Cranial Soup

Converting and Encoding a URL Containing Extended ASCII Characters (Delphi utility with source)

2009-01-27T03:57:00.001-05:00

It has come to my attention that some programming languages do not always make it very easy to convert and encode a URL.

While helping someone with bug testing and adding Last.fm support to a media player, we came across a problem with opening URL's to the correct page on last.fm's site when the title, artist or other tag info contained extended ASCII characters.

Example:

Artist: Bjørn Lynne
Title: Methydias Cloudship

This would be the correct URL on their site for this song:

http://www.last.fm/music/Bj%C3%B8rn%20Lynne/_/Methydias%20Cloudship

But in AHK, which does not support unicode, attempting to come up with the URL resulted in this incorrect one:

http://www.last.fm/music/Bj%F8rn%20Lynne/_/Methydias%20Cloudship

The problem was that you have to convert the URL from Ansi to UTF-8 before you encode it.

At first he wasn't sure if he could fix the problem, as that was what he thought he was doing in the first place.

So, while he decided to take a break from bug fixing to go play with his kids, because all coding and no play can make a coder and his family miserable, I decided to go ahead and make a little helper utility for him, just in case he couldn't resolve the issue.

Now I am not too sure on the particular details of how he fixed it, but he did and didn't need my little utility, after all.

But I am not one to let code go to waste, and my intention was to help someone resolve a problem, so I decided that this code will still do just that, one way or another. I am pretty sure that there is someone out there somewhere that could find this useful for something.

So, here it is, a small command line utility for Windows that will accept a parameter of a URL containing extended ASCII characters, convert the URL to UTF-8, then properly encode it, and finally, open that URL in the system's default browser.

I have included the Delphi source in case you may need that, too.

While testing this with various browsers, I noticed something peculiar. Certain browsers will display the URL in the addressbar differently than what the URL actually is. Although it is properly converted and encoded, the addressbar will display the original extended ASCII. I suppose this is to make it look pretty.

The following browsers exhibited this behavior:

Firefox 3
Opera 9
Chrome 1

Additionally, while both Firefox and Chrome copied the correct URL to the clipboard from the addressbar, Opera did not.

Opera copied extended ASCII, instead.

Internet Explorer did not exhibit these behaviors and displayed the actual URL used, in the addressbar.

Rest assured, this application does work properly, even if your browser isn't displaying what you think it should be showing in its addressbar.

Now I don't care if you use either the code or the compiled utility in an open source or close source project, for non-commercial or commercial purposes, and you don't have to give me any credit or compensation if you use it.

My goal was to help someone and if this can help you in some way, feel free to use it in any way you wish. I have released both the utility and the source into the public domain.

This application and its source code is dedicated to the Public Domain.

Download: Delphi encodeURL utility with source

Free MP3 Download: Eldad Lidor

2008-09-06T13:38:00.000-04:00

One of the great things about the internet, as a music lover, is that I get to discover all kinds of good stuff that I would not likely hear on the radio in my small suburban town in Northern NJ, or likely find a CD for, at the local mall.

For artists, it allows them to reach out across the borders of their countries and find a new audience. It allows independent artists the opportunity to market themselves and their music, without having to resort to signing up with some RIAA record label that is more interested in money than artistic quality.

One of these independent artists is Eldad Lidor.

There isn't much information available in English about this artist, but it seems he is a relatively famous one within his own country of Israel, having composed the musical score for some movies and television programs, among them a 1989 Israeli film called Crossfire (Esh Tzolevet).

He has also been the executive producer of at least one movie, a 1999 Israeli film called Shiv'a Yamim Be'Elul.

He's a real go getter, and puts a lot of effort into reaching out to potential fans on Last.fm. It was there that I was contacted by him and asked to listen to his music and tell him what I thought. (I love when artists spam me with their tracks, especially when they are really good.)

But being on a slow computer and connection, I can't stream audio and can only listen if there is a track I can download. After explaining this to him, he pointed me towards the only tracks he has available for download on Last.fm.

Going On is a short (2:18) but very good instrumental, a lonely highway kind of tune that I could imagine as the background music of a modern western movie, as the hero rides off into the night in an old beat up convertable. Or maybe playing as one stands alone, on a subway platform in New York City, in the middle of the night, watching the empty trains go by.

My Father Memoris - I am not too sure how to describe this one except to say it reminds me a bit of a cross between Mike Oldfield, Yanni, and an 80's electronica style commercial for the Bates Motel. It's a little bit spooky in some parts, and the percussion gets rather interesting towards the middle of the track.

Eldad also has another track available for download called Relationships, along with a number of others you can stream on his MySpace page. You will need a MySpace account to download, though.

If you like what you hear, please consider supporting artists by buying an album, seeing a concert, or telling a friend, especially when you find a really good independent artist like Eldad Lidor. Let's all help artists like him become successful, worldwide, without them having to resort to selling their souls to an RIAA affiliated record label.

Music Downloads Will Now Be Blogged

2008-05-28T00:36:00.005-04:00

In the past, I have added my Last.fm music finds to my playlist and embedded that in a player on the sidebar. Everything that I added could be downloaded, full songs, for free.

To cut the time it takes for my blog's pages to load, and because Last.fm's player has issues, I am going to start making posts for my music finds and get rid of the player.

If you have never bothered to listen to my playlist before, don't worry, you won't miss out on past music finds, as I'll be tossing in posts of past finds here & there till I am all caught up and everything has been blogged.

My taste in music is primarily instrumental. I can't stand songs with stupid lyrics. And for the most part, I like music that creates a mood, and doesn't interfere with my thought processes.

Most of the stuff I listen to is progressive rock, post-rock, ambient, or new age. Of course there are exceptions, and that applies to the 'no lyrics' rule, as well.

To kick things off, I refer you to my post on Last.fm about the gazillion Kitaro tunes I found, that are all downloadable.

For those not familiar with Kitaro, he is a famous Japanese artist that plays some very pretty, relaxing, new age, instrumental, synthesizer stuff. It's some great coding & studying music that won't break your concentration. What I like best about his music is the calming effect it has on me. It is so soothing, that I find that I do not become frustrated, as easily.

And with close to 50 downloadable tracks, that should keep your ears & your bandwidth busy for awhile. Just click the song links on my Last.fm post to go to each song's page and download them from there. The download links will be beneath the players.

And don't worry if you do not have a Last.fm account. One is not needed for the free music I will be referring you to.

Relax & enjoy!