PHP and cURL

cURL or Client URL Library is a very powerful tool, and its something that i recently had to use while working with two APIs one for Unfuddle and one for HelpSpot.

PHP supports libcurl, a library created by Daniel Stenberg, that allows you to connect and communicate to many different types of servers with many different types of protocols. libcurl currently supports the http, https, ftp, gopher, telnet, dict, file, and ldap protocols. libcurl also supports HTTPS certificates, HTTP POST, HTTP PUT, FTP uploading (this can also be done with PHP’s ftp extension), HTTP form based upload, proxies, cookies, and user+password authentication.

These functions have been added in PHP 4.0.2.

You can interact with most APIs using cURL, at first it seams intimidating but once you start to use it you become comfortable with the set up.

Lets get started by parsing an RSS feed.

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Google Chart API

The Google Chart API lets you dynamically generate charts. The thumbnail for this article is generated by Google’s Chart API. The API is simple, the image is generated from URL parameters. The following Code chunk breaks down the images into its basic components.

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Address Book 2.5

I have updated the Address Book script it has a new header, better Google Maps API integration, e-mail support for single and group contacts. there has also been a number of bug fixes and links updated, i also trimmed the code a bit, i made some improvements as well as added more comments to the code so people can make changes a bit easier. Have a look at the changes made or the installation instructions. This scrip has and continues to undergo changes based on the input from its users, so please keep giving me feed back or feature requests. Features:

• Free
• Dynamic Content
• GD2 Thumbnails
• Google Maps API
• Email Single or Group contacts
• Printer friendly
• User Login with SHA1 encryption
• Change Password and User name
• XHTML and CSS2 Standards
• Search Database
• Sort by Groups
• CSV Backup
• V-Card Export
• Dashboard

Screen Shots:
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Google HTTP Geocoding

I have been doing a lot of searching in regards to Google Maps and information on there API. In my Addressbook I had a some what dynamic but clumsy way of showing some ones location.

So when I would pull the information I would use a PHP function called “urlencode” it basically converts spaces to underscores so your URL won’t explode and make Google angry.

This works fine but I was opening a new window that I had no control over. so that’s when I began to look into the API and after a bit of looking I found that they had support for HTTP Request and by doing so Google spits out a bit of XML.
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Google Gears: Offline Web Applications

Google has come out with Google Gears that will allow developers to create Off line Web Applications, that means a plug in to install to allow your computer to support this feature.

It will be interesting to see how people take advantage of these new tools, i could see some one using the client or users computer to do the muscle work for complex commands. Not to mention the ability for a developer who is on a business trip finishing up some changes last moment on the flight over to deliver the project to the client.
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Addressbook v2

This version of Address book has been completely redesigned and has had many functional improvements made, including better security, and installation. You can now view your contacts in Google Maps. Contacts can also be sorted in groups to make it easier to manage lots of contacts.

Previous version

Features:

• Free
• Dynamic Content
• GD2 Thumbnails
• Google Maps API
• Email Single or Group contacts
• Printer friendly
• User Login with MD2 encryption
• Change Password and User name
• XHTML and CSS2 Standards
• Search Database
• Sort by Groups
• CSV Backup
• V-Card Export
• Dashboard

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Canada targeting dirty two-stroke engines

I found this interesting, if you were to run your lawn mower for about 1 hour it will produce about the same amount of pollution as a car that has driven 500km.

Using a two-stroke lawn mower to cut a decent-sized lawn can produce as much smog-forming pollution as driving a modern car from Ottawa to Toronto.

If Canada wants to have the average household drop there green house emissions then lets have a look at some flexible numbers.

It took me 1hr to mow my parents law, thats 50′ x 100′ lot, thats more or less the average size of an older lot in Edmonton (before the housing boom) so in that hour the lawn mower potentially released as much pollution as driving a modern car 500km. The grass usually gets cut at least once a week. So in a month thats 2000km most people don’t drive that much in city conditions.

It make sense for Canadians to look into more efficient small engines, i would assume this would account for small boats, dirt bikes, chain saws, and land escaping equipment.

People also seam to want the perfect golf course looking law, cutting the grass so its 1″ long. Believe it or not having your lawn cut that short will cause the lawn to loose moisture and is actually hard on the grass. Remember its a plant, grass grows long, so leave it longer. This will allow it to shade its self keeping i’m moisture and reducing your water bill.

Source:
http://www.cbc.ca/story/news/?/news/2001/03/26/ott_lawnmowers010326

More updates

So much has been going on! were to start.. Ok my brother in law and his wife are expecting a baby next week, thats great news! soon there will be one more in the family. To top things off Kristi and i are also expecting a baby in November. Thats right im going to be a daddy!! :)

On to other news as you probably know i have updated my Addressbook and Spoke Calculator. I found something called CakePHP.

Cake is a rapid development framework for PHP which uses commonly known design patterns like ActiveRecord, Association Data Mapping, Front Controller and MVC. Our primary goal is to provide a structured framework that enables PHP users at all levels to rapidly develop robust web applications, without any loss to flexibility.

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Were are you from?

I really enjoy looking at my Google analytics and seeing all sorts of information on were people come from. and i decided to export my last recent visitors. It seams that some one from almost every part of the world has passed through here, and i want to thank every one for visiting and i hope you enjoyed your stay.

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