testingReflections.com - useful utilities

Word of the Day: Technoratified

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 05:34:06 -0600

I’ve now technoratified. According to websearch.com.au I have invented a new word. Unfortunately, Microsoft finds it 7 times, Ask 15, Google 27 times, and Yahoo 35 times. Webcrawler uses all of those search engines together and finds it 18 times; Dogpile also uses those same search engines and finds it 15 times. Curious. If you click on the links, you can try it yourself, but the results have changed thanks to this post. Anyway, after a conversation with some developers a few months ago about it, and reading about Cem Kaner and Michael Bolton make the move last November, I am also now on Technorati .

Snipping: a hidden free tool for screen capture

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 09:39:59 -0600

In Windows Vista, there’s a utility known as the Snipping tool – for whatever reason the tool is fairly hidden unless you go digging. Type in Snipping at Start and the utility loads up. Snipping is helpful for capturing screens. You can find more on Snipping here . I know there are other tools on the market for screen shots but this one is free and if you end up on different laptops like I frequently do, you can’t always install every utility you like.

AST Update: Smart Stuff for Career Software Testers

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 12:44:02 -0500

December Issue of the Association for Software Testing Newsletter Now Available

Excel Podcast

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 08:17:33 -0500

If you’re interested in data analysis and/or want to improve your Excel skills, check out this podcast. Bill Jelen, the self-proclaimed, MrExcel, offers a free daily 2 minute podcast. His podcasts are well-labeled so you can locate the topics you’re interested in. The opening music is so awful I’m not sure if he’s trying to be amusing but hang past the music because the tips are highly usable.

Firebug! The Firefox Plugin for web development and testing

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 08:52:41 -0600

[textile] Firebug... Too many features to list... but since it's a free firefox plugin, why not "check it out for yourself":http://www.getfirebug.com/?

Firebug is always just a keystroke away, but it never gets in your way. You can open Firebug in a separate window, or as a bar at the bottom of your browser. Firebug also gives you fine-grained control over which websites you want to enable it for.

!http://www.getfirebug.com/screenHome-js.gif!:http://www.getfirebug.com/

Debug and profile JavaScript Firebug includes a powerful JavaScript debugger that lets you pause execution at any time and have look at the state of the world. If your code is a little sluggish, use the JavaScript profiler to measure performance and find bottlenecks fast.

!http://www.getfirebug.com/screenHome-net.gif!:http://www.getfirebug.com/

Modeling Application Usage Visually, Google Tech Talk

Thu, 09 Aug 2007 08:52:06 -0500

Some folks have said that I should get this on my blog, so here it is. If you like it, rate it... if you don't... umm... well... let your conscious be your guide. ;)

Modeling Application Usage Visually

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Another use for a Hex Editor

Fri, 20 Oct 2006 07:12:44 -0500

One small task I currently have is using small text files to feed a test simulation application. Each character provides either data or a setting of significance to the test. This means I need to read small text strings and count carefully to update the alphanumeric characters. If I’m off by a character, it can affect the test dramatically so I have to be very careful. It is a tedious but essential task.

In Control of a Test PC

Fri, 20 Oct 2006 07:08:38 -0500

I was told to just run the install the other day when I needed an application loaded on a test PC. I’m sure I winced when I heard this because I can’t just run an install. I need to understand what an install is doing to my test PC. An install can be filled with files and registry settings that just running an install strikes me as a haphazard activity. My previous experience as an install tester has left me cautious of running any install or update without knowing what the update contains.

ChainSaw - Log4J Gui Log Viewer

Tue, 15 Aug 2006 04:47:35 -0500

[textile]"Chainsaw":http://logging.apache.org/log4j/docs/chainsaw.html - Log4J Gui Log viewer:

Heres just a brief run down of some of the features of Chainsaw v2: * View remote events - Remote events are "received" by Chainsaw using Log4j 1.3's new Receiver concept. * Saved Preferences - You can fully customize each Tab the way you want it, and it will restore it's state the next time. * Responsive - When events are screaming in, you don't want the GUI to meltdown. You can control how responsive the GUI is and determine the frequency of updates. * Tabs/Docking - Chainsaw routes separate applications/remote hosts' events to a unique Tab within the GUI. These tabs can be undocked from the main window. Using these features you can manage multiple application logs using the one GUI. * Coloring - You can specify your own rules to color each event row depending on the attributes of a LoggingEvent to help you locate important events. * Dynamic and powerful filtering - Helps you locate stuff. There's support for quick-and-dirty filtering, right through to advanced expression-based filtering (e.g. "LOGGER == 'com.mycompany' && LEVEL == ERROR" ). * Cyclic - A tab view can support a Cyclic-based model, which constrains it's view to the last X events, ensuring you don't hog memory. This is great for monitoring live applications. * Built-in documentation and tutorial - HTML-based documentation included in the package. from apache.org

Thanks to "Rachel Davies":http://www.twelve71.org/blogs/rachel/ for bringing it to my attention.

Essential Windows, Tablet and .NET development & testing Utilities

Tue, 24 Jan 2006 06:36:22 -0600

[textile]If you use Microsoft Windows, whether you are a developer, tester or just a user, you will find "Scott Hanselman's comprehensive list of utilities":http://www.hanselman.com/blog/ScottHanselmans2005UltimateDeveloperAndPowerUsersToolList.aspx useful!

The list covers everything from screen captures to development tools. Tablet users like me will also appreciate his list of Tablet utilities.

SWExplorerAutomation v1.4.1.4 incompatability with MSN Desktop Search

Mon, 22 Aug 2005 05:28:27 -0500

[textile]In a "prior post about SWExplorerAutomation (SWEA)":http://www.testingreflections.com/node/view/2592 I mentioned a problem (and solution) that occurs if you have applied .NET framework patches in the wrong order.

I have also found another incompatibility, specifically with "MSN Desktop Search":http://toolbar.msn.com

If you have the "MSN Desktop Search":http://toolbar.msn.com installed with the Windows Explorer / Internet Explorer search-bar (and tabbed browsing) the SWEA "Scene Editor" shortcut menu in IE doesn't appear. Although this is a minor hinderence since the short-cut keys still work, I wonder if it might impact other features of SWEA? so I have resolved it as follows...

Firefox extension: Last Tab

Thu, 07 Jul 2005 15:14:21 -0500

My new favorite Firefox extension is Last Tab. It modifies Ctrl-Tab to switch to recently selected tabs, rather than always go from left-to-right and it focuses the most recently selected tab when a tab is closed. Sweet!

CruiseControl Monitor plugin for FireFox

Mon, 04 Jul 2005 01:01:36 -0500

Monitor your CruiseControl buld status in the Firefox status bar.

VTD-XML - high performance XML access

Mon, 21 Mar 2005 05:01:57 -0600

[textile]A colleague brought this to my attention today. I currently don't have a need for it but I thought others might find it useful... From the "VTD-XML":http://vtd-xml.sourceforge.net/ website:

Designed to be random-access capable, VTD-XML attempts to be both high-performance and memory-efficient. In addition, because VTD is inherent persistent, it can be saved on disk alongside of the XML document to achieve "parse-once, use many times." Moreover, the "non-extractive" nature of VTD means that incremental, dynamic update doesn't require re-serialization of irrelevant parts of the original document.

This might prove useful for anyone data-driving tests using XML. Enjoy!

Resize the Firefox search bar extension

Tue, 26 Apr 2005 06:21:57 -0500

A couple of people left comments on the post where I resize the Firefox search box. There is now an extension that makes easy work of it.

ResizeSearchBox is an extension that adds a resize thumb to the toolbar which can be used to resize the search box.