Scribbly Thoughts

As mentioned in this previous post, I was having issues using Backup4All to backup to my webspace via FTP.

The developers at SoftLand did a lot of investigation and finally, after having the issue manifest whilst they were using the programme backing up to my server, modified their programme to take account of this issue. This modification is included in all future releases of the programme.

What was the issue?

The Backup4All developers say that

the [FTP] server does not respond correctly to "size" command.

I'm not sure what they did to get around the issue (I've got to assume that SyncBack had to do similar things), or why the issue was just showing up now (that has never been explained, and my host would love to know)?

But I'm glad it's fixed

Also note that DonationCoder have a 30% Discount available to members.

DonationCoder will also be offering 7 copies of Backup4All Pro in its monthly give-away for members: ETA Mid-June!

The Situation
I have a personal site hosted by Lunar Pages:

Did a bit of reading and testing (mainly by my favourite Software Gurus):

• Neville (of SurfuLater fame) highly recommended Backup4All
• DonationCoder Highly recommended Backup4All

So I purchased Backup4All Pro after playing with SyncBack, Corban and a few others

The Problem
Backup4All has worked very well with anything I've thrown at it: Local and Network backups. But it has fallen over when backing up to my private FTP area on Lunar Pages.

I've had (very) long discussions with the Developer, who is able to backup to my FTP area successfully, but he hasn't been able to shed any light on the situation. The only thing he's said is that the FTP session is getting interrupted.

I've had (very) long discussions with the Lunar Pages Help Desk.

I've even had long discussions with the Modem manufacturer Help Desk.

Here's the situation:

• Backup4All fails when trying to back up to my Windows hosted FTP site on LunarPages from my computer.
• Backup4All does not fail when backing up to a Linux hosted FTP site on LunarPages from my computer.
• The Developer can back up successfully to my Windows hosted FTP site (from his computer).
• SyncBackSE can backup successfully to my Windows hosted FTP site from my computer.

So how odd is that? At this stage I'm very close to having to ditch Backup4All in preference to something like SyncBackSE... which is a real shame! After paying for software you just want to have it work!

I've encountered an interesting issue with the Picture Box.

When a Bookmark is displayed it will also display a thumbnail of the WebPage that has been previously stored (if present). The problem occurs when thumbnails of different sizes are being displayed.

The thumbnails that are larger need to be scaled down, whereas the thumbnails that are smaller need to be centered. The code is something like this:

If ThumbNail.Size.Width < PictureBox.Size.Width Then
PictureBox.SizeMode = CentreImage
Else
PictureBox.SizeMode = Zoom
End If
PictureBox.ImageLocation = ThumbNail.LocalPath


But that produced disturbing changes to the existing image when the size mode changed.

So I tried using PictureBox.SuspendLayout and PictureBox.ResumeLayout but the disturbing changes remained.

So I tried PictureBox.Visible = False before the changes and True after, but no change I still get a small flash of the old image resized. It's like the PictureBox runs through the changes rather than just displaying the final result??

So how do you get a smooth transition from a SizeMode on one file to a different SizeMode on the second file?

OK, this is the banner for eNuFf (funny how my head works sometimes: doing the non essential things first but I think it helps with getting a feel for the whole project.

Graphics Editor: ULead PhotoImpact

Why eNuFf?

1. I liked the word and the graphic word
2. e: Electronic - has to be electronic as it's dealing with online links!
3. Nearly Favourites: This is the main management aim for the software.
4. unter faves: "Under" [see: Uber in Wikipedia] Faves

I wanted to do some preparatory development for my larger Topic Mapped Note Taker, and what came to mind was a Bookmark Manager for all my Nearly Favourites.

I don’t know about you, but as I’m surfing around the Internet I happen upon many pages/sites that I’d like to visit again at some stage, but they aren’t actually a Favourite (because if I put all those bookmarks into my Favourites my Favourites would become unworkable!

Well, I guess I could do this in Favourites by having a “Nearly” folder and putting them all in there… but, that’s not what I really want to do :

• When categorised, I’d have to have duplicate categories; one in Normal, one in Nearly
• I could use my History, but then, that’s everything!
• I’d never learn the other bits and pieces that I’d like to [this is probably the real reason ]

Anyway, all verifications aside, I’ve started work on eNuFf Nearly Faves, unter favourites; the main aims being:

• TreeView based URL Manager
• Portable: Uses settings from Application folder, stores files locally.
• System Tray: Launch URLs, Programme management from Tray Icon
• Browser Integration

As usual, I’ll be using VB.Net as the development language.