Iconv

Been a weird day today, my HP laptop flaked the power supply's going again I think (2nd time...). Just spent some time trying to figure out how to fix an issue with ajax and php, since ajax generally encodes in UTF using encodeURIComponent or encodeURIComponent (escape is the alternative in ascii) but my pages are in iso-8859-1 certain characters turn out screwed up after going through the ajax system (especially stuff copied from word)



Well thank god for php's iconv function

iconv("UTF-8","iso-8859-1 //TRANSLIT",$whatsSentByAjax);

is all you need this converts the utf-8 to iso-8859-1 translating anything that isn't available to something similar.



Thanks to this site for the solution.

I am a geek

This entry is a geeky one



Firstly while cleaning up my pc I thought I'd fix a few issues I've been too busy/lazy to deal with.



Just so you know I'm on windows vista.



Firstly when I open a .html file or something of the same ilk I get an error "unable to find...." from windows then it opens fine in firefox...very annoying.



Google brought me to this note if you're using the 64bit windows you need to add wow6432node to the reg key path after hkcr

This is what fixed it for me:

[code]You will need to manually edit the registry in Windows Vista or in cases where the File Types listing is missing certain entries such as "URL:HyperText Transfer Protocol" (HTTP) and "URL:HyperText Transfer Protocol with Privacy" (HTTPS).



Caution: Editing the registry incorrectly can damage your system. Do not attempt these steps if you are inexperienced or uncomfortable using the Registry Editor.



1. Go to "Start -> Run" (or press the windows key+R) then type regedit and click OK

2. Use the directory tree hierarchy to navigate to "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\HTTP\shell\open\ddeexec"

3. Delete the "ddeexec" registry key

4. Repeat for "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\HTTPS\shell\open\ddeexec" (and any other protocols you want to fix)

5. Repeat for "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\FirefoxURL\shell\open\ddeexec"

6. Repeat for "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\FirefoxHTML\shell\open\ddeexec" [/code]





Next problem was starting up admin programs at bootup without having to use that annoying "windows has blocked a startup program" which brought me to "http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?sduid=0&p=6509411" target="_blank">this



[code]1. Launch the Task Scheduler

Example: Start Menu > All Programs> Accessories > System Tools



2. From the Actions panel on the right, select Create Task...

a. Give the app a name of your choice in the "Name Section"



3. Go to the Security Options on the General tab

a. Select an user account with administrative privileges

b. Select the radio button Run only when user is logged on

c. Check the box Run with highest privileges



4.Go to the Triggers tab and click New...

a. In Begin the task, select At log on

b. In the Settings options, select All users

c. In the Advanced Settings options, check the box Enabled

d. Click OK to close the dialog



5. Go to the Actions tab and click New...

a. For Action, select Start a program

b. In the Settings options, browse for the Program/Script you want to execute on

startup

c. Click OK to close the dialog



6. Go to the Settings tab

a. Check the box Run task as soon as possible after a scheduled start is missed

b. Uncheck the box Stop the task if it runs longer than



7. Make any other desired settings



8. Click OK to save and close the task properties [/code]



works a charm :) now I'm issue free (pretty much...I think)

Banks banks..BANKS!

Bloody banks! (pardon my french...I wonder if the french say pardon my english when they swear). Anyway checked my statement online and I got charged £60 for accidentally going over drawn while on holiday, even though I rectified the issue a few days later.



I go to my bank to complain, the tell me to call the banking centre, I call the banking centre, they say they won't refund it (note this is the first time I've ever been over drawn and I've been with the bank 5 years). So I talk to the cashier at the bank and she says speak to the manager, I speak to her she hands me a leaflet which tells me to write and complain to the bank, note the leaflet says they will write back within 8 weeks so I might (probably not) get my money back sometime in the next 2 months.



As soon as I left the bank I went to another one and will open an account next week.



Don't get a bank account with Abbey

Kingdom of the crystal skull

Well I'm sat outside a chinese getting takeaway (beef in black been sauce with egg fried noodles).



Just seen indiana jones and the kingdom of the crystal skull (now that's a title and a half). The film is indiana jones meets starwars meets close encounters of the third kind. I never thought I'd see the day indiana jones meets and interdimensional alien but now I have.



Long film little slow in places but it was an ok film not as good as the other films I doubt they will make another (famous last words).

Portable apps

Well today I had a play with software from portable apps I've got firefox, putty, winscp etc working nicely, I've decided to go and make my favourite web editor komodo edit portable!



So far I have a working copy under going testing, I'll let you know when it's ready for release.



I've also updated obsidianproject.co.uk to reflect project changes :)



Tomorrow Degree work! :(

Exams exams exams...

Been a bit since I last posted, nothing too eventful going on just a bit busy.



I've 4 tests to do for my degree, handed one in yesterday, 2 more for the 29th and one for the 3rd June.



3 of the 4 are the final exams fro 2 of my courses, it'll be a relief to be down to just 1 course for the summer.



Yesterday I updated wdfa.co.uk to include work from budzbouquet.com, the site owner of budzbouquet also gave me a nice testimonial and 5/5 on student gems :)

Home..sweet home?

Well home now, quite a change in weather, it's sunny and warm here with little wind unlike NZ the last few days there were wet cold and windy.



Nice to be home, sorted out all my oodles of post and today we had cable tv installed instead of sky tv and so far so good, a new toy to play with :)



Now to sort out what I need to do the rest of the week.

Off home...

Final day here in new zealand.



Yesterday I did some work on budzbouquet.com I'm doing a shop for them. Hopefully going to do more work on mysecretkitcen.co.uk soon.



Not really looking forward to the flight 24 hours or more on a plane..joy...[/sarcasm]



Got to torment o2 about my phone when I get back they've screwed up my bill, they really do have abismal customer service, maybe when my contract's up I'll switch to TMobile I think they had an OK plan for blackberries.

Nearly time to go home :(

We've started packing now, preparing to go home only a few days left here in New Zealand :( been a great trip but it will be nice to return home to summer as winter is coming here.



One of my laptop's hard drive failed the other day clumsy me dropped it on a hardwood floor, on the bright side I got to replace it with a 120GB one instead of the old 60GB one.



I updated my studentgems.com profile to add more computer skills hopefully someone will employ me when I get back home, when I'm home I think I'll concentrate on my degree work, dh and some paid work instead of my bazillion projects.

Iron man

Rachel and I went to see Iron Man yesterday, was pretty awesome I want a suit like that :).



Did a fair bit of work on mysecretkitchen.co.uk yesterday as well. Should be starting on budzbouquet.co.uk sometime this week as well.