Ben Schreur's Blog

Android testing of Activities: first experiments.

2011-03-30T14:41:00.000-07:00

Below an initial example of Activity testcase in Android. A first experiment after reading the android development page on Activity Testing.

The GuessPictureActivity is connected to a simple screen containing a TextView and ImageView. When the image is 'Clicked' a name will be displayed. On the next click a new photo will be loaded.

The activity under test is:
package com.ben.android.xmlweb;

import java.util.HashMap;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.View.OnClickListener;
import android.widget.ImageView;
import android.widget.TextView;

public class GuessPictureActivity extends Activity {

    private TextView textFaceName;
    private ImageView imageView;
    private HashMap<String,Integer> drawingsByName;
    private int counter;
    static final String LOGID = "FaceMemory";
    private String names[];
    private Boolean guessed;

    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.main);

        drawingsByName = new HashMap<String, Integer>();
        drawingsByName.put("Pip", new Integer(R.drawable.pip));
        drawingsByName.put("The Stig", new Integer(R.drawable.stig));
        drawingsByName.put("Tux",new Integer(R.drawable.tux));
        names = new String[drawingsByName.size()];
        drawingsByName.keySet().toArray(names);
        counter = 0;
        guessed = false;

        textFaceName = (TextView)findViewById(R.id.textFaceName);
        imageView= (ImageView)findViewById(R.id.imageView);

        imageView.setOnClickListener( new OnClickListener() {
            @Override
            public void onClick(View v) {
                if(!guessed) {
                    textFaceName.setText(names[counter]);
                    guessed = true;
                } else {
                    counter++;
                    if(counter>=names.length) counter = 0;
                    imageView.setImageResource(drawingsByName.get(names[counter]));
                    textFaceName.setText(R.string.textGuessName);
                    guessed = false;
                }
            }
        });
    }
}

The activity test case looks like:
package com.ben.android.xmlweb.test;

import com.ben.android.xmlweb.GuessPictureActivity;

import android.graphics.drawable.Drawable;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.test.ActivityInstrumentationTestCase2;
import android.test.UiThreadTest;
import android.widget.ImageView;
import android.widget.TextView;

public class GuessPictureActivityTest extends ActivityInstrumentationTestCase2<GuessPictureActivity> {
    private GuessPictureActivity activity;
    private ImageView imageView;
    private TextView textView;
    private String guessWhoString;


    public GuessPictureActivityTest() {
        super("com.ben.android.xmlweb.XmlGetter", GuessPictureActivity.class);
    }

    @Override
    protected void setUp() throws Exception {
        super.setUp();

        activity = getActivity();
        imageView = (ImageView)getActivity().findViewById(com.ben.android.xmlweb.R.id.imageView);
        textView = (TextView)getActivity().findViewById(com.ben.android.xmlweb.R.id.textFaceName);
        guessWhoString = activity.getResources().getString(com.ben.android.xmlweb.R.string.textGuessName);
    }

    @Override
    protected void tearDown() throws Exception {
        super.tearDown();
    }

    @UiThreadTest
    public void testAfterStartAQuestionIsAsked() {
        assertNotNull(imageView);
        assertNotNull(textView);
        assertEquals(guessWhoString,textView.getText());
    }

    public void testOnClickTheNameOfPipIsDisplayed() throws InterruptedException{
        Drawable initialDrawable = imageView.getDrawable();
        activity.runOnUiThread(new Runnable() {
            @Override
            public void run() {
                imageView.performClick();
            }
        });

        getInstrumentation().waitForIdleSync();
        String expectedText = "Pip";
        assertEquals(expectedText,textView.getText());
        assertSame(initialDrawable, imageView.getDrawable());
    }

    public void testOnTwoClicksADifferentImageIsDisplayed() {
        Drawable initialDrawable = imageView.getDrawable();
        activity.runOnUiThread(new Runnable() {
            @Override
            public void run() {
                imageView.performClick();
                imageView.performClick();
            }
        });

        getInstrumentation().waitForIdleSync();
        assertEquals(guessWhoString,textView.getText());
        assertNotSame(initialDrawable, imageView.getDrawable());
    }
}
If you like to see more, please drop a comment.

Uploading GPS files to Garmin eTrex with GpsBabel

2010-05-05T03:07:00.000-07:00

This will be just a small post. Spring is here (not this Spring...), the real spring! And it's time to start cycling for some of use. This is the small script I use to upload gpx files to my good old Garmin eTrex. (Python this time, but it's all about GpsBabel).

#!/usr/bin/python

import sys
import os

if __name__ == "__main__":
    file = sys.argv[1]
    print "Uploading file %s...." % file
    cmd = "gpsbabel -t -i gpx -f %s -x simplify,count=500 -x track,title='Active Log' -o garmin -F /dev/ttyUSB0" % file
    print cmd + "\n"
    os.system(cmd)
    print "Done!\n"

Just download a gpx file from from the internet, run the script, and you're of to go.

ben@pc:~/gpsfiles$ ~/bin/gpsupload Cycling.gpx

Happy riding!

Using Groovy for reading your Jira database

2010-04-24T01:52:00.000-07:00

Jira in combination with Greenhopper is a very popular tool. See this link to see a list of agile tools.

Sometimes however some additional magic and customisation is needed with your Jira issues. For this the xml-rpc interface that Jira offers can be very useful. One way to use this interface in an easy way is, of course, Groovy.

After browsing a little I found this document to be very useful. Don't forget to put the groovy xml-pc jar in your $HOME/.groovy/lib directory (more info on Groovy-XMLRPC page). My first start is this script:

import groovy.net.xmlrpc.XMLRPCServerProxy as Proxy

def proxy = new Proxy('http://jira.codehaus.org/rpc/xmlrpc')
def loginToken = proxy.jira1.login('ben.schreur','groovy66')

def issue = proxy.jira1.getIssue(loginToken, 'GMOD-85')
issue.each{ key, value ->
println key
}

println issue.summary
println issue.status
println issue.reporter

def user = proxy.jira1.getUser(loginToken, "ben.schreur")
println user

def projects = proxy.jira1.getProjectsNoSchemes(loginToken)
projects.each{ project ->
println project.name
}

This is just the beginning as a will be doing some more Jira scripting on my current job. Better to automate as much as possible when going through bug-databases is needed. If you like to read more scripts on Jira just drop a comment.

Cheers!

Update March 26th: Jira does not allow access to the amount of estimated hours via xmlrpc. It does however work via soap. An update will follow. :-)

Grails application hosting on a Linux VPS

2010-03-21T19:07:00.000-07:00

After some time of development the Agile Tracking Tool is now live at www.agiletrackingtool.com. This blog shows an overview of virtual hosting providers for java web-applications and my configurations steps for the linux host.

Finding a host provider

Where to start when selecting a host provider for a java based web application? Some time ago I started doing some research on the topic. One of the options would be direct hosting of a grails web application by the cloudfoundry.com. A nice blog by Marcel Overdijk describes this. This is however a bit more expensive (roughtly $75 a month) than a vps (starting at $20+ a month). Another option would be google app engine. My impression is that this however will take some time to further mature.

At Grails.org there is a nice overview of hosting providers. This blog and comments showed valuable information. On the grails mailing list the following names kept popping up (initial impression in braces):

Eapps.com (nice overview)
DailyRazor.com (very attractive)
KgbInternet.com (Keith is raved)
Vpslink.com (looks nice)
ThePlanet.com (free if you provide a great idea)

Starting at around $20-22 per month (250 Mb).

Finally I selected eapps.com. Reasons: it was recommended to me by a fellow enthusiast at a nlgug meetup, it was on my short list, good reviews, their support pages are helpful (mentioned grails), they are in business since 1996. The nice thing about a provider in the US that their office-hours are my evening hours.

Tip: If you know a nice grails website just use whois to find out who-is hosting.

Creating the account

After experimenting with some home virtual linux servers (virtualbox.org) it was time to take the plunge. On Friday evening I registered for an account at www.eapps.com. I selected a Linux VPS with 432 Mb memory. Postings already mentioned that 250 Mb is the minimum for running Grails apps.

After 10 mins I already received a call to verify my account details: "I am looking for B....". My acount would be live in 5 minutes... Now that's fast. It indeed popup up at the servers administration page. Using the experience from configuring Linux servers at home I had my first grails application live within 2 hours after the account request.

Installing applications

From the web-application page I selected to install the following applications:

Apache (webserver)
Tomcat 6 + mod_jk plugin (webserver for java web applications).
Mysql 5
Groovy + Grails (didn't expect that one).
Subversion (get my code from the repository)

Configuring

Logging into the server is done via ssh. I use vim (or emacs) to edit files.

I changed the MySql configuration to use InnoDB engine to support transactions. Adding the following line to /etc/my.cnf in section [mysqld] does the trick:

default_storage_engine = InnoDB

More information can be found on the mysql support page.

The eapps support page for tomcat and mod_jk were very useful.

Adjust /opt/tomcat6/conf/tomcat-users.xml to change the default (so easy to guess) password.

Accessing the Tomcat server via the Apache webserver is done by the mod_jk plugin as described over here. After some time I finally figured out that I just had to add one line to grails web-application accessible via www.agiletrackingtool.com/mysecret. (mysecret are other 'secret' characters known to those one joining for early testing).

Once the mod_jk configuration is working you can disable tomcat listening to port 8080 so the tomcat server can not be accessed directly from the outside (/opt/tomcat6/conf/server.xml):

<!-- commented out

<Connector port="8080" protocol="HTTP/1.1"
connectionTimeout="20000"
redirectPort="8443" />
-->

Tomcat JNDI
Update March 24: The issue seems to be fixed using this solution. No broken Mysql connections this morning.
Update March 23: The Mysql brokken connection issue is still present. Even after setting 'autoReconnect=true'. The next step will be checking out this advise. Any help or suggestions are welcome! Very unpleasant issue...

Update March 21: After the web site is not used for a longer time a mysql connection error is reported (see issue). I tried to resolve the issue by configuring jndi on tomcat. Adjust (/opt/tomcat6/conf/context.xml) and and the "Resource" section:

<Context>

....

..

<Resource name="jdbc/agiletracking"
            auth="Container"
            type="javax.sql.DataSource"
            username="mysecret"
            password="also"
            driverClassName="com.mysql.jdbc.Driver"
            url="jdbc:mysql://localhost/agiletracking?autoReconnect=true"
            maxActive="100"
            maxIdle="8"/>

..

...

</Context>

JNDI in your grails application is configured in your DataSource.groovy:

production {
  dataSource {
   dbCreate = "update"
   jndiName = "java:comp/env/jdbc/agiletracking" 
  }
 }

Also make sure that /opt/tomcat6/lib contains the mysql-connector-java.jar (already installed by eapps.com).
Update Jan 2011: Interestig link on how to configure mysql timeout on Dzone using DataSource.groovy (see comment).

Tomcat memory

By default tomcat is configured to use 64 Mb. Performance however dramatically increased when setting it to the recommended maximum size of 192 Mb in /etc/tomcat6/tomcat.conf):

# Initial Java Heap Size (in MB)
wrapper.java.initmemory=192
# Maximum Java Heap Size (in MB)
wrapper.java.maxmemory=192

This gives a great performance boots. With 64 Mb my web application was much slower as compared to running it on my local machine. With 192 Mb the performance feels much snappier.

When idle Tomcat says:

Free memory: 110.83 MB Total memory: 185.62 MB Max memory: 185.62 Mb. 

The Linux memory use ('free -m') shows:

total used free
Mem (Mb): 432 299 132

Deployment of your grails war file is simple done by copying your file (sftp) to '/opt/tomcat6/webapps' and restarting tomcat.

That's it. Configuring my web-application on a vps turned out to be quite smooth going. Over time more settings will be tuned (mysql database size), but this proved to be a nice start.

Groovy and TheMoviedb.org API

2010-01-05T13:06:00.000-08:00

How easy is it to use a web-service you might ask? With Groovy it's very easy...

TheMovieDb.org offers a nice interface for searching it's database:

http://api.themoviedb.org/2.1/methods/Movie.search.

Using it with Groovy appeared to be as simple as:

#!/usr/bin/env groovy

def yourApiKey = "won't share mine..."

def movieDbUrl = "http://api.themoviedb.org/2.1/Movie.search/en/xml"
def searchForTitle = this.args[0]

def xmlString = new URL("${movieDbUrl}/${yourApiKey}/${searchForTitle}").text
def doc = new XmlSlurper().parseText(xmlString)

doc.movies.movie.each{ println "${it.name.text()} - ${it.released.text()}" }

From command line it would look like:

ben@myMachine:~/groovy$ ./moovie.groovy transformers

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - 2009-06-24
Transformers - 2007-07-04
The Transformers: The Movie - 1986-08-08
Transformers: Resparked - 2008-03-09
Transformers: Beginnings - 
Transformers: Scramble City -

Nice.

First blog step

2009-09-27T11:45:00.001-07:00

On this blog I would like to share a bit more on the things I like. For example grails programming, agile software development and a new Agile planning tool I like to release.
Currently I'm busy migrating the menu structure of the Agile tracking tool to use the grails navigation plugin: http://grails.org/plugin/navigation. It seems to be a promising plugin that allows to define the all navigation options at one central place in the code (controllers).