WebDev3000 » AJAX

Streamie

Codrut Nistor — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 17:57:32 +0000

I hate Twitter. I also hate Facebook a little, although I use them both from time to time. It’s simply the fact that everyone started using them and both are now full of spammers and background noise. Maybe the time has come for some well done niche sites that put relevant content on first place and go as far as setting a user quota. How does that sound? I know it’s nothing but a dream, so let’s get back to Twitter and take a look at Streamie, shall we?

Why Streamie and not Twitter itself? For me, this one is better – it’s realtime, looks and feels lighter, yet keeps all the Twitter features people usually use. Sounds like a pretty good deal, right? You can also add the fact that this Twitter client is open source and things start looking not just good, but simply great!

This Web-based Twitter client known as Streamie is still in Beta stage, yet it already allows you to customize it by messing with message filtering and display settings or enable/disable geolocation (to login using your Twitter credentials and see what’s what, just go here). You can even use your background image from Twitter, although I must admit mine looked much better on Twitter.com…

… so feel free to take this piece of code for a spin – you can even put it on your own server and see how it behaves – you only need nodeJS and a few minutes of your time, nothing more!

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jRating

Codrut Nistor — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 15:18:36 +0000

The Web would be really sad without stars, don’t you agree? No, no, this has nothing to do with NASA, people like Lady Gaga, Shakira or other star-related things. This is all about creating an Ajaxed star-based rating system, so let’s take a quick look at it, shall we?

“It” has a name, of course. If you ask me, the name is the weakest part of it all, since I’ve seen countless plugins/scripts that involve Java and have a name starting with “j” the same way as it happens with the “i” and Apple products… The name is jRating and the official mumbo-jumbo goes like this: “jRating is a complete jQuery plugin for star rating systems with complete Ajax treatment. jRating is very easy and simple to use, thanks to its many options and methods.”

When talking about the features and settings available, I think it’s enough to say you can choose the number of stars to use, their size, even replace the image files to use, while the ratings can represent decimals or not, as you see fit.

Fully compatible with any browser you can think of, as long as it has Java enabled, jRating can also be used with any scripting language you may have in mind, so don’t worry about that PHP file included in the package already. For a quick demo, just go here. That’s all, folks!

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SSHMeIn

Codrut Nistor — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 13:38:13 +0000

A few years ago, I was seriously considering to build and host a server of my own but, in the meantime, I discovered that my needs could be easily taken care of with only a fraction of the money required for my own server. Sure, shared hosting doesn’t get really close to having your own Unix server, but why get more than you need? Anyway, the idea is that people/companies who have their own Unix servers should also have some reliable tools to remotely control them…

…. and this is exactly where SSHMeIn steps in: an open source, Ajax-powered Web application that has a very noble purpose – to help you manage your remote Unix servers. Obviously, we’re talking about servers located behind firewalls, so the idea is to open SSH tunnels within the server and then allow SSHMeIn to take over.

Since most people who will be using this application don’t have to take care of a single server, I am sure they’d be delighted to find out that SSHMeIn also allows multiple servers management. Even better, you can simply organize your servers in groups, so everything becomes a real pleasure, instead of a pain in the back!

For now, this is still in Beta stage, so a lot of features are expected to become available in the near future. In case you’re not one of those brave enough to use Beta products with their precious servers, I think you should bookmark this resource anyway, since I am sure that SSHMeIn is one to keep an eye on.

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XAMPP

Adrian — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 21:56:08 +0000

If you are a web developer you need to test your website. For this you will need to install a webserver, PHP, MySQL, etc. You can install them manually, but you will lose a lot of time and is not worth it. It’s not easy to install an Apache web server and it gets harder if you want to add MySQL, PHP and Perl. That’s why you can use a suite that installs all the programs with a single click. The best suite is XAMPP.

There are 4 versions for XAMPP:

a version for Linux systems (tested for Ubuntu, SuSE, RedHat, Mandrake and Debian) that contains: Apache 2.2.14, MySQL 5.1.41, PHP 5.3.1 & PEAR + SQLite 2.8.17/3.6.16 + multibyte (mbstring) support, Perl 5.10.1, ProFTPD 1.3.2c, phpMyAdmin 3.2.4, OpenSSL 0.9.8l, GD 2.0.1, Freetype2 2.1.7, libjpeg 6b, libpng 1.2.12, gdbm 1.8.0, zlib 1.2.3, expat 1.2, Sablotron 1.0, libxml 2.7.6, Ming 0.4.2, Webalizer 2.21-02, pdf class 009e, ncurses 5.3, mod_perl 2.0.4, FreeTDS 0.63, gettext 0.17, IMAP C-Client 2007e, OpenLDAP (client) 2.3.11, mcrypt 2.5.7, mhash 0.8.18, eAccelerator 0.9.5.3, cURL 7.19.6, libxslt 1.1.26, libapreq 2.12, FPDF 1.6, XAMPP Control Panel 0.8, bzip 1.0.5, PBXT 1.0.09-rc, PBMS 0.5.08-alpha, ICU4C Library 4.2.1
a version for Windows 98, NT, 2000, 2003, XP, Vista and 7 that contains: Apache 2.2.14 (IPv6 enabled), MySQL 5.1.41 + PBXT engine, PHP 5.3.1, OpenSSL 0.9.8l, phpMyAdmin 3.2.4, XAMPP Control Panel 2.5.8, XAMPP CLI Bundle 1.6, Webalizer 2.21-02, Mercury Mail Transport System v4.72, msmtp 1.4.19, FileZilla FTP Server 0.9.33, SQLite 2.8.17, SQLite 3.6.20, ADOdb 5.10, eAccelerator 0.9.6-rc1, Xdebug 2.0.6-dev, Ming 0.4.3.
a beta version for Solaris SPARC (developed and tested under Solaris contains: Apache 2.2.6, MySQL 5.0.67, PHP 5.2.6 & PEAR + multibyte (mbstring) support, Perl 5.10.0, ProFTPD 1.3.0a, phpMyAdmin 2.11.9.2, OpenSSL 0.9.8i, Freetype2 2.1.7, libjpeg 6b, libpng 1.2.12, zlib 1.2.3, expat 1.95.7, Ming 0.3, pdf class 009e, IMAP C-Client 2007g, OpenLDAP 2.4.10, libiconv 1.8, FreeTDS 0.63, libgdbm 1.8.3, libxslt 1.1.24, mcrypt 2.5.7, cURL 7.19.0, eAccelerator 0.9.5.3, Webalizer 2.01, libxml 2.7.1, mod_perl 2.0.4, SQLite 2.8.17 + 3.6.3
and a beta version for Mac OS X contains: Apache 2.2.14, MySQL 5.1.44, PHP 5.3.1, Perl 5.10.1, ProFTPD 1.3.3, phpMyAdmin 3.2.4, OpenSSL 0.9.8k, GD 2.0.35, Freetype 2.3.5, libjpeg 6b, libpng 1.2.32, libungif-4.1.4, zlib 1.2.3, expat 2.0.1, Ming 0.4.2, Webalizer 2.01-10, pdf class 009e, mod_perl 2.0.4, SQLite 3.6.3, gdbm-1.8.3, libxml-2.7.2, libxslt-1.1.24, openldap-2.3.43, imap-2004g, gettext-0.16.1, libmcrypt-2.5.8, mhash-0.9.9, zziplib-0.13.48, bzip2-1.0.5, freetds-0.64

During the installation of XAMPP you can choose to make XAMPP portable.

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MyWebSql

Codrut Nistor — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 15:07:56 +0000

When it comes to MySQL clients, I would usually go with the standalone Windows programs, but it seems all those I used so far end up causing some problems, sooner or later. Sure, it may be just my bad luck, but all I can say is that tools like the one I found today, MyWebSql, seem to be more reliable for me and my hosting servers… so let’s take a quick look at this piece of code, maybe you’ll also find it useful!

It is my pleasure to let you know that MyWebSql is a Web-based, open source MySQL client built using PHP and sporting an Ajaxed interface that allows you to easily control triggers, views, stored procedures and functions. Data from your databases can be exported really easy, and the same thing goes for the query results.

Additional features of MyWebSql include a syntax highlighting rich-text SQL editor, batch file import capabilities, and even multiple themes support. I already love this one, I can tell you! Since you don’t have to take my words for granted, I think best thing to do is click here and play with the working demo (you’ll also see if MyWebSql is compatible with your browser, on this occasion). That’s all, folks, enjoy MyWebSql and may you have a pleasant weekend!

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ScriptArtist

Codrut Nistor — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 11:20:57 +0000

Sometimes, I really think about starting a career in programming, and the only reason for this is my laziness. Just think about this – when I write stuff, I have to write it all by myself, and I only quote various sources from time to time. On the other hand, programmers have sooo many code generators at their disposal that sometimes, creating a fully featured application is more about messing with a code generator and then checking the resulting code, rather than writing a lot of code by yourself…

While ScriptArtist may not be free, I chose to tell you about it today because it has a decent price, a lot of useful features, and – don’t laugh – I really love its name. Sure, branding may not be everything, but it’s something that matters more and more these days…

… and if you didn’t feel like clicking the link above, no problem – here’s a short excerpt of the official mumbo-jumbo: “ScriptArtist is a powerful PHP and AJAX code generator that allows you easily to generate the PHP scripts connected through MySql database. ScriptArtist helps you save a lot of developing times to create the completed CRUD operations (Create, Read, Update, & Delete), easily generates web forms (email or contact form) retrieved information from either database fields or user-defined fields and many more.”

For the full features list, you should take a look here. Speaking for myself, everything looks fine. If you’re planning to try this PHP/AJAX generator, you should know that it works on XP/2003/Vista, requiring IE 6 or later, while your server should have PHP 5/MySQL 5 or later, no matter if it’s a Linux- or Windows-based one. That’s all, folks – enjoy ScriptArtist!

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Sudo Slider

Codrut Nistor — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 13:12:44 +0000

Since weekend is coming, I think that some CMS or shopping cart wouldn’t be a good idea. At least when I think about myself, I usually enjoy some light work during weekends, nothing special, as it happens with most of my friends. The web designers that I can call “friends” usually go in the woods during weekends, but when they don’t, they usually avoid work, that’s certain. If things are so boring for them and they end up facing some script, I know they would surely enjoy something like Sudo Slider…

But what is this thing called “Sudo Slider,” you will ask, right? Based on Easy Slider, Sudo Slider is a jQuery slider plugin packing quite a few interesting features. To make a longer story short, I think it’s enough to say that this piece of code will help you to display any HTML content via Ajax, displaying the items with fade or slide effects. Even better, you can use multiple sliders in one page and you get support for forward-back browsing, so you can easily bookmark every item.

Before giving Sudo Slider a try on your website, I think best thing to do is take a look at the demo. This 10kb plugin may be unobtrusive, but it’s surely faster to click the link above than make it work on your pages, right? That’s all, folks – have a nice weekend and be sure to enjoy Sudo Slider!

Compatibility: all major browsers

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Sexy.js

Codrut Nistor — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 07:38:05 +0000

Those who claim that intelligence is sexy may be right, after all. Why? I never thought about programming/code to be sexy, and I wasn’t expecting to see a jQuery library with such a smart branding as Sexy.js. Now, they only need a theme song… and I can’t suggest anything else but ZZ Top’s Legs, since I think it goes perfectly with the home page of this product!

Sexy.js is a chainable library that allows you to easily manage script dependencies and write “sexy” code. While I would really like to see a nice video presentation of this lightweight JavaScript library, all I could find was this slideshow. Don’t get me wrong, this slideshow is nicely put together, but this piece of code surely deserves more!

Dual licensed under the MIT or GPL v2 licenses, Sexy.js can easily turn “ugly” code into “sexy” one, providing enhanced sequential Ajax (Sajax) functionality and coming in two versions – as a jQuery plugin, or standalone. Obviously, there’s no special requirement for it, since all major browsers can easily handle JavaScript. For a demo, take a look at this page. Enjoy!

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WPtouch

Adrian — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:14:49 +0000

If you encountered difficulties reading your WordPress based website or blog on your mobile device, WPtouch is the solution. WPtouch is a lightweight, fast-loading, feature-rich and highly-customized “theme application” which includes an admin interface to let you customize many aspects of your site’s presentation. Also included on the admin panel is a compatibility suite which will help with setting up pages automatically display supported WordPress archive and links functions, as well as help with detecting supported or conflicting plugins.

With WPtouch you will get all the standard WordPress blog features: search, login, categories, tags, archives, photos & more. WPtouch redesigned the WordPress admin panel offering many customization features. This way your WordPress website or blog will be rendered fast and the loading time of pages will be decreased. WPtouch offers support for FlickrRSS plugin and Blip.it video plugin. Also the Ajax comments are posted in real time.

If your users don’t like the WPtouch theme they can choose your site’s regular appearance. This can be done using an option in the footer. WPtouch offers a little snippet of code for the switch link into your current theme which will be shown only to mobile visitors, giving them control to choose between the two site views easily. Also WPtouch give you the ability to turn advanced javascript effects & ajax on/off

Before you install this plugin, make sure you have FTP access to install the theme plugin folder. The installlation is very easy: search for ‘WPtouch’ in the add new section of WordPress under Plugins. Simply install, activate and you’re done!

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Chyrp

Adrian — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 19:16:39 +0000

One of the easiest ways to communicate in these days is to post your thoughts through your blog. Chyrp was designed to be lightweight while retaining functionality. . Chyrp has a great standard theme and robust module engine. You can personalize and modify it any way you want.

One of the best feature besides its simplicity is the Feathers system. This system allows Chyrp to do anything you want. You can just stick to the default Text feather (running a regular blog) but you can also post anything and everything.

Feathers add new post types to Chyrp. Post types determine what kind of media you can display in your blog. You can also add multiple extensions. Extensions add functionality (ex. audio clips, video, photos) to Chyrp. It can be a module, a feather, a theme, or a localization.

Chyrp is driven by PHP (PHP 5 >= 5.1.3) and MYSQL (MYSQL 4.1+) or SQLite (SQLite 3+). The installation is simple. Download the script, unzip it and upload it to your server. Create the MYSQL database with a username and password. The final step is to run the installer.

Chyrp is a powerful application and is perfect for tumblelogs. Unfortunately Chyrp does not have the capability of automatically posting content based on new items added to RSS feeds.

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