Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with php

Cover me!

CXImran — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 08:59:34 -0800

Anyone know of a good PHP library that will allow me to pull cover art images from Amazon? I'm not much of a coder, but I'm working on a project right now that needs to pull DVD cover art from Amazon. Does anyone know of existing PHP scripts that can help me learn about doing so? I've got an amazon web associates key, but I'm not sure what to really do from there.

Thanks

CodeFilter:

kjl291 — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:09:41 -0800

CodeFilter: I am looking for online classes mainly in the area of web programming (PHP, MySQL, AJAX, etc.). I need to brush up on my self taught skills. I am looking for something on the level of an actual coures, with assignments, deadlines, etc. (I don't necessarily like those things, but find I learn much better that way than self-paced from a book). Free or paid service is fine - I am mainly concerned with quality. I sort of like the courses and organization offered by eclasses.org, but I have no idea if they are good and credible? Any recommendations would be very much appreciated

Considerations when adding a periodic email update function to my website (with PHP's mail() function)

stuehler — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 14:56:47 -0800

I'm planning to add a feature to my website that will allow users to request periodic updates by email. I've cobbled together a little PHP script that uses the mail() function. It works perfectly when I test it myself, but I have no idea how this will work when released to a signficant number of users. One problem - I don't know how many users I'll have, so I'm trying to keep my up-front costs to a minimum. Optimistically, I'll have a few hundred users. In my wildest dreams, I'd have a few thousand.

Another problem - the email will be dynamically generated based on user-entered criteria - i.e., the user will log in, and enter some parameters. A php page will pull the appropriate data from the MySQL database, assemble the email, and send it out. Also, the emails will be sent on demand (not according to some predetermined schedule). So, I think that rules out something like Campaign Monitor's newsletter service.

My site is hosted at Media Temple, on a Grid Server.

Is this a disaster waiting to happen, or is that kind of demand/load trivial?

If the former, is there a better way to handle this? A reliable third-party service?

Many thanks in advance for any advice!

Cheers,
Matt Stuehler

I am looking for a simple timeclock/timecard replacement software.

Davaal — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 05:42:01 -0800

I'm a tech for a school district. One of my high schools was hit by lightning. The computer that my faculty uses to clock in every day (a windows 95 machine) died. I need a replacement ASAP. I don't know if weather had anything to do with the machine going down or not. I do know that the HD clicks grinds when powered up and it isn't being recognized in BIOS. I've built them a new PC and was ready to install the software for them, but no one knows what software they were running. I've contacted our helpdesk, software procurement, etc. The software is so old that no one remembers what it was. I seem to recall it was some sort of Microsoft Access DB called Logman. Googling hasn't provided any answers. I've decided to download some free software and hack it to my needs. I found phptimeclock and timetrex. Timetrex requires me to import users from the command line :-/, which is not something I can explain to our database specialist. PHPtimesheet is simple, but there are features I need which I don't have the time to code myself - i have other schools to get ready and the start of the year is approaching.

I need it to be a simple login because my users are not tech-savvy. 1-click logins are great. I also need the ability to clock everyone out at one time. This is the important feature phptimeclock is missing.

Any suggestions? PM me if you have a solution that you don't want to release to general pub.

Complex SQL Query

charmston — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 13:49:49 -0800

SQLFilter: I'm struggling with a specific SQL query. I have 2 tables, 'questions' and 'answers', which are linked by a field in answers. I would like to select the questions which have the most answers in the last 24 hours. I have wo tables:

'questions' with columns 'id' and other irrelevant fields
'answers' with columns 'id', 'ofquestion', 'date', and other irrelevant fields. The 'ofquestion' field is the ID of the question row that it is associated with.

Each question can be answered multiple times, just as here on the green. I am trying to formulate an SQL query that will select the 5 questions with the most answers in the last 24 hours.

This is the closest that I've been able to come, though it still doesn't work.

SELECT * FROM questions WHERE exists (

	SELECT answers.ofquestion, count(*) FROM answers WHERE answers.ofquestion = answers.ofquestion

	AND answers.id <> answers.id

	AND answers.date > SUBTIME( NOW( ) , '24:0:0.000000' )

	AND answers.ofquestion = questions.id

	GROUP BY answers.ofquestion

	ORDER BY count(*)

)

I'm no SQL expert, so this may not even be close. Anybody have any suggestions? I'm using PHP, so I have that set of tools in my disposal if need be.

Thanks!

Run multiple php websites from a single server?

zingzangzung — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:04:41 -0800

How practical is it to run multiple php websites on multiple servers from a single script on one central server? I wrote a script which is now being used on a few websites, and it has been suggested that to make updates simpler we run it from a central server ie each website will use the script from one source to actually run. While on the surface this seems like A Very Good Ideas, I am sure there are issues which might make it a very bad idea. Can you convince me one way or the other.

Can I edit my Akismet plugin?

harriet vane — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 04:08:22 -0800

Can I edit the Akismet plugin I use on my Wordpress blog? My host has a firewall which is preventing my Akismet plugin from working properly. They offered me a proxy address and number I can use instead, but I don't know how to get the plugin to use them. (Alternatively, can you recommend a good comment-spam catcher that won't run into firewall problems?) I've asked the Akismet people for help with this, but they say they don't provide that level of service.

I've never modified a plug-in before, but would be happy to get my hands dirty if given clear instructions.

My previous host had no problems with it (just terrible customer service). I was really happy with how well Akismet worked, so I'd prefer to keep it going if possible.

"And all the bells and whistles."

Bakuun — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 23:03:11 -0800

I'm looking for a way to let members of my forum create an individual "member page" for themselves, or have it created for them automatically upon being accepted into a certain usergroup, that they could fill out with miscellaneous info. To be more precise, the forum revolves an online game, and the member page would have details about their characters, background stories, etc. It doesn't really have to be tied to their forum account, although it would be a smooth way to handle it from the user standpoint. Except I'm clueless on how to make this work. The board is hosted on space I own, under a domain I own. So theoretically anything is possible in the technical department, minus my lack of knowledge. There are so many forum softwares out there, and gallery softwares, but I don't even know where to begin to look for something that offers the functionality I want. Is this a feature I'll have to script in myself (difficulty level: probably high, but if that's the only way, point me in the right direction!), or is there another way for the php uninitiated?

Extra details: I'm using Simple Machine Forums, and ideally I'd like the pages created once someone is of the right usergroup (to differentiate between game members and visitors). Though as I said, being attached as part of the board isn't a real necessity.

All help mightily appreciated. If extra details are needed for you to answer, just poke!

Looking for good freelancer script

Cochise — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 23:12:49 -0800

What's a good reverse auction/freelance site script? I'm looking to purchase (yes, I'm willing to pay for it), a script like Kubelance, Ilancer, Tukanas, or any other of the other freelancer script, but that actually works. I'm leaning towards getting Kubelance, but I haven't found enough reviews of it to convince me yet. Can anyone suggest another script that would be good? It's need to be very customizable.

Generate a nickname from a real name in php

ilike — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 03:11:43 -0800

I am looking for a way to generate nicknames from real names, preferably in PHP. I am setting up a community website that uses facebook for autentication. Facebook sends me the name for every new user but I dont want to show it in full to the whole world so I need to give each user a nickname.

Of course the user could choose a name themselfs but i I would prefer to have the system giving them a name that sounds a bit like their real name but obfuscates it enough to make it non recognisable online. Preferably it will also be human spokable without any numbers or such.

I was toying with the idea to take the first syllable in the users first name and then add something random to it. Extracting syllables though seem pretty hard. Anyone have other ideas or even better a finished class or script for this thing.

Why isn't my Facebook embedded Flash form working?

GilloD — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 07:15:35 -0800

PHP gurus, Facebook nerds, lend me your ears: I'm having a problem with an embedded Flash object on a Facebook Page. Here's the rub: I used to be Comp Sci, I decided I hated it and swapped out to English/Philosophy. Life being what it is, I'm a marketing guy now but my above-average know how lands me in a lot of tech-y marketing things.

So, we've got a Facebook Page. And we're running a contest. The easiest way to collect submissions and control the look was with an embedded Flash form. I brewed up a quick test: Flash form goes getURL onClick, submits via POST to a PHP, PHP e-mails my account with the info.

This works like a charm when I test it here: http://asilenttreatment.org/flashtest/testform.swf

It does not work when I test it here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Test-Lab/17009933723

The embedding code for Flash in FBML is:
fb:swf
swfsrc='http://asilenttreatment.org/flashtest/testform.swf'
imgsrc='http://www.ilovepeanutbutter.com/catImages/17010001_lg.jpg'

It embeds, it looks great, but when I click the button to Submit nothing happens. This is probably an obvious and embarrassing solution, but I'm stumped. Help a rusty tech guy flex his muscle!

Am I being overly zealous about "proper SSL implementation?"

aydeejones — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 08:49:43 -0800

Am I being overly zealous about "proper SSL implementation?" We've been working with this new collections agency for a few months now. From the very beginning, I noticed that their PHP-driven website was not secured with SSL so I refused to use it and would instead manually encrypt data (256-bit AES) and submit it to them via email. My security concerns caused me to question the entire outfit, but I was informed about how reputable the company is, and how much better they would be than our current agency, etc.

They have a "Place Accounts" page on their website where you are expected to fill out a full-blown help-us-skip-trace form (including social security numbers) which was not secured. You also have the option of uploading CSV files. In either event, the page was not secured.

I asked them to implement SSL (and secure FTP, if possible). A month later, you go to their "Place Accounts" page and are told by IE "this page contains secure and non secure items..." The page itself was an https resource, but the "action" property of the form redirected to a non-secure URL, meaning that when you filled out the form (or uploaded the file) the transaction was not encrypted (correct?).

So I complained about this, and they changed the "action" property of the form to redirect to a secure resource, but then changed the way they link to the "Place Accounts" page, so that their "Place Accounts" page was once again a standard http resource, eliminating the "secure and non-secure items" warning from IE but giving the user no visual cue (no padlock icon, or https) that the site is secure.

I complained again; a month later we're back to an https "Place Accounts" page, the "action" property of the form is secure, but the page still contains "secure and non-secure items," which causes a warning, does not present a padlock icon, and therefore requires a careful user to scrutinize the source to truly know that the page is "secure enough." Sure, it's probably usable at this point, but this is sort of like dealing with terms and conditions that can change at any time; if I can't just glance and see a padlock, how do I know, each and every time I use the page, that it hasn't been tweaked and broken again?

At this point I feel I should inform them that their web administrator / developer is incompetent. Am I being overzealous? How should I approach this? I've been working with their IT manager who I'd expect should be able to communicate with the web team, but do I need to grab the bull by the horns and talk to these guys directly? Should it really be this complicated? Why not just secure the entire site and use SSL everywhere to eliminate all doubt?

I've explained what I'm looking for many times (the entire "Place Accounts" page should be secured in order to present the padlock icon and no warnings) and it seems they take an entire month to make a change and get back to me, and it's a different, less-than-ideal result each time.

I'm also curious about your general attitudes towards encryption of data in transit. I deal with HIPAA a lot, which contains "addressable" requirements for encryption. I am often told by different folks that my approach to security is paranoid; "nobody's going to intercept that file! That'd be too hard!" In the case of email there are plenty of ways to breach security without intercepting individual packets (i.e. guessing a webmail password), whereas in an HTTPS situation, there isn't a cheesy Yahoo account on the other end, and you're more specifically concerned about interception in transit.

This isn't the first business I've encountered that deals with confidential information yet can't seem to properly implement SSL. Back me up here or tell me how you see it. I don't want this to become chatfilter, but I need your help in calibrating my security perspective.

Customizing a Wordpress function

adamrice — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 06:36:19 -0800

Wordpress/PHP question. I'm working on a Wordpress theme and want to use an algorithm to alter some of the HTML it emits. I've got a general idea of how to do this, and could probably manage a brutish implementation on my own, but my PHP-fu is weak and there is probably a better way. Here's what's going on. I'm using the blueprint css approach for a gridded layout. And I've got a "bottom-bar" of widgets, laid out in three columns. With blueprint css, the div for the third column needs class="last" added to it in (in addition to class declarations that apply to all divs) order for everything to line up right.

What I want to do is get the count of widgets each time a widget is emitted, and if count mod 3 = 0, insert 'last' into the class. Barring that, if I could insert class="widget-N" (where N=count) in all divs, I could manage, although it would be less elegant. Ideally, all browsers would magically support CSS3 and obviate this problem, but I'm not holding my breath.

Obviously I don't want to touch the core code. I don't mind inserting an altered version of whatever function is necessary into my functions.php file; but if there's a callback that lets me avoid doing that, so much the better.

It's a piece of cake to bake a pretty cake / if the way is hazy...

spamguy — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 10:19:28 -0800

I'm fed up with CakePHP taunting me like a disobedient two year-old. What's a better PHP framework built around model-view-controller? I started out writing raw, sloppy PHP in a text editor, but discovered I'd be doing myself a favour by giving it some structure. CakePHP was my first choice because of its support base and low code-to-results ratio. I still think it's pretty cool, but it's caused nothing but technical hurdles for me. Instead of spending my time learning cool things, I'm on IRC's #cakephp begging for help identifying why code that should work doesn't. And I don't mean 'should' in the Computer Science 101 'Teeeeeeeeacher! Why doesn't this code woooooooooork?!' sense. I mean, CakePHP has gained sentience and has been making my life miserable. One project, set() stopped working. After trashing that and starting over, it refused to save specific columns to my database, and made up names for columns that didn't exist. More often than not, responses to my questions have been 'Well gee, that's weird.' I have been humiliated by a folder filled with text files, and I'm on the brink of DTMFA.

I want a PHP framework that's like CakePHP but with a better user experience. I'm a programmer and not a content manager, so Joomla!-type apps are not what I'm looking for. I want get my hands dirty with documentation and code. Model-view-controller structure is desirable but not mandatory. Personal experiences with your framework of choice highly welcome.

Sorry for the half-rant-half-question, but I truly am feeling what can only be described as the PHP equivalent of trying to feed broccoli to a surly, alcoholic toddler.

Problem with regex order

ReiToei — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:03:11 -0800

RegExFilter: Can any regular expression ninjas help me with my this teensy problem? I'm validating an input in cakephp as follow:

'rule' => array('custom', '/^[a-zA-Z\'&.\s]{1,40}$/')

It works great in that it allows letters, spaces, ampersand, apostrophe, period and numbers.

For example: Jim's Number 1 Tackle & Rod Shop. validates.

The problem arises when there is a number first, for example 2you delivery services will not validate.

I know it has something to do with the order in which the expression is written, but I can't figure it out. Anyone know what I'm doing wrong?

Thanks, as always.

Need simple php flat file cms.

zorro astor — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 18:14:09 -0800

I need a simple php cms. I'm building a site for someone and they have a simple site. They only occasionally need to change the content, things like links in the side bar , content on the front page and adding and deleting images. I don't really need a database for this, but he user doesn't know any html and isn't interested in learning any. Any ideas?

Which PHP CMS?

hatmandu — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 03:56:11 -0800

I'm involved with an arts festival, and want to use a CMS. I think one (possibly any) of the following would be suitable, to varying degrees: Joomla, Drupal, Textpattern, Expression Engine, Wordpress. (I've deliberately gone for PHP.) Which would you recommend and why? Here are the functions that are vital:
- managing several mailing lists, with customisable fields to gather data on subscribers
- a discussion forum
- facility to upload files such as PDFs and Word Docs
- events programme (with dates, times, venues, ideally with option of pictures)
- picture gallery
(I'm aware that some of these things will need plug-ins.)

Design doesn't matter so much - probably an out-of-the-box template will be fine with minor tweaking. One crucial thing is that the users of the site are very non-techie, so will need to have something easy to use (this is to save me having to do it for them all the time!).

Sorry - I know there have been a lot of CMS questions at AskMe already, but I wanted to narrow down the question more precisely. Each package seems to attract love and venom in equal measures. Thanks for your ideas!

Apache2, mod_php, suexec security confusion.

odinsdream — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 06:58:46 -0800

Apache2 security theory; mod_php versus CGI php and the use of suExec: What is the non-theoretical problem with running Apache2 with mod_php and thus without using suexec on a dedicated system? I'm setting up a typical LAMP environment. I've used phpsecinfo to evaluate my current environment and implemented all of the recommended changes except for two, Group ID and User ID.

The distribution is the most recent Ubuntu Server with the mostly-default Apache2 configuration, and the mostly-default PHP installation, with the exception of the changes recommended by phpsecinfo.

These warnings indicate that my group and user ID numbers are below 100 (33 to be specific), and therefore may be a problem. I am not sure how to interpret this.

I followed the documentation links and was about to implement SuExec when I realized that this meant doing a lot of other reconfiguration, like not using mod_php, and that meant changing a lot of other things, etc.

This is not a shared system. It will only be used to host one company's applications through several virtual hosts. The applications will be PHP-based, and most frequently will use the Symfony framework. Apache currently runs as www-data, whose shell is /bin/false. SSH access to the system is by public-key authentication only and is further restricted at the daemon level to only specific real users.

What do I need to do to run this securely? Resources, guides and real-world examples would be greatly appreciated.

PHP intro and reference texts?

orthogonality — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 00:03:20 -0800

I want to learn PHP. Fast. Recommend a book or online resources, please. I know C, C++, Java, SQL. I know my Design Patterns, most of the stuff in Code Complete is second-nature to me. I emailed Stroustrup to point out a (very very minor) error in The C++ Programming Language. (He actually emailed back.)

All this to say that I want an thorough explication of PHP, not an introduction to programming text. There should be chart of operator precedence and arity, a list of what's a first class object, a consideration of the primitive types and their ranges, a basic explication of the underlying object model.

So I don't want a "Programming 101 using PHP"; that'll bore me with stuff I already know. I need something complex enough to keep my interest, complete and concise. But not completely theoretical, there should be examples and exercises. Something like K&R or Stroustrup's The C++ Programming Language, that doubles as a text and a reference. Or even Eckel's Thinking in C++.

Ideally, I should be able to do most things I want to do in PHP in a week.

Ok, suggestions? Thanks!

wordpress template is screwed up

clockworkjoe — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 11:47:28 -0800

Wordpress/web design problem-my custom template is screwed up and I can't figure out how to fix it. Please help. I just started a wordpress site for my blog. I created a custom template for the page. However, while the code is right, the design is screwed up. The sidebar is at the bottom instead of being at the side. You can see it at raillery.tv/blog

What am I doing wrong?

You can see the code here http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2718078&pagenumber=26#post344233403

Help me pick a web dev language to learn.

the_dude — Thu, 29 May 2008 14:31:15 -0800

I am trying to decide which web language + framework to focus on for learning this summer. I am stuck between PHP, Python (with Django maybe) or Ruby (on Rails). Basically, I am asking for people's input on all languages. They all have their ups and downs and I'm pretty sure I'll have to learn all of them at some point but I have start somewhere. Here is my initial perspective on all. Correct me, add relevant info and make suggestions.

PHP
+I actually have a passing knowledge of PHP. Not enough maybe to create something big but I have added small features, worked on cleaning other people's code
+It's very common.
-It somewhat seems unprofessional, probably because I feel like everyone and their mom has done something with it.

Ruby
+It's the new cool.
-It's the new cool.
+It seems very elegant and easy to learn, especially for developing something for the web with Rails.
+For some reason, the RoR community seems very friendly and I approve of their ideas a lot.

Python
+It's a lot more serious than Ruby, I feel like. It might be more useful for other things too as a standalone language
+Similar outlook on stuff with RoR community.
-Maybe not as big community for learning as it is with PHP and RoR. Not sure about this but others definitely have a lot of stuff.

Anyway, thanks a lot for reading along.

Also, if you would care to make a suggestion, I'd appreciate some books or websites to start things off with.

gmail doesn't like multipart/alternative MIME type?

invitapriore — Thu, 29 May 2008 09:30:30 -0800

Does gmail not like the multipart/alternative MIME type? I'm trying to use php's mail() function to send a multipart/alternative email out to some users. As far as I can tell, I've got the headers and body text right, but when I test it on myself the mail appears blank in the gmail client. Thunderbird (set up to check the same gmail account) seems to like it ok, displaying the html section without issue. What gives?

Here's an example message (actually generated, but with names/content replaced) for your perusal:
From: someone@somewhere.net
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="bufu8040bufu8040"

--bufu8040bufu8040
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

text version of message

--bufu8040bufu8040
Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1"

html version of message

--bufu8040bufu8040

Wordpress post time minus 13 hours?

mysterious1der — Sat, 24 May 2008 01:27:38 -0800

I need Wordpress to display the_time as well as the_time - X. I maintain a blog that runs on Japan time. It's easy to have the template contain a call to the_time and it displays just fine. I want to change my template so that the time fields would show "2:00 PM (1:00 PM EST)".

I've tried many variants like:

the_time('g:i') + 1
the_time('g'+1)
the_time('g')+1

Nothing seems to display what I want. I've googled it, and there are tons of hits on how to use the PHP time() function, but this seems different to me. This really has nothing to do with the current server time, I'm just transforming the result of a database call.

LAMP to WISA

gringoese — Sun, 18 May 2008 18:18:53 -0800

After working in a mostly LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) environment the last few years, I need to make a quick switch to WISA (Windows, IIS, MS SQL, ASP). I have very little experience with WISA. Give me some tips to make a smooth transition. What is different and what is the same?

Book 'em Danno

Iteki — Sat, 17 May 2008 05:18:01 -0800

Suggest an offline booking system, no wait... Suggest a one-click WAMP solution, no wait... Flash and flat files mebbe? Scroll right down to skip the rambling details and answer the short version of this question.

Situation:
I have 25 computers each handed out for up to an hour twice per am and twice per pm.
I have 500 users competing for these resources on a first come first served basis.
I am required to know who was using what computer when for legal purposes.

Present solution::
At present the doors open and people come and queue for a "ticket", we hand them the ticket for their computer and then choose their name from a dropdown in this excel file(screendump).
This was fine when there was 50 of them, but the list is getting a little nuts now, and we sometimes get a ticket back in less than an hour and so pass it out again, so there is a lot of farting around in the file basically. The only actual problem with this system (apart from it being insane!) is that it takes too much time.

Suggested solution?
We are looking at various long-term solutions, but in the meantime I need a better short-term one than the one we patched together above. I like the aspect of the physical tickets as people don't forget they have booked, and also it gives me a physical notification that they are done at their machine when they hand it back (I am not, nor want to be, deskbound). Giving each person a user-id and password is probably what the long-term solution will be, and installing some sort of internet-café/library software, but that's outside my perogative. I also like the aspect of having the userlist as I learn each persons name, and I also would like to use that to tie to some other aspects of the users account, for example "needs help" or whatever.

What I ideally want is to have a user-database with a few fields, and then drop it into a similar setup as we have, but where I can just start typing their name to get the list (as opposed to having to click in excel), and where I can see a clear visual representation of the entire fleet of puters and their status. I rekon I can do this myself easily as a web-based solution, but I absolutly cannot have this online, the userbase is confidential, and yet myself and my colleauge both need to be able to access it from our own computers at work. We have a common folder on the server where the excel file presently sits. Is that something I can do with xampp or easyphp or wamp5 or what? WITSuite looks like the smallest all-in-one solution, but is it safe to run like this and can it be run in the way I am describing?

I am also open to the thought of doing it in Flash as a standalone, and am also happy for suggestions of actual software to deal with this in a simple way, I don't want the bells and whistles that I have seen on some cafe/library/resourse management progs.

EXTREMELY SHORT VERSION
What is the smallest, best, lightest, oneclickiest version of a local WAMP solution that I can keep offline and run from a shared folder on our server for a simple ajax based site. Xampp, easyphp, WITSuite?