I’ve gotten a Comet M-24s antenna for the Yaesu VX-7R HT. Much improved operation in the car! I also got a handheld speaker/mic for it. I wasn’t sure I would like operating a handheld device like that, but it is really nice in the car. I just wish it had frequency up/down controls.

The Gigaparts guys are great! Shipped my order the same day, no problems at all. If you’re in Huntsville, AL, run by their store.

I finally did it. I took and passed the technician exam, and I’m currently reviewing for the general class exam.

You don’t need to be an electrical engineer or rocket scientist to pass these tests, the electrical calculations are not that difficult or plentiful.

Some good manuals can be found at kb6nu.com, good practice tests can be found at qrz.com. Test times and locations can be found on the ARRL website.

The whole point of this stuff is the ability to operate a radio on various 2m and 70cm bands, most areas have emergency nets operating on amateur frequencies. Amateur operators have a long history of providing communication assistance during disasters. Here is one example.

Off to study some more, and shop for an HT. Currently looking at the Yaesu FT-60R

It works! It works!

had a bit of a prob in my databases.yml - gotta put the the dbname at the end of the dsn. Yeah. Leave that off, and it gets very….confused.

So, now if I go to domain.com/frontend_dev.php/id/list, I get a symfony-looking page that lets me put stuff in.

Bad news, it didn’t build the pull-down for type. Rats! Back to docs…

First try, pulled the type off of the link field - Have a pull down! (Yes, I left off the symfony clear-cache and symfony propel-generate-crud frontend type Type Too bad, I’m just seeing the primary key values in the pull down. More searching…..

So, I’m hanging out tonight, got Food Network in the background, and working on this db problem.

As you may recall from the last episode (more than a day ago, but work with me here), I was having issues getting the symfony config to connect to the database. After a few moments of exhaustive research, it looks like my problem was the user password. I….I…I… Naaah, that can’t be! Changed the password anyway, and my error message changed.

Now, the error looks like:

[propel-sql-exec] Failed to execute:

CREATE TABLE `dvd`
(
`type` VARCHAR,
`id` INTEGER NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
`starring` VARCHAR,
`id_starring` VARCHAR,
PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
)Type=InnoDB]
[propel-sql-exec] 3 of 4 SQL statements executed successfully


So, I’m thinking there’s an error somewhere. Likely suspect is the schema.yml file. Since nothing appeared in the db, I’m thinking the unsuccessful statement was the one that actually *does* something. Ugh!

To the schema.yml, Batman!

Ooh! Alton’s on! (anybody who wants to donate a Shun Santoku, leave a message, I’ll send my address……)

I did note an extraneous tilde (”~”) in the schema.yml, but, alas, it didn’t change the output much. Hmm…we’re trying to create the same table twice - that doesn’t look right.

Talked with Quinn (always helpful to make sure my head’s in the right place). He put me on to a great resource - The cheatsheet

So, the schema.xml has changed, again…

propel:
   type:
     id:
     type_name: varchar(15)
   id:
     id:
     dvdname: varchar(128)
     type: varchar(10)
   starring:
     id:
     actor: longvarchar
   id_starring:
     id:
     id_id:
     starring_id:


Did the symfony cc and symfony propel-build-all, no errors! Looked in the dbAdmin side, and there are tables!

I’ve been looking at graphics tables for a long time, but just haven’t bitten the bullet. I hate to spend that kind of money on something I’ll just use from time to time. Wacom has released a new entry tablet though - the Bamboo Fun line. (where do they come up with these names?) My Amazon linkage: Bamboo Fun (Medium) Black Tablet with Pen, Mouse & Graphics Software This one isn’t quite so heavy on the price tag, so I’m thinking I’ll grab one.

I’ve also recently stumbled into Inkscape. Inkscape is an open source Illustrator clone, used for creating SVG images and whatnot.

UPDATE: I ordered the tablet. Should be here 2/28 - 3/4 timeframe. Looking forward to seeing how that helps with Gimp and Inkscape work, since I have a couple of projects going in those areas.

Yesterday and today have been…busy.

Sorry for the break from the Symfony App Days of learning, but, life does that. I’ll do what I can to crank out another suspense-filled episode tomorrow night. (Her scrapbooking habit may be good for something after all!)

At the end of day 2, I had built a DB schema in YAML, and symfony seemed to be reasonably comfortable with it, at least symfony propel-build-model didn’t toss up any errors.

But, symfony propel-build-all started griping about a mysql connection, so I’m thinking something isn’t right in my symfony config files.

Warning: SoapboxA personal note, I’m writing this from the Druid City Hospital’s Cath Lab waiting room. Evidently, DCH doesn’t allow SSH connections out. Grr^3. C’mon, folks, realize that of the few visitors with data devices, there is likely to be an admin who would really appreciate SSH or other access. Either provide Internet access or don’t. It’s not like SSH is bandwidth-intensive. Assuming a good security policy, it’s not a risk to devices inside the hospital. All blocking SSH does is annoy people like me who are actually trying to DO something while doing the “be there for a loved one” routine.End Soapbox.

Reading through (mt)’s docs, it looks like you’ve got to use internal-db.s###.gridserver.com (#’s replaced by your server number) for db connections. I’ve modified the ~/domains/domain.com/symfony/config for this name. Now to find some way to test …grr..no..SSH

Well, it looks like I’m out of luck. No SSH from the Hospital. Cell phone has got net access, but SSH doesn’t work on it for some reason. So, by reason of limited net access, today is going to be cut short. On the other hand, I’m going to play some Nintendo DS!

More evidence I’m a geek. Just couldn’t stop fiddling with SSH on the phone, now it’s working.

Gave it a symfony propel-build-all, no luck - properties file doesn’t exist. What?

symfony clear-cache, tried again..better - at least a different error message. Now, it’s saying “wrapped: No driver has been registered to handle connection type:” Google, wherefore art thou? Possibility - here talks about this - adding a datasource: symfony in the database.yml file is reported to fix this.

Changed that line in database.yml, removed the insert in the schema.yml, and changed the propel.ini, but..nothing yet. Same error.

This may help, if I’ll read the whole thing. Yes, I’m impatient.

Since data is the whole point of any application, I want to start this project with the Model part of MVC. Symfony uses YAML to define what the data will look like. One of the neat points of this framework is symfony’s ability to build the database from this YAML “sketch”.

For this DVD database, I would like to store the DVD type, title, and the leading actors/actresses. (Yes, I’m being a bit overly optimistic about HD disks making their way into the library anytime soon!) So, in my head, I’m going to need a table for type, another for titles, and another for actors.

In the type table, I want a primary key (just a serial number) and a bit of text describing the type. In SQL-eese, I would do this like this:

create database dvddatabase;
create table type (type_id integer primary key, type varchar(15));
insert into type values ("1", "DVD");
insert into type values ("2", "HD-DVD");
insert into type values ("3", "Blue-Ray");


But, alas, I’m not - this needs to be implemented in YAML. So, off to YAML land…


dvd:
  type:
    type_id: ~
    type: varchar(15)


The tilde (”~”) is used to tell symfony to “figure it out”. (so, does that mean I could make them all ~? (laugh.)

Need a a table for DVD Titles:

    id: ~
      dvdname: varchar(128)
      type: ~


One for who starred in the film:

    starring:
      starring_id: ~
      actor: varchar(50)


Finally, one to link the id and the starring tables together:

    id_starring:
      id_starring_id: ~
      id_id: ~
      starring_id: ~

So, the completed YAML file looks like this:
propel:
  dvd:
    type:
      type_id: ~
      type_name: varchar(15)
    id: ~
      id_id: ~
      dvdname: varchar(128)
      type: ~
      created_date: ~
    starring:
      starring_id: ~
      actor: varchar(50)
    id_starring:
      id_starring_id: ~
      id_id: ~
      starring_id: ~


This setup is quite odd to me. I tend to think of data in terms of one-to-many relationships (like the table above), it seems to me that some sort of declaration is needed.

Just for fun, since the type table will be rather short, I think I’ll try directly inputting the starting data:

propel:
  dvd:
    type:
      type_id: ~
      type_name: varchar(15)
        - DVD
        - HD-DVD
        - Blu-Ray
    id: ~
      id_id: ~
      dvdname: varchar(128)
      type: ~
      created_date: ~
    starring:
      starring_id: ~
      actor: varchar(50)
    id_starring:
      id_starring_id: ~
      id_id: ~
      starring_id: ~

So, save all that to config/schema.yml, then (from the project directory) symfony propel-build-model, and experience our first problem. Symfony says schema.yml can contain only one DB entry. I’m assuming it’s referring to the 3 rows I was trying to add in one table. Ok, I can play this game, and remove the HD entries, then rerun the propel-build-model.

Qapla!

We now have a DB schema, which symfony recognizes and thinks it knows how to handle.

Boldly going… to symfony propel-build-all, looks good, right until the end. Looks like there is a problem connecting to mysql through a socket. It’s late, I’ve got traveling to do tomorrow, so I’m going to sign off for now.

Quick index:
Day 1
Day 2

For my first app, I’m going to develop an app that keeps track of DVDs. We have a decent collection, and have gotten to the point where we frequently ask the question “do we have this one?” when shopping. Since we both have PDA Phones, I think this will be a big help to us. (Truthfully, it’ll be a small, quick app for me to learn on, too)

I’ve gotten hosting through (mt) MediaTemple. Specifically, their (gs) Grid Service (hey, I’m not running anything as big as Tech-Recipes!)

For starters, in this service, PEAR needs to be set up. (mt)’s knowledge base tells you how to do this for their service, others may need different procedures. PEAR’s own instructions are here.

With PEAR up and running, it’s time to see what we can do with symfony. (mt)’s KB takes you through installing symfony into a directory, then linking (mt)’s default ~/domains/yourdomain.com/html to the symfony/web directory.

Once all of this is done, you should be able to point your web browser to http://yourdomain.com and get the wonderful “Symfony project created” welcome page. In my case, I got the page, but didn’t get the graphics. I needed to link the ~/domains/yourdomain.com/symfony/sf to the sf directory on the main installation point of symfony. In (mt) (gs), this is /home/users/.home/pear/data/symfony/web/sf

Enough for day 1! Stay tuned for day 2…..