In this section
The Code Style site has evolved by gradual refinement and accumulation of features and content. This review is part of a fully backdated site log and archive that sheds light on when, why and how particular features were implemented.
This log is sometimes updated several times per week, sometimes with a long overdue backlog of items. Many log entries refer to the Code Style Java package that delivers the servlet services and utilities used to manage this site.
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Reverse chronology
30th October 2002
Updated the Windows font survey results, Mac font survey results and Unix family font survey results and removed stop notification note from the feedback forms. Also updated the SQL script for logging browser user agent strings with the latest browser versions, and the user manual for the process.
26th October 2002
Created a new getFirstParameter(String name) method for the ServletUtilities class to return the value of the first parameter of a given name from a servlet request. Also created a new errorReport(String errorLog) method for the ServletUtilities class from the standard custom 500, internal server error, report form. Re-created several existing ServletUtilities methods by overloading primary versions and set specific import statements. Adjusted the wording of the standfirst for the custom error 400, bad request, document.
Set the JServ log value to true for the Code Style development environment to check new logging features in the draft JAXP servlet.
Corrected a repeated word in the general article feedback acknowledgement page.
17th October 2002
Added a new doctype parameter to the DBResults helper class' toXML(String survey, String doctype) method to include in the output XML document for subsequent validation. Passed the new doctype parameter from the FontStats markup generator class.
Included the draft JAXP transformer servlet in the org.codestyle package and introduced SAXParseException line number reporting for validation errors.
Added a backup directory to the generic Ant build.properties file to copy all Java source to.
14th October 2002
Ran a full link check and updated and deleted some links. Changed the name of the FAQ boxout include reference on the Code Style contents index and included the Site log contents file in the page. Archived Site log: September 2002.
13th October 2002
Finished the Soupermail file template and master configuration file for SQL formatted font results feedback and adjusted the general purpose feedback acknowledgement template to work with this and standard articles. Added a boolean notify column to the notify table to operate with the new SQL format font results feedback and adjusted the mailing list generation scripts accordingly. Also adjusted the submission validation script as necessary to decant notification only submissions to the notify table.
12th October 2002
Final changes to the URL and section classification of FAQ links and navigation boxouts.
Re-phrased the explanations of "C" and "N" classifications for the media stylesheet test case legend following user feedback.
Finished the email template file for SQL formatted font results feedback, primarily to feed notification requests directly into the codestyle_fonts database.
9th October 2002
Renamed a range of navigation boxout include files to adopt a standard scheme and changed references in all affected pages. Included a link to the new asking the right question guidelines to the help request form. Added a new question on class visibility to the FAQ: Java & servlets page.
Java utility classes
8th October 2002
Added HTTP redirects to the root level .htaccess configuration for moved Code Style Help & FAQ and Site Search Help pages. Applied further updates to links to these pages, the ServletUtilities class and created a new Help & FAQ section stylesheet, section-FAQ.css. Standard FAQ section links and Code Style section links, such as the site log, should be emboldened when the user is in these sections of the site.
Also amended the Dublin Core elements and qualifiers in the search results page to follow general usage throughout the site.
Included the FAQ: Java & servlets questions menu in the Custom error 500 article.
Created new local.properties and remote.properties files for the standard Ant build, with platform specific references to the relevant servlet JARs.
7th October 2002
Added FontStats.dtd to the RESOURCE string array in the JAXP ResourceResolver class.
6th October 2002
Developed standard versions of servlet configuration files for development, testing and production purposes to deploy with the evolving Ant build. Added a new global initialisation parameter for the "home" directory for file references in the development and production environments.
servlets.default.initArgs=home=/home/codestyle
5th October 2002
Started to re-configure the Help & FAQ section to adopt a more standardised file set and reference scheme, and changed many existing links to refer to this. Moved the Code Style help & FAQ and Site Search Help up a level and deleted the former help subsection.
Created new Help & FAQ section link navigation and meta keywords include files and applied these to all relevant documents. Also created a new Code Style section stylesheet, section-CodeStyle.css.
Uploaded the latest Sun JAXP JARs to the production library for future reference.
2nd October 2002
Developed a custom ValidationException class to further investigate validation processing in JAXP with Apache Xerces. The validation setting highlighted the need to edit the font statistics DTD to allow multiple rows in the table element and a comma separated list of elements within the rows.
<!ELEMENT table (row+)>
<!ATTLIST table survey (Windows|Mac|Unix) #REQUIRED>
<!ATTLIST table date CDATA #REQUIRED>
<!ELEMENT row (class,fontname,frequency,imagename)>
Previously on Code Style
These backdated pages record detailed changes to the Code Style Web site since July 2000, when development first got underway. Some pages may refer to documents or features that have since changed or are no longer part of the site, but the archive is checked to ensure there are no dead links.
Site log, origins to present
For a summary overview, see the annotated site log contents.
