Changing PHP parameters when you don't have access to php.ini

If you need to change a PHP parameter but you can't change the system-wide php.ini file, you can achieve the same result by editing the appropriate .htaccess file, like this example:

php_flag register_globals off

Here's a link that explains it in details:
How to change PHP parameters when you don't have access to php.ini

Importing large MySQL dump files

If you try to import a very large MySQL dump using phpMyAdmin but it fails due to a timeout, I encourage you to try this nifty PHP tool: BigDump.

Description:
Staggered import of large and very large MySQL Dumps (like phpMyAdmin 2.x dumps) even through the web-servers with hard runtime limit and those in safe mode. The script executes only a small part of the huge dump and restarts itself. The next session starts where the last was stopped.

Validating your site

Why is site code validation important ?

* mostly consistent display for your sites with many browsers (which display the one and same - unvalid - page very differently) and making your site more readable for different user agents
* helping exposing and repairing barriers to accessibility
* encouraging compliance with existing accessibility guidelines
* making websites accessible to all individuals, including those with disabilities
* demonstrating professional coding skills

For HTML / XHTML / WML / XML / RSS / ATOM / Google Sitemap: http://www.validome.org/
Validome allows Web Publishers to check their syntax with a reliable, high-speed validation service, in accordance to current official Standards. Valid code is very helpful, in order to avoid problems with different browsers and releases. A simple visual check of your site does not conform any more to modern webdesign and generally accepted technical requirements.

For CSS:
http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/
W3C CSS Validation Service; a free service that checks Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) in (X)HTML documents or standalone for conformance to W3C recommendations.

Accessibility:
http://webxact.watchfire.com/
WebXACT is a free online service that lets you test single pages of web content for quality, accessibility, and privacy issues.

Doing More With phpMyAdmin

In the article Doing More With phpMyAdmin (Part 1), by Harish Kamath, readers receive easy-to-follow instructions for installing phpMyAdmin on their environment.

Installing Apache, PHP and Perl in one shot: XAMPP

xampp is an easy to install Apache distribution containing MySQL, PHP and Perl. XAMPP is really very easy to install and to use - just download, extract and start. At the moment there are 3 XAMPP installers - one for GNU-Linux, one for Windows, and another for Solaris.

Visual database design with DBDesigner

DBDesigner is a visual database design system that integrates database design, modeling, creation and maintenance into a single, seamless environment.
DBDesigner 4 compares to products like Oracle's Designer, IBM's Rational Rose, Computer Associates's ERwin and theKompany's DataArchitect, but is an open source project available for Microsoft Windows© 2k/XP and Linux KDE/Gnome. It is released under the GPL.

UML 2 modeling tool: Gaphor

Gaphor is an easy to use modeling environment. This means that you are able to create nice UML diagrams for documentation and to assist you with design decisions. Gaphor will help you create your applications.
* Gaphor has a UML 2.0 compliant data model. This guarantees future compatibility with other modeling tools.
* The data model is developed in Gaphor itself!
* SVG diagram exports.
* The following diagram types are supported:
o Class diagrams
o Use case diagrams
o Action diagrams
o Component diagrams
* Support for stereotypes on classes, interfaces and packages.
* Cross platform: Gaphor works on both Unix and Windows.
* Plugin infrastructure makes Gaphor easy to extend.

Tool for creating sequence diagrams: SEQUENCE

SEQUENCE is a Java tool for creating UML sequence diagrams out of a text input, and you can export the diagram as a PNG image. Unfortunately, there´s no support for XMI at the moment.

Below is an example of the text used to describe a sequence diagram:


// Method arguments are placed after the method name, surrounded by ( and ). You
// can place anything you want inside the ( and ) but if you want to include a ) you'll
// have to escape it with a objectOne.methodOne {
objectTwo.methodTwo(foo, bar) -> value {
objectThree.methodThree(value) -> anotherValue;
objectFour.methodFour();
}
}


Introductory article on UML: Practical UML™ - A Hands-On Introduction for Developers

Practical UML™: A Hands-On Introduction for Developers - by Randy Miller provides a quick but clear introduction to the Unified Modeling Language. Here you can grasp the basic concepts behind the 9 kinds of modeling diagrams (use case, class, object, sequence, collaboration, statechart, activity, component and deployment diagrams).

Unit testing for JavaScript: JsUnit

JsUnit is a Unit Testing framework for client-side (in-browser) JavaScript. It is essentially a port of JUnit to JavaScript. Also included is a platform for automating the execution of tests on multiple browsers and mutiple machines running different OSs.

Mantis Bug Tracker

Mantis is a web-based bugtracking system. It is written in the PHP scripting language and requires the MySQL database and a webserver. Mantis has been installed on Windows, MacOS, OS/2, and a variety of Unix operating systems. Almost any web browser should be able to function as a client. It is released under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL).

PyDev - A Python plugin for Eclipse

PyDev is a complete Python development environment for Eclipse.

Features:

• Code Completion
• Refactoring with bicycle repair man
• Outline
• Go to definition with F3 (powered by bicycle repair man)
• Debugger
• Content Assistant (Ctrl+F1)
• Code Coverage