Archives for Month: February 2009 ::
Creating Dynamic PDF files using HTML and PHP
Posted on :: Feb 27
There always arise a need for converting content from one file format to another one. Some may need to convert some text into HTML and some may need to convert some HTML content to an image format. The main reason for the need to convert from one file format to another is because the target file format is best suited for targeted medium where the content need to be displayed. The targeted medium may be an email, a printed hard copy or a web browser. The text format is best suited for sending emails, as the possibility of the email contents getting corrupted in the transition is much lesser, when compared to the HTML formatted emails. PDF document or a word document would be the best choice for taking a printed hard copy and obviously HTML is best for showing contents in web browsers.
Here, we are going to study on converting HTML 2 PDF using PHP. This article is not going to explain on the main logic of how to convert a HTML file to PDF file. That would be a separate subject and it could not be covered in this short article. But we would be seeing how to use some free open source PHP scripts to accomplish this file conversion.
Catch dynamically created form values
Posted on :: Feb 13
When you dynamically create a list of form elements it is sometimes hard to catch the values of those forms to use for database insertion. This tutorial describes how you can do this.
E-Commerce in ColdFusion
Posted on :: Feb 12
This tutorial uses arrays and structures to develop a shopping cart system. This tutorial also contains web-front order processing (e-commerce) information that most of you will probably find very helpful alongside the shopping cart.
This tutorial comes from an eclectic group of sources. I utilized Macromedia's LiveDoc's, CJ's tutorials, as well as many other tutorial information when I first built a full shopping cart system. With that in mind, some of my coding may seem familiar from elsewhere, and I want to acknowledge that I took parts of my coding from other sources when I initially wrote all of this coding. At this point I cannot cite exactly which parts are from elsewhere, but just know that some parts are.
Additionally, this tutorial utilizes a processing system in which people who shop must sign up as members. The coding is written so it is not a nuisance for customers to sign up as they check out. The code should be easily understood and editable so customers do not have to sign up before purchasing. I did this because I have found it more convenient for customers to store their information, and its more secure as it only uses one address for both billing and shipping.Dynamically Generating HTML Table Columns & Rows
Posted on :: Feb 12
I've written this tutorial, because I had a need to do exactly what the title suggests. I needed to dynamically generate a table with Columns and Rows, based off of a CFQUERY results. Well, this is the fruit of my labors, and I hope it assists others as well.
Displaying Tag Restrictions on ColdFusion Server
Posted on :: Feb 12
Please Note: This Tutorial is for Cold Fusion running on Windows.
One thing that always got to me was that on shared coldfusion hosting, you wouldn't know what restricitons are on the server until you try to run a chuink of code, like <Cfdirectory> and get an error. Well I've written this tutorial to assist you in ascertaining which tags are permitted and which aren't.
Google Penalty Advice
Posted on :: Feb 11
In this article, we provide free SEO advice to assist in recovering from a Google penalty and explore the most common causes, providing a useful penalty checklist.
To check for Google penalties with any degree of certainty can be difficult. For example, if your website experiences a sudden reduction in ranking for its main keyword terms it can be caused solely by a Google algorithm change or search results (SERP) update.
With any algorithm change or Google SERP update, there are always winners and losers, and when a sudden drop in rankings is experienced Google penalties are often incorrectly blamed.
Getting IISPassword to play well with others
Posted on :: Feb 10
Is your IISbased site not responding, locking you out, or not linking to article?
I had a heck of a time chasing down the problem. I eventually did figure it out. The solution is pretty easy but certainly was not too obvious at first.I am using ISAPI_Rewrite 3.0 for url rewriting. Then needed to add password protection to a folder. I hate creating accounts on windows as it's such a pain in the ass. I really liked IISPassword by IIS Tools. Unfortunately, both programs use an .htaccess file and neither one understand each other. Every time I changed one setting, it would overwrite the .htaccess file and this went back and forth for a few days.
There is a solution and I think it's pretty easy to make both applications work in harmony. IISPassword allows you to change the file where the settings are stored. They must have anticipated these types of issues and accounted for it.
To change the file used by IISPassword, simply follow these steps.
Creating IIS Virtual Directories with Coldfusion 8 and .NET
Posted on :: Feb 10
Ever had a need to automate the creation of virtual directories in IIS? Coldfusion 8 can do this quite well using the System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry class in the .NET framework.
Apache MultiViews & Mod_Rewrite
Posted on :: Feb 9
Apache apparently has a server module call mod_negotiation which contains an option called MultiViews. MultiViews is a setting that gives the server the ability to decide the best representation for a requested file that doesn't exist. Furthermore, If MultiViews is enabled on the server, it will take operational precedence before any mod_rewrite directives that you provide in your .htaccess files. Had I been aware of this setting being turned on by default with my host, I would have requested for them to turn if off. However, I was completely oblivious that the setting even existed.
WAMP and IIS web servers running in the same server together
Posted on :: Feb 9
How to have both WAMP and IIS web servers running in the same server together.
Configuring IIS on one server, and Coldfusion on another
Posted on :: Feb 9
I was trying to configure my web server and coldfusion servers on seperate machines.
My IIS server was setup to pull source from d:\\webroot. I copied the wsconfig.exe tool and its INI file from my coldfusion server root\\bin folder and ran it on my web server too hook them together.