Author: Robert Starsi

Zend PDT on 64bit (x64) Linux systems how-to

Posted on by Robert Starsi

I am amazed with Hardy Herdon. It’s the best OS I’ve ever used. The only thing that was bugging me is that I was not able to install x64 version of Zend PDT. In my opinion it’s the best free PHP IDE around. The solution is very easy trough.

  1. Download Eclipse IDE for Java EE Developers from Eclipse downloads. It includes all the plugins PDT needs. You’ll be missing some with the vanilla Eclipse.
  2. Run it, and go to Help -> Software Updates -> Find and Install… Click Next and add a new remote site. Name: PDT, URL: http://downloads.zend.com/pdt
  3. Thick the new remote site and click Finish. When asked to choose which plugins to install, be sure to deselect the debugger. It’s not available for 64bit systems as far as I know and you’ll get an error proceeding with it.
  4. When you finish the process and restart Eclipse you’ve got it working.

This guide assumes you have 64bit Java working on your system. On Ubuntu it’s just a matter of installing a package in Synaptic.

CakePHP and some web hosts

Posted on by Robert Starsi

CakePHP is quite a mature framework. Yet I often run into troubles with some more exotic hosting companies.

Yesterday I was deploying a site hosted at 1 & 1 Internet Ltd. For a few hours I was trying everything but still I got the same 500 internal error. Finally I traced the problem to mod_rewrite. It turned out that I need to add RewriteBase to all Cake’s .htaccess files. So if you’re deploying your lovely new site to 1 & 1 your root .htaccess file might look like this:

# Turn on PHP 5
AddType x-mapp-php5 .php
RewriteEngine on
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^$ app/webroot/ [L]
RewriteRule (.*) app/webroot/$1 [L]

mysqli_connect and socket support

Some web hosts use sockets for MySQL connection. Socket is the 6th parameter in mysqli_connect (or mysql_connect). Cake does not know about this 6th parameter. I submitted a ticked some time ago, but it was closed and the change not implemented.

The solution is however very simple. Depending on what driver you use, edit file dbo_mysqli.php or (dbo_mysql) in cake/libs/model/datasources/dbo/ and on line 94 (CakePHP 1.2 rev 6311) add the 6th parameter to the mysqli_connect function. Don’t forget to add the default socket value (I use null) to the $_baseConfig private variable of the DboMysqli class you’re just editing.

Kvalitest – Construction Business Services

Posted on by Robert Starsi

I am very proud of this one. Kvalitest – Stavebné skúšobníctvo a geotechnika dates back to around 2007 and as such is among the first professional websites I’ve build in my career. After 8 years I am satisfied with how the design and implementation is still going strong and stands the test of time. Granted, it’s a simple website, it could use a touch of responsiveness for the mobile devices, but it “gets the job done” par excellence.

In the backend it features a PHP CMS I’ve build back in the day, called Wildflower (now discontinued).

kvalitest-front

JavaScript’s setTimeout and how to use it with your methods

Posted on by Robert Starsi

Update (May 2015): The following article deals with the nowadays well know JavaScript scope behavior and it’s much better explained/solved elsewhere.

While working on real time web chat application I run into problems with JavaScript’s setTimeout function. I would like to write down what I learned. It may save you some time, next time you’ll need to use this function.

Shortly about setTimeout

setTimeout is a simple JavaScript function used to repeatedly call some function after a specified amount of time. It takes two required parameters and an unspecified number of optional ones. Like this:

setTimeout(functionToCall, time, param1, param2, ....);functionToCall is the name of the function which will be called after time millisecond. You either use reference like in the example above or a string representing a call to the function:

setTimeout('functionToCall()', time, ...)The optional parameters can be used to pass any number of parameters to our functionToCall.

Where’s the catch?

Everything works as expected until you try to call a method inside your ‘class’ (there are no real classes in JavaScript). Something like this won’t work:

setTimeout(this.methodToCall, time);Passing a string representation instead of reference doesn’t work either.

The solution

I found the solution after a while searching in Google Code Search. The above example needs to be rewritten like this:

setTimeout(function(thisObj) { thisObj.methodToCall(); }, time, this);Here we are passing reference to our class as an optional parameter of the setTimeout function. In the called function we catch it and suddenly we can use it to call our method. I have no idea why such a simple thing needs to be so complicated but it only demonstrates that you need to learn a few tricks when you want to do real OOP in JavaScript.

Update

Posted on by Robert Starsi

When you leave your blog not-so-very-updated for some time you’ll start to notice some bad things. Traffic slowly declines and the more you don’t post the lazier you are to write something new. But I don’t want to talk about that.

I made quite a big decision lately – I left the college (willingly). My main reason was that I was, with time, more and more interested and occupied by my freelance career. It escalated to such a point that I had to make a decision. Stay in the school or left and fully concentrate on my business. I chose the later. There was no reason for me to stay – I was simply bored in school. There was very little useful knowledge that I was gaining there. Our programming classes, the only ones that I enjoyed at least a bit, became a joke in the 3rd semester. But I don’t regret my time spent there. I met a lot of great people and learned something too.

I am quite excited. Finally I can concentrate on things that I really enjoy doing. I am confident that this is the right way for me to go, but, well, time will tell.

CakePHP and WebBaker

Posted on by Robert Starsi

Recently I started using this wonderful PHP framework called CakePHP. It really moves the whole web development process to another level. It has got the MVC pattern, great community, good documentation, lots of people writing about it and there is the WebBaker. WebBaker is a PHP script that let’s you easily create all the files you need for your MVC pattern (model, controller, views). This saves you a lot of precious minutes.

Webbaker in action The CakePHP and WebBaker combination is deadly. You can have a functional element in your site like in 1 minute. All you need to do is create a table in the database and use WebBaker to generate appropriate files. At this point when you have written exactly 0 lines of code you have a fully functional interface where you can list, view, edit, add and delete items from database. This is possible due to the excellent scaffold functionality build in Cake. Then you can start writing your own code and smoothly replace the scaffolds. Try it, you’ll never want to go back.

Trying out Ubuntu

Posted on by Robert Starsi

I am happily moved to my new home for more then two weeks now. I was both lazy and occupied to write something. But right now I have a good reason. I bought a new hard drive and guess what? I installed Ubuntu on it to dual boot with Windows. It was not that new to me, because I was playing with Ubuntu before but that changed when I installed XGL and Compiz. I was simply amazed. In the area of 3D accelerated user interface Compiz can not be compared to XP not even Vista. Take a look at this video but you really have to experience it first hand to see the potential. One thing however still keeps me from using Ubuntu for my everyday work. Font displaying. Clear Type is so much better that everything that can be set up in Ubuntu (yes, I tried various guides how to make this better). This really is important to me because texts are the thing I look most at when behind a computer and they have to be as smooth as possible. So I’ll probably stay with Windows for some more time, but I feel it won’t be for long.

Moving to a new flat

Posted on by Robert Starsi

The summer holidays officially ended for me. Tomorrow I am moving to a new flat in Bratislava where I study. The school is starting around the 18th of September but there are some things that needs to be done there before. I will be offline for a few days, until my provider connects me. This will be terrible but I survived two weeks on vacation during the holidays without the net so I know how it is like 🙂 I have some articles started and I hope I’ll finish them during this time. Stay tuned!

Breaking the 200+ unique visitors a day!

Posted on by Robert Starsi

233 unique visitors On Wednesday I had 233 unique visitors! It’s a great feeling. That’s the best number I have got in my short blogging career so far. It’s nothing breathtaking but it really motivates me to write more quality content. Not that the CSS Debugging Tips (posting this on dzone caused it) was some masterpiece, but there are surely people that profit from reading it. So thanks everybody and off I go to write something worthy 🙂

Books I read recently

Posted on by Robert Starsi

I would like to share some great books I have read recently or I am reading right now. If you have something to do with the subjects mentioned here I definitely recommend these.

PHP 5 Power Programming

PHP 5 Power Programming You think you know PHP? Maybe after reading this book you’ll change your mind. This is an extensive journey trough PHP 5 written by the people who know it best. There are a lot of useful code examples and the whole thing is quite amusing to read. The book passes 1 Million downloads so far and they estimate that 1 in 5 PHP developers have this book. Not convinced yet?

Code Complete (second edition)

Code Complete Everyone who ever touched some production code should have this one. This book covers everything from application design to naming conventions. Every page offers pragmatic insight gained through years of effective coding experience and continues to be the principal handbook of software construction success for its practitioners. Project leaders should read this book cover to cover, and then purchase a copy for each of their direct reports. You probably have at least heard of it. This is a must.

The Zen of CSS Design

Zen of CSS Design Another bestseller. For everyone who does web design. The last chapter really nails it. The CSS development of 5 designs from CSS Zen Garden is explained here step by step. I learned a lot from this one.