Blog Entries

PHP Sort Function

kent@templatesjoomla.ca — Thu, 17 May 2012 14:47:43 +0100

PHP Sort Function
The PHP sort() function is a simple way to sort an array.The sort() function removes old keys and makes new ones. Although the results can be unpredictable in some instances, it can be useful in sorting arryas alphabetically or by date.

To use the sort function,

1) Add the array inside sort().

ie) sort($myarray);

PHP Array Diff

kent@templatesjoomla.ca — Thu, 17 May 2012 14:42:14 +0100

PHP Array Diff
With the array_diff() function, you can compare 2 arrays and get the difference between the two of them. The code below takes ids from one table and compares it to the ids of another table.
## Get first array

$command = "SELECT * FROM table1 ";

$result = mysql_query($command, $db);

while($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {

$id = $row['ID'];

$ID1[] = $id;

}

## Get second array

$command2 = "SELECT * FROM table2 ";< [...]

PHP Double While Loops

kent@templatesjoomla.ca — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 02:13:26 +0100

PHP Double While Loops
Using while loops, you can extract rows of data for which you and create variables with the results. Afterwards, you can use the variables to sort through more data. When sorting through databases, you can write single queries to obtain rows from one or more tables. However, from time to time, you may find that one query is not enough to obtain the data you want; no matter how creative you make your relational database queries. The next two examples show has one quer [...]

Null Column With PHPMYADMIN

kent@templatesjoomla.ca — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 04:52:51 +0100

PHPMYADMIN Null Column Default Value
When an entry is added to a database, you could insert 'NULL' by default if wish to do so. One such example could be that you have a form and the user can insert their email address or leave it blank. If it is left blank, the default 'NULL' value can be inserted instead.
To make the column value NULL,

1) Open PHPMYADMIN.

2) Select Structure.

3) Select edit for the desired column.

4) Select 'Null' for default.

5) Click th [...]

PHP Finding Text in a String With Preg_Match() or strpos()

kent@templatesjoomla.ca — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 04:35:45 +0100

PHP Finding Text in a String
With PHP, you may want to see if text exists in a string. For example, you may have database output from an api and you want to search the rows for particular string. Or, you may want to make conditional statements based on the database output. For example, you may to sort the same 'John' from all other names in a loop. The code below shows two methods for doing so using the preg_match() function and the strpos() function.
<?php

[...]

PHP Parse error: syntax error, unexpected

kent@templatesjoomla.ca — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 04:10:46 +0100

PHP Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '}', expecting ']'
PHP is quite good at helping you fix errors. At times, you may make the od mistake by closing a bracket with a square bracket when it should be a curly brace. The code below is an example for which you should go to line 22 and fix the error.
Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '}', expecting ']' in /home/myaccount/file.php on line 22

PHP Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_STRING

kent@templatesjoomla.ca — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 04:06:41 +0100

PHP Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_STRING
PHP programmers will see error codes during development. One such error is 'unexpected T_STRING'. This error usually means a semi-colon is missing. The error code will give a line number and it is best to start from there. Then, correct the error and try again. below is an example of the error as it would be displayed in a browser.
Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_STRING in /home/myaccount/public_html/myfile.php on line 42

Changing CSS With JQuery On Change

kent@templatesjoomla.ca — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 03:36:41 +0100

Changing CSS With JQuery
JQuery makes it very simple to alter css properties for an element, id, or class. The code below shows how an input value can become orange in case the number is greater than 10.

Initially, the change() function is activated when an input field changes. It is similar to Javascript's onchange attribute. Then, the value is stored as an object with $(this).val() and the class is stored as an object $(this).attr('class'). Now, conditional statements [...]

PHP Loops and Options

kent@templatesjoomla.ca — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 20:43:05 +0100

PHP Loops and Resources
First of all, not all loops are created equal. When coding in PHP or any other language for that matter, it never hurts to write code that is highly optimized. With PHP, there are so many ways to do things that you will see code written in all sorts of ways. And loops are particularly vulnerable to such unorthodox ways for which they can be written. Since loops are often written within loops, a multitude of options are available. For example, you may query a database a [...]

Opening HTML Or PHP At Specific Spot

kent@templatesjoomla.ca — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 18:13:02 +0100

Opening A Web page At A Specific Spot
You probably have noticed that you had seen a website load that did not start at the top. Instead, it started somewhere in the middle. When you link to a page, or post a form with php, you can always specify where you want the top of the page. The link or code to start a page at a specific spot looks like http://excample.com/#article_id. The code below shows a couple of samples of how the codes will look as a link and a form post field in PHP.

HTML [...]

Print Page Button HTML

kent@templatesjoomla.ca — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 18:02:27 +0100

Print Page Button With HTML
Here is a little snippet which allows you to print a page. When the print button is selected, you will be able to select a print, adjust settings(if desired) and print the page.
<style>

@media print {

.do_no_print {

display:none;

}

}</style>

<div>

<form class='do_no_print'><input type="button" value="Print Page"

onclick="window.print();return false;" /> [...]

Javascript Passing Values Into Function

kent@templatesjoomla.ca — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 17:43:06 +0100

Passing Values Into Javascript Function
Here are two methods for which you can use DOM(Document Object Model) to use values within html forms.

Example 1:

When someone clicks the button, the value 25 become a parameter for the get_price() function. It becomes 'value'.

<html><body>

<script>

function get_price(value){

var price1 = document.getElementById("myid").value;

//return true;

alert("Price is: $"+ pr [...]

PHP MYSQL Update Multiple Rows

kent@templatesjoomla.ca — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 15:27:30 +0100

PHP / MYSQL Updating Multiple Rows
Update is one of the main features for CRUD (Create, Read, Update and Delete). Normally, updating a database is performed on single entries or rows; such as users changing a profile or updating an address. However, using the for loop, you can update multiple records at once. For example, you could have a list of players on a footbal team and you need to adjust their weights for a particular reason. The script below shows how all entries of a table can be out [...]

CSS Background Transparency

kent@templatesjoomla.ca — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 03:22:14 +0100

CSS Background Transparency
You can make a background color transparent withthe following css properties.

color:red;

filter:alpha(opacity=75);

opacity:.75;

Joomla Custom Registration Messages

kent@templatesjoomla.ca — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 02:14:09 +0100

Joomla Custom Registration Messages
Joomla is often used as a portal for which users can sign up and login. Once they login, they can use the site as you desire. Meanwhile, when a new user does register, they often receive a registration confirmation message via email. The message is rather standard. However, you can always change and customize many Joomla user messages within a file called en-GB.com_user.ini. The file is located in the path language/en-GB/en-GB.com_user.ini. Below is an exam [...]

PHP Continue Control Structure

kent@templatesjoomla.ca — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 02:03:49 +0100

Using PHP Continue
PHP continue is a 'control structure' that belongs to a group with other control structures such as if, else, while, foreach and more. Its main use is to skip something. A popular place you may encounter 'continue' is within a loop. When it is used within a loops, it is used to 'skip something'. The code belowe shows how it can be used to skip an item in an array.
$myarray = array(Pete,Sam,John);

foreach($myarray as $name) {

if($name == Sam) {

& [...]

How To Make A Custom Joomla Template

kent@templatesjoomla.ca — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 00:44:55 +0100

How To Make a Custom Joomla Template
How To Make A Custom Joomla Template Making a Joomla template is very similar to hand-coding a typical html/css template. However, there are slight changes in the coding and concepts. The main file which is responsible for the output of a Joomla template is index.php. Index.php can be coded between the body tags with plain old div tags. But, you can make it modular by adding tags which can be used to add custom modules. The page which holds the details for [...]

PHP Download Multiple Files

kent@templatesjoomla.ca — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 20:53:06 +0100

PHP Download Multiple Files
Below is the code which grabs file names to download and passes those names into the url.
<form method="post" action="<?php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF']; ?>">

<input type="submit" name="file1" value="file1.pdf"/>

<input type="submit" name="file2" value ="file2.pdf"/>

<input type="hidden" name="getfile" value =""/>

</form>

<?php if($_POST['file1']){

$filename=$_POST['file1'];

PHP Download Script

kent@templatesjoomla.ca — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 03:09:01 +0100

PHP Download Script
With PHP, you can easily make a file accessible to download. PHP goes through a series of steps to make the downloading possible. The code below shows how PHP can find a file, make an application for it to download, name the new downloadable file, open the file, output the file data and close the data.
To download a file,

1) Make a link to the download PHP page.

Code:

2) Add the code to the my_download.php page.

Code:

<a href="m [...]

Get Maximum Value of Column with PHP MYSQL

kent@templatesjoomla.ca — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 04:25:41 +0100

Get Maximum Value of Column with MYSQL with MAX() and ORDER BY
With mysql, you can use the MAX() function to get the highest value in a column. The column could have data like ages, auto incrementing ids or weights. If you want just the highest value, the max() function will output that value. If you want a list of values starting with the highest number, you use the 'ORDER BY' condition in a mysql query to output the data based on what you want; such as highewst value or most recent date. Th [...]