Today we’re going to talk about one of the most commonly used but least commonly understood features of your computer: the clipboard. Everyone who regularly uses a computer regularly knows how much of a time-saver using copy and paste can be, and the value only goes up the more you use it. As a programmer, the amount of time that I save by moving code around can’t even be measured, and I’m sure I’m not alone when I say that. However, the inner workings of the clipboard are often times misunderstood. Today I will explain what the clipboard is and how to interact with it using Legato.
Continue reading "LDC #78: A Snapshot of the Clipboard" »Friday, March 30. 2018
LDC #78: A Snapshot of the Clipboard
Friday, March 23. 2018
LDC #77: Hash It Out
This week we are going to discuss hashing. Simply put, a hashing function takes arbitrary sized data and maps it to fixed size in a deterministic manner. Therefore, when given the same input, the same result is generated. Ideally, a hash function would be 1-1, as in for every input a unique output is given. This is also known as an injective function. In reality, though, that’s not possible since the amount of data being input can be many times larger than the output. So instead hashing algorithms aim to be uniform, which is to say they use the entire output space equally. This means that the chances of two inputs generating the same hash are lower given the size of the output hash.
Continue reading "LDC #77: Hash It Out" »Friday, March 16. 2018
LDC #76: Introduction to Dialog Boxes
Need to have a user login, get some settings, and then direct them to confirm information? You need a dialog box. To create and use dialog boxes, you need some basic information to get started. This article will introduce dialog boxes and teach you the fundamentals about using them.
Continue reading "LDC #76: Introduction to Dialog Boxes" »Friday, March 09. 2018
LDC #75: Automatic Creation of Previous Versions
One common task when working on an HTML document in GoFiler is to save different versions of the file. Every time a copy is sent out for review, users can do a save as operation, and save a new copy of the file with a different version number. GoFiler by default allows you to create backup copies of the file (.bak files) whenever you press the save button, but that’s often too many backups, and they don’t represent true versions. The example script in this blog post then attempts to automate the process of creating different versions of files. This script will trigger when the user presses the “To Browser” button on an HTML file, and ask if the user wants to create a previous version folder of this file. If the user presses “Yes”, the script makes a new folder called “Revisions”, puts a folder stamped with the version number, date, and time into it, and copies all the HTML and images out of your folder into this previous version folder.
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Friday, March 02. 2018
LDC #74: Removing That Pesky S From HTTPS
This week we’re going to talk about another client requested feature. Many EDGAR HTML documents end up referencing previously filed documents on the SEC’s EDGAR system. These documents are located at “https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/[document reference]”. Recently the SEC has migrated to only HTTPS, the secure hypertext protocol, and will redirect any requests for HTTP to HTTPS. However, the EDGAR system will still only accept links that reference “http://www.sec.gov/[etc]”. This causes some extra work if you are merely copying the link from a browser that is accessing the document on the EDGAR system, as the link will be copied as HTTPS. Today, we’re going to write a simple script that hooks into the validate function and lets you know if you have any HTTPS references as well as offer to fix them.
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