Archive for October, 2008
Why Say Why
This morning while I was waiting for Kayla to get ready for church I was killing some free-time researching a few local stocks. I was trying to determine why they were currently trading at such low prices. I was actually researching one of our larger customers. We have done a lot of work with this [...]
Simple Random Images with PHP
Since it is a Saturday and I only spent a few hours at work today, I didn’t have a chance to do anything too fun or innovative which means I don’t have anything new to write about. So instead I thought I would write a quick helpful tutorial on how to create randomly rotating images [...]
How to Send Free Text Messages Using PHP
I am currently working on a large project and part of the project is to send simple text message notices using PHP. Our client had looked into a number of expensive services to send simple SMS messages but most were cost prohibitive for a start-up venture. As usual, I was not satisfied paying for something [...]
How to Change the Default File Download Location in Firefox
I finally got around to updating Firefox to the latest version the other day. Since the update, my default download location has been modified and I personally prefer to have my files dropped directly on my desktop where they are readily available. This is actually very easy to do even though it took me longer [...]
Using MySQL in and between Clauses
In and between are two functions MySQL offers that aren’t something I use on a daily basis but they are incredibly useful from time to time for specific operations. The in() function can be IN() or NOT IN() and the same is applicable for BETWEEN or NOT BETWEEN. Here some example queries of this functionality [...]
Code Highlighting in WordPress with WP-Syntax
A couple people have asked me what I was using for my WordPress code highlighting. Currently, I am using WP-Syntax that is available from the WordPress Plugin Directory. It works very similar to most the other syntax highlighting scripts I have used in the past. WP-Syntax can be found online at: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-syntax/ It currently supports: [...]
Populating Subject and Body of Email Using mailto
As I have previously stated, I do my best to use mailto as infrequently as possible because of all the associated problems. Occasionally, clients will request this functionality regardless of the consequences. Today I had to post a mailto link in Flash for which I wrote this tutorial. To expand on that link, the client also [...]
Using mailto in Flash with Actionscript 3.0
Generally I try to not to use mailto links under any circumstance because many users particularly non business users do not have a default email service and it becomes difficult or impossible for those users to utilize these links. In addition, I don’t like to subject myself or my customers to email hunters. That being [...]
PHP Script to Automatically Force File Download
I am working with a friend to help develop a simple interface for a backup system he is operating. Basically, the script displays a secure list of files by filename and each filename is clickable to download the corresponding file. I have forced the download of files using PHP in the past but the method [...]
Review of stackoverflow
I was just tipped off a couple days ago about a new website for programmers called stackoverflow. I believe it is currently still in beta but has been operational for awhile now. As a web developer I spend a great deal of time searching the web for solutions to complex programming problems. When I first [...]