GoDaddy - Configuration to allow PHP in HTML files

I had an existing site with a lot of existing html files that also needed to execute php. However, when configuring anything, there may be numerous ways to solve the same problem. You can find this question on many sites and some solutions work for people and some do not. I found I had to keep trying slightly different versions until one finally worked. It all depends on the particular hosting service you are using, the various settings your particular site has..on and on.

On my local server, I could put the following at the top of my .htaccess file and it ran the php inside the .html files fine:

AddHandler x-httpd-php .php4

AddType application/x-httpd-php .html

On the GoDaddy server, the configuration was a bit different:

Options +ExecCGI

AddType text/html .html

AddHandler x-httpd-php5 .php .html

I had struggled with this for awhile, this article gave me the best hint:

http://www.sandisviksna.com/blog/2011/10/16/php-in-html-with-godaddy/

which recommended this:

Options +ExecCGI

AddType application/x-httpd-php .php .htm .html

AddHandler x-httpd-php5 .php .htm .html

So I kept tweaking that and it worked. Honestly, I have not completely read the Apache manual on what exactly these directives mean. I am one of those people that is willing to use what works without really knowing the details because I have to keep working. The client want stuff done and right now I do not have the leisure time to research the details...I hope this helps someone else!

ASP.net Web.config use older DLL

I ran into a situation where the web server I was publishing too had an older DLL file than the DLL file I had used to compile on my local server. So when I published to the server it kept looking for the new version rather than just using the one available on the server.

You can specify the version to use in the web.config file. However, it is a bit deceiving when you want to go backwards meaning I want to user version 1.0 but the dll I used to compile was version 2.0. The tag uses the term oldVersion and newVersion. I think most people want to go in the direction from old to new, but in my case it was new to old.

That kept tripping me up. I kept specifying the old and new version thinking it would understand me...no, i had to say the old version is 2.0 and the new version that should be used is 1.0.

Maybe the tags should have been versionToUse and versionToIgnore...

Here is my sample web.config snippet:

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 <runtime>
        <assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">
         <dependentAssembly>
           <assemblyIdentity name="DLLname" culture="neutral" publicKeyToken="a7a0b3f5184f2169"/>
           <codeBase version="8.0.0.5" href="FILE://C:/windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/DLLname"/>
           <bindingRedirect oldVersion="8.1.2.3" newVersion="8.0.0.5" />  
          </dependentAssembly>      
        </assemblyBinding>
        </runtime>

 <runtime>
  <assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">
   <dependentAssembly>
     <assemblyIdentity name="DLLname" culture="neutral" publicKeyToken="a7a0b3f5184f2169"/>
     <codeBase version="8.0.0.5" href="FILE://C:/windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/DLLname"/>
     <bindingRedirect oldVersion="8.1.2.3" newVersion="8.0.0.5" />  

    </dependentAssembly>      
  </assemblyBinding>
     </runtime>

IvyCat Testimonial Rotator WordPress Plugin

I have worked a bit with WordPress over the past year. It is an interesting template-type application. I don't know the actual term for what it is but it is based on PHP. The nice thing about it is that there are so many pre-written modules available some free, some you have to pay for. The selection is nice and you can always modify the code.

Recently I needed to create a Testimonial Rotator. I sampled the 8-10 free ones available. The one I ended up selecting was the IvyCat Testimonial.

It was the best one that could pretty much be used out of the box. I tweeked it just a bit to fit into the page I needed. It was easy to use, pretty flexible, fast and I would totally recommend it!

Setting up a SqlCacheDepdency

The great thing about setting up a SqlCacheDepdency is that once it is working, you never really have to do anything with it. In my case, it has been roughly 5 years since I set one up...the downfall? I can't remember all the little steps it takes to set it up. And it is not easy. It has to be precisely setup....precisely!

Today, I wanted to beat my PC into oblivion. Seeing that was not really going to help, I had to research...and research. Here are the steps. Though not clear because when you try 1 million things, you don't really know what was needed and what was not...

Details, asp.net, SQLServer 2008R2

1. NEEDED, Enable Broker
ALTER DATABASE myDbName SET ENABLE_BROKER with rollback immediate;

2. [Not SQL2008R2] Needed for lesser versions...I think. I will add this just in case you need it:

GRANT CREATE PROCEDURE TO "NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE"
GRANT CREATE QUEUE TO "NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE"
GRANT CREATE SERVICE TO "NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE"
GRANT SUBSCRIBE QUERY NOTIFICATIONS TO "NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE"
GRANT SELECT ON OBJECT::dbo.TableName TO "NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE"
GRANT RECEIVE ON QueryNotificationErrorsQueue TO "NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE"


3. Setup Global.asax- Application_Start:

System.Data.SqlClient.SqlDependency.Start(connectionString);

4. Setup Cache code:

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ConfigurationInfo configInfo = null;
        System.Web.Caching.SqlCacheDependency dependency = null;
        if (Cache["Config"] == null)
        {
            try
            {
                
                 cacheConfigInfo = GetConfiguration(out dependency);
            }
            catch {}
            finally
            {
                Cache.Insert("Config", cacheConfigInfo, dependency);
         
            } 
        }
....

ConfigurationInfo configInfo = null;
        System.Web.Caching.SqlCacheDependency dependency = null;

        if (Cache["Config"] == null)
        {
            try
            {
                
                 cacheConfigInfo = GetConfiguration(out dependency);
            }
            catch {}
            finally
            {
                Cache.Insert("Config", cacheConfigInfo, dependency);
         
            } 
        }
....

5. VERY Important: You must attach the SqlCacheDependency to the SqlCommand before you execute the command:

It must be a simple query (no crazy aggregates), it can be in a stored procedure.
If it is in a stored proc qualify the db name like this :dbo.MyTableName

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public ConfigurationInfo GetConfiguration(out SqlCacheDependency dependency)
        {
            ConfigurationInfo configInfo = null;
          
            
            SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection();
            conn.ConnectionString = SQLHelper.DbConnectionString;
            SqlCommand command = new SqlCommand("up_GetConfig", conn);
            command.CommandType = System.Data.CommandType.StoredProcedure;
            dependency = new SqlCacheDependency(command);
            using (SqlDataReader reader = SQLHelper.ExecuteReader(SQLHelper.DbConnectionString, "up_GetConfig"))
            {
                if (reader.Read())
                {
                    configInfo = new ConfigurationInfo();
                    configInfo.Id  = reader["ID"] == DBNull.Value ? 0 : (int)reader["ID"];
        ....
                    
                }
            }
            return configInfo;
        }

public ConfigurationInfo GetConfiguration(out SqlCacheDependency dependency)
        {
            ConfigurationInfo configInfo = null;
          
            
            SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection();
            conn.ConnectionString = SQLHelper.DbConnectionString;
            SqlCommand command = new SqlCommand("up_GetConfig", conn);

            command.CommandType = System.Data.CommandType.StoredProcedure;

            dependency = new SqlCacheDependency(command);

            using (SqlDataReader reader = SQLHelper.ExecuteReader(SQLHelper.DbConnectionString, "up_GetConfig"))
            {
                if (reader.Read())
                {
                    configInfo = new ConfigurationInfo();

                    configInfo.Id  = reader["ID"] == DBNull.Value ? 0 : (int)reader["ID"];
        ....
                    
                }
            }

            return configInfo;
        }

I hope that helps....I am sure in another 5 years I might need to reference this again!

Blogger SyntaxHighlight

I have been trying to use SyntaxHighlighter for months now and it has been quite cumbersome. I don't post every week so every time I have to post code, I have to go back to remember the steps to post formatted code.

Plus I thought I had added the calls to my blogger template but now they are missing? very strange. maybe for some odd reason i decided to take out something i wanted to use from my template....OR MAYBE NOT! i don't know if blogger decided to remove the calls or if they did an update that took out my calls but they are not there...

Overall, I pretty much regret selecting Blogger as my blogging tool. If I could go back in time and start with a blogging tool that was more programmer friendly, I sooooo wish I would have. But now I am stuck in the Blogger trap....

anyhow, since SyntaxHighlighter is hard for me to remember how to use, i am trying out a new solution. http://www.syntaxhighlight.in/. This has a nice option to pop-up the code or display in text. I will see in time if this option is less time consuming to use..

Jquery Tab does not work in ASP UpdatePanel

I have been using Jquery Tabs a lot lately and they usually work just fine. An issue here and there. Today I had an issue when trying to put the tabs inside an ASP Update Panel. The code did not seem to work. I found this easy fix buried in some forum....so I thought I would put it in my blog to be more accessible...and it worked really...

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 <script type="text/javascript">
       function pageLoad(sender, args) {
            if (args.get_isPartialLoad()) {
               //put any javascript code
                $('#myTabs').tabs();
            }
        }
</script>

 <script type="text/javascript">
       function pageLoad(sender, args) {
            if (args.get_isPartialLoad()) {
               //put any javascript code
                $('#myTabs').tabs();
            }
        }
</script>

Classic ASP Persistent Cookie

I have not really worked with Cookies files. Recently I needed to persist a cookie for a user, however, I noticed that although I would create the cookie it would later disappear. Then I realized that it was disappearing when the browser was closed. I had not realized I was only creating an in-memory cookie that only lasted until the browser was closed.

This is how I was creating the cookie:

intNumber = 1
Response.Cookies("userCookie")=intNumber

However, what I needed it to do was last beyond the browser being closed...be persistent. In order to do that I had to add an expiration like this:

intNumber = 1
startDt=Date
endDate=DateAdd("d",365,startDt)
Response.Cookies("userCookie")=intNumber
Response.Cookies("userCookie").Expires = endDate

And that allowed my cookie file to remain until the user deleted it or it expired!