Before, I would have to zip up the web files, download them, upload them, and then unizp. Now I can accomplish all that with just this simple command.

rsync -avzh –rsh=’ssh -p1234′ user@old_server.solitechgmbh.com:/var/www/ /var/www/

you can also use –stats –progress to get some visual feedback

I also use this just for regular offline backups of the server and it works great!

To use it, create a file called random_helper.php in app/controllers/components and copy the following code.

<?php
class RandomHelperComponent extends Object {
 
/**
 * Random string generator function
 *
 * This function will randomly generate a password from a given set of characters
 *
 * @param int = 8, length of the password you want to generate
 * @param string = 0123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz all possible values
 * @return string, the password
 */     
	function generateRandomString ($length = 8, $possible = '0123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz') {
		// initialize variables
		$password = "";
		$i = 0;
 
		// add random characters to $password until $length is reached
		while ($i < $length) {
			// pick a random character from the possible ones
			$char = substr($possible, mt_rand(0, strlen($possible)-1), 1);
 
			// we don't want this character if it's already in the password
			if (!strstr($password, $char)) { 
				$password .= $char;
				$i++;
			}
		}
		return $password;
	}
}
?>

make sure you include it in the appcontroller as such

var $components = array('Auth','Email','RandomHelper');

then you can call it as follows in any function

$password= $this->RandomHelper->generateRandomString(4,'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz');

Enjoy!

I personally like them because of they offer a nice API and statistics all for free. It is a pretty quick service too. You can generate hundreds of URLs in just a few seconds. All you have to do is register and you get a username and API key which you will need in the following section.

Here is the code … As you can see I only implemented the shorten for now but I will probably add some of the other stuff later. For some reason WP won’t let me post curl_exec( so be sure to remove the extra character.

class bitly {
	/**
	 * A PHP class to utilize the bitly API
	 * through the Bitly API. Handles:
	 * - Shorten
	 *
	 * Requires PHP5, CURL, JSON and a Bitly account http://bit.ly/
	 *
	 * Bitly API documentation: http://code.google.com/p/bitly-api/wiki/ApiDocumentation
	 */
 
	protected $appkey;
	protected $login;
	protected $version;
 
	/**
	* Contruct the Bitly Class
	*
    * @param string, your Bitly account key
    * @param string, your Bitly account login
	*/
	public function __construct($login, $appkey, $version='2.0.1') {
		$this->login = $login;
		$this->appkey = $appkey;
		$this->version = $version;
	}
 
	/**
	* Retrieve a shortened URL
	*
    * @param string, url to shorten
    * @param string, version of Bitly to use
	*/
	public function shorten($url) {
		//create the URL
		$api_url = 'http://api.bit.ly/shorten?version='.$this->version.'&longUrl='.urlencode($url).'&format=xml&login='.$this->login.'&apiKey='.$this->appkey;
		//call the API
		$curl = curl_init();
		curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_URL, $api_url);
		curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
		$response = curl_ex_ec($curl);
		curl_close($curl);
 
		//parse the XML response and return the url
		$xml_object = new SimpleXMLElement($response);
		return $xml_object->results->nodeKeyVal->shortUrl;
	}
 
}

If you want to use this in CakePHP … you will want to do something like this.
Put this line before the class … I actually use this in a helper since this is a view level class

App::import('Vendor','Bitly', array("file" => "bitly/bitly.class.php"));

Now you can just invoke it in one of your functions somewhere with two simple calls!

$bitly = new Bitly('username', 'your_API_key_here');
$short_url = $bitly->shorten($long_url);

Simple as that … oh and one more thing. Be sure to have CURL installed else this won’t work.

What good is it you ask? You can use it to pull in information from any RSS feed and do what ever you want with the data. For example I use it to pull the RSS feed from my blog and display links to my latest posts on http://www.rewardchamp.com You can see it on the bottom of the page.

CakePHP makes this way to easy! First you need to download the MagpieRSS files from the link above and then extract to your vendors folder.

You need to put this line at the very top of your controller file you want to use RSS with. Before the class declaration

App::import('Vendor','Snoopy', array("file" => "magpierss/extlib/Snoopy.class.inc"));

Now inside a function you want create a new Snoopy object. I use Snoopy because I’m lazy … MagpieRSS is not constructed as Classes like CakePHP would like it to be … Snoopy is. Snoopy will return XML for you which you can make into an easily usable object with SimpleXMLElement. You can var_dump to see what exactly is in this object. You can figure out what to do from there.

$snoopy = new Snoopy();
$snoopy->fetch('http://www.solitechgmbh.com/your/feed/here');
$xml = new SimpleXMLElement($snoopy->results);
return $xml->channel->item;

Something like this will get you the title for example.

echo $item->title;

Happy coding!

Restart you Cable or DSL modem

This is the device your phone cord or cable plugs in

1. unplug the power cord.
2. wait about 10 seconds
3. plug the cord back in
4. wait until all the green lights come back on (about 20 – 30 seconds)

Restart your wireless router

This is the device the modem plugs in and has the antennas.

1. unplug the power cord.
2. wait about 10 seconds
3. plug the cord back in
4. wait until all the green lights come back on (about 20 – 30 seconds)

Restart your network switch or hub

This is a device most of your network cables go in.

1. unplug the power cord.
2. wait about 10 seconds
3. plug the cord back in
4. wait until most the green lights come back on (about 10 seconds)

Reset your computers network connections

Do this section for wireless network computers only

1. open your wireless connection controller and select the network you want to connect to.
2. wait until it connects and shows that you have a good signal strength

Do this section for all computers

1. click start
2. click run
3. enter cmd into the text box

cmd

1. reset the IP address of your computer with the following commands. This might take 20 – 30 seconds.

ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew

1. now check to make sure you got the right settings. You should see something like IP Address 192.168.1.X

ipconfig

1. try to access a computer on the network
2. open internet explorer and see if you can connect to a website

If you can not connect ti the internet, repeat all the steps and try again.

If you still can not connect, call your tech support person and tell them all the steps you took so far.

1. log in to your account using ssh

2. go into your webdev folder and create a new folder for your project

3. create a private branch for the task you are going to work on (usualy mantis_x x beeing the task number)

 svn copy http://svn.example.com/repos/project/trunk \
          http://svn.example.com/repos/project/branches/mantis_25 \
          -m "Creating a private branch of /project/trunk."

4. Now check your project out into your new project folder

 svn co http://svn.example.com/repos/project/branches/mantis_25/ project/

You will also want to switch between branches for development. You can do that with the following command

 svn switch http://svn.example.com/repos/branches/mantis_25

Use this command to ignore extra folders

 svn propedit svn:ignore calc

you may need to add this to your .bash-profile if svn complains that there is no editor set

 export SVN_EDITOR=vim

1. Go here http://www.solitechgmbh.com/webmail to open the login screen.
2. Enter your email address and password.
3. Click submit to log in.

You may select between two interfaces for you email. They will both show you the same information but the layout is a little different. By default you should use RoundCube but if you have a slow internet connection, choosing SquirrelMail might help.

1. On the computer that is running Windows XP, confirm that the connection to the Internet is correctly configured.
   You can try to browse the internet Ping a known host on the Internet, like yahoo.com, something that isn’t blocking ICMP Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
2. Open the New Network Connections by clicking Start->Control Panel->Network Connections->Create a new connection.
3. In the Network Connection Wizard, click Next.
   
4. Click Connect to the network at my workplace, and then click Next.
   
5. Click Virtual Private Network connection, and then click Next.
   
6. If you are prompted, you need to select whether you will use a dialup connection or if you have a dedicated connection to the Internet either via Cable, DSL, T1, Satellite, etc. Click Next.
7. Type a host name, IP or any other description you would like to appear in the Network Connections area. You can change this later if you want. Click Next.
8. Type the host name or the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the computer that you want to connect to, and then click Next. You may be asked if you want to use a Smart Card or not. This IP address will be provided to you by us.
   
9. You are just about done, the rest of the screens just verify your connection, click Next.
10. Click to select the Add a shortcut to this connection to my desktop check box if you want one, if not, then leave it unchecked and click finish.

You are now done making your connection, but by default, it may try to connect. You can either try the connection now if you know its valid, if not, then just close it down for now.

1. 
   One you are in the Network Connection dialog box, double-click, or right click and select ‘Connect’ from the menu – this will initiate the connection to the corporate office.
2. Type your user name and password, and then click Connect. Properties bring you back to what we just discussed in this article, all the global settings for the VPN client you are using.
3. To disconnect from a VPN connection, right-click the icon for the connection, and then click “Disconnect”

This tutorial is based on the instructions listed on the page below

The native resolution should be written in the monitors manual or box somewhere. You can also try pushing the auto adjust button on the monitor if the entire screen is not visible, most of them should have that.

Screenshot: