One of the major anticipated updates is without a doubt the custom types. Untill now you could only add one type of post and if you wanted to have different post types you could either use custom fields or the plugin fileflutter. But now, thanks to a small peace of code, you can add different custom types with their own menu and settings.

Here follows the code to register a new post type, how easy can it be?

register_post_type('podcast', array(
'label' => __('Podcasts'),
'singular_label' => __('Podcast'),
'public' => true,
'show_ui' => true,
'capability_type' => 'post',
'hierarchical' => false,
'rewrite' => false,
'query_var' => false,
'supports' => array('title', 'editor', 'author')
));

New registration process

Finally we can choose our own username and password instead of creating the default admin profile. This is also a lot safer because most hacker knows the default username of the first profile created on your wordpress site is admin, and will use it to hack into your site.

New menu management feature

Instead of updating your theme files online you can now easily manage your menu from your wordpress admin panel. how sweet is that, huh?

Custom backgrounds for themes

Another great update of wordpress 3.0 is the ability to customize your header from your wordpress administration panel. Just click on the image you want to use or upload your own image. It’s that simple, even a monkey can do it.

New theme Twenty Ten

With all the sublime updates of wordpress 3.0 (custom post types, menu management, edit header…) it is obvious to release new default template. This template is perfect to get started in wordpress 3.0 as it holds all the new template features.

Other updates

• Bulk theme update ability
• Improved custom post types
• Improved custom taxonomies
• Standalone WordPress and WPMU code merged and is called Multisite

Need more reasons? check the Codex

Download wordpress 3.0

The developers of wordpress announced last week that the Wordpress 3.0 RC1 was released and could be downloaded at http://wordpress.org/wordpress-3.0-RC1.zip.

Like it is mentioned in their post, RC comes right after the beta but just before the final release, wordpress 3.0 should be ready but their might still be some bugs.

Useful reading

• Introducing WordPress 3 Custom Taxonomies

• Custom Post Types in WordPress 3.0

• WordPress 3.0: Multisite Domain Mapping Tutorial

Got your own reason to love wordpress? we’d love to hear about it :)

The code

Save this code into a file named upload_helper.php in the helpers folder and don’t forget to load the file when you use the helper.

<?php
if (!defined('BASEPATH')) exit('No direct script access allowed');

/*###################################################################################*/
	function multiple_upload($name = 'userfile', $upload_dir = 'sources/images/', $allowed_types = 'gif|jpg|jpeg|jpe|png', $size)
/*###################################################################################*/
	{
		$CI =& get_instance();

		$config['upload_path']   = realpath($upload_dir);
		$config['allowed_types'] = $allowed_types;
		$config['max_size']      = $size;
		$config['overwrite']     = FALSE;
		$config['encrypt_name']  = TRUE;

			$CI->upload->initialize($config);
			$errors = FALSE;

			if(!$CI->upload->do_upload($name)):
				$errors = TRUE;
			else:
				// Build a file array from all uploaded files
				$files = $CI->upload->data();
			endif;

			// There was errors, we have to delete the uploaded files
			if($errors):
				@unlink($files['full_path']);
				return false;
			else:
				return $files;
			endif;

    }//end of multiple_upload()

/*#################################################*/
	//modified version of jeffrey way's zip extract tutorial
	function upload_batch_images($name = 'userfile', $upload_dir = 'sources/images/', $allowed_types = 'gif|jpg|jpeg|jpe|png', $size)
/*#################################################*/
{
	$CI =& get_instance();
		$realpath = $upload_dir."images-".rand(1111111111,9999999999); //let's make it unique
		$config['upload_path']   = $realpath;
		$config['allowed_types'] = $allowed_types;
		$config['max_size']      = $size;
		$config['overwrite']     = FALSE;
		$config['encrypt_name']  = TRUE;

	$CI->upload->initialize($config);

	if(mkdir($realpath)):
		if($CI->upload->do_upload($name)):
			$files = $CI->upload->data();
			if(openZip($realpath."/".$files['file_name'], $realpath)):
				@unlink($files['full_path']);
				return $realpath;
			else:
				@unlink($files['full_path']);
				return false;
			endif;
		endif;
	else:
		return false;
	endif;

}

/*#################################################*/
	function openZip($file_to_open, $zip_target)
/*#################################################*/
{
	$zip = new ZipArchive();
	$x = $zip->open($file_to_open);
	if ($x === true):
		$zip->extractTo($zip_target);
		$zip->close();
		return true;
	else:
		return false;
	endif;
}

?>

Controller example code

//returns an array and store it into an variable
//requires 4 parameters, the name of the file input, the path where the file should be uploaded too, the allowed extentions, the max. file size
$s_thumb = multiple_upload('small_thumb', 'sources/images/', 'gif|jpg|jpeg|jpe|png', 1024);
echo $s_thumb->file_name; //display file name
/*
returns the following array, which is the basic array when a file is uploaded in CodeIgniter

Array
(
    [file_name]    => mypic.jpg
    [file_type]    => image/jpeg
    [file_path]    => /path/to/your/upload/
    [full_path]    => /path/to/your/upload/jpg.jpg
    [raw_name]     => mypic
    [orig_name]    => mypic.jpg
    [file_ext]     => .jpg
    [file_size]    => 22.2
    [is_image]     => 1
    [image_width]  => 800
    [image_height] => 600
    [image_type]   => jpeg
    [image_size_str] => width="800" height="200"
)

*/

//the following will upload a zip file and extract all the images or files within it, it returns only the path of the image folder
$batch_images = upload_batch_images('large_thumb', 'sources/images/', 'zip', 30720000);

If you like this upload helper share it with other people.

Collorzilla – Collorzilla is obviously one of the favorite addons of web developers as it allow them to select any color on a page. Try it and you will notice you can’t work without it anymore.

Fast dial – If you are tired of going through your bookmarks or browser history to go to your favorite sites then fast dial is the addon you are looking for. When opening a new tab it will display a grid where you can add your favorite website to browse to your favorites sites much faster.

firebug – Firebug is unique in the way that it allows you to change anything to your html/css within your browser itself but also to debug your code with ease.

fireftp – This is one of the best ftp programs ever, it’s simple and opens in a new tab in firefox, the must have addon if you develop mainly in firefox. But the best part is that it’s completely free and secure.

fireshot – Fireshot allows you to take quick screenshots from entire or partial web pages, it also has a build in editor which you can use to crop, cut and even add notes to your screenshots.

Web developer – This addon will add a toolbar to your firefox browser which will help you develop, test and validate your website. It has also a build in console log that will log any css and javascript error.

Xmarks – Xmarks is an addon that will backup your bookmarks and even synchronize it with other firefox browser installed on other computers.

Yslow – YSlow analyzes web pages and why they’re slow based on Yahoo!’s rules for high performance web sites.

What’s your favorite firefox addon?

Then we are proud to announce we are developing this e-commerce application you are looking for. The product is half way to be finished and still a beta version but we are acutally looking for people that would be ready to spend some of their time testing this new and kick-ass application. Of course we will reward all the people who helped us out by giving them a free license for this new e-commerce application.

Main features of this e-commerce application

• User item submission – Users will be able to submit their own items.
• Affiliation system – Let other people promote your products with minimal costs.
• Simple admin interface – Easily manage your users, items categories with a very simple to use interface.
• Simple template system – Easily create and manage your custom themes.

Do you have a suggestion? something you would like to see in this e-commerce application? let us know by dropping a comment below or send an email to idealvisions@live.com, you can also follow the status of the application

We have currently developed the entire user part of this e-commerce application and made a demo available

To make it easier for you, the members, we have synchronized our rss feed.

The new synchronized rss feed is available at http://feeds.feedburner.com/Cmstut

But wait of course we didn’t delete the old rss feeds, you can still subscribe to the old individual rss feeds

The blog feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/cmstutorials/blog

Main site feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/CmsTutorialSite

Typographica

What is a framework?

If you are new to the term framework, it is nothing more or less then a library of code and functionalities that will help speed up the development of your application for your clients. Most php frameworks are also based on the, popular an high demanded, MVC structure. MVC stands for Model, View and Controller. The purpose of this structure is to isolate “domain logic” (the application logic for the user) from input and presentation (GUI), permitting independent development, testing and maintenance of each.

CodeIgniter

While there are a lot of php frameworks like the ZEND (most used in development companies), cakephp,… I would like to introduce you to one specific called CodeIgniter. Why did I choose for this framework? well for the simple reason that it is very easy to use, very straightforward and comes with an awesome community which will help you should you ever have problems or questions.

Even though CodeIgniter has some basic video tutorials to get you started I really recommend the CodeIgniter from scratch tutorial serie by Jeffrey Way and Burak Guzel. So obviously here comes the list of the video tutorial serie. A tutorial serie I really recommend to everyone!

• Day 1: Getting Started With the Framework
• Day 2: Database Selecting Methods
• Day 3: Sending Emails
• Day 4: Newsletter Signup
• Day 5: CRUD
• Day 6: Login
• Day 7: Pagination
• Day 8: AJAX
• Day 9: File Uploading and Image Manipulation
• Day 10: The Calendar Library

Should you have found other interesting tutorials regarding CodeIgniter be so kind to share it with us in the comments!

enjoy!

Example of the click counter of the deposit script

The database

Let’s start by creating a new database called counter and execute following queries

CREATE  TABLE  `banners` (
 `id` INT NOT  NULL  AUTO_INCREMENT  PRIMARY  KEY ,
  `url` VARCHAR( 150  )  NOT  NULL ,
  `banner` VARCHAR( 150  )  NOT  NULL ,
  `name` VARCHAR( 60  )  NOT  NULL, 'clicks' INT NOT NULL DEFAULT  '0'
) ;

Let’s insert some data now

INSERT INTO `banners` (`id`, `url`, `banner`, `name`, `clicks`) VALUES
(1, 'http://themeforest.net', 'http://envato.s3.cdn.plus.org/referrer_adverts/tf_260x120_v2.gif', 'themeforest', 0),
(2, 'http//graphicriver.net', 'http://envato.s3.cdn.plus.org/referrer_adverts/gr_260x120_v4.gif', 'graphicriver', 0);

Configuration of the database

Let’s start by creating all of the nescessary files for this tutorials. Create 3 new php files, name them index.php, config.php and counter.php

Paste the following code into config.php to make the connection to the database, this you will need to display the banners and to track the clicks

note*: I’m using mysqli and not regular mysql, you may need to pay attention to this because the parameters for the sql query and the link to the database is different when using mysqli.

<?php $db_host = "localhost";
$db_username = "root";
$db_password = "";
$db_database = "counter";

$link = mysqli_connect($db_host,$db_username,$db_password) or die("Cannot connect");
mysqli_select_db($link, $db_database) or die("Cannot select the database"); ?>

Make sure to fill in the right username, password and database name before you continue

Display of the banners

Open index.php if haven’t allready done so. Let’s add the basic html structure:

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
  <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
  <head>
  <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
  <title>banners index page</title>
  </head>
<body>
</body>
</html>

Above the doctype let’s include the config file and query for the banners

<?php
include("config.php");
$sql = mysqli_query($link, "SELECT id, url, banner, name FROM banners");
  ?>

Now we need to fetch the queried data and display each banner from our table, so between the body tag add the following code

<div id="container">
<?php
while($result = mysqli_fetch_object($sql)):
    ?>
    <p>
    <a href="counter.php?id=<?php echo $result->id; ?>">
    <img src="<?php echo $result->banner; ?>" alt="<?php echo $result->name; ?>" />
    </a>
    </p>
    <?php
endwhile;
?>
</div><!-- end of container -->

Now browse your index.php, If everything works fine you should have something like this:

Now the trick is in fact to link to the counter.php and pass in the id of the banner as a parameter (eg: counter.php?id=//id of the banner), which we allready did (see previous code). We then run a query to increase the click with 1 and then we redirect the user to the correct url.

Track click and redirect

Open counter.php and add the following code

<?php

//1. include the configuration file
  include("config.php");

//2. Get the id from the url and store it into a variable
  $id = mysqli_real_escape_string($link, $_GET['id']);

//3. fetch the url and clicks from this banner
  $clicks = mysqli_fetch_object(mysqli_query($link, "SELECT url, clicks FROM banners WHERE id=".$id.""));

//4. increase clicks with 1
  $new_click = $clicks->clicks+1;

//5. update this into the database, check if it was succesfull
  if(mysqli_query($link, "UPDATE banners SET clicks=".$new_click." WHERE id=".$id."")):
  //6. redirect to the url
  header("Location: ".$clicks->url);
  else:
  //6. else write to error log
  endif;
?>

so let’s go over each line

1. 1. Include the configuration file
2. 2. Get the id from the url and store it into a variable
3. 3. Fetch the url and clicks from this banner
4. 4. Increase clicks with 1
5. 5. Update this into the database, check if it was succesfull
6. 6. Redirect to the url else write to error log

Conclussion

There you go in only a few steps you were able to create a click tracker to keep track of how many times your banners were clicked on your site. If you don’t want to spend to much time coding the click tracker yourself you might be interested into the deposit/avertisement script at http://codecanyon.net/item/deposit-system/59753

Details

• Name: Roel
• Interests: Webdesign, Graphic Design, Information Architecture, SEO
• Position: author, tutorial writer, cms tutorial manager

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