How To 📁️
A C++ program that calls a Lua script (2025-04-21)
Alright, so after preparing Lua, here are
a few small first step on how to make use of this language within a C++ context
Always a busy signal on a smartphone when using a Multi-SIM for the same number in a notebook (2017-06-19)
Last year at work, we had the curious case that many of our notebooks, which were using a SIM for
their UMTS/LTE modems, caused a smartphone with the associated Multi-SIM (same contract, i.e. same
telephone number) to respond with a busy signal as soon as the notebook was powered on (didn’t even
had to have a connection established via their WWAN modem at that point!).
Bluetooth Keyboard Pairing Problem (2019-05-09)
When the battery of my HTPC’s bluetooth keyboard needed replacement, it somehow lost the
connection during that process (I think I pushed the connect button by accident at the wrong time, or something).
Not a big deal, I thought…
After preparing the Qt framework,
I needed to check if everything works; therefore I built a very simple Qt (5.2.1) application,
the GUI-equivalent of a “Hello-World” program.
Although one can get pre-built binaries of the Lua (programming language) interpreter, to me that seems to be just a semi-offical or lackluster way.
But luckily, building it yourself from source is very easy (especially with the help of this post from Dennis D. Spreen).
But luckily, building it yourself from source is very easy (especially with the help of this post from Dennis D. Spreen).
Building Qt 5 on Windows with Visual Studio (2014-04-12)
Short guides on how to build your own copy of the Qt 5 framework from source.
These were originally separate blog posts, but since they are now pretty outdated (since they are for old versions of Qt, Windows and Visual Studio),
I combined them here on a single page, for archival purposes (with many dead links…), and edited them a bit.
Building Qt 6 on Windows with Visual Studio (2021-05-09)
Time for another short guidance on how to build your own copy of the Qt framework from source.
Building Qt for static linking (2015-03-31)
One of the drawbacks of using such a comprehensive framework as Qt is the massively increased size of you program.
When my pet project RandFill was only using the plain Win32-API, it was a single executable file of a couple of hundred kilobytes.
Now, using dynamically linked Qt, the whole package (with DLLs, MSVC redistributables, etc.) is bigger than 20 megabytes as a 64-bit build!
C++ Snippets (2022-03-20)
A collection of code snippets, general notes, small pearls of wisdom and bits of knowledge, that may come handy at times.
C++ Snippets for the MS Windows platform (2022-03-30)
A collection of code snippets, small pearls of wisdom and bits of knowledge, that may come handy at times.
Calling a Lua/C++ function from C++/Lua code (2025-05-03)
Another post in my series on how to use C++ with Lua; this time it’s about calling a function of one language from code of the other language.
Clear Cached Credentials from the Windows profile (2022-02-14)
I had the curious case that on my domain-joined laptop from work, two applications kept asking for usernames and credentials after a recent change of my Windows password.
CMake, Visual Studio and Qt 5 with MOC... (2014-06-15)
After building a 64-bit version of Qt with/for Microsoft Visual Studio,
building a simple Qt test program and doing
first steps with the CMake build system, the next hurdle appeared
on the horizon in the form of support for Qt and its Q_OBJECT features (I am currently fighting more
with the changes I made to my build environment than improving the actual program code…).
Distributing a Python program to Windows users (2016-07-10)
I use Python for several tasks (mostly small routine jobs or one-off scripts;
not to devalue the language, I just haven’t used it yet for bigger projects), but since it’s an interpreted language,
you can’t easily distribute the scripts to normal users on Microsoft Windows (my main ecosystem),
because that platform doesn’t come with any version of Python installed by default.
Doxygen Cheatsheet (2025-05-13)
This is my personal Doxygen cheatsheet:
Its initial (and primary) purpose is to be a compact help on this topic for myself.
It’s not meant as a general introduction or comprehensive reference for this tool,
but it is meant to be a small knowledge base or collection of basics & “gotchas”, often-used commands, snippets, tips,
and instructions on how to do certain tasks.
Excel: X, Y -> Y X (2014-08-14)
In bin kein großer Excel-Nutzer, aber hin und wieder muß auch ich beruflich eine Tabelle bearbeiten.
Leider kann ich mir die meisten Tricks und Tipps dafür nicht merken, weil ich sie halt so selten benötige
(das mit dem S-Verweis verinnerliche in diesem Leben wohl nicht mehr); also schreibe ich mir hier jetzt mal was dazu auf.
Describes a few tips on how to generate a 64-bit project for Visual Studio with CMake.
Get the RSS feed for a YouTube channel (2020-12-20)
I’m fan of RSS feeds: They provide me with easy and quick overviews for a lot of website
updates (and after Google Reader was shut down,
I set up my own Tiny Tiny RSS instance). Unfortunately, YouTube made it a bit
more complicated to get the required feeds some time ago, but it’s still possible.
How to get the .htaccess file again (2013-05-26)
So, you want to modify the .htaccess file you created a while ago. Trouble is, “dot” files are hidden
by default and your FTP client and/or webhoster don’t make them visible, but you need the file,
because you don’t want to overwrite/lose the current settings.
I encounter these same problems every time I set up a fresh computer – which doesn’t happen that often,
that’s why I don’t have the steps in my muscle memory.
How to set up Notepad++ (2014-04-07)
How to set up Notepad++:
How to use CMake (2025-05-30)
This is just a reminder for some syntax/parameter details on how to invoke CMake (i.e. the actual cmake program),
mainly from the CLI, to configure/generate/build a project – it’s not a tutorial on how to write a
CMakeLists.txt file!This is a brief post on how to use CMake to setup a Visual Studio 2019 solution on Windows
that will use the LLVM Clang compiler instead of the orginal Visual C++ one.
This post describes how one can use GeSHi for syntax highlighting with WordPress and DokuWiki:
How to use Notepad++ to create a log file (2013-08-18)
The original Notepad of Microsoft Windows has a nice feature to create log files:
Save a new file with the text
.LOG as its first characters and a timestamp will be appended on subsequent openings.
In search of a replacement for Google Reader (2013-06-16)
Well, only two more weeks until Google shuts down Reader.
It’s about time for me to plan my escape — but where to flee?
Installing Sphinx on Windows (2013-07-29)
In my previous post I mentioned that I would ponder about maybe switching from a Wiki to a Sphinx solution.
I started with that by setting up Sphinx on my Windows-PC; let’s see how this will turn out in the next weeks…
Just a reminder for myself, because I will certainly stumble over it again in the future:
Mozilla Firefox: Tips on usage (2025-05-12)
These tips for using Mozilla Firefox were originally spread over multiple blog posts,
but they are rather short and also pretty old (so maybe not valid anymore),
that’s why I now collected them all on this single page…
Namen der Xing-Profilbesucher (2015-01-15)
Als nicht-zahlendes Mitglied bei XING werden einem zwar die Fotos der Profilbesucher angezeigt,
nicht aber deren Namen und auch die Links verweisen nicht zu den dazugehörigen Profilen, sondern auf die Anmeldeseite für eine Premium-Mitgliedschaft.
So I’ve built Qt from source
and used it successfully in the last year or so.
Some time ago I turned my attention to multilanguage support and learned about Qt’s tools: linguist.exe, lupdate.exe and lrelease.exe.
Some time ago I turned my attention to multilanguage support and learned about Qt’s tools: linguist.exe, lupdate.exe and lrelease.exe.
Notepad++: Run command (2020-12-20)
How to add custom commands to the Run menu.
Powershell Snippets (2021-01-22)
A collection of code snippets, small pearls of wisdom and bits of knowledge that may come handy at times.
Powershell: Dynamic Parameters (2024-10-17)
This is an extension to my notes on parameters for scripts or (advanced) functions in Powershell:
Dynamic (or conditional) parameters are an interesting and cool feature, but also a bit tricky and cumbersome to set up.
Often times, much simpler things like parameter sets and/or parameter validations may be the better and easier solution – but on the other hand:
Sometimes, those are not the right tools and one really should use dynamic parameters…
Powershell: Handle input from the pipeline (2021-01-18)
A short description on how to make a Powershell function that can accept and process input data
that it gets from the pipeline.
Powershell: Help (2021-01-21)
Some notes on where and how to get help-information for Powershell commands.
Powershell: Name of the current Citrix desktop (2023-07-02)
For my day job, I wanted know the name of the ‘Citrix’ desktop on which I was currently logged in,
because some features are only available on certain desktops in our environment.
Some notes on parameters for scripts or (advanced) functions in Powershell.
Powershell: Profile (2021-01-18)
A Powershell profile is a script file that is run each time a new Powershell is opened.
You can define session-specific items in it (variables, aliases, functions, etc.) or
call other scripts and commands at the start of a new Powershell session.
Powershell: PSCustomObject (2022-01-29)
Powershell’s PSCustomObject type has been a great tool, but since I don’t use it every day, I jotted
down some sample code and links for my future self (or any other interested reader 😄
), as a reminder.
Powershell: Select Choice (2023-07-10)
The need to prompt a user for a choice in a text menu (i.e. in the console), and a slight dissatisfaction
with the commonly recommended $Host.ui.PromptForChoice() after experimenting a bit with it,
triggered me to ultimately write my own function.
Powershell: Splatting (2021-01-21)
Some notes on the method of “splatting” in Powershell code.
Powershell: Starting a Script the Easy Way (2020-04-25)
Powershell scripts can be very practical tools, but they lack an easy Just Do It mode:
Even as a developer/administrator/power-user, one has to remove several obstacles before you can use it; and if you plan to deploy a script to (normal) users, you should take care of some issues before.
Even as a developer/administrator/power-user, one has to remove several obstacles before you can use it; and if you plan to deploy a script to (normal) users, you should take care of some issues before.
Powershell: Transcript (Log) (2021-01-18)
A transcript logs all action of a Powershell session to a text file; good for documenting and archiving.
Powershell: Using Regular Expressions (2021-03-05)
This is not a introduction or tutorial on what Regular Expressions (RegEx) are or can do,
but on how to use them with Powershell!
Powershell: Using Write-Information (2023-07-16)
This started out as a short entry for my Powershell Snippets page,
but it quickly turned out that this cmdlet needs a longer text for explaining proper handling…
Powershell: Working with JSON (2024-05-09)
A few tips and tricks for handling JSON data with Powershell.
Powershell: Working with the Windows Registry (2024-02-28)
Here are some tips and trick on how to work on the Windows Registry with Powershell.
Prepare a CMake project for find_package() (2021-03-24)
Although I’ve already published an article on how to bring an external CMake project into your own CMake project,
I recently realized that I haven’t written about how one can prepare a CMake project for the use with
find_package() — despite the fact
that I’ve used it already for quite a while in RandFill for my own WPDLib(rary); so let me make up leeway for that oversight with this post.
Python Snippets (2022-02-20)
A collection of code snippets, small pearls of wisdom and bits of knowledge, that may come handy at times.
Tips for Mercurial (Hg) (2015-05-17)
This post will probably become a living document, i.e. will be updated sporadically with small tips,
tricks and reminders on how to do certain tasks with Mercurial (Hg), because most of it will be short
entries that won’t justify an article on its own.
Using CMake with External Projects (2019-08-03)
The reason for this post is that I spent a considerable amount of time1 the last two days to
convince CMake’s External Project feature to do what I wanted. And without the help of the usual
suspects (Stackoverflow, old mails, blog articles, code snippets, etc.), I might still not be done.
So I thought I could pay back the general public by posting some notes on this topic 😉
A while ago, my Visual Studio installation was caught in a “please-reboot-loop” after an update.
Windows 7: (Elevated) Command Prompt Anywhere (2014-04-09)
(Elevated) Command Prompt Anywhere:
Windows 7: Cannot delete/rename/move MKV files (2014-04-10)
The Problem: When you try to delete, rename or move a Matroska/*.mkv file, you get an error message
that the file is currently in use — even if you just started the computer and haven’t opened that file.
Windows 7: Customize Logon Screen Wallpaper (2014-04-10)
Customize Logon Screen Wallpaper:
Windows 7: Programm-Icons verschwunden (2014-04-09)
Programm-Icons verschwunden:
Windows: Adding a font to the console (2014-04-08)
Adding a font to the console:
Windows: Find string in cmd (2014-04-08)
Not much to write about:
Windows: Process-Explorer mit vollen Rechten starten (2014-04-09)
Process-Explorer mit vollen Rechten starten:
Windows: The fc command (2022-05-13)
I recently stumbled upon the fc.exe (“file compare”) utility on Windows, when I needed to quickly compare two text files.
Windows: The tree command (2014-05-04)
The tree command graphically displays the directory structure of a drive or path on the command line
prompt — nice gimmick; haven’t used this in ages and completely forgot about it, but came in handy recently.
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