Larry Ullman's Book Forums - Newsletter, Blog, and Other Topics

Re: Tabular Input

Larry — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 10:58:05 -0400

Thanks for the nice words and thanks for posting in the right forum. From what you describe, it sounds like you need to create a form that displays multiple Models. There's an example or two of this in the Yii documentation, I believe.

Re: Dynamic textbox creation

Larry — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 10:56:41 -0400

Okay, if you want to do this dynamically, you'll need to use JavaScript in the View to do it. You'll also need to adjust the Controller and the Model to allow for an array of text boxes. In short, this is not going to be easy.

You would use modules in Yii if you have separate components to a Web site. Like I might use a module for the forums area.

Tabular Input

amira.g — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 03:49:33 -0400

Thank you Larry for all the information and tutorials on Yii. Very precise and useful for us newbies. I have spent days trying to make the current references on Yii "tabular input" to work for my system but to no avail. I want to create a simple Order-Items form which allows a user to input many Items per Order in one go. How do I go about doing this?

Re: Dynamic textbox creation

sai rama — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 23:53:29 -0500

Sorry for it sir. I want to implement the above task in yii. Its getting difficult for me to do it as i am learning it now.
Basically please give me idea of where to implement that in yii.
Is it in the controller or in the model class.
Also tell me the need of Modules in yii.
Please help me sir

Re: Dynamic textbox creation

Larry — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 21:56:54 -0500

First of all, I moved your post to the correct forum. You've posted a couple times now, and never in the right place. As for this particular question, you don't seem to be using Yii here at all.

Dynamic textbox creation

sai rama — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 02:13:35 -0500

HI ,
I am trying to create text boxes dynamically , add the content of those textboxes and finally edit the column of the table.


    
        
    
    
        
            Init textBox :

now am not able to edit the total sum into the electricity_bill column through yii.
Please help me do this in yii php sir

Re: JQuery and Frameworks on a Shared Hosting Website

clkdg — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 19:22:32 -0500

OK, thanks, I'll follow up. Don

Re: JQuery and Frameworks on a Shared Hosting Website

Larry — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 08:55:18 -0500

I've only read a couple of JavaScript books, and neither is great for learning as a beginner. I hear that "The Missing Manual" JavaScript book is good, though.

Re: JQuery and Frameworks on a Shared Hosting Website

clkdg — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 22:38:53 -0500

Quote
Larry
As for other books, "jQuery in Action" is pretty good. Keep in mind that what you're talking about is a good couple of steps past basic HTML. jQuery is a framework for doing JavaScript stuff. You still need a basic understanding of JavaScript to use it.

I have the jQuery in Action on loan from my son, so what JavaScripts books would you suggest to begin with ?
Thanks and I'm keeping up with your newsletters..

Re: JQuery and Frameworks on a Shared Hosting Website

Larry — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 21:50:01 -0500

Yes, I have not written a book on JavaScript...yet. I'm planning on self-publishing one and will start working on it in a couple of weeks. I'll be posting updates about it in my newsletter. I have written a series on jQuery on my site, which might be helpful to you.

As for other books, "jQuery in Action" is pretty good. Keep in mind that what you're talking about is a good couple of steps past basic HTML. jQuery is a framework for doing JavaScript stuff. You still need a basic understanding of JavaScript to use it.

Re: JQuery and Frameworks on a Shared Hosting Website

clkdg — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 18:07:47 -0500

Quote
Larry
think of jQuery as pretty easy to use, however it requires understanding of JavaScript and DOM. If you don't have those down, it's going to be a challenge for you.

In another of my posts, you said you had not written a book on JavaScript. So do you a book recommendation of one that would cover what you would need to know for JQuey given you only had a basic knowledge of htlm ? Thanks and hope I used the forum quotes correctly.

Re: JQuery and Frameworks on a Shared Hosting Website

Larry — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 12:55:30 -0500

Quote
clkdg
I'm using a hosting service in a shared environment. they are telling me I can only use a framework like PEAR or Yii that can be uploaded to my cgi-bin folder and it can't be compiled or installed that would alter the environment. Not sure what that means?

I'd be inclined to actually ask them what this means but I don't think it's the problem that you might think it is.

Quote
clkdg
1). How can I tell what frameworks are available to me that I can use as I don't understand what to look for?

I don't think this greatly limits what framework you use. What you would look for is that you need to avoid anything that needs to be installed/built-into the server. Any framework that just requires uploading files is fine.

Quote
clkdg
2). Hosting service tells me that AJAX is not an option but I can use JQuery. Can JQuery communicate with PHP without using AJAX ? Without a lot of extra, difficult programming? I'm looking for something on the html side I can use to edit sine of the FORM data before it is submitted to the PHP script.

I have no idea what that means about Ajax not being an option. jQuery cannot communicate with PHP without using Ajax. jQuery is client-side JavaScript. I would be stunned if you couldn't use jQuery to perform Ajax requests on your server.

I think of jQuery as pretty easy to use, however it requires understanding of JavaScript and DOM. If you don't have those down, it's going to be a challenge for you.

Re: Change Hire Date to use jQuery DatePicker

Larry — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 12:51:33 -0500

Given the information provided, my best guess is that Magic Gnomes are causing the problem.

Re: Display department name instead of department id

Larry — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 12:50:53 -0500

You'll need to define the relation between employee and department, then refer to $model->department->name, replacing "department" with whatever name you've given that relation. I believe this exact idea is discussed in my series on Yii.

JQuery and Frameworks on a Shared Hosting Website

clkdg — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 11:07:50 -0500

I'm using a hosting service in a shared environment. they are telling me I can only use a framework like PEAR or Yii that can be uploaded to my cgi-bin folder and it can't be compiled or installed that would alter the environment. Not sure what that means?

They are saying if I can upload it and then just include it in my php script I can use it, I think that is what they are telling me.

Two Questions:

1). How can I tell what frameworks are available to me that I can use as I don't understand what to look for?

2). Hosting service tells me that AJAX is not an option but I can use JQuery. Can JQuery communicate with PHP without using AJAX ? Without a lot of extra, difficult programming? I'm looking for something on the html side I can use to edit sine of the FORM data before it is submitted to the PHP script.

Thanks

Re: Change Hire Date to use jQuery DatePicker

markthien — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 10:36:53 -0500

oh got a problem here. After inserting the code, there is 1 more unknown textbox appear on the page. Any clue ?

Re: Change Hire Date to use jQuery DatePicker

markthien — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 10:16:13 -0500

I know. Just put the following code in /htdocs/protected/views/employee/create.php at

http://localhost:8888/logonapp/index.php/employee/create

widget('zii.widgets.jui.CJuiDatePicker', array(
    'name'=>'Employee_hireDate',
    'name'=>'Employee_leaveDate',
    // additional javascript options for the date picker plugin
    'options'=>array(
    	'dateFormat'=>'yy-mm-dd',
        'showAnim'=>'fold',
    ),
    'htmlOptions'=>array(
        'style'=>'height:20px;'
    ),
));
?>

Change Hire Date to use jQuery DatePicker

markthien — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 07:22:47 -0500

Hi guys,

I need to change the hire date to use jQuery datepicker in

[localhost]

Can anyone please kindly show me how to archive this? Thanks in advance!

regards,
Mark Thien

Display department name instead of department id

markthien — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 07:20:03 -0500

Hi Guys,

I am new to Yii. I have just downloaded and it's really cool. I go to

[localhost]

and wanted to change department to display name instead of id. Can anyone tell me how to change this please? thanks in advance!

regards,
Mark Thien

Re: Seeking advice on client side languages

Larry — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 11:40:39 -0500

One of the nice features of Yii is that it's easy to integrate third-party stuff like PEAR or Zend Framework modules. I would use Yii's form tools, but, for example, I commonly use Zend's HTML Email package within Yii sites.

Re: Seeking advice on client side languages

clkdg — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 10:35:54 -0500

Thanks, I'll go back and read all your info on JQuery and look for other sources to learn what I need to know.

Follow up question , If I use the Yii framework can you still pick and choose what you want to use like the PEAR modules ,as I think that would be what I woudl want to do.

Use something like PEAR QuickForm, and a enhanced email funtions, etc not to develop an entire website using a framework. But if Yii had that plus other things I may want in the futrue, then I want to spend the time learnign Yii on the front end. I'll go back and see your posts on Yii to look for sources to lean from.

Appreciate the feedback.

Re: Seeking advice on client side languages

Larry — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 10:00:02 -0500

Quote
clkdg
Larry, I hope this is the correct forum to ask this question. I've looked at most of the post trying to figure out the one or two technologies on the browser side I need to learn in conjunction to PHP on the servers side.

This is fine.

Quote
clkdg
Given - hobby only, no plans for a commercial site. I'm using a host provider (one of the top 10) that uses CSS templates and I chose that so I could not have to build the all the html. I choose PHP over ROR because it appeared I could find more examples and code snippets to try. I then went looking to beginner php books and selected yours which has been really good for me, i like the format of your books and forum support.

Thanks for the nice words. I'm a big fan of RoR, too, by the way, but keep in mind that RoR is a framework that uses Ruby. You still need to know Ruby in order to really use it.

Quote
clkdg
I'm an old assembler programmer so even though I understand oop, procedural is more natural to me. Eventually I want to get into a PHP framework to pick and choose some features to use when I have some more time, and it appears Yii or PEAR would be the ones to choose from. Interested in better (little fancier) email or newsletters to distribute

PEAR isn't a complete framework, really. It's a bunch of pieces used for specific purposes. You could, in theory, use multiple pieces of PEAR to create a site, but it's not as cohesive as a true framework like Yii.

Quote
clkdg
My Host provider is of little help and you are on your own and they do have a few PECL frameworks so I would have to load anything in my own area to use. They may have some PEAR but not the QuickForm.

Yeah, programming support is not normal with any hosting company.

Quote
clkdg
I don't think I will load a local server and al that as I know nothing about all and want to spent my time learning php.

Understandable, but it takes practically no effort to install and use something like MAMP or XAMPP on your own computer.

Quote
clkdg
With this (TMI) background and looking at all the posts about AJAX, JQuery, JavaScripts FLEX, etc, my basic question is what would be a good choice to learn to do the things I want to do on the browser side, like editing form data, I will be depending on your beginner books to start with. I don’t think you have a JQuery book yet, but if that is the recommendation I would go with that. Hope I haven't rambled too much. But would certainly like our opinion. As I don't mind spending some time to work through it to learn but I don't want to learn a new technology and find it won't do the things I need to do. At my age I don't buy green bananas. .

I find that jQuery is the easiest, most reliable solution for many client-side things. I'm a big fan of Flex, but Flex/Flash is really better for larger, more complicated tasks, whereas JavaScript can easily be used for simple tasks. No, I haven't written a jQuery book. I've done a series of posts on it on my blog, though. I'm also hoping to self-publish a JavaScript book in 2011, but that might be a green banana to you now!

Seeking advice on client side languages

clkdg — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 20:46:00 -0500

Larry, I hope this is the correct forum to ask this question. I've looked at most of the post trying to figure out the one or two technologies on the browser side I need to learn in conjunction to PHP on the servers side.

Given - hobby only, no plans for a commercial site. I'm using a host provider (one of the top 10) that uses CSS templates and I chose that so I could not have to build the all the html. I choose PHP over ROR because it appeared I could find more examples and code snippets to try. I then went looking to beginner php books and selected yours which has been really good for me, i like the format of your books and forum support.

I'm an old assembler programmer so even though I understand oop, procedural is more natural to me. Eventually I want to get into a PHP framework to pick and choose some features to use when I have some more time, and it appears Yii or PEAR would be the ones to choose from. Interested in better (little fancier) email or newsletters to distribute

My Host provider is of little help and you are on your own and they do have a few PECL frameworks so I would have to load anything in my own area to use. They may have some PEAR but not the QuickForm.

I don't think I will load a local server and al that as I know nothing about all and want to spent my time learning php. I know ORACLE database SQL so the MySQL isn't too big of a deal to understand.

My provider has Blog, FORUM widgets but doubt I will use them, I am using guestbook widget and CGI FormTool which I am exporting and importing to the database until I write my own form and php script.

I'm still learning php but have written several scripts to correct the form data as I have limited control using their form builder, have the mail function working and your Paginating Query page with changing row colors, really neat.

I have to have a project to learn new technologies and this project for our old high school is it. I want to continue learning and building some neat things like a memorial page with thumbnails and senior pictures, pushing out email on demand. HTML email (how and what to use, don't know) allow classmates to upload pictures, maybe video clips from our big all class reunion next year. Possibly a forum for classmates to post to.

Collecting contact information now and next tasks is to replace the provided form page with my own FORM and php code to insert and allow users to log in and keep current. Your books have provided me enough to get that part done.

With this (TMI) background and looking at all the posts about AJAX, JQuery, JavaScripts FLEX, etc, my basic question is what would be a good choice to learn to do the things I want to do on the browser side, like editing form data, I will be depending on your beginner books to start with. I don’t think you have a JQuery book yet, but if that is the recommendation I would go with that. Hope I haven't rambled too much. But would certainly like our opinion. As I don't mind spending some time to work through it to learn but I don't want to learn a new technology and find it won't do the things I need to do. At my age I don't buy green bananas. .

Re: New site is great

Larry — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 10:41:25 -0500

Thanks for the feedback. I'm glad you like it and appreciate you saying so. As for Newsletter Pro, I wouldn't recommend using it. In fact, I'm going to stop using it myself. There are a couple of things that it doesn't do well and the documentation is non-existent, as is the support. In any case, to create the archives, I just posted every newsletter tagged under 'newsletter' and the archives page is just /tag/newsletter/. I'm not sure if Newsletter Pro does something itself, although it doesn't seem to be the case.

New site is great

fmcunningham — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 08:45:52 -0500

Larry, really like your new site. I have a question about the plug in your using for Newsletters. Newsletter Pro, did you write some code for the Archives? Or does this plug in handle Archives?

Thank you

Mike

Re: Yii calendar datepicker dateformat

Larry — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 17:00:21 -0500

Glad you've got it working and thanks for sharing your solution.

Re: Yii has IRC channel now!

Larry — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 16:59:33 -0500

Yes, I had seen that, but thanks for sharing.

Re: Yii calendar datepicker dateformat

research4oscar — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 15:36:37 -0500

Figured it out! I used the zii extension found at [www.yiiframework.com] since it does a call to Zii and does not require me to download anything. I copied the code they had in the example and replaced:
'name'=>'publishDate',

with the following:
'model'=>$model,
'attribute'=>'publishDate',

I then added the following code in the bottom of my model:
protected function beforeSave()
{
$this->publishDate=date('Y-m-d', strtotime($this->publishDate));
return TRUE;
}
protected function afterFind()
{
$this->publishDate=date('m-d-Y', strtotime($this->publishDate));
return TRUE;
}
Now my date field is retrieved using USA date format (mm/dd/yyyy) and I can update the time correctly to my field in the mysql table.

Yii has IRC channel now!

research4oscar — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 14:22:34 -0500

Larry, not sure if you know but you can now chat live with others using the new Yii IRC Channel and you can even use a web browser if you don't have a client. You can get to directly from their home page following the link under the community menu.

Yii calendar datepicker dateformat

research4oscar — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 14:18:40 -0500

Larry, do you have any examples where you successfully display/update a date field using any of the calendar extensions. Specifically I am trying to retrieve and display a date field in US standard date format (mm-dd-yyyy) and save it back to the database in mysql date format (yyyy-mm-dd). I've tried a few of the calendar extensions with no luck including jquery ui.

I am using yii-1.1.4 on a mac pro using MAMP installation.
# Apache 2.0.63
# MySQL 5.1.44
# PHP 5.2.13 & 5.3.2