Estes Technology Group

Display Featured Links Randomly Using PHP

Morgan Estes — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:23:37 +0000

I had a request to add a "Link of the Day" feature to one of the pages on the Law-related Education pages of the OBA Web site using what we currently have in place. I’m sure there are widgets out there already that will do this for me, and it may even be built into whatever CMS we deploy next, but I wanted to learn a bit so I decided to implement it on our current site. I don’t know much about PHP, but I learned to code in VB.NET and C++, so I can learn enough as I go to make things work.

With the help of The Google, I was able to piece together a little bit of code that reads from a CSV file into an array, then randomly displays a link from within that array on each page load, so that a new link is loaded on each visit.

The original code has appeared in several forms across the Internet already, so if it’s yours, please let me know so I can credit you. I’ve made some slight adjustments to fit my needs.

  1: php

  2: function makeClickableLinks($text) {

3:

  4:   $text = eregi_replace('(((f|ht){1}(tp|tps)://)[-a-zA-Z0-9@:%_\+.~#?&//=]+)',

  5:     '\\1', $text);

  6:   $text = eregi_replace('([[:space:]()[{}])(www.[-a-zA-Z0-9@:%_\+.~#?&//=]+)',

  7:     '\\1\\2', $text);

  8:   $text = eregi_replace('([_\.0-9a-z-]+@([0-9a-z][0-9a-z-]+\.)+[a-z]{2,3})',

  9:     '\\1', $text);

10:

 11: return $text;

12:

 13: } // end function

14:

15:

 16: function displayLink(){

17:

 18: $fp = fopen("your-file.csv", "r");

 19: while (!feof ($fp)) {

 20: $contents[] = explode(",", fgets($fp, 512));

 21: }

 22: fclose ($fp);

23:

 24: do {

 25: 	$x = rand(0, count($contents)-1);

 26: 		} while ($contents[$x] == '0');

27:

 28: // displays link title above clickable URL

 29: echo $contents[$x][0] . "
\n" . makeClickableLinks($contents[$x][1]) . "
\n";

30:

 31: // displays link title as clickable link

 32: echo '" rel="nofollow">' . $contents[$x][0] . '';

33:

 34: } // end function

35:

 36: ?>

 37: <body>

 38: php displayLink(); ?>

 39: body>

Click to view a working sample of this page here.

del.icio.us Tags: PHP,CSV,random links,Web Development,clickableLinks

WordPress Tags: Display,Links,Link,Education,code,Google,Internet,text,Click,Development,adjustments,makeClickableLinks,eregi_replace,displayLink,clickable
My CodeProject articles

Posted in Main, Tech Tips, Web Development, Work Links Tagged: clickableLinks, CodeProject, CSV, Link of the Day, PHP, random links, Web Development

Bonjour, mDNS Responder!

Morgan Estes — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 20:08:54 +0000

I’m tired of iTunes. Listening to streaming radio is frustrating, as it stops to buffer often and brings the window to the front every time, which interrupts what I’m working on. I can just listen to the station straight from the browser, thankyouverymuch. It’s a hog when it’s running, Apple assumes I have an iWhatever and tries to force apps down my throat every time I start up. The only good thing with it was that I can download movies to watch on demand. Oh, and it’s a pretty decent podcaster, but that can be handled with other, nicer software.

So I removed iTunes, but that pesky Bonjour remained to laugh at me, as if to say “you can’t leave Apple behind, we’re the silent Google!”. Fun. Thanks to the wonderful Interweb, here’s how I got rid of it once and for all:

How To Uninstall or Remove Bonjour mDNSResponder.exe

Hope this helps!

del.icio.us Tags: apple,iTunes,mDNSResponder.exe,Bonjour,goodbye,uninstall,remove

WordPress Tags: Bonjour,Responder,Apple,Google,Interweb,Uninstall,Remove,goodbye,iTunes,mDNSResponder

Posted in Apple, Main, Software, Tech support Tagged: Apple, Bonjour, goodbye, iTunes, mDNSResponder.exe

Don’t Forget to Clean Your Code!

Morgan Estes — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:03:15 +0000

I recently was asked to update a Web page with a rather long list of names, which were provided in a Word document. I use a combination of Dreamweaver and Expression Web, because they both have good tools for stripping out problematic HTML from Word, but today they weren’t much help.

This particular document had a table (of sorts) built into it, which listed names and cities, but after a good ol’

copy and paste, I found that things didn’t quite line up. Upon closer review, I found that the “table” was actually made up of tabs and spaces. While this worked in Word, it made a horrible mess for the Web. Just doing a copy and paste job created spaces (technically non-breaking spaces — “nbsp”) that seemed like empty space, but actually take up quite a lot. In fact, these spaces made the page 322kb! Most of the larger pages on the site were around 20-25kb, so I took another look at things.

In this case, I decided not to go with a table for the little bit of text that could fit in, instead going with the city name in parentheses after the person’s name. After removing all the nbsp’s from the code, I was able to shrink the page to 32kb – a 90% reduction in page size! That means the page will load in just over 1 second, instead of over 12 from before.

So, to recap:

Copy and paste doesn’t work as expected with the web, so be prepared to clean up your code a bit.
Check for spaces that don’t belong, particularly the “ ” – they take up more space than just hitting the spacebar does.
Use a tool like Firebug for Firefox, or the built-in tools in several other browsers (IE8, Safari 4, Chrome) to test your page for load times and see how you can improve them.

Windows Live Tags: Code,Word,Dreamweaver,Expression,tools,HTML,spaces,text,reduction,size,Copy,tool,Firebug,Firefox,Safari,Chrome,nbsp

WordPress Tags: Code,Word,Dreamweaver,Expression,tools,HTML,spaces,text,reduction,size,Copy,tool,Firebug,Firefox,Safari,Chrome,nbsp

del.icio.us Tags: dreamweaver,expressionweb,microsoft,word,html,cleancode,nbsp

Posted in Main, Microsoft, Tech Tips, Web Development Tagged: Dreamweaver, Expression Web, html, Microsoft, Web Development, Word

If you need to track your mileage for work, here’s an easy tool for you

Morgan Estes — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 17:14:57 +0000

Many small business owners and consultants spend time on the road in their personal vehicles traveling to clients and work sites. We know those miles need to be tracked for tax purposes (money back from the IRS is a good thing), but it’s often a pain to do. That’s where the TripBook comes into play.

Here’s the idea: you don’t want to carry a log book around in the car just for tracking your mileage. What if you forget to write it down, or need to make extra notes? You either open your laptop right then and try to keep track of it all, or you try to remember to bring your log book into the office and back to the car. We all know what a pain it is to track these things, and in the end we ask ourselves if it’s really worth the few cents we get back for it.

The answer is “Yes!” So here’s what you do. Plug the TripBook into your cigarette lighter when you start your trip. Take it out when you’re done. Plug the TripBook into your computer’s USB port and review your trip. It takes care of reports and tracking so you don’t have to worry about it.

TripBook can also be used to keep track of employees so they don’t have to maintain separate travel records, which minimizes accounting problems.

GiSTEQ USB dongle makes trip logging quick, easy, and utterly heroic

del.icio.us Tags: GPS,IRS,mileage,TripBook,taxes,logger

Posted in Main, Software, Tech Tips Tagged: GPS, IRS, mileage, taxes, TripBook

Tweet, Tweet

Morgan Estes — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 22:54:25 +0000

New, exciting things happening here in OKC. You can follow Estes Tech on twitter for updates to the blog and news items.

Posted in Main

"Could not Open Install.Log File!" Problem Solved!!

Morgan Estes — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 23:12:28 +0000

Technorati: wise uninstaller, unwise.exe, Symantec, install.log, could not open install.log file, error messages

I recently installed some backup software for testing and decided to remove the ones I wasn’t interested in anymore. My hard drive has had some corruption issues, which means I’m losing programs, but don’t know it until I try to start them and something fails. This, I think, is what happened with today’s problem.

When I tried to run the uninstaller from the Add/Remove Programs feature in Windows XP, I was greeted with a message box telling me “Could not open INSTALL.LOG file.” I opened the folder where the program was installed (%programfiles%\) and found the INSTALL.LOG file intact. I was able to open it and read all the contents, which looked OK. I tried to launch the uninstaller directly, but was greeted with the same error. A little bit of Googling solved my problem (link below).

"Could not Open Install.Log File!" Problem Solved!! [Archive] – Digit Online Technology Discussion Forum

Turns out that this particular problem is often seen with Wise uninstallers and is easily remedied. Just cut and paste the INSTALL.LOG file to another folder (desktop is easy) and run the uninstaller from within the installation folder (NOT Add/Remove Programs). You’ll be prompted for the install file, so just browse to where you moved it, select and hit OK. From there, the program should uninstall like normal. Why? No idea, but it works like a charm. I’m sure there are others out there who could detail why this works. If so, please leave your words of wisdom in the comments section. Thanks!

del.icio.us: uninstall, Wise, Symantec, install.log, could not open install.log file, error messages

Share this post :

Posted in Main, Software, Tech support, Tech Tips Tagged: could not open install.log file, error messages, install.log, Symantec, uninstall, Wise

Are your programs up to date?

Morgan Estes — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 22:06:29 +0000

I often find myself installing software for a specific purpose (testing, maintenance, etc.) and not using it regularly, which means it’s probably outdated when I need to use it again. Sometimes it’s a game that is still being developed (like Frets on Fire, a free, great Guitar Hero style game for your PC) that gets updates pretty often. When I go to use it after a while, I have to take the time to update it to the latest release before I can use it, which is kind of a pain.

Fortunately, there are a couple of programs out there that minimize the hassle of updating software. While they don’t automatically update the programs that are installed on your machine, they make it easier for you to do it when you have some free time. Let’s take a look at a couple of them.

FileHippo

The first is FileHippo.com’s Update Checker, which comes in two versions. One is installed and runs automatically in the background, the other is a standalone version. If you’re the type who just wants to be told when there are new versions available, go ahead and install it and let it run in the background. If you’re worried about another background process taking up resources and don’t mind running it yourself, I’d recommend the standalone version.

Once it’s done running, a window is opened in your default browser with information about what programs need updating. You’re presented with a list of installed software and version, along with what new version is available. Each entry has a download link with it that changes to let you know what you’ve already upgraded. All the files are hosted on their servers so there’s no hunting down every program from the publisher, which makes for easy updating.

AppSnap

The other program that I often use is AppSnap (official blog). According to their website,

AppSnap is an application that simplifies installation of software. It automatically figures out the latest version, downloads the installer and then installs the software in one seamless step. AppSnap is primarily designed for Windows which does not have any decent package manager such as APT and RPM as in the Linux world.

This one is a great way to find new software as well as updating the programs you already have installed. In fact, AppSnap is how I found Frets on Fire (see above). This program presents you with a long list of programs that can be filtered by type or status. Once there, you can easily add, remove, or upgrade programs from one central window. Since this is installed on your computer, you should click the “Update” button to make sure the database is the latest. From there, it’s a snap (pun intended) to select what you want to install and let the program do its thing.

So those are my two for today. What do you use to keep your software updated? Leave a comment below and share your tricks with the rest of us.

del.icio.us Tags: FileHippo,AppSnap,software,update,upgrades,howto

Share this post :

Posted in Main, Software, Tech support, Tech Tips Tagged: AppSnap, FileHippo, software upgrades, Tech support, update

Cross-posting from one blog to another

Morgan Estes — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 21:19:15 +0000

I’m testing out a new plug-in for Windows Live Writer which lets me write one blog entry and post it to both of my blogs. This should show up on both WordPress and Windows Live Spaces.

Posted in Main

Foxit PDF Preview Handler

Morgan Estes — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 19:40:24 +0000

I love the preview feature built in to Windows Vista and Outlook 2007, but have been frustrated that the only way to view PDF files within Outlook preview is with Adobe Acrobat. Since I use Foxit PDF Reader, which is faster and smaller, I haven’t been able to use the preview feature. Until now, that is.

Thanks to Tim Heuer, you can now use Foxit PDF Reader with Outlook’s preview feature. He’s written an add-on that allows Vista users who use Foxit to preview PDF files within the Outlook 2007 Reading Pane.

For those of us who are still (or also) using Windows XP with Outlook 2007, good news! Tim’s now created an add-on just for us. You can read about it and download it from Tim’s blog.

Making Excel Charts Even Easier

Morgan Estes — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 02:52:48 +0000

If you’re like me, you crunch numbers. It may be sales, inventory, finances, or any number of things. You probably use Microsoft Excel; maybe you even need a chart now and then but avoid it because it’s just a bit too crazy.

If this describes you (even a little), check out the Chart Advisor from Office Labs. These folks have been putting out some good Add-Ins that run within various Office programs. This one evaluates your data, creates a chart, and automatically puts it in your spreadsheet. I’ve tried it and am immensely impressed with it.

Here’s the official description:

Chart Advisor is a prototype that provides an alternate approach for creating charts in Excel 2007. This add-in uses an advanced rules engine to scan your data and, based on predefined rules, displays charts according to score. Top scoring charts are available for you to preview, tweak, and insert into your Excel worksheet.

del.icio.us Tags: Chart Advisor,Excel,Office Labs,Estes Tech,Tech tips