I came across this very useful guide which I followed step-by-step and it was so easy!! I successfully got the old FileManager from FCKEditor to CKEditor!

There was 2 problems with the guide though… Firstly instead of this code:

CKEDITOR.replace( 'editor1',
                {
                    filebrowserBrowseUrl :'js/ckeditor/filemanager/browser/default/browser.html?Connector=http://www.mixedwaves.com/filemanager_in_ckeditor/js/ckeditor/filemanager/connectors/php/connector.php',
                    filebrowserImageBrowseUrl : 'js/ckeditor/filemanager/browser/default/browser.html?Type=Image&Connector=http://www.mixedwaves.com/filemanager_in_ckeditor/js/ckeditor/filemanager/connectors/php/connector.php',
                    filebrowserFlashBrowseUrl :'js/ckeditor/filemanager/browser/default/browser.html?Type=Flash&Connector=http://www.mixedwaves.com/filemanager_in_ckeditor/js/ckeditor/filemanager/connectors/php/connector.php'}
             );

I had to use the following, note that instead of relative paths I used full paths and all & had to be changed to just & else it breaks the scripts:

filebrowserBrowseUrl :'<?=CMS_SITE_URL?>assets/ckeditor/filemanager/browser/default/browser.html?Connector=<?=CMS_SITE_URL?>assets/ckeditor/filemanager/connectors/php/connector.php',
filebrowserImageBrowseUrl : '<?=CMS_SITE_URL?>assets/ckeditor/filemanager/browser/default/browser.html?Type=Image&Connector=<?=CMS_SITE_URL?>assets/ckeditor/filemanager/connectors/php/connector.php',
filebrowserFlashBrowseUrl :'<?=CMS_SITE_URL?>assets/ckeditor/filemanager/browser/default/browser.html?Type=Flash&Connector=<?=CMS_SITE_URL?>assets/ckeditor/filemanager/connectors/php/connector.php'
					

The second problem stumped me for 20 minutes until I spotted it, the following code is incorrect:

function GetUrlParam( paramName )
{
	var oRegex = new RegExp( '[\?&]' + paramName + '=([^&]+)', 'i' ) ;
	var oMatch = oRegex.exec( window.top.location.search ) ;

	if ( oMatch && oMatch.length > 1 )
		return decodeURIComponent( oMatch[1] ) ;
	else
		return '' ;
}

Notice the > in the if statement? Well the correct code should be:

function GetUrlParam( paramName )
{
	var oRegex = new RegExp( '[\?&]' + paramName + '=([^&]+)', 'i' ) ;
	var oMatch = oRegex.exec( window.top.location.search ) ;

	if ( oMatch && oMatch.length > 1 )
		return decodeURIComponent( oMatch[1] ) ;
	else
		return '' ;
}

Other than that the guide is brilliant! So good I had to share it with my blog

http://www.mixedwaves.com/2010/02/integrating-fckeditor-filemanager-in-ckeditor/

Okay, my problem with this is… Why trust your machine after a virus has infected it? Especially when that virus is advanced enough to route itself into your explorer.exe, hide itself amongst system files and even INSIDE system files – probably tampered with your firewall / virus scanner / boot sector and is probably wrapping itself all over your Operating System.

The point I’m trying to make is, how to do you know the virus has gone? Just because you no longer get the FBI warning or the weird popups does not mean the virus isn’t still lurking in your system or that your system is not compromised ready for future viruses.

Why is it such a daunting task to just wipe the Operating System and start again? This is the practice I have been accustomed to for almost 10 years now, if I get a virus I immediately boot a Linux OS from a CD – recover anything important and scan it externally (not with the infected computer!), and then re-install the whole Operating System which takes less than 3 hours and gives me complete piece of mind.

Not only does it give you complete piece of mind, but also my computer is “as new”, and it’s nice to have everything clean and fresh – also fixes any weird problems the system picks up over the months/years you have been using it.

I always follow these simple rules:-

1. Never trust your virus scanner to fix your problems – It’s software too and is just as vulnerable as the Operating System (in fact viruses purposely look for them and target them so they could be seen as MORE vulnerable).
2. Even if you can stop the virus, don’t trust your machine – Viruses are programmed to be smart, they can lay dormant and re-initialize themselves very easily by hooking into other software or even files such as images. Not only this they may have altered your virus software and/or firewall leaving you vulnerable. 
3. Backup your system externally – Don’t use system restore for recovery after a virus, it is really easy for a virus to infect these “backups” and it is just not worth relying on them for this situation, use it for software installations and upgrades which is what is it meant for. Instead use some backup software (you can find free ones on the internet), backup your operating system onto an external drive.
4. Watch for weird behaviour – Just because you have a virus scanner or malware scanner, does not mean it will tell you instantly when something bad is on your machine, use your initiative and look out for the signs of an infection, such as:-
• Weird software appearing on your machine.
• New programs appearing in the process list that you did not install or run (CTRL + ALT + DEL)
• System becoming sluggish randomly or taking forever to boot (this could also be a hardware / software issue).
• Network lights flash even when your sat looking at the desktop with no software running.

I’m going to explain by example many different ways you can define and read an array in JavaScript, and believe me, there are a number of methods.

Arrays – Basics

To define an ordinary array in JavaScript is very simple. There is no fancy attributes or methods you need to call, it’s as simple as defining a normal variable:

var myArray = [];

You will notice that you have not had to tell JavaScript how many items are going to be in your array, unlike other languages, JavaScript automatically expands the array as needed and you never need to worry about defining or extending the size of the array.

However you can use the “old” method which allows you to define the arrays initial size, but it is recommended that you use the above method:

var myArray = new Array(10); //Creates an empty array with 10 elements

If you need to define a pre-populated array then this is also really simple:

var myArray = [12, 24, 48];

And if you need to use strings in the array…

var myArray = ["London", "Cannock", "Scotland"];

You can even mix the types in the array, as JavaScript doesn’t care about type casting :

var myArray = ["London", 32, "Cannock", 845];

Arrays – Multi-Dimensional

Sometimes you need to use more complex arrays, arrays within arrays are a very common practice in programming and they are just as useful as arrays themselves. Such arrays are referred to as multi-dimensional arrays, and can be defined in JavaScript like this:

var myArray = ["hello", ["stuff", "grouped", "together"], "world"];

Above is a very basic example of a multi-dimensional array, only going deep by one level – basically you group values into [ ] brackets to define an array within the array, say you wanted to get “grouped” from the above example, it is located at index 1 of the main array, and index 1 of the inner array – so you would access it as follows:

alert(myArray[1][1]);

To get “world” is even simpler:

alert(myArray[2])

Here is a final example of a much more complex multi-dimensional array – with example outputs to hopefully show how it works (note how I have also laid out the array so that it is easy to read):

var myArray = 	[
			"hello",
			["berries", "grouped", 88, "frozen"],
			[
				"stuff",
				[
					"mash",
					["melon", "freeze", 12, "together"],
					"people"
				],
				"car"
			],
			[
				"orange",
				"code",
				84,
				["mate", "women", "man"]
			],
			["bus", "car", 345, "lorry"],
			"world"
		];

alert(myArray[0]); //hello
alert(myArray[1][2]); //88
alert(myArray[2][1][1][1]); //freeze
alert(myArray[2][2]); //car
alert(myArray[3][3][1]); //woman
alert(myArray[5]); //world

Arrays – Associative

Sometimes it can be a real pain drilling through your array using index numbers, they are meaningless and can make referencing into multi—dimensional arrays difficult and somewhat confusing. So to give your array some meaning you can define “keys” for your arrays so that accessing them is more meaningful to yourself and to your fellow programmers, this is done by using the { } brackets and defining an index name. Note: These are in fact called objects and officially JavaScript does not support associative arrays, however using objects emulates this pretty well and as such is referred to as associative arrays.

A simple Associative array is defined and used as follows:

var myArray = 	{
			customer :
				["tom", "dick", "harry"],
			age :
				[23, 42, 18]
		};

alert("First customer '" + myArray['customer'][0] + "' is " + myArray['age'][0] + " years old."); //first customer
alert("First customer '" + myArray['customer'][1] + "' is " + myArray['age'][1] + " years old."); //second customer
alert("First customer '" + myArray['customer'][2] + "' is " + myArray['age'][2] + " years old."); //third customer

If you are really into complex arrays then how about a multi-dimensional associative array? Ugghhh yesss that is a turn on…

var myArray = 	{
			customer :
				[
					{
						firstname : "tom",
						lastname : "smith",
						age : 23
					},
					{
						firstname : "dick",
						lastname : "head",
						age : 42
					},
					{
						firstname : "tom",
						lastname : "thumb",
						age : 18
					}
				],
			location :
				{
					england :
						{
							main : "Warwick",
							second : "Cannock",
							third : "London"
						}
					france :
						{
							main : "Alsace",
							second : "Corsica",
							third : "Provence"
						}
				}
		};

alert("First customer '" + myArray['customer'][0]['firstname'] + " " + myArray['customer'][0]['lastname'] + "' is " + myArray['age'][0]['age'] + " years old."); //first customer
alert("First customer '" + myArray['customer'][1]['firstname'] + " " + myArray['customer'][1]['lastname'] + "' is " + myArray['age'][1]['age'] + " years old."); //second customer
alert("First customer '" + myArray['customer'][2]['firstname'] + " " + myArray['customer'][2]['lastname'] + "' is " + myArray['age'][2]['age'] + " years old."); //third customer

//locations
alert(myArray['location']['england']['main']); //Warwick
alert(myArray['location']['england']['third']); //London
alert(myArray['location']['france']['third']); //Provence

If that doesn’t make your heart stop then you are a brave programmer, but to be fair, once you get to grips with how JavaScript defines arrays it’s probably the easiest language for arrays around.

Functions + Regular Expressions in arrays

I will leave this post with one final bombshell – functions in arrays! omg omg omg:

var myArray = 	[
			3,
			'hello!',
			function() {return 5},
			{
				color : 'blue',
				budget : 25
			},
			/[ell]/i
		];
document.writeln('0>'+myArray[0]+'<BR>');                  // Will output: 0>3
document.writeln('1>'+myArray[1]+'<BR>');                  // Will output: 1>hello!
document.writeln('2>'+myArray[2]()+'<BR>');                // Will output: 2>5
document.writeln('3>'+myArray[3].color+'<BR>');            // Will output: 3>blue
document.writeln('3>'+myArray[3].budget+'<BR>');           // Will output: 3>25
document.writeln('4>'+myArray[4].test(myArray[1])+'<BR>'); // Will output: 4>true 

Please feel free to leave feedback / comments / suggestions and/or ask for support using the comment box below.

Take a look at the following code:

<?php
class myClass {
    public $var = 1;

    public function &getVar() {
        return($this->var);
        }
}

$obj = new myClass;
$value = &$obj->getVar();
?>

Now this code works completely fine, apart from every time it hits the “return” statement it chucks out a weird Notice error: Only variable references should be returned by reference.

But what does that actually mean? … Basically the return statement is returning the result of the variable and not the reference because of the () brackets around the variable.

so to return correctly by reference you would do this instead:

<?php
class myClass {
    public $var = 1;

    public function &getVar() {
        return $this->var;
        }
}

$obj = new myClass;
$value = &$obj->getVar();
?>

Kicking yourself now? Yes it is that easy…

On another note, we did experience some downtime Monday also, this was due to a technical fault with the MySQL server itself, which was playing up all morning…

A guy named James Shirley, is A very nice guy at first, but then he uses your skills and time and then decides not to pay you what you have both agreed.

yup… This is what has happened to me recently, converted a PSD design into a website with javascript interaction recently for Mr James Shirley, we both agreed £150 in total and he said he was more than happy with the work I had carried out for him…

Over a month later and I have still not seen the £120 still owed to me, I have received £30 only due to the fact it was a deposit made to PeoplePerHour.com and they kindly released it to me.

The cheeky cunt even tried to threaten me with legal action if I contacted his client (he was building the site for someone else)… Threat noted but hasn’t deterred me .

Lets see what your client thinks of this.

I discourage anyone from using this company for any website design and/or coding.

So the government want to store everyone’s emails in one huge, dirty, big database somewhere so they can snoop on all our private activity for the purpose of “national security” – because hey were overrun with terrorism over here in Britain…

/sarcasm/*bang*…. shit there goes another bomb!! that one was close… /sarcasm/

What really infuriates me even more is I just know its going to be a PostgreSQL or AODB … gah, I can barely take talking about it…. ugghh!

But yeah humour aside, check out this facebook group and in 4 days forward all your incoming / outgoing (or as someone suggested just your SPAM) to Theresa May and other government bodies, to save them the trouble of having to scrap emails from us

https://www.facebook.com/pages/National-cc-all-your-e-mails-to-Theresa-May-Day/155277607840980?sk=info

So for those that are not aware and/or have not read my other blog posts, let me just give you a quick story / history on the companies in the title.

Linesave started as a small Web Development company in Shrewsbury, unfortunately it went into liquidation and was “bought” out by Quantum Web Solutions, which resided in the same office building with the same staff and the same management until it too had an unfortunate demise, also liquidating, and again being “bought” out by a company called Quantum Network & Promotions…

This in itself looks a little fishy, but it’s not until you speak with clients / ex staff of these companies you begin to realise how many people they have let down over the years. From unfulfilled promises, badly coded / rushed websites, half the features that were promised and way way way past the original deadline, I have heard many stories, and I believe I have only scratched the surface…

For those that do not know, I worked at Quantum Web Solutions for over 9 months, witnessing there highly unprofessional approach to Web Development, lack of organisation, and many many unhappy customers. At least three quarters of the company was dedicated to new customers / sales. With the final quarter actually working on existing websites. What was most worrying was the MASSIVE amount of bug reports and other general problems clients had which the company barely spent time working on.

The Update…

As I said in the opening paragraph, such a huge response from people, some have been waiting months / years without their website being completed, where as others have been charged for services and not received anything thanks to the liquidation of the company after purchase. Others have in fact got their website functioning with Quantum but are not happy due to bad service, buggy websites and missing features, and yet more customers have reported how Quantum have contacted them asking if they wish to upgrade to the new Tovuti system offered by Quantum Network & Promotions, even though there old sites are incomplete / unsatisfactory and the company they are with are liquidated!!

Take a look at the overwhelming response from people on my previous blog posts:

> Quantum Web In Liquidation!
> Quantum Web Solutions – The art of misleading Clients and the resulting damage it’s causing!

It looks to me like Quantum Umbrella have a new company in full swing, the only thing I and many other people are worried about is: Will they do the same as they did with the previous 2 companies!?!

I can confirm that the company is:

1. At the same address as the previous companies.
2. Has EXACTLY the same management.
3. Office didn’t even close / lose furniture or anything.
4. Has EXACTLY the same staff.
5. Is selling the SAME website system just with ‘improvements’.

Should I?

If your thinking of spending money with Quantum Web then you do not need me to tell you what my personal opinion is. I think it is quite clear and if you do decide to have your website with them, then all I can say is Good Luck!.

BEING FAIR: There HAS been some good websites emerge from Quantum Web, yes I know that is surprising, and it wasn’t an easy achievement for the client or the employee’s (lets not forget most of the employees at Quantum really do work hard to try and meet the clients requirements and expectations and all the problems stem from management). One of which I worked on in the past, was featured on Dragons Den and is doing pretty good for itself (although I have heard that the site is being re-built by another company for reasons that are not disclosed).

Twipple??

I’ve been informed by a close friend today that a “spin off” company has been setup by Quantum called Twipple – A SEO company that boasts about how great their services are?

I would also like to point out (don’t know whether to be amused or shocked), that in the fader as you scroll down the page they have a heading that reads “Step 1: Test the foundations” – the photo in the background is the foundations of the World Trade Centre??? I’m pretty sure it is… How sick is that?

Your Stories

Again just like on the other blog posts, I’m looking for your opinions and stories, just post your details in the comment box below, make sure you give me a legitimate email address if possible (this will not feature on the site and only to me) – you can give a bogus name and not provide a website URL if you wish.

Oh and if you don’t want your comments to appear to anyone else at all and only to me then please put “IN CONFIDENCE” as the first line of the comment, or just email me directly at: deano@resplace.net

I’m particularly looking for people who have worked with or are in the process of working with the new Quantum Network & Promotions company, and those who need advice etc. are also welcome.

Moving from Quantum

As I said in my last blog post, you can easily leave Quantum if you are unhappy/unsure with their services, email me if you are thinking of doing this and need help doing so, or help hosting your Quantum Web website.

And finally to those who have moved there website from Quantum, perhaps you need hosting or bug/fixes or coding work, contact me in the comments and perhaps I can help.

You should already have the latest Google Analytics tracking code called in the head/body of your website:

<script type="text/javascript">
	var _gaq = _gaq || [];
	_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-xxxxxxxx-x']);
	_gaq.push(['_setDomainName', 'xxxxxxxx.xxx']);
	_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);

	(function() {
		var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true;
		ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js';
		var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);
	})();
</script>

So lets say you have the following code to identify URL clicks and use AJAX to load the page content:

$("a").on("click", function(event) {
	$.ajax({
		type: "GET",
		url: url,
		dataType: "html",
		success: function(data) {
			$("#content").html(data);
		}
});

It is really simple to now add the Google Analytics code into your AJAX request:

$("a").on("click", function(event) {
	$.ajax({
		type: "GET",
		url: url,
		dataType: "html",
		success: function(data) {
			$("#content").html(data);
			_gaq.push(['_trackPageview', url]);
		}
});

You should try and get URL so that it is a relative link from the root of your website, for instance /homepage/ for http://mysite.com/homepage/.

If you are sending a full url to your AJAX request, you could perhaps use this solution to get a relative URL:

$("a").on("click", function(event) {
	$.ajax({
		type: "GET",
		url: url,
		dataType: "html",
		success: function(data) {
			$("#content").html(data);

			//get relative path
			nohttp = url.replace("http://","").replace("https://","");
			firstsla = nohttp.indexOf("/");
			pathpos = url.indexOf(nohttp);
			path = url.substring(pathpos + firstsla);
			_gaq.push(['_trackPageview', path]);
		}
});

Tip: Put in plenty of alert() debug into the code to make sure you are reporting links / paths correctly to Google Analytics.

AJAX fetches content into an element on the page, in ALL other browsers this content appears and works normally as I would have expected, however in Internet Explorer 7 and Internet Explorer 8 the content would not appear in the page at all.
However upon debugging using the IE9 developer tools (having IE in 7/8 mode), the content still does not appear but when inspecting the DOM, you can see the content IS there but is somehow “hidden”, I quote hidden because no CSS property is controlling this state, and trying to show the content using various CSS tags does not make the content appear.

So after searching tirelessly for a solution and trying the well documented “zoom:1”, “position:relative” and many other possible solutions, only for nothing to work for me, I eventually came to the solution that it would never work… And added a clause to STOP IE7 and IE8 from using AJAX on my site.

BUT THEN…

FINALLY! I have found a solution, a very strange and weird solution I must admit!

I found out that changing:

$('#' + AAPL_content).html(output);

So that instead we use PURE JavaScript like this:

document.getElementById(AAPL_content).innerHTML = output;

Fix’s the problem and now IE7 and IE8 are functioning as expected, ALL of the time.

Moral of the story…

Never completely trust a JavaScript library to dig you out of the shit, always debug your code and try the impossible solutions as they can sometimes, surprisingly, be a possible cause.

Oh… And… DONT USE .html() to change content… EVER!!