Bryan Helmkamp

So let’s just say you’re being a good developer and you’re writing tests. They are have good coverage (because you’re writing them first), they run fast, and you’ve setup a continuous integration (CI) server (like CruiseControl.rb) to run the build on every checkin.

CI servers can generally send email notifications for build failures and fixes, but when I’m in heads down development I often don’t check my email for hours at a time. Hours is far too long for a build to sit broken, especially when there are many other developers working on the project.

CCMenu tightens that feedback loop so I get immediate build status information in my menu bar. It uses Growl for notifications and provides a dashboard view of each project and its detailed build status. That’s a big improvement, and will help hold me over for a bit longer while I convince my boss to get us a build-controlled traffic light in the office.

I’ve been trying to get back on the Getting Things Done wagon lately, and that’s led me to tweak my tools and processes for efficiency. While looking for an automated GTD tickler file for my Mac, I stumbled on Lifehacker’s Auto-AppleScript tickler file post and took a bit of time to tweak the scripts to suit my workflow.

Here are the main changes I made:

• Cleaned up the scripts and fixed some minor bugs.
• Changed month folders to use the month name and number (for example, “3 – March”) so they stay sorted in Finder, but you can still see the month names when browsing.
• Only generate one year’s worth of folders, and do so starting from the current date.
• Copy files into the tickler system instead of moving them. (I can still remove the original if I want to.)

After setting up the system, I added this cron job:

0 6 * * * /usr/bin/osascript /Users/bhelmkamp/Scripts/Update\ Today\ Link.scpt

Now my ticklers for the day are open in a Finder window when I sit down at my desk each morning.

Download AppleScript_Tickler_v1.zip

For a while now, I’ve been in the habit of locking my computer as I walk away from it. I had setup the bottom right corner of my screen to be an Active Screen Corner to start my screen saver (in my Dashboard & Exposé preferences pane), but I recently stumbled upon a way to trigger the screen saver with a single keystroke.

The screen saver is actually just a regular Mac application tucked away in your System directory. So start by linking to it from a more accessible location:

$ sudo ln -s /System/Library/Frameworks/ScreenSaver.framework/Versions/\
> A/Resources/ScreenSaverEngine.app/ /Applications/Screen\ Saver.app

Then, after Quicksilver’s catalog updates, add a Quicksilver hotkey trigger with the object “Screen Saver.app” and the action “Open.” I set mine to ⌘+ESC.

I always disliked the default keyboard shortcuts for Mac’s Exposé feature. The F9-F11 keys are in the top-right corner of the keyboard, but using Exposé requires you to have one hand on the mouse.

The result was either reaching all the way across the keyboard to hit the F keys with my left hand, or switching my right hand between the keyboard and the mouse as I used Exposé. Yes, I’m lazy enough where this irked me.

Thanks to a tip from my friend Dan, I learned it’s possible to assign alternate keyboard+mouse combination shortcuts for the Exposé. Not only is it possible, it’s downright fast.

I set All Windows to ALT+Right Click, Application Windows to CTRL+Right Click, and Desktop to CMD+Right Click.

Now, I can keep my right hand on the mouse when I’m switching windows, and toggle between Exposé actions by holding my left hand on the appropriate modifier key.

It take’s a little trick to set this up. After you open the right dropdown menu to set a mouse shortcut for one of these items, you’ll only see “Seconday Mouse Button” (a.k.a. right click), “Mouse Button 3”, and “Mouse Button 4” as options. In order to select a keyboard+mouse combination, you must hold down the modifier key(s) you want while the dropdown is open, and then make your selection.