Here’s a helpful snippet of PHP that outputs your database as XML.

<?php
header("Content-type: text/xml"); //We're going to display the XML so lets change the content type

//Create the connection
if (!$link = mysql_connect($host, $user, $pass)) {
 exit('Faild to connect to host.');
}

//Select a database
if (!mysql_select_db($database, $link)) {
 exit('Faild to connect to database.');
}

//get the tables
$sql = "SELECT TABLES FROM {$database}";
if (!$tables = mysql_query($sql, $link)) {
 exit('Faild to retreive tables.');
}

//start the output
$xml = "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\" ?>\n";
$xml .= "<database name=\"{$database}\">\n";

//loop the tables
while ($table = mysql_fetch_row($tables)) {
 //start the table output
 $xml .= "\t<table name=\"{$table[0]}\">\n";

 //get the rows
 $sql = "SELECT * FROM {$table[0]}";
 if (!$rows = mysql_query($sql, $link)) {
 exit('Faild to retreive rows.');
 }

 //output the columns
 $attributes = array('name', 'blob', 'maxlength', 'multiple_key', 'not_null',
 'numeric', 'primary_key', 'table', 'type', 'default',
 'unique_key', 'unsigned', 'zerofill');

 $xml .= "\t\t<columns>\n";

 for($i = 0; $i < mysql_num_fields($rows); $i++) {

 $field = mysql_fetch_field($result, $i);

 $xml .= "\t\t\t<column ";

 //for every attribute
 foreach ($attributes as $attribute) {
 $xml .= $xml.= $attribute.'="'.$field->$attribute.'" ';
 }

 $xml .= "/>\n";
 }

 $xml .= "\t\t</columns>\n";

 //output the rows
 $xml .= "\t\t<records>\n";

 while($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($rows)) {

 $xml .= "\t\t\t<record>\n";

 //for each field
 foreach ($row as $key => $val) {
 $xml .= "\t\t\t\t<{$key}>".htmlspecialchars(stripslashes($val))."</{$key}>\n";
 }

 $xml .= "\t\t\t</record>\n";
 }

 $xml .= "\t\t</records>\n\t</table>\n";

}

$xml .= '</datbase>';

echo $xml;

Simple eh now obviously if you’re using this to backup a database you don’t want to output like this, instead you’re going to need to save it to a file. The simplest method is using PHP’s File_put_contents function http://www.php.net/file_put_contents

This site was developed to compliment directory submissions. The client realised that although their business was well represented on the Internet, there were very few directories or similar that allowed them to display enough information.

The requirements for this site was a basic informational page, nice design and a simple way of updating the content. The budget for this site was also very tight, but i think what has been achieved here is a very good example of what you can get for your money, even on a small budget. The total build cost for this site was just under £60.

The sites main features are the seamless integration of Google Maps and the intuitive administration side which allows all the content to be updated and changed using a comprehensive WYSIWYG editor.

The complete development, including design was completed in under 6 hours.

The following skills were used during this development.

• (X)HTML
• XML
• W3C
• JavaScript / Ajax
• PHP5
• PhotoShop
• Google Maps API

]]> http://www.gopalmer.co.uk/2009/06/nicolas-flowers/feed/ 1 http://www.gopalmer.co.uk/2009/06/php-53-implementing-singleton-base-class/ http://www.gopalmer.co.uk/2009/06/php-53-implementing-singleton-base-class/#comments Wed, 10 Jun 2009 22:19:51 +0000 George Palmer http://www.gopalmer.co.uk/?p=70 With the very exciting PHP 5.3 nearing release, i thought i’d write about one of the very useful functions making its way in to this version. The new get_called_class() function on its doesn’t really do a lot, but this simple little function plugs one of the many gaping holes in PHPs object model.

Just one of the things this fantastic new function can be used for is a very elegant implementation of singleton base class. We can simply extend this to create a number of fully functioning singletons.

Ok, lets take a look at some code.

The first thing we need to do is create an singleton class, heres one i prepared earlier.

< ?php
class Singleton_Test
{
    //enforce singleton
    final private function __clone() {}
    final private function __construct() {}

    final public static function getInstance()
    {
        static $instance = null;

        if (null === $instance) {
            $instance = new Singleton_Test();
        }
        return $instance;
    }
}

This does exactly what is says on the tin, we get one instance and one instance only. Now lets see what happens under normal circumstances if we try to implement an abstract singleton.

< ?php
abstract class Singleton_Test
{
    //enforce singleton
    final private function __clone() {}
    protected function __construct() {}

    final public static function getInstance($class)
    {
        static $instance = array();

        if (!isset($instance[$class])) {
            $instance[$class] = new $class();
        }
        return $instance[$class];
    }
}

You see the first problem we encounter is the static instance property, we need each singleton child to hold reference to its self. The obvious solution is to hold an array of child classes (lazy load style). Next is the glaring line "$instance = new Singleton_Test();" we need to loose this explicit call and replace it with something relative. An easy but far from elegant solution is to pass the name of the class you are instantiating into the getInstance() method.

Thanks to the new get_called_class() function we can now do this dynamically, resulting in much more elegant code. Here goes.

< ?php
abstract class Singleton_Test
{
    //enforce singleton
    final private function __clone() {}
    protected function __construct() {}

    final public static function getInstance()
    {
        static $instance = array();

        $class = get_called_class();

        if (!isset($instance[$class])) {
            $instance[$class] = new $class();
        }
        return $instance[$class];
    }
}

Fantastic isn't it? Just one extra line and we have an all-singing all-dancing fully extendable singleton base class.

This World of Warcraft portal site was developed using my own CMS (Piranha CMS) integrated with SMF forums. The design was created by a colleague of mine and all content was provided by the client, resulting in a very fast build. The bulk of the work was the CMS integration into their existing SMF installation.

The following skills were used during this development.

• (X)HTML
• W3C
• JavaScript / Ajax
• PHP5
• MySQL
• SMF Forums Software
• Piranha Content Management System

FreeBeeHosting was a little out of the ordinary for me. I actually purchased the very small (20 users) free hosting company using the domain www.FreeBeeHosting.com. I just really liked the idea and the domain was a really cool play on words.

It turned out that the site itself was useless, the sign up system was unsuitable and the site as a whole needed an overhaul.

I set myself a simple spec to develop and implement a new sign up system which incorporated instant account activation and made use of a GeoIP database to prevent fraud. The site and forum templates were designed by myself to follow the bee theme. I outsourced the character art to a colleague of mine and the bees were born.

I chose to use the DirectAdmin control panel as this was little used in the free hosting scene. The sign up was then developed to make use of the DirectAdmin API. This allowed for the instant account activation in the original plan. I made use of MaxMinds GeoIP database and implemented radial search on locations to ensure perspective users were in the same vicinity as they claimed. I incorporated a 3 strike system which works by studying the sign up form for particular tags and phrases which suggest misuse of the account. If three or more terms are found the user is blacklisted and their IP blocked from sign up. This has now been extended to include location bases strikes.

Overall the site and system is clearly a success. The site currently hosts around 8,000 free accounts on several dedicated servers. There are no ads placed on users accounts and the all income is generated through advertisement schemes.

The following skills were used during this development.

• (X)HTML
• XML
• W3C
• JavaScript / Ajax
• OO PHP5
• MySQL
• PhotoShop
• Illustrator
• DirectAdmin API
• Max Minds GeoIP API

This is so simple to put right but i couldn’t for the life of me remember how to. After an hour or so of Googling i still couldn’t find the answer. In the end i picked up some old college notes and found what i need.

It is such a common task and being the nice chap that i am i put together this little how to guide. As you will see it really is easy once you know how to do it.

Start by popping open a terminal, in my case putty over ssh, and login to the root account.

You will need to edit /etc/sysconfig/network in your favourite editor. I’m using nano

# nano /etc/sysconfig/network

Edit the line beginning HOSTNAME= with your new host name e.g. HOSTNAME=gopalmer.co.uk

Next edit the /etc/hosts file in the same manner, again replacing the HOSTNAME value with your new host name.

Now type the following into the shell (replace gopalmer.co.uk with your host name)

# hostname=gopalmer.co.uk

Finally we need to restart the xinetd service

# service xinetd restart

Thats it! Easy wasn’t it?

This time round i plan to actually keep an up-to-date portfolio and also to finally start the blog I’ve been meaning to for far too long now. You may even see some useful tutorials appearing here over the coming months (maybe!).

Anyway enough of my ramblings. Here it is, hope you like it and it would be interesting to hear your comments. Also if you notice anything i’ve missed or out-of-place please let me know.