Rayhan's blog (raynux.com) » PHP

Microsoft’s Initiatives for PHP Developers

rayhan — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 06:07:31 +0000

For years Software Engineers have been trying to get the best out of Opensource, PHP and Microsoft Products. Because of Microsoft business policy they were not successful enough. Finally, Microsoft understood the reality and started to bend towards PHP. Now they wants to make their Platform more compatible to work with PHP. Microsoft has taken several initiatives to open their door for PHP Developers. Some of them are explained bellow:

WebsiteSpark:

It aims to promote the careers of PHP and other Web professionals in general that are interested in specializing in the Microsoft technologies. Under this project they will provide software, support and visibility to the Web Professionals. It’s a three years long program and you will have to pay a one time program fee of $100 which is due upon exit or at the end of three years term.

Once enrolled, they are giving away following software products:

- Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition – 3 licences
- Expression Studio 3 – 1 licence
- Expression Web 3 – 2 licences
- Windows Web Server 2008 R2 – licences for 4 processors (production and development)
- SQL Server 2008 Web Edition – licences for 4 processors (production and development)
- DotNetPanel Control Panel

These offer is for small company having employees 10 or less than 10.

You can find more details on project website: http://www.microsoft.com/web/websitespark/

A Microsoft Manager (Galileu Vieira) explained the offer in details in an interview with PHPClasses.org here: http://www.phpclasses.org/blog/post/102-Microsoft-promotes-the-careers-of-PHP-professionals.html
. And if you read this blog post then I suggest to read the following comment tread also. http://www.phpclasses.org/discuss/blog/PHP-Classes-blog/post/102/thread/12/

Here is another post on Microsoft and PHP at PHPClasses.org: http://www.phpclasses.org/blog/post/85-What-is-Microsoft-up-to-with-PHP.html

Interoperability:

A Center run by Microsoft Interoperability Strategy Group, which is dedicated to technical collaborative work to improve interoperability between Microsoft and non-Microsoft technologies. In this site, you will find a live directory of freely downloadable technical interoperability Bridges & Labs and related content such as demos, technical guidance and articles. The vast majority of the projects are Open Source. Here you will meet with PHP Interoperability projects and technologies.

Mode details at Centers website: http://www.interoperabilitybridges.com/Default.aspx

Windows Azure:

What is Windows Azure? In their words, it is Microsoft’s Platform to run interoperable application and services. Windows Azure is a runtime environment in the cloud that delivers on-demand compute, storage, and automated systems management. Windows Azure provides developers with the ability to host, scale, and manage Web applications on the Internet through Microsoft data centers.

More details at Windows Azure website: http://www.azure.com/

RayFeedReader – PHP class for parsing RSS and Atom Feed

rayhan — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:35:09 +0000

RayFeedReader, A Simple and Easy SimpleXML based feed reader class using PHP.

First of all it’s another reinvention of wheel. This class is designed to provide quick access to any XML based RSS feed and it’s content. Usages are very simple and require only one line of code. Html rendering functionality is provided through separate pluggable widget rendering class which can be extended easily. SimpleXML is used by default to load and fetch feed url but can be used CURL using rayHttp class. All or any CURL options can be set for HTTP request. It can auto detect feed type and supports RSS 0.92, RSS 2.0 and Atom feeds.

Features:

- Read feeds content into an array
- Supports for RSS 0.92, RSS 2.0 and Atom feed
- Detect feed type automatically, also can be set manually.
- Support pluggable html widget rendering class
- Can render html widget through optional RayFeedWidget class or your own extended class.
- Easily configurable & can work without any configuration.
- Simple & Easy to use from anywhere in your application with a single line of code.
- Support Singleton pattern
- By default SimpleXML is used as http client,
- Support Custom CURL request, may be used to extends functionality through rayHttp class.
- Light Weight

Methods Available (This class provides):
- parse()
- getData()
- widget()

Class:

File: rayfeedreader.php

 array());

        /**
         * Type of feed to be parsed.
         *
         * @var string
         * @access protected
         */
        protected       $_type = "rss";

        /**
         * HttpClient to be used for loading feed content.
         *
         *  - default SimpleXML
         *
         * @var string 'SimpleXML' or 'rayHttp'
         * @access protected
         */
        protected       $_httpClient = "SimpleXML";

        /**
         * Widget Class Name
         *
         * @var string
         * @access protected
         */
        protected       $_widget;

        /**
         * Parsed result data
         *
         * @var array
         * @access protected
         */
        protected       $_content;

        /**
         * Class construct
         *
         * @param array $options
         */
        function __construct($options = array()) {
            $this->setOptions($options);
        }

        /**
         * Get Instance of the class.
         *
         * @param array $options
         * @return object self instance.
         * @access public
         * @static
         */
        static function &getInstance($options = array()) {
            if (is_null(self::$__instance)) {
                self::$__instance = new self($options);
            }
            return self::$__instance;
        }

        /**
         * Set Options for the class
         *
         *
         * @param array $options
         * @return object self instance
         * @access public
         */
        function &setOptions($options) {
            if (!empty($options['url'])) {
                $this->_url = $options['url'];
            }

            if (!empty($options['type'])) {
                $this->_type = $options['type'];
            }

            if (!empty($options['httpClient'])) {
                $this->_httpClient = $options['httpClient'];
            }

            if (!empty($options['widget'])) {
                $this->_widget = $options['widget'];
            }

            $this->_options = array_merge($this->_options, $options);

            return $this;
        }

        /**
         * Parse feed contents into an array and return self object
         *
         * @return object self instance
         * @access public
         */
        function &parse() {
            /**
             * Get/load content
             */
             switch ($this->_httpClient) {
                 case 'SimpleXML':
                     $content = new SimpleXMLElement($this->_url, LIBXML_NOCDATA, true);
                     break;

                 case 'rayHttp':

                     $content = RayHttp::getInstance()->setOptions($this->_options['rayHttp'])->get($this->_url);

                     if (!empty($content)) {
                        $content = new SimpleXMLElement($content, LIBXML_NOCDATA);
                     }
                     break;
             }

             if (empty($content)) {
                 trigger_error("XML format is invalid or broken.", E_USER_ERROR);
             }

            /**
             * Detect Feed Type
             */

             if (empty($this->_type)) {

                    switch ($content->getName()) {
                        case 'rss':
                            foreach ($content->attributes() as $attribute) {
                                if ($attribute->getName() == 'version') {
                                    if ('2.0' == $attribute) {
                                        self::setOptions(array('type' => 'rss2'));
                                    } elseif (in_array($attribute, array('0.92', '0.91'))) {
                                        self::setOptions(array('type' => 'rss'));
                                    }
                                }
                            }
                            break;

                        case 'feed':
                            self::setOptions(array('type' => 'atom'));

                            break;
                    }

             }

             if (!in_array($this->_type, array('rss', 'rss2', 'atom'))) {

                  trigger_error("Feed type is either invalid or not supported.", E_USER_ERROR);

                  return false;
             }

            /**
             * Parse Feed Content
             */
            switch ($this->_type) {
                case 'rss':
                    $content = $this->parseRss($content);
                    break;

                case 'rss2':
                    $content = $this->parseRss2($content);
                    break;

                case 'atom':
                    $content = $this->parseAtom($content);
                    break;
            }

             if (empty($content)) {
                 trigger_error("No content is found.", E_USER_ERROR);
             }

             $this->_content = $content;

             return $this;

        }

        /**
         * Get Array of Parsed XML feed data.
         *
         * @return array parsed feed content.
         * @access public
         */
        function getData() {
            return $this->_content;
        }

        /**
         * Return html widget based rendered by widget class
         *
         *
         * @param array $options for html widget class
         * @return string html widget
         * @access public
         */
        function widget($options = array('widget' => 'brief')) {
            if (!empty($this->_widget) && !empty($this->_content)) {
                $Widget = new $this->_widget;

                return $Widget->widget($this->_content, $options);

             } else {
                 return false;
             }
        }

        /**
         * Parse feed xml into an array.
         *
         * @param object $feedXml SimpleXMLElementObject
         * @return array feed content
         * @access public
         */
        function parseRss($feedXml) {
            $data = array();

            $data['title'] = $feedXml->channel->title . '';
            $data['link'] = $feedXml->channel->link . '';
            $data['description'] = $feedXml->channel->description . '';
            $data['parser'] = __CLASS__;
            $data['type'] = 'rss';

            foreach ($feedXml->channel->item as $item) {
                $data['items'][] = array(
                                        'title' =>  $item->title . '',
                                        'link' =>   $item->link . '',
                                        'description' => $item->description . '',
                                    );
            }

            return $data;
        }

        /**
         * Parse feed xml into an array.
         *
         * @param object $feedXml SimpleXMLElementObject
         * @return array feed content
         * @access public
         */
        function parseRss2($feedXml) {
            $data = array();

            $data['title'] = $feedXml->channel->title . '';
            $data['link'] = $feedXml->channel->link . '';
            $data['description'] = $feedXml->channel->description . '';
            $data['parser'] = __CLASS__;
            $data['type'] = 'rss2';

            $namespaces = $feedXml->getNamespaces(true);
            foreach ($namespaces as $namespace => $namespaceValue) {
                $feedXml->registerXPathNamespace($namespace, $namespaceValue);
            }

            foreach ($feedXml->channel->item as $item) {
                $categories = array();
                foreach ($item->children() as $child) {
                    if ($child->getName() == 'category') {
                        $categories[] = (string) $child;
                    }
                }

                $author = null;
                if (!empty($namespaces['dc']) && $creator = $item->xpath('dc:creator')) {
                    $author = (string) $creator[0];
                }

                $content = null;
                if (!empty($namespaces['encoded']) && $encoded = $item->xpath('content:encoded')) {
                    $content = (string) $encoded[0];
                }

                $data['items'][] = array(
                                        'title' =>  $item->title . '',
                                        'link' =>   $item->link . '',
                                        'date' =>   date('Y-m-d h:i:s A', strtotime($item->pubDate . '')),
                                        'description' => $item->description . '',
                                        'categories' => $categories,
                                        'author' => array( 'name' => $author),
                                        'content' => $content,

                                    );

            }

            return $data;
        }

        /**
         * Parse feed xml into an array.
         *
         * @param object $feedXml SimpleXMLElementObject
         * @return array feed content
         * @access public
         */
        function parseAtom($feedXml) {
            $data = array();

            $data['title'] = $feedXml->title . '';
            foreach ($feedXml->link as $link) {
                    $data['link'] = $link['href'] . '';
                break;
            }

            $data['description'] = $feedXml->subtitle . '';
            $data['parser'] = __CLASS__;
            $data['type'] = 'atom';

            foreach ($feedXml->entry as $item) {
                foreach ($item->link as $link) {
                    $itemLink = $link['href'] . '';
                    break;
                }

                $categories = array();
                foreach ($item->category as $category) {
                    $categories[] = $category['term'] . '';
                }

                $data['items'][] = array(
                                        'title' =>  $item->title . '',
                                        'link' =>   $itemLink . '',
                                        'date' =>   date('Y-m-d h:i:s A', strtotime($item->published . '')),
                                        'description' => $item->summary . '',
                                        'content' => $item->content . '',
                                        'categories' => $categories,
                                        'author' => array('name' => $item->author->name . '', 'url' => $item->author->uri . ''),
                                        'extra' => array('contentType' => $item->content['type'] . '', 'descriptionType' => $item->summary['type'] . '')
                                    );
            }

            return $data;
        }

    }
?>

External feed widget class to get rendered html widget.

File: rayfeedwidget.php

 $data
         * @param  $options
         * @return string html
         */
        public function widget($data, $options = array());
    }

    /**
     * Widget Plugin Class for RayFeedReader
     *
     * Render html widget for feed reader based on options
     *
     * config options
     *  - array
     *      - widget:
     *          - optional string
     *          - value 'brief' or 'compact' or 'detail'
     *      - showTitle
     *          - boolean
     *          - whether add blog title or not.
     *
     * @version 1.0
     * @author Md. Rayhan Chowdhury
     * @package rayFeedReader
     * @license GPL
     */
    class RayFeedWidget implements RayFeedWidget_Interface{

        /**
         * HTML widget structure
         *
         * @var array
         * @access public
         */
        public $html = array('brief' => "\n
                                            \n
                                                %s\n
                                                %s\n
                                            \n
                                            %s\n
                                        ",

                                'compact' => "\n
                                    \n
                                        %s\n
                                        %s\n
                                    \n
                                ",

                                'detail' => "\n
                                    \n
                                        %s\n
                                        %s\n
                                    \n
                                    %s\n
                                ",
                            );

        /**
         * Return html widget based rendered by widget class
         *
         * @param  $data
         * @param  $options
         * @return 
         */
        function widget($data, $options = array('widget' => 'brief')) {
            switch ($options['widget']) {

                case 'compact':
                    return $this->widgetCompact($data, $options);
                    break;

                case 'detail':
                    return $this->widgetDetail($data, $options);
                    break;

                case 'brief':
                default:
                    return $this->widgetBrief($data, $options);
                    break;
            }
        }

        /**
         * Render feed widget with title and date only
         *
         * @param  $data
         * @param  $options
         * @return 
         */
        function widgetCompact($data, $options = array()) {
            if (empty($data['items'])) {
              return false;
            }

            $out = array();
            foreach ($data['items'] as $item) {
                if (empty($item['date'])) {
                    $item['date'] = '';
                }
                $out[] = sprintf($this->html['compact'], $item['link'], $item['title'], $item['date']);

            }

            $title = '';
            if (empty($options['showtitle'])) {
                $title = sprintf("%s
%s\n", $data['title'], $data['description']);
            }

            $out = "\n"  . $title . join(" \n", $out) . "";

            return $out;
        }

        /**
         * Render feed widget with title, date & description
         *
         * @param  $data
         * @param  $options
         * @return 
         */
        function widgetBrief($data, $options = array()) {
            if (empty($data['items'])) {
              return false;
            }

            $out = array();

            foreach ($data['items'] as $item) {
                if (empty($item['date'])) {
                    $item['date'] = '';
                }

                if (empty($item['description'])) {
                        $item['description'] = $item['content'];
                }

                $out[] = sprintf($this->html['brief'], $item['link'], $item['title'], $item['date'], $item['description']);

            }

            $title = '';
            if (empty($options['showtitle'])) {
                $title = sprintf("%s
%s\n", $data['title'], $data['description']);
            }

            $out = "\n"  . $title . join(" \n", $out) . "";

            return $out;
        }

        /**
         * Render blog widget with title, date & content
         *
         * @param  $data
         * @param  $options
         * @return 
         */
        function widgetDetail($data, $options = array()) {
            if (empty($data['items'])) {
              return false;
            }

            $out = array();
            foreach ($data['items'] as $item) {
                if (empty($item['date'])) {
                    $item['date'] = '';
                }
                if (empty($item['content'])) {
                    $item['content'] = $item['description'];
                }
                $out[] = sprintf($this->html['detail'], $item['link'], $item['title'], $item['date'], $item['content']);

            }

            $title = '';
            if (empty($options['showtitle'])) {
                $title = sprintf("%s
%s\n", $data['title'], $data['description']);
            }

            $out = "\n"  . $title . join(" \n", $out) . "";

            return $out;
        }
    }
?>

Usage Example: some quick examples are given below to introduce you with the class and it’s methods.

File: example.php

 'http://example.com/feed');

    $feedData = RayFeedReader::getInstance($options)->parse()->getData();

    // Or options can be set anytime using setOptions method.
    $feedData = RayFeedReader::getInstance()->setOptions($options)->parse()->getData();

    /**
     * Get html widget
     */

    $options = array(
                        'url' => 'http://example.com/feed',
                        'widget' => 'RayFeedWidget',
                    );

    /**
     * Load rayFeedWidget class file
     */
    require_once('rayfeedwidget.php');

    $html = RayFeedReader::getInstance()->setOptions($options)->parse()->widget();

    // OR with widget options.
    $widgetOptions = array('widget' => 'detail', 'showTitle' => true);

    $html = RayFeedReader::getInstance()->setOptions($options)->parse()->widget($widgetOptions);

    /**
     * Full options
     */
    $options = array(
                        'url' => 'http://example.com/feed',
                        'widget' => 'RayFeedWidget',
                        'httpClient' => 'rayHttp',
                        'type' => 'atom',
                    );

    /**
     * Load rayHttp class file.
     */
    require_once("rayhttp.php");    

    /**
     * Html widget with full options
     */
    $html = RayFeedReader::getInstance()->setOptions($options)->parse()->widget();

    /**
     * Get Feed Data with full options
     */
    $feedData = RayFeedReader::getInstance($options)->parse()->getData();
?>

Please let me know if you find this class helpful for you..

Class Update:

An updated version of this class and example script are posted at PHPClasses.org, http://www.phpclasses.org/browse/package/5652.html. Please use class from PHPClasses.org for bug fixed latest version.

I-Blood profile badge ready to use

rayhan — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 11:03:03 +0000

I-Blood, is a social network for blood.

I-Blood offers donor profile for every member. Which is still in improvement.

Profile badge image for i-blood beta version is available now. Here is the image:

Here is the link to the image: http://beta.i-blood.com/img/i-blood-badge.gif

Here is the sample code widget for placing the badge on your blog:

just make a little change to the code above, change my profile link with your profile link and also my name with your name.

Convert a Multidimensional Array Into Single Dimension

rayhan — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 03:51:10 +0000

RayArray is a array utility class.

I have wrapped three static functions for converting multidimensional configuration data. It is very much useful when working with configuration data. I have used this class in one of my project to store arbitrary configuration data just like windows registry data.

File: rayarray.php

 array(0 => array('name' => 'Bangladesh', 'capital' => 'Dhaka')))
 *          to array('country.0.name' => 'Bangladesh', 'country.0.capital' => 'Dhaka')
 *
 * @param array $inputArray, arrays to be marged into a single dimensional array
 * @param string $path, Default Initial path
 * @param string $separator, array key path separator
 * @return array, single dimensional array with key and value pair
 * @access public
 * @static
 */
static public function shorten(array $inputArray, $path = null, $separator = "."){
   $data = array();
   if (!is_null($path)) {
      $path = $path . $separator;
   }

   if (is_array($inputArray)) {
      foreach ($inputArray as $key => &$value) {
         if (!is_array($value)) {
            $data[$path . $key] = $value;
         } else {
            $data = array_merge($data, self::shorten($value, $path . $key, $separator));
         }
      }
   }

   return $data;
}

/**
 * Unshorten a single dimensional array into multidimensional array.
 *
 * @example array('country.0.name' => 'Bangladesh', 'country.0.capital' => 'Dhaka')
 *          to array('country' => array(0 => array('name' => 'Bangladesh', 'capital' => 'Dhaka')))
 *
 * @param array $data data to be converted into multidimensional array
 * @param string $separator key path separator
 * @return array multi dimensional array
 * @access public
 * @static
 */
static public function unshorten($data, $separator = '.'){
   $result = array();

   foreach ($data as $key => $value){
      if(strpos($key, $separator) !== false ){
         $str = explode($separator, $key, 2);
         $result[$str[0]][$str[1]] = $value;
         if(strpos($str[1], $separator)){
            $result[$str[0]] = self::unshorten($result[$str[0]], $separator);
         }
      }else{
         $result[$key] = is_array($value)?  self::unshorten($value, $separator) : $value;
      }
   }
   return $result;
}

/**
 * Get part of array from a multidimensional array specified by concatenated keys path.
 *
 * @example
 *          path = "0.name"
 *          data =
 *          array(
 *                  array('name' => array('Bangladesh', 'Srilanka', 'India', 'Pakistan')),
 *                  array('help' => 'help.php'),
 *                  'test' => 'value',
 *                  10 =>
 *          false)
 *          will return array('Bangladesh', 'Srilanka', 'India', 'Pakistan')
 * @param string $path
 * @param array $data
 * @param string $separator path separator default '.'
 * @return mixed and return NULL if not found.
 * @access public
 * @static
 */
static public function subarray($path, &$data, $separator = '.') {
   if (strpos($path, $separator) === false) {
      if (isset($data[$path])) {
         return $data[$path];
      }
   } else {
      $keys = explode($separator, $path, 2);
      if (array_key_exists($keys[0], $data)) {
         return self::subarray($keys[1], $data[$keys[0]], $separator);
      }
   }
}
}
?>

Please drop me a line if you find this class useful or you have a different opinion.

Http Client Class for PHP development

rayhan — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 07:01:35 +0000

RayHttp, A Simple Http Client Class for PHP Development.

This class is designed to provide quick http reqest method to access external website. A CURL alternative to php native file_get_contents method. It can work without any configuration and can be called anywhere is your application using singleton design pattern. Unlike other Http client class in php, this is lightweight, simple and easy to use and configure. If you need more functionality you can extend the class. CURL request is fully customizable through setCurlOptions() method.

This class is suitable for those project which is not built on a PHP Framework. Usually all frameworks provide a built in Http Client Object.

Features:

- General purpose http request class.
- Supports GET & POST request Method.
- For GET Request both CURL & PHP native file_get_contents are available.
- By default CURL is used for GET Request.
- Easily configurable & can work without any configuration.
- Simple & Easy to use from anywhere in your application with a single line of code.
- Request through CURL fully configurable with all possible curl options, so it’s up to you.
- Encode given URL Automatically, may be disabled.
- Supports POST requests with a user defined array or serialised string of form values.
- Supports GET requests with a user defined parameter array.
- Support Singleton pattern
- Support Custom CURL request, may be used to extends functionality.
- Light Weight

Methods Available (This class provides):

- get()
- post()
- curlExecute()
- encodeUrl()

Class:

File: rayhttp.php

 'curl',
                    'encodeUrl' => true,
                    'curlOptions' => array(
                        CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER => 0,
                        CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => 1,
                        CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION => 1,
                        CURLOPT_ENCODING => "",
                        CURLOPT_USERAGENT => "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10.5; en-US; rv:1.9.0.5) Gecko/2008120121 Firefox/3.0.5",
                        CURLOPT_COOKIESESSION => 1,
                        CURLOPT_AUTOREFERER => 1,
                        CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT => 120,
                        CURLOPT_AUTOREFERER => 120,
                        CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 120,
                        CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
                        CURLOPT_COOKIEFILE => 'cookiefile',
                        CURLOPT_COOKIEJAR => 'cookiefile',
                    ),
                );

	/**
	 * Hold runtime configuration.
	 *
	 *
	 * @var array
	 * @access protected
	 */
	protected 	$_configs = array();

	/**
	 * Class Constructor
	 *
	 * @param array $configs
	 * @access public
	 * @return unknown
	 */
	function __construct($configs = array()){
		if (!empty($configs)) {
			$this->setOptions($configs);
		} else {
			$this->setOptions($this->__defaultConfigs);
		}
	}

	/**
	 * Configure the class.
	 *
	 * @param array $configs, configuration data.
	 * @return unknown
	 * @access public
	 */
	public function &setOptions($configs){
		$this->_configs = array_merge($this->__defaultConfigs, $configs);

		return $this;
	}

	/**
	 * Get Curl Instance.
	 *
	 * @return object curl instance
	 * @access protected
	 */
	protected function &_getCurlInstance() {
		if ($this->_curlInstance == null) {
			$this->_curlInstance = curl_init();
			$this->setCurlOptions($this->_configs['curlOptions']);
		}
		return $this->_curlInstance;
	}

	/**
	 * Set Curl Options from array
	 *
	 * @param array $options
	 * @return object | this
	 * @access public
	 */
	public function &setCurlOptions($options = array()) {
		$c = $this->_getCurlInstance();
		if (function_exists('curl_setopt_array')) {
			curl_setopt_array($c, $options);
		} else {
			foreach ($options as $key => $value) {
				curl_setopt($c, $key, $value);
			}
		}
		return $this;
	}

	/**
	 * Execute curl library function.
	 *
	 * @param string $url
	 * @param string $method, http method, 'get' or 'post'
	 * @param string|array $postFields, form data
	 * @return string | curl response object
	 * @access public
	 */
	public function curlExecute($url, $method = 'get', $postFields = null){
		$c = $this->_getCurlInstance();
		if ($method === 'get') {
			$this->setCurlOptions(array(CURLOPT_URL => $url,
                                        CURLOPT_POST => false,
                                        CURLOPT_HTTPGET => 1));

		} elseif ($method === 'post') {
			$this->setCurlOptions(array(CURLOPT_URL => $url,
                                        CURLOPT_POST => true,
                                        CURLOPT_HTTPGET => 0,
                                        CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => $postFields));

		} else {
			$this->setCurlOptions(array(CURLOPT_URL => $url));

		}
		return curl_exec($c);
	}

	/**
	 * Encode url with urlencode function for unencoded character.
	 *
	 * @param string $url urls to be encoded.
	 * @param string $callback function name as callback function, 'urlencode' or 'raw_urlencode'
	 * @return string encoded url.
	 * @access public
	 */
	public function encodeUrl($url, $callback = 'urlencode') {
		if ($pathOfset = strpos($url, '/', (strpos($url, '://') + 3))) {

			extract(parse_url($url));

			$path = implode('/', array_map($callback, explode('/', $path)));
			$url = substr($url, 0, $pathOfset) . $path;

			if (!empty($query)) {
				parse_str($query, $query);
				$query = http_build_query(array_map($callback, $query));
				$query = preg_replace('@(\=($|(&)))@is', '\3', $query);			// remove tailing = sign from empty variable.
				$url = $url . "?" . $query;
			}
		}

		return $url;
	}

    /**
     * Get Self Instance.
     *
     * @param string $name, name of the instance, default value is 'default'
     * @param array $configs, configuration array for the instance
     * @return object, self instance
	 * @access public
     * @static
     */
    static public function &getInstance($name = 'default', $configs = array()){
    	if (is_null(self::$__instances[$name])) {
    		self::$__instances[$name] = new self($configs);
    	}
    	return self::$__instances[$name];
    }

	/**
	 * Get url contents using GET MEthod.
	 *
	 * @param string $url
	 * @param string|array $getData, get data in serialized string or array format.
	 * @return string
	 * @access public
	 */
    public function get($url, $getData = null){
    	if (!is_null($getData)) {
    		if (is_array($getData)) {
    			$getData = http_build_query($getData);
    		}
    		if (strpos($url, '?') === false) {
    			$url .= '?';
    		}
    		$url .= $getData;
    	}

    	if ($this->_configs['encodeUrl']) {
    		$url = $this->encodeUrl($url);
    	}

    	if ($this->_configs['client'] === 'php') {
    		return file_get_contents($url);
    	}
    	return $this->curlExecute($url);
    }

    /**
     * Get URL contents using POST method.
     *
     * @param string $url
     * @param string|array $postData, form data in serialized string or array format.
     * @return string
     * @access public
     */
    public function post($url, $postData = null) {
    	if (is_array($postData)) {
    		$postData = http_build_query($postData);
    	}

    	if ($this->_configs['encodeUrl']) {
    		$url = $this->encodeUrl($url);
    	}

    	return $this->curlExecute($url, 'post', $postData);
    }
}

Usage Example:
File: example.php

get("http://google.com");
$content = RayHttp::getInstance()->get("http://google.com/search", array('q' => 'rayhttp'));
$content = RayHttp::getInstance()->get("http://google.com/search?q=rayhttp");

/**
 * Example 2
 *
 * using default configuration but using php native file_get_contetns method.
 * use as a singleton object.
 * static method.
 */
$content = RayHttp::getInstance()->setOptions(array('client' => 'php'))->get("http://google.com");
$content = RayHttp::getInstance()->setOptions(array('client' => 'php'))->get("http://google.com/search", array('q' => 'rayhttp'));
$content = RayHttp::getInstance()->setOptions(array('client' => 'php'))->get("http://google.com/search?q=rayhttp");

/**
 * Example 3
 *
 * Take Instance Of the object
 */
$http = new RayHttp();
$content = $http->get("http://google.com");
$content = $http->get("http://google.com/search", array('q' => 'rayhttp'));
$content = $http->get("http://google.com/search?q=rayhttp");

/**
 * METHOD POST.
 */

/**
 * Example 4
 *
 * using default configuration
 */
$content = RayHttp::getInstance()->post("http://example.com/", array('name' => 'rayhttp', 'location' => 'dhaka, bangladesh'));

/**
 * Multiple Instance & Configuration.
 */
RayHttp::getInstance('default', $configs);
RayHttp::getInstance('default2', $configs);

$http = RayHttp::getInstance(); // get default instance
$http2 = RayHttp::getInstance('default2'); // get default2 instance

$http3 = RayHttp::getInstance('default3', $configs); // get default 3 instance
$http3->setOptions($configs); // reconfigure default3 instance;

/**
 * Specify Proxy
 */
RayHttp::getInstance('c')->setCurlOptions(array(CURLOPT_PROXY => '172.19.79.1:3128'))->get("http://www.google.com");

Rate this class at phpclasses.org: http://www.phpclasses.org/rayhttpclient

Install Additional softwares by a single command on Ubuntu

rayhan — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 20:49:15 +0000

I have created a bash script file to install almost all necessary softwares to run and work on a Ubuntu box. I have tried this script in Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron and Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex. Softwares I have placed in this script covers PHP-MySQL development and desktop applications for graphics, multimedia, to Internet applications. You can also add your favourite softwares in the script.

File: RayInstall.sh


# RayInstall.sh
#
# Ubuntu Intrepid & Hardy
#
# A very simple Bash Script file to automate installation of necessary
# softwares for PHP-MySQL development and desktop uses in a ubuntu box
#
# This may take several hours or even days depending on your internet connection speed.
#	It tooks 8 Hours for me with about 70-130 KBps of speed
#
# @uses Aplication -> Accesories -> Terminal
#		Now write following command "sudo sh ./RayInstall.sh" without quotes
#		and press enter button on your keyboard
#
# @author ray@raynuxcom
# @licence GPL

#
# For PHP-MySQL Based Development
#

# Install Apache version 2 web server
apt-get -y install apache2 apache2-doc

# Install PHP with necessary modules
apt-get -y install php5 libapache2-mod-php5 php5-cli
apt-get -y install php5-curl php5-dev php5-gd php5-gmp php5-imap php5-ldap php5-mcrypt php5-mhash php5-ming php5-odbc php5-pspell php5-snmp php5-sybase php5-tidy curl libwww-perl imagemagick

# Install MySQL Database server
apt-get -y install mysql-server php5-mysql mysql-gui-tools-common

#Restart apache
/etc/init.d/apache2 restart

# Install Webmin, A web based frontend for linux box.
apt-get -y install webmin

# Install Subversion & Rapidsvn a subversion gui client tools
apt-get -y install subversion subversion-tools libapache2-svn
apt-get -y install rapidsvn

#Restart apache
/etc/init.d/apache2 restart

#Install Doxygen, An documentation tools for PHP Application
apt-get -y install doxygen doxygen-gui doxygen-doc graphviz

# Install Phpmyadmin, A web based mysql administration tools
apt-get -y install phpmyadmin

# Install Java runtime for Eclipse PDT to work properly
apt-get -y install sun-java6-bin sun-java6-jdk sun-java6-jre

# Install Eclipse PDT
# Just download the pdt-all-in-one peckage from zend site
# http://downloads.zend.com/pdt/all-in-one/pdt-1.0.3.R20080603_debugger-5.2.14.v20080602-all-in-one-linux-gtk.tar.gz
# Unpack it in a suitable location.
# run eclipse/eclipse from the unpacked folder and you are done
# Now install Subclipse plugin using eclipse update tools

#
# Graphics, 2D and 3D Modeling Softwares & tools
#

# Install inkscape, An Illustrator alternative
apt-get -y install inkscape

# Install dia and graphical UML modeling tools
apt-get -y install dia

# Install Scribus, An alternative to Adobe Pagemaker
apt-get -y install scribus

# Install Cheese,  Webcam Software, a video and photo shoot application with cool effects for the GNOME desktop
apt-get -y install webcam cheese

# Install QCAD, and linux alternative to CAD Program.
apt-get -y install qcad

# Install Blender, Linux alternative for 3D Modeling
apt-get -y install blender

#
# Misc. Tools
#

# Install Wine, to run windows program
apt-get -y install wine

# Install XChm to read CHM Help file and Manual
apt-get -y install xchm

#
# Multimedia Players and codec
#

# Install GStreamer restricted codec to run mp3 and other media file
apt-get -y install gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad

# XMMS2 Media player
apt-get -y install xmms2 gxmms2

# Install vlc player, An alternative media player. Can play DVD file with title
apt-get -y install vlc vlc-plugin-*

# Install Amarok music player
apt-get -y install amarok

# Install k3b, A dvd burner application
apt-get -y install k3b

#
# Network and internet tools
#

# Install OpenSSH server to access your ubuntu box remotely
apt-get -y install openssh-server openssh-client

#Install gnome-network-admin, not available in default ubuntu 8.10
apt-get -y install gnome-network-admin

# Install Webhttrack, Website copier tools for linux
apt-get -y install webhttrack

# Install kopete instant messenger
apt-get -y install kopete

# install Internet Explorer in Ubuntu (Experimental)
apt-get -y install wine cabextract msttcorefonts

#run the following command manually to install IE
# wget http://www.tatanka.com.br/ies4linux/downloads/ies4linux-latest.tar.gz
# tar zxvf ies4linux-latest.tar.gz
# cd ies4linux-*
# ./ies4linux

If you are using Ubuntu on your computer and want to automate the installation process utilising this script then perform the following steps:

Create a file name RayInstall.sh in you home folder.
Copy and paste the above code inside the the file and save it.
Open a terminal window from Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal
Write the following command
sudo sh ./RayInstall.sh
press Enter
Now it will start installing all the softwares listed in the script and you may need to provide some information during installation process when needed.

This script may be helpful for newbies. If you have any comment or suggestion regarding this script please let me know as I am also a newbie in Ubuntu.

Store and Display image from MySQL database

rayhan — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 10:09:13 +0000

A basic approach to upload and save image to a MySQL database and then display the image from the database.

First you need to create a table in MySQL Database to store the image data. Log into you database and run the following sql command:
CREATE TABLE `images` ( `id` int(11) NOT NULL auto_increment, `name` varchar(100) default NULL, `size` int(11) default NULL, `type` varchar(20) default NULL, `content` mediumblob, PRIMARY KEY (`id`) ) ENGINE=MyISAM;

Once the table have been created, we are ready to write codes. Now create a folder in you webserver named rayImg and create image.php and upload.php files inside the folder.

Open the image.php, copy and paste the following code and save it.

File: image.php

Now open the update.php, copy and paste the following code and save it.

File: upload.php

 500000) {
		$formOk = false;
		echo "Error: File size must be less than 500 KB.";
	}

	if ($formOk) {
		// read file contents
		$content = file_get_contents($path);

		//connect to mysql database
		if ($conn = mysqli_connect('localhost', 'root', 'root', 'test')) {
			$content = mysqli_real_escape_string($conn, $content);
			$sql = "insert into images (name, size, type, content) values ('{$name}', '{$size}', '{$type}', '{$content}')";

			if (mysqli_query($conn, $sql)) {
				$uploadOk = true;
				$imageId = mysqli_insert_id($conn);
			} else {
				echo "Error: Could not save the data to mysql database. Please try again.";
			}

			mysqli_close($conn);
		} else {
			echo "Error: Could not connect to mysql database. Please try again.";
		}
	}
}
?>


	
		Upload image to mysql database.
		
	
	
		
			
		  		Image Uploaded:
		  	
			
				" width="150px">
				Embed: 
			

			
		

		
		  
		  	Image Upload:
		  
		  
		  	Image

Replace line

mysqli_connect(‘localhost’, ‘root’, ‘root’, ‘test’)

with

mysqli_connect(‘your host’, ‘your username’, ‘your password’, ‘your database name’)

in both the file and save again.

You are done. Open upload.php from your browser and upload you desired image and view the uploaded image.

Good commenting practice in PHP.

rayhan — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 06:50:06 +0000

Currently I am working on the documentation of my software written in PHP. From this documentation project I have found that proper commenting of code is a good documentation. If you write your code base along with comment then you don’t need to worry about the API Documentation of your software. You just have to use some software like PHPDoc or Doxygen to make the API in a minute. Specially I am using Doxygen in my project which is also used in CakePHP API documentaiton.

When you are commenting your code be careful to meet the commenting requirement/procedure so that those documentation software can understand your comment as a data.

Here is a simple example what Doxygen can easily parse for you.

    
/**
 * Class A.
 *
 * Class description.
 *
 * @example example here.
 * @todo to do here
 *
 * @package appname
 * @subpackage appname.subname
 * @author yourname
 * @since version 1.0
 */
class A extends Object{
	/**
	 * Enter description here...
	 *
	 * @var type
	 */
	var $member1;
	/**
	 * Enter description here...
	 *
	 * @param integer $param1
	 * @param string $param2
	 * @param array $param3 contains a array of data
	 * @return boolean
	 * @since version 2.0
	 */
	function doSomeThing($param1, $param2, $param3){
		return true;
	}
}

So if you follow the commenting technique carefully, you don’t have to white API of your own.

Wow! I passed in the first ZCE Practice Exam Test

rayhan — Mon, 05 May 2008 06:48:16 +0000

I bought 10 practice tests for ZCE, and today I tried one of 10. I successfully passed the 1^st exam.

Here is the exam result.

This result is not that much satisfactory, but courageous for me. It shows that I am very much weak in network programming and xml & web services section.

But at east I passed the first model test. And after completing all practice tests I hope that I will get the confidence for real ZCE Exam.

First Approach towards Mashup

rayhan — Fri, 02 May 2008 04:08:39 +0000

Before today I never tried for meshup. After having a conversation with Hasin Bhai I realized that I must have the knowledge on mashup, web services API and other techniques. Thanks to Hasin Bhai for such an informative conversation.

Even I never tried any REST services before, because I was impressed by soap based services. Today I started with Yahoo APIs.

I found a nice tutorial on Yahoo API, Whip Up a Yahoo! Mashup Using PHP at Sitepoint. The tutorial is based on REST.

The object oriented technique covered by the tutorial was not optimized enough, but a good start for a novice.

Now I am looking forward to mashup using Flickr API.