Scattered Mind

I always worked on mySQL, or as far back as I can remember, and usually when searching for a variable in a string you just do a LIKE, and it doesn’t worry about case(case insensitive).


SELECT user_id FROM tblUser WHERE first_name LIKE '%$searchVariable%'


BUT with PostGres the LIKE is case sensitive(aaarghhh).

In PostGres you would do something like this:

$variable = strtolower($variable);

// and then do the LIKE, the following way
SELECT user_id FROM tblUser WHERE lower(first_name) LIKE '%$searchVariable%'

Wish I could find a way just to make this step 1 line shorter…. maybe on of those cool PostGres custom function thingies….

Ha, I’m certified(now also in the physical world).

Zend, the people that initially started with the Zend Engine and started the whole PHP revolution, provides certification for programmers all over the world to be able to get Zend Certified!!

Last year(29 September 2004) I took up to the challenge and took the exam, and past with flying color(actually they only say pass) Last month I received the proof, a certificate(already framed by Zend) and a product CD, and some cool stickers and a nice letter congratulating me on my accomplishment.

I was the fourth person in South Africa to be certified ( link here ) as a Zend PHP Certified Engineer.

I also received an email from the people at Zend giving us the rights to use a special logo, cause we are one of the first 1000 PHP ZCE..

I said I’ll post some thoughts about AJAX on my blog … and guess what … This post is not it …

I’m still struggling to write some decent document, but I’ll get to it … promise 😉

As a matter a fact, I yesterday started working again with a whole AJAX framework crossed with a templating system, very nice

I am also starting a new project(Project GOGLY) which will also take advantage of this technology.

I’ve spent most of the day thinking about a new project I wanna start that could maybe be one of those projects that will make me Retire in a years’ time .. (NOT !!!).

Anyways, I’ve been thinking about giving this new project a name, and I’ve got a name, but if I publish it, people will know what I’m about to do, so for now I’m CodeNaming it GOGLY, and here is a small hint about this project, it is in the ADVERTISING category of the internet …

I’ll be keeping you posted about this one 😉 It is going to be a bomb

Last night, Paul from Blogmad.net contacted me to tell me that I’ve been chosen to be a BETA tester, to test their software before their LIVE version.

SO now I’ll be able to post some inside screenshots and some sneak previews for BlogMad …

I just stumbled upon phpWebThings, almost looks like a phpNuke sister…, looks very nicely done, with all the nitty-gritty stuff you need from a good CMS, themable, modular … If maybe I’ve got more time one day, I’ll look deeper into this one …. Here is a description from there site:

phpWebThings is a Powerful, professional application framework for intermediate to advanced PHP programmer, open source Web Portal, Online Community System, Content Managenent System (CMS) or whatever you want to call it. The goal of phpWebThings is to have an automated web site that is easy for the webmaster to manipulate while still being secure and functional. Each user can submit comments to discuss Articles, News, Downloads similar to many other systems. The main features include: All Modular design, Web Based Admin, User Login, News System, User Messages, Downloads, FAQs, Contact Area, Links, User and Authors edit, an Integrated Banner Ad system, Internal Search Engine, Support for 20 languages, Comments option in Polls, lot of themes, File Manager, Download Manager, FAQ Manager, Categorized Articles and many, many more friendly functions.

You guys will see that I’m still using the default WordPress theme.

The reason is that when using the theme I found, the images go past the border lines and then everything goes haywire, so now I have a choice, fix and customize the current theme, or search for a new theme.

I think I’ll go with the “Search for a new theme” as I have too much other stuff also to attend to, so we’ll just have to wait… and see

To boost some traffic to the new space where my blog is now hosted, I decided to join BlogMad !!! the next “BIG THING” on the internet, they are not even live yet, and they already have million blogger flocking to their site.

Hi guys

A while back I created an Open Source project called dbHistoric which intends to be a monitoring and statistics tool for database.

I will capture the status of database systems at certain times of the days(given intervals) and then one can draw reports on them.

Currently I’m looking for guys that can help me with the design and implementation of some documentation and requirements.

I am also very busy lately so all hands are welcome.

The technologies that I’ve decided on are Java(for backend engine) and PHP/gdLibrary for reporting, but I”m open to suggestions.

Please have a look at my project on SourceForge.net .

Hi guys, something totally off-topic.

Took this photo near Pilgrims Rest in Mpumalanga(i think) in South Africa.

Just so cool … hehe