Javascript query parameter setup

Using a query parameter can often be more convenient than having to change a hardcoded value while testing a script. This allows you to pass a variable into the script without having to edit and re-save your script.

var query = window.location.search.substring(1);
var keyVal = query.split("=");
var value = keyVal[1];
if (!value) { value = 100; } // in case no query parameter is passed in, use a default

Assigning CSS float values in javascript

I have to give credit for this information to an anonymous poster on stack overflow:  http://stackoverflow.com/questions/606470/is-there-a-cross-browser-way-of-setting-style-float-in-javascript

While creating and adding styles to some DOM elements with javascript, I noticed that my IDE was unhappy with me using this syntax:

domElement.style.float = "right";

The trouble is that 'float' is a reserved keyword in javascript, and the above syntax will cause unexpected results which vary across browsers.  I learned that I should be using: domElement.style.styleFloat = "right"; but this was still not working Firefox.

The cross browser solution ( Chrome, IE, Firefox ) :
domElement.style.styleFloat = "right";
domElement.style.cssFloat = "right";

Now everyone is happy.

Pattern Resource

A great collection of subtle patterns for web development and graphic design:
http://subtlepatterns.com/

Cross Browser Opacity Classes

These come in handy pretty often:

.no_opacity {
    -ms-filter: "progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.Alpha(Opacity=0)"; /* IE 8 */
    filter: alpha(opacity=0); /* IE 5-7 */
    -moz-opacity: 0.0;  /* Netscape */
    -khtml-opacity: 0.0; /* Safari 1.x */
    opacity: 0.0; /* Good browsers */
}
.half_opacity {
    -ms-filter: "progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.Alpha(Opacity=50)"; /* IE 8 */
    filter: alpha(opacity=50); /* IE 5-7 */
    -moz-opacity: 0.5;  /* Netscape */
    -khtml-opacity: 0.5; /* Safari 1.x */
    opacity: 0.5; /* Good browsers */
}
.full_opacity {
    -ms-filter: "progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.Alpha(Opacity=100)"; /* IE 8 */
    filter: alpha(opacity=100); /* IE 5-7 */
    -moz-opacity: 1.0;  /* Netscape */
    -khtml-opacity: 1.0; /* Safari 1.x */
    opacity: 1.0; /* Good browsers */
}

Installing Drupal Commons

Install xampp, or anything with Apache and MySQL

Create a database with any name for your Drupal Commons installation.

Get your download here:
https://network.acquia.com/downloads/drupal-commons

Extract these files, and move the resulting Drupal file directory structure into the web root, or any sub folder.

Configure a settings.php file from the example ( default.settings.php ) file provided.

Edit this line with your database information:
$db_url = 'mysql://username:password@localhost/databasename';

The simplest example ( only fun for a development site ) is:

$db_url = 'mysql://root@localhost/database_name';
Save settings.php

*** You will probably need to edit php.ini here to allow a maximum_execution longer than 30 seconds, this is a common fail. Try 300. Remember to restart Apache for the php.ini settings to take effect.

Use a web browser to execute the install.php file in the folder containing the installation.

Detecting character encoding in PHP

Dealing with character encoding is never fun. It's easy to know that something has gone wrong when text is displaying as hieroglyphics, but it can be difficult to figure out why.

I found myself in this position trying to fix some Japanese text the other day and wanted to write a short example of  mb_detect_encoding(); before I forget it.

<?php
// a list of possible encodings
$encodings = array('UTF-8','windows-1251','ISO-8859-1','ASCII','JIS','EUC-JP');

$string = "Example text";  // the text you wish to test
$in_encoding = mb_detect_encoding($string, $encodings, true);
echo "Encoding type: ".$in_encoding;
?>

 If you find that your encoding is something other than what you desire, you should check out iconv();

Speed up your local Drupal development environment

A friend came across an interesting suggestion for speeding up the database interactions on my local development environment on this page: 

http://drupal.org/node/469086

Basically it's just some changes to mysql's my.ini configuration file:

innodb_buffer_pool_size = 1G
innodb_flush_log_at_trx_commit = 2
innodb_thread_concurrency=8
transaction-isolation=READ-COMMITTED

Then restart mysql.

The improvement will probably vary.