Riaz Missaghi

My favorite extention

Riaz — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 20:30:17 +0000

Apart from linq, this extension saves me more time than any other syntactic sugar.

public static class Extension
    {  
        public static bool Like(this string str, string str1)
        {
            if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(str) || String.IsNullOrEmpty(str1 ))
                return (String.IsNullOrEmpty(str) && String.IsNullOrEmpty(str1));
            else
                return str.Equals(str1, StringComparison.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase);
        } 
    }

Usage is simple.

instead of having to write:

if (str.Equals(str1, StringComparison.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase))

you can write

if (str.like(str1))

And not have to worry about null exceptions.

Enjoy!

Star light

Riaz — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 17:52:40 +0000

When you experiment with materials, even just play with them, their properties expand your outlet for creative expression. This doesn’t happen when you simply watch them on TV, you need to really use them to learn their characteristics, how they bend, stretch, stick, reflect, and sound. Such is the case with cardboard, spray adhesive, tinfoil and tape. I’ve used these ingredients to build several DIY ringlights and Tent Soft boxes.

So here is new twist, a light mod that sprays light out like a star against a wall. The basic construction is a strip of card with slits in it wrapped in a ‘U’ shape surrounding a toilet roll coated in foil with a flash mount made of popsicle sticks. The band-aid wrapper is the result of using my finger to guide the leatherman saw blade (not all experiments are a success).

My first impulse was to stick it behind peoples heads and make them look like they had decended from the heavens, then i gelled it to give it a more party look. Here is what it looks like, now go forth and extrapolate the possibilities!

Razor DropDownList With Descriptions From An Enum Using Extentions, Generics, and Reflection.

Riaz — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 22:02:49 +0000

A good test of a web framework is to see how it handles select boxes. It requires managing the list, the selected item across several states, be easily styled, be easily ajax-ed, and connect to a data store.

I like using Enums for static data, but they are a bit limited without a description value, you end up with select options labeled “ItemName ” instead of ”Human Friendly Item Name”.

Binding an enum to a dropdown is well documented. Adding descriptions to enums is also well documented. Here is a way to have enums with descriptions into a dropdown.

Your Enum

 public enum ProjectRoles { [Description("Descision Maker")]DescisionMaker, Researcher, [Description("Project Manager")]ProjectManager };

The Razor

 @Html.DropDownListFor(model => model.YourRole, EnumUtils.ToSelectList<ContactModel.ProjectRoles>(Model.YourRole.ToString()));

This function will turn your enum into an IEnumerable

public static IEnumerable<SelectListItem> ToSelectList<T>(string selectedvalue)

{

if (!typeof(T).IsEnum) throw new ArgumentException(“T must be an enumerated type”);

return Enum.GetValues(typeof(T))

.OfType<T>()

.Select(x => new SelectListItem()

{

Value = x.ToString(),

Text = (typeof(T)

.GetField(x.ToString())

.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DescriptionAttribute), false)

.OfType<DescriptionAttribute>()

.FirstOrDefault() ?? new DescriptionAttribute(x.ToString())

).Description,

Selected = x.ToString() == (selectedvalue ?? “”)

});

}

Of course shortly after finishing this I found a great post on StackOverflow about making html helpers which results in an even prettier finish in razor, but requires a few extra helpers.

Obscure Tags

Riaz — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 21:02:56 +0000

Ever used the definition list tag? Me neither, yet it’s fully supported in all the browsers.

<dl>
  <dt>Coffee</dt>
    <dd>- black hot drink</dd>
  <dt>Milk</dt>
    <dd>- white cold drink</dd>
</dl>

turns into this:

Coffee
- black hot drink
Milk
- white cold drink

From w3schools: “ The

tag defines a definition list. The

(defines the item in the list) and

(describes the item in the list).”

Well now i’ve used it.

Cross Domain Resource Sharing

Riaz — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 20:39:35 +0000

CORS was really part of the inspiration for ServerCyde. AJAX is cool, it lets you make the web more responsive, but it only connects to the site that you built. If you wanted to consume the services of a third party then you would have to proxy it over your server or compromise on the functionality that you can offer. As more and more digital services get turned into API services (life graphs, url minification, image manipulation, data storage…) browsers will evolve to allow greater interconnectedness without sacrificing security. Right now each browsing is either trying their own implementation out (is it netscape vs IE all over again) or at some stage op implementing CORS standards, or web sockets. In the mean time I wanted a solution that worked now and supported all of the HTTP verbs so I had to implement one myself.

What it came down to was simple enough. Hidden iFrames and window.href polling. You see, when you open a site in an iframe the parent can only read the URL if the domains match. So what i did was have my server redirect back to your domain with a token in the URL that you could use to make a plain JSONP request for the data. This model, works in every browser, lets you POST with cookies, and even allows a connection to stay open for a COMET implementation.

You can check it out in action here: http://servercyde.com/Developers/

Get the code from GitHub here: https://github.com/easymovet/ServerCyde/wiki

And see a presentation of it’s implementation, that I delivered to JavascriptMN at Refactr in November.

Tools of the trade – A would be review.

Riaz — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 20:17:58 +0000

Do you think that you could tell the difference in the work of a mechanic using a thumb adjustable wrnch vs. one using a voice activated wrench? Better yet, could you tell if a painting was done with a horse hair bush or a cow hair brush? The same is true for photography. I’ve seen creative genius take better photos with an iPhone than I’ll probably ever get with my percision engineered German glass wielding 21megapixel beast of a camera. Why? Not because I’m not a creative genius (Ii’m not) and not because I don’t go to pretty places (I do). I don’t get as great an image because most of the time i’m a pervert, that is to say, I spend more time fantasizing about the technical aspects of the equipment than actually using it. It’s a bad habit, I know, and I’m working on it. It’s not entirely my fault, I’m just a victim of marketing that has taught me to obsess about my tools so that I buy better ones.

So now that you know that I know that equipment doesn’t translate into the quality of a product (I’ve built better websites using my phone than my friend could build on his MBPro). We can indulge in the relative (and insanely marginal) differences between camera companies. Actually I’ve changed my mind, this post has made me realize that if I really want to break the habit and start taking better pictures then I have to stop being a perv. The end. Go take some pictures with whatever camera you have. Go paint even if all you have is a wall and some crayons (unless you are my kids, then do not color the wall please.) Go write a book, you don’t need a better typewriter, you don’t need a sharper pencil, you need to write. Now.

Lens trading

Riaz — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 20:24:00 +0000

Quick reviews on some lenses i have played with lately:

Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR Zoom Nikkor Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras

Bought: $1300
Sold: $1670

Usage:
This lens is a head turner, it’s also built to last. Rubber bumper on the front, metal latch for the hood, tripod mount has 2 holes, either for better balance with different weight bodies or use of tubes or simply when one wears out. Focus is perfect, not as fast as Canon but deadly accurate.

Image Quality
I’ve noticed a trend with the newer lenses, I think a side effect of asynchronous lenses, the transition from sharp to bokeh is unnatural looking. This lens doesn’t have that. IQ is as good as it gets, really.

Nikon 105mm f/2.0D AF DC-Nikkor Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras

Bought: $835

Sold: $865

I really wanted to like this lens, it’s one of the the fastest tele primes. Good images were tough to get, especially coming off of the 105 micro VR. Defocus control was interesting but not an effect that I was looking for. AF was not greatest, this might be a good lens for studio work, but not for moving people.

One interesting usage is macro with cheap extension tubes, at f2 you can easily see enough light to manual focus, even with a full 12″ of extension tubes, and the presence of an apeture ring, no longer found on nikon lenses, lets you easily adjust the apeture even with cheapo tubes.

Nikon 105mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor Lens

Bought: $800

Sold: $990

By far Nikon’s sharpest lens, I think this is one of the cheapest nano crystal lenses. Macro images were immaculate. As a portrait lens it was a bit of a let down because at the distance for a head shot the biggest apeture was F3.5 which was too much DOF for a pleasant background. At 200mm F3.5 is fine but at 100mm it’s too distracting. An 85mm1.8 or a 135mm f2 would be better for portraits, personally I like longer or wider: a 200mm 2.8 or 50mm 1.8

The lens was not too heavy but the hood is huge, with good reason, having the element right on the front means flare can be an issue. AF is ok but not as fast as the 70-200 (makes sense being a macro though).

Tokina 12-24mm F4

Same as the nikon model but not as sharp, and a little more distortion.

Tokina AT-X116PRDXN AT-X PRO DX 11-16mm Ultra-wide Angle Lens for Nikon

Bought: $634

Sold: $700

Excellent lens. Construction is just as good as a Nikon. The AF/MF clutch system is very intuitive and works perfectly. AF is fast and accurate, but on a lens this wide the DOF is huge anyway. Awsome lens if you need 11mm. I only sold it becasue the 17-55 2.8 goes wide enough for me.

This lens wins the DX wide angle prize for image quality for sure.

Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED IF AF-S VR Nikkor Zoom Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras

Bought: $300

I got this lens to compare to my dads canon 70-300 L lens. To be fair the nikon one costs 1/5th of the canon version. The nikon one is much smaller and lighter, and more plastic. The sharpness, and bokeh are similar, but the overall image quality is not as good as canon, the canon IS worked better than the nikon VR but that could be the added weight helping. AF was a little slow at 300 and the picture is a little softer.

The difference in image quality is the way the bokeh changes on the nikon from the center to the edges, making it look like tunnel vision, even though there is no distortion or vignetting , the cannon on the other hand is great looking at any focal length. This is a great lens, especially for the price, but I’ll ditch it when I get a 180 2.8

Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S DX Nikkor Zoom Lens

Bought $800

It’s in for repairs right now, but it seems like a great lens. It’s heavy and the zoom ring is stiff and not ergonomically placed, but the images look right and the zoom range is huge. This lens is very expensive especially given it’s age, one of the first DX lenses ever, and one of the first AF-S lenses. The AF sounds unrefined compared to the newer Silent Wave Motors. It’s the perfect DX walk around lens. I’ve also used the cannon 17-55 IS, it’s lighter, sharper, cheaper, and having IS at 17mm lets you shoot long exposures hand held.

Bottom Ten Android Apps

Riaz — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 16:31:00 +0000

Everyone knows what the top 10 are so thats boring, also this isn’t the Top 10 worst apps on the market, because the muck at the bottom is too mucky to be distilled to 10. It’s the bottom 10 of the hand full of apps that make it from the millions of apps on the market to my Android and are still installed.

Bottomest 10:

GStrings : A chromatic tuner for any musical instrument. I use to keep my whistle in perfect pitch.

GassApp: Tracks your fuel consumption and expense on a monthly basis derived from info at each fill up at the pumps.

Chroma Doze: Generate continuous colored/white noise by sketching a spectrum on the screen. I use it for waking up animals at the zoo with the annoying high pitch sounds, makes for better pictures.

Audalyzer: displays sound readings from the microphone as a waveform display, as a frequency spectrum, and as a dB meter. I use it to identify the frequency of annoying buzzes, or to see how high a pitch i can whistle.

Antennas: Plots the cell towers that are in your area on a google maps map. I use it for debugging my cell connection issues.

Caffeine Tracker: Tracks your current level of caffeine. Great way to make sure you have let your body metabolize enough caffeine by your bedtime.

Police Radio: Lets you listen to police, emt, and fire radio broadcasts, it really good, i’d say the delay is less than 10 seconds.

Ring Droid: recording and editing sounds, and creating ringtones, directly on the handset. I use it to cut clips from MP3s and make them into ringtones.

Thats only 7, deal with it.

The best phone on the market

Riaz — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 21:50:00 +0000

While the Samsung Vibrant that my wife has is technically superior to my Nexus One, it’s not a better phone.

When my wife and I are lying in bed watching TV and hear the notification chime, that both of us are to lazy to change, we wouldn’t know whose phone it was save for the lightup track ball on my N1. Ericcson got this right, back in the day, with the t39 that had an LED with different colours for battery states. Flashing LED makes it a breeze to find the phone the dark. The N1 trackball LED has different colors for emails, vs IM, vs missed calls. It also has an LED to indicate charging status AND and LED as a flash. The vibrant has none

LED’s, baby, are the wave of the future (not the google wave, mind you).

N1′s other better features: metal frame, @cyanogenmod focus, 2 microphones, and maybe FM radio.

Fantasy phone: iPhone with lots of LED’s and running Android.

The end of a period

Riaz — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 14:47:00 +0000

It has become clear to me now that the dichotomy of computing devices (eg: apple vs. PC) is a relic of geeks like me being resistant to change, a case of the early adopters failure to adopt. There was a certain pride in being the only one who knew how to reinstall windows for my Mom and find all of the drivers for her pervasive yet poorly supported peripherals, why would i want to let that joy in labor be lost?

I’ve seen the light, it’s crafted from a single billet of aluminum and bears a glowing symbol of wholesomeness and the future. It doesn’t allow multitasking, it can’t get viruses* and it is really well marketed. I’d like to apologize to folks who may have been deterred by my counsel to cling to open platforms with less DRM and a larger choice of third party software. So from now on:

I will be using a Mac.