Uncategorized
Newest Beta of Canadian Classifieds Alerter
IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR iPhone users when the next release goes:
For free users, I will be clearing out the entire database and starting it from scratch. Your alerts will not be carried over! You will need to re-add your current alerts in the beta and as well when it hits production! The reason for this is because of a previous bug with apple’s device token feedback service. The app is currently checking alerts for users who have deleted the app. This has been fixed in the new version, but was never an issue on the Android version. This will make the app faster for all users
The current interface was designed in 2015 when I was younger and less experienced. It was dated by 2015 standards, let alone 2022 standards! It has now been updated.
Also, some news on Facebook marketplace alerts down below!
Screenshot
What’s new?
- Interface is way more responsive and now gesture based (Swipe to reveal actions for alerts, swipe items to delete)
- Alerts and items are now combined into the same page!
- Items under alerts are collapsible
- Visual aids to show when an alert has unread items.
- Refresh now shows when the page is refreshing
- Crash when adding manual alerts fixed (Replaced web view mode with copy paste alert)
- Hook for third party services added (Add your own service!)
Things to know when trying the beta release out
If you’re a pro feature user, please only install this on a spare device! Although I’ve done extensive testing, I can’t guarantee 100% reliability if you use this application to make money and miss out on a deal!
I will pick random devices to try out pro features. You could get lucky 😉
When’s facebook marketplace coming??? Details please!
What will it require?
- Your own PC running 24/7
- A subscription to Canadian Classifieds Alerter that allows third party API plugins (See Pro features plan page!)
How will it work?
You will need to let a program run on your personal PC then send the found items to my server which then gets sent to your phone. Your facebook credentials will need to be entered into the program.
When will it be available?
After the most recent beta rollout goes smoothly. I expect February 2022.
Please email me or comment below if you have any questions 🙂
Uncategorized
2018 Apple Mac Mini core i5 – From an app/web developer perspective – Review and retrospective
Which 2018 Mac mini did I order?
I ordered the core i5 model with 256 GB storage, it came with 8 GBs of RAM. I’ve had this machine for about a month. I choose to order the 16GB of RAM myself. In hindsight, I think I would’ve ordered it with the 16gb of RAM already OR ordered 32 gbs of RAM from Crucial. You don’t save any significant amount until you hit the 32gb mark.
Is 8 GB enough for a 2018 Mac Mini?
Honestly, if you’re not doing any sort of work with Docker or VMWare or anything virtualization related, you’ll be fine with 8 GBs of RAM
What sort of work was run through the 2018 Mac Mini?
- XCode, but only because VS2017 uses it
- Visual Studio 2017 for Mac for Xamarin and dotnetcore development
- Docker for OS X
- VMWare fusion with 5 GB dedicated RAM
- Android Studio-
- IntellIJ IDEA CE
- iStat Menus to monitor temperatures and other hardware information
External equipment
- Crucial SSD connected via USB-C. I store my docker.raw file on this as well as my Windows 10 virtual machine
- 1 TB Western Digital Hard Drive. I use this for torrents and time machine. I do this to minimize reads/writes to the main drive
Repairability and disassembly
I found disassembly and reassembly to be fairly easy. It’s slightly nerve wracking to tear apart such an expensive machine, but there are no warranty screws to worry about, so worse case scenario was that I could’ve just returned it if something went wrong.
Storage Thoughts
I would never order the 2018 Mac Mini with 128gb of storage. Even with putting my Win10 VM on an external SSD and my docker images, I’m using 89 GB of my 250 available. Because of the storage being non-removeable on the mini, I highly recommend you put large items on external media.

Thermal performance
Disclaimer: I’d be more upset over the mac mini running too warm rather than thermal throttling. I’d rather my mini cut back power than run hot for too long. I’m expecting the 2018 Mac Mini will last me at least 7 years.
I use iStat Menus to control thermals, as Apple by default doesn’t activate the fan until far too late. You can create a rule for the fans to go full blast after 70 degrees
Thermals during normal activity
During normal coding, and web browsing, I rarely ever see temperatures above 60 degrees. During incremental build, I see temperatures in the high 70s occasionally. During non-incremental builds, the fans ramp up to 100 degrees. I’d find this concerning for the 2018 Mac Mini’s longevity if I did this regularly.
Thermals during youtube watching
Disclaimer: I have a rule set for my 2018 Mac Mini to ramp up the fans to 100% when it hits 70 degrees.
Watching 1080p videos yields barely any temperature increase on my 2018 mac mini
Watching 4k videos will bring temperatures up quite a bit. I made a sample youtube video showcasing temperatures. Watch the top right corner in this video
Overall performance
I ran a standard test project for iOS in XCode, my results as well as several other ones (including the core i7) is available here:
https://github.com/ashfurrow/xcode-hardware-performance
Which CPU should I get?
I personally believe the best valued CPU is the core I5 model. The core i3 model would probably do what I need just fine, but since I plan to get as many years possible out of my 2018 Mac Mini, I opt’d for the 6 core Mac Mini.
Should I buy the 2018 Mac Mini?
I personally believe with all the port options you’re given with this machine and the upgradeable RAM, that it’s still a pretty good value despite Apple’s price increase on this model. My only pet peeve is the lack of removable storage from the internal SSD. The best valued option is for sure the core I5 model with 256GB of storage, and then to purchase the RAM from Crucial.
Is there anyway to get it cheaper?
Yes, if you’re a university student or a “tutor for a university”. Apple does not seem to check to see if you’re a legit university student.
Overall thoughts
I am very happy with my 2018 Mac Mini.
Uncategorized
EntityFrameworkCore. Truncating / Emptying a table.
I was in the position of creating unit tests for a custom web api, and needed to wipe all data in a table before I run my tests.
Here’s the small command I run to delete all rows in the table
public void deleteAllData() { using (var db = new AlertsDbContext()) { db.CUSTOMTABLE.RemoveRange(db.CUSTOMTABLE); db.SaveChanges(); } }
Remove range takes IENumerable as a parameter. Which is why when you pass it an entire collection, it’ll straight up delete all entries.
Uncategorized
Failed to resolve assembly Xamarin.IOS in Visual Studio – Visual Studio
I received the following message when deploying after updating my version of Xamarin
Severity Code Description Project File Line Suppression State Error Failed to resolve assembly: 'Xamarin.iOS, Version=0.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=84e04ff9cfb79065' at Mono.Cecil.BaseAssemblyResolver.Resolve(AssemblyNameReference name, ReaderParameters parameters) at Mono.Cecil.DefaultAssemblyResolver.Resolve(AssemblyNameReference name) at Mono.Cecil.MetadataResolver.Resolve(TypeReference type) at Mono.Cecil.TypeReference.Resolve() at Mono.Cecil.Mixin.CheckedResolve(TypeReference self) at Mono.Cecil.SignatureReader.ReadCustomAttributeEnum(TypeReference enum_type) at Mono.Cecil.SignatureReader.ReadCustomAttributeElementValue(TypeReference type) at Mono.Cecil.SignatureReader.ReadCustomAttributeElement(TypeReference type) at Mono.Cecil.SignatureReader.ReadCustomAttributeFixedArgument(TypeReference type) at Mono.Cecil.SignatureReader.ReadCustomAttributeConstructorArguments(CustomAttribute attribute, Collection`1 parameters) at Mono.Cecil.MetadataReader.ReadCustomAttributeSignature(CustomAttribute attribute) at Mono.Cecil.CustomAttribute.<Resolve>b__2(CustomAttribute attribute, MetadataReader reader) at Mono.Cecil.ModuleDefinition.Read[TItem,TRet](TItem item, Func`3 read) at Mono.Cecil.CustomAttribute.Resolve() at Mono.Cecil.CustomAttribute.get_ConstructorArguments() at Mono.Cecil.ImmediateModuleReader.ReadCustomAttributes(ICustomAttributeProvider provider) at Mono.Cecil.ImmediateModuleReader.ReadMethods(TypeDefinition type) at Mono.Cecil.ImmediateModuleReader.ReadType(TypeDefinition type) at Mono.Cecil.ImmediateModuleReader.ReadTypes(Collection`1 types) at Mono.Cecil.ImmediateModuleReader.ReadModule(ModuleDefinition module) at Mono.Cecil.ModuleWriter.WriteModuleTo(ModuleDefinition module, Stream stream, WriterParameters parameters) at Mono.Cecil.ModuleDefinition.Write(Stream stream, WriterParameters parameters) at Mono.Cecil.ModuleDefinition.Write(String fileName, WriterParameters parameters) at Xamarin.Build.Download.XamarinBuildiOSResourceRestore.MergeResources(IAssemblyResolver resolver, String originalAsmPath, String mergedAsmPath, List`1 resourceItems) CanadianClassifiedsAlerter.iOS
After verifying both my build server and development machine were running the same version of Xamarin, I noticed a slight hint at the end of the message
at Xamarin.Build.Download.XamarinBuildiOSResourceRestore
Solution
I fixed it by updating Xamarin.Forms and Xamarin.Build.Download in both my Portable project and the iOS project and it built just fine 🙂
It’s that easy.
Uncategorized
Canadian Classifieds Alerter for iOS usage update
Effective right now, I will be extending the frequency of checks from the five-ish minutes that users experience now to 12-ish minutes. You will still have your six standard alerts.
I will be offering a pro service to get 45 second checks AND extend the amount of alerts you’re allowed to have to 15 for $65 a month. Please contact me for this service!
Other not as fast but maybe just as good for you plans are:
$40 for every two minutes
$20 for every five
The people interested in this service will be people who make a lot of money off Kijiji, I realize it’s not for everyone.
Why? Are you selling out?
Sort of.
But hear me out… how much money do you think this app makes a month in ad revenue?
$150? $100?
Five bucks.
I make five bucks a month.
This app took 5 months to make as I had to learn how to program for iOS, and I get five bucks a month to show for it.

Weak as shit ad revenue
What are my costs associated with this app?
-Annual Apple Developer Program ($120 a year)
-Power to run my server ($15 a month)
-Cost to build my server ($550)
Not including server upkeep and the initial cost of building the server, it costs me $25 a month to run this service.
I lose money every month by providing this service.
Do you have any other good news?
- If this service takes off, I will be removing ads from the app completely.
- I will more inclined to add new features if the app is making money every month.
Thanks for reading everyone 🙂
Uncategorized
Multiple dex files define lcom/android/vending/billing/IInAppBillingService
If you began to implement Google’s API V3 of their In App Billing Service, and switched to android-inapp-billing-v3 made by anjlab, you might get this error message
The reason this is happening is because you have the same library in there twice. Once from before, and again when his library adds the same files.
The solution is simple, delete the aidl folder in your <project>/app directory. Clean, then rebuild and it will work!
Android, Java, xml
Android – Creating a simple hamburger menu in title bar
What we want:
A standard hamburger style menu that can be used in the active title bar of an Android Application

Android hamburger menu collapsed
How to do it:
Create a menu layout in the menu directory of the res folder, reference it in your activity, and program functionality to each menu item.
Menu-item file:
If the folder “menu” doesn’t exist in “res”. You will need to create it. See below:

Android resource menu layout
Contents of new file:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"> <item android:id="@+id/iconHamburger" android:icon="@drawable/hamburger" app:showAsAction="ifRoom|withText" android:title="Other"> <menu> <item android:icon="@drawable/settingsicon" android:id="@+id/menuItemSettingsicon" android:onClick="launchSettings" android:title="Settings"></item> <item android:icon="@drawable/browser" android:id="@+id/menuItemWebsite" android:onClick="launchBrowser" android:title="Website / Status"></item> <item android:icon="@drawable/bug" android:id="@+id/menuItemBugReporting" android:onClick="launchEmail" android:title="Bug reporting"></item> <item android:icon="@drawable/beer" android:id="@+id/menuItemBeer" android:onClick="launchDonateActivity" android:title="Donate / Buy me a beer"></item> </menu> </item> </menu>
You’ll need a hamburger icon, which you can obtain off google images anywhere. I also have icons on each menu item. The end result looks like this:

Android hamburger menu expanded
We’ll need to make the hamburger expand on click, so create the following method
@Override public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) { // Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is present. getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.mainpagemenu, menu); return true; }
You’ll notice that in the XML file, I have an onClick property that refers to a method we haven’t implemented in this java file. We’ll add the methods to the file now (The method will need to accept a Menu item!)
public void launchEmail(MenuItem menuItem) { //do whatever you want in this method Intent emailIntent = new Intent(android.content.Intent.ACTION_SEND); emailIntent.setType("message/rfc822"); emailIntent.putExtra(android.content.Intent.EXTRA_EMAIL, new String[] {"[email protected]"}); try { emailIntent.putExtra(android.content.Intent.EXTRA_SUBJECT, "Hi, I found a bug with your app -"); startActivity(emailIntent); } catch (ActivityNotFoundException e) { Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "You have no email client installed! Email me at samp[email protected]", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show(); } }
That’s it! That’s how you create a very simple Hamburger menu!
Uncategorized
Automate backing up visualsvn repositories with Windows Powershell
To backup your VisualSVN repositories, you will need the following
- Windows powershell installed and configured to allow scripts to run. If you’re unsure of how to enable powershell scripts to run locally, see this superuser thread
- A place to backup files. I have mine synced to a local folder, which is then synced to OneDrive
Step one. Create a text file and change the extension to .ps1
The file would be something like VisualSVNscript.ps1
Step two. Add the following lines to the file
#Name of project1 Remove-Item -Recurse -Force <PUT YOUR PROJECTS DESTINATION DIRECTORY HERE> svnadmin.exe hotcopy <PUT YOUR PROJECTS SOURCE DIRECTORY HERE> <PUT YOUR PROJECTS DESTINATION DIRECTORY HERE> #Name of project2 Remove-Item -Recurse -Force <PUT YOUR PROJECTS DESTINATION DIRECTORY HERE> svnadmin.exe hotcopy <PUT YOUR PROJECTS SOURCE DIRECTORY HERE> <PUT YOUR PROJECTS DESTINATION DIRECTORY HERE> #Name of project3 Remove-Item -Recurse -Force <PUT YOUR PROJECTS DESTINATION DIRECTORY HERE> svnadmin.exe hotcopy <PUT YOUR PROJECTS SOURCE DIRECTORY HERE> <PUT YOUR PROJECTS DESTINATION DIRECTORY HERE> #Name of project4 Remove-Item -Recurse -Force <PUT YOUR PROJECTS DESTINATION DIRECTORY HERE> svnadmin.exe hotcopy <PUT YOUR PROJECTS SOURCE DIRECTORY HERE> <PUT YOUR PROJECTS DESTINATION DIRECTORY HERE>
You will need to do this PER project! Hotcopy can only copy to an empty directory, so we delete the contents of the directory first then copy the newest code to the directory. Save the file and exit
Step three. Use Windows Task Scheduler to run the script automatically for you.
- Â Press Start and start typing “Task Scheduler”. Click on it.
- Click create basic task, name the task “VisualSVN backup” or anything you like and select desired frequency
- For a command enter in “powershell -file <pathtoscript>” and click Finish
That’s it! Your VisualSVN projects will now automatically be backup for you!
Uncategorized
Xamarin.Forms – iOS/iPhone – Detecting if user said no to push/remote notifications
I assume if you’re reading this, you’re familiar with dependency injection in Xamarin Forms. What you’d create in your portable project (Your Xamarin Forms application) is the following
Xamarin.Forms custom class
public interface INotificationsInterface { bool registeredForNotifications(); }
In your Xamarin.iOS project, Â implement the interface with the following:
public class NotificationsInterface: INotificationsInterface { public bool registeredForNotifications() { UIUserNotificationType types = UIApplication.SharedApplication.CurrentUserNotificationSettings.Types; if (types.HasFlag(UIUserNotificationType.Alert)) { return true; } return false; } }
In your main activity for your Xamarin.Forms application, perform the check as follows:
if (DependencyService.Get().registeredForNotifications()) { Debug.WriteLine("alerts enabled!"); } else { String warningAboutAlerts ="The point of this applications is instant alerts" + " but you choose not to receive alerts. You will need to manually check the notifications" + "page or go into your iPhone's system settings to reenable alerts"; Debug.WriteLine("No alerts allowed!"); mainLayout.Children.Add(new Label { Text = warningAboutAlerts, TextColor = Color.Red, FontSize = 14 }); }
Fairly simple stuff! For my code above, replace mainlayout with whatever you want… a dialogue box, disabling/enabling menu items… it’s entirely up to yourself!