Category Archive
The following is a list of all entries from the Uncategorized category. Noteworthy entries are filed topmost.
A test post using the wordpress andriod app.
Recently found this Andriod wordpress application, im just curious to see how it works and if it will work with this blog. Since you are able to read this then the application worked like a charm.
It would certainly allow me to update this blog easily and can be on the go. I no longer have an excuse not to post something new. 
No More SPAM Comments
Ever since i started this, i have had more than 10,000 spam comments and only 3 valid ones, a mind numbing amount of spam which i had to sort out and mark each of the spam comments one by one. There was a time i had to sort through 3000 comments. And i can remember a time that i basically had to run some sql queries on the database to mark everything as spam. This is when i left this blog alone for about 2 months. I have looked into a solution but it seems nothing worked.
Then i found WPSpamFree, it very simple to install with the new WordPress 2.7. Its been 48 hours since i activated that plugin and it has blocked about 80 SPAM comments. Hopefully this ANTISPAM solution will hold. Right now it is such a relief to not get countless comment alert on my email and to spend hours sorting through all the comments. I think this is something that WordPress should come with by default to help newbies on dealing with the thousands of spammers out there.
Blog Upgraded to WordPress 2.7
It has been months since i last worked on this blog. And i have ignored the message on wordpress admin to upgrade, today i finally gave in and i like the new WordPress. From the look of it, it looks very polished and well though of. It seems much easier to user and faster (when i enabled use of Gears). There are a bunch of new features on the new release. On of the most exciting for me is the plugin installer and updater, it works awesome and is a very nice and makes for the convenient installing and upgrading. Its a very usefull feature and really does makes thing a lot easier.
I may need to scrap the photo gallery and code something better. I really dont like the way it is right now. Have to be off the keyboard as well and take a number of shots to update my photogallery. Its been a while since i last posted something new in there. Work has been strapped to a chair in my office for i think a year now. Hopefully i can get some updates into that area as well.
I think the new version also removed the lightbox for all images embedded on my post. I do however like the “Media Library” feature. Yet another thing that makes life a lot easier. I can only wish that install plugins on oscommerce could be as easy as how wordpress does it. Oscommerce does not even have the update notification feature even that would help a lot of people. The beauty of open source is that if you dont like how something works you can always grab the code and make it work your way, hopefully i can have enough time this year to work on my own release of Oscommerce. But for now will have to go Line By Line Day by Day and slowly but steady.
Trouble With Google Code SVN
It could just be my dual wan configuration messing up google code SVN Commit. For people trying to download my code for extOSC (as if there are any trying to download it ) Please download the zip file i have uploaded on the downloads tab on google code. For some reason i have to commit directory by directory otherwise the when i do the whole oscommerce code it present some sort of error message. Im still trying to sort out the error out.
ExtJS + Oscommerce = ExtOSC???
Recently I started work on making a more user friendly and responsive version of oscommerce. My plan is to add bits of AJAX to the admin area, add sort of live help, and rethink how the admin area is structured. Added to that im thinking of breaking up the script into four, one for the main file, one for the javascript code, one to contain the actions and the last one to contain php code that would serve data to the javascript. It would somehow make my life easier in developing code that would make oscommerce even greater than it is right now.
The ultimate goal is to release some sort of a branch of oscommerce added with essential contributions much like oscmax or oscreloaded with some modifications to make the learning curve for using oscommerce a bit easier. One area that needs a lot of work is the product options area, the one that comes with oscommerce is very complicated and is very hard for novices to get their minds around it.
After 48 hours of work, i have sort of finished the configuration area. I think it is a much faster way of working in the configuration area. Hopefully i will have the time and the resources to convert the rest of the admin area to the look and the feel of the finished configuration area.
You can download the code at Google Code. You can download my first release there. I do however suggest not using it for anything in production since it might have MAJOR vulnerabilities.
Problem with the new Authorize.net AIM Payment Module
Recently, one of my oscomerce installations encountered some problems with authorize.net integration. I was using the default SIM module that
came with the release before. Trying to trace the errors is a very complicated thing with these payment modules. So i went to oscommerce.com and looked up if there are new release of the payment module.
And there is a newly released payment module for authorize.net. You can find it here. I was trilled to find out that it was released just last january 11, 2008. For a second there i felt like heaven, I guess as they say never count the chickens until the eggs are hatched. After installation, to my horror i found out that it even has a bigger problem. Maybe is just due to the incompatibility of my code to the new module which is highly likely since i the code that im using is very heavily modified.
After modifying the module to write to file the contents of $params(parameters for the auth.net gateway), $HTTP_POST_VARS(posted variables) and the $transaction_response to a log file. You can do this by adding a few simple lines to the code.
At around line 130, after the line
$params = array('x_login' => substr(MODULE_PAYMENT_AUTHORIZENET_CC_AIM_LOGIN_ID, 0, 20),
'x_tran_key' => substr(MODULE_PAYMENT_AUTHORIZENET_CC_AIM_TRANSACTION_KEY, 0, 16),
'x_version' => '3.1',
'x_delim_data' => 'TRUE',
'x_delim_char' => ',',
'x_encap_char' => '"',
'x_relay_response' => 'FALSE',
'x_first_name' => substr($order->billing['firstname'], 0, 50),
'x_last_name' => substr($order->billing['lastname'], 0, 50),
'x_company' => substr($order->billing['company'], 0, 50),
'x_address' => substr($order->billing['street_address'], 0, 60),
'x_city' => substr($order->billing['city'], 0, 40),
'x_state' => substr($order->billing['state'], 0, 40),
'x_zip' => substr($order->billing['postcode'], 0, 20),
'x_country' => substr($order->billing['country']['title'], 0, 60),
'x_phone' => substr($order->customer['telephone'], 0, 25),
'x_cust_id' => substr($customer_id, 0, 20),
'x_customer_ip' => tep_get_ip_address(),
'x_email' => substr($order->customer['email_address'], 0, 255),
'x_description' => substr(STORE_NAME, 0, 255),
'x_amount' => substr($this->format_raw($order->info['total']), 0, 15),
'x_currency_code' => substr($currency, 0, 3),
'x_method' => 'CC',
'x_type' => ((MODULE_PAYMENT_AUTHORIZENET_CC_AIM_TRANSACTION_METHOD == 'Capture') ? 'AUTH_CAPTURE' : 'AUTH_ONLY'),
'x_card_num' => substr($HTTP_POST_VARS['cc_number_nh-dns'], 0, 22),
'x_exp_date' => $HTTP_POST_VARS['cc_expires_month'] . $HTTP_POST_VARS['cc_expires_year'],
'x_card_code' => substr($HTTP_POST_VARS['cc_cvc_nh-dns'], 0, 4));
Add
//log the parameters
$fp = fopen('images/log.txt', "w");
fwrite($fp, var_export($params, true));
fwrite($fp, var_export($HTTP_POST_VARS, true));
Then on line 187, after the line:
$transaction_response = $this->sendTransactionToGateway($gateway_url, $post_string);
Add
fwrite($fp, $transaction_response);
fclose($fp);
This will create a file named log.txt on the images folder.
After i reviewed that it became obvious that the problem was that oscommerce was not posting the card number etc to the confimation page so it can send the info to authorize.net. Since the card number was not sent to the confimation page authorize.net sent back an error that it requires the card number. And the reason for this is so simple. It is cause the fields echoed outside the form tag on checkout_confirmation.php.
To fix this is very simple. Open up checkout_confirmation.php
Look For:
if (isset($$payment->form_action_url)) {
$form_action_url = $$payment->form_action_url;
} else {
$form_action_url = tep_href_link(FILENAME_CHECKOUT_PROCESS, '', 'SSL');
}
echo tep_draw_form('checkout_confirmation', $form_action_url, 'post');
move that line to just above:
if (is_array($payment_modules->modules)) {
if ($confirmation = $payment_modules->confirmation()) {
Thats it. Simple as can be. : ) Hope this helps anyone
To fix this all you have to do is
Comments Off
Yet Another Cebu Furniture Company
Just today.. i have uploaded yet another site for one of the outdoor furniture and restaurant furniture suppliers based here in Cebu. In my opinion they produce some of the best wicker furniture i have seen. If any of you guys need some furniture please do check them out at www.gerzonconcepts.com
Blog Now Updated to 2.10
It seems that these days the only thing i have a chance to do is to update the wordpress on this blog. Its been a while since i have checked the release of the wordpress. When i found out that a new version was released i did not miss a beat and started on the process of uploading the new files..
It is always a breeze to update wordpress.. upload the files and visit one page and thats it.. amazing stuff.. Sometimes you dont notice how easy it is compared to other programs out there.. i was recently in CGI hell, when i was asked to update the forum script written in PERL. man is was so darn complicated that it took me the most part of the day to work it out.. What puzzles me is that why would someone go for a commercial CGI forum scripts when there are tons of freely available forums software out there like PHPBB and etc.
Best of all the free ones are open source, with a very good user base and you can find help on getting just about everything on those working.
Blog Updated to WordPress 2.0.5
After only 22 days from release.. i finally got around to updating this blog to wordpress 2.0.5. I dont see anything new on 2.0.5.. must be just some security fixes.. Anyways.. to make my blog much nicer i also added AJAX comments.. works kinda cool. Go Ahead And Try it… : ). I can only hope i will have enough time the coming days so i can update the layout and maybe install a much nicer photogallery.. If anyone know of a nice addon to picture gallery addon to wordpress just drop me a comment.
Linux Wifi Headaches
Last time i had to reinstall fedora on my laptop cause the laptop just died.. now the problem is back and i dont want to go through the hassle of installing fedora again.. and running an update all to find out that my wifi dies after the update.
Im thinking now that bcm43xx-fcwcutter is at fault so i installed ndiswrapper.. seem to work but at times when i turn my pc on.. it could not connect.. i have to restart each time for me to connect..
Anyone out there have an idea on what is wrong? Please do drop me a comment..