Blog entries from twmeier

Will iPhone Apps Run On iPad?

Trevor M. — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 17:01:38 +0100

One big question that iPhone developers have about the iPad, is whether or not existing iPhone app will also work on the iPad. The answer to that question is YES. The iPad in many ways looks like a large iPhone, and in many ways it acts like one too.

The iPad can run all of Apple's iTunes App Store iPhone and iPod touchs apps. And, just like an iPhone, you can uploadRead More...

How to create a marquee text for an iPhone app

Trevor M. — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 07:00:00 +0100

In this blog, you will learn how to create a moving text field (also know as a marquee). Marquees are very convenient to show news, stock updates, sport scores etc..

In the .h file:

#import

@interface FirstViewController : UIViewController {

UIView *messageView;
UILabel *lblTime;
CGSize messageSize;
}

@end

In the .m file:

- (void)viewDidAppear:(BOOL)animated {
NSString *theMessage Read More...

How to Submit Additional Images in Virtuemart

Trevor M. — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 06:00:00 +0100

Adding a singe image to a product is easy. Adding additional images can be confusing.

To add additional images to a product, find your product in the Product list in the backend of your website.

In the "Media" column, you will see a small icon. Click this icon. On the next page, you will be able to add more images to the product. You can also add other types of media suchRead More...

Using an Image as a Submit Button in HTML

Trevor M. — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 06:00:00 +0100

There are times when you want to use an image as a button to submit a form. One case is when you need to use JavaScript to check the html form was submitted correctly. Here is the code:

<script>
    function checkForm()
    {
        var msg = "Please correct the following: \n\n";
        var error = false;

&nRead More...

Quick and Easy SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

Trevor M. — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 06:00:00 +0100

There are a few quick and easy ways to improve your website's search engine rankings using a few simple search engine optimizations. By following the simple steps below, you should see an increase in your rankings with the top search engines.

1). Never register your domain for only one year at a time. Search engines will pick up on this and will assume your website may not be around for the long haul. There is not a specific number of years you should register your domain, but the Read More...

Joomla 1.5 Database Functions

Trevor M. — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 06:00:00 +0100

Sometimes it may be hard to know how to best use Joomla's database class. Here are just a few of the most used database functions.

In Joomla 1.5, include the following line of code inside your php:

<?php
$database =& JFactory::getDBO();
?>

Use the $loadObject function when you want to retrieve one row from the database. For example:

$database->setQuery("SELECT * FROM jos_comprofiler WHERE idRead More...

Changing a New Line to a Break

Trevor M. — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 06:00:00 +0100

There is a great php function takes a variable and changes the new lines (\n) into breaks (<br/>).

For example, a user submits a form on your website and used a textarea to submit a couple of paragraphs. You then retrieve this data from the database and echo it out in html. You will notice that it is now just one big paragraph.

To fix this problem, you the function: nl2br

Here is how you might use this:

<?php
&Read More...

How to Open a Link in a New Window.

Trevor M. — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 06:00:00 +0100

Opening a link in a new window is very easy. A link in HTML looks like this:

<a href="someurl.com">Link Text</a>

To open the link in a new window add target="_blank":

<a href="someurl.com" target="_blank">Link Text</a>

If you are using a text editor to create you links, you will often times see the option to open the link in a new window.

Embedding Videos in Joomla Content

Trevor M. — Tue, 19 May 2009 06:00:00 +0100

Embedding videos inside your Joomla content is easy. There are several Joomla plugins that make it a snap.

The plugin I would suggest is called the AllVideos (by JoomlaWorks), and can be downloaded for free at www.joomla.org.

Once you have installed the plugin, you will need to enable it by going to the "Plugin Manager" in the backend of your Joomla site (/administrator).

Below are some of the plugins features:

1. Dozens of video providers supported, Read More...

Modifying Page Title, Keywords and Description

Trevor M. — Mon, 11 May 2009 06:00:00 +0100

Modifying the page title, keywords and description for a page created by a component in Joomla is very simple.

Inside your component, add the following:

<?php
global $mainframe;
$mainframe->SetPageTitle("Some Page Title");
$mainframe->appendMetaTag( "description", "Some Description.");
$mainframe->appendMetaTag( "keywords", "keyword1, keyword2");
?>

It is that simple.

How to Stop a Form From Submitting on Enter

Trevor M. — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 06:00:00 +0100

I came across a problem this week, with a form that submitted when a user hit the "enter" or "return" button even though the submit button had an onclick function that should have kept the form from submitting. The problem only manifested itself on Google's Chrome browser.

I found the following JavaScript code to keep this from happening:

// Disables enter button from submitting the form
var nav = window.Event ? true : false;

Changing Page Title and Meta Info in Joomla

Trevor M. — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 06:00:00 +0100

Changing the Page Title and the Meta Tags (keywords and description) in a Joomla Component is simple (this does not apply to articles or the home page of your site).

The first step is to include the following line of code inside php tags:

global $mainframe;

Then simply use the following functions to change the Page Title, Meta Keywords and the Meta Description:

$mainframe->SetPageTitle("Some Page Title");
$mainframe->appendMetaTag( Read More...

Opening a New Browser Window

Trevor M. — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 06:00:00 +0100

There are times when you may want to open a page in a new browser window. You may also want to be able to determine the size of the new window, whether or not to have scroll bars, tool bars, status bars etc.. There is a ready-made JavaScript function that you can use to do this:

window.open('url', 'window name', 'attribute1', 'attribute2', .....)

'url'
This is the url of the page you would like to appear in the new window. 'window name'
You can nameRead More...

Parsing an XML string retrieved using AJAX

Trevor M. — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 07:00:00 +0100

While working on an AJAX function this week, I found the need to parse an XML string using JavaScript and PHP. The following JavaScript was used to retrieve an XML string from a PHP file:

function someJavascriptFunction() {
      xmlHttp=GetXmlHttpObject();
      url = "/components/com_component/ajax/ajax.php?task=someTask";
      url += "&cc_number="+document.getElementById('cc_number').value;
      xmlHttp.open("GET",url,true);
      xmlHtRead More...

Turn on Caching to Speed Up Your Joomla Site

Trevor M. — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 07:00:00 +0100

There is a simple and effective way to help speed up your Joomla site. It is called "caching". When you use the caching feature, Joomla creates a static file (or cache), of your web pages. This means that your website can use this cached file instead of making redundant database calls each time someone goes to a page. This in turn saves time and speeds up your site.

Log into the back of your Joomla site (/administrator) to turn caching on. Go to "Global Configuration" as seen below.

Creating a Joomla Menu Item

Trevor M. — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 07:00:00 +0100

Creating a new menu item in Joomla is extremely easy. Joomla uses these menu items to create a menu of links as seen below.

These links typically lead to an article. Assuming you already have the article created, click on the menu you would like to add to from the "Menus" drop down.

How to add pages in Joomla

Trevor M. — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 07:00:00 +0100

The first step in adding a page in Joomla is to understand how Joomla displays pages. To display page, Joomla uses what it calls articles. Articles can be assigned to an infinite number of pages.

To create new articles, you must first sign in to the backend of you website:
http://your_domain_name.com/administrator