Keep Your Eyes Peeled by Spidere
September 2nd, 2008 10:55 PMSo I started work on a surveillance system. Because this was something of great personal interest to me.
Let's say that creating this turned out to be a learning experience. I've learned more about javascript, CGI, sendmail, firefox, and xul. The trickiest part was trying to come up with unique praxis identifiers: (consider that several links point to the same place: consider that all these point to the same place:
http://sf0.org/flameboy/Door-Installation/
http://sf0.org/Lank/Door-Installation/
http://sf0.org/MFC/taskDetail/?id=859
http://sf0.org/simone53/taskDetail/?id=859&big=1
But with some hard thinking and some magic, I constructed a web service, controlled by javascript, that would let me monitor praxes. This, I thought, was pretty slick: I could just click on the new button on any task, manage a list of tasks to be monitored, and automatically be notified whenever one of my monitored tasks was updated.
And I have to say: seeing the first emails come in was tremendously exciting. It had some of that same feel of excitement when you get a notice that someone has commented on or voted on your task, a vicarious thrill on another task's behalf.
So things were pretty good. I had the functionality I wanted, and it worked pretty well. If I was a different person, I would have stopped there. A wiser person, perhaps.
But as the Senator heading up the Science and Technology committee, it seemed like this was also something of political interest to me. My constituents could certainly find it useful as well. I thought that this could be an important addition to SF0, opening the door to all sorts of other personalized enhancements to SF0, contained within a plugin.
It turns out that making something robust enough for anyone to use is significantly more work than making something for yourself to use. I'll spare you the technical details. But once begun, it's hard to stop before you've achieved that vision you see in your mind. And so, many months after starting, I finished work on the server, including help and headers...but in addition, I finished the SF0 firefox add-on.
So, I present to you: The SF0 Monitor add-on, available for all Firefox-using constituents.
The web service itself is also available (basic interface here, for non-Firefox-using constituents.
Enjoy your monitoring!
spidere.com logo
Thanks to anna one!
It is really nice to be able to follow a discussion without having to friend everyone who might possibly be involved in the discussion (or worry that the discussion might have scrolled out of your updates page)
Popup
It's also pretty exciting to make monitoring windows come up and have them work.
List of monitored praxes
This is what I'm watching right now
Plugin options
They're really just links to the help pages on spidere.com
SF0 Monitor in the plugin list
This is the most exciting thing; also one of the most difficult to get working, strangely--there's not a lot of documentation for writing a new Firefox plugin.
43 vote(s)
- Waldo Cheerio
- Tøm
- Loki
- Haberley Mead
- Secret Agent
- GYØ Ben
- teucer
- saille is planting praxis
- Lincøln
- susy derkins
- Jellybean of Thark
- Sombrero Guy
- rongo rongo
- Minch
- help im a bear
- zer0gee
- Ben Yamiin
- John Galt
- anna one
- Dax Tran-Caffee
- The Animus
- Myrna Minx
- Kara Sene
- Bex.
- Julian Muffinbot
- Beetle bomb
- Not Here No More
- mock piratey turtle
- Dela Dejavoo
- radcliff browniepoint
- GYØ Daryl
- nallox V
- Adam
- Indy
- SNORLAX
- Dopey
- Tiny Dancing Tzarina
- Absurdum
- GYØ Vicki
- LSK
- Icarus
- Coreopsis Major Bloden Melen
- Pixie
Favorite of:
Terms
shplank, everyoneshouldsee, useful45 comment(s)
We who have just installed, also salute you!
we who masquerade as web developers by day, also also salute you!
Voted, installed, amazed. Also loving the constituency hint when you log in...
Dammit. I just switched away from Firefox and now you make me want to switch back!
How do you switch away from Firefox?
Spidere, how do you keep on being great every week? Great of the consistently brilliant and generous kind. I know it is reelection time, but still. Sheeesh. Thanks.
You have a remarkable talent for compliments, susy. :) Thank you very much.
I honestly feel I'm not living up to your opinion of me. That makes me nervous about my feet of clay being exposed some day, but also does that wonderful thing where I am inspired to do better and to live up to it. So thank you for that especially.
The secret is actually to get plenty of sleep. I find I'm much more effective that way.
Your geeklyness increases my love for you.
This is the most amazing ever. The most amazing ever.
Good work, sir. Your efforts are commended.
I love hearing the little pop sound that says I have a new email every time this awesome praxis gets a new vote.
I love that we're monitoring the monitor.
And I feel increasingly paranoid that the monitor is monitoring the moniteer.
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
I've started looking at making a Safari version, and after seeing susy derkins' sfzeroday chart, started thinking about adding a feature, to email you when friends' sf0days are coming up. And definitely alerts for events and tasks. Any thoughts on what features might be most useful/interesting?
I would like alerts on pretired tasks. Comments, interested parties.
Maybe any comment made by a specific player (easier to internet stalk).
Comments left for an event?
Maybe an alert when a badge is awarded?
nice work spidere, glad to be a cg0
This needs more downloads as well.
Perhaps if enough people start using this technology, SSI will integrate it.
I just switched back to firefox so I can now use the plug in. Hooray!!!
Now I just need to decide which praxis to monitor.... think think think.
For those using the firefox plugin, a new version is available (go here to download it). Most of you shouldn't notice any changes--but it should fix the problem that James found.
Thanks, gracious Senator! Maybe it will work better for me this time.
Any chance of Chrome support in the future, by the way?
Right now, I'm stuck on Safari...which seems to allow people to build plugins to view different types of files, but not otherwise for add-ons. :( So I may be failing over to Chrome as the next supported browser.
Sweet! I'd love to use this without having to switch back to Firefox.
wow, i finally installed it. very nifty!
Best ever. This monitor has been unduly useful. I recommend it to everyone, even if you don't know what you're going to use it for.
Download it now!
I finally got it to work for me! It is truly spectacular. Thanks Spidere for all your hard work!
Personally I know *exactly* what I would use it for, but still haven't downloaded it.
I favor faster javascript over feeding my SF0 addiction - but were I still a firefox user I guarantee I'd download this.
For one thing I would love to be alerted whenever new JTTEOTN praxis appears.
Surveillance is of great personal interest to you? Jee, Spidere, I had no idea....
Same Spidere-place, same Spidere-channel.
This do fix three small problems--each no worse than some lily-livered scab of a bedbug. But together, be worse than a keelhaulin' with barnacles not cleaned for weeks. Infinite loops do be nigh as bad as Davy Jones when you don't see 'em comin'.
Available here.
This fixes the plugin to work with the new era's praxis format. Firefox is still not finding the updates automatically. I still don't know why. :(
just downloaded firefox for the soul purpose of using this. It won't let me (says it's incompatible) Using the most updated version of firefox for mac. any suggestions?
This is my fault -- I haven't updated the plugin to work with the latest mozilla requirements. I shall remedy this within two weeks, and post here when I have done so. Thank you for the notice.
Will it be the CG0 version, or the 0Z version?
$5 and a letter from a stranger to make it pdØ
All right -- for some reason the auto-updating isn't working, and I haven't put in any skinning yet, but there's a working version at http://spidere.com/sf0plugin/sf0monitor.xpi :) Enjoy.
We who are about to install salute you!