Salesforce: SFDC Account Keeper

Since I started learning Salesforce, and eventually starting small projects in the office/company I work for, I'm always having problem remembering my Salesforce accounts. Due to numerous Salesforce instance we have, I keep fogetting my instance password. I keep resorting to "forgot password" just to be able to login.

Being a .NET programmer a long time a go, the idea came in. I'll develop an application (WinForms) where I could store my salesforce account (userid, password, token, instance) and automatically login for me in a click of a mouse.

Here comes, SFDC Account Keeper!

It's still in early stage, but I will release it for everybody's benefit, once functional.

Stay tuned!

Some initial screenshots:

Phone as Modem without PC Suite / MPT

Sometimes, I find it irritating to run a software just to connect to internet using my 3G phone. Aside from being a memory hogger, accidentally exiting PC Suite or MPT disconnects you from the internet. PC Suite or MPT (or other companion software for your phone) has its purpose. Synchronization, address book, media uploading and downloading, etc. Installing the massive software to use as DUN dialer alone is simply an overkill.

I got the idea when I did the article about connecting to the Internet using SE P990i in Linux. We could assume that this article concerns Microsoft Windows environment as PC Suite and MPT run only in Windows.

Ok, so what do we need?

• Cable driver for your phone (modem driver)
• Your provider's valid Access Point Name (or APN) to access the net
• Administrator account/access (in the target computer)

Modem Drivers

• For Motorola Phones - Motorola Handset USB Driver (registration required). Alternatively, you can also use "P2k Driver" (do a google, download)
• For Nokia Phones - Nokia Connectivity Cable Driver (download the one that suits your type of cable)
• For Sony Ericsson Phones - As far as I can tell, there's no unified driver from SE. You have to download the specific driver for your phone. There's no installable driver-only package for SmartPhones from SE either. You have to download (and install) SEUS or PC Suite for SmartPhones to get the driver. Try to search (google). A repackaged driver-only installer could be around.
• For other phones, see your phone's manual or online documentation.
  

Access Point Name (APN)

Know your provider's APN.

• For Smart subscribers, for anything that concerns internet access - it's "internet". Regardless of subscriber type (post or prepaid). As simple as that.
• For Globe, I heard they have different APN for different types of subscription or service to be accessed, which makes things complicated. Imagine if you're using at least two SIMs in one phone. One postpaid and one prepaid. You can't just use any of them to access the internet without going to your phone settings and change accordingly.
• For other providers, call CSR.

The Steps

• Install your phone's cable/modem driver.
• Connect your phone. Wait until the phone is properly detected and drivers are installed. Your phone needs to be properly detected and installed before proceeding to the steps below.
• In your Desktop, right-click "My Computer" then "Manage"
• From the left-portion of the "Computer Management" window, click "Device Manager"
• Locate "Modems" in the device-tree, and expand it.
• Select your phone's modem interface. Right-click on it, and select "Properties".
• In the device properties, select the "Advanced" tab.
• In the "Extra initialization commands" box, enter (as shown in the image):
  
• AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","[your_apn]"
• Smart users: AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","internet"
• Some Globe users: AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","http.globe.com.ph"
  

• Click OK.
• Create Dial-up connection and use that modem (dial-up# is *99***1#)
• Connect

Notes
The same initialization string could also be used on HSDPA USB modems, as well as Bluetooth modem (BT as modem). I've tested it and works with Huawei E220. Bottom line, the approach is to install the correct cable/modem driver for your phone. Enter the modem initialization string accordingly and you're OK. No need to install dedicated dialer software for your phone. If you have a 3G/UMTS/HSDPA phone, I suggest that you set it in 3G/UMTS/HSDPA only mode, that's for a faster connection.

Good luck!

Recover P990i Phone Lock Code

Forgot your P990i's Phone Lock Code?

Here's how to retrieve it...

Requirements:

• Your phone and DCU-60 cable
• XS++ 2.x

Steps:

1. Turn-off your phone (remove and reinsert battery to make sure it is completely turned OFF).
2. Launch XS++.
3. Enable (put check) on "Smartphone connect" (see image below).
4. Click "Connect" (see image below).
5. XS++ will spit some instructions, follow it (hold 'C' from keypad or keyboard).
6. Wait...
7. XS++ will spit some text (phone info, etc., INCLUDING YOUR PHONE LOCK CODE as shown in the image below).
8. DONE!

As Easy As That...

The Huawei E220 HSDPA USB Modem

My hands were able to get hold of this Huawei E220 HSDPA USB modem. This is distributed by Globe Telecom (I think it is bundled with Globe Visibility package, which was requested by one of my officemates for off-site support).

When I saw it, I got curious, borrowed it and tested it myself...

This USB modem is also equipped with a USB drive. It contains Software and driver for Windows.

Here are some pictures of the hardware:

The HUAWEI Mobile Connect software is surely enough to properly connect to your service provider under Windows environment. It has options to set APN, IP Address, etc. It also has the option to force 3G connection only.

Globe Connection

Smart Connection
I tried inserting my Smart Buddy SIM and it worked.

In Linux Environment (using Linux Mint - Cassandra)
It didn't work right away, but after a short research, I was able to connect thru SMART.

This HSDPA USB Modem from Huawei works good!

P990i Internet Browsing via Bluetooth (with BlueSoleil)

I know my P990i's Bluetooth works when exchanging objects from another phone. But I have not tried its networking capability. Would it work? I have a generic bluetooth with IVT BlueSoleil software bundled with it. So on my laptop, I installed, configured and paired with my phone. I setup its PAN (Personal Area Networking), shared intenet connection (thru Windows XP's ICS) and tried. It worked! I can browse the net thru bluetooth.

What did I do? Read on...
Pair (or trust) each others' Bluetooth.
XP: Take note of PAN connection. I named mine as "Bluetooth PAN" to easily distinguish it.

XP: Enable Internet Connection Sharing in the connection (dial-up, LAN, WiFi) which is used for the Internet (right-click connection->Properties->Advance tab). Enable/check "Allow other network users to connect through this computer's internet connection". Select "Bluetooth PAN" as "Home networking connection". Note that if "Home networking connection" is not available, it means that you have just one prospective "Home networking connection" and it is automatically selected.

XP: Double check PAN connection. It should have 192.168.0.1 as its IP Address (this static IP is automatically set when internet connection is shared with PAN connection).

XP: Restart ICS service (in Windows XP services).

Run BlueSoleil software.

BlueSoleil: My Services->Properties->Personal Area Networking tab. Check/enable "Auto-start this service when My Bluetooth starts". Select "Set up Bluetooth Personal Area Network". Disable (uncheck) "Enable DHCP Server", as this will be handled by ICS.

BlueSoleil: Restart.
BlueSoleil: Check if it says that PAN is with 192.168.0.1, as shown below. Otherwise, repeat the process.

P990i: Go to Control Panel->Connections->Internet accounts.
P990i: Tap Internet accounts->New account->Bluetooth Internet (PAN)
P990i: Settings - Name it as you like (I named mine as BT Net), as shown below:

P990i: Devices - (Search and) select you computer's Bluetooth.
P990i: Tap BT Internet (PAN)->Roles and select "Client - Server"

P990i: Save and add it to your "Internet" group.
P990i: Optionally, you can remove other accounts from "Internet" group leaving only the newly created BT connection (BT Net) as it's member, as shown below. This is to ensure that when your phone tries to connect to the internet, your phone will not resort into using other possible connection. You can re-add other accounts again later, if you want (i.e. when want to use 3G or WiFi connection).

P990i: Save group.
XP: If not yet connected, connect to the internet.
P990i: Launch browser and try to surf the web.

Your phone should connect to your computer via bluetooth, acquire an IP address and establish a working network connection. You would see BlueSoleil spitting out a message that a remote device has connected to my Personal Aread Networking.

That's all.

My Sony Ericsson P990i Debranding Adventure

This happened more or less three weeks ago...

I bought this "Smart and Powerful" phone, the Sony Ericsson P990i and was excited to update to R6D23 - the latest available firmware for this phone. That is because according to what I've read, aside from R6D23 fixes most of the known bugs discovered in the previous versions of firmware, R6D23 makes P990i more responsive. But to my disappointment, I found out that what I've got was using 162008/69 (Taiwan Generic) version R5A02, which is not included in the list of CDAs that could be upgraded to R6D23 (so far).

Downloaded Sony Ericsson Update Service (or SEUS), installed and ran, hoping that I would get the R6D23. After like 30 minutes, when SEUS is finished and after all the things you have to do after a firmware update, I finally was able to check the current firmware loaded - R6A01!

Did some research. Found out that this CDA thing could be changed. But needs to buy credits from kulankendi.com! No free? Greenhills?

I am stuck with R6A01?

What now? Google! Fired up google and it brought me to one of the topics at esato.com forum. Read, read, read, read... and read. The trick was to replace two files from a certain folder. The files to be replaced are somehow confusing! But then again, I must do it. I have to change the CDA. In about an hour, after some combinations of - turn OFF, remove battery, replace battery, hold 'C' button, release 'C' button, etc... lucky enough to get to 162007/1 with R6D23 firmware! Whew!

By the way, SE Phones' CDA, though I haven't got the exact meaning of it, as I've read, refers to the region or country where the firmware is intended to. It's the CDA that SEUS uses to update the firmware, so the 'trick' works, and witnessed and done it myself.

HOWTO: Boot Ubuntu (Fiesty Fawn) LiveCD from Hard Disk Thru GRUB

This is more likely a follow-up post with regards to the previous post. This is somewhat more detailed in explanation. I've done it several times, so I made a short HOWTO for myself, and for others that may find this useful.

Required Knowledge: bootloader, Linux, Windows, File System, etc.

PREPARATIONS

LiveCD Files

Using your favorite ISO image extractor, extract Feisty Fawn's iso image to a VFAT/FAT32 (or ext2/ext3/reiserfs) drive/partition of your choice. Empty partition is recommended. It should be extracted in it's root. When it's extracted, the destination drive's root should contain set of folders and files that can be found in the ISO image (plus other files and folders that may have been already there).

GRUB

1. Using your favorite text editor, open "menu.lst" and add the following lines at the end of it:

title Ubuntu (Feisty Fawn) LiveHD!

root (hd0,3)

kernel /casper/vmlinuz boot=/casper splash

initrd /casper/initrd.gz

The line

root (hd0,3)

should be pointing to the partition where LiveCD files have been extracted. It's using a ZERO (0) based numbering for hard disk device and partition. So if you saved LiveCD files to the second partition of your first hard disk, this line should be:

root (hd0,1)

where:
hd0 = first hard disk
1 = second partition (of hd0)

2. Save "menu.lst"

BOOT IT

Reboot
From GRUB menu, select "Ubuntu (Feisty Fawn) LiveHD!" [enter]
Wait for the LiveHD to load

Ubuntu (Feisty Fawn) LiveHD

OK, I downloaded and wanted to try Ubuntu (Desktop) but I didn't want to waste a CD-R (that is if I find out that this distro isn't my cup-of-tea), so I wanted to run it from my hard drive.

After some reasearch, there's a HOWTO that tells how to install it from HDD via downloadable HDD-media, but this requires the alternate installer version of Ubuntu, which I resisted because:
1) I have to download the alternate - my bandwidth is slow; and
2) I don't want to install Ubuntu yet.

After a few trial-and-error combos, here&'s the summary of how I did it.