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Category: Software Engineering

Secure Your Java Spring App With PropertyPlaceholderConfigurer

This is a trick that I have used many times which I first learned about on Mkyong.com – one of my favorite Java/Spring/Hibernate resources.

Just about any application will need to connect to external resources like databases, web services, file servers, and the like. And, if you are working on a corporate application or in an environment where your source control system like SVN or GIT is not a safe place to keep passwords, this can cause quite a security conundrum.

Enter Spring’s PropertyPlaceholderConfigurer class, one of the handiest little classes. It’s actually worth adding Spring in your application just to get access to this little gem. What this does is it allows you to load a properties file into your Spring configuration XML, and use its properties – thereby removing the sensitive content from the XML file.

The iFrame Is Evil!

So it seems that every job I work on, the same topic comes up. Someone, at some point will say, “just use an iFrame for that”. Then I need to go down the old tired road as to why that would not be a good idea.

Well, this article is going to be a bit utilitarian for me. I hope to put down in a single place all the reasons iFrames are not a cure-all solutions so that I can save myself some time in the future and just point people to this URL. As such I may update this post on occasion as I refine these points. Feel free to use this post for that same purpose if you like, and please post any suggestions or points I have missed to my twitter account (@rwbDev), I’ll be sure to credit you if I add the point to this article.

Calculator App With Waterfall Chart

Anyone who knows me knows that I Iove a good chart. So it was a natural, and fun, next addition to my Crafting Profit Calculator. Adding these charts packs in a ton of information into this small and very simple tool – and it was a great excuse to play with Google’s Visualization API.

Some of you may recall the Craft Profit Calculator I created for my wife last year. It’s very simple web app I use occasionally to try out new ideas; initially created to play with HTML5. I released a new version today. It has a few new features, but the one I want to call out initially is the waterfall charts