JS to quickly check Salesforce field-level visibility checkboxes

Posted on Jul 07, 2015

This is a small, handy little javascript that will check all the checkboxes on the Field Visibility screen for a user profile.  Should work in the javascript console of all modern browsers.

var x = document.querySelectorAll(".displayedCol input"); for (var i = 0; i < x.length; i++) { x[i].checked="checked"; }

Sometimes while setting up objects and profiles for a project, you might do things out of order, or create objects using the Schema Builder or the Meta API, neither of which lets you set field permissions for user profiles.  Then you find yourself needing to go to each user profile, go to the field-level visibility settings of each object you created, and check all those boxes so the fields will be visible to the new profile.  The above javascript will check all the boxes for you; it's basically a "select all" for the Visibility column.

Link: On being a great programmer...

Posted on Feb 11, 2015

I was watching this talk on how to go from being an intermediate developer to a expert programmer, and ended up pulling out this great nugget from a gentleman named Ed Weissman:

A smart accountant once told me that the answer to “How much money did you make?” is always, “Who wants to know?” If it’s an investor, the answer is “A lot.” If it’s a customer, the answer is “A little.” If it’s the IRS, the answer is “None.”

Same thing here. The answer to “Who is a good programmer?” is always, “Who wants to know?”

To a project manager, the programmer who hits every deadline (regardless of quality) is a good programmer.

To a customer, the programmer who solves their problem quickest is a good programmer.

To a business owner, the programmer who makes them the most money is a good programmer.

On saying "I don't know"

Posted on Jul 28, 2013

As designers/developers, I think we're incredibly uneasy with saying "I don't know".  In a knowledge-based economy/industry, your knowledge is your currency, so I think there's pressure to appear like you know everything. A combination of being used to presenting a good front to the clients, looking up to rock stars in our industry who can "do it all", and general pride perhaps.  The industry also changes so fast, new standards, new technologies, and there's always a fear of falling behind the curve.

I think that's a lot of weight to be carrying around, and we don't always realize it's there.

On Meetings Pt 1: Notes on Taking Notes

Posted on Aug 16, 2012

Over the years I've earned a reputation as a ferverent, unrepentent note taker.  I write notes about everything, scribbling stuff in an artist's sketch pad, typing madly in a text file or more recently thumbing myself reminders into my iOS-device.  In meetings I'm constantly writing things down, summarizing discussions, making note of key points.

I'm not sure what it is, maybe it's because I don't trust my brain to remember, or maybe because it *helps* me remember or it's because I'm detail oriented.  I do know that it helps me accurately hold the entire architecture of whatever it is I'm working on in my head, which makes it a lot easier to make informed decisions and weigh the implications of choices later on.

I thought I'd share a few tips 'n tricks about how I take notes, maybe you'll find something useful...

Save my tabs = Save my life

Posted on Feb 09, 2012

A couple of weeks ago I wrote this haiku:

Thirty tabs had I
Closed the window, but not all
Now I have just one

A very common plight in our modern browser age, at least for those of us who are tab fiends. (I regularily have 20+ tabs open at a time and depend heavily on Firefox to remember what those tabs are)  Browser crashes, or more likely, you accidently close a browser window with all your tabs that you thought was the main one, but it wasn't, and now Firefox doesn't have a record of what you had open.  Painful.

Yes yes, I probably should not have that many tabs open in the first place, for issues of focus and productivity and "getting things done", and also for performance reasons, but let's ignore that for now.

My Toolkit: A list of iOS apps

Posted on Oct 25, 2011

I have an iPod Touch, and probably end up owning an iPhone in the future, once my cheapy flip phone's battery finally dies off.  I've had my iPod Touch for a year now and I've loved it, and continue to do so.

Prior to the Touch, I was Palm fan for a few years and before that it was a Handspring.  Before *that* it was my *actual* palm, writing notes on my hand or on index cards.  I am and probably forever will be an incorrigible note taker, so I love electronics that help me in this regard.

But the Touch (and the Palm and the Handspring) all do so much more, from simple games to keeping me organized to capturing moments on the go, and I have become connected at the hip with these devices. (quite literally seeing as they have a permanent place on my jean pockets)

My Utilities: Starting fresh with a new computer...

Posted on Aug 02, 2011

I recently had my desktop PC give up the ghost, thanks to a burned out mother board, hence my lack of posts for the last bit. Happening just 2 weeks before I started up my company and a new contract job with a new, unfamiliar technology, this added a stress meatball to my already very full plate of technology spaghetti.

However, if there was ever a good time for a computer to fail, it was probably now.  As a freelancing web developer I was going to need to get mobile, with my "office" being where ever I happen to be that day, so this was a perfect opportunity to pick up a laptop.

It's always both frustrating/refreshing to get a new computer. You've gotta reinstall all your apps, maybe find alternatives if they no longer run on the new OS, dig up serial keys, update drivers.  But you're also forced to take a good hard look at you document structure and the programs you've been hanging onto but not using.

My Toolkit: A list of Firefox add-ons

Posted on Jul 11, 2011

Here's my second post in this "toolkit/workflow" series, featuring my favourite Firefox add-ons.

Web Development

Firebug: The web's best javascript/DOM/css debugger and code explorer. I can't remember what life was like before Firebug.  Whatever it was, it was primitive, dark, full of weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Firecookie: Handy add on to Firebug to help you manage site cookies, be it exploring, deleting or creating on the fly.

Drupal for Firebug: great tool that helps you tear apart what Drupal is doing under the hood with its content and themeing.  Some people prefer Devel, but I think the processing overhead for that module sometimes isn't worth it, and Drupal for Firebug gives me all I need.

My Toolkit: A list of professional apps

Posted on Jul 05, 2011

I thought I'd kick off this site with a post on my current toolkit.  This is something I had meant to do back in January, as a summary of all the tools, applications and websites from the past year that made my job and life easier.  Some of this stuff I discovered in 2010, but I kept the list updated with 2011 discoveries as time went on and this site got further delayed.

There's a few posts in this series, ranging from iPhone apps to Firefox Add-ons, but we'll start with web dev tools and text editors.