Entries from 2013
Populate Forms Which Have Been Disconnected from Google Docs
Due to popular demand, we're going to look at pre-populating Google forms using PHP. Last week's post showed how forms can be liberated from Google Docs. Since they're disconnected, we won't be able to depend on the standard method provided by Google. We're responsible for developing our own solution. Luckily, this is fairly straight forward with server-side languages like PHP. [Continue reading]
Disconnect Forms from Google Docs for Complete Customization
Google forms provide a quick, easy, and free way to collect information from customers. The forms can even be embedded within an existing website to give a more consistent look from one page to another. Unfortunately, Google doesn't supply very many options for customizing forms. There is a way around these limitations, however. [Continue reading]
Fix for Download Issue with PDFs and Internet Explorer
Over the past few months, comments have been coming in about PDFs not opening properly. The process seems to get stuck before the download completes. However, the issue doesn't always manifest. There seems to be a correlation between it and larger PDF files. After a bit of research and eliminating some possible contributing factors, I came across a solution which worked for me. [Continue reading]
Rename Files on the Fly While Transferring with WinSCP
When uploading files to a website, it's easy to let WinSCP do its thing. The file name will likely be the same as the one online when fixing typos and updating content. However, what happens if the file names don't match? We'll need to upload the new file, remove the old one, and rename the new file so that it works with the website's links. The process is tedious; especially if the process is repeated dozens of times. Luckily, WinSCP provides a better way. [Continue reading]
Avoid MySQL Queries Within Loops
One consistent piece of advice that's given on PHP help forums is that queries shouldn't be executed within loops. However, they don't usually provide an alternate means for accomplishing the task at hand. So I wanted to share a solution which fixed one of my scenarios. [Continue reading]
Avoid Broken Website Links by Eliminating Whitespace in GET Variables
When naming pages for a website, its best practice to avoid spaces. Well the same goes for the GET variables (and their values) passed via the URL. Website addresses will likely work with or without spaces. However, that doesn't mean they will be free from problems. Visitors may copy a website address into an e-mail message, for example, and those spaces prevent e-mail clients like Microsoft Outlook from converting the address into a clickable link. At least a clickable link that works. [Continue reading]
Prevent Duplicate Items from Being Added to a Shopping Cart with the Header Redirect
For the longest time, I've been ignoring header redirects. They typically seem to be used for processing form requests. One page collects the form data and if everything checks out, the script redirects visitors to a confirmation page. Otherwise, the visitor is redirected back to the form. This is a perfectly acceptable way to build forms, but my preference has been to keep everything under the same page. Using a series of if constructs makes this possible. Lately, however, the header redirect has been sneaking into my scripts. In case I'm not the only one shying away from the header() function, let's talk about one possibility. [Continue reading]
WinSCP Logging into the Wrong Website Folder
In a newer version of WinSCP, a setting was added to remember the last folder used. The setting usually works as expected, but there's been a few times where I'm dropped into an inaccessible folder with no apparent way to my website's files. Restarting WinSCP has fixed this type of issue in the past. This last week, however, restarting did not work. So it's time to investigate and share the findings. [Continue reading]
Remove White Space from Form Data to Avoid Potential Headaches
When processing form submissions, it's important to remove white space before and after each value. Those extra spaces will likely go unnoticed by most visitors, but luckily this won't be a problem most of the time. In some cases, however, those spaces can lead to a lot of confusion. [Continue reading]
Embed Outlook Shapes within Screenshots
When sending screenshots via email, it may be necessary to highlight something in the image. That's where the insert shapes feature in Microsoft Outlook proves useful. The shapes, however, tend to shift once the email is sent and may not even be pointing to the correct thing anymore. The screenshot could be modified using software like Adobe Photoshop, but there's a quicker way. [Continue reading]
