14
2013
Getting Started with PHP: Part 3: Structure and variable existence
And here we are on part 3 of “Getting Started with PHP”! Today we have… Using effective website structure to make your life easier Overview of PHP isset and empty commands Using PHP to do your heavy lifting (using variables) Overview of PHP Isset && Empty Commands Within PHP, it is important to determine if our variables ‘actually’ exist, and/or are specified in any number of formats. For example: $variable = NULL; echo $variable; Will […]
12
2013
Getting Started with PHP: Part 2
Continuing the tutorial series on getting started with PHP (see “Getting Started with PHP” for the last batch), today I’ll provide some information on… Including external files Assigning PHP variables and constants Overview of variable and constant usage Including External Files PHP allows us to include external files that allow us to decrease the amount of redundant/repeated code used, as well as a security measure for important files such as files containing database connection details, […]
10
2013
Getting Started with PHP
I figured that since I spend most of my time buried DEEP in complex php functions, classes, and tips, it may be helpful to provide some background on what the hell you’re actually supposed to do if you have no idea! That being said, I’m going to begin adding some more introductory content that will hopefully provide some insight and tips on where to get started, so that you can more effectively work with more […]
10
2013
Structurer: Review
I’ll give you a hint. It’s [insert obscenity here] awesome, and this is a review of the Nettuts app “Structurer” (link). Earlier today, I was setting up my 1,000,000th website, and thought, “HOLY CRAP. This is getting redundant.”. When you work on as many sites as I do, or even if you just have to copy paste your files all the time, the hour or so it takes to load up all this stuff actually does pile […]
8
2013
Awesome Email open tracking with PHP and MySQL
Sometime last year, I wrote about super awesome email open tracking using PHP and MySQL, and I’ve since ALSO updated that one to be EVEN MORE SUPER AWESOME! Tracking email open rates is both very valuable, and very useful, particularly if you run a service where statistics are important, or in scenarios where more detailed information on users (namely their participation with site content outside the website is crucial). That being said, a couple things […]
7
2013
Updated MySQLi Database Class
Since I posted my mysqli database class originally on February 18th, I’ve gotten some great feedback, and A LOT of downloads, which is amazing! As a side note, I recommend always grabbing this class from the github repo at https://github.com/bennettstone/simple-mysqli I’ve also been using my own class on a large number of websites, and through the course of normal usage, and user feedback, I have made some changes… The error reporting has been enhanced to […]
20
2013
Simple session based “flash” messages
Quite a while ago, I grew tired of trying to come up with new and creative ways to display simple, one-time messages to users without crazy amounts of code for something that was frequently as trivial as “Saved!”. Sessions are the obvious solution, however, without a single function that could both generate, AND display the messages, it still wasn’t any better. And as usual, where there’s a will, and some code- there’s a way! Before […]
18
2013
Custom PHP MySQLi Database Class
Updated class files (documentation remains the same) with better error handling and full OOP class structure can be found here. Since the depreciation of the mysql functions in PHP (archive here), I thought it may be handy to more effectively future-proof my web applications by wrapping my database interactivity functions in a class (and oh how it is!), and as I was building a new web framework anyway- I figured why not! Unrelated: featured image […]
5
2013
Dev Confessions (And lessons learned the hard way!)
I’ve learned a lot through the years as a web programmer/engineer/developer (pick and choose the term you prefer). I’ve so too many thousands of lines of code to count, I’ve seen so many errors and warnings and server outages that I just don’t care to describe, and looking back at my past work is often pretty horrifying! Let’s get those confessions out of the way Forgive me oh holy purveyors of code, for I have […]
4
2013
Using PHP to output images (AWESOME STYLE)
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not lazy, but I’m also NOT a front end designer or HTML guru. So when it comes to repeating tasks endlessly that are even mildly lengthy- I get bored. That’s right, I said it- b.o.r.e.d. Tonight was a perfect example! As a back end engineer, I’m nearly always provided very tidy, but elaborate HTML assets, which are then on my desk to become amazing and highly functional beings. But after […]
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