Fragmented Development

Category: PHP

Bizarre Error, Revisited

In a previous post, I mentioned that I was receiving a bizarre error message: " Unable to create temporary work files ". It turns out that it may not have been as bizarre as I had once thought. After making the previously discussed change, things went downhill fast . Errors started coming in,...

Bizarre Situation, Bizarre Error

Update: The plot thickens! Since I work for a County municipality, we have a lot of bizarre stuff going on behind the scenes. For instance, we have an ODBC connection set up so that I can display a bunch of FoxPro data on our web site using PHP. Weird situation, right? Well, it gets...

Server Administration for Dummies

I finally got Postfix configured correctly (if not completely) on my VPS. It took a lot of poking, but now I can send and receive mail in SquirrelMail. While this is only the beginning of the configuration, it's a nice feeling to have something "click" and start functioning. I owe it all to the...

Where's Windigo?

At one of our LUG meetings, NYbill noted that I had more or less been a no-show lately on the forums, IRC and everywhere else. I even missed a LUG meeting! So, I wanted to give everybody a little sneak peek on something that I've been working on... Take a look at the teaser for Hike ADK (and...

PHP or die?

In several low-level, beginner PHP tutorials you'll see this: mysql_connect() or die('Cannot connect to the database'); First of all, if you're doing this, knock it off. It's a terrible practice, which leaves whoever is using your page completely in the dark. In fact, if you have the die()...

Issues with SQL Server 2005 and PHP - Part 1

This maddening issue took quite a while to figure out, so I sincerely hope I can save somebody the time by documenting it here. First of all, here's the environment - at work, we're using the following: Windows Server 2003 w. IIS 6 PHP 5.2.9-1 MS SQL Server 2005 Express Connection made...

Class ... Not Found Issue

I ran into a very sticky issue while writing a very complex set of PHP classes: I continually ran into the "Class '[ClassName]' not found" error, even though the classes were clearly defined – sometimes even in the same file. This drove me nuts for hours. I did some digging into the PHP...

Troubleshooting: PHP Extended Classes

This is really just a quick piece of trivia, but can cause tremendous problems if you're not expecting it. PHP does not, by default, call the parent class' constructor when you create an instance of an extended class. If you would like to have this happen, you must add a manual call to the...

Manipulating Files Without the Filesystem Functions

GoDaddy doesn't allow sites to write files to the filesystem using the PHP filesystem functions . This may be due to security concerns, but it put a kink in the comic system. Storing strip images could always be done through the database, but that adds a whole extra layer of complexity and...

Mind Your Versions

This blog, the main site , and many of my other sites are hosted by the "colorful" web host GoDaddy . I use them for several reasons, like reliability (100% uptime on their Linux servers) and their reasonable price. In fact, I have been an extremely happy customer – almost a fanboy...

Safeguard Your Redirects

Every once and a while, I allow a page to terminate itself by redirecting the user to another page with the header() function. This effectively stops script execution, because the user is sent to another page, right? Not always. If output has been sent to the user ahead of the the header()...

How To Dodge SQL Injection

Recently, a lot of .gov and .edu web sites have been the target of SQL Injection attacks that seed their database with Javascript that does all sorts of nasty things, including targeting an old RealPlayer vulnerability. For all the gory details on this particular incident, I recommend reading...

LifeType and Smarty

I've been messing around with the options in LifeType , and I have to say I'm pretty impressed. The options that LifeType offers seem to suit me pretty well, although there are some behaviors that irk me a little. I believe that I'll chalk them up to my inexperience for now, and hope for the...

Your Mission, If You Choose to Accept It

The plain red second hand of the plain brown wall clock struck twelve, registering ten thirty in the morning. It was Saturday; a single bead of cold sweat rolled down my left temple. It was time. With a few quick keystrokes, I opened Remote Desktop and type in the name of our web server. I was...

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