Google Guava IP and Hostname Validation

I was trying to come up with a way to validate hostnames and IP addresses. I didn't want to spend time trying to do it myself. I figured that this should be a common situation, and likely someone had already written a tool to do just such a thing. I was right. Google Guava has a couple of interesting classes that do exactly what I was looking for.

For folks who may not be familiar with Guava, it is a framework of really helpful utilities that can be used for a variety of situations. Most folks who use Guava in my experience use the collections classes. However, there is a boon for anyone who digs a little deeper.

We will use two specific classes from the Guava framework to do our validations. The first is InternetDomainName which is used to validate the domain name. The other is InetAddresses to check our IP address for validity.

There are some caveats to the InternetDomainName class which are explained here: InternetDomainNameExplained.

In the code below, we see that it is very easy to use and it works very well.

JSF 1.2 (Mojarra) Reference Implementation (RI) on Google App Engine

Image via CrunchBase

I am working on publishing the various methods for deploying JSF on Google App Engine. This example is deployed using JSF 1.2 reference implementation. I am using NetBeans 6.9.1 with the Google App Engine plugin. The code used is vanilla JSF with no additional frameworks.

The web.xml and Maven pom.xml files are posted on the deployed application which is running on the App Engine itself.

The implementation can be found here: http://gae-jsf12.bluelotussoftware.com/

Related articles

• NetBeans 6.9.1 and Google App Engine (javaevangelist.blogspot.com)
• NetBeans Google App Engine Plugin - Changing Deployment Settings (javaevangelist.blogspot.com)
• Google App Engine Now Supports Go Programming Language (readwriteweb.com)

NetBeans Google App Engine Plugin - Changing Deployment Settings

The current Google App Engine plugin for NetBeans does not have a UI interface to change the username and password that it has saved. It also does not display its properties in Preferences tab. The only way to change the stored username and password is to modify the deployment.properties file located in .netbeans/6.9/config/Preferences/org/netbeans/modules/j2ee/appengine

You simply need to change the email address and password in this file. Hopefully, the development will continue on this plugin to add this functionality in the future.

NetBeans 6.9.1 and Google App Engine

A couple of weeks ago David Chandler from Google gave a talk at the Greenville Java Users Group (GreenJUG) about Google App Engine. I was very impressed with the presentation and demo. I decided to explore a little with NetBeans and a plugin for GAE.

The NetBeans support for Google App Engine Plugin is a quick install and works on NetBeans 6.9.1. Once it is installed create a sample Guestbook application to enable the App Engine features. The complete functionality is not enabled until you use it like a number of other NetBeans plugins.

After you create the project you must modify the appengine-web.xml to point to a registered project on appengine for example guestbook and set the version.

Finally we deploy it by selecting the project and deploying it using the context menu. The first time you deploy an application it will prompt you for your login and password. It retains the values for future deployments.

That was easy! Once you get your first application deployed, you have opened the way for future development.

WebP: Why settle for less

Image via CrunchBase

Cnet broke the news this morning about Google's WebP technology which is a "lossy" image codec which can reduce a image to about 40% smaller than a JPEG. The premise is that the more images that a consumer can look at, the more money that Google can rake in.

Does anyone else find this a cheap bait-and-switch?

I like to think I am open to new technologies, but this seems like a blatant downgrade of our current technologies. Yes, their could be an argument for smaller images for cellular phones and limited network bandwidth.

I want better images! I want images where you can enlarge them, make them a wallpaper, or show your kids; and I don't want them "lossy" 40% less than a JPEG.

I will need to wait for complete judgment until there is a browser which supports it so I can compare them with other image formats.

Until then, thanks Google with about 40% less enthusiasm.

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• Google open sources JPEG assassin (go.theregister.com)
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• Google Aims to Speed Up Web with New WebP Image File Format (webpronews.com)
• Google Wants to Kill the JPEG: Meet WebP (mashable.com)
• Report: Google Plans to Introduce JPEG Alternative to Speed up the Web (readwriteweb.com)
• Google offers JPEG alternative for faster Web (news.cnet.com)
• Google offers JPEG alternative for faster Web (news.cnet.com)
• Google Takes on JPEG (technologizer.com)

Google Buys Instantiations

Image via Wikipedia

It is interesting that Google acquired the GWT Designer, and Eclipse tools from Instantiations. Is this a sign that Google does not have any worries about the Oracle lawsuit. I don't think this is the case, I feel that it is in their business interests, and "lawsuit be dammed" they are going to continue doing what Google does. Albeit, they do it well.

I am not a GWT user, but it does offer developers other UI options, and options are good. This is especially true with Google; their options are generally very good.

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• Google Relaunches Instantiations Developer Tools - Now Available for Free (googlecode.blogspot.com)
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• Google Releases Instantiations Dev Tools For Free (informationweek.com)
• Google launches free GWT developer tools (i-programmer.info)
• Google Buys Java/Ajax Tool-Maker Instantiations (MG Siegler/TechCrunch) (techmeme.com)
• Google Buys Java/Ajax Tool-Maker Instantiations (techcrunch.com)
• Google acquires Instantiations: Google Web Toolkit keeps getting Better (techie-buzz.com)
• Google buys Instantiations, gets Eclipse, Java, and Ajax expertise (zdnet.com)

HTML 5

I was looking at the presentation from Google on the HTML5 Rocks site. I found that the demo works for the most part on Firefox. I imagine that the presentation works better on Chrome, but I am not really interested in installing it. I went to the Microsoft site for HTML 5. It has a lot more quirks in it on Firefox.

It is really horrible that we are on the cusp of changing to HTML 5, and I am seeing the same issues that erupted during the browser wars of the 1990s. I am glad that Google has released the free video encoding codec WebM. It is a nice gesture on the part of Google. I only hope the rest of the vendors like Microsoft promote open codecs. It is not likely.

I am bothered that the HTML 5 Working Group at W3C considered putting a requirement for video codecs in the specification for which there was no freely available software. It is a fine demonstration of the the power of influence over standards bodies.  The W3C should work to keep the Internet free.