GSettings – Flexible Configuration System

GSetttings is the standard way how Gnome 3 applications store their configuration. GSettings is the front-end interface for application, actual values are stored by back-end – standard one is called dconf. We can then use the tool dconf-editor to easily browse all stored configurations for all applications. Thanks to GObject introspection we can also work easily with GSettings from python. Continue reading GSettings – Flexible Configuration System

LOB As A Link in Apex

APEX 4.1 enables to include a download link to LOB object in standard or interactive repors.   Documentation is available  here, however the approach is not so obvious from it.  So here is quick recap, how it works:

  1. In report query you must have column that contains LOB length  (not LOB itself!) –  so something like select dbms_lob.getlength(MY_LOB) my_lob_lenght from MY_TABLE
  2. The report column corresponding to LOB length should be set as:
    Display As: Display As Text (escape special characters, does not save state)
    Number/Date Format: DOWNLOAD:TABLE_NAME:LOB_COLUMN_NAME:ROW_PRIMARY_KEY_COLUMN
    (beware names are case sensitive here)
  3. When more sophisticated download behaviour is needed you should also include  columns for MIME type of data, file name and modification timestamp.   Once you store basic DOWNLOAD format you can edit it with masked edit link “BLOB Download Format Mask”
  4. Download link is only shown when LOB length > 0 and is not null.

Continue reading LOB As A Link in Apex

Nice Solution for Recording Screencasts on Linux

Recently I needed to record some screen-cast from Linux desktop.  In past I was using gtk-recordmydesktop, which basically worked well, but I thought  maybe there is something better.   And I have found this combination of two tools very useful –   Kazam (screencaster) and OpenShot (video editing) . Kazam is easy to use with all basic functions that are needed  (screen area definition, multi-display support, audio source selection) and it supports output into two common formats (MP4, WebM).  When screen-cast is finished Kazam gives you opportunity to open it directly with a video editor – here OpenShot can be used to cut your screen-cast video, add titles etc. and  finalize screen-cast video.  Continue reading Nice Solution for Recording Screencasts on Linux