// This code is a method in my controller
// and called through ajax(using jquery)
// and returns result in json format
// I also created a library so i can easily load the
// zend framework and attain a neat code as possible
$isbn = $this->input->post("isbn");
// we need to first load the zend
// library, specifically the Books library
$this->load->library('zend', 'Zend/Gdata/Books');
$this->zend->load('Zend/Gdata/Books');
// create new instance of the zend books object
$books = new Zend_Gdata_Books();
// we will query book information by passing a
// query string to google api which looks like this
// http://books.google.com/books?isbn:0738531367
$query = $books->newVolumeQuery();
$query->setQuery("isbn:$isbn");
// the code below invokes
// the query and gets the result
$feed = $books->getVolumeFeed($query);
// this is a flag, so obviously when no result is returned,
// 0 will trigger that on my front end
$data['result'] = "0";
foreach ($feed as $entry):
// some entry was found
$data['result'] = "1";
// some of the entry results are returned through
// an array object, so to easily extract
// just implode it and separate by a
// character, in my case i used a comma(,)
$data['authors'] = implode(", ",$entry->getCreators());
$data['description'] = implode(", ",$entry->getDescriptions());
$data['publishers'] = implode(', ',$entry->getPublishers());
$data['identifiers'] = implode(', ',$entry->getIdentifiers());
$data['category'] = implode(",", $entry->getSubjects());
$data['book_title'] = $entry->getTitle()->text;
$x = $entry->getThumbnailLink();
// there are times that $entry->getThumbnailLink() returns
// a null value, thus $x below is not an object
// so use @ to escape possible errors in the codes below
$data['book_image'] = @$x->href;
$data['volume_id'] = $entry->getVolumeId();
$data['year_published'] = implode(',' , $entry->getDates());
$x = $entry->getFormats();
$pages = @$x[0];
$type = @$x[1];
$data['pages'] = $pages->text;
$x = $entry->getIdentifiers();
$data['isbn10'] = str_replace("ISBN:", "",@$x[1]->text);
$data['isbn13'] = str_replace("ISBN:", "",@$x[2]->text);
endforeach;
// return result in json format
echo json_encode($data);
I will try to post soon on how to setup the Zend Framework library.
]]>
As i scanned through the log files, i found this “Request exceeded the limit of 10 internal redirects due to probable configuration error. Use ‘LimitInternalRecursion’ to increase the limit if necessary. Use ‘LogLevel debug’ to get a backtrace.“. I googled for possible answers with regards to this error and later i found out that it has something to do with the rewrite module of apache where it keeps pointing to an unreachable destination/location maybe to a non-existing image, css file, or some media within the server. So then i checked my html and they were pointing all to existing locations, until i debugged my css file and found that i was referencing to an image that i FORGOT TO UPLOAD. Yes, an image caused this very pesky problem that in some point i thought of giving up on working with the project.
It took me over 3 days to figure out the problem(with the help of my boss of course). It’s crazy to think how a very simple mistake could mess up everything. It’s very stressful to encounter problems which almost no one has encountered, but to be part of the few who have, i think it’s an honor to maybe help somebody who might encounter one in the future.
]]>Whatever programming language you maybe using(except i think the assembly language), you’d probably have been using or used the control structures IF, FOR, WHILE, FOREACH etc… I have written several applications/websites using various programming languages and my favorite so far is VB 6.0 and VB.NET when it comes to control structures.
A simple VB IF statement would look this, which I call it the IF, THEN, ELSE structure:
Dim MyNBATeam = "SUNS"
If MyNBATeam <> "SUNS" Then
MessageBox.Show("You're a Kobe lover")
Me.Close()
Else
MessageBox.Show("Let's run and gun")
FormX.Show()
End If
Neat eh? If we convert that to PHP normally we would do it like this:
$my_nba_team = "SUNS";
if ($my_nba_team == "SUNS"){
echo "You're a Kobe lover";
return;
}
else{
echo "Let's run and gun";
header("location: somepage.php");
}
So to make PHP look like that of the VB structure let’s change that to this:
$my_nba_team = "SUNS";
if ($my_nba_team == "SUNS"):
echo "You're a Kobe lover";
return;
else:
echo "Let's run and gun";
header("location: somepage.php");
endif;
Notice on how we eliminated the pesky curly braces? You probably have noticed that the opening curly brace({) was replaced by a colon(:) and the closing curly brace was replaced by endif; and remember also that when having compound statements inside your if and else, you don’t need to fence them with opening and curly braces. That will probably save you time when debugging nested IF’s.
You can also do the same thing with other control structures:
//FOR LOOP
$odds = array();
$evens = array();
for ($i=1; $i<50; $i++):
if(!($i % 2)):
array_push($evens, $i);
else
array_push($odds, $i);
endif;
endfor;
//WHILE LOOP
while ( 1 == 1 ):
if (date("Y") == 2011 ):
echo "I am getting, older";
break;
endif;
endwhile;
//FOREACH
foreach($teams->result() as $team):
if($team->name == "SUNS"):
echo "keep running";
echo "BEAT L.A";
endif;
endforeach;
It’s always nice to have a neatly written code, saves us time in the future and we will not give headaches to those who’s going to trace your code – in short, be a blessing.
]]>MySQL Date Format:
MySQL is quite strict on the date format so you have to make sure that when you pass or reference a Date type field value be sure that the format is YYYY-MM-DD, for example 1984-05-18 for May 18, 1984. So if you want to insert a date value you may like to do it like this :
$date = date("Y-m-d");
$sql = "INSERT INTO myTable(date_field) VALUES('$date')";
mysql_query($sql);
The above code obviously is very easy if the date you need is the current date. Now if you want to customize a date based on a user input you can perhaps do this:
$year = "2008";
$month = "05";
$day = "18";
$the_raw_date = $year . "-". $month . "-" . $day;
$date = date("Y-m-d", strtotime($the_raw_date));
Now if you want to use the current date and add days, years or months you can do this:
$date_days_added = date("Y-m-d",0, 0, 0, date("m") , date("d") + 7, date("Y"))); // adds 7 days to
current date
$date_month_added = date("Y-m-d",0, 0, 0, date("m") + 1 , date("d") , date("Y"))); // adds 1 month to current date
$date_years_added = date("Y-m-d",0, 0, 0, date("m") , date("d") , date("Y") + 2)); // adds 2 years to current date
]]>