Anup Saund

??British Expat ??Vancouver ❤ Gardening ?Founder of gitSQL

Month: March 2010

I remember the days before ADODB

by

On March 4, 2010

In SQL

I remember a time when SQL was written for a database.

Oracle SQL was different to Access SQL

mySQL was different to SQL Server SQL

… then somebody said no, stop, enough is enough.

Sometime in 2009 ADODB was born for PHP. The 1 wrapper for ALL database types. Ah, just what we wanted.

Wait a minute? This is ADO, didn’t microsoft do this in 1996? The short answer is yes. Database abstracting is old in theory, tried out by microsoft, worked to a degree but never fully made it in the world (for whatever reason).

This brings us up to ADODB  – the promise of a database wrapper that will make it through, and iron out the issues that microsofts offering had.

Today I got my hands dirty with ADODB and I liked it. Looks and feels just like any other wrapper such as ADO.

Actually, I think it’s the same same. So so… così così.

One thing for sure. It makes hot swapping between Oracle/MySQL (which is what i’m doing right now) a breeze.

That’s why i’m writing about it.

I like it… how about you?

PRE tags, the quick way to keep formatting

by

On March 1, 2010

In Internet, PHP

I get asked quite often if there is a way to show CODE on a website, with it’s formatting in place?

The short answer is <pre>

It can output free text (i.e. non server side code) in a pre-formatted way. Yep, PRE = Pre-formatted.

On top of that, Preformatted also renders the php print_r() output in a nicely nested unordered list, which is great for debug purposes;

e.g.
[sourcecode language=’php’]  echo ”

";    print_r($arr);  echo "

“; [/sourcecode]

I am sure there are other uses for the <pre> tag too, I have just scratched the surface.

Give it a go – let me know if you find other uses for it.

Thanks.

BCC – Blind Carbon Copy – The forgotten field!

by

On March 1, 2010

In Email

The BCC field can usually be found underneath the CC field.

Sound’s obvious right?

You already know about the field, yes?

Great!

— but not everyone knows about it, or how to use it. I say this because I have had emails sent to me where ALL the contacts have been in the To: field.

This is bad practice because;

1) It violates the data protection act (we didn’t give permission for our email address to be shared)

2) Looks unprofessional

3) Opens us up to spam!

Whenever I get an email like this, it is usually because the person sending it is inexperienced/hasn’t had the training in proper use of email. So for those who use the BCC field correctly well done. For everyone else, please learn.

For MASS email, please enter ALL your to contacts into the BCC field, and then add your own address to the TO field. This way, ALL emails will appear to be sent to yourself, with blind carbon copies going off to everyone else.

Happy emailing.

In Sky Design – Website Launch

by

On March 1, 2010

In Internet

“I’ve opened up a web design business”

After many years of freelance web development, I decided to bite the bullet and “open up shop”.

In Sky Design is an association of designers and developers working together to create user friendly websites. We offer web design, graphic design and web application development; for start up business and established businesses who need internet solutions.

Please take a look at www.inskydesign.co.uk

We have set packages along with a price guide to show what our customers most commonly ask for.

If you can’t find it on the website, no problem, please ask.

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