Javascript version compare function
Here’s quick javascript function for comparing versions. It works with any type of version strings, but it does not check for suffixes like ‘RC’, ‘alpha’, ‘stable’, etc. This was written in less than 10 minutes, so let me know if you find any bugs. Suggestions are welcomed anytime!
Convert all MySQL tables and fields to UTF8 charset & collation
At some point in your web dev life you might face the “Illegal mix of collations” mysql error. Nothing complicated, you just need all your tables to use the same charset and collation and this can be fixed really easy using phpmyadmin or even from the command line. However, when the database has 300+ tables, [...]
Magento memory leaks and custom options
Most software, if not all, has memory leaks. Some are really bad at collecting garbage, other manage it better, but not enough. Magento had its problems since the beginning, and a lot of them have been fixed in the latest releases (using 1.6 to test this). However, it still has a long way until all [...]
The amazing world of Magento
Magento has its positives and negatives, but this one is a must-share issue. While testing a payment gateway problem I discovered the following error (on Magento 1.7): Wow, so let’s see, subtotal 33.15 – discount 33.00 = grand total of 0.14. Not exactly correct, I would dare say.
Updated version of the Magento CSS & JS Minifier
I’ve released the first version of the magento css&js minifier more than a year and half ago. Since then, it has been downloaded over 200 times – roughly 10 downloads per month. It’s a decent number, considering its utility and the fact that it hasn’t been promoted or included on Magento Connect. The first version [...]
When JOINs fail to work
Any developer, junior or senior, should know and understand the basic rules of database normalization since they are the foundation of relational DBMS. Edgar Codd introduced the concept in 1970 and since then, most of the architectures have been following his rules. However, for high-traffic websites, sometime de-normalized is better than normalized, resulting in faster [...]
Hardening OpenX
There are times when your website or application might get hacked. The usual reasons include weak passwords, outdated software or poor code (especially on validating user input). The same apply to OpenX – your ad server can be hacked due to an outdated version of OpenX, weak passwords, insecure server settings or a combinations of [...]
Installing Memcache Server for PHP on Windows
Memcached is a free open source, high-performance, distributed memory object caching system. It is currently used by a lot of websites, including Flickr, Twitter, Youtube, Digg and WordPress. I’ve been using memcached on a few production servers, but never thought it could come in handy on a Windows development machine – in fact I didn’t [...]
Workaround for attribute store labels not being displayed in Magento
Here’s a quick workaround for a rather strange issue – sometimes, calling $attribute->getStoreLabel() returns null, although everything looks fine in the admin and in the database. It might be something that is slipping my mind, or it might be a bug, not really sure. However, I had to deal with it and come up with [...]
Prototype 1.6, Event.stop and IE9 – Quick patch
For those of you using Prototype 1.6 (or Magento prior 1.6), you might wonder why event.stop() or Event.stop(event) doesn’t work in Internet Explorer 9. Here’s a quick explanation: IE 9 makes major changes to the event system. We had to rewrite the event code in 1.7 to support it. You can either (a) upgrade to [...]
