I’ve read many many………..blogs from developers doing their comparisons between ColdFusion and PHP and while some do have really good points I personally think they all tend to attack basically the same subject almost every time. The subject in mind should be obvious if you’re a developer that must have working knowledge of multiple server-side languages under your belt, as I sure do. One day I could be developing in ColdFusion, the next PHP or even some classic ASP on rare occasions.
Before I go into it I must state that I could care less what language I will be programming in any day, any time. Give me a language I haven’t seen before and I will figure it out as because lets face it, they’re pretty much the same here and there but mostly there.
First off, the obvious, database stuff:
Every ColdFusion developer knows that making a connection to a database server and querying database records is as easy as cracking open that first beer. As for PHP it can be done also with ease. Only difference I see is that you keep your database connection settings somewhere on the server or in the site directory. The annoyance for PHP is querying some records. If you’re a noob to PHP, you might find it difficult but if you’ve done it a couple thousand times, it should be second nature but ColdFusion is of coarse better at doing database stuff.
Now for syntax stuff:
As for ColdFusion’s syntax, it’s similar to HTML and is suppose to be easier for developers to understand and sure sure, it is in fact easier to look at but that’s about it really. PHP syntax should be very familiar to any developer that has played with languages that contain the norm of curly brackets, concatenation, escape characters and echoing out your variable values and such. One thing that I think PHP might have up on ColdFusion in the syntax stuff is that a developer who is familiar with Java, JavaScript, C++ and even C# can easily have an understanding of the mark up. Not a huge thing mainly because ColdFusion has the cfscript tags that you can use if you prefer to code in the norm.
Storing an include into a variable:
I might get whined at for this one but PHP is definitely better at this. For PHP, all you do define your variable and put the path to your include into a string via the include() function and that’s it. As for ColdFusion, you use the cfsavecontent tag which is a bit much to be honest. Yea, I know, if your programming via custom functions you can include the file that way and call your method but that’s not the point I’m making here. Know matter what, PHP got this one.
Opening and closing tag stuff:
ColdFusion and PHP are the same here BUT their not. For ColdFusion, you can put all your code into the page without having to worry about opening or closing sections of code when you need to put in some CSS or HTML. Not the case here for PHP and it’s definitely annoying to look at a page and all you see are opening and closing PHP tags all over the place. ColdFusion got this one, no doubt.
Function argument stuff:
Sorry Cfer’s but I think PHP wins this one also. To include an argument into your functions via PHP, just toss them into your functions ($parentheses) and delimit them by a comma as norm. For ColdFusion, you use cfargument to include any arguments to the functions. One thing that ColdFusion’s cfargument tag does have is the ability to set the type of the argument as well as if the argument is required. You know what, think I’ll call this one a tie because they both have their goods and bads.
File upload stuff:
ColdFusion is a beast when it comes to file uploads for sure. Use the cffile tag and toss in some common logic and you’re golden. But for PHP you gotta write the file as temporary file, do common logic, then use the move_uploaded_file() function to do more logic. ColdFusion got this one without even thinking twice.
Image manipulation stuff:
This one might be a toss up but we’ll see. ColdFusion has a boat load of image functions already available without installing anything special. Just open the image via ColdFusion and start messing around with it. That’s about it really. PHP is kind of the same but with some things that may or may not create some headaches. To do some playing around with images via PHP you must have the GD library installed and in some cases I’ve seen this installed by default but it all depends on the server really. Once you have the GD library installed you can pretty much do the same thing you can do with ColdFusion, such as resize, flip, crop, draw and tons more. But for the sake of having less headaches, I’m gonna give this one to ColdFusion only because image manipulation is there already and there’s no need to install any junk.
Community stuff:
Whoooooaaaaa buddy does ColdFusion have this one in the bag, in fact two bags……….maybe three. The ColdFusion community is just badass to say the least. Ask a question about ColdFusion on Twitter and you’re flooded with responses. BUT ask a question about PHP and nada, nothing, not even a peep will come from it.
Other general stuff:
ColdFusion and PHP both have the normal functions that every language has such as creating and manipulating an array structure, zipping files up, executing .exe or unix binaries, error and exception handing, support for basically any database, a form of creating application wide variables and security functions for SQL Injection.
Let’s face it, every language has their annoyances even Microsoft’s beloved .NET, but all that matters is how you handle those annoyances, which is one of the main reasons why I love programming as much as I do. You get a job, you start that job, run into walls while working on the job, you figure out how to break the wall down and you get to raise you arms up in the air like you won a battle.
In my opinion and that’s all it is. Is that the community for any language should be willing to give each other a hand or even some solid knowledge about how to accomplish certain things especially to the newcomers and this is where ColdFusion definitely wins the battle.
- Pete
Monday, February 8, 2010
Monday, January 18, 2010
BWT Simple PHP Contact Form
Just got done putting together a very simple form available for download that I decided to call BWT Simple PHP Contact Form. Simple name for a simple script.
BWT Simple PHP Contact Form as the name states is a simple contact form that can be implemented into any website, on any server that is running PHP5+.
All form validation is check by the server and contains no JavaScript and is written in the form of Object Oriented Programming (OOP).
That's about it really.
Please feel free to download the script and give it a go.
Click here to download
- Pete
BWT Simple PHP Contact Form as the name states is a simple contact form that can be implemented into any website, on any server that is running PHP5+.
All form validation is check by the server and contains no JavaScript and is written in the form of Object Oriented Programming (OOP).
That's about it really.
Please feel free to download the script and give it a go.
Click here to download
- Pete
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Simple OOP Form with PHP
Let's face it, as a developer, you WILL have to do some playing with PHP. It's just a matter of time and if you can't stand the language, you're gonna have to just deal with it. As PHP is still one of the most widely used server-side languages today, it's juts best to learn the language, and learn it the right way.
Now, when I say the right way, I mean, by using programming best practices as stated in my last blog about UML, MVC and OOP. This blog is about OOP in general and why it is the best and cleanest way to program your applications.
Below is a very simple example of PHP OOP and forms:
The PHP the class:
<?php
class HelloClass
{
public function sayHello($obj)
{
echo $say_hello = "Hello there " . $this->hello_name;
return say_hello;
}
}
?>
The HTML:
<form action="" name="hello_form" method="post">
Enter your name:<br/>
<input type="text" name="hello_name" value="" /><br/>
<input type="submit" name="hello_submit" value="Say Hello"/>
<input type="hidden" name="hello" value="true"/>
</form>
Define the objects:
<?php
$obj = new HelloClass;
$obj->hello_name = $_POST['hello_name'];
$obj->hello = $_POST['hello'];
$obj->sayHello($obj);
?>
The results:
Hello there "Name that was entered"
Ex: Hello there Pete
I know the code might be a bit messy on Blogger but feel free to download this example here.
- Pete
Now, when I say the right way, I mean, by using programming best practices as stated in my last blog about UML, MVC and OOP. This blog is about OOP in general and why it is the best and cleanest way to program your applications.
Below is a very simple example of PHP OOP and forms:
The PHP the class:
<?php
class HelloClass
{
public function sayHello($obj)
{
echo $say_hello = "Hello there " . $this->hello_name;
return say_hello;
}
}
?>
The HTML:
<form action="" name="hello_form" method="post">
Enter your name:<br/>
<input type="text" name="hello_name" value="" /><br/>
<input type="submit" name="hello_submit" value="Say Hello"/>
<input type="hidden" name="hello" value="true"/>
</form>
Define the objects:
<?php
$obj = new HelloClass;
$obj->hello_name = $_POST['hello_name'];
$obj->hello = $_POST['hello'];
$obj->sayHello($obj);
?>
The results:
Hello there "Name that was entered"
Ex: Hello there Pete
I know the code might be a bit messy on Blogger but feel free to download this example here.
- Pete
Friday, January 8, 2010
OOP, UML and MVC, What? and Why?
As a developer, there comes a time when you start to get deeper and deeper into learning new ways of writing and structuring your code. I've been doing TONS of research and playing around with some techniques that are of coarse well known but to be honest I'm not exactly sure who really uses them, at least and unfortunately many co-workers are quite clueless when it comes to these techniques.
The techniques that I am referring to are OOP (Object Oriented Programming), UML (Unified Modeling Language) and MVC (Model View Controller) which is basically a way to organize your stuff in a manner that you should already be doing in the first place.
First off, OOP. I can't be the only one that had a tad of trouble getting their foot into the door and actually understand what on earth this was and why it is so important when developing basically anything and everything from simple show a name applications to more complex applications where there are many functions firing off at the same time.
OOP is a beast and once you get it, you know because it hits you like a train, making you think, OMG I can do this and yes, yes I do understand it.
At first I began writing some functions thinking I was writing OOP even though all I was doing was creating a bunch of functions and firing a main function instead of creating any classes which means I was still technically writing procedural code, yucky.
But that one day came and I got hit by that train that made me say, Oh jeez I was doing this all wrong but thankfully I get it now and will continue to do it the right way.
Now for UML. This isn't exactly all that new to me in a sense because when I was handed a project I always always always created a simple diagram which included needed functions, database tables with row names, foreign keys and so on.
Thing is, I'm not sure anyone even uses this technique to build their applications and by all means if you do please let me know.
Finally MVC which let's be honest, you should be doing this technique no matter what because it makes sense. Like OOP, there are many developers that might have trouble understanding what this is and why they should really even bother with it. The truth is that you should and it helps greatly when applications start to get larger in scale and you need to scale your application with ease and ridden the possibilities of introducing big nasty bugs into them.
But what is MVC? It's simply a way to slice up the code for your application into sections that make sense. Model, View and Controller, which should be obvious of what they do but instead of me trying to explain it all, try reading the Wiki on it here...
Enough of my ramble, I plan on tossing up a few examples of some OOP concepts in some future blogs in a few different programming languages.
- Pete
The techniques that I am referring to are OOP (Object Oriented Programming), UML (Unified Modeling Language) and MVC (Model View Controller) which is basically a way to organize your stuff in a manner that you should already be doing in the first place.
First off, OOP. I can't be the only one that had a tad of trouble getting their foot into the door and actually understand what on earth this was and why it is so important when developing basically anything and everything from simple show a name applications to more complex applications where there are many functions firing off at the same time.
OOP is a beast and once you get it, you know because it hits you like a train, making you think, OMG I can do this and yes, yes I do understand it.
At first I began writing some functions thinking I was writing OOP even though all I was doing was creating a bunch of functions and firing a main function instead of creating any classes which means I was still technically writing procedural code, yucky.
But that one day came and I got hit by that train that made me say, Oh jeez I was doing this all wrong but thankfully I get it now and will continue to do it the right way.
Now for UML. This isn't exactly all that new to me in a sense because when I was handed a project I always always always created a simple diagram which included needed functions, database tables with row names, foreign keys and so on.
Thing is, I'm not sure anyone even uses this technique to build their applications and by all means if you do please let me know.
Finally MVC which let's be honest, you should be doing this technique no matter what because it makes sense. Like OOP, there are many developers that might have trouble understanding what this is and why they should really even bother with it. The truth is that you should and it helps greatly when applications start to get larger in scale and you need to scale your application with ease and ridden the possibilities of introducing big nasty bugs into them.
But what is MVC? It's simply a way to slice up the code for your application into sections that make sense. Model, View and Controller, which should be obvious of what they do but instead of me trying to explain it all, try reading the Wiki on it here...
Enough of my ramble, I plan on tossing up a few examples of some OOP concepts in some future blogs in a few different programming languages.
- Pete
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Goals for 2010
Every year I make a list of goals to accomplish and lord knows that I have gotta try and do something because 2009 wasn't exactly a great year for myself.
5 Reasons 2009 sucked:
- Pete
5 Reasons 2009 sucked:
- Left a bad paying job for a relatively better paying job and went back to the bad paying job
- Lost 2 cars which led to trouble all over the place
- Lost a chance to work for a great company but lost that due to the economy
- Both brother in laws got into a bad car accident but thankfully survived
- Health insurance went up dramatically due to economy
- Saved a ton of money to help get out of debt
- Took a trip to the Carolina's to meet gf's grandparents and see brother in law
- Went to first developer conference. Was awesome!
- Bought a newer car
- Finally got my laptop after saving for way too long
- Secure a position with a company that pays their developers more then Walmart
- Continue to learn the languages that I have been studying
- Get a car that doesn't need it's oil checked ever other day
- Work harder at getting freelance service known
- Complete CMS Leo project
- Get married to my fiance of 13 years.
- Buy a house, buy a house buy a house
- Learn to relax a bit more and less stressed out
- Somewhere in there I'll also try and find time to drop a few pounds
- Pete
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Get those images out of PowerPoint
Every now and then as a developer you get handed a disk or and email sent to you and someone says, here are those images that you need for the bla ba bliche project.
Problem is that once you toss the disk into the drive or open the email to get the files, all you see is a damn PowerPoint presentation. You may think at first that you're gonna have to save each image individually and before you even try to do something as silly as that give this little trick a go and see how you make out. It just may save you an hour or two or more of nonsense.
- Pete
Problem is that once you toss the disk into the drive or open the email to get the files, all you see is a damn PowerPoint presentation. You may think at first that you're gonna have to save each image individually and before you even try to do something as silly as that give this little trick a go and see how you make out. It just may save you an hour or two or more of nonsense.
- Get Open Office here and install that badboy once it's done downloading.
- Open the PowerPoint file with Open Office.
- Save the file as ODF Presentation .odp
- Now give the file a new extension of .zip
- You should now see a zip file, so how about we open it.
- Extract all the files in the zip file or just the Pictures directory.
- Your photos should now be available to you in the Pictures directory.
- Pete
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Love of a new language
More than recently I've been having a go with the Python programming language and must admit that I absolutely love the language and now that I received Programming in Python 3 by Mark Summerfield I feel that I can go full force into learning this wonderful language that doesn't seem to be going anywhere, anytime soon.
When I first heard about the Python language I remember watching a tutorial on YouTube where a Googler rambled on about some real intense programming stuff with Python and of coarse I had no clue what he was talking about at first. Of coarse this was before I started to dive into the OOP club and might not have even completed my first year of hands on experience and still writing procedural code.
Once I started getting the general idea about how to do the OOP thing I began to get more and more curious about other programming languages and thought it might be a good time to do a bit of fiddling with Python since it seems to be a very popular and unique language.
The syntax is very easy to read and understand and actually takes less code in some cases compared to other languages such as PHP, Java and C#, for instance:
PHP, C# and Java - if(apples == "nom nom nom") { // do other stuff }
Python - if apples == "nom nom nom"
And of coarse the data type thing that needs to be done in some languages, but not in Python, no need to define your data types there.
Basically, you can do anything and everything with the Python language that you can do with all the others with the possibility to write less code along the way also. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't have a care in the world how much code I gotta write but sometimes certain things just click and the Python language is doing just that with my brain at the moment.
P.S. - Thanks for reading this ramble and I am VERY aware that it's not at all informative :^)
- Pete
When I first heard about the Python language I remember watching a tutorial on YouTube where a Googler rambled on about some real intense programming stuff with Python and of coarse I had no clue what he was talking about at first. Of coarse this was before I started to dive into the OOP club and might not have even completed my first year of hands on experience and still writing procedural code.
Once I started getting the general idea about how to do the OOP thing I began to get more and more curious about other programming languages and thought it might be a good time to do a bit of fiddling with Python since it seems to be a very popular and unique language.
The syntax is very easy to read and understand and actually takes less code in some cases compared to other languages such as PHP, Java and C#, for instance:
PHP, C# and Java - if(apples == "nom nom nom") { // do other stuff }
Python - if apples == "nom nom nom"
And of coarse the data type thing that needs to be done in some languages, but not in Python, no need to define your data types there.
Basically, you can do anything and everything with the Python language that you can do with all the others with the possibility to write less code along the way also. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't have a care in the world how much code I gotta write but sometimes certain things just click and the Python language is doing just that with my brain at the moment.
P.S. - Thanks for reading this ramble and I am VERY aware that it's not at all informative :^)
- Pete
Sunday, November 29, 2009
CMS Project Update
Back in the very beginning of September I Blogged about a Content Management System project of my own that I have been trying to get started for a while now.
For a quick update, I have been working REALLY hard working on templates, tons of CSS and of coarse the list of features that seem to never stop growing (shocker there huh?).
Thus the reason that I must tell myself to calm down with the feature list and just get the base of the system down so I can continue to add onto it while I have a basic beta out for others to fiddle with and make their judgments.
In my previous Blog I also stated that I would be developing my CMS in ColdFusion but that has changed for the main reason of popularity. I know I know ColdFusion is a great language and I'll probably get hit with a lot of CFers's stating why I should use ColdFusion even though I haven't stated the language that I will be developing in.
Originally my CMS was suppose to be developed in ColdFusion as I stated above until I started to do some fiddling with Python and Django. Then I started developing a lot in PHP, I mean more than I have ever done before and started to feel more comfortable coding with PHP than ColdFusion. I can't believe I'm gonna say this but I actually liked developing in PHP more then ColdFusion. I blame this on the straight month of work that I was handed in no other than PHP.
I am not saying goodbye to ColdFusion at all, just saying sorry ColdFusion, not this project, maybe the next one.
So, PHP it is and I accept all the challenges that I come across during the development of my CMS project.
- Pete
For a quick update, I have been working REALLY hard working on templates, tons of CSS and of coarse the list of features that seem to never stop growing (shocker there huh?).
Thus the reason that I must tell myself to calm down with the feature list and just get the base of the system down so I can continue to add onto it while I have a basic beta out for others to fiddle with and make their judgments.
In my previous Blog I also stated that I would be developing my CMS in ColdFusion but that has changed for the main reason of popularity. I know I know ColdFusion is a great language and I'll probably get hit with a lot of CFers's stating why I should use ColdFusion even though I haven't stated the language that I will be developing in.
Originally my CMS was suppose to be developed in ColdFusion as I stated above until I started to do some fiddling with Python and Django. Then I started developing a lot in PHP, I mean more than I have ever done before and started to feel more comfortable coding with PHP than ColdFusion. I can't believe I'm gonna say this but I actually liked developing in PHP more then ColdFusion. I blame this on the straight month of work that I was handed in no other than PHP.
I am not saying goodbye to ColdFusion at all, just saying sorry ColdFusion, not this project, maybe the next one.
So, PHP it is and I accept all the challenges that I come across during the development of my CMS project.
- Pete
99 Bottles Of Beer On The Wall In 7 Different Programming Languages
You might ask right away, why on earth would someone care about how to program 99 Bottles Of Beer On The Wall in 7 different languages? There's a few reasons, really!
Maybe, just maybe someone would like to compare the source files and see what the differences are between them, if any at all.
Maybe, programmers can use it to bite and pick at each others programming language that they specialize in to say things similar to: This language is better because bla bla bla. Or that language is better because it knows when I need a fresh cup of coffee.
But, mainly it's for myself to show all possibly employers that my passion for programming is real and that I not only wanna know how to do something in one language but as many languages as possible.
Let's face it, if you wanna be successful as a developer you MUST know more than one programming language or hope that you're a lucky one that lands a job only working on a single web site or application (sooo rare).
That's why I took the time to write some super simple scripts that print out the tune of 99 Bottles Of Beer On The Wall in 7 different programming languages.The programming languages that I coded this in are listed below and feel free to click the language to download the source or click "All" to obviously get all the source files.
Oh Yea!, This was the first time I have ever written a line of Python code and kinda liked it :^)
Thanks and I hope that everyone digs this post.
- Pete
Maybe, just maybe someone would like to compare the source files and see what the differences are between them, if any at all.
Maybe, programmers can use it to bite and pick at each others programming language that they specialize in to say things similar to: This language is better because bla bla bla. Or that language is better because it knows when I need a fresh cup of coffee.
But, mainly it's for myself to show all possibly employers that my passion for programming is real and that I not only wanna know how to do something in one language but as many languages as possible.
Let's face it, if you wanna be successful as a developer you MUST know more than one programming language or hope that you're a lucky one that lands a job only working on a single web site or application (sooo rare).
That's why I took the time to write some super simple scripts that print out the tune of 99 Bottles Of Beer On The Wall in 7 different programming languages.The programming languages that I coded this in are listed below and feel free to click the language to download the source or click "All" to obviously get all the source files.
Oh Yea!, This was the first time I have ever written a line of Python code and kinda liked it :^)
Thanks and I hope that everyone digs this post.
- Pete
Thursday, September 3, 2009
What IDE are you?
As a programmer, you probably have a specific IDE(Integrated development environment) that you absolutely love and feel comfortable with unlike no other.
So what IDE takes your heart away?
Dreamweaver
Eclipse
ColdFusion Builder
NetBeans
Zend
Aptana
Visual Studio
Notepad++
TextEdit
BBEdit
That's just a small slew of IDE's available to us developers. So what I'm asking is....what's your favorite for what ever you may be developing?
Myself!
CFML - ColdFusion Builder
PHP - NetBeans
ASP.NET - Visual Studio (shocker there)
- Pete
So what IDE takes your heart away?
Dreamweaver
Eclipse
ColdFusion Builder
NetBeans
Zend
Aptana
Visual Studio
Notepad++
TextEdit
BBEdit
That's just a small slew of IDE's available to us developers. So what I'm asking is....what's your favorite for what ever you may be developing?
Myself!
CFML - ColdFusion Builder
PHP - NetBeans
ASP.NET - Visual Studio (shocker there)
- Pete
Generating numbers with Date and Time using ColdFusion and PHP
Recently I was asked to create a simple script either in ColdFusion or PHP that would generate a unique number, so I said why not have some fun using date and time and code it in both languages. Both scripts will generate a number containing of 23 numeric characters. Took me about 5 minutes to get everything coded and tried to keep the examples in both ColdFusion and PHP as similar as possible and I'm sure there's an easier way to do this. So please don't say Hey! you can do this and that and this and that lol.
Both scripts will generate a number similar to 42453609032009061855012
ColdFusion:
<cfset d = Now()>
<cfset day_week = DayOfWeek(d)>
<cfset day_year = DayOfYear(d)>
<cfset week_year = Week(d)>
<cfset month_year = DateFormat(d, "mmddyyyy")>
<cfset time_hour1 = TimeFormat(d, "hhHHmmss")>
<cfset ts = TimeFormat(d, "tt")>
<cfswitch expression="#ts#">
<cfcase value="am">
<cfset time_span = 1>
</cfcase>
<cfcase value="pm">
<cfset time_span = 2>
</cfcase>
</cfswitch>
<cfset date = "#day_week##day_year##week_year##month_year#">
<cfset time = "#time_hour1##time_span#">
<cfset date_time = "#date##time#">
<cfoutput>
#date_time#
</cfoutput>
PHP:
$d = date("a");
switch ($d) {
case "am":
$day_time = 1;
break;
case "pm":
$day_time = 2;
break;
}
$date_time = "wzWmdYhHis";
$dt = date("$date_time$day_time");
echo $dt;
?>
Both scripts will generate a number similar to 42453609032009061855012
ColdFusion:
<cfset d = Now()>
<cfset day_week = DayOfWeek(d)>
<cfset day_year = DayOfYear(d)>
<cfset week_year = Week(d)>
<cfset month_year = DateFormat(d, "mmddyyyy")>
<cfset time_hour1 = TimeFormat(d, "hhHHmmss")>
<cfset ts = TimeFormat(d, "tt")>
<cfswitch expression="#ts#">
<cfcase value="am">
<cfset time_span = 1>
</cfcase>
<cfcase value="pm">
<cfset time_span = 2>
</cfcase>
</cfswitch>
<cfset date = "#day_week##day_year##week_year##month_year#">
<cfset time = "#time_hour1##time_span#">
<cfset date_time = "#date##time#">
<cfoutput>
#date_time#
</cfoutput>
PHP:
$d = date("a");
switch ($d) {
case "am":
$day_time = 1;
break;
case "pm":
$day_time = 2;
break;
}
$date_time = "wzWmdYhHis";
$dt = date("$date_time$day_time");
echo $dt;
?>
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Set up a WAMP and ColdFusion Testing Server Super Fast
Ever need to set up a testing server on a local machine during the development of a project or possibly even studying. I know I have and here's what just may be the quickest way to get up and running in less than 15 minutes on a Windows machine. Although it may look like a lot of instructions, the process actually goes pretty quick.
The server configuration will contain the following:
- Apache
- MySQL
- MySQL GUI Tools
- PHP
- ColdFusion 8
First thing to do is download the following:
Note: To get ColdFusion, you must register with Adobe or use an existing account that you have with them.
WAMP Installation:
- Open the WAMP executable and click next to begin the set up.
- Select the radio button indicating that you accept the agreement.
- Accept the default location to install WAMP to.
- Don't worry about creating any shortcuts, and click next.
- Click the install button and WAMP will then be installed on your system.
- During installation you will be asked for SMTP, email information and for a default browser.
- Once set up completes click finish to launch WAMP.
- Apache should now be running but WAMP Server will not be online. to put WAMP online, click the WAMP Server icon down by the system tray and select "Put Online".
- Now Apache MySQL and PHP should be up and running.
MySQL GUI Tools Installation:
- MySQL GUI Tools are pretty simple to install. Just execute the installer and follow the screens. You basically will just be clicking through the wizard until installation is complete.
- Once the installation has complete the following 2 main applications should be installed, MySQL Admin and MySQL Query Browser.
MySQL User Accounts and Privileges:
- By default there is no password set for the root user account which is a security risk, therefore a password must be set for this account.
- Click the WAMP Server icon located in the system tray and select Localhost.
- Under “Tools” select the “phpmyadmin” link to go to the PHPMyAdmin page.
- On the main top menu click the Privileges link.
- Click the edit button for 127.0.0.1 host root account.
- Now locate “Change password” and enter a password in both fields and click the corresponding “Go” button.
- Now go back to the Privileges page once again and this time click the edit button for the localhost root account and do the same as before. Locate “Change password” and enter a password in both fields. The password should be the same as 127.0.0.1 root account.
- Now click the “Home” button on the left sidebar. You should receive the following error: “#1045 - Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost' (using password: NO)” This problem can easily be corrected so not to worry.
- Locate the location where you installed WAMP. The default location is C:\wamp.
- Now enter the “app” directory then the phpmyadmin directory.
- Now locate and open the config.inc.php file with any text editor.
- We are looking for line 16 (may be different), but the code should read $cfg['Servers'][$i]['password'] = '';
- Between the single brackets, enter the password you entered into PHPMyAdmin ex: $cfg['Servers'][$i]['password'] = 'mypassword';
- Save the file and refresh the PHPMyAdmin page. The error should now be gone and be able to view the PHPMyAmin page.
- Finally... we need to create a new user because using the root user account is a big security risk and highly fround upon.
- Go back into the Privileges section and click on the “Add a new user” link.
- For “User name”, just enter a username of your choice leaving the select menu as it’s default value.
- Ignore the “Host” select menu and continue on to the “Password” field.
- Enter a password in the password field leaving the default value for the select menu.
- Make sure to Re-type the user password in the next field labled “Re-type”.
- Now on to the Global privileges section. Here we can give the new user permissions to execute SQL commands. I recommend just allowing the basics such as SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, FILE and CREATE unless you think you may need to run more commands. What I highly suggest is to leave the DROP command un checked for the reason that mistakes do happen. Meaning, you could create a database and some tables, populate those tables and execute the DROP command by accident. That would be very very……bad. Especially if you have hundreds or thousands or millions of rows in your tables. SO.....to be safe, just leave it un checked.
- That should be it for setting up MySQL. You should now be able to either use PHPMyAdmin or MySQL Admin and MySQL Query Browser to make databases, tables and edit table content.
Now for ColdFusion:
- Run the ColdFusion executable and wait patiently for the installation wizard to show (Could sometimes take 2 minutes or even longer to show).
- Once the ColdFusion installation screen appears select the language of choice from the drop down and click OK to continue.
- Click Next for the next screen and click the “I accept the terms of the License Agreement” radio button and click Next.
- Select the Developer Edition checkbox and click Next
- Accept the default configuration of “Server configuration” and click Next
- Accept the default selected checkboxes for Subcomponents and click Next
- Accept the default installation location for ColdFusion to be installed and click Next.
- Click the radio button for “I accept the terms of the License Agreement” radio button and click Next.
- No need to enter a Serial Number since we don’t have one, so just click Next.
- Now to set up ColdFusion to run under the WAMP Server.
- Click the Add button and leave the default of Apache selected.
- Click the “Configuration Directory” button so we can find the location of the Apache configuration file.
- Locate the default location where you installed WAMP, the default is C:\wamp and navigate through the following directories. bin\apache\apache”version number”\conf\
- Just select the conf directory and click the OK button.
- Now click the “Directory and file name of server binary” button and locate the default location where you installed WAMP.
- Now navigate through the following directories, bin\apache\apache”version number”\bin\ and select the httpd.exe and click select.
- Click OK on the configuration window and click Next.
- Now to choose where to extract the ColdFusion Administrator. Click the “Choose” button.
- Locate the default location where you installed WAMP and select the www directory, click OK and then click Next to continue.
- Enter a password for the ColdFusion Administrator and click Next.
- Don’t worry about enabling RDS so just click Next.
- Now click Install to run the ColdFusion installation.
- Once the installation is complete, make sure the checkbox for “Launch the Configuration Wizard in the default browser” is checked and click Done.
- Once the Configuration Wizard begins in the browser, enter the password you entered for the ColdFusion Administrator and click Login.
- Now you wait for the configuration to complete…….
- Once the configuration is complete, Click the OK button to open the ColdFusion Administrator.
That should do it for this whole process of getting a testing server up and running in about 15 minutes. Feel free to comment on my instructions especially if I made a mistake somewhere.
- Pete
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Let's talk Content Management Systems
Straight to the point here... Content Management Systems. If you're a developer, it's almost a guarantee that you may have made some kind of Content Management System or CRUD at least twice in your career. If not then you're missing some key experience that you definitely need to succeed in the world of being a web developer. Doesn't matter the language you specialize in just that you have the ability to make a system where a client can manage their website them selves. Again, language choice doesn't matter. ColdFusion, PHP, C# or VB.NET, Python or even Rails. Just do it and you'll be very happy you have that knowledge under your belt.
Now that I got that out of my system I'm probably gonna bore with the idea for my next personal project. Yep!!! A Content Management System. I've built many before but always to the vision of others not my own. I figure that it's time for me to do it the way I think a Content Management System should be built. With lot's and lot's of functionality and cool features that makes use of the amazing technology us devs have at our finger tips today.
A while back I started a CMS called CMSLeo that I never got even close to completion (and can also be seen unfinished on my website :). But now is the time to get back into the game of developing this beast to completion and to my vision.
The question on mind was to which language to program it in. ColdFusion or PHP?
The ups for ColdFusion:
Now the downs for ColdFusion:
PHP ups:
PHP downs:
Finally, when I plan a project I try to put myself into the everyday user's point of view and think how I can make my project extremely simple to understand and just jump right into using what I created. That's exactly what CMSLeo will be. One of the most user friendly Content Management Systems available today.
- Pete
Now that I got that out of my system I'm probably gonna bore with the idea for my next personal project. Yep!!! A Content Management System. I've built many before but always to the vision of others not my own. I figure that it's time for me to do it the way I think a Content Management System should be built. With lot's and lot's of functionality and cool features that makes use of the amazing technology us devs have at our finger tips today.
A while back I started a CMS called CMSLeo that I never got even close to completion (and can also be seen unfinished on my website :). But now is the time to get back into the game of developing this beast to completion and to my vision.
The question on mind was to which language to program it in. ColdFusion or PHP?
The ups for ColdFusion:
- Easy and rapid development with very clean code management
- Simple to upgrade and scale code
- The best yet, an amazing community
Now the downs for ColdFusion:
- Big price tag for whomever wanted to use my CMS
- Um.......... that's it
PHP ups:
- Very popular language
- Open source language
- Easy to get up and running
- Huge community
PHP downs:
- Code tends to get messy
- Community a bit temperamental
- Possible long development time
Finally, when I plan a project I try to put myself into the everyday user's point of view and think how I can make my project extremely simple to understand and just jump right into using what I created. That's exactly what CMSLeo will be. One of the most user friendly Content Management Systems available today.
- Pete
Thursday, August 6, 2009
BWT ColdFusion Contact Form Component
Very recently, I just release a ColdFusion Component that can be used for implementing a contact form very easily called BWT ColdFusion Contact Form. I know, not very imaginative with the name but who really cares.
The purpose of this project is to help out those with no programming skill or programmers that just wanna put a form onto a website really fast without any headaches (I hope).
So if your someone that has no clue where to start or a programmer that doesn't have the time to code a contact form with all the odds and ends. Please feel free to download the source here.
- Pete
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Finally gone mobile
So I finally got a laptop and no, no no it's not a Mac as I was planning. Do I really care, not too much, not even the least. It's a laptop and in fact a pretty damn nice laptop andddddd also an affordable laptop that I am quite happy with.
The laptop I chose is HP's DV6 nice pretty and black not the dull boring and overly super shiny silver model. I picked this laptop at my local BJ's, because when I think of nice laptops, I think of BJ's, right. Not me, I was shocked and didn't even think to check out BJ's for a laptop. I went to all the obvious stores like 2 Best Buy's, Staples and some other who cares stores.
I originally bought a laptop from Staples but returned it the very next day because I found the DV6 at BJ's along with the wireless router for $10 less. The price of the DV6 was $699 and the wireless router I picked up was $50.
I'm not gonna go into the different pricing of all the stores I went to while looking for a laptop and wireless router but I will say that Best Buy was byyyyy farrrrr the most over priced and annoying, especially since I went to 2 different stores and didn't find a thing that met my needs. I will say this though, Staples did have a laptop that was selling for $450 while Best Buy was selling the exact same laptop for $550. But, the people at Staples were annoyingly pushy at trying to sell stuff that I did not need and yes I did make it very aware that I did not want anything else but the laptop. Just give me my merchandise and leave me alone or else I will hand you the product back and just walk out. Thank you!
- Pete
Friday, June 12, 2009
Some things aren't what they seem
In my last blog I wrote about a job offer that I accepted, I believe it's time for an update on how the job is working out. To be honest, I am not with the company anymore and it only took me a week to figure out that I was not digging the company for reasons that I will not be explaining.
Well, you may think that I'm now jobless but that is not true at all. Before my first week was even over I contacted my last employer to see of they hired anyone for my position, and of coarse they were looking. So before they had a chance to get someone in I thought that it may be smart to contact them to see if they would take me back, especially since it was not even a week that I left. They did take me back thankfully and I've been back for about a week now.
The point of this blog is to simply explain that sometimes some things are much more important than others and what might be an obvious choice may not be.
I something doesn't feel right, go with your heart, it always tells you what the smart choice is.
- Pete
Well, you may think that I'm now jobless but that is not true at all. Before my first week was even over I contacted my last employer to see of they hired anyone for my position, and of coarse they were looking. So before they had a chance to get someone in I thought that it may be smart to contact them to see if they would take me back, especially since it was not even a week that I left. They did take me back thankfully and I've been back for about a week now.
The point of this blog is to simply explain that sometimes some things are much more important than others and what might be an obvious choice may not be.
I something doesn't feel right, go with your heart, it always tells you what the smart choice is.
- Pete
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Time to rebuild
So after only having my new site up for about 3 months or so I gotta retire it as a Freelance service because of this new job that I accepted. No big deal really, I'll just toss it into my portfolio like I've done before. The thing is that I had planned on turning my current site into a blog type site where I can post some tutorials and down loadable scripts in whatever programming language I feel.
That's all fine and dandy but many of my geeky buddies are suggesting that I go the Word Press route but I'm not sure if that's the way I would like to go. I do know that it would be the more sensible route to take but I'm the kind of person that takes pride in the work that I do, and if I use an application that was already built, I won't have the glory of saying I did it. Don't get me wrong, I use scripts that I find here and there to cut development time in half like many other coders but by using an entire application is not my style.
As for what language to use, I'm think PHP but it would be cool to do it in ASP.NET only for the reason that I like to use the technology that I'm currently learning and put it into action and use it as a learning curve. Problem with that is I am still a noob to the language of ASP.NET.
My current site is coded in ColdFusion (which is flippin awesome) and would definitely program every site in CF if I could but in the real world it's not like that. In the real world, your given a site (sometimes a completed site) and asked to do it right there on the spot, basically asking you to learn this new language, right now. I've gone through this many times and find it to be one of the best ways to learn something new but can be rather frustrating at times.
To end this babble, I'll just say, PHP? Or just go ahead and do the ASP.NET deal. I'm sure I'll do what I feel is best.
- Pete
That's all fine and dandy but many of my geeky buddies are suggesting that I go the Word Press route but I'm not sure if that's the way I would like to go. I do know that it would be the more sensible route to take but I'm the kind of person that takes pride in the work that I do, and if I use an application that was already built, I won't have the glory of saying I did it. Don't get me wrong, I use scripts that I find here and there to cut development time in half like many other coders but by using an entire application is not my style.
As for what language to use, I'm think PHP but it would be cool to do it in ASP.NET only for the reason that I like to use the technology that I'm currently learning and put it into action and use it as a learning curve. Problem with that is I am still a noob to the language of ASP.NET.
My current site is coded in ColdFusion (which is flippin awesome) and would definitely program every site in CF if I could but in the real world it's not like that. In the real world, your given a site (sometimes a completed site) and asked to do it right there on the spot, basically asking you to learn this new language, right now. I've gone through this many times and find it to be one of the best ways to learn something new but can be rather frustrating at times.
To end this babble, I'll just say, PHP? Or just go ahead and do the ASP.NET deal. I'm sure I'll do what I feel is best.
- Pete
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Freelance stuff
So, I'm gonna say that the site for my freelance work has been up for a bit now, not too long but a good amount of time I presume. It's looking like I may have to turn it into a portfolio site for myself do to the fact of this new job that I have acquired. It seems as though I will not be able to do any freelance work while working for this company which I do believe is nonsense but hey, it's an opportunity that I'm willing to going along with. But I will tell you one thing. Since I'm so proud of the work I did with my new site, you better believe that I will definitely be putting it into my portfolio. There's no way I'm gonna scrap all that work.
As for my future plans, I'm thinking about doing what basically every programmer does; create my own personal blog site that will have scripts that can be downloaded along with tutorial videos.
I know I know, please god not another programmer with a site with scripts that barely ever work and are a massive pain in the neck to get up and running. I look at it this way. If I feel like posting my scripts for free and allow people to download them for free then stop your belly aching and either download the free stuff or be on your way to another site to get some free stuff.
- Pete
As for my future plans, I'm thinking about doing what basically every programmer does; create my own personal blog site that will have scripts that can be downloaded along with tutorial videos.
I know I know, please god not another programmer with a site with scripts that barely ever work and are a massive pain in the neck to get up and running. I look at it this way. If I feel like posting my scripts for free and allow people to download them for free then stop your belly aching and either download the free stuff or be on your way to another site to get some free stuff.
- Pete
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Gaining more knowledge
I'm sure that I can't be the only developer out there that has a language that they call their primary and preferred coding language. For myself, I would definitely say that I am a ColdFusion buff to the highest level. I love the stuff! Especially for it's ease and speed of development and a must is the simplicity of creating a database connection to virtually any major database application available today.
But, the time has come where I feel the need to add another language to my brain. Which one to choose? Well, I am quite handy when it comes to ColdFusion, PHP, Classic ASP, SQL and how can we forget AJAX (it's pretty much a must these days). So, which language do I go forth with? There's actually an easy answer for this question and sorry to say but is includes learnign some Microsoft technology, and yes, I am not a big ole fan of MS stuff. But I have selected to start getting my hands dirty with some ASP.NET and of coarse there is reason behind this decision.
Recently, I have been going on a couple interviews, all going rather well I must say and was offered a developer position at a local Web company. I did accept the offer for reasons that should be obvious without me saying and I'm definitely very interested to see how this company plays it's role in the community. The thing is that I was hired to develop in Classic ASP, PHP and of coarse do those little and not so little updates, upgrades and changes to existing web sites and application along with doing some developing in ASP.NET.
Now, I am not one of those guys that shows up for an interview and lies just to get the job. If I don't know something I will make it very clear that I have no clue but if given the chance, I'm a quick learner and could definitely pick it up quick.
That's why I have decided to make an attempt at ASP.NET. I also think I got everything I need to get a going with it. Download and install of silly ole Visual Web Developer 2008, SQL Server 2008, I have Dreamweaver still although I don't really use it too often because Eclipse and Aptana do the same stuff (and are FREE).
That's about it, I got a new job and I hope it works out good (WOOT Me!!!).
- Pete
But, the time has come where I feel the need to add another language to my brain. Which one to choose? Well, I am quite handy when it comes to ColdFusion, PHP, Classic ASP, SQL and how can we forget AJAX (it's pretty much a must these days). So, which language do I go forth with? There's actually an easy answer for this question and sorry to say but is includes learnign some Microsoft technology, and yes, I am not a big ole fan of MS stuff. But I have selected to start getting my hands dirty with some ASP.NET and of coarse there is reason behind this decision.
Recently, I have been going on a couple interviews, all going rather well I must say and was offered a developer position at a local Web company. I did accept the offer for reasons that should be obvious without me saying and I'm definitely very interested to see how this company plays it's role in the community. The thing is that I was hired to develop in Classic ASP, PHP and of coarse do those little and not so little updates, upgrades and changes to existing web sites and application along with doing some developing in ASP.NET.
Now, I am not one of those guys that shows up for an interview and lies just to get the job. If I don't know something I will make it very clear that I have no clue but if given the chance, I'm a quick learner and could definitely pick it up quick.
That's why I have decided to make an attempt at ASP.NET. I also think I got everything I need to get a going with it. Download and install of silly ole Visual Web Developer 2008, SQL Server 2008, I have Dreamweaver still although I don't really use it too often because Eclipse and Aptana do the same stuff (and are FREE).
That's about it, I got a new job and I hope it works out good (WOOT Me!!!).
- Pete
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Haven't blogged in a while for good reasons
Well it's been sometime since I've written my last blogged, mainly because I've been very busy working on my new web site for my freelance service that I call Blue Web Techniques. In fact, I can't remember when I got a site together as quick as I did with this one. I mean everything came to me unbelievably easy and I pretty much knew what I wanted right away instead of constantly pondering about small details.Some new features on my new site include, slick and simple navigation, live Twitter feed (not always about tech stuff), A tag cloud that is updated whenever someone does a search, a new search box that opens up in a light box, almost all new content that gets right to the point, a very basic contact form (no more non sense fields), Language Translation with the Google API, new portfolio content and I think that's about it, but of coarse, I'm always working on something so expect many more additions.
I hope you like my new site, click here to check it out.
I'm also more active than ever on Twitter.
- Pete
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