NadeauSoftware.com articles from January, 2008

Java tip: How to get a web page

Dave_Nadeau — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 08:19:27 -0800

The starting point for building a link checker, web spider, or web page analyzer is, of course, to get the web page from the web server. Java's java.net package includes classes to manage URLs and to open web server connections. This tip shows how to use them to a get text, image, audio, or data file from a web server.

PHP tip: How to extract URLs from a web page

Dave_Nadeau — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 11:20:03 -0800

URL extraction is at the core of link checkers, search engine spiders, and a variety of web page analysis tools. While <a> and <img> elements are primary sources of URLs, there are more than 70 element attributes with URLs in HTML, XHTML, WML, and assorted HTML extensions. This tip shows how to extract URLs from all of these.

PHP tip: How to extract URLs from a CSS file

Dave_Nadeau — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 11:12:49 -0800

Though HTML is usually the focus for extracting URLs for a link checker or analysis tool, CSS files also include URLs. The CSS @import rule uses a URL to include another CSS file, and many style properties include a URL to load an image or other content. This tip shows how to scan a CSS file and extract its URLs.

Java tip: How to add zebra background stripes to a JTree

Dave_Nadeau — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 19:09:01 -0800

Zebra stripes in a graphical user interface (GUI) are subtle background stripes painted behind the rows of a hierarchical list, or tree. They improve the readability of wide tree rows, but the JTree class in Java's Swing doesn't support them. This tip shows how to extend JTree to add zebra background stripes.

Java tip: How to add zebra background stripes to a JTable

Dave_Nadeau — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 19:05:47 -0800

Table zebra stripes are alternating subtle background stripes painted behind the table's rows in a graphical user interface (GUI). They improve the readability of long rows in wide tables, but the JTable class in Java's Swing doesn't support them. This tip shows how to extend JTable to add zebra background stripes.

Java tip: How to add zebra background stripes to a JList

Dave_Nadeau — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 19:01:51 -0800

Zebra stripes are subtle alternating stripes painted behind list items in a graphical user interface (GUI). They improve the readability of wide and long lists, but the JList class in Java's Swing doesn't support them. This tip shows how to extend JList to add zebra background stripes.