- [How To] Live index updates in Sphinx search
Sphinx search engine can index huge databases with ease and speed. However, when new data (in database or the configured data source) comes in, there is no point in re-indexing everything again and waste our CPU cycles and other resources. Sphinx offers live (almost real time) index updates using a technique called as main+delta scheme. […]
- [How To] Create content type with CCK fields from your custom module in Drupal
In the previous post, Sumit wrote about creating content type through custom module. Creating the content type this way allows you to distribute your custom content type easily without asking your users to create the content type manually before installing your module. But what if you have a complex content type created with lots of […]
- [CakePHP – How To] CKFinder configuration management using component
Hello guyz, I am back again with an article on CakePHP. This one is related to CKFinder configuration management. CKFinder is a file management plugin for CKEditor using which you can upload new files or use existing files to link in to CKEditor’s content. There is a config.php in CKFinder’s directory which has many configuration […]
Author: Tarique Sani
Travails of 2010 and some new year resolutions
The year gone by can be best described as a year of photography and traveling.
I started the new year with my 20th picture on Flickr explore, but the novelty of Flickr explore wore off pretty soon as I got a front page explore again and then 40 pictures and finally 50+. We traveled to the Rann of Kutch for a week in the last week of January and got a lot of bird (and a few animal) photographs.
February saw me doing the long over due drive to Mallura Village in Melghat in quest for the the Forest owlet . The pictures I brought back from that trip have been in demand by several publications and websites.
I started collaborating with Lalit Vikamshi and we have been doing some very interesting experiments with studio photography since then…
Mid May we took another trip and this time it was to Tanzania, It was an wonderful and unique experience and once again there were a lot of photographs, in fact 14000+ I finally managed to post-process upload the last of selected few in November. Just before the trip we celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary
I got myself an iPad and became a fan.
September I tried out the 750 Words experiment successfully, turned 44 and noticed that my blog has 200006 published words.
The trip Botswana trip I planned with Amit Sharma materialized and we camped in the heart of Moremi and Savuti.
The most significant event of the year for me was the last foss.in, it was an amazing journey for all of us. For the curious Atul has written why it was the last. We stayed one day more and took the last wildlife trip of the year to B.R. Hills with Kalyan and stayed at the awesome Gorukana Resort
Resolutions: I have never been too much of a new year resolutions person but this year I have decided that starting 1st Jan for 100 days I will be a vegetarian and not take any alcohol. The second resolution is to continue with writing 750 Words daily for next 100 days
Botswana trip – Camping in the heart of Moremi and Savuti
The seed for the trip to Botswana was planted when we were in the Serengeti plains of Tanzania in May. Amit Sharma, my good friend of many years said that there was a great price deal and photographer Vincent Grafhorst will be our host. I was instantly hooked. Six months was a long time but there were things which took long, like the Johannesburg visa, plans were changed which meant re-booking tickets several Times. Continue reading, 14 more pictures of the camp
An amazing journey – Aasim at foss.in
Yesterday Swati was reminiscing about how the event now called as foss.in began and what an amazing journey it has been for the past 10 years. Leafing thru the photos we realized that the journey has been more so for Aasim who began it as a 3 year old in ITcom 2000 and has been there every year ever since.
Last month @ SANIsoft blog December 1, 2010
- [How To] Post data using PHP streams
Recently, I needed to work on a project that needed to post information to another site without the user actually leaving the site and I needed to do this more than thrice and to different urls ! And I did it! Any guesses how ? What ? Ajax ? No! ? CURL you say ? […]
- [How To]Use user-defined variable in MySQL LIMIT clause
Recently, I got a situation where I needed to select only the first 50% (half) records from a database table. The constraint was that I could not use programming language to add a variable to the MySQL limit clause. Under normal circumstances the code would look something like this PLAIN TEXT PHP: // Connect to […]
- [Drupal] Replace default content title with custom field
Recently I had a requirement of allowing the user to choose the date while creating a new content in Drupal site and that date should be treated as a content title. Using CCK and the Date module, it was easy to add a date field with nice looking jQuery datepicker to the new content type. […]
- jCrop Demo using PHP
This is one more post in my ‘image manipulation using PHP’ series. This one uses jCrop, a jQuery plugin, which provides the quick and easy way to add image cropping functionality to your web application. Most of the people understand what the image cropping is, hence I am jumping to the demo of it by […]
Ngorongoro crater – A living Eden
Now that I am back from another wildlife photo tour in Botswana, Africa. It became imperative that I finish posting the pictures and experiences from the previous ones. Continue reading for GPS trail and mapped photos
Last month @ SANIsoft blog November 1, 2010
- [HowTo] Backup and Restore MySql Databases
Do you have a backup of your important mysql databases ? No ? Think about it .. What if you have a Operating System / Filesystem crash ? What if your databases get corrupted due to some reason ? What if you accidentally drop your database or some important tables ? What if you want […]
- [CakePHP] Sending JSON data in response to a controller action
In my last post we saw a very simple trick to set javascript variables from controller action so that they are available in the javascript files. On the same lines a very common requirement is sending JSON data as output of the controller action. This is mainly required for those actions which are called by […]
- Introduction to jqGrid jQuery plugin
‘Data’ is an important term and a backbone for any dynamic web applicaiton. And for that reason, there are no two ways to say that data representation has been a crucial factor in web application development. As we know that there are enormous methods to represent data in any system but what matters is efficiency, […]
- Lambda functions and Closures in PHP 5.3
PHP 5.3 has introduced a whole new range of cool features like Namespaces, late static binding, new error levels, to name a few. But the functionality that I found most handy for day to day programming is the Lambda functions and Closures that found their way in PHP through version 5.3 Lambda functions Lambda functions […]
- [How To] Use of image magick instead of GD for run-time image re-sizing
In my last post, we looked at a way to re-size images at run time. That method used PHP’s built-in GD library for image processing. So it may happen that image processing may increase load on HTTP server. That’s why in this post I am going to tell the way to use ImageMagick for image […]
Last month @ SANIsoft blog October 1, 2010
- [Getting Started] Functional tests using Selenium Remote Control (RC)
If you don’t like testing your application, most likely your users won’t like to test it either. If you have read my last post on Selenium IDE or have used Selenium IDE before read on, we are moving into the next level, if you have not I really recommend reading this post or update yourself […]
- [CakePHP] Passing data from controller to javascript files
These days javascript is becoming the indispensable tool for a web developer. Each and every web application uses javascript for one or the other purpose. While working with CakePHP based projects, we need to pass variables from PHP (controller) to javascript a lot of times. To pass a variable from controller to view, Controller::set() method […]
- [HowTo] Retrieve your Gmail emails using simple IMAP protocol
While developing applications in PHP, I might have used the simple mail() number of times to create an interface to send emails across the web. On a normal working day, I just woke up in the morning and thought, “Is there any chance for me to retrieve emails from any mail service provider like Gmail??” […]
- [iPhone] Core Data, Tabbar and Navigation Controller
Core Data is a very powerful framework for persistent data management for iPhone developers. It allows you to define you data model by abstracting your model object. I am not going to talk about what Core Data is about and how to use it normally. A lot has been already written about it. Feel free […]
200,006 Published Words!!!
Yesterday I installed WP Word Count plugin and was surprised at the results
Wow! Have I really written so much, and most of it non consequential? Doing some rough maths, one printed novel page has about 250 words which makes the count to 800 pages…. Now only if they were worth something 😉
The Serengeti trail!
There is a place on Earth where there is still morning of life and the great herds run free – Serengeti plains of East Africa.
This is long over due post but after writing the above quote a couple of months ago it was just lying in the draft…. No particular reason, just as there is no particular reason why I completed it today 🙂 Continue reading for GPS Trails and Geotagged photos