Showing posts with label web. Show all posts
Showing posts with label web. Show all posts

Monday, March 2, 2015

The Best Quick Reference Guides to Web 2 0 on the Planet Period!



CLICK HERE
...for the Scoop.it version to all!

THE STORY!

Last year, the amazing Prof. Dr. Mohamed Amin (Deputy Director, e-Learning, Centre for Academic Development, UKM) discovered through a large survey he conducted to academics and students from mostly public universities in Malaysia that there was a lack of awareness (and training opportunities) about Web 2.0, and how Web 2.0 can be used for learning and teaching. 

So, what did Prof. Amin do? Sit down and write another white paper, or research report recommending this and that? That is typical old school mentality, which I suppose some academics would probably still do. No, instead....   


QUICK REFERENCE GUIDES

Prof. Amin started using several different types of Web 2.0 tools (Scribd, SlideShare, GoAnimate, YouTube, etc) to create/publish quick reference guides in creative ways exploring the "What, Why and How" of using Web 2.0 tools for learning and teaching. Since then, he has continued his increasingly successful mission to make a change, and here is a growing list of his amazing work to provide a gentle introduction to using Web 2.0 tools for learning and teaching: 
  • JiT2U - Mobile Version to Learning Web 2.0 
  • Web 2.0 Presentation Tools: A Quick Guide
  • Web 2.0 Content Creation Tools
  • Web 2.0 Research Tools
  • Web 2.0 Survey & Polling Tools
  • Web 2.0 Sharing Tools
  • Web 2.0 Collaboration Tools
  • Web 2.0 Social Networking Tools
  • Web 2.0 Tools in Education
  • Web 2.0 e-Publishing Tools
  • Web 2.0 Annotation & Bookmarking Tools 
  • Web 2.0 Mindmapping & Brainstorming Tools
  • 40 Must-know Web 2.0 Edutools
  • Web 2.0 Interactive Tools: A Quick Guide
  • More...
Here is one of his GoAnimate animations exploring how to use YouTube for learning and teaching (Check out his YouTube channel, too):




RESULTS?

So far, his Web 2.0 (OER) work has reached people from more than a hundred countries, and this growing collection has now been viewed more than a 150,000 times. However, his amazing work has yet to go really viral, and if it does...WOW!

However, as I discussed with my dear friend Prof. Amin yesterday (before my OER Talk at UKM) is that it will be difficult to keep all the quick reference guides updated as he adds new Web 2.0 tools to the growing collection. The navigation and especially the interface of many Web 2.0 tools keep on changing as they evolve, and to keep that updated in quick reference guides will certainly require a lot of extra work (and headaches). 

One way, is to convert these quick reference guides into Wiki format using for example Google Sites, and then easily invite other interested educators to participate in keeping them updated. Another way is to focus more on the WHAT and WHY (including learning and teaching tips), and then simply link to the HOW, which now many Web 2.0 tools (e.g. Twitter help) are doing a pretty good job (also they will certainly update the screenshots and changes faster).

Whatever, Prof. Amin plans for the future, his amazing work deserves a BIG KUDOS!

Yes, his quick reference guides to Web 2.0 tools is certainly a learning treasure for anyone (who can read English or Malay) :)

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Saturday, January 17, 2015

Android Web Service Access Tutorial

Updated tutorial for new versions >> http://codeoncloud.blogspot.com/2013/06/android-java-soap-web-service-access.html

In this tutorial Im going to demonstrate how we can access a java web service in Android application using ksoap2 library. This Android application also passes parameters to the web service.

First we have to create a web service & deploy it on Tomcat server.
Here is the sample code of java web service  Im going to access.

package com.testprops.ws;

public class TestPropts {
public String testMyProps(String fname,String lname){
return "First Name : "+fname+" Last Name : "+lname;
}
}

Android application will pass parameters for fname & lname variables.
To create web service refer my these tutorials.
1. Create java web service in Eclipse using Axis2 (Part 01) 
2. Create java web service in Eclipse using Axis2 (Part 02) 

Following is the code for the Android application which invoke the web service. You have to use ksoap2 (You can download ksoap2 from here:::http://code.google.com/p/ksoap2-android/wiki/HowToUse?tm=2) library for this implementation. Read my comments carefully

package com.sendproperties.ws;

import org.ksoap2.SoapEnvelope;
import org.ksoap2.serialization.PropertyInfo;
import org.ksoap2.serialization.SoapObject;
import org.ksoap2.serialization.SoapPrimitive;
import org.ksoap2.serialization.SoapSerializationEnvelope;
import org.ksoap2.transport.HttpTransportSE;
import android.app.Activity;
import android.os.Bundle;

import android.widget.TextView;

public class SendValuesActivity extends Activity {
private final String NAMESPACE = "http://ws.testprops.com";
private final String URL = "http://175.157.143.117:8085/TestProperties/services/TestPropts?wsdl";
private final String SOAP_ACTION = "http://ws.testprops.com/testMyProps";
private final String METHOD_NAME = "testMyProps";
/** Called when the activity is first created. */
@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.main);

SoapObject request = new SoapObject(NAMESPACE, METHOD_NAME);

String firstName = "Android";
String lastName = "Program";

//Pass value for fname variable of the web service
PropertyInfo fnameProp =new PropertyInfo();
fnameProp.setName("fname");//Define the variable name in the web service method
fnameProp.setValue(firstName);//Define value for fname variable
fnameProp.setType(String.class);//Define the type of the variable
request.addProperty(fnameProp);//Pass properties to the variable

//Pass value for lname variable of the web service
PropertyInfo lnameProp =new PropertyInfo();
lnameProp.setName("lname");
lnameProp.setValue(lastName);
lnameProp.setType(String.class);
request.addProperty(lnameProp);

SoapSerializationEnvelope envelope = new SoapSerializationEnvelope(SoapEnvelope.VER11);
envelope.setOutputSoapObject(request);
HttpTransportSE androidHttpTransport = new HttpTransportSE(URL);

try {
androidHttpTransport.call(SOAP_ACTION, envelope);
SoapPrimitive response = (SoapPrimitive)envelope.getResponse();


TextView tv = new TextView(this);
tv.setText(response.toString());
setContentView(tv);

} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}

You can find complete information about the implementation of Android application from these two posts.
1. Create java web service in Eclipse using Axis2 (Part 01) 
2. Create java web service in Eclipse using Axis2 (Part 02) 


Change these things in your Android program according to your web service

NAMESPACE
in line 15 is targetNamespace in the WSDL.

URL in line 16 The URL of WSDL file. In my case it is " http://175.157.143.117:8085/TestProperties/services/TestPropts?wsdl"
blue colored is the ip of the server replace it with your ip & red colored is the port number.

SOAP_ACTION in line 17 is "NAMESPACE/METHOD_NAME"

METHOD_NAME
in line 18 is WSDL operation. You can find something like <wsdl:operation name="............."> in your WSDL.



Make appropriate changes according to your WSDL. Open your WSDL using Firefox or Chrome. Then you can easily find those values from the WSDL.
We have to add internet permission to the Android Manifest. After adding permission your Manifest should like follows.















Here is the final result



You can download sample projects:
Click here to download web service project
Click here to download Android project

If you find this post helpful dont forget to leave a comment. your comments encourage me to write!
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Monday, January 12, 2015

Brief History of World Wide Web


The History of Word Wide Web


All of you know about WWW- World Wide Web. But how many of you know about the history of World Wide Web? Or how many of you know why it was developed and how? In this post I will try to discuss the history of World Wide Web in short. Ive collected data from different sites- Wikipedia, Cern etc. 


The Inventor of WWW Tim Berners-Lee Image
Tim Berners-Lee


The World Wide Web was invented by a British Scientist named Tim Berners-Lee in 1989. He was a scientist of CERN- European Organization for Nuclear Research lab. CERN was founded in 1954 based in Geneva on the Franco-Swiss border. It has 2400 full-time employees, 1500 part-time employees and 10000 visiting scientists and engineers representing 608 universities and research facilities 113 countries of the world. 


Robert Cailliau


Initially the web was developed to share information among scientists in universities and institutes around the world. The basic idea of the WWW was to combine the technologies of personal computers, computer networking and hypertext into a powerful and easy to use global information system. 

In 1989, Berners-Lee wrote a proposal for the World Wide Web at CERN. On November 12, 1990, he published a formal proposal (including important term and concepts behind web) along with Robert Cailliau. The document described a Hypertext Project named as WorldWideWeb which could be viewed by a Browser

At the end of 1990, a prototype program for a basic web system was developed and it was applied at CERN. The first website of the world is - http://info.cern.ch/

  
Thus WWW was invented. Every website of the world includes www. But new web browsers skip it because of its commonness. There are millions of websites, blogs, forums etc. running across the world. And everyday thousands of new sites are coming into existence. 


The web was invented with a great intention. The invention of web was a revolution in communication technology. But with the passage of time the abuse of it is increasing tremendously. When the technology goes to the wrong hand the result is usually very pathetic. Same case happens to the web. 


Now the web is polluted by hacking, cracking, virus you know. But it could also be used to make the world better. So, its our responsibility to keep the web safe . . . 


Stay with Marks PC Solution to get more interesting IT topics!


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