Here is the Youtube link

1) Download RXTX implementation of Java Comm API. Java provides a specification for communicating with devices over both serial and parallel ports. The following files are important to have rxtxParallel.dll, rxtxSerial.dll, RXTXcomm.jar
2) Copy the DLLs (which have the native implementation code) to system32 or keep them in the PATH
3) move the RXTXcomm.jar file into the CLASSPATH
4) Find below the sample code that implements the Serial port communication


public class UDL50PortReader extends Observable implements Runnable, SerialPortEventListener {
/*Serial Port Event listener is the callback when some data comes on the port.*/

//Port ID
static CommPortIdentifier portId;

//List of all the ports
static Enumeration portList;
InputStream inputStream;

//The actual port object
SerialPort serialPort;

//I created a thread which keeps reading the data
Thread readThread;

// A flag which stops the threads and exits
private boolean shutDown;

private void init(String comPort) throws CommPortIOException{

//Get All the port identifiers

portList = CommPortIdentifier.getPortIdentifiers();

boolean portFound = false;
while (portList.hasMoreElements()) {
portId = (CommPortIdentifier) portList.nextElement();                     //Get each port
System.out.println("Port Type"+ portId.getPortType() + " Port Name " + portId.getName());
if (portId.getPortType() == CommPortIdentifier.PORT_SERIAL) { //Check the port type
if (portId.getName().equals(comPort)) {
portFound = true;
try {
serialPort

= (SerialPort) portId.open("portname typically COM1 COM2 etc", 2000);
inputStream = serialPort.getInputStream(); //Get the input stream
serialPort.addEventListener(this); //register a call back
serialPort.notifyOnDataAvailable(true); //enable call back
serialPort.setSerialPortParams(115200,                                           SerialPort.DATABITS_8, SerialPort.STOPBITS_1,
SerialPort.PARITY_NONE); //Set the baud parameters
OutputStream outputStream = serialPort.getOutputStream(); //Create output stream
outputStream.write("data that needs to be written to the port..typically there will be lot of init data written");
outputStream.flush();
outputStream.close();
} catch (PortInUseException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
throw new CommPortIOException(Messages.getString("UDL50PortReader.1"), e);
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
throw new CommPortIOException(Messages.getString("UDL50PortReader.2"), e);
} catch (UnsupportedCommOperationException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
throw new CommPortIOException(Messages.getString("UDL50PortReader.3"), e); //$NON-NLS-1$
} catch (TooManyListenersException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
throw new CommPortIOException(Messages.getString("UDL50PortReader.4"), e); //$NON-NLS-1$
}

readThread = new Thread(this, "UDL50 Listener Thread");
readThread.start();
}
}
}
if (!portFound) {
throw new CommPortIOException(Messages.getString("UDL50PortReader.5")); //$NON-NLS-1$
}
shutDown = false;

}

public static void main(String[] args) {
byte b[] = {(byte) 0xff, 0x05};
try {
System.out.println(UDL50PortReader.getHexString(b));
} catch (UnsupportedEncodingException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}


Why should I install plugins such as Silverlight, Java FX etc?? why can’t the browsers have it in-built?? why can’t the HTML move beyond SUBMIT button, INPUT elements etc??…HTML5 is my dream come true…and I was really happy to read in the news that Microsoft, Mac and everybody else seems to embrace this standard…Does that mean we are going to get rid of JavaScript based Dojo or Silverlight or Flex or JavaFX??? I don’t think so, I think we still need them for a VRIA (very rich internet application…don’t search the web for VRIA…its a word, I coined, and I use it for myself to refer to highly interactive and rich internet application.)..HTML5 should take care of my basic RIA applications.

So here are a few things I learnt about HTML5, that I would like to share with you all.

Semantics – HTML5 has simplified the semantics. the elements are more meaningful, and readable..to give a few examples for header, for navigation (menus), – generic sections, – for content, – footer…and there are a few new elements, which we always wanted, – to insert audio content, – for video…The API is also enhanced to support these new elements..so writing JavaScript to handle the HTML5 elements just got better.
There is one more interesting element , which can be used to draw anything (using JavaScript). to draw menus, which supports both toolbar menu and context menu…no need to struggle with JavaScript to create menus anymore. ain’t that cool?
Then there is element which can be used to draw the data grids, tables..and then there are , and whole host of FORM elements such as datetime, range, email, color, number etc..please go check out the HTML5 semantics.

Native DnD support – Drag Drop was a big challenge to implement on web pages, I have used dojo and various other JavaScript based frameworks to get DnD working, and at any point, I can never promise that DnD will work for sure its always tough to get these things working..and now its a big relief to see HTML5 comes with native DnD support..so how simple is DnD?? create a 2 divs, one the drag source and the other drag target. Now implement the JavaScript events ondragstart and ondragdrop..and see it working..ofcourse there are a few things we need to do to get the events working ..which I will cover in my next blogs with live examples

Web Sockets – Now we can use JavaScript to create websockets from the web page and communicate with the other servers…yes CROSS DOMAIN..how cool is that??..and these sockets support both normal(wss) and secured (wss)..now imagine how this can help in building HTML5 frontends with REST backends?? that too CROSS DOMAIN REST…or are we going back to the classic client server model.. ..but more built on standards such as HTML, XML, browser runtime based??

Server side events – Oh what a relief?? no need to keep polling the server if the latest data has arrived anymore…just relax..the server will send a notification, when the data has arrived. I think this is a huge step in making AJAX easier.

Offline mode – HTML5 comes with native offline support, which is much needed as we are not just looking HTML for the PC based browsers..but also to be used on handhelds..where the offline mode is very much required. So HTML5 comes with the feature to store the data and work offline – Both Session Storage and Local Storage features.

So is that all?? no there are lot more..these are the top things which caught my eye…will get back with more deep dives and examples…until then..what do you guys think about HTML5…

There is not much material on web, u will have to refer various tutorials..so this is an attempt to get everything in one place with more practical examples, so that it helps u guys.

Let me get started with the simple..Hello world?? its for C, C++ programmers.. I am bored of starting programming on a new language with a “Hello World”..let me start with a logon screen..which makes more sense in a web world.

So what do we need?? I have dojo, eclipse and tomcat..to keep it simple..search the web and get the latest and greatest versions of the above

when u download dojo, u get 3 folders dojo, dijit & dojox. dojo has the “core” and “base” framework and dijit is full of “widgets” and dojox has some extensions. thats all u need to know (as thats all I have learnt so far ) to get started. I drag dropped these 3 folders into WebContent\js\dojo folder (ofcourse I created a dynamic web project, and configured tomcat and tested with the classic “Hello World” JSP ha ha ha)

So lets get started..we need a username, password field and a login button. We will need a backend JSP/servlet which will take the username and password, do some check and sends back the true/false. thats all we need. And mind you I am planning to use JSON over XML…JSON is pretty simple..and please google and learn the notation quickly..

So here is the code and look out for my comments in the code…

<html>
<head>
<title>Login</title>
<!-- Following are some of the stylesheets that u get with dojo.
they provide a pretty cool look and feel. so lets use it -->
<link rel="StyleSheet" type="text/css"
 href="js/dojo/dojo/resources/dojo.css">
<link rel="StyleSheet" type="text/css"
 href="js/dojo/dijit/themes/tundra/tundra.css">

<!--
 The following script is a configuration of dojo.
 djConfig is the variable that we need to configure
 So what am I saying?? I am just saying my base dojo
 scripts are under js/dojo from the context root
 as I dragged dropped all the dojo folder
 (dojo, dojox  & dojit) into /js/dojo
 and I am asking dojo to parse for the dojo scripts
 on load of the page.
-->
<script type="text/javascript">
 var djConfig = {baseScriptUri :"js/dojo/", parseOnLoad :true};
</script>

<!--
 following include is the actual dojo (compressed version) script
 which holds all the scripts and loads the scripts as and when
 required. this is all we need to do to use dojo
 -->
<script type="text/javascript" src="js/dojo/dojo/dojo.js"></script>

<!--
 Following is the list of "includes" or "imports" I am just
 telling dojo that I am going to use the    declared components
 -->
<script type="text/javascript">
 //Parser component that is used to parse the dojo scripts on load of page
 dojo.require("dojo.parser");
 dojo.require("dijit.form.TextBox"); //Text box widget
 // Text box widget with validation capability
 dojo.require("dijit.form.ValidationTextBox");
 dojo.require("dijit.form.Button"); //Button widget
 dojo.require("dijit.Tooltip"); //Tool tip widget
 //Title page widget/container
 dojo.require("dijit.TitlePane");
</script>

<!--
 Then comes the functions and scripts that I am going to use.
 -->
<script>
 //This function needs to be called on click of the submit/login button
 function submitLogin() {
 //So what am I doing?? getting the username and password
 //from the widgets (using dijit) and using the dojo xhr
 //(XMLHttpHandler object) to invoke the singin.jsp, and telling it
 //to handle the response as JSON (not XML) and call loginHandler()
 //function onreadystate ain't that cool ??..
 //there u go thats all we need to do for AJAX..coolest framework
 var userName = dijit.byId("userName").value;
 var password = dijit.byId("password").value;
 dojo.xhrGet( {
 url :"signin.jsp?userName=" + userName + "&password=" + password,
 handleAs :"json",
 handle :loginHandler
 });
 }
 //This is called onreadystate..and what are we expecting?? a JSON object..
 //and Dojo converted the JSON text stream to a object and
 //passed as parameter..how cool!! To keep it simple I am just
 //checking login attribute and if its true alerting success
 function loginHandler(response) {
 if (response.login) {
 alert("login success");
 } else {
 alert("login failed");
 }
 }
</script>
<head>
<!-- Here is where I am using the dojo styles to make it look cool -->
<body>
<!-- Here is where I am using the title pane to get a cool pane around
my login form. -->
<div dojoType="dijit.TitlePane" title="Login" style="width: 400px;">
<form id="registration_form"> <!-- just a dummy form -->
 <div>
 <label>User Name:</label>
 <!-- Following the userID field, I am using the validation text box
 widget to show u guys how I can provide validatio rules.
 I am telling that the value needs to be trimmed, and shud always be
 lowercase, and should be validated as per the regexpression provided
 in regexp attribute. Thats the regex for email validation.
 and then I am saying the value is required, and if its invalid..
 what message needs to be shown -->
 <input type="text" maxlength=25
 name="userName" id="userName" dojoType="dijit.form.ValidationTextBox"
 trim="true" lowercase="true"
 regExp="[a-z0-9._%+-]+@[a-z0-9-]+\.[a-z]{2,4}" required="true"
 invalidMessage="Please enter a valid e-mail address" />
 <!-- This is the coolest part..defining a span which is a tooltip.
 The content of this element appears when I go over the text box.
 I am connecting this tooltip to the above input box by providing
 the "id" of the text box in the "connectId" attribute of Tooltip -->
 <span dojoType="dijit.Tooltip" connectId="userName">
 Enter User Name(email name)
 </span>

 <label>Password :</label>
 <!--  this is not a big deal to understand now   -->
 <input id="password" type="password"
 maxlength=25 name="last" dojoType="dijit.form.TextBox" trim="true"/>
 <span dojoType="dijit.Tooltip" connectId="password">
 Enter Password
 </span>
 <!--  the singin button which invokes the submitLogin()
 script above on click -->
 <button id="login" dojoType="dijit.form.Button" onclick="submitLogin">
 Login
 </button>
 </div>
</form>
</div>
</body>
</html>

and here the code for the signin.jsp

<%@ page contentType="text/plain"%>
<%
 try {
 String userName = request.getParameter("userName");
 String password = request.getParameter("password");
 if (password.equals("dojoiscool")) {
 out.println("{login: true}");
 } else {
 out.println("{login: false}");    
 }
 } catch (Exception ex) {
 out.println(ex.getMessage());
 ex.printStackTrace();
 }
%>

This can be a ASP, PHP or a ASPX page..or a simple CGI..it just needs to respond with a plain text JSON string. so dojo can be used with any server side program!! that’s another cool thing about dojo..on top of it it promises a browser independent Javascript ..what else do we need?

Bottomline
Dojo is cool, rich, powerful and easy to use framework. So now we know how to configure and use dojo, and how to do ajax using dojo…thats all for now..look out for more to come..have fun

Let me know what u think..View This Poll

Classic
Checkout how he mixes western, Indian and the rich orchestration in the interludes..and the way SPB has rendered the song…a real classic (remember this was done on 70/80s, where there are no computers everything had to be recorded ina Live hall ))

Remixed to

Watch out for “Beat It”, “Black or White”, “All I want to say is that they don’t really care about us”, “Bellie Jean” & “Thriller”..they are truly mind-blowing..and I cannot imagine how they would have been in the actual live show!!!! I am sure a few fans would have died of the excitement.

I am sure who ever watches this movie..will agree to me that MJ is nothing but music, passion, perfection & love.

When I walked out of the movie hall, I was totally moved, and was thinking what we are all missing…I do not see anybody else raising to this level to take this position…He is the only one…”This is It” or “That is it”…

Already planning to book tickets for this weekend…May his soul rest in peace

Here is a unplugged version with just keyboard and voice..practicing the chords
http://www.mediafire.com/?tnmmozumy4z

Here is a high quality version..of course..I have asked Sudheer to come back again and jam it once more..there are small mistakes..so please ignore and forgive us.

http://www.mediafire.com/?2nyozmoh3oo

So I just created a photo slide video to capture the great moments we (sunil, sudheer, geetha and I ) spent together in the past 2 years..and mixed this song as a background music…and it turned out to be a very nostalgic video

please leave all your good comments…and thanks for not leaving the bad ones & curses (for screwing up a great song)

Where to start..I sat before my computer and found the book “The Toyota Way” That I bought a few months back…I thought I will start with TPS (Toyota Production System). I did find lot of articles, theoretical material..but what I really wanted..I found it on YouTube..here is a series of videos on TPS..which gives a very good overview..

Part 1

Part 2

I had bought Toyota Way book, long back..but never got patience to go beyond 4th page..now after this video..I really want to read the complete book…And also I had read a book The Goal (Goldratt) ..Its a very interesting book, which is like a novel… and Goldratt takes us through what are the key challenges in manufacturing and how the Hero of this story..manages it..must read…

So I downloaded Netbeans and Java FX to get a feel of this (try this out http://www.javafx.com/)…The concept of Common profile is pretty intresting…this means build the UI and u should be able to view it in any device (desktop or mobile)..and the widgets..imagine..u find a widget..lets say a calendar..on your web page..and u would love to have it on your desktop..u just need to drag and drop that widget onto your desktop…isn’t that cool?..there are lot of such features..which are cool…I can go on..but I just got started..so will post more as I find more.

To get a feel of what I am talking about..go to http://www.javafx.com/learn/training.jsp

Now coming back to the questions that are running in my mind..on one side we are looking at stratedization by moving towards XML, Webservices, SOA etc…on the other hand we are creating new platforms for RIA I know these platforms come free of cost as a plugin to my browser…but then I am not that comfortable having to install so many plugins on my browser…why can’t be there a common RIA standard or something…and a common runtime for RIA applications…while Adobe, Java & Microsoft can restrict the RIA at the IDE??..but I am falling in love with RIA…:-) and even my wife cannot stop it

Check this out people