Ramblings

[al-ramblings]

FileMaker Custom Function - Formating Bytes

I recently had a need to format a field that was logging bytes into a database of files. 

The custom function has two (2) dependancies:

1.) MinValue ( theList; treatAsNumeric ) URL: http://www.briandunning.com/cf/1566

2.) MaxValue (theList; treatAsNumeric ) URL: http://www.briandunning.com/cf/1565

Custom Function:

formatBytes ( bytes; precision )

Let ([  units = "B¶KB¶MB¶GB¶TB¶PB¶EB¶ZB¶YB";  newBytes = MaxValue ( bytes & "¶0"; 1);  pow = Floor ( If ( newBytes; Ln ( newBytes ) / Ln ( 1024 ); 0 ) );  selUnit = MinValue ( pow & "¶" & (ValueCount ( units ) -1 ); 1);  result = newBytes / (1024^selUnit) ];  Round ( result ; precision ) & " " & GetValue ( units ; selUnit + 1 ) )

This function will take a byte value and convert it to the appropriate order of magnitude, while selecting the byte value. 

[al-ramblings]

Windows Offline Install for FileMaker 14 Server

I recently needed to help a fellow colleague install FileMaker Server 14 at a clients with NO Internet access. The server was a Windows 2008R2 server and because of security restrictions through their IT department, we could not gain access to the Internet from the server.

On first install, we received the following error message:

IIS Application Request Routing (ARR) is required, but FileMaker Server was unable to download it. Either connect to the Internet and try again, or manually install IIS Applications Request Routing (ARR).

I found several blog posts about editing setup.ini and removing prerequisites from the ini and launching the setup.exe with some command line functions.

After throughly testing everything, the answer was much simpler! You have to install the required Application Request Routing 3.0 Stand-alone package (IExpress) x64 (http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=47332) and then install FileMaker Server 14 normally. No extra fuss or editing!

Please let me know how you make out with this, as I’ve had success on 6 separate installs.

The testing and installs were done with FileMaker Server 14v4.

[al-ramblings]

Knife Wielding Man on Metro

2015-11-23 @ 11:41AM

A man brandishing a knife on the Gold Line Metro, was taken into custody by LA County Sherifs Deputies with the assistance of South Pasadena Police, today.

The MTA operator stopped the train at the Mission/Meridian stop until Deputies boarded the train and arrested the subject with little incident.

The stopping of the train caused traffic to pile up at all traffic crossings, due to the fact the arms were down while the incident was sorted out by police.

[al-ramblings]

AppleScript - Speak Current Time

on getTimeInHoursAndMinutes() -- Get the "hour" set timeStr to time string of (current date) set Pos to offset of ":" in timeStr set theHour to characters 1 thru (Pos - 1) of timeStr as string set timeStr to characters (Pos + 1) through end of timeStr as string -- Get the "minute" set Pos to offset of ":" in timeStr set theMin to characters 1 thru (Pos - 1) of timeStr as string set timeStr to characters (Pos + 1) through end of timeStr as string --Get "AM or PM" set Pos to offset of " " in timeStr set theSfx to characters (Pos + 1) through end of timeStr as string return (theHour & ":" & theMin & " " & theSfx) as string end getTimeInHoursAndMinutes

say "The current time is " & getTimeInHoursAndMinutes() using "Alex"

[al-ramblings]

All your base are belong to us

"All your base are belong to us" is a broken English phrase found in the opening cutscene of the 1991 video game Zero Wing which became a popular Internet meme. The quote is included in the European version of the game, which features poorly translated English from the original Japanese version.[1]

The meme developed from this as the result of a GIF animation depicting the opening text[1] which was initially popularized on the Something Awful message forums.[2]