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Server Side

PHP - Validate Your Input

The previous blog post about MySQL and PostgreSQL ignited a discussion about validation of input in a database-driven web application. In this entry, [I'll] attempt to explain what validation is and why it is important.

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Server Side

Sarge on Security in CFMX 7

Sarge's presentation on Security Changes in ColdFusion MX 7 was recorded in Breeze and is available.

Sheldon Sargent of Macromedia Server Support, better known as Sarge, is co-author of Hack Proofing ColdFusion, available on Amazon and Advanced ColdFusion MX 7 Application Development.

This event was sponsored by the AZCFUG in cooperation with the Online ColdFusion Meetup Group

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Server Side

A Quick and Dirty Introduction to OOP with PHP

Most PHP programs are written in the traditional style (old school) of programming. You create functions to manipulate different pieces of data, and you call those functions during the "main" execution phase of your program.

PHP also offers object-oriented programming (OOP), which is now the preferred method of creating large programs. Java and C++ are object-oriented programming languages. OOP takes data and treats it like a "think."

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HTML

XML as intermediate application layer

In this article [I] want to share my thoughts on techniques for keeping our code XML-based - so there's no need to get your hands dirty in your application code to change the markup that is rendered afterwards. Most things will be PHP related though.

Once we get the seperation working properly, we can completely detach the development of front end from the application logic by first agreeing on an XML scheme to exchange data between those two.

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CSS

What's in a name (part 2 - CSS naming conventions)

A great followup of part 1. A must read for any CSS coder. Covers good naming conventions and proposed CSS stacking order for various/common sites built today.

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CSS

CSS Organization Tip 1: Flags

Do you write and manage large CSS files? Ever get tired of scrolling up and down in search of a specific rule or set of rules? The CSS files I work with for client projects are often quite long, requiring constant scrolling up and down several screen’s worth of text to alter rules or add new ones. While working on a current project, I just made a tiny little addition that makes finding what I want almost immediate.

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CSS

CSS Framework

In [my] Modular CSS article [I] documented the possibility of breaking down stylesheets into components that could be reused across projects. All well and good. The next logical step is to extend this to become a CSS framework, allowing rapid development of sites with pre-written and tested components. All that's really required to produce this is a set of naming conventions and a flexible base template...

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JavaScript

JavaScript Arrays

Arrays in JavaScript are extremely useful for storing and manipulating information you have coded directly into the script, or information collected from the browser. In this article, Dan Wellman details how to use and manipulate them.

The array is one of a number of objects built directly into JavaScript. Think of them simply as variables containing multiple values. They can hold string or numerical values, have no maximum boundaries (although the speed at which your scripts are interpreted will decrease as the amount of data increases) and are comma delimited. They have no persistence, meaning that their values are not held once the page containing the script has closed or reloaded.

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Server Side

Object Interaction in PHP: Introduction to Aggregation, part 1

Aggregation in PHP allows one object to use another object. It's a very powerful concept. This article, the first in the series, serves as an introduction to some of the things you can do with aggregation.

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General

How to never lose any work ever again

We've all done it: Lost work. And as much as we'd like to blame the freak power cut at 1am, the "stupid application" for "crashing again" or the "heap of junk" that is our computer, the blame really rests with us: Quite possibly with our choice of software applications or hardware but, more than likely, with our work habits. Do you save religiously every five minutes? Do you use source control? Do you take off-site backups?

[I'm] sure that many of us would like to answer "yes" to all of the above questions but, unfortunately, many times it's the like-tos and wish-I-hads that are at the root of our problems with losing work.

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