Author: Jay

Do what you do best in – that’s what I’ve always believed in and that’s what I preach. Over the past 25+ years (yup that’s my expertise ‘n’ experience in the Information Technology domain), I’ve been consulting to small, medium and large companies ‘About Web Technologies, Mobile Future as well as on the good-and-bad of tech. Blogger, International Business Advisor, Web Technology Expert, Sales Guru, Startup Mentor, Insurance Sales Portal Expert & a Tennis Player. And top of all – a complete family man!

Facebook’s Free Call Service For US iPhone Users

Posted on by Jay

Facebook recently announced that iPhone users could enjoy free calls in the US over Wi-Fi Messenger for iPhone. This new feature facilitates people from the United States that allow them to use the Facebook Messenger app to place voice calls with friends using their internet connection or Wi-Fi.

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The feature comes as a “Free Call” button in the existing app and the users don’t have to update to take advantage of this feature.

A lot of users quoted “Free call feature is incredibly simple and useful”. But the app also requires the receiver to have Facebook’s stand-alone app installed on their phone.

If the app couldn’t sync with the receiver, the “Free Call” icon appears grey and marked out. The call features look and feel similar to conventional voice calls.

Besides the United States, Facebook has mentioned that they have started testing VoIP functionality in Canada.

I’ve worked with the team at Andolasoft on multiple websites. They are professional, responsive, & easy to work with. I’ve had great experiences & would recommend their services to anyone.

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Facebook has also added a voice message feature for the iPhone users. It enables the user to send recorded messages to their Facebook friends. It works similar to a text message, whereas the text is replaced by a bar recorded with the sender’s voice information.

Andolasoft- a leading iPhone application development company offers a comprehensive range of iOS solutions to our global customers. With expertise in HTML 5, CSS, iOS, iPhone SDK, and Cocoa framework, we develop stunning iPhone applications to reach a wider audience.

How to do tagging in Rails with gem ‘Acts_as_taggable_on’

Posted on by Jay

ror41Tagging is a way to give a keyword and search by that particular keyword. In Rails “acts-as-taggable-on” is one of the popular gem for tagging. With ‘acts_as_taggable_on’, you can tag a single model on several contexts, such as skills, interests, and awards

Below is an example to describe how to implement it in a Rails application:

    Step#1

  • Add the gem to your Gemfile:
    • gem ‘acts-as-taggable-on'
  • Then run the bundle
    • bundle install

    Step#2

  • Run the generator command
    • rails g acts_as_taggable_on:migration
  • Run the migration file
    • rake db:migrate

    This migration will create two tables in the database: tags and taggings.
    Step#3
    Now you have to modify your model where you want to implement tagging.
    For example, we like to implement the tagging on Post model.

  • Add the following codes to the “Post” model to have acts_as_taggable and also add a “tag_list” field to the attr_accessible list.
    • attr_accessible :content, :name, :tag_list
acts_as_taggable

    Step#4

  • Add a new field to your post form.
    • <%= f.label :tag_list, "Tags (separated by commas)" %>
<%= f.text_field :tag_list %>

    Step#5

  • Add the following codes, if you want to show the tags for the tagged posts in the listing page:
    • <% @posts.each do |post| %>
<h2><%= link_to post.name, post %></h2>
<%= simple_format post.content %>
<p>
Tags: <%= raw post.tag_list.map { |t| link_to t, tag_path(t) }.join(', ') %>
</p>
<% end %>

    Step#6

  • Modify your route file to get the tags
    • get 'tags/:tag', to: 'posts#index', as: :tag

    Step#7

  • Modify your controller:
    • class PostsController < ApplicationController
def index
if params[:tag]
@posts = Post.tagged_with(params[:tag])
else
@posts = Post.all
end
end
end

Voila! You have done it.

Why CakePHP is Popular? And The Role Of CakePHP Developer

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CakePHP is an open source PHP based rapid development framework. It offers great run-time infrastructure along with abundant set of libraries for CakePHP developers. Cake PHP development is supported by the MVC (Model View and Controller) architecture which differentiates the programming logic from the data presentation layer.

It also features other programming concepts like Front Controller, Association Data Mapping and Active Record. Along with these, there are numerous other features that make CakePHP one of the most preferred web development frameworks among others.

Let’s take a look at some features here

Wide Community:

CakePHP developers are supported by huge peers who make use of this framework. There are many contributors and programmers who share the community. For this reason, using the framework is simpler for development as well as for research.

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Reusability:

It facilitates the developers in saving a lot of efforts through PHP development. Because the programmer make use of a pre-written code for more than one project. In other words, they can focus on the logical and creative part of application whereas the tedious task of coding could be handled with ease.

Open Source:

The framework is open source, for which the CakePHP developers do not have to spend any amount in the process of development and have complete access to its source code. It also assists the developers in adding robustness and improves performance in web applications.

Some of the roles of CakePHP developers include

    • Manage development efforts and framework efficiently
    • Support product releases
    • Ability to handle lot of projects in less time
    • Overall review of the quality & progress of the work
    • Support stable user growth

Conclusion

Here at Andolasoft we provide our customers with a unique and up-to-date approach towards their Web-app development. We design and develop intriguing web applications using PHP/CakePHP. We follow agile development approach to deliver project on time and within budget to our customer

Validating RSS Feeds in Rails

Posted on by Jay

Rails1FeedValidator is a gem which validates the RSS feeds through SOAP protocol of the W3C Feed Validation service. It helps to find out errors in RSS or ATOM feeds. In Rails app we can do the feed validation by installing the gem.

    Step#1

  • Install the FeedValidator as a gem:
    • gem feedvalidator

    Run the bundler to install the gem
    Step#2

  • Include the require ‘feed_validator’ into your controller

    • Step#3

  • Generate a migration file and edit the file to add the following fields
    • class CreateFeeds < ActiveRecord::Migration
def self.up
create_table :feeds do |t|
t.string :title
t.timestamps
end
end
def self.down
drop_table :feeds
end
end

    Step#4

  • Validate your feed URL in your controller
    • def create
site_url = params[:feed][:title].sub(/(\/)+$/,'')
begin
v = W3C::FeedValidator.new
if v.validate_url(site_url) && v.valid?
@feed = Feed.new(:title => site_url)
@feed.save
end
rescue
# Do nothing
end
redirect_to request.referrer
end

Top 6 Factors to Consider Before Cloud Storage

Posted on by Jay

cloudCloud storage has become an essential part of every business organization. Data stored in local computers are extremely important of businesses, so it is necessary to take back up on a regular basis. It offers enough space for storing all the files at a highly secure location.

Having all the critical data contained in a remote server outside the local system, it ensures that all the data is safe even if the hard-drive gets crashed. It doesn’t require any additional remote administration.

There are a number of cloud storage services like AWS (S3, Glacier), Rackspace (Cloud Files), Google (Google Drive), Microsoft (SkyDrive) etc. But before choosing any cloud service, there are several important aspects to look at. Here are some of the major factors to consider for choosing any cloud service.

      1. Security:

Security is one of the major factors to consider when getting into cloud storage. Select a service provider who will handle the information with discretion. Check that the service provider includes a minimum of 256-bit encryption for data protection.

      2. Block level back up:

A cloud backup solution with block level back up technology should be used. This technology splits huge files into smaller ones and facilitates users to modify them. This in turn saves time and bandwidth.

      3. Customers support:

Some of the customer support services should also be kept into consideration. Like, the user must have access to files, almost immediately when needed. User could reach the vendor through email or telephone for assistance. The service must be offered for 24/7 throughout the year. The service provider must be offering customer reviews to prove the quality of the cloud service.

      4. Restore options:

The vendor must have multiple restore options for restoration of deleted files and even restoring from original files. Restore options must include both mobile devices and web interfaces .It should have the ability to restore data to its original storage location.

      5. Speed:

The online backup service should use disk de-fragmentation technology for faster storage. A slow back up service can decrease the level of productivity largely.

      6. Cost:

The cost of a cloud storage service is another important aspect that should be checked in detail. Numerous cloud vendors who are providing similar services with varying cost. All the vendors should be compared based on their pricing, to choose the right option. It should also be checked that there are no hidden fees before proceeding to the payments.

Getting acquainted with cloud technology can be troublesome. At Andolasoft we are specialized in providing Cloud Computing Services to our customers. Here we have a huge team of skilled personnel to provide monitoring and support services for 24×7 across the world.

Role of Cloud Testing in Applications

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QA

All business applications are now becoming more dynamic and component-based. Industries are now shifting towards cloud computing for better productivity. But to ensure the functionalities of these cloud-based applications, Cloud testing plays a major role in the Cloud industry. 

Cloud testing is the testing processes which are executed with the use of cloud resources. It is helpful when the testing process includes many test machines like several workstations for load testing. It is also helpful while testing application that operates over a LAN or the Web like on a client’s server.

Now let’s take a look at some of the major requirement of Cloud testing

  • Sufficient test models and criteria

QA engineers should be provided with sufficient test models and criteria that support cloud and web application testing. These test models and criteria should be in areas like SaaS and Cloud-based application. This scalability model is used to validate or measure the performance of the system. It also requires Integration models and criteria to address cloud-based connectivity protocols and APIs for end-to-end application integration across the cloud.

  • Proper test methods and solutions

The requirements and features of cloud applications are in continuous change, for which it requires newer test methods and solutions. Methods like continuous validation and regression testing solutions for the applications which change continuously due to bug fixing and feature updates. Application tester should also be given automatic testing facilities for the multi-lease feature of cloud computing.

At Andolasoft we have expertise team of quality annalist and testing engineers with strong market specific testing experience to provide extensive Quality Assurance services throughout the product life-cycle. We also execute cloud-based testing to provide the best in quality product services.