withinweb

This web page provides a list of depreciated functions in PHP 5.3

http://php.net/manual/en/migration53.deprecated.php

This is the survey results asking What type of digital files are you selling. The results are from the end of Janurary 2010 and are a running total.

You can vote on the page : http://www.withinweb.com/phpipnmonitor/index.php The survey is located on the right hand side of the page.

mp3 Audio Files 28.6%
video files 16.7%
e-books 16.7%
software 10.1%
Images 8.9%
Physical CDs / DVDs 8.9%
Other Physical Goods 5.4%
Other content 4.8%

Comparing the last results shows that video products have increased in percentage together with software products. mp3 Audio files are still the most popular items being sold.

phpMyAdmin is a program used to manipulate databases remotely through a web interface. A good hosting package will have this included.

1. Login to phpMyAdmin.
2. Create a new blank database first.
3. Click databases, and select the database that you will be importing your data into.
4. Across the top of the screen will be a row of tabs. Click the Import tab.
5. On the next screen will be a Location of Text File box, and next to that a button named Browse.
6. Click Browse. Locate the backup file stored on your computer.
7. Make sure the SQL radio button is checked.
8. Click the Go button.

Eventually you will see a success screen.

This desciption is applicable to all the applications PHP-IPNMonitor, PHP-SecureArea and PHP-KeyCodes.

You should backup your database at regular intervals. You will then be able to restore the database if something goes wrong.

phpMyAdmin is the name of the program that you can use to manipulate databases.  It is usually provided as part of you control panel from your hosting company.

1.  Log into your web server control panel to access phpMyAdmin

2. Select ‘Databases’

3. Now click the name of your database.

4. The next screen will show you all the tables inside your database.  Click the ‘Export’ tab on the top set of tabs.

5. Look at the left box at the top of the Export section. All the tables in the database you selected are in that box.

* If you have other programs that use the database, then choose only those tables that correspond to your install. In the case of PHP-IPNMonitor, they will be the ones with that start with “ipn_”, with PHP-SecureArea they are the ones that start with “sec_” and with PHP-KeyCodes, they are the ones that start with “key_”
* If the database is being used only by the one program, then, leave it as is (or click ‘Select All’ if you changed the selection)
* Ensure that SQL is checked.

6. In the SQL section, tick the following boxes:

* ‘Structure’
* ‘Add DROP TABLE’
* ‘Add AUTO_INCREMENT’ and
* ‘Enclose table and field names with backquotes’

7. In the DATA section, leave the boxes inside this section unticked, but make sure to keep the checkbox next to the “DATA” heading checked.

8.  Tick the ‘Save as file’ option, and leave the template name as is.

9. Now click ‘Go’ and you should be prompted for a file to download. Save the file to your computer.  Depending on the database size, this may take a few moments.

10. You have now backed up your database.   If you wanted, you could download a backup in each of the compression formats. Your choice. For example: None and “zipped”

Remember : You have not backed up your files or images.  Only the database itself.

How to fix Apache and MySQL problem

EasyPHP is an application that you install on your Windows computer and use as a development system for PHP / Apache and mySQL databases.

It can be downloaded form http://www.easyphp.org/

However, when I tried to install on Windows 7 I came across a number of issues with Apache and with mySQL.

This article

http://ryan.rawswift.com/2009/09/20/easyphp-on-64-bit-windows-7-how-to-fix-apache-and-mysql-problem/

solved the problems for me.

Normally with PHP-SecureArea you use PayPal subscription facilities which control access to your secure area.  So when the subscription expires the access to the secure area ends.

One issue with this is that the customer has to have a PayPal account rather than purchasing through a credit / debit card.  This is because it is PayPal that controls the subscription process.

It is now possible with PHP-SecureArea to use a PayPal ‘buy now’ button which means that the customer can purchase with a credit / debit card.  As it does not use subscriptions it means that access will not automatically end, but this can be controlled using the cron job which checks for manually created subscriptions.

PHP-IPNMonitor when used with PayPal uses IPN to control the digital downloads to the customer.

If you log into PayPal you can check what IPNs have been sent out, you can check if your application has recieved and sent back a response (it should be respopnse code 200) and you can even resend an IPN.

These are available in your PayPal account under History -> IPN History.

Error when using PHP Google Demo Code.

Apparantly this error can occur with certain web servers which have a PHP bug.

It can be fixed as explained at :

http://code.google.com/p/google-checkout-php-sample-code/issues/detail?id=37

There is a facility built into PHP-IPNMonitor that allows you to set shipping for physical goods.  This allows you to set shipping according to the overall shopping cart value.  To use this you just activate it in the admin section of PHP-IPNMonitor.  The calculations will be applied to the physical items only.

If you do not want to use this facility, you can use the PayPal shipping calculations.  In which case the shipping will again be based on the physical items and not the digital items.  You may prefer to use the PayPal shipping calculations depending on what you requirements are.

Running results from the on-line poll this month show only minor differences to last month although e-books appear to be becoming a more popular selling material and have move up the list to second place after mp3 audio files.

You can vote on the page : http://www.withinweb.com/phpipnmonitor/index.php The survey is located on the right hand side of the page.

mp3 audio files  -  26%
e-books  -   19%
Video files  -   17%
Images   -   10%
Software   –   7%
Physical CDs / DVDs  -  9%
Other Physical goods  – 6%
Other content   -  5%