START IT UP!

The below steps mentioned may help to create one's own first app in the mobile space:

1. THE IDEA: This is half the game. The idea for the app needs to be solid. The app should be either so fun or it should be a major problem solver.

2. GET STARTED: Get your self the device on which you want to develop the app and download the software development kit on your machine.

3. MAKE YOUR TEAM: If you are an entrepreneur with no developing experience, you may need a team that can analyze/develop/market the app. If you are a developer, check with yourself if you are a good designer/marketer - if not get one.

4. KNOW YOUR DEVICE: Know your toy well.Play around with it's(iOS/Android devices/any other on which you want to develop your app on) interfaces and capabilities. Keep downloading the latest/cool apps on them which will help you to understand the features that are being used.

5. RESEARCH - IS THE "MANTRA": Research as much as you can. Keep browsing the app store/market place and keep scanning the trend of the apps that are being developed and that people are downloading good in number.

6. IDEATE: Take a diary/scribbling pad. Make a note of your idea. This is help you to structure your idea and have a clear picture of the flow of your application.

7. DESIGN: Picturize your idea into a design format. Check for the already existing mobile app "templates" to get a better view of the presentation. Hire a good designer if you are not one.

8. CODE: If you are a developer, keep abreast of the latest. If you are not one, you know what to do ;-)

9. SUBMIT: Submit your app in the app store/market place. Make sure to provide the proper binary builds(as per the guidelines).

10. SHOUT IT: Thanks to the social networking such as FaceBook/Twitter which are providing an excellent platform to market your app. Use them. Create a Fan Page,Tweet about your product, Check with your friends to give a preview of he app.
Last but not the least, word-of-mouth is one of the best mode of publicity :-)

Good Luck for all the Entrepreneurs!!

SQL Server 2008: Making Database read only & changing it to read/write

Here is a way to alter the database to ready only and making it back to read/write.

Make Database Read Only

USE [master]
GO
ALTER DATABASE [TESTDB] SET READ_ONLY WITH NO_WAIT
GO

Make Database Read/Write

USE [master]
GO
ALTER DATABASE [TESTDB] SET READ_WRITE WITH NO_WAIT
GO

Running DDMS

Couple of nights..numerous websites..could not understand where it is going wrong and what am I doing wrong. I was unable to take the screen shot of my application from the android device.

All the websites say the same matter, run DDMS.bat(in windows) to capture the screen shots of your device. But when ever I do that, an error message pop's up "Failed to get the adb version: Cannot run program "adb: CreateProcess error=2, The system cannot find the file specified".

However, tonight the problem was nailed down and here is the process
1. Open Eclipse
2. Window -> Open Perspective -> Other -> DDMS

That's all!! Connect your device. Under the device section, the name of your device and the status(online-if connected,offline-if not) will be displayed.

Good Luck.

RISK - BANG IT!!

"A leader would give birth to another leader only if he is willing to give the driving seat, and is also prepared if the choice fails." It was a simple management lesson for creating leaders. It is very different from a simple delegation. Delegating creates only subordinates, leadership creates superiors and differentiators.

        However, the only careful planning that one needs to do is, to choose the 'Right Driver'. After that, just hand over the keys to the driver and stand by him. Even if the driver bangs the BMW, or ruins a budget exercise or a planning, stand by him. The primary responsibility of the failure is not the driver.

       The potential of a hidden human talent would be coming out colorfully only when we open the lid. Invariably, the lid is there in each one of us, but opportunities should be created to open the lid. I also realized that the willingness to give the driver's seat alone is not sufficient, but it also requires the talent to choose the right driver and we need to invest time and energy to guide the driver without holding the steering. One need to have a threshold of a risk. Taking a chance is by choice and not by chance.

       Find the new driver, you can buy a new car. Get a new leader, you can create a new business - "thok do"

Overwrite MySQL Error Messages

Well, in the current project where I am responsible to migrate SQL Server 2005 to MySQL 5.x database, I've found an interesting use case. The application development team expects the custom alert messages to be sent from the MySQL database(This is handled by using the raiseerror keyword in SQL Server 2005). In order to approach this problem, I've investigated couple of ways out of which one turned out to be as a solution: customizing the default MySQL error messages.

P.S: This is currently working ONLY on WINDOWS platform

Procedure:

1. Explore through /share/errmsg.txt
2. Edit the required error text. For example: ER_PARSE_ERROR & ER_SYNTAX_ERROR (in my scneario)
3. In the command prompt,navigate through /bin
4. Execute the following command: comp-err --charset=../share/charsets --in_file=../share/errmsg.txt --out_dir=../share
5. Restart MySQL service.

Good Luck!!

Uninstall MySQL from Mac OSX

Perform the following operations from terminal:

1. sudo rm /usr/local/mysql
2. sudo rm -rf /usr/local/mysql*
3. sudo rm -rf /Library/StartupItems/MySQLCOM
4. sudo rm -rf /Library/PreformancPanes/My*
5. (Edit /etc/hostconfig) sudo vi /etc/hostconfig (Remove line MYSQLCOM=-YES)
6. sudo rm -rf /Library/Reciepts/mysql*
7. sudo rm -rf /Library/Reciepts/MySQL* 

MySQL Error 126: Incorrect key file for table '/tmp/#sql_30fc_0.MYI'

This bug has irritated me big time. Upon further observation, I determined that the error I got was the result of temporary table getting very large.
Please check the disk space (command: df -h) and make sure you have enough space.

This resolves the problem!!