very close to have something nice, but it still needs a lot of things :(

I might finish ITU this semester after all..
Life is full of surprises :)

Flash and ITU in general

2007-05-16T19:27:00.000+02:00

For many reasons, I was thinking that it might be good (or, not bad) to finish ITU the next semester, and not now(as it was planned).

Since I have a full time job, I am not in a hurry. I like this country and I am planning to stay more anyway.. So, I can continue being a student and meeting more new people while having fun with my last course :)

So, the deadline for the Flash project is not a deadline anymore :D

And I am thinking to spend some more time on social activities and hobbies.

I am looking for a dSLR (any suggestions are welcome)
I will start playing at Amager Volleyball Klub Mixed Team(already playing at mens team)
I will start learning danish.
I will travel more.

and more to come..

Flash

2007-04-19T16:36:00.000+02:00

Another thing that keeps me busy these days, is my last course at ITU. The course name is Multimedia Production for the Internet, and mainly it covers animation and programming with Flash.

I have to find something nice to make in flash for my final project(or exam).
I was thinking to implement a small adventure game, but it will require too much time(which I don't have (or I want to spend it elsewhere))..

I am also considering to create a website for Ellas, which is a Greek restaurant situated at Copenhagen..

The back-up solution is to make a useless website with no subject and nothing to say, where I will implement all the techniques that we learned, just to illustrate that I know what I have been taught :)

The deadline/exam is the 22nd of May.

8 Queens and BBDs (Updated)

2007-04-06T18:42:00.000+02:00

As I wrote before, I have finished with my Master Thesis.
I have also defended it.
So, it seems that I have plenty of time to write new posts, to have fun, to go out for beers, etc..

The reality is far from this.. :(

One of the things that keep me occupied these days, is that I am working as a Teacher Assistant at the Efficient Artificial Intelligence Programming course. So, instead of enjoying Easter holidays, I will have to implement this in java.

The problem is well known to the community, and it's about placing 8 queens on a chess board. The queens have to be placed in valid positions (not attacking each other) and the algorithm have to check and show to the user only the positions that will lead to a solution. One way to solve the problem is to use Binary Decision Diagrams. That's how we are going to solve it.

So, I have to create the UI and the Logic of the problem, then hide some code from the Logic and let the students figure out how to implement the missing code..

--Update
Maybe I was not very clear..
The problem is NOT ONLY to restrict the row, column and diagonal of the last inserted queen, but to restrict all the board positions that don't lead to a solution. What I mean by that, could easily be seen at this image. If you place a queen at A5, then E6 should be restricted, because irrespective of where the user will put the other queens, the problem doesn't have a solution.
Brute force cannot help much here, because of the complexity of the problem. We have to calculate the permutations of 8 queens on the 64 positions of the board. That means 64!/(8!*56!) permutations.

Actually, it can be done with brute force, but since the algorithm has to be able to solve the n-queens problem efficiently, there are more efficient algorithms and data structures :)

Master Thesis.. The end..

2007-03-02T09:39:00.000+01:00

That was it..
However, God can still do something to help me if he wants..
I hope that God still hears me..

Now I have spare time and I don't know what to do.. :)

Master Thesis

2007-02-28T19:35:00.000+01:00

For those out there wondering why I am not posting anything, I want to say that have been very busy these days writing my thesis..
I will hand it in, on Friday..

God, bless my thesis! God, You are my last hope.. :)

Fun

2007-01-14T00:34:00.000+01:00

Ίσως επειδή έχω πιει λίγο παραπάνω, ίσως επειδή δεν έχω τίποτε τρελό σε σχέση με τα κομπιούτερς και τους αριθμούς να γράψω, αποφάσισα να το ρίξω λίγο στο Α.Μ.Α.Ν.

Ακολουθούν επιλογές..

Μακράν το καλύτερο, ΟΤΕ...

Louka!

A8hnaikes pinakides

gunaikes sto timoni

logikh..

Xasame ton Pappou

Response.Redirect and ThreadAbortException

2007-01-04T16:11:00.000+01:00

Response.Redirect..
That's the method that made me anxious and nervous and pissed off..

When you have a web page(main.aspx) and you want to go to another(second.aspx), you most often use
Response.Redirect("second.aspx");
at the code of main.aspx.

Until one day your project doesn't work and you get a ThreadAbortException.
You cannot imagine the reason, unless you spend some time on the net(or read it here in advance;) ).

The problem is that Response.Redirect(url), calls the Response.End internally, which terminates the thread of the main page from the call stack. That results in this exception.

The best practice, is to use the Response.Redirect(url, false) instead of Response.Redirect(url). False, is a boolean that defines that the thread of the main page should continue to be executed and not terminated.

That's all.. Just one more parameter :)
more info here and here.

Found a job

2006-12-22T16:23:00.000+01:00

I found a job!
I am working as software developer for EasyTime International.

I am not very good at describing, so I will let you watch a mini cartoon explaining the advantages of the use of EasyTime services.

The EasyTime software is already up and running, but it is in old asp. Now, the company decided to transfer the whole project into .Net. In order to do that, we will implement everything from the scratch. That will allow us to create a more flexible and solid system, follow and implement the requested by the customers features, have a better understanding of the total project.

One of the disadvantages of the old system is that it couldn't afford a company with more than 50 employees. With the new implementation we are going to overcome this limitation. This is very important bacause very large companies have already shown interest to the new version, before even installing the new server ;)

The company used to aim at Scandinavian customers, but lately has set up goals for Germany and England, and we are always seeking for opportunities anywhere.

Πώς να κερδίσετε 200.000€..

2006-12-11T19:14:00.000+01:00

Ο zkeramid έβαλε ένα quiz. Μπορείτε να πάτε στο blog του και να το διαβάσετε.
Εγώ θα δώσω ένα μικρό hint.

Η "πόρτα" στην πληροφορική, δεν έχει καμία σχέση με την πόρτα του σπιτιού. Αυτό που σας νοιάζει, είναι ότι η "πόρτα" στην πληροφορική έχει σχέση με τον τρόπο επικοινωνίας υπολογιστών σε δίκτυο ή διαδίκτυο.
Όταν μιλάμε για "άνοιγμα πόρτας", μιλάμε για ρυθμίσεις που κάνουμε στον υπολογιστή μας, ώστε να του δώσουμε την δυνατότητα να ενώνεται με κάποιους υπολογιστές, με κάποια συγκεκριμένα προγράμματα, να μην αφήνει άλλα προγράμματα να συνδεθούν σε αυτόν κτλ κτλ.. Για όλα αυτά, υπάρχει κάτι στον πίνακα ελέγχου.. Κάπου εκεί κρύβονται τα 200.000€

The best joke for blondes!

2006-11-30T11:32:00.000+01:00

Amazing!! :)
Find it here!

Hacker Puzzle

2006-11-25T10:11:00.000+01:00

A friend told me about this Hacker Puzzle and I found it interesting enough to post it..

OK, it might/probably be very easy for people of our area,
but it's worth trying..

22 levels.. Good luck..

PocketPC application with WebService

2006-11-22T11:32:00.000+01:00

After spending about 2 days of my life trying to create a PocketPC application that connects with a database through WebServices, I finally made it!

The main problem was that the articles/guides/how-tos that I found on the net, where misleading me instead of helping me. The reason is that some of them didn't mention to which versions they were referring to, and persuaded me to do things that I didn't have to.. So, if you are working with Visual Studio 2005 beta 2, there are some problems that I am not going to discuss. The same goes for VS 2003. What I am using and going to talk about, is Visual studio 2005 and PocketPC 2003 Emulator.

Below I am listing the steps you need to follow and the reason for each one of them. If you don't understand much, just follow the steps and ignore the reason :)

To start with, I need to have a webservice that contains at least a method that returns a Dataset. That dataset is supposed to be filled with a Table from a database.

Then I create a PocketPC project. I add as web reference the webservice to the PocketPC project and then I call the method.. Then I try to build.. Up to here, everything looks normal. But, there are several issues..

1st. The emulator doesn't have internet by default.
The problem is that the emulator considers the device being on hand and not on it's base. What you have to do, is go to Tools->Device Emulator Manager, select "PocketPC 2003 SE Emulator", right click and select Cradle. Now, the Pocket PC device is considered connected with the pc.

But, still that's not enough. You need to download a software the will allow the sharing of your internet connection with the the PocketPC Device (Emulator). This software is freely provided by microsoft, and it is called ActiveSync.

2nd. The Emulator even though is connected to internet, cannot access the webservice.
The problem is that the webservice is running at the localhost(your pc) and your pocketpc is trying to find it at its localhost(the pocket pc).. So, the problem is that both webservice and pocketpc are trying to communicate at localhost, but each one of them mean something different when they say localhost. To fix this, you should define at your pocketpc project, that the web reference that you are using is at your ip and not at localhost. That has to be done in two places. One is the properties of the web reference, and the other one is at reference.cs (at the constructor).

Then everything should work smoothly..
Hopefully :)

Get Date from DateTime in SQL Server 2005

2006-11-21T20:24:00.000+01:00

Since I spent some time searching for that and I realized that it's not easy/fast to find the solution, I post it here.

Configuration.
SQL Server 2005 with a table that contains at least a DateTime column.
What you want to do, is to check a given date('21/11/2006') with the values of the DateTime column. The problem is that the column contains DateTime (which means Date and Time) data.

This problem could occur (occurred to me) when you implement a flight booking system. You have to save the flights with DateTime because you need the time as well, but when the user searches for flights, you need to create an sql command that checks the date entered by the user with the ones in the database, an ignore the time.

So, what I used is (almost) the sql below

 
string sql = "SELECT * FROM Flight where "+ 
    "(CONVERT(char(10), DepartureTime, 103)='" + depDate + "')";

I recommend you to read the msdn article about the Convert function in order to understand what it's parameters do..

Je Vais Bien, Ne T`En Fais Pas

2006-11-20T16:51:00.000+01:00

This is the next movie I am going to watch..

And that's only because of this..

And because it is French..