Coldtags suite ver. 3.50

A new release of Coldtags suite is ready. Now the largest set of custom JSP tags supports over 350 components.
Scanning the latest development check out HTTP HEAD taglib. This component lets you for example gets content type and size for the remote file, as well as simply check out file (site) availability:

<%@ taglib uri="taglib.tld" prefix="h" %>

<h:HttpHead url="http://www.servletsuite.com/servlets/sos.zip" id="A"/>

file size: <%=A.get("contentLength")%>

Attribute url points here to some remote file (or site).

Annotated links - 2

A small mashup lets you create annotated links. Provide an URL (list of URL's), add a text note and get one Tiny URL for the whole pack. So you can publish annotated links on your site for example. Link could be shared via email, twitter or facebook. See it here - Annotated links.

QR code in JSP

QR codes saga on our site continues. Now Coldtags suite includes a component for QR code generation. Create QR codes right from your JSP (and/or Coldfusion) pages with QR code maker taglib.

QR code maker

A new mashup lets you generate QR codes for your own data. The idea is very transparent - type (copy/paste etc.) the text and the system will do the rest. A dedicated mobile web page for you data as well as the appropriate QR code will be automatically generated. It is a simplest way present your own info for mobile users. You can put the generated QR code on the physical objects for example and anybody will be able to read your data right from his/her mobile. See it here.

QR map - 3

QR map mashup (lets you create QR codes for maps) has been updated. See the updated version here

My way

Need to find something on your way to home, to work or to school? Mashup MyWay lets you combine the driving directions on Google Maps and local search together. So you will see points of interest as well as driving directions on the same map. What is else:
start/end points could be dragged right on the map
the route could be shared via email, twitter or facebook

JSOS 6.0

JSOS 6.0 is ready. See it here

XSS cleanig

XSS filter - filter intercepts every request sent to your web application and then cleans any potential script injection.

Stock quote

One of the oldest component in our JSP suite suite is updated. Stock quote taglib is the simplest way for obtaining finance data in your JSP (or Coldfusion) application:

<%@ taglib uri="taglib.tld" prefix="get" %>

<get:Quote symbol="JAVA" id="A" />
Chart: <img src="<%=A.get(9)%>"/>

QR map - 2

The long series of updates in our maps mashups (see Big Map, Mobile maps) - there is a new version for QR map too. See it here. We hope that the navigation is now much more flexible.

With QR Map you center the map so that the pointer is on your location (or use a search icon), set the scale and then click on the mail icon at the top of the map. You will see Tiny URL with QR code. E.g. (http://tinyurl.com/6fkdf9):


The Tiny URL redirects to a Google Chart Server API generated QR Code. The QR Code decodes as a Google 240 x 320 static map for mobiles:



QR map is a very simply and elegant way for the map data delivery. E.g. mobile scans the code somewhere on the street and gets the map for the nearby area.

Mobile Maps - 2

Mobile Maps created in our Mоbile Maps mashup could be shared via Twitter and Facebook too.

Big map - 2

Mashup BigMap (full screen Google map) lets you share links via Twitter and Facebook too.

Secure notes in Facebook

Secure notes service lets you share notes via Facebook too. See here.

Google geolocation example

Google offers geolocation stuff via Ajax API. For the web applications it is a practical way to get latitude/longitude pair by IP address. And here is a small practical example: geo search

Secure notes

One time readable text notes. Just write your note and get a tiny url link. Then share this link via email or twitter. When your recipient clicks the link for the first time, he/she will see your note. In the same time note data will be destructed so your note is not readable anymore. You can use secure messages in the public twitter line for example. See service here

P.S. the development team used Coldtags suite of course.

Bookmarklets

Useful bookmarklets:

Google Translate - Google translation to English for the current page
Disable Style Sheet - see web site in the "naked" form

If you are using Internet Explorer, just right click on the link, and select Add to Favorites and save it to the Links folder. If you are using Firefox, right click the link and select Bookmark This Link and save it to the Bookmark Toolbar Folder.

Twitter update

As we've discovered Twitter actually lets you publish updates right from URL. It looks so:

http://twitter.com/home?status=your_message_is_here

E.g.:

I am reading servletsuite blog

Rate limit in Web 2.0 API

Many public API's from Web 2.0 projects introduce rate limits for the usage. E.g. Twitter API allows 70 requests per hour, Google geocode API does the similar things etc.
Let us see the following component in Coldtags suite: Timer taglib. Body tag timer may execute own body once per given time interval (or not often than - depends on the incoming requests) for all the requests (application scope) or on per user base (session scope). Beyond the cache, we can use this tag for dealing with the rate limitation in public API. E.g. ask Twitter not often than once per 60 seconds:

<t:timer interval="60">
    code for Twitter API
</t:timer>

Image info

Image info - a simple mashup uses Google App Engine application IMG 2 JSON for getting image info online. Mashup extracts and shows metadata from images. Just provide an image URL and check out EXIF metadata for example (camera make, manufacturer, GPS positioning, orientation, etc). See it here

Mobile maps

Our mobile maps maker has been updated. Select the area on the full screen map (lookup the address) and create a static (that is the key point!) picture for the selected map area. This static picture (just a .gif file) could be viewed on any mobile phone. So you can share maps with your friends by this way, for example. See Mobile maps mashup for details.