Web Design from a Maine Perspective
Showing articles 71 - 80 (147 total)
Posted on 06/23/2010 at 02:30 pm | Viewed 33,292 times | 1 comment
I use Navicat for administering all of my MySQL databases. It has a command that I always use- empty table. I noticed today that all along there has been a command right below it for truncate table. Hmmm. I figured this would result in the same outcome and wondered what the difference is between emptying a mysql table and truncating the...
Posted on 05/29/2010 at 12:36 pm | Viewed 23,318 times | 5 comments
I always knew in the back of my mind that there was a better way of creating dynamic javascript than the method I was using. CakePHP has a great function as part of the $View controller: $View->addScript($jscript, false) will add a script block to your template header. This is the command I use to send javascript created in a Cake view up to...
Posted on 05/28/2010 at 12:12 pm | Viewed 18,172 times | 1 comment
I came across a posting today that changed the performance of my application tremendously and reinforced a concept I had forgotten about- mysql indices. I didn't realize my app was running slow until I implemented the mysql indexes below- no formal benchmark testing, but I would say speed improved by about 300%. The improvement was most...
Posted on 04/20/2010 at 04:42 pm | Viewed 20,278 times | 0 comments
I'm sure every developer reaches a point when they will need to use a mysql database of zip codes in the United States. Say you want to make a store locator and show how many miles a customer is from your store, or if you have some custom php logic that uses zip codes, you will inevitably need a mysql database of zipcodes. The Best Free Mysql...
Posted on 04/19/2010 at 04:27 pm | Viewed 28,201 times | 1 comment
I finally had a client request a piece of functionality that required me to program CakePHP so I could better control the default error handling when the site is in production mode (i.e. debug is set to 0). By default, CakePHP will throw a 404 page not found header whenever ANY errors occur on a production site with debug equal to zero. This...
Posted on 03/24/2010 at 11:18 am | Viewed 15,411 times | 0 comments
I have a HUGE query that I wanted to cache. I love CakePHP's caching functionality out of the box, but one thing is missing- you can't cache the results of a query. Let me clarify. You can cache the reults of a query, but only for that instance of a page load. Using $this->cacheQueries only caches the query to memory, which only lasts for...
Posted on 03/22/2010 at 05:56 pm | Viewed 18,043 times | 1 comment
I've setup a form that allows customers to sign up for an email newsletter and receive a coupon. I wanted to be able to track the bounced messages in case a legitimate customer's coupon was bounced for whatever reason. As I've learned, setting up the "return-path" for an email message isn't as simple as setting $this->Email->return =...
Posted on 03/16/2010 at 04:15 pm | Viewed 12,677 times | 0 comments
In writing a function to validate bank routing numbers , I came across two simple techniques, that I know I will need to use again: PHP Trick 1: Remove All Characters Except Numbers from a String A simple little regex does the trick: $routingNumber = preg_replace('[\D]', '', $routingNumber); PHP Trick 2: Loop Through a String Character by...
Posted on 03/16/2010 at 04:10 pm | Viewed 22,473 times | 0 comments
I needed to validate that a Bank Routing Number was valid, much like the algorithms out there to check if a Credit Card number is valid. I did a little searching and didn't find a PHP function that would do the trick. I decided to write my own, based on this javascript function , and publish it for anyone who wants to use it: Function to...
Posted on 03/13/2010 at 01:03 pm | Viewed 15,061 times | 0 comments
Quick note- I had an element .ctp file that was part of a plugin. I wanted to render that element across my entire Site Avenger site, including non-plugin layouts and themes. I found out that you can send $this->element() (formerly $this->renderElement()) a 'plugin' parameter to accomplish this... otherise CakePHP will only look in the...
