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XML attribute comparing utility

I work with XML a lot, specifically SDXML which is what we use to describe documents in the Silicon Designer online document editing application. I often have to compare the attributes of two elements to check for what has changed. Sometimes, I’m not checking the same document, so the content could be wildly different but there will still be nodes in the XML that have specific attributes of interest. I built a basic tool to open two XML documents side by side and select an element for each file and compare the attributes of the selected nodes.

It doesn’t allow editing or a report of any kind. It doesn’t show the content of the nodes. It doesn’t let you see more than one node at a time. This is all by design for the minimum viable product. Perhaps it will save someone else some debugging time.

http://www.theflexguy.com/tools/xmldiff/

I’ll be updating it over time to streamline the workflow as much as possible.

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Adding Bookmarks in Flash Builder

A while ago, I wrote this post (Using SourceMate 3.0 to create code bookmarks). While poking around in the Flash Builder preferences, I came across some references to the Bookmarks view. It turns out, this feature has been there all along.

To show the view

Go to Window > Show View > Other… and choose General > Bookmarks. This will show the view in the bottom pane.

To add a bookmark

When on a line of code, go to Edit > Add Bookmark… By default, this does not have a shortcut key.

To add a shortcut key combo

Go to Preferences, General > Keys. Scroll down a little to Add Bookmark. In the Binding input, you can add a key combo that works for you. I’m on a Mac and alt/option+B was available and easy to remember.

It even allows you to name the bookmarks, which is nice.

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How to create a default date range for google search

Something I have been wanting a LONG time has been the ability to set my google searches to default to Past Year. Since I do a lot of software related searches, results from 5 years ago are usually irrelevant.

I did a search on the structure of google search urls and found this post: http://www.our-picks.com/archives/2007/01/30/google-search-urls-revealed-or-how-to-create-your-own-search-url/

Here’s how to set up Chrome to use the past year as your default search range:

  1. Go to settings.
  2. Under the Search heading, click the Manage Search Engines… button.
  3. Scroll to the bottom of the page, so you see the 3 fields for entering your own search engine.
  4. Put these in the three fields: (view the UPDATE below to simplify the third field) 
    1. GoogleYear
    2. search.google.com
    3. {google:baseURL}search?q=%s&as_qdr=y&{google:RLZ}{google:acceptedSuggestion}{google:originalQueryForSuggestion}{google:assistedQueryStats}{google:searchFieldtrialParameter}{google:searchClient}{google:sourceId}{google:instantExtendedEnabledParameter}ie={inputEncoding}
  5. Click the “Make default” button that appears at the end of the row you just made.
  6. Click DONE and you’re set. Now your omnibox will always default search results to the past year unless you change it the usual way from the Search Tools at the top of the results page.

For other browsers, you can do something similar with a bookmark to the following: http://www.google.com/search?as_qdr=y or by setting up a custom search engine similarly.

Enjoy!

UPDATE

There is a much simpler url you can use now. Try using this in field 3:

https://www.google.com/search?tbs=qdr:y&q=%s

Replace the y (for year) with d for day, w for week or m for month if you prefer a different range. Thanks Kusa for the comment that pointed this out!

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New position, new learnings

Silicon Publishing logoI’ve landed a new job with Silicon Publishing Inc. Silicon Publishing creates custom InDesign solutions for companies. I’ve been working on a web to print designer tool over the last 6+ months that will allow users to create custom photobooks, cards, envelopes, and other custom print products.

It’s been a great learning experience so far. I’ve learned a lot about working with TLF, images, sizing, template information generated from InDesign documents and more. I’ve used far more math than I ever thought I’d use in a lifetime. It’s allowed me to be creative in many new ways.

I’ve had to solve a lot of problems that were quite tough for me at the time until I wrapped my head around it. I suppose that’s how most problems are. Once you get the solution, you think “wow, I can’t believe it took me that long to get to such a simple solution.”

It’s been a little over a year since I blogged last. I’m not a very consistent blogger as you may have noticed. I’d like to start posting things I learn and problems I solve. We’ll see how that goes.