Application Developer » Tweaks

Calling #PHP on #JSP / #Java Pages with Javascript – #js

Alex — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 16:34:38 +0000

Working with hacked together management systems that utilize both Java/JSP and PHP can be extremely annoying. However, jQuery has made our lives a lot easier by letting us call PHP using Javascript.

Most of us are script kiddies. Admit it, we like to build our own tools but whenever a shortcut comes into play, we take the high road. Can you really blame developers for choosing this route when time seems to always be a factor on the Internet. The issue is this leaves us with VERY hacky systems. We piece together and integrate but there are just things we can’t control. Particularly if we ever end up with anything that’s not open source.

Here’s a trick for pulling PHP into a JSP run page, or really any page for that matter, as long as it supposed Javascript. Generally speaking, all things support Javascript.

 Javascript |   copy code | ?  
1 
2  
3 
9

Here's how this works. jQuery we should all know. If you don't, go do some reading. It's a big deal.

$.get is from jQuery and it will pull the information over and display it.

#posthere is key. The

is where what you want to load will show up.

Pretty much from this point you're set. All you need to do is build the PHP file and everything will load up on the JSP pages. Remember, this can applied to any page that supports jQuery or Javascript.

BackType Tweetcount 1.2 with su.pr Short URL Support

Alex — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:34:08 +0000

The new BackType Tweetcount just launched last night. With a little work, it’ll support your very own custom shortened URL in the re-tweet. We like su.pr. Thanks to a bit of help from Michael of BackType, we’re able to figure out this mod overnight.

The previous version of BackType worked well but it always re-tweet your posts through awe.sm. That’s great and all, but what about the rest of us who have our own click tracking or even our own custom shorteners.

So to make it better, last night we added a new option for developers to add a function into the code that will allow them to build their own custom functions and generate their own custom links. It’s really just a meta tag, “bttc_short_url” that gets generated the first time the post is viewed. Here’s the best part. Since the short url is generated the FIRST time everything is viewed. Just by browsing your pages, and olf non-syndicated links are automatically added into su.pr. If you use another shortening service, it’ll do the same for that too.

After grabbing the latest BackType Tweetcount, load up your favorite editing tool and add this function to the very bottom of the code:

 PHP |   copy code | ?  
01 
02 function bttc_supr($url) {
03 	$SU_username = "username";
04 	$SU_api = "api_key";
05 	$SU_url = "http://su.pr/api";
06 	$SU_vars = "?url=$url&login=$SU_username&apiKey=$SU_api";
07  
08 	$curl_handle = curl_init();
09 	curl_setopt($curl_handle, CURLOPT_URL, $SU_url . $SU_vars);
10 	curl_setopt($curl_handle, CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT, 2);
11 	curl_setopt($curl_handle, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
12 	curl_setopt($curl_handle, CURLOPT_HTTPGET, 1); 
13 	$buffer = curl_exec($curl_handle);
14 	curl_close($curl_handle);
15 	//$SU_newURL = str_replace("su.pr/", "", $buffer);
16 	$SU_newURL = $buffer;
17  
18 	return $SU_newURL;
19 }
20

As a quick note there. The commented out //$SU_newurl is for those that host their own url shortcodes on their domain using the su.pr htaccess modification.

Go to Line 180, insert this code:

 PHP |   copy code | ?  
1 
2 if (get_post_meta($post->ID, 'bttc_short_url', true) != '') {
3     $button .= 'tweetcount_short_url=\'' . wp_specialchars(get_post_meta($post->ID, 'bttc_short_url', true), '1') . '\';';
4 }
5

Then go to Line 161, search for this code:

 PHP |   copy code | ?  
1 
2 if ($meta == '') {
3 	add_post_meta($post->ID, 'bttc_cache', time() . ':' . $cnt);
4 } else {
5 	update_post_meta($post->ID, 'bttc_cache', time() . ':' . $cnt);
6 }
7

Directly below the code, paste the following:

 PHP |   copy code | ?  
1 
2 if (get_post_meta($post->ID, 'bttc_short_url', true) == '') {
3 	$short_url = bttc_supr($url);
4 	if ($short_url) {
5 		add_post_meta($post->ID, 'bttc_short_url', $short_url);
6 	}
7 }
8

And that's it. Edit the first bttc_supr function into basically whatever you want, and the short URL will automatically generated the first time the posts are viewed. It'll let you re-tweet with your own custom links, and even add old content that you haven't added to your shortening admin pages for you. This is a pretty raw version of doing this. BackType will be launching an updated version soon with these modifications to make it easier for users that don't want to edit as much code.

SEO Friendly Links and .htaccess Hacks

Alex — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 23:17:36 +0000

I’m going to assume most people know how to activate or edit their own .htaccess files. If you’re not sure how to edit them then visit this link.

htaccess modifications can come in really handy when cleaning up some of the old management systems. For those that use Google Webmaster Tools, this can be a great way to clean up those nasty 404s. Also note the Bing Webmaster Area. Many developers don’t build for SEO purposes and let other guys deal with it later. Sometimes they will even request a fee. Here’s a few tricks to save a couple bucks or clean up some links.

1. Removing variables from your links

Ever wonder how sites that have nice friendly links to customer profiles do it? There are a number of methods but if you use php variables that come out like this:

http://www.mywebsite.com/index.php?profile=customer_name

Apply this short mod to your .htaccess file:

 HTML |   copy code | ?  
1 
2 RewriteRule ^profile\/(.*)$ index.php?profile=1 [L,QSA]
3

The result:

http://mywebsite.com/profile/customer_name

Nice friendly links that everyone understands. Even the users.

2. SEO Friendly 301 Redirects

This is probably the simplest and most useful htaccess. As developers, we change our minds all the time. If those changes ever include changing post names, moving folders, or just altering a link. Google Webmaster Tools is going to come knocking with a 404 error within the next couple days. Fix it with this:

 HTML |   copy code | ?  
1 
2 Redirect 301 /path/to/old/location /new/location
3

/new/location can also be a link like http://new_website.com

3. Custom Error Pages

These just help you make a nice polished site. Particularly the 404 error page.

 HTML |   copy code | ?  
1 
2 ErrorDocument 401 /error/401.php
3 ErrorDocument 403 /error/403.php
4 ErrorDocument 404 /error/404.php
5 ErrorDocument 500 /error/500.php

4. Block IPs Using htaccess

Handy when you just don't like someone, or a country, or you just hate that IP block

 HTML |   copy code | ?  
1 
2 allow from all
3 deny from 145.186.14.122
4 deny from 124.15

5. Prevent Hotlinking

I get a lot requests for this one.

 HTML |   copy code | ?  
1 
2 Options +FollowSymlinks
3 # Protect Hotlinking
4 RewriteEngine On
5 RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$
6 RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://(www.)?domainname.com/ [nc]
7 RewriteRule .*.(gif|jpg|png)$ http://domainname.com/img/hotlink_f_o.png [nc]
8

For more dry information on .htaccess. Here's a great blog on it:

http://htaccess.wordpress.com/tag/htaccess-mod-rewrite/

01
02	function bttc_supr($url) {
03	$SU_username = "username";
04	$SU_api = "api_key";
05	$SU_url = "http://su.pr/api";
06	$SU_vars = "?url=$url&login=$SU_username&apiKey=$SU_api";
07
08	$curl_handle = curl_init();
09	curl_setopt($curl_handle, CURLOPT_URL, $SU_url . $SU_vars);
10	curl_setopt($curl_handle, CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT, 2);
11	curl_setopt($curl_handle, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
12	curl_setopt($curl_handle, CURLOPT_HTTPGET, 1);
13	$buffer = curl_exec($curl_handle);
14	curl_close($curl_handle);
15	//$SU_newURL = str_replace("su.pr/", "", $buffer);
16	$SU_newURL = $buffer;
17
18	return $SU_newURL;
19	}
20

1
2	if (get_post_meta($post->ID, 'bttc_short_url', true) != '') {
3	$button .= 'tweetcount_short_url=\'' . wp_specialchars(get_post_meta($post->ID, 'bttc_short_url', true), '1') . '\';';
4	}
5

1
2	if ($meta == '') {
3	add_post_meta($post->ID, 'bttc_cache', time() . ':' . $cnt);
4	} else {
5	update_post_meta($post->ID, 'bttc_cache', time() . ':' . $cnt);
6	}
7

1
2	if (get_post_meta($post->ID, 'bttc_short_url', true) == '') {
3	$short_url = bttc_supr($url);
4	if ($short_url) {
5	add_post_meta($post->ID, 'bttc_short_url', $short_url);
6	}
7	}
8

1
2	ErrorDocument 401 /error/401.php
3	ErrorDocument 403 /error/403.php
4	ErrorDocument 404 /error/404.php
5	ErrorDocument 500 /error/500.php

1
2	Options +FollowSymlinks
3	# Protect Hotlinking
4	RewriteEngine On
5	RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$
6	RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://(www.)?domainname.com/ [nc]
7	RewriteRule .*.(gif\|jpg\|png)$ http://domainname.com/img/hotlink_f_o.png [nc]
8