Howto: AWS beanstalk custom subdomain with HTTPS

How to configure my (tomcat) webapp running on AWS elastic beanstalk with an SSL certificate available at my custom subdomain https://mysubdomain.chatbotsagency.com/healthcheck

elastic_beanstalk_logo[1]

Why AWS?
– you can host your (tomcat) webapp on AWS beanstalk for free*
– you get a free SSL cert from AWS
– Problem: no HTTPS on elastic beanstalk URLs by default

Why not Heroku?
– Heroku has HTTPS out of the box, but…
– Heroku is super nice when building directly from github, but if you need some custom modifications or have a custom build process, beanstalk is more flexible

Needed steps for configuration:

Steps

1. create new SSL cert for HTTPS (via AWS, it’s free!)
– for e.g. “mysubdomain.chatbotsagency.com”
+ validation via email
-> create new free SSL certificate for your custom subdomain

2. setup app (e.g. tomcat webapp) at beanstalk
– during setup: set custom domain “Environment settings” – Name & Domain
-> setup new beanstalk environment at http://mysubdomain.us-west-2.elasticbeanstalk.com
– opt. check webapp with URL http://mysubdomain.us-west-2.elasticbeanstalk.com/healthcheck (tomcat apps runs on /healthcheck)

3. setup subdomain forwarding at your own domain provider
– CNAME mysubdomain.chatbotsagency.com -> mysubdomain.us-west-2.elasticbeanstalk.com
-> app runs at: http://mysubdomain.chatbotsagency.com
– opt. check webapp with URL http://mysubdomain.chatbotsagency.com/healthcheck

4. my beanstalk environment: configure LB
– configure – scaling -> load balancing: enable

5. my beanstalk environment: configure HTTPS
– Network Tier – Load Balancer
– Secure listener port: 443
– SSL certificate ID: pick your new SSL cert “mysubdomain.chatbotsagency.com”
– “Apply”

6. opt. beanstalk configure SSL for direct access
– configuraion – instances – EC2 key pair

7. EC2 instance – adapt security group, add ports
– add 80 (http), 22 (ssh), 443 (https)
– opt. 8080, 8443 (tomcat)
– opt 3306 (mysql)

My webapp runs on beanstalk (tomcat) with an SSL cert to my custom subdomain:
-> https://mysubdomain.chatbotsagency.com/healthcheck

* if eligable AWS EC2 free tier

Launch of Mica, the Hipster Cat Bot

A week ago I launched Mica on Product Hunt. Mica, the Hipster Cat is one of the first bots that got approved by Facebook to run on the brand new Facebook Messenger platform that helps you discover hip venues. You can talk to Mica here 😼.

What is a Chat Bot?

A Chat Bot is a (ro)bot that is programmed to talk to you and answer requests. The topic depends on the business’ focus and could be a weather forecast bot, (online-)shop assistant bot, or a hotel reservation bot, but in our case it’s a venue recommendation bot.

Poncho, a weather bot, on Facebook Messenger (left) and The Economist bot on Line app (right)

Bots could also replace regular services of bigger companies such as service hotlines or FAQs, which would lead to massive cost savings.

You don’t need to install a specific app to use a bot because it is integrated in the chat provider infrastructure such as Messenger, WhatsApp or Telegram.

Meet Mica

I love fancy coffee shops and restaurants! I spend lots of time hanging out in them, meeting friends or working, and I have my own favorite hipster locations where I know the coffee and vibe is just perfect. So I thought it would be great fun to have a chat bot that shares my love for good coffee and food that can be asked for recommendations worldwide.

This way whenever I want to try a new café or when I travel somewhere, I know, I can ask my trusted companion about her suggestions.

Here are a few screenshots that illustrate how interacting with Mica feels like:

You can send her your location as city name or Facebook Messenger attachment and you can also use some basic chat phrases such as”Hello”, “How are you?” or “Thank you”

Since the Messenger platform is platform-independent Mica can also be used in the browser itself:

Mica on Product Hunt

So how did the Product Hunt launch go? Quite well actually! Since Mica is a fairly simple bot I did not expect that it would get a lot of attention. But I clearly underestimated the Product Hunt community’s enthusiasm for cats and coffee.

What happened since the launch?

#1 in the Product Hunt category Facebook and Travel
Over 2.500 hipster location recommendations given
400 funny cat pics sent

Key learnings about the Facebook Messenger Platform

Building a bot for the Facebook Messenger platform was way easier than I expected. It just took me two afternoons to get to a simple proof of concept. Now that Mica is white-listed 900 million users of Facebook Messenger can get coffee shop and restaurant recommendations without having to go to any app store. They can just directly interact with Mica.

This might not sound like a huge deal but just a few months ago I also built location based recommendation apps for iOS and Android. One big adoption barrier for apps is that you have to get people to the app store to download your app. If your app is not mission critical this is even more difficult. The whole process of downloading apps is quite complicated for many people. It often means they might have to enter a password or figure out how to free up storage by deleting other apps. Because of that some people don’t use any apps apart from what comes pre-installed or what other people helped them to get onto their phone.

By building on top of the Messenger platform a lot of adoption barriers suddenly disappear.

Another key learning for me was that most people are still quite unfamiliar with the idea of a bot within chat platforms (yet). Most people expect that they have to download an app and are very surprised about the fact that they can just directly send messages to Mica. I’m curious how fast bots will become mainstream.

What’s next?

I’m currently working on a Telegram bot to cover its users too — they recently announced to serve 100M monthly active users.

These are quite exciting times, building one of the first bots feels a bit like building the first mobile applications back in the day when the app stores where still empty. If you haven’t yet I’d encourage you to try some bots and think about what kind of bot you would build.

So keep in touch and chat! :)

Try me: http://m.me/hipstercatbot ;) (click!)

Note: No app install needed, everyone with a Facebook account can chat with me! Just tell me your city!

ps. I’ve uploaded some screenshots of Mica and the other bots here.

Originally posted on Medium

12 things I hate about iOS development

Originally posted as “10+ things I hate about iOS development” on Medium March 11.

As you might know, I finally released the first iOS versions of LIKE A HIPSTER and Hungry?. So I finally stumbled upon iOS development, although I tried to avoid for so long. And I’m not very happy with it.

I like to try out new technologies. I love to play around with stuff, especially mobile. So I submitted some more or less serious Android apps in the Google Play Store and developed also professional Android apps for Keyosk Tablets and Freewave. Since I already program with Java for 15 years now, it’s fun to develop Android apps because there are no obstacles concerning the language and it’s a very well thought-through framework.

But iOS is different. Why? Here are at least 10 reasons:

1. Swift is not intuitive

You can program iOS apps natively in Objective C or Swift. First I tried to learn Swift on my own because it’s the successor of Objective C (why learn an ancient language when starting iOS development from scratch?) but I soon realized that Swift and I were not made for each other. I never tried Objective C but Swift is super unintuitive and as some of you also might know I’m very impatient. But also pragmatic – so I checked some (Cordova) alternatives such as React Native and finally found Ionic. And this time it was love at first sight!

I’m a Java back-end (and Android) developer but usually I try to see the full picture of a software project so I would rather be called a “full-stack developer” nowadays. Usually I try to avoid front-end development because there are for sure better skilled people out there adjusting CSS and that other hardcore FE stuff, but with my current project George I slipped into AngularJS, which is very nice to work with, when you are used to the “law and order” of Java (I already had a talk or two about AngularJS at some conferences – here are my slides from Berlin).

Ionic is based on AngularJS so for me it was the perfect choice since I was already familiar with AngularJS. But developing for iOS means to use OS X.

2. Must use OS X

There is no way around it! You have to use OS X to build the iOS binaries and I never was a Mac user. Coming from the Java world which was from the very beginning conceptualized as platform independent it is strange to be bound to an OS.

So what I did was to virtualize OS X. Yeah, you might think now “WTF?”, but I really did! Some people warned me about it because it would be too slow or to complicated or so but I though I’ll give it a try anyway because “how hard can that be?” (famous last words!) and I really didn’t want to buy an overpriced MacBook.

So what I did was to get my hands on an OS X image and virtualize it with Oracle VirtualBox, which worked pretty well. The VM is fast, not slow at all! Also with the virtualization I didn’t have to switch computers all the time.

The only disadvantage of OS X as VM is that VirtualBox has a limitation of screen resolution on the virtual machine’s window in your original OS. So the VM’s window does not scale. But at least it is Unix… -ish.

3. Must use XCode

Another very limiting fact about developing iOS is that you can only upload the binaries in XCode! As far as I know there are alternative possibilities to the IDE such as JetBrains’ AppCode or alternatives to the build tools e.g. Fastlane or Ionic (also uses its own build tools) but you have to use XCode (at least from command-line) to submit the artifact to the iTunes app store.

I don’t like proprietary software. I’m an open source girl. And being limited and bound to something is kind of strange to me. So for actual development I use WebStorm that is per se a JavaScript IDE and then I commit the iOS stuff with Git to OS X and build and submit it there with XCode.

The one good thing about XCode is that the emulators start very fast. When starting an Android emulator you have to wait a minute or so for the Android OS to fully start up. At least one small advantage of iOS development.

4. Paid Apple developer account

If you want to contribute to the iTunes app store you have to buy a developer license. That’s very strange: So the community builds killer-features for the iPhone and they also have to pay for that?

It’s around €/$ 100 a year! At this point I don’t even see that the app will amortize this 100 euro/dollars in the foreseeable future.

In contrast to that gorgeous Android land it’s free to publish withing the developer program, you just have to pay a registration fee of $25.

5. Certificates, certificates, certificates

Generally speaking certificates and encryption are awesome! It’s the only way to secure communication or authenticate and authorize in a proper way.

ios developer certificates, provisioning profiles and a small little bug in xcode… #AngerManagement #notWorking

— barbara ondrisek (@electrobabe) February 15, 2016

For iOS development you need a bunch of certificates. Many certificates. Far too many! You need two for yourself (iOS Development and iOS Distribution). Then you need to register each of your development devices (e.g. your iPhone and iPad). Next you need to register your apps themselves (“App Identifier”) and last but not least you need a bunch of “iOS Provisioning Profiles”, again two per app – one for distribution and one for development – and also three (!) iOS Team Provisioning Profiles (at least they are managed by XCode itself).

In Android you just have two Java key-stores, one for development and one for releases. That’s it. Super secure and easy.

6. Keychain Access my ass

Unfortunately at one point the “Apple Worldwide Developer Relations Certification Authority” certificate expired (after only 2 years…) and it took me several hours to find out what was wrong because the error message just told me that my app developer certificates were not valid. Googling and trying to change my certificates also broke the currently published apps… Finally I got the right google-hit that this one certificate was expired. It was hidden in the Keychain Access tool by default, well because it was expired. But I already destroyed all my dear certificates, so I had to create all of them again.

Having all those certificates and your bought license you can finally start developing. In XCode of course.

7. XCode is too complicated

XCode is strange. Very strange. Especially when you are used to (Java) IDEs like IntelliJ, Eclipse or Android Studio.

For example if you want to release a build you have to add all these different versions of the app icons and launch images. Why aren’t they just generated automatically?

If you use Ionic it already generates a bunch of these icons and launch images in different resolutions but still you have to create a hand-full of them manually. And you have to associate these icons to the proper versions. It’s like playing Memory for developers!

And you’ll find the build artifacts under “Organizer”. Totally plausible, isn’t it? Why don’t you just call this menu item “Artifacts” or “Archive”?

Also you cannot archive an artifact if currently an emulator is selected as run-time device. Why not just automatically archive it for the default generic device?

Just to compare iOS and Android I’ll show you the number of clicks you need to release a version. In XCode you need to:

Click “Build”
Click “Archive” → the “Organizer” opens
select your version
click “Upload to App Store..” → a pop up opens
every single time you have to select our “Team”. Why not use defaults? This point will not change that often
send to Apple by clicking “Upload”

In Android Studio it’s:

Click “Generate signed APK” → a dialog opens
(enter keystore password if you like and) click “Next”
(choose build type and path if you like and) click “Finish”

This is only half the number of steps! And I also think the last step in Android Studio is not really necessary.

Apple always proudly presents its software and other products as super usable, but I really have to admit that, at least for the developer tools and developer experience, this does not seem to be the case.

XCode is the perfect IDE for developers without personal will and self-respect

— barbara ondrisek (@electrobabe) February 2, 2016

8. Apple-XML

I call it “Apple-XML” because iOS uses XML in an unusual way, especially for the plist-file (Property List file), which is a config file for your iOS app. If you are lucky you don’t have to adapt it at all because the Cordova build tool already alters it for you but I ran into a Cordova plugin bug so I had to adjust this file myself.

Apple does not use the “proper” XML standard way such as:

<key name=”name”>value</key>

but in a way where key and value alternate in a list:

<plist version=”1.0″>
<key>name1</key>
<string>value1</string>
<key>name2</key>
<string>value2</string>
…

OK, this is very technical (and correct XML) and I also think it’s not a super bad thing but it just “itches” in by brain and I cannot scratch it.

9. iOS development limitations

There are unnecessary limitations developing iOS such as: You cannot use a transparent PNG as icons. Why not? A transparent icon would be so much nicer on the iPhone home screen!

It would also be very, very nice to use a GIF as launch image in iOS, but this is also not possible in Android.

10. Bad Usability of the iTunes Connect website

I just sum up some usability points:

The iTunes connect website does not work properly on Android’s internal chrome browser! The lower part of the website simply does not show up. That was pretty annoying since last weekend I was AFK and only had my Nexus with me and wanted to add Beta users to my iOS apps.
The website has a timeout of 30 minutes or so and it has disabled the possibility to save your password in your browser. Well Apple takes security serious, but in the wrong way! Every time I go to the iTunes website I have to enter my password which is very bad because of possible sniffing attacks, key-logger, or person simply standing behind you (“shoulder surfing”) if you have to enter your password all the time.
The website is also broken in that way that when you ran into a timeout you’re redirected to the the login form three times in a row because of improper session management. I hope, they’ll fix that soon!
Every time you submit a new release you have to pass several steps until you can finally submit a new version. You also have to answer the same questions all the time (does your app use encryption? does your app use ads?). But in a way that is consistent with XCode ;)
When you want to update your apps’ screenshots it also gets a little bit difficult: When you generate the screenshots on your emulators or devices you usually identify the device e.g. “iPhone 5”, “iPhone 6S” etc, but when you have to upload the iPhone 5 screenshot, iTunes Connect just shows you the screen-size e.g. “3,5 inch”, “4 inch”, “4,7 inch”, “5,5 inch”! Ok, maybe you might say now, that every iOS developer knows the resolutions of all iOS devices by heart, but I tell you, that’s again just one other point of your Tech-Stockholm Syndrome.

11. Crash TestFlight

I almost forgot to mention TestFlight, Apple’s beta testing tool! It is – you might guess it – complicated. A developer can add very good friends or other abusable people as Alpha or Beta testers and I’m very glad for every single one of them.

So you start adding their Apple ID email addresses and TestFlight sends them an email invite. To make things a little bit more juicy this email has to be opened on the test device itself, and since some people use a different email address as Apple ID than they regularly do, this is the first difficult obstacle for some. After opening the invite email on the device the poor testers have to install the TestFlight app on their device! So you need an app to test an app. At least the testers can submit feedback though this app – but actually no one did so far, they just texted me directly.

Another advantage of a distinct test management app would be to show you pending invitations for other app, but for some reason TestFlight doesn’t!

With Android you can decide whether you want to create an open or a closed Beta or Alpha (cannot choose that in iTunes), just add these people and they get the updates pushed via the Play Store. OK, they also receive an email and have to click on a confirmation link, but no special strings attached.

If you want to release a new Beta you have to wait for an Apple review, that might take some days (usually 5 days) and when the artifact is accepted by the Apple consortium is also is not directly published as Beta, but you again have to click yourself through the dialogs.

At least you don’t need a review with Alpha releases, but you cannot simply add Alpha users, you have to define a certain role for them in your company in iTunes Connect. So, who wants to be my new Alpha tester slash Chief Legal Officer?

12. No Hot-Fixes!

Last but not least: There is no extra workflow for hot-fixes!

This would be a killer argument against iOS development: If you find a bug or even if you find out you uploaded the wrong screenshot you have to wait for a new release to be approved.

iOS development is not for the impatient (me): you have to wait almost a week for a release, also for screenshot changes, no hotfixes WTF

— barbara ondrisek (@electrobabe) March 3, 2016

If you are lucky you can request (with a simple contact form) a quicker release but this is not the standard way and Apple does not guarantee anything. So you release the bug-fix and hope for the best. And wait, 2–3 day or up to a week, to get your bug-fix deployed or app store entry changed.

In Android all releases are deployed in 2–3 hours. Just FYI ;)

Describing all of these problems I had with the setup and development of my iOS apps I’m even more proud that I was finally able to release the iOS versions of my apps LIKE A HIPSTER and Hungry?.

Kudos?

TL;DR iOS sucks, long live queen Android!

Ein Plädoyer gegen Outsourcing

Nachdem ich immer und immer wieder mit Argumenten für Outsourcing – oder auch “Near-/Off-Shore Development” oder wie man es auch immer ~~nennen~~ schönreden möchte – überschwemmt werde, möchte ich nun ein für alle mal klarstellen: Outsourcing ist eine schlechte Idee.

In meiner Heimat, der Software-Entwicklung, bedeutet Outsourcing, dass die Entwicklung (oder ein Teil davon) an einen meist geografisch deutlich entfernten und preislich (zumindest auf den ersten Blick) äußerst begünstigten Ort ausgelagert wird. Nicht zu selten kann es sich dabei um eine (Tochter-)Firma in einer indischen (in Bangalore haben IBM, HP, Accenture etc. Niederlassungen), kanadischen, irischen oder einer auch (nah-)östlichen Stadt handeln. So kann man sich Software in vermeintlich lukrativen, weil anfangs deutlich kostengünstigeren, (Sub-)Unternehmen erstellen lassen.

Warum überhaupt?

Nicht selten wird outgesourced, da das Know-How im eigenen Unternehmen fehlt und ebenso die Zeit, dieses aufzubauen. So werden als Quick’n’Dirty-Alternativen Dienstleister engagiert, die das Gewünschte anbieten und mit einem Stundensatz bestechten, der bei vielleicht nur einem Drittel von dem in Österreich/Deutschland liegt. Auf dem Prinzip der Auslagerung basiert ja eigentlich die gesamte IT-Branche, da Aufträge an andere vergeben werden und gern für ein fertiges Produkt inkl. Gewährleistung gezahlt wird – ein sowieso vollkommen veralteter Gedanke, Software als in sich abgeschlossenes Werk zu betrachten. Denn Software lebt! Wird Software nicht mehr weiterentwickelt, stirbt sie fast augenblicklich.

Häufig wird Outsourcing so eingesetzt, dass billige “Fachkräfte” eingekauft werden, um einen Engpass im Unternehmen auszugleichen. So wird ein Teil der Entwicklung dann vielleicht nach Bangalore ausgelagert, aber das Management bleibt in Wien. Dabei werden aber oft einige Kosten nicht mitgerechnet, wie der Mehraufwand in der Qualitätssicherung, der Kommunikation oder der (Wieder-)Eingliederung des Know-Hows in das Unternehmen. Kurzfristig lassen sich sehr wohl Kosten reduzieren, aber langfristig halst man sich ein teures Problem auf, das man vermeiden hätte könnten.

Die Lüge

Was häufig bei Outsourcing zugunsten der hübsch niedrigen Zahlen für den Entwicklerstundensatz vergessen wird, ist:

Persönliche Kommunikation kann NICHT ersetzt werden.
Im Sinne von Scrum sitzt das Entwickler-Team möglichst im selben Zimmer.
Kulturelle Unterschiede zwischen Entwicklern unterschiedlicher Länder.
Das bedeutet vor allem Arbeitsmoral und Loyalität.
Verständigungsprobleme aufgrund unterschiedlicher Sprachen.
Der immer unterschätzte Koordinationsaufwand.
Wenn wir Entwickler schon schwer verstehen, was das Marketing will, obwohl wir beim selben Meetingraum sitzen…
Know-How-Verlust.
Höherer Planungsaufwand.
Auch nach Fertigstellung des Projektes zur Reintegration ins auftraggebende Unternehmen.
Enorme Qualitätssicherungskosten.
Zumindest das Userinterface muss erneut wieder von einem deutschen Native Speaker überprüft werden. Rechtschreib- und Grammatikfehler werden nicht erkannt.
Verlust des informellen Informationsaustausches.
Plauderei beim Mittagessen etc.
Schlechtes Image.
Die Zeiten, als Outsourcing noch als gute Möglichkeit gewertet wurde, sind definitiv vorbei.
Verlagerung der Wirtschaftsleistung weg ins Ausland.
Besonders gefällt mir die Beschreibung bei der Vergabe des Negativpreises des Unwort des Jahres (und das war schon 1996!):
“Imponierwort, das der Auslagerung/Vernichtung von Arbeitsplätzen einen seriösen Anstrich zu geben versucht”

Outsourcing macht meines Erachtens nur Sinn, wenn:
– es sich nicht um das Kerngeschäft des Unternehmens handelt,
– es ein in sich abgeschlossenes englischsprachiges Projekt handelt (und alle “Externen” auch gut Englisch können),
– nicht agil entwickelt wird (allerdings sowieso eine Todsünde – Ich schlafe ja bekanntlich mit dem Agilen Manifest unter dem Kopfkissen. Und das ruhig und sehr zufrieden).

Machen wir es richtig!

Die Alternative zu Outsourcing liegt somit auf der Hand: Aufbau eines qualifizierten (agilen) Teams als eigene Abteilung oder Subunternehmen in unmittelbarer Nähre zum Produktmanagement statt Ausgliederung. Sollen einzelne Mitarbeiter (kurzfristig) ersetzt werden, dann können das gern externe sein, die sich aber möglichst stark ins Team integrieren (Anwesenheit). Outsourcing sollte nur im äußersten Notfall in Erwägung gezogen werden, und am besten nicht mal dann. Lieber qualifizierte Software-Entwickler einladen und Know-How im eigenen Unternehmen aufbauen. Versteht mich nicht falsch, ich bin nicht eine, die glaubt, dass ihre Mitarbeier nur dann arbeiten, wenn ich sie sehe. In einem gut eingespielten Team kann Homeoffice durchaus üblich sein… aber das zu erörtern sprengt nun hier wohl den Rahmen.

Ich liebe und lebe agile Software-Entwicklung und arbeite gern eng mit meinen Mitarbeitern, Kollegen und Kunden zusammen. Als Scrum-Master kenne ich die Vorteile von Transparenz, Kommunikation und Innovation und bringe diese täglich zum Einsatz.

Naja. Und falls jemand diesbezüglich eine Beratungsleitung von mir in Anspruch nehmen möchte… Nun ja, ihr wisst ja, wo ihr mich findet. ;)

Update: Ein weiterer Artikel im Standard gegen Outsourcing in öffentlichen Vergabeverfahren http://mobil.derstandard.at/1397520665108/Sozialpartner-Oeffentliche-Auftraege-nicht-an-Billigstbieter

Meine erste Android App

Für mein Foodblog chefbabe.at habe ich eine Android App geschrieben:

Sie repräsentiert die Android App Version des Foodblogs chefbabe.at

Die köstliche Chefbabe App ist da! :)

chefbabe.at jetzt auch auf deinem Android-Telefon.
Nie mehr ein Rezept versäumen mit der Sofort-Benachrichtigung.
Kreative Idee gefällig? Einfach schütteln!

Features:
– Liste der Rezepte inkl. “Schmökern”-Ansicht (nur Bilder), Nachladen bei Scrollen, Ansicht des Blogbeitrags, “Neu laden”…
– Schüttelfunktion! (Zufallsrezept)
– Benachrichtigungen bei neuen Rezepten
– Teilen eines Rezepts
– Suchen
– Über-Seite (wer kocht hier?)

Chefbabe.at ist das erste Foodblog* mit eigener App. Viel Spaß beim Mitnaschen! :)

Herunterladen und Bewerten unter: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=at.electrobabe.chefbabe

SyBase: List Constraints to Foreign Key

select fko.name "Foreign key name", par.name "Referenced table name", fk1.name || ' -> ' || pk1.name "Reference 1", fk2.name || ' -> ' || pk2.name "Reference 2", fk3.name || ' -> ' || pk3.name "Reference 3", fk4.name || ' -> ' || pk4.name "Reference 4" from sysobjects tab join sysconstraints con on tab.id = con.tableid join sysobjects fko on con.constrid = fko.id join sysreferences ref on con.constrid = ref.constrid join sysobjects par on par.id = ref.reftabid left join ---- 1. Column syscolumns fk1 on ref.fokey1 = fk1.colid and ref.tableid = fk1.id left join syscolumns pk1 on ref.refkey1 = pk1.colid and ref.reftabid = pk1.id left join ---- 2. Column syscolumns fk2 on ref.fokey2 = fk2.colid and ref.tableid = fk2.id left join syscolumns pk2 on ref.refkey2 = pk2.colid and ref.reftabid = pk2.id left join ---- 3. Column syscolumns fk3 on ref.fokey3 = fk3.colid and ref.tableid = fk3.id left join syscolumns pk3 on ref.refkey3 = pk3.colid and ref.reftabid = pk3.id left join ---- 4. Column syscolumns fk4 on ref.fokey4 = fk4.colid and ref.tableid = fk4.id left join syscolumns pk4 on ref.refkey4 = pk4.colid and ref.reftabid = pk4.id -- Et cetera... where tab.type = 'U' and fko.name = 'FOREIGN_KEY_NAME' and fko.type = 'RI'

no comment ;)

Java – CertificateException: No name matching xxx found

At paysafecard we have a lot to deal with certificates. For our test systems we use one SSL certificate for different sub-domains, e.g. one certificate for “https://test.yunacard.com” used for “https://testa.yunacard.com” and “https://testb.yunacard.com”.

But when you do this, you get a javax.net.ssl.SSLHandshakeException: java.security.cert.CertificateException: No name matching xxx found when trying to connect e.g. with new java.net.URL(url).openStream();

The work around for this problem is, to include the following in your Java class (found here):

public class ClassBla {
  static {
    javax.net.ssl.HttpsURLConnection.setDefaultHostnameVerifier(new javax.net.ssl.HostnameVerifier() {
      public boolean verify(String hostname, javax.net.ssl.SSLSession sslSession) {
        return true;
      }
   });
  }
  ..
}

There is a way to import a certificate issued to a different domain for another certain (sub-)domain with the java keytool as well.

Bye bye, HP!

Nach etwas mehr als einem Jahr verlasse ich den IT-Giganten Hewlett-Packard, für den ich als Software-Architektin (nicht als Architecture Astronaut!) in Wien tätig war. Ich bedanke mich bei allen Mitarbeitern, Kollegen, Kunden und Lieferanten für die aufregende, lehrreiche Zeit, die ich nicht missen möchte, denn ich habe eine Menge gelernt.

Nachdem ich bereits für Siemens, IBM, das BMLV und die Telekom Austria gearbeitet habe, war die Arbeit für ein Großunternehmen nichts Neues für mich – mit allen einhergehenden Vor- und Nachteilen. Das Projektgeschäft eines Software-Dienstleisters (meine ehemalige Abteilung setzte Individualentwicklungen im Rahmen von Großaufträgen um) ist ebenfalls interessant und herausfordernd, allerdings wende ich mich nun neuen spannenden Aufgaben zu, und zwar wieder der Produktentwicklung.

Ich beginne bei paysafecard als Senior Software-Entwicklerin! paysafecard ist ein relativ junges österreichisches Unternehmen, das verschiedene Prepaid-Bezahllösungen fürs Internet anbietet, unter anderem eine prepaid Mastercard YUNA oder die paysafecard selbst.

Worauf ich mich am meisten freue ist das Programmieren, da ich bei HP nicht in die Tasten hauen durfte, sondern mehr Konzeption, Aufwandsschätzungen, Architektur und technisches Projektmanagement machte. Ich freue mich auf Programmierer-Witze, Weiterentwicklungen im Programmierer-Jargon und freaky Howtos.

Bye bye, HP! hello paysafecard!

HP lädt Studentinnen zu “Go For IT!”

“Go For IT!”: HP lädt Studentinnen zum Karriere-Talk am 28. Jänner 2010.

Bewerbungen sind ab sofort möglich unter www.hp.com/at/goforit

Neuer Job, neues Glück – bei HP!

Nach etwas mehr als zwei Jahren im “Staatsdienst”, habe ich mich vom BMLV+S getrennt und bin auf die gute Seite der Macht gewechselt – wieder mal vom Kunden zum Lieferanten, wie ich es damals bereits beim Wechsel von der Telekom Austria zu Knallgrau gemacht habe. Bei diesem Wechsel hat sich allerdings auch eine großzügige berufliche Weiterentwicklung vollzogen, da ich nun nicht mehr als Senior-Software-Entwickler, sondern als Software Architekt bei Hewlett-Packard arbeite, zum Teil auch im Pre-Sales-Bereich.

Vom Fleck weg überzeugt hat mich das super moderne Büro mit ergonomischen Tischen und Dockingstations mit Monitoren etc. für die Mitarbeiter-Notebooks …

… und das Konzept des sogenannten “e-clubs”, ein Bereich, in dem gratis Frühstück angeboten wird, gratis Kaffee (u.a. Lavazza!) und als Socializing-Bereich dient.

HP bietet eine Reihe von Benefits für seine Mitarbeiter wie neue Firmen-Smartphones, Mitarbeiterpreise bei Hardware, gestütztes Essen in den Eurest-Kantinen im Euro-Plaza …

… Duschen für Jogger und Radfahrer, Betriebsarzt, Mitarbeiterkonditionen bei diversen Firmen, Firmenveranstaltungen (am ersten Tag hab ich einen roten HP-Sweater wegen einer Kampagne geschenkt bekommen!) und vieles mehr. Hier sind noch mehr Fotos vom Office (hier auch von Dieter) zu finden.

Teleworking wird bei HP groß geschrieben, wobei viele Mitarbeiter sogenannte “mobile Arbeitsplätze” bekleiden. Somit ist Homeoffice möglich und wird auch gefördert – so auch bei mir. Ein Gleitzeit-Modell bietet flexible Arbeitszeiten. Auf den ersten Blick also ein fabelhafter Arbeitgeber!

Kompetente Mitarbeiter haben sich am Anfang um mich bemüht und mir bei den bürokratischen Hürden geholfen. Ein Mentoring-Programm hat mir einen “Großen Bruder” bei HP geschenkt, der sich um mich kümmert ;) . Neue Projekte warten schon auf mich und ich bin gespannt, wie es weiter gehen wird.