Firehed’s Blog

Since I’m now going crazy with the use of XML all over the place, I figured it’s better to work with XSLT rather than bizarre loops within PHP - because of both portability and manageability (I don’t expect to change platforms but having a relatively simple way to do so is a plus, and storing everything in an external file should also simplify things).

So another simple function here, as I’ve found XSLT to be rather convoluted in PHP5 and would quite like to simplify its use.  As usual, my tabbing will probably go straight to hell.

function apply_xslt($simplexml, $path_to_xslt) {
    $xslt_file = new DOMDocument;
    $xslt_file->load($path_to_xslt);

    $xml = new DOMDocument;
    $xml->loadXML($simplexml->asXML());

    $transform = new XSLTProcessor();
    $transform->importStyleSheet($xslt_file);

    return $transform->transformToXML($xml);
}

Now all you have to do is pass the function a SimpleXML object (see my post on XMLifying DB results) and get on with your life.

$db_results = new SQL_as_XML;

echo apply_xslt($db_results->get_list_of_content_by_author_permalink('eric-stern','1'), 'some_stylesheet.xslt');

And just for reference on the SQL_as_XML class:

class SQL_as_XML {

	function get_content_by_permalink($content_permalink, $page = 0) {
		$content_permalink = clean($content_permalink);//sanitize input

		if (!is_numeric($page)) {
			$page = 1; //$page also sanitized		}

		$query = "SELECT content.publish_date,
			content.last_edit_date,
			content.title,
			content.number_of_pages,
			content.permalink AS content_permalink,
			authors.display_name,
			authors.permalink AS author_permalink,
			content_pages.body
			FROM content
			JOIN authors ON content.author_id = authors.id
			JOIN content_pages ON content_pages.content_id = content.id
			WHERE content.permalink = '$content_permalink'
			AND content_pages.page_number = $page";

		return mysql_to_xml(mysql_query($query), 'response', 'content');
	}

//other functions structured similarly

}

So there you go.

“XML is like violence - if it’s not working, you’re not using enough” - stupid internet meme

But it’s sort of true.  PHP5’s SimpleXML extension makes it a whole lot easier to deal with, both for creating the stuff and for freaks like me that don’t want to dabble with XSLT.  In any case, I wanted a simple way to throw XML around, both so I can create an API fairly easily in the future and not have to screw around with DB query result objects.  I didn’t find any great approaches pre-built, so I went ahead and made my own. So here:

function mysql_to_xml($mysql_result, $root_node_name, $child_node_name) {
 	$xml = new SimpleXMLElement('< ?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>< ' . $root_node_name . '>');

	while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($mysql_result)) {
 		$newrow = $xml->addChild($child_node_name);
 		foreach ($row as $key => $value ) {
 			$newrow->addChild($key, $value);
 		}
 	}

	return $xml;
 }

Updated… Wordpress really made a mess of the first one, and I did an even worse job fixing it.

function mysql_to_xml($mysql_result, $root_node_name = 'result', $child_node_name = 'row') {
	$xml = new SimpleXMLElement('<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><' . $root_node_name . '></' . $root_node_name . '>');

	while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($mysql_result)) {
		$newrow = $xml->addChild($child_node_name);
		foreach ($row as $key => $value ) {
			$newrow->addChild($key, $value);
		}
	}
	return $xml;
}

In my SQL functions, I’m able to return an XML object quite easily:

return mysql_to_xml(mysql_query($query), 'response', 'content');

And to get it in the first place:

$sql = new SQL_as_XML;

 $xml = $sql->get_content_by_permalink($permalink, $page);

(the SQL_as_XML class is a series of functions that build and run a query, then return the XML using the previous snippet)

Finally, if you want to output the raw XML (after perhaps finagling it into an RSS feed):

echo $xml->asXML();

Questions? Ask. Improvements? Tell. And yes, I already know that I really should set default values for $root_node_name and $child_node_name in the original function. I’ll get there.

And yes, you’ll have to excuse the blog making a mess of the formatting. :(

Yes, it’s been forever.  It’s inexcusable.  Well, not entirely - I figure it’s best not to waste everyone’s mental bandwidth with filler material, and I really haven’t had a whole lot to say, nor time to say it.  Work is just the day thing, and I avoid letting it spill into my time beyond that.  The freelance gigs, on the other hand, tend to suck up a lot of spare time.  I’m killing myself with scope creep (which is my own fault, not the client’s); more importantly, I’m very quickly coming up to speed on object-oriented programming in PHP (something I should have done a long time ago) and that makes my existing code very unhappy.

So, that’s that.  I’ll post up little tips, tricks, and code snippets from time to time, so that you can benefit from my code-fu.  Or whatever it may be - I do more than write code.  Photography mostly, but also reading up on more freelance ideas. The 4-hour Workweek has had my attention as of late (though in audiobook form if you’re like me), and at least has some good concepts if nothing else.

Basically, from here on out, expect much more sporadic updates, and hopefully ones that are more meaningful.  I’ve got another thing I’m working on where a lot of the code I’ll open-source (if not the entire thing), so find some snippets.  I’ve been hesitantly taking the “XML is like violence - if it’s not working, then you’re not using enough” approach; thankfully, it’s actually working quite well so far.  Then photography tips, ideas, and shots.  All that good stuff.  I’ll figure it out when I get there.

Seriously! I work at a web development company and somehow I still have Word as my default editor for HTML content. Go figure. You think that abomination that is Visual Studio 2005 would have tried to have that honor. What a way to start the day.

And, of course, this awful rainy sleet-ish weather. Ick.

Nothing more to say.  I’m at a best buy right now playing around with one.  Not the right thing for me (at that price anyways) but it’s a lot more impressive in person - big surprise.  A bit faster than I expected for a 4200RPM drive but I wasn’t exactly hitting it with my normal slew of apps.

But not on purpose. I’ve had several coding projects going on, as well as mentoring for the local FIRST robotics team. A combination of spinning gadgets, CSS voodoo, PayPal’s awfully-documented IPN system, and a bunch of PHP and MySQL that I’ve never really used before kinda threw me a curveball (and of course sobbing for days after Apple’s complete failure to launch the new 12″ Powerbook, which now has me browsing Craigslist). SQL JOINs still don’t sit quite right with me, and believe it or not this is really my first time using cookies in my own code. In any case, I’ve been keeping busy. But I really do intend to review some gadgets and perhaps some software, ramble out something insightful, and maybe post up some code snippets.

So, more soon. One project is nearly done, another is in-work only, and the space heater snagged from Woot is thawing me out from this damned winter (Al Gore continues spreading lies. Lies, I tell you, lies!).

I decided it was time to pick up a "Bamboo Fun" small Wacom tablet, you know - to unleash my inner creative beast, or something like that. The black one was out of stock at the time, but I didn’t care for the look of the white one (any white peripherals tend to get stained) so went ahead and backordered the thing anyways. “We’ll notify you via e-mail when we have an estimated delivery date for this item.”

Later that day:
We now have delivery date(s) for the order you placed on December 28 2007 13:19 PST
(Order# ***-*******-*******):

“Bamboo Fun (Small) Black Tablet with Pen, Mouse & Graphics
Software” [Electronics]
Estimated arrival date: 01/03/2008
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In my quest to achieve local harmony between the computers in my home network, I try to centralize everything using a fileserver (come Macworld 08, I’ll likely be changing things up - how depends on what shows up then; regardless, a post for another day). Generally speaking, the idea of having a machine sitting somewhere that I can connect to at will and grab whatever I need works fairly well. It avoids tons of file duplication, is reasonably fast (wired computers see speeds near that of a local drive thanks to gigabit ethernet; 802.11n wireless is generally at least fast enough to stream 1080p h.264 video), and with a bit of router voodoo, I can grab any file I need from any computer with an internet connection.
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Just performed some back-end surgery to the site. If all went well you shouldn’t notice anything, but Wordpress keeps prompting me to update my database (and best of all, it completely failed to fix the main issue I made changes for!) so if something looks completely wrong, try refreshing the page or something.

Damn computers.

Apparently it’s been over a month since I last updated… pretty sad from someone who was trying to put up something new once a day. It mostly came down to hitting that point in the new job where you know enough about what you’re doing that they start throwing real work at you, but not so much that you can really keep up with it all (translation: enough to read blogs, but not write). That, plus the holiday season. I hate holidays. All sorts of prep work and rampant spending for a day of semi-enjoyment and forced laughter when you’re dealing with the extended family. Whatever - after new years, it’s done.

Anyways, it seems that I was doing all right, as I’m already being shuffled towards the front of the building for a $ales-ish position from support. It feels quite wrong so far… mostly because the cubes are arranged in a mirror of how they are towards the back, so I feel out of rotation. But another month or so of training and I’ll be back to doing real work, by the sounds of things (so expect me to be posting again in the next month or so). I promise I’ll try harder.

As an apology, here’s a pic of Vader with some pancakes on his head.

And thank you WordPress for having an auto-save feature. Some day I’ll figure out how to use Windows again, and not close out the wrong application.