Category: Code

All about the code. FlickrNet library, OAuth, old PHP posts amongst other things.

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Sea of Chairs

Sea of Chairs


Sea of Chairs, originally uploaded by aqui-ali.

I’ve started up a new blog, which I call Delete Me Resurrection. I’m going to be using it to highlight some of the photos which have failed to be ‘saved’ by the various voting groups on Flickr which I actually like.

So why you ask have I selected the above photo of some green chairs to show you here. Well, firstly it was deleted out of the original Delete Me group. But thats not why I’m showing it you, no.

I decided I didn’t like it enough to resurrect it.

Thats still not why I’m showing it you.

Its because it used to appear on the ‘interesting’ page along side my own ‘most intersting’ photo for March 4th 2005. Infact there used to be two photos on the same theme above my own photo.

And I came across it while I was researching for the blog using the ‘interestingness’ of the ‘deleteme10’ tag.

I thought that was interesting :)

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How well do you know your contacts

Following a link from [the FlickrBlog](http://blog.flickr.com/flickrblog/2005/11/how_well_do_you.html) lead me to the most excellent flickr game I have ever played. Basically it shows you a photo from one of your Flickr contacts and presents you with 3 choices – you pick who’s photo you think it is. I seem to be doing quite well at the moment – it seems most of my contacts have quite distinctive styles.

Congratulations once again to FD for some awesome uses of the Flickr API.

[FD’s Name That Contact Game](http://flagrantdisregard.com/flickr/namethatcontact.php)

[Discuss here](http://flickr.com/groups/flickrtoys/discuss/126308/)

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Flickr.Net Source Release 1.4.3

The next version of the source code for the Flickr.Net API Library has been released.

[Download Latest Source](/flickr/flickr-api).

See the above page for changelog – there are some good ones in there.

There are also two new ‘examples’ pages.

* [Examples – Part 1](/flickr/flickr-api/examples-part-1)
* [Examples – Part 2](/flickr/flickr-api/examples-part-2)

Feel free to add comments as you want.

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Free Databases

A couple of database related news items.

Firstly:

>VistaDB 2.1 database for .NET has been released
>This 2.1 update includes over 60 improvements, including new support for .NET 2.0 and Visual Studio .NET 2005.
>VistaDB is a small-footprint, embedded SQL database alternative to Jet/Access, MSDE and SQL Server Express 2005 that enables developers to build .NET 1.1 and .NET 2.0 applications.
>Features SQL-92 support, small 500KB embedded footprint, free 2-User VistaDB Server for remote TCP/IP data access, royalty free distribution for both embedded and server, Copy ‘n Go! deployment, managed ADO.NET Provider, data management and data migration tools.
>Free trial is available for download.
> – [Learn more about VistaDB](http://www.vistadb.net/overview.asp?ref=blogger)
> – [Repost this to your blog and receive a FREE copy of VistaDB 2.1!](http://www.vistadb.net/blogoffer.asp?ref=blogger)

Secondly:

[Oracle are soon to be releasing a free ‘xpress’ edition of Oracle 10g](http://news.com.com/Oracle+to+offer+free+database/2100-1012_3-5920796.html).

[Its currently available as a beta](http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/database/xe/index.html).

We use Oracle a lot more recently here at work (previously been all SQL Server) so this is good for me as I can probably get an oracle database up at home and start fiddlying properly. This still looks like a reaction to [SQL Server 2005 Express](http://www.microsoft.com/sql/express/default.mspx) edition. Its not really going to compete in the Linux hosted arena against [MySql](http://www.mysql.org) as it can only cope with 4GB of user data, 1GB of RAM, only uses a single processor and only one instance can run on a box. Most mulithosting environments are probably going to break at least 1, if not all 4 of these requirements (a standard multi-hosting box is at least Dual processor with in excess of 1GB of memory).

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Flickr Screensaver 4.0

Finally, its here!

Flickr Screensaver version 4.0

Loads of brand new features

* it now uses the new authentication methods
* image refresh times in 15second intervals (0.25mins)
* new ‘postcard’ optional format (actually just coloured border) with optional rotating of image
* enhanced enlarging of small images to fill the screen (Fill Screen checkbox on options page)
* optional Proxy configuration
* See most recently shown image and link back to Flickr from screensaver config screen

[Download](/flickr/flickr-screensaver “Flickr Screensaver Download Page”)

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Flickr.Net Example Code

Example code has been moved:

* [Examples – Part 1](/flickr/flickr-api/examples-part-1)
* [Examples – Part 2](/flickr/flickr-api/examples-part-2)

See the general [Flickr.Net API page](/flickr/flickr-api) for the latest at any time.

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Flickr.Net Gallery Web Control

I’ve been working on some .Net web controls to place Flickr album-like controls on ASP.Net web pages. This is my first proper release of the code to let anyone who is interested play along. You’ll need a copy of [Flickr.Net API](http://www.wackylabs.net/flickr/flickr-api/) and the following visual studio project (which includes a debug .DLL).

FlickrGalleryControls0.1.zip

You can see a example page on [this](http://dotnet.wackylabs.net/AlbumTest.aspx) web page.

To use, include the dll in your project, and add to your toolbar, then drag and drop onto the web form and change the properties in the property viewer.

Optionally include the following in your HTML page if doing it manually.

At the top register the control:

< %@ Register TagPrefix="cc1" Namespace="FlickrGalleryControls" Assembly="FlickrGalleryControls" %>

Then put the following wherever on the page you require the control:


As you can see I’ve set some of the properties of the album control here, but most are optional.

Let me know what you think.

Update: Fixed the download link above.

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Flickr.Net Library Source Code Release 1.4.1 (Updated)

Its here!

The next version of the source code now fully supports the new Authentication methods (the older method is no longer supported).

[Download Latest Source](/flickr/flickr-api).

It features lots of changes including:

* AuthGetFrob()
* AuthCalUrl()
* AuthCalcWebUrl() – Often better to use the short url provided by Flickr
* AuthGetToken()
* AuthCheckToken()
* Constructors now take up to 3 parameters, Api Key, Shared Secret and Api Token.
* Support for .config configuration of api key, caching settings and web proxy.

See the Flickr Api page for more details.

Update: minor bug spotted which affects all methods with parameters that can take spaces in them (e..g people.findByUsername where username has a space in it). The signature generation was including the URL encoded version, rather than the original and hence was incorrect. I’ve also added a couple of extra properties, ApiKey, ApiSecret and ApiToken for getting/setting the relevant properties of the Flickr object. V1.4.1 has therefore been released.

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Nullable Value Types in C#

One of the smaller, but more useful features in the new .Net 2.0 was going to be Nullable Value types. Basically allowing you to have a null int will make conversations with databases, most of which allow any field to be null, to be much, much easier.

Well, what I wasn’t aware of was there where some limitation in the implementation of this feature, but apparently these limitations have been fixed at the 11th hour by Microsoft based on customer feedback. The feature now works the way it should.

I can’t help but be amazed by this, the ‘new’ microsoft. There have been quite a few instances of feature requests and ‘bugs’ spotted by developers and entered in their [‘Ladybug’ feedback centre](http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/productfeedback/) that Microsoft have really taken notice of and done something about. The other one that springs to mind is the new icons and graphic library to be included in Visual Studio to make it easier to create applications with the latest ‘xp’ look and feel.

Check out the below article for the full scoop on nullable types.

[http://blogs.msdn.com/somasegar/archive/2005/08/11/450640.aspx](http://blogs.msdn.com/somasegar/archive/2005/08/11/450640.aspx)