Michelle-mxt

Hello everyone!

I am here to play around and get a feel for the class WIKI.
I have done a little bit with a wiki board, but have not yet learned it all.
Want to try the img button...so here is a photo of one of my turtle babies:

How do we delete images we no longer want on here??

Anyway, that's enough playing for now...

I'll be back for more playing very soon =-)

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Ok...back for a little more playing:-)
Been playing around with STWEB, WIKI, POWWEB, amd Wildblue this week. 2 out of 4 will accept PHP, stweb & powweb. I was hoping that my wildblue space will allow it so that my project site could continue on...might have to set up an account elsewhere...either powweb or crystal tech.

Although I have had difficuly understanding php it is becoming clearer each day. This was my findings for week 3 regarding "get" and "put":

The methods are basically used to translate data sent from a form. So far I have found that with “GET” the information that you put in is added to the end of the URL. With “POST” this information is hidden by something known as “standard input”. I can see that it is JilMac’s favorite because it has to do with databases, and she just loves databases.

I also found the following comparison: GET v/s POST

1. POST is more safer then GET. Because the URL doesn't expose the data 2. The URL length has some limitation (Can't be more than 256 characters in some servers. But generally has 4000 (4K) characters limit. And hence you can't send heavy data in GET. 3. GET request are re-executed when the user presses back button. 4. Search service will not index anything with ? in URI. ( some modern services may) 5. Resubmit - POST browser usually alerts the user ( no guarantee though).But GET doesn't 6. GET can't handle non-ASCII characters

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Error-checking:
When I receive an error, I will go through the code, line by line and look for anything that may be missing or misspelled. I will then check my folders and be sure they are linked correctly. If it still isn't working I will undo anything that I have changed most recently and go from there. Eventually I will have to just walk away because I find that if I search for too long, the codes will all jumble together. Then usually when I return the problem will pop out at me:-)
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Week 5...back for more:-)
Web 2.0....this is my response:
--Tell us what you thought about the concept: The Next Version of the web and it's name Web 2.0

Of all of the videos, the 2nd was my favorite…fast paced, informational, and upbeat. My thoughts on Web 2.0…a fun idea, with a lot of good potential…but I also see a lot of confusion and false information. I hadn’t given any thought to Web 2.0 until now…last semester I had to create a blog for one of my classes, but I never even thought about what made up that blog, just made it like I was suppose to, and added to it weekly. I have used WIKI’s a little bit, again, not even thinking about what makes them up.

"Web 2.0 is the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the internet as platform, and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that new platform. Chief among those rules is this: Build applications that harness network effects to get better the more people use them." wikipedia

--Tell us what you think makes up a Web 2.0 web site

Web 2.0 web sites are basically sites made up by a number of people from possible all over the world. The content can be changed, added, or edited by anyone, and the thing that bothers me the most is that most of it isn’t closely monitored.

--Do some research on Web 2.0 - give a link to something else you found that related directly or indirectly to Web 2.0 and why you thought it did.

Wikipedia is a good example of web 2.0…my question though is how do you know that what is there is true? Is there someone, somewhere, monitoring the information being posted?

This was my blog for last semester...didn't realize until now that it relates to web 2.0:
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Week 6 Definitions....had a little trouble with it...but it is coming along...

Trimming Strings: The trim() function removes spaces at the beginning and end of an entered string. It will not, however, remove spaces in the middle.
Example:
var a = String.trim(" Visit W3Schools ");
The result will be:
a = "Visit W3Schools"
To remove spaces from only one side you can use Ltrim() to remove spaces on the left side of the string, and RTrim() to remove spaces on the right side.

Joining Strings: Identical to implode(). “The Join function returns a string that consists of a number of substrings in an array.”

Example: dim a(5),b
a(0)="Saturday"
a(1)="Sunday"
a(2)="Monday"
a(3)="Tuesday"
a(4)="Wednesday"
b=Filter(a,"n")
document.write(join(b))
Output:
Sunday Monday Wednesday

Encoding Strings: Encodes “a string to be used in a query part of a URL”; also a “convenient way to pass variables to the next page.”
Concatenation basically means to link two or more items together using the period (.)
Example
$var = "Hello ";
$var = $var . "World";
This will combine the 2 resulting in “Hello World”

Literal -vs- Interpreted: This is somewhat simple to understand. Basically, in PHP if single quotes are used, the characters within will be taken literally. If double quotes are used then the characters will be interpreted, such as a value being given to a variables name.

Weakly Typed: “Variables aren’t locked in to one particular format.” One advantage of weak typing versus strong typing is that it takes less effort on the part of the programmer. One disadvantage is “that weakly typed programming systems catch fewer errors at compile time and some of these might still remain after testing has been completed.”
Magic Quotes: I am not sure if I am completely understanding the proper use of these or not, or if I really understand why they should be used.
If Magic Quotes are enabled, they will automatically escape “problematic characters.” “When on, all ' (single-quote), " (double quote), \ (backslash) and NULL characters are escaped with a backslash automatically. This is identical to what addslashes() does.”
There are three magic quote directives:
magic_quotes_gpc
“Affects HTTP Request data (GET, POST, and COOKIE). Cannot be set at runtime, and defaults to on in PHP.”
magic_quotes_runtime
“If enabled, most functions that return data from an external source, including databases and text files, will have quotes escaped with a backslash. Can be set at runtime, and defaults to off in PHP.”
magic_quotes_sybase
“If enabled, a single-quote is escaped with a single-quote instead of a backslash. If on, it completely overrides magic_quotes_gpc. Having both directives enabled means only single quotes are escaped as . Double quotes, backslashes and NULL's will remain untouched and unescaped.”

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Week 7-Web Services

What do they say it is? I chose to do my research mainly on W3schools because it offers so much information on web services. W3schools describes web services as:
• “Web services are application components
• Web services communicate using open protocols
• Web services are self-contained and self-describing
• Web services can be discovered using UDDI
• Web services can be used by other applications
• XML is the basis for Web services”

Web service platforms includes SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol), UDDI (Universal Description, Discovery and Integration), and WSDL (Web Services Description Language). “SOAP is a simple XML-based protocol to let applications exchange information over HTTP.”

UDDI is “a Web-based distributed directory that enables businesses to list themselves on the Internet and discover each other, similar to a traditional phone book's yellow and white pages”.

WSDL “an XML-formatted language used to describe a Web service's capabilities as collections of communication endpoints capable of exchanging messages. WSDL is an integral part of UDDI, an XML-based worldwide business registry. WSDL is the language that UDDI uses. WSDL was developed jointly by Microsoft and IBM”.

Where can you get some?
There are now many options available for web services. I found a list of many publishers offering Web services. The list includes StrikeIron, Xignite, and mariyam to name a few. [7]

What do they do?
This all depends on what you want them to do. They can create a wonderful search engine, like Google, or give detailed product information like Amazon. Another good example is Ebay.

How do you use them?
You can use a form to access web service, or place the code directly on your site.

Why would you use them?
I might use web services to enable web searches to my site, do exchanges, calculations, or stock information. The possibilities are numerous.

Whose would you use?
Because I am still a bit unfamiliar with web services, I am not sure whose I would use. It has been very interesting researching and learning that there are so many to choose from.

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Week 8-Sessions

Why are Sessions so important?? What is the big deal?? Go do some research - share with the group what you found.

Sessions are “a record of one visitor browsing through your site” (monstercommerce.com). Similar to cookies, sessions store and track user data while they browse through pages on a website. The most major difference between the 2 is that cookies are stored on the client-side, whereas sessions are stored server-side. Because no information is being sent back and forth, sessions offer more security. Sessions will even work on a computer that has cookies disabled. To begin using sessions, session_start() function must be placed before any html:

<?php
session_start();
?>
<html>
<head> …..

This will generate a random ID and store it on the user’s computer (this is the only thing stored). When the user passes through the page again, PHP will already know that there is a session in progress and will ignore instances of session_start().
Once a session is established, the user can create, store, and retrieve information from that session. One example may be a shopping cart. Sessions can be used to keep track of the items in the shopping cart. “Information to be stored for a session is kept in session variables. Session variables are created by registering them for a session, using session_register() function. To use that information (on any page iteration in the session) you simply reference the variable just like you would any other variable”.
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Week 9-IDE's

What is an Integrated Development Environment?

I found on wikipedia that Integrated Development Environment, also known as IDE, is basically “a type of computer software that assists computer programmers in developing software. IDEs normally consist of a source code editor, a compiler and/or interpreter, build-automation tools, and (usually) a debugger. Sometimes a version control system and various tools to simplify the construction of a GUI are integrated as well. Many modern IDEs also integrate a class browser; an object inspector and a class hierarchy diagram, for use with object oriented software development.”

What does it do for the Developer?

IDE’s can do a number of things for the developer. I found the following list on java.sun.com. “Most IDEs have tools that allow you to:

• Write and edit source code

• See errors as you type

• See highlighted code syntax

• Automate repetitive tasks

• Compile code

• Browse class structures

• View JavaDocs

• Use drag-and-drop utilities for easy building of features, such as graphic objects or creating database connections

In addition, some IDEs do the following:

• Provide templates for quick creation of JSP pages, servlets and other web components

• Provide code-completion as you type

• Automatically create classes, methods, and properties

• Integrate with source code repositories, such as CVS

• Integrate with web application servers, such as Apache Tomcat

• Integrate with build utilities, such as Apache Ant

• HTTP monitoring for debugging web applications

• Unified UI for debugging Java code

• Macros and abbreviations

• Refactor code

• Provide UML support”

Why are they necessary?
IDE’s are necessary because they are more efficient. They help cut down on coding times, and assists in quickly debugging and fixing errors. In today’s fast paced world, efficiency is a necessity.

What features do you look for when selecting one?

I am still a little unsure of this one. I would want to find an IDE that is compatible with my system, and offer me the most without a whole lot of confusion. I would look for something that will cut coding time down and assist me in finding and correcting errors without causing frustration.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_development_environment

http://java.sun.com/developer/technicalArticles/tools/intro.html

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Week 10-Web Hosts

This week we had to research and discuss what it will cost for a good web host that will support PHP. My response was: “The World Wide Web is a massive collection of web sites, all hosted on computers (called web servers) all over the world. The web server (computer) where your web site's html files, graphics, etc. reside is known as the web host. Web hosting clients simply upload their web sites to a shared (or dedicated) webserver, which the ISP maintains to ensure a constant, fast connection to the Internet.” www.1stdomain.net/info/glossary.html

1.) Where is your application going to run - after the semester is over?
I have not yet decided on this. In the past I have used Yahoo, and I have web space on my wildblue account, but I may use godaddy or powweb.
2.) Have you tested running PHP there?? If you have no "there" - then state that.
Yahoo and wildblue do not support PHP, therefore I will need to find a new host.
3.) Do you have a MySQL database set up?? Is it on the server your are going to be using?
I do not currently have a MySQL databse set up, but hope to accomplish this very soon.
4.) What does it cost to host your PHP & MySQL site?? (this is the meat of the question) I want everyone to research this REGARDLESS of weather you have a site or not - some of you won't have a site - but you need to start looking into what are the costs - because sooner or later you will be hosting somewhere.
Well, Yahoo and my Wildblue space is free, but they do not support PHP. GoDaddy will run about $9.00/month , and Powweb will be about $8.00/month.
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Week-11-Research Tech Support

Web Host questioning:

This is the email that I sent to powweb support; I will post their response when I receive it. The reason that I have chosen to email was because I was curious to their response time, and Gary has already shown us their phone communication...thanks Gary.

I am currently taking Intermediate Programming for the Internet and we are researching Web Host that we would like to use and feel comfortable with. The following questions are what I am looking for in a Web Host:

1. Do you require contracts for your Host accounts?

2. What is the waiting period for activation?

3. What type(s) of tech support does your company offer? If I am in a bind at 11 pm is there someone available to assist me?

4. Can I create my site from scratch with Dreamweaver 8? Or am I required to use your templates?

5. What version of PHP is offered? SQL?

This was the response:

Hello Michelle, Thank you for contacting Support. We are glad to hear from you that you are interested to signup for an acount on our server. To signup for the account, please click on the link http://www.powweb.com/powweb/signUp.bml . The answers to your queries are listed below:

1. We do not require any contracts for hosting an account on our server but you need to follow our terms of services. Please click on the link http://www.powweb.com/about/TOS.bml to learn more about our terms of services.

2. During the signup of an account, if all the information provided are accurate, the account will be activated immediately.

3. We offer chat, phone and e-mail Supports 24x7. You can e-mail us at support@powweb-inc.com and contact our chat and get the phone Support number by clicking on the link http://www.powweb.com/support/contact.bml .

4. You can create the Web site with Dreamweaver but you need to follow the steps provided below to connect to FTP: FTP Host Address: ftp.powweb.com .FTP site Username: (FTP Account username)FTP site Password: (FTP Account password)FTP site connection port: 21.Login type: Normal.Host directory: /htdocs. However, we also provide the tools to create the Web site such as SiteDelux and CM4All tool. Click on the link http://www.powweb.com/knowledgebase/category.bml?c=510 to learn more about CM4All tool and http://www.powweb.com/knowledgebase/category.bml?c=509 to learn more about SiteDelux.

5. We support php version 4.4.4 and 5.1.5 and MySQL database version 4.1.18.

Not as thorough as I expected, but friendly enough.

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Week 12-Tech Support and Databases

This week we were asked to contact tech support regarding databases. I again contacted Powweb via e-mail:

In order to create the database, follow the steps provided in the link http://www.powweb.com/knowledgebase/read_article.bml?kbid=2576 .

To create the tables in the database, click on the link http://www.powweb.com/knowledgebase/read_article.bml?kbid=2577 . You need not know any other information regarding reading and writing in the database, if you are using phpMyAdmin interface.

You can click on the link http://www.powweb.com/knowledgebase/ to access our knowledgebase.

I was hoping for a bit more, however, I have not had a chance to follow the links yet, so I am hoping to find more info there.

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Week 13 Discussion

Oops...I almost forgot the wiki!

Well, I have found this whole section on mysql and databases to be a very complex and frustrating assignment. I do like the whole concept of databases and do see and understand the possibilities of uses, however, getting the initial understanding of it was difficult. I finally was able to sit down in absolute peace and quiet, shift my mind from website designing and really concentrate on databases. Once I did this I was able to get a better understanding of it, how it works, what it is capable of doing, and how to set everything to work with Crystal Tech. I have finally begun to like databases! But I am very glad I have finished those scripts!

I think that I most enjoyed researching all of the different hosts and just seeing for myself what a variety of options there are. I had never realized how many differences there are when choosing a host! I think that I have decided to use Powweb as a host in the very near future, because I like what they have to offer and was happy with the tech support responses that I received. I just haven’t had time yet to set anything up with them. I am in hopes to do this once the semester ends so that I can keep my site up sand running.

I think the one thing that frustrated me the most was just my lack of time to commit this semester. With so much going on I just wasn’t able to give this class my complete undivided attention, and that bothers me. Granted I will have everything completed in time, but I like to have more time to explore and join in on the chats. Maybe next time.

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Week 14 Discussion

PHP functions http://us2.php.net/manual-lookup.php This site has so many functions listed! I didn’t realize there were so many. I have to admit that not too many of them looked very familiar to me. These 2 sort of caught my eye and made me wonder what they might be used for:
http://us2.php.net/manual/en/function.hwapi-children.php - hw_api->children “Retrieves the children of a collection or the attributes of a document. The children can be further filtered by specifying an object query. The parameter array contains the required elements 'objectIdentifier' and the optional elements 'attributeSelector' and 'objectQuery'.”

http://us2.php.net/manual/en/function.hwapi-parents.php - hw_api->parents “Retrieves the parents of an object. The parents can be further filtered by specifying an object query. The parameter array contains the required elements 'objectidentifier' and the optional elements 'attributeselector' and 'objectquery'.”

MySQL Functions At this time I am not familiar with too many MySQL functions, but I do know and understand 2 that we have been using over the last couple of weeks. http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/4.1/en/mysql-connect.html: mysql_connect is used to attempt a connection a MySQL Database. We have used this over the course of 2 weeks to connect our database scripts to Crystal Tech.

http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/4.1/en/mysql-close.html: mysql_close is used to close the connection to the MySQL Database. We have also been using this along with the connect.