Export iCloud Contacts fails on IE, succeeds on Firefox

Downloading iCloud Contacts on Windows does NOT work on Internet Explorer, but works fine on Firefox.  Which is weird since IE is the recommended browser for iCloud on Windows.

The steps to export your iCloud contacts on a Windows machine:

1. Log into iCloud.com
2. Go to the Contacts application
3. Click on the gear icon at the bottom-right. -> A menu pops up.
4. Select "Export to vCard"

When I tried it on IE, very simply, nothing happens whatsoever.  However when I tried it on Firefox it works perfectly.

My environment is Windows 8, running the latest IE and FF.

My wife got the exact same results.  She uses Windows 7 with whatever the latest IE is there.

Accessing MS SQL databases from classic ASP

I am writing a CMS (content management system) in classic ASP using Microsoft's JScript language (a server-side language based on ECMAScript3) with a database in Microsoft's MS SQL.

Why I am using such an ancient technology as classic ASP/JScript is a topic for another time.  Today I will focus on the steps it took to get it working, and the troubleshooting I had to do along the way.

First of all, you start by instantiating an ADO connection object as follows.
Next, connect to the database using a connection string.

try 

{

var objADO = new ActiveXObject("ADODB.Connection");

var dbConnStr = "Driver={SQL Server};server=MyMachine\\SQLEXPRESS;database=MyDB;uid=MyId;pwd=MyPw;";

objADO.Open(dbConnStr);

... use database ...

}

catch(err)

{

Response.Write(err.description);

}

Note that the code is in a try/catch structure.  The output from err.description helps a lot in diagnosing problems.

First problem

err.description had value:

• [Microsoft][ODBC SQL Server Driver][SQL Server]Login failed for user 'MyId'.]

The solution to this was found here:

• https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/555332

The problem was that in SQL Server Management Studio I had set the authentication of SQL Server itself to

• Windows Authentication mode

It should be:

• SQL Server and Windows Authentication mode

Second problem

err.description had value:

• [Microsoft][ODBC SQL Server Driver][SQL Server]Login failed for user 'MyId'.  Reason: The password of the account must be changed.]

The solution to this was found here:

• https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/forums/sqlserver/en-US/3174e9f5-5e51-4d95-89cc-bc81a9f16351/login-failed-for-user-please-what-am-i-doing-wrong

The problem was that I had set following property for the login for MyId in SQL Server Management Studio.

• User must change password at next login

It should be unchecked.

END

Unable to read downloaded compiled help (CHM) files?

A problem I keep running into and forgetting how to solve, so I will jot it down here for future reference.

You download some compiled help (*.chm) file from anywhere on the internet.  You open it and see the hierarchical Contents tree on the left panel, but no content on the right panel!

Steps to solve this:

1. Open the files Properties
2. Click the button Unblock, assuming it is displayed.
• The button should disappear after you click it.
3. Press OK.

You're good to go.

I think the reason the problem occurs is that later versions of Windows block them automatically as a security feature.   As with anything, make sure you are downloading them from a trusted site!

Windows 8 - Create a makeshift Start Menu

1. Right-click taskbar
2. Select Toolbars
3. Select New Toolbar...
4. Select folder C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

There are also some Start Menu shortcut items under the following:

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

So repeat steps 1 to 3, and use the above path for step 4.   Don't forget to substitute <username> with your correct user name.

Bio-likeness

Went to this event.
http://www.design-lab.iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp/exhibition/biolikeness/

FB page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1438596953056344/

Cheetahs on the Edge

Check out the sheer beauty of this cat. Must be viewed in full screen, and preferably with good speakers!


 

Entry Bar in MS Project 2013

For a long time I used Microsoft Project 2007.  My main control for entering and editing text is the entry bar, which is the long horizontal bar just above the work area similar to the one in Excel.

A couple of weeks ago I upgraded to MS Project 2013.  Alas, no entry bar!  What was that about?

Anyway, I finally got around to Googling it.  I actually didn't even know what the hell it was called.  I learned that in Excel they call that thing the "formula bar", and from there that it was called the "entry bar" in Project.

I found this video, a kind thanks to the guy who made it:

Check out his channel, it looks like it has a bunch of useful tutorials.

It turned out to be in the Options, under Display.  Duh!  The video was about Project 2010 but is also applicable to Project 2013.

Japanese Portal Sites

In no particular order, and for no particular reason for that matter, here are some big portal sites in Japan in case anyone is interested.

A lot of them are properties of the large ISPs.

Will add to this list if other big ones come to mind.

http://www.yahoo.co.jp/
http://www.goo.ne.jp/
http://www.infoseek.co.jp/
http://www.livedoor.com/
http://www.aol.jp/
http://www.excite.co.jp/
http://www.nifty.com/
http://www.biglobe.ne.jp/
http://auone.jp/
http://www.so-net.ne.jp/
http://www.ocn.ne.jp/

Making Google Behave

It's always been a big annoyance that when I go to http://www.google.com it often redirects to http://www.google.co.jp based on my IP address.

The problem with Google Japan site is that it puts priority on results that are in Japan.  I usually want US-based results.

Anyway, I found an excellent post here:
http://www.withinjapan.com/how-to-keep-google-chrome-always-in-english-in-japan-2161

Basically, just add an "hl" language parameter as follows:
http://www.google.com/webhp?hl=en
 

"Within Japan" looks like a great blog overall for us techie gaijin living in Japan.

Running Classic ASP on IIS 7

As if I'm not discussing enough different unrelated technologies in this blog, today's topic is Microsoft's IIS.

In the past couple of months I suddenly found myself having to write Classic ASP.  I had done such a project in the past, using IIS 5.   However this was IIS 7, and my old sample scripts were not working.

Here were the problems, and their solutions.

1) Classic ASP is not on by default.

You have to enable it yourself:

Control Panel -> Programs and Features -> Turn Windows Features on or off -> IIS -> WWW Services -> App Dev Services -> ASP : check

2) Set to send errors to browser

Problem: Was receiving in my browser window the following (the error itself was probably the one described in number 3 below).

An error occurred on the server when processing the URL. Please contact the system administrator

Solution:

IIS Manager -> ASP -> Debugging Properties -> Send Errors to Browser -> True

3) Must enable parent path expression ".."

Problem: Was receiving in my browser window the following.

Active Server Pages error 'ASP 0131'
Disallowed Parent Path
/NPCS/Transformer/Android/Restaurant/Transform.asp, line 6
The Include file '../../Common/Util.js' cannot contain '..' to indicate the parent directory.

Solution:

IIS Manager -> ASP -> Debugging Properties -> Enable Parent Paths -> True

Hope this helps anyone suffering through the same.

Excel on Mac: Goodbye VBA, Hello AppleScript

Among my myriad headaches in switching back to the Mac as my primary machine, here is another doozy.

So, I have this cool social media news research job I do in the mornings for a client.  It involves collecting a lot of buzz from various corners of the web, putting them into an Excel file, and having to spit out a report in the form of a text file.  The formatting has to be a certain way so I put together a VBA script (macro) to do this. 

I grab soundbites from from all over the world, so needless to say the text file I output needs to be in UTF-8 format.  Incredibly, this doesn't come naturally to Excel.

In VBA on Windows Excel, there was the ADODB.Stream class from which we can instantiate a file object which allows us to set the encoding using the Charset property, as I do in the example VBA snippet below.

    Set fs = CreateObject("ADODB.Stream")
    fs.Type = 2
    fs.Charset = "utf-8"
    fs.Open
   
    ' Loop thru your cells
    fs.writetext myCell & Chr(10)

    fs.SaveToFile "OutputSheet.txt", 2

Anywhoo, after moving to the Mac I realized to my dismay that ADODB.Stream is not available.  Which makes sense, as it is an Active X.

I spent weeks Googling around for a VBA solution to this problem which, for the hell of it, I'll restate: The ability to output multilingual text from worksheet cells in UTF-8 format to a text file, in Excel on the Mac.  But to no avail.  Am I really the only person in the world struggling with this?  Or do I just suck as a Googler?  Could it be the martinis?

To make a long story short, I took the bold step of ditching VBA and adopted AppleScript as my language of choice on MS Office for the Mac.  When in Rome... and all that.

I have attached an AppleScript file, and a corresponding Excel test file to illustrate.  To test it out you will need to open the Excel file, open the AppleScript file with the AppleScript Editor, and hit Run from the menu (or Cmd-R).

Here is the entire AppleScript.

    tell application "Microsoft Excel"
        activate
       
        set outFile to (path of active workbook)
        set outFile to (outFile & ":OutputUTF8.txt")
        set openFile to open for access file outFile with write permission
        set eof openFile to 0
       
        set title to (name of active workbook) & return
        write title to openFile as «class utf8»
       
        set rowNum to 1
        repeat
            set rowNum to (rowNum + 1)
            set cellVal to (value of cell rowNum of column 1 of active sheet)
           
            if (cellVal = "") then
                exit repeat
            else
                set langStr to (value of cell rowNum of column 1 of active sheet)
                set textStr to (value of cell rowNum of column 2 of active sheet)
                set outStr to langStr & ":" & textStr & return
                write outStr to openFile as «class utf8»
            end if
           
        end repeat
        close access openFile
       
    end tell

Here is the salient line of code that allows me to specify the encoding.  It doesn't seem to be at the file level but at the level of each write statement.
    write outStr to openFile as «class utf8»


Download the AppleScript:
http://www.box.net/shared/rbjxybmuts 


Download the Excel file:
http://www.box.net/shared/bc047mefh2

Mac Keyboard Operation

One of the biggest things I miss about Windows, since largely transitioning to the Mac, is the lack of emphasis on keyboard operation.  I tend to be more productive the less I need to touch the mouse.  This post is for others who feel the same way.  (We may be a minority among Mac users).

It was particularly frustrating that I could not access the menu bar with keyboard shortcuts.  Well it turns out you can.  Control-F2 is your friend, it highlights the Apple menu at the top-left of your screen.  From there you can use arrow keys to move around the menus.  Better yet, if you can remember more shortcuts to execute the specific functions more power to you.  But at the very least just remember Control-F2.

This too did not come easily at first.  I Googled around and read about Control-F2 but it simply did not work.  I tried all kinds of things, including simultaneously pressing the fn key.

Anyway, it turned out that this (along with a bunch of other shortcuts) was disabled.  I have no idea when and how this happened, as they are default behaviour.  This was determined by taking a look in System Prefs > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts.   Anywhoo, I restored the defaults by pressing (surprise surprise) the button Restore Defaults on that dialogue.

See the Apple Support site: Mac OS X keyboard shortcuts

Staying on top of Fukushima

With the Fukushima nuclear issue, there is so much information, often conflicting, that it's easy to waste a lot of time following sources, reading articles, watching videos, and coming away none the wiser for it.

I think it may be helpful to have a mental filtering mechanism, whereby we focus on what it is we want to know, and constantly ask ourselves if those particular questions are being addressed.  In my case, at the moment these are the main things I want to know and constantly stay on top of.

1. What is the status of the repair at this time?  In other words, where are we?
2. What exactly are the repair crew doing right now, and to what end?  In other words, where are we heading?
3. What are the radiation levels around the reactors, in and near the evacuation zone, and in Tokyo?
4. Where is radioactive material and water being disposed, and what effect that is having?
5. What are the elements in the disposed material?  (Iodine, cesium, strontium, etc.)
6. How are food products and drinking water, anywhere in Japan, being affected?
7. How much radiation are certain at-risk groups being exposed to (e.g. school children in Fukushima Prefecture, the repair crew at the reactors, evacuees, etc.)?

This may seem like a pretty mundane list (like, "duh, those things go without saying").  However, given the short attention spans of modern people (including myself) it may be helpful to have it written down and periodically refocused upon.

Also, I may be missing some key aspects here.  Will update if and when I recall them!