Paul A. Boivin – Web Developer

.phtml Windows 7 DreamWeaver

by Paul on Feb.19, 2010, under Reference

You’re here because you’re using the Zend Framework and want to edit .phtml files in DreamWeaver, you’ve followed one of the gazillion how-to articles, but you can’t find the missing link for Windows 7.

As you already know as of that OS version the file system architecture is a rewrite and ApplicationData folder does not exist except for a shadow pointer for backward compatibility.

So here what you’re missing:

C:\Users\[your name]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\[your dreamwer version]\Configuration\Extentions.txt

Then the line “PHP,PHP3,PHP4,PHP5,TPL,PHTML, PHP Files” needs the PHTML token as shown in red.

That’s it!

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XMLHTTP object problem except in IE

by Paul on Jan.23, 2010, under AJAX

Go to THIS PAGE if you have a sec.

Narrative:

This is the reduction of a larger application I am working on, but the affect is identical.  As it states at the link above, when running this code in IE (with or without the debugger) or with Firefox through Firebug  (you must put breakpoint at the ‘getAmi()’ function), it works fine.  But just run it straight in Firefox, or Safari,  then  the execution goes right through without  any JavaScript errors in the console.  If you put responseText in an alert you will see it empty.

An XMLHTTP bug?

If you find something I missed, let me know.  Cheers!

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eSata External Drive Will Not Mount on Vista

by Paul on Jan.12, 2010, under SysAdmin

Problem:

You plug in your new eSata (as in insanely fast) external hard drive but although the Device Manager ‘initially’ shows the device as operating normally  the volume does not mount. Disappointment.

Solution:

Upgrade to Windows 7.  Really. If you have enough power to run Vista, Windows 7 will run fine. Plus you will solve this issue and many others.  I recommend a lateral upgrade which most manufacturers offers.

That’s it!

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Awstats Security Hole

by Paul on Dec.28, 2009, under SysAdmin

Run this command on your log files: cat [log file] | grep *awstats* | more

If you see something that looks like this:awstats.pl?configdir=|echo%20;echo%20;cd%20/tmp; “
, you might have a problem with this well documented security hole.

The server I am currently working the issue runs version 6.5 of Awstats. It was reported that this vulnerability was fixed as of version 6.4.  Not sure if this security hole still prevails with the current 6.9 version.  Since I have not seen any recent reports I would assume it has been fixed with versions greater than 6.5

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JavaScript PO Box Validation

by Paul on Dec.24, 2009, under JavaScript

Self Explanatory:

PO Box Validation

PO Box Validation

And so it is!

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PHP 5.3 – Regular Expression Deprecation

by Paul on Dec.23, 2009, under PHP

Unless you carefully read through PHP 5.3 Migration Guide, and snift through all the deprecated functions, you might miss this gotcha: Note: As of PHP 5.3.0 the regex extension is deprecated in favor of the PCRE extension. Calling this function will issue an E_DEPRECATED notice.
, and run the risk of leaving function inner-workings unchanged, or worse, go undetected up to PHP 6  when those functions will be removed!

That’s it!

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Adding a Little Flair – Rounded Corners with CSS3

by Paul on Dec.23, 2009, under CSS, Reference

this is some text in a plain box

#box {
background-color: #487690;
color: #fff;
padding: 20px;
font-size: 16px;
}

this is some text in a plain box

#box {
background-color: #487690;
color: #fff;
padding: 20px;
font-size: 16px;
border-radius: 13px;
-moz-border-radius: 13px;
-webkit-border-radius: 13px;
}

Box with rounded corners – radius 13px if not viewed in IE

That’s it!

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PHP – Randomize Image Array Generator Function

by Paul on Dec.17, 2009, under PHP

The code below should be self explanatory but here its summary: give it a directory, a list of desired resource type (if you look at it you will see that depending on the context you could feed this a array of video players randomize video feed), the size of the array and not worry about other files being in the directory like an .htaccess or else and it will provide a unique array of images.

Function:

600

Usage:

usage

Demo:
Click Here to view an example. All the images on the home page: header, square mosaic, and left frame bottom are all using the random function.

That’s it!

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Adding Percentages to Dynamic Web Charts

by Paul on Dec.17, 2009, under Flex, Reference

Flex/Flash is no contest the best pathway to RIA on the web, especially when it comes to charts and graphs. But when you want to punctuate a current non-Flex project with a nice chart which can have its data pulled from a text file or our data model, Dynamic Web Chart form WebAssist.com is a no-brainer.

That being said, you cannot expect an off-the-self solution to have the expanse of a Flex platform.  So it does have a little shortcoming, at least out of the box, in not allowing percentages to the data portion of your chart.

chart.code

Simply add the line underlined above in red to /DynamicWebCharts/Data/[file name].data_parser.php. This will add the percentage character to your chart.  That’s it!

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Adobe Flash Player Update Problem

by Paul on Dec.17, 2009, under Reference

RE: CERT Alert for Flash Player

Problem:

Because of the alert above you try to udpate your Flash player, regardless of your browser or OS, you do so via the current Adobe process, meaning using the Adobe Download Manager, but after the install you find yourself with the same version. Disappointment…

Solution:

Whether you are a regular user or are a Flex/Flash developer the security alert is the same, the removal is the same, but you go Here to get the Flash debugger .  Anywho, uninstall the player via the operating system: Add/Remove for Windows; moving resource bundle to trash for Mac, etc… You should not have to remove the Adobe Download Manager, but on one machine I had to do just that, no clue why.  Then, you go to the Adobe site Here but you do not use the link on the first page but rather click on  Different operating system or browser?.    The objective here is to download the installer and bypass the download manager.  From there you download/install and you’re done.  That’s it!

Hope this saves you time.   Cheers!

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