Node.js, PHP, Javascript, and HTML5 Blog

Managing config variables inside a Node.js application

November 26, 2012November 28, 2012 chovyNode.js

In the interest of avoiding debate over this post, let’s just say there is more than one way to skin a cat when it comes to configuration management in an application. Some like to keep it out of the code base, others prefer it. This method stores the config files in the repository.

There is more than one way to handle configuration variables based on an environment for a node.js app, but I’ve come up with a pretty simple solution that keeps my config variables DRY and complete control to override them at the same time using different node environments.

This is a preview of Managing config variables inside a Node.js application. Read the full post (304 words, estimated 1:13 mins reading time)

Sorting and Ordering in Rails

April 15, 2012 chovyRuby on Rails

Example 1: Writing your own sort routine

I originally tried ‘sort_by’, but that only works for existing attributes and apparently in only one direction.

My ‘is_default’ attribute is setup as a boolean and is almost always false, except where I define an image as being the default for a given product.

Converting a boolean to a string and then sorting alphabetically in reverse order is not something I liked nor recommend, but it was the first thing that I got working.

The Admin helper:

module AdminHelper
  def sort_my_pictures(pics)
    pics.sort {|a,b| b.is_default.to_s  a.is_default.to_s }
  end
end

module AdminHelper

def sort_my_pictures(pics)

pics.sort {|a,b| b.is_default.to_s a.is_default.to_s }

end

This is a preview of Sorting and Ordering in Rails. Read the full post (265 words, estimated 1:04 mins reading time)

What to do if you see your PHP script relies on session side-effect error message.

April 15, 2012November 28, 2012 chovyDevelopment, PHP

I came across this error a few times, enough to where I dug around and finally found the real fix to suppress the error completely.

Warning: Unknown: Your script possibly relies on a session side-effect which existed until PHP 4.2.3. Please be advised that the session extension does not consider global variables as a source of data, unless register_globals is enabled. You can disable this functionality and this warning by setting session.bug_compat_42 or session.bug_compat_warn to off, respectively in Unknown on line 0

I was able to suppress the error by properly upsetting a session variable:

  //replace this:
  $_SESSION[$field] = null;

  //with this:
  unset($_SESSION[$field]);

//replace this:

$_SESSION[$field] = null;

//with this:

unset($_SESSION[$field]);

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Empty is not a non-digit character in Perl

April 15, 2012November 28, 2012 chovyPerl

empty is not a non-digit character “\D”
empty is not a digit character either “\d”

The wrong way to do it:

my $f;
$check = ($f =~ m/\D/ ) ? 'non-digit character' : 'assume digit';

1 2	my $f; $check = ($f =~ m/\D/ ) ? 'non-digit character' : 'assume digit';

The correct way to do it:

my $f;
$check = ($f =~ m/\d/ ) ? 'digit character' : 'assume non-digit';

1 2	my $f; $check = ($f =~ m/\d/ ) ? 'digit character' : 'assume non-digit';

References:

perldoc perlretut
perldoc perlre

1 2	perldoc perlretut perldoc perlre

Permanent link to this post (58 words, estimated 14 secs reading time)

Sending UI Messages in PHP

April 10, 2012November 28, 2012 chovyPHP

I am using sessions to save UI messages that can be shown to the user after an action has been formed (ie: logging in).

My initial problem was that the message persisted, while attempts to unset the session message didn’t allow for any messages to be shown.

Here’s how I solved the problem:

class Application {
...
  public function getMessages() {
    $messages = $_SESSION['messages'];
    unset($_SESSION['messages']);
    return $messages;
  } 
}

class Application {

...

public function getMessages() {

$messages = $_SESSION['messages'];

unset($_SESSION['messages']);

return $messages;

}

First save the messages from the session, then you can delete them out of the session so they don’t persist past the one request.

Here is how I set the proper success or error message in the login function:

public function doLogin($username, $password) {
  ...
  if ( $username == $user->username && $password == $user->password ) {
      $_SESSION['logged_in'] = true;
      $this->addMessage('You are now logged in.', 'success');
  } else {
     $_SESSION['logged_in'] = false;
      $this->addMessage('We were unable to log you in.', 'error');
  }

  return $this->isLoggedIn();
}

public function doLogin($username, $password) {

...

if ( $username == $user->username && $password == $user->password ) {

$_SESSION['logged_in'] = true;

$this->addMessage('You are now logged in.', 'success');

} else {

$_SESSION['logged_in'] = false;

$this->addMessage('We were unable to log you in.', 'error');

}

return $this->isLoggedIn();

}

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