Auri's Space: Blog

Scripting Class: Coding Assignments Due Friday, August 29

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 01:11:55 GMT

Build the following applications yourself and show me they work on Friday:

Variable Scope & Functions Tutorial: http://www.htmlgoodies.com/beyond/php/article.php/3472491
Sample Feedback / Contact Us Form: http://www.thesitewizard.com/archive/feedbackphp.shtml
Playing with Session Variables: http://www.tizag.com/phpT/phpsessions.php
Another Session Tutorial: http://www.htmlgoodies.com/beyond/php/article.php/3472581

Scripting Class: Reading Assignment, Due August 29

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 13:49:06 GMT

Skim back through Chapter 2, and see how what we did on Friday's class relates to what's in that chapter.

Read Chapter 3, and do all of the coding examples.

If you don't already have MAMP or WAMP on your home computers, I suggest one be installed so you can quickly work on your projects without relying on somebody else's server. It'll also give you much more flexibility in working with your own projects outside of this class.

I encourage you to play around with all examples. Change variables, make the code do more than the example intended. See how changes you make affect the outcome. It's good if you have bugs in your code in this class, because you'll learn how to fix them! This is called debugging. Of course, when you do real world projects. you don't want bugs :)

Now, do you know why they're called bugs? It's because back in the old days of vacuum-tube based computers, bugs would crawl into the system and cause the tubes to blow. So, the maintainers of those huge computer systems had to literally de-bug their machines!

Please let me know if you have any questions!

Best,

-Auri

Scripting Class: Wrap Up of August 22 Lesson

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 13:19:28 GMT

Ok, we've built the Dan Akroyd Guessing Game, so now what?

Well, things to take away from the class:

You learned how to perform a postback, which is where you send form data back to the same page so you can continue processing.
- Postbacks are good for validation, or for using the same page for multiple purposes.
- One example of a good postback use is an email form. For example, you could have a Contact Us form. The business process for the form would be:

When the page is first loaded, it shows the Your Name, Email Address, and Comments fields.
After submitting the form, you postback to your page and make sure they filled everything out.
If the fields were all filled out, then you would hide the form part, send their message to some contact at the company, and display a message to the user that the comment has been received.
If the fields were not all filled out, then you would display a message saying so. They would then submit the form again and again and again until they finally filled it out properly, and thus the email would be sent.

You learned about validation. While we touched on it briefly, validation is one of the most important concepts to master. Since interactive Web sites live and die by how they respond to user input, you need to make sure the user has actually entered information you can work with. On an industry note, secure coding practices dictate that you always validate the data received. We will be going over secure coding practices and validation in our next class.

Remember what happened when we passed in a string and the shopping cart tried multiplying a number against a letter? Whoops!
I added code using an if statement to validate the POSTDATA read from the $_POST array to make sure I a) received any data at all and b) whether it was a number. If the data was invalid, I used echo to write a Javascript script to display an alert on the client and used PHP's exit command to stop all processing on the server. Otherwise, the server would have still tried processing the data, regardless of what was displayed on the client.
- For those who didn't catch it, here's the javascript I wrote:
- <script type="text/javascript">alert("Sorry, the tire value appears to be incorrect. Please re-enter it."); history.go(-1);</script>
- The history.go(-1) tells the user's browser to go back one page, as if they had hit the Back button. The good thing about this function is the user is brought back to the form and it should already be filled out with the data they had previously entered.

You also learned about business process. Remember what programming in the real world is all about:

Programming is the digitization of a process, usually a business process.

So, if you document the process first, the program is much easier to write! You already know the steps you have to digitize. This is a very large part of writing a specification. If you don't have a specification, and you don't have a documented business process, your project will almost always ship late or never ship at all.

One last thing: You learned about some of the built in helper functions in PHP:

is_numeric(value), which checks to see if a value is a number.
rand(min, max), which returns a random integer number

You will end up memorizing many helper functions. They will make writing code much easier and much, much faster. Because many common tasks are taken care of by well-tested helper functions, you don't have to write them yourself, which will make the code more reliable.

As Steve Jobs said: "The best line of code is the one you never have to write."

I hope you enjoyed the class! Please let me know if you have any questions!

Best,

-Auri

Scripting Class: MAMP and WAMP Download Links

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 12:58:24 GMT

We discussed MAMP and WAMP as solutions for running Apache (a Web server) + MySQL (a relational database server) + PHP (a programming language) on your computer. Using these tools, you can create your class projects and run them on your computer.

If you have a Mac, you'll want MAMP, which you can download here.

If you have Windows, you'll want WAMP, which you can download here.

If you want to learn more about these solutions, go to their respective Web sites:

MAMP: http://www.mamp.info/en/
WAMP: http://www.wampserver.com/en/

The I.T. Snowball

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 13:56:35 GMT

"I don't know. I guess you didn't take it down right."
You just powered down the Exchange Server!!!

Yeah... funny... all on this awesome site: http://www.thewebsiteisdown.com/

Thanks to Ron for this one!

Go Polo Bears! See my Segway Polo team playing at Segfest 2008...

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 10:37:24 GMT

We're an expansion team, and we greatly improved!

Photos from Segfest 2008 Now Online

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 03:01:43 GMT

As you may very well know, I attended the Segway Fest this year...

My photos are now online, so enjoy! Just hit up my photo albums, or click here to go there directly.

The Segway 500

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 01:56:16 GMT

As part of Segfest 2008 (http://segwayfest2008.com/), you could go to the Speedway, where the Indy 500 takes place, and ride your Segway on the track.

They let us ride up and down the brickyard! Enjoy the video!

GENTLEMEN! START YOUR SEGWAYS!

Funny Indian Video

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 00:39:39 GMT

If you liked Tanak Tanak Tun, you'll love this one...

Crazy Indian Video... Buffalaxed... PAPAYA!

Is Windows Live Quicktime Support Using All Your CPU?

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 00:00:50 GMT

Ok, so this was annoying the heck out of me. I love Windows Live Photo Gallery, but it installs with support for Quicktime. Its Quicktime support is provided via a process called WLXQuickTimeControlHost.exe. Unfortunately, whenever you open a folder that contains any Quicktime-associated files, the Quicktime support process uses 100% of one of your processors! Well that SUCKS!

Well, I found the solution today... Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 944563, which disables support for Quicktime in Windows Live Photo gallery. Fine by me - I can use Windows Media Player or Quicktime itself to view the MOV and MPEG-4 files.

Here's the link:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/944563

Enjoy!

Best,

-Auri

New ASP.NET Pro Article: Starting Your Own Business, Part 2: The Legal Stuff

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 12:11:49 GMT

Ever wanted to start your own business, but weren't sure of the steps? Well, my latest Consultant's Corner article in ASP.NET PRO Magazine covers just that!

If you're a subscriber, then it was in the August issue. Later this month you can read it online at www.aspnetpro.com.

Here's the direct link to the article: http://aspnetpro.com/features/2008/08/asp200808ar_f/asp200808ar_f.asp

Enjoy!

-Auri

In Memorium: George Carlin

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:40:51 GMT

A great comedian and a true inspiration, George Carlin passed away Sunday, June 22, 2008. George, keep 'em laughin' up there.

Seen my Consultants Corner articles in ASP.net PRO? Check 'em out...

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:19:15 GMT

I write a monthly column for ASP.net PRO magazine about the business side of software development. The column is called Consultant's Corner.

The latest article is about growing your business from one to two or more people.

Check out some previous columns:

May 2008: Microsoft's Partner Solutions
April 2008: Back to Basics - What Every Development Shop Needs
March 2008: Got Issues? Issue Management Systems

Coming Soon: Incorporating Your Business, and the legal issues you must address.

Having trouble with Microsoft Text Driver? Here's a solution!

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 15:53:23 GMT

I ported the OpenCSV project (opencsv.sourceforge.net) to the .NET Framework. This version is read-only, although if you want a writer, let me know. Unlike OpenCSV, OpenCSV# returns a datatable, so you can simply pass in a CSV filename and it will be parsed and returned in a form that's bindable!

You can download the DLL and the source at: http://aurigroup.com/downloads/OpenCSVSharp.zip

So why not use the Microsoft Text Driver? Well, Microsoft's Text Driver doesn't work on Microsoft's 64-bit operating systems! Necessity is the mother of all invention, and therefore I'm releasing my port of OpenCSV for all .NET users to enjoy :)

Also unlike OpenCSV, OpenCSV# support setting whether the first row of data is the column headers, and automatically populates the column names so you don't have to work with index values and potentially wrong data.

Technical details:

* Written in C# instead of Java.
* Written for .NET Framework 2.0 and above.
* Made the ParseLine() function public so you can just pass a string and parse it, in case you don't want to parse an entire file. I haven't tested the ParseLine direct call, fyi.

Enjoy!

Auri Rahimzadeh
President, The Auri Group, LLC (TAG, www.aurigroup.com)
Contributor, ASP.NET Pro Magazine, Consultants Corner (yep, I do that column)
Author, Hacking the PSP, Geek My Ride
Technical Editor, Building Web Sites Bible 3rd Edition, Beginning Access 2007 VBA

Talking about Yours truly, at the office prior to heading to Zoobilation

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 11:35:49 GMT

Well, I went to Zoobilation at the Indianapolis Zoo Friday night. You had a choice: Wear a tux or dress for the Outback. I chose the latter.

For those of you who haven't heard of Zoobilation, it's an evening with about 100 restaurants sampling their wares, with the high-dollar entry tickets going to charity. It's a great cause, and it's great food. Steaks, seafood, breathtaking deserts, and bars constructed entirely of ice. The new koalas were apparently out, but they brought them back in prior to the arrival of most of the guests.

The photos are in my photo gallery...

Yours truly, at the office prior to heading to Zoobilation

My Sony Rolly Blog is now live and updating!

Fri, 30 May 2008 12:56:23 GMT

My unofficial Sony Rolly Fan site - MyRolly.net - Is now online for you to enjoy!

Sony Rolly blog, forum, support, tutorials and more! Enjoy it today!

http://myrolly.net/discuss/blogs

Indy 500 Parade: Segways Marshaling the Pipers

Sun, 25 May 2008 01:41:58 GMT

All of us Segway Marshals had to make sure the pipers (bagpipe players) were not disturbed by the crowd...

Quote

Indy 500 Parade: Segways Marshaling the Pipers

Video: Indy 500 Parade: Segways Marshaling the Pipers

Indy 500 Parade: Junior ROTC

Sun, 25 May 2008 01:41:13 GMT

Junior ROTC performing some cool moves

Quote

Indy 500 Parade: Junior ROTC

Video: Indy 500 Parade: Junior ROTC

Indy 500 Parade: End of the route

Sun, 25 May 2008 01:40:00 GMT

They're on horseback, and I'm on a Segway

This video was taken at the end of the parade route, after we had finished marshaling the bagpipe players (pipers) on our Segways...

Quote

Indy 500 Parade: End of the route

Video: Indy 500 Parade: End of the route

Indy 500 Festival Parade: The Belles

Sun, 25 May 2008 01:38:39 GMT

Man, they had to be HOT in those get-ups...

Quote

Indy 500 Festival Parade: The Belles

Video: Indy 500 Festival Parade: The Belles

Indy 500 Festival Parade: Fellow Segway Glider

Sat, 24 May 2008 23:48:26 GMT

A fellow Segway glider and marshal approached me while I was marshaling :)

Quote

Indy 500 Festival Parade: Fellow Segway Glider

Video: Indy 500 Festival Parade: Fellow Segway Glider

Indy 500 Parade: Checkered Flag Guy

Sat, 24 May 2008 23:47:33 GMT

The Checkered Flag Guy!

Quote

Indy 500 Parade: Checkered Flag Guy

Video: Indy 500 Parade: Checkered Flag Guy

Indy 500 Festival Parade: Keeping the Pink Panther Float Upright

Sat, 24 May 2008 23:42:50 GMT

It takes a lot of work to keep the floats upright... check this out...

Indy 500 Festival Parade: Keeping the Pink Panther Float Upright

Video: Indy 500 Festival Parade: Keeping the Pink Panther Float Upright

Indy 500 Parade Festival: Underdog!

Sat, 24 May 2008 23:37:15 GMT

A lot of work goes into making the balloons stay afloat!

Indy 500 Parade Festival: Underdog!

Video: Indy 500 Parade Festival: Underdog!

Indy 500 Festival Parade: Japanese dancing

Sat, 24 May 2008 23:23:05 GMT

Another video from the parade... I was a volunteer marshal on a Segway :)

Japanese dancing

Video: Japanese dancing

Indy 500 Festival Parade: Fred Hill Briefcase Drill Team

Sat, 24 May 2008 23:22:07 GMT

Fred Hill Briefcase Drill Team

Video: Fred Hill Briefcase Drill Team

Indy 500 Festival Parade Video: Human American Flag

Sat, 24 May 2008 23:21:27 GMT

Quote

Human American Flag

Video: Human American Flag

Updated video link...

Sat, 24 May 2008 23:19:05 GMT

Ok, I found an "official" video link... here ya go :)

Location for my videos...

Sat, 24 May 2008 22:55:44 GMT

I don't know why the Spaces system doesn't link my profile to my MSN Soapbox Videos... so here's the link!

Rolly dancing to Feist's 1234

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 21:33:24 GMT

Eat your heart out, Apple... Silly iPod Nano. They should have shown a Rolly for that commercial!

(sorry for the choppy video :))

Tutorial for Adding Music and Motion to Sony Rolly

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 18:59:19 GMT

I've put up a tutorial explaining how to put music and new motions on the Sony Rolly... In English!

Hit up http://myrolly.net and enjoy! (yes, the site's still ugly... I need to work on that!)

Best,

-Auri

Rolly manual English conversion in progress...

Sun, 07 Oct 2007 23:23:02 GMT

I've started converting the Rolly Manual to English...

Oh yeah!

Check out my progress: http://myrolly.net

Photos from show floor posted

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 01:18:38 GMT

I've started posting the photos I shot while on the show floor... more will be coming as I transfer them from my various cameras...

Either click the photo album link (CEATEC 2007 Show Floor) or click here...

Flexible Loudspeaker Technology at CEATEC

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 00:54:19 GMT

Shown at CEATEC, this is a demonstration of a flexible loudspeaker technology. As thin as a couple sheets of paper, the full audio spectrum can be realized. Combined with flexible display technologies, such as ePaper, you could have a multimedia experience that could be rolled up and distributed. Similar to the interactive newspapers shown in the Harry Potter and Minority Report movies.

Amazing full motion robotics

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 00:37:15 GMT

Just one amazing example of full-motion robotics at CEATEC 2007... wow...

Stereo audio targeting

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 00:36:24 GMT

Another cool technology emerging from CEATEC 2007:

1 LTD's directional audio speakers used a mesh of 8 to 20 little speakers and Regaza's audiovisuak processor solution to effectively transmit audio to specific locations in a room. This enables many applications, from multilingual audio based on where a person is sitting in a room, to automotive possibilities where passengers can clearly listen to only their audio tracks, while the driver only hears traffic and GPS instructions. Given an effectively optimized room or environment, there are incredible possibilities for audio targeting solutions.

Fuel Cell Powered Devices - Unlimted Renewable Energy for Consumer Electronics Devices

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 00:34:05 GMT

Toshiba displayed a *working* media player running on Methanol fuel cells. This is quite the breakthrough - unlimited, renewable, affordable, clean energy for consumer electronics devices. Imagine running low on power for your laptop. Just add a few squirts of methanol into a port and bam, get more power. In combination with rechargeable batteries, it could become the next big thing. Toshiba has shown concept mock-ups/prototypes in the past, but this is the first time they've shown something that actually works.

It's a small world after all

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 07:05:53 GMT

Below is a photo of Hidei (right). I met him at Stabucks here in Makuhari. He's from INDIANAPOLIS. He was born in Indy, then moved to Japan due to his father being hired by a Japanese company. He was certainly wowed by the Pike Place Starbucks card - you can only buy it at the original Starbucks. The entire store came over to see.

FYI - Starbucks Cards are a uniquely American phenomenon. Yours won't work here.

They gave me some free espresso - cool!

Italian in Japan... Interesting!

Sun, 30 Sep 2007 12:12:20 GMT

Well, you would think it would be different, and you'd be right.

A few notes on eating Italian food in Japan - at least, based on my experience at ONE restaurant...

Refills are not free. Iced tea is $4, and it has ice... That refill? Another $4!
The pizza was very good. I ordered a "half and half," where I could choose what I wanted on each half. One half was potato and mayonaise with some Japanese herbs and spices, the other half - a margarita pizza... basil, mozzarellllllla, and tomato.
There was no pepper at the table. Bummer with the Caesar salad.
There were no plate settings. There's a basket with spoons and forks. I'd actually liked to have tried eating the salad with chopsticks.
The tiramisu tasted like Eckeridge Farms frozen stuff, but it was good.
The tables next to me ordered pasta. They used Tabasco Sauce on their pasta... Japanese pepper, maybe?
Pizza: $14, Drinks (iced tea + refill): $8, Tiramisu: $4. Caesar Salad: $8. Yowsa!
This was the only Italian place I found in a one-mile radius.
There were a number of Indian places, but not a single Chinese restaurant.

A few notes about Japan

Sun, 30 Sep 2007 09:26:38 GMT

There are many Toyotas, but I have seen no Lexus models. I've seen one Nissan, but no Infiniti. Mercedes, BMW, few and far between. Alas, I haven't spotted a single American car.
Finding a pharmacy is difficult - and once found, I saw no Advil.
There are many McDonald's.
On escalators, people instinctively know to stand to the left, letting those who want to walk down escalators walk/run down the right.
They drive on the left side of the road.
Most cars are small. I have yet to see an SUV.
They care about recycling here. Everywhere you go there are recycling bins. Convenience stores have bins at check-out to place your receipt for when it won't be kept.
McDonald's doesn't have mayonaise in packets, but they can put it on your sandwich.
Flash memory is about twice as expensive here than in the States.
Everything is smaller.
I have seen practically no homeless.
There is a slot in the hotel room for the room key. Without the room key inserted, the air conditioning and other appliances have no power. Nice way to save energy!
It seems to rain all the time here.
It is a rarity for stores to open at 9am here. If they aren't 24-hours, they open up between 10am and Noon.
You should speak basic Japanese phrases here - hello / goodbye / thank you / excuse me. If you speak English, you will get smiles, but oftentime little understanding.
If security stops you, just keep speaking English. They go away.

Auri's Space: Blog

Scripting Class: Coding Assignments Due Friday, August 29

Scripting Class: Reading Assignment, Due August 29

Scripting Class: Wrap Up of August 22 Lesson

<script type="text/javascript">alert("Sorry, the tire value appears to be incorrect. Please re-enter it."); history.go(-1);</script>

Scripting Class: MAMP and WAMP Download Links

The I.T. Snowball

Go Polo Bears! See my Segway Polo team playing at Segfest 2008...

Photos from Segfest 2008 Now Online

The Segway 500

Funny Indian Video

Is Windows Live Quicktime Support Using All Your CPU?

New ASP.NET Pro Article: Starting Your Own Business, Part 2: The Legal Stuff

In Memorium: George Carlin

Seen my Consultants Corner articles in ASP.net PRO? Check 'em out...

Having trouble with Microsoft Text Driver? Here's a solution!

Talking about Yours truly, at the office prior to heading to Zoobilation

My Sony Rolly Blog is now live and updating!

Indy 500 Parade: Segways Marshaling the Pipers

Indy 500 Parade: Junior ROTC

Indy 500 Parade: End of the route

Indy 500 Festival Parade: The Belles

Indy 500 Festival Parade: Fellow Segway Glider

Indy 500 Parade: Checkered Flag Guy

Indy 500 Festival Parade: Keeping the Pink Panther Float Upright

Indy 500 Parade Festival: Underdog!

Indy 500 Festival Parade: Japanese dancing

Indy 500 Festival Parade: Fred Hill Briefcase Drill Team

Indy 500 Festival Parade Video: Human American Flag

Updated video link...

Location for my videos...

Rolly dancing to Feist's 1234

Tutorial for Adding Music and Motion to Sony Rolly

Rolly manual English conversion in progress...

Photos from show floor posted

Flexible Loudspeaker Technology at CEATEC

Amazing full motion robotics

Stereo audio targeting

Fuel Cell Powered Devices - Unlimted Renewable Energy for Consumer Electronics Devices

It's a small world after all

Italian in Japan... Interesting!

A few notes about Japan