MSK Software Development

Lego - ein Geldgrab ohne Ende. Wer sich auf Lego bei seinen Kindern einlässt, der kann gleich einen Sparvertrag abschliessen - aber das ist ähnlich bei PlayMobil, Fischertechnik, Barbie oder ähnlichem Kram.

Im Zuge dieses Weihnachtsfestes ist mir aufgefallen, dass es natürlich etliche Sets im Lego-Shop nicht mehr gibt - ausverkauft. Das passiert eigentlich sehr häufig bei Lego und das meistens schon im November oder Dezember. Offensichtlich deckt sich der Weihnachtsmann bei Lego früher ein als ich .

Aber es gibt anscheinend klevere Leute, die sich auf die teuren Sets spezialisiert haben. Die kaufen dann einige (?) dieser Sets auf und verkaufen sie dann (oder versuchen es halt) über Amazon mit einem sehr saftigen Aufschlag.

Dieses Jahr kann man z.B. “Battle of Endor” nicht in Deutschland kaufen (warum eigentlich nicht - lieber Lego Shop ?). Na ja, sollte so um und bei EUR 99 kosten - bei Amazon nun für zwischen EUR 179 bis EUR 199.

Der “Cafe Corner” (bei Lego EUR 149) liegt bei Amazon nun bei EUR 360.

Dabei muss man aber auch anfügen, dass ich dies niemals bei Artikeln bemerkt habe, die direkt von Amazon verkauft werden.

In this posting I want to talk about the code generator options available in the MSKMdlPlainApp-Runtime based code generator.

Create Application Creation Source
This option creates source code to create all needed structures within the Smalltalk ENVY repository. This includes all needed application and the correct settings for prerequisites of these applications. This code has to be executed in front of all other Smalltalk codes we generate.
Create VisualAge Abt methods
When you enable this option - and it will be pretty clear, that most of the people might want to use it - the code generator generates methods, so that the CompositionEditor now knows all attributes about all classes it generates.
Use “DateAndTime” as Timestamp class
Under VASmalltalk you may either want to use AbtTimestamp or the newer DateAndTime as the default class for managing timestamp. This settings is mostly used during the creation of the “initialize” method of a class.
Use “Platform class” as String class
“Normally” one would use to create a new instance of a string. When enabled the code generator should create code like
Create NULL parameter checks
When enabled the code generator generates code in methods to check against parameters with null values and the model says, that a null value is not allowed. Actually in 1.1.21 the code is generated, but the exception is not yet thrown.
Create Modification Calls
When enabled, the code generator generates code in the attribute seetings/changings methods to inform the current transaction manager about model attribute changes … this is needed, to rollback a transaction or get information for persistent solutions.
Swapper Support
When enabled, the code generator build methods to make the model suitable the Swapper persistence technology. That means, that transient objects are thrown away and non persistent attributes are defined to be non-storable for Swapper.
Use Abr-Collection commands
When enabled, the code generator generates code to use abrAdd: and abrRemove: methods to change the instance of OrderedCollection holding the values of an association. This might lead to additional events sent …
Create additional VW like accessors
Normally the cg generates code for an attribute named “age” e.g.: setAge: and getAge. When enabling this option the cg generates the “normal” Smalltalk methods like “age:” and “age”.

When I bought my Mac Mini I also bought a Bluetooth based mouse - the original one was not available, therefore I decided to buy the Microsoft Bluetooth Notebook Mouse 5000. The mac recognizes the mouse and the cursor can be moved, but something is not as nice as it should be.

I have a rather large screen (1900×1200) and it’s a long way with that mouse and at the end-point of my movement it seems to be also difficult to point the mouse exactly at the end point I had in mind, when starting the mouse movement.

Difficult to complain, but actually I am not satisfied with that …

The 1.1.21 is now available at vastgoodies. This version has many new points:

* introduction of transactions: commit, start and rollback
* some fixes were needed with 1:n associations
* additional tests are shown

Marten

In the version 1.1.17 mainly the production of the “initialize” method of each class has been rewritten - it looks now much nicer and now works better with nullable attributes and several base data types. Several errors have been fixed with some data types.

In version 1.1.18 I have introduction the support for the swapper framework. Now code is generated to do a much simplier swapper configuration. That means, that attributes - marked as non-persistent - are now not stored through the swapper ….

The Plain-Runtime application has been enhanced by a TransactionManager, IDManager, ChangeManager - this might be the next working field - just to come closer to my CSharp runtime.