MacNative

If you are like me, you have spent many many hours creating database layouts on legal pads, notebooks, and whiteboards, only to have to recreate the layout again to actually create the layout in the database. This process can consume many hours of additional time in a development project. But thanks to Malcom Hardie we can streamline our SQL database creation process with the use of SQLEditor.

SQLEditor provides the best interface that I have seen to create your database layout in a very visual format. It allows you to build your

tables specifying the column types, linking with foreign keys, and dragging the table layouts around the canvas so that you can easily understand what you were building at a glance when you come back to a project after an extended period.

But the best part comes after the database design is complete, you can export it to a PDF for distribution around the office, send it to a plotter to print a large wall size copy for reference.

But then comes the fun part, after you have made all of your changes to the database layout you can either export the contents directly to a txt file in the SQL dialect of your choice (MySQL, Oracle, Postgresql, etc…) or even connect directly to a database using JDBC drivers and propagate your changes directly to the running database server.

SQLEditor has full support for Mac OS X 10.6 and is ready to run on your Mac Development System.

Although this solution is not freeware or open source, it is an essential tool for every developer who designs or develops database integration strategies. I highly recommend this product and it is well worth the expense to purchase it for the time it will save you. But don’t worry like most software applications it comes with a hassle free 30 day free trial period so you can see how effective it will be in your development workflow.

Here is an extended list of features:

Product Homepage

It may have a funny name, but this little app packs a big resourceful punch. Cyberduck is an amazing piece of software, initially setting the stage for superb FTP access and file manipulation, but it doesn’t stop there. Cyberduck has a vast array of different protocols that it supports, allowing you to connect to virtually any location and transfer/manipulate files on the remote location.

Here is a short list of protocols that it supports:

• FTP
• SFTP
• WebDav
• Cloudfiles
• Google Docs
• Amazon s3

to name a few.

It’s interface is sleek and simple, providing for a seamless user experience. With support for such features as “quicklook”, “Growl”, “Spotlight”, and “Bonjour” it finds ways to fit into virtually any situation.

I have been using this app for years and it is a very effective, well rounded tool. I suggest that you never leave home without it. So without further adieu click on the link below to check out the developers website, download the app, and when you are satisfied that it is everything you ever dreamed it could be, send the developer a donation, he’s done some hard work to make sure that our lives are better and easier.

Cyberduck FTP Client Homepage

I have been increasingly impressed, over the last couple of years, of the overall utility that WordPress provides for website developers.

When I first started to use it, I only accessed the basic layer of usefulness, and used it as a backend for my blog. But it has proven itself to be robust enough to be easily used as a CMS for individuals and Small/Medium Businesses that want an interactive website but don’t have the time/budget to get something completely custom created for them.

On the other side of the spectrum, as a developer WordPress can also make my job much easier by giving me a framework that already handles all of the basics for a website, and then provides me with the hooks necessary to extend the basic platform and provide specific functionality for my clients.

Along with that extensibility wordpress has a large plugin database where others share their custom creations for anything from publishing a podcast to keeping your visitors up with your tweets. Many of these plugins provide the functionality that my clients are looking for with only a few minor changes to match the clients specifications.

Additionally the power to hook into the wordpress backend and pull out relevent information can help you produce or utilize some existing themes that will make your wordpress install become and amazing dynamic website, not merely a blog.

All that being said, WordPress has become a staple in most of my website development projects. and can greatly enhance your development process, if you are willing to let it.

There are a ton of tools out there that web developers can use to create dynamic and engaging websites. Every once and a while one tool will stand out above the others in it’s usefulness and design.

Fancy Upload is one of those tools. Providing a slick interface and some dynamic classes, Fancy Upload leverages the abilities of the Mootools Javascript library and ties that with some flash integration to create a great solution with an infinate number of uses. Go check it out.

http://digitarald.de/project/fancyupload/

Developers of all kinds that are hunting for a quick and easy way to look up documentation for their coding projects can now be appeased. I just ran across a Development Resource which seems to be a pretty good solution for hunting for development documentation or resources. Go Check it out.

http://www.quickref.org

Apples WWDC 2008 kicked off this week in San Francisco with a bang. Unveiling their new 3G iPhone with an upgraded look and a few new features was pretty cool. But not nearly as cool as the new SDK for the iPhone. The new SDK promises to provide a rich development interface for rapid development on the iPhone. Personally after watching the Keynote I cannot wait to dive in and see what can be created using this new development platform.

Check out the New iPhone

Check out the iPhone SDK