For non-Micro DD-WRT versions the ad blocking hosts file on the router can be updated automatically by a custom shell script that you then execute as a cron job, all on the router itself. However, the Micro editions of DD-WRT are too limited and the only way to update the router’s hosts file is by manually copying it to the router via a telnet session, where you basically copy/paste the entire hosts file contents in the telnet screen. However, after each router reboot you will need to repeat the whole process.

So since you can’t automate this process on the router, it has to be done somewhere else. For instance if you have a Linux/UNIX server on your network, you could write a shell script that downloads the ad blocking hosts file and then uploads it to the router. You can then add this script to a cron job, for instance to run every day at 1am like this:

0 1 * * * /home/user/router_ad_block.sh

Here is an example of what this script may look like:

echo "Downloading hosts file..."
wget -O - http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.txt | grep 127.0.0.1 |
sed '2,$s/[[:space:]]*#.*$//g;' |
grep -v localhost | tr ' ' '\t' |
tr -s '\t' | tr -d '\015' | sort -u >/tmp/hosts.tmp

ln=`cat /tmp/hosts.tmp | wc -l`
if [ ${ln} -lt 10 ]; then
  echo "Invalid hosts file."
  exit
fi

# kill DNS service and upload hosts file
echo "Uploading hosts file to router..."
(
echo open 192.168.1.1
sleep 1
echo "admin"
sleep 1
echo "password"
sleep 1
echo "cd /tmp"
sleep 1
echo "killall dnsmasq"
sleep 5
echo "cat > hosts"
sleep 1
cat /tmp/hosts.tmp
sleep 10
) | telnet > /dev/null
rm /tmp/hosts.tmp

# start DNS service.
echo "Starting DNS service on router..."
(
echo open 192.168.1.1
sleep 1
echo "admin"
sleep 1
echo "password"
sleep 1
echo "dnsmasq --conf-file=/tmp/dnsmasq.conf --addn-hosts=/tmp/hosts"
sleep 5
echo "exit"
sleep 1
) | telnet > /dev/null

echo "Done."

Luckily this little utility can be downloaded separately from the VMware site. It is the 1023856-vdiskmanager-windows-7.0.1.exe.zip attachment that you will need.

Once downloaded, extract and rename 1023856-vdiskmanager-windows-7.0.1.exe to vmware-vdiskmanager.exe and copy or move to the directory where VMware Player is installed. For instance C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Player

In order to merge vmdk files, open a Command Prompt and CD to the directory where the vmdk files are located. For instance CD \VMWareImages\MyImage

Assume you have the following vmdk files :
MyImage.vmdk
MyImage-s001.vmdk
MyImage-s002.vmdk
MyImage-s003.vmdk
MyImage-s004.vmdk
MyImage-s005.vmdk
MyImage-s006.vmdk
MyImage-s007.vmdk
MyImage-s008.vmdk

To merge them into one single vmdk file, use the following command:

C:\VMWareImages\MyImage>"\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Player\vmware-vdiskmanager.exe" -r "MyImage.vmdk" -t 0 MyNewImage.vmdk

The new vmdk file will then be created:
Creating disk 'MyNewImage.vmdk'
Convert: 41% done.

Once done, either rename the original vmdk files or move them to a different directory. Finally rename MyNewImage.vmdk to MyImage.vmdk and you’re all set.

declare @MyVal varchar(20);
set @MyVal = '0001234ABC00';
select @MyVal, replace(ltrim(replace(@MyVal, '0', ' ')), ' ', '0')

Returns:

'0001234ABC00', '1234ABC00'

Instead of a regular progress bar that progresses from 0 to 100%, this one shows a little indicator that scrolls back and forth, while in the background the time consuming task does its work. Once the task has completed, the dialog window with the progress bar closes automatically.

The dialog with the progress bar is contained in a class file called WaitDialog.cs, for which the source code is shown further below. Here is an example of how WaitDialog can be used:

private WaitDialog waitDialog;

// Event executed when a button is pressed.
private void btnDoStuff_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
  BackgroundWorker worker = new BackgroundWorker();
  worker.DoWork += new DoWorkEventHandler(MyDoFunction);
  worker.RunWorkerCompleted += new RunWorkerCompletedEventHandler(MyCompletedFunction);

  waitDialog = new WaitDialog(worker);
  waitDialog.ShowDialog();
}

private void MyDoFunction(object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)
{
  // Do time consuming stuff.
}

private void MyCompletedFunction(object sender, RunWorkerCompletedEventArgs e)
{
  // Time consuming stuff is done.
  waitDialog.DoneWaiting();
}

Source code for WaitDialog.cs:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Threading;

namespace My.Project
{
  public class WaitDialog : Form
  {
    private IContainer components = null;
    private Label label1;
    private WaitingProgressBar progressBar1;

    private Thread waitingThread;
    private BackgroundWorker worker;

    private class Anim : Control
    {
      private WaitingProgressBar pBar;
      private delegate void NextStep();
      private NextStep nextStep;
      public Anim(WaitingProgressBar progressBar)
      {
        pBar = progressBar;
        nextStep = new NextStep(nextStepMethod);
      }
      public void DoIt()
      {
        while (true)
        {
          Thread.Sleep(100);
          pBar.Invoke(nextStep);
        }
      }
      private void nextStepMethod()
      {
        pBar.NextStep();
      }
    }

    private class WaitingProgressBar : ProgressBar
    {
      private int inc = 1;
      private int indWidth = 25;
      private int stepSize = 1;
      private int barWidth = 1;

      public WaitingProgressBar()
        : base()
      {
        barWidth = ClientSize.Width * indWidth / 100;
        this.SetStyle(ControlStyles.UserPaint, true);
        this.SetStyle(ControlStyles.AllPaintingInWmPaint, true);
        this.SetStyle(ControlStyles.DoubleBuffer, true);
        this.SetStyle(ControlStyles.OptimizedDoubleBuffer, true);
        this.Paint += OnPaint;
      }

      public int IndicatorWidthPct
      {
        get { return indWidth; }
        set { indWidth = value; barWidth = ClientSize.Width * indWidth / 100; }
      }

      public int StepSize
      {
        get { return stepSize; }
        set { stepSize = value; }
      }

      public void NextStep()
      {
        if ((inc > 0 && Value >= Maximum) || (inc < 0 && Value <= Minimum))
        {
          if (inc > 0)
          {
            inc = -1;
          }
          else
          {
            inc = 1;
          }
        }
        Value += (inc * stepSize);
      }

      private void OnPaint(object sender, PaintEventArgs e)
      {
        Graphics gr = e.Graphics;
        SolidBrush foreColor = new SolidBrush(ForeColor);
        int width = e.ClipRectangle.Width;
        int bw = width * Value / Maximum;
        if (inc < 0)
        {
          int ew = bw + barWidth;
          if (ew > width) { ew = width; }
          gr.FillRectangle(foreColor, bw, e.ClipRectangle.Y, (ew-bw), e.ClipRectangle.Height);
        } else {
          int ew = bw - barWidth;
          if (ew < 0) { ew = 0; }
          gr.FillRectangle(foreColor, ew, e.ClipRectangle.Y, (bw-ew), e.ClipRectangle.Height);
        }
      }
    }

    public WaitDialog(BackgroundWorker bgWorker)
    {
      worker = bgWorker;
      InitializeComponent();
    }

    private void WaitDialog_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
      waitingThread = new Thread(new ThreadStart((new Anim(progressBar1)).DoIt));
      waitingThread.Start();
      worker.RunWorkerAsync();
    }

    public void DoneWaiting()
    {
      waitingThread.Abort();
      waitingThread.Join();
      waitingThread = null;
      Close();
    }

    protected override void Dispose(bool disposing)
    {
      if (disposing && (components != null))
      {
        components.Dispose();
      }
      base.Dispose(disposing);
    }

    private void InitializeComponent()
    {
      this.label1 = new Label();
      this.progressBar1 = new WaitingProgressBar();
      this.SuspendLayout();
      //
      // label1
      //
      this.label1.AutoSize = true;
      this.label1.Font = new Font("Microsoft Sans Serif",
        11F, FontStyle.Bold, GraphicsUnit.Point, ((byte)(0)));
      this.label1.Location = new Point(12, 9);
      this.label1.Name = "label1";
      this.label1.Size = new Size(206, 18);
      this.label1.TabIndex = 0;
      this.label1.Text = "In Progress. Please wait...";
      //
      // progressBar1
      //
      this.progressBar1.Location = new Point(12, 30);
      this.progressBar1.Name = "progressBar1";
      this.progressBar1.Size = new Size(212, 23);
      this.progressBar1.Style = ProgressBarStyle.Continuous;
      this.progressBar1.StepSize = 4;
      this.progressBar1.TabIndex = 1;
      //
      // WaitDialog
      //
      this.AutoScaleDimensions = new SizeF(6F, 13F);
      this.AutoScaleMode = AutoScaleMode.Font;
      this.ClientSize = new Size(236, 60);
      this.ControlBox = false;
      this.Controls.Add(progressBar1);
      this.Controls.Add(label1);
      this.MaximizeBox = false;
      this.MinimizeBox = false;
      this.Name = "WaitDialog";
      this.ShowIcon = false;
      this.ShowInTaskbar = false;
      this.SizeGripStyle = SizeGripStyle.Hide;
      this.StartPosition = FormStartPosition.CenterParent;
      this.Text = "In Progress";
      this.Load += new EventHandler(WaitDialog_Load);
      this.ResumeLayout(false);
      this.PerformLayout();
    }
  }
}

One way to handle this is by extending from the grid control and overriding the OnPaint event so that any exceptions can be handled. Of course, the best solution is to try and prevent such exceptions from happening in the first place.

public class SafeDataGridView : DataGridView
{
  protected override void OnPaint(System.Windows.Forms.PaintEventArgs e)
  {
    try
    {
      base.OnPaint(e);
    }
    catch (Exception)
    {
      this.Invalidate();
    }
  }
}

$ ls -al myfile.txt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 root root 0 Jul  6 14:57 myfile.txt

With the following AutoIt code, you can get the owner username of a given file. It should be relatively easy to convert this code to a Visual Basic or C# equivalent, if needed.

Func GetOwner($file)
    Local $computer = "."
    Local $wmi = ObjGet("winmgmts:{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" & $computer & "\root\cimv2")

    Dim $res
    $res = $wmi.ExecQuery("ASSOCIATORS OF {Win32_LogicalFileSecuritySetting='" & $file & "'} WHERE AssocClass=Win32_LogicalFileOwner ResultRole=Owner")

    For $val In $res
        Return $val.AccountName
    Next
EndFunc

Currently there are about 385 problems to be solved, however more are added regularly. They start out relatively easy but become more difficult and challenging. As you progress throughout the problems you will find that certain problems often involve similar things. For instance many of the problems involve prime numbers, so as you progress further you can create libraries in your code that can include common functions, such as those that can check whether a given number is a prime number, or a function that can generate prime numbers, etc.

Some of the easier problems can be solved by “brute force” approaches, i.e. your program calculates all the possible paths to calculate the greatest sum, however the more difficult problems would require trillions of iterations and computations using the same brute force approach. Therefore you’ll have to find different and more elegant solutions in order to find the answers.

The other thing to keep in mind is the color of the displayed text, because its background will be a combination of 2 colors: the section without the progress bar (BackColor – usually a lighter color) and the section with the progress bar (ForeColor – usually a darker color). So you need to make sure that the text will be clearly visible on either background color.

One way to deal with this is to display the text in both colors. The text section that has the light background (no progress bar) will be displayed in a dark color, and the text section on the dark background (with progress bar) will have a light color.

To accomplish this effect, we create 2 bitmaps. One that represents the light text (Brushes.White) on the dark background (with progressbar – see Bitmap b1) and another that represents the dark text (Brushes.Black) on the light background (no progress bar – see Bitmap b2).

Lastly, the appropriate Rectangle sections of the 2 Bitmaps are copied to their corresponding Rectangle sections on the Graphics instance of the ProgressBar.

The following C# code shows all the relevant pieces that you can copy to the appropriate places in your Form code.

namespace My.Project
{
  public class MyForm : Form
  {
    private CustomProgressBar progressBar;

    public MyForm()
    {
      InitializeComponent();
    }

    private void InitializeComponent()
    {
      this.progressBar = new CustomProgressBar();

      //
      // progressBar
      //
      this.progressBar.LabelText = null;
      this.progressBar.Location = new Point(0, 0);
      this.progressBar.Name = "progressBar";
      this.progressBar.Size = new Size(300, 25);
      this.progressBar.Style = ProgressBarStyle.Continuous;
    }

    private void setProgressBarText(string text)
    {
      progressBar.LabelText = text;
      progressBar.Invalidate();
    }

    private void setProgressBarValue(int pct)
    {
      progressBar.Value = pct;
    }

    class CustomProgressBar : ProgressBar
    {
      private string labelText;

      public string LabelText
      {
        get { return labelText; }
        set { labelText = value; }
      }

      public CustomProgressBar() : base()
      {
         this.SetStyle(ControlStyles.UserPaint, true);
         this.SetStyle(ControlStyles.AllPaintingInWmPaint, true);
         this.SetStyle(ControlStyles.DoubleBuffer, true);
         this.SetStyle(ControlStyles.OptimizedDoubleBuffer, true);
         this.Paint += OnPaint;
      }

      private void OnPaint(object sender, PaintEventArgs e)
      {
        Graphics gr = e.Graphics;
        int bw = e.ClipRectangle.Width * this.Value / this.Maximum;
        SolidBrush foreColor = new SolidBrush(this.ForeColor);

        if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(labelText))
        {
          gr.FillRectangle(foreColor, e.ClipRectangle.X,
            e.ClipRectangle.Y, bw, e.ClipRectangle.Height);
        }
        else
        {
          Font textFont = SystemFonts.DefaultFont;
          float left = 5f;
          float top = (this.Height >> 1)
            - (gr.MeasureString(LabelText, textFont).Height / 2.0F);
          PointF labelPos = new PointF(left, top);

          Bitmap b1 = new Bitmap(e.ClipRectangle.Width, e.ClipRectangle.Height);
          Graphics gr1 = Graphics.FromImage(b1);
          gr1.FillRectangle(foreColor, e.ClipRectangle.X,
            e.ClipRectangle.Y, bw, e.ClipRectangle.Height);
          gr1.DrawString(LabelText, textFont, Brushes.White, labelPos);
          Rectangle r1 = new Rectangle(0, 0, bw, e.ClipRectangle.Height);

          Bitmap b2 = new Bitmap(e.ClipRectangle.Width, e.ClipRectangle.Height);
          Graphics gr2 = Graphics.FromImage(b2);
          gr2.FillRectangle(new SolidBrush(this.BackColor), bw,
            e.ClipRectangle.Y, e.ClipRectangle.Width - bw, e.ClipRectangle.Height);
          gr2.DrawString(LabelText, textFont, Brushes.Black, labelPos);
          Rectangle r2 = new Rectangle(bw, 0,
            e.ClipRectangle.Width - bw, e.ClipRectangle.Height);

          gr.DrawImage(b1, r1, r1, GraphicsUnit.Pixel);
          gr.DrawImage(b2, r2, r2, GraphicsUnit.Pixel);
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

The code example below shows you how you can include better mouse control over your web pages, even the right-click mouse event.

The example below basically shows you a page with 2 boxes on it. These boxes are called ‘Drag Me 1′ and ‘Drag Me 2′. Using your mouse, you will be able to drag these boxes on your screen. You can use either mouse button to start the drag event.

On top of the screen, you will see your current mouse position (x, y coordinates) and which was the last mouse button that was pressed down or up (ie right down).
There is also a button that you can click, and it will pop-up a new window that shows you the innerHTML of the body. This way you can see how the page contents are affected by your mouse actions.

The first step on hooking your own event handlers to your mouse actions is to disable the context menu, which pops-up when you click your right mouse button.

Then you define your new event handler functions for the next 3 events:
- mouse up
- mouse down
- mouse move

Next, you hook up the new handlers to your window using the next lines:
window.document.onmousedown = mouseDown;
window.document.onmouseup = mouseUp;
window.document.onmousemove = getMouseXYPos;

And finally, to enable the dragging functionality of the boxes, you will also need to hook up the mousedown and mouseup events to each of the boxes individually:

<div onmousedown="dragPiece(this);" onmouseup="drop();">Drag Me 1</div>

Enough theory; here’s the code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC
    "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN"
    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en">
  <head>
    <title>Mouse control example</title>
    <style type="text/css">
      .body {
        background-color:#ffffff;
        color:#000000;
        margin:0;
        overflow-y:scroll;
      }

      .tagnormal {
        background-color:#aabbcc;
        font-size:12px;
        font-weight:normal;
        color:#ffff66;
        width:100px;
        margin:2px;
        padding:2px;
        border-color:#000000;
        border-style:solid;
        border-width:1px;
      }

      .tagdrag {
        background-color:#aabbcc;
        font-size:12px;
        font-weight:normal;
        color:#ffff66;
        width:100px;
        margin:2px;
        padding:2px;
        border-color:#000000;
        border-style:solid;
        border-width:1px;
        border-bottom-width:2px;
        border-right-width:2px;
      }
    </style>
    <script type="text/javascript">
    // <![CDATA[
      document.oncontextmenu = new Function("return false"); 

      // Temporary variables to hold mouse x-y pos.
      var iMousePosX = 0;
      var iMousePosY = 0; 

      var iOrigObjTop;
      var iOrigObjLeft; 

      var iDragObjTopDiff;
      var iDragObjLeftDiff; 

      var rightclick = false;
      var oDragObj = null; 

      // Start dragging
      function dragPiece(sourceObject) {
        // Change object style.
        sourceObject.className = "tagdrag"; 

        // Remember original object position.
        iOrigObjTop = parseInt(sourceObject.style.top);
        iOrigObjLeft = parseInt(sourceObject.style.left); 

        iDragObjTopDiff = iMousePosY - iOrigObjTop;
        iDragObjLeftDiff = iMousePosX - iOrigObjLeft; 

        oDragObj = sourceObject;
      } 

      // Stop dragging
      function drop() {
        oDragObj.className = "tagnormal";
        oDragObj = null;
      } 

      // Handle mouse key down.
      function mouseDown(e) {
        if (!e) var e = window.event;
        if (e.which) rightclick = (e.which == 3);
        else if (e.button) rightclick = (e.button == 2); 

        if (rightclick) {
          document.getElementById("mousestat").innerHTML = "right down";
          bMouseRightKeyDown = true;
        } else {
          document.getElementById("mousestat").innerHTML = "left down";
          bMouseLeftKeyDown = true;
        }
        return false;
      } 

      // Handle mouse key up.
      function mouseUp(e) {
        if (!e) var e = window.event;
        if (e.which) rightclick = (e.which == 3);
        else if (e.button) rightclick = (e.button == 2); 

        if (rightclick) {
          document.getElementById("mousestat").innerHTML = "right up";
          bMouseRightKeyDown = false;
        } else {
          document.getElementById("mousestat").innerHTML = "left up";
          bMouseLeftKeyDown = false;
        }
        return false;
      } 

      // Process mouse movement.
      function getMouseXY(posX, posY) {
        iMousePosX = posX;
        iMousePosY = posY; 

        document.getElementById("mousepos").innerHTML = iMousePosX + ", " + iMousePosY; 

        // Move object, if dragging.
        if (oDragObj != null) {
          oDragObj.style.top = (iMousePosY - iDragObjTopDiff) + "px";
          oDragObj.style.left = (iMousePosX - iDragObjLeftDiff) + "px";
        }
      } 

      // Mouse movement event handler
      function getMouseXYPos(e) {
        if (!e) var e = window.event;
        getMouseXY(e.clientX + document.body.scrollLeft,
        e.clientY + document.body.scrollTop);
        return true;
      } 

      function showSource() {
        var popup = window.open('', '');
        popup.document.writeln("<html><head><title>source</title></head><body><xmp>");
        popup.document.writeln(document.getElementById("canvas").innerHTML);
        popup.document.writeln("</xmp></body></html>");
        popup.document.close();
      } 

      // Attach new event handlers.
      window.document.onmousedown = mouseDown;
      window.document.onmouseup = mouseUp;
      window.document.onmousemove = getMouseXYPos;
    // ]]>
    </script>
  </head> 

  <body id="canvas" class="body">
    <div>
      <span>Mouse position: </span><span id="mousepos"></span><br />
      <span>Last Button Status: </span><span id="mousestat"></span><br />
      <span id="showsrc" class="tagnormal" onclick="showSource();">
        Click here to show body.innerHTML
      </span>
    </div>
    <div id="lbl1"
         style="position:absolute;left:10px;top:140px"
         class="tagnormal"
         onmousedown="dragPiece(this);"
         onmouseup="drop();">Drag Me 1</div>
    <div id="lbl2"
         style="position:absolute;left:10px;top:180px"
         class="tagnormal"
         onmousedown="dragPiece(this);"
         onmouseup="drop();">Drag Me 2</div>
  </body>
</html>

Consider the following class, which defines a public method called getValue1 and a private method called getValue2:

public class OtherClass {

    public String getValue1(int number) {
        return "public value " + number;
    }

    private String getValue2(int number) {
        return "private value " + number;
    }
}

Normally this is how you would call the public method getValue1:

OtherClass myClass1 = new OtherClass();
System.out.println(myClass1.getValue1(123));

If your code had contained the following line:

System.out.println(myClass1.getValue2(456));

it wouldn’t have compiled due to the following error:
error: getValue2() has private access in OtherClass

The example below illustrates how you can use reflection to call the private method getValue2 in OtherClass:

import java.lang.reflect.Method;

public class MainClass {

    public static void main(String[] args)
        throws Throwable
    {
        OtherClass myClass1 = new OtherClass();

        System.out.println(myClass1.getValue1(123));

        // MainClass.java: error: getValue2() has private access in OtherClass
        //System.out.println(myClass1.getValue2(456));

        String val = (String) callMethod(
            myClass1, "getValue2", new Object[] {456});
        System.out.println(val);
    }

    public static Object callMethod(Object object,
        String methodName, Object[] args)
        throws Throwable
    {
        Class<?> clazz = object.getClass();
        Method[] methods = clazz.getDeclaredMethods();
        for (Method method : methods) {
            if (methodName.equals(method.getName())) {
                method.setAccessible(true);
                return method.invoke(object, args);
            }
        }
        return null;
    }
}