The Idea

To build a simple, extremely simple an online tool (webapp) to handle projects, but no only software projects -which is, I believe, the common approach. Build a set of easy-to-use tools to breakdown work (using drag-and-drop automagic for WBS or even to create Product Backlogs as you will probably build the WBS graphically. I’m not sure about how it will result, but I’m sure you get the point behind the idea. My mind is thinking about a built-in worksheet (like in a spreadsheets tool) to dynamically generate reports that works also as input forms – so you don’t have the Import/Export pain (if you use any online tool every day you know what I’m talking about).

I love little colored pieces of paper, boards (aka information radiators), eDocs with names and tasks and colors (I do love eDocs) – I’m not sure why Google does not have a Project Tool in its office suite.

I’m not sure when, while performing as PM, Professor, Speaker, and VP of Special Projects for PMI Colombia Chapter, I will get the time to work on this personal project.

This one is a simple one, the Happy Holidays post is always an easy way to remove that task from your ToDo list.

For me, this year is one of those when you feel you have done a lot, change a lot, and it is probably why I feel I’m not the same one -and I’m not talking about getting older, which is also true . This year I had the opportunity to work closer on a start-up company and to travel to New York City to work side-by-side with the team over there. I do not have words to express how much I learned. Now I feel closer to my personal goals. Being part of such start-up company was an amazing time.

I’m happy because this year is finally ending with all the changes it brought to me. I’m happy because this year was the year it was, but also happy because I’m pretty sure the next will be even better and even more challenging.

IThe last paragraph of this post is to thank you all the people who spend valuable time with me: my family (the first and most important) which is always supporting me, my friends (the old and the new ones), my coworkers, and my students (the ones who get A+ and those who didn’t). Happy holidays, and I wish you spend some great time with your beloved ones.

Then, I took a chance with a well-known entrepreneur at Torrenegra Labs – thanks to Leo Suarez and Alex Torrenegra. It was not a smooth transition. At the beginning I was supposed to work on a project (shh! It is a secret one), however after our first formal review on the scope and budget, we decided to keep this initiative on hold. It was back on December! OMG! What am I going to do?

Fortunately for me, Alex invited me to join the LetMeGo Team as the owner of the Referral Program (during my first three months here at Torrenegra Labs I offered my help on LetMeGo project giving a hand to launch the Beta on time). I joined the team last January. So, “What? Referral what?” I was confused and I was feeling ignorant, what is a referral program? and how am I suppose build a successful referral program?

I started working as Architect of the LetMeGo Subsystem on charge of the Referral Program, and then of course, as any good Architect, I started coding, but not coding like I was used to. That is when RRapido Methodology and I formally met. Even when it is a mix of Agile, Traditional Development and Test Driven development, I have to say that the most valuable asset that we have is our methodology. I’m not saying it is perfect or a “One-Size-Fits-All”, however I will give my impressions on it:

• Applied Test Driven Development reduces the chances of getting errors on late development phases or iterations (I will not discuss here if they are the same or not).
• Extremely well document UC, TC and UI – LMG is the first project I had participated on were tech docs are almost perfect and detailed good enough to allow clear trace between code, tests and UC – it is a little bit confusing because Agile Manifesto includes a line “Working software over comprehensive documentation” – what does it means anyway? Even on traditional approach you are always looking for “working software”.
• Noisy communications – RRapido fails on how things are communicated. We had what we call here in Colombia “meetin-gitis”, but through Skype. Most of the times we over communicate everything to everybogy. With time you get used to it, but it is like be in a party with everybody talking each other and with loud music.
• Microblogging looks like useless. We use Yammer, I microblogging tool for private(?) teams. We used it to promote our tasks every day -I’ve to admit that I’m not most dedicated team member to that.
• Small group with one “I-know-everything-about-the-system” manager. RRapido, and the most significant and valuable addition to our team is what Scrum calls the Product Owner. Alex is our product owner, he is a technical person that has developed a great “business” sense. With his experience and dedication RRapido and the whole project is kept on track. There is no doubt about it. One day without Alex is a day when things slow down (a little bit)

So it is time to talk about Mr. Alex or  Don Alex. I disagree about few practices on Alex management style however, and based on the facts and the results I say: He is on care of EVERY detail of the system, leading the team to a successful product and “working software”. He is the dream of every development team, a dedicated and objective Product Owner that understands technical challenges and risks of every decision. Alex does not ask for outstanding deliverables all the time, but when he does that, he also provides the tools and time to succeed.

RRapido Methodology depends 100% on the Product Owner -what we call Product Developer. He/she is the key of the RRapido Methodology, as the keeper of the process. It is so difficult to know about the system, the business, the market, the customer drivers, to have relevant technical background on the development, to have passion about the business, and also to be the process owner, that RRapido becomes a process for few -maybe a process that can be adapted for those who had worked with Alex.

Recomendations

As my dad always says, if your are complaining about something that you can change, why you do not change it. I decided then to write this post, sure that Torrenegra Team will read it and probably -if I succeed- will include few process to the methodology.

• Methodology is a set of steps, it is not a ToDo list. RRapido feels like a set of things to do, but I would prefer if we can set them as a procedure.
• Communications are noisy, One-on-One meetings are great, Publishing Notification Board is ok, all other are noisy. I would prefer a message board or workspace site.
• Microblogging is useless when weekly tasks have been set. Remove it or use it to assign tasks, not to report them.
• Documentation. I’m in love with documentation, it is not perfect, but it supplies all developers need to code, test and validate the required functionality, however, navigation between UC, UT and UI is painfull. I would look for another way to link UC and UI (maybe a two column page or something similar).
• By formalizing RRapido steps, dependency on the Product Developer role will be reduced.
• Test Driven Development Rocks!

Requirements / Example environment configuration.

• PHP 5.2.x
• cURL PHP Extension
• PEAR extension
• HTTP Request2 (beta)

This example was originally built for CakePHP, but as you can see, it can be used or migrated to several frameworks – the key is to use the PEAR component. Note: I believe that this example will make most of the example out there crappy – and I hope it, so other developers could use it.

 
// PEAR Package HTTP_Request2
// http://pear.php.net/manual/en/package.http.http-request2.php
require_once('HTTP' . DS . 'Request2.php');
 
class GoogleImportComponent extends Object {
 
	private $username = null;
	private $password = null;
	private $token = null;
 
	/**
	 * Authenticate user credential against provider services
	 *
	 * @param string $username User's login
	 * @param string $password User's account password
	 * @see http://code.google.com/apis/contacts/docs/3.0/developers_guide_protocol.html
	 */
	function authenticate($username, $password) {
		$this->username = $username;
		$this->password = $password;
 
		$hrc = new HTTP_Request2('https://www.google.com/accounts/ClientLogin', HTTP_Request2::METHOD_POST);
		$hrc->setAdapter('HTTP_Request2_Adapter_Curl');
		$hrc->setConfig('ssl_verify_peer', false);
		$hrc->addPostParameter('accountType', 'HOSTED_OR_GOOGLE');
		$hrc->addPostParameter('service', 'cp');
		$hrc->addPostParameter('source', 'MY_APP_ID');
		$hrc->addPostParameter('Email', $this->username);
		$hrc->addPostParameter('Passwd', $this->password);
 
		$response = $hrc->send();
		$body = $response->getBody();
		if ($response->getStatus() == 200) {
			$this->token = substr($body, strpos($body, 'Auth=') + 5);
		}
		else {
			throw new Exception($response->getReasonPhrase(), $response->getStatus());
		}
	}
 
	/**
	 * Return the contacts' email list
	 *
	 * @return array
	 * @see http://code.google.com/apis/contacts/docs/3.0/developers_guide_protocol.html
	 */
	function get() {
		$addresses = array();
 
		$hrc = new HTTP_Request2("http://www.google.com/m8/feeds/contacts/{$this->username}/full", HTTP_Request2::METHOD_GET);
		$hrc->setHeader('Authorization', "GoogleLogin auth={$this->token}");
		$response = $hrc->send();
		if ($response->getStatus() == 200) {
			$xml = simplexml_load_string(utf8_encode($response->getBody()));
			$xmladd =  $xml->xpath("//gd:email/@address");
			foreach ($xmladd as $value) {
				$data = get_object_vars($value);
				$addrs = $data['@attributes']['address'];
				if ($addrs != $this->username) {
					$addresses[] = $addrs;
				}
			}
		}
		else {
			throw new Exception($response->getReasonPhrase(), $response->getStatus());
		}
 
		return $addresses;
	}
}

That’s it. It is not a huge amount of code with HTTP protocol related instructions – like the ones you can get for free. It relies on HTTP_Request2 PEAR module, that even if it’s on beta, works like a charm.

SearchPortlet.java

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package portal.portlets;
 
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Iterator;
import java.util.List;
 
import javax.portlet.ActionRequest;
import javax.portlet.ActionResponse;
import javax.portlet.GenericPortlet;
import javax.portlet.PortletConfig;
import javax.portlet.PortletException;
import javax.portlet.PortletRequestDispatcher;
import javax.portlet.PortletSecurityException;
import javax.portlet.RenderRequest;
import javax.portlet.RenderResponse;
import javax.portlet.UnavailableException;
import javax.portlet.WindowState;
 
import org.apache.log4j.Logger;
import org.jboss.portal.cms.CMS;
import org.jboss.portal.cms.CMSException;
import org.jboss.portal.cms.Command;
import org.jboss.portal.cms.model.File;
import org.jboss.portal.core.cms.ui.CMSPortlet;
import org.jboss.portal.search.FederatedQuery;
import org.jboss.portal.search.QueryConversionException;
import org.jboss.portal.search.federation.SearchFederation;
import org.jboss.portal.search.impl.jcr.JCRQuery;
import org.jboss.portal.search.impl.jcr.JCRQueryConverter;
 
public class SearchPortlet extends CMSPortlet {
 
  private static Logger log = Logger.getLogger(SearchPortlet.class);
  private SearchFederation SearchService;
  private CMS CMSService;
 
  public void init(PortletConfig config) throws PortletException {
    super.init(config);
  }
 
  public void destroy() {
    super.destroy();
  }
 
  /*
   * (non-Javadoc)
   *
   * @see javax.portlet.Portlet#init()
   */
  @Override
  public void init() throws PortletException {
    this.SearchService = (SearchFederation) getPortletContext().getAttribute("SearchFederationService");
    this.CMSService = (CMS) getPortletContext().getAttribute("CMS");
 
    if (this.SearchService == null) {
      throw new PortletException("Unable to start search service");
    }
 
    if (this.CMSService == null) {
      throw new PortletException("CMS services not available");
    }
 
    super.init();
  }
 
  /*
   * (non-Javadoc)
   *
   * @see javax.portlet.GenericPortlet#doView(javax.portlet.RenderRequest,
   * javax.portlet.RenderResponse)
   */
  @Override
  protected void doView(RenderRequest request, RenderResponse response) throws PortletException, IOException, UnavailableException {
 
    String portalInstance = request.getWindowID().substring(0, request.getWindowID().indexOf('/', 1));
    PortletRequestDispatcher prd = null;
    String operation = (String) request.getParameter("op");
 
    if (operation != null && operation.equals("search")) {
      String queryString = (String) request.getParameter("query");
      if (queryString != null && queryString.length() > 0) {
        request.setAttribute("files", this.getFiles(queryString, portalInstance));
        prd = this.getPortletContext().getRequestDispatcher("/WEB-INF/jsp/results.jsp");
      } else {
        prd = getPortletContext().getRequestDispatcher("/WEB-INF/jsp/search.jsp");
      }
      prd.include(request, response);
    } else if (operation != null && operation.equals("display")) {
      super.doView(request, response);
    } else {
      prd = getPortletContext().getRequestDispatcher("/WEB-INF/jsp/search.jsp");
      prd.include(request, response);
    }
  }
 
  /*
   * (non-Javadoc)
   *
   * @see javax.portlet.Portlet#processAction(javax.portlet.ActionRequest,
   * javax.portlet.ActionResponse)
   */
  @Override
  public void processAction(ActionRequest request, ActionResponse response) throws PortletException, PortletSecurityException, IOException {
    String profile;
 
    String operation = (String) request.getParameter("op");
    if (operation != null && operation.length() > 0) {
      if (operation.equals("ask")) {
        response.setWindowState(WindowState.NORMAL);
      } else {
        response.setWindowState(WindowState.MAXIMIZED);
      }
      response.setRenderParameter("op", operation);
    } else {
      response.setRenderParameter("op", "ask");
      response.setWindowState(WindowState.NORMAL);
    }
 
    if (operation.equals("search")) {
      String queryString = (String) request.getParameter("query");
      if (queryString != null && queryString.length() > 0) {
        response.setRenderParameter("query", queryString);
      }
    }
  }
 
  private List getFiles(String queryString, String portal) {
    List files = null;
    List filteredFiles = new ArrayList();
 
    if (queryString != null && queryString.length() > 0) {
      FederatedQuery query = new FederatedQuery(queryString);
      JCRQueryConverter converter = new JCRQueryConverter();
 
      try {
        Command searchCommand = CMSService.getCommandFactory().createSearchCommand((JCRQuery) converter.convert(query));
        files = (List) CMSService.execute(searchCommand);
 
        // You can filter files if needed by reviewing its path under the CMS
        // structure, by name, or any other criteria that fits your needs.
 
      } catch (CMSException e) {
        log.error("CMS Error", e);
      } catch (QueryConversionException e) {
        log.warn("Conversion Error", e);
      }
    }
 
    return files;
  }
}

I used two JSP pages to support this portlet.

• search.jsp – Search form – the standard portlet view
• results.jsp – Results list page – appears with the portlet MAXIMIZED and displays CMS files that matches the criteria

search.jsp – (WP-Syntax does not support JSP)

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<h2>Search</h2>
<form action="<%=contactActionURL%>" method="POST">
  <fieldset style="border: none;">
    <input name="op" type="hidden" value="search" />
    <input name="query" type="text" />
    <input type="submit" value="Search" />
  </fieldset>
</form>

results.jsp – (WP-Syntax does not support JSP)

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<%@ page import="org.jboss.portal.cms.model.File"%>
<%@ page import="java.util.List"%>
<%@ page language="java" extends="org.jboss.portal.core.servlet.jsp.PortalJsp"%>
<%@ taglib uri="http://java.sun.com/portlet_2_0" prefix="portlet"%>
<%
  List<File> files = (List<File>) request.getAttribute("files");
  if (files != null && files.size() > 0) { %>
<h1>RESULTADOS DE B&Uacute;QUEDA</h1>
  <%
    for (int i = 0; i < files.size(); i++) {
        File file = files.get(i);
  %>
  <h2><%= file.getName() %></h2>
  <p><% if (file.getDescription() != null && file.getDescription().length() > 0) { %><%= file.getDescription() %><% } %><a href="<portlet:actionURL><portlet:param name="op" value="display" /><portlet:param name="file" value="<%= file.getBasePath() %>" /></portlet:actionURL>">Ver m&aacute;s...</a></p>
  <hr />
  <%
    }
  %>
<% } else { %>
<h1>NO HAY RESULTADOS</h1>
<% } %>
<p align="center"><a href="<portlet:actionURL><portlet:param name="op" value="ask" /></portlet:actionURL>">Volver</a></p>

Include the following lines on your jboss-portlet.xml file.

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<service>
  <service-name>CMS</service-name>
  <service-class>org.jboss.portal.cms.CMS</service-class>
  <service-ref>:service=CMS</service-ref>
</service>
 
<service>
  <service-name>SearchFederationService</service-name>
  <service-class>org.jboss.portal.search.federation.SearchFederation</service-class>
  <service-ref>:service=SearchFederationService</service-ref>
</service>

And finally add the following lines on your portlet.xml file.

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<portlet>
  <description>DESC</description>
  <portlet-name>SearchPortlet</portlet-name>
  <display-name>NAME</display-name>
  <portlet-class>portal.portlets.SearchPortlet</portlet-class>
  <supports>
    <mime-type>text/html</mime-type>
    <portlet-mode>VIEW</portlet-mode>
  </supports>
  <resource-bundle>Resource</resource-bundle>
  <portlet-info>
    <title>SEARCH</title>
  </portlet-info>
  <portlet-preferences>
    <preference>
      <name>indexpage</name>
      <value>/default/index.html</value>
      </preference>
    <preference>
      <name>setBrowserTitle</name>
      <value>false</value>
    </preference>
  </portlet-preferences>
</portlet>
 
<filter>
  <filter-name>JBoss Portlet Filter</filter-name>
  <filter-class>org.jboss.portlet.filter.JBossPortletFilter</filter-class>
  <lifecycle>ACTION_PHASE</lifecycle>
  <lifecycle>RENDER_PHASE</lifecycle>
</filter>
 
<filter-mapping>
  <filter-name>JBoss Portlet Filter</filter-name>
  <portlet-name>SearchPortlet</portlet-name>
</filter-mapping>

During hard times we, of course, feel additional pressure on every duty we have to accomplish, on both personal and professional fields. So it is not difficult to explode and to fail on our communication methods and/or messages. Express our disagreement as a criticism could not be the best way, but it is common and widely used one. The problem is that communication is always between at least two actors, sender and receiver (source and destination), and probably our criticism will affect others directly. However, a problem is always a source of opportunities. Receivers, those who got criticized, can get the very best of every criticism and evolve it into feedback. There is no criticism without foundation, even for those how want to emotionally affect others.

As project managers we need to be the example, we need to effectively communicate information to every relevant stakeholder but, something that is not fully promoted is that we also have to handle the inputs from a 2-way process. It is not about giving and giving, it is about receiving and processing too.

The reason is simple, I changed my job. I resigned from my previous Account Manager position at Studiocom (an interactive and digital WPP agency). It was difficult to leave that position (and such a great team) but it was a required decision from a professional perspective.

So I moved to a new position as Product Developer at Torrenegra Labs. I’ve been working at Torrenegra Labs for the last two months on a new business development that I’m sure will make me better person and integral Project Manager.

I’m currently learning about their management methods and of course and because I’m a techie guy, I’m looking at their code too   – they have create their own PHP Framework on top of CakePHP, including JSON and SOAP Webservices and other cool stuff – I’m pushing hard to share most of those nice CakePHP extensions back to the community. You should take a look to their great product once it gets released – check Alexander’s Blog – The Making of LetMeGo.

I’ve been setting all the things to start a new huge initiative but also learning about their framework, coding style and development methodology (a.k.a RRapido). I’ve take the time to know the people -the most important asset on this and every company. It has been an inspiring time and now its time to rock-n-roll.

Starting next week, I will be in charge of my own top secret project that I’m pretty sure will shake the market -as it happens for most of the Torrenegra products (like Voice123 and for sure LetMeGo). It is an exciting time for me, and I hope you enjoy the future posts about the project progress.

So I downloaded it -the 2.7.2 bundled version. I started working on it, simple configuration and customization. I even bought a book, because, I still do believe that books are good for reference.

Oh Dear God! What a SHAME, the book JBoss Portal Server Development [Packt Publishing] is nothing more than printed version of the online Reference Guide. I read the customers reviews before get the book but to be honest, I found websites with useful tips and post. I believe I will donate the book… for recycling.

About the product, I don’ t have enough word to express my frustration.

Content Management

When you read on JBoss Portal documentation it is not a CMS, it really means it doesn’t even work to store content at all.

• CMS performance will decrease dramatically as you load and modifies your content. BIG BIG FAIL! TIP JCR performance gets BETTER if you switch the repo to the FS instead of using databases.
• CMS doesn’ t have Search functionality. Even when JCR has a great index analyser, JBoss Portal fails. I downloaded (svn co) the 2.7.2 version source code from the repos. “core-search” module doesn’t compile. Ant scripts are too fragmented and hard to read. You’ll have to replace and FIX all the jar dependencies to make it work. Note: I didn’t test it, but probably repo works flawless on 2.6.8 version -looking at the scripts and code it could be possible. Once you make it work, the deploy target will not work. Server will consume too memory and then CRASH!
• Portal Pages and CMS content are not related. I built my own search portlet -fragment of code is at the end of this post. It is not easy to match Portal Pages with CMS content -I didn’ t tried it, however I’m pretty sure it is possible.

Documentation

Official docs are good enough -not great but good to be a Open Source project, however Wiki is a shame, its confusing and incomplete. There are a lot of unexplained things like how to get sources, and how to compile, troubleshooting, and stuff like that.

PortalSwap is a FAIL… it is supposed to be a community place to share portlets but there are like four simple portlets.

Community and DevTeam Support

Well, I was contacted -in some how- by the DevTeam on twitter. The truth, I “tweet” my frustration several weeks ago! and they noticed – At the beginning I was angry about the product but then I realized that IT IS FOR FREE, so let’s try to change and improve things! I wrote a nice email to the DevTeam. All I want is to get paid (from my client) and also to contribute to the project.

I’m still waiting for the answer from DevTeam, without mention that the “Twitter Support” was more like a complain than a “Branding Strategy”. So there is no community support, and DevTeam doesn’t know about Customer Care. My suggestion is, next time you contact a frustrated developer, try to convince to “help DevTeam” instead of debate!

As a recap, JBoss AS is a great product, JBoss Portal is seems to me like a “work in progress” – Maybe it is a students project!

Search Portlet Source

The original code have been edited -please let me know if it works for you.

package xxx;
 
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
 
import javax.portlet.ActionRequest;
import javax.portlet.ActionResponse;
import javax.portlet.PortletConfig;
import javax.portlet.PortletException;
import javax.portlet.PortletPreferences;
import javax.portlet.PortletRequestDispatcher;
import javax.portlet.PortletSecurityException;
import javax.portlet.RenderRequest;
import javax.portlet.RenderResponse;
import javax.portlet.UnavailableException;
import javax.portlet.WindowState;
 
import org.apache.log4j.Logger;
import org.jboss.portal.cms.CMS;
import org.jboss.portal.cms.CMSException;
import org.jboss.portal.cms.Command;
import org.jboss.portal.cms.model.File;
import org.jboss.portal.core.cms.ui.CMSPortlet;
import org.jboss.portal.search.FederatedQuery;
import org.jboss.portal.search.QueryConversionException;
import org.jboss.portal.search.federation.SearchFederation;
import org.jboss.portal.search.impl.jcr.JCRQuery;
import org.jboss.portal.search.impl.jcr.JCRQueryConverter;
 
public class SearchPortlet extends CMSPortlet {
 
	private static Logger log = Logger.getLogger(SearchPortlet.class);
	private SearchFederation SearchService;
	private CMS CMSService;
 
	public void init(PortletConfig config) throws PortletException {
		super.init(config);
	}
 
	public void destroy() {
		super.destroy();
	}
 
	/*
	 * (non-Javadoc)
	 *
	 * @see javax.portlet.Portlet#init()
	 */
	@Override
	public void init() throws PortletException {
		this.SearchService = (SearchFederation) getPortletContext().getAttribute("SearchFederationService");
		this.CMSService = (CMS) getPortletContext().getAttribute("CMS");
 
		if (this.SearchService == null) {
			throw new PortletException("Search Service Not Available");
		}
 
		if (this.CMSService == null) {
			throw new PortletException("CMS Not Available");
		}
 
		super.init();
	}
 
	/*
	 * (non-Javadoc)
	 *
	 * @see javax.portlet.GenericPortlet#doView(javax.portlet.RenderRequest,
	 * javax.portlet.RenderResponse)
	 */
	@Override
	protected void doView(RenderRequest request, RenderResponse response) throws PortletException, IOException, UnavailableException {
 
		String portalInstance = request.getWindowID().substring(0, request.getWindowID().indexOf('/', 1));
		PortletRequestDispatcher prd = null;
 
		String operation = (String) request.getParameter("op");
 
		if (operation != null && operation.equals("search")) {
			String queryString = (String) request.getParameter("query");
			if (queryString != null && queryString.length() > 0) {
				request.setAttribute("files", this.getFiles(queryString, portalInstance));
				prd = this.getPortletContext().getRequestDispatcher("/WEB-INF/jsp/results.jsp");
			} else {
				prd = getPortletContext().getRequestDispatcher("/WEB-INF/jsp/search.jsp");
			}
			prd.include(request, response);
		} else if (operation != null && operation.equals("display")) {
			super.doView(request, response);
		} else {
			prd = getPortletContext().getRequestDispatcher("/WEB-INF/jsp/search.jsp");
			prd.include(request, response);
		}
	}
 
	/*
	 * (non-Javadoc)
	 *
	 * @see javax.portlet.Portlet#processAction(javax.portlet.ActionRequest,
	 * javax.portlet.ActionResponse)
	 */
	@Override
	public void processAction(ActionRequest request, ActionResponse response) throws PortletException, PortletSecurityException, IOException {
 
		String operation = (String) request.getParameter("op");
		PortletPreferences prefs = request.getPreferences();
 
		if (operation == null || operation.equalsIgnoreCase("ask")) {
			response.setRenderParameter("op", "ask");
			//FIXME response.setWindowState(WindowState.NORMAL);
		}
		else {
			//FIXME response.setWindowState(WindowState.MAXIMIZED);
			response.setRenderParameter("op", operation);	
 
			if (operation.equals("search")) {
				String queryString = (String) request.getParameter("query");
				if (queryString != null && queryString.length() > 0) {
					response.setRenderParameter("query", queryString);
				}
			}
 
			if (operation.equals("display")) {
				String uri = request.getParameter("uri");
				response.setRenderParameter("uri", uri);
				super.processAction(request, response);
			}
		}
	}
 
	private List getFiles(String queryString, String portal) {
		List files = null;
 
		if (queryString != null && queryString.length() > 0) {
			FederatedQuery query = new FederatedQuery(queryString);
			JCRQueryConverter converter = new JCRQueryConverter();
 
			try {
				Command searchCommand = CMSService.getCommandFactory().createSearchCommand((JCRQuery) converter.convert(query));
				files = (List) CMSService.execute(searchCommand);
				//FIXME: "portal" parameter was used to filter files depending on the portal instance but it was removed for this example!
			} catch (CMSException e) {
				log.error("CMS Error", e);
			} catch (QueryConversionException e) {
				log.warn("Conversion Error", e);
			}
		}
 
		return (files == null) new ArrayList() : files;
	}
}

Include the following lines on your jboss-portlet.xml file.

<service>
	<service-name>CMS</service-name>
	<service-class>org.jboss.portal.cms.CMS</service-class>
	<service-ref>:service=CMS</service-ref>
</service>
 
<service>
	<service-name>SearchFederationService</service-name>
	<service-class>org.jboss.portal.search.federation.SearchFederation</service-class>
	<service-ref>:service=SearchFederationService</service-ref>
</service>

And do not forget to include the following lines on your portlet.xml file.

<portlet>
	<description>DESC</description>
	<portlet-name>SearchPortlet</portlet-name>
	<display-name>NAME</display-name>
	<portlet-class>xxx.SearchPortlet</portlet-class>
	<supports>
		<mime-type>text/html</mime-type>
		<portlet-mode>VIEW</portlet-mode>
	</supports>
	<resource-bundle>Resource</resource-bundle>
	<portlet-info>
		<title>SEARCH</title>
	</portlet-info>
	<portlet-preferences>
		<preference>
			<name>indexpage</name>
			<value>/default/index.html</value>
			</preference>
		<preference>
			<name>setBrowserTitle</name>
			<value>false</value>
		</preference>
	</portlet-preferences>
</portlet>
 
<filter>
	<filter-name>JBoss Portlet Filter</filter-name>
	<filter-class>org.jboss.portlet.filter.JBossPortletFilter</filter-class>
	<lifecycle>ACTION_PHASE</lifecycle>
	<lifecycle>RENDER_PHASE</lifecycle>
</filter>
 
<filter-mapping>
	<filter-name>JBoss Portlet Filter</filter-name>
	<portlet-name>SearchPortlet</portlet-name>
</filter-mapping>

Please THIS IS NOT A PERFECT SOLUTION, but it is a solution. It uses the existing CMSPortlet to display the content -and this approach causes an issue -due to WindowState changes. I hope someone find it useful and improves it. Feel free to contact me if you have any question.

So I bought a nice computer with Windows Vista Home Premium -as usual and some useless stuff like a remote and MediaCenter. I tried it few days and Vista did its magic -slowing down the newest computer even faster than I thought- so I moved to Windows 7 (64 bits version) -Oh Yeah it is like Windows Vista but better (like G.M. TV commercials with their cars).

A week ago, and after doing a realistic evaluation of my computing needs I decided to switch to Ubuntu 9.04 (64 bits version) and mount a VM with Windows XP Home to keep testing on Internet Explorer 6.0. It was a HUGE improvement in performance – I just remembered D.O.S. days when programs run immediately after being called. Ubuntu offers a lot of advantages in compare to Windows, but obviously we are so attached to Microsoft pseudo-world that just thinking on the switch could be a nightmare. I will not debate on architecture, security or speed. I’ll say this as clear as possible. If you do not have to use MS products like Exchange, or you do not have to use speciallized software that runs on Windows -like AutoCAD or Adobe CS4- you can just switch without fair, it will be the reinvention of the computer processing performance.

There are a lot of Linux Distributions in the market -like Ubuntu- but I have to say that Ubuntu is for soft-users and not hard-crazy linux fans. Ubuntu is nice, is really REALLY REALLY easy to install and if you aren’t sure about replacing your desktop with it, you can try Wubi -it installs Ubuntu as a Windows application -WOW!

Just to clarify, I had been using Ubuntu and other linux distributions for a long time (Fedora is another one) but it is the first time I decided to switch to Linux WITHOUT a Windows partition. My wife -who is a dentist- hates its portable due to its response time, and I did all the normal-not-so-risky tasks to speed up its XPS 1210 (that used to be mine) with Windows XP Home Edition, today we had our first class about linux and she is so happy about the speed and performance, and also the virus/crappy-sw situation that isn’t a critical issue on Ubuntu (Linux) so she is thinking seriously about moving to Ubuntu her portable too.

“So, if you’re using Windows and want to ditch it, click here to begin a less stressful life”

IMPORTANT NOTE: I decided to write this post when a friend of mine sent me a link to a post who has the same title of this one. Thanks to Gregory Ferenstein for such inspiring post -I did’t move to Linux because of his post, but I makes me feel like “I’m not alone, I’m not just a crazy guy that hates Microsoft, I’m not a linux fanboy… we are just right about Windows: it sucks!“

Feeling comfortable about having a job is not bad at all, even more these days during this crisis time, but is it really enough? Dedicated workers stand out from others because they do not feel comfortable, they are always looking for opportunities of doing great and better things. When this comfortable feeling grows more than it should, workers start forgetting that they are in Colombia, and start asking for foreign benefits and privileges, and they even believe that they deserve them. And that’s wrong, that’s totally wrong. It is not bad at all to get few additional benefits, however, it doesn’ t mean we should take them for granted, we are still working in Colombia.

One of the amazing transformations of Colombian workers is: once we get used to a job,  we believe we can decide our own duties and decide what to do and when. Well my friends, most of the time and all around the world, bosses decides what must be done and when. So WTF! I really can’t deal with that, it piss me off. Job is responsibility, it is not about doing “favors” to the managers, it is about to do what it is supposed because you are getting paid for that. It is not because you want, it is because you have to -and I’m talking about legal, non-extra activities of course, but just to point that out.

Another endemic attitude is to look for responsible when there is no other guy doing the job. I will no get into this because… do I need to? A variance of this behaviour: people start doing EXACTLY what they were asked, even if managers are expecting a little support. They perform as machines, they do not evaluate and therefore there is no added value. If there is a misspelled word on their assignment description, they do not fix it, if there is something that requires some additional work or a little of analysis, they will try to delegate it. But, hey! keep in mind they are great developers, keep in mind we are not talking about junior resources. So why they decide to do that? Maybe I just pointed it out, it is because they do not want to assume their responsibility.

This comfortable behaviour is surrounding me for a little while, and I will say NO. I do not want to become one of those lazy but great workers that decide to keep their jobs by giving up their abilities. I will do my best tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow. Not sure what it means but probably I have an idea.