1. In the Terminal type sudo nano /etc/php.ini (Terminal will ask you for your password)
2. Change: mysql.default_socket = to: mysql.default_socket = /tmp/mysql.sock
3. Press Ctrl-O, then Enter to save
4. Type sudo apachectl graceful

Note that you may need to duplicate the original install php.ini.default file, just simply copy the contents of the file and create a php.ini. (cp php.ini.default php.ini)

I discovered this simple library about 4 days ago and have been reviewing it. I came to a conclusion to use it after about 3 hours of playing with it! I was able to pull back all the information i needed to complete my new application and add-on to Wordboxes. Below i will cover a few samples of what this class will do.

Character

The first thing i did was try to pul my character information back. This was simple and done quickly with just a few minor calls. Once i got the multi level array back (when i say multi level I am talking about 4 to 5 levels deep) i was able to sift through it by using print_r() and a pre tag.

// First include the phpArmory class
include 'classes/phpArmory.class.php';
$a = new phpArmory();
 
// Character lookup
$character = $a->characterFetch('Name', 'Realm');
 
print_r($character);

Now, I wanted to take this a bit farther and list my characters gear with the image and item level. Below is a foreach loop, looping through the ‘item’ array. You may also notice i am 4 levels deep in the array at this point, i figured that out by just looking at the above code output. As i am looping through the ‘item’ array i will also have to step one level deeper into the ‘attributes’ array so i can see the information on the gear.

foreach($character['characterinfo']['charactertab']['items']['item'] as $item){
	echo '<p><img class="gearicon" src="http://www.wowarmory.com/wow-icons/_images/64x64/'.$item['attributes']['icon'].'.jpg" alt="' . $item['attributes']['name'] . '" />';
	echo $item['attributes']['name'] . ' (ilvl ' . $item['attributes']['level'] . ')</p>';
}

The above will output:

Items

Another great thing about this library is that you are able to pull back just single items based on ID. This is great because after pulling back character info you also get gear ID’s. Then you can use the gear ID’s to get more information on that single item. This also makes it handy for tool tips as you will see on may wow sites.

// Item lookup
$item = $a->itemFetch(41922);
 
print_r($item);

The above will be a large multi level array with that item information.

Other stuff

There are other things you can use this library for such as Guild lookups and PVP team lookups.

Download the phpArmory.class.php and start building a web based wow app! Full documentation and support at http://phparmory.sourceforge.net/.

namespace Foo;
class Bar {
    public function Bar() {
        // treated as constructor in PHP 5.3.0-5.3.2
        // treated as regular method in PHP 5.3.3
    }
}

Update from PHP.net

It’s quite simple to use, below is an example of how to use it.

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class A { 
     public $var; 
}
$a = new A;
$a->var = 5;
var_export($a);

The output from the above code would be…

A::__set_state(array(
   'var' => 5,
))

Note: var_export() does not handle circular references as it would be close to impossible to generate parsable PHP code for that. If you want to do something with the full representation of an array or object, use serialize().

How many times have we heard about security issues in PHP applications stemming from unescaped GET and POST parameters? Proper escaping of input is a perennial problem with web development in general.

On the database side, many worries over SQL injection have been squelched. The clever developers of PDO have constructed a library that analyzes data and escapes it appropriately. The problem of validating and sanitizing input is still a substantial issue on the front-end. Many PHP developers still spend time on development cycles building custom code to filter input or use a framework just for the validation helpers.

PHP (5.2 onward) has a built-in filtering system that makes the tasks of validating and sanitizing data easy. Rather than accessing the $_GET and $_POST superglobals directly, you can make use of PHP functions like filter_input() and filter_input_array().

$theGetVar = filter_input(INPUT_GET, ‘someGetVar’, FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING);
// Same as doing the below and running it through a validator
$theGetVar = $_GET['someGetVar'];

Using post is also as easy, just change “INPUT_GET” to “INPUT_POST”

Are you sick of writing your own regex for validating an email address, url or even an IP?

// Email
$email = filter_input(INPUT_GET, ‘Email’, FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL);
 
// URL
$url = filter_input(INPUT_GET, ‘URL’, FILTER_VALIDATE_URL);
 
// IP
$ip = filter_input(INPUT_GET, ‘URL’, FILTER_VALIDATE_IP);

You can use multiple filters on one input:

$email = filter_input(INPUT_GET, ‘Email’, FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL| FILTER_SANITIZE_EMAIL);

Filters won’t solve every security-related problem, but it’s a great step in the right direction when it comes to writing safe code. Below are the php.net docs:

• Data Filtering
• filter_input

“Ugly” URLs

index.php?c=users&m=home&id=305

If you open your config file you’ll see these items:

$config['enable_query_strings'] = FALSE;
$config['controller_trigger'] = 'c';
$config['function_trigger'] = 'm';

If you change “enable_query_strings” to TRUE this feature will become active. Your controllers and functions will then be accessible using the “trigger” words you’ve set to invoke your controllers and methods:

index.php?c=controller&m=method

Please note: If you are using query strings you will have to build your own URLs, rather than utilizing the URL helpers (and other helpers that generate URLs, like some of the form helpers) as these are designed to work with segment based URLs.

// PHP 5
$dog->breed('Min Pin')->color('Black');

This post was powered by Skooter ($dog->breed(‘Min Pin’)->color(‘Black’);)

So really what’s this all about? Well, one change (of many) between PHP4 and PHP5 is that now methods can return objects. That’s only a small change but allows for a new way of thinking about how you handle objects and their methods.

To be able to chain methods together, you need to be able to return an object. The returned object does not necessarily need be the same one from which the method is being called. Let’s put all of this into action.

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class Dog {
     var $dog_color;
     var $dog_breed;
 
     function breed($val){
          $this->dog_breed = $val;
     }
 
     function color($val){
          $this->dog_color = $val;
     }
 
     function seedog(){
          echo "Breed: " . $this->dog_breed . " Color: " . $this->dog_color;
     }
}

Now, we can create a new Dog and give them a breed and color. Using the seedog method.

// PHP 4 (OLD STYLE)
$dog = new Dog();
$dog->breed('Min Pin');
$dog->color('Black');
$dog->seedog();
// Will echo = Breed: Min Pin Color: Black

Implementing Method Chaining

We will be using the same class from above but adding two lines to it like so:

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class Dog {
     var $dog_color;
     var $dog_breed;
 
     function breed($val){
          $this->dog_breed = $val;
          return $this; // <- Returning the object
     }
 
     function color($val){
          $this->dog_color = $val;
          return $this; // <- Returning the object
     }
 
     function seedog(){
          echo "Breed: " . $this->dog_breed . " Color: " . $this->dog_color;
     }
}

Using the class above we can now use method chaining!

// PHP 5
$dog = new Dog();
$dog->breed('Min Pin')->color('Black')->seedog();
// Will echo = Breed: Min Pin Color: Black

It will give you the same result but your code is much cleaner and easier to read.

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require 'NiceDog.php';
R('')->controller('MyController')->action('index')->on('GET');
class MyController extends C {
    function index(){
        echo $this->render('views/index.php');
    }
}
run();

You can now access the above by using http://local/mycontroller/

You may also add layouts to the mix by using:

$this->layout= "MyLayout.php";

To allow the routes to work, you will need to add the following to your vhosts or .htaccess file.

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
    RewriteEngine On
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
    RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php?url=$1 [QSA,L]
</IfModule>

So if your looking for a mico php framework you may want to checkout Nice Dog.

Arm your vuvuzelas: WordPress 3.0, the thirteenth major release of WordPress and the culmination of half a year of work by 218 contributors, is now available for download (or upgrade within your dashboard). Major new features in this release include a sexy new default theme called Twenty Ten…

This is great news for me as I use Wordpress for many projects and have been waiting on this for some time now. I have downloaded a copy and have already played with it.

Visit the Wordpress site for more information
Download the new Wordpress 3.0!

If you’re a new developer looking to get into Wordpress development i recommend Professional WordPress (Wrox Programmer to Programmer)
for getting started.