Category Archives: How To’s

Code, How To's

How to Hide Android WebView Highlight Border (or change it’s color)

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Here's one that had me at a loss for a long time that I just figured out. You can easily remove the highlight border (the border that comes up when an element is focused) or change it's color in a WebView with CSS! The WebKit-specific property "-webkit-tap-highlight-color" is what you're looking for.

The following line will disable it on a page completely:

* {
	-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);	
}

rgba() is just like rgb(), but it takes a 4th parameter for opacity. It's my belief that this would probably work for iPhone WebView's as well, since both Chrome and Safari are based off of WebKit.

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How To's

How to fix linux not sending mail problem: Sendmail stat=Deferred: Connection refused by [127.0.0.1]

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I recently experienced a problem where my server was not sending mail from the PHP mail() function or the command line "mail" function. After looking through /var/log/maillog, I was able to see that the local 127.0.0.1 mail server was refusing the connection. Some Google searching landed me at the following thread, where the third post did the trick:

http://www.howtoforge.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16246

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Code, How To's, Tools

How To Convert Large XML Files to CSV

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I usually struggle with converting very large XML files to other formats just because they are in a dynamic format and most programs you find run out of memory before properly parsing them. Well, I’m happy to say, I found a FAST and EASY solution. Of course this will work for small files as well as big files.

You’ll want to grab a copy of the msxsl command line utility from Microsoft.

After you’ve got that, you’ll need to setup a XSL file to tell the program how to format your file. If you’re unfamiliar with XSL, you can familiarize yourself here.

After you’ve got your XSL file created, it’s a simple command line entry:

msxsl xml_file.xml xsl_file.xsl -o output_file.csv

The following is a sample XML and XSL file that I used.

XML File:

	
		772500
		Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:28:08 CST
		Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:51:01 CST

			61951
			The Hills Season 1

		773000
		Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:28:08 CST
		Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:53:54 CST

			61926
			Hogan Knows Best Season 2

		775500
		Thu, 22 Jan 2009 14:49:12 CST
		Thu, 22 Jan 2009 14:51:35 CST

			62068
			Carlos Mencia 2007

			1402
			Comedy Central

XSL File (Creates tab-delimited file)


	

	
	




	
	

				

			How To's
		

		
How to access your cell phone voicemail from another phone

		

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This is certainly no new news, but I’m fairly sure many aren’t aware of this simple feature.


Say you left your phone at home and you were expecting a call, but your friend remembered his phone — tough luck, right?  Nope (obviously, or I wouldn’t have made this post).


Here’s what you can do…just pick up any phone and do the following:


    

  1. Dial your 10-digit wireless number.
    2. 

  2. Press the * key when you hear your personal greeting.
    3. 

  3. Enter your personal passcode.
    4. 

  4. Follow the voice prompts.
    5. 


	

	
	




	
	

				

			How To's
		

		
How To: Create a Simple Visual “Loading” Effect

		

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If you've got a script that takes a while to load and want to make your user aware that everything is alright, then this tool is for you. The idea is simple – display the message before the labor intensive part of the script runs, and then using CSS after the labor intensive part of the script, hide the message. If you're using a language that provides a buffer (ASP for instance), make sure you turn the buffer off first, or this won't have any effect. (eg. Response.Buffer = False) Example (See it in action):


<?php
ini_set('implicit_flush', 'on');

echo '<p id="loading_msg"><img src="http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/4950/loadingvp7.gif" alt="" style="vertical-align: middle;" /> Loading...</p>';

// Code that takes forever here, could of course be any language
sleep(5); // Only for demonstration

echo '<script type="text/javascript">
window.onload = init;

function init() {
	document.getElementById("loading_msg").style.display = "none";
}
</script>';
echo '<p>Woohoo, five seconds passed.</p>';

require_once('includes/trackers.inc.php');
?>