We've Moved
Dear Visitor,
Desi Penguin’s blog has moved to its own domain.
All the existing posts will still be available here for at least some time. Eventually I plan to delete this blog.
The new posts will be available only at http://desipenguin.com/techblog
Please Update your Bookmarks !!
-Desi Penguin
Here is a clever method to access your todo list from multiple locations.
As part of some automation work, I needed to execute a program which requires each command to be explictely validated by the user by expliciltely selecting “y” or “n” , on the command line. Since I was processing a large number of files, I decided to use python script.
I used the subprocess module of python to invoke the external program. It was easy to capture the output sent on stdout. In order to send ‘y‘ on stdin for each iteration, I tried sending ‘y‘ on stdin, but that would not work. The script would hang. After discussing this, with more experienced python programmer, it was suggested that one possible reason why the script hangs is may be because the stdin buffer wasn’t flushed. Both of us were not sure how to do that. Then it was discussed that when we run the external program from command line, we not only type ‘y‘ as response, but we also hit Enter there after, which results in flushing the stdin buffer. So may be that is what I ought to try.
To my surprise, it worked. So the solution was to pass ‘y/n‘ instead of single ‘y‘
Here is how my code looked like :
import subprocess
cmd = "...." # The command you wish to execute
proc = subprocess.Popen(cmd,
stdin=subprocess.PIPE,
stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
print proc.communicate('Y\n')[0]
Once you understand the idea behind using the Active Desktop, you can come up with several creative and unique ideas to make this feature work for you. Let me get you started by listing some that came to my mind.
Please share your ideas in the comments
Refer to my previous post about displaying my To Do list on the Desktop. I have since stopped using todo.sh for various reasons. But I continue to use the Active Desktop feature of Windows XP. One of the use I have found, is to display a mini phone list.
I came across this really neat tool for quick note taking. It is called Ginko (after Ginko Biloba which is memory enhancer herb)
I had downloaded it earlier, gave it a try and realized that I am not using it the way it is to be used, so I stopped using it for few months. Then after a while I really need to create a @TODO folder in Outlook so that I can track my action items. I started moving the emails which required some action from my side into this folder. But quickly I realized that there are action items originating outside the emails. I had thought of writing an email and send it to myself,that is when I remembered that I know of a tool which does exactly same thing.
But I couldn’t remember the name of the application, so I searched my machine using X1, trusty desktop search engine. After couple of combination of search terms, I was able to find it in my download folder. Rest was easy. I had used it earlier, so I knew I needed to edit the .hta file to point it to correct Folders. As soon as I was done, I was able to jot down the next TODO item. It was that easy.
More about this tool at the author’s page here.
Originally Published on Jul 18, 2006
First of all, let me Wish A Very Happy New Year 2009 !! to all my readers.
Some of the highlights of my life in 2008
Other smaller changes, related to Tech, in 2008 for me :
See my other blog, for similar list for other changes in my life in 2008
