So I was looking to add a second parameter to a form_validation callback. Here’s what I found:

$this->form_validation('user_name', 'name', "callback_test_name[$param2]");

and the callback:

test_name($name, $param2){
    ..// some logic to return
}

The form_validation class uses the form value as the first parameter, and you can pass the second parameter in the arguments as you would with any other rule references. (First snippet)

At first I was calling 2 validations. First the standard type of validation, then another validation on the same input. * BAD IDEA *

There were some issues with order of operations. I found it best to chain the whole lot together. Like so:

$this->form_validation('user_name', 'name', "required|min_length[10]|callback_test_name[$param2]");

I hope that helps anybody with the same question.

I am not very good with regex so if there are any suggestions by l33t coderz, they are more than welcome. On with the codes:

/****
[ UPS ]
9 digits, or 1Z+whatever digits
The quick brown fox 1Z9999W99999999999 jumps over the lazy dog.
*/
$ups = '/(\b\d{9}\b)|(\b1Z\d+\b)/';

/****
[ Fedex ]
12 digits, 15 digits, or '96'+ 20 digits
The quick brown fox 999999999999 jumps over the lazy dog.
*/
$fedex = '/(\b96\d{20}\b)|(\b\d{15}\b)|(\b\d{12}\b)/';

/***
[ USPS ]
30 digits, '91'+20 digits, 20 digits (untested)
< TOTALLY UNTESTED BY ME AT THIS TIME >
*/
$usps = '/(\b\d{30}\b)|(\b91\d+\b)|(\b\d{20}\b)/';

I did get the common characters per courier from Packagetrackr. I don’t know how much of it is accurate, but from what I could tell from my experience with FedEx and UPS it seemed to be in line. I was unable to find an all inclusive source.

I came up with a way to use the jQuery UI autocomplete widget as a <select> that you could also type in something if the choices in the dropdown didn’t fit your needs.

This example uses a local data source, but you can come up with creative ways to use remote JSON sources if you like.

<script type="text/javascript">
	$(document).ready(function() {

		// dropdown/ auto suggest
		$(".ui_dropdown").autocomplete({
			minLength: 0,
			delay: 0
		});

		$(".ui_dropdown").click(function(){

			var input = $(this);
			var inputID = input.attr('id');

			// close if already visible
			if (input.autocomplete("widget").is(":visible")) {
				input.autocomplete("close");
				return false;
			}

			// set source(s)
			var myData = '';
			if(inputID == 'input1'){
				myData = ["foo","bar","hello","world"];
			} else {
				myData = ["1","2","3","4"];
			}

			// load source
			input.autocomplete({
				source: myData
			});

			// fire search event
			input.autocomplete("search", "");
			input.focus();
			return false;
		});		

	});
</script>

In this script I am using the input id’s to define the data source.

The cloned datepicker input would insert the picked date into the original inputs rather than the cloned row.

The inputs in my table rows had no ID’s. So what I found was either jQuery or UI was dynamically creating it’s own DOM id’s for the inputs in the table rows that had the datepicker call. Datepicker also was dynamically inserting a class “hasDatepicker” into the inputs that had the datepicker call.

I resolved this by:
1. Looping through the cloned rows inputs looking for any inputs with the class “hasDatepicker”.
2. Removing the hasDatepicker class from any inputs with that class.
3. Getting that inputs current id, incrementing it by 1, and reassigning it.
4. Re-initializing the datepicker call.

<script type="text/javascript">

$(document).ready(function(){

  // -- Clone table rows
  $(".cloneTableRows").live('click', function(){
    // do the cloning...

    // new rows datepicker need to be re-initialized
    $(newRow).find("input").each(function(){

      // if the current input has the hasDatpicker class
      if($(this).hasClass("hasDatepicker")){
        var this_id = $(this).attr("id"); // current inputs id
        var new_id = this_id +1; // a new id
        $(this).attr("id", new_id); // change to new id
        $(this).removeClass('hasDatepicker'); // remove hasDatepicker class
        $(this).datepicker(); // re-init datepicker
      }

    });

  });

});

</script>

Whats really neat about this particular js, is that you can call it from any table that has an id.

The only thing I have yet to figure out is how to reset the cloned datepicker to use the default class called date format.

I downloaded and installed as soon as darkmoon told me about it. Thanks for the tip. They installed smoothly on my system, and at the price of FREE you can’t go wrong. Go grab your copies!

DVD Authoring: here
DVD Ripping/ Converting: here

In Vista they can be found in:
C:\Users\AppData\Roaming\Notepad++\plugins\config\FTP_synchronize.ini

Copy them to backup and replace. In case an update gets hosed, or you are re-installing.

Most browsers come with update managers, so I feel the update manager is bloated and not necessary. It likes to place its services in the startup causing unneeded processing power.

When it came to reformatting my own laptop, there was no way I was going to install acrobat reader from adobe using their typical download page. Which incidentally, if your not careful will also install a toolbar. You need to uncheck that option.

Adobe does have a page where you can download directly without the ridiculous manager. Hat tip to Walker News, who provided me with the adobe direct download link. (http://get.adobe.com/reader/otherversions/).

UPDATE: This no longer works. I now run older versions from old version.com

What I didn’t want to do was have the expense of connecting to a database if the directory didn’t have any files in it to begin with. After chatting with my good friend TDavid at php-scripts.com, I decide to run with his suggestion…

Fill (or don’t fill) a variable with information if there were files in the directory. Then test the var to confirm or deny if there are files in the directory. It’s really a small bit of code…

//----- Check if ticket dir has files. If it has files,
// set a variable to hold the list of file names.

$dir = "../path/to/my/textfiles";      // set directory

if($handle = opendir($dir)){           // open directory

	while(($file = readdir($handle)) !== false){
		if($file != "." && $file != ".."){
			$file_list[] = $file;  // Set file list variable
		}

	}

	closedir($handle);      // Close directory
}

If there are files in this directory, the variable $file_list would not only exist, but also contain files. For example…

Array
(
    [0] => 195972.txt
    [1] => 196027.txt
    [2] => 196053.txt
    [3] => 196067.txt...
)

If there aren’t any files in this directory, the variable $file_list would not even exist because no $file would be inserted into it. At this point we can check/ test the variable to output or do further processing…

if(isset($file_list)){
    echo "This dir has files!";
    // perform further processing
    // eg: collect each files contents
} else {
    echo "This dir has NO files!";
    // stop processing
    // Not much do do with this since there are no files
}

Of course there are a few ways of checking to see if a directory is empty, but this way seemed to be the most simplistic to me. If you wanted to you could turn the entire lot into a function for reuse, and less script code clutter.

Comments? Questions?

php, empty directory

I’ve come up with a dirty little example to show this can be done. There are more keywords that can enhance the ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE function even more. The Example is assuming an “employees” table that looks like so:

For brevity, I’ve left out connection data etc;

$myArray = array(0 => array('id' => '1', 'fname' => 'Steve'),
                      array('id' => '2', 'fname' => 'sara'),
                      array('id' => '3', 'fname' => 'Matt')
                 );

// Don't forget to validate & clean your data
// Connect to db here 

foreach($myArray as $key => $value){
          $query = "INSERT INTO employees
          (id, first_name) VALUES ('$value[id]', '$value[fname]')
          ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE first_name = '$value[fname]'";

          $result = mysql_query($query);

          if(!$result){

                    print("Problem: " . mysql_error() . "");
          } else {

                    print("Success !");
          }

}

Read the manual on this for more information. This snippet will INSERT if a UNIQUE (in this case ‘id’) does not exist. It will UPDATE any existing unique. In this case any existing ‘id’s, the ‘first_name’ column will get updated.

One could also use the REPLACE function. As I understand the difference, REPLACE will DELETE any matching uniques, and INSERT a new record in it’s place.

Comments? Better ways? I’m always up for learning something new so please chime in ;-)

For this example I am running php 5.2.4 on Abyss/Apache web server

Download the matching pecl5 Binary from php.net. In this case its pecl5.2-win32-200710121230.zip (matching my current php version).

Unpack the file.

Copy the php_imagick.dll into php/ext/ directory

Open your php.ini file and look for the “Dynamic Extensions” area. In there will be a list of items (some commented out). Add the following line to the bottom of the list: extension=php_imagick.dll

Save the changes you made.

Restart your web server.

If these steps were successful imagick will show up on any php page using the phpinfo() function.

imagick, pecl-extension, php-extension