Knockout.js binding for Bootstrap Typeahead plugin

Reuben.Bond — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 16:27:00 GMT

Here's a rather hacky script I wrote to bind fields marked up with Bootstrap's Typeahead plugin (see https://gist.github.com/1866577 for the version I use) to Knockout.js observables. Feedback is very welcome.

// Bootstrap.Typeahead binding: presently requires custom version from gist: https://gist.github.com/1866577.
// Use like so: data-bind="typeahead: { target: selectedNamespace, source: namespaces }"
ko.bindingHandlers.typeahead = {
  init: function(element, valueAccessor) {
    var binding = this;
    var elem = $(element);
    var value = valueAccessor();

    // Setup Bootstrap Typeahead for this element.
    elem.typeahead(
    {
      source: function() { return ko.utils.unwrapObservable(value.source); },
      onselect: function(val) { value.target(val); }
    });

    // Set the value of the target when the field is blurred.
    elem.blur(function() { value.target(elem.val()); });
  },
  update: function(element, valueAccessor) {
    var elem = $(element);
    var value = valueAccessor();
    elem.val(value.target());
  }
};

Update: Binding now uses only the valueAccessor, rather than looking for a separate 'source' binding. This is cleaner.

Enabling sloppy mouse focus in Windows

Reuben.Bond — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 08:33:00 GMT

I'm a fan of the sloppy mouse focus model, where focus follows the mouse cursor except when the cursor is over the desktop or the task bar. Only recently did I find that this can be enabled in Windows by twiddling a bit in the registry.

The particular registry key is: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\UserPreferencesMask.

Setting the least significant bit of the first byte enables this focus model. To make this easier, I've written the following PowerShell function:

# Enable or disable 'Sloppy' mouse focus. Effective on the next login.
function Set-SloppyMouseFocus([switch]$Enable)
{
# Read user preferences mask.
$regKeyPath = "HKCU:\Control Panel\Desktop\"
$prefs = $(Get-ItemProperty $regKeyPath).UserPreferencesMask
# Index into UserPreferencesMask where the relevant flag resides.
$flag = 0x0
# Bit in UserPreferencesMask[$flag] which sets sloppy mouse focus.
$sloppy = 0x01
if ($Enable)
{
Write-Host "Enabling 'Sloppy' mouse focus."
$prefs[$flag] = $prefs[$flag] -bor $sloppy
}
else
{
Write-Host "Disabling 'Sloppy' mouse focus."
$sloppy = -bnot $sloppy
$prefs[$flag] = $prefs[$flag] -band $sloppy
}
# Update UserPreferencesMask.
Set-ItemProperty -Path $regKeyPath -Name UserPreferencesMask -Value $prefs
}

To enable Sloppy focus, save that snippet as a file and dot-source it, then execute Set-SloppyMouseFocus -Enable.

. .\Set-SloppyMouseFocus.ps1
Set-SloppyMouseFocus -Enable

This is particularly useful if you're using multiple monitors.

Credit for this goes to Scurvy Jake's Pirate Blog.

Set-SloppyMouseFocus.ps1

Reuben Bond

Knockout.js binding for Bootstrap Typeahead plugin

Enabling sloppy mouse focus in Windows