ShaneLabs

Category: Software

  • Simple Mobile Browser Detection in PHP

    In developing TaskShot, I wanted to determine which users were using their cell phones to browse the site. A quick search yielded many large classes, bloated snippets, and code that did way too much. All I needed was to detect if they were coming from a mobile phone or not. I figured the simplest way…

  • My Experience with ConceptFeedback.com

    I came across ConceptFeedback.com when looking for ways to get input on my Task Management App. The idea is simple – submit screenshots of your website to their community and as long as you have reviewed 5 other sites you’ll get people to review yours. There’s also a paid option where you can have expert…

  • Preventing “Do you want to open or save this file?” from tracking pixel

    In developing one of my task management projects I was playing around with creating a tracking pixel that could be used to measure performance. When this pixel was placed on the page, I noticed in Safari and IE the browser would ask me if I’d like to open or save the file. Safari said: Do…

  • I need an easier project management tool

    As I work myself up the ladder at my job, I find myself managing more and more tasks and people. When it was a couple of us, and a few project this was not a problem. Back then I kept everything in a simple text document. Every day I’d re-prioritize the bulleted list in notepad…

  • Detecting which server a cron job is running from

    I have a script that needs to be run on a couple different servers every night. Problem is that each server has different database credentials, so I need to set the correct user name and password for each, otherwise it won’t work. I thought about having a config file for each, but I wanted all…

  • SetFBML invalid parameter exception – Facebook API

    In developing Easy Export, I created a cron script that updates the user’s fbml on their profile page periodically. It worked great, but after some time I started getting the following execption thrown:  ‘Invalid parameter’, on line 1520 in facebookapi_php5_restlib.php After looking into it, I realized it’s because I was trying to set the fbml on a…

  • Calculating age from unix timestamps in PHP

    I couldn’t find a function already created for PHP that calculates someone’s age based on their birthdate and the current date (in unix timestamp format – seconds since 1970). First I tried this: $age = date(“Y”,$endtime) – date(“Y”,$starttime); But then I realized that this might not be completely accurate, base on the calendar, leap year,…

  • Facebook application – Easy Export – download your photos

    I created a facebook application several weeks ago, but never got to write about it. It was actually pretty painless. I wanted copies of all the pics I had been tagged in on my own computer. It was taking me forever to click through all of them individually. So I made this app – which…

  • Substitute for onLoad with WebParts

    I’ve got a project where I’m using google maps within an ASP.NET web part in an update panel. The google maps code requires you to run some javascript as soon as the page loads. Usually people put this in <body onload=x> or use javascript: window.onload=x, but when I did those either the method wouldn’t run,…

  • Google maps: is null or not an object error

    I’ve got a google maps application on an ASP.NET ajax enabled page through an update panel. I had used setInterval to run a javscript function periodically and update the markers on the map. Over time, I noticed that when the map was updated through ajax while the javascript code was executing, i got the one…