Using SVN With Visual Studio 2010

SVN is a must have for managing projects and keeping them proper, with a history of changes, what should be done when 2 versions of the same file are changed and so on. It’s so important even for a developer working alone, since code will be never lost.

This post is a quick work through on how to install and use SVN on Windows and Visual Studio, you can read more about SVN here.

First, you should know that having a subversion client on Windows is sufficient, you can do all the stuff in there without the need to have it integrated with Visual Studio, but if you are like me, want perfect handling from within VS then you can go further to integrate it there as well.

We will use TroiseSVN, a free Subversion client for Windows which integrates a cool shell menu to handle the different SVN commands, install it from here. Once installed you will notice a new shell menus.

After that, you have to create a repository (for guys who work on their machines). It is quite simple, you create an empty folder, this folder will be the location where all the history of the projects is saved, so make sure it somewhere safe.

Within this folder, right click and choose TroiseSVN -> create repository here. Once created, you will notice the following contents added to the folder :

Now, you have to choose the repository structure, with whatever structure you want (see the recommendations for that here), right click the content of the directory and choose TroiseSVN –> import.

With a repository created and with a structure ready, you can start playing with projects from Windows explorer, for example create a Directory and inside it create a text file, then choose SVN checkout, this will add the content to the repository

You will notice a little green bullet within the icon of the folder, which means the local content is updated compared to the content of the repository, let’s try something else, create a new text file inside that folder, then right click it and choose TroiseSVN –> add to repository, this will make a little “+” sign with its icon, which means it’s ready to be committed. At this stage you will notice that the parent folder has changed to a red icon, which means it’s not up to date with the repository anymore.

Right clicking this file, choose SVN commit will bring this screen, where you can add messages to keep history of changes.

That’s generally how it works from within windows explorer, after the commit of this file, a new green icon will be back again to the parent folder, of course you can commit the parent folder and all the content will be committed, you can compare differences between local content  and the repository content and so on..

You will find all the commands within the shell menu, and they appear only on folders that you added to the repository, hitting shift + right click will bring more commands

Pretty cool, so what about Visual Studio?

Actually you can do the same from the Visual Studio 2010 (or other versions), from the document explorer precisely, there is a free plug-in called AnkhSVN found here

Once installed, it will bring Subversion functionality to Visual Studio, you can verify it’s installed well, and also configure some aspects from Tools –> Options –> Source Control

Create a new project, you will notice a little checkbox asking if you want add this project to Subversion or not, then you will get a parameters window where you can configure: the repository to use, the local folder and so on, I’m using a repository through http here, you don’t have to use only local repositories

Everything is setup now, on the solution explorer you will notice the “+” signs on the contents, which means they are waiting for a commit to the repository, AnkhSVN bring the same functionality to the project explorer that TroiseSVN brings to the shell menu (tip: AnkhSVN uses TroiseSVN repositories, they are not the same), so you will notice the same, red, green icons as well, right clicking a file and choosing SVN –> commit will commit the file to the repository

You can compare files before updating or committing by choosing Subversion –> Compare

There are dozens of other functionalities also, you can read more about TroiseSVN and SVN in general from their website http://tortoisesvn.net/support

Is Multitasking Mandatory On Mobile Devices? iPhone vs Android

I’ve been using MyTouch G2 (HTC Magic) for almost 3 months now, and I didn’t really experienced the benefits of multitasking on Android till yesterday.

Visiting a place where you never have been is not easy as it seems, so in my case I decided to track my path using GPS on HTC Magic and that way I can find my way back following my tracks, I used an application called Maverick which is an off-road GPS navigator, supporting Google and Bing maps and importantly offline maps a must have feature for people without a full data plan (like me ;)).

 

The application has a lot of great features, it shows the traveling speed, the distance, the live position on the map and you can also record your path and upload it to be accessible online or save it for later use.

As stated before, the tracking feature is the best one, but if this was an iPhone, things won’t work well, because once you receive a call, or want to check your tweets/emails the GPS app will shut down and tracking will stop immediately. Fortunately things works differently on Android where switching between apps will only make them run in the background, which means you can start record you GPS location while playing games or doing other stuff.

As you notice here, the little blue bullet on the top left of the screen which indicates that recording is always working while I’m using the browser.

 

With Android 2.0 things will get way better, where Google Maps integrates a real turn-by-turn GPS app. You can take a look at it here :

Here is what a reviewer said about the Tomtom app and multitasking on iPhone

Of course, until the iPhone supports multitasking, using it as a dedicated PND is still a risky move; one stray call during a pivotal moment in your travels and you can consider yourself lost.

So as a conclusion, multitasking can save you for sure, and the lack of this feature on the iPhone will always makes Android (or other platforms) push on this point.

Next review : How to install WPA enterprise certificates (*.cer) on Android, if some of you has been suffering from not getting connected to WPA wifis, stay tuned, the next review will show you how.

Algeria + Security = NO HOPE

I’m seriously feeling sick of this, few minutes ago I come across a topic on Iniplus’ forum from a guy in high school talking about some Algerian websites security, and as a proof of his talking, he provide some passwords to websites he claims they are just opened widely to be hacked.

As an example, he is giving the login of the ech-chaab newspaper’s website,  the website is using Joomla CMS, and the guy who posted the logins said he contacted the webmaster 3 times without an answer, so don’t bother yourself doing so.

you can of course add new users (administrators if you want so), and chances that they will never notice this are so high :

also everything is writable, so injecting your own php scripts would never be more easier than this :

of course you have the database credentials and everything under control

What a malicious attacker (I say attacker not a hacker) would do is to add some scripting logic to the existing articles using JavaScript to steal browser history, lunch malwares, spread ads or do what ever he please. more importantly he could inject CSS code in the template to steal visitors browser history and privacy and it will be 100% go unnoticed (yes CSS, look at here ), and it’s useless to mention persistent XSS attacks.

Also, using open source software isn’t the ideal deal always, as discussed by one of the most noticeable folks on web security, whenever you are more obscure, chances you are not going to be chased easily are very high.

If after all this you say there is computer science culture in Algeria? then seriously something is wrong with the definition of the Web out there, where newspapers still do not know about web identity, and where computer science institutes do not have internet connection for students.

If you are curious and want to take a look using the logins in the forum, do not forget to get there through a proxy, and this can’t save you neither, so be nice and don’t mess with others’ stuff (unless you are somewhere –like in Algeria- where crimes like these are still considered kind of secondary stuff)

Convince me there is IT in Algeria!