Subversion & Mac OS X revisited - SCPlugin new release is cool!

I’ve been a long time user of Subversion and even though I am starting to switch over to Git I still use Subversion alot, recently (July 08) Tigris have come up with an update of SCPlugin which is a Mac Finder Plug-in for Subversion. (it works a bit like TortoiseSVN on Windows.)

SCPlugin has always looked like a good option, especially when you look at the other options available for Mac OS X, I tend to work with XCode, Subclise or Subversive in Eclipse or just get busy with the command line. The problem is (sorry was!) SCPlugin didn’t work so well…

The other (more popular?) options are SvnX (which, for some reason, makes me gag like I’m eating a towel.) and… er… Well, Versions which is in beta which (sorry) looks like SvnX with lipstick (very, very nice lipstick!), you will also have to pay for it, although the price has not yet been decided.

While I’m at it, I will just say that Versions is not worthwhile for me since the price point has yet to be published, and so it’s little more than a curio. I’m sure that issue will be addressed soon, however bearing in mind that there are several decent solutions which are open-source it would have to be something pretty outstanding. I must admit being a little disappointed in the feature set when I gave it a look. (Use any diff tool!!! … er… because we didn’t bother making a kick-ass diff tool … er …because the one in the XCode suite is awesome .. er… sorry!)

Huh, it turns out I think Versions is a product with no market… hopefully I’ll be wrong about that. I like Pico and Sofa (the outfits behind Versions) and the styling on the Versions website is very nice… (sorry, I’m going to trail off here… I just really wish they hadn’t put… Best Tool Available! on the homepage. That’s asking for trouble.)

Did I mention that SvnX is open-source, and so are all the other tools I’ve mentioned, except Versions

Let me get back to SCPlugin the cool thing about this subversion interface is it’s integration with the Mac Finder, if you’ve used TortoiseSVN (or TortoiseCVS) on windows you’ll know the deal, and if you’re reading this sort of article, frankly, I’d be surprised if you haven’t.

The old problem with SCPlugin was working with a password protected repository, you couldn’t checkout the working copy with SCPlugin, and that was just a bit lame, lame enough for me to not use it.

But that’s all changed now, with this latest release (from July 2008) authentication has been enabled and several other bugs have been squished, it looks good, works properly and has shaken off it’s lame, not working image (at least in my mind.) If you’ve downloaded it before and still have that Subversion entry on your Finder context menu, reminding you it used to be a bit shit, go on and give it another chance, it works now, and it’s sorry for all the pain it caused you. Here’s the link again… SCPlugin … it’s certainly worth the asking price of… nothing.

Add commentSeptember 22nd, 2008

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AS3 Singleton - FDT Template

Ok, here we go again, AS3 and Singletons have been discussed almost as much as Peak Oil, but never-the-less, allow me to present yet another Singleton implementation, wrapped up in a neat little FDT template.

package ${enclosing_package} {
	
	/**
	 * @author ${user}
	 */
	public class ${enclosing_type} {
		
		private static var _instance : ${enclosing_type};
		private static function hidden() : void {}

		public static function getInstance() : ${enclosing_type} {
			if( _instance == null ) {
				_instance =
					new ${enclosing_type}(hidden);
			}
			return _instance;
		}

		public function ${enclosing_type} (h:Function) {
			if (h !== hidden) {
				throw new Error( "${enclosing_type} and can only be accessed through ${enclosing_type}.getInstance()" );
			}
		}
		
		${cursor}		
	}
}

Download the FDT template XML

Add commentAugust 12th, 2008

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Ocodo

What is Ocodo?

Add commentAugust 10th, 2008

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ScribeFire Blogging Extension for Firefox

I’ve just installed the ScribeFire blogging extension for Firefox.

After looking for a decent desktop based blog editor (and considering building one myself on several occasions.) I have to say this one is pretty darn good, HTML support works well and there is also quick Flickr and YouTube buttons on the toolbar so you can insert photos and videos into your posts quickly and easily.

If you’re in the mood to try out a new blogging editor go and grab the extension from the Mozilla Addons site now…

Add commentAugust 6th, 2008

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FDT Template for Getter / Setter methods.

If you’re being a good Flex / AS3 dev, you are probably wrapping your class member properties with public getter and setter methods.

If you’re not, you really, really should…

Getters and Setters, otherwise known as accessor methods, or mutator methods (among other things), are very helpful. They allow you to make your public properties have a far greater set of controls and features. I won’t go into all the details here, I’m assuming that you, like me, only fail to set them up because typing…

public var classMember : String;

Is slightly quicker than typing…

private var _classMember : String;

public function set classMember( value : String ) : void {
        _classMember = value;
}

public function get classMember( ) : String {
        return _classMember;
}

Anyway, if you are an FDT user, (or your chosen IDE has a templating feature) you can create a template to do this for you.

Read/Write member … (template name member)

private var _${name} : ${type};

public function set ${name}( value : ${type} ) : void {
        _${name} = value;
}

public function get ${name}( ) : ${type} {
        return _${name};
}

And then it will only take as long as setting up a public var, but with all the goodness that comes with using getter/setters…

You could setup templates for a read only member, and a write only member too…

Read only member … (template name rmember)

private var _${name} : ${type};

public function get ${name}( ) : ${type} {
        return _${name};
}

Write only member … (template name wmember)

private var _${name} : ${type};

public function set ${name}( value : ${type} ) : void {
        _${name} = value;
}

Download the FDT template file.

Add commentJuly 30th, 2008

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