FishSword

Do you need to use OpenOffice? Can this be done achieved through the development of just a php extension? Having the generated file previews coded completely as an extension will provide more control over the outcome.

Hiya, What’s the best way of generating a unique key, that can’t be guessed easily? I would like to create a unique key for both account activation and referral purposes, that includes a check-sum to help prevent users from easily guessing other users activation or referral keys. Any help is greatly appreciated. Many Thanks, FishSword

Hi Gizmola, Thanks for your reply. I would prefer to use Apache server to host the site, on a Linux machine. I've heard that it is possible to develop extensions for PHP. How easy would it be to build such an extension that would generate preview images of files, and can this be done? Many Thanks, FishSword

Hi Gizmola, Thanks for your reply. When you say program, would this need to be a program that is installed within the operating system? Would it not be possible to achieve this using PHP, or through the development of a library file, that could be plugged into to PHP? My aim is to take screenshots of the files, and save these screenshots in image format. Thanks for your help so far, its a very interesting topic. Many Thanks, FishSword

No Problem! Cool.

Hi Fugix, Thanks for your reply. I think you may have got confused when I said that I need to display the contents of a file in image format. I don't want to display the code/text that makes up the file as an image, but instead show the actual content that the code represents, as an image. For example, if somebody uploaded a Microsoft Word file containing a letter addressed to somebody, then the preview that should be generated, would be of the letter. I have attached a screenshot showing the preview generated for a file when a file has been selected in Windows Explorer. I am after a preview of a file, similar to this. I appreciate your help Many Thanks, FishSword [attachment deleted by admin]

Hiya, I’m currently working on a website that will enable users to upload certain types of files. Upon the file(s) being uploaded, I need to generate a preview of the file(s) content, in image format. Some of the files I need to upload and generate a preview of include, but are not limited to: .doc(x), .jpg, .ppt(x), .xls(x), .html, .psd. Can this be done with PHP? Any help is greatly appreciated. If you have any queries, please let me know. Many Thanks, FishSword

So are flags not good? - How come? I've looked at the database of forum software such as phpbb, mybb, and smf, and each stored flags such as pm_read = 0.

The problems is, how do I then know whether a book has been entered into the competition?

Hi Fenway, thanks for your reply. What do you mean don't store flags in the db?

Hiya, I have a table that contains book purchase information for an online book shop. The database structure can be found below: Purchase_ID: Used as a unique identifier for the purchase Book_ID: Used to store the book that was purchased Customer_ID: Used to store the book purchaser Purchase_Date: Used to store the purchase date. Book_Selected: Define whether or not book is entered into competition. Upon clicking a link containing a particular "Purchase ID", how do I change the value of the "Book_Selected" field to "1", whilst changing the "Book_Selected" field values to "2" for any other Purchase ID's that have the same "Book ID". Cheers

Apologies of the delay in getting back to this post. With regards to what "Muddy_Funster" said about the issue of having 3 straight tables, would it be possible to explain a better way of doing this, as I'm keen to learn a better technique if it is better and will execute faster. Thanks for all you help on this post so far, its great! Cheers.

Thanks for the reply gristoi. Please find my database table structures below. CREATE TABLE books ( book_id INT(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT, book_title VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL, book_price VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL, book_owner INT(11) NOT NULL, PRIMARY KEY (book_id) ) ENGINE=myisam DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1; CREATE TABLE customers ( customer_id INT(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT, customer_name VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL, PRIMARY KEY (customer_id) ) ENGINE=myisam DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1; CREATE TABLE purchases ( purchase_id INT(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT, book_id INT(11) NOT NULL, customer_id INT(11) NOT NULL, purchase_date DATETIME NOT NULL, PRIMARY KEY (purchase_id) ) ENGINE=myisam DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;

Hiya! I have a database that holds information for an online book shop. Data for the book shop is split into 3 tables, these are the following: Books: Contains book information, e.g. Book Title, Book Price etc. Customers: Contains customer information, e.g. Customer Name Purchases: Contains purchase information, Purchaser Name, Book Purchased etc. How do I create a query that enables information for a certain purchased book to be displayed? A book_id will be passed using $_GET, to display all purchase information for the selected book. Also, if a customer has purchased a book more than once, how do I display only the most recent purchase information for that particular customer, along with details for each customer that has purchased the book only once? This is the query I have so far (Is this the best way to tackle this?): SELECT customer_name, book_title, book_price, purchase_date FROM customers, purchases, books WHERE customers.customer_id = purchases.customer_id AND books.book_id = purchases.book_id Any help is greatly appreciated. If you need more information, please let me know. Cheers!

Hiya, I have a database that holds basic "products", "users", and "sales" information for a shop. I am having a few problems with a MySQL query that will retrieve the following information from the appropriate tables. The Purchasers "Username". The "Name" of the purchased item. The "Price" of the purchased item. The "time" the item was purchased. If any items have been purchased multiple times by a purchaser, I need to only show the latest one. Can this be done? The structure of the tables can be seen below. Table "Products": product_id - Used as a unique identifier. name - The name of the product. price - The price of the product. Table "Users": user_id - Used as a unique identifier. username - The username of the purchaser. Table "Sales": sale_id - Used as a unique identifier. product_id - The unique identifier of the purchased product. user_id - The unique identifier of the purchaser. time - The date and time the sale took place. Can anyone help? Any Help is Much Appreciated! Cheers

Hiya, I have a div contained inside a another div. What's the best way to center the parent div horizontally and vertically, and add images of rounded corners to all 4 corners. Please see attached an image of what I'm trying to create. Cheers [attachment deleted by admin]

Does FPDF, and other PDF classes use GD to add text to the document? I can't figure out how this is done.

Once again, thanks for your help So does HTML and CSS just complicate things? Would it be easier to do it through other means? - If so how and what?

Thanks for your reply. I'm trying to make a script similar to FPDF, but much simpler. All I want to do is create an A4 document, then alter the page(s) using HTML and CSS. Do you know where I would need to start in making such a script? How do I create a new pdf document, and insert HTML and CSS without using a ready made solution? I'm against using a ready-made solution as it will make my original script more bloated. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Hiya! I need to create a simple PDF script that will always create A4 documents. I need the content to be controlled using HTML and CSS. Where do you start in creating such a script? Any help is greatly received.

Thanks for pointing that out. I have updated my previous post to contain a link

Hiya, I'm still hesitant on starting my project, as I am unsure whether or not to code everything using classes or not. Whilst searching the net for inspiration, I came across this script on Code Canyon. Does this script have to be coded in a class, or can the same results be achieved by simply using functions. What would be the main advantage(s) for coding such a script using classes? This is still something I have difficulty getting my head around. I would appreciate any body's thoughts on this topic. Thanks, FishSword

Hiya, What's the best and most secure way of structuring a website? I have looked at various forum packages (.e.g phpBB, myBB, and smf), and they each seem to use a switch statement in the index.php file. When you go to a section of the website, a "GET" variable is passed, and the relevant area of the website is loaded through the switch statement. Is this the best and only way? I would appreciate any body's thoughts on this topic. Thanks, FishSword

Is it possible to make/use a function to paginate results, rather than a class? If so, how?

Hiya! How do I create a pagination function that can be used multiple times, with any MySQL query? Many Thanks,